Prologue) The Verge of History

The continent is no stranger to dangers. Two thousand years ago, you had the story of the Hero-King, both the War of Shadows and the War of Heroes. One thousand years ago, you had the First Exalt, and his sealing of the Fell Dragon, Grima. Both times, two objects featured heavily: the Falchion and the Fire Emblem. These are the sacred treasures of the Halidom of Ylisse.

That isn't to say that Ylisse is all happiness and sunshine, though it certainly tries to live up to that reputations in modern times. Many years ago, Ylisse launched a brutal on Plegia, its neighbor, seeking to 'purge the world' of the Grimleal, worshipers of Grima. As if the constant war would make them change their ways. When you declare and persecute a people for something they barely have any choice in, all you do is force them to break and become that evil. Plegia is now a country of psychopaths and monsters, because all the good-hearted people were killed, twisted, or escaped to avoid the war.

This isn't helped, of course, by the perceived lack of care from the Ylisseans following their sudden declaration that the war was over. Exalt Emmeryn, who inherited at age nine, had focused her efforts on repairing her own home, and sadly neglected foreign relations until it was far too late. The Mad-King Gangrel, once a thief who lived in the slums, refuses to believe Ylisse had actually changed, and maintained its 'Holier than Thou' mentality, a belief shared by most of the populace, especially those who turned to the Grimleal for sanctuary, since the Churches of Naga threw them out for simply being Plegian.

None of this matters to me, though, except as a reason for why I'm even alive. My very existence threatens the world, and many times, I thought to take my own life to try and save it. I only don't because then I'd condemn another child to my fate. I couldn't bear that, so I simply run, alongside my twin brother, with the two of us trying desperately to never be caught by the Grimleal. Always fearing… that we'd slip up, and doom the world because of it.

I told him to wait in the field while I went hunting. I had to check the backtrail, make sure we weren't being followed. I knew I had told him that. Yet, what was the first thing he did? He left, likely to go assist the nearby burning town because he had a fatal case of chronic hero syndrome.

I growled under my breath as I ran towards the town, narrowing my eyes as the smoke stung my eyes and the smell of blood and death bombarded me. I was used to both, so I jumped over corpses and twisted to avoid puddles. People screeched around me, sobbing over the dead, panicking over the sudden assault. But it was not a brutal one. This was instigated by some weaker bandits, by my eye, those with far more balls than brains. Most of the damage was showy, meant to terrify, but unable to really do damage. They might lose their homes, but they'd keep their lives. It was a simple trade, really, though I doubted they'd agree until the fear had removed its claws from their hearts.

A particularly loud shriek caught my ear, and I whirled towards it, wondering what the hell was going on. I ended up lunging when I realized part of a building had collapsed, and the burning beams were falling straight onto a young girl with pigtails and an even younger child. I gathered them both in my arms and grunted as the beam hit my back. Some splintered and ash fell by my face, but I was otherwise unharmed, so I paid it little mind,

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" The pigtailed girl, however, made much more of a fuss. "Ah, here, let me heal you!" she insisted, already bringing up her staff. I tried, tried, to figure out why she was wearing buttons, but since the rest of her outfit was subtly 'rich', I figured it was just a weird noblewoman thing. The strange hoop skirt more or less confirmed it. Only a noble would wear something so ridiculous. "And a one and a two…"

"You should be worried more about your own back," I scolded, standing before she could complete the healing spell. I drew my sword when I saw some bandits charging for us. "You continue doing what you were doing, Buttons."

"Um… yes!" She blinked slowly, like she had no idea what was going on. I wondered if she was just a local noble girl who ran to help the 'poor little people' without any idea of how to make sure she didn't become a victim. "A-ah! Above!"

"Oh, aren't they clever?" I twisted and brought my sword up, using it to deflect the axe and send it and its wielder to the side to off-balance him. As he stumbled to a landed, I struck twice, doing my best to hit the same spot twice: his neck. It took a third to fully decapitate him, and I spun to kick the head at some of the approaching attackers. It hit one, a mage, in the face and made him shriek, losing control of his spell and killing some of his own people.

