Final Chapter) Chosen by Fate

Kris POV

It's all led up to this. The long war… liberating all the countries… all the deaths… everything has led to this crazy moment. We broke through and split into groups, knowing full well that Medeus could've anticipated this. After all, he knew we were coming. He knew that if we were going to end this war, we would have to fight him. There was no other choice.

The last battle… the last struggle… everything ended today.

It was hard to describe the castle. Old. Dark. Timeless. It was a bit like the country itself, really. I might've been able to describe it a little better if I was paying attention, but really, all of my focus was on potential ambushes and trying to not throw up. Here we were, charging through the enemy stronghold, ready to kill the legendary Shadow Dragon and it was just us humans. While the original plan had been for Tiki, Bantu, and/or Xane to be with us… there had just been too many dragons outside. We had to leave them to assist with that. But maybe we should've grabbed one of them anyway because we were running in circles with no idea where to go. I swore, despite us going 'forward' as much as possible, we had passed the same big entry chamber three times by now.

"Ah, good, you're not too far inside yet." And right as we were about to stop and retrace our steps, Gotoh stepped out of the shadows, because why wouldn't he just be lurking in the shadows right now. "I had worried I wouldn't be able to catch you," he murmured, bowing politely to all of us. He also, surprisingly, used a Fortify staff on all of us. "You have fought well, Marth."

"How did you get here?" Marth asked curiously. He then paused and smiled sheepishly. "Ah, wait, that was rude."

"But a good question nonetheless. Sadly, it's a simple answer. I teleported." Gotoh smiled sadly and looked about the castle. The rest of the soldiers relaxed while Marth and Gotoh talked, gathering the last of their energy reserves. "Medeus still has one of the warp circles set up. I didn't think he would, but thought I might see. It's only good for a single person, but that's enough for one old man."

"I see." Marth's smile warmed. "Then, may I ask why you are here? If it's to show us the way, I'll gladly accept! We're…" Marth shrugged. "We're kind of lost."

"It's a surprisingly large castle, and I will gladly show you. But that's not actually why I'm here."

"Oh?"

"Yes." He fell silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I washed my hands of mankind's foolishness long ago, assisting only because I knew my dearest friend, my beloved queen, would wish it." He bowed his head, and I wondered why. Was it sadness? Shame? It was impossible to guess. "However, you and yours have reminded me of just why she loved humans so, and thus, made me believe such a decision was… rash. So please, let me allow me to assist a little more fully than simply showing you the way."

"You mean you'll fight with us?"

"Yes, though I lack the power to combat Medeus. But his minions? I should still hold more than enough strength for them." He smiled proudly. "So, go forward with your head held high, Marth, and win back our future." Marth's eyes widened at the words before he smiled back, looking almost teary. "Your family would be proud of how far you have come."

"...Thank you…" Marth's smile grew and then he abruptly turned away. I rolled my eyes when I realized he was going to address the soldiers before breaking down crying, but Gotoh didn't seem to mind. In fact, he seemed amused.

Since he was in a good,or at least apologetic, mood, I actually skipped over to talk to him, because there were a couple of questions I did want answers to. "There was this gem I saw, and accidentally lost, in that tower where Gharnef was," I began slowly when he looked at me. I had to fight to keep from squirming; the thought of the thing made me uncomfortable. "It was black, with a flicker of-"

"The darksphere," Gotoh identified quickly. It was almost too quickly, really. "A gem equal in power to, say, the starsphere, but it's power is much different."

"It is?" I was more confused by the whole 'gems had power' thing, but then again, Gotoh had made Starlight from two of them. "What does it do, then?"

"How to explain…" Gotoh paused again to think. I felt like I was all the way back in Talys, having lessons with Jagan. "Everything that exists has a bit of light and a bit of darkness within them. It is what you choose that determines your character. Being 'good' is a constant and active choice. Even Naga had times where she buckled and wanted nothing more than to rage and destroy."

"And that's related to the gem?"

