Chapter 18: Sacrifice
Tyrana: Welcome to another installment of The Seven Mythical Weapons! I'm you're new host Tyrana! Firedude went away for a while to Siberia.
Door slams open. Firedude stomps in with multiple stab wounds.
Tyrana: Oh…errr… Hi Firedude I didn't expect you back so soon.
She jumps out the window before Firedude can get to her.
Firedude: Well anyway if you have any characters you want to submit to this story now is the time. Send them in through email, check my author profile for email. If you can't then send them in through review. I would really prefer email though. But first review replies.
BattleWiz88: Don't be so shy to review next time. I actually did stop for a while, but now I'm back.
Zeek72: Yes now would be a good time for your character.
MysticOmega: Yes it is quite sad, but it happens to all of us. As for Mystic you'll find out soon enough.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem or any of its characters. I own Chikage, Alderoffe, Shadow, Quill, Onimaru, Inomaru, Yuan, Vren, Marco, Dopple Ganger, Girfu, Ziroka, Alicia, Marie, Lean and Kain. Kota, Gustaph, Mystic, Tyrana, Zega Verdan, Nord and Tryst belong to friends and fans.
Firedude: Ready? Set? On with the show!
Mark starred down his older sibling while gripping the handle of Goliath. Alicia bent over and plucked the arrow out of her thigh. She looked over the shield her brother just obtained. She didn't view it as anything special. It was just a large round shield. Forgetting about her wound she picked up Hell Blazer. "Regardless, Hell Blazer can crush Goliath." She lunged forward and slammed up against Goliath with Hell Blazer. Regardless of Alicia's strength and Hell Blazer's size Mark stood his ground.
Alicia shocked at the fact that she was not able to topple over Mark pressed up against Goliath, but to no avail. Mark angrily pushed back and sent Alicia flying backwards. He spun forward in a blind fury and cut Alicia with the diamond edge of Goliath. She gripped her side where she was cut and jumped backward to avoid another hit. Wil grabbed an arrow out of his quiver and notched it. He released the arrow sending it whirling towards Alicia. Before it was able to hit Mark deflected it with his Goliath.
"Go help Shadow and Kota. I can handle her myself!" Wil hesitantly turned around and went to attack Quill. Mark turned his attention back to Alicia just in time to block a stream of flames sent at him. He gripped the handle of Goliath applying energy into it. Then the shield glowed bright and rebounded the flames right back at her. She dived to the right letting the flames melt the wall behind her.
She then sprinted forward and swung down upon Mark who effortlessly deflected it. He charged forward one more time and ducked under another one of Alicia's attacks. He then did a sweep kick knocking Alicia over. Mark smashed the shield down on the ground in an attempt to get Alicia. She did a backwards summersault to get out of the way of the blow just in time. Before Mark had a chance to get the shield back up Alicia shouted "Third Eye!" The purple jewel revealed itself on her forehead. She split into five different forms and started to move towards Mark.
He looked between the five of them trying to figure out which one was real. Before he was able to make his decision they all charged forward and attacked. Mark thinking fast spun around and threw Goliath like a frisbee. It went straight through the middle three leaving the two on the ends. Mark was cornered up against the cavern wall looking for something to defend himself with. He grabbed a rock off the ground and threw it at the left Alicia. It went straight through her making her disappear. Mark quickly dived towards the opening dodging the real Alicia's attack.
Mark quickly retrieved Goliath from the wall and prepared to counter. Alicia wedged Hell Blazer from the wall and turned towards Mark. She was hunched over and was sweating buckets. Her face was no longer fierce, it was gentle and innocent. It was bright red like she had a fever and she was breathing hard. "…Mark…h-help me…" Mark was dumbfounded about what was going on. She then began shaking and her face became fierce again.
She growled at Mark and barred her teeth. Her teeth had become pointed liked fangs and her eyes turned red. Mark took a few steps back and raised Goliath to defend himself. He then remembered what Dopple Ganger had said. A full transformation usually takes three years. Mark was saddened by what his sister was turning into. Mark gripped the shield tightly and gritted his teeth. I've got to stop her before she becomes like one of them!
Kota was shooting huge blasts of ki at Quill, but his spikes protected him from the energy. Shadow had tried multiple times to possess him, but Quill kept rejecting him. They both were breathing furiously from the fighting; however their opponent had still not broken a sweat. "You two are pathetic! You can't even put up a good fight! Let alone land a hit!" Just then multiple arrows bounced off his back spikes. He turned to see that Wil had fired the shots.
"You think you are any more capable of hurting me than your two friends here? I laugh at your puny arrows!" Wil laughed a little. "Puny eh?" He then pulled out a five foot long two inch thick arrow and notched it. He pulled back and took aim. "Try this arrow then!" He released it sending it straight towards Quill's chest. Quill grinned at Wil's attempt to pierce his spikes and stood his ground. The arrow hit with a thunk wedging itself in his chest.
