Chapter 35: The Autocorrect Incident
Lucas slid across one of the many hallways of Dedede and Bowser's reluctantly shared castle with Kirby in his arms. With Ness and Mewtwo gone, it fell on him to carry the sleeping puffball out of there. "You're still asleep even after PK Teleport? You're a deep sleeper just like me, huh..." No one wanted to wake him up, or worse, leave him alone in the room where he might wake up and eat all the papers and maps when no one was there to stop him. Everyone knew how hungry he got after his naps. That was more like Claus than him, he was the big eater and the light sleeper. And yet even though he got woken up more easily, he never had a hard time falling asleep like his scaredy-cat twin. Those were the days. Back then he only had silly things to keep him up at night like imaginary monsters under the bed or a stormy night. So how did this puffball both sleep quickly and like a rock when his monsters were far more real? Maybe it was because he ate so much and the food made him sleepy? Who could say. Lucas dismissed that thought and went back to bringing Kirby to his room.
...Where was that again? Lucas glanced around and nothing came to mind except the footsteps from behind.
"What are you doing-oh, you brought Kirby!" A Waddle Dee said when Lucas turned around and stepped back, slightly startled, in the middle of him talking.
"Shhhh, don't wake him up!" Lucas whispered with a finger to his mouth while his left arm held the puffball up against his chest.
"Right, of course!" The Waddle Dee whispered back and saluted on reflex to being given an order with the hand that wasn't holding a spear vertically. It was the same Waddle Dee with the blue bandana from before..."What are you carrying him around for? Did he fall asleep in the middle of something again?"
Lucas nodded.
"He does that a lot. Follow me, I'll show you to his room." Bandana Dee waddled along on his tiny feet and led the way. Lucas walked behind slowly, matching every few steps with one stride so he didn't get lost or wake Kirby up. "This will take a little while if we go slow and try not to wake him up...you teleported really far from where his room is."
"Just my luck..." Lucas said.
"Don't worry, we can just chat to pass the time. I heard Kirby got in some fight to help Pikachu remember something, and you were helping too. How'd it go? I asked him myself, but you know he's not much of a talker. I'm sure he'll be talking our ears off once he figures out language from Sir Meta, though."
"Haha, I bet...it went pretty well, and he helped a lot. It started when..." Lucas went on for the next few minutes explaining some of what happened, leaving out the details that weren't his to explain or that he didn't feel like mentioning. "He's the only one of us who didn't need someone else's help near the end of the battle...he sure is something."
"They don't call him the Pink Demon for nothing. I know I'm no match for him or His Majesty, and definitely not Sir Meta, but-" He stopped in his tracks. "Wait, don't tell His Majesty I said Meta Knight's stronger than him!"
"I mean, it's true, but ok."
"Anyways...er..." Bandana Dee held his chin, not that he had one, until he rerailed his train of thought. "Right, I was saying I know I'm not as strong as them, but I wish I could fight in the tournament too, and as a real fighter, not just helping out when His Majesty summons me...lately he usually throws Gordos instead. Maybe it's better this way, though, I don't know if I would stand a chance..."
"Well, I hope you get invited as a fighter next time, I bet you'd just do fine. And if you have trouble, well...I struggled a lot last time, and Master Hand still invited me back...just do your best, I guess?"
"I did have the highest Megaton Punch score a while ago, until Kirby blew my record out of the water, hahaha...maybe I need to work out more like His Majesty. Oh look, here we are!" Just then they reached a small wooden door with a yellow star-shaped doorknob. Bandana Dee somehow opened it with his stubby hand, and Lucas had to duck his way through the doorway as if he was Leder.
The room was oddly circular and dome-shaped with a wooden floor, a yellow star-shaped carpet, a very short table with a huge picture book on it and some cushions next to it, an unlit fireplace, an oversized bed with a yellow star-shaped pillow larger than Kirby himself and a huge blue blanket, three stuffed animals on each side of the pillow, and then there were the pictures on the wall.
This place was unbearably cute.
The drool on his shirt was not. Lucas frowned and held the snoring Kirby further away from himself so no more of it dripped on him.
"Sorry, he's probably dreaming of food. I'll get a napkin for you." Bandana Dee found one on top of an open cabinet full of snacks and wiped the drool off of Lucas's shirt in the blink of an eye. "He has a Cleaning ability too, whenever he actually feels like using it..."
Lucas gently put Kirby in his bed and pulled the blanket about halfway over his round body. He turned around and walked away until Kirby stopped snoring.
But it wasn't because he woke up. The sound of Kirby whimpering made Lucas turn around again to the sight of him starting to toss and turn in bed, his eyes still closed.
"Is he having a nightmare?" Lucas whispered before walking closer and watching Kirby frowning and holding his pillow tightly. "...is this my fault?" He said even quieter. "I shouldn't have let him help us, I didn't...I thought he'd be ok, I thought he was used to fighting bad stuff, ugh, I'm so stupid, I-" Lucas's voice cracked and wavered with shame.
"Shhh, you'll wake him up! And calm down, it's fine, everyone has bad dreams sometimes...don't assume it's because of you."
"Yeah, I know, but what if I should wake him up so he stops having his nightmare?" Deja vu struck him. "No, I tried that before and it made Cloud freak out...but there's gotta be something I can do, right?" It didn't feel right to just watch Kirby squirm. "Hold on...I think I might be able to make him feel better without waking him up, I just have to use PK Healing."