"Um… to your-!"

"Buttons, you need to focus on your own job, not give commentary." I jumped and flipped over one of the approaching bandits, letting him strike down his own comrade before running him through. "Okay?" I turned to face her and waited until she nodded slowly. "Now, please tell me you're not out here alone."

"Oh, no, my brother is… somewhere around here." She shrugged and trotted over to my side. The child she had been with was safely escorted away by another villager. "So is Frederick and some weird guy wearing a jacket like yours."

"I see." I barely checked the urge to sigh. Robin really was here then. I swore his tendency to help people was going to get me killed one of these days. "Well, let's get you to them."

"Okay." She moved a little closer, frowning slightly. "Are you sure you don't need a healing?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Wow!" Her eyes sparkled. "You're super cool and skilled. You dealt with the bandits so easily!"

"These bandits are half-trained, at best, meaning they're easy to see through." It would've been better if they were untrained, since that would make them absolutely unpredictable. Half-trained just meant they had enough skill to be predictable and not enough skill to properly defend themselves. "I've also got some experience fighting bandits."

"Ooooohhhhh…" She stuck to my side like a very inconvenient burr as we walked through the burning town. I noticed other bandit corpses floating in the water, some of which were definitely killed by a thunder tome. Robin had been through here. "I love your hair, by the way. It's a super pretty color." It was red, a color not uncommon among Plegians. "Oh, there they are!" Buttons waved suddenly as we came upon three men cutting down a bandit whose slightly better weapon, clothing, and jewelry hinted he'd been the leader. "Everyone okay?"

"Lissa, there you are," one of them called. I automatically dubbed him 'Blue', since that was the most predominant color in his look, from his hair to his clothes. "We're fine. What about you?"

"I'm fine, Chrom," Buttons answered. She gestured dramatically to me. "Since Frederick was busy protecting your butt, I found another knight in shining armor!" She looked so gleeful that I decided to bite back my retort; I was purposely wearing light leather armor that didn't shine, even forgoing the shielded rerebrace many mercenaries wore, opting for long armored gloves instead. "She's awesome!"

"It seems both Frederick and I owe you, then, miss." Blue smiled warmly. "I'm sure protecting my delicate sister was a handful."

"I am not delicate!" She sulked and stomped her foot. "Hmph! Stupid Chrom!"

"I suppose we do need to thank her, my lord, but we do have another problem," the older of the trio said. The armor was the standard Great Knight armor of Ylisse, a slightly slimmer and less bulk version favored by other countries, and was very shiny, so I just went with 'Shiny' for him. "The one from before."

"Oh, come on, Frederick, isn't he fine?" Buttons laughed. She turned to the third person, and I relaxed slightly when I realized it was Robin. It couldn't be anyone else, with that shade of white hair, and the coat. "Whatever. Holy wow! Swords, magic, and tactics! Is there anything you can't do?"

"Apparently remember an explanation that satisfies your companion," Robin laughed. I frowned slightly when I heard it. He'd never been one to just laugh or joke, especially around strangers. Everything had been too hard on him, even worse than me. It was a full time job to keep him from brooding. "I have failed to do that."

"Oh, Fred's always like that. Just ignore him."

"What do you mean 'remember'?" I finally asked. All eyes turned to me. "Robin, what the hell are you going on about?"

"I'm… huh?" Robin replied. He blinked slowly, tilting his head curiously. I felt myself grown ill as he looked more and more confused. "Is… Robin my name?"

"Yes, it has been for the past eighteen and some months." I glared as I noticed the pity Blue boy and Buttons were giving me. "Robin-"

"I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I don't… remember. Anything, really."

The words hit me like ice water. "What do you mean…?" I shook my head. "Gods, I haven't even been gone a damn hour…" Had one of them caught him during that time? Had they tried to break him again? I hadn't seen bodies, but… "You seriously…?"

