Lo and behold the final chapter! I've spent much time on this chapter, and I've rewritten it about three times before I figured I finally got the feeling right.

I know it's been a long wait, especially considering how quite a few of you (my readers) wished to remain morally pure and not read the previous chapter. For those of you who didn't, I suggest that you set aside your fears and at least try the first couple of paragraphs of chapter 5 knowing that it's not nearly as 'bad' as you might think, (it's actually a rather beautiful work of art; read the reviews I got on it) and that trying something new won't hurt you.

But if you still insist on not reading chapter 5, then just start reading this chapter letting your imagination fill in the blanks.

BTW, please forgive me for ever so slightly tweaking Kent and Fiora's support conversation A.

Oh, and I've 'updated' chapter 5 because I almost died of a heart attack when I suddenly realized that there was a typo in it's 25th paragraph (I wrote 'them' instead of 'their'). This horrid mistake has been changed.

I do not own Fire Emblem or its respective characters.

ONWARD!

Kent found himself staring into Fiora's eyes, felt her holding her naked body tightly to his, and saw nothing but the deepest compassion on her face. She smiled at him in a way he had never seen, and a tear rolled down the corner of her eye as she moved her face closer and kissed him heatedly on the lips. Kent kissed back and his arms slowly but surly encircled her almost on instinct, as though every part of his body was moving on it's own. Her embrace felt warm and inviting, and though he did not want her to leave, he was trying to think of how he had gotten to where he was right now. He knew this inexplicable moment was immoral, but a part of him felt that he wanted this and that there was no reason to resist the wonderful contact.

As he thought this, she suddenly disappeared from his arms; and Kent found himself in full armor riding on the back of his horse which was slowly trotting forward. He looked about and saw nothing but endless fields of grass that was easily knee-high, the wind blowing the millions of blades about. His body felt cold in comparison to Fiora's embrace, who he had strangely lost one way or another. Kent saw a dark spot way out in front of him that looked like it could be something he could investigate. Noticing nothing else around him, he urged his horse forward at a fast and constant pace.

Kent rode for what seemed like a hundred eternities, and the plains of grass were making him sick with their relentless flowing and infinite population. But the greenery suddenly came to a complete stop, and he was traveling on a hard cobblestone surface that went out in all directions. The black point he had been traveling towards became more defined as he got closer, and he could see it was the silhouette of something but he did not know what.

"Kent, thanks for always looking out for me." Fiora's voice suddenly echoed across the barren landscape. Kent stooped his mount and took a moment to make sure he wasn't imagining this.

"An easy victory every time!" Mark's voice called. Kent knew that he wasn't imagining this now, and he suddenly noticed how the dark point he had been moving towards was now somehow moving towards him.

"Yes, you." Kent heard his own voice say, though he had not spoken a word. The black point was now close enough that he could see the outlining of what it was; two people, one standing, and one lying on the ground. It was a sight he had seen before.

Kent didn't even think, he just kicked into the sides of his horse, and traveled towards the two people at top speed. He reached for the sword at his side, but it was not there; nor was his axe or any of his spears or lances or even his shield. He didn't care, he kept on going.

His worst fears were realized as the people came into view. One was Fiora, who as splayed out on the ground on her back, her right shoulder clutched in pain. The other person was Linus, who was currently in the act of slowly drawing his sword from it's sheath on his back. Kent hurried his horse as he watched Linus slowly advance towards Fiora's crippled form.

Kent was only a few yards away when Linus pulled the blade of his sword from it's sheath and held it straight outward in Fiora's direction. Kent was only a few feet away now, and was about to leap from his saddle at the man when his horse suddenly disappeared beneath him and he fell to the ground. Kent tried to get to his feet but he felt as though there were some unstoppable force holding him to the ground, like all of the energy in his body had been drained and he could not move no matter how hard he tried.

Kent had his head turned toward Fiora and the Mad Dog, and he could only watch in horror as Linus brought the very tip of his blade directly between Fiora's fearful eyes, holding it with only his left hand. Linus brought his right hand up behind the bottom of the handle as he said, "Fine, I'll finnish you off first."

