Chapter 1

"Holy shit!" I scream as I bolt awake, having felt the freezing snow surrounding me. As soon as I'm no longer focused on brushing snow off of myself, I realize three things. First and foremost, I'm definitely not in my room back home, I'm now in a pine forest. Secondly, it's snowing, again.

"Oh god damn it, it all just got done melting yesterday." I grumble, wanting winter to be very much over. It was the middle of April and it was still snowing. Finally, the third thing I notice is that something feels different about me. looking at myself, I see that I'm wearing clothing that I was definitely not wearing to bed last night. It looks akin to a japanese kimono, but the material is thicker and coarser, like wool, instead of the usual silk.

Okay, guys, very funny." I call out, all this clearly being the work of my younger siblings, yet the forest around me stays silent. So they were being like that, eh. With a sigh, I look up to the morning sun to get my bearings and the relative time, turn east, and start walking. If they dropped me off in the woods and ditched me here, then the farthest they could have dropped me off would be the forest just west on the property. Quarter sections are nice and all for homesteads, but they really open you up to these kinds of pranks. After about fifteen minutes of walking however, there was still no sign of the house anywhere.

"Okay," I say to myself nervously, "maybe they managed to ditch me farther in than I was expecti-AAAAAAAARGH!" I roar out, having tripped on a buried root, faceplanting on the hard, unforgiving ground. Now very aggravated, I brush the melting snow off my face, when suddenly my hand contacts something very hard and smooth that definitely wasn't there before. Immediately, I go into a flurry of activity, trying to find a reflective surface on or around me. Finally, I come across a small frozen pond. Brushing the snow away from the thin ice, my jaw proceeds to unlatch itself from my head, hit the ground, and run off into the distance.

"What. The. Fuck." No seriously, what the actual fuck. I am now sporting a pair of fucking horns. Growing out of my forehead just above the eyes, they curve around my temples and point out behind me. On top of that, my eyes have changed colour. No longer were they brown, but now were a fiery reddish orange, which couldn't be contacts because i would have felt them. Speaking of contacts, my glasses were not on my face, and yet everything around me was in perfect detail and clarity. Oh god, what was happening to me, I had to get home. I had to get somewhere familiar and sort this shit out before I had a fucking panic attack. I was already swearing like a sailor, which I only do when I get really nervous.

"Calm down." I order myself, getting my breathing back under control. "Calm the fuck down. I could be wearing some new kind of contact lens and the kids could have superglued the horns on." The sensible explanation helps, and I feel the nervousness draining out of me. Okay, now that I was calm once more it was time to take stock of what I remembered before this all happened. Let's see, i was packing my bags because I was leaving for the states in a few days. The fanfiction group I belonged to was having a convention, and I was going. I also remember talking about it with a few friends before I want to sleep. Memory wise, I didn't have any info as to what was going on now, so I decided to check my clothes to see if there was anything on me that would tell me what was going on. Upon checking my pockets and pouches, I came across three things. Number one was a pouch full of silver coins that didn't look like any currency I'd ever seen. They were as big as toonies, but had a wolf's head minted on them instead of a polar bear, and where the queen's head was supposed to be was a coat of arms I had only seen in a specific video game, namely fire emblem. The second item were three brown corked glass bottles full of a mysterious liquid, which if the smell was anything to go by, was some type of medicine. The final thing however, was the real sidewinder. A multifaceted crystalline stone that looked and felt like it contained pure fire within. Suddenly, I realized what was going on, and I couldn't help but laugh at my idiocy. I was lucidly dreaming about fire emblem. A sack of coins in Regna Ferox currency, three concoctions, and what could only be a dragonstone; I was a friggin Manakete. Stowing everything back where I found them, I kept going east with a whistle on my lips. I was gonna enjoy the fuck out of this. After a whole bunch of walking, I finally came upon a small village. The villagers looked just like they did in the game, right down to the clothes and pot hats. Spying a pub, and realizing that I do feel quite hungry, I head in. Sitting down at a table, a bar maid comes to take my order. After taking a minute to think, i just settle on the special, along with a mug of hot cider. After a small wait filled with watching the other patrons interact, the barmaid comes back with food and drink in hand. A plate full of mashed potatoes and gravy, thick slices of ham, and a wedge of mild cheese is set before me alongside a steaming mug wafting with the scent of apples. My stomach roars in anticipation just by looking at it all, to which the barmaid giggles, causing me to blush in embarrassment. Taking fork and knife in hand, I begin to dig in, and my god does it taste as good as it looked. After a few minutes of eating, I see the barmaid come back, a look of nervousness upon her face.

