AN: What's this? A Fire Emblem Awakening fanfic in 2020? Wack. It's a slight AU where chrobin has twin morgans (female named Morgan, male named Marc after the Japanese name), and the twins come from the same timeline as the other children (as is my head canon whenever Morgan has a sibling). Only Marc will have amnesia, the reasons for which will become clear. The story will mostly follow Lucina's and Morgan's perspectives with slight interludes to other characters, mostly Chrom, Robin, Marc, and possibly a few other characters. This is an idea I've had for a while and needed to put into writing. Please enjoy Challenging Fate! (If you happen to follow me out of interest in my other story and are wondering where my promised monthly update is for last month and this month, I apologize. School is kicking my butt.)
Chapter One: Outset
Lucina stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the landscape below Mount Prism. After so much pain, struggling, and heartbreak, Lucina could hardly believe that it was possible for her and her friends and family to save their parents from their awful fate. She would actually see her parents again, after they had fallen in battle so many years ago.
Behind her, Lucina could hear her siblings, cousin, and friends chattering amongst themselves about their excitement. As Lucina gazed over the forests and cliffs below her, she recalled the perilous journey that had brought them here.
With the incomplete Fire Emblem lost when her parents had fallen, the world had been doomed as soon as the Fell Dragon had awoken.
Lucina fidgeted with the sleeve of her tunic that covered the strange mark on her upper arm that she and the twins had inherited from their mother. Whenever Lucina's thoughts turned to Grima and the fate of her parents, the mark took on a burning sensation.
"If anyone knew what it meant, it would have been mother," Lucina thought to herself. Ignoring the uncomfortable sensation, Lucina remembered her struggles at castle Ylisstol, trying to save her people with Owain and her siblings. When the city inevitably fell, and the royal children having narrowly escaped with their lives, they began roaming the country, attempting to save lives whenever they could from the unending hordes of Risen, all while staying on the run from Grima's ever threatening search.
As time passed and the children grew older, they eventually encountered their friends, the children of her father's Shepherds, surviving in a similar manner. One after another, they joined forces and became a new generation of Shepherds, representing hope in a dying world.
Unfortunately this was not meant to last. The children traveled lightly and quickly, moving from place to place, protecting the remaining pockets of civilization where they could. However, the number of those pockets grew smaller and smaller. They were only children, and there was only fourteen of them. They were ill equipped to defend the land once known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Places they once thought of as safe were regularly reduced to piles of charcoal and rubble in between visits, and every lost friend and village was a blow to the group's morale that was nearly impossible to recover from.
It was the never ending positivity of her brother, Marc, and the silly games and jokes of her cousin Owain, her sister Morgan and their friend Cynthia that kept them from despair. Lucina may have been the one to lead them, since she was the oldest and the current wielder of Falchion, but she was eternally grateful for her comrades. Lucina had never been quite as good at inspiring people as her father had been.
It was after one such night after Lucina's Shepherds had discovered yet another ruined village that their resident Manakete, Nah, had suddenly shot up from her light slumber, waking the whole group with what had been the best news Lucina had heard since before mother and father had gone away and never returned.
Naga, the Divine Dragon, had spoken to Nah in her sleep, telling her of a way to save the world.
And so, Lucina led them to Mount Prism, where her band of survivors had been met with what might've been the very last sacred part of the world left undestroyed. As Naga's most sacred ground, it offered a certain amount of protection from Grima and his armies of undead monsters, making it the perfect place for the children to actually rest for once. When they had arrived at the peak, the soothing aura of Naga immediately washed over them, giving Lucina and her comrades a sense of safety and security they had not felt since before the days of Grima's dark apocalypse.
An image of Naga had appeared before them and granted them sanctuary, finally allowing them to rest. Almost immediately, the thirteen exhausted children collapsed to the ground in a heap, some of them asleep before they even hit the ground. The most hardy of the group, such as Lucina, Kjelle, Yarne, and Gerome, ensured their friends would be comfortable and wouldn't hurt themselves on their weapons while they slept. As soon as they finished, they too joined the tangle of bodies and limbs and passed into unconsciousness. As for Lucina herself, she had slotted herself between Morgan and Marc, took each of her siblings under an arm and brought them close, and promptly fell asleep.
