Time Matters Not
Rated T For This Chapter Only
Emmeryn smiled at the scene unfolding before her. Love. It was one of the few constants she was aware of. With her hair pulled across her forehead, blocking her mark of the exalt from sight, she looked just like any other noble. One with a peculiar bodyguard, admittedly.
"So...beautiful..." Emmeryn whispered. Who were the people in front of her again? Robin and, yes...Lucina. Lucina. Her niece, Lucina. Remember. Don't forget. Lucina, niece. Robin, Chrom's friend. Remember. She jumped slightly as a hand clapped down on her shoulder.
"Well, that's that then." Priam said with a grin.
Two Years Earlier, a village in Valm
Priam nodded in satisfaction as his men hurled themselves at each other again. "Excellent! Keep fighting!"
"YES, SIR!" They roared, slamming into one another again. Priam's grin turned into a frown as he felt two presences behind him, one was noble and strong, the other...confused. Empty.
Priam turned, still frowning. He wasn't surprised when he saw Chrom and a hooded woman in front of him.
"Chrom."
"Priam." Chrom nodded, smiling. Priam smirked back in response. "I have a favor to ask you."
Priam stretched his arms open invitingly. "Long trip for a favor. Still, go ahead...if you can beat me."
He slammed Ragnell into the ground at Priam's feet, grinning. Chrom sighed, gave the woman an apologetic look, and drew Falchion. Priam blinked when he saw the sword's blade still glowing orange.
"I thought that had stopped."
Chrom shrugged. "It lights up whenever I'm about to take a fight seriously. I don't know why."
Priam grinned in anticipation. "So, you're taking this seriously. Excellent."
Priam grinned at the memory. Their swordsmanship was perfectly matched, and even Ragnell and the Exalted Falchion's might was roughly equivalent, but eventually Chrom's Aether technique had overwhelmed him. Ironic, that Priam, descendant of Ike, should be defeated by his ancestor's technique, even if it had evolved.
Although Priam would never admit that he wasn't Ike's direct descendant, per se. Tiki had called him out on it one day after wondering how he couldn't use Aether. His great-great-grandmother was Ike's sister, after all. That should still count as a descendent. Shaking himself out of his reveries, he smiled at the woman he and his men had been charged with protecting, on the other side of the world, far from the troubles of politics or warfare.
Well, warfare with a violent purpose.
Emmeryn turned to talk to him, a frown creasing her face. "I know...you...I can't..."
"Yeah, you know me. It's Priam." Priam said gently. "Come on, let's go get some food."
Priam turned and walked away, while Emmeryn spared one last glance at the married couple, who had finally seperated.
"...Priam..."
She smiled.
"...Protector...Priam..."
Gaius sighed as he wandered into the great hall, where the reception was being held. Robin and Lucina had stayed behind to talk to their messed-up confusing timeline-crossing death-defying family, so why bother waiting in on a conversation he wasn't involved in?
Also, if Mariabelle found out he was eavesdropping on a private conversation again she'd slap him. Afterwards, she'd probably give him a huge lecture on how he was wasting his time doing something...hmm...what else was he supposed to be doing?
"I'm looking forward to your speech." Vaike said with a grin, slapping him on the shoulder. "It should be interesting, huh?"
...oh. Right. That.
"Yes. Yes it will." Gaius said slowly. Well...I'll have to find a way to deal with that now. Mariabelle's going to kill me.
"So...this means I get to call you 'father' now, right Chrom?" Robin said with a grin. The Exalt glared at him, his hand twitching to where his sword would have been if it wasn't for this damnable tuxedo.
"Lucina, lend your father Falchion for a second, he needs to settle something." He growled. "I know for a fact you have it on you."
"Oh, come on, dad, surely it's not that big of a deal. Just familial gestures of appreciation..." Robin 's grin grew wider as Chrom actively began looking for something to stab his best friend with.
"Didn't the last man you called father almost destroy the world?" Lon'qu asked dryly. Robin blinked and pretended to think for a second.
