Author's Notes: Hey all, here's chapter 2 of The B-Team, I feel like I might be causing a bit of a bad precedent on my part because I'm going to tell you now, I am expecting 2 weeks between update dates (assuming all goes well), still though I had this chapter ready to go and felt like I couldn't leave it sitting around right now. Also at my reviewers
Gunlord500; Thanks for the review, hopefully the story will stay interesting :P
catoust; As much as SCA fighters tend to hate to admit it, ya it translates a fair bit to L.A.R. , though without magic and instead of using foam weapons we use sticks covered in a thin layer of tape and hit eachother full force (so just a bit more violent). Good to see your looking forward to more, hopefully I can live up to providing a good story.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Fire Emblem, if I did all the games would be translated and over here.
You know I had always wondered if they ate different food here in the Fire Emblem universe. I must admit I was a little disappointed when after a day of searching I found that they pretty much ate the same food as people did on Earth. Except for some reason they had a lot of types of pie.
Still though I was was not surprised that we saw none of that, instead the canteen served us the usual watered gruel that you would expect. I grabbed my bowl and joined the rest of the squad, minus Gilliam, at the table we usually took. Amelia moving over to make room at the end of the table as I sat down across from Nephenee and Koel, the two of them, for all the silence they had displayed on the first day, were still dead quiet. Guess its going to take more than a day for the buddy system to kick in with those two. Edward and Leonardo, who had for some reason decided to sit at opposite ends of the table, were practically shouting their conversation at eachother, much to the annoyance of my eardrums, and Aran was half asleep on the table. The guy must have gotten run ragged by Gilliam and he was starting to sleeping whenever our sergeant wasn't around.
I could sympathise with the guy, with all the walking and running I've done since I got here, not to mention not getting any sleep yesterday thanks my brain refusing to shut off, I was ready to fall asleep myself. I still had no idea how I had gotten here, or for that matter, whether I was even here at all. Hell by all probably I was just out cold on a hospital bed somewhere because what else other than a coma fantasy would result in characters from entirely different fire emblems showing up here.
It was about then that I noticed someone was shaking my shoulder. As soon as I snapped back into reality Amelia said "Hey, you should eat your food before it gets cold"
"I'd be more worried about that if this was actually food." I responded back as I looked down at the gruel.
The glare that came from the blond haired girl was enough to make me start eating the horrible tasting food. Jesus Amelia could be scary when she wanted to be.
By the time Gilliam arrived to bring an end to breakfast and a start to the day's training I had managed to eat most of the gruel despite its horrible taste. Grabbing our weapons from where we left them we all packed up and followed behind our sergeant as he lead us to one of the many courtyards in the barracks.
After going through another run, which went about as well as the last one, the sergeant had us all line up on one side of the courtyard where he looked over us and said. "That run was terrible recruits, if only three of us are still standing at the end of battle by fatigue alone then we aren't going to make it to the end of battle at all. I'm expecting that by the end of this everyone one of you will keep up with me, and if you can't then you better atleast be able to keep up with your partner."
Turning away from us he said, "For today we are going to go over the very basics of the weapons you all use." Pointing to one patch of the courtyard he said "Everyone who uses a lance line up over there" Pointing to another patch he said "Swords over there, Leonardo, stay where you are."
Well that left me at a bit of a predicament with my choice of weapons. It didn't really take more than a minute to decide that I might as well stick with the buddy system and tag along with Amelia.
Gilliam started with us, which made sense seeing as we were the largest group. Taking a minute to look us over he stopped at me and I swear to god gave me a small nod. Guess I made the right choice then.
"Now then everyone get yourselves into what you think is the proper position to handle a lance." The sergeant said as he looked us over.
Positioning myself in the stance I had been using for quite some time, a mix of what I learned in basic and what I had picked up during my SCA fighting. Which meant that I was fully expecting Gilliam to be on my ass about my bad habits, and by god I was right.
"Widen your feet, you're off balance."
