Chapter 1: The World is Quiet Here
AN: Howdy, this will be my first story. I've been on for a few years now and I've always wanted to contribute. So this will be my attempt to add on to the many great stories on this site. Grimm is a character pretty close to me, I made him and his backstory for a DND campaign that I am DMing and I just got attached. I also wanted to see what other places would look like after he went ham there so I'm taking him from one spot (for reasons you will discover later into the story). The only people who know the path this story is taking is me and one of my friends who knows a lot about Fire Emblem. I'm always open to hear criticisms and in fact I enjoy hearing and reading them as they can only make me a better writer. If you have any kind of request I'm willing to hear it out and maybe even stick in some passing OC's. My PM is always open so please read, review, and maybe send some suggestions. For now let's get to the story! Btw this is in a hard mode classic run so there's that as well if I need to be fact checked.
One does not expect to wake up in a forest, especially one you aren't familiar with. But with such a nice breeze and warm sunlight raining down from above one can't help but feel a bit at ease. This is how one young lad woke; he looked to be around 25 years of age with a black mop of hair on his head with what looked like streaks of white running through it. A small beard ran across his chin and wrapped around his jaw, for now it looked a little unkempt and scraggly. He stood around 6'2" and was wearing what looked to be a black cloak over a brown tunic and pants, with a comfortable warmth around his body and a breeze blowing through his hair. Sadly though even with such a nice atmosphere and a calming serenity around him it didn't stop fear from filling his body.
"H-how did I get here?" he wondered aloud. He stood up from where he was, leaning against a tree, and stumbled a bit, trying to get his bearings. He looked around trying to find some sort of landmark so as to figure out where he is. "But where am I supposed to be? Where did I come from?" He spent some time stumbling about in the woods trying to find some form of civilization when he saw a small village some yards away. He decided that was his best bet as to figuring out how he got here. 'Hopefully I can find some help, and find out where I am.' he thought to himself.
The village seemed large at the first glance, and still so at the second glance. Granted he didn't have a frame of reference for the size of villages. There was a church that seemed to beg your attention directly in the middle along with some water mills running in the river that flows through the town. A few bridges ran over the river to provide passage over but other than that not much about the town is remarkable. There was what looked to be an inn in the southwest area of the town near the church, most likely to catch church-goers after a service. The whole town looked well enough with no homeless or beggars roaming the streets, and it seemed every villager he saw had a friendly smile on their face.
"I suppose an inn isn't the worst place to look for information." he muttered to himself. With that said he began walking towards the inn in hopes of learning more about the area and getting some food, it felt like he hadn't eaten in quite a while! "And that won't do!" he finished his thought aloud, earning some odd looks from passersby. Once at the front of the inn he made his way inside taking care to not draw too much attention, but these people had never seen him before so that was reason enough to notice him. He heard a voice as he walked in,
"Need some grub, Stranger?" it seemed the innkeeper was friendly enough as he started to wave the newcomer over.
"It would be much appreciated," He said "But I don't think I have money to pay for it..." he said this last bit a tad sheepishly as if embarrassed he didn't have money for a place he never knew about!
"Nonsense, I can tell you're hungry so this one will be on the house! you look like the trustworthy type!" the innkeeper said this with a friendly wide smile as if seeing an old friend, but he'd never seen this man before, right?
"That's very kind of you, but I would feel remiss if I couldn't pay you back some way."
"Then let's say you owe me a favor eh? Come, sit and eat your fill!"
"Wait a second!" this voice pierced through the din of the inn and brought all the conversations inside to a halt. "Look at his clothes! He looks like one of them plegian dark mages! You would let some bandit wannabe into our town Pat?!" the man saying this looked to be some kind of woodsman and quite a rough one at that.
The innkeeper, now known as Pat, seemed to take offence for the newcomer and defended him, "Sit down Remmy! Didn't I just say that he looked trustworthy? And what kind of plegian would walk into an inn without his entire force behind him in the middle of Ylisse? This allowed the source of the argument to learn some vital information, he was in Ylisse and apparently there were either rising tensions, if not straight up war, between Ylisse and this Plegia place.
