He wasn't letting her go.
Rosa understood the minute he teleported to block her escape that he was going to fight her, for no apparent reason other than he simply wanted to. Her heart leapt up and pounded in her throat, and her breath couldn't seem to come fast enough. It seemed those were the kinds of warriors that Chaos employed - arrogant people who destroyed on whims and used others' lives for entertainment, then discarded them. He was going to be ruthless, then, and she faced him with her bow raised, spine going numb at the thought of his attacks. She didn't know what to expect, and she didn't know what to do. She thought she was practiced and prepared. She didn't realize until now how pathetic her knowledge of battle really was.
She thought she saw the Emperor's body tense for an attack, and rather than wait for it she rolled to her right and took cover behind a pillar, while she knew she still had time. Her stomach tightened, a ball of stress and dread knotting tighter and tighter. She felt light-headed, like she would be sick.
"Oh, no, girl, you'll not escape me now!" she heard him yell. "You cannot hide forever!"
Rosa took a deep breath to calm her nerves, but it was no help. She side-stepped to step out from behind the pillar to survey the area and find the exit, but when she turned her head she came face-to-face with the Emperor. She let out an involuntary shriek and loosed her arrow straight for his face. He turned at the last second, and her arrow just grazed his cheek before clattering loudly to the floor. The Emperor recoiled with a grunt of pain, hand flying to his cheek. When his hand came away, his mouth dropped open in shock at the sight of blood on the palms of his gauntlet. With a small growl he rushed at Rosa, using his magic to swing his staff for her head. She ducked beneath the blow, and he used the arc of the swing to bring it back over his head. He slammed the end down into the ground, throwing bombs in her direction. Unsure of their path and unable to calculate it in the moment, she lurched clumsily to the side but the shock of the blasts threw her backwards.
Something clicked inside of Rosa while she was in the air. Something natural, and calculating. She made a split-second decision to tip her head back and arch her back, throwing her feet over her head in a back flip. She landed on her feet and slid backwards to a stop, pausing to assess her situation. He was still directly in front of her, blocking her exit. From what she could see, there were no other escape routes. He was a distance fighter, using magic to control his staff and throw bombs at her. He probably had other magics as well. Rosa quickly listed her advantages and disadvantages: she was ranged, mid-ranged, and close-ranged - completely versatile with her knife and her bow. She had White Magic, so she could protect herself. She was at a disadvantage because she did not know what kinds of tricks he may have up his sleeve. She also had an advantage in the Emperor's ego. He was cocky, overconfident. Easily flustered.
Her sense of battle startled even her. Her mind moved at an impossible rate, fueled by adrenaline and instinct, Until the memory came. Like a portal she was whisked away to another dimension as the flashback played out:
"Oh, you cherish this one, do you?" a thick, deep voice asked. His dark tones reverberated off the glass all over, making it seem louder than it was. The owner of the voice stepped closer to Rosa. "Then let me take her along as well . . . to hold in trust until we are graced with the chance to meet again."
He wrapped his massive arms around her, pinning her arms in place. She struggled and kicked, but he held her too tightly. He began to drag her from the room, and she screamed and fought. Cecil was defeated, lying on the cold floor of the glass room, and Kain was nowhere near her to help. With a sweep of his cape, he teleported, cackling as the world spun away from her eyes.
She was snapped out of the memory by a mild blow to her middle. It barely hurt, but it knocked her off-balance. Staggering back, she focused once more on the Emperor, who waved his staff in the air and drew another crest of purple light. Five orbs of purple magic shot out of the sigil, heading straight for her. She leaned to the side to dodge the one heading directly for her, but the orbs had fanned out. She stepped right into another's path. It hit her shoulder so hard she almost spun completely around. She used the momentum to turn away and cross the floor, intending to circle him and finally have a clear path to the exit, by using the pillars around her, but the Emperor guessed at what she was doing. He materialized directly in front of her and she crashed straight into him. He caught her by the arms, trapping her bow between the two of them. On impulse Rosa stabbed the arrow tip right for his abdomen, but he caught her wrist. A cry of fear tore itself from her throat and she struggled to tear herself free in the direction of the exit to her right. The Emperor cocked his head in that direction, and a series of circles appeared on the ground in a line, each crackling with lightning magic in the center and completely blocking her in.
Rosa pulled and tugged with all of her might, finally tasting adrenaline on her tongue. Her sweaty hands shook on her bow, so violently she saw the string tremble and the Emperor's hands shake around hers. She felt like she couldn't quite get solid leverage to pull away, and her chest tightened around her heart, making her pant harder just to breathe. The sweat beading on her hairline was already gently dripping down her face and she just wanted to run.
The Emperor smirked down at her and let out a laugh, her pathetic efforts entertaining him. He clicked his tongue. "Ah, I now wish you were slightly more experienced," he taunted. "This is far too easy." He turned, pulling her with him so her back was to the exit, and he shoved her away straight into the crests on the floor. She stumbled into one and a strong force that she wasn't expecting pulled her down, forcing her to her hands and knees. She braced her palms against the floor and resisted to keep from falling completely face down on the floor, but the electricity in the trap hummed to life. The bolts shot into her hands, searing her skin and contracting her muscles beyond her control. She fell flat, and the trap held her fast. "You are an unworthy opponent."
The traps disappeared, and Rosa found herself able to move again. She clamored to her feet and immediately took off for the exit, free from obstruction in front of her. She didn't get two steps away before something glinted on the ground in front of her, like a spark. Brown spikes rose up around her, looming over her and blocking her in. She skid to a stop, and pink orbs suddenly appeared above the spikes. The orbs charged up, throwing sparks all around her. She cringed and shied away, and the trap detonated around her. An orb exploded near her side, knocking the breath out of her. She choked, then careened right into another, and the fire engulfed her right shoulder. For a moment, all she felt was white-hot, excruciating pain. A weak, breathless scream ripped from her throat while her skin sizzled and burned under her pauldron, and before Rosa could even pull away on her own she was thrown back around, onto her knees. With a resounding boom, somewhere around her another went off. She didn't know where anymore. She couldn't see. Her ears rung. She was dizzy, and disoriented, and she couldn't breathe. Rosa dropped to her stomach and curled up, trying to make herself as small as possible to protect herself.
"Protect!" she yelled to herself.
The spell suddenly came to her, rising from deep inside her mind as though it had always been there waiting for her to call upon it. She simply knew it, and knew how to cast it, where there had been no concept of it before. Without thinking she reached over her head for her staff, but the burn on her shoulder halted her. Instead, she used her hands, clasping them over her heart. The warmth built in her chest and she tried to speak the word, but her breath still hadn't come back properly. She barely managed a quick Protect barrier, blue and hexagonal-shaped, before the rest of the mines went off. She braced herself and held it until the smoke cleared, but when she lowered her hands, the Emperor was nowhere to be found. A chill went down her spine and she whirled around but couldn't find a single trace of him. Shaking, her shoulder throbbing, she felt utterly exposed, and the hair on the back of her neck raised at the thought that he could attack at any moment without warning. She inched for the exit, picking up her bow - she hadn't even realized she dropped it - pulling the string to mid-draw. Her shoulder twinged, her skin ached hot, and she could even feel the heat from her red, blotchy skin rising off of the wound. She bit her lip and swallowed down the scream she wanted to let loose.
When she didn't feel the arrow rest on her hand, she looked and realized she never nocked another one. Growling in frustration, she grabbed one and slammed it in place.
His laugh resonated through the world, a haughty, condescending sound that bounced and echoed off the columns, making it seem like he was everywhere at once. The small of her back tingled and tightened. She felt like she was being stared at. Rosa jumped, spinning around. Nothing. She pulled the string to full draw, faltering for an instant as her shoulder pulled and tore with it. The wet, warm blood that had dripped to her fingers made the string slippery, and she had to take an extra second to get a firm hand on the string for full draw.
"Hahahaha!" His warm breath trickled down her neck and she cast her bow away to reach for her knife. She swiped at air behind her.
If she didn't figure something out, he was going to toy with her forever, then kill her. Her stomach hurt, her shoulder hurt. She couldn't run. She knew if she did he would be right there with her to push her back. She didn't know what kind of magic he was using. Maybe she could dispel it. Like the Protect spell, the Dispel magic suddenly entered her mind. She thought of the word and pooled the magic on a fixed spot in front of her, even imagining the painful warmth from her shoulder powering into the spell. Rosa clasped her hands around it, hoping to draw more power. Cursing her shaking hands, her shaking knees, the blood on her fingers. She would have to cast this to the entire reaches of this place to find him. When she felt it was powered up enough, she threw her hands out, imagining a purple wave shooting out from her to all sides. She pictured it pulsing to the edges of the world and filling the space.
