Mark sat at the bank and stared down the enemy, thinking of possible amendments he might need to make to the group's strategy given any situation. He fiddled with his tome in his coat unconsciously, folding pages and picking out spells to use. Florina quietly sat to his right, nervously shifting now and again and gripping her weapon so hard her knuckles were white. After a long silence, Mark felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Yes?" He said without moving.

"It's been about fifteen minutes. We should charge soon don't you think?" Lyn asked him. Mark slowly nodded and stood up. He brushed off his coat. Florina slowly stood up too.

"...Alright. Have everyone get into position." Mark said quietly, still eyeing the enemy trying to get as much information as possible. So far it looked like the normal arrow strategy would work. Just in case, Mark had several back-ups in mind. Mark continued to stare directly at the enemy as he walked into position. This caused him to bump into Lucius.

"O-Oh, my apologies Lord Mark." Lucius said, bowing. "I was in your way."

Mark finally broke his gaze and turned to Lucius. "Nonsense I'm the one that walked into you. Also, you can drop the Lord. It's just Mark."

Lucius seemed flustered. "Yes, right, you've said as much. I apologize again." Lucius bowed yet again, and started walking towards his position.

"Hey, wait." Mark called to him. Lucius turned around.

"Yes?" He said calmly.

"It's just… I don't know you seem to be very used to speaking to me from some kind of… servant point of view. Do you work for someone?"

Lucius went slightly pale, but only for a moment. "Oh well, yes actually I suppose I do, but it's a Lycian matter. I don't know why I may be projecting it onto you. I suppose in a sense you remind me-"

"Mark?" Mark heard a voice call out to him and turned to see Kent had interrupted the conversation from the front. "We are ready to charge. Please get into position." Mark turned back to Lucius and smiled.

"Well, don't worry about it. I was only curious. I hope whoever you serve doesn't mind that you are here?"

Lucius paused but shook his head. "He shouldn't really mind at all, no. Good fortune in the coming battle Mage General." Lucius bowed and jogged over to Nils, who was checking his instrument for something.

"... Just Mark." Mark said to himself as he walked over in front of Erk and behind Lyn. "To arms!" He shouted. Everyone readied their weapons. Mark lit his sword on fire and held his tome in his off hand. "Forward!" Mark yelled, eliciting a cheer from the small squadron. The enemy immediately grabbed their weapons and got into a standard defensive formation on the bridge. It started with a line of armored knights, followed by a line of swordsmen. After the bridge was a line of archers, who were firing over the other two lines. Beyond that was an armored knight, a fighter, and a swordsman, who seemed to be the group's leaders. A small squad considering Mark and company had already defeated half of it. Most of the battle would take place on the bridge. The fact that all that was past the bridge were the three leaders worried Mark significantly, but he would deal with it when it was in front of him.

Kent and Sain led the charge yet again. Mark had to hand it to the pair that they may be the best at working together in Lyndis's Legion. As soon as they were within striking distance, Sain threw his lance directly into the shoulder of the knight in the middle. He cried out and dropped his shield, but Kent was immediately there, slashing his neck with his sword and ripping out Sain's lance and tossing it back to him. Sain caught it and deftly stabbed it into the next knights face. All the while, the two knights were moving fast enough on their horses to avoid the slow lance thrusts of the armored knights. With two down and enough space having been made, the two knights galloped through the new opening before it could be closed. Knowing the knights were through, the bulky soldiers turned back to the rest of the legion. They were quickly met with Lyn, whose sacred blade cut through the next one's armor like paper, giving him a sizable gash and causing him to keel over and fall, bleeding onto the wooden bridge.

Erk whistled, "Well." He said simply. "I suppose that's a sacred sword for you. Shame your sword is just iron, huh Mark?" He prodded.

Mark laughed. "At least I can do more than throw the same ball of fire at my enemies Erk. Learn some variety, it'll almost make it seem like you have a personality." Mark countered, smirking. Erk remained silent. "Oh come now Erk, you're better than that, only one insult and-" Mark was cut off by a sudden gust of wind. Mark could hardly fight against it, struggling to even keep his normal ground. He cracked his eyes open enough to see a green hue to the gusts, meaning they were magic. He looked behind. Erk was concentrating, his cape and mid-length hair flapping wildly in the winds, his body suspended above the ground a good foot and a half. The winds seemed to circle around him, bouncing off of him before rejoining the gust pushing against the legion. Florina dropped out of the sky behind him, having to ground herself from the heavy winds. Erk was only staring forward, almost bored. Mark turned back to the bridge to see the armored knights being carried by the gusts into the river. Soon the entire line was gone, and the winds stopped. They had never reached the second line, where Kent Sain and Lyn still fought, unaware of what was happening behind them. Mark panted from exhaustion. Erk jogged past him, giving him a slap on the back, and running to join the others up ahead. Serra skipped next to him like this was all completely normal.

