Birth and Re-Death
Chapter 7: Death in the Stupidest Way Yet
I wrench myself out of my dreamless sleep and instantly know something is wrong before my eyes even open. This isn't the right smell. This is musty, damp, and unpleasant. The room is too cold to be the bedroom I've been living in for six weeks. I don't want to open my eyes. I know what happened. Please, don't do this. Not this. I don't know if I can bear it. Everything is too real.
Eventually though, I open my eyes anyway. Rough stone walls and a dimly lit stone floor greet my sight. I have been spared an almost sarcastically hard pillow on which to sleep, but that's about it.
Except for Maribelle, who I've just noticed is sitting in the corner of the room, glaring at the black iron door to the maybe ten foot by ten foot cell. As I sit up slowly, feeling my poor spine try to pop back into proper place, she turns her eyes to me, but doesn't say anything. What's there to say?
Actually, quite a bit, I decide after about half a second.
"FFFFFFUCK!" I roar at the ceiling. I think I see Maribelle flinch. "GOD DAMNIT! It's all set in fucking stone now, yeah! They're all dead! The respawn point moved; too fucking bad for you, captain! Too bad for you, Isadora! Maybe next playthrough, Mindy! GAAAAH!" I go on like this for longer than I'd care to admit. Somewhere in the middle I notice Maribelle has closed her eyes and has pointed her head down. She looks like she's trying really hard to tune me out. Something in my head clicks on seeing her like that.
"And you! What the hell were you thinking, huh?" I demand, stepping over to her, and once she realizes I'm talking to her she looks up. I can't really read her expression. "Parley? Seriously? With these assholes? What in the nine layers of hell did you think was going to happen, huh? Are you messed in the head?"
She explodes to her feet. I guess that expression was 'anger boiling just under the surface' then. "And what would you have had me do, Randall? I was backed into a corner there, no options! We couldn't do anything else!"
"Actually, we had a great option! The one I suggested before you decided to parley with the murdering invaders! It was running away, you dunce!"
"And then what, my subjects are all killed while you and I flee like cravens to safety?"
"News flash, dipshit, they probably got killed anyway!" I can tell by the look on her face that she's never been called that before. In another situation it might have been funny. "What, you think the Plegians just packed up and called it a day after bagging you and me? I bet they're still torching the whole damned dukedom, just cuz they can!"
"No ruler worth the position they hold abandons their subjects! NO ONE!" she spits back.
"And a whoooooole lot of good that did them this time, huh?" I retort, getting right in her face. "I bet they're all sooooo glad their duke's daughter was willing to just hand herself over from the word 'go'." She pushes me roughly away, but I'm not done. "For all the good it's doing them. I bet they don't feel abandoned at all right now." She doesn't have a reply to that, though whether it's because she can't come up with an argument or because she's pretty much frothing at the mouth at this point, I can't really tell. "You know this means we're gonna start a war, right?"
She calms down just enough to manage an incredulous question. "What does that mean?"
"You and me. They're gonna start a war getting us back, no doubt about it. Chrom and the others. There's gonna be real, full-fledged war now, and it will be because you got us captured. You understand that? This shit is on you. The invasion of Themis was one thing, but the moment that the Shepherds retaliate, and they will, it's all over for the brief era of peace Ylisse has enjoyed. Now a whole shitload of people are gonna die, and it all started with you and little old me. All because we got captured! We should've just died! I should've just died! Maybe things could have turned out differently! But no, this is the one we get now."
At this point I've pretty much spent myself. I grab the shitty pillow off the floor and stalk off to the corner, curling up with it and probably looking pretty sorry for myself. Maribelle doesn't move at all for a little while. She just closes her eyes again and breathes really slowly, and really loudly. After what feels like an eternity, she sighs and I hear a faint whump of fabric on stone. I realize with a start that she must have fallen asleep. She must be exhausted too, I suppose. I wouldn't be surprised if she fought all the way here, wherever 'here' is.
I'd like to sleep as well, but at this point I don't feel like I can manage it. Partly because of all the horrible shit that got set in stone last time I fell unconscious, but also because Maribelle tosses and turns a ton in her sleep and there's no safe area in this tiny cell. Even curled up in the corner, I still occasionally receive a haphazard kick from her. It's irritating, but as long as she's sleeping it's fine, I guess.
