Okay, then, let me start by saying that this is my first fanfiction, so please take it easy on me. Otherwise, have fun reading!
...or not.
Please Read and Review. Criticism is the construction of literary greatness.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN FIRE EMBLEM! ...Even though I would give my house to own it.
Prologue: Under Gray Skies
It was a bright day as I woke up... until I noticed the clock. "I'm LATE!"- I screamed as I ran out of my room to brush my teeth and put on my clothes, all while skillfully balancing a piece of toast on my mouth. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! Gotta run!"-I shouted rapidly, and I was out within 5 minutes.
I ran off, ultimately reaching the average speed of a twelve-year-old's bicycle, up until I crashed. "Oh, my god! I am so sorry, miss! Are you okay!"-I asked to a grounded woman. Bad. It turned out to be my long-time crush... Coral. She rubbed the back of her head in pain. "Coral! I am so sorry, again! Is there anything I could do!"- I shouted. Great, now I'm shouting at a girl. "Yes, I'm just a bit bruised, Ben. Thank you for your consideration, but please watch where you are going next time..."-she moaned. She stumbled to her feet, which gave me an amazing idea. "Coral... you look a bit bad. How about I help you walk to school?"-I hesitatingly asked. She smiled. "Sure."-was all she replied.
I can't believe that worked! We walked with my hand around her shoulder for a while until we spotted my friend Ivan with a puzzled look looking at a house. "Ben, you dog!"-he screamed. I stared at him, then I realized. I still had my arm around Coral! She stared at me with a face that seemed to ask "are you actually enjoying this or something?" I immediately released my arm and quickly explained. "Her leg was banged up, so I offered to help her. That's all!"-I explained. "He is not my boyfriend."-she said, rather bluntly. "Yeah, what she said!"-I said. What? It was the best I could say in such an awkward situation!
"So, what is this little house?"-I asked. "Oh, it's said to be the base of operations for a CIA group of agents, many of them scientists. It's said they're building a time machine!"-he said. "Hey! I just got an idea!"-he continued. "Let's head in there!"-he finished...
...And before we could object, he was off. Me and Coral dashed madly to try and catch up with him, even when he entered the house; that's when he finally stopped after a few seconds. The house was full of strange paintings such as wolves, dragons, feather-obsessed ladies, and others. I took a glance at one of them and it showed an old lady and a thief fighting a man on a dragon. I wondered what that painting meant. I leaned over to Coral. "There sure are paintings of the same people here. Do you think...?"-I began. "They're probably civil rights activists or something."-she whispered back. I shrugged. In the middle of the conversation, Ivan managed to sneak out of the living room out into the back room. "Awesome!"-you could hear him shout. Were there really CIA agents there? If they were, why would they be giving their info to a 14-year-old boy? "Ladies first!"- was the first thing I could say while I was shoving Coral in front of the back door. "I wonder where you got that courtesy from..."-she answered sarcastically. I really wondered about it myself. Could it be my heritage? Coral slowly opened the door, and we popped our heads through the gap in the door. "Guys! You have to see this! There really are secret CIA agents stationed here!"-he said. "Hello. My codename is Brand. I...cannot tell you my real name."-a burly-looking man that appeared to be in his 30's introduced himself.
Brand showed us all of his and his comrades inventions... until he came to a sudden halt."Now, we showed you all of our technology. We have the legal right to kill you now."-he said. We all flinched. I acted fast and took a rusty metal rod next to me. "I'm warning you! I was trained in spear fighting from my ancestors! I know how to use this!"-I shouted. Interested, he responded, "Spear fighting, eh? This just got a whole lot better." We were all quite puzzled. "Excuse me, Mr. Brand, but what exactly do you mean?"-Coral asked. "Tell you what. I won't kill you if you approve to be volunteers on a super-secret mission of ours."-he said. "Super-secret mission! Sweet! What's it all about?"-Ivan asked. "It's about our latest invention, the time machine!"-Brand answered. "Awesome! A real live time machine! You normally see this stuff in movies or something, but not in real life!"-Ivan shouted excitedly. "Just head on there and lie down... don't worry. You'll be outfitted with the proper gear once you land.
We sat in our respective little capsules and placed some sensors on our torsos and heads. The scientists told us to put our minds blank and fall asleep. Easier said than done. "Hey, Ivan, this reminds me of that movie with the blue people!"-I said. "Oh, you mean the Smurfs!"-he screamed. I rolled my eyes, and fell asleep.
