((A/N: This is the next story in my FEH semi-AU series! But like always, keep in mind that you don't have to read the other stories to understand what's going on in this one; everything important for what's going on in the story is mentioned. I'm also willing to give an all-in-one-place 'Story So Far' for anyone who wants it, just PM me!

I hope you'll enjoy the story! And I'm going to say this now, pretty much forget everything Book IV tells you for the sake of the story.

On another note: It may be a bit sloppy. Please bare with me and any sort of errors you might come across.))

{-Sharena-}

Weird dreams, a special connection that no one would explain… was there ever going to be something that happened this year that she actually understood?

It started with missing people; the creatures responsible for it were nightmares, kind of like the fears and dreams of a person taking a more physical form. Almost all of them were bad and were only interested in hurting people—because of them she pretty much went a whole month with barely any sleep. There was one good nightmare, though, named Lekra. After the death of their first dreamer and creator, Natheniel, she'd agreed to become their new dreamer. Because of that, she was the only one out of the group who could see and hear them.

Then there was the nightmare's heart, a crystal that possessed the ability to control and contain the nightmares. Originally, they'd had it after they finished their trip to the world of nightmares. It was eventually stolen, and they didn't know anything about its whereabouts at all up until a month ago. That was when a piece of it got sent to the royal castle. Since then, she'd been trying her best to find a way to block the more dangerous parts of Lekra's nature in order for them to be able to help in other ways, which was now beginning to show as their ability to occasionally manipulate objects; it was still a huge work in progress with a pretty low chance of actually succeeding, but it showed that all those headaches weren't for nothing.

Another thing was Iztali, a boy they'd met about two months ago. Lekra claimed he had some sort of tie to the nightmares as well, but what exactly it was wasn't something any of them were able to figure out just yet. All that was certain was that he used to be with Loki, the person who was likely responsible for all the weird stuff that was happening to them (and another complicated mess altogether). He was one of the reasons why she was so set on understanding what her connection to the nightmares really meant, if not just to see if it would help her understand him.

The stuff about the nightmares was the only thing she was really interested in learning. She knew Alfonse was working on a couple more projects—even if she was aware of the fact that she was only being told the bare minimum about them. She was also beginning to notice him getting distant, and not just because of his role as king; all she knew about that was that it had something to do with what had gone on during their trip to the realm of the dead, if the way he dodged anything relating to it and Eir's remarks to it was any indication.

Sharena must've fallen asleep sometime while she was reading, because this definitely wasn't the real world. It was one of the places she'd been dreaming of for almost every night for an entire month, the place itself being familiar in an odd way but the names of the people and place escaping her every time she tried to think of it when she woke up.

Both the people in it were ones she recognized, one she knew as Triandra but the other's name lost to her.

"So my brother's keeping secrets… did he really expect that I would just let him go through with it?"

Triandra gave her own half-hearted shrug. "If that was all that he wanted he wouldn't even need her to be there, and he'd need you're assistance, too. Frankly I'm more worried about what he plans to achieve by sending her out there… the mortal realm is a dangerous place, and knowing her she'd walk right into trouble…"

"Well, Brother's not one for intentionally hurting people, so I doubt he means any harm at all. But he is rather stupid; unlike us, he doesn't realize what he's going to put her in. It isn't something you should worry about though, my rose… just prepare to give our little dreamer a big welcome when she comes along. I'll handle the rest."

"As you wish, Lady Freyja." Triandra bowed and began to leave, soon after which the dream ended.

As soon as Lekra realized Sharena was awake again, they didn't wait to voice their thoughts.

"You'd think after having to be brought back to your room three times in one week because you feel asleep in the library you'd learn to stop dozing off," they remarked.

"No 'oh hey did you have a nice nap'?" she returned, yawning. "Alfonse falls asleep in here all the time but you don't see anyone pointing it out."

"That's normal for him. You, on the other hand, have literally never studied for the entire eighteen years you've existed. I know, I've been through your memories more than once." They looked over everything she had laid out on the table. "You still have yet to tell me what you hope to achieve with this. I stopped frequently asking about it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to blindly agree to whatever it is you're doing."

"Like you're ever going to tell me anything useful," she mumbled. "There's a part of me that I barely even know the first thing about, and it seems like it's a pretty important thing to know. Everyone who could tell me won't, so that just means I'll have to figure it out for myself. If I pass out from exhaustion or whatever it's gonna be at their own fault for avoiding literally any question that's even remotely close to it."

"Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe they were doing that because they knew it would hurt you?"

"Keeping every little bit of it from me isn't doing any good either! I'm sick and tired of feeling like this…" She didn't want to feel like something was missing, and that it seemed like everyone else knew her better than she did. Henriette said that they'd known about her connection to the nightmares—and to dreams in general—but she'd only found out about it earlier this year. How could she not know about something that seemed that important to her? And why, ever since Lekra helped her remember a bit about that part of herself, did she feel like there was so much more that she was forgetting?

There were things that made her head spin if she thought about them for too long, other things made her sad enough that she eventually started crying without really knowing why. The weird dreams were a combination of both of those, and it wasn't uncommon for her to wake up feeling sick and realizing she'd cried in her sleep.

Sharena sighed, knowing nothing was going to get done here at this rate. More people seemed to be coming in anyway—she didn't want to risk looking like she was going insane by talking to Lekra. She got up and started to put away everything she'd had out, deciding that a walk might help her think.

She did her best to avoid anyone from noticing her. Henriette would've wanted to talk a bit, Alfonse likely had something to say if he realized she was passing by, if Fauna was at the castle she'd try to strike up a conversation, and Iztali would beg to come with her. She just wanted to have a peaceful walk on her own; if she knew it was possible then she would've gone without Lekra, too. But still the nightmare followed right beside her, patiently waiting until she was out of the castle walls before talking.

"You haven't told me about your dream yet," they observed casually. "Normally you're trying to figure out what it meant by now. Did you not see any of them this time?"

"No, I still dreamed about them. Triandra and the other one she's around with." That was the only way she knew how to describe them both, since she could only ever remember the one name. "Just as cryptic as everything else. Of course I can't remember a lot of it now, though. You mean you don't see what I'm dreaming?"

"I can if I wanted to, for normal dreams. These aren't quite normal, however, and even if I could it seems to be a matter that definitely doesn't involve me." They shrugged. "At the very least, it doesn't involve me right now. I'm not sure how long that's going to last at this rate…"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" She glanced at them, though soon went black to looking ahead of her. "Is this another thing where it doesn't involve you until it stresses our connection?"

"I… suppose you could say that." They didn't say anything else or explain further, simply letting her walk in silence.