The Future-Seer and Future Princess Chapter 14: Nightmares, a super smash brothers fanfic

Hello everybody, how you doing? It is time once again to get another chapter of this story out onto the internet for all to see.

Since the last chapter was mostly lighthearted fun and games, I decided to make this chapter a bit more on the darker side. Though, technically, that should be the other way around, since the idea for this chapter came to me first. Fair warning, those of you who are uncomfortable with blood might want to skip certain parts of this chapter. Just saying.

Althea Sirius: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. The chicken fight was my favorite part to write, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. Also, I was originally going to give you my predictions for the next Smash Direct, but now it seems pointless since the Direct came out before this chapter. So instead, I will leave my personal thoughts on the Direct in my closing author's notes.

Blackhawks8: Thank you. I always do the best I can to keep my characters in character. As I said to Althea Sirius several chapters ago, I take pride in being one of the few who truly knows who Shulk actually is. So I'm glad you like how I've portrayed him and Lucina. Also, don't worry about posting as a guest. I do the same thing all the time. You'd be surprised how many different stories I've reviewed as a guest rather than as Needs a Better Username.

Well, don't let me keep you any longer. Enjoy the chapter, everyone.

Super Smash Bros. © Nintendo/Masahiro Sakurai

*Lucina and Rosalina's bedroom*

*2:17 AM*

All the Smashers in the mansion were currently sleeping soundly through the night. All, that is, except for one. A certain blue haired princess was currently tossing and turning in her sleep. She was in the midst of a nightmare.

Lucina was currently in her family's castle fighting off a large army of undead monsters known as Risen with what few castle guards were still alive. She did her best to fight them off, but was quickly being overwhelmed. All of a sudden, an extraordinarily powerful gust of wind shook the whole room. And when the dust settled, Lucina saw that all the Risen and castle guards had been blown away, leaving her alone.

"So ends the human race."

Lucina heard a menacing voice come from somewhere near her. She quickly got to her feet and grabbed her sword, ready to fight off whatever was about to attack.

"The future is built upon the past. But your kind shall never see it!" The evil voice said.

Lucina then turned around and her eyes widened with horror. Three burning red eyes, each one about as tall as she was, if not taller, turned to look at her. Lucina started shaking with fright as she realized who this was. It was the destroyer of the world. The ancient evil that had wiped out nearly every living thing on the planet, including those closest to her. It was the Fell Dragon, Grima.

"Your mother and father are dead, tiny one." Grima taunted.

Lucina then pointed her sword, Falchion, toward the giant demon, though her entire body still shook with fear. Grima then gave off a sinister laugh as he brought his head back, allowing Lucina to see him in his entirety. Behind Grima, Lucina could see that pretty much everything in her field of vision was on fire. Almost nothing was left untouched by flames.

"And now it is your turn to DIE!" Grima screamed before moving to attack Lucina.

Lucina screamed as Grima approached her. He approached Lucina quickly and then he…

Lucina awoke with a scream as she sat up on her bed. She was covered in cold sweat and was breathing heavily. She quickly looked around at her surroundings, trying to figure out what happened to Grima. Once she realized she was just in her bedroom at the Smash Mansion, she calmed down and her breathing began to steady. She realized that it was only a nightmare. She looked over at her roommate, Rosalina, who had not been woken up by her screaming, fortunately. Once she had fully calmed down, Lucina lied back down for a restless sleep.

When she woke up the next morning, the images of her nightmare still lingered in the back of her mind. She couldn't get rid of them even when Shulk came and sat by her at breakfast.

"Hello, Shulk." Lucina greeted.

"Hey, Lucy. How are you toda… Are you alright? You don't look so good." Shulk asked in concern.

"I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well." Lucina answered.

"I see. Still, you sure you'll be alright?"

"Yes, I will be fine." Lucina responded, though Shulk was still unsure.

After breakfast, Lucina went about her day as normal. Yet, despite her best efforts, she could not forget what she had seen the night before. It had felt so real to her. That was because it was. What she had seen in her dream had actually happened to her before she traveled back in time. She remembered how terrified she was when she came face to face with the Fell Dragon itself. And to go through that kind of fear again, even if it was only a dream, was not a pleasant experience.

Once night came, she entered her bed somewhat warily. She was afraid that she would again see the same nightmare again tonight, or that another one was waiting for her. Despite this, her rational side told her that sleep was necessary. Lucina ultimately listened to her rational side, and she closed her eyes for the night.

At around the same time as the night before, Lucina's face took on a pained and fearful expression and she began to squirm in her sleep again. Another nightmare was currently going on in her head.

Lucina was fighting for her life to defend a village in Ylisse from an army of Risen. She was joined by several of her friends as they did their best to keep the Risen out. However, the undead forces heavily outnumbered her own, so a great many of them were slipping past her ranks.

"Keep fighting! We cannot afford to let this village fall!" Lucina shouted to her allies.

Lucina again swung her sword at an incoming Risen, but another one quickly took its place and hit her in the side with its sword. Lucina clutched her wound in pain, but continued fighting. She cut down two more Risen as they ran at her. But then another one came at her from the side and struck her in the leg with its axe, forcing her down on one knee. The Risen was just about to bury its axe in her head, but it was quickly killed by her friend, Nah.

"Lucina, you have to get out of here! You're hurt!" Nah shouted.

"I cannot retreat! I need to help fend off these Risen!" Lucina yelled as she attempted to get back on her feet.

"You're no good to us if you get killed! Please, head back! We'll hold them off!" Nah pleaded.

Before Lucina had a chance to respond, two of her guards began dragging her backwards toward the village. Struggle as she may, she was unable to get out of their grasp. But just as they made it in the village walls, one of the guards was killed by a Risen by cutting him through with a sword. The other guard quickly killed the Risen before turning to Lucina.

"Princess! You have to keep going! We'll keep fighting! But you need to keep heading toward the villa…!" The guard shouted before the spear of a Risen emerged from his chest, spouting off a large amount of blood. Lucina looked on in horror before killing the Risen. She then rose to her feet and began limping toward the village, taking out a few stray Risen along the way.