He decides to speak up for himself, "Listen I don't want to cause any trouble, my name is… my name…is…uh" at this he slowed down, 'what the hell is my name? Grond? No no… Grant? Nah… Oh! I remember, my name is "Grimm! Uh… my name is Grimm I'm not really from around these parts"
At this Remmy moved forward towards the now named Grimm, "Oh that's reassuring! Let's let a random stranger wander into town with an unknown agenda! D'you see what I mean Pat?"
Now Pat started to seem a little less friendly, "Dammit Remmy, Just leave if you're gonna cause a damn scene! This is my inn and ill serve who I damn well please!"
At this Remmy started to look a little flabbergasted and began moving to the door "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!" and with that he slammed the door open and left. Grimm let out a sigh of relief and sat down at the bar; Pat still looked a little incensed but was starting to cool off.
"Sorry about that Grimm, usually Remmy and I get along famously but once he gets a drink or two he's unbearable. So what'll you have?" At this Grimm looked around to see what most everyone was having and started to notice people had some kind of mutton stew.
"Mutton stew? I'm not super picky about what I eat, especially now." After saying that an ungodly roar sounded and Pat looked a little startled, but then settled down after realizing it was just a hungry patron. With a smile he began to get a bowl and started moving towards a pot in the back.
"You sure sound like you aint picky! Ill fix one up for ya. You're pretty lucky you know? I make some of the best mutton stew in all of Southtown!" hearing the name of the town Grimm was just a bit surprised.
"Southtown huh? Interesting name." he mumbled this to himself. Pat handed him a bowl filled to the brim of mutton and assorted vegetables, the smell was enough to make him want to eat like an animal! But with intense self-restraint he took small bites so as to not overload his stomach. After a bit of silence with only the sounds of eating and some chatter in the room, Grimm finished his meal and stood up. "Anything you need me to do? I'd like to take care of that favor."
"You ready to leave already huh? Well I can think of a few things that-" But before he could finish the door to the inn slammed open and Remmy charged in looking terrified.
"BANDITS! BANDITS ARE ATTACKING THE TOWN!" after the door had slammed open the men in the inn could now hear the screams outside and the laughter of wild men.
Pat stood a little taller and looked ready to fight "Right! All of you grab your families and head to the church! That should defend us until the militia or the Shepherds arrive! I'm gonna get my sword and wipe some scum off this continent!" after saying this he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back. He saw Grimm, but this wasn't the same man he wasn't having a nice chat with, this looked like a man ready to fight, and die. He'd only seen that look in hardened soldiers and veterans. And the look on Grimm's face worried him. 'What happened to this boy?'
Grimm began to talk in a flat cold voice. Go with them, protect them, I'll take care of the bandits," then he smiled, "think of it as my favor I owe you." Pat looked a little worried about this boy he just met, but realized the people moving might need him for protection, more than they needed him out there fighting.
He nodded and grabbed his sword, "Right, give em hell son." and moved out of the inn supporting Remmy, who looked back at Grimm and seemed to make an apologetic face. Grimm merely nodded and gave him a half smile.
"I'll take care of it." 'I will? I barely know these people, but no-one should have their homes burned and plundered.' Grimm began to move out of the inn and he could feel what felt like excitement had he done things like this before? Maybe, but right now his only worry was to make sure that these people were safe. As he stepped into the sunlight he could hear what sounded like steel on steel and thunder strikes, 'but there isn't a cloud ion the sky? Odd.' He saw a man close by, just over a bridge headed towards the market area, which looked to be in the process of being destroyed, the man had on a red cloak with a tall pointy hat. 'Time to take out the garbage I suppose, but how? I wish I knew.' But upon thinking this a red flash of light covered him and he knew what to do! 'That's…weird. As soon as I wanted to know how to fight I knew? Whatever, gift horse and all that.' And he raised his hand and said aloud "WITCHBOLT" blue lightning began to crackle between his fingers and lance forward towards the hatted man, he noticed the bolt of energy and tried to summon what looked to be a ward of some sorts but it broke though and kept going all the way through his chest. Upon seeing this Grimm was startled by his own power "Odin's beard! That was brutal!"
