Surviving in a Video Game Chapter 5: Speculations, a fire emblem fanfic

So besides being the most difficult chapter I've ever written, I can happily say that it is at least finally done.

Also, I know some don't see weeks the same so I'm going to say here that I consider Sunday as the first day of the week. Some see Monday as the first of the week, but I go with Sunday. Just getting that out there because this makes this chapter my at least one chapter for the week.

Anyways, going onto that Chapter now.

Italics will be character's thoughts and /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ will indicate a scene change.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem nor do I own anything else I may reference. I only own my OCs.

Speculations

My eyes cracked opened slowly as I lay sprawled out across my bed. The familiar scenery entered my mind once again. Couch covered with random things in the corner, desk with a computer and the devil console on it in front of the window, an entertainment center opposite to that, and of course the messy floor that had all kinds of objects thrown about on top of it.

For the second time I have gone back to the regular world after spending almost more than an entire day in Fire Emblem's. Things were working exactly as I had thought they might. This wasn't some kind of strangely pieced together happening. It seemed more likely that it was a system. It was a system that followed a set of rules. Rules that were placing me into a game world when I slept and taking me back out when I slept in that world.

If that was really how it was working, then I could almost calm myself about thinking of my loss of sanity. I was almost certain that this wasn't all an illusion or some kind of hallucination now. Or at least, not one I could've created. My brain couldn't come up with such elaborately stringed together events. Events that consisted of me falling asleep, waking up in a game's world, falling back asleep, waking back up in the real world, and, to top it all off, my 3ds playing the events in the game world that I had just experienced.

Speaking of my 3ds, I sat up in my bed and eyed the devil that precariously laid itself on my desk. The thing shot fear into me just from looking at it because it was my reminder that what was going on will continue to do so. It was a reminder for me that what I had just experienced was real, and that I would be going back into its world.

While I was reluctant to do so, I willed myself to go to the handheld console and watch what it wanted me to. I was reluctant because of the thoughts that were going through my head. Like my thought of how this all worked.

What if it won't happen again if I don't watch what's inside my 3ds? What if it would all stop if I just got rid of it? It has some sort of linkage to this so it must control something, right?

Despite these thoughts, however, I went towards the 3ds anyways. If this is as large scaled as being able to send me into a game world, I'm certain that throwing away, or even avoiding, this 3ds won't help. It would more than likely find a way to show me what it wants and would only make things more difficult.

I picked up the device and turned it on without hesitation. My hands were shaking slightly as the console booted up the game inside it.

What if it doesn't do anything weird? M-Maybe it's all done? Maybe I can sleep without worrying about waking up in another world.

Although I wished and wished for the 3ds to be normal, it did not heed any of these wishes. Once again, it started up its little movie of my experiences in the game world. The game focused on me this time, however. Rather than starting itself on the Shepherd in the woods like it should've, it started with Auden sitting next to a fire that he had started while I slept nearby. The firestorm started up and Auden started to carry me through it in an attempt to keep me safe. When I awoke, the gates the Risen fall out of showed up.

The fact that the game somehow has my voice in it still creeps me out.

The events that transpired afterward were exactly the same as I remembered them. Marth saved Auden and I, we regrouped with the rest of the Shepherds, and we finally made it to Ylisstol. While the game did avoid more of the detailed parts of my experiences in the game world like the training I had with Vaike, it still followed the core parts of them.

Strangely enough, once the game seemed to be done with its movie for me it went back to the world map and I could do a few things. This was oddly different because the last time I couldn't perform a single task as the console saved the game itself and quickly restarted to go back to normal. This time, however, the game was allowing me to wander the small bit of world map that was unlocked. I could head between, Southtown, the Chapter 1 forest, and Chapter 2's location. I couldn't, however, start Chapter 2 despite me attempting this for a solid five minutes. I actually couldn't enter any location no matter how hard I tried to will it. The only things I could do were wandering around the world map and opening the menu.

The menu was extremely odd. It was odd because I could open up anything I wanted to ie: Inventroy, Barracks, etc. Most of these options shouldn't have even been present though! You could only really do supports after Chapter 1! Not that it made much difference here. They all seemed utterly useless.

I went into inventory expecting to maybe see the insides of character's pockets but all I got was bupkis! A whole lot of question marks riddled the screen as I couldn't look at what each character was holding nor could I even see their stats! Not even Supports held anything in them. Each character was devoid of others they could support. Each option provided nothing of interest to me. Not even my own character had anything in these screens. Was it the devil console's way of telling me I'm not a tactician? Or maybe it's trying to tell me that the game world I'm experiencing is more than just lines of code now.

Either way, after I fiddled around with the options of absolute uselessness, the game abruptly saved once again and restarted itself. When I was brought back to the menu of Fire Emblem: Awakening, everything was back to normal. If I so desired, I could play through one of my saves or even a new one. Nothing was odd about these files. Everything was as the game should be. No matter what I tried though the game wasn't going to fritz out on me and start playing what had just happened in the game world.

