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Dreams of a war-torn battlefield. Large armies clashing on a wide, deserted valley. The rain, falling, so vivid you could feel it on your skin.
Two figures engaged in a battle to the death.
A bloody end.
The sun, peaking through the clouds, only making spilled blood look redder.
And then, it's all black.
When you come to, you face a girl, sitting on a throne.
Wait, no, that's not a girl, it seems to be some sort of... Stuffed bear?
"Oh my! What could have brought you here?"
* * *
As if mimicking the... thing, in front of him, Makoto Naegi rubs his eyes. He'd always had strange dreams, but this was something else entirely.
"Just wake up, Makoto, this is a dream." Makoto sighs, even as the strange, white and pink thing in front of him tries to grab his attention.
"Usami is not a dream!" the stuffed rabbit cries "I'm right here in front of you!"
Makoto looks side to side, then pinches both his cheeks at the same time. He's never been this aware of his dreams... But to be fair, his dreams were never this weird.
"Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so late." he complains and rubs his forehead. There's a peculiar sense of familiarity to all of this, and it's kinda concerning, because none of this should be familiar.
"Will you please pay attention to me! Stop ignoring my presence!"
"Okay, okay." Makoto kneels in front of the stuffed animal. He briefly wonders if this would be considered rude, but he's not used to being taller than anyone. "...What are you, anyway!"
"I'm Usami!" At least, it seems the rabbit has cheered up once acknowledged. "That's who I am!"
"Okay, right..." Makoto waits for a second before pressing on. "What's an Usami?"
"How rude!! I am Usami and Usami is me! What are you?"
Though taken aback, Makoto ponders how to best answer.
"Um, well, I'm Makoto Naegi. I'm... Human?"
"What is a human doing here?" Usami asks, tilting her(?) head to the side. Makoto is wondering the same thing, and thoroughly wishing he would just wake up.
"I don't know, I guess. What are you doing here, Usami?"
Usami finally quiets down. After what seems like a moment of thought, she speaks again.
"I'm not sure... I don't remember much..."
Makoto laughs awkwardly and rubs the back of his head. "I'm sure it'll come to you eventually..."
Usami touches her chin(?), then yawns. "It all feels familiar... But at the same time... I can't remember..."
* * *
Jin Kirigiri felt something bad in the air. Like the static clinging to your skin just before a thunderstorm. But this wasn't the rage of weather coming down on Fódlan. It was something darker, and bloodier, sprouting from the ground like a weed you can't get rid of. He tried to push it out of his mind as he scanned the horizon for trouble. His mercs needed him. He couldn't let shadows spook him.
Jin pushed the door to the room open. The sun was barely starting to rise, casting the lands in an eerie blue dawn. There was just enough light to see inside.
"Hey. Time to wake up."
* * *
Makoto Naegi woke up uncomfortable, and with a strange sense of nostalgia hanging in the air. It all seemed so familiar, though strange.
"Oh, sorry, Jin." His voice was gravelly. He rose from bed and looked out the window, seeing their company of mercenaries packing up to leave.
"Were you having that dream again?" Jin said, more of a statement than a question. He knew what the response would be.
"I was dreaming about the stuffed animal again." Makoto groaned, rubbing his sleepy eyes to try and rid himself of sleep. He threw his long coat over his shoulders, having slept in his clothes in expectation of having to awaken and leave at a moment's notice.
"Was it as weird as before?"
"Maybe weirder." More familiar, Makoto wanted to say, like it was a real moment and not a quickly fading dream.
"Put it out of your mind," Jin said, gathering his last few belongings from the inn room. "The battlefield is no place for idle thoughts."
"Yeah. I know."
Makoto knew damn well he was not suited to the battlefield, as a mercenary of not, but Jin's teachings had somehow kept him alive all these years. Some might say he was just as skilled of a leader as Jin was, but Makoto knew the truth; he was nothing but a perfectly average guy thrust into an odd situation.
