The State of Amnesia
This is my disclaimer, so listen up! Warning: I do not own this…wait, what, warning? Ugh, forget it…this belongs to the ones who made the Fire Emblem…and started the Fire Emblem series, round of applause to whoever they are, you know all your names…which would probably a lot of names.
The Hunt BeginsHe woke by the side of the road, a calm girl humming and while she picked flowers, seeming content with all of life…which made him panic, mostly because she seemed content, and there was no way she could be calm, he certainly wasn't calm, he had no sense of direction, no sense of self, he was surprised if he had any sense at all…but he did feel he was the saner of the two…him and this girl.
He didn't even remember this girl…though she did seem familiar, a ghost he had dreamt of before, or a ghost he knew he'd dream of, but as of yet she hadn't appeared, and that's when the name came to him, some soft pat on the brain, it seemed a pat and a whisper. Her name was Morgan…yes, now that their eyes met he saw who she was…someone close, but that's as much as he knew…which was weird, weird he knew her name while not even having memories of her, and weirder yet that she was close to him…he usually kept people at arm's length, not by choice, of course, but not many seemed to like him…or so he recalled…which was another thing he didn't understand, because as soon as their eyes met, her eyes lit up, that is to say, lit up more than they already were, "Bunny!" she shouted, knocking him down as he attempted to lift himself up.
"Hey, no, I'm not a bunny! I'm a Taguel…I think…I could be human, but for some reason—ah! My head, it hurts!"
"Yarne, are you okay?"
"Do I look okay, Morgan? Who are you, anyways?"
"Wait right there, you just said my name, just then!"
"Yeah, I know, but who are you to me? I feel like you're a phantom from some bygone hamlet, and I feel as though I've seen you before! As though we were destined to meet, or something scary like that...please, I beg you, don't send me on some quest to kill something!"
"Well, you were born a couple of years after me, so it makes sense…okay, maybe not, we've already met, right? Oh no, are you amnesiac?!"
"Well, considering I always had a weak constitution, I'm probably a little bit of everything, or most at least I've once had any one of the diseases that come to mind…I'm sorry, this isn't real, see, you'd know that by know."
"Amnesiac means you have no memory of yourself…except a few things, of course, you remembered me, after all!"
"Yes, I did…I didn't remember what amnesiac meant though."
"That doesn't matter, Lord Lucina will be here any minute, we must prepare for her arrival, so I'll make tea!"
"And I need some sort of medicine or something, I feel like my brain will explode."
"Don't worry, we'll get through this, we're family after all, and it's what our parent would want…I miss them." Yarne looked up as he heard her whimper, which hurt his ears in every way, and hoped she wouldn't cry, but she did, not much at first, but that changed soon.
"Hey, don't cry, you said it yourself, we'll get through this together, what're siblings for, anyways?" he asked quietly as he gently held her, which actually made him feel less like crying than he did a moment ago.
"Yarne, Morgan, where are you?" a heavily armored knight asked, her eyes soon picking out the silhouette of Yarne leaning against the tree, which made her smile, "Vigilant as always, I presume?" earning a shout of surprise from her audience, "Hmm, guess not, hey, Yarne, where'd you're sister go?"
"She's asleep…are we really good friends?"
"No, why'd you ask?"
"No reason, I just feel alone, Morgan's the only one I remember." Upon hearing this news the knight ran back the way she came, reappearing to find Yarne standing on shaky legs, "Why'd you run and leave me alone for, Kjelle?! Why didn't you stay, I thought we were being set upon!"
"It's worse than we feared, then." A blue haired woman said to Kjelle.
"And yet he remembers my name." she replied.
"Is someone going to tell me what's going on, Lucina?!" Yarne cried desperately, grabbing the blue haired girl by her shoulders as he did.
"Yarne, do you remember the others? Of course you do, but we didn't expect that…Yarne, you're in danger, do you remember that?" Yarne closed his eyes and remembered a large city, he was walking alone at night when he saw three men in his path, he turned around and found himself surrounded, but he had his beaststone and transformed, then charged through enemy lines…and that's the extent of his memory, when he opened his eyes Lucina had just tilted her head after finishing speaking, "Yarne, are you with us?" she asked.
"Of course I am, it's just a lot to take in."
"You have us to support you, now settle for the night, alright?"
"If I can settle to save my life, my nerves are just so…unnerved."
"Well, that's okay, but, umm, could you let go of my shoulders? You're going to be fine, okay?"
