Review Responses:
Lopmion- 12: Thank you! I personally like Lucina's support with her sibling the most with Morgan (with Cynthia a close second, lol), so I decided to include that here. Stay updated for more chapters!
NotSoGreatGamerGirl: Yes, I did intend for that to be a Summer Scramble reference, haha! And as for Jin, you'll see...! Thanks for your reviews as always!
GuestWithIdeas: Wow thank you so much for your review! I personally like long reviews, and yours is packed with great ideas and feedback, hence your name, lol. I can't answer to some of your review because I don't want to spoil much of the plot, but I will say that you'll definitely see that Hiro and Lucina scene and Jin's relationship to Robin soon. Also, don't hesitate to ramble in your reviews, I tend to do it sometimes too, haha! Again, thank you and I'll update when I can!
Jay teleported to the small personal sever where Robin was being kept, remembering their conversation from the other day.
"You know Jin?" Jay asked, somewhat surprised.
Robin's brow furrowed.
"... That's putting it mildly, but yes, I know him," she said. "He talked to me when I first woke up here. But he was using a different avatar that looked more like himself in the real world."
"That would be his main account," Jay told her. "He was the person in the red mask."
"Red mask? But he came right after Oberon was killed," Robin thought aloud.
"He had his other avatar ready and used his mods to teleport within the palace after he died, and turned off the respawn timer and set the spawn point to just by the door," her sister explained.
"That would explain how he pulled it off," Robin pondered. "Wait, so who's the other man in the mask? Mirage, was it?"
Jay sighed, shaking her head.
"I honestly don't know. But he has some history with you, it seems," she informed her. "He was the one who brought you here."
"History?"
"That's what it looks like so far. He's the only one out of the three of us with admin abilities. He was recruiting people to join the Grimleal, and at first I thought he had something to do with Dad, so I investigated. It turns out that after FE:A was beaten, he pulled you out of that server and into this one. By then I had already become a high ranking member of the guild and Mirage began a mission to take your husband and children out, as well as the rest of your friends. I suspect he's planning on making you GRIMA's host once more.
Robin gasped.
"No! I..."
"Don't worry," Jay placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll make sure to strike him when the time is right, and then I'll be able to log you out. Just wait a little longer, alright?"
Her sister nodded.
"Yeah... And thank you, Jay. When I get back to the real world, let's hang out, okay?"
Jay smiled.
"Of course," she replied. "See you later."
"See you."
Jay was going to ask Robin some more questions about Jin before she gasped, seeing her sister gagged, her arms tied behind her back and unconscious on the floor of the cage as the spinning pictures revolved around her.
"Robin?!" She gasped before she heard Mirage's chilling voice echoing around her, creeping down her heart.
"You've betrayed my trust, Jay."
Chrom immediately dressed himself and piled into the car with Lissa, Lucina, and Morgan before he drove to Dream Co. Headquarters on the snowy road. They went to the manager of Internal Affairs and spoke with the man, telling him about the situation.
"Are you sure about this, sir?" He asked uncertainly. "Our administrators are only in the game to supervise players."
"No, I'm sure of it," Chrom confirmed. "I saw her. At least a thousand other players saw her, too."
The man pursed his lips.
"Very well. I'll report this to the game master and receive an answer from him. Please give me your contact information so that I can reach you when I get news."
He did so and they drove back home. On the way there, Lissa spoke, cradling baby Lucina in her arms.
"Do you think they'll really be able to find her?"
"... They better," Chrom responded absentmindedly. Ever since he had almost watched his daughter die in his arms, he was more determined than ever to end all the pain and suffering that admin had caused both him and his family. He had stolen a mother away from her children, and a wife away from her husband. Chrom was so used to always having Robin at his side that he began to take her for granted, not realizing what life without her would be like. Now that he did know, he wanted her back more than anything. And his twin children, too. Hopefully they'd be able to come to the real world and meet Robin. They deserved as much.
After a then silent drive back to the house, Chrom sat in his kitchen, on his phone. Suddenly it began to ring, and he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Chrom, it's Jay," her familiar voice said urgently. "Look, I don't have much time, but you have to listen."
"What? How did you get my number?"
"Never mind that! If you want to save Robin, then listen to me!"
"Save her?"
