It was difficult to breathe.

Each step towards my assigned position tightened my throat, and my limbs grew more numb. It forced me to vice-grip my staff so I could feel my arms, regularly take deep breaths, and stomp so my feet didn't forget my weight.

At one point, I thought I looked ridiculous, but the people I was surrounded by didn't care at all. They didn't have the time to analyse my every move and had more pressing matters—the upcoming raid.

Villagers and soldiers alike surrounded the main street and walls. Some had pitchforks, others had cleavers for meat instead of swords, and few had actual weapons that were made for battle. I carefully glided my hand towards the knife hidden under the hoopskirt, thankful I was at least somewhat equipped.

It didn't alleviate a certain foreboding feeling.

Shaking my head, I pressed on and eventually found myself behind the mayor's house, within a secluded part away from the walls and main street where Lissa was already stationed. She was prepping impromptu beds made out of hay and pieces of leather.

Once she stood up and brushed her forehead, she turned around before our eyes met. Her breath hitched before a small but noticeable smile spread across her features. I tried to smile myself, but my lips barely curved up no matter how much I forced them to move.

She took the liberty to reach out towards me and suddenly embraced me, our hoopskirts clanking. "I'm so glad you're okay."

A mirthless chuckle escaped my lips while I returned the hug. "I'm… not, but I'll manage somehow."

Lissa broke the hug so she could look me in the eyes. "Then are you sure—"

"Yes, I'm sure," I cut her off. "I have to be."

"If you say so." She beckoned me to follow her before showing me a large haystack that was quickly losing its volume. "Then help me make beds—enough for at least half of all the people here."

I gave her a nod. "And how many is that?"

"About thirty," she stated before taking some hay into her hands. "Anyone who couldn't fight has been sent away on the few ships this place had."

Lissa threw the hay on the ground before starting to neatly arrange it. "Make sure there's enough support for the head without leaving any space where the body could touch the ground, okay? We can't be generous with the hay."

"Right," I exclaimed. "Then, just drape the leather over it?"

"Yeah, and don't try to make it perfect. We don't know how much time we have left before the attack."

I nodded before pulling out a hairband from one of my pockets and tying my hair into a simple ponytail. Once I followed Lissa's lead, the bed-making process was slower than I would have liked. Sure, it may have sounded easy on paper, but with how quickly the haystack was disappearing, cutting corners was almost inevitable.

When I draped the leather over another patch of hay, I went to get some more. However, when I glanced in Lissa's way, I noticed how the hay shook in her hands as she placed it down. It was barely noticeable, but it quickly dawned on me.

I knelt down next to her. "Lissa?"

She jolted in place before whipping her head in my direction. "Theresa?"

"Are…" I paused, and my lips pursed. "Are you scared as well?"

A sheepish chuckle escaped her lips. "Am I that easy to read?"

"N-no, it's just…"

Oh for crying out loud, I have to snap out of this!

Shutting my eyes tightly, I gave myself two simultaneous smacks against my cheeks, letting myself bask in the throbbing feeling.

Lissa yelped. "Eh!? Why did you do that!?"

"To pull myself together," I answered while rubbing my cheeks. "Look, I'm terrified, but I was surprised you're uneasy yourself."

"I mean, I am, but worrying over it won't help me," she said before resuming stacking the hay. "People will depend on us to keep them alive and well. There isn't much room left for doubt."

"You aren't scared of making…" I gulped, trying to power through the lump in my throat. "Any mistakes?"

Lissa resolutely shook her head. Once she was finished with the bed, she stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Of course I am, but that's why the others are there to protect us. They need us and we need them, that's how it works."

A wide smile appeared on her face. "Trust them, and I'm sure nothing will happen to you or me during the battle. That I can swear!"

"Wait, so you're saying I should trust them with my life?" I asked, and she eagerly nodded.

"Yeah, because that's something a family should do, and the Shepherds are just that—one big goofy family." She leaned forward before tilting her head to the side. "I thought I told you that already."

I stared at her for a moment, blinked twice, and pinched the bridge of my nose before I shook my head while a smile finally spread across my features. "Yeah, you did."

