Chapter 40: Rescue
Chrom's heart pounded out a fast rhythm as they moved further through the tunnel, drifting towards the ever growing ring of light at the end. The glow of his scales faded along with the shadows, entirely vanishing when they reached the end and flooding his vision with brilliant light. The close walls fell away from his fingers, and he could sense the room open up. After his eyes adjusted, Chrom found himself swimming along shelves stocked with records. The place looked half like a labyrinth, and half like a library.
"This… Does sort of seem like a place where Robin would spend a lot of her time." Chrom found himself saying, studying the new area. The carved shelves that dominated the great room were sculpted to resemble rolling waves, each one supporting bulky looking blocks of texts and recordings. The stone tablets looked strange to his eyes; they were unwieldy-looking things that looked difficult to carry around for casual reading.
"You're not wrong, but…" Tharja drifted over to him, pausing at the tunnel entrance and glanced at him sidelong. "What makes you guess at that? I was under the impression you didn't even understand yourself very well, let alone Robin. That you'd say such a thing is… Curious."
"I-I honestly don't. Know myself very well." Chrom told her, swimming towards the library entrance. "I just get flickers of things; it's like I'm swimming through muddy water, and sometimes get a flash of clean light and sight."
"Okay… But if that's what's going on in your head, then how do you understand her so well?" Chrom cast his eyes down, thankful the halls were so empty. There wasn't much to watch out for, allowing him to dwell on Tharja's question. Henry swam ahead of them, blazing the trail.
"I… Wish I could tell you. But I just feel like I've known her for a long time. And that I trust her." Tharja's question shadowed his thoughts, even as the halls around him grew dark again. Henry led them through twisting passages that seemed to burrow down into the stone. Lights grew scarcer, and the once-intricate stonework deteriorated into little more than gouges in the rock walls.
"….Dungeons?" Chrom put a name to the place.
"Well, where else would they keep her?" Tharja shot back. "Now try and swim faster, before we find ourselves permanent residents."
"You're a bit more prickly than usual." Henry said, glancing over his shoulder. "Guess you weren't too thrilled about your stint of being a prison guard."
"Between that and everything else Validar did to me, no. But that means breaking the rules is going to be a pleasure-"
On instinct, Chrom's arm shot out, stopping Tharja in her path. Something gold and green lay shimmering through the bars of a nearby cell. He drew closer, his heart turning heavy in his chest.
A Mer woman hung suspended in the water, her golden hair fanned out around her. Chrom watched for any sign of waking, but her eyes remained shut, the only disturbance being an occasional pained wince that crossed her face, or an uneasy flick from her fins. Even in the low light, he could see an ugly pink snarl from a half healed wound on her ribs.
"Emm…" He whispered. That ache in his chest grew a little stronger, seeing her like this. But with it came an odd sense of relief, welling up in him until another word came to him.
"Sister."
-o-o-o-
'Well, you've got all this attention on you… Now how are you going to get out?' Robin asked herself, casting her eyes around the throne room. The throne itself stood empty, a behemoth carved from marble and flecked with blue gemstones and gold. The patterns almost looked like eyes, each one staring right through Robin with their all-seeing gaze.
Robin forced herself to look away, instead focusing on finding something that could help her escape.
"Vin and Neila," Mustafa nodded to a pair of Mer. "Stay with her. I'll take the others to find his Grace."
The Mer guards nodded and dispersed, looking for their elusive ruler. Robin had the feeling she didn't want to be present when he returned. She gave a slow push with her fins, drifting through the chamber.
"Lady Robin, what-?" The male guard, Vin, gave an alarmed growl.
"Just… Just looking around. Seeing what all has changed in my absence." Robin answered. And it wasn't entirely a lie. Her eyes roved over columns and the multifaceted domed ceiling, before realizing there was more light in the throne room than could come from mage lamps alone.
Robin yanked her head up to see beams of light filtered through a massive glass window; colored shards were shaped together to form a picture. It held an image of a large, dark dragon sinking below churning waters while a white dragon lingered in the clouds above.
"Naga and Grima." It was an echo to the stained glass windows in Ylisse, though something about it seemed older.
And perhaps more fragile, made brittle by saltwater. That had to be her escape route.