Lucina smiled to herself as she remembered that first night. It had been three days since then, and they had spent the time treating their various wounds and resting their aching bodies. Today, on the third day, Naga had appeared before them again and told them of the ritual that would allow them to travel to the past and alter what future had been written.
Yet it was a bittersweet ritual. They would be traveling through time to save their loved ones and rewrite the future, but in doing so, they would be abandoning their own timeline. Furthermore, they would be traveling to an era where younger versions of themselves would exist or soon exist. While technically the same people, they would not truly be seeing their parents again. Those men and women would have their own lives to attend to. Lucina was alright with that though. It would be enough for her to see father and mother just one last time. To save them from their doomed future. No, what Lucina was most concerned about at the moment was their own timeline.
Naga had told them it was doomed, and that they too would eventually fall if they continued as they had been. Lucina felt guilty nonetheless. Doomed though it may be, this was still the timeline she called home. It was where her version of father had taught her swordplay. Where she had learned magic and tactics from her mother along with her siblings. Admittedly Lucina wasn't quite as adept as her mother and siblings, but it was a fond memory nonetheless. She remembered chasing her cousin Owain through the castle courtyard, or playing games with her close friend Severa, the daughter of the Pegasus Knights' genius captain, Lady Cordelia. She remembered feeling thrilled when her friends who lived in other kingdoms like Roseanne or Regna Ferox came to visit.
Somehow, leaving all that behind felt wrong to Lucina, and she sighed to herself.
"Woah, sis," a familiar voice interrupted. "That was a big one! What're you thinking about that's got you so down?"
Lucina started slightly and turned away from the cliff to see Marc standing behind her, and Morgan standing just behind him. Lucina smiled at them.
"It's nothing Marc," she said. "I'm just reminiscing about better days."
Marc smiled softly at her, and wrapped her in a big hug. Marc was only thirteen, only older than Morgan by a few minutes and Nah by a year, but he was already on pace to grow taller than Lucina, who was his elder by three years. Lucina allowed herself to sink into the embrace and absorb some of the warmth from Marc's coat, his memento from their departed mother.
To the side, Morgan clicked her tongue in a teasing way. "You two are so sappy! Not that I can blame you. The last few days have been nothing short of a miracle." Pausing for a moment, Morgan ducked under Lucina and Marc's arms and squeezed herself into the space between them, which she managed easily enough, being the smallest of the three. "If I know you at all Lu, and I think I know you very well," Morgan continued, "I bet you're feeling guilty about abandoning this time and any who may still be surviving out there, right?"
Lucina's cheeks coloured slightly. No matter how much she tried to hide, her younger sibling could almost always tell what she was thinking.
"Perhaps a bit," Lucina admitted cautiously as the siblings ended the embrace. Lucina looked over at the rest of the group. Owain and Inigo were horsing around while Severa yelled at them. Laurent and Yarne seemed to be deep in discussion over something, though Lucina hadn't the foggiest clue what about. Cynthia was tending to her Pegasus, while nearby, Gerome lounged against his Wyvern, Minerva. He looked as brooding as ever, but Lucina thought she could make out the faintest of relaxed smiles, which was an expression she hadn't seen the boy make in a long time.
As Lucina continued to observe the group, Marc picked up where Morgan had left off.
"I think I understand where you're coming from Lu," he said, "because this is all we've known for so long, and it feels like we're taking the easy way out, right? But thinking like that won't do anything but hurt you. We're going to prevent anything of this from ever happening! Isn't that incredible? None of those people we couldn't save this time will ever even have to deal with this awful fate!" It really is a miracle."
