A/N: Hola amigos! I've always been a pretty big fan of the Lucigo pairing, and I wanted an excuse to write fifteen chapters of meaningless fluff. It's been a while since I last did this, so I hope you enjoy it. Anyway, enough about me - on with the story!
Chapter 1: Owain has a bad idea
"Princess," Yarne called, his tone bordering on begging. "I really dont want to do this!"
Inigo sympathised with his furry friend- sparring with Lucina in front of so many of his friends, and at such an early hour, would have been enough to send Inigo running for the hills, or back to the village the Shepherds had found him in. As it was, Yarne was doing tremendously well to not have collapsed in a teary puddle on the floor yet- instead his fear could be discerned by the weakness in his posture and the slightest shake of his fists, clenched protectively on either side of his face.
"Only a mad man wants to fight." Lucina responded, her own stance steady and her weight balanced easily on the balls of her feet. "But it is a necessary evil, I'm afraid, and your latest performance on the battlefield could lead you into serious danger without proper corrections."
Yarne groaned, more visibly trembling as Lucina dropped her pose long enough to move towards Yarne in sure strides, her finger held to her chin as she forced him to adjust his stance into something surer, with his weight more evenly distributed.
She then returned to her former position and gracefully slid into a stance appropriate for combat once more.
"Brady," She called. The man in question flinched like her voice was a whip and stood to attention. "We're ready."
Cynthia and Morgan pulled their heads close together, and Inigo had to fight back a snort at their faces, obviously mocking the princess.
Brady raised his arm, and brought it down in a sure swing, and Lucina shot forward like a bullet. She brought her leg round on an arc with the intent to drive the top of her left foot into Yarne's side.
To everyone's intense surprise, Yarne caught her ankle, wincing as his palm took the brunt of her kick. Lucina was not to be thrown, however, and threw her weight into the hand that had caught her ankle, using Yarne's strength as a springboard as she planted her hands on his shoulders for balance and pulled her knee up to drive it into Yarne's chin. His head whipped back, an Inigo winced at the force that must have gone into her second kick. Yarne's grip on her ankle loosened and Lucina fell into a neat crouch, and without missing a beat, she took the moment Yarne attempted to recover and swept her leg outwards once more, knocking his feet clean out from beneath him.
Yarne landed ungracefully, and like a fox on a rabbit, Lucina went in for the kill, one foot resting on Yarne's torso, keeping him pinned on the ground. Yarne struggled for a moment, trying to throw her off balance, before he went limp, conceding defeat.
The audience collectively winced. Despite the quick end to the math, Yarne had done well- one bruise on his jaw and an injured dignity. Few made it out of a sparring match with Lucina with so little damage. Inigo put it down to Yarne's Taguel heritage, because even Inigo had more bruises than that from his spar with Lucina the previous week.
Then again, Lucina had been seeking to teach Yarne to fight better, while she had sought to beat the crap out of Inigo for his attempts to enlighten Cynthia about the finer details of her beauty. He still wasn't sure he had forgiven her for tattling on him to Lucina, though. That had been low, even if she found his advances unwelcome.
Speaking of Cynthia, both she and Morgan looked to be gossiping, and never one to be out of the loop, Inigo swooped in to hear what his friends had to say.
"It was still dark, Morgan." Cynthia said, horror colouring her tone. "The sun hadn't even risen. She broke down my door BEFORE sunrise!"
Morgan nodded in sympathy, sliding across the bench to allow Inigo into their conversation. Inigo took his place between them.
"She got mad at me AGAIN for using falchion as an apple cutter!" Morgan responded in intense distress. "What am I supposed to use? Mother forbade the kitchen staff from letting me use a knife after the incident the other day!"
Ah, he could infer the origin of their complaints now- the esteemed Lucina, who was both equal parts lovely and lethal, like the sharp edge of a well-polished sword. Though he could not deny her beauty, Inigo preferred women who were not capable of gutting him without spilling a single drop of blood.
"This can't go on, Inigo!" Cynthia declared. "I can't remember the last time she allowed me to sleep past sunrise- I've started losing hair!" She declared, whipping her head around and pointing to where it was rather unevenly parted at the back of her head. "I think I have a bald spot!"
Owain took the opportunity to join them while Lucina continued to hound Yarne for his poor combat when not in Taguel form. Brady stared longingly at the clump of people gathered on the bench before being forced to supervise yet another match.
"I strongly agree, Cynthia- Lucina is going absolutely overboard." He declared. "You wouldn't believe the bruises I have from her "training"," Here, he made motions with two fingers on either hand, "They're unsightly even for a hero of my calibre!"
