That night, Mark couldn't sleep. Seeing his brother for the first time in years had shaken him beyond what he had ever believed possible. Seeing him brought forth memories of their home, a place that Mark both longed for and loathed. Unbidden, his memories surfaced within his mind. He saw his parents, his friends, his past life before he ran away from it, seeing what his fate was to be. Seeing his older sibling brought back the most painful memory of all, when he left.

"Leaving?" Mark looked up, hearing his brother speak from the shadows, as he always did.

"What if I am?" he replied, clearly nervous, knowing that his brother could easily stop him if he chose to.

"Nothing really, just that you really are my foolish, younger brother. You have no chance to escape." He replied, laughing slightly, causing his voice to sound lighter and friendlier than it usually would.

"I'm not a fool; I have a pretty good chance at evading you once I get to the main continent. No one else will even bother to look for me, there's too much going on here."

This triggered and outright bout of laughter. As his brother calmed down, Mark listened to his reply.

"I meant your fate. You can easily leave this place, but your fate is bound to you from the moment of your birth. No matter where you run, you will never escape it."

Mark hesitated for a moment, the words his brother gave to him weighing heavily on him. The words however, were not heavy enough to trap him where he didn't want to be. He ran, never looking back, out of the place he had called home for his entire life.

He never noticed his brother watching him leave, or how he sadly shook his head before vanishing into the shadows from where he had so suddenly appeared.

Mark sighed, and wearily got up from his table, leaving his maps and books where they were. He appeared to head to bed, before pausing, and turning to face the corner of his tent.

"No need to hide Matthew. My door is always open to you." His face had an almost negligible smile on is as the slightly disturbed thief stepped out of the shadows.

"Pretty good, for a tactician who does nothing but study maps and books."

"Pretty bad, for a man who makes his living by being invisible." Was Mark's retort, his face shifting from nearly serious to completely amused as he said it.

"You have me there, my friend. So, would you like to tell me about that man who killed those bandits today? You two seemed pretty chummy before he left. Perhaps an old lover?" Matthew joked, knowing of Mark well hidden devotion towards Lyn.

"Nothing like that. I don't know how you could even consider something that twisted. As for who he is, I'd rather tell everyone at once, preferably tomorrow, after I've had time to gather my thoughts." Mark sighed, fatigue clearly showing in his voice and actions.

Matthew nodded, before quickly darting out of the tent. Mark chuckled slightly, wondering what the night watch would think of seeing Matthew dash out of the Master Tactician's tent, much quicker than an innocent person would need to. He faintly heard yells and the sound of soldiers running about, screaming about a thief, and went to bed laughing at the antics of one of his closest friends

The next morning, the entire group assembled at a large breakfast table, most looking expectantly at Mark, having hard from Matthew of what was to come. However, Mark insisted on everyone eating first, though this drew a large amount of grumbling from Hector and Jaffar, as well as some other members of the army.

Though most people hadn't voiced their annoyance at having to wait longer, they expressed it by eating as quickly as possible, and then turning to Mark, causing no small discomfort in the Tactician. He quickly gulped down the rest of his meal, and then cleared his throat, to make sure that everyone was paying attention.

"Alright, everyone here wants to know who that person who killed those bandits was. He's my brother." He paused, rolling his eyes as several gasps were heard around the table, and those who hadn't been listening closely were now paying rapt attention to what he had to say.

"I'd rather not go into the details of my life before we all met, but I lived with my family, and spent a lot of time with my older brother. He trained in swordsmanship almost continuously, and also studied a rare form of magic, called Arcana. He was powerful enough to be a match for a small army, and that was five years ago. He's probably even stronger now…"

"Are you saying that your brother could single-handedly take over Lycia?" Eliwood questioned worriedly, fearing what this could mean. Though he kept a fairly calm expression on his face, everyone could feel how unsettled he was. To think that someone existed who could easily destroy even Nergal was a thought that nearly anyone would dread.

"If he were at his full capacity, then yes, however, our younger sister, Runa, was allowed to seal away most of his power, leaving him at about one hundredth of his normal ability. However, this still leaves him as very deadly, as we saw yesterday. He killed over thirty bandits in less than a half hour. I think even all of us would have trouble doing that."

"So, why did he show up all of the sudden? I don't think it was just to drop in and say hello to you Mark. Do you have any idea about why he showed up?" Lyn spoke up, changing from a normally friendly and carefree girl into a calculating warrior.

Mark just shook his head. "I have a few guesses as to why he showed up, but I have no idea if any of them are true. The only way I can think of besides returning home would be to ask him directly."

"Damn! He's probably somewhere out in the Nabata desert by now!" Hector raged, annoyed with the mystery now hanging over them.

"Somehow I doubt that he's gone far. He wouldn't just stop in to say hello and leave. Most likely he's still around, keeping an eye on his little brother." Lyn commented.

Hector sighed, "Well, no use looking for him. If he wants to talk, he'll come to us. In the meantime, let's just try to enjoy ourselves."

"I agree with Hector, but try and stay alert. My brother wouldn't appear for no reason. If I had to guess, I'd say that something big is going to happen, and most likely, it will happen soon." Mark stated, effectively ending the meeting. People began talking among themselves, mostly about other subjects, while Mark walked out of the area. Almost no one took notice of it, but one green haired girl stood up and followed him outside.

Lyn quietly approached Mark, treating him as if he were an explosive, ready to go off at any second. Though she hadn't seen him for over two years, she could still read him like an open book.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, gently bringing him out of his daze. He shook his head for a moment, while she repeated her question.

He sighed. "I'm alright, just somewhat stressed out by this. My brother was the guardian of our home. If he's out roaming the continent… something bad must have happened at home. Though, I can hardly call it home anymore, I haven't been there for over five years…"

"Do you miss it? Your home?"

"Sometimes I do, but I don't regret leaving it. If I hadn't left, I'd never have met you, or anyone else…"

Lyn smiled slightly, and moved forward, to join the one most important to her in gazing out at the sea together. This would be one of the few peaceful moments they would have in the times that were to come.

Yay, a fairly long chapter by my standards, and pretty good considering I wrote in in about 4 hours between 1 and 5 in the morning.

Thank you to Dark Hurricane, for taking the time to dig through older stories, read one that wasn't even 1,000 words long, and then review it. I greatly appreciate it, and it motivated me to write this chapter. I dedicate this chapter to you in gratitude.

Hopefully, I'll get some more work done before the 12th, because then I have a 12 day vacation from work, and writing, due to the lack of access to computers. Hopefully, I can recharge my creative energies, and get more chapters going for this story, as well as my others.

If anyone is interested, I'd like to get some Pre-readers/ Proofers. If you would like to do this, please e-mail me about it. I'd prefer If you would include some of your writing, but it's not required.

Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this chapter!