So. Looks like it is time for chapter thirty seven now. As per usual, hope you enjoy it as much as you can seeing how it is garbage like the last time. Be free to quit anytime it gets too much for you and you need to stop this crazy train before you end up part of the crew. You know. The usual stuff that I warn you all about when you read this story. Which many of you still do! You all are really weird… What am I saying? I'm the weird one for the writing this, and you're the weird one for liking this junk! Anyway, I'll shut up now. Go and read the newest chapter now.


Chapter Thirty Seven: The Journey Home - Part One

Well… Yesterday was fucking insane. I mean I got captured by rebels, found the Thief who stole my sword, and found out that the very same Thief was in fact my son from the future who came with his twin Fighter sister. There are many doors in this world, and I think I may have opened the weird ones on my way to this point in time. I wonder where I would be if I didn't take up that job that Plegia offered back then… Probably not here, sitting across from my children from the future inside a desolate-looking bakery as a Cleric heals my wounds.

Oh I believe they are my children. After all, they have a ton of evidence proving themselves as much. They have a future version of my sword, they know my name along with my wife's, and they can recount a few of my adventures while serving with the Shepherds. Except a few of those adventures have some conflicting points like the old Exalt already being dead when Chrom attacked Plegia, I fought two guys at the Ferox tourney, and other such things. Not only that, but I live in a world where Risen have… Risen… Yeah, um- Chrom's daughter came from the future, tiny girls are capable of turning into deadly dragons who can live for thousands of years, and other such things of insanity. It is a wonder that I haven't went insane due to all of the shit that goes on around me!

But, I'll just take it in stride like I do now-a-days. If I get too caught up with it, then I may actually go insane because of it. I can't have that happen to me! Not when I got so much stuff to do for the Shepherds… Oh yeah… I forgot about those guys… Well, I have some bad news. Yen'fay's army may have finally intercepted them and they are now fighting at the base of an evil volcano or something like that. All I know is that there is lava, rock, and a whole lot of battling going on. From what I hear, it looks like it is a draw so far as the Robins' tactics and skill are matching Yen'fay's numbers and training. And seeing how I am no longer a part of the Valmese army, I can technically go and help them now! But I have to deal with some kids first.

"So…" I reluctantly say, initiating the conversation that seems to have snapped my children out of their thoughts. "What happens now?"

"Oh! Well… Um… I don't know?" the Thief, his name is Anthony but likes to be called Andy, replies back to me; shrugging his shoulders as he fidgets with nervousness. "What do you think we should do, Sis?"

"Don't look at me," the female Fighter, Ana is her name I think, says. "I don't have a fucking clue what to do now. We could stay here and ambush the next Valmese army that comes along."

"That's stupid Ana. We don't have enough men to do that again."

"Well excuse me for trying to figure out a thing about this! I don't see you-"

"Can you two stop for a second?" I ask, interrupting the beginning of their argument. "Why don't we all just pack up and go and help the Shepherds? They'll need it if the news is true."

Ana and Andy look at each, nodding at my words, and say together "Yeah. That makes sense. Nice going Dad-Um… Aiden!" I am not going to get used to being called 'Dad.' What am I saying? I probably will, but I'll just let it accept me without me knowing it or something like that. Just like almost everything else that happens to me now-a-days… God, I am just pure angst and edge aren't I?

"Alright! I'm going to go get some food for the trip there." Andy says before bolting out of the room, heading down the street towards what seems to be a bank.

"I guess that means I'm in charge of gathering any men who would want to join us. Fucking fantastic…" Ana sighs out before heading out after Andy, disappearing from sight as she turns a corner Andy passed during his run to the bank. Well, that just leaves me then. I have no idea what is where, who to speak to, or how to find the stuff that I may want to find. I guess that just leaves me with following after my children then. It makes me sound like I'm a doting mother hen or something. Fucking fantastic…


It doesn't take me long to find Andy inside the bank. I mean, I can hear him from the outside; talking and banging random kitchen pots together like a mad man. I guess he got his energy from Anna because there is no way I can be that fast! I mean I can try if I switched to the Myrmidon class… No. Not an option. I like being a Hero and I will stay as one for the rest of time!

