When Chrom opened his eyes, he found himself standing next to his horse in front of three unknown people. The one on the left was a blonde woman with a golden armor holding a lance and a golden shield. The one on the right was Anna, but experience told Chrom she probably wasn't the same Anna he had known: she didn't wield axes. And, in the middle, stood what appeared to be a young man wearing white and golden robes and holding a strange weapon.

"Isn't that Chrom?" The blonde woman said. "But he looks older…"

"He's probably from a later point in time, like Hector and Ike." Anna guessed.

The man in the white robes nodded in agreement, put away the strange weapon they were holding and smiled at Chrom.

"Greetings! I'm sure you are confused about suddenly appearing here. The short version is that you are in Askr because I have the power to summon heroes from other realms, and we'd like to ask for your help us win a war." They made a short pause, as if letting Chrom process everything they were saying.

"You are not obligated to help, and you don't have to answer right now." The blonde woman assured him. "But we'd really appreciate if you could lend us a hand. I'm Sharena, by the way."

"I'm Kiran and she's Anna. But perhaps you already knew of her; it looks like many heroes have seen her endless sisters."

"We're not endless!" Anna protested, but the summoner ignored her. After coming to Aksr and starting summoning heroes, they were at least half sure the Annas were just multiverse versions of the same person.

The summoner turned to Sharena. "I should give Alphonse a report on the summon, but this took a lot from me." Their composure seemed to waver a bit for a second, showing how tired they were. "Could you do that for me? I think I'll take a nap before lunch."

"Of course! Anna, I know you are busy right know, but could you bring Chrom to an empty room in the Awakening wing? I'll send someone later to show him the castle."

Anna looked like she was going to protest, but changed her mind when she knew she didn't have to waste her time giving a rookie tour throught the place.

"Sure!" She looked at Chrom, who seemed to be trying to process everything he was hearing. "Well, big guy. Follow me; I'll take you to a place where you can rest and think in peace."

"I'll take the horse to the stables." Sharena got closer to it with a smile and softly touched the neck. The horse snorted when it saw her aproach, but let her pet its neck.

Chrom gave her the reins. They all seemed friendly enough, and hadn't tried to take his sword away. It didn't look like they would hurt the animal, and he would be grateful for having a place to think about everything that was happening.

"Lead the way." He nodded to Anna.

The three of them left the garden with the stone.

So far, Chrom didn't have anything against helping them. War at Ylisse had finished several years ago, and everything home should be fine. He was worried about having left withouth saying anything to anyone there, and wanted to ask Kiran if there was a way to send a letter to his world. The summoner had said that they needed help. He didn't want to just leave.

He raised his head, frowning, when he heard a knock on the door. He knew they would send someone to teach him about the place, but he had expected a little bit more time to think. He quickly glanced at the Falchion, which he had put resting on the side of the bare wall ten minutes ago. That room didn't have much more than a bed, a desk and a chair, so the heroes could put in it anything they wanted. That was what Anna had said, anyway.

He got up and walked to the door, grabbing the handle and pulling. At least, he should see who was there. And once the crack opened enough he realized he was staring at...

"Lissa?!"

"Hi, Chrom!" She happily chirped, and threw herself into a hug. Chrom awkwardly hugged her back, not expecting her reaction.

"What are you doing here?"

"The same thing as you! Helping the Askrians win this war. You will help us, right?"

Chrom nodded. If he wasn't sure before, knowing his sister was here was convincing enough.

"And I supose you are the guide Sharena mentioned?"

"Yes! There are many places to show you, so let's go right now or we'll be late for lunch!"

"By you're excitement I'll assume it's not bear meat."

Lissa stick her tongue out. "No, we are civillised people here!"

Chrom chuckled and followed her out of the room. They started walking throught the halway.

"So, let me see if I understood this."

Lissa stopped and stared at her brother, already expecting the confused and slightly anxious look he had on his face. They were in a small rose garden that was close to the stables, since Chrom had wanted to check on his horse.

"So our rooms are divided by the realm we came from, and there are several other Shepherds here too."

He waited for Lissa to confirm that. She did.

"And since there are multiple realms, it's also possible… to find other versions of ourselves?"

She nodded again.

"And there is another Chrom."

That wasn't a question, but Lissa confirmed it anyway. "He's been here for a while, actually. We both arrived almost at the same time. I wanted to tell you before you found him today at lunch…"

It was definitely going to be awkard.

"And does he know about… um… me?"

"Well… not exactly. But he does know about the posibility of having another 'him' walking around the castle, so it won't be as shocking for him as it will be for you." Lissa looked pensive for a few moments. "It looks like Kiran can't summon someone endlessly, so there won't be a hundred Chroms going around. There has to be some significant difference about each 'version'. That's how Kiran thinks it works."

