DISCLAIMER: HELLSING IS OWNED BY KOUTA HIRANO. I DO NOT ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.

FIRE EMBLEM IS OWNED BY NINTENDO. I DON'T OWN IT'S CHARACTERS EITHER.

ITALICS=THOUGHTS

BOLD=IMPORTANT DATES, PLACES, WEAPONS, ECT.

BOLD ITALICS=NARRATOR(NOTE: IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS STORY THEN DON'T READ IT.)


Western Capital, Regna Ferox~ Arena Ferox
August 18, Age 2609 (8:15 A.M.)

It was finally here...

The tournament that would decide the fate of Ylisse had finally arrived. In forty five minutes—at exactly 9:00 A.M.—it would begin. The alliance that Ylisse sorely needed hinged on their victory.

Walter carefully waggled his fingers to check the current state of his wires. The new gloves he had created lacked the cutting strength of his fingerless pair, but were dependent enough to be utilized for much longer. With these new gloves, Walter could fight without worrying about his stamina depleting.

"Are you ready, Walter?" Chrom stepped beside the aged butler. The prince of Ylisse, despite his calm face, felt nervous about the tournament. The weight of the hopes of Ylisse's people rested squarely on the Shepherds, so Chrom was naturally tense.

"As ready as I could be." Walter flashed Chrom a smirk as he called the wires back into his gloves fingertips. "How about you, sir? You're looking quite nervous."

Chrom took a deep breath as he stared out into the arena the tournament would be fought in. His hand was clutching the hilt of the Falchion, grip anxiously tightened.

"We've trained far too much to let a few mercenaries stop us." Chrom said allowed, mostly attempting to assure himself. "I've no doubt that we'll win." The butler only nodded in response.

I truly hope that we aren't overestimating our chances...

Twenty minutes later, the Shepherds gathered to talk strategy; Chrom standing beside Walter as he proposed their plan.

"Directly at the beginning we shall pair up: Chrom will pair with Vaike, Miriel will pair with Stahl, and I shall pair with Kellam. Kellam and I shall move forward first, acting as the vanguard for the attack. While the enemy forces are focused on the two of us, Miriel and Stahl shall provide support to Chrom and Vaike as they splinter off from the vanguard towards the northern side of the coliseum."

"Doesn't that mean that you and Kellam will be separated from the rest of the group?" Stahl tilted his head in confusion. "Wouldn't it be more effective to move forward as one unit?"

"An astute observation Stahl; Kellam and I will be separated from the others, but it's better that way." Walter nudged his head towards the arena. "The last thing we want happening in this battle is our forces getting boxed in, which is quite easy to let happen in a flat arena like this. Separating ourselves shall draw the enemy into a trap; while they're busy with the vanguard, the remaining forces shall keep their distance and focus their attack on the forces that didn't take the bait. Once Kellam and I have gotten the attention of several enemies, and the others have finished their targets, we shall lure them into a pincer formation and finish them off." Walter tucked his hands behind his back as he finished.

"Any questions?"

When no hands were raised, Chrom clapped his hands together to get the group's attention.

"Alright!" the prince spoke aloud. "Those of you not participating in this battle shall sit and wait here. Those who have been called to battle, make whatever preparations you need to make and meet back here five minutes before nine o'clock, understand?"

"Yes sir!"


Western Capital, Regna Ferox~ Arena Ferox

August 18, Age 2609 (9:00 A.M.)

Walter slipped on his white monofilament gloves and flicked his wrist to call forth a few strands of wire. He was confident his strategy would lead to success, but he couldn't help but notice that something felt off. If the strategy failed, the butler would resort to the fingerless pair of monofilament gloves—which were sitting in his pockets for the time being—and cut down the opposition; stamina exhaustion be damned.

As the enemy forces began to gather, he took note of the weapons they carried.

Two mages, each wielding a thunder tome; four fighters, two using iron axes and the other two using hand axes; and two knights, both equipped with iron lances, and I think I see some vulnaries on one of them. Overall, the only enemies resistant to my wires would be the knights, thanks to their heavy armor. I'm sure that Chrom and Vaike will be able to take those two down once we lure them into the pincer formation, as I instructed the two to arm themselves with a rapier and hammer. All-in-all, we should be fine.

"Walter! Chrom! Look!" Lissa's voice snapped Walter out of his thoughts. The aged butler looked towards Lissa to see her pointing at something on the western side of the arena. His head snapped in the direction she had pointed. Walter's eyes widened in shock as he caught sight of what had shocked Lissa so much.

Lucina… The butler stared at the masked woman, who was once again posing as a man.

"Hey, who's that guy supposed to be?" Vaike scratched the back of his head. "He a friend of yours or somethin', Walter?" Walter shook his head in response.

