Goodralisk: Okay so my voice is back to normal, so that's good. I can finally intro the story again.

Deadpool: Glad that's over. You did kind of take the Link thing too far.

Goodralisk: Come on, it wasn't that bad.

Lancer: I actually have to agree with him. You were clutching a fake Hylian Shield and Master Sword like they were your babies.

Goodralisk: So?

Lancer/Deadpool: While wearing a Kokiri green tunic and cap!

Goodralisk: Oh, go to hell! Anyway, back to the important matter at hand!

None of us own any of the following.

Stunned by my nonchalant and quickly made deduction, Junior stared at me like something had been on my face or something, instantly making me feel awkward. I scratched my head sheepishly and just as awkwardly, a little embarrassed by the tension of the situation that continued to grow with each second. I had no idea how he would respond to this, as his gaze on me persisted. Despite being silent on the outside, my thoughts had been chatting over one thing. Pride. Pride in how my son turned out over the course of his life until he became the young man standing in front of me today. Looking at him, I knew he had been very disciplined, training very hard each day, his body gave that little tidbit away immediately. Additionally, he was battle hardened, which gave me joy knowing that he was most likely as skilled as I am now, perhaps even more.

"You've grown into a mighty fine man, Junior," I grinned. "I'm glad I got to see my son as a...young...adult…" I trailed off on my sentence, my grin replaced with a hard look of concern once his head fell to look at the ground. Small breaths left his body and I saw him...trembling? "Did...did I say something wrong? Sorry, I'm not too good at this whole "dad" thing, I barely had my father with me myself and-"

"Father… I missed you…" Junior lifted his head, his eyes red and tears threatening to spill, yet he sported a sad smile with it. Well, battle hardened as he may be, he still was a kid. I pulled him into a hug, his head falling on my shoulder as he silently cried. A light chuckle escaped my lips. "Come on. A Pandorian doesn't cry," I joked as I patted his head softly. He separated the two of us and rubbed away the tears, leaving red marks behind.

"Now then," I sat down cross legged on the ground, Junior following suit. "What brings you here in the past?"

"No foreplay, huh, Dad? Just straight into it? Welp, at least we know how Mom got me," he joked.

I grumbled at the statement, eyebrow twitching ever so slightly. Yep, deeeeefinitely my kid, alright. Inherited my sense of humour too. "Anyway… it all began about ten years before my current time. On a certain day, in Plegia...the current Exalt of Ylisse was murdered."

My eyes widened. "Chrom? Murdered?" My hand went to my chin in thought. "By who?"

"None of us truly know for sure, but it has been rumoured that he had been killed by his best friend. Or someone close to him at the very least", Junior answered.

Hmm. So a Shepherd was the killer, it had seemed. "I see."

Junior nodded. "After the Exalt was killed, things spiraled into chaos. The Fire Emblem was stolen by the Grimleal. However, it took a lot of preparation to bring the dragon to this plane at full power, even with the Emblem, they needed a large enough physical and spiritual offering."

"In other words, they needed large amounts of human flesh and mana as a sacrifice."

"Exactly. This set them back, in turn, giving us five years to train an army of soldiers, ready to fight against the possible threat of Grima. Unfortunately, by the time we had been ready, the Grimleal had struck. With the proper preparations over the course of five years in place, the Fell Dragon had been revived at its strongest. The next few years once he had been revived...hell had literally walked the lands. The shadowy dragon loomed above in the skies, bringing chaos and evil and leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake. Humanity gave its all against this threat, the anti-Grimleal resistance led by Lucina."

Junior fixed his bangs slightly and took a pause, ready to continue again. "But as you can already tell, that didn't last long. Once our own dead started to rise against us, it was only so long before we had to fall back and seek asylum wherever we could. But we weren't without hope. Naga, the Divine Dragon, enacted a ritual that allowed us to go back in time to stop this future from happening."

"Wait," I interjected. "Where were the Shepherds in all of this? Surely we were fighting to stop it."

