A Reaper's Awakening

by Storm VII

After being thrown into the cauldron, Ragna the Bloodedge finds himself in Ylisse where he meets Chrom, Fredrick, and Lissa. What does fate have in store for the Grim Reaper? Why was he thrown into a conflict with Plegia, which he knows next to nothing about? Ragna x Harem

9. Confessions of the Past and Wild Birds

Let's do these responses mow:

Sugouxxx: Sorry, but no Gen 2 shipping in the official story.

Greyjedi449t: Small chapters are sometimes the best, but here's a lengthy one for you.

Black sun 123: We'll get there, we'll get there.

Warrior of Six Blades: The Summarizer returns. Seriously though, thanks for the review and keeping up with the story.

Guest: Well the Duodecim is a group of arrogant pricks, end of story.

Thanks for reviewing everyone, there'll be a support conversation review in the Author's Note.

Chapter IX: Confessions of the Past and Wild Birds

'Guess I'm really doing this… not like I gave myself much of a choice. If anything, it's just better that I get this settled now,' Ragna thought as he sat by himself in the meeting room he'd requested at Regna Ferox. He'd told Chrom, Fredrick, and Lissa to get the rest of the Shepherds so he could hold a sudden meeting. Ragna was about to do something that would probably screw him over entirely or even turn all of his new friends against him, but it needed to be done.

The Shepherds soon began to enter the room at a steady rate, each of them Ragna a respectful nod or some of them walking over to him to say a quick greeting. He answered with his own, but it was clear how focused he was on the story he needed to tell. "All right, I think that's everyone," Ragna said to the group many of whom were seated in chairs, but there were a few people who needed to stand. "Now I bet you're wondering why I called you here, so I'll get the point… I'm not exactly your common traveler like Chrom thought."

"…I think you killed an idea of that after you saved South Town and since then it's just gotten further and further absurd," Chrom reminded which was a fair point all things considered. "So is this the part where you give us the big reveal and tell us about your past?"

"I told you they were up to something interesting, oaf!" Flavia shouted as the door burst open revealing both Kahns, Lon'qu, and a blushing Olivia who seemed less than excited to be there. "I was wondering why you requested to borrow our meeting room, then I find out that you've assembled all of the Shepherds, and you didn't even think to invite us!"

Ragna deadpanned; things were already going so well. "Well I didn't invite you, so care to explain to me what you're doing?"

"My meeting room, my right!" Flavia attested with a grin. "The oaf here is also a Kahn so that gives him reason enough to be here, lest we forget Lon'qu who's actually a Shepherd."

"Fair enough," Ragna said with a sigh. He then turned to Olivia. "They dragged you along?"

"They dragged me along, sorry," the dancer apologized with a nervous smile.

"No, I'M sorry," Ragna groaned. "Fine, just close the doors, this isn't for anyone outside of this room."

"Enough of the suspense already boy," Basilio said as he complied and even locked the entrance for good measure. "What were you going to tell everyone? Are you from a different continent or something?"

"As strange as it sounds, I pretty sure I'm not even from this world," Ragna told him. The facial responses were… about what he expected. "Look, I can see everyone's thinking I'm crazy, but it'll be easier if you see this." Committing before he could think better and stop himself, Ragna rolled up his right sleeve revealing his fake arm. "This isn't just some gauntlet; there's nothing underneath the leather straps. This thing is known as the BlazBlue and I've been using it as my arm. It's thanks to this thing I was able to pull off that attack earlier."

"Blaze… Blue?" Miriel asked curiously as she examined the arm. "That name has never been recorded or theorized in any texts, are you claiming this is some otherworldly arcane power?"

"I guess that's the best way to put it," Ragna agreed. "When Chrom first found me I wasn't able to use my right arm or my right eye until I killed one of the Risen and absorb its shadows into my arm. Back in my world we had something called Seither which this thing used to power itself, apparently it can also work off of whatever the Risen are made out of though I'm pretty sure they're not the same thing."

"Wait," Lissa said a little nervously. "You said that there's nothing under that thing, what happened to make you lose your arm?"

"I don't like to talk about it," the Reaper admitted. "But if I'm going to be working with you guys you deserve to know. I grew up in a church with my two younger siblings, Jin and Saya, and the Matron that took care of us. It wasn't exactly a perfect life, but we were happy nonetheless. Until one day we were attacked by a man called Yuuki Terumi."

