Chapter IV: Battle on the Road

The small group of Shepherds made their way through the countryside of Ylisse with Ragna and Chrom taking point for the group while Cordelia patrolled things in the air from her Pegasus. Chrom kept his eyes out for danger and Ragna… read a book on tactics while he walked. He'd convinced himself that if he was going to keep his promises to both Emmeryn and Cordelia, he'd have to study up on every aspect of tactics that he could find. After he'd gotten back to the Shepherd's barracks the night prior, he'd taken every book on tactics from the Shepard's library he could find and began to study up as strenuously as he could. He was suffering just a bit now, not having slept a wink and that was after everything else. Since coming to this world, the only rest he'd actually gotten was those few hours in the woods. Unable to help himself, the Reaper finally gave a yawn.

Keeping Them Alive

"Tired Ragna?" Chrom asked his new tactician. "Don't tell me that you stayed up late last night knowing we were going to be marching today."

"I never went to sleep," Ragna admitted shaking his head. "Wasn't the best of moves, but I was able to study up some on tactics, maybe something that could save our asses if we run into anything on the road."

Chrom sighed. "Listen, I appreciate you becoming our tactician, but I don't want you working yourself to death like this. What are supposed to do if you pass out in the middle of a battle?"

"Relax, I've been able to fight for several consistent battles without a problem, what's the problem with pulling a few all-nighters?"

"Because of the impact on you? You keep this up and you're going to get yourself killed," the prince affirmed with a scowl.

"If it's either my own skin or being the cause of someone else's death, I'll take the former. I told Emmeryn last night and I'm telling you now, I'm through with the bullshit of seeing someone die because of me."

"I understand where you're coming from, but-" When Chrom looked directly into Ragna's steeled eyes and could swear he saw flames in them. "…I know how you feel, but try to take it easy. You won't be helping anyone if you're going to get yourself killed. And as your captain, I have the right and responsibility to tell you when to rest. I need my tactician in top condition."

"Fine, but let me do my damn job, and you can do yours."

"Deal…"

Support Rank C Obtained with Chrom

Just as he'd finished talking, Ragna's BlazBlue gave a small pulse that indicated they'd be a large horde of Risen in the direction the Shepherds were heading. 'Great. How am I going to tell Chrom without letting on to my powers? I can't just let us get ambushed.' Just then, he heard the flapping of wings above him and saw that Cordelia was flying to speak with the two. 'Saved.'

"Captain, Tactician, I've spotted a large group of Risen ahead of us. They seem to be equipped with all manner of weaponry; we should form up for combat and proceed carefully."

"I'll let everyone else know; tell Ragna the specifics of what you save so he can form a strategy," Chrom ordered before rushing to talk with the rest of the Shepherds.

The two were about to form their plan of attack, but Cordelia was unable to hold in a forlorn sigh as she watched Chrom speak with the others. Now as you might recall, Ragna the Bloodedge wasn't exactly the Reaper's sharpest scythe when it came to noticing relationships or longing feelings… but this one was painfully obvious, even for him.

"…If you want Chrom to notice you, why not try impaling a few Risen in the fight we have coming up. That'll get his attention." At the very least, he could try to take these of the field emotions to the groups advantage. Not like he was using Cordelia of course… though as a tactician he was… dammit, this was getting tricky for him.

For her part though, Cordelia was glad that Ragna had decided to offer this chance that she'd never have otherwise, especially when he'd gotten her into the Shepherds in the first place. Even when she had talked to her sisters in the Pegasus knights, most of them had dismissed the idea or at very least warned her of setting her expectations to high. Ragna, it appeared, wasn't like that at all. "Thank you… I mean, any specific orders while I'm on the field?"

Ragna thought to himself for a moment, what had the book on tactics said? "For now, I want you to stay close to Chrom and finish off any enemies that he can't kill in one blow. Also, I've noticed that Chrom isn't fast enough to take care of certain swordsmen. If you see one of them targeting him, I want you to take the first attack and keep him from getting injured. I already have Stahl, Fredrick and Vaike on guard for archers and mages so you should be safe."