"Fine, fine." He said reluctantly as he entered a tent Morgan had set up. He looked around and saw a picture of a smiling man in robes that had three scary eyes sewn into the fabric, the were outlined with purple and had a regal air to them, he held hands with a Taguel woman, who appeared to be in the middle of laughing, similar to the man in the picture. Yarne stared at it a while before Morgan spoke, "They tried to-"
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Morgan, what are you doing here?!"
"Sorry, sorry, I'll be leaving."
"No, wait, that wasn't what I meant just…don't give me a heart attack, okay?"
"Ha, ha, okay, if you must insist."
"You sound just like him when you say that, you know."
"I know." She said, losing herself in a flood of memories.
"Ah, no, please don't cry again!"
"I've got this, just…give me a minute…okay, now what was I going to say? That's right, see, we were going to have them look at us while they held hands, but Father said that it felt as though he was holding the canvas's hands and not Mother's, and then he said that he could just stare at the canvas for hours, at which mother gently nudged his shoulders, I told them to hold still, and then they went back to holding hands…until Father curled his fingers inward, ha, ha, Mother gave him that scared bunny look, and he gave the feather happy archer look, she tried so hard not to laugh, but couldn't help it, I told him to cut it out before I painted his face black and blue, and he stopped acting up, then she tickled his palms, and I told her that the same applies, then you…you said I was just like both of them, stern like Mother, but fun loving like Father, and…and they both laughed, that quiet, small laugh you see there…I wanted to always have them laughing…oh, gosh, sorry." She said as she started crying again.
"It's fine, I miss them too, I wish I could remember them like you do, but I don't."
"But you will, I'll see to that!"
"Morgan, you don't have to worry about that…what ever happened to them, anyways?"
She looked up at him sadly and he remembered instantly, "Yarne, they…they-"
"It's okay, I remember now." He said as he supported her…or maybe she supported him, he only knew he wasn't use to hugging the little people, he was always the little person, the change was different and it made him feel as though he could maybe live through whatever was chasing him, "Morgan?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for always looking out for me, I'll be sure to survive with you guys watching my back!"
"I hope so, you are my brother after all, so don't even give it a thought, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"So she's in charge, now?" a Lucina asked quietly.
"Oh, uh, yeah, I was just kidding, you're still in charge."
"It's fine, I was just kidding, but Severa was looking for you, says you might have memories that could affect battle performance, and that she could help jog your memory…in case you've forgotten, she's not the most sweet tempered little angel out there."
"Um, okay, I'll take that under advisement, so, where is she?"
"For now, asleep, tomorrow she wants to speak with you, somewhere the assassins won't hear."
"Ah, assassins, no one mentioned my nobility!"
"Ha, you're not royalty, don't worry…we actually got really close to stopping them, but failed, resulting in you becoming amnesiac."
"On top of everything else, I feel like my world's been smashed, and then replaced with an unfamiliar one!"
"Well, you'll remember enough tomorrow, I hope, until then you must remain calm."
"Remain calm…remain calm?! And you claim to be my friend, but I never told you to never tell me to be calm?! Unthinkable, but I'll tell you now: I cannot be calm when you tell me to be calm under these situations, because it means things are only looking dimmer!"
"Hey! Stop yelling at me, I'm right in front of you!" Lucina said, gently pushing him away.
"Sorry," he said meekly, "it's just…I'm scared."
"I know, you've always been…skittish, for lack of a better word, I should be the one apologizing, I shouldn't have yelled."
"But you've been under a lot of stress, lately," Kjelle said as she stood outside the entrance of the tent, "haven't you, Lucina?"
"Wait," Yarne said, "Morgan called you Lord Lucina earlier."
"It's just her way, Yarne, but Cynthia calls me Lucy, so everyone's different in some ways, but there is one unifying element, and that is that we are all friends, and I won't lose you to some assassins."
"The lethality of their attacks is not lost to us; we almost lost Severa to them today." Kjelle said sadly, and for some reason, Yarne felt lost and confused, he didn't know why, he only vaguely remembered anyone here, but Kjelle's news pained him worse than extinction ever could, perhaps he would remember his friends soon, and then he would know everything in his life that he ever lost.
