Author's Notes:
The beauty of being on break is that I have more free time. I managed to finish another chapter today, so it's another day of consecutive uploads!
I must admit, I do quite enjoy writing about little Lucina. I'm inspired to work hard on any chapter that I know will contain some of that fluff. You can consider it my dessert.
There's another pairing that has, previously been implied, but now is confirmed in this chapter. (Once again, it's subtle, see if you can find it.)
Without further ado, enjoy chapter 14:
The Shepherd's temporary camp, just outside of Plegia's capital, Dohlr.
Robin, Chrom and the Feroxi Khans were gathered in the command tent.
"Reporting in!" A new voice called.
"Come in." Chrom replied, and a Ylissean spy walked into the tent. "What have you got to report?" The Ylissean prince asked the spy.
"We found the location of the Exalt." the spy began. "She's been held at castle Dohlr, in the dungeons. A few of us were able to see her there. She was in chains, but otherwise didn't seem to receive any abuse."
"That's good to hear." Robin said. "How strong are the defenses at the dungeon?"
"Regretfully, I must say that if your plan is to break her out of the dungeon, it would be extremely difficult to get her out. They've at least half a dozen platoons patrolling the area at any given time." The spy shook his head. "Normally, only a single platoon will do, but given the circumstances, I fear that Gangrel took precautionary measures to ensure that the Exalt cannot be rescued."
Robin furrowed his brows. "Hmm, we really don't have that option then. Suppose we were able to sneak into Dohlr undetected… that would probably mean we can only take a few of us..." He made a few motions on a map they had over the table. "I'd say the maximum number we could take is probably four people. Any more, and it'll warrant an inspection at the entrance of the city… But still, we'd have to be able to beat six platoons of soldiers in an enclosed space, without allowing anyone to get away to bring reinforcements… " he paused for a moment. "Even then, there's the issue of getting Emmeryn out of the city without alerting the Plegian soldiers stationed outside… yes, I believe it IS an impossible task, given the resources we have."
"So we can't break her out of prison." Chrom concluded. "Is there a chance we'll be able to rescue her from her execution?"
The spy nodded. "Yes. King Gangrel wishes for the execution to be a public spectacle. All Plegians in Dohlr are encouraged to attend. From the information we've gathered, it seems that they plan to loosen the guard on the prisons when Emmeryn is not there, but milady Phila and her Pegasus Knights should still be there… I don't know if that will be of use."
"So then, that'll be much easier for us to sneak in with." Robin concluded. "I'll have to make some plans then, including the rescue of Phila..."
"The exalt is to be executed at the castle on the morrow." The spy said, finishing his report. "I heard it from the king's own lips, sire."
Robin turned to Chrom and the Khans. "Would there be any way I could get a more detailed map of castle Dohlr's courtyard?"
"My men can get one for you." Basilio offered. "When do you want it by?"
"As soon as possible." Robin replied. "Thank you, Khan Basilio."
The west Khan shook his head. "No, you're the one forming the plan. We're just here to help in whatever way we can. There's no need to thank me. I'll get someone to find a map right now." With that, the muscular Khan walked out to find his soldiers.
Chrom motioned that the spy was allowed to leave. "So this is it, then." Flavia said.
"Yes." Robin agreed. "Tomorrow will be the true test…" Flavia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Chin up! Show some confidence! It's your strategic thinking that got us this far. The plan is risky, but in such situations, some risk is merited."
Chrom nodded in agreement. "We'll find a way, Robin, don't worry. By this time tomorrow, we'll be heading home to Ylisstol, swapping stories with Emm."
Robin smiled. "I really hope you're right."
Meanwhile, in a shadow realm outside of the existence of reality…
Validar walked around in the shadow realm, and approached a mysterious figure. "Master Grima, the Exalt will be executed by my brother tomorrow. The events of history will soon be on course, as per usual."
"Good…" A voice replied. "Things that have happened, will happen again, did I not say something similar to you?"
Validar began to laugh. "I should never have doubted the truth of your words. The yoke of destiny cannot be cast off! Even as they resist, they write your future with every step, O great one!"
The voice began to chuckle. "Indeed, my faithful servant. You're needed in the coming days. Although the same cannot be said for your brother. He was a useful tool, but even the best tools must be cast off once they're broken… Be patient, Validar… The time for us to step on stage has not come yet…"
With that, the figure turned around and disappeared into the shadows, leaving Validar alone, watching reality from a realm completely separate from it.
