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The sun glinted gently through a bedroom curtain, touching the face of an infant. It rubbed its eye, tilting its head to face away from the light’s gaze.
The royal nursery was a recent development, made just as the war ended. Its walls were painted a dark royal blue after the exalt’s hair, various age appropriate toys laid scattered on the floor, and there were two cribs; one filled, the other empty.
The young infant with short blue hair was hiding under a beige colored blanket, its yellow pajamas barely visible underneath the covers. Robin and Chrom had once considered putting this child into more frilly clothing to match who they thought their child would become.
But now, they weren’t so sure.
Slowly and quietly, the door to the room creaked open. A shadow of an adult figure had walked into the room, footsteps knocking against the marble floor. The short-haired person approached the bed and peered into the crib, moving bangs out of their face in the process.
Lucina gave a soft smile to their infant self, noticing that they were still asleep.
“Hi there, young one,” They started, whispering in a calm yet cracked voice. “The war is over. We did it.”
They gave an awkward laugh as the baby rolled over. The adult stepped back, and looked at the mess of toys on the floor.
“I know my…I mean, your parents were gone for a while, but the servants seemed to have taken good care of you.”
All the future exalt could hear was calm breathing. They began to speak in an inside voice.
“And now, you will have everything, including the things you have lost. The things I had lost.”
Lost…
It echoed against the marble floor and silently into the hall.
“You’ll have your Mother, your Father, and no one to fight, maybe except Morgan,” they chuckled, brushing their bangs back again. They faced the infant once again. “And you will get to choose who you will become, free from biases. In a way, I envy that.”
Lucina stepped toward the crib. “We do wonder though, baby me, just who you will become. No one knows for certain, but I would like to think you would be much like me. Just…without the pain and struggles. Perhaps you will be more open to talking about your problems, and will get to joke around more than I ever did. And if you’re like me…” Lucina reached out a hand, hesitating.
“If you’re like me, you won’t be a girl. Or a boy. But I can’t choose that for you, as much as it aches for me to say it. You get to choose that–a gift I wished I had from the beginning.”
Lucina will never forget that sunny April 20th, when baby Lucina was born. The pride and joy of their parents quickly turned into a thorn in their side: They had assumed baby Lucina was a girl, and the undone Marth a woman.
“Regardless of who you choose to be, your parents will support you no matter who you become. Remember that for me.”
Lucina turned their gaze towards the hall to the opening of doors, and clacking on the floor. They watched as shadows passed by. To their relief, no one came inside the nursery. Lucina’s voice went back down to a whisper.
“But you gave me a gift too. If it weren’t for you,” Lucina’s fingers played with the lace on the crib’s bar. “I may not have learned about myself. You being called a ‘girl’, or a ‘princess’ made me realize those were things I am not. Thank you for helping me discover that I am...neutrois. That’s the term my parents have legally observed for me, but there are others. For now, they have left you as ‘undecided’.”
Lucina’s smile and sweet tone of voice had turned melancholy; a frown and a crackly, low voice.
“For you sake, Baby Lucina, I don’t believe I am destined to stay here. I can’t interfere with your family, your future, or influence who you are. I know Morgan chooses to stay, but he isn’t born in this time yet.” Lucina’s hands went off of the bars and went to their heart. “I’ve had a taste of what this future now holds, but it is not mine to keep, even though my heart tells me to stay.”
The exalt swallowed. “May I ask you one thing before I go, Baby Luce?”
The little lump of blue hair rotated to reveal a face. It yawned and rubbed its eyes, facing their adult counterpart.
“Can you…” Lucina’s voice broke. “Take care of them for me? Especially Morgan. He’ll take it the hardest.”
The baby’s bright blue eyes looked at Lucina, smiling. The oceanic irises glowed, the brand shining. The baby reached out a small, fragile hand.
Lucina looked in surprise, and took a moment to realize that the baby wanted their pinky.
As their smallest finger approached the infant’s hand, it grabbed it, giving it a gentle shake. Lucina giggled. So did the baby.
Withdrawing their hand one final time, Lucina wiped tears from their eyes. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Once the Papillion d’ Espoir finished sniffling and drying their tears, they said their final words to their younger self: “Yours will be a happy future.”
The child gave a simple nod, and yawned once more. Then, it looked towards the room’s door.
Lucina looked to the window, seeing the sun had finally shown its entire face.
It was the dawn of a new day for everyone, including the exalt who had left the castle through the window and later the brick wall hole that still wasn’t fixed.
Lucina, Foreseer, Papillon d’ Espoir:
The mysterious figure of the Exalt’s blood. A person destined to save the world, but one also not known by the world. While powerful and enigmatic, they are equally kind, uplifting and an inspiration to many. Together, along with their many loved ones, saved this world, and changed it forever. However, after the war, they disappeared after one last talk to their infant self.
Did they journey to another land or back to their own time?
No one knows for certain.