"On second thought, I think I'll stick with Chrom. It's less...genocide-y."
"That might be best." Chrom deadpanned, smirking. "It would just feel weird calling you 'son'."
"I'm still calling him brother." Cynthia muttered from next to her sister. "Why are you so lucky?"
Lucina decided to ignore that part in the interest of her sanity.
"Father, we'll be holding the others up." She said, rapidly changing the subject. "Shouldn't we get moving?"
"In a second, Lucina." Chrom said with a sigh. "They'll still be setting up."
"Come now, father. Surely Owain has a good hand on the situation there-"
"WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE?!"
"OH GOD SOMEONE GET THE WATER!"
"YOU IDIOTS!"
"GEROME! GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD! NO, DOWN SWORD HAND! DON'T FLEE FROM THE FLAMES, SMOTHER THEM!"
"-it must be prepared by now." She smiled. "Or are you just trying to put off your speech for as long as possible?"
"It's not like I'm the only person who's going to humiliate themselves." Chrom shrugged. "There's me, you two, Cynthia, Gaius and then Morgan."
"We're giving Morgan free reign to say whatever she likes for five minutes." Robin blinked. "Why was this a good idea?"
Lucina slapped his arm with a grin. "Oh, how bad could it be?"
"...and we regret saying something in record time." Robin said, standing frozen in the great hall as Owain, Severa and Gerome stumbled out of a smoldering kitchen. "I swear, it's like I need to give detailed instructions even outside of battle for these people to function..."
Thankfully, the food was already laid out on the tables when they arrived, so whatever the fire was about mustn't have been that important. Or at least, seeing as Noire wasn't currently screaming at the top of her lungs in full-out Blood and Thunder mode, the cake was intact. Working their way over to their spots at the head of the table, the newly-extended family settled into their chairs and waited for Chrom to begin his speech.
He did so by accepting a large bell from a waiting Frederick's hand, and then tossing it across the room. The people in the room decided to attribute it's perfect nailing of Lord Varys in the forehead a coincidence. Despite the...unorthodox manner of delivery, the bell did its job in forcing the attendants into silence and making them pay attention as Chrom rose to his feet.
"Friends and dignitaries, I thank you for attending my daughter's wedding. I have been given a speech by one of my trusted handlers..." Chrom reached into his pocket, unravelled a piece of paper, and promptly threw it over his shoulder. "...but unfortunately I don't think Frederick realized exactly what my intent was when I asked him to write it, so I'm going to have to wing it."
Lucina and Robin both paled as the assembled crowd chuckled in anticipation.
"Now, as I am sure you all know I have not actually had that much of a hand in raising Lucina, yet as I walked her down the isle today I couldn't have felt prouder than I did in that moment. Then I saw my backstabbing best friend across from her and I felt the same overpowering urge to punch him in the face that I did when I first uncovered their relationship." Chrom paused for a second to glare at the two. "You really should have just told me about it rather than let me walk in on you kissing under the pretense of a private strategy meeting."
Robin sank down in his seat, groaning to himself.
"However, once I got over the initial shock I found myself warming up to the idea. Because, quite frankly, if you had to give your daughter to someone it might as well be to the man who personally made sure you didn't die over the course of two wars and an apocalypse scenario." He shot another glare at Robin. "Although next time we're in one of those, don't sacrifice yourself. That was stupid."
At this point, Robin wished he could just vanish under the table, but he believed that Frederick might consider it his duty to pull the tactician back up to face his humiliation like a man.
"Naturally, this sense of perfection lasted until we found their own daughter from the future, at which point I admit to have had a minor freak-out"
Sumia coughed into her elbow. It sounded suspiciously like some words she'd picked up from Sully that shouldn't be repeated in polite conversation.
"-yes, dear, I know I fainted." Chrom continued, the crowd chuckling again. "-and I'm sure the two of you will be pleased to know that none of those five rules apply."
"Hooray." Robin deadpanned.
