"...and that's what happened," Lucina said, her eyes cast down upon the ground.

Chrom stood with his arms crossed in one of the many bedrooms of the chateau, his wife sitting upon the bed, both looking at their daughter as she recounted the events that lead up to the outburst on the terrace. Olivia's face was one of concern, but Chrom's was graced with a seriousness that was not often seen outside of tense situations. In way, this was a tense situation. His daughter, who had built up a reputation of being the level-headed, responsible guardian for all the children that made their way back in time, had nearly maimed one of her comrades in a rage over her brother's love life. Given...recent events...there was little time or patience for something like this.

"Lucina," Olivia began, "what on Earth could have possessed you to do something like that?"

"You...you and father told me to watch over Inigo," she replied, "I took that to mean both on and off the battlefield."

Olivia stood up from the bed, "That is true," she said, "but, what does that have to do with Inigo and Severa? What did you think you were protecting him from?"

Lucina opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again. She had an answer of course. She had made it clear during the confrontation. But, to say it again knowing what she now knew, it seemed too foolish to utter. "I," she said, "I don't know."

Chrom took a step forward toward his daughter, his arms still crossed, his face still serious. Yet, there was something in his gait that betrayed his true feelings, a softness in his step that did not express the anger his body language portrayed. "Lucina," he said, "your mother asked you a question."

Lucina looked at him with a note of surprise, but took a sigh and resigned herself to her fate. "I...I was worried," she began, "Inigo is...sensitive. He speaks often of love and women as if he has experience, but in true matters of the heart...well...I fear that his judgement may not be adequate."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Olivia said, "you attacked Severa because you thought she was not worthy?"

"No! I..." Lucina said, but she understood then how that impression got made. No wonder Severa was so upset. "I thought she had...they..." her words trailed off.

Chrom let out a sigh and uncrossed his arms. "Lucina," he said, "I think you have let your worries get to your head." Both wife and daughter looked at him blankly, so he continued. "Whatever I...or, my present, er, future self said about protecting your brother, I imagine it did not include this."

Olivia nodded and turned to her daughter. "We always want you and Inigo to protect each other, on and off the battlefield, but there comes a time when you have to let him experience life for a while."

"It seems like he's experienced quite a lot without me," Lucina said in a low voice.

"What do you mean by that?" Chrom asked.

Lucina took a deep breath. "My brother is one of the finest singers I have ever heard, and his ability to write lyrics and music is unparalleled by anyone I have ever met. And yet...despite living with him my whole life, despite travelling across Ylisse and time itself...I did not know any of this until a few days ago."

Lucina looked at her mother, who recognized a glassy sheen playing with the brand that sat in her left eye. "He had these interests, these amazing talents, and I did not know about them! I've spent all this time protecting him, but I hardly know anything about him!"

Olivia's nimble arms wrapped around her daughter's form, pulling her into a tight hug. Lucina reciprocated, placing her chin on Olivia's shoulder, and shuddering shamefully in the warm grasp. Chrom placed a hand upon her blue head, his eyes closed, but his face betraying his grief. "I...I should have been there," Lucina said, "There was time, I see that now! I should have been supporting him! Thinking about him! Something! Anything!"

"You were thinking about what was best for him," Chrom said, "for everyone in the future. Without you, he might still be trapped in the gray hellscape you came from."

The tears were now streaming down Lucina's face. "That's the point, father! I spent all that time after you passed, training him, planning this trip to the past, trying to give him a future. But...I never asked how he was in the present. I was so focused on moving forward I didn't see what I was stepping over to get there. If I had just...just...talked to him! Or thrown catch with him! Or...or..." her words trailed off again, when she felt the tears on her neck, and realized the shuddering she felt was no longer her own.

"I'm sorry," Olivia said, muffled in her daughter's tunic and hair, "I'm so sorry."

"M-mother?" Lucina stammered.

"You shouldn't be thinking about this. About raising your brother. That was my responsibility, and I failed you...I failed you both."

Lucina pulled back, gripping her mother's shoulders with her hands and looking her dead in the eye. "You are not to blame," she said, "not for any of this! You died protecting Inigo, you fought to save us! Don't you understand? Without you, neither of us would be here. Neither of us would be alive!"

