A/N: Hello guys. Back with another chapter!

Last time we stopped at Natsu's meeting with the Shepherds. Well, we're about the find out.


And also, here the replies from the previous chapters. :)

1. AirBorne3:The story will be centered on the FE world.. for now. I have some plans on the FT world as well though it will take a little more time to get there. So sorry if it wasn't like that.

- This chapter will feature that meeting. Look forward to it. :)

2. Bronzeapollo708: Well, defeating one is different from killing them down. I also mentioned some parts where they often get back up to fight him since I really viewed them dragons as very formidable in the FT world. But using both DF and LFD at the same time would be enough to challenge one, then again it is nowhere near as killing one dragon. Their meeting would be here so look forward to it.

3. Draen: Thank you for the suggestion. I'll take up that but I want the name to be near Robin as well. If you may, can you cite some Robin-related thingies. Anyways, thanks again for the review. I apologize for bringing in Happy's death :(

4. John Bob: One, thank you :D

Two, I'm still working on that part. But I welcome your compliment. It was greatly appreciated :)
Three, Sorry for writing that one. It was hard for me to write up dying characters especially the best of friends.
Four, That remains to be seen in the later chapters. :)
Five, I'll try as soon as I can.

And thanks for your review!

5. DEVILLICIOUS666: Robin is the playable character in the game of FE Awakening. At the start of the game, you can change names of your character but Robin was the standard name for it. He's the guy who was found in the fields by Chrom. Look back on the last chapter. :) Sorry if the scenes are quite jumbled.

6. Jalis: Well, I thought that Natsu would really cry at the death of Happy since he was his best friend and partner. Considering the years they spent with each other, I thought it might be plausible for him to really breakdown just like in Igneel's case (though he was encouraged by him afterwards which makes him to stand up for it.). But nevertheless, I think I'll be careful from now on. I'm still new in writing character's feelings at the death of their own comrade or friend. :)

7. pizzajon: It will be changed accordingly to the same scale as FT characters. Includes the agility and some super strength to match up to Natsu's power. Also can be applied to the power of the tomes in FE so a lot will be changed. :)


That's about it. Let's get on it with the chapter..

Have Fun and Happy Reading... :)

Disclaimer: I don't FE and FT nor their characters. Credit goes to their own respective owners.


- Unwelcome Change -

The town was still trying to get itself back on its feet as villagers and other people helped out in cleaning up the mess made from the recent battle. There are some who swept the streets as different kinds of ornaments and other trinkets are left in the open while others simply worked together in pushing up large debris and also volunteered together to repair the damages done by the bandits.

Apart from the townspeople who were cleaning up, Natsu together with Chrom and the others are simply sitting in a nearby fountain, seemingly discussing something.

After everything that happened during their battle, everyone needs some answers especially on both sides.

Natsu was simply looking at fountain in complete curiosity as the Chrom and the others simply observed the pink-haired man. Judging from his clothes and features, he's not around these parts. But he seemed to be quite attached to the town since they all witnessed him fighting to protect the people in it.

Well, at least their suspicions about him being a spy from Plegia has been cleared since he claims to have not known the place and the oddity of his attire. However, just like Robin, he doesn't know anything about Ylisse or other kingdoms as well, aside to his memories which is quite intact compared to Robin who was still having difficulties remembering his own.

Right now, they settled down from the battle as the town was saved without any casualties. The bandits were after the gold after all.

"So cool... Are there any fish in this fountain?" Natsu spoke in awe as he looked over to the fountain and saw a lot of thrown coins beneath it. The four could only look at him in wonder as they took a moment to reply back.

"Ahem... Sorry to interrupt but may I know your name?" Chrom initiated the first question which caught the pinkette's attention before motioning himself towards them to answer.

"I'm Natsu... Natsu Dragneel...and you?"

"My name is Chrom... This delicate lady here is my little sister, Lissa." The blue-haired prince simply gestured over to his little sister who slightly pouted before delivering a light blow to the prince's head with her staff.

"I told you that I'm not delicate!" Lissa shouted in irritation though it was ignored by the rest.

"This one here is Frederick." Chrom continued as he introduced the armored knight to the pink-haired man.

"Greetings Natsu... I'm the protector of both milady and milord." The brown-haired knight simply bowed.

"Nice to meet you too... Say, I'd like to have a spar with you someday..." Natsu made his toothy grin which slightly made the knight confused but nodded nonetheless.

"And here's Robin... We just recently found him in the fields. He claims to have lost his memories as he doesn't know anything except his name and mine." Chrom spoke as he led the pinkette towards the white-haired man who simply bowed at him briefly before wearing a smile.

"Nice to meet you Natsu... I'm Robin."

"Nice to meet you also... You said something about losing your memories?"

"Yes... Currently, I'm following Chrom and the others since I was suspected to be an enemy of Ylisse."

"Why would anyone suspect you of that? You look like fine to me." Natsu spoke curiously.

"Forgive us but we only exercise caution about the safety of the kingdom since Plegia had recently started their move against us.." Frederick reasoned.

"I heard it in some of the other villagers as well... Honestly, what's their problem? Attacking innocent civilians like it was nothing." The pinkette could only scoff at the thought as Chrom and Frederick looked at each other with troubled looks.

"Well, let's just say Plegia harbors a bitter resentment to us Ylisseans though we can't blame them for what they're doing since everything that happened before."

"What happened?" Natsu asked upon hearing such an interesting topic from Chrom.

"I-It's nothing... Anyway, what brings you here Natsu? The prince simply asked again.

"I was told to come to Ylisse... though I don't know where exactly it is..."

