The first rays of sunlight cascaded down unto Yllistol's capital as dawn approached. In a few hours the city would be bustling with workers, merchants, and craftsmen as another day was about to be begin. Though someone forgot to tell Robin that normal people wake up after the sun comes up; not before.

"Unnng." Morgan groaned as she rubbed her eyes and walked through the castle halls with her dad. "What are we doing out here?"

"We are going to train your skills today."

"Huh? But today is Saturday." Morgan said confused.

"True, but there has been so much chaos over the past few weeks that both of us have neglected your training to become a master tactician." Robin smiled and patted Morgan on the back

Morgan looked up to her father with a small grin but quickly changed it back to a frown and said, "So you decided to do this at six in the morning?!"

Robin laughed and said, "Hey it could be worse you know. When I spent two years training with Frederick we always started an hour before dawn."

"So you are making me suffer for it?" Morgan remarked back.

"No, there is a good reason we are out here so early other than to torment you." Robin smirked as he approached a four-way cross road. He then turned to his right and continued walking down the corridor while Morgan stopped and looked back at the intersection.

"Uh dad. The barracks is the other way."

"Yep." Robin said blankly and continued to walk along his path.

Morgan shook her head and had to run to catch back up to her father before she got to his side and said, "So... We are not going to the barracks?"

"Nope." He muttered back.

"But I thought you were going to show me some new tactics."

"Not today, there is a different type of training I had in mind for you this morning." Robin said and opened the door in front of him and held it for Morgan. She passed by him and through her tired eyes she looked around to see that she was now in a very spacious and open area. It was the castle's luxurious garden and it stretched for as far as the eye could see.

Morgan looked at the wide array of flowers and wanted to run straight through them without a care in world, but she shook herself out of it and looked over to her father to see that he was walking to a nearby green bench.

He stretched his arms out and groaned before sitting down on it and said, "Alright let's get started."

Morgan looked at him strangely, but walked over to him and asked, "With what?"

"Today we are going to test your endurance. So I want you to start running for as long as your legs will carry you."

"Really?" Morgan's eye lit up in surprise and she immediately felt a rush of energy overcome her. Running was one of her favorite things to do and she always looked forward to feeling the wind rush passed her face as she sprinted at full speed. "Wait a second... I love to run and I do it everyday. So how is this training?"

Robin leaned forward on the bench and said, "Because today I want you to test the limits of how far you can go and keep going even when you think you are too tired." He said and pointed to the white brick path that traversed the garden. "And as added incentive, if you go more than twenty laps around the garden then I will give you all the ice cream you can eat for the rest of the day."

"Ice Cream?!" Morgan yelled in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Robin laughed an said, "Yes, but just so you know. Twenty laps around on the garden path is like going twelve miles. It is a very large distance even for Frederick to run without stopping for a moment.

"It doesn't matter if it is twenty miles if it means I get ice cream!" She cried in excitement.

Robin chuckled and moved his arms behind his head to get comfortable on the wooden bench. "Then I suggest you start running."

In the next moment, Morgan took off at full speed down the garden path and was out of sight within seconds. But if you listened carefully you could hear her say "Ice creaaaaammm" in the distance,

However, that was not the only thing Robin could hear. There was a small rattling coming from a nearby bush.

"Hmm?" Robin looked over to the bush and it stopped shaking a few seconds later. "Must be a rabbit." He said and turned his attention up to the sky. There were a few puffy clouds and a small orange tint in the night horizon as the moon slowly departed for the rising sun. The air was also calm which allowed him to at least clear his mind for a minute.

*Cough* *Cough* "Ugh." Robin covered his mouth and reached into his pocket to grab a small white tablet. He coughed for a few more minutes until it stopped and sighed as he saw a small pool of blood on his hand. He frowned and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe off the blood while he closed his eyes and tried to calm down. "Heh, I always thought that if I died of a curse, it would have been the day Tharja found out I was getting married."

Robin shook his head and sighed. "I guess it was a good thing that she found someone else, or else I probably wouldn't have lived this long to start with."

