"The only thing that I can do to stay close to you is by being just your friend."
-Unknown
"Did I make you wait?"
"Hmm? Not really," Robin lied. "You ask that every year."
Today was the beginning of summer, Lucina was now eight. Every single year, she would drop by and together they would play in the forest. Although, Robin had her suspicions that some day the time they played together would come to an end. However, Robin would spend those days with Lucina as if they were her last.
"You're such a liar," Lucina huffed, a hand on her hip.
Robin began to laugh, "I don't remember you being sassy. Who taught you that?"
"It's not sass. It's the truth."
Robin gazed off into the distance, "Maybe you're right. I get lonely, y'know, waiting for you and stuff."
Lucina stayed quiet as if she didn't know what to say.
"You're my best friend after all."
"I've decided!" Lucina exclaimed, shouting as she climbed the staircase to meet Robin at the top.
"Decided what?"
The little girl put her hand to her heart in a fist, "I'm gonna move here when I get older!"
Robin decided to tease the child, "Hah, and what for?"
Lucina immediately dropped her head in embarrassment, mumbling something under her breath.
The white-haired woman smiled, "What was that?"
"So that I can be by you more often...!" Lucina whispered, however Robin was able to catch it.
Tilting her head, Robin wondered what caused Lucina to become so timid all of a sudden.
The child raised her head, but wouldn't look Robin in the eyes and her cheeks were dyed a pink color.
Robin stared at Lucina, trying to determine the cause. Well, her face was red, but that could mean a lot of things. "Are you not feeling well?"
Lucina's face turned even redder, until tears began to bead up at the edge of her eyes. Promptly, she sprinted off into the forest, yelling, "You, stupid!"
Standing there, Robin scratched her head. What did she do to make Lucina mad? All she did was ask if Lucina was sick. But then again, kids have fragile hearts, so obviously Robin did something to upset her. Although, just standing there wasn't going to do anything about it. The white-haired woman entered the forest.
"Lucina!" Robin would call, but she would recieve no answer. "Lucina, where are you?" Walking further and further into the forest, she could see no sign of her little friend. Robin must've really hurt her feelings. "I'm sorry, Lucina!" After a few minutes of wandering, Robin came upon a tree with something on one of it's branches. "Lucina, is that you? Do you know how worried you ha—"
"Grrrrr...!" Lucina swung down from the tree. Upside down, her legs were the only thing keeping her above ground. She hung several feet in the air.
Robin stood there staring until Lucina's sundress fell at which gravity pulls, revealing her panties. At which Robin began laughing at as Lucina frantically tried to cover herself.
Climbing back up onto the branch, Lucina's eyebrows were clearly furrowed,
"You saw."
Robin quickly looked away when she saw Lucina's face, whistling to herself. "See what?"
"You saw them. You saw my pa—" Lucina's words were cut off when the branch she was sitting on broke off the tree. Flailling in the air, Lucina fell towards the ground.
"Lucina!" Robin shouted, her body moving as fast as it could. Her arms extended out to catch the falling child. Lucina soon neared Robin's arms, and time paused for a single moment.
.
..
...
Lucina fell on top of the branch with a harsh thud. "Ouch..." She groaned, rubbing her back as she had landed on it.
At the last second, Robin had stopped herself from catching Lucina.
Sitting up, Lucina's cerulean orbs met Robin's crimson. They look at each other for a while before Lucina spoke up. "Robin, no matter what you do. Don't ever touch me..." She began to cry. "Okay?"
Robin crouched down next to the sobbing girl, contemplating on what she could do to make Lucina stop crying. She could not wipe her tears away. She could not give her a hug. She couldn't do anything and in the end, Robin stayed by Lucina's side while she cried.
"What's that you're carrying?" Robin questioned the almost teen, her heart beating a little quicker now that Lucina had arrived.
Lucina, who was now wearing a sailor uniform, took off the strap that was hugging her body. "This? Let me show you!" Lucina simpered, unzipping the bag, and pulling out a wooden stick.
"Oh, a wooden sword? How neat." Robin voiced, continuing on. "Can you use it properly?"
"Of course! I didn't ever tell you, but I've been practicing the sword since before we met!" Lucina pridefully told the older woman.
"Heh, why don't you show me? Let's go somewhere more open." Robin stated, her back already facing Lucina. Lucina's arrogant smile made Robin flustered and she couldn't let Lucina see her weak side.
