Laurent and Lucina: Fate

That… had been a battle, alright. Laurent sighed deeply as he swung his leg over the saddle, dismounting his black gelding. Prince Morgan had put an end to General Yen'fay and ended the battle, following which the majority of the army had left the volcano to make camp. They would need rest before moving to take on the Conqueror himself. In the absence of Lord Chrom and Lady Robin, as well as Sir Frederick who had stayed for their protection, Laurent took charge.

Ordering injuries inventoried and treated and the camp made, he inspected his weapons for wear. Hmmm. Judging from how the past five battles had gone and calculating the average intensity of use they had faced per battle, if nothing out of the ordinary happened they would last for another one by a slight margin. He wasn't injured, and a quick inspection of Hephaestus revealed the horse was fine, too. They could both do with a washing, though, what with having just come out of a volcano. "I guess we know what we're doing this evening, Hephaestus," he said, patting the beast on its neck as he led it away.

Hephaestus was a sturdy, big horse and his body had a lot of nooks and crannies that filth and soot managed to find their way into. Laurent had learnt this the hard way ever since he had acquired the beast, but he didn't mind taking his time to wash it. As much as he enjoyed helping the others, sometimes their company got to be a bit… much. Especially Owain and Cynthia with their enthusiastic games. Every second he spent cleaning gunk off of his steed's legs or working his hardest to make his white markings shine, was a second he had entirely to himself with his thoughts.

When he had come to the past in pursuit of Lucina, he had certainly not expected to get caught up in a war with Valm. Still, he supposed it was for the better. Even in this era, there was little information to be found about the resurrection ritual for the Fell Dragon- on Ylisse. In Valm, there might have been more of an opportunity to find relevant information… although, he bitterly thought, being constantly on the move from the Conqueror's forces made it hard to find and read anything. How was a scholar supposed to get anything done like this?

At least he could still make himself useful, he told himself. He was a knight of sorts too, and with Prince Morgan back in their company he had his job- guard him at all times in battle. They got on decently well, and he admired his lord's brilliance when it came to strategy. Lucina had often remarked how great a team they were. Praise from Lucina always came as a pleasant surprise- she preferred to run things smoothly in silence, so he knew that when she praised him or expressed joy at something, she genuinely meant it. But he didn't enjoy all this bloodshed, one bit. He would much rather sit in a quiet library to work on some thesis or other all day. And his mother had expressed the same- then again, his father had expressed distaste for all this warfare too, and this while Sir Frederick was one of Ylisse's finest.

Even if you were good at fighting, one battle after the other would really start wearing you down after a while, he supposed. They were all good people, even if some were more readily capable of violence than others. He could write an entire thesis on the Shepherds and their dynamics if he wanted to, especially those who had come from the future with him and Lucina. He knew them well, and in social situations, his skills of observation were unmatched even by his mother.

There were not, however, when he was focused half on his thoughts and half on his horse. He was caught completely off guard when someone slid two gloves hands over his eyes. "So this is where you went!" a familiar, sweet voice said in his ear, "Guess who?"

"It's quite unlike you to play silly games right after a battle, Lucina," he said, turning around to face her and to force her to remove her hands. "Is the post-battle council over?"

"Yes," she said, although she seemed to hesitate. "We'll take the battle to Walhart next, but Mother said we need to rest, first. Sir Frederick asked me to find you to let you know you don't have watch tonight." Laurent nodded, acknowledging the fact. He'd been on watch almost every other night since they had first reached Valm, so a night off was a pleasant change of pace. He made a note to thank his father for the word he had undoubtedly put in. "Your entire family has a habit of working yourselves to the bone, to the point where it's not healthy for yourself, huh?" This was true.

To Laurent's surprise, Lucina grabbed a brush and started helping him out. "It's sad, though… Yen'fay and his reasons." So she told him as they worked on Hephaestus's tail and mane. Apparently, Walhart's men had threatened to kill Yen'fay's sister, Princess Say'ri, if he didn't join forces with the Conqueror. He'd been a wanted general not only for his power over Chon'sin and its armies, but also for his own immense skill with a sword. Honestly, when he'd heard they would be going up against him next, he'd been concerned. Fortunately, the Ylissean forces had plenty of incredible warriors as well… and it was quite hard to put a sword to someone who slung magic at you from far away.

Say'ri had known nothing of it all, and Yen'fay had had no idea that she had been taken into the protection of the Shepherds. By the time he'd found out she was safe, he had already been in too deep… "We were going to discuss our next course of action when that toad of a strategist of Walhart's showed up and decided to shove this all down our throats… poor Say'ri is completely out of sorts."

"She would be. Imagine the same would happen with you and Morgan…"

"I know." She paused, finally sighing and dropping the brush. Instead, she leaned both arms on Hephaestus's back, resting her face against them and sighing. He looked at her with pity. She'd been here, fighting, two years ago. She had entered this era fighting, and she'd had little of a break even in those two years between wars. "Can we just sic Walhart and King Validar onto each other?" she asked, "Let them kill each other for a while so we can catch a damn break?"

"Easy there, Lucina," Laurent said, hoping to lighten her mood, "Your mother wouldn't like to hear you'd copied your father's language."

