Timeline Zero - Unwelcome Changes

"Mark! Frederick!" Robin called out between blasting a Risen swordsman with lightning. "Chrom and Lissa should be to the west!"

I swung Durandal around, cleaving another of the walking dead corpses in half. Unfortunately, as soon as I had done that, three more emerged in the distance and were making their way towards us. "Your point is?"

Frederick ran yet another Risen through with his lance, then jumped on his horse and immediately riding west.

"Frederick's got the right idea!" Robin finished off the Risen he was fighting and then turned around and ran. "We need to regroup with Chrom and Lissa! Come on, let's go!"

I made a wide sweep with Durandal, clearing the immediate area of Risen, and then followed him.

...Of course, due to my heavy sword and lack of a horse, I quickly fell behind.

"Dammit, Robin! You're the tactician here! Account for my lack of move!"

I grit my teeth and cut down a Risen axeman that jumped out at me.

Robin glanced back and said, "Cover the rear! We'll grab Chrom and Lissa and be right back!"

I sighed and came to a sliding halt before turning around to face the growing crowd of Risen. "Looks like some things don't change."

This was similar to my last run. Thankfully, this time I can do crowd control.

One, two... a dozen Risen advanced towards me at a slow shuffle. Thankfully, we had taken care of the swordsmen in our retreat, and there weren't any ranged attackers in their midst.

"Weapon advantage and a wide reach. Alright, I got this."

I let out a breath and focused. Unlike the first time around, I couldn't be reckless with fighting since I had no way of healing myself.

Speaking of which... Damn. Should have told Robin to toss me a vulnerary.

I didn't have much time to rue my hindsight as the first Risen attacked.

The undead axeman jumped at me and swung his axe in an overhead blow. An easy to read strike. Also, thankfully not too fast due to the whole rotting body and all.

"Hah!" I swung Durandal up and to the left, meeting the Risen's attack head on. Due to superior weapon quality, both the Risen and its weapon were cut in half.

And then three more leapt at me with varying attack angles.

"Tch, smart ones aren't you!"

Vertical, horizontal, diagonal. From my left, right, and straight in front. At the moment, I was flanked by the Risen, and I couldn't just retreat, since that would let more join up in the group.

I let out a long breath and held Durandal to my right side. Wait for it. I'd have only one shot to get this right before being mobbed by the remaining Risen.

Wait for it...

The three attacks were fast approaching.

Now!

I swung Durandal in a wide arc, using my momentum to add to its attack. As expected, each of the Risen were cut down.

Not as expected, I kept spinning. Dammit! Of all the times physics has to kick in, it has to be now!

With no way of stopping without leaving me vulnerable, I grit my teeth and moved with the sword, advancing into the crowd of Risen.

I felt a slight resistance on Durandal as I cut through the Risen, but thankfully its legendary steel was sturdy enough to cut through them like butter.

After a few revolutions, I managed to bring myself to a halt. Despite that, I didn't lower my guard at all, staring at my surroundings to make sure there weren't any incoming surprise attacks.

A feat more difficult than expected considering the world seemed to be spinning around me.

"Wow. That's impressive, for someone so skinny."

A voice drew my attention. It was feminine, but unfamiliar. Turning my attention towards it, as best as I could anyway with the world still spinning, I saw a woman in red armor atop a horse.

She leapt off it when she saw me looking at her and said, "That's a pretty hefty sword you're lugging around. Overcompensating for something there?"

"Haha. Very funny."

I shook my head, and my vision finally managed to fix itself, allowing me to see that the woman also had a mop of short red hair. That and she was holding a sword in her hand.

From the fading corpses behind her, it seemed that she was pretty skilled with it too.

The woman smiled and said, "The name's Sully, the strongest knight in the Shepherds. We could use someone like you, especially if you're as strong as you look."

"...Are you seriously standing there to have a casual conversation with me while the world's going to hell around us?"

Sully idly swung her sword behind her, cutting down a Risen axeman that had wanted to try a sneak attack. "Why? Got a problem with that?"

"No, just..." I shook my head. I knew support conversations used to be in the midst of battle in the old games, but this...

Before I could reply, a voice called out. Again, unfamiliar, though this one was masculine. "Hold, milady! Do not leave me behind!"

Hearing that voice, Sully's face dropped and she let out a sigh. "Dammit. Thought I'd gotten rid of that bastard."

A man emerged from the depths of the forest. He looked a bit worse for wear, a boot print clearly marked on his cheek. Despite that, his clothes were surprisingly unruffled... well, except for the usual ruffles that were a part of it.

"I, Virion, the archest of archers, am here to protect you and slay these foul beasts! To leave me behind so abruptly... do you not think that a bit harsh?"

"Harsh my arse!" Sully crossed her arms. "I never asked you to follow me anyhow!"

"Haha, playing hard to get I see. No manner. It's expected for such a magnificent flower to possess a few thorns."

I coughed. "Don't you think there are more important things to worry about? Like those ominous rotting warriors heading are way?"

