Started Writing on 08/27/20, officially started writing on 08/27?/20, released on 09/01/20
I honestly am not sure if we/I know much in Lucina's timeline but I am sorry if I you know, disappoint you in this chapter and while I also do a time skip. Yes, a time skip. Anyway I'm slightly disappointed with this chapter if you don't know yet.
I have so many documents sitting here waiting to be written. Why do I torment myself so?Anyway I'm sorry for my small rant last chapter, and thank you to the people who encouraged me in the reviews. Let's get on with the story shall we?
—————————————————————————
True to Shirou's word, when he had returned back to camp with Chrom in tow, he received a harsh scolding from Lucina's father talking about the dangers of wandering off by himself and once that was done he had begun his training with Lucina. Chrom of course watched from a distance as the two trained together and as Lucina was defeated time and time again, she was a stubborn one it seems.
Even then her stubbornness had a limit and they had to stop her training for the day as a result. Chrom on the other hand found himself impressed that someone as young as his daughter had such fighting prowess. He too thought nothing much at first seeing as he had many easily exploitable weaknesses yet he proved him wrong as that was the bait. When someone would attack said weak spot they would find themselves easily blocked and even defending from his counter attacks.
He gave credit where credit was due and if he ever met this boys mentor he would praise him of using such a tactic. Well, if his best and closest friend Robin had seen such a thing with his own eyes he would already begin to marvel at it and question how he had not yet thought of such a thing earlier on.
So the camping trip with Lucina and now Shirou was spent doing father and daughter bonding since that was the purpose of the trip. Though since Shirou was now in the mix Chrom had made to make plans to include the boy and make him feel welcomed, and it worked.
Shirou thought it was a bit odd that Chrom was practically treating him like family and so trusting of him, but he wrote it off as Chrom seeing him just as a child. He didn't really hate it either.
Chrom had surprisingly brought seasoning and many cooking materials and Shirou stared at it and couldn't help but ask if he could cook the next meal one day. Chrom was reluctant at first since he originally brought it to maybe improve his cooking skills so he could be more helpful for his wife, but she refused his help. So he allowed him seeing no harm in it since Chrom didn't cook any meals, unless it was roasting meat.
Chrom and Lucina both stared in awe at the food Shirou had made for them as it was a dish they had never before so they were a bit hesitant at first. It wasn't until Lucina had slowly taken her first bite and looked down to already see the bowl completely empty. Chrom watched as his daughter practically devoured it in seconds and he too was going to do the same until his daughter had practically begged him for his share.
He stood stalwart and unfazed as he too devoured it in front of her face no less. Chrom had no regrets, especially if his child slowly began to tear up, this was soon known to be the first time Chrom had denied her something. He did in fact spoil her rotten while his wife advised against it, he saw no harm and continued to do it until this very moment.
Lucina then resorted to the next person, the one who had made such a good in the first place, Shirou. She stared into his eyes as her own eyes began to water and he found himself in a bit of an odd spot, he gave her his own share and she began to eat it at a slower pace. What he didn't expect was for Chrom to do the same thing, he was reluctant to do so at first, not because he didn't want to make more food for them, but because they were going to eat out their supplies at this rate.
He of course couldn't find it in himself to deny him so that day was spent eating a chunk of the supplies Chrom had brought.
A few days later they inevitably ran into the problem the two of them had caused, a lack of food to feed all three of them. The two of them mirrored each other and scratched their checks awkwardly as they avoided his gaze as he stared them down. He sighed remembering that, it felt like he was the adult instead of Chrom, he wasn't technically wrong but physically he was a child.
Chrom had suggested he take the two out for hunting, show them a thing or two. Well, Shirou was already an experienced hunter so his lessons weren't very helpful for him but for Lucina she admired her dad as he hunted a bear and scraped it to the bone. They returned with fur and enough meat to feed them for the remaining days and some fur to sell once Chrom and Lucina returned.