"Well, around the time Chrom was killed, you disappeared, the status of your life unknown. Additionally, nearly everyone had died that day. The only ones I knew survived were Mama Cordelia, Lady Tharja, and Vaike."

I blinked at his story. Had we really all died there trying to stop the Grimleal from killing everyone? The first line of defense for humanity, essentially, and we were wiped out like common pests. Moreover, where had I been during all of this? Apparently I wasn't anywhere to be seen. Obviously I would have at least tried to do something, though. Either way, it made no sense just dwelling on it all night. Now that our alliance with Plegia, albeit shaky, has been confirmed, we had to head back to Ferox at Port Styx to set sail.

As we made it back to the camp, we immediately saw Say'ri and Cordelia, along with two other redheads. One of them had their hair in pigtails and was more distant from the small group than the other one, who had been bubbly and energetic in comparison. This one had her hair long and flowing. Almost identical to Cordelia's very own.

"Wait, aren't those two-," I spoke, though I stopped when I realized that Junior had already moved a good distance away from me, which had me confused, but I soon got my answer in the form of two voices screaming "Daddy!", followed by a tackle that sent me to the ground. Once I processed everything fully, I came to realize that these were my girls. Severa and Serena. "Yup, figures." I laughed as I held the girls in the best hug I could. They grew so much. To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed that these girls were… my little girls.

"Serena, Severa, you two have grown into such beautiful young women," I chuckled, holding them as they simply just bawled, albeit very happily. "You girls okay and well?"

"We… didn't think… we'd get to be with… you and Mom as a family again…," Severa managed between sniffles. "You suddenly left, and… and…"

"It's okay, Sev. I'm here for all of you now." I stroked her hair, trying to console her. "Your brother told me everything."

After what seemed like forever, they finally settled down and had smiles on their faces ear to ear, though Severa's wasn't as big and bright when compared to her younger twin. It took even longer as Cordelia and Say'ri were gushing over our first born, showing him motherly affection and pinching his cheeks and crap, but eventually, much to his relief, it came to an end. The two older women were chatting away with the three grown children of ours, I was far too distracted with my own thoughts to join in on the jubilant reunion.

This whole future thing, it made no sense. If I wasn't around, I had to have died shortly after the time Chrom had been killed. But they would have to know about my death had it actually happened. As far as Junior and the rest knew, I simply disappeared. So it was safe to say that I was still alive in that timeline, I was just up and gone. But even with THAT answer, it never made it all clear. Rather, it just created more questions. For one, where did I go to? What was I doing when my friends were dying out there fighting a hopeless battle?

"Earth to Eric!", Cordelia called as snapped her fingers in front of my face, pulling me from my wandering thoughts. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly as I waved off the question of whether or not I was okay. I'd have to speak with Say'ri and her later.

But enough about that right now. "Now then, off to bed, you three," I said, speaking to the future kids. And partially myself, because a nap until morning sounded therapeutic right about now. "We have a long march tomorrow and I can't have you kids sleeping on your feet. There's a supply wagon with a blue marking on the cloth. That's where we keep our tents and extra cots. There should be enough for each of you."

"Daddy, we're not children anymore," Serena laughed. "But okay. Goodnight." Enveloped in a big hug by the kids, I wrapped my arms around them as best I could before leaving them to their own devices.

"And you thought you wouldn't be a good father," Cordelia giggled as we ourselves walked to our own tent, but her small bit of laughter stopped as soon as it began. "Eric?"

"Huh?", was my oh so intelligent response. "Oh, yeah, Cordelia, what's up?"

"Something's troubling you."

I opened my mouth to deny it, but ultimately conceded. "Am I that easy to read?" A nod from the redhead was my answer before I gave a sigh. "You both know where those three came from, right?"

"Yes. They told us that they lived in such a woeful time yet to come. A time where the Fell Dragon traversed the skies," Say'ri said. "Perhaps that's what plagues you?"

"No," I replied. "It's not just that. It's that… Junior told me that the reason they had to fight off Grima is because the Shepherds...die."

