After finishing my shower, my first move is to stretch and take a walk around the neighborhood. It reminds me of middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa, but the houses are way nicer and there are social justice signs every other house, from Black Lives Matter to "pay workers a living wage" to pride flags and messages inclusive to queer people. Even for your resident radical leftist, it's a little overwhelming. But not a bad thing, necessarily.
I wonder what it would have been like to grow up here. Compared to Seattle there are basically no homeless people, and everyone is dressed in well-made clothes that marks them as middle class. Compared to places I've known, this little town feels like another world entirely.
My musing only stops when I return to Lucina's house and Morgan greets me.
"Do you have any plans for today?" she says.
"Right now, I'm trying to survive."
She bobs her head up and down. "Yeah, that's a whole mood and a half. Mom gave me the basic run-down. At least you're not caught in a war while you're here, right?"
Not here, but people are suffering in America and around the world as I speak. Still, I have to admit that there is a difference between high tensions and a civil war, which I could see erupting if this country falls much lower.
"Yeah," I say. "I guess I should start looking for jobs or something like that."
"But you can't, right? Not with your record."
"Guess I'm fucked, huh?"
"We can talk things out with dad, since he might have a way of helping you with anything that requires this world's fancy technology."
"I know how to use a computer, you know."
Though I don't have one anymore. That could make living on Earth difficult.
"Yeah, I mean obviously. But dad's a wizard with that kind of stuff. And also a regular wizard, but that's not the point."
I raise an eyebrow. "Lucina mentioned that you can use magic. You're saying Robin is also like that?"
"All good tacticians learn magic. I wanted to be like him, so I also took up tomes."
Magic tomes, huh? I wonder if that gives them more spell versatility than what Fódlan's mages have. I mean, think about how many spells a single book can contain.
"But like I said, that's all for later," Morgan says. "You should relax here until you feel comfortable. But what to do…" A smile creeps onto her face. "Do you play video games?"
"I have played them before, yes."
"Great. I'll get dad and we can boot up Mario Kart."
She bolts off before I can respond. I haven't played the new Mario Karts much, but those games don't change much from entry to entry. Morgan returns a couple minutes later with Robin, who's carrying a folded-up laptop. Now that I look at him more closely, he does look like he's also in his mid-twenties despite dressing and acting like a middle-aged professor. Which is good, since that means there won't be weird age difference dynamics between him and Lucina.
"I apologize for my daughter roping you into this," Robin says. "If it's any solace, I'm certain that you're better than me at this game."
"Hey, stop saying sorry," Morgan says, "Especially when it's about me."
"I don't mind playing," I say. "It might be good to take things easy for a day or two, if that's all right with you. I don't want to feel like a freeloader."
"Like I said, I see you as family," Robin says. "Rest and relax for as long as you need, Claude."
Morgan goes and boots up Mario Kart on a system I don't recognize. The game that appears is an improved version of an older game from when I was on Earth, which seems super lazy, but it's not like I played the original version of the game so it's new to me regardless.
As Robin promises, he's terrible. Morgan has him turn on auto-steering and auto-acceleration and he still comes in last place every time. He seems to be enjoying it, so I don't comment. Morgan, on the other hand, is a beast. I occasionally look over at her screen and it's clear that she knows the best paths to follow and angles for each turn by heart. I'm stuck somewhere in the middle, which means that the bots keep blasting me with items. Occasionally Robin passes me with a bullet bill and then falls back to last.
"Come on, dad," Morgan says. "This game should be easy for a tactician like you."
"My goal is not to win, but rather to spend quality time with my daughter and an honorary sibling in-law. And in that regard, I am in first place."
"First out of one," Morgan says under her breath.
"A victory nonetheless."
Due to their ages I know that Robin and Morgan can't have a typical parent-child relationship, but it's still bizarre seeing a father participating in activities that his daughter enjoys. I don't think my dad would have touched video games with a ten foot pole if I asked him to play.
After about an hour of playing, Robin says that he has a meeting to attend and leaves. He whistles to himself on his way out of the room, and Morgan sets her controller down.
"What does your dad do?" I say. "It must be tricky finding a job here on Earth when you're all from another world."
"Well, mom found a way to bring gold over here, which gives us all the money we need. So really, don't feel bad about staying with us. Gold sells for a stupid amount over here." Morgan pauses. "Still weird that the gold isn't the currency itself."
"It used to be, in a way. All paper money used to represent a certain amount in the bank rather than being more or less arbitrary like it is now. Though gold itself is an arbitrary choice for currency, I guess. Well, but I guess not, since its high electronegativity means it doesn't rust and can be preserved as coinage."