The four could only look at the confused dragonslayer in a blank expression... For some reason, he seemed to be stranger than Robin for some reason.

"Ummm... This is Ylisse.. The whole land of it..." Lissa popped in, getting the fire dragonslayer to tilt his head in confusion from her answer.

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"The whole land here is the Halidom of Ylisse. The capital city is called Ylisstol where our ruler, the exalt resides in. Perhaps it must be the capital you were specifically mentioning." Chrom asked, making the fire dragonslayer to ponder in thought.

"I don't know... The last time I heard that name was from that masked man..."

"And who might that be?" Frederick soon followed, his brow quirking with curiosity.

"I dunno but he said his name was Marth..."

". . . . . . . . ." It took only a couple of seconds for the three to process everything he had said before regaining their composure and looked at the fire dragonslayer as if he was insane.

"Umm... Are you referring to the Legendary Hero-King?" Chrom could not help but ask.

"Is that what they really call him around these parts?"

As Natsu ranted, Lissa and Frederick were already whispering with each other as they seemed to think that the pinkette was crazy. On the side note, Robin was seemingly left standing at the sides, watching in amusement as Natsu continues to entertain them with his oblivious answers.

"Riiiiggghhhttt...Anyways, it seems that you don't know anything about the place so how about you come along with us... We might able to give you some answers, same as Robin." Chrom offered which caught the fire dragonslayer's attention who hesitated for a moment.

"To be honest, I don't really know what to do anymore... I guess that leaves me no choice but to come along now... As long as I get some answers from your ruler." Natsu spoke before nodding at his offer.

"Good... we already seen enough bizarre events around here and we still got a problem with the bandits attacking the town so it's advisable that we must return to Ylisse and inform Emmeryn of what happened." Chrom continued before looking back at Frederick.

"Shall we move then? The day is starting to end and we got barely enough time to make it back. The Exalt should be warned at a much early time as these bandits are seemingly bolder than we thought... They also seemed to carry a Plegian accent... ... I fear of what might happen if we didn't informed this to her immediately." The armored knight suggested.

"Rest assured, we'll camp for the night if it catches on to our travels." The prince simply replied.

"Wait a second... There's just one thing I need to do before leaving..." Natsu popped up, catching their attention back at him.

"Alright, we'll be waiting at the outskirts of the town... Don't be late Natsu." Chrom spoke before making his way towards the town together with the three, leaving him alone.

.

.

.

Kurt simply swept on every mess the bandits had done into his house. He was trying to salvage anything that could be worth useful for their daily lives since they had to start all over again. With his walls blasted apart, his collections laid to waste and his other things left lying on different places, he had to think up a plan to avoid this kind of incident from happening again.

Beside him was Ned who was seemingly well as his wounds were immediately gone after being applied by a special potion from Natsu. Eventually, the potion did its magic and simply healed him almost instantly. He doesn't know the contents of the bottle but it seemed similar to their own potions as well that are used in battles.

The father was also relieved that everything turned out quite okay with them since no one was killed from those savages. If it hadn't been from Natsu, then both Fia and Ned would've died infront of his eyes before he would even know it.

Speaking of the man, where is he? He was quite aware that the battle was over since he did not see any fire or smoke from the burning buildings. For some unknown reasons, he was completely baffled after seeing the flames suddenly whirl around into one place to which he didn't know where as he was helping his family at that time. It is was so surreal to think that those flames would form like that.

Everything seems to be wrong ever since he met Natsu.

As his thoughts about the pinkette played inside his mind, he came across the section his house and saw his prized ornament smashed into pieces. He crouched down and observed at it for a few seconds, wondering of what he's going to do with it.

"Sorry Father. I couldn't protect your things front them." Ned weakly answered which made Kurt to turn around and simply patted the boy's head

"It's fine, son. I'm just glad that you were both safe. We can repair this some other time. For now, let's clean up the mess." Kurt smiled softly, causing the boy return a bright smile back at him.

"Sure thing, father!"

As soon as he said that, the boy simply returned back to the room and began to help her mother clean up on some other places of the house. Kurt could only sigh in content as he looked once again to the blasted wall on his left.

"It looks like I REALLY gonna need some repairs after this." He sighed depressingly.

"Sorry about that." A familiar voice resounded behind him which prompted the farmer to turn around and eventually saw Natsu standing by the door.

"Ye, gods Natsu! Can you at least knock? It's unpleasant for me having people talk from behind without much of an introduction."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Nevermind... Anyway, about the wall..." He paused before being interrupted by Natsu.

"Oh, my bad... I'll promise to pay for that."

"No, I think it's fine... You saved my family back then.. That's good enough for me... ... Though you should've spared the wall somehow... ... And also, I thank you for saving the town. I've heard it from the others and it seems like you're a good person."

"Well, that's what me and my friends do when someone needs help." Natsu simply grinned while placing his hands behind his back.

"You're a good friend Natsu. I can see why you're so strong. You have friends beside you and fought together for the sake of the others and you even protect each other. It almost seemed like..." He paused once again as Natsu began to speak for the last word.

"Family? Yep, you could say we're a family. Though, right now it's very far for me to reach them." Natsu slightly frowned as he could remember his own friends back then.

Kurt noticed it and simply decided to change the topic. He didn't want to bring up a bad memory.

"S-So have you found anything about Marth?" He asked as he continued to clean up. Eventually, Natsu moved towards him and decided to help out also.

"Well, I didn't find what I'm looking for but there are some people who might know." Upon saying that, Kurt could only raise a brow.

"And who might they be?"

"Someone who's name is Chrom... Another one is called Fredeprick. I also met Alissa and the last one is Robin." After citing out some inaccurate names of the people he met earlier, Kurt could only widen his eyes in shock.