Seeing it was past its strange antics, I sat it back down on my desk and leaned back in my chair. I swiveled back and forth in my chair out of slight annoyance. I was annoyed because of the fact that I didn't have the slightest clue on how or even why any of this was happening, nor did I know how to stop it.

Could it be that my 3ds is the cause of all this? It's the one trying to remind me of what I'm going through so how far off is the idea really?

It sounds weird, but it could be a possibility. Maybe my 3ds was pulling me into the world of the game inside it during my sleep. To be safe I would just keep all game cartridges out of the 3ds to avoid going into any game at all, but there's the chance that's not how it works. It could end up putting me into the world of the game that was last inside it, or worse; it puts me into an empty void of nothing. In that case, while I try to figure things out, I could always put a much safer game inside it.

Considering my options, I put my money on Pokemon Y being the safest. It's a game for kids about interacting with a world full of fantasy monsters. It wouldn't be nearly as dangerous as a game filled with war like Fire Emblem. If I couldn't find myself able to survive in that, I would be in real trouble with anything else.

I decided on it, and took Fire Emblem: Awakening out of my 3ds while I replaced it with Pokemon Y.

That would be a much nicer world to end up in than the one I got an axe cut into me.

Feeling a bit safer with the thought of being put in a Pokemon game rather than a Fire emblem one, I felt the need to think about how other things worked. Like how I'm really entering into these game worlds.

I understand that when I fall asleep I wake up in the game world, but is that really how it's working? Maybe it's on a timer, or it could be happening at a certain time of the day. I haven't been paying attention to when all of this has been happening so this might be a good start. I woke up at about ten in the morning today so I'll keep that in mind.

To test this out I should try and stay awake tonight. I'll go without sleep for now to see if it is directly linked with my sleeping. Sleep deprivation is worth it if I can learn a few things about these happenings.

Granted I shouldn't be trying to get used to this, but I feel as though that I should use my time in the real world wisely. I don't think I should use it as a relaxation point, but instead as a chance to improve my chances in living in whatever game world I end up in. I could learn a few things here that I couldn't in the game world.

I do have the internet here and everyone knows the internet knows everything. Alright that was obviously a lie considering I just searched how this is all happening just for the fun of it and all I got was that I'm addicted to video games.

Stupid Google…

Ok, maybe I can do some research on things that might benefit me in the long run. Like maybe I should look up some things that would assist me in a video game world.

I considered what I should research and went for sword fighting. Granted that there is a chance I end up in a Pokemon world knowing how to hold a sword, there is always the chance I go back to Fire Emblen: Awakening's world with this same knowledge. Knowing how to fight with a sword will be either useless or beneficial. I'd like to go with the chance of it being beneficial.

So I went ahead with researching sword fighting. What I found was fairly enlightening and might cause me to never be able to look at another sword fight in movies, or even games, the same again. There was a large amount of sword fighting that I had no prior knowledge to before now.

The first thing that surprised me was just how dirty sword fights were. Punches, stomps, grapples, and all kinds of other dirty tricks that fighters could use were all heavily present in sword fights. If it allowed them to kill their opponent, they were going to use it.

Surprisingly, Vaike was actually teaching me this. I had thought he might've just been showing me how cut throat bandits could be, but I suppose these things could generally apply to most individuals. At the very least, it applies to people that want to live in a battle. This could further be applied to people that don't generally care for honor in battles like somebody such as Chrom would try to uphold. Well, I can say that I at least am in the group of people that want to survive. If that means dirty tactics might have to be used, I will do so to live to see another day.

Another thing I've learned is a few stances. Although I didn't actually have any knowledge on this subject before so it should be assumed that I would learn something in this subject. Onto the stances, I've learned that it is important to generally spread your feet apart a good distance. About shoulder length distance is the most used distance. Most stances generally have this foot spread with your strong foot leading. This supposedly helps as when you step forward with your weak leg to swing your sword, you twist your body in the direction of your swing thus adding more force into your swing.

I've also found out about something called half sword. It's something that involves a person holding onto the central part of their sword's blade with one of their hands while they continue to hold their guard with their other hand. It provides more control, more leverage, and more powerful thrusts to a person's sword apparently. It does, however, come with its con of shortening your range though. Still, there comes a time when this is completely necessary supposedly. If you're having trouble penetrating a highly armored opponent, trying to half sword could provide enough power in your thrust to pierce into them.

Man, people are nuts! Some of these guys try to swing their swords like hammers! They use their blades to swing with as they bash their opponents in the face with their guards! They're all crazy!

I've also learned that it's key to not blocking anything with your sword's edge. It's key to not bash your sword's edge into things recklessly as the sword is obviously not invincible. Constant bashing of the sword's edge will leave it dull and less useful than a heavy butter knife. Blocks should never be done with the edge to avoid this.

