(Isaac)

"You guys ever wonder what happens when you interrupt a teleportation spell?"

"Augh!"

"Isaac, why would you ask that?"

I glanced over to an incredulous Kamui, who was staring at me from where he was sitting against a crate. "What? It's a valid question!"

Silque shook her head no, looking slightly sick. "N-no, it really isn't. W-when magic is interrupted or interfered with…" She shuddered, eyes wide. Kamui gave me a small glare, then moved over to wrap an arm around her.

"Look, I don't know what's taboo and what's not! I've only been here for a week! Come on, guys…" I groaned, and leaned backwards until I was lying flat on my back facing the stars.

It had been a few days since we met the merchants. They'd offered us gold and shelter to travel with them to Port Zofia, so naturally we'd accepted. We hadn't had any troubles with bandits since, thankfully.

Oh, yeah. Bandits.

I shuddered, trying not to think about it, but I couldn't keep it out of my mind. I killed a man. I stabbed him through the heart with a lance. I took a life. He'd charged at me, and I just dodged and pierced his heart without even thinking about it. I could still feel the blood, on the lance, on my hands, on-

"Isaac!"

"Bwuh!" I jolted in place, looking around until I saw Kamui staring at me with a half-raised eyebrow. "...I said all that out loud, didn't I." His snort only confirmed it, and I smacked my hand to my forehead. "Really need to work on that…"

"Yeah, you do." Kamui crouched down next to me. "Look, I know it wasn't easy. And I'll be honest, it doesn't get easier. But if you hadn't done that, it would have been you." I took a deep, shuddering breath, letting the palm slide off my face.

"I… I know. I just…" I trailed off. Kamui just put on a weary half-grin.

"I know. I've been there, too." He stood up. "So, we should arrive at Port Zofia in the next few days.. You said something about Castle Zofia?" Right. I had explained a bit to Silque and Kamui, about what might happen. Or, might not, now that the Kingsfang was broken… and wasn't that a bitch in and of itself.

"Yeah. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get there and do something. Maybe… oh, I don't know. God, I'm a wreck." I let out a humorless chuckle. "How do you do it? Having your shit together, I mean." Kamui answered with his own laugh.

"Well, there's the thing. I don't, but nobody ever asks. They give the coin, I do the job." Man, that has to get lonely sometimes… "Lonely?" Did I seriously do it again? "...I guess so, yeah. But that's just life." Kamui shrugged.

Well, I can't say Valentia's been what I expected it to be. Then again, I didn't expect anything that had happened so far. I had no idea I'd even be sent to Valentia in the first place, wasn't even thinking when I stole the broken blade of the Kingsfang— and, yeah, that sure did happen. It hasn't been all bad, by any means, but suffice to say I'm just as confused as anybody else would be. Most of these stories have the person from Earth greeted by at least somebody. Chrom and his crew for Awakening, Corrin for Fates- you'd think I would be worth a greeting, but nope. All I got was a thunderstorm, a petrified dragon's corpse, and a sword without a hilt. Welcome to Valentia, have fun.

I can say with complete confidence, though, that I never expected for the first two people I ran into to be Kamui and Silque. Well, technically I came across Silque passed out on the ground, and then Kamui came across us and decided it was worth it to get us away from the Rigelian soldiers rather than just leave us, but still.

When I first heard him stumbling on a root nearby where I had just found Silque passed out in the dirt, I had thought he was a Rigelian soldier. When we made eye contact, and I saw his sword, I thought we were dead, that my adventures in Valentia (heh) had ended less than an hour after they began.

Instead, he'd blinked, then made a "follow me" motion and started moving into the forest. Of course, by this point the rain had convinced me that it wasn't a dream, but all I could do was lift Silque as best I could and follow. We found a cave, sat down inside, and started talking.

He'd said he didn't often help people out if there wasn't a reward involved. I said that that was fair, and then asked why he'd done it for us, then. I… didn't expect the response. He'd explained that he had seen something familiar in my eyes— the look of someone who had just lost everything. Something he knew the feeling of, far too well.

He hadn't elaborated beyond that, but I think I understood.

Honestly, the game hadn't said much about Kamui and Silque. They'd certainly never interacted as far as I knew, and they didn't have much in the way of background details. But now they were here. Real. I was in Valentia. With the hiltless, currently-useless blade of the Kingsfang, and with people who I had only known as characters on the other side of a little screen. Characters that I honestly hadn't paid much attention to, since neither did the developers or the community. And… I found myself bonding with them. Cracking jokes and sharing bits and pieces of our pasts, becoming friends. They had accepted my insane story about coming from another world. I was so happy to be with them instead of on my own. But…

I missed home.

