Birth and Re-Death

Chapter 15: I Finally Meet My Waifu

I'm not gonna lie, I've kinda moved straight past worrying about the impending attack and have already started preparing myself to go through all this again. Knowing that I've already handled this in pretty much the worst way possible so far by walking us right into what I know is going to be an ambush, I just kind of want to die and get it over with so that I can tell Robin we should avoid the pass. Though how the hell am I going to do that? Just last night I told her it would probably be fine if we took the pass. But if we can avoid this fight, why wouldn't we? Isn't that maybe why I'm here? Prevent damage whenever possible?

Stick to the script.

Yeah, but that's already been demonstrably a crock of nonsense anyway. How many times has my situation made it impossible to stick to the script entirely? I'm starting to think Mr. Future Randy doesn't have a firm grasp on how things work around here.

"You alright there, Randall?" I hear a distinctly Southern-sounding voice ask nearby as we march. I turn to look at Donnel, who is walking up to my side. He looks better with the bronze-colored helmet currently adorning his head in place of the pot, I will say. "You look a little on edge."

He's not lying. I'm gripping my Mend staff tightly, knuckles whitening from the strain. I'm constantly looking from this bush to that boulder to that vaguely-shaped shadow, just daring something to jump out. I bet it drives up people's heart rate just looking at me. Even if I'm counting on dying, I'm still not looking forward to it. Like playing through a horror game and even knowing you've made a wrong turn, you're still on edge waiting for the monster to jump out.

"Yeah, I'm all aces. Just keeping an eye out for anything unusual," I say in as level a voice as possible.

"You don't normally seem the type to get so worked up. Didn't have you pegged for a worrier," Donnel says. "You're usually all smiles and jokes."

He should've seen me last night. "Haha, you might be surprised. This pass is wigging me out though," I say, forcing a laugh. Gotta take my mind off this somehow. This kind of mental strain just isn't healthy. I briefly consider the not-far-off cliff, but something about leaping off the cliff myself just doesn't seem right somehow. Maybe it's because technically nothing has gone wrong yet?

"You guys doing alright?" I hear Lissa ask behind us, sounding quite out of it. "Cuz I'm dying over here with all this walking. Either of you strapping young men want the honor of carrying a princess and giving her poor little feet a rest?"

I'm preparing to lay a roast on the girl, but the Don starts talking first. "Oh, o' course I will, Princess Lissa. Hop aboard! If you don't mind, that is," and he takes a half-squatting position to let her on his back.

"Hey Donny, I think she might have been kidding," I say, holding back laughter.

"I sure wasn't! Woohoo!" Lissa declares, hopping on his back without a moment's hesitation. Impressively, he doesn't buckle at all, and he can keep the same pace as before.

Lissa notices me giving her a disappointed look. "What? I'm tired, okay?"

I raise my hands. "I didn't say anything."

She narrows her eyes. "You might as well have. A look can say a lot, y'know."

I smirk. "Believe what you will, I guess."

"Hmph." She makes a show of turning her head away from me, whipping Donnel's head with one of her twin tails in the process. The juggernaut remains undaunted. "So whatcha guys talking about?"

"Randall was saying that he don't like the look of this place," Donnel says.

"What for?" Lissa asks, her prior irritation apparently already forgotten. "Aside from the possibility of some bandits or something, there shouldn't be anyone out this far east, right?"

How to put this? I guess I can just parrot what Robin was saying last night. "It's not as much that I think we'll run into anyone, as much as if we ran into anyone here, this is a really disadvantageous place for it to happen."

"I guess…" Lissa says.

I find that I'm getting pretty tired of explaining why we're gonna get attacked to people who won't remember the conversation in the first place, but at the same time I don't really want to talk about much else, for pretty much the same reason. I let Donnel outpace me and fall back a little in the pack.

It only hits me now how much of a bummer it is marching with people who will end up just doing this again, having conversations that won't really count. I don't really feel like talking to anyone anymore. The others pass one or two at a time, and I'm a little surprised how quickly I can recognize the Shepherds just by the backs of their heads. Well, except that guy. Don't really recognize him.

Wait. Who is that? The dude in the official robes and tacky hat… Oh! It's that hierarch guy! He's the one who sells the Ylissean position out in the first place! I can't believe I forgot about him. What a dickhead.

In fact, he might just be the best pastime going around here. In what I'm now considering the 'real run' of this, I won't talk with him at all, but if I fuck with him a little now, no one will remember, after all. I'll admit, I grin a little evilly.

