Hello, everyone. This is my first Robin and Lucina fanfic, as well as the first story that I publish on the website. So please, leave reviews; I appreciate any and all comments.
Also, when I started to write this story, I imagined that it would be shorter. After finishing the story, I was unsure of whether or not it was too long to post as one chapter; this is why the story is divided into three chapters. I hope I chose the appropriate break points for each chapter. Despite writing stories for some time as a hobby, I never actually thought about how long or how many chapters/subdivisions there should be in a story; I guess that is the allure of writing process!
Now, then. Let's start reading!
A flickering flame. This is was only source of light in the room, dancing with the ebbs and flows of time. Initially, the flame was much brighter in the lamp, being freshly filled with oil a few hours before. However, as the night went on, the flame slowly lost its glow. It went from being bright crimson, or pinkish-red, to a more orangish color similar that of a persimmon fruit. While it was unusual for flames to change color in Ylisse, magical colored flames were a Pelagian specialty. Lucina found it enchanting the moment she had laid her eyes on it, wishing that such objects could be found back in Ylisse. However, she knew that Ylisse has a bias against Pelagia and almost everything related to them. Lucina sighed and stared at the flame, astutely observing its fluid-like nature and how the color changed from its center. Starting from the small white center, going outward, there was thick layer of blue, then a thin layer of green, and finally the outer layer of persimmon flame.
The flame became even more muted, turning the outer flame layer into a gold-lemon color that reflected in her azure eyes, the left of which had the mark of the Exalt. Lucina could still sniff some of the unburnt oil a few feet away from the small side table in which the lamp was placed. However, the smell never bothered her. It never did. She remembers how Laurent used to complain that the smell of lamps seemed to suffocate him, hypothesizing the nature of burning oil created toxic substances that irritated his lungs. Laurent could never prove that this was the case, but the memory of her friend made her smile. Only for a brief moment.
Lucina's eyes then moved on to the side table acting as a stand for the burning lamp. The top of the Mahogany table was beveled and has a slight overhang compared to the rest of the structure. Below the table top was a series of ridges, with each ridge recessing slightly more than the previous. Below the ridges were two drawers built into it, one below another. Each rectangular drawer was designed having a slightly smaller rectangular recess carved with the designs of native Pelagian plants, the center of which had a Silver, round knob. The face of the knobs, which was oblique to Lucina, was flat and had slight concentric indentation. From her side-view, she could also tell the corners of the side table were carved with pillars of the Doric order; or in other words, the top and bottom caps of the pillars were concentric, round, and smooth, while the pillar itself had vertical and long indentations that were all parallel to each other.
The top drawer was for her daytime clothes. Although it was currently closed, Lucina knew her blue undergarment, her blue tunic, her blue plants, her small blue cape, and her binding tape were there. Also included were the broken parts of her Butterfly mask. Lucina began to reminisce about the times before she officially joined the Shepherds, when she was took on the name "Marth" and acted as a man. Think back about it, she had considered taking on the name "Caeda" since it was more appropriate. Both of them were strong willed-women, warriors, fighting against evil dragons in an attempt to try and change the future for the better. Of course, the problem was that she did not want to interfere with past events to such an extent it hindered the Future Children's very own efforts to change the future, and this included people knowing her true gender.
As Lucina was lost in thoughts, the lamp became even dimmer and Lime, yellow-green in color. Her hands clutched the Maroon colored bed sheets with Cyan, bright blue-green swirl-patterned embroidery close to herself, with her arms pulled close to her chest. Lucina could tell it was going to be a cold night, since she was feeling cold in her Capri Blue nightdress. Unlike the bed sheets, her nightdress was more modest, only having simple Sky Blue lacing along the cuffs of her wrists and the edges of the bottom and neck area. The color blue was rarely found in traditional Pelagian weaving and crafts due to its climate; even though Regna Ferox was the main source of blue pigment on the continent, it traded the pigment exclusively to Ylisse. Lucina thought it was unfair that the people of Pelagia could not have access to a specific color due to trade agreements, and it was something she would rectify in due time.
