Mercer, Soleil, and Ophelia didn't leave to find Caeldori immediately. Mercer stayed at his house for about a week and a half to heal from his injuries. Ophelia explained that Caeldori was left at a nearby town to make sure Tiki had somewhere safe to go when she moved around. Tiki travelled back and forth in the time that Mercer spent recovering and brought Mercer supplies before leaving to find Caeldori again. The group would follow when Mercer had recovered.

Mercer went into his room, took off his work shirt, and carefully inspected himself in the mirror. Mercer's body was very toned and muscular. He kept himself in good shape for the manual labor he did to make a living. In fact, he might have been stronger than he was as a younger man, though he definitely had less speed, agility, and energy. Age was taking its toll on Mercer, however. His skin was beginning to sag. Where he wasn't muscular, he was sunken and degenerating.

The medicine that Tiki had brought back helped Mercer heal from most of his flesh wounds, but some of them had scarred. The electrical burns on Mercer's arms hadn't completely healed yet, and were a sickly yellow color from the subdermal damage. Mercer carefully ran his fingers through his hair. He had to keep it combed in very specific ways to cover up the patches that Courtney had torn out in their last bitter grapple. Mercer sighed as he realized just how little of his hair was still blue, and it was then that he noticed Soleil's reflection smiling at him in the mirror. He turned to see her staring.

"Woah, Mercer! Nice abs! You look pretty good for a guy in his seventies!"

"I'm in my fifties."

Soleil's expression became more worried. "Oh. I mean, your body is still hanging in there, but otherwise you don't look great for a guy in his fifties."

"Well thanks, Soleil. I feel great about myself now. Why are you standing there anyways? Didn't your mother ever teach you to knock?"

"Well I grew up in a small hut with no door so… no. I just wanted to know when we'd leave. I'm getting bored sitting around the house all day!"

"Why don't you find something to do in the town?"

"I tried but it's too depressing. Everyone's worried about the Grimleal coming to drag everyone away to The Rockpile, never to be seen again. No fine maidens have the time for me. Thanks for stepping on my game, Mercer."

"We'll go later today okay? We'll head into town to pick up some supplies for the trip, and then we'll head out to find Caeldori. Where was she again?"

"Southtown. It's about fifty kilometers from here."

Mercer paused. "I first met Robin in a field near Southtown."

Soleil looked at Mercer sadly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset."

"It's fine. Just let me get dressed."

"Alright."

Mercer shot Soleil an annoyed glance. "Let me get dressed alone."

"Alright, alright."

Mercer put on the rest of his clothing. His poncho was too badly burned to be used anymore, and his homemade shoulder plate was destroyed in the fight with Courtney. The metal plates had been fused together, and Mercer was lucky it hadn't welded to his arm. The burn mark it left on his shoulder was one of his scars from the battle. Otherwise Mercer's outfit was the same as before. Mercer then opened the door to find Ophelia frantically running at him. "Mercer! You're going to want to see this!"

"What is it?"

"There's a man outside your house! He wants to see you! I tried to ask him why he's here, but he only wants to see you!"

"What's strange about it?"

"Y-you're just going to need to see this!"

The man standing outside of Mercer's house was like something out of one of his nightmares. The man was wearing an exact replica of Lucina's outfit. He was much taller than she had been and was thin and lanky. His clothing also seemed to be made for a woman, so he barely fit in his outfit. Sheathed at the man's side was an estoc customized to look like the Falchion, though there were a number of errors. The man wasn't just dressing up like Lucina, he was dressing up like Lucina in her "Marth" disguise. His blue hair was tied short like Lucina's was, though it was clear that it wasn't his real hair. The man had dark eyebrows and dark whispers of a goatee that he hadn't completely shaven off. The man also wore an exact copy of Lucina's butterfly mask. "Are you Mercer?" The man asked. He seemed to be trying to sound like a woman, but at the same time he was trying to sound gruff and intimidating. The result was like something that would come out of a teenager enduring voice cracks.

"Yes?"

"I am the PRINCESS of TIME! I am a crusader for Naga! I am a descendant of the Hero King himself! I am the warrior from a doomed future! I am Lucina the elder!"

Mercer's head was flooded with so many emotions that he could do little else but stare at the strange man dressed in the attire of his long since slain daughter. "It is too early in the day for this crap."

"I brought Mercer! What do you want?! Why are you here?" Ophelia asked the man.

"I must speak with Mercer! I wish to be known to him! Notice me, Mercer!"