"But Marc, Naga said-"
"No buts Lu," Morgan cut in. "Naga herself said she didn't know what would become of this timeline when we go back. It's totally possible it just won't exist anymore. That's what I'm choosing to believe, because thinking of what we're leaving behind here is only going to hold us back from our mission, you know? We have to put it all on the line and change fate itself, and stop any of this from ever happening. That's what I choose to believe."
Lucina regarded her brother and sister carefully. They had always been incredibly smart. Just like how she remembered mother. She smiled.
"Thank you, you two. You always know just what to say to me to help me keep fighting. I don't know where I'd be without my pair of master tacticians."
She ruffled their hair, even as they protested both the action and their status as master tacticians.
"Come along now. Let's go and be with our friends. We need to come up with a plan for what we'll do when we're in the past. Naga said it would only take until tomorrow to prepare the ritual, remember? We need to start planning if we're to change fate."
The twins looked at each other, and then back to Lucina before smiling.
"Right!" They exclaimed in unison, and quickly fell in on either side of her as she strode back towards their friends.
Once Lucina had returned to the group, they formed up to discuss their plan and create disguises for those who needed them before turning in for the night. As dawn broke, Lucina sat up and stretched briefly. Yawning as she took note of her surroundings with weary eyes, she was surprised to find the ethereal form of the Divine Dragon watching over them.
"Hello Lucina," the ancient Manakete said in her otherworldly voice, a smile on her face. "I hope you are well rested."
Lucina stood and bowed to the godlike figure. "Yes Milady," she began. "I must thank you again for providing us sanctuary these past few days."
"I am glad, my child. Unfortunately your time here is drawing to a close. The ritual is complete, and I am ready to send you to the time of your father."
That was enough to shake the last of the sleepy haze from Lucina's mind. She practically jumped to her feet, startling Morgan awake, who had been using her lap as a pillow.
"Wassappening Lu?" The girl inquired sleepily.
"My apologies,sister," Lucina replied. "Please help me wake our comrades. Naga says it's time to go."
Naga waited patiently for the children to rouse themselves, though Lucina noticed that the ancient dragon seemed to be on edge, which in turn put Lucina on edge. There were not many things capable of making the Divine Dragon feel nervous after all, though Lucina could easily think of one thing.
Soon after her Shepherds had awoken, Lucina stood near the peak of the mountain flanked on either side by her friends. She helped Morgan with the mask Gerome had made for her before adjusting her own to sit more comfortably on her face. It was necessary that they wore them to hide the highly recognizable brand of the Exalt in their eyes. If the Brand was noticed by the wrong person while in the past, it had the potential to cause untold mayhem and confusion, especially once the Lucina and Morgan of the past had been born. It was doubly important for Morgan, who bore the mysterious mark inherited from their mother in her left eye in addition to the brand of the Exalt in her right. Marc had an easier time hiding his identity, as his Brand and mark were on the backs of his hands, allowing them to be hidden with simple gloves.
"Time grows short, my children," Naga said to the group. "Grima's presence grows stronger every moment. No doubt he has sensed me accumulating the last of my power for this journey. Before you go, I want you to know that I am proud of you all. You have been through much, and more is yet to come, but you will overcome it all. Remember that you are mine, and you may yet change fate."
"Of course we will!" exclaimed Owain. "We're the scions of the noblest heroes of the age! Our blood boils with the strength of powerful bloodlines and heroic passion. It was no accident that we made it as far as we did!"
"Now isn't the time for your dramatics Owain!" Severa chastised. "This is going to be hard! We have to protect our parents while keeping ourselves hidden, not to mention finding out who was the one to kill Chrom!"
Lucina flinched a bit at that. All they had to go on was that apparently Chrom had been killed by the one closest to him, but having seen the way her parents, her aunt Lissa, Sir Frederick, and all of the Shepherds used to interact, Lucina had trouble believing what she had been told. Believing that one of the men or women who had been like family to her could have been the traitor who had killed her father was an extremely uncomfortable thought to bear.
"Enough talk," Gerome interrupted the increasingly loud bickering of Severa and Owain, startling Lucina out of her thoughts. "We have a job to do. And I want to hurry and take Minerva away from this awful place."