Mark paused for a moment to regain his bearings. "Mark!" He heard Nils cry. "Arrows, very soon!"

"Stay grounded Florina!" Mark quickly shouted in addition. Mark looked and saw the entire archer line drawing longbows. He put his sword out, stuck it into the bridge, and began to chat. Damn you Erk! He thought, You distracted me! The arrows were in the air. But… you do have good ideas sometimes. Mark shot his hand from left to right above his head. A powerful gust sent all of the arrows way out of the battlefield. Mark saw the glimpse of an arrow soon after he did this, and watched it hit an enemy archer in the arm. He picked up his sword and kept running.

"Nice one Wil!" Mark yelled. He heard a confirmative 'Of course' behind him and caught up to Kent, who was still fighting the swordsmen, having let the others through to the archers.

"Go through Mark!" Kent said, fighting off three men as two others closed in. Mark briefly paused before running past.

"Lucius, Wil, Florina, help out Kent. Nils, stay back with your song!" Mark called out behind him as he focused on the archers. They were all but taken care of. The group that was here, Erk, Serra, Lyn, and Sain, were waiting for him to show, as instructed. Now they would divide the final three among themselves.

Serra was the first to acknowledge him. "Hi Mark! We're waiting for orders, just like you said! So, as payment for doing what you said, I was thinking you and I-"

"Any wounds?" Mark asked, ignoring the pink-haired schemer. Everyone shook their heads. "Perfect. Lyn, battle the fighter, Sain, battle the swordsman. Erk, we'll take the one in armor. Serra, focus on Sain and Lyn. If anyone else bursts through, tell them to help with whoever has the least back up. Go!" Mark pointed forward, causing Lyn and Sain to split to either side and go directly to their opponents. Mark's brow furrowed as he saw the two men smile menacingly, unsheathing their weapons. Mark was certain that Sain and Lyn were at an advantage at each match up though. He shook his head and looked at Erk. "Ready?" He asked.

Erk nodded and pulled out two tomes, one green, one yellow. He held up his red fire tome. "Are you in a wind mood, or a lightning mood today Mark?"

Mark thought about it for a moment. He sheathed his sword and took the yellow book, briefly flipping through its pages. After doing the same with the green tome, he decided on the yellow one. "This one seems better for the occasion."

Erk nodded and took the green tome. Together they said a quick chat, and the two tomes in each of their possession started floating in front of them. After this they faced each other.

"Connection!" They shouted. They briefly glowed with magic, confirming the spell worked. It was a spell that connected their magic energy to each other. It meant any spell cast would be drawing on both of them, greatly increasing every spells power. However, it also meant that even if only one of them was firing off spells, both of them would be getting tired form the effort. Together they started walking towards the man in armor. As Mark thought might be the case, this man had enchanted armor as well. Erk looked at him. "It's enchanted." He said simply. Mark nodded. "What's the plan?" Erk asked.

"Remember when you helped me in a duel against the Knight General? Both our opponents then had enchanted armor too."

Erk shuddered. "That was a terrifying day of practice. I was not expecting to fight one of the generals of our nation. Well, besides you, obviously." Erk squinted at the foe. "But regardless of the past, do you think it will actually work this time?"

Mark sighed, and together they burst into a sprint, tomes floating alongside them on either side. "That's the hope!" Mark confirmed for Erk, and the two went silent to focus on the fight. The man in armor laughed boisterously.

"COME!" He shouted. "Lord Lundgren has decreed that you cannot cross this point!" He pointed his long lance at the two friends. Mark slowed slightly. The lance seemed a lot thicker than it should be, almost as if it had been designed to duel axe wielding foes. Realization hit Mark.

"Alright, Erk, we need to end this fast." Mark said seriously. "I may or may not have just sent Sain and Lyn into unwinnable fights."

"May or may not have?!" Erk said in worry. "Which is it then?"

"...May have." Mark said, biting his lip. "Whatever, we need to hurry this up. Break!" He shouted, and he and Erk ran towards either side of the man. The man in armor laughed, slapping his lance against his shield, causing the runes to glow, and facing Mark. Immediately, a fireball hit him in the back of the head, soon diffused and dispersing into the air. The man clunked over towards Mark and jabbed at his chest. Mark ducked underneath it, covered his hand in pure electricity and put his open palm against the mans chest. Thousands of volts poured into the armor, but the runes only glowed and sent it away. The knight kicked at Marks legs but he hopped back. He fired a bolt directly at the spear of the knight, sending a small shock into the man's hand. The man cried out and stuck the weapon into the dirt, ending the current. Pulling it back out again, the man started running back and Mark before being swept off his feet by a sharp and well aimed burst of wind. Part of Mark wished he could still use his sword, as this was the perfect opprotunity to get a cut in, but the dual tomes were a more reliable strategy in the end when working with Erk. The two had practiced this many times, only finally being able to work with such teamwork after several years. It would be wrong to throw in things Erk wasn't used to into the strategies.

