HEY YOU GUYS! Welcome everyone, it's me, Never An Honest Word here with a new fanfiction of one of my favourite games of all time—Fire Emblem Awakening! This is co-written by my best friend CJ as well as a few of my friends who would prefer to remain anonymous, but told me I can use their nicknames: First off, Butter Lord! Followed by Fluffy, the Canadian, and last but definitely not least, the Captain! Oh, and Taylor—he's letting me use his name. These dudes are all great friends of mine and they all have earned special places in my heart—they're my sworn brothers. Anyway, there are going to be various pairings in this story, primarily OC/Cordelia and Chrom/Sumia—those are just going to be the main ones that are focused on in the story, though other pairings are going to be shown but not primary. Anyways… I hopes y'all enjoy!

Daniel's POV

Hey everyone, what's up? How are you all doing? I'm pretty good, just, you know…

In the middle of a freaking FIELD! With a guy in full armour with a lance—like an actual LANCE—pressed up against my throat!

I seriously have no clue how any of this happened… I mean, today was barely unusual: Me and my good buddies were performing onstage at our town's 4th of July Freedom Fest like we have for the past three years. We were performing a cover "Everlong" as made famous by one of the greats: Foo Fighters.

The band consists of me doing vocals and playing electric guitar—something I've been doing since I was 9—with Jordan and CJ backing me up on vocals; Adam plays the bass, while Jerome and Mitch both play drums—they're extremely good as a duo—and finally Taylor playing the keyboard/synthesizer.

That reminds me, I haven't even told you about myself: My name is Daniel—call me Danny—Maron—affectionately referred to by some of the girls at my school as "Angel of Hotness." I'm naturally tan—very different from the people where I live… or lived, which is Washington State—with long black hair that is very similar to that of Neji Hyuga's, and I have soft gray eyes. I'm about 6' 3" tall and I've got a medium build, not large but not skinny; I'm average, I'd have to say. I'm eighteen years old and I… I have narcolepsy, although it's slightly in control due to the fact that CJ, my best friend, always wakes me up when I'm starting to doze off by flicking me on the nose.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were playing "Everlong" in front of most of our town's populace, which is about 2000, as well as a few out of towners. The spotlights shown on the stage with white hot intensity as I strummed out the opening riff of the song, while Jordan added in his own little rap to the song, which was literally just the refrain:

And I wonder,

When I sing along with ya,

Is everything gonna be this real foreva?

Will anything ever be this good again?

The only thing I'll ever ask of ya,

Ya gotta promise not to stop when I say when!

Everyone in the crowd was cheering for us, to the point where I could barely hear Adam joining in on the bass, signaling for me to start playing louder, which I did. Mitch and Jerome started in on their cymbals and I started strumming harder. I grinned and called into the microphone, "Thank y'all, Abbot!" making several girls in the audience cheer as I winked in their direction. I winked toward Jordan and mouthed, "THAT'S how ya get the girls, bro." to which he replied, "Show off."

(A/N: BOLD- Danny, CJ and Jordan. Normal- Danny. Half- CJ and Jordan.)

Hello, I've waited here for you… Everlong,

Tonight, I'll throw myself into…

And out of the red, outta my head she sang…

Come down, and waste away with me…

Down with me…

Slow how you wanted it to be…

I'm over my head, out of her head she sang!

I started on a much louder riff while Jerome and Mitch were pounding away on their drums; Mitch, as usual, lost his shirt somehow, showing off his toned body, making a few girls shriek and swoon, while Jerome was just nodding his head heavily and pounding on the bass drum and tom drum. Adam was just strumming away, shaking his head repeatedly, causing his long hair—not near as long as mine, mind you—to shake wildly, and Taylor's adding in his own synthesized rhythm to the song, which actually kind of sounds like a mix-in of the Dubstep song "Dance of the Pixies" by Machinimasound—although despite sounding weird, it doesn't actually sound bad at all.

Then I felt a strong blow to the head; my vision began to fade somewhat, but I was determined not to go down. I don't know what hit me, but I wouldn't let it stop me; I then heard a thud and the immediate stopping of the bass as I saw Adam, wild brown hair and all, hit the floor, apparently unconscious. I was unable to sing; in fact, part of me wanted to scream as I repeatedly felt heavy strikes to my body—I had to drop my guitar. Then I saw CJ fall to his knees and clutch his head, and I tried to rush over to Adam and CJ, but I couldn't move. A collective gasp ran through the crowd as people started to run up to the stage; my younger sister Allie was the first to reach me; Allie is seven and has my long black hair and gray eyes.