"Um, excuse me, sir." she says quietly, getting my attention. "I was just wondering, but, are those horns real?" Oh yeah, I had forgotten about those things.

"Last time I checked." I responded, and her eyes widen.

"Then are you, by chance..." she stops to look around for eavesdroppers, before whispering in my ear, "...a Taguel?" That had thrown me for a loop. I was pretty sure I was a Manakete, but I never truly did check. Then again however, I'm pretty sure I wasn't. From what I remember, Panne and Yarne wore that leather armour designed to accomodate their transformations, while with Nowi, Nah, and Tiki, they wore actual clothing. With a quiet chuckle, I reply.

"No miss, I'm not a Taguel." The news visibly deflates her, "I am in fact, a Manakete." That makes her perk right back up in wonderment. "So what has you so interested in the shape shifters?" At this she blushed, and twiddled her fingers shyly, bringing with her an odd familiarity that I couldn't place.

"Um well, when I was very little, bandits had attacked my family's home. Before Papa was struck by the leader's axe, a giant bear barged into the house and swatted the leader away like it was nothing. It then proceeded to fight and beat down every bandit accosting us. When the fighting was over, the bear transformed into a man, and asked if everyone was all right. When he knew we all were, he made to leave, when I asked him what he was, Papa covered my mouth right after. He simply said, 'a Taguel', and left without another word. Ever since then, I'd always wanted to see him again, or at least meet another Taguel." I had listened to her story whilst eating, and I had to say, that was one cool story. It also gave rise to the thought that maybe there were more Taguel out there than just Panne. Wait a minute, dream, duh, probably just a subconscious headcanon or something. Still, cool story.

"Well, that's something. I haven't met a Taguel in a long time." A baldfaced lie, but this was a dream. Whatever I say goes.

"I know. Ever since the bear, I've made it my dream to meet other Taguel, so I've been saving up to become a traveling songstress." This again brings about another wave of familiarity to her, but before I can inquire, a gruff voice from the kitchen shouts out.

"Sophia, back to work! Stop harryin' the customers." The shout startles her, causing her to jump.

"Sorry, papa, I'll get back to it." She then turned back to me. "Sorry, I've got to get back to work. It was nice meeting you mister Manakete." She then hustled back into the kitchen, leaving me to my meal. after I finish, I'm sipping my drink tentatively, not because it's hot mind you, but because it's hard. Never truly enjoyed the taste of alcohol, being honest. A little bit later, Sophia comes back to take the dishes, and I grab her sleeve to get her attention.

"Do you do requests here?" I ask and her eyes light up.

"Yes I do, what do you want to hear." Thinking it over for a minute, I decide.

"Do you know, Lost in Thoughts, all Alone?" At this her eyes widen considerably.

"Nobody's ever heard it much less asked to hear it. My grandmother was the only one in the whole village who knew how it went. How do you know that song?"

"Oh, I've been around for a long, long time, young lady." Another lie, but it's not like she'd believe the truth.

"Well, I'll do my best then." With that, she takes the dishes back to the kitchen, and a few minutes later she comes back out on the stage, and clears her throat, garnering the patrons' attention. Once the pub falls silent, she starts singing.

"You are the ocean's gray waves. Destined to seek, life beyond the shore just out of reach. Yet the waters ever change. Flowing like time, the path is, yours to-"

CRASH!

"All right everyone, get your arses on the ground now! This is a raid!" The crashing of the door coming off its hinges had startled everyone, myself included, and then the realization that the town was being raided by bandits sent them all into a panic, myself included. Everyone scatters, flipping tables and chairs, but the bandits stride into the chaos and minutes later we're all kneeling on the ground, hands bound with ropes. Soon the bandits hauled us up, and started tying everybody up into a train. Sophia was roughly shoved in front of me before she and I were linked up to the procession. Within a minute, the bandits had us marching out single file into the frigid morning. Soon the town is burning, and we're being led through the smoke to the outskirts of town. Once we reach a certain point, we were roughly shoved down on our knees, a couple of barbarians pacing down the line, axes held menacingly, daring us to try something. Beside me, Sophia was shivering and sobbing, though doing so quietly as to not garner the bandit's attention. Jeez, way to go me, beautiful girl beside me in distress, in need of a big draconic hero, and you're friggin tied up with her. I could transform into a dragon, but I'd probably be needing to hold my dragonstone for that, plus I could hurt someone. I'd have to be smart about this. Pulling everything I've learned from video games about hostage situations, I formulated a plan as the leader approached us, along with another train of captured citizens. Soon the leader, as it was obvious seeing as this guy was a berserker, was bellowing orders as he strutted down the lines. I heard the word slave bouncing around a few times. Finally, the bandit leader stops at Sophia.