Quill actually seemed to be in pain. He grabbed the arrow and pulled it out. There was about five inches of blood on the shaft. He snapped the arrow in half out of anger. The spikes grew back instantly over the wound. Quill was angered by the damage done to him, although the wound healed. "…No one… draws my blood!" He jumped forward and swung a large fist at Wil. He grinned and ducked under the blow. He then notched an arrow and shot it into his stomach. Wil rolled to the side and stood in front of Shadow and Kota. "Just as I thought when you get angered your defense weakens."
Quill laughed and pulled out the arrow. "So you figured it out. Regardless, I will kill you!" Shadow whispered over to Wil. "He wasn't mad before, so how were you able to shoot him?" Wil gave Shadow the dumbest look he had ever seen. "Who wouldn't have been hurt by that thing?" Quill calmed down and laughed a little. "All I have to do is not get mad and I'll win!" Wil notched another arrow. "Don't think it'll be that easy."
Vren tried furiously to stab Alderoffe with his knives, but kept missing. Alderoffe laughed at his attempts to land a hit on him. Vren tried to stab both knives into Alderoffe's collar bone, however he jumped out of the way making Vren fall over from the force he put into the attack. Alderoffe laughed and pulled out a sword reaver. He raised the axe in an attempt to swing, but jumped back just in time to dodge a thunder bolt.
Mystic was making a frantic attempt to nail Alderoffe with a thunder spell. Mystic began to get frustrated and changed to elfire, although this didn't help at all. Regardless of Mystic's mastery of magic he couldn't land one hit on Alderoffe. Mystic began to feel the effects of all the magic use. Alderoffe began to laugh and started to move closer towards Mystic. "Casting magic without a tome may be a gift, but it takes a lot more energy than normal. That's what your weak point is nephew!"
Alderoffe swung down upon Mystic with the sword reaver. He felt Vren shoulder tackle him in the ribs sending him flying into the wall. Alderoffe recovered quickly and stood back up. Alderoffe laughed a bit more and started moving towards them. Vren had pulled out his two hand held scythes and prepared to strike Alderoffe. "Well, it seems that as long as you two are working together I'm not going to be able to defeat you." Alderoffe stopped moving and lowered his axe. A big grin spread across his face. "So let's change that shall we?"
Alderoffe then tore out a fenrir tome from his cloak and shot a blast at the ceiling. The cavern began to rumble and quake. Everyone began to fall down or stumble around. "In about ten minutes this whole mountain will collapse. I suggest you all start moving." Alderoffe then used his teleport staff to open a portal. "Good bye." He then stepped through the portal. Quill quickly jumped into the portal after Alderoffe. Before Alicia was able to move a rock fell and hit her on the head making her fall unconscious.
Mark quickly ran over and picked up his unconscious sister. Rocks fell over the entrance of the cavern leaving them all trapped. Kota quickly turned towards Shadow as Wil went to go pick up Lyn. "Shadow can't you teleport us out of here?" Shadow thought it over quickly. "It's a long shot, but I think I can do it." Kota and Wil with Lyn over his shoulder had gathered around Shadow. More rocks fell from the ceiling trying to block off Vren, Mystic and Mark from Shadow.
Vren and Mystic dived over the small bed of rocks leaving Mark on the other side. "Mark hurry up or you'll be trapped!" Mark laughed a little nervously. "I can't move quick enough with all this." He threw over Hell Blazer and Goliath. "Vren heads up!" He then threw Alicia over to Vren who barely caught her. Mark tried limping over to the small wall that was building in size by the second. Mystic gritted his teeth "You can stand a fight against Alicia, but you can't walk?" He then noticed some rocks loosening above Mark's head. Mystic quickly dived over and tackled him out of the way.
Shadow looked on as Mystic and Mark was cut off from them by the falling rocks. "Mystic!" Vren put Alicia down and tried desperately to pull all the rocks out of the way. Shadow grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "It's too late now!" Vren picked up Alicia and hesitantly walked over to Shadow. Shadow focused his energy and formed a black dome around them. The dome them compressed and they disappeared.
Hector, Eliwood and Gustaph sat together in the command tent discussing the situation. Gustaph took a sip of wine and continued their conversation. "We have to work double time if we are expected to get them out and make it to Ostia on time." Hector growled in frustration. "It caved in on both sides and it's been two days already! As much as I hate to say it, but they must've run out of air by now!"
"I agree with Gustaph. They've probably found a way to survive. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way out themselves." Hawkeye then poked his head into the tent. "Excuse me my lords, but they have returned. Hawkeye then exited the tent and walked away. Eliwood smiled a little and got up. "See what I mean?"
Shadow and co. was crowded by the army being asked so many questions. It had begun to rain so it broke up the crowd a little. Eliwood broke up what remained of the crowd and got Shadow to the command tent. Tryst, Tyrana and Fiora followed close behind. "What happened in there?" questioned Eliwood. Shadow tried to get the words together in his head. "Long story short we have good news and bad news."
