"Did you brush your teeth and wash your face?" Robin asked as he escorted Morgan to her bed.
"Mhm."
"What about your legs? Are they feeling better?"
"They are still a little sore from all the running, but each time I move around they don't ache as much."
"That's good." He smiled and opened the door to her room. He watched as she hesitantly looked at the bed and sighed in despair at the thought of going to sleep.
"Where's mom tonight?" She asked as she climbed into bed.
"Oh, Chrom and Sumia wanted to talk to her about a few things. Stuff like politics, news, and our new magic workshop.
"We have a magic workshop?" Morgan asked puzzled.
"Yeah, we started one today actually. Or at least, we are trying to start one." He said while tucking the little tactician into her bed. "We still have to find some magicians who are not plotting to destroy the world and are willing to work for us."
"What's with the sudden interest in magic?" She asked not because she cared, but because asking questions was a great way to stall her bedtime. "I thought if we had a problem we could always ask Plegia."
"Well, Miriel says that magic is merely a form science that we are not able to explain yet. As technology advances, we will be able to answer these things and keep our nation in prosperity."
"I see, but what does that have to do with mother? She's not exactly skilled in magic."
"It was her proposal, so I imagine she would be the best one to explain the plan.
"Huh? Mom suggested this?" She asked confused.
"Yep. She came up with the idea while the two of us had lunch in town today." Robin smiled cheerfully. "You know, sometimes I don't think you give her enough credit. She has a very keen eye on these things, and she's helped us significantly on world matters since the war ended."
"I am just a little surprised since she never really seemed comfortable around our mages."
"Granted, she hasn't had many good experiences with magic users, and neither have I for that matter." He cringed for a moment before quickly shaking it off. "But the research center will focus on countering dark magic so no one like Valider or Aversa will ever pose a threat to us again."
"Oh, I see."
"But enough about that." Robin waved it off and leaned down to sit on the edge of the bed while still facing his daughter. "Let's get to the reason I am here."
"Right!" She cried happily and waited for Robin to continue the story.
However, the next part was surprisingly familiar to her. It was like an old memory that resurfaced from a long time ago in her mind. Almost immediately, she knew that Robin was telling her about Basilio's death and how they gained their third gemstone as his last dying wish. He had fought bravely against the Conqueror, but in the end Flavia couldn't do anything other than delay his death for a couple of seconds.
Despite the success of being one step closer to awakening the Emblem, Lucina took Basilio's demise very hard and Robin could see the pain in her eyes. He wanted to help her, but there wasn't much he could do and it wasn't his place in front of so many royals. The thoughts of being unable to change fate must have spiraled through her mind again and again.
Meanwhile, Yen'fay's army was quickly approaching with a vast array of battle hardened veterans. There were a few options running through Robin's brain to counter this problem as he marched with the rest of the shepherds, but all involved serious risks that made him wince.
It was one of the most difficult times of my life, and I don't remember much else of the day as I looked for our best plan. Before I knew it, night had already fallen again and I was left to my own thoughts in the pitch black of night.
The strain of finding the right plan was so strong that I had to stop and clear my head before I went crazy. I knew there was zero chance of me falling asleep anytime soon, so I decided to walk around the camp to try to calm down and find some peace. But as I was patrolling the perimeter of camp I heard a noise from a set of nearby trees.
...
"Gah, stupid branches keep rubbing against my wounds." Someone whispered while trying to remain quiet.
Without hesitation, I drew my sword and prepared for the worst as I heard the silent mumbling of someone that was most likely trying to sneak into our camp.
"Who goes there?" I cried with my steel pointed at the trees about ten feet away from me.
"An old fart that still has some potency." A familiar voice cried back very ruggedly with a small laugh to go with it.
"That sounds like..." I muttered confused and looked back at the trees before strengthening my resolve. "Show yourself!"
"Heh, very well." The rough and calloused voice responded and stepped toward the light of my torch. As he approached I prepared for anything as I took my battle stance, or at least almost anything.
"Ba-Basilio?!" I cried out in terror while looking at the man or ghost haunting my patrol. "H-how are you here?!"
"Shhh, quiet boy. You will wake up the whole camp if you keep shouting."
"... But you're supposed to be dead." I whispered with wide eyes.
"Bah, it seems even you have no faith in my superior survival skills." He mocked slightly agitated.
"I always trusted your strength, but when I heard the account from Flavia, I thought-"
"Walhart's tougher than he looks." He shrugged frustrated and raised his fist into the air in despite. "I hate to admit it, but the lass was right. If I hadn't swallowed my pride and played dead I would be lying on the ground waiting for the buzzards to get me."
"So you faked your death?"