"Perpendicular feet, or you'll lose most of your power."
"Weapon point down, you're aiming at someones head, which you're likely going to miss."
On and on for quite a long while, though I didn't have it as bad as most seeing as I had most of the basics down. Sadly despite my attempt to get Amelia to stop pointing her lance at her opponents feet, she still fell back into doing it again today, and got chewed out for it.
Eventually though Gilliam left us to stand in the positions he had left us in, and went off back into the barracks. Coming back with with a number of staffs which he tossed at our feet. After looking us over again to make sure none of us had moved he said "At ease."
As we relaxed into a more comfortable position, the sergeant pointed to the staffs and said "Everyone grab one and face off against another lancer, you're fighting to first hit."
Ohh a mock fight, what fun. Before I could even pick someone to fight I saw Amelia lined up opposite me. Well I didn't think their was much of a fight to be had in all honesty. Man did I ever sound like a cocky bastard. Either way Amelia decided to make the first move, stepping forward and trying a rapid stab at my chest.
That got her all of nowhere, it was nothing I hadn't seen a good number of times before and from much stronger fighters. Pushing her strike away with a quick snap of my wrist. I followed up with a quick jab of my own to her shoulder, pulling back in time so my strike was nothing more than a tap, though it would still be enough to stun her arm.
I didn't even say anything, mainly because Amelia certainly didn't feel like quitting yet. Taking a few moments to catch her breath she tried to charge me again. Which didn't really get her any farther as I tapped her other shoulder. I kinda felt bad about it but at the same time it was better it happened here then on the battlefield.
A third match also ended in another defeat for the blond haired recruit, deciding it was time to change tactics I instead led off on the fourth fight. Except I held back my attack to a good extent, giving her just enough time deflect it, but instead of giving her a chance to counterattack I struck again and again and again. Giving her just enough to time to deflect each one. Then just as she looked like she was starting to get comfortable with the fight I sped up or changed tactics, until eventually she couldn't stop a sweeping strike that I directed at her leg.
The end result of the extended fight was one rather tired Amelia and even I was panting. Still though the blond haired recruit looked over and said "You... were holding back weren't you."
"Yah, I didn't think we would get much done if the fights kept going the way of the first three." I said back, a bit sheepishly because I got caught.
"Well don't please. I won't improve if you don't go all out." The girl said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
At that point Gilliam returned, having finished whatever he was doing with the other two groups, or atleast that was what I thought. Instead he was actually just coming over to grab me and pull me over to the sword group, apparently deciding I had enough lance work for now. After dumping me their (and leaving us in the rather awkward position of having three people to deal with instead of an even number) he wandered back off to square off against Aran.
"So... loser switches out?" I said to the other two.
"Sounds good." Edward said, while Koel just gave me a stare that screamed "No shit sherlock"
I found out over the next hour that I was by far the worst person in the squad so far as swordfighting went. Koel fought with the kind of experience I would have expected out of a veteran, managing to take me out in no time flat every time I went against him. Edward on the other hand just had raw talent, which was much better than the little experience but no real natural talent that I had. In the end getting my ass kicked repeatedly by the two of them certainly lowered whatever high opinions I might have gotten of myself when I beat Amelia.
Eventually though Gilliam called us all to a halt, before sending us for yet another run and finally dismissing us. Leaving us the second half of the day to ourselves, which we didn't really make much use of as half the squad was as limp as noodles.
I'd like to say that the majority of rest of the following two weeks were actually more interesting, but they weren't. Every day we did more training, working harder to try to improve, though by no extent where we becoming more than the newest of recruits. Two weeks wasn't exactly much time after all.
Hell I even stopped worrying about not getting home and instead started worrying about actually surviving the plot, mostly thanks to being reminded of how little time we likely actually had.
