A/N: This was supposed to be finished and sent out yesterday, but I *may* have forgotten that it was my mom's birthday… So yeah, late release v.v Starting tonight, I'll be on a family trip for an entire week. I don't know where we're staying so I'm not sure whether or not I'll have enough privacy to write and internet to upload. Basically, if I don't have either of those things, there will be no update for a week.
Guest : I have finally married Tharja to someone so now I know xD
Legendary Emblem : Hell yeah he's gonna kick some ass ;D – Thanks~
FIB156 : Well it wouldn't be any fun if I just told you all that quickly, would it? ;)
Fireminer : I'm working on the explanations xD
Gold Phantom : Iono, guess :D And thanks for the suggestion ^0^
ZeroRei00 : Alright, I guess I should devote more time to this since I'm the one that decided to start writing and make this into a full-blown story :)
The Exalt and his tactician walked through the castle the morning after they had spent a day creating new strategies. The army had unanimously decided to march into Plegia at around noon, after everyone had eaten their lunches and were ready to kick some Plegian butt. Robin and Chrom walked in silence, until Robin stopped in his tracks. Chrom noticed and stopped walking as well.
"What's on your mind, friend?" Chrom asked.
Robin hesitated to answer, then drew his breath and replied. "Why are you still the Exalt? Shouldn't Lucina or Cynthia have inherited the title already? I mean, you've got two of each. The ones from the future and the ones from this timeline. There isn't another problem you haven't told me about yet, is there?"
Chrom just smiled. "I was wondering when you'd ask me that. Future Lucina and future Gerome didn't want to take the throne away from this time's Lucina or Cynthia. The same was with future Cynthia; she's too busy trying to convince Yarne that the Taguel race won't go extinct anyways. As for this time's Lucina and Cynthia, they won't stop claiming that the other is more worthy of the title of Exalt. So I told them that if they couldn't decide who would become Exalt by the time the war with Plegia is over, I would put it to a vote. Each city in Ylisse will be given a vote and once they're all accounted for, whoever the kingdom picks will become the Exalt and be given the Falchion."
Robin sighed with relief. "It's nice to know that they grew up well. Let's head back to the mess hall."
The two should've just kept on walking. When they arrived, it was absolute chaos. Even if he had been married to Morgan for 50 years, Inigo was still trying to pick up other men's wives. Needless to say, the men of the Shepherds had their weapons and tomes out with bloodthirsty looks.
"Woah! What's going on here? Drop your weapons and explain!" Chrom immediately assumed the role of peacemaker/leader.
"This miscreant was trying to seduce my wife!" Virion calmly said with an expression that didn't match his voice; his face revealed that he wanted to kill Inigo really badly.
A chorus of "Mine too!"s and "Can I kill him yet?"s resounded throughout the packed room.
"Alright, calm down you guys! Inigo, stop it. You've been married to my practically ageless daughter for 50 years now. Since she's part Manakete, she'll still look that young for thousands of years to come. You should be satisfied that you have a wife that will look that good for that long. There's also the fact that she'll outlive you so give her all the happiness and faithfulness you can. If you hit on another woman, well, do you really want to do that?" Robin already had his Thoron tome out and looked ready to use it while he was scolding Inigo. His son-in-law gulped and apologized quickly to everyone in the mess hall.
"Right, thanks Robin, but you should calm down too." Chrom smirked. "Form three groups! One will check on the weapons and sharpen them if needed, another will feed on the horses and pegasi, and the last will go and buy the rations from the stores! Once each group is finished with their appointed task, come find me or Robin. When all are finished, we'll break for lunch and start marching when finished. Dismissed!"
As per Chrom's orders, the Shepherds assembled themselves into their respective groups. The older soldiers remembered their assignments from the last war and helped the newer ones with their groups. Chrom joined the Ration group and told Robin to join the Weapons group to familiarize himself with the more modern weapons.
Upon arriving in the barracks, Robin immediately spotted Priam. The aging descendant of the Radiant Hero was passionately teaching the newest of the Shepherds how to properly take care of various types of weapons. Robin wondered where Priam had been in the past five days. Surely he could've taken some time to tell Robin of his adventures over the past 50 years. Guessing that Priam wouldn't be finished with lecturing the others until much later, Robin strolled over to the tomes. Chrom was right in assigning Robin to the Weapons group; there were so many different tomes. He could only imagine the sheer amount of new gear he'd have to learn how to use.
Before his death, Laurent had improved the effects of the tomes he acquired throughout the war, thus resulting in the mass creation of much more damaging magics. Tharja helped as well, except she made the dark tomes more excruciatingly painful than before. Apparently, they came from her attempts to hex/curse Robin to her side and back into the world after he had sacrificed himself. Robin was so preoccupied examining the tomes and was about to look at the swords when Priam had snuck up behind him like 50 years before.
"You know, Laurent created all those for your return. He firmly believed that you would come back when you were needed. When Kjelle died 13 years ago, he wrote a letter. In it he asked us to show you those tomes when you came back. Laurent thought that you'd be pleased with how powerful they were now. He figured that those fun tomes had potential, so he unlocked them through hours upon hours of careful study. You'd be surprised at their power out on the battlefield." Priam grinned and clapped Robin on the back. "By the way, good to have you back. I only got here this morning."
