The Final Curtain Falls

"Are you ready, heroes?" Naga asked them.

The bravest of the Shepherds nodded. Some merely looked forward stoically. Some were down right shaking. A few were barely awake, but somehow alert.

And there were some that showed no emotions. Such as Vincent.

"We are ready," Chrom said with resolve.

"Grima has a weakness at the neck, I shall warp you there…good luck," Naga vanished.

The world around Vincent suddenly spun, and before he knew it, he was standing on the scaly back of a dragon.

Vincent was one of the first to regain his footing. He looked up and struggled to keep his eyes open through the raging winds. His stetson suddenly blew off his head and sailed off of the dragon.

Shit, that's not a good sign.

Vincent walked forward shakily. Walking on the back of a dragon was harder than he expected.

He heard the sound of someone warping. Or the sound of several people warping. And sure enough, when Vincent looked up, there were dozens of Grimleal. Dozens upon dozens. More than they could handle.

Vincent searched for his double, when suddenly he appeared before the Shepherds. Grima turned to Vincent, "Submit to me, Vincent. Submit to me, and I'll spare your friends."

Vincent pretended to consider it, "Well, that might have tripped me up, but given that you are me, I know when I'm lying. And you'd never spare them anyway."

"Details, details. It was a humble offer to leave the selfless image of yourself in your friends' minds," Grima shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose I'll just have to annihilate you!"

A dark pulse of magic emitted from Grima-Vincent's hand. Like a wave in the ocean, the magic struck the Shepherds hard. The physically weaker ones fell to their hands and knees, while the strongest ones remained standing, albeit barely. Vincent was thrown from his feet when hit by the blast.

"See? It is useless to resist me. You will all fall, by my hand or your own," Grima dismissed.

"We will stop you," Chrom shouted vehemently.

"You still DARE resist ME?! Then perhaps I should end you first!" Grima roared. A cloud of darkness enveloped Vincent.

He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. Nothing was reaching him. Before he knew it, he was on his hands and knees. And then he could see, but only the blackness.

"Submit!" Grima roared and shot some form of magic at him. Pain arched through his body.

"Fight back!" a voice penetrated the veil of darkness.

It was Chrom's voice. He could hear others, but they were much fainter. Chrom's words registered the best in his mind though.

Fight back.

Fight back you coward, show this bitch you're not down.

It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

For victory we fight…

Fight now!

Vincent yelled a battle cry and conjured a flame that burst through the dark veil. Grima took a few steps back from the impact of the blow, but he was unharmed.

Vincent felt the work of several Physic staves on him, but his eyes never left Grima. "I challenge you Grima, to a fight to the death!"

Grima cackled, "You cannot defeat me!"

"Try me," Vincent smirked.

Grima warped further toward the head of the dragon. Vincent ran after him, and as he ran flames of darkness blocked his way back.

All things lead up to this. There was no turning back. This was the final battle.

Vincent brandished his Valflame tome. He could already feel the fire he was about to cast. He launched a huge fireball at Grima. Grima deflected it with ease and shot a jet of black flames at Vincent. The Spymaster responded in kind, meeting the black flame with his own red flame.

The two continued at that stalemate for some time. Vincent could hear the screams of battle behind him. He dared not look back though, for if he saw something that he could not emotionally take, he'd lose concentration.

Vincent threw several fireballs with his left hand while the right kept up the stream of flame. Grima responded in turn. The two weren't able to best each other.

I can't keep fighting like this forever. I should have trained more…

Grima tried something new. With a wave of a hand, black spikes shot out of the ground and quickly traveled toward Vincent. The Spymaster threw up a shield of flames. The spikes hit the shield and broke upon impact. But the stream of black flame destroyed his shield after a few moments. Vincent was hit with the devouring flames.

He jumped to the side after the initial impact. His cloak was on fire though, he ripped it off and tossed it behind him. Nothing could repair that much damage.

Good bye purple cloak!

"Why won't you just die?!" Grima roared in frustration.

"Because I am Vincent! Dying isn't in my vocabulary!" he shouted with a grin, which only infuriated Grima further.

Grima redoubled his efforts. Vincent could barely keep his shields up. Grima was destroying his every effort to survive. The Spymaster wouldn't even be alive without the Valflame.

Vincent decided then, it was time for a daring move. A reckless move. A risk. A foolish move. A suicidal one.

He charged Grima head on.

Grima cackled as he attacked Vincent ferociously. The Spymaster deflected the blows, but at a cost. Some shot back into the area where his friends were fighting. He may have been hurting them.

