Hello. This is my first crack at a Valkyria Chronicles story. This game is just... awesome. Please agree! Anyway, this is my story for my OC, or Original Character. This isn't perfect and there may be a mistake or two every once in a while relating to the story line and canon, as well as stuff according to the bio. Also, this is a big flashback chapter, just to give background. I don't want this story to be a fail, so tell me what you think, please.

Note: I had a re-write. I felt this chapter was too rushed, so I hope you find this one better. Chapter 2 will be up in a couple of days.

Sometimes, people need to go through some trial and error to succeed. There's always a couple obstacles from our path. For one soldier on the Gallian Army during its time of war. he's been met with a few too many obstacles and errors. But, he, as well as every other man and woman in the Gallian Militia, is an ordinary person, bestowed with extraordinary skills and unmatched loyalty to his or her country. Right now, this soldier is yet to find his true potential. This is his story...

At the outskirts of Randgriz, the great capital of Gallia, there lied a soldier, dreaming of things to come. Peter Rothchild was reflecting on the events that had just transpired over the last few weeks.

"A lots changed in just a month," Peter thought.

*Flashback*

Lying in the grass and taking a deep breath of the fresh country air, Peter Rothchild sat currently enjoying the environment. Peter was a young man, aged 19. A common age for a Bruhl Town Watchman. Not too old. Not too young. Just right. He had short brown frazzled hair, underneath his blue hunting cap he wore on head. He was just a country guy, and proud of it. He looked at the soothing and calming sight of the windmills off in the distance. His basking in the country almost distracted him from the real reason why he came out here to the first place. He soon saw his next target. Peter grabbed his rifle and took aim. He slowly aimed toward the head of the creature, waiting for a chance to hit it, an with it, his pay. He squeezed the trigger, and the animal fell over with a light thud. Quite pleased with himself, he took his survival knife, and cut off any unnesecary load, and put the creature's body in a large sack. Peter was just making his way back to Bruhl from his regular hunting duty. He just bagged his latest quarry, a rather decent sized deer, that will no doubt sell for a good deal of money to the butcher, not to mention provide he and his mother with a decent sized meal. Soon after, he'd go back to being a watchman for the Bruhl Partol. Helping out the people, having your own gun, putting food on the table, and being in a nice small country town where everybody knows your name... yeah, this was the life.

As he walked through the town, Peter was greeted by the town's smiles and hellos. Being the local hunter and all is an important job, and it's nice for the people to recognize that. Peter just can't stand city folk. He made his way to the butcher, got his pay, and some venision to boot. He then went to the old Town Watch station, where he often spent time at, when he had nothing better to do. He soon saw his friend, Daniel Kappelhoff.

"Dan, hey what's up?" Peter cheerfully greeted.

"Hey man. Long time, no see, eh?" Dan replied.

"Hey, I was busy hunting, alright? It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. Anyway, you hear anything from the watch?"

"Tough? For you? Dude, you're like... one of the best shots in Bruhl! Maybe THE best in the Town Watch!"

"Dan, I'm really not all that great. I'm pretty sure Alicia is the best shot in the Watch. I'm actually a bit horrible under pressure. Not to mention a bit clumsy. Remember the time I almost shot Jean at that one time during drill practice?" Peter said, rather embarrased at recalling that fiasco.

"Yeah, I remember that. Good times."

"But you still didn't answer my question. Did the Watch report anthing new today?" Peter said, getting slightly annoyed.

"Well, the Watch, as well as intelligence from nearby military outposts, say the Imps are coming to invade. Today or tomorrow, no less."

"What? Those damn Imperials don't learn, do they? You don't think the Imps are going to really do it... right? Just a bluff?" Peter said, nervousness rising immensely in his voice. He heard the rumors, but could they be possibly true?

"I'm not sure what to believe any more."

Suddenly an alarm blared through the town. The Watchmen started murmuring to each other, before having a sudden realization of what was happening, and they evacuated the area, shouting things to the towns people.

"What the hell is that? I forgot what that alarm meant," Dan said casually amongst the confusion and choas going over a single blaring sound.

"That's the evacuation alarm... My god... could it be actually happening...?" Peter said, fear evident in his voice.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Dan said, rather uncaringly.

Peter rushed out to see the Town Watch yelling out to people, telling them to evacuate. That they had 24 hours or less till the Imperials arrive. So it's true. The war is starting. He saw people, trying to pack their entire lives in just mere hours. It just happened so fast. How could the Watch just keep this from them? Even from their own officers? Things just seemed to not make sense anymore in a mere couple of minutes. He didn't know, but he doubted it would really matter now. Demanding answers, Peter rushed back inside the station. Several senior officers were at the conference room, having heated discussions.

