Chapter 29 Mother
Matthew, Lissa and Chrom watched as the old man, and the four "guardians", yards in front of them raised a hand into the air with his index and middle finger pointed to the sky. The three Ylisseans could only stare in amazement when a wall about 8 feet tall and at least 200 yards wide slowly faded into existence before them. On top of the wall were about ten mages, some wearing dark mage garbs and some wearing regular mage attires.
One of the mages at the top made the same hand sign as the old priest on the ground and the gates began to slowly open (Matthew labeled the action to be somewhat of an "everything's okay" sign). The second the gate was fully open, the trio, once again, were taken aback by the amount of life that brightened throughout the village. The sounds of people talking and laughing could be heard all around the region and people were casually walking and talking amongst each other. The ground was complete sandstone compared to the many miles the Shepherds traveled in, and the many shops and houses that went along the roads were mixed with both brick and wooden material. If you looked further into the village, you could even see a lake along with grass growing around it.
"It's, it's beautiful~!" Lissa said in awe at scenery and liveliness of the village.
"I never knew a place like this even existed in Plegia." Chrom joined in.
"That is indeed our goal in this village." The old man said turning around to the three Ylisseans. "Deceiving the world and making sure no one finds this place. We use a high level magic skill that turns our village into nothing but a mirage. It completely fools the naked eye and hides us from the outside world. We are close enough to a forest just east of here and we are masters when it comes to tactical survival."
"Tactical survival?" Matthew said, interest growing in his mind.
The old man looked to the tactician and smiled. "Indeed, Master Robin. Tactics runs within the blood of every magician here. It is the heart and soul of this village, but I don't believe I have to tell you that, Master Robin. After all, you were our greatest tactician before you left to journey on your own. You may not have excelled in magic like the others, but you were on a completely different level when it came to tactics!"
Matthew's eyes widened at the ending of the old man's sentence. He could see Chrom and Lissa in his peripheral vision in similar shock next to him, but his attention was too focused on the old man than his shocked friends. "Wait, are you saying I use to live here?" Matthew asked the old man. Instead of replying with words, the old man let out a hearty laugh at the tactician's question.
"Hohoho! You still have jokes even now, Master Robin! Come, I'm sure the people will love to see you have returned from your journey!" The old man said before turning around and began walking into the village, leaving Chrom, Matthew and Lissa to their thoughts; the four glowing warriors following close behind. Lissa looked to the bewildered tactician with elation and gave him a gentle slap on the back.
"What luck you have, Matthew! We ran into the place you once lived!" The princess exclaimed excitedly.
"I-I honestly don't know what to think at the moment." Matthew confessed. "He announced me by the name 'Robin', but even though he says the name no memories comes to my mind. For all I know, that old man could be completely mistaking me for someone else."
"Uh, hellOOOOOOO?! He said the BEST tactician here! Unless there is a better tactician than you, then all clues are pointed right at YOU, Robin!" Lissa tried to state the obvious to the tactician, but the brunette still felt hesitation within him. He still didn't know how to take all of this. Just days ago he found out that he was the vessel for the Fell Dragon, but was doomed to one day dr. On the bright side, there might be a chance that something here could possibly bring back his old memories, but there was also the downside. Even if this was the place he once grew up in, there had to be something here that his old self wanted to forget. Did he really want to resurface his old memories? What would happen if they were back? Would he remember a family he once had? A child? A lover? A mother…?
"It's too early to judge everything by just standing here doing nothing." Chrom interrupted the tactician's thoughts and pushed him from behind. The brunette turned around in shock and saw the Exalt and princess both smiling back at him. "This was going to happen one day when you get your memories back anyways. If there is a chance to learn something about your past self, then you must take it no matter what the past you was like."
"But Chrom-"
"No matter what you remember here, we will always be your family, Matthew!" Lissa chimed in.
"You too, Lissa…"
"Go ahead already." Chrom said in a slightly commanding voice. "Don't even think about leaving this place until you confirmed if this place is where you once lived or not. That's an order coming from your superior officer." Seeing that he was not getting out of this, the tactician dropped his head in defeat and let out a heavy sigh.
"Fine...I'm still not sure, but if that is what you guys think is best, then I will go..."