Ugh… All this research… It's already dark… W-Whoa! Is it really three in the morning?! Jeez… Why'd nobody pull me from this? Wait. I wasn't pulled. I'm still in the real world!

I was still in deed living in the real world instead of Fire Emblem's. I know for a fact that I had fallen asleep much earlier than midnight in the last two occurrences so that meant at least one thing; it had to be linked to my sleep. It wasn't a matter of when it happened. All that mattered was that I fell asleep. This would mean that so long as I stayed awake, I would remain in the real world and never go back to the game's world. Although this isn't that good of a thing to find out. Sleep is kind of a necessity for me being able to continue living healthy.

Still, if it wasn't a case of when it would happen that left, why, how, and where. Why and how would be fairly difficult considering the complexity of the situation. How is equally, if not even harder, to understand. Where, however, was a good start to something. By this I mean where these events are happening. So far, they've all transpired in my room and more importantly in my bed. There was the chance that my bed was the devil bed and that it was working in close relations to the devil handheld console that was my 3ds. Ok, that may be stretching it, but isn't there still a chance that my bed somehow got turned into some kind of interdimensional sleep traveling device? Maybe. Just maybe. Or maybe I've gone insane in my attempts of actual research.

Because of my paranoia of my own bed and my desire to somewhat give it a test, I decided to sleep on the living room couch downstairs. Quite frankly, the couch was actually more comfortable than my bed. I had to wonder why I didn't just sleep on the couch all the time. Probably because it's not normal I'd imagine.

The comforts of the couch relaxed me as I prepped myself for what could come next. My drained mind then quickly drifted off into slumber.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I awoke groggily to an eerily silent room, but I paid the silence no mind. What I did pay attention to was the fact that this silent room happened to not be my living room. It was my room I had just been given by the Shepherds. My day was starting in Fire Emblem: Awakening once again.

I should really stop being surprised by this considering how often it'll probably be happening in the future. That is, if I don't find a way to stop it in the near future.

Also, I should really be thinking a bit more about what I should be doing in this world. Since I finally have a chance to sit and think about that, I had might as well do so now.

I got up from my bed in a slow motion and perform a satisfying stretch before fully getting off my bed.

Should I try to change the plot? Besides being the most dangerous thing to consider doing, I doubt I could actually perform some of those changes. Like rescuing Emmeryn. I doubt that I could do a thing in that situation. Not to mention I'm not entirely sure it would be worth the trouble. I mean, she apparently shows up again without her memory. Granted losing her memory is a pretty big deal and I would be preventing that in saving her, but I could throw the whole world in another direction if I were to do that. It's an insane risk.

After getting off my bed, I grabbed my sword off the ground and strapped it to my side again. With my sword secured to my side, I exited out of my room and into the silent hallway. I then started to make my way for the stairs to head downstairs.

Maybe I could just lay low. Hide it out until the game's plot is over. Who knows? It may be my ticket out of here if the game is beaten. I mean, is it even possible for this world to carry on without any plot? Granted my own world doesn't have a plot so a game's could very well continue just the same.

I made it to the stairs and slowly walked down them while I was still in deep thought. The bottom floor turned out to be just as quiet as the second. There appeared to only be Miriel by what I could see and she seemed to be saying something to me.

"So you are awake. I was just about to rouse you from your slumber like Vaike should have done," Miriel stated while pushing her glasses up.

I, however, was paying little to no attention at all to her conversation so I only caught bits and pieces of it. I was more prioritized in what I was thinking about to listen to her, but I still tried to respond.

"Huh? Oh… Morning, Miriel," I said as I finished walking down the steps and onto the first floor.

If I do end up sticking around with the Shepherds, I should seriously think about getting some kind of armor. These clothes are hardly going to keep my body in one piece!

"Morning to you as well. Well, since you're already awake I'll communicate the message to you now. The rest of the Shepherds have already instigated the march for Regna Ferox. We, however, are trailing behind," Miriel said as she walked towards the front door.

Again, I hardly paid any mind to anything she was saying.

I should go out and buy some armor. Like some kind of shoulder armor! Yeah, that would be great for avoiding axes!

"Hm? The march? Oh, yeah, yeah. I already know about that," I said in a dismissing manner.

"You do? Well, that makes this less complicated. Can I trust you to notify Stahl? He doesn't know either and I'd like to catch up to the assemblage as fast as possible," Miriel said as she opened the door and stepped outside it.

"Stahl? Yeah, yeah. I'll tell Stahl about… that," I said while I continued to be lost in deep thought.

"Excelent. I'll head out now. If I reach them before you two, I'll have them wait," Miriel said before fully exiting out the front door and closing it behind her.

Yeah, yeah. Head out already. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Gear. I should go out and buy some gear. Wait. Better yet, I should see if this place has any free gear. Free stuff is always better than stuff that costs actual money.

