The ships were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. I had been to oceanic museums before, but none of the old sailing ships there even came close to the sheer size of these monstrous sailing ships. They were about as big as the biggest ferry I had ever been on, putting the two-story houses in the port to shame. Beneath the awe at the vessel before me was a sense of apprehension. I looked over to my wife and daughter, one who looked indifferent to the ship, and the other who was bouncing on the spot with an enormous smile on her face.
"Uh," they both turned to me, "is this a bad time to mention that I get motion sickness?"
"Motion sickness?" Morgan tilted her head at me, while Robin raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah... I-I get seasick easily. I mean, I haven't ever thrown up, but I do not feel well while on boats."
"Don't worry; you'll be fine." Robin wove her arm around mine. "I'm here, and so is your... daughter from the future..."
"We have weird lives."
"Yeah." The two of us were suddenly shoved from behind.
"Come on; let's go! I wanna see the ship!" The two of us sighed, smiling, as we were pushed by Morgan onto the vessel. My smile faded the instant my feet touched the wood of the ship, stomach beginning to ever-so-slightly churn. Robin must have noticed, as her grip on my arm tightened. "I'll race you!" The other sandy blonde with us, however, ran forward into the bowels of the enormous ship, giggling the whole way.
"She never said where we were racing to." The smile made its way back onto my face as I watched her careen through the wooden halls of the ship.
"I don't think she knows herself." Robin shook her head. "We should go after her."
"Slower, though, right?" She started pulling me forward, answering my question with the slow walking speed she moved at.
"How's your arm doing?"
"I've got some feeling back in it; and look! I can move my hand." I demonstrated by wiggling my fingers and rotating my wrist. "See?"
"I'm glad it's healing."
"Lissa said that I should have it back to normal by the time we reach Valm, with full control about halfway there." I frowned. "Sorry I'm not more useful at the moment."
"You may not have use of your arm, but you can still use your head and your heart; that's what matters right now." That elicited a laugh from me. "What?"
"That might be about the cheesiest thing I've ever heard." She gave me a playful shove. "Anyway; mind if I split off here? There's something I need to talk to Lucina about."
"Are you sure? You aren't exactly stable on your feet right now."
"I'll be fine so long as we don't start moving."
"Okay. I think she went up to the deck." A quick hug later, and I was making my way up to the top of the ship. All around me, various members of the Ylissean and Feroxi armies were milling about the ship, getting themselves settled. A few of the Shepherds even made appearances, most of them too busy preparing anything and everything to even acknowledge me. It took several minutes to reach the top, partially because of the people constantly moving around, but mostly because of the ship's immense size. When I did reach the top, I caught my breath. The sky was painted a cascade of colours, starting at the orange emanating from the sun that reflected off of the ripples of the ocean, fading to yellow, eventually ending in the deep black of the night sky.
"Even seasickness can't ruin this view..." Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a blue figure standing in front of a railing, her hair flowing in the wind and gaze not really focused on anything. I walked up next to her, leaning on the railing. She didn't even notice. "Penny for your thoughts?" She jumped slightly, eyes flitting over to me for the briefest of seconds before turning back to the sunset.
"Pardon?"
"You look deep in thought; care to share?"
"...Not yet, no." I sighed, placing my head on my arms. Several of the ship's crew were running around the deck, making last-minute preparations before we set sail. My stomach did a small flip, reminding me that I should probably get this over with before I couldn't speak without nearly throwing up.
"...I think I figured it out."
"What?"
"You." Her head snapped to me. "Well, not actually you, we still barely know each other, but what's troubling you. Actually, what's troubling you is easy; you're in the wrong timeline, you're bound to be conflicted; what's troubling you about me is what I think I've figured out."
"...Pardon?"
"The way you look at me; the way you reacted when you found out who I was; the disdain that manages to seep its way into your voice when you talk to me; I think I know what's eating you." I turned to look up at her. "I didn't stay, did I?" Her eyes widened. "Ha! Knew it."
"But... how?"
"Process of elimination. I noticed how... cold every look you gave me was, despite how hard you tried to hide it. There's just something about your eyes that's trying to be hard as steel towards me, but another part is resisting it. I kinda dismissed it as I was, probably, an unknown entity in the timeline. However, that changed when Morgan came in. The way you reacted to her being there pretty much narrowed it down to two options: one, I still never came to your world and Robin still had a kid named Morgan, or two, I was there, then left before Morgan was born. Again, considering the way you act towards me, the latter has more evidence."
"Y-Yes..."
"Yes?"
"I was told stories of a man who fell from another world and captured the heart of our tactician, only to go back to his world after two years of living among the Shepherds. He shared your name, and from what I can tell, also shared your visage. None of the Shepherds blamed him for leaving; for breaking Robin's heart. I understand that that person isn't you, but I can't help but think of the you that left them all behind, and sent our tactician into tears for weeks."
"...Yeah, I can see that." She raised an eyebrow at me. "I can definitely see myself taking the offer to go back home over staying here; it is a pretty dangerous world, after all. If you ever think you can let loose all of your anger over that at me at some point, feel free to yell at me." The bluenette chuckled, looking back to the sunset.
"Thank you."
"Well, I'll leave you to your thoughts, then." I pushed myself off the rail, feeling something swim in the pit of my stomach. "I think I'm going to find somewhere to sit down before we launch."
"That task may be a little difficult." Lucina pointed to the dock, where the gangplank was being brought back onto the ship. "They only need to raise the anchor, and we'll be departing."