Robin turned about in the room, swimming upwards for the center and the window presiding over the chamber, only to freeze when something brushed her tail. She turned around, half expecting to see the hands from the guards resting on her fins… But they kept their distance from her, still looking at her with a wary gaze, like Robin herself was carved from glass. The contact had come from something else.
She looked down, to see a pedestal set in the center of the room, reaching up to intercept her path. A heavy, weighted cloth, coated in bullion to keep the currents from moving it askance, covered the upper half. And nestled on the fabric were two orbs that froze Robin in place.
One could have been carved from moonlight; a silver colored gem. It's sibling was the opposite. It was a night-black sphere, looking like something from the abyss given form. And yet… Both had their own sort of beauty that entranced Robin.
She reached a hand towards them, hesitating over which to touch.
In answer the two guards darted forward at her motion, intent on stopping her.
"You must not-" One of them said. But their warning went unfinished, as a strange hum echoed through the water and slammed into them, stealing the very words from their lips.
-o-o-o-
"Thank the gods you're alive." Chrom whispered the words unconsciously falling from his lips. "What… What did they do to you?"
His head screamed at him, desperate to remember just who this woman was. He had called her 'sister' and somehow knew that had to be true. Beyond that, his thoughts were frustratingly blank. But that relief he felt, that odd lightness in his heart, more than made up for his confusion. The near-joy was pure contrast against the stifling darkness of the prison cell.
Sadly Emm did little more than stir lightly at his words, mumbling something incoherent as she breathed in and out.
"Don't think she's going to answer. Maybe we should get her outta there in the meantime?" Henry asked.
"Let me." Tharja cut in, shoving Chrom aside and almost sending him spinning head over tail from the force of her push. "We were wardens once before… My guess is, Validar won't go to the trouble and change his entire security over one jailbreak and a pair of traitors."
"What do you mean?" Chrom righted himself, bracing against the wall. "Don't you need keys?" From the confused blink they both gave him that clearly wasn't the case, making Chrom wonder where he'd ever gotten that idea from in the first place.
"Watch and learn." Thajra answered, before turning her eyes to the glowing lock set in Emm's jail door. The odd thing looked half like iron, half like a spiral shell. Tharja held her hands over it, spreading her fingers so the black and violet webbing in her fingers caught the spell light.
A collection of notes rose from the back of her throat, and grew into a resonating hum; the lock itself glowed with an intensity that blazed brighter with the volume of her voice. The song was piercing, and pushed a bone deep shiver into Chrom.
'Locks undone by spell song?' That had to be the case. Tharja's song reached a crescendo, and the lock gave a muted click in response.
"Just as I thought." She finished, tugging at the door-
The rusted hinges gave a sharp screech, louder than Tharja's song. It was also a clear alarm for any guards close enough to hear it. A collective flinch moved through the group, even as Emmeryn raised her head.
"Wh-Wha…?" Her voice sputtered, the words clumsy in her mouth.
And yet, Chrom was never more glad to hear a person's voice.
"It's okay," Chrom kept his own voice low, while straining his ears for even the slightest hint of trouble. After the scream of rusted metal and Tharja's song, there was an eerie amount of silence. He swam into the cell, reaching a hesitant hand out to Emmeryn.
A moment of stillness passed where neither of them did anything. Emmeryn stared at his hand blankly, confusion clear on her face.
"W-we're here to help." Chrom tried to reassure her. "We'll get you away from here-"
She flinched back from him, her eyes fixed to a spot over his shoulder.
"B-Behind you-!"
Chrom was already turning by the time she finished her words. A set of guards stormed into the hall, bristling with weapons and armor both.
There was a moment where the guards froze, shocked by the sight of the jailbreak in front of them. But it was only a moment. Their eyes fell on Henry and Tharja, and a dark look crossed the Mer's faces.
"Traitors!" The leader of the guards spat out. "I don't know why you came back here… But we'll see to it that you'll never leave again!" He took his webbed fingers and drew a line across his throat.
"Don't get me wrong, the hospitality used to be good, but we're gonna have to decline that invitation." Henry answered, already ducking away as the Mer guards surged forward. A sword clanged against the stone of the hallways, biting into the wall from the force of the swing.
"Chrom, get her out of the cell. We'll take care of these flunkies." Tharja muttered. If Henry was laughing the situation off, then Tharja's eyes were narrowed with almost murderous intent. She was already whispering a melody, drawing her spells up in a crackle around her fingers.
