Hello guys and girls. I know it's been a while but I'm finally back. In case you're wondering, this is going to be a rewrite of my previous Fire Emblem story, The Princess's Tactician. I wasn't completely satisfied with how it turned out, so I decided to rewrite it and make some changes. It's going to have a slight plot change, and I hope you all have patience with me, since I have to balance this with some college work. I also want to apologize for the amount of time I've had you guys waiting. I never expected to make my hiatus as long as it turned out, but circumstances that I can't divulge led to the hiatus being longer than I expected. I'll try to not let the same thing happen again. Thanks for understanding everyone.

Pre-Prologue: Saying Goodbye…

It's been two years since the war against Nergal and the dragon ended. The memories of the war still burn intensely in everyone's hearts. One memory in particular was the loss and death of Athos. However, even in death, his legacy lived on and he would continue to live on in everyone's memory.

Not all things that came out of the war were bad however. From the ashes of war came happiness for many of the brave warriors. Ninian, who was persuaded by Nils to stay behind, began her life with Eliwood by his side. Hector and Lyn, despite their differences, worked together to restore Caelin to its former glory. Eventually, the two finally accepted the feelings they had and began to live their lives together. Among the other couples that formed were Kent and Fiora, Florina and Sain, Wil and Rebecca, Heath and Priscilla, and Serra and Erk.

A month after the campaign, Eliwood succeeded his father as Marquess, and shortly after, he and Ninian got married. Just like Eliwood, Hector succeeded his brother and married Lyn two months later. As for Lyn, she spent her days working to restore Caelin back to its former glory, all the meanwhile spending some well-earned time with her grandfather. After marrying Hector, she began to realize that she would have to make a decision on whether she would stay in Caelin. Eventually, Lyn's grandfather retired and Lyn made her decision. She decided to live with Hector and allowed Kent to take over as Marquess of Caelin. A month later, her grandfather passed away from old age, but despite the sadness, Lyn was able to overcome it with the support of Hector and the man that had supported her since she met him lying unconscious in a plain. This man was the same man that fought alongside her, Eliwood, and Hector and led them to victory against Nergal.

This man's name is Kouga. An expert in the way of the sword and a master tactician, he remained undefeated in the battlefield, though when asked about it, he replied that he couldn't have done it without his comrades. Even though he could've simply led from the sidelines, he refused to let others fight alone, which led to him joining his companions in the front lines. Thanks to the many battles they fought together side-by-side, Kouga was able to make friends of every one of his comrades, including some of the more quiet fellows. Out of all his friends, the closest were the three lords, Heath, Karel, and Jaffar. In honor of his accomplishments, he was given the title of The Prince of Tactics.

Wherever he went, he'd find people searching for him for his talents. Eventually, it got so competitive that small conflicts arose among the lands. Things eventually settled down when Kouga, having grown tired of all the conflict, finally told everyone that he had no intention of doing what they wanted of him.

Instead, Kouga wandered the lands searching for new experiences. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that staying in Elibe wouldn't give him the answers he was searching for, since he had already experienced everything Elibe had to offer. He also wanted to get away from his fame.

And so, we find our hero standing in front of the boat that would take him to Magvel, a continent south of Elibe, where he hoped to begin a new life. Standing in front of him were some of his closest friends that were able to catch up to him before he left: Lyn, Karel, Heath, and Jaffar.

Lyn walked up to Kouga and hugged him before saying, "Must you leave Kouga?"

Kouga smiled down sadly at her before saying, "I'm sorry Lyn, but I want to explore new things. I think that by going to Magvel, I'll be able to do just that. Don't worry I'll make sure to write often."

Caressing her cheek, Kouga smiled and continued, "I wish I could stay, but I feel like I should do this. I'll miss you dearly Lyn. You gave a new chance at life and I fear to think what would have become of me if you hadn't found me in those plains that fateful day."

Lyn leaned to his touch and held his hand, shedding a tear as she said, "I understand. I'm going to miss you dearly Kouga. If it weren't for you, I'd probably have stayed in that little hut forever. I wouldn't have made all the friends I did and I wouldn't have gotten the chance to meet my grandfather. I'll forever be in your debt."

Crying a little, she sucked in a breath before looking up at him with glossy eyes and saying, "Just… Just make sure to come back to us safe and sound alright?"

Kouga wiped her tears and hugged her close, running his hand through her green hair before saying, "I will. Don't worry about me. I know how to take care of myself. Take care and give my regards to Hector when you see him."

Lyn hugged him back and nodded. After giving Kouga a kiss on the cheek, she moved back and allowed the others to walk forward.

Kouga turned to Heath and said, "Heath, take care yourself and give my regards to Priscilla."

Heath smiled and gave him a hug before replying, "I will. Take care of yourself, otherwise Priscilla will be saddened. She treats you like a brother, and was saddened she was unable to see you off."

Kouga nodded and said, "I know. She's a very special person to me and I hope things go well to her. Tell her I understand why she was unable to come."