It turns out it wasn't just Chrom and Lucina that would be returning but they had also dragged him along when he told them of his situation. He didn't tell them what actually happened but he spun a tale, simplifying what he said, he basically told them he had no home to return to at the moment and the person he was with earlier had most likely already returned.
Chrom being the kind man he was had brought Shirou back to Ylisse with them and fumed in anger at the thought of someone leaving a child alone in the middle of a forest. He even spoke of how he would give him a good "scolding" when he met the man. It was highly unlikely such an event would happen.
Once they had entered the kingdom Shirou couldn't help at marvel at it as he never truly been to a kingdom and had only heard story's about them, like Camelot, where King Arthur has resided in.
He soon found himself inside of a castle, more importantly Chrom's castle. He was shocked at first that he was in front of royalty but Chrom had waved him off saying that he should treat him as he did before he knew he was the Exalt.
He eventually met Chrom's tactician, Robin. He was an interesting man to say the least, he had short white hair and brown eyes, what made him stand out from the rest though was his cloak, unlike the others Shirou had seen on the way in Robin wore a black and purple with cloak that covered most of his body with six purple outlines of an eye, three on each sleeve.
He was a very tactical man who was rather serious at times but he knew when to lighten up when the time called for it. Other than that he would carry a book around with him occasionally and after asking why he told him it was a tome. In other words a magic book that contained spells.
Besides his meeting with Robin he had also met Chrom's wife Sumia, she was a gentle and also rather shy woman when her husband was nearby. She also proved be clumsy as she would occasionally slip on seemingly nothing and even bump into people and objects at times. She had light brown hair that reached her back and two braids of hair that would frame her face. He also noticed that she had a pair of wings that was tied to her hair which stood out and matched with her outfit she wore into training.
He somehow landed a place in the castle and things went on from there, he would train with Lucina here and there, he met her friends like Owain who had short spiky blond hair and was described as a "colorful" individual and she was in fact, not wrong, and Severa who had her red hair tied into twin tails who reminded him of Rin more than he thought. He eventually got past that demeanor though.
His interactions with them were nice to say the least. When Owain had learned of how he trained with Lucina he was more than eager to hop on and Severa had also been dragged into the train by Lucina eventually. He was of course more skilled and stronger than them so he more often than not won, seeing this Severa had begun to grown less motivated since he would always win and saw nothing to gain.
What she didn't expect was for herself to strive more and more has Shirou would often allow them to become mere inches away from defeating him. It of course brought back her motivation and the others at the prospect of beating him.
The adults had watched from the side as they looked on amused as the scene in front of them played out but some found themselves impressed at how he would train and spar with the younger generation.
Nothing of note really happened as time had quickly passed and Shirou had officially become part of group. Though Chrom and the other adults would occasionally go out together leaving some of others like Sumia behind to watch over the children. He didn't know where they went but he stayed out of their business.
There were also new children that were burned, namely Lucina's sister was one of them. She was named Cynthia and possessed both her mothers hair and eyes, she even possessed similar traits as her mother as she somehow inherited her clumsiness and stumbling on nothing or "her feet" as she put it, though she did so in stride and always remained the same energetic and exuberant girl she was. Some people would also describe her as a "girly" child as she enjoyed picking flowers and animals like her mother but she also hated violence and would often tell her parents it was a bad thing.
She also had developed a special bond with Shirou since they had first met. That bond being sharing everything from her thoughts and flowers to Shirou first before everyone else. Her parents also had a bit of a hard time taken care of her as she seemed to be overly trusting to a fault and it was a thing she would carry with her as she grew older.
"Shirou! Shirou, Hello!" The man in question closed a book he was reading, a tome that was gifted to him by none other than Robin. He still didn't know how it worked nor knew if it was possibly to use it since he wasn't of this world, he didn't try it since he was just curious on how it even worked in the first place.
