Disclaimer: still own nothing

A/N: okay, after many, many rewrites I finally found that chapter seven needed to be split into two parts. So this one is a little short, but there should be less of a wait for the next one. Thanks to the reviewers, as always. There would be no fanfiction without reviewers.

Erika POV

Seeing that the bishop was not going to return to finish us off, Gilliam hobbled over, relieving the crushing weight of Seth's body. I quickly got up, intending to see if Seth was okay, but Natasha quickly cut in front of me.

"This man's still alive, but the magic melted the metal of his armor, it has fused with his skin. If we are to save him, I will need help, cutting off the armor." She instructed. "Gilliam, help me to remove that which is not grafted to him."

Joshua stepped forward, seeing my look of horror at her instructions, offering to be the one to help remove the armor. Gilliam was currently removing Seth's shoulder guards and whatever else had escaped the magic, being the only one strong enough to handle him with the least chance of dropping him to harm him further.

"Okay, that should do, Gilliam. Joshua-"

"Yes."

"I want you to cut the skin just under the metal, I will attempt to heal it as you go along, to prevent too much blood loss. I am aware your sword arm is steady, but I implore you to make these the smoothest cuts you can, healing magic cannot always save everything, and it will be especially taxing to grow back-"

"Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Joshua interrupted, removing a knife from his belt. I was glad to see it looked clean, not used in battle. Joshua kneeled next to Natasha, and despite telling myself I shouldn't, couldn't see this done, I leaned forward to watch Joshua's first incision.

I was glad to see Joshua held the knife steady, looking almost as if he had done this several times before. Slowly, as he began to pull back the armor infused skin, to allow Natasha to heal below, blood began to dribble down Seth's torso. The bout of Nausea that struck me was surprisingly strong, considering how many I had killed with my own sword. I suppose it was the fact this was Seth that was bleeding, I had always seen him as being something above human, and now the same doubts that plagued me at the death of my father were once again bearing down on me.

Suddenly Natasha's staff glowed blue, and she directed the light at the wound, sealing the skin just behind Joshua's knife. Upon the magic touching his flesh, Seth woke with a gasp.

"Erika, talk to him, we don't want him to go in shock during this." Natasha directed.

I graciously accepted the excuse to avert my eyes from the painful looking procedure. I quickly rushed to Seth's other side, kneeling down and grabbing his hand.

"Erika… You're safe." He said softly, relieved. His relief touched me more than I would have expected, and I suddenly realized how lost I would be if I were to lose him. I took a calming breath, before remembering I was supposed to comfort him.

"And so are you. We made it through another battle. Just lie still a moment, your armor is stuck to your skin, Joshua and Natasha are taking care of it." I responded, giving his hand a small squeeze. He returned it, though much harder, clenching his teeth, and letting out a hiss of pain.

"Sorry." Joshua apologized. I didn't particularly like how neutral he sounded when he said it.

"Erika, the children?" Seth asked. I sighed.

"I suppose we just have to have faith in Lute and Artur. Do you have any clue who that man was, Seth, you are familiar with Grado's higher ranked, no?"

"No, I can't say I do, I don't recall any holy men being part of Grado's higher military." He slowly said, attempting to keep his breathing slow and regular, to prevent throwing off Joshua's strokes.

"How can you call that man holy, after what he did?" I asked, still thrown off by the fact that such an evil man could be a user of light magic.

"Light magic is worked by a strong inner conviction, I would have remembered someone like that." Seth replied.

"Done" Joshua said cheerfully, holding up the gory piece of armor "Not sure if you want to keep this though." He said, throwing it off to the side.

I looked to Seth's chest, allowing a slight gasp as I gazed at the tangled mass of scar all along his torso.

"Sorry, I did the best I could do." Natasha said, hearing the gasp.

"It's fine. Excellent. I'm very grateful for your work, Natasha." Seth consoled, sitting up. "C'mon, this battles not over. What if Lute and Artur are still fighting? Where's Franz?"

"Um. Seth" I started. He turned, to see the decapitated corpse. Gilliam had moved the head over by the body. He wore the same expression now on Seth's face., a stony acceptance.

"Oh." His eyes got a little teary, but his voice never shook, "we'll bury him after this is done. C'mon, this way." He walked back and mounted his horse, which had wandered only a short distance.

As we followed Seth in the direction the magic users had taken, I noticed no more fog was issuing from that direction. It appeared they, at least, had succeeded. This was my belief, anyway, before we came across the two bodies. I looked around at the evidence of the battle that had gone on, the giant hole in the ground, the large boulder far off that must belong to it. It felt strange as I teared up, but never actually cried. I knew from this point onward it would be much harder for me to cry, battle was a harsh teacher, but it taught well.

Ross POV

I watched as the small girl sat astride Titania, who was currently tied to a tree grazing, oblivious of the young girl. I allowed myself a small smile, knowing that Vanessa would absolutely have loved to take the girl for a ride, and maybe teach her something of caring for Pegasi. The girl's older sister and father were talking to Seth and Erika. Or so I had thought, the older sister was coming now.

