Disclaimer: Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

Characters: Eliwood, Ninian.

Pairing: Eliwood/Ninian.

Warnings: Spoilers for 28E and beyond. For complete spoiler avoidance, clear 20XXH before reading.

Author's Notes: This marks the potential comeback of the random ideas popping up in my head. It's one of my shorter works, but I don't think it needs more words spent on it than it has.

"How long were you planning on hiding this from me?!" When he slammed his hand down on the table next to him, she stepped back. His face, his stance, his voice… everything about her husband indicated that he was livid.

"I…" She had no answer ready. There had been no reason for her to hide it for this long. She knew she should have told him as soon as she found out, but she had been afraid that exactly this would happen. "I didn't think it was important…"

He reached out for her, but before his hand could hit her face, Ninian woke up. She woke with a start, jolting up and supporting herself with an arm as she panted. Swallowing painfully, she struck back the sheets and lit the candle on her nightstand, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

It had been little over a year since Dragon's Gate had been shut and Ninian had come to Pherae with the man she loved. He had recently been named Marquess Pherae, and had formally proposed to her. Their wedding was set to be held a few weeks from now. Ninian, herself, had started learning to read and write in that year, and her attention now redirected itself to the letter stuck under the candle stand.

She had read it umpteen times in the past two days, and its contents haunted her. Lord Hector, Eliwood's friend, had used his position as de facto Marquess Ositia to send a team of scholars to Valor to confiscate Nergal's library and research. Ninian wasn't privy to the exact contents, but Lord Hector had written her personally with a tidbit of information which Ninian had feared, but never been certain of.

What you do with the information is up to you, of course. But if you want my opinion, I think Eliwood has a right to know.

Those were the final lines in the letter and the ones that worried Ninian the most. Lord Hector was right, of course. Eliwood had every right to know, especially after everything that had happened. The problem was that Ninian was afraid of her fiancé's reaction. She didn't imagine he would physically harm her, but the information would upset him…

She didn't know how long she sat there before the sun rose into the sky and she got up, but she did know she had made up her mind. She couldn't let her relationship with Eliwood rest on a lie, or even a half-truth. She would tell him, and face the consequences of it herself.

Since they had yet to marry, they separated at night so as not to start rumors that would harm their respective reputations. However, Eliwood was never hard to find. When Ninian reached the dining hall (a less than perfectly chosen name, as the royal family took breakfast and their midday meal there as well), she found the redhead bent over a book, indulging his bad habit of reading during his meal. He looked up and shut the book when he heard her approach, though. "Good morning, Ninian," he said as she sat down next to him. "You're up early today." When she didn't reply and just stared at her hands, he put one hand on her shoulder. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I… no." Without looking at him, she knew he now left his breakfast for what it was, putting his other hand on her other shoulder and turning so he faced her fully, giving her his full attention. "There's… there's something I want to talk to you about, Eliwood. Before the wedding."

"Is it about your dragon blood?" he asked, pulling her closer. "It doesn't bother me. I would love you even if you were a full-blooded dragon."

She shook her head. "I'm grateful for that, but… it's about my human blood." When he looked at her puzzled, she took a deep breath and found herself unable to outright tell him. To buy herself time, she started the long explanation. "I… I have told you how my father dropped Nils and myself off on Valor, and told me to use the Gate, right?"

"You have."

"Well… Ositia has taken the contents of Valor's library, and Nergal's research papers." She saw understanding in his eyes. It was coming. This was when he would realize what she wanted to say…

"I heard, yes. Are you saying Nergal killed your father?" Half relieved and half frustrated, Ninian shook her head.

This was a good opening to tell him, though. "No. N-Nergal was my father."

Silence. Ninian expected Eliwood to take his hands off of her, to get angry at her- maybe to tell her out of his castle as he left to cancel their wedding. Instead, the redhead pulled her towards himself, embracing her. "I… I see," was all he said.

She couldn't stand this silence, and swallowed painfully before breaking it. "Early records show that Nergal had a reason for taking Valor as his base. That he'd had a wife and children during the Scouring, and he wanted the latter back…"

"So that was why he called out to you and Nils specifically." When he recognized the tears welling up in Ninian's eyes, Eliwood tenderly ran his hand over her hair, trying to calm her. "It's okay, Ninian. I stopped holding Nergal accountable for his actions long ago, and I certainly won't hold you responsible for them now."

It took a few more seconds of silence, but Ninian calmed down and Eliwood let her sit straight. "I… I thought you would…"

"Hate you?" she cringed as he said it. Even when the words did not come loaded with the emotion, they were painful to hear out of his mouth. "I could never. I'm only sorry that all this tragedy had to befall you and your family. It's been torn to pieces three times now…"

"Don't worry about that." She took one of his hands off her shoulder to cradle it in both her own. "There's no changing what happened in the past… and if you hadn't stopped him, we wouldn't be here right now."

"It's okay, Ninian." He used his other hand to brush the tears from her face. "You don't have to rationalize it away." She took that as her cue to cast herself into his arms and start crying into his chest. The news had affected her more deeply than she had initially thought, and now that Eliwood once again proved himself more accepting of her than any other human in her life had been, she burst into tears, relieved of her tension.

Additional Author's Notes: Partially considering his personality and partially considering that he tells Nergal he feels 'nothing but pity' for him in his version of the final chapter, I honestly don't think Eliwood would be mad finding out Nergal was Ninian's father. You are, of course, free to disagree with me on this, as long as that disagreement doesn't show itself in flaming and/or trolling.