Prologue: Two Sets of Eyes
CHROM
"Chrom, We have to do something."
Chrom let a small sigh escape his lips. When he had decided to allow his younger sister Lissa to accompany him and Fredrick on their patrol to see what life as a Sheperd was like, he had expected a rather straightforward few days without too much trouble. What he had not expected was Lissa finding an odd looking man passed out in the middle of a field.
The man looked similar to Chrom's age, was about as tall and his hair was of similar length, but there the resemblances ended. The man on the ground had a youthful face without looking adolescent, and dark red unkempt hair. He wore rather loose fitting, plain clothes under a large dark cloak with gold trim and decorated with purple patterns. A massive hood hung around his shoulders, big enough to completely shroud his face if need be. He was sprawled out on his back in the grass, eyes closed and unmoving.
"What do you propose we do?" Chrom asked his sister.
"I- I don't know." She replied worriedly.
It was as she was finished speaking that the two noticed the man had begun to stir. Then he opened his eyes. The two siblings gasped and immediately turned to look into the man's face.
"I see you're awake now." Said Chrom with a smile.
"H-Hey there." Lissa chimed in.
The man's eyes darted between Chrom and Lissa, confusion etched in his face. It was then that Chrom noticed that the man had two different eyes. His right eye was a bright green color while his left eye was a deep purple. Chrom watched as the two mismatched eyes darted around in confusion and a bit of fear.
"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know." He said, earning a small giggle from Lissa. He stretched out his hand towards the man, while keeping his other hand close to Falchion's hilt, just in case. "Give me your hand."
The man's eyes fell upon the hand being offered to him. After a brief moment, he finally took it and allowed Chrom to help him to his feet. He shook his head, trying to clear it.
"You all right?" asked Chrom.
The man looked at the two in front of him, and finally opened his mouth.
"Y-yes... Thank you, Chrom." he said in a very quiet voice.
"Ah, you know who I am?" asked Chrom with raised eyebrows. He supposed that knowing who he was shouldn't be all to surprising, despite the man looking like he wasn't from Ylisse.
The man winced and began rubbing his head with his hands.
"No, actually, I... It's strange... Your name, it just...came to me..."
Chrom took note that the man moved rather sluggish and erratically and his eyes seemed rather dull. That as well as the hollow tone of his voice gave him the impression that this man was broken, only half of a full person.
Nevertheless, he chose to give the man the man the benefit of the doubt, for now a least.
"...Hmm, how curious. Tell me, what's your name? What brings you here?"
The man looked back at Chrom.
"My name is... It's... " he began, then winced again and grabbed his head.
Chrom looked at the man, perplexed.
"...You don't know your own name?" he asked. He himself may not feel threatened by this odd man, but to be safe, he made sure that Lissa was behind him.
Meanwhile, The man seemed to be wrestling with his head, but eventually dropped his hands and looked at Chrom again.
"I'm not sure if... I'm sorry, but where am I, exactly?" he asked, his voice still quiet and pathetic.
From behind him, Chrom sensed Lissa give a start.
"Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!" she exclaimed.
Chrom had heard of it as well.
"You can't remember anything at all?" he asked.
The man screwed his eyes shut, straining to remember.
"No... I can't remember anything... about myself. All I can remember is-"
"Milord!" came a voice from behind Chrom. He and Lissa turned around to see Fredrick, their companion, galloping towards them on his war horse.
"Ahh, Fredrick." Chrom greeted him with a wave, "How went your scouting venture?"
"Twas not a typical venture, milord." responded Fredrick, removing his feet from his stirrups, "I happened upon a rather peculiar and suspicious individual."
As Fredrick descended from his destrier, Chrom and Lissa both gasped. There was a woman sitting on the back of the horse, previously hidden from view by the great knight's bulky armor. What shocked Chrom and Lissa was that the stranger on the horse was dressed in the exact same clothes as the mysterious man behind them, though Chrom noticed that the woman's chest made the shirt fit her a bit tighter than on the man. Her hair, pulled over half of her face, was the exact same dark red as the man's as well. The woman stared blankly right in front of her. Fredrick helped her off the horse and Chrom saw that her wrists were tied together, and that she also was a few inches taller than he was. Fredrick placed one hand on the woman's shoulder, to make sure she didn't try to run.
