Wow, the response for the Beta last chapter was very positive! ^^ I guess I should use one more often. Great job by the stories Beta, MewBladeXxX for taking the time to look over it. And Better for not leaking any spoilers...I'm paranoid like that.
The response I got for Tharja dyeing last chapter...not so much. I know it's tragic and sad. It's just the way I saw the story going. I'm sorry...BTW, you can stop sending the angry-hate letters now. 'No names please'! O_O!
Anyway we are getting close to the end now. I hope you enjoy the last few chapters.
Review Below, let me know! ^^';
It was a dark, cold room. The floor was hard stone, and uncomfortable to lay on so the young girl had to sit up against the wall to sleep.
"I hate coming back to this place."
A single sliver of light creaked through the door that descended down the stairs. The ray hit the girl in the face.
"Where are the priests? Did they forget about me again-STOP! This isn't happening now!"
The girl got up and tried to walk to the door. It taunted her and just moved further away.
"Stop it! Just let me leave!"
The door disappeared and the light with it. Once the light was gone, hundreds of people surrounded the girl...no, not people...corpses. Corpses of the soldiers she killed. Blaming her...
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry!...I'M SORRY!"
SLAP!
A stinging slap to the face brought Christina back to reality. She looked at Marth, who snapped her back to reality. Looking past Marth, she saw Robin still mourning over Tharja's lifeless body.
"ANSWER ME!" Marth yelled.
"Ans-answer what?" Christina asked.
"All this death! All this pointless fighting. What did you expect to get out of it?!" Marth questioned.
Christina just shook her head. "I don't know-"
Marth slapped Christina again. "That's bullshit! What is your ultimate goal from all of this?!"
"I don't know!" Christina cried a little bit.
Marth was ready to hit her again, tired of her pointless repetition.
"Marth, stop it." Robin spoke up.
Marth and Christina both looked over at him. He had picked up Tharja's body, held it in his arms and began to walk away.
"... Let's go." Robin simply said.
"But what about her?" Marth asked.
"I don't care." Robin said coldly.
A knife might as well have been plunged into Christina's heart. She didn't understand why, but those three words felt heavier than anything she had ever felt before. Marth gave just one disgusted look at Christina one last time before leaving with Robin.
Outside the fortress, General Otto's army stood at attention, waiting for any signal. General Otto himself was riding on a heavily-armored horse. Next to him was Captain Yusa, another heavily-armored man on another heavily-armored horse.
"This is taking too long." Yusa spoke. "Christina should have lowered the bridges by now."
"Be patient, Yusa." Otto told him. "She won't fail us."
"What do we do with her when we're done here?" Yusa asked.
"Decapitate her." Otto answered. "Lord Validar doesn't need pawns like her."
When those words were spoken, the bridge began to lower.
"About time." Otto said. "Now let's burn the corpses and-"
Otto was surprised to see that the Shepherds stood across the drawbridge at the gate, ready to engage in battle.
"They're still alive?!" Otto exclaimed. "No way they killed all of them." Otto drew his sword in rage and clenched it with anger. "Yusa, charge them and bring me the Fire Emblem!"
"Yes sir!" Yusa saluted before pulling out his axe and swinging it forward, signaling the cavalry to charge.
The cavalry charged forward, brandishing their weapons. Meanwhile, across the bridge, Frederick stood next to Chrom and watched as the cavalry came forward.
"They took the bait, milord." Frederick said.
"Perfect." Chrom responded. "All right, fall back!"
Chrom and the Shepherds began to move back just as the cavalry crossed over the bridge. The only one who stood at the end of the bridge was Kellam and the cavalry just rode past him at first.
"Uh, they can't see me, either." Kellam said.
Kellam then speared one of the horsemen off their horse as they were crossing. As the cavalry passed into the outside corridor, Ricken and Virion stood on opposite sides of the wall, shooting magic and arrows at them respectively.
Frederick then rallied with Sully and Stahl, who found their horses in the stable.
"All right, time to meet the enemy!" Frederick yelled and charged off.
"About damn time!" Sully shouted.
Sully and Stahl then charged after Frederick and they engaged the horseman in the corridor.
Robin returned to the gate and found that it was closed, separating the corridor from the main gate. The only person left back was Maribelle, next to Vaike's corpse.
"Robin, there you-" Maribelle was about to say until she Tharja. "What happened?"
Robin walked past her toward Vaike's corpse. "She's dead." Robin placed her body right next to Vaike's. He then took her dark magic tome, placed it over her chest and he wrapped her arms around it. He then heard the fighting happening on the other side of the gate. "Who the hell lowered the gate?"
"Chrom did." Maribelle answered. "He suggested taking the fight to them."
"Oh, that's just stupid!" Robin exclaimed. "I'm gone for 5 minutes and the enemy's coming clear across the bridge... The bridge... Maribelle, where's Ricken?"
