Disclaimer stuff, yada: I'm poor, ain't own nothin'

"Here we are," Lissa cheered, throwing her hands into the air as she pranced into the room. "The Shepherd's garrison! Go ahead, make yourselves at home."

Robin and I stepped into the garrison; I squinted through the drastic change in brightness. Inside, several figures that I recognized as the other Shepherds awaited. "Lissa, my treasure!" Maribelle rushed forward, pulling LIssa into a tight embrace. "Are you alright?" she asked, holding the princess to her for a moment longer. "I've been on pins and needles!"

"Oh, hey, Maribelle," Lissa said casually, patting the other girl on the back.

"'Oh, hey,' yourself," the noblewoman huffed. "I've sprouted 14 gray hairs fretting over you!"

"Yeah, and I've sprouted just as many for no good reason," I muttered under my breath, not expecting to be heard. "They can be pulled." Maribelle heard my remark, however, and shot a glare my way, which then served to earn me the attention of the other Shepherds. Heat rushed to my face, and I waved. "Hi."

"And who, exactly, are you?" Maribelle asked, stepping away from Lissa and folding her arms.

"This," Lissa said, skipping over to Robin and I, "is Zach. The woman in the cloak next to him is out new tactician, Robin!"

"Hello," the tactician greeted, offering a small wave of her own.

"I-I'm sorry to interrupt," a soft voice said, and I looked up to see Sumia fidgeting with a flower in her hands. "Where is the captain?" Her brow was furrowed, and if the way her fingers mercilessly tore away the flower's petals was any indication, she was anxiously awaiting Prince Oblivious's return.

"Yeah," the Vaike piped in, rolling his shoulder. "Where is Chrom? I'm going to hafta teach him a lesson for leaving the Teach behind!" To accentuate his point, he made that face where he sticks his tongue all the way out. You know the one, right?

Lissa and Maribelle scoffed. "So you're the Teach now," Lissa smirked. "I always thought that people were born lacking wits. Can it be taught?"

Vaike laughed, a hearty chuckle, before pointing a finger at the princess. "One lesson to learn, princess, is that you never doubt the Vaike." A second after the words left his mouth, his grin melted into a frown, and he said, "Wait, was that an insult?"

"Nothing escapes you, Vaike," I said, shaking my head, and his frown deepened.

"What about the captain?" Sumia questioned again, shuffling her feet and tempting fate with her clumsiness. I remembered that she did in fact fall on her face when Chrom walked in, so I stepped a little bit closer with discretion so as to not seem suspicious.

I tuned out the rest of the conversation, instead deciding to inspect the room we were in. A few boxes were scattered around, and aside from a bookshelf, it was otherwise empty. The stone walls let in no light, the only visibility from torches on the walls and the small windows. I always forgot how much we really took electricity for granted. I mean, rooms were never dark back home if we were in them, unless we were sleeping, of course.

With a pang, I remembered that "home" was very, very far away. I had to stop thinking about it, lest I put myself in a dark place. Shaking the thoughts from my head, I brought myself to attention just in time to see Chrom step through the door.

"Ah!" Sumia said, her face perking up at the sight of the prince. "Captain, you've returned! I was—I mean, we were so—" She took a single step forward, and her foot got caught on her other heel, flipping her forward. Luckily for her, I was ready, and stepped forward just as she fell and caught her before she hit the ground. Even with armour on, I noticed, she was surprisingly light. She opened her eyes after a moment, clearly surprised at not having smacked face-first into the floor. "Oh! Um, th-thank you!"

"Yeah, no problem," I said, helping her to her feet, smiling.

"Gods, Sumia," Chrom said, "was it those boots of yours again?"

"No! I mean,yes! I mean…" The Pegasus knight gave up with a sigh, sulking as a blush coloured her face.

Chrom cast one more look her way, before clearing his throat. "Alright," he said, "listen, everyone: in the morning, we'll be marching to Regna Ferox."

"Regna Ferox?" Robin asked, and I blinked. I'd honestly almost forgotten she was there with how quiet she'd been. "What's that?"

"It's a unified kingdom north of Ylisse," Sumia answered. "Supposedly, it's inhabited by barbarians."

Chrom shook his head. "Not barbarians, warriors," the prince corrected. "Warriors whose strength we will need to quell this new menace. Typically, the exalt would request aid such as this in person but, given recent events, we decided it would be best for my sister to stay with her people. So," he took a breath, "this task has been passed to us. However," he raised his hands, his eyes passing over each of us. "this mission is strictly voluntary, so if for any—"

"I volunteer," Lissa chirped, cutting her brother off.

