FE: Awakening with Blossoms

by YueTian

Sakura had finally become the master of her own cards and is reunited with Syaoran only to be chased by monsters and end up in another world. What else can go wrong? Maybe, an amnesiac, god dragons, zombies, a magical sword and a lunatic who wants to destroy everything while Chrom and his men try to save everyone and possibly both worlds. Wait, who're those silver dragons? Oh no...

25. Chapter 25: The Return of The Dragons

*Spoilers*

The content will contain spoilers from Fire Emblem Fates' DLC Xenologue Hidden Truth. If you wish to see the original before reading, plase continue your game if you wish, or to some of you that would also like to just watch it before reading my story, you may do so as well. Now, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

*Spoilers*

---

The Return of The Dragons

Though the twin tacticians and the other royal family had only intended to speak of this with the Feroxi rulers and Say'ri, Chrom decided that it would be best if the others knew of this as well believing that the matter itself was simply too big not to not let the other Shepherds know of the situation at hand. As expected, the news of the motive behind the kidnapping two nights ago spurred a lot of anxiety in the Shepherds, but also their morale to fight to protect their friends, not just their country and humanity's survival against Grima. As the days of traveling went on and a couple skirmishes against the enemy from Valm went on as well, they continue to march once more before finally coming to a stop in the woods and setting up camp. After setting up their tent, Sakura and Kero headed to the Mess tent to help Olivia with the cooking that night followed by Princess Sakura and Syaoran. As she walked into the tent, she noticed Kellam and Donnel busy setting up an extra tent in the corner of the large room. As Asugi stared with curiosity at the armored knight from afar before being confronted by Robin, who walked up casually to the ninja.

"Kinomoto! Over here!"

At the voice of the future past prince, Sakura turned and saw behind a makeshift table and large fire was Inigo and his mother of this time, Olivia.

"C-coming!" Sakura called out before pulling the two behind her along.

Once she reached the two, Inigo smiled brightly, "So what shall we make today, Kinomoto? The food supplies have been restocked today. Syaoran and Father also took down a couple of bears and Kiragi brought back a deer and…uh…"

As the man tried to recall the result of the young man's hunt, Syaoran finished, "A boar and another deer."

"Y-yeah." Inigo nodded with a grimace, "Man, I know that he's a great hunter with his bow, but two deers and a boar? Haha…."

"W-well, bringing down two bears is no small feat either, Las- Inigo." Princess Sakura spoke with a voice of admiration, "Your father is really strong to bring down a bear by himself. Syaoran especially."

At the mention of the swordsman Syaoran scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as his face flushed, "T-Thank you for the compliment, milady. But, if Prince Kiragi hadn't mention of my heavy footsteps, I would've scared away all the animals before the hunt even begun."

"Even so," the card mage said with a look of admiration, "It's no small feat to bring the bear down by yourself, Syaoran."

At her words, the young man's face grew redder as Inigo chuckles, "So, what shall we make for today's menu? With so much choices of meat, I'm unsure of what to make either."

As she thought carefully, a thought dawned on the small mage, "That's it! How about a Deer stew? We can also cut up the bear meat and make jerkies out of them for provisions later on. It'll make it last longer and, since we've been traveling nonstop for a while, we'll need to make sure that we have a source of protein to keep up our stamina as well when we leave again in the next couple of days."

"That sounds like a good idea." Olivia said with a nod, "Then, us girls will start working on the stew. Inigo, can you and Syaoran prepare the jerkies while it's still light out?"

"Of course, mother." Inigo said with a frown, "But none of us are quite sure how to make it."

"I do." Syaoran said with a nod, "I also know of how to cook and dry them faster. It's just a little tricky and needs constant surveillance on the meat."

"Then, I'll count on you to teach me as well, Syaoran." Inigo said with a smile.

The magic myrmidon nodded in silence as he began to follow the others to the portable food storage. After removing what was edible from them, they stored what could be used and sold into another container. Since the arrival of the twin maids, the Shepherds were able to keep their ingredients fresh thanks to the help of their ice abilities. Something they learn to do when taking care of their liege. Syaoran and Inigo took a large portion of the bear meat and left as Sakura and the girls took an average portion of the deer meat. After bring it and some of the vegetable back to the Mess tent, they immediately got to work cutting up the ingredients and preparing the stew. By the time, the sun was about to set, the tent was filled with the sent of the deer and vegetable soup resulting with the tent completely filled with hungry soldiers chomping or slurping down on their meal with a side of dried herb bread that the two Sakuras made using the knowledge her best friend, Mozu, and the apothecary's mentor taught her regarding edible and nutritional plants. She did her best to make sure to use a plant that can't be confused for another after her last run in with one that nearly gave her blister over her fingers. Once she was done helping Olivia distribute the food, she glanced around the Mess tent in awe, "The militia really grew these past two years, hasn't it?"

"It sure has…" Olivia spoke with a soft smile, "It really does seem like yesterday when I saw all of you going against Lucina and King Xander's family during the tournament. You were small back then too, but you really gave us quite a shock suddenly summoning your spirits and winning against Xander. I've also never seen Leo so stumped in battle before. Hehehe…"

As she giggled, Princess Sakura's eyes widen in surprise as she gasped in shock, "W-what?!"

Covering her mouth, she glanced around making sure that no one noticed before continuing, "I heard that Chrom and the Shepherds defeated Lucina and my older siblings in the tournament despite the odds, but I never knew that it was Kinomoto who defeated King Xander?"

Sakura chuckled nervously with a blush, "Well, I didn't really beat him in combat, you see. I only won by getting him out of the arena and I had my cards to help me, so I didn't really win on my own."

"I think we've all came a long way."

The girls turned around and saw Syaoran and the mercenary approaching them with a large leather duffle bag on their back. The myrmidon continued with a soft smile, "In a way, I think some of us changed throughout the past two years."

Sakura nodded with a bright smile as she recalled the time she woke up and found herself in the castle of Ylisstol, her first combat in battle, learning how to protect herself from real danger, Lissa's and Miriel's willingness to teach her as their pupil, and going to so many adventures and meeting new people. The problem itself hasn't disappeared for sure. They're all still stuck in this world and who knows how long they've been gone from their own world as Chrom and Leo informed her that only a few days or hours have passed since her disappearance and that was when she had gotten terribly sick during the war. It's been two years now and who knows how long it's been since her disappearance now. Every now and then, she'd think back on her father and all her other friends back in her hometown. Even now, she still misses them all a great deal and would often wish to see them again. However, since arriving in this world, she's met new friends as well and experience many new things that she'd probably be unable to go through in her world, such as seeing mystical beings up close or learning how to heal. Indeed there were sad times, such as the kind Exalt's death and the fight against the Plegians who were unwilling to give their all against them, but, even then, she always had her friends and her brother besides her and know that she's not alone as she walks down this path to return home. Though there's still so many questions she wants to ask, at the very least, they now know who their enemy is and what he wants. However, why he wants it or the reason why she's brought into this world will remain uncertain and probably a mystery forever.

"Hey, Sakura."

At her friend's call, she and the Hoshidan Princess both turned their heads as both said, "Y-Yes?"

Seeing this, Syaoran sighed with a grimace as Inigo tried to stifle back a snicker and the mercenary patted him on the shoulders, "It sure is hard to call out to either one when we have two Sakuras here."

"Whatever." Syaoran muttered as he shook off the man's hand and glanced back to the card mage, "Want to go eat now?"

"Sure!" Sakura replied with a bright smile.

The magic swordsman smiled, "Great! Let me first go and put away these jerkies into the food storages. I'll be back in a bit."

As Syaoran turned and left, the card mage turned to the others and said, "I'll see you later then!"

"Bye, Kinomoto!" the Hoshidan princess said with a smile and waved as they watch the girl grab a bowl and went to find a seat with her share of the meal.

Inigo sighed as he muttered in defeat, "Just how did that guy find himself such a cute lady? It's not everyday you come across someone like her. Lucky guy!"

Hearing this, Olivia smiled as she said, "O-oh, I think you'll find yourself a wonderful woman as well, Inigo. Just give it time."

"R-really?!" Inigo said with a look of shock at his mother's words, "H-how'd you know that?"

"O-oh, you could call it a mother's intuition." the pink hair dancer answered.

As she glanced over to the Hoshidan princess and the two ladies giggled, Inigo could only give a look of confusion as he tried to maintain his carefree smile which failed into a look of uncertainty, "M-mother? Princess Sakura?"

