War and Peace and Puberty
Chapter 1: Back to King Cornelius High
"Mooom!"
"Severa, please, we agreed? We agreed about that tone. Not that tone," Cordelia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What is it?"
"Morgan took my blue and white blouse and now she's wearing it!" Severa shouted, even though her mother was sitting a mere ten feet away, tops.
Morgan's voice echoed from the front room. "Mom, I gotta look cool on my first day of high school, and you know Severa's got a better fashion sense than I do!"
"See? Morgan's even paying you compliments," Cordelia offered with her attempt at an appeasing smile.
"Mom, she can't wear my clothes to school!" Severa declared firmly.
Morgan joined her mother and sister in the living room. "Severa, you own like a million shirts. And I just wanna borrow it this once. I'll give it right back, I swear. Please? I just wanna make a good impression on the other kids at school today," she said with uncharacteristic sincerity.
Severa remembered the advice Auntie Sumia used to give her when she'd get heated like this. Just breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. Once, twice, and after the third inhale, she said, "Fine. This once. But from now on, if I catch you going through my closet again, I'm gonna scalp you. Got it?"
"Sounds like a fair deal to me," Morgan giggled. "Thanks, sis!" She threw her arms around her older sister's waist and squeezed like a constrictor.
"Alright. With that resolved, you'd better get on the road. Traffic report said it's slow going all through the south side of town, and I don't want Morgan being late for her first day of high school," Cordelia said, standing and walking toward the front door to shoo her girls out.
"Woo!" Morgan shouted, fists raised in the air. "I call shotgun!"
"Morgan, it's just us in the car," Severa said irritably.
Ignoring her sister, Morgan hurried to the door, pausing to kiss her mom on the cheek. "Bye Mom! I'll let you know how it goes!" she called as she headed out to the car in the driveway. She pulled the passenger door handle three times before accepting that it is indeed still locked. "Severaaa! Unlock the car pleeease!"
Severa rolled her eyes, grabbing her backpack off the kitchen table and shuffling toward the front door.
"Be good, Severa. Make sure Morgan has a ride home before you go out with your friends, or else just bring her home yourself first," Cordelia said as Severa reached the doorway.
"I know. Bye, Mom," Severa said, trying to hurry out the door before her mom could saddle her with any more tasks.
"Hey, Severa." Severa paused in her tracks. "Look at me." Reluctantly, Severa turned on her heel to look Cordelia in the eye. "I know, okay? I do. Just bear with her today, alright? She's excited; let her be excited."
"Fine. I get it," Severa said in a practiced dismissive tone.
"Severaaa! Let's go!" Morgan shouted from the passenger seat.
"Bye, Mom," Severa said, but before she made it two steps, her mom stopped her again.
"Hey. Severa." When Severa turned to look at Cordelia, her mom was wearing an unbearable smile and pointing expectantly to her cheek.
"Ugh, Mom, seriously?" Severa sighed.
"You'll be grounded if you don't~" Cordelia half-sang.
Severa groaned, but after a second relented and gave her mom a peck on the cheek before storming over to the car. "Bye, Mom," Severa said a third time, with extra finality in her tone.
"Bye, dear!" Cordelia called. Severa closed the driver's side door and wasted no time pulling out of the driveway while Morgan happily yapped away about something.
"...Little shit," Cordelia muttered as Severa drove off, allowing herself a little laugh at her daughter's expense. Little moments of indulgence like this were one of her many coping mechanisms for her elder child's recent 'leave me alone, Mom' phase.
"I heard that," a voice from behind her said, making her jump. When she turned around, Robin had already walked over to her and was waiting with a good-morning kiss of his own. "I mean, It's true. She is. But I did hear it."
"Well, it seems I'm caught. Worst Mother Ever Award, here I come," Cordelia said, reddening a little at having been caught talking trash on her own daughter.
"Well, I thought it was funny. So if we are indeed the worst parents ever, we can at least be them together," Robin replied with a smile. "Did Morg seem excited, at least?"
"Is there any other setting on that girl?" Cordelia laughed. "What I wouldn't give for access to whatever keeps her turned up to 11 all day…"
"Those two are growing up too damn fast," Robin sighed. "I swear, last time I checked, Morg was this high." He gestured with his hand at just above knee-height.