As I approach from behind and to the left, it's pretty clear he's already a nervous wreck. He's wringing his hands and pretty evidently sweating clean through his robes. If I didn't know he's got a lot to be feeling nervous about, I'd almost pity the sight.

As it stands, I walk up behind him and clap him, not gently, on the shoulder, earning a satisfying yelp from him. "Hey there! My name's Randall, what's yours?"

He collects himself for a moment, and shrugs off my hand on his shoulder. "Uhm, my name is Aventine. I'm an advisor to the Ylissean court. Can I help you with something?"

I shrug nonchalantly. "Nah, not really. I was just sort of thinking we should be friends. Don'tcha think so?"

He glances around. "I… suppose." He narrows his eyes, trying to see what I'm up to. Joke's on him, though. I'm just making this up as I go.

"So, if we're gonna make friends, I think we should get to know each other. Let's share some secrets. I'll start: sometimes I only brush my teeth once a day, and go to bed without doing it. What about you? Got a secret you'd like to share?" I say, my voice dripping with saccharine venom.

What can I say? Subtlety isn't exactly my specialty.

It has the desired effect, though: he looks more nervous than ever. "I-I don't think that's…" He falters, unsure what to say.

I wrap an arm tightly around his shoulder. "Hey, that's no problem, buddy. After all," and I drop my voice to the lowest, most threatening voice I can manage, "I already know your secret." I can feel him flinch. "We're not the only people on this pass today, are we, Lord Aventine?" All of my bitterness about having to do this again is being pointed squarely at this poor guy.

He's pretty plainly shuddering now. "H-how do you know any of this? You can't p-prove it! Not at all!"

I bark a short, sadistic laugh. "Your reaction already says plenty. You're waiting on a detachment of Plegian wyvern riders to ambush us, taking you into their care. Am I wrong?"

"Y-you… How…" Aventine looks almost childlike now. He's fortunate that the caravan has mostly either moved past us or is otherwise ignoring us as we speak quietly off to the side.

"The 'how' isn't important, my lord," I say. "I know a lot of things. More than you, I'd wager. For example, that leader of the wyvern riders, what was his name? I think it was Vasto. Anyway, I happen to know that regardless of whatever arrangement he made with you, his actual plan is different. Do you want to know what it is?"

"W-what are you talking about?" I can't tell whether he's playing dumb or if he's responding sincerely at this point.

I lean in closer. "He has no intention of taking a traitor like you into his care. Wasting time and resources on making sure you make it back safely? On a man who's proven by this very plan that even years of service mean nothing to him? No. He's going to cut you down and cast you into the bottom of the canyon, just like the rest of us."

"You're lying!" Aventine shouts, then remembers himself and quiets down. "I made a deal with that man, and the Plegians that serve under General Mustafa always keep their word."

General Mustafa? Now that is interesting. As I recall, he's the one that wants to stop the fighting between the countries if possible. I wonder why he would be behind a plot like this.

"Well, believe what you want, I guess. But as you're falling off that cliff, clutching at your new axe wounds, just know that I was right," I say nonchalantly.

"Gentlemen." A metal-clad hand grips my shoulder. I recognize that voice. "You're beginning to fall behind. Please take care to keep up," Frederick says. Am I imagining that icy tinge to his voice? Probably not.

"Right you are, Freddie. Let's get the lead out, Lord Aventine," I say, brightening my tone and standing up straight again.

The heirarch looks positively terrified. "O-of course. Actually, I just remembered, I left some very important documents at the last campsite. I must go and get them. I will catch up with you gentlemen later on."

As he starts to scurry off, Frederick calls after him. "Wait, my lord! It's unsafe to go alone! Let me accompany you!"

Aventine stops, nervously fiddling with his fingers. "No need, Sir Frederick. I will be fine on my own for a few hours. And I will move much more quickly on my own. Plus, you're needed at Lord Chrom's side. I wouldn't want to separate the pair of you."

Frederick's eyes narrow so slightly that I feel it rather than see it. "All true, but it won't do to have a man of your standing left by himself in the elements like this. Allow one of the guards to accompany you, my lord."

Seeing that he's not going to be able to change his mind, Aventine lets out a shaky sigh. "So be it, sir."

Frederick looks over his shoulder and whistles at one of the pegasus knights mounted by the Exalt's carriage. Her pegasus trots over obediently. "You called, Sir Frederick?" the young rider sitting atop the pegasus asks.

"I did. Lord Aventine believes he has misplaced some documents at last night's campsite. I want you to accompany him there and see to it that once his documents are in order, he is brought safely back to us. Understood?"

