Fire Emblem Awakening: Morgan the Dread Fighter
"Father!" A young female in a cloak called out, her voice aimed at a tent on a grassy plain straight in front of her.
"Patience Morgan, I'm coming!" A male voice called out. "Just- Just give me a minute!"
The young female huffed, sitting on the ground impatiently. The young woman wore a purple and black robe, a gray undershirt underneath, golden-blonde hair poking out from underneath the hood. She sat under a solitary tree, a wide expanse of dirt and grass going on for miles, only ended by mountains in the distance. In front of the tree she sat in was a large mass of tents pitched on the plains, men and women walking throughout the tents. Strangely, all of the characters seen throughout the camp all had carefree looks on their faces, but their postures revealed that they were ready for a battle to break out at any moment.
"Vaike! Get back here you dastard!" A woman with red hair and dark crimson armor ran by with a spear drawn, chasing a blonde, shirtless man. "I know you tried to peep on me again!"
"The Vaike doesn't have to admit anything!" Vaike yelled, dodging a spear narrowly piercing him.
Speaking of the characters, the camp's residents all wore armor or equipment, carrying various weapons of every caliber, bows, axes, swords, lances, even holding books of sorts with strange inscriptions on them. This camp in specifics happened to belong to the Shepherds, a militia force protecting the continent of Ylisse. Everyone here, to the pervert who just ran by-
"Hey!" Vaike shouted.
To our young friend sitting beneath the tree, are all enlisted to protect this continent. Speaking of the girl, she remained sitting by the tree, when a man came around, walking by.
"Howdy Morgan!" A man waved with an axe in his hand, black armor with buckles and straps lining his entire body, except his head, which was covered with a pot of sorts. A red aura glowed off of him, barely visible to the naked eye, one that would send shivers down anyone's spine. His smile on his face on the other hand indicated nothing but friendliness.
"Hi Donny! Oops, I mean, greetings Donnel." Morgan, as we come to know her, waved back.
"Still tryin' to improve your vocabulary?" He asked, sheathing his axe on his back.
"Yes! I think it's working, I think father's beginning to notice me more because of it!" Morgan said, giggling in triumph.
"Like when?" Donnel asked, curious on Morgan's attempts at attentions.
Morgan grinned, looking up at the tree, staring off into space.
Last week in flashback world…
Morgan stood leaning against the side of a different tree, an indifferent look on her face, until a man walked by, her face lighting up at the sight of him.
"Greetings, father!" Morgan greeted her father.
Her father waved back. He wore the same armor Donny from the present wore, the black armor and red aura from earlier present on his person. While his face was covered with a mask resembling a kitsune, or a nine tailed fox to be specific, black hair could be visible behind the mask. The man simply waved, and walked off. Morgan squealed with happiness soon after.
Back to your regularly scheduled Morgan.
"Well, I 'spose any chance at growing can't hurt. See you later Morgan!" Donnel waved, walking off.
"Farewell, Donnel!" Morgan waved goodbye. "...Hmm, actually, maybe I should've said, 'Adieu'? Different languages sure seem like they would make me seem smarter…hey, where's dad?!"
Robin sat inside a large tent, a flap opened ever so slightly to let in a little sunlight, the light falling gently on the ground underneath. A secondary source of light coming from a candle flame illuminated his features and desk he sat by. Now without a mask obstructing his face, his features were clear, tired brown eyes scanning a map, a slight frown, and lazily tousled white hair. Wearing a cloak over his armor similar to Morgan's, his brown eye painstakingly inspected a map, several markings drawn on the map. He sighed, looking over the map again and again, adjusting various details.
"Alright… Risen are appearing everywhere. They're concentrated far off from any landmarks, but they're still edging closer with each day…" Robin thought to himself.
"Father! Are you finished yet?!" Morgan's voice asked, Robin sighing, looking over the plans and maps he had conceived.
"Almost finished, Morgan." Robin called out, quickly scribbling away. He gave it one last cursory glance "...I'm sure Chrom can decipher this."
Nodding, Robin stowed away the map away, folding it neatly, then dashed outside.
"Yes Morgan, you were calling me?" Robin asked, looking around.
"Father! My, what an unforeseen visit!" Morgan said, standing up straight by the tree.
"Morgan, you called me here." Robin said, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh. Um, yeah, I suppose I did?" Morgan said. "Well, I called you here because I wanted to show you...um…"
Robin stared down at Morgan, leaning on the side of the tree. "Show me what?"
"Show you…" Morgan trailed off, looking in different directions. "Um...th-this tree!"
