"So what's going on here, anyways...? W-Why are there brigands running around destroying the village?" I asked, playing dumb. Don't want them to think I'm some weird person who knows everything about the course of the 'game' and for some reason or other doesn't know how I got here. ...Now that I think about it, Robin's story IS weirdly similar to mine...

Frederick, still eyeing me warily but with a less intent gaze then before, answered my question. "These bandits are, I'm assuming, Plegian, judging by the impeccable accent. Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbour, and they have been sending small troops of bandits and brigands in hopes of instigating a war."

Chrom closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "That's why we're here, though, the Shepherds to protect the sheep, but really, it's not even the army who suffers, its the simple townsfolk who have to deal with it."

BOLLOCKS.

Aliiiiice. You've heard this in the game already. No need to get mad. CALM. Stay calm.

Oh, it's not working.

"WHAT?! How could they? What kind of sick people would do that?! They would slaughter innocent lives to start a war? Why do they even want to start a war? What good is that?! When was the last time there has been a war that solved more problems than it has created?! OH THAT'S RIGHT, THERE HASN'T BEEN ONE!" I stole a glance at Lissa, who had slunk behind Frederick with a frightened look on her face, "...Ugh... Gosh, I'm sorry. I get mad a little too easily," I stated, scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

Now they think I'm insane. Great.

To my surprise, though, Chrom started laughing. "Haha, oh Alice, I..." he tried to stifle his laughter, "..Haha, you just remind me of, heh, when I was younger. I seemed like a really nice person, and I was, but if someone made me mad I would fly into a rage and turn into an angry bull."

My right eyebrow twitched.

'Don't yell at him. Just pretend he didn't compare you to an angry bull.' I mumbled under my breath.

"...Um, Alice? Did I say something wrong?"

My right eyebrow twitched again and I cracked a smile. "N-no, it's quite alright." Whoo, I didn't kick him. That took a lot of self-constraint. Chrom just waved it off with a "okay, that's good" and continued walking. I followed behind, trying to calm down. Those anger management classes sounded really good right about now.

We were nearing the exit of the village, and boy was I excited. I'll be meeting all the Shepherds, and who knows, I might even get to stay permanently if I prove useful! Maybe I could ask someone to help me learn to use weapons! Ugh, probably not. I'm kind of pathetic when it comes to physical strength. Maybe magic? I'm pretty bright, I guess. Buuuut, the only person I could learn that from would be... Miriel. Gosh no. Or Richt. He's pretty nice. Hm. Oh, maybe Robin! He seems nice enough! I could also learn strategies too, and maybe help out! Then again, lock-picking sounds awesome. I could bribe Gaius with candy. Maybe bows? Virion would be eager to help any lady, right...? Or I could also learn how to wield staves with the help of Lissa or Maribelle- okay, maybe not Maribelle, but Lissa is really nice! Agh, but thinking about it now, when should I tell them the truth? I can't hide it from them for the whole time...

I'm pretty sure I was mumbling under my breath, because Frederick kept on glancing over at me suspiciously. I'm losing all my credit pretty quickly.

The next hour or so of the march was tiring, but I suppose that was a good thing. It was great motivation for me to drop the layer of fat I was carrying on my stomach, since I would probably have to be getting used to this. As the day faded away and night began to grow old, I could feel my legs giving way under me. Everywhere hurt. Paddling for 6 hours with a probable concussion, almost getting your arm cut off then trekking for another hour or so was NOT in my daily schedule. I wanted to voice my complaint, but Lissa did so in my place to save me the embarrassment.

"It's getting SUPER late... And the bugs are out! Ew, they're EVERYWHERE! Ugh, I'm tired and hungry and cold and I don't want to walk anymoooooore..." Lissa groaned, emphasizing each of her arguments with a stomp of her foot. Gosh how I wanted to do that too. I feel for you, Lissa.

Chrom chuckled, but motioned for us to stop.

"I think it has been quite a long day for all of us."

You can say that again.

"Now, Lissa, do you want to help me gather firewood-" He trailed off after seeing the vicious glare that she was sending his way. If looks could kill, he might as well have eaten a bomb and detonated it from the inside. He quickly looked to Frederick. "E-er, on second thought, Frederick and I can handle it and hunt for some game. You three just, um, clear a campsite." He then proceeded to grab Frederick by the arm and sprint away, all the while pulling a Sumia by tripping on nothing.

Damn. I didn't know Miss Lolita could be that scary.