Behind him, the Wyvern gave a growl that almost sounded admonishing to Lucina, as if the beast was telling its master to be nice.
"Very well children. I shall open the gate and send you to the past. I wish you farewell, my champions."
Around her, Lucina's friends seemed to swell with pride at being called Naga's champions. "There's no more room for doubt," she thought to herself. "Either we go back in time and save everyone, or die trying. No more being pawns of some scripted fate. We shall change the future!" Ignoring her sense of foreboding, Lucina rested her hand on Falchion, and focused on the growing pool of cyan energy in the air before her.
Marc stood at Lucina's right side, fidgeting with the pages of his Arcfire Tome. Something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but he could feel it. A change in the air. He'd noticed Naga's earlier discomfort and that she had said "they were running out of time". While the others watched the growing gate, Marc turned and scanned the path leading back down the mountain.
"What are you looking at Marc?" Noire inquired when she noticed that he wasn't paying attention to Naga's gate.
"I'm no-" he began before he was interrupted by a bolt of Lightning magic sailing past him inches away from his face.
Jumping back with a yelp from the near miss, Marc turned back to the path and was shocked to see a Risen sorcerer standing where there had been nothing only moments before. As he prepared a counter spell, he watched as more Risen Warriors rounded the corner. Before he could launch his spell, the words died in his throat when he heard a terrifying and familiar roar.
Immediately his companions were alert, drawing their weapons and turning to face the coming hoard. Grima was not yet in sight, but his sheer scale meant that he could close even the distance from beyond the horizon in just minutes. It wouldn't be long before they could make out the massive form of the Fell Dragon. Marc felt his friends fall in beside him as they prepared to fight, but Naga stopped them quickly.
"No, children. You must enter the gate quickly before the bulk of their force is upon us. I shall cover you myself and engage the Fell Dragon with all that remains of my power, however small it may be. Now go, my children. Challenge your fates!"
Naga's ethereal form vanished from their sight, and in the sky above, a brilliant gleam shone through the clouds. A massive dragon that strongly reminded Marc of his 'aunt' Tiki's dragon form descended through them, nearly flattening them all with a mighty flap of its wings before flying off in the direction they assumed Grima was approaching from.
Lucina recovered from her shock first, naturally.
"Get through the gate quickly everyone! Owain, Inigo, watch my back! Marc, Morgan, cover us! We'll buy you time and follow as soon as you're through! See you on the other side!"
"But Lucina, you nee-" Brady tried to interject, only to be caught off by Lucina's hardened voice.
"GO!"
Nobody asked again, and one by one, Marc's friends ran or dove through Naga's gate whenever they had an opening. Laurent dove through first, followed shortly thereafter by Yarne bounding through in Taguel form. Cynthia galloped past him on her Pegasus and straight through the gate, pulling Brady up onto her mount as she passed him. As Marc shot waves of fire at the undead monsters, he took a moment to glance back at the gate. It was no longer a stable oval in the air as it had been when Naga had first created it, and seemed to be fluctuating in irregular patterns.
"The Thunder spell!" Marc realised as Gerome signalled that everyone else had made it through the gate. "That must have been what caused the gate to become unstable like that!"
Morgan nudged his side. "Less theorizing, more blasting! Let's do the thing!"
"Right!" Marc exclaimed. He let loose a spell, combining the power of his Arcfire Tome with Morgan's Arcwind Tome and creating a tornado of blazing winds that tore through the ranks of the Risen climbing towards them, giving Lucina, Owain and Inigo time to retreat away from the horde.
"Let's go!" Inigo shouted at the twins as the three sword wielders ran towards them. "Follow the others through!"
Turning, Marc and Morgan fell into step with the others and ran for the gate as fast as they could, as the Risen horde grew in number and closed the distance behind them.
"We're not going to make it!" Morgan cried out despairingly.
Marc had felt it too, but seeing the tears spilling down Morgan's cheeks, he knew that he could not let her, Lucina, or any of the others die here. Not when they were so close.