He didn't care if PK Healing wasn't meant to be used this way. So what if nightmares weren't an illness or some negative effect inflicted by something external? They still sucked. The only problem was that this was trickier than just waking the person up with PSI like the technique was supposed to be used. It was easy to mess it up and wake them up by accident or just disturb their sleep some more. Maybe it would be better not to try, but Kumatora said he was more talented at healing than her, and it would probably be rude not to believe her, so Lucas closed his eyes and put his hand on Kirby's head trying to concentrate more than last time. He didn't want or need to see what was troubling Kirby's dreams, he only needed to send a soothing feeling his way.
He caught only glimpses this time. Darkness. A bloodied eyeball. A jester splitting in two and letting out a blood-curdling scream.
Lucas shut his eyes and mind to it and focused on his own thoughts. Clinging to a sheep's soft, fluffy wool. The warm, earthy smell of sunflowers. The taste of a strawberry cake. Kirby did like sweet things, didn't he?
Slowly, Kirby's fidgeting came to a stop, and he snored peacefully again.
"Sweet dreams, little guy..." Lucas tucked the sheet Kirby had knocked loose over him again and smiled. "Do you think he'll stay like that?"
"Don't worry about him, he's a tough guy. I've seen him have nights way worse than this." Bandana Dee took one of the stuffed animals, a hamster, and put it next to Kirby, who clung to it adorably. "This might help, though."
"Aww...thanks."
If it felt this good to help a little kid feel better, maybe he hadn't been a burden on Mom after all.
Teleporting to the observatory didn't take long.
"I think I said most of it..." Lucas said after explaining some of what happened with Pikachu and the plans to help Robin and Reflet. "I wish I could do what Mewtwo said and just get over my stupid thoughts. That would make things easier for everyone, right?"
He and Rosalina were sitting on the circular platform surrounding the Garden dome near the top of the observatory's spire, their legs dangling over the edge of the platform. Below was the view of the rest of the spaceship and the planet, and above was more of space. More importantly there were no Lumas nearby to listen in.
"It doesn't work that way...he has no idea what he's talking about. You can't simply outwit your negative thoughts and make them go away just because they don't make logical sense. Thinking that way could make you feel worse if you judge yourself for being irrational."
"Ok...but isn't that better than believing bad things about yourself?"
"You have to understand how you're judging yourself unfairly, and then forgive yourself for that error in judgement. Mewtwo may be a genius when it comes to science, but he lacks emotional intelligence and makes it everyone else's problem."
"Well, yeah, kinda...but you don't get it, he's had a really bad life! I still haven't told you everything since some stuff is secret."
"Oh, I'm sure he has. I'm not saying I have no sympathy, it's no wonder he became so isolated when so many treat him as a monster. But no matter who or what you are, there is always a choice, and he chooses to distance himself from other's emotions and even his own, thinking himself above them in his rationality. Some think they can find comfort through this way of thinking. They are all wrong. A trickle of sadness denied by a dam will return one day as a flood."
"Wow, that's a really deep way of saying it. And it's true..." He had followed in Dad's footsteps back then, with his own inferior craftsmanship. Too many leaks. Only after talking to Leder did he find out Dad and all the villagers had more experience with this kind of emotional suppression. Not that they remembered it.
What kind of flood was waiting when Dad remembered everything?
There had to be better things to think about than that. He tried shifting his thoughts to something else amid the awkward silence but only found more things to bother him.
"Should I do what Mewtwo said? I mean how he wanted me and Ness to train with him to figure out how he can control people so we can make sure Grima doesn't do that...I don't know if I'm even capable of learning that, but what if I can and I use it to do something bad? But what if I don't learn anything and then it turns out that was stupid since I need it later? What should I do? S-sorry to bother you, I just can't decide..."
"Don't be sorry, it's fine, I understand why you're anxious. Honestly, there's no need for you to help these people in the first place or train for it, but it's awfully kind of you to try. I wish I could tell you you can't, but I'm not the boss of you, even if you are a child. As for your question...do you honestly think you would ever use any skills you learn to do something bad?"
"N-no, not on purpose! But I've made a lot of mistakes before, so..."
"So you don't believe in yourself. Hmm...how about this? I believe in your ability to help these people and use anything you learn for good. If you don't trust yourself, then trust my judgement."
"You really think so? I don't know...even if I don't do anything dumb, what if I'm not good enough? Even if it works, is it a good idea to help them remember? What if getting their memories back just makes them feel bad? That's what happened with Mewtwo...and what if the same thing happens with Dad and all the other villagers later?"
"Please calm down, you're working yourself up...didn't you say before that Mewtwo didn't regret regaining his memories?"
"Well...yeah...but it still made him feel bad."
"Sometimes a little pain is part of the healing process. It's better than keeping those feelings shut out even longer, isn't it?"
"I guess..."
"You said you might not be good enough, but you're more capable than you think, and you have many friends to help you, friends who you gathered together. I have no doubt that you can succeed if you all work together. The only thing I worry about is that you won't take care of yourself in the aftermath of whatever awful things you might see in their thoughts."
There was no dishonesty in her words, not that he expected any. She really did believe in him.
"I, uh...I'll talk to you again after we're done helping them. And if you're sure it's a good idea, I'll train with Mewtwo too...I don't want him to teach me how to hurt anyone, but I just have to get him to show me how to keep anyone else from doing that." There was something else he needed to say. "And thanks..." He hugged her from the side and smiled when she hugged back.
If she believed in him, then he'd try to believe her too.
The next day, Ness and Lucas were training with Mewtwo in his usual cave.
"Honestly, I dunno if we even can learn this stuff." Ness said. "You already said psychic powers are different in your world, and I haven't seen anyone with PSI pulling off the things you can."
