Chapter Two

This Jakob person that Corrin had mentioned was the textbook definition of a Butler; well dressed and groomed, polite, and loyal. Corrin had taken me down another maze of hallways to find Jakob, and once we found him Corrin promptly left me alone with him.

As soon as Corrin left the room, Jakob's eyes turned to me and they no longer held the same polite glow as before; they were now cold and judgmental.

"My Lord has explained to me that you are to be joining us as a butler, however I know for a fact that as long as I am alive Prince Corrin will not require another butler." Jakob said with a cold stare. "This leaves me the task of finding a suitable job for you." He circled me like a vulture; sizing me up.

"O..kay? But if I'm not a butler then what am I?" I asked, trying to keep my eyes on him the whole time.

"Well, I'd rather not let you have a weapon if you're to be so close to the prince, so…perhaps you'd do best as a priest. Yes, that seems to fit nicely."

"A priest? Like, an ecclesiastical leader?" I chuckled. "Sorry, but I don't know the first thing about whatever it is you guys worship."

"That's fine. 'Priest' is more like a title than a job description. In reality you'll be wielding a Heal Staff in case anyone should…require your services." The way he said it made me feel like he chose this job just to keep me out of the way.

"Um, this might be a silly question but…what is a Heal staff?" I cringed as the words left my mouth and I saw the look on his face.

"You're more of an uneducated barbarian than I had originally surmised." He sighed. "No matter, we have a few hours before you'll be leaving with Prince Corrin."

Leaving? I wasn't aware that we were going anywhere immediately. I opened my mouth to ask where we would be going to but closed my mouth as quick as I'd opened it. After my last question I wasn't looking to make myself out to be a complete idiot, and I realized that no matter where he told me we would be going I still wouldn't know where or what that place was.

Jakob walked to a nearby closet and retrieved something I couldn't quite see at first.

"This is a basic Heal staff." He held it up for me to see. It was a fairly long staff with some kind of jewel or gem mounted on the top and flanked on either side by metal made to look like wings that erupted from the staff just below the jewel. "As its name suggests it is for healing wounds. Incidentally, it cannot be used to heal one's own wounds; rather it can only be used to heal the wounds of another." He handed the staff to me and I took it carefully. It weighed more than I had expected it to.

"So, how do I use it?"

"The best explanation I can give you is that you hold the tip of the staff over the injured person, channel your magic into the staff, and concentrate on closing the wound."

That still didn't tell me much about how to use it seeing as I had no idea what he meant by 'channel your magic', but I figured it wouldn't especially matter since I doubted there would be any real need for such a thing.

Jakob cleared his throat. "Now, I will take you to one of the spare rooms where you will stay until milord is fully prepared to depart. This way please."

Once again I was taken through the large, grand hallways of the castle and led to a small room containing a wooden chair and not much else.

"Someone will be along to collect you when the time is right." Jakob flashed me one last cold smile before leaving and closing the door behind him, leaving me with only my thoughts to occupy my time.

I took a seat on the somewhat rickety chair and stared at the staff in my hands. Now that I had the time to really think about my situation I could only come to the conclusion that none of this could be real. Magic? Nohr and Hoshido? None of it sounded even remotely familiar or plausible. I had to be dreaming or something. But the thing that I kept going back to was that I could remember clear as day that I had in fact been nailed by a speeding car, and then those voices in the endless abyss of darkness that spoke to me, and this new body of mine. Could it be that I really am in a brand new world? Living a life that's not mine? At this point, I had a choice: I could be skeptical of this world all the way to the end and believe that this is all an elaborate dream of some kind, or…I could embrace the fact that this is my life now and try to move on from my old life. Moving on sounded like the right choice, but how could I? I had spent my entire life on planet Earth in the United States and lived with parents and siblings that I loved and cared about more than I'd like to admit. So how could I just forget about them and move on? Putting my head in my hands, I continued to agonize over my situation until I heard the door squeak open.

"Pardon me, but it's time we left." The man standing in the doorway was an older man. The expression on his face told me he was a stern and serious man.

He quickly ushered me out of the room, claiming we were already way behind schedule.

We met up with Corrin just outside the castle where he was waiting for us alongside a pink haired maid and a blonde man mounted atop what looked like a dragon.

"Thank you for fetching him for me, Gunter." Corrin said as we drew closer.

The older man, apparently named Gunter, bowed in response. "It is my pleasure to serve you, milord."

Corrin smiled lightly before turning to me. "I'd like to thank you for your cooperation and apologize if this all seems like a strange set of circumstances."

"Well, yeah, I guess it is pretty strange but I don't really have any way to change my circumstances, so I suppose I can't complain."

"I see. In any case, I'd like to introduce you to some of my retainers. You've met Gunter already. This is Felicia," He gestured towards the maid. "And the man with the wyvern is Cormag."