I sighed as I leaned out of the bed, looking around to confirm that everyone else was asleep. I had been here in Ylisse for five days now, and so they had been all characterized by a lack of sleep. I was being run ragged at this point, all because my brain wouldn't just shut off no matter how long I had been trying to sleep. The thoughts were always the same, just how the hell did I get to Ylisse? Every night I always came to the same conclusion, it had to all be fake, just something dreamed up by my comatose mind.
I just wished I actually believed that.
Wandering out into the hall I made my way to the nearest courtyard, the night watch not really caring about the lone wandering recruit. Once I found myself a patch of ground that wasn't too soggy with collecting dew I sat down, looking up at the stars above. It was amazing how many stars there were here, and how clear they showed through due to the lack of light.
Eventually I just layed back to get a better view of the sky, it also let me get atleast a bit more relaxation out of the whole thing. It was only a few minutes after I had layed back that I noticed a some soft footsteps, followed by the sounds of someone else dropping onto the grass. Tilting my head I saw Amelia seated beside me.
"What brings you around at this hour of the morning?" I said joking.
"Couldn't sleep, what about you?" She said.
"Same, couldn't sleep, though my reasons are likely different than yours."
"Well you're half the reason I'm up right now, you really aren't that quiet."
"Hey, sneaking is Koel's job not mine." I said with a shrug, then decided to ask, "So what's the other half?"
Tapping her fingers on her arm she said, "I don't really know, Prince Chrom has apparently gone off to Feroxi, and the bandits are coming out in more numbers. It kinda feels like something is building up out there doesn't it?"
If only you knew the shit we were in for Amelia, "Ya it does, I just hope we'll be ready for it when it comes."
Thanks to that conversation I realized how dire our situation was. If Chrom was in Feroxi then we probably had at best another week, maybe two before the plot really kicked off, and by that time none of us were really going to be much better than we were now. I didn't get much sleep that night either, but atleast I wasn't frustrating myself over something I likely had no control over this time.
I spent the rest of the time training as hard as I could, determined that I would be as ready as I could be when the plot came a knocking. I started practicing outside of the stuff Gilliam assigned to us, and it wasn't long before Amelia joined in on the after hours practice, her own worry driving her as the tension in the air almost became palpable. Then a few days later Edward stumbled on us training and joined in, bringing Leonardo along with him when he showed up the next day. As it was the four of us became rather good, I'd hesitate to say friends because we only knew eachother for a fortnight, but we were definitely on that road. As for the other four, Aran rarely spent a free hour awake, Gilliam was rather unapproachable, and Nephenee and Koel were usually hanging out with eachother instead of us.
Still though I had to admit I actually started to settle in, even having fun. Despite that my sleep did not improve, and it started to become more and more noticeable, infact the only person who I think didn't notice it was Gilliam. Though if it wasn't for the occasional jab from Koel I would have thought he hadn't noticed either. The other three members of the little after hours training club were the only ones who really reacted that much though. Edward made some rather spirited attempts to keep me awake, Leonardo offered some suggestions to get to sleep, and Amelia asked endless questions. Like she was doing one morning while I was trying to eat my breakfast
"You really should sleep more, you look barely awake and it's not even dark yet."
"I know about this type of tea that can put you to sleep like a log, my mother used to make it when I was a kid, it might help you sleep."
"What if you fall asleep during training?"
Eventually I just sighed and smiled at the over-eager girl, "Don't worry Amelia I'm fine. I'm just still getting used to not sleeping on the ground every night."
That managed to buy me enough time to shovel my breakfast into my mouth before Amelia started up another conversation.
"Hey did you hear that Lord Chrom came back from Feroxi today?"
That really caught my attention. If they were coming back though that meant that things were about to come to a head for Ylisse, as in most likely tonight and we had guard duty. We weren't anywhere even close to prepared. I had seen firsthand that the Exalt's insistence on a minimal military more or less left the entire Halidom unprotected. What little military there was was all clustered in the Capital, and only scattered units guarded the border. The Royal Pegasus Knights were the only real mobile force other than the Shepherds that Ylisse had.
And Plegia would be knocking down our gates any time now.