The two headed off into the depths of the forest, walking side by side. Slowly, Lucina had grown taller, Robin noticed. And soon there wouldn't be such a gap between them. Walking through the forest, Lucina hummed her favorite song, the first one that she had shown to Robin.
"Hey, Lucina. What's that song that you're always humming?" Robin inquired as they walked on a single path through the forest. The girl's voice had gotten a lot better. In fact, Robin enjoyed Lucina's voice. It was calming and soothing to her ears.
Lucina paused her humming to answer, "It's a lullaby my dad used to sing to me before bed! I think it was called 'Serenity' or something... There was also an 'id' that was in it's name, but I've forgotten."
"Huh... Well, it's a nice song. I like it a l—"
Out of nowhere came a voice, "What's this? Robin with a... another girl!" A figure appeared behind one of the trees. "A girl that isn't me..." The figure spoke, a frown on their face. Robin recognized this figure to be one of her spirit family, Tharja.
Lucina hid behind Robin, and Robin held a hand out to protect her. Although, Tharja was just a spirit that had her fixation on the white-haired woman. And that was it. There was nothing between them besides being family.
"A human girl at that..." Tharja muttered darkly. "You there, human girl!"
The child flinched.
"Don't you dare ever touch Robin, or else," Tharja laughed, "I'll... use you as a test subject for my hexes for the rest of your life!"
Robin growled, "Leave us alone, Tharja." No matter what, Robin would protect Lucina from those who try to harm her. She wouldn't let anything bad happen to her friend. Her only friend.
The dark-haired female scoffed, "Heed my words, human child. Or I'll be after you."
"Go, Tharja! Or else I'll never talk to you again!" Robin blackmailed Tharja, hitting her weakness like a bullet.
As fast as Tharja appeared, she left thanks to Robin.
"You know her?" Lucina spoke, her voice quiet.
Robin turned around to face Lucina, "Yeah. But she's no laughing matter. She'll actually do what she says. So stay close to me, okay?"
Lucina turned away from Robin, "What's your... relationship with her?"
"Tharja? Well, she's family, but then again she's always stalking me. Tharja says some weird things, but I'm sure she's a nice spirit if you get to know her!" Robin beamed.
Unable to see Lucina's face, Robin stared at her back. "Family... huh. What kind of family member?"
The white-haired female pondered, "Uh. A normal one? Like siblings. Im the normal one and she's the weird one." Wondering what Lucina wanted this information for, Robin walked around to see what kind of face Lucina was making.
"So she's not my rival..." Lucina muttered. Noticing that Robin had come close to her, Lucina backed away. "Did you hear what I said?"
"No," Robin responded, "Was I supposed to?" There was definitely something up with Lucina today, but Robin had no idea what it was.
The blue-haired girl shook her head.
So Robin wasn't supposed to hear it. This made her even more curious than before, but she didn't delve into it. Robin sighed, this girl was a handful of emotions that Robin just couldn't figure out.
In a split second, Lucina turned around to face Robin, "Don't sigh! You're letting out your happiness!"
"Uh..." The white-haired woman stood still in a defensive position before letting her guard down now that she knew Lucina wasn't going to try to touch her. "I don't think it works that way, but okay."
"It too does work that way!" The little girl exclaimed, her eyes shining for a reason Robin didn't understand.
"Hah.. Okay. Uh- Um- How about you show me your sword skills now? The clearing is right behind those trees," Robin spoke, trying to dodge any subject that would cause Lucina to act weird again and either run off or start to cry.. Or both.
"Yeah!" Lucina beamed, running out past the trees.
Robin easily followed her steps into the clearing where they had played tag a long time ago and plopped down on the side like usual.
Lucina unzipped her bag, bringing out the wooden sword once more and taking a stance. She unleashed a barrage of swipes and thrusts that even Robin had a hard time keeping up with what she was doing.
"Whoa!" Robin was thoroughly impressed by her little show of skill. Lucina seemed to do it effortlessly too. "Who's been teaching you how to do that?"
The girl smiled brightly, "My dad!"
"Oh, so your dad also uses the sword! That's pretty cool!" Robin exclaimed.
"Of course! My dad is the Prince of Ylisse! He has to use a sword to defend our kingdom from the bad guys!" Lucina twirled around in the patch of flowers, her skirt flowing freely. "I'm gonna be the queen one day! But right now I'm just in middle school so I have to train to be as good as my dad!"
Robin's lips curled upwards to match Lucina's expression, "Heh, that's pretty darn cool! You can do it! Fight on!" Despite the white-haired woman's smile there was something in the back of her mind that kept her from remembering something important. Something about Lucina's dad bugged her. What was his name...?
