Hello ladies and gentlemen! Please let me remind you once again that the Q&A is still going, and I'm still not receiving any questions for the characters. Please work towards fixing such a heresy. Also, Read and Review.

ARSLOTHES: Well if we wanna be nitpicky the closest in age is Cynthia being one month and a half older. Fun fact: in an hypothetical 100% run of this fanfic the youngest units in the army (after the timeskip) would be Morgan and Nah being fourteen and the oldest being Tiki who is 6000+ years old.

Should I call you Scorin a guest? Just Scorin? Anyways…: That's more or less the intention, yes. The Aum staff would be kind of one of the worse (not worst) case scenarios if Anna can't revive by herself, since it would imply that only Cordelia gets revived and not her entire squad.

PLEASE READ: In this review answer there are spoilers! If you do not wish to spoil yourself stuff, skip over the italic part.

Guest 2: Trust me when I say that nothing is set in stone, I've been avoiding writing paralogues with anyone who hasn't clear parentage for this very reason. Also let me share a little secret with you: Belle isn't Nick's biological daughter. Surprising, right? Of course if he does end up with Lissa I'll make Owain his son, but the only established person who is Nick's daughter isn't related to him. Also when you end up in a completely different setting with completely different parental figures, are you truly the same person? Belle would end up being massively different because his caretakers are also different. As for setting up LissaxNick… I was actually just laying down my bases. The fic was actually supposed to have as possible ships either NickxLissa, NickxCynthia or NickxMorgan or no ship. Later on I decided to let it go for the most part but my earlier chapters are rather heavy. Rewriting them would be an issue too because new readers would have a different experience from the ones up until now. I wanna thank you because you're one of the few people who offered actual criticism which made me consider a lot of stuff. So thank you. Also should I remove your vote for Lucina then?

Kidemonas: I never said that it would hinder my writing. I got myself a good reading after answering your question and I realized that if Chrom and Sully grew up together there's no way she would be older than maybe a year with him. Also I asked you guys to vote because it would be a more pleasurable experience for the readers, and the ship was never that big of a deal that "OMG I can't write this it's too much for me" unless you asked for an incest fic. Then I would've gotten mad for real. If people wanna see a NickxSully I will do a NickxSully. It may seem weird but I'm much more interested in progressing the story than seeing my characters shipped.

Clutchvm: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Also, why do you believe what you say sounds lame or stupid? I asked for your opinion, you gave it. Don't dismiss your opinion like that. I'm interested in the feedback of my readers, and what you said was in no means "lame" or "stupid".

Votes are still

Lissa – 3 votes

Sully – 1 vote

Lucina – 1 vote

Read and Review!

Chapter 20: Mindful Exploration

I am standing in a desert, the Shepherds fighting like demons to arrive at the spot where I am. I see Chrom, I see Robin, I see Lucina, I see Marth, and Ricken, Sully and Stahl and Vaike, Jake and Anna, Libra and Panne. Maribelle, Sumia and Cordelia roam the skies, even going as far as performing the famed triangle attack. Even Frederick couldn't keep himself out of the battlefield long enough to recover, bringing down the axe on anyone foolish enough to be under his wyvern. Who I don't see is Lissa, however. How could I see her looking at the battlefield, after all? She was standing right next to me, after all. We were here in the loving cares of a plegian soldier, who was sharpening my lance preparing to kill us. Each raking sound against the steel of my lance hurt my ears, both at the sound itself and the fact that he was defiling Hauteclere's masterpiece. He's the substitute for the one that fell at Flavia's axe. The ropes hurt our wrists as we were both kneeling, probably praying for salvation that would never come-

Yet another nightmare. Law sighed; they had been getting way more frequent as of late, with the guilt gnawing at Nick for not having saved Cordelia. The boy was a mess; all sorts of suicidal thoughts roamed his head, him being the only barrier between the subconscious and the forefront of the mind. Perhaps he had been too hasty in picking him, but Fate had forced his hand, making him come to this world as young as he was. This had actually been the fifth iteration of Nick, each coming to these universe two years younger than the last. At this rate, he would be grabbing toddlers from across the spacetime to save the world. Thankfully though, the fourth one had actually made some good progress instead of dying at the hands of fate. Perhaps, he could finally get to go to rest… maybe.

The first Nick, having remained a civilian, dying in the very first cataclysm that destroyed a forest north of Southtown. He had been unlucky, finding himself cornered by the Risen. The shepherds never even knew that he ever existed.

The second Nick, a mercenary, making it a bit farther, losing his life against Validar trying to protect the Exalt by himself. Confident in his unnatural resistance abilities, he had forgotten about the Luna tome.

The third Nick, who had become a dark mage and then a Druid, his creator actually, who was still alive. He was somewhere in an alternate timeline, 'The Future Past' as he would call it, where they had won against Grima at a great cost. He had created him to be of guidance to his past self, and so he did.

