"... What?" Chrom asked. "What do you mean?"

Lucina shook her head.

"Perhaps I should explain everything when we go home," she said. "I'm not sure now is the best time."

"Yeah," Morgan agreed. "But can we eat first? I'm really hungry."

His sister sighed.

"You're always thinking with your stomach, aren't you?" She laughed. "But in truth, I'm pretty hungry myself."

Chrom managed a smile.

"Of course. We'll eat as soon as we get home. It's not too far away," he said. "Do you want to see your friends first?"

They both nodded.

Chrom and one of the nurses helped to wheel the two around the room, and passed by Severa and Cordelia.

"Severa! Oh, my little girl," she said, embracing her daughter.

"Ugh, I'm not a child!" Severa complained.

"No, but you're my child," her mother replied.

"Why'd you even bring me here? I'm not your real daughter," the girl frowned, combing out her waist-length black hair with her fingers.

"Maybe not, but I couldn't just let them delete you along with the FE:A servers," Cordelia responded.

"Even if!" Severa continued to say. "I have no place in this world! Y-You should have just l-left me... Like you did b-before... A-At least then it wouldn't have h-hurt so much..."

"... My poor baby," her mother said. "I'm so sorry I abandoned you like that. You must have been so scared."

Severa made a "pfft" noise.

"Scared? I wasn't s-scared! I-It's not like I was w-waiting all that t-time for you to come b-back..." Her lower lip began to tremble before she broke out in tears. "Oh, Mom! I missed you so much! Please don't ever leave me again!"

Cordelia held her daughter close, stroking her back softly.

"It's alright, dear. Mother's here now. I won't leave you like I did again."

The two were wheeled across the room and saw Cynthia headed towards them, her wheelchair pushed by Sumia.

"Lucy! Morgan!" She called out happily. "We're in the real world! Isn't that great?"

Lucina smiled.

"It is," she agreed. "It feels so strange, though. Everything seems more... Vibrant."

Chrom nodded.

"In the real world, your senses work better than they do when you're online," he explained.

"Oh, so that's why I feel kinda weird," Morgan chuckled.

Suddenly Cynthia gasped, craning her neck around.

"W-Where's Owain?" She asked frantically. The two had been dating in the game, dubbed the Justice Cabal Couple by the other children.

A moment of silence passed.

"... Did he make it out?" Sumia asked, speaking the question they were all wondering.

Suddenly they heard Lissa wailing and Frederick comforting her. Their stomachs dropped at the sound.

"Oh, Owain, I missed you so much!" Lissa cried out, hugging her son, who was invisible as Frederick was blocking him from view.

They all breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness," Lucina breathed. "I was worried there for a second."

They all nodded in agreement.

"Mother, can I go see Owain?" Cynthia asked eagerly.

"Of course, dear," Sumia replied.

Chrom and the nurse followed them to where Owain's chamber was.

"Fear not, Mother, for your son is here now!" Owain reassured Lissa, who wiped away her tears.

"Owain!" The orange-haired pegasus knight called out.

Her Justice Cabal companion turned his head her way, his eyes lighting up.

"Cynthia!" He said in excitement.

Frederick pushed his wheelchair in front of Cynthia's so that they could reach over and hug.

"Huh," a snarky voice said from behind them.

It belonged to none other than Severa, who was being wheeled toward them by her mother.

"Hee hee! I think you're just jelly 'cause you miss Gerome," Cynthia teased, causing the mercenary's face to redden.

"What? Me, Jelly?! As if!" She exclaimed.

"Alright, that's enough," Sumia laughed. "Let's sign out now so we can get you all home. You'll see each other at Chrom's house tomorrow."

Cynthia beamed.

"Ooh! Mother, I can't wait to see your house! Is it big? What kind of food do you have? Do you have any pets? Do we have to share a room? Not that I would mind, but I was just wondering!"

"Uhh..." Sumia pondered her questions. "Not really, normal I guess, a dog, and yes."

Her eyes lit up.

"Oh, I'm so excited!"

Severa sighed at her friends' silly antics.

"Say, Lucina, your family's pretty wealthy, right?" She asked with a sly smile.

"Um..." The princess said uncertainly.

"Heehee, mind if I we hang out at your place for a while tomorrow?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Me, too!" Cynthia piped up.

"If that's alright with my father," she replied to both of them.

She turned to Chrom.

"Father, can Severa and Cynthia come over tomorrow?" She asked, somewhat startling him.

"I feel too young for this," Chrom sighed, causing Lissa, Sumia, Cordelia, and Frederick to laugh. "But yes, of course they can. Besides, you have a lot of filling in to do."

Lucina nodded with a smile.

"Of course. Thank you, Father."

Chrom drove his car, Lucina in the front and Morgan in the back. Lucina looked out the window, observing the tall buildings and concrete sidewalks. She seemed to even observe her own body, staring at her hand for a full minute.

"... M-Mother..." Morgan mumbled, sprawled out on the seats at the back.

