DISCLAIMER: FIRE EMBLEM AND ITS CHARACTERS BELONG TO NINTENDO.
Flames on the Blue 2
It was noon.
According to Gaius and Cordelia's reconnaissance, the Valmese were moments from arriving from the west.
Robin walked through the deck, giving his coat a quick pat to make sure he had his Bronze Sword and tomes on him.
The Shepherds were scattered around, preparing for their first battle of the campaign.
Chrom was speaking with Lucina, while Sumia had just finished outfitting her pegasus with its armor and saddle. Lucina caught sight of him and nodded, albeit friendlier this time around.
Sully and Stahl were polishing their spears, while Virion was making sure he had an adequate amount of arrows on him.
Cherche and Frederick were talking by Minerva. He'd be riding with her into the battle.
Lon'qu was seen with Lissa, who gave him a quick hug before he went off into the fight. He struggled at first, before easing into and reciprocating the hug.
Cordelia was bugging Gaius as to why he had thought to go into battle with his clothes in such as messy state. "It makes me look intimidating." He heard him say. Cordelia could then be seen brushing his hair with her fingers, much to his annoyance.
Miriel was berating Vaike for leaving his armorslayer in his cabin.
As he continued on his way, he saw Donnel staring at a certain blonde haired noble.
"Hey Donnel, what are you looking at?" Robin asked him with a smirk on his face.
"WHA!? WHO? I-I wasn't starin' at nobody! Honest!" Donnel stammered.
"I don't recall ever having said 'somebody'." the smirk growing by the second.
"I don't know w-what you're talkin' bout sir, I was just out here gettin' ready for the battle!"
"Why don't you go try talking to her?" Robin asked, cutting to the chase.
"Ughhhh. Ain't nothin' get by you don't it?" Donnel let out a sigh. "Well I mean sure we've talked plenty of time before, but... well what business does a guy like me got 'round a cultured lady like her?" Donnel asked trying to hide his redness by pulling down his pot helm.
"Give me a break, Donnel. You give yourself less credit than you deserve. And by Shepherd standards, that's a lot."
"Y-you think so?"
"Look how far you've come. I bet nobody would've imagined you'd go from a small town, country boy, to fighting alongside the best soldiers on the continent. You're a hero Donny! I can't count the times you've saved my hide from some rogue who snuck past our assault lines, on both hands. And, you've also made me into one Ylisstol's finest snare crafters if I might add." Robin said with a smile.
Donnel perked up at his words,"Thanks a bunch Robin, but I still don't know how I'd even approach her."
Suddenly, "What careless lout elected to leave their belongings here!?" Maribelle cried, nearly tripping on a bag.
Hearing her, Donnel quickly searched around him only to discover that the bag had been his.
"Looks like the gods heard our little chat." Robin said as he shoved Donnel in her direction.
"Um, um. Gosh, I'm sorry! That's my pack!" Donnel said nervously.
"Well I ask that you would be more careful in the future! What if during an emergency, we were asked to evacuate and someone had tripped upon it. Your careless actions do not only go against proper conduct among the Shepherds, but such things are looked down upon by society."
"I-I didn't know, Maribelle. I'm real sorry. We didn't have any rules like that back home." Donnel looked down. He hadn't expected things to go as bad as they did.
"Very well, then. I shall take it upon myself to instruct you."
"Huh?" Donnel asked, dumbfounded.
"As soon as you get back, we shall began with the laws of Ylisse and the code of organizational regulations. As for now, just see to it that you return safely."
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
Robin chuckled at the sight. Well, a private lesson with Maribelle was some progress right?
He then saw Gaius, Panne, and Olivia come up to him.
"Glad you could make it." Robin said.
"Runnin' them down with their own horses. You really outdo yourself Bubbles." said Gaius, as he sucked on a lolipop.
"I'm ready for our mission Robin. This Taguel will not disappoint." said Panne.
"T-thanks for bringing me along." said Olivia shyly.
Robin nodded, "Gaius has experience breaking and entering.." Where a normal person would've likely taken offense, the look on Gaius' face was as if he had remembered some fond memory.
"After Gaius, Olivia is our most nimble with Lon'qu and Anna needed above deck" Olivia blushed at the praise, but mustered her courage and nodded confidently.
"And finally, we'll need Panne's strength if something goes amiss." Panne nodded proudly.