"What is it Lucina?" He opened the door and saw the same girl who he grew up with, though she was in her early teens now and her hair had grown longer, she still had the same tiara from day one. He felt himself sigh, time surely could pass by in a matter of seconds. Well, it wasn't like he was doing much in the first place, since the Shepherds were practically helping everyone out for him, he wouldn't admit it, but he felt useless for once in this life.
"It's father! He's coming back!" Lucina spoke excitedly as she jumped on Shirou spinning them around as she laughed in joy.
Once they stopped spinning he waited for her to stop and get off of him and she did with a small blush on her face, "Chrom? He's returning so soon?"
"Yes he is, don't you pay attention anymore?" She asked sarcastically as she put her hands on her hips and leaned forward towards him.
"I get it, I get it no need to get in my face Lucina." He chuckled as he pushed her back.
"Well, we've been waiting for you for a while. We don't have all day, especially if my father is coming back." Before Shirou knew it he was already being dragged off towards the training grounds, their meeting spot when they wanted to get together.
They eventually came to see the faces of three people, Owain, Severa, and Lucina's younger sister Cynthia. The group was larger than this but everyone was off Doing their own thing as usual, the people here as of this moment didn't have much on their schedule so they were going to spend time together.
Owain was the first to see them, "Lucina, Shirou! I see the light was able to guide you to us safely!" Owain spoke in his usual manner as he greeted them.
"Big sister, your here!" Cynthia was less... Owain as she hugged her sister and rubbed her head on her belly.
"You've kept us waiting." She spoke rather harshly, but Shirou knew what she meant as Rin was similar to Severa in quite a few ways.
"Yea your right," Shirou initially agreed with her causing her to smirk, "I've must've kept you waiting for so long, must of been lonely without me." Severa found herself blush from embarrassment from his remark as she scowled at him and looked away causing him to chuckle at her dismay. "I didn't keep you waiting too long did?"
"Fear not, for we have busied ourselves while you where late!" He posed as he put his hand to cover his face, his eye peering at him underneath his hand.
"Oh shut it will you!" Severa had harshly spat at him, everyone remained unfazed though at her usual harsh demeanor.
"Impossible! To order me to do such a thing!" He striked another pose as he refused to "shut it" as Cynthia giggled at Owain's usual display.
Severa could only humph at him and decided to ignore him instead.
Lucina coughed to get their attention, "Since the Shepherds are returning, I thought we put up a surprise for them! To welcome them back home." Shirou could only nod at her, she had brought this up with everyone earlier but some were too busy to come and others thought that the Shepherds could use some rest from their journey as a way to recuperate.
"Of course! They only deserve the best! But, how are we going to surprise them?" Owain brought up a good point, they didn't have much to really surprise them with.
"I could bake them a cake?" Shirou added in as all eyes turned towards him, they all looked at each other and nodded as they all had the same idea. Shirou's cooking was nothing to scoff at and after a good journey they could use some good food. Thats what they thought at least, they were still young he supposed.
"We could give them some flowers!" Cynthia happily chimed in her idea, the other three seemed to nod and accept the idea as something to prepare.
"Yes, yes! It may not be much but it is the thought that we put into it that truly matters!" Owain exclaimed in his usual "colorful" nature and they all found themselves agreeing with him. "Let us go my friends! Before it is too late!" He dragged both Cynthia and Severa off to where it thought the flowers were.
"H-Hey! What's the big idea!" Severa had shouted at him as she was pulled away.
Cynthia on the hand didn't seem to mind, "The flowers are that way!" Shirou and Lucina saw Cynthia point towards where the flowers were located.
"Of course, how could I forget!" Owain immediately changed directions and with the same smile ran off with the two in tow.
"... I guess it's just us then." Shirou awkwardly spoke watching them disappear behind a wall.
Lucina nodded, "You are correct, but let's hurry up and cook the best food for them!" She too proceeded to drag Shirou off, but towards the kitchen instead.
Thus the remaining time spent was with Shirou and Lucina cooking up the best food they possibly could and with Owain, Severa, and Cynthia picking the best of flowers, though Severa looked less motivated than the other two as she lazily plucked a flower as her head was leaned against her hand.
