Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem

Eight year-old Morgan fidgeted as I combed his hair. "Come on! Why do I have to get my hair brushed? I'm not a girl like Lucina!"

"You're getting your hair combed. There's a big difference. Boy's get their hair combed and girls get their hair brushed. I mean, there are exceptions, but that's how it usually is," I replied.

Morgan kept fidgeting until I finally finished. He dashed off to go play with Owain and Inigo, leaving me staring exasperatedly after him.

I brushed a white pigtail out of my eye. "I hope he'll be a bit more mature when he grows up…"

Suddenly, two large arms wrapped around me and hugged me tight. "Guess who," a deep yet gentle voice whispered amusedly.

I smiled and turned around to face Chrom. "Chrom! You're back from your political trip to Ferox!"

Chrom smiled. "Well, I just couldn't stay away from my beautiful wife and children any longer."

I hugged him back. You took long enough," I joked. "I was just about to march over there myself and retrieve you."

"It was only a week," Chrom objected.

"Still, you know I missed you," I breathed whilst rubbing my finger lightly up and down his arm.

Chrom shivered. "Robin, maybe tonight since I got back, we can… you know, hit the mats?"

I smiled devilishly. "I like that."

10 year-old Lucina suddenly walked up. "What are you doing?"

I blushed in embarrassment. "N-nothing, Lucina. Your father and I were just discussing something."

Lucina shrugged. "Whatever." She walked away, leaving the once-fiery mood soggy and cold.

"Hmmm," I said. "You look so handsome, Morgan! I must congratulate myself on my handiwork."

Morgan looked in the mirror and frowned. I didn't understand why he looked so discontent with his outfit. "Actually, I think-" He cut off as he looked at my face. "That they're much better than you say! I could wear these all day every day!"

"Aw, I wish I could, too. But these clothes are only for the ball you're invited to. Maybe one day when you're older."

Morgan started to back up towards the door. "So, anyway, Mother, um, bye!" He ran out the door before I could say another word- or make more adjustments to his outfit.

A few hours later, Morgan stumbled home, groggy from lack of sleep. He was only 10 years-old so he should have gone to bed a long time ago.

I was sitting by the door when he walked in. "Gods, it's late!" I shouted. "Did you enjoy the ball?"

"It was… nice," Morgan replied.

I got up from my chair by the hearth and approached Morgan. "Come on. I want you to try on something." I removed my coat and placed it on him, nodding in satisfaction as I pulled the little piece of rope over the button. "You look dashing," I said, pride swelling in my voice.

Morgan worriedly checked the mirror before relaxing. "Yeah. I look pretty good." Suddenly, his expression darkened.

"What's wrong?" I asked, showing my concern.

"It's just… I let down this girl at the ball and I feel guilty."

I smiled at his sweet innocence. "Oh, Morgan. You can't go feeling guilty over every little thing. Life's not perfect. You can't win them all."

Morgan perked up at my words. "You're right, Mother. Say, do you ever feel guilty about anything?"

I paused for a moment, reviewing over the time I had spent since I joined the Shepherds. "Um, one thing. Chrom and I were heading towards the Ruins of Time. We were looking for a mythical item called Naga's Tear. While we were there, I saw a boy in the distance- he was about your age. He died before we could get to him." I let the sad memory wash over me. "Although we found Naga's Tear in the end, I just somehow felt an inexplicable guilt for being unable to save him. I don't know why. I'd never seen him before in my life, but… when he died I felt like I lost my own son."

Morgan looked upon me with sympathy. "What did the boy look like?"

"Oh, he was…" I thought for a moment. "Wearing a coat similar to mine. And he had… What was it? Indigo hair?" I froze and looked at Morgan standing adjacent to me, hanging onto my every word. "Indigo… hair…" I murmured to myself. That boy… looked just like Morgan. Suddenly, I pieced it all together. And a wave of despair crashed over me.

I grabbed onto the coat I lent Morgan and yanked him toward me. I hugged him as hard as I could, sobbing down his shoulder. "Mother?! What's wrong?!" he yelled.

"Don't go!" I screamed. "Don't go to the past!"

Confusion clouded his gaze. "What..?" he asked hollowly.

I pushed him back and looked into his eye, tears running down my face. "No matter what, promise me you won't travel to the past," I told him.

"Wha-"

"Promise!" I shouted firmly, cutting him off.

For a moment, he just stood there, staring at me. Then, he sighed. "All right. Whatever'll make you stop crying."

I just hugged him harder, all the while, tears streaming down my face in a relentless torrent. I couldn't lose Morgan. No matter what, I couldn't lose Morgan. Not my only son… As much as he bothered me or interrupted me when I was working, I still loved him. And I was determined to make sure he wouldn't die.

I told Chrom the news. That Morgan was the boy who died 10 years ago at the Ruins of Time.

"Are you sure this is true?" Chrom asked.

"Well, it's certainly possible," I replied, trying to keep my cool. "Lucina and all the other Future Children came here via time travel. If Morgan decides to do the same thing, he already knows how to do it. It is entirely plausible that he went back in time for whatever reason and got killed." I struggled for the lump in my throat not to get the better of me. It just hurt too much. Slowly, the tears started to come out again, making Chrom all flustered.

