Author's notes: Well that took much longer than expected. Well, for anyone who doesn't know, Cormag and I now have a fic called Star Emblem, which I suggest you check out. Now that school has started with the four AP classes I was stupid enough to take at once, it can be difficult to get the half chapter for that done, let alone the full chapter for OC, so I'm giving that priority for now. This does not mean this story is on hiatus, just that I will be playing it by ear, and will mostly update when I have a long break from school.
Onto the reviews:
Bun-Bun: Woo! Shipping!
Ace: Who said next chapter? And who said I'm not gonna screw with certain details? Also, Grima will be even more op, in a one on one fight he could take on most of the shepherds with a tree branch.
Cormag:Chapter 13 was definitely the most fun to write. And yep, everyone in 2nd gen is OP in this story.
Chasti: Yeah, focus more on the OCs in many cases, since there are only a few canon characters that are really a main part of the story and well, I honestly don't know some of them very well. Plus if I wrote everyone properly this would take 300+ chapters, which I wouldn't mind if I had the time to write that much.
Pyro: Well, you've seen the project already, but for everyone else again it's STAR EMBLEM (shamelessly promotes own story)
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, if I did, Validar would be playable. I also don't own anything I reference.
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?pov
"Someone help!" Nowi screamed in the loudest, highest pitch screech she possibly could.
I let out a loud sigh "For the last time, Gregor and I were trying to save you. If you didn't notice, we also had a manakete with us when we came to get you." Bantu, our client, had paid three bullions in advance for our service as mercenaries, and would have given us a rather large bullion afterwards had he not met an unfortunate fate during the operation. Despite his magical powers, the man's age left him so weak that one strike from a myrmidon was enough to bring the man down. I suppose he is getting a fine rest now, he was nearly ten thousand years old, after all, living during the subjugation of the dragons and fighting in Marth's army alongside the Voice of Naga.
"Dylan, Don't let dragon child bother you, she'll know truth once safe, no? Use ability, scan area for crazy cult people." I guess that's a pretty accurate definition of the grimleal, from what Bantu told me, they were planning on sacrificing Nowi to Grima, as she is a descendant of one of the twelve divine dragons. Said dragon certainly wasn't Naga, but it was a mystery as to which one it was.
I activated my trump, Occulus, and looked around the area, seeing past the sand dunes for miles. I didn't see any of them, and I knew they couldn't be that far away, which meant they had to be really close. Naga-dammit.
I deactivated my trump, adjusting as my vision returned to normal. I saw a blurry figure rushing towards me and I pulled out my gladius, Sunfire, and slashed out. As my eyes finally adjusted, I saw that I had only managed a glancing blow on the arm. Luckily, Gregor was ready with a follow-up that finished the man off.
I took a closer look at the man, seeing that he was nothing more than a boy in his teens that was sent to his death. The more see of the grimleal's work, the more I believe that they have absolutely no regard for life. I guess it makes sense, considering they worship a being that is considered the bane of humanity.
A large squad of enemies surrounded us, more than the three of us could take on alone. "Nowi! Run as far as you can!" I yelled as Gregor and I prepared to hold off the enemy forces.
"But, but-" Nowi began.
"One person living be better than all people dead, is it not?" Gregor said as he struck out at a myrmidon.
"I guess…" Nowi said sadly as she flew off.
A dark mage launched a blast of my magic, which blocked with Sunfire. The blade being imbued with light magic gave it a distinct advantage against dark magic. I used my blazing sword technique to ignite the blade with flames as leapt towards the mage and beheaded him.
I practically glided as I dodged arrows, magic, and sword strokes from the enemy. Any time I could get within three feet of the enemy, I slashed out to wound or hopefully kill the enemy. I could pick off a few of their number, as could Gregor, but the two of us just weren't enough. I felt a foot hit my torso as I flew towards the ground. When I looked up I saw a man holding his spear above my face. The man was about to bring it down when-
A man's foot, flying at an incredible speed with wind magic visible around him, slammed into the man's people with a sickening thud. The man stumbled for a meter or so before regaining his balance. "Never going to attempt to recreate Avatar again." the man grumbled.
