Sumia & Cordelia: The Falling of Friendships

Many years ago, there were two little girls. One was a noble, the other was a Pegasus knight. The Pegasus knight was sent to guard the noble in times of war, despite how young she was. Yes, the knight was perfect in every way. She was beautiful, intelligent, strong, graceful, ladylike, and mastered each weapon given to her. The Pegasus knight was everything a girl desired to be. On the other hand, the noble was what one might call "average". Her looks were no different from other girl, she had the intelligence ladies were required to have without going over boundaries, and her strength seemed to be more emotionally based rather than physically like the Pegasus knight. To top things off, the noble was never graceful. She stumbled over her own feet more times than one could count.

Over time, the two grew to know each other more. The Pegasus knight told the noble valiant stories of her training with much older girls than her and allowed for rides on the back of her assigned Pegasus, cutely named Icarus by the noble. The noble, with her kindness, made the Pegasus knight feel like she could ease herself and make small jokes with.

Eventually, though, the war had ended, and the Pegasus knight had to return to her post. However, the noble decided to go with her new friend and join the Ylissean forces. The noble's parents were not cross with this decision, but they told their daughter to visit whenever possible. With a small heaviness carrying in her heart, the noble began her training.

Unfortunately, the noble's clumsiness had proven to be quite the handicap, as she could not even aim a bow properly. The other Pegasus knights had discouraged the noble, but her friend would always defend her, as the noble did for her. It truly did feel like it was the two of them against the world.

That is, until, they met a boy.

Yes, the prince of the kingdom seemed to be quite the appealing one, with maidens willing to do almost anything for him to marry them. The Pegasus knight had a very obvious crush on him, as she wrote beautiful ballads of his features. The noble, though, kept to herself about her admiration, hoping she would not hurt her best friend's feelings. She began to bottle up her emotions, passing the days with fake smiles. They were meant to show encouragement for others, to show that she would be their strength.

It all began to fall apart when the prince's older sister had sacrificed herself.

Sumia

Sumia wanted to continue smiling. This was a hard time for everyone, and she wanted to stay strong. She needed to be everyone's kindness, everyone's hopes and dreams. But her heart told her otherwise. She shook in place, feeling an almost dark energy consume her with every breath she took. She even had trouble discussing this to her closest of friends, saying that she was only going through a rough time and would recover eventually. Would she really? She might not have been as close to Lady Emmeryn as she would have liked, but she definitely knew the impact the Exalt had left on everyone around her.

Why should I be upset? Sumia would think to herself. Everyone else has problems bigger than my own.

That was a lie. Sumia lost her commanding officer, Phila, and caused the capital of Ylisstol to fall into Plegian hands in one battle. She almost died in an attempt to rescue Lady Emmeryn from King Gangrel, and ultimately failed. And to make matters worse, her father had become very ill back at home. Life kept throwing obstacle after obstacle at the girl without giving her the opportunity to recover.

The Shepherds returned to Regna Ferox, fearful of their tactician-in-training Anne and upset at their failure. Sumia comforted as best as she could, but the people were blinded with their own self-pitying. But there was one person who needed comfort the most: Chrom.

She hesitated to open his door, but she needed to do this.

"Chrom? Are you in here?"

There the blue-haired prince sat on the edge of his bed, hanging his head low as he nearly leaned on the hilt of the Falchion blade.

It was truly a pathetic sight to behold, as the mighty prince of Ylisse, the descendant of the Hero King Marth himself, was in complete and utter dismay. He let his own sister die right in front of him. How could he be so foolish?

"If…this isn't a good time…" Sumia began, slowly closing the door behind her.

"No…no...I'm fine," Chrom insisted, his voice low and trembling.

Sumia hesitantly sat next to the prince on the bedside, soon wrapping her arms around his shoulders for a small hug. When she pulled away, Chrom immediately pulled her in for another, tears slowly falling down his face.

"I…failed her…" He whimpered. "I let her sacrifice herself, Sumia. I let all of my people down. All of them!"

"You didn't let me down…" Sumia assured. "Look at me, I almost died and here I am, talking to you."

Chrom nuzzled into Sumia's shoulder.