I gave a small wave to them and was rewarded with an energetic wave back from Felicia and a slight nod from Cormag.

"My liege, if I may, we really must leave now. The Bottomless Canyon outpost isn't going to survey itself." Cormag said irritably.

"Right as always, Cormag." Corrin said with a sigh. He mounted his horse, prompting the others to do the same and leaving me standing awkwardly. "Ah, right. Samuel, you'll be riding with Cormag as a…safety precaution."

"Wha-? O-on the wyvern?" I glanced over at it apprehensively.

"Haha, there's nothing to be afraid of; That wyvern is tamed and Cormag is a more than capable owner." Corrin said.

"W-well…if you say so…" I walked over to the side of the wyvern, noticing how it watched me closely the whole time. "A-ah, um, how do I mount it?" I asked no one in particular.

Cormag rolled his eyes and reached his hand down. I took it and he pulled me up with a surprising amount of strength.

"You'd do well to hold on tight; wyverns aren't known for their smooth rides." I briefly looked around before realizing there wasn't anything to hold onto.

"Um...what do I-"

He cut me off. "Just hold onto me, okay? And don't talk while we're flying."

I grabbed on around his waist, and no sooner had I done this then the wyvern took flight. It soared up and up for what seemed like forever before it leveled off and began to glide. I, of course, was still screaming from the takeoff speed and the height.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Cormag snapped. "Stop screaming and man up! There's no reason to be afraid right now!"

"No reason to be afraid?! I have every reason to be afraid; do you even see how far down the ground is? If I fell I would end up as a tiny red spot in some field!" I yelled back.

"Well if you hold on tight and stop quivering like a little girl then you won't have to worry about that!" He was silent for a moment. "Besides, even if you did fall Heath would catch you before you could hit the ground."

"Who is Heath? I thought only you and I were up here."

"Of course it's not just us. What do you think we're riding on?"

My eyes widened and my mouth formed an O as it all clicked in my head.

"That's an interesting name for a wyvern, not that I would know anything about naming wyverns." I commented. Cormag didn't respond, merely focusing on flying instead. I took this as my cue to shut my mouth.

I took a brief moment to look down and instantly regretted it; the ground wasn't even in sight anymore, just an infinite blackness with tiny dots of light peppering the landscape. My fear of heights and falling from them came rushing back, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut and try to pretend I was somewhere else.

"So, are you originally from Nohr?" I asked Cormag.

"Didn't I tell you not to talk while we flew?"

"Sorry, I just need a distraction from the thought of how high up we are." I answered sheepishly.

There was a long pause before he answered. "Yes, I've lived in Nohr my whole life along with my older brother Glen…although…Glen…passed away a while ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss." I said simply, not knowing what else to say.

"Don't worry about it. Glen lived an honorable life and died a hero; giving his own life to allow his comrades to escape. There's nothing for you to be sorry about, I'm proud to have been his brother." I struggled to come up with something to say in response, but Cormag spoke again before I could say anything. "We're almost to our destination. Before we get there, I want to let you know that there will be two more people meeting us at the Bottomless Canyon. I've not been told their identities though."

"I see." I wasn't quite sure what he expected me to do with that information, but I suppose I appreciated the thought.

Before I could say something to that effect, the wyvern began to dip downward as we approached our destination. At first I didn't thinking the landing was going to be too bad, but I was soon proven wrong as Heath decided he wanted to make a steeper dive. Needless to say, I found myself screaming once again; seeing the previously un-seeable ground approaching rapidly. Just as I thought we were going to collide with the all-too-near earth below, Heath pulled up and made a slow gentle glide before landing.

Cormag jumped down from Heath's back as I ungracefully toppled down. I pulled myself up to my feet to find Cormag looking around the area as if he was searching for something.

"You…you could have warned me before we started our descent!" I said indignantly.

"I apologize; I didn't think it was pertinent information." He seemed to be apologizing only as a polite gesture while his attention was still on looking for…whatever it was he was looking for. "Thank heavens. I don't think anyone else has arrived yet." He mumbled under his breath.

No sooner had he spoken then we heard the flapping of wings and voice calling down from above.

"Glad to see you made it in one piece, Cormag!" The two of us looked up at the newcomer as he landed his wyvern, quickly dismounting with an unnecessary flourish. "It's been too long." He smiled, but there was no warmth in it.

"Why are you here? There shouldn't be any need for them to send you out here." Cormag spoke through gritted teeth. The man merely smiled and did not answer.

My eyes flitted back and forth between Cormag to this other man. There was obviously some bad blood between the two of them. The new man began to stride closer and I could see Cormag visibly tense up.

