Nobody remembers when the Citadel was created. Nobody remembers it anymore but it used to be constructed with the ideals that everyone was one big family all living under one roof. A walled city consisting of stories stacked on top of each other like a massive maze where humans and non-human species did whatever they pleased. Everyone was united. They all had the same values and beliefs. Some people had to conform to live in the Citadel. But nobody remembers that anymore.
Lucina never liked her long hair. Even if it's tucked up, the hip-length locks will always be there. If the hairpins ever did fall off, some stranger grabbing her and cutting it off for quick money was the lucky outcome. But she didn't blame anyone to do so; it depends on the buyer and the species the hair is from, but it could sell up to a week of supplies.
She had, luckily, good-working scissors at home. Every once in a while, she would grab them into one bundle and press them to the open blades, and she imagined the hair crying and begging her to not cut them off. But her hair must have grown used to the abuse since it grows so much each year. So after just imagining her hair weeping and shuddering in fear at the sight of the two blades, she places the scissors in the drawer again.
In the other room, Lucina hears her father call for her. His voice is hoarse but not as faint as yesterday. It only takes four steps from her room to his but sometimes it feels much farther away.
"Lucina," He calls again. His eyes are closed and he's curled up in his bed as if the mattress is made of spikes.
"I'm right here, father." Lucina replies. She rubs his back and tries to straighten his legs so he's more comfortable, but his body is stiff yet fragile as dry bread.
"Were you playing with the scissors again?"
Lucina sees her father is smiling and didn't respond. Despite being bedridden, he smiles often, sometimes too much that Lucina feels like she doesn't even need to smile herself. But then he would pinch her cheeks and tell her to 'be herself when she's at home'.
"Robin should be coming soon." She says instead.
Her father nods and opens his eyes. They seem pink at first glance and Lucina immediately reaches for the eye-drops on the night stand. Her father shakes his head slowly.
"These aren't from me scratching my eyes, Lucina. I'm just so proud that today is your first day as a Royal Battalion. You've trained so hard."
Lucina looks down into the eye-drops. "Thank you, father."
She felt her father stare at her. Somehow, she felt her sword, the Falchion, stare at her from her room too. The sword was too big for her frame but there was no way she could afford a rapier or a cutlass. And anyway, it was previously her father's sword so Lucina had to master it.
There was a knock on the door. Lucina recognized the rhythm, so she stood and approached the door soundlessly to peek through the spyhole. It was Robin, a guest she was expecting. She knocked back in a rhythm of ten notes, where Robin responded in another series of knocks. Finally, drawing a breath of relief, Lucina opened the three locks to let Robin in.
"Thanks for coming at this time." Lucina said.
"No problem." Robin grinned. "You were right, there aren't as many people around this time. I'm not that observant when it comes to time so you should teach me your ways."
Robin knew Lucina since they were young. He was the only person Lucina would not hesitate to call a friend as he cared for her father as well. Ever since her father got sick he started to work in a potion shop. Robin would say a medical profession was for the greater good but Lucina wanted to believe it was for her father, as he also taught Robin the ways of the sword also and treated him like Lucina's brother. His weekly visit to their apartment room was essentially the only guest they'd receive. So Lucina would schedule the drop-off time according to when she was home and when there were less people in the streets.
Because, occasionally, people would knock on their door trying to pose as Robin. It wasn't until Lucina heard what had happened to her neighbors a few years ago when they let a stranger in, thinking they were a family member, that Robin and her devised a series of codes in their knocks to tell each other their identities.
That was before her father became sick from his immune system failing him. Lucina remembered burying her face into her father's lap and squeezing her ears shut to cut herself away from the screams and blunt noises next door. Nobody, at least in this floor, was willing to risk their lives to stop the commotion, and the Royal Battalion only protects the Royals, hence their name. The room has been vacant since.
"Hello Chrom, I brought your dailies and eye-drops." Robin greeted as he placed the medicine box on the night stand. "Did you need towels again?"
"Please." Lucina nodded.
As Robin placed three clean white towels on a chair, Lucina brought her payment to him. Robin's face lit up at the cut pink flowers. He graciously took them and wrapped them around in a brown paper to place them in his bag.