"Good, now get out there and get those memories back mister!" Lissa yelled with
We will be back in 2 hours, so use that time to find whatever you need." Chrom said and turned his back, along with Lissa, to the tactician and walked away into the desert. The tactician turned his head from the backs of his friends and began walking into the establishment.
Whether he wanted it or not, he knew something here was waiting for him to discover.
…
Matthew quickly caught up to the old man who was now in the middle of the village (for an old geezer, he moved faster than the tactician's expectations). The old man had stopped and was now gazing at the lake; which was at least 5 kilometers wide. "How does so much water sprout in a desert?" Matthew asked.
"Mystery, isn't it?" The old man said with a blissful slur. "It's one of the greatest mysteries of this place. It was only by chance that you found this place when you were fleeing from the Grimleal." Matthew stopped his stare at the lake and aimed it at the old man the second the Grimleal's name left his mouth.
"Running from the Grimleal? How long ago was that?" Instead of answering, the old man turned and looked at the tactician with a confused gaze as if he had just said something that was clearly obvious.
"About 20 years. Have you been away so long that you've forgotten that much?"
Matthew scratched the back of his head sheepishly before getting ready to tell the old man the truth, "Listen, I don't remember most of this beca-"
"Robin?!" Matthew stopped and turned to a very high pitched feminine voice.
"It is Robin!" Another, more masculine, voice called out in the direction he now stared at. He had to look slightly down to see the four figures that now stood just inches away from him. Before him stood two young girls and two young boys who was a foot and a half shorter than him and looked anywhere from the age of 12-14 years old. All four were wearing mage garbs, but with different patterns. The boys at the tactician's far right wore an all-black garb with red linings on the robes, the one on left with black hair and the one of the right with brown with a short cut identical to the tactician. The girl on the far right wore a dark blue garb with red linings also with a head of black hair long hair, and the girl next to her wore an all-white garb with purple linings with pink hair similar to Olivia's, but in pigtails.
"Welcome back, Robin!" The pink haired girl exclaimed and embraced the tactician; the others soon following suit. After about 20 seconds of standing there in the awkward, the tactician was slowly released from the grip of the hyperactive children.
"Tell us about your adventures, Robin!" The black haired boy said, sparkles in his eyes and the other three children present.
"I heard there was a famous tactician in Ylisse who ended both the Plegian AND Valmese war! That had to have been you, right?!" The black haired girl asked.
"So it's true that you changed your name to Matthew?!" said the brunette.
"I heard you finally got married too!" The pink haired girl exclaimed.
"Woah, woah, calm down young ones." The old man, thankfully, interfered. "Anyone would become speechless if you bombard them with such questions. Let's at least give him time to answer one at a time." The ecstatic teens nodded and looked back to the tactician, patiently waiting for his reply to the questions.
Matthew rubbed the back of his head and looked away sheepishly before starting, "…Well to start off, I'm not so sure if I'm this "Robin" person you guys keep calling me." Matthew glanced back at the kids who did not take their eyes off him and looked at him now with straight faces. "I lost my memories almost 3 years ago and was found by the prince and princess of Ylisse." The tactician smiled at the memory of his past. "I had no memories and I was a Plegian in Ylissean territory, but they didn't interrogate me; well, aside from their body guard Frederick. Besides my tactician knowledge, Matthew was the only name I could remember clearly, so I decided to have that as my name. I helped them defend a village from some bandits and before I knew it, I became the tactician of the Shepherds."
The tactician studied the teens' faces and was surprised to see their eyes glittering and their faces showing complete amazement. "That's such a cool story!" The boys said in unison.
"An amnesiac tactician from Plegia who joined the forces of Ylisse to put evildoers to the sword," the pink haired girl said poetically. "It's like one of those fantasy novels or a story I here all the time from troubadours! It's so cool!"
"And you even took the name of the tactician you admired! And here I thought you liked the name Robin!" The tactician gave the girl a confused look. He had read many, many tactical books, but none with the name "Matthew" in it.
"Oh, I forgot you lost your memories." The black haired girl said and playful knocked herself on the head with her knuckles. "Matthew was the once the mayor of this village AND head tactician almost 200 years ago. He wasn't really world known, but he wrote a book on tactics and left it in this village. This village has made many great tacticians throughout the centuries. The people in this village looked up to him as one of the best tacticians that ever lived. It was too bad that his name was never went viral, but the knowledge he left us is something that we all truly treasure."
