"So who exactly are you?" I ask the white haired woman dressed in a purple Tactician's cloak. "And why do you act as if you know me? I've never seen you before in my life." To say the least, her behaviour creates tension between us. Along with my Hoshidan siblings, we converse under Ylisse's castle roof. Everybody around me stands silently, soaking any information in without a trace of lust for curiosity. They look as if they're taking it all in, but look completely mindless as well.

"Your name is Lucina-" she tries to say, but I cut her off.

"My name is Corrin." My eyebrows furrow with confusion and anger. This woman I don't even know is trying to mess with me, branding me with names that aren't my own.

"So that's what they dubbed you?" she asks, not really as a question, but as a statement of ponder and defeat. She looks down at the ground, deflated. "I just wish you knew."

"Knew what?" What game is she trying to play? What sick mind games is she trying to pull? Then I think about it for a minute, and realize that this woman doesn't look sadistically evil or nefarious by any means. She looks as if she's been wrangling with an unruly child for a year straight, exhausted, depressed.

"Lucina, have you ever tried looking into your eyes?" the woman says, perking up with a spark of hope.

I have. In my eyes are two unusual insignia enclosing each of my pupils. One looks like a vine with eyes attached, intertwined. The other looks like a teardrop. I was told by my father that these were just birth defects, that I was special. High on praise, I believed it as a child. As I got older and started to detest my father, I started to see through his lies and became increasingly suspicious.

Now I don't know what to believe.

The Tactician scurries about, searching frantically for Gods only knows what. She returns back into the centre of the crowd with an old photograph of some kind.

"Here," she says, pointing to a subject in the photograph. It is her in her younger years with a blue haired man about her age. One of her hands is placed on his cheek as she leans in to kiss him. On that very hand is a fuchsia coloured mark, strongly resembling the one in my eye. Near the man's shoulder is a greyish brand. The teardrop.

As my confusion starts to show, the Tactician's hope only grows and grows. Her eyes shimmer as she waits for me to connect the dots, but I can't. This is too much. When I was eleven, I was devastated when my mother died. Queen Helena of Nohr was her name and title. I heard there was a baby, but I never had the chance to see the child once. Recently I'd learned that Queen Mikoto of Hoshido was my real mother. She sacrificed her life to save mine. Without thinking, my gaze falls upon Domonic in an instant.

The Tactician seems to make the connection too. I see it in her eyes before she can leap into action. I stand between her and Domonic as he flinches, outstretching his arms. The Tactician looks rabid and longing all at the same time as she stares into his soul.

"You," she growls, pointing a trembling finger at him as I detain her with all my might. "It's all your fault! Your mother just couldn't accept war as war, could she?"

"Shhh," I croon, glancing back at Domonic with pity. He stares at the ground as guilt consumes him from the outside in. I embrace the Tactician, who I've come to realize is my mother by blood. Though it may be fact, we're strangers to each other. I feel no connection with her. To me, she is just another person I speak formally in the presence of. "You have me now. You don't have to continue to suffer like this. I never knew my father like you did, but you can't blame his murderer's child for her actions."

I feel my mother's anger dissipate into sorrow in my arms. I can tell that she's remorseful for lashing out like she did.

"Sis!" a voice in the distance shouts, disorienting me completely. I wheeze as a strong, unknown grip tightens around my waist. I look down and see a young blue haired boy nuzzling into me. "You look just the way mom described you nineteen years later, with your blue eyes, and your beautiful blue hair… this is the best!" His grip around me begins to quake as he sobs into the flat of my stomach. "Lucina, I thought I'd never get to meet you…"

A light blush races across my face. This must be my brother. But how? How old was I when our father was killed?

"When I made the decision to stay and protect our people while your father took you and fled, I hadn't known I was pregnant with Morgan at the time. I would've been a lot more rational in my decision making. It was Lissa and her husband Frederick who helped deliver him right here in the castle." She seems more cheery now. I think that in time and the presence of her family, she will be all right.

"Yup!" a voice beams. It belongs to a woman with long, blonde locks and dark, wide eyes. I saw her travel up the stairs with Morgan, but she hadn't said a word up until now. "We sure did! Oh, Lucina! Is that really you? My one and only niece?" She hugs me tightly, burning bright with joy. "Any sane person would've given up hope, but not us! We're all a bunch of crazies!"

I smile as she laughs hysterically. She has an eccentric and energetic sense of humor. She must be Lissa. Mine and Morgan's aunt. Lissa touches a hand to my cheek. "You look so much like Chrom." She then grins from ear to ear, glancing back and forth between the Tactician and myself. "But you definitely have Robin's smile."

I take a moment to think to myself. I'm not Nohrian, or Hoshidan. I am Lucina, daughter of Chrom and Robin. My name isn't Corrin. My father isn't a tyrant, but before I was even born, he was forced to murder an innocent man, battling under the Mad King's iron fist. That man had a wife and child. He left Helena a widow and her child fatherless. Ylisse isn't perfect either. We all have our faults.

I think of Garon and how he lost Arete, his second wife, when I was just a child. That is why he must've chose Helena. Two broken souls grieving over a lost spouse, always there to comfort each other. I guess opposites don't always attract after all.

As roars and shouts liven the room, Ylisseans and my Hoshidan siblings alike crowd around me and pull me into a bear hug.

