AN: Well, here I am. After years of reading fanficions, I am finally publishing one myself.
First things first. I DO NOT OWN FIRE EMBLEM OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. I do, however, own Ryoko, her future kids, her sword and some of the plot twists, besides any other OC that comes up.
There will be language and violence, especially from Ryoko and the Dark Mages/Sorcerers. There will be mentions of not-so-pleasant things. And there will be SPOILERS for the entire game.
This is an AU of Fire Emblem Awakening. Eventually, it will deviate from canon. Don't like it? Nobody is forcing you to read it.
Also, since this is the 'Premonition' chapter, it will have second-person POV for this chapter only.
English is not my first language, so I welcome any pointers you may have, so long as you are civil about it.
That said, I'll leave you to the story.
And, if you can spare a moment, review and tell me what you think.
Fire Emblem: Dragon's Claw
Premonition
Invisible Threads
You are in the midst of battle. There's no second-guessing about it.
The sword in your right hand is sparking with electricity, your grip maybe more tight than strictly necessary. But not because of inexperience or fear.
No, it's because of anger and fierce determination.
And the black-skinned sorcerer- Validar, the bastard -you're fighting against is the source of your anger.
"Burn, bitch!" a woman shouts as she sends a fire spell towards your opponent, and hits.
More spells both from you and from her are sent towards the sorcerer, mostly from the raging woman. "Burn, burn, burn!"
You catch the subtle red, blue and purple flames surrounding the woman- Ryoko, you think with a hint of fear, please don't get too carried away -and decide it's wiser to stay distant while she presses her attacks with both blade and magic.
It's not worth the risk of getting mauled.
You glance beside you, where your closest friend is observing the enraged woman with the same wariness as you.
He subtly nods towards Validar. Aren't you going?
You shoot him a look. Are you crazy?
The man- Chrom -glances worriedly at Ryoko, and you resist the urge to tease him for it.
Instead, you shrug- she'll be fine! -and charge up an attack, blue flames surrounding you.
The spell misses- Drat. -and you shoot a few more, overpowering them.
Damnitall, stop hovering you manipulative bastard! Your mind screams.
"You fools!" Validar shouts when his avoiding one of Ryoko's spells- who is laughing maniacally -wrecks a hole in the ceiling.
He stops to charge a ball of darkness, still effortlessly avoiding the woman's spellcasting. "You cannot escape fate!"
While Ryoko cuts the spell in two- and you still have no idea on how -you take the opportunity to fry the sorcerer with a powerful bolt of thunder, and manipulate the wind currents to slam him to the ground for good measure.
Chrom charges at him from behind you, and you follow closely behind.
Both your and Chrom's swords are blocked by dark magic, and your friend is thrown into a wall. You avoid the same end by jumping back at the last moment.
"Chrom!" you shout, worried.
You realize your error a moment later, and turn to block the inevitable attack, but Ryoko gets between you and Validar and punches him in the face, hard, sending the sorcerer stumbling back.
Her next atack is easily blocked, but she presses it. "Eyes on the battle, bitch!" she spits.
You charge, sword ready, but you change directions at the last moment, using wind to blast the man backwards.
"Thanks!" Ryoko says cheerfully before resuming her assault.
You let her be, sending minor spells to cover her as she needs. This is personal for you both, you remind yourself, but it's much more important for her.
"This is it, Daraen." Chrom says from beside you, recovered. "Our final battle. You are one of us, my friend, and nothing can change that! We will stop him!"
You nod, jumping back into the fray and swiftly avoiding Validar's attacks, now focused entirely on you and Chrom.
He's hovering again, you think furiously. The damned coward.
Ryoko doesn't seem to care much, as she easily jumps to match the height he's hovering at, sword swinging.
The blade is blocked, but not the woman's momentum, and this time she kicks him in the face.
That must have hurt, you think gleefully as Ryoko lands gracefully and Validar falls to the ground with a thud.
You charge in, but this time the sorcerer is ready for it and he throws you back with a spell.