Undisclosed location, in Plegia…
A cloaked woman ran through the woods, desperately trying to flee from the soldiers chasing after her. Her long, white hair flew into the air as she ran, trying to make an escape with the newborn child in her arms.
She'd been running for nearly half an hour now. The Plegian soldiers, however, were not discouraged. They continued their chase, screaming insults after her the entire way.
She snuck a look backwards, and saw a particularly fast soldier steadily gaining on her. With her arms full, she wasn't able to reach into her cloak for her thoron tome. Even if she were able to, it wouldn't have done any good, as she had exhausted all of the pages from it, fighting with the Plegian soldiers earlier. She decided to risk it, and began channeling the spell without the help from a tome.
A lazer of thunder erupted from her palm, blasting through the neck of the soldier, causing him the fall lifeless to the ground. The woman let out a sigh of relief, but could feel herself growing more and more tired.
Finally, she ran to the edge of a river. She stepped down from the woodlands onto the bank of the river. She turned back, and saw the raised earth, with roots of larger trees sticking out. Instead of crossing the river, she decided to take a risk and run alongside it.
Fortunately, her risk payed off. She found a cleft in the earth along the river bank, large enough to hide it. Without needing to think, she crawled into it, holding the baby in her arms. The roaring of the river made it impossible for the Plegian soldiers to hear any sound the baby made. It was a safe hiding spot.
She stayed there for several minutes and was able to catch her breath. In the distance, she could hear the shouting of Plegian soldiers, no doubt still chasing after her. She heard the sound of many people crossing the river a large distance away, probably thinking she had done the same. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a man jumped down from above her, onto the river bank. "Well, well, well, look who I've managed to find..." an all too familiar sorcerer grinned evily as he sized up the woman. "And she's with the child too… how fortunate for me."
"Validar…" the woman breathed. "I knew I should never have associated myself with you."
The sorcerer laughed. "Oh, but Katerina, what choice did you have? It was destiny for you and for me." He grinned. "Think about it… is it really so bad? Birthing the incarnate of the fell dragon, isn't that a privilege? There are many Plegian woman who would love to be in your shoes."
The woman got out of her hiding spot, seeing as it was irrelevant anymore, and it was also becoming increasingly uncomfortable. "What you're trying to do will spell the end of the world, not just for Ylisse, but for Plegia as well! How can you expect me to agree to such things?"
Validar scowled. "You… don't… have… a… CHOICE!" he growled menacingly. "Give me the child!"
"No!" Katerina exclaimed as she fired a thoron spell at Validar. However, the sorcerer was able to pull out a purple tome and counter the spell with his own dark magic.
"A nice try, Kat." he grinned at the panting woman. "It almost could've worked. But since I now see that there's no convincing you, I guess that leaves me with only one option."
He produced a blade of dark energy and began to step closer to his wife. "No… no… please!" Katerina begged. Validar ignored her. He made one clean slash downwards, severing the woman's neck. Blood splattered all over Validar and the newborn child.
Validar put his tome away. He reached down and picked the child up.
He laughed menacingly. "You are MY child now…"
The day of the exalt's execution…
"... AAAAHHH!" Robin screamed as he sat up from his bedroll. The sound of running towards his tent could be heard from the outside.
Lissa poked her head in. "Robin? Hey Robin, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing that he seemed to be fine.
Robin shook his head. "I… I think I just had a nightmare." he placed a hand to his forehead. "The details are a bit fuzzy, but I think that's what it was." he turned to the princess. "What brings you here? Did you need something?"
Lissa nodded. "Everyone's beginning to tear down camp. Frederick says it's almost time to march. We can't start our plan without our master tactician!"
Robin facepalmed. "How could I forget?" he murmured to himself. The realization of what was about to take place caused butterflies to appear in his stomach. He did NOT look forward to today.
Sighing, he picked himself up from his bedroll to get dressed.
A while later…
The shepherds made their way to the courtyard of castle Dohlr. Many Plegian civilians were already there. The Plegian soldiers either didn't notice, or purposely allowed the shepherds to make their way in with the crowd. Robin hoped it was the former.
Pretty soon, Emmeryn appeared at the top of a cliff. A brigand holding an executioner's axe stood right behind her.
"Emmeryn!" Chrom aggressively whispered. "Sis!" Lissa did the same.
