Author's note: Hi! This one-shot was a random idea that came to me recently, so I thought I'd type it out. It's about the angstiest thing I've ever written...

Anyway! Just to remind you, this contains spoilers for Chapter 21 of the game.

It would be longer, but it's honestly all my brain could up with. I'm starting to think it can't handle this much angst. Ha.

Anyway, please enjoy!

No Hope

Lucina sat in her tent, staring blankly into the distance. Her arms around her legs and her chin resting on her knees, her mind could think of nothing else. Hadn't she done the right thing? She'd thought she had. She'd been so sure.

It seemed the Shepherds found it hard to look at her now. Some threw her looks of pity, while others glared. Tharja's glare was particularly fierce and she often needed to be herded away by the others.

It was proving difficult to be around them now, especially after the things her father had said to her. They understood her motives, certainly, but they clearly didn't agree with them. None of them did.

It wasn't as though she'd hated Robin. Far from it, in fact. She'd been her father's best friend and trusted tactician. Sure, she'd disliked her at first. The two had been far too close for her liking and she'd always been afraid that she'd take her father away from her mother. They'd been silly thoughts, really. After all, the woman had already been married, herself.

Only yesterday, they'd held her funeral. It was clear from the looks on everyone's faces, even now, that the whole camp was reeling from her death. She'd been very well-liked and a valuable asset to the team.

She buried her face further into her knees. All she'd wanted was to protect the future. If only the Shepherds had seen what she'd seen, maybe they'd understand. The darkness, the desolation, the utter lack of hope. She'd been determined to prevent it, no matter the cost. Had the cost been too great, though?

Her father looked so miserable these days. He tried to keep smiling for the group, but there was a clear deadness to his eyes. Her mother had even stopped reading books, evident by how her entire collection had been laid in a heap in the convoy.

Frederick was hard to read most days, but it was clear that something was wrong by how little he paid attention to things now. Morning tea was sometimes neglected, various people had been tripping on pebbles and the armour and weapons didn't look as well maintained as they used to.

Her fiancé wouldn't even look at her anymore. It amazed her that she hadn't even thought about how he'd react at the time, but it honestly made sense. His mother had been the only thing that had kept him grounded to reality, the only thing that he could remember, and she'd taken her away...

She shook her head. Robin had let her do it! She'd opened her arms wide and told her to kill her. She'd understood what was at stake. She'd understood how to fix it. So, why could no one else see it?

Her father blamed himself. He'd said as much afterwards. He'd been in tears, blaming himself for not being there, for not being able to stop her.

From what she'd heard, Morgan was training to be the new tactician. It was the collective thought of many Shepherds that they wouldn't be able to survive the war without one. She honestly didn't know if he was up to the task, but she did know that he'd try his hardest. She'd heard he'd been practicing a lot on his mother's game board with Virion.

After a few more moments of staring at nothing, she stood up and exited her tent. She needed to see her fiancé.

After checking Morgan's tent and not finding him there, Lucina decided to check the barracks. Upon approaching it, however, he came rushing out and almost crashed into her.

"Morgan!" she cried. She was about to continue when she noticed the heavy moisture in his eyes. He stared long and hard at her, his brows furrowing slightly, then hurried away. "Morgan, wait!" He didn't turn back.

She watched him leave with an aching heart. He was usually so cheerful and happy-go-lucky, so seeing him like this felt all the more unbearable.

After a moment, Virion exited the barracks. He looked off into the distance, sighed, then looked pointedly at her.

"What happened?" she asked tentatively.

"We were engaging in another practice session on his mother's game board," he replied. "The session was reaching its climax when Morgan took the time to look at the pile of, ah... dead pieces beside him... He immediately burst into tears, declared he was not fit to replace his mother and rushed from the room."

"Oh..."

"I called to him, but he seemed far too distraught to hear me."

"I see..."

He sighed again. "Perhaps we truly are lost without Robin..." He gave her that pointed look again before wandering off.

If her heart could sink any lower, it would have done.

Lucina had been wandering aimlessly for a while now and it was beginning to get dark. She paid it no mind, however. Her mind was too busy flooding itself with conflicting thoughts.

After a while of walking, she found herself in the woods surrounding their camp. It was probably dangerous to be this far out, but, at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.

She remained lost in her thoughts, until she suddenly heard the hitch of someone sobbing. She paused. Perhaps she should approach them and see if they were alright? No. If it was someone from camp, then they probably wouldn't be too happy to see her. Instead, she followed the sound as quietly and cautiously as she could.

Peering around a tree, her eyes widened at what she saw. Frederick was sitting on a large rock, sobbing quietly into his hands. The only indication of him crying was the violent shuddering of his shoulders and the occasional hiccupping noise.

The sight was beyond tragic. The man who was known for having a brick wall around his emotions, the man who kept a cool head for everyone around him, had broken.

She couldn't bear to walk over to him. She couldn't bear to attempt to comfort him. It was her fault he was like this.

Silently, she turned and walked away.

Lucina was back to sitting in her tent, in the exact same position as earlier. Thoughts and questions had been plaguing her all day, battling one another inside her head. She was lost, confused.

"Hey, Lucy?" her sister's voice asked from outside the tent.

"Yes?" she replied in a voice that rang hollow to her own ears.

The flap opened and Cynthia entered, immediately sitting beside her. "Hey..."

There was silence for a few moments.

"Did you need something?"

"Well... you seem really down and I thought..." Cynthia paused, then sighed. "People in camp have been talking about how totally screwed we are without Robin..."

Lucina felt like a ball of acid had dropped into her stomach. "I see..."

"... I know you probably don't wanna hear this, but what you did was really dumb! We all get where you're coming from, we really do, but..."

"I know..."

"You were trying to be a hero... and I totally respect that, believe me... but what you did wasn't very heroic at all..."

"... B-But..."

"I've been steeling myself for days to have this talk with you, Sis! I just... really think you need to hear it..."

"But don't you see?" She didn't wholly feel convinced by her own protest. "I did it for the future! To protect Father! If Father dies, then..."

"Then Grima will take over. I know..."

"And Validar was fated to control Robin, who would then kill Father! I had to prevent it... I had to..."

"We could have found another way, Lucy! We could have!"

Lucina felt a lump in her throat. "But..."

"... She didn't suffer, did she?"

"Of course not! I... made sure to keep it swift and painless..."

"Well, that's something, I guess..." Cynthia paused a while. "She helped me out once, you know. Told me I need to be more careful about when I strike poses and shout battle lines..."

"I see..."

"She was a good friend..."

Lucina's vision suddenly became very blurry. "I know..."

"... And who's to say Validar can't control someone else?"

Lucina paused, the blood in her veins freezing. "What?"

"I mean, sure, Robin was the one he controlled before... but surely she's not the only one he can control, right? What if there was someone else?"

"No... Oh, gods, no..."

"Lucy?"

Lucina violently shook her head against her knees. "No! That can't be! I eliminated the only possibility... didn't I?"

"Well, I dunno..."

"She shared his blood! That's why he held dominion over her... right?"

"I've no idea. Sorry..."

Was it possible? Could there be someone else out there that Validar could use? Now that she thought about it, she'd never known, specifically, why it had to be Robin. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Would Morgan qualify? She shook her head again. There was a road she didn't want to go down.

All she knew was that she'd taken something precious away from this army: a great tactician, a great friend and, possibly, their only chance at winning this war. She'd also taken away the only way for Morgan to be born in this time.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Oh, gods... what have I done?"

She buried her face in her knees and sobbed. Distantly, she felt Cynthia's arms wrap around her and hold her tight. They remained like that as she cried, well into the night.

The End