Anyway, I enter the bank and follow the noises Andy is making; making me discover him in the process of creating a giant supply pack twice the size a person should carry. There is no way he'll be able to lift such a thing, and I doubt I can even lift one of those big boys!

"Hey Andy," I say, a sweat drop sliding down my temple. "I think we should pack light for this trip... "

Andy turns to face me, a slight confusion on his face, and says "But we got to be prepared for everything! I don't want to get caught out with no food."

"I'm sure we can handle ourselves. After all, there is a ton of bear for us to eat!" I joke, chuckling slightly at the old memory of my first couple of weeks as a Shepherd. God, eating bear? Who actively hunts and eats bears out in the wild? Apparently us Shepherds do!

"Bear? I don't want to taste bear in my life, ever again!" Andy objects to me, disgust all over his face as he seemingly remembers something about bear.

"Why? Did you have a bad first experience with eating bear?"

"No! I-It was one of the last sources of meat in the future…" Oh yeah… He's from Lucina's time. Which means that he's literally from a hellhole that consisted of fighting Grima and the Risen almost every single day.

"So you had no beef, chicken, or even pork in the future?"

"No. Only venison and sometimes fish. No one could really raise a herd of animals when giant armies of Risen roamed the land, laying waste to everything." Andy replies, shaking his head at my question. Wow... That's actually really horrible… Hm… I wonder…

"Say, Andy. I have a question about your time. Mind if you indulge me?" I ask as I try to contain this strange worry bubbling in my chest.

"Go for it Dad." Andy replies, placing a finger on his chin like Anna does. He's a Mama's Boy I guess…

"Am I still alive by the time you came here?" Andy opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. He then turns his head, letting out a sigh as I see little tears start to form in his eyes. I guess that answers my question…

"On second thought," I say, trying to salvage the situation before Andy dissolves into a bawling mess. "I rather not know. Just get back to packing the supply bags. Just make them light enough so people can actually carry them!"

"Alright Dad…"

"If you do a good job, I treat you to some pork steaks when we get back to Ylisse. How does that sound?" I ask, watching Andy's face light up with a smile again.

"You got it Dad! I'll show those packs who is the boss!" Andy shouts with glee, turning back around to tackle his job with renewed vigor. I'm glad he's happy again. I hate it when people get all depressed and mopey.

He deserves some happiness after all the shit he went through.

Aiden and Anthony attained Support Level C


After that, I return back to the bakery where Ana had already return; all alone. It looks like it will just be her, Andy, and I going to help the Shepherds… Fucking cowardly rebels would rather stay here than take the fight to the enemy! I shouldn't be that mad at them. They just want to defend their homes. I would probably do the same if I were them. But I'm not them. I'm Aiden Jager, the Hero of the Shepherds! So I will do what they won't do, and fight the Valmese scum!

Which now leads me, now dressed up like my old Mercenary days, walking down the worn cobblestone road alongside Andy and Ana, all three of us side-by-side as he walk towards our destination: Demon's Ingle. Well, that is what Ana told me it was anyway. Sounds very ominous and evil from the name alone. Do you think that Risen might be rising from there? Maybe not as it is apparently an fucking active volcano, ready to explode! The Robins always did like living life on the edge… Which means I'll have to follow after them. I wonder what kind of life I could of had if I didn't become a mercenary? Maybe a third-class tailor. That, or a writer of sorts.

Anyway; Ana, Andy, and I are traveling down the road, enjoying the sights while keeping an eye out for any Valmese patrols. I think we can handle a patrol or two, but not an army or something of the like. I may be good, but I'm not that good… Plus, I have some kids so I got to worry about them as well. Can't get all lonesome like I used to be when I wandered as a mercenary.