"I happened upon her strewn on the ground, unconscious." he reported, "When she finally awoke, she spoke little when I questioned her, and claims she cannot remember anything about who she is or where she came from. But she did mutter your name, milord."
Chrom raised an eyebrow, but before he could open his mouth, Lissa exclaimed, "Wow, you found one too?"
Fredrick looked perplexed at Lissa's inquiry.
"Too? Whatever do you mean, milady?"
It now occurred to Chrom that he and Lissa were blocking their mysterious stranger from view.
"We seem to have found our own peculiar individual." he said, standing aside so that Fredrick could see the man, who was currently standing quietly, staring blankly ahead, much like the woman with Fredrick.
Once the two strangers saw each other, however, both of them straightened up like a board, their eyes widening in shock.
"ROLAN!"
"SILICA!"
The two sprang at one another, crashing into each other and falling to the ground in a tangled embrace, both of them making sounds that was part sobbing, part hysteric laughing. Chrom and Fredrick stared at the two with looks of disbelief, while Lissa smiled at them.
"Aww, they're so cute."
"And full of surprises." said Fredrick, his face stern, untrusting, "She broke my hold with such ease, not that I was putting much force in it but still..."
"That's not all." noted Chrom, pointing at the ground. Fredrick followed Chrom's finger and his eyes widened. Sitting on the ground was a short length of rope. Fredrick looked back at the two mystery people. The woman's hands were currently unbound and flung around the man's body as she sob-laughed into his shoulder and he did the same.
"What? But I tied those ropes as tight as I possibly could." Exclaimed Feedrick. He walked up to the two strewn on the ground, grabbed both of them by the shoulder, and hoisted them to their feet. As he did that, the woman's hair briefly drifted away from her face, and Chrom saw that she also had two different colored eyes, only the colors were reversed compared to the man's.
Fredrick loomed over the two strangers, his armor's bulk shrouding both of them in his shadow.
"Just who are the two of you!" he demanded.
The woman managed to compose herself fist.
"Well…" she slung her arm around the man's neck and pulled his head into her chest, much to his surprise and discomfort, "this scrawny little man is my responsible, respectable little brother Rolan." she said with a big smile.
Rolan freed himself from his sister's grasp and scowled at her.
"And this is my loud mouthed, obnoxious sister, Silica. Don't let her fool you though, we're twins of identical age. Her body just matured a bit faster than mine, at the expense of her brain."
"Hey!" exclaimed Silica, and she whacked Rolan on the head.
"Ow!" he yelled, hitting her back.
As the two siblings began to swat at each other, the other three simply stared at them in disbelief. Chrom looked in awe at the two who, just a moment ago, seemed like the walking dead, but now they brimmed with life. He and Lissa smiled at the siblings, whereas Fredrick's scowl deepened.
"Allow me to clarify the situation." he said, "These two are just found in the middle of nowhere, and claim that they cannot remember who they are or where they came from, but they can remember everything about the other one?"
"Yeah, it's called amnesia." stated Lissa.
"It's called a load of pegasus dung." replied the great knight. Once again, he grabbed each of them by the shoulder and had to pull them apart. "We're to believe you two both remember milord's name but not your own?"
Rolan began to look worried again.
"B-but it's the truth!" he pleaded.
Chrom put an arm on Fredrick's shoulder.
"… What if it IS true, Fredrick? We can't just leave them here, alone and confused. What sort of Sheperds would we be then?"
Fredrick turned to look at Chrom.
"Just the same, milord, I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not be wise to let wolves into our flock."
"Aww, come on, Freddy." said Silica, standing off to the side of Fredrick and Chrom, causing both to jump a little as neither of them heard not saw her approach. "We don't bite." Silica smiled sweetly at them.
Rolan gave an exasperated sigh as he grabbed Silica by the arm and dragged her away from the two men.
"You are NOT helping the situation, Sis."
Chrom looked the two of them up and down once more before making his decision.
"Right then-we'll take them back to town and sort this out there."