Two women on pegasi came dropping off two men. "Kira, you never told me you had a sister." The brown haired one said, referring to the man who just saved me.
The man did look very similar to me, With black hair and and yellow eyes, both of us having a wiry build, although he was a good head taller than me. There were some contrasts, but they were superficial, such as his hair being short and mine long, a matter of preference rather than genetics. Our weapon choices were very different, his weapon being a rapier made of dark energy while mine a gladius out of light. The man may very well have been a sibling of mine, seeing as I had no memory of anything prior to the past year.
"Yes, of course he is NOT your sibling."
Thank you Stone, for the wonderful insight I would have known in a few minutes anyway. Where would I ever be without you?
"I don't have any siblings." The man said in reply, before turning to me "Oh by the way, I'm Kira, the guy with the spear is brutus, and the blue haired guy with the tattoo is Chrom." Chrom mouthed 'it's not a tattoo' in response "And the two women on pegasi are Sumia and Cordelia." he looked around "Oh, wow. Everyone's caught up and in the fray, it looks like we might not get any action today. Anyway, would you like to join the shepherds? You'd get a much better cash flow than you would as a mercenary." Kira gave a bright smile.
"Only on two conditions: My friend Gregor joins, and you give the manakete, Nowi a home." Brutus and Chrom had run off, worried the battle would end before they could do anything.
"Done and done. Nowi's already met with our group, and is currently with one of her own, Dolce." I looked up to see that two dragons were flying in the air one green and one black, who I assumed was Dolce. Nowi was laughing wildly and Dolce was appologizing as the two sprayed fire at the grimleal. "And Gregor is teaming up with Vaike." I saw Gregor alongside a blond man, cutting through several of the faster units while the blond man obliterated the armored units with a hammer.
"Then I guess I'm one of you now." In that instance, several reinforcements arrived as a mass of dark energy formed nearby. A dark crusader, one of the beings holding parts of my memories as well as one that I would have to defeat in order to unleash my full potential.
The energy merged together, taking the shape of a woman with red eyed and crimson tentacles made of muscle bursting out of her back. "The binge eater." Kira muttered under his breath "Plegians, risen, and now anime characters? Our luck must really be shit. Hey Gregor, Gaius, and Crimson, we could use some help over here!"
As the three came towards us, Kira made a plan "Crimson, you cover us with your levin knives from afar. Gaius, you get the first quick strike, Gregor gets a larger one in immediately after, and Dylan and I will make a powerful attack of our own. After that, we'll just have to wing it."
And that was exactly what we did. As Gaius was sweeping quickly by her tentacles to create an opening for gregor, Kira planned our attack. We both used our sword magic, Kira's wind feeding my fire while my fire spread to his own blade. "Let's show her some fire and Brimstone." Kira said with a smirk as we ran towards the woman. We both leapt up, leaving a massive x-shaped wound that sadly closed as we landed. Kira suddenly sped up, leaping and striking one of the tentacles three times, taking it out. That was one down, leaving her with only three to kill us with. We continued fighting, Gaius and Gregor landing quick strikes, Crimson unleashing blasts of lightning as she threw her levin knives, Kira launching missiles of dark energy while I fired balls of flames.
No matter what we tried, she just recovered from her wounds almost immediately, before striking us with her massive tentacles. Gregor already had a wide gash on his chest and there were multiple small ravines forming in the sand from the force of her strikes. THe woman simply laughed at our attempts to defeat her, referring to us as sacks of flesh who would be nothing more than a meal to her. Whatever this woman was, she certainly wasn't human.
"Hey, what's the strongest fire tome you have?" Kira asked me, panting.
"Bolganone, why?"
"Perfect, I have an idea, but we'll have to get as close as possible."
We both rushed the creature. As we got within five feet Kira yelled "Dylan, Now!"
