(Considering how long this story has become, I thought it'd be useful to have a quick recap chapter to help you keep track of everything that's happened. To clarify, the name of this chapter refers to the fact that all of these chapters were posted in 2017. It's been about three months give or take since the start of the story in universe.)

Act 1: The Old Men

Chapter 1

"She's like you, Chrom… very much like you."

For twenty years a reclusive man calling himself Mercer has lived as a scavenger in a small town in western Ylisse. Besides that, the only time he ever leaves his house is to drink at the local bar run by Donald, Mercer's only real friend. Time and time again Tiki, the Voice of Naga, has visited Mercer and asked for his aid in resisting the Grimleal and its tricenarian regime, but he angrily refuses her each time.

While drinking in the bar one quiet day, Mercer witnesses a young man harass a woman until he is rejected. To his chagrin, the man introduces himself as Conrad and speaks to Mercer out of loneliness. The conversation ends as several Grimleal soldiers lead by Courtney, the local landlord, storm into the bar. Conrad's young daughter unintentionally leads them right to him, and Courtney tortures Conrad for failing to pay rent. He then threatens the entire town before leaving. Though Mercer helps Conrad to his feet, he also threatens him for putting his daughter's life at risk by not paying rent.

Leaving the bar, Mercer encounters Tiki yet again. Though he refuses to have anything to do with her, he is shocked when Tiki introduces a young woman with the Brand of the Exalt.

Meanwhile, in the Grimleal's official capital of Ylisstol, the Emperor's attendant enters the royal palace and tells Emperor Gangrel that High Inquisitor Aversa requests use of his Chief Enforcer for a training exercise. Though Gangrel casually agrees, the attendant is disturbed by the outfit he is wearing and tries to subtlety criticize it. Ignoring it, Gangrel admires his "Shepherd Slayer" outfit, formed from trophies taken off the slain Shepherds, and descends into unhinged laughing until the attendant leaves.

Author's Notes - The names of Conrad and Courtney come from a Fire Emblem fic I wrote when I first joined the site. The very first fanfic I ever wrote in fact. The similarities end with the names, as in my story Courtney was a female deuteragonist and Conrad was not a tool.

Chapter 2

"Get me a sword."

Though Mercer storms back to his home and refuses to interact with Tiki and the young woman, the young mage refuses to give up and stays by his door for the rest of the day, and Mercer finally relents after she helps him stop a burglary. The next morning, the young woman introduces herself as Ophelia Dusk and reveals that she is the daughter of Owain. Though Mercer refuses to help train her or help her fight against the Grimleal, Ophelia convinces him to help her save fellow third generation Shepherd Soleil, who was captured by the Grimleal before Ophelia and Tiki reached the town. Ophelia then uses Minerva, Cherche's wyvern, to fly them there.

Though Mercer refuses to use a sword anymore, Ophelia is able to defeat the Grimleal soldiers holding Soleil captive with Minerva, and the two friends reunite. The group makes camp in the nearby forest, and the young women proceed to bombard Mercer with questions about the Shepherds. They also inform Mercer about a third generation Shepherd named Caeldori. Confused, as Severa never gave birth before the Shepherds fell, Mercer asks how Caeldori could have been born. Realizing what it meant, the girls suggest that Severa survived and claim that other Shepherds could be alive as well. Mercer is offended at the claim, and he leaves the girls and walks all the way back to town.

Upon arriving, Mercer sees the stripped and mutilated corpses of Conrad and his daughter lying in the town square, and is informed by Donald that Courtney refuses to allow a funeral. Infuriated, Mercer breaks his vow and requests the chapter quote of Ophelia, who'd arrived in the town before he did.

Author's Notes - Mercer's vow to never pick up a sword again was inspired by Logan's vow to never pop his claws again in Mark Miller's Old Man Logan. Of course, Mercer's vow doesn't last nearly as long.

Chapter 3

"I will never forget that it is the evil done by men and women that has destroyed the world the most."

Driven to a blind rage by Courtney's atrocities, Mercer spends the next several days hunting down and killing the landlord's lieutenants and agents before attacking Courtney himself. Elated at the chance to fight him, as a surviving agent had told him Mercer's true identity, Courtney revealed that he knew Tiki had been repeatedly visiting his territory for the past twenty years. Realizing that it was because she came to see Chrom, Courtney threatened to use Soleil and Ophelia to lure out and capture Tiki so that he could deliver her to Gangrel and be a hero of the Grimleal. Infuriated, Chrom then engages in a bitter, bloody battle.

Seemingly killing Courtney, Mercer travels back to his town and begins to burry Conrad and his daughter. Though Donald reminds him of Courtney's threat, Mercer reveals that there's no one left to punish them, and the townspeople eventually help him give a small funeral for the two.

Returning to his house, Mercer finds Tiki, Ophelia, and Soleil waiting for him. Though Tiki is worried when Mercer claims he plans to simply lash out against the Grimleal until they inevitably kill him, and though Mercer still refuses to help train and lead the girls, Ophelia convinces him to help with a smaller task. Caeldori was left in Southtown to ensure that Tiki had a safe place to stay, and Ophelia and Soleil just want to make sure she's okay. As Grimleal dark mages have a way of tracking Tiki if she stays in one place too long, Tiki then leaves for Southtown while Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil prepare for the trip.

Author's Notes - The first three chapters of the story were meant to have a western feel to them. Mercer's renouncing of violence for several years, only to return to it when provoked, was inspired by Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. The rampage he goes on against the Grimleal was also inspired by Logan's rampage at the end of Old Man Logan.

Chapter 4

"Notice me, Mercer!"

While preparing to travel to Southtown, Mercer is visited by a young man wearing an exact replica of his daughter's outfit. Introducing himself as Lucina, the man requests that Mercer join his organization and help him fight the Grimleal as he did to Courtney's forces, but Mercer is infuriated at the sight. Learning that his real name is Keith, the young man is shocked when he realizes who Mercer really is, and he insists that he is following in Lucina's legacy. Outraged, Mercer knocks him unconscious.

