A/N: Ahh, I love you all for your continued support. I'm sorry for being gone for awhile. Just started up college which had me not thinking about the story for awhile. Even with that, this was one of those chapters I just kept scrapping b/c I wasn't happy with how it was going. It happens. I'm finally happy with this one, and got it up before I could change my mind again. I'm way too critical of my work. Enjoy. Word Count (1,548)

Chapter 3

A young girl, just barely in her teens, was in her tent preparing for the upcoming battle. She was nervous, for this was to be her first. Of course she spent years studying combat, but had never been involved in a true duel herself. There were the years she had spent learning to wield a sword from first her father, and after the rise of Grima, sparring with the unfortunate Grimleal and expendable Risen. Now she was about to put these skills to the test.

The girl was just about done putting her armor on when she heard someone outside her tent. "Hey, kid, you done yet?"

"Just a moment." Lucina rushed to put up her blue hair and find the helmet that she seemed to have misplaced. 'Damn. Where'd I put it?' The girl searched all over her tent only to realize that it was right beside her cot the whole time. She didn't even know why she had put the helmet there in the first place. She opened the flap of the tent to find a sorcerer looking down at her with his arms crossed. "Ready?"

"Hmph," The sorcerer kept his eyes fixed on the girl in front of him, wondering how the kid could have possibly survived and fight for the Fell Dragon. "You must be some sort of lucky to be here right now…" He started walking away and gestured for the girl to follow him. "So kid… How in Grima's name did you end up here?"

Lucina was never supposed to reveal any information about herself. In fact, she didn't even go by that name anymore. As far as everyone knew, the Princess of the Halidom had been dead for years. Slain by Risen during Grima's first assault on Ylisstol, so the story goes. "Let's just say, that our Master has plans for me…" She finally told him.

"I rather doubt that." The sorcerer said to himself. The sorcerer led the girl out of the Grimleal encampment to a point that overlooked a small town in the valley. "Look at them. Don't these people know that there is no place to hide from the Grimleal? Oh, if only they had converted. At least then, they would have given their lives willingly to please our Master."

"They'll sure be in for a rude awakening," Lucina said with a smirk. "When we attack…"

"Don't get ahead of yourself." The sorcerer looked at Lucina. "You won't last long. At sunup, the Risen will be sent in. The Grimleal will follow through afterward to mop up what's left."

"Why do the Grimleal wait 'til after?" She asked.

"Puh, because there were never many loyal Grimleal to begin with and sending us in would leave even less. Besides, the Risen are not selective about their victims. Very few are able to control those things. Best to keep a safe distance unless informed otherwise."

Normally, small bands of Risen would attack the random villages they happened to stumble upon, it caused enough chaos and the villagers were hardly prepared to deal with the threat of Risen. The Grimleal, on the other hand, were rarely involved unless it was against some sort of organized force.

/

The assault started at the break of dawn. The summoned Risen flocked down into the valley to start off the attack against the village. Though the town did have a few guards on watch, they were not prepared to deal with a force of this magnitude. The alarm sounded as those who could bear arms were called into duty to protect their home. The soldiers that defended the town were able to hold off the first waves of Risen easily. They would not last though, for the Risen kept coming and were steadily whittling away at the town's defenses. The soldiers were soon overwhelmed, morale dropped as the forces fell apart.

The Risen now had complete access to the town. Any person that got in their path was cut down on sight. Homes were burned, families had nowhere to run as doing so would leave them exposed. What choice did they have? To run and risk being caught by Risen or stay in their homes and die for certain?

The Risen had destroyed most of the town by this point. A couple Grimleal entered the town to mop up what was left. Lucina followed the sorcerer into what was left of the town. She knew that she would have to do this sort of thing eventually, but none of her training prepared her for this. Many buildings had collapsed and burned down, bodies lined the streets. Her stomach turned at the sight.

