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.

(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.

Keaton's P.O.V.

My eyes flutter open at the sound of frustrated shouting outside my den. I lift my head and look around, realizing I'm alone, which means that (Name) and Dakota are outside. Standing up and stretching lavishly, I meander out of my den, blissfully ignorant of the chaos that awaits me until I emerge into the late-morning light and my Deputy Chief whirls to face me. The look of panic in her red-amber eyes was well hidden, but not well enough, and I sleepily kick into Chief Mode.

"Dakota, calm down and breath," I instruct her firmly, waiting until she's stopped quivering with anxiety. "Now, tell me what's going on."

"(Name)'s gone," Dakota whispers, a hint of fear in her voice. "The dawn patrol reported seeing her leave the camp and flee deep into the forest."

"What direction?"

"The far north, Chief," one of my packmates replies, walking up to stand beside Dakota. "We tried following her, but it got too cold."

"Explain," I growl, a flare of suspicion creeping up on me.

"It started snowing heavily," he admits shamefully, looking down at his feet with his ears folded back against his head. "Had we not turned back when we did, not all of us would have made it back to camp alive."

I give my fellow Wolfskin a friendly pat on the back, smiling at him as he looks back up.

"Well done, Brother," I praise him, relief sparking in his eyes. "You did the right thing."

When my packmate leaves to join the rest of the recovering dawn patrol, I turn back to my Deputy Chief with determination.

"Dakota, you and I are going to go find (Name)," I mutter just loud enough for her ears alone. "She is a part of this pack now, and you know what that means, don't you?"

"Are you insane?" she hisses at me, grabbing my arm as I walk past her. "If what the dawn patrol reported is true, then what you're suggesting is suicide!"

"As Deputy Chief, you should know full well by now that I'd rather die trying to save a member of my pack than sit back and do nothing!"

There's a tense silence wherein Dakota lowers her head, her ears folded down in sorrow. She remembers when I risked my own life, almost went too far, to rescue her when the camp was hit by a massive flash flood. She was nearly swept away forever by the rushing waters. She'd been an older sister figure to me for as long as I can recall, and she was my father's Deputy Chief for a while before he died a couple years ago... That had been the only motivation I'd needed to go after her, despite Father's efforts to stop me. Now, she is my Deputy Chief, but moreover, she's my best friend, and I don't want to lose her.

"Alright," Dakota concedes, her resolve now strengthened. "Let's go."

~Time Skip~

True to the report given by the dawn patrol, once Dakota and I get into the more dense section of the forest, it starts snowing heavily, though there's not a single gust of wind. The deeper we travel, the more the cold, white flakes fall and the trees begin to thin out, until there's nothing but a vast expanse of white in all directions. Out of fear that we'll become separated, I turn to Dakota and pull a long rope from one of the pouches at my thighs. Having no need for further instruction, we tie the opposing ends of the rope around each other's waist and then continue our search for (Name). After an eternity of aimlessly walking around, I feel a sharp tug from Dakota's end of the rope.

"Over here, Chief," she whispers, pointing ahead of her. "I think I found something."

Shielding my eyes from the lazily dropping snowflakes, I squint to try making sense of what it is she's pointing at. As it slowly comes into focus, I can feel my tail powering up like an engine, whipping from left to right while my nose picks up the faintest whiff of (Name)'s sweet scent. From what I can see, up ahead is the mouth of a cave, where I can only assume (Name) is hopefully sheltered and warm. We carefully approach the cave, making sure there are no possible threats nearby. I take one step inside when the rope linking Dakota and I together goes taught. Looking back, I find myself witnessing a side of my Deputy Chief that I've only seen once before.

She's firmly planted herself at the farthest possible extent of the rope, staring blankly ahead. Her right eye has turned pure amber, whilst the other remains its usual red-amber. This means that a spirit of the dead is trying to communicate with her. Not in the creepy, vengeful kind of way, oh no. These spirits she encounters are the ones that linger among the living after their passing to protect their loved ones... At least, that's what she tells me, anyway. Why they choose the most inconvenient of times to start talking, I will never know.

"Dakota, who is it?" I ask quietly, stepping into the line of sight of her normal-colored eye. "What are they saying?"

Her pupils are wide in disbelief, and I'm forced to wait until her little one-sided chat comes to an end. The other time this happened was the day before the horrible flood that almost took her away.

~Le Flashback~

"Father! Come quick, I think there's something wrong with Dakota!"

Leading my father to where his Deputy Chief stands paralyzed on the spot, I can feel my heart racing probably much faster than it should be. When we arrive, my father kneels down in front of her, holding her shoulders. He looks into her eyes for a long moment. I stand beside him and take in the sight for a second time, seeing it from a different perspective now that my father is with me. Dakota's left eye is normal, but her right eye is a bright shade of almost glowing amber. It had seemed unnerving at first, yet now I find a strange sort of beauty about it.

"Dakota?" Father asks tentatively, giving her shoulders a gentle yet firm shake. "Dakota, can you hear me?"

There's tension in the air as she stares blankly ahead without any response at all, however, my father waits patiently as though this were a perfectly normal occurrence. Finally, Dakota blinks several times as her right eye returns to its natural red-amber color and looks directly into my father's eyes, her voice shaking as she speaks.

"Chief, we need to get everyone out of dodge before sunrise tomorrow," the shocked Deputy Chief chokes out in a rush.

"Whatever for, Dakota?" my father gasps, a shroud of disbelief cloaking him, blinding his better judgement.

"The former Chief spoke to me," the young female Wolfskin stammers, her normally commanding tone now reduced to little more than a feeble whimper. "A flood born of man and book will ravage the camp before the rising of the morrow's sun. Those were his words exactly."

Father growls in frustration and stands, walking away and disappearing into his den without another word to either Dakota or myself. I turn to my friend as she hangs her head with ears drooping in shame. Instinctively, I give her a reassuring hug.

"I believe you, Dakota," I whisper to her, pulling back to look into her watery eyes.

"Thank you, Keaton," she giggles softly, her voice still sounding quite fragile, as though the smallest whisper of wind could shatter her entirely.

I'm not sure if Father had felt it, but there had been a fourth presence with us, which led me to believe that Dakota was telling the truth.

~End of Le Flashback~

"Keaton, (Name) is in danger," Dakota says hurriedly, the sound of her voice snapping me back from my nostalgia.

"What do you mean?" I press on, shivering as a cold wind picks up.

"It's him... The Hoshidan archer."