DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem: Fates and all of its characters belong to Intelligent Systems (and any other major parties involved in the making of the Fire Emblem: Fates games). I own the plot, Dakota, (Name)'s personality and the decisions she makes. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

Two Years Prior

(Name) = Your name.

(eye color) = Your eye color.

(hair color)/(hair length) = Hair color / Hair length.

(Pet Name) = An annoying name that pisses you off, no matter who it comes from.

(Nickname) = A cute name that makes you blush.

Your P.O.V.

I wake up with a pounding headache, my entire body feeling leaden, unyielding to my commands. I begin to recall certain things about myself, just to be sure that I'm still alive.

I am (Name). I am (age) years old. I am a white-furred Wolf's Kin-. No... I am the last white-furred Wolf's Kin. I was held prisoner in Hoshido with my parents. They died helping me to escape. I was followed across the border by a Hoshidan soldier. Then...

I couldn't remember the rest of what happened. Slowly waking up and opening my eyes, I'm met by a kind female Wolfskin named Dakota. She's a proud member of the pack of Wolfskin that lives here at the summit of Mount Garou, so she tells me. When I ask her what happened, she smiles and tells me everything, starting from where my memory draws a blank.

Dakota and the pack's leader, Keaton, had been on their way to do some daily hunting when they'd heard me cry for help. When they had arrived, I was already blacking out, and there was a Hoshidan merchant holding a serrated knife to one of my wolf ears with the intention of skinning me alive. Keaton had sent him running for his life. After the fact, he and Dakota had carried me here to his den, where - much to my embarrassment - I had been lying unconscious for an entire day. Even more shocking is the fact that my stomach decides right here and now that this is the perfect time to proclaim its need for food. Dakota laughs at this and leaves the den for a minute, returning with some food and water just for me. Once I've finished the food and had enough water, I thank Dakota for her kindness, standing up and walking to the den's entrance. She calls after me, stopping me in my tracks.

"You can't seriously think that you can just leave without any means of defending yourself," Dakota states calmly.

"Yes, I can," I snap rather coldly, instantly hit by recoiling guilt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, Dakota... What I meant to say is that I have my Beastrune, so I'll be fine."

"No, actually. You don't."

I turn on my heel. That answer had been the one I'd least expected.

"The merchant snatched it off you moments after we found you," she sighs in regret. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to retrieve it."

Waves of emotion crash over me in such a scramble that I can't pick out even one of them. That Beastrune had been my mother's, and she'd passed it on to me in her final moments of life. It was a part of me now, and it was the only thing that had kept me sane while I had been-.

A pair of arms wrapping me into a comforting hug prevents me from completing the thought. Dakota whispers soothing words to me, which makes me think that she's quite a bit older, wiser than she appears to be.

"Don't worry, (Name). We'll get your Beastrune back," she assures me.

"How d-do you know m-my name?" I ask, inwardly cursing myself for stuttering.

"There were some dog-tags attached to a belt loop on your jeans," Dakota answers sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck as she pulls away from the hug. "I tried to save them for you, but Chief threw them down into the Bottomless Canyon."

"Then good riddance," I huff, suppressing a shiver. "They only bring up memories I'd much rather forget."

"If you're up for it, Keaton and I can come with you," she suggests, obviously referring to getting my Beastrune back.

Dakota smiles when my face lights up with joy, but the moment of happiness quickly fades when I very stubbornly refuse her offer.

"I can't involve your pack leader in this," I mutter darkly, turning to leave the den once more. "It's too dangerous."

I'm just within three feet of freedom when another Wolfskin arrives, blocking the only exit. Looking up, I suddenly feel my heart beginning to fail me. I'm met by possibly the hottest Wolfssegner in existence. His waist-length black hair has a thick stripe of white running down the center, his crimson red eyes and shirt of an identical hue being the only color that stood out in his attire. What pulls it all together with sexy-cute style is the black wolf ears protruding from either side of his head and an equally attractive tail that stuck out from his rear end. I don't even realize that I'm staring a little too intently at him until he waves a hand in front of my face.

"Hello? Is everything okay?" the Wolfssegner asks, slightly concerned.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I stammer, averting my gaze. "I need to-."

"Awesome! I'm so happy," he cheers, pulling me into a strong hug, although he almost immediately lets go. "I... I mean, it's great to see that you're awake."

"Keaton, your tail is wagging," Dakota calls from behind me.

I can't help but smile as the Wolfssegner tries desperately to stop his wagging tail, his cheeks getting redder all the while. I may having only just woken up in a strange camp teeming with Wolfskin I never knew existed until now, but even so, I feel welcomed, a part of their pack. Staying with them for a little while couldn't hurt, I guess... Right?

"Dakota," Keaton whines, not at all pleased with his packmate's comment. "Would you please stop pointing that out all the time!"

"That's about as likely as you succeeding in keeping your tail still, Chief," she replies with a sigh.

I shake my head to refocus my thoughts, simultaneously trying to coax my mind into letting go of the image of Keaton now burned into my memory.

"I'm sorry, but I really must be leaving, I declare, cautiously pushing past Keaton and walking out into the soothing light of dusk, wind whistling softly by my upright ears. "Which way is Hoshido?"

"You're not going," Keaton's voice growls beside me, commanding.

I turn to him, slightly annoyed.

"With all due respect, if I wanted your approval, I would have asked for it," I snap at him, impressed that he doesn't even flinch.

"You are a woman, more importantly a Wolfskin, and I respect that."

He holds his ground, hands raised defensively when I take a challenging step towards him, feeling the scrape of his implied meaning against raw nerves.

"I have no doubt that you'd be able to hold your own if you had your Beastrune, and I respect that as well," he continues, pausing to look into my (eye color) eyes. "At least let Dakota and I come with you."

The deep, raspy tone of his voice makes my heart flutter for a couple of beats, though I've no clue why.

"Fine," I concede, throwing my hands up in surrender. "You can come with me, but as soon as we get to the castle-."

"We are not letting you go in there alone, either," Dakota buts in, standing at my other side. "Not a single Nohrian has ever made it in and back out of Hoshido alive."

"Let alone Castle Shirasagi itself," Keaton adds gravely. "Even the Nohrian royal family have never been able to come anywhere near the main castle."

"Okay, I get it!" I whine, following him as he leads the way, gathering a large number of his packmates to join us as backup while Dakota brings up the rear. "Let's just get there before I start ripping my own fur out."

"Woohoo!" he cheers, leaping into the air and pumping his fists. "We'll give those Hoshidans an ass-kicking they'll never forget."

As we walk down the mountainside in the direction of Hoshido, I remain happily oblivious to Dakota while trying to discuss a plan of attack with Keaton. She watches my white wolf tail as it picks up a rhythmic left-right sweeping motion, and she smiles knowingly to herself.