"So, like I said, don't fret over the nuances and let's do our job right." She offered me a hand, and I hoisted myself up with her help.

"Yeah, let's do just that."

Did it make things better? If my throbbing head easing away and my fingers no longer feeling cold wasn't a dead give-away, then yes. Despite the fact I had my issues, I felt… relieved that Lissa wasn't as stalwart as I thought she was.

I had the urge to slap myself for thinking Lissa wasn't just as much of a human as I was. I didn't even know where that idea came from. I had no clue if it was from admiration, jealousy, or presumptuousness, but that didn't matter at the moment.

Time was ticking away with each bed I made, and we had little left.

A booming horn resonated across the town, the sound coming from the highest hill in the north. My body instinctively stiffened and my head slowly tilted towards the sprawling forest, hiding the half-destroyed fortress.

I stood up, trying to find any movement with my limited vision.

"Theresa!" Lissa shouted at me, already heading towards the main street with her staff at the ready. "Let's go!"

I nodded before fixing my hoopskirt for the last time and followed her. Once we got there, all I could feel were the thundering thuds and sloshing water, making me shiver. Dozens of pairs of feet disrupted the ground with a lair of dust because of the scrambling, all the while I stared at the faces of everyone I landed my eyes on.

Some people were determined, and ready to defend their town. Others had cold sweat pouring down their faces and saucers for eyes. One of them even bumped into me, pushing me away without even apologising so they could get to their post.

"Everyone! Get into position!" Chrom shouted, his booming voice somehow silencing the sounds I was surrounded with. "Archers and mages on top of the walls, carriers with buckets of water at the ready, and the vanguard in front of the gate!"

My body turned to find him, and when I spotted him already in front of the gate with his ornate sword in hand, he had a completely different presence. The one who consulted me back in Ylistol was not the same person as the one now giving orders.

The more I looked around and spotted more Shepherds in their respective posts, the more I realized all of them had already forged their masks for battle. Virion, Miriel, and Robin atop the wall had their heads held high towards the hill. Stahl, Sully, and Frederick were behind me on their steeds with passive frowns on their faces. They already had the experience necessary to fight and power through any conflict.

Then there was me, someone who was not only going to see them in action for the first time, but also a newbie who now had the chance to start forging her own mask. The process was simple to understand but difficult to endure.

"Are the clerics ready!?" Chrom suddenly said, and I immediately perked up and clutched my staff. Lissa did the same. When Chrom spotted us right in the middle of the open street, he gave us an approving nod. "Then the preparations are done."

He pointed his sword toward the hill. "Everyone! The bandits we face are not afraid of removing your heads from your shoulders! Show them the same kind of mercy for they will give us none!"

Chrom swung his sword in a wide ark before raising his hand and balling it up into a fist. "Let us defend this place with our lives, and leave no one behind to miss the celebration afterwards! For Ylisse!"

I thought the speech was corny—too corny, in fact. However, when the rest of the Shepherds and soldiers shouted in unison, "For Ylisse!" I had to cover my ears from the sheer volume. It just went to show how much Chrom was lying. He was good with words. It only took a few simple galvanising sentences, and the rest of the gloomy morale was almost entirely washed away.

Robin was one of the few who didn't participate in the cheering, his gaze kept on the hill. When his book opened up and lightning bolts shot out of its pages, he snapped his head towards Chrom. "Enemies incoming, Chrom! Call the shots!"

Without missing a beat, Chrom swung his arm in a commanding fashion. "Open fire!"

The set of archers led by Virion readied their arrows and shot a small wave high into the skies. The only two mages stayed put, focusing on the igniting parchment and converting it into their respective magic—fire for Miriel, and lightning for Robin.

I couldn't see much on the other side. The only thing I could hear was the opposition's shouts.

Sheer morbid curiosity took over me, and I found the closest set of boxes that could perch me up to see over the wall while still being close enough to my designated spot. However, what I saw was… gruesome.

The open-spaced field was filled with more than a few dozen bandits, beelining towards the walls while a constant barrage of arrows whittled their numbers down. Body after body was struck, leaving behind a corpse that tumbled on its way down like a morbid ball of meat. Those who got close enough were immediately dealt with by lightning or fire magic, either frying them or burning them to a crisp.