"You have. Don't you remember how Giygas could control the minds of his servants?"
"That's different, he was an alien and super powerful, we're not."
"Says the one who defeated him."
"Yeah, but I didn't do it all by myself, I had my friends and that whole thing with everyone's prayers beating him somehow thanks to Paula."
"Even so, you were still able to withstand his attacks with your sanity intact, so you must know something about how to resist another's control and help others do the same."
"Well, he wasn't really trying to control us, it wasn't like with the Mani Mani Statue turning people weird. He couldn't control his powers at all once Porky turned off his 'Devil's Machine'...the name sounds scary, but the weird thing is, it actually made him weaker."
"A power-limiting machine, how nostalgic." Mewtwo said. "So, if that statue channeled Giygas's power to corrupt humans as you say, then why is it that you and your friends were unaffected?"
"It might be because we're psychics. I guess Jeff isn't, but it could be because we're the Chosen Four instead, and it's not like he's the only non-psychic who didn't get affected. That thing sent some seriously nasty vibes our way, though. Another thing is, Giygas didn't control everyone the same way, for some of them it's more like he brought out the worst in them. Like Mr. Carpainter, he used to be just some guy who painted cars, but he wanted to be special so Giygas made him some crazy cult leader. And Mr. Monotoli was jealous of the mayor since he was just the elevator guy in the mayor's building, so Giygas let him take over and be the new mayor of Fourside if he worked for him. Not that our mayor back then was much better...man, I'm so glad I convinced people to vote him out."
"And how is that relevant? How did you free these people from Giygas's corruption?"
"Oh right, that. For Mr. Carpainter we just had to beat him up, that's how it worked for a lot of the people and animals Giygas controlled, they went back to normal once they got hurt enough or knocked out. With the mayor we just had to destroy the statue, but we had to go through this trippy psychic vision of Fourside first, that's where we fought it."
"If you fought it in a psychic vision, then you didn't destroy it by attacking it in the real world, but instead overcame its psychic influence on you and others. If you can make use of your improved memory and recall how exactly you did that, it may help you in assisting Robin and Reflet."
"Huh, you might be right."
"But I never ran into Giygas, so what am I supposed to do?" Lucas said. "Porky didn't control people with his powers, he used technology instead, like with all the Chimeras..."
"Then think back to when you were fighting Ganondorf. What you need to do now is similar to what Fi did: defending someone else's mind from a foreign invader. You already defended yourself from me, but shielding your own thoughts comes more naturally. Once you can do what you did back then without any help, this should be easier."
"Won't Fi be there this time too?"
"Yes, but Grima is not Ganondorf, so she was not tailor-made to fight him, and it's better to be more prepared than less. You weren't attempting to recover someone's memories at the same time when you were fighting Ganondorf, were you?"
"No..."
"And are you sure you never faced an enemy with such powers at any other time?"
"Wait, actually, there was that one attack Porky used...now that I saw what Giygas's attack was like, it was like that, except different: Porky wasn't crazy like Giygas was, and he wasn't trying to control us either. He was trying to torture us by making us remember our worst memories...but I didn't let him." Lucas grit his teeth trying to dismiss the hateful feelings coming back up. He'd never been angrier than that day.
"Then remember how you stopped his psychic influence back then, and you can do the same against Grima."
"I guess you're right, that actually sounds like good advice..."
"Hey, there's a first time for everything." Ness said with a smug smile.
"I don't know how I put up with this..." Mewtwo shook his head in annoyance. "For now, I want you two to spend some time meditating and reflecting on your past experiences with freeing others from psychic control. Once you're done, we can see if you've learned anything."
"Fine, whatever you say..." Ness rolled his eyes. "Just don't bug us and maybe we'll be able to actually think."
They each found different areas to sit down and close their eyes so they could think back to the past.
Lucas thought about the battle with Ganondorf first since it wasn't as disturbing, not that that was saying much. There had been a second, sinister presence in his mind just like he'd seen in Reflet in that same battle. However, Ganondorf was the one in control, and he even had the power to possess others. He remembered the excuses Ganondorf gave about how his crimes were all worth it for the sake of getting his wish on the Triforce. Did he ever consider that he might fail, or that this so-called greater good of whatever he would do with the Triforce wasn't as good as he thought if it aligned with the goals of the demon that cursed him? Maybe insecurity wasn't so bad compared to arrogance.
Still, he was confident in his strength for a reason. It had been too much for Lucas to handle until he had Fi's help. Her psychic presence had been comforting despite her monotone voice, and it repelled Ganondorf's like they were oil and water. She didn't beat Ganondorf for him, though, instead letting him use her as a sword and borrow her strength to drive Ganondorf out of his mind. She thought him worthy of wielding her even if he was not meant to, and that meant a lot.
In the end, it was his mind, not hers, so maybe that was why she empowered him instead of handling it herself. His thoughts went much further back in time to when he did something similar in the battle with Porky...Porky's psychic attack forced everyone to relive their worst memories, and he'd shielded himself and the others with PK Love, PK Healing, and got them out of the bad memories by helping them remember good ones instead.
He opened his eyes in realization. Wasn't that like how he helped Kirby with his nightmares last night? And Pikachu before then. It wasn't enough to just beat up the things that made them feel bad, he had to remind them of their happier memories too.
Lucas spent a while thinking about these things so he could have both the right technique telepathically and the right approach to helping these people.
"Um, Mewtwo? I think I've learned as much as I can from just sitting here..."
"Is that so? Then you can put your skills to the test first...I will be taking you back to your 'Magicant'."
