10. Chapter 10(3)

A real Doña Bárbara...

Perhaps in another time, but there and then he could hold her and shoulder her burdens as she gave him all the reason to keep pushing on.

Tyuule listened to his beating heart as she continued trying to reign in her emotions. A fast, continuous stream of rapid thumping told her he was nervous. She shut her eyes and focused on it, finding comfort once again.

It made her want to laugh as well as continue crying.

For all that bravado he's still as nervous as me...

Here was a reason to keep going, a reason that could fill the emptiness left behind by her vengeance and loss... not a chance at starting over, but one of continuing to live on after losing everything.

Not that it would soothe the pain and tragedy she had experienced before, but... at least it would help her heal herself, if only a little, and accept a touch of the happiness she'd lost a lifetime ago.

Still crying, she slowly nodded her head against his chest in an awkward motion; her ears tapping his face twice, nearly poking his right eye, not that he cared much.

Dennis allowed himself to breathe in relief as he pulled her shaking form closer, his eyes staring ever ahead.

He heard the infuriating voice in his mind telling him he'd lose it all and gain nothing.

Maybe... but... not yet... not yet...

Perhaps in a western, they would kiss and the credits would begin to scroll up the screen, but he just held her there, trying to do what he could to help the girl's unease as she continued to softly cry, knowing she would help his own in turn.

No celebration, no fanfare...

There and then, it was just the two of them.

A/N: Well, I'm emotionally exhausted!

Zorzal being who he was would never surrender no matter what you changed in the story, and neither would many late Roman Emperors if put in a similar situation; the one thing that would change is how many he would drag down with him, and here... to put things into perspective, he set apart a couple of legions to take out the platoon of Berets and Rangers, using the stronger monsters in his inventory to try and smash through defensive lines and swarm them as he would have done in canon only to get bombed into oblivion by F-105s, F4s, and the final nail on the coffin coming from the B-U-F herself, the B-52, costing him those legions and monsters as well as the entirety of the Red Light District which had already been evacuated in both canons by this point... in canon he practically ruined the empire feeding troops into a meatgrinder, completely depopulating sections of the country, and outright exterminating whole swabs of the civilian population partly out of his own delusions and partly because the JSDF refused to neutralize him, so I'll say this is a win-win for both sides as the war was less destructive and over with much faster.

And Tyuule... well, more on her and Dennis next chapter.

Yeah, this isn't the final chapter.

Thanks for reading!

Oh, real quick! Special thanks to Airsoft Al, who reviewed the first 9 chapters of The Fight we Chose on his YouTube channel AAAisroft Media and said he would review this one. He also plans on interviewing me, which... yeah, never had that happen to me before but if you guys are interested, do check out his YouTube channel!

Also, thanks to Apollonir for mentioning the Arrows piercing sandbags with ease! Didn't know that tidbit.

And again, special thanks to... whoever is working on this fic's TV Tropes page. You guys are awesome!

Remember that all reviews are greatly appreciated and if you have any suggestions or stuff you think could be improved on, feel free to let me know!

See you soon!