The group later heads to town for supplies, and though Mercer tells Ophelia and Soleil to help, the two instead get lunch. Mercer eventually relents when they offer him some food, and the two then share stories about Caeldori. Soleil also shares a story about Ophelia having used a body switching ritual on her to teach her a lesson, only for it to backfire.

The three are interrupted as a street performer begins playing songs that become more and more personal for Mercer. Confronting them, the man introduces himself as Theresa and promises to see them again.

Author's Notes - Theresa and his obnoxious singing was inspired by Harry Heck from Jonathan Hensleigh's The Punisher.

Chapter 5

"Yeah. Every time I look at you girls, I see the faces of your parents and grandparents staring back at me. I… I couldn't lose you too."

In Ylisstol, Emperor Gangrel agrees to spend time with his infant daughter, Emmeryn, after his attendant informs him that is wife demands a break. The attendant also informs Gangrel that Chrom is alive, and that Theresa, who was actually Courtney's personal assassin, has asked for permission to kill him. Excited at the chance to get another trophy, Gangrel agrees.

Cramming onto Minerva's back, Mercer, Soleil, and Ophelia travel to Southtown only to find that the entire settlement has sunken into the ground, and Caeldori and Tiki are nowhere to be seen. Confused, they decide to head for the nearby town of Veslil.

Author's Notes - The Tunnellers, who were responsible for the attacks on Southtown, Veslil, and Nowi Falls, were inspired by the Moloids from Old Man Logan and the Tunnelers from Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas.

Chapter 6

"Look at all those men and women out there with their robes and their uuuniforms. Think of all the HARM they've DONE to US! To humanity! We can fix it though! We can make their empire disappear! We can make the world as it was before the pale hide of their pathetic civilization infected it so!"

Arriving at Veslil, the first thing Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil see are the bodies of several Grimleal agents impaled on pikes. The second thing is a public execution lead by Keith. Disgusted that Keith apparently controlled the town, Mercer ran off, Ophelia and Soleil following him, only to encounter Theresa. The Grimleal assassin badly wounds them with his flintlock pistols, but he is killed by Keith before he can finish them off.

Meanwhile, in Ylisstol, Gangrel encounters a guilt induced hallucination of Lucina. Refusing to apologize for his actions, Gangrel clutches his Shepherd Slayer outfit, as the hallucinations disappear when he wears it.

Keith nurses Mercer and the girls back to health, but he breaks Mercer's knee and detains the three when he still refuses to join him. Remembering Ophelia's story, Mercer has her switch bodies with him, and the three trick Keith's soldiers into opening their cell. Mercer then fights through Keith's forces in Ophelia's healthy body and defeats Keith in a duel. However, the entire town of Veslil sinks into the ground before he can finish Keith off.

Author's Notes - This chapter marks the first appearance of gunpowder weapons in the story. Gunpowder weapons have actually appeared in Fire Emblem before. The ballisticians in Fates, and there's a scene in the Fire Emblem anime where cannons appear.

Chapter 7

"If we can perfect the ability to open outrealm gates to other timelines, then I can be in one timeline. I can free myself of this."

Deep within The Rockpile, a Grimleal concentration camp not far from Ylisstol, Inquisitor Altman has Caeldori, captured before Southtown's destruction, brought before him. Altman believes that Severa and the other second generation Shepherds might have been exposed to radiation when passing through the Outrealm Gate to travel back in time, and the Inquisitor experiments on Caeldori to see if any traces of radiation were passed down to her body.

Altman then converses with an incorporeal entity about the Grimleal's plan to study the magic Naga used to open Outrealm Gates. Curious, Altman asks his ally about the nature of her existence, and the spectre reveals that she had once been a Shepherd, Tharja, and that she was forced to use an experimental spell to save her life when the Shepherds fell. She was transformed into an incorporeal being because her body became stuck between two timelines, and she now seeks to travel to another timeline to regain her body and escape from the Fell Dragon's rule.

Author's Notes - The Rockpile was inspired by a US military base that existed during the Vietnam War. Like the installation in this story, it was built on a very steep mountain and was only accessible through flight.

Chapter 8

"I'm not leaving them. They have their whole damn lives ahead of them. They're not going to die because they went with me. Damn it they are not going to die!"

As the buildings of Veslil settle, Keith tells Chrom that the town was attacked by Tunnellers: undead man-eating monsters that mutated from Risen after the Fell Dragon forced them all underground. Unable to move through the building as Tunnellers break in and consume the corpses of Keith's soldiers, Mercer and Keith barricade themselves in and eventually begin to talk about Keith's backstory and his views of the world.

After several hours of waiting, Mercer and Keith make their way back to the building's basement to free Ophelia and Soleil. After switching bodies with Ophelia again, Mercer and the others leave the building to find that the entire town has fallen into an underground cavern. Ophelia casts a spell to summon Minerva, but the group is then attacked by Tunnellers. Keith is left behind after refusing to abandon his mask, and Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil only narrowly escape on Minerva.

The group rests in the badlands, and Mercer comforts Ophelia over the horrors they'd just endured. Mercer also tries to talk to Soleil. Though she insists that Ophelia needs him more, Mercer promises to be there for both of them. Soleil reveals that she believes Mercer to be a broken man, and that Ophelia and Tiki's idealistic belief in him is wrong. However, she also thanks Mercer for being there, and Mercer promises to find Caeldori.

Author's Notes - The body switching ritual that Ophelia does with Mercer references Ophelia and Soleil's support from Fates. A number of Soleil's supports also feature characters catching her practicing her singing and dancing.

Chapter 9

"I am a survivor. I don't want to be, but I am a survivor."

With no other leads on where Caeldori might be, Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil return to his hometown. Mercer is only able to rest for a short amount of time before an angry mob of townspeople threaten his home. The townspeople have realized Mercer is actually Chrom, and they demand he leave before the Grimleal punish the town for harboring him. Though Mercer doesn't resist the townspeople, he is infuriated by it, and he blacks out from the stress and trauma.