Something about the way he said that makes it sound like what he really meant was "don't let him sneak off," but that could also just be me. Probably not.

The rider, on the other hand, seems to suspect nothing. "Understood, sir!" She salutes and rides over to the heirarch. "Want to hop aboard, my lord? As long as we don't take to the sky, ole Cassie here should be able to take both of us."

Aventine laughs nervously. "Sounds...good! Let's be off, quickly." He awkwardly clamors up behind her, and she giggles as he actively tries to touch her as little as humanly possible. They trot off without any further delay.

Which leaves me alone with Frederick. Great. His hand reappears on my shoulder. "Mister Randall, I wasn't aware you and Lord Aventine know each other."

"Well, that would be because we don't. We just met today."

"Is that so? The pair of you seemed awfully close before I walked over."

"I was just trying to assuage his worries about coming through the pass. He was pretty anxious about it."

"A noble gesture. Why was he anxious?"

I gesture around. "Lots of places for enemies to hide. Plus, if you don't mind my saying so, I think there was something he wasn't telling me."

Frederick's response is sharp. "Watch yourself, Randall. You're speaking about a member of the High Counsel and a close friend of the Exalted family."

Looks like regardless of his own apparent misgivings, he still doesn't like me making the same speculation. I raise my hands. "Hey, just something I noticed is all. I'm not saying he was lying or anything like that. Maybe just that we should keep an eye out."

"It was already my intention to have everyone 'keep an eye out,' thank you very much," Frederick replies. "I already oppose the idea of going through this pass, regardless of Robin's orders. However, it won't do to raise suspicion about those closest to us. Especially when there are so many other, lesser known quantities at play."

Great. He trusts the actual traitor more than he trusts me. I'm so flattered.

"Right. Well, I'll be sure to, uh, remain diligent, then." The weight of his gaze feels like a sodden blanket over my shoulders as I shuffle off to rejoin the others. I feel his eyes on my back as he gets back on his horse.

Eventually I catch up with the medical supply wagon. Walking alongside the wagon is Maribelle's horse Fleur-de-lis, keeping pace dutifully with the wagon. Even though last night went less than perfectly, I don't want things between her and me to get truly weird, so once I get to the back of the wagon, I get a quick running start and hop in, just barely managing not to get caught on the hem of my own robe.

Doesn't stop me from falling on my face inside the wagon though. I land with a thud on the wooden floor. In front of the wagon, I hear one of the pair of horses pulling the wagon snort in light protest.

Just as I thought, the troubadour is sitting inside, apparently taking inventory of something or other. She gasps as I startle her with my entrance. "Randy? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know," I say, scrambling to my feet. "Just thought I'd drop in."

She giggles a pitying laugh. "Is that so? Well, I welcome the company. It's a long ways yet to the Eastern Palace."

"Whatcha doing in here?" I ask, sitting beside her on a long, low supply crate, no doubt housing more staves.

"Taking inventory of the staves at our disposal while there's time to do so. Better to do it now than later when there will be better things to do." She taps the clipboard in her hand with the tip of her quill. I only just now notice the bottle of ink balancing on her thigh. Good Lord that's dangerous. That outfit is white, and that ink is waaaay black. Looks like she's got a lot of faith in her balance after her how-to-be-a-proper-lady classes of her youth.

"Sounds like exciting stuff," I say with mock enthusiasm.

She rolls her eyes. "Hardly. Menial tasks that honestly I would prefer leaving to the help, but if something comes up on the trail, like bandits or some such, it is much better to know. Anyway, the only unusuality here is that a few Rescue staves are missing from the stock."

I rub the back of my head. "Actually, I might have some explanation for that…"

She turns to look at me again. "You? You mean to say that you're… already learning to…"

I grin sheepishly. "Guilty as charged."

I can't read that expression. "I… but you… I can't…" She collects herself. "It's good that you're learning to use them. I hadn't known you've started already. I suppose Lissa has been the one teaching you?"

"Yeah, that's right. I've gotten a pretty good start, but I'm nowhere near ready to use them on the fly like she does," I say honestly. Despite how excited I'd been to have a one-up on her, I suddenly don't want to rub her face in it. I decide not to bring up that she herself can't use them.

"I'm glad that you're learning," she says after a moment. "It's good to see you're taking your education seriously. It shows that I didn't put my effort toward a lost cause."

"Is that a worry you've had?" I ask.

She gives a sly smile. "Well, considering that in every major battle the pair of us has seen together, you take a blast of dark magic to the chest and get taken out of commission, it was honestly starting to feel like ill-invested time."

