trigger warning: blood

What exactly had happened hadn't even begun to settle into Maribelle's mind as she stared almost in horror at Lissa, waiting for her friend to say something to let her know she was okay. But when she didn't speak, or move at all minus her faint breathing, it began to panic Maribelle more than she already was—to the point where she, with her shaking hands, reached over to touch her friend just to make sure she was okay. Lissa's skin was still warm, but she didn't react even slightly to the touch of trembling fingers.

In the distance, sirens could be heard coming closer and closer to the accident scene, but Maribelle was far too worried about making sure that Lissa was okay to have it register that those sirens were coming for them. "L-lissa?" she choked out, her voice barely above a whisper as she found it hard to breathe, let alone speak, in the dusty and smoky air. "Y-you okay there, m-m-my friend?"

As expected, there was no response, but she did hear what sounded like a male voice asking if there were still people in the front of the truck. She ignored the speaker, still focusing everything on her friend until she knew that she was okay; it was then that she realized that they weren't sitting flat on the truck's wheels, instead being tilted forward to the point that the truck had to be resting on its windshield. Retracting her hand, Maribelle instead reached forward to where she should have been looking at the road, finding nothing but cold asphalt and shattered glass instead. She screamed, her mind finally catching up to the fact that she'd wrecked the truck that she'd been driving, and the panic of needing to get out as fast as she could started to fill her.

"Hey, you're alive in there!" the male voice said, and she saw a hand reaching in through the shattered driver's side window, coming in at an angle that would normally be impossible to obtain. "Here, let's get you out of there and make sure you're okay. Wrecks like this happen more than they should, but as long as you're okay—"

"I'm n-not the only one in here! I killed my best friend!" Maribelle yelled in response, scrambling to get herself unbuckled as fast as she could. Her panic was enough to cause her to forget that gravity would send her falling down towards what used to be the roof of the truck, but she was in such a scared state that she didn't feel any pain from landing on her head, her legs getting caught under the steering wheel as she fell. Once again screaming, she tried righting herself but only found herself looking out the back of the truck, where there used to be an entire seat and truck bed that was now missing. "Oh gods, I killed her son too!"

"Ma'am, it's going to be okay. Just get out of the truck and we'll figure this all out, one step at a time." The voice was calm and collected, although the speaker was nearly as panicked as Maribelle was, and despite their good intentions she couldn't find it within herself to listen to them. She was moving on to shaking Lissa, trying to get the other woman to react to something, anything, just to know that she wasn't dead. This behavior was stopped by a bright light being flashed into the truck, followed by many voices discussing the proper course of action to get both the ladies out of the truck.

Part of Maribelle wanted them to help her out, but the majority of her being was focused on getting herself out so she could look at what she'd done. Taking the hand of the truck driver she had accidentally turned in front of, he helped break open the door on her side and get her out, her feet caving out from beneath her once she was standing on solid ground. Despite this, she refused the help of the paramedics instantly, telling them that they needed to focus on Lissa more than her, that she could be helped once her friend was okay. By all means they should have ignored her and forced her to comply with their assistance, but she was too busy trying to get back to her feet to look around, and when they asked her to stay still, she snapped, "I have to find my friend's son before someone else does!"

Alerting them to the presence of a third person potentially injured in the accident was most likely the best decision she could have made there, in all honesty. With the support of the truck driver and one of the paramedics, they got her standing and led her around the wide crime scene, from where the truck's front half had landed after rolling several times, across the intersection to where the back half had been pushed after being ripped away. Littering the space in between was not only metal scraps and glass, but pieces of bags and clothing that had come out of the back of the truck. She was crying as she saw all of that, but she was completely inconsolable when they made it over to the back of the truck and were accosted by several police officers, asking about what had happened.

It was during the time where the truck driver, in a completely clear state of mind, was explaining what he had seen happen that Maribelle noticed that the backseat of the truck, having been cleanly ripped off of the front half, looked to be mostly intact despite being upside down. "There's a kid in there," she said through her sobs and tears, leaning most of her weight on the paramedic supporting her. "My godson, my b-b-best friend's baby, he's in there and he's probably dead and this is all my fault and…" She broke down crying to the point of being unable to speak clearly after that, but her words were enough to get the paramedic to call for help in retrieving the child who was potentially trapped.