After their meal, Sakura and Syaoran got up from their seats. Once the placed their bowls into the large container and walked out the tent, they noticed a very happy looking Tharja walking past them silently muttering something to herself without a glance to the two. During the past two years of their stay, they very rarely spoke a word to the dark mage due to the caution to they told to have around the woman. Something about her magic being really dark and dangerous. Though they aren't sure of the situation regarding the sorceress, they did as they were told and would only speak to the woman when she came up to them. Over time, they began to vaguely understand the reason behind telling the two to be wary of the woman. However, despite that, Sakura could sense that within the dark magic presence was that of a bright light. When she told of this to Syaoran and the tacticians, the three frowned, but nodded and told her with a look of uncertainty to remain cautious of her hexes and requests instead. However, what caught them off guard wasn't the fact that she looked to be in a good mood, but that she walked past them with a look of accomplishment from talking with Virion, who seemly to have rushed off once again much to their confusion. Syaoran frowned and glance over to Sakura, "Uh… You don't think…"

She shook her head, "I don't think so. I don't feel any foreign presence on him."

"Huh. Geez, why do I get the feeling that he's going to be in quite some trouble afterwards?"

The two jumped in surprise before whipping their heads around and saw the ponytail archer with his slightly worried looking wife watching the other fellow archer rush around camp with tools ranging from average to small in hand.

"A lot of trouble." Takumi corrected himself with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I hope he's not trying to build that bridge of hers again."

"Bridge?" Sakura repeated with a look of bewilderment, "But it's rather difficult to make a bridge on his own, right?"

"Also," Syaoran added, "why a bridge for Miss. Tharja? What is it for?"

"I don' think there was a purpose for a bridge, Syaoran." Mozu answered with a sigh.

Takumi nodded, "If there's one reason and she's anything like Rhajat of our time, I can assume it was to see if the hexes she came up with works on him."

"On Virion?!" Sakura exclaimed as she covered her mouth with a look of surprise before being overcome with confusion, "But, unlike Reflet and Sir Frederick, I don't feel her presence on him."

At her confusion, the silver hair archer sighed as he shook his head after glancing around, "Surprisingly, that archer is immune to any hexes thrown at him, including Tharja's."

With shocked expressions, Sakura laughed weakly and hesitantly spoke, "T-then… Don't tell me he's…"

Takumi nodded with a grimace, "I've warned him about this a couple weeks ago, but he refuses to listen and continues to follow all the 'requests' she's 'asked' of him."

Mozu nodded, "Last week, Kiragi and I saw 'im trying to build a bridge around this rapid river and the man nearly fell in while trying to make a bridge. We had to make sur' that he wasn't hexed by the woman before any of us could ev'n begin to relax!"

As they hear this, Syaoran grimaced, "He could've at least thought of hiring a couple of people for help… Also, I've heard that it's dangerous to get on Miss. Tharja's bad side. It would probably be better for him to reveal that he's faking it sooner or later. I don't want to witness the claims of what she can do being real."

"That's what we thought as well." Takumi said with a frown, "Virion is one of our close friends, which is why we're also really worried about what would happen when the sorceress finds out about this. I still think we should have Chrom or our tacticians there when he tells her the truth for his safety."

"I think it won't be that bad."

They glanced to the card mage with a look of surprise as Sakura continues, "I mean, she must've heard what nearly happened to him when he couldn't accomplish it as well as she hoped. I don't think Tharja wouldn't go and check on his progress after all. Have she ever asked for him to go and build a bridge for her again? Or any big tasks in particular?"

The couple looked to one another before shaking their heads as Takumi said, "No… Now that I think about it… Aside from small tasks, none… Are you trying to say that she does care about his wellbeing when giving out these hexes?"

"I don't know…" Mozu mutters hesitantly with a look of uncertainty before looking back to Takumi and then to them, "But we are suppose to trust in our allies and Tharja is an ally."

Takumi nodded, "Yes, she also saved us a few time during the past two years when she was with us. I suppose I'll put little more faith in her, but that doesn't change the fact that, if Virion doesn't tell her soon, he may get himself in trouble."

Mozu nodded with a sigh, "And he only just gott'n himself out of one just yesterday when Kiragi told me how Cherche threatened to have her wyvern have 'im for lunch!"

As they heard this, Sakura could only chuckle weakly as even she knows from the other girls that the man was known to try to attract ladies of the Shepherds. However, in comparison to Inigo, he's at least smarter than the mercenary in regards to choosing who to try flirting with. However, no matter how long they've been in the Shepherds, Sakura have yet to see them even try and do it, which strikes her strange as she talks with them from time to time. Virion, understandably as he only sees her somewhat similar to Nowi and Ricken. One of the youngest of the Shepherds. However, though she had assumed that she was be faced with the behavior from Inigo as he have yet to learn of his future wife, he looked to be almost nervous around her, especially more so when Syaoran is around. Despite this, she already knew that the mercenary was aware that her only interest is with Syaoran as he was with her. In Addition to her knowledge of this, she's heard from the Prince Leo and their friends that the man still tries to flirt with women, even when their spouses were around. Though Sakura was unsure of what to think of this, she could tell that it must've been rather hard on the man's liege during the times he's received reports of this inappropriate behavior as the Nohrian royal family said to her. Hearing this makes her wonder if Syaoran was behind the way Inigo reacts around her sometimes, not that the girl was against it as she was rather thankful that the mercenary wouldn't try flirting with her of all people. Sakura smiled nervously as she realized how off track her thoughts have gone from the archer all the way to Syaoran. After a few more seconds of exchange between the four, Sakura and Syaoran left the couple and headed to the infirmary tent, where she took over for Libra and continue with her work for the rest of the day before returning to her tent.

---

As a bright light shined, the card mage slowly stirred before sluggishly rising from her blankets and rubbing her sleepy eyes with the back of her hand when she froze at the sound of a water drop. She quickly glanced around her surroundings. It was a recognizable scene of a large vast area of calm, still water now followed by a palpable blue sky occasionally covered with clouds. Finally, the same gigantic Sakura tree right before her with pale pink branches that looks to be reaching hoping to touch the sky and its clouds. She glanced down and saw that she had been lying in her long white sashes, which she had mistaken for her thin blankets. Again, she was in her white dress and silver-gold accessories meaning… she was in a dream again. Immediately, she jumped and looked around her surroundings once more. Everything was calm. She felt no dark energy, at least not the one that threatened to kidnap her. It wasn't till her eyes fell upon a familiar black figure sitting on one off the pink branches that her eyes widen in surprise and called out with a smile, "Nyx!"

The dark sorceress smiled with a nod and she jumped off the branch carefully hopping off each branch jutting out from the side of the trunk till she finally landed on the calm water rippling slightly as her feet touch the water, "I see you've finally woke up."

"Uh… how long have I been asleep?" Sakura said nervously.

"Not long." the sorceress admitted, "About a few minutes or so. Anyway, it may be best to remain here under this tree. I can sense the barrier here still regenerating from the last encounter with Grima. I honestly didn't even think that it was capable of that."

Sakura looked up in awe as she too could feel the calm tranquil energy around her growing as more of the Sakura flowers bloomed on the branches. She then glanced to the dark sorceress's black shadow rippling along with the water as t slowly moved and shifted further much to her surprise. Following the card mage's gaze, Nyx's eyes also widen in shock as the shadow soon rose from her feet and separated itself before vanishing in thin air.

"Wha-?!" Nyx mouth gapped upon in shock before she grimaced and turned to Sakura with look of concern, "Do you know where its gone?"

"Hold on!" Sakura said before closing her eyes and concentrating on detecting the presence of her own magic.

After a couple seconds, she gasped in shock.

---

Kamui walked past the camp entrance with Xander, Takumi, a few of their retainers, and Mark. They had thought of bringing Peri and Saizo along had Reflet and Chrom not requested for the ninja's assistance in checking on the current infant princess along with Gaius and Stahl. Though Leo would've been able to check up on the infant for them as well, with the danger of going to far from the group, he was forced to place his trust in Henry of mages to search any form of energy in the child with a new spell he and Miriel created with a bit of help from Sakura's and Kero's ability to detect presences. However, with his wife, Sumia's support and Reflet's suggestion, they agreed to have Henry do the job in the end. Peri was asked to stay and babysit the future past prince since the man's last mistake of inviting a woman into their camp and nearly having their entire weaponry stolen… again. After that, they had only thought of having Silas and Hinata with them, but, with Mark being unusually worried about their safety after the news of the Grima's intentions spreading throughout camp, Takumi decided to bring along his other retainer, Oboro, as Kamui already ordered his ninja retainer to remain by Reflet's and Robin's side as their temporary assistant. As Kamui walked around doing their night patrol, he then asked Mark with a smile, "Mark, you said that you were part of Valla's militia during the former king's rule. There's something I wish to know."

He knew that, as Frederick and Reflet were the ones who asked for the mage to join the night patrol tonight, there was no chance that the man would be able to escape him and his retainers this time.

"Do you happen to remember the name of your friend who've sent this letter to us?" Kamui continued as his siblings glanced to the hooded man.

