Author's Notes: Well, I decided that I'm not going to completely stop this fic on my hiatus. Rather, I'm going to just space out the chapters a bit more. I've become somewhat addicted to writing this story, to be honest. However, I do still have to deal with IRL issues so bear with me on that.

... also, my laptop was stolen from me the other day. College is coming up soon and I'm freaking out. I've never been to college without my laptop. I've always used it to take notes in class since my handwriting is atrocious... and I've always used it during breaks to get online to talk to people and write chapters.

Honestly, don't know what to do right now. I don't have money to buy a new one.

Oh well, I tried to make this an extra-long chapter since it's 50 and... dunno, lol. I figured I'd do something nice for chapter 50. Dunno.

Chapter 50:

Two Days and Two Battles

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up."

What the fuck is this shit waking me up at before the crack of dawn? Who is this annoying blonde girl bothering me?

Oh, it's just Carin. Fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off, damn it. I'm trying to sleep. You're going to wake up the others in the tent!

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!"

I turned to my side and grabbed Carin by the shoulders tightly and glared her as best as I could without my glasses on.

"Leave. Me. Alone. Now," I growled at her, just loud enough that she'd hear it.

"I want to talk with you," she replied.

"That's obvious. That's fine. Later. I'm sleeping," I replied groggily.

Next thing I know, I felt a numbingly cold sensation all over my body. I gasped loudly and jerked awake to see my body and clothes were drenched with water.

"I'm gonna kill you," I growled more menacingly at Carin, no longer caring about trying not to wake up the others in the tent.

"We need to talk," she replied plainly. Looking around to make absolutely sure no one was watching, I lit up a certain fire spell that I recently developed. It was like wearing armor made of fire. It was a little more draining than the fire shield sphere, but clung to the contours of my body, regardless of if I had made changes to my body... such as the gel packages on my chest.

Looking down makes me think of Mia every time.

"This better be good," I said to Carin after a minute in which case the warm fire dried me off and lulled me nearly back to sleep.

"Not in here. Somewhere we can't be overheard," Carin said.

"... fine, fine, geez," I said. I muttered choice words under my breath. Carin looked at me in shock at some things I said that she caught.

"Hey, leave Shinon's mother out of this!" she exclaimed in a scandalized tone. I muttered another few things darkly before shutting up. I grabbed my glasses, made sure my disguise was on me completely, and walked with Carin until we found a nice secluded part near the edge of camp.

"I have a confession to make to you," Carin said. I groaned. This can't end up well.

"Yeah? I'm listening," I said boredly.

"When you died, I volunteered myself to help clean up your stuff. Along the way, I found your journal hidden in a large book," she said.

... f-f-fu-fu... fu... f... fuck.

"You read it, didn't you?" I asked her carefully.

"I wanted to know more about you and you were dead so... I... um..." she trailed off.

"You will never repeat its contents to anyone ever, understand me? You will not repeat my opinion of anyone, you will not repeat who I like... although... I think it's obvious now. You will not repeat my opinions or my thoughts on anything, and you will do your best to forget everything you read," I growled at her. What the hell was she doing going through my stuff?

Even if I was dead.

"I... have another thing to tell you," she said to me hastily, trying to head me off.

"What," I said to her venomously. She recoiled slightly at my tone.

"I'm... not from this world either," she said to me.

... what?

"What? I could swear you looked familiar to me," I said.

"My real name is Cassandra... Cassandra--"

"Alexandra," I finished for her.

"Yes. That is my name," she replied.

"Cassandra Alexandra, twenty years old. Younger sister to Sophitia Alexandra. As far as I know, you were after Soul Edge to destroy it or something. I'm not familiar with your story," I said.

"... how do you know that? I'm not from here," she said.

"Because, your world is the same as the people of here. A video game. This is now creeping me out. Too many video games have ended up being actual parallel dimensions," I said, rubbing my head slightly.

"I... see. You know, normally I'd be surprised at this revelation, but enough weird things have happened that I just really stopped caring. You don't know how to get home, either?" she said to me, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I don't want to go home if I had the chance. My home is here," I said firmly.

"You really truly mean that?" she asked me.

"I do, Carin... er, Cassandra," I said to her, correcting myself at her name.

"I... prefer the name Carin, if you don't mind," she said to me.

"Very well," I said with a small smile.

"I do miss home. I miss my sister. I miss it all," Carin said to me.

"You must have strong connections to people at home," I remarked to her. Carin was silent, but I could see her staring at the sky. My anger evaporated at her reading my journal as I realized that in a strange new world, she just wanted to find ways of fitting in. She was just like me when I first came.

"I miss my sister very much and I miss everyone more knowing I probably won't ever be going back to them," she said. I could hear the sadness in her voice growing, despite her voice fading off.

I put a comforting arm around her and hugged her. I don't know why. It felt like the right thing to do. She was just as lost and confused as I was in this world. Two strangers ripped from their homes and put into a strange world and expected to adapt.