Gangrel appeared on the steps to the entrance to the castle, with the woman (Robin remembered as Aversa) following right behind him. He warmly welcomed the citizens of Plegia.
"Good people! Warriors of Plegia, Welcome!" The Mad King shouted. "Your anticipation ELECTRIFIES the air! We ALL remember the war crimes of Ylisse… Would you have their witch queen answer for them? Here and now? Finally, we will have JUSTICE!"
A roar of agreement rose from the crowd below. Chrom and the shepherds were itching to act, but Robin shook his head disapprovingly, telling them to wait. Behind the scenes, a dispatchment of Feroxi soldiers were at work, freeing Phila and her knights. They needed to buy them as much time as humanly possible, in order for their plan to work.
Finally, Gangrel looked towards the brigand behind Emmeryn. "Executioner, if you would be so kind…"
The man began to approach Emmeryn with his axe raised high.
"Now!" Robin shouted. Virion pulled out his bow, nocked an arrow and proceeded to hit the executioner, all in the manner of a single second. The executioner fell to his death below, and the crowd began to panic. They all tried to run towards the exit of the courtyard as soon as possible.
Soon, the only people left were the shepherds, some Feroxi soldiers, and the Plegian guards.
"Take out the soldiers first!" Chrom shouted. "We'll deal with the Mad King later!"
Gangrel scowled. "Oh will you now? Little do you know, we've been expecting you." He turned to the soldiers around him. "Guards! Kill him! Kill his sister! Kill them ALL!" with that, he laughed triumphantly and retreated back into the castle with Aversa. He did not notice a certain white haired tactician amongst the shepherds ranks.
{Shepherds, find your assigned partners and begin to move towards the south, as fast as possible!"} Robin told everyone. As he said this, he found Nowi. The manakete had been extremely adamant that she pair up with him. He couldn't understand why, but it'll work for his plan anyways, so he let it slide.
The shepherds made their way south. They were met with a couple of Spear Fighters. Vaike handily took out one of them with a swift cleave of his axe. Lon'qu engaged the other one. Despite the weapon advantage, Lon'qu still looked like in control of the situation, due to the skill difference. Lissa supported him from afar, and Ricken even threw a wind spell their way when the spear fighter left an opening. Off to his side, Virion shot down a approaching Wyvern Rider.
{Robin! There's someone fighting by themselves towards the south! She looks to be on our side!} Robin heard Sumia inform him. He checked his Hekseer, and sure enough, there was a green icon to their south.
{Ferry Chrom over there, see if you can talk to her and find out if she's an ally.} Robin instructed. {Make sure you don't get hit by a stray arrow.} As Robin said this, Donnel rushed forward and cut down an archer.
They continued to press on. Ricken, Miriel and Robin all fired a spell of their respective elements at another Wyvern Rider as he flew above them.
{Robin, I talked to him.} Robin all of a sudden heard Chrom say in his head. {Excellent, she's an ally?} he responded. {Well... } Chrom began awkwardly. {It's one of Emmeryn's followers. And it's a HE}
Robin blinked. {They're not a woman?} he looked at the Hekseer's icon closely. {We all thought that at first, but I can safely say now that it's a man.} Chrom responded. {He's a War Monk named Libra.} Robin shook his head. He'll sort this out later. {Alright. Stay next to him. Since I don't have him marked in the Hekseer, I can't give him orders from afar. I'll have to give them to you and you'll have to tell him.}
After he heard an affirmation from Chrom, he was interrupted by Lissa's frantic shouting. "Robin! Look! Wyverns behind us!" Robin turned around, and sure enough, there was a platoon of Wyvern Riders approaching from the north.
{Sully, Stahl, Frederick, Panne, Kellam, Gregor. Engage them. Ranged units, provide fire support.} Robin commanded. The three slower traveling pairs had been assigned to guard their rear, a move that was paying its dividends now.
As they continued southward to meet up with Chrom, Libra, Gaius and the two Pegasus Knights, Robin could hear the painful screams of the Wyverns as they were slashed open by Stahl's wyrmslayer, shot down by Virions arrows, blasted by the magic of Ricken and Miriel, or simply impaled by Frederick's lance. The plan had been going fine as of right now. The Feroxi soldiers were outside the castle courtyard, engaging in the foot soldiers of Plegia. 'That must be why only the Wyvern Riders could make it past them.' Robin mused to himself.
