**Just want to quickly say thank you to revan193 for the suggestion and help with the ideas of this fanfiction. Also, a quick disclaimer, everything Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, and the few references in the setting early on I make belong to Redjuice and Production I.G. for Guilty Crown. Thanks for reading!**
Chapter 1
Shepherds
I stepped out into the chilly streets of Chicago, the building's door closing, the sound of a bell attached to it ringing. I pulled the brown and red scarf around my neck tightly, raising my shoulders to my ears as the cold wind stung my face.
The rails above my shook as the L sped by, squealing to a stop a few feet down from where I stood underneath it. I grumbled as the wind died down, looking at the papers in my hand.
Military Recruitment forms. A big red 4-F was stamped at the bottom of the papers. I dropped them to my side, lightly holding on to the stapled packet of papers, looking up into the cloudy, grey sky. I exhaled, my breath hanging there for a few moments before dissipating. As the mist of my breath faded, a single snowflake drifted down, landing on the bridge of my nose, quickly melting into nothing. I shook my head and stepped out into the rather empty streets, heading toward my apartment. Buildings around me sat in a ruined mess, purple crystals poking out from their framework. Groups of people sat around corners, thin tents made out of mismatch fabric hooked to walls, large trash cans in the center of their groups, fires blazing tall in all of them. I rounded the corner onto Lakeshore and saw more and more crystals, the usual sight for this age.
I opened the door to my studio apartment, turning on the lights and throwing my coat and scarf onto a coat rack. Turning around, I slid the multitude of locks bolted to the door in order to keep anyone out of here. I sighed, sitting down in a chair, pulling out a small lower case R looking object, hitting a button on the side and seeing the lights come on, a screen protector underneath the boundaries. I quickly scrolled through the news updates on all things military, science, and gaming. I pressed another button, the lights on the object dying, and slid it onto my desk. I leaned back in my chair, sighing, letting my arms drop to my side.
I slide my chair toward my desk, sighing and picking up a VR headset. I pressed a button quickly on the side, hearing the OS's boot-up jingle, and smiling slightly, but the happiness quickly fading. I slid it over my head, taking off my glasses and leaning further back in my chair. I grabbed the armrest of the chair tightly as I felt my vision and hearing go, the black image I was greeted with turning into white light. The light faded slowly, revealing a large, overgrown fantasy town, a gigantic tree in the center, reaching toward the skies. I smiled. I was home.
I looked down at my arms, seeing the flawless skin of my avatar, a curved sword strapped to my hip. The weight on my back was familiar, a large greatsword my character wielded. I quickly checked my friendslist, seeing three of my best friends online. I quickly messaged them, and they immediately mentioned an event raid happening, inviting me to their party without any word from me.
I chuckled a little as I was teleported to the dungeon they were in, monsters in nearly every nook and cranny of the cave. The walls had a blue tint, and strange carvings, like an ancient language, scrawled across smooth portions of them. I quickly drew my curved sword from my hip, the blade much shorter in length than most, almost that of a dagger. On my right arm was a gauntlet with a shield built-in, shaped like a teardrop, the thin end toward my hand. I readied myself as signs of enemies approached.
Goblins quickly rounded the corner as I lowered myself into a deep stance. One rushed toward us, and I took the point, slamming my shield arm into them, knocking them on their back. A second rushed at me, their sword lunging from my bottom left. I quickly took my short curved sword, latching onto the monster's black and pulling him off balance, yanking him toward the other goblin now on the floor. As he crashed into the ground, I reached toward the large sword on my back with my right hand, feeling the small leather straps that held it in place detached. I pulled the sword over my head with all my might, slamming it down into the two goblins, screaming as the blade made contact. Their bodies shattered into particles of light, fading into the sky quickly, dust from the floor surrounding the point of contact.
I sat in a large guildhall with the three friends I had joined. We all sat, talking, drinking the in-game booze they gave us, and looking over the rare loot the event raid gave us, trading a few pieces of equipment here and there. None of the equipment was too great, more valuable as fashion armor over anything else. As I hit accept on one of the trades, I swore I heard something outside of the game. I shrugged it off, thinking it to be a few military rounds that pass by, or maybe a few of the people outside searching for food in the apartment next to mine. I shrugged it off, continuing to trade with the guys, and laughing over stories of other raids. As I received a notification for a trade of rare material on of my friends have, something outside the game jerked me back into reality.