Mercer wakes up in his bed to find that Donald has visited him. Clarifying that he didn't tell anyone Mercer's secret, Donald apologizes for what the town has done before leaving. Though Ophelia suggests fighting back against the town, Mercer refuses, and he and Ophelia discuss his life as Mercer prepares to pack the few possessions he has left.

The two are interrupted as Courtney, severely disfigured by his previous battle with Mercer, attacks the house. Quickly incapacitating Soleil and Ophelia, Courtney is almost defeated by Mercer, but he forces him to surrender by threatening Soleil's life. He informs Mercer that the group will be taken to The Rockpile before knocking him unconscious.

Meanwhile, within the installation itself, Inquisitor Altman communicates with High Inquisitor Aversa about the progress of "Project: Xenologue". In the prison courtyard, Caeldori learns that the guards use sedatives to keep the prisoners under control, and she begins to plot a breakout.

Author's Notes - To clarify, Donald as a young man was one of the Valmese soldiers the player encounters in Chapter 12. "Canonically" he was defeated by Cordelia, but was only playing dead.

Chapter 10

"How do you think she felt when she realized that you were too weak to protect her? How do you think she felt when the Shepherds fell, and she realized that her idol broke her?"

After hearing a mysterious chant, Mercer awakes to find himself imprisoned in The Rockpile, Caeldori in front of him. The two are only able to speak briefly before Courtney arrives to torture them out of spite. He is interrupted by Altman, who informs Mercer that he will soon be sent to Aversa herself. The girls will stay in The Rockpile for the rest of their lives.

Mercer is then detained within the prison courtyard, and he reunites with Ophelia and Soleil after Altman finishes experimenting on them. To Soleil's disbelief, Caeldori initiates a prison riot she'd been planning, and the four are able to break into the armory and retrieve their gear. Observing the events, Tharja's spectre reminds Altman that Caeldori is the only link to Severa, and therefore the continuation of Project: Xenologue, and the Inquisitor has Courtney mobilize the Reavers: mindless shocktroopers created from brainwashed prisoners.

Courtney personally engages Mercer in battle as his Reavers attack the girls and the prisoners, and he defeats Mercer after unbalancing him with taunts about the Shepherds and his family. Dragging him to the edge of the mountain, Courtney almost throws Mercer off the ledge, but the girls unite and save him by knocking Courtney off instead. With Mercer on the verge of death, Caeldori suggests they take him to her mentor.

Meanwhile, with Theresa's failure, the Grimleal hires an orange haired freelance assassin to track down Chrom.

Author's Notes - Caeldori's escape plan, specifically the part about saving medication the guards force her to take and tricking them into ingesting it, was inspired by an episode of The Rockford Files.

Chapter 11

"I just… the way I feel about you… I just wish you felt that way about yourself."

After hearing the mysterious chant yet again, Mercer awakes to find that he was nursed back to health by Cordelia. Now blind, Cordelia reveals that she raised Caeldori since Severa gave her up as a young girl. She also trained Ophelia and Soleil after Tiki brought them to her as teenagers, and the girls had been able to use her homestead as a safehouse ever since. Cordelia assures Mercer that she is glad to see him again, only to realize he's become consumed by guilt and self loathing. Desperate to make him feel anything else, and not wanting to waste the second chance, Cordelia reveals her feelings for him, but Mercer only insists that she deserves better. The two become alarmed as an explosion erupts from the nearby forest.

Meanwhile, the girls had been killing time in front of the house when the same explosion almost knocks them off their feet. Distracted, the girls are flanked by the orange haired assassin. The man has effortlessly incapacitated and bound them by the time Mercer and Cordelia arrive.

The assassin proceeds to attack Mercer and narrowly manages to defeat him through his advanced weaponry, and Mercer realizes that the man is none other than Gaius. Having become an assassin to survive over the past thirty years, Gaius blames Chrom and Robin for making him kill in the Shepherds, which made him lose his moral restrictions on killing. He further reveals that the loss of his family broke him, and that made him capable of killing for a living. Gaius further becomes enraged when he realizes the third generation Shepherds don't realize what happened thirty years ago, and he forces Mercer to tell them at gunpoint. Mercer reveals that he personally slew the Shepherds after an illusion spell made him hallucinate them as Risen. Though still filled with rage, Gaius is unable to finish Mercer in the presence of Cordelia, and he reluctantly abandons the contract.

Author's Notes - This chapter marks the first appearance of telekinesis. Ophelia's ability to use telekinesis was inspired by Robin's taunts in Smash Bros, by his ability to fly in his Smash Bros introduction trailer, and by Validar's ability to fly in the cutscenes of Awakening.

Chapter 12

"Quiet! I know who she reminds you of, but I assure you she is not that woman. Lucina is dead. E-13 is a symbol of the new world order."

Aversa and many of her Inquisitors are summoned from the de facto capital of High Point to Gangrel's palace, filled with Gangrel's officers and Enforcers, by the Fell Dragon. Gangrel and Aversa soon begin arguing, which also causes a fight among their subordinates, but it is interrupted as the Anointed Ones appear with the Hierophant's body. The Fell Dragon, speaking through the Hierophant, admonishes Gangrel for not taking Chrom and Ophelia seriously. Both Gangrel and Aversa are warned to focus more on enacting the Fell Dragon's will. Aversa blames Gangrel for his failures to kill Chrom, and the Emperor vows to send his Chief Enforcer to deal with him.

In a laboratory underneath the palace, Courtney, now serving as the head of the operation to kill Chrom, meets with Dr. Kryczek, the director of the Reaver Program. Kryczek reveals that Gangrel's Chief Enforcer, now known as E-13, is none other than the infant Lucina brainwashed over the course of thirty years. Kryczek protests her field deployment, believing that her conditioning is not perfect, but Courtney drags him along as he is the only man E-13 will listen to.

Author's Notes - This is the first chapter to take place entirely from the Grimleal's point of view.

Chapter 13

"Showtime, girl!"

For several days Ophelia, Soleil, and Caeldori refuse to speak with Mercer, and Cordelia eventually forces them to talk about their feelings. Ophelia expresses fear of him, Caeldori says that she has no respect for him anymore, and Soleil is enraged that he was responsible for her father's death. Cordelia tries to comfort Mercer after the girls leave, but he remains depressed.

