Paralogue 20: A Shot from the Dark
Soft steps echo down a snow-filled trail as a young woman wanders around, her eyes scanning the surrounding area for threats or wild animals. Wearing a green tunic with no sleeves and silver archer armour on her left arm, she glances around with her blue eyes, a feather strapped to her red hair. Darker-green pants race down to her knee-high brown boots while brown gloves cover her hands.
"Ello there, little lamb." A sly voice echoes behind her. With a squeak, she spins around before facing a Bow Knight, facing her with a devilish smirk. "What is a pretty thing like you doing all the way out here? These mountains are dangerous these days, many beasts waiting to snatch pretty ones like you away."
"Um… Th-thank you for the warning, sir, b-but…" she tries to speak but is soon surrounded by two Paladins and another Bow Knight. The Leader shakes his head with a tisk as one of them dismounts before trying her hands behind her back.
"There's no warning here, lamb. I'm a wolf, and they are my pack. And you have been snatched." He says sadistically as his men try her onto one of the horses. "Don't look so scared little lamb. Your life is about to get more interesting. I'm sure plenty of people will want to buy you up." He finishes with a grin before motioning his mount towards a mountain pass, followed closely by his pack as the girl looks around helplessly.
But far above the scene, a Falcon Knight watched with anger. Xion, at first, wanted to dive down and save the girl but reluctantly held back at seeing the two Bow Knights. All she would accomplish would either get herself killed or captured.
However, that didn't mean she couldn't help. Taking a mental note of the surrounding area, she motioned her mount to fly back to the Shepherd camp, located not too far away. Xion could only grimace at seeing how close they were. If that girl had only screamed, she would have alerted them easily. Shaking her head at the thought, Xion lowered her Pegasus to the ground before dismounting and rushing o the central tent.
Rushing past a confused Riku and Gregor, Xion burst into the tent, interrupting a meeting.
"Xion? What's the matter?" Sora asks as he looks at his sister.
"Sorry to barge in like this." Xion says as she stands up straight. "But I saw a group of brigands kidnapping someone not far from here. They took her off down a nearby pass, but I couldn't get any close since they had bows with them." Everyone at the table stood silent at Xion's message while Chrom narrowed his brows.
"Slavers, more than likely." Frederick replies with a hint of anger. "No doubt they are the group we were warned about in Tala village."
"Then it would seem our plans for the mansion are on hold for now." Chrom replies with anger in his eyes. "I will not stand by and let an innocent maid be sent to the auction!"
"And yet we can not bring everyone." Tiki says with caution. "We would give our approach away if we were to bring everyone. Also, the terrain will not allow us to use our full strength even if we wanted to." She looks at the map, the parchment stained in ink showing nothing but winding corridors and tight passages. Chrom sighs in irritation as he looks over the map.
"You are right. Sorry, I let my anger get the best of me."
"It's nothing to apologize for, Chrom." Kairi says softly. "Anyone would. But Tiki is still right. Who would we send to stop them? I already know you and Robin will be going as a given." She gives the two a look, earning bashful looks from them.
"You have us there." Robin admits, rubbing the back of his head., before forming a smirk. "But something tells me you would also be joining us, would you not?" He asks knowingly at Sora and Kairi, earning the same look from them. "Well, other than us four, I was thinking of bringing Panne to help with their cavalry. None of our flyers will join us, and while Tiki and Nowi are immune to arrows, I fear their breaths would cause avalanches in the area."
"A reasonable worry. Our attacks are also in tune with our roars. The risk of an avalanche would be too great. It is why I also suggest we have our riders and mages stay behind." Tiki advises. Chrom looks between them, nodding slowly.
"I agree. However, I suggest that Tharja come along. Her magic is silent and comes from shadows. We would not need to fear rouge fire balls or bolts of lightning starting an avalanche." Chrom says before looking back at the map. "Along with her, I would also say Gregor, Ventus, Libra, Yarne, Isa, Say'ri, Lea, and Honō. That should give us enough room to move in the snow." Approving nods follow Chrom's opinion before breaking the meeting to find the selected people.
Finding the chosen people was not hard, although Yarne did try to chicken out by saying he was sick, yet he could not fool his mother and was so brought along regardless. The only other one who was indifferent to the mission was Tharja, who looked on with boredom as they marched through the snow.
"Why bother to attack them anyway? You could all stay behind and let me work on them. A curse to wither them away other a year or two? A slow death deserving of such people?" She says in her usual voice. Those around her looked with varied looks, some with shocks, others wincing, while Chrom continued to look forward.