They could all see the frown underneath his hood covering a majority of his features leaving only the blue hair visible to all. After some thoughts, he shook his head, "I'm afraid I don't remember, milord. Even during our final encounter in the cave, I could hardly remember the man's name. However, I still recognized him as the royal family's tactician. We were in the same militia lead by the former king himself. He was well-known for tactics and skills in magic, and was made the royal family's tactician and the king's right hand man on the spot, similar to Sir Reflet and his younger sister from what I've heard of them. The man himself was also an amnesiac when the former king and his family found him, from what I've heard. The last I saw of him during that time of the Silent Dragon's invasion was when he took the remaining citizens and the rest of the royal family to safety. I stayed with my comrades before I was engulfed by the darkness the Mad dragon unleased on us after he killed the former king."

"Is that so?" Takumi said with a grimace and after some thought he looked up to the man with a raised brow, "Then, do you know if Kamui had any siblings? It was said on the letter that he also escaped from Valla as an infant."

They all fell silent at the mention of the last sentence before the mage frowned with a hand on his chin, "A sibling?... I don't think he had one… besides Queen Azura. I don't think there was any other children in the Vallite royal family. Though, I do recall King Kamui's birth being a really big deal during the former king's reign, even though Former Princess Azura was supposedly the next in line to the throne. It was one big celebration to the next in just one year. King Kamui's birth, the Queen Azura's birth. Many things occurred during that time."

"Many?" Xander said as he raised a brow in confusion.

Mark nodded with a seemingly nostalgic smile, "After the father of Former Queen Arete's death, she wedded the former king. Then, Former Queen Mikoto's marriage occurred shortly after with one of the king's soldier. The family got along so well, especially when news of Queen Azura's and King Kamui's births came around months after. That was the last time we've had such a carefree time celebrating without a worry of what the coming day would bring. Months later, we finally got word of the Silent Dragon's raid on one of the villages in the outskirts of the border. Not long after, the dragon invaded the city and the castle as we tried bringing as many citizens as we could into the castle grounds. Then, well…"

Kamui nodded, "I see… So, I was born in Valla…"

"Kamui…" Takumi muttered with a look of concern as did the Nohrian ruler.

Kamui shook his head, "I've heard from Big Brother Ryoma of Father. King Sumeragi cared for me as his own and died protecting me. He done all that for me even knowing I was another man's child. Then, he was my father, regardless if we're blood related or not. Though I do wonder who was my birth father?"

"T-that's-" Mark stuttered before he froze in place and rushed to the Vallite king, "Kamui, watch out!"

As soon as he was pulled away, in his place was an arrow stuck in the ground.

"Dang it!" Takumi growled angrily as he pulled back an arrow in his hand aiming in the darkness of the trees, "Risens?!"

After some tense silence, something darted through the trees and jumped at Takumi from behind. The man tried to jump back as fast as he could, but, as he did, the figure darted towards him. A flash of Mark's black orb darted past the archer and knocked the figure back. As it got up, they could see the bag mask over its head as it got up wobbly before being cut down by Oboro's naginata as the woman muttered fiercely, "That'll teach you for trying to going after Lord Takumi."

As soon as that Risens vanished, Xander and Silas quickly jumped onto their horses and rode in front of the group as the Nohrian king shouted, "Stay alert, everyone! There's still an enemy archer out there!"

Not long after he said this, another arrow flew out of the darkness. Prepared for it, Silas and Xander dodged it as Takumi let loose his arrow into the shadow of the trees. They could hear the faint thump as the arrow hit its target illuminating the figure of the Risen in the trees before it fell off the branch and onto the ground. Without a moment wasted, Silas immediately rushed over and dealt the last blow on the enemy. As the enemy finally disintegrated into a purple haze, the retainer let out a sigh of relief after looking around their surroundings, "It seems all is clear here, milord."

With a sigh of relief, Kamui got to his feet when his eyes widen in shock, "Do you all smell that? It's like something… is burning…"

Almost as soon as he said this, both horses began to shuffle their hooves nervously as their rider tried to keep them calm when Silas's mount suddenly jumped back as a black portal appeared before him. The knight immediately pulled back the reins making the war horse turn back and barely missing an incoming axe. They stared in shock as the Risens came out one by one from the black portal before them. Immediately, Takumi lifted his weapon once more and shot out the illuminating arrows at their enemies. As they began to join in the fray as well, Kamui looked around their battle ground before noticing something was off…

"They're setting the trees on fire!", Kamui exclaimed in shock as he rushed in and took down another Risen with Yato.

"What?!" Takumi's eyes widen upon the realization.

As he shifted his target to the torch holding Risens, a voice exclaimed, "Takumi! Xander!"

The two looked to the direction of the voice and saw Lon'qu and Owain not to far behind him as the Lon'qu said, "We have to retreat! The Risens have set the entire forest on fire!"

"What?!" Takumi said in bewilderment, "How?"

Xander grimaced, "We need to retreat and warn Chrom immediately! Hurry!"

"We've already sent Inigo and Lucina back to camp to tell Prince Chrom of the situation! We're the only one left out here!"

Kamui nodded as he finished off the Risen before him and turned around to follow after the others. As they ran through the forest, they could feel the heat of the fire rise while the red flames shot out from in between the trees. Following after his older brother, he and Takumi raced through the woods dodging each fallen burning branches and arrows while cutting some down along the way. Suddenly, as they followed after the others, a large crackling sound could be heard as they ran and they were soon stopped by several Risens blocking their only path back to camp around the burning plants. Immediately, they pulled out their weapon as Kamui said with a grimace, "It looks like we'll have to fight our way through!"

At once, they began to clash against the enemies before them. As Kamui cut down some of the Risens before them with his retainer and allies back them up, they were quickly able to secure a temporary path before them.

"Hurry!" Kamui shouted to the others.

"Owain! Go!" Lon'qu shouted as he parried against the Risen his future son was going against, "I'll catch up! Just go!"

After a couple seconds of hesitation, Owain nodded with an unusually stern expression, "Just be sure to make it out alive, Father."

Lon'qu nodded as the young swordsman ran to Kamui's side and called out, "Hurry! We need to get out of here now!"

It wasn't long before they could see the others taking their chances and running over to the two swordsman. After making sure that almost everyone got out of the area as Kamui's retainer carried a injured Oboro on his mount and rushed past them, Kamui turned to Owain, "You go and make sure Silas and Oboro gets back to camp, Owain! We'll catch up with all of you."

"But-!"

"I promise!"

At the Vallite king's words, Owain slowly nodded before running after the others as his father soon followed as well leaving only Xander, Takumi, Mark, and Kamui. As the paladin and archer took out their respective target, they were about to make a dash for it when a loud crackling sound was heard. They looked up and saw the tree behind Kamui drawing closer by the split second. As the man was about to jump aside, Mark's voice ringed throughout the surrounding, "Kamui!"

The manakete king was pushed into his siblings, who caught him before he touched the ground. As they looked ahead, pile of dust flying through the air began to settle revealing a badly injured mage lying on the ground with a bolt of electricity sticking out of his body and blood starting to flow out from the wound, much to their horror.

"Mark!" Kamui shouted with eyes wide.

---

"What?!" Chrom said in shock and horror after listening to Silas's report, "We have to send a rescue squad after them!"

"I'll do it!" Reflet shouted, "But, first, you have to get the rest of the Shepherds out of here, Chrom!"

Chrom grimaced, but nodded, "Right! Frederick, call out the rest of the Shepherds! We have to evacuate the area immediate- Wha?!"

As the man was about to give out his orders, a blur of yellow and azure blue flashed past the group.

"Let us take care of this!", the tall figure called out.

"Hey, wait!" Chrom called out to the two figures, "It's dangerous over there! Oh, god. We have to stop them!"

"But who was that?" Robin said with a grimace.

"Father!"

"Chrom!"

They turned once more and saw Lucina and Prince Leo rushing over to the small group as Lucina shouted, "We have to stop Inigo and Owain! Owain also has nothing but one of Sir Henry's remaining spell books on him!"

As if the wind was knocked out of the man, Chrom's jaw nearly dropped as he coughed and exclaimed in shock, "What?!"

Chrom quickly turned around, but the two were already out of sight through the burning woods. Immediately, the man turned to his tacticians, who nodded as Reflet immediately said, "I'll go and form a squad immediately."

"I'm going too!" Leo said with a gimace, "My brothers and friends are out there as well! Niles, you remain here with Sakura."

"Then, I'll help Chrom and Frederick evacuate out through the woods!" Robin added with a stern expression.

Chrom nodded, "I'm counting on the two of you, Reflet, Robin! You too, Leo! I'm counting on you to bring them all back before those children do something much more reckless than this!"

---

As Kamui took a sharp turn, a burning tree fell before them once more as he grimaced with sweat pouring down his ash covered face.

"Again?" Takumi grimaced in irritation in the heat of the flames with a couple of burns on the side of his arms, "So, how are we going to get past this one? We can't push it aside like we did with the previous one."