"Yes, because the darksphere removes that choice from its holders. In exchange for protection and power, it forces the person's darkest thoughts, finding every little tiny seed and forcibly tearing them through the mind to leave scars. It drowns and devours all of a person's light, bit by bit, so that those thoughts are their only. And often, it does it so subtly that the person doesn't realize what's going on until it's far too late to stop it."

"That can happen?"

"Yes, quite so." His eyes grew a little distant, lost in the past."I once knew of a powerful dragon, a dragon of great wisdom, who could peer into a person's heart and bring out those thoughts. The few times I saw him battle, he would use that ability to make a person stop fighting or to manipulate others to fight and leave him out of it entirely. Able to make the emotions ebb and flow like the waters he drew power from."

"What happened to him?"

"He lives among humans, on a different continent entirely. He loves them dearly, just as Forseti loves the people of Jugdral."

"The… huh?" There was a lot in those two sentences. There was actually a bit too much, especially for me right now.

"Ah, nothing. Just reminiscing about old friends who have left these lands." He chuckled, amused about something. "But regardless, that's what it is, and what it does."

"Ah." I glanced over at Marth, who was apparently in the middle of some speech. I should've been listening, but… "So… say I… uh…"

"Whatever it is that shakes you, yes, it is from your own mind." Damn that he figured it out quickly. "The traces are there, born from the darker parts of your heart, and the circumstances that allow them to fester are real. All the darksphere can do is amplify until it drowns out everything." Gotoh smiled quite kindly, more kindly than I would've expected. "But they are not your only thoughts. They are the darker thoughts, often drowned out by your light before you are even aware of them. Again, it is what you choose that determines whether you are 'good' or 'evil'. It is what you choose, and how you react to the consequences of your choices."

"Ah." I needed a subject change. Now. "So, when I grabbed Falchion for Marth, it kind of buzzed a little?"

"Ah, that was it acknowledging you as a potential wielder." He became thoughtful. "If something happened to Marth, then you could take it up. Take it up and his cause. But only if something happens. Falchion chose him first, and it likes to stay with its wielders until they pass."

"Then I need to make sure he stays alive. Even more so." Because if there was one thing I didn't want, it was the fancy royal sword. I liked being quiet. I liked being… I liked being in the shadows. "But I guess, in a way, you could say I am truly his 'shadow'."

"Always there, always a reminder to not be too light or too dark, lest you disappear." He chuckled. "All good rulers have one such confidant. It is often a lonely path for said confidant, though. Few understand that sort of loyalty, and fewer still are content to being 'second' in their lover's heart."

"Meh, I can deal." I looked over at Marth, rallying and charming the soldiers with a bright and kind smile. Even if those thoughts were true, it was also true that I was proud to fight alongside him. I was proud to stand by him, always. "I can deal."

And today, we ended this war. Gods help us all.

As he had implied, Gotoh knew the place. He knew the place very well. This castle had been Medeus's for a very long while, and had apparently belonged to his family before that. Though, it could've simply been 'based' on the one his family had. Gotoh's wording had been a little confusing, and with us racing through the halls, trying to not die from random ambushes, there wasn't time to ask for clarifications. After all, since we were closer to Medeus, we now fought his soldiers, the ones who decided to defend Medeus to the death. So, at each ambush, a group of soldiers would carve a path and then remain behind to hold said path as we pushed forward.

Merric and I stuck close to Math. I refused to let Marth stand alone against that creature. Merric pointed out we'd need a healer. So, the two of us decided to be the absolute last ones to leave, if it came to that. But others would stop to fight. Most I, sadly, didn't recognize, by face or name, and I knew that most would be dead before we could end this. I wondered how many of the dead I'd know this time. I'd been rather lucky, mostly by keeping close to a select group of people. But would I be lucky this time? I had no idea, really.

I paused in my running when I noticed Cain and Abel peel off, rallying a group of soldiers. I hesitated, wondering if I should say something, and not just because of the potential feelings for Cain. After all, I'd known Cain and Abel since the beginning of things, and even if circumstances meant I spent little time with them nowadays, they were some of my oldest friends. But that creepy, crawling feeling returned, so instead, I simply continued running. Right now, there was too much going on. Right now, all of my energy had to be focused on one thing. There was no time to work through any of that. We had to run. We had to hurry. All these soldiers were fighting inside. We still had soldiers fighting outside. We had to end things quickly, or everyone would die, just from sheer exhaustion.

