No words were exchanged between each other as the two champions of West and East Ferox fought. Blades danced around as they tried piercing around an unseen defense, occasionally interlocking and causing overheated sparks to fly at the contact. Aside from the clanging of metal against a divine blade and the fights off to the side –which were mostly ignored in favour of watching what seemed like the main event– the roar of the crowd of warriors was almost deafening. Whenever one of their sides' champion seemed to gain the upper hand in the fight, their respective audience's cheers would raise in volume, and would switch over to the other side as their fighter had the other hand. This repeated throughout a majority of the fight.

Which had only begun a minute ago.

Hastily blocking a blow Darren tried throwing his opponent off balance to land a strike, but the masked swordsman wasn't about to let that happen and quickly righted himself before blocking, much to Darren's ire. Quickly taking advantage of the momentary gap in his defense, Marth went on a full on offense. Never having a chance to counter, Darren was hard-pressed to simply block. A few obviously made it through his defences judging by the sharp pains coming from both his abdomen and left arm. It didn't help that Marth was purposely attacking his left side, taking advantage of the fact that Darren had no weapon on that arm to block or redirect any strikes aimed there.

Trying to get some distance between the two, Darren feinted –which was a risky move since he didn't know if Marth would buy it. But the moment he saw the swordsman shift to block he did his best to leap back to acquire some much needed breathing room.

In the time that it took 'Marth' to charge once more into the fight, Darren summarized how the fight was working out for him in one sentence.

'This isn't looking so good.'

The Other Way - Chapter Ten

Up in the stands someone fumed silently. His dark brown hair shifting slightly as the cold winds of Ferox made their way through the open roof of the coliseum. While he didn't say anything however, his expression was certainly an open book.

"You don't seem to be enjoying this Lon'qu."

Unable to refrain from doing so, he glared at Basilio. "I'm not."

He had expected to watch some stranger that East Khan Flavia had found at last minute or some random mercenaries that were recruited. Not the person he had spent the better part of this week training going up against the one thing he disliked –currently–almost as much as his fear of women. Though, he felt the small feeling of pride at seeing his only apprentice doing so well against someone he begrudgingly knew was a good fighter, even if it was clear to anyone with an experienced eye that he was quickly losing the lead.

"Well it does explain why Flavia wanted you to train the boy." Basilio said wistfully. The two turned their attention towards another fight that was going on. It seemed that a pair from the East Khan's side was having a bit of trouble dealing with the remaining of their forces. The one with the Lightning tome wasn't able to launch his spell at the armoured Knight because he kept on getting interrupted by Knight's partnered axe-man. And he couldn't distance himself to get a proper shot in or he would leave own partner in the very disadvantageous situation of a two on one fight, so he was forced to stay close. And while dealing with an axe-man would normally be simple for the blue-haired swordsman, it gets a little bit tougher when you have a walking pile of metal blocking your swing. A short distance away the two cavalry units the group had was by their healer. Earlier the two had sustained quite a bit of damage when they were running around the battlefield.

"Looks like we're not winning this one," The Khan concluded. He didn't like to admit it, but he wasn't going to delude himself into thinking Marth could take them all on. It looked like Flavia would be taking the position of head Khan this time. "Guess that means there's going to be a party after this."

Lon'qu snorted. He felt like he was going to have a talk with his apprentice after the tournament was over.

Robin felt extremely annoyed with how the current events had played out recently.

Instead of someone who was supposed to help out Chrom against the pair in front of them while he was to attack from afar, he was there instead. Apparently Darren had the smart idea to go after the last person by himself. And he could tell by the small glances he had seen when not blocking or dodging an attack that could prove fatal; he wasn't holding up well and probably couldn't last long. It was clear that him and Chrom weren't going to get there anytime soon without some serious help. If they both ran off to help their losing ally, it would leave the duo free access to pursuing the still healing Stahl and Sully, Lissa and Frederick. While Robin thought that the Great Knight would easily be able to take them on, there was always the possibility of danger and he just didn't want to risk it.