Cordelia steps outside to speak further with the three, but they are interrupted as Courtney and a small army of Reavers emerge from the forest. Revealing that he'd seen Cordelia before and that he has a very personal grudge against the Shepherds, Courtney and his forces attack, but the girls manage to slay the Reavers and surround Courtney. Mercer himself attacks Courtney, but the Grimleal agent lures him towards the carriage where Kryczek had been keeping E-13, and Mercer finds himself dueling his own daughter. Traumatized and unwilling to kill her, Mercer tries to restrain E-13, but she overpowers him and uses the Parallel Falchion to tear open his intestines. Ophelia, Soleil, and Caeldori save Mercer by attacking E-13. She defeats them by severing Caeldori's right hand and viciously beating Soleil, but the violence causes her to lose control, and Kryczek himself has to repeatedly order her to reengage Mercer rather than pointlessly attack an already beaten Soleil. Ophelia takes the opportunity to injure Kryczek with her tome, but this enrages E-13 and causes her to attack Ophelia. Under extreme stress Ophelia manages to telekinetically seize E-13 and throw her into the forest, but the strain causes her to fall unconscious.

Courtney attacks Soleil as she tries to help Ophelia, but he is seemingly killed yet again as a bullet tears through the back of his head. Soleil sees Gaius calling to Cordelia for help before passing out.

Author's Notes - To clarify, Courtney as a child lived in one of the villages the player encounters in Chapter 8, the same chapter you recruit Gregor and Nowi. The Shepherds failed to save his village, setting him on the path of darkness.

Chapter 14

"We're not exactly like the Shepherds, but we do believe in justice, and justice should come to few men's detriment but all men's fear."

Gaius and Cordelia flee on Minerva and Aurora, Cordelia's Pegasus, and set up camp in the badlands. Cordelia manages to stabilize Mercer and the girls. Though Cordelia is still bitter towards Gaius for attacking, Gaius claims that he gave the group's location to the Grimleal after abandoning the contract but quickly regretted it, and that he wishes to make up for his actions. The two are then confronted by a group of wyvern riders. Recognizing Cordelia, the leader identifies himself as Vasto and reveals that his forces are part of a resistance movement called the Archanean Liberation Front. He offers to take the two to a nearby settlement and provide medical attention for Mercer and the girls.

Mercer once again hears the mysterious chanting, this time seeing several of the Shepherds, before waking up to find himself in a hospital. Speaking to the woman tending to him, who is revealed to be Pheros, Mercer learns that Gaius is now with Cordelia and that the third generation Shepherds were all badly injured. Mercer is then able to speak with Cordelia again. Cordelia informs Mercer that the settlement is called Nowi Falls, having been built around the remains of her dragon form. The two then hear a speech Cervantes is giving to Arch Surg soldiers, revealing that he too was still alive.

Meanwhile, Soleil visits Caeldori as she's having a prosthetic hand attached. Though Caeldori is deeply traumatized by it, Soleil comforts her and promises to be more friendly to her in the future.

Author's Notes - The Arch Surg was partially inspired by the Viet Cong, with the Grimleal in turn taking inspirations from the Vietnam War era US military. The Viet Cong's official name was the National Liberation Front. The term Viet Cong comes from Việt Nam Cộng-sản (Vietnamese Communist) or alternatively Việt gian cộng sản (Communist traitor to Vietnam). Similarly, the Arch Surg's official name is the Archanean Liberation Front. The Grimleal called them the Archanean Insurgency, and that was corrupted into Arch Surg.

Chapter 15

"I-I don't want, I don't want your help! I don't want your suffering! I don't want the pain you're bringing back to me! I'm not that man anymore! Leave me alone!"

Distraught over the sight of Nowi's corpse, Mercer almost assaults a merchant after she offers to sell him armor supposedly made from her scales, and Cordelia tries to cheer him up by taking him to a bar. Finding alcohol in Nowi Falls much cheaper than at his hometown, Mercer becomes drunk and snaps at Cordelia when she tries to get him to slow down. In a fit of rage and fear Mercer eventually strikes her, causing her to simply get up and leave. Overwhelmed even further by self loathing, Mercer resigns himself to drinking.

Mercer then experiences severe hallucinations of his enemies and allies, and the visions end as Cordelia warns him that he will die alone if he continues to push the few loved ones he has left away.

Awakening in a hay cart in the middle of the day, Mercer is confronted by Ophelia. Finally realizing how broken he is, Ophelia sadly informs Mercer that they'll leave him alone forever if that's what he truly wants before leaving on the verge of tears. Though Mercer desperately cries for her to come back, he is still too consumed with guilt to rejoin his companions, and he resigns himself to drinking once more.

Author's Notes - This is actually my favorite chapter.

Chapter 16

"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."

Within the remote city of Belfire, the capital of the Archanean Liberation Front, Keith travels to the citadel to meet with Archangel, the leader of the Arch Surg and his adoptive mother. Archangel reprimands Keith for failing to bring her Chrom and for not checking in with her after Veslil's destruction. She then sends him to Nowi Falls after he reports that he was spotted there, but only after reminding Keith that she loves him.

In Nowi Falls, Gaius catches up to Mercer and angrily assaults him for striking Cordelia. Realizing how much he hates himself, Gaius tells Mercer that suffering doesn't make up for what he did, and that he can only make up for what he did by helping the world. He further tells him that he can't help the girls if he isn't willing to be the man they looked up to. Though Mercer tries to return to drinking, he finds himself unable to stop thinking about the girls and Cordelia, and he leaves to apologize.