Chrom and Lucina both looked back at him, seeing him fast asleep.

"... I miss Mother," Lucina said quietly.

"I do, too," Chrom replied sadly.

A moment of sorrowful silence followed before Lucina spoke.

"... I tried to help when you when we traveled back in time," she told him, disappointment in her voice. "I just ended up getting trapped in the game like everyone else."

"How did you travel back in time, exactly? In the game, Naga sent you, but I'm not so sure that's the real reason," Chrom asked.

"Actually, NAGA did send us. But not the Naga of the game. In the future, NAGA was an extremely intelligent AI. She helped to balance the virtual world and keep everything in check. However, GRIMA, an AI created by Grima Co., somehow managed to hack into part of NAGA's network and take control of all cybernetwork, including the internet, military bases and compounds, even top secret projects. He used these to wreak havoc on the world, and trapped nearly the whole population in virtual reality," she explained, her face grim.

Chrom's eyes widened in shock.

"... Then what happened? To all of us? And the world?"

Lucina shook her head, recalling the painful memories that felt fresh in her mind.

"You... Everyone... You were all online when it happened. In our future, we were never de-virtualized. We waited for you, for so long. Then, they finally let you come back. After that, GRIMA took control of the FE:A server and tried to kill us. He wasn't strong enough to delete the whole server, so he deleted all of your consciousnesses from the network. You, all of you, bought us enough time for NAGA to launch a time travel program to send us back in time to avert the tragedy that followed."

Chrom let it all sink in.

"What does Robin- I mean, your mother have to do with this? You said that she woke up in your future."

"She did. She..." Lucina bit back a sob. "She was the first to die. After she woke up, she started working at the hospital. She helped to hook up patients to the Medicuboid and taught them how to play online games. One day, the day GRIMA gained control of the network, she was on the job and he killed everyone in the game she was playing, including her and the patient... You were devastated."

That took him aback. He felt like someone had turned him upside down and slapped him.

"... That doesn't make any sense," he said. "Grima Co. was shut down now, and Robin's still asleep. In your future, it took us years longer to defeat GRIMA, giving them more time to work on the AI. But we took only four years here. If GRIMA was really ready to strike, he would've done it as soon as possible. And Robin... Gah, this doesn't make any sense."

Lucina looked down.

"Um, Father? Do you think we could see Mother before we ate?" She asked.

"... Yes, of course. But we should pick up some flowers first."

After they visited the florist and woke Morgan up, they went to Robin's hospital room to see someone already there, a girl about Chrom's age with long black hair and dark eyes.

She turned towards them with a smile.

"Hi!" She greeted them. "Are you visiting my twin sister?"

He was surprised for a moment how similar they looked. She could've been Robin if the tactician dyed her hair, wore black contacts, and wore her hair down.

"Um, yes," he replied.

"Oh, how nice of you! How do you know her? I don't think we've met," she asked.

"She's a friend of mine," Chrom explained.

"Hmm... You met her in the game, correct?" She questioned him.

He nodded.

"Yes, that's right."

"Ah, I see," she said.

She then peeked back behind him to see Lucina and Morgan.

"Who are these two?" She asked curiously.

Lucina spoke up quickly.

"We're his younger siblings," she explained.

The girl observed them and smiled again.

"Haha, I should've known. Close family resemblance!" She turned to face Chrom. "I don't think I properly introduced myself. My name's Jay."

She held out her gloved hand to Chrom, who shook it.

"Chrom," he said in reply.

Jay picked up her purse from the bedside table and buttoned up her coat.

"Well, Chrom, I'll be out of your hair now. I was just making sure my sister's hospital bills were paid," she pulled a hat over her sleek, straight hair. "Pleasure meeting you."

"The pleasure's mine," he responded politely.

She waved goodbye to the three before leaving.

After she left, Morgan spoke.

"Soo she's my aunt?" He asked. "That makes her your sister-in-law, Father!"

He gulped. That was the only thing he was thinking about during their conversation.

"Uh, yes, I suppose so," he replied weakly. "That aside, you should see your Mother now."

The two complied and sat at the bedside, observing their sleeping mother.

Chrom allowed them a few minutes before visiting hours were over and decided it was time for them to go.

Before they left, they kissed her cheeks and said goodbye, wishing she was there with them.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! I'm thinking that my chapters will normally be about this length, maybe longer, unless I want to do a super long one on the plane, haha. I'm on vacation at the moment, but the day after Christmas I'm going to another city. I'll probably update tomorrow, but if I don't, then Merry (early) Christmas! You know, now that I think about it I'll probably stay up all night writing another chapter but I just want to make sure in case I get busy tomorrow. Also my birthday is today where I live so I was so happy to check the barracks and see the little present thing, lol. Wow, this was a really long A/N so thanks for reading once again, reviews are greatly appreciated and feel free to follow and/or favorite if you enjoyed! Stay tuned! ありがとうございます！