As the man tried to stand, Mark held both his hands out, sending fire and lightning directly into the knight's face. It wasn't hurting him, but the light from the combined spells was sure to be blinding him. The man held up a hand in an attempt to block it out but to no avail, it merely enveloped his hand as well. Erk used this time to run into position directly behind. Mark let the man rise, stopping his magic and stared him down. Erk should be in position by now Mark assured himself.

Mark began to chant, a magic circle appearing below his feet. It could all end here if they could just pull this off. Mark couldn't see Erk past the man's bulk, but had faith Erk was doing the same thing. This was a spell that could only be used by two mages who were in perfect sync. It took advantage of the fact that the two mages had connected at the start of the fight, and could feel what the other was doing in terms of magic. Mark held a ball of fire, and a bolt of lightning in his hands. Slowly as he chanted, they were becoming more condensed, smaller and smaller until they were packed to the size of coin. The knight was almost upon him. This strategy would be a death sentence if it didn't work, and it hadn't worked when he and Erk used it on the Knight General. Mark was hoping the Knight General simply had better armor. He held both his hands directly towards the knight's heart. He waited until he could no more, and prayed he and Erk would time it correctly.

"Pierce!" He and Erk shouted together, the final word of their incantations. Both of the condensed magic essences in his hand elongated into beams and hit the man directly above his heart, shooting straight through the armor and connecting with Erk's twin beams. Either pierce alone would not have been enough, but the concentrated force on the same spot from both sides was too much for the armor to handle, just as Mark had hoped. The knight looked down slowly, having stopped in his tracks. He slowly fell over, his lance clattering to the Earth, and he stopped moving. Erk and Mark panted from the magical energy they had just unleashed.

They looked at each other. "Disconnect!" They shouted at each other. Again they glowed, confirming the spell ended.

"There's no time… for a rest…" Mark gasped out. "We gotta help the other two. Go help Sain!" Mark pointed and started running towards Lyn's fight. As he thought, she was struggling. She was on one knee, a nasty gash covered her all the way from he left shoulder to her right hip. She had a cut on her head and blood was gushing into her eyes. She tried to stand again, but he opponent just laughed and kicked her in the neck. She fell over onto her side, curling into a ball and vomiting into the river. Her opponent raised his axe, but Mark quickly fired a lightning bolt from the sky into the weapon, using it like a lightning rod and shocking the man. The man stammered back a few feet, his muscles spasming as he tried to regain control. Mark ran up to Lyn and slid onto his knees, reaching into his coat for an elixir only to realise the bottles had broken as some point this fight. He quickly flashed back to his fight on the other side of the bridge, where he too had just been hit in the throat and had thrown up. Remembering the kick to his side, he guess the bottles broke then.

Lyn looked up at him. Her breathing was heavy and slow. 'Mark' she mouthed, unable to make sound. She coughed up blood. Mark smiled at her and stood up. The man was just about over his paralysis. Mark fired another bolt at him, renewing the man's spasms, much to his anger. Mark slowly walked up to the man. "Hey." He said simply. "You seem to be having trouble there." Mark taunted the man. Usually he would do so with a smile, but he felt incredibly guilty at the moment. He gulped, almost feeling bad for what he was about to do.

Almost.

Mark walked up to the still paralyzed man, lit a hand ablaze, and socked the man in the gut, breaking him from his spasms. The man fell over, shirt on fire and spreading. He desperately swung a weak axe swing and Mark, but Mark just held up a hand and melted the metal. Before he did, he shifted his eyes and noted the blade's unique design: curved and thick, almost shield like. Clearly designed to handle a quick sword user. Mark looked back at the man, who was rolling on the ground, putting out the fire. Mark held lightning in his other hand, utilizing Erk's tome, and hit the man again, this time in the forehead. The man cried out as electricity worked its way through his brain, causing him to mumble and lose control of his mouth. Finally, as he slowly tried to crawl away on his stomach, Mark calmly pulled out his sword and stabbed it into the man's back, separating his spine in half. The man stopped moving, breathing heavily. He looked back over his shoulder in fear. Mark continued to stare him down sadly, face unmoving. Mark lifted his now dirtied sword out of the man, causing blood to begin to pool.

"P-Please…" The man had tears in his eyes. "I'm just doing my job-AUAUGHHAHA" The man said as Mark stabbed him in the leg.

