knowlee- Hi guys! Finally, I've gotten this chapter done! Whoo!

I honestly meant to get this one out a WHOLE lot earlier, but I ended up getting stuck on the last part of this chapter. The reason for that was because I wasn't sure how I wanted to portray the scene. I wanted to do justice to the characters and make it believable, but it took a lot of thinking first before I decided to go with the final product. Hopefully though I've portrayed all of the characters properly.

And now with this said, please read the final chapter of Read Between the Lines! Also please leave a review afterwards telling your thoughts on the story. Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fire Emblem or it's characters. The writing and plot line for this fanfiction is mine however.

A Fire Emblem Fanfiction

Read Between the Lines

Chapter 3: Conclusion

By: knowlee

conclusion – 1.the end 2. a judgment or opinion formed after thought 3. an outcome 4. a concluding (of a treaty, etc.) – in conclusion lastly; in closing

Kyza stared down at the book that sat on the table in front of him. He sighed for what seemed like the twentieth time that morning and closed the book in question. He wasn't even reading it really. He only had it open to make it appear as if he was actually doing something. Instead his mind was still thinking about the kiss that took place between himself and Lyre last week. He was still confused as to why it occurred.

The following day after the incident took place he did attempt to find Lyre and have her explain her reasoning behind the action, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He even went by her house to see if she was there but she never answered the door. This continued for the next six days as he attempted to contact her either through her friends, work or at her house, but she wasn't returning any of his requests. It was then that he came to the conclusion that she was avoiding him.

He growled under his breath and looked around the room that he was currently in. He was in the library trying to enjoy what was left of his break, but he was finding it hard to do so. Secretly he wished that Lyre was here with him and they were reading books together, but sadly that was not the case.

Once more he sighed and looked back down at the closed book. Honestly, it frustrated him to no end that she was avoiding him. And even though it did frustrate him, at the same time he could understand her possible reasons behind it. She was probably scared of what he'd say to her and that she may be even afraid that he wouldn't want to be her friend anymore because of it. All of those were viable reasons to be afraid, but he didn't want to stop being friends with her. He merely wanted her to explain why she did what she did, because quite frankly he was confused. And it wasn't just with her, he could obviously tell from her action that the most logical answer was that she was attracted to him, he was also confused with himself.

He knew that he felt comfort in her presence and enjoyed spending time with her, but he was still a little frustrated as to what his feelings were towards her. Did he care for her as a friend or was it something more? If he were quite honest with himself just the idea that he cared for her as more than just a friend frightened him.

He remembered that the first time they met they could barely stand each other; it was a wonder that they survived through the Goddess War together. Their disdain for one another even lasted after the war. He can say that they did bond a bit during the battles, but they never truly got to know each other personally like they had been doing for the past couple of months.

He missed it.

"Kyza?"

Kyza jumped a bit and quickly stared up. He was half-hoping that it was Lyre standing in front of him but instead he felt disappointment when he saw that it was just Ranulf looking down at him with a confused expression.

"Captain Ranulf? What brings you here?" Kyza asked as he quickly stood up from his seat.

Ranulf shrugged. "I was just wondering why you were here by yourself. Usually I find you and Lyre in here together. Kinda weird just seeing you in here after all that time you two have spent together."

Kyza sighed as he glanced over towards the other chair in front of him where he knew Lyre would be sitting if she were here. Apparently he must've not been hiding his emotions very well because Ranulf then asked him, "…did something happen?"

Kyza looked back up towards the Captain. "Perhaps…" He found himself unable to finish the sentence. He wasn't sure how he could explain something like this to his superior; especially when he wasn't even sure how he could even begin to explain it.

Ranulf held a pensive look on his face and quickly glanced around. He then turned back to Kyza. "Would you like to talk about this somewhere else maybe?"

Kyza looked at Ranulf. "Yes, I think that would be best."

"She kissed you?!"

If it were any other situation the current look on the Captain's face would have been highly amusing to him. At this time though he found himself unable to have that kind of reaction to it. Instead he continued to feel confusion towards the subject.

"Yes, and I believe that the reason why she's been avoiding me is that she fears what my reaction to her display of emotion will be." Kyza responded to Ranulf's exclaimed remark about his predicament.

"I see…" Kyza could tell that Ranulf was still trying to wrap his head around the idea of what took place between the two. He honestly couldn't blame him either. It was only just nearly three months ago that the two couldn't stand the sight of one another and would fight over the littlest of things. Even he still found it hard to believe at times how their relationship had grown. And on Lyre's end it seemed that she felt it grow to be something more.

He heard Ranulf cough which brought him out of his thoughts and saw him looking straight at him with a look of seriousness on his face. "Kyza, I'm going to be quite blunt with you here, but…" he stopped for a moment as if trying to figure out how to word what he was trying to ask, "How do you feel about this? And about Lyre, to be more specific?"

Kyza's once more felt his confusion towards the situation, "To be honest, I'm not sure. I mean, I like being in Lyre's company and enjoy spending time with her and doing things, but to be frank, I'm confused about the situation. I mean I understand what Lyre may be trying to say to me by her action, but I'm – I'm still confused about how I feel towards this, and to her. I've honestly never dealt with this kind of thing before."

Kyza saw Ranulf nod his head slightly. "I see. Just to keep things clear, just in case you're wondering, I'm not angry with you. It's just that, well, Lyre's like a little sister to me and because of that I'm protective of her. But you're also a good friend of mine and I know that you wouldn't do anything to hurt her seriously, but understand that that's why I'm asking you this." Kyza saw Ranulf hesitate once more as if trying to decide whether or not he wanted to divulge the information he was about to say. During his hesitation the Captain stood up from his desk and walked over to the window and gazed out of it.

Finally after a few moments of silence, Ranulf spoke, "I – I understand what it's like to confess to someone that you care for them a lot more than friends and then have that someone tell you that they don't feel the same way. I know how it feels to be hurt like that; to lie something like that out in the open for everyone to see only to have it rejected by the one person that you wanted to show it to. And I think we both know that is the situation Lyre fears will happen to her."

Kyza listened as Ranulf continued, "But that doesn't mean that you should feel that you have to return the same feelings just to keep her happy. For both of your sakes you need to be honest towards her about how you feel otherwise it'll just lead to more misery."

Kyza found himself following the Captain's line of sight and saw that he was looking down towards the training grounds; more specifically towards that of the troupe that Captain Lethe was training currently. It was then that he knew without Ranulf saying it specifically that he held feelings towards the older twin sister of Lyre's and from what Ranulf had confessed it seemed that those feelings weren't reciprocated.

"I understand." Kyza spoke. He was trying to subtly change the subject at hand back towards him and Lyre. Not out of selfishness of course, but from what he could sense from Ranulf was that this was a painful subject for him and that it wasn't one that he cared to talk about that much. He didn't want to force him to divulge information about something that he had no desire to talk about. "But as I've stated before, I'm still confused as to what my feelings are towards her. I mean, I've never been in this situation before to be able to tell where I should go."

Ranulf sighed and turned around away from the window to look towards him. "Well, how exactly do you feel around Lyre? I mean does she make you happy? And be honest with me when you're answering the questions."

A thoughtful look came over Kyza's face as he began to think of Lyre. "Yes she does make me feel happy I admit. I do enjoy spending time with her and getting to know her more. I also trust her more than I did in the past and with that I feel comfortable in her presence." Kyza felt a smile form on his face. "There are little things as well that she does that I like about her and enjoy seeing her do. Such as when she sews, I honestly find it quite adorable how she gets this look of concentration on her face. As if she's trying to make sure that she doesn't make any mistakes or else she'll have to start all over again. Another thing is when she –"

He heard Ranulf chuckle which caused him to stop what he was saying and look over at him. "What is it?"

Ranulf looked over at him and smiled, "Sounds like someone's falling in love to me."

Kyza felt his face grow warm and he quickly stood up from his chair in surprise to Ranulf's answer. "W –what?! That's impossible! I'm not in love with Lyre!" He would've shouted these sentences aloud if he had not deliberately tried not to do so. "That's – that's absurd!"

"Ah, but you do like her though, right?" Ranulf continued with a smirk.

Kyza blushed once more but found himself unable to deny Ranulf's claims. "Yes…, but –"

"And do you think that maybe these feelings you possess towards her are those of being 'more than friends'?"

Kyza stopped as he began to seriously think about how he felt about Lyre. Did he like her as more than a friend? Even though his head was furiously saying 'no' and that it wasn't the truth, he knew that deep down his heart was saying 'yes'. It wasn't love that he was feeling towards her or at least not yet anyway. But with time he knew that it could develop into that. So did he reciprocate Lyre's feelings? He knew from the assessment he made that he did.

"I believe that they are." He finally answered.

He looked up to see Ranulf smiling at him once again. "Well then I guess all you need to do now is find Lyre and tell her how you feel."

Kyza watched as Ranulf took another look outside the window and smiled. "And it looks like here's your chance!" Kyza's eyes widened and he quickly walked over to where Ranulf was standing and followed his gaze to see Lyre leaving the training grounds.

"You better hurry up if you want to catch her!"

Without saying a word, Kyza quickly exited the Captain's office and went to catch up with the cat that had been eluding him for the past week. He didn't want her to disappear on him again.

Lyre began walking down the steps leading away from the training grounds. She had just gotten off of her shift and wanted to hurry up and get away before she accidentally ran into Kyza.