Henry dodged, still chuckling. "Whoops, too slow again! You guys need to practice more!"
The guards flew at him in a rage, howling for his blood. They didn't seem to realize that in doing so, they hadn't closed with Tharja, giving her plenty of time to ready a spell. She sent lightning crackling into the soldiers, scattering them like bubbles.
"Anytime now, Chrom!" Tharja yelled out.
Chrom jolted into action. He slammed his shoulder against the bars, battering the gate open. He half fell through the opening, twisting around to motion for Emmeryn to follow him.
Emm's tail gave a weak flick, half pushing her out of the cell as she reached towards Chrom in turn. Her eyes stayed fixed on him, and blind to the Mer closing with them.
The lead guard charged in, slapped Chrom across the face with his fins, and rushed Emmeryn in the same motion. The captain pulled his arm back, brandishing his blade and ready to crash it down on her head.
'No,' The thought lurched into motion, the same as Chrom. He threw himself forward and upwards, putting himself into the path of the strike as he shielded Emmeryn. The guard captain gave a snarl, lashing out and drawing a painful line between Chrom's shoulder blades.
The cut sent him tumbling away from Emmeryn, but he forced himself to see through the pain. He kept his eyes fixed forward, feeling his breath freeze in his throat.
"Emm!" He tried to call out to her through gritted teeth, but it came out as a choked whisper. He watched in horror as the Mer raised his blade to her, unable to help with the way his heart and breath froze. For an instant, the guard was draped in a cape of yellow and gold, his blade no longer curved but jagged-
"EMM!" He shrieked out again.
Emmeryn stared up at the sword with wide eyes, unable to move. Before he could think, Chrom struck forward.
Chrom swept to the side, twisting around the sword like an eel. This time it was his tail lashing out, and catching the Mer captain across the ribs. He kept his focus on the enemy in front of him, and lashed out with his claws.
The moment the hit connected, his eyes were flooded with a flash of light. The brightness lanced through the dungeon and made the depths like day.
He blinked his eyes against the glare, half blinded.
By the time his vision had cleared, he was staring down at a slumped over Mer, blood leaking from a deep gash that spanned the guard's chest.
Just like before, in the courtyard, the wound was far deeper than any cuts his talons alone could have made. When he raised his head, he saw Tharja and Henry swarming the remaining guards, taking advantage of their dazed states from the sudden flash.
This time, Tharja's incantation seemed to make the water grow heavy, pressing down on the battalion and pinning them to the floor. She turned back to look at them, chest heaving slightly.
"It won't last forever. Now that we've got her, let's get going." Tharja told them, motioning for Emmeryn to pull herself up and start swimming.
"Soooooo... Chrom? Want to tell us just what you just did?" Henry asked.
"I… I wish I could." Chrom stared at his hand. Traces of blood clouded his fingers, setting into the lines of his webbing, but for all that they looked no different. He turned to Emmeryn, hesitant to reach out to her lest she bleed like the guards… But his nails weren't razor sharp any longer or cut through the water. When he reached out to Emm again, he drew no deep marks.
"I don't know what happened… And I don't think we have time to dwell on it right now. Not when we need to get out of here." This time Emmeryn took his hand, and he pulled her upright.
She looked weak; she FELT weak under his hands. Chrom watched as she twitched her tail uselessly behind her, clearly unpracticed. She slumped against Chrom as he pulled her upright against him, the two of them slowly moving forward-
"I can take her!" Henry offered, swooping in under Emm's other arm. Something tells me we might need you and that glowy power again."
-o-o-o-
A blaze of bright light bloomed behind Robin's eyes, right as she closed her hand around the silver gem.
For a moment she swore that she heard Chrom's voice, singing. His voice was still a little rough, but rich with power. She found herself matching her voice to his, the faint melody growing with power as the volume rose.
Just like when she was at the ceremony, her voice went raw as she screamed the last note out. She almost blacked out, even while her vision went to white.
When Robin blinked she was back in the throne room, the guards laid out and the silver gemstone grasped in her palm. A faint, almost chime of crackling noise reached her ears, and Robin looked up to see threadbare cracks winding through the stained glass window.
Discordant sound still rang through the waters, widening those fissures in the glass. Making the window all the more fragile and easy to break through.
