Thicker Than Water (4 of 5)
For No.16: Breaking Point
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Hopes
Rating: T
General Warning: Canonical child abuse, violence, nyctophobia
Summary: Three weeks ago, Margrave Gautier ordered Sylvain to find Miklan and recruit him for the war effort. He hasn't been seen or heard from since.
Now, Felix and Shez race to find him before Miklan finally does away with his brother for good…or worse.
(Read on AO3)
...
“Now!” Shez barreled through the opening in the ruined wall, sword in each hand, and cut down the first bandit that rose to meet her. On her right, Miranda hurled a fireball at the tower, while Felix charged onto the field from the opposite side of the encampment.
“You go high, I go low?” Miranda called, throwing another fireball at an archer that peered out of a tower window.
“Meet in the middle,” Shez agreed. She barely spared a look at Felix, who was moving through the battle with his usual speed and grace and focused on clearing a path toward the tower with Miranda. The other woman, tall and statuesque with the dark skin and pale hair of her Duscar heritage, called out an order to her men before following Shez into battle.
Shez ran into the ruined tower, swords in both hands, kicking away the first bandit that approached her. Another jabbed at her with a spear, but she twisted into the blow, running one sword up the spear’s shaft to sink into the bandit’s arm.
“I’ve got this,” she called as Miranda hesitated. The other merc was a magic user, not good for close-quarters battle. She saw the edge of Miranda’s robes disappear down a flight of stone steps and spun around on one leg to bury both blades in the stomach of another bandit.
Then she was up the other stairs. An archer took a shot at her, but Shez easily dodged the arrow and ran him down, bursting out onto the second floor. There were fewer bandits up here, most of them having been drawn to the battle in the courtyard. Shez easily worked her way around the floor, knocking doors in or down as she went, revealing nothing but empty room after empty room.
Up another floor. The stairs further up had collapsed, so she couldn’t go any higher. It looked like the third floor had gotten hit with a siege weapon in the past, as the entire east side had caved in.
There were only two doors to check, and when Shez opened the second one a massive figure lunged at her out of the shadows. He was easily bigger than Dedue and wrapped his massive arms around her despite the wounds she’d inflicted on him. Shez bit back a curse and kicked ineffectively at his knees while he took a few long strides and slammed her against the wall.
Her head collided with the stone, hard enough that lights exploded in her vision. She couldn’t get an angle to retaliate with her blades, couldn’t get the leverage to strike him with her knees or feet.
He slammed her into the wall again, and the sword in her right hand dissipated when she released it involuntarily. Shez tried to headbutt the massive bandit, catching him in the mouth with her forehead. It didn’t do much but ring her own bell, but at least his lip was bleeding now. He grinned, blood turning his smile gruesome, and spun on his heel to throw her down the hall.
She hit a piece of rubble with bruising force, her left sword vanishing now. He was charging again. Shez rolled to her feet, dizzy, ears ringing, and summoned both swords as the bandit grew nearer.
Side-stepping at the last second, Shez brought both blades around to cut into the bandit’s back. He let out a howl of pain as she kicked off, backing away, swords held up at the ready.
“Gonna skin you for that,” the bandit growled.
“Oh, you can talk?” Shez taunted as she retreated toward the stairs. “I didn’t think your kind had that level of intelligence.”
He snarled and charged again. Shez held her position until the last possible moment, then ducked under his outstretched arms and spun around his body to plant her boot against his backside. It was a cheap move, sure, but they were running out of time, and…well, those stairs didn’t look too soft.
The bandit went down with a yelp, that was silenced when his head cracked against the stone. Shez flew down after him, dodging the body (not checking if he was dead or unconscious), and nearly knocked Miranda over when she reached the first floor.
“What took you so long?” Miranda gasped. She had a streak of blood on her cheek, going up to her coiled braids, but she otherwise looked unharmed.
“Oh, you know. Stopped for tea with a few interesting gentlemen. Find anything?”
“Blood in a couple of rooms, at least a few hours old. No prisoners.”
“Me neither.” Shez frowned. If they weren’t keeping Sylvain in the tower, where else would he be? “Did you see any outbuildings?” She ducked back when another bandit charged into the tower, only to meet a blast of dark magic from Miranda.
“Collapsed stables, but other than that just an open firepit and an old well.”
Shez’s blood suddenly ran cold. She knew the story, though she’d heard it from Ingrid and not Sylvain. “The well,” she hissed at Miranda before bolting out the door. She knew the other merc well enough to be confident that Miranda would be on her heels, and the sizzle of magic as another bandit fell proved that.
They skidded to a stop at the well. Shez leaned over, staring down into the darkness. “Sylvain?”
“You think he’s down there?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Sylvain!”
“Here,” Miranda pulled her back, then held out a hand, palm up. She focused for a moment, and a sphere of light materialized to hover just over her fingers. Miranda leaned over the well and turned her hand over, so the sphere of light drifted down into the darkness.
Shez crowded up next to her, staring at the little light, until its faint glow revealed a familiar, crumpled body with flaming red hair.
“Felix!” Shez yanked her pack off her shoulders as she called for her companion. “I’ve got a rope in here. Felix!”
Miranda took the rope out of Shez’s hands and started knotting it into a carrying harness. “I’ll lower you down.”
“Right.” Shez nodded. She jumped to her feet, finally seeing Felix running toward her. His sword was bloody, but he seemed uninjured. “He’s down there,” she said when he drew near, gesturing at the well.
Felix’s eyes hardened, even more than usual. “I’ll get him.”
“I don’t think—”
“He’ll know me.” Felix started to unbuckle his sheath, but something must have caught his attention as he spun around just in time to block an incoming spear.
“I should have known!” A man was emerging from the shadows near the tower. The red hair gave him away, but Shez could see nothing else in his features or mannerisms to mark him as Sylvain’s brother.
“Miklan.” Felix had taken a protective stance in front of them. There was no waver in his voice or stance, just a cold fury that had the hairs on Shez’s arms standing on end.
“Wherever the whelp goes his runt follows,” Miklan taunted.
Felix’s focus never wavered, though he turned his head slightly toward Shez. “Get him out.”
Then he was charging across the field, sword held high, as Miklan roared up to meet him.
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