Morgan stares at me. "You and my dad are the same person, I swear."
"Lucina mentioned something like that. He's really interested in political theory or something?"
"Political history, policy, international relations, he gobbles it all up like bear meat."
"Bear meat?" I say.
"Inside joke. He's familiarizing himself with this world's customs to see which ones are worth bringing back to our world. And with a glimpse into future technology, he can decide which ones he wants Ylisse to develop. If he can pinpoint all the discoveries that led to the development of, say, computers, he can fast-track us so we make it there sooner."
Huh. Maybe that's what I should have been doing all this time. But then again, I was going to get thrown out of high school if I didn't keep up with my assignments, and I had no free time outside of that and Fódlan.
"He's such a boomer, though," Morgan says. "He even likes mayonnaise."
"I guess people like him are the reason there's an entire shelf dedicated to mayonnaise at the grocery store. Meanwhile I have like five options for lentils, which are one of the most commonly consumed foods in the world."
"Do you hear that, dad?" Morgan shouts. "Claude thinks you're a boomer too."
"That's nice, Morgan." His voice is loud enough to travel, but still manages to carry the same even tone.
"Anyways," Morgan says, "Dad is apparently good enough at what he does that a lot of people at the fancy university want to talk with him about stuff. It all has to be remote, but it keeps him busy. While I, on the other hand, am stuck. How do I have access to a near-infinite source of information at all times and still get bored? I don't understand it."
"Happens to the best of us," I say. "Your mind readjusts."
"Well, your goal is to chill and relax," Morgan says, "So maybe I can help you with that. Is there anything fun you want to do?"
Fun… when's the last time I've done something for fun on my own?
"We have a bunch of fun video games," Morgan says. "If you want to boot up some of the single-player ones I could give you help when you need it. Oh, and there are a bunch of great hikes around here. There are some trails even in the city, or we could bug dad to take us on a gorge hike after he's done with his call."
If there's a mass pandemic going on and the virus travels through breath, I'm not sure how wise it is to be going on hikes when it's easy to pass people on narrow paths. I decide on picking up some video games. Morgan seems more eager to watch than she was to play, so I don't feel bad as I look through the single player games. She recommends a RPG that looks super anime, and I guess it can't hurt to give it a try.
Morgan's someone who constantly talks while I play games, but I prefer it that way. After spending every waking moment busy, I think I'd go crazy if I tried to play an RPG in silence. Besides, her advice is helpful more often than it is annoying, and we get to comment on the weird designs of all the characters. The first act has a protagonist kid who salvages junk from the ocean go on a mission to retrieve some artifact that ends up being a weapon who is also a sentient anime girl with huge boobs and it only gets wilder from there. I get lost in the world of the game and don't realize how long I've been playing until Lucina walks in on us.
"Hey, mom," Morgan says. "Guess which game I'm having Claude play."
"It's the one with that one capybara who builds a sex robot, right?"
Morgan puts her hands on her hips. "He's not a capybara."
"Morgan," I say. "You have to tell me now if the robot is a sex bot or if it's just a racy joke."
"Just a racy joke," Morgan says. "Mom over here loves to exaggerate everything."
"I do like the Scottish lady with the whips words though," Lucina says.
"No whips words for me, thanks," I say.
"Seriously?" Morgan crosses her arms. "They're super cool."
"I was almost killed by one."
"I was almost killed by about every weapon imaginable, and you don't see me hating on them."
Lucina walks in and sits down on the couch, watching me run around in a grassy field in-game.
"I'm glad to see that you're getting along," Lucina says. "Disagreements about whip swords notwithstanding."
"We should have more visitors," Morgan says, "Especially if they're cool like Claude."
Honestly, I can't tell if she means that I'm hip or personable. Lucina smiles.
"Enjoy Claude's company while he's here, then. Because we have to make sure that we don't get the virus. Claude's safe because he spent the past five years in another dimension, but we have to keep isolated from everyone else."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I hope it passes soon so we can go back to Ylisse and see our friends."
Oh, so they're not travelling between dimensions to make absolute sure they're not bringing the virus over. That should be something I take into account when travelling back to Fódlan. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't caused a disease outbreak by bringing over some new bug that Earth people are resistant to but Fódlan people don't have the immune system to deal with.
"Please, relax for as long as you want," Lucina tells me. "At some point though, I'm guessing you'll want to talk about what you want to do in this world. Robin being good with computers means he can basically look up anything you want to know."