I was greeted by the outside world, my bodily functions suddenly regained. The VR helmet sat on the ground, the cords still in, lights from the games shining into the darkened room. The three guys over voice chat calling out my name, asking if everything was okay. I slowly stood up, my heart racing. I turned my head, stepping to the side to quickly dodge a jab of something. A dark figure, wrapped in a cloak stood before me, a gleaming silver knife in his hand, a few spots of rust on the blade. I glanced behind them, seeing the locks of my door busted, a foot-sized hole in the center of the slab of wood.
The person grunted, slashing knife upwards. I raised my hands in defense, stepping back, my waist slamming into my desk, the computer monitor shaking, falling backward. My arm was filled with searing pain as the knife passed the center of my vision, a warm liquid flowing down onto my elbow. The person lunged forward, screaming, it was a high pitched voice, not that of a woman, but of a younger man. I lowered myself, grabbing the person's arm, trying to get a good look at them. Their hood covered the majority of their face, and the parts that weren't covered by their hood were covered by a jet black mask. As I glanced into the person's barely visible eye, pushed forward, the knife slamming into my shoulder, pushing me further back, knocking me off balance. I slammed my hand onto my desk to regain balance, feeling the screen of the monitor give and crack. I quickly cursed myself in my head and attempted to regain control of the situation. As I pushed off the monitor and desk, I felt the screen give way, almost like a thin sheet of plastic. I tried pushing forward harder, but my hand wouldn't me. The person twisted the knife in my shoulder and I howled in pain, feeling the blade twist a cut ever part of my shoulder. As they pulled the knife out and went for another stab, The plastic-like texture of the screen sucked my arm, pulling it down even further, my right arm up to my shoulder now inside the monitor, the feeling in that arm disappearing. I cursed under my breath as the person's stab came closer and closer, closing my eyes waiting for the pain of the blade entering my gut, but feeling nothing, just emptiness.
After a few seconds, I slowly opened my eyes, finding myself in a black space, my stomach feeling like it was freely floating freely throughout my abdomen.
Hello, young man.
A voice came from the darkness, echoing throughout my head. It was the voice of a young woman.
"Who is that?!" I shouted.
You would like to live a longer life, right?
That's all your people wish for.
"What do you mean?! Am I dead? Of course I do!" I shouted after the voice. I regained my footing on something and immediately sprinted toward the direction of the voice.
Well, good news. I've been watching you.
I like you. You deserve a second chance.
Life has screwed you over.
"Like hell it has! Ever since Christmas of that year, my life's gone to shit!" I shouted, thoroughly frustrated and confused over this voice.
I can tell from your wrists.
I stopped in my tracks. "H-how?" I muttered, looking down at my arms, making out the barely visible marks horizontally across both my wrists. Above me, a blinding light suddenly appeared, causing me to recoil and raise my arm over my eyes.
A figure emerged from the center, slowing blue light all around them. As they grew closer, the figure of a woman formed, long green hair, flowing down to her waist, an open center purple, pink, and white dress, a belt made from what seemed to be gold and crystals loosely hanging on her waist. She floated down, gracefully, her arms outstretched toward me. As she came within reach, her hands cupped my face, and she grew uncomfortably close to me.
"I'm going to give you a second chance at life, is that okay?" she asked, smiling slightly, a cute smile.
"Y-yeah, I guess," I said, caught off guard.
"You… guess?" she asked, pouting slightly.
"D-Definitely!" I shouted, closing my eyes. She giggled and I slowly opened one eye.
"Very well," she said. "I'll even give you something to feel at home with." She snapped her fingers and disappeared. As she did, I felt the 'ground' beneath me tremble, and suddenly give out, my consciousness fading as I fell through the empty void again.
"Who is he?" a woman's voice asked. It sounded young, closer to their twenties.
"Just leave him there until the others get back," a man's voice growled. It was more distant than the others.
The voices were unrecognizable. Where was I? I couldn't open my eyes to see.
"I swear, that man," the woman grumbled. "Sumia, could you go get me some water?"
"On it," another woman's voice said. It was a higher pitch than the first one. There was some silence, then footsteps along with the sloshing of water. Noises of someone moving around water came from my left side. Quickly after, there was the press of a cold, wet rag on my cheek. It stung and the cold water ran down my face and onto my neck.