Ragna hesitated for a moment; he was seeing some of the images of his past as if he were still there. He could practically taste his own blood mixed with the dirt on the ground and feel the heat of the fire. "That asshole started by killing the matron who was taking care of us setting my home on fire. I was out grabbing water at the time, but when I saw the smoke I ran back as fast as I could. The first thing I saw was the matron's bloody body, but that was before I saw my brother. Terumi was a master of deception and influence; he was able to corrupt my brother's mind and get him to cut off my arm. Then that asshole stood over me and laughed at how pathetic I looked; he even told me to use the arm as a back scratcher."

Some of the Shepherds let out a small gasp while others looked at Ragna with horrified expressions. What Ragna had been saying was almost too cruel to fathom. How Ragna had gone through that and managed to stay sane was beyond most of them.

Ragna continued his story. "After that, I saw that son of a bitch kidnap Jin and Saya as I just laid on the ground, helpless. I must've blacked out from the blood loss because the next thing I remember was waking up with the BlazBlue attached to where my arm used to be and meeting Jubei, who would teach me how to use it. I trained with Jubei for years in order to master using the BlazBlue, I was dead set on getting my revenge on Terumi and putting him down. After graduating from him, I started my fight against a group called the Novus Orbis Librarium or the NOL for short."

"What did this group have to do with your struggle?" Fredrick asked perplexed.

"Because this was the group that Terumi was working for. They were the dominating organization in the world packing over eighty percent of the military power. They were also responsible for turning a war, the 'Ikaruga Civil War,' into a prolonged massacre, killing most of the population, even when Ikaruga had asked for peace talks for early into the fighting. I faced them down alone, taking out every NOL branch I came across and destroying the Cauldrons hidden at the center of them. I became a wanted man, no I became THE wanted man; Ragna the BloodEdge, also known as the Grim Reaper. I was the man who had a bounty high enough you could by a small country with it."

"And you always fought them alone?" Cordelia asked worried. "No one was there to help you?"

"In the beginning no, just me against the world, but during one of my fights I met a few people who I'd continue to work with against Terumi and their Leader. I wasn't exactly close with any of them, but I could call some of them my friends… not everyone made it though, we lost a few people. Eventually I found my brother… but we didn't exactly meet on the best of terms."

"Damn, it sounds like you had a pretty shitty life," Sully commented. "But how the hell did you get here?"

"By… erasing myself from the world," Ragna answered.

"…You what?" Even Miriel had difficult comprehending what the man was saying. "Are you implying that it was possible to rend your very person from your world's existence."

"That's the gist of it… and the thing was, it was right move in the end. It's not some self-pity to say the world would continue to stay a shit show had I remained there. I said my goodbyes to the few people that needed them, killed off Yuuki Terumi, and that was that. Goodbye Ragna the Bloodedge, hello hopefully brand new world. I thought that was supposed to be the end, but the next thing I remember is waking up and seeing Chrom and Lissa." Ragna shook his head. "So that's my story, make of it what you will. I honestly don't expect any of you to believe me or trust me after all of that." He was rewarded by silence. 'I should have figured… but at least it's done.''

"I-!" a voice suddenly sounded breaking the silence. Everyone turned and saw Olivia, trembling under the pressure. "I believe in you!" she shouted with every bit of courage and resolve she had.

"Huh?" Ragna said unintelligibly, his eyes wide in surprise. "Uh… what?"

"Ragna you helped save me from one of the nobles even when we weren't even friends yet because you cared enough to do the right thing! If that wasn't enough you even taught me some swordsmanship and how to stand up for myself! You're a good person Ragna!"

Ragna was currently at a pretty big loss for words. Out of all the people to stand up for him he'd been expecting maybe Chrom or Lissa, but her was the meek Olivia standing up for him and trying to assure everyone (himself included) that there was some worth to him here. He heard a brief chuckle beside him and saw it was coming from the LAST person he'd ever expected to hear laughing.

"What're you laughing at?!"

"Apologies," Frederick said with a grin on his face. "I just find it somewhat ironic that you were standing up for Olivia last night at the ball, and now she's standing up for you now in front of all of us. I think it's an almost fitting twist of fate."

"Sh-Shut up!" Ragna yelled at the Great Knight, blushing slightly. The rest of the Shepherds let out a laugh at their Reaper's expense. "Some friends you guys are."

"The best," Chrom said with a content smile on his face. "I think Olivia speaks for all of us here, Ragna. I might've dead if it weren't for you and no one forced you to tell us of your past, you did that on your own. And strange as it sounds, it would explain quite a bit about yourself. If anything I'd say we have more than enough reason to trust you even more now."

No one objected. "…Thanks guys. But at the same time I don't want this to leave this room. I trust all of you, but I'm not really comfortable with anyone else knowing about this."

"Don't worry, this won't leave this room," Lissa assured Ragna. "But I think you might want to tell Emmeryn. She probably deserves to know about this as much as we do."

