CD123505: I can see your point of view, but when you see someone with an hostage close to them you'd rather try and find a way to set them free rather than just attacking and risking their lives. In the best case scenario (which clearly, was not this one) you can set the hostage free. At least that's what I think.
DarknessLink: I'm sorry to see you go! But sadly, I'm gonna lead this story so much down weird lane that, if you do not like weird, I do not recommend this story for you. That's just how I write. But if you have any more precise critique that you can offer, I'll be glad! Please post one last review so that I can learn from it. It's my first fanfiction after all, and errors are bound to happen.
Kidemonas: Thanks for the heads up 3 I wonder though, if a crazy hard challenge is overcome easily because mary sue, was it a hard challenge to begin with, or was it poor writing that made it look like it?
Guest: Thanks for clearing that up for me! I must've had a really weird coincidence then since all 4 of my Peg Knights upon promotion gained +10 hp :l
Guest 2 (Unless you're the same person?): *Roy has attained the title "Our boy"*
Part 2: I mean, you make a future timeline and don't have ANY of the characters interact with their future selves aside from Gary stu? Think of the plot possibilities! That was one of the point that in my opinion awakening sold short. And I plan to do things with… SOME of the future children at least. Personally I hate Kjelle and Yarne's characters for being so fucking thick and in not the good way, but I'm definitely gonna use all of them, altho some may have minor parts. Can't all be protagonists, you feel me?
Part 3: I'm gonna try to post a chapter every Sunday, if I can! And I'm gonna say it shamelessly that I used Nick's amnesia as a plot device to not have Nicholas spoil too much, and for something else. You're gonna have to read it to know what ;D Also, finally some confirmation that people appreciate omakes! I was starting to think that I shouldn't post them.
I'm gonna keep it short since there were more reviews so Read and Review, unless you want me to be a very sad boi.
*edit* I realized I wasn't very clear when I wrote. Basically, when I say a "Focus-less divination" It means that you're performing a divination without focusing on a specific something you want to know about. It's like searching for something on the internet but instead of typing the keywords you start looking through just about anything you can find. It just doesn't work.
Chapter 11: Not-so-magically Delirious
Remember the arrow that hit me? The one that the piece of shit bandit hit me with in chapter 10 right after Donny killed Roddick? Yeah, that one.
It was poisoned. Some apparently non-lethal poison that they used to abduct people, since I'm very clearly Not Dead™ but still. Fuck me when I decided to fight without armor and still expect to not get hurt. We found out about some 2 days after we left Donny's village for the north, after landing the boat, when I couldn't stop hurling and my legs gave out. Next came the swimming vision and spinning head. Yay. Oh, and our food is basically gone.
"I'm thirstyyyyy…" I whine.
"Yeah, me too." Donnel says from under me.
So now we're traveling as fast as we can towards Southtown so that we can get someone to heal me, avoiding the desert route since I'm currently taking a piggyback ride on Donnel. My magical coils (I still have no idea how it's called, but basically mana is carried through the blood and pumped by the heart, assuming one has enough by himself to replicate it. That's why I'm able to utilize magic, but it's pretty much like using a muscle that was atrophied up until now) have recovered enough that I can briefly summon them, but cannot keep up a steady flow of magic.
Also, by avoiding the desert route we won't have any chance to see Laurent. He was in this desert, right? We should go see him. I tap Donny's shoulder. "Hmm?" He turns his head towards me. "I wanna go see Laurent." I tell him. "Well, I reckon that he would like to see ya when yer all better." He tells me. "Hmm. That's true." I nod at his logic, before resuming my resting place on his shoulder, closing my eyes for a second. When I open them again, the sky changed color. Huh, weird, it wasn't nearly this dark when I closed them.
"Curse you sky! I didn't give you permission to change color!" I weakly wave my fist in protest at it. In response, an eye in the sky blinks open.
"Yeah! I'm talking to you! Switch back to morning right now!" I shout at that asshole. All it does is start crying zombies. Donny finally looks up to see what I'm talking about and turns unhealthily pale.
"Hey, come on, don't change color too man!" I tell him. Is this color changing day? *gasp* Can I do that too?! I look down to myself and see that I've become paler than Donny. So cool! Is this permanent though? It looks bad with my dyed green hair.
I turn back to the eye who is still crying zombies. "Donny, make him stop crying. Tell him I didn't mean to." I mumble. I'm getting tired. So, while Donny starts running, I fall asleep.