"You don't say?" Mark said without expression, squatting down. "What a coincidence." Mark pulled out his sword and stabbed it into the man's shoulder. "So am I." He said. The man on the ground was all but about dead, Mark guessed he had at most five minutes left to live. He was all but unconscious from the pain. Mark stood up and flipped through his twin tomes. "Tell me." He said. "Would you rather die from option one or option two?" Mark looked at the man. Anger had replaced the man's sadness, and having accepted death, he spat blood onto Mark's leg. "... A good choice." Mark said. He slowly brought a hand up to the man's head, sighed, and watched as his hand began to glow. "It's like you said. Just doin my job." Mark watched as fire and lightning shot in tandem from his hand. He really wished he could turn away, but he had been looking away too much recently. Especially for his burn victims, Mark knew he had to watch.

Mark stood up a minute or two later, pulling out his sword, swishing it in the river to clean it lightly, and sheathed it again. He slowly walked to Lyn feeling even more combined guilt from what he thought would make him feel better. Mark slowly knelt down and picked Lyn up, carrying her to Serra. She shifted in his arms, eyes opening. She slowly raised a hand and wiped away a tear Mark didn't even realize he was crying. Once she had, she passed out.

Mark made it to Serra, who was kneeling over Sain. "Se-Serra, please c-can't you- AUGH- do anything toAHGUEH-" Sain cried out in pain. Kent was kneeling by his side, holding his head on his knee and watching in horror. Serra was re-attaching his leg.

"I want to Sain!" Serra said uncharacteristically serious, "But if I dull your nerves now you'll lose feeling in your leg once it's back on! Brace yourself!" Serra grimaced as she held her staff to Sain's knee, where the cut was.

The following sound that came from Sain's mouth burrowed it's way into Mark's ears and caused him to cringe in empathy as the poor man's nerves reconnected themselves. Sain soon passed out from the pain. Erk jogged up to Mark, a fresh new gash on his arm.

"Here, let me help." Erk said, offering his non-cut arm."

"...I got her." Mark said quietly. He walked over and knelt down next to Sain. Kent noticed him and looked over. His expression quickly turned to shock.

"Lady.. Lyndis…" He said, mouth wide. He continued to kneel there for a moment before he breathing began to speed up. Mark gently placed Lyn down in front of Serra, who was briefly recovering from using so much magic to heal Sain.

"She's alive Kent!" Serra said. "Don't worry, I'll fix her up no problem!" She gasped out in between heavy breaths. Mark slowly rose, his head hung low. He started walking away. He heard the clanking of armor as Kent rose behind him. Here it comes. Mark thought sadly. You deserve it. Mark felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around, only to be quickly met with Kent's fist. Yup. Mark thought as he fell to the ground. Kent placed a foot onto his chest.

"Hey!" Erk shouted, running up to them and setting a hand on fire. "Step away from him!" Erk shouted, angrier than usual.

"Let him." Mark said sadly.

"Mark?" Erk questioned, looking down at him.

"Let him." Mark repeated, sighing. "I failed him. I failed Lyn. I failed Sain. I told Kent that I would work to regain trust, and I have almost gotten the two most important people in his life killed."

"Yeah, almost." Erk said, not moving. "They're still alive. We got to them in time."

"...You've put them through great pain. As a friend, and as a retainer, this is still a grievous offence." Kent said, taking his foot off. "You did save them, I should be happy they are still alive. I'm sorry. I'm very tense right now." He started walking away. Mark rose up.

"But you're right! I'm the one that put them in that situation in the first place! The blame still falls on me! I've failed as tactician again…" Mark said. Kent stopped.

"And the very fact that you put them in this situation is why I trust you even less now, Mage General." Mark winced as Kent refused to call him by his name, like he had the whole journey. "But still…" He continued to walk away. "There's been enough problems today. I'm not going to go out of my way to make more." Mark watched as Kent slowly got onto his horse and headed towards the village. Why he was going there, Mark wasn't quite sure. Mark heard a whistle and turned to face it.

Matthew was sitting on the railing of the bridge and eating a cookie. "Hey Mark, what did I miss?"

A/N: The reason this took so long to get out was because I decided to workshop it a bit. Originally this was going to be a total wipeout victory for Lyndis's Legion but I figure Mark technically hasn't gotten very close to losing anyone under his tactics. True, two people are dead (rip Dorcas and Rath) But keep in mind he wasn't even there for that. Luckily, it seems everyone pulled through this time around. As always, thank you guys for reading. There's been a lot of really heartfelt and positive reviews lately and it just puts a big ole smile on my face. As such, sorry if this one's a bit of a downer.

P.S. I forgot to say, I MAY need to post the one year anniversary super chapter (patent pending) a few days late. I may just not be ready in time. Sorry, but we're gettin there eventually! Next chapter should be out soon though, it'll be a bit of a short one since this ones a tad longer than usual. Love you guys! -Matt