"Lucy…" The manakete next to her sighed, startling the princess out of her thoughts.
"Hm?" she replied.
"This mission of yours… are you sure this will all be worth it?" Lucina gaped at her. Never, in the last few years had Nah doubted her cause.
"What brings this up, Nah?" Lucina asked, concerned, reaching a hand towards the other girl's shoulder.
"It's just…" The petite girl looked down. "We've tried this time and time again, and yet… we can't seem to find one…" fought back tears shone in her eyes. Lucina sighed.
"This is why we keep trying, Nah. So that one day, we may find another future where we don't have to fight anymore. Where somehow, Plegia isn't our enemy." She smiled at Nah, who nodded.
"That's right…" she kept nodding as they fell into a companionable silence, trying to convince herself.
Lucina stared at the broken remains of Ylisstol. This time, her father had managed to convince Aunt Emmeryn to let him remain with her, together with the Shepherds as they instead sent a small group asking Ferox for the help they so desperately needed, and the Emblem to be brought to safety. They didn't even have a chance to intervene while they were in ferox, as Gangrel managed to intercept the messenger, and so the city never received help from Ferox until too late. Not even Robin's brilliant tactics were enough to save the city. It was razed to the ground.
Thankfully this was one of the futures where she had not come back, due to her not managing to be born at all. She doubted any other Lucina would've been able to deal with the heartbreak. She very nearly wasn't.
"Lucy?" the other girl spoke up yet again.
"Hm?" She asked.
"I miss the others…" the other replied, her voice shaky.
"…me too." She sighed. "But we can't keep bringing them along. They have a life to tend to, you know? Besides, once we've figured it all out we'll get them to come with us in the best future we can find, the only thing changing is that we'll be a few years the wiser. Okay?" She tried to cheer up the other girl.
"…that's what you said the last time too." Nah sighed, and Lucina had the distinct feeling that she was rolling her eyes. As she was about to speak, Nah continued. "And the one before. And the one before that." Her jaw clamped shut, and in her gut a feeling like boiling tar settled in her gut. She began unconsciously fingering the bracelet on her wrist, the one that her mother had given her, to give herself a sense of calm. Soon enough, the dread in her stomach subsided.
"You know, sometimes I wish Naga hadn't chosen us for this mission. I mean, I don't blame her for her choice, but still…" Nah complained. "It just gets so lonely, just the two of us. Of course, it's obvious why she chose the two of us, but…" Lucina knew that Nah didn't quite know herself what she actually wanted to say, and she was just frustrated. So was she, to be honest.
"...I wonder how many more futures we'll have to go through before we manage to find a good one. And for what? For a group of people that have left us with just a curse hanging over our heads?" She irritatedly said.
"Nah!" Lucina gasped, whirling around to face the other girl. "What-" she stopped as she stared at the tearful manakete. "Listen-"
"No,you listen!" The small manakete screamed. "Who are we even doing this for? The others?" She asked. "They've long since gotten families of their own Lucy! Last time we've seen them, Brady had nephews, Lucy! Nephews!"
"But-"
"But what?! You're just going to throw away your- our lives, just to seek a perfect future that doesn't exist?!"
"Well what am I supposed to do then?!" Lucina fired back. "It's not like we have anywhere else to go to, do we?!"
"Why don't we just go back?!" Nah responded. "We've never even known the Shepherds, why should we fight for their sake to begin with?!"
"YOU'VE NEVER KNOWN THEM!" Lucina shouted back. "You were too young, but I do remember uncle Lon'qu, or Aunt Lissa!"
"So you're just going to chase the ghosts of your childhood until you no longer can?!" Nah asked.
"…for the sake of Father's dream, yes." Lucina said, determined.
"Oh, 'father'!" Nah made air quotes. "The same one who left you with nothing but a sword and a world of troubles?! How many times as a kid you nearly killed yourself with that thing just to try and become a better at the sword?!"
"Nah!" Lucina shouted, horrified.
"I hate him." Nah began sobbing. "If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be forced to be a hero. We wouldn't be forced on this Naga damned mission."
Nah didn't react when she snaked her arms around her neck. That was a good sign. As much as Lucina loved her, she knew how much she could be prone to bursts of anger. For the longest time, the two remained in one another's arms.
"He was your father too, you know." Lucina muttered in the other bluenette's ears.
"I know." Nah sobbed.
"And Nowi was your mother." The princess continued.
"I know…" The other manakete replied.
"…all we have left of them is this sword, and our stones." Lucina continued, Falchion coming to mind. It had taken a long time for the sword to even accept her, a long time of deep cuts appearing on her arms just from the briefest of contact with the blade.
"…and our hair." Nah joked with a sob, face buried in the crook of her shoulder.
"…and our hair." Lucina agreed, running her fingers through Nah's short, blue hair. "Don't you want more? Some actually happy memories related to our parents?" She asked her.
"…I still hate them." Nah muttered. Lucina broke the hug to flick her sister's nose. "Ow!"
"No you don't." she smiled at her.
"…" Nah herself didn't look convinced of her statement.
"Besides, isn't it bad to hate someone without having met them first?" Lucina joked, trying to lighten the mood. Nah laughed at her.
"What, do the first 217 times not count?" Nah jokingly asked.
"No, they don't. Wartime memories are not good memories." Lucina began stretching herself as she stared at the mark of the Exalt on the other's right eye that made the girl, undoubtedly, her sister. "So, what do you say we try attempt number 218?" She asked. "If there's one thing that our family has taught us is to be stubborn, no?" That got another laugh out of Nah, a sound that Lucina found as delightful as being able to see a new day.
"Will we be able to hitch a ride on a ferry over to the portal?" Nah wondered. "It would suck if we had to fly all the way there."
"I guess we'll just have to find out." Lucina smiled, fingering once again her bracelet. Embedded in it was a stone, one that contained all of her strength.
Nah had already transformed in the meantime and was doing flips in the air. With a much deeper voice, the pink-and-green dragon chirped. "Lucy! Can we at least take a break to go to the hot springs? It's your 1000th birthday in two weeks!"
Lucina gasped. "Already?"
"Yup!" Nah, somehow (she refused to share the secret with Lucina, no matter how much she had asked her) popped the p while in dragon form.
"Well, let's hurry up then."Lucina smiled, and with a burst of light there were now two dragons instead, who immediately took off towards south.
"Lucy…" The manakete next to her called, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Hm?" she replied.
"…every future where you're with me is a perfect future, in my opinion." The smaller of the two dragons confessed to her, a warmth settling in Lucina's heart at the words.
"And I promise I will find for you an even better one." Lucina replied, a tear flying out of her eye almost immediately as it had gathered due to the high speeds. "I promise."