They fell silent then, registering the distinct lack of screams of pain from Yarne, and looked up to see Yarne fleeing the training area and Brady holding Lucina back, her arms locked behind her torso.
"Unhand me, Brady!" She bellowed, her legs kicking uselessly out in front of her. Inigo held back the urge to release a low whistle- men far braver than Brady trembled at the idea of standing between her and her goal. Even her own father hesitated to interfere when Lucina took it upon herself to train a shepherd. "I'll teach that cowardly rabbit to fight yet!"
"Let it go, Lucy!" Brady responded, clearly struggling. He was a healer, not a fighter, and the most seasoned of fighters couldn't keep Lucina down for long.
Lucina drew her leg up, her heel angle downward, and drove her foot down against the top of Brady's foot. It didn't have the same effect it normally would, as she had shed her boots in favour of easy movement when fighting Yarne, but it still caused Brady significant enough pain for him to release her arms.
Inigo winced- that was the wrong move, as Lucina pulled her arms out in front of her, before driving her elbow backwards, locking her other arm across her knuckles to add strength to her blow. Her elbow made contact with Brady's abdomen and he crumpled like paper.
Lucina set a fast stride to try and catch up with Yarne.
Cynthia whacked Inigo on the shoulder, out of the blue. Whirling on her, he opened his mouth to demand an apology.
"Stop her, Inigo!" Cynthia pleaded. "Say something!"
Morgan and Owain both nodded their agreements, shooting him eerily similar pleading expressions, and he suspected the heart-melting potential had roots in training from Lissa in the finer arts of puppy-dog looks. Inigo groaned, before scrambling to his feet and following after Lucina, jogging to catch up with her and then matching her stride as he arrived beside her.
"Lucina!" He called jovially. She spared him a glance, slowing her stride just the slightest bit.
"Inigo." She responded.
"What, no smile for old Inigo?" He asked her jokingly. She shot him a look that clearly spelled her displeasure, but Inigo was no stranger to dirty looks from lovely women. She would have to try harder than that to deter him, especially since all that remained should he return to his friends was disappointed looks and more complaints about the strict training Lucina had been doling out lately for unknown reasons.
"Pardon me?" She responded, as she walked briskly down the corridor, and slowed when it became clear that Yarne had successfully escaped. His objective was to convince her to ease off a bit, he assumed.
"A smile wouldn't kill you, you know." He told her, flashing her a grin. Her brows slowly pulled low over her eyes, the corners of her lips turning down.
"I mean you no disrespect Inigo, but now really isn't the time." She told him, making to leave.
"Fretting it contagious!" He called after her. "You're really bringing people down, Princess."
She paused, turning back to him.
"Bringing people down?" She responded. A small line appeared between her brows, and her frown became more pronounced. "Have there been complaints?"
Inigo opened his mouth to state the obvious- yes there had been complaints. The only topic they seemed to discuss nowadays was the ways Lucina had irritated them. But he stopped himself- he couldn't bring himself to admit that to her.
"Well, mainly me." He muttered, waving his hand dismissively to try and cover his lie. She looked offended. "I'm just saying, wouldn't it be much better to smile than to constantly look like the apocalypse is upon us?" He suggested. She folded her arms across her torso, shifting her weight onto one foot. Her hips tilted to the side, and she shot him a disapproving look he was quite used to seeing on a pretty girl's face.
"Need I remind you, Inigo," She began, and he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes as he sensed the oncoming lecure. "That in fact, we currently face our doom- any day now, the Plegian king could try and take the fire emblem, and we still do not know who will betray my father to allow it to do so."
Inigo grimaced.
"We just won a war, Lucina!" He said. "An impossible war against an army more than one hundred times our size- you could stand to be a little more cheerful."
She shook her head.
"I will not smile while we have such a grim future ahead." She told him. "If you think I have been grim lately, I do apologise, but I see no alternative to improve our chances at changing the future."
Inigo sighed, stepping up to he stood closer to her. Up close, he could see the flush on her cheeks, produced by a combination of irritation with him and intense training all morning.
"It's not that hard, Princess!" He told her, ignoring her protests and gripping her cheeks between his forefinger and thumb. He pointedly ignored the softness of her skin beneath the pads of his thumb, and pulled outwards so that her mouth stretched outwards.
The effect was quite comical- the stretched out grinned and squished cheeks and deathly intent sparking in sapphire-coloured eyes resulted in an odd mix of cuteness and lethality. He may be risking his life to pull such a stunt but it was definitely amusing.