I place a hand on my chest in mock-horror. "Why, Lady Maribelle! To joke about such grim matters!"

Despite that I was clearly joking, something in my statement clicks in her head, and her smile cracks. "Oh. Um, you're right, of course. My apologies."

"Uh, Mari? I was kidding," I say cautiously.

"No, I know that," she says quickly. "It's just that even so, you're right. I oughtn't have joked about such things. You did nearly die on both occasions, after all. It was unkind to joke about them." By now she's well and truly ruined her own good mood.

I consider for a moment whether it's appropriate, then decide to throw caution to the wind and place my arm around her shoulder. She doesn't shrug me off. "Hey, no worries! I'm still here, after all. Joking about some of this stuff is the best way to make sure you keep sane through it all, right?"

She very obviously forces a smile. "You're right. I'm sorry I spoiled the good cheer."

I give her shoulder a squeeze. "Hey, you know me. My good cheer is a lot harder to dent than that." I feel some of the tension leave her body.

She chuckles. "That's true. You've always been, if anything, too light-hearted." She recaps her ink bottle and sets it aside, then stands up, and I let my arm drop. "Regardless, you had better be careful with Rescue staves, no matter how much training you get in. They remain constantly tricky to use. Or so I'm told," she adds with a sidelong glance in what I assume is Lissa's direction.

Suddenly, the wagon stops. Once the rumbling of the wheels stops, I can hear shouting up ahead. Has the battle started?

The flaps of the tent open, and there's Lissa, looking exceedingly worried. "Come on, you two! We have to get moving, now! Plegians are attacking the caravan! Let's go!" She scrambles inside, grabbing a couple staves and hopping back out.

"Let's move," Maribelle and I say to each other, each grabbing a staff and making for the back of the wagon. However, just as Maribelle hops out to mount Fleur-de-lis, I pause for a moment. Making a split-second decision, I reach over and grab a Rescue staff as well. I had forgotten when I was talking to Maribelle that I intend for this to be a practice run, but when she mentioned getting in more training with the Rescue staves, that put me back in my prior mindset.

Normally I wouldn't dream of using a Rescue staff with this little practice under my belt, but if I'm going back regardless, that just makes this an opportunity to practice my technique more with no permanent consequences.

I strap the Rescue to my back and hop out. Maribelle has already advanced up the field, so I start making my way to the front alone.

Looks like the battle is already going strong. I've been briefly exposed to wyvern riders before, but with this many afield, it's like seeing them for the first time all over again. To recap: they're massive, loud, super scary, and their individual wing flaps alone make formidable gusts of wind. In a pass this precarious, even that is something to consider.

It looks like Lissa is taking care of the northern troops, and Maribelle has taken her place in the middle of the pass, which leaves me with the south side. You know, closest to the cliff. Fun stuff.

"Oh good, Randall, you're here," I hear a voice somewhere say, and I realize with a start that it's Kellam, and he was right in front of me. "I've been doing my best to take the brunt of their arrows to save the pegasus riders, but they eventually took their toll." I force my eyes to focus, and indeed, he's got like half a dozen arrows lodged in various gaps in his armor. I help him lie down on the ground so that I can begin.

Ultimately, I can't get many of these arrows out while his armor is still on, so I have no choice but to strip off piece after piece of his steel plate. As more and more opens up, I can get at the arrows and close the wounds, but the whole process takes several minutes, and even once I'm done, he's now only wearing like half of his armor. So even if he's safe, he's still out of commission for a while.

While he gathers up his plate pieces and starts shuffling to the back line to put it back on, I rush forward to see who else needs help. Hopefully, someone in need of a Rescue, maybe, hmm?

Looks like most of my charge is Donnel and Stahl now, with Miriel relatively safe in the backfield. As I approach, Miriel asks, "Is Kellam unharmed? Well, I suppose it would be more accurate to ask if the harm that befell him has been reversed."

"In either case, yeah. He's gonna be fine," I reply, passing her to get to the melee guys and see if they've got healing that needs doing.

"Thank you," I hear her say as I pass.

Up on the front line, Stahl is taking most of the hits from his armored mount while Donnel is stuck with the unpleasant task of finishing off the guys that Stahl knocks off-balance. It's a pretty good system, except that it involves Stahl taking a lot of punishment. Luckily, that's where I come in. Without saying anything, I use my Mend staff to close up some of the wounds on him after he knocks the last guy in this wave off the cliff.

He brings his horse around to get a better look at me. "Oh, Randall! Thanks for that. Good of you to join us at last!"