'But we've got to help him out soon,' the snow-haired tactician thought angrily. Once again his bronze sword hit the heavy shield of the knight, having long ago switched out his tome for the blade when he saw how futile it was to use the former weapon. He noticed that Chrom wasn't having an easier time against the heavily armoured unit, and instantly regretted not letting the prince take his rapier. Well, in his defence, he thought it would have been easier to just use his tome on the more difficult enemies. That and there was supposed to be someone in his position while he helped from afar.

"I guess he'll just have to hold out for a while longer before we can get to him." Robin concluded. Now if only Lissa could hurry it up with that healing…

Watching the fight proceed, Grima could see how much the boy was struggling. And it didn't help that he was mostly on the defensive now instead of attacking, and any counters he had set up were easily read.

Not to mention Darren was tiring out quickly.

Each time he had to defend meant more strain was placed on his arm. Injuries were apparent on multiple places on his body, both old and new. Meanwhile 'Marth' was left off with only a few scratches from the beginning of the fight. Now Grima wasn't sure if possible outside of the game, but if that sword was able to heal like it did, then things could possibly get harder than it already was. Thankfully he kept that fact to himself.

'Does the fact I'm getting my rear handed to me mean she knows how to fight against me?' Darren muttered to the dragon. So focused on the fight he wasn't able to study how the masked warrior fought.

'Either that or she was able to study you earlier while you were fighting.' Grima admitted. He slightly regretted not watching the time travelling future princess of Ylisse when he had the chance to.

'And why would she do that?'

'Because you're the odd one here,' he informed Darren calmly. 'The unknown factor, and using a strange weapon. I'd actually be surprised if Lucina didn'twatch how you fought. You're using a Predator weapon of all things in this world.'

'Well you gave it to me!' was the indignant response.

Grima snorted, clearly amused. 'And do you regret it?'

Receiving no answer informed the fell-dragon that Darren was either once again focussing on the fight, or giving a silent yes that would have otherwise lead to more teasing if voiced. A wise choice. Both of them actually. Movement from the Shepherd side of the field caught his attention. It would seem that Lissa had finished healing the previously injured Sully and Stahl as the two quickly rode to their prince and tactician. Better late than never he guessed.

It appears that Robin had also noticed the approaching allies.

Upon hearing the sounds of hooves Robin risked a glance in its direction to confirm his suspicions, and was glad to see both Sully and Stahl.

"Hold them off for a second Chrom." Robin told the prince as he was suddenly out of the fight, leaving Chrom by himself.

"R-Robin?" Was all the blue-haired prince was able to say before he found himself in a bad situation. Placing the Falchion in between an axe and his arm Chrom desperately backed off from the two attackers.

Finally at a safe enough distance to not be interrupted, Robin pulled out his Thunder tome, aiming at his original target, the bolt of lightning cut through the air, striking the unsuspecting Knight in the side. The tactician had to give some respect when he saw the armoured unit continue standing, albeit much slower than before. Knowing that his help was needed somewhere else at that moment, he began running to a friend in need of assistance, giving the horse mounted Shepherds a nod as they went to help their prince clean up the remaining enemies.

It was about time to wrap things up.

Deflecting another attack that was meant for him, Darren was seriously considering having another energy boost from Grima. But if he were to guess right, the results of the fight would be the same. Not only that, he also noticed the very plausible possibility of killing himself through excessive bleeding if he were to keep fighting like this. Sure he didn't feel them that much, but the wounds were still there, unchecked and as dangerous as ever.

'I think I'll have to stop soon.' He concluded, reopening the mental link between himself and the dragon watching from above.

'Hold on for a few seconds.' Was all he heard.

'Hold on? What do you mea-'

"Darren!" called out another voice. Once again he felt compelled to duck as energy sparked in the air, and quickly followed through on it. As the ball passed by overhead Darren glanced over to where his saviour stood only a few feet away. How did he not notice that before? Oh right, trying not to get stabbed or sliced by Lucina, that's why.

"Oh thank gods Robin you're here." Darren said breathlessly as he collapsed onto his hands and knees, suddenly feeling like his legs had just turned into jelly right then and there. 'Huh, convenient timing is convenient.' Robin rushed over to his fallen comrade, keeping an eye on Marth as he did so. The swordsman had managed to dodge the ball of electricity in time, but hadn't moved since.