Only Gotoh, Merric, Marth, and myself were left when we skidded into a large room with suitably large double-doors on the other end, packed with soldiers. Before Marth, Merric, or I could think about groaning or something, Gotoh gestured and blasted a hole through them. It took a couple of blinks to realize he'd used a Thoron spell for it; I hadn't even seen him pull out the tome.

"Beyond those doors is Medeus's chamber," he told us as he pushed open the doors. He quickly ushered the three of us through and it took a second to realize just what he was doing. "Naga always believed in humans. Ever since she met them, spoke with them, she loved them." He tossed Merric his staff as Merric passed him. "She felt they were the future of the world. Prove her right this day! I know you will!" And then the doors slammed shut, cutting us off completely from everyone else.

We stared for a moment, stunned. Startled. Confused. Fearful. All of those emotions flooded us until we were numb again. Then we continued running. We had to. We had to keep going. So, we ran all the way down the hall, no deviations. We ran all the way to another set of double-doors, made of iron and stone. We pushed them open and ran inside, ready to dodge any sort of attack. Medeus had to know we were coming. Medeus could've set up an ambush.

But there was nothing. The three of us slowed to a stop, eyes darting around the simple, empty room before focusing on the man sitting rather lazily in a simple yet elegant throne of dark stone and gold. It took a couple of blinks to realize he had to be Medeus, simply because of how quiet he was and how… how normal. He was an older bald man dressed in maroon and gold robes. If I'd seen him on the street, I'd just assume he was some sort of priest. I wouldn't have guessed he was the dragon who had plunged Archanea into war twice. I wouldn't have guessed he was anything but a mildly smug old man, nothing special.

"Ah, another trio…" Medeus chuckled, regarding us with as much fascination as you would a particularly interesting bug. "Well, now this is familiar." He slowly stood and walked down the stairs from the throne to the main floor. Even while 'on level' with us, he towered over our heads. "I see you found Falchion as well. Gotoh crafted Starlight for you, then."

"Medeus, this war ends today," Marth declared firmly. He drew Falchion, and it glowed briefly, recognizing its ancient enemy. Sadly, he was a little more awkward with the Falchion. "I know not how you came back, but you will die again!"

"Earth dragons always linger, boy. Our bones are the mountains. The soil, our broken scales. We are a resilient race, even in madness, and a dragon's spirit lingers long." He chuckled again, and this time, it sounded mocking. I held up Thoron and drew my sword; Merric brought up Excalibur and held on tightly to Gotoh's staff. "You'll find an earth dragon harder to tame than Gharnef." The air became heavy. The ground quaked in fear. "Come then and face me, though, if you still wish to try your hand. I'll tear the ground asunder…" His form shifted into a massive dragon with gold-brown scales, like the fresh wheat in the fields, with sharp spiky protrusions that reminded me of mountains on the horizon. There were no wings, but large and sharp claws, made for digging, hinted he was never meant to fly. "And send you straight to hell!"

He immediately attacked with his fire-breath thing, though in his case, it was… it was probably black flames, but something about it also gave the impression of him breathing out black stone. The impression wasn't helped, of course, by how the stone floor cracked and splintered from the impact. It was all too easy to imagine how crushed we would be if that hit. As it stood, we barely managed to dodge. Barely.

I launched a Thoron at him as soon as I could and tried to dart close to hit him with my sword. The Thoron spell burned his scales slightly, and while I did manage to stab him through a joint in his claw, he twisted and snapped it right in half. The blade was still inside, maybe, but I certainly couldn't stab him anymore and he didn't seem bothered by the sword in his wrist. It was more luck than skill that I managed to dodge the other claw that tried to rip my head off, and even then, it was mostly because Merric blasted Medeus's face with Excalibur. Then it was dodging that damn breath-attack he had, and wincing as the shrapnel scratched up my face and hands. Then I winced again when I saw just how little damage Merric's spell actually did. Medeus wasn't immune to magic, but he might as well have been.