Morgan stood up, gesturing to the tree Robin was leaning on. "Quite the beauty, isn't it father?"
Robin bit his lip, staring up at the tree's branches. "It's sure...shady, I… guess? Thank you Morgan."
Robin took his hand from the tree and began making his way back to his tent. Morgan flinched.
"W-Wait, father! As long as you're here, do you want to go visit mother together? I'm sure she'd love the visit." Morgan suggested.
Robin smiled softly. "I still doubt Emmeryn is your mother, Morgan. We're just friends, and she's still recovering."
"It's obviously not anyone else." Morgan pursed her lips. "Otherwise I'm pretty sure Owain or Brady would be my brother."
"Even then, sorry, I still have other strategies to review with Chrom. But I'll promise you that as soon as I'm done, I'll sit down and listen to whatever you have to say." He promised, still with a friendly smile.
"Really?!" Morgan gasped, raising two hands to her cheeks.
Robin nodded. "Yes. As soon as I'm done."
Morgan nodded, smiling at her father. On the inside, she was squealing with glee at the prospect of spending quality time with her idol/parent. Damol waved goodbye to his daughter, to which she waved back as calmly as humanly possible. Her face's smile threatened to break her teeth if she wasn't careful, but Morgan had no cares in the world, besides the fact that her father spent some time with her.
"Perfect! I've finally gotten to know my dad a little more! Just one more conversation and I can achieve that 'C' Support Rank!" Morgan thought to herself, grinning. "...But wait...if I don't have anything to say next time...I won't be able to have another support with him! Oh no, I'm such a buffoon! Okay Morgan, think, think...what would dad be impressed by enough to talk about?"
Morgan pondered this for quite a while, several other Shepherds passing by and glancing at the girl. Most simply gave her a questioning look, nothing more, until Donnel came by three hours later.
"Morgan? You uh...still sittin' there?" Donnel asked.
"Gah!" Morgan shouts, throwing her hands up in the air, startling Donnel somewhat. "Donny, I need to ask you something."
"Sure, shoot." Donnel said, leaning on the tree.
"What to ask, what to ask...AH!" Morgan's eyes brightened upon examining Donnel.
"...What's it like being a Dread Fighter?" She asked curiously.
Donnel looked elsewhere. "Welp...I can't really put it to words too well. I 'spose it's neat, the training paid off. Now I feel like I could...harvest crops ten times as fast! I can even- Hang on." He reached up towards his head, under the pot he wore, and pulled out a yellow tome with a lightning insignia emblazoned on the front. "I can even cast magic!"
Morgan put a hand to her chin. "What you're saying is, after becoming a Dread Fighter, you yourself didn't just grow, but also in the eyes of other?"
Donnel nodded and returned the tome to its rightful place: under his pot. "Well, yeah, I guess. Though I do miss just being a farmhand sometimes. Much simpler life, didn't have to hurt anyone, y'know?"
"Thanks Donny!" Morgan said with a smile, then sprinted off.
Donnel watched Morgan dash through the camp, ducking and weaving through groups of soldiers. Donnel shrugged at this, then walked off.
Morgan poked her head around a tent, eyes carefully scanning the area. No one was around. The chaotic yelps and sounds of weapons as well as gruff female voices cursing in the background must have meant that Vaike had attracted quite the horde. Tiptoeing in as quietly as she could, she sneaked into the tent, shiftily ducked to the ground as she walked in. Looking around, she scanned through a variety of weapons and items, ranging from swords to potions all cleanly organized. She started to search through them with extreme dedication minus haphazardly tossing sharp weapons around. Eventually, she settled on what she was looking for.
"Aha! A Dread Scroll!" Morgan cried out, lifting up a small object.
In the palm of her hands, there rested a small scroll of sorts encased in a round golden cage. The scroll emanated a sinister aura of foreboding dread. To Morgan though, she lifted it up, happily dancing with it in her hands, as if it were a sphere of gold.
Oh wait.
Ignoring that redundant simile, Morgan lifted the orb, pushing it into the air. It hovered there for a while, Morgan smiling as it glowed brightly, then the orb fell back down on the ground.
"WHAT?!" Morgan cried out, picking up the orb. "Why didn't it work?! I'm at a sufficient level!"
A sheet of paper was suddenly blown into the tent. Upon spotting it, Morgan picked it up, and began reading.
"'The Dread Scroll is a male-only class item, its female counterpart is the Wedding Bouquet, which can turn any level ten female into a Bride'? What?! No, I'm using a Dread Scroll!" Morgan protested.