"I hope we can fend off the Risen before village falls completely!" Lucina said to herself.

*BOOM*

A large explosion rocked the center of the village, lighting every single building in it on fire. Terrified villagers tried to run out of the village, but most of them got slaughtered by the Risen. Lucina looked around in horror. She had failed to protect yet another village from Grima's wrath.

"No. Not again. I've failed again." Lucina whispered to herself before falling to her knees.

"You pathetic humans will always fail!"

Lucina turned around and to her horror, the Fell Dragon Grima stood before her, towering over her like a mountain. She then looked downward, and to her shock, all her friends and allies were dead, their blood soaking the floor. Tears began welling in her eyes at the sight.

Grima then let out a mighty roar, and countless Risen began to swarm around Lucina. She did her best to fight them off, but there were too many. The undead monsters landed a number of painful blows on her, eventually forcing her to the ground. One Risen then approached her with a spear. The Risen raised the spear, ready to pierce Lucina's heart. The Risen then brought down the spear.

Lucina awoke with another yell and immediately put her hand to her chest, checking for the supposed wound the Risen gave her. When she felt no gaping hole in her heart, she realized it was just another nightmare. She sighed sadly, upset over not just how real it had been, but also over how much of what happened in that dream had actually occurred.

"Why was I not strong enough to protect that village?" She whispered to herself with a sob.

To avoid the possibility of another nightmare, Lucina stayed up for the rest of the night. When morning came, she was very tired and exhausted, but determined to get through the day.

By midday, Lucina was sitting on a couch in the living room, watching something on the television with a few other Smashers. Her attention, however, was barely on the TV. They were on the horrible visions she had seen the night before. She still wondered why and how she had allowed that particular village to be destroyed. As much as she tried to push the thought to the back of her mind and focus on whatever was on TV, it still nagged her.

As the day went on, she found her eyelids starting to get heavier and heavier. But she managed to fight them open and avoid sleeping. She felt like she couldn't bear to witness yet another nightmare. When it became too hard to try and stay awake, she left the living room in search of some sort of activity to keep her active. She reasoned that if she was active, she would be less inclined to sleep. When dinner time came around, she ate quickly, hoping to get back to the Training Room as soon as possible. Once she finished, she stood and was about to head out of the Mess Hall, but before she could, Shulk stood in front of her, blocking her path.

"Whoa there! Where's the fire?" Shulk asked.

"Fire?! Where?!" Lucina screamed.

"Calm down, it's just an expression. What I mean to say is: Where're you going in such a hurry?"

"I think I'll get some training in before curfew begins."

"You sure about that? If you ask me, I think you should head to bed early tonight."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Shulk. However, I feel like I need to get stronger rather than sleep."

With that, Lucina walked past Shulk and to the Training Room. She spent the next hour in there before looking at the clock and realizing curfew began in 15 minutes. She left the Training Room and made her way up a floor to her bedroom. After changing into her nightgown and climbing into her bed, she slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Before long, she again put a fearful expression on her face as another horrible nightmare began forming.

Lucina and her friends were running for their lives from a pack of Risen. They had been ambushed by the undead monsters while on their way to Ylisse's capital. Many of their number had been killed already and those that were left were desperately trying to outrun the Risen.

"We must keep moving! Ylisstol's walls are not far from here! We'll be safe there!" Lucina shouted to her comrades.

Lucina suddenly heard a grunt and a thud come from behind her. She whipped her head around and saw that her friend Brady had tripped and fallen on his face, Risen quickly approaching him. Lucina instantly stopped and turned around to help her friend. But before she could reach him, another wave of Risen blocked her path. She immediately started fighting them off and trying to get past them, but they proved difficult to fight off.

"Brady, hold on! I'm coming!" Lucina screamed.

"You might wanna hurry up!" Brady called out as he tried to fight off the Risen surrounding him.

Lucina cut down a number of Risen in an attempt to get past them and get to Brady, but each time she got through one, more came to replace it. She was starting to get overwhelmed when she heard Brady scream in pain. When she looked over to him, Lucina saw her friend's weapon get knocked out of his hands. Brady was then knocked to the ground by the swing of a Risen's axe. Another Risen then thrust its sword into Brady's chest as the boy let out a scream.

"No!" Lucina cried out.

Lucina eventually managed to kill all the remaining Risen and make it to Brady, but by then, it was too late. Brady was dead. His body was lying in a puddle of his own blood. Lucina put her fingers on his neck just in case he still had a pulse and could be saved, but there was none, and Lucina only succeeded in getting blood on her hands.

"Brady, I'm so sorry." Lucina began to sob.

Brady's hand then shot up and wrapped around Lucina's neck, choking her. Lucina's eyes widened as she tried to pry Brady's hand off her neck. Brady's eyes then opened, only they were glowing red like a Risen's. His skin started to take on the tone of a Risen as well.

"You… could have… stopped this. Why… didn't you… try… harder?" The Risen formerly known as Brady said.

Lucina managed to free herself from Brady's grip, only to immediately run away in horror at the sight of her friend turned into a Risen. As she ran, she found that Risen versions of all her friends and allies stood in her path. Each of them were shouting at her.

"Why didn't you help us?"

"Why did you let Grima take over?"

"Why couldn't you save us?"

Lucina covered her ears trying to block out the awful comments. She ran faster in an attempt to escape them. She ran into a forest clearing only to come to a stop when she saw her parents standing in front of her. Both Chrom and Sumia looked at her with sadness in their eyes.

"Why couldn't you save us, Lucina?" Chrom asked.

"Why?" Sumia repeated.

Before Lucina had a chance to respond, a hooded figure appeared behind Chrom and cast some sort of spell that hit Chrom, causing a spear of light to emerge from Chrom's chest. The Exalt then fell to the ground, dead. As this was going on, a lone Risen came out of the trees and struck Sumia in the back with its axe. Sumia screamed as she also fell to the ground. The Risen pulled its axe out of Sumia's back, only to strike her again and again and again, the axe getting more and more red with each strike.

