Severa remembered that day well.
The training grounds was as always busy as ever. The activity of dozens of trainees sparring created a cloud of dust making it hard to see. Shouts were heard as various instructors inspected their young charges.
After beating her previous sparring partner so thoroughly that he had to be sent to the infirmary, Severa's instructor thought that she had earned a breather (or more likely benched her until someone else found the courage to face her).
With a lazy gaze the redhead watched the others spar, it was nothing impressive. All of them were children of the castle-grounds learning the basic of combat. It was mixed gathering of children of servants, bastards and the occasional highborn. In basic training there were no distinction between the classes.
Amongst the sea of brown- or black-haired youths, Severa noticed one small girl with azure blue hair facing a boy that was at least three heads higher than her. It was a pathetic sight, the boy clearly outmatched the girl and plainly enjoyed clobbering his smaller opponent with his wooden sword. When she fell it should have been the end of it, but bigger boy kept hitting her while shouting slurs for Ylisseans.
Normally the instructors would have intervened, but it was clear that they ignored the abuse once they saw who the participants were.
Severa rose from her seat.
''HEY LEAVE HER ALONE!''
The boy turned around and smirked as soon as he set eyes on Severa, while the redhead was higher than his current blue-haired punching bag, he still was the bigger fighter.
''Or what? Think you can take me on Ylissean bastard?
The boy tapped his wooden sword on his shoulder while slowly making his way towards his new challenger. He might had intended to give the redhead her own beating, but Severa would not give him the opportunity.
She lunged forward and with a quick jump struck the larger boy directly in his smug face. With a yelp, the boy fell down bleeding from his nose. Severa made her own smirk at her bleeding opponent.
''Yes, I think I could.''
Suddenly a booming voice was heard behind her.
''WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?''
Severa turned around and came face to face with general Mustafa. The boy behind her where quick to state his grievances to the general.
''S-She hit me with her fist sir! That's not allowed! We're supposed to use only our swords! Wait to my mother hears about it!
General Mustafa took a quick glance at the boy then to Severa and at last to the bruised bluenette behind the duo.
''I suggest that you keep this to yourself prince Validar. Or would you rather embarrass yourself explaining how you lost to two young girls?''
''B-but the sword! And she attacked me from behind!''
''Did she now? As far as I can see she issued you a challenge. A challenge you lost because you didn't keep your guard up. As for the sword, in battle everything can be a weapon. These wooden swords are here to teach you the basics, but I would also expect you to be able to defend yourself without it.''
The boy Validar tried to cast daggers at the general with his eyes. The general for his part seemed unaffected and unimpressed.
''Just try me boy. I know who your mother is, and I also know what your father would say about this. Now get yourself to the infirmary.''
Validar slowly rose clinging one hand to his broken nose, gave Severa an angry look and ran away without a word. It seemed that Severa had made another enemy, not that it mattered.
The general turned his attention to the girls.
''As for you, do refrain from using excessive force in the future. Do it again and I'll see to it that you would be pulling latrine duty for a week. Now continue training with your partner.''
The general made a nod towards the bluenette before turning around to confront the instructors for their lack of intervention. Back then she had found it to be a strange warning the general had given her, but Severa now knew that the good general had just made it for show.
Severa picked up her wooden sword and approached the bluenette.
She was a sorry sight.
Small and frail, Severa could clearly see that she had no business being in the training grounds. Maybe 7-9 summers old? At most a year younger than herself. Like her, the smaller girl also had crimson red eyes which marked her as one of the king's bastards. And her azure blue hair indicated that she was of Ylissean descent. Severa suddenly felt a certain bond of kindship with this younger girl.
''T-thank you…''
Severa had not expected politeness normally most people would reply that they did not need her help or ignore her, but at least this one had her manners in order.
Despite her bruisers the girl slowly rose and gathered her sword. It was clear that she had no intention to quit.
As the bluenette prepared her stance, Severa could immediately spot several mistakes. Her feet were to close, the sword was held in an awkward angle etc.
It was clear for the redhead that this one was in dire need of some guidance.
''No, no, no! You're doing it all wrong! No wonder that idiot beat you to a pulp. And what business do you have with that stance? Look at yourself! You're a pipsqueak! No way that you could block any of my attacks!''
The smaller girl seemed to shrink at the redheads scolding. Severa soften her tone.
''Look, a small squeak like you would be better served avoiding or redirecting any attacks instead of just blocking it. Here let me show you how it is done. What's your name?''
''M-Morgan…''
Severa smiled.
''Nice to meet you Morgan, my name is Severa.''
It's been years since that day, and Severa still felt this obligation of taking care of her younger sister. With a sigh she prepared herself to make another attempt to drag her sister out.
''Morgan! You need to come out! It's been a week already. You can't just stay angry in your room forever! The war council is mere months away. You need to prepare!''
While Morgan had passed the rite of awakening, it was not yet official amongst the general populace that she had taken the mantle of Exalt, however that didn't mean that she could just neglect her upcoming responsibilities.
Severa tried to listen for any activity behind the door but couldn't hear anything and suspected that Morgan did not even bother to rise from her bed.