Meanwhile, with Chrom…
Chrom was holding out in some abandoned forts with Gaius, Libra, Sumia and Cordelia. He knew that Robin was making his way over with the slightly slower units right away. He slashed an approaching Wyvern Rider down, and looked over to see Cordelia dive towards a Plegian mage.
Over on his other side, Sumia threw a javelin at a dark mage, killing the Plegian before he could finish casting his spell. Gaius ran out from the fort and cut down an archer taking aim at Cordelia.
Libra whirled his Killer Axe around, cleaving a spear fighter in half. From the looks of it, Chrom couldn't even tell that he was a holy man if he judged him only by his ability to kill.
Suddenly, he heard the painful cry of Gaius. He turned around to see a female dark mage throw a thunder spell, seemingly annoyingly at him. Cordelia rushed in and picked the wounded thief up. She brought him back to Libra, who began to work on healing him.
The Plegian dark mage rolled her eyes and began to saunter over to them.
Chrom, thinking something was up, approached her. "You there!" he called to her. "Are you with the Plegians? You seem reluctant to fight."
The dark mage rolled her eyes again. "Death will come for all of us eventually." she began. "Why invite it early, for a cause I don't believe in?"
Chrom looked confused. "So… is that a no, then?"
The dark mage sighed in exasperation. "I may be Plegian, but I don't have the will to fight against you like the others." she began. "Let's just say, my only reason to fight for Plegia left me, in what seems to be an eternity ago."
Chrom shook his head and laughed. "First Libra, and now you? I doubt Robin had all this in mind when he formed his strategy."
Upon hearing his words, the dark mage froze. "Wait… what did you just say?" she demanded.
"Er… I just said that our tactician probably did not foresee all this in his plan." Chrom told her nervously. The dark mage shook her head. "No, not that. I heard you call him 'Robin'. Describe him for me."
"Uh…" Chrom began nervously. "White hair, brown eyes, darkish purple cloak, wields a wicked looking scythe and tomes?"
"Yep, yep, yep, yep and… yep." The dark mage counted on her fingers. She shook her head. "So is that where you went off to? What the hell is even happening? I guess he's with you Ylisseans now?"
Chrom looked more confused. "What are you talking about?" The dark mage turned back to him. "Doesn't matter. For now, consider me an ally. My name is Tharja. I am gifted with magic." As she said this, she pulled out a dark purple tome and, without looking, blasted a Plegian Wyvern Rider out of the sky that was approaching them from her behind, The Rider, not expecting to be shot at by an 'ally', wasn't able to react in time and plummeted to the ground. "Consider that a demonstration of my sincerity."
"O...k..." Chrom muttered, extremely confused. With that, the two ran back towards the fort, where the other four were waiting.
"Why… why is SHE here?" Gaius pointed at their new ally accusingly. "She nearly killed me!"
Tharja scoffed. "You were way too cocky, thief. Just because the typical Plegian soldier isn't capable of harming you, doesn't mean I can't."
"She's an ally now, she'll help us against the Plegians." Chrom told the rest of them.
"And why should we believe her?" Cordelia asked with suspicion. "What if it's a plan to backstab us?"
Tharja shook her head. "You won't have to worry about that. You guys have something I want… or rather, you have someONE that I want." she said. "I'll go find him later, but for now, I'll help you with your cause."
And that was that. Tharja joined in with the five, and they continued to hold out in the forts, killing any Plegian that tried to step up to them. Chrom had to admit, having a dark mage on their side for a change was pretty nice. She doubted even Miriel could take Tharja in a fight.
Pretty soon, Robin approached the forts with Nowi, Lon'qu, Lissa, Vaike, Miriel, Donnel and Maribelle. Tharja's scowl immediately softened when she saw him. When Robin stepped in to the fort, she immediately threw herself onto him.
"There you are!" she exclaimed to the extremely surprised Robin. "Why are you with the Ylisseans, and why did you not tell me?"
"Hey! That's MY partner!" Nowi huffed with her hands on her hips. "No touching!"
Tharja ignored the manakete, but Robin pried her off of him. "Chrom… um… who is this?" he asked.
Tharja's eyes went wide for a moment, before she began to laugh. "Oh Robin, I never thought you were the type to make that kind of joke!" she asked.