"Me too," Vaike said. "For such a delicate mission, it would be stupid to not bring along the ol' Teach."

"I'll go as well," a voice next to me said, and I jumped. I looked to see Kellam standing next to me, a frown on his face that seemed to be directed at me. "What? I've been here the whole time!"

"I… I, um…."

"Yes, Sumia," Chrom said, turning to the stuttering knight. "What is it?"

"It's just that… I want to go along, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a proper mission yet," she said, looking at the ground. "I feel like I would just get in the way." Oh, gods, I connected with her so much right then. Sumia, you sweet soul.

"You could stay behind the main force," Chrom suggested. "That way, if a battle is met, you could just watch and learn? Some lessons, however, can only be learned on the battlefield, so it's your choice."

"W-well, if you think it wise, Captain."

"Just stay by me," Chrom said, with boundless charisma and a charming smile to match, "and you'll be fine." Sumia blushed, nodding fervently. I almost laughed. What? It was cute.

For the rest of the day, Lissa showed Robin and I around the garrison, the castle, and the city as a whole. The garrison was similarly set up as the first room that I saw. Grey, grey, grey. It was strangely empty in most rooms, as well. Only a few had any decoration, and the most I saw in one room, besides the dorms, anyway, was the armory, which had a collection of spears, swords, staves, and a tome or two. There were no axes or bows, which I initially found strange, but the more I thought about it, it made sense. I mean, there were no bowmen until now, and the only axe user in the Shepherds was Vaike, who I was sure kept his axe in his room.

The castle was magnificent, as expected. The bright white halls were decorated with lights and banners depicting the brand of Naga. Guards were patrolling, but they weren't very common. It wasn't a wonder that those assassins broke in later on. Maybe if I talked to Chrom, some additional guards could be posted and the entire thing could be avoided. Although, I didn't know if that would be beneficial. If I broke the story too much, I don't know if we would get to the end of the game and—no, it wasn't a game. Not for me anymore. Gods.

The castle was beautiful regardless. Portraits were hung upon the walls, each of them wearing a scarf-thingie like the one that Emmeryn had, but I noticed that they had different numbers on them. As we walked down the hall, each scarf-thingie had another number. Lissa noticed me staring at the portraits and said, "Those are the past exalts." That made sense. "Down at the end here is the last exalt, my father, and Emm." Now that I thought about it, they did bear a small resemblance to Chrom. At the end, I saw that Lissa wasn't kidding. A portrait of a man, almost identical visually to Chrom, sat.

"He looks… tired," I said, gazing into the portrait's eyes.

"Yeah." The princess gazed at the portrait for a moment, and then shook her head. "Let's get going." It was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it. Robin and I shared a glance, but nodded. Despite this, the princess was cheerful for the remainder of the tour.

Lastly, the city. Not much to say about it. Lissa showed us around the market, and I was tempted to buy a hat that was for sale, but remembered that I had no money. We returned to the garrison soon after, and Lissa showed the two of us to our rooms. It was… it was actually really nice to tour the city. I had always assumed Lissa was friendly, yes, but also mischievous. But she was so friendly today, it was like a ray of sunshine followed Robin and I. I smiled as she said goodnight, tempted to give her a hug. I settled for a wave, and collapsed onto the bed.

Well, cot. And collapsing onto it was a mistake. It was stiff, but a thousand times better than the ground I had slept on the night before, and warmer, too. I was thankful that I could sleep on the cot, and fell asleep almost instantly. It seemed I was exhausted, though a half-sleep followed by a battle really took it out of you.

I yawned as we marched north. We woke at dawn, and marched after a short breakfast. Thankfully, I was more used to waking up early, since my brother had me waking up before dawn back home, anyway. I was genuinely surprised that everyone else was so awake. Even Lissa. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuck," I yawned, stretching. I still wasn't used to walking with a sword swinging at my hip. It felt really cool to rest my hand on the pommel, though, and I found myself doing it frequently.

