Nah peeked around the edge of the tent flap. She could see her father there, scribbling down something on a sheet of parchment and muttering under his breath. "Attack from the left flank... but that leaves us open for aerial attack... maybe the right? I could get the Pegasus Knights to mount an offensive against any aerial attackers..."
He was so engrossed in his planning for the next battle, he completely failed to notice when Nah sidled up to him. "Sumia and Cordelia could go from the right..." She coughed slightly, and Robin jerked his head up. "Agh! What- who- where- Nah!" He caught sight of his daughter, and breathed out slowly. "Nah... you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Whoops... sorry, dad." She shrugged. "But anyway, I've got a question for you. Questions." Robin eyed her warily, unsure of what 'questions' she would ask, but nodded his head to let her proceed. He was still breathing heavily from the shock of Nah surprising him, and took deep breaths as Nah started talking.
"So how did you and mom meet?" Robin blinked. "Well, we were in Plegia, when-" Nah shot another question at him without letting her father respond fully. "What do you like about mom?" Robin scratched his head thoughtfully. "I have to say that her personality is what-"
Nah overrode him, wanting to get to the main point of her questions. "So why did you marry mom?" Taken aback, Robin replied, "I loved her. What else?" Nah wasn't satisfied, and stared at him beseechingly. "That's it? Are you sure there wasn't anything else?" She persisted, shaking her father's arm.
Robin put down his quill. "Why do you want to know, anyway? Isn't my answer enough?" Nah looked to the side, then back at him. "Yeah, but are you sure it was just because you loved her? I mean, what's there to love?" Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Nah kept talking. "You didn't make her-"
"That's enough, Nah!" Robin was angry now, and he raised his voice to shouting pitch. "I will not have you coming up with preposterous ideas like that and talking about your mother and I in that way! I love your mother so I married her, and we will leave it at that!"
Nah looked shocked, then bit her lower lip. "O-okay. I-I'm sorry. I should have been less presumptuous, and I shouldn't have asked you that. I'm-I'm really sorry. I won't do it again." She seemed to withdraw into herself, somehow getting smaller as Robin looked at her.
His furious gaze subsided, and turned to worry as Robin realised that this manner of speaking was not like his Nah. "Nah... You don't have to apologise. It's my fault for shouting." But she shook her head, and turned to leave. "It's alright. I'm used to this, anyway. It's me. I shouldn't have asked you anything. I'm at fault, not you. I'm-"
"Nah!" Robin was thoroughly worried for his daughter now, and attempted to break her out of whatever reverie she had put herself into. "It's not your fault!"
She seemed to snap out of it, blinking in shock, then looking suddenly at Robin. "You... you're not them." Relief could be seen in her eyes, and she repeated with incredible happiness, "You're not them. I thought- I though you were-"
"Nah, who're 'them'?" Mixed in with his worry was curiosity, and Robin stood up. Taking Nah by her slim arm, he went to the back of his tent and sat her down, sitting next to her. "Come on, sit down here. Talk to your dad." He rubbed a hand on her back, seeing the tears glinting in her eyes. Robin may have just learnt he was a father less than a month ago, but his paternal instincts kicked in as he soothed his teary child.
"You can speak to me about it," he told her comfortingly. "Now, who are these 'them' you keep referring to? Have people been bullying you?" The thought struck him, and rage flared within him. As he grasped around for a tome, Nah shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. You can put down the Thoron, dad," she told him, smiling through the tears in her pale-yellow eyes.
Robin set down the tome, and put a hand on Nah's shoulder. "So what's wrong, then? You can tell me," he told her soothingly, and she nodded her head.
"...where I'm from, you and mom are dead." Robin was taken aback at the reaffirmation of the grim news, but he knew this already. Lucina had already told all of them what lay for the childrens' parents in their future of despair. What he was more surprised was Nah's sudden broaching of the subject. She'd always been closed off from everyone when it came to her past in particular. Even Morgan, when asking her older sister about her past, didn't receive a proper reply from Nah - at least not one that Robin or Nowi had ever heard.
"Go on," he rubbed her back. "Let it all out." Besides, he wanted to know what this was all about.
"You left me and Morgan alone. Well, not alone. You asked one of your wartime friends to look after us while you and mom fought in the war... but soon after you and mom died, they suddenly became really mean." Nah looked down at the floor. "Morgan ran away one day. I still don't know where she went till today. But I stayed. I don't know why, but something told me to stay.
"I wanted to go look for Morgan. I was so worried... but I never did. Everyday, the guilt ate at me. Who knew what the Grimleal would have done if a manakete fell into their hands? I asked myself that, but I never went to look for her. I don't know why - I should have. Now, I ask myself: if Morgan had died, what would I have done? I can't answer that.