Mercer finds Cordelia tending to her Pegasus only to break down crying. Frustrated, Cordelia tries to tell Mercer that she truly forgives him for the fall of the Shepherds. Cordelia tells Mercer about how she developed feelings for him and about how he could still lead the girls in the fight against the Grimleal, but Mercer continues to insist that she should hate him. Unable to deal with the extent of his self loathing, Cordelia snaps and informs Mercer he should simply leave if he truly wants to be alone, but manages to calm down as her rant continues and also assures Mercer that they'll be there for him if he'll be there for the girls. Mercer seemingly walks away in the face of her yelling, deeply upsetting Cordelia, but she soon finds that he hadn't actually left. Realizing just how much she cares about him, and how much he fears losing her, Mercer removes Cordelia's blindfold to see exactly what he'd done to her. Though Cordelia expresses body issues about her injury, Mercer assures her that her eyes look beautiful, and he finally accepts her love for him as the two hold each other. He reciprocates her feelings soon after.

Meanwhile, Ophelia, Soleil, and Caeldori are looking for Cordelia. Accidentally walking in on Cordelia and Mercer in the stables, Ophelia tells Caeldori about what happened, and the two express disgust. Soleil finds it oddly arousing.

Outside of the city, Courtney and Kryczek set up camp as they prepare to attack Nowi Falls. The two also discuss E-13, Courtney believing that Kryczek is too soft on her, before Kryczek angrily dismisses him. Contacting Emperor Gangrel in the palace, Courtney requests Inquisitors and command of the 4th army. Gangrel agrees, but is then confronted by a hallucination of Walhart. Desperate to get away from the hallucinations, Gangrel sprints to his daughter's room as his hallucinations disappear when he's around her. Cradling her in his arms, he expresses his belief in the necessity of defeating the Shepherds and surrendering to the Fell Dragon, but further wonders why he feels guilty about it.

Author's Notes - Gangrel's guilt based hallucinations and the fact that he's only free of them when wearing his Shepherd Slayer outfit or when around his daughter takes inspiration from the mental insanity plaguing the main antagonist of Fritz Lang's M.

Chapter 17

"That's not true. You don't hate him. You hate the world for what it's become, and you hate the Grimleal, and you're taking it out on him. It wasn't his fault, and he's sorry for what happened. He does care about you. He'd do anything to make it up to you."

Vasto informs Cordelia and Mercer that they've been summoned to Nowi Fall's citadel. Meanwhile, Ophelia, Soleil, and Caeldori are passing the time when Gaius approaches them. Though he criticizes them for their spending habits, he apologizes for having attacked them at the homestead and gives them money to make up for it. He also reluctantly allows the girls to strike him in retaliation. The four are then confronted by Pheros and several Arch Surg soldiers, and she escorts them to the citadel as well. Reaching the citadel, the group encounters Cervantes and Farber, revealing the later was still alive, and Mercer is brought in by himself. Vasto entertains the others with jokes, though Cordelia is less than amused.

Encountering an alive and well Keith, Mercer learns that Keith had been working for the Arch Surg the entire time and that he was normally in charge of Nowi Falls. Dismissing Pheros and the other soldiers after ordering her to ward off the approaching Grimleal 4th army with the city's garrison, Keith and Mercer are left alone. Though Mercer is furious with him, Keith apologizes for his earlier treatment of Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil and insists that Mercer meet Archangel. Mercer also learns that Archangel was once a woman that knew him, and that she has personal reasons for wanting to see him again. Keith further insists that Mercer and his allies not leave the city, but he offers to accommodate them and pay for any services they use. Keith then insists on teaching Mercer how to use firearms. Though he eventually becomes proficient in their use, Mercer expresses a distaste of firearms, but Keith states that he might need one to save his life or the lives of his allies. He then gives Mercer one of the double barreled flintlock pistols he took from Theresa, having customized it with blue and gold plating and engraving it with symbols of the Ylissean monarchy.

Mercer embraces Cordelia as soon as he's free to leave, but this draws ire from Soleil as she still hasn't forgiven Mercer and believes Cordelia to be abandoning the three in favor of him. Cordelia stuns Soleil by hugging her, rather than arguing with her, and insists that Mercer can still lead them. She also assures all three of the third generation Shepherds that she loves them and is proud of what they've done. Mercer tells Soleil that he really would do anything to make it up to her, but Soleil still can't be around him. Vasto informs Mercer that Keith is actually Archangel's adopted son. Deciding his disheveled appearance isn't acceptable anymore, Mercer asks if there are any barbers nearby.

Mercer surprises Cordelia with his haircut, and the two disappear into the bedroom, much to the chagrin of everyone else.

Author's Notes - Vasto's joke about the Pegasus Knights is a variation of the World's Funniest Joke according to a 2002 study by Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire.

Chapter 18

"Men like you and I, we're cut from a different stripe. We don't have to dream about bettering the world. We actually can."

Unable to sleep later that night, Mercer takes a walk through Nowi Falls and ends up conversing with Vasto on the city walls. The two are interrupted as an explosion tears through the wall on the other side of the city, and Vasto leaves to respond to it, leaving Mercer alone.

With the three girls sleeping in separate accommodations from Mercer and Cordelia, Caeldori is awoken by the explosion. She only barely manages to wake Soleil and Ophelia before Tunnellers attack their section of the city. Panicking, Soleil and Ophelia flee, but Caeldori stands her ground against them.

Mercer himself realizes that Tunnellers are assaulting the city after saving a merchant from one, and he's forced to wear the dragon scale armor from before after finding it in an abandoned stall to protect himself. Though the armor is almost destroyed in the fighting, Mercer encounters and defeats the majority of the Tunnellers before meeting up with Ophelia and Gaius. Though Ophelia and Soleil eventually returned to help Caeldori kill the Tunnellers, Courtney and his Grimleal Inquisitors ambushed Soleil and Caeldori afterwards, with Ophelia barely managing to escape. She also managed to overhear that Cordelia was captured. The three leave to find them, and Gaius eventually manages to locate Courtney and Kryczek's staging area.

Courtney and Kryczek have bound Soleil, Caeldori, and Cordelia by the time Mercer arrived, and Courtney had punctured Soleil's lung in frustration from her taunting. Kryczek insists that Mercer will be treated fairly if he surrenders and asks him to drop his weapon. He tricks Kryczek by appearing to lower his Falchion, only to quickly shoot and kill him with his newly gained pistol. Gaius and Ophelia emerge and subdue Courtney's men, forcing him to retreat. Caeldori takes the opportunity to break free of her bindings, but Cordelia insists that she help Soleil instead of her.