He ends up getting punched in the face again.
"I'm here, too." You hear Ryoko hiss. "Don't forget I can fry your ass as easily as 'Ren."
"You are not worth my attention, wretch!" He snarls back, and slams a spell in her stomach.
This time you manage to avoid stopping, and shoot a barrage of spells at Validar in an effort to keep him from offing your teammate.
Out of the corner of your eye, you notice that Ryoko's recovery was not smooth.
A weak spell from the sorcerer makes her lose balance, and Validar teleports into the air just to collapse the ceiling on top of her.
You see her try to jump out of the way, but her screech forces you to consider she was too slow this once.
"Ryoko!" You and Chrom both call.
The dust settles enough that you can see she didn't make it.
Validar laughs. "You see now? You cannot unwrite what is already written!"
You adjust your grip on your sword and charge him with an enraged roar.
Multiple spells shoot both from your sword and from your free hand, fast and powerful, and a good number of them manage to hit the sorcerer.
You don't stop your charge, but continue to press him even at close range, pushing him towards Chrom.
Your friend carefully stays out of the way of your now few spells, and your combined assault manages to wound him enough that he's bleeding steadily.
Knowing that the blood loss will slow him a bit, you tune down on your spells in favor of the sword.
Validar stumbles back just as Chrom is standing right next to you.
You share a brief nod before shooting forward, Chrom stabbing with his sword and you with a powerful thunder spell crackling at your fingertips.
The spell and sword pierce the sorcerer at the same time.
Either of them alone would have been a fatal wound, but together you have little to no doubt that he will be dead within moments.
Validar's body falls as he burst into flames, and Chrom turns to smile at you.
"This isn't over!" the sorcerer shouts in rage, "Damn you BOTH!"
You jump forward and shove Chrom out of the way of the final spell just in time, and it slams into you instead of him, sending you flying backwards.
You hit the ground, and everything starts spinning. You must have hit your head of something.
Chrom rushes to your side, clearly worried and unwilling to see another comrade die. "Are you alright, Daraen?"
You try to nod dazedly, but a sharp pain shoots through your head, followed by a hissing laugh.
Red starts clouding your vision. At long last….
You see Chrom's lips move, but all you can hear is that voice.
No! You try to shout. No! Get out of my head, you! Nononononono!
The voice laughs loudly.
No, Chrom, get out of here!
You try to resist it, to block out the voice.
Your magic builds under your skin in the struggle.
There's a discharge of power, and the red recedes, the voice gone.
You see Chrom's shocked and betrayed expression, and fear shoots through you. What happened? Why is he looking like-
You notice the small dagger sticking out of your best friend's chest, the thunder it's made of still shooting off weak sparks. Your own dagger.
"This is not… your fault." Chrom manages to say, "Please… go…."
And with that, he falls to the ground, unmoving.
Validar's laughter echoes through the wrecked temple.
You failed. You failed him. You failed her, too. You thought you killed him, and now your two closest friends are dead. For nothing.
"You see now?" the sorcerer taunts gleefully, "It's useless to resist! And now Lord Grima shall rise again!"
Red clouds your vision again as you fall into despair.
His maniacal laughter is the last thing you hear.
And then you know no more.
.
.
.
You have a massive headache.
That was one weird dream, you think, but you cannot remember what caused that thought.
You try to open your eyes, and come face to face with a very familiar woman.
You feel like you should know someone who has that kind of green eyes and blue hair, but you cannot remember who she is.
You cannot even remember why she feels so familiar. Or where you are.
"Y'know," the woman says, bringing him out of his thoughts, "I'd say that there are better places to sleep than on the ground, but I actually rather like the grass."
You manage to quirk a tired smile as she offers you a hand.
"Are you alright?" she asks.
You manage to choke out a 'yes', and take the woman's hand.
Your eyes linger on the strange mark on the back of your own hand.
She helps you up with a smile, and you forget about the strange dream.
"My name is -"