A/N: I should be asleep right now. I have to be up for work in six hours, but I was feeling creative and decided to finish throwing this one together. And it hasn't been four months since the last one! Huzzah! Progress! Thanks for all the follows and favourites and stuff, it means a lot that people like my work. It's a new feeling. I hope the fluffy stuff isn't coming off too...idk, like too much? I have no idea what i'm doing, but I guess it's working.

Anyway, hope you enjoy. I should be getting to bed, but the creative juices are currently flowing and I can't pass chances like that.

The following is a fan work based on the video game Fire Emblem Awakening. I do not claim ownership of the game, its characters, world, premise or anything else contained within. Fire Emblem Awakening is owned by Intelligent Systems, and published by Nintendo. Please support the official release.

I shot into a sitting position as I jolted awake. My head felt heavy and numb, my vision swam and nausea crept up from my stomach. Where was I? Who was I?

"What year is it?"

Somebody appeared in my vision, but I couldn't make them out. Looking around, I could barely make out a dimly lit room, another person stood off the the side. The first person suddenly grabbed my head and forced me to look at them, their face mere centimeters from my own, but I still couldn't make them out.

But their hands felt warm, and with that warmth came the cold. My entire upper body, I realized, was bare and exposed to the frigid Feroxi air. "Did I do something dumb?" was all I managed. Words were spoken, but they sounded like it was being spoken from behind four doors.

I was pushed back into my prone position, and something was draped over my torso. It didn't feel warm, but it kept the cold away. The person stepped away, more words but I couldn't make them out. Then both figures left the room. I felt sleepy, my eyelids heavy, and my body heat began to fill the space around me, I felt warm again, and slowly dozed off.

I woke again feeling lightheaded, hungry, and incredibly weak. It took a great deal of effort to force myself to sit up. Something feel off my chest as I sat up, and looking down, I found Morgan's coat crumpled up on my lap. And then there was the scar. Fresh scar tissue stretched along my side and onto my lower chest.

I ran my finger along it, then reached up to the one on my face that I had had since I had been born. But it wasn't there. With a tired sigh, I was reminded that once again, this wasn't the life I was used to. And that I had nearly died, again. A chill spread over me, and I through Morgan's coat on. It fit surprisingly well considering how much smaller Morgan was than me, but then again, it did originally belong to her father and it always looked pretty big in the artwork.

"Hey you." A voice said, alongside the clinking of plate mail. "You're finally awake."

Somewhere in the corner of my mind came the line "You were trying to cross the border, right?" But I shook it away, now wasn't the place for that. I wasn't in a horse drawn cart after all.

Not this time, Todd Howard.

"Yeah...Um..." I looked towards the source of the voice to find Kjelle with her hands full of a ragged sack. "I don't think we've met."

"Chelle." she replied. "But it's written Kjelle. And Morgan said you're Rob?"

"Robert, actually. But Rob is fine too." I nodded. "Where is Morgan, anyway?"

"Still looking through the supplies. The bandits had some food so she's going through it for stuff that'll last." Kjelle explained. "Robert, that's Grustian, isn't it?"

"Don't know." I shrugged, I hadn't actually thought about that. What if my name was strange to the people here? "That's just what my parents named me."

Kjelle hummed as she laid out the sack on the ground next to me. "Here, you lost a lot of blood. It isn't much, but eat up."

"Thanks." Said rummaging around in it and produced a handful of jerky and a stale loaf of bread. Better than nothing, and I was never really a picky eater to begin with.

"So, how many did you take down?" Kjelle asked, taking a seat next to me.

"Technically two." I said, looking over at Cassius' corpse still laying with my borrowed axe still wedged into his skull.

"What, that's it?" Kjelle scoffed. "So you come to rescue me, almost die, and I still end up doing most of the work?"

"Yeah. Sorry." I sighed and looked down at the floor. "How am I still alive anyway? I was bleeding pretty badly for a while."

"Force fed you my only vulnerary." Kjelle explained. "Next time just leave it to someone who can actually fight, you'll just get killed otherwise."

