Third-Person POV

"You stupid zombies, DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING YOURSELF INTO?!"

"Do not raise your voice in the Audience Chamber when the Archbishop is present… or in the Audience Chamber at all." Seteth scolds Kotaro.

"M-My apologies Lady Rhea." The manager utters.

"Regardless, are you all truly willing to assist with defending the monastery along with your fellow students? I was informed of the acquisition of the staff capable of sending all of you home. An invasion of this scale, with so little time to prepare, it would not be unwise to avoid it for your own safety." Lady Rhea tells the seven members of Franchouchou before her.

"Indeed, the kindness you have shown us this past year should not go ignored. Despite not knowing who or what we were, the Church of Seiros accepted us as students, giving us a place to live and learn as well." Yugiri bows.

"Through training our skills in battle and forging bonds with fellow students, our time spent in the monastery, in this world… it was most certainly not wasted." Junko does as well.

"It would be our pleasure to fight for what has likely become a second home to us. We refuse to abandon you all at a time like this." Ai along with the remaining girls bow towards the Archbishop.

Rhea puts a hand to her heart, deeply touched, "Very well. You girls have my deepest gratitude… Hm? Is something the matter dear child?"

"Oh, um, my apologies, Lady Rhea. I didn't have enough time to sleep last night. Mainly because I had a lot on my mind…" Sakura squeezed her bandaged arm.

"I see. The Prince of Faerghus has undergone quite the change as of late. I myself had seen him speaking to himself in the Cathedral, how worrying. Although, he may also feel regret for what he had done to you in the Holy Tomb."

"Tch…" Saki grunted as she crossed her arms.

"Really? Well… I'll go see him later so I'll see if that's true. There's also another thing on my mind as well, why did Edelgard decide to declare war on the Church in the first place?" Sakura pondered.

Seteth came forward with an abridged version of the answer, "She believes the Church of Seiros to be an evil of this world. Corrupt, hypocritical… Edelgard thinks of our beliefs as something to be rid of. What a twisted mind of hers…"

"Evil…twisted…" Sakura mumbled as she looked downwards.

"How preposterous, she will not even get the chance to tear down all that we have built. How dare that wicked girl even think of such things…"

"Wicked…" Sakura continued silently as her friends looked towards her, concerned.

Saki just gripped her arm and flexed, "You got that right Rhea, we're gonna kick her ass back to the Empire! Ah, sorry, you know what I mean, right?"

"Such a vulgar girl…" Seteth sighed.

"I do understand, oh, I nearly forgot. Your transfer to the Golden Deer is ready to be approved, are you truly sure that this path is the one you choose?" Rhea asked Saki who took her time before answering.

"... Yeah, I'm sure as hell. Claude's a pretty cool dude, Hilda's fun, and I can't wait to spar with Raphael. No regrets on my end, I'm ready to make folks FEAR THE DEER!" Saki raised her fist in the air.

Ai lowered her eyebrows in disapproval of her friend's decision to separate from her group.

Tae frowned and whined at Saki, "Mmmph…."

"Hey, it'll be fine, we're all still in the same place, aren't we? I'm just a few steps away classroom wise, plus our rooms are close in the dorms! It's all good!" Saki reassured them, but none were convinced.

"Traitor." Lily pouted.

"What was that Shrimpy?!" Saki yelled at the younger girl.

"I said what I said. And it's Lily." Lily brushes off the biker girl's threats.

"Why you little—"

"Cease this at once!" Seteth shouted and the girls readjusted themselves, "Ahem, well this concludes our session for today. Now then, Saki be prepared to meet me in my office for your transfer."

"Alright." The blonde bowed.

Kotaro then walked in front of the girls once more, "You idiot zombies better not die again out there on the battlefield. Not only would that make all the training you did amount to nothing, but Saga will never be saved if I don't have you girls there."

"Gee, thanks for the encouragement, Tatsumi…" Lily rolls her eyes.

"Promise me one thing. If you win, AWESOME, WOW! You girls have saved Garreg Mach! But if it all goes to hell, then meet me in the courtyard of the monastery to perform the staff ritual. Deal?" Kotaro holds out his hand and waits.

Franchouchou huddles before Ai steps forward and shakes his hand, "Deal."

"Fine then. NOW GO GET TO TRAINING! YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE ARMY GETS HERE!" Tatsumi yells as he exits the Audience Chamber.

"T-Two weeks… that's not nearly enough time to prepare for something like this…" Junko shuddered.

"Well, we just gotta go all out, no holding back." Saki gripped her fists.

"Ragh! Raghah!" Tae gurgled.

"This is all happening too fast for Lily…" Lily's heart starts literally beating out of her chest.

"This is deeply troubling, we must all stay focused when we face our enemies." Yugiri states.

"I'm off to go see the Professor, he's most likely at the training grounds with everyone else by now. Franchouchou, it's time to get to work." Ai tells them all and all but one of them nodded in agreement.

"Edelgard…" Sakura utters quietly.

Before she went to train with the others, Sakura decided to take a walk around the monastery, since this may be the last time she'll see it. The atmosphere of each area felt nostalgic to her even if she had been there for almost a year only. The calming aura felt in the gardens, the smell of delicious meals within the dining hall, the bustling energy from the marketplace… she indulged in it all.

Yet… she felt like she couldn't enjoy it for very long. Thoughts swirled around in her head constantly, making it difficult for any sense of tranquility to be retained. Dimitri's complete change of character and Edelgard's declaration of war, those thoughts began to eat at her bit by bit.