Lucina pulled back, eyes flashing.
Even Inigo could sense when he had outstayed his welcome.
"I'll keep you no longer, Princess." He told her. "But do try to smile more. I'm sure it'll lift the spirits of our comrades. And maybe consider letting up on the training, eh?" He said, shooting her a grin and leaving her to fume in the corridor behind him.
No sooner than when he had turned a corner did his view suddenly darken- rough fabric scraped against his skin and hands forced him down, despite his attempts to break free. Before he could yell out, his attackers had blocked his mouth, dragging him away from Lucina.
Someone forced him into a chair and pulled the cloth off his head.
The room was darkened, a single candle in the centre of a plain wooden table, with people seated around it. Registering the people around him, Inigo groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
"Was the kidnapping part necessary?" He asked them.
"Morgan thought it was dramatic!" Cynthia said. "And I have to admit, I quite like the aesthetic of the room he's got going on."
"Thank you, Cynthia." Morgan responded cheerfully, lacing his fingers together and leaning his elbows on the wooden surface of the table. "I put quite a lot of thought into it."
"Owain, take the minutes of the meeting." Morgan ordered, glancing at his friend. Owain groaned.
"Why me?" He complained.
"Yeh have the neatest writin' dontcha?" Brady asked. Owain deflated, and grumbling, he reached across the table to receive a book and a pen from Morgan.
"Now for the reason we called this meeting." Cynthia announced, banging her fists on the table and rising to her feet. The legs of her chair made an ugly noise as they skated backwards across the stone floor. "It's Lucina!" She declared, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead and squeezing her eyes shut. "She's just gotten to be too much, lately!"
"Hang on, guys," Inigo interjected. "I just spoke to her- give her a chance to respond!"
Yarne cleared his throat uneasily.
"Inigo, I just barely escaped with my life! I hardly doubt your pathetic attempt at reasoning with her will have any affect." He told him. "Look at this awful bruise!" He flicked a thumb at his chin, indicating the dark purple stain that spread across his jaw. "She kneed me in the face!"
Inigo quieted, slightly subdued by the anguish in Yarne's tone. Owain rose as well, placing one boot on the table to launch himself to its surface to pull the fabric of his shirt up, revealing a blotchy purple, slightly green tinged bruise, on his side.
"Me too!" He declared. He dropped his shirt and raised his hands. "We shouldn't be injuring one another during practice, yet she doesn't let up, even an inch!"
"Get off the table, Owain." Morgan told him, tugging on the hem of his pant leg. Owain obliged, clambering back down to the stone floor and reclaiming his seat. "You make a fair point, Inigo." Morgan announced, attempting to sound unbiased and reasonable.
Inigo was pretty sure sounding reasonable was out the single window in the room as soon as they put a sack on his head to add to the aesthetic of their top secret meeting.
"Her training regime is simply too strict." Cynthia said, with a shake of her head. Her hair flapped around her round face as she did so, following the movement of her head. "A run around the entire parameter of the castle ground, 10 times, from before sunrise and then ridiculously painful training sessions is completely over the top. Also, she made Brady cry the other day!"
"I wasn' cryin'." Brady snapped. "I just got a lil' sweat in my eye, is all!"
"She also made Yarne cry." Morgan added. "And none of the adults have made any move to stop her! In fact, Father agreed that I should stop using Falchion as an apple cutter!"
"I see you have it quite hard, Morgan." Inigo said, grimacing. Morgan nodded pitifully.
"You break ten knives and suddenly everyone's like "Get out of the kitchen, Morgan, just ask the kitchen staff to cut the apples."" Morgan shook his head disdainfully. "Pathetic."
"I actually think that's rather justified." Cynthia volunteered.
Brady raised his hand. "Seconded."
There was silence for a moment, the only sound the one of Owain rapidly transcribing their conversation.
"Can I go?" Inigo asked, raising his own hand. Five pairs of eyes landed on him and he felt his instinctual shyness kick in to be the centre of attention. Feeling his skin flush hot, he shook his head. "Never mind, I'll let us finish."
"I actually don' think she's being th'bad." Brady volunteered, his tone lazy and swinging as usual. This time, everyone fixed their gaze on Brady. Grumpily, he folded his arms across his chest and scowled, leaning backwards in his chair. "Well, not like we've done much t'change the future, 'ave we?"
There was a beat of silence.
"I have a proposal on how to get her to let up." Owain declared. Brady scowled once more when the group collectively decided to ignore him. "C'est l'amour!"
"What will armour do?" Morgan asked, his face contorting with confusion.