She sighed. She felt really bad for avoiding him all this time, but she couldn't help it if she were afraid of his reaction to her kissing him. She didn't know what came over her at the time she made that decision. She knew that had been thinking about it for the rest of the day since her and her friends discussed that possibility, so maybe that might have influenced what happened. But at the same time she knew that the real reason behind it was because she had finally realized how she felt towards Kyza and she knew that what she was feeling was more than someone should feel towards a friend. Thus the reason why she did what she did.

But at the same time she knew that shouldn't have avoided him for this long. Maybe for a couple of days to give him some space to think about it yes, but for a week? She mentally chided herself. She knew better.

Once more she sighed as she reached the bottom of the steps and looked up towards the sky. She was still finding it a bit surreal though. Just a few months ago she knew that she and Kyza weren't the same as they were then. They absolutely detested each other and were both in constant competition with the other for Ranulf's attention.

She giggled. How funny was it that they were in this situation now? Instead of it being her pining over Ranulf and fighting with Kyza, she now felt that Ranulf was just a friend and now she was interested in Kyza romantically. Oh, she was sure that someone up there probably found this to be hilarious!

"Lyre!"

Lyre froze. 'Crap!' was the only thought that entered her head as she turned around and saw the one person she had been avoiding for the past week: Kyza. And he was headed right towards her.

Her body was screaming at her to bolt and take off but she knew deep down that she shouldn't. She had been avoiding him for a while now; he deserved her attention now more than ever. She needed to stop running from him and finally face whatever Kyza had to say to her.

She watched as he came down the stairs and prepared herself for what he might say. She could only pray that what he had to say was good or at least that it wasn't heart-shattering like him saying that he didn't want to be around her anymore. And if he was just telling her that he wasn't interested in her like that and just wanted to be friends she would be fine with that as well. Just as long as she didn't have to stop seeing him completely.

"Oh, hi, Kyza." She stared down at the ground.

She could feel Kyza's eyes on her head. "Lyre, we need to talk and I think you know what subject I'm referring to."

Lyre felt the blush on her face form again as the 'subject' he was referring to came to her mind. Once more fighting the urge to flee, she quickly spoke up to prevent herself from doing just that. "Oh."

She continued to start down at the ground as she waited for Kyza to respond. She heard him take a deep breath and then speak, "Lyre, look at me please." She hesitated for a moment, still worried that the answer he had for her wasn't good, but she looked up at him. When she did she noticed that it looked like he had a little fear in his eyes. She was confused. What was he worried about? That she wouldn't like what he had to say? Due to that little bit of information it made her worry more that his answer wasn't good at all.

"Lyre, may I ask, why did you," she saw him hesitate as he went to say the next word, "kiss me last week? I know that you are impulsive at times and have the tendency to do things without thinking, but I have a feeling that this wasn't one of those times. So, why?"

Lyre found herself looking away from him again. She bit her lip as she thought of how she could possibly explain the situation to him. She took a deep breath and knew that she would have to force herself to speak otherwise she knew she wouldn't due to the fear that was threatening to keep her silent. "Well, honestly, I noticed the other day, and you've probably noticed yourself too, that, well," she stopped for a second while she collected her thoughts, "we've gotten a bit closer than we ever have in the past. And it wasn't until a couple of friends of mine pointed out to me that we were beyond the 'just friends' stage and well, that we didn't really know that we actually liked each other like that cause we never noticed."

She felt Kyza's eyes on her and slowly she felt a blush creep onto her face. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the reason why I did that was because I realized that I liked you a lot and well, I wanted you to know that."

Lyre felt too terrified to look up at Kyza. He was silent and hadn't said anything to her for about a few seconds. She felt her eyes begin to burn as she waited for him to answer. After a few more seconds passed, she felt a tear slip down her cheek. Apparently the answer she had given wasn't one he wanted to hear. Suddenly the urge to flee flared up again and this time she decided to give into it…

…only she would have had Kyza not grabbed her arm to prevent her from doing just that.

"Lyre?"

She was too scared to turn around and look at him. Then she felt his hand touch her left cheek and with it he slowly turned her head to face him. She built up her courage and managed to look up at him to see what expression he had on his face. She found herself shocked to see that he didn't look scared or angry. In fact, he looked…happy? Wait, did she miss something here?

In the corner of her eye, she saw Kyza use his thumb to gently wipe away the stain that the teardrop had left behind on her face. Now she was even more confused.

Kyza took this opportunity to speak, "Lyre, I'm not mad at you."

"Y-you're not?"

The tiger shook his head. "No, I'm not. In fact, I'm rather glad."

Another look of confusion came across Lyre's face. For a second she wished she could see what Kyza was thinking, because she had no idea where he was going with this. Well, actually she had an idea, but there would be no way on Tellius that he would actually return her feelings, right?

