Chapter 35
As the shepherds made their long trek home, they stopped for a midday rest in a place known as Wyvern Valley. The area itself was made up of small peaks of terrain connected by flimsy wooden bridges, so most of the shepherds had elected to stay in the mountains while Chrom, Nathan, Frederick, Cherche and Cynthia had elected to go visit the site. Minerva, Cherche's wyvern, was especially happy, flying about and dancing through the air, looking for fellow wyverns. Cynthia followed closely behind on her Pegasus, swooping over and under the many bridges and small sections of land that dotted the area.
As the group entered the valley, they noticed a group of bandits harassing some elderly villagers who appeared to be native to the area.
"A wyvern rider without a wyvern to sit on is nothing but a bloke in a lizard hat!" One of the bandits sneered.
"Wyverns are sacred protectors of this land, not glorified horses for you to muzzle!" One of the elders spat back. His comments were not taken well by the bandits, who sent the man flying into the abyss below with a swing of his axe.
"What in Naga's name is going on here?" Chrom yelled, rushing up to the scene. He turned to the remaining villagers. "Get out of here, now! We'll handle this!"
As the villagers scrambled off, the leader of the bandits turned to Chrom. "I don't remember anyone allowing you to give orders…" He scoffed with a frown, before turning to his men. "If word spreads, this'll only get more tedious. Kill them all!"
Nathan rolled his eyes, drawing Mystletainn from his back. "See, this is why I should get to pick where we go sight-seeing!" He snapped at Chrom. The Exalt rolled his eyes.
"Oh please, where's your sense of adventure?"
Cynthia swooped down, giggling at her father and his best friend bickering. "You two sound like an old married couple!"
"Ugh…" Chrom grumbled, drawing Falchion from its sheath. "Protect the villagers, everyone!" He called.
While Nathan, Frederick, and Chrom, charged about the battlefield, Cherche and Cynthia swooped high above, taking on the bandits who had managed to saddle a few of the wyverns. They were quite inexperienced, however, giving Cynthia and Cherche a commanding edge. Nearby, Cherche spotted another wyvern rider clad in black and wearing a small mask over his eyes hovering nearby, eyes locked on watching the fight. Curious, Cherche flew over to the man.
"You're not one of the villagers, and if you were a bandit, you'd have stepped in already to help them. Who are you?"
"I am…Gerome. A traveler." The man curtly responded in a dark, low voice.
"A fellow wyvern rider, I see! What good news!" Cherche responded, smiling warmly at the man. "We could use help in defending this valley. Perhaps you could aid us?"
Gerome scoffed. "What is the point? No man can stop fate."
"If we don't help them, these men will be killed by spears. Not fate." Cherche sternly replied.
The wyvern rider shook his head. "Clearly, you have yet to witness fate's cruelty."
"So you prefer to do nothing, then, except wander in cowardice?" Cherche snapped, a hint of anger rising in her voice. "And your wyvern? Does she also yearn to surrender to this 'fate' you speak of?"
Gerome sat in silence for a moment, before cracking a small smile. "You would know better than I."
Meanwhile, from down on the battlefield, Frederick called to Cherche. "No time to chat with mysterious strangers, my love! We must save these wyverns and villagers from a horrid fate!"
"Hmph. So he's here too…" Gerome faintly muttered before he turned back to Cherche. "I'll fight if you wish it. Death will always have it's due, but perhaps today it can accept a few substitutes…"
"Many thanks, traveler!" Cherche told him with a smile, before flying back off to join the fight.
As she flew off, Gerome petted his wyvern on its head. "Come, my dear Minerva…" He muttered, "Join me for one final flight."
Scuttling around below, Chrom, Nathan and Frederick looked up to see Gerome joining the fight, a fierce roar going out from his wyvern as they charged into the fray together.
"…He's wearing a mask, which makes him a tad crazy. AND he's riding a dragon, just like Cherche. I'll put…half of this week's pay on him being Freddy's kid." Nathan muttered to Chrom, who rolled his eyes.
"Exactly, he's a tad crazy, so my money is on him being your kid." The Exalt retorted.
"Okay, we have a-HEY!" Nathan snapped, slapping Chrom on the backside of the head for his comment.
"Well, you can't deny it isn't a bad guess…" Chrom muttered with a laugh.
"What are you discussing, young masters?" Frederick asked, joining the conversation amidst the battle. "And can I also point out, master Nathan, that you told me once that having conversations within a battle can be distracting and it is 'not a good time' for discussion?"