I wake up to the sound of a thunderclap. Motherfucker did they invent guns again? It's not raining. I try to look down, but I realize that I already am. My face is buried in the sand and it's gotten very hard to breathe. Where am I?
I look up from my current predicament to realize that Donnel's a few feet from me, a cut on his back bleeding. Huh. I turn toward the very angry Risen mage who is towering over me, a wind spell in hand. Suddenly, the wind spell is hurled towards me, destroying my clothes a little bit. Rude.
I can see in the eyes of the Risen that he's confused. Did nobody tell him I have plot armor? He can't kill me with a silly wind spell. And ooh he's trying again. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, huh? Well, the wind impacts again onto me, tearing a few small cuts into my shirt. *gasp* I get his plan now! He's trying to get me nude by tearing my clothes! HE'S A PERVERT ZOMBIE! I let out a screech as I realized his foul plan and tried to run away, only for my legs to give out under me. Right, I'm still poisoned.
Then, suddenly, the flapping of wings. What the? I look up to see that there are huge birds descending upon us. Whew, the TEB Zombie hack birdies took a while to come save me! Glad they're here though. I won't mention this in their file report. And I'll rate the hack a 4.5/5. Wait, hold on a second.
"Aww, they're not the TEB! They're just pegasus riders!" I pout. Guess the TEB really is dead. Neverthless, these new addictions clear the zombies quickly and easily, even though I saw a disappointingly little amount of birdy lasers. Shame.
"I'll give them 1/5 stars…" I mutter under my breath.
"Is anyone injured?" The one who looks like the commander of the squad of fliers calls. Well, her pegasus had a horn on it, at least.
"Yeah, Donny has a hole tore through his back." Came my startlingly clear, if a bit slurred out response.
"What about you? Can you stand?" She asks. Or he. I shouldn't assume genders, it's 2017 dammit!
"Yeah, yeah. I'm a Shepherd, it takes more than a little bandit poison to take me down." I stand up to prove my point, only to faceplant in the sand moments later. I raise my finger towards what I assume is her, not seeing and all. "May need a little help though."
She sighs before barking out another command. "Alright gals', we've found him. Clearly delirating, but safe and sound. Someone take him and his friend and we can all head home." The next moments are a bit blurry. The next thing I know, I'm mounted onto a pegasus behind a familiar looking rehead.
"Cordelia!" I say with glee as we take off.
"And how would you know my name, if I may?" She doesn't sound mad. More amused, than anything.
"Sumia used to talk to you all the time at the barracks." I nod, satisfied with how clear my answer came.
"Oh? And about what?"
"Oh, yknow. How you're an awesome rider, how cool you look, how much you like the prince, that kinda stuff." And wow, she turned red as her hair! So cool.
"Wh-What could you possibly mean?" She asks. Oh, silly her. Everybody knows about her crush on Chrom. It's kinda sad really.
And wow she turned an ever brighter shade of hair? I didn't think it was possible. Wait, did I say that out loud? I think I did. I didn't mean to.
"Yknow" I get close to tell her a secret "While Chrom is cool and all, he's a bit thick. He prefers forward. So you shouldn't beat around the bush." And wow if she keeps becoming redder she's gonna explode. Her pegasus lets out a neighing laugh. "See! Even he thinks so as well! Good boy." And then I fall asleep against her back.
I wake up the next morning finding myself in a bed, without any of my equipment. Weird, I don't remember going to bed yesterday. I kinda don't remember yesterday at all.
Then, the soreness hits me all at once. Ugh. As I groan, trying to stretch, I find that I'm, quite literally, bound to the bed. With ropes.
What could've happened?! Did more bandits come in the night? Where is Donnel?! What-
"Whoa, whoa, calm down kid. Yer safe." And god(s?) was I happy to hear a character's voice. "Hey! What happened? Why am I bound?!" I ask Sully who's next to me. "Ye were having a bad reaction to the antidote and would still have a crisis even through a sleep staff. I'm impressed, kid, but we had to bind ya up so you wouldn't hurt yourself." Phew. I'm not at the hands of a bandit or a pervert zombie. Wait, what? Where did that one come from?
"So… can you free me? I enjoy sleeping as much as the next guy, but being literally bed confined isn't nice." And then she had this devious smirk that told me that she had no intentions of doing so.
