Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.

Hello there. Welcome to yet another isekai style story among the dozens on this site. The story idea here was: "what if the protagonist starts with the second generation?". I suppose you can say that's this story's hook. I don't mean the protagonist starts in the doomed future, just that he deals mostly with the second generation.

The first several chapters of this story are edited versions of chapters originating in Varied Awakenings where I first tried this idea before deciding to make this its own story. They're very similar to what you see here, just less refined and with continuity errors.

This story will have multiple perspectives. It will mostly stay confined to Nathan, but it may go to Morgan sometimes. I don't currently plan for a perspective switch to happen mid-chapter, but if it ever becomes necessary I'll indicate it when it happens.

I suppose these types of stories usually start off with how you got to wherever you are, right? Usually "I fell asleep while playing the game and woke up in the game!" or "I got hit by a truck!" which is an anime classic.

I wish I knew how I got here so I could tell you, but I don't. I wasn't playing the game, I haven't picked up the game in a few years at this point. I know it very well from my numerous former playthroughs and constant wiki dives for information for my fanfictions though.

I just don't know how I got here. My memory isn't providing that to me. I don't know if I actually did get sucked into a game or hit by a truck. It's not like I'm an amnesiac, but I can't even remember what time I got sent here. I don't suddenly have a cut in my memory at a definite date, but instead my memory is very blurry around the recent past. Was it Saturday today? Friday? Was it the start of October or the end of September? I don't know. I can remember the first half of September very clearly, and my memory is about as expected for everything before that, but my recent memory is totally shot.

I have a vague idea that I'm in Awakening judging by my possessions. I've suddenly gained an axe, shitty fur clothes, and a random bottle on my hip, probably a vulnerary. That's standard brigand attire for Awakening.

I suppose I could be in one of the GBA games or something, but I haven't played those and I'm counting on this being something I know. There's no real reason for it to be something I know unless I was intentionally brought here, but I'd rather not consider that I might be in some totally unknown pine forest.

Yes, by the way, I said a forest not a field. A rather chilly forest at that. I am not a fan of forests, or really anything to do with the outdoors for that matter, but forests are particularly bad because they have bugs. I really wish I could have started near Southtown if this is Awakening's world. That would have made things a lot simpler.

"So..." I mutter to myself, staring at the canopy and the sun shining through the leaves. "Is this a hallucination?" It's quite possible, though I don't know what could have induced it. I don't take drugs of any sort, I don't drink, I don't have any notable medical conditions... hmm... "Maybe this is this a coma?"

Well if this is a coma, my brain has a very odd way of keeping itself entertained. Are you usually this lucid in a coma? I feel like I'm awake. I don't know when I'm dreaming, but I've always been able to tell when I'm awake. Does being in a coma feel like being awake?

"Well, I'm not going to figure anything out by sitting here I suppose." I tell myself. If this is a coma, then I should start seeing strange things at some point. I push myself off the ground... and instantly notice something wrong. My arm is muscular right now, and it shouldn't be. I'm not a strong person, I despise physical activity for the most part, so why is my body muscled all of a sudden?

Just another strange thing to keep in mind I suppose. I need to find a mirror... after I find civilization. Survival first, figure things out later. Figuring things out doesn't matter if you're dead.

I mean, assuming I can die. If this is a coma, death probably won't be a thing. That's not something I plan on testing though.

Okay, so... the sun is slightly off-peak. That means it's either just before noon, or just after noon. Judging by the pine trees and such around me, and knowing that pine trees are usually found in colder climates, I'm guessing I am in Ferox, so I want to be going south (I'm acting under the assumption that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west here like it does on Earth).

So, I want to be heading south, which is towards Ylisse or Plegia. If I hit Plegia first, then I need to go east. The problem is that I have to wait for the sun to move to know it's it's currently rising or setting, and that means I currently have no way of knowing which direction is which.

Hmm... well sitting around is going to be worse than moving even if I'm moving in the wrong direction. The more I think, the more I'm likely to think about what's going on and give myself a panic attack. So I'm going to assume the sun is currently setting (meaning that way is west) and walk to what I assume is south-east. That way I'm all but guaranteed to hit Ylisse. If I went south and I'm at Ferox's west end, I'd hit Plegia, and I don't want that for obvious reasons.

Time to get walking...

###

It's very quiet. I expected a forest to be teeming with life, even if it's chilly it's not like there's snow on the ground, so I doubt things are in hibernation. I've heard a few birds here and there, but even they are few and far between. I've seen no bugs, no other animals, and no people. The forest just feels empty.