"Ya I heard, apparently they managed to get the Khans on our side." Edward said from his end of the table, pulling my mind back to the conversation at hand.
"Maybe the Feroxi will actually help, if they can avoid killing eachother for fun on the way down here." Koel deadpanned.
"Hey, don' be like that Koel, any help is good help." Nephenee said to the cynical soldier, the girl had opened up a fair bit with the group, though she still didn't talk that much.
"I wonder if we'll get to see the Shepherds" Leonardo added from his end of the table.
I expected Aran to comment but instead he gave a resounding "…." Further inspection revealed he was asleep, his head buried in his hands.
Further conversation was interrupted when Gilliam walked up to the table, the clanking of his armour warning us to his presence only a moment before he was at the table. For a giant of a man he was surprisingly stealthy, as we had learned multiple times over the last two weeks.
"Come on recruits, time for guard duty."
Ditching whatever food was left on the table we grabbed our weapons and shields from where they were resting on the wall and followed our sergeant though the halls of the Castle. If we had nothing else to show for our training, atleast now we looked proper as we marched to our positions, not that far from where the Exalt's rooms were really.
As we took up positions along the hallway my mind wandered elsewhere. I knew that sometime after Chrom came back from Feroxi, there would be an assassination attempt on the Exalt's life. The game seemed to have implied it would happen the same day as they got back, which would put it tonight. If it was tonight that would also most likely be the only chance we would have of getting into the plot before Ylisse was invaded, and if we didn't get involved in the plot it could have potentially fatal consequences for us if we were following narrative laws, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were.
"I know you're tired but if you don't pay attention Gilliam's going to have you running laps all day tomorrow." Amelia said from the other end of the doorway we were guarding, poking me with the blunt end of her lance.
"I know, I know" I said, pushing the lance away and looking down the hallway, behind us the rest of the squad was guarding various passageways that lead into the hallway. Gilliam and Aran taking the entryway at the far end of the hallway, while the other two pairs were standing opposite eachother midway down the hall.
We were mostly quiet as we stood guard, threat of Gilliam's attention keeping us rooted in place and silent as the day turning to night. It was right around when our shift was ending, and just as I was thinking that maybe the assassination attempt wouldn't happen tonight, when the atmosphere in the castle changed. It wasn't me that noticed it either, across from me Amelia gripped her lance tighter and started looking around.
"Do you feel that" she said as she looked out into the hall.
"How couldn't I, it feels like death himself just entered the building." I said back, seriously what the hell just happened, did whatever trickery that Dark Wizard, who I am totally blanking out on the name of, cause this?
"Hey you guys got any idea what's going on?" Edward shouted from down the hallway.
"Not in the slightest, but whatever it is its putting me on edge." I shouted back.
"Quiet you two" Gilliam shouted over both of us, "Ears open and listen."
We all fell silent, holding our breaths and not moving as we tried to hear whatever had caught Gilliam's attention. A few silent moments and I heard it, the pounding of dozens of feet, way more than there should have been at this time of night, and they sounded like they were coming from Gilliam's direction.
"Everyone over here now" Gilliam growled, and we all rapidly complied, Amelia and I exchanging nervous glances as we did so.
As soon as we were all clustered around our sergeant he continued "I don't like abandoning our posts but we are the closest group to that noise. Ready yourselves and follow me."
With that Gilliam turned and began moving at a swift jog toward the source of the noise, the rest of us following in quickly behind him.
"What do you think is going on?" Amelia whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.
Of course I had a pretty good hunch what was going on, but I wasn't going to reveal that fact instead I said "No idea but I am betting it's not going to be good, if we get into a fight remember your training. I'll keep them off your back."
Amelia nearly went as white as a sheet at the prospect of an actual fight, and I wasn't handling it much better. I could feel my hands shaking and I lowered my helmets visor to hide the worried look I was certain was crossing my face. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Edward and Leonardo were both looking in every direction, jumping at the slightest sounds, while Nephenee and Koel had gone silent, not even a sarcastic comment came from Koel as we approached the noise.