"Ah-choo!"

Robin scrunched his eye brows as he heard the sneeze ring through his ears. He looked over to his left to find that the source came from the bush that was rustling earlier. He stared at it for a second in curiosity before saying "Bless you."

"Thank you." Replied the high pitched bush and it started rustling again.

Robin laughed and said, "Funny, I didn't know that a bush could talk."

There was a brief pause, and the bush stood completely still. "Er, that twas the wind." The bush called back. It was also followed by the sound of someone blowing air through their mouth and saying. "Fwoosh...Fwoosh."

Robin grinned and nearly laughed but maintained his composure and said. "Oh I see. Thank you for clarifying for me." He said politely and smiled very friendly. "... But if that is the case, then I have to ask the wind a very important question.

"Fwoosh...What is that?..Fwoosh"

Robin chuckled and asked very sincerely. "Would there happen to be a very brave and cunning princess inside that bush?"

There was a long pause until Robin heard a very small sigh. Then he saw a small hand pull itself out of the leaves followed by a very vivid and familiar cerulean hair color. He then saw the shadowy figure look up with its two very big and blue beautiful eyes that Robin knew all too well.

Robin smiled and said "It's a little too early to be hiding in a bush...Wouldn't you agree Lucia?"

The small princess wearing all blue attire looked away from Robin out of guilt and said. "I am sorry Uncle Robin. I was just trying to help."

"Help with what?" Robin asked nicely and offered his hand to help the little princess pick herself up from the ground. She wrapped her hand around two of his fingers and pulled with all of her might until she stood back up at her full height. Even though she only reached up to Robin's knee.

"I was looking for a cure for you!" The four-year-old Lucia called out with determination in her voice.

"A cure?" Robin asked somewhat surprised. "What would cause you to do that?"

"Well, I heard mommy and daddy talking when they thought I was ah-sleep. They said that they couldn't find a cure for your cough-ning problem. So I snuck out and tried to find it for you!"

"Oh … well that was very sweet of you." Robin smiled and patted her on her head. " Thank you Lucia. But please tell me one more thing. How did you manage to get out of your room?"

Lucia smiled in pride and said, "I pooshed two heavy boxes in my room and climbed on them so I could reach the door handle."

"Really? That was very resourceful of you."

Lucia beamed and said, "I also stayed still in the shadows when two guards passed me. And when I heard footsteps I dove into that bush to hide" She pointed to the green bush next to her and pretended to act like she was diving.

"Very clever." Robin added. "But just remember next time that bushes don't sneeze."

Lucia looked down a little embarrassed and said, "I'll remember that." She nodded her head and looked back up to Robin. "Oh um, Uncle Robin, is it okay if I ask what you are doing out 'ere?"

Robin smiled and said, "I was just thinking about a few things."

"Like what?" Lucia asked very curious.

"Just some things in my past."

"Oh." Lucia paused and looked at Robin strangely before saying. "I don't remember my past too well. Mommy says I am four-years-old, but I never heard my mommy ever call me 'one' or 'two' before.

Robin chuckled and said, "I don't remember my mom ever telling me how old I was either."

Lucia's eyes widened and said in disbelief. "Really? You don't remember it either?"

Robin shook his head and said "Nope."

"Wow." Lucia thought it over for a moment and said. "What was your mommy like?"

Robin gritted his teeth and turned away from Lucia for a split second before saying, "Oh um, she was a very kind … and nice. And she um … always told me to be nice to others and eat my vegetables." Robin said cheerfully even though he was fumbling to make something else up.

"She sounds just like my mommy!" Lucia cried happily.

"Oh really?" Robin laughed at her excitement.

Lucia smiled and nodded. "Yeah! Mommy and Daddy also say that I will grow up big and strong just like my big sis!"

Robin smiled and said confidently "I have no doubt about that."

Lucia raised her hand in the air in excitement and said. "Yay! You and big sis had so many exciting ah-ventures. Someday I will have exciting ah-ventures too! "

"Haha, well hopefully that will be a long long time from now."