"Thanks. I don't know how you grow these Echinacea so well, Lucina. I try from the shop and it just never blooms this pink. You must have a good window."
"No, Lucina's just better at growing flowers than you." Chrom chuckled softly.
Robin laughed heartily at Chrom's comment. Lucina found herself smiling seeing her best friend and father share a joke. Chrom's legs were more relaxed now, stretching to the end of the bed.
The three pills Lucina gives her father everyday helped him relax and breathe well, and the eye-drops helped the pink in his eyes recede. If she asked, Robin would explain what kind of medicine it was and how it helped him specifically, but Lucina didn't want to hear it, and Robin respected her feelings. For better or for worse, this was the best medical attention available to him, and Lucina understood that.
After zipping up his bag, Robin turned to Lucina again. "You're going to your station today right? I'll drop you off on my way back to the shop."
"Yes. Thank you again." Lucina replied, trying to keep her voice more animated than she felt.
In the drawer with the scissors, were the five hairpins that Lucina used to tuck her hair up. A few years ago, around the same time Chrom fell ill, Lucina went to cut her hair off to sell it for medicine, and Chrom stopped her. He said, having her hair long was her mother's wish that Lucina would keep at least one thing in her possession. The mother died before Lucina could remember her face so it felt like a stranger weighing their ideals down on her, much like the people in this walled city.
But, she did find her talent in growing plants from the limited sunlight the one small, caged window provided. She sold them to Robin and sometimes through his potion shop as well. As Chrom became bedridden, it was the only source of income. They needed more stable money.
Lucina wrapped her locks in twists, tucked them beneath her shorter layers of hair and pinned them up. She was already dressed in her clothes provided from her commander, and strapped the outsized Falchion to her hip. It felt more like a crutch than a one-handed sword, but nevertheless, after years of training in the station, the blade was part of her now. The cloak that covered her frame was more bland than the sword and uniform to be more fitting in the streets. It's been a couple weeks since her commander gave her the fancy blue clothes and she'd grown used to training in them, but today was her first day as a member of the Royal Battalion.
She checked on Chrom again, making sure the blanket was placed over him and crossed off on the calendar that he took his dailies. Lucina eyed the clock. One in the afternoon. Her shift was over at ten. In the years to come, Lucina hoped her shifts wouldn't be at night. Chrom nodded to her daughter with a grin on his lips as she left the room with Robin.
Closing the door quickly behind her, Lucina sealed the corroded metal door with the three locks in order. She grabbed the handle and turned on it lightly. It locked in place.
"Good, Lucius?" Robin asked.
"Good." She replied.
When the three locks were set, Lucina changed her name and gender. It was the only way she could join the Royal Battalion and to protect herself outside the apartment room. She had a low voice and the cloak will always be around her, so posing as a man wasn't difficult.
Lucina and Robin paced the narrow street. The sticky air clung onto Lucina's face. With each step the cloak was getting muggier but she held onto it tightly. Cables, used and abandoned, hung from the ceiling. Occasionally one of them would snap, sending sparks of electricity, so people would make an unconscious duck through each one. Light was seldom because of the humidity from the frequent rainfall, which seeped through and down the black walls, wetting the floor until it soaked through that to the floor below. Lucina learned from Chrom that rain fell from the outside, so when she was young, she spent her days watching the water drip from the cracks in the ceilings.
The Outer Rim, where Lucina's apartment room is located, had the occasional ray of sunlight peering through the ceiling. These openings, if it was during the day, were always a shade of blue. They were stunning to stare at sometimes. Some people even spend hours looking up into those openings and windows, and get yelled at by passersby to get a job.
It had rained yesterday so the floor was especially wet and humid. A couple of whirring fans adorned the cafeteria so Robin made the choice of walking through there. Lucina didn't say, but she silently thanked him when he veered right into the street. With the fans and the cafeteria being at the Outer Rim, it was arguably one of the cooler and brighter places to walk through. But it wasn't necessarily safer. A lot of people still avoided passing through here because of the infestation of bugs and vermin, and other reasons.
"Did you need to get anything?" Robin asked.
Lucina heard the mock in his tone.