"What's the good news?" Asked Tyrana. "Well we got two more Mythical Weapons and we captured Alicia." Hector nodded in approval. "Very well done Shadow. So what's the bad news?" Shadow remained silent for a while. Both Tyrana and Fiora are in the room... I'm going to feel this in the morning... Shadow started with the lesser of the bad news. "Well Lyn and Alicia are injured and they were sent to the medical tent."
Shadow explained what had happened inside the cave with the fight against Alderoffe. Eliwood frowned when he heard about Lyn's condition. "I'm sorry to hear that." They were all about to leave to head over to the medical tent. Tyrana then stopped in place. "What's wrong Tyrana?" questioned Tryst. They all stopped and looked at her. She turned back to Shadow and glared at him. "Where's my brother?" Shadow remained silent. "Come to think of it… I didn't see Mark with you guys either." Tyrana moved closer and shaked Shadow's shoulders. "Tell me where they are!"
Shadow turned to her with a still emotionless look. "I don't know… Mark couldn't move fast enough to get out of the collapsing cave. Mystic dived into him to knock him out of the way of the falling rocks. The ceiling fell in and blocked us off from them… we don't know what became of them…" Tyrana gripped his cloak tightly as tears fell from her eyes. "What do you mean you don't know what became of them?" Tyrana tried to punch Shadow, but she just hurt her hand. Eliwood noticed Fiora was shaking a little.
"Fiora are you ok?" He tried to put his hand one her shoulder, but she ran out of the tent crying. Tyrana was now on her knees bawling her eyes out. Wil came into the tent. "Hey Lord Eliwood Lyn has woken-." He then noticed crying Fiora on the ground. She must've found out about her brother... Wil kneeled down next to Tyrana and held her close. She through her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. Everyone left Wil and a crying Tyrana on the ground as they went to the medical tent.
Although the medical tent was only a few tents away they were soaked by the time they got there. "Lord Eliwood it is good to see you." Said Marco greeting them at the door. As they walked past the beds Eliwood stopped in front of Alicia's bed. "What about her?" Marco turned towards Alicia. "She got a pretty good knock on the head, but she'll wake up in a day. I can make anti venom and cure her if you give me some time." Eliwood smiled and looked at the ground. "Mark would've wanted that."
They walked down to the end of the tent where Lyn was resting on a bed. Florina was sitting on a stool next to her. "Hey Lyn how are you?" asked Eliwood kneeling down next to Lyn. She was smiled a little. "I'm fine… how did things go." Shadow told the fight again leaving out the part about Mark and Mystic. "That's good to hear… where's Mark?" They remained silent for a few seconds. "He went into town to stock up on supplies." Said Kota as nonchalant as ever.
Lyn smiled and laid back down. "Well as soon as he gets back tell him I want to see him." Marco began to push everyone out. "Ok, ok you can visit later she really need her rest now!" Eliwood looked back to see that Lyn was a sleep. He then turned to Kota. "What the hell were you thinking? Do you know how mad she's going to be when she finds out that we lied?" Kota sighed and gave Eliwood a plain look. "In her current condition do you really think that she needs that kind of news? I highly doubt that she'd survive if she takes on that kind of strain."
Mystic's eyes fluttered open and tried to adjust his vision to the darkness. He looked around at what remained of the cavern. It had been reduced to a tenth of its size a there was no source of light. Mystic moved around the cavern trying to find Mark. "Mark are you here?" Mystic then tripped over something. Mystic cursed and turned to see what he had tripped over. Mystic felt bile rise up his throat when he saw it was a severed arm. Mystic grabbed both of his shoulders to make sure it wasn't his. He saw the green gauntlet on it and almost threw up again.
Oh crap... its Mark's... Mystic was now frantically searching for Mark. Mystic then heard a murmur on the far side of the room. He turned and saw Mark pinned to the ground by sharp rocks. His right shoulder was bleeding badly from where his arm was chopped off. "Hey Mystic… how's everything?" Mark coughed up a mouthful of blood. Mystic ran up next to him panicked. "Crap! Mark don't die on me!"
Mystic was about to get some vulnaries out when the ceiling above Mark began to crack and pebbles fell. More shaking came and some small rocks fell. Mark laughed a little. "Looks like my story ends here." Mystic tried desperately to pull the rocks out of him and Mark cringed in pain. "Forget it Mystic… even if you save me I'm going to die any way…" Mystic tuned him out and continued his futile efforts.
Mark grew angry and kicked Mystic sending him into the far wall. "Better for me to die than the both of us." Mystic tried to stand up, but he was too weak. "Say good bye to everyone for me okay? Oh and buy Tyrana and Lyn a drink… I know they're going to need one." The ceiling then caved in making large rocks land on Mark. Mystic starred in horror as one of his best friends was crushed. Mark of Etruria is dead.
Firedude: Sorry this took so long to get out, but as I said I was busy. Hope you enjoyed it!