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
Chapter 32
The Fall of the Shepherds
Lucas continued to party as the night went on; he got equated with the Shepherds very quickly and immediately hit it off with them. They seemed like a very colourful and cheerful lot, well except for a few exceptions, there was this one woman who just gave him chills and a boy in a mask who acted much like a loner and just stood in the corner watching the party. There was this lone soldier named Lon'qu who didn't talk much yet seemed to have a fear of girls, odd considering he was wearing a wedding ring. There were two little girls among the group Nowi and Nah, Nowi was playing carefree with another child named Ricken, judging from his appearance he seemed to be a mage of some kind. Nah was tucked away in a corner with her nose in a book, just next to her was yet another mage named Laurent, he had a rather serious look about him. Next Lucas met Chrom's wife, Sumia and their second daughter from the future Cynthia who gave herself a very enthusiastic self-introduction. Next Lucas met Lissa, Chrom's sister and one of the people who found him in the field; he also met her son Owain and his trusty sword which he had dubbed a great deal on names. In fact he had apparently given a name to every weapon in their inventory and tried to force Lucas to name his own sword, something that Lucas kindly rejected. Lucas then met Gaius, a thief with a rather large sweet tooth, in fact according to Chrom the only reason he had joined them was because Chrom had brought his services with sweets. Next to him was his wife Cordelia; Sumia's childhood friend and nag seeing as she seemed to be heckling her husband for some reason or another. Next he met Brady and Severa, Brady was a healer who looked very thuggish but from what Lucas could tell seemed like a good person while Severa came off as a brat with a taste for getting her own way. Lucas then met up with Robin who introduced him to Gregor, a cheerful fellow who was downing drinks like crazy while a monk named Libra tried to get him to take it easy with the drinks. Through the night he met the rest of the Shepherds, he met Tiki, Olivia, Sully, Miriel and Maribelle, was thoroughly spooked by Henry and Tharja and tried to have a conversation with the somewhat shy Noire until her terrifying alter ego appeared causing them to have a rather interesting discussion, that and he learned that he should probably say away from her mother, Tharja who was known for casting hexes on people. Next he was accidently dragged into a contest between a guy who was built like a tank named Vaike and Chrom before Robin and Lucina were able to stop them from fighting. Lucas then went on to meet a two humanoid people with very large ears, these two were Panne and her son Yarne who Lucas was informed where from a race that was near extinction named Taguel. Lucas apologised deeply for this when he found out that humans had been involved in this genocide and was glad to see Panne and Yarne say that it was not his fault. Lucas then met Inigo who could be best described as a skirt chaser yet a somewhat likable skirt chaser which was more than he could say for Virion, the next guy he met who was somewhat egotistical and sarcastic with a love for anyone wearing a skirt. Next Lucas met Stahl, Donnel Anna; Stahl was one of the original members of the Shepherds who had a good heart yet Lucas thought he was a little naïve due to Anna, a merchant getting him to help with her business. Donnel seemed like a good guy, bit of a country bumpkin who had joined Chrom's army very early, in fact Donnel told Lucas about how Chrom and Robin came to his village when they were under attack by brigands. It was them who persuaded him to fight and get stronger and to protect and fight for what he cared for, with their help they drove the villains from his home and he joined the army and has been one of its key players since. Next Lucas met Say'ri and Emmeryn; Sayri was a polite princess from one of Chrom's neighbouring countries who was very pleased to meet Lucas' acquaintance while Emmeryn was Chrom's older sister; Lucas was informed that she had some trouble speaking and amnesia due to jumping off a cliff in an attempt to save the lives of Chrom and her people. She did so to stop Chrom from making a difficult choice and was believed to be dead at the time but was later found to be alive, though she had gotten better she still had trouble with her memory and Lucas just felt sorry for her and wished there was something he could do. Next Lucas met Cherche, a Wyvern rider who used to be in service to Virion and his house, Lucas' heart bled for her; he also met Kjelle who Lucas could describe as courageous knight who sought only to better herself through sport. Lastly Lucas met Gerome who seemed like a loner and didn't really want to get himself involved in the affairs of others; Lucas hit it off with the group quite nicely and thoroughly enjoyed their company. Yes the night was going well except Lucas continued to choke on various things as the night went on and simultaneously developed a hatred for the words future and daughter or son, apart from that the night went well though this did catch everyone's attention so that he just decided to tell them the glaring plot hole.