It was at that moment I felt a weird connection to her. I wasn't alone anymore. There was someone else who was in the same predicament as mine.

"Carin... I'll protect you until I can find you a way home. You have a reason to go home and leave here. I'll do my best to find a way for you to get back," I said to her comfortingly. She smiled slightly to me and hugged me back.

"Kid, you're something else," she said to me.

"... I'm not a kid," I replied.

"You're younger than me," she said to me tauntingly. We let go of our hug and started staring at each other.

"Dammit, that's not the point," I replied to her.

"Sure it is!" she said.

"You wish..." I replied to her as I walked away. Next thing I know, I felt tackled from behind and fell face-first into the ground.

"Don't need to! Say, let's have a spar," she said.

"A what? I'm a ma... oh! Okay," I replied, nearly slipping that I'm a mage.

"Go get your sword, Sophia," she said to me as she got off me. We walked back to the tent together, silent and deep in thought about what was said. I got my sword and headed off to the training ground where I stood across Carin.

"Here I come!" she called out. She swung with her sword and I blocked it with my own. What I did not expect was a shield to my face. Ow! Fuck! My right cheek was throbbing as I glared at her.

"We can use stuff other than swords?" I asked.

"No bows," she replied.

"Well, damn," I said back to her. I began muttering a small spell under my breath. If she was going to use more than her sword then I should as well.

"Hey, the new recruits are training," I heard a voice. I looked over to see a few Daein soldiers crowding over to watch our spar. In fact, most of our group was there as well. I could see Duncan and Jill and could only guess that the rest were somewhere nearby as well.

Thanks to all the manual labor I had to do with the group as well as training, I had found my arms were strong enough to wield an iron sword with one hand. Steel swords still took two hands, though, and silver was something I could use with my right hand. Smiling slightly at Carin, I shouted out, "Well, hey, it's not fair you get two weapons to my one sword."

"Too bad," Carin replied with a smile. I smiled at her and unsheathed a second sword. This one was a bronze sword and I put it in my left hand. It wasn't as heavy as an iron sword, which was fine by me since my right hand was the dominant hand and not my left.

"Come on," I said to Carin with a smirk as I waved her over, Matrix-style.

She came at me and slashed vertically with her sword. At that, I sidestepped it to the right ever so lightly and swung high with the bronze sword in my left hand. She put up her shield to block it and my attack bounced right off. Without any hesitation, I quickly sliced at her legs from left to right with the iron sword in my right hand while her shield was still busy with my other sword.

Much to my surprise she jumped over my attack and used that to her advantage to slash me vertically again. Using the momentum of my failed attack, I did a quick hop to the side and stood up straight as her sword hit the ground.

Whistles and cheers were coming from the crowd at this small exchange.

I could tell she was holding back and I knew she could tell I was giving everything I had. I decided if I had any kind of chance, I had to break her guard.

I rushed forward and swung my bronze sword vertically. Quick as a flash, she blocked it with her sword. I used my right hand to swing my iron sword at her, hoping to score a hit. Quickly she thrust her shield out at my sword, causing it to bounce back. The momentum of my sword suddenly being thrown backward caused me to lose balance and stumble backward a step or two.

That was enough for her to rush forward and tackle me with her shoulder. I flew backward and landed on the ground with a painful thud upon the ground. Before I could move, a sword was at my throat.

"Good job," she said to me and sheathed her sword. She held out a helping hand to pull me up. I sheathed my iron sword on my back and pulled myself up with her help. I sheathed my bronze sword at my waist on the right side and smiled. It was a good duel, even if it was rather quick.

I saw Karla give me an approving nod and I smiled widely at her. Having Karla approve of my sword-fighting despite how atrocious it was is the first step to instilling self-confidence.

The cheering from the crowd seemed to have brought about some unwanted side-effects. It appears that halfway into the duel, Petrine and Shinon walked over to see what was going on.

It was at that moment at the both of them entered the training ring and looked both Carin and myself over.

"That was a very interesting duel," Petrine commented with a small smile. "Good to see Daein soldiers with potential and talent."

Carin and I looked at each other a smiled slightly.

"Carin. I must say that your skill with a sword, while you have a unique style, is superb. Perhaps you would be interested in teaching our soldiers some day?" Petrine asked.

"Perhaps I shall," Carin replied. "When I perfect my skill with the blade."

"Very well," Petrine replied. She turned to me and gave a rare smile.

"For one who is as new to the weapon as you are, you show great potential as a warrior. I look forward to perhaps battling you one day when you reach your potential. It would be a treat to battle against one who I've taken in and trained," Petrine said.

Ironic. You've done it already. You didn't seem to enjoy our last battle when I was still a guy.

