As the sun was setting many of the Shepherds headed towards the mess tent, yet a lone figure stood out. Robin sat on the grass, near the temple's entrance, unsure of what to do. He kept staring at the orange sky, his mind drifting into thought, I really hope Morgan will be fine, he thought, heh, who am I kidding? It's the rest of the Shepherds I should be worrying about. Still... Someone called the tactician's name, he shifted his body in order to see who it was.
"What's the point of being up here if you're not gonna spend time with us Shepherds?" Chrom approached and sat next to Robin. "Listen, if this is about what happened earlier with Morgan, I'm sorry. However you have to understand that I'm looking after a whole army here."
"I get it, you did what's best for everyone," he replied. "No hard feelings."
Chrom raised an eyebrow, usually when a matter concerning Morgan arose, Robin was adamant in overprotecting her. "Are you alright?"
Robin scoffed, "Well, aside from the fact that we're gonna face the Fell Dragon soon, we're also essentially abandoning my daughter in the middle of nowhere."
"Ro—"
"Oh, let's not forget that my other child is a general in our enemy's army. With all that said, I think I'm fine, don't you?"
"Robin, I don't know what else to say, but look at the bright side: Morgan will be safe here with Naga, we'll find a way to get Mark back to normal, and we will defeat Grima."
The tactician sighed "Chrom, you should know by now that with us Shepherds, it's never that easy."
"Heh, you're right, but that's why we have you, 'master tactician'. You're the guy in charge of our little band of misfits alive." Chrom stood up and offered his right hand to Robin, "now c'mon, let's go get something to eat, I heard that Stahl's making a big announcement."
"Yeah," the tactician was hoisted to his feet by his friend, "let me just grab Morgan, I'll meet you there."
"Fair enough"
Robin and Morgan ate their meal in silence, neither making a sound. They were a bit further away from the rest of the militia, where an occasional cheer would spontaneously erupt. The younger tactician was the first to talk, "Father, what do you plan on doing after this?"
Robin shrugged, "I'll be hitting the hay. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for those two, but even I need some sleep" he pointed at the pair situated in the middle of the tent. Morgan wasn't able to see exactly who was there, since a small crowd had formed around them.
Morgan stood up, taking her tray to the return station, and her curiosity was piqued as to what the Shepherds were convening there for. A loud cheer exploded from the crowd, she turned around to find Chrom standing on a table, making a toast. "...and may they be forever happy with each other!" he raised his mug, "To Stahl and Olivia!"
Another cheer broke out from the Shepherds, Olivia stood red faced in the middle, next to her fiance, who also nervously stood there. Neither accustomed to the amount of attention they were receiving.
The younger tactician silently wished them well, and slipped out of the noisy tent altogether. Morgan felt tired and went to her own quarters in order to sleep. The sun had finally set, but there was still enough light to the point of where she could still her tent sitting in the distance. She entered her tent, and after changing into her nightwear, the younger tactician entered a deep sleep.
Morgan floated inside the void once again, she knew that her brother would eventually show up. "Mark?" her voice echoed throughout the empty space, "are you around?". She kept repeating his name, hoping for any sort of response.
"You know, of all the things you can possibly have in here," a familiar voice spoke, "you keep seeing this place as empty, says a lot about you don'tcha think?"
Morgan turned around to see the familiar sight of her twin standing there, "Mark!" she wanted to hug him, but her arms phased right through his body.
He gave her a sad smile, "I'm not really here, remember?"
Morgan dejectedly looked away, "Then why even bother showing up?"
"Sis, this is your head, not mine. Aaaannnd I also have nothing better to do here. So until you wake up, I'm afraid you'll be stuck with me" he flashed a devilish grin.
"So does that mean I can make you less of an annoyance?" Morgan pouted.
"You wound me, dearest sister," Mark imitated Virion's accent and mannerisms, placing one hand in his forehead and looking away from the other, "when have I ever annoyed you? Pray tell so that I may restore my honor as a gentleman!"
"Cut it out," Morgan stifled a laugh.
"Fine, but only because I'm a figment of your imagination, or not" he smirked. Mark ceased his gestures and sat on the empty air, crossing his legs. "How you doing? Been awhile since the last time we talked."
"So it turns out that we're half dragon" Morgan tried sit in the same way Mark did, but was unable to do so.