"Alright, I'll do my best… Thank you though, Ragna."

"It's not problem doing it this once, but don't make this a habit of bringing your love life to the battlefield. I'm supposed to be a tactician, can't worry about being a matchmaker."

"I swear this is the one time I'm asking for this. Though, I suppose I should think of some way to thank you for looking out for me these past two days."

"That's not-"

"Please, at least let me find a way to thank our tactician going above and beyond from minute one."

Ragna sighed. With the look Cordelia was giving him, it was pretty apparent she wasn't about to take no for an answer. Besides, he had bigger worries at the moment than arguing with her over this. "Fine, but don't go overboard, okay?"

"Alright, let's get out of this battle first."

"Let's."

Battlefield

Using the abilities he'd gotten yesterday from the Risen he'd beaten along with Cordelia's own information, Ragna was able to see that there were two main groups of Risen, both of them separated by a river with a bridge crossing over it. The larger group was closer to them, so they'd have to contend with the bulk of the force before moving onto the small fry. If the Shepherds could the first group quickly, they could focus on fighting two different forces instead of one large one. Aside from Chrom's group taking the left flank, he put everyone else aside from him on the right flank where there were more mages and archers.

As for him?

Ragna took out the Aramasa and charged right down the middle of the horde. In one swipe of his sword, he was able to cleave through three Risen with ease. He kept himself from using his standard techniques such as Hell's Fang to keep from exposing himself, but it didn't slow him down all that much. He noticed a lancer behind him get impaled by Sully's lance.

"I thought I told you to stick with the others," Ragna questioned as he impaled a Risen with just his fist.

Sully grinned as she ran through two more risen with her lance. "HELL NO! I'm not about to let you take all of the fun!"

"Yeah, fun…" Ragna smirked before making a massive cleave and destroying another large group of Risen. He noticed that the Risen's back-up group was starting to merge with the force they were currently engaging, but they'd already done a substantial amount of damage to their current force, these few more wouldn't be a problem.

Meanwhile with Chrom's group, the warrior prince had just finished slaying an axe wielding Risen. The prince might've already slain seven of these monsters, but compared to Ragna, he was in clearly in a distant second and he noticed it. What he didn't notice was the agile Risen swordsman that had made it way behind him to impale him.

Luckily for the prince, Cordelia had been assigned to watch his back. Just a ls Chrom had turned to see the swordsman lunge at him, soon enough to see it coming, but too late to react, there was a giant gust of wind before the Risen was lying at his feet, a hole in its chest where it had been harshly impaled. Chrom was unable to notice immediately who had done the deed (Cordelia had gone a few feet away to hold back another group of Risen from her precious prince) so he decided to shout his thanks.

"Thanks for the save Kellam!" he shouted before attacking a horse mounted risen.

…If any of you readers heard a shattering sound; that would be Cordelia's heart.

'Kellam!?' she thought, her rage at being ignored after what she'd just done threatening to boil over. 'He's not even in our GROUP!' Thankfully, she decided to take her anger out on the Risen… poor suckers didn't stand a chance.

After that the battle was over very quickly, in no small part to Ragna and Sully. Chrom approached the Reaper as he was resetting his sword.

"That went even better than I was hoping for, but did you really have to take the majority of the entire force like that?"

"Hey, it worked didn't it?" the Reaper answered.

"True, but we're here to fight with you Ragna, not just assist you. Taking an entire force isn't efficient, it's just reckless."

"Unless I can handle it, which I can…" Noticing the prince's look of disproval Ragna decided to follow up. "Look Chrom, I can handle them on my own for right now, just let me read up on tactics a little more alright? For now, this is playing it safe." The prince reluctantly nodded, but it was enough for Ragna. "Good, I- hmm?"