"See that's why it's impossible for people from the future to exists, especially if this Grima is dead and stays dead, fingers crossed" said Lucas.
"Because if we won we wouldn't have any need to come back causing a loop in the timeline?" asked Morgan.
"Well that's part of the reason and that can be fixed without any needless complications so I wasn't complaining about that at first" said Lucas.
"So what's your problem?" asked Severa.
"Well this second Robin showed up and ruined everything, firstly if he was the future version of this Robin who accepted Grima then he shouldn't even exist, he should cease to be when this Robin told Grima to piss off" said Lucas.
"But then he becomes Grima securing his existence" said Chrom.
"He didn't have one to begin with, if having these children here changed things he should have just disappeared the moment they got here, plus you have no plans to go back in time and accept Grima, do you Robin?" asked Lucas.
"Not in this lifetime, no" said Robin.
"Well there you go, how can that future Robin be the Robin of the future is this Robin isn't going to go back and accept Grima and why would he do it in the first place seeing as he dies, no Grima means no children going back in time means the timeline restoring to how it originally was leading to a never ending loop" said Lucas.
"I suppose but we're still here so maybe you're missing something" said Inigo.
"Maybe but it's just something that I just can't get over" said Lucas.
"Speaking of which Say'ri's brother died but then we found a version of him from the future who said that Say'ri died in his place and came back into the past" said Lissa.
"Please, don't remind me" said Say'ri.
"Okay, first sorry to hear that, second how is that even possible, how can he come back to the past if he's dead, that doesn't make sense" said Lucas.
"What was your excuse?" asked Lucina.
"Pardon?" asked Lucas.
"You said it could have been easily fixed without any needless complications; what did you mean by that?" asked Lucina.
"Oh, your parents or future you could have told past you" said Lucas.
"What?" questioned Lucina.
"Well if you tell the past version this story as they grow up and then send them on their way then that plugs up the hole a bit" said Lucas.
"I see, it would preserve this timeline and give the children a reason to come back, clever but it's not perfect" said Miriel.
"Does it matter, Grima is gone regardless, Robin is still here so I'd say that is a victory no matter if it messes with time" said Chrom.
"True but terrible consequences come with messing with time" said Lucas.
"How do you know so much about this anyway, what makes you such an expert on time travel?" asked Severa.
"I come from another world" said Lucas.
"You mean like from another time?" asked Morgan.
"No, I mean another world, a parallel world, a world that took a different route to this one" said Lucas.
"Well then if that's the case maybe we came from another world just like you" said Laurent.
"That's possible but how did you do it, as far as I know only a Demi can teleport people to other worlds and I haven't seen one of them around otherwise I wouldn't be here" said Lucas.
"Urgh, this is boring, can't we just play or something?" asked Nowi.
"…you're right, sorry everyone for ruining the party with my nonsense" said Lucas.
"I wouldn't consider it ruined, in fact I would call this discussion very interesting, I admit that you raise a lot of interesting questions that do need to be answered at one point or another" said Chrom.
"Gregor understands your questions with how we beat Grima and Gregor does not want that creature to return or future daughter to go away so it would be best to find solution to time problem, yes?" asked Gregor.
"Maybe, but I would say now is a bad time to bring it up, we shouldn't be worrying about this, I'm just surprised that you have your future children here and that you allowed a kid to join an army" said Lucas.
"I'm not a child, silly and I can defend myself" said Nowi.
"I fail to see how" said Lucas.
Nowi then pulled out an odd stone and held it up into the air, there was a flash of light and within seconds Lucas saw not a little girl but a yellow scaled dragon with sharp pointed fangs.
"Jesus" said Lucas.
"Told you I could defend myself and I may look like a kid but I'm older them almost everyone here" said Nowi.
"You can talk like that?" questioned Lucas.
"Through telepathy; myself, my Mother and Tiki are a race of people called Manaketes, we turn into dragons with the help of Dragonstones" said Nah.
"So don't underestimate us" said Nowi as she turned back into a human.
"I won't, believe me; wait you said mother; quick show of hands, who is from the future?" asked Lucas.
The group humoured Lucas' request as several of them raised their hands into the air, Lucas then took the time to count them, he was somewhat concerned by the number of people who had entered the past.
"Let's see, that's nine…ten…..eleven…thirteen, thirteen in all, okay I won't complain anymore but I will say that if the Doctor was here he'd be through the roof right about now" said Lucas.
"So I guess this guy is a little bit extreme" said Robin.
"Try a lot" said Lucas.