She bumped into the sorcerer that she was following, not paying attention as he came to a stop. There was a temple devoted to Naga, showing signs of damage, but still spared much of the destruction. "Wait here, kid." He said, putting a hand out in front of her. "There are probably survivors holed up in this building. Don't follow me."

Lucina watched as the sorcerer headed into the building alone. She couldn't believe she had to stay outside and wait. She could prove to that man that she really could handle herself in combat. She waited for a minute before the anxiety became too much. She had to prove herself.

She ran into the temple to see that the sorcerer had already taken care of many of the occupants. She heard someone yelling from her left and dashed out of the way to narrowly avoid being skewered by a bronze spear. Her assailant was just some kid, no younger than her, that looked like he had never picked up a weapon in his life. Though spears were effective weapons to use against swords, the kid was greatly outmatched. The kid thrusted his spear at Lucina, stumbling a little due to his poor stance. She easily managed to knock the spear out of his hands, in the same motion cutting across the kid's chest. It wasn't deep enough to end the kid right away, but he crumpled to the ground in agony from this injury. Lucina was ready to make the finishing blow, but she stopped. The kid was clutching at his chest, the look on his face froze Lucina in her place. She couldn't do it.

The sorcerer walked over to the petrified girl after finishing with the greatest threats. He looked right at her. "Well… are you going to end the child or not?" The sorcerer couldn't see her face, but he knew just what she was feeling. He had seen many fresh soldiers' faces just before their own weakness became their undoing. "No weakness, no mercy."

Lucina reluctantly let her blade pierce the kid's heart. She felt faint. It would become easier, she had been told. Is this what serving her mo-, Grima meant?

The Dark Lord, Lucina, was at her desk, looking over the map she had found on the body of that thief a few days previously. She had uncovered hidden text on the document, but it was in code. She couldn't figure out what any of it meant.

There was a knock at her door. "General Lucian?"

Lucina lowered her voice to keep up with this month's persona. "What is it?" She asked. "If it's nothing important, then I don't want to-"

"Master Grima, sir." Lucina's eyes widened to find out that Grima's Avatar was here, at this very fort. "Our Master has requested your presence immediately."

Lucina threw open the door, nearly giving the informant a broken nose in the process. Her usual hood was up to cover most of her face. "Where?" She asked, impatiently awaiting an answer.

The Grimleal informant led her over to the area in the fort that Grima was waiting. Lucina let out a breath before entering Grima's presence. She knelt after entering the room. "Mo- Master Grima. You wished to see me?" Lucina could have slapped herself on the face for making such a blunder. Even after all these years, she still made the same mistake.

Grima turned and looked down at the girl from underneath her hood. "You may stand," Grima gestured for the girl to rise. "And please, take down that cowl. Don't you know it's rude to address your Master while covering your face?"

Lucina did as she was told and lowered her cowl, looking up at the being in front of her. "F-Forgive me Master, I was-"

Grima put up a hand for her to stop. "No need for all this stuttering. Now, what's this I hear about a map from the Shepherds you found?"

Lucina pulled out the map she had hastily stashed inside her cloak and handed it over to her Master. "I- Forgive me Master Grima, but I could not decipher the code. I-"

Grima lifted up her hand again before Lucina could keep going on. "Do not think on this child. Besides, I have a little task for you."

Lucina's head picked up a little hearing this news. "What do you wish me to do?"

"Your traitorous brother has left Ylisse with some of his Shepherds. They are only a few days east of this location. Cut them off before they bring any others back with them to Ylisstol."

A/N: "Holy backstory, Wyvern Man!" Honestly, I was on odds about what to do with Lucina in this chapter and backstory was better than anything else I could come up with (those poor trees :/ ), plus I needed to keep the chapter formula consistent and omitting the last portion wouldn't let the rest flow how I want it to. I promise you, the next chapter will balance out the sheer amount of "past stuffs" in this one. I gotta thank my little brother for when I watched his saber practice. I don't know if it came across well enough, but it helped me visualize the scene, and that's good enough. Please be sure to leave a Review, I love reading them. :D