Emblem Company

Firedude: Hello everyone, I haven't submitted any writing in a while so I figured it was time again. I've been in a World War 2 mood as of late so I decided to experiment with a World War II Fire Emblem fanfiction. I think the concept is pretty good, but I hope I followed through with it pretty well.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters. I apologize for any historical inaccuracies that might occur in this story.

Firedude: I hope this goes well, Ready? Set? On with the show.

Chapter 1: Camp Claiborne

Somewhere in Louisiana, March 24th 1942

A large bus zipped down a highway somewhere in Louisiana, heading eastward at a decent pace. A man in a green jacket and messy brown hair sat at the front of the nearly empty bus with a duffel bag next to him. The only other people on the bus were four other men, sitting in the back talking rather loudly about the only topic there was worth talking about now a days. Everyone knew, it had been practically the only news over the past three months. The war was on, people from all around the country were volunteering to defend their homeland and defeat the evil axis. The man in the green jacket sat silently, listening to the rowdy men in the back talk with each other about how they had enlisted and why they were fighting. The man was barely able to make out what they were saying over the hum of the engine, except for a few racist slurs about the axis. The man in the green jacket gave up trying to listen in on them and started to nod off, tired from the long journey he had been on. He was about to doze off, when he felt something solid connect with the back of his head.

The man lurched forward and grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. He looked to the floor to see what had hit him, a football. The brown leather of the ball was rather ratty and had been clearly used often. He heard some quick footsteps up the aisle of the bus and looked over to see one of the young men standing next to him. "I'm sorry sir, the ball kind of just slipped out of my hands, I didn't mean to hit you." The man in the green jacket looked over the young man, he had dark green hair and a head band around his forehead. He was wearing a similar jacket to him, but with a single sewn onto the jacket, showing he was a private. The man raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's your name kid?" The young man scowled at him and shot back, "Who're you to ask me?" The man stood up, showing he was a few good inches taller than him and had two stripes on his arm. "A higher ranking soldier." The young man's eye widened and he panicked a little. He immediately straightened his posture and saluted, "Sorry sir, Private Guy reporting for duty." The man just laughed as he handed his ball back. "Relax Guy, we're not even on the base. I'm Mark." He said patting him on the shoulder.

Guy blushed and stopped saluting immediately, "Thank you Corporal, I mean, Mark." Mark couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Where you from?" Guy was a bit more at ease now, feeling a friendly glow coming from Mark rather than the authoritarian one he was expecting from a higher ranking soldier. "Brooklyn sir, what about you?" Mark nodded and replied, "Manhattan, who are your friends in the back?" Guy quickly glanced towards the back and motioned towards the others. "They're a few other recruits. Would you like to meet the others sir?" Mark looked to the three other young men in the back and shrugged, "Why not?" Guy lead him to the back and motioned to Mark, "Guys, this is Corporal Mark. Mark, these are privates Kent, Sain and Matthew." Only two of the three rose and saluted Mark. "Please, please don't salute me." He nodded to the two before glancing to the third who didn't stand.

"What's your name?" The man looked up at him and replied, "Matthew, I went to high school with Guy in Brooklyn. Sorry I didn't salute, my legs are just so tired from this bus ride." He said in a joking tone. Mark let out a small laugh and thought to himself, 'A funny guy, eh? This guy's probably not going to last long in boot camp.' He then looked over to the other two. "So that must mean you two are Sain and Kent? Where are you guys from?" The orange haired one nodded and replied, "Yes sir, I'm Kent and this is my friend Sain. We grew up together in Ohio." The brown hair one leaned forward in his seat a little and grinned at Mark. "So Mark, you've been to one of these camps before right? Are the nurses any good looking?" Mark let out an amused laugh, "Careful round those girls, you try to take it out around them and you'll get it ripped off." The other three laughed at this, but Sain just winced. "That's never stopped you before though Sain, so why think twice now? You might even get a purple heart." Kent said to Sain with a smile. Sain shook his head and replied back, "Medals don't mean anything unless you've got the equipment to back it up."

As the four continued to laugh and joke around, Mark zoned out and began to think about this for a minute. He began to get a feeling of worry. It was true that he was a corporal, but like them he had never seen combat before. He couldn't help but start to worry that maybe these men would be killed, so why start to get close to them. "Mark... hey Mark!" He snapped out of it as someone called out to him. He looked over at Guy as he continued, "What division are you joining?" Mark blinked a few times trying to think. "Oh, I volunteered for the 82nd airborne infantry division." Guy beamed as Mark informed him of this. "That's awesome! The four of us are joining them too!" Mark felt his heart drop a little, this was only filling him with more fear little by little. Kent raised an eyebrow and added, "You must be heading for camp Claiborne too then. Hope you make it through the training Mark." Mark smiled and nodded to him. "Same to you Kent... if you excuse me I've got something to take care of..." Mark said giving the four a nod goodbye as he turned and walked back to his things. He sat there in silence, doing his best not to think of the approaching war and how the four men he had just met could be potential casualties.

