Sorry for the long wait. This chapter just wasn't coming to me and it turned out a bit longer then expected. Also, look out for an announcement at the end of this chapter.
The Shepherds weren't usually known for their treasure hunting skills, but Naga's tear sounded like something they would need. Even though Chrom didn't really see a reason for them to collect these random gems, Robin convinced him that they would somehow help them in combat. Chrom would have argued with him, but the various gems that they had already come across and passed around the army seemed to actually improve certain traits.
However, with the small army of Risen in the small cave, Chrom was beginning to wonder if this gem was really worth it.
Robin had decided to go on ahead with Lucina and go for the gem, leaving Chrom and a good portion of the army left to clear out the Risen. They couldn't just leave the entire army there, in case some poor soul accidently stumbled upon the caves.
Chrom brought the Falchion down on another Risen, causing to evaporate in a black smoke. He took out a vulnerary out of his pouch and drank half of it, and the gashes on his bare arm began to close up.
Chrom suddenly felt a burst of heat from behind him. He turn around only to see a Risen burning to death. He looked over and saw Robin's coat move around, slicing Risen with a blade. He must have gotten the stone, meaning they could finally leave.
...Robin wasn't that short. As the figure moved more, Chrom noticed a plop of blue hair on the person's head.
Chrom decided he should approach them, in order to make sure they were an ally.
"Excuse me?" Chrom said. The figure turned around, revealing herself to be a small girl.
"Yeah?" She asked, looking up at Chrom. Something about the girl seemed very familiar to him.
"Are you alright? Do you need any help?" Chrom asked.
The girl furrowed her brow, as if she were focusing on an old memory. Sometimes, Chrom would see Robin making the same expression. "Actually, I can't seem to remember anything. I'm trying, but it just…"
"Just sort of hurts?" Chrom asked.
"Yeah!" The girl exclaimed. "How could you tell?"
"I have a friend with the same problem." Chrom replied. "Do you have a name?"
"Oh! Yes!" The girl exclaimed, excited to know something about herself. "Morgan! My name's Morgan!"
"Oh, Morgan." Chrom said. "That's the name of one of my relatives. They're dead now, but still, it's a family name."
"That's cool." Morgan said, eyes wide with excitement. "What's your name?"
"Chrom." Chrom said, stretching out a hand, which Morgan eagerly shook.
As she grabbed his hand, Chrom noticed a marking on her hand.
The Mark of Naga.
Wait...Blue hair, familiar features, Mark of Naga, Robin's coat, same amnesia…
Robin may have made fun of Chrom sometimes for being too slow about certain things, but it was pretty obvious to him what was going on here. He's been in the same situation multiple times, with a bunch of different random "strangers" found in the battlefield. Morgan was certainly someone's daughter. The next question was who, but the answer was obvious to Chrom.
Morgan was his daughter.
It was obvious. Lucina hadn't told him about Cynthia before he met her, so it was entirely possible for him to have even more children. Her physical features screamed Ylissian royal family. He could even see some of his own moves in her swordwork.
It was interesting that she seemed to be a tactician, like Robin, but Chrom could see the story behind that. He could see himself focusing a little too much on Lucina, and Sumia focusing a little too much on Cynthia, with Morgan feeling left out.
In came her unmarried, childless Uncle Robin, who took her under her wing and…
...Now that he thought about it, Chrom could understand why Robin had insisted he not refer to him as "Uncle Robin." It did sound really creepy.
As he was thinking, Robin must have taken Morgan under his wing, becoming a role model for her, showing her how to be a tactician. He also somehow taught her how to get amnesia, which was weird, but whatever.
He would have to remember to thank Robin next time he saw him.
If his future self hadn't died, he was sure he would have been proud of his daughters.
"Um...Chrom?" Morgan asked. "You ok?"
"Yeah…" Chrom said distantly. "Stick with me for now. I have to introduce you to someone."
"Are you sure this was worth it, dear?" Lucina asked, examining Naga's Tear in her hand.
"Sure." Robin said. "It probably boosts a stat or something. I don't know. I'll have to check my handbook about it."
"Does it act as encouragement or something?" Lucina asked. "You've been passing these gems around camp, telling people how they would become better. You tell them how they will improve, and the gems encourage that line of training."
"That's a nice theory." Robin said. "It's wrong, but it's still nice. They're just magic."
"That seems somewhat unrealistic." Lucina commented skeptically.
"I can summon fire with the help of a book, we know several people who can turn into dragons or giant bunnies, and you traveled back in time." Robin said. "We defy the impossible on instinct at this point."
"I suppose…" Lucina admitted. "So we just wear it?" She held up the gem.