Yarne arose early in the morning, not sure if this was the usual hour for his awakening or not, but he was awake now, haunted by flashes of lightning and arrows from shadows, he wasn't sure that those were memories or fear induced nightmares, and he was afraid of anything that can scare anyone. He strolled along the road, arriving at a slow stream, calm and steady, like breathing, except it didn't change pace as his heart did. He heard breathing, light and calm, but it was controlled and rugged, as though someone took great pains to find him…of course they were here for him, they always were, he felt that that was a certainty. He took a slow breath and calmly, very calmly focused, feeling the shriek that was rising deep within his chest, in his lungs, rising to his throat, but he subdued it and clambered up the tree, then crawled onto a limb for a better view of what waited below, when he saw a girl red pigtails. He didn't know if adjectives were his strong suit, but his first thought was that she was beautiful, the second was that she looked capable of handling any foe, the third was that she was injured, the fourth that he should probably help her, the fifth that she could be an assassin, and the sixth, well, he didn't get to that before the bough broke and he came tumbling down the branches which had afforded him such an excellent vantage point while keeping him invisible. The girl drew he blade and turned, stomping her foot down solidly as he looked up, his ankle sprained and his body belly down. Her sword was poised over his head as their eyes locked, for what Yarne believed to be the last time, the venom in her eyes being enough to drain him dry of blood, but she held with her blade over him, ready to bring it down, she stopped and resumed her ragged stance, sheathing her blade with the worn expression he noticed from the trees, "You shouldn't scare someone like that." She said as she assumed a half venomous stare.
"S-sorry, I just thought…wait…Severa?!"
"Huh?" she managed as she turned back to him as he leapt forward and hugged her, managing to stay on his foot before he remembered it was sprained, and realized he had been leaning on her the entire time, sending both of them down, but she pushed him off sat back as soon as they landed, despite her weariness, "Get off me, rabbit!" she said, trying to keep the exhaustion out of her voice.
"Sorry, Severa, but I'm just so glad to see you, I thought you were an assassin."
"Well, don't get too comfortable, we can't afford to let your guard down, now, tell me what you remember."
"Well, this is the twentieth time I've sprain my ankle, other than that and what I've told the others, nothing."
"And what did you tell them?"
"Only that I could remember their names, and my parents…for the most part."
"Oh, well that's close to worthless, but we'll get your memories back, you can bet your long bunny ears on that."
"I'd really rather not."
"Ha, and that's why…never mind."
"No, what, tell me, please."
"I was about to say that was why you lost your memories, but I wouldn't want someone to come up and start poking at my injuries, but don't worry, there'll be time for that to."
"Ouch…who knew words could hurt so badly?"
"Ha, you did, well, now, anyways."
"Yeah, sure…speaking of pain-"
"Stop whining and show me your ankle."
"You have a shrilly voice."
"What did you just say?!"
"Nothing, I meant you had a ringing voice, shrilly was a mistake, a bad choice of words for, uh, how did she say? A lack of a better word, that's why, I don't want to end the Taguel!"
"That had better been what you meant."
"Sorry! I'm really, really sorry!"
"Then stop with all the apologizing, my feelings aren't crushed as easily as yours are, Yarne."
"Sorry…I'll stop talking now."
"I wish you would, I really, really do."
"I do too."
"I think you messed this up pretty well, maybe Brady could fix this, if he didn't also sprain his ankle earlier…you'd think men were made of twigs or something!"
"I do."
"Stop saying that."
"Saying what?"
"Idiot, stop saying 'I do', that's what!"
"I will!"
"Stop that, unless you want to be the last Taguel!"
"I don't!"
"Of course you wouldn't." she said tiredly.
"I didn't mean it like that, I mean, you're a nice girl…okay, that was a lie, we both know it…you're cute?"
"What's making you say that?!"
"Nothing, just…I don't think I've ever been in a break up before, it's awkward."
"We're not breaking up!"
"That's a relief."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that I don't want to be broken up…in any sense of the phrase, I mean, it's not just that, I don't want to break your heart, either."
"Stupid, bad time to annoy the one about to carry you back to camp!"
"Sorry, I'll shut up now."
"I wish you would."
"I…am about to do that right now!"
"Good."
She was exasperated, he could tell, but she still did her best carry him back, which was not managed without difficulty, especially considering his frame was slightly larger than hers, though that was mostly because of his Taguel heritage.
Grome and Brady stood arguing and shoving each other outside a medical tent when Severa stumbled out of the woods, holding the weight of Yarne and using his height to steady herself, and using her own strength to keep either from falling. The two men stopped shoving each other and ran to Severa as soon as they saw her, "Severa, what in the world were you thinking?! You could've been hurt worse than you are now!"
