Just a heads up, this chapter will seem weird in placement and throw everyone off, but this will be the first 'Child Story' up before the others as the Ylissian children are collected and the story will continued into Valm, with brief pauses to collect them... and Tiki, because sure...
As it turned out, the boats that Validar did give were of terrible condition, surprising as that just meant that Validar didn't think that through, or didn't realize that some of the ships were of poor quality and needed to be repaired. Thankfully, the Khans went straight to work getting the ships primed for combat and, from what the Pegasus and Wyvern Riders had to say, the Valmese army was slow to mobilize, perhaps believing that the battle inland was taking longer than expected, but Alex didn't insist on it as he focused on something else.
As if in response to the appearance of Lucina, several reports from across the land of Ylisse have taken his attention and he hummed in thought to them; several bandit hideouts in Ferox, rumors of a mystery desert village south of a sacred mountain to Ylisse, word of two mercenary companies clashing on the southern tip of Ylisse, and a shrine devoted to a former goddess to the north of Port Ferox, but his vision always came back to a more troubling issue for him, to the distant east of Regna Ferox were said to be a band of slavers, often making it hard and troubling for anyone to pass the roads and ways, kidnapping and taking people elsewhere to be worked to an inch or death. He felt the groan flow through as Amrig spoke. "Any more groans and I dare say that I am being the human and you are the fell dragon now."
"Funny..." Alex nearly growled before restrained himself as he looked at the rumors again, eyes wandering right back to the slavers rumor as he spoke. "I don't know, should we head out to find out about these slavers?"
"Your gut is telling you the same thing over and over and I can sympathize with you, but running back and forth is helping no one." The Fell Dragon coiled on Alex and continued. "Chrom will be willing to let us investigate and, considering how both armies are priming, but not ready, I'd say that we have ourselves a fair bit of time to use." Alex rubbed his brow before he stood up, the dragon returning as the tactician headed out and toward Chrom who turned and greeted.
"Ah, Alex! Christian was just here asking about your thoughts on the Port."
"It's..." Alex took a look and breathed easy as the port was fixed up and the men of Regna worked hard to get the boat steady and ready for action. "It's much better than before, a relief to say the least." He turned back to Chrom as he spoke. "But the reason I am out here now is that I have come to a decision with our newfound time." Chrom's brow narrowed as he asked.
"Where to...?"
"Eastern Ferox, we are investigating these rumors of slavers." Chrom nodded and started to marshal the Shepherds for action, Alex just wishing that this feeling of concern or doubt would just stop or falter enough that he could figure it out...
With a half-day's trek across the icy lands of Ferox, they soon arrived to the place and Fredrick, who scouted ahead with his great armor not making a sound somehow, gave a report. "Slavers, milord. Such damnable scum..." Those words just instilled a fury in Alex as Chrom grimaced the same and spoke.
"We'll have to hurry if we hope to catch them." It was apparent that they captured another victim for the sale, but they were too far from the position to see who or what was taken, just Alex felt that rage boil, somehow worsened and forced to calm when Tharja spoke.
"Or we could stay right here and just let me go to work on them. A curse to wither them away, perhaps? A slow death over a year? Oh, fie. Let's make it two." Alex breathed and that got Tharja's attention as she glanced over to him with concern unwarranted right then as Chrom answered.
"I think their captive would likely appreciate something a bit more immediate." He reigned his steed and jumped off as he called out. "Shepherds! Saving the girl is our top priority! Now move out!" Alex didn't try to manage the small force as the couples paired up and readied themselves for battle, Vaike seemingly a bit more willing to team up with Cherche as the single members worked to fight in shifts and likely leave Virion if his flirting ways does not stop soon, somehow being a noble didn't help his case any further up the ranks as Alex followed suit , adjusting his gloves as he felt a body grab him and he turned to Tharja as she spoke, resting her head against his back for a moment before slipping past to his side.
"Is everything alright, you didn't seem to like my thought a lot more than Chrom."
