Read and review, because otherwise, I will personally send my alpacas to hunt you down, and they know just how to deal with people like you. Tell me if the self insert seems like a Mary Sue, critiques are always welcome, and tell me how I could improve my writing. Onto the chapter now.

Jax Smallbine and Kidemonas: I see. I will try to make longer chapters. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 9: Answers

I was furious.

Scratch that, I was more than furious.

HE of all people should know what it feels like to have nobody as a pillar to sustain you. Look how well it ended for us.

So why? Why would he leave people that clearly care for him? Rose believes he died together with the others, but…

That can't be right. He's at the Outrealm Gate, with that trial thing he put up. I don't care if I can't hear "the voice of the wind" or whatever, he damn better have some answers for me.

Good thing I managed to get off that boat early, so I managed to make it here in a decent time.

"Anna!" I call out to the island that lies in front of me. The gate is there, but I need her to open it for me. Because it's a gate.

Standing with her back against a tree was the God!Anna, filing her nails with a bored look. "Oh, it's you again." She huffed. "Came to ruin my day again?" Wow fuck you too then. I rolled my eyes at her and said curtly "Yeah yeah whatever, just load Trial of Spirit or whatever it's called." This time she actually graced me with looking up for a second before saying "You can't do that."

"I must" I replied. If behind that door is the other me then I will talk to him, Anna be damned.

"If you do not have a Spirit, you cannot do the Trial of Spirit. It's as simple as that. Or are you too stupid to understand basic Akaneian?" Wow. She was really bent on making me mad, wasn't she?

"Is there the other me in that map?" I asked, noticing how she flinched slightly as I used the term "map". Serves you right.

"Yes." She said. "Then I must get in there. I need answers and he has them."

To my surprise, she actually relented. "Fine, whatever, brat. Go get yourself killed, why don'tcha." And she fired a spell at the portal, which, manifesting… a blue void. This time I walked towards it, compared to the last time where I was pushed mercilessly into the portal. I put a hand through the portal. It felt weird to the touch. It was cool, and I felt a slight tug, not enough to force me but enough to hurry me inside. So I did. What greeted me was… Blue.

Blue sky, blue pavement (of a different shade) that mirrors, all the clichés in the "into your own mind" thingy. So... what do I do?

Well, standing around hasn't helped anybody. I began walking towards somewhere, noting with no small amount of weird that I created ripples in the pavement whenever I walked. Eventually though, after walking for a while, the environment changed. I reached a shore. And also, apparently, I was walking on top of water. Like, literal water, not just some effect thing. The shore had a beach leading to a grassy hill. I quickly climbed on top of it to find a cross legged green haired man (didn't know they had hair dye in Yilisse) with a hoodie on (but without the hood) and blue jeans. Jeans. And this guy is supposed to be a representation of me?

Also… he was snoring. Like, is this how you wait while you're about to make me a shounen protagonist? Shame on you. Which I guess is, shame on me.

I sat cross legged right in front of him, but after a while got bored. So I decided to start poking him with the butt of my lance. I reversed my grip on my lance and…

*poke*

Found myself trying to avoid getting a dagger through my neck. After a while of struggling though, the other me seemed to realize who I was and let up, dropping the dagger. He seemed to be sizing me up.

"Huh. You're even shorter than I remember." THE M #$%!^*)£ER HAD BARELY 5 INCHES OF ME AND HE CALLED ME SHORT?

I took my lance and started thrusting at him, getting every single attack easily parried before he sent me sprawling with a poke on the forehead.

"Yeah, yeah, get over yourself." And, with a shit eating grin, I jumped onto his shouders. He clearly didn't expect that, so I simply sat there with a smug face, which was quickly wiped off as I realized what had just happened.

We both turned towards the void with annoyed looks, and the older me (Which I will refer to as Nicholas for simplicity's sake) spoke up first: "Really? How long have you been waiting to use that gag? Since the fic started maybe?" I nodded and added "Yeah, it wasn't even that funny."

