Hey guys, I'm back with a new story for Fire Emblem Awakening!
Chapter 1
The oldest Bells at the front tower of Ylisstol began to ring, and Chrom knew them all too well. Those bells have never rang for such an occasion as this. Of all reasons it's for a hero's return! Normally those bells ring in the presence of a royal wedding, the birth of a new heir, or the funeral of an exalt. Three years ago, they rang for the Exalt Emmyren's funeral, after her noble sacrifice to both Plegia and Ylisse. The bells stand in the presence of a glorious hero. Well to be honest, it's more like in the presence of 'heroes'. The old Drawbridge was lowered with a thud, and the Shepherds took that as their cue to come through Ylisstol. First to enter was Chrom himself. Flower petals fell from the top raining it's soothing scent, and smothering the ground. With Grima's demise at Origin Peak behind them, a new era of peace is in front them as we speak. Crowds of people of all sizes and ages greeted around Chrom, their prince and future Exalt. Beside him came his wife Sumia astride her benevolent Pegasus. Everyone else came in through the gates witnessing the same welcoming of petals and cheers; starting with the sages Lissa and Ricken. The Great Knight Frederick and the taguel Panne. The new Great Knight Stahl and the Pegasus knight Cordellia. The warrior Vaike and paladin Sully. The Sniper Virion and Sage Miriel. The swordmaster Lon'qu and dragon rider Cherche. The assassin Gaius and sorcerer Tharja. The War Monk Libra and myrmidon Olivia. The Dark Knight Henry and Valkyrie Maribelle. The Hero Donny and Manakete Nowi. The others; General Kellam, Secret Merchant Anna, Swordsmen Say'ri, Naga's voice Tiki, The Khans Basillo, and Flavia followed in being greeted with the same prestige. The last two heroes unfortunately didn't feel the love of the people's greeting. They came in slowly on a single steed, the tall one holding the reigns of their horse was Lucina. The small one holding her tight from the waist was her daughter Morgan. Their hearts were empty, and filled with dread. Their victory against the Fell Dragon Grima was only bitter sweet. Lucina's husband, and Morgan's father sacrificed himself to destroy the very same Fell Dragon. After that Lucina and her daughter never made eye contact, not to the people not to their friends, not even to each other. They just drowned out their sorrow by looking to the ground that passed their feet.
After the bells slowly stopped ringing, all the shepherds gathered for one last feast.
"To our tactician, and our friend, Robin." Chrom raised his mug of mead, held his head up high for everyone, and smiled.
"TO ROBIN!" All the shepherds cheered mournfully, but they still kept a smile on their faces.
Everyone who was old enough took their sips of Mead while the ones who weren't took in their glasses of milk. Lucina on the other hand didn't raise her glass, and neither did Morgan. Chrom tried his best to keep the morale alive in the great hall for their sake.
"So everyone! Does anyone have any plans… now that Grima's gone? Lucina, let's start with you, I'm very curious about you sweetheart."
"…" Lucina said nothing, and looked right at her daughter for her to go next.
"…" Morgan also said nothing.
"I'll start." Donny stood up in his thick village accent with his mug high in the air, "Ma plan is simple. I'm going back to ma village, I'll be welcomed back like a hero!" Donny's confidence looked a bit down for a moment. "Ah am a hero raght?"
Next to Donny was Nowi, Donny's beloved, she stood up and helped hold Donny's mug in the air, "Well you managed to steal a dragon's heart, and you make quite the father for our little Nah. How's that for a hero?" Nowi winked at her Donny.
Then Donny's face instantly lit back up with confidence and snaked his hand around Nowi's tiny shoulder. He squeezed her closer to his newly light toned chest (Fighting in a war against a Fell Dragon can make quite the workout.) "Ah think think that's the best story I'm ever gonna tell ma mum."
"Teehehehe, I love you Donny!" Nowi squeezed Donny with both her arms around his back, and nestled her face near his heartbeat.
"Ahh I love you too Nowi, and that goes for Nah too, c'mere and join the group hug darlin."
Nah sat next to her mother, and looked the other way, "C'mon guys, don't you think this is a little childish?"
"No one's never too old for a hug, c'mere." Nowi tugged on her daughter's shoulder and pulled her in on the group hug.
Nah looked uncomfortable at first, but then her cheeks started to burn red, and her eyes watering. The realization hit her like a tidal wave, she's back with her parents who were dead where she came from. She gave it a moment and hooked her arms around her parents embrace.
"We're a family again!" Nah cried.