Marc stopped, and pulled a ratty old Tome out from his cloak.
With a ferocious cry of "BOLGANONE!" and a blast of heat, Marc watched Lucina and the others falter and turn to face him as he shot torrent after torrent of flame at the ground between them, creating a burning wall between them and the gate, and Marc and the Risen horde.
"Marc!" Lucina shouted. "What in the gods' names do you think you're doing?!"
"Buying you time, sister!" Marc responded as he finished his spell, the Bolganone Tome falling apart in his hands. He turned back towards the horde and jumped back as an axe nearly cleaved him in two, pulling out his Arcfire Tome and flinging flames in the face of the offending zombie. "You're what's important! If you don't make it, then all will have been for nothing! Don't worry! I promise I'll be right behind you!"
"Are you stupid or something?" Morgan cried as Marc torched another Risen. "There's a wall of fire between you and us! Don't make promises you can't keep you dummy!"
Marc grunted as an arrow whizzed by, too close for comfort. A lance nearly gutted him, and as he jumped back, he reflexively held his Tome in front of his body, causing the lance to pierce it and rip it out of his hands. Marc drew the sword he kept under his cloak and clumsily batted the lance away, struggling to keep his composure as his father had taught him so long ago.
Instead of addressing his sisters, Marc simply shouted, "Owain! Inigo!" And hoped they would understand what they needed to do.
"Don't ignore me Marc!" Morgan cried again, and Marc could imagine her stomping a foot in frustration just like she did when they would argue back at the castle so long ago. Marc chuckled quietly to himself as he knocked aside the sword of a Risen Myrmidon and drove his blade through it, causing it to turn to smoke in his wake, before immediately engaging a nearby archer that was too close to effectively counter him.
Thankfully, Owain understood what Marc had meant, and immediately turned on the dramatics. "As if such a paltry force could best Marc! He and I are rivals, fated to be the only ones who might strike the other down! When Marc gives his word that he'll be right behind us, it's obvious that we must trust him!"
"Owain, now is not the time!" Lucina yelled angrily. "Marc, you get over here right now! I'll not see another person I love sacrifice themself for me! I won't stand for it!"
"And I already told you I'll be right behind you Lu!" Marc exclaimed, frustration mounting. Couldn't she see that she needed to leave?
Faintly, beneath the roar of the flames, Marc heard Inigo speaking to Lucina. "Come on Princess. Through the gate now. If you don't then his actions here will have been for nothing."
"Please!" Marc begged. "Go! The flames will die soon! I'll be behind you as soon as they do! We have to stop the Risen from entering the past! Don't you see? Somebody was always going to have to stay behind, from the moment this blasted army appeared! Better me than any of you! Now go!"
A clang sounded from the other side of the fire, and Marc looked back as much as he dared, fearing some risen had gotten through the fire somehow, but was surprised to see Inigo dancing away from Lucina while holding Falchion. "Listen to your brother Lucina. Take Morgan and go. We'll make sure he gets through, I promise."
Lucina looked like she wanted to argue desperately, but she knew the longer they stayed the more danger they were in. Marc turned back to his fight, once again narrowly being missed by a death blow, and Lucina made her choice.
"Marc!" She called as she accepted her sword back from Inigo. "Promise me we'll see you again!"
"Of course Lucina! I promise you! Just go!"
Marc heard Morgan fighting against Owain, who up until now had been physically restraining her as he handed her to Lucina.
"Don't you dare do this Marc! I hate you!" Morgan screamed.
Marc flinched and took a glancing blow to the ribs from a lance. His heavy tactician's coat absorbed a lot of the force, but he could already tell he was bleeding. He wasn't sure what stung more, the wound or his sister's harsh words. Morgan's shouts stopped after that, and Marc assumed Lucina had pulled her through the gate with her.
"They're through now Marc! Good luck to you!" Inigo called. "Thank you for everything!"
"Yes! Good fortune to you, my eternal Ally-versary!" Owain chimed in. "I expect to see you come out the gate on the other side!"