"Wait, really?"
"Don't panic, I won't actually attempt to control your mind again. We should be able to avoid any of your nightmares as long as we don't leave the peaceful areas of it or fight each other. All we need to do is show you how to remove my influence from your mind on your own."
"I thought I already did that."
"No, that was me leaving of my own accord."
"Okay...if you're sure it'll be fine, then we can go there. Just give me a minute...and we should tell Ness first."
So they did that, and then returned to Magicant yet again.
Magicant looked mostly the same as it had the first time he was here. Everything around him resembled Tazmily Village mixed with the sunflower fields near it, with more modernized buildings and Sunshine Forest appearing further away from where they were. Better to stay away from those.
"It looks peaceful, I just hope it stays that way..." Lucas said, his clothes and the 'Awesome Cloak' fluttering in the breeze. He still wasn't sure why he got all his best gear from back home whenever he was in Magicant.
"I told you already, it should as long as we don't fight or move around like we did last time."
"Right, sorry, I'm just worried, that's all."
"This time it should be much easier. You don't need to physically attack me, all you have to do is banish my presence from your mind, and I will only put up a token resistance."
"Okay..." Lucas made his hands glow gold with PK Love before aiming his palms at Mewtwo. The light spread to their surroundings, which started to flicker as Mewtwo floated back as if pushed by an invisible force. But just as suddenly it stopped. "I don't get it, why isn't anything happening?"
"If I had to guess, this is because your powers are fueled by your emotions...that means you can't find the will to kick me out. Why not? Doesn't this bother you?"
"I don't know...this place still creeps me out, and I want to get out of here, but last time you were attacking me and now you're just standing there. I guess I'm not mad enough."
"You shouldn't have to depend on your feelings to control your powers. You need to be more assertive...even if I'm not attacking, I still don't belong here. Besides, don't you want revenge at all?"
"It doesn't matter what I want, and I don't think beating you up would make me feel better..."
"Why not?"
"Uh...well...it wouldn't do anyone any good, that's why. I'd just feel bad about it after."
"If you let people get away with pushing you around, they will grow accustomed to it."
"Yeah, but you felt bad about it, and you already helped me a lot to make up for it, so I don't have to scare ya into not messing with me, right?"
"Perhaps not. Even so, it does matter what you want."
"I guess so...I just meant other stuff is more important."
Lucas didn't know what to say next, so an awkward silence lingered.
"Whether you're angry or not, you're going to have to find some way to get me out of here."
He tried focusing his energy again on pushing Mewtwo out of Magicant. Even if he wasn't mad at him, he wanted to finish his training and figure this out. Wasn't that motivation enough?
No...there was something he was mad at him about. It took him a while to think of the words.
"There is one thing bothering me...it seems like you didn't really learn anything from yesterday." Lucas said with a frown.
"And how is that?"
"It's obvious...like that time you said everyone just has to get over their stupid negative thoughts if we want this to be easier. That was mean."
"Was I wrong?" Mewtwo said as an invisible force made him start floating backwards in the glowing landscape.
"Well, no, not really...but you can't say it like that, and you can't just get over it. You can't outsmart feeling bad. Rosalina said if you try that, you'll judge yourself for having bad thoughts that don't make sense and feel even worse."
"Then is it better to ignore the logical fallacies in your self-deprecating thoughts?"
"No, it's just, ugh, I don't know how to say it...you just have to be nicer to yourself, ok? Don't you remember what happened at the end of the battle in Pikachu's Magicant? You beat the crap out of that kid version of you!" The dream began to flicker away into a white void.
"And? What was the alternative, giving him a hug in the midst of our battle?" Mewtwo said sarcastically while floating away faster.
"I think some part of you knows this isn't right...that's why Ambertwo, I mean your memories of her, told you to stop. I know you did dumb stuff as a kid, and when you woke up too, but you didn't know any better. Hating yourself forever isn't gonna help anyone..."
"But it did!" Mewtwo said with a sudden glare. "If I never felt any remorse, I wouldn't have changed in the first place." Then he settled back down to a scowl.
"Yeah, well, that was back then. It doesn't help you anymore, and it sure doesn't help anyone else..."
"Even if what you say is true, and I am making myself miserable, what of it? It's my problem, not yours."
"Your problem?" Lucas grit his teeth and his voice dropped an octave. "It's never just your problem, you're making it everyone's problem..." Just like Dad had. "You're taking out your issues on everyone by being a jerk. We all had to deal with them when we were helping Pikachu...and you were the only one who didn't help him feel better. All you did was fight the enemies."
"So what? What did you expect me to do, comfort him? He wouldn't want any comfort from the one who caused his problems in the first place."
"You still should've been nicer. If you really feel bad about what you did, then stop being so mean to yourself and everyone else. We'll all have to deal with it if you don't."
"Do you expect me to change my entire personality overnight?"
"No...but if we look at Robin and Reflet's memories and find out they used to be stupid kids too, then you better not judge them." Lucas said.
The dream faded away to white, and so did the two of them. The last expression on Mewtwo's face was one of disbelief.
"Since when could you talk to me like tha-"
Lucas woke up in the cave and stumbled backwards, barely keeping his footing. Mewtwo was already awake and floating over to where Ness was sitting and meditating.
Then for a moment, he stopped.
"I will think about what you said...that is all I can guarantee."
Lucas opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything. Maybe that was the best he could hope for. It wasn't as if anyone could change their attitude easily.
Before long, Ness stood in Magicant in his pajamas and stared at Mewtwo.