Mercer follows Courtney in a rage, but the agent is able to release E-13 from her carriage before he can catch up, and Mercer is once again forced to duel his own daughter. Furious over Kryczek's death, E-13 savagely murders a helpless Cordelia before engaging Mercer further. Mercer is almost overwhelmed by her ferocity and the shock of everything that had happened, but he manages to stun her by smashing her head against a wall. Horrified at what the Grimleal had done to her, Mercer states that he'll always love E-13, but he is forced to leave her body behind.

The group barely has time to mourn Cordelia's death before Courtney attacks with the remaining Tunnellers, but they are saved as Tiki reappears in her dragon form and effortlessly defeats them. Having been forced to move around since Caeldori's capture, Tiki apologizes for not being there earlier, but the girls are relieved to see her all the same.

The group holds a funeral for Cordelia. Realizing that his loved ones will continue to suffer if he does nothing, Mercer renounces his name and vows to stop the Grimleal. Aware of what he was doing and that Gangrel failed to kill him, the Fell Dragon itself roars in frustration.

Author's Notes - The confrontation with Kryczek, Courtney, and E-13 was inspired by the ending of James Mangold's Logan, particularly Logan shooting Dr. Rice with a gun before being confronted by X-24.

Act 2: The Fall

Chapter 19

"Those who can wield the Falchion against me must be killed. If I have to go to the Ylissean continent myself, you WILL NOT like what I do! I will turn the surface into glass! Your miserable race will no longer be spared, and you will witness its DISMEMBERMENT!"

The city of High Point, the true capital of the Grimleal, was built with the assistance of the Fell Dragon itself. It levitates over a kilometer above sea level, and it constantly drifts around the world. High Inquisitor Aversa stays here when not carrying out an assignment from the Fell Dragon, as do hundreds of Inquisitors and the Grimleal's Political Bureau. Frustrated with Gangrel's failures, Grima orders Aversa to hunt down Chrom and Ophelia. As High Point has drifted hundreds of kilometers away from the Ylissean continent, Aversa complains about the trip, but Grima mentally tortures her until she submits.

In Nowi Falls, Caeldori visits an injured Soleil just as Soleil had done for her when she lost her hand. She then visits Cordelia's grave, only to find that Chrom is still there. Chrom and Caeldori ultimately reconcile over his role in the fall of the Shepherds, and Chrom leaves her to mourn Cordelia in private.

In the city square, Keith informs the surviving populace of the city that the Arch Surg will abandon it. Though Vasto criticizes Keith for not helping the citizens, the Justicar, with the support of Cervantes and Farber, simply dismisses him.

Ophelia finds Tiki looking solemnly over Nowi's remains, and the two discuss the history of her race. The two see Chrom walk up, and Ophelia enthusiastically suggests that they name his weapons. She gives his double barreled flintlock pistol the name "Thundergrypp" and proposes the two develop combo attacks. Chrom then gives Ophelia the Parallel Falchion, promising to finally help train her to use it. However, he becomes enraged when he realizes that he forgot to go back for E-13's body.

Outside the city, Courtney and the surviving Inquisitors have dragged E-13 away. Courtney promises to make her even more powerful than Kryczek did.

Within the Rockpile, Altman encounters Inquisitor Dartsmoth, a specialist assigned by Aversa to hunt down Chrom and Ophelia. Altman summons the Deadlords and gives Dartsmoth command of them.

Meanwhile, Cordelia finds herself in a void, hearing the same chanting that Chrom had heard. She is approached by a mysterious bearded man, who hypnotizes her and forces her to speak the chant alongside the rest of the Shepherds.

Author's Notes - High Point was inspired by Vykker's Labs from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.

Chapter 20

"It's a Dolhrian attack, arseholes! Not so tough without your big lizard!"

Believing that Chrom and the others will leave Nowi Falls if left alone, Farber demands that Keith detain them. Though fearful of what Archangel would do if he failed to ensure their extraction, Keith was hesitant to forcibly capture Chrom as he had before, and he asks Farber to bring him proof that the group was planning to leave.

Ophelia and Soleil visit Minerva in the stables. They encounter Caeldori tending to Aurora, as Cordelia's death left her with without a master. Caeldori expresses doubt about her ability to care for Aurora. Beyond that, she worries that she won't be able to rebuild the Pegasus Knights as Cordelia wanted her to, believing herself not as perfect as her grandmother. Ophelia and Soleil reassure her that she is strong enough to do it. Meanwhile, Farber spied on the girls as they entered the stables, and concluded that it proved they were trying to leave the city.

Chrom encounters Gaius, drunk on wine the merchants had abandoned, while visiting Cordelia's grave again. Though Gaius is still bitter towards him, he admits that Chrom really did come to care about Cordelia and the girls, and the two slowly begin to reconcile. The two are approached by Vasto, who reveals that Keith will abandon the city without doing anything to help the civilians still living there. Chrom and Gaius agree to help Vasto assist them.

Gathering the rest of the group, Vasto leads Chrom and his allies around in circles before finally leading them into a trap, revealing that Vasto was acting on Keith's orders the entire time. Subduing Tiki with a sedative, Keith and his forces surround Chrom and demand the group's surrender. Though Caeldori briefly arrives on Aurora and incapacitates Keith's men, Pheros returns with the city's main garrison to reinforce Keith. The group attempts to resist, but the Arch Surg ultimately beat them into submission.

Author's Notes - This is the only chapter to feature Caeldori actually fighting on the back of a Pegasus.

Chapter 21

"I still have… family?"

Dartsmoth arrives in Ylisstol with the Deadlords to begin his hunt. Temporarily dismissing the Deadlords to prevent them from scaring people, Dartsmoth decides to speak to older citizens to see what they can tell him about Chrom.

