A/N: I hate making an A/N a chapter, so I'm telling u all now. I'm in Afghanistan with my National Guard unit. Updates will come when I can get time to write. Thank you all for the reviews. And those who made this an alert please review! On with the story.

Saphira immediately felt when Eragon was wounded, and roared in fury. Whoever had harmed her rider would die, plain and simple. She turned in flight and dove for where she could sense Eragon, along with an enraged Arya. Eridor was confused until Glaedr showed him the image from Arya. He put on speed so he could help his rider in battle. The fact that he was the size of an oversized horse was not going to stop him.

The shade, for his part, was not working for Galbetorix, at least not anymore. He was the magician on the sloops that chased Roran across the sea. As the sloop was sucked into the whirlpool, he uttered a spell to slow his breathing until he surfaced, and he managed to make it to Nia. Spirits came upon him two nights later and he made the mistake of trying to control them. Several took over his body, creating the shade. He heard ringing swords, and investigated, bringing his bow. He did not have a sword since it was lost at sea, but he did have a large amount of arrows and a large knife. He felt confident he could take the tired elf before him.

This confidence evaporated when Saphira and Eridor landed on either side of Arya. The shade swallowed nervously. He had just mortally wounded the human, and now there were two dragons, and one elf. He didn't have to wonder which dragon was losing a rider, as the massive blue one was already sending a jet of blue flames at him.

Arya was trying to come up with a way to fight a shade one on one when Saphira and Eridor landed on either side of her, sending tremors through the ground. Saphira wasted no time, sending flames at the shade. Drawing strength from Eridor to recharge her energy from sparring, Arya advanced on the spot where the shade was standing behind a ward that was stopping the flames from burning him.

Even though he was not being burned, the flames prevented him from seeing Arya's sword until almost too late. Diving backwards, he was still cut in the chest by Arya's thrust. A flash of fear crossed his eyes as he saw where the thrust was aimed. This elf obviously knew how to kill a shade.

Leaping back to buy time, the shade saw a sight that any breathing creature would fear. Two dragons and an elf with the intent to kill were advancing on him. To the shade, far more frightening than the blue dragon, was the elf. She had no mask on her face, which the spirits inside him had never seen before. Drawing his knife, he prepared to fight in earnest.

One thing that is more dangerous than a dragon driven crazy with grief, is a dragon driven mad with grief that is coordinating with another dragon and an elf, which is also driven mad with grief. Saphira, Eridor and Arya took the scant seconds it took for the shade to prepare to do some hasty planning.

Eridor moved to cut off any retreat while Saphira once again shot flames at the shade. This time however, she charged in while still producing flames, Arya right next to her prepping to strike.

The lack of magic in the fight was attributed to both sides planning on walking away. If the shade was still under the empire's control, he would have slain the whole group without thought. Arya had erected a fortress in her mind, only allowing the minds of the dragons' access.

The flames did the job of blinding the shade perfectly, and when he tried to retreat to get his bearings, he ran into Eridor, who clamped his teeth down on the shade's sword arm. Just as the flames stopped, he felt the pain in his chest that signaled his end.

As the three watched the spirits disperse, they heard Glaedr's voice.

Eragon may still be saved, but Arya will have to work quickly. The arrow is not what is killing him, the magic used by the shade is. Saphira, help Arya enter Eragon's mind. I do not know what the magic is doing to him, but it is causing Eragon to lose the will to live. Arya, you must enter his mind and find out what it is. Once you find out what it is, you must isolate it and I will destroy it. Quickly now! We don't have much time.

Arya went over to Eragon and knelt down. Saphira let Arya into Eragon's mind through the mental link they share. Eridor stayed out of the link, as there wasn't anything he could do.

As Arya entered Eragon's mind, she noticed that the two parts of his mind that controlled his memories and nightmares were flooding him with images. Every bad thing that had happened to him, and everything he feared, was being shown to him over and over again. She saw him searching through what was obviously his home to find his uncle; she saw the pain in his eyes as he left Carvahall, the fear when the Urgals first attacked him in Yazuac. Arya felt his pain as Brom died slowly in the cave. Then the fear Eragon felt during her rescue, when Durza appeared. She could see and feel the worry he had for her during his flight across the desert, along with the pain he endured to save her. She saw him almost drown at the gates to the Varden, the apprehension of allowing the twins access to his mind.

One thing Arya noticed quickly is that the magic was almost alive in the way it worked. It took a negative memory, only memories so far, and showed it. If Eragon was disturbed by it, the image would play again. The strength of Eragon's distress decided how many times.

Arya noticed that while Eragon was nervous about the battle of Farthen Dur, he was more worried about her safety, and that of all of the innocent. She witnessed just how much pain his back spasms caused him, and he continued with his training. Images of Saphira dying in various ways tormented his mind. One image was replayed over and over, with no signs of stopping. Arya focused on this for a minute, and saw a scene she was intimately familiar with. It was her rejection of Eragon during the Agaeti Blodhren. Eragon's mind almost shut down at that point. The magic afflicting Eragon noticed this and focused on images of Arya. The magic was obviously altering the images now, because she saw herself dead at the battle of the Burning Plains, and again at Feinster. Seeing that Eragon's mind couldn't take much more, as scenes with both her and Saphira dying started appearing, Arya began isolating the negative thoughts in Eragon's mind into a corner. Before she could finish, one last scene was created that came within a hairs breadth of killing Eragon.

Arya had just finished her training. Eragon once again professed his love for her, but she told him that they would never be together. Arya was astonished at the force of Eragon's reaction to this scene. He feared her rejection again more than he feared her death, or that of Saphira. Finally reigning in all of the images, Arya sent a thought to Glaedr that she was ready.

As Glaedr worked magic through her, Arya noticed Eragon's mind returning to the state that she was familiar with. Eragon opened his eyes in time to see the look on Arya's face before she placed her emotionless mask back on. He was still a little dazed from Arya healing him, but he could have sworn he saw a look of adoration and, dare he say it, love?

Arya saw Eragon's eyes go wide and she knew she didn't control her emotions fast enough. Thinking of some excuse quickly, she was about to say something when she blacked out.

To say that Eragon was surprised would be the understatement of the century. All he could remember was that he was sparring with Arya when his world erupted into pain and darkness. As he was unconscious, the shades magic was eating at his will to live. Eragon was wishing for death when he saw visions of Saphira dead and Arya rejecting him again, when he noticed the magic cease. That was when he opened his eyes. He had time to process her facial expression when she collapsed on top of him, having fainted from the effort of healing his wound and reversing the shade's magic. Eragon was still wondering what had happened when he blacked out as well.

A/N: thank you arkillon for giving me the idea for reversing the Eragon/Arya mortally wounded thing. It opened up a challenge I am embracing, but it will take time. Sorry for shortness, but u all need an update. Once I get past them waking up, the updates will move faster.