No visible bugs is fine with me, I hate bugs, but I'm not so foolish as to not think it strange. There are birds present, so there has to be some bugs, but by all means I should be seeing bugs then. They're not nearly as cautious by nature as animals are. Then again, I'm no ecosystem expert. Maybe the bottom of the food chain here is fish and not bugs and I'm overthinking this.

I'm pondering this mostly because I've found a stream. Now, if there really is something wrong with the ecosystem here, I don't want to be taking a drink because the water might be the root of the issue. On the other hand... I'm thirsty. I can't not drink. I have a waterskin that has some water, so I can use what's there for now, but if I don't fill it up again I'm just going to be repeating this problem in a few hours time.

I'll use my waterskin for now. If I can afford to wait and look for more information then I should. If I don't come to some conclusion by nightfall, I'll have to chance the stream water. Heck, even if there is something wrong I'll have to chance the stream water. I don't exactly have another source at the moment.

This is not how I imagined my first day in another world going. I didn't imagine I'd be worrying about water quality and a lack of bugs in a forest. I don't know the effects of Risen infecting an area though, it might be different from the game, and there's no saying how far along the plot line is already.

Do Risen even infect areas? The devastated future is a dull colored mess so I assume there's some sort of infection, but I don't know that for sure.

Just keep walking for now. I should find something if I keep following this stream. Settlements are built around streams and rivers after all. I can worry about heading south-east after I find a village and get supplies.

I mean, I know I just said that, but I also just entered a clearing and can see ahead of me, and there's this strange (and very large) temple up ahead. It's blue and white, so I'm guessing it's a temple to Naga. Either that or there's some ocean god I don't know about. Also... the stream travels through the temple, so that might be a good place to go for answers about potential water quality issues.

I've also noticed something else. It's been at least three or four hours. Apparently my new muscled body also gives me a decent bit of endurance. I suppose that's probably a good thing, but I hate having muscles in the first place. I know that sounds like a strange thing to say, but I really do dislike the feeling of muscles. I feel too large, it's annoying to have my biceps rub against my forearms if I ever pull them close to my body, and my skin just feels a bit tighter which is not a comfortable feeling. If anything I feel more vulnerable with this new body than my normal, weaker one.

In the time it's taken me to ponder my dislike for my new body, I've arrived at the entrance to the temple. To be blunt, it's old. The grass around it is overgrown and the stones are covered in dull green moss, but it doesn't seem to be falling apart yet. Old but not ancient, or maybe just really well constructed.

The doors are ajar, so I step right in. My footsteps make barely a sound on the stone floor thanks to my boots which are some sort of thick hide rather than metal or something totally solid. Wind moves through the large corridors of the building making a sound that's like a giant constantly sucking in air. It's surprisingly loud and mildly freaky. There are also paths of water running along either side of the walkway in their own special trenches, and I spy a mark of Naga carved upon some of the columns.

Well, at least I know this is a temple of Naga for sure, and that means this is probably Awakening. I have to wonder what's here now... if anything at all. Let's be honest though: a large empty temple out in the middle of nowhere in a game like Fire Emblem just screams "paralogue!" I could be wrong of course, this world doesn't operate on game logic, but I know Morgan's recruitment chapter takes place in a temple like this.

That's why I'm now walking with my axe in hand. "Acting under the assumption that this is the place you find Morgan, maybe I've gotten here before the Shepherds did. Then again, I haven't explored the whole temple yet."

I have to be on high alert for Risen, because the Risen in Morgan's chapter are probably way stronger than me. I'm an unpromo- you know what, class probably doesn't matter because this isn't a game. I'm one untrained coward with a crappy axe, and I'm not going to be able to fight dozens of possibly elite Risen, or even dozens of basic Risen, or even a single basic Risen.

Basically, I suck.

I peer around a corner and find confirmation of my suspicions. This is the exact room Morgan's paralogue takes place in... I think. In Morgan's paralogue there were raised platforms on the water making a path, but here all the raised segments of the floor are in a square at the center of the body of water.

There's also a small form lying down in the middle of that square with a large cloak covering them. I can't see the pattern on the cloak, but it's dark and has gold trim so I'm guessing that's Morgan.

I don't see Risen still, so that's good, but I doubt I have long before they show up. If I'm remembering the paralogue correctly, Morgan will wake up and only a few minutes later the Risen will be upon them. I need to get to Morgan and get them out quickly, but while I might be able to swim I won't be able to carry them through the water with me, and there's no guarantee I'll be able to wake them up.

These raised portions of the floor aren't supposed to be in a square though. That's not how it was in the game. Maybe they can be manipulated somehow? I start looking around the area for some indication of how I'd move them. I hope it isn't magic, because I don't know how to do magic.