"I can't do that."

"Why, because I'm a girl?" she scoffed again, "I'm a trained knight, you know!"

"No." I said as my mood died and my voiced dropped, "I'd just feel guilty about it. That's all." We lapsed into silence as I ate the meagre rations I had been given.

kjelle sighed, "Whatever, I'll show you a thing or two, if you're set on this. But you really should just go home."

"Home doesn't exist anymore." I said, it was technically true, and in a way it was the same for her. "And even then I'm not any good at anything else."

Kjelle nodded, and we lapsed back into silence again until Morgan eventually returned. "Rob! You're up!"

"Yeah, thanks to you two, I'm still alive. So, thanks for that." I nodded to her, "any luck on any more supplies?"

"Found some more good, some bandages, and a new shirt for you!" She exclaimed as she laid everything out on the ground next to me.

"What happened to my gambeson anyway?"

"It was pretty wrecked." Kjelle explained, "we used it to wipe up all your blood."

"So, here you go!" what Morgan held up was more of a jacket than a shirt, it looked vaguely like the same jackets the mercenaries wore in the game, No shoulder plate though. It didn't look very warm, but it was better than nothing.

"Thanks, Morgan. I appreciate it." I said as I pulled it on. "Here, you can have you coat back."

"Thank you, thank you!" She beamed, sliding her own coat back on. "Hmmm, thanks for keeping it nice and warm!"

"That thing does a really good job of keeping the heat it." I nodded.

"Can you stand?" Kjelle asked, already on her feet.

"Let's see." I grunted, pushing myself up. A sudden wave of light headedness nearly took me back to the floor, stopped only by Morgan reaching out to catch me. "Oh...wow..." I groaned, "That's...really hard."

"And you're really heavy!" Morgan laughed, "Come on, big guy."

"You sure you can handle it?" I asked as we started hobbling towards the entrance, with Kjelle collecting our supplies and following after us. "I can tough it out if it's too much."

"Don't worry about it." Morgan laughed, "consider this payback for getting Cassius. My shoulder still smarts from that spell."

"Eh, it was payback for him dropping the roof on me." At that, Morgan stiffened as we walked.

"The roof fell on you!?" Kjelle asked, aghast.

"Yeah, I was about to get an axe in the face when the wall exploded, and the roof came down."

"That explains all the rocks and dust that got pushed out of your wounds." Kjelle muttered.

"Hehe...yeah, screw Cassius, right?" Morgan laughed sheepishly.

"Morgan." I stopped, looking down at her, "did you blow up the wall on me?"

"She also dropped the roof on the other bandits." Kjelle added.

"Wow."

"It was an accident?" Morgan laughed looking away.

"I'm not mad, I'd actually be dead otherwise. It's actually kinda funny." I laughed. "Messed up my sword though."

"We'll find you a new one, don't worry." Morgan laughed, "Where did you leave the pack anyway?"

"It should still be just outside the entrance we came in, unless a bandit managed to escape and took it." I said.

"I'll carry it if it's still there. We're going back to town, right?" Kjelle said.

"That's the plan." I nodded, "gotta let what's-her-name that you're still alive and Cassius is dead."

We managed to get back to town just before nightfall and met with the women who sent us after Kjelle. According to her, they had buried Kjelle's master already, adn the entire town was in mourning for his loss. After explaining that Cassius was dead and that they wouldn't have to worry about bandits anymore. She offered us food and a place to sleep for the night and we took her up on her offer.

And that's how I found myself laying in a spare bed that belonged to one of her sons who was away with the war. In the house of a women who I had never learned the name of. I let out a sigh and rolled over for the umpteenth time that night. I was absolutely exhausted, but sleep alluded me.

Now that I thought about it, which war was it? Because if it was the war with Plegia still, Morgan and Kjelle being here already really screwed with the timeline. Questions for the morning, I guess.