My hand immediately shot to my mouth, the sight leaving me shaking. Just the idea of being on the receiving end made my stomach lurch uncomfortably, but I had to endure it.

Because that foreboding feeling came back with a vengeance.

Over the hill's horizon, I spotted a wooden cart loaded with barrels being pushed over the hill's apex. Once it reached the downhill slope, the cart started to move on its own, heading straight towards the town's walls.

Robin fried one too close for comfort bandit before noticing the cart and turning to Miriel. "Shoot that cart down, now!"

"Of course," she exclaimed and charged up a fire spell that danced in her palms. The ball of flames got bigger with each passing moment and once the cart was within range, she extended her palm out.

Only for a sudden arrow to pierce her right shoulder, making the spell fizzle out and forcing the tome from her hand.

She buckled and fell down from the elevated wall towards the ground. Robin's face grew pale as he shouted Miriel's name while she landed with a dull thud, grunting in pain and holding onto the arrow stuck in her body.

My senses immediately went into overdrive. I gritted my teeth and jumped down from the boxes I stood on before beelining towards her direction. I knew getting anywhere close to the wall was dangerous, yet somehow my feet urged me to get there as soon as possible.

When I got to her, an explosion from the other side sent a shockwave that almost knocked me down. I looked up and pieces of burning debris flew into the sky while the temperature suddenly spiked.

"Get her treated, Theresa!" Robin shouted at me, not daring to look away from the warzone behind the walls while his hand jittered from all the lightning he was shooting. "If even one cart gets close, it could spell a bad end!"

I only nodded before picking up Miriel's tome and finding a random villager among the troops stationed close to me—one with a brass pot on his head hiding a messy brown mop. "You! Help me get her to a safer place!"

"R-right!" he stammered before helping me pick Miriel up. We ran back behind the mayor's house and laid her down on one of the many prepared beds before the boy scurried back to his post while I stayed behind.

Miriel was breathing heavily but didn't dare to flail around. The arrow stuck inside her pooled with blood that trickled down her body and stained her mage robes red. Colour faded from my face just from seeing the wound, but the fact I needed to remove that arrow made it all the more nauseating.

But that was not what I needed right now.

Redying my staff, I took out my knife and carefully cut the robes around the shaft to make pulling it out easier. My quivering hands didn't help, but I eventually made a rough circle before offering the knife to Miriel.

"Bite the handle down," I told her, and she gave me a weak nod before clenching the knife tightly with her teeth.

I grabbed the arrow, steeled myself, and yanked it from her body with a wet tear, causing Miriel to make a muffled scream. It sent shivers down my spine, but I wasted no time grabbing my staff and working on the wound. A mellow green light illuminated both of us before condensing around the hole, and Miriel's skin stretched to accommodate the opening as if it had a mind of its own.

Soon enough, all that was left of the wound were the stains on her robes.

Miriel eased her vice grip on the knife's handle, allowing me to take it back before helping her back on her feet.

"Appreciate it," she said, her voice worn out.

I took a deep breath before shaking my head. "Don't mention it. How are you feeling?"

She fixed her glasses. "I am able, yes."

"Alright." I presented her tome to her and she promptly took it. "You got a vulnerary on you, right?"

"Certainly." She turned around, facing the street leading back to the main plaza. "Let's not dally. Those carts are filled with flammable oil and have to be dealt with adequately, unless we wish this settlement to be a living inferno."

"Right, let's go."

After locking the knife back into its holster, I followed Miriel and, on our way back, we ran past Lissa. It was a similar story to Miriel, a person with an arrow stuck inside them, but this one had more than one. We locked eyes with each other for but a fleeting moment, and yet the determined frown on her face told me all I needed.

All I gave her was a quick nod, but once we set foot close to the walls, another large explosion resonated across the town, and my eyes darted up towards Robin. Sweat was pouring down his face and his hand was spasming out of control. So much so that lightning constantly jumped across his entire arm.

"Took you long enough!" he spouted. "Miriel! I'm reaching my limit here and I don't know how long we can keep this up!"

