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Somehow, Lucina had woke up deep in the night, the world still dark and quiet. Staring at the inn room ceiling, she pulled the blankets further over her—Morgan must have hogged them in her sleep. Blinking slowly, she sat up, gently stretching out her neck. Despite any fighting for the sheets, it was so very nice to have a bed to sleep in. Even now that peace had been brought to the realm, she and Morgan often had to camp during their travels. An inn bed was better than most sleeping bags, especially when Morgan wanted to share. Flexing her ankles, Lucina looked over Morgan, who was still sleeping. A shadow lied over her face, but as the clouds drifted off, a ray of moonlight slipped through the window and landed on her forehead. Smiling to herself, Lucina gently brushed Morgan’s bangs back with her fingertips.
Even though she was sure the movement was subtle, it seemed to wake Morgan from her slumber, eyes slowly opening.
“Oh! Sorry,” Lucina whispered, drawing her hand back.
Morgan’s still sleepy gaze slid to Lucina’s face—and it was like she was struck by lightning, the gasp from her mouth, eyes wide, jolting upright, pressing herself against the wall. Her hand frantically moved beside her as if looking for a weapon—Lucina would recognize the motion anywhere. She flinched backwards at the suddenness of it all, any questions or reassurances caught in her throat at the sight of Morgan’s terrified expression.
The air between them was dead silent. Unaware, the clouds continued to cross the night sky, and soon the moon was covered again.
A slow breath passed through Morgan’s lips. She blinked once, clenching the sheets.
“Lucina?”
“I’m sorry,” Lucina’s voice wavered. “I—didn’t know I would wake you up.”
“No… no, it’s okay.”
Morgan sighed, and her posture gradually relaxed. Letting go of the blanket she had clutched close, she slowly reached her hand out. Lucina took it at once, pressing her cheek into Morgan’s palm. At that, Morgan laughed quietly, and pulled her into an embrace.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Lucina insisted, arms tight around Morgan’s waist. Morgan slowly stroked her hair, as though Lucina was the one needing reassurance.
“It’s not your fault,” she said in a tone that told Lucina she was smiling. “I just was half asleep.”
“Were you… having a nightmare?”
Morgan seemed to be sleeping thoroughly enough. There were many nights in that ruined future Lucina had to watch her friends struggle through their dreams, sweating, crying, flinching away from unknown monsters. Even in times of peace, they would still have nights like these. Morgan looked calm, so maybe the moonlight had fallen on Lucina’s face in a specter-like way and startled her…
“Oh, something like that,” Morgan admitted. “I see this one every once in awhile, so I’m kind of used to it.”
Lucina felt her lips forming a tight line, and she pulled away just enough to look Morgan in the eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Morgan,” she said quietly, not to be respectful to the others sleeping in the inn, but because she couldn’t make her voice any louder around the lump in her throat. It just wasn’t fair, that someone as good as her Morgan still had to suffer after everything she had been through.
Morgan waved her hand dismissively. “Aw, it’s nothing too bad, like being chased by Risen or something. It’s just one where you kill my dad.”
Lucina’s mouth opened.
She shifted her legs.
An owl cried in the distance.
“A dream where I… kill Robin?”
Morgan nodded. “Mmhmm.” She yawned, mouth wide.
Shocked, Lucina’s voice cracked a tad as she asked, “How is that not too bad?”
Morgan shrugged. “Like I said, I’ve gotten used to it. It’s kind of just… I’m in the distance, watching, and you cut him down with Falchion. It feels kind of numb, even in the dream.”
It was deeply strange to hear her talk about it so nonchalantly. If Lucina was having nightmares of Morgan kill Chrom, she absolutely wouldn’t be able to face her so easily afterward.
Though, this… at least had some basis. Lucina swallowed.
“Is this because of… that one time?”
“Huh? That one time when?”
“When I…” Lucina averted her gaze, fixing it on the windowpane. There was a faint smear on the glass. “I tried to kill Robin, because I believed he killed my father in the ruined future.”
