"The opposite of love is not hate; it's indifference." — Elie Wiesel
Chapter 1: Will I Keep Her?
The sky was a dark gray stone and the wind was nearly howling outside of the skyscraper. Inside, a young and fit blue-haired man wearing a fine black silk suit and tie sat in an enormous room decorated with designer furniture, extravagant bookcases, and the latest technology at his desk. All he could do was fill the room with the sound of his typing as he looked at a picture of a little girl who appeared to be no older than three wearing a white sundress and long hair that was identical to his own in color. *SIGH* "You and Lissa are all I've got left after what happened."
BONG BONG! Sounded the bells, as the young couple dashed from the cathedral at the blue haired man's side was a woman with bright golden hair and deep blue pools for eyes wearing a gown tailored to perfection with the finest lace trimmings. "I love you Chrom." Whispered the woman, "I love you too, Mariah."
"That wedding was the biggest mistake of my life."
BEEP! "Mr. Yilessia, just here to remind you about your business negotiations with Ferox INC next week." BEEP! "Yes, thank you, Cordelia. Please remember to write that down on my schedule." BEEP! "I would also like to inform you of Lissa's anniversary party that's being held te week after that, are you going to make that? " BEEP! "Put that down as a 'yes,' Cordelia." He continued typing away and never made another peep.
"Come on Mariah push!" Shouted Chrom as he held on to her hand. "GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Afterward, a series of cries began to enter the room. "Congratulations you two, it's a girl." Once the doctor swaddled the baby, he put her in Mariah's arms. "Hello, baby I'm so glad to meet you. You, me and daddy are going to be one big happy family. Chrom, what do you think we should name her?" Chrom looked at his new daughter and watched her smile under the lights, "How about Lucina?"
"Lucina was the only positive thing about that marriage."
Once the clock struck 5, Chrom finally left his seat and his office remained completely silent. Outside of the building, he stood underneath an umbrella as the heavy raindrops kept falling on and streaming off the fabric as he made his way to a jet black stretch limo. "Lucina's daycare, please." The limo drove off at his sentence.
"Mariah, I can't believe you're forcing all of this on to Lucina. Beauty pageants? Acting auditions? Sports for tots? Ballet? She's only two, she can barely talk in full sentences, she should make her own choices when she's ready." Mariah slammed her fist on the table, "Chrom, I never got to do any of these things to their full potential when I was a child, so why can't Lucina do them?" Chrom shook his head, "Because she's her own person. You can't live your life through her, she deserves to think for herself, she's not a doll."
Eventually, the limo made it to a mile long building that was one story tall and colored like a rainbow. KNOCK KNOCK! "You may come in." A gentle voice stated. The door slowly opened and a young slender woman with long thick light brown hair stood in front of Chrom. "Chrom, I assume you're here to pick up Lucina." He nodded, "Yes, how was she today, Sumia?" Sumia guided him through a long hallway. "She was very well-behaved as usual." At a door marked RM24, Sumia gently pushed to door to reveal several little children in the middle of a rainbow colored room gently napping on tiny mats. Amongst those children was the same little girl in Chrom's picture snuggling with a fluffy blue stuffed bunny. Chrom snuck over to her resting spot, gently picked her up and whispered to her, "Time to come home, Lucina." As she was still sleeping, Sumia handed Chrom a small piece of paper, "Here's your receipt for this week, Chrom. I'll see you on Monday."
Chrom then waived at Sumia and carried his sleeping little girl down the hallway and outside to the limo. "Please take us both home." And the limo wheeled at his request.
"Mariah, I can't take this anymore. Lucina is not some object you can live your life through, I work hard to earn the money for our lives, and you spend most of it on putting Lucina in all of these activities she doesn't want to do or on things we don't even need like golden decorations or your dresses." Mariah huffed at Chrom, "You make millions a year as a CEO, shouldn't your wife and child look like they're living a life of luxury?" "No, Mariah I married you at first because I loved you. I never wanted a wife who only loved my money and wanted a child so she could live her life through them." Mariah continued to decorate herself in gems, "Why should love even matter at this point? We're rich so it's all fine." Chrom's heart sank at that sentence, "That's it! Starting tomorrow, I'm calling Maribelle. We're getting a divorce!"
