Hello, and welcome to chapter two of god-knows-how-many! Rough guess would say that this is probably going to end up over a hundred chapters, though.

Many thanks to Guardian54 for his review! Also, he pointed out that Tharja wasn't in the parent pairing list at the front of the last chapter. It's now fixed and says she's paired with Virion, who was also missing. Whoopsies :P

I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention… Hrm… Oh, well, I'm also writing an FE6 fic at the same time if you'd like to take a look! It's called Dragonsong and it's a Roy/Lilina post-canon fic with an AU twist on the end. Please check it out!

With that, let's move onto the fic, shall we?

Premonition
A Fire Emblem: Awakening Novelization

Chapter 002

...

Reflet walked down the earthen path with her saviours—or were they captors?—as they made their way to the nearest town. She was really beginning to wonder what was up with these people. They were dressed as warriors, armed with swords and lances. Something about the leader's, Chrom's, sword seemed really familiar, but she couldn't place it.

That was another thing eating at her mind. Just who was she? Why was she laying in that field? She seemed to have a sword at her waist and a thunder tome in her bag, but she chose not to mention them. If these people really were trained soldiers, then surely they already knew. About the sword, at the very least. It wasn't that well hidden under her jacket.

There was a purple mark on the back of her right hand that seemed similar to the creepy pattern on her jacket. She had tried scrubbing at it when they'd stopped by a river to refill their canteens, but the image didn't even smudge. It must have been a tattoo, then, but why would she get a tattoo on her hand like that?

She found her eyes drifting up to glance at the shoulder of Chrom. He had a tattoo of his own there, in a teardrop-like shape with a sort of frame around the lower half. What did that mean?

More than once, she found her thoughts drifting towards her surroundings, watching the terrain and calculating possible escape routes. Whenever she would catch herself thinking like that, she had to stop and ask herself what kind of life she'd led before. Why was her subconscious always on alert? Was someone hunting her? If so, why? Did they want her dead? Was she simply trained to study terrain?

She had so many questions about her past, but how could she possibly find answers?

"Chrom! L-look!"

Her attention snapped up at the sound of the girl's, Lissa's, voice to see her pointing at something over the ridge. She followed her finger to find smoke rising in the distance and, judging by the girl's panicked outburst, this wasn't a common bonfire spot.

Lissa cringed and gripped her staff, screaming, "The town is on fire!"

Chrom was already in a run in that direction, grumbling, "Blast! Damned bandits…! Frederick, Lissa! Hurry!"

Frederick was quick to mount his horse and pull Lissa onto the back, calling out, "What about her?"

Reflet had a pretty strong feeling that he was talking about her as Chrom barked back, "Unless she's on fire as well, it can wait!"

Frederick nodded once and replied, "Aptly put, milord."

Reflet just stood there and watched them go, half wondering if Chrom was nobility—due to Frederick's title for him—and half wondering if she should take this chance to get away. She turned on her heel to walk the other way, then paused and glanced back in the direction the others had gone. Sighing, she knew she couldn't just leave them alone. They had been rather kind to her, compared to what they could have done.

Gritting her teeth, she started to run down the path after them. Time to see just how trained she was with that sword and tome.

…

Chrom flipped Falchion in his hold, then turned and ducked under an axe. Blood spattered against his bare arm as he sliced through a bandit's jugular. No mercy for crooks. Plegian ones, at that. They had no excuse for being in Ylissean territory and thieving from his people. Emm was too kind to put bandits to rest—and he loved her for that—but there was a point when action needed to be taken.

He flipped and rolled backwards to dodge another axe, then spun in a low kick to knock the owner off his clumsy feet. A little ways away, Frederick was dealing with his own bandit or two while protecting Lissa. He knew he didn't need to worry about her.

Another bandit jumped towards him, raising his axe for an attack, causing Chrom to brace his footing and hold his sword to block. Before the axe connected with Falchion, a bright flash of light and a crack of thunder sounded. He blinked to clear his vision, to find the bandit now fried and lying dead before him. Looking up, he squinted at the sight of Reflet coming closer, slipping on the blood-stained streets slightly, and holding a yellow-bound tome in her hand.

Thunder magic?

He flipped his sword in his hand and stuck it into the bandit just to make sure, and asked, "You came with us?"

She nodded, trying to move closer to him and almost falling to her knees as she slid on the blood now caked to her boots. He reached out and caught her upper arm, steadying her with a slight smile on his lips. "Thanks for the help."

She shrugged slightly as she fixed her footing. "Well, you guys did save my life, after all."

"Hm," he hummed, looking her over once to make sure he could trust her. "All right. You sure you got a hold of that magic?"

Before she could reply, a bandit came up behind her and moved to strike. "Hey, ugly!" Chrom called as he moved to shove the strange girl aside and raised his sword to strike. Before he could get a hit in, the axe struck down and cut a slice along the woman's leg.

She cried out in surprise as she fell to the ground, leaving the way open for him to swing over her head and impale the brigand through his stomach. Yanking his sword back, he glanced down at her to find her tugging her belt off to wrap around her leg as a tourniquet. Trained with magic and first aid? Where did this girl come from? Her jacket with the Plegian crest only raised further questions.

He didn't see any other bandits in the immediate area, so he glanced back towards Lissa and called, "Hey, Lissa! We could use your magic over here!"

She nodded and slipped off the back of Frederick's horse, replying, "On it!"

