Though Nowi Falls was a large settlement, it was not the true capital of the Archanean Liberation Front. That status actually fell to a small settlement named Belfire. Located a few kilometers south of the much larger city of Themis, Belfire was a small town hidden from public knowledge. Only the leadership of the Archanean Liberation Front was ever allowed into the town, and most people didn't even know of its existence. The town consisted of mainly stone buildings, and towering over the rest of the town was a massive stone citadel. The building dwarfed anything else in the town, and it looked like it belonged in another city.

Inside of this building, a tall and lanky young man approached an Arch Surg soldier in a large and fairly empty room. The man wore a very accurate but ill fitting replica of the attire once worn by Lucina, known among the Arch Surg as the Hero of Time or the Crusader of Naga, and had an estoc customized to look like the Falchion by his side. He even had a blue wig and a replica of Lucina's butterfly mask on his face. The soldier knelt before the man as he approached. "Justicar."

"I need to speak to Archangel. Where is she?"

The soldier chuckled. "Where do you think she is, Justicar? She's where she always is." The soldier pointed to the building's roof, then moved his finger to point at a large hole in the wall. Keith nodded.

"Will she be back soon?"

"She's got a bird's eye view of things up there. No way she didn't see your carriage coming in."

Keith walked over to a raised platform a few meters from the hole in the wall. The hole was not the result of damage, but was actually built into the structure, and it was large enough for a Pegasus to fly through. Through the hole, Keith could see for kilometers over the area. In the distance, just visible against the starry night sky, there was a white object making its way through the air. Keith retreated back to where the soldier was and straightened his posture. Within less than a minute, the flying object had hurtled its way to the headquarters. From a distance, the object appeared as a vast, predatory bird. Up close though, it was far larger than any bird. At the sight of its massive, stark white, feathery wings, the object seemed to be a Pegasus.

The object circled over the structure a few times before finally diving over the roof and swooping down through the hole in the wall, landing with a crash right onto the platform; the entity's massive wings flapping forwards once to break its momentum, sending a powerful gust of wind towards Keith and the soldier. The object extended its wings back and maneuvered them onto hooks mounted in the ceiling. With the creature's massive pinions securely fastened to the roof, it was apparent exactly what the object was. The wings were those of a Pegasus, but they had been attached to a human. At the center of the wingspan was a humanoid figure wearing a rudimentary flight suit, leaving no skin exposed. The figure slowly walked forward and detached themselves from the wings, revealing that a harness kept them attached to the figure's back. A woman's tortured shriek briefly thundered from the figure's helmet as they stepped forward, leaving behind bloody spikes on the harness that had been buried deep into her abdomen. The woman quickly tore off the helmet and grabbed a waiting elixir on a nearby table. As the medicine was consumed, the gaping wounds on her back disappeared.

"GAAAaah! Gah! Woo! What a rush! What a rush." Keith and the soldier knelt before the woman. She was middle aged, with light brown hair so faded that it was almost gray. She notably kept her hair in two ponytails, each one about as long as her head. The woman was also missing her left forearm at the elbow. She was dressed in very thick clothing that served to keep her warm at high altitudes, and her helmet featured goggles made from very thin cuts of smoky quartz that protected her eyes from wind gusts. The woman's boots were very large, much larger than her actual feet, and served to reinforce her when she made hard landings on the platform. "Can't believe I used to go into the air with no goggles and a short skirt back when I was a Pegasus Knight. Cold up there! Woo!" The woman stretched for a few seconds before noticing the two men in front of her. "Now what are you boys doing? Get up here."

The two men rose to their feet and Keith stepped forwards and bowed his head. "Archangel."

"Well, if it isn't the Justicar." The woman stomped over to Keith and tore the blue wig and mask off his face. "What the hell did I tell you about wearing this in front of me?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Archangel. I honestly forget that I'm wearing them."

"Well you can be as obsessed with Lucina as you want on your own, but don't wear that crap in front of me." Archangel glanced down to the replica of Lucina's butterfly mask. "It brings up painful memories."

"Yes, Archangel."