Half an hour later, the bus pulled up to Camp Claiborne and they stepped out. The five stood there silently for a minute just looking at the front entrance of the base. They were snapped out of it by the sound of the bus zooming off towards its next stop. The five stepped hesitantly up to the front as a MP stopped them from entering. "Division?" The man asked flat out as he held clip board at his side. Matthew rolled his eyes and stepped forward. "Look man, why do we have to be so formal? Can't you just let us in?" The MP clearly wasn't in the mood for this, for he glared over at Matthew and repeated, "State your Division." Mark but in before things could get worse and motioned to himself and the other four saying, "We're with the 82nd Airborne Infantry, please excuse my friend, it's been a long morning.." The man looked over his clipboard and nodded. "Right, Head to the auditorium at the south end of the base." The MP stepped aside allowing the five men to walk through. When they were a few yards away, Matthew looked back and flipped the MP off, who luckily for him was turned the other way.

Mark glared at him and grabbed him by the back of the collar. "Stop that! Are you looking to get killed!?" Matthew looked over at Mark and glared at him. He shrugged off his hand and replied, "Relax will ya? Jesus, you're as stiff as that guy. What's the worse that could happen?" Mark scowled at him and replied, "Things work differently here than they do back where you come from. You could be put up against a wall and shot for being insolent to your superiors." Matthew kept his eyes locked on Mark's and shot back, "Relax you fucking Heeb! I just flipped the guy off, it wasn't like I beat the shit out of him!" Mark took a step closer to Matthew, prepared to get him back for the slur. However, Guy stepped between them and pushed them away as Sain and Kent held them back. "Hey! No fighting!" Guy called looking between the two. Matthew shrugged Kent off his shoulders and continued to walk towards the auditorium.

Guy looked over to Mark and bowed his head to him a little. "I'm sorry about him, sometimes he let's himself mouth off before thinking." Mark just watched Matthew as he walked further and further away. "It's alright Guy, you should go after him. Make sure he doesn't make anymore trouble for himself." Guy nodded and ran after him. Mark looked over to Sain and Kent and said, "I'll see you two at the auditorium." The two nodded to him as he walked off towards the auditorium as well. Sain looked over to Kent and whispered, "What made Matthew call Mark a Jew?" Kent looked over at him and replied. "You didn't notice the star of david around his neck?" As Mark continued to walk he fiddled with the star that hung from the golden chain around his neck. After some consideration, he hid the insignia inside his shirt, deciding it may be for the best for now.

At the auditorium, the large room was packed full of new recruits, waiting for the introduction that was going to be provided. On the stage in front of the room, a large sign was hung up that read, Welcome Airborne. Banners all around the room bore the various Airborne insignias, eagles, double A's, and a winged panther on one of the more prominent posters. After a few minutes of talking, silence eventually fell over the audience as an old man walked out on stage. His white hair and beard glistened in the lights of the room, along with a chest full of medals that hung from his army uniform. The old man looked over the large crowd and called out, "My name is Major General Athos. I am in charge of the 82nd Airborne Division. I would like to start off by welcoming back any men who served during the first World War in our infantry division who decided to rejoin as airborne to combat the Axis that once again threats our freedom. Next, I would like to welcome the many new recruits who have volunteered to join the division. I applaud your bravery for joining, however I must take this time to remind you that this will not be an easy task to undertake. If you have any thoughts in your head right now that you will pass basic training without even breaking a sweat, you better think twice."

Mark sat silently in the audience, listening to Athos' seemingly never ending speech. I think most of it was just scare tactics, trying to weed out those who would be too weak for the airborne. As Athos talked about how not everyone here would survive the oncoming war if they joined the army and how the man next to them may be dead their first battle, Mark began to have some second thoughts. He had no fear of fighting this war, he was ready to fight for his country and for all the jews imprisoned in Europe, however being able to deal with the deaths of his comrades was what he was afraid of. He was not going to let his fears overcome him though, he wouldn't slip up. Seeing no signs in the auditorium that said no smoking, Mark pulled out a cigarette and lit it up with a match from his pocket. The nicotine in the cigarette calmed his nerves a bit, dropping the worries that were recently building up within him.

His attention was briefly pulled away from the Major General when he noticed something odd. Near the front of the left section of seats in the auditorium, there were women there. These women weren't nurses though, they were dressed in cadet outfits like the rest of the men here. Mark began to feel a bit skeptical. He was pretty sure no women had fought for America until now, he knew they made excellent nurses and doctors, but as soldiers? He wouldn't let himself judge now, for all he knew they could be as good of soldiers as them. They may not even be taking part in actual combat, who knows? He directed his attention back to Athos just in time to hear him finish his speech. "Though you may have volunteered for this, you still have a long way before you may call yourselves paratroopers." The soldiers all rose from their seat and saluted the Major General and he saluted back. "Good luck to you all!" The soldiers all then dispersed and left the auditorium. A bulletin board outside the auditorium had all the battalions, companies, platoons and squads listed. Mark looked over the list and raised an eyebrow. He was apart of the First Battalion, Emblem Company, Second Platoon. There were apparently four squads within his platoon, the head of their platoon was a First Sergeant named Elbert... why did that sound so familiar to him?