Eventually I find what I'm looking for: a set of large wheels on a floor in a six-by-six grid overlooking the area where Morgan is. Judging by the scuff marks on the floor, I guess these need to be pushed manually. I'm guessing by the size of the room Morgan is and the relative size of the platforms that the middle four platforms are up, so if I raise platforms (1,1), (1,2), (1,3), and (2,3) I should be able to make a bridge over to Morgan's four platforms ((3,3),(3,4),(4,3), and (4,4) respectively).

"Why the hell would a temple have this weird room anyways? I mutter and I grab the handles of one of the massive wheels. "They had too much money on their hands I guess."

I put my new strength to use and start pushing the wheels. This is probably a multi-man job, because doing it on my own is slow and exhausting work. Morgan is asleep through the whole thing, because they don't react at all to the tons of water being displaced as I raise and lower these sections of the floor.

"Last one." I mutter to myself, and plant my sore hands on the wheel. I count the rotations as I slowly push the wheel. "One... two... three... four... five..."

Once I get to forty rotations the section is fully extended up the level of Morgan's, and I rush down to where I was before and make my way across the bridge I've created. I glance at the water around me, noticing how quickly it's settled down. I also notice how these raisable segments actually have space going through the center of them to allow water to pass under them even when raised, and how there are grooves on the walking surface to quickly drain the water after the segment is raised. This was a very well-thought-out mechanism.

Also, as I'm peering over the side, I catch a look at my reflection, and it stops me in my tracks. I kneel on the stone and lean over the side to get a better look.

I have black hair now? My face is also way different. I have a straight jaw, small nose, unpronounced brow ridge, and my skin is light tan compared to my usual pasty paleness. My eyes are also brown now rather than blue now, and my hair is short, black, and mostly straight. I look vaguely asian where I was causasian before.

So my body didn't change, I just got an entirely new body. Well fuck you too to whoever did this to me. (Not because I look asian, to be clear. I just resent being forced into a different body in the first place)

I shake off my anger and focus. Morgan first, rage at the heavens second. I jog over to where they're lying and kneel down next to them. Black-brown hair, so nothing out of the ordinary there. They look remarkably like their in-game portrait, though I can't tell what their gender is. The coat obscures their body, and they're fairly androgynous otherwise. I'll have to ask them when they wake up.

I slip my hands underneath them and lift them into a bridal carry, taking special care to support the neck and head. You can seriously hurt someone if they're unconscious and you carry them wrong. If their head isn't supported, it can pull the neck in unnatural ways because their muscles aren't keeping it in place.

Just as I'm about to leave another thought hits me. Usually you get a Naga's Tear here, right? Where is it? I don't really want to stick around in case Risen are coming though, so... augh, I'll just have to leave it. It's not plot-vital. I'm not going to go searching around this old temple when Risen could show up at any moment.

The last thing I do here is fill up my waterskin. I didn't see anything wrong with the water, so it must just be my paranoia. I don't regret waiting though, it was better to wait and search for information than to be uncritical.

I carry Morgan out of the temple, while still glancing around constantly for signs of Risen. The forest is still eerily quiet, so I make an effort to keep my own noise level down too, but it's hard to manage that while carrying another person.

At this point the sun is dropping dangerously low in the sky and I don't know how to start a fire. I have zero survival skills. Morgan has an elfire tome on them, but I think I'm more likely to blow us up than start a campfire with it if I try and use it. Either that or it'll end up doing nothing.

Mogan doesn't wake up before the sun starts to set and that's very bad news. Like I said, I don't know how to start a fire. I also only have a small amount of food in my pockets which will only make one meal. I'm hungry but Morgan probably needs it more than I do. I'm a presumably healthy adult, and Morgan is probably an underfed kid. I can probably live longer on no food than they can due to muscle and fat stores.

I eye their warm cloak enviously. The furs I'm wearing aren't useless, they're actually quite effective, but Morgan looks very comfy in that cloak.

If I can't make a fire, I need at least to find a place that's out of the wind. I could fell some trees with my axe but I'm not sure how effective that would be in making a wind barrier and honestly the amount of effort that would take likely isn't worth it when we're low on food.

So instead I take the first boulder I can find, chop off a bunch of low-hanging branches in the area to function as a make-shift bed, and set Morgan down on it. It's better than just the ground, and if it rains their back won't get soaked. I do the same for myself afterwards, though I'm cut slightly short by the sun falling and the sky getting too dark to see anything.

This bed of twigs will have to do. My extremely limited knowledge of survival coming from watching survival shows is coming in handy… to an extent. Going to sleep in the cold is not comfortable. The furs only help so much with that. Beside me I can feel Morgan shivering too. That's bad. I can at least manage my own heat to an extent, but being asleep or unconscious Morgan can do no such thing.