"I guess," Ragna said. "Anyways we should probably head out for Ylisse soon. We've been away for too long and the Risen and Plegia's bandits have probably spread since we've left."

"We'll head out in a few hours," Chrom assured his friend. "Until then I think we could use a rest from that battle we had this morning. Dismissed!" With that most of the Shepherds started to file out, most giving Ragna a respectful nod or a pat on the back as they passed him. All that were left was Ragna, Chrom, Fredrick, Lissa, Oliva, Cordelia, Lon'qu, Basilio, and Flavia.

"That went a lot better than I expected it to," Ragna commented.

"So Ragna," Flavia began. "From what I gather you were supposedly the strongest person in your world, is that a fair assessment?"

"Not really," Ragna admitted. "I've come across plenty of people who were stronger than me, but by the end of it all I was at least a strong contender for the title. As far as placement goes, I don't have any actual idea; power rankings tended to shift around a lot in my world. At the very least, I'd say I was almost always in the top five, give or take."

"Hmph," Flavia said with a knowing smile. "It's no wonder everyone's wanted to spar with you, they see you as the most powerful member of the Shepherds and they think you could help them improve themselves."

"As long as I'm helping," Ragna told her. "But why the hell do you want to fight me?"

"I have my reasons," Flavia assured him. "But that's something for another time. I'm still expecting a duel from you, so come find me when you have the chance." As the reigning Kahn turned and walked out of the meeting room, Ragna had to wonder what sort of challenge he was really in for.

"What's with her and wanting to duel me anyways?" Ragna asked. Basilio just shook his head. "Well whatever, I better get packing." Ragna started to make his way out of the meeting room, but paused when he passed by Olivia. "…Thanks."

When he got to his room he decided to start by organizing his cluttered space from last night's chaos before packing it properly. He was almost finished before he finally noticed the white tome that Emmeryn had given him when he first became the Shepherd's tactician.

'Huh, I almost forgot about this thing with trying to learn tactics all the damn time. I have some time now, maybe I could try learning some magic. Maybe it's at least easier than Ars Magus?'

Two Hours Later

"Crap, this is harder than it looks," Ragna groaned as stared at the complex diagrams and bizarre wording. "I should probably just give up on this and focus on my sword." Ragna was about to shut the tome for good, before he remembered something. "Wait, Miriel is a decent mage. Maybe getting the help I need from her will give me that last push?"

Deciding it couldn't hurt to try, the Reaper headed to the magic user's room.

Knowledge is Power

"Hey Miriel, you in?" Ragna asked as he knocked on her door with the white tome in his other hand. The door soon opened to reveal the red-headed mage and Ragna could see the room behind her was completely organized as if she hadn't been in there. Actually, if anything it looked more like she'd made it even more organized after she stayed in it.

"I am present," she told him. "Did you require something of my abilities, tactician?"

"Yeah, I did," Ragna said, glad that they could at least get right to the point. "I was hoping you could teach me the basics of using magic. I've been studying this book, but I haven't been able to pull anything off. Think you could help me out?"

"I can certainly attempt to," Miriel told. "However, I wish for compensation for the time dedicated towards this."

"No such thing as a free meal, huh?" Ragna said with a sigh. "Alright what do want? If it's money I don't got any and you'd have talk to Chrom about a raise."

"Fortunate then that I am not demanding monetary gains," Miriel assured him. "What I am suggesting is an exchange of information. My knowledge of magic in exchange for your understanding of what you call the BlazBlue."

"So that's the game," the Reaper considered said. "Alright, deal. In a way this'll work itself out easy."

"I don't comprehend what you mean by that in its entirety, but we should relocate this lesson to the training yards for a more spacious atmosphere."

"Don't want to set your room ablaze with our practice, eh? Alright then, let's go," Ragna said as he followed Miriel to the training grounds with the book still in his right arm. When the two arrived the grounds were empty save for them. " I'll start off with my part of the deal. I already told you about Seither and how it powers my BlazBlue, but the reason the thing wasn't working when I first arrived in this world was the lack of Seither in the air. Seither is a form of dark energy in my world which we use to power our own kind of magic called Ars Magus. Now I've been able to use the energy of the BlazBlue absorbing the energy of those Risen I've absorbed. So what does that tell us about the Risen?"

"It confirms that they are made by some form of darkness, most likely dark magic. We also know that this Seither is most likely very similar to the source of the Risen. This could suggest they are a result of your arrival in this world."

"Not sure about the whole 'I'm responsible for these things' bit, but yeah. I can use them for energy and that's good enough for me at the moment. So long as I'm careful in making sure I have enough dark energy to last me before I kill another of the Risen, I'm good."