"Not to mention, we can't place Mark on Xander's horse with the bolt still stuck in him." Kamui said with a grimace, "Just what kind of magic is this? The spell should've dissipated by now, but it's still there!"

"I don't know." Xander said with a frown and turned around, "Get ready! The Risens are back!"

"Oh god." Takumi muttered with a grimace as he drew his Fujin Yumi, "Again?!"

He and Kamui carefully placed Mark on the ground as Kamui and Xander took the positions.

"You three should've just left me." Mark said with a grimace as he did his best in covering the wound on his side with a hand, "It's you they want and, if Grima gets a hold of you, then-"

"No!" Kamui cut off what the mage was about to say as he and his sibling brought down the Risens around them, "We're leaving this place together alive! I made a promise to Owain and the others as well. So, just hang in there, Mark! Takumi, can you see another way out of here?!"

Without glancing back, Kamui and his eldest brother continue to fight back against the Risens as Takumi examined their surroundings carefully as he mutters, "Not yet! There has to be at least one…."

However, no matter how much he looked, there wasn't much of a path to be seen through the blazing forest, but burning wood, ashes, smoke and hordes of Risens through the unbearably intense heat around them. Though the thought of having Kamui turn into a dragon came across their mind, the thoughts of Risens on flying mounts and the fire proved it to be unwise to do so, especially with Mark's major wound making it difficult to make him move around as much. Finally, Takumi grimaced as he glance back to the tree behind them, "We'll probably have to push the stupid tree again, but with the Rise-"

Suddenly, the archer started coughing in a fit as he got on one knee.

"Takumi!" Kamui shouted anxiously before his attention immediately shifted back to the enemy before them, "The smoke is starting to get to all of us… What now… If only I can turn into my dragon form."

"Kamui! Look up!"

At his elder brother's voice from afar, the Vallite king quickly turned and saw an arrow flying straight at him. He quickly jumped aside as the projectile hit the ground. As he did this, he suddenly felt something hard and cold behind him and whipped around coming face to face with a Risen equipped with a broad sword raised high above them! As the monster brought down his weapon, Kamui swiftly parried it with Yato inches away from his face. He pushed hard against the enemy hoping to make the undead lose its balance, but, instead, the being remains in place. Kamui could already feel himself starting to lose his position as his feet began to slide against the dirt road. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice cry out before the Risen suddenly lost all its strength and slumped to the side reveal a very familiar looking figure before them.

"Laslow!" Kamui shouted in relief earning much of the others' attention, especially the Nohrian ruler.

At the sight of the silver-grey hair man in a similar blue clothing as his former past self with a slight different shield standing before them with his usual confident smile, their eyes widen in shock before the sound a sound of explosion could be heard behind the archer and the mage. The archer turned his head around and soon saw another familiar face clad in a partial chest revealing, flashy, yellow mage clothing with short blond spiky hair.

"Owain!" Kamui shouted with a look of surprise upon seeing the former burnt tree blasted into a million pieces.

The man grinned as he said proudly, "It is I-"

"Not now, Owain." a female voice called out as a flash of blue slipped past the man and to the enemy, "Also, you can tell me how you were able to do that later. First, the enemies! HA!"

As the cerulean blue hair female cried out and swung her blade, two more Risens fell to the ground and into a purple haze.

"Lucina?!" Xander shouted with a look of surprise as the female warrior finally stood next to the man's mount, "What of your father and the rest of the Shepherds?! Did Lon'qu-"

"We already received the message." the woman said as she swiftly cut down another Risen, "Father, Reflet and Robin have already began evacuating the area. Leo and I were sent here with Libra to bring you all back!"

"What?!" the paladin glanced behind them and finally caught sight of his younger sibling with the blond hair cleric on his mount, "Then…"

Lucina sighed as she spoke preparing to take on another enemy, "When Owain and the others returned, a bright light flashed while we were in the infirmary talking about what happened to all of you and how your brother wanted Owain to go with him to save all of you. Ha! …I recalled what happened with Owain before, but both of them appeared like this and ran out of camp to go after all of you! Hargh!"

As she said this, Laslow jumped back to the two with a slightly cocky and overconfident smile as he finally cut down what could be his fifth target, "Well, I had to come when I heard Lord Xander is out here with his siblings against these blasted Risens. Haha… And here I thought I wouldn't have to see them again! Take that!"

AS he cried out, he lunged forward plunging his blade through the Risens and kicked the Risen back before giving it a finishing blow swiftly, then jumped back into place. Xander let out a weary sigh at this and said to the man, "You have a lot of explaining to do in a bit, Inigo. For now, let's hurry and finish destroying these monsters, so we can escape from this place!"

"Of course, milor-" the mercernary's usual smile was wiped from his face replacing it with a dumbfounded expression, "Wait, what? Uh… Pardon me, Lord Xander, but, um… what did you just call me…?"

Hearing this, the Nohrian ruler shook his head and cut down two Risens as he corrected himself, "…You heard our need of help and not this?... It seems we both have some explaining to do, then. For now, focus on the battle!"

"Y-yes, milord." the retainer replied still slightly shocked as he took out a few more Risens.

"How's his condition?" Kamui asked the cleric as Leo and Owain quickly took his place and rushed over to Mark treated by the man.

As Libra wiped away a sweat from his cheek, he let out a relieved sigh and answered, "It's certainly a terrible wound, but he should be able to move around a bit. At least, till we get back to Prince Chrom and the other Shepherds, King Kamui. Fortunately, we made it here in time, otherwise we'd have lost another life today."

Kamui nodded with a grimace, "It's a good thing you got here when you did, then. Thank you, Libra. Mark, how are you feeling?"

"Better, urgh!" the man tried to get up before he nearly collapsed to the ground.

Libra and Kamui quickly caught the man by his arms and slowly helped him up.

"Don't push yourself, Mark." Libra said calmly, "Even if I have given you some treatment, you're still wounded and you can't move around excessively, understand?"

Mark nodded with a visible grimace, "Y-yeah. Thanks, Libra. Still, we need to get out of here and fast."

Kamui nodded, "Do you think you'll be able to get on a horse, Mark?"

"I think so." the man replied with a nod.

"Then, we'll see if we can get you on Xander's horse." Kamui said as he turned around only to see something flying straight at him.

---

At the sight of the burning forest and Risens fall in the distance from the camp entrance, Sakura gasped in shock, "No… and the others are still in there?"

"I'm afraid so." Chrom said with a grimace, "You should go back with the others, Kinomoto. We have to evacuate the place immedi-… Kinomoto?"

Sakura's shoulder began to tremble as she lowered her head grasping her staff close to her chest shaking. She soon recall the news of the Exalt's death in her mind from two years ago and the dead assassin that night followed by her brother's injury and the battle against Plegian General Mustafa, "First, the war against Plegia and her, then the war against Valm and now this... If Grima hadn't sent his forces after us, none of this would've happened. Just why does Grima want to destroy humanity this way…"

At her voice, Forrest and Lissa looked to the girl with a look of concern as did Syaoran before his eyes widen in a slight fear and shock as he took a step back from her followed by Kero, much to their confusion. As she lifted her face up once more, rather than sadness, grief, or confusion, her eyes shown with a slight hint of anger and determination much to their surprise.

"Sa-Sakura?!" Lissa hesitantly called out.

Unable to hear the princess's call, the card mage immediately pulled out two cards from her small pouch made specifically for them as Kero shouted in bewilderment, "A-Again?!"

"H-hold on, Sakura!" Syaoran called out to her, despite already knowing that it was futile.

Sakura threw the cards above her, then pointed at it with her staff and shouted with a furious look on her face, "Watery Card! Freeze Card! Quench the fire and freeze the undead in their tracks! Watery! Freeze! Release and dispel!"

Almost immediately, the familiar looking mermaid rushed out of her card form and weaved through the trees putting out the flames with the large wave of water trailing behind her tail. Following her in the wet mud ground was a large koi-like fish, or carp, with menacing, sharp, blue eyes, large and jagged ice-like fins, sleek body, and a large blue gem on its forehead. It had jumped out of its card and into the soil freezing the former muddy path into ice as it swim gracefully under the wet mud. Chrom and the others nearby watched in shock at the event occurring before their eyes as the water and ice spirit put out the flames and froze the enemies just by merely passing by them. Reflet, who had been with them the entire time, grimaced nervously as he muttered, "At this rate, the fire would be put out in no time and the Risens would be frozen completely…"

As he said this, he turned to Kero and Syaoran, "Is this why you try not to anger her too much, Kero?..."

"W-well," the beast said nervously, "I did say that she can be really scary and a force to mess with when provoked…"

Syaoran only nodded silently as he kept an eye on his girlfriend with a look of concern.

