Eisso received his present from Robin—which was a new tome—and waited. Everyone—the adults, his agemates, and others—ate dinner together. And despite what Eisso had expected, the room was actually filled with conversation; a relatively happy one, at that. Half of them received their parting gifts before dinner, a few of them received them during, and the rest received their gifts afterwards.

Most of them were waiting in the entrance, and Eisso was trying his best to figure out how to get everyone out of Ylisstol without causing panic. With Morgan's help, he was able to determine that they could just leave in intervals.

Lucina was the last one to join them, grouping up with Eisso, Morgan, and Kenzie. Her old sword was replaced with something that looked…fancier.

Morgan took immediate notice. "That's…that's Falchion, isn't it?" He asked.

Eisso understood Lucina's conflicted expression immediately.

"Yes," Lucina said. She pulled it out, slowly. It looked a bit worn and beaten; could such weapons even do that? Wear down? Eisso wasn't sure. "I will admit, I remembered it differently as a child. I wouldn't have taken it if Father hadn't insisted on it." She put it back in it's sheath with the same careful reverence that she used to take it out. "That aside…is everyone else ready?"

"They should," Eisso said. "We can do a final check, but everyone's said goodbye to their parents. Me and Morgan decided to leave irregularly in small groups; moving out as an entire army might seem concerning."

"Great," Lucina replied. "Can I leave first?" She didn't wait very long for a response, heading towards the entrance soon after.

"She's very content to stay away from everyone today," Kenzie said. "She didn't talk much during dinner, either."

"She's been…distant recently," Morgan replied. "It has something to do with the adults, I know that. She definitely needs some sort of reassurance, but I can't help her if I don't know what the problem is. With everything else going on, it's not a major priority, but as a genuinely concerned friend, it's a bit obnoxious."

"You can't ask her what's wrong?" Kenzie asked.

"She refuses to bring up the topic," Morgan said.

Eisso turned towards where Lucina went. "Do you think I'd have better luck? It feels a little selfish to say this, but it might be bad for overall morale." Plus, he would like to know why she gave him the position of leader yet accepted being second-in-command; even though that was probably much more selfish than army morale.

Morgan nodded. "You can try," he said. "If not, Mother said to be in pairs of two at the lowest. And just because we're at the capital doesn't mean there aren't bandits and thieves."

"I'll see if I can talk to her," Eisso replied. "I'll see you guys in a little bit, when you leave."

With that, he followed his best to predict where Lucina went. There weren't much exists out of town, so at the very least, he could just walk around there.

Luckily, Lucina didn't go far; she was walking quickly, yes, but Eisso was able to catch up easily.

"Lucina," he said, trying his best to sound calm.

"Not the time," Lucina replied quickly. "Everyone can question my decisions later. I just…want to think. By myself. With no one of importance watching."

"I want to talk," Eisso offered.

"Everyone does," Lucina said. "'Lucina, you seem off today. Is everything okay? We're worried, Lucina. You aren't reclusive like this, you never were. Maybe you should talk about it, Lucina. It would make you feel better. Lucina, how about you sit down and tell us what's wrong? We can help, Lucina, we promise. We're fix what's wrong with you, Lucina, don't worry. You can still be the natural leader we remember, Lucina, you just need to be fixed first. So tell us what's wrong, and we can help by making it worse.'"

"That sounds like a lot of self-interpretation and bias," Eisso replied. "There's nothing wrong with you. You're—"

"There is something wrong with me," Lucina said. "There's something wrong with me, something that everyone needs to 'fix,' because I'm not…I…" She stopped walking, and silently muttered, "I'm not…her."

"Her?" Eisso asked.

Lucina looked behind her, towards the castle. "I'm not the Lucina they remember. When they say my name…talk about how I'm a natural leader, fearless, and talented…I'm not that Lucina. I don't know who the woman is that they're talking about, but it's not me." She said quietly. She looked back ahead of her and started walking again.

Eisso followed her from a small distance. She seemed to need her space for a little bit.

(A/N: For the record, no, they were never told of their future versions—would YOU tell your kid that, somewhere, another version of them was running around? With their name, face, clothes, etc.? I feel like the answer is no, unless you want to possibly creep them out.

Also! This story is slowly going from Eisso and Kenzie as the main characters to Eisso and Lucina. Can you tell which two I'm favoring a little? Either way, I'll try to even it out so then Eisso, Kenzie, Morgan, and Lucina ALL get some sort of attention ^_^ I just work better with duos, apparently.)