"Sorry I took so long; Kellam was pretty well perforated when I got to him," I reply.

He looks embarrassed; I assume he hadn't noticed. "Oh. Is he alright?"

"He is now," I say, waving a hand. "Let's get back to it."

Stahl nods, and the four of us advance upfield. Unfortunately, being the southernmost detachment, we're the first to receive the sudden onslaught from the wyvern riders that had been waiting on the other side of the canyon, and they choose now to strike.

With his superior movement and sword advantage, Stahl takes this attack in stride, parrying and redirecting axe swings with relative ease. Miriel too seems to be able to handle herself well; whenever a rider tries to take a swing at her, she usually dodges handily and counters with a magic fireball to the back as they pass.

The only one to worry about is Donnel. For starters, he's working against a weapon disadvantage as his stabbing tool doesn't help much with countering their strikes while also keeping his arms out of the axe's path. He's also thoroughly untrained with fighting airborne enemies, with only the brief battle with Orton's army under his belt to that end. This leaves him feeling pretty unconfident, evidenced by the pants-shittingly terrified look on his face. The same rider keeps looping around and taking swing after swing at him, and he is usually left diving for safety on the ground or otherwise taking hits that I am quickly closing up for him. Still, despite the concentrated effort I'm putting into taking care of him, I can tell he's gonna run out of steam soon.

Still, the attacker doesn't let up, and it's looking like this next attack might go for the throat. I wonder briefly if this is a situation where a Rescue is appropriate, but before I can come to a decision, a red and white blur comes flying in from the west and smashes the rider off his mount and into the canyon. The mount itself, no doubt trained to do so, follows the rider down, despite the massive wound he sustained.

Of course, I understand what that blur was. It's my waifu, come to save us.

That's right, Cordelia is absolutely best girl. I marry her in basically every playthrough and haven't regretted it once. The perfectionist violin-playing dork who only signed on for the pegasus corps because she's a poor runner. The woman with access to Galeforce, Armsthrift, Sol, Vengeance, Tomebreaker, Lifetaker, and more. The super cutie with loooong red hair and a smile that melts my heart.

And now she's landing in front of us. "Trouble from behind! We must keep pressing forward to keep ahead of the reinforcements behind us!" Honestly, I only half hear it though. I'm more stunned by the image of her astride her pegasus, with her hair shining in the afternoon sun and waving gently in the wind.

I glance at Donnel, and he looks about as starstruck as I feel. "Wow," he says quietly.

I elbow him lightly in the ribs. "Hey Donny. Dibs," I half-whisper.

"W-what?" he sputters. "No way! I– that's not–!"

"What are you two talking about!? We have to keep moving!" Cordelia shouts, snapping us back to reality. She takes back to the sky with a massive whoosh, and the gust just about knocks us over.

With Cordelia's help, the fliers become much more manageable. She keeps that at a controlled altitude, low enough that they're always in range of Miriel's fire, which weakens them considerably. Soon, the whole southern party is decimated.

Just in time for us to be greeted by another party from the east. Fantastic. Looks like the fight still isn't over.

This time, there's ground troops as well as wyverns, so Stahl and Donnel are kept busy on the ground while Miriel does her best to balance support on the ground with support in the air for Cordelia. I heal our ground troops when there's the chance, but there's not much that can be done for Cordelia all the way up there, even though she is taking quite a few hits from the wyvern riders she's juggling. No real opportunities to Rescue anyone, either, which is lightly disheartening.

Suddenly, a much faster rider in different armor comes flying through and very nearly smashes Cordelia off her mount. That must be Vasto. By the look of things, he certainly earned his role, as his technique is admittedly keeping Cordelia very much on her heels as she tries to keep pace. He makes use of the weapon advantage, taking wide swings and avoiding any position that would give her a chance to lunge, usually sticking to her flanks or behind her while she desperately tries to maneuver away.

Still, the superior speed of the wyvern shows, and soon he's behind her with no sign of her being able to turn around or drop quickly. I glance down and see that Miriel is distracted with the troops on the ground, so she's not going to be able to help either. Without a miracle, Cordelia is going to be knocked into the canyon for sure.

I remember my Rescue staff. I pull it out and point it straight at her, frantically running the calculation in my head of how much I have to move and approximately what position her legs are in on either side of her pegasus. I'd really prefer not to take any limbs off, even in practice.

Just when I think I've got the spell ready and start casting, she does the impossible and her mount drops extremely quickly. I realize too late that her pegasus just literally flapped its wings up to accelerate down more quickly, and is now ducked into a full dive. Fortunately, she's got the whole canyon's depth to recover from that move.

