"They just keep coming!" Kjelle yelled, raising her shield to meet the sword swing from the Simulacrum she was locked in combat with. Lucina retreated to the midst of the group, allowing Cynthia to heal her sister's wounds. Brady swung his axe, beheading one, as he panted.
"I still ain't used to this..." he muttered, before Morgan pulled him out of the way of a blade of wind. She followed up with a bolt of lightning at the Simulacra mage.
"H-How long... do we have to... keep this up?" Noire panted, flinging more arrows from the back. Her face changed. "I TIRE OF THIS FOOLISHNESS! LEAVE US ALREADY!"
"Daddy... where are you...?" Severa couldn't help but mutter, trying to fend off a group of Simulacra. Owain had stayed by her side the entire fight, and she could notice sweat covering his brow.
"Where are they all coming from?" Lucina inquired, staring at the crystal. Even as more and more fragments of the crystal broke off, it didn't seem to get any smaller...
"Robin, how are we going to find this... child?" Nah inquired, as the headed down one of the hallways.
"That's a good question," Robin replied. They turned a corner to find something disappear down a doorway. Robin followed, heading through the door to find a room with more of those child-like shadow... things...
"Are we... supposed to find the kid amidst all of these things?"
"I don't see any of them behaving differently. So if we're supposed to find them, I think we're to find them using a different method."
"A different method? Wait a second... *sniff* *sniff* ...Robin. Follow me," Nah said, before running out of the room.
"Nah? Hold on, where are we going?"
"I can smell it," Nah stated, running towards some destination. "I can smell loneliness, I can smell despair. I don't know if you know, but manaketes can smell someone's emotions... it's very faint, you know, but I can... I think I can find that child."
"Wait, loneliness? Despair?" Robin asked, barely keeping up with Nah's reasoning.
"Yeah. I can smell those, and it's coming from one location. But I can also smell... *sniff* In this room!"
They rushed into the room, to find a single shadow standing in the middle.
"...Found you," Robin said.
"No... No! That was too fast! You couldn't have-" it turned, it's red eyes focusing on Nah. "You cheated! That's not fair! You're not allowed to do that! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater cheater cheater cheater CHEATER!"
A low rumbling noise echoed throughout the building, coming from the doorway they had entered from.
Robin sensed something coming, and pulled Nah away from the doorway.
No sooner, then, did a flood of the shadow children stream through the door, surrounding the lone figure in the room. The accompanying wail of thousands wouldn't leave his mind for a long while.
"Legion was always a temperamental child," she says, staring at the mirror and spectating the scene, "and they don't play nice when they get angry."
Before long, the flow of shadows abated, and Robin warily looked back up to see what he was up against. He scowled as saw the hulking monstrosity in front of him, composed of the shadow beings, with a single red eye in the center.
"There's only one way to play with cheaters like you!" it said, as it brought a giant hand down upon them.
Robin pulled Nah out of the way, but as the gigantic hand landed it sent them off kilter. Faster than Robin could regain his footing, Legion brought its other hand across, sweeping the room in a wide arc. Robin felt himself pushed away as the hand narrowly missed him.
Nah was no longer right beside him. He could only watch in horror as its hand had balled itself into a fist.
"Nah!" Robin shouted, before he felt his emotions flare up in anger. He grabbed his Elfire tome and began to fling fireballs one after another. Legion blocked with its free hand, before it threw a detached piece of itself at him.
Robin was caught off guard, and did a clumsy roll to avoid the mass of shadows flying toward him. As he landed though, his ankle twisted at an angle, the same ankle he'd sprained two days ago.
He grunted in pain, and fell onto his rear.
Damn it, of all the possible times... Nah...
Luckily, his unsaid fears turned out to be unfounded, as Legion's fist exploded, sending shadow children flying every which way.
The next thing Robin knew, he was being carried by Nah, in her dragon form.
"Can you get on my back?" Nah asked, as they flew.
Robin grunted in response, as he grabbed onto Nah's arm and clumsily pulled himself onto her back.
"We're taking to the air. With so much space in this room, it would be such a waste if we didn't!" Nah shouted.
"Right," Robin said, grinning. Before, his uneasiness had been caused due to the eerie atmosphere of the "game" and the shadows that just stared at him. But now? Now there was a tangible, hostile target. And Robin knew how to handle tangible, hostile targets.
Nah danced around the air, nimbly dodging any stray arms and flung children that Legion threw at them. Robin noticed that any children that became detached from the main body were quickly pulled back towards it. Robin threw more fireballs at the hulking giant and noticed that it shielded its eye more than any other spot. An understandable action, but a glaring error in judgment.
"Nah, can you get me closer?"
"Closer? But that's dangerous! I won't be able to maneuver as well!" Nah responded.
"Nah, please. I need to get to that eye. Can you get above him, then?"
Nah was silent for a moment, swooping down to avoid another ball of children.
"Alright, that I can do. Hold on tight!" Nah said before darting upwards.
