So another chapter has arrived.

I've decided to instead go by a at least one chapter a week type of upload. That way, I'll be for sure putting out a chapter at least every week but that doesn't mean I can't upload two if I get another done. Hopefully you guys appreciate this.

In other news, I'd like to say thanks to everyone reviewing. It helps a lot. I'll especially say thanks to o realisticFantasy o who has reviewed both chapters. I'm glad you're enjoying the fic and hope you keep on reviewing.

Anyhow, the chapter is just below here so I'll allow you all to get to reading now.

Italics will be character's thoughts and /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.


Back in the Game

Ok, so if that's me then am I still me? Shut up. Stop thinking stupid. That's just a video game version of you that for some reason is in a game that he doesn't belong in.

Ok, that sounded just as stupid.

The hell? The battle started but I'm not even controlling the units. They're just running around as if a cpu was playing against itself. How entertaining is this garbage?

It looks like when Auden and I charged in it was about the same time that the Shepherds arrived and they took on the other half of bandits.

The Shepherds also looked like they took on a couple of mages that were a part of this rag tag of bandits.

Glad I didn't have to fight those. Probably wouldn't be watching this if that was the case.

Jeez… the video game me is just running away as a bandit chases after him.

There were times where in the game the bandit could've just cut me off with the way the game mechanics work, but instead he followed a straight path that I was going in. When he finally caught me after my character had an event for picking up an iron axe, he attacked me. There wasn't any numbers for health but I know for a fact that shit did a lot of damage.

Everything's playing out like it did in the dream. Apparently when Robin saved me from that bandit I was considered to have been recruited as I turned blue. Meanwhile, it looked like the bandit that wounded Auden had gotten a critical on him but he didn't die. He then returned the favor with a critical of his own which effectively killed the bandit. Finally, as Lissa healed me and Auden, the rest of the team faced off against the bandit leader. Robin stayed in the back while Chrom and Frederick served as front liners. They took him down in a few attacks and then the battle ended.

The game proceeded to play out familiar scenes in the form of animated cut scenes. Everything played out the same way it did in the dream. When Auden and I left the Shepherds, however, the game abruptly brought up an option to save the game. The game chose to save on its own and then both of my 3ds screens turned black.

The hell? Did my 3ds just die? No, the power light is still on. Hold on. It's taking me back to the start screen of the game.

I get past the screen once more and the game started to look normal again. All the regular options in the main menu have returned and I could even load up my previous save files.

Ok, it's official. I'm losing my mind. Did I just watch a movie version of my dream just now or am I just hallucinating?

"Come and eat," my mom shouted from downstairs.

Against my better judgment, I decided to close my 3ds and set it back down onto my desk before heading downstairs to eat.

I then proceeded to eat dinner normally with the rest of my family. Or at least, they were able to eat normally. I couldn't help but think about how insane I must be becoming. My mind was playing deadly tricks on me. I might be in need of a checkup at the hospital if this gets any weirder.

When dinner was over, I found myself oddly tuckered out. Usually I'd stay up till far after midnight but I guess my sleep schedule has been changed once again. I was slightly afraid of going to sleep after experiencing that dream and those hallucinations, but I gave in to my body's needs. I would just end up in a bigger mess of insanity if I became sleep deprived.

I climbed into my bed once again praying that I would awake in it instead of a game. My eyes shut and I calmed myself as I drifted into a hopefully normal sleep.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Hot. The entire surrounding of my body was extremely hot. It was a similar feeling that I felt when near those burning buildings in my dream. Crackling noises and explosions resonated through the air around me. Things smelled like they were on fire.

When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was being carried. A man with black hair was carrying me on his back as we ran through a burning forest. A forest that was being put on fire because of fire balls falling from the sky.

"Ah, so you're awake! That's good to know! I thought you might try and sleep through this whole ordeal," the man said with a small laugh at the end.

That voice… You've got to be kidding me…

"Auden?" I quietly asked in confusion.

"What? You already forget your old pal Auden, Vince?" Auden asked in a slightly less amused tone of voice as he continued to carry me through the burning forest.

Of course it is… I'm back in the game.

Ok, I can second guess this later. For now, I'll take this for what it is. A death trap.