"I'm probably going to regret this if they wake up before me." I think with a frown. It'll stop them from freezing so I'll do it, but I don't feel comfortable about it. I roll over so I'm right next to Morgan, and carefully slip one of my arms underneath their body, and pull them tightly against my own. The warmest parts of any person's body are their armpits (well actually it's your groin, but that's not being used for obvious reasons), so I take their arms, cross them, and make sure to tuck their hands in their own armpits for warmth. I pull their hood down as far as it will go on their head, and make sure their face is buried in the furs I'm wearing. Now the only thing really at risk is their toes… and there's not much I can do about that unfortunately. I move some of the extra small branches to cover our lower halves and tangle our legs together to maximize heat, but that's about all I can do.

While during the day the temperature was chilly, at night it's easily below freezing. I fall asleep hoping I've done enough to prevent Morgan from losing some digits. Maybe I should never have taken them from that temple.

Also, I'm giving it a fifty percent chance that I'm going to wake up because Morgan stabbed me. If that happens, I also imagine it's female Morgan. Male Morgan is a bumbling adorable ditz who I don't imagine will find anything wrong with this situation, but Female Morgan is a bit more sharp and I don't think she'll put up with this shit.

###

Morgan does wake up before me. I know this because I wake up to them staring at me. They have brown eyes so dark you can barely see their pupils. I'm not good at reading people, and I think they're intentionally keeping their expression neutral, so I have no idea what they're thinking because their expression is totally flat.

They haven't struggled away from me or stabbed me in my sleep though, so that's a plus I guess.

"Morning." I grunt. Wow, my voice is weirdly deep. I didn't realize that before. "If you can make fires, next time we can just do that instead of cuddling. Didn't want you to freeze."

"Oh." Morgan blinks. "You don't know how to make a fire?"

"Nope." I admit. "I'm fully expecting that you're going to be better at this whole 'survival' thing than me."

"Huh. Okay. That's not what I expected you to say."

"What did you expect?"

"'Muhahah! You're mine now girl.'" Morgan says with a comically bad growling voice. "'Take off your coat'... or something like that."

Female Morgan. That means male Robin. Noted. She also didn't stab me, and I'm going to count that as lucky. "I suppose the brigand clothes give off that impression, don't they?"

"Yeah."

"Bad experiences?"

"I mean… maybe? I don't remember."

Amnesia, right. "Well, you don't have to worry about that. I'm on your side here."

"And what side do you think that is?"

"Finding your father and the Shepherds." I say simply. I'm not going to give all the details of me knowing how this world works and what will happen, but I'm not going to hide that I know quite a bit.

"Huh…" Morgan eyes me curiously. "Okay then. Thanks…?"

"Nathan." That's not my name, but this feels so far removed from my normal life that I want to separate it with a different name. I'm not putting this being a coma off the table yet. "Hello Morgan."

"Yeah, hi. So uh… as much as I like being warm, I'm also starving, so…?"

"Ah." Either that's a polite way of telling me to let go, or she's actually just hungry and doesn't mind my hug-of-warmth. "Well, I have a bit of jerky…"

"Gimme!"

"But that's all we have." I warn. I release the girl from my grasp and dig out the meat from my pocket. Morgan, who had been reaching out to grab it, pauses. "I'm more than willing to give it to you, you probably need it, but you might want to ration it out."

"What about you?"

"I'll manage until we get to some other food… hopefully." I say. Morgan cautiously accepts the jerky, though she doesn't take a bite out of it quite yet. "I've been following the river, hoping to find a village to purchase more food. Once that's done, I planned to go south-east towards Ylisse."

"Where can I find my father?"

"Ylisse most likely, if he's not out at war." I offer. "My goal is much the same as yours. I'm trying to find the Shepherds."

"Huh." Morgan blinks. "What are the odds of that?"

"Extremely unlikely." I admit. "Anyways… are you going to eat that jerky?"

Morgan stares long and hard at the jerky in her hand. She then breaks it in half, and hands half to me. "I have another question."

I snag the jerky and bite down. It's bad, but it's food. "Sure."

"Did you find me out here in the forest?"

"No actually, I found you in a temple surrounded by a pool of water." I say truthfully. "Risen were incoming though, so I carried you out." That's only a partial truth now that I think of it. I have no way to know if Risen were going to show up soon or not. I haven't come across any yet, and because this is ostensibly a real world there's no guarantee Risen will show up at a convenient timing like in the paralogue… or at all.

"I see…" Morgan says though a mouthful of food. She swallows. "Okay, so, you help me and I help you? Is that the deal?"