Having captured the group, the Arch Surg abandon Nowi Falls and make their way through the badlands as they travel to western Ferox. Cervantes is assigned to watch over Gaius and Ophelia, but he falls asleep, and the two are able to talk freely. The two bond as they talk about their families, and Ophelia gives Gaius' arquebus the name "Sunspitter". Pheros is assigned to watch over Caeldori, and the two discuss philosophy when Caeldori questions the justifications of her actions. Vasto is assigned to watch over Soleil, and he eventually manages to entertain her with a number of puns.

Chrom and an unconscious Tiki are kept with Keith, and the two men simply glare at each other until the convoy reaches its destination—Fort Morgan in Death Valley, the most arid part of the badlands. Tiki is taken deeper into the fort, and the rest of the group encounters Algol and Mustafa. Having no hard feelings towards Chrom, and recognizing the significance of the surviving Shepherds, Mustafa takes the group to another Arch Surg officer, who is revealed to be Henry.

Though he doesn't initially recognize them, Henry is happy to see Chrom and Gaius again, and the two are shocked as they realize he is seemingly apathetic to the fall of the Shepherds. Chrom in turn reveals to Henry that Ophelia is his and Lissa's granddaughter, and by extension he also reveals this to Ophelia herself. Mustafa quickly hurries the group to their prison cells to avoid attracting suspicion from other Arch Surg officers, leaving Henry stunned to learn that he still has family.

Author's Notes - By coincidence, this chapter was posted on the same day as Henry's birthday.

Chapter 22

"So the ends justify the means? I thought that, you know. I thought that uniting the continent against Walhart was necessary, and I thought that anything I did to achieve that was justified. I was wrong. I became a monster."

As Grima refuses to move High Point closer to the Ylissean continent, Aversa is forced to sail there on her personal ship, the Matriarch's Vindication. Inquisitor Ascension, one of Aversa's most trusted agents, argues with the ship's captain, Cassia, and travels below deck to inspect her soldiers. Ascension forces her troops to worship the Fell Dragon, and a Deacon named Sentzke, who grew up with Ascension, is made to convert them. One of Ascenion's troops questions the religion while Sentzke is delivering a sermon, and Ascension forcibly drags her away. Despite Sentzke's pleading, she breaks the young woman's legs and hurls her overboard in a fit of rage. Meanwhile, Aversa informs her teenaged son Thallius, recently made an Inquisitor, that she expects him to do as he is told when they reach Ylisstol. Thallius is less than enthusiastic, and Aversa questions her decision to have children.

In Ylisstol, Gangrel remembers a conversation he once had with Lucina after asking her why she once tried to murder Robin. In the present, Gangrel is infuriated at Courtney's lack of progress and at E-13's disappearance, and he grabs Ragnell from his trophy room and smashes through the wall in a fit of madness. Unfazed, his attendant informs him that his wife is coming. Gangrel's wife, a much younger woman of Ylissean nobility, originally had inane complaints to vent about, but she is further infuriated at the sight of the hole in the wall and demands Gangrel repair it before storming off. Gangrel's own rage fades, and he briefly wonders what will become of his family after his inevitable death. Ignoring this, Gangrel's attendant also informs him that Aversa's ship was sighted off the coast, and that Grima has issued Black Authority. As this will give Aversa the right to appropriate whatever she sees fit from him in order to enact Grima's will, Gangrel orders that his assets be hidden. He also wishes to have Rouchfort, a talented general of his, command the Grimleal 2nd Army so that the entire army can be deployed to hunt down Chrom, thus proving to Grima that Gangrel can keep humanity pacified on his own.

In The Rockpile, Altman talks about his backstory, and then asks Tharja about her time in the Shepherds in order to prove her willingness to work with him. Tharja reveals that she was married to Gaius. Altman then tells her that the Deadlords were actually created from the corpses of Lucina, Owain, Inigo, Morgan, Yarne, Gerome, Kjelle, Laurent, Brady, Priam, Yen'fay, and her own daughter Noire. All of these Shepherds were experimented on after they were killed as they'd all passed through an Outrealm Gate at some point, and they were turned into Deadlords after the experiments were over to take advantage of their combat skills.

In Mercer's hometown, Donald returns home to his wife and daughters to find that his family was visited by Inquisitor Dartsmoth. Though Dartsmoth charms his family, he reveals to Donald that he knows about his backstory as a criminal and that he could have him imprisoned unless he tells him everything he knows about Chrom.

In a remote building hidden in Courtney's former sector, Courtney and the Inquisitors still with him torture E-13 as part of his twisted plan to make her stronger.

Author's Notes - Courtney's torture of E-13 was inspired by a training regimen the ancient Spartans supposedly practiced. Teenaged boys were kept half starved and were made to brave a gauntlet of beatings to retrieve food. Alternatively they were encouraged to steal to promote resourcefulness, but were punished severely if caught.

Chapter 23

"There is a road in the hearts of all of us, hidden and seldom traveled, which leads to an unknown, secret place. You must understand the world itself, and you will think more deeply and feel more keenly. You will see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to the lives of others. When you understand who you are, and what you are in this world, you will be able to keep these terrible futures from happening."

Imprisoned within Fort Morgan, Chrom and Gaius speak to each other within their prison cell. Though Chrom blames himself for what has happened to the world, Gaius reveals that Chrom has slowly started to inspire him again, and the two men further reconcile. They are visited by Old Hubba, a fortune teller they had met in the Outrealms, who now works as a kind of chaplain for the Arch Surg. Old Hubba reveals that the Grimleal have seized control of the Outrealm Gate and have sent armies into the Outrealms. Old Hubba joined the Arch Surg as they provide him with a place to stay, but he only gave Keith access to three Einherjar. Keith had sent Old Hubba to give a sermon, but Old Hubba instead shows Chrom a vision of the future. He then tells Chrom that he can prevent the horrible things he saw from coming to pass if he comes to understand the role he can still play in the world.