Kent screamed for Linus to stop but no sound came from his mouth. Kent saw the world around him slow down as Linus' entire body blew away like the sand off the mountainous dunes of sand of the Nabata Desert, but his sword remained hovering for a moment. Kent yelled as loud as he could, called to Fiora that he loved her but as he did so the weapon on it's own shot forward, piercing through the other side of her head.

Kent awoke.

He was lying flat on his back looking straight up at the ceiling of the tent through shocked eyes. He remembered he needed to breath and took a deep intake of air, followed by a relaxing exhale that was followed by many quick breaths. He closed his eyes and forced a single soothing thought into his mind: It was only a dream.

Kent was a bit uncomfortable in the position he was in, lying half off the edge of his bed with his right arm dangling down and touching the soft grass of the ground, but he was taking this moment to get his mind focused on reality. O.K. He thought, There are no endless plains of grass, nor cobblestones, nor levitating swords, Fiora did not die, and Fiora would never... But still, I confessed my love to her! That is totally unacceptable. Even if it is a dream, even if it is not real, even if these confounded feelings are true... Oh don't dwell on such immoral thoughts Kent! Even if my feelings may be true, she's not the kind of woman who would...! He had opened his eyes in the direction of Fiora's bed on the other side of the tent, and noticed through the early-morning twilight how it was neatly made out like it was ready to be slept in. Her clothing was also uniformly stacked beside it, so she couldn't be up and about. As far as that went; judging by the dim redness of the sky that flooded the horizon below a deep blue sky, which he could just make out through the flap of their tent, it was too early even for him to be awake. Then he noticed the color of her hair on her bed, and began to wonder if Fiora was still sleeping but had somehow managed to become as thin as a leaf. He concentrated his eyes on the aquamarine lump on her bed and as his eyes focused, he thought to himself, Is... that... a... bra!

Kent froze. He felt something lightly squeeze his left shoulder and memories came rushing back to him. Kent slowly turned his head off to his left and closed his eyes; he was almost afraid of what he thought he would see when he opened them. His eyelids peeled apart, and he saw Fiora sleeping there. Saw her relaxed, beautiful face with a peaceful smile on her lips. Saw the way a few strands of her hair were spread across her forehead, cheeks, and collarbone. Saw her left hand rested on his left shoulder, lightly and subconsciously squeezing his flesh in the notion that she would probably wake in a while. He lifted the covers slightly for a peek to be sure of his thoughts, only to close them instantly when he saw her unclothed figure.

Saint Elimine, what have I done! Was all Kent could think.

He didn't know exactly what happened after that very moment, as all his self awareness was completely shut off. He was walking away from the entire encampment on foot through the lush grass with all his clothing and battle armor on and a lance in hand when he seemed to regain consciousness. He let go of his lance but it remained in his hand. He remembered that it was a Brave weapon, and he shook his hand before it fell to the ground and he looked out towards the red horizon that was anticipating a sunrise, as if expecting an answer to all of his questions and worries to be presented to him. Nothing came to him so he sat down on a small boulder and rested his forehead in the palm of his propped up hand and engaged himself in deep thought.

So... it wasn't just my imagination, or a dream... It really happened! How could I do this? How could I be so foolishly... immoral? I let my feelings take control of me, and look where it got me! This was exactly the kind of thing we were trying to prevent! What drove me to do such a thing? How could I make such advances on my closest friend?

Because I'm in love with her. Because she is in love with me. Nothing is wrong with that. We fell in love... no, we realized we had been in love and felt a need for each other. It is... justifiable.

It does not matter whether we are in love or not, I allowed myself to do something unspeakable to her... I even felt that I wanted to do such a thing! How could I let my instincts take hold of me and let myself do something so foolish to Fiora...? FIORA! Saint Elimine, what would she think if she woke up and found herself naked in my bed! He was already sprinting back towards their tent.