The woman put on a very serious expression and looked Keith in the eyes, but she also extended her arms outwards. Keith awkwardly stepped forward and hugged her, and Archangel wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, I've missed you." Archangel kissed Keith on the cheek and stepped back, grabbing his shoulders and playfully shaking him. "Why didn't you check with me earlier? I went weeks without knowing where you were!"

"I'm sorry. Surely you've heard about the destruction of Veslil by Tunnellers? It took me weeks to escape and make my way back to our lines."

"Don't lie to your mother, baby. My scouts told me you showed up at The Midmire to help our forces there against the Grimleal. I appreciate your dedication, but checking up with your mother should have been the first thing you did!"

"I'm sorry, mom."

"That's better." Archangel turned to the soldier beside Keith and handed him a rag. "This is a private conversation, kid. Go clean the blood and spinal fluid off my harness, would you?" The soldier nodded and walked towards the flight harness. Archangel turned back to Keith and smiled. "Now did you come here just to let me know you're okay, or did you have news?"

Keith straightened his posture. "Yes, Archangel. I've just received word from Cervantes in Nowi Falls. Chrom has arrived."

Archangel took a deep breath and studied Keith. "Has he now? How convenient for you."

"I've done what you asked of me."

"Yeah… no. I told you to bring him to Nowi Falls, but you failed. It was by coincidence that he wandered there on his own."

Keith's first instinct was to argue, but he swallowed his pride. "Yes, Archangel."

"Don't fail me again, boy. Go there at once, and make sure he stays put this time. Now is he with anyone?"

Keith vigorously nodded. "Yes and he has more companions than before, so in a way it was fortuitous that he escaped me in Veslil."

"Don't push it, baby."

"Right. Ophelia and Soleil are still with him, but he also has three new companions. A Pegasus Knight named Caeldori."

"A Pegasus Knight? How?!"

"She's a young woman. She couldn't have been born before the Grimleal took over the world."

"Then how could she have been trained?!"

"She was trained by her maternal grandmother. Chrom also has two former members of the Shepherds with him, Gaius and Cordelia. Cordelia trained Caeldori."

Archangel froze. "Gaius and… aunt Cordelia. I can't… I can't believe it. She's alive. There were other survivors."

"It's very likely that Severa was able to survive the fall of the Shepherds, given that Cordelia is Caeldori's maternal grandmother."

"Yes, Keith. I'm well aware of where babies come from." Archangel thought for a few seconds, her eyes nervously darting around. "Get them, Keith."

"All of them?"

"Yes. All of them. Bring them here. I want to talk to all of them."

"At once, Archangel." Keith sheepishly held out his hand, and Archangel returned his wig and mask to him. Keith nodded and began to walk away.

"Keith!"

Keith sighed and turned around. "What?!" Keith was initially annoyed, but he quickly changed his tune. "I mean, I mean… yes Archangel?"

"Don't snap at me, boy! Get over here!" Keith hung his head and reluctantly returned to his adoptive mother. Archangel ran her fingers through his jet black hair. "Hey, you're a good kid. Mom loves you okay? Answer me."

"Ugh. Okay, mother."

"It's just that you make mistakes sometimes. Now go and make sure Chrom doesn't leave this time. I will talk to him again, after all these years."

"Yes, Archangel." Keith turned and finally left the building, and Archangel turned back to her flight harness.

"Hey, watch the feathers! Unless you have a spare Pegasus lying around, I won't be getting new wings anytime soon!"

Mercer was slumped in his bar stool, several empty bottles of beer in front of him, when Gaius confronted him for the first time since he had appeared at the homestead. He greeted Mercer by grabbing the back of his head and slamming it into the table. "You sack of trash! The one woman, the one woman, in this world that still gives a rat's furry butt about you tries to help and you slap her around like a sick dog!" Mercer slowly turned his head to see Gaius. Though he was wearing his strange goggles, his rage was apparent to anyone.

"Hello, Gaius." Mercer muttered. "Come to bring up old wounds?"

"Is that all you have to say?!" Gaius forced Mercer to his feet and grabbed him by the collar. "You and I are going to have a talk."

The bartender slammed his fists on the table. "Hey you two! Whatever this is, just take it outside."

"Or what?" Gaius snapped. The bartender reached below the table and pulled out a short firearm with a large caliber barrel, flared at the muzzle so that whatever it fired would spread out over close range. He slammed it on the table, and Gaius stared at it for a second before looking back to the bartender. "We'll go outside."

Gaius dragged Mercer out of the building and forced him against a wall. He raised his goggles and shot a death glare at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?! What is wrong with you?! She has every right, every right, to abandon your sorry rear and she chooses to try and help you. How do you repay her?! Huh! How do you repay her?!"

"Leave me alone."

Gaius slammed Mercer against the wall again. "Listen to me. I don't know what's going on here. I never remembered you touching a drop thirty years ago. I don't care that you hate yourself, or that you want to drink yourself to death, but you can't go around hurting others." Gaius punched Mercer in the abdomen, and then restrained his arms so that he couldn't even reflexively grab at it. "You're not going to hurt anyone else like that. Ever again." Mercer responded by spitting at Gaius. He tensed up in rage, and he almost reached for one of his pistols before he stopped himself. "You… you want me to hurt you? Don't you? In your twisted, messed up mind, you think that any suffering you endure is a form of penance. You think that if you're miserable, you're somehow atoning for what you did. That's why you're trying to drink yourself to death. That's why you push everyone away. You think that if you're miserable, you're making up for what you did! That makes no sense! Only by going out into the world and fixing the problems you caused would you be making up for what you did!"

"Go away."

Gaius shook his head. "Those girls really think they're doing something, Blue. If you care about them at all, you won't come with them. I know you're not going to fight with them, so don't go getting their hopes up. Just leave. We can leave you in peace, but we're not coming back for you." Gaius turned and walked away as Mercer slowly fell to his knees and held his abdomen. After a few minutes of wincing, Mercer brought himself to his feet and wandered back to his bar stool. The bartender brought him another beer, but he made sure Mercer noticed his firearm before putting it away and leaving. Mercer tried to take a sip, but Ophelia's voice involuntarily tunneled its way into his head. Are you afraid of going with us because you don't want to get close to anyone again? Are you afraid we'll get hurt, and you'd relive what happened thirty years ago? Mercer brought his hands to his head, and Soleil's voice came next. The hero that Ophelia desperately wants is gone, isn't he? I know you don't believe in our cause. I know you just want to live the rest of your life in peace. I know you do want nothing more than to die. Caeldori's voice came next. He's a good man! He's sorry about what happened!

"Stop!" Mercer slammed his head on the table. "Stop." Cordelia's voice followed after Caeldori's. I have to tell you that I love you so that, so that you know that you don't have to feel this way about yourself. No one hates you more than you do. A lot of people still look up to you. A lot of people still think you're a great man. A lot of people still love you. I just… the way I feel about you… I just wish you felt that way about yourself. Mercer shook his head and tried to take another sip of his beer, but he couldn't do it. He slowly placed it back down and sighed. "I have to talk to her."

After hours of searching for her, Mercer finally found Cordelia in the city's wyvern stables, tending to her Pegasus. Mercer never got a good look at her back at the homestead, but now he could see that Cordelia's Pegasus was the same one she had ridden thirty years ago. Cordelia's Pegasus had since become weathered and frail. She tried not to put weight on one of her back legs, and her feathers were ruffled and deteriorated. Much of her hair had turned gray, her bone structure was easily visible through her degenerating skin, her neck was narrow and had slack at the base, and her individual ribs could be seen. She was far older than any Pegasus Mercer had ever seen before, but she had apparently managed to fly alongside Minerva and Vasto's wyvern riders all the way to Nowi Falls regardless. In front of her was Cordelia herself. She was completely apathetic to the wyverns stabled all around her, many of them biting and snarling at the intruder. She just smiled and calmly brushed her Pegasus' hair, periodically stopping to nuzzle her or kiss her snout. On the side of her face was a bruise, exactly where Mercer had struck her, and Mercer felt his heart sink into an inaccessible crevice lodged in his very soul. The guilt he felt whenever he looked right at her became unbearable, and Mercer almost turned and walked away. Cordelia heard his pained groans before he could, and she froze.

