The night sky was full of stars, the air gently carried a chill across Gatonel's face. He looked up and sighed. Slowly, he brought his face back down to his lap. He held a guitar of his wife's design, and plucked the strings. Cringing, he brought his fingers over the strings and stopped the vibrations. Shifting his weight, he brought his right hand up to readjust the teeth of the guitar. He plucked the strings again, this time satisfied with the sound.

"What a lovely guitar."

In his surprise, Gatonel stood up so fast he nearly fell over. He turned around to see a woman that was older than him holding a small baby.

"I didn't know you owned one," Inquired the woman. She smiled. "When did you get one?"

Sitting back down, Gatonel replied. "It's not mine." He looked down at the guitar with some regret. The woman saw the look in his eyes, she would not pry any further.

"Did Cat finally fall asleep?" Gatonel asked the woman, pointing at the baby.

"Ah, yes he did. That's what I came out here to tell you, as well as one other thing."

"What is it?"

"There's someone at the door waiting for you."

Gatonel nodded and stood up a second time, albeit more relaxed than before. He followed the woman back to the house. Placing the guitar near the back door, Gatonel made his way to the front of the house. He wiped his hands off on his pants before opening the front door.

"You called for me?" Gatonel asked as he opened the door.

"Yes I did." Replied the stranger.

A brief moment of silence was exchanged between the two. Inside, the woman cooed to the baby as it began to stir in its sleep.

"Well? What did you need?" Gatonel asked, growing impatient.

"Ah, yes, I came because I would like to make use of your abilities."

"I'm not sure where you've heard of me, but I'm not exactly a wandering musician you can pick up off the street, especially not at this hour."

"We both know those aren't the abilities I'm talking about." The stranger smiled, fixing his collar.

Gatonel scowled.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

It was the stranger's turn to scowl.

"Don't play dumb. Let's not make a big deal out of this. I'm not asking you to kill anyone."

Gatonel sighed. He wiped his face with his left hand. Then cleaned his teeth with his tongue and looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. He pondered for a moment then turned his head to face inside. He didn't see the woman. He turned back to the stranger and stared at him for a few seconds.

"Follow me to the back please." Gatonel finally ordered.

"As you wish." The stranger smirked.

Gatonel walked through his house at a brisk pace. The stranger followed closely behind. Gatonel saw the guitar near the back door and hesitated for a split second, before continuing on his path, leaving it near the doorway. As he passed it, the stranger swiftly scooped it up and followed cradling it in his arms.

Finally outside, Gatonel turned back to the stranger. Seeing what was in his hands, he nearly exploded with fury, but decided to maintain his composure.

"What do you want?" Gatonel asked, anger permeating the façade he was trying to keep up.

The stranger strummed the guitar. "Oh, what a lovely sound. Er, I want to hire you for a long-running scheme." The stranger sheepishly grinned.

Baffled with how quickly this man could switch between emotions, Gatonel again wiped his face.

"What kind of scheme?"

"I want you to spy on the Shepherds, and report back to me on a weekly basis." The stranger flashed a devious smile to Gatonel.

"The Shepherds? Like, the Shepherds?"

"Yes."

"Following them around isn't exactly the safest job for one man to do."

"Don't worry you won't be alone."

"So I'm not the only one you've made this offer to?"

"Oh, you are, but I'm allowing you to use my funding to hire more sneaksters." The man grinned again.

Sneaksters? Gatonel internally pondered. What is this guy?

"Ahem," Gatonel cleared his throat. "What I'm trying to say is that I have a kid now, I can't just leave."

"It appears to me that you have a wet-nurse for him already, so what's the problem?" The stranger strummed the guitar again a bit louder than before.

"The problem is that I'm not about to leave because some random guy is asking me to. I'm not exactly strapped for funds." Gatonel answered, once again seething with anger.

"Don't lie to strangers you just met, it creates a break of trust. Either way, I'm offering you over a hundred-thousand gold per week.

Gatonel nearly choked. "A-A hundred? You can't be serious!"

The stranger smiled, handed the guitar over to Gatonel and opened a pouch he had strapped to his side. Even with the dim light the moon gave off, Gatonel could see the soft twinkling of the gold.

"I sincerely hope you consider my offer." The stranger smiled and tied the pouch to his side.

Gatonel was speechless. The money would make things easier on him for sure. But, was it really worth leaving his son for? He eyed his house. He turned his attention back to the man.

"I'd need full control over who I choose for the team, as well as money in advance for preparations. I also request that I have full control over how my team operates in order to gain the information you want."

The stranger flashed a devilish grin. "That's no problem. As long as you deliver." He stretched out this hand.

Gatonel hesitated, but shook the stranger's hand. A deal had been made. The stranger, again, unstrapped the pouch, but this time handed it to Gatonel.

