Disclaimer, I do not own any characters or places in this story except for the original characters. This story is written for fun and contains spoilers for Fire Emblem Awakening.
Chapter 31
Shepherds
Lucas continued to drift in between consciousness, his body felt heavy and he found himself unable to move as he tried to open his eyes. He felt grass underneath him and could hear birds in the trees, so he was someplace and not just lost in space. He counted his blessings that he was alive at least and that it could have been worse before he fell asleep. Moments passed before he heard something, footsteps; a large amount of footsteps, it could be thugs or worse. He tried desperately to move, to get up and open his eyes, to at least draw his sword but it was no use, he was exhausted. The footsteps stopped in front of him as the people they belonged to begin to talk he could barely hear what they were saying when something poked him in the chest.
"Do you think he's okay?" asked a girl.
"I don't know but I think he would appreciate it if you didn't poke him with a stick" said a man.
Lucas summoned all his strength and lifted his head up and opened his eyes slightly, he saw standing there a man with dark blue hair and a cape next to him was a girl carrying a staff and dressed almost completely in yellow.
"Ah finally awake" said the man.
"Deja'vu, huh Chrom" said another man.
"Though when we found you in that field I don't think you fell from the sky" said the man named Chrom.
"From….the sky?" questioned Lucas.
"Hey he doesn't look so good" said the girl.
"Milady, do not get so close, we have no idea who he is or where he came from" said yet another man.
"Look at him Frederick, does he look like he'd be much trouble to you, he can barely open his eyes" said the girl again.
That was it for Lucas; he couldn't keep his eyes open for a second longer and lost consciousness completely. Lucas didn't know how long he was asleep for or how he got where he was, all he did know was that he had just woken up to find himself laying on a bed in what appeared to be a tent. It was night out and he was missing his sword but apart from that he was alive and had the will to live again. Lucas thanked god that he was alive be wondered how long that would last when several guards entered the tent and pointed their swords at him, all he could do was hold his hand up as the man from before and a tall knight in bulky blue armour entered the tent.
"Listen guys, whatever you think I did I didn't do it" said Lucas.
"At ease, we have no need to treat him with such hostility, now my name is…." began the man.
"Chrom" said Lucas as the guards lowered their weapons.
"How did you know?" asked Chrom.
"I overheard you when you found me wherever I was" said Lucas.
"Okay well then the knight to my left is Frederick, the captain of our knights" said Chrom.
"Sir" said Frederick politely
"My name is Lucas, Lucas Murphy" he said.
"Well then Lucas, do you mind telling us what you were doing out in that field we found you in?" asked Chrom.
"I was in a field?" asked Lucas.
"Yes you were, you seemed pretty out of it, it didn't seem right to just leave you there so we brought you here" said Chrom.
"I…. thank you Chrom" said Lucas.
"Don't mention it but still the question remains, how did you get there?" asked Chrom.
"I….. it was an accident, I shouldn't have even been there, all I remember….. is falling and that sound….Maria screaming my name" said Lucas.
"Maria, is that your friend?" asked Chrom.
"Yes" said Lucas.
"Look I know you have just woken up but I need to ask if you….if you…."said Chrom.
"Do you have a connection to the Grimleal or the Risen?" asked Frederick.
"The who, what's a Risen?" asked Lucas.
"You don't know what a Risen is or about the Grimleal?" asked Chrom.
"How can you not, forgive me my lord but this is cause for suspicion if the ever was one" said Frederick.
"Listen Fred, I'm not the one who's suspicious here, I'm just not from this world is all" said Lucas.
"I beg your pardon" said Frederick.
"Well guys I'm technically not allowed to do this but there is a war going on, so what the hell I'm from a different world so I have no idea what a Risen is or who these Grimleal are" said Lucas.
"Another world, you mean from the future?" asked Chrom.
"Unless you've got a DeLorean stashed around here somewhere then no you twit I'm not from the future, I'm from an alternate dimension" said Lucas.
"You will watch your tongue whoever you are or wherever you have come from, you speak with the king of Ylisse" said Frederick.
"Frederick please" said Chrom.
Then someone else entered the tent, a man with brown hair, dressed in a purple hooded robe along with a young woman dressed in blue with a sword by her side that looked identical to the one Chrom had at his side.
"Any luck Chrom?" asked the man.
"So far all we know is he is from something called an alternate dimension and he has no idea what the Grimleal or Risen are" said Chrom.
"That's…..interesting" said the man.
"You should be careful father, he could be a spy or an assassin" said the girl.
"What" said Lucas.
"I know Lucina but I couldn't just leave him there in the field" said Chrom.
"What, sorry go back a second, she's your daughter?" asked Lucas.
