A/N: First off, I'd like to thank Arbella Scott, Sotsumi, meguin the penguin (for both chapter 2 and 4), Black Lotus Flower, FreelancerSealBoy, and Lanayru for the reviews.

Okay, for this chapter, I tried to take Sotsumi's advice and have Elincia, Lucia and Geoffrey more "childish". And yes, I've also kind of noticed that they seemed to act a little too much like adults, but I didn't really put much thought into that.

Let's see, what else...? Oh, before I forget, I need to put down their ages. Lucia-12, Elincia- 10, and Geoffrey- 10. Yeah, they're the same as the last story, but to explain: this takes place like... maybe a week or two after their adventure in the woods, so... yeah... I think it was a week or so, right? Wait, why am I asking you? I'm sure you wouldn't know...

Chapter Five: To Fight Beside You

"Lucia..." whined the young armored lance wielder.

"Looks like I win again," she stated, pointing her sword at her brother who lay on the ground. For a moment, the two of them remained in place, frozen like statues. But then, she withdrew her sword, turning her stern look into a smile. "What is it now? Five wins, zero losses?" she asked, giving her brother a hand up.

He stood up, but instantly turned away, feeling ashamed of all the losses he had racked up. "...Yes," he murmured in a low, monotonous voice. He bent down to pick up his lance then turned back to his sister, his mood changed completely. "Rematch, again. Please?" he pleaded.

"So, you want to make this six straight losses?" she teased.

"Lucia.." he complained.

"Okay, I'm sorry," she said, sincerely apologetic. She stood there, waiting until her brother's pouting face had gone away. "Well, shall we begin?"

He gave her an enthusiastic nod, accompanied by a large grin. "Yes, let us begin."

He tightly gripped his lance and held it out in from of himself. He waited there in his defensive stance waiting for his sister to thrust her sword at him.

"What are you waiting for, brother? Remember, I gave you the first move," she informed.

"O-okay!" he said, shaking a clenched fist like he had already won.

Geoffrey changed his stance and started charging with his lance pointed straight out; however, his attack was effortlessly evaded by his sister. She then took the chance to draw her sword and start her offensive attack. She steadily swung her sword, allowing her brother to block each strike without much trouble. However, she soon started swinging from different angles, which caused Geoffrey to block with much more alert.

As the two siblings were "clanging" their weapons, a certain amber eyed girl walked into their sparing math, carrying with her a sword and wearing her white armor. The two automatically ceased their attacks and dropped their weapons onto the grass that lay beneath them.

"Elincia!" scolded Geoffrey. "You should know not to walk in the middle of a sparing match."

"I know, I'm sorry," she said without much thought. "I just wanted to spar with one of you."

Lucia tilted her head with a curious look on her face. "Why would you wish to spar with us?" she bluntly asked.

Elincia blinked, wondering why Lucia would need to question something so simple. "Practice of course," she innocently replied, as though it was an obvious answer. "If I want to be able to fight, I need to practice."

"Well," she started to reply, "as the princess of such a peaceful country as Crimea, I don't see the need to do such things."

Lucia received another pouting face –this time from Elincia, who had now turned her look to Geoffrey. She gave him begging eyes, however the boy stood unconvinced and swayed by her expression.

"I am sorry, but I cannot allow you to get hurt," he told her. "As you loyal retainers, we are those who must protect you, not harm you." When he spoke, he spoke not only for himself, but for him, his sister, and her many other retainers.

"But Geoffrey, if you spar with me, you'll help me learn to defend myself; that is why my father gave me this sword in the first place," she contradicted, trying to convince him.

"Elincia, as princess, you will never be undefended. We will certainly–"

"So what?" she interjected. "Just because I'm the princess, does not mean I can't fight beside you. I have been watching you train for years now... and when the time comes to use your skills in battle, it will be to defend me... I-I don't want to see you suffer on my behalf"

Both Lucia and Geoffrey instantly turned to one another as Elincia finished her sentence. That last phrase she had used stuck out in a familiar way. The two each gave a nod, remembering back a few days.