Looking at this man closer, I suppose he was fairly intimidating; he wore purple armor with gold trim and blood red markings on his shoulder pauldrons. A dull grey-green cape flowed behind him. His long blue hair was messy and tangled in several places, giving the impression that he didn't care for his hair very well. As for his face, he wore a cruel smile that belied his friendly words and his eyes…his eyes looked so cold and callous. A chill crawled up my spine as the man stopped and locked his eyes on mine.

"Are you not going to introduce me to your new friend, Cormag?"

"I owe you no such formalities, snake!" Cormag snapped back angrily.

The man put a hand over his chest and made a face of mock pain. "Ah! You wound me! Why is it that you've become so cold towards me as of late? I came all the way out here to assist you and your lord, and this is the welcome I receive?" His act of being offended melted away with a dark chuckle. "I suppose I'll just have to introduce myself. I am Valter, the Moonstone of Nohr." He thrust his hand out towards me.

"I'm Samuel, a…rather new acquaintance of Corrin's." I shook his hand and offered a smile, surely this man wasn't as bad as he seemed.

"See, Cormag? Samuel here is being far friendlier and welcoming than you; you could learn a few things from watching him." Cormag's eyes blazed with hatred. "Ahem. In any case, we should get on with the mission shouldn't we?"

"Our orders were to wait for Prince Corrin and his escorts." Cormag said stiffly.

"Ah, yes. About that: King Garon has allowed me to take command of this mission, so I took the liberty of sending my dragoons to escort the prince back to the castle." A smug smile graced Valter's face. "I should also mention that I've already surveyed the outpost."

Cormag's eyes widened. "What? How long ago did you get here?"

"Long enough to take care of the Hoshidan forces occupying the outpost before you got here."

"Wretched cur! We were not supposed to engage Hoshidan forces if they were here!" Cormag socked Valter right in his eye before he could do anything. Valter stumbled back, holding his eye.

"It seems you still need to learn some manners, but that lesson is for another day. For now, we must head back to Castle Krakenburg if we're to make it in time for your hearing, Cormag."

"Hearing? What hearing?"

"The hearing to determine your sentence for murdering the innocent Hoshidans residing at the Canyon outpost." Valter's smile had come back in full force.

I watched the expressions on Cormag's face change rapidly between anger, disbelief, shock, and loathing. His tongue wouldn't form the words that were running through his head.

Valter cackled and turned to me. "I was only expecting Cormag to be here tonight, Samuel. And given the fact that you're a witness to what's been said, I'm going to have to…take you on a trip." My eyes widened and I took a few slow steps back. He rushed forward, grabbing me by my collar and lifting me up. I struggled in vain against his iron grip.

"Valter! Don't turn your attention away from me!" Cormag yelled. Valter threw pushed me backwards as he himself jumped back, narrowly avoiding Cormag's lance that came rushing between us.

As I stumbled back, attempting to regain my footing, I thought for a moment that I was safe, that is…until my foot found the edge of the canyon. I teetered on the edge for what seemed to be an eternity until the inevitable came and I began my fall. My last view being that of Cormag and Valter dueling; one angry and passionate, the other smug and unconcerned. I screamed until my voice was hoarse, and when I couldn't scream anymore I began to pray to any and every god I could think of. Evidently, one saw fit to do something about my situation; strange runes appeared in the air around me, creating a sphere of sorts and glowing brightly. Before I had time to inspect the runes further, the light blinded me and the sensation of falling disappeared.

The blinding light faded, allowing me to see that I was no longer in the Bottomless Canyon, nor anywhere near it from what I could tell. I spun around, soaking in my surroundings as best I could: it looked a castle or maybe a fortress of some kind, but…it was decrepit. Vines climbed the walls and hung from the ceiling, large portions of the walls and floor were damaged, and most disconcerting of all was that there were bones and weapons strewn about the entire room.

"It's quite magnificent, isn't it?" My eyes locked onto the man who had decidedly not been standing in front of me a few seconds ago. His clothing was rather formal and all of it very finely tailored with a vest, a cravat, a long coat, and even white gloves. The most striking piece of attire was the mask he wore on his face; it bore a simple design with the eye holes being crescent shaped and arcing downwards, and the mouth forming a mischievous grin.

"I…may I ask where I am?"

"You may!" He responded jovially. "Although I can assure you that I may not answer that question, you are certainly free to ask."

"Right…then would you be able to answer what happened? Or at least tell me who you are?"

"Hmm, if you must know then I suppose I can tell you that it was I who rescued you from your…untimely demise." He snickered at his own remark for reasons that were beyond me. "And the latter question I cannot answer fully, however it would be rude not to give you my name: Varlent."

"Varlent? Why does everyone here have such odd names?"

"Odd? I could say the same of your name, Samuel. It's not a very common name around here."

"I guess maybe it's not but- hang on! How did you know my name?"