"No need to burden yourself any longer." She climbed back up on the perch and resumed her task from before, igniting any bandit or cart that was getting too close.

I, in the meantime, only needed to tilt my head ever-so-slightly to see more people on the ground sprouting more shafts from their bodies. Some had it more severe than others, but the fact I came back only to see double the amount of souls needing aid was extremely concerning.

Nevertheless, I pressed on.

At first, I kept running back and forth to help people get to their beds as quickly as possible, but it eventually devolved into me staying in the back and treating those who were hauled in. When we were finished with one, more would come to take their place, and some with more serious injuries had to stay behind.

They weren't filling the beds quickly enough that I couldn't keep up—Lissa was here to help me out after all—but that never-ending feeling tired me out extremely quickly. Not to mention each treatment made the gem slotted in my staff grow dimmer.

It was only a matter of time before it would run out, and that scared me the most.

My nostrils flared up from the familiar smoky smell from the exploded minecarts and it got warmer with each passing second. My eyes started to tick from resurfaced memories, and the stress started to affect me. Tying knots on bandages became difficult, and focusing on pure thoughts for my staff to work started to feel impossible.

That, combined with the patients' groans of pain and the loud fighting didn't help either.

My absentmindedness forced me to heal one of the injured people way too quickly, and I started to feel lightheaded, forcing me to sit down and chug at a waterskin. Sweat poured down my face, and I tried to wipe it away with my grimy hands before resuming my work.

I had little downtime.

Suddenly, a loud crash resonated across the entire town, completely silencing the treating grounds and the battle further ahead. The pregnant pause left me still like a statue, facing the main street's direction. When I saw hints of smoke rising in the distance, partially hidden by the surrounding houses, my blood ran cold.

"They…" I exclaimed before sucking in a breath. "Lissa! Take care of things here!"

"What!?" she shouted and turned in the same direction as I did before colour drained from her face. "Oh no."

"Exactly!" Scrambling on my two feet, I bolted back towards the main street.

I didn't know why I was the one to move first. The ash, the burning lungs, the thick warm iron scent—I knew exactly what I was getting into, but I couldn't think of a straight answer. Was it my fight-or-flight response, or did the adrenaline completely numb all my sense of danger?

My legs didn't stop running, yet my eyes were wide with fear. My hand clutched the staff as tightly as possible, yet it shook uncontrollably. My blood felt hot, but cold sweat wouldn't stop pouring down my back. It felt like I was fighting myself over what I was supposed to do—my mind against my body, and my body was winning by a landslide.

Eventually, I reached the main street, and it fell completely within my expectations.

Fire was everywhere.

The wall keeping the bandits at bay was in flames, leaving behind a clear opening for them to pour inside one pack after another. Pitchforks, spears, axes, blades, all of them clashed chaotically within the town's confines while under the heat of both the sun and the spreading fire. Smouldering wood etched the stone ground with black marks and boiled the increasing pools of blood of both dead bandits and villagers alike.

It was the most gruesome sauna I'd ever seen, filled with iron vapours, and it made me gag.

"Theresa! Watch out!"

I couldn't register who said it before I got shoved to the side and saw an axe's head sail past my body. Then, the armguard that pushed me was sliced, scraping against its plates and digging deep inside the person's forearm. Blood started to trickle from the glove, falling limp next to the person who saved me.

Sumia.

Her ponytail was gone, her long hair was dishevelled, and she heaved each time her chest rose, but her eyes were still glued to the bandit who lost their balance with their swing. There was a split second I saw into those eyes, and it made my breath hitch. Those caring eyes I was used to were no longer shining with joy, and were replaced by a fearsome glint that felt extremely alien.

It didn't fit her at all.

She gritted her teeth before thrusting her spear at the bandit with a single hand and piercing their exposed chest. It was without any hesitation, and when she pulled that spear out, the bandit fell on the ground with a dull thud, pouring blood. A hiss escaped her mouth and she knelt, letting go of her spear to grab her bloodied arm.

Despite that, she turned to me and forced a smile while closing her eyes. "Are… you alright?"