They were in the process of flipping the seat to see what was inside when an unfamiliar car drove up to the accident scene, police flanking it as they tried to explain to the driver that the intersection was closed. But when the car shut off and from inside of it came familiar faces that Maribelle could recognize even in her emotional state, she knew that the worst had happened and she was most definitely in trouble now. "Someone stole this truck from my family," she heard Chrom explaining to one of the officers, "and we're here to make sure that our names are—Maribelle." Distracted mid-sentence, he saw the crying blonde and assumed the worst. "Never mind what I said. It seems like someone I know took a personal joyride in this truck and wrecked it."

The next thing she was honestly aware of was Chrom grabbing her by the shoulders, her truck driver and paramedic companions stepping away to allow him to do so. "What in Naga's name is all this about?" he asked, voice stern and terrifying to her panicked mind. "Why are you out here? What did you do? Where is my sister?"

"W-we wanted to go to the mall," she started explaining, before breaking into heavy sobs. "And then it got late and we got scared of the trouble we'd face for being out so I was careless and ran a light and we got hit and…and…" Her eyes squeezed shut and she lunged forward to hug Chrom as tightly as she could. "I killed her, Chrom. She's dead and it's my fault and—"

"She's dead?" Pushing her off of himself as violently as he could, Chrom didn't care that he nearly knocked her to the ground. "You killed my little sister? Your best friend? How could you?" Watching as she was stumbling to regain her balance, tearfully choking out explanations, he inhaled deeply, his chest and shoulders rising as he tried to resist chewing her out, ultimately failing at the endeavor. "We leave you two alone at the house for one afternoon. One! And this is what happens, a nighttime crime scene where you've managed to kill my sister!"

"It wasn't on purpose…" Her words were drowned out by her crying, which was intensifying by the second. Even in the dark, she could look at Chrom's face and see nothing but fear and anger in equal parts, and she knew that it didn't matter what she said to him, she would never be forgiven for what she had caused. "I…I…Lissa wa—is my best friend and I would never hurt her on purpose."

"She was your best friend until you killed her!" No longer able to resist getting physical with his actions, Chrom took a swing at Maribelle as she cowered in front of him, but was restrained by the friendly truck driver, who begged him not to do it on her behalf. "Why should I take mercy on this ungrateful girl who's taken the only sibling I have left away from me? I've done nothing but be kind to her, especially as of late, and this is how she repays me." Even being restrained, Chrom was still trying to punch at her, and she had fallen to her knees, hands clasped before her, sobbing her pleas for forgiveness.

"Chrom, leave her alone." The voice was one that Maribelle never would have expected to hear in this moment, especially not asking for her to be spared. "What good will taking your anger out on her do for you, aside from taking away one of the last pieces of Lissa you have?" She saw a hand being offered to her, but unlike when the truck driver offered her his hand, she had no intentions of ever accepting this one from Frederick. "Please, Maribelle. Let me help you up so we can discuss what's happened here."

"I'm not taking any help from you," she replied, keeping herself situated on the cold asphalt. "Let Chrom kill me. It'd be better at this point."

The crew working on flipping the back half of the truck started making noise at that point, distracting everyone from what Maribelle was doing as they looked to see why the truck was being flipped in the first place. To hear Chrom gasp and mutter, "Oh gods, please say that's not what it looks like," was enough to make Maribelle's heart sink further down inside of her, shattering into a million pieces as it did. She was then forced back to her feet by both Chrom and Frederick, which she tried resisting for as long as she could before she gave in to what they wanted. "How come you never mentioned that Owain was with you both?" Chrom asked, his voice still angry but now completely distraught, as he looked down at her with disgust. "Involving my sister was one thing, but him too?"

"I-it was Lissa's idea," she said, trying to keep her eyes closed so that she couldn't see anyone or anything around her. "And n-now she's dead and he's…he's…"

She felt a hand grabbing underneath her jaw, forcibly turning her head in some direction, and then she heard Chrom order for her to open her eyes and look at something. She did, slowly letting her eyelids flutter open to see the disaster that used to be the backseat of the truck. Paramedics were readying a stretcher and all the machines associated with keeping someone on the brink of death from succumbing to their injuries, while a few worked tirelessly to extract the child from the carseat he'd been strapped into. It was a lot to take in, especially with her being in her state of mind, but she knew she would never forget the worried expression on everyone's faces as they worked, nor would she forget all the blood and the sight of the boy's arm, bent completely out of shape and almost completely dark from the blood running down it.

Blinking a few times, she felt the hand holding her head pull away, followed by both men who were keeping her standing letting go of her. She once again fell to her knees, but this time on the way down, she felt something inside of her trying to come up, and so she hit the ground and started vomiting from what she had seen and the fear she was feeling. She would retch and heave, which would become followed by cries of wondering what had gone wrong, and the emotional distress only upset her stomach more than it already was. For what felt like forever, she huddled there on the ground, sick from her own actions, and then she heard probably the best thing she possibly could have at that moment in time: she hadn't killed either of them after all. At least, that was how things stood at the current moment.