He stood up and glanced around for any other bandits, only to find one cowering towards a church. He moved to run after him, then stopped and glanced back to find Lissa tending to Reflet's injury. Frederick came over soon after, giving Chrom the assurance that the girls would be all right as he chased after the final enemy. This wouldn't take long.

…

Reflet sat on the cobblestone path as Lissa looked over her for any further injury, forcing her to smile and say, "I'm all right now, thanks to your staff. I owe you, Lissa."

The younger girl shook her head with a smile. "Not at all! You helped my big brother, after all!"

As if on a cue, Chrom walked back from around the corner, blood soaking the side of his clothes. The other three's faces paled at the amount before he hefted his blade over his shoulder and asked, "Out of curiosity, is there any penalty for killing a thief in the house of Naga?"

Frederick's face seemed to calm as he shook his head, whether to answer the question or out of pure exasperation, Reflet couldn't be sure. Sighing once, he said, "Good to see you safe, milord. I trust you took care of the last of them?"

He nodded. "He put up a bit of a fight, actually. Surprised me a bit."

Reflet looked up at him, then quickly moved to her feet and offered a quick bow. "Er, thank you, Chrom. You saved my life back there."

He frowned and sheathed his sword before crossing his arms. "Are you all right now?"

She gave a quick dip of her chin and said, "Uh, yeah. Lissa's staff fixed up my wound as if it was never there."

"You sure? Sometimes a staff can make you a bit dizzy or weak for a while."

"I'm all right, but thank you."

He waved a hand dismissively. If it gets to be a problem, just say so. Frederick can give you a ride on his horse."

"Thank you, but… We're in town. Doesn't that mean we part ways?"

He frowned and looked over the town as villagers started to emerge from their houses to clean up. "It doesn't have to. We said we'd part ways here if we determined you weren't an enemy."

Biting her lip, she meekly asked, "…Do I pass?"

He nodded. "You fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says you're a friend."

She offered a slight smile and moved to brush a stray hair out of her eyes. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

Frederick scoffed behind Chrom. "As wise as the heart is, please do not forget the counsel of your head, milord."

He nodded. "Don't worry, Frederick. I've never been wrong about someone before, have I?" Turning back to Reflet, he said, "If you've nowhere else to go, would you like to join our small band of Shepherds?"

She paused and glanced around. "Well, uh… I don't really know much about sheep…"

He chuckled slightly, then doubled over laughing. Lissa joined in, giggling behind her hand on the side. The lost girl frowned, wondering what was so funny. Was it common knowledge to know about sheep? Chrom straightened himself out and inhaled to calm his laughter, then explained, "We're not exactly traditional shepherds."

Frederick spoke behind him, saying, "Ylisse is amassed of quite a large flock, and it takes a brave man to keep wolves—like those of today—away from the lambs."

She stared at him incredulously for a long moment, then gasped as she realized what he was saying. "So… You don't… tend sheep?"

Chrom shook his head and spread his arms wide to indicate towards the town. "We are the Shepherds, a small militia group serving as a direct extension of the Ylissean military. We go out and about the country and protect those who aren't able to protect themselves."

"Like you did today," she mused.

Nodding, he said, "Right. So what do you say?"

Glancing around, she knew she didn't have anywhere else to go. On top of that, she found she was growing fond of this band of warriors. Offering a slight smile, she nodded, "I would be honored, Chrom."

His face split into a boyish smile as he clapped his hands together. "Great! We're glad to have you on board!" Turning, he walked towards the gate of the town and said, "All right, let's get going!"

Lissa's face fell as she whined, "Whaaat…? We're not staying for the night? It's almost sunset!"

Frederick chuckled and said, "We'll camp when dark falls and hunt something to eat when we get hungry. Such is the way of a Shepherd, after all."

She groaned and slowly trudged off after her brother, grumbling under her breath. Reflet wasn't sure, but she was sure she heard the words 'hate you' and 'not eat squirrels.'

Reflet moved to walk with Frederick as they picked up the rear together. He slowly turned to address her and said, "I will respect milord's intentions to treat you as a friend, but I'm afraid I must remain on guard for some time yet."

She nodded. "I understand, sir. Your sternness is only out of desire to protect your charge."

Lissa giggled and called back, "'Stern,' she says. I suppose that's one way of putting it. I can think of a few others, though!"

Chrom slowed his pace so he would end up walking with them, "Frederick only smiles when he's about to bring down the axe."

Reflet glanced skeptically at the smiling siblings before breathing a short and bewildered reply, "Duly noted…"

A disgruntled snort sounded from her other side as Frederick said, "You do realize that I am still present?"

Chrom shot a playful smile at him over the woman's head and said, "Oh, we realize."

She couldn't help but giggle as the stern knight replied, "Milord remains as amusing as ever."

He laughed for a moment longer before turning to Reflet and saying, "Ready, Reflet? Ylisstol isn't far."

Oh, before I forget, I'd like to mention that I'm on Tumblr! (Copy and paste URLs, then remove the spaces)

My fanfiction blog: ocvalkyriefanfiction. tumblr. com

And my main blog: ocvalkyrie. tumblr. com

Follow the fanfiction one for fic updates and any (crappy) thing I draw, and the main one to see what sort of nonsense I'm up to these days! Ranges from kitty GIFs to fanarts to random posts about what I ate for lunch. It's mostly reblogs, though ^^;

Annnyyywayyy…

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to talk to me. I don't bite :)

Please review!

-Valk

P.S. I start school on Monday, so updates will be a little slower once assignments start coming in. Russian usually has one daily thing, but I should have some free time in the beginning. Пока!