Kent was a very well-built, healthy man in the most prime years of his life with more stamina than most above-average soldiers. However being a horseman, he was more accustomed to having his steed do most of his movement, and as strong as his legs were, they were not accustomed to such hasty movement. It took him a while to catch his breath once he got to the tent Fiora was in, but once his breathing patterns were back in order he took one last breath of courage and reached for the flap of the tent.

But it opened up before he could touch it and Fiora walked out right in front of him. She was dressed in her usual combat uniform without the armor but Kent took no notice of this as he just stared into her eyes as if asking for forgiveness. She looked back at him mostly in surprise at seeing him there, but she had a distant look of comfort on her face; like she knew exactly what kind of chaos was going on in his mind and she was trying to lessen his pain. A long moment of silence passed between them as they simply gazed at one another like they had the night before, only this time, not a single thought was shared between them. "Kent." Fiora finally said in a soft, quiet voice.

"Fiora." Kent replied in much the same tone.

"I..." Fiora started.

"You..." Kent said at the exact same moment. The awkwardness of their trying to speak at the same time caused another silence to pass between them.

After a short while, Fiora hung her head in shame and spoke, "... Forgive me."

These words made Kent absolutely furious. 'Forgive meI'm the one to blame for this whole situation; I confessed first! He thought to himself, but he showed no signs of his anger upon his face and simply said, "No, it is I who should apologize..."

"I..." She tried to say.

"We..." He spoke at the same time. This is madness! Kent thought, This may very well be the most important conversation of my life; and we can't even talk correctly. Alright, plan B; let's take turns. "... Why don't you go first." He said.

"No, please, you first." Fiora replied as she pointed her head up towards him once more.

"Well then..." Kent started out, knowing that whatever he said had to be something good, "Fiora, please stay with me. When you are near, I feel as if I fight more bravely, more keenly. I know that we have always been together ever since that night in Baddon, but I want more than just a combat partner. Even if that combat partner has been my closest friend. What do you say?" He mentally braced himself for whatever her answer would be.

"Actually..." Fiora said as a soft smile appeared on her face, "I came to ask you the same thing..."

"Really?" Kent said as he took a step towards her. He didn't know why he asked such a silly question. Perhaps it had something to do with making sure that this was not still a part of the 'dream' he thought he had been having last night.

"Yes." Fiora confirmed as she slowly took a step forward and embraced him in a gentle hug which he warmly accepted. She rested her chin on his shoulder and closed her eyes as she continued, "It's strange isn't it? I feel as if we have known each other from birth."

Kent didn't hold her as needfully as he had last night, rather he barely rested his hands on her sides and leaned his head against hers as he closed his eyes and for a moment was totally lost in a universe of complete bliss. There was only him, there was only Fiora, there was only the warmth of their love. After what must have been two minutes of total silence without either of them moving a single muscle, Kent began to think deeply about this whole situation. This is the greatest moment of my life! he thought, She accepts me, and not just in the heat of the moment; but here where we are more than aware of the reality around us. She actually loves me! And to think Fiora: Just moments before I first became really aquatinted with you, I was questioning why I should even be apart of this whole battle... WAIT! What happens after this battle? Fiora will go back to Ilia and I will go back to Caelin, but that would not be right at all! He thought on this subject for a long while, trying to think of some way for them to stay together, some way to keep them from being parted. His mind finally landed on a conclusion as he broke their moment of bliss and looking her in the eyes said, "Fiora... I must ask you one more thing. When this battle ends, if we both still live..."

"Please..." Fiora cut him off as she held her hand to his mouth to silence him, "say no more. I... already know what you will ask... Of course. I feel the same way."

"Really? I am glad..." Kent responded as he leaned his forehead against her own and he fancied that he could almost see his reflection in her deep eyes. "But... about that policy I suggested... What should we do?"

"Well..." Fiora said as she smiled happily, "Perhaps... It can wait..." They slowly moved their faces closer together and shared a kiss that was almost as powerful as their first one, and they somehow knew that this was the way things were meant to be.