A short distance away, the two took notice of a Pegasus with an injured leg. "Any ideas?" Chrom asked. "If we don't approach it carefully, it'll just fly off and get further injured."

"Maybe I can help," Sumia offered as she approached the winged horse. Surprisingly, the horse at least seemed trained as it calmly regarded Sumia while she bandaged the leg. "Looks like she won't be able to run on it for a while, but she should be able to march with us."

"Works for me," Ragna agreed. "Maybe you could ride her into combat when the leg heals."

Sumia smiled. "Sounds good, but it might take a while to do so, maybe have Lissa try healing it a few times to speed up the process."

After walking for a few more hours, the group decided to break before it got dark. Luckily, they happened across one of Ylisse's forts, already stock with a small guard along with plenty of rations for the group.

Ragna's Room

Noticed

After reading his tactician's book in his bed for so long, Ragna eventually became restless just reading and decided to check out the training grounds as a break. While it wasn't too late, most of the Sherpherds should've been done for the night, so when he heard a familiar sigh he was almost a little surprised (at least composing himself before he screamed GHOST!). The source was Cordelia leaning against the fortress walls and looking out one of the windows. Her arms were crossed and she seemed deep in thought… clearly not pleased.

"What's wrong?" Ragna asked.

Cordelia shook her head. "My kill count was about 20 today, but Chrom didn't even notice. I was RIGHT THERE when I saved his life, and he thought it was Kellam… who wasn't even in our party."

'…Crap, what do I say?' Ragna thought to himself. He'd never really been in a conversation like this before… but he compared it to stepping around a landmine field (which he'd done once before against a particularly sadistic Vigilante, hadn't been fun and he'd beaten the shit out of them short afterwards). "Why do you even like Chrom?" he decided to start with.

Cordelia looked at him like he was crazy for a moment; could she not like Chrom? …Even still, it took her a moment before she answered him. "Well, because he helped encourage me several years ago."

'He never brought that up to me, though I guess I never asked.' "How?"

"He gave me advice and said some encouraging words. I started to quickly excell afterwards. Really, I owe it to him that I've done so well."

"…And?" Again, Cordelia looked at him like he was crazy for wanting a further explanation. "Okay, how many times did he give you that advice?"

"Only once." The Reaper had guessed as much, he wasn't that happy he'd been right. Cordelia picked up on this and actually scowled at her twice-helper. "Ragna, does this really matter?"

"…Look Cordelia, I know you have a thing for him, but it looks like you're acting so obsessive over him that it's eating you alive. Tell me this, what do you truly see in a man that, while a great leader, doesn't notice or even talk to you? Do you really think Chrom would want you to spend your life trying to get his attention when it doesn't look like he feels the same way about you?"

Cordelia was about to respond readily out of anger… but Ragna's words quickly seeped in like poison. Was that really what was happening? She thought back to almost all of the times she'd talked to the prince only to be interrupted. It felt like he wasn't making the effort to make time for her. It wasn't malicious, moreso he simply wasn't aware of her presence past their first meeting… and somehow that made it even worse.

'Shit, I went too far… way too far,' Ragna thought with a grimace. "I'll… let you think on it. You don't have to come to have a damn epiphany today." He started to make his way down hallway once more to leave the redhead with her thoughts… but he knew he couldn't just leave her there… maybe... "Cordelia?"

"…Yes?" she eventually asked.

"…You did good out there today; really showed those damn Risen who was boss with all that spearwork, and while flying no less. I'm glad that you're a part of the team. Keep it up."

"It… it was nothing special," she told him modestly. "That's just what's expected of us as Pegasus Knights."

"Really? So, you're saying you'll do even better next time?" he asked with a sharp smirk. "Then I'm sure as hell looking forward to it. See you around."

'How could he have noticed me in that?' Cordelia thought to herself, 'But he wasn't even close to me and he was in the center in all of those Risen with Sully. Was he just trying to look out for everyone like he's been saying or is there something else?'

