Gunlord500: thanks. and yes, I'm not a native English speaker... but I'm learning to improve my grammar and such ^^

ToOH: thanks for the kind words ^^ I have finished the game once, but I did it in fast-track mode (meaning I'm solely aiming to see what's the story like, not dwelling into characters as such) now I'm the middle of replaying it but with the purpose of getting to know each character better, especially those that I envision will have considerable part in this 'novelization'.

Chasticot: thank you! ^^ I hope you'll like the story! ^^


"Roxanne, huh…? Is that a foreign name?" Frederick asked.

"I—"

"Look! The town!"

Everyone was jolted back by Lissa's voice and turned to see where she was pointing. A group of bandits seemed to have intruded the town and began harassing the townsfolk.

"Well, we can talk later—Shepherds, to arms!"

"Yes, milord."

"Okay!"

He turned towards Roxanne. "You wait here. We'll go get you once we're done."

The three of them ran towards the town even before Roxanne could take a breath. What a turn of events… she thought to herself when her elbow hit something as she lowered it.

Roxanne looked down and realized that she had been carrying a sword with her, and in her cloak, there was a book. Filled with sudden curiosity, she took the book and looked at the cover, which was engraved by a lightning figure. She opened the book and found an incantation, arranged by the order of the strength—or so it seemed to her.

A spell book?

Roxanne looked up and saw the brawl that was inevitable in that town, and her legs moved on their own, dashing towards the fray.


Tension was dense in the air when she reached the town, where the Shepherds stood at one side and the brigands on the other, with the townspeople watching them anxiously. There were five or six of the brigands, with no particular formation governing their position.

Chrom was the first to notice her presence. "What are you doing here?! Didn't I tell you to wait?"

"Let me help!" she said. "You're obviously outnumbered!"

"But—"

"I can use a sword," she assured him and she took out the book. "…and perhaps some magic."

"Perhaps?"

Looking at his pale face, Roxanne quickly countered. "Don't worry. I get this."

While they were talking, one bandit tried to sneak up on them and drew his blade, aiming for Chrom whose back was totally exposed to him. Roxanne saw the movement, however, and she quickly shot a lightning bolt through the space between Chrom's arm and ribcage, piercing through his cape, as well as the bandit in one shot.

Chrom turned his head in surprise just in time to see his almost-to-be attacker fell down on the ground. "See? I can control my magic." Roxanne said with an undertone of triumph.

"Yeah… I agree…" Chrom replied with a hint of admiration.

"I'm afraid we don't have much time for conversation, milord," Frederick interjected. "The bandits are drawing their weapons."

"Right," Chrom agreed as he unsheathed his sword. "Be prepared."

For a moment, Roxanne was drawn towards the distinctive appearance of Chrom's sword. Instead of the more commonly found cross-shaped guard, this sword had a two sets of golden ridges fanned out before joining once again, melting seamlessly into the blade, turning into one long golden strip running down the blade's length. There was a peculiar teardrop-shaped hole on the widened shoulder, yet another distinctive feature of this particular blade.

What an elegant blade. She thought to herself.

Before she had a further chance to admire the sword, Chrom drew it to his sight and took up his stance. Roxanne took this as a cue for her to take hers to, so she widened her legs shoulder-wide with her own sword—which looked like a dull lump of sharp metal when being compared to his—held tightly in her sword hand, the hand that didn't bear that peculiar tattoo.

Her eyes then took notice of the gaps between two bandit units closest to them.

Wait, if I do this… then perhaps… oh, but we do have…

Roxanne took a deep breath. "Chrom, wait a moment."

"What is it?"

"I think… I can see the flow of the battle."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. It's like playing in my head." She said, "Wanna try it out?"

Chrom pondered over the offer for a moment. "Better than nothing."

First, Roxanne risked herself by attacking one of the closest units, breaching their front line. When the adjacent bandit tried to retaliate, he walked right onto Frederick's path, who finished him immediately with one blow just like how Roxanne thought it would be. Chrom quickly dealt with the third one, with Roxanne acting as a backup when the fourth unit attempted to attack him just as she had predicted. In the meantime, Frederick made his way to the last and furthest unit from them, now isolated from his allies, and finished him with one blow of his lance.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" the citizens said after the rest of the bandits scampered away in fear.


As they continued their journey to Ylisstol, Chrom couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious young woman. Who was she? Why was she at that plain? What happened to her memories? She seemed to be fine, physically, no external injuries whatsoever—then how in the world could she lose her memories?