Lucina and Morgan tried to work up smiles as they saw how happy Donnel's family was. Chrom looked at her daughter and granddaughter, and saw they were only wearing their happy masks. He's not surprised about Lucina wearing it, but Morgan shouldn't suffer with it. She's too young to handle it. Sadness bloomed inside himself seeing his family distraught with sorrow. Chrom looked over in Sumia's direction and saw the same concerned face on her too as himself. She looked back and he gave her a nod, knowing what they should do. Sumia walked over to her daughter and granddaughter, and she didn't need to tell them that they could go. Morgan and Lucina walked as fast and politely as they could out of the great hall. Lucina slowly closed the two doors behind her, and that's when Morgan took a seat to the nearest chair she could find, and began to cry, but Lucina just kept walking deeper through the hallways. Further away from Morgan until she finally let go of her bravery and just broke out. She quietly sobbed her troubles away with no one in sight. She just couldn't show her how weak she felt with Morgan around. Lucina would probably take it a lot worse if her daughter saw her like this, destroyed and disheveled inside, and out.
"Dammit Robin, why did you have to die?" Lucina whispered.
Two weeks have passed since the shepherds' celebration, all the shepherds have gone their separate ways, and a new great era of peace has begun. Chrom is still working with the new title of "Exalt", but with Sumia by her side and her family right behind them, he's more than confident in his future. He's going to have to at this point, his people need him. With all the commodities happening around his home town, Chrom thought it'd be a good chance to take his whole family down to the Markets. Time outside the castle would probably be good for them, plus it never hurts to go outside every now and then.
Down at the market, Frederick kept his usual stance around the royal family to insure their safety. Chrom stood close by his side while Sumia held the younger Lucina by the hand. Little Lucina is finally starting to walk after all this time. Cynthia stayed close to her mother for two reasons; one, because she never went to the market in her timeline, and two, because she never thought her older sister looked so cute as a baby let alone see her at this current age. Cynthia felt like an older sister for once, and it didn't feel awkward at all (Although it really should have.). Lissa and Ricken were side by side the whole time holding hands. They broke away from the main group to look at new spell tomes, staves, and other exotic books.
"Robin would have a field day in all these books, Lissa." Ricken said as he read through a documentary book.
Lissa gave Ricken a cold look and whispered in his ear, "Shut your mouth about Robin, Lucina and Morgan are right behind us."
Ricken looked over his shoulder to see the older Lucina and Morgan walk around the market. They don't seem to be interested in any of foreign trinkets around them.
"Sorry." Ricken whispered.
"It's okay… I'm gonna go find Owain, knowing him he's probably where all the swords are." Lissa took her leave, and left Ricken with all the books. Despite all everything around him, he decided to join Lissa on finding his son too.
Lucina and Morgan bought a simple bag of apples, and went to take a seat at the public gardens. Centered at the base of the garden was a fountain. A very beautiful, elegant fountain with soothing waters. Lucina and Morgan took a seat at the edge of the fountain and started eating their fruit in silence.
"It's been two weeks mom, is there anything else you wanna do?" Morgan broke the silence after eating all she could of her apple.
Lucina was silent, nibbling on her own fruit.
"Mom?" Morgan looked over at her mother to see her blank, lifeless face cowled beneath her hair.
Things haven't been better after her husbands sacrifice with Grima. They hardly spoke, and when they do it's hardly a chat, just a random question from her daughter or nothing at all.
"Mom?" Morgan scooched closer to Lucina.
The closer Morgan came closer to her mother, the more space she tries to make away from her. When Morgan came close enough to her mother's side, she finally broke the distance by standing straight up from the fountain, and walked off. Leaving Morgan behind.
"Mom!" Morgan tried to catch up with her, but she just kept going, straight for the safety of the kingdom, "Mom wait please!"
Lucina didn't look back, she just ran away fighting back her urges to go back to Morgan. The look of Morgan's face resembles too much of Robin, she just can't deal with her right now. She can't even look at her face without feeling the guilt freeze all through her blood. The easiest thing for her right now is to run, of course it's not the best thing to do, but with everything that's happened, there's not many easy options. Morgan ran as fast as she could to catch up with her, but her mother was just too fast. Somewhere down the line, Morgan tripped, and fell on the ground, holding her injured knee. Lucina didn't even look back, either because she didn't notice, or she didn't care.