Ah, yes. I think the smartest people are the ones who know how to google things the best. That was what saved me in school, anyway, and I'm not nearly as good at picking up info on the fly as other people like Linhardt. Still, it can't hurt to tap into his knowledge source. At least, so long as I can keep him on track.
"That might be a good idea," I say. Turning to Morgan, "I've been playing a while. How long is this game, anyway?"
"Well, there are about ten continents to explore and you're still on the second one. The first one was the tutorial."
How did this game ever get made? I can see why all the video game people are talking about a crunch crisis.
"Do you know if Robin is free right now?" I say.
"Let me check." Morgan grins. "HEY DAD?"
I hear footsteps shuffling from upstairs. They grow closer until Robin emerges from around the corner with open laptop in hand. He looks at Morgan while she slouches back further into the couch.
"Claude wanted to talk with you," Morgan says.
"Ah. My thanks." His gaze turns to me. "Would you like to discuss matters in any specific place?"
Well, it might be awkward to lay out everything that's going on in front of a pair of onlookers, so maybe not here.
"How about the kitchen?" I say.
"And fix him something to eat as well, will you?" Lucina says. "Hey Morgan. Do you want to work on swordplay?"
Her face lights up. "Gimme a sec to stretch and warm up. I'll be there in no time."
A smirk comes to Lucina's face. She and Robin are definitely the cool parents most people wish they had, though it probably helps that Morgan is already a legal adult and they have enough energy to keep up with her.
I follow Robin into the kitchen. He offers to make me a sandwich but I decide to fix it myself so that I can get the ingredients how I want them. Honestly, it's a blessing to be able to make my food the exact way I want it after being served formal Alliance cuisine for the past five years, even if it's only a sandwich. And the food here on Earth is so much better than medieval food. I add some salt to my sandwich because I can, and I've almost forgotten how it tastes.
"I'm happy to talk about anything that's on your mind," Robin says. "Lucina warned me not to bring up politics since that's a touchy topic, and rolled her eyes at me after I went on about how everything around us is a result of politics."
"True enough. Though I don't know how much of my socialist ideology you want to hear about."
A shrug. "It's all interesting to me. And while I do believe that the American far left neglects a number of practical issues that would result from the implementation of their ideas, I can sympathize with their desire for policy that serves people directly and as a first priority."
"You don't think other people want that as well?" I say.
"Well, I'm a believer in serving systems that influence people rather than the other way around. I am also a bit of what you might describe as a 'dirty capitalist.' So I believe that directly serving the right markets and incentivizing practices that promote sustainability and security is the right way to go. But my experiences are colored by working with royals and bureaucracy so often, so my views aren't exactly neutral."
"Happens to the best of us."
Also, Robin's view of "capitalist" as in "the government taking an active role in regulating markets" is funny to me. But I guess they already do that with farm subsidies that end up going to big corporations and tax breaks for billionaires. It's only when the regular people want something that the free market is invoked.
"That's why it's good to understand where people are coming from and what they're trying to serve." Robin pauses. "Is this what you wish to be discussing, or am I prattling on again?"
"I don't mind talking politics, but I'm more interested in learning about planar mechanics. There are different versions of my friends here and in Fódlan, and when the Fódlan one dies the real one always follows. But Lucina says it doesn't work the other way around."
"Ah. I fear we know rather little about the planescape, but I'm happy to lend any knowledge that I have. From what I understand, other planes can imprint on this one."
"What does that mean?"
"People can travel between two planes, but the connection between them is less like a bridge and more like a slide. People can climb up or down, but the energy flows one way. One plane will reflect what happens in the other, and not the alternate way."
"So Fódlan is the one setting our fates, and we can only watch it play out on Earth?"
"Ah, my apologies. I didn't mean to imply that you're not in control of your destinies. It's simply that from a planar perspective, information flows from other words to Earth like rainfall converging into a pond."
"Don't worry." I smirk. "It takes more than that to offend me. So have you noticed examples of that from Ylisse to Earth as well?"
"Lucina has the firsthand knowledge of that. From what she's told me, it sounds like Fódlan imprints more strongly on Earth than Ylisse does."
I wonder how much Byleth knew about this. Did they not consider that they could be leaving me powerless here, or is that exactly what they wanted?
"So if I want to fix what's going on with my friends, I have to do so in Fódlan," I say.
"Large external events on Earth will match what happens in Fódlan. Again, I don't want to claim that you won't make a difference by supporting your friends here, but major life events are dictated by what occurs over there."
I think in my heart, I already knew what Robin is saying. Leaping back from Fódlan to see Thales and his cops attacking our high school couldn't be due to chance alone. Of course, it could have been Thales orchestrating both at once rather than fate, but it makes sense that not only deaths carry over from Fódlan to Earth.
