A/N: Yeeaaah buddy! Chapter 15 is up in a decent amount of time! :) And guess what? It's actually not filler! Whoooooo! :D Well, maybe some of it is...whatever. Important stuff happens in this chapter and I consider that not filler material. So yup, enjoy this chapter, guys! I will get chapter 16 up as soon as I can!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem. All characters belong to Nintendo/Intelligent Systems.

The trek across the mountains was just as arduous as Soren had predicted, but still, the army managed just fine. Tibarn and the rest of the birds were still quite upset about being forced to travel on foot, but even they couldn't deny how frigid the mountain air was, and how it practically drew all the warmth from their bodies. The Hawk King and Reyson were constantly complaining about the freezing temperatures, as none of the Bird Tribes really had an affinity to the cold.

Ranulf and the rest of the Beast Tribe refugees weren't doing much better. Even in beast form, they were still trembling in the cold, Gallia being a rather warm climate all year round. Ranulf kept his eyes trained on Zeyd all the while they were marching. He noticed how badly she was shivering, and that there were tiny ice crystals beginning to form on her fur. As the winds picked up, it was getting harder for him to see her, with her fur being the soft silver color that it was. She almost completely blended in with the snow around them. Out of fear that he would lose sight of her, he hurried to her side, walking with her the rest of the way. Ranulf knew his actions weren't really necessary, seeing as it would be nearly impossible for her to get lost in such a large army, but still, it comforted him to be near her. She was one of the last few comrades that he had, after all. He simply could not lose her.

In a little less than two days, the army had cleared the mountains, and was now only a day's march toward Delbray. Unfortunately, it was nearing nightfall by the time they had crossed over the mountains, so they had no choice but to make camp for the night. With the nights growing colder as winter progressed, more and more members of the army were starting to get frostbitten. Soren and the other mages tried to use minimal fire magic to help heal those afflicted, but it seemed to only make things worse. Limbs were amputated more often than they were saved. It pained the healers to see so many wounded soldiers when they hadn't even had a taste of battle yet, but it was to be expected when they were forced to march in the dead of winter.

Fear of frostbite spread rampantly throughout the camp, as the soldiers heard the mortifying screams of those who were having amputations performed. Ike was forced to calm everyone down, lest they all lose their heads over the matter. The last thing he needed was an army full of terrified soldiers.

Soren came to Ike's tent rather late that night, as he admitted to having trouble getting to it. The winds had become even stronger than they were earlier, and the lithe sage found himself being carried off more than once. That, and the snow was nearly a foot deep now, and it was quite difficult to trudge through if not on horseback. "I'm sorry for being late," Soren apologized whole-heartedly once he had finally reached Ike's tent. He was shivering quite violently as he held his thick cloak around him. "And I've got more unfortunate news: my reports were taken by the wind."

Ike nodded in complete understanding. "That's fine. Do you think you remember enough to tell me?"

"Of course," Soren answered, and Ike should've know better than to ask. Soren's memory was none to be tampered with. "Well, first off, we need to get to Delbray as soon as possible. The soldiers need proper medical care, and the amputees need a good place to rest for a few days." Ike nodded, and Soren continued. "I've also noted that our provisions are running out, so we'll need to ask for donations to the army, as well."

"And our weapon stores?" Ike asked. "What about vulneraries and such?"

There was a bit of a pause before Soren said anything. "We're fresh out of vulneraries," he answered, albeit begrudgingly. "Rhys and some of the other healers used a fair amount of them when they were trying to cure people of frostbite." Soren tensed up a bit when Ike heaved a deep sigh. "Commander," he said. "This army is hurting, and badly."

"I'm aware of that," Ike said, running a hand through his hair. "I just wish there was something we could do about it right now." Ike crossed over to his bed roll and crashed down on it. He hated how bleak this war was looking already.

"As do I, Commander," Soren replied, almost as a whisper.

"You should be more careful in the future, Zeyd," Ranulf told the female cat. He and Zeyd were currently at a nearby creek, washing a wound that she had given herself, quite by accident, really. As they were nearing the bottom of the mountains, she tripped over a rock while in human form and her arm had grazed the edge of a much sharper one, slicing through her tender skin. The cut was deep, but fortunately, it didn't bleed for very long. Being out of vulneraries, Ranulf told her that he would treat it himself. So now here they were at the frozen-over creek. Ranulf used the heat of his palm to melt some of the ice on the surface, allowing him a small pool of clean water to work with.

