Chapter 14: Rescue Attempt

Sometime later, after Nowi, Gregor, and Jang joined the Shepherds, the company continue their destination in Plegia to rescue Emmeryn. Soon after, day turned into night and they decided to rest and continue the next day.

Once the camp is set up, the two khans, Chrom, Robin, and Reina are gathered in the tent when one of Basilio's men, a spy sent to gather information on the future execution.

"The exalt is to be executed at the castle on the marrow." The spy reported. "I heard it from the king's own lips, sire."

"This is it, then." Basilio growls, not pleased with the news.

Chrom look towards his tactician. "Exactly as you predicted, Robin."

"So far, yes. But tomorrow will be the true test…" Robin trails off, contemplating just how well their plan will go.

Flavia slaps Robin on the shoulder, surprising the white-haired woman. "Chin up, there! Show some confidence! It's your thinking that's got us this far. The plan is risky, but only as much is called for."

"We'll find a way to see it through, Robin. Don't worry. This time tomorrow, we'll be swapping stories with Emm on the road home." Chrom assures.

"I hope you're right." Robin replies.

In a dark, shadowy place, the dark mage, Validar is talking once again to a mysterious figure.

"Master Grima, Exalt Emmeryn is to be put to death on the marrow. Events will soon be back on course."

"…"

Validar grows a wicked smile across his face knowing what the figure was saying. "Ha ha, yes, I should never have doubted the truth of your word. The yoke of destiny cannot be cast off! Even as they resist, they write your future with every step, O great one!"

"…"

"…AAAAAH!"

Robin wakes up with a start, sweating bullets and breathing heavily. Drago wakes up from her scream and rushes to where his trainer is.

"Mozu?" He asks in concern and at that moment, Lissa comes in the tent and notices Robin's behavior.

"Robin? Hey, Robin! What's wrong? Was it a nightmare?" Lissa asks.

"Is… is that what is was? Y-yes, it must have been…" She says slowly to herself before shaking it off. "I'm sorry, what bring you here, Lissa? Was there something you needed?"

"Frederick says it's time to march. And we can't start the plan without our master tactician!"

"Right… of course."

Robin dusts herself off and follows Lissa out of the tent, but she feels something pulling her causing the tactician to look down at her Pokémon.

"Mozu?" Drago questions again after letting go of Robin's clothes with his mouth.

"Drago… Don't worry. I'm fine." Robin assures.

"Robin!" The female tactician and Drago look up to see Reina walks towards them with Éclair perching on her shoulder.

"Reina, did you come to pick me up too?"

"Yeah. You were taking a while, so I came to check on you." Reina says

"Pika pika." Éclair adds.

"Okay. I was about to go to join the others."

"Then, let's go!" The Pokémon trainer grabs Robin's hand and drags her to where the others are with Drago following them.

~Later~

At the Plegian Castle, one of the soldiers has Emmeryn on the edge of a cliff ready for the execution. Gangrel grins at the bottom of the canyon, addressing a large crowd.

"Good people! Warriors of Plegia! Welcome! Welcome, one and all! Your anticipation electrifies the air! We ALL remember the crimes of Ylisse… Would you have their witch-queen answer for them? Here? Today? NOW?" He shouts as the crowd cheers causing him to grin. "YEEEEEEEEEEEES! Finally, we will have JUSTICE! EXECUTIONER! If you would be so kind…" Gangrel gestures the barbarian behind Emmeryn.

"Favia!" Robin calls.

"I've got him!" The female khan nods.

Just as the barbarian about to strike down Emmeryn, Flavia tosses her axe at him. The weapon strikes and kills him.

"EVERYONE: NOW!" Robin shouts, signaling the time for rescue.

"Take out all the soldiers first! We'll deal with the Mad King later!" Chrom adds.

"Ell!" Luke nods as he gets in a ready stance.

Instead of getting intimidated, Gangrel's grin grows wider. "Oh will you now? Bwa ha! We've expecting you, Little Prince." He says and turns to his soldiers. "Men: Kill him. Kill his sister. Kill his troops and his friends and anyone else you find! KILL THEM AAAAAAAAALL!"

All the Plegian soldiers who are nearby charge at the enemy army except one dark mage in back of group with black hair and a very revealing outfit. She seems uninterested in fighting and look bored.

"So, we'll to kill or die here, simply because the king commands it?" She murmurs to herself. "Pfft. What do I care of these Ylisseans? We're given no reason to fight, only orders. What's the point? Besides, I've always been quite good at choosing who to hate on my own…"

Behind her a small creature floating in the shadow while staring at the two armies.