As their lips were locked together in a heated passion, an odd thought suddenly went through Kent's mind, Chances are slim, not even there perhaps, but what if one of us were to die over the course of this whole battle? Is it even worth staying in this army now that we have found each other? Fiora's only here as a mercenary, and I'm not necessarily the leader of this campaign either. Do we truly want to risk our love over our duty? He broke off the kiss after a long while and said, "Fiora... I know this may sound unlike me, but... do we really want to stay in this fight now that we've... found each other? Is it even worth staying? Why don't we leave together and forget about this whole thing?"

Fiora gave him a puzzled look and said, "Kent, are you suggesting that we... elope?"

"Well, 'elope' is... such a strong word." he explained to the woman who was still wrapped in his arms, "I mean to say that... we may be some of the most valuable members of this army... but everyone else is so powerful now that I think our absence would not be so terrible a loss."

"Kent," Fiora said softly almost seeing right through him, "are you saying that we might die over the course of this battle? That we should abandon our duty... in exchange for our love?"

Her ability to practically read his exact thoughts left him baffled, and he knew that it would be impossible to hide anything from her. Kent looked at her with the faintest traces of shame in his eyes before he squeezed her closely to him, almost needfully, and said with his eyes tightly closed, "Fiora, I have trained almost my whole life to be the man I am today. I've been a solider for so long... that I can hardly remember what it was like being a boy. I've always succeeded at being the very best I can be, and being a Knight of Caelin has been my life's work; but I would give that all up for you. I know that this mission is important, I know that the very existence of our race hangs in the balance of it's outcome; but I love you so much that I would abandon my contributions to this noble cause for you... for us."

"Kent," Fiora spoke as she placed her hands on his chest to gently move herself away from him enough to speak, "we can do both." He looked up, and stared at her face in surprise. "We can do both." she repeated, "I too have trained almost my entire life to become a Pegasus Knight of Ilia and though I was little more than a mercenary, I understand how important that part of anyone's life can be. But Kent, this is one fight that we must stay in. We can... no, we must continue this battle, and ensure that our future is secure. We can finnish this horrible war and know that we will never have to live in doubt. We can do our duty and still have our love. Kent; we won't die, I promise you that."

"Fiora..." It was all he could bring himself to say before she suddenly kissed him. He knew she was right, he knew that they would not die and that they could not die. He somehow suddenly knew that they would be together after this whole thing was over. It wasn't something that could be debated, it was simply a fact.

After a moment of having their faces heatedly locked together in a kiss that they both needed, they broke off and Fiora stared into Kent's eyes. She smiled happily, with a look on her face that made her seem ready to laugh at any moment, and Kent returned the gesture with a smile of his own. Seeing her like that was by far the most joyous thing he had ever viewed in his life. She hugged him and pressed the side of her face against his neck. He responded by leaning his head against hers and closed his eyes as he tried to burn a picture of this moment of happiness in his mind. "Ironic, isn't it?" Fiora said as she let out a small chuckle.

"What is?" Kent replied as he slowly stroked her hair.

"How the two in this army who were thought to have no concept of what love was," Fiora began, "end up... making love... on the same night that they tried to stop such a thing from happening..."

"And now what used to be friends..." Kent continued.

"...have become lovers." They both finished at the same time before embracing tightly.

"I don't exactly know why last-night happened, but I think it had a bit of fate to it." Fiora summarized as she kissed him gently on the cheek before snuggling back into the curve of his neck, a very content look on her face.

The words she spoke made him recall the dark shadow of doubt that had been looming in the back of his mind, and had now shown itself better defined than ever before. Last-night he thought with a shudder before recalling the look on her face. He knew it would haunt him to the end of his days if he did not address it now. "Fiora?" He said hesitantly.

"My Love?" She responded.

The way she called him that almost tore him in half due to the amount of sorrow he knew he had to convey. "Fiora... there is something that I must... inquire of you." He spoke softly, "About... last night..."

