Chapter five! The determining chapter that defines whether Farina lives…or dies. (dramatic background music) Hehe. I hope none of you want her dead! She's my favorite character… Anyway, sharp arrows are plummeting on Farina's head and she's mid-air—not the greatest place to be when that happens. So stay tuned and REVIEW please!

Previous Chapter:

And it did happen. Suddenly, an arsenal of arrows came raining down at dangerous and erratic speeds. It was all unpredictable and unpredictability is a very bad thing if you're mid-air and finding yourself in the middle of an unholy hail of arrows. Which Farina did.

And she was very, very, very scared.

The Great Wing Clipped

Getting a splinter in your finger hurts, but it's not that bad. You take it out, whine a little, get a kiss on your boo-boo, and go on living life.

Imagine a thousand splinters raining down on your head—that doesn't just hurt, that kills (literally). Hence the situation Farina found herself in. It was not good, to say the least.

Farina panicked (as one should at times like this). Ooh…this is NOT good! She cried mentally. Her hold on Murphy's reins visibly tightened, her knuckles turning white. Although scared more than she has ever been, she did what most people would not do—stay in one spot. Most people would scream their heads off and then dive downwards and fly way, way away (that's what I would do). But Farina had other ideas in mind, slightly dangerous and potentially life threatening ideas.

She counted on the fact that her luck was on her side and that the archers couldn't hit a target even if it was in front of their noses (which is partially true). But let's put it this way:

She was WRONG. Dead wrong (excuse my pun).

For the most part, Farina was in the clear. The archers were clearly inexperienced and a sneeze from Murphy could send one arrow flying in the other direction.

"Ah…M-Murphy, we're going to be fine. Just calm down a bit, if we d-don't move we won't get hit." Farina coaxed her steed that was, by the way, having major spasms.

And so we enter Murphy's Law (and no, I don't mean Farina's steed, Murphy). 'What can go wrong, will go wrong.' Stupid Murphy, what kind of law is that!?

But he's right.

An arrow pierced Murphy's flank, crimson staining his white coat. Shrieks of agony sang throughout the skies, causing everyone to look upwards.

"Oh no…Farina…!" Raine muttered, choking upon her words. "This is all my fault…"

Kent looked up as well to see the knight he had admired so before, now flying erratically in the skies of death.

Fiora and Florina looked to the direction of the deafening cries, unable to hold back a gasp and prayer as they witnessed the last thing they ever wanted to see.

"Farina!" Fiora cried out, worry for her sister prominent in her voice.

"Sister!" Florina chorused after. Her small hands rose to her round mouth gaping at Farina.

"WHOA!" Farina shouted as she tried to land before Murphy inevitable fell. Her mind was racing and her heart was undoubtedly beating out of her chest. She couldn't breathe or think. She was falling and she knew it. Murphy was dying and she knew it.

She was going to die and she knew it.

Injured Murphy and the terrified Farina had cleared the ocean and were over the dusty battle ground, luckily on their side. The entire company's eyes were glued to the sight above them, unable to look away. Raine, Florina and Fiora's hearts were palpitating at hazardous speeds. Each felt responsible for the scene above them. Each knew they couldn't do anything. Raine was blaming herself for letting a pegasus knight fly in lethal skies. Florina was fervently praying for Elimine to save her sister. Fiora was—

Farina was thrown off and plummeted downwards. Murphy fell faster and landed in a pathetic heap on the ground. Farina followed the descent of her fallen friend with tears falling upwards. I can't believe I'm going to die… Farina thought despondently.

The Crimson Shield leaped under where Farina was destined to fall—and caught her. Granted he was knocked off his horse and landed uncomfortably on his back but nonetheless, he caught her. There Farina was saved, in the sturdy arms of a knight.

Perhaps, her knight.

Healers rushed over to heal Murphy; it would take more than one healer to mend a creature of magic. Serra and Priscilla worked steadily to restore the majestic creature, blue hues casting shadows over their now sweating faces.