I woke up in a small, fluffy bed next to Coral. Ivan was in a sofa-bed. He was the first to wake up. "BEN, YOU DOG!"-he shouted yet again. Coral woke up and screamed in a very high pitch. "What... why are you..."- I started before staring at Coral in the eye. I got out of the bed and apologized. "For the second time, he is not my boy..."-she began. We all looked out a window and saw some men attacking what appeared to be villagers 3 floors below us. "Sweet! A medieval fight!"-Ivan said, and again rushed down to meet his "destiny" with the villains. "Ivan!"-Coral called out, to no avail, of course. "We can't catch him like this. We have to jump out the window."-I proudly said. "Have you lost your mind as well! How are we going to get down three floors!"-she asked. I put on a suit of black armor hanging on a wall and tossed her a black shield. "Have you ever sled down a hill before?"-I asked her. "What! You don't mean we're going to sled down this building, are we!-she shouted. I just smirked. "Do you have any other idea?"-I asked her. She just sighed and grabbed the shield from the floor. "Let's do this..."-she said, and got on her shield. I got on mine, and within seconds, we were off.
It was mere seconds, but we rolled down curtains and clotheslines... the thing I didn't think about was the landing. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. Luckily, I landed on something squishy... and red. Wonder what that was? Coral's immediate scream put me back on track. "What is it!"-I asked her. "A man... WE KILLED A MAN!"-she screamed. "This is all your fault! Now we have to go to court procedures, go to jail for life, and face a rotten death with open showers and unflushed toilets!"-she whined. "Coral! Look! This was a bad guy! Just look at his bloody ax and his loot bag that conveniently says "stolen funds!"-I consoled her. "We did...?" "Ben! Coral! I was about to kill that guy!"-Ivan shouted at us. We looked back and saw Ivan, with two strange people.
"Guys! This is the Dawn Brigade... well, part of it. They gave me this ax and told me to fight for justice with this. When I asked them what justice was, they said that I should just cut some bandit heads off. Let's tag along with them just to see if we can find our purpose here!"- Ivan said. I stood there, mouth agape, and so did Coral. Behind Ivan was a beautiful girl with silver hair, and next to her was a boy with brown hair, about 1 or 2 years older than me, with a sword sheathed on his back. "Hello, my name is Micaiah, and this is my companion Edward."-she said, extending me a hand. Sorry, lady, but my heart is taken, thank you very much. I shook her hand and Coral followed suit. "Couldn't you just refer to me as 'friend'?"-Edward sighed. I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Man, I know how you feel."-I said, pointing to Coral. "Thanks. Nice to know that I'm not alone..."-he said, sighing again. "My name's Ben. I want to..."-I began before I was rudely interrupted by a bandit's roar.
The savage lunged at me with his ax. I pushed him off with my shield, and was about to brandish my weapon, when I realized, I had no weapon. I tried to fight him off with the shield, but it was too much. I had to improvise. I took out a pocketknife from my belt and clicked it open. "Sayonara, sucker."-I whispered. I stabbed him straight across the chest. It looked painful, as the poor guy fell to the floor in pain screaming. He wasn't dead yet, and he could get up at any moment. I acted quick. I held my breath, closed my eyes and stabbed the dude fist-deep into his chest. I appeared to have gotten a lucky shot. He was unmoving and quiet. I had stabbed him straight through the heart. "Ben... CLEAN YOUR GLOVES!"-Coral screamed at me after looking at my blood-stained gloves.
"Nice job with a knife... however... your awkwardness and heavy armor tell me you're not a thief at all!"-Edward said. "A thief? I would never resort to such a path!"-I scoffed. Micaiah slapped me across the back of my head following. "Ow! Why did she...!"-I asked Edward. "Her closest friend is a thief. He is also the Dawn Brigade's leader."-he explained. "Here, take this spear we stole from a Begnion soldier."-he told me, extending an averagely made spear over to me. "This should fix your troubles."-he said.
Then, it all hit me... I sort of knew what was happening here... where we were, what we were doing, why we were doing that, all of it... including Micaiah's secret. "We're not done here..."-I said. "On the other side of a plaza... the boss of this tiny group of bandits. Name's Pugo."-I continued. "Ben... how do you know this?"- Micaiah asked me, with a stern look on her face, as if she inferred that I used to be from those bandits. "I... don't know. It just popped up in my head all of a sudden... just... let's go and check!"-I shouted.
We ran to the other side of the plaza, and, sure enough, Pugo was there, checking the bodies of his teammates."You! I saw you kill my mates!"-he shouted. "I''ll give you double the labor once I capture all of you!"-he continued. "You steal what little these people earn, Pugo, and then you waste it! You should be ashamed of yourself! In the name of love and justice... I will punish you!"- I screamed.
He readied his ax and charged. I dodged and countered with a spear strike to the shoulder; my signature move. He winced in pain and flinched. I smashed my shield in his face, dazing him, but he aimed for my legs almost immediately! I hopped to dodge the blow and used the spear's blade to try and cut his neck, but he intercepted it and flipped me over. Weaponless, I dodged his blows until he backed me into a corner. About to launch the final strike, I prepared for pain, but in a blurry flash, Pugo was on the floor, his chest burning... literally, burning. He screamed in agony and died.