The giant bald head man shrugged and let out a grunt. "Aye, I played the coward and lived another day. After their army left the battle I bandaged my wounds with one our dead cleric's supplies and slowly made my way back here."
"I don't understand. Flavia said you took multiple blows to the chest and were bleeding out within minutes.
"Har-Har, It takes more than a few strikes to keep this prestigious body from collapsing."
There was a long silence as I processed all of this. It was wonderful news, but it seemed to good to be true. "... I am greatly relieved and surprised to see you back in one piece. This will be a great help to our morale after everyone sees that you are alive and still full of spirit.
"Ha." He laughed in a hushed tone and smiled back at me. "I can only imagine the look on their faces tomorrow when I casually walk through camp." He grinned and chuckled thinking about it. "By the end of the week I'll be forever known as Great Khan Basilio the Immortal."
"I'm sure anyone would think you weren't human if you can survive blows like that."
"Har-har, oh stop with the compliments boy. You are making me blush." he laughed heartily while being careful not to be too loud.
"Regardless, it's great to have you back. The army will be that much stronger with you helping us fight again."
Basilio nodded and he quickly changed back into a serious tone, "Right, speaking of which there is something I wanted to talk to you about. On my way back here I came across this." He reached into one of his pockets and grunted when he accidentally touched one of his bandaged wounds. As he pulled his hand back out, it contained a small letter with the seal torn at the lip of the envelope.
The Shepherds are retreating from Fort Steiger and successfully evaded the revolutionary army. Their current army is at 72% of its original force after suffering major casualties in the fight. Course is unknown, but they will be clashing with Yen'fay's army soon.
Furthermore, three gemstones have been discovered and remain under the supervision of Chrom and his guards. Plans might need to be altered due to recent events, but most things continue to remain on course.
The situation with Stahl and Kellam remain unaltered. Stahl continues to try to learn Valmese culture to impress Cherche and Kellam has attempted to practice public speaking when he is alone. Both remain out of Chrom and Robin's inner circle and are unlikely to be a threat.
-Agent Q
"… Where did you find this?" I asked urgently.
"Off of a Plegian spy's corpse. On my way back to camp I noticed a man hiding in the shadows and writing something down on his leg. When he finished I gave him a good spook and the poor sod tried to attack me. Unlucky for him, he had to deal with Great Khan Basilio the Immortal as I bashed his head on a nearby rock until he stopped struggling.
"I see..." I shrugged my head and sighed "So they are still watching us."
"Aye, it seems Validar is fairly interested in our little game of war."
"That's a bit of an understatement." I grimaced. "If they have this information on Stahl and Kellam, who knows what they have on the two of us, or Chrom for that matter."
"I am sure they have a nice glowing testimony about your tactical victories and my courageous fight with the conqueror." He laughed heartily.
"Right ..." I muttered absentmindedly. "That spy must have been scared out of his mind when he saw you. After all, he probably thought he was seeing a ghost because he thought you were - !"
"Hey wait a second, you got that look in your eye." He glared wondering what crazy scheme was going through my head.
"... If Plegia thinks you are dead, then I doubt they will assign anyone to keep spying on you."
"True it makes no sense to watch a corpse, but once they see my brown butt back in camp they will know I am still kicking like a new-born."
"Unless, unless you don't return to camp. With a few disguises and some gold you could remain unseen but still within reach in case we needed to contact you."
"Huh? I must have gone deaf for a moment and misheard you boy. For a moment I thought you were implying that I, the Great Basilio, should let people think I am still dead."
"That is exactly what I am suggesting." I smiled mischievously as I went over the details in my head.
"Gah, you must be out of your mind. Sleeping on rocks and hiding in bushes isn't exactly my idea of a good time." He scoffed in disgust.
"I know, I know. It's a ludicrous idea, but I really don't like what Validar has in store for us. With all of his secrets and espionage there is clearly something wrong taking place, and I fear it may have to do with the future that Lucina speaks of. If we can at least have one more chip to play on the table, then it will give us an advantage we desperately need."
The giant shiny domed warrior paused for a moment and evaluated me as he rubbed his chin. "Bah, it seems like you enjoy giving me the worst assignments. But to be honest, I don't like what that old fool is up to either. … Hmph, very well. I'll do it." He grunted and hit me in the chest with his fist. "Though you better end this war quickly before I die of boredom."
"I'll do what I can." I nodded gratefully. "We are planning on facing Yen'fay on the side of a volcano soon which will be a turning point in this campaign.
"Damn boy, first you set ours ship on fire and now you wish to ignite our asses too? Maybe it is a good thing that I can sit out one of your reckless schemes."
