*I know that it's in the summary for this story, but I feel like it's worth mentioning again: this is my first attempt at a first-person style of story, let alone a semi-self-insert. So, if there are errors, (and I'm sure there are), please forgive me. Now that that's said, I hope you enjoy the story.*

Chapter 1: A New World

I feel the cold rain on my back and the hard, black tarmac road on my face. At the moment, it's all I'm capable of: my eyes refuse to open and the world seems to be totally silent. Where am I? What just… I let out an inner groan as my head feels like its been split op- wait, has it? I try moving any part of my body, the rate of my heartbeat increasing as not a single one of my limbs reacts. Oh God, what happened to me? I can slowly feel something warm and sticky flowing down my face. What the hell? Is this blood? My blood? I slowly start to fade away, my thoughts becoming lost in a haze as I lose consciousness. This can't be happening…

I'm dead.

"Gah!"

I nearly scream as I jolt up, my heart pounding. Wait, I'm awake? I'm alive? I start patting down my body, checking to see if everything is where it should be before letting out a satisfied sigh when I realize I'm all in one piece. "What the heck was that about?" I mumble as I rub my forehead with my palm. "That was probably the worst nightm- wait, where am I?" Sudden realization smacks me like a baseball bat as I see that I'm in the middle of a large field. I stand up, my balance slightly off, and take a look around. "This isn't exactly my room now, is it?" I say as I run my hand through my hair, dark brown and roughly cut. Alright, maybe I should find someone. This is not where I live. I spot what looks like a small town off in the distance, smoke rising from chimneys. Hesitantly, I start taking a few steps towards the town when I notice something different about me: my clothes.

Where'd this come from? I ask myself as I look at the clothes. I'm wearing what looks like brown leather boots on my feet and loose-fitting black pants of some kind. I have on a red shirt beneath the long black, sleeveless jacket that I'm wearing. Fastened around my waist is a thick green and gold belt. On my hands are a pair of black and red fingerless gloves that go halfway up my forearms. "This isn't what I was wearing! I don't think I've ever worn something like this! What kinda sick idea of a joke is this?" I practically scream in frustration before stomping on towards the village, ready to find out just what the hell is going on.

"This is… different." I whisper to myself as I walk through the roughly made stone streets of the village. The houses are a mixture of roughly-built from mud and stones to actual brick. A small canal runs through the town. A myriad of people bustled through the streets, running from different stalls that offered their wares. "Different, and yet it feels kinda familiar. I swear I've seen this place before." Stopping, I grab a man by the shoulder. "Excuse me, but I'm afraid I'm lost. Would you mind telling me just where I am?"

"Are you a traveler? Your clothes mark you as one." he says as he looks me up and down. "Well friend, allow me to welcome you to Southtown."

The name strikes me hard in the stomach. Did I- did I just hear that right? Did he just say Southtown? "Southtown? You just said Southtown, right?" I say breathlessly. I let him go as he gives me a look that practically says he thinks I've lost it in some way. As he fades into the crowd, I fall against the wall of a house and catch my breath. "There's no way… that I'm in the Southtown…" I whisper to myself, trying to reassure my frantically running mind. I look up as I hear a chorus of screams coming from down the street. People begin running in terror as fires begin to break out in the main plaza. "Okay, maybe I am in that Southtown." Rather than run, I duck into an alleyway as a pair of men start heading my way. Their clothing is rough and ragged, practically mirroring how they looked. One of them holds an axe in his hands while the other carries a sword in a scabbard on his hip.

" 's about time these Ylissean dogs got a dose of reality!" the one carrying the axe yells as he charges towards a group of people. His friend shakes his head as he draws his blade and kicks in the door to a house directly across the street from me. I hear shrieks of fear from the inhabitants but at the moment, my mind's not focusing on that.

Southtown. Bandits. Ylisse. "How the fuck did I wind up in Fire Emblem!?" I shout as I look up at the sky, confusion plastered on my face I'm sure. A sudden rush of movement and a scream from the house catches my eye: a woman is running out, carrying a small baby in her arms, tears streaming down her blood-stained face as the swordsman slowly exits, his weapon gleaming red. He sees the woman as she stumbles, though she thankfully doesn't drop the child, and begins stalking towards her, a cruel smile on his lips. Oh dear God. He's actually going to-

"Hell no!" I scream as I jump from my hiding place and charge the man. He turns around just as I drive my shoulder into his stomach, the entire weight of my body going into the tackle. The two of us crash into one of the vendor stalls, sending up a shower of wood splinters and fruit. "Run!" I scream over my shoulder at the woman as I struggle with the man. A sudden kick from him drives all the wind out of my body as it connects with my stomach, sending me reeling back. I recover just in time to jump out of the path of his sword as it digs into the wood of the stall behind me. He lets out a grunt of annoyance as he attempts to remove it, giving me the opportunity to arm myself with a piece of the smashed stall. I swing it once to get a feel for how heavy it is as he frees his weapon and turns on me, his lips pulled back in a snarl.