"With that, I would like to end with some advice for Robin – smile and nod. Do not try and argue with her, you will loose. I am talking from experience here, both regarding Lucina and marriage. I am sure your best man will agree with me on this point, it's better to just let them have their way." Chrom said with a grin. "Now, if you'll join me in a toast to the new Mr and Mrs Elphin. Gods, I really didn't think I'd have to say that."
That got a few chuckles before the hall downed their glasses as one. Then, slowly, Robin rose to his feet.
"On behalf of my wife and I, I'd like to thank you all for coming to this overblown monster of a ceremony that took far too long to plan." He said. "Then, I'd like to request that someone hit Owain for matters regarding that fire in the kitchens."
There were a few chuckles, which erupted into actual laughter when Severa gladly slapped her boyfriend.
"Thank you, Severa." Robin said with a grin. "I wasn't actually intending anyone to take me up on that, but thank you for it anyway. Now, for the boring part of the speech. I'd like to thank Chrom and Sumia for giving me their daughter, although if you ever try to take her back I'd just like to remind you of the few hundred times where you would have charged off and gotten yourselves killed without me. Just as insurance, you understand."
Lucina groaned into her hand as the guests chuckled once again.
"Now, I can imagine that Gaius, my best man, is probably going to be very impatient and hungry by the time his speech rolls around, so I'd just like to remind you that he suffers from a very rare condition that causes him to invent fanciful stories, which he really does believe to be true and I thank you for humoring him during his speech. Mariabelle, you are truly a paragon of humankind to be able to put up with such a man for more than twenty seconds without being overcome with a powerful urge to send him to fight the Valmese Cavalry Elite by himself."
"Now, as some of you know I encountered Lucina for the first time in a very...odd manner. She had been pretending to be a man when she first arrived and saved our lives, and then again when she represented Khan Basilio in the tournament. Which makes it rather awkward when I do admit I had felt a certain attraction to her from our first encounter, as it made me feel very insecure for a good few months. Once she was revealed to be Chrom's daughter, however, things became...even more awkward."
Robin rubbed his nose and glared at his father-in-law.
"You weren't struck with the URGE to punch me, you did, in fact, punch me. My nose is still squint." He scowled. Chrom shrugged in what was clearly a 'you deserved it' gesture. "Thankfully, the three years I have spent with Lucina before today were the best of my life – and I'm sure that even if I could remember what had happened to me before Chrom found me unconscious in a field, they still would be. For those of you wondering why I said three rather than five, it is because I did do something extremely noble and brave...or, as Gaius would call it, 'Incredibly Stupid', which I have regretted for most of my time since I returned."
Once the assorted cooing and eye-rolling had died down, Robin concluded his speech.
"Now, I would like to take one last opportunity to let everyone know how beautiful you look today, Lucina. You have made me the happiest man in the world, and to be perfectly honest I cannot wait until I can introduce you as my wife for the first time. Now, outside of tactics I am often wrong, but I can tell I've made the right decision today. Thank you, and now I must pass on the speeches to my wife and, unfortunately, Gaius."
Robin sat down, flushing, as Lucina rose from her seat, flushing.
"I'm...not very good with speeches, I'm afraid." She said, clearing her throat. "So, I'll have to make this quick. There are two reasons why I wanted to make a speech today even with my aversion to the idea. The first, I wish to thank my parents, who took me in even knowing I wasn't truly my daughter. My mother is probably about to drag me off to lecture me on that subject for what must be the one hundredth time, so I'll allow that to slide for now." Lucina earned her first smiles of the night from that. "The second reason is I wish to thank everyone who stood by me while I waited for this idiot to get back from wherever he'd vanished to, and again for those who had the foresight to ensure I wasn't going to stab him as soon as he returned. Morgan, I'm still waiting for you to return that knife."
That got a few more chuckles than it should have, in her own personal opinion.
"With that, I do wish to live out the rest of my life in peace and quiet – well, relative quiet, I've not got high hopes for Owain behaving."