Miriel grimaced. "That is a very… simple analysis."

"Sometimes the simpler ways are the best. If you spend too much time thinking over everything you lose precious time to act."

"Perhaps, though too little thought could lead to potential disaster in actions," Miriel attested.

"Touché," Ragna admitted. "Anyways, that's all for my BlazBlue, now about my lesson in magic…"

"Indeed," Miriel told him. "However, I expect that this is not the last time we will be discussing your BlazBlue."

"Nah, I'll be sure to talk your ear off with more on my arm whenever you're up for it."

"I have a high tolerance when it comes to any academic discussion, but I look forward to the occasion of your attempt," Miriel assured him with a small smile.

Support Rank C Obtained with Miriel

Time Skip -The Road Back to Ylisse-

Ragna and the others were making steady progress back to Ylisse; they had already exited the fringed climate of Regna Ferox and were entering the most natural temperatures of Ylisse.

'It's good to finally get out of that freezing snow,' Ragna thought to himself as he walked along the path. 'Maybe I'll call for everyone to take a break in a bit. I could use that to practice some of what I learned from Miriel.'

Miriel had been a better teacher than expected and Ragna had already been able to learn a sort of pseudo-spell. Unlike the regular spells of this world, this spell was channeled through the BlazBlue and most likely required Dark Energy as a result. From what he'd learned though, it had taken the form of Wind which was among the simplest spells to cast.

A Talented and Cunning Fox

'I guess this'll take some doing, but maybe I can master-' Ragna heard the twelfth set of giggles since he'd left and decided it was time he finally addressed it. He looked and Anna was the source of the outbursts with a cheerful smile on her face.

"You certainly seem cheerful, what's up?" Ragna inquired.

"I've had a great day today!" Anna said cheerfully. "Not only did I get into your group to get myself some protection, but I also managed to sell half of my current inventory at more than double my usual price!"

"Whoa seriously!? Wait." Ragna thought to himself for a moment. "When would you have had time to sell that much stuff? I saw that cart you had and it was filled to the brim!"

"After your little 'I'm from another world and I'm an ex-criminal, can you still love me?' thing." Ragna would've been pissed if Anna hadn't said it so casually (he was still fairly annoyed). "I managed to catch the eyes of some of the nobles. They start by asking me out to dinner, but ten minutes later I'm swimming in gold and they're knee deep in my merchandise." Anna let out a forlorn sigh. "It was heavenly."

"So in summary, a bunch of nobles were horny and you used your sex appeal to rip them off all the easier." Ragna let out a sigh. "You know what? Fine. They had this coming. But still, shoveling out that much stuff in less than four hours is pretty impressive. Does selling run in your family?"

"Nope!" Anna said cheerfully.

"Oh, sort of 'learn it on your own' type of girl? I can respect that."

"Silly! Selling doesn't run in the family; it IS the family! All of my sister, aunts, and my mother are all top class merchants. It's our way of life for the Anna family!"

"You know calling a family after your first name makes it sound like you think you're the only one that matters," Ragna decided to inform.

"Not if all the girls are named Anna," Anna asserted.

Ragna nodded in admittance. "That's fair I suppo- Whoa, what! ALL of you are named Anna!?"

"Yep, it's been that way for generations," Anna said with a smile.

"You're screwing with me! You have got to be screwing me!" Ragna had encountered some weird things in his time as the Grim Reaper, but this was almost as absurd as the heavy stuff.

"Oh, I'm completely sincere!" Anna insisted. "But if you don't believe me you'll have to meet one of my many sisters! We have over thirty travelling around the world now, so we're sure to run into one of them sooner or later!"

"Dear god," Ragna groaned to himself. "I think this is going to give me a headache before long."

"Well, I can sell you some herbs to help with that," Anna said with a smile and a giggle.

"Now that's just low!" Ragna shouted as Anna continued to giggle at his outbursts.

Support Rank C obtained with Anna

Ragna sighed before he turned to the rest of the Shepherds. "Take ten everyone!" he shouted. The Shepherds all appeared to have heard him and most sat right to the ground. Ragna took a look and observed his surroundings, there was a forest just ahead of them. 'Damn I could really use some me time. Everyone's been reassuring of me, which is nice, but there's only so much social energy I've got.'

Ragna made his way to the southwest and traveled along the edge of the woods for a few minutes. He wasn't looking for any area in particular, just some peace and quiet. He heard some chirping and saw a group of birds in the tress beside him. 'Huh, never had too many birds back in my world, most of them had either been wiped out by the Seither or they'd evolved to survive. I know I've seen this type before in one of those books back at the church. What were they called again?'