One of the paramedics had come from the ambulance they'd put the young boy in to let her know of this news, at the same time that she heard a heartbreaking scream from across the intersection. The scream, followed by gut-wrenching calls for the boy by his name, was enough to make Maribelle feel even worse about the situation than she already did; but when she heard the running footsteps and saw Vaike making a mad dash for the ambulance before it left, she knew that no matter how bad she currently felt, nothing could compare to what that poor guy was having to go through. She felt sicker just thinking about what kind of pain she'd inflicted on him, and he hadn't even been present for the wreck.

After throwing up again, barely missing hitting the paramedic who had come to tell her about Owain's condition, she watched as he headed back to his ride and took off, sirens blaring in the still night. That left her there alone, to look around in the dark at all the destruction her stupid decision had caused, until the friendly truck driver came back to help her to her feet once more, walking her over to where the other ambulance on scene was, around which a small group had congregated. There she was questioned endlessly about what had happened and about whose fault everything was (which she admitted to without hesitation), after which she was told that if anyone were to die from the injuries sustained there, she would be held completely liable.

She solemnly nodded at the reminder, knowing that being responsible for someone's death in a car wreck was still killing someone, despite circumstances. On the other side of the truck driver, whom was still keeping her on her feet, the duo of Chrom and Frederick seemed to have questions to ask the police officers on scene. Their time to ask things was cut short when, in the back of that second ambulance, they all heard a familiar cry, followed with, in slightly slurred words: "Where am I and where is my baby?" Covering his mouth, Chrom's eyes went wide at the sound of his sister being so scared and panicked.

Before he had the chance to say anything, however, Maribelle let out a long sigh, shifting her weight onto the side that had the man supporting her. She had been intending to say something to break the bad news to her best friend, but her leg buckled out from underneath her and she fell, her support not being able to catch her in time. Finding herself on the ground once more, she sighed again, not even asking anyone for help as she slowly curled herself into a ball and started crying once more. "I h-h-hurt her baby and she's going to hate me forever," she choked out, "and if he's not okay sh-she's going to hold it against me and my baby and—"

"Maribelle?" Despite being on the ground and being a tearful mess, she was still able to be heard from inside the back of the ambulance, and now Lissa was trying to talk to her. The other woman still sounded like her words were being garbled, like something was wrong when she spoke, but she tried anyway. "What happened to us? We were going home and now what's going on? Where are you? Where is Owain? I need answers!"

The blonde on the ground, at the sound of her friend's baby's name, started crying harder, burying her face into the crook of her arm in shame. After shaking his head at what was happening, Chrom broke into an explanation of what he knew the story to be, including every detail he could manage. His sister gasped several times at what she heard, but nothing could compare to the tangible sadness in her voice when she said, "You mean he's hurt and I'm not there to be with him?"

"You're hurt too, Lissa. Don't forget that." Now Chrom was beginning to spit his words again, his anger at Maribelle coming back to fuel his explanation. "You can't exactly go visit your kid when you need almost as much attention as he does."

"I don't need any attention!" she replied, but after a few seconds, her tune had changed and she let out a terrified shriek. "Oh gods, what's happened to m-my…face?" While she was most likely having the situation explained to her by the people with her in the back of the ambulance, Chrom was glaring down at Maribelle, as she was still crying on the ground in front of him.

"You have fun dealing with the fact that you broke my sister's face." He kicked at her, only stopping at the last second because of his friend motioning for him to not do it. "Don't tell me you've gone soft on this excuse of a person, Frederick. She's ruined your life nearly as much as she's ruined Lissa's."

For the second time that night, Maribelle got to be witness to kindness being shown her way by the man whose child she carried within her. "I wouldn't say it's 'soft' on her, Chrom, but I won't allow you to hurt her more than she already is. This has been a stressful night for everyone, and I would hate for this to have any adverse effects on my child. You attacking her could harm the child."

"I never expected you to care about that kid, but hey, I'll listen to you." Now looking back to where his sister was, Chrom let out a weary sigh. "I can't believe this has happened. When Robin called to ask if we were okay, I never thought that we'd end up standing at this kind of crime scene, with someone I've been nothing but nice to being the one responsible."