---

As they stood, Kamui and Mark looked up to the gigantic figure with a look of bewilderment as did the others. In front of them, was the blight dragon once more. It looked back to them once before turning its branch-skull like head with a deafening roar that seemingly shook the earth as some of the Risens toppled over themselves. As the Risens came charging in once more, the dragon blew out its toxic flames at the enemies as piles of purple haze emerged amidst the pile of undead soldiers. Kamui stared in shock at the shadow of the figure before them all. As his eyes moved to the torn wings of the mystical creature's silhouette, he could've sworn that he saw it being much thinner than it usually was. As he blinked a few times, he couldn't feel anything in his legs as he nearly fell over before steadying himself as he cursed under his breath, "Damn it. The smoke is now getting to me too… At this rate- huh?"

As he glanced over to the mystical creature, rather than a horrifying dark head of the dragon, he saw a slightly smaller size head of a different creature with white and blue large scales and silver antlers. However hard he tried to snap himself out of it knowing it was possibly the effect of the smoke, he kept seeing his own dragon form standing right before them before he noticed everything start to turn dark before him as a familiar, yet foreign word slipped out instinctively as if a whisper.

"…C-corrin?…"

"Kamui!"

At the sound of the mage's voice, Xander immediately turned around before his eyes widen in shock as he saw the Vallite king on the ground as Mark desperately called out to the king.

"Xander!" Lucina called to the man, "Inigo and I will take it from here! You and Leo, take Kamui and Mark out of here!"

After a second, the paladin nodded and called out to his brother, "Le-"

Suddenly, a dark shadow amidst the dancing flickers of flames departed from the trees as it darted over to the two. As he dashed over to them on his mount, a dark figure emerged from the shadows. It had a long black robe and was entirely pitch black to the point that even not one single part of the body was visible save the robe. As Xander was about to prepare himself to clash against the possible dark mage, it suddenly bent over to the ground till it disappeared into its own shadow and formed a large black dome! Startled by its strange behavior, Xander glanced over to his younger sibling, who had just finished taking out another archer, and called over to him, "Leo!"

At the sound of his own name, the man turned around at the given chance and his eyes widen in shock before saying something to his retainer and his best friend, then rushed over to his sibling, "That's… Could it be? That's impossible… but…"

The dark knight cautiously approached the dome and said hesitantly, "Are you one of Kinomoto's card spirits? If I remember correctly…. You're the Shadow card, correct?"

At the man's words, the dome shifted and moved before a dark thin figure begin to grow and formed the same mysterious robed spirit leaving a woman with long curled, curled silver hair and wore a similar clothing and armor as the Vallite King himself. At the sight of the woman, Leo's eyes widen in shock as images flowed through his mind, "Big Sister Corrin!"

As he shouted this, he rushed over to her as did his eldest brother. At the sight of the returned sibling, Inigo let out a relieved sigh after taking out another Risen that slipped past the dragon, "Finally, Lady Corrin is safe."

He then faced the next Risens with a casual, overconfident look on his face, "Now, to get milord and his family out of this place!"

"Then, we can have our talk." his sister added bluntly.

The man grimaced as he muttered nervously, "Y-yeah… Got it, Sis."

As he watched his sister rush after another Risen while the number of Risens began to decrease dramatically by the appearance of the dragon, he suddenly felt a cool breeze coming from the direction they came from and looked up only to get splashed in the face with cool water completely soaking the man as he exclaimed, "What the-?!"

"Uh…"

Hearing the familiar voices, the mercenary quickly took out a Risen that was taking advantage of his shock before glancing back and notice the two twins start to stir as he chuckled lightly, "Looks like the old splash in the face worked on them too. Hehe… Hopefully, Jackob won't threaten to kill me for this. Still, what was that?!"

"Look up."

At his sister's voice, he glanced over to her and saw her gaze up as he follows only for his eyes to widen in shock at the sudden appearance of a blue adolescent mermaid to come swooping down between them with a large body of water trailing behind her. At the sight of the being, the mercenary's jaw nearly dropped as he quickly turned to Lucina, "Luce, what was that?! It just put out the entire fire!"

The swordswoman moved aside her wet bangs with a relieved smile, "If I'm right, that should be one of Kinomoto's card spirits. Now, that the fires are gone, let's finish taking ou-"

Lucina's voice was soon cut off as the sound of screeching sound echoed in the distance drawing closer to them by the second.

"A-and what about that?!" Inigo added with a grimace, "Something is heading straight for us!"

It was as the mercenary said. In the ground, something jutted out from below the soil like crystals as it came charging towards them with more ice shards and fog behind it. Immediately, the dark sorcerer prepared to weave his spell with the purple book in hand when Leo's voice called out to the sorcerer, "Cease your attacks immediately, Owain! That's most likely another one of her card spirits!"

"I-I see…" Owain immediately withdrew his out stretched hand before turning around and striking down another Risen archer from afar.

He was about to do so again when the monsters were suddenly encased in shards of ice and shattered. As both cousins' jaws clearly dropped, aside from Lucina, the future past princess let out a sigh of relief as all the surrounding risens fell apart and disappeared from the ice shards into purple haze, "It seems Kinomoto and the dragon saved us all tonight- Huh? Where did it go?"

"Uh… Sis, it walked back into the forest while you were all preoccupied with that… ice thing." Inigo answered, "Still, I've heard that Kinomoto was the strongest sorceress of her world, but who'd have thought she was this strong?!"

"True." Leo said with a grimace after helping Kamui onto his horse while Xander started assisting his sister and Mark onto his, "But have you thought about how much magic and energy the girl used to save us all? Just you remember, one of her cards was still drawing magic from her while protecting Corrin for the past few weeks. Then, she called out two more powerful spirits to put out this entire fire and destroy all the Risen in the area."

At his words, Lucina's eyes widen in shock before she grimaced, "Oh, gods! That would mean-!"

"Yeah…" Takumi nodded with a grimace as he wearily walked over to the group, "We should return to camp as soon as possible."

Hearing the archer's words, Lucina and Leo nodded in agreement before the dark knight turned to the two retainers, "Also, the two of you have a lot of explaining to do when we get back, Owain, Inigo."

At the stern voice of the Nohrian prince, both men straightened their backs with a stiff expression as they simultaneously shouted, "U-understood, Prince Leo!"

---

Upon their return to the former campgrounds, they soon discover the place bare with a luminating blue butterfly and an overly excited and partially worried Peri waiting for them and decidedly followed it to the new campsite where Chrom and the others were waiting for their return. Immediately, Mark and the twin manaketes were sent to the infirmary tent where Lissa, Maribelle, and Azuma were waiting for them. Not even a second later, Camilla and Hinoka were seen racing through the campgrounds to the infirmary tents with their retainers close behind them. Inside, Forrest immediately informed his father of Sakura's condition. Turns out the child was alright and just need some rest for the remainder of the night as her magic was already getting stronger and should recover completely by morning. However, Eriol speculated that it would be much sooner than that due to her enormous growth during the past two years. As Leo conversed with his sisters of the situation, Xander spoke with Prince Chrom of the situation that occurred during the ambush, including the new person they brought along. At the mention of the exalt's son and nephew, Chrom let out a sigh of relief with a small smile, "At the very least, everyone's back alive. We'll have to check on Mark's and your siblings' conditions in a bit after our healers finish examinations. By the way, where's Inigo and Owain?"

Xander frowned slightly as he said, "Leo and I sent them over to the council tent with your tacticians. It'd would probably cause quite some confusion among the Shepherds, if they suddenly learn that three of their comrades came to our time with assumptions of the reasons. Also, I'd like to have a talk with your son regarding what had occurred."

Chrom nodded, "True. That would sound like a possible scenario. May Lucina and I join you as well? I'd like to know just what kind of situation occurred during the time they were missing and Lucina would most like want an explanation for their future actions as well."

"Of course, you and Lucina may go with us." Xander said with a nod, "He is your son and nephew. I'm also rather curious as to why they wish to leave their time as well."

The exalt then glanced over to the infirmary tent watching the paladin's wife and younger sister, Camilla, sitting on a bench patiently outside the busy tents as he said, "Is your sister coming as well?"

Hearing this, Xander shook his head, "I've spoke with her not too long ago. She said that she wanted to hear truth of the situation from Selena herself and she wants to be there when Kamui and Corrin wakes up. Of course, we'll tell her of what we learned of the situation from our retainers. It also seems that Caeldori and the other two children wishes to join us. They're all already waiting with Peri inside the tent."

"I see." Chrom said with a stern look, "Of course, they weren't told of the situation their parents were in or their parent's origin. But, what of Beruka and your youngest sister, Elise?"

"Camilla give her permission to leave her side, but it seems that she's only decided to do so after Camilla and my wife are able to see our other siblings. Elise is with Leo right now. She's more worried about Ophelia and 'Odin' at the moment."