"Prince Chrom is here?!"

"Why is anyone addressing people like they're some sort of a royal person?" Natsu could only shake his head in confusion as he simply sat down to calm himself.

Kurt didn't know of what expression he's going to make from Natsu as simply stared at him with a deadpan look. Really? This guy doesn't know who he had just talked with.

"Because he IS a royal person!"

The fire dragonslayer could only look at him with a dumbfounded look.

"Eh?"

Kurt simply sighed before calming down. Judging from his look, he assumed that Natsu really doesn't know anything. He should've thought it like that by now since the first time he saw him.

"Prince Chrom was one of the people born with the Exalted blood. It is said that they have direct connection with the Legendary Hero-King since he was their ancestor." Natsu could only raise his brow in curiosity and interest.

"Hmm... ... Is that so?"

"Anyway, I think you should go along with him... He might really know some answers about your question." Kurt smiled as he stood up, facing the pinkette.

"Was planning to."

"Then why are you here?" As soon as he said that, Natsu simply reached out a small pouch from his pocket and simply handed it to Kurt who was slightly confused.

"Take it... As my thanks for looking out for me and also to Happy. We, Fairy Tail mages give something in return to people who helped us... I just can't go away without repaying you and your family." Natsu slightly smiled as he simply closed his eyes in content before finally looking towards Fia and Ned on the other side of the room.

"Take care of your family Kurt... ... ... They're the most precious thing you'll ever had so treasure your memories with them." He turned around and began to walk away, leaving Kurt slightly saddened and grateful from his actions.

He looked over to the pouch and saw a couple of jewels inside, widening his eyes in surprise. This alone is enough to give them a better house and a good living for a few months. He never knew Natsu had this kind of wealth.

Without hesitating, he quickly sprinted towards to the departing pinkette who was just outside the house, seemingly ready to leave.

"Hey Natsu!" The farmer shouted causing the dragonslayer to look back at him.

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget to drop by... ... You're always welcome here..." Natsu could only grin once again as he locked his fist beside him and simply nodded briefly before returning to his current direction. He made a light breath before sprinting towards the outskirts of town to meet up with the Shepherds.

Kurt just stood there in thought as he saw him off, holding onto the small pouch as he simply sighed in content before putting up a weary smile towards the fleeting figure before him.

"Thank you Natsu..."


In a forest... (A few hours from now...)

Five figures slowly trudged their way towards a dirt road as the sun begins to set from the horizon. Darkness slowly crept its way on the opposite direction as the night had started its descent on the world. The group seemingly stopped in their tracks as they began to look to the sky and scanned their surroundings.

"Well, it seems the night has already caught on with us... We have no choice but to take camp here..." Chrom suggested and not before long his little sister begins to speak in denial of his suggestion.

"Here? In this thick, dark and scary forest? No... Let's just keep moving. We might be able to reach Ylisstol if we continued walking." Lissa spoke as she was not comfortable with his brother's decision.

"Ylisstol is still a few more hours away... If we continue, we might lose our strength and the animals would surely tear us apart if we're vulnerable. Sure you don't want that do you?" Chrom reasoned causing Lissa to stutter as she can't seemed to find a way to reply back.

"I agree... Even as a stranger, it's best if we settled down for the night and wait on the next sunrise." Robin agreed.

"Then the animals will surely get us if we're totally asleep." The princess complained.

"Don't worry milady... I promise to keep watch until everyone is asleep." Frederick vowed which slightly made Lissa to pout in irritation.

As the conversation continued on, Natsu could only stare at them with a deadpan look as they saw them so uptight about their situation. Honestly, he doesn't care if they decided to push further or just rest. He can do both with ease so why they have to complain? He can also smell trouble that will surely alert him even though he's asleep so there's nothing to be worried about.

RUMBLE* GRUMBLE*

Just as he was about to interrupt their conversation, a rather disturbing sound boomed through the group as his stomach suddenly grumbled due to hunger. The group abruptly stopped their bickering as they all looked over to the fire dragonslayer with a surprised look.

"Yeeeaaaahh... I haven't eaten for some quite time so yeah..." Natsu sheepishly replied, scratching the back of his head.

"I guess that's our cue... Will you assist me in hunting Natsu?" Frederick spoke without much of a raised brow.

"UUuuooo! It's been a long time since I hunted some food. Let's go Fredeprick!" He cheerily spoke, causing the armored knight to cast a slight glare at him which he didn't noticed as he merrily went into the forest with Frederick following him.

Chrom, Lissa and Robin are the ones remained on the road as they simply watch their two companion set off to get their own food.

"Well, I guess we should start gathering some wood as well for the camp... You want to lend a hand Lissa?" The blue-haired prince asked his little sister beside him.

"A-ah.. No... I'd rather wait for you guys here... Plus, I can't handle bugs sticking out from the branches.. It's just-"

...

"How about you Robin? Wanna lend a hand?" Chrom skipped to the white-haired man who simply nodded and followed Chrom towards another part of the forest, leaving the irritated princess behind with steam blowing up her head.

"Don't ignore me!" She shouted in vain as the group didn't seem to hear her complaints about the situation. She had no choice but to kick dust from the road, mumbling something bad about everyone, especially to her brother.

"I hate you Chrom..." Lissa mumbled under her breath as she saw him off together with Robin to gather some wood for the fire.

Minutes later, the group soon came back as Natsu and Frederick managed to slay a bear and finally gathered its meat while Robin and Chrom on the other hand, collected enough wood for the fire and finally began making one to start the cooking for their own food for the night.