“Oh, right.” Morgan hummed thoughtfully, her fingers idly running through Lucina’s hair. “Nooo, I don’t think it’s because of that.”
“You… at least heard of it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Dad told me about it later, and I got a migraine so bad I passed out.”
Lucina winced. “Morgan, I’m sorry.”
“Naw, don’t worry about it.” At that, Morgan pinched Lucina’s cheek, making her meet her eyes once more. “I mean, it’s not like I was happy about it, but I… kind of got it?”
“...You understood?”
“Yeah, as a tactician, right? Because, like, you came from this future where you’d do anything to keep it from happening again, and you’ve had to make all these hard decisions because of it. So when I thought about it logically, the best way to do that is just to… take out the main enemy, right? The commander, or whoever.” Morgan gently pulled on Lucina’s cheek one more time, then let go. “So as a tactician, I understood!” She laughed. “Well, as a daughter, I was frustrated, but… I guess I got over it? It’s not like you stabbed him or anything.” Pulling Lucina close again, Morgan buried her face in her shoulder. “No, this is… different. We’re on top of a castle, somewhere, but I’m watching from far away… and I think the others are there…? But don’t worry about it.”
Carefully, Lucina held Morgan more tightly. There wasn’t any way she couldn’t worry about it. Was it some sort of lingering resentment Morgan wasn’t even aware of? It was bad enough that seeing Lucina’s face after she woke up terrified her. And it was something she had been dreaming of before…
“Is there… anything I can do to help?” Lucina asked.
“Hmm… don’t kill my dad in the future?”
“I’m not going to do that,” Lucina insisted. “Ever! I know I was wrong in the first place…”
Morgan giggled. Slowly leaning to the side, she pulled Lucina along with her as she lied back down in bed.
“Then, maybe if we sleep like this, I’ll remember how sweet and kind you are in my dreams,” she mumbled, sounding as though she was getting tired again.
“Oh… well, okay…”
Adjusting their positions, she rested her head on her pillow, looking down at Morgan’s face. She had already closed her eyes, and seemed to be drifting off. Lucina sighed through her nose.
There was still so much she didn’t know about Morgan. It wasn’t though she didn’t talk about herself—she was very open. Communication was the best way to build bonds, she used to say. It was just with her amnesia, there was so much she had lost. If her memories were traumatizing, she didn’t need to remember it, but… Lucina couldn’t help but think about it. What kind of life had she lived? What was the situation with the wars, with Grima?
What was her relationship with Lucina, back then?
It wasn’t very likely that they didn’t know each other at all. In Lucina’s time, Robin was still Chrom’s best tactician, despite how different he was compared to now. Would he have left Chrom in another world? Was Morgan related to that? Was her existence only possible in a world where she wouldn’t eventually meet Lucina? Or were the circumstances simply skewed? With how strong Morgan’s amnesia was, Lucina would probably never know.
Once, Robin had told her that he had dreams of killing Chrom. By Grima’s explanation, that was revealed to be a memory from Lucina’s own timeline, rather than a figment of his imagination. Though unsure of how it would happen, perhaps Morgan’s dreams were a fragment of her past. In some world out there, maybe Morgan’s own, Lucina had to kill Robin.
Maybe she didn’t have to. Maybe she chose to.
Lucina shook her head slightly, her hair falling in her face. Mulling over it did nothing. Even with her mother and father alive in this world, Lucina still mourned her parents sometimes. As similar as they were, she would never regain the people she loved so dearly. She could think about the what-if’s for days without end, and it wouldn’t change anything. She simply had to move forward with her family in her heart—and the same was for Morgan. If she lost Robin in her past, if she ever remembered that, there was nothing she could do about it anymore.
Morgan half mumbled something, eyes flicking beneath her eyelids. Shifting closer, Lucina pressed her lips against Morgan’s hair.
What was important was that they weren’t alone. They would move forward into their new future, together.