The latter especially, as she looked back on her old worries of the Church being the good guys or the bad guys. Like when members of the Western Church were to be executed. Hearing that Edelgard deemed them as corrupted individuals who wanted to control Fódlan just made her even more conflicted on how she should feel...

"Ah, greetings, Sakura!" The smiling gatekeeper salutes the student.

"Oh, hello Mr. Gatekeeper. Anything to report?" She reciprocates that smile as she passes through the front of the Monastery.

"Yes actually, other than the invasion of Garreg Mach, of course. Since you may have already heard about it, it's all what everyone's talking about right now." He stated, his smile fading as he brought up the serious topic.

"Yeah, it's hard to think about anything else at the moment, ha ha…" Sakura chuckled worriedly.

"Anyways, what I have to report is this! This letter was with others sent from the Empire to students from there. This one is addressed to you, but I do not specifically recall anyone mentioning you were from the Empire before…" The Gatekeeper handed the letter to Sakura.

"I'm not, so this does sound weird... " Sakura opens it up then immediately gasps.

"Is something the matter?" The Gatekeeper asks her.

"No, it's fine, have a good rest of your day!" She responds, before running off quickly towards her dorm room.

Sakura quickly shut the door and got to reading the letter, her eyes got wider and wider with each word she read, sweat drops falling down her face. As she finished it, the paper slowly floated onto the ground. Sakura then felt her legs give out, her knees hitting the floor as she continued to tremble.

"I… I can't…. What do I do?..." She utters.

"Hey, you alright Saki? You're ready to spar, right?" Claude asked his new classmate as she stared at her former class.

"Yeesh! When I asked if you wanted to grab a bite earlier, this is not what I meant!" Sylvain runs from Tae, chasing him on all fours.

"Ha ha… oh right! Sorry Claude. Bring it, Hilda!" Saki tells her opponent.

"Oh jeez, you should have just left her distracted, Claude. Now I have to actually fight her, great." Hilda sighed as Claude laughed.

"Best of luck!" The Golden Deer House Leader smiled smugly as he called for the two to clash.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Training Grounds other Blue Lions were preparing for the invasion.

"Tah! Hah!" Lily shot three fireballs at the training dummy, setting it ablaze, while Junko casts Blizzard to cool it down.

"Nice going, Lily! You too, Junko! I'm surprised you're taking up Reason magic though…" Annette tells her floofy haired friend.

Junko fidgets, "Well… if things go south, then I don't want to be a liability on the battlefield. This way I can both support and backup allies when needed."

"What a wonderful idea Lady Junko, perhaps we should work on some exercises involving all of us in order to overwhelm the upcoming forces?" Yugiri suggested.

"Oh wow! That sounds great! With a class our size, we can come up with so many team combinations! Although…" Annette then held her hand to her heart.

"Huh? What is it Annie?" Lily asked her.

"I'm just… kinda scared y'know? I mean, there's not much time. I wonder if we'll even put up a fight against them…"

"That is definitely something to worry about… I hope that is not the case. I pray that we can at least manage to push them back a bit." Junko clutched her own hands together.

"We just have to do our best, okay Annie!" Lily pumped her fists.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We won't know until we try!" Annette feels reassured.

"Ferdinand, is what you say true?" Ai asked the young nobleman, who was sitting at the stables, dejected.

"Indeed… House Aegir has lost all of its land and power. Nothing is left for us… I just…"

"Oh dear… how awful…" Marianne responds as Sakura looks downwards, seeing what happened to Duke Aegir firsthand at Edelgard's crowning.

"I cannot believe this... how could this have happened? Just… what am I now?" Ferdinand puts his face in his hands in disbelief.

"I… I'm so sorry. Would you… care to have some tea with us, if that would help at all?" Ai looks upon him with empathy.

Marianne nods softly in agreement, "The professor provided us with Seiros tea, if that is a blend that you would enjoy."

"Y-Yeah... " Sakura nods as well.

"... That would be nice, yes. I… greatly appreciate your kindness towards me. I am in your debt."

"May I join you all? There is something I wish to discuss with you in particular, Ferdinand." Byleth then approached the group.

"Professor... " The orange-haired former noble's eyes widen.

"I feel like I know what you are planning to discuss, and if that's true, let's head to the Knights Hall for our session." Ai suggested.

She, Ferdinand, and Byleth departed first, but Sakura stops Marianne for a second.

"Sakura?" Said the former Golden Deer.

"Is he… is Dimitri… still in the Cathedral?" Sakura asks.

"... Yes. Every time I go there to pray to the goddess, he sits there rambling to himself. About avenging those he had lost… and that he'll have Edelgard's head." Marianne tells her.

"I see... How do you feel about this? Since… you two were quite close." Sakura gives her another question.

"I'm...I…" Marianne just couldn't answer and just ran off, you could see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

"..." Sakura clenched her fists before slapping her cheeks to get her to focus.

Sakura took a deep breath before making her way to the Cathedral, to see what had become of the prince, the young man who offered her a hand all the way back then in Remire Village, the same one who also knocked her away at the Holy Tomb. She walked through the iron gates and as soon as she entered, there was a figure hunched over sitting down.

"Hey… Dimitri."

Oh boy, two more chapters after this. I don't know if I could even explain how excited I am to write them. After almost one and a half years, this story comes to an end. My first fanfiction is almost over… I feel like I could cry right now. I better save it for the last chapter. Anyways, see you all next time!