Another few minutes has passed as the group finally finished their task for the night and began to eat at their own respective food except for Lissa who was simply looking at the grilled meat of the bear she was barely holding.

"What's wrong Lissa? You need to eat some for tomorrow." Chrom asked after noticing his little sister hesitate on eating the meat before her.

"This is bear meat, right?"

"Yes, and it's been a long time since I had one so eating it again makes me kinda refreshed." Chrom complimented before swallowing the last bits of his own food and simply looked around at the others who was still preoccupied in their own dinners as well.

"Ugh, Since when did meat taste like boots. Oh wait, I take that back. I'd prefer boots over this meat. You guys are meddling with the food chain. The bear must've got some cubs with her. Don't you agree Robin?" Lissa turned over to the white-haired man who was eating peacefully just across her with no intent to stop from what he was currently doing.

"Robin?" Lissa made a deadpanned look as she realized that he was currently eating it alongside with Natsu who was more focused in gulping the whole meat down into his stomach in one go.

Chrom could only chuckle as he looked at their two new companions before looking back at his little sister.

"Come on, Lissa. It's not that bad. Plus, I don't think Frederick would really kill that bear if it has cubs... And seeing he brought one for us, we can safely assume that it's just a wild male one." Chrom smiled in hopes of calming down her sister despite her little tantrums.

"Then why aren't you eating?" Lissa looked over to the armored knight who was calmly staring to the two of them.

"I already ate enough ever since we started our patrol." Frederick could only give her a small chuckle to which the princess simply crossed her shoulders and lightly scoffed discreetly under her breath.

"Yeah right..."

Meanwhile, Robin and Natsu were still busy on their own food as well as if they never gotten to eat for a few days. Gulping down the last of his meat, Natsu soon turned over to the white-haired man who was still merrily enjoying his own dinner silently.

"Hey, can I talk to you a bit?" The dragonslayer soon spoke in question to which caught Robin's attention and simply averted from his food before looking at him with curious eyes.

"Yes, what is it?"

"You said about something losing your memories?" He asked.

"Well, yes. Though there are some pieces still left as I can now remember my name but I do not know about how I came to know Chrom's name since we haven't met for the first time." Robin could only ponder in thought about the last part.

"I know it may sound stupid but do you know any man called Marth?" He asked.

"I already told you Natsu. I'm a stranger here around these parts same as you. I don't know the slightest clue about the names of the people here but I am a bit unfortunate since I lost my memories unlike you..." He paused after remembering something.

"... That got me thinking. Where did you come from by the way, Natsu?" Robin asked.

"Hmm... I don't know.." He lied as he wanted to conceal his own identity for now despite being helped by these people. As much as he hated lying, it's better for him to stay hidden for now which was unusual for him since this wasn't his kind of thing to do so even in various situations. Maybe it was just instinct or he wanted to keep everything in check until he finds the person who brought him here to Ylisse.

Hopefully, that person could somehow give him some answers right away about the situation he is currently in.

But right now, he doesn't have anything to track the person or know some people about this mysterious place. One thing's for sure, this isn't his world.

Robin somehow became worried as he saw him pondering in deep thought.

"Uhh, Natsu?" His words somehow snapped him back from his thoughts and began to look back at him with an exclaimed expression.

"O-Oh, I don't know really.. But one thing's for sure to me is that I had to go to this Ylisstol. That's all." He answered which only made the amnesiac person to ponder in return from his thoughts.

"I see. Well, I hope you find what you're looking for." Robin smiled afterwards.

"Thanks, I guess. But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"What will you do after you're done with your business with them?" Natsu pointed over to the arguing three who were still going on about their own bickering about food and meat.

"I guess, I should stick along with them... I really don't know what to do afterwards and you and the others are the only ones I knew as of now." Robin frowned.

"I see. Well, I look forward in being friends with you Robin." Natsu offered a hand towards Robin who was simply surprised at first before finally smiling in content and began to reach forth his own hand as well to shake it.

"Sure, Natsu."

After shaking both hands, they finally rejoined to the others and simply made friends together with Chrom and the others though with a little suspicion from Frederick since he was just overprotective about the safety of the two. Nevertheless, the group finally had fun and became friends with each other as Chrom simply welcomed the two and talked throughout the night.

Eventually, the night soon began to take course as the group finally noticed how late it is.

"Isn't it about time we get some sleep?" Natsu suggested before putting up a loud yawn from the group who simply agreed from it.

"I think that would be best. We need a lot of energy for the rest of the trip." Robin reasoned.

"Well, that settles then. Let's all have ourselves a good night sleep and prepare for the journey to Ylisstol tomorrow." Chrom soon spoke.

With the rest of the group nodding afterwards, they all soon prepared themselves for their own sleep as well.

.

.

.

Hours passed as the night continued on towards the daylight, Chrom suddenly woke up from his sleep and began to look around his surroundings as if he sensed something weird about the place around them.

"That's strange." Chrom could only mutter under his breath.

At the same time, Lissa also soon manages to get herself awake and saw her brother awake, same as her.

"Chrom... What are you doing in the middle of the night?" She made a light yawn to minimize her voice as she looked over to his brother with half-closed eyes.

"Sorry, Lissa. I must have woke you up... It's just that. . . . .something is amiss." Chrom looked over to the other section of the forest and began to narrow his eyes in caution about the place.

"So you've noticed too." Natsu's voice soon cut through their conversation which prompted the two siblings to look above the tree where the voice originated. There, they saw Natsu sitting comfortably in a nearby branch while keeping a serious face towards the part where Chrom had also looked over.

"Natsu? Why are you up there?" Lissa whispered before moving herself towards the tree as Natsu soon came down silently to avoid any noise.

