Chapter 16: Remnants
The growl of a looming storm and splash of waves against the hull took the place of conversation. Gaius and Gregor knew each other well enough, and could wordlessly operate the sail and tiller. It all left Chrom free to wonder and worry.
'How did we get that lucky, with evading Gangrel's ships?' He glanced up, to see that they'd fallen back even further. The black sails were almost lost against the storm clouds. 'And how did we swim like that? We should've been slowed down, with those wounds...'
He turned to Robin, frowning over how she hunched against the boat. Her eyes had a glazed quality to them, making his heart lurch. With a ship back under their feet, the reality of the situation crashed down on him. The image of her getting cut down played over and over in his head; as did the way she'd collapsed against him, and the sudden splash of blood. His breathing hitched, a knot trying to settle into his throat.
"Robin, are you-?" The knot dropped from his throat and into his stomach, remembering the red ruin of her back. And yet, Robin was still able to lift her head to him without flinching. "Are you okay? I saw that axe tear through you, and…"
He trailed off, praying she wasn't critically injured. The image of the axe slicing her flesh played in his head, mocking that hope.
In answer she shucked her robe, and turned her back to him. Chrom kept his eyes on her shoulders, bracing for what was underneath… Only to see a faint scratch ghosting over her spine, and a few thin strands of blood weeping from the corners. The only hint of the attack was how her clothing was torn open, showing hints of her skin.
He blinked, but the wound didn't change. "I saw you bleeding worse than that! I was terrified that-"
Robin pulled the robe back over herself, shivering a little from the motion.
"I'm not sure what happened either. But once we slipped into the ocean, it was like the wound closed up on its own. Or like I found myself under a healing stave." Chrom glanced towards the Shepherd, wondering if that was Lissa or Maribelle's doing. If the girls had somehow seen how they were hurting. That theory was dashed, when he saw how far away it was; none of the healers would have a hope of reaching them.
But that didn't change what he'd seen. Robin wasn't bleeding out anymore.
"…At least you're okay." He breathed out. Relief flooded through him, his limbs all relaxing. He eased off his feet, and sat next to her. "Gods… I don't think I'd be able to live with myself, if something happened to you."
Robin froze at that, staring at him in confusion. Under her bewildered look, his words caught up to him.
"I-I was worried." He tried to clarify. "You're important to the crew after all, and…" He wanted to think about how she'd guided them through storms and rough waters. Instead, he thought about the way she'd taught him to swim, the gentle nature of her words and touch.
His hand brushed against her arm; her clothing was cold from the swim, but her skin gave off plenty of heat. His fingers wanted to curl against her wrist, to get more proof that she was safe.
'What are you doing?' His thoughts finally managed to scream at him, as he looked down at his fingers.
"S-sorry… I guess that scared me more than I thought…" Chrom trailed off, as he looked down. Something shimmered against his outstretched arm, trying to gleam through the overcast sky. His free hand rubbed at his skin, which flaked and brushed off from the touch. It was like a collection of sand had stuck to him, even though they'd never touched the ground.
"I scared myself a little, too. But I didn't want anything to happen to you." Robin confessed, drawing his eyes from the sight. "I didn't think twice about taking that blow; I just reacted."
"That's…" Chrom wondered at the warm feeling rushing through him, at odds with the damp chill. He wanted to pursue that feeling… But there was still the matter of the tower.
They drew closer, the sail boat weaving among quills of rocks. Close enough that Chrom picked out the fine details of the tower.
The stones were blasted, stained by smoke from fires. At the foot of the tower were the burned skeletons of ships. Perhaps sent adrift there as funeral pyres from Wreckage, and the Plegian pirates.
"Do they not respect this?" He muttered, prompting Gregor to speak.
"Are you knowing what that tower is? There has never been much word in mouths on it."
"N-no. But I have a hunch. That it's important... more important than what those Plegian pirates might think." They seemed to cross some sort of threshold as he spoke. The sails went slack, rustling back and forth. The storm winds couldn't make up their mind on which way to twist, and Gregor had to fight to keep his ship from capsizing.
"Is looking like rough waters! Difficult to be getting much closer by ship."
"Nothing for it..." Chrom murmured, tracing a hand along his bloody arm. "We have to swim, don't we?" And if nothing else, slipping beneath the waves wasn't something the pirates could counter easily, or expect. A pale strand of sand gleamed between the jagged rocks, forming a tiny beach.
