Chapter Text
Lucina clambered down from the crow’s nest as quickly as she dared. The light was fading fast, and the oncoming darkness was far from ideal for a fight. Not only that, but the darker the sky got, the worse Lucina’s depth perception became. Severa had sent her down the ratlines after aggressively ringing the warning bell on the top of the mast, and had pulled out a bow and quiver of arrows from gods knew where. Lucina hoped that Severa could see better than her in the dim light. Shooting her own crewmembers on accident wouldn’t exactly be helpful. The crew was gathering on deck, Kjelle shouting orders and clanking about in the enormous suit of armor Lucina had seen on the floor of her quarters. Owain was standing to attention, face serious and hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Nah, Inigo, Yarne and Cynthia were standing nearby, and Noire brushed her shoulder against Lucina’s as she strode past her towards the mast, a bow slung over her shoulders.
“There you are, newbie,” Kjelle growled. “Come stand over here.” She gestured to a space between Owain and Cynthia, and Lucina slipped into line. Cynthia was running her hands over the cover of a thick and violently yellow tome, a look of giddy excitement on her face.
“What’s happening?” She whispered to Owain and Cynthia.
“Well, my dear friend, you’re about to see what exactly we’re dealing with here.” Owain said, grimly.
“Yarne! Are the ports below deck locked shut?” Kjelle barked. Yarne nodded stiffly, whiskers quivering and eyes wide. “Good. Alright, you know your positions. Get to it, and don’t let any of them onboard, got it?” The crew scrambled to follow orders, Gerome and Laurent going aft to the rudder, Cynthia breaking off to join Inigo amidships on the port side, and Nah going starboard. Owain made to the starboard side as well, and Lucina followed him. Kjelle alone clanked her way to the bow in her giant suit of armor. Glancing up to the masts, Lucina barely made out the figures of Noire and Severa against the sky. Both had drawn their bows, and had an arrow notched on the string. The ship went silent, every member of the crew holding their breath... waiting. The only sounds to be heard were small waves slapping the sides of the ship, and the gentle clang of the warning bell as the clapper grazed the lip with each sway of the boat. Lucina glanced over the bulwark, into the swirling depths. The water looked pitch black, no longer inviting and pulling at her sense of adventure. Instead, it seemed treacherous, a mire of foreboding and danger.
“Owain, please tell me what it is we’re expecting to fight,” Lucina whispered. “You’ve dodged the question ever since you convinced me to come.”
“That’s because you wouldn’t have believed me without seeing it for yourself.” He murmured back. Lucina gulped. That was not a reassuring answer.
“Heeeeeere they come!” Cynthia shrieked, delighted.
“Hold steady, long ranged fighters be ready to strike first!” Kjelle shouted from the bow. Lucina gripped Falchion tightly as the black surface of the water began to roil. Her grip on Falchion faltered and her eyes went wide as a hand slowly rose from the water. It was followed by a second hand, then a head and a body. A corpse was standing on the surface of the water, staring at Lucina with eerie, glowing red eyes.
The teeth were rotting from its head, gray flesh rent apart and hanging loose off the its frame, clammy and bloodless. Algae and seaweed draped over the molding rags that must have once served as clothes, and a sailor’s cap was still perched on its head.
Lucina felt her heart seize, a deep-seated instinct telling her to run. The corpse raised its hand, bloated and gnarled fingers wrapped around the hilt of a sword, and took a shuddering step towards the ship, ripples spreading from where its feet touched the water, unfazed by the waves breaking against its body. It opened its mouth, and a fog of dark purple mist obscured its face as it let out an unearthly shriek and charged forward. With a sudden twang, an arrow flew past Lucina, striking the corpse between the eyes. With a moan, it fell to its knees, the light in its eyes fading as it sank below the surface of the water. She whipped around to see Noire nocking back a second arrow from her perch in the rigging.
“Owain, what the hell is that!?” She yelled, turning back to face her cousin.
“No time to explain, here come the rest!” He shouted back, flexing his wrist. Nah let out a whoop, jumping up onto the bulwark.
