A/N: Characters may be a bit OOC until I get the hang of writing them again, and I'm working on the whole tense thing, but man is this ever fun. No wonder people write these...

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"Hey, easy there Squirt. I'm not going to hurt you or anything, but I need to get closer to untie ya," The Giant said in what was probably meant to be a reassuring tone but sounded anything but, his empty hands held up in front of him in a symbol of peace.

The seemingly harmless gesture was immediately ruined by the blood still trickling down his knuckles, but I don't think he realized.

I eyed The Giant warily, my shrill scream having trailed off a few minutes ago when all he did was stand just out of kicking distance, his hunched shoulders and uncertain shifting from foot to foot just screaming awkward.

Now, Hound towered over me – but I'm pretty sure this guy towered over even him. He was huge. And had all of the muscles – like, all of them.

I could tell, because his white trench coat was wide open, and he wasn't wearing anything underneath it. White pants, black boots, and a purple belt rounded off his outfit, with a few splashes of grey here and there.

Oh, and the chains. Can't forget the chains, which, as far as I could tell, weren't actually used for anything. Bold fashion statement, that.

The Giant chanced a small step closer at my continued silence and my eyes immediately narrowed, causing him to falter.

I may have also growled.

It was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. Much more impressive than my earlier scream.

His unarmed hands shot up even further, as if that made up for the fact that he had just killed everyone else in camp with his bare hands. "I'm not going to hurt ya, promise," he tried to wheedle. "Wouldn't you like some help to get out of here?"

I…

Well, yes, of course I wanted to fucking leave. But did I trust this guy? No, no I did not. I mean, what's to say he wasn't this Boss character, and he was just cutting out the competition for the money he'd get for selling me off? I could see it now; I would trust him and willingly yet unknowingly follow him straight to my doom - and wouldn't that just be fucking perfect.

Butch, Clyde, and Hound may have been assholes, but the most they had done was almost give me brain damage. This guy had killed three grown and armed men like it was nothing, with his bare fucking hands.

"C'mon kid, I don't," The Giant sighed, one of his hands rising up to run through his short messy black hair in exasperation. "I don't got all day, but I can't just leave you tied to a tree. For one thing, it's something even I wouldn't be able to live with, and for another, Hapi would probably sigh up a storm if she found out."

Okay, so first of all, who the fuck was Happy? Was I in some weird gender-bent version of the Enchanted Forest? Was there a Grumpy and a Doc too? I thought this was supposed to be Fire Emblem.

Second of all…

Well, he had a point. I didn't want to be stuck tied to a tree in a camp full of dead bodies. I could literally taste freedom, and I wasn't about to lose my best chance. I was willing to gamble, even if past events indicated that Lady Luck was out to get me.

I dipped my head slightly, but my eyes never strayed from their wary inspection.

He sighed in relief and began to inch closer cautiously. "Just don't bite me or anything, okay Squirt? I'll have to get close to undo the knot."

I bared my teeth in what might be considered a smile… if you were blind and stupid.

Fun fact – Kid Tiki had really sharp teeth.

I found that out the hard way; I have this nervous habit of chewing on my bottom lip, except Kid Tiki apparently has razor blades instead of teeth.

Fun times.

He eyed my smile for a long moment before slowly crouching down at my side, careful not to make any sudden movements. I tried to hold in a wince as he began fiddling with the tight knots, the rough rope rubbing harshly against my already raw wrists, but I think he noticed because the sudden tension slacked off.

"Fuck, sorry. These things are pretty tight, I might be able to untie them but it'll probably hurt even more." He paused for a second. "They'd come off easier if I just cut them."

Yeah, fuck, whatever.

In for a penny and all that.

I nodded and immediately after heard the faint sound of a blade being drawn. I felt cold metal against my wrists and a split second of pain before the rope was falling limply to the ground and I was scurrying away from him on all fours.