Most of the food in the cafeteria was largely unappealing to say the least. It was inexpensive but it usually wasn't worth the stomach problems that followed shortly after. Still, it was in operation, so people would buy it to fill their stomachs somehow. Robin buys chicken broth at times but Lucina would always buy supplies and cook for herself and Chrom.
There was one place that always bothered Lucina, to the point of smelling any kind of bread made her cringe. The bakery wasn't popular but it faced the street compared to the other food shops, and a lot of people did pass by it. So there was a reoccurring problem.
A boy wearing one shoe zipped by, grabbed the roll sitting in front, and took off into the darkness. The overweight, oily baker eyed the boy, muttered something with a smirk on his heavy cheeks and went back to kneading dough. Robin watched the quick exchange with pursed lips.
"I guess that happens often…" Robin said warily.
Lucina leaned in and whispered, "That baker, he mixes the bread with rat poison and places them in the front. To prevent people stealing them twice."
"Are you serious?"
Lucina nodded, but Robin was already going after the boy before looking back at her. As she followed him, she felt the baker's piercing stare stabbing her in the back.
The boy didn't run far. Lucina heard Robin's voice at the end of the hall. A giant metal fan dangling from the ceiling was wafting the boy's hair as he curled up against the wall and clutched the roll as if it was his soul. Robin was kneeling down to him, but wasn't trying to pry the roll away from the boy.
He appeared about six to eight years old. A bit too old to not tell the difference between a product and something at home. Besides the fact that he only had one shoe, the ill-fitting shirt and the piece of plastic around his waist as a substitute for pants made Lucina assume that he might not have a room to go back to.
"Why don't we go to the watering station to wash your dirt off? It won't be safe to eat if your hands are covered in dirt." Robin suggested.
"Robin," Lucina started.
A shiver went down her spine. When she took a look behind her, the baker had stepped out of the shop and was staring back at them, floured arms crossed over his greasy apron. His stubby legs wouldn't make it two steps before they could run away, but Lucina made her way around the corner so he wouldn't see her.
Once out of the baker's sight, she noticed the boy was muttering something over and over again. He had his neck sloping over his body so a strand of saliva was dribbling from his mouth. Up close now, she could see that the pigment in the boy's skin was spotty and an unusual shade of yellow. He was shuddering and jerking as if he couldn't sit still.
"Go away, go away, go away, go away…" He kept saying.
"Let's get you cleaned up, okay?" Robin said again. "I'll take you to the watering station."
"This isn't his first time."
As Lucina said that, Robin's reassuring smile disappeared, but he didn't seem alarmed. The loud whir of the metal fan and the general discussion going on in the afternoon of the Outer Rim didn't fade out the young boy repeatedly muttering the same phrase over and over.
Lucina took a look into the street again. The baker had stepped back into his shop.
"Yellow phosphorus poisoning." Robin mumbled. "If it's past day two, then I don't have a strong enough antidote at the shop. We'd have to go to a bigger apothecary or clinic. He might even need a liver transplant and who knows how much that'll cost…"
"Don't risk yourself."
Robin shook his head, still unable to take his eyes off of the boy. Now he dropped the poisoned dinner roll, cupped his face and started a retching sob. The shaking in his legs worsened and it looked like he was stomping the ground. As Robin went to pat the boy's back, Lucina had to pull him to stand up as the boy started to vomit on the floor.
"Don't say it like that. Don't say it like that…" Robin chided, his voice cracking.
Lucina kept her hands firm on her friend's shoulders.
The entrance to Lucina's station for the Royal Battalion was still in the Outer Rim. Most stations were placed there since the Royals they protected sat in the very top of the infrastructure. Steel gates sat as an entrance, as if the massive gates themselves protected the Royal Battalion from the other lowly residents.
Getting to the hallway before the gates was closed off to residents as well, with a door that automatically locks back as the person enters and closes behind them. Some residents do slip in at times but for some reason, none have made it up to the gates. For Lucina, she had to wait for her commander to unlock the door to let her in.
"I'll come pick you up after your shift." Robin smiled.
Lucina shook her head. "You don't have to."