Her door remained closed. Yet a voice was soon heard.
''Go away Severa! Just leave me be…''
The redhead was not so easily dissuaded and having lost her patience with her younger sister, Severa tried to open the door with little warning.
It was surprisingly unlocked.
As she entered, she could hear Morgan curse herself for not locking the door. As Severa suspected the bluenette was lying in her bed, her back turned away from the door.
''Dammit Morgan, you are going to be the Exalt of this nation! Whatever you care to remember it or not! I know it's hard, but you must remember that you don't belong to yourself anymore! You need to move on. You can't keep mourning her in your room forever.''
The bluenette became angry at this and the blatant disregard of her privacy. She rose from her bed and threw a pillow at the redhead. Severa didn't flinch.
''GET OUT! What do you know about losing your mother? You have never been raised by your own!''
That struck something in the redhead, she was tempted to hit the bluenette for that, yet she calmed herself down. Morgan had after all just lost someone dear to her, and it has not been much time to properly mourn her. Shortly after the funeral, the castle was lit with activity with Exalt Chrom devoting everything to accelerate the coming invasion of Plegia. Messengers were sent across the land, and the lords of Ylisse had begrudgingly begun to muster their soldiers. Envoys from their allies were also on their way. While Chrom was still the acting Exalt, Severa knew enough politics to know that it would make a poor image if his heir did not present a strong character and participation.
Severa loathed to delve into her own relationship with her mother, but Morgan's sentence had provoked her.
''No, I don't. And it's rather pointless to familiarize myself with the concept now. Do you know why?''
Morgan seemed puzzled at the question. Severa didn't wait for her to answer.
''I rather not long for something that is gone forever. My mother was never there for me, so it was easy to just blame her for everything. I know it might seem confusing for you but that was how I got through my childhood. I thought myself to just hate her and it was a feeling that got me going for a long time.''
Morgan had a look that seemed disapproving of this, but Severa didn't care.
''So yes, while I don't know shit about losing a loving parent, I do know this: It's far better to be able to say that you at least had one. Aye, mourn for your loss, but also be grateful that it happened and that you at least got the opportunity to know her.''
Morgan looked down. It seemed that Severa had given her something to think about.
''And so, it really pisses me off to see you sit here and wallow in grief instead of doing something about it. Sad that you didn't have more time with her? Blame our father! He's the one who mistreated her. Draw strength from that.''
Morgan was silent for a time.
''…Do you still hate her?''
Severa became thoughtful at the bluenette's question. Once that question would be easy to answer; because she left me, because she was weak…but now after all those years it was less so.
''…. No, I don't think so, not anymore. I think as much as I grew to hate her, I have realised that it was not her choice. I have heard a lot about her even if I have not always listened. She was…a good person and she…she didn't deserve what befell her. She didn't deserve to be burdened with me.''
Severa saw how her younger sister began to look at her with pity.
How she hated that look. It made her feel weak and inadequate.
''But what does it matter? It's useless to speculate of something you can't change, but I do know this: You're my sister Morgan. Noire is fine and I care for her too, but I consider you my true sister. You have been with me for as long as I can remember, and it pains me to see you waste away in your room.''
She turned away and prepared to leave.
She was done speaking her heart out for today.
''I'll expect to meet you at the library later today. We would need to do a bit of reading before the war-council convene.''
With that she left, but confident that Morgan would join her shortly.
She was not mistaken with her assumption.
She did not have to wait for long before Morgan joined her at the library clad in her tactician clothes. While she still looked like a mess. It was clear that Severa's little talk with the bluenette had an impact. More then ever Morgan seemed determined to see this through and Severa couldn't help to feel some form of pride for her little sister.
Once again Severa thoughts feel back into that day in the training grounds, where she saw the little pipsqueak of a girl. Beaten and bruised yet determined to fight on.
Yes, this one would not need to be looked after anymore.
She would be alright.
Had to rewrite this chapter at least 5 times, and cut it more then a half. It was at first made from Morgan's point of view, but I reconsidered as I found it more fitting to write it from Severa's.
Next chapter would hopefully be ready within a few days. It's pretty much done, but from Morgan's point of view.
Now to some comments I have received.
I understand that some has noted that Grima's actions are irredeemable even if he had some ''relatable'' motives. It was never my intent to make Grima a redeemable villain. I just like stories where villains might have some understandable motives or even some positive relationships in the beginning, but because of circumstances and their own misguided actions degrade into wickedness and ''the goal justify the means'' kind of mindset.
Another question is if Grima is at full power – What is stopping him from just wiping the country clean?
I would not say that he is at full power yet, it's more that he's just ''conscious'' and limited to a mortal body. He has been dormant for a millennium and just ''recently'' been able to posses mortal bodies after the Sundering had weakened the seal. He can on a limited scale tap into his draconic powers, but it would take a great toll on his host body (and the number of suitable hosts are quite limited). He would need another catalyst to reanimate his true body in order to regain his full power.
Another question has been what did Lucina die of? STD from Grima?
I would say a combination of years of abuse and her misfortune of Grima binding her to him back when he raped her at the temple. I'll clarify it in the next few chapters ^^