Shortly after the battle...

Once Chrom, Robin, and Y/N had finished their battle, they quickly ran back inside the castle. Returning to Emmeryn's room, they found her unharmed, the exalt standing in front of Chrom with her personal guard.

Chrom: Thank the gods you're safe!

Emmeryn: (smiles) It is I have to thank, Chrom. 

Phila: I beg your forgiveness, milord! I failed in my duty--they should have never made it into the castle in the first place. 

Chrom: Peace, Phila. You couldn't have known what was coming. Only Marth and Link could...

Emmeryn: (confused) Marth? Link?

Chrom: Yes, I would speak more with... Um... Robin, Y/N, where are they?

Robin: Hmm... An excellent question. They were here a moment ago...

Y/N only shook his head, confirming he didn't know where they went either. Chrom grunted in slight frustration.

Chrom: Not again!

The prince of Ylisse runs off with Y/N running after him. In another area of the castle, in a separate courtyard, both Marth and Link could be seen walking away, the male swordsman still having his hood up.

The blue-haired girl gazes up at her surroundings before she sighed sadly. Link only places a hand on her shoulder, Marth looking into his eyes. She seemed to have understood what his eyes were saying, Marth nodding in reply as they begin to move.

However, they were stopped when Chrom and Y/N blocked their path.

Chrom: Going somewhere? You two have a bad habit of leaving without saying goodbye, you know.

Marth: Yes, I'm afraid we have a few bad habits. 

Chrom: Good ones as well--you two saved my life, as well as both of my sisters. Is there a way I can repay you? Some favor I can grant?

Marth: (giggle) Hearing your offer is reward enough. 

Chrom: But there must be something...

Marth: We already have what we came for: history has been rewritten. 

Chrom: And what future averted?

Link: A dark one, at that. Had the exalt faced her untimely assassination, the Fire Emblem would've been stolen. This would've led to a great war, and then the end of mankind itself. Many homes and the lives of people would've been lost.

Marth: But I'm sure that sounds like madness to you.

Chrom: ...Strangely, no. It doesn't. Somehow I know I can trust you two. And I hope someday to repay your favors. 

Marth: Perhaps one day you shall. Until then...

The two go past Chrom and Y/N, but the hooded swordsman quickly grabs the Hylian's arm, making Y/N face him.

Link: (whisper) I shall offer you this advice, Hero. Reclaim the sword. The sword that seals the darkness, and free the Divine Beasts. Only then, can you destroy Calamity Ganon and prevent the ruined future. 

Once giving his advice, Link lets go of Y/N's arm and quickly regroups with Marth, the two leaving the palace grounds. However, Y/N only stared at the hooded swordsman. He knew about Calamity Ganon, the Divine Beasts, and the sword that seals the darkness. His only question was...

How did he know all of that? And what ruined future did he mean?

---

It was the next morning and the Shepherds had all mobilized, their newest member, Panne, the taguel from last night, joining them. Last night, investigations of the assassination had went underway, Chrom suspecting the attempt had been done by Plegia.

Feeling it was unsafe for Emmeryn to remain here, after constant recommendations as to where they should go, they had decided for Emmeryn to go to the eastern palace. Although reluctantly, Emmeryn agreed to head there. And so, before Chrom and his Shepherds left for the northern border to head to Regna Ferox, the Shepherds began to escort the exalt all the way to the eastern palace, hoping she'd be safe there with the war at their borders. 

Chrom and his group had walked a bit up ahead, the group being accompanied by one of the Ylisse's priests. Walking along the dirt road up in the mountains, the group soon came to a stop.

Lissa: (groan) Ugh, my poor feet. I've got blisters the size of eggs!

Chrom: Oh, it's not so bad, Lissa. Just a healthy little stroll! How are you holding up, Robin, Y/N?

Robin: (tired) My legs are like pudding... Your endurance astounds me, Chrom.

Y/N only nodded, his gesture meaning he was still fine. Like he was still fit as an ox. Fredrick noted that Y/N had been more quiet recently, especially since after last night with the blood moon.

Chrom: (grin) Hah! Should I carry you? 

Lissa: You can carry me! ...No, seriously. I would really be okay with you carrying me. 

Fredrick and Y/N overhead the priest, the hierarch, hum, noticing he kept making glances towards the peak. Now that he thought about it, Y/N had felt like they were being stalked, which made him fully on guard the whole entire time. hierarch notices Y/N's gaze, the priest beginning to grow nervous.