"Wow, she's beautiful." The girl said, spying Titania. "I didn't know you rode Pegasi, usually one wields lances when they ride, and they take them to battle." She said to me.

She was smiling wide as she looked at me, stopping a few steps away and taking up a confident pose, surprising for one who had gone through as much as she had today. I noticed she was fairly pretty, though that came more from her demeanor than pure physical looks.

"You seem to be very knowledgeable about Pegasi," I said, walking up to her. "I'm Ross." I stuck out my hand.

"Alicia. My uncle's a knight for Frelia, he taught me a little in his visits." She returned, gripping my hand hard, at least for her size. "Oh, and thank you. For rescuing us, that is." She said, seeming to have just remembered this.

"No problem-," I started, but interrupted by Alicia.

"Guinevre! Don't do that!"

I whipped around, expecting the little girl to be untying Titania or something of the like (though I doubt it would made much of a difference. It had taken much to get Titania from Vanessa's grave, and she hadn't left the ground since the death. Quite frankly I was surprised she ate or drank, she seemed so heartbroken.) but instead she was simply kicking Titania's sides, obviously trying to make her go. Alicia rushed towards Guinevre, clearly intent on removing her from the Pegasus, but I grabbed her arm.

"Hey, hey, it's fine. I doubt Titania even notices. Let her have her fun, I'll bet Titania is glad to have someone on her again." I laughed.

Alicia stopped, giving me a grateful smile, then frowned, catching on to what I had said. "Again?" she asked.

I felt a twinge of pain, now I would have to talk about Vanessa. "Yeah, I'm not her rider. She, she was partnered with a girl named Vanessa." It was hard to tell her name to a stranger, one who didn't understand just who Vanessa was.

"Oh, I just assumed. You seem so attached. Was Vanessa-," she left the end hanging, not wanting to say what was next, in case it hurt me. I could tell what she was thinking.

"No, nothing like that. She was more of a mother figure."

"I'm, I'm sorry to hear that. She must have been a good one, seeing how you treat, Titania was it?"

"Alicia! Come pet the pretty pony!" Guinevre called over. Alicia looked to me.

"C'mon, Pegasi need attention as much as anyone else." I encouraged, leading her over to Titania.

"Hey girl." Alicia said. Titania lifted her head, looking Alicia in the eyes. Alicia froze in the gaze. Suddenly Titania bowed her head.

"R-Ross." She stuttered.

"Wow, never seen her do that before." I replied, confused as to why Alicia had suddenly become so nervous. It wasn't like Titania had attacked or anything.

"My uncle said you would know, undoubtedly when it happened, if it happened." She whispered to herself.

"What are you talking about?"

"Titania, I am honored to have been chosen." Alicia said, bowing to the Pegasus.

"What are they doing?" Guinevre asked, having noticed both Alicia and Titania bowing.

"I have no clue." I answered the young girl, equally confused.

"She just chose me, as her rider." Alicia answered. "I'm to be a Pegasus knight."

"Chose you?" I asked.

"We get to keep the pony!?" Guinevre exclaimed.

"That is how a Pegasus knight is chosen, you cannot just decide to become one, you must have a Pegasus as a partner, and there are very few humans each one would chose. That is why my uncle is among a minority in the Frelian army, Pegasi prefer to partner with women." She explained.

"So, you mean Titania is ready, ready to fight again? That's great! Are you going to join us?" I was happy to see that Titania was going to pull out of this okay, she had worried me lately.

"Titania's ready, but I'm not. It would beat least a year before I would be good enough to join mercenary's, and besides that, I would never be able to convince father."

"What about 'father'?" A man asked, walking up to us, followed by Seth and Erika.

"Daddy, Alicia got suscepted by the pony." Guinevre called out excitedly, catching on to how exciting the idea was, even if she didn't understand.

"Is this true, Alicia? Where did this Pegasus even come from?"

"She was with one of the members of our army." I provided.

"Your uncle will be proud, he feared he would be the only knight in the family." The man said, looking overjoyed himself.

"Ross, you should go get ready to leave, we must go rescue my brother, we have no time to rest." Erika said to me, clearly aggravated at the slowness of our group. I guessed that visiting with the family was now out of the question.

"Just let me say goodbye, then, to Titania." I said, hurrying over to the Pegasus that Guinevre had finally dismounted, to allow Alicia to sit astride her. I had to admit, Alicia fit well with Titania.

"Bye, girl. I hope we see each other again, perhaps after the war." I said, stroking Titania's neck. She rubbed her head against me, an affection I had only ever seen her give Vanessa. "Take good care of each other." I addressed Alicia.

"We will, bye, Ross." Alicia returned, smiling and hopping off Titania. She gave me a quick hug, before going to untie Titania. I turned and followed the leaders back into the camp, wondering if we would ever get a break, now that Erika had gotten whiff of Ephraim.

"Thanks for everything." Alicia's father called as he walked away, carrying Guinevre and walking beside Titania, who took instruction from Alicia well.

A/N: Ah, finally a more lighthearted chapter. Don't worry though, the war is still going on, it can't be this way forever. Hope it was a nice respite, however.