Where Dreams Come True


Okay, my next story.

Just a sidenote here, people. The 'main' plot, or the one that is central to the storyline, may seem familiar to some of you (as evidenced by the summary). However, it's only going to be loosely based, and in any case, there are multiple side-arcs.

So… shall we begin?


Prologue: Memory Child

"Hey, Erk."

He looked up from the sandcastle he was making. "Yes?"

She was staring down at him in his crouching position, head tilted so her hair covered her face, hands clasped at the small of her back, her every gesture suggesting she was terribly embarrassed.

"Did you know?" She began. "That if two people who love each other go to Etruria, they'll find happiness together?"

"Etruria?"

"Y'know, that!" She pointed towards a tall building, peeking over the trees. "That's Etruria University."

"Oh…" He sat in silence for a while in the sandpit, unsure of what to say. Finally, he broke the silence by uttering the first thing that came to mind. "I like you."

The blush on her cheeks turned even redder. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"I used to think all boys were dirty and mean."

"I used to think all girls we icky-gross." He replied. "But you're different. I like you."

She smiled. "Then lets make a promise, okay?"

"Huh?"

"One day, both of us will go to Etruria. We'll find each other, and happiness, there. Okay?"

He grinned. "Okay."

They linked pinky fingers. It was sacred. Any kid knew that pinky-finger vows could not be broken no matter what. And they promised.

One day, the two of them would go to Etruria and find happiness together.

Then her parents called her. As she stood up and began to leave, she turned back to look at him one last time. "Don't forget!" She called.

"Never." He replied. He would always remember, up until he-

SPLASH!

Erk's eyes popped open and he jerked up, water dripping down his face. Rubbing it frantically, he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose to face a markedly different female than the one from his dream. This one was grown up, for one thing.

"Um…"

"You fell asleep at your desk while studying. Again. Honestly, Erk, you can't keep doing this." She sighed

"I- uh, I'm sorry, Aunt Louise." Erk stammered.

"What is it this time?" Leaning over, she picked up the textbook Erk had been meticulously poring over before he dropped off. "Anima Theory." She muttered.

Erk rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I thought… I thought I needed more revision-"

"Erk, you already score the best marks in the entire level." Louise folded her arms across her chest as she stared down at her son.

"I don't want people to think that I'm doing so well because Uncle Pent's the teacher…" He mumbled, not trusting himself to look her in the eye.

"Pent is the strictest teacher in the whole school, Erk. The only reason you didn't score a hundred percent in the last test was because you left out a comma in one of the sentences." Glancing at the wall clock, Louise sighed once more and shook her head. "Your first class starts in half-an-hour. Hurry up, son."


Eliwood leaned back in his chair and fought back an urge to yawn as he listened to his teacher droning on and on about the Great War, otherwise known as the Scouring. He liked History, but this was ridiculous.

"He's teaching us stuff a Grade One student should already know." He grumbled in disgust. "I thought Etruria University standard's were supposed to be the highest around?"

Lyn, beside him, rolled her eyes. "Come on, Eliwood. If he can pay attention, so can you." She said as she jerked her thumb in the direction of a mop of purple hair near the front of the class who was studiously taking notes as the lesson progressed

"He doesn't count." Eliwood insisted. "He'd be interested in learning that red and blue make purple."

Lyn chuckled. "You say that as if it's a bad thing."

"When it's done at the exclusion of having a life, it is." Shaking his head, Eliwood turned back to the lecture.

"This battle was a decisive point in the war, for it marked the spot where-"

Damn, this was boring.


Lunch hour had come, and with it the majority of students to grab whatever meals they wanted. Meanwhile, the library doors swung open, and Erk staggered in, clutching a stack of thick books. Just another day in Etruria University for him.

He had done it, of course. He'd made it Etruria after all the long years of studying practically nonstop. He'd fulfilled his part of the vow.

Too bad he had no freakin' idea who on earth the girl he'd made the promise to was. She'd told him her name, of course, but he'd forgotten it, along with her face, her hair colour, and generally everything that would have been even marginally useful for locating the identity of someone.

He dumped the books beside the computer terminal, and leaned back in the chair, eyes closed as he recalled her smile and her voice. About the only things he still recalled of her.