Her best friend shifted uncomfortably, looking down and away from her eyes. His eyes were still red from leaving the boy earlier. It wasn't the first time they'd seen a person, sometimes a child, left alone to perish on the street. They are people who are hired to pick up and dispose of them so the smell doesn't build up. They both understood nobody is willing to help because they lack the resources, power, time, the knowledge and on and on. And they both understood there are people who don't care about hurting others.
"I'll never get used to this place." Robin finally said.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
Lucina shrugged, then nervously eyed the steel door. A cool draft of air crept from underneath, and Lucina couldn't help but remember the shiver that went down her spine when she saw the baker crossing his arms as he glared at them.
Seeing her best friend cry trying to weigh his impossible options, and the boy poisoning himself to death out of hunger, Lucina imagined herself unsheathing her sword and slicing the arms off of the overweight baker. As she did with her long hair and scissors, grazing the blade across the man's flour-covered shoulders, hearing him sob and beg for mercy. But in the end she could also see herself sheathing the sword, sparing him.
Many times she had seen the baker crush the pellets and sprinkle them onto the dough as she passed through the street. People will swipe the poisoned rolls, and as much as she wanted to warn them, she was afraid of the backlash of the thieves and the baker. The thief might assault her because she witnessed their act, the baker, who knows what he'll do if she told the thief about the poisoned rolls. To speak up and fight back can easily lead to an early death.
But her best friend wasn't afraid to talk to the child, even when he knew it was too late.
Robin started to talk again, tearing her away from her thoughts. "I never really wanted you to be a guard, working for those Royals. But, you suit having a sword by your side."
"It's for my father." Lucina responded.
"Of course."
The steel door rattled lightly, and Robin took this cue to leave. He still promised to pick her up after her shift so she nodded; no use in arguing him if he insists. Lucina stared at his back as he headed back down the stairs when her commander unlocked the door.
"Lucius." He called.
"Commander Ganondorf." Lucina greeted.
"Come on in."
Lucina's commander is a large, dark-skinned man, and well-dressed like the rest of the Royal Battalion. His cloak billowed behind him proudly, but the wearer had to duck through several times walking through the narrow hallway.
Some parts of Ganondorf reminded Lucina of her father. During her trainee days, she would do one-on-one training sessions with him. What she lacked after Chrom fell ill and couldn't train her anymore, she raised her sword skills at the station. Also Ganondorf said he didn't have a family of his own, so he treated excelling trainees like Lucina as a son.
"How many years has it been since you've been initiated as a trainee?" Ganondorf asked.
"Almost three, sir."
"That long already?" He chuckled. "You've grown much since then, Lucius, and your sword skills as well."
"Thank you, sir." Lucina's voice came out lower than she wanted it to be.
Hearing her unappreciative tone, Ganondorf turned around, concern furrowing his red eyebrows. Lucina stopped in her tracks and gulped.
"Is something the matter?" He questioned.
Lucina tried to find her words, whether to speak the truth or say never mind. About what happened at the bakery. She nervously thumbed the hilt of the Falchion underneath her cloak but her mouth kept shut. The commander sighed after a solid minute of silence and kept walking.
"If you're nervous of your first day, don't be. It's mostly the same as your trainee days for now. You'll meet the other commanders of the Royal Battalion, your companions, and then some combat training, and you're dismissed at ten sharp, as we discussed last week…"
There was one question she was dying to know the answer to but hesitant to ask. Always hesitant, Lucina thought. She gripped the hilt, thinking how her father was the one who insisted on her joining the Royal Battalion. And while it was for their own good, she thought of how she held Robin back as the boy broke down and vomited on the floor. Always thinking of scenarios of how it could have been better.
Lucina stepped outside the hallway. The steel gates to the station remained shut but her commander was only a couple steps away from knocking on them to let them inside.
"Commander Ganondorf," Lucina called. "What happens if I use my sword outside the station?"
The commander stopped. Lucina couldn't find the courage to take another step forward, but as he turned around , she saw he had his hands behind his back and was looking down, like how Robin did before the two separated. Her nervous grip on the hilt tightened. The commander would always look at her straight in the eyes so it was odd seeing him so forlorn.