"NO!" Lucina shouted.

She tried to approach the Risen, but before she could reach it, the hooded figure that had killed Chrom cast a ball of light toward her, knocking her back. The hooded figure then cast a spell at its feet, enveloping itself in an explosion. And from the explosion rose the thing Lucina feared the most, the Fell Dragon, Grima.

"And now it is your turn to DIE!" Grima shouted before moving to attack Lucina.

Lucina woke up with another scream as the nightmare came to an end. Once she gathered her bearings, she began to sob into her pillow. Even after all these years, she still blamed herself for not being strong enough to save her timeline and keep Grima from taking over and killing nearly everyone and everything she held dear. It may have worked out in the end, but that didn't change the fact that she still had to witness and endure so much pain and suffering. She then decided to give up on sleep entirely out of fear of even worse visions haunting her dreams.

The next morning, she traded her usual cup of tea she had with breakfast for a drink several other Smashers called coffee. It was hot and bitter, and Lucina didn't care for the taste, but she had heard that it was a good drink for trying to stay awake. With that in mind, she forced the beverage down her throat. After breakfast, she did everything in her power to stay awake. This included activities like training, challenging others to matches, and even swimming in the pool alone, as she heard that splashing water on yourself could keep you awake.

She continued this pattern for he next few days, never once falling asleep. But with each passing day, her condition only got worse and worse. The inhabitants of the Smash Mansion had taken note of her sudden change in both battle and behavior. Rumors began circulating as to why she was acting the way she was.

Shulk had, of course, noticed that his girlfriend was spiraling down a self-destructive course, but every time he approached her about the issue and offered help, she pushed him away, insisting she could handle herself. Though Shulk never truly believed her when she said such things, as the days passed he became even less convinced of her words. He knew that Lucina needed help, desperately. Whether she wanted it or not. He only needed figure out how to give it to her.

On her second day without sleep, Lucina looked more terrible than the day before. She seemed to be neglecting her personal hygiene in favor of trying to keep herself awake. With breakfast, she forced another cup of coffee down. She gagged at the taste, but managed to keep it down. As she ate, she found herself wallowing in self-pity over the guilt she felt for not saving her future. She thought she was finally over it, but her dreams seemed to want to prove her wrong. Lucina couldn't help but wonder why she was not strong enough to save her home.

Shulk then came and sat across from her at the Mess Hall table. Even looking past her obviously sleep deprived appearance, Shulk could tell something was bothering her.

"Hey, Lucina. What's up?" Shulk said, trying to break the ice.

"Nothing." Lucina replied.

"You sure? You don't look so hot. Maybe you should get some rest."

"I don't need sleep. I'm doing just fine without it. What I need to do is *yawn* train and get stronger. I will not let my performance in yesterday's battle be repeated."

"Personally, I don't think lack of training is the issue. You're plenty strong as a fighter, but not when you're not at your best. And believe me, no one is at their best when they don't get proper rest."

"Are you not listening? I just said I don't need sleep! I can't! I have much more pressing matters!"

"You can't or you won't?"

Without a response, Lucina stood and stormed out of the Mess Hall, away from Shulk. Aside from when he had scheduled matched, the blonde fighter spent the rest of the day trying to find Lucina and talk to her. Yet somehow, she managed to elude him. Still, Shulk kept up his search until just before the mansion's curfew took effect. Lucina might have been avoiding sleep, but he had no such intentions. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about how he could make Lucina do the same. Eventually, he did come up with a plan.

After storming away from Shulk, Lucina went off to practice her sword skills until her first scheduled match of the day, against the Wii Fit Trainer. When she made her way to the Transporter Room, the yoga instructor stood there, waiting for her.

"Shall we begin?" Lucina asked.

"We shall, but are you sure you are ready? You do not look to be at your healthiest." Wii Fit Trainer said.

"How many times must I tell everyone that I'm fine?! I am perfectly capable of fighting! Let us *yawn* begin." Lucina said before stomping into the Transporter Room.

The match between the two females was to be a timed one, with two minutes on the clock. They both stood on individual transporters and were teleported to a stage called 'Lylat Cruise'. Upon looking around, both combatants noticed that they were on some sort of ship in outer space, flying through an asteroid field. Before they could sightsee any longer, the announcer counted down to the fight.

GO!

The Wii Fit Trainer immediately started charging up her Sun Salutation move. Lucina began the fight by charging toward the Trainer as fast as she could, but given her tired state, it wasn't as fast as it usually was. The Trainer charged her sun move just as Lucina sent a sword swing her way. The Trainer dodged with ease and grabbed Lucina, throwing the blue haired woman to the ground. Lucina stayed on the ground for a few seconds, fighting the urge to stay down and close her eyes.

When Lucina did get back up, the Wii Fit Trainer pulled a soccer ball out of seemingly thin air and launched it at Lucina. It missed, and Lucina took the opportunity to sidestep around the Trainer and land a series of sword strikes on her. The Trainer landed on her feet as Lucina jumped up on one of the higher platforms. The Trainer jumped after her and landed a couple solid hits on Lucina, knocking her into the air. Once her opponent was in the air, the Trainer jumped up after her and landed two more hits on Lucina. The bluenette princess landed on the ground with a hard thud.

"Are you certain you wish to continue? You do not seem to be fighting at full strength. To me, it seems like you haven't been sleeping well recently. Proper rest is essential for a healthy body." The Trainer commented.

"I assure you, I am fine. I wish to continue." Lucina stated.

Lucina rose to her feet and charged at the Trainer, only to be knocked back by one of her opponent's powerful yoga poses. Lucina was knocked to the other side of the stage, and the Trainer quickly followed. Lucina swung her sword at the ground, knocking the Trainer off her feet and almost off the stage, but she recovered and continued fighting. The Trainer struck another yoga pose, this one hitting Lucina in the face and almost throwing her off the stage. Lucina quickly jumped back on, however, and tried landing a few blows on her opponent, but none of them hit. This was due to her coordination being thrown off due to sleep deprivation. However, eventually Lucina did land a good hit, sending the Wii Fit Trainer back a few feet.