"He sounds like he was truly the inspiration." Matthew commented with a smile.
"He sure was!" Said the pink haired girl. "But he did have some cheesy lines in his book like, "a big smile is a happy smile"." The girl said, imitating a deep voiced man that made the others around her giggle. The tactician smiled, but then turned his face into a parent-like scold at the kids who were laughing.
"I'm sure our late master wouldn't appreciate you making fun of him while he's in his grave." Matthew scolded, but only earned a stick of the tongue from the pink haired girl.
"MASTER ROBIN!"
The tactician almost jumped out of his skin when his name was called. Yards behind the teens, the tactician could see an old man in green robes with a cane rushing up to him with incredible speed; that is, for an old man. The man skidded to a stop right behind the kids and heeled over wheezing.
"Are you alright?" Matthew asked the bold old man who gave him a shaky thumbs up.
"I knew *huff* I saw your *wheeze* robes!" The old man exclaimed and looked up to the tactician. If Matthew thought the old man was old before, then he was definitely right on the mark now that he was up close to him. He had wrinkles from his forehead all the way down to his chin and the wrinkles almost completely covered his eyes. He looked over 80-years-old, yet he ran that fast?! "I'm so glad to see that you are finally back!"
"He's just glad you are back because you use to defend him when people called him a pervert, which was FAR from a lie." The black haired girl said playfully and made the old man gasp over dramatically.
"It hurts me that the youth of my own village would call me such a thing!"
"We only say it because it's true." The black haired boy stated.
"What is so wrong with acknowledging the beauty of a woman?! They are Naga's gift to this world unlike us men! They deserved to be admired!"
"Don't try to poison us with your twisted words, Old Hubba!" The brown haired boy joined in. Before the poor old pervert could get any more words out, the priest stepped in from behind the tactician.
"I believe that is quite enough. You kids should be heading to school right now, right?" Horror filled the teens' faces as they realized how much time they've wasted.
"We're gonna be late!" The black haired exclaimed before turning and storming down the street; the other three mages following suit.
"It was nice seeing you again, Robin!" The pink haired girl yelled to the tactician.
"You better stay for a day! That's an order!" The brunette boy called the tactician before they were completely down the street and out of sight.
Old Hubba turned to the priest and did a short bow. "Thanks for the save."
"I wouldn't have to do that if you acted a little more mature, Mr. Hubba." The old priest scoffed.
"Bah! You people wouldn't know the word 'mature' if it hit you smack dab in the face! ...Anyways, Master Robin, what brings you back all of a sudden? Have you finally come to accept one of my Einherjars?!" Old Hubba swiftly changed the direction of the conversation to the tactician.
"…In her what?" Matthew replied, completely confused.
"Not 'in her what' Einherjars! You know, the cards? Hero King? Don't tell me you have forgotten."
Cards? Hero King? Her jar? What is this old man talking about? Matthew thought to himself. "I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about."
"Hoho, he means the warriors you saw defending the village earlier." The priest tried to clarify.
"…Now I'm even more confused…but I'm sure they are not why I came here."
Old Hubba raised a wrinkled eyebrow at the tactician. "Then you have returned to us for other reasons."
"Not really. I didn't really come back to this place by choice. We sorta ran into this place by accident." The tactician replied while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Accident? …Surely you jest?" Old Hubba questioned, not believe the words of the tactician
"I believe Master Robin is telling the truth." The priest interrupted. "You see," The priest went on explaining everything to the other old man who listened attentively. When the old priest was done, Old Hubba looked to the tactician with a sorrowful look.
"It's quite a shame that you don't remember anything, Master Robin."
Matthew shook his head at the old man and said, "It's quite alright. I might not know what I was missing in my pass time, but my current days are filled with so much fun that I don't have time to think about my old memories…Not that I don't want to remember or anything!" Matthew quickly corrected himself and earned a laugh from the two old men.
"It's alright, Robin. We understand that making new memories is better than trying to dig up old ones." The priest reassured the tactician. "I won't lie, I feel bad that you have forgotten about us, but I am happy to see that you are not dwelling on what you can't remember and moving forward instead. With your memories or not, you are still family to everyone here and we will give you and your friends the utmost respect and welcoming."