"You mentioned being from another world, what's it like to ours?" asked Lissa.
"Very different, my world doesn't have magic or anything extraordinary it's just plain old boring and ordinary" said Lucas.
"I wouldn't say that, if this world is new and interesting to you then that world would be the same to us seeing we don't have the experiences with it that you do" said Robin.
"You have a point there, I guess I've just seen everything my world has to offer" said Lucas.
"How did you even get here?" asked Nah.
"I was on a ship with my friends negotiating with one of our enemies when we were both attacked by something; I ordered our Demi to open a portal to take us to another world to get away from that thin and it somehow opened up two portals, one of which I got sucked into and now I'm here" said Lucas.
"What was it that you were running from?" asked Ricken.
"It looked like a giant flying metal purple killer squid, or maybe an insect, I didn't get a very good look at its shape" said Lucas.
"I'm sorry but could you please repeat that because I'm pretty sure you said something quite preposterous" said Maribelle.
"Believe me I know how it sounds but it's what I saw, I believed Eonia called it a Reaper or something" said Lucas.
"Well darn, I reckon it must have been pretty powerful" said Donnel.
"Try near indestructible, we fired everything we had at it and all that seemed to do was piss it off" said Lucas.
"So you ran with your tail tucked between your legs" said Sully.
"Because if we didn't everyone on board including yours truly would be dead right about now, we didn't have a choice" said Lucas.
"I agree, it would be unwise to go up against an enemy with no means to actually harm that enemy, plus he had the lives of hundreds of people on his shoulders; Lucas made the right choice to flee" said Robin.
"There is no sense in fighting a battle in which the outcome of you losing is certain, that is true" said Frederick.
"Thanks but people did die regardless, Eonia's ship went down, plus it managed to get a few good hits on us and with me here there is no telling how many people we lost" said Lucas as he gripped his fist.
"It was not your fault manspawn, you had no idea that this enemy would appear" said Panne.
"Oh I'm not blaming myself, I'm thoroughly pissed off and if I see that thing again I'm going to take it down and dance on its corpse" said Lucas.
"Hell yeah, if that thing shows up old teach here will help you bring it to the ground" said Vaike.
"Thanks but I don't want to get any of you involved then you already are, as soon as my friends show up I'll be out of your hair" said Lucas.
"Do you really think…" began Chrom.
Then a soldier bust into the tent grasping for breath, on his face was the look of horror and he was badly wounded. He tried to move forward but gave in after about two steps causing him to fall to the floor. Quickly Lucas sprang into action and caught the men and gently laid him on the floor as she shouted for Lissa. Lissa responded quickly and tried to heal the man but his wounds were very deep; she tried to heal him using her staff but it didn't seem to help as Chrom and Robin rushed to his side.
"Who did this to you?" asked Chrom.
The soldier quickly grabbed Lucas' arm as he tried to force some form of sentence from his mouth.
"The town…Risen…..under attack…..a man in white" said the soldier.
"Risen; where is this town?" asked Chrom.
"The bottom ….of the mountain" said the soldier.
"There so close, why didn't we receive word until now?" asked Robin.
A sound then pushed through the air causing all of them to grab their ears, it was a frightful and painful sound, it sounded like a computerised fog horn.
"That sound….." said Lucas.
"What was that?" asked Lissa.
"It came from outside" said Yarne.
"Don't….. do….just run…there is something else" said the soldier as he closed his eyes.
"Hey, don't you dare" said Lucas.
"He can't hear you, he's gone" said Chrom.
"Damn it" said Lucas.
Lucas placed his head onto the ground as Frederick took a look outside and quickly dropped his spear which fell to the floor with a mighty clang.
"There is nothing we can do for him now; we need to help the villagers" said Chrom.
"No my lord" said Frederick.
"Pardon?" asked Chrom.
"You, Lady Lissa, Lady Sumia, Lady Cynthia and Lady Lucina and Lady Emm should return to the castle with most of our forces where it is safe, I, along with any volunteers will try to help the villagers" said Frederick.
"For what reason?" asked Chrom.
"I suddenly believe Lucas was telling the truth my lord" said Frederick.
"What?" questioned Lucas.
"Take a look outside everyone" said Frederick.
Everyone was confused but did as Frederick said and stepped outside and immediately they were met with horror, the happiness they had five minutes ago melted from their mind and only shock and absolute fear remained.
"Oh gods" said Lucina.