"Brady's right, you were rash for that, but thankfully Yarne found you, albeit without informing us first."
"He's right, Yarne, next time you want to find a missing patient you come to us and tell us what's up, right? It was a foolhardy thing, searching for her without backup, if the assassins were out there…who know what could've happened."
"I actually thought she was an assassin, and I was looking for her, I was just trying to sort things out."
"Oh." The two replied at once, then turned and began hitting him with a barrage of criticism, emphasizing the dangers of leaving the camp without telling some where he would go and how long he wanted to be gone until someone searched for him, until Severa snapped at the two, dropping Yarne as she did, "Look, if he wants to go out into the woods, then fine, he has good hearing he can fend for himself, and the camps not even that far away, and I can look out for myself, just because I have a few wounds from those idiot assassins doesn't mean I can't yell for help, or maybe kill them all and drag my sorry self out of the woods and back to camp afterwards, so stop treating me and Yarne like we're babies!"
"Yeah," Brady said, "she has a point, I was just scared because you're not completely healed just yet, and Yarne lost his memories, so who knows what kind of trouble he had gotten into out the alone."
"I was just concerned that you might tear whatever stiches you needed," Gerome said, "I was on patrol at the time, and no one told me if you just had to stand under the staff for a while or what."
"Well, since you two actually had reasons, I'll let you off this time. Yarne, now's no time for a nap."
"I'm not napping, you dropped me."
"Don't be a baby, get up, Gerome, carry him back to the medical tent, I'm going to sleep, lugging him around was tough." She said as she left Yarne with Gerome, who sighed despondently as he lifted the Taguel and held him over his shoulder, alarm appeared on his face as he saw the medical supplies were outside a tent which was being taken down, "Brady, can you come up with an excuse for the medical tent being disassembled?"
"Yeah, we're on the move again, we have to get to Mount Prism and ask for Naga to send us home, so let's go, you put him up on the Justice Wagon and Laurent will drive, meanwhile I'll instruct Yarne on how to treat his foot and attempt to speed up the healing process."
"I just need to know, where's the Wagon?" as he asked a girl rode up alongside them in a strange vehicle which startled Yarne, "What is that thing?!" he asked as he wondered how it was able to move with no horses,
"This," the girl explained, "is a vehicle with a frame designed to keep passengers from falling out, and the hull wooden and reinforced with steel to keep arrows from hitting anywhere below the chest, with a magical ward set up around the entire space, to prevent magical attacks from harming them, but the ward doesn't stop any of the passengers attacks, magic or otherwise, thanks to Laurent's intense studies of magic wards, but if these ever falls into enemy hands, he has another spell that will destroy this little fella, so don't worry about it…and I heard you'd forgotten some things, so I'll introduce you, this is the Justice Wagon, and I'm Cynthia, we just got back from a huge war and epic battle, met the Tiki of this world, and our parents too, but then we had to go home to see what's going on there, but before we left Ylisstol we were set upon by assassins…or at least you were, but we take this personally, so they attacked us when they attacked you…with arrows and knives! They'll pay for that!"
"Um, did you say our parents were alive…Mom and Dad? Why can't I remember that?"
"We don't know, but they weren't at town, so they must be at Mount Prism, they must have wanted to see us off, so let's not waste time! Oh, and Laurent used the mental link he established with his mom to send her a warning about the assassins, so they'll be ready!"
"I'll get another chance to see them, then! Let's hurry!" Yarne said, bracing himself as they sat him in a seat in the back of the long wagon.
"Just wait one minute! This is lovely, Severa, where's the tea I bought?"
"I don't know, Inigo, maybe one of you girlfriends drank it all up." Said from her seat in front of Yarne's seat, looking back at Inigo, who was loading up some supplies and looking for his tea in the back, but resigned from his search as he decided it was lost.
"No, that's not it…well, doesn't matter, we're in a rush." He shut the doors to the trunk built into the back and stepped over to the door on the side and took and empty seat next to Yarne, "Then name's Inigo, in case you've forgotten me as well."
"Um, no, but okay." Yarne said as he reached for Inigo's hand, but stopped when Severa said, "Don't do that, I saw him spit on that before we started to battle Grima! Then he ran his hand through his hair, so just don't shake his hand, okay?"
"Ah! Are you trying to kill me?!" Yarne said as he slammed himself into Gerome in an attempt to distance himself from Inigo.