"Yes, well, as evidenced by her, er, non-wreck caused physical state, she is prone to making mistakes." Frederick stood up a bit straighter, rubbing at his arm awkwardly as he did. "I cannot believe I'm the one making excuses on her behalf, but perhaps you should show her some mercy on what has happened here?"

Chrom raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest as he did. "I'll show her mercy the second I get a call saying that this is all some elaborate prank and that this family's not being forced to pay for fixing all of this," he replied, sighing once more. "Or I'll show her mercy when everyone more affected than me does. Might be a while. I've known Vaike for a great many years and I've never once seen him break down like that…"

"You and I both, Chrom." Now it was Frederick's turn to sigh, as he looked around at the scene surrounding them, before letting his eyes linger down on where Maribelle was still curled up. "Do you think we should assist her now, or would you rather we let the professionals handle her?" He didn't get a response, as Chrom was busy trying to get some words in with his sister before she was taken away, which left him just staring at the blonde on the cold ground. "I'm ashamed that of all the women in this world that I could have gotten into trouble with, you were the one I got stuck with," he said, listening to her cry and babble unintelligible words at him. "You must hope that no one dies tonight, because I will not allow my child to know a murderer of a mother."

Even over her crying, she heard him walk away, followed moments later by Chrom also heading off to presumably get back in the car and head over to the hospital to meet everyone else there. Everyone else except her, she realized, as she wasn't sure how she was going to manage to get there; that was answered for her when the paramedics helped her into the back of the ambulance that was still sitting there, beginning to check on her and all her potential injuries that she'd been ignoring in her panicked state. The whole time, while she was being asked questions about what had happened and the like, she kept stealing glances over at Lissa, who was also being questioned but at the same time was having her face attended to by some of the medical staff. Whenever Maribelle could actually see her friend's face, she could see some of the damage that she had caused, making her feel sicker than she already did about everything.

By the time they made it over to the hospital, Maribelle had thrown up twice, and would have several times more had she not started to have to keep her mouth closed to refrain from screaming out in pain, her body finally registering that she'd been hurt in the wreck. This led to, when getting them out of the ambulance and into the building, both ladies being taken to the same room, which already had one member of the group who'd come to the accident scene there waiting for them. While the nurses and doctors began getting a closer look at their new patients, their lone visitor sat and watched, stunned silent by something that he'd seen; the first moment he had where there weren't any doctors present, he moved right to Lissa's side and broke down into heavy tears, trying his hardest not to look at her.

"Hey, what's so wrong that it's got you crying?" she asked, her words even more slurred than they had been before, a result of her facial injuries becoming swollen. "Come on, tell me what's going on, Vaike!"

He tried to explain, but all that happened was his mouth moving with no words coming out, until he pointed a finger over at Maribelle and let loose with his thoughts. "She tried killin' our kid, that's what's goin' on! Came over here with 'im, listenin' to him scream while they were tryin' to keep him from bleedin' out all over everythin', and now they've got him somewhere that we ain't allowed, and…and…" Overcome with emotion, he dropped his finger and started crying again. "Lissa, they were sayin' he ain't ever gonna be the same again after this, and it's all her fault."

Reaching towards her fiancé with one hand and her broken face with the other, Lissa looked as if she was about to start crying as well. "I didn't realize anything was actually wrong with my baby," she mumbled, as she ran her fingers over what had been disfigured on her face. "I thought it was just me who'd been hurt, not him…"

"Excuse me, but I've been injured here as well," Maribelle interjected, earning two tearful glares in her direction. "Yes, yes, I know, no room to speak because this is all my fault, but it needed to be said."

"No, you're right, and we needed to hear it." On top of already being slurred, Lissa's voice was now wavering with how upset she was. "I guess we needed the reminder that we all got a little messed up here."

"A li'l messed up? You clearly ain't seen what happened to Owain then, 'cause that's far beyond just bein' a li'l messed up." Vaike was shaking, his whole body trembling from just how upset he was. "Can't believe this happened. When Chrom said someone stole the truck and wrecked it bad enough to be on the news, we thought it was someone actually stealin' the damn thing, not anythin' like this. Losin' my truck's one thing, but seein' the love of my life hurtin' like this is another, and none of this is as bad as knowin' that they're sayin' Owain might not ever be right again after he gets better from this. If he gets better."

Still touching her face, taking note in the severe crook in her nose that hadn't been there before, Lissa blinked back tears listening to what Vaike was saying, before adding her own thoughts. "He will get better, he's gotta! We can't have gone through so much just to lose him because of something like this! It was just a little car accident, right? He's got a few bumps and bruises but that's what me and Maribelle have too, so he's gotta—hey, hey, why are you crying again?" She was derailed by Vaike and how he had started crying once more listening to her speak, and by the time he got through explaining why he was crying (that was, because she had no idea just how bad the accident had been), she was sobbing just as hard, leaving Maribelle there to listen to them both.