"No, sh… I mean he saved Lissa a few weeks ago when we first encountered the Risen." Walter had to stop himself from calling Lucina a woman, since the masked woman wanted to remain incognito for the time being. "What Marth's doing here is beyond me."

Chrom stepped towards Marth, as eager for answers as Walter was.

"So, you're my opponent." Chrom said plainly.

Marth nodded silently.

"Chrom! Get back here!" Walter shouted for the blue haired prince to return to their side.

Chrom was about to retreat back to his allies when the sound of a sword unsheathing caught his attention. The blue haired prince unsheathed his sword just in time to deflect a slash to his head. His attacker, Marth, slid back several feet, landing in a stance that Chrom found eerily familiar.

"You will face me one-on-one, Chrom." Marth held his sword above his head, poised to to strike once more.

"I was hoping we could settle this without clashing blades, but it seems that we'll have to settle this with our skills with a sword." Chrom clicked his teeth, as he flourished his blade overhead before holding it out. His eyes widened in shock as Marth mirrored him, the sword in his hands coming into the light."

"Wait…" Chrom's eyes were drawn to the sword in Marth's hands. Walter gasped in surprise.

That sword… It's the Falchion... the butler eyed both blue haired lords, soaking in the details of their stances. Lucina is mirroring Chrom; every detail of her stance is the same as Chrom's.

"Where did you get that?" Chrom asked, referring to exact copy of the one of a kind blade that he had in his hands. "There's no way…"

Without so much as a warning, Chrom leapt at Marth, flipping through the air several times before slashing downward. The blow was blocked by Marth, who pushed Chrom back a few inches. The two lords moved at exactly the same time, their blades blurring and clashing against each other several times.

Walter, who was engrossed in the battle, remembered that Lucina wasn't the only combatant they would have to face. His eyes scanned the arena, relieved that the Shepherds weren't the only ones completely taken in by the two mirror fighters.

"Kellam!" Walter shouted to get the armor clad knight's attention. "With me; the rest of you, stick to the plan." He quickly took command of his allies.

"But what about Chrom?" Stahl questioned. The Angel of Death shook his head in response.

"Chrom is preoccupied at the moment, and his battle with Marth has left the rest of the West-Khan's forces vulnerable. As it is now, we must take advantage of their momentary inactivity and attack now." He turned to Vaike, "Vaike, you're job has gotten twice as difficult, as you won't have Chrom to back you up, but I have faith that you'll be able to defeat any threat that comes your way."

"You can count on Ol' Teach, boss man!" Vaike grinned as he raised his hammer above his head.

"Stahl and Miriel..." Walter turned to the duo, "The two of you know what to do, correct?" Miriel nodded.

"We are to eliminate the opposing forces that do not foolishly charge at you; a simple task."

"Correct." Walter flicked his wrist and summoned a multitude of monofilament wires. He turned to Kellam, who looked glad that he had such an important role in this battle. "Ready?"

The stone-faced knight nodded in response.

Walter silently looked forward, watching the fight between Chrom and Lucina for just a few more seconds.

This is it...

"Go!"

Kellam and Walter dashed forward, although Walter slowed himself down to allow Kellam to keep up with him. This caught the attention of the fighter and mage to the left of them. The fighter dashed at Kellam, axe above his head. Kellam raised a javelin above his head and chucked it at the fighter, successfully stopping the fighter from advancing, but not putting it down.

The mage went after Walter, who sidestepped the ball of lightning that was sent his way. The aged butler ran towards the mage, fooling the magic user into thinking he was going to run into him. Another ball of lightning was sent towards Walter, though this time it seemed to phase right through the butler. Shock was plastered on the mage's face as he frantically attempted to locate his lost target.

"Never seen an afterimage?" the mage turned around to see Walter with his signature Angel of Death grin plastered on his face. The mage tossed another ball of lightning at the old butler, only for it phase through him, the image dissipating a few seconds later.

"I guess not, seeing as you just fell for the technique twice in a row." the grin on Walter's face widened. The butler eyed Kellam, who was dueling with the fighter from earlier. The lance wielding knight flipped the lance twice before swinging the butt of the lance into the fighter's face. Walter noticed the glint of something metallic in the corner of his eye. One of the other enemies had noticed Kellam and was preparing to throw an axe into the knight's back. An idea popped into the butler's head as he sidestepped out of the way of another thunder spell.

Right as the hand axe was thrown into the air, an invisible force had thrown the weapon off course. As soon as the axe flew into the sunlight, the glint of metallic wires glowing electric blue could be seen wrapped around the handle. Walter swiped his hand through the air, commanding his wires to send the axe into the mage he was fighting. The mage had no time to react to the airborne weapon; it's wedge embedding itself into his chest.