I launched my Bolganone, while Kira launched his Rexcalibur. The two collided as they reached the creature and exploded in one massive bonfire. Now, the woman that had been laughing at us was now screaming. After a minute or so, the fire faded and the shriek stopped.
"Burn baby burn!" Kira said with a smirk.
"I kinda like this guy, he knows his references."
What references- wait, the remains of the dark crusader are floating to me maybe I'll remember something!" A small orb of light came in contact with me and dissolved. I felt a surge of power, but no memories.
We turned around to see that the others had already taken out the reinforcements and the shepherds led us to camp.
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"Did memories come back?" Gregor asked with a worried look. We had met a few months after my first memory and was the only one who knew of my predicament.
I sighed "Nope. Not a one. I'm starting to think that I'll never remember anything." I felt a tear running down my cheek. That was the fourth one of those things I had defeated, and I still got nothing out of it.
"So what if memories not come back?" Gregor wiped the tear off my cheek and attempted to smile. "We simply make new ones. If you never remember, then memories be not worth remembering anyway."
"Thank you, Gregor." I pulled him into a hug, partly because he was a good friend and partly because I really needed it right now myself.
Nowi walked up to us. "Why is miss Dylan scared?" She said with a frown. What did you do to her, Gregor?" She accused.
"Why you blame me?" Gregor asked.
"Because your scary!" I couldn't suppress my laughter as Nowi said this, and my mood became a little brighter.
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Kira pov
"So you guys understand the plan?" I asked Ricken and Maribelle.
"Yes," Ricken began "I take…" Ricken looked around nervously "THAT tome and use it to give you an opening."
"Then I will use a rescue staff to pull her away once you've finished your end." Maribelle said.
"And if my end fails?"
"Then I use THAT staff," she was less nervous about saying it than Ricken, but she still didn't want to reveal the ace she held in her sleeve "And make sure she survives, no matter the cost. Why did you only bring the two of us into this, by the way?"
"I knew I would need help, but I wanted to involve as few people as possible, that way we are the only ones to blame if we fail. You two happened to be the most suited for the job. I would have just gone with Ricken, but we may need your staff and Ricken would have told you about the plan either way. You are his fiance, after all."
"I guess that is a fair point, however…" Maribelle drawled.
"Yes?"
"It would be very unwise to put so much pressure on yourself. You can not always succeed in swaying your fate after all."
"I would say otherwise, my very presence is the product of Naga fighting against our fate, as you both probably know with that weird connection with the divine dragons your families are known for."
"Yes, we've heard," Ricken said in Maribelle's place "but there are still things that truly must come either way. Whether the fate of Emmeryn is one such thing, we shall find out, but don't worry about things which may not necessarily be within your control."
"If it's not in our control, then we may simply fall against what is within Grima's. We'll need every ounce of assistance we can get. While the royal family and I certainly need Emmeryn at our sides, we aren't the only ones. We're all pieces on the chessboard sitting at the dragons' table now, and if one piece is out of place, it could alter the course of the world's future completely."
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Brutus pov
"Hey Brutus, are you up for a spar?" Cordelia said as she walked up to me. When I looked at her she had a wound on her arm that appeared to be from an arrow she took out herself, and her pegasus had a few grazes of her own.
"I don't think you should be training right now."
"Weren't you the one who trains every day as hard as he can to improve?"
"Not when I'm injured. If you train now you will only make your injuries worse and slow yourself down."
"I've fallen so far behind all of you! I need the training so I won't be a hindrance!"
"You'll catch up by the time we reach the Plegian castle anyway, so you don't have to worry. Besides, you're not a hindrance to us, you're a very helpful unit, especially since you can travel much easier than we can in the desert. However, if you overwork yourself while injured you'll make yourself into a hindrance and you may get yourself killed."
Cordelia picked up her practice spear, she charged forward… and fell to the ground. "Do you see what I mean? I'm taking you to Lissa."
I picked her up and began carrying her. When she stated that she could walk on her own, I pointed out how easily she fell earlier.
I got to Lissa in the med tent. "Oh hey Brutus- what happened to Cordelia? You guys didn't go too hard on her during your sparring did you?"