As she pondered Ragna's claim, one thing had become clear as day; Ragna had taken notice of her skill and efforts, commended her on them, and expected even more from her. This kind of recognition… it was something she couldn't help but smile at.

Support Rank C Achieved with Cordelia

Training grounds

Fighting Nobility

Ragna had a pretty good idea of who he would find at the training grounds when he heard sounds of practice coming from the secluded area and his educated guesswork was spot on. Sully was there, practicing her unmounted sword work against a couple of training dummies. She was hacking through them at a frightening pace, but she seemed unsatisfied at her performance.

"What are you trying to do? Make coleslaw out of them?" Ragna commented from behind.

Sully turned to regard the Reaper. "The hell is a clothes saw?"

Ragna fought back laughter. "Never mind, but seriously what are you doing out here?"

"Trying to improve," Sully said as it was fairly obvious. "I've got a crap ton of work cut out for me if I ever want to be at your level."

"Look Sully, it's not a competition. We're on the same team right?"

"Who said anything about this being a competition? I just want to get stronger."

"Reason being?" Ragna asked as he crossed his arms. "Besides the obvious of keeping yourself alive out there I mean, it seems like there's something else there."

"There is; I come from one of Ylisse's noble families." Okay, Ragna hadn't been expecting that one. SULLY a noble?! "Wipe that damn look off your face. I know I don't exactly fit the image of a noble, but at least this way I get some freedom dammit!"

"What do you mean freedom?" Ragna asked, figuring this was a good chance to learn about Ylisse's politics.

"What I mean is marriage! The Exalt decreed that any noble that becomes Knighted cannot be influenced by her family in any way for who to marry. I figure if I can get Knighted, I'll can at least wait until a decent guy comes around, or to stay single if I never find one."

"And… how does your family feel about this?" he asked, wondering what kind of a restrictive life Sully actually led.

"Oh… I made it sound like they were the problem, didn't I?" Ragna nodded, but he was at least relived that wasn't the case. "Parents are completely on board with what I'm doing, in fact being knighted is only going to help our families image… and this way they won't have to keep apologizing every time I break a suitors arm."

"Ouch. How many?"

"Two. Had three total, but the last one pissed himself from my reputation and ran away before I could do the real damage," Sully chuckled.

"Not surprised, you do seem to have that kind of aura around you," Ragna admitted before he grabbed a wooden sword from the practice bench and pointed it squarely at her. "I, on the other hand, don't scare easy."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"That we're gonna spar," Ragna said simply while taking a few swing to adjust to its weight, or lack of before taking his jacket off and throwing it on the rack. "Being a knight is probably more than just battle prowess, but I can at least help get you some more skill." He gave Sully a somewhat cocky grin. "You sure you're ready for this?"

"Just don't whine when I beat yer arse!" Sully yelled before charging him. The two grinned as their practice weapons clashed against each other.

Later

"Huff… Huff… Huff… Damn… I've really… got a ways… to go…" Sully barely managed to say. Her sword was already cracked in several places, her armor had a few dents in it, and she had a few welts herself.

"Sorry about that," Ragna said, referring to Sully's new marks. He wasn't quite as out of breath as Sully was, but the crimson knight had pushed him more than he'd have originally thought. 'Guess I went too hard on her… again.'

"What're you sorry for?! Been waiting for another fight buddy who could keep up with me! And you don't pull your punches on me 'cause I'm a woman… I like that."

Ragna gave a small smirk. "There's one truth in all the fights that up until now that I've had to learn the hard way."

"What's that?" Sully asked.

Ragna smirked as he put his jacket on. "War knows no sex."

"Oh?" Sully said with a teasing smile. "So mister Ragna's broken a few chastity belts, has he?"

Ragna face was crimson in a split second. "Th-That's not what I meant at all! And here I am trying to give you some help! Do I look like some sort of- HEY!"