The fourth Nick, a pegasus knight who he had actually grown affectionate to, got so far. However, he didn't make it either. He 'passed the torch' that he was during the Divination with his past self, without him even noticing. He had promised not to let his defense down and not like this boy. He would only be of guidance when he needed to.

He had failed. The boy grew on him, quite like a fungus that he could rid himself of. He had wanted to tell him so many things about himself, but he couldn't. His creator had told him that they would have to figure things out by himself.

He let himself fall back into the void, suddenly being in a very far away place.


"Huh, you're back." Nicholas pointed out.

"Yup." He confirmed, not bothering to get up from the grassy plains where he was.

"So, how's the mini-me holding up? It's been a while since he came here." He asked, performing an impressive kata with Uruz in his hands.

"Right now? He's trying to gather material to blackmail a god into reviving Cordelia so that he feels less bad about it." He rubbed his face with his tiny hands in exasperation. Nicholas doubled over in laughter, forgetting to catch the lance that conveniently speared him through the head. He removed it without a second thought before tossing it back in the pile of items that made up Nick's convoy.

"Was-was I" he paused as another fit of laughter hit him, rolling around on the grass. "Was I this bad when it was my turn?" He asked.

"Need I remind you who exactly was it who joined the enemy ranks just to become their leader so you could dominate the world?" he asked, glaring at him half-heartedly.

"Hey! In my defense, it worked!" He protested, pouting. Law smiled at him; Nicholas was a very different person in death than when he was alive. He was much more carefree now that his responsibilities vanished, and he had actually started smiling again.

"Yeah, yeah. Now shut up and let me finish my report. After you launched him to Donnel's village, he" but he poofed away before he could even start. Nicholas sighed; that could only mean that Nick was waking up. He looked back at the house to check on the spirits who were currently in the process of having a fight between elementals; two of the three Sylphs ganging up on Fenrir while their leader duked it out with Celsius.

"Good luck, Nick… don't move in here too fast, okay? I wanna see a wrinkly old man, not a damn teenager."


A banging sound is what greets me the morning right after having saved the village.

(Thankfully it isn't Noire who decided to drag someone over to our room.)

I could've phrased that so much better. Anyways, we get up, summon up our clothes, taking notice of the fact that Lilina dismissed herself once again without bothering to ask for Roy (thank god for that) and go to finally greet whatever person decided that our door is their personal punching bag.

"Yeah? Who is it?" I opened the door to see a frantic looking Anna. "You have to help me! Anna was traveling near the Twins' hideout, and now they've captured her!" I was immediately wide awake.

"Now hold on, how do you know that Anna's in danger?" I asked. It seems a little surreal that not even a day after she was captured she already knows about it, since she was here the night before.

"She called the Annasignal!" She said hurriedly, before both her hands flew up to her face. "Oh damn it, I shouldn't have said that!" She said, kicking the wall before jumping on one leg holding her foot as the door proved stronger.

(The… Anna-signal?)

"What is this Anna-signal?" I asked. She cursed under her breath, before closing in and whispering in my ear. "It's a spell that immediately notifies any Anna in the surroundings of the position of an Anna if she is in distress." I nodded.

"Alright, so somehow went into the now twinless Twin's hideout" I snorted at the description of the place "and got captured. Now they want to sell her as a slave? Is that right?" She nodded. "Alright. Noire!" I shouted, making her jump out of bed and out of her room in two seconds flat. I love how the other me trained them well.

(They're not dogs, you know.)

Ignoring my inner voice, I said. "We're heading out. Anna's sister was kidnapped, and we need to set her free." Turning to Anna, I asked: "Lead the way." I tell her. The place's probably a kilometre away at worst, we can reach it easily.


Lucina went to grab her blade immediately after lunch with the rest of the Shepherds. The importance of meals and rest had been drilled into her head since day one of Grima's arrival, especially when they had neither for a very long time. So she made space in her schedule for them, even if it was very small. She needed to train, after all. She had become self-indulgent, thinking that the bad part was over, but no.

The news of her mother's death were a very good wakeup call. And when she thinks that this idiot, this buffoon let her mother die simply out negligence she-

"LUNA!" She roared, letting her anger take over. "SOL!" She tried to channel that anger into the blade, but she couldn't quite transform the first motion into the second and simply ended up hitting the target again, not managing to link the two.

"Damn, kiddo. Remind me to never make you angry." She looked at her interlocutor. Sully, Kjelle's mother and one of the strongest shepherds had been watching her. She had barely even noticed. She was too focused on training, she had to get faster, stronger and-

She had broke a dummy. Another.

"Relax, Lucy! All that stress can't be healthy." Inigo's voice unhelpfully chimed in her head. She dismissed it as quickly as it came, however. She couldn't afford to waste time.