I started my search to find some kind of gear in the Shepherd's HQ. Without much to go by for a base point of my search, I simply wandered into rooms that I felt could hold what I was looking for.

Funnily enough, I did find something of interest. Well, at least it looked interesting before I really looked at it. It was a book with some kind of strange writing on it. There were some other books with the same kind of writing on it except in different colors. There was yellow, red, and even a green one. They looked interesting at first, but when I came to realize that I couldn't read a thing that was written in them I quickly realized how useless they were to me.

Stupid other worlds with their weird writing. How come they speak English but their writing is Greek to me!? Well, I should be thankful they don't speak Japanese like I'm pretty sure they should be considering it was the original language for the game. Wait, wait. What the hell am I going on about what language these characters should be speaking?! I'm looking for gear! Fuck books!

After realizing just how much time I had just wasted trying to hopelessly read some alien books, I returned to my original endeavors in finding some useful gear. Seemingly, this was pointless as most of what appeared to be the Shepherd's armory looked to be recently scavenged. Not even a simple shield was left in its confines. I was lucky to find a few swords. But even they weren't going to provide any use to me.

What does a guy have to do to find something useful around here?!

"You looking for something, Vincent?" Stahl asked from behind me causing me to slightly jump from the sudden intrusion.

"H-Huh? Oh, Stahl… Yeah, I was looking around for some gear. Was kind of hoping to find something around here," I said as I returned my gaze to the empty armory.

"Hm…" Stahl said as he observed the empty armory while eating what looked like a muffin in his hand, "Yeah, weird… Looks like we've run out of spare gear again."

"Is this a common occurrence?" I asked as he continued to look around the armory.

"No, usually Frederick keeps us well stocked. It's pretty unlike him to let us run out like this," Stahl said as he ended his observations of the armory.

"So then what do I do if I want some gear?!" I asked in a panic.

Stahl laughed silently at my panic as he calmly said after taking another bite of his food, "Well, you could always head down to Rowan's shop. He gives us Shepherds a pretty good deal. It's right on the edge of the capitol near the eastern gate."

I sighed inwardly in relief to know that there was at least somewhere for me to grab some kind of gear.

"That would be good. I'll go there then," I said before exiting the armor room with Stahl in tow.

We went our separate ways in the building when Stahl was interested in going to the kitchen to catch breakfast. Supposedly, Maribelle was baking all kinds of different goodies and that was where he had grabbed the muffin he had.

I would have to give Maribelle's baking a try when I returned if she would allow me to.

Surprisingly, it actually didn't take long to find Rowen's shop. It was indeed near the eastern gate of Ylisstol. It also helped that there was a large sign with his name on it directing people's attention to his shop.

Without a second thought, I went inside to explore the different things that I could purchase. I had chosen everything that I would want to buy when it all hit me. I had zero money to pay for anything. Not a single gold piece to my name. This resulted in my… groveling… to the store owner.

"L-Look, isn't there some way that I could get that stuff?" I asked while I clasped my hands together in front of me before bowing my head.

"Can't say I know of it if there is one, kid," Rowen said as he crossed his arms.

There it is again…

"You could work here for a few days if you're really hurting for some gold. I'd say… maybe three days of work 'round here would cover it," he said as he wiped his finger across his wooden counter to inspect the level of dust on it.

"But I can't do that! I really don't have the time for that! Can't you give me some kind of discount for being a Shepherd?!" I asked him desperately.

The word Shepherd seemed to hit a light in the man as his face lit up.

"Oh! You're a Shepherd, eh? Come to think about it, I do believe I saw you with Sully the other day. You a new recruit, kid?" he asked me with a grin now after uncrossing his arms.

Finally, something that'll go MY way for once.

His sudden happiness of hearing about me being a Shepherd calmed me down as well as I was able to regain my composure. I stated calmly, "Yeah, I just joined yesterday. I was told that you were the shop to go to if I needed some gear."

This struck more buttons in the man as he was almost glowing brighter than a Christmas tree. Rowen said joyfully, "They pointed you in the right direction, my friend! For a Shepherd I can do… half price!"

Half price?!

"You're still going to charge me?!" I asked as I fell out of my calm state I was easing into.

"Well, of course I am. I hope you understand. I'm running a business here. I can't go giving out supplies. It's bad for my pockets!" he said as his grin vanished.

This guy and Anna would probably see pretty close to eye to eye.

Seeing that I've exhausted all my options and that my hopes were completely blown out, I turned around to exit the store with my head hung low. Rowen might've shouted something as I was leaving, but I paid it no mind as it probably wasn't going to add any gold to my empty pockets.

Oh how poor I am. Poor me. Not a single gold piece even to chew on. I'll probably never know the feeling of this world's currency. Not even the smell- Hello? This guy is shoving a pouch in my face. Oh. He's talking. Should probably pay attention to that.