Mercer walked off his porch and approached the strange man. Ophelia reached out her hand and tried to silently urge him to be careful, but Mercer ignored her. Mercer walked up to the man. "What… the hell… is this?"

"I must speak with you. I know that you killed Courtney. Your actions have attracted the attention of people who could use your help."

"Why are you dressed like that?" Mercer asked in a flat tone.

"I'll explain later. There are people who need to see you."

"WHY ARE YOU DRESSED LIKE THAT?!" Mercer grabbed "Lucina" by the collar and pulled the man to him. Mercer's face was almost deformed with a fury he hadn't felt since he fought Courtney. Mercer couldn't see "Lucina's" expression through the mask, but his quivering lip gave away his fear.

"B-because I am Lucina? The daughter of Chrom? I've been sent to this timeline to defeat Grima?" The man responded in a squeaky voice. Mercer shoved "Lucina" backwards and then deprived the man of his butterfly mask and his blue wig in one quick swipe of his hand. The man's real hair was black and greasy, and his face was sunken and acne ridden. He couldn't have been more than twenty years old. The man quickly steadied himself and prepared to fight back, but then he suddenly froze. Very slowly, as if he were afraid of what he might find, he put his hands to his face. A terrified look gripped his face when he touched the bare skin around his eyes. "My… my face."

"What?" Mercer asked.

"Give me back my faaaace!" The man charged at Mercer. Mercer simply put his hand on the young man's head and held him back as he swung his arms around. "GIVE ME BACK MY FAAAAAAACE!"

"Shut up!" Mercer shoved the man to the ground. He looked up at Mercer with a mixture of hatred and fear.

"I'm nothing without that mask! That mask makes me Lucina! I need that mask!"

"You're nothing like Lucina!"

"How do you know?!"

"Three things. One, Lucina didn't call herself 'Lucina' while she was disguised. That would have defeated the point of the disguise. Two, Lucina wore this mask to cover up the Mark of Naga on her eye. She didn't wear it because she had an obsession with it. She didn't consider it to be her 'face'. Three, you're a man!"

"So? Lucina was a woman that pretended to be a man. Why can't I be a man that pretends to be a woman that pretended to be a man?!"

"What?!"

"Who are you to tell me what she was like anyways? You didn't know her!"

"You're kidding me?! You heard about my attack on Courtney and his men, but you didn't hear about who I am?"

"What are you talking about?!" Had Mercer been more level headed, he might have seen that he had nothing to gain from showing this strange man who he was. Mercer was irritated by the man's obsession with his daughter and his strange interpretation of her, however, and in that moment he would have done anything just to prove the man wrong. Mercer tore off his bandages on his right shoulder, revealing his own Mark of Naga. The man's eyes widened. Mercer knew that the man's obsession with Lucina would surely mean he would have enough knowledge of the other Shepherds to know the significance of the brand. "You're… you're him! You're Lucina's father! You still live!"

"I'm going to ask you one time why you're acting like my dead daughter." Mercer snarled. "You'd better think of your answer carefully."

The man rose to his feet. "Because I must follow in her legacy. I will purge this world of the human trash that now infects it, just as she would do if she were still alive."

"What?"

"This world has been corrupted by the decadent human filth who lord over the rest of humanity. Lucina wouldn't stand for it! She would fight to slay those who are responsible for the evils of the world! This planet is a gutter and it must flow with the blood of the murderers, thieves, rapists, bandits, tyrants, conquerors, and warlords slain by the righteous. Only when their blood flows over the soil will it be healed. Only when the dead heart of this world is filled with the blood of the worst of our cruel and savage race will it beat again! Naga willed it, and Lucina was her holy champion! Her divine crusader! Her hero of light and shadow! A great warrior to burn a path of radiance into the DIRT and DUNG that this world has become! Conquest of evil was her birthright! She destroyed time itself to come to our timeline and purge evil from the world!" The man was out of breath, and he had to take a break to collect himself. "She was cut down before she could do this though, so I must follow in her legacy! I will wreak punishment and justice to the men and women who have broken our world in her name! I will cleanse this world of their heresy, sedition, and evil!"

The man was so unnerving that Mercer had to take several steps back to feel comfortable. "What?! You're making my daughter sound like some kind of crazed vigilante!"

"She was a vigilante! She didn't wait around for other people to solve problems. She took things into her own hands. That's why she didn't meet up with the other second generation Shepherds or join the Shepherds with you when she arrived in our timeline. That's why she became Basilio's champion. That's why she worked on her own to save Emmeryn. That's why she tried to kill Robin. She was taking things into her own hands! If that's not vigilantism than what is?!"