"Oh, come now, I washed my hands the other day when I bathed, I also washed my hands before breakfast, when I woke up this morning to clean my face, can't ruin my face with acne, now can I?"
"With your face, Inigo," Severa began, "well, I'm afraid there's nothing in this time to ruin your face worse than it is."
"Well, see, she agrees with—hey, Severa, stop that! Always the cruel one, never forget that, Yarne."
"Yes, Yarne, don't forget that I can't help but feel disgust towards anyone I meet."
"It really isn't her fault," The passenger next to Severa said, holding her bow with both hands as though it were her life, "her mother was perfect at everything she put her hand to, but Severa's found that the only things she could do would pale in comparison to her mom, it's sad, really."
"Noire, shut up! I don't think Yarne needs to hear that if he's already forgotten it once…there are some things not worth mentioning to the amnesiacs who are being hunted by assassins sent by who knows who."
"Well, he was bound to find out sooner, right?" Noire asked, and weakly laughed.
"No, he wasn't, not if he can't remember all the other stuff too."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."
"It's fine, Noire, just…that's in the past now…a past not worth going back to, but we should at least learn it's fate, it may be worth more than we think."
"Of course it is!" Inigo shouted enthusiastically, "We may have said before the past wasn't worth remembering or going back to, but after the other day when we decided that we had to go back with our work here done, we have to believe it's worth remembering! We must, it's the only thing we have to do, learn its fate, if that future's destroyed then we won't be able to return, but if it still exists…we fought Grima, his men hit us with arrows, gave us gashes bigger than I thought I'd ever survive, and now here we stand—s—sit, here we sit, and we will prevail against him the second time we meet! The foes here were stronger than before, so Grima will be cake if we see him again."
"You're beginning to sound like Lucina, and that's beginning to disturb me greatly," Severa noted, clearly annoyed, "we don't need two people being so…whatever you two are being, certainly not enthusiastic, I hope."
"Well, as long as I get to see our parents again, I don't think I care." Yarne said, trying to focus on not becoming downhearted.
"Fifty-four bottles of vulnerary on the wall, take one down, pass it around…how many bottles did I say?" Cynthia asked, removing one hand from the wheel, next to an obviously annoyed Laurent. Laurent rested his right elbow on the window, his cheek in its palm, and his entire form slumped into the back of the chair, he looked at the hand to the right of him, wondering if Cynthia shouldn't be steering with both hands, but answered with the rest of the adventurers, "Fifty-four bottles of vulnerary on the wall."
"Fifty-three bottles of vulnerary on the wall, take one down, glug it down, fifty-three bottles of vulnerary on the wall…how many, again?" she asked, Laurent raised an eye and turned to her, "You just said you glugged down the fifty-third, so how can there still be fifty-three in the last part of that verse…and which version are you singing to?"
"Umm, to be honest, it's more or less a bunch of both."
"Both of which versions, may I ask?"
"Yeah, sure, umm, both of every version I think of…there's a lot of them, you know!"
"Both is usually used when referring to two similar items, yes?"
"Well, the waitress at that restaurant asked if I wanted…something, something, or something else, and she didn't seem to mind when I said both!"
"I suppose that's fine, but can we stop singing this one, we've been at it for forty-seven bottles, too much medicine is poison!"
"But we're too young for beer, we'll get in big trouble, don't you think?"
"Cynthia…point taken, you like this song, and any excuse I have is countered, so I'll just say it, I'd like to sing a different song, because this one is one hundred verses long, has no substance to endure its own existence, and it's tiring!"
"Aw, I'll change it for you, then, Owain, turn the thing with the needle and the grooves on the disks."
"It's called a recorder." Laurent said, exasperated.
"Will do!" said the boy with a headband around his head and a large box on his knee, "Commencing operation: groovy disk needle…box. How about this one? Laurent sung through this one."
"I thought you said you replaced all verbal ones with the instrumental music disks."
"I said 'most' never said 'all', did I?" Owain asked, bemused by Laurent's expression, as he heard his voice replayed, which Cynthia sung along with, "Mary had a little lamb, little lamb," Laurent grimaced as he heard the voices of the others talking behind his, "Oh, please, make it stop!"
"Oh, come on, guys, it can't be good enough to put him through a second time!" Yarne petitioned, but Severa turned back to him, "You had to have been there, and he was actually enjoying the experiment, even that part when we were talking behind him."