"Yes... I did exhibit a lot more anger toward that..." Alex breathed before he explained it. "Tharja, I don't mean to intervene on your time or your hexes, but this one has been ragging on my mind and I now feel a deep worry, terror perhaps of what could happen here, I think I could relate it to a sense of... I am not sure, but it is a feeling of something." Tharja hummed before she nodded.
"Okay, I understand... somewhat, our goal is to return the captive, what will the Exalt do?"
"Stall, the slavers will have seen us and have primed to fight us off, we just need to keep their attention away from the captive." Alex stepped forward and readied for the fight. "Come on back when you tell Chrom this 'hold the line, and wait for my signal'." She nodded and rushed over, being more talkative to the Prince since the short time and Chrom knew what Alex would use, a Thunder-spell to signal the end of the stalemate or to attack, a Thunder would mean to withdraw for the moment while a Arcthunder would be a attack, it helped to guide the Shepherds through when they were apart somehow.
Just as quickly, Tharja returned and the operation was underway, the six of them, Christian and Olivia, and Vaike with Cherche would attack the eastern end for the captive while the brigands threw themselves against Chrom's barrier and defense to the west. They didn't take into belief that the captive would have gotten a weapon, but a bow was sported in hand as a sound of escape rang out, Chrom holding strong to the rushing fools.
Still, Alex didn't relent as he quickly had the small force rush over to the captive, a young woman... with hair like his and quickly got her behind their lines before the more troublesome foes came, higher-ranked slavers from the looks of it before slowly pulling back, but his concern flowed as he spotted the avian foes coming by the river and swinging past the barrier to get to the force taking their captive.
His thoughts shattered when a yelp echoed, the captive suffered a close arrow shot, slashing her firing arm and Alex felt his power brim over as his eyes turned to the one who fired it, one of the slaver Bow Knights pumping a fist as his small group charged once more, but Alex left that calm demeanor as he lashed out his hands and lightning with thunder heeded the call, erupting around the horse-mounted attackers before the four took them on, but his rage was not done as he swiftly turned to the avian attackers, reinforcements coming from the north before they soon experienced what happens when you anger a powerful mage.
Neither the main Shepherds, nor the small band could say what exactly happened, but the snowy sky turned dark and, as if drawing close to Alex, gathered like fire to dry grass and he lashed out, the power of Thunder surpassing mere Arcthunder levels, it was a decent Thoron, but Miriel would later remark that the spell used was not Thoron, but Mojinir, a rare spell that only the greatest and more powerful mages of the Thunder usage were capable of mastering, and it took them years to do so, all just watched as the massive bolt cracked the sky and shattered both the assault and the walls of the main bandits. The option to retreat was lost as the Shepherds rushed in and took them out.
Hours later, Chrom met up with the captive and chatted with her. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! Had you not saved me, I... I fear to even think what would have happened..." She started to cry a bit as Chrom assured her.
"It's all right, take it easy. No one's going to hurt you now."
The girl still cried as she spoke. "P-please, sir... Let me come with you." She turned to one side and breathed like her mission was on the line. "There's someone I need to talk to, but I'm s-scared to be alone..." Chrom nodded as she lead the way, taking in the number of tents and campfires set up before she motioned him to stop and she walked forward... to the last person that would be social.
"What do you want?" After that event, Tharja could have worded it better, but she was not content with the fact that Alex was now drained, like he pulled too hard on a power and it is reaping its penalty on him.
"I, um... I mean... Er..." The girl stammered before she pulled out a ring and offered it to Tharja. "H-here, please look at this." Tharja took it in hand and rolled it, a frown crossing her face, Alex was thorough, so how...?
"Nice ring. Looks just like mine." She didn't return it as this was something else, how did she even...? "You messing around with alchemy? Or is this something... darker?"
"Wha-? N-no! It's nothing of the sort! It's just..."
"Tell me the truth, girl. You don't want to see what happens if you lie to me."