"I really appreciate that, sir?"
"You may call me Isaac, Master Robin. Oh, since you now go by the name 'Matthew', should I call you that instead?"
"It's alright to call me Robin since that is my original name after all giving to me by my-" Matthew stop when a very important thought came to his mind.
"Is there something wrong, Master Robin?" Old Hubba asked the tactician who simply nodded slowing.
"…Isaac?" Matthew cooed and looked up to the old priest. "Is…my mother in this village?" Matthew saw the priest and Old Hubba facial expressions slightly change at the question, but not enough to make the tactician judge if it was good or bad.
"She is indeed still here." The priest answered truthfully and made the tactician's face light up with hope.
"Can I see her?" The Matthew asked and was answered with a short period of silence before the priest smiled and nodded his head.
"Of course, Master Robin." The priest said and turned to Old Hubba. "Hubba, his friends will be here shortly. Would you mind waiting at the gates to show them around the village?" Old Hubba nodded without hesitation.
"Alright, are my Einherjars around here?" Old Hubba asked.
"Yes, I have sent them to the main house to rest. They should be waiting for you there."
"Good," Old Hubba said and turned to Matthew with a smile. "It's so nice seeing you around again, Master Robin. I will make sure to catch you up on the things you have missed in your absence later."
"Thank you, Hubba." Matthew bowed to the man before he walked away and left the priest and tactician alone.
"Well, let's not waste daylight. Please, follow me."
…
Matthew was taken aback from what he was seeing. All the Plegians he had met up to this day had either thirsted for blood, or were Grimleal. These people were Plegians, but nothing like Matthew's expectations. Everywhere he looked there were people smile, dancing, talking, and generally having a good time. Not even a storm would dare disturb the peace-filled atmosphere this village gave off.
The further they walked into the village, the more people greeted the tactician. Before the tactician knew it, he was attracting attention from everyone that heard his 'name'. It started with one person, then two, then four, then ten, twenty, thirty. Soon almost everyone stormed the tactician and was bombarding him with questions he couldn't answer. It was like one big family reunion to the people, but to the tactician, it was more like a mob surrounding one suspect.
Once again, the old priest came to the tactician's rescue and told everyone that he was in a hurry and would speak to them all later.
That was ten minutes ago.
"Are you sure she's out here?" Matthew asked as the old man guided him further and further in the empty lands of the village. Matthew was starting to feel paranoia run through his body the further they walked. His tactical instinct to be on the lookout for an ambush was kicking in and the vacancy of life around them only increased his paranoia.
"Haha! If she moved from her spot she would scare the people of this village white!" The old man laughed and continued walking.
What was that supposed to mean? Was my mother a bad person? The tactician contemplated. Was this why she was alienated from the rest of the village? Suddenly, Matthew's breath was caught in his throat as he realize just where they were going. The old man had entered an area that was surrounded by low wooden fences that came up to his waist. The small stone pillars and the flowers laying before them gave testament to what this place was.
A graveyard.
"She is right over here." The old man said and stopped in front of a large stone in the middle of the graveyard. The tactician slowly walked up to the stone that was surrounded by flowers that looked like they were just plucked. Like the other few gravestones that were around, this one was especially clean and looked as if it was just made.
His heart sank even more when he read the engraved name on the front of the stone that was completely foreign to him. "Serra Maxwell." Matthew mumbled the unfamiliar name to himself. It hurt him that even in a situation such as this his memories still refused to resurface.
"She was quite the quite the mother if I do say so myself." Isaac said with a blissful smile. "I can still remember the first time you two first arrived in the village. You were no older than 4 years when your mother found this place. A maiden with silver hair with a weird patterned cloak and her brown haired, intelligent son. She looked as if she hadn't eaten in days, but the boy looked heathy and clean; aside from the head full of sand. When we accepted her into the village, she became one of the magic teachers at the school. She was a genius at magic, while her son was mediocre at it."
"But when it came to tactics, you were on a completely different level compared to even some adults at only the age of 8. You learned fast and you would always ask questions to strengthen your knowledge. You would even sometimes play pranks on the people around the village." The old man laughed at the memory and brought a smile to that tactician's face as well.
