The Faintest of Links
Hoy there! I've come to realize this is kind of stupid while writing midway, but I've already invested too much time into it, so take this dumb premise for your leisure!
Edited by only me. As always, I don't own any of these characters or settings.
I hope you guys enjoy!
In a stroke of pure chance, Chrom found himself alone in his routine patrol around the camp, the midday sun warming the grounds from the sharp cold winds.
He inhaled sharply, trying to find a sense of peace, but a strange thought kept nagging the prince's mind about the general absurdity that had recently plagued his life. The prince thumbed Falchion's hilt at his waist, grumbling at the mere memory of yesterday's chaos.
The fact that both of his children developed a stupid and worrying commotion over an insect still baffled him. Their yelling brought the prince almost running to their tent, unsheathing his sword before entering when he stopped at the sight.
He anticipated Lucina to have better composure judging by her stern and dutiful character, but swinging Falchion around erratically in their tent for the target while Morgan, who hid behind his desk, cheered her on wasn't the scene he expected to find. Both children froze in their actions at the sight of their father until the bug resurfaced from under the shelf, and the pandemonium began again.
A simple bootstep ended the creature's life and the mayhem surrounding it. Then came a harsh reprimand to the siblings before Chrom left, his heart still racing at the absurdity of their stunt.
Trained soldiers thwarted by cockroach of all things.
When the prince returned to his tent and told Robin, his wife only laughed before calming him down, sensing his heightened emotions. The affair had only left him with a lingering sense of dread that had engulfed him when he heard their yells. He awoke the next morning and went over to the children's tent, where he saw them sleeping soundly, assuring himself that they were unharmed.
It was slightly amusing now, he would admit. The children seemed quite dumbstruck, like when he got in trouble with Lissa when they were younger. It was odd being on the other side of the coin, the responsible adult. In any other time, it would have been a very domestic and laughable moment. Yet...
It all seemed so fragile, this newfound life he discovered amid the war.
The prince shook his head, turning to head to the center. It was just mindless fretting, and he was already taking risks. He shouldn't have gone on patrol alone, already reaching the outskirts of the encampment. In the back of his mind, he could hear Robin's grievances about his lack of safety precautions.
Speaking of which…
A streak of brown crossed his vision, and Chrom paused in his trek. He put his hand over his eyes, blinking against the early afternoon sun, noting a figure in dark clothing making its way through the edges of the forest before he recognized who it was.
"Morgan?"
What in Naga's name is that boy doing?
The young tactician in question carried a small trap used for hunting in his hands, going far into the trees surrounding the camp, whistling a tune. Without much thought, the prince's feet guided him over the camp while the lad continued onwards, seemingly unaware of his surroundings.
"Morgan, what ARE you doing?" Chrom called out louder, going over to the furtive lad who stopped in his tracks.
"Father!" Morgan yelped, hugging the cage to his chest as he whirled around to face the older man. "Er-hi! I didn't see you."
"Leaving without permission?"
"No, sir! Um-do I need to ask for permission to leave?" he asked sheepishly, his eyes darting between the trees and the camp.
"The formalities are unnecessary." Chrom said, wincing. He didn't need more people to refer to him as sir, especially by his own family members. "You should, however, inform us before leaving or be paired with another to accompany you. You aren't assigned to any foraging or roster duties, so you'll stay inside the premises unless we know where you're going."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know! I'm not that used to being around an actual militia yet." Morgan rubbed the back of his head, laughing hesitantly. "A lot of people come and go, so I assumed I could too. Still, it does make sense to have such safety precautions in place."
Especially if their royalty is involved in a war with targets on their back, Chrom thought. He was truly becoming like Frederick now. The prince would've been dismayed at the thought years ago at the thought of constantly being under surveillance for his own safety. He understood the retainer's concerns now, albeit with less zeal.
"Is there a particular reason for leaving?" Chrom asked, feeling like a hypocrite about his one-man patrol. "If it's urgent, we could arrange something."