The feelings combined made my eyes shoot open and I pulled my head away from the rag. As the cold water ran down my neck and into my shirt, I shivered.
"Now, calm down," a woman said calmly. I looked up, seeing a tall woman, kneeling in front of me, a large cloak and baggy pants, and tall hat on, making her look like a mage of some sort. Her red hair was cut short, and her glasses sat low on her nose. "You're injured. This will keep the swelling down." Her voice was soothing, my heart quickly calming as she spoke. She lightly touched the rag to my cheek, wiping away what I would assume to be dirt, soaking it in a bucket full of water to my left and pushing it against the same spot.
"S-sorry, but where am I?" I asked, breaking the silence we sat in for nearly a minute.
"You're in the kingdom of Ylisse," she quickly answered.
"Ylisse?"
She stopped what she was doing. "You're not from around here? What country are you from, then?"
"America," I replied. She looked at me, extremely confused.
"The hell is a 'Murcia'?" the man from before shouted.
"Listen, it seems like you hit your head pretty hard when you fell, so just take it easy," the mage-looking woman said to me, patting my shoulder. "We have a couch inside you can rest on." She stood up, dusting off her pants and holding her hand out to me.
I took it, feeling my legs give out as she pulled me to them, putting my arm around her shoulder in one quick movement. She glanced down at my arms, blood still seeping from the wounds I sustained before. What the hell happened, I grumbled in a thought. She slowly led me into a building, almost like a fort, but homier.
She slowly lowered me onto the couch, spreading a blanket over me and pushing up her glasses. "Get some rest and we'll talk later." She leaned in close to my ear. "And ignore that guy in the corner. He's a little crazy."
She walked into another room, sitting down at a table and opening a book, beginning to mumble to herself. Another woman walked into the room, wearing armor, her light-colored hair falling to the center of her back. She smiled at me and started to step closer, tripping and stumbling forward. I jumped up, holding out my hands as she fell, trying to catch her, but she just landed on her knees and sighed.
"Are you okay?" I asked her, reaching out my hand. She laughed a little and nodded, taking my hand as I helped her stand up.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's just these shoes," she sighed. She dusted herself off and bowed. "I'm Sumia. Nice to meet you."
I smiled and bowed back. "I'm Mason," She hadn't let go of my hand from before, and quickly looked down at them.
"Oh my goddesses, you're bleeding! Bad too!" she shouted. "Let me get you patched up." She ran off, returning a few seconds later with a tray of bandages and bottles. She quickly pushed me onto the couch and sat down next to me, placing the tray on her lap. "Hold out your arms," she demanded, popping the cork out of one of the bottles. She turned it upside down, covering the top with a rag, the rag soaking up whatever liquid was inside. Sumia dabbed the rag against the wounds, the cuts bubbling a stinging. I winced, sharply inhaling through gritted teeth. She smiled, patting my shoulder as she applied more, rubbing the area around the wound to soothe the pain. She set the rag aside, corking up the bottle again and grabbing a roll of bandages, wrapping them around each arm tightly, smiling as she finished and patted each arm.
"You're good to-"
She stopped mid-sentence, staring at my shoulder. I glanced down, seeing the blood-stained shirt I was wearing, the darkest spot of blood by my shoulder. I looked at Sumia, whose face turned a bright red than a tomato.
"D-don't worry about it Sumia," I said, waving my arms in front of me.
"B-But you're injured!"
"She's right, weird man," the man said.
"C-could you take o-off your shirt so I could t-treat the wound?" she asked, stuttering over her words.
"You really don't have to-"
"Just take it off!" the woman in the other room shouted. "We don't want you dying from blood loss!"
I grumbled under my breath, quickly taking off my shirt, leaving my arms in the sleeves, but bringing it to the front of my body. Sumia turned toward me, applying more liquid to the rag, keeping dead eye-contact with me as she lightly touched the rag to the wound. I glanced down, seeing a deep hole in my shoulder. My memory flashed back to the person stabbing me, twisting the knife. I shook my head and the memory from my thoughts as Sumia carefully wiped the blood off my skin. She gently rubbed the area around the wound as she cleaned it with the rag, the wound searing, but strangely soothed by her touch.
"Y-you're good at this," I said, breaking the awkward silence. She blushed.
"Thanks. I'm a little too clumsy to be good at anything else," she replied.
"Yeah, give her a book and she'll bleed out from a paper cut," the woman in the other room said.
