Time Travel Trouble
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: Here we go again…

"Now if you'll excuse me, I think there's a princess who could use a dance," Robin said.

Cynthia pouted. "I'm the only princess you should be dancing with."

"You most certainly are," he replied with a grin.

"…You're going to dance with the me from this timeline, aren't you?"

"Yep." He turned to greet the 4-year-old princess. "My lady, may I have this dance?"

The younger Cynthia giggled as she accepted. "Of course, Uncle Robin!" They danced, and when it was over, the girl went up on her toes to try to reach the adult man's face (he was, after all, leaning over to dance with her because of the height difference) and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, Uncle Robin!"

The elder Cynthia watched in amusement. "Never stopped. Well, okay, I eventually stopped loving my own timeline's Robin, because he became Grima's vessel, but—"

"—Wait, you knew that I was Grima?"

"Huh? No; you saw how long it took even Lucina to come to that conclusion. But I…I had my doubts. I didn't want it to be true, but…with all of our parents, we found bodies. You, on the other hand…you just went missing. It was…right as I'd been working up the nerve to confess that I'd had a crush on you since I was a little girl."

"You think she's already starting to develop one?"

"Maybe a little. But I had the advantage of you being single in my timeline. …Isn't it tough, seeing that little girl and knowing that she's actually your wife?"

"Personally I feel like you time travelers have it worse. After all, as far as the public knows, Chrom honored his trusted tactician and his wife by not only making them the godparents of his children, but naming his second daughter after said wife."

"In fairness, I wasn't Lucina's godmother from birth, seeing as how you were still single then."

"But nevertheless, in this timeline, you're named after yourself. Allegedly."

"This is exactly the type of thing Gerome was trying to avoid by wearing that mask. Although, the mask itself wouldn't have done much."

"And to answer your first question…it's not tough at all, because how you live shapes who you become, too. This Yllisean princess will grow up to be quite beautiful, it's true, every bit as beautiful as you, but because she will grow up in a peaceful land, she won't have the same experiences that shaped who you are. She won't be you."

"Is that why you relented to allowing this timeline's Lucina and Cynthia to call you 'Uncle'? I know you had felt a bit weird about it after you first met me and realized that you'd be marrying one of your 'nieces'."

"Something like that. Actually, it was around the time that we realized that yours was a one-way trip, and that the 13 of you would be remaining in this time period, and would therefore need new identities. Of course, some of them changed their names, and others, the baby in this time period was given a different name—"

"Which we didn't have to do because Morgan can be either a male or a female name and so no one would necessarily suspect a connection between our daughter from the future and our present son. How the heck did that happen, anyway?"

"I don't know. Probably something about timelines. Morgan, by default, wasn't from your timeline—obviously, since you and I were never actually a couple there. That Outrealm that seemed so similar to your timeline had both a male and female Morgan in it, so there's definitely some variability…hmm. Now I'm curious. Morgan?"

"Yes?" both Morgans replied.

"Girl Morgan," Robin specified.

"Oh. See ya later, little bro," she said. Even though she was essentially the same age as the Cynthia that had given birth to him, Morgan insisted on being called "big sis" by her counterpart. "What's up?"

"I've just been thinking about the timeline you came from. Do you have any memory of what it was like?"

"No, not really…"

"You said that I looked younger when you first met me in this timeline. When you said you remembered me being older, are you referring just to how much I'd aged during your lifetime, or do you think I was older when you were born than I was when you met me in the Ruins of Time?"

"Uh…the latter, I think?"

"And when you thought you had a memory of your mother, did she seem older, too?"

"I can't…I can't place exactly how old I was in that memory. She was young, probably still in her 20s. You…I don't ever remember you being that young, except for in this timeline."

"Really?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes," Robin said, "I may have led the line of questioning, but those were the answers I expected to receive."

"Meaning?"

"That in some alternate timeline, you did get a chance to confess to me, and despite our age difference, I still took you seriously and loved you back enough to have a child with you. With the timing so different, it's no wonder the resultant child was different."

"I don't really understand all of this…"

"Well, it's just theory. Now, let's get back to the ball before the nobles start complaining about my lack of manners."

CCX: Damned insomnia. Another drabble, following Precognitive Failure. Until next time, this is CCX, signing off.