This was one of those chapters where I had the idea when I first had the idea for the story. It will become very clear that I have a younger and older sister.
Things were going pretty great for Lucina.
That wasn't a phrase she was used to, but it was true nonetheless.
She had been reunited with her departed parents. She was on what she believed to be the right track with finding out who her father's murderer was, and her sister was recently located and recruited into the army. It was nice to finally be a family again.
For someone who came from an apocalyptic future, that wasn't so bad.
There was still the matter of stopping Grima's return, as well as determining who was the one that would betray her father. So she wasn't exactly worry free, but she realized she had some time to on her hands to relax.
Her first mistake was mentioning this to her sister, who quickly decided that the best thing they could do with their time was spend time with their mother.
"Come on, Lucina!" Cynthia exclaimed, pulling her reluctant sister toward the marketplace.
"This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I said I wanted to do something relaxing!" Lucina exclaimed.
"It is relaxing!" Cynthia countered. "We get to spend time with Mother! Look!" She pointed over at Sumia, who was holding a few dresses and talking to a show keeper.
"I suppose you're right." Lucina sighed. To be honest, it was nice to see her sister connecting more with her girly roots. Lucina supposed that she could put up with some preppy shopping, so long as nobody else saw her.
"Lucina! Cynthia!" Robin, as if on cue, exclaimed.
"Look, Lucina!" Cynthia exclaimed. "It's Robin!"
"Oh." Lucina said. "Hello, Robin. How are you?"
"Pretty good." Robin said. "I was just getting my coat fixed up." He gestured over to a nearby booth, where the poor shopkeeper was attempting to wash bloodstains out of the tactician coat.
"...Are you sure that isn't one of Henry's?" Cynthia asked, surprised at the state of the coat.
"Yeah, Henry's not allowed in these kind of places. He doesn't wash his coat anyway." Robin said. "So what are you guys doing?"
"We're buying dresses!" Cynthia exclaimed. Lucina silently wished her sister would stop talking.
"Huh. Really?" Robin asked. "You two never struck me as the dress types."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucina asked, raising an eyebrow at the tactician.
Robin began to backtrack. "Well, it's just that, you know, you guys wear armor, sometimes, and, stuff and..." Robin sighed. "...I was trying to make a joke about how you were disguised as a man the first time we met, but I realized there was no way for me to do that without sounding like an ass."
"That's never stopped you before." Lucina smiled. Cynthia looked at her sister.
"I suppose it hasn't." Robin replied, smiling back. "I'm sure you'd look great in a dress." Cynthia looked at the tactician.
"What makes you so sure about that?" Lucina asked, blushing slightly. Cynthia looked back at her sister.
"Well, I've seen you wear one before." Robin replied. "Granted, you were much younger and the dress was covered in vomit." Cynthia looked back at the tactician.
"Cynthia! Lucina!" Sumia called from across the market.
"Coming, mom!" Cynthia shouted. "Hate to take you away from this, Lucina, but Mom wants us!"
"Yeah, I wouldn't piss off Sumia if I were you." Robin commented.
"Right." Lucian said. "I'll talk to you later, Robin."
"I bet you will." Cynthia commented to herself, leading her sister away.
"So why were you and Robin flirting with each other so much today?" Cynthia asked Lucina. The two sisters, along with Sumia were in at the mess hall, eating dinner.
Well, they were eating dinner. The drink Lucina was drinking seems to have been somewhat splattered on the table in front of her.
"W-What are you talking about?!" Lucina exclaimed, wiping her mouth. "I wasn't flirting with Robin! He's my partner on the battlefield! We've just become close."
"It was definitely flirting." Cynthia said. "You were all like 'Oh, Robin! Would I look good in a dress?' And he said something like 'I bet you would look better with it off!'"
"I didn't say anything like that!" Lucina exclaimed. "Mother! Get her to stop saying I have a crush on Robin!"
"She never said you had on Robin, dear." Sumia said, slowly assuming the same exclaimed position as Cynthia.
"Ohhhhhhh…" Cynthia said, egging on Lucina. "Lucina likes a boy!"
"He's not a boy!" Lucina exclaimed, embarrassed, before realizing what she said. "I-I mean, I don't like him!"