She looked at me with her young, innocent eyes and said, "Big brother, what's wrong?"

It broke my heart that I couldn't answer her, because she is my everything. Jordan collapsed shortly after and Mitch and Jerome were attempting to get to Taylor, who was slumped over his keyboard. Jerome was able to get the farthest, despite being immensely slowed down for some reason, and was able to reach Taylor, but collapsed. Mitch dropped about halfway there, and as I watched my bandmates fall before my eyes, I wanted to scream, to let out my fear and rage and scream my throat raw. But I couldn't.

I couldn't even move, all I could do is hear Allie's fearful cries before I finally blacked out, still clutching my necklace, which was a gift from Allie when we went on vacation to Barbados with our parents. It has a picture in it of the two of us on a beach, walking through the waves with me giving her a piggyback ride. We're both smiling and laughing; it is one of the best moments of my life so far.

And then, my vision faded.

For what felt like several hours, I sat floating in a colourless void, hearing my friends talking to me. The voices are mostly fuzzy, but I can catch snippets, mostly "Where am I" and "The hell is this place"—the latter surely coming from Mitch.

Then I heard one voice rise above the others: It's a male's, and he cried "This time, it ends, Validar!" I opened my eyes and I was in a darkened room, standing beside a guy who's about my age, give or take a few years, with purple hair. He's got dark brown eyes and he wears a black vest with a silvery cape, shoulder pads and black pants. He carries a sword at his waist and he has a grim look on his face; he turns to me and says quietly, "It's time to end this, Danny… we must finish him, for the sake of the world… and we must do this as sworn brothers!" He draws his sword; it's a silvery longsword with a polished blade and a black hilt. There's a spot in the middle that is shaped like a flame or a teardrop, whichever floats your boat.

I looked at myself: I was wearing the same clothes I was at the concert—a plain black t-shirt with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—the ones from the 80's, that is—seemingly jumping out, with their respective weapons in hand, as well as blue jeans—with the exception of a chestplate, possibly bronze, I'm not sure, and combat boots, and I also carry a bronze longsword at my side, with an inscription on it; it's in Sindarin, the language of the Elves. It reads: Luthien. My Sindarin is a bit rusty, so I don't know what it means, though the word carries a great significance to my "dream" self, as I've began to refer to myself in this trance-like state. The sword also had a blue shimmering aura exuding from it, and I carried a white and yellow book.

I had no idea what this man was talking about, but then I looked across the room and saw a man in dark robes with ashen skin and flaming red hair. He had an evil grin on his face, and he laughed. "Well well well, Prince Chrom, Daniel… what a shock seeing you here."

"Enough with the talk, Validar!" the man now called Chrom cried. "For the sake of the future, you must die here!"

"Hmm… you believe you can destroy me, do you?" Validar said with a evil smirk. "Then try your best, but know you shall fail!"

"Danny, have my back!" Chrom cried, surging toward Validar quickly, holding his sword behind him. As he stepped toward Validar and slashed, the seemingly unarmed man merely side-stepped. Something came over me as I calmly stepped toward Validar and raised my right hand toward him—I mentally gasped, noticing a marking on my hand: It was a magenta colored U–shaped mark with six eyes on it, three on each side before the mark spiraled down and got smaller Then I speak, "Bāsutoshainingu!"

"Wha…" Validar began, eyes widening as a bolt of lightning surged from my hand, streaking and speeding toward him, striking him in the chest and knocking him into the base of a statue of a dragon. He groaned in pain, but then staggered back up, still with the smirk on his face. He too raised his hand as well as a black book, and growled, "Burakkusutakurasshu!"

A dark cloud rose up and loomed over us menacingly; I heard a low-pitched humming and saw a beam charging up from inside the cloud. "Chrom!" I cried, noticing that it was aimed directly for him. The purple-haired man turned and looked inquiringly at me and just as the beam flew forth from the cloud, I leapt and knocked him out of the way, taking the beam to the stomach. I cried out and held my belly in pain, and, looking down, I saw a bloody hole in the side of my stomach.

Though small, it was bleeding heavily and I felt a great deal of pain from it. I staggered to stand up, but was only able to make it to one knee before Validar roughly gripped my throat and picked me up off the ground. "You should've joined me while you had the chance, boy," he snarled, slamming me into a wall. "Now, you shall perish." He was so close to me that I could smell his rancid breath and hear his breathing.