"I think their captive would likely appreciate something a bit more immediate. Such as what we are doing now." He says before suddenly raising a fist, silencing the group as they hunch down. Soon, a group of cavalry gallop past, unaware of them as they ride towards a ruined castle. "Well, I believe we found their hideout. Another ruined castle."
"It always is." Sora says while shaking his head, thinking back to Organization XIII's castle. "So, where do you think they are holding her?" He asks while looking at the castle. "In the dungeon?"
"No, that would be obvious." Robin says, shaking his head. "If I was one of them, and I'm not, I would keep her somewhere where she wouldn't be hurt or exposed to the weather. Somewhere like a fancy room on." Letting that thought fade away as quickly as it had appeared, Robin looks over the ancient castle, its stones covered in snow and ice. Even from this distance, he could see half of the castle had been repurposed or repaired, judging by the wooden boards and thatched roofs covering parts of the castle. Not that the lights from within gave away its presence. "I think we should enter through the ruins not occupied by the brigands. But we should still be careful. No doubt they have tripwires in place to alert them to intruders."
"And so we shall. Panne, take Yarne and find their stables. We should remove their calvary as an option before we attack." With a silent nod to him, Panne took her future son to find the stables as Chrom led the rest towards the ruins free of torches.
On the inside of the castle, the brigand leader, Ezra, looked on with glee to his pack as they feasted on meat and wine. They had made a good life, praying on merchants and travellers passing through the pass, stealing their wares and either selling off or enslaving those they caught. He couldn't help but wonder what their latest catch would give them.
Undamaged, of course.
"How is our little lamb doing?" He asks one of his subordinates as he pours himself another glass. The man grunts as he eats a piece of meat before replying to his leader.
"We have her locked in that trophy room like you asked. She's weak, constantly saying that her life is over and that she will join her mother. No backbone." Ezra nods before drinking from his cup with a grin.
"She'll fetch a good prince, no doubt. And no one will ever know what happened to her." He chuckles to himself as the feast continues around him. At least, it would have, until the sound of horses neighing up a storm interrupted the festivities. "What's going on?" He asks in irritation. "What's going on with the horses?" His men look around in confusion before one of the stable guards bursts into the hall.
"Intruders! Intruders in the stables!" He yells, breathing heavily. "They broke in through a weakened wall! All our horses are on a rampage!" Era grunts in irritation before rising from his throne.
"Well then, what are you waiting for? A promotion? Get off your lazy arses and get those horses back!" He shouts in anger before half of the room files out in quick order, the other half moving to the storerooms to grab ropes and spears. "Whoever is attacking us is either brave or stupid."
"But it means more loot for us to sell, right, boss?" His minion asks with glee, earning a chuckle from Ezra.
"Why indeed. You're in charge of our 'guest' while I head out and see what's going on. Don't damage her, alright?" He says with a stern tone before rushing out the main entrance door. The minion grins before leaning on a nearby column, glancing at a hallway leading away to the western part of the castle.
Outside, the brigands were busy trying to calm down and usher the horses back inside, with Ezra looking over the damaged wall with intrigue. Not many things could take down a wall like this one, weakened as it was. Casting a glance at the rubble-covered ground, his eyes widened as he saw large footprints in the snow, almost invisible, with the snow gently falling over them.
"Well, well. Taguels. Now ain't that something?" He says with a grin before looking at the direction they went. To his surprise, two lots of footprints morphed into human-shaped prints halfway towards the ruined half of the castle. "So that's where you went. Sneaky rabbits… Men!" His call grabbed those around them as they managed to calm the horses down. "We have a couple of sneaky rabbits hopping around the old ruins. Do me a favour and find them, please? They are no doubt cold from this weather." He adds darkly, earning a round of chuckles from his men, before the shadows around one of them, a dismounted Great Knight, raised from the ground as a pair of giant fangs.
Without warning, the fangs bit down on the Knight, who didn't have time to realise what was happening before he was engulfed by the black and purple fangs. By the time the fang vanished, all that was left was the man's armour. Stunned by the sudden attack, Ezra glanced over to the ruins, catching the end of black hair as it vanished behind a ruined wall.
"Over there! After them!" He shouts, pointing his bow in the direction of the hair. His men obey, charging into the ruins as he turns to a dismounted Bow Knight. "Inform the men we have several intruders in the ruins. Make sure that the girl is secure." With a no, the knight left to deliver the message while Ezra turned to the ruins, a glint in his eyes. "Let's get this hunt started, shall we?"
