Prologue: Nameless Nightmares and Perils of the Past

Disclaimer: I do not the Fire Emblem franchise. Shame ain't it.

My Note: Ok, so here we are again. It's good to see some familiar faces re-reading and new faces reading for the first time. I do hope you people are re-reading because I have re-written all the chapters I have written as well as written up a new one.

This is an Academy AU which contains the characters of Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken and some from Sword of Seals. There will be violence, there will be swearing and there will be character death. There will be multiple pairings of multiple kinds, NO LEMONS… so far, but there definitely sexual references. This chapter also contains spoilers for one of the Final Chapters of Rekka no Ken, namely Light Part One.

The sound of metal clanging against metal could be heard echoing throughout the room as it was accompanied by the loud crashes of multiple explosions which in turn filled the room with smoke. A young man clad in green spun around, his eyes wide with confusion as he was no idea where he was. It was dark, very dark since the room was underground, but it wasn't a cave or a tomb but instead it was more like a chamber, a large carved room that was dimly lit with torches here and there. The room had an overall eerie feeling to it, one that unsettled the green clad boy to no end, it broke down his tolerance of large, creepy caverns… which was already incredibly low to begin with.

The boy in green staggered around the chamber, straining his eyes to see through the dim light, just in time to see a horseman aiming a bow at him. The young man could hardly let out a gasp of surprise as he tried to back away from the horseman's aim, but his movement was slow and sluggish and he barely made it a half-step back before said horseman released his grip on the string and shot the arrow.

"Nathaniel! Watch out!" a familiar female voice commanded from behind him.

Nathaniel? the boy asked himself, unsure of the name, it didn't seem to fit right.

Regaining his focus, the boy… Nathaniel… was pushed aside and replaced with the woman who had called him out. Blade in hand, the woman slashed through the air and it took a moment for Nathaniel to realise that the woman had sliced the arrow right out of the sky. In another moment Nathaniel realised that he knew this woman, this woman before him but at the same time, he didn't.

"L-Lyn?" Nathaniel asked in shock and bewilderment as he examined the woman that stood before him.

Lyn was Lyn, logic had taken Nathaniel that far, but there were things that were different about the woman he gazed at. For one thing this Lyn was a woman, more mature than the girl he was familiar with. Not mature in the age sense but instead she was mature in the way that she seemed to have more experience and wisdom than girls her age were supposed to have. Lyn also carried a sword and a bow and that was what really set the difference between the two Lyns. Though even with the differences, there were still the similarities, both Lyn's had long dark blue hair, though this mature Lyn's hair was longer, and he could see the familiar spark of enthusiasm in her eye as she looked over at him.

Lyn began to respond to Nathaniel's seemingly stupid question but before she could finish a word she was cut off by a rather large and heavy axe hitting the ground between them. Nathaniel tried to step back, his movement becoming easier but this victory was short lived as he was hit with the flat of the axe, causing him to stumble to the ground. With a small grunt, Lyn jumped and spun, slicing across the attacker's midsection, blood covered her blade, spurted onto her front and Nathaniel's shoes. This did not stop her attacker however and instead the axe wielder just batted Lyn away with the flat of the axe, similar to how he batted Nathaniel, causing her to crash into a nearby pillar. The axe wielder then turned to Nathaniel, who was to shocked to even scramble to his feet. He could only roll away as he dodged the swing of the axe, but Nathaniel hadn't realised how close he was to the wall and found himself right against it, unable to dodge the next swing. The axe swung again, going straight for his neck until, with a gag, Nathaniel was pulled back, out of the axe's path, only to be held up by the scruff of his neck as he could only watch the small figure of Lyn pick herself up from the pillar and charge at the axe man.

"What the hell's your problem Nathaniel? Even you can be more useful than this in a battle. Recent events getting to your head?" a gruff and arrogant voice growled in his ear before its owner dropped him to the ground once more.

With that voice alone, Nathaniel could identify the speaker, it was of course, Hector. He could recognize Hector's arrogance a mile away. As Nathaniel brought himself to his feet he turned to look and see, and sure enough it was Hector. It took Nathaniel a moment longer to recognize Oswin standing behind Hector. Like Lyn, the two men held certain differences and similarities to the ones that Nathaniel could picture in his head. The two men wore great suits of armour, Hector in a dark blue whilst Oswin wore a burnt orange colour. The two men also held weapons of tremendous size, Hector held an axe that he held over his shoulder whilst Oswin held some sort or lance or spear by his side.