Don't think of that. This could be the end!

Grima's cocky smile was wavering as Vincent got closer. The Tactician pulled out a knife. Grima laughed, "You're insane! You can't hurt me with that!"

Vincent merely smiled, "Well, from my experiences, sanity's just not what its meant to be!" He threw the knife at Grima. As Grima brought up a shield, the three fireballs Vincent conjured moments ago hit him from behind. "And to quote my friend Chrom, Your end has come!" the Spymaster shouted as the fireballs hit Grima.

But of course, this was a plan of Vincent's, it wasn't that simple.

The ground exploded around Grima, causing the dragon itself to roar in pain. Vincent heard the sound of Grima's shield breaking. Blasts of dark magic hurled at Vincent. They smacked him in the chest. He screamed in pain. Grima emerged from the smoke and smiled with Vincent's grin. "Petty fool, you actually thought you could best me?"

Vincent began to laugh, despite his pain, "Tell me Grima, do you play chess?"

When he saw Grima's surprised expression. Vincent laughed harder, "Checkmate!"

A fireball smacked Grima from the right. Then one from the left. Grima began noticing them now, and began blocking them with ease. He did not notice that Vincent was faking his pain and rushed at him with a knife.

And stabbed him.

"I'm glad it's come to this, Grima. The both of us, passing into the void. Almost like brothers. Identical twins I suppose," Vincent twisted the knife. Grima roared in pain and frustration.

"I…WILL…REMEMBER YOUR NAME…I WILL END YOU!" Grima roared.

Vincent shrugged, "Meh, I've killed my self by killing you. Looks like you've had your vengeance." He raised his hand. The pose he was in would one day become an iconic painting and image throughout the world. He bathed Grima in the flames of Valflame.

With a final roar, Grima ceased his resistance and faded away. The dragon still flew in the sky, it hadn't come crashing. Perhaps magic of Naga?

Vincent turned to his friends. He saw them running to him. He laughed and began to walk over to them. As they narrowed the distance, one of Vincent's legs gave way. He fell to the ground.

No! I need more time before the end!

Vincent felt his heart beating faster. He was breathing harder.

"Father!"

"Vincent!"

"No!"

"Why!?"

Vincent lay onto his back. In this position he would use the least amount of energy. He closed his eyes for a long moment, and when he reopened them, he saw Anna, Jessie, Remy and Morgan sitting around him. Inigo stood slightly behind Morgan.

Vincent looked at each of them in turn, "Well, it was great while it lasted."

"Father! How could you! You said you wouldn't do it!" Jessie wailed. Remy nodded vigorously, tears falling freely from his face.

"Hah…eventually, you'll learn how to become good at lying Jessie," Vincent coughed.

Morgan cried freely as well, "Father…there was so much for us to do! I wanted to make new memories with you…"

Vincent gripped her hand tightly, "You still have the rest of your family for that. And Inigo!" Vincent got Inigo's attention. "Given that you'll be part of this family soon, it's your job to look out for them too. And my threat to you still stands!" Inigo nodded, a few tears falling from his face.

"Father…what're we going to do without you? You and mother were the reason we came back! How can we go on without you?" Remy said with his emotions more under control than his sisters.

"Then my final order, is to keep on living. Lowell can put any of you in contact with any professional of any profession," Vincent said, eyeing Lowell, who stood in the distance.

"Vincent…" Anna said softly.

"Anna…I'm so sorry," Vincent said, his voice thick with emotion.

"Why!? Why did you have to do this!? You're leaving me alone! You swore that you would always be there!" Anna cried harder than any of her children.

"Anna, you will, no, you MUST carry on. I will always be with you, so long as you keep me in mind and heart," Vincent with as much bravado as he could muster.

"That's not all of it…" Anna leaned near his ear and whispered something.

Vincent's eyes widened, he chuckled briefly. He smiled, "If it's a girl, name her Anna."

"And if it's a boy?" Anna said worriedly.

Vincent opened his mouth to answer, but he, along with everyone else looked at the Spymaster's hand in surprise. It was dissolving into glowing sparkles. Like stars.

"Heh…look. They're like fireflies," Vincent murmured.

The family watched as Vincent's legs and arms dissolved. Vincent, knowing his time was close, dropped his mask of confidence he'd worn for so long.

"I don't want to go."

Vincent's last image was his family openly weeping.

His last thoughts were of them.

Vincent died a true heroic death. And no one was happy.