I closed my eyes waiting for death, but then I heard Validar's breathing falter. A gasp came from him as he dropped me and I slumped against the wall, and he looked down: Chrom's sword was piercing his chest. "W-what is this…?!" he stuttered, blood gathering at the corner of his mouth.

Chrom withdrew his sword and ran to my side, grabbing my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I-I'll be fine," I said, breathing heavily as he helped me to my feet. "…But now, I must finish this!"

Validar, who at the moment was still standing, raised his book once more and stalked toward us, but I roared, holding my book, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" I held my marked hand high, and bellowed, "CHOSHINSEI!"

"No…!" Validar hissed, and I could see the fear in his eyes. An orb of light materialized in the middle of the book and drew in some light rays from the area, before shooting out a burst of energy and crashing into Validar's chest, knocking him THROUGH a wall. There was no mistaking his death.

Chrom turned and smiled a bit at me. "We've done it, brother," he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. "We've saved the future… now the children—"

My vision had become red and I heard Validar's voice repeating in my head, getting louder and more forceful each time, "Kill him! Kill him, boy!"

Chrom gasped and looked down; a blade of lightning had pierced his chest, and I saw my hand crackling with a few stray sparks. He looked at me and we heard Validar's laugh echoing through the room, and he whispered, "It's… not your…fault…" and fell dead to the floor.

And that brings us to where I am now; I'll start from where I woke up.

I awaken in a field covered in tall grass and trees. There are a few hills here and there, but mostly it's just plain, flat tall grass. A pleasant breeze whispers across the plain, making the grass wave gently.

"CJ?!" I yell out, looking for my best friend. I frantically look around, trying to find any sign of him or any of my friends, and then I see a guy lying face-down. He's got short-ish black hair and he's wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, just like Jordan was wearing. "Jordan?" I yell, rushing over to him. I flip him over and he groans slightly.

"…No thanks, I'm having pancakes for dinner…" he yawns, rolling back over.

"Damn it Jordan…" I sigh, and then I realize that I have a small knife attached to my hip, and I unsheathe it, examining it: It's got the same mark as I saw on Chrom's sword in my dream. "Want some pancakes?" I ask his sleeping form.

He bolts right up. "Pancakes?!"

"No pancakes," I say, smiling slightly. "Just needed to wake you up."

"I hate you, Danny," Jordan groans. He looks around with a bewildered look on his face. "Where the hell are we? …And where'd you get that backpack?"

"I have no clue where we are," I say with a small sigh, then I add, "what backpack?"

"The one on your back, stupid."

I reach my hands around and sure enough, there's a backpack there. I pull it off and it's a red and blue Nike knapsack. I pull it open and inside is a small pouch with some gold, a Sindarin dictionary—why the hell is that in there?—as well as a Gameboy Color with a copy of Pokémon Yellow—okay, seriously?—and… a bottle of Mountain Dew?

"Why do you have a Gameboy?" Jordan asks, walking over and snatching it. "I thought you hated Nintendo. And seriously? Pokémon Yellow? You could've at least picked a good game to get lost with…"

"I didn't even have the backpack until now!" I protest, to which Jordan begins to laugh a little.

"Relax, Danny, I was just messing with you… wait, what's that noise…?" Jordan says as he stops laughing and listens intently. All I can hear is the breeze sweeping across the plain.

"I don't hear anything," I say, breaking the silence. I attempt to continue speaking but Jordan holds up a hand to silence me, and mouths, "Listen."

Then I hear it: It's faint, but it's a rumbling sound. Thunder? No… it's lasting too long to be thunder, and the sky is a clear blue. Then I hear… snoring?

Seriously Jordan? And I thought I was the narcoleptic one… he's seriously asleep again. I open my mouth to say pancakes, but then I hear a girl's voice say something about "Plebians" or something like that. I see a group of people… well, three people, cross over the nearest hill.

"Jordan…!" I begin, but then I notice that the rumbling sound is back; one of them is on horseback. I can plainly see that as they draw nearer. The one on horseback has brown hair and brown eyes. His hair is messy, kind of like mine—except, you know, not near as messy—and he wears blue armour with silver and gold trim, as well as the same mark as on Chrom's sword and my dagger in the middle. He also carries a long lance with a silver point.

