Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or the tactician in this fluff-shot. The tactician, Melody, belongs to my 'hey-why-don't-you-write-a-book' friend.

A Fluff-Shot

Broken Promise

"Melody!"

The battle scene was chaotic and bloody. Screams echoed in his ears as he recklessly weaved his way through the battleground. He held his arm with one hand, stemming the flow of blood that stained his skin. His heart hammered in his chest, pounding against his rib cage as his lungs struggled to draw in more oxygen.

"Melody!" he cried out again, his voice hoarse and cracked. The sage couldn't find her; he could hardly see in front of him.

"Erk…?"

The young man spun around, frantically tossing his head, eyes searching...until he found her, lying on her side, the blood pooling around her, escaping from the wound at her side. She was shaking, and as he rushed to her side, slipping on the enemy's blood, he could see the tears in her eyes.

"Melody, hold on — it'll be all right," he quickly said as he assessed her wounds. He grabbed the Heal staff that he had tied to the waistband of his pants, and pressed the small orb at its tip to the slice in her flesh. Erk closed his eyes and concentrated, picturing her wound knitting itself together, her skin realigning with itself. When he opened his eyes and checked her injury, he smiled in relief, seeing that the blood had stopped and that the wound had closed.

He touched her cheek gently, his heart pounding even as he heard screams and the clashing of metal to metal around the both of them. "You're all right, Melody, you're all right," he breathed.

There was a roar from behind him. He spun around and braced himself, muttering the Elfire spell he had memorized, because the enemy running toward him was a brigand with a sharp-looking steel axe. Erk glanced at his tactician behind him, and knew that if he dodged, she would be hurt, instead.

He looked up just as the axe swung down, and pain registered in his mind, searing up and down his already-injured arm. He waved his right arm, and the heavy feeling of the Elfire's flame charred the man to bloody ashes.

All sound stopped as the last bandit's scream died out.

Coming down from his adrenaline high, Erk pressed his palm to his own wound and turned to the indigo-haired girl behind him. She was still crying, but she was trying to hold back the tears as futilely as he tried to stop his arm from bleeding. "Melody, stop crying," he murmured softly, giving her a small smile. "We're safe."

Behind her, he could see Serra stepping over deceased bodies and making her way towards them. In both of her hands, she held a single Heal staff as if it were a club.

"Erk…but I…Erk, you got hurt…" she whimpered, biting her lip like she always did.

"Melody, I'm fine."

And that was when he heard the panicked voices of his comrades, and his senses were put into high alert. Behind Melody, he saw Serra's expression change from calm to absolute horror, staring at something behind him.

"No!" Melody screamed.

Erk twisted around just in time to see the arrow flying his way, but not in time to stop it from lodging itself deep within his chest. The impact sent him stumbling back a few steps as the pain flashed through him. All at once, he was aware that something was bubbling up his throat, and that he couldn't breathe anymore. His legs gave out from underneath him, and he could feel blood drip out from between his lips.

He was dieing.

"Erk!" Melody cried as new tears flowed anew, the salty rivers dripping onto his cheeks as she held him. He hated seeing that look on her face, but his vision was blurring, and his mind was shutting down. Erk had one last thought run through his mind, before everything went black and his body went limp.

I promised you that you wouldn't have to wait long…but I guess you'll have to wait forever.

With this angst-shot, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Oh, no, it's not like I wish I didn't write it; that's quite the opposite. But the sad part of it all is that I can see this happening as if I were watching a movie connected to my retinas. It repeats until I get the entire scene written down, and then it's imprinted. Sometimes, this can be really helpful.

But sometimes, like now, it can really hurt.