"Yes" said Chrom.
Okay, how the hell does that work, you look roughly around the same age so unless…, oh time travel and from the future, I get it now" said Lucas.
"You do?" asked the girl called Lucina.
"Of course I bloody don't, listen sister you ever heard of something called the grandfather paradox, you end up messing with the past and you wind up with monkeys ruling the future" said Lucas.
"We are not here to chit chat, we are here to decide if you are a threat or not" said Frederick.
"How about we just hear his story first and then pound him with a million questions" said the hooded man.
Reluctantly John began to fill in the group he had met about his goings on, about Michel and the war and about how Eonia wanted him to gather an army and pretty much everything up until he was found by Chrom.
"So you were chased by a flying purple giant metal squid called a Reaper and then you fell through a portal and ended up here" said the hooded man.
"That's pretty much all of it" said Lucas.
"Do you expect up to believe any of that" said Frederick .
"Hey back off Fred, I told the truth which considering the circumstances I think you're pretty lucky you got that" said Lucas.
"I believe him" said the hooded man.
"Really?" questioned Lucina.
"If he was lying then there are better stories he could have made up to get us to believe him and besides we saw him fall from the sky, there is no denying that" said the hooded man.
"Thanks, who are you anyway" asked Lucas.
"Oh I forgot to introduce you, this is Robin, Ylisse's famous tactician and my best friend" said Chrom.
"And married to your daughter by the looks of it" said Lucas.
"How did you know that?" asked Lucina as she griped her sword.
"Hey, easy, your rings match so I assumed you two were married" said Lucas.
"Well you were correct, so you got here by accident and now you have no idea what to do" said Robin.
"Can't you just nip back to whatever world you came from?" asked Frederick.
"I need my friend Joy to do that, I don't have the power to travel between worlds; so this guy is your best friend who is married to your daughter from the future" said Lucas.
"Yes" said Chrom.
"And you're okay with that?" asked Lucas.
"Yes" said Chrom.
"Huh, odd world I've found myself in" said Lucas.
"So what are your plans now?" asked Robin.
"Hopefully if I can have my stuff back I'll just stay put and wait for my friends and try not to get involved in anything spectacular" said Lucas.
"Good luck then if you plan to stick around here, at the moment the capital of Ylisse, Ylisstol is holding a three day celebration" said Robin.
"What are you celebrating?" asked Lucas.
"It's been one year since the defeat of Grima, all of the Shepherds have gathered to celebrate and we were lucky to find both you and Robin around the same time" said Chrom.
"Shepherds?" questioned Lucas.
"That's us, it's the name of our group "said Lucina.
"Huh, Shepherds, Grima, Grimleal and Risen, sounds like there is an interesting story in there, I've spilled my guts so it's high time you spilled yours" said Lucas.
"Sounds fair, I suggest you get comfy and try to keep an open mind" said Frederick.
"After what I have been through my mind is pretty open" said Lucas.
Chrom then informed Lucas about Grima, a dreaded Fell Dragon god who sought nothing but destruction and death and about the Grimleal, humans who worshiped this deity. He then informed him of the battles he and his friends fought to keep the land safe and the sacrifices they had to make and how they nearly lost the entire world to the creature.
"So Risen are fallen warriors who have been raised from the grave by Grima to fight for him?" questioned Lucas.
"That is correct" said Frederick.
"And Lucina and several other children come from an apocalyptic future where they have destroyed everything and so came back in time with several to try and succeed in changing destiny" said Lucas.
"Yes, the world I hailed from was a much darker and crueller place where everyone I knew and loved was dead" said Lucina.
"And you managed to succeed in stopping this future but not only that you also killed this Grima which was thought to be impossible but you nearly lost Robin in the process due to him and Grima being linked by blood because of his father, this Validar person" said Lucas.
"That's right, they found me past out in a field not long before we found you" said Robin.
"Well that's all well and good just one question, why the hell are you still here?" asked Lucas.
"Who, me?" questioned Lucina.
"Yes you, I'm not trying to be rude but if you did change the future then you shouldn't be here because you didn't have a reason to go into the past to begin with but that brings back the future you came from creating this endless loop, you see the problem with time travel" said Lucas.
"I see your point if I did change the past then the me of this time has no reason to go back in time to change the past, you are right by saying that I shouldn't be here, I should be back in the future with no memory of this" said Lucina.
"Exactly, but according to you both you and the other future children still exist in this timeline which should be impossible and not to mention what you told me about Grima" said Lucas.
"What about him?" asked Chrom.
"Well you said there were two Robins at one point and that one was from the future where he gave in after killing you and became Grima, yet you stopped that from happening so he shouldn't exist after that but then he not only remained as well but became the Grima of this timeline" said Lucas.