The girl walking next to him is about my age or a year younger, putting her at about 17 or 18. She's got blonde hair tied up in pigtails with a white headdress-sort of thing. She also wears a yellow dress with a brown vest over it, and she carries a staff with a twisty-pattern on the top, with a small sapphire in the middle of it.

Finally, there's… Chrom?! It's definitely Chrom; he's exactly the same as in my dream. He also carries the sword with him that he does in the dream.

Was it a dream…?

"Hello over there!" Chrom calls. "Do you need some help?"

"Um…" I begin to reply, but they're pretty much already here. The girl is the first here and runs over to Jordan, who is still sleeping.

"What happened to him?" the knight-looking guy asks. "Is he alright?"

"He's just sleeping," I say. "I don't know why he did, but he just fell asleep for some reason."

"Is that so?" the knight asks, and by the tone of his voice, he definitely doesn't believe me. "He's… sleeping."

"But it's true!" I begin to protest, but the girl comes to my defense.

"He is asleep, Frederick." She says. She's looking at Jordan and blushing a little after removing her head from his chest, and I assume she was listening to his heartbeat. "Should I wake him up?"

"Let me do it," I say, smiling a little. "Jordan, pancakes!"

"Pancakes?!" he says, bolting straight up, coming face to face with the girl, barely centimeters apart. They're staring into each other's eyes and blushing beet red.

"H-hi…" the girl says quietly.

"Hi…" Jordan gets out. Smooth, man, smooth. They stay like that for I think several minutes, and then the knight, now called Frederick, clears his throat.

"Ahem. Milady Lissa?" he says, keeping a straight face yet at the same time seeming amused.

Lissa seems to snap out of a trance as she takes a sharp breath and shakes her head. "What?"

Frederick allows a tiny smile to flash across his face for a moment, but it's gone quickly. He shakes his head. "Nothing."

Jordan, still blushing like a tomato—which really isn't like him; I've seriously never seen him blush before now, glances over to me, expecting me to say something, I suppose. I give him a playful smirk and mouth, "Smooth move, exlax." He looks over at the group of people, and then raises his hand to where he's covering his mouth, and then raises his other hand behind the cover hand, and gives me the middle finger. I just grin at that.

"So, what were you all doing out here in the first place?" Frederick asks, eyeing us suspiciously.

"Frederick—" Chrom begins, but Frederick cuts him off.

"I understand you do not wish to suspect anyone, but I must exercise great caution; they may be brigands…" Frederick trails off.

"I don't even know where we are," I admit softly. "Or how we got here."

"You are in the halidom of Ylisse, my friend," Chrom says.

"Ylisse…?" Jordan repeats, glancing at me. "Got any idea where that is, Danny?"

I shake my head, and then Frederick laughs heartily. "Ah, so they have never heard of the halidom? Someone pay these fools, they are quite the actors! The sleeping routine was exceptionally amusing…"

"Frederick!" Chrom scolds, giving him a stern expression. "Lying or not, they are innocent until proven guilty. And as such, I shall trust them until they give me reason not to." He turns to us, giving us a slightly sympathetic smile. "I'm Chrom. What are your names?"

"I-I'm Jordan. Jordan Corwin," Jordan replies, finally acting normal after his "encounter" with Lissa. He smiles a little.

"Daniel Maron," I say, also giving a small smile. "But call me Danny. Last person who called me Daniel got a swift kick in the—" I fail to notice Jordan giving me the signal to shut up, or when Frederick draws his lance.

"Are you threatening milord and milady?" he growls, pointing the lance at my throat. And yeah, that brings us to my current situation.

There's a tense silence as Frederick gives me the death-stare and the cold steel of his lance chills my body. Then Chrom speaks up, "Frederick! Put down your lance!" Frederick glares at me once more and puts down his lance. "I apologize for Frederick, Danny; he's rather overprotective and tends to take things out of proportion, especially threats that aren't actually threats."

"It's alright," I say, smiling a little. "Not the first time I've been threatened… so what exactly would you be doing here?"

Chrom smiles. "We are Shepherds." He replies simply, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"You tend sheep…? In full armour?" Jordan asks incredulously.

Chrom chuckles a little. "It can be a dangerous job…" He trails off.

I look off and in the distance, I see smoke rising up from a town. "What's going on in that town?"

"Huh?" Chrom says, but then he looks and his eyes widen. "Oh gods… Frederick! Lissa!"

"Brigands, milord?" Frederick asks, gripping his lance.