Lucia nodded and said, "Yeah, daddy says I need train-ning first. So I will have to wait till I am at least seben."

"Well... maybe a little older than seven." Robin laughed.

"How old were you?" Lucia asked curiously.

"Oh, I was a late bloomer and didn't start until much later after seven." Robin laughed "Would you care to hear some of it?"

Lucia's eyes widened and she looked up to him with a big smile on her face. "Really? You would tell me some of your ah-ventures?!"

"I would be glad to." Robin smiled and motioned to the empty spot on the bench.

Lucia quickly ran over to the green bench and climbed up on it. She pulled up one of her legs onto the bench and then repeated it with the other. Once her body was up she rolled her body forward, and then she scooted over to Robin and sat right next to him.

"Well, during one of my adventures I was hurt in the leg by a bad guy." Robin frowned and pointed to the calf of his leg.

"But luckily your Auntie Lissa healed it so I could walk again. Your father also … 'expressed' … his concern over me getting hurt. However, we had to focus on climbing this Colossal tree to meet a wise and kind dragon!" Robin opened his arms as far as he could and looked up into the distance sky.


...

"Gah." I grunted as I climbed the first few steps up the large wooden spiraling staircase. I was one of the last of the Shepherds to go up, and I struggled to keep pace with everyone in front of me.

"Are you alright?" Lucina asked as she looked down to the bandages on my leg. She had followed me around ever since I got hurt, and she was the first to make sure I was okay after Lissa healed me.

"Yeah. I am fine" I shook my head and proceeded to keep moving on trying to hide my limp.

"You know Lissa said you shouldn't walk on your leg until it fully heals." She said while keeping at my pace.

"Good thing I am a quick healer or else I would have had to hop on one leg all the way up to the tree." I remarked back.

She sighed and shook her head in disdain. "I suppose there is no use trying to reason with you if you are going to joke about something so serious."

"Nope. No sense in that"

Lucina rolled her eyes and said, "I don't know why. But I thought you would be a little more focused after nearly losing your life."

"Heh, I think you are over exaggerating the injury." I replied back

"No." Lucina said disgusted. "I think you are under reacting. You could have been killed do to your recklessness!"

"Recklessness?" I whispered surprised

"Do you have any idea what would have happened if you died back there? Do you know how badly we would be without our tactician? And yet you deliberately risked your life to fight today with enemies surrounding you everywhere!" She said in frustration.

"Yeah, because I will not abandoned my friends when they need me."

"And what happens when next time you get hit in the head instead of the leg? Do you have any idea of how badly that will affect my father?!"

"I do, which is why I would never let that happen." I replied calmly

"But it nearly did happen today! And it will happen again! You can't pretend to be invincible when my father and everyone else rely on you!"

I sighed and looked down to stare at my bandaged leg. "Well, for the time being, I suppose I will have to take that risk."

Lucina glared at me and said, "It is beyond my imagination how a fool like you was even gifted with the ability to command. I doubt you are even listening to what I am saying!"

...

...

"The feeling is mutual." I replied quietly.

"What?"

"You call me reckless and have fake illusions that I am invincible and yet you do the same thing." I shook my head and sighed. "The entire battle your focus was on Chrom; not the enemy in front of you. Time and time again you were distracted because you did not trust your own father!"

"So it's a crime to check up on him every once in a while?" She yelled back fiercely

"No, it's a crime to do it every five seconds!" I shouted. "And when you were fighting, it was out of rage and hate."

"If it means protecting my father then I don't care!" She protested and seemed stunned that I had started accusing her.

"Well I do!" I shouted at the top of my lungs "Especially when your actions risk the lives of your own team!"

"And your actions don't?!"

I tightened my hand into a fist and I had enough of her stubbornness. Without thinking I said in a small burst of anger, "Do you want to know why I got hurt, because it wasn't from my recklessness." I took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eyes. "It is because I was fighting next to a childish princess that didn't see the Pegasus riders heading straight for her, and if I didn't warn her in time then she would have been killed!"

