Author's Note: Hey guys, (and possibly females). How's it going? You probably don't know me, unless you are a fan of really, really bad crossover fics and have read one of those that I've published. (Seriously though, if you haven't read them, don't. I'm doing this for your sakes.)

So, for those of you that are curious, this is going to be an OC-centric fic with no ties to the actual games, as far as I have planned. Maybe a reference here and there, but other than that, nothing. Please feel free to review with criticisms and all that. I love hearing other people's opinion on my work. Even if you tell me I'm shit. With that out of the way, ON WITH THE NEW FIC THAT WAS AN OLD FIC BUT I DECIDED TO REDO EVERYTHING AND JUST START OVER AND WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THIS JUST READ THE ACTUAL CHAPTER K THANKS BYE.

August 1, 2013 7:15 PM

Fort Gordon Military Base

?'s POV

"It really is your last day, huh. I'm gonna miss you, Sarge." Private Johnson said. He came up and shook my hand.

"I'm jealous. I still have a year and a half until I can go home again."

"Don't worry, Johnson. I'm sure you'll make it back." I put a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. Johnson had just got out of boot camp, and it wasn't hard to see how nervous he was. I kinda felt for him. We were alike in a lot of ways. He was drafted a couple of months back, and it was obvious that this was his first time away from home. The worst part was, he was still posted at the base where boot camp was held. I was kinda worried that he would crack if he went to the front lines, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Thanks, Sarge. I'm sure you have other goodbyes to say, though. I'm just keeping you at this point." He shook my hand, and with one last goodbye, I left.

I walked around a little while longer. I talked to no one, as I had already said my goodbyes, despite what Johnson believed. I walked over to the barracks that I had occupied on my first day in boot camp. I watched the newest batch of recruits for a while, reminiscing about the time that Allen got so drunk he vomited on the floor, then passed out in it when the Drill Sergeant forced him to clean it up. That was the highlight of my time in training, as well as the one thing that caused Allen to be the butt of all of our jokes for years.

I spent so much time walking and staring at the buildings, reminiscing, that when the alarm on my watch went off I literally jumped in surprise.

"Oh, shit! I gotta go!" I said to myself as I took off at a run towards the fence where I knew that the bus that was set to take me to Athens, the closest city with an airport to the base.

"Name?" The man driving the bus asked.

"Seth, sir."

"Well then Seth, glad to have ya on board. Ready to go home?"

"Yessir. It's been too long already." I smiled nostalgically.

?'s POV

"See ya, boys! I'm goin' home!" I exclaimed.

"Well get the hell out of here and leave us in peace for once, dammit!" Private Wesley spoke up.

I turned around and showed him a stunning view of my middle finger.

"That's not very nice of you, Sergeant."

"And I ain't a very nice person, Private. Got anything else to bitch about?"

"No, sir." He said meekly. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and smirked at him. That shut him up good.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna leave for the bus." I turned to the rest of the men in the barracks. "Remember guys, don't get killed out there. You'll make me have to come back and fetch your sorry asses!" I couldn't help but laugh at the collective look of distaste that passed through each of their faces at the thought of me returning.

"I really am gone now. See ya." I saluted, and then left.

I walked around for a little while, not really looking at anything in particular, then made my way over to where the bus was loading to take the newest set of veterans back home. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one who was almost late. There was another man talking to the bus driver. I walked over to them, and managed to catch the back end of their conversation.

"Name?"

"Seth, sir."

" Well then Seth, glad to have ya on board. Ready to go home?"

"Yessir. It's been too long already."

They hadn't noticed me standing there yet, so I seized the chance to observe them a little. The one named Seth was of particular interest to me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I was sure that I had seen him before, somehow. I pushed the thought out of my head for the moment and took stock of his physical appearance.

He looked to be about 6 foot tall. I couldn't distinguish anything else about him from the distance that I was at. I guessed it was time to get in there and find out for myself. I walked up to them as casually as possible. From this much closer perspective, I could tell the one named Seth had grey eyes and dirty blond hair. His hair was disheveled, as if he had been wearing a hat for the last few hours and just now took it off. He had a slightly pointed nose and a slight cleft chin. I noticed some 5 o'clock shadow over his face. I could just tell how many chicks he was picking up with that nonsense. I was spot-on with my prediction of height, with him coming up to my chin.

There was something about him that just seemed all too familiar, even if I couldn't point it out. I started talking, the bus driver completely forgotten.

"Hey man, you goin' home today?" I smiled as warmly as I could.

Seth's POV

"Hey man, you goin' home today?" I turned to see a very tall and kind of intimidating man smiling at me. He had to have been at least 6' 7", judging by the fact that he was a head taller than I was. He had bright green eyes, straight brown hair that hung down into his eyes, like he hadn't gotten a haircut in months, and was pretty muscular. I swallowed a little before responding.

"Yeah man, and you?" He chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, gotta get on the bus." He turned to the bus driver. "You the one taking us home?" He went over to the bus driver, who was very short, and only came up to his chest, and ruffled his hair. "You don't look tall enough to operate the petals, small fry. You sure you're up to this?" He grinned again.