"Well-" Cordelia began only for me to cut her off.
"This idiot decided it was a good idea for her to hide her injuries. She was fully intent on training despite her wounds and get herself hurt worse than she already was."
"You don't need to be so hard on her, Brutus. You did that quite a few times when we were younger. That's how I got most of my early first hand training, Remember? You and Chrom would get yourselves hurt then come to me to try to hide it from Emm and Frederick."
"See? You shouldn't have been so ster about it." Cordelia said.
"And he shouldn't have let you go through with training. Do you understand?" She glared at Cordelia, and I felt sorry for the rider. While Lissa was usually bubbly and smiling, she could e downright terrifying when she wanted to. There have even been times when that glare has silenced Phila and Frederick during their worst rants.
Lissa took out her mend staff and healed Cordelia's arm, before applying a small vulnerary salve and wrapping it with bandage. "Okay, it's healed, but don't move around too much today. I want you to stay in this tent tonight while the muscles set. You took a pretty good hit there, you were lucky it was only your arm."
"That's why I need to train harder!"
"No, that's why you need to stop being reckless!" Lissa said sternly while reaching for the reigns on Cordelia's pegasus.
"Shouldn't I be the one taking care of Ferry?" Cordelia asked, nervous that someone else was caring for her steed.
"You need to just take it easy. I don't want you to do anything even slightly strenuous. The most you'll do today is eat and rub Ferry's mane." She walked out rubbing Ferry's nose while saying 'Ok honey, let's get you taken care of before you mommy has a fit!'
Cordelia gave me a look that seemed to scream 'Look what you've done!'
"Yeah, that may have been a little overboard, but at least you'll be well rested for our next sparring match."
"I'll make sure to do some extra work tomorrow." She said with a smile.
"That's perfectly fine as long as you don't get yourself hurt again."
"Don't worry, I'll do anything to not have to go through this again." A mischievous smile formed on Cordelia's lips. "So, you used to do that as well? Do you have any stories to tell?"
"Well, there was this one time…"
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Kyouko pov
Agrona, Aelia and I were watching Cassius and Marcus spar. The two exchanged blows, Marcus landing quick and light strikes while Cassius relied on heavy blows.
"Hey Aelia, one hundred gold on Marcus!" Agron said with a smirk.
"You know, for a tactician, you're not that smart. Cassius would win if he was using an axe on this guy, Marcus is screwed against him with a lance. Oh well, that just means get easy money." Aelia replied.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Marcus is doing better than usual." I said, seeing Agrona's point. It seemed like an even match, so I wouldn't bet either way.
Cassius reared back and landed an extremely powerful strike, luna. Marcus countered this by redirecting some of the force-wait, is that pavise? When did he learn that? Marcus followed up and struck Cassius, the bruises he had earned beginning to fade. Before Cassius could react, Marcus had his blade at Cassius' throat.
"What the hell?"Aelius bellowed.
"Looks like you owe me one hundred gold. Pretty exciting huh, Kyouko?" I could only nod dumbly, trying to comprehend how Marcus did that.
Agrona and Aelius walked towards Cassius and whispered something before they all left.
"How did you do that?" I asked Marcus, still dumbstruck.
"I may not look like it, but I've actually been training every night. By the way, next time we stop somewhere, any chance you'd like to get a bite to eat." He said, looking nervous.
Well, that came out of nowhere, or did it? He did always get my attention before he did something stupid, had he been trying to impress me?
I stood up, readying my blade "On one condition; you beat me in the next match." I said with a smirk.
"I should have expected that." Marcus said calmly as he readied his own sword.
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Welp, a little short for that long a break, but at least we've got something now. This was one chapter I didn't figure out until school started, and even then I just kinda went with the flow. We also finally gave some love for the mini-shepherds. Next chapter will be another 2nd gen chapter then we'll have what may end up as a two part or a double size chapter for what will be the craziest thing we'll do in the entire Plegia arc. Please leave a review, it is for writers what clapping is for Tinkerbell.