Note: Slightly Implied Marth x M!Kris. It's obviously AU as well because EVERYONE knows that Marth does not canonically die during the War of Heroes or whatever it's called.

It was going so well too.

Yet here they both were, lying as a bloody heap on the ground, struggling to stand up, struggling against their enemies, struggling to fight one last time.

He heard the labored breathing to his right, shallow, desperate, clinging on to the last strands of life.

His Liege somehow managed to stumble up, if that was possible. He smiled at Kris, who was still shamefully trying to stand up, his bloody grin full of light humor. "Kris... I thought I was the only person you would ever kneel before to."

That did it. With a great burst of hidden strength, using his sword as leverage, he stood up alongside his Liege. The latter grabbed onto his hand, as if he was afraid of dying alone.

"Kris..."

"I know... Marth."

The prince breathed in deeply as the enemies closed in, uttering his final speech to his one and only champion. "It is more than obvious that we fall today, my dear friend. So be it. But when we fall, we will not do so kneeling at our enemies' feet like desperate, shameless dogs. We will die standing on our feet with pride!"

"It will be my honor," the Royal Guard answered.

They released each other's hands and readied their respective swords, Marth with Falchion, Kris with his self-made long sword with similar strength to that of a silver sword with much better durability.

And within the next strike, the pair became unstoppable, a gale of slashes and stabs, a dance with the enemy forces to the death.

Allies that were too far away to help cried out to them, but they didn't listen. Like stubborn stallions, they fought on, drawing and relying on each other's strength.

Marth blocked and shoved away a soldier onto Kris's long sword, who then shook the corpse away and stuck a charging knight through cleanly. Using his foot to kick him away, he turned just in time to clash swords with a sellsword. It was barely even a stalemate, seeing that Kris had overcome the other man within seconds that felt like hours. Meanwhile, Marth had repeatedly stabbed at anyone's chest that came to close to him, more than once exploiting a chink in their armor for a quick death.

It was a bad idea to be separated from their friends, but one must not dwell in the past.

Soon, their enemies had gathered in a loose, large circle around them, lances and hands sizzling with magic and bows and arrows all aimed at them. The pair backed up, standing back to back.

"It's not the end my Liege. It will never be the end until this war is done, I swear it," Kris stated in between shaky breathes. In any other moment, he would be collapsing in exhaustion, but loyalty to one's prince and playing around at Death's door can do quite a lot for the energy in one so young.

Marth smiled and opened his mouth to reply, turning his head towards his dear friend, like an old friend he had known since forever, when in reality it was more akin to half a year.

But what came out was not the sweet words of the prince, but blood. The strain of doing so much while sustaining so much injuries had finally caught up to him. He stumbled before collapsing. Kris immediately turned around and caught him in his arms, buckling a bit from the weight of it all.

Marth smiled grimly, no longer having the strength to speak.

But there was not need for spoken words.

'Ah... look at this mess...'

'You are NOT dying before me!'

Kris whirled around, meeting the eyes of the faceless men, faceless so that they were easier to kill. "Keep the prince alive. Kill his guard," he heard someone within this circle of death say.

The words angered him. No one, NO ONE, will imprison his Liege! NOT OVER HIS DEAD BODY!

He never had the chance.

An arrow blossomed on his back. Two. Three. Realizing his fate, he simply held his dying Liege close to his chest, never closing his eyes in the red-clouded sight of death.

Just before they both fell, they met each other's eyes. Both blue, crystal-clear blue, clearing the red haze in their eyes.

They smiled. They locked hands and intertwined fingers.

They were dead when they hit the dirt.

A/N:
OOOOOH. DARK.