"That takes care of that." Walter chuckled to himself. "Now to go help Kellam out." The butler jumped back to the knight's side, deflecting another hand axe with his wires.

Meanwhile, the duel between Chrom and Marth had intensified. When the fight had first started, Chrom was confident in his victory, but with every parried slash, he grew more unsure.

Damn! Chrom twirled as his momentum was redirected to the side as a result of another parried slash. It's like he knows every move I'm about to make before I even make it! How am I supposed to beat him!? Chrom grunted as he parried a stab aimed for his chest.

While it looked like Marth was effortlessly fighting on par with Chrom, he was actually having trouble keeping up. Despite knowing both the ins and outs of Chrom's fighting style, that didn't mean that Chrom was any less skilled then him. The ylissean style of combat that emphasized maneuverability and aggression in battle, the form that Prince Chrom was specialized in. Power strikes that gain strength with every blow, as a result of the kinetic energy building up. Maneuverability that allowed for great feats of acrobatics, the user often leaping into the air to perform heavy strikes. A defense that called for the user to parry and counter when openings were found. The form was hard to overcome, as Marth had noted. Neither he nor Chrom had made any headway in their fight, the attacks and counters that they threw at each other being parried constantly.

At this rate, we're likely to tire out before we land a single hit on each other. Chrom deflected a horizontal jumping slash before launching a counter attack. Like the rest of his counters, this one was parried as well.

"Tell me," Chrom clashed with Marth, their blades locked with one another. "Who taught you how to fight like that?" He pushed Marth backwards, he himself taking a step back for some distance. The two flourished their blades in the exact same style and went in for a stab. Sparks formed as the two Falchions grinded past each other.

"My father!" Marth leapt into the air to deliver the exact same spiralling overhead strike that Chrom had used earlier. The blue haired prince narrowly dodged the overhead strike, that probably had enough power behind it to break his arms had he decided to block it. Chrom clicked his teeth as he rolled the Falchion in his hand.

"Your father must've been good, seeing as I can't seem to get through your defense." Marth seemed to stiffen at the mention of his father.

"You have no idea…"

Meanwhile on the northern side of the arena, Miriel fired off her fire tome at an unsuspecting fighter. The axe wielding fighter was flung back by the force of the blow, but managed to stay on their feet. Miriel's eyes narrowed at the sight of the fighter dashing at her once more.

"Persistent miscreant…" The burgundy haired mage fired off a volley of thunder, but was shocked when her opponent managed to dodge each. "Inconceivable…" Miriel flinched when a blur of motion deflected the axe strike meant for her.

"We're supposed to be acting as a team, Miriel." Stahl grunted as he was pressured to hold off the axe. Miriel's brow furrowed,

"Forgive me, but I saw an opening so I thought that it would an opportune moment to take it."

The cavalier gave one last shove as he pushed the fighter backwards several feet. "Yeah, but it's best if we attack together. Walter paired us up so we could cover each other's backs."

"Aptly put!" Miriel smirked as she fired a ball of fire at the dazed fighter that Stahl had pushed back. The fire launched the fighter back, and this time he didn't get back up. "Teaming up ameliorates our chances of success. Walter was wise to "pair us up", as you put it."

"I have no idea what you meant by "ameliorates", but I think it's good." Stahl laughed sheepishly. "Come on, Vaike's gonna get himself killed if we don't back him up."

Contrary to what Stahl had assumed was going to happen, Vaike was having the time of his life flying solo. The axe wielder, hammer wielder for this battle, was weaving between a volley of thunder magic and hand axes, laughing as he did.

"Ol' Teach is going to teach you why you don't mess with the Shepherds!" Vaike grinned as he actually stopped in the path of one of the orbs of thunder heading his way. To the shock of anyone watching, friend and foe alike, the blonde haired fighter held his hammer over the shoulder and swung it around like a bat, batting the thunder into the enemy tossing axes at him.

"And that's a bullseye!" Vaike raised his hammer towards the sky triumphantly. "Anyone else want some, cause Ol' Teach is batting a thousand!"

The mage, not liking the fact that such a loud-mouthed idiot had used his own attack against him, retaliated in fury. He fired off so much thunder from his tome that it stopped working. Vaike stopped his celebrating, actually looking quite serious for once, and ran toward his opponent.

"You want some?!" The blonde weaved through whatever lightning orbs he could and deflected those he couldn't. Before the poor sap had any chance to react to the situation, Vaike swung the hammer into the man's side. A sickening crack echoed through the arena, making the squeamish onlookers gag.

"Looks like that's that!" Vaike twirled the hammer in his hand cockily. "Who needs a partner; I work best by myself."