"I thought about what you said earlier, how we fought that statue and turned Mr. Monotoli back to normal." Ness said. For once Magicant looked the way he remembered: two tiny green islands connected by a narrow land bridge crossing the purple sea, each covered in cone-like trees with checkerboard patterned leaves of dark and light green. The right island, the one he was on, was greener with more bushes as well as giant carrots sticking out of the ground, and both had some large, out of place buildings. Up north was a long, thin, and winding path that started from the left island and led to the 'Sea of Eden'...he wasn't going anywhere near that this time.
"Did you learn anything from it?" Something about his expression looked off, but it was hard to tell just what that was. Just what had he talked about with Lucas?
"Yeah, I think so. The Mani Mani Statue was a proxy for Giygas and his powers, since he was stuck back in the Cave of the Past and couldn't do everything himself. If I had to describe it, it's like it was full of negativity and made everyone it brainwashed give in to their bad thoughts. Buzz Buzz's prophecy even said Giygas was the embodiment of evil, but I don't believe that crap. He was just some jerk with really strong powers trying to make humans as bad as he thought they were."
"And how is that relevant?"
"Hold on, I'm getting there, geez! Anyway, we had to fight the statue, but we had to handle its telepathy too, and I remember how that worked now, so maybe that'll help. I helped make sure Jeff didn't get brainwashed, and Paula even helped us reach Mr. Monotoli's mind, which was awfully nice of her since that prick had his minion kidnap her. Again. He did say he was sorry, though, and that made it easier...then Porky got away in his stupid helicopter. I don't think Giygas had to use his powers on him to make him a bad guy, and even if he did, he didn't regret it like the others...I guess it's because he got exactly what he wanted. He got to be powerful enough that no one could boss him around or hurt him anymore. I get why he wanted that...it's just, uh...it's like he thought you're either a bully or a victim, and he was sick of being the victim."
"Shame can be a powerful motivation for change. Some are just too cowardly to feel it or listen to it...the more they become set in their ways, the more they refuse to consider that they might be wrong, because they are too weak to face the time they've wasted and the horrors they've committed."
"Yeah, I guess that sums it up. I'm not saying that I can forgive Porky for all the crap he's done now, I mean in Lucas's time...I just wish he'd turned out different."
An awkward silence ensued.
"If feeling more shame would have changed Porky for the better, then why was it the opposite for you?"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Ness said. Only now did it become apparent what the expression on Mewtwo's face meant: confusion.
"I sensed it in the battle yesterday...you overcame your inner turmoil and regret, and that allowed you to improve your teleportation skills."
"Oh right, that. I dunno. It's because I didn't wanna think about the bad stuff in my past, so it made it hard for me to remember things better and focus. It's weird to hear you asking that, though. It's not like you need to know how I teleported when you were better at teleporting from the start."
"There's no particular reason, I was merely curious...but enough of this, we're wasting time. If you know how to remove me from your mind now, then show me."
"Okay, fine, whatever." Ness waved his hand and shattered the dreamy landscape like glass. Mewtwo floated away from him while everything around them slowly started fading away. He did not need this Giygas lookalike in his brain for any longer. Even so, this was a good time to say what was on his mind.
"Y'know, I really hated you back in the second tournament, but it was for stupid reasons. I was jealous 'cuz I used to be the only psychic until you showed up. It's not like I won the first tournament, but at least I had something special, you know? But then you showed up and did everything I did but better!" Just like Ninten, he nearly said. "I thought I could get away from thinking about Giygas over here too, but nooo, you just had to show up. You look like him, you've got powers like him, and you were even made as some science experiment to be super powerful like him too. But that was all dumb, since it's not your fault you bugged me like that, rig-"
"What was that last part?" Mewtwo's eyes widened.
"I said it's not your fault you-"
"Before that."
"Oh...I guess I never told you that part before. It's something Ninten found out in great-grandpa George's journal. See, the aliens made Giygas artificially as some sorta biological weapon, that way he'd have super powerful PSI and they could use him to fight whoever they wanted once he grew up. Then they abducted George and great-grandma Maria and had them raise Giygas when he was just a baby, since he didn't have any actual parents. Maria raised Giygas like a son, but George didn't like how the aliens kidnapped them and he wanted to get back to their real son...I mean, not that he wasn't real, but you know what I mean..."
"..." Mewtwo's annoyed stare looked more annoyed than usual.
"Even little baby Giygas could float around tables, and that scared the crap out of great-gramps. That's why he tried to study Giygas and figure out how his PSI worked. Then when he got back to Earth, he turned into some cooky hermit always holed up in his house or his lab until he got old and passed away. He was sure Giygas would be a threat to the whole world once he grew up, so he tried to prepare for it...it's stupid, though, 'cuz if he never experimented on Giygas in the first place, I don't think he would've hated humans so much."
"Then we are more alike than I thought. He was hated and feared for being exactly what he was designed to be, so no wonder he returned those feelings...it seems human stupidity exists in every universe. You said you had stupid reasons for hating me, so do you have better ones now?"
"I guess there's all the bad stuff you did in the past, but honestly, I'm only mad about how you messed with Luke. And Pikachu. I mean back when you wiped his memories, not how you helped him get them back yesterday. All this training has been neat, though. It's weird...I feel like I should hate you more than I did back then, but now I'm not as mad."
"How strange. Emotions can be quite unpredictable."
"You still gotta get out of my head though. Buh-bye, creep."
Ness waved his hand again, and Magicant faded away once more.
Later that day...
"Lucas and Ness have exceeded my low expectations...they may be ready before the end of the week. Even so, we should continue with our original plan of waiting until the weekend to ensure everyone is prepared."
