(A/N: Dang…I sorta expected for there to be a paralogue before this one. Oh well.
This paralogue is in Robin's view, shortly after Chapter 14.)
Robin, Chrom, Malin, Lissa, and Lucina had all gathered around the hall outside Morgan's room, with Lucina being the only one inside his room to tell the others when he woke up. Robin was worried, yes, but she also felt a bit guilty. This was mostly her fault, after all.
She finished telling everyone what Morgan had told her, her gaze either falling on Morgan lying in his bed, or Malin. Half of her feared that Malin would go into the same state of unconsciousness as Morgan. She wasn't quite sure what she would do if that happened.
"So…to sum it up," Lissa said slowly, "I'm no longer the bad mom?"
"That's not the point of this and you know it," Robin replied somewhat threateningly. "I was fine until everyone decided they wanted to murder me. Stress creates distraction, and distraction causes mistakes. Everyone in the castle has been on high alert for two years."
"And in everyone's defense parenting-wise," Malin added, "None of us had much of a parental figure to learn off of. For a good majority of their life, Chrom and Lissa just had Emmeryn. Me and Robin don't even remember our actual parents—and I only came back recently. The only parenting experience you guys had were with adults or almost-adults that didn't need to be taught anything or shown a certain path. But none of you are necessarily bad parents, either."
Robin sighed. "Thank you for your input, Malin, but it doesn't really change anything," she said. "Especially when we aren't here to discuss our parenting skills; we're here to figure out what the hell is happening to Morgan so we can stop it. Everyone except Lucina is up-to-date on my theories, but none of them are pleasant."
"You're absolutely sure that there's only one thing doing this?" Chrom asked, looking over at Lucina and Morgan for a few moments. "It's not necessarily the most realistic idea. He's dead, after all. You ensured that."
"I survived because of the connections I had with everyone in the army," Robin replied firmly. "There's a chance that Grima was able to as well."
"Why go straight to Morgan, though?" Malin wondered. "And how could he have completely taken control of Loralis, since she doesn't have any confirmed relatives with Fell blood? Other than the 'he's Grima he can do whatever he darn well pleases' option, there isn't an explanation for it."
"I'm not entirely sure," Robin admitted. "But it otherwise makes sense. The person Morgan sees in his dreams doesn't face him because of 'their' appearance; it's likely that they share an appearance with Grima, me, Morgan, or even Loralis. The voices are a sign of control, and a taunting method; something similar to memories that you can hear and feel, but can't visualize. The headaches are the same thing. If it is Grima, then Morgan has the advantage of not being the perfect Fell vessel like I am. But there might be a time limit; Grima could take full control whenever he wanted to."
"What about the Mark of Grima that was on your hand?" Chrom asked. "It disappeared, didn't it? That meant that Grima was gone."
"It only faded," Robin explained. "I noticed it a few days before Loralis was seen near Ylisstol. I didn't want anyone to panic, so I bandaged it up so it wasn't visible." Chrom's silence afterward implied that he either didn't pay much mind to it or completely disregarded it.
Malin just looked at her for a few moments. "At least we know where Morgan got hiding important information from," he said quietly. A bit louder, he continued, "You didn't think that some of us might want to know that..?"
"I would prefer not to be hovered over," Robin replied, trying to sound a bit apologetic. "And I figured that someone would ask, eventually."
"Mother…" Malin said, sighing. He didn't often call Robin that when they were around others; she had gotten used to him calling her by her name, so it surprised her a bit. "No one here can communicate problems properly, can they?"
"We make up for it by being able to be easily read," Robin said simply. "We each have a person that identifies a problem and—to put it simply—tries their best to help with it. Even if there are problems left unsaid, they don't normally go unfixed."
"We're dysfunctional, but in a good way," Lissa decided. Robin had honestly forgot that she was there. "One big, somewhat dysfunctional family with trust issues and a heck ton of regrets. I think that pretty much sums up everyone here."
They fell into brief silence. Robin wondered how they could fix this problem; Malin had, unsurprisingly, become Morgan's go-to problem-teller, similar to Robin and Chrom in that sense. But Morgan didn't even tell Malin the situation, which was definitely concerning in its own right.
The silence was broken when Lucina walked out of Morgan's room.
"Morgan's waking up," she announced.
"Thank you, Lucina," Robin said, smiling a bit. "How about you and Lissa see if you can't find something to treat yourselves? There's a small bakery not far from the castle."
If Lissa even remotely noticed that Robin addressed her as if she was Lucina or Morgan's age, she didn't let it show. Instead, she looked a bit happy for the excuse to leave, and Lucina simply nodded with her best attempt at a smile to return Robin's.
With Lissa and Lucina heading in the other direction, the remaining three—Robin, Chrom, and Malin—went into Morgan's room.
Morgan seemed reasonably conscious for someone who had been passed out for the past few hours. "Mother," he said as soon as he saw them.
"You should still be resting," Robin replied.
"No; this is extremely important," Morgan said firmly. "Please."
Robin hesitated for a few moments, looking at Chrom and Malin before turning back to Morgan. "Alright, what is it?"
"Who do you fear the most?" Morgan asked.
The question was a bit odd, but Robin nonetheless knew the answer: "If I had to chose just one person…I suppose it would be Grima."
A combination of fear, realization, and sudden pain quickly became apparent in Morgan's expression. "That's their name…that's who is in my head."
Nothing else could've scared Robin more than that single sentence.