Another voice interrupted his thoughts "I agree."
"AGH! Who what where!" Grimm began to look around looking for the voice that… did not cause him to scream an octave higher than he should have….
"Over here I'm on the horse." Grimm looked where the voice was coming from and did indeed see a horse covered in very heavy looking blue armor, with an equally armored and intimidating looking man with brown hair and a severe face." Who are you? And how did you come to have such skill in magic, without a tome?"
"I think I'd like to know the name of my questioner first buddy." Grimm gave in response. Upon hearing this though the man's face only clouded in suspicion.
"Frederick." He ground out. Grimm smiled in victory for getting an answer.
He began to answer with a small grin on his face, "Well, Freddy! To answer your first question my name is Grimm! To answer the second, would you believe that I just learned?"
Frederick looked both angry and even more suspicious, if that was possible, "No. And don't call me Freddy, my name is Frederick."
"Whatever you say Fred."
At this Frederick slashed his lance forward as if preparing to run Grimm through. "Explain your intentions are you with these brigands or not?"
"Didn't you just see me blow that guy apart? Pretty clear isn't it?" at this Grimm began to charge another witchbolt in his hand, both to accentuate his point, and in case of a charge for the knight. Frederick of course noticed and took a tighter grip on his lance, preparing for if this went south.
"Frederick! We need to clear out the rest of these bandits hurry!" Grimm looked at the other new arrival to see who they were. They looked to be blue haired man around Grimm's age maybe a bit younger, although he wasn't too sure how old he was. But the blue hair wasn't the oddest bit about this man; it was the tattoo of some sort of symbol on his shoulder and the strange sword he carried. "Ah! Taking out another mage then? I didn't think you could leave a hole like this though."
Frederick shook his head and gestured towards Grimm, "That's because it wasn't me milord, it was the mysterious fellow."
"Uh, salutations?" this blue haired fellow worried Grimm, that was quite a large sword and he carried it like nothing. I'm just a passerby trying to help out the folks who fed me; I can use magic, a lot of magic actually now that I think about it…"
"Well the more help the merrier I suppose, my name is Chrom, but where's your tome?"
Frederick moved forward towards Chrom "That's the problem milord, he blew a hole in that mage without a tome, and the spell itself looked like a version of Thoron."
Chrom nodded and moved forwards to get a better view of this man "No tome huh? Well it's not unheard of, if you're helping protect this village then that's fine by me welcome aboard uh…"
Grimm stuck out his hand to make a proper greeting, "Grimm sir, my name is Grimm." Chrom began to shake his hand and smiled.
"Well Grimm let's stick together and take these guys out."
"Sounds like a good plan to me!" and with that said Grimm began to make his way towards the market. He looked around trying to get a lay of the land maybe find some new strategy and plan attacks but stopped in his tracks.
Burning buildings, dead bodies, fear permeating the air. He recognized this.
He had lived this before.
XxFlashbackxX
"Run Grimm!"
"By the gods they're coming this way!"
"I'll distract them take our son and escape!"
"You have to be brave Grimm. But daddy needs me!"
"MOTHER!"
XxEndFlashbackxX
"NO, NOT AGAIN,"
"MAGIC MISSILE!"
And with that a multitude of blue darts began to fly out of Grimm's outstretched hands and hit every band in the town, seeking them out in alleyways and hidden spots. Eventually the only ones left were the ones near the church.
"What the hells was that! Who cast that spell!?"
"I don't know but it killed all our men! Chief… I think we're all that's left!"
"Shut it Brook! Kill the mage!"
The last few bandits began to charge towards Grimm who thrust out his right hand in their direction.