As Lucina ran toward her opponent, the Trainer, who was on one of the small platforms on the top of the stage, jumped down and intercepted Lucina with a kick. The yoga instructor then struck 3 quick poses, each one hitting Lucina and knocking her back. The Trainer then tried recharging her Sun Salutation move, but had to cancel it in order to sidestep one of Lucina's attacks. Lucina then tried to land another attack, and this one actually connected, launching the Trainer across the stage. Lucina pursued, but was hit with a powerful attack that almost launched her off the stage. However, she managed to grab hold of the edge of the ship the fight was taking place on. Upon getting back on the ship, however, The Trainer grabbed Lucina, hit her a couple times, then threw her off the ship again. Lucina again managed to get back on, only to be knocked upward by one of the Wii Fit Trainer's attacks. This attack caused Lucina to hit the invisible barrier that surrounded the stage, resulting in a KO.

Lucina was returned to the stage by a floating platform, and she quickly jumped off to continue the fight.

"It's not too late to forfeit. I recommend you do so and get some rest." The Trainer repeated.

"I'm fine! I am perfectly capable of continuing this duel!" Lucina shouted as she ran for the Trainer.

Lucina tried jumping between platforms to get to the Trainer, but was intercepted with an attack. Lucina fell to the ground, and when she got up, the Trainer grabbed her and threw her to the ground. The Trainer then lander a few more hits on Lucina before grabbing her again and throwing her upward. The Trainer then jumped up herself and hit Lucina again. The Trainer then landed on her feet as Lucina landed on her back. Lucina then ran and tried to land another attack, but it missed and the Trainer landed an attack of her own, this one strong enough to KO Lucina once again.

Lucina, who was extremely weakened at this point, got back on the stage and tired attacking the Trainer, only to be grabbed and slammed to the floor again. She tried landing a few weak attacks, but they all missed and the Trainer retaliated with a few powerful attacks of her own. After another airborne attack caused Lucina to fall to the ground, groaning from pain and exhaustion. At this point, the announcer began counting down the remaining time in the fight.

TIME!

"The winner is: Wii Fit Trainer!" Cried the announcer.

The match was over. The Wii Fit Trainer had won with a score of 2 to -2.

Lucina, despondent that she had lost, walked out of the Transporter Room and made her way to the Training Room and stayed there for the rest of the day. Despite the comments made by the Wii Fit Trainer during their match, she did not blame her sleep deprivation for her performance. She blamed her own weakness in fighting, just as she had when she was younger, and just as she had in her nightmares. Once curfew came around, she did return to her room, but never once got into her bed. She spent the rest of the night reading books that she had taken from the Smash Mansion's library. While she did feel herself dozing off a few times, she did manage to keep herself up through the night.

On the third day without sleep, Lucina looked even worse. She had bags under her eyes, her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a mess, and she could barely walk straight. When she entered the Mess Hall for breakfast, several of the Smashers began to whisper about her disheveled appearance. She got another cup of coffee with breakfast and quickly began gulping it down. Soon afterwards, Shulk came by and sat across from her. Lucina noticed that like herself, Shulk had also gotten a cup of coffee with his breakfast.

"'ello, Lucina. How are you today?" Shulk asked.

"…Fine." She muttered after a yawn.

"Alright then."

"If I may ask, why is it you decided to get a cup of coffee today? It doesn't seem like something you would enjoy."

"Well, since you've been drinking it these past few days with seemingly no problem, I thought I'd give it a go."

Shulk was lying through his teeth. He had clearly seen Lucina's distaste for the drink every time she put some in her mouth, but he had a plan. The Monado wielder then pulled a small capsule out of his vest pocket and put it in the drink. It immediately started to dissolve as Shulk started stirring it.

"What is that you just put in your drink?" Lucina asked.

"Tonic for the nerves. I got it from Dr. Mario. Sometimes fighting in a tournament like this can get a little stressful, y'know?" Shulk answered.

"Yes, I suppose you're right."

"Normally, I feel like I could handle it, but lately I've been feeling… Hang on, since when did Samus change the colour of her armour?" Shulk stated.

"Pardon?"

"Look. Samus seems to have given her armour a new paint job."

Lucina turned around and started looking around for Samus. Once her back was turned, Shulk quickly switched the placement of his coffee cup and Lucina's. The coffee cup that now sat next to Lucina's plate was not only decaffeinated, but also filled with the substance Shulk had mixed in. While he had indeed gotten it from Dr. Mario, it was not a nerve calmer as he had claimed. It was, in fact, a sleep inducer. Shulk had hoped that when his girlfriend drank it, she would finally get the sleep she had been avoiding for the past few days. He could no longer bear to see Lucina destroy herself like this. He didn't know why she was avoiding going to sleep, but he knew no good would ever come from it. He hoped that when she was finally fully rested, she might tell him what this was all about.

"I do not see Samus anywhere." Lucina stated as she turned around.

"Really? Must've been my imagination." Shulk said.

Lucina then took a sip of the coffee that had, unbeknownst to her, been laced with sleep medicine. Once she finished it off, she stood and walked out of the Mess Hall. Shulk quickly got up and followed. According to Dr. Mario, it would take about an hour for the sleep medicine to take effect. The future seer knew he had to stay close to his girlfriend so that when it did take effect, he was there to keep an eye on her. It was time he found out why she was acting the way she had.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the day, eh?" Shulk asked.

"Well, I have a fight at 1:00. But until then, *yawn* I'm not certain what I should do." Lucina replied.

"Well, how 'bout you and me relax in the living room for a bit? Maybe we can find something good on the tele." Shulk suggested.

"I suppose I have no better plan." Lucina said.