Cordelia widened her eyes in shock. "All of us?"

I shook my head. "From what I know, three of the Shepherds survive: Tharja, Vaike, and you." Then I turn my attention from Cordelia to Say'ri. "Unfortunately, that's to say that you and the remaining Shepherds die at the hands of Grima."

"Hold," the swordswoman called. "You said you and the remaining Shepherds. If that's the case, then what happened to you?"

"Junior simply said I disappeared," I replied. "Did I just abandon the group? Or did I die too? What became of me is wracking my brain."

"That is strange," Cordelia said, the three of us entering our tent. "Still, it will do you no good if you just let it keep you up all night. You need rest too, honey."

I took off my day clothes and put on my nightwear. "You know what? You're right." I climbed into the large splay of bedding, the fabric beneath me feeling somewhat different, yet inviting all the same. Perhaps Cordelia had washed it or something. The two women followed suit, after donning their own bedwear, they took their sleeping spots on either side of me. "Goodnight, love/honey," Say'ri and Cordelia said respectively.

"Goodnight, my queens."

Despite my greatest wishes, my efforts to have a good night sleep was fruitless, so while Cordelia and Say'ri slept, I simply laid there. The questions running through my mind would not relent, constantly keeping me up and bringing me back to full consciousness when I even began to nod off. I shuffled around as much as I could with the two women on both sides of me, trying to make my slumber-or lack thereof-more comfortable. However, at some time after what felt like an eternity, I felt sleep finally claim me.

"The Shepherds are DEAD."

I stood atop the summit of the tallest tower in the castle ruins, looking out over the skies that were permanently stained red with the blood and hatred of war. Dark clouds swirled slowly in the sky around the tower, as if the figures worshipped the lone stone structure they orbited. They gave all but a bad omen to any who would have taken in such a view. And yet, down below was more damning. Carnage of war spread out for miles, blood, weapons, and gore blanketed the ground rather thickly, and purple mist was abundant, as well as dead corpses from which the mist spawned. A bolt of lightning struck the battlefield with such power, it shook the very earth.

I ran a hand through my hair, the loose silky strands nearly as dark and murky as the horror scene I witnessed. Then I stared at my hand. It felt familiar, yet I had a creeping feeling that it wasn't mine. The hand trembled viciously before laying itself on the pommel of my blade, the weapon pulsating dimly. A sudden click on the stone floor I stood on alerted me to the presence of another, and when I turned around, the first thing that caught my attention were the tears in her eyes and the wavering shift in her breath.

"How could you?"

My eyes sprung wide open, the view being not the horrific apocalyptic bloodbath, but the cloth that hung above me. My tent.

"Damn." I snaked my arm from underneath Cordelia and placed my palm to my eye. "Another nightmare." I almost closed my eyes, that is, if it weren't for tiny clicking sounds that distracted me. I turned my head to the side and saw a tiny centipede making its way across the wall of my tent.

"I wanna get off this island."

As promised, all of the resources we requested from Plegia sat at Port Styx, the time we spent returning to Ferox gave their army enough time to assemble, along with the Shepherds and Ylisse's own army. Standing in front of them all alongside Chrom, Sumia, the two khans, Cordelia, Say'ri, and Robin, the Grandmaster of Ylisse, I waited for the chatter to die down, the tens of thousands of men willing to fight for freedom. I held my hand over my brow to look down the port, shielding my eyes from the dawning morning light. We had a lot, yes, but not nearly enough to match the Valmese hundreds of thousands for sure, and that's only IF they all survived the battle by sea.

I leaned into Chrom's direction, never avoiding eye contact with the troops. "Chrom, how many do we have with us?"

Chrom leaned to the side himself. "Forty, maybe sixty thousand at most. Considering the number, our boats will be half filled if we're lucky."

"Better than nothing," I sighed.