They all had similar thoughts though, the thought to give them a good welcome back from a most likely tiring trip.
Eventually the time had come, Shirou and Lucina finished cooking up the food and Shirou decided to bake a cake with the words 'Welcome Back' imprinted on it with frosting. Severa, Owain, and Cynthia has all come back with baskets full of flowers, each for a different person. No one really knew what type of flower Chrom enjoyed the most but they knew he treated all flowers the same.
They watched as they entered into the castle, all of them carrying a somber expression and it was Lucina who had brought the cake to them with a smile. "Welcome back!" She shouted happily and hoped to lift their moods up. It didn't work as most had already left still carrying the somber expression and looked heartbroken. In the end it was Lucina and Cynthia's mom who remained, she looked on as her eyes threatened to spill.
The group of growing children were disheartened, nothing was working and they looked disappointed, Cynthia more so than everyone else.
"M-Mom, is something wrong?" Cynthia asked her mother as she stepped closer to her.
Sumia couldn't contain herself any longer as she pulled her two children into a fierce hug, "I-I'm sorry, I-I'm so sorry..." she continued to cry as everyone looked on in worry and curiosity, "Y-Your father... and Robin... Th-Their gone..."
It was then that the weight of her words made since. Everyone had come back sad, some looked ready to cry and others to cry again, there was only a air of sadness and grief that surrounded them.
Her children already began to cry as Lucina dropped the cake on the ground, she immediately denied what her mother was saying, "N-No...! Th-That's not possible! Stop lying to me!" Owain and Severa had a look of shock as they too felt tears well up in their eyes. Shirou though possessed a solemn look as he looked down, he knew the pain of losing someone important to you, he had also cried when Kiritsugu had died in his adolescence.
Lucina pushed herself off of her mother, "This isn't true!" Her face was stained in tears as she then ran off as her mother reached out for her. She didn't go after her though thinking it was best she'd have some alone time.
Owain and Severa had left and went to find their parents while Shirou watched as she ran away and he followed after her as the mother and daughter pair continued to hug.
ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ
Lucina had ran towards her room and when she had entered she slammed the door shut and cried into her pillow. Why was life so cruel? This was an occasionl thought she had while she continued to cry.
She heard knocking on the door, "Go away!" Her yell was soft, she didn't find it within herself to speak any louder. She thought the person at her door had left but she heard the knocking once more, "Leave me alone!" She had looked up at the door as it opened and she saw her childhood friend step into her room and closed the door behind him. "Shirou..." He said nothing as he kneeled near the edge of the bed and she looked into his eyes seeing determination and he looked into hers seeing sadness, she felt something press on her shoulder and it was his hand.
He gave it a reassuring squeeze, "... I'm here for you."
She felt another wave of tears as she leapt onto Shirou and hugged him, "Th-Their gone... My father and Robin, I'll never be able to see them again...!" She continued to cry into his shoulder as he hugged her back.
He felt useless, perhaps he could have prevented their deaths or perhaps if he joined them a different outcome could have happened. But those were only possibility's that could have happened.
So he stayed there by Lucina's side until she had fallen asleep, her tear stained face was hard to look at for him. Maybe now he would take things more seriously instead of enjoying a childhood he never got to experience.
With his decision made he would head out tomorrow at the break of dawn. If he couldn't make a difference from inside the castle then he would make a difference in person, he was used to getting his hands dirty after all.
ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ
News had travel quickly inside of the castle, it always had. Everyone learned of Shirou's disappearance though he did leave a letter for them, though it may be short it carried his emotions, "Thank you for taking care of me all this time." It didn't say anything else besides that, not where he was going, not what he was going to do, why he suddenly left. Those questions would be left unanswered, the children were torn at his leaving.
Though he may not know it, he did build a strong bond with them. So him leaving would cause them to be saddened even further after his departure.