"Uh, I'm pretty sure we're—uh... seventy-five? Yeah, seventy-five percent dragon, Grima's blood has to count for something" Mark shrugged, "also, I believe the correct term is manakete."
"So then you knew about Tiki being our mother?"
"Morgan, I live inside your head," he ruffled her hair, "I'm going to be privy to certain 'important' information, which consists of things included, but not limited to: parents."
She rolled her eyes, however she did cherish the conversation she was having with her twin. "Mark, I've been meaning to ask you..."
His eyes widened, "Did I find any new memories? I did, but—"
"Really!? Can we see them now?"
"Sis, I don't think you'll want—"
"Please, Mark" she reached for him, but remembered her inability to touch him, "I just want to remember anything from our family, good or bad."
Her twin sighed, he stared into the abyss around them "do you know why we lived in that cabin so far away from everything?" Morgan shook her head, Mark responded by touching her forehead, the void turned into another setting.
The twins found themselves at the same location from Morgan's first memory, the clearing in the forest with a cabin in the middle. The younger versions of themselves came back down from the small hill they had climbed in order to reach the cave.
"See? I told you it would be fun!" the younger Mark grinned, "And as a bonus, we didn't get caught!"
His younger twin responded with a giggle, "I guess so, but can we not do that again?"
"Do what again?" a male voice asked, causing the twins to shriek in surprise and turn around. An older looking Robin stood there, he noticed the dirt smeared on both of their clothes. "Wow, you two, where've you been?"
"Oh! We were... u-uh" the younger Mark stammered, he glanced at his sister a silent plea for help sent.
"L-looking for bugs!" she cried, hoping her father wouldn't question it any further.
Robin's eyes narrowed before he disregarded their antics entirely. "Listen, just get yourselves cleaned up. Your mother is coming to visit soon, I don't want her to see you two covered in dirt."
"Mom is coming!?" the younger Mark squealed, "Yay!" he rushed off into the cabin.
Robin also began to make his way to the house, however Morgan stayed behind. "What's wrong?" her father turned around.
"Why does Mom always leave us?"
The tactician got on his knees, placing an arm arm on her shoulder, "Morgan, it's... complicated. We'll explain when you're older."
She looked into her father's eyes, "Does she love us?"
"Of course she does, Morgan," said Robin.
"B-but... if she does love us, why can't she stay?" tears welled up in her eyes.
"Morgan, I know this may sound somewhat counter-intuitive, but it's because she loves you that she can't stay here," he gave her a comforting smile. "Like I said, we'll explain when you're older, but for now, I need you to get changed, okay?"
The younger Morgan stared at the ground. "O-okay"
Mark rushed at the cabin door once he heard knocking. "Mom! You're here!"
Tiki walked in, and hugged her son. "Mark is that really you? You've grown taller since the last time I saw you!" the boy stood proud at the compliment. Morgan entered the room, she tried to feign the same level of excitement her brother had, to no avail. Nonetheless, Tiki also gave her daughter a hug, "Morgan! I missed you as well!"
"H-hi Mother," Morgan replied, halfheartedly returning the hug, "I missed you too."
Tiki noticed the reluctance in both her actions and tone. "Are you feeling alright, Morgan?" she tried to break the icy barrier erected between the two.
"I'm fine, Mother," she looked away, "please don't worry about me."
"Mom c'mon let's go outside! Morgan and I have something to show you!" Mark squealed.
A chill went down Morgan's spine, she hoped her twin didn't mean the cave they had found earlier. Unfortunately for her, the Voice had agreed to go see their discovery, he tugged on the girl's arm until they left the house, where he switched to his mother's hand. Tiki and Mark were heading towards the same hill the twins had to climb in order to reach the cave.
A small reflection caught Morgan's attention, she turned to see a hunk of light blue metal in the distance. She squinted her eyes, the metal seemed to be riding on a horse, it also began to get closer. "Mother...? I think there's something over there..."
Tiki turned around, "What was that, Morgan?"
She nervously pointed to where the metal was located, it seemed to be getting bigger. Tiki's eyes narrowed for a bit, later going wide with recognition. Morgan could've sworn she heard her mother whisper "Oh no".
Mark had made his way back to them, "What's wrong?"
The Voice turned to her children, getting on one knee, "Morgan, Mark, we have to go inside."
