Here's a holiday gift for you lovely people! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all! Read and enjoy!
Chapter 7
It was not long after Hades had traveled to Ylisse. The Smashers who were not affected by the demon's rays of light managed to transport the affected ones to the emergency rooms at the resort. They mostly were surprised by Master Hand who was unable to move after sending Pit, Dark Pit, Palutena, Robin, and Lucina to Ylisse in their attempt to stop Hades from causing catastrophe. The right hand was taken to his own room with many doctors and specialists in hopes of reviving him. Meanwhile, doctors and nurses were taking care of the Smashers who had lost their strength. Luckily, the potions, drinks, or ailments from the universes of those Smashers were enough to regain lost strength of those fighters. However, they still felt very weak by the Lord of the Underworld's power. As a result, most of them could only move their arms and speak normally. Despite that, only one person was capable of standing on her own. The bounty hunter was then ordered to rest until her conditions were stable.
"Is everyone in good conditions?" Samus asked her doctor who was reviewing the status of her health. She tilted her head while lying on the bed to face her doctor.
"The ones who were affected by this monstrosity's magic will recover in due time," she replied with a smile. "You guys should consider yourselves lucky."
"I suppose so," the blonde hunter said while her expression remained unchanged.
"Whatever that tyrant did, he only took your physical strength while sparing your life," the doctor's words sounded like she expected her fighters to die by the hands of Hades. "I do not know what was on that monster's mind when he summoned those rays of light. I just hope he gets stopped."
"Five of the Smashers are following Hades as of right now. I trust that they are capable enough to defeat him."
"I do hope so," the female doctor said before completing her checkup. "You have been progressing well, far faster than the others."
"I've been through rough times," Samus simply responded. "Years of training have conditioned my body to handle better than most of the people here."
"Makes sense," she chuckled. "Well, I'll leave you be for now since you're well on your way to full recovery. Please rest well and call me whenever you need something."
"Thank you," Samus said before staring at the ceiling.
Once the doctor left, Samus was left by herself along with the other Smashers who were still sleeping on their beds. She began thinking about the demon lord and his intentions. The bounty hunter wondered the true origins of Hades and how truly powerful he was since she never got the information from Pit or Palutena. Soon her thoughts then shifted to wanting to assist the angels and the goddess in fighting the Lord of the Underworld. However, because of her current condition, the best course of action was to protect the city from any potential danger. She attempted to devise a plan should Hades return to the city. However, a comrade had entered the room to visit one of the injured Smashers.
"Link?" Samus called the Hylian swordsman who then saw the bounty hunter.
He communicated the blonde through sign language. The Chozo woman was able to understand Link well since she also was proficient in the sign language as well.
"How is Zelda?" Samus said as she read her ally's language before responding. "She's fine, still regaining her strength."
Link then walked to the bed next to Samus' and saw Zelda resting with her eyes closed. He was concerned for her well-being because he did not want her to die. His heart sunk when he found out that the brunette had been struck by Hades' ray of light. Link assumed that she was killed. After finding out that she merely lost her strength, the swordsman had a sigh of relief, knowing that she was still alive. He placed his left hand on her left cheek.
"Rest assured, Zelda is in good conditions," Samus told Link in her calm tone. "She will not be in any harm as long as you and I are there for her."
The Hylian swordsman merely smiled since he was glad to hear that someone also wanted to look out for Zelda just as much as he did. He then faced the bounty hunter with the different smile. His spoke through his hands, "I can tell you care for Zelda a lot."
"Of course I do," she admitted while smiling at the thought of the princess on her mind. "I would do whatever it takes to protect Zelda."
"You know, when I saw you holding her face with your hand, I thought you two had some feelings for each other," Link messaged the blonde woman.
"I do not know if Zelda feels that way," Samus responded while still keeping a hard face to decipher. "All that matters is that Zelda is safe."
"Yes," Link nodded. "But I'm sure Zelda cares for you as well. After all, she appreciated you keeping her safe from harm."
The bounty hunter chuckled before feeling a bit warm inside after thinking more about the brunette. Then the Hylian swordsman had a different expression where he was concerned about someone else.
"Do you know if Master Hand is okay?" The Amazonian woman spoke after reading her ally's signs. "I cannot be certain."