"Anyways, author bashing, which is always funny, aside, why are you here? You're one spirit too early to start bothering me." Nicholas asked.

"Ah, right." I jumped down and shouted, exponentially loud "Why the fUCK ARE YOU NOT WITH ROSE AND THE OTHER CHILDREN?!"

To which he replied with a "Well, sorry, didn't get the memo that I'm supposed to be alive." Wait what?

"But you ARE alive. You're here, talking to me." I countered. He simply made a tsk sound before grabbing my hand and putting it onto my chest. What?

*th-thump* *th-thump*

"Can you feel it?" to be honest, nothing aside from my regular heartbeat.

"My heart?" I replied, unsure of what he meant. He nodded and then put my hand on his own chest. "And now?" I waited.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

"Your heart doesn't beat?" I asked. He simply shook his head, and all my anger melted away, transforming into pity.

"Well… I'm sorry." To which he simply chuckled and shook his head. "Meh, I simply got unlucky, you know? Sometimes you do not get to summon the 5-Star Performing Azura you want on Heroes and sometimes you get summoned yourself to a bad timeline. It happens." He shrugged. To be honest, no, it really doesn't happen, but I'm not gonna tell him that.

"I would like to compare our adventures up until this point to see if the script I remember is still salvageable or you went really off course." He asked, out of the blue. Or I guess now that we were on the hill, he asked out of the green(heh). It made sense though.

"Alright, sure. Do I begin or…?" He shook his head and replied, "No, no. No need to talk. Just open your mind and we'll both be able to see how the other went." Alright then. Everything that has lead up to my adventure…


I killed myself when I was 15 years old, as I couldn't bear to be such a failure.

(I was killed at 17 by a robber who decided that a few bucks were worth my life.)

I felt the wind pick up as a portal started sucking me in while I bled out.

(I felt myself sinking into the ground as life began leaving me from the bullet hole.)

I got healed by Virion's Elixir and began killing zombies, thinking it was just a dream.

(The Risen were never there without Marth's portal, so I simply wandered till I found a village, not even knowing I was into Fire emblem.)

I joined the Shepherds and became a Soldier.

(I never even knew about the Shepherds until much later.)

I travelled to the Outrealms, knocked into Aversa and received a dear friend, Roy, Young Lion.

(I travelled to the Outrealms, knocked into Aversa and received a dear friend, Roy, Young Lion.)

I fought alongside the Einherjar, and received Marth as a "prize".

(I was assaulted by Elincia, but Old Hubba managed to knock her off her Pegasus and I quickly jumped on it, its wings turning black and I becoming somehow a Peg Knight, riding Zephyr, my dearest friend.)

I was nearly killed by Lyn, but I was saved by Marth in the end.

(I duked it out with Caeda in the air and somehow won. I couldn't believe it myself.)

My failure as a tactician nearly cost us all our lives.

(We easily won afterwards, none of us dying thanks to my tactics)

I started traveling towards Donnel's island, but ultimately turned back seeking answers about Rose.

(I travelled to Donnel's island, staying in wait to guard the village)

I am here.

(We defended the village, and started traveling towards Themis.)

ERROR 417:OI£" !$))(UX()U!£UERI£"!UR("%

(We travelled towards Themis, hoping to be able to stop Maribelle's abduction.)

A sharp pain courses through me and I fall to the ground, clutching my head.

(We couldn't make it in time)

More pain courses through my body as sweat sticks my hair to my face.

(I decided on a stupid plan: climbing up the Plegian ranks to gain some favour across the troops)

Make it stop… Please…

(As I got to Themis I offered myself as a soldier looking for work at the Plegian camp)

I started crying, the pain becoming too much to even think straight. Maybe that dagger…?

(They made me into a plegian soldier, and I got to see their side of the war)

I crawled over to the dagger, picking it up.

(I started building an army, trusted nobody, fire emblem, only on game boy advance)

MAKE IT STOP! I plunged the knife into my chest. The connection severed and the pain lessened. I fell to the ground again, Nicholas rushing towards me saying "No, no, no! That was too far!"