Shinon, stop staring at me. It feels weird and uncomfortable. Seriously. Keep your eyes to yourself or something. That's all he ever does in our training when he's not teaching me. He's looking me over. Dear Ashera, I can't imagine the look on his face when he finds out I'm a guy. I think he may actually just get really sick. I saw the crowd around us start to disperse.

"Generals!" I heard a call from the distance. A soldier was running toward our little group.

"What is it?" Petrine barked out, returning back to her normal psychotic state.

"It's the Begnion army! They're just over the hill. The capital... it has fallen! They're advancing upon us!" the soldier reported, slightly panicked.

"Dog's breath!" Petrine cursed. I wonder where she got that catchphrase from. It's such a funny sounding term. Sorta like how Marcia likes to swear with food items.

Oh crackers. What the fava bean is going on? Don't give me that sugar! Oh, you stupid chowderhead.

Yeah, keep a straight face, John. For the love of god, don't smile or break out in laughter.

"Sound the alarm, prepare for combat," Shinon ordered calmly, as cool and as relaxed as a cucumber.

"You two and your group will have your first taste against the Begnion army today. Better hope you're prepared," Petrine said.

"Yes ma'am!" Carin and I replied, saluting.

"One last thing. Your group will have some soldiers assigned to you. You will need to decide among yourselves who will be commander of your group," Petrine ordered. "Your assistants will be at your tent in two minutes."

She doesn't trust us. That's why she's doing this. She ran off quickly to get her weapon and her horse. Carin and I looked at each other before running off to our tent. It was time for a battle against our friends. We got back to the tent and pulled everyone together for a meeting. We explained Petrine's orders to the group.

"Guys, we need to figure out among us who will be commander of our group," Carin said as soon as we got back.

"Well, I don't want to sound like it's a biased choice, but I think we should make either Sophia or Duncan our commander," Jill—er, Guinevere said.

"Oh no, I say we make Sophia the commander. I served under her before. She knows what she's doing," Duncan said, giving me a thumbs up. I gave a nervous smile back at Duncan.

"Guys, that was a while ago. I don't know if I--"

"We've elected you leader," Carin said to me.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"Any objections?" Carin asked. All of them remained silent.

"Then we all just elected you leader," Carin said.

"... fuck," I muttered to myself. What a way to elect someone.

"Hey, hey, that's no way for a lady to speak," Duncan said tauntingly. I ignored him.

"Um, sir? Who's the leader of this group?" someone asked Zihark.

"She is," Zihark replied calmly while pointing to me.

"Ma'am, we are your reinforcements. What are our orders?" the leader of the group asked me. There were about fifteen soldiers with the guy.

"Um, I guess for now, we w—no," I stopped for a second and thought.

Stop sayin' things like a damn wimp.

"We will charge forward with General Petrine. She wishes to meet the core group of the army and have a face-to-face encounter with the princess herself. We shall accompany her," I ordered.

Cid would be proud.

"Very well, ma'am. When shall we move out?" the soldier asked. I winced at being called ma'am.

"As soon as everyone here is ready. I am assuming General Petrine and General Shinon are both well on their way to battle," I said.

"They are. We are ready," the soldiers said.

"Then move out!" I barked in an authoritative voice. It felt weird being a commander again. I could see a few from my group look at me curiously at my complete personality change.

We moved into the field and toward the rest of the battalion that was in this camp. We moved straight to the head of the army with Petrine. She glanced at us and asked, "What were your orders?"

"To accompany you as you ride forth to meet the Greil Mercenaries and the wannabe princess and to ensure that you arrive there safely to meet and destroy them," I replied. Petrine smiled at my description of Elincia.

"You do realize that some of your men will not make it," Petrine asked, raising a brow.

"Our bravery and our courage stems from your leadership. Our will is for your well-being and we will do everything in our power to serve you," I bullshitted.

"You're quite the intelligent soldier. Have you considered being a mage instead of a weapons specialist?" Petrine asked.

Oh, the irony.

"They say mages have trouble defending themselves," I replied.

"I see," Petrine replied. "On my signal, we advance. Your group shall cut a path through the enemy to my goal. At that point, you may do as you please."

"Very well," I replied. I saw the Begnion army coming over the hill. I could also see Ike and company near the front line. General Ike... you sent me on this mission. Do not think ill of me if I go against someone from the Greil Mercenaries in combat.

"I see the mercenaries," I casually stated.

"There's that sellsword general. Hm... there's that stupid princess. I do not see the renegade commander in their group," Petrine said.

"Renegade commander?" I asked.

"The mage who deserted us," Petrine replied.

"Perhaps he is hiding from you," I said. Well, ain't that the truth.

"I wanted to kill him myself. Personally," she grumbled angrily.

There was silence as the Begnion army marched forward. Our archers were ready to shoot, our mages were ready to fire, and our healers were ready to heal. Petrine raised her lance in the air where it started glowing red. A few minutes later, then...

