?"Until the End of the Line"? (FEW3H Linhardt x Caspar)

?°"Prepare for Battle!"°? (Chapter 1)

Linhardt's hands were shaky, his breath began coming in shallow gasps. He'd never pushed pushed himself that far with his magic. His vision began to blur, and he felt his legs buckle beneath him. He was about to black out, but heard someone calling out to him.

"Linhardt! Stay alive! LINHARDT!!!"

He jolted back awake. He felt someone holding him up, and he was looking up at someone. His vision was still blurry, and he was dizzy and confused, so it was hard to make them out. After blinking the blurriness away, he recognized them. It was Caspar.

Worry flooded Caspar's eyes as he looked down at Linhardt. Linhardt stammered, "I-I'm okay..." however that was all he could muster. After hearing that, Caspar carefully set Linhardt down.

(SWITCHING TO CASPAR'S POV)

Caspar very gingerly loosened his grip around Lindhart's back, guilt enveloping him. He held Linhardt's hand as Linhardt came back to, worry gripping his heart.

"Sorry about that. I didn't realize that the exercise would have such a negative effect on you." he apologized sincerely. Linhardt shook his head. "It's fine. It was... a new experience, I guess." he reassured Caspar. Caspar hugged Linhardt. "Well, if you're not well enough to fight in the next battle, I'll totally cover for you." he told him.

"No. I'll be fine. Everything's a little dizzy at the moment, but the battle's in two hours. I should be alright by then."

Caspar smiled. "Thanks Linhardt." released his grip around Linhardt, he asked, "Can you still walk, or do you need help?"

Linhardt, in response, attempted to stand up again, however could barely get his legs straightened out before falling once more. Caspar quickly caught him before he hit the ground and said, "Guess I should just carry you." he chuckled. Linhardt nodded, his face turned a bright red.

Caspar scooped Linhardt up in his arms like a princess, Linhardt's arms wrapped around Caspar's neck.

Caspar blushed as he carried Linhardt to the infirmary. Linhardt's hands were warm and soft, and he wanted nothing more than to just kiss Linhardt right then and there. However, he held himself back. There was no way he could bring himself to do that.

 He walked into the infirmary and placed Linhardt down on one of the infirmary beds. Linhardt let go of Caspar and sat down on the bed, his back pressed up against the bed frame.

"Thanks for carrying me all the way here, Caspar. Sorry to be a bother." 

"Oh, it was nothing! You're light as a feather, I was practically carrying a sheet of cloth." he reassured Linhardt.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Caspar said, "Well, I'll check on you in an hour. Just to make sure you'll be alright on the battlefield." he told Linhardt. Linhardt yawned. "I think I've earned a nap, that magic exercise really took it out of me." he said, rubbing his eyes. Caspar nodded. "Cya later."

He walked out of the infirmary, his heart pounding. It felt like he was in a dream. He waltzed happily over to the blacksmith and gave the smithy some of his weapons. They were getting rusty, so Caspar wanted them repaired. He gave the blacksmith six hundred gold in exchange for all his weapons repaired. The blacksmith nodded and got to work.

With nothing else to do in preparation for the coming battle, Linhardt walked outside of the smithy's shack and sat next to the wall. He was excited for the coming battle, he'd been training with his father every five days since the last battle. Edelgard, Ferdinand, Hubert, Shez and Monica worked tirelessly to come up with a strategy to take Garreg Mach from the kingdom and church, since it was straight in the center of Fodlan, and would prove immensely useful in the coming battles. Though Caspar didn't exactly know how all it helped besides being smack dab in the middle of Fodlan and a great place to make camp. He wasn't really good with battle tatics and what not. His main strategy was just to run in and fight without much of an objective in mind. He just wanted to get stronger.

He closed his eyes, resting against the blacksmith's shack. He felt the cool breeze caress his skin as he ran his hands up and down a soft patch of grass over and over. And slowly, he dozed off.

ONE HOUR LATER

Caspar opened his eyes. He must've been asleep for around an hour. Immediately, Linhardt popped up in his mind.

He hurried over to the infirmary to check on Linhardt, worry knawing at his stomach.

He wlaked into the infirmary, immediately spotting Linhardt. Surprisingly, he was awake. He was sitting up on his bed reading a book about crests. Caspar chuckled a little bit. Typical Linhardt. He walked over next to Linhardt's bed, his heart beating faster and faster, and his face turning red.

"Are you feeling well enough to battle now?" He asked Linhardt. Linhardt shrugged. "Lemme check."

Linhardt slowly slid his feet off of his infirmary bed, gingerly placing them on the wooden floor. He attempted to stand up straight, however was still a little wobbly. Caspar thought he might fall, but Linhardt quickly regained his balance. He nodded. "I should be completely fine once the battle starts." he conceded. Caspar sighed with relief. "That's good. You're the only battlefield healer we have. It would be bad if you couldn't participate in this battle."

"As much as I detest to having to kill people, and get all that blood all over me, I know that they need me out there." he sighed. Caspar nodded. "Yeah, we all know how much you hate it." he laughed.

Linhardt looked a little gloomy. "I know war is good for crest studies, but I hate fighting." he groaned.

Caspar put his hands on Linhardt's shoulders. "If you ever need help in battle, or if you need any saving, just yell my name, and I'll be right there." he told him. Linhardt blushed and broke eye contact, staring down at the floor to his right. Caspar immediately took his hands off of Linhardt's shoulders, his face hot and embarrassment welling up inside of him.

Caspar smiled. "See you later. Don't die on me- us!.... Got it?" he corrected himself, flustered. Linhard widened his eyes, then smiled a warm, tender smile.

"Got it.