Walter took a moment to eye the Shepherds in the northern section of the arena. When he saw Stahl flash him a signal that meant that they were ready to move forward with the plan, Walter signalled for Kellam to retreat with him. Not a moment too soon either, as Kellam had been forced to engage against two enemy knights with little aid from Walter, as the wires Walter used were ineffective against armor the of the two. The stone faced knight grunted as he retreated backwards with Walter.

The two enemy units fell for the bait, each giving chase. By the time they realized they were walking into a trap, the two knights had already been surrounded. Beads of sweat could be seen forming on the their faces as Miriel, Stahl and Vaike closed in on them.

Walter smiled triumphantly.

"Looks like that's checkmate."

Back in the center of the arena, Chrom and Marth's duel seemed to be coming to a close, as both were exhausted. The two seemed to decide that now was the time to exhaust the last of their strength, as they suddenly picked up the pace in the duel. Chrom lunged at Marth, sword blurring through the air. The masked lord deflected the strike and countered with his own, one aimed at sweeping his legs but the attack was deflected by a similar strike. Their twin Falchions were basically a blur of motion, with the only indicator that the swords were even making contact being the sound of the metal clashing. After an intense barrage of strikes from both sides, the two lords simultaneously stepped back for a moment of calm.

After several seconds, Marth twirled his blade and span into a horizontal strike. After that was blocked, Marth raised his sword over his head and slashed at an angle. Chrom pushed his sword forward to meet the blade, and to throw off Marth's momentum. The masked lord retaliated by swinging the blade down to slash at his feet, but Chrom opted to hop over the attack. This brief exchange was followed by several more seconds of blurring blades clashing and parrying before the exchange was put to an end by Chrom bringing his sword skyward, forcing Marth to backup a bit. This was exactly what Chrom wanted, as the blue-haired prince delivered a side kick to Marth's gut, grounding the man.

Before Chrom could capitalize on the opening, Marth used the momentum of his fall to roll backwards and back onto his feet. Marth retreated backwards once again, this time prepared for any unexpected melee attacks. Chrom gave chase, launching a barrage of swings that Marth somehow parried. The masked lord attempted the same strategy that Chrom had grounded him with just seconds earlier, using a spinning kick to the ylissean prince's face. Chrom used the kick to his face to his advantage though, as the momentum of the blow let him backflip out of the way of a follow-up attack that Marth had launched. He proceeded to move his sword to cut Marth's knees, but the attack was parried to the side, leading Chrom into a spin. Chrom used this spin to launch another slash, this time aimed at his opponent's feet. Much to his momentary shock, Marth had anticipated this and had rolled into the air, distancing the two by a considerable amount.

Chrom held his sword out, his grip on the Falchion tightening as he breathed heavily from exhaustion. He carefully blocked another attack aimed for his head and launched one to counter. The Falchions met once more, echoes of the metal ringing heard throughout the coliseum.

At the exact same time, in the exact same fashion, the two lords hopped back, swords lowered to their hips. Both yelled as they rolled the swords over their heads and into a downward slash. The force of the attack was great enough for both of them to lose their grip on their weapons. The twin Falchions were flung to the the opposite sides of the room as their wielders stared at each other for a few seconds. Both were breathing heavily from the fight.

"Impressive...if not surprising…" Marth breathed a heavy breath as he struggled to stay standing. The adrenaline from the battle seemed to be wearing off, as his gut started aching from the kick that Chrom had delivered to him earlier.

"You're... not so... bad either." Chrom laughed. "Too bad I got you beat…"

Marth raised an eyebrow at his statement. The masked lord was sure that Chrom was out of stamina, so wouldn't the fight count as a stalemate? He was about to bring this up when he felt something thin tug at his legs.

"What?" The light pull suddenly became a strong tug, one that knocked him flat on his face.

"The mission has been accomplished, sir."

Chrom smirked as Walter walked out of the shadows, his hand grasping the clump of wires that were attached to Marth's legs.

"The rest of the Shepherds have dealt with the remaining forces, and all that's left of the West-Khan's forces is this young man." The butler looked down at the masked lord.

Her fighting style is too similar to Chrom's for it to be coincidence. Lucina stated that she learned how to fight from her father, but… Walter's eyes narrowed. He had glanced at the battle between the two blue-haired lords every so often, noting the fact that the two were, at certain times, completely mirroring each other. Who is she? Where did she come from? Why is she posing as a man named Marth? What is her motive?

"Marth" looked up into Walter's narrowed eyes, "his" heart beating violently as "he" did. The butler's gun metal grey eyes were devoid of any emotion. Walter looked almost machine like from "Marth's" point of view, and that unsettled the swordsman.

"This victory belongs to you, Prince Chrom." "Marth" spoke up, "You have bested me in combat, and so I concede defeat." That seemed to be a passcode of some sort, as the wires around "his" legs suddenly retracted back into the confines of Walter's gloves. When "Marth" looked back at the butler, "he" noticed the warmth flush back into the old man's eyes steely eyes.