We had probably been walking for an hour or two when I noticed something weird about the sky to the east. I squinted, trying to figure out what was off. The air seemed to shimmer, before an eye like the one at the forest two nights ago split the sky. It opened, and a bundle of Risen fell from it like ragdolls. "Shit," I cursed. "Hey, there's Risen over here!" I pointed toward the eye, and everyone followed my finger. I run toward the Risen, who are standing up slowly, their arms limp at their sides and rusty weapons in hand. I heard the footsteps of the others behind me before being overtaken by Stahl, Sully, and Frederick, their weapons drawn.

I frowned as I got closer. I could see lance-users amongst the Risen, which made this much more difficult. There were some mercenaries there, too, their swords dragging on the ground as they roamed the field. When I saw the bridge, I recognized the field; this was where Chapter 2 took place.

The horse riders were waiting, keeping their distance from the undead threat. I stopped next to them. I presumed we were waiting for Robin to catch up, so I took the chance to further analyze our foes. There were quite a few soldiers with lances, which would be best to avoid. There were a couple barbarians nearby, so perhaps I should go for them immediately? At the far end was another large Risen, like the one in the forest, so I presumed that he was the Chief.

Robin and Chrom ran up, side by side, with Vaike, Virion, and Lissa trailing behind. "How many are there?" the tactician asked, tome in hand.

"Eh, maybe a dozen," I replied, drawing my sword. "Doesn't look as severe as the group in the forest."

She nodded, looking over the battlefield for a minute. "Alright, here is the plan: Chrom, you and Sully will pair up. Head to the right, and take care of the three, uh…"

"Risen," Chrom supplied.

"Risen." Robin paused, cocking her head. "Interesting. Frederick, you will stay with Lissa and ferry her around to whoever needs healing. Stahl, you and I will charge forward and take those forts. Virion will stay back, offering supportive fire. Zach, you and Vaike will take care of the l—Vaike where is your axe?"

The fighter's eyes widened, and he felt around his bare torso for his weapon. I sighed. I forgot about that. "I JUST had it!"

"It's alright," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "Stay back and keep looking. I'll take care of those Risen."

Robin considered it, holding her hand to her chin. "Virion, stick close to Zach." I was a little hurt that she thought I needed help, but that soldier was definitely going to give me trouble, so an archer like Ruffles would be appreciated. "Alright," she shouted. "Let's go!"

I cast a glance back at Vaike as I ran. He looked so disappointed, but scoured the ground for his missing axe. Returning my gaze forward, I set my sights on the mercenary straight ahead. I raised my blade—

And stabbed it through the zombie's chest. Before it could retaliate, I yanked the sword out and hopped away. It gripped its sword with both hands and, spewing that disgusting purple smoke from its mask, ran at me. I attempted to step to the side, but forgot that mercenaries where actually fairly fast. The Risen managed to slash my thigh, but I retaliated by decapitating it with a spinning slash. "Nnngh." That hurt like a bitch.

"Zach," came the fanciful voice of Virion, running up behind me with his bow drawn at the ground. "Do you require healing? I happen to have a—"

"No," I said, cutting him off before he could pull out the elixir he had and glancing at my wound. "It isn't as bad as it looks." Gods, but it hurt. "Just… keep covering fire." The noble archer stared for a moment, but nodded and readied his bow. A barbarian and a soldier still remained, the former already easing down the rocky hill it was standing on. I wouldn't give him a chance.

As soon as he hit the grass, I was there. My sword found a new sheathe in the barbarian's chest, but he didn't dissolve. He swung blindly, barely missing me before I hopped back again. I raised my sword and just as I brought it down, he scored a lucky hit along my stomach. He dissolved, and I hobbled back from the purple mist, but tripped and fell to the ground, clutching my stomach. It burned like hell, and the leg wound from earlier left my leg red and sticky. Gods, what are the chances that he would have hit me? It couldn't have been too high, right?

I heard Virion running up, and felt anger surge through me. Where was that damned covering fire, archer? The anger was surpassed by the pain, however, which flowed through me at a consistent pace. I looked up to see that he'd already pulled the elixir from his pocket. Before he could give it to me, however, a lance pierced the space between us.

The soldier had gotten close at some point. Virion hopped back and drew and arrow, firing it directly into the space where the Risen's heart would be. It recoiled ever so slightly, then yanked the arrow out. More mist poured from its mask, and it turned to face me. With a groan, I rolled out of the way. It pulled its lance back to stab again, and everything seemed to slow down.