"No kidding… Anyway, what's on your agenda for today?" Cordelia asked, eager to change the subject.
"Oh, the usual. Some Valmese villagers are reporting attacks by some lingering Risen, and the local authorities aren't doing shit about it. They want Shepherd intervention," Robin replied with a derisive snort.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Does every spilled bottle of milk need the Shepherds to come out of retirement?"
Robin's smile cracked a bit. "Well, even so, we'll need to reason out how best to deal with it. I think a smaller, more covert response is called for, else we risk offending the local authorities and overstepping our bounds. But Chrom is, well, Chrom. He'll want to send our boys in guns blazing, and I'll have to shout him down, I have little doubt."
Cordelia nodded. "No kidding. That sounds like him."
"And what about you? What's on your plate, Mommy dearest?" Robin asked, sliding a hand around his wife's waist.
"Oh, I'm still getting used to this. I think I miss having a firm schedule already. All this freedom ahead of me, all day, to do whatever needs doing in any order I want. It's a little overwhelming, actually," Cordelia sighed into her husband's shoulder.
"That sounds like the opposite of what retirement is supposed to be like," Robin replied, raising a brow. "You gonna be alright?"
She waved a hand dismissively. "Sure, sure. It's just a matter of adjustment. I'm planning to meet Sumia for lunch, so I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about."
Robin smiled. "Well, in that case, I'd better go stop our president from starting another international incident." He gave his wife one more kiss for the road, then opened the garage door and headed for his car.
"Have fun!" Cordelia called.
"I'll try!" Robin called back.
And as her husband pulled out of the garage, leaving her alone in the house, Cordelia felt as though this was the first real day of her retirement from military life.
"Alright, Morgan, can you find a ride home? I promised Noire I'd go shopping with her after school, since she's in dire need of fall fashion help," Severa asked her little sister as the pair pulled into King Cornelius High School.
"I dunno, Sev. I haven't really asked around. I don't wanna make a promise I can't keep, ya know?" Morgan replied, sounding a little guilty.
"Well, Nah usually has Ms. Nowi picking her up after school still, right? Maybe you can get a ride with her?"
Morgan shrugged. "I'll ask. But don't worry. I'll figure something out. You can go ahead with Noire, no worries."
"And you're sure you'll be fine?" Severa asked.
"Heck yeah! I'm not gonna hold you back just so I can bum a ride," Morgan said proudly.
"Well, okay." Severa pulled the car into an open spot and put the car in park. "I'll see you at home, then?"
"Uh, yeah! Later!" Morgan wasted no more time hopping out of the car and half-skipping across the parking lot to get inside. Severa, on the other hand, walked with a deliberate casualness, not wanting to look like she was in a rush to get to class, even though by the numbers she was cutting it pretty close.
As she entered the building, she internally breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted Noire waiting for her by their lockers. As apprehensive as she was about the new year, it was good to see that some things didn't change.
"Good morning, Severa," Noire half-whispered as Severa approached.
"Hey Noire. What do you have first period?"
The dark-haired girl checked her screenshotted schedule on her phone. "Looks like it's precalculus with Mr. Gronnwolf."
Severa laughed sympathetically. "Brutal. Math first period? I've got lit with Mr. Mustafa first. I've heard he's so nice that he doesn't care if students are asleep in his class, so I mean to find out if that's true."
"Mr. Mustafa? He's that… immigrant from Plegia, right?" Noire asked quietly, shielding her question by cupping her hand around her mouth.
"Yeah, but that's no big deal. People can be jerks no matter where they're from, so I don't care if he's Plegian." Severa didn't like to talk about it, what with her dad being a Plegian expatriate and her being half-Plegian herself and all. But that wasn't exactly common knowledge, and she aimed to keep it that way.
"Well, I hope he's nice," Noire said with a gentle smile. She glanced at her phone. "Oh gosh, I gotta go! My class is on the fourth floor! Bye Severa!" She rushed off before Severa could finish saying 'bye' in return.
Severa sighed, a bad habit she had picked up from Mom, and shuffled off to class.
"Oh, thank the gods, I have a friend in my first class," Morgan said as Nah came and sat next to her longtime friend in first period Chon'sinwén class.
"Hey Morg. You ready for this?" Nah asked as she settled in and fished around her slightly ratty backpack for her textbook.
"Of course! I didn't forget my notebooks or anything this time!" Morgan declared confidently.
"No, you dummy. I mean, you know, high school in general. We're finally here, you know? Is it getting to you at all yet?" Nah asked, an exasperated edge to her voice.
"Oh. Well, I don't think so. I guess I'm not really thinking about it that way," Morgan replied with a shrug. "It's just, you know… more class."
Nah fought the urge to facepalm. "I don't mean the classes, either! I mean… the rest of it! The social stuff!"
"Aaah, gotcha. Loud and clear. But I mean, have I ever really had trouble talking to new folks before?" Morgan asked with a grin.
Nah sighed. "When you put it like that… Jeez, why'd I bother asking?"
"Why, are you worried?" Morgan asked.
"Of course I am! Are you kidding?" Nah said a little too loudly for a first period classroom. Under the weight of the couple stray looks she got from her outburst, she shrunk a bit into her hoodie, her teal pigtails flipping up and awkwardly poking out of the neckhole. "See? I'm a wreck, Morg. I'm gonna die."
"I mean, statistically speaking, everyone does eventually. So try not to let it get ya down too much," Morgan replied with a smug grin. "We'll be fine! Just play it cool, like me."
"Play it cool? Morgan, you're the last person that should be giving advice on keeping anything cool," Nah said irritably, her voice muffled by her hoodie.
"Oof, tell me how you really feel," Morgan said with a laugh. "Just trust me. It'll be fine."
"Fine, whatever you say. Class is starting soon anyway."
As if on cue, the door opened, and in walked their strikingly young and gorgeous Chon'sinwén teacher, Ms. Ai'zo. "Good morning, everyone. Welcome to King Cornelius High School. Let's begin."
It was time for high school to officially begin.
"Oh good, Robin, you're here. These generals are going to eat me alive, I swear," Chrom said, following it up with a long swig from a coffee mug adorned with the Brand of the Exalt, like most of the eatingware in the building.
"You're doing fine, Chrom. They're just getting riled up lately because we don't have any more wars to keep them busy. Might be time to see about retiring one or two of them," Robin said with a chuckle.
"Maybe all of them. You were the only tactical commander we really needed, far as I'm concerned," Chrom replied.
"You know that's not true," Robin said.
"I know. I just wish it were true. I could get all these squawking birds out of my hair for a while and settle for just one. I at least like your squawking." Chrom rubbed between his eyes as he leaned against the doorway into his office, where half a dozen men in uniform waited to give their version of the strategy to liberate those poor Chon'sinrén villagers (and satisfy whichever part of the military industrial complex was paying each of them off).
Robin nodded and smiled. "Just give me a second. I'll take care of this." With that, he flung open the door's to Chrom's office and strolled in. Chrom wasn't sure what Robin said to the generals, but it was only twenty seconds or so before all six of them shuffled out of the office in a hurry.
As Robin himself left the room to rejoin the president, Chrom gawked at his Minister of Defense. "What would I do without you, Robin?"
Robin laughed. "You'd probably still be off in the field, fighting off desert commandos in the middle of Buttfuck, Nowhere, Plegia."
Chrom returned the laugh. "I don't doubt it for a second. Anyway, come on. We should get an actual solution to this Chon'sin complaint worked out. The public's gonna have a lot of eyes on our military now that peace has been declared. We have to be careful not to come across as just the new bullies on the block."
Robin was surprised at Chrom's uncommonly level-headed suggestion. Maybe he really had been listening in those strategy meetings after all. "Right you are, Mister President. Let's take a look at our options," Robin replied, following his boss into his office and shutting the doors behind him.
"Okay, Morg. First lunch period. We eat with the sophomores, so don't do anything… embarrassing, okay?" Nah pleaded as her best friend half-skipped one step ahead of her.
Morgan glanced over her shoulder at the comparatively low-energy Nah. "Embarrassing? Me? When have I ever done anything embarrassing at mealtimes?"
"Morgan, during our last lunch period of middle school, you emptied out some kid's pixie stick onto the table, 'cut' the powder into rows, and snorted a 'line' of the stuff through your milk straw. Did you manage to forget that? Because I sure haven't."
Morgan laughed out loud. "How could I forget that? But that wasn't embarrassing!"
"When your nose started bleeding and I had to take you to the restroom to flush the sugar out of your sinuses? Yeah, it was a little embarrassing, Morg!"
Morgan capped her laughing with a less-than-dignified snort. "Such is the price of a good bit, No-Way José!"
"And you agreed to stop calling me that!" Nah's eyes were firmly fixed on the floor in front of her.
The pair entered the cafeteria, where most of the sophomores had already entered and claimed vast swathes of table space, leaving precious little for the freshmen.
Morgan stood in awe of the relative coolness of the 'big kids', all but actively staring as she stood in line for her sloppy joe and baked bean lunch. Proud of her fashion choice for today, the blue blouse with white accents borrowed from Severa, she stood erect, shoulders cocked, like she owned the lunchroom. She managed to ignore the fact that because Severa was more… amply proportioned than her, the front of the blouse was essentially wearing her.
Nah, by contrast, was keeping her eyes to herself, fidgeting with the aglets of her dark blue hoodie strings. She had always loved her hoodie, but today it made her feel underdressed. Poor, even. Having a farmer for a father wasn't the worst thing in the world when she was actually at the farm, but when she was here in the city, trying to fit in, that more rustic lifestyle absolutely did not fit the bill. Even though she wasn't looking around to confirm it, she was sure eyes must be on her and her function-over-form outfit and her fraying, greying backpack.
Eventually, the pair managed to arm themselves with semi-nutritious fare, and now all that was left was to find a couple seats. Unfortunately, no clear options stuck out. The different cliques of sophomores had already claimed parts and halves of each table, so it seemed they would have no choice but to pick a group of sophs and take a chance on them hopefully being kind.
Thankfully, Morgan spotted a familiar head of blond hair amid the sea of faces. "Nah, let's go! I see him."
"Oh, thank the gods," Nah sighed as she followed Morgan to where Owain was sitting.
As Morgan plopped her tray onto the spot next to her old friend, Owain wasted no time in greeting them. "Ah, Morgan and Nah! The time for our fated meeting finally arrives! How was your first morning among the upper echelons of scholarship?"
"Uh, Owain, you know there are these things called 'colleges,' right? And then grad school after that? This isn't the upper echelon at all," Nah said, already weary of her blond friend's abundance of energy. She noted his anime-themed graphic tee, and considered making a comment, but then figured that since he was half-Chon'sinrén himself, he admittedly made it work better than most.
At least he was no longer wearing that cape to school.
"Yeah, that may be, but this place is called 'high' school. High school, Nah," Owain emphasized. "This is a place of at least decently admirable stature."
Morgan giggled while Nah rolled her eyes. It was a typical interaction for the three of them. In a way, even Nah had to admit it was comforting. Some things don't change after all.
"It's Morgan's first day, isn't it?" Sumia asked enthusiastically. "I bet she must've been so nervous!"
Cordelia raised a brow. "We're talking about the same girl, right? She could hardly contain herself this morning."
"Well, I just remember how it was for me in high school. Constantly stumbling over myself, making a fool of myself in front of everyone, doing my typical Sumia thing," Sumia replied with a self-deprecating laugh. "I can't really look back on those years without cringing. Especially my freshman year. I had braces. Ugh."
Cordelia laughed with her. "Well, I think whatever's happening with Morgan, if she's making a fool of herself, she'd be the last to know. She just doesn't seem to care about that stuff. Takes after her father like that. I swear the two make peas in a pod look like sworn enemies."
"I guess that's true. She's like Cynthia that way. Gods, Cynthia's so crazy about living up to Lucina's example lately. Ever since Lucina got accepted to Khadein University, Cynthia's been so determined to get a scholarship somewhere too. Not that her grades have been… stellar."
"Well, Cynthia's got all those extracurriculars to make up for that, right? Varsity cheer as a sophomore, that's really impressive," Cordelia said reassuringly.
"Oh, sure. And I mean, I imagine when it's time for her to start submitting applications, no school's going to turn the president's daughter away," Sumia replied, waving a hand and taking a sip of her iced tea. "But I want her to feel like she earned it, you know? Like it's not just being handed to her."