"We'll board their ship right after everyone else. We need to be sure the enemy is occupied with their entrance. After she's sighted the entrance to the stables, Tharja will fire off some hexes as a smokescreen and marker. We're severely outnumbered in this fight, so every second counts. We need to get in and out as fast as we can, and if needed, take out their General."
They nodded.
"I said I needed the best, and I meant it." Robin grinned.
The three smiled at his praise.
"You can c-count on us!" Olivia said with determination.
"I know I can." said Robin proudly.
"Oy! Enemy ships to the west!" bellowed Basilio.
Everyone turned to see a line of ships form from the horizon.
"Everyone get ready! We're sailing right for them!" Chrom yelled.
"Flavia! Alert the other ships to be ready as soon as we get back!" Robin shouted to her.
The long awaited battle to repel the Valmese invasion had finally begun.
They sped on, the sight of their enemy's massive lead warship growing as they neared.
It appeared that their General had humored their little stunt and had ordered the rest of his fleet to stand by.
They were closing in quickly.
"Enemy fliers!" Yelled Virion, as he readied his bow and fired a shot. The arrow ripped through the sky and met its mark with great accuracy. The pegasus plummeted into the sea along with its rider.
Javelins rained down onto the deck. Thankfully, no one was hit.
Ricken and Tharja quickly retaliated, firing off bolts of lightning at the aerial units.
Those unlucky enough to fall to the deck were finished off by the Shepherds.
"We're almost there! Get ready to board the enemy vessel!" boomed Chrom.
*CRAGGSSHHH*
The two vessels grinded against one another, then came to a halt after both ships' anchors were dropped.
The Valmese troops had already put down a large plank to cross over, but were sent flying by a blast of wind from the Ylissean mages.
"Charge in!" Chrom yelled as the Shepherds and Khans ran for the planks and boarded the enemy warship.
They rushed into the enemy forces, led by the father-daughter duo.
Chrom cut through a crowd of Valmese with little effort, Lucina by his side matching his feat.
A mage took aim at Lucina and fired off an Arcwind, but she evaded the attack and quickly dispatched of him.
Chrom spotted a line of archers. "Lucina!" he called for his daughters attention.
Lucina turned to Chrom and took notice of the archers. She nodded at him and broke into a sprint.
Chrom and Lucina ran up to the archers and slid down parallel to the line they had formed. They slashed at them while sliding, the 5 archers dropping down with one swipe.
As they got up, a large, heavily armed knight charged at them, attempting to halt their onslaught. Before the knight could pull back her spear, Chrom had drop kicked the top of her shield, knocking the knight backwards. Lucina, who had leaped into the air, dropped to the ground and dug her Falchion deep into the thin gap between the woman's helm and chestplate.
As she pulled her blade out, she turned to find a sword wielding Valmese soldier closing the distance between them. The man's chest was suddenly run through from behind by a fine, thin blade. The blade receded his chest to reveal Anna.
"Thanks." Lucina said gratefully.
The Secret Seller winked, then ran off to join Gregor to take on another group of soldiers.
Chrom jogged to Lucina's side and scanned the area cautiously, "I don't see their General, but keep on an eye out!", he yelled to the Shepherds.
Libra slammed his axe down onto another knight. It crushed its way into the armor leaving a large slit over the man's midsection. However, the blade of the axe failed to draw blood and Libra was forcefully shoved to the ground by the large man. The knight raised his sword and swung down onto the priest, but his actions were halted as an arrow found its way through the exposed armor and into his gut. The knight dropped his sword and fell to the ground. Libra jumped to his feet and cut down another soldier who had leapt at him. He turned to see a grinning Virion. Libra shot him a look of appreciation then moved on to the next opponent.
Vaike and Lon'qu found themselves back to back in the middle of a circle of several Valmese soldiers.
"Let's see if you payed attention during class" Vaike said to the myrmidon with a grin.
"Hmph, let's see if you can live up to all your blathering, Teach." Lon'qu smirked.
With his swift movements, Lon'qu sliced apart any soldier foolish enough to get caught in his reach.
Many rushed in, and equal numbers flew out.
Several armored units joined the circle and sped towards the two at the center from all sides.
"Duck!" Vaike yelled.
Lon'qu dropped to the ground.
Vaike grabbed his Armorslayer's grip with both hands, then with all his might, swung it in a circular arc around him as he spun on his feet.
The armored units couldn't slow themselves down fast enough and their armor was mauled to shreds by the metallic buzzsaw, sending them flying back and onto their fellow men.