"Ranulf," Zeyd started to say as the male cat began to lick her open wound. "Why are you doing this for me?" she asked. "Surely this wound doesn't need that much careful tending."

Ranulf refrained from licking and looked up at her. "Nonsense, this is absolutely necessary since we can't just put a vulnerary on it and call it good. We can't let it get infected."

Zeyd smiled a little at this. "I must say, I admire how much you care." She angled her head down in an effort to hide the blush that spread across her face. "I'm sure that no one else would treat a wound like this for me. It's just the way my mother always did." She allowed herself to giggle a little when she said this. Attentively, she watched as Ranulf proceeded to lick her arm again, making sure that his saliva coated every square inch of the cut. Once he was certain there would be no infection, he took a bandage and began wrapping it around her arm.

"I'm doing this because I care about you, Zeyd," he admitted, though not looking her in the eyes right away. "And besides, only a fellow cat would treat your wound the way I did."

Zeyd allowed a healthy laugh to escape her. "You're right, a Beorc wouldn't willingly lick my arm like a cat would."

Ranulf laughed as well, his eyes drifting down toward the ground. "Zeyd, have I ever told you just how-"

"Hold that thought, Ranulf," Zeyd interrupted him, holding up her hand. The air became very calm and quiet, even the wind had stopped blowing for a moment. "Do you smell something?"

Ranulf took a whiff of the air himself, stopping abruptly when he figured out the scent. "It smells like-"

"Our kin," Zeyd finished the sentence for him. The look on her face was nothing short of alarmed.

"I hate being on lookout duty when it's this cold!" Shinon griped, his arms folded tightly around him. He deduced that being on top of a hill made matters even worse. "What in the goddess's name would decide to attack us when it's freezing outside, anyway?"

"Must you always complain, Shinon?" Titania, Shinon's watch partner for the night, asked, getting rather annoyed with him very fast. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder what Greil ever saw in you."

Shinon gave her a nasty look. "You know, I wonder the same about you? In fact, Commander Greil probably only hired you so he could have some whore to fling with." This lewd comment caused Titania to grasp Shinon's arms tightly, turning him towards her.

"How dare you insinuate such a thing?" she hissed. "Not only is it an insult to me, your superior, but it's an absolute derision to Commander Greil's memory!" Her green eyes seemed to glow with fury as she glared at the marksman. "And I thought you revered him more than anything." It wasn't a question, rather, a statement. "I swear, if I had my axe with me, your face would be rearranged!"

"But that wouldn't do to take out your comrade simply because of rage," Shinon taunted. "What would people say about you, then?"

"More likely, they would be happy to finally be rid of you!" Titania spat back.

"Titania!" A voice suddenly shouted. Titania immediately recognized it belonged to Ranulf. She looked down the hill a ways, only to see him and Zeyd sprinting towards them.

"What? What is it?" she called out, becoming even more worried by the second. When Ranulf and Zeyd finally reached them, they were both very much out of breath.

"We smelled Beast Laguz down by the creek," Ranulf choked out, stopping for a moment to cough. "We're being followed, and we'll probably be under attack soon." No later than he'd said it, shrill beast cries could be heard nearby. "Very soon," he added.

"Oh goddess," Titania breathed. "Shinon, we'll discuss things later. Help me wake everybody up! You too, Ranulf, Zeyd," she commanded, taking off in the direction of the tents. Shinon, Ranulf and Zeyd followed closely behind her, each of them going separate ways to ensure everyone was woken up in the least amount of time.

Soren was already awake when Titania came to his tent, Ranulf's shouting having woke him up. He was already prepared with a Bolganone tome in his hand. When he stepped out of his tent, he was not really expecting the sight that awaited him. The beasts had infiltrated the camp, and were already busying themselves with slaughtering those who were not prepared. Soren quickly cast his fire spell at a small group of them who were going after Nephenee, sending them running to the creek in a vain attempt to put the fires out.

