This chapter contains MAJOR SPOILERS including chapters 5 and... 14? Whichever was the number for Carrion Isle. This chapter is also going to be a tad violent, angsty... and 'Marth' is going to be quite possibly OCC. Oh, I'm taking major liberties in this chapter too, so you have fun with that :) I know I will.

The rules of the battle were simple: Each side may choose five people to fight, not including the Captain, killing blows were perfectly legal, no substitutions, and the opposing Captain would choose who was going to partake in the battle.

'Oh no... This is not going to end well.'

'Marth' walked along our line, gazing at each of us in turn. If 'Marth' was in charge of picking our lineup, we would certainly be given a team that would have a disadvantage. I figured it was safe to say with killing blows legal, Lissa most likely won't be picked, meaning if we take an axe wrong we'd be pretty F.U.B.A.R-ed.

'Then again, what's the right way to take an axe?'

Miriel would most likely be picked because she's not an in your face fighter, and the Feroxi troops are. I was trying to figure out who would be picked, not paying attention to what was going on when I felt Chrom pushing me forward into the arena.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Marth picked you to fight. I suggest you get your head right Sane, I don't want you dying."

'Oh crap, I don't want to die either.'

I looked at who else was fighting, and strangely most of my predictions were wrong. Lissa was in fact, with us. Miriel wasn't. Sully and Stahl were moving forward, as well as Frederick. I couldn't see a fifth person, but I heard the faint clanking of metal.

'Kellam I presume?'

Chrom went forward to pick the Feroxi fighters. I went over to Lissa. She seemed intimidated but put on a brave face as I approached.

"Sane, are you ready for this?"

Her voice wavered, and for the first time it struck me how young she must be.

'Certainly she can't be older than me, what is she, fifteen?'

"I guess I have to be ready, huh Lissa?"

She nodded.

"Lissa, I have a question to ask you. Do you think you could use a tome and be able to heal us at the same time?"

She looked down at her feet.

"I don't know... I think I could try..."

I pulled an extra Fire tome from my pockets and gave it to her.

"I picked this up along the way. I don't want you to go out of your way to fight, but if someone gets too close to you for comfort, don't hesitate to use this alright?"

She looked uncertain.

"Lissa, trust me when I say that you can do this. I know we hardly know each other but..."

I struggled to find the right words. How could I tell her that I know all of this? That I know everything she's capable of becoming?

"You have to trust me. You just have to."

My voice cracked slightly as I said this. Why though? This isn't even a big battle, I mean, we're only on Chapter Four. Battles don't start to get complicated until Chapter Five or Six at the earliest. Lissa took the tome from me without a word and looked at the battlefield with determination.

"If you can trust me to protect you, I can trust you to lead me."

The battle began.

The Feroxi warriors rushed us with vigor, all except 'Marth'. 'Marth' held back slightly, but still advanced with the others.

"Move ahead a few yards, then hold fast!" I shouted.

'If this works, we'll have this battle won before it hardly begins.'

We all moved ahead, me in the leed. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and pulled out my tome.

'I know I only practiced this once, but please work!'

The others stopped behind me, as if I, not Chrom were their leader. Chrom and Frederick were the closest to me, Kellam was nowhere to be seen, but judging from the fact Lissa was about two peoples distance behind me, I assumed Kellam was behind me. Sully and Stahl were on either side of what I assumed was Kellam. The Feroxi troops were getting closer and closer to us. Just another ten yards or so and they'd be on top of us.

'It's show time.'

"Rush them when I give the order!"

I took my tome and focused on the fighters rushing at us. Their path was fairly linear and tight knit, maybe the length of three or four couches. I could see a line on the ground showing where they'd be and concentrated my magic there. I tried to think of how tall each fighter was. Maybe six foot or so? Meaning their waist would be about... Three or so feet off the ground? I visualized a wall of magic rising from the ground as I held my tome. A faint buzz resonating through my body signaled that I was in fact channeling magic.

'But will this work the way I intend it to? If I fail, those troops will be on us in no time...'

The first of the Feroxi troops reached the invisible wall and I released the magic I had been channeling. The lightning magic sprang forward and shot across the ground at speed almost faster than I could follow. The Feroxi troops had no idea that they were walking right into a cleverly set trap until the first one reached the wall. The effect was glorious.

'This is better than that lady falling into the mall fountain texting!'

He slammed into the wall and tumbled over, landing on his face. His comrades were moving too quickly to stop or change direction, and they were too bulky save for the lone Myrmidon to jump over. In one fell swoop most of our foes were on their faces.

"Now, attack!"

I moved forward, and instantly felt weak in the knees and staggered. Thankfully none of my comrades noticed this and I was able to continue forward without issues. We set upon the Feroxi troops as they struggled to get up. Despite lacking the dexterity to avoid the barrier I had created, our foes were able to pull themselves off the ground with the assistance of their weapons. But their spill still put them at a distinct disadvantage.

'We have this in the bag!'

I raised my sword and cut down a Barbarian who had finally rose and was in mid-swing of his axe. He fell silently and his weapon clattered to the ground. The others were busy striking out at the troops still standing. 'Marth' came out of seemingly nowhere and suddenly I had to duck and parry as a sword was swung at my head. 'Marth' forced me to the ground and pinned me with our swords.

"Why are you here? You shouldn't be!"