Robin was willing to swim as well, already balanced on the edge of the ship. Gregor barely had a chance to give out a faint "oi!" before they both slid over.
The water was eager to welcome him back into its embrace.
He glimpsed a central spire of rock, half obscured by the storm wracked sea. Robin found his hand, yanking him forward. Chrom kicked out, gaze half on the tower-
But also darting to a pair of shapes, drifting after them.
'Mer!?' Somehow they stayed just out of reach, and out of sight. Instead they opted to lurk in the corners of his eyes. Chrom yanked forward, trying to stay apart.
They burst to the surface with a rush of gasped air. He stared over his shoulder to the boat, looking impossibly small.
"How are we doing this?" He whispered. "I… neither of us should be able to swim like this, let alone do the same thing twice."
"...Still don't know how we pulled that off." Robin turned her head about, taking in the forlorn shore they'd surfaced at. He could just make out glimmering, finned forms in the waves.
"Q-quick!" Chrom hauled her onto the shore, eyes fixed to the waves. He waited to see if those scaled shapes would emerge from the tide… but they didn't seem ready to try and follow them onto dry land.
'Maybe I just imagined it,' he tried to tell himself. What he didn't imagine was the crash and rush of water, the waves chasing after them now that they were on dry land. The ocean wasn't ready to surrender them, pulling at their legs.
His knees felt like jelly with each spray of foam, and his skin prickled and itched. Another fistful of sand had coated his arms, and he rubbed the flecks free. They gleamed oddly bright as they fell into the grey tides, and looked almost blue against the water; colors that didn't match any beaches he knew of.
'No time to dwell on that!' His thoughts hissed, as thunder growled at them.
"We need to hurry." He said. Robin winced from the lightning flashes, and gave a quick nod.
-o-o-o-
The more Lucina moved, the easier it was to breathe. Her gills were stretching out, pulling in air for her. The near crushing from the rope was a distant memory… But that face on the ship still loomed in her mind's eye.
'Could it really have been her-?'
She tried again to push the questions from her head, focusing on the tower. At least this time they didn't need to swim through storm wracked waters… At least not yet. The black clouds seemed to hold their breath, waiting to send a tempest screaming down on them.
A brief ray of sunlight struck the tower, making it lantern-bright in the gloomy waters. Every detail of the tower was lit up, as were the carvings. It wasn't a hint of gold any longer, as the patterns on the brick glowed. Gleaming images were set into the tower, depicting five colored orbs scattered around an ocean map; red in the north, green in the west, purple in the south, blue in the east, and a central globe of silver. There was more, but on the next breath lightning stole her vision in a flash. When she blinked her eyes clear, the clouds had rolled in and took the carvings with them.
'I should know what that map means-'
"Luci, you have any suggestions? Any plans?" Morgan pulled at her shoulder. His hand kept her from crashing into the tower and tore her gaze from the carvings. Even then her mind protested, saying she'd almost picked out the details-
'Not important, compared to everything else you need to do.'
"We need to search. If we're lucky, we'll find another gem." If they were exceptionally lucky, it might give them clearer visions, and answers.
-o-o-o-
This place was a sibling to the tower they'd explored, weeks ago. The same alabaster stone and steps spiraled up the interior. Hints of carvings, thankfully untouched by the Plegians, lined the walls.
"Just like before..." Chrom said, and tried to watch his steps. The tower was shrouded in shadow, most of the light globes broken. With one hand he felt his way, and with the other-
"Chrom, you're crushing my hand." Robin whispered, and he realized how tightly he was clutching at hers.
"S-sorry. I just remember last time…" And how Robin almost slipped through his fingers. He had to remind his hand not to clutch at hers. Instead his thumb pressed against her palm. She didn't shy away from the touch, her fingers curling around his thumb.
Chrom tried to guide them forward, only to blanch when something hot slid over his hand. He cringed at the warm fluid coating her hand. The scrape along the beach must have opened her wound. Blood still ran sluggishly over his own arm.
"Gods, I didn't know you were bleeding this badly..."
"Neither did I. I didn't feel anything once the waves crashed over us… but it seems we aren't done with collecting injuries. You've got some red soaked into your side, too."
He clapped a hand over his ribs, wincing from the contact.
"Easy," Robin murmured, taking his hands back up in hers. "I can support you too, you know. I've been getting practice at climbing steps like these."