"Yes," her tone was rushed. "Mirage is going to launch GRIMA's program in a few days. It's almost complete. When he does, he's going to force Robin to become his host so he can take over her virtual body and live on the network forever."
"His host? You mean like in the game?"
"Exactly. But this time, it's in real life, and the consequences will be much more severe. Worse than they were in your daughter's future."
"... How do I stop him?"
"You have to break his mask. Our masks are what hold our skill and class modifiers. Normally, it'd be impossible to break, but your Falchion is the strongest sword in the game. If you manage to break it, his stats will drop and he'll lose all his skills, and more importantly, you'll be able to see his face. After his mask is gone, he won't be immune to status conditions, so you can paralyze him and use his arm to log Robin out."
"... Wait, you said 'our' masks?"
"My in-game name is Chimera. Sound familiar?"
"You?! You're Chimera?!"
"Correct. But don't worry, I'm on your side... Or more precisely, your wife's side."
"... Alright. Thank you," he said.
"This is for Robin," Jay declared before her voice began to get crackly and disappeared.
"Jay? Hello?" He asked, but she was gone.
"Father, who was that?" Lucina asked after a few seconds, stepping out from the shadow of the wall.
"Eavesdropping, young lady?" He sighed.
"I'm sorry, I..."
"Never mind, Lucina. It's alright. I know you mean well," Chrom sat down. "But if Internal Affairs somehow fail to get your mother back, we can get her back ourselves."
Her eyes widened.
"How so?"
He explained everything Jay had told him.
"Worse than my future?" Lucina frowned. "How could she know?"
"I have no idea," Chrom shook his head. "But you should go to bed now, Lucina. It's getting late."
"Alright, Father," she said. "Good night."
The princess began to walk away before Chrom called her back.
"Yes, Father?" She replied, walking back to where he was seated.
"No good night kisses? Or a hug?" He smiled, and she returned it before longingly embraced him, and he kissed her head.
"I love you, Lucina," he said. "You'll always be Daddy's little girl to me."
"Oh, Father... Thank you. I love you as well," she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.
"Hey! I want good night hugs and kisses!" Morgan pouted from down the hall, running towards them, causing his father and sister to chuckle. The tactician boy joined the hug, and Chrom kissed him as well.
"Alright, you two, it's time for bed," he told them. "And Morgan, you start school tomorrow. You should go to bed early."
"Okay. Good night, Father!"
"Attention, class. We have a new student joining us today. His name is Morgan Ylisse," Mr. Kole said, introducing the blue-haired teenager. Morgan wore his uniform, a white button up shirt with blue lines on the collar and a red tie, with matching trousers and black shoes.
After the brief introduction, he sat down at his desk near the front. Gosh, why did he have to be at the front? He'd much rather sit at the back where he could divert attention from himself. It was odd, considering he was one of the only virtual children in existence. Of course, all the teachers and the principal knew about it, but none of his peers did. He had never attended school before, even within FE:A. He and Lucina had been tutored in the subjects of education, including Ylisse's history, which did him no good here. After the class, he went to his locker to get his other books for his next classes. The next subjects, geometry, science, and English passed without issue, much to his relief. The concept of going to school was a new and fascinating one to him. He was enjoying it until fifth period, which was P.E. There were so many kids, a lot of them bigger than him. He felt intimidated, to say the least.
"Wait, what am I worried about? I fought a war, for crying out loud! I shouldn't let something like this get me down," he thought.
It didn't come as much of a surprise to him when he was picked last on his team. Unlike Lucina, he didn't look very strong or intimidating. She had a gaze that could cut titanium and a strong, sturdy yet small frame, while he looked like he had been sitting in a library his whole life, which in truth, he kind of had.
They all went to opposite sides of the gym before the gym teacher blew the whistle, signaling for them to all head for the dodgeballs at the middle of the court. Morgan was too slow to get one, and stumbled back before a boy on the other team began taunting him.
"Hey, new kid!" he shouted. "I wonder how far you can throw with those chicken arms!"
A laugh rose up from even people on Morgan's team, causing the tactician boy to feel dejected a bit.
The large boy hurled the ball at Morgan, who was about to dodge it when a girl with short white hair jumped in front of him and caught it.
"BLOOD AND THUNDER!" she roared before chucking it back at him unnecessarily, the impact so strong that he fell to the ground as it hit his stomach.
"Serves him right," another voice said from next to Morgan.