With that, the couple made their way to the mansion's living room and turned on the television. They sat there and watched it for some time until suddenly, Lucina felt a strange feeling taking over her. Her eyelids started to get heavy and she found herself struggling to stay awake, more so than usual. Shulk took notice of her behavior and assumed it was the medicine taking effect.

"Lucina, are you alright?" Shulk asked, although he already knew the answer.

"I'm fine." Lucina answered, although both she and Shulk knew otherwise.

"Really? You look like you could use some rest."

"I told you, I do not need sleep! I cannot afford to waste time on something like that!"

"Lucina, everyone needs sleep. Avoiding it will only hurt you more in the long run. Besides, at this point, I don't think you have a choice."

"What do you… mean?" Lucina asked as her eyelids got heavier and her body started to weaken.

"I didn't want to have to do this to you, but you left me no choice. I slipped you some medicine meant to help you fall asleep. In a few moments, you will be sleeping, whether you want to or not. I'm sorry." Shulk admitted.

"Shulk… What… have… you done?" Lucina stammered.

With that, her eyes finally closed and she drifted off to sleep. Shulk gently put a pillow under her head, then sit down to watch her and see if her could figure out what was wrong with her. Before long, Lucina began to moan uncomfortably in her sleep. She then began to toss and turn as another nightmare overtook her mind.

Lucina was out in an open field fighting for her life against the Risen. She was surrounded by her closest family and friends as they struggled against wave after wave of incoming Risen. They were losing, badly, but were determined to fight to the last man standing. Lucina swiped another Risen across the back before impaling another one in the chest. However, right as she pulled her sword out of the dead Risen, another one came up and hit her in the ribs with its axe, leaving a sizeable gash. Lucina cried out in pain, but managed to keep on her feet and kill the Risen that injured her.

"We cannot afford to let these Risen win! We have to keep fighting!" Lucina shouted.

Just as she was about to cut down another Risen, however, she heard a massive thud come form next to her, followed by a massive cloud of dust. When it settled, she noticed that all the Risen were gone, but in their place was her worst nightmare, Grima. The beast let out a roar that send pure, unadulterated fear coursing through Lucina.

"So ends the human race." The beast roared.

Lucina then noticed that all her friends and family were on the ground, dead. Their bodies were mangled and covered in blood. She alone was still standing, and that terrified her.

There were three bodies immediately surrounding her. She recognized them as those of her father, mother, and sister. Their bodies were twisted and bloodied. Lucina could only look on in horror as blood spilled from all three of their bodies and pooled around her, ultimately washing over her feet. She tried to run out of the pool of blood she was standing in, but found herself unable to. In fact, she actually found herself sinking in it as if it were quicksand.

"Oh, Gods! Someone, HELP!" Lucina cried as she continued sinking in the blood.

Now in up to her waist, Lucina put her hands in the blood, trying to push herself out. However, she only succeeded in getting her arms stuck. She continued to struggle, though she was now nothing more than a head sticking out of a pool of blood.

"No! NO! Please, someone, help me! ANYONE!" Lucina screamed as tears began streaming down her face.

Now, only her face was sticking out of the blood. She made one last cry for help before closing her mouth to keep blood from getting in it. Her eyes were the last thing to pass through the blood she was sinking in. Her vision began to become nothing but red as blood washed over her eyes. With one last muffled cry, she finally sank fully in the blood puddle.

Lucina now found herself falling in an endless abyss. All she could see around her was darkness as she continued to fall. She cried out in the darkness as she continued free falling with no end in sight. After about 30 seconds of nothing but falling in darkness, she hit a hard surface. When Lucina opened her eyes, she found herself in front of a burning village. Risen were running amuck in the village, killing anyone who attempted to run away. Lucina instantly got up, grabbed her sword, and ran to the village in an attempt to defend those who were left.

She ran toward a Risen that was about to kill a villager who had tripped and fallen on the floor. Unfortunately, she didn't make it in time. The villager was struck in the back by the Risen's weapon. Lucina looked on, horrified, but regained her bearing. She killed the Risen, then looked around for any more to kill. She then heard a scream from near her. Lucina turned her head and saw an injured woman trying to escape some Risen quickly approaching her. Lucina ran as fast as she could to kill the Risen and defend the woman. She managed to defeat the Risen and then turned to the woman.

"Are you alright?" Lucina asked.

"Yes, I'm alright. But you won't be." The woman replied.

The woman then morphed into a Risen and tried to attack Lucina. The blue haired warrior was stuck in the shoulder by the attack, but managed to defeat the Risen. Once the Risen was gone, Lucina clutched her injured shoulder in pain.

"Have to keep fighting. Have to stay strong. Have to…" Lucina started.

Before she could finish her sentence, the ground seemed to erupt from beneath her. And out of the ground rose Grima, haunting her for the second time in a row. She backed away from the Fell Dragon in horror as he turned his head to look at the bluenette princess.

"The future is built upon the past. But your kind shall never see it!" Grima screeched at her.

When Grima burst out of the earth, he had sent several pieces of flaming debris flying in every direction. One of these pieces landed right next to Lucina and caused her cape to catch fire. The fire quickly spread over her whole body. Lucina ran in a panic as she tried to find something to put out the fire with before she burned to death. Over the flames burning right in front of her face, she managed to make out a fountain. She ran toward the fountain, hoping there was still water in it. But when she got close to it, it too exploded right in front of her. The explosion knocked Lucina into the air.

When she landed, Lucina no longer felt flames engulfing her entire body, but she could feel hard stone beneath her. When she got up, she saw that she was in the castle that stood at the capital of Ylisse. Just like before, Risen were all over the place, killing off what few allies Lucina had left, and it seemed like it was hopeless to try and stop them, but Lucina was determined to fight them off for as long as she possibly could.

She grabbed her sword and ran toward the crowd of Risen. While she managed to cut down a few of them, it wasn't long before they began to surround her and overwhelm her. One of them struck her in the leg, forcing her down on one knee. Another one managed to knock Falchion from her hands, while yet another one hit her in the shoulder. This blow knocked her onto her back. Another Risen then raised its weapon and prepared to bring it down on Lucina.