After she made it home, she ran straight for her room, slammed the door shut, and locked it tight. After all the guilt defrosted from her blood, her mind began to process to the reality that she ran away from her own daughter, and that's when all her emotions ran over her like a horse. She fell face first onto her bed, and all the emotions inside her this week pummeled her insides. She was beginning to lose hope on the chance that Robin might return, in herself, and worst of all, her hope of being a good mother. To her, this is all just hard and difficult to take in; Robin is gone after all she fought for.
"It feels almost like I'm back in my own time." Lucina during her sobbing, "There may be no risen but I can still feel the sorrow I've carried in all my life. I feel like nothing's changed."
*Knock knock knock*
"Mom? Please can we talk? I need you right now." Morgan asked through the locked door.
Lucina didn't speak she swallowed her sobs and covered her mouth hard with her hands. Tears still came down, and Morgan's consistent knocking still haunted the silence in Lucina's room.
Morgan repeated the same process about four times; knocking on the door, and trying to reach out to her mother.
After no response at all, she became more persistent.
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK *
Morgan began knocking with both hands balled into fists real hard this time like her life depended on it.
"Mama please, I want to be with you, PLEASE!" Morgan cried.
There was a long pause after that, Lucina remained still as a statue, and then Morgan finally said her final words.
"Fine then, I don't need you anymore!" Morgan yelled between sniffling her nose "I don't need any of you! YOU'RE A HORRIBLE MOM!" Morgan ran away from Lucina's locked door.
Lucina finally let go of her mouth and started to breathe again. She never noticed that she was ever holding her breath.
The following week was growing devastating by the day, Lucina just lost herself in her sword training till her blisters started bleeding, while Morgan hid herself away inside the castle's library, reading anything she could find. On a simple Saturday afternoon, Sumia, Chrom, Lissa and the rest of the family decided that they've kept their distance long enough. Lucina and Morgan's relationship is on the line right now, and if Naga was right that if Robin's bonds were strong enough, he'll come home someday. The way Lucina and Morgan are treating each other right now might destroy that chance. The family decided to divide and conquer; Chrom, Owain, and Lissa would get Lucina out of the training yards, while Sumia Cynthia, and Ricken will find Morgan.
The day's starting to end with the sun going down in the west, and Lucina is still beating splinters out of training dummy after training dummy. Behind her are perhaps two or three more shattered dummies. Chrom, Owain, and Lissa looked very worried. Chrom of all people realized she's running away from her problems instead of facing them. Wondering where his strong future daughter that she used to be is right now nowhere to be seen. The woman who traveled through time to save the world she loved, and dedicated to see her bright future become real. She's here right now, and Chrom wondered if this was his fault in any way.
Chrom, Lissa, and Owain came closer to the blue haired swordsmen who showed no glance or care of their presence.
"Lucina, don't you think you should come back inside?" Chrom spoke first.
"No, I need to stay in shape. Need to be ready for trouble." Lucina said while slashing away the dummy.
"But there's no trouble anymore. C'mon Lucina, you need to rest." Owain spoke second.
"Bandits could attack any moment, I need to stand ready…" Lucina started to sound exhausted.
"Lucina, the only thing that needs your energy right now is Morgan. She's been losing herself in the library, I think the only times she leaves is for food and the bathroom. PLEASE GO SEE YOUR DAUGHTER!" Lissa spoke thirdly and the hardest.
"I can't… I just can't." Lucina's breathing started to sound heavier, and she just missed the last strike of her dummy. She's wearing herself out to death. She would've fallen down like she just did if her father didn't catch her.
"Lucina, she's your child. Why won't you go talk to your kid?" Chrom asked after putting Lucina back on her feet.
"… It's just… every t... every time I look at her, I see… I see Robin in her eyes, and it hurts. I feel like I failed him every time I look at her. I just can't do it. She deserves a better mother than me."
Lissa's jaw dropped, and a small spark of anger lit up in her eyes. She slowly walked up to her future niece, and slapped her in the face lightly. Chrom was shocked instantly as well as Lucina. She never thought, her own aunt would lay a finger on her. Although it did look like Lissa really did slap her instead of the punch Sumia did with Chrom back around Emmeryn's death.
"Seriously!' Lissa shouted in anger, "You refuse to see your own daughter… BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU FAILED HER?"
Lucina looked down in shame, like a pitiful child. She only responded with a small nod.
Lissa eased her anger down with a big breath, "I'm sorry for that Lucina, but you have to understand that Morgan misses Robin too, and you neglecting her like this isn't helping either of you."
Lucina looked back at Lissa.
"Don't leave Morgan like this, she needs you right now, and you need her too." Lissa's mood started to simmer after pushing away from the edge of her temper.