"Let's go. Danny, Jordan, you're free to come along with us, if you wish," Chrom says, starting to run toward the village. Lissa gives Jordan one last glance, and a quick blush, and then runs after Chrom. Frederick gallops along on his horse, bobbing up and down.

"Should we follow them?" Jordan asks stupidly, to which I Gibbs-smack him. "Yeah, alright. I get ya. Let's go… but wait, we don't have anything to defend ourselves with!"

"I have this knife," I say, showing him the bronze knife I found, "and I'm sure we can find something for you along the way… like… a rock?"

"A rock?" Jordan mutters.

For some reason, I decide to take the Gameboy out of my knapsack and power it up. I hear the familiar "Pika!" cry that marks the title screen for Pokémon Yellow. I don't know why, but for some reason, Jordan yells, "Holy shit!"

"What?!" I cry, dropping the Gameboy. "What happened?!"

"The Gameboy… it shot lightning out of itself! Right when it said 'Pika'!" Jordan says, pointing at a patch of grass that is now in flames. "Look!"

"Oh my god…" I say quietly. Then I get a slight grin. "Jordan, I think we've found you a weapon."

"You mean… I can use lightning?" Jordan says excitedly. "Gimme!" he grabs the Gameboy and starts running. I follow him closely, and we have to head towards the smoke, because we can't see Chrom's group anymore. We jump over rocks, dodge around trees, and do the occasional roll when we trip.

After a decent time running, we finally reach the town walls. We hear several screams from the inside, and we notice that the gate has been forced open.

"Blasted brigands!" A voice cries. It's Chrom!

Another voice, this one harsh and cruel, laughs and yells, "Get to it, lads! Grab anything shiny, and torch the rest! We've gotta set an example for these Ylissean types, don't we boys?"

"Let's go, Jordan!" I yell, running in, drawing my sword in a sudden burst of bravery that to be honest, I never knew I had. Granted the sword isn't the size of a normal sword, it should work fine. When I pull it out of the sheath, I notice that on my right hand is a mark. It was a magenta colored U–shaped mark with six eyes on it, three on each side before the mark spiraled down and got smaller, and I've definitely never seen it before.

Then I notice Chrom stuck in a corner, fighting several men wearing wolf cowls and vests with fur, as well as brown leather pants. Most of them carry axes or swords, though some carry no weapon at all aside from a crude spear made of a simple wooden shaft with a barely sharpened rock. There are about five in all, and though Chrom is able to hold his own, he seems to be tiring.

"FOR SPARTA!" I cry, rushing in and cutting down one of the men with an axe. I have no idea why I yelled about Sparta, though I assume it was because I recently watched 300—great movie, by the way. Three more fall to my bronze shortsword before Chrom finally dispatches the final one. He gives me a slight grin.

"And here I thought you were a helpless refugee—watch out!" Chrom yells, knocking me to the ground as a man—a brigand, I assume—is thrown into the wall behind us; his chest is charred… Jordan! "Why's his chest charred…?" Chrom wonders.

I give him a grin. "Jordan." Is all I say.

"Jordan?"

"Get down!" I growl as I push him down and a throwing axe wizzes by our heads. "And I thought you were a warrior." I say, smirking a little. "Next time, keep your head down."

I get off the ground and cut down a couple more brigands, using one's body as a shield to block another throwing axe.

Chrom and I fight off a few more brigands while Frederick is more than holding his own; a small pile of bodies has amassed around his horse, and several more brigands join it each minute as his lance pierces their bodies.

However, I don't know where Jordan and Lissa are…

"Lissa!" Chrom cries, seeing Lissa in the direct path of a throwing axe from the one who appears to be the "head honcho" of the group. He's kinda "round" if ya know what I mean, but he does appear to be rather strong. He has short brown hair and he wears a fur cape as well as leather pants; unlike his other troops, he doesn't wear the wolf cowl, but he carries a small throwing axe. There are several other throwing axes laid beside him, and a few village militiamen lie dead in front of him.

As the throwing axe nears Lissa, I see Jordan knock her down and out of the way of the axe. Jordan appears to take a slight cut on the shoulder, but other than that he's unharmed.

Upon seeing my friend hurt, some primal anger fills me; my grip on my sword tightens and I charge at the leader. He laughs and says, "Here, sheepy sheepy! Come to the slaughter!"