"You're gonna die today, boy!" he barks as he points his weapon at me.

"Try me." I say. I've been told in the past, by more people than I care to remember, that I usually know just the right thing to say to get someone angry. It seems that even in this world, that holds true, as the man yells in anger before running towards me, his sword reared back, leaving him open. Gripping my improvised club with two hands, I smash it into his chest with all of my strength. There's a loud crack, both from my stick and his ribs, before he drops his sword and backs away, clutching at his chest in pain. "There're two kinds of people in this world I hate." I say to him as I throw down my broken weapon. "Men who hurt women and men who hurt children." I hold up two fingers on my right hand as I stoop down and pick up his dropped sword. It's heavy but I still manage to hold onto it. "And, you, my friend," I say as I point the tip of the sword to his throat, "fit into both of those categories." I bring the point of the sword away from him as I clench my right hand and deliver an angry punch directly to his face. His head snaps back as the crunch of bones is heard, howling in pain. He stares at me with hatred in his eyes as I shake my hand. That effing hurt! I say to myself. Didn't know I could throw one like that.

My thoughts are interrupted as I hear the swordsman snickering. That's never a good sign. I whirl around just as his friend, the ax-man, swings his namesake weapon down, trying to cleave me in half. I stumble back, instinctively bringing up my arm to protect myself. The blade of the ax tears through the skin on my right arm. I let out a scream of pain as I bring it to my chest, blood flowing freely from the wound, though it doesn't appear to be deep. The swordsman snickers again as his friend catches me in the chest with a hard punch, knocking me to my knees as I gasp for air. Damn… so, I go from one dream of dying to actually dying… I chuckle despite myself; it's sick but funny in a way that I could only understand. But hey, at least they didn't get the woman… My thoughts trail away as I finally notice the small heap lying down the road from me. As I recognize it, my blood freezes in my veins. It was the woman, blood pooling around her body as the young child cried, cradled in her dead arms.

"You like my work?" the man with the ax said. I look up at him, a mixture of disgust and anger on my face. "The wench didn't even see what hit her. Wham! like that, my ax goes right into her. It's a pity that I didn't get the child with her; she turned just in time, trying to protect it." He grins as he sees the look on my face. "Wha's wrong with you? Don't you get it, boy? People live and people die: all that matters is whose got the guts to live and who doesn't. Though, I guess it doesn't matter much for you," his grin grows larger as he lifts up his ax, getting ready to bring it down on my head, "seeing as how you're about to-"

He doesn't get a chance to finish before I make my move. People live and people die?! Bullshit! I roar in my head as I grip the sword with my right hand and lunge forwards, stabbing it deeply into the man's stomach. "You…. BASTARD! You kill an innocent woman and you laugh about it!?" I feel the blood in my veins rushing as I twist the sword's hilt, causing a small burble of blood to come out of his mouth. "There's a special place in the pits of Hell for people like you. I hope you enjoy your stay there." I say as I tear the sword out of him. He stumbles backwards, clutching at his wound, before falling to the ground. I stare down in shock at the dead man, the man who I've just killed. Oh my God, I actually just… My stomach starts to turn flips at the thought. "NO!" I shout, trying to clear my head. No, he deserved it. He murdered that woman and would have murdered more people. Think of it that way… I let out a deep breath as I turn to face his cohort, the swordsman now cowering back in fear. "Give me everything you have of value and start running." I snap.

He does and leaves behind a small brown vial of some liquid, (a Vulnerary?), and the scabbard for his sword. As I fasten it to my belt, with a good amount of difficulty I should add, I walk over to where the woman lay. Placing my fingertips on her neck, I feel my heart ache as I feel the lack of a pulse. I'm so sorry. I… I thought that… Pounding the ground with my hand, I let out a small cry of anguish. A life for a life. I only wish you hadn't died. Slowly regaining my composure, I pick up the bawling infant and cradle him in my arms. "Don't worry, little one." I whisper in soft tones. "I promise no bad men are going to come after you. Not while I'm here." With my free hand, I close the woman's eyelids before standing up. "Now, if this is Southtown, and it's under siege by these guys, then that means…" An idea slowly starts to form in the back of my mind as I start to head towards where the bandits had come from, the baby resting quietly in my arm.