"Heehaha! That is yet another question that I cannot answer at this time. But just know that I and my associates will be acting as…benefactors. We won't meddle too much in your affairs, and we certainly won't be holding your hand through everything, but we have a vested interest in you that can't be ignored. All we ask is that when the time comes, you'll help us in return."

"Wait a minute, slow down…how can I say I'll help you if I don't even know what I'll be helping you with? I mean, I'm grateful and all that you saved me, but I'm not about to agree to something that I haven't read the terms and conditions of."

"Pfft, come on, nobody reads the terms and conditions and you know that." He crossed his arms in an almost pouty manner. "Ooh! Ooh! I know! Would this change your mind?!" He put his hand out in front with his palm up and some kind of pastry materialized out of nowhere.

"What?! How did you do that?" I grabbed the pastry, looking it over and then staring at his hand trying to figure out what kind of trick he used.

"Just a simple conjuring spell, but that's beside the point! If I give you that pastry will you agree to help?" He asked excitedly.

"Wha? No! Something like this isn't going to change my mind! And unless you tell me what you want help with, there's no way I'll agree to anything!"

He sighed in frustration. "You're being far more difficult than you're worth! Why can't you just say yes so we can all go home?"

"Easy for you to say, I don't exactly have a home to go back to."

"Believe me, I'm all too aware of your situation, I was just using a figure of speech." He put a hand up to his chin thoughtfully and stared me down. "I've got it." His hand shot up and a single finger pressed against my forehead.

Suddenly, I was on a battlefield, and from the looks of it the battle was nearing its end. A large imposing man in black armor and wielding a great axe faced off against a samurai wearing a unique headpiece and holding a katana that crackled with electricity. The two were the last men standing; mounds of soldiers lay dead around them, the ground bearing a red tint from the sheer amounts of blood that had soaked into it. The duo appeared to be at their limits, neither one having the strength to keep fighting. The man in black toppled to the ground and the samurai limped towards his unmoving body, slicing the head clean off before falling to the ground himself.

I was back in the abandoned castle with Varlent.

"What did I just see? Who were those two?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Those were the kings of Nohr and Hoshido battling amidst the decimated ruins of their armies, and though what you saw has not yet come to pass, it will...unless…" He drawled.

"Let me guess, it'll happen unless I agree to help you?"

"Ding ding ding! Correct, sir! So do we have a deal!?" The man was practically shaking with excitement; it was kind of unnerving to be honest.

I had two choices now: I could prevent a war between these two massive countries and save countless lives, or I could continue to be stubborn and sacrifice everyone for the sake of my own safety…and even that wasn't guaranteed.

"…I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"Not unless you want to abandon all of your morals." He said happily.

"Fine, you'll have my help."

"Excellent! Ooh! Ahhh! I'm so excited that I can hardly contain it all!" He began running in circles and giggling to himself.

While he appeared to be a grown man, I couldn't help but think he was nothing more than a child…or a very mentally damaged adult. He ended his victory dance and got right up in my face.

"Here! Take this with you, and I'll see you later!" He jammed a book into my arms and before I could ask what it was he snapped his fingers and I was in yet another new place. This time, it was castle that looked similar to the one where I had been originally but it was much much larger and was built in a conical hole in the ground; looking up, you could only see a very small piece of the sky.

I looked down at the book Varlent had given me; it had a pale yellow cover, strange characters on the front, and not much else. Flipping it open I found the same strange characters littering the inside and the occasional picture of a mystical rune looking thing.

Wonderful, I'm once again in a place I don't know with no clue where to go or what to do, only this time I have a weird book that does literally nothing for me except frustrate me further. I almost would have preferred to stay dead after getting hit by that car, at least then I wouldn't have to deal with all this malarkey…I suppose there's no point in standing around here, it's probably a fair assumption that Varlent wants me to go inside the castle. I just wish he'd be a little more clear about…well…everything.

A/N: It sure took me long enough, but here's chapter two! Yaaaaay! *Fireworks* In any case, I guess I should address a few things.

1. Yes, I am adding characters from other Fire Emblem games! I have room for a couple more, so feel free to suggest some characters and I'll see if I can make them fit.

2. Varlent is an OC of mine that I'm rather fond of, so I'd like to hear what you guys think of him. Do you like him? Hate him? Somewhere in between?

3. This story has a lot of changes from the canon of Fates. One such difference that I'll clear up now is that although Corrin was kidnapped by Garon, he hasn't been kept in the Northern Fortress his whole life; he's been treated just like the other Nohrian royals.

I think those are the main things, but if you have any questions you can PM me. Also, please leave feedback…I'm begging you. I don't care how you get it to me, I just really need it because I want to improve my writing skills and I really want to be able to write a fanfic that a lot of people can enjoy, and to do that, I need feedback and constructive criticism.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Farvel!