In Chrom's arms, Lucina began to wriggle and yawn. Then her eyes slowly woke up, "...D...Daddy?" Chrom grinned at the sound of his daughter's voice. "I see you're awake now. So how was daycare for you and Marth?" Lucina pressed the stuffed bunny to her ear, "Marth says that it was a fun day, we got to play outside and Ms. Sumia brought in a pie." Chrom tussled her hair and kissed her forehead, "Glad to hear that, now I hope you're not too full from all of that pie because we still have dinner tonight. But I also need to get some work done before dinner, so be good to Frederick okay." Lucina nodded, "Okay daddy."
Later on, the pair was dropped off at another skyscraper that looked as if it was made of mirrors and made their way inside of the marble coated hallway that was decorated like a castle's throne room. Right in front of them, a muscular, tall, brunette haired man in a black tuxedo bowed, "Sire, I see that you are home just in time today. Shall I take you to the penthouse?" Chrom gently handed over Lucina in his arms, "Just Lucina this time, Frederick. Please be sure the staff sticks to her schedule and dinner is ready on time, I need to go visit Maribelle soon." Frederick bowed his head, "Yes, Sire." After Frederick carried Lucina upstairs, Chrom made his way back to the limo. "To Maribelle's office please." And the limo took off.
At the court, a golden-haired woman with a light pink blazer presented the judge with every receipt and every activity pamphlet owned by his wife. "You see your honor, Chrom's wife is currently spending a majority of his money on needless luxuries for herself and is forcing all of these activities on his two-year-old daughter. I should also add that Lucina even calls her mother by her first name and only calls Chrom, daddy. Clearly, my client deserves sole custody of his daughter." The judge looked over all of the documents, "This evidence is very compelling. As of now, I hereby grant Mariah custody of her own assets, and Chrom full custody of Lucina." CLUNK! Went the gavel.
When Chrom got into the office, it was decorated wall to wall with books and the front desk seemed to belong to a princess as opposed to a lawyer. "Maribelle, I'm here." The throne-like chair turned around, "Ah, Chrom I was expecting you today. Continuing from last week, it's been a very difficult process to know what we can do to prevent your ex-wife from retaining custody of Lucina at this point." Chrom sighed, "I know, I know. I just wish there was a way she would stop harping on me all the time about this and would just move on." "Well, it is a very rare incident in any court of law for the father to get custody of the children. Especially in situations where the mother is still trying to fight for her. I wish I could help you but I'm running out of options." Chrom's heart sank at the last sentence, "Please Maribelle, I really need to know what I can do. Lucina hated my ex, ever since she could talk, she called my ex-wife, Mariah. There was never a point in her life that she ever called her mom." Maribelle then scanned through several documents, "Well, there are two potential ways you can keep Lucina. The first way is that Mariah would have to pass away because she can't retain custody when she's dead. However, the odds of that happening are very slim and I could never defend you for murder." Chrom's body jolted, "Maribelle, I could never do that. But please tell me the other option." "Very well, the second option is that in order for you to keep Lucina for good, you need to get married or at least engaged to another woman by this day next year." Chrom's jaw dropped, "M-married again!? Surely there must be a mistake. How can I get married again within a year when I just went through a messy divorce last year?" Chrom sulked his head on her desk, and Maribelle began patting his head. "Chrom, I wish I could change the laws, but I can't. So this seems to be your only option. But I do have faith in you that you can do this, Good luck Chrom."
After leaving Maribelle's office, Chrom's eyes were like dinner plates as one thought ran through his head over and over. "Married again? While I'm in the middle of a divorce case? But how else can I keep Lucina? Would she even be ready for a new mother? Can I even love again?" As the thought kept running through his head, his Limo made a CLUNK! "Stop driving! I think we hit something." The limo came to a halt and Chrom dashed out to find the body of a slender snow-haired woman wrapped in a pea coat flopped over like rag-doll. Chrom then placed his ear on her chest and heard her heart still beating, "Thank goodness, she's still alive." He slowly picked her up and placed her in his limo as he commanded, "Take us to the hospital now!"
Here's a small guide to help you out
Mariah= The village maiden Chrom marries in the game if he doesn't marry any other character. I chose her as Chrom's ex-wife in this story since in the game she gives you the weakest Lucina and wondered what it would be like if she was a villain like character.