"My my, aren't you a pretty, delicate little thing. You'll fetch a handsome sum from the slavers, yet it would be such a waste simply to hand you over. Perhaps a few nights for myself first." With that, he took his axe to the rope tying Sophia to me, and hauled her up. Sophia was shrieking and struggling, but the berserker simply laughed, his minions jeering away. Now I was stuck with a dilemma; wait for an opportune moment to escape and attack, but allow Sophia to be potentially raped. Or act now but have now plan long term. My head said wait, But since when I have I ever listened to my head on these matters in video games. struggling against my bonds, I found the rope to actually be giving way on one side, the side Sophia had been. The bandit leader must have damaged my bonds when he cut Sophia free from the line. Another minute of struggle had me breaking free of my bonds, though I made sure to make it look like I was still tied up. As soon as a barbarian wandered too close to me so as to get a better look of his boss's "prize". I struck. Bringing my arms forward I snatched the man's hand axe off his waist, and just as he turned, smashed the blade into his chest, sending blood everywhere, the barbarian went down with a scream, alerting the rest of the group, the shock of my action giving me enough time to rip the axe out of the writhing barbarian, and hurl it at the Berserker. The instant I did I realized what could happen, but miraculously the axe flew true and struck a gash into the bandit chief right in his left pectoral, Sophia being on his right. With a scream of pain the chief dropped Sophia, who immediately scrambled upright and booked it. Snarling, the berserker pointed his short axe at me and roared two words.

"Kill him!" Oh. Shit. I was surrounded instantly, axes everywhere trying to hack me to pieces. All I could do was dodge, there was no time to pull out my dragonstone, no time to even figure out how to use the thing. In the end though, my luck ran out, and I was struck in the chest, the axe biting into me deep and hard, my world becoming an explosion of agony. I went right down like a puppet with its strings cut, barely able to breathe over the pain. I could hear the berserker laughing, I could see the barbarians around me, but at the same time all I could perceive was one thing. This wasn't a dream. This was honest to god reality. I began to feel numb, and I panicked, thinking I was losing too much blood. And in that instant something happened to me. I could see and hear, but it was like being in a movie theater in my head as I watched my body act of it's own accord. A bandit went to lay down the finisher, only for me to grab the axe by the blade, my hand having transformed into draconic claws, and forcibly ripped the weapon out of the guy's hands. The look of shock persisted as those same claws came back and tore his throat open, and then all I saw was red for a brief moment. When my sight returned to normal, I noticed half the bandits were dead, and I was covered in blood. Thankfully, none of the villagers were harmed, though they were giving me mixed looks of awe and fear, which was usually never a good sign. Still though, by the looks of things, I had a lot more room to work with now.

"W-what are you?" stammered the bandit chief. Hand diving into my pocket, I brought out a concoction. popping the cork with my teeth, I chugged the contents down, and very nearly puked up last night's dinner. The taste was horrendous, like rotting vegetables. Focusing on other things, I managed to keep the medicine, and my breakfast, down. Feeling the wound on my chest healing at a rapid pace, as well as my blood being replenished, made the disgusting taste worth it.

"Your worst nightmare." I belatedly answered the berserker, and soon I had out my dragonstone.

"Get him." Shouted a bandit, and the group charged at me.

"Too late, motherfuckers." And with a roar, I am surrounded by a cyclone of fire. The feeling of transforming was indescribable, due in part by the fact it was such an alien sensation. The process took but a moment, but felt a thousand times longer. With a fiery bang, my draconic form was laid bare for all to see, and by the looks I was getting, what a sight it was. I was huge, four times my original height of six feet. I stood on four legs, and felt a pair of wings upon my back. From what little I could see of myself, was a charcoal black, with highlights of ashen gray and white. A slight iridescence gleamed off of the black of my scales. Focusing once more upon the bandits, I see them trying to run.

"You can't escape!" I roar, and with a mighty exhale, I fire a torrent of blazing liquid at the retreating enemy, The liquid splashed all over them with the viscosity of oil, swiftly setting them ablaze, their screams of agony tearing through the air. Noticing the chieftain, I snap my head towards him to see him holding a little girl hostage in front of him as a meat shield.

"Don't you dare! One move, and I kill her." Seeing this makes my blood boil with fury, but then I see something else that makes me smirk, and for an instant, smoke and soot is all I see as I transform back into my humanoid form.