Fire filled their view for as far as they could see; there was nothing but a seemingly endless sea of flames that engulfed everything and in the midst of this forest was a metallic purple insect like creature. Lucas hadn't realised before but they had been set upon a hill overlooking a town except that town was now in flames, screaming filled the air along with the sound of the dreaded creature.
"I….I take it that is the creature you mentioned?" asked Robin.
"It's smaller but that's the thing that tried to kill me and my friends" said Lucas.
"We have to help them, arm everyone and ready the horses at once" said Chrom.
"No my lord, I will lead a small group of volunteers and try to save as many as we can but you must return to the castle and warn everyone of this" said Frederick.
"I will not, I will not allow people to die in front of me while I just stand here and do nothing" said Chrom.
"You are being selfish my lord; it is obvious that we probably won't survive and this will be a suicide mission; the people need you to lead them and everyone else must be informed of this before it gets any further" said Frederick.
"Frederick" said Chrom.
"You must do this my lord and Lucas, I am sorry for not believing you; now I know this will be a dangerous mission that will undoubtedly be fraught with peril and maybe I have no right to ask this but who will join me?" asked Frederick.
No one raised their hand at first until one voice sounded throughout, echoing out the sound of the metallic creature.
"I will" said Lucas.
Everyone glanced at him as he stepped forward to join Frederick in the front, he took his sword back from Frederick who had kept it from him all night, reattached it and pulled it out of its sheathe.
"I already owe that thing for attacking my friends and I owe Chrom for helping me and putting up with me, besides Fred, if you think I'm going to just let you go into that without me then you've got another thing coming" said Lucas.
"You will need a strategy of some kind in order to succeed so I'm in" said Robin as he stepped forward.
"Robin no" said Lucina.
"I'm sorry Lucina but they need me now more than ever; I promise I'll come back to you and Morgan so just keep each other safe" said Robin.
"I mean no, if you think you are going down there without me then you're wrong, I lost you once I won't lose you again" said Lucina.
"You can't, you need to get somewhere safe with Chrom and your mother" said Robin.
"This isn't up for discussion, I'm going to make sure you come back this time" said Lucina as she stepped forward.
"If both mother and father are going then so am I" said Morgan.
"No Morgan, I will not allow you to get caught up in this" said Lucina.
"And I will not allow either of you two to get caught up in this" said Fredrick.
"Neither will I; Lucina, Robin; don't do this" said Chrom.
"Whoever goes is going to need the best in order to come back, I've no choice but to go or we will just lose people for nothing" said Robin.
"I'm going father, don't try to stop me; if it was mother going down there wouldn't you do your best to try and follow her" said Lucina.
"You're my daughter" said Chrom.
"And he is my husband, now we don't have much time so don't argue with me!" shouted Lucina.
"….Robin" said Chrom.
"Yes Chrom?" asked Robin.
"You keep her safe and you bring her back, understand" said Chrom.
"You have my word" said Robin.
"Mother, I'm sorry" said Lucina.
"Lucina….it's okay I understand, I'd do the same thing if I was in your position, just make sure to come back safely" said Sumia.
"I will mother; Cynthia make sure to keep mother and father safe" said Lucina.
"I will, just make sure you stay safe" said Cynthia.
"If either mother or father go down then I'll just disappear according to Lucas, so I'm going to make sure you both come back and don't do anything crazy" said Morgan.
"No you won't young lady; I won't allow it" said Lucina.
"I thought it was you who said we don't have time to argue about this; I'm going" said Morgan as she took a step forward.
"Is that all?" asked Frederick.
It took a small moment of silence before all of the Shepherds stepped forward to join them in their fight which surprised Lucas.
"You all wish to help?" asked Lucas.
"Of course, this is our home too" said Nah.
"Thank you but another group must go with Chrom to the castle, I only need a small number of people to minimise casualties" said Frederick.
"Then you have the aid of the Taguel my friend" said Panne as she stepped forward.
"Mother" said Yarne.
"I'll be fine; just look after yourself and the manspawn" said Panne.
"Then I'm going as well, I did promise old teach would help you bring that thing down" said Vaike.
"Then count in Nowi, I'm not going to sit this one out" said Nowi as she stepped forward.
"Mother; then I'm going too" said Nah as she stepped forward.
"As am I" said Ricken as he stepped forward.
"Gregor will smash that creature into pieces so count Gregor in" said Gregor as he stepped forward.
"Then I'm in, like hell will I sit this one out" said Sully as she stepped forward.
