After his latest breakdown, Robin was even quieter than usual. Whatever had happened clearly disturbed him a great deal. Lucina was beginning to worry that his condition had regressed. As she led him through the castle's corridors she kept eyeing him to see how he was doing, but he remained the same throughout the trip. Lucina wished that she could help him, but she did not even know what was wrong. Perhaps he regained some memories and was mulling over them.
A respite from such thoughts came as they were about halfway to Robin's room. It came in the form of a young girl, no more than three years old, in a blue dress running down the hall so fast that she almost ran into them.
"Hey," she said excitedly, "Who are you? I don't know you, are you new?"
"Uh," Lucina really was not sure how to proceed, "I am a friend of your parents." It technically was not a lie.
"Oh," she seemed to calm down, slightly, "Mommy and daddy have lots of friends! Who are you?" she asked the tactician causing him to flinch back, "What's wrong?"
"He is not well," Lucina answered as vaguely as possible knowing that she was not old enough to understand.
"Oh," this time she seemed to calm down significantly more, "I don't like getting sick either. I feel icky and get really cranky too. Mommy says I need to more vegatables, but they taste really icky."
"Thank you, now we really should get going," Lucina made haste to get away from the young girl both because that she did not want to upset Robin anymore and she found it really awkward to converse with her. The young girl, however, was not very keen on picking up on her awkwardness though as she just kept rambling on half-intelligible words to the two of them, but mostly at Robin.
"That's nice, but I should really get Robin to his room so that he can rest."
"Oh! You're taking care of him? Do you like him?"
"H-he is an old friend."
"No, not like," she leaned in and looked around as if she was about to divulge the biggest secret ever known, "I mean do you like-like him?"
"W-what? Why would you even ask that?" she would not admit it, but she was blushing.
"You seemed really worried about him, and you're taking care of him," she innocently kicked the ground, "I just thought that you might."
"Well I suggest you do not ask people questions like that. It might get you into trouble."
Their conversation was cut short by the sounds of approaching footsteps.
"Oh no!" the young girl looked over her shoulder before running off in the opposite direction without so much as a goodbye. Lucina just shook her head as she guided Robin back to his room.
She got him situated on his bed where he drifted into an uneasy sleep. Lucina made herself comfortable in the all too familiar desk chair as she let her own mind wander. Her thoughts kept drifting to what "Lucy" had said. How could she say something so preposterous?
It was preposterous, right? Why was she helping him so? Was it out of guilt for her past actions? Was it because they used to be such good friends? Because it was the right thing to do? Surely it was not because she had "feelings" for the tactician. Of course not! It was ludicrous to even consider. It would never work anyways, but…why should that matter if she did not have those feelings?
It would be pointless anyways. He would never feel that way. He was her father's best friend after all-why was she even thinking these things? She did not feel that way. It just was not true. Right?
The next day as Robin and Lucina were going to the garden, a certain little princess intercepted them much to the displeasure of the older princess.
"There you are!" she exclaimed excitedly as she ran up to Robin with a wide smile on her face. He looked alarmed at the young girl's hyperness though, and cringed involuntarily as she invaded his personal space.
"Hey, it's okay. No need to be scared. I'm here to help," she said triumphantly with her hands hidden behind her back. She pulled her hands from their hiding places to reveal a small blue blanket with the brand of the exalt embroidered in the center of it.
"Here," she held out the blanket to him, "Whenever I feel bad, I like to give my favorite blankie a hug. Maybe it will make you feel better too!"
"H-hug?" Robin looked confused.
"You don't know what a hug is?" she looked shocked but quickly recovered upon seeing his ashamed face, "Don't worry, I'll show you." She gave the blanket a quick squeeze before handing it off to the tactician, "Now, you try."
He carefully grabbed the blanket with slightly shaking hands. He looked at it for a moment before looking at the young princess, "Go on," she urged. He gingerly gave it a soft squeeze in emulation of the young girl.
"You can, uh, borrow it if you want," the young girl replied hesitantly, "You need it more than I do, but I want it back so you better take good care of it. Promise?"
"P-promise," he did not look too sure of what was going on, but he did not want to disappoint the child.
"Good, now I gotta go. Mommy is looking for me, it's time for my lessons, but I hate them. They're so boring, but I like you so get better soon, okay?" she did not wait for a response as she ran off. It was not long before Sumia also came running down the hall.
"Did either of you see Lucy?"
"Yes, mother, she was just here; she went that way."
It was then that Sumia took notice of the blanket that Robin held.
"Did Lucy give you her blankie? I can't believe she would actually give that up," she commented before remembering what she was doing and continued her pursuit of her energetic daughter.
Lucina looked on as Robin looked down at the blanket. Particularly the brand on it. Lucina remembered a similar blanket in her time. It was one of her favorite possessions in her youth. She would tie it around her neck and where it as a cape when playing with her friends. Honestly she was surprised that Lucy would give it up, even temporarily.
"Robin, are you ready to go?" she asked as the tactician made no move to continue to the garden. Instead he was staring at the blanket. He turned to Lucina and smiled.
"Robin…ready," he nodded as they made their way down the hall to the garden. Lucina never was good at telling what the man was thinking, and that was one thing that had not changed. However, she was confident that he was making his way back to them; what happened once he did, Lucina would just have to take.
A/N: Am I the only one who posted a real chapter today? Anyway, three years old is being pretty generous with Lucy's age, but I wanted her old enough to talk. Speaking of that: I am not quite sure how to write a three year old so she probably sounds too old. I also didn't want to give her too important of a role as that is reserved for Lucina.
Probably won't update tomorrow as I actually have stuff to do. Plus I could probably use the break. My update schedule is the one thing that most probably can't complain about; unless they like waiting. I have a good bit of free time.