"So, this is how it ends…." The girl mumbles to herself as she huddles in a corner. The room is filled with the heads of game animals, skins and pelts lining the walls and floors while a fire burns at the end. The door was locked while the window was boarded. "Killed…or worse. A clean death would be a mercy compared to what awaits… Thus ends the life of Noire." She mumbles before resting her arms on her knees and glancing at the fire. Soon, her eyes wander to part of the room covered in animal furs before a glint of metal catches her eyes.
Curious, she gets up before walking over to the furs. Shrugging her shoulders in resignation, she removes the furs from their spot, only to find, to her amazement, a bow and its quiver of arrows. The bow itself seemed covered in gold, while the wood beneath seemed to be a pure white birch wood. Two small, pointed prongs extend outwards halfway up both bow curves. At the same time, two simar yet longer points extended on either end of the handle grip, encased in a deep brown leather. Four purple jewels lay indented on both sides of the bow, two above the grip and two below.
"This is, Parthia?" Noire says, dumbfounded. She had heard about the bow, one of the three Regalia alongside Mercurius and Gradivus. Yet, she didn't expect to find it here. The last time she saw this bow, it was being used by the Risen. "What is it doing here? Shouldn't it be in Ylisstol?" Noire couldn't believe her luck at finding it and a full quiver of arrows. With this, she had a chance to escape! "But still… all those men outside… I don't think I could…." She mumbled as she walked to the centre of the room, eyes locked on the door. She turns around to gaze at the fire before her right-hand lands on something in her pocket. Eyes widening, she takes it out before realising what the smooth metal is. "My Talisman!" She says, surprised that she still had it before suddenly going very quiet.
She didn't know that her outburst alerted the guards outside her room. The door to the room was opened with a sudden bash as the two guards entered with disgruntled looks. "Hey, little lamb, what's this about a talisman? Are you holding out on us?" One of them asks before noticing the bow in her left hand. "And where did you get that fancy bow? It looks a little big to be in your hands. Why don't you let us keep a hold us it?" He asks with a smirk before frowning at her, seemingly ignoring him. "I said—!" he begins but suddenly finds an arrow lodged into his throat before he can say anything else.
As his friend watches him fall to the ground, Noire lowers the bow as she draws another arrow. Her face, once displaying a look of defeat and fear, was replaced by one of fury and anger, her forehead darkened and eyes narrow in rage.
"BLOOD AND THUNDER!" She yells before firing another arrow at the unfortunate guard. As the guard fell to the ground, Noire walks over to the dead bodies before pulling out the arrows, flicking the blood off them, and storing them into her quiver. "I AM THE FIRE AND FURY! ALL WHO DEFY ME WILL PERISH! REPENT, SCUM! REPENT THOUGH IT WILL SAVE YOU NOT! REPENT AND DESPAIR!" She laughs at her demand before rushing out of the room, leaving behind two dead guards and an empty room.
Meanwhile, outside, Ezra's men continued to scavenge through the castle ruins for the intruders, some bearing torches. Others are armed with swords and spears, while those with bows wait outside with the leader. What was originally supposed to be a simple search and snag soon became a game of cat and mouse. It started slow, with individuals who separated from their groups vanishing into the shadows before morphing into whole groups. The torches they carried vanished like stars in a cloudy night sky.
"Fire a volley of arrows into the shadows! Light up the ruins!" He shouts angrily as the archer's fire arrows are loaded with oil-soaked rags. A simple touch of a torch and the rag was alight, with the archers letting loose a volley seconds later. Ezra grins as the arrows illuminate the ruins, chasing away the shadows, only to frown when he sees nothing revealed. He sees one of the arrows showing one of the ruined passages leading into the repaired half of the castle.
Along with the sight of that black hair vanishing into the corridor. "The cowards! Everyone back inside! The intruders are behind us!" With a cry, his pack fell back inside, only at half of what they once were.
Ezra couldn't help but admire the strategy these foes had used, breaking their horses out to distract them and then having them enter the ruins in small groups. But not anymore. They would face him in the main hall if they wanted to finish him off. At least, that was the plan.
"Boss! Bad news!" Ezra turned to his righthand man, a furious look on his face. "That girl we had locked up has escaped! Killed the two guards we had on watch as well."
"Well, so she is not such a simple lamb after all." Ezra replies with a frown. "Order the men to seek her out and bring her back! I am not going to lose my recent catch." His subordinate nods before barking orders to the men at a furious rate. That girl would not be escaping anytime soon.