"Hey Dad." Andy asks me suddenly, coming to a stop as he tugs my sleeve. "What's that thing over there?" I turn to look at what Andy is describing me, and I see a couple wild bison grazing.

"They're bison, Andy. They are like cows, but wilder and tougher." I answer, shrugging off Andy's hand in order to continue walking. Ana lets out a content sigh alongside Andy while they register the information I just told them. We continue to roam in silence for a little while longer, thinking our own thoughts as we head towards the mountain.

Suddenly, Ana says to me "You're pretty fast, Aiden. Why is that?" That is a weird question. Are they slower in the future or something?

"I'm just walking. Are you not used to this speed?" I say back, glancing at Ana with a confused expression on my face.

"No! You were pretty slow in the future. You said it was due to an 'old war wound'. So we're more used to walking slower when we are with you." Oh… I understand! It's what Lucina told me back when we were sailing for Valm! From what she said; I had gotten a limp due to some wound, and that limp caused Donny's death due to me being too slow to save him. Well, that little thing was avoided so Donny's not going to die and I am not slow!

"Well I haven't been wounded like that." I answer, smiling to myself at me remembering the reason for their question. "So I'm still in my prime!"

Andy cuts in, adding his two cents to the conversation, and says "I thought as much! There was no way you could have been able to catch up with me that quick during the battle. I guess that is one of the things that has changed thanks to…"

"Lucina?" I offer out, causing both of them to gasp in shock.

"You know her?" they ask in unison, reminding me of the Robins slightly.

"Yeah. She saved Chrom and the Shepherds' lives multiple times already. I just didn't think that she had others follow her from the future."

"Well she did get followed. By us and others."

"Wait! There are others like you?!" I ask the two. Gods… How many of them are there? What are their classes? What do they look like? Who are the parents? Are they all from the same future even? I have so many questions, but I don't think I'll getting the all of the answers soon.

"Yeah, Dad!" Andy says to me, a smile on his face. "There are a ton of us who came here. There is… Um… Ana?"

Ana picks up Andy's slack and says "There are sixteen of us. We're the only twins among the sixteen who managed to make it here. I do believe we all appeared in different locations, so we're all spread out with no way to contact each other. Fucking fantastic..." The only pair of twins? That had got to be rough back in the future. At least they are still together though. I wonder how they would have felt if they had been separated like the others were… I shouldn't ask them that question.

"Do you think we'll come across some on our journey back to the Shepherds?" I ask, glancing at Ana for the answer.

She simply shrugs, saying "No clue. It was pure luck that we even met you. Speaking of which… Why were you working for the Valmese?" Oh boy… Here comes the tough questions. Well, they aren't really that tough. I got a good reason for joining them, so I may be good. Let's hope it works!

"I got captured and they offered me a choice: join or die. I went with join so I didn't die and I could maybe return to the Shepherds." I reply to Ana's question, scratching my cheek while speaking.

"Are we even born yet, Dad?" Andy asks me, cutting into the tough question.

"No. To my knowledge, you guys haven't even been conceived yet."

"Well then… Looks like Dad managed to save our skins, huh Sis?" Andy says, smiling at his sister. Thanks for the back up Andy. I'll treat you with the good kind of pork steak, the expensive kind!

"Fucking fantastic…" Ana simply replied, touching her chin with a finger as she lets out a massive sigh. I guess she also picked up that little thing from Anna. Did they get anything from me..? I mean Ana swears a lot so I guess at least she got something from me. That's good, for me at least!

"Let's just keep going. We have a long way ahead of us." I'm not wrong when I say this. Do you know how far it is from here to Demon's Ingle? It is nearly an entire week on foot! Do you know how many blisters these kids will get on their feet by the time we get there? Rather, will the Shepherds be able to survive until we get there? I hope they do, and I hope they beat Yen'fay's ass! No one can beat the Shepherds! Well there was that time with Plegia and the old Exalt… I should shut up now. I cannot diss my own allies when they are fighting for their lives.

That would be macob!


