((A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to the fifth book of my new FEH AU! You don't necessarily have to read the others to enjoy this one—especially as this also starts a new arc—but pretty much everything important that happened is summed up in the first couple of paragraphs. PM me for a more in-detail, book-by-book recap.

Just a quick note before I begin: Fauna = the Summoner (hailing from a World of Awakening), Lekra = a shadow creature (called a nightmare) that only Sharena can hear and see, Iztali = Lekra's other half (a dream; has a human and bird form) that everyone can hear and see, and Lucy = a Marth: Enigmatic Blade that is pretty much the only Hero who knew Zacharias (and, subsequently, the oldest Hero on the Order and close friends with Alfonse, Sharena, and Anna). Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the story!))

{-Alfonse-}

It had been one long road to get there, and they were still far from finished, but they were getting closer to that perfect ending.

Their journey, whether they realized it or not, started when they went to Nifl. They met Hríd, Fjorm, and Ylgr (and Lekra, in a way, though it took longer to actually know who they were). They'd had their first few encounters with Loki and learned who she was—the Trickster God. The depth of that encounter didn't quite sink in for a little while longer, when Henriette asked them all to come to the royal castle.

Hel had returned after nearly twenty years. Her army ravaged Embla on their way to Askr (something Embla was still recovering from and were trying to get some kind of Askran compensation for). She killed Gustav, putting Alfonse on the throne as the king. They were able to stop her with the help of Eir, though. But perhaps the most important thing about all of it was that it introduced them to something new: the prince of peace and little dreamer—Alfonse and Sharena—and the arrival of Iztali.

The next part… honestly, he didn't know any more than what his sister told him. They all met Peony (who now only occasionally visited them, noting the way álfar were affected by constant realm-switching) and pretty much everything after that was just Sharena. From what he gathered, though, both good and bad memories were remembered and she forged—or, more fittingly, reforged—a strong connection to the dream realm.

Then came their time to fulfill their purpose as the prince of peace and little dreamer. With Eir to help them, they stood up on behalf of all mortals and broke the bonds between them and the gods. That lead them to where they were now: at the border trying to discuss terms of peace with Embla, now that dragon blood could no longer control their decisions.

Suffice to say they weren't going very well. There were things both sides wanted that the other didn't want to agree to. Too much blood had been shed to ignore but neither were going to lower themselves enough to accept the consequences of it. At least Alfonse and Veronica both understood they were only looking after their own kingdom's best interests and were able to truly get to know each other when they weren't talking about peace.

"If it means anything, I don't know why he's so insistent on staying away from you, either," Veronica remarked casually. "Of course I yelled at him a couple of times for it, but honestly, I didn't expect that to be the thing he'd start listening to me about."

There was one thing that wasn't quite so perfect: Zacharias. He'd insisted that the boy they'd all been friends with only two years prior was just… gone, the only thing remaining being Prince Bruno. It was hard to remember that and respect the decision—though, honestly, Alfonse still questioned it with the hope that he didn't truly mean all that he said.

Alfonse sighed. "I think the worst part is that he's not just moving on. He's pretending like none of it ever happened…"

"Well, I hate to admit it, but you know him just as well as I do. If neither of us can do anything, then we simply have to wait until he sorts out the problem on his own." She glanced at the others; Iztali was cheerfully telling something to Henriette and Sharena while Anna and Fauna were having a more solemn-looking conversation. "Did you have to bring all of them, though? I suppose the queen mother makes sense, and to a certain degree the Order of Heroes's commander and the Summoner, but… your sister and her little friend?"

"She wanted to be here," was his simple answer. "We're gone weeks at a time and she doesn't like being alone. Iztali's most comfortable when they're together so he just ended up coming, too. Since none of them are causing any problems, there's no harm in them being here."

"I hope you acknowledge how lucky you are to have so many others to support you…"

"Veronica—"

When a group of Emblian soldiers came through escorting a young woman, the whole place seemed to fall silent.

"Princess Veronica, we found this suspicious individual trying to sneak into camp," one of them said, pushing her in front of the rulers. "She had a sword and a few very strange tokens in her possession."

"They're not strange tokens, they're money! Geez, this isn't a good first impression at all…" The woman let out a defeated sigh, beginning her introduction rather brightly before dropping it to a nervous and ashamed tone. "Hi, I'm Reginn… and I may or may not have convinced my brother to invade your kingdoms."