Some time later (you kinda lose track of time when you're in a mostly dark stone room with no concept of the passing of hours), a tiny latch in the bottom of the door opens and a pair of small bread loaves are tossed inside, as well as a small, flat canteen of water. So at least they aren't planning on starving us out. Once the latch closes, I spend an extended period of time inspecting it, but it looks both thoroughly locked and too small to be useful even if it were open all the time. They really aren't taking chances with us.
I do think a lot about Jackson and the others, but after some indeterminate amount of time I realize it's not really doing anything to help. For the time being, we need to focus on ourselves and how we are going to get through this. Now that some of the tension has dissolved and I've calmed down a little, I decide I need to apologize, but my cellmate here doesn't exactly make it easy. Maribelle is pretending to be asleep, but I can tell she's not really because she doesn't move around nearly enough. She also deliberately faces away from me as she's lying on the ground. To test this I step to the other side of her and she feigns a sleepy roll to face the other way. I guess I can understand though. She's probably livid with me for taking an already bad situation and blaming it on her.
I know they say time heals all wounds, but to be honest there's literally nothing else to do here so I want to speed things along a little.
"Hey, Maribelle. I know you're not really asleep." She flinches a little at the sudden breaking of the silence, but otherwise doesn't move or say anything. "You don't have to say anything. I'm sorry for what I said earlier. We were caught in a shitty situation, and you didn't really have any good options available to you. You were just doing what you thought was best. All of this is my fault. I could have prevented all of this, but I didn't because I got careless."
She mumbles something so faintly I can't make it out.
"Sorry, what?"
She shifts so that she's looking a little over her shoulder at me. "There was nothing you could have done either."
"Oh, you'd be surprised," I reply. Though to be fair, you would think that making a bum rush for the overleveled boss would be the best way to get killed. I stand by the actual method of dying I was going for there. I don't say that part out loud.
"Don't be silly. We were overrun. Unprepared. Caught by total surprise. It's a miracle you survived that blow to the head at all, honestly." Right. A real stroke of luck. "I'm...glad that you…" A sob breaks through. Oh boy. I'm not good with crying girls, I'm really not. "She was like a mother to me," she manages between sniffles and sobs. I realize she means Isadora, and the weight of her loss hits me like a ton of bricks. I've been such a selfish ass! I've only known these people for like a month and a half, but they've been like family to her for probably her entire life. Between the two of us, I can't even pretend to dispute who lost more. "And the others, they were always…so kind to me, even when I was a selfish child! I still am one! I let my ego get in the way of thinking straight, and you were right! The fighting will start all over again, and it will have been by my idiotic choices!"
"Hey," I say cautiously, holding a hand up awkwardly because I'm not sure if I should lay it on her shoulder or not, "you can't really blame yourself. I was just angry before, and needed to throw it at someone. I'm sorry I said that, especially when it's bull. Chrom and the others would have demanded a response even if we weren't captured. The attack of Themis was a first strike by any metric, so if and when war comes around, it won't be on you, alright? You never made any move against them, even when they came in guns blazing."
She sniffles. "Guns?"
"Shit. Never mind. The point still stands. None of this is your fault. Alright?" I decide I will put a hand on her shoulder after all. She doesn't move away, which seems like her version of forgiveness for the shit I said before.
"Alright. It's just…I just...we couldn't do anything!" The sobbing returns with a vengeance. "What sort of evil monsters just butcher innocent people like that?" Oh. I guess we're hugging now? I try my best to keep it together on my end, but underneath I can feel my anger bubbling up. Gangrel and the rest of his pals are gonna pay for this. For now though, all I can do is try to squeeze the sobs away. I'm not sure which of us falls asleep first.
"So I guess this is kinda weird to ask, but like...are we cool?"
"What do you mean?" Maribelle's voice is still kind of raw from all the crying yesterday (I'm pretty sure it was yesterday. Three meals ago?)
"You and me. I just need to know that we're good, even after the, uh, spat we had the other day."
"Oh. Well, yes, of course we are fine. We have to stick together and keep our wits about us, you know. In the clutches of the enemy, you and I are the only allies each other has." Seems like she's at least a little bit back to normal, or at least calmed down. That's good.
"Okay, that's what I was thinking. Thanks."
I am literally hitting my head against the wall. "Bored bored bored bored bored booooored."
"Randall. Please. I know you're bored. You can stop informing me of that."