"Are you okay, milord?" Frederick suddenly came out of nowhere, Lissa trailing right behind him. "The battle was hard-fought and I admit that I was unsure as to whether or not you would claim the victory." Frederick handed Chrom back his Falchion, which had been thrown aside during the battle. "It seems that even someone as strong as you has a match in this world." Chrom nodded as he sheathed the sword,

"Yes, this battle was indeed hard-fought. Marth I commend you for your..." the blue-haired prince turned towards where Marth was originally standing only to see that he had fled once more. "Such a mysterious man; I had hoped to question him on the identity of his father."

"He's so dark and mysterious..." Lissa let out a sigh as she healed Chrom of his minimal wounds. "Always disappearing like the mysterious savior he is..."

Frederick and Chrom shook their heads in disapproval, and that's when they noticed that something was lacking; said something would've replied to Lissa's comments on Marth in a polite, but overall snarky tone.

"Anyone seen Walter?"


Western Capital, Regna Ferox ~ Outside Arena Ferox
August 18, Age 2609 (9:33 A.M.)

Lucina let out a pained gasp as she exhausting fled the Arena. She didn't want to interfere with the timeline anymore then she had to.

Dueling against "him" was a foolish decision… she mentally berated herself. I almost killed him several times during the match! How could I be so foolish to let the adrenaline from the fight rush to my head? She facepalmed as she sat against a tree. Lucina sat there in silence as she removed her mask to wipe the sweat that had formed from the exhausting fight.

"Leaving so soon, milady?"

Lucina was caught off guard when an invisible force tied itself around her body, proceeding to slam her back into the tree she was sitting against. The sound of shoes rustling against the grass reached her ears as she stared out into the shadows of the trees in front of her.

"Forgive me for being so rough, but I'm a cautious man." a silhouette of a fairly tall man could made out from in the darkness. "A cautious man resorts to drastic actions when he feels that he, or those he's close to, is threatened." The man stepped out of the shadows.

"Walter…" Lucina shivered as she stared into his face. He was once again devoid of any emotion, like a machine. "What is the meaning of-"

"I want answers." Walter replied coldly. "Last time I had you tied down I let you go because I thought you to be trustworthy. I saved you from those bandits several weeks ago for the same reason, but I admit that that trust has been rather shaken." He lifted his hand slightly to reveal several glimmering wires, each wrapped around Lucina. "You fought Chrom with the intention to kill: do you deny this?" Lucina felt her body freeze up completely.

"I-I didn't mean to-" she let out a choked gasp as she felt the wires tighten around her body.

"Speak up, girl." Walter bit into his wires and tugged, causing them tighten around the blue-haired girl. "There won't be any mercy this time, unless you tell me what your motives are." A shroud of darkness covered the butler's face, his shimmering monocle being the only part of him visible. "

If not, you'll find out first hand why friend and foe alike called me the Angel of Death."

"I was-" Lucina was gasping for air. "-I was… I was testing him…" she felt the wires loosen a little; just enough for her to breath a bit easier.

"Testing him?" Walter's eyes narrowed, "Quite the test, wouldn't you say? A fight to the death; such a steep price for failing a "test"." The Angel of Death lowered himself, so he could eye level with the girl, and stared into her eyes. "Where did you learn to fight, and where did you get that sword?" Lucina was dazed, but she still managed to respond.

"My- my father… my father taught me…" She felt as though her head was going to explode from how tight the wires were. "It- it was my… my father that gave me the… the sword…"

Walter sat there in silence for a moment.

Her father? How could her father give her an exact replica of the Falchion? I was under the impression that there was only one in existence, at least that's what the research I did on Ylisse's history points to. His eyes fell on the parallel Falchion resting in it's sheath at Lucina's hip. It reeks with the same divine energy that I can sense from Chrom's sword, so the thing can't be a fake. Not to mention the fact that the fighting style her father allegedly taught her is the exact same style that Chrom fight's with. Each move that Chrom executed against her, she would mirror it in the exact same fashion; hell sometimes it would be Chrom that mirrored her!

After pondering for a second, he realized that there was only one question left to be asked. The one that would give him all the answers.

"Who's your father?"

Unfortunately, the pain from the wires seemed to be too much for Lucina, as she felt her consciousness slipping. The young woman couldn't even mutter a single word coeherently. Walter clicked his teeth in impatience as he snapped his fingers in front of the girl face to get her attention.

"Focus on me, will you? You can sleep after I'm finished with…" the butler's voice trailed off. He caught a glimpse of something in the girl's left eye.

"No…" Walter leaned in closer to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "That can't be possible..."