Deeming enough distance put between the two of us for the moment, I brought my hands up before me for the first time in a week and winced at the expected sight of raw and bloody skin around my wrists. I carefully ran my hands and wrists through a series of motions, relieved when I had no trouble moving them beyond the ever-present ache of extreme rope burn.

"So, uh, where are ya from, Squirt?" The Giant asked as he sheathed his boot dagger. He was still crouched down and hadn't moved any closer, as if I were a scared animal and he was trying to seem small and harmless.

How cute.

I sniffed in annoyance.

The constant allusions to Kid Tiki's age were getting real old, real fast – I was twenty-six and only slightly under average in height, thank you very much.

I stood up a little too fast and ended up wobbling slightly before finding my balance. Cautiously I started to stretch, sighing in relief when no further discomfort followed.

"You hear me, Squirt?" He tried again.

I huffed in annoyance and gave him the stink-eye, finally deigning to grace him with actual words. "My name isn't Squirt."

My cheeks immediately flushed as his brows shot up. Goddammit, Kid Tiki. Why do you have to sound like such a squeaker toy?

"So she does speak," He barked out a laugh before grinning playfully, finally rising from his crouched position. "What's your name, then, if it isn't Squirt, Squirt?"

My cheeks puffed out as I glared at his smug face.

"It's K-,"

I snapped my mouth closed, my cheeks flushing a darker red when I realized that I was just about to introduce myself as Kid Tiki.

That title must never be allowed to escape my lips. Ever. I would never live that down.

I opened my mouth again only to pause. I… couldn't really give my real name. I mean, I guess I could, but it felt intrinsically wrong to do so. I was going through a spot of identity crisis at the moment, and it didn't feel right to label my current meat-suit with my actual name when the visuals were so jarringly different.

…I didn't want to give up the last piece of what made me, well, me - and tacking it on to Kid Tiki's appearance felt a little too much like accepting Kid Tiki's appearance.

It was much better to continue dissociating, and what better way than with a completely different name for the meat-suit I was currently occupying?

"Ti-,"

But wait, what if there was already a Tiki running around? I didn't want to get smited – smote? - for a case of Divine Dragon identity theft. No matter how innocent I was in this matter.

"Well? Cat got your tongue?" The Giant chuckled at my attempted glare.

Rude.

So, I decided to be the adult in this situation and did the mature thing.

With all the gravitas a literal munchkin could muster, I crossed my arms and looked at him challengingly, my squeaky voice dripping with sugary smugness. "I'm not supposed to talk to strange weirdos I meet in the forest."

So maybe I was paraphrasing a tiny bit, but Stranger Danger was honestly a thing. And his reaction was priceless, so, you know, point for me.

Hey, I had to distract myself somehow as I could literally feel the dark cloud of anxiety and depression just chomping at the bit for me to slip up and let them out.

Nobody wanted to deal with Crybaby Kid Tiki at the moment.

Nobody.

"Strange weir-," The Giant huffed, looking and sounding affronted. It made him look less threatening, somehow, and my tense stance relaxed a bit. "Hey, Squirt, don't forget that this strange weirdo just saved you from bandits. Kids these days, I tell ya…"

My arms uncrossed and fell to my sides, the fingers of one hand tapping absently against my thigh in thought.

That was true.

Maybe he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

I'd still be keeping my guard up, though. I still wasn't entirely convinced that his actions were altogether altruistic.

I could probably bite him, maybe, as a last resort to get away - but I wasn't deluded enough to even think for a second that he wouldn't totally own me in a fight without even batting an eye…

And in his defence, he had tried to cater to my skittishness, and he hadn't bull-rushed me either, so…

Mind made up, I nodded to myself, my fingers stilling. "Who're you?"

"Thought you weren't supposed to talk to strangers," The Giant parroted back.

Okay, who was the one currently stuck in a munchkin meat-suit? Real mature, Giant.

I held back the urge to stick out my tongue at him, and instead settled for rolling my eyes and sighing in exasperation for having to spell this out for he who was supposed to be grown-ass adult. I was trying to give us an out while still saving face, get with the program here.