But before the blow could be landed, an extraordinarily powerful gust of wind shook the whole room. And when the dust settled, Lucina saw that all the Risen had been blown away, leaving her alone. She got back on her feet, only now noticing that the ceiling had been blown away as well, leaving her with a view of the outside world. And the first thing she saw was, for the third time total, the Fell Dragon Grima, laying waste to everything around him. Lucina had still been just as terrified as the first two times she had seen this monster.

"Your mother and father are dead, tiny one." Grima taunted.

Lucina looked around at all the dead bodies, and found that each and every one of them resembled either Chrom or Sumia. No matter where she looked, all she could see were her parents blood-soaked bodies lying all over the place.

"Oh gods. Oh gods, no." She muttered in shock.

She turned her attention back to Grima, who looked just about ready to attack the young princess. The massive dragon reared its head back to look at Lucina head on.

"And now it is your turn to DIE!" Grima shouted.

Grima moved to attack Lucina. Since she had dropped her sword and was practically numbed by everything that had happened so far, she had all but given up on facing Grima head on.

"No. No!" She shouted.

"NO!" Lucina screamed as she awoke and sat up.

Lucina quickly opened her eyes and realized she was just in the living room of the Smash Mansion. Shulk was looking over at her with a concerned expression on his face.

"Let me guess, nightmares?" Shulk asked.

"Yes. After Grima was defeated, I thought they had finally disappeared, but over the last week, they have been haunting me." Lucina conceded.

"That's why you've been avoiding sleep this whole time? Because of a few nightmares?" Shulk asked.

"I told you, I do not need sleep. I can deal with any sort of sleep related problems more than I can the horrible visions that show up in my dreams."

"So you say, but your behaviour and battle performance over the past few days says otherwise."

"I assure you, I'm fine! I'm perfectly capable of fighting! Let's practice right now. I'll show you." Lucina said as she drew Falchion and pointed it at Shulk.

Shulk rolled his eyes but got up and pulled the Monado off his back and pointed it at his girlfriend. Lucina swung her sword at Shulk, but didn't hit him. Shulk didn't even move at her attack. Shulk then swung his massive sword, knocking Lucina's sword out of her hands and causing it to slide several feet away from her. Another swing of the Monado sent Lucina falling to the ground before Shulk pointed his sword at her. All the while, Shulk had not even activated the Monado's energy blade. It had stayed in its deactivated form the entire time.

"'Perfectly capable of fighting' eh?" Shulk said.

Shulk then strapped the Monado to his back again and stretched his hand toward Lucina. She took it and Shulk helped her get to her feet.

"Be that as it may, it will not change my mind." Lucina said.

"Why not? How bad could these nightmares of yours been that they made you decide avoiding sleep was better?"

"How bad? How bad?! Do you know how awful my past was? Can you imagine having to relive it every night? Each night the images worse than the night before? Can you imagine having to see innocents die before you? Friends and family? Do you know what it's like to have to see that which you fear most every night, tormenting you? Do you?!" Lucina snapped.

"Yes." Shulk said with a sad expression.

Lucina wasn't expecting this response. She turned to Shulk as her expression softened.

"I hope you haven't forgotten about what I told you not long after we met. I've seen everything you have, and more. I've seen friends die. Brutally murdered. I've seen people I could have saved, people I wanted to save, but didn't, or couldn't. I've seen world ending threats, and I've fought them." Shulk answered.

Lucina now felt guilt over how she yelled at Shulk. She realized he was right. He had seen everything she had seen before.

"And I've seen it all in my dreams too." Shulk admitted.

"You have?" Lucina asked.

"Yes. Every horrible monster I faced, I've seen it in my dreams. Zanza, Mumkhar, the Mechon, the Telethia. I've seen 'em all, and more. And, like you, it often turned out a lot worse in my dreams than it did in real life. Sometimes, I saw all my friends die. Sometimes, I failed to stop my enemies from winning. And sometimes, I found myself waking up just before I could be killed too."

"Shulk, I'm… I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, because eventually, I managed to beat them."

"How?"

"With help. Closing yourself off and trying to solve all your problems yourself won't do anyone any good. When my bad dreams started acting up, I tried every trick in the book to make them go away. Nothing worked. It was only when my friends noticed something was up with me that I finally talked about it. That's how I knew you were having nightmares. The way you acted while you were sleeping was pretty much the same as how my friends described me when I was having them. Anyway, once the secret was out, they each took turns consoling me and putting all my fears to rest. And I'm going to do the same for you. So please, tell me what's you've been seeing."

Lucina finally divulged all that she had seen in her dreams over the last week. Every appearance of Grima, every death of a loved one, every action she still blamed herself for, and how insecure she felt about herself over it. Once she finished, Shulk held her close.

"I'm sorry that you've seen such awful things, Lucina. But trust me when I say you shouldn't let it get to you. You claim there were so many people you couldn't save, perhaps you didn't at first, but didn't you save them when you went back in time, stopping anything bad from happening to them at all?"

"Well…yes, I suppose that's true."

"The same goes for your parents and loved ones. You might not have saved them the first time, but you still did. You changed the future and brought peace, and I know you could do it again if you had to."

"Do you really think so? Even though there were so many times I almost failed? Let my loved ones down?"

"Yes, I do. But not alone. Just as you helped your friends family survive, they helped you. I know I wouldn't have defeated Zanza without all my friends helping me. Know that your loved ones helped you along your journey and they always will. And, if it means anything, so will I." Shulk reassured.

"Really?" Lucina asked.

"Yes. I'll always be there for you. So please, don't be so hard on yourself. You're alright just as you are."

"Thank you for your comfort, Shulk."

"Not at all. Now, when night comes, I want you to sleep. Don't avoid it anymore. If you do continue to have nightmares, we'll work through them, I promise."

"Very well. I shall try."