"You don't get it, though. I have to be strong. If I show any signs of weakness, the entire kingdom will crumble!"

Sumia froze up, curling her fingers and soon clawing Chrom's shirt. Her throat began to hurt, but she didn't allow a single tear to drop.

"I know how you feel…" She sighed.

The rest of their time spent together was quiet, only getting slightly louder if Chrom wanted to let out a cry of frustration or sadness. Sumia kept herself together for his sake, comforting him with each cry released.

Eventually, Chrom had settled down.

"Are you going to be okay now?" Sumia asked. "I can stay here longer if you still need me."

"No, I think I'm good," Chrom sighed. "Thank you, though."

Sumia smiled.

He's strong, but he can be weak, too. Just like me…

She continued to visit him until they marched back into Plegia to finish the Mad King off. The Shepherds had succeeded in their war against Plegia. Everyone celebrated and honored their fallen Exalt with honor. When Sumia went to congratulate Chrom on the evening of December twenty-third, she noticed that he was like how he was back when they were in Regna Ferox.

"Chrom, what's wrong?" She pondered. "I know it's late and all, but-"

"Anne rejected me," Chrom laughed weakly.

"Anne?" That nearly pierced her heart.

"Yeah… I think I loved her. But I don't know anymore. I…"

Sumia immediately hugged him.

"It still stings, huh?" She giggled.

"It really does."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't want to bother you."

"Chrom, you could never be a bother to me."

Chrom smiled a bit after hearing that.

"There's a strange air around her that makes me want to pity her and comfort her at the same time, you know? I mean, she's been abused for as long as she can remember, but she still manages to find ways to make her happy. And the way she yelled at me…made me feel like she really cared."

"She still does. We all do."

"I guess I got too caught up with the moment to realize that she doesn't feel the same way I do. I was so used to having plenty of girls fall in love with me, and to have her see me as only a friend… That difference alone made me grateful for her."

"There are other girls like that, too, you know…"

"I know, I know… I don't know… I felt a connection with her! Gods, I'm an idiot!"

"You're not!"

"Yes, I am! How am I supposed to rule over a nation if I get upset over a girl!?"

"Chrom, you're only nineteen! It's okay to feel heartbreak!"

"Not when you're the future king of Ylisse! Not when you're the descendant of Marth!"

"CHROM!"

There was silence for a moment. Chrom was shocked at Sumia's sudden raise of volume and the look of frustration on her face.

"Stop acting like you're the failure here! We both know that I am!"

Frustration turned into realization, which then turned into regret.

"I-I'm sorry, that came out of nowhere…"

"Failure? Sumia, is that what you really see yourself as?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean-"

"Sumia."

"We're supposed to be talking about you. I don't matter."

"SUMIA!"

Sumia immediately began to cry. Not at the way she was yelled at, no. All of the emotions she bottled up, all of the tears she restrained herself from shedding in front of everyone, were slowly releasing themselves.

"Ever since I was little, I've been a failure. I couldn't live up to the standards Cordelia set, I couldn't charm boys the way she did. But Cordelia…she made me feel like I was an actual person still. All of the Shepherds did. You made me feel like I could do things right, that I wasn't a mistake. All those times you watched me train, even for short moments, I felt like I was a hero. So, I wanted to be everyone's hero, so I could thank them for their kindness. But I can't! I'm average, a klutz, a failure! My father's home ill and I can't cure him! All of my fellow Pegasus Knights are dead, including Phila! I let Emmeryn die, and I didn't even know her as well as you have! I let Gangrel take over Ylisstol because I wasn't strong enough! And worst of all, nobles aren't supposed to have problems! We're supposed to be prim and proper with money solving any issues we have! We're not allowed to show signs of distress, or we'll be made fun of!"

"I…didn't know you felt like that," Chrom stuttered. He wrapped his arms around Sumia's waist, allowing her to cry in his shirt.

"I'm not allowed to feel sad," Sumia repeated. "Everyone else has worse problems than I do…"

"Sumia, it's not a contest of who can cry more. And who told you you're not allowed to feel sad?"

"It's common knowledge. Villagers suffer the most out of anyone, so why should I add on to their problems?"