With a nod from Heath, Kouga turned to Karel saying, "Take care Karel. I'll miss our sparring matches, even if we still ended up with the same number of wins and losses each."

Karel nodded and shook Kouga hand before saying, "You'll be missed my friend. I look forward to finally deciding who the better swordsman is. Take care."

Finally, Kouga turned to Jaffar and smiled before saying, "Try to socialize some more. Don't fret too much on your past. The others have already forgiven you for it. I'll miss you my friend."

Jaffar gave a small and rare smile before nodding and saying, "…I'll try. No promises though. Just make sure you come back. I don't want to have to go drag you out of whatever problem you dug yourself into this time."

Kouga shared a small laugh with him and reassured him before stepping back and addressing the entire group, "Give my regards to everyone else and tell them I wish them good fortune with their lives. I'll write as much as I can."

Waving goodbye to his friends, he boarded the ship to Magvel, where many new journeys awaited him. As the ship departed from Elibe, Kouga found himself reminiscing about all the memories he made with everyone. Shedding a small tear at the memories, he said goodbye to Elibe for the last time before turning and preparing for his new adventure in Magvel.

A month has passed since Kouga set out of his journey to Magvel. After a three day trip on sea, he arrived at his destination and began to trek across Magvel, simply enjoying the sights and the peace that came with not having people recognize him for his reputation.

Currently, he found himself in the Kingdom of Renais, where a festival seemed to be taking place. Kouga smiled at the sight of children running around having fun, and the sound of people mingling together throughout the kingdom.

Hearing a large amount of noise coming from close by, Kouga decides to check out the situation. What he finds is a large obstacle set up in the city's center, where one could see various people attempt to get through it, only to fail at some point. Seated nearby was King Fado, the current ruler of Renais. At his side was a knight with red hair, who seemed to be looking out towards the crowd in what Kouga could only assume to be an attempt at identifying any potential dangers. Seated to each side of the king were a set of twins that Kouga, according to his research of Renais, assumed to be the prince and princess Ephraim and Eirika respectively.

Startled slightly by Eirika's beauty, Kouga shook his head before looking towards the obstacle course again. It seemed very interesting. It was split into three parts. The first was a straight line run from one point to another. The difficult part came in avoiding the swinging wooden hammers that aimed to knock the competitors out of the course. The second part consisted of three spinning wheels that one would have to jump to reach each one. In between each wheel was a retractable wall that would shoot up in an attempt to prevent the contestant from reaching the next wheel. Despite the fact that it only rose to a certain height, it seemed that any contestant skilled enough to reach that part was unable to overcome such an obstacle. The final part, and from what Kouga hears the most difficult, consists of five ropes that one would have to ride a certain distance before having to jump across and reach out to the next rope until you reach the final rope, where one jumps over the final wall and finishes the course.

Overall, the course seemed to be built so not just any person could finish it. After watching a couple of other competitors attempt the course, Kouga decided to give the course his own attempt. Walking up to the beginning of the course, he began to tune out the sound of the crowd cheering, focusing on the obstacles themselves and already thinking out his steps in his mind.

King Fado had been observing the various participants with a smile on their face. Though slightly disappointed that no one had yet to complete it, he was glad people were having fun. He knew that the only thing that really kept the contestant from completing the course was a certain amount of concentration and discipline that no one had shown yet. Looking at Kouga walk up to the course, Fado immediately knew that this person was different from the rest. Instead of the usual playful interaction with the crowd that the other competitors did, he simply seemed to tune them out and focus completely on the course.

Sitting up in his chair, he drew the attention of his son Ephraim. Ephraim looked at his father with a questioning gaze before asking, "What's wrong father? Is everything okay?"

Fado nodded and without taking his gaze off of Kouga, said, "Yes my son. Everything is fine. I simply have a good feeling about this next person."

Ephraim, surprised that his father said something like that, hummed to himself and turned his complete attention to Kouga, hoping to see what it was that had caught his father's attention. Sure enough, the first thing he noticed was the fact that Kouga was completely ignoring the crowd's cheers and he seemed to be going through the entire course in his head. Intrigued like his father, Ephraim sat up again in his chair, eager to see how well this person would do in the course.

Unlike her brother and father, Eirika was simply enjoying hearing the laughter and happiness of the people. She was perfectly content with just enjoying the smiles of the people. She grew intrigued with the conversation between her brother and father and decided to focus her attention on the man that caught their interest. The first thing she noticed when she set her eyes on him was that he was wearing what seemed to be a tunic, something that she recognized as something someone who traveled a lot would wear. The second thing she noticed was his face. Blushing slightly at his charming face, she noticed the slight scar that ran across his right eye, as well as the fact that he wasn't paying attention to anything other than the course. After calming down from her slightly flustered moment, she found herself eager to see how well he'd do in the course.