"Please. If someone like Inigo spoke to you like that, you'd have killed him!" Cynthia exclaimed.
"Well, Robin is respectable authority in the army!" Lucina replied, still embarrassed.
"...That might be a bit of a stretch." Sumia commented. "It's alright to have a crush, dear. I'm sure Robin likes you, too."
"But...but I'm your daughter!" Lucina exclaimed, surprised at her mother.
"You're a grown woman." Sumia said. "The Lucina back home is my baby. You're my grown girl." She smiled at her daughter, causing her to splitter in embarrassment.
This could not get any worse.
"And what's our grown girl been up to?" Her father asked, taking a seat next to her mother.
It could get worse.
"F-Father!" Lucina exclaimed. "We...We were just-"
"Lucina likes a boy." Sumia commented.
"Yeah!" Cynthia exclaimed.
Lucina took it back, saying how nice it was that everything was like it was before. This was exactly like how Cynthia was before her parents died. She forgot how annoying she could be. This was just like that time she mentioned that Laurent looked nice in his new glasses when they were younger. Cynthia had their wedding planned by the end of the afternoon.
"No boys." Chrom said sternly, cutting into his meat.
"But Father!" Cynthia exclaimed. "Lucina likes a MAN!" Lucina sunk her head into her hands, groaning.
"No men, either." Chrom said. "Anyone who wants to get to either of you will have to go through me."
"Oh, I'm sure this is someone you can trust…" Sumia commented. Lucina desperately looked at her mother, begging for salvation.
"Well, who is it?" Chrom asked, looking at his children.
There was a pause. In that silence, Sumia and Cynthia both realized how big of a question that actually was. If they told the truth, the Shepherds could lose the war, since their king would have killed their tactician.
"Hello, royal family!" Robin said, setting his food down at the end of the table. "What are we talking about?"
"Lucina-" Chrom began to say to his friend, before Sumia interrupted him.
"Actually, I wanted to show Lucina and Cynthia some pointers when it comes to pegasus flying." Sumia quickly said. "Come on, girls!"
The queen quickly stood up, gesturing the two girls to follow her. Lucina waved to Robin as she left, before Cynthia grabbed her hand and lead her away.
"What was that about?" Robin asked, taking a sip of his drink.
"Girls talking about boys, I gather." Chrom replied. "Lucina apparently likes someone." He looked at Robin. "You OK, Robin? It helps when you open your mouth when you drink."
Robin wiped away the mess, eyes wide with shock. "Oh, it's nothing! Nothing at all!" Robin replied. "So, what...what do you think you're going to do about that?"
"Well, I might intimidate the guy a bit, but I doubt I'll have that much control over her, so she's free to do what she wants." Chrom replied, causing Robin to sigh in relief. "After all, those kids went through Hell together. They're bound to have connected to one another in some form or another."
"Oh…" Robin said. "Well, hypothetically speaking, let's say the person she likes is not...from her time. What would you do?"
"Oh, I'd kill him." Chrom replied. "That's weird." He looked at Robin suspiciously. "Say, you don't think...You don't think she likes Donnel, do you?"
"...Donnel." Robin said.
"Yeah." Chrom said. "Lissa and Sumia were telling me how he was apparently 'becoming quite the catch' and how whoever married him would be a lucky lady. You don't think Lucina has eyes for him, do you?"
"...You never know." Robin replied.
"Can you do me a favor?" Chrom asked. "Could you avoid pairing Lucina up with Donnel in battle? I heard that's how people get closer."
"I wouldn't worry about it." Robin replied. "Donnel and Lucina are a bad strategic match. She's much more useful by my side."
"Good! Good!" Chrom said, patting Robin on the shoulder. "I know she'll be nice and safe, fighting alongside her uncle! I trust you."
"Right…" Robin said, uneasily. He stood up. "I have to go… do something important."
"Go do that!" Chrom exclaimed. "I'll see you around, friend!"
Robin left the mess hall, and sighed to himself
"Well, shit."
Ironically, in this chapter, Lucina is taking the place of my younger sister, and Cynthia is taking the place of my older. This one time my older sister wrote a song about my girlfriend right after we started dating, before she even met her. She couldn't even play the guitar. It was pretty awful.