Omg it's great to be back! I know it's been more than a few months, and I apologize for that. Thank you all for your advice and suggestions (yes I got all your PM's, I just didn't have time to respond to them). School/sports has been more than I planned, so I apologize. I have officially finished editing all my chapters, and they are all posted! Again, I greatly appreciate y'all's support! Like I said, this fic is NOT finished. I'm still coming up with ideas, and I've had some amazing suggestions that are too good to pass up! I can't guarantee when chapters will come out. Right now, I'm going to shoot for like once or twice a month, but I learned that I can't promise anything :(( Anyways, I appreciate each of you!

P.S. I found out that there's this thing called 'Replace Chapter,' so I'm moving back to my original story. Sorry for any confusion!

Enjoy!

"In all my life...never did I imagine seeing this."

Two teens stood atop a crumbling palace, overlooking its broken kingdom. A boy, around the age of 19, looked upon the bleak city. The city was completely ablaze, filling the air with smoke.

The boy pursed his lips and frowned, "This is one look that I never thought I'd see here in Ylisse." The boy had dark brown shaggy hair, and he had a sword strapped to his hip. He wore armor that covered his shoulders, abdomen, and knees.

"It's definitely not befitting, that's for sure," the girl next to him said dully. She had long dark blue hair, and she too had a sword strapped to her hip. Her whole attire was themed blue and she only wore armor that protected her shoulders.

She stared lifelessly upon the corrupted city, her face completely blank. An ear splitting scream filled the air, causing her to wince slightly. The scream abruptly stopped, and the girl looked down blankly, knowing what had befallen the victim. Below them, large shadows could be seen making their way into the palace door.

The girl sighed, and rubbed her fingers against the sword's hilt that was strapped to her hip. 'If only you were here, father, you'd know exactly what to do…' she thought, longingly.

The boy's attention flitted down to the castle gate. He paled as he saw the creatures making their way into the castle walls. He looked to his companion, eyes wide with fear, "Lucina, we need to go before the Risen get to the upper part of the palace."

Lucina blanky looked at her companion. Obviously, she did not share his sentiment, "We can't just leave Ylisse like this, Griffin."

Griffin shook his head, "Lucina, Ylisse is already lost. There is nothing we can do. We have to go."

Lucina shook her head, forcefully, "But what about the people? They're all down there, being slaughtered like animals. I can't leave them. They are MY people."

"Lucina, if you stay, they will kill you…he will kill you. You know he wants you, and you know exactly why he wants you. By staying here, you're giving him what he wants. If you stay here, we will lose. Forever." The boy said. Lucina could tell that he was trying to keep a brave face, but she could see through it.

Lucina didn't want to believe him, but she knew that in her heart, he was right. She silently prayed that she was making the right choice, and nodded to her friend.

Griffin gave Lucina a weak smile, "I know this is hard, Lucy. Believe me, I know. But this is the right choice, even though it may feel wrong."

Lucina tried to maintain her composure, but something he said struck her heart.

She felt her lip begin to quiver as she thought about all the hard decisions she's had to make. All the lives that she had allowed to be lost...all for the sake of the greater good…

"Griffin…I-I forced children…to fight. Was that…just? My people deserve better. I failed them!"

Griffin shook his head, "No one blames you for that decision, Lu. It was one of the few options we had left. But, if you really want to save them, you must leave.''

There was a loud explosion sound from below, and the city erupted into bigger flames.

Lucina let out a small yelp in surprise.

Griffin grabbed Luncina's hand and forcefully pulled her back.

"C'mon, we don't have time. We need to get back to the others before they begin to worry even more."

"B-but Griff-"

She was cut off by another loud explosion, except this one was much closer.

Griffin grit his teeth, "Damn, they already know we're here."

Griffin tightened his grip on Lucina's hand, and the pair ran through the crumbling halls.

Lucina tried to drown everything out. As they ran, she could see everything. Dead corpses of both friend and foe...fresh blood splattered the floor and walls...allies lay groaning on the floor with nothing to do except await the hands of death…

"Stop it," She thought to herself,"Stay strong...because that's what father would do."

Lucina trained her eyes to the back of Griffin's head. His shaggy brown hair flopped up and down as they ran, tangling itself into knots.

More cries out in pain ran throughout the halls…

Think of Sev and how she would react to Griffin's hair.

More bodies and blood…

Cynthia is probably with Owain right now, making more hero poses.

More screams…

Griffin suddenly skidded to a halt, and Lucina slammed into his back, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"S-sorry," She said sheepishly.

Griffin grinned and gave her a thumbs up,"No biggy."

His expression then turned darker,"Unfortunately, it looks like our original exit got blocked off."

Sure enough, the door that they had taken is not blocked off by the chunks of crumbling ceiling.

Griffin put a finger to his chin,"It'll take too long to clear this all out. So, we'll just have to go with plan B. To the West Hallway!"

Lucina sighed and followed after Griffin.

"Great," she muttered.

"Easy, careful," Griffin chided as he attempted to take Lucina's hand yet again.

Lucina scowled and shrugged his hand away,"I can walk on my own dammit. Geez, you spend way too much time with Inigo."