Robin and I, with some sort of unseen telepathic communication, agreed to begin clearing away the rocks and sticks for the campfire, out of fear of whatever wrath Lissa would unleash on us. She was content with sitting there and swatting away mosquitoes.

After Chrom and Frederick had returned, we were just sitting around the fire, eating... bear meat.

To be honest, I'd normally be pretty disgusted, but it felt like days since I last ate. I think I might've vaguely heard Lissa ask me something, but I was much too busy eating bear. Mmm. It almost tastes like beef. And I do love me some good beef. I could see Robin gulping down the food in a similar fashion. Great minds, er, eat alike? That didn't make sense. Great mouths eat alike? That sounds really dirty. Great people, um eat-

Okay screw this, I give up.

Afterwards, my eyes started getting really droopy. I leant my cheek on my palm and willed myself not to close my eyes. ...Not working.

"...like BOOTS! Right, Alice- Oh."

I think I might be half-ostrich with all the face-planting I do.

-X-X-X-X-X-

"...ice..."

Yes, I do quite like the cold. Better than extreme heat at least. I like ice cream too.

"...lice... ake up..."

What? Your lice has make up? Strange little beasties indeed.

"...Alice... UP..."

No I will NOT go up. I'm afraid of heights.

"ALICE! WAKE UP! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

"SNARGLEBLARGH! ...Muh... Mom... Five more minutes..." I shifted a bit but still tried to doze back off. And I was having such a wonderful dream too, about going to Ylisse and meeting the Shepherds. Eh, wait, isn't my alarm clock usually-

And then realization greeted me with a mental slap on the face.

I quickly shot up and jumped to my feet while successfully crashing into an extremely aggravated Robin.

Ooh, sorry Robin. I'll bet that'll leave a bruise. I've been known for having a er, bony head.

"Gods, Alice, do I look like your mother to you?"

Well, if I turn my head and squint a little...

I snickered. Robin's scowl deepened.

"A-ah, no, sorry, I'm just a really heavy sleeper!"

He rubbed his bruised forehead and groaned. "It's alright, I noticed... Anyway, we have to get out of here!"

And this is when I finally opened my eyes and saw that, well, the ground had cracked in half, the sky was a surprisingly beautiful shade of reddish-orange softly blurring into a pretty purple, there were flaming boulders flying through the air and there was a huge eyeball thing that had opened in the middle of the sky, and zaaaaambies were pouring out of its socket.

Weeeeeeeeeell shit. Let's see what I remember about the first chapter.

"Where are Chrom and Lissa?!" I exclaimed.

Oh waaaaiiiiit, they went off by themselves to investigate, right? Crap.

"I don't know but we have to find them! Come on!" Robin began to run, and he was a fast little critter. He probably had speed as his asset. I was having a difficult time keeping up, but the thought of me lagging behind and being eaten by a Risen was not so appealing. I could spot Frederick up ahead, galloping on his horse being the badass prepromote he was. I could also unfortunately feel sweat tricking down my neck and actually forming damn salt crystals on my skin and the hairs being singed off of my eyebrows.

This was a crapton scarier in real life than on-screen.

To my relief, Chrom and Lissa hadn't wandered off too far and we found them within a matter of minutes.

Frederick eagerly rushed to their sides. "Milady! Milord! Are you hurt?"

"Frederick... Robin... Alice..." Lissa, frozen with fear, looked at us blankly.

Robin frowned. "Are these monsters commonplace in these lands?!"

"They're certainly not from Ylisse, that's for sure!" Chrom replied, drawing Falchion from its sheathe.

Frederick readied his axe as well. "Thank the gods nobody is injured..."

"It was all because of the masked man! He saved me and- Huh?! Where'd he go?" Lissa exclaimed, looking around.

" We can worry about him later, Milady. Now, we must cut these vile... things... down!" Frederick glanced at me. I was kind of leaning against a tree, shaking. "Alice, I know this must be frightening, but please, try to remain calm," I quickly nodded, "...and I reckon you have no experience with weaponry, but if it comes to it, use this sword to defend yourself." He tossed me a sword and I watched as it skittered across the ground to land at my feet. I was surprised me trusted me with a weapon. I wanted to make a snarky remark about me literally stabbing him in the back but I decided that this wasn't the ideal time for being a sarcastic asshole.

He cleared his voice. "Now, we know nothing of the enemy, so everyone, stay alert and watch your backs!"

Oh gosh. I cautiously picked up the sword from the ground. Hm. Lighter than I though it would actually be. It's probably iron. Yeesh, but this thing is still pretty heavy. I poked the tip of the sword, and sure enough, a small amount of blood seeped out of a thin cut.