"Go!" she shouted out and slashed her lance through the air, leaving a trail of dancing flames behind it. My group rushed forward, as per Petrine's orders, to cut her a path to the mercenaries. We had to do it. The only way to "fail" in our task is to die and we couldn't do that. Doing our best not to land any particularly nasty wounds, we cut a path to where the mercenaries were fighting. I found that, despite my loss earlier to Carin, I was still not too shabby with a sword against these generic enemies.

We soon made our way to the small clearing that the mercenaries had made. Petrine trotted forward toward Ike as the battle raged around us.

"Today will be the day I take your head!" Petrine said to Elincia. Ike stepped forward to protect Elincia from Petrine. Petrine looked at me and nodded and I understood my order well.

I was to battle with Ike and to kill him if I could. Ike looked at me and his eyes grew wide. I gave him a pleading look, hoping he understood it. He nodded ever so slightly to signal he knew it was me.

I rushed forward, pulling out both of my swords and slashed with both of them horizontally, one high and one low. As I charged him I saw he pulled out Ragnell. He stepped back and swung diagonally, throwing the higher sword way off course and blocking the second sword.

Oh fuck! I thought he wasn't going to be serious! Ashera help me! Please!

I stepped back and saw Petrine was ordering my group to fight various members of the mercenaries. I saw Elincia draw her sword and I saw Petrine get off her horse.

"Show me how much you've improved," Ike said as he charged me and swung at me horizontally and somewhat high.

I dropped quickly to the ground and sweep kicked him before he realized what I did. The sweep threw his legs out from under him and caused him to land on his back.

... that was too easy.

"That was fast," Mia commented. She quickly ran forward with her sword out and we began a sword fight. All I could say was I was glad to have done that to Ike since I wouldn't have lasted against him. He's far too powerful for me.

I heard a nearby clang and I saw Elincia and Petrine were virtually right next to us. Petrine swung her sword vertically with such force at Elincia that she knocked Amiti right out of the princess's hands.

"Princess!" Mia called out. As soon as Petrine swung again, Mia stepped in to block and protect Elincia. Elincia took this opportunity to run after her sword and retrieve it.

"Get the princess!" Petrine screeched at me.

... shit.

I chased after Elincia, who had just grabbed her sword and stared at me defiantly. I looked at her sadly and spoke to her quiet enough that no one would overhear.

"... I don't want to do this. I don't want to hurt you," I said to Elincia, quietly.

"I know, my lord—no, my lady Sophia. Fight your hardest, fight your bravest, be the best soldier you can be right now. If you hold back, they will notice," she replied to me quietly.

"... please overpower me and knock me down when you see the chance. It would give me an excuse not to fight you," I said.

"Very well, my lady. En guarde!" she called out.

Thus began my battle with the princess herself. Much to my surprise, she was really good. I mean, I knew she could hold her own, but I never truly realized how good she was. Still, though, we were pretty evenly matched. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ike had recovered and was doing a one-on-one with Petrine. He had sheathed Ragnell and was using a silver blade. Odd. I guess perhaps he did not want to damage the sword? Petrine herself was using a sword against Ike and seemed to be faring very well.

I saw too late, in my moment of distraction, Elincia slashed at me. Her sword bit clean into my side and sliced through the armor I was wearing. I could feel the blade cut into my side and hit a rib.

"Gah!" I gasped out in pain as I looked at my side and felt my wound bleeding freely. Ahaha... I'm starting to feel light-headed. I fell to my knees and then fell to the ground.

"No!" Elincia let out, causing everyone to look at her.

"What's wrong, princess? Can't handle killing people?" Petrine barked tauntingly at Elincia while dueling with Ike.

Suddenly, I felt myself being healed, though there wasn't a healer nearby. I'm pretty sure all the Daein healers were on the back lines of the army, healing those on the battlefield. I was wondering what was going on. I suddenly felt the healing stop and I sat up and looked around. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rhys and Natasha in the distance with physic staves and smiling at me before returning to blasting Daein soldiers with light magic.

Oh god, I love you two so much right now.

"Pull out," I saw Petrine bark out. What? I would never expect Petrine to retreat.

... I never expected myself to NOT make a sexual joke about that.

"What? General, we can make a powerful stand if we stand our ground today," I said to Petrine, trying to get her angle on what was going on.

"We have our orders from the king himself," Petrine barked in reply. The king himself ordered us to do something? Oh damn, I guess that's to protect the bridge and put traps on it.

"You're running away?" Ike taunted Petrine.

"Tactical retreat," I growled at him. I looked at my company and called out, "Fall back! Tactical retreat to camp! Move it!"

Ike gave me a peculiar look. I looked at him back.

"General Ike, I hope to meet you again someday soon," I said to him.

"Brigadier General Sophia!" Petrine called out.

"... General? I'm a commander... a captain," I said.

"You've just been promoted again. Take care of my troops and help organize the retreat with General Shinon," Petrine ordered. I got promoted again? What?