Who am I kidding? He thought. I have no idea who she is, and even if she DID find me again, I seriously doubt she'd want me looking like this. Sighing, he opened his eyes and sat up, his fingers finding the power button without having to look, a trait borne of years of repetition.

As the computer booted up, Erk pushed his glasses up his nose again. Forever slipping down, round and thick enough to be the stuff that bulletproof glass was made of, the pair of spectacles perched on his nose was nevertheless a pair he wasn't trading in for anything.

It was the only thing he had of his true parents.

They had abandoned him when he was still too young to walk or speak, sending him to the first person who had agreed to take him in. Lucky for him, he mused, that Uncle Pent and Aunt Louise were kind and loving people after all.

Every year, he had written to them, detailing events that had unfolded in the past 365 days, telling them about his school results. He had ended every letter with 'I love you.'

They had never replied. But a few years back, after writing to them about his recently failing eyesight, they had sent to him a pair of glasses strong enough to help him read properly. The only problem was that it didn't fit very well. Hence the constant sliding.

Lifting his eyes, he noted that the computer had finished loading all necessary programs and whatnot. Opening a Word Document, he sat forward and began to type.

Thesis: Anima Theory and it's relation to the natural world.

Anima Theory is a theory relating to the composition of all matter. While many contemporary scientists dismiss Anima Theory as unproven and 'nonsense', there is far too large an amount of proof and evidence to simply dismiss it offhand.

The basics of Anima Theory is that around all living matter, there exists an energy field. When aware of it, the energy field can be manipulated to create extreme heat, intense cold, or even create an electrostatic charge in the surrounding air. Several people also theorize that they can manipulate the air around them to create strong blasts of energy, but this

"Heya, Erk! Whatcha doing?" A cheery voice interrupted him from his typing. Half-turning, he smiled as he saw a familiar face, and the one person in the entire campus he could truly consider a friend.

"Oh, just a paper on Anima Theory. You really should be getting started on yours too, Nino."

"Uh-huh. Erk, the paper isn't due for a month." She glanced at him with a smile that suggested she was all too used to this sort of thing from him.

"This is just a draft."

"You write your drafts on computers?"

Grinning sheepishly, he pushed up his glasses. "Just a habit, I guess."

Nino shook her head and hoisted herself onto the table. "Seriously, Erk. You've got to take it easy sometimes."

Erk slumped over. "Not you too…" He moaned.

"What, your mom giving you grief over it too?" Nino grinned and laughed. "Just goes to show my point, doesn't it, Erky?"

"Don't you start too!"

"Is having Serra for a lab partner really all that bad?"

"You have no idea." Raising his head again, he turned to Nino. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Can't think of anywhere." Nino laughed.

Erk shook his head and went back to typing.


He ducked through the shadows, sneakily, silent as an owl. Just a few more feet, and he would be there. He would reach his goal.

Slipping past a corner, he peered out, cautiously. The target was in sight. In three, two, one-

"Hey." Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Doing a great impression of a top, Matthew spun around to face-

"L-L-Leila!" Matthew stuttered. "W-What a pleasant surprise!"

Leila merely cocked an eyebrow. "And to what do I owe the dubious honour of you attempting to sneak into my apartment, hm?"

Matthew grinned. "I… was hoping to give you this." Saying so, he pulled out a brightly-wrapped package and passed it over to Leila, who raised an eyebrow as she accepted it.

"Uh, thanks, but what might this be for?"

"Ah, you don't remember?" Matthew chuckled as he pantomimed a man with a broken heart, placing both palms over his chest and seeming to be in a state of great pain. "It's exactly one year to the day we met."

"… You mean at the restaurant?"

"Yup."

"The one were I threw mashed potatoes in your face and called you a steaming turd-ball?"

"That's the one!"

Leila let a slow smile spread across her face as she stashed the present in her bag. "If I recall, I said I'd never ever deign to be in the same room as you ever again for the rest of my life."

"Correct." Matthew smirked. "And just look where we are today.", He said as he drew her closer.

The two kissed, fiercely and passionately, for several long seconds before breaking away.

"I love you." Leila whispered as she gazed deep into his eternally cheerful eyes.