"And how am I different from him?"

"You're older, more mature and on a horse!"

She was silent for a while, Chrom still waiting for her to say something else. Lissa sighted.

"Ok, there's a non-spoken rule among everyone living in the Awakening wing. We don't talk about the specifics of the worlds we came from, so I can't tell you much more about it. You're just… different enough from him, I guess."

"Why not? Were there problems?" Chrom raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"No, but… It got awkward fast." She frowned. "So, maybe all Shepherds are part of the same realm, but it doesn't mean we all come from the same world. And some things are different. For example, Cherche. Do you know that she'll have a son?"

Chrom nodded. "Yes, Gerome. Is he here too?"

"Yes. And do you know who his father is?"

The Exalt blinked in confusion. "Of course. Why would I not?"

Lissa pressed her lips, thinking of the best way to explain this. "Because he's not the Gerome from your realm. Both Cherche and Gerome are here, but they are not the Cherche and Gerome from the same realm. So Cherche married someone, and Gerome has a father… but that person is not the same one for both. And it's probably not the same in the realm you came from."

"I see…"

Yeah, that sounded like a mess.

"And it's not just the children. Like, I'm Lissa and I'm your sister, but I don't come from your realm so I'm not your sister. No one is from the same realm because the probability of that happening is very low." Lissa got quiet suddenly and look away. "Well, almost anyone."

But she recovered faster that he could ask about it.

"So! We tend to focus on the big picture and avoid details. Which means we're all the Shepherds and you're always my bro!" She gave him a huge smile.

Chrom chuckled at her declaration. "Sounds good to me."

"Then let's go to the stables instead of wasting time here. I still can't believe you've actually learned to fight on a horse. How were you convinced?"

Chrom sighted and pinched the bridge of the nose, closing his eyes.

"It's a long story…"

The tour through the castle ended up being longer that Lissa had calculated. When they arrived to the dining room, most people were sitting there already. His sister told him most heroes from the same world usually ate together, because they already knew each other. But after enough time battling teams could end up sharing meals some days instead of doing it with their usual group. The divisions weren't a norm as much as a suggestions so they would feel more comfortable in that strange world they were living in now.

Chrom was surprised at the warm welcome everyone on the table gave him. It seemed that word about his summoning had spread around most heroes. He was even getting curious glances from other tables as well. He realized a bit better why talking about the specifics of each realm would be a mess even it wasn't about the children. The Shepherds, except Frederick, looked like they lacked the experience the Exalt had. They looked like they hadn't finished the conflict in their realm. The other Chrom didn't look as mature, and was definitely younger. And perhaps felt a bit intimidated and nervous at being in front of an older and more experienced version of himself. Maybe he had just started the conflict with Plegia? That was the impression the Exalt got. And then Donnel looked like he had been using that spear of his for only a couple of days, instead of being the confident and strong warrior he had become in Chrom's realm.

And, of course, Robin was there, writing something on a sheet of paper while waving him as a greeting without leaving his attention from the report. And next to him, there was Robin, playing with her long hear while looking at the paper and waving Chrom as a greeting. The Exalt blinked, realizing he wasn't seeing double, only two different versions of the same person.

"Welcome to Askr." The female Robin said, guessing what he was thinking. The other Robin chuckled when he heard that, and raised his head to smile at Chrom.

"Thanks." Chrom answered them, resisting the urge to sigh. He sit on a free chair, between Stahl and Gaius.

"They love doing that with everyone." Lissa whispered to him.

She didn't have to say it. Chrom could see them snickering while staring at them. Well, if they wanted to mess with him he could mess with them as well. In his world, Robin had never been with someone else that made as much tactical planning as him, so…

"I'm glad there's two of you. That way Kiran can have a good tactitian at their side." He said, with feigned innocence.

"Yes, I'm a master tactician! Unlike him." Robin smiled with a smug.

The male Robin grunted and glared daggers at her. "Excuse me?!"

"You are excused for losing at chess agains me four times in a row."

"You lost half of your pieces the four times! I call that mass suicide, not strategy!" He replied. "You're too aggresive!"

"And you're too defensive! You won't get anywhere like that!"

Their discussion was suddenly interrupted by a couple of figures with dark hair jumping on them an grabbing them by the neck. The boy wore robes similar to the Robin's, while the girl had the uniform of a pegasus knight.

"Are you arguing again?" The boy said.

"Gerome is bringing the food. Stop already!" The girl admonished them.

The Robins grunted as an answer, but stopped their bickering. The boy and the girl let him go, and noticed the (not-so) new face at the table.

"Oh, Chrom! Welcome to Askr!" The girl said.

