I want to ask you a question, dear reader.

There are countless worlds out there, whether in the depths of space or in the deepness of the multiverse. I have seen many of them, but I cannot know them all. No one can. My question pertains to this endless blackness with an infinitude of small lights among it, twinkling in the abyss like diamonds beneath the earth.

If you will bear with me, I ask you this: what would you do if you were thrown into a faraway world in some massive cosmic accident?

But then, the word 'accident' may not apply.

In the borderless expanse of creation, that word could not be used to describe my situation, years ago. It was too contrived. Too clean.

What was that situation, you ask? You likely have heard tales of it already. But perspective can change many things, I find.

Brace yourself, my dear reader.

-Preface, On the Ylisse-Plegian Conflicts of the Eleventh Century, Sir Alexander Jameson Wright, 21st of Sable, 1083 AS.

This drive is gonna be the death of me, I swear.

The morbid thought crossed Alex's mind more than once on the dimly lit Pennsylvanian road. The sun had long set, and deep, black clouds blanketed the sky, preventing even moonlight from reaching the car. His old Optima—or whatever the hell they called it—felt as if it would crumble into scrap metal and tears if he ran over one more pothole. The headlights were still good, at least, otherwise they would have been well and truly fucked.

"Was it supposed to rain today?" a voice said beside him.

Alex shrugged. "I didn't check."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Would've been neat if you did."

"I wasn't planning on driving you home from college, jackass," Alex drawled, taking a deep breath. He thought he saw something on the road but it was just a trick of the light. It felt as if the sky was getting darker, somehow. "You're the one who wanted to come home for Easter."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Everyone else was. The hell was I gonna do back there? Rot? You would've liked that, wouldn't you've?"

"I'm–I'm not even going to correct that last thing you said. I don't even want to acknowledge that abomination," Alex said, shaking his head.

"I've beaten the Grammar Nazi. Hurray!" Elizabeth said, sighing as she looked out the window. "Seriously, though, this isn't right. There aren't even any cars on the road."

Alex briefly glanced at the dashboard. "It's almost nine. I wouldn't wanna be out here neither."

"Well, yeah, but you saw all those cars earlier, right?" Liz asked. "Everyone was going home. You'd think we wouldn't be the only ones coming from—"

A brief flash of light made Alex jump in his seat. His heart went straight to his throat for a few seconds as his hands tightened around the steering wheel. Liz let out a small shout before forcefully closing her mouth with her hands. After a few more seconds, the rain began.

Liz leaned her head back against the car seat. "For fuck's sake."

"Telling me. I gotta drive through this shit. In the dark," Alex mumbled. "I always wondered why mom hated doing this. Now I know."

The rain pelted the car. Alex looked closely, noticing that the rain was—black. How was it black? There wasn't any pollution nearby. Nothing but pristine wilderness surrounded them as far as he could see, or at least, what could pass for pristine wilderness in the 2020s.

Liz glumly looked at the dashboard. "Turn on the radio."

"Can't," Alex replied, tapping it. "No signal."

"Turn it on."

Alex tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, trying to concentrate as he kept his eyes on the road. It was getting harder and harder to keep track of where the road was going. There were no turns, and there were no guard rails on either side, and with the darkness, it gave him the impression that they weren't traveling through the wilderness at all, but a dark void. The thought sent a chill up his spine and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Told you. Can't," Alex finally replied. "We wouldn't even get static. It'd just be the dash telling us to fuck off."

Taking matters into her own hands, Liz turned the dial to the right.

Alex nearly careened off the road as a long, ear-piercing screech erupted from the speakers. Liz quickly turned the dial the other way, but it only lessened the noise slightly. After a few more moments, the screeching ebbed away to a dull drone.

Alex turned to see Liz staring at him with wide eyes. Her skin had turned almost paper white.

"What. The fuck. Is going on?" she hissed.

"Clearly, God didn't want you to do that," Alex replied shakily, although he was certain his own fear was showing on his face. He could feel his fingers, cold and clammy, maintain their death grip on his steering wheel.