That snapped me out of my thoughts. Instead of answering her, I knelt as well and grabbed my staff before I started working on her wound. I worked as fast as I possibly could, and eventually healed her arm, but a few traces of the deep cut she'd suffered remained.

"I should be the one asking that," I rebuked. "Can you still fight? If not then—"

"No, I have to fight," she interrupted me before standing up and picking her spear from the ground. "We can't stop until we clear this place from bandits."

Sumia offered me her hand. "Quickly, there are others who need your help."

I had a sense of deja vu. Her bloodied gauntlet was almost the same as Robin's arm back at Southtown. Again I didn't want to take it, but the situation couldn't have been more different. Now, people expected me to help, they relied on me to keep them alive and able.

Was this what I was looking for? This… endless rush, the constant exertion, and the putrid smells?

My mind was all over the place, but my body readily took Sumia's offered hand and I pulled myself up. "Where to?"

Sumia nodded. "This way."

She essentially became my bodyguard. Whenever we reached an unfolding fight, we interrupted it by picking the bandits off before I came to the scene and healed any major injuries, while vulneraries dealt with the smaller ones. There wasn't much difference between what I was doing then and while I was with Lissa.

Of course, the outlier was that I was on an active battlefield. Instead of the patients' screams, it was the sounds of clashing weapons and battlecries, but as I focused more on the tasks in front of me, everything grew more silent. Sumia's orders became muddier in my ears, the blood that always pooled on each wound was starting to blend with the skin's colour. My vision tunnelled, and my hands and feet began to feel numb.

At that point, I yielded to my autopilot.

I didn't know what was happening to me anymore. It wasn't a panic attack, but if I had to guess, I was running on fumes. The only thing I wished for was the fight's eventual end.

"B… nd you, T… sa!"

Again, that was Sumia's voice, but I couldn't tell what she was trying to tell me anymore. I was tending to a wounded villager—the one with the brass pot that helped me with Miriel earlier, and all my mind focused on was treating him.

Then, whack!

Something hit my head with enough force to knock me away from the villager. I rolled around like a ragdoll, eventually stopping face down on the ground while the hoopskirt dug into my sides.

I tried to look up, but everything had a red tinge. What I could see was the villager still on the ground with his hands raised to defend himself and a bandit ready to pummel my patient with an axe's handle. Sumia was too far away to help, fighting a bandit of her own.

What… was I supposed to do?

I couldn't get up. I was too tired from all the running, and the constant concentration on healing ate away at me mentally. My eyes started to close from exhaustion. There was no world where I could magically get my stamina back to stand up and deal with that bandit.

And yet, to my astonishment, my body slowly rose from the ground. Putting any weight on any of my limbs made me buckle, but my hand instinctively leaned against my staff while my eyes glared at the bandit in front of me.

My mind was nothing more than a bystander, trying to figure out what was happening. Why were my eyes refusing to close? How could I still be standing? How did that blow I suffered not knock me out cold?

None of it made any sense.

And why was my hand already brandishing the dagger?

One foot in front of the other, I got closer to the bandit still too preoccupied with the prey in front of them. When they raised their hand for a swing, that was when my body acted and ran towards them.

When I got close enough, the hand holding the dagger went for the bandit's throat and stabbed through it in one clean motion. Their eyes suddenly grew lifeless, foreign blood started to coat my hand, and they ungracefully dropped to the ground, leaving me staring at a corpse.

I was screaming, but not a single sound came out of my lips. My body didn't even give me the time to gaze at the bandit before tilting its head back to the villager.

Everything after that was nothing but a blur.

AN: Well, it's been a few months, hasn't it?

I've got to admit that my break was a lot longer than I've originally expected. Not only there were so many new games coming out that I wanted to play, they also quickly ate away at my time. Combined that with my actual job, I had little motivation to write... well, anything.

Still, this is a chapter I'm extremely proud of. I also want to express my thanks to Cavik for proofreading this chapter, and cleaning up the mess.

Also, the two April Fools chapters have been deleted. It's extra cludder that lost its meaning a long time ago, but I will admit, there's something in the works that follows the chapters' setting. I won't confirm anything, but there is a chance for something similar to come out when the time comes.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed reading today's chapter.

God's speed.