Raine ran as fast as her legs would take her. She pushed through the circling crowd and ordered everyone with curt demands to take back their posts. "We are in the middle of a battle, for Elimine's sake," she chastised. She glanced at the comrades who were silent for some time.

"Kent…? Are you…" Raine started. He groaned once resulting in a sigh of relief from the young tactician.

"I—I'll be fine. Is she…?" Kent motioned to Farina who had not opened her eyes (and who was also lying on top of him). Kent, at this moment, could only thank Elimine that she wasn't a heifer; otherwise, this would have hurt.

Farina stirred, her eyelids fluttering. Kent floundered, trying to sit up without further wakening the fallen girl. He managed to do so with Farina safely nestled in his lap, an innocent look upon her face. It is safe to say, Kent was mesmerized by the girl he had saved from near death.

"I don't know, Kent. I truly don't know. She has to be fine though, I mean, you did catch her… And she seems fine… Oh, Elimine…" Raine despaired. Kent smiled. He could feel her faint but stable heartbeat sounding within her chest.

"It will be okay, Raine. Her heart, it's still beating. She is breathing, too." Kent observed. Raine was drowning in relief. As the tactician of the company, she was responsible for any deaths. So far, her stats were good, no one had died on her watch and she intended to keep it that way.

Wow, freakiest dream yet. I was falling, Murphy was injured and he fell too—and died. It was so vivid! I've never had one dream like this but the old women at the village said I would fall! Did she put a hex on me? Sheesh, I told Veata I didn't want to go there! Now I'm cursed! But she did say something good would come out of it. That's good I guess, Farina thought dreamily. Depends on how 'good' you think lying on top of a handsome guy is. Personally…well, we'll not get into that.

Farina opened her eyes to stare into a pair of warm ones, ones that she didn't recognize. Ones that were really close to her face.

She flipped.

"W-Who are you? Get away from—" Her memories came flooding back (correctly) and she realized that her dream, wasn't much of a dream or a nightmare—it was reality. "Ooh. This is not good. I'm going to kill Veata after this."

"Excuse me, but are you quite alright? And who is Veata?" Kent asked. His eyes were still locked on hers and truthfully, Farina was a bit weirded out by all this (as one should if you suddenly wake up in some stranger's arms) for three reasons:

1) She didn't know him.

2) Mr. Unknown was really close to her and holding her in his lap.

3) She wasn't sure if Mr. Unknown was rich or not.

She did know that he was cute (being so close to his face and all) yet she wasn't so sure about the last criteria. And that last one is rather significant to her…

But being cute gave him extra points (definitely).

"Uh…excuse me? Who are you exactly?" Farina's rudeness didn't seem to faze Kent. I guess Farina is fine, Raine thought mockingly.

"He's the one who just saved you, Farina! Say thanks already and get up, I want you checked by Priscilla!" Raine demanded. Now that she knew Farina to be alive, she wasted no time in making sure. "Oh and avoid Serra, she's our…less cooperative healer." 'Less cooperative' is one way of saying that, the nicer way.

"I'll take her there," Kent offered. Before Farina could voice the contrary, Raine said, "Oh, that's perfect! Okay, Farina…? Farina? Farina, where are you looking—oh."

And "oh" is right. Farina wasn't paying attention (for good reason this time) because here she was, situated in Kent's lap; clearly centimeters away from planting a big one on him…

With Fiora standing in the front row.

Normally, this isn't a bad thing; it's just an embarrassing thing. No sister wants the other walking in on them during an awkward situation. It's not fun. But this…? This—this is NOT good at all. This is very BAD, in fact. You can very well guess why, as did Farina. And when the little ping! in her head went off, she was not too pleased with the answer she got.

Evidently, her older sister was in love with Kent and she was presently comfortable in his lap—not good.

Ooh…and now the romance part of this story kicks in! Plus some more Farina vs. Fiora! Who will win! Ooh, who do you want to win? Fiora or Farina? I, personally, am cheering for Farina…but that's me (haha, got the pun IceBlade28?). Next chapter will definitely be VERY heated! Stay tuned and review!