"Soren!" he heard Ike shout as the commander ran towards him. "Where's Mist?" Soren's face contorted into a look of panic when he realized she was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll go and look for her. You stay here, Ike," he said, not even caring that he was giving his commander orders. But finding Mist was his priority right now. He would take reprimands from Ike later. With that, the sage hurried off to go look for the cleric.

"Wait, Soren!" Ike shouted after him, but it was no use. Soren was already gone from the commander's sight, and Ike soon found himself engaged with a tiger. He would have to worry about the two of them later and hope that they could handle themselves. Right now, he had a battle to fight.

Soren swiftly made his way through the camp, casting Bolganone whenever he needed to. He tried his hardest to ignore the shrieks of his fellow comrades. He was forced to stop dead in his tracks as the body of an unnamed soldier was felled on the path right in front of him. The man had a deep gash on the very center of his abdomen, and blood was pouring out of it. Soren carefully moved around the dead soldier and continued on his way, scanning in all directions for Mist. He called out her name occasionally, hoping that she might hear him. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of searching, Soren finally heard a woman's scream that sounded a lot like Mist's. Following the sound, he at last located Mist behind one of the supply tents, trying to fend off a vicious-looking lion. She had her sword, Florete, held out in front of her, looking away from the huge cat as it stalked ever closer towards her. The look on her face was one of utter terror.

"Mist!" Soren yelled, causing both the cleric and the lion to turn their attention towards him. Out of sheer anger, Soren cast the powerful fire spell with much more force than he ever had before. Immediately, the lion was engulfed in the flames, practically burning to nothing but ash on the spot. Mist watched the sight unfold in front of her, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. When the flames had finally died down, she looked like she was in danger of fainting. Luckily, Soren was able to catch her before she could.

"Soren," she breathed, her voice softer than a whisper. "You...saved my life." Then she threw her arms around him with all the strength she had left, making Soren stiffen quite a bit. Eventually, he tightened his hold on her, all the while making sure there were no other Laguz around to harm her. They stayed hidden behind the supply tent almost until dawn, when the sounds of battle finally died down. Taking this as a sign that the Laguz had left, Soren started walking back in the direction he had come from.

"Come on," he said softly, still holding onto Mist. "I think it's over now. Let's get back to everyone else." Mist nodded, than started moving her feet as well. When they reached the center of camp, they saw Ike standing by Oscar, who held his youngest brother in his arms. Thankfully, Rolf was still breathing. However, he was wounded very badly. Soren and Mist watched as Oscar sprinted off toward the healers' tent in search of Rhys. Mist called out to her brother then, and the commander was beyond relieved to see that his beloved sister and friend had made it through the night.

"Mist!" he cried, exasperated. He ran towards them, pulling his sister in for a hug. "Thank the goddess you're alright! You scared the life out of me when I couldn't find you."

"I'm glad to see you're alright too, Brother," Mist said, squeezing Ike tightly. "But you should be thanking Soren for my safe return. He rescued me from a lion."

Ike let go of Mist then, and looked at his best friend. Without even realizing it, Soren had backed away from them considerably while they were hugging. "Of course. It seems like I'm indebted to you once again for protecting my sister, Soren."

Soren simply shrugged his shoulders shyly. "I was just doing my duty as a member of this army."

Mist giggled. "Well, for that heroic deed, you deserve something." Taking Soren's hands in her own, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek. "Thank you." Of course, this made Soren blush fiercely. He silently thanked the goddess that it was still too dark for anyone to see.

"Y-you're welcome," Soren managed to get out, looking back down at the ground. Giving his hands one final squeeze, Mist hurried off in search of any wounded soldiers that she could heal. Ike clapped a hand to Soren's shoulder, causing the sage to look up abruptly.

"Come on. We need to make sure everyone is accounted for."

A/N: Yep, so you've just witnessed the second major battle of the war. There will probably be plenty more, I assure you, but not a whole lot more casualties, especially not people we know. (Since I'm still feeling like people hate me for killing Calill lol). Get over it! That was 4 chapters ago! Haha just kidding, I'm still a little sad about that one. :( So, I hope beyond hope that I see all of you in the next chapter! Peace! :)