"Will he recover?"
"He suffered the worst out of all who were affected by Hades' magic. The specialists told me that he may require more medical attention. It is likely due to that Master Hand used the rest of his powers to allow Pit, Dark Pit, Palutena, Robin, and Lucian to travel to another universe."
"Let's hope that he manages to pull through," Link was worried that the Creator may not survive for long. "Looks like you need something to drink, Samus."
"I appreciate the offer."
At Origin Peak, Hades walked towards the bottom of the volcano. He wanted to check the status of the skull in his attempt to reanimate it back to life. The progress was slow since the demon only arrived in Ylisse just a while ago. No distinct changes were noticeable other than the skeleton glowing a bit brighter than usual. As he checked the progress of the skeleton's revival, Hades recalled the final moments after he had left the battle in Ylisstol.
"It appears that they know about Lucian being a woman," he merely chuckled by the angels and the goddess' reaction to the masked swordswoman revealing her identity. "Now that they know, I wonder how they would feel when her greatest enemy appears right before her very eyes."
Hades was on his right knee before gazing at the skull again. The demon realized that he was not knowledgeable of the skull other than that it was once a monster. Thanks to the powers of the Master Core, Hades was able to gather data of Robin and Lucina's home. He closed his eyes and concentrated until the information clicked to him.
A vision of a head, resembling the skull Hades found, was present in his mind. At first, it was blurry to see. The more focused he was, the clearer image was getting. Eventually, the vision became visible for any living eye to see. The head then had a body, but it was not a human body. It extended as long as the country itself. The vision had wings on its back, closest to the head. Red eyes glowed. A dragon was seen from the vision. In fact, Hades found the skull of a dragon. He was going to revive the beast in due time.
"The wings of despair, the breath of ruin, you are the fell dragon…Grima."
The vision had ended. Hades now understood whose skull it belonged to. He merely nodded at the sight of the dragon he saw. Everything about him was known to Hades. It went along with his plot for vengeance in the Smash world. He did contemplate for a moment that Grima was going to be the only suitable candidate for his scheme. However, Hades did have a personal vendetta against Pit, Dark Pit, and Palutena. As a result, he devised another plan to reanimate a body of a monster that the angels and the goddess did not want besides the demon himself.
"Oh, this is going to be devastating yet so much fun at the same time," the Lord of the Underworld muttered with a devious tone. He then placed his right hand on the side of Grima's skull. "My dear Grima, I do long to see the horrified faces of them when they see you again because it just makes me happier."
Several minutes had passed since Hades discovered that he found the fell dragon's remaining skull. He knew that his enemies saved the capital without much difficulty. Despite having no success during his assaults, the demon smirked at the thought. It seemed like he intentionally allowed the heroes to easily defeat his Underworld Army and Risen since they posed little threat other than being foreign to the fighters. This time, however, Hades decided to turn up the notch a little. He summoned more Risen than he had previously. Many of them were of various classes, making this army a much tougher group.
"Hello, my Risen," Hades spoke before his army groaned in honor of their master. "What do you say we spice things up here in Ylisse for our little insects?"
His Risen did not object to the demon's orders as they were ready to obey his commands and kill anyone he requested. The Lord of the Underworld laughed due to the loyalty that the Risen displayed for him.
"Listen carefully, my pets. I have a plan that they will not expect. Listen carefully…"
Inside the castle of Ylisse, the Exalt ordered his remaining soldiers and clerics to aid and heal the fallen warriors who were injured. The casualties were minimal in his kingdom. Despite that, Chrom felt guilty for allowing his stronghold to be invaded by Risen. Additionally, a few of his soldiers were killed by the assassins and warriors who managed to overpower the few cavaliers in his castle. His wife was able to talk to him, saying that it was not entirely his fault. She tried to explain that it was Hades who tried to implant fear into their minds of a potential siege at the fortress. While it did help him feel better, it was not enough for him to feel the burden weighing on his shoulders.
Once everything was cleared and settled in the castle, there was one more thing for the group specifically needed to clarify. Chrom decided that it was best for them to return to the throne room to discuss the matter at hand. Robin and her daughter were feeling embarrassed for hiding Lucian's identity for so long that not even Chrom was aware of it. There was much explaining to do since the group witnessed the unmasking of Robin's daughter.