Unfortunately, my spell is still going through. Only now that space is occupied by the wrong person altogether. A flash of light follows, and then another flash right in front of me.

"GYAAAAAAAGH!"

That would be Captain Vasto. Well, most of him, anyway. Of course, I was calculating to move a person considerably smaller than him and in a slightly different position, and it shows. In the form of about half of his left leg and most of his left arm being missing. The moment that he landed, his leg buckled, forcing him to fall to the ground.

He looks terrified, disoriented, and in incredible pain. I don't blame him. It wasn't a clean job. He screams for another moment while his mount flies around for a moment, confused as to where its master went.

His eyes focus on me. "GRR, YOU IDIOT!" he barks, and then there's an axe buried in my side. I gasp sharply in sudden pain, and instinctively kick out, clocking him in the face and making him let go of the axe. I glance up and see the others far enough ahead of us that I'm pretty solidly on my own.

I notice how close we are to the cliff. Despite the pain in my side, I grab him by the half-leg and drag him over while he howls in pain. However, when I start trying to toss him off, his right hand catches the handle of the still-buried axe in my side and pulls, hard, searching for a lifeline. Instead, all it does is knock me off balance and send me stumbling to the edge myself. It also hurts a whole hell of a lot, but adrenaline mostly takes care of that as I realize I am about to be pulled into the abyss.

"Randy!" someone shouts as we go over.

Despite this always having been my plan, I'm still scared enough to scream like a girl as the pair of us start plummeting into the canyon. I hit an outcropping of rock as we go, slowing me enough that we get separated and also almost certainly breaking something, but still not stopping me. Just as I start to speed up to a concerning rate again, though, I'm hit with a massive force from the side.

Oh, it's you, my darling waifu. "Are you alright?" Cordelia asks with genuine concern as we start making our way up to the top of the canyon again, with me held more or less bridal style in her lap.

"Oh, I'm aces. Just figured I'd, you know, drop in," I manage to say for the second time today. Vision's starting to blur. Wait, no! No, that's literally the one thing that can't happen. "Hey, Cordelia. Drop me," I sputter.

"Nonsense. Hyperion can take the weight," she replies. "Just hold on."

I squirm as best I can. "No, you don't understand. I… I have to…" It starts to hurt too much to talk, and my strength is fading fast.

It's too late anyway; we land on the ground, and when I look up, there's a very concerned Maribelle, holding her staff over me. I feel that familiar sting of wounds closing, and I can once again feel my strength fading. No, no! I can't manage to say anything as darkness closes in.

I sit up the moment consciousness returns. There's Maribelle again, but it looks like we're in a tent of some sort. No, actually we're in the medical supply wagon, I realize.

"Shit, shit!" I shout immediately.

"What?" she yelps, clearly startled and afraid.

"The battle! Is it still going?" I demand.

"No, it's finished. Just a little bit ago. Cordelia is giving her report, last I checked."

"Is everyone okay? No one's harmed?" I am unable to control my volume. I was not prepared for this possibility.

She gestures with her hands, lowering them with palms down to try to quiet and calm me. "It's alright, Randall. Nothing serious. No one on our side was lost, thank the gods."

I let out the biggest sigh I've ever taken. In. Out. In. Out.

"Okay. Thank you," I say, getting to my feet.

"Randy, wait! You shouldn't move around so quickly!" Maribelle protests, but I'm already halfway out the wagon.

Not too far away, there's Chrom and the others, arguing with Emmeryn about whether she's going to go back to Ylisstol. By the sound of it, that argument is nearing its conclusion.

"Walking to your own death will not bring peace to anyone! Ylisse needs you. We need you! Be selfish for once in your life!" Chrom shouts.

I have to intervene somehow. I can change things. Chrom is right; she's walking into a pointless deathtrap and it's going to make for a pointless choice later when she has to kill herself. Well, pointless outside of the fact that it demoralizes the Plegian army, anyway.

Actually, I guess that isn't pointless at all. There's merit to that sacrifice.

Is there really nothing that I can do, though? Is this what Old Man Randy meant when he suggested that I stick to the script? That I wouldn't really have much of a choice, and I should get used to it?

I look at the Exalt, standing so tall and firm in her decision to go back. She must know it's a deathtrap too. She's going anyway.

I look at Chrom and Lissa, looking as if it's taking every fiber of their strength not to tackle their big sister and hold her down to keep her here with them. They won't do it anyway.

I look at the Shepherds, most of whom are standing nearby and watching the exchange from a polite distance, but still in earshot. Despite their love for their captain, they won't act either.