"We need Gallia's military to come now! When are they expected to arrive?" asked one of the Watchmen.

"I'm not sure. They've got some issues being taken care of, and they expect delays. Maybe... Optimistically, tomorrow," replied another.

"Tomorrow?! Our citizens will be dead by then! We need to act fast! I will not stand for our citizens to be the first casualties of this war!"

"Er... Excuse, but what's going on?" Peter timidly interrupted.

"Peter! Get the hell out, now! This is none of your concern," the head of the Town Watch yelled.

Peter cowarded a bit, before stepping up. "Sir, I am a Watchman too. It is our duty to protect Bruhl, and I believe I have a right to know what the hell is going on!"

There was more conversing between the guards, before they agreed.

"Fine, but we know very little as it is. Randgriz has recently contacted us, saying that Imperial forces are on their way. It was an invasion. They were following this lead for a week now, but they waited until now to tell us."

"That's bullshit!" Peter shouted.

"I know. They claimed that they wanted proof of such a force, before telling us. They want proof? They'll get proof, when the blood of our citizens is on their hands!" the officer shouted.

"That's enough! Peter, I know you have a lot of questions, but please... leave us. We need to discuss these matters in private. Help guide the citizens in the evacuation effort," another Watchman said.

"How do you expect to evacuate a whole town in a day?" Peter asked.

"We don't know..." he said honestly.

Peter felt the dark, forlorn atmosphere of the room, and decided it was for the best that he leave. He walked outside. For now, Peter was just directing traffic, both people and vehicles. Several questions still ran through his mind, and how come the report from Randgriz had to be so vague? His train of thought was interrupted by a feminine cry.

"Peter!"

Peter turned to see his friend, Susie Evans, run frantically over to him. She was another girl in the town watch, though something of a pacifist oddly enough. She probably joined just to help the people, in other ways than using a gun.

"Susie, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I... I think I saw a s...SPY!" she cried.

"What?!" Peter exclaimed.

"He's at Dabos Bridge! I told Alicia. She and another Watchman are there, but..."

"Susie, calm down. Stop worrying. They can handle it."

"But what if he's armed? I... I'm scared. Is there really going to be a war going on?" Susie said slightly shaking.

"Don't worry, Susie. Alicia, you, and everyone's going to be okay. I promise you," Peter said. He often found that he needed to comfort her, in times like this. Like brother of some sorts. Though nothing can describe the time when a war could possibly be impending. She nodded, as she watched Peter run over to the outskirts of town, where this "spy" was supposedly held.

After making his way around crowds of people, Peter managed to spot Alicia in the bushes a few hours later by the river.

"Alicia! Hey!" Peter yelled.

"Peter! God, what are you doing here? Never mind, just get over here!" Alicia said, trying to whisper loudly.

"What?!" he continued to yell.

"Keep your voice down, or shut the hell up! Do you want to alert the enemy? Get over here! God... I swear..."

Peter saw a man in a brown jacket sketching and writing stuff in a notebook. This no doubt is the would-be spy. He slowly crawled, being as stealthly as possible. He saw another Town Watchman accompanying Alicia.

"There he is. On three, we get him from behind... ready... one... two... three!"

The trio of Watchmen ran over. Alicia pointed her gun at the back of the man's head.

"Freeze! Raise your arm slowly, and turn around!" Alicia shouted. Completely caught off guard, the "spy" quickly complied. "We're from the Bruhl Patrol. What are you doing here?"

"Huh? I was just sketching the light trouts," he replied, as if not sure what's going on.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Alicia asked him.

"Er... is something wrong?" he asked dumbly.

"Show me your notebook," Alicia asked assertively.

The man hesitantly her the book. She looked inside, and Peter did as well, simply curious of what was happening.

"What code is this?" Alicia demanded.

"You don't know about light trouts? Every spring they swim upstream. The sketch was done, because those near Bruhl have a special pattern, plus today is especially warm!"

"Right... I'm confiscating this..." Alicia said, putting the book in her pocket.

"What?! You can't just do that!" the man shouted. Alicia promtly pointed her gun to shut him up.

Peter pulled the book from Alicia's pocket and inspected it. "Alicia, this guy's actually right. That patter is used to determine their pattern for-"

"Peter! Stop supporting the enemy! That's what he wants you to think! And give me that book back!" she said, snatching the book from his hands. Alicia ordered the two Watchmen to tie the spy up with some rope. Peter wasn't really paying any attention to the conversation after that. They walked toward the road leading to Bruhl. Overhearing a conversation, Peter hears the "spy's" name to be Welkin Gunther.

"Gunther... that sounds familiar," he thought.