They skirted the ceiling as close as possible, as they danced above anything Legion could throw at them. With a roar, the giant threw a massive ball of itself towards them, too big to maneuver around.
"Nah!" Robin shouted, and she sent a breath of fire towards the mass in response. Robin followed up with a fireball, blowing the whole thing apart. "Now, go!"
Nah sped through toward Legion, and Robin leapt off her back, sending himself straight toward the eye. He unsheathed his sword, his tome dropping to floor, momentarily unneeded.
"You're finished!" Robin shouted. Legion attempted to block Robin's downward dive, but had used to much of its mass in that last attack.
Robin landed, his sword connecting with the eye. A loud wail almost sent him flying, but he held fast. He wasn't sure what happened next, but the next thing he knew he felt his back on the ground.
"Robin! Are you okay?" Nah asked, running to his side, having returned to her human form.
"Nah? Is it over?" he said, sitting up. He no longer saw a giant mass of shadows. Instead they stood, separated, looking at them. Then, one by one, they began to fade away. Robin could swear he could see some of them smile in thanks.
"It looks like it..." Nah stated, and as the last of the shadows disappeared, she pointed, "Robin, look!"
Robin followed her finger, to see one form left, its body having been impaled by his sword. Robin's stomach turned, and he ran toward it.
It began to glow, a familiar glow that Robin recalled seeing from the Simulacra. This one, however, didn't shatter like the rest, instead, a bright flash emanated from it, and Robin and Nah shielded their eyes. When the flash faded...
"Father? Oh gods! Father, is that you?" Nah shouted, running towards what Robin could now see was...
"Nghhh... where..." the war monk groaned, his feminine voice hoarse and ragged. He felt something collide with him. "Wha- Nah?"
"Father... I missed you so much..." she cried, her tears staining her father's robes.
"Shhh... there, there," he said, soothing his daughter, "I'm here now."
Robin let them have their moment. The gears in his head were turning, as numerous light bulbs went off. The Shepherds that disappeared were sent to... these places, which meant they had something to look out for on their search. It still left a lot of room for error, but it meant that they could send a message to the whole of Ylisse on what to look out for.
There was a strange whistling noise in his ears, and he snapped out of his reverie to see Nah falling over. A confused Libra caught her, only to fall unconscious himself moments later. And as Robin followed suit...
At least there's no headache this time around...
"Wha... they've stopped coming?" Cynthia cried out, as the last Simulacrum fell.
"It... It looks like it..." Inigo said, his voice unsure.
They all took a moment to collect their bearings, and waited for... something... with bated breath.
That something turned out to be a loud crackling noise originating from the crystal.
"Look out... something's coming!" Lucina called out.
The black crystal began to shake, and it began to crack in multiple places. With another dark flash, the crystal shattered, and the kids braced themselves for the debris, but it never came. The shards faded and passed through them harmlessly.
"Oh my gods, Father!" Morgan cried, spotting Robin lying where the crystal had once been. Along with him, the kids saw Nah and Libra lying just a few steps away.
"Nah, are you okay?" Yarne cried, as he rushed to her side. "Are... you're unhurt...?"
Robin stirred, before opening his eyes. "This situation is getting really familiar. I'm back."
Morgan hugged her father. She was joined by Severa just a few seconds later.
"Gods! Daddy, how many times are you going to this?"
"That depends, Severa," Robin replied, "how many times are you two going to do this?"
At about that time, Libra awoke, he sat up, looking around in confusion.
"Father..." Nah said, holding him tightly, "I was really scared."
"That's... I'm sorry Nah..."
"Don't apologize, Father... it wasn't your fault everyone disappeared."
"...Disappeared?"
"Yeah," Robin said, standing up after Morgan and Severa had released him. "We should head to the throne room. We have a lot we need to talk about."
She grinned as the crystal shattered.
"Very good, Robin. You're meeting my expectations, as... well, expected." She chuckled. "The story's headed right on track. It's time to set the next piece in motion..."
She drew another card from the fanned out pile.
A/N: One down... a lot to go. Phew.
There isn't much to say about this chapter. It's basically a huge boss fight.
This is how I determined the first Shepherd to be rescued: I divided up the first gen Shepherds into four categories: Supports, Magic Attackers, Tanky Physicals, and Fast Physicals. These categories are fast and loose, and take into account a Shepherd's base class set. Supports included basically the healers and Olivia; Magic Attackers were, well, the mages; Tanky Physicals included knights and mercenaries; and Fast Physicals include myrmidons and pegasus knights. Like I said, fast and loose. I then assigned each category a card suit: Supports were Hearts, Magic Attackers were Diamonds, Tanky Physicals were Clubs, and Fast Physicals were Spades. From there it was basically the same thing that our mysterious antagonist did: I pulled cards from a deck until the amount for each suit matched the amount in each category. Then I drew one at random.
Wow! Insight into my thought process! I feel surprisingly vulnerable.
Also, longest chapter yet. I feel a weird sense of accomplishment.
Anyways, thanks for reading; please leave a review or two, and stay tuned.
(Also it's not 2AM yay!)