"Alright," the Exalt started with much confusion on his mind. "What is exactly going on?"
"Lucian," Pit chimed in with just as much bewilderment as Chrom. "Who are you exactly?"
"I'm surprised to see that a woman tried to disguise herself as a man," Dark Pit was a bit curious but also hinted a negative tone to the swordswoman. "You don't see that every day."
"You two still need to explain yourselves," Palutena demanded an explanation while crossing her arms.
"First things first," the tactician began. "Lucian is obviously not my son. She is my daughter. We do have a son, but he's much younger. His name is Morgan."
"At least you cleared up on your family," the goddess acknowledged the information but was not focused on that. She had more attention to the swordswoman who still was silent for the most part. "What is your name? Are you Lucian?"
"My name is Lucina," she clarified.
"Lucina…"
"That's a nice name," the white angel said to Robin's daughter. "It sounds more fitting than Lucian."
"Thank you," the blunette smiled briefly before changing her expression to feel shameful. "But I know that's not why you want to know about myself."
"I know," Pit understood Lucina's statement. "So why did you become Lucian and then disguise yourself as a man instead?"
"…" she initially grunted since she did not know how to explain the reason for wearing the mask and masquerading as a swordsman.
"What's wrong?"
"…"
"Lucina," Palutena said with concern in her tone while keeping a serious expression on her face. "Is there something troubling you?"
"What's so hard about explaining something?" The dark angel coldly said before crossing his arms.
"Pittoo," the white angel called out his doppelganger. "Lighten up, will you? Lucina clearly doesn't feel comfortable talking about it."
"Hmm," he sneered. "She did lie about her identity to everyone, including her father. You should just say it, so we know about it."
"Well…" Pit could not disagree with part of Dark Pit's statement. "You do have a point…"
"Lucina," the green-haired goddess calmly spoke to the swordswoman. "Don't take this as us being aggressive on learning your reasons for hiding your true identity to others, even your father. However, you do need to explain to not just us but also Chrom as well."
"Goddess Palutena," Robin interjected. "With all due respect, Lucina isn't the type of person to explain those types of things about herself."
"I could clearly tell from that."
"I don't suggest pressuring her in owning you all an explanation for this. My daughter should talk about it when she is ready to-"
"Mother," Lucina finally spoke up to the group. "Lady Palutena is correct. I must explain my actions to her and father. I cannot delay the inevitable any longer."
"Are you sure?" Robin furrowed her eyes. "You don't have to be pressured to explain it at all. I could explain on your behalf."
"I appreciate your help, mother, but this is something that should be explained by me."
"If you say so, then I won't object to it."
"About time," Dark Pit spewed out after rolling his eyes.
Ignoring the dark angel's comment, the goddess continued. "Lucina, why did you disguise yourself as a man this whole time?"
"To begin, it all started when mother and I were invited for the fourth annual Super Smash Brothers tournament…"
"It was that long ago?" Lissa questioned, tilting her head in confusion due to where Lucina was going with the story.
"Yes," the swordswoman confirmed. "At first, mother and I were happy to be in this prestigious competition for several reasons. One of them was to meet the Hero-King himself."
"Marth?" Pit asked to confirm.
"What does he have to do with your identity?" Palutena inquired.
"He was an inspiration to me growing up," she explained after thinking about it for several seconds. "I was aspired to become like him as I grew up. When mother and I entered into the Smash World, I was exuberant on meeting the Hero-King and telling him about the aspirations he had given me. However, during our orientation, it was not how I anticipated it would turn out."
"What do you mean?"
"…" Lucina felt uneasy about revealing what had happened at orientation that caused her to be Lucian. She would rather not disclose it because it was something personal to her. The woman closed her eyes, suppressing the emotions she was feeling at the moment.
"Lucina?" Palutena was suddenly worried after witnessing the swordswoman holding back her tears. She felt not only sad for her, the goddess felt bad for being aggressive on knowing why Lucina wore a mask all those years. "You do not need to speak anymore. If it's something personal, then you should not disclose it until you are comfortable."
"But I must," she blurted out, surprisingly not having a single tear in her eyes. "I owe you, Pit, and Dark Pit, and father an explanation as to why I've hidden my identity for so long. This is the right thing to do."