'You won't get a better time to escape.' Her hand tightened around the silver gemstone, lifting it up with her as she swam for the window.
She only gave a brief glance back to the fallen Mer, knocked unconscious from where they'd been thrown against the columns from the force of her spell. Robin turned her attention back to the glass, her resolve hardening as she called up another spell. One more blast to the window and she'd be free to escape into the open waters.
Another resonant hum began to fill the water around her, different from her own magic or the call that sent her guards flying. This felt different. Dangerous. Her heart tried to freeze, but instead Robin launched towards the glass, her tail churning the waters as she tried to gather enough power to fully shatter the window-
Every scale on her tail shivered; her only warning before a blast of lightning slammed through the chamber and caught her in its teeth. Splintering pain surged through her from head to tail, burning her until she felt nothing but numbness. Her escape came to a sputtering halt, as she hung limply in the water and sunk back to the floor..
"What-?" She rasped, mind reeling over what just happened. Who could have called magic like that-?
"Well, well. What have we here?" A voice seeped into her ears, pushing a fresh shiver down her back, and making the fins against her head tremble. The tiles of the floor caught her falling body, and her sides and tail bumped clumsily against the stone. Robin fought to remain conscious against the pain, forcing her head to angle up… And found herself looking at a familiar figure.
Validar had the look of a lion fish, with the mottled patterns on his tail and long, hook-like spines that decorated his neck and back. He gazed down his nose at her, with a half sneer and half smirk on his face.
"So you have finally come to your senses and returned… Only to try and leave again, so soon." He raised a hand to her, and she saw how magic still crackled along his fingers. His other hand clutched the black gem, which still rang with that strange pitched tone. "That's hardly the manners and sense of duty I tried to instill in you, Robin. This trespass is particularly stinging, after all the trouble we went through to find you. You disappoint me."
"V-Validar?" She whispered out.
"You don't know who I am?" The confidence in his face slipped for a moment, replaced with alarm. But only for a moment, before his piercing gaze returned. "…What bargain did you strike, to leave Plegia the first time?"
His hand brushed over her head, and Robin shuddered from the contact. It felt almost like someone was rifling through her brain.
"…Your memory? So Aversa spoke the truth. And there's something… Tainted about you, child. You've felt the touch of land, haven't you?"
She kept her mouth closed.
"No words for your king? For your father?" He pressed, and chuckled at how her eyes flew open.
She desperately wanted to swim away and close her ears to his words, but she could do little else but thrash her tail. Her body was still numb from taking the full brunt of Validar's spell. And her mind was equally numbed by the truths being unveiled. "I-"
"Yes child, you're my daughter. Though that's the least of your birthright." He shook his head over her, his clawed fingers tracing over her hair in a gesture that could have been fatherly… But mostly felt possessive.
"Well… You've given up most of your memories for temporary escape. A mistake that I'll rectify now that you're here again. I'll remind you of your destiny."
Images of the abyss filled her mind, yawning and eager for her to fall into its embrace.
"You're more than a key to sinking ships. That was only a sliver of your power, Robin. You are meant to join your strength with the Fell Dragon, rouse Grima from the exile… and have the surface world join our fate, under my dominion."
"S-stop…!" His words were mad… But what was worse was that something stirred in Robin at them. The marks on her hand and fin burned in answer, like Validar had hooked his fingers into them and was drawing something out.
"You were called back here. And now I have you, two gemstones… And it's only a matter of time until the rest falls into my grasp…" He narrowed his eyes on her, noticing for the first time that her neck was bare. His touch turned cruel, tightening around her throat.
"Where is the compass!?" He seemed ready to strangle her, a rage clouding his face-
"ROBIN!" She blinked up, just in time to see a blue scaled form crash into Validar, and sent him flying from the impact. The mage king's grip on Robin broke, freeing her neck from his grasp and spell.
Clouds of blood billowed through the air… Most of them coming from a fresh cut along Chrom's back. He tangled himself with Validar as they tumbled through the water, only jolted loose when they slammed into a pillar.
Validar fell slack to the floor, stunned and eyes wide… With a look of disbelief firmly etched into his features. Chrom didn't fare much better at first, slumping to the floor as the impact and wounds caught up to him.