Their idle chit chat was interrupted by one of their companions; a younger merc who had joined them a few months back.
"Sir, your presence is needed." The mercenary spoke out, standing at the entrance of the room with worry on his brow.
Jin inspected the man for a second, before nodding to Makoto. The two of them joined the soldier and followed downstairs, Makoto having to walk a little too fast to keep up.
* * *
Makoto did not have much experience with people his own age, but even he could feel the tension. Jin eyed the teenagers who had come barreling through. There were two girls and one boy, who all appeared to be students, if the uniforms were anything to go by. The girl with the lavender, almost white, hair looked Jin in the eyes as if she had no fear of the weathered mercenary. There was something else in that look, but Makoto didn't know what.
"Forgive us for the intrusion," she said.
"You..." Jin's lips pursed. He seemed like he was going to say something when the white-haired boy spoke up.
"Don't worry too much about Kyoko here, she's just shy!" He set his hand on Kyoko's shoulder, who quickly smacked it away. "So, uh, we have a little problem."
"Aha, yeah." The blond girl piped up, "We're being pursued by bandits, please help."
"Kaede." The girl who had been referred to as Kyoko spoke up again, the slightest tinge of visible irritation on her face. "We were attacked, while at rest in our camp."
Jin let out a heavy sigh. "And you all are... Students of the Officer's Academy."
"Yep, you got it!" The white-haired boy said, kicking the dust. "Though, a piece of worthless garbage like me should have never even been admitted-"
"Please." Kyoko interrupted it. "Enough talking, Nagito."
The boy didn't seem to pay any heed to her warning. "I mean, we would have stood our ground and kept by our companions, but, well, someone had to go and run off."
"It was a strategic retreat!" Kaede said, "I just, well, I didn't expect you two to follow me..."
"Sir!" One of Jin's mercs ran in, breathless and with a grave expression. "There are bandits coming for the village."
Jin grit his teeth and looked towards Makoto. "Well, we can't very well let them raze the village for a few students, can we?"
It was true after all; Bandits were charging towards Remire village, no doubt seeking out their prey without any care to who else fell victim. Makoto felt a sick, copper-like taste in his mouth, and he realized too late he had been chewing on his cheek. No matter how many years he worked as a mercenary, he could never get used to the idea of taking another person's life. But this was a battlefield. It was either the bandits, or the students and the poor people of Remire who had nothing to do with this conflict.
In one smooth motion, Makoto pulled out his bow and launched an arrow that arched through the air. It hit one of the bandits square in the chest, through the gaps in his armor. Quick, efficient.
"Oh, wow." The blonde girl the others referred to as Kaede said, a certain amount of awe in her eyes. "You're almost as good as Shuichi!"
Makoto wanted to ask, but he didn't have time.
"Take the students! Lead them as you would our own men." Jin said, mounting his horse and galloping off. "I'll flank them through the other side of the forest."
"Understood." Makoto ran forth, his boots slamming through the wet, dewy mud. He knew little about the Officer's Academy, but he figured anyone from a good military school would know more than him. He really wasn't the right person for the job here, but if Jin believed in him, then he had no choice.
"Kaede, right?" He said, causing the blond girl to jump and fumble to get her bow out. "Can you help clear out the backlines?"
"I can do my best!" Kaede kneeled on the ground for stability and shot off an arrow, picking off one of the bandits that had hidden in the bush. Makoto thought that if she was this good, then this Shuichi guy had to be a sight to be seen.
"You two, follow me!" Makoto drew his sword, swinging a wide arc through the air to get a feel for the weight of it. Every new battle, it was like he had to reacquaintance himself with war. Whatever Makoto's real fate was, he thought, it was not on the battlefield, but he was here now and the others were putting their hopes on him.
The fight was a quick squirmish. Makoto had seen far worse, but he'd also seen far better, and he'd seen a lot of blood and death so far, which he witnessed with almost inappropriate optimism. But for some reason, today, he was nervous. A bandit came from the right, but he didn't need to think in order to dodge the attack, and he counterattacked, leaving the man dead on the floor.