Griffin put his hands up in surrender and said in a mocking voice,"My deepest apologies, milady. It's just, if you were to fall from this height, you would surely perish. And it is my utmost duty to escort-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. No need to go all "Sir Frederick" on me," Lucina said, rolling her eyes.

Griffin laughed, and the two continued to make their way to the other end of the ledge. The ledge used to be one of the corridors in the castle walls, but most of its walls had worn away, leaving only a narrow space for the pair to walk on. Fortunately, it was pretty much in the same direction as to where the pair were headed: Mount Prism. Unfortunately, this corridor was once coming from one of the higher floors of the palace, and because most of the walls were worn away, one slip and one wouldn't survive the fall.

The wind blew Lucina's long hair in her face.

"Ugh, I've never hated wind so much," she said as she wrestled with her hair.

Griffin laughed, "Maybe you should just cut your hair. Bam! Wind problem solved!"

Lucina scoffed,"Ha! As if!"

"I'm just saying, short hair will make your life ten times easier."

"I like my hair the way it is, thank you."

Griffin laughed again and the duo continued along the narrow path. Lucina tried to look past the smoke, and ever so faintly she could make out their destination.

Lucina and Griffin finally made it to flat ground, and they both sprinted in the direction of the light. Lucina sighed in relief as she could make out 10 standing bodies.

"Looks like everybody is fine," Griffin said, relieved to see his friends safe, too.

"Yeah," was all Lucina said.

As they neared the group, Lucina could make out who was who. She was not surprised to see her sister and cousin off to the side doing their own thing. They were dancing around in a circle, and looked quite ridiculous while doing so. Lucina and the others have just learned to stop questioning them by now.

Griffin noticed them, too. "Looks like Owain and Cynthia are summoning things again," he laughed.

Lucina smiled. Usually she would scold him for a remark like that, but she could use a bit of cheer at a time like this. There wasn't much to be happy about now. But, Griffin, as well as her sister and cousin, did a good job at keeping the mood lighter despite the circumstances.

"It's about time y'all showed up," a girl with red pigtails said. She had a sword strapped to her hip, and she wore a scowl on her face. She walked up Griffin and Lucina, who were doubled over while gasping for air.

"S-sorry Severa…one of…the exits was…blocked off," Lucina said between breaths.

"Whatever," she said, but gave Lucina a quick hug before glaring at Griffin.

"It's nice to see you alive…I guess," Severa said with a look of disdain as she looked him up and down.

Griffin grinned and ignored her obvious judgment towards him, and tenderly patted her in the head.

"Aww, it's nice to see that you care, Sev," he said mockingly.

Severa's face turned bright red from the gesture and swatted his hand away,"S-shut up you oaf! And what have I told you about patting me on the head! Just because you're older doesn't mean you get to treat me like such a child!…" Severa continued to lecture her brother while smacking him on the head.

Lucina shook her head. Severa was Griffin's younger sister, and Lucina's best friend. Yeah, Severa can be quite the handful at times, but she really is a loyal friend through and through.

"Lucinaaaa!" A voice shouted.

Before Lucina could react, a blue blur flew at her, and next thing she knew, she was on the ground.

"C-Cynthia!" She yelped in surprise.

"Aw geez, what took you so long?" Cynthia whined,"You were gone for like ever! You should've seen what Owain and I came up with while you were gone through! It's so epic!" Cynthia cheered.

Lucina smiled, and hugged her sister, "Well, you'll have to show me later."

Cynthia nodded,"Right, later! We have hero business to take care of! Right Owain?"

"Why of course!" A voice hollered back.

Lucina and Cynthia got up. Lucina brushed off all the dirt, and turned back to all her companions. Severa was still lecturing Griffin, but he got distracted by two of his friends, and walked away, leaving Severa to lecture him from afar. She stomped her foot, then stalked off to a girl with black hair and a man with a pointy hat.

Lucina wasn't sure what to do now. She looked upon her companions, all of them were busy conversing with each other.

Lucina smiled, knowing this very well may be the last time they'll all be together like this. She felt like she should give some sort of inspirational speech, but that wasn't really her forte. It's times like these when she wishes desperately for her parents to be by her side.

But saying at least something is better than not saying anything at all.

Lucina cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Most people quieted immediately, and Griffin smacked his two friends to get them to shut up.

Everyone's eyes were now on her. Some of them were smiling, but most of them had looks of fear in their eyes. Lucina took in a deep breath, and tried to look as confident as possible.

"I-I," she didn't know what to say," I just want to thank each and every one of you…without you all here by my side…I doubt you would've made this far." Lucina felt a lump in her throat, but she was not about to cry,"…so, thank you. Truly, I sincerely thank you."

Lucina gave them a sad smile,"I don't know what's going to happen next…but I do know one thing," she paused. The truth was, she was scared. She's never felt so lost before, and it terrified her. She inhaled another deep breath, trying to ignore the sickly taste in the air.

"We will win this. Not just for Ylisse, but for us. Let's rebuild our future together! All of us…side by side…together! Let's take back the future that was wrongfully taken from us!" There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd.

Lucina pumped her fist as high as she could in the air, "For Ylisse!" She yelled.

"For Ylisse!" Everyone else chanted.

With that, Lucina led them all to Mount Prism.

Maybe we actually can win this, she thought.