"Are you sure it was a good idea for us to enter? Mom and I aren't so good in tight spaces." Yarne says in a worried tone as he, Panne, Gregor, Tharja and Ventus walk down one of the corridors of the castle. They couldn't help but admit they did a good job repairing this half. Or it was more protected by the elements than its other half.
"It was Chrom's idea to enter the castle, and Robin agreed. If you wanted to voice your opinion, you should have done so outside." Tharja replies as she looks around lazily before glancing back at Yarne. "Unless you want to go back into the freezing cold outside?" Yarne quickly shakes his head while Tharja chuckles darkly. Before she looks at Ventus. "There is something I have wanted to ask you for a while, wielder of light." Ventus stumbles a bit before looking nervously at Tharja.
"W-What would that be?" Tharja gives him a long look before smirking.
"You should know how sensitive I am to sensing darkness. No one can hide it from me. But you. You are different. Your light and darkness are entirely separate. One could say it is its own entity. How is that possible?" Ventus steps back a little as he looks at her nervously. Of all the things they had told them, they did not tell them how Vanitas came about. How would they have reacted knowing that he was born from the darkness inside Ventus? So while they talked about him, they did not say how he came about. But now it would seem that Tharja had caught on.
"It's not something I like to talk about." Ventus says quickly, hoping to dissuade her from prodding further. Tharja seemed almost disappointed in his answer before Gregor moved between them.
"Now is not time for questioning. Now is time for slaying bag guys and rescue damsel, yes?" He says gently. Tharja seems to give him a look but quietly relents. Ventus breathes a sigh of relief before glancing at Gregor with a thankful look.
"Thanks, Gregor. That was getting uncomfortable." Ventus says quietly. Gregor smiles slightly before giving him a pat on the back.
"Gregor knows how to handle wife. You let Gregor deal with, yes?" With a nod from Ventus, Gregor moved from him before joining his wife at the front of the group. Normally the mage would be in the centre, but Dark Mages had always played by different rules. Tharja and Henry were no different in that regard.
Soon they were approaching what looked to be a small hall, where tables and benches lay about, food and drinks laid upon their surfaces. Judging by how much of a mess the place was, drinks spilt and food scattered on the tables and floor, they could easily guess they had attacked in the middle of a feast. As Robin would say, the perfect time to attack. Just as they reached the centre of the room, one of the brigands from outside ran inside, a fearful look on his face, before an arrow went through his neck, ending his life. The group looked at each other, wondering who fired the shot, before seeing a girl enter the hall, wielding a powerful-looking bow. She walks over to the corpse before pulling the arrow out and looking at the group. The tension could be felt building in the air as a fight looked ready to break out before Yarne slowly walked up with a shaky wave.
"H-Hey Noire. G-Glad to see you're still alive." He says with a weak smile before the group looks at him with either confused or, in Tharja's case, apathetic looks. Noire, for her part, looks to Yarne with her furious look before a smirk forms on her face.
"Blood and thunder! Yarne! You still live!" She shouts in glee. Yarne nods slowly as he backs away slightly before Panne walks up to him.
"Yarne, do you know this man-spawn?" She asks with concern. Yarne nodded slowly before looking back, unsure if he should say until he saw Noire walking towards them.
"Y-Yeah, I do. Mom, everyone, this is Noire. A-a-a-and she is….urm…." Yarne tries to speak before a glance from Noire breaks him through. "Andshe'sthedaughterofTharjaandGregor!" He finishes rapidly. The group blinked a few times as they processed what Yarne said before turning to look at Noire, a smile still on her face as her Talisman hung around her neck.
"He is right! I AM BLOOD AND THUNDER! I AM A RIGHTEOUS FURY! I AM YOUR FUTURE DAUGHTER!" She says with a wide grin. Gregor looks at his future daughter nervously while Tharja simply sighs in annoyance. Without missing a beat, she walks up to Noire before ripping the Talisman from her neck, reverting her back to her normal self as her face returns to normal. "Huh? W-what? My talisman?" She asks meekly, almost giving the group a whiplash at her personality before glancing at Yarne, who looks much more relaxed.
"Yeah, this is the true Noire. Future Tharja made it for her so she would stop acting like a scaredy-Tagule." He says before realising he has just insulted himself. Ventus, however, couldn't help but look disturbed at the Talisman. To him, the personality it brought out of Noire reminded him too much about how Vanitas was inside him. Oh, he was probably a lot more chill than he was back during Xehanort's reign, but still. Not something he wanted to know.