2nd Platoon- First Sergeant Elbert

1st squad- Staff Sergeant Fargus

Cpl. Eliwood

Cpl. Marcus

Pfc. Dart

Pfc. Geitz

Pvt. Wil

Pvt. Lowen

Pvt. Merlinus

Pvt. Legault

Pvt. Harken

2nd squad- Sergeant Uther

Cpl. Hector

Cpl. Oswin

Pfc. Karel

Pfc. Rath

Pvt. Matthew

Pvt. Erk

Pvt. Heath

Pvt. Guy

Pvt. Canas

3rd squad- Sergeant Pent

Cpl. Mark

Cpl. Hawkeye

Pfc. Dorcas

Pfc. Bartre

Pvt. Kent

Pvt. Sain

Pvt. Lucius

Pvt. Jaffar

Pvt. Raven

4th squad- Sergeant Isadora

Cpl. Farina

Cpl. Lyn

Pfc. Louise

Pfc. Fiora

Pvt. Rebecca

Pvt. Florina

Pvt. Serra

Pvt. Karla

Pvt. Nino

Mark actually felt slightly relieved to see that Kent, Sain and Guy were in his platoon, it made him feel better knowing that he knew a few people. Much to his dismay though, he saw Matthew was also in his platoon. It wasn't going to help him having a racist bastard come with him into combat. The thing that really made Mark sweat a little was the fourth squad. He wasn't expecting a female squad to be apart of their platoon. He wasn't going to be quick to judge though, he'd wait to see what would happen first during training. He got the number of the barracks he was supposed to report to and worked his way out of the crowd around the bulletin board. As he got out of the crowd and began to walk away, he stopped as he heard someone calling into the crowd. "Excuse me! Please let me through!" Mark spotted a woman with a long green pony tail call into the crowd, trying to work her way up to the bulletin board but wasn't making any progress. Mark sighed and walked over to the young woman. "Do you need any help?" The young woman turned around to face him and gave him a soft smile. "Oh, hello. Yes, I need to see the bulletin board to see which squad I'm apart of, but no one's letting me through and I'd rather not push my way up there."

Mark nodded and asked, "What's your name? I could go look for you." The girl smiled and replied, "Thank you, my name is Corporal Lyn, you are?" Mark smiled and replied, "I'm Corporal Mark. There's actually no need for me to go up there, you're in my platoon." She blinked a few times, surprised by the info. "Really? I'm thought I was being placed in a platoon of all women?" Mark shrugged and replied, "You're in a squad of all women, but I can't tell you why you're not in an all women platoon. It's alright though, you're in the barracks across the way from us. I can bring you there if you want." Lyn gave him a small bow and added, "Yes, that would be-." she was cut off by feeling someone grab her ass. Her quiet and polite manner suddenly disappeared and a fierce expression crossed her face. She whirled around and delivered a hard punch to the face of the man behind her. "Don't you dare touch me you pig!" Mark stood there with his jaw dropped, amazed at how strong she was. The man went flying back into another soldier who was knocked over by him, "Hey watch it!" He yelled as he began to punch the man who had flown into him, but another soldier jumped in as well and before Mark knew it, a fight had broken out amongst the whole crowd. "Er... whoops." Lyn said a little bit embarrassed by what had happened.

Mark quickly grabbed her hand and lead her away from the crowd quickly as MP's came over to break up the fight. Once they were far enough away, Mark looked back to make sure no MP's might've followed them, then over to Lyn. "Holy shit you're strong!" He exclaimed, still shocked by what he had seen. "That guy had to have had at least a hundred pounds on you, but you knocked him out just like that!" Lyn let out a small laugh, amused by his reaction. "What? Surprised at how powerful a woman can be? ...By the way you can let go of my hand now." Mark noticed that he was still holding her hand and blushed as he let go. "Oh, sorry about that." He looked around and noticed they had actually ran to right outside where their barracks were. "I guess we're here. Good luck with your training Lyn, I hope I see you again." Lyn smiled as she walked away towards her squad's barracks. "Likewise Mark, see you around." Mark waited until she was gone before he entered his own barracks to meet with the rest of his squad. 'There are some quite interesting people in my platoon... I still can't help but think which ones might be gone by the end of this war...'

Firedude: I hope you liked it, please review the chapter, flames are open and please give me any criticism you might have. Reviews keep me motivated to keep writing so if you want to read more, please leave at least a small review.