"It's no wonder with the current situation. Frederick, go see if Lissa can come to the War Council tent. I'll go get Lucina."

The Ylissean retainer bowed, "Understood, Lord Chrom."

---

The tacticians and the two retainers sat on their respective seats with Peri and the three children on the other side of the torch lit council tent. Reflet turned to Owain, "So about the time limit, it's clearly past more than just a couple hours."

Inigo nodded with a smiled, "Well, that's because Queen Orochi is with La- the Voice and she's agreed to help her extend the time with her powers. At least, that's what Queen Orochi told us. Of course, she did say that it would make things easier if we were called by someone in their minds, apparently, and I think it was Lucina who did that this time. Only she, Prince Leo, and Oboro was there when we looked around."

Owain nodded with a smile, "Right. I deeply apologize for suddenly leaving things so rushed, like that."

"The Voice?!" Reflet nodded with a sigh, "Well, even if I accept your apology, you should probably tell that to your cousin instead, Owain. She is currently very confused with the situation and that includes all of us."

"Yeah…" Inigo muttered nervously, "Not surprised there. What I am surprised is how we're back to the past of our world and how distorted it is from our future."

"How distorted it is from your future?" Robin repeated with a look of bewilderment.

"How about let's wait till Chrom and King Xander arrives with the others?" Reflet said with a sigh, "So, how long do you think you can remain here."

"I'm not too sure. Maybe, a day or two?" Inigo said with a grimace and turned to his cousin, "Odi- Owain, what do you think?"

"Hmmm…" Owain frowned deep in thought before answering, "Ah, yes! The magic would most likely dispel itself before sunrise."

Inigo sighed as he covered his eyes with one hand and muttered, "Owain… I don't think Sir Reflet or Ms. Robin would like to hear that speech right now."

At a glance to the other two tacticians, Owain smiled nervously, "Right… Actually, I really am not too sure myself, probably by the end of tomorrow…"

Reflet looked to his twin and she nodded before speaking with a grimace, "If Prince Leo can't figure this out, we're… going to need Eriol or Kero for this."

"That we will…"

At a familiar voice, everybody looked to the tent entrance as Chrom and the others, Including Ryoma, began to enter the room. Xander looked over to Peri, "Peri, take the children outside for a bit first. We need to have a talk with Inigo and Owain before we can get onto other matters."

"Yes, milord!" the woman exclaimed with a bright smile and began to lead the three outside with Kaze and Arthur.

Once gone, Xander turned to the two as they all took a seat, "Perhaps, let's start with what happened after you two and Selena disappeared before all of us at Bottomless Canyon. Inigo, what happened?"

Inigo nodded and began his report, "After we were somehow teleported from the canyon, the three of us found ourselves, in King Kamui's castle. From there, we were met with an old friend, whom we thought was dead for a few years. He told us that he required our assistance in protecting someone very important to him once more. Of course, we didn't believe the man till he told us proof of our origin. That ws when we decided to believe in the man and followed him through the portal, or dragon gate as we call it. We then found ourselves in an unusual realm with nothing but darkness and crumbled debris around us. The man led us to a hiding spot and, when we looked, we discovered King Kamui and Princess Corrin facing off against Grima, the Fell Dragon, of all beings!"

"What?!" Leo's eyes widen in shock as did the other two Ylissean royals.

Xander, however, only frowned as he said with a nod, "Go on…"

With that, the mercenary continued, "Of course, none of us knew what was going on or why the fell dragon was even around, but we had asked our friend to create a distraction for us to go in and save them from him. However, when we did, we were only able to get King Kamui through a portal our friend created. He told us that it should lead him to a safe place. Of course, we were about to have Selena go with him, so we can remain behind and rescue Princess Corrin. However, Grima somehow had the ability to close the portal and trapped all of us in the realm as soon as King Kamui went through it. None of us were sure of what to do, but rescue Princess Corrin. So, when we did just that, our friend opened another portal and we all passed through it with Princess Corrin before Grima could try and close that one as well. When we all escaped from the realm, we found ourselves in Kinomoto's dream realm and Princess Corrin lost her consciousness shortly after. However, even in that place, Grima appeared once more and our friend could only cast a barrier around us that was barely strong enough to protect us from him before Grima appeared and sent him flying from us. Well, the barrier kind of made Grima rather angry till he just abruptly decided to place some magic around the barrier. So, we remained there till we were found by Kinomoto, who put Princess Corrin under one of her spirit's protection with Nyx. However, her presence made the magic go off. Luckily, we found a way out of the trap he set up and Kinomoto led us to Eriol. He told us what had happened in Kinomoto's world shortly before we were somehow teleported to where Princess Corrin and the spirit was. We weren't too sure what happened, but we suddenly heard Queen Orochi speak to us and, after a while, we found ourselves away from Selena, then heard Prince Leo and Lucina speak of how milord and King Kamui is trapped in a burning forest with Prince Takumi before we found ourselves before them."

As the man reported this to his liege, everyone were equally startled and were unsure of where to start with their inquiry of the situation. Leo frowned, "That's… a lot to take in. I don't even know where to start asking any questions."

"It does seem a lot of stuff went on from both sides." Chrom said with a frown, "It would also seem that their report also coincides with Kinomoto's. It also filled in what exactly happened to them after they disappeared."

However, Xander raised a brow, "Right now, Corrin is with us and Kamui is safe as well. However, your friend knows of your homeland? Interesting… May I ask who this person is?"

Inigo grimaced, "I-I must apologize, milord. We promised the man not to reveal his name, our origin, or speak of what happened to us before arriving to Nohr's castle. Though with the Silent Dragon's curse gone now, what I can say is that he was the same person, who came looking for help a few years ago."

"Wait, what?!" Prince Leo said with wide eyes.

Chrom frowned, "And he came to you for help?"

Reflet, who had remained silent with his sister throughout the entire conversation, finally asked, "…Then, can you tell us where he was from or what he did?"

"Of course, Sir Robin!" Owain said with a smile, "The man himself was considered a close friend of Valla's former king and royal family. He-"

"He had mentioned that he was the king's royal tactician as well and also had amnesia when he was found by Former Queen Arete's and Former Queen Mikoto's family in Valla." Inigo finished.

The answer left everyone stunned in silence before Chrom glanced over to the Nohrian King and the Hoshidan king. They nodded as Ryoma said with a grimace, "It would seem that he was the writer of the letter then…"

Despite the two retainer's looks of confusion, Xander asked, "Yes. I suppose it maybe a good thing that you haven't mentioned his name, then. We've actually received a letter from that man. It said that he was placed the silent curse by Grima after consuming the remains of the Silent dragon."

"W-What?!" Inigo exclaimed in shock before he caught himself, "My apologies, King Xander."

"It's fine, Inigo. At least, we haven't lost memories of you three as well, thankfully." the Nohrian king said with a nod.

"If I may, milord." Owain spoke up with a grimace.

As the Nohrian king nodded, Owain continued, "Princess Corrin is not completely out of danger yet. The Fell Dragon placed a curse that drains her draconic energy to him during our first encounter. I've only used what I could and know to prevent it from robbing anymore of what's left of her abilities, sir. Oro- Queen Orochi suggests that we look to Ms. Nyx for her knowledge of the dark arts as she's unsure of how to cut the connection of the curse between her and the evil Fell Dragon."

Leo said staring at his retainer with a raised brow, "Meaning..."

"Grima placed a curse that absorbs her dragon energy, but I'm suppressing the amount taken with my dark magic. It won't be enough to hold it back for long and Orochi said to ask Nyx for her help to get rid of it because she's unsure how to get rid of the connection between them too." Owain said immediately.

At his words, Xander grimaced as Elise suggested, "Oh. Then, we can have Effie go and look for Nyx right now!"

"No." Leo said with a frown and looked to Xander, "I think we should have Niles go. Xander?"

The Nohrian king nodded, "We'll have your retainer go get her, then. Inigo, Owain, is that all that occurred, then? Whatever happened to Selena?"

At the mention of the Malig knight's retainer, Owain shook his head, "I'm afraid even we don't know what became of her, milord. Last we saw each other was with Princess Corrin and the spirit. She could either be here as well or stuck in another part of the dream realm, which I hope isn't true…"

Reflet clenched his teeth and he uttered, "At least, Caeldori isn't here in here with us to hear of this."

Lucina nodded before glancing over to the two, "Inigo, Owain, I need the two of you to tell me why did you leave this time and left for Nohr to be retainers? What happened?"

"Hold on, what are you saying, Lucina?" Inigo looked to her with a look of confusion, "Our past self never left you or the Shepherds till Grima was defeated."

"Wait, what?!" the future past princess said with a dumbfounded expression over her face, "Grima was actually defeated?!"