“Make sure to get any that slip by me!” She said, before diving off the side of the ship. Before Lucina could react, there was a bright flash of green light, and a huge, pink dragon rose into the sky. She had no time to marvel at Nah’s transformation, however. An entire crew of corpses had risen from the deep, and had surrounded the ship. Lucina heard the yells and whoops of her crewmates as adrenaline coursed through them, and raised Falchion, gripping it tightly with both hands. Nah swooped through the air, raining concentrated balls of green fire down on the corpses. They paid her no heed, continuing to splash towards Lucina and Owain. Those that were hit were engulfed in Nah’s flames, immediately disintegrating and sinking into the waves, flames hissing as they met water. More and more continued to crawl from the sea, like worms from rotten woodwork. All of a sudden, Lucina’s attention was grabbed by a slimy, decaying hand grasped the bulwark of the ship by her feet. A head slowly rose up over the edge, its red eyes locking onto Lucina, the purple mist from its mouth wreathing its rotting head. One had made it to the ship. Before she could react, there was a flash and Owain’s sword had run it through. It shrieked and fell.
“You’ve got to be quicker than that, if you want to beat my sword hand, Luci!” Owain winked, and Lucina gave him a trembling smile in return. This was unlike any battle she’d ever been in.
The last rays of sun winked out over the horizon. An inky blackness began to seep into the dark blue of the sky, and soon Lucina could barely make out Owain beside her. She looked out to sea. All she could see were the flashes of green fire from Nah, and the glowing red eyes of the corpses trudging towards her. Another head peeked over the side, and Lucina jumped, lashing out on instinct. Falchion cleaved its head in two, and it let go of the ship’s rails, falling backwards with a gurgling moan. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she could feel cold sweat dripping down her back.
“It’s too dark, we can’t risk trying to shoot anything!” Severa’s voice called out. She sounded irritated.
“LAURENT!” Kjelle yelled. Her voice sounded strained. Lucina glanced to the bow of the ship, but it was too dark for her to see Kjelle. She looked towards the stern, where Laurent and Gerome were, and barely made out Laurent’s shadow, reaching for the sky, before a brilliant, orange flame came spurting from his hand, circling upwards to settle over the ship like a brightly shining cloud. Immediately, the deck was illuminated. Lucina took in the sight of Gerome hacking away with his axe at one of the monsters that had crawled up onto the ship, Inigo thrusting his sword down one of their throats, Cynthia cackling maniacally as a crackling arc of lightning shot through the chests of five at once, and Kjelle, alone at the bow, lying on the deck with one on top of her. Without stopping to think, Lucina leapt into action. She sprinted towards the bow, leaping over a coil of rope and ducking under a mainstay. Suddenly, the ship lurched sideways. Losing her balance, Lucina toppled past Kjelle and crashed into a bulwark, barely managing to keep her grip on Falchion.
“They’re pushing the ship!” Noire cried out, voice thin and wavering. Lucina got back to her feet. The corpse was fumbling with the knife gripped in its clumsy fingers, breathing purple smoke into Kjelle’s face, other hand wrapped around her neck. Lucina saw two more pulling themselves up over the railing. Without hesitation, Lucina launched herself towards the one straddling Kjelle, a well-placed blow taking off its head. She turned towards the other two, her training kicking in as she ducked below their clumsy hands, striking twice from below in quick succession. They tipped over the edge, and out of sight.
“Here,” Lucina said, offering Kjelle a hand. Kjelle took it, an unreadable expression on her face. Suddenly, the look on her face hardened.
“Look out!” She said, pulling Lucina away from the bulwark. The corpse that Lucina thought she had beheaded had pulled itself to its feet once more, rusty knife raised. Lucina’s vision had hampered her swing, she’d misjudged and the monster’s head was still just barely attached, hanging off its neck at a grotesque angle, red eyes boring into Lucina’s back. Before either of them could react, an arrow sprouted from its chest, and it collapsed.
“I can see again, thanks.” Severa scoffed from the crow’s nest.
“Good shot, Sev,” Kjelle said, and Severa turned away with a huff. “Now, you said they’re rocking the boat?” Kjelle clanked over to the edge, and Lucina followed her. Glancing over the bulwark, the two saw a line of the dead, half submerged and hidden beneath the curve of the ship, hands gripping the sides and pushing in a synchronized effort that tilted the boat to a concerning degree, sending everyone aboard reeling off balance.