A bit of time passed, a blond-haired person, female priest clothing and a large fox with stunning gold fur and nine equally stunning tails appear on the field. The newcomer looks up and sees Emmeryn near the edge of the cliff. "Exalt Emmeryn! No! Gods speed me to her side! Let us go, Venus!" She and the fox charges through the field, killing off Plegians to get to the exalt with the priest holds an axe and the fox breathes out fire.

As he watches how their forces are losing to the Shepherds, an elderly Plegian knight is frustrated at the side of it. "Where is the damn wyvern brigade?! Hurry! Close off their escape!" He orders.

Chrom, flanked by Luke and Reina, notices the newcomer cutting down a couple of Plegian soldiers along with the fox backing the newcomer up by breathing fire once more. He narrows his eyes and approaches the figure. "You there! Who are you? Why do you fight alone?"

The blonde looks to the person who is referring to her and gasps. "Good heavens! You're Prince Chrom, brother to Her Grace the Exalt!"

"You know me?" Chrom asks.

"Know you? Of course, sire! All Ylissean clergy do. I must thank the gods for uniting us! Oh, dearest and most heavenly fa-"

"Will all due respect, now is not the time for prayer–it's action that's called for." Chrom interrupts.

This got the clergy to remember their situation. "Ah, too true! We hurried to help as soon as word came of the execution."

"We? Then there are more of you?"

"Alas, there were. I lost many brave comrades along the way. In truth, Venus found me, I was starting to doubt the purpose of my struggles… But no longer! Pray, sire, let my axe serve you and your party!"

Chrom nods with a smile. "Your love for my sister is clear. I would be honored to be joined by such a formidable woman of cloth."

The fox, Venus, closes her eyes with a huff as silence goes over them.

"…Man, sire. Man of cloth."

Chrom blinks in surprise. "You're a… You're not a woman?" Chrom asks.

"No, sire. Women are clerics. I am a priest. Well, technically a war monk, if you care to split hairs…"

"Oh. Yes, well, I'm… I didn't to imply… Well, this is rather awkward." Chrom stutters.

"Oh, it's all right, sire. You realized your mistake quickly enough. It could have been much more awkward. …MUCH more…"

The prince gets the point she - rather he, is trying to make. "Right! Let's stop there."

When Reina snipe another Plegian soldier, she notices that Chrom has finished talking to the war monk and notices the fox by him.

"That's Kyukon!" She exclaims and takes out her Zukan.

"Kyukon, the Fox Pokémon. With its nine tails and think golden coat, Kyukon is said to live a thousand years."

Reina looks away from her Zukan to the war monk and the Kyukon, Venus before smiling at them.

"He's lucky to meet up with that Pokémon."

Soon after, the war monk and Venus join among their rank and introduces himself as Libra. The group them continues onto the fight as Chrom and Luke meet the dark mage, who didn't cast a single spell against neither Plegian nor Ylisseans and Feroxi soldiers.

"You there!" Chrom calls. "Are you with the Plegians? You seem reluctant to fight."

"Death comes for all of us eventually." She simply says. "Why invite early, fighting for a cause I don't believe in?"

Her response confuses Chrom. "So… I should take that as a no, or…"

"Let just say I'm keeping my opinions open. I mean, long live the king and all, but I'd like to keep living as well. And I have a bit of a rebellious streak, I'm afraid. A… dark side."

"Then perhaps you would rebel now and fight for our cause?" Chrom offers.

"You would trust me?" She asks. "What if this is all just a ploy to plunge a dagger in your back?"

Chrom shakes his head. "My sister, the exalt – I think she would trust you. And I'm trying to learn from her. Besides, I already need to watch my back, whether you're with us or not."

"Well, that's odd… Usually when I bring up the backstabbing bit the discussion is over. All right, then – consider me your new ally. …For now along with my friend."

"You're friend?"

On que, a bluish-green, body-less, ghost-like creature coming out of hiding behind the dark mage's back. The creature has with long, flowing lilac-tipped hair, large red eyes, and round gems around its neck.

"This is Marie." The mage introduces. "She is really shy when meeting with someone."

"I see… And your name?" Chrom asks.

"…Tharja."

Meanwhile, Reina go to the leading Plegian with Meena following her as a cleric.

"You'll never save your precious exalt, scum!" He shouts.

"You'll never know until we try." Reina says setting an arrow on her bow.

"That's right!" Meena agrees.