"Yeah, but I'm so fuckin' boooored! How long have we even been here? However long fifteen meals is, so I'm guessing like five whole days. With just. These. Walls. God, I'd kill for even just some music or some…thing…" A thought occurs to me. "Hey Maribelle. You know what would really piss the Plegians off?"
"What?"
"If we looked like we were having fun in here."
"What do you mean by that?" I think I see her redden a little, and her brow furrows. Oh. No wait.
"I don't mean like that! I just meant I would teach you some music from where I come from," I say quickly, raising my hands in preemptive defense.
"Oh. Well, I suppose it would be better than nothing…What kind of music does your homeland have?" she asks.
"Wow. That's actually kind of a big question. Hmmm…" I need something relentlessly cheery and upbeat to chase away some of this somber mood. But where's a good place to start? I consider for a few moments, and then the answer hits me. "Alright, but you gotta promise you'll actually sing it with me once I teach you, okay?"
She raises a brow. "Um…Agreed?"
I stand up, already grinning. This is gonna be awesome. "Alright, so the beginning goes like this:
When I wake up,
Oh you know I'm gonna be,
I'm gonna be the man
Who wakes up next to you..."
"This song is a bit irksome...but it is catchy," Maribelle admits.
"Don't worry, it comes around."
"Dah da da dah!" I sing out.
"Dah da da dah!" she responds.
"Dah da da dah!"
"Dah da da dah!"
And we both launch into a hearty "Dah da dah da da dah da da dah da da dah dah daaaaah!"
There's a bang on the door. "Shut up in there!" a gruff voice calls to us.
"Shit and fall in it!" I reply cheerily, and we resume singing. Totally worth the extremely burnt bread and suspiciously murky water we receive for our next meal.
"So...this foot goes like this, and then back, and forth, and then twirl?"
"Yes, exactly! Now you're finally getting the hang of it!"
She's been teaching me some of the dance styles of the Ylissean court, since we got tired of singing a couple days ago. It's taken some doing, because I'm not used to dancing with a body this tall. Also because I've never been good at it, but shut up.
We take a break, having a few sips of our precious water canteen. "By my count, we just had our thirty-first meal a little bit ago. We've legitimately been in this hole for what will soon be eleven days," I mention.
"Ugh, don't remind me. I haven't been able to clean myself off in what feels like ages! I must look just awful," Maribelle moans. Her hair has long since uncurled (now pulled into a ponytail tied by the canteen strap), and she looks a little ragged, but overall it could be worse.
"Preaching to the choir there, sister," I reply.
She smirks. "I was going to say, you're starting to smell quite repugnant."
I put a hand to my chest in mock horror. "Why, I never!"
The door bangs open suddenly. Oh shit, here we go I guess. Before either of us has time to react, we are each set upon by a pair of guards who fasten our hands behind our backs and force us to rise and walk out. We are warned to stay silent and are led down a dark corridor, slowly sloping up until we eventually reach another door. When this one opens, we are hit full-force with the light of the sun. After ten-plus days of captivity, it overloads my senses instantly and my head is splitting with pain. A yelp from Maribelle behind me confirms that she isn't enjoying it either.
We are shepherded into a mercifully dark wagon (there is a barred window built into the door, but it limits the light suitably) with a singular wooden bench and are told to sit down and shut up. To ensure our cooperation, a guard with a large axe joins us in the wagon. The wagon sets off, and at one point I sneeze; unable to cover my sneeze, it lands fully in the guard's face. He doesn't look pleased.
"You looking for a broken nose, meat?" he demands.
"I'm sorry, was I supposed to just not sneeze somehow?" I ask incredulously.
"Shut up! You were told no talking!"
"You asked me a question, though." Oh, I'm having fun now.
"Why you little–" and that's a gauntleted fist to my face. I fall off the bench and end up lying on my side on the floor. "You know, the important one here is the duchess," he says, giving me a solid kick to the stomach and earning a coughing fit from me. Maribelle doesn't seem to know what to do, but she looks properly livid. "Way I see it, if all they really need is her, then I don't need to get you there alive at all."
I manage to make eye contact with him. "Do it, I dare ya. You don't have the Dwayne Johnsons for it."
He looks confused for a second, but it at least registers that I was making fun of him. "Rrgh, you testing me?" He grips his axe. I'm gonna regret this.
