Laurent

*10 days later*

"Someone matching this Laurent has been seen in this area." Shane looked up from his recently bought map. "Can one of you give me a description of his looks and of him?"

"Laurent is the child of Miriel and Stahl. He is a sage and takes after Miriel a lot, including the way she talks but was getting better at not talking like that anymore. He has short red hair." Severa informed.

Shane placed his hand on the sand. "Inveniet: Red hair."

Once more, the magic pulsed outwards but since they were on sand, the magic pulse actually disturbed the sand, allowing everyone to see it zoom across the land before it blended in with the sand.

They sat down, expecting Shane to be concentrating for the next few minutes on finding Laurent. And three minutes later, Shane stood up before looking in the Northwest.

"Why must you kids always cause some kind of trouble?" Shane sighed before they started running in the direction where 10 minutes later, they found an oasis before seeing a red haired sage in front of them.

"Hey! Laurent!" Shane exclaimed, getting his attention, to which seemed calm since he just looked at him.

"Shane. I pondered when we would reconvene." Laurent told him.

Shane looked around, seeing a bunch of enemies.

'13 Barbarians, 8 Berserkers, 2 Fighters, 6 Warriors, 3 Mages, 5 Pegasus Knights, and 6 Falcon Riders. Mostly people whose resistance to magic attacks are likely low. Of the 6 of us, Laurent, Morgan, and I are the only one who can use magic. We can't risk it so we'll have to have pairs where one must be a magic user.' Shane planned. 'Or split in three where I'll take Yarne and Severa.'

"Alright, we'll split in groups of three. Morgan, Lucina, and Laurent will take the enemies to the southwest while Yarne, Severa, and I will take the ones to the north."

"So even back here you were a Tactician capable of forming plans in seconds." Laurent commented.

Shane looked at Laurent before gesturing at the sand near him, causing Laurent to look down.

I want to talk to you privately after this.

Laurent barely had time to read it before the sand got carried by a sudden light wind, erasing the message.

"Now, let's finish this and find more of our family."

The five of them nodded before proceeding with the plan.

"Exorno!" Shane summoned his last magical item he hadn't used yet.

It looked like a simple light green and blue bow but it is one of his best weapons to pick off multiple enemies from a distance. It went by the name Salo Ventus.

"Oh? You're bringing out old Ventus? You rarely used that." Yarne commented.

"Because it rarely compliments my style of fighting and I typically use magic for range attacks but I haven't used this in a while." Shane explained before pulling back the string. "Hurricane's Eye!"

Shane let loose the empty string before a faint shimmer in the air in front of it vanished before multiple small tornadoes formed and hit the many enemies in the distance.

"*whistle* I forgot how strong it was." Severa commented.

"Diruo." The bow returned to magical particles before being reabsorbed into Shane before he summoned his gauntlets. "Let's do this."

The three charged forwards at the remaining enemy.

"Yarne! Clawed Rabbit!" Severa called out, confusing Shane but caused a groan from Yarne.

"I hate that plan." He grumbled before using his beaststone to transform where Severa jumped on his back.

"Charge!" Severa pointed her blade forward before Yarne charged forward.

Shane blinked before smirking.

"Don't even think of taking all the fun!" Shane ran after them.

Lucina slashed a Barbarian before jumping backwards before two pillars of Elfire shot from the ground, ending the Barbarian.

"Formation Slash and Blast!" Morgan informed.

"Remind me why we let Owain name these formations." Laurent sighed.

"Cause he really wanted to." Lucina answered before slashing a Warrior then dashed to the side to avoid two fireballs that blew the Warrior up.

They continued this pattern before switching to Fire Storm (wind and fire magic), Lightning Strike (stun opponent with lightning magic before Lucina would go in for the kill), before finishing with Twin Storm Shriek (Laurent uses wind magic to maneuver Morgan and Lucina around, letting them use their swords to finish off anyone left).

"Iunctura: Thoron and Gauntlets." Shane called out before feeling the spell combine with his gauntlets.

Shane ducked under a sword before giving an uppercut motion but didn't hit the Berserker.

But Thoron did.

It shot out of the end of his fist before slamming and essentially erasing the Berserker's head.

Shane threw punch after punch, shooting Thoron after Thoron, quickly getting rid of the enemies that thought they had him cornered.

His gauntlets returned to normal before he suddenly glowed a slight blue tint before feeling a force hit his arm. He looked and saw an arrow in his arm. He pulled it out and saw who he assumed to be the leader.

"Yarne! Severa! I'm going after the one in charge!" Shane told them, letting them know where he would be.

He ran towards him before rolling to avoid another arrow that sailed past him. He got back up and continued running at him as the guy put up his bow and traded it for a Silver+ Axe.

[Weapon's that have a plus at the end will be forged with extra attack and hit chances.]

He was right in front of him when the leader swung his axe forward where Shane quickly stuck his open hand forward and caught the blade, stopping his attack.

Shane then punched him in the chest with his other hand, feeling his ribs break and crack under the force.

The leader cried in pain before Shane let go of the axe before slamming the now freed hand into his face, causing his skull to break and pierce his brain, leaving no chance he lived. The leader dropped to the ground as Shane looked around and saw that all the future children were walking toward him.

Shane dismissed his gauntlets before walking towards them as well.

"Alright, we'll head back to the town we passed before this mess and rest for the night before continuing." Shane informed.

"What will you continue doing Uncle?" Laurent asked.

"We're looking for the rest of you kids. Though, we have to return to your Aunt in about a month and a half." Shane explained.

They headed back to the town before renting three rooms, each with two beds, at an inn. Shane told them that they can decide who sleeps with who. Severa chose Lucina, Morgan chose Yarne, leaving Shane with Laurent.