"Honestly it will be more you helping me than the other way around." I admit sheepishly. "Like I said, my survival skills are nonexistent. I really am hoping you know more about surviving in the wild than I do."

"So that was your plan! Find an amnesiac girl, save her life to make her indebted to you so she'll keep you alive!" Morgan says while pointing a finger at me. "Clever…"

"That was more or less the plan." I say.I was hoping she'd wake up earlier last night so she could help me not die, so I suppose that was basically my plan. "You have no proof I'm telling the truth though. For all you know I'm lying, and you woke up the way you did because I'm a creepy molester."

"Maybe." Morgan shrugs. "But, I mean, come on. If you were a creep, you'd never admit it. Also, I was joking you know?"

"But I wasn't." I reply, and she shrugs indifferently. Is she really okay with this? I was expecting more protests about lugging my useless ass around, even if she does think I saved her.

"Right… well, I think we can manage." Morgan muses. "I know a thing or two."

"Can you start a fire?"

"Yes."

"Thank Naga, we're saved!" I say dramatically. "But seriously, that's good, because I've never done so without a flint and steel." Well, a lighter actually, but I'm fairly sure those don't exist here.

###

Morgan knows how to hunt. That is so incredibly useful I don't know how to express it. We've come across no other villages in two days of travel, so it's been through Morgan hunting with her elfire tome that we've been getting food. In her words: "it's not an efficient use of this tome, but it's all we can do at the moment."

Most of her kills have been birds. She blows them out of the sky with a controlled explosion to stun them, and then finishes them off with her sword. The birds are small, not even a full meal, but it keeps us alive at the very least. Hungry, but alive.

We're still following the river currently. It's going straight east, which isn't terrible, but it means we aren't getting any further south yet. We just need to find one village for directions and supplies so we can start making some real progress, but so far no luck.

I feel bad that I haven't been nearly as useful as Morgan. I smash off branches to use for our nightly fires with my axe, and sometimes I carry Morgan around because she doesn't have my endurance, but other than that I'm doing very little.

Conversation between us is limited. Morgan has little to offer on account of her amnesia, and I don't know a whole lot about this world beyond broad plot and character details. We play various little games like eye-spy or that game where you have to say a word that starts with the last letter of the other person's word, but a lot of time is also spent in silent walking.

When we set up camp though, there's one other game we can play. We clear out a path of dirt, draw a board, and play chess. We use different-sized sticks for the different pieces. Morgan always wins, but it's more entertaining than just sitting around.

"Nathan."

"Yeah?"

"How old are you?"

I purse my lips. I have no idea how old this body is so I'll just use my actual age. "Twenty-one."

"Huh."

"What?"

"I thought you were older than that. You look older."

"Well, how old are you then?"

"I think I'm… eighteen?" Morgan says after a moment of consideration. "That feels right. I'm going to say I'm eighteen."

I blink in surprise. "Really?"

"What? Why do you sound so surprised?"

"You look younger." I say bluntly. It's true, she looks like she's just barely started puberty. Also, using my knowledge of the game, I know Morgan is likely the younger sibling of some other of the future children which means the future children are older than I thought they were. I always expected them to be about sixteen, but assuming Morgan is about two years younger than most of them then they're probably about twenty.

Their sprite-art from the game really doesn't do them justice I suppose. Roughly how old are the first generation then? I assume they're a few years over the future children, so about twenty-four to twenty-six?

Alternatively, this world might just be totally different from what I'm expecting. Maybe the future children are almost exactly the same age as their parents, or Morgan's older sibling was born earlier than most of the other children so most of the future children are actually Morgan's age.

You know what, I'm putting too much thought into this. It really doesn't matter. I'm curious though. Miscellaneous knowledge like this interests me as a fan of the game. Also… that's just a lot older than I assumed. I always thought Morgan was twelve, not eighteen.

"I knooow…" Morgan sighs. "Why couldn't people all start to look older at the same age? Why does it have to be different for everyone? Why couldn't I be an early bloomer? Instead I'm super late I guess."

"Look on the bright side. You look like a kid, so you can get away with pranks for longer than most." I offer. Also, I don't think you're a late bloomer Morgan. If you're eighteen, you've probably finished growing already. Sorry.

"Oh…" The girl's eyes light up. "Oh man, you're totally right!"

"Just choose your targets carefully. Anyone who actually knows you won't be fooled." I warn.

"Ooh, okay… I should keep my age a secret from now on…" Morgan murmurs.

"Honestly, I was going to suggest that anyways." I think to myself. "An adult that looks like a child is bound to grab the attention of some creep if it becomes public knowledge. Maybe let's not bring that up though, no sense in bringing down the mood. Besides, considering her skills, I bet Morgan could make short work of unwanted attention."