"We're glad you're back where you belong, even if I'm a little jealous of your real family," Hinoka says with a sly smile.

"This is where you belong. You should be happy and proud," Ryoma says with a sorrowful chuckle. Is he worried that I'll abandon Hoshido? For now, I have no idea what to do.

"Sister-uh... Lucina. We're glad you're back with your real family. These people are yours. Please take care of them." Takumi stares straight into my eyes with a look of anguish in his eyes.

"All of you!" I say with a grin. "You've all formed me into the person I currently am today. We've laughed, fought, and cried together, and to all that I have yet to forge bonds with from here on out, may our journey be a prosperous one!" Roars of approval echo throughout the room as I clap a shy Sakura on the back. I see that Domonic has strayed from the boisterous crowd, staring down at the floor. I get down on one knee and look him in the eye, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll always be my little brother, you hear?" I pick him up and hoist him onto my shoulders, earning a smile and laughter from him that I've so desperately craved since day one.

As I set Domonic down, the crowd parts a bit, and I see a man standing all alone against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. His hair is white and his eyes are a piercing red. I walk toward him with curiosity. "Is your name Corrin?"

He looks up at me. "How did you know?"

"You scanned the room every time somebody uttered it, then continued to stare back at the floor."

"Well yes, my name's Corrin. Why do you ask?"

"Because this belongs to you." I unsheathe Yato and hold it out in front of me. "My name isn't Corrin. It's Lucina. There's strength in it, as well as in the man and woman who bestowed it upon me."

Nodding his head, Corrin claims what is rightfully his with the slightest grin. "Thank you, Lucina."

"That reminds me!" my mother shouts, hurrying about once again. She rushes back with a well-crafted sword in hand. "This was your father's sword, Falchion. Morgan refused to take it. He said that you were first born, and that he adamantly refused to believe you were dead. Take it. It's rightfully yours."

As my mother places the seemingly mystical sword in my hand, it glows faintly, gradually awakening with an orange-ish hue. I peer down at the weapon in my hands with unadulterated fascination.

"See! It chose you! It's always wanted you!" Morgan beams, punching me playfully in the shoulder. "Take care of that sword, sis. Father's counting on you."

I gulp. Those four words alone instill so much guilt, fear, and expectation all at once. This was my father's sword. A leader of this kingdom. I am unfamiliar with this land and with the people living on it.

"Mother," I say almost awkwardly. "I would like to visit my father's grave, if it isn't too much trouble."

"I can show her the way, if you'd like." To my surprise, Corrin speaks out. He doesn't seem like much of a talker. He's almost inaudible as my Hoshidan siblings quickly take a liking to the people of Ylisse, chatting and milling exuberantly.

My mother nods her head. "Of course."

XXX

As we depart, I take my surroundings in tenfold. The grass beneath me is tall and golden yellow. The sky is a bright blue, and the clouds are thick and fluffy. The air is nice here, and my breathing patterns go off-kilter as I inhale and exhale rapidly, taking it in.

"Were you born here?" I ask Corrin nonchalantly as we walk. He doesn't look like a typical Ylissean.

"I don't know," he replies with a look of perplex. "I ended up in this world one day without a single memory to go by, save for my name. Robin found me and really helped me out ever since. She said that she could definitely relate."

I wonder what that could mean. If I asked my mother, she would probably answer it, but sometimes questions and mysteries are better left unanswered. "I think you came from some place far away. I think you had to come a long way to get here…"

Corrin looks at me like I now have eighteen heads. "Yeah?" he challenges playfully. "You too. We're just a couple of misfits, aren't we?"

I laugh so hard my sides begin to hurt as I glance between his gaze and the ground. In the distance, I start to see graves. "Is that it?" I ask, pointing like a little child. After realizing this, I stop pointing with a bashful look on my face.

"Yeah," he responds, jogging ahead. "C'mon." I jog alongside him, joining him as we gaze at my father's flourished grave. For that I am glad. It reads:

Exalt Chrom

A loving husband, brother, and father.

"May we meet again, in a better life…"

I try to imagine what my father was like, but nothing comes to mind. The fact that I stand by his grave without being able to muster a single memory of him makes me sick to my stomach. I mewl, eventually full-out sobbing at the loss of my father I never even got to meet.

Then I think of the photograph my mother showed me. I imagine the photograph coming to life in my mind. I envision my father staring into my blue eyes that match his own with determination, whispering words of encouragement into my ear as he ruffles my royal blue hair.

When I snap out of my reverie, Corrin peers at me with confusion. A second ago, I was in tears. Now I'm grinning like I've gone completely bonkers. "It's okay!" I shout, wiping away my tears. I take his hand with both of my own. "I can be at peace now."

As we walk hand in hand back to the castle, I think about a myriad of things. I think about the good, bad, and ugly that has happened all throughout my life. I've realized that as long as I prioritize the good times, the bad won't seem as agonizing. As long as I have my family and my comrades beside me, I will feel safer and stronger. I think of Ylisse. This is the place where I was born. This is the place where my parents fought valiantly to save my life.

This is my home.

AN: This is it! Hopefully this makes sense now. If you guys don't know or forgot from the game, what happened to Arete is explained there. Many of you may be wondering where Valla and Anankos is as well. I decided not to incorporate them, as I believe that besides the Revelation DLC and the Revelation verse for Lost in Thoughts All Alone, Fates would've been a lot better (in my opinion).