"What… What's going on?" I asked as I was regaining my strength.

"While you were having a snooze, this crazy stuff started to happen! Now we're getting the hell away from it! That good enough for ya?" Auden said ending his explanation.

Alright, no Risen yet. Wait. No Risen. Yet.

"Auden, stop!" I shouted in Auden's ear.

He came to a quick halt as he let me get down from his back. A few more fireballs crash into the ground around us. One smashed into a tree behind us causing it to fall over.

"What is it?! I don't know about you, but I like not being charred!" Auden said in slight frustration.

Ok, ok. Look around for the gates. Find the fucking gates!

"Vince, we need to go!" Auden said as he attempted to grab my arm to drag me.

I moved away as I continued to survey the sky for any portals. In a few more seconds of searching, a portal appeared and I pointed to it.

"Look! See that?!" I shouted as I pointed towards the portal.

Auden looked at the portal I was directly pointing at and his eyes slightly widened.

"Gods, what is that?" Auden silently asked himself.

Out of the portal a dark corpse that looked like a soldier started to push its way out until it fell to the ground. More portals opened up in the nearby vicinity and more corpses fell from them. It was the Risen and as should've been expected, they were well armored. Makes sense since they used to be soldiers and all.

Ok, so if Auden hasn't seen a portal before either he's blind or that was the first one. Which would mean Chrom and the others are in that direction. They should be fine, but I'd feel better if we weren't in this forest anymore. Even if that means we run back to Southtown, it'll be better than encountering any Risen.

Taking into account where portals appeared and where they didn't, I found the best direction to get out of this mess.

"Come on, Auden. We have to-" I was cut off as Auden gripped onto my arm.

His grip was strong and he had no plan of letting me walk any further. He looked at me with a serious expression and asked, "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

There was no hint of anything but serious to Auden's question. He was either seriously worried or pissed that I hid away information from him.

I stared back at Auden as I said as quickly as possible, "I promise to explain later! We have to move!"

He held onto my arm and kept us stationary in the burning forest being filled to the brim with walking corpses. His paranoia of me, or whatever it is, is only making things a hell of a lot harder.

He let go of my arm with a grunt and drew his short sword from its sheath.

"What's the plan?" he asked while he gritted his teeth.

"We run that way and AVOID these corpses," I said while pointing in the direction we should run.

Auden didn't protest in my plan. Instead, he followed me as we ran in what I believed would be the safest route.

As we ran, I occasionally took a look to our left or right to see if we might be passing any Risen. There was in fact Risen on both of our sides, but we were seemingly being unnoticed by them. Either that or we weren't there first priority. I find it more likely that the reason is the former.

Our path was clear and we even managed to escape the raging forest fire that was now behind us.

This is good. This is good. This is bad. Very bad. Why did I have to think this was good?!

To stomp out my hopes of avoiding Risen, Auden and I spotted a group of them a short distance away in front of us. Not a large group as it only consisted of three of them, but it was still problematic. They hadn't noticed us yet and were wondering off in a different direction.

If we just wait here long enough, they'll be out of our path; but we could also be attacked by ones behind us if we wait too long!

I was torn between what to do. We were trapped on all sides with these things and would be facing a fight for sure if we tried anything.

Auden looked to me for some kind of idea I might had. When I didn't give one, he then seemingly decided to get ready for a fight.

Just then, another person appeared. One that thankfully wasn't a Risen. They appeared in front of us and started to do battle with the group of three Risen in front of me and Auden.

The person had short blue hair and an outfit that consisted of a color scheme involving red and blue with some gold trimmings running through it. They even had on a tiara that was meant to pose as a headband. The individual had on a butterfly mask and struck out against the Risen with their sword that looked identical to the Falchion.

That couldn't be. No, no. It is! We're saved! Thank the lord it's Lu- I mean, Marth! Yeah, it's Marth!

God that's going to be weird.

So Lucina- I mean Marth! Damnit! Marth! You can't go calling her Lucina or you'll get a sword pointed at you!

Marth leaped into the fray of battling Risen as she-

W-Wait. Should I get used to calling her a he for now too? I-I… I'm so confused…

I'll… I'll just do Marth and he. It'll save me from any mistakes while speaking.

