A/N: Just going to get this out of the way for all you skeptics out there, this story is all written and will be completed, I promise. I solemnly swear on my complete Smash Bros. amiibo collection (:D) that this will all be uploaded in due time.

Thanks to all returning followers after my message! That really means a lot to me. Of course, new followers are welcome (this is a re-upload of a very slowly started story).

If I think of anything else to say I'll add it later but in the mean time, enjoy! Please, leave a review if you can because I'm revising and uploading as I go so your input could influence how the story turns out (...slightly). Also, if you'd like to support me even further, please vote on the poll on my profile because I'm going to be using that for the next story I write. I think it's gonna turn out great.

3/13/17 I remembered something very important that I need to write. If you are one of those people that wants FanFictions to be as close to the original source material as possible with all the little details, please exit this page now. This is not one of those stories. What follows are the major points I've changed. For starters, Corrin mysteriously doesn't exit... The castle and, quite frankly, all of Nohr is re-designed (except for a few things) to fit the story I had in mind. Also, everyone is about 3 years older (which may or may not be important). I'll add more if I think of things.

3/16/17 As a guest pointed out (thank you by the way), most of the retainers don't exist. That was just too many characters to write with and I mostly wanted to focus on the royal family.

I'll shut up now. Enjoy!

Prologue

Words are a funny thing aren't they. We're taught that they have specific meaning and are to be used according to that meaning in very specific instances. The problem is that a lot of those meanings are quite subjective.

Like, really, how often is a colorblind person going to be using the word "green" to describe a field of grass since they can't tell what color it is; the field no longer fits the definition. Or how about a baby using the word "small" to describe a basketball; that thing's bigger than a baby's head for goodness sake. But for a basketball player, the ball can be picked up with one hand, certainly allowing them to use the word "small".

Now, to be fair, both of these words are adjectives, and adjectives by definition, no matter how you look at it, are subjective. Everyone's got a different way of describing things. It's a lot harder to find subjective nouns. After all, a cat's a cat, a dog's a dog, and a person's a person no matter how small.

But what about the word "hero"? What is a hero?

Pop culture's definition of a hero is this: someone with extraordinary abilities and immeasurable power who rises up to defend Earth from all manner of fearsome monsters and foe. Think Avengers or Superman.

The story I'm about to tell you features a very ordinary hero who is quite ordinary looking too. Quite the oxymoron, I know. Heros are more often than not quite dashing or beautiful. But sometimes it's not how someone looks or the huge feats of strength they perform that makes them extraordinary. It's the little things. Those small acts of bravery or kindness can make a big difference in someone's life. And that makes someone extraordinary to them in just the same way.

The kingdom of Nohr used to be a grand kingdom that every citizen was proud to be a part of. Nohr was led by a strong but fair king, King Garon. He made sure that his kingdom upheld its reputation for being prosperous and a good kingdom to live in. His rules were fair and the people loved him for it. It was a time of peace.

This is when Nicholas was born.

Nicholas was born into a poorer family and both of his parents were servants. Both of his parents served aristocrats in the nicer residential areas of the capital as a private butler and maid in the house of their aristocrats. From sun-up to sun-down, their jobs were to make sure that the people they work for were cared for and protected. Not everyone saw the appeal of a job that's based solely on serving someone else, but Nicholas's parents saw it as a sense of loyalty. They felt that it was a way to show their kind heart and devotion to the kingdom, and they wanted their child to follow the same path. From birth, they tried to teach Nicholas to respect the king up until the age of six, when children could start apprenticing. Nicholas became an apprentice for a butler named David. David took Nicholas in as almost his own son, teaching him as much as he could while still being kind and fair like a father would. The man David served, an aristocrat named Daniel, was also kind to Nicholas, and Nicholas grew to respect and admire them very much. It also gave Nicholas a chance to spend more time in the upper-class part of the capital, and his parents always reminded him to pay attention to the king's rules and respect them. For three years Nicholas continued like this.

Then something began to go amiss about King Garon. People started to notice that he had a change of heart. The number of Hoshidans, people from the neighboring kingdom, found touring the capital started to diminish radically. Gate checks began to pop up on roads to Hoshido and no one could pass them without official business. The number of guards found in the city started to increase and many people were suddenly being recruited into the Nohrian army. Nicholas's parents were blind to the motives behind these changes and tried to tell Nicholas that the king was doing things for the good of the kingdom. But children aren't as stupid as people believe.