Now I see where Morgan gets her pranks from. Matthew said inwardly and listened to the rest of the old man's story.
"Your mother would worry about you day and night and would barely let you out of her sight. She wouldn't even eat if you hadn't eaten first. At first I just thought she was being an overprotective mother, but when we found out about your connections with the Grimleal, we understood her worries."
"Wait, y-you know?" Matthew asked shakily and was replied with a nod from the priest.
"Of course. We only found out 5 years later when someone saw the mark that you kept hidden behind a glove. At first, many wanted you out of the village for their own safety, but there were also those who were against it. If you and your mother hadn't created the bonds that you did in the village, then we would probably not be talking right now."
"…Since we are on the subject, how is that mark of yours? Is it still there?" The old man asked and was replied with nod from the tactician while he slowly removed the glove concealing his marked right hand. The old man examined the mark on the tactician's hand for a while before reaching out to touch it. He immediately regretted it as a wave of darkness clouded his mind and shot his hand away from the tactician. The tactician quickly retracted his hand when he saw what the mark just caused.
"Are you alright?!" The tactician immediately asked in an anxious tone.
"I-It's alright, Master Robin. I just made a slight mistake." The old man admitted and rubbed his left hand. The old man looked to that tactician with an expressionless stare before asking, "Master Robin, have you been experiencing any loss of control lately? Like something was trying to take over your mind?"
Matthew gripped his marked hand as he remembered the time when he lost complete control and stole the Fire Emblem from his best friend, then the time he lost complete control in the desert. "Yes, it has happened twice." The tactician admitted.
"And how is it that you broke out of it? The old man asked. "Usual once someone is under the control of a dark mage, it is close to impossible to break out without some sort of pendant or talisman on them. Do you perhaps have something on you that can counteract the mind control?"
Matthew thought about for a minute before replying, "There's nothing on me that I could think of…wait." Something came to the tactician's mind and he reached into his shirt sleeve. He pulled out the silver pendant that was given to him by his wife so many months ago. "Is this what you are talking about?"
"Hmmm…" The old man massaged his chin as he examined the necklaced that had "Faith" in cursive above a double-edged sword. "From a normal glance, you would think that this is nothing more than a normal necklace, but the mana radiating from it is unmistaken. Where did you get such a thing?"
"It was a gift given to me by my wife…" Matthew admitted and gripped the necklace, a smile finding its way to his face. "It seems I'm always the one being protected by her instead of the other way around."
The old man smiled at the tactician before saying, "It's good to finally see you've found someone, Master Robin."
"At least you just confirmed that I wasn't a ladies man back before I lost my memories." Matthew joked, getting a laugh out of the old man as well. After the laugh, the two shared a short lull of silence before the tactician spoke, "I think we have been here for long enough. Do you mind guiding me back to my friends?"
The old man's smile dropped and he looked to the tactician with raised brows. "You don't want to take a few more minutes here?" The old man asked, puzzled at the tactician's decision.
"Yes...I don't feel like I have the heart to look at my mother's grave without breaking down. There is something I need before I am ready."
"…As strong as ever I see." The priest said and turned on his feet. "Come, your friends should be in the village by now."
"Thank you…" Matthew took one long look back at his mother grave before turning around and following the old man to the village.
"I'm soooooo boooooored~." Morgan complained as she rolled over on her mother's bed.
"I'm sorry Morgan, but it's almost night and Chrom wants us to rest early for the march tomorrow." Emmeryn explained and was only awarded with a grown from her daughter.
"It's only around noon and we have to sleep so early? My eyes can stay open for at least 24 more hours!"
Emmeryn giggled at her daughters over exaggerated comment. "I'm sure that is not good for your health, Morgan."
Morgan sat up and looked to her mother on the other side of the room sitting on a wooden chair. "How about we do something, Mother?"
Emmeryn looked to her daughter with a quizzical gaze and said, "What do you want to do?"
"Oh, I don't know~. Maybe go down to the army's armory, look at the cool magic books and stack up some little ol' tomes while we're at it."
"Not happening, Morgan." Morgan looked like she had just been shot from the way her face turned the second her mother denied her. "You fooled me once with that, and the end result was a tower of tomes crashing down on your poor father. I don't want that to happen a second time.
"But that was like 6 months ago! I promise it won't happen again!"