So Math leaped into the fray of battling Risen as he swung his sword, Falchion, into one of the corpses. This caught the Risen by surprise in an unsurprising matter. They're corpses. It's not like they could've predicted that.

One of the Risen was quickly dispatched of with Marth's attack as it faded away. This, however, only seemed to alert the other Risen in the area as they turned to me and Auden. They're red eyes pierced into me as they started to limp slowly towards us.

We're doomed! Marth has doomed us! Damn you, Marth!

"Tch. No sense in running now, Vince." Auden said as he prepared to defend against an incoming Risen.

"U-Uh… Yeah!" I said as I realized I should be drawing my sword as well.

In the meantime, Marth had taken care of the Risen he was fighting in a timely manner and turned to me and Auden. He gritted his teeth as he saw Risen coming towards us.

I had managed to take my sword out of its sheath on my side and decided to hold it with both of my hands.

W-Wait. Is this how you hold it or is it like this?

I fumbled around in what way I should be properly holding the iron sword. I hadn't the foggiest idea of how a sword should be held when trying to defend so I was at a loss for proper sword stances.

The Risen's previous limp pace they were moving at morphed into a berserk bum rush straight for us. One went straight for Auden and another for me. Mine had an axe, but my possible weapon triangle advantage didn't boost my confidence.

At about the same time the Risen started their charge, Marth did as well. He was trying to intercept at least one of them as fast as possible while more Risen waited in the wings of the forest.

As the Risen came towards me with blinding speed, I took the best possible defensive stance I could muster. My grip on my sword was loose and my balance was completely off. I had to be the worst swordsman in the world. This world that is.

The Risen neared my vicinity and took his chance to attack me. He lifted his axe up and brought it down in a left to right swing. I raised my sword to block the attack as soon as possible.

The axe crashed into my sword with pure power and knocked my sword clear out of my hands. My sword was sent into the air and a few feet to my right.

Damnit! Can't I do something right?!

Auden was already preoccupied with dealing with another Risen that had a sword. He was easily outmaneuvering the corpse but Risen are clearly resilient. Only killing blows will do them harm.

In the meantime, I was left defenseless facing a Risen that was out for my head.

Is me getting attacked without a weapon going to become a daily thing here? Crap! It is!

The Risen took his axe and swung for my gut in a horizontal fashion. He was going to rip open my stomach and play surgery with my insides!

Do what you do best! Dodge!

I hopped backwards effectively dodging the axe swing. At about the same time, Marth cleaved the Risen's head off with his Falchion in a bull charge. He stopped in his rush as he turned to me.

"Grab your weapon!" He shouted to me as he faked a male's voice.

No, I feel like leaving my sword on the ground while the corpses chop my head off. I quite enjoy the thought of being defenseless. It'll make things so much easier for the corpses.

The hell do you think I'm going to do?! I'm not here to pick flowers!

Despite my anger of being told to do what I intended on doing, I made way for my sword on the ground while Marth and Auden handled the other Risen. Auden couldn't seem to understand why the corpse he had stabbed multiple times was still kicking. He seemed to connect the dots, however, when Marth came in and killed the corpse with one blow.

When I grabbed my sword off the ground, more Risen came out of the trees and closer to our vicinity.

There was about four of them or so which gave them a clear numbers advantage. No kind of long range fighter on their side though thankfully. Just two axe wielders and two sword wielders.

"So…" I said as I backed slowly into the comforts of being near my allies, "Anybody feeling up for fighting two of these things?"

"Leave it to me," Marth said as he went to draw the attention of two of the Risen.

Surprisingly, Auden didn't really say anything and went straight for attacking the last axe wielding Risen coming towards him and me. I had expected him to joke around about my obvious desire of wanting to only fight one of these things. Instead, he seemed to be nothing but business.

I'll have to wonder about that later. I've got to learn how to fight eventually. Might as well be against the living dead.

Learning from my past mistake, I gripped onto my sword's hilt as tight as I could. I still didn't have a clue on how to swing or even stand properly with this thing; but how hard could it be to hit a zombie's head?

The last Risen nearing me was one with a sword. I'd say we were on equal terms but I feel like he has a clear advantage over the inexperienced me.