Ganondorf still didn't meet Lucina's gaze. "I can't stop you for using your sword. I may be your commander but the sword and your skills are yours to use."
Lucina found that reiterating her words was more draining than she thought. But her commander waited patiently this time. She noticed she was fumbling with her cloak so she let go and rubbed her sweaty hands on her uniform.
"Are there any penalties regarding my position, if I were to use my sword freely outside of my shift?" She restated.
Another beat of silence went through the room. Ganondorf now moved away from the gates and back to Lucina. It took all of her willpower to not step back as her commander approached her slowly. He lowered his voice.
"Lucius, you are one of my best trainees. It's my responsibility to train you here, and you've done well. Once outside these doors, your life and your choices are your responsibility. But I don't recommend you prying into others' affairs."
"I understand."
"…Did you encounter someone you'd like to use your sword on?"
With Ganondorf in front of her, asking her this question, Lucina imagined herself cutting off the baker's arms even more clear now. She could almost feel how satisfying and terrifying it would be to end someone's life. But how would Robin and her father feel about that? How would her commander think about that, despite saying that it's her responsibility? Not that she'll actually go on a vengeful fit against that baker. But if there was an opportunity…
Lucina explained. "A baker in the Outer Rim mixes his rolls with rat poison and places them in the front to prevent thieves. My friend and I witnessed a boy essentially killing himself by eating the rolls because he didn't know any better."
"Did you see him mix the poison?"
"I-I do when I pass by it sometimes." Lucina faltered, not expecting him to inquire more about her concerns. "He would crush these yellowish pellets and mix them in his dough. And the boy showed signs of yellow phosphorus poisoning…"
Ganondorf smiled in surprise. "Ah, you have knowledge in the medical field as well."
With that, he turned to the gates again. Lucina felt her shoulders drop in relief and a fraction of something like disappointment. A part of her didn't want to talk more of the incident and her thoughts of killing the baker, but another part of her anticipated her commander to help her, somehow. But he is, and she is now, a member of the Royal Battalion, whom only guards the Royals.
During her three years of being a trainee, Lucina hasn't seen or even knew the names of who she was guarding. All she knew about them was that they were called the Royals and they sit on top of this walled city. They built the foundation of the Citadel.
Many that initially sign up to the Royal Battalion don't make it past the first year of rigorous training and strict curriculum. The ones that make it as a guard were generally well fit, eager to obey, and had a false sense of power. Meaning they think they are "better" than the residents. However a guard did have benefits no other occupation had. A significant salary was the most attractive, and essentially you guard something that is already behind steel doors.
Ganondorf promised Lucina that he'll introduce her to the other commanders in the Royal Battalion, but they were absent as always. She did meet some of her companions, who were no more interesting than the absent commanders.
There was no initiation ceremony or any pomp and circumstance, so Lucina spent her day alone in the practice arena fighting the infinite dummies with her Falchion. A few of her seniors picked on her for her small frame, but she ignored their taunts. Several of them mentioned that she was "Ganondorf's favorite pet", and by then, she made the pact to not be friends with any of her seniors.
As night fell, Lucina thought of her day. She hoped her father was sleeping and not trying to help with the housework, as he tends to do when the medication is working well. She thought of Robin and how rounded his back was when he walked down the stairs as they separated. She tried not to think of the boy and the baker, but their images burned in the back of her mind.
One dummy on the floor had its arms curled up like it was afraid. Sweat dripped down her cheeks. Lucina stepped on its stomach with force and brought the blade of the Falchion above the dummy's shoulders. As the blade dug into the fabric, her sweat dripped off her chin and landed on the dummy's face, approximately where its eyes would be if it were a person.
Lucina stepped off of the dummy, sheathed her sword and kicked it aside.
"Tomorrow, I'll have you visit another Royal Battalion station. I got in contact with the commander there so he would be in charge of you tomorrow." Ganondorf announced as Lucina's shift ended.
"Thank you, sir." She bowed.
As Ganondorf went to dismiss her, a small black box around his waist rang. Lucina stared at the ringing box, trying to remember its name. Her commander seemed surprised that it rang and walked off without another word.