"Yes." Robin replied. "Don't eat it. I gave Valke a gem to improve his strength, and we had to have Gregor give him CPR to get it out of his throat. Gregor being Gregor, he got a bit too into it. Valke complained about tongue."
Lucina cringed. "I'm glad I went out with Mother that day. That's not exactly an image I'd want in my mind…"
Robin winced at the memory. "It's not a pretty one. Looks, I'm going to check the med tent and see how everyone fared physically after that last fight. Nobody's too bad, but some people might have to take it easy for the next few days."
Lucina nodded, received a peck on the cheek from her fiance, and went to work sorting Naga's inside the army's convoy. She didn't notice her Father come over, seemingly attempting to hide a person behind his back.
"Hello, Lucina." Chrom said, voice teeming with unrevealed excitement.
"Father? Who is that?" Lucina asked, trying to look behind her father.
"I think you already know." Chrom replied coyly.
"I don't." Lucina said.
"I think you do." Chrom replied.
"Can I come out now?" Morgan asked, hidden beneath Chrom's cape.
"Let her figure it out." Chrom replied. "Do you recognize the voice, dear?"
"No." Lucina replied. "Any other hints, Father, or are you just going to show me who it is?"
"It's your sister!" Chrom exclaimed, still hiding Morgan behind him.
"Cynthia?" Lucina asked.
"No." Chrom replied.
"Baby me?" Lucina asked.
"No." Chrom replied.
"...Did Mother give birth to Cynthia?" Lucina asked, surprised.
"N-no!" Chrom exclaimed, surprised she went to that extreme. He pulled Morgan out form behind him. "It's Morgan! Your sister, Morgan!"
Morgan and Lucina looked at each other, Chrom enthusiastically gesturing between the two.
"You're my sister?" Morgan asked. "That doesn't sound right…"
"Because it isn't true." Lucina replied. "I have no idea who she is, Father."
"But she has a Mark of Naga." Chrom said, holding up Morgan's hand. "What else could it be?"
Lucina looked into Morgan's eyes, much to the younger girl's confusion. Lucina's eyes slowly widened in shock, as her face began to turn red.
"Father." Lucina said tensely. "Look into Morgan's eyes." Chrom did so.
"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Chrom asked, as they both stared into the young girl's eyes.
"This is kinda weird…" Morgan commented, but was ignored by the two.
"I'm pretty sure you're the only other person in camp who would recognize whose eyes those are." Lucina said.
Chrom stared into Morgan's eyes for five full seconds. Then, as if a timer went off in his mind, Chrom stood up straight.
"ROBIN!"
"Explain." Chrom said, holding Morgan with one hand in front of Robin.
"Father!" Morgan exclaimed happily, wagging toward Robin, prevented only by the fact that chrom was holding her off the ground.
"... If she wasn't Lucina's daughter, I'd already be dead." Robin commented, seeming not taken aback by his apparent daughter.
"Don't worry!" Morgan exclaimed. "Grandfather said that there was no doubt I was related to him and Mother!"
"Every time she calls me Grandfather, I'm putting another boot up your ass." Chrom said to Robin.
While Chrom had never been violent to him in regards to his relationship with Lucina, Robin had a feeling that that he actually meant it.
"Fine." Robin said. "What do you want to know?"
"Do I have any reason to worry about a little Morgan?" Chrom asked, lightly shaking Morgan.
"Yeah, Father. Have you and Mother done it yet?" Morgan asked. Chrom and Robin looked at her. "What? That's what you're asking, right?"
"...Yeah." Robin said, turning back to Chrom. "Well, you already warned me to keep that part of my relationship with Lucina as out-of-mind for you as possible, so I'll just say there should be no Morgan in the planned future."
"Good." Chrom said, dropping Morgan.
"The only question left is why-Umph!" Robin exclaimed, as Morgan tightly hugged him.
"I missed you, Father." She said. "I don't remember much, but I remember I missed you. You and Mother."
Robin's arms remained spread out, unsure what to do with the girl that was wrapped around his waist. He looked at Chrom with pleading eyes. Chrom sighed and moved his own arms, miming out a hug, which lead Robin to awkwardly hug his daughter.
"Um...There...There?" Robin said, awkwardly patting his daughter's back.
Morgan began to slightly cry into his shoulder.
"Oh boy." Robin said.
"This is usually the part where both the parent and child burst into tears." Lucina commented, having just met up with her father to watch the father and daughter.
"You don't mind that she's immediately clinging to Robin?" Chrom asked.
"Not really. Robin was telling me earlier about how a lot of the Shepherds from my timeline share more traits with one parent then another, specifically their mothers." Lucina replied. "He commented on me being the only exception. He said I was your daughter, through and through."