Then I passed out, unable to bear the pain.


I stared shocked at my younger self's bleeding corpse. How did that happen? I was looking into my memories of… Oh.

Oh no.

I think you broke him. Sephie said.

Can you fix him?

I got the feeling that inside me she was rolling her eyes. Depends. How long was he attempting a Divination with such ineptitude?

A minute or so, I think? She hmmed.

As the wind spirit manifested with a tug out of my soul, I got to think. What I saw was… shocking, to be honest. I'm glad that he managed to get inside of the Shepherds, but… the fuck was that earlier? He shouldn't have gone down at 15! I was 17 when I got transported to Ylisse. But I can't think of any reason why he would kick the bucket THIS early. What could have changed?

His magic system is shot, his mind is as blank as Efreet's brain and he has an internal hemorrhage. Like, really bad. In time he'll recover but even the most basic spell will destroy him. The rest of his body is fine, he didn't hit a major artery and the knife can be safely removed if you apply gauze.

Well, that's bad. And… he still has this? I bend down to grasp the necklace on his limp body. I mean… now he needs it more than ever, but… down the line this thing will only cause trouble if he doesn't learn how to actually dodge.

That thing's also draining away at his magic. I actually have no idea how he even could stand having it for so long and not even taking notice.

And with his magic system shot I'm not willing to take a risk of even more magic drainage.

So what now? She asked. We wait, I replied. He ain't waking up anytime soon.

And wait we did. For 2 days.

At the beginning of the third day he began stirring.


Ugh, my head… it feels like I've been run over by a truck. Which, considering my track record, may not be so hard to believe (what track record?). I'm all sweaty, my shoulder feels like someone stuck a knife in it, my throat feels like it's been vigorously rubbed with sandpaper, I feel like I'm floating a meter above the ground, I feel dry and I'm crankily complaining ok I'll stop now

"WAKE UP!" a high-pitched scream blasts in my ear and suddenly, I'm up and out of the bed (when did I get into a bed?), a being that look like a fairy with an oversized sword on his back in front of me

"Finally you woke up! Took your sweet time, huh? Come on, come on!" He started dragging me by the hand while I was still trying to make any sense of the situation. Who is this guy? And where are we?

The Fairy man thing proceeded to drag me over to the middle of nowhere where a green haired man was. He smiled at me and said "How are you feeling?"

Well, to be honest…

"Like shit." I replied, not in the mood for using any real conversational skill. To my surprise, though, he only chuckled in response.

"Yeah, I can see that. With a magic system as atrophied as yours I'm surprised you didn't die from attempting a divination without a clear target. You were lucky, you know." Wait backtrack the fuck up. Magic system? Divination? What is this dude talking about?

"Are you high?" I asked, because honestly, grateful as I was that he helped me… I think, he was talking bullshit. He frowned, and out of the blue asked: "Do you remember your name?"

I scoffed, because of course I knew my name. This guy was higher than I thought, even without any visible red eyes. "Well, of course I know my name, it's…" but the words fell short as I, in fact, didn't know what my name was. Shit! Was I drugged as well?

He sighed, and with a weary tone he said "Just as I feared. Well, until we can find a Restore staff there's not much we can do aside from telling you what happened until now…" but I wasn't having any of that for now.

"Alright hold it right there mister divination spell. First thing first, how the fuck is that thing flying, its wings CLEARLY aren't designed to fly and it's carrying an oversized sword. Second, I still have no idea what the fuck are you talking about. And third, give me some water because I feel like I ate lava. And fourth, you still didn't tell me who are you, who is that" I pointed to the flying thing "And most importantly, who am I!" I pointed to myself for extra effect.

The man was stunned, staring at me as if I had grown a third head and opening and closing his mouth as if he couldn't even think of something to say, before the fairy (I think that's a fairy) behind him started snickering before it transformed into full blown laughter, elbowing my interlocutor and saying "Pfff, were you this much of a brat when you were younger?"