"Then why is he so embarrassed now?"
"Good question, why are you so embarrassed now, Laurent?"
"Because it's just…childish as I look back."
"You've always been easily embarrassed," Inigo noticed, "try to leave that behind, think of it this way, that song is one of the few things we can take with us, no matter what time we travel to."
"I suppose so…you're right."
"How many bottles, now?!" Cynthia raised her hand, and again, Laurent wondered if she shouldn't have both hands on the wheel, when suddenly her hand slammed back to the wheel and slowly turned the wheel, swerving into the darkly cloaked warriors and increasing the speed of the vehicle, as Laurent blasted fire from his hands as Cynthia turned the wagon around until all the warriors were burnt, "Who were they?!" Yarne shouted.
"Assassins," Kjelle spat, "they're the ones who tried to kill you."
"But who did they know where to find us?" Yarne asked, at which point Owain pointed at the woods, "An outpost, they must've been waiting!"
"Oh, this is bad, if they can plan their attacks like this…how did they know?" Morgan asked, shaking her head.
"No time to worry now," the Manakete girl next to her said, "we've got to find out what they're after, I vote we take the outpost!"
"I'm with Nah on that," Morgan said, "do we storm the place or leave it? If we leave it they'll call reinforcements, after all, their men are down, but if we take the outpost then we'll have supplies, but then their friends might be expecting them to write, so they'll have a good idea of where we are, and the time frame for our arrival, plus we'll be slowed down some."
"Then let's stop debating and storm the place," Severa said, "no objections?"
"You and Yarne aren't in any condition to fight." Brady said bluntly.
"Fine, me and Yarne will stay, but you guys better wrap it up quickly, okay?"
"Too dangerous, if they're behind us too then it's better to take you with us."
"And if we do, and they are behind us, we'll lose the Justice Wagon, just because we couldn't stay behind."
"Then I propose," Owain said thoughtfully, "that some of us stay, while the others storm the place."
"Great, we'll do that," Morgan said happily, "now, who should I send? Laurent, you'll position in those trees and hit them with your magic, Gerome, call for Minerva and fly over the outpost, draw their fire if you can, we have short lances in the trunk that you can throw at them; Kjelle, you charge in around the back after he's drawn their fire, they'll probably try to take advantage of your heavy armor, so take some javelins; Noire, climb behind the front seat and let them have your arrows; Nah, take advantage of your expert flying skills and awesome firepower, let them have whatever you offer; Brady, you can hit whoever you want, but heal whoever you can; Cynthia, call your Pegasus and fly around and heal whoever needs it…maybe Brady should stay here? No, Cynthia might need him. Lucina, I want you to stay here, if there are more behind us we'll need you to act as our defense here, Inigo, you'll stay here too. Owain, you stand with Laurent and have his back, he's going to be in an easy target for archers…hmm, just stand at the base of the tree he's perched in and keep your eyes open, I'll stay here with my brother, if anything happens here I want to be here to help…Lucina and Inigo shouldn't have to protect two people and each other."
"So," Lucina began, "we aren't using the buddy system? I guess it doesn't have many advantages since we have to take this place quickly, huh?"
"That's my thinking."
"Then let's go." Lucina said, and everyone went to their positions.
"So, Severa," Yarne began, "how did we get in all this trouble?"
"I don't know, Yarne, let's just try to keep our eyes open, they could be behind us, so listen out, okay?"
"I can do that and talk…my little sister sure is smart, huh?"
"Yeah, she's a genius, just like her dad."
"That's not a bad thing, right?"
"Depends on who you ask, really, now let's focus, if someone's behind us we'd better be ready…and knowing where they are can't kill us, either."
"Yeah, I guess…I am the last Taguel, no offense, Morgan, I just meant that I took after Mother more than you."
"None taken, I at least have her memory, sadly that's more than you can say, I'd give about anything for your memories to come back, though there was a lot of scary stuff, maybe the fact you forgot isn't a bad thing at all."
"Yeah, that doesn't make too much sense, but you could be right, maybe it's a good thing…I hope it's not, I hope I remember!"
"Hey, don't worry, we'll find a way, there's a decent chance something will come back, and if not…we can make new ones for you."
"Yeah, that's true."
"Of course it is! And you'd say the same thing if I were in your situation."