"Why are you glad for?"

Kyza took a step towards her with his hands still on her cheek and arm as he answered, "Well, after you left that day, I was left wondering why you had done what you did. Not to mention I needed to sort out my feelings towards your action. After receiving some advice from a friend of mine, I came to the conclusion," Lyre was a little shocked to see a blush form on his face, "that I do return your feelings."

Lyre's eyes widened. Did he just-? Her heart jumped at his statement as she practically screamed out her next statement, "Y-you do?!"

He nodded. Lyre smiled as she felt her depression and confusion go away. In response she quickly grabbed Kyza and hugged him. She could tell that he was hesitating for a moment, more than likely because he was surprised by the action, but soon she felt Kyza wrap his arms around her and in that moment she could honestly say that she found herself to be perfectly content and happy. They stayed that way for a few more moments until she heard Kyza call her name.

"Lyre?"

Lyre pulled her head away from Kyza to see him looking down at her with a soft gaze. "Hmm?"

She saw another blush form on his face and mentally giggled at this as she fleetingly thought of how cute he looked while doing so. "Forgive me for being so forward, but, um," suddenly Lyre become aware of how close the two were and felt her face grow warm, "may… may I return what you gave me a week ago?"

Lyre gasped slightly and bit her lip as she blushed again when she realized exactly what it was that he was asking. "Um…sure."

She saw Kyza hesitate a little bit before he slowly closed the distance between them. At that moment, Lyre didn't know any words that she could use to describe the happiness that she felt. She leaned into the kiss and returned his with her own.

Lethe dismissed her squad after they fulfilled their training regiments for the day. They still looked as if they needed a little bit more practice, but she knew that she didn't need to push them anymore until tomorrow or else they'd start passing out from heat stroke. The last thing she needed was for her team to be in the infirmary.

The orange-haired cat walked over to the side of the wall next to the training grounds. She reached down and grabbed the water canteen she had placed over there in the shade to prevent the heat from getting to it. As she leaned back up to open the canteen and get a drink of water, she found herself frozen in shock.

What the-? Why was Kyza kissing Lyre? Heck, why were they kissing to begin with?! Lethe suddenly felt the protective side of her start to well up quickly. It was then that she knew that she was about to go and kill a certain tiger if he didn't get his hands off of her sister right then.

As she began to walk forward and head towards the couple, she felt someone grab her arm. She spun around quickly, firmly intending on knocking the crap out of who was trying to keep her from protecting her sister. She stopped though when she saw that that someone was Ranulf.

Before she could ask him what he wanted he spoke, "I know exactly what you're thinking, Lethe. And let me put your emotions at rest when I say that out of all of the laguz in Tellius, who would you rather have Lyre be with?"

Lethe felt her anger subside a little bit. She still felt miffed though. She looked back over at the two as she began attempting to calm herself down. Ranulf did have a point. Still though, Kyza should've at least asked for her permission first before doing this. And yet, as she looked down at them, she felt a little jealous of them.

Wait? What did she have to be jealous of them for? Suddenly her thoughts shifted to what Ranulf had said to her the other day. Her eyes quickly glanced over to him and then looked back towards the two laguz. If she were to be honest with herself, she can admit that she was sort of glad that he said it. But, she thought, she didn't think things such as relationships were for her. It wasn't something that she felt was a priority in her life. Still, Lethe looked down at her sister as she saw her pull away from Kyza and laughed at something he had said to her, a small part of her wished that she could experience that. Her practical side though wouldn't have any of it though.

Lethe's thoughts continued to focus on this one subject until she decided to end them before they went any further than they already had. Instead she focused on answering Ranulf. "Yeah, well, he still should've asked me first. She's my sister and he of all people should know that I'm very protective of her."

She heard Ranulf chuckle behind her as he let go of her arm. "Trust me, she's in good hands."

Lethe sighed. "If he hurts her though in any way, he better know that I'll beat the crap out of him!"

The sound of Ranulf's laughter came to her ears again. She looked back at him to see him looking towards Kyza and Lyre. "I don't doubt that you would."

With these words said, she looked back down at her younger sister and Kyza. She still felt her protectiveness telling her to go down there and tell them to break it up, but her better judgment said otherwise. Last thing she needed was for Lyre to be angry at her again especially since they had made up from the last time they had fought. Besides, she thought to herself, from what she could tell, Lyre seemed to be happy with the development between the two. Lethe found herself hoping that it would stay that way. She didn't want her sister's heart to be broken. Even if the two didn't agree on too many things, she did care about Lyre enough to want her happiness.

Shortly afterwards all four laguz walked away from each other. All of them were headed towards what looked like it would be better futures for them all. The one thought that all of them shared at their moment of departure was: It's funny how all of this came about by just reading a book…

Fin.