Internally, Cordelia rolled her eyes. Would that we all could be the daughter of the President of Ylisse. "That's true. It's important to have a goal you're working toward, so it's good that she's focused on proving herself, in my mind," is what she actually said.
"How's Severa doing? Is she still…?" Sumia cut herself off politely.
"Stopping just short of flipping me the bird every time I ask her to so much as take the trash out? Yeah, she's still doing that," Cordelia sighed. "Does every teenage girl go through a hating her own mom phase?"
Sumia glanced off to the side. "Well, I don't know that I'd say Lucina ever acted like she hated me, exactly… She was a handful a few times, though, for sure."
"Well, in any case, she was kind enough to let Morgan wear one of her blouses this morning. I'd say that's progress," Cordelia said with somewhat forced conviction. "I just hope they're both behaving themselves…"
Severa had an itch on her right buttcheek. But her jeans were too tight to allow her to scratch it covertly, and she wasn't about to jam her hand down her own waistband just to fix the problem when there was a very strong chance she might be seen by someone. So instead, she just suffered on her way to fifth period precalculus with Mr. Vietor. Honors precalculus, she corrected herself in her mind. It wasn't a bad thing to be smart as long as you weren't, well, a nerd about it. Everyone loves a capable woman, after all.
As she entered the classroom, she couldn't help but notice how… short Mr. Vietor was. Severa was not herself an especially tall girl, but she still had him by at least a couple inches.
"Good afternoon," Mr. Vietor said as she passed him to get to a desk in the third row near the end. Not in the front row, like a nerd, but also not in the back, like a delinquent, while also keeping off-center to avoid getting called on too often.
She grunted a greeting in reply. She could swear she heard him sniff derisively as she walked away from him.
She planted herself in her seat and slipped her phone out from her backpack. She had a text from Noire waiting.
12:16 p.m.: Yarne Haldren is in my physics class. Did he get held back a year or something?
Severa snorted quietly, then tapped out a response with her head down to avoid having her phone be spotted.
12:28 p.m.: Wouldn't surprise me.
By now, the other students had filed in, and Mr. Vietor called everyone to order.
"Good afternoon, class."
No response.
"I said, good afternoon, class."
He got a remarkably unenthused "Good afternoon" from around half the students.
Mr. Vietor huffed. "We'll work on that. Welcome to honors precalculus. My name is Ricken Vietor, and I'll be your instructor. I'd like to start with taking attendance, so you know the drill."
He started reading down the list of names, getting assorted 'here's and 'present's and one sarcastic 'ayy' in response. Severa only half paid attention, waiting for 'Rehman' to be called.
"Alright, Rehman?"
"Here," Severa said without looking up.
A quick scribble of Mr. Vietor's pen. "Okay, and– oh, whoops, two Rehmans. Are you Severa or Morgan?" he asked.
Severa's heart stopped in her chest. "Severa," she replied, her voice almost cracking.
No. No way. This could not be happening.
The door to the classroom swung open and hit the frame with a clang. There stood Morgan, breathing heavily, with Severa's blouse hanging off her chest. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Still learning my way around."
"Ah, no worries, first day of classes and all. And are you Morgan Rehman?" Mr. Vietor asked.
"Yeah, that's me. I'll– Oh, hi Sev!" She stopped mid-sentence to wave to her older sister across the classroom.
Severa wished she could disappear then and there. And her buttcheek still itched.
A/N: So this story was basically born from a discussion I had with some guys on the Discord server (link below) about the lack of stories that focus on Severa's growth in particular among the fandom. It snowballed into a conversation about making a lower-stakes story about the dynamics of the RobinxCordelia family, and how those could play out in a peaceful, post-war scenario. Most of this draft was written on a whim in one day when I had some spare time. Don't expect this to be consistent quality. I don't plan on making anyone preread it, nor do I plan to update this very frequently unless I get ahead of schedule with BaRD again at some point. It could be fun to see where this goes, but it'll always be playing second fiddle. That said, I still want to hear what y'all think! Did this little experiment work?
Join the Discord! discord. gg/ 3mdunvc
As always, comments and critiques are welcome. See you next time!