"Chrom?!"

Mercer shuddered, but he forced himself to turn around. "Yes."

"I-I'm sorry. I mean, Mercer."

"Aurora. That's her name right?"

Cordelia glanced back to her Pegasus. "Yes. That's her name. I can't… I can't believe you remember that."

"I remember everything. I don't want to relive it all, but I remember everything." Mercer slowly approached Cordelia, and when he reached her he fell to his knees and started quivering. "I am so sorry. I… I can't… oh gods."

"Stop."

"Oh gods I'm sorry!"

Cordelia knelt down and placed both of her hands on Mercer's shoulders. "Hey, hey." She said in a very soft voice. It only made Mercer more pained. "Come on, stop. I don't want to see you like this."

"Aren't you angry with me?! After everything you did for me, you should be angry with me!"

"We've talked about this. I forgive you. You've taken so much from me, from all of us, but you also gave us so much… and you can still give so much to the world. I forgive you. I do."

"I don't deserve that!" Cordelia didn't say anything more. She firmly held Mercer's shoulders and waited for him to calm down. For awhile Mercer couldn't control himself, and his tortured breathing became sobbing. Cordelia was patient with him, and she didn't speak up again or move. She just planted her hands on his shoulders and gave him a soft smile as he wept in front of her, and eventually Mercer was able to steel himself. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm okay."

"It's alright, Mercer. I'm here for you."

"You shouldn't be. I don't want you to be. I just… I'm only going to keep failing you. Do you realize how I feel when you treat me like this?! I just, I can't take the guilt! You should feel like Gaius. You shouldn't feel this way about me!"

Cordelia rose to her feet. "Mercer, stop this." She said in a far more serious tone than she had ever used with him. "Stop this right now. I have these feelings for you yes, but that's not why I need to help you. I'm sworn to serve the Exalt as a Pegasus Knight, but that's not why I need to help you."

"Then… why?"

"Because we're at war! Mercer, what happened thirty years ago doesn't matter. I'm horrified by what you did to us, and I'm sure you feel so much worse, but it's in the past. What happened is behind us. Who we were is behind us. Those are old world echoes. What matters now is that the world still has a chance. Things are bad, but I still believe the world can be saved. So do the girls. We're not going to just sit by and do nothing while innocent people suffer!" Cordelia helped Mercer to his feet and clasped his hands. "Remember when I told you how I felt when we were together at my house? You asked me when it started. I told you I didn't know. I do remember now though. We were both very young. Children. I had heard about you, but I'd never seen you before. I was in the royal palace, watching Pegasus Knights. I wanted to be like them one day. They were so beautiful. So powerful. So regal. They were the perfect women, and I wanted to be perfect like them. I started doing as many chores as I could to help out. I wanted to practice. I wanted to be like them more than anything. I tried to do too much at once though, and I almost got hurt. You saved me. You helped me to my feet, gave me that smile, and I… I've just felt this way ever since." Cordelia took a deep breath. "Do you… do you remember that?"

Mercer desperately wanted to tell Cordelia what he thought she wanted to hear, but he knew she would see through anything he made up. He tried to remember, but he couldn't. His childhood wasn't something he allowed himself to think about. There were a few happy memories, like his friendship with Sully or the time he spent with Emmeryn, but there were also the things he didn't want to remember, like the abuses of his father or the way Emmeryn treated him differently after he started training with the Falchion. "I'm sorry, Cordelia, but I don't. There were so many people in the palace."

"Well… I remember. As fate would have it, we would be part of each other's lives. It's fate that we're together again. I followed you for so many reasons. I did it because of these feelings, and because Phila asked me to, and because I am sworn to protect the Exalt, but also because I believed you could protect the world, and because I believed you were a great man. Now that I have the opportunity to see you again after all these years, I cannot allow myself to sit by and do nothing while you spiral into self destruction. I'm still a soldier. I'm still part of an order that has served the Exalts for a thousand years. I'm still going to fight for the world, and I'm still going to be there for you. You saved me once. Now I can save you."