"Who says I need to?" I ask, and the bandit's look of confusion tuns into that of pain as a javelin impales him. The little girl breaks free of the dying mans enfeebled grip and runs back to her parents. The berserker slumps to the ground dead, behind him a Feroxi task force led by none other than Raimi if I was remembering right. The Feroxi soldiers immediately start freeing the prisoners, but as I was moving to assist them, I was surrounded again, this time by armoured lancers.

"Don't move, Manakete." Raimi ordered, and I was in no position to disagree. Soon the last of the villagers were freed, Raimi immediately began getting the story out of them. After thirty tense minutes, the order was given.

"Soldiers, let him go." With that, the lances surrounding me were removed, allowing me to relax. I was then approached by Raimi.

"It appears you fought hard to save Feroxian lives, I can respect that. However, I was also told of your savagery in fighting, and while you took no innocent lives, it may not have gone that way." To that, I winced, knowing she made a damn good point. "Thus, you are to be taken to Khan Flavia, who will be the judge of what is done with you." With that, I was surrounded once more, though weapons were not brandished. Raimi then extended her open hand. "Manakete, your dragonstone." Seeing no other option, I wordlessly gave her my dragonstone.

"I assume your khan won't have me locked up, will she?" I asked, a cold feeling in my gut.

"Only if she sees it as necessary, Manakete. Soldiers, move out!" With that, I am trudging along with the soldiers. Looking behind me, I see the villagers I had saved, but the most prominent one, was Sophia, her face marred with worry. So to ease her worry, I gave her a smile, and some of the worry left her. It would have to do I suppose. Looking forward once more, I keep pace with the soldiers as we march off to wherever Flavia might be.

It's late evening by the time we reach the east khan's fortress. and my nervousness was getting the better of me. I've had the whole march to think of whatever judgement Flavia would cast upon me, and while most were completely outlandish, it didn't stop me from thinking them. When the great doors opened, I was ushered inside, and Raimi led me towards the Khan's throne room. When we entered the room, Flavia sat upon her throne looking just like she did in the games. Dark skin, though not to the point of Basilio, crimson hero armour, and blonde hair pulled back into a wild mess behind her head, with a stray lock framing the right side of her face.

"My my, Raimi." She says while gazing at me, a smirk upon her lips. "When you set off to deal with bandits, I wasn't expecting you to bring home a friend." Raimi then bowed and began explaining the situation, the khan's face morphing through several expressions throughout the debriefing.

"I see." She said once Raimi had delivered her report. "It appears I owe you thanks, Manakete. Had it not been for you, those bandits would have made off with the entire village. However, your lack of restraint concerns me greatly, as you could have slaughtered the innocents in your bloodlust. However, before I pass judgement I would wish to hear the story from your side." After taking a minute to organize my thoughts, I began my own recollection of the event. I summarized my time traveling to the village as well as my brief stay, but I gave full detail when it came to the fight, of what i could remember anyway. I omitted a couple things, like how I thought it had all been a dream until I had been struck. Once I finished, Flavia held me with a powerful stare.

"I see. In light of this information I shall now pass judgement. What is your name, Manakete?" At first I thought of going with my real name, but my name fit neither a Manakete, nor the world I was in, thus I spoke the first name that came to mind.

"Zant." The name of my book's main character.

"I, khan Flavia, declare the Manakete known as Zant to be kept within the confines of this fortress, till he show that he holds mastery over his instincts and shall pose no threat to my people with them." My brow rose at this; a hybrid between training and imprisonment. Well I would gladly take it, who knows who I could have hurt during that period of red rage.

"Shall I see him to a room then, my Khan?" Raimi inquired.

"By all means, Raimi." with that I was led to a spare bedroom in the barracks, told where the mess hall was and who to report to after breakfast.

"Oh, and here." and I was handed back my dragonstone, and the knight left me to my own devices. Thankfully, a servant came by and dropped off food and a change of clothes, allowing me to change out of my ruined clothing. Soon I as lying on my bed thinking about the biggest topic in my head. I was in fire emblem. I was in a world thought of as the product of a video game. How did I get here? How did I get back? What about my family? My friends? Hell, I wasn't even human anymore, rather this world's equivalent to a dragon. What else has changed for me? All these thoughts and more swarmed in my head, and what sleep I could get was filled with nightmares.

