I do not own Fire Emblem Awakening or any of its characters.
Training
Corbin spun around the training dummy, stabbing it from behind, then sighed as he pulled his blade free of the dummy. He wasn't improving training on his own, but no one else had time to train him. Chrom and Cordelia were planning their wedding, Frederick was the full-time personal guard and as such had no time to spend away from the castle, Vaike and Lissa were planning for their own marriage, Sumia was too busy training with the Pegasus Knights, who had refused to train Corbin half on account of him being male and half because they couldn't do much to improve his swordplay when they all wielded spears, Kellam and Sully both turned him down because neither of them knew how to wield a sword, and Lon'qu had spent one day training him, had decided that Corbin couldn't learn anything from him because Corbin lacked the natural talent and mindset to move through a battlefield like Lon'qu then, and had been near impossible to find since then, Anna had declined, though her reasoning was that she was too busy with her business. Even Robin had turned him down, in favor of training with Phila as well as a special exception, using her new Levin Sword in place of a spear.
And the one person who had promised to train him was missing again. Lucina hadn't been seen once since Gangrel fell, and yet Risen continued to be an issue. Once or twice a week, a small town or a remote village would come under attack, and all of the Shepherds who weren't getting married, plus Frederick and Sumia, would race to their aid and save whoever was still breathing. When it happened in Regna Ferox, the casualties were minimal, due to every Feroxi town having its own soldiers. As of yet, the Risen Corbin hadn't been seen since he'd killed Emmeryn, but every time Corbin went to face the Risen, he could sense them. He suspected it had something to do with the Risen Corbin's existence, but he had no way of proving it.
"Corbin!" Robin called, running over to him. "Risen!"
"Where?" Corbin asked, already running after her.
"A few miles to the west!" Robin said as they jumped onto a pair of horses she'd brought with her. "Just outside a small village!"
Corbin nodded, and they rode hard and fast toward the village, only to stop as they met the others heading in the other direction, looking worried.
"What's going on?" Corbin asked. "Are we too late to save the village?"
"The village is fine," Stahl said worriedly.
"They're not targeting the village," Lon'qu said gravely.
"Then what are they targeting?" Robin asked.
"Us," Panne said, looking around, eyes narrowed. "They're surrounding us now."
Corbin narrowed his eyes, drawing his sword and looking around. "Back toward the capital! If they surround us, we're finished!"
Everyone nodded and turned, racing back toward Ylisstol, anyone not on a horse riding with someone who was. Robin pulled Anna up behind her, Ricken jumped on with Maribelle, Kellam had a work horse that could support the weight of his armor, Virion jumped up behind Sully, Donnel pulled Olivia up behind him, Miriel climbed up behind Stahl, Lon'qu climbed up behind Gregor, Nowi climbed up behind Gaius, and Tharja climbed up in front of Libra. Panne transformed and ran alongside the horses, ears perked up and eyes darting around as they raced through the trees. They all pushed their horses hard, but within a few minutes, Corbin knew that it was a waste of energy. The Risen obviously had horses as well, and also weren't alone. Another group suddenly swarmed out of the trees ahead of them. These were on foot, and Corbin and the others tore into them, unable to stop in time to avoid them, but within minutes, anyone who didn't regularly fight from horseback had lost their mount, leaving more than half of them to struggle forward on foot.
A Risen roared at it leapt at Corbin from the right, and he stepped out of the way, slashing it, only to have to turn and block an axe, grunting on impact. He shoved it away and lunged, stabbing at it, but it avoided the stab, swinging its axe downward at him. His eyes widened, but before it could kill him, Stahl slashed the axe aside, decapitating the Risen. Corbin nodded to him, then spun, using his tome to send a lightning bolt into a group off to one side, blasting them all. Robin passed him, slashing two Risen across the torso before chanting an incantation and sending a lightning spike into one of the Risen. Corbin passed her, slashing a spear aside and slashing the Risen across the chest. Panne shot past them, slashing a Risen and sending him stumbling backward before turning and slamming a kick into it, finishing it. A second later, Lon'qu passed her, slaughtering a group of five Risen.
Corbin glanced around just as more of the Risen began to arrive. The first group. He swore, but before he could panic, however, the bushes ahead of them, toward the capital, burst apart, the entirety of the Pegasus Knights, including Cordelia, riding into the fray and rapidly slaughtering an entire swath of Risen blocking their path.
"Go!" Chrom shouted from the back of Cordelia's pegasus.