"Why did I get appointed whipping dog?" Owain muttered, still trying to rub soot off of his face.
"Again, thank you all for coming, and now...Gaius."
Lucina sat down as the applause rang out, flushing.
"You did well." Robin reassured her. Lucina shrugged and sighed in response.
"I'm just glad it's over with."
"Well then..." Gaius said with a grin as he rose to his feet and Robin rubbed his forehead to ward off the incoming migrane. "Good afternoon, everyone. As you can tell from their impeding sense of dread and multiple warnings, I am Gaius and for some reason Robin decided to make me his best man, seeing as you can't exactly have the father of the bride be your best man. Now then, before the ritual humiliation begins, I do want to congratulate you for marrying the finest woman in the world except for one"
Mariabelle, who had been prepared to slap him, settled down into her chair with a satisfied smile as Gaius resumed.
"Now, that little display is what the rest of your life is going to be like, Robin. Get used to it, you've had your four years of laughing at my misery, now I've got the chance to finally laugh at yours. Now, outside of this my job was to get you here on time, looking good and sober. I'm going to attribute the being sober to either Naga or the fact that one of Chrom's Five Rules was you were not to touch the stuff, although I can count at least twenty times you broke that one, and as for the rest...well, you got there. Before you bring it up, I apologize for the ring fiasco, but the important thing is we got it back. Now, that being said, I've known him for quite some time, and I'd like to point out – as insurance, mind – the number of times I prevented you from being stabbed, decapitated, burned or otherwise over the course of the first war we were both involved in. Almost as soon as she showed up, Lucina proceeded to replace me as your self-appointed bodyguard, giving me the mixed blessing of being able to spend more time with my wife, which I'm trying to figure out if I'm grateful for or not."
Gaius' hand slowly trailed down to his tuxedo lapel, where he withdrew a lollipop that really shouldn't have fit in there before sticking it in his mouth and giving it a thoughtful lick.
"In the interests of my personal safety, I'm going to go with 'yes'. Now, I'm going to finish off by saying one thing: You really need to stop spending so much time with your wife and spend more with your friends. We miss you...okay, we miss taking half your paycheck every poker game. Seriously, you need to get better at it. We'll work on that."
Gaius settled down with a satisfied grin as the crowd finally stopped laughing, turning to Mariabelle.
"What was that little display about?" She hissed dangerously. "It was so...uncouth!"
"It was just a little entertainment, twinkles. Besides, if I went after him too much I'd end up on the other side of the continent and freezing cold trying to instruct a bunch of axemen. Don't you remember what he did to Vaike?" Gaius shuddered. "He sent him to be the opponent in a Feroxi Swordsmanship Test! He neglected to mention he'd be fighting the entire class at once...with a sword. It was horrifying."
Speaking of horrifying, it was at this point that Morgan got to make her speech. With a grin, their daughter rose to her feet.
"I'm going to keep this even shorter since I'm actually really hungry right now, so anyway – I hope my parents love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives, and I really hope I end up seeing myself at some point in the near future because to be completely honest I've been growing a bit of a Yarne complex about my existence."
Yarne's brief 'hey' was lost in the mass laughter as Robin and Lucina both flushed red for the fifth time so far that night. Robin reached for his glass of wine, deliberately exaggerating the movements to make it clear he was joking, when Morgan's grin grew wider.
"Also, by the way, I've been dating Inigo for a month now."
"We know. We kind of tied him to a tree and threatened to kill him if he tried anything." Robin said flatly, carefully putting the glass down before he broke it (Which, now that he thought about it, was probably his daughter's intention. One more attempt at trying to catch him off-guard...getting better at it, too.) "Thank you for letting us know we need to have a talk with him, however."
Morgan frowned, disappointed that she hadn't managed to slip one over her father. "...well, with that, I guess we're done here." She sighed. "Can we eat now?"
"Yes." Lucina nodded around laughs. "Yes, we can."