Ylisstol, Ylisse ~ The Royal Palace
August 4, Age 2609 ~ Two weeks earlier…

"What does the mark on your right shoulder signify, Chrom?" Walter poured young prince a cup of tea. Chrom had grown fond of the the hot liquid after Walter made him some a few days earlier, though he didn't want to drink tea made by anyone other than Walter, stating that "only you know how to make a good cup, Walter.".

"The Brand of the Exalt?" Chrom took a small sip of his tea. "What got you curious?"

Walter took the seat across from Chrom as he poured himself a cup of tea.

"Well, I saw the same exact mark on Lady Emmeryn's forehead. I was wondering as to why this is, and to what it signifies."

"Well…" Chrom scratched the back of his head. "The mark is called The Brand of the Exalt, and it's a mark that signifies that a person has Exalted blood in their veins. To put it simply, it appears on people with blood relations to the Exalt, like Emmeryn and myself."

"Does that mean that Lissa has a mark like yours and Lady Emmeryn?"

Chrom shook his head.

"Nah, she doesn't. It's something that doesn't appear on every person with exalted blood." He chuckled to himself, "Lissa is very sensitive about the subject, so I wouldn't recommend bringing it up around her."

"I'll make sure to remember that."


(Present time)

(Play Song~ What if I can't? What If I'm not worthy of her ideals?)

"The brand…" Walter muttered under his breath. "You have the brand…" The butler got to his feet, his grip on his wires loosening as he did. He stared at the girl, time seeming to slow down for him.

Midnight blue hair, the Falchion she uses, her fighting style, and the Brand of the Exalt in her left eye. Could she be…?

Lucina felt relief as she felt Walter's wires loosen. She made sure to take deep breaths, as she still felt light headed. As soon as she felt less lightheaded, she became aware of her surroundings; mostly of the fact that Walter was staring at her like she was a ghost.

"Your father…" Walter swallowed as he felt his ability to speak fade. "Chrom is your father, isn't he?"

Lucina's midnight blue eyes met Walter's gray ones. The two stared at one another in silence for what felt like an eternity. Lucina was silent, mainly because she felt afraid of the man before her. The man had nearly strangled her to death, but Lucina saw that his reasons for doing so might be justified.

I did nearly kill father, and it seems like Walter is very protective of him. Perhaps I was at fault for letting myself lose control like I did in the coliseum. Lucina tilted her head down in shame. She knew that she was trapped, she had to answer the question. She could lie, but...

...what good would it do her?

"Yes..." the bluenette replied meekly. "Chrom is my father..."

Walter stared at the young woman in stunned silence. Gathering up his composure, he spoke up.

"How is that possible? Chrom has no wife, and you're just as old as he is, if not slightly younger. How are you the daughter of Chrom?" the butler inquired.

Lucina took a deep breath, the truth coming out much sooner than she'd have ever expected.

"I have come from the future, twenty years in the future to be exact. I'm to be born in a years time."

"I…" Walter clutched his forehead, "If that's so, why have you come to the past?"

The Ylissean princess from the future looked at the ground, the sorrow evident in her eyes.

"I- I have come to prevent a catastrophe. A catastrophe that revolves around Plegia's actions in the next few days."

"What catastrophe? What the hell happens in the next few days?" Walter felt dread building up in him. "What kind of catastrophe would warrant someone coming back from the future to prevent it?"

The blue haired princess weighed her options.

Is it truly safe to tell him? There may be consequences if I do, but I need help; I can't do this alone. None of my allies are anywhere to be seen, and Naga knows that I can't do this without them. Lucina held her breath and crossed her fingers.

"In a few days from now, Plegia will assassinate Lady Emmeryn. In a desperate bid to defend her, my father will receive an injury that will affect him heavily for the rest of his life. I guess you can say that that's the event that triggers the chaos that I've come to prevent." she revealed. The aged butler was silent.

Lady Emmeryn, assassinated? Walter felt an immeasurable amount of rage building up in him. How could I let that happen? How could I let Emmeryn die? How could I not prevent Chrom from getting crippled? Where was I; on a sabbatical leave? Walter closed his eyes. Anger and resentment burned like a fire within him. He would never allow such a sleight to be committed on his watch, correct?

Perhaps you betrayed them like you did Integra... a voice in his head he barely recognized as his own said. Walter shook, pain overtaking him.

"Where was I during this?" he managed to ask. "Surely you know where Chrom's butler was at the time. Surely I was at Chrom's side during the conflict, at least tell me I was there."

"You…" Lucina stared at the man, seeing yet another change in demeanor.

He's completely different from before. Lucina looked deep into the gray eyes that seemed more bluish then earlier. Walter didn't look confident in his abilities; he didn't look composed and dignified; he didn't look like the murderous Angel of Death.

He looked pained.