"Donnel's not feeling like that…"

"But plenty of others are!"

"You're carrying this to other directions, Sumia!"

"I know, I'm sorry! I…I've been keeping a lot of emotions hidden away."

"Sumia, if anything, you're the one who's allowed to cry." Chrom held her closer. "You've been enduring almost everything this entire time… You've probably worn yourself out by now. I don't care what it's about, but you're always allowed to cry. Whoever tells you otherwise is trying to belittle you so that they can feel better, even if unintentional."

And so she did cry, Chrom there to comfort her when she needed it most. But she knew it couldn't last. Cordelia had her heart set out for him, and who was she to get in the way of her best friend…?

She tried her best to get him to focus on her after that, offering him pies to distract him from her. She told him all the stories that Cordelia told her, and ones that occurred when she was still in training. But Chrom wasn't an idiot.

"Sumia, I think I realized something," he brought up one day.

"What's that?" Sumia responded.

"That I'm still in love…but not with Anne."

Did it work? Sumia thought.

"All this time, I've been looking for a woman who wants to see me succeed, because I know she can as well. We would be able to bring out the positives of one another, while helping out with the negatives. A woman that can show her strength, whether it be through kindness or actual physical strength."

"That's good," Sumia smiled.

"It should be, because I think it's you I'm in love with."

OH NO!

"Chrom, you're…you're not supposed to fall in love with me! I was trying to get you to be with Cordelia!"

"I know that, and she's beyond blessed to have a friend such as you! But hear me out on this, okay!?"

Sumia hesitated at first, but soon nodded, allowing Chrom to explain his feelings to her.

"I remember when you first joined the Pegasus Knights that you always cried a lot, saying that you couldn't do anything right. I wanted to comfort you, but I didn't know any better at the time and told myself that others would make you feel better. All of the time, you would smile when I felt down or upset, or even angry. And you'd always support me with reason. I mean, not every decision I make is going to be right, so when you can disagree with me, it makes me feel like you care for me much more than I originally realized. But you need to care about yourself just as much as you do for others."

Chrom folded his hands into Sumia's.

"I love you, flaws and all."

"Chrom…"

"It's okay if you don't return my feelings-"

"No, it's just that…I feel bad for Cordelia. She's my best friend. I can't do this to her!"

Chrom frowned.

"Did she make you feel like you're not worthy?"

"Wha-Of course not! She had such an obvious crush on you for years now!"

"Sumia, be honest with me."

"I am!"

"Really?"

"I…I…There was one time when we were in training, and she grew depressed. No matter what I did or said, she would put me down, saying that her problems were more important than mine."

"I knew it…"

"But she's still my close friend and that was only one time!"

Chrom gave her a suspicious look.

"O…kay, maybe it happened a few times."

The look strengthened.

"I'm the only one she can rely on to talk about her problems. She's supposed to be perfect, so she can't blurt out her problems to just anyone!"

"Sounds like she's not being that good of a friend if she dumps all of her problems on you…"

"It's more personal than you think…"

"I know, but tossing your problems away when you went through a lot?"

Sumia fell silent.

"I'm not saying you should abandon her, Gods forbid that! I'm only saying you should think about yourself once in a while. After all, you can't save everyone if you can't save yourself…"

Someone had finally said it. That was what she needed to hear to get her out of her personal hell.

Sumia smiled, but with much more sincerity. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around Chrom's neck.

"I love you…" She cried. "I have for such a long time now…"

"I love you, too," Chrom smiled.

He stroked her hair oh so gently and then looked at the light brown haired girl. She looked at him, and they seemed to get lost in their eyes. The two of them pressed their lips against each other's.

"Will you marry me?" Chrom asked, wrapping his arms around her waist once again.

"Yes!"

Cordelia

"OF ALL THE WOMEN HE COULD'VE CHOSE, HE CHOSE HER INSTEAD OF ME?!" Cordelia cried out to herself, running as far away as she could. "WHAT DOES SHE HAVE THAT I DON'T?!"

"Cordelia, wait!" Stahl yelled, chasing after her as well as he could.

"GO AWAY!"