And with that, the voices of his friends stopped. Marc took a chance and glanced back to see that nobody remained outside the gate, and saw that it was noticeably smaller. "Good," Marc thought. "I only need to hold them back a little longer."
Just as Marc cleaved the head off a Risen Fighter, the horde suddenly began to back away from him. The fire behind him was slowly diminishing, and now that metal wasn't ringing in his ears with each clash, he could hear the faint roars of Dragons in the distance. Keeping his back to the gate, Marc slowly began edging his way towards it, ensuring the Risen army,who had formed a loose semi circle around him, remained in his sight.
Before Marc could turn and leap through the dying blaze, the crowd of Risen parted down the middle, and a hooded figure walked down the path, Risen standing at attention as they passed.
"Hello, Worm," the voice Marc often heard in his nightmares said. But something was off. The deep, scratchy, scathing voice of the Fell Dragon was joined by another, softer, feminine voice. And a very familiar one at that. Somehow, someway, the Fell Dragon had assumed the form of a mortal. "Perhaps it's similar to Naga's human form," Marc thought.
"O- oh it's only you Grima!" Marc said aloud with much more bravado then he was feeling. The dramatic games he and Owain had played together really did wonders to help him improvise in the moment. "For a minute I thought you were someone actually scary! I may not wield Falchion like my sister, but Exalted blood still runs through my veins! Careful now, Fell Jerkface, or I might just cut you down myself!
The Fell Avatar simply laughed. "Your puny attempts at comedy do little to hide the quake in your boots, Worm. And yet, perhaps I shall indulge you? I have something that I suspect you will find terrifying indeed!"
The figure lifted a hand, and Marc saw an image on the figure's hand that matched his own.
"No-," he murmured.
"Yes!" The figure laughed some more as they pulled down their hood, revealing long hair as white as snow that Marc would recognize anywhere. The face of a woman with six glowing red eyes smiled back at him with a feral expression.
"It can't be you!" Marc yelled, tears blurring his eyes. "That's not possible!"
"Oh but it is possible! And it has come to be just as it was written! Exalted your blood may be, but the Fellblood of your mother runs just as strongly through your body! Your mother was created to be my vessel! And it was thanks to her that I could return to this land!"
"Stop it!" Marc shouted, falling to his knees. "You're lying!"
"Awww, has the poor Worm already given up hope? You know, your Mother still lives within me. She is a prisoner in her own body, forced to watch as I slaughtered her comrades, one by one. Would you like to speak with her?"
Marc looked up incredulously, a small part of him surging with shameful hope. All he had wanted since the dreadful day Sir Frederick had returned home with nothing but a sword, a cloak, a set of rings and bad news, Marc had wanted nothing more than to speak with his mother just one more time. Watching helplessly as the ugly red glowing on his mother's face faded to a muted sunset colour, Marc gaped as the monster wearing Robin's face blinked and the natural eyes came into focus.
"M- Marc?" She asked desperately as she laid eyes on him. "My sweet Marc, is that y-"
All of a sudden, the bright red glow came back to full strength, and Marc watched through teary eyes as the will of his mother was once more suppressed.
"BAHAHAHAHA!" Grima cackled. "Now that little princeling is how you make jokes! Now, let us talk business! As one who carries my blood, you are worthy of serving me directly as my lieutenant! Join me, and together we shall enter Naga's infernal gate to the past and lay waste to everything all over again! And best of all, you shall be reunited with your dear mother!"
All Marc could do was stare. In the presence of the Fell Dragon, what he now knew to be the Fell Brand on the back of his hand was burning. The idea of being with mother again was- "No," he thought. "This isn't right. It's not truly mother. Not like this."
Marc wiped his tears, and spat at the foot of the monster's puppet. "Did you really think I would join you? After everything you've done to my family and the world?"
The Fell Avatar scowled. "Stupid Worm! You don't have a choice in the matter!"
Grima reached out a hand and moved to place it on Marc's head, but was stopped by a brilliant flare of blue light surrounding Marc's body.