"Alex," Liz said, her voice almost robotic. "Keep driving."

"I wasn't planning on stopping," Alex replied through gritted teeth.

"And don't look behind us," Liz added.

Alex noticed she was looking at the rearview mirror, and foolishly, he decided to do the same.

He should have taken her advice.

Behind them, the road was being swallowed. It was crumbling into nothingness and beyond that, red pinpricks stared straight at them. It was as if the stars themselves were bleeding.

Alex slammed his foot on the gas pedal, and the car surged forward. His heart was pounding in his ears, and he could hear his sister hyperventilating beside him.

"What the fuck," Liz whispered. "What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck—"

"Shut up. I'm getting us outta here," Alex growled.

"Alex, we're—!"

"I said shut the fuck up!"

Alex pressed down so hard on the pedal that it felt as if he was about to send his foot straight through the floor of his car. His old Kia was going well over ninety miles an hour, and yet whatever was behind them was still gaining ground. The crumbling road was nipping at his back tires, and he could hear a wet chewing noise resounding throughout his car. He could feel the air grow colder and colder such that his breath came out in ragged, misty gasps.

Liz was still right beside him, holding on for dear life as her eyes were focused ahead. The road was still endless, with no reprieve from the creature behind them. Alex wouldn't let it get them. If they were going to die, they were going to die on their own terms.

With all the suddenness he could muster, Alex turned the steering wheel hard. He could hear the axles of his wheels grind and whine beneath them, but they obliged, and it felt as if the road would give way before his car did. The car tumbled to the right, away from the hungry maw that had been chasing them. Red lights still twinkled in the darkness, but they were no longer being chased.

They were no longer being chased by that thing and that was what mattered. They were safe. They—

The darkness swallowed them.

Alex woke up first.

He was on a bed of soft grass, almost comfortable if it wasn't for the insects crawling all over him. Groggily, he rose. He rubbed his eyes as he heaved a sigh, finding his feet and looking around.

For a few moments, it felt like a dream. It came back slowly—the endless road, the encroaching, primordial darkness eating the path behind them, and the swerve that would have killed them both.

Elizabeth.

Alex's eyes were wide open as he looked around. He was in the middle of a grassy hill. Trees sprang up from the ground here and there, and the sky was a brilliant blue, with not a cloud in sight. It was far from the storm that had overtaken them what could have been only minutes before. He felt his breath hitch in his chest as he saw his wrecked car, its white plating bent and broken with smoke coming from underneath the hood.

And Liz was right by it.

His legs feeling heavy, Alex approached and knelt. Liz was sprawled out as if someone had clocked her across the face and left her to die. Her breath came out slowly and shallowly, but she was alive. Rubbing his forehead, Alex let out a sigh of relief.

"Goddamn," Alex murmured. "Where the Hell are we?"

Liz's blue eyes opened so quickly and so widely that it was a wonder that her eyelids didn't fly off her face. She let out a yelp as she began to struggle until Alex placed his hands on her shoulders and stilled her.

"Liz! Liz, it's me! We're fine! Shh!" Alex said.

"Fuck fuck fuck—" Liz snarled out, before shaking Alex's hands off her and sitting up. "What the fuck!? We're dead, aren't we? We're dead!"

Slowly, Alex put up his hands. "Do you feel dead, Liz?"

Liz looked at Alex with pursed lips before getting to her feet. Shakily, she turned around to see his car. Or what was left of it.

"You're fucked," Liz said. "There isn't an insurance company in the world that'll cover this."

"I—" Alex began, before shaking his head and standing up. "Probably right. But we got bigger problems on our hands."

"Oh, like what?" Liz asked, her tone sarcastic. She held her arms out to her sides and twirled around in place.

"Well, from the way you're acting—"

"We're in the middle of a field, with a completely sunny sky, and no paved roads in sight. What does that tell you, Alex?" Liz asked rhetorically. "It's like—it's like one of those animes you used to watch. What was it called?"