The bus driver gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I'll be alright. Thanks."

"Alright, then. Let's go!"

As we got on the bus, I asked him the most simple question I could.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Sergeant Sam Reed. What's yours?"

"I'm Sergeant Seth White."

I noticed that there were exactly two empty seats, right next to each other.

"Looks like you're stuck sittin' with me, Sam."

"That's a'ight. It's not like I have very many friends here anyway." He grinned.

I shrugged off his comment. He probably didn't have very many friends, especially if he treated everyone like that bus driver. He came and sat down in the seat next to me.

"A'ight then. LET'S GET GOIN' HOME!"

Surprisingly, the entire bus exploded into cheers with his yelling. The bus driver looked extremely irritated for a second, and then smiled. The excitement of the passengers was pretty infectious, after all. I caught myself getting louder and more excited, just like the rest of the crowd.

After the initial cheers died down, the occupants of the bus sat back and began preparing for the 4 hour drive ahead of us. I sat back and relaxed. I looked over to my neighbor, who was presently looking out the window at the base that we had just left.

Well, if I have to spend the whole ride home with him, I might as well try to be friendly to the guy.

"So, where are you from?"

I nearly jumped in surprise. I didn't think that he would talk to me at all, much less try to start up a conversation.

"Well, I'm from a little town not far from Athens called . It's a little place where everybody knows everybody. My cousin is the sheriff there, and other than him, I have no real family. I've set up an apartment for when I get home, and that's where I'll live for a while."

"So you have no one waiting for you other than your cousin?"

"No, I joined when I turned 18, and I was the oldest of all my friends. I've kept in contact with them, and none of them ever joined along with me, to my knowledge. They must be seniors in high school by now."

"Wait a minute, how old are you? Your friends are seniors NOW?"

"I made friends a couple of grades below my level. And I'm 21, thank you."

He put up his hands in a mock sign of surrender. "You win, I'm sorry!"

"How about you? Where are you from?"

His face darkened.

"I...don't remember."

"You don't remember? Why? How?"

"Well, I just remember waking up in the medical tent one day with the doctor saying that I had taken a blow to the back of my head. I was just a Private at the time, so it wasn't like there was anyone who knew my name or face."

"Well, there's a pretty easy way to find out who you are. Just look at those records you had to provide when you enlisted."

To this statement, he actually chuckled. "I would, but I must be the unluckiest person in the world. It turns out that all of the files for the area where I was assigned were kept in a computer system that got a virus and was completely wiped."

"Really now? I hadn't heard of that happening before."

"Yeah, I know. The higher-ups decided to keep it on the down low because they feared that soldiers would panic and do something stupid because no one would know who they were if they came back injured or worse. So the entire event just passed over."

I looked at him with mild suspicion. "So how did you come about this knowledge?"

"The medics tried to look up my information in order to see if I couldn't take any medications. I just happened to be awake when they couldn't get it through a computer and called in a couple of officers to explain the problem."

"Oh." I was somewhat regretful for being suspicious of him, it wasn't like he had done anything to warrant it. I shrugged it off and continued talking. "So, you have nowhere to go after we get to ?"

"Naw."

"That's too bad."

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a little while. I felt that I should have offered him a place to stay or something, but I wasn't even entirely sure where I would go to live once I got back to my hometown. I had lied about having an apartment. I had no idea where I was going to go after I got home. More and more time past while we just sat in silence. It wasn't much longer before I saw Sam's head start to loll off to one side. As I watched him struggle to keep awake, I started to feel really tired myself. My eyelids grew heavy, and before I knew it, I had joined him in the realm of sleep.

Instead of the usual black void that accompanied my sleeping hours, I was greeted by a rather realistic dream. I was standing in a huge, black room, or at least what I assumed was a room. It was so black I couldn't tell. I stood in one place, waiting for something to happen, like I was expecting something. Time seemed to stretch on for an eternity, until I noticed a bright light seeping from one corner of the room. I turned to look at it, and was faced with one of the strangest sights I had ever experienced, even in my dreams. There was a sky blue butterfly radiating light all around the room. Dumbfounded, I just stood there, staring at it. Then, in an effort to stupefy me even more, it spoke.

"I am Philemon. It would do you well to heed what I shall say. You shall soon be thrust into great peril against an enemy unforeseen. When that occurs, you shall need to summon the power of your inner self. When you see that inner self, do not fear. Your own power shall set you free. Remember that."

And with that, my vision darkened until I could see nothing more.

MOAR Author's Note: To JudgementTH: You're welcome. And thank you. To everyone else: Please review and all that jazz. Also, there are polls on my profile if you feel like that. I have no other real announcements, other than that I'll most likely be authoring fics across multiple series, including Fire Emblem and Pokemon, so look out for those. Also, if you are still interested in reading this, I'm not entirely sure when the next chapter will be. Maybe the dark magic will come and help me create another chapter fairly soon. That would be pretty wacky. Anyways, see ya!

P.S. By the way, 4 AM upload time is the most magical part of the morning.