The walk took what felt like forever. Even with the new body, my feet hurt. I could see Maya and Matt felt the same way. The adrenaline of the fight had worn off, and my bruises throbbed. My head hurt. I didn't feel nearly as giddy as I had hours ago, which was to be expected after walking for…

"How long do you think we've been walking for?" I said as I leaned over to Maya. Before she had the time to respond, Chrom interrupted.

"I think we can make camp here, all." I let out a sigh. The sky was already turning dark here, and probably back home too. There was at least time in common with this foreign place and our homes, no matter how stressful and different this place was.

Maya stuck her tongue out, a gesture almost too earthly to exist in this place. "I guess there's your answer."

"Lissa, stay here and help our new recruits get settled in. Frederick and I will go get some foodstuffs." Chrom set off with his brusque knight, while I and the others sat down and Lissa constructed an impromptu fire. Soon we were all pitching in.

Matt laughed a little and turned to me. "It feels like we were just doing this at school," he said.

I smiled, wistfully. "We were."

"Yeah," Matt sighed, "We were."

Lissa politely intercepted our conversation. "So, where are you four from? I mean

Robin, obviously, you don't really remember...But what about you three?"

I panicked. I didn't know where we should be from. I turned to Maya and Matt. "Well...um…" I stuttered.

Maya came to my rescue. "Ylisse, same as you. A little town by a river. Sorry about Jason, sometimes he gets nervous when he talks to pretty girls." I shot her my very best death glare as Matt stifled a laugh. Maya winked back at me. They both knew I had next to no interest in girls, and Maya just had to go all flirty mode with Lissa on my behalf.

Lissa smiled awkwardly, but we didn't have to continue this bungled conversation anymore as Chrom and Frederick walked back into the clearing we had settled into, dragging some furry, large animal carcass behind them.

"What is that?" I muttered out.

"Bear," Frederick replied.

Maya and I shared another look, but without any humor this time. I didn't eat any meat and she didn't eat red meat. She was plain revolted by it, and I hadn't eaten any meat for years. I wouldn't be in fighting shape if I ate it. But I wouldn't be safe if I didn't eat it, either. Matt, on the other hand, was already over helping to skin and cut up slabs of meat, spitting them on some long branches over the fire. The meat, running with fat and blood, crackled as it was set above the fire.

I wasn't against preparing or touching meat, mind you. I just didn't want to eat it. And since I hadn't eaten for so long, eating it again would upset my stomach and set me throwing up for a while. So I helped, if only to not seem suspicious with my handling of the meat.

When everything was cooked, Chrom handed everyone a messy, juicy slab of bear-flesh. Robin and Matt shared a famished look, smiled at each other, and dug in. Lissa poked the meat with her finger and took a single dainty bite before setting the meat down.

"Food, my one true love…" I heard Matt whisper into the meat. "I was worried I'd never see you again"

Robin looked up at me and Maya after taking a bite, a worried look blossoming on his face. "Aren't you two going to eat?" he said.

I was hungry, and so was Maya. I looked over at her as she raised the quivering meat to her mouth, obviously trying not to inhale the smell too much. She bit down, chewing and swallowing quickly so as not to raise suspicion or to taste it too long. She hated the taste of meat usually, but hunger took over and she began to bite off more bear.

It felt like all eyes were on me. I frowned at the meat and opened my mouth. It wasn't that I hated the flavor of meat, I just wasn't super for eating it. It wasn't like I had any other option, so I bit down too, and Matt looked at me almost surprised. I shrugged. The bear tasted pretty good, crispy and rich, and most importantly my body recognized it as some kind of sustenance. Hunger is the best sauce. However, its deliciousness doesn't have any connection to digestibility.

Soon we had all eaten as much as we were going to. Matt had had somewhere like 3 chunks, and Chrom too. I smiled, even though I could already feel my stomach starting to rebel. At least they were having fun. And it seemed like Maya and Matt were starting to bond with the others, and every now and then someone would tell a joke and others would laugh. The fire began to die down, however, and Maya volunteered to go get more wood.