"If I know who you are, you aren't a stranger anymore." I managed to keep from speaking slowly and exaggeratingly but couldn't help but tack on one last word at the end, "Duh."

Kid logic for the win.

"I don't think that's how it-," He started as he eyed me dubiously.

I cut him off, stared him straight in the eye, and stressed my words. "If I know who you are, you aren't a stranger anymore."

There was silence for a minute before he let out a great guffaw, his hand actually slapping his thigh in emphasis. When he spoke, it was with a silly grin on his face. "Y'know what, kid? I think I like you. You've got spunk."

I blinked slowly, expression expectant.

"You have the great honor of being saved by the one and only King of Grappling," He gestured at himself like a preening peacock, as if I should be in abject awe.

Well.

That was kind of a pretentious title, wasn't it? Though he had just killed three guys with his fists like it was nothing – a fact I would have to unpack and hyperventilate over later.

Huh.

I squinted at him in thought. You know, now that I think about it, something about him is tugging at my memory, but I can't put my finger on it…

I don't remember anyone like him in Awakening or Fates, so maybe he was a one-off character?

Unless this is one of the earlier games.

Oh God, please don't be one of the earlier games. I haven't played any of them and the illusion of knowing what I'm in store for in this fucked-up situation I've found myself in is the only thing keeping me sane at the moment.

"Is that, like, an actual title? Do people actually call you that? I mean, do you have a job in wrestling or something, or do you just like getting into bar fights?" I asked dubiously, trying to fish for a little more information.

"Well, I mean- I'm sure it'll catch on eventually," The self-proclaimed King of Grappling defended almost sheepishly after an awkward pause. "I'm actually sort of a student at the moment, I guess you could say."

"Oh yeah?" My brow cocked. "Student of a fighting school?"

"You could say that," He hedged, before switching tracks and continuing defensively. "Look Squirt, we're getting off track here, but I guess my title might be a bit of a mouthful for everyday use, so you can just call me Balthus."

Balthus, huh?

Balthus. Balthus. Balthussss.

Why did that sound so familiar?!

"Oh, well I wasn't going to call you The King of Grappling anyways, and I guess Balthus is better than The Giant," I tilted my head in thought. "Still kind of a mouthful, though, so I'm just gonna call you Balto."

Oddly enough, he seemed to physically wilt at my words.

"What's with all these wimpy nicknames? Is Balthus really so hard to say?" I heard him mutter to himself almost gloomily. "Bee, Baltie, that one girl wouldn't stop calling me Boo…"

I ignored him.

Baaalthus. Balthuuuuus.

Oh man, this was really bugging me. It was on the tip of my tongue, I swear.

"Well then If you can give me a nickname, I'll just keep calling you Squirt." He stated, shaking off his sudden funk and interrupting my brainstorming in the process.

"Name's Tika; use it or I'll bite you," I replied absently, a thoughtful frown on my face.

Well I mean, it wasn't, but it was close enough to Tiki that I would remember it. And it came with the added benefit of not stealing someone else's identity, which meant not getting smote, so…

Win-win.

He laughed at my threat. "Well aren't you just a ball of sunshine? Maybe I should call you Sunny instead?"

"Bite your face off," I mumble distractedly.

Balth-

Oh!

"Wolves!" I blurted out excitedly. "You're a Wolf!"

He was one of the Ashen Wolves!

That's why he was so familiar!

…Wasn't he supposed to have a giant war-axe?

I had only played though Cindered Shadows once, but now that I thought about it, he was definitely that one teddy-bear of a guy that Hilda had wrapped around her little finger. So, this was Three Houses, huh? I hadn't even included it as an option, the whole Kid Tiki thing having thrown me way off the mark.

I mean, I guess my meat-suit could pass for Nabatean.

Considering the setting, it probably was Nabatean – or at least a descendant. No, wait - the ears. Definitely full-blooded Nabatean.

But how was I supposed to know that? The resemblance to Tiki really was too uncanny to ignore.

