(A/N: Okay, customary beginning author's note! Although this will be more than explaining what to expect, so it might be a bit long. This story will take place in my Ylissian Legacies AU, and it will reference some events in those stories. However, so then you don't have to go back and read the other stories, I will be recapping events with some minor spoilers for previous stories.
This story will have three parts: Beginnings, Fell-Blood, and Loss. Beginnings is the first part, and will cover recaps, provide context, and set everything up for the next two parts. Fell-Blood is where the plot officially kicks in, and may get depressing quickly. Loss is the final part, and if Fell-Blood doesn't get depressing, Loss definitely will.
This story will have at least one Paralogue, which essentially serves as a normal chapter in someone else's view. They will typically provide more information that you may not have had previously due to view limitations.
On to the terms of characters! There are three OCs that will probably be mentioned at least once: Eisso, Kenzie, and Ocielle, all of which are mine. There is also a character called Malin, who is Future Morgan under a different name; and, for the record, the only people who don't know this in-universe are Owain and Morgan at this point—out of the main cast, at least. All characters may act a bit oddly, as their personalities differ from that of canon, but overall they should still be recognizable as canon characters. Morgan, Lucina, Owain, and other children are the present versions, and are the ones that will show the most difference between their future counterparts, if that makes sense. If you have any questions at any point of the story, send me a PM and I'll answer them as soon as I'm able to. But with all that out of the way, here's the story!)
Part 1: Beginnings
Morgan sat outside Lucina's door. Hopefully, she realizes that she needs to eat lunch eventually and come out so he can talk to her. She left for four months, and she hasn't talked to anyone since she came back. She gave Chrom Parallel Falchion—which was given to her about two years ago, at the beginning of the Grimleal War, and was supposedly left behind by an old war friend of Chrom, Robin, and Malin's—and went directly to her room.
Maybe because he was getting paranoid, maybe because he's been reading too much history records noting the fall and rise of small countries and kingdoms, Morgan just wanted to ask a few questions, get answers, provide advice on how she should probably stop being reclusive when something started upsetting her, and then let her do whatever she needed to do.
Morgan noticed how there was a faint shuffling.
"Are you ready to talk now?" He asked, leaning over to knock on her door gently.
"No," Lucina replied simply. She sounded half-asleep. She probably was, actually.
"Do you have an actual reason this time?" Morgan said, wishing she could at least leave her room. He liked face-to-face conversations better; he had an easier time trying to figure things out based on someone's expression as opposed to their tone of voice.
"It's the same reason I've been giving you the last three weeks," Lucina said, sounding a bit annoyed. "I'd rather not talk about it, and you being persistent isn't going to change that."
"But I can tell it's bothering you," Morgan argued. He tried not to get too loud; visitors weren't allowed near the bedrooms, but it was possible that there were a few people hoping to catch some gossip. "You can't keep everything to yourself."
"I can if I need to," Lucina replied simply. More shuffling, then silence; she must've moved a bit closer to the door. "And when I do tell someone, you won't be the first person I tell, trust me. You'll probably be one of the last, actually."
"Would you like to explain why?" Morgan prompted. It was a bit hard not to lose his patience…he hated when Lucina did this. It was a combination of frustration that she never told anyone and worry that whatever she's hiding would lead her to do something irrational and stupid.
Lucina didn't respond for a few moments. "It's hard to explain and you won't understand."
"And you're aware that I probably know more about it than you do, right?" Morgan asked, still trying to help. "It's a part of my job to help you; since I'll be taking Mother's exact role, I'll be by your side as your right-hand man when you become the exalt. I know that's a ways off, but we might as well get used to it now. There's a good chance that I know about whatever's bothering you."
"…I doubt it," Lucina admitted silently. "This is something that Father never told me; and I know that he was at least partially aware of it. If Father never told me, I doubt you were told either."
"Try me," Morgan offered. So far so good; maybe she'll actually talk to him now.
His hopes were quickly dashed when Lucina said, "Preferably not. I appreciate you going out of your way to help me, but I'm still not ready to talk about it."
Morgan groaned, but somewhat understood. At least he could try to figure out what's bothering her by brainstorming with Malin. If he wasn't busy, that is.
"I'll come back later," Morgan said, standing up.
"I wouldn't expect anything else," Lucina replied. It almost sounded bitter. Morgan opted not to pay much mind, however.
Morgan started heading down to the library, waving to whoever noticed him. There weren't that much people in the library—which made sense, considering it was almost lunchtime.
Morgan headed towards Malin, who was sitting down at one of the desks writing in his journal. About a year ago, Malin had explained to Morgan why he always had it with him: "I regularly write down the day's events as they happen. Some entries are short, while others are long. I like to think of it more as an autobiography; something that I can read when I'm feeling nostalgic, or others can read when I die. I keep it with me so then I can write something down as soon as it happens." Morgan liked the concept, but he didn't have Malin's knack for making written work interesting.
It took a few moments for Malin to realize Morgan was standing there.
"Hey," Malin said kindly, looking at him. "Any luck with Lucina?"
"A little bit," Morgan replied. He pulled over a chair and sat down. "Want to chat until lunch?"
Malin smiled, writing down a little bit more in his journal before closing it. "Always," he said.