"I'm sorry." He shook his head again. "I was in the field. They found me." He gestured to the other three. Shiny's eyes were narrowed in suspicion; Blue and Buttons still looked at me with pity. I wanted to punch them all. "I'm-"

"Stop apologizing." Apologies were nothing more than empty words said to soothe one's own conscience. Apologies were nothing more than a way to prove supposed moral superiority. They were nothing. "Just… stop." If he'd forgotten even his name, then did he forget our promise too? That was likely. What would I do, when it came to fulfill it, then? I had no idea.

"But…" He looked so lost for a second before his eyes lit up. "Um... "

"Yes?"

"Is your name 'Kestrel'?" He smiled so sweetly, far too sweetly in my eyes. The last time he'd smiled sweetly, we'd been six and Mom had still been alive. "I remembered that name, you see. I knew it wasn't mine, but I couldn't…" He didn't finish the statement, his smile faltering as he slowly realized that completing it might not be the best of ideas.

"Your habit of putting your foot in your mouth hasn't changed." I made myself smile at him, even though I just wanted to break down and cry. But crying was a waste of water, and there were a lot of 'wants' I'd given up over the past fifteen years. "But yes, I'm Kestrel. I'm your twin sister."

And here I'd thought the gods couldn't kick us in the teeth more.

The villagers insisted on us having some tea. I thought they wanted us to be nearby just in case more bandits came, but they made a very nice apple cider, and they were giving it to us for free, so I didn't care. Free was nice.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to answer a few questions." However, sitting down to drink left me open for Shiny's interrogation, but I didn't care. No matter how much he glared, he wasn't scary. Knights like him were never scary; they cared too much about honor and chivalry. "There are many unanswered questions," he continued, smiling politely. I rolled my eyes and continued sipping my drink. "And you seem to be the only one with any sort of answers."

"Frederick, is this really necessary?" Blue sighed. He sat loosely, perfectly relaxed, and he smiled often to the villagers as they passed by. They'd been asking questions of him for the past few hours, but he answered their questions as much as he could, easily admitting when he didn't know anything. "The poor girl just got a huge shock."

"I think she is the type to dislike pity, my lord." Shiny continued smiling, but he did sigh when Button started sulking. "It is only a few. I promise."

"But…"

"Let him ask," I interrupted, annoyed. I didn't need a protector. I never had, and I doubted I ever would. "It'll be good for Robin anyway."

"Only if you do not mind," Robin instantly replied. He had a stupid grin on his face at the apple cider, likely because he didn't remember the taste. "I don't want you to force yourself, sister."

"It's fine." Nothing could be more painful than the clunky way he said the word 'sister', after all. "So?"

"I suppose I wish to start with the obvious," Shiny began. His smile fell for a more serious, stoic look, and I noted with amusement that he sat with absolute proper posture, unlike his lord and lady. Then again, I tried to figure out how Buttons was able to sit with the metal cage around her legs. "Why was he in the middle of a field?"

"Robin was supposed to be making a lunch camp while I hunted," I answered. It was technically true. I just… hadn't exactly been hunting game. We'd planned on just munching on some two-day-old bread we had in our packs. "Clearly, he failed. Miserably."

"I see." He paused, eyes narrowed slightly. "What were you all doing around here?"

"Walking. Traveling. You typically will wander through a few stray meadows when you walk."

"Where were you heading, then?"

"Nowhere."

"...Nowhere?"

"Yes." I sipped my drink again, easily ignoring Shiny's frown. Blue and Buttons both seemed distinctly amused, but I didn't care about that either.

However, Robin tapped my arm to catch my attention, and leaned down slightly to look right at me. "What do you mean by 'nowhere'?" he asked. He looked completely confused. "Were we really not going anywhere?"

"No, we weren't," I answered. I really didn't want to say more, but I supposed he did have a right to know. "We're travelers, and we don't have a home."

"Really?" His eyes were wide. "Why?"