"Chrom…?" Robin whispered, and yanked herself upright from her spot on the floor. She clutched the silver gemstone close to her heart, her other hand stretching out towards Chrom as though she could will him back up. "Are you-?"
"I'll live." He managed. He wobbled as he righted himself, looking ready to sink back to the floor from the slightest push. His hand clutched at something… And a hint of black peaked between his fingers, making the webbing look like a moonless night sky.
The black gemstone lay safe in Chrom's grip, wrenched from Validar's hand.
"Wow… This new friend of yours sure has a talent for bleeding." She heard Henry's voice. Tharja followed, darting forward to pull Robin up the rest of the way. "And getting into trouble. Guess I can see why you like hanging out with him!"
She glanced past the dark haired Mer, to see that Henry had Emmeryn half slumped against him. Her eyes were unfocused, her motions listless… But she was alive.
Robin glanced down at the silver gem in her grip, and felt the leftover sparks of magic clinging to her scales. There was just enough left in her for one more spell. Robin raised her head to the giant window. Lightning crackled along her fingers as she lifted her hand upwards. The spell she loosed was little more than a thread of electricity, but it lanced forward all the same and slammed into the glasswork, finishing the job.
The stained glass shattered with a sound like thunder, revealing a storm-wracked ocean beyond.
"Tharja and Henry! Y-you need to get out first. Take Emmeryn and…" The words died on her tongue as her strength deserted her, but the two Mer still followed her order.
Chrom didn't wait for his own orders, grabbing her around the waist and swimming for the window. Glass shards drifted all around them like motes of dust.
Robin thrashed towards the entrance, heedless of the jagged edges framing their escape route. Even as the shards nipped at her skin, she pressed on; that pain could not be any worse than what waited behind them.
"You…" Validar snarled. "You are not escaping this-" Another echo of discordant song and a crackle of lightning filled the air. Chrom gave a shiver, like the magic was already biting his back.
Robin spun about, putting herself between Chrom and the magic. She glared down at Validar, letting another note ripple through her throat. The silver gem gave a glow, ringing almost like a bell as it shivered in her grip.
This time she didn't turn from Validar, and gladly faced him head on. She refused to turn her back, with Chrom bleeding as much as he was… And with the taste of his blood giving her another odd jolt of power.
The magic hurtled towards her… But didn't strike her flesh or scour her open. Instead the gemstone seemed to pull in the spell, devouring it for sustenance as it blazed ever brighter.
Validar kept his hand outstretched, staring in confusion at how Robin remained unharmed by his spell.
With a growl, Robin threw her hand forward. The magic seemed to roil, like a massive crackling whip it arced through the water with a spray of bubbles, until it slammed into Validar.
A pained shriek crackled out between his teeth, matching the scream of the spell. Robin blinked against the flare of magic, the force of the spell trying to blind her.
She watched as Validar's head snapped back, his body going still.
"H-hurry…" Chrom told her, pulling her away from the crackling remnants of her spell. Together they swam through the break in the window, leaving Validar well behind. The waters churned around them, whipped into a frenzy thanks to the storm.
Hot pain scratched across her, where the glass had scraped against her scales and drawn blood from her unprotected skin. She knew Chrom hadn't fared much better as he grunted in pain. Clouds of red mingled in the sea water as they both raced forward, heedless of their wounds. Panic screamed through Robin's senses, urging her on faster.
Chrom gave a low growl, and threw himself into the waters along with her as he attempted to keep pace.
Off to the side she could see a trio of figures. Henry and Tharja battled the swirl of currents, supporting the near limp body of a third Mer.
Even if she couldn't swim well, a small surge of hope filled Robin at the sight of Emmeryn free from her confines. Robin tried to veer towards them, pulling Chrom as she did-
A shrill warning call rose from the palace. She knew that however scattered they were, the remaining Mer would be on them like sharks after blood.
"Catch a current and hold onto it for all you're worth!" She called out to the others. "The important thing right now is that we get out of reach of Plegia, as fast as we all can!"
"Got it!" Henry managed to shout over the roil.
Robin didn't have to search long before a current found her, snatching her up with little effort. She clung onto Chrom, the one solid thing in the roar of water. They shot away from Plegia, caught up in the teeth of the storm.
"Hang on…" She whispered, half to Chrom and half as a mantra to herself. "Just hang on… And we'll get out of here."