"You're in need of some financial help, right? Well?" the man in a cloak in front of me continued to ask as he held a pouch of what sounded like gold in front of me.

"U-Um… Yeah, I am, but you're not… giving this to me, are you?" I asked feeling skeptical of the situation.

"You're a Shepherd, right? I heard you in there. The Shepherds helped save me once upon a time and I'd like to repay my debt by helping you!" he said as he forced the pouch into my hands.

Not fully understanding the situation, I took the pouch only because of how quick things were happening.

"Thanks? Yeah, um… thanks. Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Oh, we can talk later. Just go and have fun with that for now," he said as he spun me around to face Rowen's shop that I had just recently walked out of.

He pushed me forward and into the shop subsequently. I didn't really know what to do about the situation. Some random man just gave me money to help me. I should be really happy, but I oddly don't. I feel… neutral?... about this whole thing. I'm ecstatic, but I'm feeling suspicious.

Ok, paranoia, shut up. The guy could really have been just a helpful person. Why does his generosity have to be suspicious? Just enjoy the fact that you have some money now.

I went ahead and purchased some of the discounted gear that Rowen had set aside for me. Surprisingly, I was given enough to buy two thirds of what I wanted. About a few hundred gold pieces to purchase a few pieces of gear.

What I bought included a pair of leather gauntlets, and a single brigantine pauldron. Not a long list, right? Well, that's because I'm fucking broke and couldn't afford the vest! I couldn't even buy a shield damnit!

I hate this stupid economy!

Either way, I was pleased to get something. Gauntlets would help in upcoming sword fights so that I don't go cutting my hands every two seconds and the shoulder gear would protect one of my shoulders. More specifically, it would protect my left shoulder since I'm right handed and would be better at protecting my right side rather than my left.

First thing I was eager to put on was the pauldron.

Fuck you axes!

It was only studded leather essentially, but that was still better than simple cloth. I strapped on the gray pauldron with joy as I felt slightly safer with the cover it provided to my left shoulder. The next thing I put on was the gray gauntlets. They were made out of leather so they were fairly easy to wear and they covered my hands and my forearm up to my elbow.

I exited Rowen's shop again, this time with my newly purchased gear. Also, I didn't exit feeling defeated, Actually, I felt extremely pleased with how well things seemed to have worked out. Before I could take another step away from Rowen's shop, however, I was stopped once again by the same cloaked man that handed me money in the first place.

I wanted to get a look at what the guy looked like, but his cloak's hood shrouded his face too well from my eyes.

"I see you've already spent that gold! You sure aren't one for saving, are ya?" he asked sarcastically as he laughed slightly.

"Hey, thanks again. I couldn't have bought this stuff it weren't for you. Could you tell me your name now?" I asked him for the second time.

"Oh! I had almost forgot! How rude of me! The name's Thomas," the cloaked individual said as he removed his hood.

He had shaggy black hair and looked to be no older than my age.

"Well, thanks, Thomas. It's much appreciated," I said as I extended my hand to him for a handshake.

He accepted my hand and shook it in his as he said, "Ahaha. I really couldn't help myself when I heard you were a Shepherd. You guys do so much for us. It's only right that we try to help you guys."

"So you said the Shepherds saved you? I hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly happened?" I asked as I started up in a walk expecting him to follow.

"Oh, I have no problem telling about it," Thomas said as he started to follow me in my walk, "I had gotten held up on the way to the capitol a couple of months ago by some Plegian bandits. Luckily for me, your Captain and a few other Shepherds were passing by at roughly the same time."

Thomas then had his head hang slightly forward as he said in a slightly depressed tone, "They were… um… going to capture me. Sell me as a slave, you know? If it weren't for you guys, I'd probably be locked up in some cage like an animal right now."

Ouch. There's slavery in this world? Well, it's nice to hear that at least Thomas here isn't in that portion of the world.

"Well, uh… Glad to hear that didn't happen!" I said in a way to try and lighten the mood. Also, I had no idea what to realistically say to a person that was almost caught as a slave.

"Oh, yeah! It really was the best thing to happen to me! It also helped me decide on what I really want to be in life!" Thomas said enthusiastically after he lifted his head back up.

"Oh? What would that be?" I asked.

"To be a Shepherd of course!" Thomas said with a smirk.

Wow… Why didn't I see that coming?

"How is it anyway? B-Being a Shepherd I mean," Thomas asked sheepishly.

Huh? Is being a Shepherd kind of like being a celebrity in this country? I guess it is. It's a pretty good feeling, I'd say.

"Um… It's… pretty cool so far. I wouldn't really know that much considering I only actually joined yesterday," I answered nervously while scratching my head in embarrassment.

"You're lucky… I… I could never do what you guys do," Thomas said shyly.

What?!

"B-But you just said you wanted to be a Shepherd! Being a Shepherd kind of requires doing what they do!" I said.