"Heh, seems those muscles aren't merely for show, fool." Lon'qu smiled as he hopped to his feet.
"Yeah, I rule." Vaike said with a grin. "Crap! We've got a mage over here!" he yelled, just as a Valmese Sage fired off an Elthunder.
The bolt struck in between them and they were sent falling onto their backs.
A few bruises and slightly numbed limbs here and there, but they hadn't been severely injured. But as soon as they got up, they were greeted to the view of the same sage, who had nearly finished charging up another attack.
Before he could let of a second Elthunder, a blue blur crashed down on him from the heavens.
Vaike and Lon'qu looked up to see Cherche and Minerva.
They looked back down at the now dead sage and saw Frederick pull out his lance from the corpse's chest.
"I believe it is I that 'rules' ", said Frederick with a devilish smile.
Lon'qu and Vaike smirked.
"Any sign of him?" Frederick asked.
"Not yet." Lon'qu breathed.
"Well we better find him fast. There's too damn many of them! Uh, not that the Vaike can't handle it.."
The four pulled themselves together and braced themselves for another wave of enemies.
Across the deck, a Valmese archer had spotted a lone target. He pulled back on his longbow and shot off an arrow. It traveled across the deck, between several soldiers, and grazed Henry's arm, leaving a large gash.
"Gyah, blood! ... ... ...Heheeey, blooood", the sorcerer chuckled, now more amused by the red liquid than he was concerned of the wound.
The archer stood looking towards the direction where he had fired. Between the shifting crowd of soldiers, he could make out a young, silver haired man eerily waving towards him.
The archer's heart raced as he frantically reached for another arrow.
Henry, taking delight in the man's terror smiled as he readied his Ruin tome.
The archer had just barely pulled back when..
"Special deliveryyy."
An orb of darkness blasted through the deck, taking out a few other Valmese on its way to obliterate the archer.
Henry laughed at the sight and went along his merry way.
Above the sea of soldiers, on the upper deck, stood the Valmese General Ignatius, clad in large, red body armor.
The General gazed upon the battle taking place, "Heh, they'd wager so little men against all of ours? They're either brave or very stupid.."
He was confident their overwhelming numbers would eventually crush the Shepherds, but he was losing far too many men for his liking.
"Either way, their bodies will float on the long sea before the day is done."
He saw a large tanned man and woman taking on a horde of his men, ferocious smiles painted on their faces.
"The damn Khans are here too?"
Just before Ignatius was about to join in on the brawl, a javelin flew by and scraped his shoulder plate. The javelin slid past, barely leaving a scratch.
He looked up to see a brown haired woman riding a pegasus.
"I-I think I've spotted him! He's the armored one on the upper deck!" yelled Sumia from her pegasus down to the others.
"Tch, damn pest." Ignatius grabbed Sumia's javelin from the floor and took aim.
"SUMIA!"
"MOTHER!" The two screamed in terror.
But before she could react, it was too late.
"AGHH!"
The javelin sliced through the side of her leg, and pierced into the beast's leg. It's ivory side had now been stained in both it and its masters blood. The pegasus' flight was interrupted from the pain that coursed through its body and they fell from the air.
"N-no!" Sumia cried in fear for her precious friend's life rather than her own injury.
As they spiraled out of the sky uncontrollably, they were caught in the arms of a large reptilian creature.
"Nowi!" Sumia gasped in relief.
"Hehe. I've got you!" she said. "Don't worry! I'll get her somewhere safe!" she called to the injured woman's relieved family, as she flew Sumia back to one of their own ships.
"Gods.. I thought I lost her.. again…" Lucina said, fighting back tears.
Chrom saw his daughter, the horror that had filled him just moments ago had now turned to anger.
He glared towards the upper deck and at Ignatius, who made his way down the stairs to join the conflict.
He turned to Lucina, "Are you ok?" he asked softly.
"Yes.. Let's hurry and put an end to this." she said.
Chrom nodded.
"You heard Sumia! He's our target! Robin said no unnecessary fighting!" Chrom ordered.
Despite being completely overwhelmed, the Shepherds slowly made their way through the crowd of enemies towards their mark.
Minutes Earlier
"Alright Bubbles, we're in." said Gaius.
"Olivia, how's it look?" Robin asked.
Olivia peeked her head around the corner, "The coast is clear."
"Nice work everyone. But this is just the start." Robin said.