A transceiver, she remembered. Lucina only knew the box can help exchange dialogue with someone with another transceiver, so she was curious as to who needed to talk to her commander at this time of night.
She didn't mean to snoop or eavesdrop, but as Ganondorf walked away, she heard one name: "Marth". It sounded somewhat familiar.
Ganondorf didn't return after fifteen minutes, so Lucina packed her things and left the station. Once outside the steel door and back to the streets, Robin was there with a flustered look on his face. His hair was messed up as if a rat was nesting in it. Lucina patted it down but froze as Robin asked something far-fetched.
"Were you okay?"
Lucina blinked. Robin looked genuinely worried, but took a deep breath seeing she was fine. He tried to collect his words so Lucina waited patiently, sometimes yawning in the middle of it.
"The, um, the bakery! It's a mess. Somebody tipped off about the poisoned rolls and a lot of people came up claiming they got poisoned eating them, and it's a riot down there. The best part is, you won't believe who did it, it's—" He shook Lucina's shoulders in excitement.
"What? Slow down!" Lucina raised her voice. "What happened—"
"The prince! The missing prince! People said he tipped them off!"
When Robin saw Lucina was still confused, he took her hand and the two of them ran down the stairs.
The commotion started well before they could see the cafeteria. Robin whispered into Lucina's ear that it actually started to settle down. The shattered glass and blood residue in the streets indicated a riot did actually happen. Lucina didn't examine it thoroughly, but she assumed from the color that the blood was starting to clot and dry up.
As they reached the corner to the bakery, Lucina flinched from the amount of blood on the broken window panes. The lights flickered, revealing the wreckage that used to be the bakery. Many of the rolls and other pastries scattered the floor along with the glass and blood. Most of them, especially the rolls, were crushed and melded into the ground as they were deliberately stomped on.
Blunt noises and angry screams made Lucina step back, away from the corner. She gripped her sword's hilt tightly underneath the cloak. Robin looked back, finally realizing his best friend's distress.
"Oh, god. What was I thinking… I'm sorry. I'll take you home." He suggested.
Lucina shook her head. There was a choking noise, then a muffled wail. It sounded like how Lucina imagined when the baker was pleading her to not cut his arms off. The baker has been making these poisoned rolls for years. Not only the poor boy, but presumably many people have died because of him. And today, somehow, he got his punishment. Was this really happening right now?
She gulped, grasped the wall with her other hand and took a look around the corner.
First, she saw the single sign on the floor that triggered the riot. In beautiful print, the blue paper read: "Rat Poison Filled Dinner Rolls, For Free"
Then, she saw the mess that was the baker. Pieces of glass protruded from his gut and neck from being smashed into his window panes, and his mouth was stuffed with the yellow pellets. His limbs were splayed across the glass covered street like a big pin cushion. About twenty people were in the street, most of them just standing around and shouting into the center of the circle. They shifted constantly, but Lucina could see the body writhing around.
Lucina wanted nothing more than to look away. Robin was even tugging on her sleeve but she was stuck as if her entire body was frozen over. As if, if she moved a step, the mass of people crowding over the body would turn to her.
The baker's dazed pink eyes struck open upon finding Lucina; then, quivering, spitted some of the pellets out of his mouth and screamed. He didn't even form words, an elongated, rasping shriek that he identified Lucina peering from the corner. Lucina shuddered and tasted something bitter building up in her throat from the inhumane sight.
Five or six adults kicked him around, shoving more of the pellets in his mouth, but Lucina watched in horror as the baker clawed the ground to move toward her. She could almost hear the glass puncturing and biting into his arms and hands over the commotion as he peeled his pink eyes back and wriggled forward. The circle of people moved back, some still stomping and kicking at the baker, but it didn't stop him.
The baker recognized Lucina. He saw her and Robin talking to his little thief. He has probably seen her pass by the bakery several times as she went to her station. Why was he crawling toward her? Did he think she was the one who started all this?
A man in dirtied overalls carried over a bucket with a grin on his coal-covered face. Without any delay and warning, blackened water rained down onto the baker, drowning out and covering his panicked, flailing body. The circle of people stomped their feet in either joy or in surprise from the sudden shower of black water, crunching the glass and pastries beneath their feet.