"So it comes full circle," Chrom said, looking away from his family.

"W-what?" Olivia said, still shaking in tears.

"Lucina," Chrom said, stepping towards his daughter, gripping her shoulders tightly, "you have been through so much. But, I need you to listen to me, alright? There is absolutely no one on the planet who could have done everything you are blaming yourself for. How many people could have survived the apocalypse, avoided an all-powerful tyrant, overcome the death of both their parents, convinced a goddess to send them back in time to fix everything, and protected their brother and friends? I know I could not do all of that. I can barely fight the war I'm waging now. If it was not for you, and Robin, and Olivia, and all the others, I would be dead in a field outside of Ylisstol right now."

He reached up and wiped away a tear on Lucina's left cheek with his thumb. "You did all of that. There is no way you could have raised your brother along the way, trying to be his surrogate mother. You are sixteen years old, Lucina. You should barely be handling your own feelings, let alone your brother's."

His hand reached around to the back of her head, and he pulled her in close for a hug. "You have to know, Lucina. You have to know you have done more than anyone I have ever known. To know that you are my daughter fills me with more pride than anything I have done in my life. I am so, so very proud of you."

Olivia reached around, pulling both blue-haired royals into a hug of her own, and Lucina relaxed, for what must have been the first time in forever, into a feeling of warmth and love that she forget was even possible. The royal family stood like that for quite some time, nobody wanting to be the one to spoil the moment, until finally Lucina pulled away, and Olivia grabbed Chrom's arm in support.

Lucina wiped away a final tear with the bottom of her palm, smiling, and saying, "Thank you, father. Thank both of you."

Both parents smiled back at her, and Olivia released her grip on Chrom to approach Lucina once more. "I just thought of something," she said, "instead of worrying about not talking with Inigo in the past, why don't you talk to him now?"

Lucina's smile wavered. "But, mother, after what happened...I think I should give him some time."

"Lucina," Olivia said, "you should know better than anyone how precious time is. Please don't waste any of it waiting for a right moment."

Lucina's smile broke through again, and, newly invigorated, she hugged her mother before stepping outside of the bedroom to find her brother.

"That was a lovely line," Chrom said, "how did you ever come up with it?"

Olivia turned to him with a shy smile, "I guess you could say it reminded me of someone else who tried waiting for the right moment."

Chrom blushed slightly, but gave her a knowing grin. "Well, I can hardly be blamed for that. Half the time I was looking for you to propose, you were hiding in a barrel."

Olivia's blush consumed her cheeks as she covered her face with her hands. "You'll never let me live that down, will you?!"

Chrom pulled her into a hug, "Come now, look at the progress you've made!"

"You bully!" she said playfully, "As if you were any less embarrassed when Frederick made those recruitment posters."

Chrom's blush now exceeded Olivia's and as she uncovered her face, she had a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"C-come on," he said, "what's in the past is in the past right? W-why bring up ancient history?"

"Oh, you were quite embarrassed, running around the camp trying to pull them all down," she said, and her daring grin revealed to Chrom that she had entered full performance mode. There was no stopping her now. "It was a shame really," she said, her hands covering her chest in a mock sorrow, "you were so handsome in that poster, dashing, daring, your sword hung so-"

"R-really," Chrom stammered, "I was just thinking of morale! Imagine if the soldiers saw their leader like that, they may very well have rebelled in disgust!"

"The men perhaps," Olivia said, "after all, they would be struck by a very powerful feeling of...inadequacy after seeing you in that form."

Chrom groaned and turned his head away. "Maribelle was a terrible influence on you."

Olivia giggled, her hand coming up to her mouth to cover it. "Maybe so, but something she told me must of worked. I got you in the end after all."

Chrom smiled back at her, letting his weight fall backwards towards the bed with his hands grabbing Olivia's wrists. She may a light squeak as she fell with him, his back landing on the soft mattress, and her landing on top of him, her pink braids falling around his head. A moment of silence passed before both started laughing, their chuckles echoing through the empty hallway outside of the room.