The way Walter stared at Lucina told her all she needed to know about how dedicated the man was to protecting her father. He looked like he needed assurance, assurance that he at least tried to protect his master. Assurance that he did not cower in the face of danger or abandon his duties. Walter was staring at her, hoping that she would say something along the lines of, "you fell trying to protect the two" or "you tried your best, but the enemy was too much for you". Lucina could not fathom just how much the butler would hurt if he were told that he had abandoned yet another master, and maybe even possibly betrayed them.

"I'm sorry, Walter, but I don't think you were there to help during the assassination." she finally replied. "In fact, I don't even recall either my father or mother mentioning you once."

There was silence between the two for what felt like hours. For awhile, the only noise that could be heard was the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind. All the while Walter stared at Lucina, the color drained from his face.

After the eternity of silence, Walter finally spoke up...

"So that's it…." A smile formed on his face. This wasn't a warm smile, or even his signature grin. This was the smile of a man that was boiling over from the rage he was feeling. A smile of a man that was suppressing an inferno.

"I did it again…" the smile on his face never fading as he practically spat those words out. "I guess it only makes sense." Walter stepped away from Lucina, walking towards one of the other trees in the area.

"My second chance, and I blew it..." he began to laugh. "

Failure, you failed again, Angel of Death...

"So, I wonder why I did it this time." The laughter began to sound insane to Lucina. "Was it so I could be remembered?" The laughter began to die down and Walter began to breath deeply. "If I can't be remembered as the man that killed Alucard back home, why not be renowned as the man that left the Halidom of Ylisse to die in this one?" His body began to shake. "Just wanted to do something with my time on the stage worthy of applause… that's it…"

Walter wanted to strangle himself with his own wires, wanted to throw himself off a cliff. What was the point? He'd failed...

Not yet you haven't...

Walter peeked up slightly. Yes—that was true—it hadn't come to pass yet, correct? There was still a chance, right?

I can help Lucina change the future. I now know that I wasn't there for Chrom when he needed me, and now I can make sure that I am. I'll succeed where the me of Lucina's future failed, or die trying.

(Play Song~ Id (Hope))

Walter gritted his teeth as mentally recited an oath to himself.

I am above betraying others and I will not abandon another master, no matter how enticing the prospect ever becomes.

"Lucina…"

The blue haired girl stared at Walter, who turned around to face her again. There was a change in his eyes yet again. The man once again not only looked confident, but determined.

Determined to change the the day that she had described.

Determined to not fail neither Chrom nor Emmeryn.

Determined to be Walter Dornez, the Angel of Death, and the guardian to the Halidom of Ylisse.

"I swear to you…" Walter stood tall, a fire in his eyes. "Lucina, for the sake of your future, and for the sake of myself, I will make sure that nothing will harm the Halidom of Ylisse. No matter what it is, whether it be a man, dog or monster, my wires will shed the blood of whatever comes after Emmeryn on the night you described to me." The man swiped his hand, summoning his wires. "I swear to you that I will protect them no matter what!"

Lucina, for the first time in awhile, felt hopeful. She felt hopeful that this man, this powerful man, would save the future that she had fought in. We can do this! Together, we'll save Lady Emmeryn and father! Together, we'll prevent the chaos brought by Grima!

Lucina was so distracted by the prospect of saving the future that she didn't notice that a few wrinkles had seemingly faded from Walter's face, making him look at least a decade younger.


Writer's Notes

Walter's de-aging!? Not by much, but there seems to be some magic de-aging going on there.

So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sure you're happy that this update came so quickly. I'm going to say this now; the next chapter will not come out this quickly.

The only reason this chapter came out so quickly was because I was writing it in conjunction with the last chapter, so by the time the last chapter was released this one was already almost done. I doubt I'll be able to do that again, but I'll definitely try.

Anyway, time for some behind the keyboard stuff that you may or may not find interesting. I've written several sections on what happened while I was writing the chapter and how certain sections were written. You can find them all below, or you can skip it. Your choice!


Behind the keyboard

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Chrom VS. Marth (Lucina) - This was awesome to write! I really wanted to go into detail about how I envisioned a fight like this would go down. I came to the conclusion that the two would be evenly matched with each other and that they were using the same fighting style, so I wrote it as such. The beginning and middle section of the fight were pretty simple, seeing as I just needed to look at the story cutscene for reference, but the ending section was pretty difficult to write. I wanted the image of a fast paced duel between two people who looked like they had been fighting their entire lives to be the image in your head. To get some idea's I actually went and watched some lightsaber duels from Star Wars to get some ideas. The result was the final section of the fight being a whole lot more interesting then when I first wrote the rough draft of this chapter.

I really hope you enjoyed reading the section as much as I enjoyed writing it.