"That means I did something right, at least," I say. "I made a key general of the enemy faction promise not to kill my friends. But if they get taken hostage in Fódlan, will that transfer over to Earth as well?"
A pause. "Well, we don't know for sure…"
"But you have a guess, don't you?"
Robin sighs. "Most likely, the Fódlan version of someone being imprisoned will lead to the arrest of their Earth counterpart. There are many mechanisms for this to happen, seeing as the police are not always the most… accurate with who they detain and charge with crimes."
"That's one way to put it."
So it sounds like my work isn't done. If Dimitri and the others spend the rest of their Fódlan lives rotting away in some medieval prison, that's the fate my friends will suffer as well. I know I promised Byleth not to interfere, but there has to be something I can do. Without an army, I stand no chance of fighting them directly. But maybe I can advocate for the Golden Deer and Blue Lions classmates.
"There's something I want to double-check," I say. "How good are you at tracking down specific people?"
"I'm quite used to it at this point," Robin says. "It's a useful skill to have."
"Great. Can you tell me what happened to Judith Daphnel, Raphael Kirsten, Leonie Pinelli, and Mercedes Martriz?"
Robin types at his keyboard in furious bursts followed by scrolling, frowning, and muttering under his breath. I can't see his screen, but I can tell that he's working fast to dig up information. Watching an academic go at it like this is weirdly therapeutic. After only a few minutes, he sighs and looks up at me.
"They all passed on recently. Do you want me to forward you the links?"
"I don't know if that's necessary. How did each of them die?"
"You won't find official records saying this, but it looks like Judith was assassinated by the CIA. Fairly standard practice. She was planning to expose the way they topple foreign democracies and destabilizing those regions by funding and arming drug cartels. And, ah, don't do around repeating that, okay? Just to be safe."
Wow. That started off with… something. Though I suppose that will be nothing compared to what will happen in Fódlan once Edelgard wins and Hubert becomes Fódlan's spymaster.
"Leonie was killed by white supremacists she supposedly aggravated. Mercedes fell ill and died of COVID-19 after participating in relief efforts that exposed her to the virus. Raphael was shot to death by police who claimed that he was threatening them. Reputable sources say he wasn't."
Raphael… how close was that to being me, all those years ago? And if Robin's words are true, my near-death experience might have been fate. But I can influence what happens in Fódlan. I already have, as the leader of the Alliance for the past five years. Byleth quashed any ability I had to lead my people towards a brighter future, but these planar dynamics mean I have more power there than here.
"One more person," I say. "Could you look up Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd?"
"That's quite the name." More keyboard mashing and scrolling. "He's alive. Is he supposed to be?"
"Yeah, so far as I know."
"Looks like he still lives in the state. It's a four-hour drive, but we're relatively close by."
"I want to see him."
"I'd be happy to take you there tomorrow. I don't have any big meetings, and Lucina shouldn't be the one to take you since I can tell she's still tired from driving you here." He pauses, and I hear ringing of metal on metal upstairs. "I'm amazed she has enough energy to indulge Morgan in sparring. Though I suppose compared to full-day marches during the war, driving isn't too bad."
I open my mouth to say we need to go now, and then I close it. It's getting late, and I'm not sure I have the energy to deal with more of life's shit right now. Tomorrow morning will work better for all of us.
"If there's anyone else in the area you want to check on, it might be a good time," Robin says.
Who else do I want to see? The Blue Lions students are here in the northeast, which limits my options.
"How about Ashe Gaspard? You might also get hits for Ashe Ubert since that's his birth name."
After less than a minute of being glued to his computer screen, Robin looks up at me.
"He's closer than Dimitri is, and on the way. Do you want to hit his place first?"
"Sounds good. Thank you so much for this, by the way. If there's anything I can do for you in return…"
"Like I said, you're family to me. I'm happy to help in any way I can."
Family, huh? My parents would never have done this for me. In fact, they refused to take me to Hilda's house when we were friends, and she lived about five minutes away. When people make those cheesy facebook posts about how much they love their family, I wonder if this is what experiences everyone else is thinking of.
"Now," Robin says, "I should probably make dinner. We were planning for a simple pasta night, if that's okay with you."
"Trust me, it's better than army rations. What can I help with?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't believe I need assistance. Boiling noodles is a one person job."
"Great. That means I can look for side dishes to make or stuff to add onto the pasta. What do you normally eat it with?"