They continued down the road, until suddenly, a couple shots were fired, and the watchman accompanying Alicia fell dead the the ground. Peter was confused, and was looking everywhere desparately for the shooters. Off in the distance, Peter could see a couple of soldiers clad in armor. There were three of them. Scouts from the look of it.

"Imperials, 10 O'clock!" Peter yelled. The three ducked behind a fence. Peter tried firing, but, he found his hands to be shaky, and for some reason, was unable to shoot. Peter tried desparately firing his gun, but when he pull the trigger, the shot misses horribly. He was "under pressure" so to speak. When he was extremely nervous, such as firing in the heat of a shootout, or impress a superior, Peter always found himself crack down when it came to firing a gun. He has recently become better at controlling it, though that didn't mean the problem was removed.

"Peter, what's your problem?" Alicia asked.

"I... I don't know!" Peter blurted, not knowing, nor caring enough to give an answer.

Alicia tossed the rifle from the dead Watchman over to Welkin, as he too helped join the fight against the Imps.

"Maybe this guy's not so bad," Peter thought. As soon as he thought it, he regrets it, as he sees Welkin take down an enemy scout. "Damn it! I get upstaged by a civilian?!" Peter thought, outraged.

Alicia, Peter, and this "Welkin" guy faught hard, and eventually came out on top.

"Er... Ms. Malchiott.... What do you want to do with the bodies?" Peter asked, eying the three dead Imperials, and the dead Watchman.

"Bury them..." she merely mumbled.

"Bury them? How the hell am I supposed to do that?! I have no shovel, or anything!" Peter said, surprised at her words. "We should be burning these Imps' bodies!" Peter wasn't really aware of how harsh and unccarring his words were, until they left his mouth.

Alicia merely mumbled something back, more to herself than to anyone else. The look she had was forlorn and sad... Peter wasn't used to seeing Alicia like that, though neither of them were exactly used to seeing people die before them.

"Uhhh.... Should I be going now?" Peter asked, unsure of what to do with himself at this point. Alicia merely nodded without bothering to look at him.

Peter ran back to Bruhl, only to see some of it already destroyed. The seige had begun. The twin mills Bruhl was famous for were now mere skeletons of themselves, as they were being bombarded by mortar. Already, he could hear screams of people.

"My god! They're here? Already? Son of a bitch!" he yelled. Storming through crowds of frenzied townspeople, he made his way to see some Town Watch being slaughtered by the more well-armed, well-trained soldiers of the Imperial Army. It was sickening, seeing the people you worked with dying, for their town, and they were killed for what? Money? Power? Resources? But of course, it had to be the Ragnite. Gallia had the greatest Ragnite resource in all Gallia. To think a multi-purpose mineral was worth more to some than that of human lives. Peter ran, giving covering fire along the way. He didn't know where he was exactly headed. Just instinct. The town was looking like a warzone, and Peter needed to act fast. He would once in a while shoot an enemy soldier with his not-so-trusty rifle. Mostly missing, but he was amazed when he could actually hit a soldier, and maybe even kill one. He'd soon realize his confidence was growing, slowly, but at a steady pace. Peter slowly realized that instinct was leading him to his house, where he and his mother reside. Peter busted the door down, and saw no one in the room. He shouted out for his mom, but no response. Some of the stuff, including a couple of photos and pictures were gone, but the place still looked mostly furnished. Peter hoped for the best, and prayed his mother be safe. Peter went to his room and grabbed a satchel, and put some of his personal affects in there. He'd need to pick the stuff wisely, as this was probably the last time he'd see them ever again. As he was walking out, Peter felt himself step on something, followed by a yelp. He looked down to see a foot, with the rest of the body hiding behind a curtain. Peter cautiously aimed the gun, and pulled the curtain away.

"Please, don't hurt me!" the figure begged.

He saw large, teary eyes respond to him. Relived, Peter was glad that it was only Susie.

"Susie, it's me! Peter! What are you doing in my house?"

"I... I was hoping to find you. Please, you must help me! There's shooting, people dying... I never should've the patrol This is hopeless!" she cried.

"Susie, I'm here now! Everything's going to be alright-"

"You say that all the time!" she interrupted. "Is there really any certainty to those words at this point?"

"I promise you. You're gonna make it out of here." Peter felt awful inside, because he was really unsure if he could really live up to those words.

"Are... are we going to get shot at?"

"Not if I shoot them first!" Peter said, in a cocky tone. Susie wasn't convinced just yet, but she had no other options to fall back on at the moment. To Susie, Peter was always a friend, almost like a big brother, who stood up for and protected her.

