Well, here is the rewrite of the first chapter. The original version of this was kind of awful, but I hope that I made this one much better despite the boredom of rewriting something you have already done. I'll be leaving the other chapters as-is, so this rewrite will hopefully be a fair hint of the quality in later chapters and keep some of you guys going. Honestly, at this point chapters 2 and 3 should be taken as borderline filler, since some of the points made in them are useless and in some cases incorrect now.

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Fire Emblem.

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Nothingness, darkness, that was all I could see and feel. There was no sound, no smell, no sensation, only my own thoughts, a disembodied voice echoing inside my head. The only way I could describe this state was… death?

But if that was true, shouldn't I be seeing pearly gates, or flames burning endlessly? Shouldn't I be hearing the cheers of the blessed or the wails of the damned, or something?

The idea of Hell was a terrifying prospect, but at least then there would be something. The idea of pure nothingness was even more terrifying. I was alone with my own thoughts. Would even my own mind grow silent over time?

But among all of these questions was one that was even more important: How did I die in the first place? I could remember getting up in the morning and preparing for my classes, but everything past that was simply a blur.

Before I could finish contemplating this, I was wrapped up in a warm glow. It seemed as if there would be something for me after all, but what would it be?

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The first thing I felt was the pleasant breeze flowing by. I opened my eyes and looked around. The sky was perfectly clear, a deep azure blue. Flowers filled the clearing, leaving scarcely a shred of green. I raised my hand to see the usual pale tone of my hand. Wait, something seemed off about that, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Best not to worry about what we can't hope to answer."

Who the hell are you?

"I am a shadow, the true self… pfft. I am your shadow, you can call me Shade if you like. It is my job to lead you through the journey at hand."

Journey?

I looked up to see a woman reaching out towards me. Wait, was that Naga?

I grabbed her hand and pulled myself up. "Naga? But I thought I was in…"

"Heaven?" Naga finished for me. "I am sorry, dear child, but you can not rest quite yet. You lost your life so early, but I plan to give you a second chance."

A second chance? Was I in a bad fanfiction or something?

"Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, I suppose."

Well, this certainly didn't feel like a dream. "What is this second chance?"

"I believe that you are already aware."

I sighed "Ylisse"

"That is correct. Do you accept?"

The idea of going to another world, even one that I was aware of, was not a fond one. However "If I'll get a second chance, then I will take your offer. Are there others?"

Naga nodded with a smile "Yes, there are seven others. They each have varying amounts of experience, but they were all handpicked by me."

"And what do I have to face? I am certain that you wouldn't pull us in this if we were talking about the normal Awakening."

"Grima has brought four troops of his own. The powers I will grant you are great, but those of the Fell dragons are terrible. If left alone, they will raze this world. With the eight of you, I am interfering as much as the powers that be will allow, and yet I still fear for your chances."

"Why is Grima doing this? Is he truly that evil?"

A doubtful look formed in Naga's eyes "I would like to tell you that those were his reasons, for that is what I had once believed, but I am now unsure. His reasons for doing this are just as confusing for me as they are for you, if not more. I had always thought he was just as much of a monster as his father, but is he truly?"

I decided to get things moving along, it was pointless for me to ask questions that could not be answered for me. "What do I have to work with?"

Naga pulled out a blade and a dark tome. The blade was a saber with the tip of a rapier, able to slash fairly well and to jab with a lot of force. The blade was mostly black, with a blood red tint taking parts of the edges. It was a length of about three feet, not particularly long but not necessarily short either. The weapon had a basket hilt made of obsidian to guard my hand as well, probably the best feature of the blade. The blade held a dark aura to it, causing it to contrast greatly with the field we were in.

I guessed that the same could be said for the flux tome, and myself for that matter. My hair was black and my eyes were yellow, I was wearing a black cloak. Everything about me screamed darkness and death, clashing with the aura of light and life around me.