"What is it Kent?" She asked, her voice suddenly very serious as she detected the faint traces of unease in his voice.

"Fiora... it's just that... I couldn't help but notice that last night you were... well... crying... and I just wanted to make sure that...! Fiora?" Fiora had somehow managed to remove all the armor on his upper body without his noticing, and she was now squeezing hard on his back through his shirt as though her very life depended on it.

She looked upon him with tears building up in her eyes and spoke in a voice very much unlike her usual calm one, "Kent... I want you to know above everything else... that I am truly blessed that I was able to share something... so special with you... and that I love you more than words can explain... But last night... for the briefest yet longest moment... I thought you were... I thought you were... taking advantage of me... of my body." She hugged him tightly and buried her face in his shoulder. She was on the very brink of bursting into sobs as every word she spoke brought pain to her, but she did not shed a single tear.

Kent was left gazing outward, unable to at first fully grasp what she had said. He thought for a while, which was not such an easy task for knowing how distressed Fiora was was like having a knife through his heart that was slowly being twisted. "Fiora," he spoke as he slowly gathered himself, "I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt you... physically or emotionally. I don't know what came over me to... make such... immoral advances upon you. I don't know why it all even happened, but looking back now I almost wish that it had not, and I regret everyth-"

"No!" Fiora had suddenly raised her voice, and found herself grasping his shoulders with outstretched arms. There was silence between them for a moment or two before her muscles relaxed and she finally continued in a calmer voice, "No Kent... Please do not think like that. Do not regret anything that has happened between us... it is one of my deepest desires... that neither of us shall ever regret anything that has happened between us." She gently stroked his face as she started to explain, "I suppose that in the heat of the moment I... I had never before been so... felt so... intimately close to someone else... and I suppose that such a situation caused me to jump to conclusions. I thought that you had been lying to me all along, that you had ingeniously made all of your feelings for me up just to get to where you were. But then you told me how it was all for me... that you would stop if I so much as asked... that you never intended to ever discomfort me in any way. And I suppose I came back to my senses, knowing that I had nothing to fear. Kent, I'm glad that it all happened the way it did. Every moment... every touch... every kiss was filled with love and you made me feel so wonderful... I do not wish for any of it to have been hindered or changed in any way... nor forgotten. Kent let us never have to live in doubt, or unease, or regret; let us know that after this war we will live happily... together." She stopped for a moment, realizing that she had just spoken what she had earlier been almost afraid to hear.

"I wish nothing more than that Fiora." Kent spoke softly to comfort her, "I can't deny any more that that is what I want above all else. I want you to always be near, I want you to always be happy, and it brings me so much joy to know that you feel the same as I do. Fiora... I... I can't tell you how much I..."

Fiora held her hand to his mouth to silence him once more, and in her eyes was a gaze that told him that she already knew exactly how he felt. She softly kissed him on his cheek before gently embracing him; her mind at peace. His arms encircled her, and they took in this moment as much as they could.

After a brief yet sweetly long moment, Kent looked upon her face and found the first few rays of the newly risen sun were illuminating her features. She closed her eyes to soak in the sun's warmth, and Kent looked over her face. The light hit her directly from her right, and half of her face was brilliantly glowing with a color that was of a reddish hue (probably because the light was passing through Athos' magic barrier) much like Kent's hair. Then his gaze fell upon her own hair, and he was shocked to see how while the left side of her hair was it's usual color of beautiful aquamarine, the right side that was illuminated had changed to a unique tint of violet that he almost could not define. It was as though he was seeing what their hair looked like when put together. Like something from both of them was put together to make something new and completely different. Like something from both of them had been combined. Combined.

Then the thought hit him.