He felt the blood in their hands gather, turning into a collection of droplets. A few of them fell to the stones, splattering on contact and seeping off the edge of the stairway-
The water below gave another roar, becoming a green glow. Along the stairs, the lights sparked back into life. The sudden glow burned at his eyes, and the back of his neck prickled. There was something odd in the air, like all the electricity from the storm had been crammed into the tower.
"What on earth-?" Robin said. "Did we cause this somehow? I thought everything was broken, but it's almost like this place… Reacted to us, somehow."
"I wish I could answer you." Chrom told her. "But… Isn't it enough that we've got light? Maybe we can make our way up the tower, and dispel the storm."
Robin dipped her head stiffly, reluctant to leave it at that. Her nod cast shadows on the walls, sending ripples through the golden patterns.
"Chrom... look at those pictures." As they climbed, he watched the images change. Where the last tower had been of sea life, this one favored people, walking by the waves. The patterns built a massive city. The buildings seemed to flow with the suggestion of curling waves, and sea life following along-
Below came another rumble, followed by a rush of water. Chrom flinched from it, dragging Robin with him as sea spray exploded upwards in a geyser. But the tower was made of sterner stuff than Wreckage; the stones rang from the crash of waves, but didn't budge.
"...Oh, that's not good." Robin murmured.
"What do you mean? Aside from being wet, I don't think it's a huge deal-"
"...The water level. It's definitely rising now." Robin cut him off, peering over the edge of the stair. Chrom risked a glance over, and saw she was right. The maelstrom had changed, the center belching out spray that seemed to raise the pool.
Trust Plegia to make things more difficult for them.
A few more drops of blood dripped from his hands, falling into the maelstrom below... and he swore that the waters churned faster in response.
"Again, blood in seawater. But why-?"
"I'd definitely suggest moving at this point. And moving faster." Robin's voice reached him, followed by a hand on his arm, pulling him towards the steps.
"From what I remember, reaching the summit worked near miracles last time, right? With luck the same thing happens here, and we don't need to worry about drowning."
Chrom glanced down; they'd made one ring on the stairway, but the maelstrom had done the same. The entrance way was underwater, and a crash of rocks sealed the door completely.
Robin stumbled and almost collapsed into him, her feet skidded across the wet stone.
"What's wrong?" He saw how her shoulders shuddered... and yet it wasn't out of injury. Nor from her balance going. "Robin-?"
He trailed off, following her gaze upwards. With the next layers of stairs came a change in the carvings. No more elegant cities, or humans standing tall. Instead the waves of the ocean rose up, consuming everything. Figures tumbled into the waves, drowning and thrashing.
Yet that wasn't what made his breath freeze for an instant. Further up he could see other carvings, of human forms twisting, the legs merging together into a single tail.
'Mer. They carved Mer here.' The maelstrom below gave another growl, ready to recreate the scene from the carvings on Chrom and Robin.
Chrom fought for Robin's hand, only for his grip to slip away, replaced by a floating sensation. The images on the wall demanded his attention, and pressed down on his mind. Memories flickered up, making his breath shudder.
'This is… I've seen this before.' The vision had been more than simple carvings; it had been a dream, back when he'd half drowned in the Feroxi arena. He could see the tides crashing around ancient buildings, swallowing them and bearing down on him.
'A drowning capital, no escape from the waves.' Unless, someone could learn how to breath underwater. Like he had in his dream-
Something splashed against his face, and jolted him back to the present. With a sputter Robin did the same, starting forward with a splash. The waters were at their heels, due to their idleness. He wrenched away from the cold touch, slipping on the wet stone.
"Hurry!" Robin tugged at his arm. This time it was Chrom's turn to stumble after her, the top of the lighthouse drawing closer. Robin had found a swiftness in her feet, and led the way with pulls and whispers of "keep going!"
Her voice was oddly muted. A faint melody seeped into his head as they approached the summit. There was something familiar to it, reminiscent of Emmeryn's song. A part of him wanted to match his voice to it, even as they burst into the chamber. His ears rang with Emm's voice-
"Ah, thank the gods you're safe." That time, it wasn't confined to his memories. Chrom stared at the voice, hardly believing it was real… but the white robes were proof, as they spilled across the steps, the figure stepping through a rent in the wall. A familiar pair of hands reached out to Chrom and Robin, to help them up the stairs. When they touched his, they hand warmth and weight, too solid to be an illusion. Emmeryn had a strong grip, and easily kept her balance.