"The blade's name is Yamikiri, the darkness-piercing blade. Rather odd name for a weapon made of dark magic, isn't it? I suppose it's fitting for us. You are a youkai after all- a being who gives off the impression of a wraith. Youkai are similar to a tactician in fighting style, however they focus more on speed and precision and less on defenses, a distinction that can either be very useful or very hurtful depending on the situation. The Youkai were considered demons in many cultures due to their dark powers and ghostly demeanors, causing the majority of them to disappear, never passing on their secrets to others."

"I can use magic?" I asked looking towards the tome.

"There are many gifts that I have granted you. That time of 'nothingness' you experienced was me giving you these gifts. In addition, you have a certain power that was thrown in."

"Power."

"You will find out soon enough, child. I would like to teach you about these gifts, but I am afraid that we do not have the time to spare. I wish you well in your journey, Kira.

The world around me began to fade, and within moments everything was gone and all I could do was fall.

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I landed in the middle of a forest, with the trees breaking my fall. Nothing seemed to be broken, but I was still battered from all the branches hitting me. Well, battered is better than dead, I suppose.

Well at least I'm not in a burning village, and I'm alone.

Scratch that last one, there were two brigands nearby. The first, a cavalier, saw me and charged. He was within the range that I could probably hit him with a flux, out how exactly would I do that?

I felt a surge of power as a missile of dark energy flew out of my hand. Sadly, rather than hitting the cavalier it merely hit a tree, causing it to explode. Of course it wouldn't be that easy, although I certainly didn't expect that of all things. Poor tree.

I dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding the cavalier's lance.

The cavalier, having missed with his charge, was forced to turn around. This gave me the perfect opportunity to rush in and slash the horse's leg, incapacitating it.

The cavalier got off of his horse and brandished his lance. I narrowly avoided a jab, taking a graze along my shoulder. I winced as I ducked under his lance and grabbed right under the head. That was easier than expected, I thought the triangle would screw me over.

"Thats our base skill, adaptation: nullifies negative triangle effects."

Well, that would make things easier.

I felt the cavalier struggle to pull the lance from my hands, and I knew I would have to act quickly. I wasn't very strong, so my grip wouldn't last. I dug my blade into the man's throat, and a large amount of blood began to pour from the man's throat.

Oh God I just killed someone!

"It's kill or be killed, you can mourn later!"

I was forced to listen to my shadow as a myrmidon jumped out from behind the trees. The myrmidon struck with his sword as I tried to roll out of the way, landing a long slash along my back. I struck out in response, but the myrmidon easily dodged out of the way. It seemed that he was immensely faster than the cavalier, although that probably should have been obvious.

The myrmidon struck again in an upward slash which I narrowly parried. I jabbed at his head, and he simply tilted his head towards the right before pushing his blade against mine and turning me around completely.

I jumped into a roll, feeling the pain of another slash running down my back. As I rolled, I hit a root which knocked me up into the air, rolling me onto my back.

The myrmidon was standing over me with his sword brandished. As the strike came down, I hastily raised my hands, feeling a pulse of energy running through me. A flux spell flew from my hands, directly hitting the myrmidon's face from point blank. The man's blade dropped to the ground beside me.

I stood up, feeling an immense amount of pain. I looked around and saw the destruction I had caused. I killed two men, there were now two men dead by my hands.

"This is what you signed up for, isn't it? You knew when you accepted Naga's offer that you would have to kill people, didn't you? If you want to stand a chance against Grima's troops, you will have to be able to at least fight without so much hesitation. If you want to survive, if you want this world to survive, taking lives will be a requirement. Not ones or even tens of lives, but hundreds. Sometimes, the only path to peace is war."

I know, but-

"No buts. Survive and thrive or lie and die, those are your options."

I saw the shapes of more soldiers heading towards my position. There was no way of telling whether they were friend or foe.

"I suppose this is the best time for you to make the choice, isn't it?"

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Well, this was much shorter than I would have liked, but it is better than the original version and I don't think I have the patience needed to rewrite any more. It still follows the same outline of the original, but now Naga is at least more in-character and certain details were handled better or taken out.

For those of you that wish to stay, see you next chapter!