I panicked. Swordplay wasn't going to get me anywhere at this point. I drew my knee against my chest and stuck out my leg, successfully striking 'Marth' in the stomach. The strike was enough I was able to roll away, at the cost of loosing my sword that is.

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to be here?" I snarled.

'Marth' swung at me again.

"It's all wrong, what have you done to Robin?"

I froze.

"How do you know that name?"

My freezing proved to be a huge mistake. 'Marth' swung at me again, and this time I was too stunned to dodge. The sword went right through my shoulder, a couple of inches more to the right and it surely would've gotten my lung. 'Marth' twisted the sword before swiftly pulling it out. My arm felt suddenly light and useless. So did the rest of me.

"I'm here to fix what went wrong, I'll start with you."

I was on the ground before 'Marth's sword hit me again, which probably saved my life temporarily. I saw the blade gleam as it was raised above my head and swiftly brought down. I don't know when I began, but I suddenly realized I was screaming myself hoarse and tears were rolling down my face. I tried to do something, but I was just too weak. The 'Marth's sword came to rest against my neck.

"Any last words?"

'Wherethe*heck*iseveryone?Whyaren'ttheysavingme?Id on' ' 'tkillme...'

"No Lucina..."

The sword against my neck twitched, and somehow I could feel the sting of it despite my massive shoulder wound.

"..."

Suddenly, Sully came out of nowhere and bowled 'Marth' over with her horse. 'Marth' yelled in agony and limped away. Seeing their Captain retreating, the two living Feroxi retreated as well. Lissa was at my side as soon as 'Marth' was knocked away.

"Sane! Sane, don't you die on me!"

"AAAAHHHHH! HUUUUUUUUN!"

I was beyond pain swearing at this point, the only noises I could make were that of a dying animal as I thrashed around. Stahl and Kellam held me down as Lissa worked over me. From the corner of my eye I could see Feroxi healers rushing over to assist. The pain was immense, worse than anything I'd ever imagined. Worse than slamming my hand in a car door, worse than one of my classmates lighting me on fire in chemistry, worse than burning myself on a lawnmower, worse than the time I fell down the stairs and broke my foot.

"Sane, you're not gonna die alright? You... You're not gonna die..."

I did everything in my power to stay conscious, I rambled. I made a couple obscene gestures. I think I might've gone slightly Pterodactyl on Lissa. And Chrom. And possibly Basilio when he brought an Elixir over, judging by the very interesting noise he made.

Eventually, miraculously, my pain began to subside and I stopped thrashing. I think I lay on the ground for a good half-hour before I tried to sit up. Everyone was sitting around me, waiting for me to get up. Chrom lifted me to my feet, careful to not jostle me. I leaned against him and Frederick for support, and Miriel volunteered to carry my things.

"We don't have to leave today, do we?"

My voice was weak and shaky.

'Ugh... Mary Sue anyone?'

"Sorry Sane, I'm afraid we've no choice but to move out. Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

I wasn't worried at this point about anyone's opinion of my and I did nothing to hide the blush that managed to creep to my face despite my massive blood loss.

"Thanks..." I said weakly.

I managed to stand on my own after a few minutes, but I was still shaky and weak. Thankfully, between Lissas' healing and the Elixir from Basilio I wasn't going to die, but my body still ached. I moved about in a daze as Basilio introduced us to Lon'qu and told him that he was his gift to the Ylissean cause. My daze continued as we started the march back to Ylisse. Chrom didn't slow his pace because of my injury, and as crazy as it was to admit, I was glad he didn't. By the time night fell, I was almost back to normal, although I did have a greater appreciation of life.

"Sane, we know you're glad to be alive, you don't have to be so obvious about it."

I was smiling almost non-stop, strange for me but who was I to question it? And of course my constant smiling was getting on Lon'qus' nerves.

"Must you be so cheery?" He practically sneered at me during dinner.

"Well, what would you do if you had Mr. Death get all up in your face and you just spat on him and walked away?"

He glared at me.

"I'd be disgusted with myself for allowing myself to be put in such a compromising situation."

I rolled my eyes.

"Why must you be so cynical? It wouldn't kill you to lighten up you know."

He didn't speak to me for the rest of the night and instead chose to busy himself training. I was tempted to train with him, but with my arm still recovering I opted to instead read the books Miriel gave me on the topic of magic. Apparently, using magic could have adverse affects on the body that could easily be countered with trance like meditation both before and after practice.

'That should be easy enough. My head is like an MP3, I could meditate to some dubstep.'

I yawned and put my book away. I snuffed out the candle I had been using for light and climbed into bed. I was careful to avoid laying on my injured arm, but after a few minutes I totally forgot about it and rolled over anyway. I fell asleep quickly that night, smiling like an idiot of course. I was too stoked about being alive to realize that Emmeryns' assassination attempt was just around the corner. Once we got back to Ylisstol, I'd have to see 'Marth' again. Would 'Marth' attack me like earlier today? Or would this encounter be one of friendly nature?

I feel like my chapters are getting shorter, from the first chapter to the last chapter I've gone from 3000 words minimum to 2000 minimum. If I should try to make my chapters longer, let me know, or if you think I'm doing just fine and shouldn't really worry about length too much let me know in a review. Also, when I thought 'It's show time!' earlier, I was referencing a game I love almost as much as Fire Emblem. If you can guess what it is (and let's use the honour system yeah? No cheating.) I shall answer any question you may have about where the story is going in the future. (But be specific about the question alright?) I'll even give you a hint: The game was Produced by Sega.