Another sigh and I rolled onto my back and threw the heavy fur blanket off my chest. The cool air crept it's way back to me. It was refreshing in a way, but it didn't help. I slowly traced the fresh scar on my side, a memento of my near death experience, and of the first lives i'd taken.

With a pit growing in my stomach I climbed to my feet and got dressed, the act accompanied by the heavy weight of physical exhaustion, lighter than it had been earlier at least. I slowly crept out into the darkened house, passed the clothes doors that the others slept behind, and out the front door into the cold night.

I took in a deep breath of the frigid air, and started walking. It was fairly bright out, considering it was the middle of the night. A full moon sat in a cloudless sky, surrounded by countless stars. A sky completely alien to the one I knew. All was quiet, aside from the crunching of snow underfoot as I wondered.

I used to take walks like this a lot, back when I was still in college. I'd wonder the dorm grounds when either sleep refused to come to me, or I was stuck on school work, or when I was just feeling down.

So I took these walks a lot.

It was a combination of the first and the last tonight. Thougths of the men I had killed clawed their ways into my head, and the guilt hit me. Sure, they had been bandits, but they were still people. I killed them, and I didn't even think about twice about it in the moment. Sure, it was me or them, but I didn't think I had it in me to just straight up off somebody. Wound or disable them, sure, but kill them?

I thought back to the parking lot. That had been pretty simple to do as well, in retrospect and then it hadn't even really been a life-or-death situation, though I don't know If I actually managed to kill them. Guess we put the tally at four for now.

Heh, that's a morbid thought, keeping score.

My train of though trailed off as I stopped in my tracks. In my aimless wondering, I had found myself in the village cemetery. A mound of disturbed snow sat towering over the smaller mound of dirt, in place of a traditional grave marker was a sheathed sword stabbed into the earth. "So this is where you ended up, eh?" I said to the grave, not expecting a response.

I kicked some snow out of the way and made room for me to sit, and plopped myself down. There were about twenty or so graves marked with old, weather worn planks of wood, the entire area was surrounded by a waist high fence. I guessed they didn't have the wood ready to use.

I looked back at the sword, it was actually pretty big, now that i could see it unobstructed by the snow. It was clearly designed to be wielded two-handed, the grip a royal blue, the pommel and guard taking on a silvery sheen. It was a nice sword, shame to leave it out in the cold like this. But I wasn't about to take it, that would be disrespectful. Not that respect mattered to the dead.

A chill ran down my spine, it was time to head back. I stood up and turned to leave, coming face to face with Morgan. I yelped and stepped back, falling onto my back in the snow.

"You good?" Morgan laughed, offing me her hand.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep, so I decided to go for a bit of a walk." I explained accepting her help to my feet.

Morgan grunted with the effort, her smaller form once again making it difficult for her to hold my bulk. "Something on your mind? Wanna talk about it?"

"Thanks," I said, shaking my head. "But I'm ok. Don't worry about it."

"Well if you say so." She mumbled, looking up at the moon. "It's a nice night for a walk."

"Yeah." I nodded, "Say, what are you doing out here, anyway?"

"Out here looking for you." She said, trailing off into a sheepish laugh.

"There you are!" I looked over my shoulder and past Morgan at the new voice, seeing Kjelle marching through the snow, not in her armour but instead in thick plain clothes.

"Oh, hey Kjelle." I greeted. "We having a party out here or something?"

"Oh, Hello." Kjelle replied slowly, "No, I just came looking for Morgan after she tried to sneak out for the third time tonight."

I quirked a brow at Morgan and she grinned sheepishly, "I couldn't sleep either." she explained with a shrug.

"Well, let's head back then." I shrugged, "I'm getting kinda cold out here."

"Just a minute." kjelle cut in, stepping past me to the grave. "I want to pay my respects." She knelt in front of the grave, using the space I had cleared. She bowed her head and remained silent, Morgan and I watching. Then she stood and turned to us. "Alright, let's go."

"So, how long did you know him for?" I asked as we walked back to the house.