"Anime is its own plural," Alex said, crossing his arms. "And I've gotten over that shit."

"That's too damn bad, 'cause I think we're—"

"Don't say it," Alex growled, taking a deep breath. "Don't say it. Don't say another word. We haven't been isekai'd or some dumb shit like that. We're… probably just delirious from the crash."

"A crash you caused," Liz replied, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh, I get it. Didn't realize you were a vore fetishist. It was either that or we would've been eaten. So sorry I disappointed you," Alex drawled walking past Liz and looking at his ruined car.

The smoke had long since trailed off during the course of their conversation, and the wreck had become deathly silent. Alex doubted anyone would be willing to tow the poor thing; it was already half-buried in the earth. Best it would probably be used for was scrap metal.

"I'm probably jumping to conclusions, but how do we explain what happened earlier?" Liz said, letting out a sigh.

Alex was going to respond, but he couldn't find any words. There truly was no way to explain what was going on. There were no cliffs nearby, so they couldn't have toppled over an edge. As much as he didn't want to admit it, there was some logic to Liz's words.

And Alex couldn't even discredit the entire thing as a dream, either. If it was a dream, then it was the most realistic and frightening dream he'd ever had.

Alex was snapped out of his thoughts when heard the clanking of metal and the sound of bags being rummaged through. He looked to the back of his wrecked car to see Liz in his trunk. Moments later, she stood back with a bag of potato chips in her hand.

"You're…" Alex began, before rubbing his forehead. "Why?"

"I'm hungry," Liz replied, shrugging. "What else am I gonna do? Panic?"

"We could try to find civilization," Alex deadpanned. "That'd be more prudent than eating junk food."

"Ohh, look at Mr. English Degree over here, flexing his big brain full with big words!" Liz replied, rolling her eyes.

"Says Ms. Art Degree and her zero museums dedicated in her honor," Alex mumbled.

Deciding to take his own advice, Alex looked around. The plains were relatively hilly, obscuring much of his view of anything farther away. He did, however, spot a small, cobbled road leading further to—he actually had no idea what direction it was in. Nonetheless, it was looking to be their only option.

"Guess we ought to follow that path," Alex finally said, pointing in its direction. "Unless you're too weighed down by chips.

"Fuck. You," Liz replied.

"We can come back for our luggage and shit later. C'mon, let's go," Alex said, waving her forward.

"Alex."

"Hmm?"

Liz pointed forward. "Does that look like a modern city to you?"

They had been traveling for a little less than an hour—Alex's best guess—and before them stood a town. His view of it no longer obstructed by hills, he could make out a long, winding river traveling through it, surrounded on both sides by stone walls like a canal. It cut the village into three pieces. The buildings themselves were predominantly made of gray stone with tiled, brown roofs. At the center was a large chapel with a round stained glass window on its bell tower.

Alex's lips thinned. "It doesn't, no."

"We've been isekai'd, Alex," Liz replied, her tone making it sound as if she was a bird chirping.

"Shame on me for trying to make it seem more sensible," Alex muttered.

Liz cupped her ear. "Wha? What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said you're a fucking jackass," Alex snarled. "It doesn't matter who is right or not. Fact of the matter is, we're far away from home, in a place where we can't earn any money—because God forbid either you or I have any marketable skills—and at best we'll be mooching off that church down there. A church whose god we don't even worship. Hell, we don't even know if we speak the same language. So, yes, relish in your victory, Liz, 'cause it's the only kind we're gonna get."

Liz's expression turned downtrodden as she looked at her feet. She rubbed her shoulder and turned away.

"We'll be fine, right?" she asked quietly. "I mean, sure, we don't have any trade crap, but we could be used for manual labor, right? They could use people to build and carry stuff."

"I would've thought you'd want to find a way home," Alex replied, crossing his arms.

"Well, obviously, but how the Hell would we even do that? We don't even know how we got here," Liz pointed out.