“What the hell!?” Kjelle yelled, gripping the railing tightly to avoid stumbling.
“What do we do?” Lucina gasped, clutching the railing as well.
“Someone get below deck, open the ports and fight ‘em off from there!” Kjelle ordered. Cynthia leapt into action, running towards the stairs.
“Inigo, Lucina, go with her,” Kjelle said, roughly grabbing Lucina’s shoulder and shoving her towards the hatch as well. Lucina hurried after the other two, tripping down the steps that lead to the bowels of the ship. Cynthia ran in front, a small ball of flame dancing around her fingers and lighting the pitch-black passageways. There hadn’t been time to light the lamps before the attack. To Lucina, the walls of the passages seemed tight, as if they were closing in on her. Her back and neck were drenched with sweat, she could feel it trickling down her face, across the bridge of her nose and under her eyepatch, that was becoming itchy and uncomfortable. She wished she could take the damn thing off, another slip like the one with the corpse that attacked Kjelle, and somebody could get seriously injured. The wooden floorboards creaked as the three of them skidded into the hold, Cynthia immediately flicking the small fireball and leaving it to float freely in the air, lighting the hold enough for them to see what they were doing.
“They’re all on the starboard side!” Cynthia said, as they spread themselves out.
“Only open a few, we don’t want to be defending more than we can handle!” Inigo cautioned. Lucina and Cynthia nodded, each rushing to a port. Cynthia grabbed a lance that was leaning against the bulkhead, taking a deep breath and gripping it tightly before flinging open the port. She had lost the good humor and excitement from earlier in the fight, and Lucina noted the deep lines of concern in her brow as she thrust the lance out in front of her with a yell. Lucina turned towards her own port, mimicking Cynthia with a deep breath before throwing back the latch and swinging it open. She leaned out slowly. She was much closer to the water, now, with waves sloshing against the side of the ship no less than six feet below. She looked down, and saw a myriad of red eyes look up at her. In a panic, she pulled out Falchion, wildly hacking downward at the corpses, unable to see anything but their eyes. They sank, hissing and screeching. A few pulled away from the ship’s timbers and out towards open water, where they were felled with arrows and a flash of green fire.
“This one’s clear!” Cynthia called, as she moved over to the next. Lucina glanced out her own opening. She could see no more flashes of red. Deeming it clear, she latched it and moved over one. She could see nothing. She moved over again. Still no signs of red.
“I think we’re clear… I can’t see any more of them.” Lucina said, turning her head towards Cynthia and Inigo while still leaning over the frame of the port. Without warning there was a mighty splash and a corpse leapt from the water, latching on to Lucina’s left wrist with one hand. She shrieked, bracing her legs against the bulkhead inside the ship to stop from tumbling to the water below. They hung there, Lucina not daring to move for fear of falling, as the corpse slowly raised an axe with its other arm.
“Help!” Lucina cried. Unable to maneuver her right arm through the port, she simply dug Falchion into the deck at her feet, steadying herself further, and tried to pull her wrist from the monster’s grasp.
“Don’t move, Luci!” Cynthia called. The corpse swung its axe back and Lucina clenched her eye shut. Then there was a blinding flash of light, and a crackling BOOM that left the hair on Lucina’s arms standing on end, and she felt the weight on her wrist instantly disappear. Cracking her eye open, she glanced down at her arm. Only a single, smoking hand remained.
“Eugh!” She yelped, shaking it off and dropping it into the sea below. She drew farther inside the hold, far away from the port, and looked over at Cynthia, who was clutching her large, yellow tome, and shaking the smoke from her hand.
“Just in the nick of time!” She tried for a grin, though she looked as shaken as Lucina felt. Inigo ran to Lucina’s side.
“Are you alright? It didn’t hurt you, did it? I’ve never seen one do that before…”
“I’m fine, Inigo. Thank you, Cynthia,” Lucina said in a shaky voice. Cynthia carefully peeked out of the rest of the ports.