"Eight months or so. I arrived a little after the war began and his sons went off to fight." Kjelle explained. "The bandits had been scattered and disorganized until Cassius showed up a week ago, so he had been able to handle them himself." she looked back over her shoulder. "He was a master with the sword, I thought he was unbeatable."

"And then Cassius took a hostage." Morgan finished. Kjelle nodded and we lapsed into silence, only broken when we got to the front of the house.

"So what are we going to do now?" I asked.

"We'll stick around for a few days." Kjelle stated. "Let you rest a day, then teach you how to fight properly."

"And then we'll head to Ylisse!" Morgan nodded excitedly.

"We'll need to head further east." Kjelle corrected. "The Plegian half of the border is lockdown tight. Probably can't go that way until the war is over."

"East...Hey, that could work. We could grab Nah and Noire! Maybe bump into an Anna!" I thought, nodding to myself.

Kjelle rounded on me then, grabbing me by the shoulders and making eye contact. "How do you know about Nah and noire?"

Oh, that had been out loud.

Shit. How do I explain this? Well, the cats out of the bag. "It's really complicated." I started, my brain didn't know what to do, so my mouth was just moving on auto-pilot. "But I know that you two are from the future, and I know roughly where the others are!"

Kjelle was speechless, she released me and took a few steps back, crossing her arms. "Wait." Morgan spoke up, "we're from the future?"

"Yes, Morgan." Kjelle sighed. "What I want to know is how somebody from this time knows about it. I haven't said a word."

"But then...Dad is..." Morgan trailed off, looking thoughtfully down at the snow.

"It's a story I've read." I half-lied, easy to say it's a book and not a video game, less to explain that way. "Dozens of times. Well, kinda, it's a bit different, it usually starts with the main character waking up in a field in Ylisse with amnesia, but that's besides the point." I explained quickly.

"How in the hells is that supposed to make sense?" Kjelle shouted. How can there be a story about something that happens in the future?"

"Oh! A prophecy!" Morgan cut in again.

"Because I'm from another world, where all this is fiction?" I shrugged. "Look, last thing I remember I got stabbed trying to stop a robbery and then I woke up in the temple and found Morgan."

"Well it makes about as much sense as the time travel thing." Morgan said, looking back and forth between us. Kjelle sighed and face palmed, shaking her head.

"Fine, let's say you're telling the truth and I believe you. What does that make you?" Kjelle challenge.

"A literal nobody." I said immediately. "I don't exist in the story, no character like me does. You're both supposed to be rescued by the Shepherds and your parents after Lucina blows your cover. The war with Plegia is still happening, neither of you should be here yet." I took a deep breath.

"So what you're saying is, you have information, but it may be unreliable." Kjelle asked.

"Well, aside from the timing, and the lack of your parents, it's been playing out pretty similarly so far." I added.

Kjelle sighed again, turning back to the house. "Let's...Let's just go to bed. We can continue this in the morning."

I let out a yawn. "Yeah, I think the cold's getting to me, or the blood loss. Getting really sleepy all of a sudden."

We quietly stepped inside, thankful that the shouting hadn't woken the owner. Kjelle went to open the door to her room, but turned when she realized Morgan wasn't following her. "Morgan?" she asked slowly. "What are you doing?"

"Well I'm cold." She explained from my doorway.

"So why are you going into his room?" Kjelle questioned.

"Because Rob is really, really warm." Morgan continued slowly, like she had to explain a complex concept to a layman. Kjelle said nothing, but turned a glare on me.

"I swear I have done nothing." I declared.

"We'll talk in the morning." Kjelle growled, then stepped into her room and quickly closed the door behind her.

I closed the door behind Morgan as she made a beeline for my, our bed now I guess, and through off her cat and took off her boots. "So what, you can't sleep without me now?" I asked.

"Guess so! I experienced sleep with a personal heater, and now I can never go back!" she beamed. "Now come on, I'm tired too."

"Yeah let's see you say that when it's thirty degrees out." I muttered taking off my own boots and climbing under the covers.