"I thought that might add a little more incentive to stay dead." I laughed quietly. "But assuming we win it will be one step closer to getting this dreadful war over with. Yen'fay is too honorable of a man to deny a duel to the death, and neither of our armies will have to fight each other. It will just be his best men against ours."
"You've got some big stones that's for sure, and as much as I would like to be the one to drive an axe through Walhart's number one pet, I'll leave the rest to you. After all, I can't hog all the glory to myself. Har-Har Har."
…
"Ughhh." I groaned tiredly as I tried to pull myself up from my bedroll in the morning. "I really got to find a way to fix my insomnia after this war is over." I muttered as I barely could keep my eyes open. Knowing Basilio was alive made it even harder to sleep thinking about all of the new possibilities, but once I finally did get some rest it was plagued by yet another nightmare.
"It seems like those accursed dreams get worse each day." I murmured lowly as I cupped my hands in a small wooden bucket full of water and washed my face to help wake me up. Though, as painful as my dreams were, they were a great reminder every morning of what would happen if I failed my duties. In a sense, they were another way to motivate me to make sure that they stayed as dreams and nothing more. "I just wish I would stop waking up in a pool of sweat one of these days." I shrugged.
After spending about ten seconds fixing my hair, and another twenty putting on my tacticians robes, I went to my table and looked one last time at the battle plan that we would be using on a bed of molten lava. "Naga I must crazy ... If this gamble doesn't get us killed then I need to start playing poker more often."
…
"Robin? Are you awake?" Lucina's voice called out from the other side of my tent as I focused on my work.
"Not really." I casually responded back. "I'm still half asleep, but what do you need?"
"I was wondering if we could go over our plan before the battle. Seeing as I use to fight in places that were constantly on fire I might be of some small assistance."
"Er... right. I guess you would be the most experienced in this type of warfare." I grimaced and remembered my second reason for waking up in the morning. "Very well, let's head over to the war tent and we will discuss it there."
I stepped outside of my small quarters and braced my eyes for the morning sun. It took some time to adjust, but after blinking a few times I could make out Lucina's beautiful and smooth face as the sun reflected off of her. This made me have to immediately close my eyes again to get any bad thoughts out of my head.
"The sun is really bright today." I commented while I used my hand to act as a shield against the sun and her face.
"Yeah ..." She nodded and walked besides me as we made our way over to our war room. However, she was very tense and her body was rigidly straight as if something was bothering her. I guessed it was probably Basilio's death still weighing on her mind and I wanted to tell her that he was alive, but even now those Plegian dogs could be listening in on us. So I decided it would have to wait until we were in a more private setting.
"Did you get any sleep last night Robin?" She asked somewhat concerned as she glanced at my tired face.
"Not very much I am afraid. Shutting my brain off isn't exactly an easy task with so much going on."
"... I see." She nodded and looked back with a long stare which made me a little uneasy. "It must be difficult to close your eyes with so much resting on your shoulders."
"At times it can be a little challenging, but Chrom and Sumia have ordered me to get six hours sleep or spend the rest of my life in the stockades." I chuckled halfheartedly
"I'm sorry, my parents have always been a little extreme in their methods." She replied back somberly
"Heh." I looked back at her in disbelief. "And here I thought you were also going to give me a lecture on the importance of getting a good night's rest."
She shook her head which caused her cerulean hair to float across the air with a hypnotic grace. "You know your limits better than anyone else Robin. It is not my place to judge you. Besides, I would be a hypocrite if I told you to get some sleep when I have neglected it at every available opportunity."
"Right... I imagine we both share the same problems, but at least it's a relief to know someone trusts me enough to let me make my own decisions." I replied cheerfully. "Thank you Lucina."
"Wuh? Why are you thanking me?" She asked surprised and tensed up again.
"Everyone is always worried about my health, but at least you understand that what I do is necessary for our success. It is a great comfort knowing that I can talk to you about such things without having to worry about receiving a lecture, and for that you have my sincerest thanks."
"I um … I am glad I could help."
…
Shorty after, we reached our destination and took our seats about five feet apart from each other. Once we started discussing the plan she started to relax a little and no longer looked so stiff, but it did appear like other things were occupying her mind during some brief moments of silence.
"After surveying the area I believe we have found the most stable place to battle on, but it is hard to judge how the volcano will react to our presence. The thing I am worried about the most is the intense heat. In a matter of minutes it will drain even our strongest warriors."
Lucina stared at the drawing of the Volcano's surface that Libra painted and replied, "That is why you had us drink water at every chance we could get right?"
