CHAPTER FOUR: SOUTHTOWN'S SENTINEL

I awake the next morning to the sun shining brightly, and to the crackle of a fire. It seems someone must have woken up before me and restarted the fire. I sit up from my spread eagle position on the ground and rub my neck. I guess staying in the Castle for so long has made me go soft; I'm not used to sleeping on something so hard yet.

On top of the fire a bronze kettle hangs suspended, steam rising from the inside of it and a delicious smell wafting away from it. I look up from the fire and see Loren and Lucina both sitting on the ground, Loren peeling a potato and reminiscing with Lucina about old times in the castle.

"I remember when you used to be shorter than me. Good times, those were. Made me feel like I was still a man and not a boy still going through puberty."

Lucina laughed, turning her attention to the kettle and moving the ladle inside in a stirring motion; must be some sort of soup.

"Everything seems to be a matter of height with you. Is size that much of a problem for you, Loren?"

Lucina gave him a large grin, Loren blushing a beet red as he puts the now peeled and diced potato in the pot.

"Hey, size isn't everything you know. It's about how you-"

I interrupt his little metaphor by clearing my throat.

"So is breakfast almost ready?"

Both Loren and Lucina jump slightly; they must not have seen me rise. Loren looks at me with his usual scowl, the red from before slowly fading away.

"Well, good morning to you too, Sleeping Beauty. Yeah, it's almost ready. Why don't you wake Ryan up for me?"

I give him an annoyed stare, my eyebrow rising.

"And what's your excuse for not waking him up yourself?"

Loren shrugs, taking the ladle from Lucina and stirring a bit faster, tasting a bit of it.

"Too cranky for a sarcastic response right now. Ask me again later."

I look over to Lucina, who merely shrugs, the same silly grin from before still on her face. I roll my eyes, sigh, and stand up, stretching as I go, then brushing off all the dirt on my armor and cape. Once clean, I look around to try and spot Ryan. After a minute, I spot him about twenty feet away from the actual campsite we were at.

I walk over to his sleeping person and raise my eyebrow at what I see. He's curled in a little ball, hugging his katana still in its sheath like a teddy bear. I sigh yet again, twice in one morning, and kneel down to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking it.

"Wake up, Ryan. Time to face the day."

His only response is to flail violently, only stopping once he has flipped over to the other side, still in the same position as before. I blink a couple times before standing back up and putting a hand to my beard, giving it a few strokes as I try to think up a plan to not get whacked in the face while still waking him up.

Suddenly, a light bulb goes off in my head, and an idea begins taking place. I walk back over to Loren, who is now digging in his knapsack while Lucina merely stares at the flames.

'Hey Loren, the soup is ready now, right?"

He doesn't even look up at me, neck - deep in his pack

"Yeah, it's ready, I'm just looking for some bowls in here."

"Good."

I wait patiently for Loren to finish digging around, and he eventually pulls out four bowls and fills all of them with the soup. The soup is warm, and appears to be made up of some type of broth with carrots, some other vegetables, and pieces of potato. I take two and walk back over to Ryan, setting one bowl on the opposite side of his head, and placing mine a few feet away from him. I then quickly shake him again, then dash back to my bowl, sitting down and eating some soup as I watch Ryan thrash violently again. After his thrashing ends, he again turns his body the other direction...and puts his face straight into his soup.

His head immediately shoots upward, his face covered in soup and pieces of carrot, wiping some off of his mask.

"What the? What is this stuff?!"

I suppress a laugh as I look at his soup splattered face; reminds me alot of a Jester and his makeup.

"Breakfast. Morning, Sunshine."

His sits up, wiping soup off his face with his sleeves as he looks over to me.

"Was that really neccesary?"

I shrug back at him, a grin crawling onto my face.

"You and I both know a simple 'wake up' won't wake you."

He sighs as he wipes the remaining soup off his face, then takes the bowl and turns away from me. Guess he doesn't want me to see him eating, with that mask. I sigh, standing back up and slurping my own bowl at a leisurely pace while walking back to Loren and Lucina. I've finished my bowl as I reach them, handing the empty container to Loren.

"Alright, finish your breakfast and pack up. We need to leave soon if we're gonna make good time."

Lucina looks up to me, confusion etched across her face.

"Arke, where are we even going? You haven't told me a thing since the caves."

I look down at her while adjusting my gauntlets to make sure they didn't loosen up while I slept.

"We're going to Southtown. We have to pass through there to get where we need to go."

She sighs and shakes her head.

"No, Arke. What is our final destination?"

"It's a special place where we can communicate with Naga, Lucina. Trust me, I know where I'm going."

She sighs before turning to Loren, who simply shrugs before turning back to his pack.

"Don't look at me. He hasn't told me a thing, remember? Speaking of which..."

He closes his knapsack and turns to me.

"You want to fill me in here?"

I roll my eyes.

"I'll explain on the way. Get everything prepared."