"We'll fix this! You don't need to cry!" he shouted.

I bit my lip and forced the tears to stop flowing. "You're right. Now's not the time to cry." I squeezed my hand into a fist. "Now's the time for action."

Slowly, over the months, I kept my eye on Morgan. We pretended that my emotional outburst had never happened and we still studied tactics together. Nevertheless, I never stopped watching him. I looked for signs of depression, anger, or malignant frustration. At first, I had seemingly nothing to worry about, but then Morgan started to become depressed when he was alone. It was only recent- from about a week ago. He would become sulky and gloomy, staring out the window for hours. He would forget it all when around other people, but it soon returned after they left.

One day, I decided to get to the bottom of this. I opened his door and asked why he was so depressed.

"I'm not depressed," he objected.

I pursed my lips in stubborness. "You are too. Just tell me what's going on."

Morgan glared at me. "Nothing, Mother!"

I had never seen him give me that look. That hostile glare of hatred.

It hurt me inside.

I turned around, all purpose in my step gone. "Okay," I said hollowly. "I'll be in the barracks if you need me."

"Wait, Mother!" Morgan called. "I didn't mean it-"

Slam!

The blood ran down my hand from where the door hit it. I didn't care. The pain in my hand was insignificant compared to the pain in my chest. It ate away at my heart, gnawing until I was gasping out in pain. I locked myself in my bedchambers. Chrom was away so I was alone. "Why do you hurt me so?" I murmured into the mattress.

Despite what Morgan did to me, I never stopped looking out for him. I tried to do the best for his mental health, but it never seemed to work. Another thing I noticed is that he was always going out on odd errands. Wasting time outside the palace doing Naga-knows-what. I was often too busy to follow him. Instead, I just prayed that he wasn't doing anything stupid. Unfortunately, this did nothing to help my unease which grew by the day.

It was a few months later, in which I noticed Morgan was gone longer than usual. This time, I felt especially worried so I went to ask Lucina if she'd seen her brother. She said he was going to the Divine Grounds. This was where one could summon Naga (with the right materials) so of course I was overwrought with distress. I got Chrom to come with me and we followed his trail towards the Divine Grounds. The trip took two days and two nights. But when we got there, it was too late. Morgan was summoning Naga.

Losing it, I stepped forward. "What are you doing?!" I screamed.

"I'm sorry, Mother, Father. I have to go back to the past," Morgan said ruefully.

"No…" Chrom muttered to himself. He took a step forward. "You don't have to do this, Morgan! You can come home and live in the palace with your sister and your friends!" he shouted desperately.

"I'm afraid that can't be possible," Morgan said amidst the swirling debris. He took off the brown gloves he was wearing to reveal a pink mark on his right hand.

I gasped in both horror and shock. "The Mark of Grima!" I had never noticed that Morgan hadn't taken off his gloves in the past few months. It seemed like a small detail to me.

Morgan smiled at me sadly. "I'm afraid I inherited a little more from you than my love of tactics," he said softly.

"When?" I whispered in shock.

"A few months ago. The Mark appeared on my hand one night."

I was lying when I said there was only one thing I was guilty about earlier. I didn't want to tell Morgan, but instead of me killing Grima and dying along with it, I let Chrom finish the job instead so that Grima would fall into a powerful slumber. I knew my decision was selfish and it would haunt me for the rest of my life, but never would I have thought that this was how Fate would punish me! Because of my selfish choice, my only son was about to die.

"What does having the Mark of Grima have to do with needing to go back in time?" I asked.

"I cannot kill myself in this timeline. Here, the Mark shall latch onto another poor soul shall I die. Lucina's Brand fights it off so she is almost immune. Almost. Shall I die, Lucina shall be cursed with the Mark, but only if I die in this timeline. If I go to the past, I can die in peace and cause no more suffering."

The swirling debris was glowing lighter as it increased in intensity. "Don't go!" I screamed, sheer desperation amplifying my voice.

"Morgan!" Chrom yelled.

"Goodbye…" Morgan breathed. A single tear rolled down his cheek before falling to the ground. The debris exploded nanoseconds after the tear fell, leaving the field clear and empty. All that was left of Morgan was a small, wet spot on the ground about the size of the tip of my finger.

I slumped to the ground, waves of loss crashing over me. Although no sobs- ney, not a single noise made its way out of my mouth, the tears rolled down fresh and new. I leaned my head back and clenched my teeth. "Why do you hurt me so?" I murmured.

Fin

Oh wow, that was a hard one. I mainly only do shipping one-shots but I really wanted to do that based on a headcanon of mine. In my game, I let Morgan die then saved (by accident). After I beat the game, I started wondering about what happened after the ending. My headcanon was what if one day Robin realizes the son she's been raising for 10 years died 10 years ago back in the Ruins of Time. Since Morgan traveled back in time and died there. She was raising this son, even though he was doomed to die. Gives you the feels, amiright? Also, although many people don't know it, Lucina and all the future children (minus Laurent and Morgan) are around 12 years old. Morgan is about two years younger by my estimate so he would be 10. So that's why I hate Lucina x Robin. Because it's kind of pedophilia IMHO. And I'm willing to bet I'll get a flaming rage comment. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed~