Ashira's shallow breathing filled the silence that permeated her small room. She looked up at the concerned faces of her silver-haired twins, knowing that it was time they knew.
"Robin," she whispered, "Raven. I'm not going to recover from this fever. You probably knew that already, what with you being so smart. But before I die, I need to tell you something."
"What is it mother?" her son, Robin, asked. His sister, Raven, leaned in as well, desperate to hear her mother's guidance for perhaps the last time.
"Do you know why we moved so much?" Ashira asked. Her children nodded in unison.
"Our father is after us," Raven stated firmly, as if reciting on command. "due to reasons we were never allowed to know before due to both our youth and that knowing might be worse than remaining in ignorance."
"You both make me so proud," the frail woman whispered. "I did not want to tell you when I laid upon my deathbed, but this is the hand I have been dealt. Sit, please. The tale is long, and I have but little time left. I will tell you what you must know to survive without me."
Her children sat on either side of her, Robin taking her left hand while Raven took her right. Ashira considered the words before beginning her story.
"You know I was born a Plegian, but what you do not know is that I was born Grimeal." The twins gasped at this revelation, yet they did not let their attention waver, nor did they interrupt. "I was not a true believer, but I did not turn away from my family's faith. When I was seventeen, I met your father. He was handsome and perhaps the strongest dark mage in nearly a century. I loved him, and for a time, he loved me too. And then you were born."
Her dark eyes filled with tears as she recalled the moment that had changed everything.
"Your father is Fellblood, and that is why your hands are marked with the Eyes of Grima. I did not know until you were born. Your father said that you were the perfect vessels for his 'Lord' Grima. I was dismayed when I discovered that he planned to awaken the Fell Dragon using one of you as a sacrifice to his dark god. I could not let that happen, so I stole the two of you away."
Ashira coughed weakly as Robin glanced at first his sister, then his mother. Raven squeezed her mother's hand in a comforting gesture.
"What is the name of our father?" Robin dared ask. Ashira's already tear-filled eyes spilled over as she whispered her husband's name-a name she had vowed never to speak again.
"Validar."
"Leader of the Grimeal," Raven murmured. Their mother watched her children-her beautiful, perfect, intelligent twins. She did not want to leave them, yet it was her time. She had used her life to set their stage, and now it was time for them to perform.
"I love both of you," she managed to say, through her coughs and tears. "Let me teach you one last tactics lesson-the one I can only see now as I prepare to enter the next life: Sometimes a person-no matter how much you love them-can't see past the end of their own nose. Do not let your feelings rule you when making decisions. One life is not worth as much as the world."
The last thing Ashira saw were the faces of her beloved children, for whom she had given blood, sweat, and tears. They were her everything. Grima could not be allowed to taint them.
"I love you," she whispered for the final time. "I love you both so much."
A/N: This story was based on my frustrations that came with playing the demo version of Fire Emblem: Awakening, where you could only be the default male avatar. In this story, Robin is the default male avatar, Raven is the default female avatar. They are twins, but since the game only allows you to pick one or the other...stuff happens.
(I can't say what, because that would ruin future chapters. Enjoy! :D)
