What Lies at the End

Chapter One:

Shame on You for Treasure Hunting in the First Place!

"What the hell are you standing there for?!"

A thin boy wrapped in a black robe that seemed to swallow him took a singular step back on his right foot, feeling the crumbling ground of the ruins beneath his feet give away. The hunkering undead Risen moved closer, its broken jaw agape and its axe dragging the ground. Noxious gas swirled from between the monster's broken teeth, causing the boy to cling ever tighter to the book clutched at his chest as he staggered another half step backwards.

That book held magical spells in its pages, and he certainly knew how to use them, but fear left him completely frozen. His right foot hit nothing, and for a terrifying moment he pinwheeled his arms and reeled on his heels in an attempt to catch himself. One glance over his shoulder told him that he had reached the edge of the platform; only darkness was below. He could only imagine what was at the bottom. Spikes? Unlikely. Water? Maybe. He might survive then. At least until the other Risen smelled him and ate the flesh off of his bones as he screamed towards the heavens. Or maybe it was just more stone down there, and he would die instantly on impact.

Why was he even thinking about this?!

Ylisse's last remaining princess watched from afar, waving her arms and shouting desperately from across the cracked ravine. They were words that the boy either couldn't hear or was too stunned to heed. Lissa had no way of knowing it was the latter. "Someone! Sumia, Cordelia, JUST SOMEONE GET OVER TO THAT KID ALREADY!" She screeched, finally grabbing the attention of her elder brother.

Chrom only shook his head, gritting his teeth as he kicked the last Risen on their side into the chasm. "We didn't account for the reinforcements!" His words were pained, croaked in anger as he pulled himself upright using the hilt of his haggard Falchion. Blood snaked down the side of his face from an unlucky spear strike that he was still recovering from, one that had send him reeling. "The pegasi are overextended, there's no way they can-…"

Across the way, the Risen raised its axe high and swung it down on the defenseless boy, eliciting a scream from Lissa as she shielded her eyes behind the width of her own axe for a moment. She dared to look, half expecting to see the boy's head split clean in half, but a third figure had joined the fray.

In a flash of steel and blue, Chrom's daughter had thrown herself between the enemy and its victim, catching the corner of the downward swing in the center guard of her own Parallel Falchion. The boy had thrown himself to the side to keep from tumbling backwards and now sat upright, watching in stunned silence as she broke the enemy's stance with a powerful strike.

"Stand back!" She barked, and so he did, scrambling out of the way and as far from the edge as he could in seconds. By the time he turned around to look back, the Risen was already crumpled at the girl's feet.

"Thank the gods, Luci! Now get back over here!" Lissa called, nearly bouncing in place. "We need to get out of here yesterday! More of those things are going to show up if we don't split!"

"W-what's she saying?" The blond asked, turning to Lucina. His face was smeared with tears and mud, and the screaming woman across the way really wasn't reassuring him that he was safe.

Lucina let out a long, low breath, centering herself as she sheathed her weapon. A gentle smile touched her lips as she opened her eyes, taking a step towards the boy. "It's all going to be alright now. We will be safe once we are with Aunt Lissa and Father, but mind your step and walk in front of me."

That didn't answer his question. He did not argue though, there was certainly no place for that right now. Instead he turned his focus to the narrow, crumbling remains of the stairs that were his only way forwards. He looked back at the ledge he had just nearly fallen from with fear in his eyes, but a pat on the shoulder from his savior brought him back into focus.

"Go on now, you're safe with me. You're going to be just fine," she reassured him. Shakily he pulled in a breath and puffed his cheeks out, full on sprinting across the busted stairs. His boots kept tangling in his robes, but he seemed to be under the impression that if he ran fast enough, his feet wouldn't touch the ground and then he wouldn't be able to fall. Not brilliant to go running over crumbling and slippery stone, Lucina noted, carefully following behind him with her eyes scouring for loose bits of debris.

Lissa had taken to healing Chrom's cuts as Lucina and the boy finally made their way safely over to them. Thankfully, it seemed the rest of the squadron had managed to regroup with little incident as well.

"Where's Magnolia? She deserves a smack on the head with my staff! Just bring a tiny group, my royal butt! We were overwhelmed the minute that everyone spread out!" Lissa was fuming. "I brought my axe and magic would have been so much safer!"

The prince winced, letting out a quiet laugh. "At ease, Lissa. She's never steered us wrong before. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Nobody was hurt, after all."

"Chrom! Nobody except you!" The princess whined, tying his bandages a bit too tight. "Arguably the only one of us that ISN'T expendable! And shame on you for going on a treasure hunt in the first place!"

As the noble family began to bicker, a snowy pegasus touched down just outside the ruins. Upon its back was her rider, Cordelia. Laying longways across beasts neck was a very dead looking mess of pinkish hair and shredded black robes, Ylisse's finest amnesiac tactician. Cordelia gently placed a hand on the other woman's back, trying to shake her back into consciousness. Much to her shock and horror, the other woman began to slide forward and tumbled to the ground headfirst.