"Alright, we'll leave first thing in the morning."

Everyone went to their rooms to get some rest while Shane started his conversation with Laurent.

"I'm sorry Laurent."

"Why are you asking for forgiveness?" Laurent asked.

"I can tell by looking at you and the fact that you haven't been born yet, you should be younger than Lucina." Shane started. "But I can easily tell that is false." Surprising Laurent. "Because of my heritage, I can get a rough feeling of how old someone is based on their magic, no matter how little. Lucina is around twenty-two. You, are around twenty-four. That can mean one thing. You came back in time further than Lucina and been alone for years."

"Your intellect continues to baffle me." Laurent stated, confirming Shane's thoughts.

"So, I'm saying sorry for having to leave you alone for so long. I hope you can forgive your awful excuse of an uncle."

"Silence those false accusations this instant!" Laurent exclaimed, shocking Shane. "You naively conclude this situation falls on you while stating you were an 'awful excuse?!' Who do you think trained us? Protected us? Comforted us? Raised us!?"

"When our parents died either by Grima or the war with Plegia, you were always one of the first to come see us and the last to leave. You made sure we could continue without you before you even thought of leaving us alone. When Panne and Gaius died, you stayed with Yarne and helped him mourn for three days. When Cordelia and Vaike died, you made sure no one compared Severa to Cordelia for weeks, even if you had to get physical. When Miriel and Stahl died, you showed me her work and gave me the goal of continuing on her name. When Chrom and Sumia died, you taught Lucina Chrom's fighting style and constantly let her know that you'd be willing to tell her stories of her parents." Laurent listed off.

Shane however, noticed he left someone out. "What...what about Morgan?"

Laurent looked away. "That is a time every one of the New Shepherds remembers. When we received the news that Aunt Robin became deceased, we all expected you to comfort Morgan like you did us. Only, we were wrong."

"I didn't comfort my own son?" Shane whispered in horror.

"You couldn't. You were mourning the woman who became your wife for 12 years. You might have kept up a good face for the soldiers and people, but we could tell you were broken on the inside. We had left you alone and tried to help Morgan in your stead. We helped him deal with it after a week before we all turned to you and noticed that you got worse. Way worse. You stayed in your room almost everyday, you rarely interacted with people now, and we could hear chatter from the people and soldiers that you no longer greeted or smiled at them. The rate of soldiers abandoning us increased drastically to the point we expected at least 3 every day. You were our time's greatest hope. They all knew how you greeted even peasants like nobles, you listened to everyone, and how you loved your family. Everyone at least felt sad Robin passed but they were devastated when they came to the conclusion that, while you were still among the living, your soul had left to be with Robin." Laurent looked down.

"We tried everything. Severa and Owain, Lissa's child, tried to make you laugh but couldn't get even a smirk. Most of us tried to spend time with you just like you did with us but you always just said next time. Lucina and I tried to distract you with a spar but you simply told us to practice on the dummies. At this point, we couldn't think of anything to snap you back to normal. Until something forced you.

The New Shepherds were sent out to recapture a town from the Risen but it became apparent to be a trap. When we arrived, we were surrounded by Plegian soldiers that forced us to surrender before throwing us into a make-shift prison. Some even threaten to do..unspeakable things to the females. I would later find out that Morgan always kept one of your orbs on him at all times. He sent a message through it but we were forced to wait with these barbarians' patience running out until one declared he would like Lucina since she had wounded him by stabbing him in the arm during the fight."

Shane kept growing more and more horrified by the story. He never thought that he'd retreat back into himself after coming to peace that his mother had died and couldn't see her face-to-face anymore.

"Please tell me that that didn't happen." Shane pleaded.

"It couldn't. At that exact moment, the planet shook as something crashed nearby before what can be described as hell brought its fury down. Explosions happened everywhere, lightning bolts as wide as buildings crashed down onto the ground, only for hurricane winds to rip up buildings and anyone in its path after. Black spikes shot through some of them while others screamed at phantom pains before dying. The last thing to happen was what could be described as a beam of pure destruction washed over most of the town but avoided us. The people in the building with us ran to the windows and froze in pure terror. I would later see that the giant town that once held 15,000 people turned into essentially hell. Bodies everywhere, buildings either destroyed or burning, and giant craters everywhere. The people came to their senses and were about to use us as hostages, until the metal door at the end of the room got ripped up and thrown away to reveal the figure that caused so much destruction. The people became terrified while we became shocked. The figure was you. With speed we have never seen you use before, you killed every one of them before freeing us, making sure we were okay.

Once you knew we were, you told us that we'd be staying in the capital to recover. Once we returned, you immediately told us to wait at the infirmary. No one protested as you turned and left before we could. We were later told by you that you went to the person who sent us there and found out he was a Plegian spy trying to get rid of the people who kept them at bay. You apparently lifted him into the air before decapitating him and telling the people in charge of information gathering to start investigating our own forces. You later returned and apologized to us, saying that you shouldn't have been swallowed by your grief before we stopped you by hugging you."

Laurent then looked Shane in the eyes. "We were happy our Uncle returned. So don't you dare say you were an awful excuse. While yes I was here for 5 years, how long have you known that there were people from the future that saw you as their Uncle?"

"About two weeks." Shane muttered.

"And you have found Severa, Yarne, and me in that amount of time, indicating you want to find all of us, something an awful excuse of an uncle could never do."

Shane smiled. "Thanks. Here I was, thinking I was going to have to help you deal with those five years but you helped me instead."

"Yes. Now, I would like to get some sleep if we are to continue looking tomorrow." Laurent then went to his bed while Shane did the same.