I honestly felt so relieved; his familiarity was really bugging me; you have no idea.

"Wolves?" Balthus asked, voice suddenly losing all traces of humor. "What about Wolves?"

I blinked and looked up at him in surprise.

"Wolves…?"

Oh wait.

Shit.

This did seem kind of suspicious, didn't it?

I mean, I was in a non-assuming munchkin meat-suit, but the guy had like a bajillion debts and bounties on his head, didn't he? I can see how a guy in such a situation might be wary of a trap. And I was perfectly bait-sized.

…And I just blurted out something that I really had no business knowing.

Go me.

He uh, he didn't look like much of a teddy-bear at the moment.

He took a step forward.

It looked very threatening.

I felt very threatened.

I paled.

"Balto!" I blurted out, eyes wide. "He uh, was a wolf. Like – have you never heard the story?"

Balthus' eyes narrowed slightly, but he stopped moving forward. His voice resumed its loud yet joyful tone. "Can't say that I've heard that one. Maybe you should tell it to me."

It sounded like a suggestion.

But it really, really, wasn't.

"Balto was this baddass wolf that wanted to be accepted by this town and be a sled dog." I babbled. "He fell in love with this really pretty dog, see, but he was shunned 'cause he was different – being a wolf and not a dog. But like a lot of things happened and he ended up saving lives and everyone was like 'Oh, Balto, you're so awesome – sorry we were such assholes' and he got a statue made of him in the town square and got the girl. The end."

I mean, that's vaguely what happened.

Was there a bird in the story somewhere? I feel like there was a bird.

…It's been a while since I've watched the cartoon, okay?

I held my breath even as I blinked innocently up at him.

It took a minute for him to digest my word-vomit, but as his posture subtly relaxed I finally started to breathe again.

"Heh, maybe not such a wimpy nickname then." He paused and eyed me with a raised eyebrow. "You've got quite the mouth on ya for such a squirt, anyone ever tell ya that?"

And now I was back to growling, but this time he just laughed.

Fucker.

"I'm twenty-six," I grumbled moodily under my breath.

"Kid, I'm twenty-six," Balthus snorted. "You look, what, five? Six at the most?"

You know what? Fuck it. He was back to looking like a teddy-bear and I was emotionally compromised.

I bared my teeth in another pseudo-smile. "Yeah? Well you look like the perfect height for me to punch you in the balls."

Balthus just laughed, a wide grin sliding home across his face. "You kiss your momma with that mouth, kid?"

And all of a sudden, my smile plummeted as fast as my mood at the jarring reminder. I tilted my head downwards so Kid Tiki's long hair covered my face.

Props to the big guy though, it didn't take him long to realize he had fucked up.

"Oh shit– I didn't mean-," Balthus sputtered awkwardly.

I sniffled.

Stupid allergies.

"Fuck, are you-? No, I'm sorry, don't – fuck, you're crying, aren't you?" Balthus stepped forward, his voice rising in panic.

"M'not crying," I mumbled, rubbing my fists against my eyes. They were hot and prickly – but that was because of the allergies, okay? It was only allergies. "S'allergies."

"Yeah, sure it is, Squirt. Tika. Look," Balthus sighed in frustration and knelt in front of me. "Look, where are you from kid? I'll make sure you get home safe."

A loud sob tore itself from my chest, breaking the silence of the forest.

Great, who let Crybaby Kid Tiki out of her cage? She was so annoying and took forever to shut up.

I wiped some snot on my dirty sleeve. It mixed with the dried mud and smudged across my cheek in a slimy brown mess.

God, Crybaby Kid Tiki was so disgusting.

"C'mon kid, work with me here," Balthus pleaded. His hands hovered awkwardly between us, as if he wanted to comfort me but didn't know how.

Wow, the dude sounded pretty pathetic. And like, he was being very sweet and offering to take me home safe – even if he wasn't aware just how impossible that really was. Guess I should probably throw him a bone.