"Thank you, Micaiah. If it wasn't for you, I would have died myself."-I thanked. Micaiah stood up from her pose and noticed a small gash on my right arm. "Ooh... here, let me take care of that!"-she hurried up to me. " No, Micaiah. You shouldn't."-said a voice from behind us. It was a blonde-haired man, about the same age as Edward, and he was wearing a blue shirt, as compared to Edward's red coat."Leonardo, you came a bit too late for the party!" Edward greeted the boy, whose name apparently was Leonardo. "Leonardo, was it? Mice to meet you. My name is Ben."-I said, stretching my hand out to him. " One second..." -he began. He leaned over to Micaiah. "Micaiah, who are these people?"-he asked. "These are our reinforcements. They can see into the future, like me. Ben just saved me from being back-stabbed by an unseen bandit." -Micaiah explained.
As Micaiah was getting Leonardo up to speed, with Ivan's help, Coral came up to me. "I can offer to heal that wound of yours..."-she said. I looked at my arm. I had forgotten for quite a while about it. " Y...Yes, please."-I said, blushing. She borrowed my pocketknife and ripped a piece out of her shirt, revealing her bellybutton. "Coral... thank you."-I said, my face bright red. "No problem..."-she continued. Her face was a bit red as well. She raised her head and our eyes met. "Ben! Do you have a fever!"-she suddenly screamed. " Your face is beet red!" -she shouted. By then, everyone had turned their heads to watch. It was then that her face turned as red as mine. "Coral! You and Ben seem to be getting mighty close over there!"-Ivan bellowed at us, guffawing. "Are those two married?"-Micaiah asked, rather seriously, albeit with a minutely puzzled face. I was about to open my mouth, but the embarrassment took the words out of me. "No! We are not married, much less engaged! And Ivan, for the third time, he is NOT my boyfriend!"-she screamed.
I took this opportunity to run away through an alley... but... I had this feeling that something was happening. I took the stairs that lead to the rooftops atop the plaza and saw some soldiers clad in red armor threatening the Dawn Brigade. I ran up, and using the element of surprise, stabbed one through the back. The other two soldiers looked at me and attacked. One went to lunge at me, while the other readied his bow. I dodged both the arrow and the lance and was about to strike, when I heard a strong voice. "Knaves! What are you doing with this Daein scum!"-he said. A shot of farsight hit me. These were Begnion Soldiers I was attacking, and the voice belonged to Jarod, the commander of the Daein State branch of the Begnion Army. "Well, if it isn't Jarod, the narcissist halberdier who steals from commoners!"-I said. My comment surprised everyone below, especially Micaiah, for some reason. "And you might be whom, to know so much about me?"-he asked.
"I am Ben, Time-Traveling Soldier from America. Your exploits are famed across my country... it is written in history..."-I began. "My... exploits? Famed?"-he asked. The Dawn Brigade gasped, with reason. If Jarod was to have famed exploits, then that would mean that the Dawn Brigade's mission would fail. "However... I have come to erase history."-I said. Jarod was angered by this. "You think you can end my future reign by yourself? En guarde, boy! I'll joust you down right here!"-he bellowed. "Hah! I think I'll toy with you and your minions a bit... Dawn Brigade! Run! I'll take care of Jarod!"-I ordered. This took the soldiers aback, who then awaited his superior's orders. "What are you waiting for, men! After them!"-he screamed. "You... I have a good mind to rip you to shreds right about now... You're becoming quite a thorn in my side... The only chance I get of catching the Dawn Brigade, and you just waste it! HA! I will pulverize you, then take down your precious Dawn Brigade as well!
"Hah... you forget... I didn't come on this mission alone... there are two other operatives on this mission as well. Just because you kill me, doesn't mean the mission is over!"- I threatened him. He flinched. "With technology like theirs, they can arrest you as soon as they notice I'm out of commission. Either way, if you let me go or kill me, your mission will fail!"-I exclaimed. Jarod flinched. He knew that if he killed me, he was going to die later. If he doesn't kill me, I'll still be alive to be a thorn in his side. He took his chances, apparently, and ran away, in chase of the Dawn Brigade. I took another route in chase of him... even higher in the rooftops.
I lost trace of the Dawn Brigade ever since...
That's the prologue... It's rather long, but it holds both Micaiah's prologue and Ben's prologue, so, yeah...
NOTES:
As you might have noticed already, this fanfic also gives you a different view of the story... it feels like I'm playing with fire here, tampering with the game's major plotline, but I don't really care much. After all, creativity is key in an OC story.
I'm giving Ben a bit of "farsight" so he can see the dangers around him, exactly like Micaiah's farsight. This may be due to me playing the game already, but I won't spoil stuff with the farsight, don't worry.
Yes, It'll be a running joke how Coral counts the times she says "He's not my boyfriend"... until he does become her boyfriend, of course. Not telling when!
And that's about it! Chapter 1's coming soon, as well. I'll keep this plotline going on for a long time! (imagines self driving an RV through a Colorado highway)
