#wolsquad

The three pick up their pace, despite how it burns through their legs even in the chilly water. Minfilia cries out with effort, tears stinging her eyes as she tries in vain to shut them away.

Wherever her friends are, she can't fail them. She has to escape with the Warriors of Light. She promised Thancred...

She looks back again, afraid she'll see pursuing lanterns or even faces. But all she sees is the glint of something metal, before it zips out of the shadows and strikes her.

"Ah—!"

"Minfilia!" L'aiha cries out.

The miqo'te manages to catch her as she collapses, stunned motionless by a sharp, stabbing pain in her shoulder. Minfilia blinks whole seconds by; she's suddenly being cradled to L'aiha's chest, as Nanamei puts herself between the two and the Braves closing in, her horned and scaled visage offering more intimidation than Minfilia could ever hope to muster.

Her vision starts to swim, swaying like the tiny firelight in the lantern. Is this the end?

"Minfilia!" L'aiha calls again, but her face is blurry and her voice distant. "Hold on! Please, we have to—"

"They're coming!" Nanamei shouts, even more distorted in Minfilia's fraying consciousness. "L'aiha, I need you!"

Minfilia blinks again. L'aiha props her up against the tunnel wall, then runs to join Nanamei. Though Minfilia can barely keep her eyes open now, she watches as they stand ready in front of her, as the Crystal Braves pour in.

"You're cornered now!" one says. "Come quietly or—"

"Like hell we will!" Nanamei yells, and casts forth a surge of fire.

The Braves retaliate, as L'aiha's own magic joins the fray too. Minfilia tries to breathe, each one sharp against her throat and lungs.

There's too many. The Braves are gaining ground fast.

"Hydaelyn," she whispers. "Please..."

Her eyes become too heavy, so she focuses only on her prayer.

"Please protect them..."

"Child."

A tiny, tiny spark of strength lights in Minfilia's chest. Her eyes snap open, but her friends and the tunnels are gone. She sits in a void unending, one full of starlight and aether. She's been here before.

Before her towers the Mothercrystal, glittering blues and whites, as gorgeous and ephemeral as always. Her voice speaks into Minfilia's mind.

"Thy star darkens ever more," Hydaelyn says. "I cannot repel it..."

Tears stream down Minfilia's face. She finds her voice again. "There must be a way. Please, if L'aiha and Nanamei... They cannot be lost—"

Her dearest Warriors of Light... Without them, who would relight the star?

"I haveth a proposition... but it will ask much and more of thee."

Minfilia doesn't hesitate. "Grant me the strength to save them."

Around her, the abyss is swallowed up in Hydaelyn's purest light. Minfilia feels it flood into her, warm and gentle, erasing her pain and weakness with nary a touch. She gasps, at first sensing herself strain against it. There's so much of it, and not enough of her...

"Child," Hydaelyn's voice calls. "Be my Word."

Clarity strikes, as body and light harmonize. Minfilia's vision snaps back into focus; she sees the tunnels, her friends, the Braves...

An arrow grazes Nanamei's leg. She swears, stumbling as L'aiha runs to her. The Braves encroach.

"Got ya now..."

Minfilia stands as if weightless; she doesn't even feel her body pull herself up. She walks through the water, coldly calm, unburdened by her wounds or fear any longer. Wordless, she steps between L'aiha and Nanamei; she hears them speak to her, but the words don't penetrate her focus.

The Braves falter, but sneer away any hint of concern. It's no secret Minfilia Warde is but the mouthpiece of the Scions. She speaks, she leads, but she's never been known to fight. If the rumors of her run in with Garleans and Ascians are to be trusted, she's practically helpless.

"Protect them," Hydaelyn says.

Minfilia raises her hand, and feels the light swell within her soul. The tunnels shake and strain as a massive, glittering wall of crystal rises out of the sewage, shutting out the Braves before they can come a step closer. The passageway falls silent, almost eerie, as the barricade stops even the Braves' shouts from coming through.

The light within her dims, like a flame running out of wax.

"What the fu..."

"Antecedent?"

She blinks, for the first time recognizing herself. She turns back toward L'aiha and Nanamei, as the pair stare at the crystalline wall. Minfilia looks up at it too. Since when could she do that? She can do that now?

The wax runs out, and pain resurfaces. Minfilia gasps, stumbling; both L'aiha and Nanamei run to support her.

"She's bleeding so heavily—what did she just—?"

"Forget it, we have to get out of here!"

Minfilia feels it when Nanamei hoists her onto her back, as L'aiha takes the lead. She feels weak again, her breaths short and her vision swimming.

But she can feel Hydaelyn's light too, and Minfilia knows it cannot go dark. Not now. Not yet.

So long as her Warriors of Light live, she will bear this new torch. She must. She can.

She smiles.