Robin looked at her with a serious look in his eyes. "I'm really sorry, but I really don't know who you are."
"We found him unconscious in a field." Chrom explained. "He's lost most of his memories. Although if you know him, then perhaps you could help him recover some of it."
Tharja's happy expression immediately formed back into a scowl at the realization that it was not a joke. "I...see… so that's how it is."
"I'm really sorry." Robin said. "But I would love to know more about my past life. Would you be able to tell me some of it." he gave her a heartfelt smile, which caused Tharja to immediately begin to blush. "I...I'll consider it." she finally stammered. "But for right now, don't you have a battle to win?"
Robin also snapped back to reality. "Oh that's right! I need to log the newcomers into the Hekseer." He motioned for Libra to come to him, and both he and Tharja touched the Hekseer's orb.
{Can you hear me?} Robin asked through it. "Oh my!" Libra exclaimed, clearly surprised. In contrast, Tharja simply replied with a "Yep." She had, after all, already known about the Hekseer's existence.
{Things are done over here.} Robin heard Frederick report. {We'll head over to you guys now.} Robin nodded. {Thanks Frederick. Go south until you see the twin forts to your left. We'll move east from there.}
He turned to the rest of the shepherds. "C'mon, we've got some more fighting to do!" The shepherds all began to file out of the forts and towards the east. Chrom stopped Tharja for a private question before they left, however.
"So even though he doesn't have any memories of you, you'll still fight with us?" Chrom asked the newcomer, wanting to be sure of her loyalties.
"Yep." Tharja replied. "I'm still trying to get over the fact that he doesn't remember me. Believe me, it isn't easy." She said through a scowl. "Even though he may not have any memories of me, I still owe him everything, and so whatever cause he's fighting for, I'll fight for as well."
Chrom nodded. "I see. Then welcome to the shepherds." "It's my pleasure." Tharja said, rolling her eyes.
The shepherds ploughed through the remaining Plegian guards. They had little to no chance against the shepherds, especially since one of their strongest had turned against them.
Lon'qu and Donnel slashed indiscriminately through the Plegians, and Sumia and Cordelia darted in to finish priority targets when they least expected it. Tharja threw out spells with seemingly no regard for her former allies. The few small injuries that the shepherds received were quickly mended by the combination of Maribelle and Lissa.
When their heavy units arrived to their rear, the shepherds rejoiced, and the Plegians' morale collapsed.
Pretty soon, all of the Plegians either were killed or ran away. The only one left in the courtyard was their commander, General Campari.
"I'll never let you Ylissean scum get past me!" the General declared as he stood his ground in front of the castle. Lon'qu, Donnel, Vaike, and Gregor all rushed him. However, no one was capable of making a dent in the General's heavy armor. Campari lunged with his spear, grazing Lon'qu's side.
"Lon'qu!" Lissa exclaimed with a worried expression. She immediately ran towards the retreating myrmidon.
"Is that all you've got?" Campari taunted. "You all don't seem too capable."
He was not expecting the dark magic spell that hit him directly. The Nosferatu seeped through his armor, stealing his life energy, before returning to a certain dark mage.
"What the?" Campari exclaimed in disbelief as he coughed up some blood. "Dark magic? The Ylisseans have a user of dark magic?"
"Indeed." Tharja replied.
Campari gave her a murderous look. "Tharja! You traitorous swine! His majesty treats you that well, and this is how you repay him?"
Tharja scoffed. "I'm not a traitor to anyone." She told him. "To you, it might look like that, because you serve the king. Like you, I'm simply taking the same side as the one I serve." At this, Tharja gestured to Robin, which was someone Campari had missed.
"You! So you're… the… one..." Campari groaned, before falling over, dead.
"What was that all about?" Lissa wondered to herself.
Finally, the courtyard was clear of all Plegians, but more importantly, Archers and Wyvern Riders.
"The skies are clear!" Chrom exclaimed. "Miriel, give the signal!"
At this, the bespectacled mage launched a fireball into the air, signally for Phila and the other Pegasus Knights to fly in.
"Your Grace!" Phila exclaimed upon seeing Emmeryn.
"Phila!" the Exalt exclaimed. "I'm so glad to see you're safe! But how…"
"Khan Basilio's men freed me! Hurry, we don't have much time…" With that, Phila flew her Pegasus towards the cliff where Emmeryn was standing.