Fredrick: Is something troubling you, the Hierarch? You keep glancing up at the peaks.

Hierarch: Hmm? Oh, I'm just a b-bit nervous, I'm afraid. Gh-Ghastly times, these!

Robin: Um, Chrom, who is that? 

Chrom: The hierarch? He's been a friend of House Ylisse for many years. He guided Emmeryn during the early years of her rule. Why do you ask? 

Robin: I can't quite put my finger on it, but something feels off... You feel the same way, right, Y/N?

Once again, the Hylian only nodded. They could already see that he had one hand on his bow.

Y/N then notices something from the corner of his eye, drawing an arrow as he aimed. They all noticed his action and faced the direction Y/N was facing. They all gasped as two Plegian brigands had arrived. 

Plegian: (laughs) Time to die, princey!

Chrom: Plegian soldiers? Damn! How did they know we were here? Everyone prepare for battle!

From behind, a Plegian commander rode atop a wyvern. His name was Vasto, the man sniffing the air before he grinned and laughed.

Vasto: Smell that, men? The winds of fortune are blowing our way!

Hierarch: Hold, sir! I am the man King Gangrel told you about!

The hierarch had run out from Chrom's company and ran towards the Plegians. The Shepherds were shocked about the sudden betrayal. The only way the Plegians could've known their location was if someone had told the enemy about their location. The hierarch had done just that in order to secure himself safe passage.

Hierarch: Did you not receive orders to take me into your protection? 

Vasto: I've orders to protect a man, true... But I see no man here! Only a pig! A rasher of traitorous bacon that sold out his own sovereign! And what do we do with little piggies, hmm?

Hierarch: Well, you... I mean, perhaps... You let them go free?

Vasto: (scoff) Oh, are you a chicken now? Bawk bawk! We've got a whole barnyard in our midst! Well, it didn't matter what you are. The axe will fall just the same!

The hierarch screamed as a brigand had come up from behind and swung his axe downward, cutting him down. In the end, they had killed him, anyway. Vasto then looked to the remaining Ylisseans.

Vasto: Right! Now for the main event. By moon's end, they'll be erecting statues of me in the capital! Ho there! Ylisseans! Give me the Fire Emblem and your wench of a ruler, and spare yourselves a gory end!

Chrom: Phila, take Emmeryn to the rear of the column. We'll fend off these blackguards! Y/N, let those arrows fly!

Following the orders of his captain, Y/N let his first arrow fly and then drawing two more before he let those fly as well. 

Three Plegians fell dead and the rest of them charged forward, prompting the rest of the Shepherds to ready their weapons. Y/N puts his bow away and holds his hands above his head, a remote bomb appearing in his hands. He throws it into the cluster of brigands heading for them, the remote bomb rolling towards them. Once they were in close proximity, Y/N took the Sheikah Slate off his belt and clicks the button to detonate it, the bomb exploding as the Plegians were launched into the air, some even being launched into the valley to their right.

Y/N then unsheathes his sword and takes his shield off his back, running forward as he jumped into the air. He then does a spin attack in the air, causing him to rise up and spin as he struck the Plegians that were still in the air multiple times. Once landing, he then takes a defensive position as more began to push forward, one of them raising their axe upwards and bringing it down. But Y/N thrusts his shield forward, parrying the axe with his shield, causing the Plegian brigand to stagger and become vulnerable. Y/N quickly retaliates with a sword thrust of his own, the tip of the blade piercing through the bandit, Y/N kicking his body off before he went back into his defensive position once more. 

While everyone seemed to be fighting, in the direction Chrom and his Shepherds were heading towards came a pegasus with it's rider. The rider was a woman with red hair, pegasus wing clips in her hair. She wore the standard Ylissean armor that the pegasus knights wore.  

???: (panting heavily) No! Plegians here as well!? Prince Chrom! Captain Phila! Beware! Enemy reinforcements to the rear! They'll be upon us soon!

Phila: Is that... Gods, Cordelia!? 

Robin: Cordelia?

Phila: She's one of my knights. Young yet, but quite gifted. But she was stationed on the border... Why...? Oh, gods! Could it mean...?

Y/N's attention was then drawn to the new girl, due to the conversations happening behind him. Once his gaze was set on her, he was seemingly entranced by the girl's beauty momentarily. But he soon regained his focus, considering they were out on a battlefield. 