"Shut up Sephie" he replied, before sighing, "And to answer your questions: He weighs much less than he looks despite standing nearly as tall as either of us, and he helps himself by using updrafts. Second, if you would just let me talk for a second you fucking idiot, maybe you would understand." I gaped at him, because that's exactly what I would have said in the same situation. "Third," he took a water bottle out of his pocket that definitely was not there before and two mugs before pouring us a mug of water each "And fourth, I am you, that is Sephie, the leader of the three wind spirits, and you are a brat." He smirked smugly as he left me once again speechless. Just who is this guy? He said he was me, but that can't be right, right?

"Anyways, as I was saying: Your name is Nick. Do you remember anything about Fire Emblem? That would make everything so much easier." Fire emblem… uh… there were 15 of them right? Unless you count Heroes…

"Yeah?" I replied, tentatively. What did a game have to do with all of this, though?

"Well," He began "To put it bluntly, we are in it."

"Say what now."

"What." He said, with a smirk so smug it made me want to hurt him. My hand twitched minutely but noticeable towards my back, to which he said "Ah, good to see that your however little instincts still are there, it would totally suck to have to train them back." And I started sweating bullets.

"Anyways" He said with as much nonchalance as if he hadn't just been disappointed at not being able to inflict bodily harm on me "Back on the topic at hand. We are in Fire Emblem: Awakening, home to fanservice, Mary Sue avatars and future shenanigans." He continued. "Aww…" I said. "I would've preferred Rekka no Ken or Path of Radiance." I pouted. The sound of loud coughing brought me back to reality "ANYWAYS, as I was saying, we are in Fire Emblem Awakening, and you are currently a member of the shepherds" "Am I Robin?" I interrupted him, again. "I wanna be Robin."

I saw a toon vein pop up on his forehead as Sephie snickered, before he sighed again "No you are not Robin-shut the fuck up I'm not done talking-you joined during chapter 1 while they were getting attacked by the zombies and became a soldier oh my god don't interrupt me" he said as I raised my finger to pronounce my displeasure at being a soldier "and right now the Shepherds are at the Feroxi arena fighting Lon'qu." This time I had a genuine argument to say, but before I could even start talking "I know what you are thinking, but since your-my intermission caused ripples Lucina is about as out of character as she could be. If you hadn't figured that out, yes, I am you, and to answer your next three questions: You weren't with the shepherds because you had decided to see if you could get home first, got Roy by a complete accident, then went to the Champions of Yore 1, nearly got cut down by Lyn, met our niece, yes, she's our biological niece, I'm not telling you how because I don't wanna be there when you realize it, and you turned back after leaving her at Donny's village because you were looking for answers, then by a complete and genuine mistake I made you use a divination spell even though you have magical atrophy, and it led us here." He finished, panting slightly from the whole speech.

This guy was too good at leaving me speechless.

"So, any questions?" he asked.

"Only one. Well, actually two, although one is more of a curiosity." "Go on." He nodded.

"Well, the most important one is… what to do now. It's obvious I had a life with the shepherds, however short it was, so I can't just show up at their doorstep lacking all my memories."

"A good question, indeed." He nodded. "Lucky for you, I have already prepared a letter to present to Chrom that will make him not question anything and simply let you in, where you should regain your memory. Sorry, but we don't have restore staves. But first, you should save Donny's village. Also, look out for magic, since your system is shot your own magic won't protect you. Basically you have 0 res." I nodded. "And as for my other question… have you ever beat Apotheosis?" This time, he grinned and simply stuffed his hand in his pocket before tossing me a shield.

"Holy shit! Is this?"

"The Final Emblem, yeah. Took me fourteen tries with Einherjar only to get it, but damn if I aint proud of that. Oh, now that I think of it, do not summon Roy. Let my niece Rose summon him, you still do not have enough magic to keep up the summon." I nodded in understanding before handing it back to him.