"Damn it all!" Grima wailed. "That blasted Naga tainted you with her power! If I cannot have you, then neither can she!"
Grima called for a sword, and slowly, a Risen Warrior shuffled from the crowd with a blade in hand. By now, the flames at Marc's back had settled down to smouldering embers. Just as Marc's will to fight had.
"Do not despair, my child," A voice echoed in Marc's head. "I already told you, your story will not end here. I am going to grant you the last of my power so that you may escape this place," said Naga.
"But what about you?" Marc thought to himself, hoping Naga could hear him.
"As we speak, Grima's physical body is destroying my own. The last of my spirit is tied here to my sacred ground. As soon as you see an opportunity, you must flee my child. You must deliver this information to your sisters. And remember, you may carry Fellblood within you, but that does not make you any less one of MY blood."
Naga's presence all but left him then, and Marc returned his attention to Grima, who had just been handed a sword and was raising it over head.
But before Grima could strike, the last of Naga's power blasted out from Marc's body in another pulse of blue energy, causing Grima to stumble and drop the sword. Marc looked up at her and was shocked to see only the faintest trace of Grima's red aura remaining.
Once again, Robin's eyes returned to focus and gazed at her only son.
"Marc my sweet boy, please, go," she begged him. "Leave now, before he regains control!"
Taking this as Naga's sign, Marc gathered the last of his courage and leapt to his feat, scooping up his dropped sword and a fallen Arcfire Tome from a Risen mage as he ran towards the gate, now only large enough for perhaps two people to walk through at a time.
As the Fell Dragon screamed in outrage with his mother's voice, Marc sprinted towards the gate as fast as his legs could carry him.
"AFTER HIM!" Grima roared, firing off a bolt of dark magic as the undead horde surged forward behind their master, charging towards the gate as well.
Just as Marc took a diving leap for the gate, Grima's magic struck him in the back, and the last thing he saw was the swirling cyan energy of Naga's gate in time.
In a field in the northwesternmost part of Regna Ferox, a boy covered in mostly small wounds and wearing a singed tactician's coat groaned and sat up, holding his head between his hands.
"What happened to me…" the boy muttered. "Where am I? Why am I so banged up? Who am I? I-"
"...Deliver this information to your sisters…"
The boy jumped violently as a voice not his own echoed in his head.
"That was odd… but it must be important. I need to find my family apparentl-argh!"
The boy buried his head in his hands again as another splitting headache rocked his skull. Images of two girls with blue hair like his own and a man and a woman, with blue and white hair respectively flashed through his mind. "Marc," the two blue haired girls called out to him. More images flashed through the boys head, this time all focused on the woman with white hair. "These must be some of my memories!" The boy realized with surprise. "Those girls called me Marc… that must be my name!" More images replayed in Marc's mind's eye, and he began to recall more and more about them. "Yes, memories, I'm sure of it! These are all of my mother! Strange that I can only really remember her, aside from the hazy images and sentences of others…"
Marc stood up and dusted himself off. He examined his singed coat and dirty appearance. "Seems I need a bath…" he muttered aloud. "Well, I won't get anything done standing around here."
Quickly checking his person, Marc discovered he had a red book, which his limited memories told him was a magic tome, as well as a steel sword.
"Hmm. Wherever I am, it seems I at least have a goal. There's something important I need to tell my sisters. Perhaps they were those two blue haired girls in my memories? Seeing as how most of my remaining memories have to do with my mother, it's safe to assume whatever it is I need to tell them has to do with her. I can think about this later. For now, I really ought to find shelter. Hmm… ah hah!"
Marc scanned the horizon at the edge of the field and noticed a sturdy looking structure.
"That will have to do for now. Once I'm rested and up and I've taken care of all these gashes and bruises, I should be set to begin searching!"
Collecting himself, Marc began trekking towards the structure, and resolved to solve the mystery of his missing memories and his apparently oh so important message, blissfully unaware of the hell he had just escaped from.