"I know, but it's nice of you to say so. Someone's coming!" he said, tapping Lucina's shoulder, then pointing behind them. She nodded and she and Inigo climbed out the front of the wagon and Noire turned around and aimed through the back window and waited for a target to appear, meanwhile Yarne and Severa crawled up the row of seats and stayed low to the ground, but Morgan waited and glanced through the back view, her lightning tome open as she watched for anyone Noire didn't get first, "Lucina, Inigo, grab their attention!"
"Let me, Lucina," Inigo said as he stepped forward and shouted, "Hey, ladies, anyone up for a spot of tea?" as they drew their blades and charged at him he shrugged, "Guess not." He said as, between Noire and Morgan all of the assassins fell, except one, who was running to him until Lucina clambered up the wagon and stabbed down at him, "I was about to get him." Inigo said, putting his blade away.
"Well, you shouldn't try to leave everything else to us, then."
"I'm not about to step in Noire's way! So, what do we do now?"
"It looks like Gerome's flying over here. Laurent," she shouted at the mage who crouched on a branch, turning to her as he heard her, "what's the status of the field?"
"All clear!" he shouted as he and Owain ran to the wagon.
"Good. Inigo, hope in the seat, I'm driving."
"Everyone, sit down, Lucina's driving." Inigo said as he sat down behind the driver's seat.
"Hey, I've practiced some…I am actually quite capable, Laurent explained the magical manipulation, I may even have some tricks…but I won't try them, not unless we need them. Everyone ready?" she turned back and saw they were all seated and smiled as she raced over to where Gerome was.
"Lucina," he greeted, "we've taken the outpost, your orders?"
"Investigate, then we burn the building…I don't know what reaction that'll draw, but all we need is some fire."
"Alright, can I take Cynthia, Brady, Kjelle, and Laurent?"
"Sure, just return them in one piece, got it?"
"Sure, I'll be back in a few minutes."
Yarne watched as they went inside the building and watched, then turned to Severa, "How strong are we, exactly?"
"We're good enough, at first we could have been slowing down our allies, but the skills we learned from our parents in the alternate world we're from paid off…we may have actually reached the level of these people, and even surpassed our real parents, who died in the other world…we came here to stop that from happening, because we thought we could change things, clearly we weren't wrong, but now I think we're about to face another threat, possibly even more dangerous."
"And hardly anything could be more dangerous than fighting a large dragon, right? Yarne…we almost lost Dad to Grima, we thought he had died by killing Grima, but he came back…in the same spot where you woke up as an amnesiac."
"That's a scary coincidence…do you think I'll come back too? My memories, I mean."
"I already told you what I thought, try not to worry, okay? Oh, and maybe if you bash your skull against something then you'll jog some memories, though you probably wouldn't try that, huh?"
"I'm the last Taguel, I should be careful, you know?"
"I thought you'd say that…look, their burning the building, we must be about to leave."
"I hope we don't find more trouble."
"We probably will, knowing us."
"Guys, it's getting late." Inigo complained as he maneuvered the vehicle off the road, "Can we set up camp or something?"
"You're actually tired; so much for being a night owl." Cynthia said dismissively.
"Well, this is taking all the focus I've got, so yeah, I'm pretty beat." Severa tapped Morgan's shoulder and whispered, "Now that he mentions it, he is pretty when he's been beaten."
"Do you think so? I have to agree, he's pretty beat."
"I heard that, Severa!" Inigo shouted as he stepped out of the wagon and walked around to her window, "So, what're you going to do, yell?"
"No, umm I haven't thought it through, but…maybe…I'll think of something, maybe have you set up camp without help?" Morgan shook her head.
"Bad idea, she's going to need help, and you have to cool down, you have been favoring her with your bad jokes lately, and you invite her to tea far too often, and you keep asking why she declines far too often, she has her reasons, and sure, maybe you've got a bit of a crush on her, but trying out all those tactical angles only works when you're searching for enemy weak points."
"Hmm, you're right Morgan, thank you…I guess she wouldn't be upset if I invited you for tea sometime?"
"Uh, yeah, not going to happen, not in the middle of war…but does that mean you're my boyfriend?"
"Uh, n-no, not at all, just…tea? It's boring to drink alone?"
"Ha! I know you're trying to make her feel jealous, and I don't think it'll work anyways…plus you never really considered what would happen if I accepted and made a counter offer, did you?"
"And you think that exploiting that fact and making me feel like an idiot is fun?"
"No, I just think it's exhilarating, that's all."
"That's even worse, you know."
"I know, and you're so fun to tease, especially when you blush!"