Rolan's eyes widened.
"Wait just one moment. Do we have a s-mmmph!" he screamed as Silica clamped a hand over her brother' mouth and pulled his head into her chest again. She then gave a big friendly smile to Chrom.
"Yes, that sounds like a reasonable decision. We'll follow you, Sir."
ROLAN
As the group marched on through the forest, Rolan leaned over and whispered to Silica, "What will they do with us? Are we prisoners at this point?"
"Who cares?" replied Silica, "A town means people, and people means food. I'm starving."
In front of them, Rolan heard Chrom let out a chuckle.
"Hah! You two will be free to go once
we establish you're no enemy of Ylisse."
"Is that where we are? Ylisse?" asked Rolan.
Behind him, Rolan felt Fredrick's untrusting brown eyes burning holes in the back of his head.
"You've never heard of the halidom?" he asked, unimpressed, "Ha! Pay these actors. They play quite the fools! The furrowed brow is especially convincing on you, young man."
Chrom stopped walking and turned around, The girl doing the same. "Fredrick, please." he said to the great knight, then turned to the two siblings, "This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler, Emmeryn, is called the exalt. I suppose proper introductions are past due… My name is Chrom- but then, you already knew that. The delicate one is my little sister, Lissa…"
Lissa flailed he arms in the air angliy.
"I am NOT delicate! ...Hmph!" she exclaimed, turning her head away from her brother.
"Ignore my brother, please. He can be a bit thick sometimes."
Silica giggled at that.
"Yeah, that I've noticed." she said with a smile.
Chrom looked at her, puzzled.
"What?" he asked, now genuinely confused.
Rolan sighed and swatted Silica in the back of the head.
"Never mind her, please."
Chrom still looked puzzled, making Lissa a laugh.
"Anyway," she continued, "you sure are lucky the Shepherds found you. Brigands would've been a rude awakening!"
Rolan raised an eyebrow.
"Sheperds? You tend sheep? In full armor?" he inquired.
Chrom grinned.
"Heh, it's a dangerous job. Just ask Fredrick the Wary here."
Fredrick's face remained stone-faced as ever.
"A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate amount of caution." he looked at the red haired siblings, this time with slightly less of a glare, "I have every wish to trust you two, but my station mandates otherwise."
Rolan nodded in agreement.
"I understand, sir." he said politely. Beside him, Silica's smile grew even wider.
"Awww, I knew you were a big softy under all that armor, Freddy." she teased, causing both Rolan and Fredrick to sigh heavily. She opened her arms and approached the Great Knight to hug him, only to be stopped by Rolang grabbing her by the hood and yanking her back.
Chrom laughed.
"We're almost to town. Once we-"
Chrom, look! The town!" cried Lissa, pointing up the path.
Just beyond the tree line of the forest was a small little town. Rolan saw what Lissa was pointing at and gasped. Many of the buildings were lit ablaze, with large columns of black smoke billowing up into the sky. Now that he concentrated, Rolan could faintly hear the scrams of panic and terror drifting from the town.
Rolan looked back at Chrom, who's look of good humor had vanished and grey eyes were steely with anger.
"Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt..." he growled as he turned to address his fellow Sheperds. "Fredrick, Lissa! Quickly!"
Fredrick looked at Rolan and his sister.
"What about them, milord?"
"Unless they're on fire as well, it can wait!"
"Aptly put, milord."
"Gods, let's go already!" yelled Lissa
With that, the three Ylissans ran full speed toward the town.
"Wait! But what about-" called Rolan after them, but they were already long gone, leaving him and Silica standing there. A couple seconds passed before Silica began to follow them.
"Wait." said Rolan, grabbing his sister's arm. Silica turn around to face him.
"What? You can't honestly think that we're going to wait here for them to come get us?" she asked accusingly.
"Look, I know you and remember that you like to fight, but now-"
"Damn right I like to fight! And you know what? I also know that you can't stand by while there's danger around."
It wasn't until the words had left her mouth that Rolan began to notice it, a twisting feeling in his gut, telling him to go after Chrom and the others.
Rolan looked from his sister, to the town and back again.
"Alright, let's go!"