(One month later)

One month had come and gone. One month to cement the fact that I was in a video game world. While nothing solid had come up, I figured my ticket home was to either beat the game, or through the outrealm gate, though the former was most likely. The other thought that had plagued me throughout the month was which timeline was I in? Thankfully, that had been answered yesterday when portals in the sky opened up and started puking zombies. Throughout the month, I had been put through the proverbial meat grinder. Everyday I was 'trained' to control my draconic instincts, so that even if I went all self preservation mode like I did with those bandits, I would still be completely safe around allies and bystanders. When I say trained, I meant beaten to within an inch of my life until my self preservation mode jumped in, and I had to control it. Throughout this month long beat down, I had learned to be pretty damn good with a sword. When you're fighting the best soldiers East Ferox has to offer, you learned fast. With my sword training also came training in my dragon form. I had noticed it during my episodes, but apparently I could utilize partial transformations of various parts of my body into my dragon form, revealing that I had the skill Dragon Fang. What was odd about that was that skill was in Fates, not Awakening. Finally though, my instincts had been conquered. I could go into a self preservation episode and still be safe to my comrades as well as being able to restrain myself to maim, and not kill. Thus I was brought before the Khan, and was now free to come and go as I pleased. Then Flavia proposed something that threw me for a loop.

"You want me to what?" I asked in surprise.

"I want you to represent me during the Khan tournament." she replied.

"Well, not that I'm not honoured my Khan, but why me? Raimi is much more suited than I."

"As suitable as Raimi is, she is also more known to Basilio and his men, thus she would be easier to counter. You on the other hand are unknown, and I know that big brown oaf has no one prepared to fight a fire breathing dragon." Okay, couldn't exactly argue with that logic, but still, this was seriously messing with the plot. No, you know what, fuck da plot.

"You know what Flavia, you got a deal." Fuck the plot, the whole point of changing things is to change things. Oh sure you put a toe in here and there, causing a few little ripples in key points. Or you can dive in, screaming "Cannonball!" all the way down, and completely change it all up to the point where the future is up for grabs. Hell, with Grima having come back through time, changing everything might be the best way to go. Let's see how much the fell dragon could 'correct' when everything went topsy turvy on him.

"Ha ha ha, I knew I could count on you. Now that that's over with I'll need you to take your training to the longfort, at the Ylissean border crossing. This way you can support Raimi dealing with Plegian bandits trying to slip through, as well as stay hidden from any scouts Basilio has around here who would want to spoil the surprise that I got a Manakete on my side." With that, farewells were said and I was off to the border.

"Halt, who goes there." Raimi hollered over the walls, and every time she did, I made a dash for the edge and looked to see who it was. Finally, after many impostors, it was legitimately Chrom and the shepherds. Unfortunately, Raimi seemed to have fallen on auto pilot, not believing a word the 'fake' was saying. Javelins were thrown and then, boom, Sumia to the rescue.

"Zant, pursue!" Raimi hollered at me.

"No need Raimi, they're landing." I said, and sure enough, Chrom and Sumia landed, and lines were drawn. To battle it was then. Taking a look at the shepherds, I saw them splitting into two groups, and each going for the sides of the fort gate. Heading over to the one that didn't have Chrom in it, I intercepted them at the door.

"It's Vaike time!" shouted Vaike as he swung for me with the flat of his axe. Backing up just enough to dodge, I then land a stab into his left shoulder, causing Vaike to back off, then I heard something that chilled me to the bone.

"Pick a god and pray." The lance strike sends me sprawling. Had I not morphed my scales over my chest, that would have knocked me clean out. As it was though, I could barely stand. Before any further fighting could occur, Raimi gave the order to cease. After that mix up had been cleared we were heading back to the Khan's fortress. After nearly a week on the long fort, it was nice to be going back. Finally, by nightfall, we reached Flavia's fortress. I immediately broke off from the group to head to my room and change into fresh clothes, as I had been wearing the same ones for five straight days. A proper bath would have to wait, unfortunately, as I would need to report to Flavia that I was back at the fortress. Walking up to the throne room doors, I hear Chrom and Flavia talking about the upcoming tournament, specifically, the champion who would be representing her

"If I may, milady." said a voice that no doubt belonged to Frederick, "just who is your champion that you would turn down milord's help?" Needing no better intro than that, I push the doors open and stride in.

"That would be me." I said, garnering their attention. "My name is Zant, and I am the east Khan's representative for this tournament."

A/N: Well well well, look who's back from the dead with a brand spanking new fix on the roster. So, this fic is actually a collaboration with The Dragon Lover, as well as potentially a couple others. It all started with me reading one of her fire emblem fics regarding her self insert character, and I couldn't help but want to collaborate with that idea. Now don't expect immediate updates with this fix as I've got to keep pace with DL and I'm in the middle of moving. So anyway, what did you all think? Like it/Love it?Hate it? R&R please.