"I need to learn to protect myself, because while I am in hiding, there won't be many soldiers there to protect me..." she continued, speaking with a much milder tone. "But even when they do come, I will not stand to watch them die because of me; because if my people are hurt and suffering, I would not be a good ruler. So, my wish right now is that you would train with me, so that I may fight beside you on the front line when the time comes."

A silence fell upon them. Lucia and Geoffrey were unsure how to react, though they now understood and accepted Elincia's true feelings. Geoffrey looked at his sister, signaling her to speak.

"Yes, I understand what you're saying," she said with full respect.

"Then, will you spar with me?" the princess eagerly replied.

"I'm sorry, but I'm still tired from sparing with Geoffrey," she apologized. "But, I'm sure he would love to train with you; so why don't I just watch the two of you?" she suggested, nudging her brother with her elbow.

"Okay!" she exclaimed with excitement. "Are you ready Geoffrey?" Before he even opened his mouth to answer, she had her sword ready out in front of her.

"Ye...yes," he blankly replied with a late reaction, still taking it all in.

The two stood opposite each other, both standing ready to attack. Suddenly, without any sign at all, Elincia ran straight at him with her sword pointed out in front; but Geoffrey, having earlier trained so much with his sister, quickly avoided it. Elincia, seeing her attack was of no use, swiftly turned around to try again, but missed.

"Geoffrey!" she whined, very annoyed that she missed all of her many two shots. "Why do you have to dodge everything?"

Lucia let out a small chuckle from the side lines. Seeing Elincia whining and Geoffrey with an advantage was somewhat humorous to her, for not to long ago, he was the one complaining.

The battle between the two had a quick, sudden change. The armored boy was now only avoiding a small fraction of her attacks, and Elincia was keeping her blows oncoming, each time pushing him further backwards. After some time of playing defense, Geoffrey decided to turn things around and start his attacks. He swung his lance at her with much speed; however, to his surprise, she easily avoided it. As he was awing over her dodging skills, she took a forceful swing of her sword, causing the boy to fall to the ground on his face.

"I win!" she cried with much thrill.

"Geoffrey, if you keep this up, you'll never become a Royal Knight," warned his sister as she walked over to him, commenting on his loss.

"But... she attacked me from behind," he complained, trying to make an excuse for his loss.

"So will many other people."

"Yes Geoffrey," echoed the princess before running off to announce to everyone of her great accomplishment.

The two stood there, waiting for Elincia to disappear into the castle. "Thank you Geoffrey," Lucia finally said.

He gave her a puzzled expression, showing her that he had no idea what she meant.

"You went easy on her, right?" she said, trying to expand and make an explanation.

"Yes," he replied. "But now, you owe me; and this time, I'm not going to lose."

A smirk appeared on Lucia's face as Geoffrey showed his assured determination. "We'll have to see about that," she said, drawing her sword from where it sat in its sheath.

"Oh, well don't be so sure of yourself; you know, I've got to win sometime," he said charging right at her.

"Well, you're time hasn't come yet," she said, deflecting his attack.

"Oh, but you don't know that." As he spoke, he tried charging at her again. But this time, Lucia failed to fully dodge it, costing her a cut on her arm.

She shot a glare at her frightened brother as she spoke. "Okay, this is on."

The two hotheaded siblings continued battling it out in the courtyard, both unable to land another hit. By the time Elincia had returned, they were panting and breathing hard, yet both were unwilling to give in. But when the end finally came, Geoffrey got his well awaited win.

-Fin-

A/N: Yeah, it was a bit longer than usual, but so was the chapter before this one. Well, sorry if you had to strain your eyes to read this, but it's not actually that long when you really think about it... Yeah, it isn't. Well, if you think otherwise, then I'm gonna make an excuse and say that I was to lazy to split it into two chapters, but that isn't much of an excuse... well I'm gonna stop talking now...sometime soon...hopefully... OKAY, IM DONE.

Next time: Lucia and Geoffrey get an unexpected letter from their father, Count Delbray, saying that it may be the last, and then a few days later, they receive news of their his death. How will they react? Will they go seek revenge, or will they leave it in the past and put it behind them? Chapter Six: The Death of Count Delbray