"Well, I've been staying up all night to see if anything is strange. It seems like I'm right?" He explained before looking over to the blue-haired prince.

"So what it'll be, shall we take a look around?" He offered.

"That would be best Natsu.. Thank you." Chrom could only smile.

"Alright, let's go." As soon as he said that, he began to walk together with Chrom towards the section of the forest.

"U-Uh, wait for me Natsu, Chrom..." Lissa soon followed the two behind them.

As they walked away from the camp, the thickness of the forest soon became thicker as they ventured further deep towards the forest. The three didn't say a word as they were all simply focused in scanning the place they were in.

"This is strange... The animals were all gone as if they vanished. I can't even detect a single one a mile away." Natsu suddenly spoke as he sniffs the air with his heightened nose to track anything but he found nothing.

"What do you mean detect?" Lissa could not help but ask as she heard something unusual from the dragonslayer. Even Chrom seemed to be quite confused at that part of this statement.

"Well, I can sense out the movements of animals within a mile with my ears. What's wrong?"

"Are you a bloodhound or something?" They simultaneously asked.

"What the hell is that suppose mean? It's just my power, you know." Natsu huffed before crossing his shoulders after being offended.

"Oh by the way, I never had the chance to ask about this, what was your power? Back there in the village, I saw you eating the flames. It's my first time seeing that kind of fire magic." Chrom soon asked curiously.

"Oh right, I noticed that too. Are you a mage by any chance?" Lissa followed.

"Well, I am a mage and second it was kinda a lost magic that I inherited from my father..." Natsu scratched his head.

"Lost magic?" Chrom could only gape in surprise. It was his first time learning such a thing as a lost magic.

"So it was some kind of lost flame type of magic? Do you have its tome?" Lissa asked. However, Natsu could only tilt his head in confusion about her question.

"What tome?"

"Well, the thing you use to perform those kind of spells... You have one do you?" She continued.

"Listen, I don't know about the tome thing you were referring about but if you want to know the name of my magic... It's Dra-" But just as he was about to finish his sentence, a violent tremor soon shook the entire ground which alerted the three to exercise with extreme caution as they all tried to regain their composure from the continuing tremor.

"Aaaah! Chrom!" Lissa screamed in panic.

"Agh! Gods, what in the-" Chrom tried to keep his composure.

"What the hell is happening now?" Natsu gritted his teeth in frustration as he began to sense something wrong towards them which prompted him to look over to the direction and prepared himself.

As they were trying to reassess their current situation, a sound of falling trees soon resounded throughout the distance which alerted the three to look over to the direction of where it is. What's more strange is that it seems to be heading to their way as well. Natsu suddenly picked up the danger and began to look back at the two who were also sensing the same thing.

"Lissa, run. I mean it, go!" Chrom suddenly spoke as his gaze is still focused on the falling trees.

The princess didn't take a second thought as she simply obeyed her brother's words and began to sprint away.

"We need to get outta here now!" Natsu shouted as he and Chrom began to sprint away, following Lissa from behind.

And not a moment sooner, the ground suddenly uplifted from their previous positions that soon began to unleash multiple fireballs, molten rocks and magma through the surface as is a volcano was starting to erupt. The magma soon rose into high levels that is also followed by enormous fireballs that headed straight towards the parts of the forest, bringing in many fires as they plunged straight into the ground.

Natsu, Lissa and Chrom continued to run as they tried to avoid the incoming fireballs that are threatening to crush them at any moment.

"Hurry! This way!" Chrom soon changed direction to which the two soon followed in order to avoid the danger of the fireballs falling above their heads.

"Lissa, watch out!" Natsu warned as Lissa was left to stare widely above her from the incoming giant fireball, threatening to crush her completely.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted briefly as he managed to get to her in time and easily deflected the fireball's trajectory and sent it to a nearby tree and finally crashed and instantly crushed the tree.

Lissa was left dumbfounded as she saw Natsu performed his spell once more. Not only did she saw it close-hand but rather the strength he just displayed before her. He just punched the fireball with his own bare hands. Her eyes soon turned over to his hand to which shocked her as she saw it coated in flames but he seemed to be not hurt by it. What's more is that it didn't leave any scorching marks from his hand upon punching that fireball.

Her thought were soon cut off when Natsu began to speak.

"What are you spacing out for? We need to get moving, Lissa." The fire dragonslayer soon began to move over to the girl and began to carry her bridal-style and sprinted towards a safer place.

As soon as they got out from the danger zone, Natsu put down the princess and simply looked over to the raging inferno before them.

"Are you alright, Lissa? Chrom asked worriedly over to the girl who simply brushed off her thoughts for a moment to answer her brother.

"I-I'm fine... Natsu saved me.." Lissa stuttered as she looked over to the dragonslayer who was also worried as Chrom for her.

"Well, that's good then... It's a good idea we tagged Natsu along with us." Chrom smiled before looking back at the pinkette.

"Thank you Natsu.."

"No problem... But, you know, I never imagine that something like this would actually happen.." Natsu stood up, gazing over to the blazing inferno before them.

"Neither do I... It's quite rare for something like this to happen." Chrom added.

Just as the two were conversing about the event before them, Lissa began to calm to catch her own breath as well during her near-death experience with a falling fireball. If it weren't for Natsu then she would've died back there.

She shook her head for moment to shove off the disturbing thought. Then suddenly something caught her eyes as she looked over to the skies and saw something distorting the space itself.

"Chrom, what is that?" Lissa soon spoke to her brother who turned to look to where she was pointing and can only widen his eyes in surprise as the space continues to distort in a fast pace. Natsu also noticed this and could not help but narrow his eyes from the impending event.