Rosa stood and waited for him to appear for several seconds.
Right when she thought the spell didn't work, she heard a whoosh behind her. Rosa took the knife in her left hand and spun over her left shoulder, hurling her knife overhand towards the Emperor. He appeared right in its path, and it embedded to the hilt into his collarbone.
"Agh!" he yelled, and Rosa felt a wave of morbid relief wash over her. She landed a hit. The blow threw his shoulder back, and she rushed after him as he rushed her before. She recalled her bow as she approached and parried a swing from his staff. With a sweep she hooked it in the arm of her bow and ripped it from his hands, throwing it to the side. Her second swing back collided with the Emperor's jaw, and she went for a third, but he grabbed the bow, halting it. Rosa reached behind her back, grabbed a gold plumed arrow and the string, and leaned back on her heels as far as she could go, pulling the string with her weight. She snapped the arrow into place and let go. It pierced his shoulder, landing within inches of the knife wound, and she let her momentum carry her through a back hand-spring. She then slid forward, ripping her knife from his shoulder to jam it into his exposed ribs. Rosa pushed down on the handle and forced him to a knee, then she jumped away. Rosa retreated and ran along the wall, finally placing herself in front of the exit. She shot arrow after arrow with a satisfying Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! All five hit their mark, and five fresh shafts protruded from the Emperor's chest. Finally, Rosa drew one last arrow, landing before the Emperor. Rosa channeled newly remembered Holy magic from her body straight through to the arrow, so powerful that the tip glowed white from it. The heat burned her fingers but she held it, afraid that if she even twitched, it would slip. A snarl of power and rage escaped her lips as she put the tip to his throat. He lifted his chin and stared up the shaft at her, wide-eyed and panting.
There was a long moment of silence, of nothing but the two of them breathing hard, Rosa staring down the arrow at the Emperor and him staring up in disbelief and pain and rage. His lip curled and his nose crinkled, and he snarled, " . . . It appears . . . I misjudged you . . . Rosa."
At the mention of her name, Rosa blinked once. Twice. Her eyes were open, but for a moment she wasn't sure she was seeing anything, or feeling anything other than a desire to end the cruel, arrogant man in front of her, who thought himself infallible and only chose to fight her because he had nothing better to do. Like waking up, time seemed to slow down, and things started to pour into her senses from all over. She looked around and remembered the pillars, the magenta ribbons around her. The pain of her shoulder returned and she winced, skin aching as her fingers clenched the string of her bow too tightly. The Emperor observed her, chuckling humorlessly. He glared up at her.
She didn't want to kill him. She never wanted a fight. She never asked to be called to a world that wasn't her, or take part in the war. She never would have encountered the Emperor if any of this wouldn't have happened, and he didn't deserve to die because of it in her eyes. She just wanted to leave. Rosa lowered the tip away from his neck and cast her bow away, but kept one hand braced against his shoulder in case he tried anything. She never took her eyes from his, begging him wordlessly to stay there. She was sure hers looked as wide and fearful as his. Even as she leaned down and touched the hilt of her knife. He squirmed, pursing his lips together and muffling his noise of pain.
"Mmf!" She tugged her knife from his side and he gasped, throwing a hand to his side. "Ah!" he growled. He looked up at her, eyes taking in every inch of her face and features, and she knew he was committing them to memory. "I will not forget your face," he warned, and Rosa's heart sank.
Everything in her was telling her to run, now impossible to ignore. She slowly backed away from the Emperor before finally turning around and running from the battleground when she felt it was safe to.
A/N: My beta-reader and best friend in the whole world Shannon Mazzei made art of what Rosa's character still would look like if she was among the playable characters in Dissidia NT, and had a calling card that played during her trailer. Find her on instagram at Shannonmazzei41996.
Rosa's first battle! It was difficult for me to find the balance between conscious and unconscious mental/physical inexperience and conscious and unconscious mental/physical experience. Let me know how I did!