Nathan sheepishly grinned, jumping to dodge an axe blow from a bandit as a shot from his Thoron tome sent the man flying off the small peak and into the abyss below. "While that is true, we were discussing some very important things. Such as who our bets are for whose kid that wyvern rider is…"
Frederick looked up at Gerome, who was slashing down his less experienced opponents with his steel axe from atop Minerva.
"Ooh! What an interesting idea, wearing a mask! Perhaps I shall design one for you when we return to the castle, Milord!" Frederick exclaimed.
Nathan turned to Chrom with a smug grin, and the Exalt sighed exasperatedly, glaring at the man.
"So…I'll just take half of your next pay, and add it to mine, I suppose." Nathan taunted. Chrom angrily slashed through an enemy bandit with Falchion and kicked the man off the peak, before grunting back to Nathan in acknowledgement.
"Incoming!" The group heard Cynthia yelling from above. They looked nearby to see a group of bandits charging towards them on one of the rickety bridges. Over on another peak nearby, they spotted a group of villagers being attacked by another pack of the ruffians.
"Freddy! Go help those villagers!" Nathan told the man. "Chrom and I can take these guys!"
The great knight nodded as he galloped off. Chrom and Nathan readied their weapons as the enemy drew near. "After fighting Walhart, these guys feel like swatting away flies…" Chrom observed with a bit of a chuckle.
"I'd agree with that." Nathan replied, pulling his thoron tome from his cloak. "Mind if I do the honours?"
The Exalt laughed. "Be my guest."
Meanwhile, Frederick had managed to reach the group of villagers being assaulted by bandits, and quickly cut down the enemy warriors. As another few bandits charged towards him, coming across one of the bridges, Gerome swiftly swooped down on his wyvern and chopped the men down, sending them spiraling to the ground below.
"Ah! Many thanks, young man." Frederick declared, bowing to the wyvern rider. "I pray to know your name!"
"…Gerome." The wyvern rider replied, before going to turn fly back off to the others, who looked to have finished off the rest of the enemies.
"Hold, Gerome!" Frederick cried. "I wish to ask where you got your mask-"
"I don't have time for your stupid questions, father!" The wyvern rider spat back, before realizing what he had said.
There was an awkward silence in the air as father and son stared at each other for a moment. Frederick was the first to speak.
"You're…my son? From the future?"
Gerome sighed. "Yes, I'm your son. Not that I actually know you or mother, though…"
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Frederick questioned. "What do you mean?"
"In my future, you both died not long after I was born. I never knew either of you."
Frederick felt his heart drop upon hearing this. "My son…I'm so sorry…"
Cherche swooped in next to the two. "I heard everything from nearby…so did everyone, to be fair." She told them, looking back at Nathan, Chrom and Cynthia, who were watching intently from one of the sections of land nearby. Noticing that the others were staring at them now, they pretended not to be paying attention, starting up a fake conversation between themselves while Nathan waved to Gerome, Frederick and Cherche sheepishly.
"Anyways, Gerome, your father and I may not be able to make up for our future selves, but we will take care of you here. In this life, we'll change that fate, and we won't die on you, I promise." Cherche told her son.
"…Mother…father…thank you." Gerome managed to sputter weakly. He landed and got off his dragon as Cherche did the same, while Frederick hopped off the back of his horse, and the group embraced each other.
From nearby, Nathan turned to Chrom. "This whole future kid business is pretty cool, I suppose." He muttered. Chrom nodded, smiling back.
"No doubt we'll be running into even more of them pretty soon…"
Side note: These chapters are all going to be going up pretty fast since I'm not working this week and I don't go back to college until the 11th. I'm trying to be ambitious and have this story done by the time I go back, but I'm not exactly sure if that's realistic. To all those offering ideas for the end of the story, the ending is pretty much set in stone in my mind, so unfortunately, most of the ideas proposed (A few were given to me earlier by reviewers that I have plans for) won't make it in. Thanks for all the great ideas though, and if any of you do end up writing a version of this game using those ideas I'll be sure to check it out, so many people have been proposing their thoughts on some really cool things that I would have loved to be able to fit in the story but simply can't due to my own ideas for the ending taking priority.
Thanks, as always, for reading, reviewing, and everything you guys do! Every single person that has laid eyes on this story has given me motivation to continue it! I hope you'll stick with me right up until the bitter end!
-Nate