"It's things like that that make people joke about him and I." Chrom joked.
"I guess I passed that trait down." Lucina said. "She came in a tactician's coat. She's her father's daughter."
"I suppose so." Chrom said. "I did, however, see her use a blade in battle, and it reminded me of a certain other young woman who traveled through time."
Lucina smiled. "I suppose you're right. Still, I'm worried about Robin. He's not the best when it comes to connecting with people, so I'm not sure how well he'll take to sudden fatherhood."
"Yeah, it's not like he suddenly has one baby and two grown up daughters." Chrom commented. "He just has the one." This earned him a small punch in the arm from Lucina. Chrom noticed that Lucina was still watching Robin with Morgan. "Are you worried about him?"
"Robin can be...difficult when it comes to connecting to people, sometimes." Lucina admitted, before smiling at her father. "I know, however, that he will be a fantastic father."
"And you a fantastic mother." Chrom said. "Just not anytime soon. I don't want to see any babies till…"
"A reasonable amount of time?" Lucina asked.
"Yeah, that." Chrom replied.
"Grandfather! Mother!" Morgan exclaimed, rushing over to the two royals. "Father said I have other family members!"
Chrom looked over at Robin, who looked emotionally exhausted. "I suppose I could introduce you to Sumia and Cynthia." Chrom said, before jokingly adding. "And Lissa, too, as long as you promise to always refer to her as 'Great-Aunt Lissa.'"
"Promised!" Morgan exclaimed. "Are you coming, Mother?"
"I think you Father needs a second, dear." Lucina said. Morgan nodded, before dragging Chrom toward the mess hall. She went up to Robin, who was watching Morgan run off. "Are you OK?"
"Cherche asked me to help her find a mate for Minerva the other day." Robin said. "I spent four hours looking at Wyrvin genetils. Virion keeps challenging me to chess, and I keep accepting his challenge every time. The other day I spent an hour doing that 'Justice Cabal' bullshit with Cynthia and Owain."
"So you're making friends?" Lucina asked. "What does this have to do with Morgan?"
"People are depending on me." Robin replied.
"You're the tactician." Lucina replied. "And my fiance."
"Yeah, but the nice thing about you is that you know what your mission is, and you'll do anything to succeed." Robin said. "The interesting thing about the majority of the Shepherds is that they all seem to have a shared hero complex. Everyone would easily and recklessly give their lives for another. I've seen the armies we fight do it as well. It just sort of happens when you're in a group."
"And why would that bad thing?" Lucina asked. "I would give my life for yours if I had to."
"It's the reckless part that bothers me." Robin replied. "People act without thinking. If someone has to give their life, it has to be the best option available." Robin paused. "Remember the night after Emm's death?"
Lucina remembered it well. It was the first time she had realized there was something special about Robin.
"That was the night I realized I had to make sure I could sacrifice any life if I had to, and to make sure it was the best possible solution." Robin said. "If I could approve the strategic death of the Exalt, I could be OK with anyone dying. Like I said, they're all willing."
"I still don't see what this has to do with Morgan." Lucina said. "Her and Father are probably wondering where we are."
"I give you the short version, then." Robin said. "I tried to make it easier by personally caring about as few people in the army as possible, in order to make it hurt less, but then I got close to Chrom, then Sumia through him, and I fell in love with you, and now I have a daughter who I'm probably going to wind up loving as well. If I'm being honest, I think I already do."
Lucina took Robin's hand, holding it close to her chest. "You're worried about losing us."
"I'm worried I'll have to order your deaths." Robin replied.
"You told me that, the day you woke up, you decided to make it your mission to do what you could for Chrom." Lucina said. "It seems to me that you have another mission: Stay alive for your family. The man I fell in love with could do that, and be a fantastic husband and father along the way."
Robin smiled. "Well, I'd love to meet him." He pulled Lucina in for a hug.
After a few seconds, Lucina said over Robin's shoulder. "Robin?"
"Yes, dear?" Robin asked.
"Why did Morgan come back in time?" She asked.
"That's a mystery for another day." Robin replied.
That mystery is actually solved in Failed a Spotpass, just to plug another story.
The weird thing is that, in this story about Lucina and Robin, the character I'm fascinated in writing is Chrom. Most people just write him off as angry and uncomfortable about the relationship, but I actually find it more interesting to approach it form a different angle.
Anyway, I'd like to announce that I'm giving up writing Fanfiction for Lent. For the next 40 days, I won't be posting anything. I'm still going to be writing my own stuff, but that will all be original work that you guys won't get to see. You can still message me stuff if you need to get in contact with me or ask any questions. I'll still be around.
See you all in April :)