"Well, if that's everything… I guess I'll see you? Now I just need to- WAIT!" I turned around suddenly. "I want that." I said, pointing to his pockets.

"You're gonna have to earn the emblem if you wa-" but I cut him off. "I don't give two shits about the emblem. What I want is the Hammerspace. I want to be able to carry around all the junk I want." He blinked twice before starting to laugh. "You'll invent it eventually, don't worry." He said, a teasing glint in his eyes. "But I want it noooooooow." I whined, because at least with myself I could whine, right? "Sorry, kid. No can do right now. It's still magic." He snapped his fingers and a portal opened behind me before saying "See ya!"

"Kid? You're barely older than me!" I shouted. He replied with a grin "I'm flattered you think that, but I'm fourty." I gaped at him. "Oh, and by the way. THIS. IS. YILISSE!" And he kicked me in the chest, right into the portal. "Ah, that felt good." And then I could see him no more, and I felt like I was traveling at a one hundredth of the speed I should be going. It felt like the air was made of molasses and I couldn't breathe. But I didn't need to. And then, the weariness suddenly caught up to me, and I fell asleep.


A/N A 3.5k word chapter without Omake! Yay! (altho next chapter I will make omake)

Also, before any of you starts cursing me because "AAAAAAAAAAH YOU WHIPPED OUT THE AMNESIA CARD" This is only temporary. I did so simply because we wouldn't want Nicholas spoiling too much of the plot now, would we? ;) Also as some of you may guess, Nick and Nicholas' adventures went VERY differently. The two years of experience and confidence Nicholas has over Nick made him win his first battle rather easily, given the chance to bring in aerial support. If you wish, I could start writing a spin-off series to this one called The Otherwordly Soldier: New game-. Lemme know, yeah? And… end of chapter status notes, because despite the lack of fighting, something changed, and I'm also going to post Nicholas' stats for the sake of it.

I part with you finally with the Stats! Please proceed to ignore if you are NOT a sucker for stats like me. Ninni51, out. *drops mic*

Nick and Nicholas' growrates are the same for obvious reasons.

Nick

Lv 10 Exp 09

Class: Soldier

Hp: 15/26 65%

Str: 13 50%

Mag:10 (0) 55%

Skl: 12 60%

Spd: 14 60%

Lck: 7 45%

Def: 9 30%

Res: 17 (0) 65%

*in which the () are current stats.

Status:

-Magical Exhaustion: Mag and Res drop to 0.

-Memory Loss: Support bonuses are cancelled. Can only be restored using a Restore wand.

Skills:

-Riposte

-Toss: Active skill: Lances gain range 1-2, effects are cancelled, cannot crit.

Items:

-Killer Lance Mt 10 28/30 Hit 85% Crit 30%

-Wing Spear Mt 8 28/28 Hit 90% Crit 10% Effective against mounted and armored units.

-Rescue 5/5

Supports: N/A

Nicholas

Dark Flier Lv 20 EXP 00

Hp: 0/48

Str: 28 (23)

Mag: 36

Skl: 34 (30)

Spd: 40 (34)

Lck: 20

Def: 17 (24)

Res: 41 (53)

*in which the () are unmounted stats.

Status:

-Dead: This unit is dead. Can only be restored using an Aum staff.

Skills:

E-Vortex+ (Dismounted only): Unit can cast Wind, Elwind, Rexcalibur without a tome and not have penalties

E-Canto (Mounted only)

E-Speed +2

-Relief (Mounted only)

-Rally Movement

E-Lancefaire (Dismounted only)

-Darting Blow

E-Galeforce+ (Mounted only) Unit can move 2 times per turn.

-Impale

E = Equipped

Blank space = Available, but not equipped.

Items:

-Illusion Charm

Supports:

-Roy: B

-Marth: B

-Belle: A

-Rose: A

-Inigo: A

-Lucina: B

-Owain: B

-Cynthia: B

-Severa: C

-Kjelle: C