"Not happening, Morgan. Unless you have another game to play, then we are staying put where we are." Morgan frowned and crossed her arms; a childish pout appearing on her face. Back then it was so much easier to get her mother to do things, but now that she is maturing more, it was getting harder and harder to persuade her into things.
"I guess I'll go look for Father. He has to be heading back by now." Speak of the devil and he will appear. The door to the inn slowly opened and in walked the man in question. "Father!" Morgan cried and leaped from the bed. Within seconds, she closed the distance and wrapped her arms around the tactician.
"I knew you wouldn't be asleep, Morgan." Matthew laughed and Ruffles his little girl's already messy hair.
"Of course I wouldn't sleep! There's no way someone can sleep at noon!"
"Haha! I know, Morgan..." Matthew looked from his daughter and found his wife walking toward him.
"Good evening, Matthew." The blonde greeted with her usual radiant smile that always seemed to make the tactician smile as well.
"Hi there, Emm." It was quite surprising to the tactician at how mature the former Exalt was getting by the day. Though she showed no sign of regaining memories, her speech was quickly coming back to her. She even stopped calling him by his nickname now...which was kind of sad to the tactician.
"Have you found anything out on your journey through the village?" Emmeryn asked.
Matthew dropped his head when the memory of finding out where his mother lied came to mind. "Yes...I have."
"I heard from an old man at the front of the village that your real name was Robin." Morgan joined in and looked up to her father. "Should everyone start calling you Robin from now on?"
Matthew thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "I came to you guys as Matthew, not Robin. Though it is the name given to me by my mother, I would like to keep the name that I woke up with. It defines the new me and not the old me." Apparently the only thing the tactician in training heard was the "mother" part and went in to investigate immediately.
"Wait, Grandma is here?!" Morgan exclaimed. If it wasn't for her excitement at the time, then she would have definitely caught on to the hurt in her father's eyes the second she questioned him.
"In a way, she is." Matthew said in and almost unmotivated tone.
"Then I want to meet her right away!" Morgan said, oblivious to her father's mood. "Where is she? We can go to her house right away, right?!" The more the girl spoke, the harder it was getting for the tactician to speak up the truth. Thankfully, Emmeryn caught the grim expression of her husband and moved in to intervene.
"Morgan, I think your father is tired from walking around all day. How about going to your room for the night?"
Morgan looked back to her mother with a childish pout on her face. "But father just got here~. You can't hog Father all to yourself-" Morgan stopped and sweat fear began to take over when she saw her mother's face turn to a terrifying frown that she wasn't familiar with.
"Room. Now." Emmeryn said in a commanding voice that shocked both her husband and daughter. Morgan broke away from her father and saluted to her mother.
"Y-Yes ma'am!" The tactician in training and said one final goodbye to her father before exiting the room; closing the door behind her and leaving her parents alone in the room.
"I swear you hit me with a new surprise every day." Matthew laughed at his wife who giggled with him.
"If I didn't interfere, then I feared you might have ended up saying something you would regret to our future daughter." Emmeryn stated.
"True...thanks." Emmeryn saw the tactician's face drop again and she immediately asked her question.
"Matthew, is there something you want to talk about?" The tactician didn't answer. He just looked at the ground with the same sorrow on his face. Worry filled the former Exalt before she began walking toward her husband. Before she could get 3 feet, he tactician looked up to her a quickly closed the distance between them and pressed his lips against his wife's. Emmeryn's eyes wider from the sudden contact from her husband and throughout the entire experience, she didn't know what to do.
The kiss only last per for a few seconds before the tactician broke away and pulled the the blonde into a warm embrace before she could fully see his face. Instead of returning the embrace, Emmeryn asked the question that was currently running through her head. "Matthew, what was that for-"
"I love you, Emm." Matthew interrupted his wife. "I just want you to know that." Emmeryn didn't know what was going on, but from the crack in her husband's voice, she could tell that something was on his mind and he was truly hurt. She finally returned the embrace and did not say a word as he softly wept in her arms.
Emmeryn awoke the next morning earlier than usual. Well, her husband woke her up actually. Shortly after weeping in his wife's arms, the tactician told his wife about the things he had learned about the village. The people he use to know, his real name, where the name he has now came from, and finally, his mother. It was hard, but he was able to get out everything he had simply because his wife was there for him. After the talk, he told her to go with him in the morning to visit "someone" but he never really told her who it was.