Ana, Andy, and I eventually come to a stop as the sun begins to dip beyond the horizon. We've barely just made it to the edge of this forest I passed by while I was with the Valmese army. At least we'll have some cover for when we sleep as the Valmese patrols could easily spot a camp in the middle of the open plains. But in a forest… Now that is a different story depending on the fire.

Anyway, Andy lets out a yawn as he tosses his bag onto the ground and stretches while Ana begins to unpack her bag. I set my bag onto the ground and examine our chosen campsite. It's pretty secure so we'll be able to sleep peacefully with a simple alternative three person night watch. I hope these kids can manage to stay awake for that.

"I'm going to go get some firewood. Andy, Ana; do you two mind making the camp?" I ask, unsheathing my sword in preparation for some wood chopping.

"Let me come with you!" Ana suddenly asks me, standing up with her axe in her hand. Alright… Weird.

"Sure..? Just make sure to stay close and keep up." I warn Ana before heading off into the woods with Ana, leaving Andy all alone to set up the campsite. As we wander through the forest, picking up any stray pieces of wood and cutting any good branches, I find myself doing most of the work while Ana sort of just watches me. After I collect my twentieth branch, I turn and see that Ana only has three in her arms. What has she been doing this entire time?

"Are you okay, Ana?" I say to her, cocking my head to the side as I look at her.

"Yes. I am healthy and capable of all normal functions. Why do you ask?" Ana says, confused at my question.

"No, I meant like mentally. You're sort of letting me do all of the work while you stare at me… Do I have something on my back? Did Andy tie a note to me or something?"

"No! Nothing like that, Aiden. It's just-"

"Why do you call me Aiden?" I ask, cutting off Ana before she could continue. "Andy calls me 'Dad' all the time. Why do you use my real name?"

Ana turns her head to the side for a bit, before turning it back to face mine, and says "It's hard to see you… Here… Without a limp… Makes me think that the future was a weird fever dream."

"But it was real, to you at least." I say, thinking about how crazy everything might have been in her time.

"That's the crazy part! It was so strange and weird when compared to this relative peace in your time."

"If you call a war that involves most, if not all nations in the world as 'relative peace', then your time is much more chaotic than I thought it would be… What happened to everyone in your future?"

"To start off, Chrom was killed while the Robins went missing." Oh fuck! Chrom was the first to go, followed by the Robins? Damn, looks like that future is bad. Fucking fantastic… "Grima somehow got ressurected and soon entire armies worth of Risen began to rise up and lay waste to the land. The remaining Shepherds tried their hardest to fight back, but they were eventually killed; leaving us, their children."

"So you were left to carry a dying torch of hope…" I wonder out loud, stroking my chin as I thought about how messed up the future got. No wonder they wanted to come back and stop that from ever happening! Which makes me wonder…

"How did I die?" I say to Ana, wanting to know how I failed to survive in their time. Ana opens her mouth to say something, but no sounds comes out. She then turns to the side and lets out a little "Fucking fantastic…" in the form of a sigh. Yep, that's my daughter.

"You die… Protecting us. That's all I want to say about it." Ana eventually says to me, turning her head to no longer look at me.

"Alright." I answer back, placing my bundle of firewood into her hands; surprising her greatly. "Head on back to camp, Ana. I'm going to go find some more wood."

"But! You!"

"I'll be fine! You're old man can handle himself. It won't take long, I promise." I reassure Ana, who lets out another "Fucking fantastic…" before heading off. I smile at her receding figure before going back to work.

I think she just wanted to see me safe. Jokes on her, I'm not the one who needs protecting.

Aiden and Ana attained Support Level C


So. I hope you all had enjoyed this chapter. We will be heading back to main plot territory soon. I figured many of you were waiting for this seeing how trash this little side branch was. Don't worry though, the plot will return. Then we can return to true trash instead of this add-on trash I made. As before; review, favorite, and/or follow if you want to. It is really up to you. I enjoy reviews that help me write so feel free to fuck me up in your review. Anyway, I'll be going now. Go and read better fanfiction.