"This is-" through the battlefield, he heard the bandit leader, his voice strained and angry. "This is not what we were promised!"
Promised? So this was more than an attack of opportunity, Makoto thought, this was a paid hit.
"Left!" Makoto yelled out to the boy with the lance. Nagito had been just as distracted with the bandit leader, and he hadn't even noticed the brawler charging at it.
"My left or your left?!" Nagito flipped his lance around and managed to hit the brawler right on without even looking. It didn't seem to be a mortal hit, but he was definitely knocked out. Makoto thought that for how inexperienced he was, at least he made up for it in luck.
He turned back to see how Kyoko was doing, only to find her being swarmed. He cursed and pivoted on the balls of his feet to run in for help, but in a few ax strokes, the men were all on the floor. Kyoko flipped her hair over her shoulder, and glanced back at Makoto with an expression that he couldn't read. Makoto just kind of numbly gave her a thumbs up. Okay, so he didn't have to worry about Kyoko, who swung an axe bigger than she was and seemed to have no qualms about taking down the entire bandit force on her own, if she had to.
Despite the number of bandits, they pushed forth in what felt like no time at all. Those Officer's academy students, even if they fumbled or seemed to lack field experience, it was almost like they were the ultimate fighters compared to the dirt and grit of mercenary versus bandit combat. Makoto was a little bit in awe.
By the time they met up in the middle with Jin, the few remaining bandits were running for the hills, doing their best to escape.
"Uh, what do I do? You don't shoot people in the back, right?" Kaede said.
"You do on the battlefield, kid." Jin said, but it was a moot point. The bandits were gone, the students weren't harmed, and the village was safe. It was a type of victory Makoto didn't taste very often.
Of course, when something seemed too good to be true...
Out of the bush, hidden from everyone's sight, a minor oversight with severe consequences, a bandit jumped out, swinging a sword towards Nagito. The man must have felt trapped, now that he had been abandoned by his companions. Perhaps he wanted to create a diversion to escape, or perhaps he was just that desperate, but Makoto knew he couldn't let any harm come to the students.
He dove in front of Kyoko, who had been caught just as off guard, and he felt the sickening, cold blade in his chest and then... Black.
Well, he thought, this is how he had expected to go, anyway.
But it was not the black of death that greeted him, but a pink stone throne and a voice that was familiar to him by now.
"Oh no!" Usami said. "You've been stabbed!"
"I know, Usami." Makoto said. This meeting... It was different. It didn't have the hazy warmth of dreams.
"Well, we can't have that, can we?" The rabbit said, bringing her hand (paw) to her mouth.
"What did you... Do?" He asked. He couldn't find any other answer to whatever was going on.
"I stopped time."
"Okay," Makoto said, just accepting it. Today had just been that weird, you know. "What happens when you let time flow again?"
"I think you'll die."
"Oh," Makoto said, "Well, I guess that's better than being stuck here forever."
"Hey?! What's that supposed to mean?!"
Makoto brought his hands up defensively. "Well, it's just... I don't know how long I could take being here in this black void with just your company. Not that your company is bad, it just seems like kind of a dour existence.
"That is true... However, I cannot you die, Makoto Naegi." Usami said. "There are things I still want to see through your eyes."
"Through my eyes?"
"I think I am starting to understand... I am a part of you, and I've been with you as long as I can remember." Usami's tone was less cloying, filled with a sort of unseen strength. "I cannot let you die, not only because I would fade away as well, but because you are an important person to me."
"...Thank you, Usami." Makoto said, genuine and quiet.
"So I will lend you some of my power. I cannot affect anything in the outside world, but if I can give you just a bit of my power... Then you too will have control over time."
"What should I do?" Makoto said, "That seems like a big responsibility."
"Do what you do best, Makoto. Protect those around you."