"What?" Gangrel exclaimed in rage. "Pegasus Knights? Those damn Ylisseans do NOT play fair!"
Aversa simply chuckled. "Well, neither do I." As she said that, she began to channel some dark energy around her. In the courtyard, dozens of Risen archers clawed their way out of the ground.
"Risen?" Robin asked in disbelief. "Chrom! Oh gods!"
Chrom gritted his teeth. "Damn! Not now! Shepherds, kill them all!" The shepherds immediately acted, going for as many of the archers as possible.
Gangrel began to laugh. "How is it possible for an army of corpses to just APPEAR out of the ground?" he wondered aloud. "Truly, the heavens smile upon King Gangrel today!"
The shepherds were fast, but they were unable to kill all the Risen in time. Some of them took aim at Phila and her Pegasus Knights, and proceeded to shoot them out of the air.
"Risen… Your Grace… Forgive me…" Phila said with tears in her eyes as she fell to her death.
Many of Phila's Pegasus Knights met the same fate. They desperately tried to fly in to save the Exalt, but the Risen seemed to prioritize the ones close to Emmeryn. One after another, they fell out of the sky and to their doom.
"No, no no!" Robin exclaimed in frustration, freezing at the prospect of his failure. "We've lost…" Chrom muttered in defeat.
"I believe this is what they call a reversal of fortunes!" Gangrel cackled. "Now… grovel before me! Plead! Beg for your worthless lives!"
Chrom gritted his teeth. "I'd give up my life before I beg for it from you."
Gangrel chuckled. "Oh THAT'S a good line! Perhaps it'll be very fitting for me to place that on your tombstone, prince. But it's not just your life you'll be begging for, your precious Exalt's still hangs in the balance! All it would take is one word from me..."
"Emm, hold on! I'm coming!" Chrom ignored the king.
"Archers!" Gangrel yelled in anger. "If the Ylissean pup tries to approach his Exalt, let your arrows fly!"
"Gangrel!" Chrom stopped. "I-I'll kill you!"
Gangrel laughed once again. "Go ahead! I welcome the try. Just know that you were responsible for your big sister's bloody demise!"
"Damn you!" Chrom protested.
"Now now, no one needs to die today. Not you, not the Exalt." Gangrel told him, seeming to change his personality. "Just lay down your weapons and give me the Fire Emblem!"
"Milord!" Frederick protested. "You can't trust him!"
"Of COURSE I can't trust him!" Chrom yelled back. "But if I don't, he'll kill her!"
"Wait!" Emmeryn suddenly cried. Gangrel turned to her in anger. "SILENCE!"
Emmeryn ignored him. "King Gangrel, you will not listen to reason?" she asked.
Gangrel merely laughed. "You mean listen to more of your sanctimonious babble?! I think not. No, all I want is to hear a THUNK of arrows, and a SPLAT as you hit the ground. Take one, long, last look from your perch. You do so enjoy looking down on people... Then prepare to meet the ground, and your maker! That is, unless if someone were to give me the Emblem... NOW!"
"ALL RIGHT!" Chrom exclaimed. "Emm, I know you won't approve, but this is my final decision. MAYBE someday we'll face a crisis where MAYBE the Emblem would've helped. But I know for a fact that Ylisse needs you, today! The people need their exalt... And we need our sister. If those dark days should come, we'll face them together."
A single tear fell from Emmeryn's face. "Th-thank you Chrom. I know now what I must do."
"What are you-" Chrom began, but Emmeryn interrupted him. "Plegians! I ask that you hear the truth of my words! War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. Do what you must... As I will do. See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world!"
She walked up to the edge of the cliff. "No reaction then?" she mused to herself. "So was I wrong?" She took one last look at Chrom in the distance. She closed her eyes and smiled. "Chrom… this is some torch I'm passing you…" She opened her eyes again, with a determined look on her face. "So be it. Chrom… Lissa… All of my people… know that I loved you."
With that, she turned around, and purposely fell backwards from the cliff.
Time seemed to stand still as the Ylisseans looked on in horror. Lissa shielded her eyes, while Chrom desperately tried to reach her. But it was too late. Emmeryn hit the ground, lifeless.
"Oh gods!" Robin muttered in horror.
"DAMN YOU, GANGREL!" Chrom exclaimed.
"NOOOOO!" Lissa sobbed.