As we entered yet another hallway, this one running parallel to the Exalt's chambers, the noise grew to its loudest. We could hear it echoing through the doors that lead outside. Gilliam put up a hand to bring us to a stop, which we managed to do without running into eachother by a mix of luck and good spacing.
Then he pointed to an inner door and said "Everyone around that door, now!"
We all moved at a full run toward the door in question, unsure of the reason for our sergeants hurry, until a team of soldiers came out of an outer doorway down the hallway. The new group was immediately recognizable, between the red colour and their odd armour, as not some of our own.
"Assassins" Leonardo shouted as he saw the group. Taking a second to stop and let loose an arrow into the new arrivals. The bolt found its mark and sent one of the assassins to the ground. Thank god for the kid being a good shot, as it threw the enemy group into confusion, and bought us time to set up a ring around the door, with Leonardo setting up on the steps that lead up to the thick portal, giving him a clear shot over our heads, and Amelia off to my right, beside the wall.
"Kill em all." One of the assassins said when they had gotten their bearings back, pointing at our group.
"Stick together and you'll all get out of here alive" Gilliam said from the front of our group.
"Don't forget to stick it to them too." Koel added with a smirk.
Another twang from Leonardo's bow made everyone shut up, the archer's arrow sadly didn't bringing down its target, and before he could fire again they were on us. One of the assassin's running up to me, his sword held high. My guess was that these guys weren't very well trained, and I drove my lance forward, the assassin side stepping around my thrust, but he moved the wrong way and left my lance under his sword arm. Letting my lance get caught on the tile I pulled my end high into the air and jammed it under his shoulder, the result of which was the assassin's arm being unable to swing down. Bringing my foot up I pushed him away with a violent kick and while he was still stumbling I drove the spear through his ribcage. The poor bastard managed to stumble off the end of the spear before he fell to the ground in a growing pool of blood.
Before I could think on my first kill I heard a loud squelch along with a cry of pain from my right. Whipping my head over, worried that I might have just failed to watch my partner's back, only to see Amelia staring wide eyed at an assassin that was dragging down the end of her lance. It looked like the guy had managed to impale himself on her hastily raised weapon. Taking just the briefest moment I stepped over and pushed the body off Amelia's lance, and clapped the girl on the shoulder.
"Think about it later, right now stay alive." I said before another assassin stalled out just infront of us, the demise of his two compatriots having dulled his bloodlust. Before I could make a move toward him an arrow sprouted from his eye and with a scream he dropped to the ground, leaving us clear for the moment. Taking a look at the rest of the squad I saw Koel swing at an assassin with his sword, which the assassin dodged, but before the enemy could make a move Nephenee jabbed her lance under the distracted assassins shoulder and through to his lung. Gilliam and Aran were both dueling with their own opponents, but as I watched, Gilliam slammed his lance into his opponent hard enough to knock the guy into the air, and then he promptly threw out his shield to catch a strike that was heading for Aran. Aran for his part recovered from the surprise of the sergeant saving his life, and ran his target through. Behind the immediate line of corpses around us were another two felled by Leonardo's arrows.
Taking a moment to catch our breath we nearly jumped out of our skin when the door opened behind us, Edward spinning around and slashing at the new arrival, only for his blade to be parried mid-way.
"Hold it, we on your side" the new arrival said, and when we got a better look most of our eyes bugged out. Infront of us was none other than Chrom himself, with what looked like Lucinia behind him.
Gilliam was the first out of us to react, snapping off a salute to the Lord, "Sorry my Liege, as you can see we just finished off a group of assassins, it's not safe here."
"No its not but that isn't going to stop me from being here. There are more assassins where these came from, if you can hold this doorway my Shepherds can move on the flanks to take them out." Chrom said as he looked over our squad.
"As you command my Lord." Gilliam replied.
