AN: Alright, this is the first time I've publish this story, and it's also the first time I've written fanfiction. Do be lenient on me, and let me know what you guys think. I'll be posting the first 3 chapters in quick succession, and the rest of what I have written will be released weekly afterwards till I run out of it. Afterwards, we'll see how it goes. Y'all obviously know that I own nothing besides my original characters, and that the unoriginal property goes to their respective owners. Have fun!

The room shook slightly, lights flickering for a moment, before everything went still and quiet once more. Dust and small debris, mostly pebbles and the like, fell towards any surface underneath it, coating it. Thankfully, the white bed at the center was spared the mess, along with the young Cautus resting atop it. Well, bracing may be more accurate, what with her protecting her head with her arms in the case that anything were to fall over her.

I sigh, forcing myself to not loom over the girl in a poor attempt to shield her. Who knows what the more impulsive worrywarts would think when they see a giant beast looming over a scared girl? I couldn't help but whisper to myself, "God, how I wish I could sally out…"

A moment later, a knock rings out, raising my guard. I turn to the girl, seeing her blue eyes stare at me in a mixture of fear and hope, and motion to her with a finger on where my mouth would be. She gives a slight nod, and I slowly stalk to the door, poleaxe at the ready. "The king is dead…"

A soft voice replies, one of a calm man. "Long live the king."

I exhale, and I hear the girl give an excited gasp. Lowering my guard, I opened the door, greeted by the sight of a person of average height, clad in a long dark coat with the hood up, face covered by a black mask. I step to the side, letting the man in the room, and ask, "Should we expect more from their arty?"

The man pauses and turns to me, before shaking their head and continuing to the bed. "Artillery. And yes, that should be the last of it." He makes it to the bed and kneels, placing a hand on the bed where the girl sits, smiling broadly at the presence of the masked man. "Amiya, are you alright? You weren't hurt, nothing came here, Buck here didn't scare you too badly?"

The girl, Amiya, giggled at that last question. "Mr. Buck wasn't scary. He stood still and tall, like a cool knight statue! Though, he did get a bit dirty from the dust."

At that, I immediately set out to dust off my armor and cloak, much to the amusement of the other two. Amiya let off another giggle, and the man let out an amused huff. Then, the man laid a hand on Amiya's head, gently rubbing it between her ears. "That's good to hear. And I apologize, but I won't be able to stay long with you. Kal'tsit needs some help with arranging an offensive, and Theresa is currently volunteering in helping take care of the wounded. Will you be willing to stay with Buck just a little longer?"

The girl's ears dropped a tad, and her eyes were not as bright as they once were, but she kept a smile and took hold of the man's hand. "That's okay, Dokutah." Then, she perked up, as though she came up with a great idea. "What if, next time I spend time with Mr. Buck, you, and everyone else? Wouldn't that be great?" Then, she gave a radiant smile, one so bright I thought I'd be blinded for a moment.

The man froze for a moment, before turning his head to me, a sharp edge to his body language. Immediately, I stood at attention, poleaxe clanging against the ground and one hand saluting above my eye slit. I restrained myself from yelling out 'Sir!', if only because I knew it would hurt the girl's ears. I may be a battle-loving brute, but even I would loathe myself for inflicting the slightest pain on the cute daughter of the Ghost.

The Doctor turned back to the girl, giving the girl's hands a soft squeeze, "Yeah, that's a great idea." He stands and turns to me, still at the side of the bed. "Don't you agree, Abukcheech?"

I rapidly nod my head, not trusting my voice to keep its composure when facing the edge of the Doctor himself. He even used my first name proper.

Doctor examined me until he was satisfied, then turned back to Amiya. "I'll have to leave now. Stay with Buck, he'll keep you safe. If you need anything, let him know. And if he isn't available and you're in danger, scream as loud as you can, and everyone will come rushing to you, alright?" Amiya nodded, then hugged the Doctor at his waist. He returned the hug, arms wrapped around her head and back, then let go shortly after. He walked up to my side, turned up to look at me, and simply said, "Keep her safe." Left unsaid was, 'Or else'.

I removed my free hand from my visor and settled it over my chest, then bowed at the waist, my height tall enough that my antlers did not even get close to him. Once again, he examined me, then nodded and left through the door. I relaxed my form, letting loose a long breath as I slouched and leaned against the wall.

I stood there with closed eyes, trying to regain my composure, before I heard the soft sound of slippers on the hard floor. I opened my eyes and looked to the bed, only to see that Amiya had already stood by the foot of it, looking at me with curious blue eyes.

I approached and knelt in front of her, then asked her, "Is there something you'd like, Amiya?"

She smiled, then pointed at me, a determined glint in her eyes. "I want to hear your story!"

It took a few seconds to process it, but when I did, I couldn't help but point to myself and ask, "My story?"

She nodded, but I still didn't fully understand. "Now why would you want to hear that? Wouldn't you prefer to hear about… Uh, lets see…" I turned to look around the room, and found a leather-bound book on a chair next to the bed. "Aha! Now, don't you want to hear about 'The Brothers Gloom's Fairy Tales'?"

She shook her head and looked at me, her mouth set in a pout. "I know some of the stories of Dokutah, Dr. Kal'tsit, and even Ms. Theresa, but I don't know anything about you!" Then, she lowered her ears as she hit me with some puppy eyes, "Please? If you don't want anyone to know, I promise I'll keep it a secret."

I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head, "There's no need to promise. It's just surprising to me that someone wants to hear the story of a withered old coot like myself, is all. I wouldn't mind telling it, if you so wish." She was positively glowing, and looked ready to hop in place while nodding in her excitement.

I stood and moved to the chair by the bed, "You should make yourself comfortable on the bed, cause this story may take a while." She nodded, climbed over the side of the bed, and sat down facing me. I went to sit on the chair, making sure to place the book over my lap instead of sitting on it, and placed the poleaxe over my knees, its head and butt a safe distance away from Amiya. I leaned forward, elbow on my thigh and hand on the lower part of my visor, around where my chin would be.

"Let's see… Have you ever heard of the nation of Columbia?"

AN: Very short chapter, I know, but beginnings are kinda hard to write, y'know? Sorry for any issues, editing is not a strength of mine. Also, this was first written about a year ago, so much of what I'm working on is already terribly outdated information. I could change it, but I've been working on this for half a year and fuck you if you think I'm going through the trouble of rewriting it from the bottom up because hypergyph pulled some contradictory shit out of their ass.

Needless to say, this might as well be an AU. I'll try to roughly stick to canon, but my main sources are what little I've played of the game (Chapter 4 or 5? I suck at the game, so I'm not far in) and the page, so I'm playing a bit with the world right now. And also, my world lore is based on pre Terra: A Journey's release information, so you oughta expect more of a historical basis to the Columbian War of Independence instead of the canonical basis. Favorite, follow, review, do whatever you'd like.