I own nothing. Enjoy!
To most an empty field was relaxing. A place where most could just sit and relax and observe. However, most wouldn't think this if they were to see the massive domed bubble of energy envelope the area. The dome fizzled and faded, black electricity sparked through the area.
Trees in the area turned gray and became dust, several animals that had not escaped fell to the ground as they faded into embers.
The only things seemingly remaining unaffected by the explosion were two people. One was a woman standing behind a broken red shield, her bronze armor had signs of wear, possibly from the explosion that had tore the area apart. It looked as if she had to force herself to keep standing.
Opposite the woman in armor was another in black robes. This person wore a wicked smile, and beneath their hood their eyes shone violet. There was no injuries on them, they held a black book in their hand that was emitting a purple aura.
The person in the robes let out out dark laughter that caused the knight to cringe further behind her shield. The robed person rose their hand and another explosion ripped the area apart.
The Knight fell to her knee as the robed person began walking closer. She gritted her teeth when the person ended up standing before her with an even wider smile. They held out their hand, causing the Knight to shrink back.
"Do you now see what power I have been given? Why not just give up and join me?"
These questions actually made the Knight to start laughing.
"Join you? Why would I even go with you and those dastardly Grimleal? I'll have to decline."
The person in the robes faltered ever so slightly, but they continued to smile with their hand held out towards the woman.
"You may say that now, but just think of what you and I could accomplish."
The Knight didn't answer, for she suddenly sprang up, knocking into the robed person with her shield. She then swiftly drew her sword. She threw her arm forward, prepared to bisect her foe, but the robed person recovered quicker than she expected. The robed person simply clenched their fist and the Knight was knocked back by several feet. Her sword landed next to the robed figure, they looked down upon it with a smile. She picked it up as the Knight moved to lay on her back.
The Knight tried to get back up, but she was too injured to even do so. Looking back towards the figure the Knight's eyes widened in fear.
During their exchange the figure's hood had been blown back, thus finally revealing their face to the woman. The figure had black hair that spiked off in several directions, a slim black tiara sat on her head underneath her sparse bangs, its jewel glowing the same color as her eyes.
She had the same face as the Knight. The figure threw her head back as she let loose another laugh.
"What trickery is this?!"
"There is no trickery here, it is just as you see. You and I share the same face, along with the same memories."
"Liar."
"If you shall not believe me, I shall show you."
The woman raised the sword, its azure blade shining in the light. The woman in the robes smiled as if she was admiring the blade.
"This sword, the Brave Blade, a trinket we received from our mother when she lay dying at our feet. This blade has struck down many of the people that dared stand against us."
The woman's hand began glowing with a dark energy as her grip tightened on the hilt.
"We held onto this blade, hoping one day that we would use it to strike down the murderer of our mother. However, we never did find them."
The woman smiled and the blade then began glowing white, violet electricity sparking over the blade.
"Perhaps that was because the murderer, was me?"
To the Knight's horror the sword shattered, its fragments floating in the wind like sparks from a fire. The Knight's attention then shifted back to the woman in the robes as she lowered her hand.
"What? You killed her?"
"Yes. You see, where I come from she died by my hand. When I learned that you didn't do it I just had to correct that little mistake."
"You monster! Why would you kill our own mother?!"
The woman smiled as she again pulled out her magic tome, she slowly began advancing towards the downed Knight, her smile growing with every step.
"If you must know, it was an assurance that my existence was actually going to be."
She ended up before the downed Knight once more and once again she held out her hand. This time however, more purple energy swirled around it.
"Now, because I know you won't accept my powers out right, I am going to force you to take them."
The aura then began to swirl around the Knight, the pain from what the robed woman was doing caused her to scream.
"Come now, it shouldn't hurt that bad, it didn't hurt me any."
The Knight kept screaming as her eyes slowly began changing to the same color as the robed woman's aura. Several more moments passed as the robed woman continued her spell, the Knight becoming silent as her mind slowly faded.
"See, almost done, now was that really as-"
"Chrom hurry! I heard the screams from over here!"