To be fair, up until the kitchens were ruined the cooks had managed to prepare a surprisingly complex feast, although Robin and Lucina didn't touch much of it. Like everything else in this ceremony, it was mostly for appearances rather than anything else.
"I hate politics." Robin muttered to himself as he stabbed a piece of cheese with more force than was strictly necessary. "All I wanted was a nice, small, quiet ceremony. Would that have been so hard to ask for, Chrom?"
Chrom sighed and shook his head. "Not if you didn't want suitors from Valm showing up on your doorstep for the next few years. At least this way the tales about the wedding will spread, so it'll be well known. Gods know the last thing we need is another Varys."
The idle conversation continued for another few minutes before Noire finally wheeled out the cake. Robin took a moment to thank the gods that it was at least fairly understated, even if only be the standards of the rest of the wedding. It was still a decent ten inches tall, although he could't for the life of him figure out why it was...green...with a tree...and small versions of himself and Lucina embracing underneath the tree...
"Morgan must have told Noire about our first kiss." Lucina whispered with a smile. Robin found himself nodding in agreement, although no doubt that little detail would fail to impress anyone who hadn't heard the story. Regardless, the pair worked themselves over and reached for the knife to cut the cake. Before they could do so, however, Cynthia shouted something at them.
"Use Falchion!"
"For the last time, Cynthia..." Lucina said through gritted teeth as Robin howled with laughter. "...Falchion is not a foodknife!"
Regaining his composure, Robin's hand wrapped around Lucina's as she sliced the cake in half. Naturally, before they even had the chance to blink, Gaius was already munching on a slice.
"Hm. Colored marzipan, with small amounts of butter cream for the daisies, with a particularly nutty aftertaste. Your daughter would have a bright future ahead of her in this field, Libra." He praised, wiping a handful of crumbs from his lips and pausing as he noticed the crowd of people staring at him. "...what?"
Shaking his head, Robin took his own slice and found himself agreeing with Gaius. "This is good, actually. Nice work, Noire."
The archer stammered a thank you before trying to fade into the background. The attempt was failed as the crowd surged forward to receive their portions as the married couple moved away. Lucina could only just make out the aggravated lecture Mariabelle was giving her husband, but she ignored it and retreated to the swiftly-cleared dance floor with a light laugh. Taking this as his cue, Brady turned to the imprisoned concert pit and finally gave them the clear to do something. They struck up a slow tune, causing the assorted couples to join the newlyweds on the dance floor.
"I...actually have no clue what I'm doing." Robin admitted after the pair of them had just shuffled from side to side occasionally. Lucina chuckled and glanced to the side, smirking.
"I...don't either." She admitted. "I guess we both just aren't dancing people."
This point was punctuated as Inigo swept an ecstatic Morgan past them, moving so swiftly that neither of them appeared to touch the floor.
"It doesn't appear to be genetic, at least." Robin grinned, earning himself another laugh for his troubles.
"No, it doesn't. Maybe we should learn...later."
"Well, there's no time like the present to learn-" Robin started, facing his wife again. His sentence was cut off by her pointed glare as she moved his hand slightly lower on her waist. "-but, then again, there'll always be tomorrow."
They finished pretending to dance to the one song before turning to leave, only to be interrupted by a glowering Cynthia.
"You're forgetting something..." She hissed, pushing a bundle of daisies into Lucina's arms before stomping off the join the crowd. Lucina blinked, then sighed and turned to face the expectant crowd. She prepared to throw the bouquet, but Robin's hand stopped her.
"Morgan, you are not allowed to catch this." He said calmly, glaring at her. "You are not getting married this soon."
Morgan sulkily lowered her arms, pouting. Robin released Lucina's wrist, giving her a smile as she tossed it, sending it flying into the air...directly towards a surprised Severa.
"Oh..." It landed in her arms, which had extended on reflex. "...crap."
Owain's grin threatened to overcome his face. "Ah, you should have told me you wished to be joined forever sooner! I fear I have no ring to give you, but I assure you, I shall climb the tallest mountain and brave the warmest desert in order to find you the grandest ring in existance-"
"Owain...just shut up." She muttered, blushing. "Please. Stop talking."