Lucina nodded lightly and inhaled another breath, which loosened her shoulders down.
The sun finally closed off, and the stars began to show. They were numerous and endless, and group is pretty sure they saw one shoot off in the blink of an eye. The crickets began to sing their song when Lucina began to talk again.
"Alright… your right aunt Lissa, I need to see my daughter." Lucina built up a smidgen of confidence in her.
"That might not be easy." Sumia said glumly.
"What do you mean? What happened?" Tension sprouted inside Lucina as she spoke.
"We've been looking for Morgan at the library and we couldn't find her, and she's not in her room, but we found this on her bed. It's for you Lucina." Sumia handed the envelope to her daughter with her head down.
Lucina ripped out the letter with no sense of decency, and read the contents of the envelope. The letter itself was tear stained and filled with ink splotches.
"This family stinks!"
Lucina dropped the letter in shame and guilt, knowing that all this was her fault.
"She's gone." Lucina spoke timidly.
"Oh my Gods... Ugh, I'll get Frederick to rally the guards!" Chrom ran to the barracks.
"Ugh, I'll get my Pegasus." Sumia ran for the stables but she tripped on her way, but this time, she quickly picked herself up the moment she dropped and kept going. A missing family member must be quite the motivation.
"I'll go with you mom!" Cynthia ran with her without tripping on anything.
Lissa ran with with Ricken and Owain to find a way to help, but when Lissa turned around Lucina was just standing still, looking down.
"Lucina." Lissa put her hand over her nieces shoulder.
"It's okay, we'll find her, I promise."
Lucina didn't respond for a moment, but after some quite thinking, her face slowly lit up with an idea, "I know where she is."
"What, what do you mean where would she go?" Lissa put her other hand on both her shoulders now.
"The same place where I would go." Lucina didn't explain any further. She just ran straight for the western castle walls by Maple Grove.
The night sky darkened Lucina's vision so it was hard to know where she was going, but Lucina wouldn't stop looking. She arrived at the inner walls where the Maple Grove resides. The cleft, hidden by her father was how she came inside kingdom the first time, back when she was known as Marth, and if Morgan remembers anything from what her mother's stories, and from the castle maps she studies, the only place to hide under the castle's nose is this cleft Chrom made. The cleft was covered in bushes and low branches, so if Morgan's hiding here, she'd know someone's coming.
"Morgan?" Lucina spoke lightly, but no answer.
Although as she came closer to the cleft, she could hear sniffling and muzzled crying. A brief moment of relief spreads in her hopes that she's found Morgan. When she popped a glance inside, she found her daughter balled up in her knees, and her face was cowled in her father's hood. Lucina was speechless and heartbroken. Before coming closer she took in a deep breath, and creeped inside to join her daughter. She sat across from her daughter on the other side of the cleft. Looking at her own child all pitiful and morally destroyed sprouted a tear under Lucina's branded eye. It hasn't fallen yet, but she fights it back so she can focus on helping her child.
"… Morgan." Lucina tried to bring out an apology, but no word of any kind could come out of her mouth. She took one more breath before trying another attempt. "Th… there's… there's no word I can say to explain how sorry I am for these past three weeks, but..."
Morgan didn't respond with any words, only more weeping and blocked sobs. She's shaking in her current state. Lucina wouldn't leave her daughter's side in this moment, not even to get a blanket, so she removed her cape and offered it to her. Morgan didn't make a reach for it. Lucina felt a little hurt but a part of her felt like she deserved this, but she couldn't just let her daughter stay like this forever, and she's a little bit bothered with her cowl draped over her head. So she laid her cape in front Morgan and made an attempt to unfurl her hood. As much as Lucina respected her daughter's space, she couldn't this time, besides she wanted to see her daughter's face again. She slowly reached for the hood, and when she had a grip on it, she pulled it over Morgan's head and saw her messy blue hair covering her face.
"Morgan… Please, talk to me… I'm really… really sorry." Lucina was at the edge of crying again, but it was halted when Morgan slowly lifted her head, and Lucina couldn't feel more horrible. Morgan's face had a vast amount of dried up tears across her eyes, and speaking of her eyes? They're so red it looked like she's been crying all day.
"Morgan." Lucina whispered in concern. Right around now is where Lucina's been pushed to the edge, her tears came pouring out again.
"Believe me… I'm so, so sorry. I never should've rejected you. I… I don't even know how to make it up to you." Lucina said with her eyes closed as tears came down.