The adults though knew it would eventually happen, he would stare off into the distance for an extended amount of time. Some of them wished he had stayed with them and some of them thought it was for the best. Either way they would never forget him and the moments spent with him. He may not know it, but he was family to them.
The most devastated of them all was Lucina, she felt betrayed by him, lied to. Didn't he say he would be there for her? If so then why was he leaving her? Did he not care about them? She shook her head in denial, no that was not the case. He would often talk with everyone, talk about what they would do and be in the future, when they had asked him he told them he wanted to be an ally of justice, to help everyone in need, to save those that couldn't save themselves.
It was safe to say that some of them admired him in that very moment.
He did hold true to his words since the very first day he had arrived in Ylisstol since he began helping everyone no matter how minor or how big.
She thought that maybe him being stuck inside of Ylisstol would prevent him from doing what he wanted to do. She would believe that he left to help those outside of Ylisstol. That had to be the reason. She wouldn't expect anything else.
But what about her now? Shirou was already pushing towards his ideal and here she was crying. She would take up her fathers sword, she would train even harder than before, she would avenge her father and Robin. She had too.
Days, months, even years had passed since Chrom and Robin's death and Shirou's leaving. Everyone worked harder than before, but without the Shepherds tactician and leader things could only go so far. While Shirou was gone though, he eventually began to become well known, especially in the poorer villages. So they gave him a title to call him by since he would soon leave without taking any rewards or gifts and doing anything possible to help them. He didn't even bother to tell his name.
Hunter of the Red Plains.
Of course he didn't like the title since it reminded him of a certain red garbed archer. It made since to the people to call him that though since his outfit was similar to archers.
With Lucina and everyone else word of the 'Hunter of the Red Plains' reaches their ears, said to be a person with red hair and golden like eyes, people called him selfless man willing to help anyone in need. They were reminded of Shirou, their weren't many people that had red hair and golden like eyes in the first place, not that they knew of.
But hearing such a title for their long time friend seemed to bolster their moral as they began training even harder hoping to catch up to their hard friend and even reunite with him again. Lucina though was the one that improved the most, especially since Chrom would teach her the way of sword every single chance he had and with Shirou improving her form and teaching her as children. Sumia couldn't help but feel proud when she looked at her daughter Lucina, she was beginning to grow into the type of person Chrom had thought she would become.
But it seemed all good things must come to an end, tragedy had struck. Sumia, the ever caring and loving wife had fallen in battle, leaving her children without any parents. Everyone had mourned her death, but they still kept pushing forward. It seemed things weren't meant to be though since tragedy struck time and time again, more and more shepherds began to fall in battle and a new enemy had emerged.
They were undead, they wouldn't flinch when they were stuck, they would keep fighting even if they lost their limbs, had no need of food, water, or energy. In other words they were like the perfect warriors. They gained the name of 'Risen' seeing as they were the undead. Soon they were beginning to also be seen across the continents and not just in Ylisse.
Soon the world was being overrun and Grima the fell dragon had appeared. She heard story's from her father, in her younger days her father told her these were the 'big bad dragons' that would 'kidnap children,' but that's what they were, story's. Though her father may have downplayed the 'dragons' now Grima they were still in the end similar, but instead of kidnapping children Grima instead destroyed everything in his path.
They of course were happy Shirou had eventually began sending messages to them, the latest one was what worried them though. It nothing much at first, he would tell them where he was at, what he was doing, ask how things had been, but it also spoke of the fell dragon dangerously close to where he was currently at. They couldn't do anything and if they tried to help him it would be highly unlikely they would even get to him before the fell dragon could. What next made then even more fearful for their friend, he would try to stop his reign of terror and put an end to him before he could bring the world to ruin.
Lucina doubted that was possibly, he would need the falchion and even then he would need to perform the awakening ritual to even stop Grima, but even then it would not permanently kill the fell dragon and would only seal him for 1000 years. Of course even if he somehow did all of that he still wouldn't be able to wield the falchion, in other words it would be nothing more than an ordinary blade in his hands.