And just as Cordelia said, more enemy reinforcements came from the ridge, coming in the form of wyvern riders. Both Y/N and Virion quickly went to the edge and assembled there, taking out their bows and drawing as many arrows as they could to take them down. A few fell down into the abyss below, screaming as they fell to their deaths, but the others were able to break through the defensive line the two held. Near the back as to where Phila and Emmeryn, both Miriel and Ricken readied their spells, the two carrying wind-based tomes as it were the most effective to take down fliers of any kind. Unfortunately for them, the wyvern riders were able to dodge them all of them, causing both Sumia and Cordelia to fly upwards in order to meet them head on. They readied their lances and trust them forward to take down two of them, but the third had doubled back and flanked them on their side. 

The wyvern wider missed Sumia, he was able to strike the side of Cordelia's pegasus, causing her pegasus to be injured and to be sent downward, descending at a moderate pace. Once crashing, Cordelia was flung off her mount and began to skid across the dirt ground, her lance flung a few feet away from her. She grunted in pain as she began to slowly pan up, two brigands and the same wyvern flyer heading towards her, all of them having wicked grins as they raised their axes into the air.

The red-head had closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, waiting for her imminent death. But she felt... Nothing. Cordelia then heard a battle cry, along with the sound of someone swinging their sword.

When Cordelia opened her eyes, she see's the wyvern rider's axe fly into the air before it came down next to her, the bladed side impaling itself into the ground. The rider and the wyvern, now reduced to corpses, flew past her and struck the landing. Stepping protectively in front of her was the same blonde man she had seen fighting before hand with a shield.

She had heard rumors of a mysterious swordsman carrying a shield and bow had suddenly appeared in the Shepherds and became one of it's best fighters. Y/N stood in front of her with his arm out behind him, it protectively in front of her. His sword arm with his broadsword held up, pointing it towards the brigands that were attempting to kill her, looks of hesitations on their faces as they slowly backed up, the grip of their axes slightly faltering.

Cordelia panned her dark red eyes upward to her heroic savior, seeing a charming bright blue, but determined look in Y/N's eyes as he kept a stern look. Even in the face of danger, Y/N kept a stern look, some sort of courageous aura emanating off of him. She could feel it, making her blush a little as she stared up at the Hylian warrior. Despite being called a genius by her senior colleagues, she had been knocked off her mount by a mere wyvern rider with a single hit. And yet, a mysterious stranger she had heard about had effortlessly defeated him and now had the two bandits quivering.

Y/N looked to his left side slightly and nodded, a brown-haired man with a katana soon coming in. Lon'qu came in with his Killing Edge as he effortlessly cut down one of the brigands with his blade, blood flying into the air. Seeing that he was outnumbered, the other brigand turned heel and began to run away, but Y/N gave chase and sheathed his sword on his back, grabbing Cordelia's lance that had landed a few feet in front of him. Taking it off the ground, he ran at full speed before he jumped and thrust it forward, impaling it through the brigand's back as the Plegian bandit yelled in pain before he slumped forward, Y/N taking the lance out of him.

As Vasto saw this happened, he turned his wyvern around to flee. But a blast of lightning struck him from behind, the source coming from Robin's tome, Thoron. Vasto was about to recover, but was quickly slain once Chrom had leaped into the air before coming down into a somersault position and slashing him in the back, causing Vasto to let out one last scream of pain before he fell of his mount, the wyvern dying with him as well. However, he was able to utter out something before he succumbed to his fate.

Vasto: You doves...think killing me will change anything? Heh... Even now, my brothers storm across your precious border... Go on, dear exalted coward! Run! Flee while they slaughter your subjects! Save yourself... Let their faith in you...bleed away...with the rest...

---

After the battle was over, Y/N had regrouped with Chrom and the other royals with Robin. Cordelia stood in front of them, holding her side as her injured pegasus was next to her, which was now being tended to by Lissa.

Cordelia: Your Grace! My prince! Run! As far as fast as you can! More Plegians are coming, not a half day's march behind you!

Phila: Cordelia, what are you doing here? ...Tell me the border remains secure!

Cordelia: That I could, milady. But it would be false... Gangrel himself led his might against us! The end was upon us when my knight-sisters begged me fly and warn the exalt... I should have stayed... I should have stayed! Ah, gods, I can still hear the screams...