"No can do. Medic's orders." She got close and whispered in my ear "I think Lissa wants to personally chew you out for nearly getting yourself killed." And I shuddered in fear because if the game is any amounts of true (and it has proven very much so far) then I'm gonna have to get myself free as soon as possible. I started pulling at my ropes and Sully started laughing and leaving towards the door to go get Lissa. Fucking traitor. Sadly, my struggles are cut short as a very pissed shorty barges in, with a blue head standing in the doorway.
"What were you thinking?! Nearly getting yourself killed like that?!" She's shouting directly in my face, on top of the bed. That's some bad hospital room camaraderie. Even Chrom winces from the doorway but mantains his stoic face.
"Princess, could you please keep the lecture for when I have any idea what I have done wrong?" and the anger fades away to confusion on her face. "If you bothered reading the letter that I had with me you'd know that currently I know next to nothing."
"What?!" She shouts again. She seems to have a thing for busting my eardrums.
"Apparently, my body attempted a divination without any focus towards the future in reaction to… something, I have no idea, and my memories went poof." I said.
"A divination?! Are you crazy! What if- "But Chrom, my savior cuts in. "Lissa, he's right about something. Save it for when he can understand and realize." Lissa seems spent, but nods.
"Alright… well, not alright, but we can fix this. Chrom, please go grab a restore staff." She sighed. "You know, you had us worried there. Leaving without telling anybody and all." I simply shrugged, not really being able to feel guilt for something I cannot remember doing. She simply sighed again in response.
"Alright, to restore your memories we're gonna have to retrace all the steps in the divination, complete it, and figure out what event you saw that caused you a trauma so big that you got an amnesia, and then, remove it from your mind. Understand?" I nodded. I wanted this situation to finally make sense, damnit.
"We're gonna have to use a bit of dark magic for this one. While I'm personally not that great at it, we're gonna have to make do with what we have because your stupidity landed you here. Ready?" I gulped, but nodded. "Alright…" And suddenly, the room and everything else, Lissa included, was being swallowed in darkness. I started immediately feeling the strain on my body from the divination, but decided to grit my teeth and go through with it. First the things I remember.
(I woke up in the Outrealms with the other me who helped me remember who I was)
I began sweating.
(I found Donnel running away from a bandit, and decided to help him clear them)
My muscles were already as tense as they could and tensing even more.
(We killed them all, and in return, they destroyed Donny's village.)
I heard Lissa gasp from Somewhere out there.
(I was poisoned, and we set out to search for help somewhere. When the Pegasus riders found us, I gave a pegasus knight named Cordelia advice on her love life.)
I heard Lissa giggle as I began gritting my teeth from the pain.
(I found myself here.)
I feel like that was unnecessary, but whatever. Now the hard part begins.
(We went to war with Plegia as the notice that Maribelle was kidnapped was given.)
I began screaming, the pain starting to become unbearable in a few small seconds.
(An attempt to take the Exalt's life was made, but we fended the assailants off and she went to the capital for her own safety.)
I think I heard a muffled gasp, but I really cannot be sure. My screaming was too loud to hear anything else clearly.
(I died. I died. I DIED I DIED I DIED DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD DEADDEADDEADDEADDEAD)
I couldn't even think clearly from the pain. I didn't even have any idea what was going on in my mind, so much was the pain. I would've probably done something about it, but my bindings made it so that I couldn't even do that. I just had to suffer.
(Emptyness.)
Finally, the pain died off, and the Divination was over, leaving a very shellshocked and tired me and Lissa. But the memories started flooding in again and holy shit I really was a shepherd damn and wow everything makes so much sense now.
As the sudden rush of clarity was over, I noticed that Lissa was still staring shocked at me, sitting on top of my legs. I tried to poke her, but I was still bound to the bed, which was probably my saving grace. But apparently Lissa had decided that it was no longer time to be stunned and launched herself at me in a tackle hug, all while bawling her eyes out and burying herself in my shoulder.
"I'm *sniff* I'm so sorry! I-I-I couldn't know! I didn't mean to make you relive that! Waaaaah!" And I was honestly shell shocked. I thought our relationship was rocky, but I guess after this… I don't know. I guess things will get better? Becoming friends is a weird thing. I never expected to bond with Lissa over something as silly as a vision of the future. Go me?
Eventually, she fell asleep. And I realized a startling lack of Chrom. I began to panic: this was not a good situation to be in at all! What if someone saw us? And-
But my panic is cut off at the sound of silent laughter. I turn towards the entrance of the room to see that Sully's back and is currently laughing at our predicament, while Sumia is giggling politely in a very silent way.