Spotting several injuries on the boy told the tactician that getting him to Lissa quickly was the best course of action. But with Marth so close by it would be dangerous to attempt to carry him over to the cleric. So he was glad that only a few seconds after a stare down with Marth he heard multiple footsteps approaching. Forgoing caution for that moment Robin lifted the downed Darren by his arms and proceeded to drag him to safety. Darren groaned in pain as he felt his injuries flaring up at the action.

Depositing the injured teen behind the defensive line that is the Shepherds, Robin looked at Lissa. "You know what to do." Nodding wordlessly the cleric began working once again, leaving the tactician to take a quick recap of the battle.

Thankfully there were very little problems that had come along, besides the most recent events. Frederick and Lissa were perhaps in the best condition, but the others weren't that far behind. Obviously they didn't make it completely unscathed –especially in the case of their other mounted units– but it wasn't something that couldn't be healed, and now with only one remaining opponent victory seemed assured.

Only a few seconds after his own recap, Robin looked to see the rest of the Shepherds advance onto the last member of the West Khans chosen group with their weapons drawn and ready to strike.

Well they would've if that person that they were going to attack hadn't spoken up.

"I surrender." Marth sheathed his Falchion-looking-sword and began walking towards the exit. All the Shepherds –both the ones on the floor and the ones watching from the stands– blinked in surprise. And oddly enough, they felt somewhat disappointed; like they expected something else to happen. It appeared that it didn't seem to bother most of the Feroxi people at all, as they broke into cheers.

'Well that was anti-climactic,' Grima concluded.

Sitting up, Darren's head began throbbing at both the action and the noise that surrounded him, which earned him Lissa scolding him and telling him to lie back down. 'That was the most intense moment of my life.' he shot back.

And so the tournament came to a close.

It didn't take long for Flavia to congratulate those who fought in the tournament. With the alliance between Regna Ferox and Ylisse secured, the Shepherds' plan was to return to Ylisse as soon as possible. Flavia then asked them to stay for at least one more day since there was going to be a party. They reluctantly agreed.

Darren was moved to a room so he could rest from his most recent fight. Though since all his wounds were patched up already there was no danger of having an energy boost, but he was really tired from the fight and felt like wanting to sleep. He wasn't one for parties anyways. Grima –like always– somehow managed to sneak into his room and was sleeping next to him. Thankfully in a position away from sight when someone just enters the room.

The sounds of singing reverberated through the halls, whether or not it was from those who had been drinking no one knew. All Darren knew was that it was somehow loud enough to wake him up. Still a little sore from the tournament he groaned as he sat up. From how dark it was out the window he could guess that it was late. How late exactly? He couldn't tell. They began their walk here close to the afternoon, and the tournament itself was a blur. It could have been hours or just a few minutes for all he cared.

"Damn, my natural stamina must suck for me to have been that tired to sleep 'till now." He groused to himself.

Overhearing his partner, Grima awoke from his nap. Chuckling at the words, the dragon decided to reassure the boy. "Don't be so hard on yourself Darren, you've only been asleep for a few hours. The only reason it's so dark already is because winter's coming." Well there were probably better things to say than that, but for some reason that felt better to say.

Getting up Darren acknowledged the words with a hum, his stomach however reminded him that he hadn't eaten since breakfast with a growl, demanding to be fed. Deciding that now is a better time than never to eat; he went to the door to find some food.

So when he saw Marth standing outside his room he was shocked.

"We need to talk."

AN: Whenever I say I'll release a new chapter soon someone please, please digitally slap me in the face or something. I swear, I think the last chapter really took it out of me. And after getting some nice reviews too! Gaaaaah sorry to those who've enjoyed this series and was waiting for a chapter to come out. Unfortunately I couldn't get much written into the chapter anyways; I want my chapters to be at least 3k words, but I sometimes just can't find ways to write that much, so I'm sorry for that.

I'd usually say 'as per usual, if you've enjoyed this Fanfic feel free to favourite and follow, and if you liked the chapter leave a review…' but I kinda feel like a jerk for not updating… so I won't *not so subtly winking at the reader*.

I guess I'll see you next chapter then.