Phila: (holds up hand) Peace, Cordelia. You did your duty. The sisters rightly prized your youth. You've many years yet to keep their legacy alive. 

Cordelia: But I abandoned them! I'm weak... Their legacy deserves better.

Phila: Sometimes fleeing takes the most courage. They knew that. Now pull yourself together. Let the faith they showed in you give you strength. 

Cordelia: Captain Phila, I... How can I go on like this? They were my family... (sobs) Gods... Oh, gods...

Chrom: Damn those monsters! 

Emmeryn: (determined) I must return to the capital. 

Phila: Your Grace, I cannot advise--

Emmeryn: I should never have left. If it's discovered I'm away when this news comes to light... The people could panic. Riot. More Ylisseans could needlessly die. (turns to Chrom) Here, Chrom. I trust this to you.

Chrom grunted as he slowly took the item from his sister. It looked to be a shield, with a single gemstone at the very top.

Chrom: The Fire Emblem? 

Emmeryn: Take it to Ferox--to safety.

Chrom: (hesitant) And leave you? No, Emm.

Emmeryn: No part of House Ylisse matters more than the Emblem. It possess tremendous power. But too much blood has been shed over it already. I hope it finds a better guardian in you than it did me. 

Chrom: Emm, come on. You can't... Don't talk like that! You sound like you're ready to give up...

Emmeryn: I'm not giving up, Chrom. I am only giving what I can. 

Chrom: Emm, please! This is madness!  

Lissa: Sis, wait! Let me go with you!

Emmeryn: Stay with Chrom, Lissa. I command it. 

Lissa: This isn't fair! It's not fair! I our people need you, but we need you, too!

Emmeryn: (smiles warmly) Dry your tears, love. This is not good-bye. 

Phila: (bows) Your Grace, the pegasus knights will accompany you to Ylisstol.

Emmeryn: Very well, Phila. Thank you. 

Fredrick: (bows) I will keep the prince and princess safe, Your Grace. You have my word.

Emmeryn: Thank you, Fredrick. I know you will. (looks to Y/N) Y/N, may I ask for you to do the same, as well? This is not an order, but a request. From a person to another. All I ask is that you keep them safe.

The Hylian warrior didn't say anything, his silence speaking volumes. The exalt already knew his answer just from the look of his eyes, the blonde woman smiling at him and giving him a nod.

Emmeryn: Thank you. Both of you.

Fredrick: It is my honor. 

Phila: Cordelia. You will stay here with Chrom. 

Cordelia: But, Captain--

Phila: (stern) I know your heart is heavy, but this is how it must be. Your knight-sisters will be with you in spirit, wherever you go. 

The blue-haired woman only offered Cordelia a smile. While it gave her hope, the red-haired girl only felt guilty, looking down as she clenched her hands.

Cordelia: ...May they give me strength. As you command, Captain. I will pray for your safety. 

Emmeryn: Come, Phila. We must go. 

Chrom: No! You don't have to go! This is absurd! 

The people standing there could only feel Chrom's pain. It was obvious that both siblings of the exalt didn't wish for their sister to go. To go with the possibility of her being lost to the Plegians. But if Emmeryn didn't return, it was just as she said. Ylisstol would be filled with riots and they would lose all hope. This was something Emmeryn didn't want to happen. For any more Ylissean blood to be shed in this war.

Emmeryn: Chrom, you don't--

Chrom: Walking to your own death will not bring peace to anyone! Ylisse needs you. WE need you! Be selfish for once in your life! 

Emmeryn: ...I love you, Chrom. Both you and Lissa are my everything. As for the peace I seek... You cannot see who it is for. I have to go. I'm sorry--I truly am. Let us embrace again in Ylisstol when you arrive with Feroxi reinforcements. I know you will come. 

Chrom: (shakes head) ...This is a terrible plan. 

Emmeryn: (smiles) The blood of the first exalt flows strong in us. You and I will keep Ylisse safe. I believe it with all my heart. Safe journey, Chrom. Safe journey, Lissa. 

With heavy hearts, Chrom and Lissa watch as their elder sister leave, along with Phila, heading back to the capital, Ylisstol. Chrom kept calling for Emmeryn's name, but it was futile. Emmeryn, Phila, and Phila's pegasus knights had disappeared out of their line of sight.

Sighing to himself, Chrom and his Shepherds return to their original objective. Heading to Ferox and to request the khans for more soldiers in the war against Plegia.