Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.

This particular miniseries is wearing on me. I'll be relieved when it's done to be honest. It's a cool idea, but it hasn't turned out so well.


"Pardon me, but I wish to know how close this is to Ylisse."

"Shove off kid."

The boy frowns as he's rejected once again. He thought the Feroxi were allies of Ylisse, yet they're so rude.

Unfortunately, he's not quite sure where he is beyond just being in Ferox. He doesn't know if he needs to go south, or if he should be going east first to avoid hitting Plegia. He came into this little village last night after stumbling through the snow, but none of the locals have been friendly to him. He's considered bribing one of them with money for directions, but his funds are low and it seems like a waste of money he could be using on food.

Considering no one is giving him directions though, it may be necessary to bribe someone. He likes to think himself above such things, but reality is often disappointing.

"Maybe it's the mask." He considers. "Or perhaps they don't like my prosthetics."

He's aware he's quite out of place. Not only is his phenotype completely different from anyone elses with his pale skin and the slight epithantic folds on his green eyes, but the smooth wooden mask that covers the left half of his face and neck as well as his wooden left leg and left hand mark his as both crippled but also probably more wealthy than everyone here considering the quality of the prosthetics (not to mention the relatively higher quality of his clothes, even if they are worn-out by this point).

Well, he's not actually more wealthy. His clothes are courtesy of someone else who happened to be quite generous.

At the very least he's not cold. While the villagers don't seem to like him, he was able to buy a coat without a hassle which is much appreciated. He has very little body fat, so the cold chills him particularly quick and therefore the coat is quite welcome.

"Maybe I should just head east until I hit the ocean?" The boy considers. "But who knows how long that would take. I might not have the money to manage the trip."

What's the alternative though? Head south and pray that he's near Ylisse and not Plegia? That could easily be a fatal mistake. If Ylisse and Plegia are at war at the moment, the Plegian military is not likely to look kindly on an outsider.

Well, if the locals won't give him instructions, maybe he can find a merchant to give him directions, or just find his way to a larger city and hope to find someone there who can direct him. Neither idea sounds particularly appealing to be honest. It could take a month for a merchant to arrive, and finding his way to a larger city would rely on either luck or following someone, and it seems unlikely that anyone here would let him follow along.

"Getting to Ylisse won't solve my problems anyhow." He reminds himself. "I still have no means to support myself, and there is no guarantee I will find the others. I'm not a future child like the others either, so I do not have an in with the Shepherds."

Even with all that in mind, this world is a massive step up from the old one… except for how cold it is. Ferox wasn't this bad in the old world.

"Maybe Grima didn't like the cold. He's a dragon, right? A reptile? Maybe he kept Ferox warmer on purpose so he could move around there."

With a quiet sigh the boy makes his way to the inn. He'll rest for another day, then make a decision tomorrow about his course of action.

###

The next day, unfortunately, doesn't bring any change in his circumstance. Forced to make a decision, the boy resigns himself to an attempt to head east. He starts out following cart tracks from the edge of the village that are heading south-east.

Moving through the snow with his prosthetic leg is more difficult than it would be for someone else, because he doesn't step with a prosthetic leg so much as he swings it in front of himself and balances on it. That's the price of having his knee destroyed; even if his prosthetic has a joint to replace the knee, he can only exert force through his thigh. So basically he has to drag his leg through the snow to take a step rather than moving normally which is a subtle but very inconvenient difference in this situation.

Still, he's had to slog through bad terrain for hours before. The only difference here is that it's cold. He should be able to handle this.

Crunch, shhh, crunch, shhh… One leg breaks the snow's surface, the other drags through, both creating distinct sounds. He mindlessly follows the fading wagon tracks. Within the hour he expects the tacks to be gone completely, and that he'll be relying on luck to find a city.

The cold is really starting to get to him after the fourth hour. The heavy fur of his new coat does wonders, but it's only so effective.

The boy doesn't know if stopping for a rest would help or hurt his situation. Deciding to assume it's the latter, he avoids resting for more than a few minutes at a time to keep his blood pumping.

He absently remembers that he doesn't have his bow attached at the moment. He has a special prosthetic with a built-in bow, and it's not like he can attach that in a hurry but it's impractical to have it on at all times. He has a dagger he could pull of course, but he's an archer primarily.

Brigands are thankfully rare in Ferox… from what he remembers anyhow. That is what Mistress said, right? Before the war Ferox had little banditry because they "were all super tough!" or something like that.

She gave a more detailed explanation than that, but he doesn't remember the specifics.

That doesn't mean there aren't brigands at all though. If he runs into any, he's probably done for. If he's lucky they'll just take his money, but it's not like he has any extra money stashed away somewhere so losing his money is just as much of a death sentence as actually killing him.

Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but he doesn't have much confidence many people will be willing to employ a cripple from another country with oddly higher-class clothes than he should probably own and who wears a half mask.

Maybe he shouldn't be thinking about this right now. There's nothing he can do about it anyhow.

When the sun starts to get low in the sky, he realizes he's not getting to a city in time for nightfall. While that's certainly unfortunate, it's not the end of the world. Using his dagger the boy cuts down some saplings and creates a slightly elevated wooden platform to lie on, then scrapes bark off trees to act as kindling, and finds some dead wood to act as more substantial fuel for the fire that night. It's not as substantial a fire as he would have liked, but without a hatchet it's the best he can do (and certainly better than no fire at all).

He cooks some of his rations over the fire while counting how much he has left. If he really stretches it, he counts, he can manage a week before he needs to buy more. Hopefully that's overkill, but one can never be certain.

###

The town he stumbles across after two days of travelling is only slightly bigger than the one he came from. The locals aren't much more friendly, but there is someone of great help at the village: an Anna.

"Well, you're an interesting sight!" The redhead greets when he walks up. "You look… valmese, is that right?"

"Indeed." The boy murmurs. He bows politely to the merchant. "I am Noam, it is an honor to meet you Miss Anna."

"Miss Anna? Well, you're more polite than half the people I've talked to in my whole life." She smiles. "What do you need cutie? My selection is a bit limited at the moment, I don't bring the fancy stuff out to distant villages, but I can get 'cha a wide variety of things if you give me a week."

"Ah, well I have not much need of supplies or anything physical." Noam says apologetically. "I have need of directions though, and I can pay if need be."

"Ah, lucky you I deal in information too." Anna winks. "Where do you need to get?"

"I'm looking to head to Ylisstol." The boy murmurs.

"Ylisstol huh? That's quite a ways." Anna whistles.

"Where are we exactly, if you don't mind me asking?"

"You're at the far west end of Ferox, near the northmost bit of it. Basically as far away from Ylisstol as you can get without going 'cross the sea." Anna informs him. A grin cross her face and she leans forwards. "Say… I have something that could be of help to you. How does a map sound?"

Noam stands up straighter. A map does sound good, except… "What price are we speaking of? I am tight on funds at the moment, despite what my attire might suggest about my wealth."

"Bad year in your country?"

"No." Noam murmurs. "The only reason I am as well-dressed as I am is because my mistress is quite generous. I am merely a personal servant."

"No kidding? Well, still, I think we can get an agreeable price." Anna says. She roots around in her supply wagon to find the map in question and lay it out on her stand. "See? Quite the quality map if I do say so myself. We're over here incidentally." She points to somewhere close to the north-west corner. "Your best bet is to go to Arnakix, then jump major cities until you get to Haldikirk before you start heading south."

"I see… my thanks."

"Now, about the map." Anna smirks. "How does five gold sound?"

Noam purses his lips. He's never been good at haggling. "Please understand, I have only ten gold to use for my entire trip. I will need to buy food and perhaps shelter along the way. If you are willing to sell for three, I will happily buy it, but five is beyond what I can safely purchase."

"Hmm…" Anna taps her cheek while scrutinizing him. "I've got another offer that might work better for both of us. It's a hard job running a route all by my lonesome. I've got a few more stops to make in the area, but after that I'm heading to Arnakix myself. If you'll help me out for a week or so, I'll give you the map free of charge, and let you ride in my cart and share my food."

"That sounds very one-sided in my favor."

"You'd think so huh? Don't underestimate what a girl is willing to do to get some help. Besides, like I said, it's lonely. I'm not just paying you for the labor, I'm paying for the company too."

"Well, that sounds more than acceptable." Noam agrees. He wants to get to Ylisstol quickly… but a week or two will hardly make a difference for him. Compared to the rest of the group that came from the future, his presence is easily the most irrelevant. "I will happily take you up on the offer."

"We've got a deal then, shake on it." Anna sticks out her hand, and Noam shakes it. "First order of business then is to show you how to take money. Have you ever made a sale before?"

"I have not."

"Well, then this is what you do…"


bauers374: That actually wasn't supposed to be a reference at all. I only realized when you mentioned it that it is similar to that meme.

Communism really doesn't hold a character centric story very well (or, more specifically, it doesn't fit how I write character-centric stories). Aside from maybe some philosophic arguments with other characters, being a communist is an exceedingly minor character trait. It's also not a trait I particularly care to write because I don't find it that interesting. I'll put it down, but to be frank I don't expect it to be used. It doesn't fit the stories I write. It's a wonderful life is a fine idea though.

Guest: Ha.