Half the day has passed now, and we're almost to Southtown. The road was surprisingly safe and clear of Risen, which only made us more suspicious; there have to be Risen around here somewhere, and if they're not in one place, there's probably a horde of them just around the corner.

"Okay, so let me just recap this one more time."

Loren steps up next to me as we walk and matches my pace.

"So, Grima has pretty much killed everyone who even has the slightest chance of killing him. And your bright idea is to go BACK IN TIME to stop Chrom from dying and get him to stop Grima from arriving."

My eyes glance over to him.

"That's the gist of what we're doing, yeah."

He stays silent for a second.

"Well, I don't see how that plan could fail. Oh, wait. Yes I do. Haven't you thought about the chance that Naga won't help us?"

"Of course I have, Loren. But it's the only plan we have, and I don't see YOU coming up with any bright ideas."

Loren grumbles something under his breath before he falls back to walk with Lucina and Ryan, both of which have been making little small talk about Southtown as we've been walking; Ryan mainly asking how it's survived this long, and Lucina giving half-assed answers.

"But the Risen have been trying to break into that town for months! How come they haven't fallen yet?"

"I don't know, Ryan. Maybe some expert warrior is defending them. Hehe, that would be a sight to see."

We walk in silence for a few more minutes, until we eventually spot buildings in the distance. Southtown at last! But...something is off. As we get closer to Southtown's main gate, we see that the gate is flooded with Risen constantly pounding on it, trying to break it down. Every type of Risen was there, from Archers to Myrmidon and even Knights.

I crack my knuckles and turn around to my little group, a small grin crawling onto my face.

"Looks like we've got a little detour, gang. Ryan, you're with me. Loren, stay close to Lucina. Back her up where it's needed."

They both nod, pulling out their weapons, Ryan throwing his hood over his head. Lucina merely points over to the gate, a look of confusion crawling onto her face.

"That may not be neccesary."

I turn back around and raise an eyebrow at what I see: A lone figure standing behind the horde of Risen; they must not have noticed it yet. We're not that far from the figure, so I can make out what it's wearing.

The figure seems to be wearing a white helmet, but it seems that a white hooded cape has been flung over it, so I can't quite make it out. It also seems to be wearing a white chestplate, with a white vest underneath. There appears to be white gauntlets covering it's hands and forearms, with some blue trim as well. A pair of grey pants covers its legs, as well as some white waist armor, though it only seems to cover the sides of its waist, as well as a belt with a rather large buckle to it, and some white greaves with blue trim layer its feet. In its left hand it holds a large white shield, and in its right it holds what appears to be a spear, but only at one end; on the other end appears to be an axe blade of some sort.

Ryan walks up to me and nudges my arm.

"That's Lancer armor, no questioning it. You rarely see those guys anymore, though."

I nod, still staring at the newcomer as it beats on its shield with its weapon, attracting the attention of the Risen. They all slowly turn to the maker of the noise and let out a collective growl, and they begin shambling their way towards the figure. The figure doesn't move, instead grabbing hold of its weapon and pulling it into two pieces! The spear of its weapon now resides in its left hand, and the axe part in its right. It then proceeds to charge at the mob, stabbing and slashing like a madman.

I pull myself away from this spectacle and turn back to the group.

"Well, come on then! Are we going to let that guy have all the fun?"

Ryan lets out a holler and begins running forward towards the mob.

"Hell no!"

I laugh as I watch him run, then take off after him, sending the remnants of my Rexcalibur magic at any Risen that get too close. When I reach Ryan I see he's already entered the fray, slashing through Risen like butter. A few feet away, Loren and Lucina are double teaming their own fair share of Risen, hacking and slashing like no tommorow. I look around for another second and spot the hooded figure again, too preoccupied with its slashing that it doesn't spot the Barbarian behind it, Axe raised and ready to slash.

I sprint over to said Risen and tackle it to the ground, then proceed to sit on top it and give it a savage beat down, it's face indenting with each punch. I give one more then stand, and I turn to the figure who is now staring at me through its hood.

"Thanks. I owe you one."

It's voice was a little high pitched...just who was this person?

"Don't thank me yet. There's still plenty of Risen to go around."

The figure nods and reattaches it's weapon, forming the spear again. The fighting after that was rather uneventful, a few Myrmidon here and there, the occasional Archer...but we did eventually get them all, thank the gods they weren't very smart Risen.

We all gather together in front of Southtown's gate, including the figure. Loren and Lucina look no worse for wear, but Ryan seems to have Risen blood covering him nearly everywhere. The figure, still hooded for some reason, bows its head at us, its spear stuck in the ground next to it.

"T-thank you for your help..."

Ryan pulls his hood down, his usual innocent look covering his face.

"No problem! But if you'll excuse me, I REALLY need to take a bath. Risen blood doesn't wash out well."

Ryan tries to rush past us to get into Southtown, but in his haste to do so, ends up plowing straight into the stranger, effectively knocking both of them over. They both let out a little yelp as they fall, stirring up a little dust cloud when the reach the ground. The impact seems to have knocked the helmet off the stranger, as the white piece of armor rolls to my feet. I bend over to pick up, and wait for the dust cloud to settle.