She soon ran into the royal Ylissean garden, sitting herself on the available bench and crying into her hands. Stahl eventually caught up, kneeling in front of her.

"Cordelia…" Stahl began.

"Why did he choose her, Stahl? Why not me?" Cordelia sniffled.

"Well, there could be plenty of reasons, really. He might not have seen you the way you might have wanted, or thought you wouldn't share a lot in common!"

"But I'm supposed to be perfect! Everyone in the Pegasus Knights said so themselves."

"I think they set their expectations way too high, then."

"Excuse me?!"

"No, what I mean is that they put you on too high of a pedestal."

"I…don't follow."

Stahl sighed, "It's okay to be imperfect, Cordelia. You can't control everything."

"You wouldn't understand!"

"Not if you don't tell me."

Cordelia hesitated.

"Please?"

Now it was Cordelia's turn to sigh.

"I'm skillful in almost everything: horse and Pegasus riding, combat, music, cooking, cleaning, you name it. I've been called beautiful by hundreds, men and women alike. But…I never felt like these sorts of things meant anything until I met Chrom. He made me feel important, that my skills could be useful for his cause. And I thought that…I was the only Pegasus knight-no, the only girl he could rely on aside from his family. But I was wrong, he doesn't see me the way others do. I'm imperfect to him, so what good am I?"

"Cordelia…" Stahl began. "I know this might not mean much to you, but you can still use these skills for others. Maybe not for Chrom directly, but I'm sure plenty of people would be more than grateful to be with you. Heck, I bet there are little girls all throughout Ylisse idolizing you as we speak! But here's the thing, flaws are what make us human."

"Really?"

"Yeah! By your definition of perfect, it seems really impossible to accomplish, so you shouldn't strain yourself to reach that high of a level. You can still be extremely talented and stunning and smart and nice smelling, but you don't have to force yourself into that. And you can also accept that you're allowed to have flaws. You can either have a bad hair day, be extremely emotional when life's got you down in the slums, or anything, really!"

"You…really think so?"

"I know so! Look at me, for instance. I'm a foodaholic with seemingly untamable hair and too nice of a personality!"

"What about Sumia, or Anne?"

Stahl's smile dropped at the mention of Anne's name.

"You know, they have flaws, too. Anne's problem being…something I wouldn't want to get involved with, but maybe that's why Chrom likes them so much."

"He likes flaws?"

"More like he knows they're only human, or half-human in Anne's case, and he wants to bring the best out of them. You already have the best out of you all the time, so maybe he thought-"

"That I didn't need him…" Cordelia gasped.

Stahl merely shrugged.

"Chrom's got his own problems, too, so who knows? Maybe he's blind to amazing people such as you."

The two of them grew pinkish red on their cheeks.

Together

It was after Anne, Tharja, and Libra first set sail off to Valm. Sumia had returned from her honeymoon with her newly found husband and now Exalt of Ylisse, Chrom. She would have to adjust to being the nation's Queen, but she was sure that she could do this with the love of her peers.

But then, she crossed paths with Cordelia.

Cordelia simply tried to avoid the confrontation, but Sumia thought otherwise.

"Uh, hey," she smiled awkwardly. "How are you?"

No response.

Another run-in, same response.

"Say, do you want to go on an escort mission for old time's sake?" Sumia suggested.

Silence.

These sorts of encounters continued for a Gods forsaken while, and Sumia was getting tired of it. She planned to corner Cordelia and get her to finally talk. However, this time, Cordelia did not simply stand still and stay silent. Instead, she ran away.

"CORDELIA!" Sumia yelled, chasing after the much faster Cordelia. "We have to talk about this!"

Sumia felt the world freeze itself as her right foot crossed with her left. Slowly her feet lifted themselves in the air, her legs following afterward.

And of course, due to the principles of gravity, Sumia's body compensated by having her head fall right down to the ground. She had tripped over herself once again.

Cordelia, despite how hurt she was, always felt terrible when Sumia fell. So, she stopped dead in her tracks and ran back to help her injured friend.

"Are you okay!?" Cordelia gasped.

At first, it sounded like Sumia was crying in the dirt. But, as she lifted her head up, it turned into a big smile and laughs.