"Right; mach two, then." I sped off before she could even question what that was, no real destination in mind other than 'somewhere I can't see the ship moving'. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anywhere out of the way before I could feel the swaying of the ship slowly get faster, the lurching in my stomach following suit. "Wonderful..." It was at that point that I heard something banging against wood from one of the nearby rooms. Figuring that it was better for me to investigate that than moan and groan about my seasickness, I inched my way over to the door. Just as I reached for the handle, the banging stopped. I hesitated for a second before slowly opening the wooden door to see Morgan standing in the middle of the room with a slightly red forehead and a thoughtful expression. I took a step forward, which snapped her out of it and prompted her to grin at me.
"Father! I was just thinking about you!"
"You were?"
"This is fate! This is totally family-style fa- Father? Are you okay? You look a little green."
"I just need to sit down, then I'll be fine." Morgan shot across the room and proceeded to guide me to a bench that was sticking out from the wall. I sat down, noting the minuscule fade of sickness that swept through my midsection. "Now, what were you saying?"
"Oh! Yeah! Well, when you came in, I was trying to remember anything I could about you, but it wasn't working."
"Would that have been the noise I heard, then?"
"Yep; I was banging my head against the wall, trying to jarr some memories loose."
"I hate to break it to you, but that won't work."
"Well, Father, you don't know until you try!"
"Actually, that's something I want to talk to you about."
"Hm?"
"Can you stop calling me Father?" The instant look of dejection on her face upset me beyond words.
"But... don't you want to be my Father?" I flailed my arms in front of me in an attempt to stop her making that face.
"It's not that! I-I just don't want you calling me that. Call me Dad, or Daddy, or Pop, or old man; Father's a bit too formal." I took a second to think about what I just said. "Actually, don't call me Pop." I sighed with relief when I saw her smile come back, only for even more air to be squeezed out when she hugged me.
"Okay, Dad!"
"Better already." She released me, beaming. "So, back to that remembering me thing."
"Right. Yeah, hitting my head wasn't working, but I don't have any other ideas. Do you?"
"Well, maybe one. Try staring at me for a bit."
"Huh?"
"Sometimes memories need triggers to be activated; I figure that since you're trying to remember me, my face would be an excellent catalyst."
"Okay, let's try it!" We turned to face each other directly, and sat in silence for a few minutes. Morgan's face started as an intense stare, slowly devolving into a frustrated grimace. "Argh!" She threw her arms up and slumped back, still frowning. "This isn't working."
"Morgan, we've only been at it for about five minutes."
"Yeah, five minutes of nothing..."
"...Do you often give up this easily?"
"No," she sighed, "I'm just really upset that I can't remember anything other than Mother. It's weird only knowing part of your life."
"I honestly can't begin to know what that feels like, but I know I can help. I got Ro- er, your Mother to come to terms with it; I'm sure you'll be the same in no time, kiddo." I ruffled her hair, prompting her to swat at my hands, with the smile returning to her face.
"Da-ad!"
"What?"
"I'm not a little kid!"
"I can still mess with you, though; isn't that what kids are for?" She tried to glare at me, but the way she was giggling made it difficult to take seriously. "Oh! Hey, thought."
"Hm?"
"You like to read, right?"
"Of course! Who doesn't like reading?"
"Good; the me that raised you did well. Can you remember if your Mom ever read to you?"
"All the time. She used to read to me just before I went to bed; it's actually how I learned to read."
"Well, then maybe I should try reading to you. If Robin read to you before you went to bed, then it stands to reason that I did it too; heck, I'm probably the one that suggested it."
"Great idea, Dad! I'll go get a book!" Faster than I ever thought possible, Morgan shot up and dashed out of the room.
"Heh, I might get used to this." I instantly regretted opening my mouth, as a very horrible feeling made its way into my throat. Maybe I shouldn't have suggested reading when I can barely talk...
"I'm back!" The sandy blonde re-entered the room, an enormous yet sheepish grin on her face.
"That was fast." The feeling instantly disappeared.
"Well, it turns out I had a book in my robe the entire time..." She scratched the back of her head, looking down at the floor. "But, I did find something else!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Presenting..." she made a hand signal to someone just outside the door, "Mother!" Robin walked in the room, bearing a smile that was lesser than, yet similar to Morgan's.
"I hear there's going to be a story reading."
"There is; care to join us?" The two of them walked over and sat next to me, Robin putting her head on my shoulder and Morgan handing me the book. My eyes widened when I saw the title. "Magyk?"
"Mm-hmm! It's one of the first books I ever read."
"Good on ya, me."
"What?" Robin shifted on my shoulder.
"This is my favourite book series; the me that raised Morgan must have taken the book back with him. So, shall we get into it?" The two of them snuggled closer as I opened to the first chapter. "Chapter 1: Something in the Snow. Silas Heap pulled his cloak..."
Half an hour later, I was stuck with two sleeping girls on my sides. I couldn't help but feel... strange. It was a good kind of strange, but strange nonetheless. It was also slightly uncomfortable due to the constant motion of the ship not agreeing with me and the fact that I had two weights coming down on my shoulders, but I didn't mind. I was content to just sit there in the warmth of my wife and daughter, taking in the rocking... of the... boat... I suddenly don't feel so well... Unable to move, I simply settled for trying to follow their example. It worked, and I was soon in a deep sleep, only aware of the people next to me, and not the movement of the ship. Well... mostly.
A/N: Another one down! Sorry if some of the things in this one felt a bit... soon to you (some certainly did to me), but it had to be a bit quick for the sake of the rest of the story. I'm going to shut my writing hole so I don't spoil anything now, so, as always, if you have any questions, concerns, comments, or criticisms, be sure to review or PM. Until the next chapter!