AN: Holy crap, I'm still alive. Sorry for updating late. You guys have waited long enough, so let's continue.

Disclaimer: Fire Emblem and other referenced properties belong to their respective companies.

Third person POV

"Psst. Hey. Hey, Twinkles."

"What is it, Gaius?"

"Why'd ya ask Reflet to have me go along with his plan? I mean, you could have asked for someone like Lissa, or someone else that was close to you."

"Should we really be talking about this while lying down in the sand?" Ricken hastily whispered. "Gangrel's men might still be here!"

"Calm down, Kid." Gaius sighed. "Everyone's already long gone. The only people that would be left would be the ones to recover Emmeryn's body, and we haven't heard anyone yet."

"O-okay… but did we have to use honey for this?" Ricken pointed to his torso, which currently had a splattering of the sticky red substance, but since all three of them were still lying on the ground, it went by unnoticed.

"I spent most of yesterday looking for that stuff, so don't complain. Do you know how hard it is to find red honey in this area? With the viscosity and look of blood?" Gaius stuck his finger into the honey, sampling it off of his clothes. "It's a bit sandy, but hey, it's still edible. Anyway, it feels like it's gonna rain soon, so we don't have to worry about our clothing so much."

"I feel a bit guilty about tricking our friends like this…" Maribelle mumbled. "What will my poor Lissa do, thinking that I'm dead?"

"Listen, Twinkles. I don't know about you, but I trust Reflet. He's the one that got me to join the Shepherds in the first place. If he wasn't there to trust a petty thief, I don't know what would have happened to me. I know that he'll be able to get us back to the group."

"Well, Gaius, if you believe him, then I suppose I shall, too."

"So, as I was saying," Gaius continued his point from earlier. "Why'd you ask me to come, Twinkles? What's so interesting about me?"

"W-well-"

"Y'know guys, maybe Ricken's right." Kellam remarked

"Whoa! You're still here, Sneaks?" Gaius jumped back as far as he could, which wasn't very far, considering he was still lying down.

"The whole time. Reflet told me to stand guard, since most people aren't able to see me."

"That sounds about right."
"Yeah, but could you please quiet it down? We don't want to be discovered, do we?"

"Nope." As the word emerged from Gaius's lips, footsteps were heard, crunching on the desert's sands.

"Maaaaaan! Why's King Gangrel gotta give us this job?" a barbarian's voice rung out in the stale desert air. "all the other guys got to go with Mustafa, while we're supposed to deal with some bodies."

"H-Harold, maybe you shouldn't sp-speak ill of the dead." the barbarian's companion stuttered, nervously shuffling his feet towards where Emmeryn lay. "I've heard that b-bad things could happen."

"Don't tell me you believed that hogwash the Exalt spouted, Gerald!" Harold roughed smacked his archer companion's back, causing him to stumble even closer to the bodies.

"W-well, she drives a good point, I mean… war does nothing… my father died in the war with the previous Exalt, s-so I don't really see a point in more fighting, c-considering I could die at any moment."

"Well, I have nobody! I'm a free man who enlisted for the Plegian cause." they hovered over the body of Generic Pegasus Warrior #2. "Just help me lift 'er into one of th-URK!"

"H-Harold!" Gerald stood, frozen in shock, staring at where a spear had pierced Gerald's side. Yet he only saw the spear, floating in mid-air. Picking his friend up, Gerald started to run.

"You won't escape!" Kellam drove his spear towards the archer's head, but he nimbly dodged, even with the weight of a man on his shoulders, scurrying off in the distance. "Darn, the sand's too hard for me to move in… I'm actually pretty surprised he noticed me…"

"Should we get up now?" Ricken called, his head already lifting from the ground as he said so.

"You might as well."

As the trio of grounded Shepherds got up, Gerald laid his friend down a fair distance away.

"Harold! St-stay with me!"

"N-no, Gerald… I-I think I'm done for… y-you should run away with your family… the Plegian life w-was never for you…"

"H-Harold… I will!"

"J-just call for reinforcements first… there's an outpost to the east about 6 minutes away… then go… if you have a son… name him after me…"

"And if I have a daughter?"

"N-name her after me, too…"

"O-okay! I won't let you down."

