In honor of the 25th "birthday: of Fire Emblem, a series I hold near and dear to my heart, I wanted to write something special! Watch in amazement as they...well, do what lords do when they're not being lords. Featuring many of the lords we've come to know and love.
And Chrom.
Jokes aside, I'm really happy with how this turned out so..Enjoy!
"Father, are we going to be late?"
"As much as I want to say no…yes. We're late." Chrom let out an aggravated sigh as he strided down the hall. Lucina followed right behind him, clutching a box in her hands. She looked around the great hall in amazement and smiled slightly.
"You come through these halls every day?"
"Unfortunately, yes." He rolled his eyes. "The place doesn't look so appealing after you walk up and down these hallways every day."
"I've never seen a place like this before in real life!" She slowed down to get a good look at the place. Everything from the golden marble floors, to the gilded picture frames, and even the small candelabras on the walls just outright screamed 'fancy'. The dim lighting of the chandeliers overhead gave the area a mysterious aura. The only thing missing was a giant fountain in the middle of the place, Lucina stopped in front of a picture of what appeared to be a family photo of a father and a son and...another father and a mother?
"Father, who are these people?"
"You'll meet them soon enough, don't worry about it!"
"Sorry…!" She sped up to meet his pace again. Chrom finally stopped at an ornate double door and began straightening out his clothes. He looked back at his daughter briefly before quickly trying to fix her hair.
"Fix that before we go in."
"I...cant." She gestured to the box in her hand.
"Ah, right. Just...be mature." He gave her a thumbs up and knocked on the door.
"Father, please. It'll take more than your coworkers to faze me." Lucina scoffed. The door swung open, revealing a young man who looked even younger than Lucina herself.
"Good morning, Mr. Chrom!" The boy grinned and stepped aside to allow them to answer.
"Morning, Roy." Chrom nodded and entered the room. Lucina stared at the boy for a while before shuffling past him. Inside of the room was a long mahogany table, with a group of people sitting around it. Everyone was chatting away with each other, laughing and enjoying themselves. On the furthest end of the table, a few people were having tea and on the other end, 2 men were engaged in an arm wrestling competition of some sort while a woman acted as a referee for them. In between, there was a mixture of talking and planning between the others. Lucina recognized a few of them from the photos in the hallway.
"Is this the daughter you were talking about?" Roy closed the door behind them.
"Mmhm. Lucina, this is Roy, Roy, this is Lucina."
"Pretty interesting that both our dads work here, huh?" Roy nudged her and chuckled.
"...Yes. Very." She glanced at the table and leaned towards Chrom. She whispered, "Is it bring your child to work day?"
"Just talk to him! He's a smart kid!" Chrom hissed. Lucina sighed and spoke up again.
"I assume the only other gentleman with red hair like yours is your father?"
"Yep! He's been around here a while, actually. "
"Is the young woman with the ponytail your mother?"
"...What?"
"Pardon me, I just assumed that-"
"Lucina, why don't you take a seat next to me?" Chrom interrupted, pulling her away. Roy blinked several times before quietly making his way back to his seat next to his father.
"Are we all here now?" The man on the very end on the table put down his tea cup and looked around the room. Everyone fell silent and looked in his direction, awaiting his next few words. He stood up, careful not to knock over his cup.. "Very well! Alright, ladies and gentleman. Welcome back to another enlightening meeting of the Lord's Association!"
Lord's….Association? What in the world? Lucina thought to herself.
Before we begin, I have 2 quick announcements. Number one: Whoever is parking in my space, please stop immediately before I have your car towed, and/or decimated." He narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"Number Two: I believe we have a new member in our midst."
"On Bring Your Child to Work day?" Lucina mumbled and looked around the room in excitement.
"Young lady?" The man gestured to her.
"Me? Was I too loud? My apologies, sir."
"Would you mind introducing yourself?"
"W-Well…" Lucina put the box on the table and stood up. She felt a bit nervous since everyone was practically staring at her. Her hands began shaking as she spoke. "My name is Lucina and...I hail from Ylisse. I'm here with my father and that's...it really."
"Pleased to meet you, Lucina. Everyone, give her a hand." The group began to clap, continuing until the man cleared his throat.
"I suppose introductions are in order. We'll go around clockwise. My name is Marth. To my left are Sigurd and Seliph, and like you and Roy, they're a father/child pair! Say hello, Seliph."
"Hello, Seliph." Seliph deadpanned and took a swig of tea. He frowned a bit and peered into his cup, but eventually chugged the rest of the tea down.
"...Moving on. There's Roy, and his father, Eliwood. Next to Eliwood is Hector, Lyn, and the twins, Ephraim and Eirika."
"It's always a pleasure to have a fellow princess in the association." Eirika waved while Ephraim simply nodded to acknowledge her.
"Since when was I in the-"
"From Ephraim, we have...Ike. and your father." Marth sighed. "Do us all a favor, don't eat around Ike unless you bring something for him or are willing to give him half.."
"Actually," Chrom stood up as well and slid the box down towards him. "We did bring something for the group. We stopped by a shop and picked up some doughnuts!"
"Donuts?!" Seliph perked up. "Pass 'em down!"
