I'm so sorry this took so long! High school's been killing me. Sophomore year sucks, for the record. But that's beside the point.

I don't know how I feel about this chapter. It's kind of... I don't know. But it's not the end of the story. I think I'll just write a short little blurb to finish it up and call it a chapter. Yeah.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is out! Ahaha, I totally have to buy it! But since I'm sure you'd rather be reading the chapter than my mindless babbling, here you go!

Chapter 3: Complications of Caring

Eliwood and Lyn continued their game. It became more amusing as the night wore on and they began to reveal embarrassing stories. The more they talked, the more they laughed, and the more they laughed, the more comfortable they became.

Eliwood had just finished telling a particularly embarrassing story from his childhood when Lyn burst into a fit of laughter. He smiled bemusedly and looked down, but found his eyes drawn to her as she nearly bent double in an effort to restrain her giggles.

The helpless lord watched her as though in a trance. He was struck suddenly by the way the firelight shone on her long green hair and the light pink hue that colored her cheeks from the cold. When Lyn calmed down enough to look up, she found Eliwood staring at her with a rather glazed look, his head tilted to the left a little and his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Eliwood?" she said uncertainly. She moved toward him until their knees were just barely touching and waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you there?"

Eliwood snapped back to reality. He suddenly found himself in a very awkward situation. Lyn was gazing worriedly at him.

"Uh…" he began quickly, blushing for some reason.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed at you," Lyn said quietly, looking abashedly at her feet. Eliwood blinked several times in confusion.

"Oh… oh no, that's not why-" he said hastily, realizing what she meant. She had thought that he had taken offense to her laughing at him. "I mean, I… I'm not upset. I just… lost track of myself for a moment."

Lyn looked up and offered him a gentle smile. "I understand," she said quietly. Then she sighed and looked skyward. "After all of the things that have been happening lately, we're all losing track of ourselves." She said the last part so quietly, Eliwood barely discerned the words.

Eliwood wasn't sure what to say. A heavy silence fell between them. Lyn pulled his cloak a little more tightly around her shoulders. She was valiantly avoiding eye contact with him. The gears in the red-head's brain ground down to a painfully slow rate. Something strange was going on tonight. Some line drawn between them had been crossed. Lyn never opened herself up. She put on a brave mask for the outside world while hiding her true pains and terrors. That had all been behind the line, but now that this line had been breached, a virtual myriad of layers had been added to the depth of her personality. Eliwood was seeing sides of her he'd never thought even existed within this stoic young lady of Caelin.

Poor Eliwood was still thinking of how to reply when Lyn whispered, "I'm sorry, Eliwood. About your father… and Ninian…"

Eliwood's eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting that. She still refused to look at him. Her dark green eyes were downcast and clouded as she stared determinedly at her feet.

"I understand what it's like to lose everyone you love," she continued. "But… it will get better. The pain… the… emptiness… it never passes completely, but you'll get used to it being there. It serves to remind you to love every minute you're alive."

Eliwood was shocked beyond all reason. Her words startled him. He sometimes forgot that she had lost her entire tribe in one day. Everyone she had known and loved had been savagely ripped away. He couldn't even comprehend what that must have been like.

"Lyn, I-" he began, but she silenced him with her index finger pressed to his lips.

"I don't want sympathy, Eliwood," she whispered, looking straight into his eyes. "I just want you to know… I'm here. I'll always be right here by your side. And I want you to be okay. I want you to be happy."

Eliwood stared at her. He was struck dumb. He had no idea how to reply to something like that. He finally blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Don't you ever worry about yourself?"

Lyn looked surprised when he said this. "Well... of course I… sometimes…"

"No, you always think of everyone else before you think of yourself," Eliwood cut her off. He sounded like he was scolding her. "You're important too, you know."

Lyn stared at him, still expressing surprise. "I… um…" she stammered.

"I worry about you," Eliwood admitted quietly.

Lyn stopped and looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.

"I mean I'm always worried that you'll get hurt," he continued quietly, avoiding eye contact.

"You mean you think I can't take care of myself," she replied coolly.

Eliwood's eyes snapped up to her. "No! That's not what I mean at all! I just-" he began.

"You just think I'm a frail little girl and I need to be taken care of," Lyn continued scathingly.

"No!" Eliwood groaned. This was not going well at all. "I know better than anyone that you are perfectly capable of defending yourself. I am the one who gets whipped every week when we spar, if I may remind you." Lyn smiled a little in spite of herself. Eliwood continued. "I just… I can't help but worry about you…"

Silence fell heavily between them. Eliwood was staring dejectedly at his shoes. Neither of them noticed how quiet the camp was as all of its occupants watched, despite the fact that they couldn't hear a word of what was transpiring.

"I guess that's just what happens when two people care about each other," Lyn finally said quietly. Eliwood froze. He looked up at her curiously, wondering if she meant what he thought she meant. He found himself staring straight into her dark green eyes, and suddenly there wasn't enough air between them. He became acutely aware of how close they were sitting. He took a deep breath, still staring wide-eyed at her. Lyn was giving him a similar look, though she was smiling a little.

Before either of them knew what was happening, they were both leaning forward. They slowly inched closer until they were way too close to back down. Thought ceased in Eliwood's mind. All that existed was the woman in front of him. Lyn, however, was fighting against her nature. She had grown up thinking that there wasn't a single noble in the world that wasn't a spoiled rotten moron. Then Eliwood had come along. He defied everything she had ever believed, but she found that she loved being proven wrong. Now, as she closed her eyes, she was fighting hard against rational thought and her primal instincts to turn away. But her instincts weren't putting up much of a fight.

Rebecca was holding her breath. She and most of the girls around her were leaning forward slightly, watching wide-eyed with growing smiles. The camp fell completely silent as Eliwood and Lyn finally closed the distance, lips meeting, eyes closing. Rebecca exhaled excitedly. She gave Serra a high five. Score.

Once again, this isn't the end. Tell me what you think!