"O-on the wall." Maribelle responded.
Robin looked back on Tharja and put his hands on her tome. "I'm going to need to borrow this one more time, Tharja." He slipped the tome out of her hands and climbed up the ladder to the wall.
Captain Yusa began to cross the bridge with his cavalry. He saw his soldiers being speared down by Kellam and when he passed by him, he took out his axe and clipped Kellam's shield in half. Kellam fell back and almost got trampled on by the horses. Yusa then felt an arrow bounce off the back of his heavy helmet. Turning around and he saw Virion on the wall. Yusa pulled out a javelin and threw it at Virion, which barely missed him.
"Oh dear!" Virion said with alarm in his voice.
He then saw another javelin flying right for him and he dodged that before it pierced his stomach. Yusa was about to attack him again when he heard more fighting up ahead. He saw Frederick cutting down his soldiers. He then charged toward Frederick, readying his axe. Frederick saw Yusa coming at him and ducked down as Yusa swung for a decapitation. Both men turned their horses around after they missed. Frederick spun his axe around to make sure it still worked well and both men charged at each other. They swung their axes at the same time and the axes collided with each other, and Yusa's larger axe knocked Frederick's smaller axe out of his hand.
"Damn!" Frederick muttered.
As Frederick turned around for another pass, he pulled out a sword with a smaller reach than Yusa's axe. As the two came around for their second attack, Frederick was able to block the axe with his sword, disrupting Yusa's rhythm a little bit and forcing his axe to slip from his hand.
Lissa came out of her cover and was only a few meters away from this jousting fight going on.
"Oh, come on, Frederick." Lissa muttered to herself.
Yusa pulled out an medium sized axe that bordered on the edge of large, and he charged at Frederick before he got a chance to turn his horse around. When Frederick did get his horse around, Yusa had already begun his swinging motion and struck Frederick in the chest plate. The impact from the attack sent Frederick falling off his horse to the ground, the axe still embedded in him.
"FREDERICK!" Lissa screamed.
"I don't care!"
"Stop saying that!"
"I don't care!"
"Why won't you stop!"
"I don't care!"
"Why did you have to say that?"
"Damn it! I don't care anymore!"
Young Christina stood alone in the basement crying. "I don't care about those stupid stupids!" she said. "They don't care about me, why should I care about them! They ignore me! They forget me! WELL FORGET THEM! I will be great! They. Will. Remember. Me!"
"I don't want to remember..."
Young Christina stood in the orphanage. The corpses of the children and the temple priests before her. She was crying and holding her magical tome close to her. General Otto entered the orphanage and saw the dead bodies everywhere. He walked up to the young Christina and knelt down.
"Did you do all this?" Otto asked.
"I killed them..." Christina cried. "I killed them...I...I didn't mean...I just wanted to show off some magic and..."
"It's alright It's alright." Otto assured her. "You dear are meant for a greater purpose now. Come with me, and I'll help you forget this tragedy."
Christina was rolled up into a ball crying her eyes out. "I am evil." she murmured. "There is nothing I can do to change that."
"You seem like you are very troubled."
Christina lifted her head head up and looked around. "R-Robin?"
"I don't know what happened in your childhood to make you this way and I won't pretend to. These crimes you committed, you'll never be free from them, but if you still have a conscious you can start over and try to make a new life for yourself."
"I...I can't..."
"No one would want to live with something like this. It will be more difficult, but if you can remember this, and use this as a lesson. Try to move on with your life and try not to make this mistake again. Who knows what will happen?"
Christina buried her head back into her knees. "I don't think I can..."
General Otto stood outside the gate and could hear his victory close at hand.
"Good job, Yusa." Otto spoke. "Time to take some of the glory for myself now."
General Otto was about to order a charge when a soldier comes running up to him.
"General! The Ylissean army has been seen approaching the city!"
"What?!" Otto reacted. "Why?!"
"Sir, they're led by the pegasus knight with the scarlet hair! Not only that, the rest of the Shepherds have already entered the city and engaged our forces on the other side of the city!"
"The other Shep-!" Otto looks at the fortress. "Gods damn them!"
Cordelia flew over the walls and saw the battles taking place. Panne and Nowi together in their beastly forms terrified the soldiers and made quick work of Otto's outer defenses. Behind Panne and Nowi, Libra and Gaius went after soldiers they had missed while receiving support from Miriel, who pretty much handled the cleanup. Most of the soldiers began to retreat or surrender on sight.
"I hope we arrived in time." Cordelia muttered to herself. "Robin was right."
(Flashback)
The other day, when the Shepherds returned to the Fortress after engaging the Risen. Christina had explained her plan to Robin and the others.
"This could really work." Robin said. "Good work, Christina."