He spent the next few minutes looking at the birds and enjoying their songs and fickle natures. 'Tch, the Grim Reaper, bird watching. Wonder what my world would say if they could see this… or remember me. Either way, it's almost time to start heading out, I should probably get back.'

He turned to head out, but that was before something in the nearby field behind him caught his eye. It was a body in a dark cloak. 'Is that someone passed out over there?' he thought to himself as he ran towards the body. "Hey! You alright?"The person wearing the hood groaned. It was a woman in the cloak, she had silver hair which was braided and had a sword and tome on her person. Ragna knelt beside her. "Come on, say something."

The woman groaned weakly, as she slowly made her way to consciousness. She opened her eyes; they were a dull silver and she weakly regarded Ragna. "Who…?"

"Take it easy," Ragna said. "You must've passed out here or something. Can you stand on your own?"

"I… think I need some help…" the woman said to him. Ragna nodded as he extended his arm which the woman took hold of before he got her up. She stumbled slightly, but managed to stay up with her own two legs. "Thank you."

"What were you doing out here?" Ragna decided to ask. "Don't you know about the Bandits and Risen?"

"I-I'm sorry," the woman said to him. Ragna sighed, it never changed with him; he always had to be the one to look out for complete strangers.

"Forget about it," Ragna told her. "You got a name?"

"I… don't know," the woman shook her head with unease. "I can't remember anything. Not my name, not who I am or where I'm from… nothing."

Ragna looked at the girl straight into her eyes. She wasn't lying, he could tell that much, anyone else would have crumpled under the pressuring look he was giving her. "Amnesia, huh? Crap, that's not good. And you're sure you don't remember anything?"

"No I don't," the woman told him. "Any ideas where I can go?"

"I was actually on my way to the capital," Ragna told her, feeling some rather strong empathy after his own dealings with memory loss. "At the very least we could try to get everything sorted there."

"I guess," the woman said to him. "But who are you?"

"You can call me Ragna."

"Ragna…" the girl said testing it out. "Strange name."

"So the only thing you can remember is that my name's considered strange by society. Just my luck." The woman giggled. "Well we need to call you something until we get you sorted out, any ideas?"

"Nothing comes to mind," the woman said, shaking her head sadly.

Great, now there was another name that Ragna couldn't figure out. First the type of bird that he'd seen earlier and now this amnesic girl. The second one wasn't going to be an easy one, but he could swear that the first one was on the tip of his tongue. 'It starts with an R… Rolan… Rogin… Wait.'

"Robin," he said once he finally realized the name.

"Robin?" the girl asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh, sorry. I'm just saying something I remembered," Ragna told her as he shook his head before a thought formed. "Actually… it sounds like it could be a good name. At least as a stand in."

"I guess so," the woman said to him as she extended her hand to him. "Nice to meet you Ragna, my name's Robin." She seemed less unsure and was actually smiling now.

"Likewise," Ragna said with a smirk as he shook her hand. "Come on, let's introduce you to the rest of the group."

Time Skip

"So how exactly did this happen?" Fredrick asked as he grabbed his forehead in an already forming headache. Robin was seated on a large rock in front of him and Ragna stood behind the newcomer. Chrom and Lissa stood to Fredrick's sides.

"Exactly like I told you. I found her passed out on the side of the road, she has amnesia, and I didn't want to leave her alone in the woods. Problem?"

"No, it's just that it hasn't been a week since we found you and you're we already found another person unconscious in the field."

"Wait, you were found unconscious in a field too?" Robin asked Ragna in surprise. Ragna simply nodded. "I guess it must be fate."

"I don't exactly believe in fate, Robin," Ragna told his new friend.

"Hold on a minute," Chrom said to him. "It thought she had amnesia, where did the name Robin come from?"

"She didn't have a name so we came up with one," Ragna explained. "Beats calling her you at least."

"So I guess she's your responsibility then?" Chrom decided to ask. Ragna shrugged. "In that case keep an eye on here until we get to the capital. We'll get this sorted out there."

"That's the idea. C'mon Robin, let's go."

After the two left and started walking with the rest of the group Fredrick sighed to himself. "How the hell does Ragna keep meeting all these strange people?"

"It started when I met Chrom and Lissa!" Ragna shouted, apparently not outside of hearing distance.

"Oh sure," Chrom grumbled. "Blame it on me."

Authors Note: I don't own BlazBlue or Fire Emblem.

A lot of Official stuff happening this chapter. Ragna revealing his past, meeting Robin, and staring to learn magic. So much to have happen, so few chapters to do it in.

You guys have been great, I'll see you all the next Chapter!

Ciao!