Everyone took off running, but the Risen swarmed, and being mounted on rotting horses, they were able to keep up, and even overtake those on foot. Anna and Robin kept close to each other for the most part, killing anything that neared them with their swords or Robin's magic. A spear grazed Robin's arm, but before it could cause trouble, Anna held out a magic staff with her free hand and healed the injury before spinning, knocking a sword aside with the staff and killing the Risen with her sword. However, more and more Risen were bearing down on them as the Pegasus Knights gathered the others and fled with them. Finally, just as Robin blasted a group of Risen, Phila rode up between the pair.
"Get up here, now!" Phila snapped.
Anna immediately hopped up in front of Phila, and Robin leapt on behind her, Phila helping Robin get situated before spurring her pegasus into a gallop again.
"Did we get everyone?" Phila asked.
Robin looked around, then frowned. "Where's Corbin?"
Phila glanced around, then cursed, tugging the reins to turn her Pegasus.
Corbin ducked under an axe, then slashed the Risen from behind, killing it. Another Risen immediately charged at him from the side, spear held out to impale him, and Corbin dove forward and away. And then, he was falling. He bounced off of rough, solid ground, and his fall turned into a tumbled, crashing down a steep hill that bordered on cliff. He smashed through bushes, bounced off of trees, and finally slammed down at the bottom of the hill in a few inches of icy, running water. He groaned, pushing himself up, and looked around. He was in a stream with a thirty foot hill on one side, the incline at least sixty degrees, making it border on cliff as much as hill, and an even higher hill on the other side. He groaned, reaching over to his sword, which had stabbed into the ground beside his head, and pulled it free just as there was a crash above and to his left. He sensed it coming and dove to the side again. As he landed in a roll, a sharp rock split his left shoulder open just before the Risen crashed down in the stream, axe first, and splattered him with water, mud, and more rocks.
Corbin swallowed hard just as more and more Risen began to either jump, tumble, or skid down the steep hill to the river. They'd left their horses behind, but already he counted twelve descending the hill, not including the one in the stream already. The first one leapt at him, and his left arm snapped up, blasting the Risen backward. Another charged, slashing with a sword, and he deflected it, slashing the Risen. Before it had even fully disintegrated into ash, a spear sprouted from its chest and Corbin dove to the side, a gash being opened in his side. He groaned, shoving himself up and backing away, his left hand pressed tight to the gash.
The fall had taken a lot out of him. He didn't have much energy left for spells, and he wasn't good enough to defeat all of these alone with his sword. And then, he wasn't alone. In less time than it took to blink, Lucina leapt from the top of the higher of the two hills, driving her sword down into a Risen and using its body to soften her landing before slashing a second and third Risen across the torso, killing both. One of them turned, raising an axe, but Corbin lunged, slashing it across the back and severing its spine, killing it. Another leapt forward to slash at Corbin, but he blocked the strike, Lucina killing it instantly. Another slashed at her, but she also blocked it and Corbin stepped around her, driving his sword through its face. He turned, ripping the sord back out in time to add his slash to Lucina's just as she parried a spear and struck back. Together, their blades split the Risen in half. Three more charged, but Lucina deflected a the first Risen's spear into the other two's axes, deflecting all three strikes, and as Corbin slashed one of them, Lucina slashed both of the others in the blink of an eye. The last handful of Risen all leapt at them at once, but Corbin raised his left hand and blasts of electricity burst from the tome, blasting all of the airborne Risen backward into the hills around them, killing them all.
"Well d-" Lucina sucked in a surprised breath as Corbin's knees sagged and his tome splashed down in the water, then caught him as he collapsed. "Are you alright?"
"I'm...fine," Corbin mumbled, staring up at her face, then frowned, focusing on her left eye. "Your...eye is..."
Lucina turned her head away for a moment, then hesitantly looked back at him. "It's why I originally wore a mask."
Corbin nodded, then groaned, struggling to his feet. Lucina picked up his tome and offered it to him, and he thanked her, storing it in his coat. Then, he looked up as several Risen roared above them.
"Shit!" Lucina swore, grabbing Corbin and diving away from the Risen just in time to avoid their weapons.
One of the three charged, but Corbin raised his sword, allowing the Risen to impale itself on it, then for Lucina to lop off its head, finishing it. Lucina jumped to her feet, deflecting the next Risen's sword several times before spinning around it and slashing its back. Then, as she rounded on the next Risen, Corbin finally managed to push himself up to his knees and drove the blade of his sword through the Risen's abdomen before collapsing again. Lucina slashed the Risen, reclaiming Corbin's sword, then knelt, feeling Corbin's pulse, head, extremities, and torso quickly.
"Gods, you're broken!" Lucina breathed, looking up at the trail of destruction Corbin had left when he'd fallen down the hill. "I need to get you out of here."
Just then, another Risen reached the top of the hill and roared, leaping off, only for a lightning spike to impale it and cast it aside, killing it.