"Ah-OW!"

Cordelia leapt gracefully off her mount and knelt beside her ally, dragging her upright by the mess of wrinkled clothing that she was buried in. "Oh gods, Magnolia! What is the matter with you? We flew only from one end of the ruins to the other!"

"…gonna be sick…" Magnolia uttered weakly, pushing back a tangle of curls from her face. She slllooowwwly started to stand up, but only got as far as her knees before she tumbled over again, laying in the grass as she fought to catch her breath and mind.

"It was either ride or walk back over those crumbling ruins, and I was not about to watch you fall to your death like the clumsy fool that you are." Cordelia scolded, carefully tucking her lance away in the holster on her mount's saddle. The Pegasus turned to give Cordelia a side stare with one wise eye; it was an expression that Cordelia seemed to understand well. She relinquished a sigh, patting the creature on her cheek. "I know exactly what you mean, girl."

Magnolia managed to pull herself upright just as the rest of the group left the ruins behind, not a one of them glancing back. They all seemed to be shaken save for Miriel the unflappable and Sumia, who had also had the luxury of flying over the unsteady ground.

"You're well then, friend?" Chrom asked, dropping a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Aye…" She responded meekly, sounding none to sure of herself. The sight of his cuts and scrapes left a bitter, guilty taste in her mouth that she wore vividly on her face. Masking her emotions was near impossible given the range of facial expressions Magnolia was known to dish out. "I had no intention of walking you right into danger."

"It goes to show that one mustn't place all of their faith in the abilities of another. Theories, while scientific and sound, still remain theory until they are proven as fact. It is a wonder your foresight hasn't failed us beforehand. Mathematically, we were due for unaccounted misfortune." Miriel chirped, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. One lens seemed to be cracked, but she wore a sarcastic half-smile, still energized from the thrill of successful battle.

Chrom blinked, his brow knitted in confusion. "Uh, what?"

Lucina spoke up, translating for her father. "Miss Miriel means that you are only asking for trouble by charging into any plan that Magnolia comes up with without really looking over it for yourself. We can only get lucky being headstrong so many times before it backfires."

"Ah, well..." Chrom had no argument. He had become accustomed to taking his tactician's word as law. For the most part, the entirety of his army didn't question her tactics, but Chrom was certainly due for a rude awakening eventually.

"Magnolia?" The blond boy spoke up, stepping out from behind Lucina. He wiped his sleeve over his dirty face, squinting at the tactician. "That's my-... wait, Mother? Is it you?"

All eyes turned to the boy and then to the flabbergasted woman.

"Pardon? Who are you?" She uttered, holding her Elwind tome to her chest as if it would shield her from the delusional child's accusation.

"Oh, I didn't even recognize you with long hair! I've been looking everywhere for you, Mother!" The lad dropped his tome and trotted up to her, arms open to wrap them around her. She stepped back as he came forwards, looking to the group for help. Chrom stepped in quickly, catching the boy by the collar before he could latch around her and squeeze her to death.

"But, that's…" Lissa started to speak up but quickly fell silent, dropping her hand to her side. She stole a glance at Magnolia but the other woman didn't meet her eye. Her hazel gaze was instead locked on the child who was glaring up at Chrom with the utmost offense.

"I take it you hail from the same future as Lucina. Give up your name, lad."

"It's Morgan. Why are you staring at me like that, Mother? Tell this guy that…" The boy suddenly fell silent, clutching at his skull with a groan of pain. "-…something isn't right. Something about you looks…"

Chrom spoke as if he had to break news like this all the time. Incredulously, it was his third time dealing with such a situation. Lucina being the first, of course, and then he learned he had another daughter. And after that came Laurent, who turned the tide on Chrom and went into a lengthy diatribe explaining the science of Outrealms and time travel magic. Every bit of it went over Chrom's head, but he knew upon meeting Kjellle and Laurent that this would get easier and more commonplace with time. "Easy now, don't overthink it. She looks younger, yes? This is the past."

"Perhaps we can handle this at camp as opposed to out in the open for all of our enemies to see." Lucina spoke up, silencing the boy before he could argue. "Don't worry, we will explain everything. It's a lot to comprehend but you're going to be just fine. Morgan, was it? I am Lucina."

"Lucina?" Morgan stared at her outstretched hand, then tentatively shook it. A goofy smile found its way to his face. "So I can come with you then, Mother?"

Magnolia said nothing, her eyes still sizing up the precious albeit fidgety and filthy teen accusing her of spawning him.

"Of course you can," Chrom said with finality. "The son of my closest friend is an instant ally of mine."

A/N: Well, this is a short start, but I wanted to get this prologue down before I tossed it away in the bin of plots that I have that never come to fruition. Give me thoughts, feedback, etc.