"Hey, Nathan?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know who I am?" She asks.

"You're Morgan."

"Yeah, but you seemed to recognize me even before I told you who I was or that I had amnesia. You knew I was looking for my father before I mentioned it too."

"Well…" How much do I say here? I can't reveal too much or I'll look crazy. "I have some outside knowledge. I can tell you about the broad strokes of what happens in the world, and maybe some specific people, but that's it. I don't know your past except that you've hopped dimensions to be here."

"Oh." She blinks.

"Yeah, it's complicated." I shrug. "Really, this whole world is a bit complicated."

"Huh… okay then." Morgan says. Her brow is set in a serious expression. "I have a lot to learn I suppose."

"So do I…" I murmur.

###

"Oh thank God, a village." I sigh when I see the clearing ahead of us with some buildings visible. "It's about time."

"I'm staaaarved." Morgan moans. "We gotta buy a ton of food."

"Speaking of buying… do you have any money?" I cough. "I have some copper, but I'm not familiar with money."

"What?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm not used to using gold and silver and copper. How much is thirteen copper?"

"You could maybe buy some cheap ale with that, or a single night in a crappy inn."

"Oh." So basically I have nothing. Great.

"Let's see…" Morgan mumbles as she searches through her coat. She pulls out a small purse. "I have this." She opens it. "Oh. Wow. That's… one, two, five, ten, twenty… a lot of gold."

"Ah." So she's rich (and I'm dirt poor). That makes enough sense I suppose. Robin probably had a lot of money in the future, but there was no real use for it in an apocalyptic future, so Morgan just hung onto a lot of it. At least that's what I assume. "Well that's good. That's food and beds, and hopefully some other supplies."

"You speak like I'm paying for you." Morgan scoffs. I don't realize she's joking immediately, so an expression of shock born from fear of abandonment crosses my face and she rushes to correct things. "I'm joking! I'm joking! Uh, sorry."

"Oh, right." I say, making sure to keep my voice even. I'm supposed to be an adult here, but I have no experience in keeping my calm. I'm only nominally in charge because I'm older than Morgan and because I actually have some idea of where we're going. By all means, Morgan should be the one in charge here, because she's certainly smarter and more competent than me, and I have no doubt she'll take charge at some point when I'm out of my depth, but for now I have to hope me ostensibly being in charge is enough to justify her not abandoning me. "Let's go."

"Right!"

The village is very small. It's not a farming village, there are no fields (maybe it's too cold up here year-round to do any farming) but instead seems to focus on furs and fish. People stop and stare at us (glare at me actually) as we pass by we search for a tavern and a general store or a market. We stand out like a sore thumb, partially due to Morgan's cloak, but also because all the villagers have dark skin and me and Morgan don't.

"Hey, you." Some burly man, the village blacksmith by the look of his calloused fingers and apron, stops us in the streets. He's glaring right at me. Morgan glances around us, and her eyes narrow slightly. I can see other people moving from the corner of my eye, so I'm guessing we've been surrounded. What a warm welcome. "You got a lot o' nerve comin' in here and thinkin' we would jus' ignore you."

I'm totally lost. "I do? I think you have me mistaken for someone else."

"We'll see 'bout that." He looks down at Morgan. "Kid, what's your name?"

"Morgan." The tactician says. She draws herself up to her full height (which isn't saying much). "What's going on here?"

"I'm askin' you that." The man says softly. He's using the voice you'd expect a police officer to use with a scared kid. Firm, but gentle. Why? Why was he glaring at me then? The man reaches out and puts a hand on Morgan's shoulder, and not-so-subtly shifts her away from my side. Morgan's mouth purses in thought. "Morgan, was it? Tell me truthfully, are you alright?"

"I mean, I'm hungry, and I've been sleeping on branches for the last few nights." Morgan says truthfully. "I also don't remember anything beyond the last two days… so… no, not really."

"I see." The man says slowly. The people around us not-so-subtly start to draw weapons. The blacksmith then points to me. "And him? What has he done to you?"

"That is a very leading question." I think. "What's going on here? Should I be drawing my axe?"

"Kept me from getting killed, carried me around when I was exhausted, kept me company, stopped me from freaking out about the fact I'm an amnesiac who woke up in the middle of nowhere…" Morgan lists off slowly. It's only at this point I notice her hand has slipped into her cloak, and a moment later she pulls out her elfire tome. "So." She says in an icy, stern tone. "I'm going to have to ask you to back off and put away your weapons, or I'm going to start slinging fire."

"Oh, is this a fight?" I think, and reach for my axe. I hadn't even noticed how everyone around us has some sort of weapon. Apparently everyone in the village has an axe. "Isn't this just a village? What's going on here?"