Meanwhile, Soleil, Caeldori, and Ophelia have been kept in a cell together. Soleil begins antagonizing Caeldori over a book of questionable content she'd been reading, and Ophelia unintentionally releases a blast of dark magic to separate the two. Having witnessed Ophelia's power, Henry is impressed and suggests that she has a natural talent for dark magic. Ophelia is initially enamored with her grandfather as he tells her things dark magic can do, but she becomes horrified when he casually reveals he once created a curse to brainwash a woman into loving a suitor, and that the Arch Surg had further commissioned him to create a similar curse to make soldiers mindlessly loyal. Unable to understand why Ophelia was disgusted with him, Henry then uses dark magic to heal Caeldori, still injured from Keith's attacks at Nowi Falls, at Soleil's expense. This infuriates Ophelia further, and Henry is left confused.

At the Arch Surg capital of Belfire, Archangel is preparing to leave for Fort Morgan to personally meet Chrom. She tells her biological daughter, Miranda, that she is leaving, but Miranda convinces her to read her smutty fiction first.

Author's Notes - The titles of this chapter and the previous chapter reference a quote by Chinese political leader Chiang Kai-shek. "The Japanese are a disease of the skin. The communists are a disease of the heart." The content of the chapters connects this to the Grimleal and Arch Surg respectively. The idea is that the Grimleal, a conquering regime, represents a superficial threat to the world. The Arch Surg, which seeks to overthrow the Grimleal in a revolution and build a new world, represents a threat to the future of the human condition.

Chapter 24

"But… my kind faces a greater threat to its existence than anything we have ever seen. The Fell Dragon is destroying our very planet, and the Grimleal, race traitors all of them, poisons us and weakens us. Some of them may think that serving the Fell Dragon is necessary to save us, but they are really ensuring that we are too weak to rise up. They are keeping us stunted so that when Grima is ready to destroy us, we will die already on our knees. We have to defeat them. The Archanean Liberation Front is the future of the human condition… but we need money."

Keith visits Tiki, who has been imprisoned within a metal cell designed to be portable, and tells her that the Arch Surg will sell her to the Grimleal to collect a thirty million gold bounty the Grimleal placed on her. Keith then orders Vasto to have his wyvern riders carry the cell away.

Mustafa is training several soldiers when Henry visits him and tells him about Ophelia. Mustafa suggests Henry prove to her that he really wants to be part of her life. Henry thanks Mustafa, but also reveals what he told Ophelia. Alarmed, Mustafa worries about the nature of the curse the Arch Surg commissioned him to create.

Returning to Ophelia, Soleil, and Caeldori's cell, Henry insists that he wants to help the three. To prove this, he slays the soldier sent to guard them and lifts the curse he had placed on some of the Arch Surg soldiers in the fort. Warning the girls that the soldiers will likely lash out in anger, Henry destroys the cell door and offers to help them escape.

Author's Notes - Henry's power in this story reflects my idea that mages could logically grow more powerful over time if they continued to focus on magic, and they wouldn't grow weaker with age like physical characters would. Henry devoted himself to becoming a stronger dark mage as a coping mechanism after his family's death. At this point he's less like a playable mage unit, and is more comparable to exceedingly powerful sorcerers like Validar, Gharnef, or Iago.

Chapter 25

"You have a destiny that does not end with these walls."

Chrom and Gaius are still within their prison cell when Old Hubba and a severely injured Mustafa approach them. Revealing that many of the soldiers in the fort have suddenly gone mad with inexplicable rage, Mustafa releases the two on his own volition and tells them they need to leave immediately. Chrom and Gaius don't trust the two, but don't see any other choice.

Fighting their way through the rebelling soldiers, which also helps to prove Mustafa isn't lying, the group makes their way to a secluded warehouse. Old Hubba and Mustafa reveal that Farber had commissioned the creation of an experimental weapon, inspired by the ballisticians from the legends of Nohr and Hoshido, and Chrom and Gaius are forced to use it to escape the fort. Though Pheros managed to surround the warehouse with her soldiers, the ballistician easily overpowers them, and Gaius eagerly cuts through the chaos in the fort. Mustafa then offers to assist an injured Pheros in exchange for her surrender, but she refuses to betray the Arch Surg.

Meanwhile, Henry had taken the girls to retrieve their weapons after helping them escape, but they'd become surrounded when the fighting started. Using his power to kill several attacking soldiers, Henry insists to Ophelia that dark magic is superior to physical combat, and uses the relative weakness of Soleil, Caeldori, and Chrom as evidence. He insists that he can help Ophelia reach her potential, but she is still wary of him. However, she does defend him when Soleil criticizes his use of dark magic.

Chrom and Gaius appear with the ballistician soon after. Though Chrom is happy to see the girls safe, he becomes depressed when Henry casually reveals the Arch Surg had already moved Tiki out of the fort. Ophelia tries to snap him out of it by returning the Falchion to him, and Chrom experiences a flashback of his father. Determined to be strong for his allies, Chrom notices Keith inspecting the ballistician and chases him back to the fort's citadel. Keith locks himself inside, but the group plans to use the ballistician to break through the gate and end Keith's threat once and for all.

Keith manages to summon the three Einherjar Old Hubba had given him, Celica, Micaiah, and Eirika, and the three are sent to protect the gate. Celica destroys the ballistician after her fire magic ignites the gunpowder, and the group is severely injured. In particular, Henry's nose is almost severed by a piece of shrapnel, and Caeldori's leg is badly wounded as several pieces of metal are embedded in her thigh. Chrom fights bitterly to protect them and manages to kill Micaiah and Eirika, but he is almost defeated by Celica before Mustafa saves him.

Unable to breach the citadel without the ballistician, Mustafa decides to help the group escape and takes them to where Minerva and Aurora were kept. Though Chrom demands to stay in a fit of rage, Mustafa insists that the group is too injured to keep fighting and that they cannot die in the fort. Mustafa further tells Chrom that Henry was likely responsible for the curse, and to be wary of his attempts to bond with Ophelia. Letting go of his hatred of Keith, Chrom agrees to leave.

Leaving the citadel, Algol, Farber, and Cervantes assist an injured Pheros. She proposes that the four hunt down Chrom on their own, without the oversight of Keith, and the three readily agree.

Author's Notes - Celica, Micaiah, and Eirika were among the heroines the Shepherds faced in Fire Emblem Awakening's Xenologue 1. Celica, who almost overpowers Chrom in this chapter, was the final boss.