Notes: One chapter left to go! Bet you cannot, really cannot guess which kid is coming tomorrow and who are the parents. However, there are hints about them all the way back at Book of Affairs, and also today in this chapter ;)

Stats: I have over 50 requests gathered by now, way over 40,000 words all together! You can see the list at my profile, but the higher word count requests are: EmmerynGangrel (3,500), ChromFRobin (3,000), TikiMRobin (2,500), sequel to She waited, asleep (2,000), GangrelRobin (2,000), cheers!

About requests of FE14, I have taken them into account, but will need to wait until I play the game since I'm avoiding spoilers. I have seen at least the Corrins paired off with the Robins in Tumblr art, and I totally support your requests! But I know nothing else aside from "they look pretty together," so... we wait.

Morgan and Lucina had left Aversa and Walhart behind to deal with Morton, the princess sharing short bits of knowledge as they ran to the mess tent. The other kids had all lied; they were actual members of the cult, not just following orders or wanting a reward. In their timeline, Grima was still active, and had managed to convince the whole generation of Shepherd children to join, rendering all the parents unable to fight...

"Come on in, quick," Yen'fay whispered, guarding the entrance.

Emmeryn hugged both of them once inside, relieved. "They are... still... behaving."

At the table, Junia sat chewing her lip, Danna was fidgety while she scratched her arm, and Kei hit his head against the wood time and again. "Where's Rei'na?" the younger tactician asked.

"Still at the healers', but Say'ri is bringing her over soon," Lucina answered, walking over to one end of the table. "You three, speak up."

"We made a mistake," Kei muttered, over and over.

Danna nodded frantically. "Forgive us!"

"Grima said..." Junia started, looking haunted, "she said... that the world was being fooled by the tactician. And our other companions, from our generation... they were also being led to their own doom."

"She said to stop ya from bein' born. We had to save everybody!"

"But seeing you," the manakete said, finishing his maddening mantra, "and seeing our parents here in the past..."

"Grima lied." No shit.

Lucina frowned at them. "Don't cut it off there. Tell Morgan everything, just like you told me."

"One day you appeared, Morgan, along with your sister Lucina," Junia continued. "You talked with the others; Inigo, Noire, Gerome... all of them, we have seen them around camp. And they converted back to Naga's..."

...but then, a side of the tent went up in flames, and Emmeryn grabbed her nephew to guide him out, while the other children pushed his half-sister out after him.

Yen'fay was facing off against his daughter already, a slender girl with a sweet smile, who twirled her torch right into a barrel of water before drawing her sword.

"Grima said we would meet our parents, that they would say things meant to trick us, you idiots," she said as she saw her friends lined up with her perceived enemy. Her eyes met Morgan's. "You look so much like him..." she gasped, blushing lightly, taking several steps back.

"Like who?"

Her sword moved in Morgan's direction, and she charged.

"Iris, stop!" Rei'na appeared from the shadows, knocking her cousin's blade off her hands.

She backed her into Morton's grasp, who restrained her. "Calm down, Iris."

"No! We have to kill the tacticians! Both of them! My boyfriend said so! He doesn't lie to me! You're all being manipulated!"

"Wait, your boyfriend?" Yen'fay asked his shrieking daughter.

Emmeryn was likewise confused. "Is he... like Morgan?"

Morgan's blood froze in his veins when Iris looked his way again, deep longing in her eyes, and she nodded, stopping her struggles as she started to cry.

Iris the Myrmidon: Daughter of Yen'fay and Emmeryn. Raised in isolation by her parents, who are supposed to be dead, she is socially awkward and naive. Extremely attached to her cousin. Has an annoying tendency for falling in love with all the wrong people. A girl of contradictions, values peace and her sword.