"Yes, ma'am," I said. As soon as she said that, she left the area.

"General?" Ike asked me as he raised an eyebrow.

"... I have no idea," I replied to him. "I have to get back to my job. I guess I'll be seeing you later..."

"Don't die now," Titania said to me.

"I'll try," I replied. "Well, time to sound the retreat."

I paused as I realized something.

"Hey, Ike?"

"Yes, Jo... er... Sophia?"

"How do you sound a retreat?"

I could hear him giving the biggest mental facepalm of his life.

"You... uh... well, um... you... not sure," Ike confessed. At this, I facepalmed myself. I pulled out my sword and pointed it.

"For appearance's sake only," I said. I looked to Titania. "Any ideas?"

"You tell those of a lower rank than you to sound the retreat. You control a set number of officers below your rank. Then those officers tell those below them and it trickles down the chain of command until you get to commanders and platoon leaders," Titania said.

"Really?" I asked.

"I don't know, but it seems most logical," Titania replied. I shrugged, pointed my sword at Elincia, and shouted, "I'll be back to destroy you all in the name of Daein."

"... as if," I added in an undertone, eliciting a smile from Titania. I sheathed my sword and began doing what Titania suggested I do. It was working and I asked a few in my group to sound a retreat as well.

You know, for someone who's such an exceptional fighter and general, Petrine sure does like to promote strangers. I mean, first there was Shinon and then there was me. I've been promoted to a high position twice with Petrine.

I caught up with Shinon as he was sounding the retreats.

"Go back with Petrine. I'll handle the one or two groups that haven't been alerted yet," Shinon growled.

"Sure thing," I replied to him as I retreated as well.

My first battle against Begnion was interesting, to say the least. The Crimean Restoration Army, as I'm calling them now, fared very well against Daein. Daein suffered many casualties and the group I was in was morally decimated. I mean, after all, they've clashed twice with the army and retreated both times.

"General Sophia, did you sound the retreat?" I heard Petrine ask. I saw her walk over.

"I did a good portion of it before General Shinon told me to retreat and he'd take care of the stragglers. I didn't know if he outranked me or not, so I did not fuss," I replied.

"Understood," Petrine said.

"General, what are we doing now?" I asked.

"We are to follow the king's orders and retreat to a certain bridge on the Crimea and Daein border. We will set traps on the bridge, gather the reinforcements promised to us, and make our last stand there," Petrine replied.

"Understood, General. When are we to move out?" I asked her.

"Within two hours. Inform the troops and get them ready for the move," Petrine said.

Damn, we just got out of a battle. They're going to be tired. Still, I guess orders are orders. She cannot subvert the orders the king gave.

"Understood, ma'am. I'll prepare the troops for your command," I said.

"You did good today, kid. You had the courage to take on a mission that you could have easily died in... and displayed a show of skill to stay alive. Your swordsmanship needs work, but next time I'm sure you can kill that pathetic piece of useless royalty," Petrine said, lacing venomous poison into her tone at describing Elincia.

"I am confident that the side that is superior will win the war," I said.

"How are we supposed to set up traps on the bridge, though?" Petrine asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Our beloved king merely told me that I am to set up traps on the bridge and to make our stand there," Petrine growled.

"You don't have any ideas on what to do for a trap?" I asked.

"No," she growled in reply.

"Well, we have to make a trap that our troops can identify somehow so they don't fall in themselves. Something that blends in with the bridge but would disable then from advancing any further," I said.

"I have an idea. You really are quite an intelligent one. Perhaps I should pull a mage of mine and ask them to see if you have any magic," Petrine commented aloud.

"It is your choice, ma'am," I said.

"Well, after our battle on the bridge," Petrine said.

The bridge on the border of Crimea and Daein is a rather dull and uninteresting bridge. It simply is a stone bridge that crosses over a river. The only significance of this bridge is not the physical or the architectural features, but the political features. This is the boundary between the two countries and is considered to be one of the most important points in this war at the current moment. Petrine ordered the soldiers to, as she put it, "modify the bridge" in our favor for the inevitable upcoming battle.

"The army will be here any minute. General Sophia, are you ready?" Petrine asked.

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

"General Shinon will act as our messenger should we be defeated today," Petrine said. Shinon was nearby on a hill to watch the battle.

"If we are defeated, we all will die," I replied.

"True," Petrine replied.

"Is it worth dying? Maybe if we could become prisoners, we could live to fight another day," I suggested.

"Are you afraid of death?" Petrine asked.

"... a bit. There's so much in this world to see, so much to learn... I'd hate to be cut short so soon when I still have the potential to do so much," I said with a smile.

"You are just like him," Petrine remarked with a bittersweet smile. "I just have two wishes before my death."

"Your death?" I asked with a questioning tone.

"We will not emerge from this battle alive most likely, as you pointed out. All I can do is hope we do enough damage to the army that the rest of Daein can overcome whatever weaknesses we dig into their ranks," she replied. I thought to myself for a bit as I realized what was going on through her mind.