As he swings his axe at me, I dodge out of the way with ease. I slash at him, but he blocks with the axe and takes another swing. I block it with my sword but he downward swings repeatedly, and eventually he knocks it out of my hands, leaving me defenseless. He laughs cruelly and swings one more time, but he stops mid-swing and drops his axe.

"W-wha…?" he chokes out as blood begins to appear at the corner of his mouth. He coughs a gross red ball of blood onto my Ninja Turtles shirt, and then falls down. He's… dead?

Then I see Frederick sitting atop his horse, cleaning some blood off his lance. "You saved me," I say quietly.

"Well… if milord trusts you, I shall protect you." He says softly. "But do not mistake this: It was out of loyalty to milord Chrom that I defended you, no other reason." However, the tone of his voice states that there is some other reason that he killed the brigand leader to save me; what it may be I have no clue.

"Well… thank you." I say, smiling a little. "I would've been dead if it weren't for you, despite any motives you have for it, and I owe you one, man."

"You… owe me one?" he asks, bewildered… right, I forgot he's not from our world.

"I owe you a favour." I reply simply.

"I see… none can come to mind as of now, but if you insist, I shall think of something," he says with a nod. He gives me a tiny smile, but it disappears quickly. "Next time, though, watch yourself. And don't let your sword get knocked out of your hand."

Was that… sarcasm? Never would've expected that from him, but I allow a small smile. "Alright."

He rides off to spear another brigand. At this point there are very few left, and most are scattered.

Jordan points the Gameboy at two of the brigands and fires the lightning bolt, which strikes them both at once and kills them both. Then, out of nowhere, a brigand—the last one, I believe—jumps out and slashes his axe across Jordan's back. He cries out in pain.

I pick up my sword and, with the same primal rage as before, charge forward and stab the brigand through his chest. I withdraw my shortsword and the brigand clutches his chest for a moment, coughing up blood and falling to his knees. He draws a few sharp breaths and looks at me as if hoping for mercy.

I have no mercy for cowards who hurt my friends.

His body falls to the ground swiftly, and I hold his head high over it. I throw it to the ground harshly, and then I kneel beside Jordan. The wound isn't deep, but it's bleeding a bit. I feel around his neck, and sigh when I find a pulse.

I don't know a lot about medicine or wounds or any of that, but this doesn't appear to be fatal.

"Oh my gods, Jordan!" I hear Lissa cry, and she runs over even quicker than I did when I killed the brigand. She examines the wound slightly and then asks, "What happened to him?"

"A brigand attacked him from behind with an axe," I say softly, my voice filled with worry for my good friend. "The wound isn't too deep, I don't think."

"No," Lissa says quietly, her voice quavering a bit. "He'll be fine… just let me do my healing magic." She raises her staff and says, "Nesta."

A green aura settles over Jordan and a few sparkles appear all over his body; I hear something that actually kind of sounds like the Pokémon Center healing noise, and then I notice the wound closing up, and he groans a little.

"What the hell happened to me?" Jordan mutters, sitting up and rubbing his head. "And why does my back feel like it got cleaved open by a sword?"

"An axe, actually," I say quietly. "You got slashed by an axe."

"And you'll feel some back pain for a little while," Lissa says, "side-effect of the healing."

"H-how'd you do that?" Jordan asks Lissa, his voice dropping a little.

She smiles a bit. "I'm a cleric. A healer."

"Thank you…" Jordan says quietly. "I owe you one." He glances at me. "Same to you. You saved me from getting killed."

I shrug like it was nothing. "You're my bro. I got your back, Jack." I say with a slight grin. He grins back and we fist-bump. "You don't owe me nothing, man. Now get off the ground before I curbstomp you."

Lissa smiles and I hear her whisper, "At least you're not hurt… anymore." And then she turns her head and looks at me. "What does curb-stomp mean?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." I say quickly. "You really don't wanna know."

"O-kay~?" Lissa says quietly.

I offer my hand to Jordan and pull him up. He takes my sword and stabs a dead brigand for no apparent reason, then says, "He was twitching."

"He was twitchin' because he had my axe embedded in his nervous system!" I say, quoting Gimli. We share a laugh and we notice Chrom come over.

"You two… you fought for the lives of Ylissean people," Chrom says, smiling a little. Frederick canters over on his horse and nods slightly, more so to me than Jordan. "For that, I thank you. But I must ask you, while you are in this land, what will you do?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Jordan says, speaking for me.