It only got worse when Chrom and Frederick got there, bringing with them everything they could from the wreckage. For Maribelle to see them holding armfuls of purchases she'd made earlier in the evening, it dug into her more than the sounds of crying she'd been having to listen to. Even still, they managed to top that sort of emotional damage by dropping all the various clothes and whatnot against the wall, only for Chrom to show that he had grabbed the license plate off of the truck. The crumpled metal was not damaged enough to make the letters on it unreadable, making it an unfriendly reminder that the truck that had been wrecked had actually meant something to someone that was present. If Vaike hadn't already been emotionally compromised because of the people in his life being hurt, the proof that one of his few belongings had been destroyed was enough to make him break down further.

She already felt disgusted at herself for what she'd allowed to happen, but Maribelle really felt like she was scum of the earth for ruining so much for so many people.


The repercussions of what had happened went a lot further than just the physical aspect of things. While it was undeniable that something very wrong had happened, judging by the beat-up appearances of the two ladies, even after their injuries began to heal and fade, there was always a lingering reminder that the accident had happened. This, of course, was only made worse by the fact that even after they were both allowed to go home (which was the next day for Maribelle and the following one for Lissa), they were still ending up at the hospital every single day for the next month.

Or, rather, Maribelle was ending up there, as Lissa never really left. From the very moment that she could, she stayed by her son's side, taking what had happened to him incredibly personally and wanting to be there for him as often as she could. Despite everyone telling her that he wasn't going to know if she was there or not, she made it a point to spend every night there in his hospital room, waiting for the moment when she knew her child was going to be okay after what had happened to him.

It pained everyone to see Lissa in such a state of motherly protectiveness, but no one was more hurt by the sight than Maribelle was—because she knew that it was her fault. She knew that if hadn't been for her being insistent and stupid, the wreck wouldn't have happened, and the poor child wouldn't have had to have multiple plates put in his arm and hand to keep them functional. He wouldn't have needed to be put into a medically-induced coma while his small body tried to recover from the various chest injuries he'd sustained. He wouldn't have been given machines keeping him on the right side of living, including ones for breathing and eating.

Every day when she'd get dropped off at the hospital to spend time reflecting on what she'd done, Maribelle would seclude herself in the furthest corner of the room, looking out the window rather than at the mother or child in the room with her. She had spent many hours in the time since the accident talking to Lissa about what had happened, but it didn't erase the fact that it was like looking at a different woman when she looked at her friend's face, one changed by injuries and grief. So when they'd talk to each other while in that room, it was always done with Maribelle looking out the window and Lissa looking at her sleeping child, both of them wanting so much more than to be talking to one another.

They may still have been best friends, but until Owain woke up there would be a rift between them, one caused by Maribelle harming the innocent child the way she did. Despite that, however, Lissa wasn't one to jump to blaming Maribelle for what had happened, reminding everyone that she was just as guilty about everything, minus the part where the truck had been wrecked, and therefore if someone was going to blame Maribelle, they needed to blame her as well. There wasn't a single soul in the world that would actually do that, however, not when Lissa was having to suffer so much more than her friend.

But even though Lissa might have forgiven Maribelle, it didn't mean that everyone else had, nor did it mean they would. The first night after the accident, when she was back at the house, Chrom had flat-out told her that she was going to be kicked out due to what had happened, but he was going to give her enough time to figure out some new arrangements as to where she could live before he sent her on her way. This led her to start asking around to everyone she knew, wondering if anyone would give her a chance so that she wouldn't end up out on the street mostly dead. She was so desperate, she actually asked Frederick if she could stay with him (the answer was a firm no), but she wasn't anywhere close enough to try asking her parents. She ended up talking to Ricken about the situation, and after he got over being upset with her that she could have killed Lissa or Owain, he referred her to his parents, who were willing to give her a space at their house.

With that taken care of, she moved into Ricken's bedroom, which was empty due to him being away at school, and the healing process for everyone back at Chrom's house could really begin. Except, of course, for the fact that Maribelle was being taken over to the hospital by the family now taking care of her, and so anyone who came in to visit Owain would have to deal with her being there. For the most part, she was ignored entirely, but there were occasions when Robin would come with and spend time talking through things with Maribelle. Even in this dark situation, Robin was a caring friend who wasn't going to judge someone for what they'd done, and that was what Maribelle needed.