"Severa? Noire?" he asked. "You guys go here?"
"Yeah, any complaints?" Severa snorted, flipping her black hair over her shoulder before hushing her voice. "All of us do, actually."
Morgan's eyes widened.
"Everyone? I haven't seen them," he said.
"Well neither had I, before I saw Noire in the locker room. This school's pretty big, you know. I heard from her they wanted us all to go to the same school so they could monitor us or something like that."
"... Oh," Morgan pondered on that. "I had no idea."
"Ms. Severa and Ms. Noire, you're both late," the gym teacher informed them.
"IMPUDENT MORTALS!" Noire ignored him and grabbed another ball from the hands of a boy on their team. "WATCH AND SEE THE MIGHT OF AN AVATAR OF RETRIBUTION!"
She aimed for a group of girls huddled near the back, the people in front of them scattering.
"TO THE ABYSS WITH YOU!"
The girls managed to run just in time to avoid the ball, which bounced on the wall of the gym and hit one of them in the back, causing her to fall.
Before Noire could terrorize the opposing team any further, Severa calmed her down, causing the dark mage to shrink back to the edge of the court.
Severa managed to get a ball and threw it at a boy on the other team, who dodged it.
"I bet your mom can throw better than that!" he yelled before tossing it back at her. Her face flashed with irritation as he had hit a sore spot, Morgan cringing at Severa's reaction.
The mercenary did a backflip and landed on her feet as the ball hit the ground before grabbing it again and running forward, chucking it with all the force of her arm.
"Don't compare me with my mother!" she yelled and hit him square in the chest. He stumbled back, grunting.
"Huh," Severa smiled, satisfied. "Hey Noire, when I said 'Calm down,' I didn't mean 'Sit in the corner and do nothing'."
"No, I'll just stay here..." She replied softly. "So tired..."
The mercenary sighed.
"Oh, yeah. Anemia. Right."
Noire nodded before a ball flew at her, causing her to scream with a loud "EEK!" and dodged it swiftly.
Morgan caught on of the other team's dodgeballs and threw it back, hitting someone's leg.
"Hey, you're kinda good at this!" Severa commented. "Who would've known? I mean, compared to your girlfriend, you look like a skeleton."
"I- Um... Thanks?" Morgan responded.
After parting ways with Severa and Noire after P.E was over, he went to the bathroom and heard a familiar voice humming from the sinks. He turned the corner to see his teal-haired friend at the sink, washing his hands while humming a tune.
"Inigo?" Morgan asked.
"Gah!" The dancer blushed, turning around. "M-Morgan! You heard me?"
"Well... Yeah."
"Ugh, how embarrassing..." He sighed. "So, friend, how are you enjoying school so far?"
"It's pretty good so far, besides the fact that Noire almost slaughtered the other team during P.E..."
"She did? Heh," he laughed. "Anyways, do you have lunch next period?"
"Yeah. So does Owain," Morgan explained. The two cousins only shared periods during lunch and history. According to Severa, all the virtual children were in the same history class so they could all learn about the history of the real world together.
The tactician and mercenary-dancer (an odd combination) made their way to the lunch room and saw Owain sitting alone at a lunch table in the corner, snarfing down the sandwiches Lissa had prepared for him before he saw his friends approach the table.
"H- Hueay! Urnuhgoh! Mohrghan!" He called out, his mouth full.
"Owain, weren't you raised in the palace of Ylisse?" Inigo asked, sitting down with a sigh. "Surely they'd have taught you some, uh... Manners, there. My mother told me Aunt Maribelle taught her table manners."
Owain swallowed his food.
"Of course I was," he said. Ever since they had come to the real world, Owain began to speak normally, but with his colorful vocabulary all the same. "But I was just so hungry, you know? School is tiring! Even more than training!"
"Don't say that," Inigo frowned. "You know it's really not."
"Well, at least during training my sword hand can be put to good use! During class, it's all just sitting down in one spot and writing! How can you expect that to satisfy the insatiable hunger my sword hand holds?"
Inigo was about to answer when Owain felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Cynthia with a big grin on her face, a large pink backpack slung over one shoulder. She wore the girls' uniform, very similar to the one for the boys but with a cropped blazer and a skirt, with a red ribbon instead of a tie and long socks.
"Hiya, Owain!" She greeted him. "Hello, Morgan and Inigo!"