"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" Ness said. "You really gotta work on those."
"At least he tried to be nice..." Lucas said.
"I'm pretty sure he could try harder than that." Link said from across the table.
"Mewtwo's attitude aside, it's good to know everything is going as planned." Robin said. "Now that we know you two will be ready, let's pick up where we left off last time and make sure everyone else is as well."
Robin and the others went on talking for a while about weaknesses, matchups, and all sorts of other things that might help them get their memories back. It was rare that Lucas thought of something to say himself, and even rarer that he actually said it.
"It's nice that guys are thinking of all these ideas, but like I said earlier, you can't handle everything in Magicant with strategy, shit gets crazy in there! What you really need is willpower." Ness said.
"So all we have to do to win is wish for it hard enough? How reassuring." Robin said sarcastically.
"If only life were that easy." Reflet said.
"No, for once he has a point." Mewtwo said. "You cannot expect the world of your mind to function rationally, even if you are gifted strategists. You are bound to encounter any number of regrets and negative emotions just as we did when we helped Pikachu. What matters most is not letting those emotions control you. In the end, your past, good or bad, does not decide who you are today, you do."
A few moments passed in silence.
"Huh. That was actually really nice." Ness said, dumbfounded.
"I know, right?" Link said.
"It is strange, but I don't mind..." Robin said. "Thank you. You do have a point there about morale being important, but inspiring the troops is more Chrom's specialty than mine..."
"Then we'll have to see if we've picked anything up from him." Reflet said. "We do both know him pretty well...I think I know him a little better than you do, though." She said with a smug smile.
Robin rolled his eyes. "I don't need to know him that well."
Ness and Link struggled to hold in laughter.
"Ugh, I forgot, the children." Reflet facepalmed. "Forget you heard anything, that's an order."
"Uh...yes, ma'am?" Lucas said sheepishly.
"Ma'am? I'm not that old yet..." Reflet said in shock.
"You are raising two teenage children..." Robin said.
"Only because of time travel!"
Ness and Link struggled no longer. Even Lucas let himself chuckle a little and smile...he liked this team. It was nice that Mewtwo was trying to be a little kinder too. Was he really being a positive influence? He wanted to believe how Rosalina said he was, even if that was a little selfish of him.
The strategy talk went on for some time after that. Some of it went over Lucas's head, but they talked about who and what they might face in Magicant, what their past enemies were capable of, and more. Roy suggested Lucas keep away from Hector, Gangrel, the possessed Robin, and any other lightning-wielding foes. Robin warned Mewtwo to avoid Grima if he was weak to darkness like he said. On the other hand, avoiding ghosts would be nigh impossible, and Mewtwo's weakness to bugs had Robin laughing and comparing him to Lucina. Mewtwo vehemently insisted it was a physical weakness, not a phobia. Lucas didn't know how many of his own weaknesses were flaws that could be overcome, or just things he was stuck with like a Pokemon's elemental affinities.
All he knew was that it felt nice to know someone could cover for him.
The rest of the week went by either in a blur or at a snail's pace depending on the time. Training with Mewtwo, practicing his PK Thunder and Teleport on the side, going to daily matches and trying to climb his way out of the dreaded 'low tier', sitting around in those strategy meetings and mostly just listening to more details about their plans and bits and pieces of their pasts, studying more of Bayonetta's old match recordings, and more kept him very busy. He made the most of any time left over to have fun with his friends, or just lie down and relax. Sometimes it felt like he needed those moments more than anything else, even if they did make him feel bad for being lazy.
It was in one of those moments on Thursday that the beeping of his wrist communicator distracted him from laying on his back and watching the clouds in the grassy field near his house. He still could hardly begin to comprehend how this strange device worked even a few days after he'd gotten it. Even the 'smart' phones back home weren't as strange as this. He touched a button on the bracelet that made a holographic screen appear above it, which somehow worked as a touch screen even though his finger could pass right through it. A few pokes took him through the menus to where the notification was coming from, the 'group chat' Mega Man had made for Ness's club.
For some reason, people had been reacting strangely to his text messages for the past few days ever since the chat was created. There was an absurd number of notifications since he last checked it, so he quickly scrolled to the one that was replying to him instead of trying to read them all.
[HenryForMayor2023: dude why are you so mad, I was just joking saying your hair looks funny, it's not a big deal]
Now where did he get that idea? He had to fix that misunderstanding quickly.
[MayForApriler2023: his texts are so passive aggressive it's nothing like how he is in person 0_0]
[CoolerRoy: didn't think he had it in him]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: fr fr]
[HeroOfWins: who;s gonna tell them]
Lucas typed as quickly as he could with one finger, which wasn't quickly with the occassional backspacing of typos, and making sure he was being polite this time, and...
[PinkPrincessPowerhouse: tell us what? no one throws this much shade by accident]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: he's typing for so long looks like a wall of text is coming lmao]
[StarmanInTheSky: guys you don't understand, i stayed quiet earlier since it was funny but you're taking the misunderstanding too far]
Oh good, Ness was finally going to explain it. But he still needed to finish typing this message.
[StarmanInTheSky: luke you gotta stop hesitating and deleting your message over and over it just makes it worse]
How did he know? Telepathy didn't work over the internet...
[Lucas: Ok.] Lucas said after deleting his entire message. And yet, this only made him hesitate more. He had to get it right when so many people were misunderstanding him.
More and more messages appeared but he tried to ignore them and focus on just replying to Henry.