A man grabbed the baker's legs, pulling him away from the corner.
He laughed, "Where are you going, piggy?"
"Just cut his god-damned arms off!"
"Yeah, why not make it easier for the cleaners later. Those things can't lift that fat ass by themselves."
"Eat your own poison, you fat rat!"
Another man cut through the crowd with a butcher knife in hand. The dull, tarnished blade reflected against the flickering lights. A cheer broke out as he stepped up to the gray, wet pin cushion that was once the baker.
Robin pulled Lucina away from the corner. He appeared like a blur of white hair until Lucina noticed she wasn't breathing. She gripped his coat and tried gasping, but as if a cork was stuck in her throat, no air passed in or out. Her head slumped onto his shoulder.
But Robin was persistent. He lifted Lucina's head and did a couple of deep breaths for her to imitate him. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her neck was pulled up, making an easy path for air to pass through her lungs. Robin smiled briefly, and took Lucina's arm around his shoulder for them to leave the street.
There were more shouts and noises than the baker, but all Lucina heard was the muffled screams. After all of that trauma, he wasn't dead yet. She pulled the cloak over her head.
As they neared Lucina's apartment room, many of the residents were whispering amongst each other of the riot. Luckily, none of them took particular notice to Lucina and Robin as they pushed by them. Lucina's hair pins were starting to fall off, so Robin offered his coat so she could wear the hood to hide her hair.
Unlocking the three locks, opening the door, and locking the three locks again came as an automated process, but once Lucina was in the apartment room, her legs crumpled to the ground. The Falchion clattered against the tile.
Chrom, who was sitting up in his bed, flinched from the sword hitting the floor. Robin scurried into his room and roughly explained of the riot.
The apartment room smelled like broth. Chrom made dinner after Lucina left for her shift. On a normal day Lucina would be upset, tell him to stay in bed and make another dish for the two to eat in Chrom's bedroom. But the soft, comforting smell of the simple broth made Lucina cup her face and curl up.
"Come here, Lucina." Chrom called.
"I'm fine, father."
"Come and give me a hug."
Lucina looked up to see her father stretching out his arms, smiling as usual. She stood up, leaning the Falchion on a wall, and carefully sat on the bed to place her head on her father's shoulder. Chrom took the pins out of Lucina's hair and placed it on the night stand before he wrapped his arms around her. Smelling the cotton in his nightwear, Lucina felt like sobbing, but instead let out a long sigh.
Lingering silence filled the room. General commotion still populated beyond the metal door. The Royal Battalion station and the riot were all in the same floor, yet to Lucina, it felt like worlds apart from her father's room now.
Nobody spoke a word until Chrom laughed, "Don't fall asleep here."
"I'm awake." Lucina responded. Although sleep sounded like a great idea.
"I'm so sorry." Robin cried out. "That was so stupid and insensitive of me to bring you there. You could've been hurt, and I didn't stop you when you turned the corner and…"
His hands were raw pink from gripping them so hard. Lucina felt a sting in her heart, from seeing Robin make such a miserable face twice today. She patted the chair next to the night stand and he warily sat down. She gave the coat back to him but Robin just held it in his lap.
Lucina spoke softly, "I needed to see what happened."
"You didn't have to. I shouldn't have let you…" He said.
"Alright alright, you stay in our room tonight, I don't think it's safe for you to go home." Chrom offered.
Robin just nodded solemnly.
After they had a sip of Chrom's broth, Lucina and Robin sat across each other in the small table in the kitchen. Chrom slept soundly, making small snores from his room. The kitchen was dark save the small lamp on the table that only shown their hands in a warm orange glow. The commotion still continued, but most of it died down after a couple of hours.
"Who is the missing prince?" Lucina asked.
A shadow obscured Robin's expressions. There was a long silence after Chrom fell asleep but neither of them felt the need to sleep yet. Lucina could still hear and see the haunting image of the tortured baker and the crowd of people shouting and taking turns slowly killing him. She could still imagine him screaming and crawling toward her, pieces of glass stabbing his arms. All from one piece of blue paper.