"I see now. Your station blinds you. I don't think these feelings are real. You're just… you just feel that you need to protect me. It doesn't have to be this way. You can be free to hate me."

"What?!"

"After everything I did, hating me is the only reaction that makes sense."

Cordelia gave Mercer an incredulous expression and shook her head. "Shut up."

"What?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! Just, just stop!" Mercer took a step back and Cordelia shook with frustration. "I can't, I can't deal with this anymore! I just, I can't! I have tried and tried to make you stop hating yourself. I have tried to convince you that there's still a good man in you. Maybe I can't. Maybe it was a fantasy to think that I could make you the man you were thirty years ago again. I'm sorry, Mercer. For everything I've done that might have hurt you."

"Cordelia…"

"I can't deal with this anymore! You can't be around the girls anymore, Mercer. Not if you're like this. They looked up to you because they wanted a role model. They need a strong leader. They need someone to be there for them when they stumble and fall. They need someone to teach them honor and empathy, even in the face of violence, and to teach them how to protect the world. They need someone to show them that you don't have to give up no matter how bad things get. You can't be around them when you're like this! You can't be around them when you're some drunken self-hating wreck! I want you to stop hating yourself. I want you to realize that people still need you. I want you to realize that you can still be a hero! If you won't though, then you can't be around us anymore. You want to protect the girls, but you won't fight for their cause! We need soldiers! We want you to be with us. We want you to help us, and we want to help you. If you won't fight with us, then we'll leave you alone. You can live out the rest of your life quietly, and you can hate yourself as much as you want, but we won't come back for you. If you won't help us then, then just go! Just GO!" Cordelia took several deep breaths as a stunned Mercer thought about what she said. "But… but if you'll help us… if you'll realize that you can still help the world… then we'll be there for you."

Mercer had always been disturbed by how friendly Cordelia was to him even after everything he did to her, and so part of him was relieved that Cordelia had finally snapped at him. There was another part of him that was horrified he felt that way. That part of him was at peace whenever he was around Cordelia, and now Mercer couldn't help but feel that he had ruined something. Mercer looked at Cordelia. He had never seen her face so twisted by rage and sadness. He wanted to say something. He didn't want to argue or even disagree, but he pleaded with himself to say something. After a few seconds of silence, Mercer just turned and walked away. Cordelia became genuinely shocked that he actually turned and left. "Wait." She whimpered beneath her breath. "I didn't… don't just…"

Cordelia leaned against against the wall of the stable and took irregular breaths as she tried to calm herself. She ran her hands down her Pegasus' face. "Oh girl. What have I done? What have-" Cordelia broke down crying into her longtime mount. She cried for several minutes before realizing that Mercer hadn't actually left the stable, and turned back to him. "WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?!" Mercer slowly walked towards her again. This time he didn't fall to his knees, but instead grabbed her shoulders as she had done to him. Cordelia's anger was replaced with confusion. "What… what are you still doing here?" Mercer didn't respond, and he didn't think. He just let his feelings guide his actions. Slowly and gently, he took he hands and ran them up Cordelia's shoulders to her cheeks. Cordelia didn't fight him until his fingers reached her blindfold. "Stop!"

"Why do you wear this blindfold?" Mercer asked in a soft tone. Cordelia responded so quietly that she was almost whispering.

"I don't want people to see my eyes."

"Why not?" Cordelia was visibly uncomfortable from the conversation, but Mercer's tenderness moved her.

"Because… because they're ugly. They're malformed. Just, just don't look at them."

"I'd like to see them."

"Why?!" Cordelia pleaded. There was a subtle horror in her face, but Mercer's voice became even softer.

"I need to see what I did to you."