Lucina laughed awkwardly, her face once again a pink color as she rubbed the back of her head. "Right!" Lucina noticed Robin's discomfort and spoke, "Is there something wrong, Robin?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, the white-haired female rested her head on her hand and voiced a lie, "No, everything's good! I was just thinking about how cute you are in that uniform." Well, the latter wasn't a lie. Although, Lucina had always looked cute since the moment that Robin had met her, but of course Lucina was growing up. Still she was cute. Cuter than anyone she had ever seen. But that was probably because Robin didn't see many children often besides the spirit children. Even so, they would be in their spirit forms and would not look even close to a human. Yep, Lucina was definitely the cutest.
The girl took a step back defensively, her face definitely a reddish color.
"Say, Lucina, do you have allergies? Your face is red again," Robin stated, giving a worried expression. Lately, Lucina's face has been turning red, so maybe the pollen had something to do with it.
"N-No, I don't," Lucina fumbled with her words, shaking her head.
Robin tilted her head, "Huh, that's weird.. I wonder why your face is turning red..." The older female paused contemplating reasons until she figured it out, "Ah! You're getting sun burnt!"
Lucina hit her head with her palm, "Y-yeah. I guess."
"I knew it! You should probably wear some sunscreen!"
"Right..."
"Did you hear, Robin?" Another white-haired spirit questioned, his eyes closed like usual.
Robin looked towards one of her family members, "Hear about what, Henry?" The female stared at Henry with a heavy gaze, waiting to hear what he had to say.
"This is some 'cawtastrophic' news!" Henry replied.
Robin's gaze became even more tense, "Catastrophic news, you say? There's not much that goes on here so I doubt it could be that bad if even I haven't heard about it."
"No, no, Robin... It 'cawcerns' the human girl you always hang out with..."
The female froze, it concerned Lucina? "What? Did something happen to her? Tell me this instant!" Robin grabbed Henry by his robes, pulling him closer to her. Her heartbeat quickened, throbbing against her ribcage as if it was about to burst at any moment.
"The Capital of Ylisse, was attacked," Henry stated as if it was a normal thing. "And the Queen, Emmeryn was assassinated. The prince is now the king."
The prince... No, the king was Lucina's dad, which meant that Lucina may be in danger. Surely, the king and the halidom of Ylisse would surely revolt for the death of their precious Queen. "I have to go," Robin turned around, letting go, but was grabbed by the male.
"I cannot let you go, Robin." This time Henry didn't use any puns in his sentence, and he opened his eyes, which he never did.
"I can't just stay here! Lucina's in danger! If they've killed the Queen, there's no telling if they'll kill the rest of her bloodline!" Robin struggled against Henry's grip.
Henry's eyes held pity deep within them for Robin, "I'm sorry about this, Robin. I shouldn't have told you. I didn't know you held that much love for her."
Tears began pouring out of Robin's eyes. Love? Robin loved Lucina? Lucina was just a little girl, Robin being several years older than her. Lucina was sixteen this year, much too young to be with Robin.
But in what right mind would Robin think about leaving the forest to go retrieve just a friend? She could easily bump into a human and disappear for eternity, never to see life again. Who was Lucina to Robin?
Robin cared about Lucina. She cared about her a lot. A lot more than just a friend.
Robin's breath caught in her throat as she came to a realization.
So, maybe Henry was right. Robin did love Lucina. After all these years of playing with her, who couldn't fall in love with her? But surely Lucina did not love Robin back. Robin was just Lucina's best friend and that's all there was to it. An older playmate was what she was.
It was past summer though. Who knew if Robin would be able to see Lucina again?
"I have to go, Henry.. I have to.." The words slipped off of the female's tongue, her throat constricting.
Henry shook his head before raising a finger in the air.
That was the last thing Robin remembered before blacking out.
Reviews:
Warlockgeddon: Thank you so much! You'll be seeing some new chapters soon!
Natzo: It's a modern AU, i guess? It's really just based off of a movie for the first 2 1/2 chapters. Lucina is a princess! It's just that she visits a relative, where the mountain god's forest is located.
JustAFanfictionReader: Thank you so so so much! I got all giddy inside when I read your review! It made me so happy to hear that someone really liked this fanfic that much!
RandomAnon: I want to make it a modern AU, but with a little twist back to the game. They still use swords and such rather than guns, but still have electronics and stuff? If you get what i'm talking about.