Nathaniel opened his mouth to explain but found it difficult to form a proper word, his voice becoming similar to his movement earlier. This problem only heightened Nathaniel's annoyance by Hector's mere presence, even if the blue haired male seemed to be so much more mature. His attempt at speech was cut off however as Hector picked him up.

"Hold that thought," Hector smirked smugly as he blocked a blow with his free hand from a muscular, blonde swordsman who carried a sword at least half his size… at least.

Hector drove his weight onto his axe hand which in turn caused the swordsman to stumble back. Hector then turned and threw Nathaniel, much to the boys shock, to Oswin who unceremoniously caught the boy in his armoured arms. The pair could only watch in amazement as Hector duelled the swordsman, the pair on even ground, even if Hector seemed to have the disadvantage of bringing an axe to a swordfight. Nathaniel wondered for a moment as he tried to think why he knew that that was a bad idea, but he soon shrugged it off and instead of watching Hector and the blonde, Nathaniel found himself scoping the entire area, as if he was driven by some sort of instinct that he held within himself.

In the centre of the room, Nathaniel could see Lyn finishing off the axe wielding man that had attacked the two of them before. She spun, she stabbed and she sliced until the man fell to the ground, very much dead. Further along, the horseman from earlier who had attacked Nathaniel, was raising his bow and taking aim at Lyn who's back was turned. Before he could even warn her, the bow string was released and the arrow sped towards the woman who cut it down, as simple as that, she unsheathed her blade and turned, her sword cutting through the arrow before she resheathed it. She stood silent and calm amongst the battle that went on around her, waiting for the horseman to make his move. Nathaniel thought that the waiting was going to go on forever until Lyn jumped to the side, dodging two arrows that Nathaniel didn't even see get shot, and took refuge behind a pillar. From that point on the battle of speed between the horseman and Lyn became one that was purely focused on range attack, evident when Lyn brought down the bow from her back and strung an arrow, peeking out from the pillar and shooting it without even aiming. Lyn had her shockingly impressive skill with the bow and the cover of the pillar on her side whilst the horseman could only ride about the room, hoping his speed would keep himself, a harder target to hit whilst moving.

Something else grabbed his attention, distracting him yet again as he spotted a slim, dark haired woman weaving through the crowd of fighters, seeming completely unnoticed by the warriors around her. It took Nathaniel a moment to realise that the direction the dark haired woman was heading was straight towards them, more so towards Hector and the blonde. A bad feeling swept through Nathaniel and pointed at the woman, his movement now feeling completely normal and easy.

"Oswin…" Nathaniel pretty much whispered to the larger male.

Oswin turned to Nathaniel and followed the direction to which he was pointing and after a moment of following, he could clearly see the dark haired woman sneaking throughout the battlefield.

"Shit," Oswin swore, much to Nathaniel's surprise. "Hadn't thought that she would be brought back so quickly. Hell, I didn't even think that she would have been brought back at all…"

"W-who is she?" Nathaniel asked, unable to see the woman's face, though he doubted he'd even be able to recognize her if he did see it.

Oswin looked down at Nathaniel, his eyebrows creased in confusion at Nathaniel's unknowingly stupid question which in turn caused Nathaniel to smile stupidly. Oswin lowered Nathaniel to his feet, something the latter was grateful for as he suspected Hector would have just dropped him, and the orange clad man began to approach the dark haired woman slowly, his large, bright and chunky armour doing nothing for stealth, but nevertheless the woman still believed that she held the element of surprise. Oswin, spear in hand, rose the metal pole high as he took aim at the dark haired woman who calmly and stealthily approached Hector and the blonde as if they weren't even fighting each other. Nathaniel looked back at the fight between Hector and the blonde to see the blonde man parrying all of Hector's swings with little trouble. All of a sudden their was a loud grunt from Oswin as he threw his spear at the woman.

