Author's Note: Was playing Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones when I accidently left Natasha within range of two archers. Then tried to get the rest of the group killed, this is a written version of that fight.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fire Emblem franchise. Nor am I profiting from writing this in any manner beyond the intellectual.
It had been a slight mistake that lost them Moulder, the Tower of Valni had been meant to be just a light training ground not the the grueling meatgrinder that the fight would become.
Moulder and Natasha had stayed behind the group, the two healers far too valueable to risk in a head to head fight, that was when it all went wrong. Two of the bonewalkers had been overlooked, Moulder was cut down before the group could reach them, though Ross and Neimi cut the two down before they could turn their focus on Natasha.
The young cleric stuck close to the group after that, which was ironically what got her killed.
The plan was to keep their surviving healer in the centre, but with a line of defence one man thick that had made her easy prey for the archers. Joshua had cradled her in his arms as the life drained out of her. Noone knew what the cleric said to him but there was denying that he was a changed man after that.
Joshua's grief had fuelled the slaughter that followed, driving them through the enemy without mercy. It was this that had saved Amelia, the raw recruit eager to prove herself to her newfound companions had gone ahead and dealt admirably with two bonewalkers, she didn't even see the tarvos until it was upon her, the centaur-like monster's axe almost cutting her in two, only Joshua in his newfound fury had been close enough to fight the creature off.
Yet while Joshua's blind anger had saved her it also proved the death of him. A bonewalker archer almost claimed his life as he rushed to engage with it, only Neimi's fine archery saving the enraged myrmidon from death, but even that was in vain. As in a blind rush he found himself pinned to the wall by the two archers that had stayed lying in wait.
Blood dribbled down his chin as he gasped his last words to the survivors. "I... I guess my luck finally ran out... heh." The gambler stalwart even in death.
The mission was simply falling apart around them. Hearts steeled to finish this in honour of their fallen companions, a new strategy was formed. Amelia, severely injured, was to stay in the cleared area of the floor while Neimi, Lute and Ross would press on, the mage and archer would act as a defence for the beserker who would push through to kill the leader of the pack, an unusually strong tarvos called Maelduin.
Amelia was on the verge of going after them when the reinforcements arrived. The young girl easy prey to the pack of mauthe doog. Her friends too far away to hear the screams.
Lute didn't fare well either, Maelduin was lying in wait as they made it out of the corridor. The mage turned and screamed.
"I don't want to die"and the the axe descended. Neimi soon followed, her last words to a friend that wasn't even there, as Ross battered the horde away from her, too angry to see that it was a lost cause.
It was hours later that the berserker emerged, drenched in blood and eyes as cold as stone. They would never pry what happened from him.
Author's Note: Every time I lose a character I'm going to write one of these so please give feedback as I'm worried this chapter is a bit on the impersonal side.