Peter and Susie tried running for cover, amidst the firing coming from both sides of the conflict. They always stayed behind sandbag walls, and from the cover of buildings. Along the way, Susie often had to hold Peter's hand. Not for guidance, but for comfort. At times Peter felt like he was guiding a child. But in the end, he wouldn't have it any other way. They navigated the town's complex, Peter taking a shot at any Imperials he could get his sights on. Susie had a pistol, though she was too timid to use it. Soon enough, Peter ran out of ammo, and Susie and Peter were pinned behing a sandbag wall.

"Peter, what are we going to do?!" Susie said in desparation.

"Susie, do you have any grenades or ammo? I'm all out of rifle rounds and grenades."

She shook her head. Peter cursed under his breath, and was all out of options. The only sort of offensive option he had was throwing bricks and rocks, and he doubted that'd get him anywhere.

"Damn... is this it? Are we screwed?" Peter asked aloud. Susie frowned at that comment, usually she giving up, before he would.

Just when he almost lost all hope, a blue tank busted through a wall. The tank bore the Gallian flag on it, and Peter couldn't help but cheer as the tank mowed down the foot soldiers with ease. Peter was filled with joy, as he saw the perfectly timed savior defeat the helpless Imperials. Even more shocking, was Alicia popping up from the hatch!

"What the hell? Alicia, where in the hell did you get that tank?" Peter said, dumbfounded.

"Long story, short: Our spy is not a spy, he is related to the great General Gunther, and he has access to a high-tech prototype tank," Alicia said quickly, while dispatching an Imp with her rifle. "Listen, there's no time to chat; Me and Welkin have to get to the Mill Plaza and save the town... or at least buy some time for the Watch and the citizens."

Alicia went back inside the tank, and the Gallian tank zipped away, rather fast.

"Wait! God damn it! Could we at least get a lift?" Peter asked, but to no avail. The tank moved away, firing its gun and canon. Since the tank came through, Alicia left a good clear way for Peter and Susie to follow through. Peter saw Susie get a little uneasy at the sight of the Imperial's, as well as the Town Watch's bodies littered on the streets. He merely kept hold of her hand, just hoping she'd not focus on it.

"Look!" Susie said.

With such luck, Susie found a supply truck, which Peter and Susie could make an escape. As Peter got on the driver's seat, he began wondering how to drive a car, since the need never really arised.

"Let's see, what does this stick do?"

He set the stick to "R" and he ended up going backwards.

"How 'bout this?"

He set it to "P" and he didn't move at all.

"What the hell is up with this freaking useless vehicle?!" Peter yelled in frustration.

Susie quickly set the stick the correct way, and Peter was able to drive forward with no problems.

"I swear to God... I can drive a freakin' tank, but yet, I can't drive a simple stick shift on a standard car..."

He started driving. It's a miracle the car had the keys inside, and that would've caused even more problems for Peter than he already had. He drove his way out the rear gates of Bruhl.

A lot was going through Peter Rothchild's mind at the moment. He worried for the sake of his mother, how Dan's doing, and where the hell that tank came from. But most of all, his favorite country town was now destroyed.

"My god... a city under seige already? In less than an hour... " Peter mumbled to himself.

"I hope Alicia is okay..." Susie said.

"I'm sure she is. If anyone can take on Imperials and live through it, it'd be her. Plus she had that Super-Tank. I've never seen such a thing. I bet it could take on a whole Imperial Armor Division."

"I hope so... where are we going?"

"The Gallian capital... Randgriz..." Peter said, as he saw a road sign, pointing the way.

"Why?"

"Hell, I don't even know. Join the militia maybe, who knows?" A lot was going through his mind right now. At the moment, Peter wouldn't want anything more than to get away from this conflict, but then again, he instantaneously harbored a newfound hatred of the Empire.

"Why would you join the militia?" she said. "I mean... won't you be fighting in the war? Getting shot at? Experiance Bruhl a hundred times worse?!" Susie continued.

"Because, a couple of hours ago, Europa War II just started, and right about now, my country needs me. Beside... We're officially refugees now. We'll need 'relief' and stuff." Peter said, just focusing on the now, rather than later.

*End Flashback*

"Private 1st Class, Peter Rothchild! Get your ass over here, now!"

Peter was broken from his trance, as he realized thevoice of his lieutenet shouting.

"Oh geez... I'm in deep shit..." Peter mumbled, knowing full well why he was being called. He ran over to meet Squad 3's leader for a "chat," or in other words, being chastised and getting chewed by a complete asshole. This wouldn't end well...

Okay. That was chapter 1. After a re-write, I feel satisfied with my final result now, though I feel a couple touches are missing. However, that is for you, the reader, to decide. Also, in the Anime, Susie is a member of the Bruhl Town watch, so I put that element in there, just to give more character. If you have any requests, suggestions, and the like, please say so in review or PM. I know it's not much just yet, but please review!