Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, Roy, Eliwood, or Ninian. They belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.
Characters: Roy, Eliwood.
Pairings: Eliwood/Ninian.
Warnings: Spoilers for FE7. Clear the game before reading.
Author's Notes: You guys. Do not. Know. How long I've been wanting to start writing Eliwood/Roy Father-Son Family fics. I love these two redheads (as probably the only person in the world who likes Eliwood) and I really want to work with them in these contexts. I just never had a good prompt to work with. This may have been done before but I hope you like it anyway.
Eliwood stopped outside the door to his son's bedroom and knocked. "Roy?" he called, "Are you alright?" He heard a muffled sound from behind the door, confirming that Roy was inside, and he opened the door. "Rebecca tells me you haven't left your room all day," he said as he stepped into a completely dark room. "You're not getting ill, are you?" Roy had kept the drapes shut and neglected to light his candle, so Eliwood's first order of business was to go over to the window and open the drapes so he could see where his son was. He found the red-haired child on his bed, his face and hands both buried in his pillow, silent aside from the occasional sob. Eliwood sighed, barely audible. It didn't take a mastermind to know what had Roy upset.
Yesterday, he had woken up to being shaken by a wildly panicked Roy. His ten-year-old son had woken up that morning to discover a black marking square in the middle of his forehead that had not been there when he had gone to sleep the night before; and upon closer inspection, Eliwood had realised that the thin lines in Roy's forehead were the same ones his wife, Ninian, had borne on her abdomen. Understanding how terrified Roy had to be at the sudden appearance of this unknown marking, he had wasted no time in getting up and pulling Roy onto the mattress with him.
He had then explained that the marking indicated Roy was born of dragon blood. It was something he had inherited from Ninian, who had been a half-dragon herself; Roy's dragon blood was thinner than his mother's, but it was still present, and it had manifested on his body in the shape of the marking Ninian had called a Brand. Eliwood had assured Roy that the mark wasn't dangerous or worrisome in the slightest, and sent him on his way, believing he had informed the clever boy enough. Evidently, however, he had forgotten something crucial: Roy's feelings about his heritage.
Now understanding this, and mentally preparing for a struggle, Eliwood sat down on Roy's bed. "Roy," he said, stroking his hair to get his attention. "Come on. Don't cry."
"F-father…" Roy looked up and turned his face towards his father, but didn't let go of his pillow. Was it the lighting, or - no, Roy's forehead was definitely red. Had he tried to scrub the marking off?! Eliwood waited until Roy sat up, clutching his pillow to himself, and put one arm around the trembling boy.
"What's the matter?" he asked. Of course, he knew full well what the matter was: Roy hated his newfound dragon blood because it meant he was different from 'normal' children like Wolt and Lilina, and thus didn't fit in with them anymore. However, Eliwood hoped his son would be willing to talk about it, as that would make it much easier on him to talk him into accepting it. "You can tell me anything, remember?"
Roy didn't stop trembling, and only clutched his pillow harder. "I…" he said, so quietly that Eliwood could hardly hear him. "I'm a…"
Knowing what word would follow, the marquess broke his own resolution and turned, gently putting his hands on both Roy's shoulders. "No," he firmly said, "You're not." He sighed, and started explaining. "Listen… I always knew you were part dragon." Roy cringed as he spoke that last word, but Eliwood pressed on. "As I've told you, your mother was a half-dragon." He cringed again. Eliwood once again didn't let it deter him. "The moment we learnt we were expecting you, we knew you'd inherit her blood."
Roy finally let go of the pillow and instead hugged his father tightly, before asking the one question Eliwood had hoped to never hear from him: "Then why did you keep me?" Eliwood's first response was to hug his son closer to him. It wasn't that he didn't have an answer to the question. It was that he now knew for sure that Roy took his dragon blood to mean he was somehow less than a full-blood human.
Eliwood recognized the sentiment; Ninian had suffered a severe inferiority complex for the same reason. Despite his numerous attempts to convince her that her blood meant nothing to him, that he loved her regardless of what her mother was, she had often wondered if she was good enough to be his wife and the mother of his children. It had been hard for her to believe that he could love her, not in spite of her dragon blood but perhaps precisely because of it. It had been part of who she was, and he would never have chosen a human woman over her. Similarly, he wouldn't dream of having a full-blood human son; it would mean his mother would have had to be anyone else than Ninian.
Sadly, he had not succeeded in convincing Ninian of all this before she passed away, but he hoped that if he started right now, he could teach Roy to accept what and who he was, so that her son could at least be comfortable with it before it was too late. "Father?" When Roy drew his attention, he realized the boy was trembling, perhaps afraid of his father's answer. He'd taken too long to reply.