"For your initial expenses." The stranger smiled and turned around. "I will return with your initial instructions tomorrow."

"Right." Gatonel replied, wondering if he had made a decision he would regret.

Gatonel followed the stranger back into his house and escorted him back to the front door.

"Have a nice night." The stranger politely said his farewell, before he opened the front door and left.

Gatonel, still holding the guitar, turned around and walked over to the doorway, and gently placed the guitar back where it had started. He turned around to the woman from earlier.

"So, who was it?" She asked.

"I found myself a gig. Sorry I didn't tell you I was a musician earlier, ma. I'd appreciate it if you could look after Cat while I'm away."

"Well, how long are you going to be gone?"

"I'm not sure. But, I'm going to be making quite a large amount of gold." Gatonel said nervously, lifting up the pouch and shook it around, so that the jingle would reach her ears.

Gatonel's mother looked at him dubiously. She smiled at him softly. "I'm glad you're getting back on your feet. When are you leaving?"

"Sorry, I'm not sure."

"Oh, well, just let me know, and I'll take Cat back with me to your father's house. I'm sure he won't mind."

"Thank you."

Gatonel's mother heard whimpering from the other room. Cat was getting restless in his sleep again, she left to go comfort him. Gatonel sat on the floor next to the guitar. He eyed it over before standing back up, trying not to think about the past. He grabbed a candle that had been set and quickly made his way to his cellar. There, he pulled out a chest that he had tucked away. Placing the candle aside, he opened the chest and began to dig through it. He pulled out a dark blue linen garment, a tight fit. He continued to troll through the garbage in the chest. He pulled out peculiar wristguards that had been fitted with three blades each. He pulled out a long black scarf from the chest and wrapped it around the top of his head like a hood, than again around the front like a scarf.

Quickly he took off the scarf and folded the garments around the wristguards to hide them. He closed the chest and pushed it back into its place among the contents of the cellar. He got up, minding not to knock over the candle. He crouched and knocked his knuckle around the floorboards, looking for a hollow noise. After a few seconds he used his nails to pull out a loose floorboard. He reached into the hole in the wood and pulled out a sword. The sword was light in make and was entirely a shiny silver. The middle of the blade was empty except for a blue criss-cross pattern connecting the sides. Gatonel looked over the sword with a sense of nostalgia. He smiled, until he saw a small patch of dried blood along an edge, he gagged and threw the sword into the small stack of recently folded linens he made. He quivered as he covered his mouth with his hands. He regained his composure and pulled an average bow from beneath the floorboards He dug around, but could not find a quiver. He shrugged and placed the bow on the floor as he placed the floorboard back into place.

Gatonel gathered his things and rushed them back upstairs, leaving the candle, he made no sounds as he moved, as if he were a phantom hovering above the ground. He silently ran to him room and placed the things under his bed. He focused his hearing, and could hear that his mother was still with the baby. He ran back down to the cellar to retrieve the candle. Making his way down the stairs, he tripped and tumbled down, landing squarely on his back.

I guess I'm rusty.

Gatonel brushed himself off and got back up.

"Are you okay?!" Gatonel's mother was shouting at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it would take more than that to take me out. It would take more than the natural world could muster to take me away from my son." Gatonel stretched and rubbed his neck. He leaned over and picked up the candle and slowly walked up the steps.

"Please be more careful." Gatonel's mother said sternly. "It would be a shame if Cat lost both his parents."

Gatonel winced at her words. Stopping dead in his tracks. He shook his head and continued up the stairs. He placed the candle on a table, and made his way to his bedroom.

"Please turn off the candle when you go to sleep." Gatonel said with no emotion.

"Wait, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up." His mother reached out.

"Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning."

Gatonel laid on his bed above the covers. His mind racing back to the last day he had wielded his blade. He would not be getting any sleep that night.

Gatonel has been recruited!

-Starting Class: Assassin

-This guitarist is deadly silent and does not mess around when it comes to music or battle. His ears are highly sensitive allowing him to hear even the smallest abnormalities in his immediate area. He is extremely light on his feet, expected of an assassin, but doesn't like to rush headfirst into battle and dance around.

Supports:

Romantic:

Aria*

Renata*

Female Avatar

Sumia

Maribelle

Sully

Olivia

Non-romantic:

Coda*

Catosten*

Chrom

Male Avatar

Lon'qu

Gatonel's other children

A/N Well, that was long. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is my first fanfiction! I plan on making most chapters shorter than this one in the future, but for the time being, until all the characters are introduced, they'll run a bit long. Feel free to pm me with grammar mistakes I've made, or questions that you have. Thanks for your time!

As you can tell, I'll be using mostly OCs to comprise the main cast, but this story will run parallel to the story of the avatar and the Shepherds. This chapter takes place the night before Chrom and Lissa find the avatar in the field. Of course, the story will be tweaked in order to allow for more freedom in the story.