"Why?" Mark gave her a puzzled look, "can't this wait? I really want to show you what Morgan and I found."
"I promise you that we'll go see it later" Tiki's voice had a small hint of panic, "but we have to go inside. Now." She grabbed their hands, quickly taking them into the cabin.
A confused Robin greeted them in the entrance. "Back so soon? I thought you and the kids were supposed to—"
"Frederick's here," Tiki interrupted, "kids, we need you to hide in here" she removed the carpet concealing a trap door. As the tactician opened the door, the manakete turned to her children, "I know this seems bad, but we have to hide in here until that man is gone, okay?" The twins nervously looked at each other, and their parents, fearfully hoping everything would be alright, they followed Tiki into the cellar.
"What's going on?"
"Who's Frederick?"
"Is he that blue guy we saw?"
"Are we in danger?"
Robin and Tiki ignored those questions for the most part, "I promise we will explain, but we need you to just hide for now" he ushered them in and closed the door behind them.
The void shifted back as the memory faded. Mark remained silent, allowing his sister to process what she had just witnessed.
Morgan kept staring at the space where her parents stood. "Did you find... anything else?"
"No" her twin apologized. Mark began to fade away, "Morgan I-I have to go now.."
"Wait! Where are you going!?"
"Heh, it's not me," he giggled, "you're just waking up. Don't worry I promise you'll see me again."
The younger tactician bolted awake, she felt something on her shoulder, Tiki had woken her up. "Lady—er, Mother!" she half whispered, "sorry, I haven't gotten used to calling you that."
"It's alright, little one, are you okay? You seem... distraught."
"I was talking to Mark..."
"Oh! I must've cut your conversation short then, I'm sorry," the manakete looked away.
"N-no! Don't worry about it!" Morgan had deduced that it was already dawn, judging by the amount of sunlight entering the semi open entrance. "So I guess... you're here to say goodbye?"
"Yes,"The Voice extended her hand to her hair, pulling away the tiara she had and placing it in her daughter's palm. "I also wanted you to have this"
Her daughter gingerly held the gift, it was rather heavy for such a small object. Carefully inspecting it, Morgan noticed in the center a red oval stone. "Mother, I can't have this, it belongs to you!"
"It was a gift from my mother," Tiki chuckled, "she once told me that it should be passed down to family, and you are my family, Morgan."
"Mother..."
"Please, take it. I don't have much use for it anymore," she took the tiara and placed it on her head "besides, I think it looks better on you."
"Morgan! Wake up, time to go!" Robin called from the outside.
"Gotcha! I'll be out soon!" she responded, while beginning to change into her everyday attire. Once she was done the younger tactician turned to Tiki, "Thank you for the gift, Mother," she gingerly removed the tiara and placed it inside her coat pocket, next to the flower petal, "but you know I can't wear this with everyone else around."
"I know little one, but I'm glad you took it nonetheless," she smiled and peeked out the tent's entrance, "we can exit now, the coast is clear."
A flash of purple light appeared behind them. "Well, well, keeping secrets aren't we?" an icy voice cut through the air, Morgan and Tiki turned around. "I simply cannot recall the last time I saw you alive, Mother." Mark lowered his hood, revealing himself to them.
Morgan reached for a nearby tome, her mother clenching a dragonstone. Mark gave them a condescending look, "You should already know by now that those toys can't hurt me, as you can probably attest to, Morgan" he chuckled.
"What do you want?" Tiki's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, mother dearest, is this the way you greet your long lost son? It wounds me to no end."
"The person in front of me is not my son, just a hollow shell"
"Seriously, why do people not believe me when I say that this is who I actually am?" he scowled, "I guess these things have something to do with it." Mark gestured to the purple flames around him, "Oh well, back to the task at hand, I'm just here to talk."
"I'm not going with you." Morgan kept her tome ready, even though it was a weak Elwind spell, it could at least buy her some time to escape.
"C'mon, really Morgan? Look me in the eye an tell me you didn't enjoy that feeling of complete control, complete dominance, of complete... power." Mark smirked.
She looked down, covering her left arm "...That wasn't me."
"Ah-ah, you didn't look me in the eye!"
"Hey! Morgan, wake—" Robin stepped inside the tent, he had suspicions that his daughter fell back asleep, so he went in. He changed his stance once he saw who was inside the tent, the tactician drew his sword and aimed it at his son. "What are you doing here, Mark?"