“I think that was the last of them…” She murmured. “Let’s get up there and check in with the captain.” Lucina gladly left the hold, wrapping her arms around herself protectively as she walked behind Cynthia, who lit every lamp she passed with a flick of her finger. She had swapped her big, yellow tome for a smaller, red one. They reached the top deck, and saw the rest of the crew gathering in a little knot near the ship’s wheel. Kjelle clanked up to them.
“The boat stopped rocking. Did you get them all?” She said, in a low voice.
“I think so…” Inigo said, glancing at Cynthia for confirmation. Cynthia gave a silent nod.
“How’s it looking, Nah?” Kjelle shouted to the dragon who was circling the ship. Nah swooped toward the deck, assuming her regular form and landing gracefully.
“All clear. No sign of movement.” Nah reported, moving to stand by Lucina.
“We can’t see anything further out, either,” Said Noire, as she walked towards the group, Severa clambering back down the ratlines behind her. Laurent silently waved a hand and the curl of flames floating above the masts faded away, revealing the black fabric of the sky studded with stars.
“Alright, what was that?” Severa snapped, sauntering up to the group.
“Yes, that was… very different.” Noire said quietly. Yarne nodded, putting a protective arm around her shoulders. Gerome lit a lantern, holding it aloft to lend the light to the little gathering. The light from flames flickered over his mask, leaving half his face in shadow.
“They’ve never behaved like that before. It was almost as if… they were acting under orders. As if something was telling them what to do.” He said, grimly.
“One of them nearly got Lucina,” Cynthia added quietly. “It hid under water and jumped out when she thought the coast was clear.”
“They shouldn’t be able to do that, it makes no sense!” Laurent burst out. “They’re corpses ! Reanimated by some means, but with no mental capacity whatsoever. From what I’ve deducted thus far, they’re driven solely by their desire to attack living beings, nothing more. This… synchronized pushing of the boat… working together, hiding under water… it doesn’t make any sense .”
“If the brainiac over there doesn’t know what’s happening, we’ve got a snowball’s chance in hell of figuring it out,” Severa scoffed.
“Calm down,” Kjelle snapped. “Sure, we don’t know what’s going on or why their behavior’s changed. But does that really matter? This doesn’t change our mission. We’ll keep doing what we have to do.”
“Gawds! Are you stupid? Obviously it matters! We need to know what’s going on or next time, someone might die . From what Cynthia said, I take it the newbie almost bit the dust tonight. What’ll we do about the weak links next time, huh?”
“Now hold on, Severa-” Owain said.
“Excuse me, did you just call your captain stupid?” Kjelle said, temper flaring instantly.
“So what if I did?” Severa retorted.
“Um, excuse me… will someone please explain to me what exactly those things were?” Lucina carefully edged her way into the conversation.
“Why don’t we go down to the galley and have a hot drink? We can discuss everything down there!” Nah said, attempting to diffuse the situation.
“Y-yes! That sounds like a g-good plan to me!” Noire added on.
“No, I think we’ll discuss this out here. Now, what were you saying to me, Severa?!” Kjelle said, stepping closer to Severa.
“SHUT IT, YOU PUNY MORTALS! STOP ARGUING AND COME TO THE GALLEY BEFORE I WIPE YOU ALL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!” Noire roared. Everyone jumped.
“Alright, let’s go! I, for one, don’t want to get smote! … Smited? Whatever.” Nah said, corralling the crew towards the hatch. Severa looked like she wanted to say something, but Noire put a gentle hand on her arm and she backed down, content with shooting a smoldering glare in Kjelle’s direction.
The galley was uncomfortably silent. Kjelle and Severa had seated themselves at the opposite ends of the biggest table, purposefully avoiding eye contact. The rest of the crew had gathered around the edges of the table, clumped together in an effort to be as far as possible from the two incensed girls. Despite the sweat that Lucina had been drenched in earlier, a few stray shivers had started to wrack down her spine. It was still technically late summer, but the nights had gotten cold. The ports were still closed from the battle, and the close proximity of the entire crew in one cabin was beginning to warm the place up. The silence was broken as Yarne maneuvered his way out of the kitchen, balancing a tray of steaming mugs in his arms.
“Hot cider,” He said, ears twitching. “Don’t have too much of it left, but I thought this was as good a time as any to have some.”