Morgan and the blacksmith seem to be having a staring contest of some sort. The man is squinting in suspicion while Morgan is giving him a firm, unwavering look.

"You're sure yer fine?" The man grunts.

"Yes."

"We've got a bunch o' people here. We can take him."

"I know. That's unnecessary."

"Take him?" I blink. "Take me? Oh, I'm being threatened. Uh…"

"He ain't a slaver? You're fine?"

"Again, yes." Morgan says firmly. "He's my friend, and we're much closer in age than we might look. I assure you, whatever you're thinking, it's not true."

The blacksmith stares for a moment longer, than steps back and says "Alright boys, false alarm. I'll take it from here."

The men around us share disbelieving looks, but listen to the blacksmith. They pull back their respective weapons and reluctantly go back to wherever they came from. I watch Morgan pocket her elfire tome and let go of my axe.

"Sorry for the rude greeting." The blacksmith says. He extends a hand towards me, which I cautiously shake. The last few lines between him and Morgan finally keyed me into what was going on. He thought I was a kidnapper, huh? I suppose that makes sense. That reminds me of what I was thinking before about Morgan hiding her age. I guess I look like the creep, given my attire and what looks like a large age difference. "The villages around here have had trouble with kidnappings lately. Bandits, have been either sneaking in or raiding villages and taking the women. So when I saw a man who looks like a brigand walkin' around with a young girl… well you can understand my alarm."

"So you surround us and ask leading questions." Morgan says evenly. "I'm all for taking action, don't get me wrong, but asking leading questions gets biased answers, and biased answers aren't the truth."

Thank you Morgan for being smart and logical, and also willing to stand up for the random weirdo you've known for less than a week.

The blacksmith seems surprised at Morgan talking back to him. "Well, I can't expect someone who might have been kidnapped to be of the right mind, yeah? They could easily be pressured into not saying anything, and probably won't be using their right mind anyways. I can't trust them to speak up on their own. They need prompting."

Morgan purses her lips. "Alright, fine. I don't totally agree, but that's a fair enough point."

"Didn't ask for you to agree." The blacksmith shrugs. I can practically hear him complaining to himself that this little girl is trying to dictate morality to him, though he doesn't comment more on it. "So, what brings you two here then?"

I step in here. "Food, shelter, supplies, directions. We've been out in the wild for a few days with no supplies, and we're trying to head for Ylisse. Erm… where exactly are we?"

"You're a hell of a way off, that's where you are." The man grunts. "You're at the west end of Ferox. Like, the total west end. Gonna take you at least a month to get where you want to go."

"Ah." I grimace. "Okay…"

"I don't have no map I can give you, but supplies and whatnot we can certainly give if you got the coin for it." The man says. "An', by the look of it, maybe you two could use a proper backpack too? Only so much you can carry in that little coat o' yours."

"You'd be surprised…" Morgan mutters under her breath. "But yeah, we could use a pack or two. Also, a place to stay for the night would be great. Oh, and bedrolls would be fantastic. We could use those."

"If yer willing to wait for a few days, we can certainly provide." The man says. "For the night though, the tavern's got rooms for ya, and it's got some good food. They'll appreciate the extra business too. Ain't often we get travellers out here."

"Well, they'll get quite a bit of business tonight. We haven't eaten properly in days." I say. "Erm… if you don't mind pointing us in the right direction?"

A few minutes later the two of us step into the tavern. It's small and basic, with only eight tables that could probably fit the whole village if needed. This seems to be a small place. Seeing as it's not quite dinner time yet we've beat the rush, and we order a full meal for each of us and dig in as soon as the food is on the table. The meal is mostly meat and fish, but there are a few vegetables and some bread. Rather than booze, we both get water to drink.

We finish just as the rest of the town seems to be pouring in for their nightly round of drinks. Some shoot me hard glances, still seeing me as suspicious, so while Morgan takes a moment in the water closet I pay for a room, and we make our way up there. The girl pauses upon seeing the room, and a moment later I realize the problem.

"Nathan…"

"Yeah, I just realized. My bad. I'm used to hote- er, tavern rooms having more than one bed." I sigh. "My siblings and I always slept in the same room when we went anywhere. I forgot solo rooms existed. Sorry. I'll go back down and-"

"What?" Morgan blinks. "I was just going to ask if you wanted the wall side or the inside."

Oh, she doesn't mind. Didn't expect that. I won't complain, I'd hate sleeping alone at the moment to be honest, I've been steadily on the verge of a panic attack for the last several days and having Morgan has really helped with that. I expected her to take issue though.

"You have a 'I'm surprised' look on your face." Morgan notes. "Were you expecting me to complain?"