The Risen charged forward with his sword and swung for me the first chance he had. His sword came towards my left side and I managed to block it with my own sword. This time, thankfully, I didn't drop my sword!

Ok, I know how to block I guess? It doesn't do much good when that's all I can do!

The Risen was relentless. After his first attack, he gave me no time to even think about counterattacking. He came right for me with another swing. This time he was doing an overhead swing for my head.

Block? Dodge? Block? Dodge? BLOCK!

I didn't really know how I should handle his attack and was forced into trying a block. I held my sword horizontally over my head to stop his swing. Sure enough, his attack recoiled off my sword again thanks to my successful block.

Ok… Um. Slice?

The Risen was still recoiling from having struck against my sword and I felt that I could try to go for an attack on him. I took my sword and went for a chop at the Risen's neck. The attack connected surprisingly enough and I felt a surge of joy sweep over me.

I got it! Yes, I got it! It's still moving… I didn't get it! I did not get it!

What I had thought to be a killing below turned out to be merely a scratch to the Risen as he tried to swing his sword for me again. I took a step back to dodge it successfully and found my back against a tree. Not the best of places to be in.

The Risen came after me and went for yet another attack. He came towards me swinging his sword towards my right side. I sidestepped to the left and avoided another one of his attacks. It also helped to find out that the Risen had gotten his sword stuck in the tree from overshooting his swing and missing my body.

Alright this is a piece of cake. Stupid Risen. Who gets there sword stuck in a tree anyways?

I took my sword and chopped the struggling Risen's head clear off. I would've felt bad had that been a living being but this was just a corpse so I felt no real remorse.

Having finally finished my fight, I looked for my allies. Auden continued to fight other Risen having now gotten the groove of dispatching them while Marth was handling a couple more Risen.

It didn't look good though when I saw Marth about to get sneak attacked by another Risen that had emerged from a nearby shrub.

Marth was preoccupied with blocking attacks with another Risen when the corpse neared his back. I then found myself running to assist him by taking out the flanking Risen.

The Risen got to Marth's back at the same time that I reached its own. It raised its axe up in the air as it was going to go for a killing blow on Marth.

"Watch out!" I shouted from behind Marth.

He turned his head slightly to see what was going on behind him when it all happened. I swung my sword to cleave off the Risen's head in one go and that was completely successful. Except I overshot my swing and was going to cleave into Marth as well!

Marth saw my foolish mistakes and ducked under my blade's path. This resulted in my swing continuing unimpeded directly into a tree. A tree that would not let me take my sword back. I had gotten my sword stuck in a tree…

Is this for making fun of that Risen?

In a flash, Marth took out the Risen he was fighting by stabbing up into the bottom of its chin while he was low to the ground. He then turned to me and asked angrily, "What are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" I repeated his question, "I'm trying to help!"

Marth then walked past me and parried an incoming Risen that was heading for the two of us. He then spun his sword around several times before slicing the Risen clear in half. The now two halves of a Risen slowly dissipated as the body's halves slowly fell to the sides.

"Well, don't. I don't need any help from you," he said coldly.

Jeez... No need to be so cold. It was in goodwill that I… almost… chopped… your head off… I'll stop now.

At the same time that I removed my sword from the trunk of the tree, Auden dispatched of the final Risen in our area.

Man, not even a chief or something? Ok, don't jinx yourself. I'm happy there's no chief.

The two of us regrouped around Marth whom had now sheathed his Falchion. Auden and I sheathed our swords at roughly the same time afterwards.

"Man… that was like something out of a horror movie," I said in a slip of the tongue.

Both Auden and even Marth looked to me with confusion. Even though it was hard to tell behind Marth's mask, one could distinguish that even he was confused.

"A horror," Auden started with and Marth continued with, "movie?"

Crap. Crap. Crap. Stupid medieval fantasy game! Why couldn't this have been a Sci-Fi one?! They would know all of my stupid technology and even have some made up crap that I wouldn't understand!

How do I defuse this? Uh. Play it off?

"It's nothing… I'm just a little… shaken up still… That's all," I answered while trying to keep calm.

The two of them kept their eyes glued to me for what felt like hours. In reality it was only a minute or so, but that changed nothing. I tried my hardest to keep eye contact with at least one of them so that I didn't look suspicious. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be as I found myself darting my eyes away a couple of times.