“Thank you, Yarne.” Kjelle said coldly. She picked up her mug and slurped threateningly in Severa’s direction. Lucina hadn’t been aware that slurping threateningly was possible, but Kjelle seemed to be a master of the art. Severa simply sniffed, cupping her hands around her cider and flipping her ponytails over her shoulders.
“Right, then. Lucina, I believe you asked what those things were?” Laurent began. Lucina nodded. “We call them the Risen. No one knows where they come from, what they are, or why they’re attacking. In fact, most people don’t know they exist. The only thing we know is that they’re moving corpses. Reanimated with some sort of dark magic. The most complex thing they seem to be capable of is to attack anything living… or, so we thought. Our battle today seems to have turned that on its head.”
“Which is a big problem,” Severa interjected, and Kjelle scoffed. “If they’re capable of more than we thought, that makes them all the more dangerous. At this rate, we might not be able to handle them all ourselves.”
“And what do you suggest we do? Tell the Ylissean army? We can’t just waltz up to them, we’re wanted for Naga’s sake!” Kjelle said loudly. “We’ve handled them fine up ‘til now, all we have to do is change up our strategy in order to take care of these new behaviours.”
“Are you out of your mind? Don’t be a fool, didn’t you hear what Laurent said?” Severa snapped, jumping to her feet and slamming her mug on the table. Kjelle leapt up as well, a growl growing in her throat.
“Alright, that’s enough of that! Calm down, everyone!” Owain bounded up on the table, hands raised and fingers pointing at both Severa and Kjelle. “Arguing won’t get us anywhere.” He waited until both captain and lookout had taken their seats again, before hopping down.
“While I agree with Kjelle that continuing to fight the Risen is all we can really do for the moment, I also think it’s important to note what Severa said, and look into why they’ve changed.” He said, before finally taking his own seat.
“...Like I said before,” Gerome said in the following silence. “They wouldn’t be able to do this on their own. Something must be giving them orders, and that thought alone is more than enough reason to be concerned. I doubt this will be an isolated incident.”
“The real question is, if they’re smart enough - or if whoever is controlling them is smart enough - to change their battle tactics against us, isn’t there a chance that they’d try to bypass us completely and get to shore?” Inigo added, stroking his chin pensively.
“N-now there’s a scary thought…” Yarne said, looking alarmed.
“We’ll have to work twice as hard to intercept them all before they get to shore, if that’s the case.” Nah murmured.
Lucina sat in silence, mulling over all that had been laid bare before her. She was in the middle of the ocean, on a small boat, with a group of teenagers whose sole purpose was to fight the dead. What had she gotten herself into?
“And how do you propose to figure this out?” Kjelle had gotten to her feet yet again. “Each and every one of you keep talking about ‘looking into this,’ but how are you going to do that? I’m telling you, there’s nothing we can do except continuing to fight them!” The captain’s face had turned bright red, and she was furiously glaring at the rest of the crew. Silently, she drew herself up to her full height, and turned on her heel.
“Don’t come and bother me unless you’ve got a real plan.” She spat, and stormed out of the galley. The clanking of her armor faded down the passageway. Nobody made a noise.
“Well, our captain certainly lost her temper.” Severa drawled, her eyes hard as stone.
“What should we do, Owain?” Noire said in a small voice. Owain sighed, rubbing the heel of his palms over tired eyes.
“I say we drop this conversation for now, and revisit it after the sun has graced us with her presence. For now, I don’t feel all that comfortable dropping anchor here. After that battle. I’d prefer if we could put on a little distance. We can get by with a skeleton crew, if some of you feel the need to sleep. Actually, Severa, I think it’s probably for the best if you go cool your head a little, and get some rest.” He said, resting his chin on his fist. Severa got up slowly, and swept out of the cabin. The others stood as well, a few raising their hands as volunteers to man the ship through the night. They began to file out, either to the deck or their own bunks. Lucina was still seated in silence, and as Owain rose to leave, she grabbed his wrist. He turned to look at her, blinking blearily, before understanding crossed his face and he sat back down next to her.
“Ah, yes. I believe… I owe you a bit more of an explanation.” He said, looking down at his feet.
“Yes, I believe you do.”