"Well, then… how would you like to join us on our trip to the capital, Ylisstol?" he asks. "You would have to go no further than that, should you choose not to."

Jordan and I glance at each other, and then he nods. "We'll travel with you," he replies; I can't help but notice Lissa smile a bit wider.

"Milord, did you notice? These brigands spoke with a Plegian accent," Frederick says, interrupting.

"Plegian?" Jordan asks. "What on earth is that?"

"Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbour," Chrom replies. "They tend to send small bands into our country, hoping to start a war."

"And it's the poor townspeople who suffer!" Lissa says indignantly, stamping her foot on the ground. "Totally innocent… helpless…"

"They do have us, milady. Shepherds to tend the sheep. Do not let your anger cloud your judgment, Padawan."

Jordan and I look at each other with wide eyes. "Did he just…?" Jordan mouths.

"Quote Star Wars?" I finish. "I think he did."

Jordan and I snicker slightly at that, and I open my knapsack and pull out my Mountain Dew bottle. I take a pretty big swig, but it appears as if it didn't drain at all. I offer it to Jordan. "Wanna waterfall, man?" He nods and takes the bottle graciously, pouring it into his mouth making a waterfall.

Didn't drain one bit.

"I know, I know," Lissa says quietly. "I'll get used to this." Then she perks up a little and smiles at Jordan.

An elderly villager then comes up to us and gets on his knees. "Please, milord, you must stay the night! We are simple folk, but would gladly toast your valor with a feast!"

"A most generous offer, sir, and your hospitality would be much appreciated, but I'm afraid we must hurry back to Ylisstol," Frederick says, speaking for the group.

"Dark meat only for me, medium well, and no salt in the soup, I simply…" Lissa trails off. "Wait, what?! We're not staying? But Frederick, it's almost dark!"

"When night falls, we'll camp. Eat off the land, make our beds out of twigs and the like," Frederick says with a slight smile. "I believe you said you would be, 'getting used to this'?"

"Frederick? Sometimes I hate you." Lissa says, pouting a little, to which Jordan laughs a little.

"Quite the… stern lieutenant you have there," I say, smirking a little. "Puts my grandma to shame."

"Yeah, stern is one way to put it," Lissa grumbles. "I can think of a few other things to call him…"

"Frederick only really smiles when he's about to bring down the axe," Chrom says, chuckling.

"Noted," I say, nodding.

"Ahem, you DO realize I'm still here, do you not?" Frederick says, clearing his throat. "Who am I now, Kellam?"

"Who's Kellam?" I ask while the others, save for Jordan, laugh.

"Just another one of us Shepherds," Chrom explains, "he tends to show up when he's not expected."

"You mean, like, early?"

"No, like literally when he isn't expected," Chrom replies, smiling a little. "But he's a great fighter and a good friend."

"So you DO remember that I'm still here?"

"Oh, we know."

Everyone—except for Frederick, of course—laughs at this. Frederick just sighs and shakes his head. "Milord is… amusing as ever," he says as if he wants to say something other than amusing.

Chrom just smirks. "Ready to go, everyone?"

"Eh, let's get on with it," Jordan says, contrary to his normal self.

We walk out of the town's gates and back onto the prairie, which has grown significantly darker than when we were out there last; the trees that were once the givers of shade in the heat now cause only freezing temperatures. The warmth that was in the area during the day is fading, even though the sun has barely even set.

"Hey, Danny," Jordan says. "You know what?"

"What?"

"You haven't fallen asleep in almost a full day."

"Holy crap you're ri—*Snore*"

"…Well, it appears as if you've spoken too soon," Frederick says, laughing a little.

Well, there you have it, the first official chapter of my Fire Emblem: Awakening story! I really hope you enjoyed, it's taken at least three months of brainstorming, Skyping, and all sorts of other collaborations to create the characters and this chapter! So if you liked it, please take some time to leave a review and…

Canadian: Remember, slap dat follow button with yo forehead,

Captain: Take care,

Taylor: Brush yo hair,

Fluffy: I'll see ya when I see ya…

Butter Lord: AND KILL EVERY SQUID YOU MEET!

Danny: Okay, seriously man? We don't need any violence toward squids right now…

Butter Lord: Quiet, Danny. I can always feed you to Minerva…

Danny: …I'll be good.

Jordan: Danny, I thought you were a Spartan!

Danny: *Gibbs-slap* Shut up! Do you wanna get fed to Minerva?

Okay, seriously everyone, take care!