"Miriel!" Sumia shouted. "Knock it off!"
She returned to treating the wound, the two of us sitting in silence. She stood up, wrapping my arm and shoulder in bandages, having me raise my arms as she wrapped my chest as well, keeping the bandages in place. She patted my other shoulder as she finished, and I smiled, thanking her. I slid the shirt back on, but she stopped me.
"We've got spare clothes for you," she said. "Don't put that thing back on."
"You're fine. If I can at least get to a shop soon-" I started as she walked away, opening a closet and rummaging through some things, completely ignoring my protest.
"They're probably some of Vaike's clothes, so hopefully they'll fit you," she said through a few other mumbles I couldn't hear. A minute or two of rummaging, she stood up from the closet. "Aha! Here we go!" she turned to me holding up a large shirt, mahogany and green stripes running horizontally across it. She handed it to me and I quickly slid it on. It was a wool sweater, lined with a thin layer of leather on the inside.
The man in the corner turned toward me and started to burst out laughing. "Is that the ugly sweater you gave me?" he said between laughter.
"Yes, but I think it's rather good looking," Sumia said, pouting slightly.
"It's comfortable," I said, rotating my right shoulder, feeling a strange sense of freedom in it. It felt natural.
Sumia smiled, beaming with happiness. "Really? That's great," she said. I stretched, my back popping slightly, and sighed.
"So what is this place, really?" I asked, looking around at the fort-like building. Boxes sat in the corner and weapon racks were on the wall, making it look like barracks, but furniture sat all around, making it seem like a home.
"Well, Prince Chrom can give you the full introduction to the place when he gets back, but this is the base of operations for a little group he likes to call 'the Shepherds'. We're like a personal army of Chrom's," she answered. "We're technically a military force, but we're all very casual about it."
"Speaking of Chrome getting back," Vaike said, jumping up from his chair.
Four people walked into the building, one man in a full set of armor, a man in blue clothes and a white and blue cape, a sword on his waist, a guy in mage robes, and a girl in a white dress.
"Lissa!" another woman shouted, rushing in from the other side of the building, ramming into and wrapping her arms around the girl in the dress.
"Hey, Sumia," the man in blue clothes, said, smiling.
"Hello, Prince Chrom," she replied.
Vaike stepped forward, bumping the man's arm with his and laughing.
"So, Robin, I'd like to introduce you to the Shepherds, a small little group of friends that help defend the citizens of Ylisse against the Plegians," the man in blue told the guy in mage clothing. "This is Maribelle," he said, pointing to the woman who was hugging Lissa. "Sumia," he said, pointing to her. "And Vaike. In the other room is Miriel, our mage and research expert. Everybody, this is Robin. He claims to have lost his memories, and he has my wholehearted faith that he is of good nature. I'd like everyone to welcome him as well." Robin nervously chuckled and grinned, waving slightly.
"Speaking of people strangely appearing today" Sumia started, "This is Mason. Miriel and I found him at the base of the hill outback, with a lot of cuts and bruises. He says he's from a weird land I've never heard of, but despite the risks, Miriel and I thought it would be best to bring him in and clean him up." The man in heavy armor scoffed a little, starting to walk into the room where Miriel was, murmuring under his breath about Robin and me.
Chrom stepped forward, his eyes piercing through mine. He was rather intimidating.
"I don't see a problem with having another person join our ranks. Sumia's intuition is rather fantastic, so if she seems to accept someone, they must be good-willed. My name is Chrom. I am the Prince of Ylisse, as well as the commander of these Shepherds, and I welcome you to our ranks if you'll accept of course."
"Well, I guess I'll accept," I nervously replied. "Don't know where I am, so why not start a new life," I chuckled.
"That's one way to look at it," Chrom laughed and held out his hand. I shook it and he patted me on the back. "Welcome, Mason. We'll get Robin and you filled in on everything that is going on and find you a place in this group, Mason." Chrom smiled slightly and walked off.
I slowly looked around the place, even livelier than before. I sighed, seeing the sun light up the room from outside. "I could get used to this place," I whispered to myself.
Sumia tapped me on the shoulder, motioning for me to join the rest in the room with a large table.
"We're about to have lunch. I've made it, so I hope you'll enjoy," she said, a smile beaming on her face. I nodded, following her into the other room and sitting down at one of the empty seats with the others.