"Well…" My mouth dried as I tried to think of how to explain. I couldn't mention the Grimleal or Grima. The Ylisseans would skewer us instantly if they knew. But I also didn't want to lie to Robin. "Our father… was cruel. So, when we were little, our mom took us and ran. She used the Plegian-Ylissean war as a cover, pretending to be a refugee." I tried not to roll my eyes when Blue, Buttons, and Shiny all winced. Ylisseans were all the same. Mention the war, and they hide. "But he hunted for us, so we didn't stay in one place for long. We kept traveling out of habit, and a lack of funds."

"And where is our mother?"

"She died from illness…" I trailed off as I tried to remember how long it had been. "Damn, I guess it's been around ten years now."

"Oh." His expression blanked. "Wait, how old are we?"

"Eighteen as of a few months ago."

"And you said ten years."

"Yep."

"We've been traveling, on our own, without any supervision or anything… for ten years?"

"It's not that unusual, given the war." I went back to drinking my cider as Robin tried to process the whole 'we had been on our own since we were eight' thing. "Any other questions, or can we leave it there for the day?"

"Yes, of course," Blue instantly reassured, cutting off Shiny. He even gave Shiny a look to emphasize the point. "Though, I do want to clarify. You have no home?"

"No, we don't," I sighed. I didn't see why that was so hard to understand, and genuinely wondered if he'd been dropped on his head as a baby. "Why?"

"I was wondering if you would like to come with us, actually." Blue gave Shiny another look as he made to protest, but Buttons squeaked and bounced in her seat, clearly delighted by the idea. "I lead a group known as the Shepherds, a militia made up of volunteers who help the populace deal with bandits, since Ylisse's military is very small."

"That's one way to put it. Ylisse's only advantage in military combat is the pegasus knights, but even that is combated by the wyvern knights of Plegia."

"And we're in the middle of an awkward staring match in the air at the moment, so they really can't mobilize to deal with bandits. Hence, my friends, who went along with my crazy idea because they're wonderful people." He smiled slightly, an unconscious smile. He loved his friends dearly. "We take willing volunteers, and I never force anyone to fight a battle they do not wish. It's a very informal thing, really."

"So, you just offer recruitment to any random stranger?"

"Well, no, they have to be someone that I have seen to have combat ability, or a willingness to learn how to fight, and they have to be someone I think can be trusted." He shrugged. "You fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that is enough."

"And your mind, my lord?" Shiny protested. "Will you not heed its counsel?"

"My mind reminds me that you were just fretting the other day about how we didn't have a devoted tactician," Blue instantly retorted. He smirked as Shiny grimaced. "We have bandits and… antagonistic neighbors looking to bloody our soil. Someone with Robin's talents could greatly help us." He shrugged, smirk falling. "Besides, I believe his story, strange as it sounds. Something about him makes me think he's a lousy liar."

"He is," I groaned. That was why whenever we had to lie, I was the one who did it. Now, when we had to charm someone, he took over. He was the charismatic type. "Assuming he'll still do it, the most common one you'll hear is 'I am fine'. Never believe it."

"I'm right, then." He smiled again. "And you, miss, are clearly a skilled swordfighter, and you protected my sister. I can think of no better reason to trust you."

"That…"

"That sounds wonderful, actually," Robin instantly replied, eyes sparkling. Blue's smile warmed, clearly pleased by Robin's enthusiasm. "I'll gladly join, Chrom." He twisted to look at me. "What about you, though? I'll… understand if you'd rather not. I imagine it's rather distressing to deal with an amnesiac sibling." He smiled kindly. "But, if you can bear it, I'd love to learn about you again, and… well…"

"...Gods, you're an idiot," I sighed, leaning back in my chair. I drained the last of my cider and set my mug on the table. "Of course I'm going with you. You forgot to pick up sense in the womb, and you're liable to starve or kill yourself with food poisoning."

"Surely I wasn't that bad…"

"We once defeated bandits by feeding them your horrible cooking."