"Put that thing away, Robin" he replied nonchalantly, "I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want to talk is all."
"About what?" he lowered his blade, but did not sheathe it.
"About you and Morgan. You see, believe it or not, Master Grima does believes in second chances, it's how I've come to be under his service, despite Naga's taint. So I'm here to tell you what Validar already said: become one with Grima, or watch as he destroys the world... again."
"And like I told him: no way."
Mark exploded into laughter, after calming down he resumed. "It's funny how you think you have a choice! And before you ask why—" he snapped his fingers, Robin and Morgan immediately crumbled in pain. Tiki went in to help them, but was grabbed by an invisible force. The sorcerer had cast the mist to restrain her. "—you wouldn't endanger someone else's life, would you now?"
"Let... her... hah... go!" Robin forced himself to talk through ragged breaths.
Mark ignored him and picked up the sword that his father had dropped, "You know, I never really got into swordplay. It's far too... messy" he dragged the blade alongside Tiki's cheek, opening a small cut. "But I have to admit there's a certain satisfaction with swords that simply can't be replicated with magic. I wonder what that is... is it the feeling you get when watching your enemy bleed out? Or the fact that a sword is much more personal when you drive it into someone?"
"Mark...! GAH! ...Please! I-I'm... sorry!" Morgan choked out.
"Oh, did other me tell you to do that?" he kneeled in front of her a sadistic smile on his face. "Go on, please 'bring me back', finish that little monologue of yours."
"I'll gladly do it." Chrom slashed at him with his newly acquired Exalted Falchion, Lucina holding a defensive stance right behind him. The holy blade cut right through the mist around Mark's chest, blood pooling around the affected area. As he cried out in pain, the grip he had on Tiki, Robin and Morgan faltered.
"Ugh, note to self: pay attention to surroundings when taunting." Mark slowly regained his composure, the flames and mist slowly filling the hole left by the Exalted Falchion. He examined his new opponents, Chrom and Lucina kept themselves ready, waiting for him to move. I can't fight in this state, Falchion packs quite a punch... Mark smirked as he saw Morgan struggle to get up, aided by her mother, at least I can take solace in the fact that people won't trust him anymore. "Heh, normally I would threaten you about your secret, Robin, but I think the cat's out of the bag now. Farewell." Mark vanished once again in the purple light.
Chrom immediately went to help his friend, "You alright?" he pulled him up to his feet.
"I'll... be fine" Robin shook some dust off his coat.
"Now," Chrom had a serious look on his face, "what's this secret Mark was talking about?"
A/N
Well that didn't last long.
I should probably get back to writing a paper I have due in two days now...
But not before sharing a few nitpicks from Fire Emblem Fates!
1) Exactly how old is Kana? S/he looks about twelve and is fighting in a legit WAR. And this is Corrin's kid, it's not like in Awakening where most of the children aren't even born yet. No, this is the kid that s/he somehow managed to conceive, (and in the case of F!Corrin) carry to term, and give birth to!
2) What happened to the voice clips in the support conversations!? I know they got repetetive in Awakening, but c'mon I want to hear more than just the background music and the click of scrolling when I press A!
3) The ripoff characters, do we really need another set of Cordelias, Tharjas and Sumias? Oh and their names are anagrams (except Felicia of course). Clever.
Other than that, I really enjoyed both sides. But I prefer Conquest just a bit more, cuz it paints Corrin as more of a badass. I swear, Nintendo is the only company that can get away with selling two slightly different games and still make money.
By the way, my fuck-up is your (potential) reward! You see I paid for a download code for Birthright, when I got my copy of Conquest at GameStop. So I used this code in the eShop NOT the Dragon's Gate as you're supposed to do, and it didn't work. So I bought Birthright off the title screen, and I have the receipt with a download code on it. Again, I don't know if it'll work, but come back at 7:00pm EST and I'll post the code, so if you have a copy of Conquest and want to play Birthright I'm here giving it to you.
ALRIGHT the Download Code is: B0JGC8J749XY74R5 I'm NOT guaranteeing it will work. If it does, yay! I didn't waste $20. If it doesn't, well either someone already claimed it or I wasted $20.
Legal disclaimer thing yadda yadda yadda
P.S.
Peri is best waifu. FIGHT ME.