"Love you too." He replied


"Admit it, Athos." Nergal growled. "Our standards are dropping."

The bearded man chuckled slightly. "I don't really see how you can say that, Nergal, old friend. The admission standards haven't changed since the university was opened."

Nergal snorted. "Our admission levels may not have dropped, but the standard of the average student has most certainly risen. At the rate we're going, we're going to end up filled with no-talent hacks."

"Ah, you worry too much, Nergal." Athos shook his head. "That always is your greatest vice."

"I have to, because you don't seem to worry at all!" Nergal snapped. "Could you open your eyes to reality once in a while?! Because if not-"

A knock sounded at the door. Nergal broke off his sentence, took a calming breath, and turned to face it. "Come in." He said.

The door swung open and a lavender haired male strolled in. Upon first glance one might notice a faded scar running down his eye, but when he opened his mouth, you quickly stopped listing that scar as his most defining feature.

"Hey, One-eye." Legault grinned as he waved to Nergal. "Hey, Greybeard." He said as way of greeting to Athos. "How's it hanging?"

"I seem to recall requesting you to cease using that vulgar nickname." Nergal growled. Legault, however, appeared totally unfazed.

"Why, yes, I do believe you did." Then, shifting slightly to address the both of them as one body, he pulled out several sheets of paper. "Gentlemen, I'll keep it brief. Here's the list of expenses for this month." With a flick of his finger, he tossed the paper to float straight into Athos' lap, before turning to leave.

"If you keep showing the same tone of disrespect for all our meetings, we'll stop funding you!" Nergal called after Legault.

"Sure, and the moon is made of green cheese." Came the rapidly fading reply. Nergal muttered several choice words under his breath, while Athos merely smiled.

"Let him be." He advised. "It is in his nature, and you're not going to change that."

"Faugh!" Nergal muttered. Then he shook his head and slumped back into his chair. "Alright, then, Athos. I'm open to suggestions. What do you say we do?"

"I say we wait." The old man smiled slightly. "Youths have a way of surprising us, time and time again. I say it'll be no different this time. That's my choice, as one of the joint headmasters of Etruria University, and I stand by it."


"Hello, darling." Louise said as she kissed Pent on the cheek. "Why the long face?"

"Oh, you know." He sighed. "I have to give a talk on Anima Theory to a group of scholars. Half of them scoff at the mere mention of it, and the other half couldn't find their way out of a shoebox." With a heavy sigh, he collapsed onto his chair. "Did you cook dinner yet?"

"It's hot, and waiting for our son."

As if on cue, the door swung open, and Erk walked in, staring intently at a book that covered the Advanced Applications of Quantum Physics. Mumbling a hello to both Pent and Louise, he sat down at the table, eyes never wavering from his spot in the book.

Pent cleared his throat. Then louder. Then, sighing, he fished a rubber from his pocket and tossed it at Erk, hitting him on the head and causing the violet-haired youth to jerk up, surprised.

"Erk, it is customary that we do not read at the dinner table. Or had you forgotten?" He asked gently. Erk flushed red and immediately put the book aside as Louise walked in balancing several steaming plates of food in her hands.

Shaking his head, Pent lifted his fork and dug in.


Erk glanced at the clock. Only eleven. He still had time to get some revision done. Crossing his room, he opened his drawer and pulled out-

"No." Louise was in the doorway. And she didn't look happy. "You are not going to study. You are going to bed before you burn yourself out and collapse."

Erksmiled slightly as he recalled so many similar instances where his adoptive mother had told him so. "Alright." He mumbled, before clambering into bed.

Louise walked over and shut the drawer, then turned to leave. Before she left the room, she turned back to add, "Goodnight, Erk."

"Goodnight, Aunt Louise." Erk replied. The door shut, Erk's eyes closed, and he drifted off into the land of dreams where the girl from his memories was waiting for him.

"Hey, Erk!" She called. "Let's play!"

And he smiled.


Alright, I'm trying something different with this story. As far as I know, it's going to be the first multi-chapter songfic in the Fire Emblem section. Not all chapters will have songs, of course. I generally do it if I feel a particular song fits that chapter well.

Any way, please read and review! Thank you very much.