Marth tried to charge forward, to strike Medeus down, and I nearly screamed when I saw he disappear among the next bout black-stone-flames. But when it cleared, I saw that he was still alive. He was bleeding badly, and Merric had to heal him up, but he was still alive. But that attack did prove that Medeus was watching him the most. If Marth was going to have any sort of chance in getting to him, we really had to hold his attention. That meant 'me' more than Merric because Merric was our only healer. Healing staves didn't work on the healer using them. That had to be one of the most bullshit things, and in retrospect, we really should've dragged Linde in here with us as a secondary healer. But no, we had left her outside to continue serving as an on-the-field healer alongside Wendell and Wrys. If we had two, then we could charge a little more, but as it stood, we had to deal with Medeus and his breath attack with nothing to serve as a convenient shield…

That one word sparked a thought. 'Shield.' The Fire Emblem was a shield. The Fire Emblem was an old as hell shield, used by Cartas during the first war with Medeus. Shields blocked things. But it would be a gamble. There was no guarantee that the Fire Emblem could block Medeus's attacks or, more importantly, that breathe attack. However, there was no way we would make progress without taking some gambles. Medeus was an old dragon, yes, but one clearly in his prime still, unlike Bantu, meaning that we would easily drop from exhaustion before him. So, thinking quickly, I snatched the Fire Emblem from Marth, shoved him towards Merric, and brought the shield up and braced when Medeus loosed yet another breath attack.

I ground my teeth as pain still pierced through me. I half-thought the skin on my legs had been ripped off from the shockwave, and that I'd broken three ribs at least from the force. But when the stone-flames dissipated, I could still breath. I could still stand. In fact, I was standing among rubble, with a clear V-shaped crater at my feet to show where the breath had been diverted. My legs were bleeding. I definitely had bruised something in my chest. The arm that held the shield was actually completely numb. But I was alive. It had protected me.

"Pretty boy!" I snapped, clumsily tossing it back to Marth. He barely caught it and stumbled back a bit, staring. "Use it to get close! We're not surviving much longer!"

"We'll cover and distract!" Merric added, healing me up. I winced and bit back tears as my arm decided to stop being numb. "Go! We're only getting one more shot at this! Take it!"

After a moment, Marth nodded and darted to the side, ducking behind one of the few pillars. Medeus tried to track him, but Merric and I threw both Excalibur and Thoron at his face to distract him. I ran and threw another Thoron at his side, aiming for my broken blade in his claw. That one caught his attention and held it to the point that he focused solely on me, growling in pain before releasing another breath-attack. I had to dive and roll to avoid it and I nearly blacked out from pain as Medeus raked a claw over my back. I only didn't because Merric managed to heal me almost immediately afterwards, though I still did hit the ground hard. I rolled onto my back and fired off a Thoron, directly into his gaping maw. Medeus reared back from the attack, because not even he could be unfazed by electricity in the mouth. He stumbled back when Merric launched two Excaliburs into his eyes, giving me time to scramble up and get away. Medeus growled, annoyed, and prepared to strike us again, but then switched his target quickly because he had finally seen Marth, darting close, almost there.

It was like a story. Medeus reared back and released his black stony flames. Marth brought the shield up to block it. But he didn't just block it. He used it as a wedge to continue forward, one shaking step at a time. Despite the injuries on his legs, despite the bruising on his chest and arm, he pushed forward through the flames, forcing them to part before him. So that, when it cleared, Marth was within Medeus's guard. So that, when it cleared, Marth just had to surge forward with Falchion, shining Falchion, and carve through Medeus's unarmored belly. Falchion's light was as bright as the sun, and automatically, I flinched back, bringing my hand up to shield my I still saw Medeus fall and hit the ground hard enough to make the ground shake. I still saw Marth drive Falchion straight through Medeus's heart.

