Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem: Awakening.
• {The Shepherd's Nanny} •
"I must admit," Maribelle laughed softly into her gloved hand. "The children never look so happy as when they are playing with their Teddy Bear."
Surrounded by grass and empty plains, the mothers watched their children play in the warm sunshine. Maribelle gasped as Brady tried to leap-frog over Inigo, but instead landed painfully on his face. But before she could run and scoop him up into her comforting arms, a muscular, hairy man was already bending over him, tickling the young healer until the tears were replaced with sharp, childish laughter.
"Who can blame them?" Lissa asked, smiling brightly. "It's all I can do to keep from joining in myself!"
The blond princess cheered as her son tied second place with his swift-footed cousin, Lucina. Owain turned to look at his mother and gave her a proud grin, showing off the holes where several of his baby teeth once sat.
"Who invented that name, again? Teddy Bear, I mean. " Cordelia tried to recall, suddenly.
Severa noticed her mother's attention had wandered a bit from her. So, with a quick shout of, "Mother, look!" She proceed to perform half a dozen cartwheels. Most of the women laughed at the girl's silly antics, but Cordelia beamed with pleasure.
"You're getting so good at them, Severa! You'll be better than I or your father, soon!" Her daughter swelled with pride.
"I think it was Lucina." Sumia called everyone's attention back to Cordelia's question.
"Lucina? How old was she, then?" Olivia asked, shyly.
"No, not young Lucina. I mean future Lucina." The Pegasus knight trailed off slightly, her young daughter catching her gaze. Cynthia was wrestling with Gerome, giggling as the older boy tried to take back his mask.
"Oh, don't mind him!" Cherche reassured her friend, waving the matter away with an amused smile. "Believe it or not, he actually told me he likes it when they play Capture the Mask."
The boy and girl struggled on for a few more minutes. Eventually, Gerome snatched back his property and took off running, Cynthia tripping and laughing in pursuit.
"It was after that whole bear incident, right?" Tharja remembered. "That big black beast got into camp and attacked Nowi."
"Ugh, don't remind me!" The little Manakete shivered. "I didn't even have a dragonstone to defend myself with! And those claws were sharp!"
"But Gregor wrestled him to the ground with his bare hands." Lissa said, a frown growing on her face. "Then he killed him and Chrom made us cook the beast for dinner. Ick! I still have that taste in my mouth!"
"Speaking of wrestling..." Robin added, pointing a finger towards the fields. The peaceful air was broken by their loud, musical laughter.
Gregor was flat on his back in the grass, trying to rise. But Noire, Nah and Morgan sat on his chest, giggling and ignoring his half-hearted protests. The other children ran over to help their friends. Gerome sat on one of the mercenary's legs, Brady quickly tackling the other. Severa seized one muscled arm and held on tightly as he gently tried to shake her off. Inigo, Laurent and Owain managed to keep the other hand firmly on the ground. Lucina stood at his head and stared curiously down into his twinkling eyes.
"You help Gregor up, yes?" The man suggested.
"No, I just was wondering which prison to lock you up in, hostage."
"Hostage! Gregor no hostage! Oh, I get it; you the cracking the jokes. Haha. Went fly over Gregor's handsome head!"
"Lucina had commented that, despite looking like a goof, he was surprisingly very capable." Robin smiled fondly as the picture of the poor sellsword's face remained as clear and humorous as it had appeared so many years ago.
"He looked so hurt!" Olivia exclaimed, feeling a little sorry for the softhearted giant.
"The opinion of the eventual princess did seem to provoke emotions of indignation from the mercenary." Miriel agreed. "I have a report dated from that day in which I measured the height of his disturbance through facial expressions, if any of you are interested of having a peek at it once we return to the castle."
"Indignant? As in, angry? Not Gregor!" Sumia said quickly. "I don't think he could ever be angry, except with the enemies of the Shepherds."
"Hehe, he ran into the woods and caught three more bears." Tharja smirked a little at the memory. "And then proceeded to cart them around like trophies on his back."
"And then Tiki and I sewed them up into coats!" Nowi added proudly. "He was so happy! And even Lucina had to admit he looked like a hero in those furs!"
"Hero," Robin repeated with a fond smile. "Gregor: The Shepherd's Big, Hairy, Friendly Hero."
"Or maybe just the Shepherd's Nanny!" Cherche exclaimed. Each of the women laughed again.
"Okay little ducklings! Follow Gregor!"
"But I want to be leader!"
"No! It's my turn!"
"What? What about Gregor's turn? Hey! Little ducklings stay behind Gregor! Children!"
"Goodness, look at them. They seem to be having the time of their lives." Maribelle said softly. The mothers all nodded in response.
Lissa sighed suddenly and began to pull off her shoes. "I don't know about you court ladies, but I'm sick of watching the kids have all the fun! Look out, Owain! Mommy's joining in!" The blond threw her small slippers into the air and took off running down the hillside.
"B-but darling! What if-"
"Yahoo!" Robin let out a whoop of joy and took off after her friend.
"Robin!"
"Let me show you a real cartwheel, Severa!"
"Let's play capture the mask!"
"C-Cordelia! Sumia! Cherche!" Maribelle shouted in horror.
"Yipee! Nowi wants to play too!"
"Hm, it seems the playful demeanor of one or more of the Shepherds is able to encourage or invoke a serious change in several of their comrades' conditions. This proves interesting and involves further investigation..."
"... I hate the sun. But... watching Robin and Morgan might prove interesting..."
Maribelle was suddenly all alone on the hillside, the other Shepherds rolling in the grass or racing and hopping and dancing with their children. Brady and Gregor noticed her hesitancy as she stood, parasol in hand, watching them strangely. They ran up to her.
"Don't ya want to play, Ma?" Brady wondering innocently.
"It's... not very lady like, dear."
"Other ladies are doing it." Gregor pointed out.
"I wouldn't consider Tharja and Nowi 'ladies'..."
"Please, Ma?" The little boy's eyes widened and pleaded with his mother. "Please? You can be leader!"
For a moment, Maribelle's decision wavered. "W-well, I-"
"Good enough for Gregor." And so saying, the mercenary leaned down and threw the duchess over his shoulder. Maribelle immediately let out a screech of protest.
"W-wait! Gregor! How uncouth! Put me down this instant! This is barbaric! Did no one ever teach you how to handle a woman? Let. Me. GO!"
"Pretty lady has to learn to relax, yes? No good getting up on high horse!"
"Looks like Gregor even has some things to teach the adults!" Lissa exclaimed, laughing hysterically as she saw her best friend struggling over Gregor's shoulder. Her face was red with embarrassment and anger.
"Let go! Let go! Let gooooo!"
• {The End} •
Ending Note: Short and, hopefully, cute and sweet! I suppose it's not my best work, but for a little shot-one, I thought it was pretty decent. What do you guys think?
ALSO! I plan on writing a Romeo and Juliet parody, using Fire Emblem: Awakening characters for the cast! But, the main pairing is a hard decision... who should feature as the lovestruck couple? ChromXFemale Robin, or Male RobinXLucina? I have a poll on my profile, that I will be taking down this WEEKEND! So please vote!
(: Thank you for reading! Please review! :)