"Particularly important? Not really," Morgan said, pointing at the forest that covered the east side of the encampment. "I spotted some butterflies around the edge of camp and was curious about them."
Chrom stared incredulously at the lad, thinking for a few more seconds about the young tactician's statement before uttering: "Huh?"
"I could observe them in the wild, but they could move on while I'm gone. So I planned to gather one of them to see it and then return the critter before we left."
"You're leaving the camp to pick up insects?"
"Yes?" the lad answered, while Chrom creased his brow in disbelief. "This cage isn't the most appropriate, but I couldn't find any other suitable ones."
"After what occurred yesterday, I have a hard time believing that."
"It's a genuine interest! I DO have a fondness for bugs if I remember correctly!" The young tactician raised a finger to refute his father's words, smiling. "Cockroaches are just an exception!"
What a strange hobby, the prince thought. Chrom only visited the castle gardens willingly to sneak out to town when the royal guards weren't looking. The prince surely didn't sit around to see the fauna when he was trying to hide his presence from any onlookers before slipping back to his bedchamber unnoticed.
"So, you trap them?" The father asked hesitantly, careful to phrase it. The lad seemed to enjoy… whatever this was. "Lucina confirmed it as well?"
"Yes! Lucina said I used to go around the royal gardens collecting them. All for educational purposes, of course!"
Is this how the other men felt about their children? Chrom heard the general disgruntled opinion around camp that most of the future children were closer to their mothers than their fathers. However, he didn't think it would happen to him. He already had a daughter who was devoted to him from the start. There was no reason to think otherwise until Morgan appeared in their lives unexpectedly.
Yet, he knew next to nothing about the boy and vice versa. Heavens, he had only talked to Morgan alone a handful of times since the lad joined. If there was any opportunity to get to know more about him…
"Shall I join you?"
"Really?" The lad gasped, his face brightening with the force of the morning sun. "I wasn't sure if anyone else was interested in this field too!"
"I'm not that knowledgeable, but I'll lend a hand." Chrom answered vaguely. The prince was nowhere near interested in fauna, or whatever this field of study was, or any of his close relations. Lissa despised bugs unless they served a purpose in one of her pranks.
Nevertheless, Morgan seemed ecstatic at the thought. Perhaps he could learn something about him and keep an eye on the young tactician.
As well, to see if he doesn't run away at the sight of an insect again.
"That's fine! There should be a cluster around here!" Morgan said, smiling widely. "It's pretty exciting to find one around this time of year!"
The two began to walk as the lad led them into the forested area. The prince looked at the boy, who smiled while chatting happily away about the topic of insects. Without meaning to, Chrom found his thoughts beginning to wander.
To a large extent, Morgan appeared to be a very happy and cheerful child. His amnesia, while still prevalent and slightly worrisome, was an afterthought most of the time. He was friendly too, having become acquainted positively with most of the Shepherds in a matter of days, and Chrom could find himself at ease with the lad on most occasions with his easy-going nature.
But something is off about the friendliness between them; it is still too tentative, as if they were acquaintances rather than family. It was drastically different from the instantaneous link he felt when Lucina revealed her true identity to him and Robin. There was a faint bond between father and son, but they were still missing something. Whether with the lad's amnesia or not, Lucina takes after him so much, but Morgan...
"-would prefer more of the beetle variety. Like those creatures with pincers and having a hard shell covering their body, they are mostly nocturnal and it's difficult to find them in such hectic and crowded areas. So, I won't hold my breath to see them anytime soon."
"Interesting…"
"Speaking of which, Ylisse is well known for its wide variety of fauna, such as butterflies. It's so ingrained in Ylissean culture that the butterfly even made it into most literary works as a point of symbolism like- Oh! We're here!"