[Lucas: I'm not mad, Henry. :) I didn't say it was a big deal. :)] For some reason, the smiley face automatically turned into an emote instead of just a colon and parentheses. The 'Slight_Smile' emote.
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: lol all that for 2 sentences you know he's salty]
[HeroOfWins: guys plz figure it out] This was followed by the skull emoji.
[HenryForMayor2023: if you're not mad why did you say 'What's so funny about my hairstyle? :) I like how it looks. :)']
Lucas squinted at the screen in confusion. Eventually, he managed to finish another message.
[Lucas: I don't get how I'm passive aggressive. I just asked a question. :) How is that being salty? :)]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: see that's just what I mean askjl;kjdsfj]
[Lucas: What? :)]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: THAT!]
Lucas's finger hovered over the holographic keyboard, unsure what key to press. A bead of sweat went down his brow. Did they hate him asking questions? Or did they not like smiley faces? In what backwards world did smiles mean hostility? He was just trying to be polite...
[StarmanInTheSky: ok lemme explain, lucas isn't trying to be passive aggressive, he's just bad with tech lol]
[StarmanInTheSky: lucas when people text they usually use lowercase and no punctuation since proper grammar sounds more serious]
[StarmanInTheSky: and more importantly it's that emote dude, it looks like someone smiling but barely holding in their anger, this one is better :D] However, instead of just the colon and letter D, it was the other smiley emote with the open mouth.
[Lucas: But they're both smiley faces, and I'm not even trying to use the emote. I just type :) and it turns into one. Why does it do that? It didn't do that last tournament.] Once again, it turned his text into an emote which was apparently hostile. How annoying.
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: wait is this fr? he isn't doing it on purpose? my sides xDDD]
[PinkPrincessPowerhouse: no way]
[PiInYourFace314159: wendy take the L, you know he can't fake it that well, the facts have spoken] This was followed by an emote of Luigi holding out his hat called 'TakeTheL'.
[HenryForMayor2023: sorry i misunderstood dude]
[MayForApriler2023: same here] This was followed by the pensive emote.
[MegaMod: that's called autocorrect, just turn it off if you don't like it]
Was there a button for that? Lucas started typing again.
[PiInYourFace314159: no don't turn it off it's funnier this way, keep doing your thing my dude :)] He was using the Slight Smile emote too.
[PinkPrincessPowerhouse: no Iggy, this madness has to end]
[PrinceOfAwesome: you're just saying that since you were wrong haha :)] Why was everyone copying him?
[CoolerRoy: ^this]
[HeroOfWins: how dis you not figure it out sooner lol :) of couese it wasnt on puroose]
[StarmanInTheSky: cmon let's be fair they didn't know him last tournament like we did, and dw luke we're laughing with you not at you]
[Lucas: How do I turn it off?]
[CoolerRoy: actually we are laughing at you since you suck at texting dumbass]
Lucas sighed.
[HenryforMayor2023: dude chill]
[CoolerRoy has been banned from the server by MegaMod for 24 hours for breaking rule 1: No bullying.]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: LMAOOOO GOTTEM!]
[PinkPrincessPowerhouse: Deserved.]
[PiInYourFace314159: rest in spaghetti, never forgetti]
[PrinceOfAwesome: oh come on it wasn't that bad i was gonna say the same thing]
[StarmanInTheSky: yes it was, and try it if you wanna get banned too :)]
[PrinceOfAwesome: if you're right then prove it and explain why instead of just abusing your power and banning people :(]
[StarmanInTheSky: nah] The word 'nah' was followed by an emote of a buff, bearded man's smiling face that Lucas would later learn was known as the GigaChad.
[MegaMod: We literally only needed ten seconds to decide on this ban because it was justified. Reread the 'No bullying' rule and you'll understand it says repeated harassment leads to a ban, and that's what was happening here. It's only 24 hours and you weren't even the one banned. Cope. Besides, I thought abusing power was cool when your dad does it.]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: LMAO GOTTEM AGAIN! stop getting cooked bro] This was followed by several fire emotes.
The notification of Junior typing showed up for a while until suddenly his icon showed him as offline.
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: ASDKJLSDJFKLJSD OH BABY A TRIPLE!]
[HeroOfWins: IKR ASKLDJKFLSJDKLFSDJ Jr got burbed sp bas] This was followed by several emojis and more text which was incomprehensible due to typos. How could Link type so fast despite his tech illiteracy, with no shame at all?
[Roy: I still don't understand what's so funny about the way Lucas texts, but I agree with Wendy.]
[PinkPrincessPowerhouse: thanks but you took so long to type that, both you and lucas text slower than my grandma]
[StarmanInTheSky: don't tempt me to give another ban :) ur right tho but it's not their fault they grew up without tech]
[Lucas: Can someone please tell me how to turn off autocorrect?]
[MegaMod: sorry i was busy with the ban but i gotchu homie, check your dms]
[PiInYourFace314159: nooo why ruin the fun T_T the meme is dead]
[PinkPrincessPowerhouse: not my fun that's for sure, thanks megaman]
[HeroOfWins: it was funny but we can't bug lucas just for a meme]
[ClownPrinceOfKoopas42069: the meme can live on in our hearts, dudes :)]
In his DMs Mega Man was able to give Lucas a tutorial complete with screenshots of how to disable autocorrect surprisingly quickly. Once he finally fixed it, he thanked Mega Man then typed a message in the main chat.
[Lucas: Thanks, now I can use the regular smiley. :) I hope I'm not sounding weird anymore.] At last, it no longer turned into an emote.
The crisis had ended.