Then in just a moment, a spark of light soon emerged from a single point of the distorted space and flashed out a some sort of an ancient large magic circle to which an eye-like structure was seen in the center as it began to open fast, revealing some sort of a tunnel or get that leads to the unknown. Moments later, a group of unusual figures appeared from the gate and simply landed down before revealing themselves in a trance-like manner with red eyes, stalking from the shadows of the forest.

"Lissa, you better stand back..." Chrom ordered to which she obeyed afterwards to avoid the battle. He drew out his sword and began to move into a battle stance.

"It seems like we're not gonna sleep peacefully without a good fight." Natsu smirked as he stood beside Chrom.

"You're ready for this, Natsu?" The blue-haired prince asked his companion beside him.

"I can take care of myself... Plus, I'm very well aware on how to fight." He reasoned before summoning forth his flames which coated his hands completely which slightly got Chrom to be surprised by it but he soon focused back on the unknown figures as they began to move themselves towards them.

"Well, there's nothing more to be said at this moment.. Let's go, Natsu.."

"Yeah!"

The two males soon charged over to the unknown figures and began to attack them in their respective battle styles. Chrom was simply parrying against the attacker while Natsu was easily dodging reckless strikes from the other attacker. Though it seemed to be an easy battle for them to win, Natsu and Chrom could not help but notice the malevolent aura that the attackers were emitting. This was their first time encountering such a being with such aura.

What's more strange about these creatures is that they are like some sort an undead person since Natsu was able to sniff some dead flesh present in their body.

"These are quite troublesome... They seemed very different." Natsu narrowed his eyes as he tried to scan the enemy before him. It was roaring involuntarily as if it had no knowledge of speaking and can only resort to shouts and roars as it attacks him.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu briefly shouted his spell and easily defeated the undead before finally dissipating into nothingness. At the same time, Chrom already finished his own enemy as well.

"Just what are these things?" Chrom could only grit his teeth his frustration.

A scream soon cut through the two's train of thought as they all looked over to Lissa who was being cornered by one of those undead. It seems like one was able to breach past the two of them without noticing. Natsu cursed himself as he tried sprint towards Lissa as fast as he could to help her.

Just as the undead was about to cut her down, another mysterious figure soon appeared over to the gate itself and jumped over from it before landing skillfully with his feet and began to sprint towards Lissa.

CLANG*

The sound of metals clashing one another was sounded around them as the figure managed to block the incoming attack by raising it over to his back to protect Lissa. The princess was simply once again left dumbfounded as the figure before her was struggling to withstand the power struggle. Chrom and Natsu was left in awe as the figure was able to save Lissa at the right time.

The figure soon looked over to the two of them before shouting out.

"Help..."

Chrom and Natsu were simply snapped back to their trance and simply focused back on the enemy as Chrom had first went ahead to save Lissa.

"Haaaaaa! ! !" Chrom shouted as he neared closer to the undead who noticed his approach to which the mysterious person to take advantage of it and finally perform a counter-attack and slash the enemy from the other side as Chrom had done on the other.

In a still-like manner, the two simply waited as the undead soon disappeared upon sustaining a deep cut from them.

Seeing the danger seemed to have gone around them, both Chrom and the figure simply sheathed their swords and began to inspect each other though the latter seemed to have ignored his gaze.

Meanwhile, Natsu was left dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events as he saw the mysterious person in front of him. And for some reason, he felt that he met this kind of person before. He couldn't just place it as his mind was still jumbled upon stumbling unto this world. One thing's for sure though is the mask that the figure was wearing is somehow familiar to him. He felt like he had seen it before and the color of his hair was quite similar that of the person who saved him.

"Quite an entrance... ... What's your name?" Chrom mused for a little bit before asking the identity of the person.

But just as he was asking about the person's true name, Frederick and Robin soon came rushing in towards them which prompted all of them to look over to the two with exclaimed expressions.

"Milord! Milady! Are you alright?" Frederick came in rushing with a worried expression though retaining his strong figure towards the others.

"Frederick!" Lissa exclaimed in surprise.

"Are these creatures so common here in Ylisse?" Robin soon pointed over a herd of undead coming from the forest to which Chrom and the others stood cautious towards them.

"No. They're certainly not." Chrom clarified.

"I'm glad you three were all safe." Robin smiled before looking over to Chrom and Lissa as seeing that they did not sustain any severe injuries. If they ever got one, it would be very serious for them.

"Well, if it weren't for our savior here then we wouldn-" Lissa soon paused as she noticed that the person who saved suddenly disappeared from their sights in just seconds.

"We can discuss about this matter later. We know nothing of this enemy. Focus your attention on honing your skills to help out the group." Frederick spoke.

"Right... Let's go." Chrom ordered before marching on towards the battle together with Frederick.

With Robin and Lissa following them from behind, the former soon notices the lack of a certain pinkette around them.

"Did anyone of you seen Natsu?"

.

.

.

The masked figure simply jumped from tree to tree as he began to escape from the group as if he was on a hurry. Using both his feet to skillfully leap over tree branches, he easily made it past the blazing fire below him. His attention soon turned over to another group of undead Risen which were situated at the opposite part of the section where Chrom and the others are.

He changed his course and began to head his way towards the Risen.

"Wait a minute!" A rather familiar voice cut through the mysterious person's thought as he looked back, only to see Natsu tailing him from behind the whole time.

The figure ignored him and simply drew out his sword and descended down from the tree branches and faced the Risen. Natsu soon followed as he tried to get to the place where he landed. In a few seconds, he managed to find him, battling the undead with his blade. However, he was left in awe as the figure displayed an immense speed power and agility towards the enemy and instantly wiped them out in just a matter of seconds just before he appeared.