"H-How did you get here!?" Chrom blurted out. Emmeryn didn't pause at the question, pulling them upwards.
"I managed to steal away a pegasus from Phila." For a moment he saw a flash of Lissa in Emm's eyes, with how satisfied she looked with herself. "I couldn't let you face this alone, when you need someone to read the spell script."
She waved a hand towards the chamber, stepping through the doorway... only to trail off when her eyes swept over it.
-o-o-o-
Robin followed Emmeryn's gaze, finally taking in the chamber. Or at least what was left of it.
The floor was riddled with cracks, like rotted ice. A faint purple glow picked out jagged lines and strange highlights in the broken metal circles. A ragged script had been scrawled into the gold, maring the ancient writings. The sigils looked like they'd been carved at sword point, and had been written in strange tongue; something that looked harsher, and more savage compared to the hints of remaining heron script.
"What have they done?" Emmeryn said, disbelief dropping her voice to a whisper.
"…Whatever happened to this tower, they wanted the damage to be total." Chrom muttered. "Damn Plegia, and her pirates! They must have done this. Those sigils-"
He cut off when Robin gave a wince, giving her a worried look.
"I-It's nothing-" Robin tried to say. Her heart disagreed, thudding in her chest, stealing the air from her lungs. She tried to find a deeper breath, and keep the stutter out of her words. "It's nothing."
'Except that I can almost… Almost understand these things.' The Plegian runes seemed to flow together, trying to form words. If she looked closer, she might even be able to read them.
'And what does that make me? Plegian?' Chrom's hand drifted towards her, seeming to sense her agitation. She shied away from it.
"Don't give into anger or despair too soon." Emmeryn's voice stopped them both. She knelt next to the rings, brushing her fingers over the script. "I think… I may be able to make out the incantation. Most of it, at least. My worry is that the strength of the magic might be compromised along with the carvings."
Chrom risked a step towards Emmeryn. To backup Emmeryn's claim, the golden rings gave a hum when his toe tapped against one.
"Y-you can? But what about the marks they've made-?"
Emmeryn narrowed her eyes, considering the black marks. Robin, against her will, found herself doing the same.
"I think they're more than something meant to deface. Whoever did this… they could have just slashed the engravings to something illegible, and all with normal cuts. But these are almost symbols… like someone had their own message."
Chrom didn't seem convinced, with how he eyed those symbols. Robin had to admit, those scours weren't very gentle on the eyes. And yet… there was something to what Emmeryn said, something she couldn't shake.
'So what are those glyphs trying to say?' Neither Chrom nor Emmeryn dwelled on that thought, or noticed it play across Robin's face.
"I'll still try the incantation. That's the best we can do for the moment, isn't it?" Emmeryn focused on the golden script. From where she knelt, her nails tapped against the gold rings. A soft chime rang out, struggling to be heard. Emmeryn matched her voice to it, slowly raising the volume of the note and turning it into a song.
The tower stones gave a weakened creaking noise, stirring from the notes. And yet her voice didn't ring the same way, as before. The purple column didn't glow with the same fire as the crimson one had-
Chrom gave a humming noise in the back of his throat. Matching Emmeryn first in note, and then in word. Robin jolted from the sound, turning to look at him. His eyes were glazed over, much like Emmeryn; only half aware of the world around him. Chrom focused instead on the music. His voice was all resonant richness; a deep and stirring answer to Emmeryn's silvery calls.
The tower groaned, ready to collapse, but that wasn't the only reaction from Chrom's voice. The crystal gave a pulse, the glow gaining strength from his voice… but still not reaching the same intensity. Something was still missing.
Something that teased the edges of Robin's memory and senses. It made her eyes twitch, when they rested on the runes.
'You know this script.'
And she'd heard it before, in the voice of Gangrel's witch. Robin grimaced at the memory, hesitating. She didn't want to echo that woman-
The stones shuddered underneath her, waves shaking the tower base … and at her feet came a splash. A signal that the maelstrom had caught up to them, its waves eager to sweep them into the depths. It startled a yelp from Robin. That first squeak of sound changed as it left her lips, drawing notes out of Robin. It was like her throat had decided on the best course of action, without consulting her head.
Her song was different from Chrom and Emmeryn's. Sorrow drenched the melody… but with a note of command snapping through the syllables. It called to the purple glow and stoked it to full life.
'We did it!' She had time to think… right before the glow became her world, drowning out all of the lighthouse.
As it faded, she was left with a familiar vision.
'Storm wracked seas, broken ships… And those red eyes.' They again watched her, judged her every action… And a voice whispered approval, even as her stomach felt sick, watching the ships litter the ocean floor like corpses. Through the roar of water, she kept hearing one thing.
"As Grima wills it."
-o-o-o-
Chrom fell through the sea, down into a twilight realm at the depths of the ocean. It didn't matter how his hands grasped at the water. He couldn't swim free of whatever yanked him down.
Something waited for him, in the depths. Trench walls closed around Chrom, drowning out the remaining light… and leaving a faint violet glow, nestled in the sea floor. The glow flickered along the edges of a massive shape. Something coated in shadows and night black scales.
'A dragon-!' Chrom's breath hissed out in a spray of bubbles, his feet uselessly trying to swim away from the sight. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he picked out more… And felt his heart try to drop into his stomach. He recognized the violet glow, and the six wings twisting in the waters. It echoed the scriptures, and the murals of Ylisse.
'Grima.' The dragon's sides rose and fell, but it at least didn't open its eyes. The six red globes seemed sealed shut.
The dragon gave a single twitch, starting from its tail and working in a shudder up the neck. By the time it reached the horns it had turned into a thrash that shook the sea floor like an earthquake. For a heartbeat he was terrified those eyes WOULD open-
Instead the mouth gaped for a moment, and a rattling growl left the jaws. Streams of ink seeped past the teeth, the points of the fangs drawing strands of electricity through the black mist. The clouds billowed out, growing larger. They raced up to the faint twilight pinpricks above, like the barest hint of brightness was a personal affront they had to snuff out.
'Storms. It's breathing storms-'
The storm clouds swept past him, blinding Chrom and snuffing out the vision.
Chrom thrashed, feet drawing ripples in the lighthouse floor. The others were still with him, all of them stirring out of trances of their own.
Robin blinked up from her spot on the floor. She traced her fingers over the compass at her neck… and Chrom swore that the tips of her fingers traveled over an etching, a pattern in the compass that wasn't there before.
But he didn't have time to dwell on it. Not with the groan the tower gave.
"That's not good-" Robin said. "We need to find a way out, before this thing collapses with us in it!"
"My pegasus should be circling outside," Emm offered, extending her hands to both of them. Chrom found himself taking one, while Robin held onto the other. His fingers tightened on Emm's hand, and he couldn't feel ashamed for needing her help. Just then, he felt clumsy on his feet. His legs had forgotten how to work.
'At least it's not far.' She led them to the cracked wall, their feet splashing through puddles. The break was barely wide enough for a person to step through… or stumble through, in the case of him and Robin.
As Emmeryn approached the break, she put her fingers to her lips and let out a sharp whistle; something she must have learned from Phila, with how a white shape barreled out of the sky. The pegasus danced closer to the tower, the tips of its wings twitching. It looked ready to fly off if the tower dared to give another shudder.
Below waited the Shepherd, its sails stitched back into a shape that could catch the wind. With its masts reinforced, the ship looked less likely to snap. Chrom found himself grinning.
'We did it. We survived.' The pegasus alighted on the tower ledge, snorting with grabbed the saddle pommel and dug his foot into a stirrup, Robin taking the other side of the saddle. Emmeryn climbed atop the pegasus and signaled it to fly.
"We might just make it-" His stomach dropped. A second later his voice went with it. The pegasus screamed as a sudden downdraft slammed into them, yanking them towards the sea. The winds howled all around them… and he swore there was a voice carried on them. Something that sounded like Gangrel's witch.
'Fall, prince. Fall into the waters. They're ready to take you back.'
The waves were whipped into a frenzy by the winds, reaching out for them. A swell rose against the Shepherd… and there, riding that surge of wave, was Gangrel's own vessel, trying again to close.
"Damn him!" The pirate wasn't one to give up easily. Emmeryn turned to stare at Chrom, panic and disbelief writ across her features. The pegasus fought a losing battle against the winds, and those wings wouldn't save them if they were dashed against the waves.
'We're going to crash into the ocean, if we don't lighten the load!'
Below he saw one more ship, fighting the waves. The panic ebbed out of his chest for a moment, though Emmeryn still had white rimmed eyes. She couldn't see a way out of the situation… But he could. The same thing seemed to occur to Robin, as she shifted her grip, and focused on the ocean.
"I promise I'll be fine." Chrom told Emmeryn. And then he overbalanced, falling into the waves. Nearby, Robin did the same. They sunk underneath… and yet the waters couldn't seem to get a true grip on him, or pull him down any further. He cut towards the third vessel, to see Gaius and Gregor both staring at him over the edge.
"You are having quite the flaring for dramatic entrances!" Gregor called out, snapping a hand around Chrom's shoulder to haul him aboard.
"The man has a point." Gaius pointed out. "Also, seems the Pirate King has decided he has it out for us. Once he got in range, his mages tried to sink us." He gestured to the blackened timbers, proof of spell fire. "So it looks like whatever else, we're not on his side anymore-"
He switched from pulling Robin aboard to yanking her down to the deck. Gregor did the same to Chrom, almost wrenching his arm out of his socket. A flash of lightning streaked by.
"You know, if you have a way of getting us out alive, I'd love to hear it!" Gaius managed. The hum from the sea witch filled Chrom's ears, and he lifted his head to see Gangrel's men lining up. Ready to try and board the Shepherd, once they got some hooks into the Shepherd. And still that sound in his ears wouldn't cease, determined to drown out the storm itself-
'Wait, why didn't the storm disperse-?'
In answer, the tower gave a groan as sections of it crumbled into the sea.
-o-o-o-
"I don't like this." Morgan kept his voice low, half afraid that he'd stir up a stronger storm if he spoke loudly. "Something about this place says we shouldn't be here-"
"But we NEED to be." Lucina countered. "I know that much from what I saw in the carvings. We found that red globe before."
Morgan glanced to her scales, and the scarlet gleam on their edges.
"I guess so-" As he examined the scales, shadows darted around the edges of his vision, making him flinch. It was like something was following them, lurking right at the corners of his vision.
Whatever it was, Lucina didn't focus on it.
"So now we need to locate the next. I'd like to have a plan, instead of just relying on impulse and gut feelings." She said. He couldn't argue against his sister when she took that tone. Morgan remembered that much, and so followed her as she dove, to the very base of the tower.
'We get what we need, and then swim away.' He told himself… Only to still when they reached the bottom. The gold rings were still there, surrounding a chamber. But unlike before, the chamber itself was empty. No trace of light or crystal lurked in it, and the absence froze Lucina to the spot.
"I don't get it." Morgan tilted his head, trying not to tense his shoulders as well. His thoughts kept screaming that something wasn't right about this place. "There was supposed to be a gem here, wasn't there? So why-?"
A shudder traveled through the tower and made the water tremble around them. A raw wave of force slammed into his chest, trying to snuff out his heartbeat. Morgan stilled from the impact, and the strange sound ringing in his ears.
'We need to get away!'
"Luci-!" He choked out, reaching for her. But still she hesitated at the chamber, searching for some sort of clue. He tried to tug on her arm, to pull her away-
The delay cost them. Stones broke free from the tower, crashed through the waves, and turned the water into a swirl of bubbles and silt. The impact was like a dozen bells clanging directly in Morgan's ears, a cacophony of notes. His vision blurred from the noise, and the murky water.
He could barely make out his own hand in front of his face. Lucina was only a shade, twisting in confusion. Her head yanked up in time to see the stones rushing towards them.
But too late to act.
Shards of rock cracked across her back and shoulders, and did the same to him. An impact blazed through Morgan, his arms and sides screaming before going numb. The weight took him and Lucina to the bottom of the floor, half buried by the rubble.
'Not good-' his thoughts whimpered through the pain. His limbs were all dazed from the impact, and it was pure luck that he hadn't been crushed. He wanted to cry out for help, but his voice was little more than a sob.
'Who would hear you, anyway?' He didn't have an answer for that, apart from another groan from the pain.
"There!" A voice cracked through the fog, and Morgan flinched from it. The motion shot needles across his back, and he had to fight through the pain in order to lift his head. It was only as he raised his eyes, that Morgan realized he didn't know that voice.
Shapes angled out of the gloom. Forms that mirrored him, and his sister. His pain dulled out in favor of shock, as he stared at the fins, tails, and human limbs.
'Those are other Mer!' However, unlike himself and Lucina, the newcomers carried weapons. Jagged swords and spears were leveled at his heart, and the fins bristled as the strangers faced them.
"So… There were intruders, after all." Came a different voice, low and deliberate. It came from a scarred man at the front of the Mer, leading the band of strangers. He favored a short handed axe over the other weapons, and was armored in the bones of sea creatures.