"Ah, I heard about their deaths." The excitement from seeing the new tomes immediately disappeared.
"Hey now, don't be so glum. Laurent, Kjelle, Stahl, and Sully had no regrets. Well, perhaps the whole losing a duel thing for Kjelle and Laurent's failure to interfere with it and save her. Now come on, you haven't seen the most recent addition to our arsenal. Thanks to my tutelage, Virion managed to create a different kind of bow, even while ruling over the reclaimed Rosanne. Look over there, next to the stack of boxes." Priam pointed to wall that was mounted from top to bottom with weird looking bows.
The weapon looked like a bow, except with a long handle below the limbs and arrow rest. Towards the end of the handle was some sort of sight and a trigger below it. Robin drew closer to it and upon closer examination, discovered that it was ingeniously designed to shoot arrows quickly by pulling on the trigger. There was a lot more to Virion than just violent strategies.
Priam laughed. "I didn't think that that guy could create something like this either. Ah, I shall talk to you during the march; these men don't know how to take good care of a weapon at all." He walked away muttering something about the love that should be given to each man's respective weapon/partner on the battlefield.
With the help of Vaike and the other Shepherds placed into the Weapons group, Robin managed to repair the broken weapons and even acquainted himself with various different weapons he had not had time to use. Soon, Vaike sought out Chrom and reported that their work was done. Even whilst being the ruling khan of Regna Ferox, Vaike kept his loyalties to Ylisse and Chrom. Surprisingly, Regna Ferox hadn't fallen to ruin during his 8-year rule; it's economy and such were actually blooming!
"Well, lunch has been served, and everything is in tip-top shape. We've got the tactician that brought down Plegia once before, defeated the Valmese Empire, and got rid of Grima once and for all; we've got no chance of losing! I say let's start marching to Plegia and win this war, and while we're on it, let's go rescue Robin's wife!" Chrom shouted atop a table in the mess hall. His short, rousing speech brought on a chorus of cheers and applaud. For the first time since the war started, the Shepherds had no doubts about their victory. All the former Shepherds had returned to fight once more and the one who led them to all of their victories had miraculously come back to the world of the living.
Oh how news spread. Elric, the son of Ricken and recently widowed king, was furious.
"How dare they march into my country!" he screeched. "Voice! Where are you? Get over here now!"
As demanded, Tiki walked into the throne room where Elric sat upon his throne. "Yes?"
"Tell me! Did you know that this would happen? That the tactician named Robin would come back, 50 years after he disappeared, and wage battle on my land?" Like his predecessor from two generations before, he was mad enough to have gained the title of Mad King, much like the man named Mad King Gangrel. It was as if Gangrel was back, Elric was the spitting image of him, minus the red hair. Elric still inherited Maribelle's blond hair.
"No. Just because I'm the Voice of Naga doesn't mean that I can tell the future." Tiki snapped at him. It was fairly obvious that she was irritated, which was unlike her. In response to her irritation, Elric circled around and hugged Tiki from the back.
"Sorry, Voice. Now tell me, where will they attack first?"
Tiki paused for a moment before answering, "Didn't I just tell you that I cannot tell the future?"
Elric had another severe mood change, he threw Tiki towards the west wall and yelled out, "CURSE YOU! THE VOICE OF NAGA SERVES ME AND ME ALONE. NOW TELL ME HOW TO WIN THIS WAR!"
Slowly, she got up. Despite being a trickster, Elric had some monstrous strength. The wall she was thrown towards and hit had some cracks in it. Some of the bricks had come loose and were jutting out inwards. Being a Manakete had some advantages. Some of her wounds had already started to heal.
"Well, are you going to tell me where they'll attack first? Or do I have to make you?" Elric sneered. He felt no guilt from hurting an elderly woman.
Still, Tiki refused. She knew the only war he would ever win was the one he had waged against his own father-in-law. Elric wasn't always this way. Ever since his grandfather-in-law died 3 years ago, Elric became even cruel, more bipolar that he had been, and colder than ever. The mysterious death the princess of Plegia/his wife, it wasn't so mysterious. He killed her in cold blood for the chance to fully rule Plegia.
Elric's demand for Tiki to tell him how to win the war went on and on until his chief tactician walked into the throne room.
"My liege, if I may. I have a strategy to obliterate the Exalt and his Shepherds." The man bowed. He donned a purple robe, decorated with the eyes of Grima. The Grimleal firmly believed that their god wasn't dead yet. They thought that if they thought, worshipped, and sacrificed for Grima enough, he would come back.
"Excellent! Now leave, Voice! At least there's someone here of use to me! Begone already!"
Tiki rolled her eyes as she got up and left the throne room. As she walked to her prison/room, she thought about Robin. She wished so much that she could be back by his side, but that couldn't happen. No. Not yet. Her job here wasn't done.
I'll be back Robin. I waited 50 years for you, so wait a week for me.