"I don't really know who he is. Just stories." Robin shook his head. "He was said to be a part of the Royals but then became rogue and turned on them. …Do you know of the "Family'?"
Lucina felt her eyes twitch hearing that term. She did recognize it, even more than the Royals she protects as a job now. The Family was an extremist group that sought the destruction of the Royal Battalion and the Royals themselves and wanted to achieve a "new world order". Lucina was too young to remember when the last riot happened but after their leader was mortally wounded, the group supposedly disappeared into the streets, and since then they haven't been heard of.
People talked about a lot of different theories like how the leader wasn't actually dead, or he actually succeeded in killing the Royals, or the Family was a branch of the Royals and they were just having a civil war all along. Lucina didn't listen to any of it. But the last riot did change the Royal Battalion in a permanent way: they started recruiting residents off the streets, and if they could survive the curriculum, they could be a member of the Royal Battalion, as how Lucina did.
Many brutes and delinquents pose as a member of the Family and rob stores but from Lucina's knowledge, the Family would only attack the Royal Battalion and were extremely secretive and professional. Of all the whispers of legends she hears about the Family, none of them remember specific names or faces of the members. After all, they could just be another cautionary tale.
"What about them?" She asked.
Robin leaned in. "They say the prince was the one who made the Family, because the Royals abandoned him into the streets."
"He must have good leadership skills." Lucina muttered.
"Yeah, to be a Royal but round up some rogues off the street? I bet." A brief smile returned to his lips.
"So you think he's the one who placed that sign in front of the bakery?"
"I'm absolutely sure he's the one." Robin cupped his mouth to whisper. "A witness said she saw a man with a blue cloak wrapped all around him walk up to the bakery, and place the sign in front of the poisoned rolls with a bone-like prosthetic hand."
Lucina blinked. "A… bone hand?"
"The prince lost his arm in the last riot against the Royals, and people say he wears a prosthetic hand that looks like it's made of bones." Robin explained. He seemed very excited talking about the dead extremist group, which Lucina felt it was out of character for him since he's such a pacifist.
"Why did he use that hand if that can easily identify him?"
"He wanted people to witness his act! That he's still alive and watching over us and—"
Lucina clasped a hand over Robin's mouth. He lowered his shoulders embarrassingly. They froze, listening in on the bedroom, where Chrom still snored lightly.
"Sorry." He whispered underneath Lucina's hand.
She removed her hand and leaned back in her chair. "I'm sorry too. I'm glad to see you smile again."
"I just… After I saw that boy today and then I heard about the prince placing that sign to start the riot, I feel like he's still trying to save all of us. He's addressing injustice by starting small." Robin mumbled. It almost appeared as if he was reassuring himself than talking to Lucina.
Lucina felt a sore spot in her chest. Sure, the baker was cruel in the way he handled thieves. But he can't use a sword to save his round figure, so that was his way of handling injustice to theft. And what kind of extremist group leader who only went against the Royals, the founders of the Citadel, go after some no-name bakery?
"Oh, I don't mean that the Family should attack your station." Robin stated. Frankly, Lucina forgot she was a member of the Royal Battalion for a second. "If they attack, I think you should run. Or even join them. The prince has the same ideals as us anyway."
"Okay." Lucina stopped him. "I think we're tired and it's time to sleep."
Robin fiddled with his fingers like he wanted to say more, but his heavy eyelids protested.
"You're right. God, what am I thinking… Such a crazy day it turned out to be. I didn't mean to disprove your job. You've trained hard to join the battalion. And the Family, there are like no credible eyewitness accounts, and as far as I know, they've been gone for a good fifteen years."
Lucina knew this question was a bit mean, but it was to usher Robin to sleep. "Do you even know the name of that prince, if you're such a big fan?"
"Yeah, of course. He's named after an ancient god of war, which makes it even better." Robin muttered as he dragged his feet to the sofa. "Prince Marth."
As soon as he placed his head on the arm rest, Robin was asleep. Lucina stood there, with the small lamp still illuminating the one corner in the kitchen, thinking about the name Robin just said. The same name she overheard from her commander's transceiver as she left her shift.
Marth.
Why did that sound familiar?