Chapter 1

Odin's eyes snapped open the moment the sunlight gleamed through the windows, shining on his face. The man sat up abruptly, unable to wipe the smile from his face.

It was finally time. He was heading home.

The Dark mage had been living in Nohr for a few years now, serving as a retainer to Leo, one of the Nohrian Princes. Following their victory over the Hoshidan forces and unmasking of the true King Garon, himself, Selena, and Laslow had taken Corrin and the others down to Valla, managing to defeat Anankos with the combined strength of Nohr and the remaining Hoshidan forces. Now, his purpose was finally complete. It was time to return home.

"Odie, it's too early…" A muffled voice next to him complained. The Dark mage turned over to see his wife, Elise, stuffing her head into her pillow. Her long blonde hair was out of its usual pigtails, flowing messily all over the bed they shared. He gently poked at her ribs, trying to prod the Princess into getting up.

"No time is too early today, my darling!" The mage insisted. "We have quite the journey across space and time ahead of us today!"

Elise grumbled inaudibly, finally rolling over and slowly sitting up, rubbing her eyes. The usually cheerful Princess leaned over to rest her head on Odin's shoulder, smiling contentedly.

"I'm happy that you're so excited," She told the man, "But I can't help but feel nervous…to meet your family, and all!"

Odin rolled his eyes. "I've already told you, they're gonna love you!" He replied. "Father and Mother will be so excited to see how short you are!"

Elise giggled. "I love you, you dork." She mumbled with a sleepy smile, nuzzling her head up against the man's shoulder.

After getting his things prepared, Odin went and found Prince Leo and Niles to personally say goodbye. The two of them had been quite good friends to him over the years.

"I would never admit it, but you're going to be hard to replace, Odin." Leo explained with a slight smile. "You and Niles may be a tad…eccentric, but you're both quite valuable to me. As warriors… and as friends of mine. I'll truly miss you."

Niles chuckled slightly at his Prince. "Oh please, Lord Leo, we'll be perfectly fine without our bumbling mage here. After all, it just gives more time for you and I to spend together…"

Leo blushed slightly in embarrassment, giving Odin and Niles a good laugh. The conversation then returned to a more serious demeanour as Leo turned his attention back to Odin.

"So…Ylisse, huh? I can't say I've ever heard of that place… I read through half of Nohr's library and still couldn't find an inkling of such a realm," He remarked, a shade of skepticism bleeding through his voice.

Odin nodded in reply. He didn't want to mess with time by telling his friends too much, but he was 'in the past' while in Nohr, judging from some of the events he had seen. As far as he could tell, the Ylisse in their universe would be just finishing the fight against Grima. However, it was hard to be sure of anything, and nothing was more dangerous than messing with the timeline. It was best if he left his Nohrian comrades in the dark as much as possible.

Later in the day, Odin and the others assembled in front of Castle Krakenburg. Heading back to Ylisse with the couple were Laslow, Selena, and their daughter, Soleil. Odin and Elise's daughter, Ophelia, was married to Corrin, and thus made the decision to stay behind with her husband and their young daughter, Kana.

The family hugged each other in one last tight embrace before leaving. Ophelia was sobbing uncontrollably at this point, realizing the possibility that she may never see her parents ever again. Kana, her daughter, was standing nearby, also balling her eyes out. Corrin was behind her, rubbing his daughter's shoulders.

"Don't worry, Ophelia…" Odin told her, "We'll find a way to come visit or something, somehow. I promise."

This declaration was only met with more sobs from Odin's daughter, much to the chagrin of her parents.

"I…I promise I'll make you proud, father! F-for you…and all the other chosen ones!" She wailed.

Odin smiled. "I know you will, Ophelia," He calmly replied. "You are my daughter, after all."

There were many others also gathered nearby to send off their friends. Leo, Camilla, and Xander were saying goodbye to their youngest sibling, unsure of if they would ever see her again. It was, overall, a bittersweet moment for everyone.

"Before you go, you should take this with you," Corrin suggested, passing a small winged staff to Elise.

"But…this is the Bifrost!" Elise protested. "I can't-"

Corrin shook his head. "It's not doing us any good just sitting here," He retorted. "Use it if you need to, though I hope that day never comes."

"What does that do, Papa?" Kana asked curiously, eyes sparkling as she gazed at the shining staff.

"It can bring back the dead," Corrin told his daughter with a bit of a smile. "But…only if used shortly after someone's death. If you wait too long…that person is gone, and there is nothing you can do to save them. We found this in the Hoshidan treasures, but unfortunately, we found it too late for me to use it to save Ryoma…the staff only has one use, but if used properly, it could save someone's life."

"Which is why you should keep it here, I think." Laslow spoke up. "I mean, I doubt we'll have any use for it over there…everything was pretty calm when we left."

"Just take it." Corrin insisted. "Consider it a parting gift, all right?"

Elise nodded, clutching the staff close to her chest. Ophelia finally walked back to join Corrin, who pulled her into a tight embrace.

Odin turned to the others, holding out the mystic blue Orb that would take them home.

"Now then…put your hands on, everyone. Its finally time."

The dark mage turned to the Nohrians assembled around him, managing a bittersweet smile. "We will meet again someday…the darkness within me has decreed it!" He called to them; as the group slowly evaporated into thin air, disappearing into the wind, and across time, back to their home.

Hey everyone. It's been a while.

It took quite some times, but I finally decided to upload this story. For those who don't know, I finished this long ago on my own but never uploaded it onto this site. As mentioned in the description, it serves as the finale to my previous works (The Princess and Her Frogs, The Tactician, the Princess, the Sword Hand and the Dreamer, and A Light in the Darkness). It's worth noting that this story does include characters from other games in the Fire Emblem series as well - I tried not to add too many, as not to make the cast too bloated, but I'll leave who shows up as a surprise for now.

This was/is my first attempt at my own completely original storyline, so any criticisms on what I can improve or what you would like to see are of course greatly appreciated. This story also sees the death of quite a few characters who were integral to some of my previous stories, so I apologize in advance if I ended up killing off one of your favourite characters.

Thanks for stopping by, and reading. The first...10 chapters or so should go up in fairly quick succession, as there is very little I have to change from them. After that, expect a more usual upload schedule as I'm changing some of the plot from my original draft of this story.

I hope you will stick around and continue to support this story as I write it.

-Nate