Hiya people!

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. As the summary already stated: this is going to be a (completely shameless) OCxLeonardo. Please, don't come whining to me that I didn't warn you if you don't like OCs.

Happy endings guaranteed!

~Prologue~

'This... this can't be happening.'

The Begnion soldiers had come out of nowhere. A cowardly ambush in the dead of night, right next to Nevassa's main river.
Finally the soldiers had cornered the infamous Dawn Brigade, and they weren't planning on letting go.

'There is nothing we can do for him now, we have to run!'

They had all known there was a chance this would happen. Being freedom fighters meant being chased like streetdogs. Endless streams of blood and gore. But when that time came, none of them wanted to be believe it.

'Come on Edward, we must move now!'

Nolan had dragged Edward along, away from the torrents, the battlefield, and their merciless pursuers. But also away from his best friend.
He has been staring in horror, unable to believe his own eyes.

'Leonardo! No!'

It had all went so quickly. The Begnion soldiers closing in, cold steel blades flashing menacingly before their eyes, the young archer staggering backwards towards the raging water, ground crumbling under his feet.

'W-we'll search for him, right?'

Their enemy had the advantage in numbers, and location. The soldiers were stationed all over the country, and they had spies everywhere.
There was no competing with that. Once you're left behind, you stay behind. That was just how it was with this job.

'Wait. I see something.'

A small hopeful smile had formed itself on Micaiah's lips.
Three pairs of eyes stared at her tensely, an unspoken question in their gazes. "A vision? What did you see?"

'He is alive. Someone will help him. But we must hurry, he cannot outrun the soldiers long.'

~Chapter 1~

Natalie stared at the motionless figure of the young man in front of her. Her fingers trembled on the haft of her knife.
Why was this so darn difficult? If the situation had been reversed, he surely would have cut her down without hesitation.

She shifted her attention to the boy's bruised and battered face.
He looked so harmless like this, but that didn't matter. She knew who he really was; his clothing, and the bow she found in the water earlier perfectly matched the description.
He was one of those Daein outlaws their troops had been chasing after for Goddess knows how long. A shameless thief, and a cold-blooded murderer. A member of that accursed Dawn Brigade.

He was nothing like she had expected him to be.

When Sir Alder told her stories about the Dawn Brigade, she had always pictured them to be ratty and scar-faced monsters. Nothing like this young, handsome, almost noble-looking boy she was looking at now.

No! Nathalie scolded herself. Don't think like that, it will only make this harder. She squeezed her eyes shut, and tightened her sweaty hand around the handle of her weapon.
If Sir Jarod, Commander of the occupying army, ever found out she was hesitating to kill one of their most dangerous enemies, she would end up as a corpse herself, along with the rest of her family.

That was the only thing that kept her from running from here. From the whole damned country that was Daein.

Her life wasn't the only one depending on her actions.

She would just have to somehow endure through the cruelty, and pray her mother and sister would never know what she had to do for the gold she send them. They would never accept it.

Natalie swallowed hard, and forced herself to bring the weapon closer to the defenceless boy's neck. At least she could give him a merciful, painless passing. Something few of the other soldiers would offer a bandit.

The edge of the knife rested lightly on his fair skin. If she would put some weight on it now, she would draw blood.

'I'm- I'm sorry,' she whispered, not entirely sure to who she was apologizing; the boy, or her mother and sister for doing this.

Her heart was pounding so fast she was afraid if was going to burst out of her chest. The quivering of her hand intensified- she could hardly even hold on to the knife.

Come on, just do it!

And that's when the boy suddenly opened his eyes.

A gasp escaped Natalie's lips.

The knife dropped to the forest floor without a sound.

...

So, liked it? Want to throw bricks at my head for writing this? Let me know, 'cause reviews make my day!

By the way, as you may have noticed, I don't do game-script hugging, so some things might go differently as in the game but not too much. I wouldn't change the big happenings in the game, naturally.