Cordelia shivered, but Mercer untied her blindfold and removed it. Cordelia's eyes were visibly damaged from her injury. Mercer remembered her eyes being red when she was younger, but they had since turned a very light and unnatural shade of blue from damage to the layer of the iris that contained pigment. There were very dark lines running down the center of the whites of her eyes. They went through to her pupils, and they were in the same place in both of her eyes. They were likely from where the Falchion had physically gone through her eyes, and the strange formation was probably caused by the unnaturally rapid healing she received from a healing staff. The human eye wasn't capable of healing from that kind of damage normally, so the wound wouldn't have completely healed, and the deformation would have caused her permanent blindness over time. Cordelia's eyes were also a milky white from the formation of cataracts. Her eyes were pointed in two slightly different directions, and Cordelia likely wasn't even aware of it. Cordelia stopped shaking after Mercer took off her blindfold. She stood in paralyzed fear, breathing irregularly before she could finally bring herself to speak. "They're hideous aren't they?!"

"No, no. They're not."

"You're just saying that!"

"No… they're beautiful."

"You don't-"

Mercer closed his own eyes and brought his lips to Cordelia's. She froze up again, this time out of shock. When Mercer stopped, she could barely breath. Mercer smiled and gave a soft laugh. "Do you believe me now?"

Cordelia giggled at her own words being thrown back at her, and she and Mercer embraced. The two just held each other and took in the moment for a few minutes, and then Mercer tried to look into her eyes. Cordelia ran her hands down his face, carefully feeling for every detail, every contour, every feature. Mercer stared intently at Cordelia, and she caressed him in her own way of seeing him. Mercer hadn't felt peace like that in thirty years, and he wanted to tell her, but she wrapped her arms around him and jumped on him before he could.

Ophelia and Caeldori made their way to the wyvern stable Cordelia and Mercer had been at. "Where could she be?" Ophelia asked. "She's not at the living quarters they gave us, or anywhere else. It's getting late."

"She's probably here." Caeldori responded.

"These are wyvern stables."

"But there wasn't anywhere else to put her Pegasus, so she's probably here tending to her. Just check."

Ophelia banged on the door. "Cordelia?! Are you here? Hello? Anyone?!" Ophelia shrugged and turned back to Caeldori. "She's not here."

"Just check inside."

Ophelia opened the door just wide enough to slip in. "Cordelia? Are you here-" Ophelia quickly shut the door and stood blocking it, her face as red as Caeldori's hair. "Don't go in there."

"What?"

"Don't go in there!"

"What's wrong with you?" Ophelia felt the need to whisper what she saw in Caeldori's ear, and her face immediately contorted. "AAHHH!"

"I know!"

"My grandmother!"

"I know!"

"That's so gross!"

"I KNOW! They're both like a hundred!"

Soleil walked up behind them. "What are you screaming about?" Caeldori whispered in Soleil's ear, but she just shrugged. "Surrounded by wyverns? Kinky."

With the Fell Dragon's ascension, the majority of the Ylissean continent had become a barren and uninhabitable land. Outside of a few fertile bands of forests and agriculture, most of the land was now desert or part of the badlands. With no soil to stop desertification from taking place, the deserts grew larger every year. Once the Border Sands was a desert on the border between Plegia and Ferox. In thirty years however, the desert had grown to encompass almost a tenth of the continent. Within a century it would cover everything save for the forests. In time, they too would be worn away. Within a millennia the planet would be as an alien word, with only ruins and echoes to show that it had ever nurtured life on its surface.

Standing a few meters away from a parked carriage and a tent was a heavily armored man, his face covered by a mask and bandaging around a bullet wound on the back of his head. The man drew a tome and fired a blast of energy into the air. The blast paused in mid flight and suspended itself in front of the man. A humanoid figure materialized from the magical energy, and the image slowly became more and more detailed until it was clear that it depicted a Grimleal soldier. The soldier looked at the armored man and nodded. "Courtney! Sir!"

"Report."

"We've found them, sir." The flickering figure answered. "Chrom, Ophelia, and the others have encountered the Arch Surg. They've been taken to Nowi Falls, a large settlement in the Border Sands. The Arch Surg forces are well entrenched, and they can see us coming from kilometers away. You don't have the strength for a frontal assault. Recommend mission abort."