"Not for long." The Plegian knight tosses his short spear at them.

The two trainers scatter and Reina shoot a few arrows at him, but due to how think his armor is and how small her arrows are, her attacks are doing nothing.

"Haha! Are you even trying? There's not even a scratch on me!"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Also, haven't you noticed despite the fact that we have Pokémon partners, they're not with us?" Reina questions.

The Plegian looks side to side to find their Pokémon and then looks up to see a figure is dropping under the sun. Seeing this causes him to widen his eyes and shouts, "It can't be!"

"Fuko, Air Slash! Éclair, Iron Tail!"

"Lu, Brick Break!"

Above them, Éclair, and Lu leap off Fuko getting ready to attack as Fuko sends multiple light blue glowing saw disc-like energy blades from its wings while Éclair's tail begins to glow white and Lu's paw glows white. The Plegian knight raises his shield to block the coming hits, yet the three moves easily break through it and kill him.

"Urgh… Killing be will only… feel Plegian's rage…" He manages to say before he died.

At that moment, Reina quickly turns to the rest of the group, who finish the other Plegians.

"Chrom! We finished the general over here!" She shouts.

"Okay! Robin! Their wyvern riders have fallen! They skies are clear!" Chrom adds from his side. "I'm giving the signal!" He gives some kind of signal and a few Pegasus Knights fly in with Philia in the lead.

"Your Grace!" She cries out.

"Philia! I'm so glad to see you're safe!" Emmeryn exclaims. "But how-"

"Khan Basilio's men freed me. Come, we must hurry!" She flies her mount towards the exalt.

"What? Pegasus knights? How did they?" Gangrel looks less please, gritting his teeth and turning his glare towards Robin. "That damned Ylissean tactician does NOT play fair!"

"Heh heh heh… Yes, well. Neither do I." Aversa giggles evilly.

All of a sudden, to the Shepherds' shock, Risen archers appear in large numbers.

Robin looks around the area in a panic state, struggling to count the amount of Risen that appeared. "Risen?! Oh gods, no! Chrom! There are Risen everywhere!"

"Damn! Not now!" Chrom curses.

"Bwa ha ha! Oh, did an army of living corpse just APPEAR out of the blue?! Truly, the heavens smile upon mighty King Gangrel this day! Bwa ha ha ha!"

Reina notices a Risen archer about to shoot at Philia and the other Pegasus Knights and quickly draws her own arrow aiming at the Risen.

"I won't let you!" She shouts and when she about to let go, Meena notices something coming towards her, and fast.

"Reina, look out!" Meena shouts pushing her and herself to the ground before a sword could contact them.

The two sisters look up to see a young man standing with his back towards them while his ruffled black hair sways by the wind. He then turns around revealing a mask with horizontal lines above where his eyes are. He also wears black and red clothes with black boots. In his hand, a long katana with a water lily charm hanging the end of the hilt.

The two then hears Philia scream in pain and see that she got shot by the Risen and falling to the ground.

"Risen… How? Y-Your Grace, I… Forgive me… Uhh…"

"Philia!" Emmeryn cries.

"Exeunt one pegasus knight! Bwa ha ha! Watch how they fall, one by one!" Gangrel cackles with a sadistic gleam.

Then one by one, the pegasus knight under Philia were slain by the Risen archers without mercy.

"No no no…" Robin speaks in disbelief.

"We've lost…" Chrom mutters.

"I believe this is what they call a reversal of fortunes." Gangrel says. "Now, grovel before me. Plead! Beg for your worthless lives!"

"I'd give up my life before I'd beg for it from you."

"Oh, now THAT is a good line. A fitting epitaph for your tombstone, perhaps? But it's not just your life in the balance. The exalt still stands upon the block. And I have a dozen bows trained on her. All it would take is one word from me…"

"Emm!" Chrom calls. "Hold on, I'm–"

The Mad King immediately shouts. "ARCHERS! If this Ylissean pup so much as twitches, let fly your arrows!"

"I… I'll kill you!" The prince shouts back at the king.

"Go ahead! I welcome it. Just know you were responsible for Big Sister's bloody demise! And what of the rest of you? Eh? Who wants the honor of killing the exalt?"

Everyone remains silent and hold their ground as they are being pushed into the corner. Seeing this, Gangrel frowns, "…No one? Bah! Your merry band isn't quite so headstrong anymore, is it? Pathetic!"

"Damn you!" Chrom curses.

"Now, now, my boy–no one needs die today. Not you. Not the exalt. Not your friends. Just lay down your sword, call of your pets and give me the Fire Emblem."