Aw, crud. I don't like this. I really don't.

Gripping the hilt of the sword in my two hands, I quickly sauntered my way over to Lissa.

"Are you scared?" Lissa asked, alert for any injured allies and avoiding coming close to the Risen.

No. No, Lissa, I'm not scared. That's exactly why I'm shaking like I've been trapped in a refrigerator for an hour and I'm trying to hide behind you. No. I'm feeling just fine. Yippee doo da. Just dandy.

Meekly grunting a 'yes' in response, I gripped the hilt with two hands and huddled behind her, eyeing the horizon like I usually eye Lindt chocolate when I see it in stores.

On other words, very intently.

I stole a quick glance at the fight taking place, and cringed as I saw Chrom plunge Falchion into the gut of one of the monsters. Lucky for me, though, there wasn't any blood, just black tendril-like mist. The creature screeched, twitched, then slumped over. Chrom kicked it off his blade and continued, quite casually considering he just stabbed a zombie-type thing.

Urgh, I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to this...

I quickly went back to lookout and turned around to face a... horse? Why is there a random horse out- Oh yeah. Sully. If Sully is here, that means Virion is here.

She was looking as awesome as ever, twirling a lance like it was a toothpick, with Virion following suite, arrow locked and ready to fire. She looked down at me, and I found myself relatively intimidated.

"Hey, you a new recruit?" She frowned, "...Ya know, people who can use a sword should be fighting at the front, not hiding back here like a wimp. Get your act together and get a damn move on!"

"I... er, I actually can't... use a weapon... I never-"

"Then why you even here?"

"Um, Chrom found me and he decided to let me tag along since I've got nowhere to stay-"

Uh oh. She's probably going to stab me now, isn't she?

To my surprise, she only giggled. Wait. No. Sully giggling? HAR. That's like... Gaius refusing to eat chocolate. That would probably be creepier than funny.

You know, if people could actually hear my inner thoughts, my head would be on a pike now in the middle of a blazing fire.

Sully, er, chuckled.

"Well better get your arse moving, because I won't go easy on ya during training!"

Wait what.

"...I thought this was temporary-"

"I dunno what you did for him to letcha join, but he probably won't be kicking you out anytime soon. He's just that kinda person."

She's like the Sully version of the interrupting cow. I haven't been able to finish a sentence while talking to her yet.

"Alright then, but-"

"COME ON! LET ME AT 'EM, CAPTAIN!"

And before I could say anything, she trotted off, gleefully stabbing Risen in the throat. I didn't even KNOW it was possible to stab anything with that kind of a facial expression.

...Oh I just can't WAIT to meet Henry and Tharja.

Somewhere, right then, Tharja swore as she sneezed and screwed up her hex.

I was about to jog on ahead, but...

"Please wait, milady!"

Oh, that weird wannabe French accent means only ONE person...

"My sparrow, this fighting and bloodshed is unapt for a woman of your beauty! Please, grant me the-"

Oh god. Must shut him up before he goes on rambling or I will be stuck here for the next year.

"Sorry, but this sparrow's got a few bugs to pick off!"

Ooh, that was a good one.

I could hear him beginning to protest but tried to ignore it and press onward.

Chrom and Frederick were demolishing a few Risen and were clearing a path ahead, while Robin was holding his own and taking out any Risen coming from the left. Sully and Virion picked off any stragglers left behind and Lissa was safely tucked away in between all three of them.

It seemed Robin was having a bit of trouble though, so I approached him warily.

And just in time, too.

He was trying to fend off the unyielding assault of two brigands and was struggling to land a blow. A few yards away, I could see something like an archer nocking in a bow and pointing it at him, waiting for the ideal time to launch it so it wouldn't hit any of his Risen pals.

Oh man.

I should have run up there and stabbed the guy in the head. I really should've. But I was too scared. Like most normal people would be.

Instead, genius Alice struck again.

...I flung the sword as hard as I could at the Risen.

And of course, like I was hoping, the blade hit him straight in the head and he died instantly. Chrom then wanted to recruit me for my epic sword-throwing skills.

Hahahahaha, no.

It somehow nicked the foot of one of the Risen standing nearby the archer, who fell backwards and landed on another archer, who let the arrow fly right beside the muzzle of Sully's steed, who neighed and charged into a small flaming tree, which made the tree fall over, which crashed into a fort and sent rubble flying at the archer who was going to kill Robin and lucky enough, one brick smacked him right in between the eyes and knocked him out.

...

Weeeeeeeell, that could've gone better.