"Well good luck" said Virion.
"Oh like hell you are sitting this one out either, you're coming with us" said Sully as she pulled him forward.
"I'm in as long as I get to pull them limb from limb" said Henry as he stepped forward.
"And you have the aid of Owain" he said as he stepped forward.
"No, I won't allow it" said Lissa.
"Sorry mother but they need my sword hand now more than ever" said Owain.
"Then I'm going with you to make sure you don't do anything stupid" said Lon'qu as he stepped forward.
"We will need a healer in case someone needs treatment" said Frederick.
"Then I shall aid you in this task, I can defend myself and I can help whoever we find" said Libra as he stepped forward.
"Thank you; prepare yourselves we leave at once" said Frederick.
Lucas prepared himself as did everyone else, Panne turned into a Taguel as did Yarne, the Manaketes turned into their dragon forms and everyone grabbed the weapon they were most comfortable with and mounted their horses. Sumia, Cordelia and Cynthia mounted their Pegasi as Frederick said goodbye to his wife Cherche and their son Gerome before they mounted their Wyverns and the two groups parted ways and Frederick lead his group down the mountain towards the town. Lucas drew his sword as other drew their weapons ready for battle; Lucas noticed many of the Shepherds look back, worried about their friends and families; Lucas' guilt rose having driven innocent bystanders into this mess but so did his anger and he was about to make this thing pay, somehow, someway he was going to make it pay. They reached the town and found no one in sight; save for the giant monster there was no one around and no enemies to be slain.
"We should split up and search to maximise our efforts, also try to stay out of that things line of sight, we don't want to engage it until we know more about it" said Robin.
They did as he said and split up into groups, Henry, Panne and Vaike, Nah, Nowi and Ricken, Morgan, Lucina and Robin, Libra, Sully and Virion, Owain and Lon'qu and finally Lucas, Frederick and Gregor. They moved out searching the town for any survivors while trying to keep out of sight of the giant metal death machine, it wasn't long before they began to hear the sound of groaning which echoed in their ears. In front of them was a horde of undead like creatures all armed with swords and axes, Lucas grabbed the reins of his mount and gripped his sword tightly with his other hand.
"I take it these are the Risen you were talking about" said Lucas.
"That's them" said Gregor.
"Prepare for battle" said Frederick.
They drew their weapons as the Risen started limping towards them with weapons held high.
"Charge" said Frederick.
The three of them then charged at the Risen cutting as many of them down as possible, they proved to be formidable being undead that meant normal blows didn't have much of an effect so Lucas focused on their heads and decapitating them. Meanwhile the others had encountered the Risen as well and began to battle; Morgan, Lucina and Robin were busy fighting a large group with Lucina leading the charge and Morgan and Robin backing her up with magic it was a tough battle made worse when Risen armed with bows appeared. Their aim was somewhat lacking thankfully but they did manage to hit Lucina's horse killing it and causing her to go flying. She pulled herself up from the ground and reached for her sword as the Risen gathered around her causing Robin to come to her aid and block a Risen's attack with his sword before sending it flying with a thunder spell. Morgan joined them and with Robin she dismounted from her horse and prepared to battle the horde. Panne was clawing through Risen like no tomorrow while Vakie backed her up on horseback, clubbing as many of them as he could with his axe. Henry kept up with the Taguel surprisingly well while blasting any Risen that he came into contact with and destroying them with his magic all the while he laughed gleefully. Sully impaled countless Risen with her spear as she charged head long into a horde of her own while Virion backed her up by shooting arrows at the Risen like crazy, each one a bulls eye, each on hitting their mark, the top of each Risen's head. While Sully lead their charge and Virion backed her up Libra kept himself busy with the task of keeping Virion safe by defeating any Risen that Sully might have missed. Lon'qu and Owain dismounted their own horses as they approached their own horde; they readied their swords and charged straight into battle decapitating the Risen as the mindlessly charged at them. Nowi and Nah destroyed the Risen in their dragon forms while Ricken backed them up with his magic as best as he could. Meanwhile Chrom was leading the group returning to the castle out of the burning forest and through the plains leading to his home, but he couldn't help but look back and hope that his friends and family were okay, as did everyone else. Lucas, Gregor and Frederick fought well, Gregor quickly dismounted from his horse as he jumped into the horde of enemies decimating them with his blade. Frederick and Lucas divided the enemies between them as they sliced them apart like crazy. Lucas sliced into the head of a Risen and kicked its body to the ground before attacking another, then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and quickly moved to block the attack but doing so caused Lucas to fall of his horse. The horse ran away as Lucas got up quickly and blocked another attack from this adversary which sent him flying into a building. Lucas lost consciousness for a second as he heard Frederick shout his name; Gregor dealt with the Risen while Frederick rushed to Lucas' side and blocked an attack intended for Lucas from this adversary.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Frederick.