The four members of the team had snuck into the interior of the ship with help from Tharja. After walking for a bit, they came to a large hall with a ramp leading further down inside.
At the top of the hall, "That must be the main gate." Robin said as he pointed towards a large wooden double-door. "It looks like they've got it locked up. This job's yours Gaius. And make sure the door isn't completely shut afterwards, when the horses come running through here, we'll need them to notice that this is a way out."
"Yeah, yeah I got this." Gaius said as he got to work.
Robin peeked through a window and looked at the battle ensuing outside. He saw a sea of Valmese soldiers moving about. He could make out Lucina dropping from the sky and plunging her sword into a Valmese knight. All of a sudden, a swordsman had caught the best of her and was about to strike. The tactician felt his heart stop. "Lucina!" Robin yelled aloud, surprising Panne and Olivia with his outburst. His panic had made him forget that they were supposed to be keeping a low profile. But before the swordsman could attack, he stopped dead in his tracks. Anna had cut him down before he could reach the princess. Robin let out a quick sigh of relief.
"Robin! You said we were supposed to be quiet!" Olivia loudly whispered.
"Sorry, it's jus-"
"She'll be fine," said Panne, who had also seen the events unfold. "she's got her father and the rest of the Shepherds by her side, after all. "
"Yeah, you're right." Robin said, slightly ashamed for momentarily belittling the faith he had in his 'family'.
"Are you, worried for her, Robin?" asked Olivia.
"Huh? Of course I'm worried about her. She's been through too much for her story to end here. Besides, I think she's just started to warm up to me." he said, his frown turning to a small grin as he finished.
Panne and Olivia exchanged a knowing look, both smiled silently.
"I see" said Panne.
Robin had been completely unaware of how others may have interpreted his word's implications, as he had only intended what he had said to be seen from the perspective of a concerned friend.
As a result, he was dumbfounded at the now giggling Olivia.
"All right, I'm back. Huh? What'd I miss?" asked Gaius at the sight of Olivia softly giggling behind a hand.
She and Panne had both elected to keep the incident between them. Gaius looked to Robin, both shrugged in ignorance.
"Alright, let's get moving." said Robin as he led the way, the others trailing him.
After reaching the bottom of the ramp, they opened a second set of large wooden doors to reveal exactly what Robin had predicted.
A massive room, with rows of stables in which the Valmese kept their horses.
"We're in luck, the horses don't seemed to be locked in. Okay, first thing's first. Everyone take a row and open up all the gates." Robin said to the group.
"Right!" the three said in unison as they went off to follow the order.
After the job had been done, the horses were now free to leave their confines, some even walking out to freely roam the room.
"And now, we set things into motion. Stand back!" Robin yelled as he readied his tome.
Robin unleashed a blast of Elfire toward the bales of hay at the back of the room. The flame grew larger, consuming anything within its reach. Smoke began to rise to ceiling and out the many windows.
"Alright! The others should take notice any moment now. But.. these horses, they don't seem as bothered as I'd hoped..." Robin said in frustration.
He had thought the raging fire would be enough to rile the horses, but they seemed only moderately bothered as the herd briskly walked to the other side of the room to avoid the inferno.
Panne slammed her hands onto the floor as she morphed into her beast form, "Leave that to me."
She let out a ferocious roar that echoed through the room and dashed fiercely towards the horses.
The horses, witnessing the beast, let out loud cries before they dashed through the open doors and up the ramp.
Panne chased the large herd through the hall towards the top of the ramp.
The horses, who had sought to escape her pursuit, galloped on, bursting past the wooden doors and onto the deck with extraordinary velocity.
"Good work, Panne!" Robin said as she made her way back to them.
"The Taguel are peaceful, yet ferocious beings." she replied pridefully.
"I have no doubts," Robin smiled. "Now that's taken care of, let's head out."
As they made for the exit, Robin stopped Gaius."I know this might be asking for too much, but somewhere in here is their war room."
"I kinda see where this is going.." Gaius said.
"Any documents or notes we can recover could be invaluable to our fight. I'm not ordering you to do this, but if you're confident that you can manag-"
Gaius cut him off "Who do you think you're talking to here, Bubbles? I live for this kind of thing."
"Thank you. However, if your search comes up empty after 5 minutes, just get out of here."
"Heh, that'll give me enough spare time to raid their pantry." Gaius said mischievously.
"What? I'm telling you to lea- ugh, whatever. 5 minutes! Understand!?" he yelled.