And like that, the black faded away. Makoto woke to the feeling of cold steel in his heart, and in the same way one can move their limbs without thinking about it, he turned back the flow of time. For a moment, he thought he had imagined everything, and then he heard the noise of rustling bushes, and the footsteps of a heavy man, and before the bandit even had a chance to try and strike, Makoto moved to cut down the man, swift and efficient.
"Dammit, there was one more?!" Jin gritted his teeth. "Makoto!"
"I'm fine!" He called out, looking back at Jin, then at the downed bandit at his feet. "Everything's fine..."
Before he had a chance to ponder his new time powers, and how much of that was reality or magic or a premotion from the Goddess, his eyes caught Kyoko's, and he saw something dark and angry in them that made him step back.
"Well, I suppose we came all the way here for nothing." A voice rang out over the field, a woman's voice but with a distinctive bite of someone who commanded a presence. Jin made a face and looked back.
"Mukuro." he said. "You haven't changed at all."
"Neither have you, Jin." The woman Jin had called Mukuro stepped forth, her gaze scanning the battlefield in appraisal, and her dark blue hair fluttering in the early morning wind. She was followed by soldiers in perfect formation.
"But at least I don't have that kind of baby face." Jin responded. Mukuro didn't seem too bothered by his teasing, and, in fact, she ignored him entirely to walk across the battlefield and meet with Makoto. The two of them shared an uncomfortable look, until Mukuro looked away at the students.
"You're all in a lot of trouble." she said.
"It was Kaede's fault." Nagito said.
"It was a strategic retreat, I didn't expect you two to follow me!" Kaede hugged her bow to her chest, her cheeks dusted in pink. The other girl, Kyoko, didn't say anything. She was busy cleaning her ax. Very efficient, Makoto thought.
"In any case, thank you for protecting the students of the Officer's Academy," Mukuro said, her voice not betraying any sort of emotion. It was as if she was commenting on the weather. "But I must insist that you come back to the monastery."
Jin eyed the soldiers behind her. Makoto belatedly realized they were wearing the garb of the Church of Hope. The distinctive black and white was hard to miss, but his head was still in combat.
"I don't have a choice in the matter, do I?" Jin said.
"You do not."
And so they went. Makoto knew better than to try to get an answer as to why out of Jin. The man had many secrets, and it wasn't the sort of thing he would just lay on the table. The trek up to the monastery was uneventful, and Makoto took in bright, cold breaths of mountain air. Jin's mercenaries and the Church soldiers fell side by side, not in a march but as a disjointed yet harmonious walk. Some seemed to know each other, some didn't but made small talk. It was the aftermath of a successful battle, where the only souls lost were those that were not on their side.
Makoto had always faced the situation with a kind of unwavering optimism, that everyone who died in battle had chosen to be there, and that everyone died someday. Those who picked up arms just died on the battlefield instead. But today, for some reason he couldn't quite explain, he felt sad, and he wondered if one day, instead of making small talk, Jin's mercenaries would face against the Church soldiers in bloody conflict.
"How long have you followed that man?" Makoto broke out of his trance and glanced back at Kyoko. He had fallen behind the mass of soldiers, but he hadn't realized the students had joined him.
"Oh, um. A while. He kind of raised me, and I've been doing mercenary work for like..." He counted on his fingers. "Ten years?"
"What, no way!" Kaede sprinted a little to keep up with the other three. She had fallen even further behind. "You're like our age."
"I might have the dates wrong, aha." Makoto laughed but the truth was, he couldn't be sure. It wasn't as if he followed the calendar too closely. He just followed where Jin went.
"Still, that's really impressive." Nagito smiled. "The empire would do much better with a leader like you than a useless piece of dirt like me..."
"Oh, be quiet." Kyoko said.
"The Empire?" Makoto looked at Nagito closely.
"Komaeda is the heir to the Adrestian Empire," Kyoko said. "Did you not know?"
"I don't really keep up with politics." Makoto rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly. "We're always on the move."