As everyone shared mixed looks of bewilderment or dumbfounded as the princess, Chrom raised his hand catching everyone's attention and calmly said to them, "Inigo, Owain, can the two of you explain to us what happened after Grima was defeated, then?"

The two nodded and Owain began to speak, "After the evil Fell Dragon's demise, I first thought that it would benefit me by staying with the Shep-"

Inigo sighed cut off the dark sorcerer as he interrupted, "It was about two years and a few months after Grima's defeat. Selena, Owain, and I were starting on our own adventures with Lucina of our future traveling the world when we came across a robed man who just approached us as soon as we got out of our inn in Chon'sin. The first thing that came flying out of his mouth was to help him save his kingdom, but also asking for us to remain silent of his request. Of course, Selena and I were more suspicious about this than any of us about the second part, but we grabbed our stuff and told my sister that we have a mission to take care of and possibly won't be back for a long time. And, honestly, it was pretty hard to persuade her to let us go, of course. However, when we did, we followed what the man told of where and when to meet him. Turns out the location was at the roots of Mila's tree where the Voice's shrine is located at sunrise. From there, he only told us his name and changed our appearance and hid our brands."

Owain nodded, "The man was also about to take us to his kingdom when we were suddenly ambushed by invisible soldiers. Those things caught all of us off guard, especially the man himself."

"What?!" Chrom exclaimed with wide eyes, "Those things were here in the future as well?!"

Inigo nodded, "Yes, but, with his guidance, the four of us were able to finish taking them out, Father. So, they shouldn't be here in the future anymore. If so, they'd have retreated back to the Silent Dragon's side as the man they were after is no longer there, including the three of us. After that battle, the man told us that they were after him and we decided that it would be better to follow him now that we were involved in this too."

"And that was how you got to Nohr?" Lucina spoke with a frown.

Owain shook his head, "I'm afraid that was only a portion of the story, cousin. You see, after the man used his powerful magic to teleport all of us to his kingdom, we found ourselves in Valla and ambushed once more by the invisible soldiers our foe sent against us. When we were about to fall to their strength, the man then changed our clothing, gave us some of his remaining strength, and also gifted us with new names that we had planned to use for the mission and we lived to see another day!"

"Yeah…"Inigo said with a frown, "Anyway, following what Owain said, we were also told of the true situation and how the man was unable to tell us the problem or the mission he wanted us to help him with was due to the curse the Silent dragon placed on those who enter there and know of the place. We agreed to help him save Valla. However, when we reached the castle where the Silent dragon was we were unable to defeat him and nearly got killed instead. So, we were forced to flee the place. We haven't even gone far from the castle when we were ambushed by more of his undead militia. The numbers were too much for us to handle and we soon learned that not only was Queen Azura saved from our enemies forces hiding in Nohr, but that King Kamui and Princess Corrin were kidnapped to Nohr's side. While we were cornered, the man used to last amount of his powers to teleport us out of Valla without him and gave us instructions to head to Nohr's royal castle, become retainers for the royal family, and find King Kamui and Princess Corrin. We had wanted to flee the place with him, but he was caught in battle by the enemy. We soon found ourselves in Nohr's royal castle surprisingly. From there, I just went along and asked to become retainers of Nohr after giving Former King Garon our names."

"My siblings and I were there as well and from what I recall," the Nohrian king said with a frown, "Father permitted it on the spot, surprisingly. Looks like you solved that part of the mission."

"Yes, Lord Xander." Inigo said with a nod, "However, we were unable to find King Kamui and Princess Corrin. All the man told us was that they were twins. He was unable to tell us their names when the invisible soldiers attacked, so we were unable to find them when there more than just one twins in a single country. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. In the end, we decided to continue serving the royal family for the next four to five years or so. None of us thought that it would be King Kamui or Princess Corrin till we learn that they were originally from Hoshido's royal family, but, by then, they were already taking back to Hoshido. So, we knew that they were safe from the Silent Dragon as Former Queen Mikoto was their mother. So, we all decided to continue to stay by our liege's side as all our friend instructed was to find them and insure of their safety."

"So, the reason why you wanted to become our retainers was to find my siblings and ensure of their safety and you were already facing against our true enemies from the beginning?" Leo said with a look of surprise.

"Y-yes, Lord Leo." Owain said with a nervously grimace, "I must apologize for our silence of our knowledge. I'm afraid, with the curse and our dear friend's warning, we were unable to even bring up the matter to our lieges. B-but, seeing that only milord and his siblings cared for them followed by his servants, I'd say that they were already taken care of from the beginning, despite being in Nohr."

"True." Inigo said with a frown, "Though none of us realized that Gunter was working for the Silent Dragon…"

With a sigh, Xander shook his head, "It's fine, Inigo. None of us did. He was one of my father's soldiers for the longest times before being sent to watch over Kamui and Corrin. All of us nearly fell for his trap had the two not brought his crime to light."

"However, I do have one question." the dark knight said with a frown, "Why the three of you, specifically? Or was it just pure coincidence that this man asked you for help?"

"Actually," Owain said, "He said that he was looking for us because he witnessed us help my uncle and cousin bring the end of the Fell dragon from afar, milord. Though I do not know how he did so."

"So, basically, this all was brought about by another one of your misadventures and you two all pulled 'Selena' into it, then?" Lucina said with a sigh before a small smile came to her face, "Well, at least, this is better than what I initially thought."

Ryoma chuckled and said to the Nohrian king and his younger brother, "It seems you certainly have some unusual and loyal retainers, King Xander, Prince Leo. No doubt, none of us will be able to find one as interesting as them."

Hearing this, Xander sighed and said, "True. I was expecting them to be… 'unusual', but it seems that word is also much… underestimating the truth."

Leo sighed as he shook his head with irritation, "At least, now I know why Niles was unable to find anything on you three. Not only were you not from our time, but you didn't even exist yet in this time as well! If not for Lucina, I'd still believe that you're all from this time."

"My apologies for suddenly vanishing like that, milord." Inigo said to his liege, "But, if I may ask, how is it that you know of our real names? Also, what do you mean by 'time'? I mean, certainly we're from the future of this world, but-"

Lucina sighed as she shook her head, "Inigo, did the three of us ever heard the tales of the three kingdoms from mother and Aunt Lissa in the future of your timeline?"

After some thought, the two retainers nodded as Owain said with a bright smile, "Ah, that tale. Well, of course, cousin. We were all estatic to hear of the tale when we were children that 'Selena' would always try to ask Aunt Cordelia and Lady Sumia to retell it behind our backs so many ti- Wait, what?"

Leo frowned, "It seems that this is going to be a very long conversation…"

"Hehe!" Elise giggled, "There is a lot of things to talk about for sure!"

"Yup!" Lissa concurred with a bright smile, "Of course, I'll save ours after you're done! Right, Lon'qu?"

As the myrmidon muttered something with a grimace, the two could already tell that they maybe in for a surprise for something more than what they expected…

---

Sakura slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring at the ceiling of her own tent. Still feeling slightly groggily, she slowly sat up finding herself in her own sleeping bag. She rubbed her eyes and was about to stretch when she felt a strange presense around her. She quickly glanced around before seeing a sleepy disguised Kero sleeping on her pillow next to her. She gently taps the familiar's shoulder a couple of times on the shoulder gently calling him. However, after seeing that he wouldn't wake up, she shouted as loud as she thought was possible without disturbing the others. Finally, thought slightly startled, Kero also sat up as he rubbed his eyes still very, very drowsy, "Oh, Sakura… You're finally up… Well, I'm just gonna go back to sleep now."

As he laid back down and mumbled happily about something regarding cakes and sweet, his eyes shot open as he shot up, "Sakura?! You're up?"

He immediately took off flying to the girl's side with a look of concern over him, "How are you feeling? Still tired?"

Sakura shook her head with a small smile, "Nope. I'm feeling great right now."

Kero folded his small arms and let out a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear. Looks like Eriol was right that your magic is growing stronger by the day. Without a doubt, you've further surpassed Clow during the past two years we've been here."

Sakura silently agreed as she took a look around her surroundings, "K-Kero? This presence…"

Immediately, the familiar looked to the girl with a stern look as he whispered, "Yeah. About that, it looks like Inigo came around as Laslow a while ago and that includes Owain as well."

Her eyes suddenly widen at the plush toys response, "'Laslow' as in King Xander's retainer and Soliel's dad?!"

Surprised by her sudden response, Kero quickly turned to her with an anxious exprerssion over his face, "Shh…! We're suppose to keep this quiet from everyone remember? Besides their families and those from the past, we and Syaoran are the only ones, who knows about their future self."

"O-oops…" Sakura gasped as she quickly covered her mouth with both hands, "S-sorry, but 'Laslow' and 'Owain' are here? I recall this happening before from what Ophelia told me. How long do you think they'll be here this time?"