Chrom hesitates as everyone looks at him.

"…I…"

"Chrom! You can't trust him!" Robin shouts in hopes that he would listen to her.

"OF COURSE I can't trust him! I'm not an idiot! But if I just say no, he'll kill her! The gods are cruel, damn them! My sister or my duty… A problem with no right answer, yet I must choose!"

If he refuses to hand him the Fire Emblem then Emmeryn's life will be endanger, but if he accepts…

"No!" Reina shouts.

Chrom looks taken a back. "Reina…"

"Are you really going to give up just like that! What's the point of coming all the way here to save the exalt!"

"That's right! Don't give up! There has to be a way!" Robin says with conviction.

Chrom grimace, "If there is, I can't see it… Ah, gods!"

Gangrel have enough of waiting. "I will count to three! Throw down your weapons, or your Exalt becomes the world's largest quiver. One! Two! Thr–"

"Gangrel, hold!" Chrom interrupts before his expression falls. "…You win. Everyone, lay down yo–"

"No wait!"

"Everyone stops and looks up towards Emmeryn still standing on the cliff.

"SILENCE!" Gangrel exclaims.

The prince turns to his sister, "Emm…"

"King Gangrel, is there no hope you will listen to reason?" Emmeryn questions with hope.

"You mean listen to more of your sanctimonious babble? I think not. No, all I want to hear now is the 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 someone were to give me the Emblem… NOW!"

Emmeryn remains silent at the answer.

"ALL RIGHT! All right… 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!"

"Chrom… Th-Thank you. I know now what I must do…"

"Emm, what are you–"

"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 announces to the crowd as she steps closer to the cliff.

"Your Grace!" Reina shouts as she about to run towards her, but the man in front of the sisters stops her.

"Emm, no! No!" Chrom exclaims and runs as fast as he can towards his sister.

Meanwhile, Emmeryn looks around her one last time.

"No reaction… Was I wrong, then? Chrom, this is some torch I'm passing you…"

"So be it." She says to herself with sadness, but at the same time she feels as peace. Emmeryn keeps walking until she reaches the edge of the cliff and let her body lean forward until she falls.

"Chrom… Lissa… And all my people… Know that I loved you."

Her body hits the ground with a resounding thud, silence spreading across both armies as what Emmeryn did sinks.

Chrom could only stare in anguish at the sight, his body trembles heavily and falls to his knees with tears running down his face.

"Emm…"

"Oh gods…" Robin speaks in shock.

"DAMN YOU GANGREL!" Chrom exclaims in anger.

"NOOOOOO!" Lissa cries as Chi tries her best to comfort her.

Like everyone else, Reina is shocked from Emmeryn's action and quickly changing it into anger, glaring at the Mad King. "How dare you!" Before she could do anything, the swordsman blocks her path causing her to aim her arrow at him. "Get out of my way!" She shouts and fires the arrow straight at his head, subsequently, he dodges it at close blank range as the arrow chips the mask on left side and eventually breaks that side. The swordsman immediately has his left-hand block from being seen on his left side of his face. However, the man slowly lowers his hand showing his left side of his face, causing both Reina and Meena to be shock at who he really is.

"Bwa ha ha haa! Well now! …How disgustingly noble." Gangrel insults. "And so lovely a 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! Bwa ha ha…"

"Gangrel! You die today!" Chrom swears.

Before Chrom could rush forward and potentially do something drastic, Basilio and Flavia rush to stop the enraged prince.

"No, boy!" Basilio holds Chrom back. "I secured an escape route! We have to flee!"

Chrom looks over to where his sister's body lies, his fists shaking. "B-but… her body… I have to…"

"You have to RUN! Now do it! Robin! Don't let him do anything stupid!"

Before Chrom could do anything, the tactician grabs the man by the wrist and pulls him. "Chrom, we have to go." She says and looks at the Reina and Meena. "Reina! Meena! We have to go!"

Meena manages to snap of her stupor and looks at Robin. "O-okay!" She replies and looks at her sister. "Reina."

Reina is still shock staring at the man in front of them.

"Y-You're… But why…?"

"Sis!" Meena calls as she pulls Reina and they rush off with the militia.

Off in the distance in the desert, Marth stops in her tracks with Allena as she catches her breath. "No! No… I'm too late… Our bleak future is written once more. And darkness awaits us all." She falls to her knees. Allena sees this and grows worried for her partner. She approaches Marth and licks her face to cheer her up and the swordswoman hugs the Iwanko.