Owain moved over to make room for her, though there was plenty. Cynthia bounced to her seat with such hyper energy that her orange pigtails swished in the air.
"Oh, thank goodness I have the same lunch period as you guys!" She sighed. "Brady's in my geometry class, but that's it!"
She opened her sack lunch bag eagerly, pulling out a huge bagel the size of her hand before biting into it, smearing the tip of her nose with cream cheese.
"... How can you eat that much?" Morgan asked in surprise.
Cynthia shrugged, wiping her face with a napkin.
"I have quite the appetite, you know! Especially for sweet things!" She then grabbed a handful of truffles from her bag and gave each of them one. "Heehee, my dad packed these for me! But I don't mind sharing, of course!"
She popped one of the chocolates in her mouth, savoring the creamy and sweet taste.
"I wonder if this is why you're so hyper," Morgan wondered aloud, tasting the candy.
"Well, I guess you could say that," Cynthia unwrapped another truffle.
"... Wow, this is actually really good," Inigo said in surprise.
"'Actually'? What were you expecting, blobs of mud and dirt?" The pegasus knight frowned.
"No, it's just... It tastes better than the sweets in our original world. Not that we could really indulge them, though," he pondered.
Cynthia began to chew slower.
"... Oh. I guess I see your point," she said. "I wish the others were here to experience it."
That dulled the mood for a moment before Owain spoke.
"Don't worry! They will, soon," he declared. "As soon as they fix that machine, they'll be back here in no time!"
His optimism lightened the atmosphere and they began to talk again, about happier subjects. Soon after, they dispersed to go to their other classes and during last period, were gathered with the rest of their friends. Morgan walked in to see Brady there, who wore the same scary expression he always did, with his scar and all. His friend's face lit up at the sight of him.
"Morgan!" He called out.
"Hey, Brady," The tactician responded, sitting down at the desk next to him. "I saw Noire during P.E today. She's in the same class as me."
"What? She is?" Brady grunted before a look of concern appeared on his face. "Wait, she okay? I'd hate if anythin' happened to her..."
Morgan began to laugh, much to Brady's surprise.
"... What's so darn funny?" He questioned.
"Haha... It's just that... You should be asking if the other team's okay!" He bursted into another fit of laughter, causing Brady to chuckle lightly.
"Heh! Noire beat 'em to a pulp?" He smiled.
"Yeah! It was actually pretty terrifying, now that I think about it," Morgan recalled.
At that moment, Cynthia and Noire walked into the room, Noire excitedly running over to Brady.
"Hey, Noire!" He greeted her happily. "We were just talkin' 'bout ya, actually."
"Huh? About what?" She asked.
"Oh, it's nothing," he laughed. "Anyways, how've ya been holding up so far?"
"Well, pretty good, I guess..." She replied before Inigo, Owain, and Severa filed into the class.
"Ah, good to see all of you are here," the teacher said, approaching them. "I wanted to let you know that after class I've give you each a historical timeline book of our country's history. Please study it, and I'll go over it with you in a week."
They all agreed and took their seats, in the general vicinity of each other. It felt strange. So this was what it was like to be at school. Ever since Morgan came to the real world, he had watched shows with Owain and Lucina about school. In all honesty, some depictions of school scared him. But Lucina convinced him that it wouldn't be so bad in reality. It turns out, it wasn't. He was starting to enjoy the real world.
"Mother, who's that?" A ten-year old Robin asked, hiding behind her mother.
"That's your new stepbrother," she nudged her daughter forward, towards the boy. "He's about the same age as you. Go on, make friends."
Robin inched forward hesitantly towards the brown-haired boy, who looked back at her shyly with grass green eyes.
"Um... I'm Robin," she said quietly. "What's your name?"
After a few seconds, he stepped out from behind the tree.
"My name's Jin."
Author's Note: And scene! I know I'm updating a lot slower than before because of school, but I'll try to update as soon as I can. Also, OMG NEW FIRE EMBLEM GAME CONFIRMED DID YOU SEE THE TRAILER I'M SO EXCITED! Okay, lemme calm down. But whenever a new game comes out I'm like "Lemme play it so I can write a story lol". Anyways, any predictions? I'd like it if it was a sequel or prequel to Awakening because I love that game so freakin' much. *cough*Chrom'sfather*cough*. That aside, enjoy your weekend and stay tuned for the next chapter!