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Lucina: Comes to the past to save her father... only to kill him herself... - It seems that Lucina was fighting to kill during the tournament. During one of my playthroughs of Awakening, I was curious as to whether or not Lucina would actually kill Chrom during the Two Falchions mission. To satiate my curiosity, I unequiped Chrom of his weapons and placed him in front of Lucina. You can imagine the horror on my face as I watched Lucina cut down her own father... well it was more of a stupid grin then horror filled eyes.

Okay, I was laughing, but who wouldn't be laughing? The entire reason for Lucina coming back from the future was to save Chrom and the future, so why the hell did they program it to be possible for her to kill him?!

"Oh, I'm Lucina and I'm gonna go to the past to save my father from dying! Whoops! Looks like I stabbed him in the gut! Oh well!"

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Walter Angers - Whoa, looks like Walter lost his temper for a minute there! Anyway, originally the conversation between Walter and Lucina was going to be peaceful, with the two conversing peacefully, but I scrapped that after reflecting on it for awhile. As I mentioned in the previous behind the keyboard section, Lucina was fighting Chrom to the death, so Walter would obviously perceive her as an enemy to his master.

Thus, Walter's Angel of Death moment was written into the story.

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Cut! - You may get angry at me for doing this, but I cut a few things from this chapter; most notably an entirely different ending.

Starting with the first cut part, Walter was going to wander around the coliseum during the 45 minutes before the tournament actually begun. During this time, he would go talk to those that were participating in the battle: Stahl, Miriel, Kellam, and Vaike. He would also spot Lucina heading towards the western side of the Arena. The reason this was cut was because one of the charaters he was originally going to talk to isn't here, for reasons I'll go into later. A stupid reason for cutting an entire section, but I already spent all of last chapter developing Walter's relationships with everyone, and the one character that got cut from this chapter was the only one Walter hadn't had interactions with before, so it felt like pointless padding.

The next big cut was the entire conversation that occurs after you beat the mission in game; where Basalio and Lon'qu are introduced. This was cut because of the fact that Walter had walked out of the room. I know that I could just write Walter out of the scene entirely, but the scene could use some good Walter dialogue! Not to mention that it would make no sense that Walter had somehow caught up with Lucina after having a several minute conversation with Basalio and Lon'qu. Don't worry though, this scene will be included in the next chapter!

The final big scene cut would've occurred after Walter and Lucina vowed to save Emmeryn and Chrom, with the scene being the walk back to Ylisstol, the news of Maribelle's kidnapping, and the mobilization of the Shepherd's to meet with Gangrel. Okay, so I cut out more then 3,000 word's of content from the ending. My reason for doing this being that It would've been too much for this chapter. I felt that the current ending for this chapter was fine enough as it was, and that any more would've resulted in the losing of tension. Extending thecchapter by another 3,000 plus words would've over extended this already long chapter. So I cut it from this chapter and I'll use it as the intro for the next chapter, at least the march back to Ylisse part. Let's just say I need to get to introducing a character that was cut from this chapter...

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The original chapter 7, featuring a bucket head... - Chapter 6 and 7 went through some development hell. As I stated in the last chapter, I was going through some pretty rough stuff throughout 2016 and it was really affecting my ability to write this story. Originally, chapter 7, which was going to be chapter 6 if I hadn't posted "Friendly Conversation", was going to take place during the several week wait between Chapter 5 "Guardianship" and this chapter. The original chapter that this one replaced was going to involve a beloved pot wearing village boy that was going to come crying to the Shepherds to save his village from some brigands.

Yes, this chapter was going to originally be about Donnel, or Donny as some people call him.

This cut chapter was the reason an entire section of this chapter was cut out, as Walter was going to have a heart-to-heart with Donnel during the 45 minutes before the tournament. The reason I postponed Donnel's introduction was for a multitude of reasons, and I'll go over the main ones now.

1) I couldn't think of a decent way to open the chapter up

2) I couldn't figure out how to write the chapter, as I wanted it to feature a stealth section involving Kellam discreetly freeing the villagers from the behind the brigands backs, as well as a bit of bonding between Walter and Sumia.

3)You guys waited for the tournament chapter for long enough, so I wanted to give you guys the chapter that had been promised over a year ago.

4) I couldn't decide what characters would be omitted from the chapter and who wouldn't; the only characters that were cemented into the chapter's story being: Walter, Donnel, Sumia and Kellam.

Don't worry, Donnel will get introduced sooner or later... though sooner is much more likely then later.


Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the little sections on the stuff that was cut from this chapter, or the reasons as to why I wrote some of the scenes the way I did. Of course that only applies if you actually read them, cause that's perfectly fine to do. I can't force you to read the trivia.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter overall. I had the greatest time writing it and I hope you had a great time reading it.

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