Frederick stood up. "You do not know these woods, and I am stronger. I will get the wood, and you should sit down." I cringed. Maya hated it when people told her what to do. A storm was coming.

"Excuse me?" Maya's eyes turned from warm and helpful to icy cold. "Do you think that I can't go get some fucking logs? Watch me." She walked away from the fire to the woods, an orb of her new-found magic lighting the way, with a poise as to trample everything on the way. Frederick stood up brusquely, a sort of fiery look in his eyes, and he followed her, growling after Maya about training and discipline. Matt laughed tensely.

Matt and Robin seemed to get along well, and I caught snippets of their conversation.

"So Robin, what is your opinion on blue hair?" Matt asked, as innocently as possible.

"What, like Chrom?" Robin responded, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah, actually, a lot like Chrom's. Like, if he had a daughter or something, I don't know" Matt responded, blinking, completely poker faced. Even now, he's still a complete Robin/Lucina fan boy. Some things don't change.

I retired to a mossy spot on the ground while they still sat talking by the fire. Maya and Frederick were still in the woods, and their argument echoed quietly into the clearing, punctuated with the occasional break of a branch as they grabbed a log for the fire.

Eventually everyone was lying down somewhere, and it seemed like everyone but me was asleep. My stomach felt like I had maybe swallowed a burning log. I got up and tiptoed over to the bushes, and I felt a nauseous swing as I did so. I doubled over, throwing up as quietly as possible. Ew. There were little chunks in it too. I wiped my mouth off, and turned around to see a silhouette in front of me. My eyes focused, and I saw it was Lissa.

"Bear didn't sit well? Don't worry, I don't like it either." She smiled, and I smiled back. "Jason, right?"

I nodded. "That's me," I responded, weakly. "Yeah. I'm not sure why I ate the bear,

anyways. I knew it was going to upset my stomach, but I was hungry, I guess. I guess I didn't want everyone to think I was weird. You know?" She was a princess. Of course she didn't know. Everyone thought she was perfect, unlike me. "Or not."

"No, I know what you mean." She frowned. "Everyone always says that they need me to be ladylike and noble. I don't really want to, though, sometimes. I just kind of want to have fun and stuff, but everyone wants me to be their perfect princess. I feel like there isn't any direction, sometimes. I wish I could be like my sister. She's perfect, and no one judges her." Lissa frowned.

I was seized with the moment, and I hugged Lissa. She seemed momentarily surprised, but accepted it nonetheless. "I get it." I said "It feels like everyone

around me can do my job better, and that really I'm just wasting my time doing anything. Like you said, I never know where to go."

"Thanks for understanding. I don't have anyone to talk with, not really." She suddenly pulled back from the hug, and frowned, furrowing her brow. "Promise you won't tell anyone. Especially not Chrom or my sister Emm. They wouldn't understand…"

"I promise not to tell anyone, don't worry Lissa. Your secret is safe with me." I paused, and then added, "But I'm sure that they love you and would understand what you're feeling."

Lissa sighed. "Maybe," she said "But enough about me. Let me heal you up a little bit, maybe it will make your stomach ache go away. Sorry about all that. I just got...carried away I guess." She smiled sadly and took the staff off of her back. She pressed it against my stomach. She closed her eyes in concentration and the glass on the end of the staff started to glow blue. It felt uncomfortable, how my insides twisted and turned to right themselves, but by the end of it I felt a lot better. I was still queasy, but at least I would be able to fight.

I returned to where I had been sleeping before, but I still couldn't fall asleep. I heard whispering back towards the woods and decided to go investigate it, not even thinking about the possibility of it being danger.

"Do you think we should get Jason?" Maya whispered to Matt. They were sitting on a fallen log with their backs to me.

"I'm here," I whispered. "What's going on?"

"Not much." Matt replied. "Neither of us could sleep, so we just came out here and started talking. What do you think about the whole 'people getting married' thing? None of us are Robin so…"

"What's our role in this?" I caught on. "I don't know. I mean Robin and Chrom and all them have special kids, yeah, but what is our role in the whole paradox babies situation, right?"

"If I have my own specific kid, I swear to god I will kill something," said Maya.