"The boy is mine; get out of my way before I cut you down as well" said the attacker.
"I will not abandon my friend to your blade, now answer me who are you?" asked Frederick as he forced the attacker back.
"I am Alexei and you?" asked Alexei.
"I am Frederick, now then Alexei, pick a god and pray" said Frederick as they prepared to do battle.
While this was happening Sully and Libra had been forced to retreat while new horrific creatures appeared with guns and shot at them forcing them to duck behind cover. They looked like a mixture of flesh and metal as they blasted them relentlessly, Virion tried to pick them off with his arrows but there were so many of them rushing at them, all Sully and Libra could do was attack the ones without guns, these blue skeleton like humanoid creatures that just charged at them.
"What the hell are these things!" shouted Sully.
"I don't know, I've never seen Risen like these ungodly abominations" said Libra.
"Just stay safe, don't get caught out in the open" said Virion as he was forced to take to cover.
Nowi and Nah had gone from destroying the opposition to having the opposition destroying them when this freak appeared on the battle and with a click of his fingures summoned a sword and several flying arrows which flew at them and smashed Nowi into the ground.
"Mother" said Nah.
"Ahahahahahahaha is that your best little one" said the freaky looking man.
"You, who are you; why are you helping the Risen?" asked Ricken.
"Afraid I can't tell you little one but as for my name I am Ghirahim" said the attacker.
This Ghirahim then charged at them with deadly intent as they backed away to try to avoid his swings from his sword. While this was happening Kefka entered the fray and began to terrorise Panne, Henry and Vaike. They tried to fight him but this ended with Vaike losing his axe and Panne getting injured trying to protect him during his retreat.
"Oh god, Panne" said Vaike.
"Just run you fool" said Panne.
"You can run but even that won't help you maggot" said Kefka.
He launched and attack that was intended to be a finishing blow to Panne but it was deflected by Henry who then began to chuckle.
"Get somewhere safe, I'll deal with Clown; you hear that, I'll be the one to entertain you so try to keep up with me and don't die before I've had my fun" said Henry.
"Interesting, let's see what you've got smiley" said Kefka
The two began to battle flinging magic at each other as Vaike picked up Panne and tried to find her somewhere safe. Meanwhile Lon'qu and Owain were fighting bravely but that stopped when all of a sudden the Risen turned and slowly walked away, then from they heard calm shallow footsteps approaching and they turned to face their new opponent. It was a man with black hair and an emotionless expression on his face; he calmly walked towards them as the two of them gripped their swords. On the left side of his face was a mask of some kind and he was completely dressed in white, at his side was a katana that he held tightly with his left hand.
"Who are you?" asked Lon'qu.
"I am Ulquiorra" he said calmly.
"What are you doing here?" asked Lon'qu.
"I was ordered to dispose of any who try in interfering in our hunt for Lucas Murphy" said Ulquiorra
"Then you're with the Risen" said Lon'qu.
"I am, these creatures serve our purposes well" said Ulquiorra.
"What do you want, why attack this village?" asked Owain.
"Because I was ordered to, to lure out Lucas Murphy" said Ulquiorra.
"How unlucky for you to have run into us, you face the mighty Owain and his trusty sword, now come villain my sword hand hungers" said Owain.
Ulquiorra just stood their staring at the two of them; Lon'qu knew something wasn't right about him, for him to control the Risen so easily sent a shiver down his spine.
"Nothing to say, I see you are speechless, completely frozen with fear" said Owain.
"Fool, I have no time for this" said Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra turned to leave angering Owain causing him to rush forward but he was quickly stopped by Lon'qu who had quickly grabbed his arm; Lon'qu's eyes remained fixated on Ulquiorra, as if watching a deadly predator slowly leave.
"Father?" questioned Owain.
"There is something not right about him and we don't seem to be his intended target, we should not engage in a fight with him" said Lon'qu.
"No it's Lucas who is his intended mark and if we don't do something then he is going to kill him" said Owain.
"What, you know Lucas Murphy?" asked Ulquiorra as he turned to face them.
