After pondering over this story, planning it out, and considering just forgetting about it several times, I finally decided to quit putting it off and actually work on it seriously. It's been nearly a year since the idea to do this came to me. I long ago noticed how, if ever slightly, Morgan and Nah acted differently around each other. Nah tended to be abrasive and snappy in her other supports. With Morgan, though, she is rather patient and gets along well with him, even in their C support. Morgan is also not as goofy as he can be in those supports. From there, I wondered how they would have acted before those supports. Was Nah perhaps less patient with him? How did he earn her trust? I got the idea to chronicle the start of their relationship as well as how they fell in love. While I will include at least part their supports, they won't be copied verbatim, and I will expand on them. This story will also contain some personal fanon (or "headcanon", as the kids like to call it these days) on the game world and the characters, but I'll avoid going overboard with it.
The main pairing is obviously Nah x Morgan(M), with Chrom x Female Avatar (Robin) and Nowi x Libra as background. There will also be some hints and mentions of other pairings I like. As far as spoilers are concerned, though it won't contain many for the game,I would still recommend having finished Awakening before reading this. I hope to get out at least two chapters a month or so, but I can't make any promises. Every time I do, I end up breaking them. Regardless, I hope to do this story, the characters, and this couple justice. I hope you all will enjoy and please, tell me what you think in a review. Tell me what I did well, what I did terribly, tell me if the title is as lame as I think it is, and yes, go ahead and nitpick about my grammar and typos. I go over my stories as thoroughly as possible, but there's only so much a single pair of eyes can find.
As a final note, the cover image was drawn by Len Barboza. I cannot put links in my profile anymore, so search for her name on DeviantArt and Tumblr.
Chapter 1 - A Different Impression
Nah used to believe that she was a good judge of character. People were easy to read, however, when they ignored you at best and hated you at worst. Traveling back over a decade into the past, a few years before she was born, changed that somewhat. Some members of the Shepherds were fairly transparent, but others, especially those who came from her time, surprised her more often than not.
Nah let out a sigh as she sat on the ground, her back against her tent. Her mother had finally stopped pestering her about playing together. Nah was very glad to have met her parents, even though they lived in another time, another world. While she felt a sincere affection for her mother already, the older manakete's childish antics irritated her.
She could not afford to behave like a child, despite her appearance. She needed to find her role, her niche, in this army. While the book she was reading was penned by a human, it offered some interesting insights into how to use dragonstones. The book contained less vital, but still fascinating information on manaketes as well. She knew little about her non-human heritage, having lost her mother while still an infant and not knowing any other dragonkin growing up. Sometimes she wondered if she was like Yarne, the last of an entire race, in the future. She heard rumors of small groups of manaketes, but these were only hearsay. She wished to speak to Nowi about manakete culture, or at least more about Nowi herself, but she found few opportunities to so far.
Lost in the book, she did not hear the approach of footsteps. She did hear a male voice say, "Oh wow! I didn't know we had a book like that."
Nah looked up to see a blue-haired adolescent in a purple cloak. The boy, Morgan, was crouched down slightly in order to better see the cover of the book she was reading.
"Oh, I guess it could belong to you," he continued.
"Do you always interrupt people when they're reading?" The blonde dragonkin asked as she narrowed her eyes.
Morgan stood up, then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Uh, yeah—I mean, no! Not usually, or at all!" he replied, flustered.
Nah had only known Morgan in passing, barely even acquaintances in the future world they came from. She was on good terms with his sister, Lucina, but she and Morgan had never really interacted much. The young prince was always friendly, and his recent memory loss had not at all affected his amiable nature, it seemed. She wondered if he was this nosy before, however.
"In that case, I would appreciate it if you let me keep reading," Nah said with a frown. She held the book back up, covering her face.
The boy did not get the message, seeing as he continued to stand still in front of her. Though Nah couldn't see his face, he gave off a smell of confusing intent. He was not certain what to do. She felt like suggesting that he stand somewhere else, but before she could decide, Morgan spoke.
"I never really thought that stones would need a book to learn to use. It looks like you and your mother just hold your stones up, get enveloped in light, and in a flash of flower petals, you're dragons!"
Nah growled as she lowered her book again. Before she could snap at him, though, he continued to talk.
"But maybe there's more to it than that, huh? Maybe there's a special way to hold them? Or do you have to imagine the dragon and really concentrate on it? I wonder if such techniques could be used for unique strategies." The boy hummed in thought.
The half-manakete blinked. Morgan's scent became more distinct. He was genuinely interested and curious. Even if she did not have her dragonkin sense of smell, she could see the curiosity in his eyes. From what she remembered of him before his amnesia, Morgan had an interest in tactics. It seemed to have only increased after he lost most of his memories.
