Chapter Text
It was the moment of truth.
She could feel the wind pushing her hair up as she fell from the hole hanging in mid-air, her thoughts racing as she landed on the land she called home. Lucina’s eyes scanned the area, immediately noticing no perishing screams or hell fire raining down on them. There was no threatening darkness lingering, no roars of the Fell Dragon or battle cries of soldiers and Risen alike. Nothing like what she grew up to and had to endure.
Instead, the black clouds were white as a daisy petal, the sun shining through and radiating warmth and nourishment to the flourishing nature below. There were insects and animals alike out and about as she trailed down the path to the capitol. Lucina’s couldn’t contain her bubbling excitement when she arrived at the entrance of Ylisstol and sprinted right in after pausing for a brief moment.
Her head whipped back and forth at the multiple people going about their day. When the princess was spotted, many gasped and went to greet her. Alive. They were all alive. The capitol was alive. Lucina exchanged pleasantries with those who greeted and blessed her on the way back to the palace, trying to hurry but not come off as rude to the civilians. By now, she had a crowd of excited men and women alike following her. It wasn’t until she got to the gates of her home that the guards had to step in and prevent anyone else from following.
Close. So close…
With her whole being trembling, Lucina dashed in, throwing the doors wide open with a slam and searching frantically.
“Mother?! Father?!”
Her voice was cracking, eyes swelling while her heart pumped. In the moment she stopped running, panting, a pair of arms encircled her waist as a force collided with her back and nearly sent her over on the ground.
“Lucina, there you are! I was sooo worried!”
Morgan. With a gasp, she turned to the best of her ability to get a glimpse of white hair and twinkling brown eyes. It made her heart jump when she thought of a certain someone it reminded her of. This timeline, no, the other timeline with Grima… There was a reason Morgan couldn’t remember.
She had died. She died because of Lucina’s incapability to…!
The princess bit her lip. Least to say, when Morgan showed up when she had traveled to the future, she had been surprised, happy, angry with herself, and confused. It was concluded Morgan may have come from a different timeline.
“Morgan… W-where is Father?” Lucina tried to get out smoothly, her voice betraying her when it shook.
“Father?” she blinked, smiling, “Oh, he’s around! I think he was with Fred- what?”
“You called him…”
“Father? Well, yeah, he’s my dad too!”
Wait. WAIT.
Lucina knew Robin and her father had a bond together. It was obvious. But… Leaving Morgan, Lucina looked for someone, anyone. She found her aunt first. Lucina slapped her hands on Lissa’s shoulders, making the older woman squeal and jump in fright.
She looked different. Still short, but her hair was longer and not in the twintails she used to have. Here, she wore a gown much like Emmeryn used to dress in with her hair draping over her shoulders.
“Auntie, please explain the situation with Morgan and Father. How are her and I related?”
After being startled half to death, Lissa took a deep breath and finally turned, flashing a goofy smile. “It’s about time you returned! Chrom was worried you might have gotten stuck there!” She crossed her hands behind her back and laughed softly, knowingly. “There is an explanation to that… Lucina, when you saved your father from Grima… When Robin faded away…”
Lucina’s throat constricted, making it hard to swallow. She remembered that clearly. Watching and listening to Chrom cry out in a way she’d never heard before as Robin turned to face him and the rest of them.
Slowly.
Slowly...
Fading.
Chrom was crying, desperate as he tried to hurry his way over to the disappearing man as he howled: “You promised! You promised, damn it!” No amount of shouts or pleas were enough to stop the fade.
Or Robin’s tearful smile.
Late. It was too late. When Chrom finally limped his way to Robin and made to hold him, he got nothing but air in an empty, lone cloak. It was silent for one, brief second before Chrom’s heart shattering cry bellowed out and echoed, his knees going weak and falling on the descending dragon’s back as he hugged and clenched the cloak uselessly.
“When he was gone, Chrom took Morgan,” she looked down with a sad smile, “After the war was all over, Chrom wanted to confess to Robin. I think… Robin would have done the same too.”
Lucina’s fist clenched. “Robin is… still gone?”
“Go talk to Chrom, Little Luci,” Lissa smiled, “Like that? I came up with it when I was finally able to watch you grow up!”
Lucina stared, took a deep, shaking breath, and lunged at her, trapping her in a suffocating bear hug before taking off again. It took many door kickings and tripping over people, one being Noire and Severa trying to scold Lucina about it, to get to where she wanted to be. Chrom was facing away from her, heading towards the opposite double doors at the end of the dining hall. Lucina, unable to keep her tears back any longer, broke out into a smile and rushed forward.
With a yelp, Chrom was sent flying forward at the collision and groaned when he made impact with the marble floor.
“Father! Father!” she sobbed happily, sniffling and hiccuping.
Chrom forced himself to sit up and maneuver himself to look at his daughter’s flushed and teary face. Lucina could see the smile he wore through her tears. He looked proud. But, there was a lingering look of sorrow, depression. When she dried her tears and actually got a look at Chrom, she could tell he had gotten paler and even more thin. He still had muscle, but not as much as before, which was both weird and a sin since she would have thought Frederick would have been keeping an eye on his physical appearance.
“I guess I have some explaining to do.”
Damn right. She didn’t save Chrom, the future, only to have himself dig his own grave. “Explain.”
They sat at one of the many seats of the dining table and didn’t talk for a few minutes. Lucina stared expectantly, while Chrom looked to be trying to formulate his words into a speech.
“I loved him.”
It was obvious. She knew that, but she couldn’t contain the small gasp and shocked look. Chrom only laughed dryly and smiled at her as if that were a typical reaction.
“Your mom and I had a falling out after Robin disappeared. I just…” he squeezed his hands, “It was my fault. I know it is. But… I just couldn’t move on from Robin. He was my other half. We were two of a greater whole that balanced each other out. Your mother was fine when I brought Morgan home. She felt bad. It was when I was spending less and less at home and more time traveling when the fights started.”
“You were looking for Robin.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
“Yes. We all were.”
At that moment, Lucina felt a flurry of emotions. Anger, sadness, shock, and many others. She wanted to blame Robin for making her mother run from her father. She wanted to blame him for how his current unhealthy state was. Blame him for not letting her have the family she had been waiting for. But that was unfair. She couldn’t do that when he not only laid his life down on multiple occasions, but kept Chrom from getting himself into unwanted situations for all those years they had together. Lucina couldn’t blame him when he might actually be gone forever due to getting rid of the Fell Dragon.
Forever.
A bittersweet victory.
Gaining some and losing some.
It wasn’t fair. Nothing was ever fair, she knew, but… Looking up at her father’s happy, yet defeated and exhausted person, she knew this definitely wasn’t fair. She didn’t work hard to successfully achieve something to come home to this. This could be prevented. This can be stopped.
“I’ll help find Robin…!”