The robed woman turned and cursed under her breath, there were people coming, and she was almost done. The aura around the Knight faded, she slumped to the ground breathing heavily. Turning back the robed woman's smile slowly returned.
"Ah well, I can continue this whenever I wish, but just so I can keep tabs on you. I have a less painful present."
The woman raised her hand and pointed at the Knight's right hand. A violet light shone on the back of the hand as a symbol burned itself into her skin. When she was finished she smiled as the Knight passed out.
"Now, as much as I hate to do this, I must make myself scarce, probably need to fix this up as well."
Lifting her hand once more she snapped her fingers. She vanished, and the area returned to how it looked before the two combatant's bought.
"Oh come on Chrom, we need to something!"
"Well what do you suggest?"
"I don't know..."
Why must these people speak so loud?
Slowly opening her eyes the Knight flinched at the light. When her vision cleared she again looked up to see two people smiling down at her.
One was a man with blue hair, he wore white and blue armor. The other was a girl, she wore a white and yellow dress. The girl was the first to speak up.
"Good to see you're awake."
"You do know that there are better places to nap than an open field?"
Turning towards the man caused him to smile as he offered her his hand, she took a second to register what he wanted. Shaking her head she accepted his offer and he proceeded to pull her up.
When she was finally standing the Knight took a step back and dusted herself off. The man continued to smile as he again spoke.
"Are you alright? I mean, most people just don't pass out in the middle of a field."
"Yeah...thanks Chrom."
This caused the man to seem surprised.
"Ah so you know who I am then?"
"No. Oddly enough, I have never heard your name before. And now I have a headache."
The Knight gripped her head as sudden pain flooded her thoughts. The two just continued to watch her as she shook her head, the pain subsiding.
"Curious then that you would know my name. Could you then perhaps tell me your name?"
"My name? Its...well..."
The woman paused as she again put a hand to her head, this time trying to search her mind.
Okay, I know I know it, but what is it?
Drawing a blank the woman shrugged. This caused Chrom to look troubled.
"You don't know your own name?"
"Well it's there, but...I must apologize, but where am I exactly?"
The girl suddenly flinched back, a look of surprise replacing her smile. Chrom looked towards her with a raised eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"I've heard of this before! She has amnesia!"
"I would call it a load of Pegasus dung."
The Knight flinched and spun around to see a heavily armored man staring down at her. His expression was neutral, but she could tell he was really agitated. Following a few moments of silence the man continued.
"Are you really hoping for us to believe that you can remember milord's name, but you draw a blank when thinking of your own?"
"I honestly couldn't care less if you believe me or not, I don't remember what isn't there."
The man walked past her, ending up behind Chrom. Chrom turned to the man with an exasperated look.
"And if it were true Fredrick? We can't just leave her hear. Do you see the state of her armor, she wouldn't get far is she is this confused."
At the mention of said suit of armor the woman looked down and winced.
Man, what in the world happened to me?
The sound of Chrom yelling brought her back to the conversation. It was obvious that he was starting to get annoyed with the man behind him.
"What kind of Shepherds would we be then?"
"The same, milord, I must emphasize use of caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock."
Chrom sighed as he turned back to the Knight, she shrugged once more.
"Fine then, we'll take her back to town and question her there."
The Knight took a step back, a glare replacing her surprised look. The three people standing before her just watched as she gritted her teeth.
"Do I not have a say in this matter?"
Chrom chuckled and raised his hands in defense.
"Come now, you can say whatever you need to say when we get back to town, now let's go."
Several minutes of pure, unbroken silence fell upon the group as they made there way to their destination along a thin dirt road. The Knight fidgeted at all of the bad thoughts she was having about what would happen if these three found anything wrong with her.
Looking slightly over her shoulder she could see the man, now know as Fredrick, follow behind her on his armored horse. She flinched back to looking down when his gaze met her's. She then looked forward at Chrom and the girl walking side by side.
Due to Fredrick's opinion, she would have called it 'bickering', they now walked in this formation to assure that she wouldn't escape. She silently growled when she remembered the choice words that Fredrick had used for her.
Stupid Fredrick, I'll show him what a big...wait, what is going to happen to me when we get to the city?