"Well… you see... that's kind of why I haven't tried to join yet. The fighting… I'm just not sure I could handle it," Thomas said.

Oh… I can see what he's talking about. Being a Shepherd requires having to fight. It'll probably even require killing some people on the battlefield. Honestly, even I don't know if I could handle killing another yet. It takes guts to do what the Shepherds do.

"Hey, don't sweat it," I said as I placed my hand onto Thomas' shoulder, "I'm sure you'll figure out something. And, if you want to, swing by the Shepherd's HQ today. I can probably get the same guy that's training me to help you!"

I'm sure if Vaike could help me then he could more than definitely help out Thomas here!

"Huh? There's more of you still at your guy's HQ?" Thomas asked with a confused look.

"Uh… Yeah… Why wouldn't there be?" I asked feeling confused as well.

"Well, I just saw your Captain and a whole lot of the other Shepherds heading out the West gate earlier today. I was just under the assumption that maybe you were the only one that was left there," Thomas answered.

They left? Where the hell would they be going? Wait. Wasn't I told about this? Shit. Come on brain! Work with me here! Oh! I remember now! Wait… This is terrible! Absolutely terrible!

"Shit!" I shouted in sudden realization, "We got left behind!"

My sudden change in demeanor stunned Thomas slightly. Before I went rushing back to the Shepherd's HQ, I told Thomas, "Hey, thanks for the reminder, but I've gotta go now! I've got to catch up to them! If you'd like, you can go hang out at our HQ! Just tell whoever's there that I sent you!"

My body then broke into a full sprint as I rushed back to the Shepherd's HQ. I ignored any kind of obstacle in my way as I rushed to get Stahl as fast as I could.

How could I forget about this crap!? Damnit! Miriel! She was even trying to tell me about this I bet! Shit. If she already left, then Stahl and I will be extremely late!

I busted through the front door to the Shepherd's HQ and looked around my immediate surrounding for any signs of Stahl. Luckily, I find him relaxing on one of the various crates with a slice of cake on a plate in his hands. He was thoroughly enjoying the pastry in front of him until I busted in to the room.

"Stahl, stop eating!" I shouted as I stood panting from my run.

He dropped the plate and the slice of cake on it to the ground without a second delay. He did, however, continue to chew whatever amount of food he had left in his mouth before he asked, "What's going on?"

"We've been left behind, Stahl!" I said.

"What?! W-What do you mean?!" Stahl asked as he lost his mellow attitude.

"Chrom… the others… they're all heading to Regna Ferox without us!" I said as I tried to catch my breath.

"They left?! How come I wasn't told about this march?!" Stahl asked as he got up from the crate he was sitting on.

Well… it was my fault kind of… but it's mostly Vaike's! That doesn't matter right now though!

"That doesn't matter! What does matter is they're probably almost hallway there by now! We gotta get going!" I said as I tried to get Stahl moving.

"H-Hang on! The stables!" Stahl said as he seemed to have some kind of idea.

I followed him out back and into the stables in a hurry. Both of us were going about ninety miles an hour as we ran into the stables slightly spooking the horses in them.

Stahl grabbed two horses that were saddled up and handed me one of their reins.

"Do you know how to ride a horse?" he asked while he was handing me the reins.

He expects me to ride a horse!?

"I-I've only rode one once and that was hardly even anything!" I answered him while taking the reins from him.

Seriously, it was at my grandpa's house and it wasn't even at a trot I'd say! Plus, that was years ago!

"Well, there's no time like the present to learn," Stahl said with a smirk as he got up on his horse.

Right… No time like the present… Nice horsy… Good horsy… Please let me get on you horsy…

I placed my left foot into the stirrup on the saddle and held the reins tightly in my left hand. I then placed my right hand onto the saddle as I got ready to hop myself up and onto it. When I felt that I was ready, I hopped myself up and onto the saddle as I swung my other leg over to the other side of the horse.

Ok, not too bad. Crap! Sit up straight! Don't slouch!

I caught myself from losing my balance on the horse's saddle as I remembered to sit up straight on it.

"Ok, at least you're on it. That's half the battle right there!" Stahl said with an amused look.

"Yeah? Well, this is more than half of what I even know!" I answered back.

"You know how to get him going? Just squeeze your feet together on his sides. He'll know what you mean," Stahl said as he trotted his horse out of the stables and stopped outside it to wait for me.

Ok, um… Squeeze my feet… Right… How hard could… Whoa!

I did as Stahl instructed me, but I might've squeezed too hard or too fast because the horse took it as a sign to go a bit faster than a slow trot. I was caught off guard by this as I was forced to pull back on the reins. This confused the horse even more as it tried to turn around. I then remembered that I should probably stop squeezing the horse's sides to get him to stop faster.

Stahl looked at me in confusion as I was barely out the front of the stables and almost heading back in them as he said, "Yeah, this could be difficult."