"Mhm, and it is also why I ordered everyone to fight without their armor. The heat the steel would conduct would cook us alive before Yen'fay's men could even reach us. Fighting with leather dressing may not stop as many blows, but it will at least give us a better chance."
"The important thing will be to watch our footing. I don't think any of our shepherds have experienced such drastic changes in terrain before. In some spots the ground will rise and fall so steeply that we will fall into lava if we are not careful." Lucina added while pointing to spot near the edge of the mountain.
"You're right." I said surprised at how quickly she was learning. "We will need to make a serious effort to inform the shepherds about the terrain. Considering that you have fought in battles like this, would you be willing to show the shepherds what to look out for?"
"I can if you think it will help."
"It undoubtedly will. We have had some major difficulty fighting through sand in past, so this might give us trouble if we are not expecting it. I imagine even battle hardened veterans such as our enemy will have to adapt to fighting on a completely different type of terrain."
"Let's hope we can adapt faster than them." She said with a deep focus on the picture. "And that the volcano doesn't erupt from all the chaos."
"Worst case scenario we will call in our wyverns to evacuate our team before the lava reaches us. Cherche assured me that a small team of our dragon squads could fly us to safety before the volcano could kill any of us."
Lucina smiled and looked back at me to say, "As always it seems like you have thought of everything."
"Well, almost everything. There are somethings that I could never predict even with a thousand years of planning. That is why part of being a tactician is to adapt when things change. A few times I have had to scrap my plans altogether and start a new one while in the middle of dodging an axe swing or two."
Lucina shook her head in disbelief and said, "I do not know how you are able to manage that Robin, or how you think that one day I would be capable of such a thing."
"Actually, I hope you will never have to learn this part Lucina." I grimaced and looked down at the ground. " You see, most of my plans take less than thirty minutes to create. In fact, coming up with our strategy is probably the easiest part of my job. What taxes me the most is the countless hours I spend trying to adapt the plan for things I am not expecting."
"I do not understand, how do you plan for what you cannot expect?"
"I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but the more time I spend thinking about what could go wrong, the better prepared I am for similar chaotic events that will happen. This way I can quickly change my plans to get everyone moving in a different direction. My ability to quickly adjust is what separates me from other tacticians, and it is a large part of the reason why our casualty rate is significantly lower."
Lucina paused and hesitated before saying, "If this is so important to protecting everyone, then why do you not want me to learn this skill?"
"Because it is one of the most agonizing and difficult things I have ever done in my life. I have to put every ounce of my strength into running random scenarios so I can react quicker, because failing to do so will result in someone's death." I said dryly and felt my stomach rumble uneasily. "That is why I will never teach you such a dreadful experience."
She lowered her head and stared intently at the ground with an unbreakable gaze as she said, "Do you not think I am capable of shouldering such a burden?"
I shook my head in sorrow and said, "Lucina, you are one of the very few people I know that could endure such a laboring experience, and that is exactly why I refuse to let you do it. You already have enough problems in your life, and I don't want to add anything else to your plate."
Lucina looked back with her gentle and soft eyes and said, "You don't need to worry about me Robin. I can take care of myself."
"I know you can. I have no doubt in my mind that you can handle this on your own, but ... Just promise me you won't ever try this method alright? I'm not asking as a tactician, but as your friend. I do not wish this fate to be put on my worst enemy let alone one of my greatest allies."
She tensed up again as something seemed to bother her before saying, "...If you feel so strongly about this than I will respect your wishes."
"Ah, thank you Lucina. I really do appreciate it" I replied very relieved "And trust me, you still have the makings of a great strategist. With a little more training the shepherds would be in safe hands with such a talented person like yourself."
"Hopefully it will never have to come to that." She replied back nervously and stiffened up even more.
...
"Er … forgive me if I am over stepping my bounds, but is something troubling you? You seem a little fidgety today." I asked concerned as her hands tightened into a fist.
"I-it's nothing." She insisted as her voice cracked. "One of the shepherds just mentioned something to me that was a bit unnerving."
"Are any of them being mean to you?" I asked worried.
"No, it's nothing like that." Lucina said very uncomfortable and shifted in her chair. "But she insists that something is true when it isn't!" She yelled fiercely to make her point.
Though, the panicked expression on her face was absolutely adorable, and I had to force myself to suppress my thoughts just to focus, "Maybe it's a misunderstanding, but if this person is pestering you than I need to know so we can take care of it."
"No." Lucina frantically shook her head still embarrassed. "She told me that she was not joking, and the problem has not been mentioned since. It's just … hard for me to understand where she got such a crazy notion."
"Heh, well our shepherds have always been a crazy bunch so you can't expect them to make sense all the time." I laughed softly to cheer up the mood.