"Um, Chrom, may I ask you something?"
The man looked back and stopped, thus causing their small group to halt. The three surrounding the Knight looked to her, causing her to want to slink away from them, but she straightened up and cleared her throat.
"Well, I was just wondering, when we reach the town, am I to be your prisoner?"
Chrom took a few seconds to answer, but he soon smiled, allowing the Knight to relax somewhat.
"Don't worry, you'll be free as soon as establish that you are not a threat to Ylisse."
The Knight paused, a realization dawning on her. She then found herself placing a hand to her head once more.
"Wait, Ylisse? Is that where we are?"
She then flinched when she heard sudden laughter from behind her.
Gods please tell me that isn't Fredrick laughing. That sounds terrifying.
She turned and saw that it was indeed the man on the horse laughing.
"You've never heard of the haildom? Someone please pay this actress, as she plays quite the fool!"
The Knight had to hold herself back from trying to strangle the man.
"Fredrick, please don't bother her. Now on to your question. This land is known as the Haildom of Ylisse. It is ruled over by the Exalt, Emmeryn."
The Knight nodded and she wanted to ask more, but she stayed silent as Chrom seemed to want to say more.
"Now as I am explaining things, maybe we should probably formally introduce ourselves. My name is Chrom."
Chrom then pointed towards the girl beside him.
"This one here is my delicate younger sister Lissa."
The now named Lissa then punched the back of Chrom's head causing the man to flinch.
"Ignore him, he can be really idiotic sometimes."
The Knight smiled and nodded as Fredrick walked up beside her, she inched away from him.
"And I am Fredrick, the personal guard of these two."
The Knight simply glared at him, but she turned back to Lissa and Chrom, ignoring the knight.
"So, may I ask what you three are doing here?"
"Oh, we are Shepherds."
"Wait, you tend sheep? In full body armor?"
"Well it is a very dangerous job."
More questions arose in the woman's mind, but she didn't utter a word. She felt a hand on her shoulder, turning she felt her eye twitch when it was Fredrick.
"Now I must say that it is because of our jobs as Shepherds that I treat you the way I have. I fully wish to trust you, but given the circumstances-"
"Phantom."
Everyone paused and looked to the Knight, she blinked a few times before smiling.
"My name is Phantom, and I understand. I would treat you the same way, except I wouldn't apologize for it."
Turning back around to continue walking Phantom was halted by Chrom and Lissa giving her funny looks, she could even feel Fredrick's eyes on her.
"What?"
"You remembered your name."
"I did? Well then that is one mystery solved I guess? I mean, there really is no way to tell if that is my real name, but it is the only thing I got. Now how about that town we were heading to?"
Chrom was about to say something, but he was silenced by an explosion that went off a bit a way from the group. Phantom looked up to see smoke rising from distant tree tops.
"What was that?"
Lissa nudged Chrom and he nodded, he turned then to Fredrick, who silently returned the gesture.
"It's the Brigands, we need to hurry."
With that the three rushed off towards the fire. This left Phantom standing there with more question, shaking her head she weighed her options.
"Okay, I can stay here and possibly get lost, or I can go after them and assist them. And it would seem I have no weapons despite the armor."
Phantom thought for a brief period before sighing, starting to run after her three compatriots.
"Let's just hope they have an extra sword I can use."
I hope you have enjoyed!
To start I have wanted to do a Fire Emblem story for some time now, and after playing the game again I thought this to be the best time.
During a point in the story it was said that the double met the main character before they met up with the rest of the cast. I wanted to try and write what I thought could have happened. You know, without the little expositioning bits.
To clarify, Phantom is not a basic Knight, she is a Paladin. And if you were wondering about her horse, I was going to put that in, but I found no where to put it. She kinda lost it to the Doppleganger's Expiration.
Now if this seemed rushed I apologize, the rest will be more worked out for the rest of the story.
I kind of cheated a bit. While I was writing this chapter I had the game sitting next to me. So when I got to the parts about the Shepherds I quickly started a new game and got to that scene, because honestly I could not remember any of what was said.
Anyway, I hope again that you enjoyed.
Have a nice day!