With that, Shulk put a gentle kiss on Lucina's forehead before the couple went about their business for the rest of the day. When night came, Lucina climbed into her bed, and though she was still scared, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"So ends the human race."

Lucina heard a menacing voice come from somewhere near her. She quickly got to her feet and grabbed her sword, ready to fight off whatever was about to attack.

"The future is built upon the past. But your kind shall never see it!" The evil voice said.

"Your mother and father are dead, tiny one." Grima taunted.

"And now it is your turn to DIE!" Grima screamed before moving to attack Lucina.

Lucina screamed as Grima approached her. But before he could land the killing blow, Lucina was pulled out of the dragon's way. When she looked at what it was that pulled her to safety, she saw her friend, Gerome, riding on top of his pet wyvern, Minerva. He had been the one to save her by pulling her onto the back of his mount.

"Worry not, Lucina. I have you now." Gerome said as he flew away from Grima as fast as he could.

After escaping from Grima, Gerome landed and got off his mount, as did Lucina.

"How did you find me, Gerome?" Lucina asked.

"We never lost you. We all agreed to see this through to the end." Gerome answered.

"'We'?" Lucina asked.

"Yes, 'we'. All of us."

Lucina turned to see who was talking. Standing there were all of her friends. The ones who vowed to avenge their parents by defeating Grima and making a hopeful future.

"You guys, while I greatly appreciate your willingness to fight alongside me, I cannot allow you to do that. I cannot allow anyone else to die for me. This is a burden I must bear alone." Lucina said to her friends.

"Lucina, when will you realize that you don't have to do everything yourself? We're all here because we want to help. We will never leave you no matter what." Gerome replied.

"Y-yeah, we promised to see this through to the end. You h-have us to help you. You also have everyone else that's still alive out there. A-and you have the love and support of our parents and…" Lucina's friend Noire stammered before being interrupted.

"And you also have me."

Lucina turned around to face whoever had just spoken. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened in shock. Standing before her was none other than her boyfriend, Shulk.

"S-Shulk? How did you get here?" Asked Lucina.

"Don't worry about it. Point is, I'm here, and I'm gonna help you get through this." Shulk answered.

Lucina ran to embrace Shulk in a tight hug. They stayed in their embrace for several seconds. Once they separated, Lucina opened her mouth to say something. But before a single word could get past her lips, the ground shook beneath them. Everyone present looked up and saw Grima approaching them. The monster let out a mighty roar before facing them.

"You cannot stop me. You cannot stop a god!" Grima screamed.

"Come on then! Come at us! You're not the first god I've killed with this sword!" Shulk yelled as he pulled the Monado off his back and activated it.

Grima brought its massive head toward the small band of heroes, intent on crushing them all. But right as it got close, Shulk swung the Monado as hard as he could at the dragon's head. Grima reared its head back and screeched in pain.

"How dare you! You cannot change that which is written in stone! You cannot change the future!" Grima shouted.

"The future is ours to decide!" Shulk countered.

Shulk then landed another attack on Grima, causing the Fell Dragon to cry out in pain again.

"Everyone, begin fighting! You must distract Grima! Allow me and Shulk time to defeat him once and for all!" Lucina commanded.

"You can count on us!" Shouted her friend, Yarne.

"If you're going to stop Grima, you might need this!" Cynthia shouted before tossing something at Lucina.

Lucina caught what her sister had thrown at her and looked at it. It was a small, shield like object with 5 glowing gemstones placed in it. It was the Fire Emblem. A sacred object of incredible power that had the ability to grant anyone of royal blood, such as Lucina, to defeat Grima once and for all. The blue haired princess stared at it in shock before strapping it on her arm.

"Use it to bring down Grima once and for all!" Cynthia cried before going into battle.

"Are you ready, Lucina?" Shulk asked.

"Do you really think we can do this? Do you really think we can change fate?" Lucina asked.

"I do. Our destiny is our own, and we must take it!"

"Then, I am ready. Let us finish this."

Shulk then went through his Monado Arts until a green symbol appeared in the center of the sword.

"Jump!" Shulk yelled.

The Monado wielder then grabbed Lucina's hand and jumped up, taking her with him. They landed on Grima's back, where all her friends had also somehow made it up there and were fighting off a horde of Risen that Grima had summoned. Lucina and Shulk ran up Grima's back toward his head. Along the way, a few stray Risen blocked their path, but the two cut them down with ease. By now, they had made it to Grima's extremely long neck. They continued running closer and closer to the Fell Dragon's head, ready to end this. Grima tried to shake them off, but they kept on getting closer and closer to his head.

"Today, we use our power to fell a god, and then seize our destiny!" Shulk yelled.

As he spoke, a symbol appeared in the center of the Monado, one that Lucina had never seen before. Whatever it was, it caused the Monado's energy blade to turn from blue to gold, as well as double in length. As this was happening, Lucina drew power from the Fire Emblem, having it course through her. Her sword, Falchion, which was also a sacred object, began reacting to the Fire Emblem as well, and it too started glowing. The two destiny changers then jumped up. When they came back down, they both plunged their swords deep into Grima's head. Grima let out a mighty roar of pain. Both Shulk and Lucina pushed their swords even deeper into Grima's head. This caused Grima to start falling from the sky, as well as start fading away.

"All that I am is fading. The memory of a god's existence, born from the chaos of creation. It is vanishing." Grima said before disappearing completely.

Once Grima had vanished entirely, Shulk, Lucina, and all her friends found themselves at Ylisse's royal caste. The fires that had been burning in the town had all gone out, and the dark clouds that had seemed to be in the sky for an eternity began to break up, allowing sunlight to shine on the ground for the first time in what felt like forever.

"I…I cannot believe it. We did it. It's over. We won. We did it!" Lucina said, almost in disbelief.

"No, you did it, Lucina. You landed the killing blow on Grima." Gerome pointed out.

"Still, I could not have accomplished this without all of you to help me. Without you, I would not have beaten Grima. So thank you, all of you!" Lucina said.