"C-can't go h-home," I hiccupped, blinking rapidly as I stared at him through a matted curtain of green. A hysteric little laugh escaped my throat before I could continue. "W-when you don't ha-have one."

Because all roads lead to Rome unless you were on another fucking planet.

Universe.

Reality.

Whatever.

Poor Balto, he looked pretty funny with his mouth flapping open and closed like that. Like a big muscly fish.

"I-I want my Mommy," I continued, eyes shining. "B-but I'll ne-never see h-her again."

"I-," He started.

"An-and, you just ki-killed everyone su-super d-dead," My breathing sped up, Kid Tiki's sobs getting louder and more hysterical. "There a-are dead b-bodies right the-there."

Balthus followed my shaking finger with his eyes, even if he knew exactly which dead bodies I was referring to. His face paled a bit and he started stumbling over his words. "I- they were bandits, weren't they? You were tied to a tree-,"

I ignored him because my control had snapped, and the floodgates were open.

"And y-you're Balthus!" I pointed at him accusingly, my voice reaching decibels I hadn't been able to for years.

Because this whole situation was impossible. I was impossible.

He. Was. Impossible.

But did the universe care? No, it did-fucking-not.

"You can call me Balto!" Balthus assured me frantically. "You can – really, I don't mind! Just stop-,"

"And d-don't get me star-started on th-these… things!" I gestured pointedly at Kid Tiki's ears, only to realize it wasn't just the ears. So, I moved my hands and gestured vaguely at my whole meat-suit.

"Tika-,"

"I just – I want my home." I sniffled disgustingly, voice quieting as I lowered my gaze and stared at the ground. "I want to be me."

I don't know how long we stood there in that clearing, the sound of Crybaby Kid Tiki's quiet sobs the only noise to break the silence that had settled between us. I'm guessing it was a while, because by the time Balthus moved to speak again, Kid Tiki's crying had lessened to subdued sniffles.

"Tika," Balthus broke the silence.

I didn't acknowledge him, too busy drowning in my woes, but a large hand landing gently on my head caused me to sniffle and glance up from the dirt.

His brown eyes were solemn, and he had a small sad smile on his face. "I can't – I can't give ya back exactly what ya lost. But I can take ya to a place you can call home, if you'd like. One where you can be whoever you are without nobody telling ya otherwise."

"What," I sniffled. Was he really-? "What do you mean?"

"The place I'm staying at, Abyss – it's for folks like us. Folks with no other place to go, or who can't be themselves without everybody else spitting on them." Balthus tried to ruffle my hair, but the mess of green was so matted and tangled that he quickly started patting my head instead. "Maybe it will end up being your new home. Maybe it won't be. But it can at least be a safe haven for a while, and you'll never be turned away. You'd be free to be you."

Free to be me? I wish.

Still, Balto was offering to bring me with him instead of just leaving me in the forest or dumping me in the nearest village.

I had a real choice here. Abyss was under Garreg Mach, and Garreg Mach was basically the center of everything that would take place in Fódlan.

Did I want to get caught up in the war?

I mean, I'm shit-terrified at the prospect, but I kind of want to meet some of my favorite characters since I'm already down shit-creek without a paddle. And I really should find out if it's my Byleth we're dealing with here - you know, in case it isn't, and I'd be better off hiding at the bottom of the ocean for a few hundred years with Indech.

Conversely, I could say fuck no and go live somewhere far away.

…Which wasn't a real option while Kid Tiki was such a dead-ringer for a Nabatean. Fuck.

So really, it came down to what scared me more.

Garreg Mach came with war, possible death and/or capture by the Empire, and whatever Rhea's reaction might be.

Anywhere else came with Those-Who-Slithered nabbing me, experiments, and certain death.

…

Welp, that's a no-brainer. Guess I'm going to Garreg Mach.

"Okay." My voice came out quiet and raw.

"Okay?" Balthus repeated, head cocked to the side.

"Okay." I nodded my head decisively, voice louder and firm.

The hand on my head gave me one last pat before Balthus stood up. "Okay then. Let's go home."

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