Gangrel only laughed. "Well now! ...How disgustingly noble. And so lovely a fall! Here I thought death to be an ugly thing. I've never seen one fall so gracefully, in fact. ...And I've seen many fall! Ah... So ends Emmeryn, Ylisse's most exalted! But how can we ensure everyone remembers this beautiful moment of her sacrifice? Perhaps we should gather up her body and put it on display!"
Chrom gritted his teeth. "Gangrel, you die today!" he exclaimed.
Suddenly, Basilio and Flavia ran up to them.
"No, boy!" Basilio grunted. "We've secured an escape route! We must flee!"
"But… but her body…" Chrom protested.
"You have to RUN!" Basilio reiterated. "Now do it! Don't do anything stupid!" "You can't avenge her if you're dead!" Flavia added.
Chrom gritted his teeth, but sighed. He turned and gave one last murderous look at Gangrel. "Shepherds! We retreat!" he finally ordered.
The shepherds did just that.
From a distance, Marth ran to the top of a cliff and watched the seen unfold before her. "No!" she exclaimed. "No… I was too late… Our bleak future is written once more… and darkness awaits us all..."
She looked down to see the painful expressions of everyone she cared about: Robin with a dazed look on his face. Lissa, crying into Robin's shoulder. Chrom, anger plastered across his face. The rest of the shepherds, sullen with the understanding that they had failed. She hated seeing them all so down. They were supposed to be heroes, for Naga's sake!
A single tear fell from her eye.
Some time in the distant future…
Lucina hated her tutor. She hated Mr. Plumsworth. He was always angry at her when she didn't understand how to do the math problems he gave her. He called her useless, worthless, a waste of space, and a dozen other mean names.
"Why can't you understand simple addition?" Mr. Plumsworth angrily asked her. "What's the sum of three and five?" She was unable to respond. "Look, what was two plus two?" Mr. Plumsworth asked again. "Four!" Lucina recited from memory, as that example had been used by her tutor earlier in the lesson. "If you understand that, why can't you tell me what three plus five is?"
At this point, it was the end of her lesson today, and mommy had come by to pick her up.
"The lass wasn't productive today again." The man reported to her as Lucina pouted at her desk. She knew mommy will be extremely cross with her once Mr. Plumsworth leaves. "We'll have to go over the same material next time."
"I'm sorry for your trouble." Her mommy told the man as she handed him a pouch of gold. "I'll make sure to have a good talk with her later tonight."
"I'll try my best to help her out, but I can't guarantee it. Some children just cannot be taught." She heard her tutor say. "Good day, Your Grace. Good day, milord Robin." At this, she turned around and her expression softened. Mister Robin had come today as well!
With that, her tutor took his leave. Robin came over to her and began to look at the textbook she had been learning from.
Her mommy sighed. "That girl… What Plumsworth said is right…" she began.
"You mean, what he said is rubbish." Robin angrily corrected. "Look at the notes in the margins! There's no way a six year old can learn this way!" he declared. "This type of teaching would only work for children at least twice her age!"
"But…" her mommy began.
"Here, let me demonstrate." Robin began. He picked up some of the quill pens they had been writing with. He set three of them in front of Lucina, and five in front of himself.
"Now Lucy," Robin began. "How many pens are in front of you?"
Lucina counted them. "One… two… three!" she exclaimed.
"And how many are in front of me?" Robin asked again.
"Hmm…" Lucina focused. "One… two… three… three… no, four… five!" she said.
"And if I give my pens to you, how many would you have?" Robin once again asked.
She counted on her fingers. "One… two… three… four… five… six… um… seven… eight!" she declared.
Robin smiled at her. "So if I try to add three to five, what would be the answer?"
"Eight?" Lucina replied nervously.
"Bingo!" Robin said with a smile. He patted her affectionately on the head. He then turned to the girl's mother. "See, Sumia? It's all about the method." He got up from the desk and walked towards Lucina's mother. "Have someone inform Plumsworth that his services will no longer be needed. He's basically scamming you. From this day forward, I'll be the one to teach Lucy. I'll do it for free."
Her mommy numbly nodded in agreement.
Lucina grinned from ear to ear. The time she normally dreaded had become something she will look forward to in the future. This day turned out to be so much better than she had originally thought.
Libra: HP: 90% Str: 40% Mag: 50% Skl: 55% Spd: 50% Lck: 45% Def: 35% Res: 40%
Age: 22
Class: War Monk