Could she really be a spy, like Frederick the Wary had thought her to be? But, if she were, why would she go the distance to save him earlier? Gaining his trust? Perhaps, yet there were instances where she fought close to him to protect his blind spot, risking herself without restraint especially considering her current condition.

Furthermore, how ingenious her plan was in incapacitating the bandits! She really saw the battle through and her plan was almost fool proof. For someone who claimed to have lost her memories, this was surely something.

These thoughts floated around in his head as he ate in silence. He even ignored Lissa's whining until the latter elbowed him in the gut in exasperation. "What's wrong with you, Chrom? You weren't listening to me!" she said.

Chrom tried to laugh it off, but he failed miserably.

The mystery of this Roxanne girl was not about to be an easy one for him, he thought.


In her tent, Roxanne perused the spell tome she had been carrying. Why was I carrying this around? Am I a fighter?

"May I speak with you?" a voice from outside called.

Roxanne turned around and hesitated for a moment before she finally decided to see what he had to say. "Yes?"

Chrom cleared his throat and began speaking. "You were brilliant back there. On strategizing, I mean."

"I'm just doing what I can."

"What do you say about being a tactician for our cause? We could really use such talents like yours."

"Whoa. That escalates pretty quickly," she quipped. "What happened with 'questioning in the town' part?"

"We'll still do that, of course, mainly to ease Frederick's concerns—"

"Which are valid, I'd say myself."

"Which are valid," Chrom agreed, "but, really, I would appeal for you to consider my proposal."

Roxanne scratched her head in hesitation. "Look, Chrom, it's not that I don't appreciate the offer or anything—I'm even flattered you think that I'm brilliant whatsoever, but it doesn't feel right for me," she said. "You see… I don't even know who I am and you ask me to lead a group of self-assured soldiers?"

"The irony's not lost on me," Chrom retorted. "You know how it feels to be lost, Roxanne. You, more than anyone else, should understand the helplessness of feeling lost. Now that you can provide guidance, why not?"

"Is it just in your nature to trust strangers readily?" she asked, more out of curiosity rather than in an attempt to mock him.

"Perhaps," he admitted. "But I have my reasons."

Roxanne nodded her head and muttered a low 'hmm'.

"Look, you don't have to answer me right away," he assured her. "In fact, I decided to propose the offer this early—although it's late in the night literally speaking—so that you can think over it as we make our way back to Yllistol."

'That's very considerate of you," she replied gratefully. "I'll think over it."


Roxanne was abruptly woken up by the sound of Frederick's massive armour moving about. She rose and opened up the curtain to her tent. "What happened?" she asked the knight.

"Look there."

Frederick pointed out a strange dark spot on the night sky, above the forest a few distance away from them. When she saw it, a slight headache hit her but she managed to conceal it from the knight. "Where's Chrom and Lissa?"

"That's the problem—none of them is here."

"Don't tell me…"

Without thinking any further, Roxanne grabbed her sword and tome and dashed off to the woods together with Frederick.

Just like they had thought, they found Chrom and Lissa there, and thankfully they were unharmed although Lissa seemed to be visibly shaken. With the siblings, there was already another swordsman with his sword drawn, and looking at the direction that he was facing, Roxanne deduced that he was an ally. A moment later, a female knight appeared together with an archer—the latter of whom was still able to spout off some corny pick-up lines despite the situation.

Next, Roxanne took a careful look on their foe. This time it was not bandits—it was like an army of undead, with their eyes glowing red, hungry for blood and thin black smoke emanated from their mouths. This army of undead slowly staggering towards them, their arms dangling forward, meandering aimlessly but dangerously, given their sharp nails.

"I hope the smoke is not… poisonous," she muttered.

She shot a lightning bolt to one of those creatures, right at the space between its eyes and it quickly dissolved into black smoke. Roxanne immediately covered her nose and mouth, but she soon found out that the black smoke was harmless except for a plus point in scary effect. In fact, these undead were nothing much after she got over their scariness; they were not really agile and swift, which contributed to their quick defeat and soon, the forest was empty once more.

They faced the mysterious swordsman right after that. His face was obscured by the mask that prevented them to see his eyes, and he wore dark cape to cover his body, blending really well to the dark background of the night sky.

"This is only the beginning…" he said, before turning back to leave.

Roxanne couldn't look away from the mysterious swordsman until he was out from her field of vision. His chilling, foreboding words really made her uneasy about this whole chain of events.


Thanks for reading!

Please rate and review! ^^