Time seemed to almost stop as the appear approached the woman. Before Nathaniel could blink, the woman let out a snarlish grin and grabbed the end of the spear, just above the point, and stopped it from stabbing her. She spun the spear around until she held it casually by her side.

Meanwhile Hector rose his axe in the air, preparing for a swing that would break the blonde's blade but let out a yell of surprise as the blonde charged at him and grabbed him tightly around the torso. Hector drive the axe down and into the blonde's back but it was for naught as the blonde man showed no registration of the pain that should have been caused. The next sound that could be heard was a yell of pain, Nathaniel at first thought it was a slow reaction on the blondes part but was horrified as he realised that the yell belonged to Hector. Nathaniel watched as the blonde man shoved his sword up through the right side of Hector's back and kept on pushing until it had stabbed through his front and into himself, not even blinking as the sword penetrated his skin unlike Hector who roared in pain.

"Hector!" Oswin yelled out.

"H-H-Hector!" Nathaniel half stammered, half yelled, having finally found his voice even though it was a weak version of what it should have been in this case.

Nathaniel began to move towards the blue haired warrior but was stopped when Oswin's armoured arm cut in front of him. Oswin pushed Nathaniel back and ran, he ran fast to Hector, but after a moment Nathaniel realised that Oswin wasn't running to Hector but instead the space between Hector and the dark haired woman. And that was when Nathaniel saw it, the woman rose the spear high and threw it. Oswin jumped for the spear but his hand missed by an inch and it kept on flying until it hit it's true target, piercing Hector straight in the back and continuing through until it pierced through the blonde as well. Oswin shouted in fury as he landed on the floor, watching helpless as the two other men collapsed to the ground. Hector was completely and utterly defeated.

"Hector…" Nathaniel pretty much whimpered as he watched the man lying on the ground, weapons jutting out of him.

Nathaniel began to approach Hector and the blonde man, both of which lay still on the ground. Oswin charged off, running at the dark haired woman who merely laughed madly and jumped back. The woman's attitude only made Oswin roar in anger as he attempted to attack her bare handed.

The green clad boy continued to move towards Hector, his footsteps slow and hesitant, nervous as to what Hector's state may be. As he reached the collapsed mass of Hector and the blonde, Nathaniel kneeled beside the two men, ignoring the blonde man almost entirely. Grabbing onto the spear, he began to pull it out before he was stopped by a groan beside him.

"No… no… d-don't do that," Hector instructed, his voice weak. "I-It'll just… make me… bleed more…"

Nathaniel could only nod in reply as he watched Hector on the ground, half covered with the blonde man, his chest heaving and bleeding from his chest and mouth. Nathaniel could tell that every second that Hector breathed was pure pain. The boy in green fell back from his knees and straight to the ground, utterly distraught.

"S-Somebody h-h-help!" Nathaniel stammered out loudly, desperate for someone, for anyone, to come and assist.

Nathaniel looked up to see two horrific sights unfolding before him. Lyn and the horseman were now in the middle of a swordfight, having run out of arrows. Lyn blocked and dodged the slices the horseman delivered from above but when he rose his sword, so high and powerful it was obvious what was about to happen.

"Lyn…!" Nathaniel tried to warn.

His warning was for naught as the powerful strike came down and cutting across her chest and causing her to fall to the floor with one last moan of pain. Closer to Nathaniel was the falling of orange armour, his eyes widened as he realised that the burnt orange armour was covered in scorch marks and as it landed on the ground, it revealed the dark haired woman standing behind it, some sort of flame in her hand as she smiled wickedly.

"Nathaniel help us!" a younger voice cried out but as Nathaniel looked up to see its owner, his vision was blocked by a large cloud of smoke.

The green cad boy turned away from the smoke, wiping his eyes and looking down at Hector. A small, yet still slightly arrogant, smile appeared on the bluenette's lips as he heaved one last breath and his chest stopped rising.

"Hector?" Nathaniel whispered, hoping for some sort of answer, knowing he would receive none. The only thing he thought he could do was shout.

"HECTOR!" Nate screamed as he fell from his chair and down onto the carpeted floor beneath him. He was no longer in the chamber.

My Note: There we are know my friendly readers. If you could all be so kind, could ya review or re-review or re-re-review if that's even possible.