But Gaius had already taken off.
Chrom was in the middle of a showdown against the Valmese General himself.
Lucina, Anna and Gregor were fending of the soldiers that were trying to rush in to break up the duel and aid their leader.
The other Shepherds were still on their way, as they struggled to fight back the enemy forces.
Chrom thrust his Falchion towards Ignatius's exposed throat.
Despite his heavy armor, Ignatius had proven quite agile as he twisted his body to the side and slipped past the blade.
He pulled back his free arm and punched the prince hard in the gut.
The metal fist slammed into Chrom, sending him sliding back on his feet. He recovered from the knockback, slamming the tip of his Falchion into the floorboards as he leaned on it to catch his breath.
"Is this the best you Ylisseans have to offer? Is this is all the strength you can muster? How can you ever hope to stand a chance against our glorious emperor?" spoke Ignatius in a calm but condescending manner. It was evident the man held great respect and admiration towards Walhart. A man with such devotion would be a tough adversary.
Ignatius turned his attention towards Anna and quickly lunged at her.
"Look out!" Chrom yelled.
The three glanced back to find Ignatius striding at them.
He swung at Anna, but she leapt into a backflip, out of harms way.
"Woah, easy there, big guy." Anna smiled, before she ran back towards him and slashed at his head with blinding speed.
Ignatius ducked and just barely missed the blade as it cut his cheek.
"Ugh!" He quickly countered by flailing his axe, striking Anna with the flat side. She was sent crashing backwards into some barrels.
Ignatius wiped his bloodied cheek and smirked in satisfaction at the sight of Anna's form, weakly getting up from the ground.
Suddenly, he had noticed that the sunlight that was beating down upon him only moments ago had been obscured. He looked up to see Chrom plummeting towards him in a spinning, forward slash.
The speed of the attack had caught him off guard and the Falchion cut a deep hole into his armor. The deck nearly shook from the impact.
Chrom wasn't done just yet, as he followed up his strike with several high speed slashes.
Valmese soldiers all around took notice of the tight spot their leader was in, quickly making haste to his side.
However, the rest of the Shepherds were steps ahead of them and had blocked off their path, striking them down one by one.
Lucina held out a hand to Anna, helping her up. Gregor who had been left fighting alone was joined by Basilio and Flavia.
Lucina noticed smoke rising from the sides of the ship. "The signal! He did it!" Lucina yelled to her comrades.
They all looked skyward.
"That's our signal to get out of here, right? What of their General?" shouted Basilio.
"My father's got him on the ropes. Have no fear, I'll stay and have his back. You all pull back before it starts."
The Shepherds nodded and fought their way to the sides of the ship to jump into the sea.
"I'll remain here with you milady." said Frederick as he ran over, refusing to leave Chrom and his daughter behind.
"You have my thanks." She spoke.
They continued to make sure Chrom had Ignatius to himself, but the amount of soldiers rushing in was simply too many for them to handle.
And then, the deck of the ship trembled. Loud, percussive claps thundering through the air.
"WHA!?" "TAKE COVER!" "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" "THEY'RE CRAZED!"
"GYAH! The horses! The damned beasts have gone mad!" yelled a Valmese soldier just before he was trampled.
The Valmese troops were thrown into complete disarray as the horses stampeded onto the battlefield, running over anyone unlucky enough to get caught up in their frenzy.
"You dastards! What manner of trickery is this?" screeched Ignatius, as he witnessed his men fall one by one to their own mounts.
"A parting gift from our tactician!" retorted Chrom.
Ignatius was being slowly pushed back, blocking Chrom's strikes with his axe.
Chrom's onslaught was too much for the General to withstand and he soon found himself stumbling backwards onto the railings of the ship. Chrom slammed his Falchion mightily onto Ignatius once more, but its edge was caught by his axe. With their weapons locked onto one another, Chrom pushed down hard, the tip of his Falchion inching ever closer to Ignatius's throat, blades screeching as they grinded against one another. Ignatius struggled to resist the force pressing down on him, summoning all his strength to overpower the prince.
"Tell me.. what do you hope.. to accomplish.. by winning here?" breathed Ignatius as he pushed on. "Our cause.. is a noble one.. He seeks only to rid this world of strife..."
Chrom maintained his superiority and kept on pressing down,"And you're trying to accomplish that... by invading the homes of others? I'd be a damned fool... if I were ever to buy into such logic.."
"Humans are weak... They need a strong.. leader to usher them out... of their own destructive ways..."