"She wasn't a murderer obsessed with vengeance!"

"Not vengeance. Punishment and justice. Vengeance is an emotional response. It's nothing more than an eye for an eye. Punishment is rectifying erroneous behavior through force. Justice is when good triumphs over evil and the unjust through force. Lucina fought for justice and punished the unjust. That is why she was a hero! She's what this world needs, but she's not around anymore. I'm her now!"

Mercer was rapidly running out of patience for this strange man. "What's your real name?"

"Lucina."

Mercer got so close to the man that their faces were almost touching. He looked at him as if he were trying to bore a hole in his skull with his eyes. "What is your real name?" Mercer asked very quietly. He didn't raise his voice, but it was clear that he was a hair away from exploding. The man's determination left him.

"L… l… Keith. It's Keith."

"Why are you even here, Keith?"

"I want to recruit you. After I heard about your rampage against the Grimleal, I suspected that you could help me. Now that I know who you are, I know you can help me! Join me and my war against the Grimleal! We were destined to be together!"

Mercer began to walk towards Keith, and he didn't stop even as Keith began to nervously back away. "Listen Keith, I'm going to say this once. Don't breathe another word about my dead daughter, and get off my land."

"I carry the legacy of your daughter in my heart. You cannot take that from me! I have become her!"

Mercer responded by striking Keith in the head. A cracking noise could be heard, and Keith's body crumpled to the ground. He didn't move anymore. Mercer turned and stormed back to his house. Ophelia looked at him fearfully as he walked by. "W-why did you attack him?! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"His whole life is wrong."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't care." Mercer kicked the door to his house open. "Come on! Let's finish getting ready and head to town for some supplies. I don't think my house is very private any more, and I don't want to see who else shows up."

Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil went into the town market to pick up supplies for the trip. Mercer had wanted to buy the supplies quickly and leave as soon as possible, so he wasn't pleased to find that Ophelia and Soleil had helped themselves to lunch from street vendors. "I thought we were trying to leave as soon as possible?!" He asked. He intended for his voice to be threatening, but Soleil and Ophelia had gotten used to him. To them it came across as nagging.

"Oh come on!" Soleil said with a mouthful of food. "We don't have to leave on an empty stomach!" She tapped on an empty seat next to her at the table she and Ophelia were sitting at. "We got you something. Come on, sit with us."

Mercer sat down. "We really… I just want to… oh that does smell good." Mercer took a bite from some kind of meat in his food. It was very spicy, and tasted like a cross between chicken and fish. "Oh! What is that?"

"It's alligator."

"You're kidding?! It's good!"

"You don't spend much on yourself do you, Mercer? You don't buy yourself things you want very often do you?"

"I always save up for rent. You don't want to miss a rent payment."

"Well sit with us for now. Enjoy the food. We can share stories."

"I don't want to share any stories."

"Well then listen to some of ours."

"You two have some good stories?"

"Sure!" Ophelia responded. "We have some great stories!"

"We have stories about all kinds of things." Soleil's eyes lit up as she realized the opportunity to tell a story that probably wouldn't come up otherwise. "One time we switched bodies."

Mercer paused, looking at Soleil to see if she was serious. "You switched bodies?! H-how is that possible?"

Ophelia smiled proudly. "No arcane knowledge is beyond the chosen heroine!" Ophelia's smile abated as she remembered the story. "But… it didn't go as I planned."

"What happened?"

Soleil put a bigger, sillier grin on her face than usual and held her chin up high. Ophelia buried her face in her hands. "Can I tell it?! Can I?!" Soleil asked enthusiastically.

Ophelia groaned. "Just tell it quickly."

Soleil turned to Mercer, barely able to contain her excitement. "Ophelia and I weren't always as close as we are now. When we first set out on our journeys together, I tried to spend a lot of one on one time with her. For some reason though, she didn't want to spend any quality time with me."

"You were harassing me! You were always stalking me! I never got any privacy!"

"If you didn't want me to stalk you then you shouldn't have hidden from me!" Soleil said with a disturbing innocence. "Anyways, we were walking through Southtown at the time. I wanted to take her to this lovely cafe where they had real tea. Real tea! Do you know how rare that stuff is anymore? Ophelia didn't want to go. She responded to my kindness by casting a body switching spell on me!"

"Huh?!"

"Just like that I was in Ophelia's body, and she was in mine!"

"H-how?!" Mercer turned to Ophelia and she smiled sheepishly.