Owain appeared to not hear her, and instead continued on his extremely loud tangent on proving his devotion to his 'Noble Flower', and showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Once he finally did, about ten minutes later and with a completely red Severa standing awkwardly in the middle of a ring of people and immediately before a kneeling prince, she sighed and dropped the bouqet.
"You idiot...you had to go and make a big show about it, didn't you?" She snorted. "Fine, whatever. It's not any time soon, though, you got it?"
Any further attempts at appearing tough were immediately dispelled as Owain swept her up in his arms and spun in a small circle. "PUT ME DOOOOOOOOWN!"
Grinning, Chrom turned to comment on these events, and found himself completely unsurprised when Lucina and Robin were no longer where they were when the rant began.
"...of course." He sighed, immediately dispelling thoughts of his friend and his daughter for the time being. Down that road lay madness. "Brady, how about something more cheerful this time?"
Brady saluted him with his fiddle, before turning to face the unlucky saps in the music pit.
"Alrigh, you heard the boss, somethin' cheerful this time, come on!"
Lucina's hands shook as she opened the door to the room they'd be sharing from now on. The opposite wing of her old room – and therefor her parents – it was much larger than she was used to. She smiled as she stepped inside and immediately noticed the massive bookshelf laden with volumes on strategy and history, along with – she blushed at the sight – a small handful of romantic titles, with a cheerful pegasus taped on.
"...Cynthia..." She sighed, her hands curling into fists on reflex. "...one day, I swear..."
Robin, meanwhile, was more preoccupied with the fact that somehow during the wedding someone had transferred all of his clothes and belongings into the walk-in cupboard on the other side of the room. Both of them were rather awkwardly avoiding the over-sized bed covered in daisy petals – that must have been either Cynthia or Morgan's idea, there was no way Chrom or Sumia would think about it – that sat in the center of the room. Eventually, Robin made the first move, sliding up next to his wife – that was going to take some time to get used to – and resting his head on her shoulder.
"What's so fascinating?" He asked, smiling. She rested her head against his, grinning to herself.
"Oh, just thinking about ways to kill my sister for this, that's all." She commented, shutting the pink-covered book she'd flipped through with a sigh. "Honestly, you'd think she'd had more experience than us or something."
"Experience in what?" Robin grinned into her hair, slowly moving his hands further up her body. Lucina's breath caught in her throat.
"...don't stop." She whispered. Then she paused and grabbed his hand before it could go any further. "Robin?"
"Yes?"
She picked at the overly large and heavy white skirt, frowning to herself. "...how am I meant to get out of this dress?"
The sheer absurdity of the question sent both of them into a giggling fit, and the attempts to answer it occupied more of their wedding night than anything else did.
**
A/N: Well, that's that then. I know I promised character interactions, but to be perfectly honest this flowed a lot better. There's the promised Priam appearance, as well as the look into post-damage Emmeryn's head (That was actually kind of distressing to write, to be honest) but outside of that it's just fluff, which is quite a good thing in my opinion.
Total word count (Of actual content): 5182+4554 = 9736 words. That's the longest single event I've written so far. Naturally, I accept the challenge of topping this at some point.
Anyway, since this is a good time, I'd like to thank everyone who's been reviewing/following/favoriting/etc this strange journey into the shipping portion of my mind so far, with a special shout-out to everyone who were inspired to have their own shot at a shipping fic because of it. Quite honestly, every time someone says that and it shows up the next day, I get this warm bubbly feeling inside.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll finally be able to make them call each other husband and wife rather than fiance (Thank god).
G2G.
ONE SIDENOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO READ ASLEEP: It's going on a pseudo-hiatus. Translation: I'm going back and editing things in chapters, either making them longer, putting in conversations I forgot to the first time around, additional character development stuff or just making grammer/spelling corrections. It should only take a week or two, and the fic as a whole should be better for it.