LUCINA'S POV
Thomas was more talkative than I remembered. We made it roughly a mile before he started asking questions. "So, Blue, have you met with any of the others?" I shook my head. "Only you, unfortunately." Thomas' face contorted into a look of mock hurt. "Oh, am I not good enough for you?" he asked, ruining the act by unwrapping a lollipop and sucking on it. I smiled.
"Well, you must be making a real living if you can afford all that candy." Thomas burst into laughter. "I don't care what ANYBODY says, taking candy from a baby is NOT easy." We both laughed at this, although normally I would be scolding him for thievery. I guess I can cut him some slack, considering I thought him to be dead.
"That reminds me." I said, after a minute or two of walking in silence. "How did you escape that fort?" Thomas' face darkened. "It wasn't easy, Blue." He said, spitting out the now empty lollipop stick. "I honestly thought I could hold off those Risen for you three and escape with my life. But after you left… this sorcerer came…"
THOMAS' POV (An abandoned fort, while trying to recover Vert)
"You three have to go, dammit!" I yelled, decapitating a Risen archer with one quick strike. "BLOOD AND THUNDER!" Noire yelled, shooting a mage choc full of arrows. "WE ARE NOT LEAVING YOU BEHIND!" "I agree, what would the ladies think?" Inigo said, smiling weakly as he danced his way out of a cluster of enemies. "We are not running like cowards while you stay and fight!" Lucina yelled, Falchion's light causing the swarm to hold for a split second. I shook my head as three undead fell to the ground. "Pretty soon, Grima will locate our presence and the Deadlords will get here. Do you want that?" I said, instinctively reaching for my pocket and cursing when I remembered my candy stock ran dry weeks ago.
"You wouldn't stand a CHANCE against them!" Lucina yelled, stabbing a mounted Risen in the chest. "Better I die than you! You're the princess of Ylisse and I'm just some measly COMMONER!" at the last word I whirled around and sank my sword into an oncoming fighter's chest. Lucina's mouth formed a hard line. "You have the gemstone. I promise I'll come back once I've mopped these vermin up, alright?" I was no Inigo, but I managed a wink to reassure her. Lucina sighed. "Noire. Inigo. We're leaving."
"BLOOD AN- Eek, my Talisman!" Noire began to cry as a shadowy Risen snatched the prop and dashed away. "Oh HELL no!" I yelled, weaving through the horde after the thief. "Thomas!" Lucina's voice got faint as I charged farther. Suddenly, the Risen dissolved in a purple fire, and the Talisman dropped to the ground. I scooped it up and got ready to turn, when HE appeared.
He was leaning against one of the few remaining pillars, smiling cockily. He had a Waste tome in his hand, and he was smiling calmly. "Oh, I was hoping to catch that blasted princess, but I suppose you'll make a fine… hostage." He said, sweeping his dark purple cloak over his shoulder. "Alright, if you think you can use me a hostage…" I brandished my sword. "You have another thing coming. Lucina already left, and I'm not about to let you follow her!"
For all I knew, Lucina was still fighting off the horde in the other room with Inigo and Noire. I just hope the creep couldn't see through my bluff. His eyes immediately flashed red as he growled in an inhuman-like way. "LIES!" he hissed, seething. "YOU SPEAK NOTHING BUT LIES! LET YOUR FINAL WORDS BE TO THOSE BLEEDING-HEART FOOLS! YOU WILL BE THE FIRST CHILD TO DIE!" with that, he opened his tome and began to chant. "Κάψτε στη φωτιά της έπεσε δράκο!" instinctively, I leapt to the side as the ground below me erupted in a column of purple flames. I ran at him, jumping carefully over the uneven ground, sword held high. He tried in vain to hit me with his tome, but I easily dodged at close range and sank my sword directly into his heart. I pulled the blade out as he sank to the ground. "You think… you have won here today? Your… beloved princess… will die… your country… will sink into ruin! The world will soon follow suit! You. Have. Lost!"
Then, his head slumped to the ground and his eyes glazed over. However, the tome floated up into the air by itself, and began flipping pages rapidly. "Oh crap… what is happening?" the pages stopped turning, and the ground began to rumble as the tome turned to ash. Cracks appeared in the ground, and purple fire spewed from it. "Oh… incredible tactics… the spell used in this magnitude would kill him… but on the brink of death he used all of the tome's energy in one colossal ker-pow! Not so good for me, however." I rolled to the side as a crack appeared where my feet were a second ago. "I got to run… I hope Blue and the others are alive…" so I ran for the exit, scooping up the Talisman as I went.