"No, no! I got this! It's all… just… a little hard to get used to!" I said as I tried to get the horse to face Stahl. Somehow, I was successful in this department.

"Ok, um… Try a trot again?" Stahl said as a suggestion.

I did again try to get the horse to trot to Stahl and was actually successful in this department. I even managed to get the horse to stop near Stahl and his horse.

"Alright! This is good!" Stahl said as he smirked.

"While I'd like to really teach you how to ride the horse, we really don't have time to be doing that. So I'll go over basics!" Stahl continued to say.

"Well, there's the canter which could be what we use for a lot of this trip just to not burn out our horses. That involves using your right leg to push into your horse's side instead of both of your legs," Stahl said as he showed me an example of his horse cantering.

I tried the same thing and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it might've been. It could be that these horses are just well trained in recognizing these simple commands or that I'm just a natural. I'll go with the former. The only thing I have to worry about is keeping my balance really.

Stahl then explained how to get the horse to gallop as well and he gave me an example of his horse galloping before he came back.

I did as I saw him do, and found the gallop to be very difficult. I had to hold myself up straight on my own with only my feet in the stirrups and my butt off the saddle. Also, I had to keep the reins length short so that the horse could lower his head into the gallop. I'll probably enjoy not having to gallop.

"Ok, that's… probably good enough," Stahl said as he scratched his head.

"Probably?!" I asked loudly in doubt.

"Well, you'll at least probably not going to fall off the horse," Stahl said with a nervous smile at my obvious concern for my own safety.

I sighed inwardly as I then said, "Ok, so are we going to go now?"

"That's the thing…. Do you even know where in Regna Ferox they were heading?" Stahl asked.

We stared at each other in silence as neither of us fully understood where they were heading. There was only the knowledge of the kingdom they were heading to and its border was massive! There could be any number of ways that might've taken to get into Regna Ferox!

"W-Wait!" I said as I remembered, "I know the path they're probably taking! Do you have a map?"

Please let them be taking the game's path… please…

Stahl pulled out a map he kept along with something for me to draw the path on it. The map actually was very close to the game's world map that you're constantly running across. It made drawing the path a thousand times easier as I had looked at it on my 3ds so many times. I handed the map back to Stahl with the path that I was certain they were taking as he studied it.

"Alright, we can follow this and we might catch up to them or…" Stahl said as he pocketed the map.

"Or?!" I asked wanting to know the rest of what he was saying.

"Or we get lost and freeze to death in the cold weather up in the north!" Stahl said with a grin as he was obviously unaffected by what he just said.

I, on the other hand, was extremely affected by his words.

Freezing to death does not sound fun!

"Can we not talk about dying and just get going?" I asked wanting to get going.

"Well, we could also get ambushed by some Plegian b-"Stahl continued to go about the ways we could die before I cut him off.

"Let's go!" I shouted not wanting to hear the rest of what he was saying.

We then quickly rode our horses onto the path that I had drawn on the map with Stahl leading. Our goal was to catch up to the others as fast as possible. There wasn't even time for us to say goodbye to Maribelle or Ricken. We had already wasted enough time lying around. If we were to catch up, we would have to focus on nothing but travel.

Hopefully we catch them before they get engaged with the Risen. It'll be even worse if they make it past Regna Ferox's border before we catch up to them! God, why couldn't I have been off catching Pokemon instead of this?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Ylisstol was a sizeable group of Plegian bandits. They had set up a small camp far out of sight of the city to avoid detection. They were even at the ends of the forest to the west of the city to provide better cover.

The population of the bandit camp went about rudimentary tasks that would keep them well prepared for an engagement. Some were sharpening blades, others were training on small practice dummies and there was even a few that were taking the time to get in a good workout.

They were all keeping themselves well busy as they seemed to not want to be caught slacking by their leader. Their leader actually seemed to look fairly weaker than the smallest of the bandits. He wore a red cloak that covered his entire body in it. He kept his face hidden underneath the hood as he wandered around his camp scolding anybody that might've been slacking.

Suddenly a person came rushing to the camp and stopped once he reached the camp's leader's side. The individual in question wore a cloak as well, but his seemed more torn than the leader's. He pulled off his cloak's hood to reveal that he had pale skin and shaggy black hair.

"I'm… back…" the man with shaggy black hair said in between breaths.

The bandit leader turned to the man and said in a calm tone, "Oh? You're back you say? I hadn't noticed, Thomas."

The man named Thomas held up his hands in defense as he said, "I-I d-didn't mean to offend! I was merely… u-uh…"

"Stating the obvious as usual," the leader said exhausted.

"U-Um… Yeah! My apologies, but I have useful information!" Thomas said as he tried to calm himself.