"W-Woah..." Natsu mused as he looked at the figure who was left standing over to the center of the battlefield with his sword.

The masked person simply shot a quick glance over to the pinkette before trying to jump away from the scene.

"Wait! I need to talk to you!" Natsu shouted as he began to follow the figure once more. The masked person stopped in his tracks as his attention was called by Natsu.

"There's no time for idle chat... ... But if you want some answers, grant me some assistance in eliminating these creatures." The person proposed before leaping off once again, leaving the dragonslayer behind.

"W-Wait! Really, why are people are in such of a hurry these days." Natsu simply sighed inwardly and could not do anything but follow the figure and help him to take care of the creatures.

He followed the masked figure as they simply jumped from tree to tree to scan any undead Risen in the vicinity of the forest. Just moment after following him, Natsu's nose soon twitched as he detected the scent of the Risen from their right.

"That way! There's a group of freaks in that direction." Natsu called out to the figure who simply turned himself towards the direction, preparing his blade to the enemy.

In just seconds, they finally reached a section of the forest where most of the Risen are. Jumping down from the tree, the figure performed a continuous front flip as he simply landed his blade towards a unsuspecting Risen and killed it instantly. Shifting his head briefly towards his left, the masked person disappeared in a single blur and came back from his previous position with multiple black mists dissipating behind her.

The figure soon turned over to his back as he saw that the Risen are increasing minute by minute. He gritted his teeth as he had no time in clearing out most of them in such a short time.

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu briefly shouted as he shot out a flaming ball towards the Risen and eradicated them in just one go, stunning the figure in the process.

Natsu soon dusted his hands from the work and began to look towards the figure who was still left amazed from the power just now.

"Well, that settles our work. So, will you tell me who you are?" The pinkette soon went serious towards the masked person to which he also did the same.

"Sorry for asking too much... But, I just need to know who you are. After all, you smell kinda familiar back then... " Natsu continued but his statement seemed to have shocked the person as he was left unmoving after that.

It only took him for a a couple of seconds to hesitate before finally deciding to lower down his weapon and finally faced the dragonslayer.

"Very well.." He sheathed his own weapon and gazed at the pinkette, their sights never leaving each other until the person began to remove his mask. At the same time, his blue-hair also cascaded down upon the removal of his own mask which shocked the dragonslayer to the core.

The masked person was a woman as her blue hair simply fell down from her back as she removed her mask to reveal her face to her. She made a faint smile towards the shocked dragonslayer before speaking.

"It's been awhile, Natsu." Lucina soon spoke for the first time towards the dragonslayer directly despite the fact that she must not reveal her face to anyone in this timeline even to him as well.

"W-Wait... YOU'RE A WOMAN?!" Natsu could not help but point an accusing finger at Lucina as he was completely shocked at the sudden revelation.

"I may have forgotten to introduce myself... I'm Lucina. Please to meet you." Lucina made a light bow towards the dragonslayer.

"You're a woman." Natsu repeated though with a solemn manner as if he was left in a trance.

"Yes..."

"What the hell?" Natsu couldn't help but ask himself about the current situation.

"I'm apologize for not saying... It was necessary to keep my identity hidden in this world."

"Well, you're doing a bad thing about it... You just told me your name..." Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

"It's alright for you but not for anyone else." She replied.

"Anyway, I didn't come here to get to know to each other.. I'm just trying to confirm something.." His eyes gazed seriously towards Lucina.

"Are you the one who rescued me back then? The one who told me to go into Ylisstol?"

"Who knows..." She turned around before trying to don her mask once again.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked curiously.

"Marth isn't it?" She soon mentioned the name of the person he wanted to see.

"You know about him?" Natsu asked, looking at Lucina with mere curiosity.

"Apparently he's a friend of mine though you cannot meet with him right now since he's somewhere else." Lucina lied despite the alternate alias of herself was Marth himself.

"What do you mean I can't meet him right now? Where is he?"

"That I don't know... But I can promise you that he'll come to you soon to tell everything." Lucina looked up to the confused dragonslayer with faint smile on her face.

"How would I know he's coming... You also smell very the same like him when he rescued me." Natsu narrowed his eyes on Lucina.

"He's my brother... A distant one that is.." She reasoned.

"Why can't I meet him right now? What am I suppose to do?" Natsu groaned as he couldn't find any solution to his current dilemma.

Again, Lucina could only smile as she neared towards the groaning fire mage and simply patted his shoulder for reassurance.

"Don't worry, Natsu.. In time, I'll tell you everything. For now, live on, okay? Lucina smiled at the pinkette who was simply surprise as he looked at her in wonder.

But just as he was about to reply back, the sounds of his friends soon came from behind as Chrom and Lissa waved their hands from the distance to which prompted Natsu to turn around and saw them running towards them.

"There's no time... I'll try to explain more when we meet again, Natsu... And whatever you do, don't mention my name..."

"S-Sure but why-" He was interrupted as Lucina continued.

"Promise?" She pleaded as if she had already put her trust onto him. Of course, he just couldn't ignore everything about it. As much as he hated lying on his new friends, he had to do it in order to conceal Lucina from everyone except him. He didn't know the reason but he must not dwell into that topic since he wanted to respect her.

Sighing down in content, Natsu simply nodded before reaching forth a hand towards her.

"Sure.. I'll keep it... But make sure you also keep yours." Natsu spoke cheerily to which Lucina only smiled and shook hands before donning her mask and fixed her hair before jumping off high elsewhere away from them.