Almost as if planned, a dozen Risen emerged from the depths of the forest, their red eyes creepily glowing in the dark night.

"Tch." Sully glanced at the approaching Risen and said, "...Think you can take them skinny guy?"

Virion puffed his chest. "Why, of course I can! Virion, the-"

Sully scowled. "Not you, Ruffles. I'm talking to the other guy."

Virion took a step back and placed a hand on his chest, as if shot through the heart. "R-Ruffles?"

I ignored the archer and said, "Probably. But I doubt that's the end of them." As I spoke, I could make out even more red dots in the distance.

Sully nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same. Looks like a tactical retreat's in order." She got on her horse.

I took a step back, preparing for my own retreat, and said, "Oh, right. Chrom and the others should be to the west."

Sully turned her horse around, preparing to do the same. "The captain's here too, huh? Not that surprised... hell of a time to decide to patrol though."

I laughed. "I'll say. Anyway, on three?"

"On three," Sully said.

Virion looked at me and Sully with a frown on his face. "While it is wonderful to see such camaraderie occurring before my eyes, do you not think that-"

"THREE!"

Hearing my shout, Sully grabbed Virion and tossed him on the back of her horse.

"My word, to-"

"Ah, stuff it Ruffles! Time to put your bow where your mouth is and shoot those damned corpses!"

Virion sighed and did as he was told, immediately shooting down the first wave of approaching Risen.

The two quickly outpaced me, being on horseback compared to my being on foot.

Still, I was already in full sprint when they started moving, so the distance wasn't too large at the moment. I'd learned my lesson from Robin though and made sure to dismiss Durandal before that and replacing it with a sword better suited to help me escape.

"Come, Balmung!"

The curved legendary sword appeared before me. Grabbing it out of the air, I felt my body instantly become lighter and my speed increase. Not quite the plus five I was hoping for, but three is good enough.

With the added boost of speed, I quickly caught up to Sully and Virion.

The red knight raised an eyebrow. "Fancy magic you got there!"

"Talk less, run more! We need to meet up with the others if we want a chance of beating them!"

A volley of arrows flew out the moment I said that and shot down a dozen Risen that were chasing us.

Virion puffed his chest out and said, "Fear not! The archest of archers will easily-"

A voice, one that seemed to cut through everything else, sounded out and said, "DODGE LEFT!"

Not one to argue, and feeling my own instincts telling me to do the same, I did just that.

Sully followed shortly after I did.

Not a moment too soon, as a giant plume of lava erupted where we would have run through.

Sully glanced back at the lava briefly before looking around and saying, "The hell? Who's talking to me? And how'd you know that would be there?"

The voice quickly responded. "I'll explain later. Head north through the clearing and towards the fortress. That should put you out of the range of the monsters."

Sully scowled and said, "Hold on a minute, I'm not done talking to you!"

"I do believe our invisible friend is no longer listening, milady."

"Ah, shut it Ruffles!"

Virion sighed. "The trials one endures for love..."

"Anyway!" Sully turned towards me. "What do you think? Should we listen to that guy?"

"If he's who I think he is," I said, "then yes. We definitely should. And I don't think either of us has a better plan at the moment..."

"Tch. That voice better have a good explanation then."

That said, Sully spurred her horse into a faster pace.

Virion continued with his incredible sharpshooting, managing to strike direct hits even with Sully's rough riding.

I just kept running.

Before long, we emerged into a wide clearing... which was teaming with Risen.

"Dammit Robin, what part of being out of range do you not get?"

I sighed and held Balmung out in front of me, prepared to do some kiting... but the Risen didn't move.

"Huh!" Sully glanced at the strangely unaggressive Risen and said, "Looks like our invisible pal was right. Those monsters don't seem to want to fight us any time soon- Dammit Ruffles, what are you doing?!"

As soon as Sully said the Risen weren't planning to fight, Virion had gone and shot down a few in the distance.

"Why, the monsters are out of range, are they not?" Virion nocked another arrow in his bow. "I, in my most glorious planning and perception, do believe it means they won't come rushing at us even with my attacks."

With that said, he shot yet another Risen down.

"...Huh." I tilted my head slightly upon seeing the continued lack of zombie sprinting. "Looks like he's right."

Virion puffed his chest. "Please, do praise me more in front of the fair lady."

"Don't get so full of yourself, Virion," I said. "Those guys might not be chasing us, but there are still the ones behind us, you know."

A glance back revealed the countless red eyes slowly advancing.

"Why of course. But we will surely make short work of them when we regroup with Sully's 'Captain Chrom', will we not?"

I sighed. "Here's hoping."

We made it to the fortress without incident. Whatever miracle was keeping the Risen from noticing us didn't run out.

The fortress was a worn down stone building, seemingly abandoned for years. Ivy and other plants had already grown along its walls, mother nature reclaiming man's territory for her own now that they were gone.

The structure of the fortress was straightforward: four towers for archers, a central square plaza for... something, and- actually, just imagine the fortress icon from the game and expand it about... thirty times or so. That would be an accurate representation of the building.