The sun was barely coming up when they woke up and there was barely anyone outside when they left the inn. The shopping district people said their hello's to the tactician as he walked down the streets and made sure to embarrass him with facts from his past to his wife as well. It made the tactician happy to see his wife laughing, but he could have really done it without all the embarrassing stories he had no memory of.
The sun was almost up when they finally made it to their destination. Emmeryn looked around to the many gravestones that surrounded her. They were all well taken care of and did not look like they had they had been more than a couple of years old. They finally stopped at a gravestone in the middle of the graveyard that had the name "Serra Maxwell" on the front.
"Well Emm, this is my mother." Matthew said after a short period of silence. "I still can't remember anything about her aside from the memories that people told me about, but I can just feel that she was a great person. If not for her, I probably wouldn't be standing here right now. If I have anything in this world to be thankful for, then she would definitely be one of the first to come to mind."
Matthew stopped for a minute before continuing, "Mother…I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I am very happy with my life right now. I have many friends, I got married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I'm about to become a father! I couldn't have this sort of happiness if you didn't raise me. I-" Matthew's voice cracked and he felt a tear roll down his eyes. He felt like he was about to break down again, but he was pulled out of his sorrow by his wife who gripped his hand in hers. He looked to her and was met with a warm smile that gave him the confidence he needed.
"In the years I have been gone, I have become a great tactician that you can be proud of, and I live my life to the fullest. I have my ups and downs, but there is nothing I cannot get through without my friends by my side. I don't know if you can really here me, but," Matthew did a bow to his mother's grave. "Thank you so much for giving birth to a son like me." After the tactician was done with everything, he let out a deep sigh and gripped his wife's hand in his. "Thank you, Emm. I don't think I would be able to speak right now if you weren't here with me."
"I will always be with you, Matthew. No matter what you go through, I will always be by your side. You can believe that." Matthew smiled at his wife's before gripping her hand and turning around; walking away from the graveyard hand in hand.
I love you, mother.
…
"I can't believe you are leaving us already, Master Robin." Old Hubba said with a depressed tone.
"I would love to stay and be around you guys for a little longer, but we must really get back on the road. We can't let Grima roam around freely. He must be stopped at all cost." Matthew explained and earned a sigh from the priest and old man that were sending him off.
"The kids are not going to like that you left without saying goodbye." The priest said sorrowfully.
"Don't worry, I plan to be back someday. You can count on that."
"I have no doubt you will…" The old man looked past the tactician and to the Exalt, princess and former Exalted that waited for him in the distance. "You have amazing friends, Master Robin. Please keep them and yourself safe on your journey."
"I promise I will never let anything happen to them." Matthew said immediately.
"I would give you one of my Einherjars, but I was told that I mustn't. They have to remain here to defend us in a time of need." Said Old Hubba.
"It's quite alright." Matthew reassured. "We have more than enough strength and numbers to take down Grima. I can assure you that."
"I don't doubt it…" There was a short period of silence before the tactician brought both of the old men into a group hug.
"Thank you guys very much. I will make sure to come back to you alive." After the surprised faze was over, the two old men returned the hug and smiled warmly.
Matthew said one final goodbye to the old man before walking off into the distance and after his friends.
"Ever since his mother's passing, he didn't show the same smile that he shows when he is around those people." The priest stated. "I say I want his memories to return, but it may just be better for him to forget and live his life here without them. If not having his memories will never resurface that old look in his eyes, then I can finally die a happy old man."
"I can't agree with you more, Isaac." Old Hubba replied before motioning the guards to close the gate and let the village disappear completely from sight. There was only two things left to do on this journey.
Do the Awakening, then end Grima once and for all.
So I have good news, bad news, and good/bad news. The good news is Fire Emblem Fates comes out Friday! I know we are all buying the game and wish the best to those who don't. The bad news is, I won't be able to finish this story before it comes out…which was the original goal. The good/bad news is the next chapter is the End Game chapter and afterwards is only 4 more chapters till this story is over! It's good/bad news because I don't know how people feel about the story ending :/
As always, thank you for the reviews, favs and follows and happy Valentines Day!