Ryan has his face in the dirt, but with the helmet off and the hood down, we finally get a good look at our stranger. Who appears to be-

"A woman!? Aww, crap. I have the worst luck..."

Loren grumbles as he hands Lucina a small pouch of gold, which she graciously accepts with a rather large smirk. But Loren was right; It is a woman. The woman sits up, her long blonde hair falling behind her in a long ponytail, her large blue eyes looking up at us as she rubs her back from the fall. Her face is rather feminine too; I'm surprised I couldn't figure this out earlier.

I reach out and extend a hand for her, which she gently takes, and I pull her up.

"That was some impressive fighting, Miss...?"

She looks around a little nervously before answering.

"Selan, sir. Selan Ravenstride."

"Ravenstride? Odd name. Are you a soldier, Selan?"

She nods, standing up a bit more straight.

"Yes, sir. I-I was assigned to guard Southtown u-until reinforcements arrived, sir."

I scratch my beard, deep in thought. This girl couldn't be any more older than twenty two, yet I don't see any other soldiers around. She must be a very experienced fighter to be assigned to hold an entire town by herself...

Loren moves over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, whispering to me.

"Hey Arke, isn't this the girl we were supposed to be watching?"

I whispered back to him with a a little confusion.

"Huh? What girl?"

"You know, the one we were supposed to evaluate about accepting into the Guardsmen?"

"Oh, that girl? I don't know Loren, it's rather fuzzy. I don't exactly remember everything that happens."

Loren sighs, rubbing a hand down his face.

"Just ask her what her call sign is then. She's supposed to have one."

I roll my eyes, but turn back to Selan, crossing my arms together.

"Selan. Would the term The Sentinel ring any bells for you?:

Selan nervously shifts around, and I can see that she's sneaking peeks at Lucina, but every time she does, her eyes dart somewhere else and she blushes a little.

"Y-yes, sir, that's what everyone used to call me. Sentinel."

I turn to Loren, who nods his head. I turn back to Selan and begin walking towards her. I can see her take a single step back, but straightens up as I stand in front of her. I give her a smile as I hand her her helmet.

"We need to resupply here, perhaps stay for the night. How are provisions?:

She slowly takes her helmet from my hands before answering me.

"W-We've had an excess for a while, s-sir. One of the r-reasons I needed to stay here was b-because of that."

I nod as I turn to to Loren and Lucina.

"Alright, Loren, if you could please pick up Ryan and bring him to the tavern? It seems that he kinda...knocked himself out."

I finish this sentence with a poke to Ryan's head with my foot, who doesn't move. Loren rolls his eyes and steps toward Ryan and begins to drag him.

"Sure. It's not like I had anything better to do or something."

I raise an eyebrow at him.

"You DON'T have anything better to do."

"Anything would have been better than this."

And with that, he disappears inside the gate. I turn to Lucina, then Selan.

"Selan, do you mind showing Lucina to the sleeping quarters?"

Selan's eyes widen as she stares at me, occasionally looking over at Lucina, the blush from before returning.

"Me, sir? Escort the...Princess?"

I nod, a suspicious look clawing it's way up to my face.

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?"

She shakes her head violently, standing up straight.

"No, sir! It would be my pleasure!"

I nod at her, turning to Lucina.

"I have to go have a look at their provisions and see what stuff we need. Get some rest, alright? I've a feeling it might be the most you get in a while."

She looks up at me like she's about to object, but simply nods and follows Selan inside the gates. Huh. That was easier than I expected. I guess she's finally learning to trust me.

I take one last look at our little battlefield, and something catches my eye. It appears to be another figure standing by a far away tree, shrouded in black. I rub my eyes, thinking it's just me getting tired, and sure enough, when I open them again the figure is gone. I sigh, turning around and walking through the wooden gates, then turning again and closing said gates, locking them up tight, shutting out my paranoia with the figure with them.

-GUARDSMEN-

Greetings, dear readers! Necro-Knight back for yet another edition of the Author's Note! Really only two things of importance this time, ladies and gents. First, I should inform all of you that enjoy Halo that I will soon be starting a story for that, and it too shall be a SYOC, but unlike this one, where I was a bit more lenient with the amount of OC's, there will only be THREE OC's, not including mine. I say three because it's relevant to the plot, and adding any more would probably throw the plot a massive curveball that I don't want. And don't worry, it will come with an actual form this time, as Halo is a bit more complicated than Fire Emblem, so I feel it's necessary, even if I don't like it. Speaking of OC's, that brings us to the second thing! I am still taking in character's to review and judge, but I am in DIRE need of female OC's! Please send some of those, cause if you don't, it's just gonna be a huge sausage-fest, and poor Selan will be the only female in the midst of it. So please, send in some female OC's!

Well, that's everything that needs to be said, so until next time, keep shining people! And happy birthday to those reading on their birthday!

-Nate (The guy writing this story.)