Kent stumbled over his words as if not able to properly convey what he meant to say. "Fiora!" He spoke in an urgent tone as he grasped her shoulders, "If we... made love... then shouldn't you be...? Won't you... eventually... become..." he glanced uneasily at her stomach before his gaze became glued to the ground. He suddenly no longer cared if they were in love; he had done something permanent to her now and nothing he could do would make up for it. He looked up at the expression on her face which was one of surprise and he squeezed her tightly to him as he started to say very quickly, "Please, Fiora! Please forgive me! I never meant for it to go so far! I never meant for such a thing to happen! I'm deeply sorry for what I've done! I can't believe I let myself do something like this too you! I..."

He continued in this way for what seemed like longer than he should take to apologize for anything, holding her close to him, unable to look her in the eye. After a while however, Fiora wiggled her hand loose and brought it up to pinch his nose closed. "...I'm sorry for-!" Kent found himself unable to breath, and had to stop talking to allow his mouth to take in air before he slowly let go of her and removed her thumb and forefinger from his nose. He looked upon her quizzically and asked, "Fiora, what-?"

"Sorry," she interrupted with a playful smile, " I suppose that was a bit immature of me but it was... necessary." she cleared her throat apologetically before she continued with a look of deep compassion, "Kent, if it is all the same to you then let me convey that I accept your apologies, but please; fulfill my wish. My wish that neither of us shall ever have any doubts, or worries, or regrets about anything that has happened between us. I cannot tell you how much I thank you for your concern, but please do not worry about it. Only know that everything will be fine. You need not be ashamed. I care not what happens... so long as we stay together."

"Fiora..." He spoke in little more than a whisper, looking upon her for what seemed like the first time in his life, "I'm sorr-! I mean... I will do the very best that I can to honor your wish. I thank you so much for all you've done Fiora, and I don't know what the rest of my life would have been like if I didn't realize my feelings for you, but I do know that I am glad that I did, and that you returned my feelings." She snuggled against him once more as he continued, "I can't tell you how glad I am... that we shared something so special... This morning I was afraid of what you would think of me, but now I know that everything will be fine... that knowing you has truly been the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I wish nothing more than for you to be happy... for us to be happy... together." She looked deeply into his eyes and she could feel the warmth he felt for her, "I love you Fiora."

"I love you Kent." Her lips sighed softly before they met his. It was a kiss of promise, and it was a good feeling.

UBER-FIN!

Doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside? Well, sadly this concludes the greatest piece of fiction I've ever composed. I suggest you take a moment to just take a breath or two and let this all soak in. I encourage you to take your time with that, but I do have some quite... interesting information that I would like to reveal; for this is not the only piece of work I've posted on this site...

Truth be told, I am actually none other than bungiefan89! To make a long story very very short, my personal life would have been heavily desecrated were I to have posted this fic under the name of bungiefan89, so I made a second author name to post this beauty. If you are a Tales of Symphonia fan, looking for a truly hilarious and well-written ToS fic, or want to get a laugh out of my perspective of the Harry Potter franchise, or are a hard-core Halo fan looking for a suspenseful action-packed (though incomplete so far) fic, then I suggest you read some of my other stories (none of these fics are of the 'romance' gender, and were written long ago in early 2005, but might be worth at least looking into).

All of that propaganda for myself put aside, I would highly recommend that you read through this fic a second time. And to get maximum enjoyment out of it, I suggest you read it while all snuggled up and warm in a blanket with a nice tall glass of ice cold water (because as we all know, water is good for you).

I would like to take this moment to express my thanks to Lemurian-Girl for so consistently reviewing every chapter of my story so graciously (even when she didn't read one). I very much appreciate it!

And I give my deepest, most sincere and special thanks to the greatest Kent/Fiora fan of all, one of the strongest inspirations for my writing of this fic, and my friend, Silvara. Without whom, I may have never posted this; thank you so very much!

And now, a rhyme:

R&R or give me a flame,

For I shall read them all the same.

The life of this fic has come to an end,

But your weeping hearts will surly mend.

It takes a wit keener than any dart,

To write a full-fledged work of art.

I've poured my soul into this fic for you,

So repay my grace: READ AND REVIEW!

(accepts prize money for writing best poem of all time)