"What were your wishes?" I asked her curiously.

"I want to kill that princess myself," Petrine growled angrily.

"... the other?" I asked after a quick pause.

"One last battle with my former prodigy. If I die, I want it by his hand," she said finally. Really? I wonder how much thought she put into this. As I pondered, I saw a wyvern rider with an eyepatch fly over.

"I'm here. What are your orders, ma'am?" he asked. As soon as he asked, he looked over at me and gave me the weirdest look. Shut up, Haar. It's not incest!

"Guard the bridge and don't let anyone through!" Petrine barked angrily, her mood changing abruptly.

"Enemy army approaching!" I heard the announcement come.

"Understood," Haar replied. He flew off back to his group of wyverns and prepared for battle.

"You don't seem to trust them," I said.

"His whole group strikes me as funny. There's something odd about them that I can't put my finger on. I can't trust them, no matter how long they've been here," Petrine commented.

I saw all our soldiers rush past us onto the bridge, leaving the both of us on the back lines for once. We both knew this was the end of the army as far as Petrine was concerned and she was hoping her men could soften the enemy before she rushed forward and died in a blaze under what she hoped would be of my fire magic.

"General, why do you insist I learn magic so much?" I asked.

"Why not? If you're better at it, it's all the more to bring out your potential," she replied.

I rested my hand on my sword that I had sheathed. This wasn't my iron sword or my bronze sword. No, both swords I had today were different. I managed to sneak in a rune sword and a sonic sword from the armory.

Our entire army under Petrine's control, or what was left of them after those two battles, got onto the bridge and made a valiant, albeit vain effort to hold back the Begnion soldiers. I'm strongly reminded of the story of the three-hundred Spartans who held their ground at a pass against so many trained Persian soldiers.

This group of Daein soldiers were going to fall for the same reason. There would be an attack coming from the other side. That attack would be coming from the side of Petrine.

"General..." I began.

"What is it, General Sophia?" she asked, looking at me.

"There is something I should tell you now, before we die," I said.

"What is it?" she asked, watching the battle carefully, readying her lance to rush in.

I released a spell I had saved. Handcuffs of fire bound her arms together which caused her to drop her lance, a stream of fire bound her arms to her sides, and a wind blew her off her horse to the ground. She landed on the ground on her back with a thud, a shocked expression on her face. A nasty wind spell bound her legs together in a block of ice.

"You are too trusting at times," I replied. I muttered a spell under my breath that Soren taught me that would return me back to normal. She gasped out slightly as my appearance returned to normal, mostly. I was still wearing makeup. Even my clothes were back to normal.

I wiped the makeup off, not trusting myself to take my eyes off Petrine.

"... Former Commander John," Petrine said with a shocked expression. I held out my hand in her direction on the ground as a powerful thunder spell charged in it. She was unable to move. Between the ice and the fire binding her, she could only watch as the thunderbolt in my hand grew in power and intensity.

"Goodbye, general..." I said.

Wait, no, this didn't seem right. I looked at the bridge to see the battle going on. Daein was fighting valiantly but losing horribly. The same should be true of their leader.

"I can't..." I said, putting the spell down.

"You scum, you betray me twice and you won't kill me now? What is going on in your head?" she spat at me. I did a hand formation with my hands and all the spells binding her disappeared.

"I want to grant you one of your final wishes," I said.

"... but why?" she asked me. She walked over and picked up her lance.

"Are you questioning me now?" I asked. I just realized I was still wearing my necklace with the voice-changing magic. I took it off and pocketed it.

"You had me ready to be killed and yet you do this for me. I do not understand," she said.

"Perhaps one day you will, if you survive to live another day," I said as I pulled out both the rune sword and the sonic sword.

"You think you can defeat me? The person who taught you how to fight? Hah, what a fool. Come on, boy! Come try me," Petrine mocked viciously.

With wind fluttering around us as a few of my stored spells were begging to be released, I slashed my sonic sword at her, causing a blast of scathing wind to go flying at her. She quickly sidestepped it and charged me with her flame lance.

Once again, the battle was working as it was the last time. She was attacking quickly, effectively, and viciously and I was doing all I could to dodge most of her attacks. Other attacks, I blocked either with a fire shield or one of the swords. Occasionally when I had a small breather due to a slightly off-timed attack by her or through pure chance, I'd swing with my sonic sword and attempt to get her with the blast. This would cause her to momentarily be distracted and give me enough time to try to absorb energy with the rune sword.

It was working a bit. At any rate, I was doing slightly better than I was back at Nevassa. I could hear shouts coming from the bridge as well as splashes into the water. One break, I hazarded a chance to look over to the bridge to see that Daein was holding up pretty well against the Crimean Restoration Army. I smiled slightly in pride for some unknown reason.

I don't know why. They were the enemy and yet I was still proud of them in a way.