Lucina was on her right side, being on the right side of the same King-sized bed shared with Robin. Although she could not see it, the headboard and the wooden fixtures of their bed was made from a local Pelagian species of Cherry Wood called Dragon Scales. According to legend, the name comes from the wood being the exact shade of red found on Grima, as well as the bark pattern of the trees resembling the scales of a dragon. Due to the wood's supposed association with Grima, Dragon Scales Cherry was declared a Pelagian National Treasure that should be protected from all-would-be harm, including greedy wood-cutters. The wood was only to be ceremoniously cut from one tree being harvested every century during a special Lunar Eclipse, apparently imbuing the wood with mystical powers. Lucina wondered whether Ylisse had similar Natural Preservation laws, as she had never truly delved into the subject in her youth. However, she did recall from Libra that there was a similar specially-designated Weeping Willow tree in Ylisse dedicated in honor of Naga. Ironically enough, it was called Twisting Fate.
From her side-view, Lucina's vision was partially blocked by the Glaucous, greyish-blue pillow with Magenta salamander designs. She loved this pillow cover specifically because of how lazy-eyed the salamanders looked to her when she was about to fall asleep. Lucina fondly remembers Robin being utterly puzzled when she chose this design, and how shocked she was upon finding out her husband was afraid of little lizards. According to Robin, the salamanders looked like tiny devils staring into his very soul, something she could never quite understand. Fortunately, the pillow cover only had the lazy-eyed salamanders on one-side, so Robin could still get sleep at night. To make Robin feel better about the design, Lucina did some research on the design of the salamanders, despite the fact that arts was never her forte. Surprisingly enough, the lazy-eyed salamander design was in fact based on the recently extinct Pelagian Dream Salamander. It was called such because its lazy-eyes gave an impression that the salamanders was always in a sleep-like state. Unfortunately, the lizard was hunted for use in now-defect dream spells.
Beyond the pillow was the thin bed veil, which was colored a slightly lighter tint of Maroon and had Blueberry-purple stars containing various points that were connected together in constellations. While Lucina never studied any Astronomy during her childhood, she always loved to look up at the night sky and observe the stars. She remembers spending time with her Mother, Sumia, who would stay up after her Father had already gone to sleep. Sumia, while she loved Chrom, could not stand to fall asleep when he started to snore. Neither could Lucina. It would take several minutes for his snoring to subside, but instead of waiting to fall back asleep, Sumia would instead come into Lucina's room and look at the starts with her. Lucina remembers her Mother pointing out constellations which were named after different animals, such as the Fox or the Rabbit. Lucina did not recognize the constellations in the tapestry since Pelagia had different constellations of the same stars, the most obvious of which was the Great Dragon.
Lucina began to yawn and feel her eyes droop as the Pelagian lamb became even dimmer, the color now changing into Aquamarine, blue-green. The brief smile on her face disappeared as she her thoughts began to drift. For a brief moment in her sleep-induced stupor, Lucina though she saw the designed salamanders eyes moving about. Of course, Lucina knew that this was impossible. She was not at all alarmed, since this was a common occurrence when she was about to fall asleep alone. After all, no one is necessarily in the right mind when they are about to fall asleep. If the salamanders had started to talk to her, then that was a completely different matter. Even Lady Tharja would not like that. Although Lucina did not like Lady Tharja's habit of stalking people, most of all Robin, Lady Tharja did always keep people's head out of the clouds. Lucina wondered if she was always a very imaginative person at heart, and whether or not this aspect of her was simply repressed due to the traumatic experiences with Grima.
Lucina was about to yawn again when her thoughts stopped at Grima, briefly quivering in fear. The Dragon Grima…The Great Destroyer…The Harbinger of Chaos…The one who doomed mankind…Lucina shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of those cursed thoughts. However, despite her best efforts, she still drifted to those dark time. She still remembers her first encounter with the undead brought by Grima – the Risen. She remembers their pale skin, their slow, twitchy movements. She remembers their glowing, bright red eyes. But worst of all was not their appearance, as she had seen the sight of corpses when Lucina had to attend the burial of fallen soldiers. No. The worst part of facing Risen was their unearthly, blood-curdling scream.
Lucina closed her eyes shut and held both of her hands to face. Even though those were memories of a time now passed, they still remained in the form of her nightmares. She opened her eyes again and held the bed sheet closer to her once more, wondering when Robin was coming sleep. It was not easy for either of them to live secretly in Pelagia, least of all in the Royal Palace, but it did not stop Robin from trying his hardest to constantly cheer her up. Lucina could not help but smile and give a brief, half-hearted laugh when thinking about the love of her life. However, that smile soon turned into a frown. Lucina remembered how close she was to seeing one of her nightmares becoming reality. And it was entirely her fault.