"That I do and if you want information about him then you are going to have to beat it out of me" said Owain.
"Quiet you fool" said Lon'qu.
"Very well" said Ulquiorra coldly.
Ulquiorra drew his blade and walked towards them slowly and Owain shook off his father's arm.
"Leave me father, Owain needs no aid" said Owain as he charged at Ulquiorra.
"Owain, no!" shouted Lon'qu as he rushed after his son.
Ulquiorra just stood there slightly amused as Owain foolishly came closer with his blade, ready to strike Ulquiorra and not expecting what would happen next. Meanwhile Chrom's group moved across the plains trying to get to the castle, their minds filled with worry for their comrades, Chrom's head was so filled with worry for his daughter, granddaughter and best friend that he didn't even notice movement on his right flank. Quickly his wife, Sumia moved alongside him and deflected an attack with her spear but in doing so she was sent flying off her mount and hit the ground. Chrom and Cynthia yelled to her as she pulled herself up off the ground and grabbed her weapon , everyone drew their weapons and prepared for battle but this attacker fired magic randomly around the battle field in an effort to scatter them. Chrom rushed to his wife's side as a man materialised behind him and tried to strike him down, however this attack was quickly stopped by Cynthia who blocked the attack and repled the man. This attacker went flying into the air but quickly regain himself and landed softly on his feet a few steps from them. This man who wore a red devil like mask smirked at them as Chrom took a fighting pose alongside his daughter, everyone else was too scattered to help, all of them all trying to regroup as this man stood their challenging them.
"Who are you, how dare you attack my wife!" shouted Chrom.
"Ah yes, I often forget my manners, especially when addressing royalty; I am Lahabrea of a the Ascians, a pleasure and as for attacking your wife the spell was meant for you she just merely got in the way" said the man as he bowed to them as if mocking them.
"Well then Lahabrea, what do you want?" asked Chrom.
"Your head on a spike and the same with Lucas Murphy and you're damned children of the future" said Lahabrea.
"What? questioned Chrom.
"Are you perhaps deaf, I want you and your family plus your friends' family dead murderers of Grima" said Lahabrea.
"Another follower of Grima" said Chrom.
"Don't you dare even think about touching our daughters" said Sumia.
"Oh no I am no follower of Grima, I simple owe him a favour and besides woman what are you going to do to stop me" said Lahabrea.
Lahabrea started laughing as Cynthia tightened her grip on her spear, the group was nearly all back together but they needed to get back to the castle, someone had to stay and hold off Lahabrea and if her father or mother stayed then the future was done for.
"Mother, father, regroup with the others and leave him to me" said Cynthia.
"What, it's you he's after; I will not leave you here to fight him on your own" said Chrom.
"Father, mother is injured and needs treatment, she cannot fight him and if we lose you then everything we sacrificed to get here was for nothing" said Cynthia.
"Cynthia he will kill you" said Sumia.
"There isn't any time to argue; besides I promised Lucina that I would keep you safe and that is what I am going to do and I think I can take him" said Cynthia.
"You think?" questioned Chrom.
"No, I'm certain" said Cynthia.
Cynthia looked at her mother and father, practically begging with her eyes for them to let her do this, for them to trust her. Her mother looked her daughter in the eye and quickly understood her feelings; she whistled for a Pegasus and mounted it as soon as it came.
"Understood, we shall leave him to you" said Sumia.
"Sumia we can't just leave her" said Chrom.
"She is a grown woman and can look after herself, trust in your daughter Chrom" said Sumia.
Chrom just stopped for a moment to consider before nodding his head and sheathing his sword.
"You better come back you hear me" said Chrom as he and Sumia re-joined the group.
"I will father, you have my word and thank you" said Cynthia.
"Brave words child but do you really think you'll be able to defeat me?" asked Lahabrea.
"Maybe, maybe not but that doesn't matter now, now I fill out my role as a hero of the people" said Cynthia.
"…..what is your name?" asked Lahabrea.
"I am Cynthia; now, die in the name of a brighter future" she said.
"Well then prepare yourself child of the future" said Lahabrea.