Christina turned her head away and blushed. "Aw, shucks, it was nothing."
Robin then walked over to Cordelia and whispered something to her while Christina was being girly.
"Cordelia, when you meet up with Chrom and the others," he whispered. "Tell them to split the forces in half."
"Why?" Cordelia asked.
"Insurance." Robin continued. "Tell them to march on an hour after the first force leaves. And any of the Army you can gather would be helpful as well."
Robin then noticed General Otto approaching them. "Inform them of the plan, okay?" Robin asked openly.
"All right." Cordelia nodded.
Cordelia flew upward on her pegasus and flew toward Ylisstol.
(End Flashback)
"Daring." Cordelia said. "Just like him..."
Frederick hit the ground with a motionless thud. Lissa ran to him to see if she could heal him, but she see that Yusa was quickly turning around and was eyeing her down. Lissa knew she had to get to Frederick, but if she were to take another step forward, she'd get hit by that axe. She took a step back and almost tripped as she stepped on top of the axe that slipped out of Yusa's hands earlier. Lissa looked down at the axe and took a big gulp. She leaned down and picked up the axe that was bigger than she was, and heavier, too. She held it with both arms and eyed down Yusa.
"Foolish girl, you can't even hold that thing up." Yusa said.
Lissa took several deep breaths as she tried to get a good handle on the axe.
"This is for you, Teach." Lissa said.
"HYAH!" Yusa yelled as he had his horse charged, his axe held up high.
Out of nowhere, Frederick got up, swining the axe embedded in his chest up at Yusa and it struck Yusa in the stomach, dismounting him from his horse. The horse then ran by Lissa, who was pale as a ghost to see Frederick rise up from the dead so suddenly.
"You all right, Lady Lissa?" Frederick asked.
As he turned to face her, Lissa saw that his armor was pierced, but she could see the flesh underneath was perfectly fine. The attack wasn't as deep as first thought. Yusa, not so lucky, as indicated by the puddle of blood he was lying in. Lissa just dropped the giant axe and was just shaking. Frederick hurried over to her amidst all the fighting and helped escort her away.
"Calm down. Everything's all right now." Frederick told her.
Chrom was surrounded by 5 soldiers. They kept there distance, and Chrom's attention. "Theres to many of them." he muttered. "Maybe this wasn't such a bright idea."
"Behind you!"
Chrom turned around and saw a solider charging at him. Chrom quickly parried the attack and struck the solider down. One of the other soldiers charged when Chroms back was turned, but Marth had swooped in and struck the solider down.
"It's you..." Chrom muttered.
"Thought you could use a hand." Marth answered.
"Much appreciated."
Everything had gone to hell in a matter of moments. Otto's forces were in a Panic and even his calvary had fallen in their charge.
"Damn it!" Otto snapped. "I will have the Fire Emblem!" He drew his large sword and rallied his elite guard. "CHARGE!"
Otto's soldiers charged, with the General right behind them. They crossed the bridge and engaged the Shepherds. Otto crossed and looked around, and found Chrom fighting off soldiers in front of the gate.
"There you are!" Otto said. His horse stepped off the bridge and-
"RICKEN NOW!"
Otto looked up and saw that, on the wall, Robin and Ricken opposite him, had powered their Tomes and released their Magic at the Bridge. The soldiers on the bridge had enough time to get off, either crossing or falling back, but when the magic struck the bridge, the explosion blew it away. Otto looked back and saw that he had his back to the massive trench that surrounded the fortress. He was trapped. Hiding on the wall, Lon'qu and Gregor jumped down toward Otto.
"RAAAGGH!"
"Gregor too old for this!"
Lon'qu dragged Otto and his horse down to the ground, while Gregor landed on the ground and rolled.
"Ow, Gregor break something..." Gregor groaned.
Lon'qu got off the ground first and swung at Otto, but Otto reached for his sword and swung it up to block the attack. Otto swung his sword with such force that he forced Lon'qu back to the broken edge of the bridge. Lon'qu struggled to keep his balance as Otto got to his feet. Gregor charged at Otto from behind, but Otto blocked his sword thrust and swiped at Gregor with a backhand. Lon'qu finally regained his footing and charged at Otto. Otto dodged the attack, grabbed Lon'qu by the wrist and kept his momentum going by throwing Lon'qu into Gregor. The two men hit the ground and Otto swung his sword down at them, but both men rolled away, just missing the blade. As Lon'qu rolled up, Otto brought his sword crashing down and slashed Lon'qu across his chest and stomach.
"One..." Otto simply said.
Gregor got up and tried to bash Otto with his shield, but Otto grabbed the edge of the shield and ripped it away from Gregor. Then he cut him horizontally just below the chest.
"Two..."
"HEY!"
Otto looked up and saw a giant dragon hovering above him, who was of course Nowi.