"Even as a Queen, I still can't help but trip!" Sumia chuckled.

Cordelia began smiling and even giggling.

"It can't be your boots this time, that's for sure!"

Sumia stood up, brushed some dirt off of her gown, and held Cordelia's wrist before she decided to make another run for it.

"Can we talk? Please?"

The warm smile on Cordelia's face faded, but she knew Sumia would trip over herself again. She requested to at least be sitting down as they spoke to one another.

They didn't face each other, but instead sat side by side.

It was…awkward to start the conversation.

"Cordelia, I know you loved Chrom from the bottom of your heart-" Sumia began.

"And that he meant the entire world to me? Why yes, yes he did," Cordelia reiterated. "Even with knowing that, you still took him away from me just like Anne almost did. How could you?!"

"I didn't intentionally make him fall in love with me! It sort of…happened!"

"OH, I'm supposed to believe that?! I've had a crush on him for ages now, and you suddenly decide to marry him out of nowhere! Did you even like him before-"

"I'VE LOVED HIM FOR AS LONG AS YOU HAVE!"

Uttering that phrase alone could shatter glass.

"You…you have?" Cordelia was stupefied. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want to ruin our friendship like I was afraid of doing back when Chrom proposed," Sumia sighed. "But my feelings have always been there. I quietly admired him while you flaunted yours. And I thought…"

"…Thought what?"

Tears flowed from Sumia's cheeks.

"I thought he was pulling some kind of joke until he told me why he loved me. Before, I felt like I would never be worthy of him."

Cordelia repositioned herself sideways so that she could fully look at Sumia.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're always better than me in every way. You're prettier, you're smarter, you're the better Pegasus Knight, and everyone admired you like you were the noble and I wasn't! I was always cast in your shadow, Cordelia…"

"Sumia, again, why haven't you told me about this?"

Now it was time for Sumia to face Cordelia, but her movement was much more sudden.

"Don't you think I've tried?! Every time you were upset and I had my own problems, you said that I didn't matter! Maybe not directly, but you clearly didn't care for me when I needed you most!"

"I didn't…I definitely didn't mean to! I…I got so used to you comforting me that I thought you didn't need my help!"

"What?"

"You always were the happier out of the two of us, and I envy you for that. Life seems to be perfect for you and I thought that you would be able to solve your own problems for yourself."

"That's not true. Everybody goes through problems."

"I know. I can't believe I think your problems are less important than mine. What kind of friend does that?"

"Anyone going through a lot," Sumia sniffled. "Sometimes, you get so caught up in your own bubble of thoughts that others seem to drift away."

"Yeah… I guess you're right. I still feel terrible, though. Almost childish. And making you feel unworthy of someone like Chrom… You're far too forgiving of me."

Some silence came in, both girls contemplating on what to say next.

"Cordelia?"

"Yes?"

"You probably still have feelings for Chrom, and you might never get over them. I understand, but I still want to be friends with you. We went through too much together just to have our friendship fall apart over this."

"That's true. We both faced our own kinds of discrimination, me with my perfection and you with your clumsiness."

"We're also the only remaining forces of the original Pegasus Knights. Phila would probably make us go through Frederick's recruitment training if we separated."

"Or make us clean the Pegasus dung like during the time when we pranked Sully by replacing her Lance with a Log!"

"And we had to avoid seeing her for a week lest we get her even angrier!"

Once again, the two laughed.

"See what I mean?" Sumia said. "This shouldn't cause a split between us."

"Definitely," Cordelia replied. "It might take a while, but I'll eventually find someone better than Chrom."

"Someone who can help you improve so that you can help improve them. You bring out your strengths while helping out with their weaknesses. But most importantly, someone who can see you for who you are."

"Hopefully not perfect. Everyone has their flaws."

Sumia and Cordelia stayed a little longer talking over their nostalgia and moments of Chrom being either unintentionally hilarious (such as him eating an orange without taking the peel off) or incredibly chivalrous (he always fought with respect for his opponent…unless they're Gangrel).

"Sumia?" Cordelia spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"When something like this happens again, don't be afraid to talk to me. You can stand up for yourself, you know."

"Oh, I definitely know by now."