Another sheet of paper was blown into the tent. Morgan picked it up off the ground as well, reading through the sheet.
"'Girls, if you want to use the Dread Scroll, wait until Fire Emblem Fates comes out in the west'- No! I'm definitely using the Dread Scroll right now!" Morgan shouted, crumbling up the piece of paper and tossing it on the ground with a huff.
Morgan walked back to the Dread Scroll, picked it up, then began shaking it violently, the rolled up paper inside bouncing around just as violently.
"Come on! I just want father to notice me more! Is that too much to ask?!" Morgan shouted as she shook.
All of a sudden, the Dread Scroll burst out of her hands, bouncing along the walls and ground of the tent. Morgan took cover, sheltering her head with her hands. After a minute, the Dread Scroll stopped just above Morgan. Glowing and shaking, the scroll unleashed a flash of lightning upon Morgan, startling the poor girl. The surprise lightning strike disappeared with a puff of smoke, clouding the room. Morgan began coughing, shaking the smoke away from her face. She blinked, looking down at her arms. Black shoulder-pads. Multiple brown belts. Looking over at her how right shoulder, she noticed a white kitsune mask.
"...Yes! I did it! Now I'm a Dread Fighter." Morgan cheered, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Think I heard something come from the convoy storage tent, this way!" A voice called.
Morgan flinched, looking over at the entrance at the tent. "Alright, time to put my Dread Fighter skills to use."
Morgan adopted a fighting stance. Then she took to her feet, dashing away, ripping through one of the walls of the tent, not bothering to be stealthy in the slightest, though she was making good time through the fields, leaving the confused bystanders checking the tent in the dust.
Morgan retreated back to her base of operations, i.e. the tree she sat by earlier. Gasping for breath after only a few feet of running, she sat back against the tree, laughing quietly to herself.
"That was amazing! The speed of a Dread Fighter is really something, I bet if I start practicing, I'll really knock father's socks off!" Morgan thought to herself. "...Wait a minute, why wait? As soon as father finishes work...I can show him what I can do now! Oh this is going to be great!"
With that thought in her mind, Morgan stood up, stretching under the shade of the tree, then made her way off, looking around the great grass field. She spied something happening in the distance, a few straw dummies with testing weapons lazily strewn about. A man with a clean mop of brown hair in heavy blue armor was seen cleanly reorganizing the weapons with much dexterity. Next to the pile of cleanly organized weapons, there was an equal pile of pebbles.
Morgan blinked, looking at the man. "Frederick. If he sees me, he could very well ruin the surprise. I'll just have to wait."
And wait Morgan did, an entire agonizing hour of watching Frederick collect pebbles from off the ground and stacking them on a pile. Morgan yawned, sleepily watching. Finally after what seemed like an eternity to Morgan, Frederick nodded at his handiwork, pushing the pebble pile safely out of the way, making his way back to the camp. Morgan grinned, watching him leave, then went over to the practice weapons. Picking up a sword, examining it and nodding at its sharpness, she gave it an experimental spin. After a while of twirling the sword, she smiled, tossing it into the air, catching it as it came down. Unfortunately, instead of catching the blade's hilt, she caught the sword via the sharp blade, nicking her hands. Morgan didn't seem to mind though, shaking off the scratch.
"Y-Yes, this is fine! I just have to walk it off. Now, to find father…" Morgan thought to herself, ignoring the throbbing pain in her hand, making her way steadily across the sea of grass.
Robin was finally finished. It only took about a few hundred meetings filled with strategy explaining with Chrom whom was equally exhausted, but he was finally finished. Now he was determined, despite his even droopier than usual eyes, to find Morgan and fulfill her promise. Luck seemed to be on his side this evening, as his daughter bounded across the plains, meeting Robin halfway.
"Ah, Morgan!" Robin greeted, pausing. "...Eh?"
"Greetings father! Look at this, I'm a Dread Fighter now, just like you!" Morgan declared, spinning around. "Neat- I mean, spectacular, right?"
Robin's eyes, with the little strength remaining from all that map reading, shot open, staring at Morgan, who playfully tousled her kabuki mask on the side of her shoulder. "What? How?"
Morgan giggled. "I dunno, but it was amazing! You should've been there, it was kinda a hassle to sneak into the convoy tent and all-"
"Wait, slow down, Morgan, you sneaked into the convoy tent?" Robin asked.
Morgan froze, realizing her folly. "Er...yes? But don't worry, I'm sure Frederick's getting right on reorganizing the weapons! Come on, I wanna show you my skills!"
