Welcome Home

A whole year has gone by since the death of Grima and Shane.

In that time, many things have happened.

Due to their past leaders leading their country to almost ruin several times, Plegia has turned into a semi-democratic republic with their leaders being in position for 15 years at max.

Ferox has remained Ylisse's closest ally while also extending a hand of help to the country of Valm. Flavia is still in charge but has stated that she may retire and let a girl she has been training take over in a few years. Basilio, surprisingly, stated that he may too do just that, except offering the position to Lon'qu if he wants it.

Valm, after the terror of Walhart, took the position of a republic as well. The leader was Say'ri. She was put into the position after leading the rebellion and being known to have helped the Shepherds bring an end to Walhart's bloody conquest. Today, several people are training in the sword, stating they want to bring security and happiness back to their people, just like an old leader named Alm, whom the country was named after, and Say'ri.

Say'ri's first act of leader was to disclose the information about her brother Yen'fay only serving Walhart to protect her and his own people. The people were confused on how to feel about him for a while. On one hand, he had helped a man almost conquer the country through bloodshed, but on the other, he did it with his people's safety in mind.

The kingdom of Ylisse has changed as well. With Chrom in charge, he made several groups that he called the Shepherd's Sheep. Their job would be to protect towns too far from the capital and help train future warriors for the time they may be needed. Alongside Chrom, Sumia became as beloved as the previous exalt. People looked up to her due to her kind and helpful nature. Even if she stumbled over nothing or faceplanted the ground and caused a few cracks in the ground, everyone saw it as something that may have made her even more like the common people. Sumia even had another girl named Cynthia.

Then there were the Shepherds themselves. After the war, Lissa ended up giving birth to a boy they named Owain. She wasn't the only one. Libra and Olivia ended up having a son named Indigo, and Maribelle and Ricken had a son named Brady. Then the most shocking news: Fredrick ended up with someone. That someone was Cherche and she was already expecting a boy. They decided to name him Gerome when he is born.

All the children who came from the future ended up spending time with their parents and, on more than one occasion, would take care of 'baby' them. Two of them eventually even got into a relationship. Lucina and Morgan. When they announced that they were officially dating, everyone asked what took them so long while some even commented that they thought they were already dating.

However, one thing never changed.

Robin was always researching several things. How to create a spell or potion that could theoretically allow her to continue living way past her prime was one of the most important though. She was serious when she told Shane that she would find a way to stay by his side throughout his life.

Her most important project though, involved finding Shane. Naga had already explained that his situation was similar to how hers would have been. Apparently Mors had been Shane's Grima if she had to compare them. Naga stated that as long as the bonds between the Shepherds and him were strong enough, Shane would reappear eventually into their lives.

So she's been researching to try and find him when he returns. She's developed a few things already in place. Using some of his magic from the orb on her ring, she created a magical sensor that would go off when it detects his magical energy. She had worked on it enough to allow it to have a range of 4,000 miles, enough to cover about half of Ylisse. She managed to make it extend that far by converting her magic to power the device. She could push it to about 10,000 if she pushes almost all of her magic into it.

Where is Robin at the moment? In her study.

Robin is seen writing notes down onto paper while studying a magic seal array as it interacted with an apple.

"According to how long an apple stays fresh, which is about a month without cooling and about 2 months with cooling, this apple should be going bad in about 3-4 days. If this spell works, it should allow it to still be fresh in a month." She muttered.

She activated the seal array where the apple glowed for a minute before looking normal.

She got up and placed it into a section out of the way.

"Alright, that's subject #26 done, only four more for this month." She talked aloud.

Robin has been experimenting with several different designs for the past 6 months. She originally had over 270 different designs and she had a feeling one of them would work. Now, she was down to just under 100 different designs.

"Only a few more months before I've tried all of them."

'But what if none of them work?' She heard in the back of her mind.

"Then I'll create 300 more."

'And if-'

"Then another 400!"

'And-'

"And I'll keep going until I get it right!" She exclaimed.

The only sound in the room was her deep breaths.

"I'll keep going until Shane no longer needs to fear losing us to age." She muttered.

The year had been somewhat rough for her.

While everyone offer condolences for her and promised to help find him, that wasn't enough for her. After the 6th month of being without him, she knew that, if she lived as long as Shane claimed he would, she wouldn't be able to live like that. Not only that, but since there were no wars or fights that needed her strategies, she has largely had a lot of time to herself, along with caring for baby Corrin and baby Morgan.

"Alright, time to check the previous month's results." She muttered.

Until a noise sounded.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

She swung her head to the side so fast, she almost gave herself whiplash.

She stood there in shock for a moment before dropping everything she had in her hands.

As her clipboard and pencils hit the ground, Robin was already out of the room.

Robin ran into a large room that had magical runes all over the room with a device standing up in the middle with an alarm sounding.

*Beep* *Beep* *Be-*

She turned off the alarm before pouring her magic into the machine.

From there, her vision narrowed before the surroundings rushed by.

'50 miles....100 miles.....200 miles....250 miles...' She mentally tracked before it stopped.

"That's..."

It was the exact field that she had woken up in so long ago.

And right in the middle of it, on their back, laid Shane.

He looked like he was in his form before he died before he started changing.

The long, black hair quickly shrank until it was about where his hair used to be but only a little bit longer, just passing his shoulders. The green bandages quickly broke off into pieces before revealing his grandmaster cloak and pants. His eyes were still closed though.

Robin's vision cut short as she got off of it.

"He's back." She muttered.

She quickly grabbed her cloak before running out the door, not bothering to close it.

"He's back!" Could faintly be heard from the room.

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"Honey, do you think Robin's doing any better?" Sumia asked.

"From what little I've seen of her, I don't know. While we were all sadden to know that he died, it was worse for Robin. I mean, she married the man and even had two kids with him. Everyone knew how happy the two of them were to start a family. But we can't give up hope. Naga herself promised that as long as our bonds stayed strong, he would be able to return." Chrom told her.

Suddenly, said person was heard calling out.

"Chrom! Sumia!"

They both turned and saw Robin running towards them.

"Robin! How have-" Chrom almost asked but was thankfully interrupted.

"He's back!" She exclaimed.

Their eyes widened.

"Are you sure?" Chrom instinctively asked.

"Yes! I have had a device scanning for Shane's magic so that the instant he was back, I would be alerted and it just went off!" She talked fast.

"Ah.." Chrom spoke before shaking his head. "Where is he?"

"He's in the same plain that you guys found me all those years ago! Near South town!"

Chrom nodded before turning to Sumia.

"Don't worry. If something happens, I can take care of it." Sumia told him.

"Thank you." Chrom thanked before turning to Robin. "Let's go."

With that, the two of them hurried through the palace, passing many surprised staff before exiting the palace.

"Gods, why do the Pegasus stables have to be so far from the palace!" Chrom muttered.

They kept running until they reached their destination.

"Fastest Pegasus available." Chrom told the person who takes care of them.

A few moments later, a pegasus shot out over the kingdom before quickly leaving.

'You're almost home Shane.' Robin thought.

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Shane groaned before hearing someone he wasn't sure he would ever hear again.

"Come on, there must be a better place to take a nap?"

His eyes opened slowly before seeing Chrom with a hand out to him.

Shane slowly took it before being pulled to his feet.

"Welcome back...friend."

Shane took the moment to look around before he saw Robin.

She jumped into his arms as he hugged her back.

"You're back!" Robin spoke, muffled against his chest.

Shane tightened his hold on her.

"And I'm never leaving again."