Before Chrom could reply again Amelia piped up, her voice high with nervousness "Are they after the Exalt?"
As soon as she said it she cringed in embarrassment, Chrom didn't seem to mind the question though and said "Yes they are and I don't think I need to tell you all how important it is that they fail." Then he turned back through the door, the last thing we heard before he disappeared into the inner castle was "May Naga be with you."
"You heard him, make sure not one assassin gets past us." Gilliam said as he turned back to the face the outer doors.
"We'll defend the Exalt to our last breath" Aran added.
"I'd rather it not be our last breath if that's fine with you." Koel said.
Nephenee just sighed at her partner's statement before giving him a slight hit to the back of the head.
"If you're gonna act like that we're both gonna be in hot water." She added.
"I don't think we could get in much hotter water right now if there was a mage here."
Before that banter could continue a fireball streaked by and smashed into the wall.
"You just had to say that didn't you Koel." I said as I looked for the mage. It didn't take more than a moment to spot the new arrivals, which consisted of the mage and another team of brutes, these ones with a mix of axes and swords.
Readying ourselves for the coming fight we watched as one of Leonardo's arrows flew across the hall toward the mage, before pinging of a shield of fire that appeared. Dammit, what the hell? They didn't have that in the games.
The next fireball from the mage wasn't particularly well aimed, I can only assume the mage had meant to go after Leonardo, but the fireball died out less than halfway across the hall. Gravity took effect on the projectile and pulled it down into us melee fighters at the base of the stairs, more specifically it was flying toward the Amelia, who was standing stock still in the face of the incoming fireball. Reacting just in time I pushed her out of the way of the fireball and raised my shield to absorb the brunt of the impact. Fire pushing around the sides of my shield and leaving half of my face feeling raw, along with a few places where the armour didn't cover.
It also set my lance on fire. Deciding that putting out the flames that were spreading rapidly along the wooden haft was a lost cause I tossed it out infront of me, hoping it might trip up any attackers, and pulled out my sword. Slipping into a crouch as Amelia recovered beside me and another pair of assassins rushed us. These new guys actually knew what they were doing, unlike the first wave, and my opponent parried any strike I sent his way. After the first few swings I was put on the defensive and I could feel my shield arm wearing down from repeated strikes, I wasn't going to last much longer like this. Out of the corner of my visor I saw the assassin that Amelia was fighting stumble back before I heard a shout from my partner.
"Duck!"
Definitely not a word I was expecting to hear right now but I complied with regardless. I was rewarded with a splatter of blood hitting my faceplate as Amelia swung her lance in an arc, cutting open the necks of both my opponent and her own, thank god for critical hits.
"Thanks" I huffed out as I straightened back out, before dodging out of the way of another fireball.
"Just… paying you back… for before." Amelia replied, sounding as tired as I felt. If this kept up we were going to be killed by exhaustion before we ran out of enemies. We were all still recruits and none of us had the endurance for this, except maybe Gilliam who looked totally unaffected by the fighting. Even Koel, with his lighter load, was panting as he cut open another of the assassins.
The fighting continued like that for another few minutes as more assassins poured in. I collected a few more nicks, some more serious cuts, and my visor saved me from what would have been a fatal blow more than once. Amelia has also managed to save me a few times with a well-timed stab or a well-placed block, and I repaid the favour when I could. Leonardo eventually dealt with the mage, but not before Edward gained a few burns similar to mine.
It was just as we were looking to be crushed under a tide of opponents when another team of new arrivals appeared at the each end of the hallway. Distracted as we were with the targets infront of us we didn't take note of them till they started cutting the assassins down from the rear.
"By the Gods, our reinforcements are here!" Aran shouted as he finished off another assassin, and he barely had the strength to pull his lance out of his opponent before another set on him. I wasn't faring much better, my throat and lungs felt like they were on fire, and my arms felt like noodles. By mostly luck I fended off my attacker, and beside me Amelia wasn't doing much better beside me. Thank god the Shepherds were quick though, and before I knew it the man opposite me had a blade sprouting from his chest, the other assassins falling only moments later.
