Fire Emblem: Awakening

Prologue: The Verge of History


"Chrom, we have to do something!"

I opened my eyes and was momentarily blinded by the sun. I could only see two shadows bent over me. One was obviously female, her hair in two pigtails. She was the one who had spoken. The man must have been Chrom.

"What do you suggest we do?" He asked her.

"I… I dunno."

He looked down and noticed I had awakened. "Funny place to sleep. Here." He extended his hand, which I accepted. As He pulled me up a strange mark glowed on the back of my hand, but only for a moment. "Up you get." He looked me over as I brushed myself off, studying the small party in front of me. Chrom was a tall young man, wearing a small plate of armor over his left shoulder, while his entire right arm was bare, revealing a strange birthmark on his shoulder. At his hip was a strangely beautiful sword, though for some reason it seemed incomplete. The girl next to him was dressed in yellow and had a staff in her left hand. She was much shorter, but she also looked much younger. Slightly behind Chrom, and resting his hand on a lance, was a stern looking man in full armor. I noticed a horse peacefully grazing behind him. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thank you, Chrom." I said.

"Ah, so you know who I am!" he exclaimed.

"Yes… no? I'm not sure I know more than your name."

"The important question is, who are you?" The man behind Chrom stepped up, placing his free hand on Chrom's shoulder.

"I… I don't know. I can't remember anything. I can't even remember my own name, much less where I come from."

"Chrom, we can't trust him. He must be acting the fool, intending to murder you when your back is turned."

"Frederick, you mustn't worry so much. You have to trust some people." Chrom said, laughing off his comment. "I'm sure he's trustworthy, even with amnesia. Besides, what kind of Shepherds would we be if we left him alone and confused in the middle of a field?"

The girl turned to Frederick. "Everything will turn out for the best."

Chrom looked at me again. "Come with us. We'll head into town and figure out what to do with you there."

I nodded. "I suppose that would be the best course of action."

Frederick mounted his horse and rode slightly behind. "If you attempt anything, I will not hesitate to run you through." He said to me as he fell back a bit. "I suggest you don't."

We started walking, following the nearby road. "So, what am I, a prisoner?" I asked, honestly worried about what the answer might be.

Chrom grinned. "No worries about that. As long as we are certain you're no enemy of Ylisse you'll be free to go."

"Ylisse? Is that what this place is called?"

"Chrom, I…"

"Frederick, don't worry. Yes, this is the Halidom of Ylisse. It's ruled by the Exalt, Emmeryn." He paused for a moment. "You know what, I suppose we ought to be properly introduced. As you know, I'm Chrom. The delicate one on your left is my sister, Lissa…"

"I am not delicate!" Lissa yelled indignantly, stomping her foot. Chrom grinned.

"Anyway, Mr. Grumpy back there is Frederick."

"Ignore my brother." Lissa said. "He can be a bit thick sometimes. But you were lucky to be found by Shepherds. Brigands wouldn't have been so kind."

"Shepherds? You tend sheep in full armor?"

Chrom laughed. "Oh, it's quite a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary."

"Someone has to keep a mind toward safety, since you don't seem to see the necessity in it. If I didn't, who would?" Frederick said, riding up to be next to Chrom. "I would like to trust you, stranger, but with the actions of these two, I have to play the devil's advocate."

"And so you should." I said. "I would do no less." A name suddenly came to my head. "Reyak? I suppose that could be my name. Yes, I quite think it is. Funny how memory works. I guess that's one mystery solved."

"Reyak, huh? Must be foreign." Chrom gazed thoughtfully into the distance. "We'll look into it when we get to town. We should be there momentarily."

"Chrom, look! The town!" Lissa screamed, pointing into the distance."

Smoke rose from just over the horizon. Chrom grimaced. "Bandits! Lissa, Frederick, let's go!"

They took off, Frederick pulling Lissa up onto his horse. I stood for a moment, staring after them. "But… What am I supposed to do now?" I shook my head, looking back down the road. "If I leave now… But if I follow… Aw, heck, I'll just follow them and hope for the best." I ran after them, hoping everything would go well.


Southtown

Chrom, Lissa and Frederick arrived in the town in time to see the bandits drag a women out of her house.

"Snag everything! Gold, jewels, weapons, anything you can find!" The leader shouted. "Kill anyone who tries to resist!"

"Chrom, they're wrecking the town! What do we do!" Lissa shouted.

"We take them out. Frederick, I want you to…"

"Hey, wait up!" I ran in behind them.

"Ah, you decided to follow us. Good. And, it appears you are armed. A sword and… Is that a tome? Magic?"

"I guess so. Uhhh… how does it work again…?"

"I think I'll stay a bit away from you."

"No, I'm sure I've got it."

"Who are they?" One of the bandits had noticed us. The leader looked us over.

"Kill them. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Chrom, I think I have an idea on how to approach this."

"What do you mean?"

"I can see strength and stuff at a glance. I think I have a strategy."

"Well then, a tactician! Alright, I put our lives in your hands. Guide our blades!" With that, we charged in.