Morgan stopped, putting a finger to his lips and crouching down to the ground. Chrom snapped out of his thoughts, imitating the lad who had grown quite serious as he took in the scene. The prince looked around to find himself surrounded by a canopy of large trees with lush green bushes decorating the forest floor. Oddly serene from the harsh winds of the mountains.
Chrom glanced at Morgan, who was watching the insects fly around the bushes with a calculating look in his eye, setting the small cage softly on the ground. He reminded him a lot of the nights Robin spent strategizing for their next battle, with a forming spark in their eyes whenever they were close to coming up with a plan.
A few feet in front of the prince, a butterfly landed on a leaf, its wings colored in yellow and brown patches. The bug fluttered its wings, delicately jumping from one branch to another in the bush where insects of an identical nature huddled together. It reminded him of those he'd seen in the castle gardens as a child. Nonetheless, the back of his mind was itching as if he was forgetting a crucial detail.
Shaking his head, Chrom pointed the cluster out to Morgan, who shuffled quietly to his father's side.
"Haven't seen those before…" Morgan cocked his head to the side. "It appears to be a moth rather than a butterfly. Although they are usually nocturnal, I wonder why they are out here."
"Is that so?" Chrom himself had no clue. As he recalled, the gardeners usually used long nets to capture any pests lying about the castle day and night, using lanterns to attract them when the sun set. Looking at their arsenal, the prince noticed that the lad had only brought a cage with him. "Just HOW are you going to pick one up?"
"Just a hand will do the trick!" The lad whispered and reached out his arm to one sitting at the edge of the closest bush, hovering his hand next to it before gently nudging the leaf with a closed fist. The moth's wings fluttered once more before it slowly crawled out of the leaf and into the back of the lad's hand.
The prince wasn't sure what to make of it, but it did leave him impressed. Morgan's eagerness was palpable as he stared at the insect, and his smooth retrieval indicated that he had prior experience with small creatures like this.
If only the lad could've shown the same expertise yesterday and saved them all from the grief and embarrassment-
"Father, do you want to hold it?" Morgan inquired, keeping his arm still while turning to the older man.
"I don't believe it's a good idea," Chrom squinted at the bug, hesitantly. There was something that spooked him about the moth, but he couldn't recall why per se. It wasn't typical of him to be wary, but his gut instinct called for caution.
"Well, it's true that you eliminated the cockroach in our tent with deadly efficiency," Morgan said, letting the moth cross his knuckles. "But this one is pretty cute! Of course, this time you only need to stay still, and it won't do a thing. Then, I'll pick it back up to lock it in the cage."
"Er- perhaps," Chrom said, hesitant. At the moment, he was holding the urge to kill it straight away. Despite his physical strength, the prince had to put up with his lack of delicacy. Everyone in camp knew he was prone to mistakes due to his strength, and he wasn't keen on causing another accident today.
Morgan's puppy-dog expression, on the other hand, was difficult to ignore. Besides, the young tactician was still too new to the Shepherds to be aware of Chrom's string of mishaps.
"It shouldn't be hard." Chrom assured himself, hoping he wouldn't make a scene. He could tamper down his disgust for just a short moment, right?
"I believe in you! There's nothing to worry about!"
Morgan extended his arm as the prince extended his own sleeveless arm, still wary as the moth slowly crawled back and forth, stopping at the lad's sleeve before going across. As the creature remained motionless on Chrom's wrist, he had to stifle the urge to swat it away.
There was nothing particularly cute about it; its body was colored in dull colors and it had furry hairs. Frankly, Chrom wouldn't give it a second glance. It appeared harmless by his standards as it continued its strange journey around his wrist before stopping briefly and lying still.
"See! That was easy-"
"EEEEEEEEEE!"
Both father and son jumped as the insect produced an ungodly ear-splitting screech from the prince's arm. The moth's wings flapped erratically, still emitting the sound without taking off. Chrom smacked it away in surprise, the noise slightly dimming as it dropped to the ground.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Chrom shouted, his ears ringing as he rubbed his arm furiously, leaving goosebumps on the skin.