"If by 'testing' you mean 'calling you out on being a little bitch boy,' then yeah, I guess that's what I'm doing," I say, already tasting the iron of blood in my mouth from that punch to the face.
"Randall, stop this!" Maribelle protests, but I'm too in deep now.
"Ooooh, look at mister big man over here, he can only land a hit on his enemies if they're tied up and sitting in front of him cuz axe accuracy is consistently shit. He's so tough, isn't he, Maribelle?" I notice his arms are raised above his head. I hear Maribelle scream. Oh wow, he's really gonna do–
Of course the Risen would attack us now. We don't have time for this! Alright, as long as everyone is accounted for we can get this out of the way. There's Lissa; good, Frederick is with her. Everyone's got someone partnered up, like Robin said. Here they come. Gods, I can't get used to the way they move.
Bat down the obvious swing, kick the chest, he's down. Plunge the blade into his chest, hold for a second, and there's the dissolving. Gotta make sure these buggers are actually dead before you let up; we learned that back in the Northroad.
Cut down one more, two more, take a quick look around. There's Lissa and Frederick, there's Stahl and Sully, Kellam and Miriel, Robin and Lon'qu (still not sure how I feel about him yet, so she's keeping an eye on him), and Sumia is keeping up with me. There's Vaike, but where's– Oh no.
"Vaike, where is Donnel?" I shout. I don't see Donnel anywhere near him. Suddenly, a scream from our rear position. I rush over, slashing down another fighter on the way. He's surrounded, and with all those axe wielders he doesn't stand a chance with that training lance. I'm fighting through as best as I can, but by the time I fight my way to the center of the mob, there's precious little of him that still looks like the plucky farm boy we recruited. He collapses, clearly dead. No, no no. Not so soon after we promised his mother he'd come home safely.
A glancing blow from behind on my armored shoulder shocks me back to reality. I've fought my way to the center of the mob, but fighting my way out is another task entirely. Every time I rear back to take a swing, the blade catches on the weapon of an enemy behind me. I'm taking too many hits now. Whenever I cut down one, it seems two more take its place. Just when I can feel my strength fading, I see a flash of golden light, and then there's Robin, carving a path out for me while Lon'qu, Miriel, and Kellam hold them off of her. I clamber out of the mob, but my head is light and my vision is rapidly blurring. I look down and notice all the blood spilling out of the many lacerations I earned in the fray.
"Chrom, no!" I hear faintly as Robin catches me while I'm falling to the ground. I guess I got too reckless there. Where's Lissa…? "–rom, stay with–" I can't hear properly, or else you need to speak up.
"Gods," I begin to pray, but my strength fades too fast for me to say much else. I feel a groan escape my chest, but it feels no need to refill with air at this point. I can barely see, but Robin looks very worried. I failed them, didn't I? I couldn't even keep one farm boy safe…
I wake up to the sound of my second thirty-first meal being tossed through the door latch. Ugh, I'm back here again. Oh well, I guess I did choose this fate when I picked a fight with the guy with an axe and a bad temper.
I sit there for a while, chewing moodily on the distinctly stone-like bread, ruminating. I know they're coming for us today, but does that really change anything? Even if I see them coming, there's gonna be like four or five of them and they'll all by armed. I doubt there's any version of that encounter that doesn't end with death. I may just have to cut my losses and count on rescue from the Shepherds later on. Jeez, that sounds so passive. I really need to get some combat skills of my own.
I let Maribelle teach me for the second time the steps to the High Court Waltz, and she seems pretty impressed with how quickly I am picking it up (it took me like three hours to get even passable the first time). The little benefits of respawning, ladies and gentlemen.
After a while, I figure it's nearly time for the guards to show up. Sure enough, when I listen closely I can hear them approach from down the hall. I stand up preemptively, prompting Maribelle to do the same.
The door bangs open again. "Sup, guys?" I ask as they come in, earning a smack to the back of the head as they once again tie my hands behind my back. Maybe I shouldn't sass them so much this time. We're loaded up into the wagon and sit in obedient silence for the whole several-hour-long trip. When I sneeze this time, I aim for the wall to the side of me.
When we are offloaded, I squint for a long while to get adjusted to the light, but when I can see properly I find I recognize this canyon. Hoo boy, it's time for Chapter 5 pretty soon. Ugh, that means if I die during the fight I'll have to do the whole ride again.