Something inside me ignited, and I rushed forward, delivering a swift stab and following up immediately by slashing horizontally from where my sword punctured the Risen. I lowered my sword as it dissolved into mist, panting and clutching at my gut wound again. "Gods, what was that rush?" I muttered. That was…well, it felt like when I did that critical on the first boss, but different as well. Also, I didn't exclaim a kickass one-liner, so it couldn't have been a critical.

My thoughts were cut short as Virion ran up to me, pressing the blue flask of an elixir to my lips. I hesitated, thinking that something as rare as an elixir should be saved for later on, but then I realized that if I didn't drink it, I probably wouldn't see its eventual use, so I grabbed the drink and downed it. It burned as it went down, but I felt the wounds that I suffered begin to stitch themselves back together within seconds. It was different from the healing staff that Lissa used on me. It didn't itch so much, but it was still uncomfortable.

I was ready for combat once again, and I ran to where Robin, Stahl, and for some reason, Vaike, where standing. I noticed that the Teach had his axe in hand. I whipped my head around, looking for Miriel, since she must have been there, too. I didn't see the mage, but I wasn't too distraught. I never cared much for Miriel. I did see Chrom and Sully disposing of the soldier-Risen on their side, though, Frederick and Lissa next to them.

Robin was staring across the bridge, at the Risen meandering around over there. A pair of the undead—a barbarian and a soldier—were standing at the other end, seemingly waiting as they stared back us. Robin glanced at me when I walked up beside her. "What's the plan, tactician?" I asked, sheathing my sword.

"I'm thinking of pairing up Chrom and Vaike: their strength together should be enough to overpower those lance-users. Sully and Stahl will…pair up and use their lances to clear out the swordsmen. As for the axe-users," the tactician turned to me and smiled, "how about the two of us teach them a lesson?"

"Sounds good to me," I said, perhaps a little too cheerfully. I drew my sword, and Robin shouted the order to the other Shepherds. "Let's go." She nodded, and I sprinted at top speed toward the barbarian at the other end of the bridge. It didn't occur to me that Robin may not have been able to keep up. Regardless, I jumped into the air and landed on the barbarian, jamming my sword between his shoulder and his head, then tearing it free, making sure to deal as much damage then as I could. I was sure that he would dissolve, and back-stepped out of the lance-wielder's reach. Chrom and Vaike arrived in time, and Vaike shattered the Risen's lance, allowing Chrom to decapitate it, sending it to the abyss.

Robin shot me a glare. "Don't go that far ahead," she said, and I rubbed the back of my head.

"Sorry, I got ahead of myself," I said sheepishly. "I will stick closer to you from now on." The tactician nodded, stuffing her tome into her cloak and drawing a bronze sword. "How good are you with that thing?" I asked. She couldn't have been very proficient. I haven't seen her use it once.

"I'll be fine," she assured, waving me forward with the blade. "Now let's go. Sweep right with the cavaliers and deal with this axe, as well." I nodded, and we set off. Sully and Stahl met their target before we did, both of them delivering what would have normally been fatal blows on their own with their lances, and the mercenary dissolved before hitting the ground. To keep the cavaliers safe, Robin and I swung in. The barbarian was defenseless. I sliced low, taking out his legs and the tactician finished him off.

The cavaliers rode after the mercenary behind us, and I turned to watch as Vaike pummeled the soldier with his axe. Robin and I made our way over at a leisurely pace. Our final target—aside from the Chief—was clambering down the hill, just like the one from a few minutes ago. "Last one like this fucked up my stomach," I grumbled, rubbing where the wound had been.

I settled into my Ko Gasumi stance when the Risen made its way onto even ground. This one spewed the purple mist when it saw me, as well, and its eyes flashed red. Why did they always do that? It ran at us, and I deflected his blow. Robin danced in, cleaving off his arm. I spun in a circle and cleaved deep into his side, before swinging again to cut all the way through. "Are you going to show off for this big one, too?" Robin said, putting her sword away and pulling the tome from her coat.

"What do you mean?" I asked, rolling my shoulder.

"Each of the last two battles, you finished the final foe off either by yourself or in a spectacular move," the tactician explained. "Is that your plan again?"

I thought about it for a moment, but looking past her, I saw something that answered her question for me. "It doesn't seem like I've much of a choice." I pointed behind her, and she turned to see Chrom and Vaike fighting the Chief. The Chief was helpless, swinging wildly. Every strike would be blocked by Chrom, and Vaike would follow up with a devastating swing of his axe. The Chief stumbled back, and I saw Chrom lower his blade to the ground behind him.