"Maybe it'll protect us while we spar?" Cynthia suggested. Owain slapped his face dramatically and shook his head.
"You dimwits! I thought you were smart, Morgan!" Owain accused pointing a finger angrily in the young prince's direction. Morgan shrugged. "L'amour means love!"
"I never really excelled in languages." He said. "I'm really good at war tactics though. Speaking of which, we need to speed this up, I'm supposed to meet with Mother in the library soon."
"Ok, well I just meant that love softens even that hardest of hearts, does it not?" Owain questioned. "So, should Lucina fall in love, she may become a tad more approachable."
Silence followed Owain's suggestion, as the attendants chewed on his suggestion. A few opened their mouths to speak, before thinking better and snapping it shut once more. Inigo waited, expecting an objection, because the suggestion was absolutely ludicrous.
No objections came forth.
"Who would you propose be up for the job, Owain?" Morgan asked, his voice pensive, pulling his eyebrows low over his face. Morgan had a childish face- round and youthful. His pensive expression normally resembled that of a pouting child, but the shadows across his face cast by the single candle in the room made him seem older and sterner- he looked a bit like his father for a moment.
Owain tapped a finger thoughtfully against his jaw, contemplating, flicking his eyes across the table to evaluate his options. Yarne. Brady. Inigo felt a sinking sensation in his abdomen when Owain's eyes came to definitively rest upon Inigo.
"Well," Owain said, drawing the syllable out, a hint of a grin threatening to slide onto his face. "We'd have to choose someone who could handle Lucina's… tendencies." He said, and he couldn't stop the upturn of the corner of his lips this time. "And someone Lucina would easily fall for…" He reasoned. "Surely our resident ladies man," The words were mocking and scornful and Inigo glared. "Would be up for the job."
"Absolutely not." Inigo responded smoothly, getting to his feet. "I won't, not on your lives, not if it would stop Grima the instant I agreed."
They were on him like a pack of starved wolves.
His companions held him down, with his back flat across the stone floor, their faces looming eerily above him, framing his ring of vision with their scheming visages.
"Yarne and Brady are too wimpy." Morgan informed him. No protests or noises of offence were offered in response to his statement. Instead, the two in question nodded their agreement. Inigo tried to free himself, but two pairs of hands found his shoulders and pushed down, one pair for each shoulder. He traced the hands back to their sources- Owain and Cynthia held his shoulders down. Morgan was the only one not crouched down and attempted to hold Inigo down. Instead, he stood to his full height, usually not particularly tall, but absolutely towering with Inigo lying on the ground. Thoughtfully, he tapped his fingers against his chin. "You're a bit of a ladies' man." He said. "But you're decent-looking at least- can't have ugly nieces and nephews."
Inigo choked, and tried to struggle free once more.
"Let me go, you fools!" Inigo exclaimed.
"Sorry, Inigo!" Cynthia exclaimed, her eyes large and brown, glimmering with soft glints of warm amber from the light of the candle. Well, at the very least, he couldn't stay mad at her, the only pretty girl in the room. "But things are desperate. We can't handle another session where she beats us up or makes us jog thirty times around the castle, and she's just so mean and grumpy all the time."
All at once, his captor's expressions altered, surprisingly in sync, and in perfect harmony, they shot him pleading expressions, with varying degrees of effectiveness (Brady, at the very least, looked like he was having bowel trouble, and Yarne was made no cuter by his furriness.)
Inigo groaned, as they all continued to stare at him- the ugly bruise on Yarne's chin in particular seemed to mock him, reminding him the cause that had driven people who were normally a nice bunch, if a little eccentric, to such extremes as to beg him to court Lucina of all people. The princess of Ylisse. Perhaps the scariest woman he had met in the entirety of his life (and he had met a lot of women), excepting only her mother.
"Fine, fine, fine!" Inigo exclaimed, and their grips on his shoulders loosened and he sprang dramatically to his feet and spun around to face them. "I'll court the princess- but no guarantees your plan will succeed!"
They all shrugged.
"Now fer the nex' order of business." Brady declared, getting to his feet and glaring sternly at Morgan, who had reached into the pockets of his robes and produced small cookies to munch on. "Morgan's sweet addiction."
Cheeks bulging, with crumbs littering his cheeks and chin, Morgan grimaced.
"I can stop any time, y'know."
A/N: Whew! So there we have it. Bit of a short chapter to start off- we'll take things slow, start things easy. Little warning for future chapters though: this fic is filled to the brim with a whole lotta headcanons and some made-up crap to explain incredibly contrived situations. Lol.
Next chaper: Inigo cannot flirt