"See? You both have bandit killing experience already," Blue laughed. His smile was almost like a cat that caught the bird, and a touch of relief. I wondered if he offered more out of pity than anything, and the idea just made me feel sour. "Ah, my pardon, did you need something, sir?"

"No, no!" A village man approached, smiling warmly at us. "We were just wondering if you all would be staying the night," he explained. "We don't have much, but we'll gladly throw you a feast, if you would like."

"Thank you, but no," Shiny refused, smiling warmly to soften the refusal. It warmed as the man nodded, but I was more surprised the man didn't insist. "We really must be off."

"Seriously!?" Buttons yelped, jumping to her feet. Her eyes were wide and she pointed to the nearby window. "It's nearly dark! Where are we going to sleep!?"

"We'll camp, of course. It shouldn't be too much for you, yes? You do like reminding us that you're not very delicate."

"You…" She sulked, puffing out her cheeks like a chipmunk's. "Frederick, sometimes, I hate you."

"A word of warning, you two," Blue suddenly whispered. It was a 'fake whisper', though, clearly meant to be heard by everyone near. "Frederick only smiles when he's about to bring down the axe. Like now."

"My lord, you are aware I can hear you, yes?" Shiny deadpanned. He looked fondly exasperated, and the village man walked off, likely to let the rest of the place know our plans. "I haven't suddenly disappeared, you know."

"Of course. I wouldn't have said it otherwise." Blue stood up slowly and stretched, rolling his shoulders. "Well, let's check on the town one more time, and then head out, all right?"

The others agreed, some more reluctantly than others, and we took our used mugs to the owner of the place to wash. When we did, my eyes fell on Blue's shoulder, and I froze when I saw the mark on it. It was the Mark of Naga, the Royal Birthmark of the Halidom, proof of the contract the First Exalt made with Naga all those centuries ago.

My eyes then fell on the brand on Robin's hand, and I barely checked the urge to touch the back of my shoulder, where my own brand was. The Brand of the Fell Dragon, proof that we were descended from Grima's first Vessel and Champion. Proof that the both of us were 'suitable' vessels for Grima.

But my brother had one more mark, one right over his heart. It was proof that he had inherited the Heart of Grima. That made him a 'perfect' vessel, and our father had done his best to destroy what semblance of a spirit he had, just so that the Awakening could be performed quickly and quietly.

It didn't work, and now, I watched Robin happily chatting with the Heir of Naga, wielder of the Falchion, and wondered just what the gods were plotting. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

Humans always suffered when the gods decided to play their games.

Info on Kestrel:

Class - Mercenary; Reclass - Dark Mage, Myrmidon

Focuses on the way of the blade, despite early training as a dark magic user, for ease of use and to help hide. Because she's been alone for so long, she does not find it easy to trust people.

Very willful and able of enduring a great deal of damage despite lacking in armor. A very balanced fighter ultimately, capable of adapting to just about any situation.

Tends to call people by nicknames, referring only to her twin brother, Robin, by his actual first name.

Author's Note: Welcome to Shadows of the Shepherds, an Awakening Novelization. I will go ahead and admit that there will be extra arcs and/or tweaks to the plot in attempts to help lessen the gaping plot holes in the game's storyline. I'll also go ahead and state that with the exception (possibly) of the last Spotpass, I'm not doing them, so that I don't have to attempt to logic a few of them.

So, meet Kestrel and Robin! Kestrel is our sole POV char, while Robin serves more of the 'in-game Robin' role. This is mostly to give a different spin to the events of the game. For those curious, Kestrel is HP+, Def- while Robin is Speed+, HP-. (I will also be treating Ignis as a 'bloodline' trait, not a 'class skill', ftr, meaning Kestrel and Robin will both [eventually] use it. Think of it like a personal skill, like in Fe14.) Speaking of FE14, for classes that are shared between the games (like mercenary), I'll be 'sharing' skills based on personalities.

(Since recruitment can be a little front heavy, I'll just be doing one char bio per chapter.)

Next Chapter - Unwelcome Change