The prince's shout was clear: "Your end has come!" Chrom leapt forward, bringing his sword down and cutting straight through the Risen Chief, leaving the two halves to dissolve as he slid Falchion back into its sheathe. Vaike dropped his axe and wiped an arm across his forehead as Robin and I, and the rest of the Shepherds, walked up. "Good fighting, Shepherds," the prince said when he saw us.

"What's the plan, Chrom?" Sully asked. "Are we gonna take a break or keep moving? I'm fine either way." She had a smear of blood and a tear in her sleeve, but no cut, which meant that Lissa healed her already.

"We should get moving," Chrom answered. "Every moment we take is a moment that Ylisse is in danger." The cavalier nodded. I looked at Lissa and saw that she was disappointed, but Frederick hoisted her back onto his horse. Within a minute or two, we were on the move once more.

It wasn't long before we stopped again, however. "Well, what do we have here?" Robin asked, pointing to the west.

"Hey," Lissa exclaimed before I could look, "is that what I think it is?" She ran toward where Robin was pointing, managing to startle what seemed to be a pegasus.

"It's a pegasus, alright," Chrom assured, walking forward, as well. I hear rapid footsteps and turn to see Sumia running closer. I'm surprised that she didn't fall on the way. "I think its hurt," the prince continued as I headed to the pegasus. I knew Sumia was going to fall here—I remembered that much—and I was going to try and catch her again. Can't let that pretty face hit the dirt. "Let's just have a look here…"

The pegasus panicked when the prince drew closer, rearing up and kicking at him, one of its wings flapping. Chrom almost fell back on his ass, holding his hand out. "WHOA! Down, girl! Easy there!"

"Captain, one moment!" Sumia said, and I stepped forward. Sure enough, the pegasus knight let out a cry as she tripped over her feet again. I held out my arms, and she fell right into them.

"That was close," I said, and she nodded.

"Thank you, again." Sumia stood and walked to the pegasus.

"Sumia, what are you doing?" Chrom cried, standing up. "Don't come any closer, this beast is mad!"

"Captain, it's okay," she smiled, before settling into a stern, serious face. "I know what I'm doing." She walked slowly up to the winged horsed, and it looked ready to rear up again, but the knight raised her hand at a snail's pace, before resting it on the pegasus's snout. She didn't move her hand any faster, just gently rubbing the beast's snout. "Shhh, it's okay, girl, I won't hurt you." The pegasus didn't kick her away, which—even though I knew it wouldn't—I was a little worried about. A faint smile grew on her face, and she was looked so happy.

"How did she calm it so quickly?" I heard Robin ask, stroking her chin.

"That's incredible, Sumia!" Lissa cheered, but didn't come closer.

"I've never seen anything like it," Chrom said, and I saw the blush spread to Sumia's face, even as she tried to hide it.

"Oh, it's… it's nothing. Really," she said, stroking the pegasus more boldly, now. "I just have a way with animals, I guess."

"I should say so!" Chrom exclaimed.

"You all go ahead," the knight said, waving us forward. "I will dress her wounds and catch up."

Chrom was hesitant, but I gave him a push. "She'll be fine, Chrom," I said. "Like you said, every moment we waste is one that Ylisse is in danger, so we need to move."

The prince nodded. "Right. Be safe, Sumia." The knight nodded, blushing and waving us off.

AN: Allllllright, that is Chapter 2 done. Sorry it got a bit "talky" at the end there, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do. This chapter has a lot of dialogue in it anyway. But more importantly, news on the OC's. So far, I have received 5 original characters. I am so grateful that you guys sent them in, and I am honestly excited to put them into this story. My mind has been buzzing all week.

I do have some bad news on the subject, however, which is that these 5 characters are the only ones I will be presenting into the story as of now. If I bring too many into the story so early on, it will seem like I am just hurling them in. So, to remedy this problem, any character that you guys send in as of October 8, won't be put in the story until after Gangrel is defeated.

With that out of the way, I have to thank you all for reading my story. It feels so good to see what people think. It's gratifying. That said, any criticism you have should be thrown at me like stones. I welcome it.

Uploads will be erratic, as well. Really, whenever I get a chapter done, I will post it. This can be anywhere from a day to a week, so keep an eye out.

Now I am done rambling and can wish you all farewell. All of the Oats have left the building.