"Yes. That must be it!" She cried back urgently. "Cordelia must have been mistaken when she said that I ..." She went flush again and looked away while biting her lip. "A-anyways it's not important. Like you said, she was just misguided in her assumption!"
"Cordelia?" I whispered to myself in surprise. I thought it might have been Lissa teasing her or maybe even Tharja, but Cordelia? … "Right, sometimes people make guesses about someone else because they don't know that person too well. After all, there is a lot of depth to you Lucina, and once people get to know you better they will see what an amazing person you are."
Lucina immediately looked down at the ground and grimaced in uncertainty as she contemplated something for awhile. "... Robin."
"Yes?"
"Why are you always so nice to me?" She asked lowly in despair. "... Is it because my parents asked you to look after me?"
"What? Why would you think that?" I asked hurt that she would even consider me to have a fake personality.
"Because you always try to lift my spirits when I am down and offer advice when you don't have to. It seems like every time you see me struggling with something you make it a priority to help me."
"Of course I make it priority." I said while trying to understand what was wrong with that. It was so ingrained in my nature that I didn't even know where to begin. "Didn't your friends ever try to cheer you up in your time?"
Lucina shook her head and inhaled deeply to regain her resolve. "Yes, they would always try to distract me from my problems, but in the end they only made it worse …" She looked back at me with a soft and tender gaze "... It's different with you though. You don't promise me everything will be okay, but instead you help me think things through. You have a way of making everything seem okay without belittling my concerns, and I don't understand why you are so kind to me."
"I ..." There was nothing I could do but sit there speechless as she looked at me with her piercing gaze. "Lucina, I try to cheer you up because you are a friend of mine. A good friend of mine. I do not need any other reason to want to help you when you are feeling down, and I respect you enough to know that your concerns are important."
"Do you do this with all of your friends?" She asked still unsure.
"Only for those who are close to me. You, Chrom, Lissa, and Sumia give me a great peace of mind, and its only natural that I would want to return the favor. It's very a unique feeling to have such close friends, and I just feel refreshed and happier when I am with you four. I don't know if I could ever explain it, but I just feel differently when I am around your family."
She eased back in her chair and slowly started to settle down after hearing this. She was still very tense, but nowhere near as badly as before. "I see. You will have to forgive me Robin. I am unaccustomed to others helping me, and these unique feelings that come with it. It might take me some time to get use to it all … especially when the feelings you describe are so strong in my stomach."
Stomach? I questioned to myself unconsciously but quickly ignored it. "Take all the time you need Lucina. In the mean time I'll be here if you ever need anything. That's what friend are for."
"I'll keep that in mind Robin. Thank you." She nodded gratefully.
"No problem." I waved it off. "But back to the matter at hand, would you still be willing to give that agility demonstration to the shepherds. We should do it now so we have enough time before Yen'fay shows up."
"Right, I can start on the bottom of the mountain base in a few minutes."
"Great, I'll get the shepherds together while you prepare for the lesson." I got up from my chair and smiled back at her. "I better listen carefully too or else I might be the one falling on my face." I laughed lightly and moved over to the entrance of the tent. I quickly opened the flap and prepared to get everyone gathered together when the bright morning sun bombarded my eyes once again.
"Oh and Robin." She called out just as I was about to leave the tent.
"Yes Lucina?" I twisted my body and glanced back to see her give a small smile in return.
"I consider you a good friend too."
...
"Hehehe. Mom is so cute when she is embarrassed." Morgan laughed evilly at her suffering.
"Hey, only I can say that." Robin warned the laughing tactician.
"Well it's true." She remarked back. "But I never knew you could be so clueless dad! It was pretty obvious that she was trying to hide her crush on you the entire conversation. For a brilliant tactician you sure missed a lot of signals."
"Heh, it's obvious to you now, but you already know the outcome." Robin stuck out his tongue and scrunched his face to get back at her. "You have to remember that we considered the idea of being a couple to be impossible for a long list of reasons. When you think something is inconceivable, you never once let the thought enter your mind despite how obvious it may seem."
"But you always say to me that nothing is impossible."
"Yeah, but I learned that the hard way." Robin laughed and shook his head thinking about his past. "But give us some credit Morgan. Neither of us experienced anything like this before. Sure we heard about it, but it is a lot different when you actually share the feeling, and it does cloud your judgment."
"Then you must have had a dark gray storm cloud blocking your perspective." Morgan teased.
"We both did." Robin smiled at the memories. "Gods, she must have been so uncomfortable, and I am sure I didn't help either trying to make her feel better."
"You are just now noticing it?" Morgan laughed.
"Maybe I am a little clueless after all."