There was more to it than that, though. There was another intent mixed with his interest. Morgan wanted to get to know her; be friends with her. He was not just using her book as an excuse, and certainly did not want to mock her. Now that she thought of it, Morgan never struck her as the sort to make fun of others. He could be a mild nuisance, but that wasn't the same. Regardless, his intent intrigued her for some reason, and her initial annoyance subsided. Nah lowered her book and began to speak.
"This book is more for a single person to learn to hone dragonstone use than as any sort of group strategy. It also has general information on different types of dragonstones. It hasn't explained why there aren't any around anymore; at least that I've seen."
"Different types?" Morgan asked with a bemused look on his face, "Like what kinds? What do they do?"
"There are stones for each type of manakete. This book lists fire, ice, mage, and divinestones. Apparently, a divine dragon like me could use all of them and can turn into the corresponding dragon." Nah idly wondered if being half-human might have prevented that. She did not voice the concern, though.
"Ah, so you're a divine dragon, and your mother is too, I guess?" Morgan asked Nah nodded and he continued, "That sounds really important."
"I don't really know. I'm not sure why we're referred to as such. Naga is called the Divine Dragon, but I don't know how we're related, if at all." She had only learned about the different manakete tribes that day.
"Well, maybe you can ask your mother?" Morgan offered thoughtfully.
Nah nodded. She could also perhaps ask Naga as well the next time she prayed. Would a history lesson really be something she should badger a deity about, though?
"Still, it's amazing to know that there are other kinds of manaketes. I hope you meet one, or even get to turn into one someday!" Morgan said with a wide smile.
"We'll see," Nah said with a hint of one.
After a brief moment of silence, Morgan said, "I guess Mom got that book for you rather than for your mother. I don't think she's much of a reader."
"That's for certain. She would never be able to sit still long enough to read it," Nah said, her tone of voice dry as she recalled her mother scoffing at studying earlier that day.
The blue-haired boy chuckled. "Yeah, your mother is always running around and playing games."
The blonde girl let out a sigh. "I wish she would act her age. I tried to tell her how important it is to study, but she doesn't want to hear it."
She instantly regretted the mention about age. Morgan might say something along the lines of "you're one to talk," or that Nah looked like a kid herself. Despite her appearance, she was two or three years his senior.
Instead, the boy said, "How old is she anyway? A thousand years? You'd think she would know something that important by now."
"E-exactly," Nah replied, missing a beat, "I told her that we need to study and train to use our stones to the fullest. How else are we going to stop this time from becoming like our future?"
"It sounds more like you're her mother," Morgan said with a chuckle. At some point while they were talking, the prince had sat down cross-legged on the ground near Nah.
"Well, sure studying is important, as is training. I actually find studying to be fun," Morgan continued, "But I also think it's important to have other kinds of fun, too."
Nah narrowed her eyes, "Like playing games?"
"Well, that's part of it, although it doesn't have to involve running around until you pass out. There are board games, card games, word puzzles, novels, and other things. I'm willing to try anything at least once."
"So you're the adventurous type, then?" Nah asked.
The blue-haired tactician-in-training did not reply immediately as he mulled over what the half-manakete said.
"Sort of, I guess. I don't remember very much about myself, unless it has to do with Mother."
"Oh…I'm sorry, Morgan," Nah said as she winced.
"About what, my memory loss? Na—uh, no, don't worry about it. I don't mind that much. Because of my amnesia, though, everything feels like a new experience. I might even learn a few things about myself."
Despite his slight stumble with her name, Nah could not help but smile with him.
"But anyway," he continued, "what I'm trying to say is that it's important to enjoy ourselves as well. We're still kids, after all."
Nah's mood dropped when she heard him say "kids," but she then realized he also said "we're." She was used to being thought of as a child and was usually irked by it. Lucina was one of the few people that she did not mind being treated as such. This, however, was not the same. Morgan considered himself a child, not just her.
"Oh right!" the boy suddenly remarked as he stood back up, "I was on my way to meet with father."
The blonde blinked, "With Chrom?"
"Yeah, for sparring, and I hope to help get my memories of him back. It hasn't worked so far, but you'll never know."
"Maybe it will work," Nah responded.
Morgan smiled, "It was great talking to you, Nah. See you around!"
"Bye, Morgan," she replied with her own smile before the boy walked off.
That was easily the longest conversation she had ever had with the prince. He was an interesting person to be sure; a little odd, perhaps, but interesting. She was still mildly surprised at how her perception of him changed. She thought of him as optimistic to the point of immaturity and a little dense at times. He was all of those, but he was also thoughtful, considerate, and eager to learn, both in the sense of knowledge and about those around him.
Her talk with the boy was actually quite pleasant, despite how it was initiated. The notion of people not only minding her presence, but actively seeking her acquaintance was still strange and new to her. Her other companions from the future were nice enough, but she was not close to many of them. She found Morgan easy to talk to and very much genuine. She liked that.
"See you around," she said, though he was long out of earshot.