There's Ricken, jumping up and down in the back of the pack, trying to see his idol. He shouldn't have to see this, not when it's going to haunt him later when she has to jump off a cliff to save his and everyone else's life. I remember not too long ago, playing with those wind magic sheets and pretending like we weren't in the middle of a war.

Wait… The magic sheets that throw the caster backwards as well as the target.

Those basic, easy to use magic sheets. And Emmeryn is a sage, already skilled in magic.

I check the pocket of my robe. Yes! Still there! Screw you, Future Randy, I'm gonna change the script all I like! I pull out one of the sheets as Emmeryn starts to walk away. I skirt around the crowd of Shepherds and run after her as she's leaving. I catch up to Emmeryn just as she's getting on the back of Phila's pegasus.

"Exalt Emmeryn!" I call, and she turns to look at me.

"Ah, yes. Randall, was it?" she asks, looking a little puzzled.

"That's right. I'm not going to try to stop you, but there's something you should have. It's really important," I say, panting a little as I try to catch my breath from running after her.

"What is it?" she asks sincerely. Somehow, I think she might actually be receptive to this crazy idea.

I press one of the wind magic sheets into her hands. "You will need to have this. I don't have time to explain why, or how, but I know it. Can you please, please promise me that you'll keep it on your person at all times, no matter what? You'll know the moment when you'll need to use it, I'm confident."

She glances at the sheet, then turns it over, as if expecting more. Seeing nothing of note, she looks at me, and if she weren't such an accommodating and graceful woman, I'm positive she'd have raised an eyebrow. To her eternal credit, she says, "I don't understand, but nonetheless, you have my word. I will keep this until I have need of it."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh God, thank you. That's a massive load off my mind, my lady. You have no idea." Phila's pegasus lets out an impatient snort. "Anyway, that's all I needed. Safe travels!"

"Please continue to keep my family safe, as you have been doing, Randall," she says.

I smile at her. "I will, Lady Emmeryn."

She nods, and the pair of them take off to join the rest of the guard in the air, presumably to try to work around the advancing Plegian guard and get back to Ylisstol undetected.

I manage to make it back to the caravan before collapsing onto my ass from exhaustion. Before I can get comfy sitting on the ground, though, there's Maribelle again.

"Ugh, you absolute fool! Get up and come with me!" she demands, pulling me to my feet. Despite her irritation, she still helps me back to the medical supply wagon. "Do you have any idea how worried I have been about you, only to have you go storming off like that, faster than I can keep up with?"

"I couldn't say, but I'm guessing 'very'?" I say with a sheepish smile as she leans me on some staff crates and the wagon shudders into motion, no doubt because we need to keep moving to avoid the Plegian advancing forces as well.

"'Very' hardly begins to cover it! First I watch you take an axe wound to the side, and then you're engaged in a fight with the enemy commander, and then on top of that, you go plummeting off into the canyon! I… I thought you…" She kneels down next to me, and I realize she's crying. "I was so scared you were going to…"

I pull her into a hug, and she accepts wholeheartedly, squeezing me if anything too hard for a few moments. "Hey, there's no need to worry. I'm not going anywhere," I attempt to reassure her, probably unconvincingly. I might know it's true that I can't die, but there's not really a good way to convince her of the same.

"Strong words, coming from someone who can't seem to stop brushing with death at every turn," she retorts, muffled into my shoulder. She pulls away enough to look me in the eye. "I need you to start being more careful."

That look in her eye says it all. What I did today was unfair. Even if I intended to undo it all, making Maribelle watch something like that was cruel, and I owe her an apology.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" I ask sincerely.

She sighs. "Of course. Just promise you'll stay safe."

"Only if you promise the same."

"I promise too, then."

A moment passes, and her eyes remain zeroed in on mine.

"So… does this mean I have to give up on my side-career as a professional cliff diver?"

She breaks eye contact for long enough to roll her eyes, snorting in either laughter or disgust, or both, then leans in and presses her lips to mine.

It takes probably a full second for 1) my heart to start beating again and 2) my brain to realize what's happening. By then we've both woven our arms around each other and committed to making this moment last. After a few seconds, I slide to the floor, and she's lying on top of me.

Some amount of time later (my brain decided it had more interesting things to keep track of), she finally breaks it apart, supporting her upper body on outstretched arms on either side of me. Her hair tumbles down in drills around us. A moment of silence passes between us, with the smallest of smiles on her face to tell me it's at least going well so far.