"Ah, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing, we should set up camp now." Morgan said happily, "Come on, Inigo, you can help me set up a tent, if everyone uses the buddy system, we should be less exhausted by time we're done, then we can eat!"
"Hey, Yarne," Noire stammered as she stepped up to him, "you want to help set up a tent?"
"Sure, what's wrong, though, you seem…a little different, not that I'd know."
"I just…I want you to know that if you're scared, you can borrow this necklace, it'll make you feel stronger…actually, no, you know what, that's probably a bad idea, Mother made this with me in mind, oh, you might turn into some monster!"
"Ha, you're right, that's be scary…you still seem off beat, though."
"Well, I'm scared for you, you might not remember, but we're actually pretty good friends, and I don't want to lose friends to these people, so I want you to be braver, okay? If you don't I'll have to…resort to more stylish means." She said, holding the gem on her necklace in the palm of her hand, then letting it go and smiling, "Now let's finish this one, then move on to the next."
"Okay, but I don't understand the thing about your necklace."
"I turn into a witch when I use this necklace, it's pretty terrible."
"Oh, I see…that sounds scary."
"You don't know half of it!"
"But aren't you usually scared of things too?"
"Not as often as you, nor to the extremities you carry your fears to, but I am weak like you, I collapse when I'm exhausted too, I do that often, which is why I favor the bow, it's a lot easier for me to run than fight, and to fight from a distance is even better…but I'm sure you'd fight well anyways, if you tried."
"I'll try to fight, then, I'll try to be brave."
"Good, because if you don't, well, as I've said I'll be forced to use some more stylish means of…motivation."
"Umm…I think we're done here."
"Yes, now, let's grab the next one and set it up." She said as checked the last peg on the tent to make sure it would stay. Yarne followed her and helped her pull out the last tent, when Severa and Lucina came back from their projects, "Take a break, Yarne, you're not recovered yet."
"Yes, I am, Noire should rest though, I heard she collapses pretty easily, the source is pretty reliable, too."
"He's right, Noire, you rest too, Princess, help me take this tent over there."
"Yes, ma'am." Lucina said, smiling at the irony of Severa ordering the princess around.
"No," Yarne said, "let me help too."
"Stubborn, aren't you? I said we'll handle it."
"But…I'm going to."
"Look, you check all the weapons, make sure everything's ready for the next fight, Noire can help if she still wants something to do, and you're still here, so I guess you're happy now?"
"Yes, come on, Yarne, the crates are over here." She said, leading him to where the weapons were kept. They sorted the weapons and talked little until dinner, most talk was of their plans when they woke and everyone's assigned tasks during that time, after they were done they went to their tents and rested for the night, but when they awoke, Yarne was gone.
Yarne stared at the ceiling of his tent when he heard more heart beats enter the campsite, he stepped outside, taking some medicine with him, and found that the assassins were creeping in from the shadows, he transformed with his beaststone and took down two of them, before the rest started chasing them, in his terror, he ran away from the camp, eventually leading them to a cliff, where he leapt backwards, and began kicking them off the edge, but the last one, the only one in black instead of dark red, took Yarne off the cliff with him, but as they fell Yarne grabbed the edge, but when his foe pulled out a knife he let go of the edge and kicked his assailant's hand, disarming his contender and feeling better that the knife was gone, and proceeding to kick off the wall, the sudden motion breaking the grasp and sending him into the crown of a tree, he fell through the branches and landed on his side, stunned from the fall.
I think that's enough to get things going…by the way, this is my Author's Notes for the chapter, where I'm supposed to say that this story is for a competition issued by Jane Glass through her forum, "Writers Together", Yarne's supposed to learn assassins are on his trail, and that the children of the Shepherds cannot return to their time after the war with Grima…in this story the war with Grima is over, and they won't be able to get back, though the characters haven't realized it yet, but this isn't a one shot…it's not over yet!
Also, I had plot bunnies for this one, they popped up once, but I never figured how I'd integrate them…it's a romance for Yarne, so I'm happy JG told me it had to be about Yarne…the assassin thing gives me a reason to use plot bunnies that I had forgotten until I read the qualifications for her challenge, and a plot driver I would have never created myself, the run and chase thing feels very hard to carve from, but it presents a challenge to my writing skills, and will make the story better, if I am very careful.
I'm hoping for some friendly competition, even if I lose, I just want to see a little more Fire Emblem: Awakening fan work out there!