Chrom gave us all a few words before ultimately giving the call to board the ships. And what Chrom said was correct; each of the eight hundred ships were filled with about fifty troops, give or take a few. None of the ships filled to half their capacity, which as far as space goes, was great. The real troubling variable was the amount the Valmese had sent against us. Aside from the eight hundred warships, we also received fifty transport ships that held oil. The next two days were spent trying to figure out how to take them at sea. We needed a solid solution and fast. And unfortunately, nothing came.

"Arrr! Me sense that a storm be brewing!," I joked as I peered out into the open blue on the deck of the ship. I was met with a rather incredulous look by Chrom. "What? Can't we lighten up a little?," I weakly chuckled.

"He's got a point there, Chrom. Somehow I feel like our troubles are drifting away. No pun intended."

"Ironic…," I sighed. "...since we're heading straight for them."

"I'm happy you and Eric both find the sea life nice, Robin, but I personally can do without it," Chrom added. "I want off of this boat as quickly as possible."

"Well, if I can give you credit for one thing… at least you're doing better than Gaius," I chuckled, pointing at the sugar blooded thief hunched over the edge. Greener than the lime lollipops on his belt, he moved away from the edge to face away from the sea, only to losing stability in his legs. He held his stomach and fell to his knees, doubled over. The two men next to me laughed at the ginger's inability to keep his body collected on board.

A flapping in the wind cut into our fun, the green and golden manakete hovering over the deck with a man in tow. Frederick. "Apologies for interrupting, milord," Frederick interjected, dropping down from Nowi's back. "But I have news."

"Something tells me that it is not good news."

"Well, it could be better, boy." The one eyed Khan walked up to the group, Flavia at his side. Frederick cleared his throat. "The scouts, including myself, have reported back from our rounds. Their fleet match ours ship for ship."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It's not. Their troops reach frightening numbers, vastly surpassing ours. From bow to stern, they're packed with soldiers."

Flavia placed a hand on her hip. "We have next to no chance fighting them head on, but we have no other choice. And even if it's a sea battle, this will not go as slick and as smoothly as we'd like it to."

Robin's head shot up, which told me that he had an idea. "Slick…? That's it!"

Even I was lost. "Flavia, how much oil do we have?," Robin asked, earning a confused brow in return.

"Um, roughly three thousand liters per transport. But what can you do with it? We don't have catapults."

"Don't worry about that," I said, catching onto Robin's plan. "If I understand Robin's plan the way I think I do, there will be dead Valmese all around and fire. LOTS of fire." I cackled alongside Robin rather deviously, causing the others to sweat drop.

Robin lifted a solitary finger. "Here's the plan. We send a few transport ships ahead with our strongest team, first disrupting their chain of command, taking out their commander. He will most likely be heading the enemy ships. Once that's accomplished, we send in the remaining transports in ahead."

"Now I see," Basilio hummed. "Now I see where the fire comes in."

"That's right," I continued. "If what we assume they'll do is correct, they'll swarm those transport ships. The Shepherds will be on those ships handling the commander."

"But how do you plan to get all of them out of there without casualties?," Basilio asked. "It's not like we have the leniency to send pegasus knights in to get you guys. They'll be pelted with all kinds of hell."

"I can teleport them all out. I can spare that much," I said. "As long as I can mark one of the safe ships, I can safely get us out of there in time."

Robin crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought. "That could potentially work, but how many can you handle warping out on your own?"

"Comfortably, I say twenty to twenty-five. Anymore than that, and I have to rest for a while to recover." I was met with a lot of confused stares. "What? I'm powerful, not Naga. I'm pretty sure manipulating SPACE ITSELF would wear out anyone, even more so when you develop a way to break existing laws of physics through the means of a damn paper tag."

"Fair enough," Robin reasoned. "Frederick, how much longer do we have until the Valmese are upon us?"

"Perhaps two hours. If we wish to make our move, now is the time."

"Perfect," Robin and I said in unison.

Finally engaged with the Valmese, they ended up boarding on the one lead ship with three of their own. Not exactly what Robin and I had planned, but it'll do. A quick overview of the enemy granted me knowledge of one thing: Their platoon of elites were all wearing fairly heavy armour. With all the plate they wore, they'd sink faster than a rock. Made our job all the easier.