"Harsh," Matt said. "But seriously, what effect are we even going to have? Will we even have one? Like what I if I marry the wrong person or get no one at all? Like when people don't make Robin marry Lucina or something."

Maya laughed. "Face it, I probably won't get married. Like, who would marry-" she gestured at herself "-this trash?"

I said. "Are any of the Fire Emblem characters not-straight anyways? Watch me get like….Frederick or something. That would be no fun. Dude never talks. It's weird."

Matt laughed, "No idea dude. Besides, you are probably going to die in like, two battles anyway." He winked.

I frowned. "Not funny. But actually, what's going to happen if we die? I mean I know we aren't main characters, so it would be for good, right? No resets?"

Matt's expression became serious, "I don't know. It's not like someone is playing right now, this feels real enough. To be perfectly honest… we would probably just die."

"Eh, if I die you guys get my stuff. Not like it will help you, but don't let it just like...rot or something." Maya said.

We laughed. "You know, we should probably, like, go to sleep. We're going to need it, especially if we have to battle or something tomorrow," I said.

"Wrong," Matt sighed. "Really, it's going to be in a couple of minutes. Excited for the cracking Earth and Fire everyone?"

Maya exclaimed. "Shit, is that tonight? I thought we'd at least have some time."

"I practically worship this game, I know everything." He gave us the look of a crazed cultist. "If I'm right, the explosions should start in about-" A boom resonated through the ground. "-now." He sighed, grabbing his sword from where it leaned against the log.

From across the clearing, Chrom was running with Lissa. I started to remember this part from what little I had played of the game. Robin and Frederick were asleep by the fire, the explosions were right behind Chrom and Lissa, and it was time to do something. I ran towards them, Matt following me. Maya ran to get my bow and her books and to go wake Robin and Frederick. We were about a fourth of the way to Chrom and Lissa when the sky started glowing with something other than flame.

Matt grumbled. "Here come the zombz."

Above us blossomed a blue ring of light, marked around the edges with the zodiac symbols. Flashback to Homestuck days. Centered in the ring was a giant eye of white light. Tumbling from the eye were the weird, purplish zombie things. The Risen. And they were rushing towards Chrom and Lissa. I knew 'Marth' would come and save them, but I still was running as fast as I could. Matt was coming too, sword drawn and ready to fight. Chrom was busy with a Risen, and Matt was slashing at another, but there will still more coming. One had Lissa pinned against a wall, and had its axe ready to slash at her. Fuck, I thought to myself. 'Marth' was nowhere to be seen. This was where 'Marth' saved her, though. Right?

My arm acted on its own. My dagger was in my hand before I could think, and I threw it through the air. There was no way it would get there in time. The Risen toppled to the ground, my dagger through its neck. Lissa looked at me incredulously, but the battle had already begun. No time to discuss. 'Marth'- well, Lucina -had arrived finally, but her job had been done by me. I realized what was happening. This was the first real change that we were enacting on the plot. We made our first difference. This wasn't a game anymore. It never was.

A/N:

Matt: Alrighty, here it is, finally haha. This took us way longer than it should have but we had complications with a production we are in coming up and just private school in general, that's the way it goes. Anyway the next chapter is going to be by Maya so who knows when it will come out. Hope you liked it :D

Jason: So yeah we're doing the whole two chapters alternating, mainly bc Maya was going to write this but had too much stuff to do. This is the last time for a while that you will see me writing, which is probably good because I'm super behind on NaNoWriMo. I hope you enjoyed! Also yeah note on the whole Me and Lissa interaction: a couple nights ago I was reading up on Lissa's character on the FE wiki so I could write her better and I was like WOW SHE SEEMS LIKE SHE FEELS SUPER LIKE ME. LOOK AT THIS WRITING POTENTIAL YASS. That's literally what I said to Matt. So there it is! luv u guiz ~3

Maya: Fuck you, its tech week. Teachers don't understand us theater kids. I will not be writing shit until this hell ends and I catch up with not failing my classes. Anon.

|m| Fuck the police! Destroy the Patriarchy! Down with capitalism! Just kidding (kinda) |m|