It took a moment, but Morgan eventually tackled her mother with no fear, or tears, not yet of course. She wrapped her arms around her back, and pressed her face into her mother's heartbeat. This is when Morgan has more tears coming in, and they're staining Lucina's attire, but she doesn't care.
"I'm sorry too." Morgan finally spoke. Lucina could hear her daughter shake in her words as she wrapped her own arms around Morgan. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"I'm sorry for neglecting you all this time… I failed you as a mother." From there we have Lucina starting to huff out her whimpering, so she nestled a hand in her cobalt hair, and the other hand rubs her back.
"And I failed as a daughter." Morgan's voice started to relax, which is a sign her shaking is going down.
Lucina broke out of their embrace so she can look straight in her eyes. "No." she whispered in her best relaxing tone (Kinda like her own mothers.) "You could never fail me, you're my daughter." She placed the hand that was in her daughter's hair, and rested it over Morgan's right cheek, and wiped the falling tears coming down. Once it was gone, she started rubbing her cheekbone with her thumb. Her other hand snaked around to the other cheek, and Lucina rubbed her left cheekbone the same way.
"I know these past few weeks have been hard- well… unbearable seems like a better word for right now, but not a day goes by where I don't cherish having you as a daughter. Looking at you makes me think that your father and I raised you right, and I couldn't ask for anything more." Now it's Lucina's turn to have another tear fall from her face. Morgan then reached for her mother's face, and began to do the same with her cheek bones.
"I love you Mom." Morgan said with truth in her eyes, a smile on her face, and love in her voice.
"I love you too, my little Angel." Lucina pulled her daughter in for one more hug, and admitted "I missed this."
"Me too." Morgan nodded with her face snuggled in her mother's embrace.
"C'mon we should get back to the keep, don't wanna let the others worry for too long." Lucina said.
"Yeah, yeah true." Morgan agreed and they walked side by side back home.
Later that night, Lucina was in bed, reading one of mother's favorite books that she offered to Robin. "Oh this book is really good." Lucina thought as she read.
A light knock on the door came in and she didn't need to know who was knocking.
"Morgan?" Lucina bookmarked her page as she watched the door open, and of course it was her. She was wearing her sleeping gown, and she held one of Robin's strategy books.
"D-do you sleep with a strategy book?"
Morgan looked a tad embarrassed, so she just nodded her head 'yes'. Lucina chuckled a bit, but scooted herself on the other side of the bed so she can have a spot. Morgan gladly took her mother's offer.
"So what do you need Morgan?" Lucina smiled.
"I just… just… Never mind It's stupid." Morgan looked down.
"Oh c'mon, it's me you're talking to me. What could possibly be stupid from you?"
"Well, I think I thought of a way to… I have an idea for a present for dad… when he comes home." Morgan's face blindly lit up, and Lucina didn't flinch.
"Okay… what is it?" Lucina wondered.
"Well… as you know, dad liked to read books, and… maybe. Maybe we could write him a book for him to read."
"Morgan, that's brilliant, I love that idea!" Lucina marveled at her daughter's idea, and gave her a pat on the head, "Let's do it, starting tomorrow. We're gonna write a book for Dad. You and me!"
Morgan smiled brightly. For Lucina, knowing that she and her daughter are back smiling together again really felt like Robin might actually come home. Morgan started to yawn out her excitement.
"Alright, thanks mom I'll see you tomorrow."
"Actually wait, Morgan, how would you like to have a sleep over?" Lucina asked.
"What?" Morgan was rather confused.
"Oh c'mon, you don't wanna stay up, and have some fun with your mom? Maybe we can start planning our story for father's return?" Lucina smiled big, and Morgan followed in with the same smile.
"Alright, let's have a sleepover!" Morgan jumped with excitement.
"Alright sweetie, let's start with something simple." Lucina got out of bed and sat up above her covers and Morgan did the same.
"Uhuh?" Morgan asked.
"The title of our book, what would you like to call this story?"
Lucina and Morgan began to think hard for a title. They threw in quite a few good ones, but none of them were just not good enough.
"Ooh, I got one!" Morgan snapped.
"Yeah me too." Lucina followed. "Uggh, how about we say it at the same time, and see which one's better."
"You're on." Morgan answered.
Lucina counted down to three with her fingers, and when the last one wen't down, Morgan and Lucina shouted their best ideas for this story.
They were the exact same ideas. "The Invisible Ties!"
Alright well, I hope this was a good start for a Fire emblem Fanfic... BTW I'm still planning on working on "Painful", my Fairy Tail Fanfic so I'll be back more often these days.
See you guys next time.