"Corbin!" Robin shouted the moment she saw him.
"He's hurt, badly!" Lucina called up to her. "There should be a spot downriver a bit that'll be easier to climb! Meet me there!"
Robin nodded and Lucina sheathed her sword and Corbin's, then lifted him on her back and turned, hurrying along the river as much as possible. Finally, she found the spot she'd meant just as Robin, Anna, and Phila rushed over.
"Let me see him," Anna said, raising her staff.
It shone for a moment, a matching light surrounding Corbin, but as the light faded, Corbin merely groaned weakly. Anna shook her head.
"Someone more skilled with staves than me will need to heal him," Anna said. "Lissa and Maribelle can do it, but first we need to get him back to the capital."
"I'll take him," Phila decided. "My Pegasus can take off from here."
"Okay," Robin nodded, she and Anna helping Phila get Corbin up in front of her where she could hold him on. "We'll meet you in Ylisstol."
Phila nodded, then spurred her Pegasus into the air, quickly vanishing behind the canopy of trees. Instantly, Robin rounded on Lucina.
"Where have you been?" Robin demanded. "You told Corbin you'd train him!"
"I'm sorry," Lucina said, staring down at her reflection. "Please, understand my point of view. Risen or not, he's the one who caused the fractured, Hellish world I come from. Being around him...it's not easy."
"Well, you'd better get used to it, because you have a promise to keep," Robin glared at her.
Lucina sighed, then nodded. "I'll train him once he's recovered. Until then, I'm going to disappear. Tell Corbin I'll be waiting for him in the clearing east of Ylisstol in four days."
Robin nodded, and she and Anna both turned, hurrying back to Ylisstol. By the time they arrived, the others had long since returned, and Lissa and Maribelle had healed Corbin, but said he still needed rest.
"Hard to believe that a hill, of all things, nearly gets him killed after he goes that entire war barely being harmed," Chrom sighed.
"A steep enough fall can break anyone's bones, Chrom," Cordelia said.
"How is he?" Robin asked as she walked into the room.
"Resting," Chrom said. "Looks like we owe Marth again."
"Yeah," Robin said softly. "We owe her."
Chrom frowned, staring at her for a moment, but didn't say anything. Instead, he and Cordelia left the room, giving Robin privacy. For the next several hours, Robin waited at Corbin's side as he slept. Then, finally, he stirred. He groaned as he opened his eyes, looking around and smiling at Robin. Robin returned the smile and helped him sit up.
"Marth?" Corbin asked.
Robin sighed. "How is she the first person you ask about? What, are you in love with her?"
Corbin rolled his eyes. "I'm not in love."
Robin snorted, shaking her head. "She said to tell you she'll be waiting in the clearing east of Ylisstol in four days. Until then, you need to rest."
"What clearing?" Corbin asked.
Robin shrugged, and Corbin sighed, shaking his head. He got up, stretching and twisting to work out the soreness, then headed to the washroom to get cleaned up. For the next four days, he rested and recovered. Finally, he walked to the closest clearing, one which also one of the largest, and one where Chrom had trained when he was young. Lucina was waiting for him in the middle of the clearing, and nodded to him as he approached.
"Thank you for saving me," Corbin greeted her.
"You're welcome," Lucina nodded. "Now, let me be clear. I don't like you. Every time I look at you, I see the thing that killed my brother. If it wasn't for the fact that you dying is what causes that thing to be created, I'd kill you here and now."
"I understand," Corbin nodded.
Lucina took a long, slow breath. "I'm not going to train you gently. I'm going to be hard on you, and I'm going to force you to improve, because as things stand, you're pathetic with a sword. Whatever training you had before is absolutely pathetic."
Corbin nodded, and Lucina tossed a very basic iron sword to him. As he caught it, he realized it had flat edges and a rounded tip, allowing it to be used for training. As soon as he caught it, and without any warning, Lucina leapt into the air, clearing the distance between them in a second and slashing downward at him. He deflected the strike, barely, and she spun, slashing him across the side. However, despite having scored a would-be fatal strike, she didn't let up, continuing to assault him. He blocked what he could, deflected what he could, and tried valiantly to fight back, only to be absolutely brutalized. Finally, as he crashed to the ground from a particularly rough jab, Lissa and Robin stepped out of the trees, Lissa moving to heal Corbin as Lucina tossed Robin a training sword like her and Corbin's. Robin nodded once before Lucina was on her, beating her even more easily than Corbin.
"This is going to take a long time," Lucina sighed, motioning for Corbin to attack as he rose again.
"If it stops me from becoming a Risen, it's worth it!" Corbin punctuated his statement with a stab.
Lucina deflected the strike, continuing to brutalize him and Robin in alternating turns.
Leave a review.