"So anyway, like I was saying last night. Do you want to go out sometime? Maybe look at some stars or something?" I say, suddenly full of all the bravado I didn't have yesterday. It doesn't feel like it was just a day ago now though; now it feels like a lifetime has passed.

She giggles. "I was beginning to wonder if that was what you were intending to ask," she says. "To answer the question, let's say, hmm…" and she lowers herself enough to allow her to kiss me again.

"I like that answer," I say around her lips during the kiss.

"Hey Maribelle, have you seen– whoa!" Lissa shouts, her voice echoing off the thick canvas and making it all the louder in our ears.

Instantly, Maribelle is scrambling off me, sitting up atop one of the crates and somehow already holding a clipboard. "Oh, Lissa my dear!" she says entirely too loudly. "I just stumbled and fell onto poor Randy here, isn't that silly?"

Oh my God, you are a piss-poor liar, Mari. The red I can see on her face and feel in my own betrays everything. "Hey there, princess. What's up?" I ask in an attempt to be casual.

Lissa's face too has reddened. "Uh… Nevermind, I'll find it on my own," she says, ducking out quickly. I hear a yelp and a thud as she presumably trips on her way out of the wagon.

Maribelle and I look at each other for a moment. I'm not quite sure who gives a nervous laugh first, but the other follows almost instantly, and soon we are both cackling like fiends in the wagon. Soon, we've calmed down though.

"I think we will have much to discuss in the near future," she says.

I nod. "Right. For now, I should probably go. You know, to avoid people talking more than they're already going to."

She nods in turn. "Not a bad idea. I will see you later, then."

I shoot her a wink as I leave the wagon. "You sure will."

For now, everyone's so preoccupied with the Exalt leaving that the invariable rumors about Maribelle and me either haven't started or haven't been deemed the most important thing on anyone's plate yet, so when night rolls around, I find I go pretty much unchallenged on the way back to my tent.

Except for Robin, that is.

"So, I know there's a lot of everyone's plate, but it looks like you and another girl around here at least made a little room for dessert, eh?" she asks.

"Don't you have a march to plan or something?" I ask, but I can't hide the smile from my face.

"Actually, yes. But I figured it was worth checking in, regardless," she answers seriously.

"But yeah, that's true. It worked out after all! All I had to do was get thrown off a cliff!"

She narrows her eyes. "Yeah, I wouldn't recommend that for any future romantic gestures, by the way. You can't always be sure there'll be a pegasus knight down there to catch you."

"Yeah, yeah. I had it under control," I say, waving a hand.

She raises a brow, placing a hand on her hip. "Is that right? That's some confidence. Where was that last night?"

"Hell if I know," I shrug.

"Anyway, you seem to be doing okay, so that's me, checking in on you like I said I would." She turns to leave.

"Thanks again for your help. You know, even though it wasn't needed," I say to her back.

She looks over her shoulder. "I don't even think I'm going to say 'you're welcome' to that," she says, and walks away.

It's another one of those nights where I'm almost asleep before my body hits the sleeping mat.

"Mornin', Mindy."

"Good morning to you as well, Mister Randall."

"Oh, come on now, your mom isn't around. Can't I be Randy sometimes at least?"

"Please understand, Mister Randall, that it's a habit I don't want to get into if I must watch myself around her anyway. I might slip up if I'm not diligent, and then she'll chastise me like none other."

"I just don't get it. What's wrong with being friends with those you're working for?"

"It's not so much that, I suppose… Look, let me put it this way. My mother has worked for the Dukedom of Themis for decades. In all that time, she never once called Lady Maribelle or Lady Maureen anything other than Lady Maribelle or Lady Maureen, even to me when it was just the two of us. Well, excepting her use of the term 'dearie', I suppose. To her, this job is her life. I have to honor that as well. Does that make sense?"

"I… guess. I still protest it, though."

"So be it. Oh, Mister Randall, I did have a question for you though."

"Yeah? Whatcha got?"

"Would you be sad if we died?"

"Would I… I'm sorry, what?"

"WOULD YOU BE SAD IF WE DIED?"

I wake up in a cold sweat. I wipe my brow and notice my hands are shaking.

"Jesus Christ," I whisper to the black tent flap. I'm not sure if it's a curse or a prayer.

Eh? Eh? Not too shabby in terms of story progression, eh? We're going places! Bet ya didn't think the wind sheets were coming back, huh? But ol' ThreeDollar's always got a plan. I genuinely hope to have another chapter up soon, because there's still so much left that I want to do with this story, and I'm so lucky that you all have stuck with me even this far. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. See you next time!