Because of course that if there were two Robins, there had to be two Morgans.

"You've actually arrived at a good time to take things easy." Robin stopped talking a few seconds to grab his mug an finish it. "We've just finished the conflict with Múspell, so, except for a few skirmishes an scouting missions here and there, there's not much going on."

His female counterpart nodded. "When we were summoned, we had to fight practically the next day." She frowned. "But it turned out that several other heroes were better than us, so now we usually plan with Kiran and the other strategists. And fight small skirmishes we find scouting."

"Oh…" Chrom didn't know what to say.

The Robin of his realm had been one of the strongest people of the Shepherds. How strong were the heroes summoned there if both of them weren't part of the top at all? He suddenly wondered if he should even be there.

"Don't put that face! If we're here is because we're needed!" Morgan said, smiling at him encourangingly.

It was still strange for Chrom to not find the Brand of the Exalt on her eye, which kept reminding him she came from a realm in which she wasn't his daughter. It was the other Morgan, instead, the one who had a bluish sheen on his hair…

"We still need to protect the castle." The male one said. "And keep it running without its prince and princess while they're away in missions. It's harder than it looks like."

More than an hour and half had passed since lunch at the canteen had began to be served, and the majority of heroes had finished and left to train or take care of other duties. Chrom's table had become completely empty, save for the Morgans and the Robins. Most other tables were empty as well, and a couple of heroes that looked like servants were cleaning them.

That was why it was so strange for Chrom to see the door to the canteen opening, and a person entering the place. Chrom couldn't hide his surprise at seeing yet another Robin in Askr, specially because he couldn't see any stricking difference between him and the one siting across the table.

The Robin glanced at him and looked away again so fast Chrom thought he had imagined it. He kept walking straight for the table at the end of the room in which the Askrian's were discussing something after eating. He completely ignored the one for the Shepherds without saying a single word. The moment he sat at the end of the table, the summoner got closer to him and started making small talk. Or trying, because that Robin kept gruting as an answer and ignoring most of their babble.

Chrom frowned, puzzled by that strange behaviour, and turned his head to ask the other Robins about it, only to find they had become silent and were avoiding his gaze. The Morgans looked at their parents with worry as well. Chrom wanted to ask about it, but realized he had to be careful about it. They all fell into an uncomfortable silence.

It was then when the door to the room opened yet again, and a young figure crossed it into the place. They wore a blue attire and a butterfly mask Chrom would recognize anywhere. But when Lucina got closer to the table and shot a look at them, she looked away and started walking away even faster. She stopped only when she got at the furthest table, and sat away from both the summoner and the Robin.

The people at Chrom's table kept silent and tense. Chrom closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "I can see this is something you don't want to talk about, but I need to know why Lucina and that Robin acted so—"

"He's not us." The male Robin snapped. He was still looking away from Chrom, his expression tense, and one of his hands was strongly grabbing the other one. The hand that had that purple brand, Chrom noticed. He stared at it, realizing something. No, it couldn't be… "He's Grima."

The confirmation felt like a slap on the face. Chrom could feel the blood draining from his face. "What?! How?!"

"Breidablik doesn't care about that ." Morgan muttered, her voice still high enough to be heard. "It just helps Kiran summon whatever we could need to win the war on Askr."

"Yeah, the summoner can't really control who they are going to bring." The female Robin added, fidgeting with her fork. "And, in any case, everyone here is under the same contract the moment they appear. It's not like he can kill anyone here anyway."

"But he could still attack." Chrom guessed.

"Well, we do need to train, and that's hard without hitting each other." The male Robin said, releasing his hand and trying to look at Chrom at the face. "There had to be a limit to how much we can't damage each other."

"But he hasn't done anything." The male Morgan added, with a serious look on his face. "At all. He barely interacts with anyone besides the summoner, and only because they try to talk to him. He hasn't done or even said anything to anyone. He's ignoring our presence."

Chrom raised his eyebrows when he heard that information. It sounded like nothing he would expect from the dragon that almost destroyed his world. He looked at the Robins, waiting for something else they could say, but they nodded at him, confirming what Morgan had just claimed.

The Exalt was at a loss for words, unable to say anything after hearing such absurd information. The female Robin decided it was a good moment to answer him the other part of the question.

"And if you want to know about Marth, you should probably ask Kiran about it. It's… complicated."

Chrom didn't miss the frown that appeared in the Morgan's faces.

A new story!

I've wanted to write a fic about a little AU I made a while ago, but all my attempts to write it made the plot go nowhere. It turned out that the Heroes setting was much better than Awakening and the story sprouted almost by itself the moment I changed it. The story is fully writen already, and I'll try to upload it once per week.

I'm very excited about it and I hope you'll like it!