"It was nothing really. I knew it wouldn't hurt her."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous! What if something had gone wrong?! What if you couldn't reverse the spell?!"

"But the stars said it would work perfectly." Ophelia responded. She knew how weak her reason was, and her voice rose in pitch as she spoke until she was barely audible. Ophelia's embarrassment only made Soleil more excited.

"Aw come on, Mercer. Don't yell at her. Not before I get to the good part!"

From Soleil's eagerness, Mercer knew something obscene was coming up. "And what is this good part?" He asked nervously.

"Well her spell worked perfectly! I was her, and she was me! I was ecstatic!"

"Why?"

"Because I didn't have to chase her anymore if I was her! The first thing I did was to go buy a small mirror. Then I went back to my nice, quiet, private tent."

"Why would you… Soleil! That's horrible! That's harassment!"

"No it wasn't! I was doing it to myself!"

"Gods!"

Mercer and Ophelia's shared embarrassment only made Soleil happier. "You wouldn't have done the same thing?"

"N-no! I was taught more respect than that!"

"No one respects women more than I do! Respect is just a synonym for love right?"

"I can't… I don't even want to think about it!"

"Well no one asked you to think about it. You're doing that all by yourself." Soleil teased. Mercer looked at Ophelia.

"Why would you do that anyways? What did you have to gain?"

"I just wanted her to knock it off! I thought it would teach her a lesson and that she'd beg me to reverse the spell!" Ophelia shook her head as Soleil laughed. "I ended up having to chase her around to get her into range so that I could reverse the spell and get my body back."

"Too bad I'm in such good shape." Soleil interjected. "If I could've gotten away from my own body, I'd have had a lot more fun."

"I see now that casting that spell on you was wrong, but you didn't have to be such a dunderhead about it! You made me really upset, Soleil!"

"What I do with my own body is none of your business!" Soleil joked.

For a few seconds Mercer just glanced between the two in disbelief. Then he started to chuckle. His laughter was almost uncontrollable, and he had to steel himself just to keep it from becoming a giggle. Soleil and Ophelia weren't sure what to make of it. Parts of them were happy to see Mercer show some more humanity, but other parts of them were disturbed by the sudden outburst from a man that had previously been completely serious. "What's uh… what's got you so excited, Mercer?" Soleil asked him.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry. That story was just so ridiculous!"

"Well we have our share of fun stories. Trying to save the world from Grima is pretty stressful. We have to have fun where we can."

A tear fell down Mercer's cheek as countless memories came back to him. "Yeah. I understand that." Mercer looked over at the empty seat beside Ophelia. "Do you have any stories about Caeldori? I still don't know much about her."

Soleil rolled her eyes. "Nothing like that story. Caeldori's a real stick in the mud. She's always little miss perfect. She excels at everything she does. Everyone calls her a genius. You can't imagine what that's like."

Mercer thought about the woman Caeldori derived her name from. "Oh I think I can imagine."

Soleil suddenly snorted. "There is, there is this one story though! Turns out she loosens up a bit if she has too much to drink. We were coming back from the bar when we looked up and saw Tiki flying overhead in her dragon form. Caeldori looks up and says 'Why do I have to ride a Pegasus? Why can't I ride a dragon into battle!' When Tiki landed near us, Caeldori runs up to her and tries to climb onto her back." Ophelia smiled as she began to remember the story. Soleil had to keep herself from laughing. "She must have caught Tiki in a bad mood because Tiki bucks her off! She goes flying and slams into a building. It looked bad. We ran up to her, and Tiki reverted to her human form and ran up to her. We all shout 'Caeldori, are you okay?' She shoots up and shouts 'That was awesome!' Then she, she chased Tiki around for the next several minutes shouting 'Do it again! Do it again!'" Ophelia started laughing, and Soleil pounded her fist on the table. "You, you just had to be there!"

Mercer couldn't help but smile himself. The casual tone of the moment was ruined by an ominous sight. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a man looking right at the three. Mercer occasionally looked away for a few seconds before glancing back to the man to see if he was actually staring at them. The man was definitely looking right at Mercer. Soleil tapped on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"There's a man staring right at us." A man in a black duster and a wide brimmed hat was slowly making his way towards the three. He stopped at the closest table to Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil and took off his hat. The Mark of Grima was tattooed right on the man's forehead. He set his hat down on the table and quickly reached for something slung on his back. Mercer tensed up. The man froze when Mercer tensed up and gave him a cheeky grin. He reached for the object on his back more slowly this time, never once looking away from Mercer. Moving as sluggishly as he possibly could, the man slowly took out what was on his back until Mercer could see that it was just a case for a string instrument. The man watched Mercer as he sighed in relief and rolled his eyes, and only then did the man look away and move at a normal pace. Mercer looked back down at his food. "Never mind. It's just some kind of street performer."