It takes me a few minutes, but I finally find the four people that I'm looking for. One of them, a man on a horse wearing a full suit of armor, save a helmet that allows me to see his brown hair, spots me and says something to one of his companions, a young man with blue hair who carried a sword that I recognized very well, though I'd never seen it.

"You there!" he calls out as I start to come closer. "Who are you and- gods, is that a child?" He lowers the sword as I come to a stop in front of them. "Are you with the bandits that attacked here? Do you plan to use that child for leverage?"

My eyes immediately snap to one of the two females of the group. Didn't quite guess that Robin would be a female but… Her black hair is pulled back into a ponytail and her green eyes are fiercely narrowed at me. Huh, she never looked this good in the games. I notice the tome in her hands and immediately turn my attention back to the young man. "You're Chrom, correct?"

"I am. What of it?" he asks as he tightens his grip on Falchion.

Was he like this in the game? You'd think I'd be able to remember, as often as I played it. I step forwards, causing all four of them to immediately tense up. I place my free arm in the air as a gesture of peace before walking closer to him. "I mean neither you nor any of your friends harm. I only want to give you this child." I offer him to Chrom. "His mother, at least that's who I assume she was, was cut down by a bandit. He has no home that I know of and, well, I can't exactly take care of him. All I want you to do is find somewhere for him to live and be healthy, alright?"

His little sister, Lissa, walks up next to him and looks at the baby. "Oh Chrom, he's so adorable! We have to do something." Looking up at me, she gives me a surprisingly cheerful smile. "I think it's very good of you to go out of your way to save this baby." She takes him from my arms and into her own, smiling even wider as he lets out a giggle. "Aw, I think he likes me!"

Well, that's settled. Now, what about myself? It was the question that had been on my mind since I'd decided to hunt down Chrom and his Shepherds to return the child. They might welcome me in but… Do I want to go with them? As odd as it sounds, I honestly didn't. To me, it seemed clear that, even though this is the world from Fire Emblem: Awakening, the story here doesn't have to be the same. After all, I don't remember anyone giving over this kid to Chrom. That meant there could be any number of things in this world. Plus, I might affect the story for this world. Then again, so could me saving this baby, but I'm not gonna let a baby die. I mean, it's a baby! "Well, thanks for not lopping my head off with your sword there." I say with a smile as I start backing away. "I'm just going to head off now." With that, I turn on my heel and begin to walk away. Well, there's my decision I guess.

"Wait." I freeze in place as I realize what's coming next. "Would you-"

"-like to come with you?" I shrug once before turning around to face them again.

"How did you-"

"-know you were going to say that?" I laugh slightly as he shares a confused look with Frederick, the man on the horse. "I've heard of the Shepherds. A band of men and women who fight to protect Ylisse from those who would do the country harm. Consider it a lucky guess that you'd ask me to come with you." I shake my head and throw my hands in the air. "Not today. I kinda just want to be alone in my travels for right now. Maybe some other day, perhaps."

"Will you at least tell us your name?" Robin asks, giving me a suspicious look.

Can't say I don't blame her. Although, she just had to ask that question. I sighed inwardly as I realized that I would have to give them a name. But, should it be my real name? Taking a moment to think, what all has happened to me since I've arrived? I've woken up in a field in new clothes, gone to a town, been attacked by bandits, killed said bandits, and met four characters from a video game. With all of this, am I really just going to be who I used to be? Why not be someone a little different. Different world, different people, so different me. Extending my hand, I smile at her. "The name's Kale." A little bit on the spot, but why not? I like the sound of it.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Kale." she says, gripping my hand. I immediately let out a howl of pain as the wound from the ax-man flares up. "You're wounded!" She pulls away her hand as she realizes that it was her who made the wound act up. I dismissively wave my hand, making the wound hurt even more.

"Can I please have a healer?" I mumble as I clutch the gash. "This hurts like hell!"

"I've got it!" Lissa says before handing the baby to Robin, who awkwardly accepts it. Gripping a staff, she raises it into the air as it begins to glow. Slowly, I watch as the cut starts to mend itself together, fusing back into whole skin and without even leaving a scar.

That's not what it looks like in the game. Kinda spooky, really. "Thanks." I say with a smile, flexing my healed arm. "Well, I'd best be off. The road is calling to me. Maybe someday, we can all meet up again." I bow slightly to them before turning away and leaving.

Just before I leave earshot, I hear Frederick. "What an odd character."

On any other day, I probably would have taken that as an insult. Today though, I shrug it off. Meh, he's probably right. I smile as I look up to the sky and see that the sun is beginning to set. But then again, I'm not supposed to be here, am I?

*Yeah, I know: it's short. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading it, as I enjoyed writing it. Please, leave your thoughts in a review, as I'd really appreciate the criticism or the support. Either one will do.*