"What are you laughing about?" Petrine said as she renewed her attack upon me. I quickly got distracted from the battle on the bridge to continue my bout with her.

"Oh, nothing," I replied to her calmly and serenely with a small smile... in between dodges.

It went on for a few more minutes, my stamina quickly wearing down. Then it happened. Petrine swung for my neck with the intention of probably cutting my head off. I quickly dropped to the ground and sweeped her, just as I did with Ike. The problem was, she probably was already anticipating this and jumped over the kick. As soon as she jumped, she slashed at me vertically from the air with all her might. Since I was crouched on the ground, I didn't have the opportunity to dodge.

I put up my swords and put up a fire shield. Her swing crashed right through my fire shield almost as if it was nothing and hit my swords. The force of the impact knocked me from my crouched position straight to the ground on my back. My rune sword went flying out of my hand a good distance away.

Somewhat luckily, the block from my sonic sword was enough for the lance to miss me and have the tip thud into the ground right next to my head. I didn't catch a break, though. I was just scrambling to get up when I felt a powerful kick from a boot to my side. All the air was knocked out of me as immense pain coursed through my body.

"You put up a good fight. However, this ends now," Petrine said, almost proudly. I knew that my time was drawing near. I tried to get up, only to wince in pain at the kick. I saw the flame lance swing at me again. I blocked with my sonic sword and it went flying out of my hand. I managed to put up a weak fire shield.

Between binding her earlier, transforming back, releasing her, dodging her attacks, and counterattacking, I was spent. I had no more magic, no more energy...

I just lay there on the ground, staring at the sky.

"Hey, general. If you stare at the sky, sometimes clouds form in weird shapes," I said off-handedly.

I felt her grab me by the collar of my neck and hold me off the ground.

"It was a pleasure doing battle with you," she said to me as she sheathed her flame lance and pulled out her sword. She was ready to run me through and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Grant me one final wish before you kill me?" I asked her pleadingly.

"... what is it?" she replied.

"If you knew all this was going to happen, would you go back and do it again or would you have killed me on the spot in the prison," I asked.

There was silence for a few minutes as she stared at me, holding me in the air. I was too tired to really fight back. Besides, where was I to go? If I got away, I'd run straight into the Daein army on the bridge and I was on the wrong side. I just hung there like a stuffed animal, awaiting my answer and my verdict.

"I would gladly do all this again for the pleasure of battling you again," she replied finally.

"... then I can die knowing full well I made my first teacher and master happy," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"You are the reason I am where I am. I told you this already and you know it yourself. You are the reason I am a mage in the army. Without you, I would be nothing. If you're proud of me, then I can die a proud soldier," I said.

... there was a pause.

"You really think that highly of me?" she asked.

"You're not as crazy as the rumors make you out to be. I would hate to see someone as spectacular of a warrior as you be killed in this war," I said flatteringly. Oh god, buy time until the Crimean army pulls through.

"I exist to serve the King of Daein," she said.

"No. You exist because you love to fight. You exist as an excellent warrior. I don't know why you hate Crimea so much; after all, we are striving to make everything in the world better. There would be no more prejudice for laguz... or for the branded," I said. There was my ace in the hole.

"No prejudice for the branded..." she muttered. I had to keep going. I just know I have to.

"I know there are people out there who suffer because of who they are. Being a branded is not easy, being ignored and shunned by both the laguz and the beorc. Princess Elincia has a dream to create a world where everyone would be treated equally, whether they are laguz, beorc, or branded," I said.

"You trust this princess? You trust that her dream will come true?" Petrine asked me.

"As much as you trust that King Ashnard would create a perfect world," I replied.

"A world without prejudice against the branded sounds too good to be true," she said.

"A world where people are judged only by their strengths sounds too good to be true as well. Do not forget the last conversation we had that one battle at Nevassa," I said.

I could see there was an internal struggle going inside of her. Whatever I was saying, it was having an effect on her. I cannot begin to imagine what was going on through her mind.

"You may be right; you may not be right. You follow your princess; I follow my king. Maybe your princess could change the world. Maybe you're right. But as you follow your leader, so I follow mine. You're a dangerous threat to the Daein army, and as such... you must be eliminated," Petrine said.

"... so that's your decision," I said sadly.

"It is, General John," she said to me.

"... I understand," I replied. I watched her as she pulled back with her sword, ready to run me through.

Then suddenly, it happened. A great, powerful shield of fire erupted between Petrine and myself, forcing us apart. We both flew backward a few feet and fell to the ground. Before she could get up, I saw a spell similar to my tendrils of fire bind her arms together.

Selena was riding over, quickly followed by Ike and Titania. The Daein army was destroyed. Jill was back to normal and was riding over with Haar.

"Rot in hell, you heartless bitch!" Selena cried out as a huge fireball appeared in her hands, ready to kill Petrine. Wow, never saw Selena like this before.