"I…see your point" said Chrom.
"Very strange world" said Lucas.
"Like you know everything about the laws of time" said Frederick.
"No I don't but I know I guy who does and he's a doctor" said Lucas.
"A doctor?" questioned Robin.
"That's right and while we're on the subject whose bright idea was it to come back into the past without once thinking it over, bringing in items that don't exist in this timeline and without no way to get back?" asked Lucas.
"Oh, well actually it was my idea, we needed to make sure we changed the future, it was all that mattered at the time so we didn't really think about it and just acted as best we could" said Lucina.
"Oh well, just want to say good job on changing the future and saving all of humanity and that was actually sincere, it wasn't meant to sound sarcastic" said Lucas.
"Thanks" said Lucina.
"Now are you still having problems with these Risen and Grimleal?" asked Lucas.
"Surprisingly no which is what has us all worried, they all just seem to have disappeared which would be a good thing if not for the information you have just given me" said Chrom.
"You think Michel might be involved?" asked Lucas.
"Makes sense if you consider what this Eonia said, people who want destruction" said Robin.
"Well seeing as I'm stuck here for a while I could stick around and see if I can't find out anything" said Lucas.
"It would be much appreciated if you help us to discern whether their disappearance is the start of something more foul and you will have my gratitude" said Chrom.
"No problem, the least I can do seeing as you put a roof over my head, now you mentioned something about a celebration, is there any food, I'm starving" said Lucas.
"Yes, I would also like to introduce you to the rest of the Shepherds, right this way please and someone please give him his sword back" said Chrom.
"I shall see to it right away my lord; right after I have patched up the tents, inspected the weapons and patrolled the ground" said Frederick.
"Okay, you do that" said Lucas.
Chrom led Lucas, Robin and Lucina outside and into a huge tent that was pitched up outside where voices echoed and rich smells of food filled the air. Inside the place was packed with friendly faces gathered each with a glass or in most cases a mug in hand. What caught Lucas' eye was the food, roast chicken and potatoes, beef and ham, it was food heaven for him. Chrom pulled Lucas to one side and coughed to get everyone's attention, almost instantly everyone turned to face Chrom as he spoke to them in a dignified manner.
"My friends, this young man here goes by the name of Lucas, he will be staying with us for a while until his friends arrive to meet him and also to help us with his skill and expertise if necessary, I ask that you treat him as family and have fun tonight, after all this is a celebration after all" said Chrom.
He raised a glass and the others by raising theirs and offering cheers before returning to whatever it was they were doing. Chrom then left to mingle with the others and Lucas thought it be best to do the same, he was then approached by a somewhat carefree looking girl with blue hair dressed just like Robin, she was holding a glass in each hand.
"Would you like a drink?" asked the girl.
"Thank you but I'm underage I think" said Lucas.
"Don't worry there's no alcohol in it, at least I think there isn't, though to be honest I've been drinking them all night and I am starting to feel tipsy" said the girl.
"You know what, maybe I will have that drink, yolo right" said Lucas as he was handed a glass from the girl.
"What does that mean?" asked the girl.
"You only live once" said Lucas.
"Oh I see, it's the first letter of each word in that sentence, interesting" said the girl.
"Yeah, well thanks for the drink" said Lucas.
"Ah Lucas, I see you've already met Morgan" said Robin.
"Yep, just have as a matter of fact and I must say you two look oddly similar" said Lucas as he took a sip from his glass.
"Oh that's because Morgan is mine and Lucina's daughter from the future" said Robin.
Lucas almost immediately spat out the drink in a somewhat comedic matter from the shock as he turned and looked at Robin, but not before apologising to Morgan.
"I'm sorry, I must have misheard you, what did you say?" asked Lucas.
"Morgan is mine and Lucina's daughter from the future" said Robin.
"Oh okay I didn't miss hear you, so let me get this straight ignoring all the time travel stuff and everything, ignoring you are related to an evil deity with a large cult following that I'm not even going to touch because if you want to be stupid enough to worship an evil humanity destroying dragon then fair enough" said Lucas.
"You might want to take a breath" said Morgan.
"Thank you, so ignoring all that you've basically got you and Chrom who are best friends and he has a daughter who came back from the future who you them married which produced a daughter which then came back from the exact same future, have I missed anything?" asked Lucas.
"No, that's about it" said Robin.
"And Chrom's okay with that and she's still here after you beat Grima?" asked Lucas.
"Yep" said Robin.
"What is up with this world, I admit I like it so far but what is up with this world" said Lucas.
The party continued on as Lucas got acquainted with the Shepherds unaware that eyes were watching them that night and were preparing to strike.