"...Father? Father!" Lucina looked around frantically. "Where did he go?"

"…He's…safe…"

Lucina turned her gaze to the speaker, the hooded reaper, Grima. She stepped back, pointing her blade. "You mean…you're the one who…"

"...Yes...I sent him back to his own world...before I could do him harm..."

The voice sounded weak, yet distinctly familiar.

"But...Grima would never let the exalt leave here alive!" Lucina said, eyes narrowed.

It took a moment for the voice to respond, and even then the sound was so brittle. "...No... She would not... Please...you must listen... I have been dealt a grievous blow... and must...sleep... That is your only chance... You must complete the Awakening... ...before my slumbering ends... "

Lucina could feel her blade shake in her hands. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I must be destroyed... and you are the only hope of it..." Grima whispered sharply to her.

This confused the princess further. "What? But…"

Grima's whispers turned frantic. "...I murdered your father... just as I murdered legions of Ylisseans... ...I snuffed out the very Voice of the divine dragon..." Her voice was filled with hurt with each syllable. "...And I just finished killing the friends you sent for the Gemstones... "

Lucina was now painfully aware how her heart throbbed. How her throat felt tight, how her eyes were swimming with tears. "No…" she choked out.

"...Don't you hate me? ...I'm the cause of all this..." Her voice cracked, but Lucina couldn't mistake the own grief in Grima's voice. "...If it weren't for me, you would never have had to take up the sword... You and your loved ones would be living in peace... I am to blame for everything..." The words sounded painful. "...You must destroy me, Lucina..."

As Lucina felt the hot tears run down cheeks, something boiled inside her. Anger, for being unable to save her friends, anger for not being able to save her family, anger for letting Grima's words affect her so.

"You needn't tell me how much I hate you... I...LOATHE you..." Lucina cried out. Her voice faltered. "But... If you were really Grima, why would you seek your own demise..." Her face morphed from grief to confusion. "And why does your voice now seem so...so painfully familiar? You're a human, aren't you—a person, like us? Grima is using you to—"

"I am Grima!" Her voice was full of pain. "There is nothing human about me!"

Grima doubled over, and stumbled back. Her hood fell.

Lucina's blade clattered to the ground.

"Mother?" she cried. "Mother! Oh, gods, it's really you!"

"Lucina…" Robin croaked.

Lucina knew it was no mistake. She could now see the silver hair curl over her shoulder, the brown eyes. "What has that thing done to you?" she breathed, daring not to approach. There was no answer. "Mother! Mother, you are not the cause of this, Grima is!"

"...I am Grima! There is nothing human about me!" Robin choked out.

"You're not! You're my Mother! The kind, wise woman, the one who could do anything and still have the energy to love her children! The one that I still miss everyday in this hell!" Lucina did not make an effort to stop the tears flowing down her cheeks.

Robin looked up, and for a moment Lucina was silent. She could see her mother. But the look in her eyes told her something different. That something had changed, something had died in her. No smile, no wise glint in her eyes. Just the dull brown of a broken woman.

"I have always been the fell dragon... since the day I was born... Your father didn't care. …We were both blind with love… and now I am the reason he rots in the ground! ...I wish that I were human! That I could have lived a normal life with you!" Her voice rose into a shout, and then died abruptly. "...But I'm not, and I can't..."

Lucina stepped to the tactician and tilted her chin up. Robin looked on with despair, but was captivated by her daughter's face. Beautiful. Her eyes were red from tears, but the mark of the exalt still shone. It sent a stab of pain through Robin.

"Is there no way for me to..." Lucina hesitated. "I mean... Can I save you if I defeat Grima?"

There was a pause. Robin's eyes traveled to the ground and she stepped from her daughter.

"...No. As I said, Grima and I are one... ...I can speak my mind like this because we are weakened... but that does not mean my mind is free... Put aside your sympathy and finish me... " Robin said softly. Lucina shook her head.

"Mother, there has to be another way!"

"You're just like your father. He—"

Suddenly Robin cried out, doubling over once more. Lucina leaped away, eyes widening. "What's happening? Mother?!"

"CHILD OF NAGA... I will feast ON YOUR BONES before this is THROUGH..." Robin's voice distorted into a deathly screech.

"No…" Lucina breathed, eyes darting for her fallen sword.

Robin cried out. She picked herself up, panting. Lucina saw the sweat beading on her forehead. "...You see? ...Grima is my true nature... ...We cannot be separated..."

"Mother…"

Robin spoke with new urgency. "...And now I must say farewell... ...Take care, my daughter... I look forward to the day that I die on your blade... ...May that day...come soon... "

She disappeared without a trace, leaving Lucina alone.

Lucina knelt to the ground and picked up her sword. It felt heavier than usual. "…As you wish, mother. I will show you no mercy the next time we meet. I swear upon my life that I will defeat you once and for all." Lucina felt a pang. Her mother never deserved this. None of them did.

"And then I will find a way to send you to whatever world you sent my father... Perhaps he can find a way to separate that monster and you. And if I can't…" Lucina felt the tears prick her eyes again. "Perhaps I can find solace that I may be reuniting father and you in a better place, free of this pain."