Blood spewed everywhere and Marth actually fell on his ass because he lost his footing. I slid forward and dragged him back, out of range of the claws. Merric worked on healing us again, preparing for another attack. But none came. Medeus struggled to breathe, sides heaving as he gasped for air. He tried to push himself up, but slipped in his own blood. Then, finally, he grew still, save for those labored breaths.

"Defeated by humans… again…?" Medeus's voice echoed through our heads, somewhere between shocked and amused. "Ah, then know this, Altean Prince. The light which surrounds you is but a temporary respite." Medeus lifted his head to snarl-grin at Marth, even as his body began crumbling away, like a poorly made statue of mud. "So long as darkness survives… so will my people's wrath. And so will I…!"

Medeus's body fell apart, piece by piece. Some pieces were small, like a tiny speck of dust. Some were a bit larger, like his teeth. But it disappeared, smelling absolutely horrible as the insides just fell to the bloody ground. But then, the insides themselves also began crumbling, leaving only a strange bit of bloody 'mud' where once Medeus had stood, all that was left of the Shadow Dragon.

The three of us stood there, stunned, and we remained there until Gotoh walked in, perfectly fine, with a kind and proud smile. That's… that's when we realized. That's when it really hit. That's… we did it. We actually did it. Medeus was dead. The war was over. We won. We won. As soon as I process it, I started laughing and I dragged Marth into a hug. Of course, we were both so tired that we both fell, but still, he laughed too. Merric sat next to us, also laughing, and before long, we could hear laughter and cheers echoing through the halls as everyone else realized what happened too. We did it. We won. It was over. We did it.

I glanced over at Medeus's body, both to make sure he didn't somehow reform and kill us and because of his words. When I looked, though, I saw a strange figure nearby, a beautiful woman with long green hair and a pale pink dress. A woman who, honestly, reminded me of Tiki. She smiled gently, kindly, proudly at us before vanishing in the blink of an eye, like she had never been there at all. I thought I'd just been imagining it, but when I looked at Gotoh, I saw his nostalgic sadness and how he bowed in respect.

I almost asked more, but then decided that it didn't matter. If it was important, then future me could deal with it. I was done for the day, thank you very much!

Author's note: Medeus's line about an earth dragon being harder to deal with is technically from the previous chapter (while the line about sending to hell comes from the fan translation, and not the official localized script). The Fire Emblem gives no defensive boosts (and really only lets Marth open chests in FE1/11), but there's this epic fanart that I saw a while ago (that I sadly do not have saved or have the artist's name for) where Marth used the shield to block Medeus's attack (though that might've been for FE3). Typically when you fight (or at least, when I did), you'll have Marth (or Tiki) alone against Medeus with a healer nearby, hence the minimal party. As for magic being 'less effective', Medeus has a very impressive resistance of 23 (just two below his defense in fact). To use Merric as an example, assuming he hit his average in magic (17-18) as a fully leveled sage, then Merric's doing like… 7 damage per hit. In FE3, all earth dragons halved incoming damage as well (players of the Jugdral games will recognize this ability; Loptyr gave its users the very same protection), though this was removed for FE11 and FE12. Really, your best tactic is just to throw Marth or Tiki at Medeus for the effective damage.

Curious as to how many people will guess the unnamed dragon Gotoh talks about. As for Forseti and Jugdral, the Jugdral and Archanea games actually take place in the same 'universe' and timeline, with the Jugdral games being 1000 years prior to the Archanea games. Marth visibly reacting to Gotoh's words is because, if you played through the prologue, you actually get a little flashback sequence immediately afterwards, from the Prologue. If you didn't, though, it just skips right on to the rest of the script. Medeus's form is based off of his Shadow Dragon incarnation, with the 'claws made for digging' coming from how a) earth dragon and b) iirc, in FE3, Earth Dragons' battle animation involved them clawing their way out of the ground. Why does Naga make an appearance at the end? Partially, it's a nod to 'Nagi' and it's partially just… something that felt right as I was writing.

Next Chapter - Epilogue (there will be only one epilogue)