In hopes of reassuring him, Eliwood smiled down at him. "Because we didn't care," he said, truthfully. "The mark and the blood that caused it just prove that you're your mother's true son. Nothing more than that." It took all his self-control to not fall silent in that moment. His wife had had no worldly possessions, and aside from the ring on his finger, Roy was all he had left of her. He tried not to dwell on the thought of her loss- it would distract him. "You are our son," he said, both to keep Roy's attention and to force himself to stay in the present, "and no amount of dragon blood can change that, or make me stop loving you or being proud of you." He stroked Roy's face when he looked up. "I'm sorry I waited to tell you all this until your mark appeared. I should have told you sooner so it wouldn't scare you this much… Please forgive me."
"It's okay," he heard Roy mutter, to his enormous relief. "It's not your fault."
But it WAS his fault. He had been the one to fall in love with Ninian and to have a child with her. There was no justifying his not telling Roy about this sooner. He should have told him along with Ninian, when she had still been there; she shared his dragon blood, she could have done more for him than Eliwood could. But he had been afraid. Even if Roy accepted and embraces his heritage, the public wasn't ready for an only part-human heir. Compared to the scandal that would result from this becoming public knowledge, the uproar around Marquess Hector of Ositia marrying the half-Sacaen Lyndis would pale. So they would somehow have had to tell Roy that he was fine the way he was, but would have to hide it from everyone all the same; and how was a child going to believe the former if they were going to enforce the latter? Eliwood had hoped that the Brand would stay away, either not manifest at all or show up when Roy was old enough to understand this.
Something inside him, most likely born of Ninian's certainty, had been convinced that the mark not showing up was wishful thinking at best, and he had eventually taken to hoping it would appear in a place similar to Ninian's- a place that was normally covered by his clothes anyway, or maybe even under his hair. But life had never been kind on the marquess of Pherae, and his son's Brand had shown up right within the sight of anyone who would speak to him.
He smiled again, patting Roy and reminding him of something he may not have thought of. "It's not your fault, either. You're not a bad child." It wasn't until now that Eliwood was struck by inspiration. He would regret this later, when he had to continue teaching Roy his dragon blood wasn't evil, but for now, convincing him to hide it from the public would be easy if he used the fact that Roy wanted to hide it to his advantage. "But if it really bothers you so much, then I can get you something to cover it up with." Roy looked up as he said this, finally, finally drying his tears.
"R-really?" he asked, hopeful but a little disbelieving.
"Yes," Eliwood said, still smiling. "You'll be able to play with Wolt and Lilina and nobody will ask questions about it if they can't see it, right?" He brushed Roy's hair aside so he could get a clear look at exactly where the mark was, himself. "I mean, yes, it's in a spot that's clearly visible; but your forehead is also something we can easily cover and it won't look weird. As long as you don't tell anyone, no one will know you have it. Would you like that?"
"Yes!" Roy cried, without hesitation. "Very much!"
"It's decided, then," Eliwood said. "I'll get you something as quickly as I can. For now, let's see a smile, shall we?" To his satisfaction, his son smiled up at him. He'd won this battle with the identity crisis. Relaxed, he bent down to kiss the top of Roy's head. "That's better. Don't let me catch you crying over this again, okay? It's all going to be okay."
"Okay," Roy said, finally giving in. He threw the pillow back where it belonged and crawled under his sheets, lying down and looking at his father. "Do you promise you'll get on that thing before bed tonight?"
"I promise." Eliwood reached out and squeezed his hand.
"Then I won't cry anymore," Roy promised. "Goodnight, Father."
"Goodnight, son," Eliwood said as Roy turned over. He tucked him in, shut the drapes again (not that it made a difference any longer, the sun had set), and left the room, ensuring the door was shut before he groaned quietly and looked at the ceiling. "Elimine," he said, "If you have any form of mercy upon my soul whatsoever, you'll see to it I can still reach Merlinus at this hour."
Roy had been looking up at the ceiling for what felt like hours, one hand tucked under his head, but he now felt his attention drawn to the headband that he had been spinning around the index finger of his other hand. It was the same headband he always wore; spun from a fine, breathing fabric. It was light and he didn't sweat under it; sometimes he had to double-check in a mirror that his Brand wasn't showing because he didn't feel the band on his forehead. It had been only recently that he'd grown out of the headband his father had gotten him when he had been a child. Actually, he was pretty sure he still had the old one somewhere in this room.
He stopped spinning the fabric, grabbing it in both hands and holding it out above his head to stare at it. It seemed so silly now that he had been afraid of his own blood and had hated it to the point of tears. These days, he was actually a little proud of it. So what if it had been a half-dragon woman that his father had fallen for? Lord Eliwood had been right- the dragon blood didn't change who he–or she–was. He was Roy of Pherae; son of Marquess Eliwood of Pherae, and perhaps just as importantly, son of Marchioness Ninian. And anyone who didn't like his mother or their dragon blood, he thought as he put the headband on his nightstand and went to sleep, could just leave and not come back.
Additional Author's Notes: I just… really love the idea of applying Branded mechanics from Tellius to Elibe. I don't know why. Anyway, giving Roy a Brand was really the only way I could think of informing him he wasn't like his friends, thus prompting this entire fic. If I can get the hang of this, I might do more father-child fics.