Alex pointed forward. "Journey of a thousand steps and all that."

"Hopefully we can understand them," Liz huffed, closing her eyes. "We're so fucked."

"We're not. I'm sure we'd be much happier if we were, though," Alex replied.

The village wasn't anything spectacular—it wasn't too different from the suburbs—but the architecture, the layout, the people, it all felt so bizarre to walk among them. They wore buckles with no zippers—guards walked about with a spear in one hand, a shield in another, and a flanged metal cap on their heads. It wasn't quite medieval as Alex understood it, but it was close enough to essentially be it.

They were passing through a street filled with stalls, with colorful fabric coverings on top of each. They were selling everything from fresh food to weapons—and the weapons did look very familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the shape of them clued him in. He focused on one of the swords briefly. It was a dull gray, and its blade was uneven and lumpy, as if it had been cast into a mold rather than formed by a blacksmith's hammer.

The people that passed them by gave them strange looks. With their modern clothes, Alex surmised that he and Liz looked ridiculous. It made him wonder if going back to the car was worth it.

"I'm gonna do it," Alex whispered.

"You're braver than I am," Liz replied quietly, nodding her head.

Looking around, Alex spotted a man standing near one of the shopping stalls, minding his own business. He was dressed much like everyone else, although Alex spotted the dagger at his side. Muscle, perhaps, to keep people from stealing all the open-air merchandise.

"Excuse me, sir—" Alex began.

The man snickered. "I ain't no 'sir', my friend, so please, don't bring that kinda language here."

Alex snorted.

That answers one question, at least.

"I've seen you two wandering about for a while, and I must ask: you two are foreigners, ain'tcha? Now, don't tell me from where. Somewhere from Jugdral, maybe?" the man continued, passing a glance at the shopkeeper nearby and tilting his head. "Nah, you don't have the look about ya. Valm? Heard plenty of you lot have been fleeing that terrible war there or other."

Those two words, Jugdral and Valm, made Alex's heart quicken and his hands turn clammy.

"Uh, no," Alex said, waving a hand. "It doesn't matter. Do you, uh, know where we are?"

The man outright laughed, a deep chortle that Alex could feel in his bones.

"You're actin' like you just fell outta the sky! What kinda game are ya playing? Ah, but fine. I do like a good game. You're in Southtown, friend. Largest village in this half of Ylisse and— hey, you alright? Your face just got all pale-like."

Alex turned around. "Liz, we need to go. Now."

Liz took a step back, but was unable to get out of Alex's way quick enough. The man they were talking to shrugged as they both went down a nearby alleyway. There wasn't a single soul in sight, and the ground and walls were covered with rotten wood and mold. It was the perfect place to have a chat.

Alex began pacing in front of Liz, whose back was against the wall as she watched Alex walk to and fro, brow raised.

"I know that you had to talk to a stranger and that was very hard for you but I don't think reacting like this is the right thing to do," Liz said.

"You don't get it," Alex said, a knot forming in his throat. "You don't get it, Liz. I mean, congratulations! I believe you now. We've definitely been isekai'd. Only…"

Alex stopped, and Liz rolled her hand.

"C'mon, spit it out. What is it?" she said.

"We're in a video game, Liz," Alex finally said. "A video game I have played before."

Liz tilted her head. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope. I know the plot, where it's going, and what might happen here in as little as a few minutes," Alex said, rubbing his forehead. "You know, when I agreed to take you home, I didn't think it'd involve all this horse shit."

"What game is it, Alex?" Liz demanded, stepping forward.

Alex took a deep breath. "Fire Emblem: Awakening. We're in a game that's over twelve years old."

Liz looked at the ground, her expression inscrutable before she looked up again. "Did it at least have good graphics?"

Alex froze, the question freezing his mind as if it had been caught in the blizzard of the century. After a moment, he replied, "For a 3DS game, yeah. Wasn't translated until 2013, though. Came out in Japan back in '12."

"Ah, cool. Cool," Liz nodded, pressing her lips together tightly. "And, uh, what happens a few minutes from now?"

Alex shrugged. "Just a bandit attack. Nothing serious."

"Makes sense. Gotta have a tutorial, right?" Liz replied.

"Yeah. Yeah," Alex responded, crossing his arms.

Silence reigned for a few moments, before Liz burst out laughing.

"How the fuck…" Liz began, tears streaming from her eyes. "Why the fuck… why the fuck are we here, Alex? What did we do to deserve this?"

"Y-you must've pissed off God or something," Alex said, trying to keep his own giggles down.

Liz waved a hand dramatically, turning around and almost slamming her face into a wall.

"Of course it's my fault! Of course! Of course…"

Liz braced herself against the wall and fell to the ground. After a few moments, she looked up at Alex.

"So. What do we do?" she asked quietly.

Alex looked from side to side to either end of the alleyway. "Depending on when we showed up, we could have anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. Or Hell, the game could be over already and we wouldn't have any way of knowing. Considering where we ended up, though, I doubt that. Our best bet is to find a guy named Chrom."

Liz shrugged. "What does he look like?"

Rubbing his shoulder, Alex replied, "Blue hair, with a metal pauldron on his left arm. He'll also have a cape. Trust me, you can't miss him. He'll be accompanied by a knight in plate armor on a horse, a blonde cleric with twintails, and some dude with white hair and a coat. Maybe. Depends."

"So, basically, look for the most anime people around. Real protagonist hours out here," Liz mumbled.

Alex looked away. "Well, two of them are royalty with special blood or something. So, you know, fun times."

"What do we do now, then?" Liz asked, "We could probably warn the townspeople in the meantime."

Alex snorted. "And have them either not believe us or throw us in jail, probably."

"It's worth a try, right? I mean, these are real people. We can't just-"

A loud 'crash' followed by screaming suddenly rang out through the streets. Alex looked up from the bleak alleyway and saw columns of smoke beginning to ascend into the blue sky. Another explosion came a moment later. Closer.

"We…" Alex said, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"We're gonna have to kill people, aren't we?" Liz asked. "This wasn't just some happy-go-lucky anime game."

"It… was not, no," Alex replied. "I'll tell you more about it later, but for now, we just- we just need to survive. Follow me, and do not lag behind. Scream if anyone's coming up behind us."

The marketplace that Alex and Liz had been exploring just a few moments prior were almost completely deserted, save for a few people milling about—people in a patchwork of furs and bones. They wielded axes and swords, and some of them had torches. They were burning down everything that was flammable, and destroying the rest.

"They're leaving nothing standing…" Liz murmured behind him.

"They're trying to incite a war," Alex whispered. "It'd be weirder if they were."

They ducked between flipped-over tables and tattered fabric. Alex was decently bulky, and Liz had training in archery, so their odds were not completely terrible, but until either of them found a weapon, they might as well have been one of the townsfolk the bandits had run down in the streets.

Alex felt a pang in his chest looking at the bodies of the innocent townspeople. Liz had been right; they should have done something. Even if it had gotten them in trouble, perhaps someone would have believed them. It was ridiculous, he thought, to blame himself for it. They were all doomed anyway, but that didn't make seeing the bodies of innocent people laying in pools of blood any easier.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, they had found what they were looking for.

One of the stalls had been for weapons, and Alex quickly grabbed a large mace—it was a lumpy, misshapen thing, but it had weight to it, and looked as if it could withstand a blow or two. He took up a shield in his left hand as Liz armed herself with a bow and a small quiver of arrows.

I'm really, really glad she took those archery lessons.

"Alright," Alex mumbled. "Maybe we can find a safehouse or something. Someplace where we can—"

"Found ya!"

A battleaxe cleaved between Liz and Alex, separating them as Alex backed up, holding his shield up as the bandit readied another attack. The axe struck his shield, and while it held, Alex could feel the energy behind it, making his bones rattle. He half-expected an arrow to suddenly break through the bandit's rugged face, but nothing came. Alex chanced a glance and saw that Liz was occupied with another bandit, trying her best to keep her distance.

"Thought ya could hide among the bodies, didja!? Ain't no luck!" the bandit guffawed, smiling as he charged forward.

Alex dropped all pretenses of trying to maintain his composure as he snarled. He lunged forward with all of his strength, putting his shield forward. The bandit, already committed to his swing, narrowly missed Alex's head as the air was bashed out of him. Alex could feel the spittle against the back of his neck as he knocked the bandit to the ground. Wasting no time, Alex held his mace high, and roared.

The first strike almost bounced off the bandit's skull. The second one broke it. The third one splattered it.

Alex didn't want to look at the gore. It had all happened so quickly and his heart was thundering in his chest. He looked around, his vision spotty at the corners as he tried desperately to find Liz. She was gone, and in her place he saw—

Alex was nearly taken off his feet as a sword clashed into his raised shield. Another quick blow sent him sprawling. Had he been ready for it, he might have kept his footing. He looked up to see a man clad in lacquered robes and a headband, wielding a curved sword. His face was placid, as if he had done all of this a million times before. He readied his arm, and swung downward. Alex did not have time to raise his shield again.

The blow never landed.

A large ball of yellow electricity crashed into the myrmidon's back. His body convulsed as he fell to the ground, steam coming from his mouth. When he hit the dirt, he was still.

Taking a minute to collect himself, Alex looked up and saw—

She wore a dark longcloak, and baggy pants. In one hand, she held a bronze sword, and in the other a tome that crackled with the same electricity. Her hair was white as snow as tied into twintails, with two uneven bangs framing her face. Her eyes were a bronze-gold color, like rusted metal.

Robin. I expected you to be…

Alex moved to get up, but Robin stopped him with a shout.

"Stay down!" she ordered.

Energy sparked down her arm and surged forward in another ball of lightning. It soared over Alex's head, making his hair stand on end as it moved past him and struck another bandit in the chest that had been charging behind him. Alex let out a breath as he heard footsteps approaching him.

"Sorry if I startled you," she said, standing in front of Alex and holding out her gloved hand. "But it was either that or let the bandits kill you, and I'd rather not see anyone else die today. Here, let me help you up."

Alex couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds, letting the entire, surreal, scenario wash over him. After a few moments, he let out a sigh, and took her hand.

My brother called us ending up in Ylisse 'divine will'. Or he would have, earlier on. How could he not? He knew the world, knew its name, knew its people, well before I even understood the law of the land.

In other words, he would have called it Fate.

I begged to differ.

-Prologue, Around the World and Back Again, Lady Elizabeth Eleanor Wright, 20th of Argent, 1084 AS.

Oh no red what the fuck are you doing STOP STOP-

This is basically a rewrite of my old fic Aberration. Although, honestly, the only thing that'll be similar is the premise and some of the themes. I admit, I questioned why I was even doing this; I thought I'd left my fanfic writing days behind me. But then I got struck with the biggest case of writer's block I've ever felt. And I don't mean that stupid excuse people use to justify procrastinating-I mean I was quite literally unable to write a goddamn thing since the new year began.

So, I thought I'd return to my roots and figure out this whole writing thing again. Going back to my old stomping grounds seems to have helped since I wrote all of the above in about three days, but I have a feeling it'll be a long road.

As for the fic itself- yeah, I'm not lying. This is an Aberration rewrite. Maybe at the end of the day it's me trying to grasp some of my long lost relevance (if I had any at all), or maybe all of these are just excuses and really all I wanna do is write fanfic for a game I still love to this day. Either way, don't expect the same story, but do expect plenty of references and maybe a few familiar plot beats here and there.

Hey, at least you won't have to go through the slog that was Act 1 of Aberration!

Anyway, been a while since I've done this, but here's a link to our Discord server: discord. gg/u89gs745fn

See you guys next time!