"What...?"

I bit my lip and said, "Maybe if someone was paying attention then we could have fought the ambush off together. Then I wouldn't have had to let my guard down to warn her about the fight.

Lucina's eyes widened and she froze like she just remembered something. "...So your leg..."

I shook my head and felt my leg cringe. "A product of not working together." I sighed and looked away from her. "And if I can't trust you to work with me in the heat of battle. Then I can't trust you to work with anyone else either."

"Robin-"

I interrupted her and said very gravely, "Lucina, I regret to say this, but you are now on probation. In the event that you fail to follow my orders or work as a team again. ... Then next time I will have no choice but to relieve you from duty... If not for your own safety. Then for the safety of others."

Lucina's eyes widened and she looked at me in horror. She paused and wanted to say something, but nothing came out. All she could muster was a small nod, and a long silence.


...

Ten long minutes passed as we scaled the tree without speaking another word to each other. I had to stop a couple of times because I felt a sharp pain in my leg, but I kept going even though my pace was slower than the shepherds who were probably already up the tree. Though oddly enough, Lucina never once left my side and she even stopped moving when I struggled up the staircase.

Eventually we saw a few small sun rays shine down to the stairs in front of us, and within seconds we were at the top of the tree with everyone else. Though, their focus was at the center of the floor where everyone watched intently as a lady slowly woke up from her rest.

*Yawn* She stretched her arms out and looked over to Lucina and me. "Marth? Oh Mar-Mar, is that really you?!

Lucina hesitated, "...My name is Lucina, milady. Though I did go by the name Marth for a time. Might we have met?"

Tiki, the voice to the divine dragon frowned and sighed to herself. "Alas, no. I'm sorry... You reminded me of someone I knew. But he is gone now. Which must mean your friend is not Ku-Ku either."

"Ku-Ku?" I repeated confused

"Most people called him Kris." Tiki said depressed. "He was a good friend to Marth and he was always nice to me. I must say though, your face is strikingly similar to him... ...You even have his eyes."

I stood there speechless as she continued to look at me. It was almost like she was examining every detail about me and I felt very uncomfortable.

"But it is strange. You have a power-" Tiki stopped and looked around to see everyone surrounding her. She then noticed Chrom and said, "You are of the exalted bloodline, are you not?"

"Yes milady." Chrom bowed in front of her in and showed his exposed arm that bore his exalt brand. "We've come because we need your assistance."

"I see." Tiki lowered her head and closed her eyes for a moment. "You wish to learn about the Awakening."

"Yes milady." Lucina replied. "We were also hoping you could show us the locations of the remaining gems for the Fire Emblem."

"Hmm? You know about the gems?" Tiki replied quietly.

Chrom looked over to Lucina who had explained our plight of Grima's destruction to us a month ago and said, "Yes, and we are looking for some clues on where they might be."

"Have many have you acquired?" Tiki asked and looked back up to us.

"Only one so far." Chrom sighed and grabbed the Fire Emblem from a special pocket in his shirt.

Tiki very carefully inspected the Fire Emblem. "That is Argent." She replied after closely inspecting them gemstone. "The five gemstones are Argent, Sable, Gules, Azure, and Vert. Each holds a portion of Naga's power. When mounted upon the Emblem, they allow one to perform the Awakening. However, I must ask you. Are you truly willing to risk your life and everything else to stop Grima from returning Exalted one?

Chrom nodded and firmly said, "With my dying breath."

"Then please take this." Tiki opened the palm of her hand and revealed a small colored stone within. We all gasped and could not believe what we saw. " This is Azure, with it, you possess two of the five Gemstones."

"T-thank you" was all Chrom could muster as he stared at the small gem in her hands. "We are one step closer to stopping Grima."

Tiki nodded and placed it in his hands. "Unfortunately The remaining Gemstones, Vert, Sable, and Gules are no longer known to me. They may have been taken long ago, at the time of the Schism."