"Help me!" I hiss at them but it only causes them to laugh even harder before closing the room door and locking the door. Traitors! I cannot deal with emotionally unstable people! I look down to see that the princess is snuggling into me and snoring. Shit. This has become very awkward.
But the exhaustion kicks in and suddenly I'm asleep as well.
Is this… a dream?
Where am I? Is this… sand? Hold on a second…
I look up to see that I am, indeed, in the courtyard of the plegian castle.
Better known as Emmeryn's execution spot.
Around me is a battle. I am disarmed, but nobody seems to be paying me any mind. I try to touch someone, only to phase through them as I thought. So it's gonna be one of those dreams. Sighing, I look around to search for the Shepherds.
I can see them all, at a standstill as Gangrel is speaking to Chrom. What are they saying?
"I will count to three! Throw down your weapons, or your exalt becomes the world's largest quiver. One! Two! Thr—"
"Gangrel, hold! ...You win. Everyone, lay down yo—"
"No, wait!"
"SILENCE!"
"Emm..."
"King Gangrel, is there no hope you will listen to reason?"
"You mean listen to more of your sanctimonious babble?! I think not. No, all I want to hear now is the THUNK of arrows, and a SPLAT as you hit the ground. Take one, long, last look from your perch. You do so enjoy looking down on people... Then prepare to meet the ground, and your maker! That is, unless someone were to give me the Emblem... NOW!"
"..."
"ALL RIGHT! All right... Emm, I know you won't approve, but this is my final decision. MAYBE someday we'll face a crisis where MAYBE the Emblem would've helped... But I know for a fact that Ylisse needs you, today! The people need their exalt... And we need our sister. If those dark days should come, we'll face them together."
"Chrom... Th-thank you. I know now what I must do..."
"Emm, what are you—"
"Plegians! I ask that you hear the truth of my words! War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. Do what you must... As I will do. See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world!"
"Emm, no! No!"
"No reaction...
Was I wrong, then?
Chrom...
This is some torch I'm passing you...
So be it.
Chrom...
Lissa...
And all my people...
...Know that I loved you."
Everything played out exactly like the game. Why was I being shown this? I look at Emmeryn's body. She was smiling. It was truly sad. But why bother showing me this?
Then Gangrel resumed talking.
"As heart wrenching as this all is, we need to get back to our dinner! And while I was personally VERY satisfied by the main dish, I find myself craving for… a bit more." A truly disgusting smile appeared on his face. "So, let's also bring out the side dish!" On the dragon's muzzle I looked up to see… myself. He was lacking an eye, and his right arm looked like a mangled mess rather than a proper limb. He was staring at the place where Emmeryn had died and looked utterly miserable. And then…
"So, come on! I didn't get the chance to get my revenge at the Exalt, but a human quiver we promised and a human quiver we'll have!" he snapped his fingers several times impatiently. At that, Aversa raised a hand, and suddenly I heard a shout of "NO!" coming from Chrom.
And then… I watched myself raise his arm (since the right one looked immovable) in a welcoming way as he became the world's biggest pincushion, before falling to his death as well.
So… Is this my fate? To die as well at the hands of the plegians? And how did I get up THERE in the first place? None of this makes sense…
Then the world turned to black and I was suddenly Nothing.
I woke up with a startle as the dream fades away, not remembering what I was even dreaming about. Lissa is gone from my legs and my wrists are (thankfully) free, and as I take a look around myself I finally realize that this is my room at the barracks. I'm home. As I finally sit up to witness what was my current predicament since my destiny was starting to look like a drama conga line, I got to thinking. If my recent adventures denoted anything, is that rushing to somewhere without a well-defined plan is a big no-no if I plan to stay alive as long as possible.
Great.
And I did just get back from being poisoned, nearly killed a fair amount of times, AND just had multiple existential crisis about Woe is me, so the first question I should be asking myself is: Am I alright?
The answer is a big, non-discussable No. I am far from okay. I took my own life, only to get thrusted in a world of semi-perpetual war that goes on and on and on and on, with zombies put in it for good measure. I am about to go fight a war that will last something something between one and six months, and I will have two years and a half to prepare for a war that will rock the world to its foundations and a fight against a world ending god. I met my other self from the future who took while he thought I was unconscious what was apparently a charm that ensured or at least helped my survival and told me that I fucked up the Plot so bad that I won't have a clue about what will happen to me even if I try to retrace his steps.
Neat.
Fucking neato.
Another thing, which I had already started thinking about but was rudely interrupted by an Anna, is that I NEED to become stronger, somehow. Obviously I cannot just hop skip and forget about my magical impediments, while I do have a fuck ton of mana (apparently) my magical output is barely as good as a mage novice AND will hurt me in the process, perhaps irreversibly. So that's a big no-no, for now.
I clearly can't become that much stronger over a small period of time, no matter how much I seem to be talented for taking lives (and how much of a sad thought is that?) without anything short of obtaining Tiki's tear or a LOT of stat boosters, but that doesn't seem likely at least before the second war, which I currently won't live to see.
What I can do however is, if I cannot better myself, at least better my equipment. I don't care if it's got spirits in it (which by the way, I got a confirmation upon meeting two of the Sylph trio), that blade SHOULDN'T have cut clean through my armor as it was a piece of butter. And if Naga damn her won't give me decent equipment, fucking hell I'll make my own. I still need to find a way to produce the true steel (and what name would I give it? These idiots already have something named steel.) and that implies having a blast furnace at the ready and a blacksmith at my whims. OH
I realized that I do have a blacksmith at the ready! Hauteclere! If what I saw in Echoes was any indication of her skill, with my new metal and her work we could create weapons that would rival the regalia!
I'm pretty sure I became starry eyed just now. Bad Nick! Bad! Stop being so gleeful about creating things that kill people!
But anyways, even though canon fire emblem seemed to think otherwise, a weapon is nothing without a good wielder (aside from the Wo Dao, that shit apparently gives you S rank in swords as soon as you touch it or something like that) so… loathe and afraid as I am, I should go and ask Frederick about his fitness hour, as soon as I'm not bed-ridden. I'm basically asking to be put through the wringer but I don't care, this is about survival, and while I could stave off a bunch of bandits, Marth served well in kicking down my ego a tad with that display of skill. I clearly am far from being a good soldier and being able to take on actually trained adults.
Now that I know what can I do to better myself, what can I expect to go canon with myself being added? Actually… A lot of things. If what my niece has told me (and I'm gonna ignore for now any and all implications of the fact that I have a niece for as long as possible) NOBODY knows I have knowledge of the future… aside from her. Another slip up that could be avoided, shit. Anyways, I must've planned a way to make it so that it goes just about like canon. I hope. So… Apparently the Shepherds are done with the diplomatic mission, which should've been a success. I have no idea about Maribelle's current whereabouts but since the shepherds haven't departed post-haste for Plegia then she's either still here or in Themis, since the game seemed to show only the interesting moments. Among our new recruits are Lon'qu, Donny, Ricken should finally be here. We shouldn't meet Lucina for at least a while, and the children characters are second priority at least until the beginning of the second war, barring changes that I should ask later to my futurology Marth.
And so I can decide what I want to change about the future. The first event coming up, even before Emmeryn, is Cordelia's squadron death. Can I actually do ANYTHING about it? I really cannot think of anything I say that could make a difference. And how would I get to doing that in the first place? I have no idea how it happens or why. Sadly, I think Cordelia is gonna have to have a tragic backstory.
Second is, also before Emmeryn, if only slightly, Phila's death. There was really no reason behind her death aside from fucking Emmeryn's chances to escape. This… Actually, I could definitely do that if I give Lissa my Rescue staff. It would also make the next chapter that much easier.
Then, immediately after, is Emm herself. Saving her… is probably a big no-no. In the event that she was saved, nothing short of her doing a miracle speech, which I don't doubt she could but…
I'm not really feeling generous about taking chances. These last few days have taught me how stupid of an idea that is. So, sadly, Emmeryn's gonna die.
I guess that's really all I need to account for for now.
Whew, at least I can count on the script for being my way and allowing me to prepare.
A red-haired woman with brown eyes entered the room with a tray of food in hand. At first I thought that Severa had somehow joined the Shepherds or Miriel had her look somehow completely revamped, but as I looked at her better…
"Good evening. I was asked to bring you dinner because of your unfortunate condition. Are you feeling ill?" The future Exalt's daughter look-alike asked me.
Shit-
Aaaaaand we're done! I'm sorry for the ending, but I couldn't just not do that cliffhanger! Personally, I'm pretty satisfied about this chapter aside from essentially re-writing a chunk of in-game dialogue for the dream sequence. Any thoughts or comments? Please write a review to let me know your opinion! Stats are unchanged, Nick has his supports (and memories, obviously) back. I got this chapter finished early and will see if I can make you have another chapter soon.
Ninni51, out *drops mic*