A hand suddenly made its way towards her shoulder. "Hey, brat." She looked at the older Shepherd in outrage. "I'm 17-"

"And I'm 20." Sully chuckled. "Listen, I know you're getting fidgety because of the war. We all are. But do try not to destroy yourself, alright?" She reasoned, sounding like her mother.

Hermotherwhohaddiedtwiceoverit'shisfaulthisfault hisfault

"Alright. I'll try to calm down." She sighed. She could see the reason behind those words, even if it hurt. "By the way, now that I think about it, I haven't seen Nick in a while. Do you know where he is?" She hadn't seen him in a while at the barracks. She hadn't actively been looking for him, but she would've gladly exchanged a few choice words at lunch or dinner with him if she saw him.

Sully's expression turned surprised. "You haven't heard? He's left us. Said the Shepherd life wasn't cut out for him. He wasn't that bad, but I could see that it was starting to take his toll on him." She leaned in cospirationally. "Don't tell anybody, but I don't think the princess and Ricken are quite ready yet either. They're just kids. At their age I was… well, I was a knight in training, but I'm me, right?" She grinned down at her., before it died down "He coulda at least said goodbye in person, though. Disappearing like that. He was right, I'll kick his ass!" her anger flared up. Lucina, however, wasn't quite listening to her after a particular phrase.

They're just kids.

If anybody had told her this phrase about Nick at any other time, she would've smiled in amusement. (Not quite laugh) The idea of thinking about Nick a child was silly, laughable even. But now that she thought about it…

He really was a child, wasn't he?

An emotionally unstable kid, barely fifteen years old, launched into an alien world and forced to pick up a weapon to survive. Burdened with the weight of the world, with barely any idea of what to do and what did she do? She blamed him, got mad at him for having let her mother die when the whole purpose of her journey was to save them herself. It was no wonder he had left! She had been too harsh on him ,and it was her fault.

"Hey, don't go all mopey on me kid! He's fine. We'll prolly see him in a few months. Now, the reason I came here: d'ya wanna spar?" Lucina looked at her.

"Sure. I've already broken my training dummy, I could use another." She sassed.

"Oh, you're so on kiddo!" Sully shouted, getting excited for the spar. Sadly, fate seemed to have other plans for them.

"No she's not." Robin sighed entering the training room. "Sorry to interrupt, but we've been loitering around enough. King Marth has a mission for us. We're finally hitting the battlefield." Gone was the goody-two-shoes that they knew and loved, this was the tactician they respected for his military prowess. They both nodded and rushed off to get ready.


Law sighed. He would have to go back to Nicholas later. He looked with Nick's eyes to see that they were nearing the Twins' hideout; it would be another probably one-sided battle, but one could never know. He popped his fingers, hearing the satisfying crack that he knew was only a figment of his imagination, but relaxed him nonetheless. He got seated into the armchair that didn't quite reach the controls thanks to his eight-year old looking body until it lifted up in the air.

"Alright, let's see. Dropping Remorse down to minimum, just a hint of Bloodlust and... sassing the bandits would be a bad idea. Let's cut that as well." He begun pulling levers, and suddenly, Nick was ready to fight. Sure, he wasn't that good of a fighter, most of the work was being done by his lance, but for now it would suffice. It would cause him a killer headache when he started to return them to regular levels, but that was to be expected.

Now, onto slaying bandits.

The battle was, once again, painfully one-sided. The bandits were poorly equipped aside from one mage who held an Arcwind tome. Nick opened it gingerly, uncaring of the battlefield's active state before sighing when he realized that it was written in the New Language and chucking it at Lilina. The bandits had next to no military training aside from their leader, and were drunk as they were celebrating their new catch. They hadn't harmed Anna, aside from holding her hostage before a dart from Jake, who had foregone the ballista in favour of a crossbow finished their leader. He had actually dropped the bloodlust altogether and let a hint of remorse come back, as he found out that the boy by himself felt surprisingly little. That was… good. He was getting used to it. Perhaps in a year or two he would be a decent soldier… but for now, he would have to make do with simply having broken (in the good sense) equipment and next to no training.

(What are you going to do now that we've rescued her?)

"Anna, do you have any way of contacting your sister at the gate? I have business with her." His "host" asked, making them both freeze up.

(Real smooth.)

"What do you need of her?" The Anna that they had just rescued replied in a defensive manner, almost hostile. As hostile as someone rubbing their wrists from rope burns can look, anyways.

Nick sighed. "I need to ask a favour of her." The first Anna was about to reply when the other simply put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. She frowned and said "Fine." She pulled out an orb from her satchel and swapped the one that was currently sitting atop of her staff, the mend one. "Bye Noire! Sorry for getting you in trouble with Reimi!" He cheerfully says with a shit-eating grin. She then raised her staff and, without so much as a blink, Nick was no longer there.

A bit shorter than what I'm used to, but I'm satisfied with this chapter. Some rather needed insight on Law's character, who he is and what he's here for. Also, remember to send questions for the Q&A.