"Then, I suppose you don't know I'm the next in line for the Kingdom's throne either." Kyoko brushed her hair over her shoulder, and Makoto couldn't help but notice her gloves. "Though, my grandfather is still healthy and well."
"We're in the company of some amazing people, huh?" Kaede said, looking at Makoto. If anything, she seemed to be the most down-to-earth out of the three.
"That's amusing, coming from the heir to the most important family of the Alliance." Nagito muttered. Kaede seemed bashful, and she looked away, fiddling with her bowstring.
"Well, you know, the Alliance is the Alliance, it's... It's not the same as being a Queen or an Emperor. And it will be a long time before I have anything to do with running things!"
"You're all really amazing people, huh?" Makoto laughed. "I feel bad as a commoner getting to hang out with such important individuals!"
"Don't." Kyoko said. "The world would be better off if there was less space between the commonfolk and the nobility. In any case, we are all close in age, and you have more than proven yourself in the battlefield. Consider yourself our equal."
"Honestly, I'd consider you far greater than me." Nagito let out a dark chuckle. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead right now."
Not with that luck you wouldn't, Makoto thought, but he kept it to himself. They crested the hill, and there it was, the Garren Mach monastery in all its glory. It filled Makoto with a weird sense of longing, like he had been here before. But when? The golden light of dawn bathed the castle walls, giving the entire building a holy-like glow.
A voice rang out in the back of his head. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's beautiful." Makoto said out loud. Kyoko gave him a curious look but said nothing.
"Far more beautiful than anything trash like me deserves." Nagito said, utterly ruining the moment. Kyoko let out a sigh and marched forward, leaving the other three behind, and soon Nagito and Kaede followed her. Makoto, on the other hand, stayed transfixed, thinking about the voice in his head, and letting the image of a golden monastery burn into his mind.
"Are you coming?" Kaede said. She had stopped a few paces away from him. Makoto smiled, nodded, and followed the students.
---
"I cannot express my thanks enough." The archbishop said. The stained glass behind her left her glowing as well, but it was a cold, blue glow, ethereal and mystical. Makoto didn't know what to say. He really hadn't expected to be face to face with the Archbishop when he woke up this morning, but here he was.
"It was..." Nothing? That would be rude, right? "It was an honor to be able to protect the students, your... Majesty?"
The woman laughed, and it was airy and filled the room with calm. "Please, call me Tsumugi. Someone as plain as me doesn't deserve to be addressed in such a way."
"Archbishop, please." The woman known as Mukuro had a mildly annoyed expression on her face, but Makoto didn't think he would notice if he wasn't looking for it. "Remember your position."
"Of course, my apologies." Archbishop Tsumugi held her hands to her chest. Her long, blue hair, took on an almost supernatural sheen in the light. "I'm just glad everyone is safe... And that I can reunite with Jin, after so long."
Jin didn't respond, just made a noise of affirmation.
"And I suppose this is... Your son?"
"Oh, um." Makoto spoke up. "We're not related, he just took me on as an apprentice. I was an orphan."
"And how long ago was that?" the Archbishop said.
"I'm unsure." Makoto laughed nervously. "As far as I can remember."
"Now, Jin, you adopted this boy and you won't even let him call you father?" the Archbishop teased. To Makoto, who only heard tales of Kings and Emperors and Archbishops in fairy tales, it was humanizing. Jin, however, didn't seem to appreciate it.
"It's his own choice." Jin said.
"We all make choices, don't we, Jin?" Tsumugi said. Jin didn't respond.
Makoto's eyes darted to the side as he saw movement. There was a girl with light pink hair, almost blonde really, behind Mukuro. It took Makoto a moment to realize Mukuro was holding her back from sprinting into the middle of the room. Mukuro's eyes met Makoto, and she stared right through his soul, which made him lose like three years of his life.
"Please, forgive my sister." Her tone was completely unlike her glare, but when she turned back, her expression softened significantly. "Junko, you're not supposed to be here."
"Oh, my, how attentive," Tsumugi said. "Personally, Junko gets the drop on me all the time. You're sharp, aren't you, Makoto."