I leaned in the platinum-blond's direction. "Hey, Robin!"

"Yeah?"

"You got this under control?"

"Absolutely."

With that one word, I sat down and began gathering mana. Covered by Robin and Kellam, I was almost certain I was protected, as vulnerable as I was at the time. Meanwhile, Chrom led his assault against the starboard side enemy, Frederick led against the port side enemy, while Basilio and Flavia stole a few Shepherds to take the enemy that went around on our stern. Though the ship we were on was surrounded by three, we in turn had THEM surrounded by a dozen more of our own pawns. Needless to say, our plan would work perfectly if done correctly.

Closing my eyes, I heard Robin barking orders out. "Miriel! Tharja! Cover our pegasus troops! We need them airborne! Vaike, Stahl, in on their left and break through their defenses!"

I heard all kinds of splashing around me, horse, pegasi and men falling into the waters below, I heard men getting torn to shreds along with their armor, and every one of their anguished cries that followed the arcane hum of combat magic as they got burned or sliced apart. Though my attention was caught by a man in heavy armor screaming a war cry with his axe held high, ready to cut me down. Before the axe could descend, a purple blade stuck out through his breastplate, and when it was removed, blood spray from his armor, staining my face and torso slightly. The body collapsed, revealing Junior to be the one who killed the man.

"Aw come on, boy, this is my favorite shirt," I joked, making Junior laugh a little and drag out a sarcastic "you're welcome". I shook my head at him while a manakete and a wyvern rider I know flew from enemy ship to enemy ship, dropping barrels from above. Each of them exploded black ooze-like substance.

"Robin," I began, getting the tactician's attention. "You were simply using the bulk of the infantry assault just to get Nowi and Cherche airborne undetected, huh? Crafty bastard."

"What can I say?" he uttered out a laugh. "I like to play the game. You should be focusing on gathering magic for that teleportation spell."

"Don't be such a nitpick. I'm basically ready whenever you guys are."

"Commander is down!," Chrom called. "Eric, are you ready?"

"Ready!"

"I'm giving the signal! Shepherds, fall back, now!" With that command, all of the Shepherds fell back to the main vessel and formed a circle around me. With the exception of Nowi, who flew up and was charging her fire blast. The remaining Valmese soldiers who approached us were confused and had no idea what we were planning until they noticed what it was were doing, and by then it was already too late.

"Here we GO!" Nowi shot her blast and it fell like a meteor, careening towards the wooden boats at high speed. I decided to bide our time until it was the right moment. Right before the blast hits the ship.

"Now!"

A split second later, we end up on an entirely different ship. Far away from what was now carnage on the sea. "Whoa, check it out!" Many of the Shepherds looked out in the direction of the Valmese fleet, their ships getting caught in the blaze faster than anything we'd ever seen. The fire only grew more and more vicious as time went on, essentially becoming a wall of fire on the ocean surface. They better have hoped they didn't have any gunpowder on their-

BOOM!

Oh, joy, they had gunpowder. More damage caused to them.

"Well… you happy?", Basilio barked. "Oh, Naga! Only Robin and you would be brilliant enough and crazy enough to pull something like that! Setting flame to WATER! Using our own ships as ammunition! Ingenious!"

"Nice touch on the oil barrel care packages by the way," I complimented Robin.

"Thanks," he grinned.

"Now we just have to wait out until the fire dims down," Chrom said. "I'd say by the hour's end… we'll be good."

Goodralisk: Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Sorry if it felt a little off, I had to rewrite this chapter twice already. And also, new ideas come to mind constantly.

Deadpool: And none of them are good ones.

Goodralisk: And who exactly are you to judge? Your machinima of Sonic Adventure 2 is some of the cringiest shit to ever exist on the Internet.

Deadpool: …...I thought we agreed not to bring that up.

Goodralisk: Especially that one "bromance" with Sonic and Knuckles, which had a little too much romance-

Deadpool: Okay, end of chapter! Read, review, or some shit!