"Useful? Last time you had "useful" information you merely told me that the Shepherds were heading "somewhere". I do hope this is more useful than that. Remember what I told you, Thomas," the leader stated as he slowly drew a dagger out of his cloak to hold in front of himself.

This caused Thomas to slightly shake in fear as he tried to say, "I-It is useful though! I-I know how we can find the other ones!"

"Oh, really?" the leader inquired.

"Yeah, there's going to be more Shepherds heading out!" Thomas stated proudly.

"That's your information?" the leader questioned Thomas as he took a step closer to the young man.

By now, the entire camp was watching the scene that was unfolding. They were certain of what Thomas' fate would be, but they didn't dare to interfere. If they did, they would gain the same fate as their friend.

"Y-Yes. That's what I got… I-It's good enough… right?" Thomas asked as he took a step away from the bandit leader.

"You're telling me that they're simply heading out. Something that is almost in dead similarity to your last bit of "useful" information. Do you think this is actually useful information?" the leader inquired as he placed his dagger's blade against Thomas' neck.

"W-Well, I mean it's a starting point!" Thomas said worriedly.

"Answer my question, Thomas. Is it useful?" he asked as he pressed the blade harder against Thomas' neck causing it to cut into his neck slightly.

"N-N-No…" Thomas said as he tried to ignore the pain coming from his now bleeding neck.

"And what did I tell you Thomas? If you wasted my time one more time, I was going to cut your tongue out so that you could never do it again…" the leader said intimidatingly.

"B-But I-" Thomas started to say before his leader pushed him back.

Thomas was stunned to see that his leader didn't go through with what he told him he would do. He was being spared.

"I would gladly rip your tongue out here and now, but if they are indeed heading out; then we could perhaps track them. Do you know which direction they'll be going?," the leader said in a friendly tone.

"U-Uh… Yeah! I told one of them that their leader went out the west gate! They should go out that way!" Thomas answered almost enthusiastically.

"Well, then they should be going right past us. Keep your eyes peeled. If you spot them, I promise not to chop off your tongue," the leader stated.

Thomas was then put on watch for the two Shepherds. He hoped and prayed that they would be going by them or he would be in boiling water with his leader. Seconds seemed like minutes, and minutes seemed like hours to Thomas. He could feel the burning eyes of his leader on him as he kept watch.

In only a few minutes, the sounds of two individuals riding on horses echoed through the woods. When the bandits looked in the direction of the source, they saw the two individuals rushing through the forest they had set up camp in. They were quickly making a turn to start heading northeast.

"There! Those are both Shepherds! I'm sure of it!" Thomas said as he pointed towards the two horse riders.

"Very good, Thomas," the leader said as he wrapped his arm around Thomas to pull him closer to him, "and you avoided losing your tongue. Congrats"

"T-Thank y-" Thomas started to say before he was cut off.

He was cut off by his leader stabbing a knife directly into his gut. The resulting pain caused Thomas to drop to his knees clutching the knife in his stomach.

"B-But I thought…" Thomas said.

"What? Your tongue is perfectly fine. I never promised to not punish you, however. Now, why don't you hurry up and die?" the leader stated coldly.

In a blink of the eye, the bandit leader stabbed his dagger straight into Thomas' chest. The resulting blow killed the young man instantly as he slumped to the side. The leader then turned away from the boy as he muttered, "Useless."

"Let this be a message to you all that I'm not afraid to pick out those that are holding our little group back," the bandit leader said as he pointed his dagger at his assemblage.

"Well? Get to work! We aren't going to track anything if we don't have anybody tracking!" the leader shouted to his group which caused them all to jump to work in tracking the two Shepherd's horses that just passed them by.

"A little blood from the royals, eh? Tch. This'll be too easy," the bandit leader thought of his job in amusement.

Again, this was insanely hard for me to write. I must've rewritten this thing about four times or so. One of my previous versions of this was insanely different and was practically ready to be uploaded. Still, things went pretty smoothly and I believe this one is far better than it's past selves.

So... if anybody wants to shoot me a name for that bandit leader, you're more than welcome to. I know it must be pretty weird that I named a dude that just got killed off and not the leader, but a name wasn't sticking out to me for him so I left him nameless. Obviously we;ll be seeing the leader again so a name would help.

Not really any character interactions considering most of them are already gone so there's that. Also, no real battle as of yet. I will say that if the next chapter actually goes as planned that there will be a rather large one.

I don't really know what else to put here because I'm too drained to actually think. Whatever. Sleep.

Update: Changed up the scene with Vincent and the man that handed him money aka Thomas. I updated this scene thanks to Guardian54 pointing out how obvious Thomas being a spy was. This wasn't my intention so I tried to fix this. Hopefully this updated scene is better than the original, or at least I hope that it's a step in the right direction. If you think that it's any better or maybe worse, please let me know. I'll probably get it right one day.

Don't forget to leave a review. Also, If you have any questions, or maybe ideas, don't be afraid to send them in a PM.