"A-are you crying, Gerald?"

"N-no! I-it's just the rain!" and Gerald ran to the east, his tears partially blinding him as he left Harold alone in the rainy desert.

"S-so I guess I'll just die here, in the desert… wait, it was only a flesh wound?" Harold finally lifted his hand off his wound, only just realizing that the worst damage he'd taken could be fixed with some bandaging. "I-I guess I just had the air knocked out of me… wait for me, Gerald! I'm comin' with ya!"

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"They're going for reinforcements, aren't they?" Gaius asked, having gotten up and staring off into the distance.

"Yup." was Ricken's short reply.

It was at this moment that Reflet and the others finally showed up. "Hey guys! What'd I miss?"

"Oh, nothing really." Kellam shrugged. "Just the fact that we're gonna be overrun by Plegian troops soon."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you about it after we recover Emmeryn's body." Kellam pointed at the scattered bodies on the ground, left over from the carnage mere hours earlier.

"Oh yeah, we need to handle those." Reflet immediately ran to the bodies, checking their pulses. "Dead, dead, wait, what? She's alive, too? Ger-"

"I am the DARK WYVERN, fool!"

"Ugh, fine, Dark Wyvern, help me to strip off Phila's armor."

"What?!"

"You're gonna have to carry her and Emmeryn, so unless you wanna be lagging behind when we get chased by Gangrel's men, help. Me. Strip."

"Fine! Just stop phrasing it like that!" Gerome had Minerva fly over to Phila, where he proceeded to hop off and help Reflet. One excruciatingly long minute passed, and the deed was done.

"Now all we need is Emmeryn." Reflet picked her up with Gaius's help, having her also ride on Gerome's wyvern. "And since everything's done, we should probably-"

"There they are!" Harold cried in the distance, arm waving wildly in the small group's direction. He stood on a sand dune beside a group of about 50 men. "They're the Shepherds that went and attacked me an' Gerald!"

"Really? Then I guess we should attack them! Plegians, CHARGE!" As the small army of barbarians, myrmidons, and archers rushed towards the Shepherds, none of them noticed Harold quietly sneaking away from the crowd, with Gerald silently following.

"We should run."

"Yes. Yes we should."

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Robin's POV

That man… Mustafa… I wish we didn't have to kill him… but, we must keep moving on. Men like him… they're the reason why we must finish this war. The Plegians that who don't wish to fight as much as we do… we must fight to free them, too. For men like Mustafa… for Emmeryn… and for peace… we must strive for that end.

"Hey! Chrom!" Chrom turned back towards me, who was pretty far ahead, his eyes a cloudy storm of thought. "Maybe we should set up camp for the night! There's even a lake for any water we might need!"

"Huh? Oh sure, Robin, I guess our troops have had more than their fair share of fighting. Alright everybody, we're setting up camp!" Chrom tried to look cheerful, as the commander of an army should do, but the sorrow on his face was still evident. He and Lissa are probably taking this the worst of us all.

"I just hope the rain stops soon… it really doesn't help with the mood." Sighing, I began to grab a folded tent, hoping that they wouldn't be completely soaked once we finished setting up.

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Reflet's POV

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! Why did we have to get chased by the army? We were supposed to be covert! "Kellam, hurry up!"

"I can't, Reflet, my armor's making it difficult for me to move in the sand!" Aw man, maybe I should have thought this plan completely through before executing it! Stupid me! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"R-Reflet, why are you slapping yourself?"

"N-no reason! Just lemme help you! Gaius!"

"Yeah?"

"Help me push Kellam so he can go faster!"

"I'm not entirely sure if that'll work."

"Hurry!" And just when I yell, an arrow nearly hits me. Thank goodness these archers aim like Stormtroopers!

"Okay, geez."

"Ricken, can't you fire some wind at the Plegians? Maybe throw them off?"

"I would do that if it didn't mean that I had to look back! What if an arrow gets fired and hits me while I'm aiming?"

"What if an arrow hits you in the back?"

"Oh! G-good point!" And then he fired, taking out a couple of the guys. But there's still too many of them to fight.

"C'mon, I can see regular grasslands in the distance… I think. Just a little more… Marth!"