"WHAT?" Morgan yelled back, or at least that's what the prince understood, as another set of screams followed as the rest of the insects in the bushes followed suit in a horrifying cacophony, drowning their voices out. He couldn't hear anything except the blasted ringing in his ears.
"MORGAN!"
"I- WHAT?" The lad clapped his hands on the side of his head. His eyes almost screwed shut as the pain increased in their eardrums.
Instead of speaking, Chrom roughly took Morgan's shoulder, pushing the lad behind while using his foot to kick the bush and disperse the moths into the forest. The ringing in the prince's ears continued as the vile creatures left in droves, leaving no respite from the pain and, worse, no hearing. Far from the camp and without any other soldiers knowing about their whereabouts.
Muttering curses he couldn't even hear, Chrom clumsily dragged the lad back into the camp, cursing the gods over his terrible luck.
Amid the chaos, the gods must have had pity on them, because both father and son ended up sharing a cot in the nursing tent attended solely by Lissa, who delivered question after question until she realized they couldn't hear her at all.
Chrom tilted his head sideways as his sister inserted drops of vulnerary into his left ear, leaving it to pop painfully, the pressure lessening as the potion took effect. Meanwhile, Morgan massaged his ears, already receiving the first set of doses at Chrom's behest. Still, the prince couldn't miss how the lad kept casting small glances at him, biting his lip before looking away.
"Can you hear me now?" Lissa asked as she dropped the glass flask into the nearby crate.
"At least I'm not deaf." The father gruffed, still hearing a small ring in the background. Moreso, a small pressure began to form at his temples, but even asking for another healing potion seemed too much to bear.
"I'm SO sorry, Dad!" Morgan yelled, grating on the prince's newly recovered hearing. "I didn't know that it was a screeching moth! I promise!"
"Let's use our quiet voice, Morgan." Chrom grumbled, patting the boy's back. The prince had his fill of loud noises for the day and his heart just won't stop racing again, like he was still in the thick of battle. All of this was ridiculous over a couple of blasted insects. Not once, but twice within two days.
He never wanted to see another one of those creatures or do anything else related to bug hunting again in his life.
"But I'm really sorry!" The lad sniffed. "I should've known it was dangerous!"
"I already know, Morgan. You needn't repeat yourself."
"Come on, Chrom! It's kind of funny!" Lissa interrupted, catching both of their attention. "This isn't even the worst I've healed from you!"
"I wouldn't call this funny. Losing our sense of hearing could've spelled a disaster if we didn't know where to return. It would've turned the whole army into an uproar."
"That's what I say every time Vaike challenges you, and you didn't listen when I told you how dangerous it was! So why is this any different?"
Morgan sniffed even louder, tears brimming the corners of his eyes, and Chrom felt his heart twinge with guilt, his stomach sinking at the sight. Both royal siblings shared a look, and the cleric made a small motion with her hands at the lad, her own annoyance giving way to worry.
Chrom glanced at Morgan, who began to wipe his face with his sleeves before sighing. Perhaps he was going too far into his fears. Turning to face the boy, the prince ran his hand over his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself and relieve the increasing pressure in his temples. "Are you alright? No lasting ringing?"
"Just a bit, but it'll likely go away soon. I'm fine otherwise." The young tactician said, his voice slightly shaky at the end.
"Good." Chrom patted the lad's shoulder, trying to focus on a lighter note. "No harm done. True, it could have gone much worse, but we made it out. Gods, who knew that a creature could ever cause such chaos."
"What was it you said, Morgan? A Ylissean moth that screeches-" Lissa shivered, not bothering to hide her aversion to bugs. "Besides, WHY are they here? I thought you could only find them—you know—back home. Not that I ever want to see them at all."
"They are from Ylisse originally but have since become an invasive species," Morgan explained, fiddling with his sleeves. "Wandering merchants brought them as alarms to alert them if their merchandise was being stolen, but soon released them to the wild when they proved to be too unsavory for the road."