"Acknowledged, reconnaissance." Courtney put his tome away and walked into a makeshift tent behind him, finding Kryczek and E-13 inside. E-13 was out of her shackles. She calmly picked at a bowl of mixed nuts on her lap, but she was otherwise perfectly still. Kryczek stood behind her, combing leaves and twigs out of her hair. E-13's shoulder wound and abdomen wound were bandaged, and bottles of medicine and disinfectant were scattered around. Kryczek was constantly moving around her, straightening her hair and using his finger to smudge dirt and grime off of her face, as if she were a small child. Courtney could only watch for so long before he had to speak up. "The hell are you doing?!"

"Tending to E-13." Kryczek responded without looking up. Courtney watched as he coated his finger with saliva and wiped a dirt smear from E-13's cheek. She winced and shot him an annoyed glance, but otherwise waited patiently for him to stop. Kryczek went back to brushing her hair, and E-13 returned to picking at her bowl of nuts. Neither of them acknowledged Courtney in any way.

"Is that what you call tending to her? You're treating her like she's a little girl who fell down climbing a tree."

"She's not capable of personal grooming. She'd leave those twigs in her hair and that grime on her face forever if I didn't clean it off."

"What's wrong with that?"

"She may be a weapon, but that doesn't mean she can't be presentable."

"Shouldn't she be in her shackles?"

"I'll restrain her at the first signs of unauthorized aggression, but she's clearly calm."

Courtney stared at Kryczek for several seconds, studying his every move. "You never had kids of your own did you doc?"

"No." Kryczek responded, still not looking up. "Married to the work I'm afraid. I just never had much time for a family when I was a professor at the University of Themis. Always going off on expeditions or running experiments or, Naga forbid, having to teach undergraduates. When the Fell Dragon took over, I had no time at all. I worked hard to be part of this regime. The opportunities for scientific study couldn't be passed up. Ever since I was tasked with the Reaver program, there just hasn't been time for anything else."

"Well she's not your daughter."

"How very astute of you, Courtney. I was already well aware of our lack of blood relation, but thank you for pointing that out."

"You know damn well what I mean, college boy. She's a weapon. Nothing more. You're too attached to her."

Kryczek finally looked Courtney in the eye. "Do not dare to to tell me how I should treat her. The Reaver program is my brainchild. I have known this woman since she was an infant. I will interact with her as I see fit."

"You know what I think? I think she's a wild animal, and you have to let her off her leash. The other Lucina was a soldier to the bone. Think of how violent this one could be? No empathy. No restraint. No rules. She could be war incarnate."

Kryczek took a deep breath and tried very hard to calm himself. "Any meaningful exchange that could come from this conversation has passed. I think you should leave."

"Whatever. I just came here to say that I'll have to ask Gangrel for reinforcements. We might be here a while."

Courtney exited the tent and Kryczek went back to brushing E-13's hair. "Don't listen to that man." Kryczek whispered in her ear. "Daddy is very proud of what you've done for the world."

Courtney stepped back outside and took out his tome. He shot a blast of energy that froze in midair and slowly materialized into the form of Gangrel. Courtney waited patiently for several minutes. The figure was completely static until Gangrel actually responded to the communication. "Report, Operations Commander."

"Yeah nice to see you too. I need more men."

Gangrel's bitter expression was clear even through the flickering and poorly detailed image. "How hard could it be to take care of four people?!"

"They've holed up with the Arch Surg. You know, the terrorists? I don't have enough strength to assault the settlement."

"Which settlement?"

"Nowi Falls. Where Tiki the less important died about ten years ago? We've known about the Arch Surg there for years, but they're heavily fortified. I guess now we've got a good reason to hit the place."

"Ah yes. Countless times I've tasked General Rouchfort with taking that settlement, but he always tells me it's impossible. The Arch Surg can resist anything short of a full scale assault, and if we send an army that large they'll just pack up and leave. The desert lets them see for kilometers. I'm assuming you think you can do better?"

"I think I have a plan, Emperor. I'll need command of the 4th army from Regna Ferox, but I also want Inquisitors transferred to me. Preferably the ones they use to summon Tunneller attacks."

"You're asking a lot."

"Trust me. The army won't even see battle. I know how to root them out."

"Then what do you need it for?"

"I'll fill you in when I've worked out the plan. Just trust me on this."