The two clashed as Chrom continued to lead the group to the castle, his mind now filled with worry for not one but both off his daughters. Meanwhile Robin, Morgan and Lucina were cleaving through Risen when something else entered their battle, creatures whose faces were obscured by white masks, Hollows. Not only them either but also Hexes attacked them ferociously they did their best to hold them off and through thorough teamwork and strategy they managed to repel the enemies. They pushed forward cutting down foes as they went but as they dived into a new found horde of enemies Robin deflected a blow from a Risen and became separated from Lucina and Morgan. As he looked around for his family he found it out that the enemies had backed off and were not attacking him then he turned his head to see him, a man dressed in white, one of his eyes had been sowen shut and his head was slick back, at his side was a katana who he didn't even try to draw as he approached Robin. The area around his mouth looked damaged as if someone had also put a needle through it and his face and from were both calm yet undoubtedly evil.
"Who are you?" asked Robin.
"Your opponent son of Validar, now entertain me" said the man.
"You know who I am; how do you know that name?" asked Robin.
"Defeat me and maybe I shall be persuaded enough to answer" said the man.
Robin knew this was no ordinary opponent but he couldn't let this man go no matter what, the soldier mentioned something about a man in white, was it him. Robin prepared himself for a tough fight, he would need to be cautions and pace himself. He took a breath and then attacked he launched a Thoron spell at him with an Arcfire in quick succession but the man battered both of these away with his bare hands no less shocking Robin. The man smiled at him, Robin would need to do better than that and so he armed himself with his best tools. With his sword, Balmung in one hand and his most powerful spells in the other he readied himself. He went on the offensive again by launching a Valflame at his opponent before charging at him, his opponent blocked the Valflame but didn't react in time to block Robin's sword allowing Robin to cut his arm. Robin turned and tried to strike again but the man quickly blocked with his katana, the two opponents smiled at each other as Robin sized up his enemy, there was something not right about this man. Robin quickly pulled away from the man and fired off a Forseti at him causing the man to lose track of him, Robin quickly tried to strike with his sword but like expected the man had prepared for this and blocked with his sword. He thought he had out smarted Robin but that was what he wanted him to think, quickly he put his hand against the man's chest and fired off a Mjolnir spell hitting the man at point blank range in the chest sending him flying into a building. Robin breathed a sigh of relief think the battle was over but was quickly surprised when a spell of some kind was fired at him. He quickly moved out of the way as the man emerged from the building unharmed by the attack; Robin was somewhat confused by this but none the less readied his sword. This time the man took the offence attacking Robin at a ferocious speed making it hard for him to block each strike. This opponent was tough and highly skilled whoever he was, without any other choice Robin used Ignis to try and tip the scales in his favour. His gave him the extra strength he needed allowing him to push the man back and deliver an attack across the man's chest which to Robin's surprise did little but graze him.
"You fight well son of Validar and my spiritual pressure seems to have no effect on the people of this world, interesting" said the man.
"What did you say; you're from another world like Lucas?" questioned Robin.
"Robin!" shouted Lucina.
Robin turned his head to see Lucina fighting her way towards her husband with their daughter in tow, the man saw this and grinned as he turned his attention towards them, Robin noticed this and quickly rushed towards them to try and protect them.
"Lucina, Morgan wait, don't come here!" shouted Robin.
"Hado number 90 Kurohitsugi" said the man.
Something appeared at Lucina's feet, she stopped dead as Robin pushed her out of harm's way taking the attack full on, a large black box enveloped his body for a second and then quickly left leaving Robin to fall to the floor practically cut to ribbon. He wasn't moving, Lucina and Morgan just stopped as all of time seemed to stand still, they snapped out of it quickly and rushed to him, screaming his name as loud as they could, they fell to the ground by his side trying with all their might to get him to wake up as tears feel from their eyes.
"Father no" said Morgan.
"Robin no, not again, don't you dare do this again, don't leave us alone again" said Lucina.
"It seems he is not as skilled as I was told and yet his daughter remains, interesting, well I will just have to kill the daughter then" said the man.
"You" said Lucina.
She stood up slowly and clenched her fist as she turned to face the man.
"What is your name?" asked Lucina.
"My name; its Sosuke Aizen" said the man.
"Aizen, very well; you wound my husband, you threaten my daughter, you attack my people, prepare yourself Aizen cause now I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!" shouted Lucina.
She gripped her sword tightly as she stared at her opponent with anger in her eyes, her face still wet with tears and her armour dirtied, she prepared for battle with the man who wounded her husband.
"Mother, let me help" said Morgan.
"No, take your father somewhere safe and see to his wounds and no matter what happens don't come out" said Lucina.
"But…" began Morgan.
"Just listen to me Morgan, please just this once" said Lucina.
Morgan hesitated but agreed as she grabbed Robin and pulled him away from the fight that was about to take place.