Saying that, Morgan reached her hand out to Robin's own and smiled. He stared down at it and gasped. Robin spied a small yet bright scarlet cut running across it.
"Morgan…" Robin said cautiously. "...You need medical attention right away."
"Huh?" Morgan asked, staring down at her hand. "Oh, that's just a flesh wound, nothing major!"
"Even if it is Morgan, we can't risk you getting an infection. Come on, let's get you healed. Maybe Maribelle or Lissa are around." Robin said, pulling Morgan by her arm.
Morgan stared at her father, her arm shaking somewhat. "W-What? Father, you promised that you'd stay and listen."
Robin looked back at Morgan. "Morgan, I know...but please, we need to get you medical attention right away."
Morgan said nothing, letting herself get pulled. Grimacing, she pulled her hand away, and began running in the direction of the practice field.
"Morgan!" Robin shouted, reaching out to her.
"I'm fine father, I'll prove it to you!" Morgan said with a faltering smile, dashing through the field.
As Morgan ran, she grit her teeth, reaching at her back. Pulling off the bronze sword, she wielded it fiercely, bringing it above her head. She leaped up into the air, aiming for a practice dummy. She brought down the sword as she fell through the sky. The wind rushed around her, pulling on the sword. Suddenly, the sword fell out of her grip, following her as she fell. She landed on her feet somewhat unsteadily, wobbly regaining her balance. She began looking around for her sword, when she heard a rushing sound. Staring straight up, she noticed the bronze sword spinning rapidly down to the earth straight towards her. Gasping, she shielded herself using her arms, crouching, waiting for the pain to come.
"Morgan! Are you alright?!"
Morgan opened her eyes. Standing above her was her father, who had barely caught the bronze sword in his hands just above her. Morgan's eyes widened. Robin's hands were enclosed tightly around the sword, a steady stream of dark red trickling from the cut gloves and palms. It trickled down onto the grass below.
"F-Father?" Morgan asked meekly.
Robin dropped the sword on the ground next to her and hugged her tightly, surprising Morgan.
"Morgan…" Robin addressed her shakily. "A-Are you alright?"
"Father...your hands…" Morgan pointed out.
"Morgan." Robin repeated. "I'm asking you, are you alright?"
Morgan paused. "...Yes, but-"
"Good." Robin said, lightening his grip on Morgan. "That's all that matters."
"...I'm sorry." Morgan sighed. "I just...REALLY wanted to impress you. I have no memories of my time before I met you and the Shepherds...s-so I thought changing my class to a Dread Fighter would really...impress you."
Robin sighed, closing his eyes. He was smiling, confusing Morgan.
"Morgan..." Robin said. "You try so hard to achieve your goals, whether it be to impress me or just to grow in general. But sometimes it's nice to slow down and think things through. What you did was irresponsible and dangerous to yourself."
Morgan stared down at the ground, her face red in embarrassment.
"But as risky as it was, I'm extremely impressed." Robin admitted. "I don't know many people that would go to lengths like that just to leave an impression. Especially somehow breaking the Dread Fighter male exclusive rule. I am certain you're going to succeed me in tactics and mastery of the Dread Fighter class. But for the time being…"
Robin stood up slowly, Morgan following soon after, somewhat teary-eyed.
"How about we find a pair of vulneraries? I doubt we'll be much use to the Shepherds if we let our hands bleed out." Damol joked, raising the palms of his hands up.
Morgan smiled lightly. "And you're telling me to be careful by spilling your blood like that?"
The two of them laughed together, walking off towards the Shepherd's camp. The bronze sword remained on the ground, still stained with a dull crimson sheen.
Next morning, Frederick wouldn't be too happy to find a messy convoy tent and a training sword stained with extremely difficult to remove blood, but that's another story altogether.
AN: Better Late Than Never?: Yeesh, I jumped on the Awakening bandwagon WAAAAAAAY late. So late that Nintendo and Intelligent Systems decided to make a whole new video game in the series. Oh well, maybe next time. So, howdy Fire Emblem fanfiction, this has been my attempt at a story I thought of. Funny enough, Fire Emblem if/Fates has fixed the whole, "Only Male Dread Fighters" thing, with a unisex Dread Fighter class, so keep in mind future readers who might be like, "Huh?", this was made in Awakening, where Dread Fighters could only be male for some odd reason. Weird. Also, YES, I reclassed Robin and Donnel to be Dread Fighter bros.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed, apologies if you didn't, this is ThePizzaLovingTurtle, off to pre-order Fates and get one of those cute Xander and Ryoma keychains!