"Aw, that's so like Robin!" Lissa cooed, winking at her brother. "She's always saying random facts that she read somewhere. Meanwhile, this dummy led you straight into a huge colony! Hahahaha!"
"As if you ever would get close to one…" Chrom mumbled as the lad perked up at hearing his mother's name. "You'll run at the first sight of them."
"I'm not a coward! I'll just keep a respectable distance. Maybe a good twenty feet or so would do! And wear good ear-protection."
Chrom resisted the urge to respond to her remark and focused on Morgan, who appeared slightly more animated. "That reminds me. Where did you learn all about it? Even the average hobbyist doesn't delve too deep into the specifics that you told me."
"It's just something… I knew? I did read some facts to relieve myself from the workload yesterday, and it seemed like a fun pastime." Morgan said, avoiding Chrom's gaze. "I should probably stop, shouldn't I? I could've caused a lot more trouble for the army because of my carelessness."
"What are you on about? I was your accomplice, wasn't I?" Chrom retorted. "Today was just a mishap. I've had my fair share as well."
"You have?" The lad looked up in surprise.
"Name a Shepherd who hasn't done so by now. We all have tales of some accident involving one another. This isn't particularly a unique case."
"But you're the leader of the army!" Morgan sputtered. "You must have a good standing to lead. Surely something like this could hurt your reputation."
"I'm not a perfect being," Chrom muttered, letting the bitterness seep into his words. "Even I'm subjected to mistakes every once and a while."
"Oh," Morgan' eyes dawned in understanding. "That's true… At least, I can say I'm new around here. Learning the ropes and all."
The prince raised his hand and laid it on top of Morgan's hair, ruffling it lightly. "But if you're worried about me and my reputation, we can keep a secret between the two of us. Something to call our own. Do you like the sound of that? "
"Even from Mother and Lucina?"
"Even from them too."
Morgan's face brightened once more, and Chrom's heart softened at the sight. Despite all the chaos, Chrom did learn more about his son, albeit in an erratic and chaotic manner, and they finally shared a memory together after such a long time; just the two of them. After all, secret pacts like these are what brought him closer to his wife, strengthening their bond in and out of battle.
"Well, if it's a secret…" Morgan said, his gaze darting to Lissa, who had moved discreetly to the other side of the tent, busy making herself appear preoccupied.
"Don't worry. I'll bribe her with something along the way to earn her silence."
The lad let out a laugh before agreeing, as Lissa uttered a distant "Hey!" and Chrom felt the tension ease around his temples, the ringing in his ears gone. It appeared their day was ending on a happier note, if only he could guarantee his sister's silence, which is-
Oh gods, what happens if they DO find out?
"Listen, Morgan, if your mother ever happens to learn about this," Chrom cringed, already imagining the thunderous scolding he'd receive once she learned about the whole affair. "We must remember that we have to emphasize that this was just an accident. An accident. If she finds that we've both ventured out alone without prior authorization, there is no telling what punishment she has in store. Especially for me."
"Don't worry, Father! I'll defend you when the time comes!"
Author's Notes: Did I base this entire premise on those two lines in Male Morgan's and Noire's B support? Yes.
On writing: I'm so saddened by the lack of Chrom and Chrom!Morgan interactions. Truly a shame. I've been racking my mind for a premise since there's so little content with these two, to the point where it's actually quite hard to write! I have so many drafts, but they always lack something, so this lighthearted one came out first. Hopefully, my next planned WIP is more serious.
On the other hand, I played Binding Blade (the one with Roy) and, uh, what a FUN game. Such as in Chapter 21, discovering that I had doomed myself to the "Normal End" since I missed ONE paralogue and therefore didn't have all the legendary weapons to continue after Zephiel's defeat in Chapter 22. It's all because I didn't complete Chapter 12 in under 20 turns. I was a bit salty when I finished the game, not gonna lie.