He'd stopped his rant long enough to notice that Sully had literally doubled over in laughter. "Oh man, Ragna! You should have seen your face!"

'Damn it, she's making fun of me!' Ragna thought to himself. "You've got a dirty mind Sully. A dirty mind."

"Yeah, but thanks. I guess I've needed a good laugh lately… and seriously thanks for the sparring."

"Not a problem, in spite of your teasing. But any time you want to go a few more rounds, just let me know."

"Heh, sure thing."

Support Rank C Achieved with Sully

Half a Gift

It was starting to get pretty late by now, but Ragna had done too much sparring just then to sleep and his stomach was driving him crazy.

Groan 'Shut up stomach.' Groan 'You just had dinner two hours ago!' Groan 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WASN'T FILLING?' Groan 'Dammit, fine! I'll stop by the kitchen.' Content Groan 'God, even my own stomach is against me… and I just lost an argument to it.'

He made his way to the kitchen, but was surprised to see that there was a light coming from inside the door. 'Who in the seven hell's would be up cooking this late at night?' He then heard a girlish scream come from inside and heard a loud crash. 'That voice-!'

"Lissa!" he yelled opening the door. What greeted him he couldn't help but laugh at. Inside the kitchen was the kingdom's princess, in the middle of several broken jars, covered head to toe in flour.

"R-Ragna!" Lissa said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Ragna responded before he looked on the table on it was a recipe for a certain apple filled pastry. "Seems kind of late to make a midnight snack, and a PIE? Really Lissa?"

"H-Hey, I wasn't going to eat it! I was… going to give it to someone."

"Really? Huh, well let me give you a hand."

"NO! I mean, don't trouble yourself Ragna. I can manage it myself alright?"

"Yeah well, I'm not taking that for an answer. I'm helping out, like it or not."

"But… ugh, fine."

"All right, so the first ingredient is…"

Post Baking

"I think the pie looks decent," Ragna said as their project cooled.

"More than decent!" Lissa said with a smile on her face. She'd been able to dust most of the flour off, but she still seemed a little 'powdered.'

"So who's it for? You said you were making it for someone, though I can't imagine Chrom would be happy if you were giving pies to some punk."

"You're- I mean HE'S not a punk!" Lissa had tried to correct her error, but it was too late.

"Wait, this thing's for me?" Ragna asked surprised.

"Well, yeah. You're doing a lot for all of us, not to mention you helped me see how important my job was back in the forest and you saved my life. So this is thanks from me… Or at least it was going to be, but then you had to help make it yourself so it's only half a gift if that."

"Huh, well thanks." Ragna said as Lissa made her way away, somewhat deflated. "Hey Lissa, this means that the other half is my gift then, right?"

Lissa stopped and turned to the Reaper. "I guess?" she said, not seeing what he was implying.

"In that case, I'm giving my gift to you." He noticed Lissa surprised reaction. "What? I'm not gonna be able to eat this by myself, and a pie always tastes better when it's shared."

"Well, if you insist," Lissa said, a bright smile gracing the princess's lips. "Thanks, Ragna."

Support Rank C Achieved with Lissa

Ragna made his way back to his room after enjoying the pie with Lissa and picked his book of tactics up once. He'd had his break, time to get back to studying.

'Chrom said that he didn't want me to pull any more all-nighters… but there's no way I'm going to risk losing this.

NO WAY IN HELL.'

Author's Note: I don't own Fire Emblem or BlazBlue

But as soon as I win the shipping war, the two shall join the Storm Empire!

Sorry, it's late and my mind's wacked out right now. Anyways, quite the chapter if I do say so myself. I'm not used to writing large scale battles, so I decided to keep things simple. So now we have 5 C rank conversations. At the end of every chapter I'll put up a small extra portraying everyone's status. There won't be one this chapter, but it's still early in the story.

Rate, Review, and I'll see you next chapter.

Ciao.