They seemed to decide to ignore my erratic statement though as they stopped looking at me. I tried my hardest to not let out an audible sigh of relief that could've brought their eyes back to me. Somehow, I managed to succeed in that department.

Marth then turned back to Auden and me and said, "It would be best if you two left… now."

"That's it? Nobody is going to explain anything? I mean, what is your name even?!" Auden asked as he looked at Marth.

"My name is unimportant but you may call me Marth," Math said as he started to walk away from me and Auden.

"Marth? You mean like the one in the legends?" Auden questioned.

"Yes… that one," Marth said as he paused in his walk. He then started it up again as he said back to us, "You'll live longer if you avoid these creatures in the future."

Yeah, he's probably right about that.

Marth continued in his walk away as Auden looked to me and asked, "Want to follow her?"

"Follow? W-Wait! Did you call him a her?!" I asked in a surprised tone.

How the hell does he know that Marth's a she?! I'll say that her get up and voice isn't all that convincing, but it still doesn't give any reason for suspicion in the slightest!

"Yeah, why did you think she was a dude?!" He asked with a grin.

"W-Well, I mean… Yeah, I guess…" I answered nervously.

Auden let out a laugh as he pushed me forward. He then said from behind me, "You'll have to get your eyes checked my friend!"

Tch. My eyes don't need checking! I'm just not supposed to know he's a she! Ugh. And after I got used to referring to her as Marth and a he too! I'm just going to say Lucina and she damnit! Screw all this confusing fake name and gender stuff!

"H-Hang on!" I said as I stopped Auden from continuing to push me forward. I then asked, "Why the hell are we following her?!"

"I think it's damn obvious that she knows something and I'd like to find out what," Auden said as he resumed with pushing me forward.

"B-But, I said I'd explain!" I retorted.

"Ah, you can do that later. I've got your promise to explain later. It couldn't hurt if I get some extra information out of this so called Marth," Auden said while he pushed me forward.

He kept us a safe distance behind Lucina as we followed her to wherever she was going. I didn't want to follow Lucina because it could make us look rather suspicious, but Auden was practically forcing me to do it. He continuously shushed me whenever I would try to get him to stop.

Either Lucina was slightly deaf, we were pretty good at sneaking, or she knew we were following her and didn't care; because she never turned around to bust us. Instead, she walked briskly through the forest while Auden and I followed from behind.

She stopped momentarily and I almost audibly gasped. Auden stopped me, however, as he placed his hand over my mouth and hid me behind a tree he ducked behind. Lucina might've heard the rustling behind her because she looked back. When she found nothing, she returned to her walk.

Auden then released me and I gasped for air. I then asked, "Can we please stop this? She's probably just wandering around the forest and we're just going to look like idiots when we realize that."

"Wandering? Wanders don't meet up with a group of Shepherds," Auden stated as he pointed to where Lucina had gone. She had been going back to converse with Chrom and his group this whole time. It would look like Sully and Virion joined up since I can see someone that resembles Virion hopelessly trying to converse with a woman on a horse.

The woman on the horse had what looked to be short red hair and cavalry armor that also had a few streaks of red on it. That helped reinforce my thoughts of her being Sully.

The man had shoulder length bluish hair and a bow on his back. He was also clearly dressed as a noble would. I'm certain that he would have to be Virion.

H-Hold it! So are you telling me that we ran off in the direction that Lucina went when the Chapter one battle started? Or maybe we were the cause of her leaving Chrom and the others to handle the Risen on their own? No, how would that be possible if I'm not even supposed to be here?! God! How much shit am I going to mess with?!

The Shepherds and Lucina continued in their conversation until Robin looked behind Lucina. He pointed towards me and Auden as we were attempting to hide in a bush.

Lucina drew her sword almost immediately but was calmed down by Chrom placing a hand on her blade. He then called out to me and Auden with, "Show yourselves! Lest you wish to meet with our blades!"

Auden was the first to rise up from behind the bush with his hands up in the air in a surrendering fashion. He looked to me to silently tell me to do the same. I did as I should and followed close behind him with my hands in the air as well.