Only moments after the battle ended I raised my visor and doubled over, adding the contents of my stomach to the mess on the floor, the exhaustion and the carnage around me catching up to me in full. Amelia was leaning up against her lance white as a sheet and coughing her lungs up, Koel and Nephenee nearly fell over but recovered and leaned on the wall, Leonardo and Edward collapsed on the stairs, and Aran was kept upright by Gilliam's hand on his shoulder, the sergeant as unphased as always.
From the surrounding ring of the Shepherds stepped out Chrom and Frederick, the latter taking notice of our sergeant and saying without changing his expression, "Gilliam it's good to see you again, but what are you doing here?"
"Yes I would like to know as well, mostly why you were the only group to arrive to help, what unit are you anyways?" Chrom said added.
"7th recruit squad my liege," Gilliam said, "We were on guard nearby and heard the assassins arriving, as for where the other groups are I cannot tell you."
Chrom, and many of the Shepherds raised an eyebrow at the mention that we were recruits, and to be honest I was just as surprised as they were. I am not sure what was watching over us but we somehow made it out of that mess without anyone dead or in obviously critical condition. Some of the wounds I had picked up might kill me though if I don't get them looked at.
"A bunch of recruits made this mess?" A redheaded woman, who I recognized as Sully, said.
"It would elucidate why that one regurgitated the contents of his digestive track over the floor." Said another voice that I could only assume was Muriel.
"Regardless of your training you all fought like true soldiers of Ylisse," Chrom said, "and were these better times I would see you all rewarded for your actions. For now though I have nothing to give but my thanks for helping me protect my sister."
As he was saying that I felt my exhaustion wane slightly, though I still felt like collapsing, the pain from the various nicks I took disappeared and my burns seemed to cool. I noticed that the rest of the members of my squad seemed to perk up too.
"We can also help you deal with your injuries." Chrom added with a small smile, "Though I still think most of you all look like you're about to collapse. Gilliam I need you to give me a report about what happened here, the rest of your squad should go try to get some rest."
"You heard him." Gilliam said as he turned us around and practically pushed our sorry rears out of the hallway toward our barracks. As soon as the sergeant turned back to talk with Chrom we nearly collapsed again, Aran stumbling before he re-caught his balance on the wall. None of us said a word till we got back to the barracks themselves, too tired and the same time, too hyped up on adrenaline. None of us even took off our armour as we collapsed into our various bunks, and let silence take over.
Today was the first time I had actually killed someone, and to be honest I really don't know how I felt about it. It just didn't feel… real? I just felt empty, not horrified at what I did, but there was no pride in victory. I mean I should feel terrible, I just ended the lives of atleast a few people, but I was defending myself. Not only that I just, couldn't believe that the people I was fighting were actual people. Less than a month ago they were nothing but characters on a screen, and I was still certain that this was nothing but a coma induced dream. It's not like those wounds I took earlier didn't hurt, but the brain was a powerful organ, and it's done worse to me in dreams before.
A loud series of rustles from the rest of the room snapped me out of my thought process, looking up at the ceiling I said to the room "Still awake eh?"
A muted chorus of "yes"s came back, followed by a collective sigh.
"I expected our first battle to be… well not that" Leonardo said from his corner of the room.
"Same here, I reckoned it would be brutal but that was somethin' else." Nephenee added.
"Maybe it'll get easier." Edward piped in, his tone saying that he didn't mean it in the slightest.
"It never gets easier" Koel commented, just barely loud enough for us to hear, "Or if it does you're as good as dead."
"You sound like you have some experience" Aran said from his bunk.
The minutes rolled by and the only response we got from Koel was him rolling over to bury his face in his bunk. As the silence continued I felt my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, and throughout the room the sounds of snoring began to pick up. As sleep took me the last thing heard someone shifting out of their bed.