Everyone just kind of stopped and stared at me, including all the Risen.

Needless to say, it was pretty awkward.

Okay, extremely awkward.

Robin quickly slashed at the two Risen near him and pulled out his tome, sending a stream of neon electricity and frying the Risen archer and his two friends that were trying to stealth kill him. After the effects of the magic on the terrain wore off, I quietly retrieved my sword, which was somehow unscathed by the lightning bolt.

On a completely unrelated note, that magic looked really, really cool. I think I may go on the path of the mage if I DO stay permanently.

My first instinct was to make sure Robin was alright. He seemed fine, albeit very tired. Sully and her horse were a trifle burnt, but Lissa was patching them up quickly. Chrom and Frederick had taken out the rest of the Risen already. I coughed uncomfortably and jogged to where Robin was. He was kneeling on the ground, panting. Poor guy must be dying of exhaustion.

"Robin, you alright?"

He nodded wearily as I helped him up.

"L-let me just ask you something," he wheezed, still trying to catch his breath, "...Huh... What did you just do?"

"Um, well I saw an archer in the corner and he was aiming his bow at you, so I..."

Oh crap. He's going to think I'm an idiot.

"...I kind of threw my sword at him."

...

Um...

Robin?

To my surprise (and relief), he smiled and laughed. "Although you did it in a... rather inefficient way, you did save my life. Thank you, Alice. I owe you." He patted me on the shoulder and motioned toward Chrom and co, along with 'Marth'."We'll talk about that later. For now, we should join up with the others."

While Chrom had his his discussion with 'Marth' (and I was very tempted to let him know the exact details of Marth's whereabouts), I zoned out.

It was strange. I've been here for less than a day and I saved Robin's life.

What would've happened if I wasn't there?

I frowned and began chewing away at whatever nails I had left. The thought of it worried me.

Maybe Sully would have arrived faster, because she wouldn't have spoken to me, and would've taken care of that archer. Virion could've also snagged him in the head.

Now that I thought about it more, what if I did something that would change the course of the game? What if I changed the course of 'destiny'?

Like Robin says, 'we're not pawns of some scripted fate. It's the invisible ties we forge that bind us.'

I truly wanted to believe those words.

-X-X-X-X-X-

Thanks for the support, guys! I really appreciate it! I think I'll be updating bi-weekly, since I've got much schoolwork to do, being in IB and all. I know this chapter was a little on the short side, but I'll try to make up for it! Sorry for not proofreading (AGAIN), I was doing this intead of science anyways and I didn't want to completely fail my test... ^^

Also, here are my responses to those who reviewed:

Nocturnea: Oh please, don't be modest. Your writing is amazing! Heh, well I guess you're right. It's pretty hard to do that with a self-insert. And thank you for the welcome!

Fan person: Short but sweet. I'm glad you like it!

Browncoatjedi: Aw bullocks, thank you, but I think yours is much better. You haven't played Awakening? Goodness me, you must! YOU MUST! I was going for the humour thing, and I'm glad you found it decently funny. Thank you very much and I'm really glad you liked it! ^^

Randomreview: Hah, thank you! The thing is, I would LOVE to tone down my attitude, but I actually do get mad really easily in real life and I am shamelessly going to admit I would do exactly what I wrote. Heh. And about the pairings, thank you for the advice! I still *might* pair myself up, but I won't do the whole googly-eyes lovey dovey crud because I can't. I'm already terrible at writing romance as it is, heh.

Kingawesome: Thanks, and I think I will be doing Chrom x Sumia, since IS basically ships them together. I like the idea of swords and magic. And to be honest, I didn't think about the whole, ahem, spoiler-tastic destiny stuff, thanks for sparking up some ideas!

Account-less: Yay, I'm glad you found it funny! Thanks for the support!

Archsage12: Wow, we must be secretly related or something... And thanks so very much! I really appreciate it!

Toytoya: Ha, thankies!

Rinoreiri Murino Hitsuzen: Heh, I'm glad you think so

Gunlord500: Thanks for the review, Gunlord! I'm glad this was relatively amusing, and I'm trying to find some way to make this more... unique. I hope to add more plot twists and I'm also trying to not stick too much to in-game dialogue or that'd bore everyone to bits.

ExposedWiresExposedVeins: Thanks for the welcome, EWEV! You haven't played it yet? You should, its pretty amazing, heh. Anyways, merci for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind!

Gingalain: Yay! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint... Thanks very much!

SO MUCH THANKS... I think I'll just send PMs to you all, this was an extremely long authour's note.