"I must say, your new tactician has quite the eagle eyes, Chrom," Auden said in a joking manner.

"You two?! You followed me?!" Lucina questioned with anger.

"You know these two as well?" Chrom asked.

"Yes, I helped them just a few," Lucina was explaining until something connected in her head, "Wait! You know these two?!"

Chrom smiled as he stated, "Yes, they helped fight off some brigands in the town to the south of here."

"Then I suppose they aren't as helpless as I previously thought, but…" Lucina said as she raised her sword once again.

"That does not change the fact that you were spying on us. Explain yourselves," Lucina ordered.

"I'd like to merely know what could make one such as you be so calm in such strange occurrences like the one that just took place," Auden stated with a smirk.

"That has nothing to do with you," Lucina stated coldly.

"As I'm sure it doesn't, miss," Auden said which caused Lucina's mouth to drop slightly.

"H-How did you know?" Lucina questioned while breaking her strict demeanor. She also stopped trying to sound like a male as she let her real voice slip through.

Auden laughed quietly as he said, "When you've lived for as long as I have, you learn a few things. Plus, you didn't exactly persuade me to think different."

Is there anything Auden won't chalk up to him being old? Either way I guess it's true.

Chrom then interjected again as he said, "Um… Mis… Marth, could you please cease what you are doing right now. These two have explained themselves, haven't they?"

Lucina tried to say something but her words escaped her lips. Instead she sighed as she silently whispered, "Fine."

Lucina then started to walk away from the group before she was stopped by Robin asking, "You're just going to leave now? You warn us and then leave?"

"I have business to attend to elsewhere. Remember what I told you. Each second that is wasted brings this world closer to destruction," Lucina said ominously as she walked away into the forest.

"Strange girl," Auden said while scratching his beard.

"Yes, and you two are even stranger," Frederick said from atop his horse.

"Frederick," Chrom said while glaring at his knight.

"Milord, they stalked a woman back to us! If that doesn't prove their ulterior motives to you, then I'd say it would take a knife in the back to convince you," Frederick quickly said to Chrom while readying his rather intimidating Silver Lance.

This again? Is there anywhere I can be branded not a traitor on my body so this stops happening? I feel like in the short time I've been here that I've had one too many accuse me of being suspicious than I enjoy.

"Frederick, your wariness knows no bounds, and I appreciate it; but please let me say that I trust these two as I do the rest of the Shepherds," Chrom said with a smile to Frederick.

Frederick let out an audible sigh as he lowered his lance to his side. He then said dryly, "If that is what you think, milord."

"He uh… Do this to you too?" I asked in a whisper to Robin trying to feign to not have knowledge of Frederick's behavior.

Robin merely silently nodded as he looked at the great knight in front of him. He then shrunk into his boots when that very same great knight glared daggers at the both of us. I shrank back as well but Robin seemed oddly a bit more afraid of Frederick.

What's got him so terrified? Actually, I can understand why. Frederick's the calm guy nobody wants to piss off!

"So," Chrom said as he turned to me and Auden, "I assume you two were on your way to the capitol like us when you got in whatever that just was."

Auden replied with, "Yeah, we took a break a bit farther ahead from here when the whole place went ablaze and those creatures showed up."

"What… were those creatures anyways?" Lissa asked while gripping onto her staff a little tighter than she probably normally does.

"Do not fear, milady! I shan't let those beasts get near your perfection ever again," Virion said as he slid up next to Lissa. Lissa returned his flirting with an audible gag as she backed away from the archer.

"You going to keep bothering the girl, Ruffles?" Sully asked from behind Virion while cracking her knuckles with a grin.

"A-Ah! Sully, my beauty! I have done no such thing! I was merely stating my devotion to protect the young beauty! Of course," Virion said as he got into Sully's personal bubble, " her beauty hardly compares to your own."

Sully's grin had disappeared as it was replaced with one of disgust. She then gave Virion a quick right hook that sent the poor guy straight into the dirt in front of her. She dusted off her gauntlets after decking the guy and grinned as she looked at him in the ground.

"What's the matter, Ruffles? The dirt more beautiful than us girls now?" Sully sarcastically asked.

Virion didn't respond. Instead, he twitched a few times and remained face first in the ground.

