The guild didn't expect the attack to come.
The Furyhorn stalked them from the other side of the river as they tried to make their way back to the airship, after a massacre of the weaker FOEs, the Furyfawns, called the mighty beast into the area, the FOE's hooves leaving angry prints deeply pressed into the ground. They failed to take it seriously (though occasionally sparing it a nervous glance) until it had lept across, stomping into the poor Runemaster.
She was the first to fall, the FOE wishing to finish the job. The Sniper, shooting at a distance, did not expect to be aimed for until he felt the antlers stabbing into him. The Nightseeker repeatedly tried to paralyze the beast for a hope of survival - but to no avail.
The pig-tailed Fortress confronts the monster, watching it fell her friend with a hoof to the head. Though she tries to put up a look of courageous bravery, she knows that the situation is futile. She then feels a warmness creep into her and then she notices her last remaining comrade, the young boy Medic, healing her in a fruitless effort for success. He looked afraid, trembling hands creating a flow of healing magic between the two of them.
She smiles. Even toward the end, he sticks to his duty, even when there was just the two of them.
And now it's time for her to uphold hers.
She holds up her shield and turns her head at the Medic, screaming, "Medic, please run while you still can!"
He pauses, processing what she had said. "But… but what about you…?"
"Even if I die, the Ariadne Thread will bring us back." she tries to assure him.
They hear the clips of hooves.
"But… but… I don't want to..."
"You have to go, please! I'll try to hold it off as long as I can!"
"Wha-what about yo-"
She could tell that they were both on the verge of panic, tears, or a mixture of both. "Just go, damnit!"
The Furyhorn advances. The Medic stammers. The look of panic on the Fortress' face turns to that of a reassuring grin before she takes one of rage, running at the FOE with a mace raised on high. Finally, the Medic runs, a successful escape.
He hears the scream after several seconds.
The Medic locates a door and shuts it behind him, knowing that the FOE won't be able to pass. He hears the hooves pace behind the other side of the door before it gallops away.
The Medic is now alone. He spends a few minutes sitting in front of the door, staying out of sight of the other critters in the Small Orchard, occasionally wiping his tears with the sleeve of his formerly (now covered in bloodstains) white coat. After collecting his wits and what's left of his sanity after that debacle, he finds the strength to use to Ariadne Thread to pull himself and the bodies home.
Author's Note: This was something that I wrote on my tumblr that I decided to post on here, since there was a lack of Etrian Odyssey fanfics (stop giving Persona so much love and shower some on Etrian Odyssey, Atlus fans! +A+). I wrote it after finding a scan from some Etrian Odyssey related book with comments from Kazuya Niinou - a man who helped create the series - that suggested that you should imagine the lives of your characters: how does each class eat and how would the last two party members in a FOE devastated party react to the impending game over? The next time I played Etrian Odyssey, I saw this scenario play out in my mind, my Medic escaping at the very last second while the Fortress fell.
My party is named after myself (I'm the Sniper) and my tumblr friends - I decided not to add names, however, because I thought that it'd be neat to make my team into OC's for possible future stories. +u+