"Yes." I say bluntly. "Very much so, yes."

She raises an eyebrow. "Is it because I'm a girl? You were expecting me to be all bashful?"

"Yes to the first, no to the second. I was expecting you to complain about the lack of space and make a jab at my expense."

Morgan snorts. "I mean… I considered it, but that would be mean. You seem… and I don't want to sound mean… kinda emotionally fragile? And maybe not too socially aware? So I could poke fun at you, but at this point that would just be rude."

"Oh." I cringe.

"No, no, uh…" Morgan wrings her hands in annoyance. She's trying to find the words to explain this. "I don't mean that as an insult or anything! I'm kinda freaking out too you know? And you've been putting on a brave front for my sake… not very well mind you, but you've been trying. I could make a joke, but it would only make me feel better, and honestly… I don't really want to sleep alone either. I could have woken up in that temple alone with Risen around me, I don't know where my father is, and I don't know anyone else in the world right now because of my amnesia. You are literally the only person I know I can fully trust at the moment."

That's probably supposed to be reassuring, but it's not. The only person Morgan has is me, and I'm totally incompetant and have no real idea what I'm doing.

Still though, I suppose I would prefer to have a well-meaning companion, even if they were incompetant, over no one at all. I'm also not going to argue with not sleeping by myself tonight.

"You can take the wall, I'm a still sleeper. I shouldn't fall off." I offer.

"Oh good, because I tend to roll in my sleep." Morgan mutters.

We shrug off our extra things and climb into the bed. It reminds me of sleeping next to my parents when I was young… except I suppose I'm the larger one here, and we're basically equals and there's not a parental relationship, and-

Okay, look, this metaphor is falling apart really quickly. I'm just going to move on.

I was expecting all this tension and awkwardness about sharing a bed, but Morgan really doesn't care. I suppose it's all in my head. I'm more awkward about this than she is. I have all these expectations that other people are going to be super prudish and easily offended and all that, so it's honestly throwing me off that Morgan just isn't any of those things.

"Nathan, you look like you're overthinking something." Morgan notes.

"I probably am." I admit.

"Stop." She suggests cheekily.

You know what? That sounds like a good idea. I'm worrying about things that don't matter. I should just sleep.

So I do. I flop back in the bed (listening to Morgan shift around beside me and murmur under her breath as she runs through plans for tomorrow). Sometimes she asks my opinion in a whisper, and I respond in a half-asleep mumble. I don't say much of use, and I don't think Morgan expects me to. I'm just a soundboard to bounce ideas off for as long as I'm awake.

I'm only awake for so long though. I fall asleep to Morgan muttering ideas under her breath.

###

"So is that everything?" I ask.

"Yep." Morgan nods. "Unless they have some lying around though, we're going to be waiting for them to make this stuff, so we'll be here for a few days in the meantime."

"Right." I say. "Uh… what do we do then?"

"I dunno honestly. Maybe we should hunt and stock up on food?" Morgan shrugs. "We don't have to considering how much money I have, but it's never bad to save money."

"Why not." I shrug. "It's not like we have anything else to do. I'm not going to be much help though."

"Sure you are. You're company." Morgan chirps. "Hunting on my own would be boring. I'm not going to wander around the forest for hours on my own!"

If you say so Morgan. I'm not going to argue with something to do. I don't want to sit in the tavern room dwelling on my situation or I'm going to give myself a panic attack. It's only because of Morgan I haven't broken down already.

Nathan as a character is very much a parody of my own mental image. He's me, but exaggerated (mostly). In some places he'll be better, in some places he'll be worse. Standard self-insert stuff. I don't know if that's going to make him overall easier to write because I can just ask "what would I probably do?" or if that'll make him harder to write because he'll possibly be not interesting or annoying. Also, when it comes to character development he's going to be a pain to figure out because he's partially based off me, and generally it's hard to look at yourself and decide how you would develop.

Morgan is an easy character to write because of her absolute confidence in herself. I never expected her to be so easy when I wrote the original first chapter, but everything about her clicked into place without much effort. However both she and Nathan take a few chapters to fully come into their own, mostly as they become more comfortable with each other. There was a debate I had when making this story as to whether Morgan was a deuteragonist or a proper second main character, and I eventually settled on deuteragonist. Still, she's important enough to warrant her own POV chapters down the road.

The dynamic of having a twenty-something looking guy escorting around a girl who looks like a twelve-year-old is not what I expected to get into when I originally wrote this first chapter, but it arose very naturally from how I envision both characters… and the fact that a lot of my stories seem to tackle age dynamics and physical appearance as subjects for some reason. I have no idea why that's such a common theme, and I seem to include it without realizing it fairly often.