Jealousy
Friendship isn't the only invisible tie that binds them together. Robin, Cordellia, Severia, Morgan, and even Chrom are connected by less noble ties as well.
I do not own Fire Emblem.
Jealousy isn't just for the married. Severa is jealous of her own sister for being the apple in their father's eyes.
For as long as she can remember, people have acted as if they are two different families. There is Robin and Morgan, and there is Cordellia and Severa. Her parents might as well have been divorced for all that people treated them like a family. Everyone knows Morgan is Robin's child (the eyes, the mind, the love of tactics and strategy), while Severa is just the less impressive daughter of Cordellia (not as good, not as pretty, not as amazing and appreciated and a lifetime of impossible measures).
It doesn't matter that it's her who shares their father's hair. It doesn't matter that she's the older one, the sister who looked after and took care of Morgan when both parents disappeared. It certainly doesn't matter that Morgan inherited Mother's easy confidence, while she's the one who inherited Father's insecurities and niggling inner doubt.
Definitely doesn't matter.
What matters is that Severa doesn't have the head for tactics and strategy, no matter how hard she tries, and Morgan does. Gods, Morgan can come back with amnesia and still run circles around her older sister, that's how bad it is.
And Father knows it. That's why he spends so much more time with Morgan: because Morgan can pay attention without falling asleep, because Morgan can pick up the trick and use it three days later, because Morgan fits into a tactician's robes so much better than her. That's why Robin and Morgan can stay up through the night reading dusty tomes together and not notice the passing of time, while she and even her mother would fall asleep. It was like this even back in the future, when Father would focus on training Morgan and then ask her to look after her little sister.
She doesn't like it, but she doesn't blame her father. It's not his fault she doesn't have much to learn from him. It's not his fault her weapon skills surpass his, leaving him with little to offer but occasional advice and a different teacher. It's not his fault she's bigger, stronger, and more responsible than her sometimes absent-minded little sister.
But Morgan… Morgan relishes the stranglehold she has on Father's time. Relishes, cherishes, monopolizes. Takes it all without reservation, and then asks for more.
It's all Severa can do to not scream 'He's my father too!'
It doesn't matter if he's not as good a swordsman as her. It doesn't matter if she falls asleep to his lectures. It doesn't matter that she takes after their mother more. It doesn't matter, because she's his daughter and he's her father, and while she'll be damned if she says it aloud she loves the time they spend together as well. She loves their matches and his well earned praises (That was spectacular, Severa.), she loves waking up with his well-loved cloak wrapped around her shoulders (He always chided her, but always gave her his cloak), and she loves him (the only thing as hard as finding that Mother wouldn't return, was the day Father didn't as well).
He's her father too, and she'd like to spend time with him as well, to be appreciated just as much as her sister. If only Morgan would remember that.
Author Note: Third of five jealousy-themed character pieces, centered around the members of a Main Character-Cordellia family. This one was Severa. From what I've seen, most children are never written in context of their 'other' parent, which is a shame.
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