I missed my parents. I missed my dogs. I missed my friends, and my cousins, and my sister, who I'd never be able to mend my relationship with now. It was overwhelming at times.

And there was also the issue of the blade I was currently holding. The mighty Falchion, one of the fangs of Naga, and it had been broken. The hilt was gone, and where the base of the blade should have been was jagged and missing a few chunks of metal. It wouldn't cut anyone, as I'd found, but of course it wouldn't. The Falchion only works for the people who are worthy of it, and carry Naga's blessing, and I am neither.

I needed to find a way to fix it. Even if the blade itself is intact, what's the point (heh) of having it if it can't be used as a sword?

And if the Falchion was unusable…

Celica will lose her soul to Duma. Duma won't be killed. He'll take over all of Valentia, and then-

Oh, shit.

Grima. Nobody knows for certain how it was sealed the first time, but Shadows of Valentia had it as the bonus boss, in Thabes. But that was after the main game, which meant that Duma was dead-

If I don't get this thing fixed, everything is screwed. Duma won't die, Grima will be free to roam from Thabes, and everything I know about the future beyond Valentia will never happen.

Which is a serious problem, because all the merchants I talked to took one look at the blade and told me they didn't know any blacksmith who could fix it.

What do I do?!

—(The next day)—

"...so by this point, the other guys scattered. We're on our own, holding a Dagon's head and one sword between the four of us, staring down a bear. And Jesse just turns to me, and you know what he says?" Kamui pauses the story, looking between Silque and I.

"...alright, I'll bite. What?" I asked.

Kamui just grins, then imitates Jesse's voice. "'I told you we should have taken the other boat!'"

I broke out into laughter, cackling as I threw my head back. Silque was giggling as well, and Kamui's grin stayed in place for a while. Eventually, I composed myself, looking back at Kamui. "That's… oh, that's great."

Kamui nodded. "Wasn't very funny at the time, though."

"Yeah, I can see that," I agreed. We had been swapping stories for a while, telling jokes and sharing bits and pieces of our lives. It was… happy. I hadn't had many people who I could talk to like this before. I had been pretty lonely, talking more to people online than out loud. Sure, I missed everyone, but...

Maybe… maybe I can make this a new start.

—(No POV)—

A figure entered the darkened cavern, speaking to a second figure. "Lord Jedah, I have returned."

"Hades." Jedah greeted the figure, turning to face him. "Has our plan borne fruit?"

Hades nodded, bowing. "Yes. The accursed Mila lies petrified."

"Good. Soon, Lord Duma will be the sole ruler of Valentia!" Jedah cackled, raising his hands high.

"Lord Jedah, there is something else to report," Hades spoke up, looking… nervous? Jedah hadn't realized the emotion still existed within Hades.

"Hm?" Jedah lowered his hands, glaring at Hades.

"The Falchion was damaged in the battle," Hades explained. Jedah was surprised for a moment, but then schooled his features into indifference.

"...oh? How so?"

"Its hilt was broken, High Priest."

A chilling, humorless smile. "I see… all the better. What was done with the remains?"

"...there was a blinding light when it was broken. By the time my vision had returned to me, it was gone."

Jedah's face changed again, from a smile to a frown. "Hmm… then we must plan for its potential reforging. Send word to the strongholds, inform them that they must be on the lookout for it. That aside, we shall proceed with the original plan."

"Yes, High Priest." Hades bowed.

"Dismissed." Jedah turned back to the huge shadow, and began cackling.

—

So! I'm a bit late with this one. Sorry about that. This chapter fought me the whole time I was writing it. Got it done, though! Special thanks to Cavik for doing a quick beta read of this chapter for me. I didn't expect it to be so difficult to get into my own self-insert's head. Review if you'd like, it's like crack to me. Please join the Fanfiction Treehouse Discord server! We have a lot of people writing a lot of different, fantastic works, and we love having new people join in. discord. gg/ 9XG3U7a (remove the spaces)

Here's an out-of-context quote from DestructionDragon360: "one more body to get telefragged by witches, no thanks"

That's all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed the breather... 'cuz next time, we're getting started for real.