"You speak of nothing but tyranny... A true leader earns the respect of his people... He trusts and guides them despite their misdoings... This world has no place for such rule..." Chrom breathed, remembering his sister Emmeryn.
"Hahaha... is that what you believe? ..Is that... what you fight for?"
"That's of no concern to you... Right now.. I fight for my wife.." Chrom spoke, with one final push, the blade was touching Ignatius's neck when...
*BAMM*
One of the horses had dashed past the two, slamming against Chrom as it rushed by. The prince was thrown onto the floor meters away.
"Gagh." Chrom coughed as he slowly got up, clutching his right shoulder.
He looked up to see Ignatius looming over him with look of disgust. He was then kicked in the side of the head by the General's armored leg, knocking him back onto the floor.
Ignatius looked around at his ship. The horses where going mad, his men were limping about, battered and bruised. Countless bodies littered the deck and a fire was ravaging the port side.
He glared down at the prince, who laid unconscious, and raised his axe, "Fool, I too fight for someone else. And I'll see to it that he sits atop this world, where he rightfu-"
*GZZZANNNNN*
Before he could speak any further, Ignatius was struck by an Arcthunder and was thrown across the deck as he found himself with his back against the ship's railings once more.
As his body twitched from the shock, he saw a man clad in a black and purple robe, holding a tome.
"Finish him off!" the man yelled.
He turned his head to the side and saw a blue haired woman thrust her sword into the opening in his armor.
"GYAGH!?" His body shook.
His hands slowly coming up from his sides to grasp the Falchion's blade.
He stared up at his assailant, sight slowly blurring.
"It matters.. not.. Strike me down.. and 10 more take my place..." he sputtered, a trail of blood dripping from the side of his mouth.
The color left Ignatius's eyes as his vision slowly faded to nothingness.
The General went limp. He had fallen.
"Father!" shouted Lucina as she ran to Chrom.
She kneeled down to him and rested his head on her lap.
"Milord!" Frederick hurriedly rushed to Chrom's side. He checked for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Chrom! Is he alright?" asked Robin as he ran over.
Frederick let out a sad smile, "He's alive, thank the gods. Leave him to me, I'll be sure he gets out of here safely."
"T-thank you" said Lucina, relieved her father was fine. "Wait. Don't forget this." she said as she sheathed her father's Falchion into his scabbard.
Lucina left Chrom in Frederick's care as she headed back to retrieve her own Falchion.
She slowly pulled out the sword from the General's chest and turned to the robed man who was walking up to her.
"It seems that your strategy went as planned. Fine work" she said to him.
"Yeah, but we all pulled it off." said Robin.
He knelt down to Ignatius's lifeless body and put a hand to the man's face. With two fingers, he closed the man's eyes shut.
Behind him, Lucina let a bittersweet smile grace her lips. She admired the strength he had to retain his humanity, even amid all this death.
"Y-you dastards!" "Get the hell away from him!"
Lucina and Robin snapped their heads to the voices and found six battered Valmese soldiers, who now had their weapons trained on them. After picking themselves up, they had seen the fate that befell their General.
The two backed up against the railings, Robin pulling out his Bronze Sword. Lucina quickly scanned the area for her father and Frederick. On the other side of the deck, she saw Frederick carrying him over his shoulder alongside Panne, Olivia and Gaius. Frederick motioned for them to escape as they hopped over the railings and into the water.
"You two! Get off! Now!", They looked up to see Cherche and Minerva. Minerva had two barrels gripped in her feet.
Lucina quickly spun around and threw her right arm around Robin's waist.
"Hey, what the hel-" but before Robin could finish, Lucina had thrown both of themselves off the side of the ship and into the cold sea.
Cherche, confirming that no other allies were on the ship, gave a Minerva a small gesture.
Minerva pierced the barrels she held in her feet with her talons and oil spilled onto the deck.
They flew around the ship, the oil spilling onto the deck, guiding the flames inwards.
Before long, both warships had been consumed by the raging inferno.
Robin climbed the rope up the side of one of their fleet's ships. Upon grabbing for the deck, he was hoisted up by Lon'qu and Basilio.
"Ba ha ha! There he is! And just in time for the grand finale!" Basilio laughed.
Their fleet had sent some smaller boats out to pick up the Shepherds that had dove into the ocean. He and Lucina had been hanging onto one another for only a few minutes before their rescue arrived.
