Hey look, I'm back again! This chapter has a little bit of history in it, at least that of Fire Emblem Awakening's storyline. I hope I told it correctly.

Well, I don't own Fire Emblem or Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds. Enjoy?

Chapter 3

I never get a proper introduction to the other Shepherds, just Xylia pointing at them and saying their names. Well, I get a proper introduction to Sumia, a brown-haired, brown-eyed young woman who can trip over thin air, but that was only because she was the one to fix up my clothes. Xylia then explains what's going on, and why they're so short on time.

Plegia, the country to the west, is constantly stirring up border troubles in an attempt to start a war. Their king, Gangrel, hates Ylisse and all of its people for events that happened over a decade ago—the previous Exalt, Chrom and Lissa's father, launched a surprise attack on them and slaughtered many Plegians. Now, Emmeryn—that's the current Exalt and the older sister to Chrom and Lissa—is trying to calm the issues peacefully.

As for why they are marching to Regna Feroz, the country to the north, Emmeryn wants us to request help from them in order to fend off the Risen. Even though they haven't been here for long, they've caused more than enough damage and even the Shepherds can't get to every attack in time to stop them.

Oh, and Xylia also explained to me that the fact that they call themselves shepherds does not mean that they herd sheep.

XXX

About two days after we set off, we make it to the border. The temperatures changed drastically as we approached it. It's cold enough that we're marching through snow. For some reason, my clothes provide a good enough barrier to the cold. However, some of the others aren't so lucky.

"Brrr! F-F-Frebberick! I'm f-f-freebing!" Lissa exclaims. She shivers really bad.

"Stand beside my horse, milady," the knight replies. "She'll shelter you from the wind."

"So, this is the fortress?" Xylia asks, staring ahead.

Looming in front of us is a giant fortress made of grey stone. A metal gate blocks the only opening. On top of the fortress wall are many people, watching us warily.

"Yes, the Longfort," Chrom replies. "It stretches along the border of Ylisse and Regna Ferox."

"Wait, the entire border?" I ask, amazed. "Must be a freakishly long wall."

Chrom chuckles a little and says, "Yes, it is a very long wall."

"The khans that rule Ferox have grown quite wary of foreigners," Frederick says. "Still, don't mistake a lack of hospitality for open hostility. This simply calls for a bit of diplomacy."

I look back to the people on top the building. They're all armed with spears, and they don't look like they're going to open the gate any time soon. "You think that's going to work?" I ask.

"It's not my strong suit, but I'll try," Chrom says. "Just remember that your actions here reflect back upon Ylisse."

We start to walk closer, and I can hear people moving around on the other side. It sounds like they're gathering weapons…

"Trouble in the wind, milord," Frederick notes. "The Feroxi Guard are mobilizing."

"Why, though?" Chrom replies.

"Who can say? But they look ready to let fly at a moment's notice. We'd best prepare for combat, just in case. Perhaps we ought to pool our supplies and select which Shepherds to deploy? Loath as I am to trust her, Xylia might offer some valuable insight in this…" Frederick trails off, staring at the dark-haired woman.

"Deal with it," she retorts. "Amaryllis, Stahl, why don't you two stay back while we try to settle this?"

"Sure," Stahl, a brown-haired man in green armor, replies.

"Probably a good idea," I note. "I don't mind waiting."

XXX

Sure enough, the Feroxi Guard attacks. I can't hear everything that they say because I'm farther back, but I get the gist of it. Apparently, Plegian brigands have been dressing up as Ylisseans and attacking them. They also don't believe that Chrom is who he says he is, and they nearly get him with several well-thrown spears.

Sumia, now on a pegasus, intervened and managed to get him out of harm's way.

After that, the two sides clash—not trying to kill the other, just beat them enough so that they don't want to get back up.

Stahl sighs and gets off his horse. "I wish I could be in there. I really would like to help… No one really notices me; in fact I had to skip breakfast a couple days ago because they forgot to tell me about the expedition. They even had fresh blueberry muffins…"

"I'm allergic to blueberries," I say absentmindedly. Then I realize what I just said. "Okay, I'm glad you helped me remember that before I tried to eat something with blueberries in it."

"Uh, you're welcome, I guess." He pauses for a moment, then adds, "You're like Xylia, aren't you? You've lost your memory?"

"Yeah, and it's really annoying." I just happen to glance over to the fortress. I can see everything perfectly fine from here, I just can't hear everything. But because I can see everything, I notice that Chrom and Xylia are both fighting a woman who is putting up a great deal of a fight.

The woman has magenta-colored hair, and rather than wearing the red-and-silver armor of the Feroxi Guard, she has on a dark-black robe with the image of a pink rose in the center of her torso. This woman holds a silver axe, also decorated with roses—designs of them dug into the metal—but she also has a red tome in hand. One that has an oddly familiar design on the front cover.

I grab my tome, realizing that the cover is now glowing. More specifically, one part of the design is glowing bright red—one of the claws, actually. I open my tome, and now, rather than being blank, the first page now says 'Table of Contents'. About three-forths down the page, there is also the writing of 'Chapter 5: Rear Claw' and under that, 'Chapter 8: Envoy'.

"What in the world?" I ask. Suddenly, my head hurts—a lot—and I close my eyes.

"What am I supposed to do with these?"

I look around—the woman who I'd seen fighting my friends is here, holding her tome and her axe. Her face is covered in confusion. Like before, I can't control my actions. "The axe is for close-up combat, and the tome is if you need to hit multiple creatures at once," my voice replies. "For the record, that tome channels the power of Black Rose Dragon. Be careful, Akiza."

"If this uses my dragon's power, then I don't need to worry," she replies, grinning.

I blink and find myself back in the present, but no longer standing next to Stahl—instead, I'm staring at Chrom and Xylia, and breathing heavily. Both of my friends look utterly shocked. I turn around, and the magenta-haired woman stares at me with recognition in her eyes. I smile, "You alright, Akiza?"

"Since when can you jump like that?" she replies, returning the grin. "Never mind, you seem to know those two. Can you make them stop attacking me?"

"Excuse me, you attacked us," Xylia retorts. Then she looks at me, "You know her, Amaryllis?"

"Yeah," I say after a moment of pause. "I think… she's one of my friends from before I lost my memory."

"Wait, you lost your…? Well, that would explain a little," Akiza says. "My own memories are pretty much a blur. I can say that your name isn't Amaryllis, it's Sky."

To be continued…

Yep, that's where I'm ending it. Slowly, the pieces are connecting… but another Signer shouldn't be found for a while unless my muses change their minds. Then one might come sooner. I dunno. Also, what did you think about Sky's tome? Hehe.

Thanks to Ulrich362 for reviewing chapter two!

If you're reading this, please leave a review! I'd greatly appreciate any sort of comment.