They couldn't stop him in the end since delivering a letter would take to long and setting out to stop him would take to long. They expected the worst of the worst to happen to Shirou but apparently tales of the battle had spread and they soon heard of it. They were skeptical but most of them believed it anyway, at least some of it anyway.
From what they knew of the tale it spoke of the Hunter of the Red Plains, Shirou, and the Fell Dragon, Grima having a battle that was said to be so great it changed the very land itself. No one was actually there but from what the people knew they saw the battle take place from a distance, it wasn't that hard to mess Grima's massive body after all.
But that was the only thing that was similar in all the story's, there were many and many different versions of it each with it's own twist and turns. Though the one thing that stayed remotely the same was the battle as it was said that Shirou drove off Grima. They still remained on guard and kept fighting though, always prepared for the worst to come.
Eventually the last of the remaining Shepherds had fallen and Grima was still alive and recovered much faster than everyone had thought. Some of the group had changed by then like Cynthia's admiration in heroes, especially the Shepherds and Shirou as she too took on his ideal to be an ally of justice. Or even Owain's fondness for his new sword that he called the Mystletainn, though everyone knew it wasn't actually the Mystletainn since they had seen the sword quite a few times since it was of common make.
Still, even if everything was still going downhill they remained optimistic and steadfast as they continued to fight Grima's forces as the enemy, slowly yet steadily began to encroach upon Ylisstol.
Lucina would not admit it though, with the last of the Shepherds dead her will to fight was dropping exponentially, but she held on as she was fighting for a reason. She was fighting for her friends, she was fighting for a better future, but she held onto one secret she didn't tell anyone else. She was also fighting to lighten someone's burden, she even hoped that one day she would be able to stand by his side and fight together with him.
But he kept growing and growing, soon he would be out of her reach. She heard many story's about him and more were still being added. As happy as she may be for him she feared that one day, she would not be able to fight by his side like her many friends and ally's. That only motivated her and everyone else though, if he could do it so could they.
They didn't want to fall behind him now would they?
—————————————————————————
Next Update - The Bloodstained Maid and Broken Butler, System Anomaly
If you want to know about my new story's I may publish check on my other story "The Selfless Commander" second chapter, there is a list of story's that I will possibly make and upload in the future. Yes I just self advertised myself.
No I will not copy and paste it on other story's, so "The Selfless Commander" will be the only story that will have "leaks" to my yet to be published story's.
That and I'm sorry I did a couple time skips on you guys, it helped me speed up the story but I mainly did it to force myself out of a writers block, generally I'm not too big on time skips but I'm sadly getting use to writing them. What can I say? I really hate these writers block.
Besides that were you pleased with this new chapter or were you left unsatisfied? I was. Leave a review if you will saying anything you want, feel free to criticize my work and probably flame me, I'll still read it anyway and try to look at it from your perspective. Though I can't deny it I'll still feel sad if I couldn't reach your expectations.
Update 1 - Just learned it's possible for Chrom to marry Lucina, I may be one to say love has no bounds but imagine marrying your dad from the past and giving birth to yourself, pretty weird. And awkward. Very awkward. Especially when your younger self finds out. Hope that doesn't happen.
Update 2 - Ok, maybe adding a 'Next Update' part to my ANs wasn't the best idea. Yes, it did work on forcing myself back into writing and enjoying it, but it also annoyed me. For example this story right here, I didn't expect myself to run head first into a writers block and I don't want to disappoint you by changing what story I will update next. So right now it's really just a double edged sword, it's a good and also bad idea for me.
Update 3 - Bloody hell, almost gotta go to classes again, I'll miss you summer even if it was hot! Well, it's also good, why? Because for some reason I will actually focus on my writing more and start updating story's more. Not that I'll also focus on my grades, you know, not fail college, high school, middle school, whatever you think!
Update 4 - Sorry for the short chapter ( -.-)