The girl known as Junko smiled at him, and Makoto smiled back. He assumed she was the younger sister, since she seemed to be wearing a school uniform, but he couldn't be quite sure, since Mukuro only really looked a year or two older at most... But she knew Jin, which was weird in itself. As far as Makoto remembered, they'd never been to Garren Mach.
"Sorry, the movement just caught my eye. Too much time on the battlefield, I guess." Makoto turned back to the Archbishop.
"My, someone as plain as me would never even think of that!" The Archbishop seemed pleased.
"What's this about, Tsumugi?" Jin let out a tired sigh.
"Always quick to cut to the chase, aren't you, Jin?" Tsumugi's smile didn't change, but the air about her did. "The truth is, I really just wanted to thank you, but something has come up."
"Our new captain of the guard, who was also supposed to be a teacher at the Officer's Academy, ran off when the students were attacked," Mukuro said. "So his contract is terminated. Immediately."
From the way she said it, it seemed like a lot more than his contract would be terminated, but the church wouldn't do that, right?
"So, you're saying you want me to take up my old job back... And teach at the Officer's Academy."
"Actually," Tsumugi said. "I think it is best to split up the position. After all, being a teacher is a busy job, and I don't want the captain's duties to interfere with it. We had just been put in a precarious position."
"You have someone else in mind for the professor position." Jin said. A statement, not a question.
"Yes." Tsumugi responded. "Makoto."
The world seemed to stop for a moment.
"Um, sorry," Makoto said. "What about me?"
"I would like you to take on the position of professor, here at the academy."
"Lady Tsumugi." Mukuro said through gritted teeth. "We don't know anything about this boy."
"But we know Jin. And you heard the students' testimonies." Tsumugi nodded. "I think Makoto would do a wonderful job here."
"It's true that field experience is better than any textbook." A voice came from behind them, and Makoto turned to look. He'd been too distracted to notice the new arrivals. A man with blond hair tinged with green, wearing clothes that would be more appropriate for an adventurer than someone working for the church, and a prime and proper blond woman, her hands folded neatly in front of her chest.
"I agree with Professor Amami." the woman said, then nodded towards Makoto. "Kirumi Tojo. I am a professor here. I run the infirmary as well."
"And I'm Rantaro Amami." the man put his hands on his hips. "Professor, former adventurer, and a bit of crest hobbyist."
"Um. It's a pleasure." Makoto bowed awkwardly.
"Now, no need to be so formal." Rantaro waved him off. "After all, you'll be our colleague soon enough, right?"
"I, I don't know, I don't think I should-"
"Makoto." Archbishop Tsumugi said, and Makoto looked back at her. Her voice had an odd sincerity that he couldn't help but want to believe in. "I will not force either you nor Jin to stay. But if you could... I think you would be an amazing professor."
"Yeah, all those years of being a mercenary are gonna give you a whole new perspective on teaching, one that none of us can match." Rantaro looked at Mukuro with a smirk. "Don't you agree, Mukuro?"
Mukuro stayed quiet, but the younger sister, Junko, piped up. "I mean, I wanna see this guy teach."
"You're not a student here." Mukuro said.
"I could be." Junko hung off her arm and looked at her with a smarmy little smirk.
"No." Mukuro shook his head. "But if everyone else is in agreement, then I must agree to having Makoto Naegi be a professor at the Academy."
"What do you say, Makoto?" The archbishop said in a quiet and eventone. "Our students are the hope of Fó dlan. A teacher like you can only be a blessing from the Goddess."
Makoto looked to Jin for guidance, but the older man just shook his head, and Makoto intuitively knew that this was his decision to make.
But it was a decision that he didn't make alone. Usami's voice, quiet and light, rang in his inner mind, and he couldn't quite make up the words, but he knew what it meant.
"I'll do it, Archbishop," he said, a strange feeling in his chest. Maybe it was hope after all. "I'll be a professor at the Academy."