Lucina made a confused noise, but the accident had stolen her words as well.
"Orders, Mustafa?" One of the Mer asked, leveling his blade on the two.
"Capture them, for further questioning. And be quick, before anything else breaks." His orders were clipped, and the Mer sprang forward to obey.
Morgan tried to lash out, to call up some sort of magic… But the rocks kept him pinned. And the bruised bones dulled his concentration; nothing answered his call.
The last thing Morgan glimpsed was Lucina falling beneath a dozen fighters swarming over the rocks. Something caught him in the back of the head, and his pain reached a fever pitch.
He dropped into blackness.
-o-o-o-
Robin's stomach sank, when those sections of tower dropped into the waves. They fell like pale leaves, leaving the lighthouse gouged and weak against the storm.
'It's been standing for centuries… So why is is breaking apart NOW, of all times?'
A sour taste settled along her tongue, fighting with the electric scent of lightning. She struggled upright, once she was sure that the spell volley was finished. A blur of white overhead tugged at her eyes, and Robin lifted her head to see Emmeryn fighting to stay aloft. The pegasus veered to the side, feathers singed by another thunderbolt of magic. Even when she and Chrom had jumped aside, the pegasus still had to fight the tempest in a losing battle.
Overhead, the storm growled, unwilling to dissipate. At the edge of the thunder, a strange echo lurked, almost like a ringing noise. And almost like what she'd heard in the tower. Another portion of brick fell from the lighthouse, adding more spray to the air.
The ringing grew in her ears, and she recognized the same notes she's called out, at the summit.
'It's like… It's like that song is eating away at the lighthouse.' And someone else was harnessing that song, keeping the storm clouds strong when they should have dissolved. Robin narrowed her eyes at that, glancing towards the pirate ship. A now familiar figure stood at the helm, her black dress and white hair snapping in the winds.
Gangrel's witch was leeching off the spell, twisting it into something that obeyed her whims.
'But if she's doing that… Couldn't I turn it against her?'
A hum built in her throat, as she watched Gangrel's ship and the Shepherd circle each other like snarling dogs.
'Just like at the tower. Focus on that strand of melody...' And match her strength to the sea witch. The leftover magic of the tower still hummed through her, ready to be let loose.
"Oi! What is girl-?" Gregor started to say, only to fall silent when Chrom threw a hand in front of him. Robin didn't stop in her singing either, staring at Gangrel's ship… and she swore that the song in the wind shifted. The sea witch's voice faded, replaced by Robin's.
'You can do this. You can match her.' Pain lurked in her temples, and it felt like she couldn't draw enough air into her lungs. Her vision flickered in and out, as Robin fought to pick out the right notes. Her voice wavered, and her hand went to her throat.
Instead, it tangled in the chain, and the compass… And just like that, under the contact of the metal, her voice snapped into place.
When she untangled her hand and threw it outwards, the wind shifted. No longer pressing down on the pegasus, Emmeryn was able to fly free, and escape the waves. Instead the tides turned with a snarl, slamming into the pirate ship and leaving it listing on its side. Enough that the Shepherd could break away, and pick out a route towards them.
Gangrel tried to pursue… And Robin broke into a strangled cry. The magic stole her voice, and in its place came a searing bolt of lightning. It slammed down hard on the pirates, blasting the masts into tinder. The flare robbed her sight, leaving her with splotches of white and black dancing in her eyes.
Going by the lack of thunder, she guessed that last spell took the teeth of the storm. The winds halted, and with it, the voice of the sea witch. Robin's final note took her strength with it, and she wobbled on her feet. Her head and eyes both felt impossibly heavy.
"Did you just…?" Gaius managed. "So Gangrel isn't the only one with a weather witch in his service. That, or you're the luckiest seadogs I've ever met."
"Aye…" Chrom said. She felt hands on her shoulders, trying to steady her. "And… it seems you won't be welcome in Wreckage anymore. Would you be ready to sign on with us?"
Robin blinked, trying to clear her eyes. She just glimpsed a nod from Gaius, and picked out an agreeing hum from Gregor.
"…Might as well. If nothing else, it looks like it's never a dull moment with you lot."
"Th-that's good then…" Robin just managed, before fatigue and nausea crashed into her full force. The last thing she saw, before her eyes slid shut, was the Shepherd trailing towards them. Ready to bring them back on board, like a mother gathering up her wayward children.