Lissa had come and brought blankets for everyone.
Robin wrapped it around himself as he shivered.
"H-hey? Where's he at?" asked Ricken in panic.
"I thought he was with you!" cried Stahl.
Robin immediately ran to them. "WHO? Who got left behind?!" He demanded, as he shook Stahl's shoulders.
"Donny! I haven't seen him since I jumped ship!" Stahl said, face filled with anguish.
The three set their sights on the two warships in the distance. The smoldering flame that engulfed the vessels would deny any left aboard of life.
Robin's insides crumbled.
"Gods, where is he? I told him that I would begin his lesson as soon as he had returned." It was Maribelle, it seems she wasn't aware of the current crisis.
"Robin, have you seen Donnel?" she asked expectantly.
He grit his teeth. His words failed him.
"It is rude to ignore someone when they are speaking you, Robin." she went on.
Robin felt as if he would collapse. 'Damn it, Donny. I'm.. I'm so sor-'
"I think you're missing this one."
Stahl, Ricken and Robin's looked up.
It was Cordelia. She landed onto the deck. Her pegasus brought it's wings down, to reveal an exhausted Donnel seated behind her.
"Ah, there you are. I see you fancy keeping a girl waiting." huffed Maribelle with crossed arms.
"I-I'm sorry ma'am. It's jus-"
"Oh hush, I was merely joking. Now come along, you have earned yourself a nice, hot meal." she said as she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the ship, Donnel blushing like mad.
Robin's heart was pounding at an incredible rate as he shakily gave him a thumbs up.
He closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh of relief. Stahl threw an arm around him and Ricken's necks and let out a laugh.
Everyone was accounted for. No Shepherd or Khan had fallen.
After a good laugh with the two, Robin strolled around the deck, congratulating all the Shepherds on a job well done.
He came to Gaius. "Glad to see you made it out safely." Robin started, patting him on the back.
Gaius pulled the sucker from his mouth," Yeah, same here." He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. " I managed to snag these before the place went up in flames. I couldn't find the war room, but I did stumble upon their General's. At least that's who I think it belonged to, I mean you should've seen the bed this guy slept on."
Gaius handed over a few soaked sheets of paper and a ledger.
"Thanks, Gaius. I'll see to it that you get an extra helping of dessert later." Robin said.
"That's what I like to hear." he said with a smirk before he walked off.
Robin was about to open up the booklet when Lucina walked up to him, "Robin, be strong."
Before he could even ask, several explosions could be heard in the distance.
Everyone ran to the front of the the ship.
Hundreds of their flaming warships crashed into the Valmese fleet. One by one, the ships lit up and tangled masts with adjacent vessels as they sank to the abyss.
The oil bled into the sea, forming a tide of death.
Lissa gasped at the sight, "The sea itself is on fire!"
"Only you could hatch such a brilliant scheme, Robin." said Flavia. "Who else would think to turn our empty ships into flaming cannonballs? It was so simple, yet the Valmese never saw it coming."
Everyone turned to the tactician who had remained silent.
Rather than accept their praise, Robin straightened up and gathered his strength. He closed his eyes and put a hand to his chest.
Lucina looked up from next to him. His jaw had been clenched, arms shaking.
The gesture seemed to have caused some confusion among the Shepherds, but upon realizing, they too followed suit.
They all stood at the edge of the ship, silently paying their respects to their fallen adversaries.
They stayed like that for a few moments, each reflecting to themselves.
Robin cast his dull eyes down at the ledger in his hand. He gripped it gently.
He noticed a small sheet of paper hanging out from in between the pages and pulled it out.
It was a hand drawn picture of a smiling, stick figure man, on an awkwardly sketched sail boat.
Scrawled at the bottom: 'I luv dady'
His strength vanished.
Tears streamed down his face, as Robin fell to his knees and trembled.
Lucina leaned over and rested a supportive hand on his shoulder once again.
Her eyes wandered to the picture that had fallen to the ground.
She let out a gasp.
Her hand squeezed Robin's shoulder tightly, as she tried, but failed to fight back the tears in her eyes.
Their first battle against Valm was won.
They were heroes.
A/N: Yikes, I felt so bad after writing that ending. I hope you err, enjoyed it. At least all the Shepherds lived, right?
Well, this concludes this arc.
Tell me what you thought and any problems that need addressing. Also feel free to let me know how you think the story should progress from this point.
I look forward to bringing you the next chapter!
Til next time.