This was especially true because of some of the dirty, disdainful looks she would be given by some of the other visitors. Chrom would glare at her every time he saw her, and she could hear him mutter things about her under his breath, a habit that Lucina picked up with every visit she made alongside her father. To hear the little girl grumble about how Maribelle was a dirty murderer was almost as painful as having to hear the steady beeping of the machines keeping her godson alive, and that was much more painful than, for instance, the torn muscles in her leg that had been her only injury in everything. The mental aspects to the accident were leaps and bounds worse than the physical ones for her, and that only solidified that fact.

However, the nastiest things Chrom could have said about her didn't cut nearly as deep as the absolute silence she was receiving from Vaike, who hadn't spoken to her since the hours after the accident. He was so wrapped up in making sure that his little boy was going to be okay that he didn't care about anything but his fiancée and his son when he came into the room; there were days where Maribelle would get dropped off at the hospital and Vaike would already be there before her, and he wouldn't have left by the time she did. Through some of her conversations with Robin and Lissa, she learned that he wasn't obligated to work at the time, and if he felt that spending time by his son's side would be a better use of his time than working, he was allowed to do that. It did leave the school without one of its two gym teachers when their only substitute was already having to fill in as nurse, but it was understood and accepted.

The month dragged on, nearly every day being the exact same thing. The only times the routine differed were on days that Maribelle had to go do something else for part of the day, and as she was now reliant on two busily-working adults for getting her around everywhere, if she had something to do that wasn't sit at the hospital, everyone had to alter their plans a bit to accommodate everything. In an appointment a few days after the wreck, right after Maribelle had moved over to Ricken's house, she had been given the chance to find out what the child within her was, but she declined the offer at that moment, wanting her best friend to learn the news the same time she did. The doctor had responded by remaining gender-neutral about the baby, while giving Maribelle a sealed document that had the information inside of it for when she was ready to know.

Her thought had been to walk straight down to the hospital and open that document there in the room with Lissa, but two things were stopping her: one was her leg, which was bandaged to the point of it being unable to be bent, with the purpose of keeping her mostly immobile, and the other was the fact that Lissa wouldn't care at that moment. So she spent all day waiting for her ride to come get her, impatiently waiting to be able to open the document and find out what her little one was going to be.

The very next day, when she was up in the hospital room, she had brought the paper with her and was going to open it, but Lissa stopped her. "Not while my baby's not awake to hear it," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I want to know when he can know." If Maribelle wasn't already hoping for little Owain to wake up, that was enough incentive to make her wish for it harder. That only made the dragging feeling that month had feel worse, because she was not just waiting to see her godson lively again; she was waiting to know what the life inside of her was. She understood what Lissa's reasoning for wanting to wait was, though, and she was going to do her best to respect it.

It was just over a month after the accident when the day felt different from the moment Maribelle woke up that morning. Maybe it was the way her child was attempting to tumble around inside of her, or maybe it was the way she felt, for the first time in that month, like she wasn't hurting so bad anymore, but there was a strange feeling to the day. The feeling only became worse after she got over to the hospital and found the entirety of Lissa's family up in the room already, crowding around the bed. They were so focused on Owain that they didn't notice her enter and hobble over to her chair, where she sat and watched them doing whatever. "Today might be the day," she heard Lissa tell everyone, hints of excitement in a voice that had been so permanently sad as of late. "They said they're done keeping him under and that he can wake up whenever he's ready."

"Are they sure that's a good idea?" Robin asked, being interrupted mid-way through her question by Lucina demanding to be picked up so that she could see her cousin. "They've been saying that his injuries were quite bad, but do they really think he's healed enough to be able to handle the pain while conscious?"

"He's mostly better, I guess, so maybe?" There was now hesitance in Lissa's voice, as she really thought about the question she'd been asked. "I mean, he's got two totally strong parents so he should be able to handle it. And it's not like he's going to be going home today, so…" She trailed off, and when she started talking again, it was clear she was on the verge of crying. "It's still going to be a long while before he's back to being himself. First waking up, then breathing and eating on his own, then we get to bring him home. Small, baby steps."

"I miss him bein' the first thing we hear in the mornin', Lissa. Can't wait for that to be how it is again." Vaike was most definitely crying already, and Maribelle watched as he rested his head on the top of Lissa's as he hugged her close to him. "It's about time he wakes back up and we get to see his smilin' face and hear his ramblin' stories that make no sense to us but we love 'em anyway 'cause it's Owain tellin' us somethin' and—"

"You act as if he's been dead," Chrom cut in, before adding, "which, if he hadn't been put under like this, he would have wished he was. This was for the best for him, after what had happened." He turned to look over where Maribelle was sitting, and she sighed when she saw his glare. "I'm just saying, someone in this room could have killed him, so let's be thankful this is the worst that happened."

