This War that Binds Us

Chapter 12; Agony

"Xander?" I asked Sharena.
"Yes."
"But isn't he sided with Princess Veronica?" Alfonse asked.
"He was." Anna replied back, rushing towards the kingdom.
I was so confused. How did he even get here. He doesn't have the will to create portals like the royals do. This was messing with my head too much honestly.
We arrived to the kingdom, only to see Xander sitting at the dining hall table. We all sat infront of him. I was next to Alfonse and Anna. Sharena was next to Alfonse.
"Why did you come here, Xander?" Alfonse asked.
"Because he's back." He replied quietly.
"Whos back? And I thought you were bonded to Veronica because of something more than a contract." I said.
"I was. I am. But hes back. Zachrias is back." He said.
The words hit everyone as hard as getting knocked out.
Sharena's eyes widened.
Anna stared at him.
Alfonse, was as calm as he could be. Alfonse closed his eyes and exhaled.
"What do you mean, Zachrias is back." He firmly asked.
"Remember when he took his own life? It was a sacrifice. He did it for Princess Veronica. Do you not remember why they always got along and were always able to negotiate? I should know because I was binded to him for christ sakes." Xander spat out.
That hit Alfonse hard.
"Sacrifice?" Sharena asked.
"Yes. Now hes with Veronica. We have to stop them before anything else happens. Who knows how long she kept him a secret. Or how powerful he has become."
I took a second to process all this information.
"Alright." I said. I stood up.
"Its time to end this."
We all stood up.
"I know where shes heading next. The world of Awakening, actually." Xander said.
"How did you even get here Xander?" Anna asked.
"Hm, better not to ask."

...

We arrived at the World of Awakening.
I had Takumi and Laslow with me for now. Chrom and Minerva were hidden in the trees. Minerva was off of her Wyvern for noise purposes.
A portal opened. Veronics stepped out with another person. His white hair was slick and short. He had a black mask on. His attire was the opposite of Veronica's. Purple and black with gold lining. He held a tome. A blue tome. I didn't have any green tome users to cancel him out. Only axe units.
Princess Veronica gasped.
"Oh Xander! I was wondering where you were. Come back now." She said.
The smile didn't fade from her face.
He looked at her.
"You betrayed your heroes. You betrayed us all. I was too blind to see it. Maybe you do deserve to be sad and alone." Xander shot out.
A little over the top.
"Nevermind that. Shall we, Zachrias?" Veronica asked polietly.
"We shall." He responded.
Alfonse tightened his grip on his sword.
Anna readied her axe.
Sharena was holding her lance in position.
Nobody moved.
Takumi shot an arrow.
It flung back at him, this time he dodged.
Chrom and Minerva were behind them at this point. Laslow ran towards them. Minerva and Chrom ran from behind. We all charged forward at that point. First thing I heard as a loud bang as Laslow stabbed Zachrias' horse's legs.
The horse collapsed as Zachrias fell. Minerva swung her axe towards him. She missed.
Chrom went for him too.
Zachrias hit back this time, hitting Chrom in the arm. He faded.
Minerva went for him again. She faded aswell.
Laslow vanished at this point. He was in the bushes as he was intructed to do so if anything happened to them. Takumi ran to another position and started to fire arrows.
He missed all of them.
I shot more heroes out. It didn't matter who it was. Mae, Camilla, Leo, and Tharja all popped out. They started attacking without hesitation. It was all a huge mess.
It finally came to the point where everyone was knocked out. It was just us five.
Xander held out his sword. We were all exhausted at this point. We wanted to retreat, but we chose not too.
Just like before, bredablik turned into a sword. We were all fighting. It was no use hurting my heroes if they weren't going to land a hit on them.
Suddenly Alfonse ran towards Zachrias. He lunged at him. We heard a huge zap. And something flew.
It was Alfonse's hand.
It was detatched from his arm.
The sword flew aswell.
He looked at where his hand used to be. Blood splattered everywhere.
He was too shocked to feel fear or pain. Another shocking blow from Veronica sent him flying back to us.
I was gonna puke.
His hand was lying there.
A Severed hand.
Sharena started screaming something. I ran towards Alfonse. Once again, he knows hes weak against blue tomes, blue anything. But he decided to run at him anyways.
I held him.
"Wheres my hand?" He frantically asked.
"Calm down, please. Please." I asked him. I ripped my cape off and did my best to tie it around his stub of a hand.
I tried my best to calm him down without crying. He was vulnerable to anything now. The hand that got cut off was the hand holding his sword.
I had to get his sword.
Sorry to say but his hand is long gone by now.
I had to get far enough to get his sword. I could fight for him.
I looked at him one more time. I dragged him by a tree. I kissed his forehead.
"I'll fight for you." I whispered, pushing his hair out of his face.
He muttered something but I couldn't understand it. I made sure the knot was extra tight on his arm. We couldn't retreat. We needed all of us in battle. My healers couldn't do anything about this. I gave bredablik to him.
"I love you."
I said before getting up and darting for his sword.