A pause. I can tell he's considering whether or not it's worth insisting that he do everything himself. Then he shrugs in defeat.
"Morgan's big into meatballs right now. With the amount that she's staying active even in quarantine, she has the metabolism for it."
As if on cue, another metal ring sounds upstairs.
"It's so strange for me to live in this world where food is so abundant that even lower-class people are trying to eat less," Robin says. "Yet still, poverty is an issue while we have more than enough food for everyone."
"Yet another consequence of that capitalism you love so much."
"I suppose. It probably would do me well to research alternatives to having large corporations in charge of industrial agriculture for Ylisse's sake. Can I put you on meatball duty?"
I smile at the jump in subject. "Sure. Can't say I'm an experienced chef, but I can follow recipes on google."
"Important question." A mischievous smile comes to Robin's face. "Do we want to tell Morgan you made the meatballs, or do we want to see what she really thinks of them by pretending I was the cook?"
Okay, I see some of where Morgan gets it from now.
"You know, pretending you made everything sounds like fun. Let's go with that."
"Excellent."
Cooking meatballs and making a sauce isn't hard, and by the time we're done Lucina and Morgan are still sparring upstairs. We need to wait extra time for them to shower, but lukewarm food is the least of my worries right now. Lucina's family and I all sit around the dinner table and eat together. Did I ever eat dinner together with both of my parents? If so, I was too young to remember it. Morgan scarfs down the pasta so quickly that I'm worried she's going to choke on something, but Lucina and Robin are acting like it's normal so I don't say anything.
"These meatballs are way better than the ones you normally make, dad," Morgan says. "Did you actually stop thinking about Ylissean bureaucracy while you were making food and pay attention to what you're doing?"
"Well, it's good to perform a test to see if you're complaining for the sake of it," Robin says. "You passed. Claude made these ones."
"You made him help with dinner on his first day here?" Lucina says.
"I insisted on helping," I say. "And thanks for the compliment to my cooking, Morgan."
"All right," Robin says. "How did you do it, Claude? I should start taking notes."
"I'm not sure what to say. I followed the directions on the google recipe and they ended up like this."
"I knew it," Morgan said. "You just don't pay attention when you cook, dad."
Robin raises an eyebrow. "If my cooking is really that bad you're welcome to make dinner yourself."
"I'm actually about this close to doing that. Besides, if I can rope Claude into helping me then it will be fun."
Lucina laughs. "We'll need to have a cooking competition where we all make the same thing and taste test each other's creations."
Do some people really live their lives like this? Here in the moment, it seems so easy to be a happy family and get along. Not that this is an archetypal American household with all the time travel bullshit going on, but still. If it's this easy for people to love each other, then why is there so much abuse in this world?
"I guess you make things more exciting for us, Claude," Robin says. "I'm sure Lucina made this clear, but please do stay as long as you like. We won't stop you if you go to Fódlan again, but you always have a home with us."
But why? Robin said I'm like family to him, but it's not normal to care for someone the moment you meet them. Even friendly people I met at school like Ashe and Ignatz probably wouldn't have driven me 8 hours in a day right after meeting me.
"Thanks," I say. "I can't say I'll feel great about mooching off you forever but I appreciate the offer."
I think about Robin's words for the rest of dinner, and as I play more video games with Morgan after dinner. It must be hard for her to be an extrovert and an only child, especially during quarantine. She's good company and doesn't rage when she loses like Hilda did in middle school—but then again, I can almost never beat her at anything.
And even when I lay in the bed Lucina and Robin have given me, surrounded by the smell of newly washed blankets and sheets, I can't get their smiles and laughter out of my head. Then I start crying. At first I think I'm imagining it, because I'm not sad. I can't afford to be when I need to keep putting one foot in front of the other until I keel over from exhaustion. But the tears keep coming.
This makes no sense. For the first time ever, I have a place where I belong. I haven't cried in years. I should be happy, not sad.
Am I happy?
Is this what being happy feels like?
I… don't know.
I don't know.
Why don't I know?
The old saying not to talk about politics with family figures isn't stopping Claude and Robin. I swear I'm not trying to make a political statement with this fic but the characters don't want to stop talking about politics.
Hey, everyone! :) Turns out this term is busier than I thought. Don't do grad school kids; it's a gateway drug. Jkjk I'm glad to be working a paid job but yeah it eats up a lot of time so I might not be uploading as frequently.
Oh, and the RPG Claude was playing is based off Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Despite what the characters say about it here, it's one of my favorite games of all time and I could see a lot of FE fans liking it, especially if you prefer the RPG side to the tactics side.
Hope you have a wonderful day! :D