Natsu simply stood there as he saw her off to wherever she's going..

"Natsu!" Lissa called out as she finally neared towards him together with Chrom.

"Lissa.. Yo! How's the battle?" He asked before getting himself kicked in the knee in the process by her.

"You idiot! You disappeared without saying anything. What if you were killed by those creatures?" She spoke in distress as she looked at him with teary eyes.

"Eh.. How could I say it..." He tried to scratch the back of his head but he couldn't find any way to answer her.

"She was extremely worried, Natsu. After all, you saved her back then.. Lissa doesn't want to see her friends hurt..." Chrom smiled as the princess continued to look at the dragonslayer further.

"Idiot..." She muttered.

"Sorry. I guess I worried you too much." Natsu smiled before reaching out a small pat into her head to help her calm down.

"I'm just glad you're safe.." She spoke as she began to regain her composure and wiped her tears from her face.

"Even though we just met, you consider me as a friend?"

"Well of course I am, you already saved me twice. That's more than enough for me to say we're friends." She smiled.

"Well, okay..." Natsu could only agree.

"By the way, who was that guy earlier? It seemed like he was in a hurry and I could quite see that he talked to you..." Chrom soon asked the dragonslayer who was simply sweating all over after bringing such a bothersome question.

"Ah, that... N-No... I just happen to be helping her when we're trying to fend off these things from the other side."

"Her?" Both Lissa and Chrom quirked their brows in curiosity.

"A-Ah.. It's him..! Sorry, I was wrong about that..." Natsu made a dry laugh as if he was trying to laugh it off for as much as he can to avoid any suspicions from the two.

Fortunately, the two siblings seemed to have believed to him and decided to drop the subject.

"So where is he now?"

"He said he got some things to do though I don't know why..." Natsu explained.

"Hmm.. It seems that we're stacking up more problems than we can handle here. First, Plegia and now this.." Chrom gritted his teeth as he tries to think.

"Should we get back to Ylisstol as fast as we could? I think Emmeryn should be informed about this change of event." Lissa proposed.

"Where's Frederick by the way?" Natsu soon asked as he saw the lack of a certain armored knight in the group.

"Over here..." Frederick's voice soon cut off to their conversation as they saw him in his horse as usual.

"Where were you?"

"Just had to take care some business with some people.." Frederick pointed over to the two figure behind him as they came into view from the rest of the group.

"Pardon me for my intrusion but I simply went on ahead myself to assist Captain Chrom about the situation around here." A man with a long light-blue hair greeted himself towards Chrom and the others with a majestic bow as he looked over to the dragonslayer with curiosity. Natsu somehow noticed that he was having some kind of intricate bow with several arrows in its quiver. He can only deduce that this one is an archer or some sort.

"So you must be the newcomer alongside with the man named Robin."

"Well, yeah..."

"It is my honor to meet you sir-"

"Natsu.. Just Natsu is fine."

"Very well, Natsu.. My name is Virion. One of the Shepherd under the orders os Captain Chrom." Virion spoke with courtesy as he soon backed away to give way for the next introduction.

Soon a spiky haired female night followed and greeted casually towards Natsu with a carefree attitude. She also rode a horse same as Frderick but not as armored as it is. She also wore a set of steel armor with an iron lance in her hands.

"I'm Sully... Pleased to meet you." Sully stuck down her lance and simply bowed in respect before Natsu.

"Is this what they do when meeting new people?" Natsu whispered beside Chrom who simply made a light chuckle as he also find this quite amusing.

"Well, there are times..." He replied.

"Anyway, since we;re done with our introductions with the newcomers. What brings you two here?" Frederick soon tuned over to them with curious eyes.

"We just happen to be nearby from the area since we're doing patrol duty in these parts until that came about." Virion pointed over to uplifted ground with lava still sprouting towards the surface, sending out some fireballs into the sky.

"I see... It's a relief that you two weren't in its vicinity. We barely got out of it after trying to find out what it is..." Chrom looked to the same scenery as he narrowed his eyes to it.

"We should keep moving... We can discuss everything once we get back to Ylisstol." Frederick proposed.

"That might be best.. We can also finish our business there regarding about the Plegian assaults."

"Also with Robin and Natsu..." Frederick added.

"Come on, Frederick..." Chrom could only sigh at the armored knight due to his extreme vigilance over something like this.

"Just caution, Milord."

"We should keep moving now, the more time we stayed here, the less time we could prepare ourselves in case Plegia made their first move." Chrom spoke.

"Let's go!"

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.

.

On the some other parts of the forest, Lucina finished off the remnants of the Risen in the area as she killed the last one with her blade and began to look towards the night sky before putting down her mask and let her cascade down to her shoulders once more.

"It seems like I'm a bit too late..." She solemnly muttered as she began to remember her time back when she met the dragonslayer in person. She looked over to her palm and just a moment sooner, she slowly locked it as she raised her determination once again.

"Just hold on for a bit, Natsu. I'll promise to meet you again." She spoke before donning her mask as she leaped off to search some remaining Risen in the area.


A/N: And that's a wrap. Finally the story was able to progress once again with the slight reunion between Lucina and Natsu. Sadly, it will take more chapters for me to have them reveal themselves to each other.

Anyways, I apologize for the long update. It's just about school and sorts so yeah. That's the reason. The other is that I placed many new stories for me handle all of them so I'll be shifting with them from time to time in order to balance out my update schedules.

Next chapter will be Natsu's first time to set foot on the Halidom of Ylisse. Emmeryn should make her cameo appearance on this chapter so look forward to it.

That's all for now guys. Thank you and don't forget to review!

- wiErD speCtrumz blacking out... ... ...