In a move she wouldn't have chosen to make given the circumstances, Maribelle was going to snap back at Chrom, but Lissa spoke before she got the chance. "I'm thankful every single day that he's alive and that I'm alive and, yes, that Maribelle's alive too." Chrom grumbled something at that, to which she replied, "I don't care that you hate that she hurt me, she did it because she didn't want us getting in trouble! If I can forgive her, you can too! Now stop being such a sourpuss and get over it!"

"Did…you just call me a sourpuss?" Repeating the word with shock and surprise, Chrom didn't expect his sister to confirm that she did, and he certainly wasn't expecting everyone else to agree with her that he was being one. "Okay, well, I have every right to be upset about everything that's happened. A month without the school nurse, several days each week without one of our gym teachers, and a house missing one of the more lively occupants of it. How else am I supposed to handle that, aside from being upset by what caused it?"

"This isn't the time or place to be having this argument, so I suggest you two stop." Robin, still holding Lucina up, looked between Chrom and Lissa, shaking her head at both of them. "What if Owain woke up right now and that was the first thing he heard? He's already going to be waking up to his father crying and his cousin yelling for him, so can we stop the fighting and give the poor thing at least a little normalcy?"

"How's it going to be 'normal' for him when he's going to wake up with tubes down his throat?" Now focusing on her son again, Lissa leaned a bit more into her hug with Vaike, inhaling deeply as she did. "He's going to see all of us and going to want to move and try talking and it's not going to happen and he'll be so upset…"

The door to the room opened then, a nurse coming in to check on the boy to make sure everything was going fine with him, and everyone fell silent while she was present. But the moment she was gone, Chrom was back to pushing blame towards Maribelle. "And if he's upset, we can tell him who to be upset with. I wouldn't be surprised if he never showed love towards his godmother again after this."

"What did I just say about him waking up to the sound of fighting?" Unhappy that she had been ignored by her husband, Robin pushed Lucina over into his arms before heading towards the door. "I'm going out for a walk, to get away from all of this. Anyone care to come with me, or are we all just going to keep fighting and making things worse?"

Quite obviously, Lissa wasn't going to leave, and Vaike was going to stay by her side, so they were out of the question. Chrom looked at his wife in shock, before stating that he was going to stay there to keep Lucina in check. Robin took that as no one wanting to go with her, and she opened the door, just for Maribelle to stand up and come towards her. "I'll take a walk with you," she said, knowing that walking with a still-healing leg wasn't the smartest option, but it would get her out of the room for a few minutes. "Maybe we can have a lovely chat while we're out."

"I would be fine with that, sure." Not sounding exactly thrilled with her choice of companion, Robin held the door open for Maribelle, and closed it tightly behind them both once they were in the hall. "Is there something in particular you want to talk about, or was that your excuse to get away from Chrom?"

"You understand people so well, dear Robin," the blonde replied, smiling as she spoke. "I have grown quite tired of him doing nothing but blindly hate me, when his sister whom has suffered so much at my hands has forgiven me almost entirely."

"Yes, but Chrom and Lissa are two very different people who handle bad situations in different ways." They were walking down the hall, many closed doors to rooms holding other critical-care patients on either side of them. "I'm surprised Chrom has chosen only to yell at you because of all this. If anyone else had hurt his sister and his nephew, he would have beat them into the ground if he could."

The memories were faint and clouded, but Maribelle could somewhat remember Chrom trying to take swings at her out in that intersection the night everything went wrong. "It may have to do with my current physical state," she said, putting a hand over her stomach right as the child within it kicked a bit, causing her to laugh. "He would never hit a pregnant lady, would he?"

"It is Chrom we're talking about, so the answer could go either way, but I don't think he would. He'd much prefer hitting and breaking other things." Robin looked to Maribelle and saw the younger woman laughing again. "What's so funny? Never thought I'd hear laughter in a place like this."

"Nothing's funny, I'm just finding my little one's movements something bright in this dark place. I am most certainly not laughing about Chrom's track record of breaking things, if that's what you were thinking was going on." She tried to curb her laughter, but the strange feeling of something actually being alive inside of her was enough to keep her giggling every once in a while. "I'm forever thankful that nothing bad happened to this one in the wreck. Is that wrong of me to say?"