There are only a few bandits, maybe 6, so I set about with the best setup. As a cleric, Lissa needed to stay out of range. She could dart in to heal, but needed to avoid any blades. Frederick is already an advanced class, most likely due to years of experience. He can be backup, maybe he'll be necessary later on. Chrom and I are both experienced in battle, but we could do with practice. We'll take the brunt of the attack.

There are four close range fighters of varying classes. Chrom and I can both deal with them. There is one mage, but I think I can handle him. If he gets close enough, he'll focus on Chrom because of his range. The leader looks slightly more intimidating. We'll probably have to work together to take him down.

"Action plan!" I called. "Lissa, stay back. If we need healing, get in and take care of us. Frederick, you're on guard duty. Make sure anyone who gets past me and Chrom doesn't get to her. Chrom, focus on the close range. I'll assist you once I take out the mage. We'll hit the leader together."

Chrom nodded. "I trust your judgement. Let's go!"

We sprung into the fray. Chrom quickly dispatched one of the bandits as I rushed the mage, tome at the ready. We exchanged volleys, but he fell quickly. Turning I drew my sword, successfully parrying the attack from one of the bandits, but seeing one dash past Chrom, locked in combat with another, headed straight for Lissa. As he swung his axe, Frederick jumped in front of him, knocking his axe away and burying his lance in the bandit's chest. I quickly dispatched the bandit I was fighting as Chrom did the same. He was panting, and I saw some blood leaking from a semi-deep cut on his arm. Lissa ran up to him and healed it, and he joined me in facing down the leader.

"You may have taken out my flowers, but you'll see I'm not so weak as them! No one defeats Garrick!"

He swung his axe at me, but I deflected it and Chrom stepped in to attack. He sliced open Garrick's left arm, Garrick narrowly avoiding a deadly blow. He swung his axe at Chrom, who also deflected the blade, opening Garrick to a blast from my Fire tome. He staggered backwards, attempting to put out the flames.

"You're some tough little sheep, but not tough enough! Let's see you fight alone!"

"You're on!" Chrom shouted, charging forward, his sword at the ready.

"Chrom, no!" Lissa screamed.

As they clashed, I realized Chrom wouldn't be able to do this alone. He has skill, but Garrick has pure power on him. Every blocked or deflected blow seemed to tire Chrom out even more. It was only a matter of seconds before everything went wrong.

"Chrom, get back!" I shouted as I charged up a spell. He leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding a skull-crushing blow.

"Why are you running, little sheep? We aren't done yet!" Garrick laughed, leaping forward. I fired my spell.

He seemed to stop in midair, before being thrown backward by the force of the fire now engulfing his body. "But… you're just a sheep…"

He hit the ground and fell silent. We had won.

Lissa stomped over to Chrom. "That was reckless! You could have been killed!"

"I concur." Frederick said, also moving forward. "You were far outmatched."

Chrom grinned weakly. "If I don't push myself, how will I get stronger?"

I shook my head. "Getting yourself killed won't make anyone stronger except your enemy. Be more careful."

Chrom's smile faltered. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Anyway, we won! Woo-hoo! The village is safe!" He sat on a nearby bench. "I don't suppose we have time to eat?"

Frederick shook his head. "You heard their voices. They were obviously Plegian. We have to get back to Ylisstol and report to the Exalt as fast as we can."

Chrom sighed. "Yeah, you're right." He looked at me. "You did pretty good there. Thanks for saving my life. That would have been a terrible story to have to tell if I had died. Anyway, would you like to stick with us? We could use a good tactician."

"I suppose that would work. By the way, what's it mean when you say they're Plegian?"

"The country to the west is called Plegia. They keep attempting to turn us to war, something that hasn't happened since Emmeryn became the Exalt. I don't know their exact reasoning, but they obviously want something from us."

"Good to know. I suppose we'll have to keep a lookout for any other bandits, then. Plegia sounds like a real problem."

"Right now, it is. We'll see in the future, though."

"Sorry to cut this short, but we really must be going. We'll find food on the way. We don't have long 'til dark, so we might as well cover as much ground as possible." Frederick said.

Chrom nodded. "To the capital we go."


Hey. I know it's been a while, but I'm not dead, I swear. I still have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head, but with college and stuff I've been a bit busier than I intended. I'm working on making time to work on my various stories, but as far as I know, updates will be few and far between, at least until summer rolls around.

Anyway, on a story note, woo-hoo! I finally added to this story! Admittedly I hadn't thought much about this story in the past few months, but as I recently started playing Awakening again I decided to do a bit of writing.

I do plan on basing this writing off of a playthrough, so I will want your help at some point. For now, I just need ideas on pairings. The only pairing I plan on being non-negotiable is the only even close to canon pairing, Chrom-Sumia. If you have another pairing you want to see, shoot me a private message with ideas. Preferably my avatar will end up getting with someone before the Walhart storyline, but If you really want me to, I'll wait. But I do want some input.

The best and most important thing you can do for me, though, is review! Give me thoughts on my writing style, my portrayal of the characters and how you think I butchered them, and particularly my fight scenes. I know there will be a lot of them, so I want to improve them as much as possible. Yeah! I'll see you guys in the next installment!