Gangrel seemed to sigh, though it was difficult to tell through the image. "Alright. I'll make the arrangements, but be careful Courtney. It's one thing to throw away Reavers. You're not losing an entire army."

"Oh like the Mad King is so well known for caring about his troops." Courtney said dryly.

"Excuse me?! I didn't quite hear that!"

"I said I'll contact you."

Courtney ended the transmission. Gangrel put his tome away and walked back to his throne. "Idiot. Kryczek better not let him screw this up. How hard could it be to kill an old man and his sad replacement daughters?!"

"Ha! You criticize other men for not having the strength to defeat their foes." Gangrel recoiled and turned to find Walhart the Conqueror staring at him. He was wearing the same armor he wore thirty years ago, and he had his Wolf Berg. He stood in front of Gangrel's throne and stared him down. "You didn't exactly stand against the Shepherds yourself. You hid behind Aversa's illusions."

Gangrel shot up from his throne and threw himself at Walhart, repeatedly jamming his finger through the hallucination. "Shut up! Everything that happened is your fault! If you hadn't threatened us, then I wouldn't have went to war with Ylisse. I just wanted to unite the continent against you. Everything that happened… happened because of… uh… THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Nothing is ever your fault is it, Gangrel? Even now you won't take responsibility for your failures, and for the evils done under you."

"We're no different. You were a brutal conqueror. People died because of you!"

"I fought for an idea. I wanted to unite humanity against the tyranny of gods, and defeat the Grimleal. I had a vision of a strong, unified human race, free from the petty squabbles of kingdoms. I fought for my beliefs, and I didn't back down from challenges. You hid behind your power and were too afraid to face your enemies. We are nothing alike." Gangrel didn't argue any further. He shook his head and stormed out of his throne room. Walhart turned and watched him as he left. "I forged my empire to stand against gods, but you turned over and pleaded for mercy like a sniveling pup when Grima came. At least the Shepherds were willing to fight to stop the Fell Dragon. You allowed yourself to be swept aside, and now you follow on its back in the pathetic hope of leeching off of its significance in history. Don't ever compare yourself to me or the Shepherds! You're nothing!"

Gangrel quickly walked, then full on sprinted down the winding hallways of the palace, stopping only when he reached the room of his sleeping child. He quietly snuck past his new handmaiden, apparently too tired to trade the chair she was in for her actual sleeping quarters, and plucked his infant daughter out of her crib. He gently cradled her in his arms and paced up and down the hallway, smiling at her and nuzzling her. "Oh, Emmeryn. Things are so much easier when you're in my arms. They don't talk to me when you're in my arms. They can't get me now. You… you keep me safe from them. We, we keep each other safe. Funny. Not the relation most parents have with their infant children." Gangrel's smile faded as he looked intently at his daughter's face. Emmeryn had inherited Gangrel's grayish and somewhat sickly skin tone, but she was otherwise a healthy and blissful baby girl. What hair she had was fiery red, like his own. When Emmeryn was awake, Gangrel could see her light blue eyes inherited from his wife. By coincidence they were the same color as the eyes of the woman she took her name from, the former Exalt of Ylisse. Gangrel's thoughts drifted to her, then to the rest of the Shepherds. "Oh… Emmeryn. You're so beautiful. How could something so peaceful and brilliant ever have come from a man like me? I… I still think about them. I remember the pained and tortured looks on their faces when I went back to the camp. When I saw their corpses scattered around. They took me in with open arms after everything I did to them, and I had them butchered." Gangrel was silent for several minutes. He just stared at his sleeping daughter before bringing himself to speak again. "They never understood that Grima couldn't be defeated. The Fell Dragon's ascension was inevitable. Sure they were powerful warriors, but the strongest ant in the mound is still no match for the boot. Only by avoiding the gardener can the mound survive. Only by negotiating with Grima could humanity be saved. The Shepherds would have never stopped fighting. Sure it would have made for a good song, but they would have doomed us all. I had to negotiate with Grima, and I had to make sure they wouldn't ruin it. I saved humanity. You never would have been born if I hadn't saved the world. So why…" Gangrel took a deep breath. "Why do I feel so guilty?"