As she talked, she went to hug all her friends. They were all so relieved that their suffering had come to an end. Lucina then turned to Shulk, and gave him a long hug as well.

"Thank you, Shulk. For everything." She said.

"Of course. It's like I told you, I'll always be there for you." Shulk replied as he returned her hug.

Once the hug fest ended, everyone looked out over what was left of Ylisse. It had been devastated by Grima, but not completely destroyed.

"So what do we do now?" Inquired Cynthia.

"Now, we rebuild our home from the ground up. It will not be easy, but we can and will do it. We will make a better home for future generations. And we will do it together." Lucina answered as she looked at Shulk.

Shulk and Lucina embraced again as the sun rose over a new Ylisse.

Lucina smiled in her sleep as for the first time in a while, she was having a good dream.

You know, I think this might just be my longest chapter to date. Will there be longer ones in the future? Stay tuned to find out.

This idea came to me because, again, I wanted to try something a bit more on the darker side. Knowing Lucina, she does kind of come of across as someone who might have a few PTSD issues. That alone could fill an entire story, but I settled for keeping it in just this chapter. And at least it all worked out in the end, right?

For those that might be curious (or just want some useless trivia) the Monado Art that Shulk uses in the final dream sequence is supposed to be 神, which translates out to 'god'. It doesn't show up in Smash, but it does show up in Xenoblade Chronicles. It appears during the final boss fight, and it's what Shulk uses to finish off said boss, who happens to be a god. While it's debatable as to whether or not Grima could be considered a god, I just felt like having Shulk land the final blow alongside Lucina, and having him use his god killing Art seemed like the best move to me.

All in all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you considered it too dark, well take comfort in the fact that this is likely that darkest it will get in this story. Either way, please don't leave unnecessary hate on this story. I can't stand it when people do that.

Before I go, here are my thoughts on the final Smash Direct:

First off, characters. I must say I'm not overly surprised that Ken got in as an Echo Fighter. He seems like a decent enough character and even stronger than Ryu in some respects. Concerning Incineroar, I know very little about Pokémon, so this was the first time I had ever even heard of him. Still, his play style looks pretty interesting, I'll admit. Not sure how much I'll use him, but I might check him out. As for the Piranha Plant, well that certainly was…interesting. I never thought they'd make a playable character out of a generic Mario enemy, but they did. Still, leave it to Sakurai to give us a character reveal completely out of left field that no one could have ever seen coming. I'm pretty sure people had similar reactions when the Wii Fit Trainer was announced in Smash 4. Nonetheless, I do intend to get the Piranha Plant and the DLC characters when they come out. Though, I have heard a few people claim that this might have been Sakurai's way of giving the middle finger to both those who whined like babies when Waluigi and Geno were deconfirmed, and those who requested joke characters like Goku and SpongeBob. I'm not sure if it's true, but if it is, I wouldn't be surprised. He is quite the troll, after all. Nor do I blame Sakurai for doing such a thing. You guys need to grow up and either accept the fact that your desired character didn't get in the game, or not be crazy enough to think non-video game characters could get in this game. Either way, leave Sakurai alone. He doesn't deserve to be spammed with 20 million messages asking for characters that will never get in the game or hate comments over the fact that said characters aren't in the game. It's OK to be upset that the character you wanted didn't get in the game, but it's not OK to hate on Sakurai, or anyone else for that matter, since your desired character didn't get in the game.

Next, Spirits. Quite an intriguing concept, I'll admit. I do like that they not only serve as a replacement for trophies, but also can help out in battle. Though, I was rather shocked when Sakurai said they had lost their bodies and wanted to get them back. As for what this ultimately led to, well, we'll get there in a second.

I'm also liking the new online functions. It's nice how we can now set the rules ourselves so we can get matches with people similar to ourselves. I hope I can set myself a decent GSP, too. We'll just have to see.

The new assist trophies all look pretty cool. I look forward to trying them all out.

I also love all the new and returning play modes that were announced during the direct. They all look like tons of fun and I look forward to trying them all out.

I must admit, I am disappointed that Sakurai openly deconfirmed Rex as a playable character. He was the one I wanted in Smash the most. No one else was openly deconfirmed like that. Those of you who didn't get the character you wanted still have a shot with the DLC. But my character was openly shot down. While I do understand Sakurai's reasoning, and accept the fact that Rex won't be playable, it doesn't make me any less unhappy. But, my spirits were raised again with what was announced next.

World of Light. Hallelujah, we got an adventure mode! And it looks absolutely beautiful! I plan on making this the first thing I check out once I buy the game. I hope that, like Subspace Emissary, this proves to be the fastest way of unlocking all the characters. While Sakurai did say it's more about fun than story, I do sort of hope there will be a basic story to it. Even if not, Sakurai said we should leave it up to our imagination, and I intend to do just that. I need only play the mode to make myself a story out of it, though that one cutscene did provide a great start. Speaking of that cutscene, I was beyond shocked that Sakurai pulled a Thanos on us by turning all our beloved characters to ash (not to mention doing everything in his power to make the gameplay perfectly balanced, as all things should be). Also, I've heard that the colorful ball of light that Thanos'd everyone is officially named Galeem, for those that were wondering. It's not Tabuu or the Subspace Army. Lastly, that song that plays at the end of the video was gorgeous! And here I thought that Brawl's theme song would never be topped. Boy, was I wrong! For those who are curious, the song is called 'Lifelight', and I encourage you to check it out.

Finally, PLEASE, get some rest Sakurai! You more than need a break after working so hard on this game. You deserve to take a nap after this. No, better yet, you deserve Rip Van Winkle levels of sleep after blessing us with this extraordinary game. So please, take it.

Well that's about it for now. Coming up next, I'm starting a 3-part arc in this story revolving around one of Smash Bros. most well-known single player modes. Get ready for fighting, fighting, and more fighting.

I'll have that out as soon as I can. Assuming you all know how I typically do my fight scenes, know that I should have it out sooner rather than later. Until then, adieu, everyone.