"If you say so," the goddess conceded, not wanting to continue the argument when she wanted to know the masked swordswoman's reasoning for becoming a man.
"Lucina…" Chrom quietly spoke, feeling sympathy for his daughter. He had no knowledge about his daughter's situation since he was unaware of the incident.
"Let's just say Lucina wasn't greeted so well at her orientation," Robin added in the conversation, taking over the discussion
Palutena, Pit, and Dark Pit were slightly confused by what the tactician meant by her statement. They tried to figure out if Lucina experienced trauma or a conflict that made her this way. It was difficult to tell the Ylissean's expression. Despite Robin revealing an unhappy face, it was difficult to tell if she was feeling unpleasant.
"If you must know," Lucina's mother continued. "Lucina had to demonstrate her fighting skills in front of Master Hand, several figureheads, and a small audience. She presented her swordplay very well, probably her finest since she really liked to show her abilities. Lucina trained to perfect nearly every swing of her sword."
"That's some dedication there," the goddess was impressed by Lucina's work ethic and partially smiled because of it. "That clearly would've given you a good impression on everyone, right?"
"I initially thought that was the case," Lucina did not sound particularly pleasant. "It was not an outcome I had expected."
"I'm… still not getting what you're getting at."
"Hold on, so did you not exceed your expectations at orientation?" The white angel wondered since he did not understand what Robin and Lucina were trying to convey.
"No, I performed very well. I was satisfied with my performance," the blue-haired woman answered, giving Pit more confusion that he initially had.
"Then I'm getting more confused than I was before," he placed his hands on his brown hair.
"It was not much of my daughter's performance that was a problem, it's more of how the others felt about it," Robin clarified, which cleared the confusion that the angels and the goddess had for a moment. "What happened then was the reason why my daughter passed off as my son."
"What happened?"
"The executives then informed Lucina that while her swordplay was impressive," the tactician paused before contemplating whether she should continue. After a quick thought, Robin knew that she needed to disclose it. "They flat out told her that she fought and looked like Marth in the most derogatory way."
"What?" Palutena shouted, disliking the thought of a group of a prestigious tournament would ever insult Lucina like that. "How could they say that to her? That's demoralizing!"
"That's not even the end of it," Robin's blood was boiling as the thought was getting vivid. "Because of the way she looked, they had to force her to change her appearance and have a different backstory just so the people would see more original fighters and not clones of other fighters."
Palutena, Pit, Dark Pit, Chrom, and Lissa were horrified to hear the awful revelation. All of them expressed cringe and disgust that such high-status representatives could ever say such things to a woman who was invited to compete. Dark Pit did feel empathy since the way he fought was similar to his doppelganger, which prompted backlash at him for being an unoriginal fighter. Pit refused to believe it was true, but he had to accept it. Lissa angrily crossed her arms while piercing her lips. She hated the thought of insulting someone because of prejudice without even learning about their history. Chrom closed his eyes and grunted in discomfort. He wanted to confront those executives and give them a nice talk about insulting his family. Palutena just could not believe that Lucina had to deal with that horrifying experience. She felt terrible for the swordswoman and wanted to comfort her out of sheer sympathy. Despite wanting to do so, Palutena resisted the urge.
"Lucina, I'm so sorry that this happened to you," the goddess said with sympathy.
"Thank you for your understanding," Lucina showed a little smile because she was glad to hear that people were on her side. Palutena felt a little warm inside because it was the first time she ever saw the swordswoman grin. "As a result, I had to wear the mask, shortened my hair, and change my backstory in order to pass off as a different swordfighter."
"If I may ask, what changes did you make for your background?"
"I prefer to not speak about it," her face revealed despair by the thought of what part of history did she change. "It's something I wish to not disclose to anyone."
"I understand," Palutena closed her eyes, acknowledging that some boundaries could not be crossed.
"To think my daughter and I had to masquerade this false identity for so long," Robin stated aloud, shaking her head in disappointment. "This has been taken a toll on Lucina much more than me."
"Now you all understand where I had this identity from," Lucina spoke up while looking away to hide her face.
"There's no shame in hiding your identity," Palutena disagreed. "We didn't know why you had to act that way back then."