"There's only 12. Everyone gets one." Chrom slid the box down the table. The group began chatting away again and happily eating their pastries. Lucina hesitantly took hers and quietly nibbled on it. The group was...unique, to say the least, but they all seemed comfortable with one another. She tapped her father and asked,
"Father, what is this…?"
"The Lord's Association? It's...like a support group."
"Support...group? Are you feeling as if you're not getting support? Are Mother and I not enough?"
"No, you're fine! It's more of a group of people who have the same issues as me- as us! We're all leaders who need a bit of support, is all."
"You didn't tell me I was going to be initiated into an association." Lucina huffed, turned away from him and tore off a piece of her donut.
Sigurd knocked on the the table to regain everyone's attention. The room fell into a hushed silence, save for Ike's noisy eating.
"The first thing on the agenda: current events. ….Do we have any current events?"
"Allow me." Eirika stood up and cleared her throat. "There's going to be a flea market in Renais very soon, so if you would like, please come to visit!"
"Actually, it's this Friday." Ephraim added.
:And...that's about it on our end." Eirika sat back down and straightened out her skirt.
"Excellent. Eliwood, are you getting this?" Sigurd raised an eyebrow.
"Already recorded."
"Great! Ike, how are things on your end?"
"Elincia's just been coronated, and that's about it. Things have been...rather chill, I suppose." Ike absentmindedly drew circles on the table with his finger.
"Any other major announcements?"
"Oh, yes!" Marth raised his hand into the air and began waving it excitedly. "As you know, I'm currently engaged-"
"Wha-?! Since when?" Roy blurted out.
"Well, you would have known if you actually showed up to the meeting that day and read the newsletter Lyn sends out." Marth pursed his lips. "Aaaanyway, Caeda has already designed the invitations and they should be send out by tomorrow night. Please RSVP ahead of time because if you don't, I guarantee, there will be no seats left."
"Speaking of that, actually," Seliph spoke up. "Have you already picked a best man or..."
All of the men looked at Marth, each other a glimmer of hope in their eyes.
"...Don't worry about it." Marth sat back down.
"Actually, I have...a suggestion." Lucina slowly raised her hand.
"By all means, the floor is yours, Miss."
"Why not arrange your seating in sections? For instance, a section for family, a section for friends, and perhaps another section for the association itself if you're personally inviting them?"
A few murmurs of, "That's pretty smart." could be heard around the table. Chrom gave her an approving look. Lucina was a bit proud of herself fore being able to speak so boldly in front of a group of strangers.
"Lucina, was it?" Marth drummed his fingers against the table.
Uh oh. "Yes, sir?"
"That's a lovely idea." He smiled genuinely. "I'll take it up with Caeda and we'll discuss arrangements~"
"Thank you for your consideration!" Lucina grinned.
"Concerning the schedule for next week..." Hector looked over a copy of the schedule he held in his hands. "Why are we leaving at 12 instead of the usual 1:15?"
"We've already discussed this the week you were gone...presumably along with Roy." Eliwood looked over his shoulder. "We have a birthday that day, and we're all going to celebrate later that night, so we're dismissing early."
"My birthday." Lyn narrowed her eyes.
"I didn't know we were celebrating as a group, is all." Hector shrugged. "That's my only issue."
"Concerning those plans, where are we going?" Chrom spoke. "And will we be back before midnight."
"This is Lyn. We're talking about. It all depends on whether she decides to drink or not." Ike looked at Lyn briefly. "If we meet up at around 7 and she doesn't drink I give her until...10. If she drinks, 11:30. If she gets fullblown wasted? Out of the question. Probably until 2 am."
"And exactly what kind of person do you take me for?!"
"You can be the life of the party when you need to be!" Ike shrugged.
"Now, listen, I'm not-"
"Ike's got a point, Lyn." Roy perked up. "On Dad's birthday, you actually got the entire party started! You're a pretty good dan-" Eliwood covered his mouth and began chuckling nervously.
"Lyn doesn't dance, Roy! Don't let your imagination get the best of you."
"I-I'm a sensible person! If anything, I'm the responsible one!" Lyn was obviously growing uncomfortably.
"Lyn, it's alright, really. My sister is the same way, if not worse." Marth rolled his eyes just thinking about his sister went intoxicated. "Ugh, she's out of control when she's drunk. "
"I..." She mumbled and shifted in her seat. "Excuse me for a moment." She quickly stood up, withdrawing herself from the conversation and leaving the room. A
The group left it at that.
As people began saying their goodbyes and "See you next week"s, Lucina took the initiative to go see Roy before he left with his father.
"Excuse me, Roy?"
"...Lucina, right?"
"Right. I apologize for assuming Miss Lyn was your mother. I just...assumed."
"Well, you know what they say about assuming, yeah" He grinned.
"...No, I don't believe I don't."
"A-Ah.." Roy scratched the back of his head. "Really though, it's fine. I get it a lot, actually. Lyn is more of an aunt. And Hector's kinda like my uncle. Mom or not, we're still a family."
"How sweet. My family's a bit odd, as well."
"How so?"
"There's my father, my mother, our tacticians, about 45 others-"
"What kind of family is that?!"
Lucina looked backed at her father, smiling contently. "I'll tell you about it next meeting."
Happy 25th Anniversary of Fire Emblem! This was originally supposed to be a multichapter thing, but...eh. Things change. I still might do a group thingy featuring the Lord's Association someday but for now, I hope you enjoyed it!