"Yes?"

"You three can just continue south! We're gonna try to break off the east, maybe circle around? I honestly didn't think this one through!"

"We understand, Reflet. This is where we shall part ways. Goodbye!" And with that we separated. Now all I need to do is get the army's attention… not the best idea. "Hey! Y-you jerks! You're too slow! C'mon, show me your moves! Err, get set to get decked? Can't touch th-WHOA!" Another arrow? Guess it's time to run!

"Kellam, are you fine now?"

"Yeah, Reflet, no problem! B-but what should we do? I'm starting to get a bit tired, and we can't outrun them forever."

"You're right… our adrenaline won't keep us going for very long. What should we do?"

Wait. That red hair. It's barely recognizable in the distance, but it's definitely recognizable. That's an Anna. Seems a bit stupid and kinda plot convenient, but I guess I'll take it!

"Hey! Hey! Anna!"

"Yes?" She has good ears. And a voice that carries.

"I need to buy something from you!"

"What is it?"

"A Rift Door, maybe? To where the Shepherds are?"

"Silly traveller, us Annas don't normally sell Rift Doors… well, there was that one Anna that sold it for 1,000 gold… but you can't fool me with such a low price!"

"How 'bout 5,000?"

"Reflet?!" Aw crap. Forgot about her. "Where did you obtain 5,000 gold if we've been so busy with the war?"

"Uhhh, well, you see, I kinda maybe forgot to give half of the bullion I found when we rescued you… on purpose."

"How could you do such a thing? Stealing from a defenseless village is one thing, but stealing from the army?"

"It was for situations like this! Can we please talk about this after we escape?"

"Fine!"
"Soo, Anna, do you accept my price?"

"Sure! Just throw the money to me before I send you through the portal!"

"Alright! Catch! But how're you gonna deal with the army? Aren't merchant Annas weak? And wait, did I even tell you where we were going?"

"Don't worry, kid. I am one of the Annas that runs Castle Apotheosis after all. I'm just taking a little break."

"Reflet! Why'd you stop? Just run!" Oh right. Well, I'm sure she'll make it through.

"Thanks for your business!"
"Your wel-"

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Still Reflet's POV

"-come?" I can't feel any solid ground. Oh man. "Why'd she have to transport us above a lake!"

"Isn't this how Chrom reached the Coliseum last time?"

"How can you be so calm, Kellam? We are miles in the air!"

"I mean, there's a lake beneath us. I don't see why you're panicking."

"I agree with Sneaks here, I'm perfectly fine with this."

"Are you two insane? Can horses even swim?" Oh right, Maribelle's horse. "What if she drowns?"

"Don't worry, Twinkles. I've seen horses do it all the time."

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Robin's POV

I am so glad the rain's finally stopped. And just when we set up our tents, too. I guess now I can go get food and-

PLOOSH! PLOOSH! PLOOSH PLOOSH PLOOSH! PLOOSH!

Ploosh? Why would there be a ploosh noise? Is it from the lake? Maybe I should go check.

"Hey! What's the commotion, guys?" Most of the Shepherds had already gathered

"I just saw a buncha bodies fall into the lake!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Lissa, it couldn't have been people. It was probably some birds that got shot down."
"Aww, Frederick, you're no fun. Wait! Is-is that Maribelle?" What. "I-it is! Maribelle! I thought you died!"
"I'm fine, darling." Maribelle grinned, hugging her friend in a pretty heartwarming embrace. "Just… pleased to meet you again."

"Oh man, that was a close one! I thought we really were gonna die!" Reflet?

"Reflet, I have half a mind to lock you up and throw away the key if you don't explain to me why you disappeared."

"We tried to recover your sister's body… and lay her to rest."

"So? Did you succeed?"

"… yes. She is… in a better place."

"… thank you." And just like that Chrom walked back to his tent. Which means it's time for me to approach him. "So, Reflet, how'd you do it? You guys look like you've been through a lot."

"Can we talk later? I'm honestly pretty hungry. I'll tell you all about the wonders of deus ex machina over a nice plate of food."

"Deus ex what?"

"Never mind."

AN: I now believe that I should've put more thought into Kellam's nickname. Hope you all enjoyed. See you later.