"CHAIN LIGHTNING!"
A bolt of lightning shot out of Grimm's hand and traveled through the air to the last three bandits charging at him, it fizzled in the air and shot through all three leaving them with charred holes in their sternums.
The last one, who seemed to be their chief, stood awestruck by this power. Was this what mages could achieve? He stared at the cloaked man and grew furious that he ruined his raid, Gangrel wouldn't be happy with this turn of events. "Damn you… damn you to hell!" he then ran forward and threw his axe hoping to cut down this magic wielder before he could fire off another spell.
"Bigby's hand" and with that said a giant fist of translucent energy appeared and grabbed the chief and began to squeeze.
"Grk! You... You won't get away with this! GANGREL WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!"
"Shut your mouth and die trash" and with those final words he squeezed the life out of the last bandit in town. The hand dispelled and the body dropped to the ground nearly unrecognizable for what was once a human being. Grimm gave out a sigh and lowered his hands tired from the day's exertions.
"whoa." A voice he recognized spoke up "if I knew you could do that I might have had you stay back so we could fight some!" Grimm turned to look at the speaker and saw Chrom standing there with a small smirk on his face. He was obviously trying to lighten the mood.
"Milord, stay back! We don't know if he's an ally!" of course Frederick had to ruin any kind of mood building attempted here.
"He just saved an entire town, almost singlehandedly might I add, from bandits. I think we can trust him Frederick." Chrom said all this with a smile and a correcting tone . Frederick didn't look happy about his lord's blind trust but stepped down. He began to head over to check up on the villagers and make sure they were ok. Grimm looked around to see if he could see Pat or maybe even Remmy. No such luck but he had hopes.
"-how does that sound Grimm?" Grimm looked towards Chrom who had apparently been talking this whole time and had asked him a question.
"I'm sorry could you repeat that? I lost track of things for a second."
"Of course, I asked if you would be willing to join the Shepards." Grimm looked confused for a moment as he wasn't sure who the Shepards were.
"Can you explain what they are?"
"Right, should probably do that, the Shepards are a peacekeeping militia run by me that travel the nation and fight off any threats that may rear their head. We only have two mages, well one mage in training and one full mage, and your magic would be a boon to us. So I was wondering if you would be willing to join us."
Grimm had to think on this, join a group of people he barely knew in order to safeguard a nation? He would be lying if he said it didn't feel somewhat familiar, although he wasn't sure why. Maybe they could help him find out who he is, or where he came from. Or maybe even-
"Hey! That was so cool what you did with all that magic and stuff! How'd you do it!?"
"By Thor's hairy testicles!" Grimm shot up into the air upon being startled "who the hell are you!?"
"Hey! You shouldn't shout at people!" Grimm got a better look at his assailant. She looked to be close to perhaps twenty years of age with blonde hair styled into two pigtails on the side of her head, she was wearing a yellow dress with a metal under casing puffing out the bottom. She looked to be pouting after being yelled at, although at the moment Grimm didn't care as she startled the hell out of him with her yelling.
"What are you talking about you yelled at me first!"
"I was asking a question! You shouldn't yell at people for asking questions! Apologize!"
"WHY?!"
"You startled me."
"WHAT!"
"Apologize." Grimm let out a sigh just wanting this to end.
"Fine… I apologize. Do you forgive me?"
"Hmmm… maybe."
"WHAT!?"
"Grimm I don't mean to interrupt but you seem to be turning quite red." Chrom interrupted with a smile and pointed towards Grimm's face. Grimm gave out another sigh, this time to calm his nerves.
"Right, Chrom, in response to your offer I have a counter offer. I will join the Shepards and accept what that entails, but in return I would like to have your promise that if I need it you will offer your assistance in helping me find out my past."
"Another amnesiac huh? Well Grimm I would never leave a friend in need so you have a deal." This made Grimm curious. Was there another person here who had a lapse in memories?
"Right then, lets shake on it Cap'n!"
And so the bargain was struck, and a new pathway was opened.