Upon hearing the horn to start, Kouga began to run towards the first obstacle. Carefully calculated the approximate path of the hammers would take, he began running across, crossing each hammer exactly a quarter of a second after it had passed through the path. In a matter of seconds, he had run across to the end of the first part of the obstacle course and found himself staring down the spinning wheels. After a second of rest, he jumped on to the first wheel. Holding on, he waited until it spun to the other side before getting ready to jump. Having been observing the other contestants, he calculated exactly how high the wall would go, and with an adequate push against the spinning wheel, he jumped up and was able to go over the first wall with mere centimeters between him and the wall. He performed something similar with the second and third wheel before he finally found himself staring down the third and final part of the obstacle course. Once again, he spend a second catching his breath before jumping and reaching out to the first rope. He rode the rope a few feet before letting go and jumping towards the next rope. After a few more swings, he found himself jumping off the last rope and reaching the end of the rope, where he landed in a kneeling position.

Standing up, he found the crowd was quiet in shock at his performance, before eventually, they broke out in cheers for his performance.

King Fado started clapping and walked up to him before saying, "Well done young man. You made that obstacle course look easy with the way you finished it so fast."

Kouga smiled before saying, "Thank you your majesty. I like to think I can handle that much. I've experienced worse beforehand." It was true. After having to face off against someone like Nergal and a dragon, something like an obstacle course should be simple.

Fado motioned for the red-haired man and whispered something to him, which seemed to startle the man, though only for a second, since he immediately nodded and seemed to ride off back towards the castle. Fado then turned to Kouga and saying, "I want to invite you to the castle for a meal. I wish to speak to you more in private."

Kouga, seeing no reason to reject him, nodded before following behind him and his two children, who both smiled at him before following behind their father. After a short ride to the castle, Kouga found himself sitting in the dining chambers, where he was currently enjoying a delicious meal with the king. After a while, Fado put his silverware down and turned to Kouga saying, "How are you enjoying the meal young man?"

Kouga wiped his mouth with the napkin before nodding and saying, "It's delicious. And I'm sorry but I've yet to introduce myself. My name is Kouga. It's a pleasure to meet you your majesty."

Fado smiled and replied, "That's a wonderful name Kouga. My name is Fado. It's a pleasure to meet you. Now if you don't mind, I have a question."

Once Kouga nodded, Fado continued, "Where did you learn to move so well? That obstacle course was not easy in any manner, yet you made it look so easy."

Kouga, seeing no harm in letting him know, said, "I spent some time practicing swordplay in the past. I guess all that training helped my reflexes."

Nodding, Fado spoke out and said, "If you don't mind Kouga, I have a matter of business that I want to address with you."

Kouga, noticing the change in tone in Fado's voice, gestured for Fado to continue. Satisfied he had Kouga's attention, Fado continued, "As I'm sure you've heard, we live in a time of peace. We've lived in these times for over 800 years. You may call me crazy for this, but recently, I've been having a bad feeling, like something is going to happen, yet there are no signs of anything occurring anywhere in Magvel. Despite this, I feel like I want to be prepared in case something big does happen. That's why I set up that obstacle course. I wanted to find someone suitable that would be able to assist us in case something happens. And after talking to you, I'm even more confident that person is you."

With noticeable concern growing on his face, Kouga replied, "What makes you so certain your majesty?"

Fado simply smiled and said, "Tales travel across the lands Kouga. And one such tale is that of The Prince of Tactics. Known across Elibe as the man who led the charge against the tyrant Nergal. The tale also rumors that he was able to fight off a dragon. Though most tales exaggerate the facts, I'm certain this certain tale is quite accurate. Would I be wrong, Prince of Tactics?"

Kouga simply stared at Fado with a blank stare. After a few seconds of silence, Kouga sighed before saying, "I shouldn't be surprised someone such as yourself was able to figure out my identity after such a short conversation. And though I'm reluctant to reveal any actual details about my actual experiences at the moment, I will say that there is a lot of truth in the tales told about me. Now that you know who I am though, what do you plan to do with that information?"

Feeling the hidden threat in his voice, Fado held his hands up before saying, "I don't plan on divulging that information to anyone you don't want to know."

Once Kouga relaxed again, Fado continued, "All I want to do is ask for your help. As you travel the land, I want you to notify me if you see anything. We will trade messages and meet in secret. You and I will be the only ones that know. Though don't let this distract you from your travels. Enjoy all the sights Magvel has to offer."

Kouga spent a few minutes pondering what he should do, and finally came to a decision. "I originally intended to simply travel all around Magvel in hopes of experiencing as much as I can, so I don't see any reason for me to decline your offer. Plus, if I did, I'm sure Lyn would kill me for ignoring the concern of such an honest man such as yourself. With that in mind, plus the fact that I'm genuinely intrigued, I don't see a reason as to why I shouldn't go along with your plan."

Fado smiled and stood up before walking to Kouga and saying, "Excellent. I look forward to working with you, and I know you'll do your best to maintain the peace we live in."

Kouga nodded and shook hands with Fado. With a smile on his face, he said, "I look forward to working with you your majesty."

And that's a wrap everyone. At least for the first chapter. Anyway, I'll try to make sure I work on this as much as I can, so long as my college work isn't affected. That will obviously take priority. Till next time.