"I guess she ran away because she couldn't take it anymore. I would have - I should have - but... yet I didn't. So I stayed. I protected them from the Risen; I did everything they asked me to do; I didn't bother them at all. And yet they never acknowledged me once. It was like I was nothing more than a burden to them, a useless half-breed." Robin would have burst out at this, but only managed to say with a pained grimace, "Nah..."
Nah looked at Robin, albeit not directly at him. "...that's why I wanted to ask you about why you married mother. I wanted to know why you would ever let a half-breed child like me be born if you were going to abandon it." Nah gripped Robin's coat sleeve. "I don't want someone like me to be even born if they have to go through what I did. So please, I've got one more thing to ask you."
"...what is it?" Robin managed to reply, as he smoothed down the messy hair on his daughter's head. "Please don't die. Don't leave the Nah of this world alone like the Robin and Nowi of mine did to me and Morgan. The Nah and Morgan of this world should never have to go through what we did, and for that, you and mother must not die." She looked straight up into Robin's eyes, her own pair still damp with suppressed tears. "Promise me you won't leave another me alone again."
Robin had no words to say other than, "I promise." He pulled his daughter close, and held her to his chest as she she burst into tears. "I always thought you'd come back," she bawled, and pummeled Robin's side as best as she could with her relatively small fists. "I waited. Morgan waited. But you and mom never returned."
"I won't abandon you this time," Robin said simply. "I stake my life on it. I would rather die than make you feel abandoned again. So I promise, I will never leave you. Alright?" He looked down at Nah, wondering how he and Nowi had even managed to create such a wonderful, brave child.
"So don't cry. I'll always be there for you, no matter what." Nah sniffled, and turned her head to the side. "...but you won't." Robin frowned. "Of course I will. Didn't I just...?" Then the implications of what he'd said hit me like a log to the head. "Oh, Nah, I didn't mean to-"
"It's true, " she hiccuped. "You won't live to see me past my physical childhood, and you know it. Look at mother! She's more than a thousand years old, and she looks younger than me for crying out loud." Nah hugged her father around his waist tightly. "Why couldn't you be a manakete? Then you'd live as old as mother, and I wouldn't have to worry about you not being there in the blink of an eye. And no-one would say I was a half-breed."
"Enough," Robin said sharply. "Stop calling yourself that. Half, human or manakete, it makes no difference to anyone your race." Nah looked up at him. Robin could just see her eyes peeking up at him from where she had her face pressed against his cloak. "It mattered to them," she told him through her tears.
"Well, it doesn't matter to me," said Robin tersely. "Who are these 'friends' of mine, anyway? Why on earth would I leave you to someone who would treat you like that? Was I insane when I did so?"
Nah shrugged, and sniffed. "I never asked." Robin glared at the wall. "Well, I must not have been in my right mind. What was my future self thinking?" Nah just shrugged again, and yawned. Robin glanced down at his daughter, and saw she was fast heading to dreamland.
The emotional outpour must have exhausted her, he thought, and smiled gently down at Nah. His little girl was just a ten year old child, even if she wasn't so year-wise. At least, she had the physique of one.
What kind of future had she been from that had made her grow up so fast? he wondered, and a grim frown grew on his face. Even though Nah acted older than the rest, maybe even matching up to Lucina in terms of matureness, she was still a child to him.
Robin vowed that he would never let his future child be like this Nah of the future of despair. He would never let a child be born where they had to grow up early, and if he did so, then Robin would rather the Valmese win and he die trying in the attempt.
- A/N -
Hello people! It's my first fic here, so I'll be short and to the point in this note.
I wrote this after a random flash of inspiration from reading support convos and listening to the entire soundtrack from Awakening. That's more than six hours worth of music, by the way. So yes, I was listening to "Farewell, my friends" and I was just hit by a block of emo-ness. Thus this.
I apologise if I offend anyone in any way, by the way. Nah is one of my favourite characters, and I can't for the life of me comprehend why no one likes her. It depresses me. (Edit: I meant this according to what I've seen on tumblr. Apparently her attitude is too pessimistic. Bullshit ._.)
So uh yeah. It's based almost entirely on her A rank conversation with her father(s). I just decided to use Robin for the dramatic irony, both in the title and in the text. Nah, in this case, is literally the daughter to dragons, one being Nowi, a manakete, one being Robin, the heart of Grima, and the last being the legacy of the manaketes that is carried on through Nah.
So yes. Apologies if I piss anyone off by accident, I didn't mean to. I'm not sure if it's considered a fanfic if it's largely convo based, so forgive me. I will be adding another chapter if I feel like it, something that I won't refer to a support convo for, but that's if I feel like it. Lastly, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer: I own none of this awesome stuff. Fire Emblem, Nah, Robin, Nowi, Morgan, the tent and the Thoron tome belong to Nintendo.