"Hey, serious question," I ask the guard standing with us. "Can I take like a five minute nap?"
He gives me a glare. "Don't ask that again."
I shut my mouth. Fine then, be that way. Maribelle looks at me incredulously. I shrug as best I can with my arms tied. Guess we're waiting on the Shepherds now.
Some time later, we can see a group approach on the horizon, looking distinctly bluish. Seems like Ylisseans to me. Out of a particularly ornate carriage on a ridge above and far ahead of us, I see Gangrel and Aversa step out to greet the Shepherds. Chrom, Lissa, and Emmeryn step forward and begin talking with the Plegian royals, and I hadn't realized until now how livid Aversa's lies about why they've taken Maribelle captive would make me. I know Maribelle's got her scripted line about crone school or whatever, but I cut in first.
"Actually, fuck your mama with the L.A. Raiders. Chrom, I know you know this is all horseshit. We're healers, we don't even know how to hurt people properly! This psycho cut down some of Maribelle's closest friends without a second thought!"
Aversa seems taken aback for a moment, but recovers quickly. "You see? No manners at all. Such nasty birds simply had to be caged."
Gangrel cuts in. "Such a violent temper speaks to their guilt. This will call for a weighty punishment. And if they were to later confess to being Ylissean spies? My goodness! It would take an act of considerable good faith to repair our relations." Oh boy, threats of torture against me and probably the closest friend I've got here? You've got another thing coming. I can feel my temper getting the better of me.
"Hey, Gangrel," I call, and he looks down at me, grinning smugly. "If you lay a hand on Maribelle, or any of my friends, I'm gonna rip your arm off and shove it so far up your ass that you'll be able to wave hello by opening your mouth."
Maribelle gawks at me for a moment, but then pipes up, "We have done nothing wrong! It is they who should confess! They are the ones who invaded Ylisse. They razed an entire village!"
The negotiations continue for some time, but to be honest I'm only barely listening. Mostly I'm just glaring at Gangrel and Aversa, nearly frothing mad at this point, held back only by the guard, who's got a hold on my bound wrists. Maribelle is trying to be helpful, but I'm just spouting obscenities and insults about Gangrel's outfit mostly.
Some soldiers take the field and brandish their weapons at Emmeryn, which Chrom seems to be having precisely none of. He springs forward and plants his sword in the front man's chest. I won't lie, I wasn't sad to see it happen at this point.
"Now that's a declaration of war if I've ever heard one…" Gangrel says, a mock grimace on his face. "A big, messy war that will bleed you Ylisseans dry. Bwa ha ha!" Chrom's expression is somewhere between fury and guilt at the realization of what he's done.
I was so caught up in watching Chrom declare war that I didn't notice Aversa approaching us until she was already there, wearing an awful smirk. "Poor, brain-dead fools. Are you really worth fighting a war over?"
If my hands weren't tied, I'd have held up a hand to stop her talking. "Alright, save it. We already hashed this out, and we've pretty much decided the war is your fault. Don't bother."
She looks quite irritated. "I think we've had quite enough out of you." She holds up a black-covered tome and opens it. However, before she has time to begin casting anything, I feel a weirdly warm spray hit the back of my neck. At the same time, my hands are suddenly freed. I realize Ricken must have come to our rescue. Oh, that's gross! I just realized the spray on my back was blood from the guard who was holding us. He also must have used some localized air blades to cut the ropes. Wow, he really is skilled, huh?
"What's good, my man?" I can't help but ask.
He looks pretty pleased at my calling him 'man'. "You two, go now! You're free!"
"Ricken?" Maribelle cries. "What are you doing here?"
"Let's discuss that later," I cut her off.
Meanwhile, Aversa seems to think he's nothing to worry about. "Oh, is this your little boyfriend?" she asks me. Wait, hang on– "Isn't he just precious."
Ricken, too, seems miffed at the question. "Don't talk down to me, witch!" He whips up a few blades of Elwind that she has to put all her focus into warding off.
"Come on!" Ricken cries, and we all start to book it for the rest of the Shepherds. But wow, that's a longer way off than I thought. It looks like they're grouping up and preparing to fight. I've never been so glad to see an army before.
A/N: Hi all! Sorry for the delay on this chapter; in moving apartments, I've been doing battle to get my internet connection back and only recently emerged victorious. I hope the somewhat longer chapter than usual made up for it. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. See you next time!