"I see." Chrom replied. "I guess we will have to continue our own search for them."

… "Forgive my interruption." Say'ri called out. "But my kingdom has guarded a stone called Vert for centuries. When Walhart invaded my homeland he took the stone with him."

"Walhart?' I whispered and thought out these new events. "Figures he would have some stake in this nightmare."

"Well at least we know where it is." Lissa said cheerfully.

"That just leaves us two more to find." I replied in deep thought and after I spoke I noticed Tiki examining me again.

"But there is something else." Tiki added.

"Huh? What's that?" Lissa asked while leaning her wait forward on her staff.

"I sense that you will have new allies soon. They are small in number, but seem to be very powerful."

"Do you know more of who these people might be? Frederick asked formally

Tiki covered her forehead and gritted her teeth. "I am sorry, my powers have not fully returned since my slumber."

"It's okay. Chrom replied and looked back to Tiki. "Thanks you for your help Tiki. I am enternally grateful and in your debt."

Tiki smiled and said, "Then if I may, I have a request."

"Huh? What's that?"

"I would like to accompany you on your search for these gemstone and help put an end to the war in Valm."

"Lady Tiki!" Say'ri called out in bewilderment. "We could not risk putting you in such danger ."

Tiki shook her head and said, "I may have slept for a long time, but Mother has given me the strength to defend myself. I also wish to help aid you in defeating Grima before he becomes too powerful.

"I would be grateful for your help." Chrom replied sincerely. "But it would not be a comfortable trip."

"That is not a problem. A long time ago I walked these lands with the Heroes of the old. I am accustomed to traveling."

"But still, I don't-"

"There is no need to worry about me. I have confidence that you and Mother will protect me.

"...I see...Then we would be honored to have you join us."


...

Robin had to shield his eyes when rays of sunlight started to bombard his face. He looked up to see sun was starting to get higher up through his blurry vision.

...

"So you and big sis had a fight?" Lucia asked after noticing that Robin had stopped talking.

Robin nodded and said, "Yes, it was a very tough time for both of us. While my adventures with your sis were very exciting, there were some very challenging times as well."

"Oh." Lucia said and thought it over for a moment. "Maybe I should wait a little longer before I start my ah-ventures."

"Maybe." Robin smiled. "There is no need to rush off on an adventure just yet when you can still enjoy the time you have at the castle with your family."

"Okay." Lucia smiled and nodded to Robin. "I promise I'll wait a little longer before I think about going on an ah-venture.

"Good." Robin stood up from the bench he was sitting on and looked up to the sun that was starting to show itself on the horizon. "Now you should probably be getting back to your room soon before Chrom or Sumia wake up. You don't want them to worry about you being missing."

Lucia's eyes lit up and she immediately jumped off of the bench. "Oh! I don't want them to panic!" She said quickly and was about to start running back to her room. However, she stopped in her tracks and turned back around. "Wait, I can't go back yet."

"Hmm? Why not?"

"Because I have to find a cure for you!" Lucia said determined.

"But you did." Robin replied happily.

"Huh?" Lucia looked up at Robin with wide eyes..

"You remember that bush you dove into? I believe it is a very special bush that helps cure my sickness." Robin said excitedly and tried to cheer her up.

"What? Really?!" Lucia said in amazement.

"Yeah, and I never would have found it without your help."

Lucia nearly fell back in surprise but then smiled so big that you could see her teeth shining through. "Does this mean you will be okay?!"

"Yeah. It might take a while, but with some time this bush should help cure me." Robin smiled and looked back at the plain and ordinary shrub. "Thank you for your help Lucia."

Lucia gasped taking everything in, but then she ran straight for Robin and wrapped her small arms around his leg. She hugged his leg tightly and she didn't let go for a few minutes. But even when she did, there seemed to be a few tears in her eyes.

...

And while the bush may not be able to cure Robin from his sickness. Lucia's actions at least added more fire in Robin's heart to fight it off.