... before I knew what I was doing, I jumped up and got between the two.

"Wait. Don't kill her," I said, before I realized what I was doing.

"What?" both Petrine and Selena said in unison.

"... what?" Ike asked about a second later. Once again, the slow one.

"She'd be more valuable alive and as a prisoner. Just... trust me on this one," I said, pulling the oracle card.

"Is this another one of your future-predictions?" Ike asked.

"Future... predictions...?" Petrine asked quietly.

"No, I'm not speaking as an oracle this time or whatever you want to call me," I said.

"A crackpot," Boyd joked. Everyone glared at him for a second.

"I was joking!" Boyd quickly added. I ignored him and continued.

"I'm speaking from instinct. We could extract information from her about Daein, their whereabouts, and what they are up to. She is one of their premiere generals, after all. Rider of Daein is a title not bestowed everyday to a person," I reasoned.

"... fine. Arrange a holding cell for the prisoiner," Ike said.

"She's also somewhat of a mage, so I suggest being careful," I said.

"Damn you," Petrine growled.

"You should be thanking me," I growled back to her. "Now be useful and spill information like a good little girl."

"Like hell I am," Petrine venomously spat, glaring at me.

"We'll see... in due time," I said.

At that moment, I saw a man with a large sword and red armor walking over. Damn, he was one impressive guy. He looked a bit like a general, with all that armor, but I could see that he was moving around as if it was nothing. It was almost as if he was used to carrying around heavy armor like it was nothing.

Damn it, why are all these things that isn't in the game happening? Why is Zelgius here? That didn't happen in the game!

Why did I just lose the game again?

"General Zelgius. It is a pleasure to see you here," Ike said pleasantly.

"I see you captured one of the four riders," Zelgius commented off-handedly. His voice was deep and commanding. I could feel myself just respecting him, just by how he held himself and how he spoke.

Still... that voice seemed familiar. I can't place my finger on it.

"We did," Ike commented.

"Gallia will probably now join the war on the side of Crimea!" a blue-haired individual nearby said. Oh, oh, oh, I know you! You're, um... um... what's your name?

"Oh, John, this is General Zelgius," Ike said. No, not him! I know who he is.

"I have heard many things about you," Zelgius said.

"I am honored that you know so much about me," I replied.

"This other person is Ranulf--"

THAT'S HIS NAME!

"--he is servant for the king of Gallia," Ike said.

"Pleased to meet you as well," I said to Ranulf.

"No need to be so stiff and formal. What do I look like? A beorc general?" Ranulf said jokingly, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"No offense," he added hastily to General Zelgius.

"None taken," Zelgius replied.

Petrine was taken away to a holding cell, much to Selena's chagrin. I could tell she wanted to kill Petrine.

"Why did you save her?" she asked me.

"I don't know. It felt like the right thing to do," I replied.

"... you have a very weird moral compass," Selena commented darkly.

"I have morals?" I asked back, jokingly, trying to cheer her up.

"Somewhere," I replied.

"Lookit what I found heah!" I heard a Nephenee voice shout. I looked over to see she had grabbed Petrine's lance from the ground. I could see Petrine's eyes sparkle with hatred.

"That's..." I began, but I stopped. Nephenee swung it through the air, causing a shower of sparks, flames, and fireworks to erupt everywhere.

"Whoa, nelly! This heah is sparkin' up worse'n ah bonfiah at home!" Nephenee said.

What?

Once again, I'm mystified by her accent.

"Hold onto it. It may be useful later on," I said to Nephenee.

Well, one four rider down, three to go. Where to go from here, nobody knows.

Melior, here we come. Crimea, we'll save you when we can.

Author's Notes: I've made it a resolution to myself to finish the Path of Radiance part of this story by the end of the year. Maybe it might happen, maybe it might not.

I also have some other things planned for the fic. I've noticed that a LOT of people I've talked to were very disappointed with Radiant Dawn and how bad it was. Consequently, I've taken it into my own hands to change quite a few things up from the game itself.

I've decided on this for a few reasons. First, this will make the story less predictable for the readers who have probably played through it enough times. Second, this will require me to actually use my imagination to come up with an alternate way to tell the story. Third, this opens many doors to clear up loose ends that I've purposefully left open in this story.

I have quite a bit planned out for the Radiant Dawn portion of this story... I honestly can't wait to get to some of them.

I also plan on bringing in more of Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones elements into this story. "Why?" you may ask.

Well, because, like I said... re-telling a story is a bit boring for both the writer and the reader.

Also, playing FE6. Roy sucks major ass. Seriously.

Until next time, everyone. Ciao! Hopefully, with college starting today, I will still have enough time to crank out chapters for the PoR portion of this story. Can't wait to finish it.

Can't wait for the Ike vs. the Black Knight fight.

Vegeta. What does the word count say about this chapter?

IT'S OVER NINE THOUSSAAANND!