It was mostly because of David. David didn't trust the king. He had been around for a long time and knew what the king was like, and he could tell that this wasn't how he normally acted. The king was wary but never restricted Hoshidans from visiting Nohr or Nohrians from visiting Hoshido.

David became Nicholas's source of news from the outside world. During the few years that followed as Nicholas improved his skills as a butler, every morning David would give him a report on the latest news about the king's decisions and the state of the kingdom and Nicholas grew ever more suspicious about the loyalty he was placing in the king.

The day King Garon declared war on Hoshido came as a shock to nearly everyone in Nohr. Nicholas was twelve years old when it happened and will always remember the day clearly. When he reported to David, the first thing David said to Nicholas was that there had been war declared on Hoshido. Nicholas couldn't possibly think of a reason why. Sir Daniel had already left that morning for a meeting at the castle, so they sat down to talk. David explained that in the middle of a war, rules would get a lot stricter. Already, King Garon had started trying to find people sympathetic to the Hoshidans and punish them. David warned him to be very careful about everything he said and did until the war was over.

Nicholas's parents still insisted that the king was bringing glory to the kingdom, but Nicholas knew better. He no longer trusted the king at all and was a bit disgusted at how blind his parents were. He even considered quitting his apprenticeship since he no longer saw the point in it.

But then a different side of the story started to surface. One of David's best friends from his childhood was Gunter, Prince Xander's head retainer. Gunter came one morning to speak with David. He told David about how King Garon was sending out his army led by Prince Xander to go and conquer Hoshido, but that he shouldn't worry. Xander had no intentions to execute the orders to kill given by King Garon and was secretly working with the people loyal to him to try and save as many people as possible.

This intrigued Nicholas. A prince defying the king was unheard of, but in this scenario, it was necessary to keep peace. Nicholas was fascinated at the amount of courage and compassion Prince Xander had to directly defy the king's orders for a cause he believed in; mercy.

The more he heard, the more Nicholas found Xander to be a person worthy of his loyalty. Every day he was anxious to see if there was any new news that David could tell him from the letters received by Gunter. When there was none, his day was filled with anxious wondering about what was happening. When news did arrive, it was often good, and it lifted Nicholas's spirits. His admiration and respect for Xander only grew and grew. He admired the drive for peace Xander had and his courage for defying his father. Xander became his role model.

Sometimes, in secret, at night, when his parents had gone to bed, Nicholas would pretend to be Xander and often stage elaborate scenarios in which King Garon would order Xander (Nicholas) to kill a group of people, and he would miraculously save them without the king knowing. And like every child that finds a role model, he wanted desperately to meet Xander.

Nicholas had just turned thirteen when the most shocking report they ever received from Gunter arrived.

Garon had been killed.

The story that the public would be told was that Garon had tragically died in the final battle getting into the throne room. He would be given a hero's funeral and then Xander would succeed him.

But the story Gunter told was different. Xander had killed Garon himself.

The letter from Gunter explained that they had successfully conquered Hoshido (with more casualties than Xander's group would have liked) and that Garon had sat on the throne of Hoshido, which reveals the truth about everyone.

Gunter described how he witnessed the king change before his very eyes into a grotesque monster that revolted even his own children. Somehow, at some point in time, the once noble king had been taken over by something much more sinister.

Xander had killed him not thinking of Garon as his father, but rather a monster that, now revealed, would kill as much as possible. It was a tough choice to kill his own father, but Xander knew that if he let Garon go, he would ravage Hoshido and Nohr alike. That was why he killed him.

Xander and the rest of the Hoshidan army soon returned and were met with a rousing celebration upon their reentry into the capital, and at the front of the crowd was David with Nicholas right beside him. Nicholas experienced a feeling of awe unlike anything he had every felt before when he saw Xander pass by that day, on his way to becoming a king. Never before had he more desperately wanted to meet Xander, even to be his friend.

Nicholas received a newfound energy in his work as a butler, for he reasoned that the easiest way for him to meet Xander would be to become his butler. Nicholas worked twice as hard in the final three years of his apprenticeship mastering every possible aspect. While the hard work did shave off his childish obsession, he never lost his sense of respect he felt toward Xander, and he was not going to give up on his goal.

A/N: Aha, I did remember something. To prowessMaster44, I don't know what I did to deserve you, but you've given me so many great comments and edits and suggestions and just everything in general from you is amazing. Thanks for being a great friend and editor through this whole journey of writing a novel.

P.S., Those picture I sent gone out of your head yet? Something *coughcoughyourcommentscoughcough* tells me not... :D (inside jokes ftw)