"Get away from my friends!" Nowi shouted as she shot a fireball at Otto.
Otto swings his sword, slashing through the fire fearlessly. He then picked up a javelin that was embedded in a dead soldier's gut and threw it up at Nowi, striking her across the side of her neck. The attack caused Nowi to fall and revert to her normal state. She curled up on the ground, holding her neck in pain and crying. Otto then held the sword to her neck, lifted it up...
"Three!"
Otto swung the sword down, but he got blindsided by Robin. The General fell over.
"I am wearing heavy armor! How is it I keep falling down by a love-tap?!" Otto questioned.
Robin quickly grabbed a nearby sword on the ground and tried to stab Otto with it, but Otto grabbed his wrist and with sheer strength, broke Robin's wrist causing him to let go of the sword. Otto then headbutted Robin, the said strategist stumbling as Otto grabed his sword. Robin pulled out Tharja's tome and shot a wave of dark magic at him. Otto blocked it with his sword and swung at Robin. Robin moved back and the sword just barely missed his neck. Otto swung his giant sword with ease in an attempt to try and decapitate Robin. Robin did his best to charge up the dark magic, but tripped over a dead body while moving backwards. The tome fell from his hands and he landed on his back on the cold, stone ground. Robin tried to get up, but Otto stepped on his chest, presumably crushing his ribcage. Otto did not finish him off immediately, instead kneeling so he could get a better look at his face.
"How many times have you avoided death today, boy?" Otto asked.
Robin didn't answer, instead trying to reach for the tome that was just a few feet away from him. Otto saw this and used his sword to push the tome further away.
"I'll admit you've outdone yourself, tactician." Otto continued. "You outsmarted Christina and myself. However, it will be for naught once I take away the Fire Emblem."
"It won't matter. You've lost, General." Robin choked out.
"You think so?" Otto asked. "The reinforcements coming in late is pretty genius, but there's no way for them to get into the fortress. The other two bridges are still raised and the only one left you blew up. You blew it up too late, in fact. The soldiers that you've already let in are beginning to overwhelm you."
Robin leaned his head back to see what the General was talking about. Otto's soldiers had actually opened the gate, forcing Maribelle to fall back to the wall, where the soldiers followed her and tried to overtake Virion and Ricken. Lon'qu, Gregor and Kellam were all incapacitated and Nowi was seriously injured. All the reinforcements were outside the fortress, Cordelia was the only one who could reach them, but she wasn't enough to turn this around, and Chrom, Marth, Frederick and Lissa were left to defend themselves as they were completely surrounded.
"I love the loyalty of these stupid soldiers." Otto expressed. "I could ask them to fall off a cliff and they would do it. Putting on a facade for so many years was really worth it. And now you will watch as your prince, your kingdom and your world crumble around you."
Robin snarled at Otto in a helpless rage, struggling to breath because the General was still standing on his chest. He was heavy with all that armor.
"Soldiers! Throw down your arms!"
Everyone stopped and looked toward the wall to see Christina proudly projecting her voice.
"What is she doing?!" Otto said in surprise.
"Soldiers!" Christina continued. "I beg you to throw down your weapons! End this pointless bloodshed! You are good men taking part in mass murder. I am as guilty as any of you. We were lied to! Promised we were doing the right thing for Ylisse, when in truth it was just a mad mans power trip! To many people died for such a pointless cause! I beg you again, throw down your arms. You have family, lovers, and children who want to see you all again. Many will not be able to. You joined the Ylissean to protect them and serve our ruler. Show him that you still have honor and a conscious and-"
Just then a short spear struck her in the stomach and pierced up through her back. As she stumbled back, she looked down and saw General Otto had thrown the spear at her.
"Stupid girl!" Otto grumbled.
Otto turned his attentions back to Robin, but then realized there was no more fighting going on. He looked up and saw that every one of his soldiers was staring at him.
"What are you doing?!" Otto questioned. "Continue the attack!"
The soldiers did nothing.
"You all have sworn your loyalty to me! Now I order you! KILL THEM ALL!"
The soldiers, again, did not respond to Otto's orders. Then a soldier threw his sword down onto the ground. Then another soldier threw his spear down, another threw his axe down and one by one the soldiers within that area threw their weapons down and surrendered.
"TRAITORS!" Otto shouted. "EVERY ONE OF YOU! I WILL EXECUTE EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED! I WILL-"
An arrow then struck Otto in the back of the neck and he started choking. He fell over trying to pull the arrow from his throat, however he fell over and began spasming, and eventually stopped moving entirely. Robin looked up and saw that Virion had shot the arrow that killed Otto and Virion gave him a thumbs up.
"Great shot." Robin said, wincing at his bruised ribs. "Could've used it five minutes ago, but great shot."