Robin shook her head, a friendly smile on her lips as she did. "Of course it's not. You want your kid to be safe, easy as that. I think the situation would have been much worse if something had happened to your child, after everything you've already gone through because of them. At least, the way things played out, everyone gets to live."

"I can't help but feel bad about possibly robbing Owain of his chance at living a normal life, though." Now the laughter was fading, as she tried to make herself be more serious to talk about something important. "All this time I've spent in that room with him and Lissa, I've heard so many things about what could always be wrong with him, and it crushes my heart every time I see him lying there, so helpless and small and broken."

"We've had plenty of discussions about it at home, so I understand what drives you to feel that way. But we all agree that if that kid is even a tiny bit like his father, he'll be just fine in the end, no matter what the doctors might think." Her smile grew a bit, looking at hope beginning to fill Maribelle's face. "I'm still hesitant about them waking him up now, while he's still healing, but they can't keep him in that state forever. He'll have to understand that his arm's pinned in several places and his hand's partially metal now, but he'll be fine in the end, no matter what."

The words gave Maribelle a bit of inner peace, something she'd desperately needed over the past month. "And do you think he'll learn to forgive me?" she asked, now trying to keep herself from crying as she spoke. "Do you think there will be a day where he'll love me as his godmommy again?"

"He'll never have stopped. I know Lissa won't make him hate you, and you know that Vaike goes along with Lissa most of the time. Chrom…well, once everyone's back home, he'll drop the act of blaming you for everything, so Owain won't be told to hate you through him. Lucina'll be too excited to have her cousin back to say anything. And me, you know I'm not going to ever tell anyone to hate someone else." Maribelle was so thrilled to hear those words that she nearly knocked Robin over as she tried to hug her. "Hey now, we can do without either of us getting hurt right now!"

"Sorry, sorry," Maribelle apologized, unlatching herself from Robin and going back to walking like nothing had happened. "I was a bit overcome with happiness there, if you couldn't tell. The news that you all won't teach the child to hate me is a lovely thing to get to hear, after everything else I've heard."

"I understand, don't you worry. I'm sure you'd be even more relieved to hear that I've tried getting Chrom to change his mind on you not being allowed to stay with us." A small gasp made its way through Maribelle's lips, although Robin didn't exactly have happy news to share after that. "He's still stubborn on keeping you out, but so is everyone else. Coming to visit, that's allowed, but they don't want you sleeping over."

Nodding at what she was hearing, Maribelle had expected it but was at least comforted that they'd let her come over still. "Well, when Ricken returns home from school, he and I will have to work out some arrangement with his parents to keep me under someone's roof, but that's a problem for another day. Right now, I just want to thank you for being a kind soul and a listening ear to someone who's been so hurt by everything." Offering only an arm for a hug this time, Robin accepted the gesture, and Maribelle sighed once they broke apart. "It's nice to know that, despite everything, people do still care about me."

"We could never not care about you, Maribelle. You're basically family, and that's not going to change. What, if it had been Lissa driving instead of you, were we going to hate her for this? No, we'd be upset but we wouldn't hate her. Just like we don't hate you." They'd made a loop on the floor, and were back at the door to the room everyone was in. "Now do we need to talk more, or would you like to go back inside and see what's going on?"

Maribelle looked down at her legs, which she could see were trembling from the short walk. "Talking more sounds lovely, but perhaps a bit later? I do believe I need to take a seat and rest a little." Robin was completely understanding, and as she opened the door to the room they were greeted with virtually the same scene they'd left before, minus the bickering. Everyone was focusing on the child in the bed, waiting for him to do something that wasn't lie there motionlessly, and that was what Robin intended on going back to doing as well. Maribelle, on the other hand, was shaking as she stood and needed to sit back down—but that didn't stop her from stealing a glance at the boy as she walked past his bed.

She could have sworn that she watched one of the fingers on his good hand move slightly as she looked, but it may just have been that hopeful spirit playing tricks on her. What was definite, though, was that by the end of the day, he hadn't done anything more than possibly that small movement, leaving everyone disappointed that they'd spent all day waiting for nothing to happen.

The next morning felt a lot more normal to Maribelle when she woke up, but when she did her routine thing to check her social media sites and saw that Lissa had posted a picture of a very groggy and uncomfortable-looking Owain lying in that bed, his green eyes barely open, she knew that it wasn't a normal day at all. Her godson was going to be fine, despite everything, and that meant that the world was slowly going to get back to normal.


A/N: And now we know that things are (mostly) okay in the end. What happens next, though? We'll have to wait and see.