"P-please, just give me... I n-need a moment... M-my talisman... Wh-where is my talisman..." Tharja was silent as the girl took out a relic that was off, it took her a moment to realize that it was a craving of some sort with the Eyes of Grima as their centerpiece, somehow binding the whole power into one object. The girl changed from a timid personality to a rage-filled warrior. "I AM BLOOD AND THUNDER! I AM A RIGHTEOUS FURY! ...I AM YOUR FUTURE DAUGHTER!"
Tharja countered this as she didn't believe it, Chrom's daughter was one thing, but this girl relying on a relic was another. "You are trying my patience."
"INSOLENCE! I speak the truth! The ring I bear also hails from the future. A memento of you, my departed mother!"
"And that bizarre talisman?"
"Your own handiwork! Wrought to steel the mewling heart of your coward daughter! In its strength did I find blessed escape from grief and solitude! Fear of death and killing, too, it drove from me, until I became an avatar of retribution! Only by clinging to it have I survived the crushing desolation of a ruinated future!" The girl entered a fit of laughter that Tharja found rather annoying as she spoke.
"Oh, give me that." With that, Tharja snatched the relic away and the girl reached for it in terror, the confident personality gone as she whimpered.
"Um, w-wait! I need that! Without it, I can't-"
"Survive?" Tharja narrowed her eyes as she remarked, no daughter of hers should be relying on some piece of relic ware just to survive in the world, they needed to face it together. "You can and will. And not by becoming some avatar of retribution. Just be my daughter. Leave the retribution to me."
"M-Mother..." Tharja didn't... hate the word, but she did not acknowledge it yet as she turned her attention to the relic and her emotion turned to glee on how powerful it was, a small frown to believe that... this was made by a woman who only had her daughter, but used her to advance her studies in the dark arts, what type of mother was that, one that prepared them for the future of ruin or a mother... who lost her whole life before she gave it up...?
"My, this is a nasty little number. The future me is good. ...And very, very bad. Hee hee. I can't wait."
"M-Mother, you're f-frightening me! ...A-again!"
"This little trinket will advance my research in the dark arts nicely... Hmm... You have my blood, right? I'm going to need a bit of it back."
The girl screeched before she learned on to muster the tough personality. "I... I mean... BLEED ME DRY AND I SHALL BE AS THUNDER STILL!"
"See. No daughter of mine needs some mummer's prop to be strong." The two then entered a fit of laughter as Chrom rubbed his temples at what just happened.
"Oh, this is just wonderful..." He walked away as they two laughed a bit more before heading for the distant part of camp...
The blood-stained bandages was enough to experiment with and Tharja felt the want to go and do that, but she used the need to get to know who the girl was. "So your name..."
"N-Noire..." Tharja hummed as she spoke.
"Noire, hmm?" She lightly chuckled as she put both on the table and turned to the sitting girl. "A wonderful name..." Noire looked away, her heart cracking as that meant that her future self was not so kind, she was no saint, yes, but she didn't just torture and hurt this girl for her own gain... did she?
"I-I thank you for that."
"And your aversion to me is..."
"W-Well, Mother... you were..." Noire paused before she hummed and continued. "You were driven... Father was gone and we were all that was left of him, but your heart... it was broken and you wanted to... f-fix it in any way you knew how or experimented." Tharja felt her shoulders fall as she didn't want to believe it either, but if Alex was gone from the future... she would have turned drastic, but this was now, that was years set in stone when events are changing what is happening now.
"Oh, Noire..." Tharja did something that her future self would not have done beforehand, she walked over and pulled Noire into a hug as she ran her hand through the short locks of her daughter. "It's alright... you are here and I will watch over you, you deserve far more from me than one relic and a pained soul..." She didn't say sorry as that was not part of her, but she still felt the tears as Noire bit her lips before sobbing into Tharja's shoulder, holding on like there was no tomorrow as she mumbled.
"Thank you... Thank you!" She was a warrior, yes, but she is more a girl who had lost everything and wanted a stable pillar to keep going.
Once Alex recovered, Tharja would make the effort to introduce their daughter to him and they would do better now, the future was not set in stone, she knew that now, after all, Alex was a man of many a talent and firm resolve...