"My, this is a nasty little number. The future me is good." Tharja says with a sinister smile before looking at her daughter before, suddenly looking a lot softer than was possible. "But you don't need a little trinket like this to survive. You can and will, but not by becoming some avatar of retribution. Just be my daughter. Leave the retribution o your parents." Noire looks at her with wide eyes before nodding quickly. But the reunion was short-lived, as Ezra soon entered the room with several men at his side.
"Ahhhh. There is the little lamb. And what did she find? More little lambs for the slaughter?" He asks as he looks over those around. "Hmmm, the men have some nice gear but nothing worth selling. The woman, on the other hand…. Ah, so she was the one with black hair…." He says sinisterly as his men ready their weapons. The group ready themselves in return before Tharja walks to the front with a dark look on her face.
"So. You are the one responsible for capturing Noire. Is that right?" She asks slowly. Ezra nods with his usual grin before noticing the shadows around him seemingly grow in size. "Well then, I suppose that means I can do this." With a wave of her hand, the pages in her book flicker around as the shadows around the men grow in size. "Waste away in the shadows." She says simply before snapping her fingers, turning the shadows into roaring purple flames. Satisfied, she turns around to join the others, failing to realise that Ezra survived as he leaps from the flames and burns across his exposed skin. He charges forward, aiming to pierce Tharja's back with his sword before Gregor stands before him. He grabs his sword arm before snapping it at the elbow and throwing him into the air.
Quickly followed by Noire firing an arrow into Ezra's chest before he hits the ground.
"Are we done? Then it's time to join the others." Tharja says in a bored tone before leaving the room, followed closely by Noire. The rest soon follow after them, with Gregor hanging back to cover the rear. Panne took the time to walk up to the Hero with a sympathetic look.
"I am sorry for what the future seems to have for you." She says. To her surprise, Gregor waves her off with a smile before folding his arms together.
"Gregor say before, Gregor say again. Gregor handle it, no worry." He says simply before walking forward to join his wife and future daughter. Panne could only look at Yarne and Ventus and sigh in resignation.
"I will never understand how man will think." Ventus chuckles lightly before looking to the family ahead of them, Gregor striking up a conversation with Noire.
"I think he's a special case…." Just like me…
"What's taking him so long?" Validar asks in frustration as he paces around. "He should have been back by now. How hard is it to capture a single princess?" He continues his pacing while Aversa looks on with an irritated look, while Grima only stares at their collection.
"Luxu will return when he returns. Calm yourself, Validar. Our victory is all but certain." He says, pacifying the King of Plegia. No sooner does he finish speaking, a Corridor of Darkness opens up as 'Luxu' exits with his hair covered in leaves and flowers.
"Sheesh. This one was more trouble than it was worth. Who makes traps full of leaves and flowers, OR uses a frying pan as a weapon?" He says, rubbing the back of his head with a groan. "I mean, come on. A FRYING PAN! How does it do so much damage to the back of a person's head?!" He glared at the unconscious person over his shoulder, Rapunzel, before tossing her to Grima. He catches her in a shroud of Darkness before placing her in the farthest capsule on the right.
"It does not matter anymore. All the pieces are here. We need but wait for the right moment." The three nod before Validar bows towards him at a steep angle.
"With your permission, I will send an invitation to Ylisstol, offering them the final Gemstone. They will not resist coming and claiming it. And they will bring the Fire Emblem, the other Gemstones, and the final three pieces we need right into our hands."
"Very well." Grima replies, his back turned to him. "Go and send them an invitation. I expect the final pieces before me when they come and Chrom's body at my feet." With a bow, Validar leaves the room in shadows, as 'Luxu' and Aversa stay with Grima.
"My Lord, what shall you have us do?" She asks with her sultry voice. Grima glances over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the fire before him.
"Continue to act as Validar's support. For now." He replies. With a nod of her head, Aversa leaves the room, not before giving 'Luxu' a kiss on the cheek. "Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen." Grima says before giving a dark chuckle that echoes throughout the room.
But unknown to them, they were being watched from above by a hidden individual.
"So, that's what's happening." The Master of Master says with a hidden frown before glancing at Emmeryn. "Exalt… To think this is what happened to you all those years ago. If only I knew what was happening…." He sighed softly before jumping back into the shadows just as 'Luxu' glanced up at him. "Damn it. I'm running out of time. My hopes are on you, kids. Don't fail us now." He mutters silently before vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness, his aims a mystery to all.