I-Is he going to be alright? Note to self: don't get punched by Sully.

Everybody except for Frederick and Sully looked at Virion with concern. Hell, even Lissa was about to reluctantly start healing the poor guy. That is, until he miraculously hopped back up to his feet seemingly unfazed by the punch dealt to him. Seemingly is the key word. He actually had a large bruise on his left cheek that looked awfully painful.

Virion, however, acted as if it was nothing at all. He gave us all a smile as he said, "Ah, the pains of love."

This surprised the hell out of the entire group and a slight bit of Sully's smirk showed that even she was impressed.

Of course we all got even more surprised when Sully walked over and said, "So you enjoyed that one, huh? Well, have another!"

She then gave poor Virion another mean punch. This time it was a left hook that sent him recoiling into a nearby tree.

I can't help but think she did so simply because he shrugged her punch off. The idiot should've stayed down or maybe showed some sign of discomfort from being hit!

Either way this only reaffirms my desire to never piss Sully off! Or even spar against her! She's terrifying!

Virion slumped down against the tree as he was seemingly knocked out cold from the other punch. His right cheek now had a bruise on it that covered in a similar way of the one his left cheek. Lissa again made her way to heal Virion when he apparently woke up!

He rubbed his right cheek as he said with a smile, "That one… hurt, my love. I'll have to ask for you to please not do it again."

Sully grinned at her, I suppose, victory she had gained over Virion as she walked back to her horse.

"Well," Chrom said feeling slight confused by what just happened. He then recovered from it as he said, "I'm wondering the same as Lissa. Just what were those things?"

The entire group shrugged save for Lissa and Virion as the latter was healed by the former. Auden then smirked as he looked over to me.

"Well, I think Vince here might have some information in that regard," Auden said with a smirk as everyone's attention turned on me.

You have got to be kidding me…

"I told you I'd tell you later," I whispered angrily to him.

"And I think now is later," Auden exclaimed joyfully.

You… You… You piece of shit! You damn piece of shit! You just have to go and screw me like this!

"Is that so, Vincent?" Chrom asked me.

"Well, I mean… Yeah…" I said while still being in slight anger of how Auden threw me under the bus.

"Then please tell us. Any information on these things will be beneficial to our kingdom," Chrom said with urgency.

Damn. Damn. Damn. How do I explain this to them?! Ok. Calm down Vincent. All you have to do is give the people what they want. Let's just leave out the whole being from another world and this one being a video game part. Hopefully they don't go around questioning me a lot. I can't deal with that kind of stuff easily.

"Ok, listen. I know a little bit about those creatures as you keep calling them," I said after taking a deep breath.

"Then what are they? Do they have a weakness? Where did they come from?" Chrom barraged a bunch of questions at me.

I held my hands up in front of me to signal him to stop or at least slow down. He does just this as he stops in his rampage of questions long enough for me to respond.

"L-Look… I know a little about them. Not a ton," I lied when I realistically could've answered most of his questions.

"My apologies. Please continue then," Chrom said after calming himself.

"Well… I only really know about this because it isn't exactly my first bout with them either," I said which seemed to surprise the others.

I've got to explain how I have this info or they'll just ask me later!

"You have?! When?" Robin asked.

"Funny enough it happened in this same forest a few days ago when I was coming through it. But it was nowhere near on this scale," I answered Robin without hesitation.

"You say this happened a few days ago? We traveled through this forest a few days ago as well and ran into no such creatures," Fredrick said with a glare.

"Again, it wasn't this bad. There were a couple of them and I was lucky enough to run into a few travelers that dealt with them. No real big deal like this," I said trying to dissuade Frederick's suspicions.

"Then where are these travelers? Perhaps they can assist?" Chrom asked.

I shrugged in response as I answered, "Who knows? They were supposedly heading far north while I wanted to go to Southtown."

"And you were heading to Southtown why?" Auden decided to ask.

God. Can we stop with the questions? My brain can only come up with so many lies!

"To meet up with an acquaintance of mine," I answered.

"And you stayed at a tavern without paying," Auden continued.

"What can I say? I'm broke," I said while I gave him a shrug and a smirk.