"Hmm…" Kero frowned deep in his thoughts, "I'm not too sure, either. I'll need to get a closer distance with them to know. Right now, they're having an important talk with the royal families. Soliel and her friends went with them too."

Suddenly, a voice called out to them, "Kero~, are you there?"

Slowly the face peeked through revealing to be none other than Peri.

"King Xander and Reflet asks for your assistance in-"Her eyes soon fell on Sakura as her smile grew wider, "Kinomoto! Finally, you're awake! Oh. Kero, King Xander and the tacticians wishes for your assistance with something. They're in the council tent. Of course, Kinomoto can come with us if she likes!"

Sakura glanced over to her familiar, who nodded, "Sure, why not? Let's first go see what they need help with."

Sakura nodded with a smile and got out of her sleeping bag before smoothing out her clothing seeing as they were crushed during her sleep. After checking quickly, she nodded with a bright smile, "I'm ready. Let's go!"

"Yeah~!" Peri cried out with a bright smile.

After weaving through the tents nearly filled with drowsy Shepherds readying themselves for bed, they found themselves in front of a familiar large tent lit from inside with Kagero and Arthur standing guard outside. Peri waved to the two with a smile, "Peri's back! Oh, guess what? Kinomoto's awake!"

As Arthur glanced over to the two with a look of surprise and a smile, Kagero nodded, "I see. That's good to hear. You had a few of us quite worried when you fainted. Now, go on inside."

"Just to inform you, Lady Elise and her daughter are inside as well." Arthur said to the two nearly announcing it aloud, "Beruka, Soliel and Caeldori went inside just now too."

"I see." Sakura said finally understanding the situation, "Then I'll see you later."

The ninja nodded in silence and watched the two follow the blue-pink hair retainer into the tent. The interior of the tent was surprisingly warm as Sakura glanced around the room. As usual there was a large table in the center of the room. Around it was Chrom's entire family, the two kings, Prince Leo, and what looks to be Inigo and Owain. Seeing them in their physical body was rather unusual to the girl in contrast to their previous outfits, especially Owain. As she thought this, Peri announced of their entrance, "Lord Xander, Peri brought Kero and Kinomoto!"

"Thank you, Peri." Xander said with a smile.

"Wait, Kinomoto is awake?" Lissa said with a look of surprise and relief, "Eriol was right about her waking up sooner than! How are you feeling? You had me worried there when you suddenly collapsed."

Sakura smiled and nodded, "Well, I feel great since waking up. I apologize for making all of you worry like that."

Chrom smiled as he waved, "It's fine."

"Yes." Leo said with a nod, "However, next time, try to take a couple minutes to think before using your magic like that, Kinomoto. Though we are thankful for your actions in saving us, however, to call on two card spirits to put out a fire and take out Risens are one thing, but to have them do it on an entire forest. It would take more than two mages to do that."

"I agree, though I'm more relieved to know that nothing worse than fainting happened to you, as a result." Reflet said with a nervous grimace.

Lissa nodded with a bright smile, "But, I'm sure Grima learned his lesson after today. I mean did you see how Kinomoto was able to quickly put out the entire forest so quickly! Not just that, but she also froze those Risens instantly! Grima will have to think twice now before sending anymore Risens at us for a while now! Hehe!"

"That or he's going to plot something else against us." Robin added with a grimace, "Let's just remain on our guard, in case he does something unexpected again."

As they nodded in agreement, Leo glanced over to the two, "Kero, Sakura, I actually need some help in figuring how long these two have before Queen Orochi's spell dissipates and they turn back to being their past selves again. Can you help us with this?"

Kero frowned as he folded his small arms, "Hmmm. I'm unsure as to rather or not that is possible for me to detect. Most forms of magic like this in our world usually last between a few minutes to hours. It would become dangerous as both the souls of two times can burden the physical body and mind."

Hearing this, Ingio calmly spoke, "Then, what if we have some help from the Voice? Queen Orochi already notified us of the danger in this form of magic, but the voice assured us that, with her powers, she'd be able to prolong the effects of the magic without putting any strain on us."

"And you believe if the Voice?" Ryoma questioned with a raised brow.

Inigo nodded, "Yes. In the timeline we originated from, the Voice was the one who helped us stop Grima."

"If that's how it went in your time," Xander said with a frown, "Then you believe that this person will also offer us aid in the battle as well?"

Owain nodded, "Of course, milord. And they're not one to mess around with."

Inigo chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head, "Yes, though that person may… fall asleep from time to time."

At his words, looks of confusion ran across the room before Chrom looked to Kero once more, "Anyway, back to the topic, do you think you can predict how long they have till the spell ends, Kero?"

After some thought, Kero frowned before speaking, "It would depend on how powerful this person assisting the caster is…"

"About that." Inigo spoke up and gestured the disguised beast over to him with a wave of his hand, "though we don't know how powerful she actually is, we already know about how old she is around this time and what she can do from our experience, but we can't reveal any of it in case it's something that changes the future, though I admit that I don't know how that's possible. Just taking precautions."

Kero sighed and flew over to the man before the mercenary whispered into his ears, "….. Oh! And….."

Out of the blue, Kero immediately dropped out of the sky and landed dramatically onto the ground to their surprise as he screamed, "WHAT?!"

"K-Kero?!" Sakura shouted with a look of bewilderment, "Wh-what is it? Are you all right?"

As the beast floated back up in the air and rubbed the bump on his forehead, he sighed with his head hanged down muttering something inaudible to them all, before looking up and said, "At least, a week… to a month."

At his answer, nearly everyone jumped out of his seat as Lucina grimaced, "What?! The last time Owain was here, he only stayed around for nearly an hour. Is the voice is that powerful?!"

Kero sighed as he nodded, "Not just that, what makes this even more important is that she's also old. Really, really old, but, at the same time, also young."

"May you please explain that? Leo said with a grimace, "I'm afraid you're not making much sense, Kero."

"Oh! Does that mean the person follows the same logic as in our world, Kero?" Sakura asked with a frown as she thought back to her lesson, "Where the stronger the magic of the being is the longer they'll retain a young appearance?"

Kero shrugged, "Normally, yes. It probably is the same for them as well, but, according to what Inigo told me, I'm unsure till I get to ask the person themselves. However, the Voice is very old and have possibly witnessed many events over the decades, including the birth and passing of a person. In our world, it would mean that the person is very, very powerful. However, the person we're referring to has another reason for this longevity. That is the kind of person we'll be meeting at the Shrine."

At his words, Chrom grimaced with a mix of nervousness and awe as he spoke, "It starting to make sense how she's always revered to being something to worship to. At the same time, we also know that a person looked up to like that by the people is someone, who can help us in our current situation. I appreciate your help, Kero, Sakura. You may retire to your tent, if you like. I don't think we have anything else to trouble you with."

"It was no trouble at all, Chrom." Kero said with a smile, "We also benefitted in teaching my mistress something new before she retire for the night. We'll take our leave, then."

As Kero turned around and began to leave, Sakura waved before leaving the room after her familiar.

---

As they walked out into the cold night, Sakura caught up to the guardian and questioned with curiousity, "Kero, just what did Inigo tell you earlier?"

Rather than a full answer, Kero just sighed as he said to his mistress while trying his best to muster up a carefree, joyous smile, "Oh, just something surprising. Sakura, prepare yourself when we reach the Shrine. The brat too. We may be in for a surprise."

Uncertain of the guardian's words, Sakura could only nod her head with a slightly worried and bewildered expression, "O-Okay?"

---

YueTian: I'm so glad I got this chapter out on New year's! I was so worried when I accidentally fell asleep last night and nearly lost my entire work since the last update after my laptop ran out of power. I've been having a problem since I came back from my road trip where whenever I plug in my charger, something like "Replace AC Adapter", my Dell laptop would say that, since it's not the one specially for this type of laptop [which is something like an "Intel CORE 15 inside" (No clue just reading the freaking labels on it)] it won't charge, but would keep it alive rather than passing what I already have before the problem started, which is 7% battery. *Sigh* So frustrated! I just got this a few months ago too! It's too soon for it to malfunction like this! Anyway, I'm much more happy that this chapter is done, though it's too bad that we didn't continue with the Fire Emblem Awakening's story plot yet. Also, I'm trying of using the horizontal lines to separate a change in scenes. Hopefully, that could dispel some confusion for some of you as it did for me when reading it. (Yes, even I read my own stories and do some criticizing before I get a chance to edit it again.)I was planning for someone else to show up, but maybe in the next chapter. Anyway, I wish you all a Happy New Year! Bye!

Kero: Yu-!

Spinel: YueTian, you forgot the title…

YueTian: Oh, right! Thank you very much, Suppie!

Suppie: *Glare* Stop calling me that.

YueTian: Right. Oh, and thank you too, Kero.

Kero: But that was my line… Dang it! SUPPIE!

Spinel: Hmph!

Eriol: *Stifles a chuckle*