"You're very kind," the Ylissean slightly expressed shame even though she did not have a choice.
The goddess softly smiled, feeling better that she learned more about Lucina and enjoyed viewing her true self. Meanwhile, Robin had to settle one more issue on her own. She turned to face her husband and walked towards him. She felt guilty for not telling the Exalt everything about the situation. While there was not much opportunity to disclose about it on her own time, the tactician believed that she should have told him the minute she had learned about her daughter's cruel circumstance. She was ready to respond to however the blue-haired swordsman reacted.
"Chrom," Robin softly spoke to her husband while struggling to maintain eye contact due to her embarrassment. "I'm really sorry for not telling you about this."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Robin," he walked up to his wife, standing very close to her. To ease her shame, Chrom lifted her chin up to where their eyes met. "I don't think you should put much blame on yourself. You didn't have much of a choice. Although I do wish that I knew about it earlier when you and Lucina went to the Smash world, I cannot make any judgments. It was not something you could've done in that moment."
"You forgive me that quickly?" Robin was skeptical with her husband's forgiveness. She tried to look away, but Chrom was not allowing that to happen. "I kept this from you for years. You were even confused when I called Lucina our son when we arrived here not too long ago. How can you be so-"
She was interrupted by Chrom leaning closer to press his lips onto hers. The sudden kiss caused Robin to blush slightly for a moment before she returned the kiss back. Dark Pit and Lissa rolled their eyes as if they had seen too many of that. Pit was a bit embarrassed to see a couple kissing mainly because he did not know who Chrom was. Palutena did not mind what was happening. However, she instinctively turned to Lucina who displayed a small smile at the sight of her parents showing affection for each other. As a result, the goddess grinned to see the swordswoman expression something so rare. A genuine smile.
"Charming," the tactician said after beaming from the fact that her husband understood her.
"You overthink things sometimes," he slightly teased her.
"I suppose being a tactician has its drawbacks," Robin played along, which prompted Chrom to chuckle.
The room fell silent for a brief stint before a member of the Shepherds ran into the throne room. He was a Great Knight with blue armor and brown hair who assisted the Exalt in the Ylisse-Plegia war.
"Milord," the man greeted his comrade.
"Frederick," Chrom acknowledged his presence. "What brings you here?"
"I am here to inform you of the upcoming duel between the khans of Regna."
"Is it that time again?"
"Duel? Like a fight?" Pit wondered.
"To clarify," the Ylisse knight captain continued while a bit skeptical of the angels and the goddess in Chrom's presence. He was not sure if they posed any threat or not. However, he dismissed the thought since he trusted the Exalt and his wife for allowing them to be in the castle. "Regna is another country far different from ours here. They take a more militaristic approach to their lifestyle. In recent times, they have two rulers, but one will always supersede the other."
"Then what's the point of having two rulers if one is above the other?" The white angel asked again since he was curious about this world.
"Listen to the man first, ask questions later," Palutena politely told her angel who then proceeded to listen to Frederick.
"To settle whoever rules Regna, the two rulers known as khan will duel each other in a tournament to decide who will supersede the other."
"If you're wondering why they decide to settle the issue in the manner that they do," Chrom added to answer unsaid questions. "Battle is their politics. They settle things through fighting."
"I've never seen humans have that sort of diplomacy," Pit muttered who was still wondering why those kinds of people believe that fighting was the way of deciding things.
"It's an interesting concept," Palutena admitted while thinking more about Regna's philosophy in her mind. "I'm certain that you are informing Chrom this for a reason."
"There is," Frederick was not going to hide his intent. "Milord, Flavia of the East requests you, Lady Robin, and Lady Lucina to assist her in the battle."
"I see," the Exalt said at first. "We'll head to Regna to speak with Flavia."
"Chrom," his wife interjected. "If you're going to aid her in the fight, then I want to join as well."
"Of course," he smiled. "Frederick, I want you to take charge of Ylisstol while we all make our way to Regna."
"Yes, sir," the captain bowed before stepping aside to let the group exit the castle to set their next destination to Regna.
Author's Note: This was actually difficult to write mainly because of Lucina's reason for hiding her identity. I wanted to write it for a purpose later on, which I won't say because I want to surprise you guys. Hope you all liked the chapter!