Auden smirked in response to my answer as he seemed to enjoy the way I answered him.

"Ok, ok. That's enough. What of these creatures, Vincent?! Weaknesses, habits, anything will help," Chrom stated trying to emphasis the urgency the Risen cause.

"Alright, alright. Well those creatures that you just fought… Yeah, well they aren't exactly creatures so to speak," I said while trying to find the best way to explain the Risen.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked with a look of intrigue.

"I mean, you guys have fought them right? They look human enough but they don't really act like it. They're more… feral," I answered while remembering having to fight the things myself.

Damn things just don't let up!

"That goes without saying," Frederick chimed in.

"Well, they're pretty irregular. They don't seem to have a definite strategy. It's just hack and slash for most of them. Also, they seem to be pretty resilient. Killing blows like ones to the head, the heart, or any other vital organs seem to be the only way to kill them," I said stating my observations.

While I would gladly tell them all about the Risen, it would probably get me nowhere. They would more than likely think of me as a lunatic and throw me in a cellar the first chance they got if I even mentioned something crazy. Something crazy like the Risen being soldiers reanimated by Grima himself, and that the very same fell dragon sent them back in time to fuck with Lucina who was trying to fuck with the past.

Chrom smiled at me explanations and then said, "Good. This is helpful information. Is there anything else?"

'I'm sorry. I can't really think of anything else. Besides the fact that I've decided to name them Risen," I said trying to give the name to the Shepherds.

"Risen? Why that?" Lissa asked after finishing healing Virion's wounds.

"You know, they kind of act like corpses and they kind of seem dead already. It's like they've risen from the dead. Risen," I said while trying to think of a reason why they were called Risen in the first place.

"Alright, then they'll be called Risen to help distinguish them," Chrom said.

Good. I wouldn't want them to for some reason call them the spooky soldiers with red eyes or something else stupid.

"Since we're done now, milord, shall we set up camp again or start up in our journey back to the capitol again?" Frederick asked wanting to know what to start preparing for.

"After that rude awakening, I'd say that we'd all have a hard time falling back asleep in this forest. We shall start our march for the capitol again. This event might've spread there so we should make haste," Chrom said while starting up in the march.

"Aw~. I hardly got any rest at all," Lissa whined while following her brother.

"If you'd like I can carry you back, my dear," Virion said while trying to catch up to Lissa.

"You touch the girl and I break your arms," Sully said while her horse trotted close behind Virion causing him to halt any advances he might've tried on Lissa.

"Please wait, milord! There are a few stones in the path! Allow me to remove them," Frederick shouted from the back of the group as he tried to hurry to the front on his horse.

"I'm the tactician of a strange army," Robin said with a smirk while following the group of marchers in their odd… march.

The strange antics of the Shepherds after a deadly battle strangely brought a smirk to my own face. I had a hard time not laughing because of them.

Suddenly Auden walked past me while asking, "You just going to let us leave ya behind? You'd best hurry lest you want to wind up bear food."

His statement made my smirk disappear as I shouted, "Bears don't go around eating people!"

He laughed at this as he responded with, "If that's what you think, then why don't you wait here and find out?"

Suddenly, various sounds of different creatures resonated throughout the forest that I was being carelessly left behind in. I found myself looking around frantically as I worried what those sounds could possibly belong to.

I then started to run as fast as I can to catch up with the group while shouting, "Wait! Don't leave me behind!"


And another chapter comes to a close. This one managed to be a bit longer than the second one surprisingly.

Anyways, so Vincent and Auden have now grouped up with the rest of the Shepherds. I toyed around with the thought of them not doing so but being in a corpse filled forest put them at a disadvantage. Thus I had Lucina come in to effectively save the day and cause Auden to sneakily follow her back to the others. Having them split up again after facing a mob of dead dudes would've been idiotic.

So the next chapter is going to be a training chapter for deal old Vincent. I'll say now, this training is going to be pretty critical. There will more than likely be some breaking of Vincent in it.

Either way, I expect that chapter to be ready around Monday with my estimates. In the meantime, why don't you guys take a guess as to who will be doing the training? I'm sure it'll surprise you all.

So leave a review on what you thought about the chapter. They're always helpful even if they might be about how terrible the chapter in question is.