Robin was waiting for us at the gate. His thunder tome, looking worse for wear, was clutched under his right arm. His sharp eyes flicked from left to right, as if seeing something only he could see.

When we arrived, however, his gaze shifted to us and his trademark smirk came on. "Mark. I see you've brought friends."

"Oh shut up you amnesiac tactician."

He laughed and waved for us to follow. "Chrom and Lissa are waiting inside. Frederick should be out taking care of the small fry up north and paving an escape route."

Before he could make it more than a few steps though, Sully called out. "Not wait a minute. You're the guy who was talking to us, right?"

Robin nodded. "That's right. And you'd be..." He tilted his head slightly, as if reading something. "Sully, right? And the guy behind you with the ruffled shirt is Virion."

The archest of archers let out a stricken gasp. "Once more with the ruffles! Why, I will have you know that this is a cravat! A cravat, understood? It is the pinnacle of fashion in the-"

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "In any case... what's the plan, Robin?"

Virion went off in a corner, grumbling to himself about uneducated commoners with no sense of fashion.

Obviously, I ignored it.

Robin shrugged. "It's pretty straight forward. Hole up in the fort here and wait for my signal. Frederick should be dealing with the rest of the ones that can attack at range, so we shouldn't be too overwhelmed. ...Unless you feel like fighting them by yourself?"

"...I'll pass on that."

Legendary weapons and combat experience or not, I was going to stay as far away from a zombie horde as possible.

"In that case, head on in and meet up with Chrom and Lissa," Robin said. "Ah, you as well Sully. Virion, you stay here with me and help me take care of any approaching monsters."

For a moment, it looked like the archer would protest, but he eventually let out a long sigh and said, "As you say."

Leaving the two at the gate, Sully and I headed deeper into the fortress to meet up with Chrom and Lissa.

As expected from the outside of the fortress, the inside of it was just as dilapidated. There were vines everywhere, along with tree roots ingrained into the stone walls. Thankfully, it looked like Robin had the foresight to light the torches along the way, so there wasn't any risk of tripping.

The sounds of footsteps and a horse's plodding trot echoed throughout the fortress for a while before Sully turned and said, "So your name's Mark, huh?"

"Hm? Oh, right. I didn't introduce myself yet. That's right, I'm called Mark."

Sully nodded. "So what brought you all the way out to southern Ylisse? There's not much to do around these parts."

"Eh, I have my reasons."

Chief among them were randomly waking up in the field there. Secondary would be that it provided the best opportunity to run across Chrom and the others and so join the Shepherds.

I didn't say that though, of course.

"Ha, playing up the mysterious guy role pretty well there."

"Well, what brings you out here to southern Ylisse?"

Sully gave me a deadpan look. "I'm a knight and part of the Shepherds. We patrol Ylisse to keep the rabble out of the villages and kick the crap out of anybody who would think otherwise."

"...Right."

Well didn't I just seem stupid.

"Of course, today was something different. Ran into ruffles back there on my patrol and the guy wouldn't stop nagging me. Even promised to join the Shepherds. Heard that the Captain was heading back to Ylisstol after I passed through Southtown, so here I am."

Huh. I'd always wondered why Sully and Virion were randomly there in this chapter.

A voice called out from the darkness. "Mark? Is that you? And Sully?" A few moments later, the blue haired lord stepped out from around the corner. "I thought I heard familiar voices around here. Glad to see you two are safe. Looks like Robin managed to get through with his magic."

I frowned. "Magic?"

Chrom nodded. "Incredible, isn't it? I could hardly believe it myself, but it seems that Robin can see the entire battlefield in his mind and send out mental commands to all of his allies."

Huh. This is how things went the first time around?

Robin had the game mechanics grafted in his mind. I'd just thought he was being perceptive, but it looks like he wasn't. Though that made me wonder how things spiraled so out of control if he did, and why he wasn't able to use those powers in the last run-

"Get ready everyone. They're going to break through the wall."

I flinched at Robin's voice sounding out.

Then the wall right next to us broke down and a dozen Risen started crawling through it like something out of a zombie film.

I jumped back, instinctively raising Balmung up to parry a thrown hand axe. "Dammit Robin, give us an earlier warning next time!"

"Well, try not standing so close to the wall next time. Oh, and duck."

Yet another hand axe cut through the air, almost decapitating me. ...Actually, scratch that. Apparently the Risen have magical returning hand axes.

Some time in between my dodging, Sully and Chrom had charged into the midst of the Risen and already started fighting.

I sighed and changed out my sword with Durandal.

...This was going to take a while.

A/N: Snarky Robin, Sully and Virion shenanigans, as well as a seemingly endless zombie hoard... which thankfully isn't that strong. Whoo!

Ran out of time in writing this chapter, so it's a bit short, but hopefully it's *somewhat* enjoyable.

Either way, thanks for reading, and leave a review on the way out if you want.

Until the next!