"But that's just it, Laurent!" she suddenly screamed, startling the horse. "My mother –my real mother, the one from our timeline- is dead! And so is my father!" She made a fist, but seemed to realise in time she wasn't leaning on a wall so she didn't slam it. "First my aunt went… then Basilio… then Father and Mother, and then everyone else! I… I came to the past in order to change that bleak future… and now… now…" she bit her lip to keep from crying, so Laurent dropped his own brush to walk over to her and comfort her. Putting his arms around her, he pulled her into a sitting position on the ground. "Khan Flavia just returned," she explained between sobs. "She said… she said Khan Basilio is dead."

That hit home- Khan Basilio had been akin to a legend in his own right. Not to mention a staunch ally to Exalt Chrom and extremely good at keeping camp morale high. Losing him… was a tremendous loss. But for Lucina, it was even worse. "I tried to stop him!" she cried, "I warned him that Walhart would kill him…" She burst into tears, unable to stop from crying for a few minutes. Laurent knew that at this point she didn't need reassurance, just someone to hold her and to listen to her, and gave her just that.

Finally, she gained her breath for long enough to talk. "I… I've already failed twice, Laurent. Father… Father will be next…"

"You don't know that, Lucina…"

"Don't you see?!" She looked at him as if he were mad. "I thought I could change things! I thought I could save Aunt Emmeryn!"

"And you did," Laurent reminded her. "The news of the assassination attempt reached the village I resided in. I immediately knew that it was you who had stepped in to foil it."

"Much good that it did us, she just met her end after a different turn of events!"

"We all die eventually-"

"Spare me that crap!" Tears were streaming down her face. She truly, genuinely believed that her father and this world were doomed. "A-after Aunt Emmeryn, now it's Khan Basilio… What good is my knowledge of the future if I can't change the situation? Khan Basilio went to fight Walhart all the same! He wouldn't listen to me!" She buried her face in her hands. "I should have stopped him…"

"There was no stopping Khan Basilio once he had his mind set on something," Laurent said. "None of this is your fault… you told them what you know, and they chose to not take that knowledge and do something with it. That is their mistake, not yours."

"I couldn't save Aunt Emmeryn or Khan Basilio… so how can I save Father? Especially when I don't even know how he dies exactly? All I know is that he was betrayed by his dearest friend!"

"Don't tell Exalt Chrom if you think he might not listen," Laurent advised her. "Tell his closest friends. Tell Lady Robin and my father everything you know. Rumours, facts, gut feelings. They will be able to work with it. It's not you against the world, you know. You don't have to save him alone."

"Maybe you're right… Right." Drying her tears, Lucina got up. "I'll go see if Sir Frederick is available. Thank you, Laurent." With that, she took off, leaving Laurent to finish cleaning his steed.

He didn't see her much until after they had defeated the Conqueror and found themselves thrown into another series of battles in a desperate bid to stop King Validar, having stolen the Fire Emblem, from resurrecting the Fell Dragon. Why had Laurent not thought of the Awakening ritual?! All his research, for nothing!

It was all he could think about when he stared up at the enormous form of the monster that had destroyed his world. This time, everyone had made it out of the Dragon's Table alive, so that was an improvement… but five years. Five damn years down the drain and he still hadn't been able to prevent the beast's resurrection. Now he understood Lucina's frustration.

Speaking of Lucina… was she alright? She and her parents had been near the centre of the Table, while Laurent had been securing the exit… he'd lost sight of her. "You don't think…" Morgan started next to him, but he trailed off and didn't finish his sentence. Laurent kept his gaze fixed on the entrance. If she had lived, she would come from there… Ah!

"Laurent!" He heard her voice before he saw her approach, but leapt off his horse and ran towards her when she finally showed up. She met him halfway, throwing her arms around him and crushing him in an ecstatic hug. "I did it! Or- well, Mother did it!"

"Did what?" Laurent asked, incredulous. "The Fell Dragon is here! The end is upon us again!"

"No it's not! You were right!" She let go of him, grabbing his hand and turning around to focus his attention on the people who had followed her. Laurent's eyes widened. He needed his wife's support to walk, clutching a wound in his chest… but Exalt Chrom was undeniably, very much alive when he should have died according to their future. Now understanding Lucina's excitement, he turned to her. "We changed fate!" she said, and he nodded.

"No, Lucina, YOU changed Lord Chrom's fate. And Khan Basilio survived, too, because of what you told him. I'm truly sorry about your aunt…" For a moment, he allowed his face to fall, but soon smiled at her again, "But a success rate of roughly 67% is an acceptable passing grade. Now, then…" he struck one arm around her waist, looking up at the Fell Dragon. "What say you we make it a success rate of 75% by joining the other Shepherds and telling that dragon where to stick his reign of destruction."

"Yes," Lucina said, grinning confidently. "By all means." Now that she knew fate did not in fact dictate who lived and died, but THEY did, somehow the Fell Dragon seemed less frightening. They had the Fire Emblem, they had the rightful wielder of Falchion, and they had their brilliant tactician. This time, things would be different. Lucina didn't care if she would have to sacrifice herself to save her father…

He was instrumental to saving the world, and if his fate was to die in battle with the Fell Dragon, then she would challenge that fate.


Author's Notes: As indicated by the reason this is late, Fates has now been released in Europe, and this settles my countdown. Now to get through the story ASAP so I can get to writing fics about those characters.