Soleil turned to look at him. "Does the town have a lot of street performers?"

"No."

Mercer glanced back to the man. He took out a string instrument called a gittern and began to tune it. Several townspeople in the market turned to stare at the man as he plucked a few strings, but he acted like he was alone. Mercer rolled his eyes again and went back to his food, but then the man started to play a few chords from his gittern. He looked up to the townspeople. "Now this here is a song I wrote about the princess of time." He turned to look at Mercer. "I hope everyone here likes it." The man began to sing, his pace quick and upbeat.

"There once was a woman to warriors born

She was thin and toned with navy blue hair

She was descended from heroes and kings

The proof was right there in her stare,

She was growin' up when everything was dyin'

But she didn't think it was too late to save the world

All she had to do was turn back time

Until long before she was even a girl,

As she unraveled the threads of time

The world itself began to fall away

But she just didn't seem to give a damn oh!

Not when there was a dragon to slay,

Now there are two princesses

Both very much apart in years

The first has gone somewhere else now

The last is still… right here"

The man turned to look at Mercer again, who was now shaking with frustration. He gave him a slippery grin and then looked back to the confused crowd. "And here's another one. This one's about her father." The man began to sing again, but this time he started out very slow. At first his singing was almost like normal speech, but the song gradually got more lively. His voice started as low and deep, but it became higher pitched with each verse. He played the gittern faster and faster as the song went on until his fingers were almost a blur.

"Let's ensure the salvation of Ylisse,

Let's ensure the maintenance of its laws,

Should despotism claim the other lands,

It will surely never breach our walls, oh!

When that prince… comes around"

The man turned to look right at Mercer. His eyes never darted to look at Ophelia or Soleil. He only looked at Mercer.

"Let every mortal pay homage

To the man that brings down would be kings

Conquerors, cults, bandits, they don't mean a thing!

Tyrants, tremble! You will atone for your crimes!

When that prince… comes around"

Mercer felt the instinct to reach for his Falchion, but there wasn't any real reason to attack the man. The man looked Mercer dead in the eyes as he sang, his gaze never breaking, and completely ignored everyone else in the market. Soleil put her hand on Mercer's shoulder to calm him.

"Those who are righteous will be righteous still

But they who are unjust will have broken wills

Those who think they can rape, steal, and kill

Will find themselves running for the nearest hill oh!

When that prince… comes around,

They say the Shepherds will come to purge the land

Of all those that serve the Fell Dragon's hand

But they might as well be pounding sand!

They just don't seem to understand

They can't do a gods-damned thing! Oh not before that prince… comes around!"

The man got up from his seat and walked over to Mercer. He didn't stop until he was leaning against Ophelia's chair, getting uncomfortably close to her. Soleil reached for her own sword, but the man afforded her none of his attention.

"Now the Fell Dragon come to change the world

People are screaming, yelling, and cryin'

Some folks are born and some are dyin'

But don't be lookin' for the hero of my writin'

Because this time, oh!"

The man finally stopped singing. He spoke in a normal voice. "This time that prince… won't be comin' around." The man continued to ignore Ophelia and Soleil and looked right at Mercer. He seemed to revel in the awkwardness of the situation. Mercer knew that nothing he could say would make things any less weird, but he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Do we know you?"

"No. My name's Theresa." The man looked closely at Mercer and smiled when Mercer reacted with confusion to his feminine name, like he knew exactly how Mercer would react. In fact the man reacted to everything Mercer did with a sense of satisfaction, as if he knew everything Mercer would do.

"H-hello there, Theresa." Ophelia said nervously. Theresa didn't even look at her. His only response was to take a sip of her drink as if she wasn't even there.

"I know you. I know exactly who you are. Did you like my song?"

Mercer took a few seconds to collect himself. "It was… unique."

"I wrote it for you." Theresa got up and slowly put his gittern back in his case, placed his hat back on his head, and began to walk out of the market. Before he left, he turned to Mercer one last time. "I'm going to sing it at your funeral." Theresa giggled, his voice as high pitched as Soleil's for a horrible few seconds, and then left the market.

"What was that?!" Soleil asked as she glanced between Mercer and Ophelia, making sure they had seen the same thing she did.

"Let's just get out of this town already." Mercer responded. "I'm tired of the people it keeps throwing at me."