Two days later, they had bigger problems to worry about.
"That's quite the crowd you've a-got here." Mario was wearing his doctor's outfit which matched the white hospital room they were in once again. He gestured to all the people around two hospital beds where Robin and Reflet were laying down. Link, Chrom, and Mewtwo were standing around Reflet like Lucas was, while Ness, Kirby, Lucina, Shulk, and Roy gathered near Robin's bed. Kirby wore a baseball cap identical to the one Ness had, yet had cat ears like Mewtwo at the same time. Meta Knight had said he could combine two abilities together...
"We're as ready as we're gonna get, and honestly, we're way more ready than we have to be." Ness said.
"If there's one thing I've learned as a tactician, it's that there is no such thing as being too prepared." Robin held the Binding Blade which Roy had handed over to him earlier.
"I couldn't agree more." Reflet said while holding on to the Master Sword. "I just wish I understood how this sword works."
"If you can hold her, that means Fi thinks you're a good person, but Grima sure isn't, so she won't let him control you and hold her since he's not worthy."
"I know, it's just strange...I suppose every world is different." The sword's crystal glowed faintly and made a soft melodic sound.
"See, she likes you already!" Link said. "Okay Ness, can you put them to sleep so we can get started already?"
"Wait." Reflet said. "Are you sure none of you want to back out of this? There's no shame in changing your mind, and the rest of us should be fine regardless."
Ness shook his head. "We already said why we wanted to do this before."
"I know we don't have to do this, but side quests are my favorite kind of quest." Link said. "I can just help some people out without worrying about saving the whole world."
"Yeah, same here." Ness said.
"Poyo!" Kirby said.
"Is it okay for our team to have only three people while Ness's team has four?" Lucas said. That was if he didn't count Lucina and Chrom since they wouldn't be in Magicant.
"One of those people is me." Mewtwo said.
"Someone's as smug as ever..." Ness rolled his eyes.
"Actually, your count's off, Fi counts too." Link said.
"Isn't Roy using his sword to help as well?" Chrom said.
"Yes, but the Binding Blade doesn't have a will of its own, it only reflects the wielder's will." Roy said. "That's how I was able to free Idunn from the dark magic controlling her in the first place, and Grima's power is dark magic of the highest order, so I just need to repeat what I did back then. Mostly. It's strange how similar your story is to hers, Robin...you're not a dragon, obviously, but Grima and his cult wanted to use you like a weapon just because you were born with a special power, and Chrom's father wanted you dead for the same reason, just as Idunn was used by her fellow dragons for her power and feared by humanity. Neither of them succeeded in your case, but Grima still made you forget your past and everyone you knew...I can't let him get away with that."
"I don't plan on backing out of this either." Shulk said. "You said the Grimleal wanted to resurrect Grima and have him possess you, even though their leader was your father, Validar...how could he? I thought the reason Dickson was willing to betray me was because we weren't related by blood, otherwise he would've cared more...so much for that." Shulk frowned. "At least your mother must have cared for you if she helped you escape the Grimleal, so I have to help you remember her and everything else from your past."
Reflet and Robin looked at Mewtwo next, who simply crossed his arms. "I suppose there's no need to ask you when you're so confident." Reflet said.
"..."
"Well then, that's everyone." Robin said. "Now you can go ahead and put us to sleep, Ness."
"I was wondering something..." Lucas said. The question that came to mind was if any of them had talked to Rosalina like he suggested, but before he got the words out, he realized it would be rude to ask. Just their reaction could end up revealing something they didn't want to tell him. So in that awkward silence, he thought of something else he wanted to know. "Do you know how Grima turned out so evil in the first place?"
"Some things are better left unknown." Reflet said with a frown. "He's not interested in telling us, and hearing the truth would only disgust me more. Nothing could justify the atrocities he's committed both in the present and especially Lucina's future."
"Yeah, I know..." He couldn't begin to wrap his head around how the kid Ness knew turned into the Porky of his time.
"Alright, let's get this party started." Ness said. "Sarah Connor can take a nap first since Luke doesn't have PK Hypnosis."
"Good luck!" Chrom said. "Not that you'll need it."
"I sure picked a charmer..." Reflet said sleepily before dozing off from Ness's PSI.
"Same to you, Robin." Lucina said. "I know you'll be able to take back your past. I just wish I could be there with you..."
"Oh, but you will be. You're always in my thoughts, my love." Robin then closed his eyes too thanks to Ness putting his hand on his head to put him to sleep while sticking his tongue out.
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna hurl...I'd rather fight some nightmares than see any more sappy stuff in there." Ness joked. "Okay team, let's do this!"
Kirby's stubby hand also touched Robin's forehead, Ness held Shulk's shoulder with his other hand, and the three of them then stood there motionless along with Roy. It was weird to see someone going to Magicant from the outside like this...
"Now it is our turn." Mewtwo said. "Calm yourself, I can sense your anxiety even without telepathy. Believe me when I tell you that you are prepared for this, and in the small chance I'm wrong, Link and I can cover for you."
"Okay..." Lucas said telepathically. He took a deep breath and focused...now was not the time to panic. He held Reflet's forehead and felt her unusual psychic presence as well as Mewtwo's, which mixed with it about as well as oil did with water. However. Oil could be contained, insulated. Mewtwo hadn't asked for his artificial nature, and Lucas refused to be responsible for an environmental disaster on this dive to the subconscious depths. They were there to clean things up, not make more of a mess. PSI Shield, Offense Up, and every supportive trick Lucas knew combined Mewtwo's psychic energy with his own and shielded him from his natural weakness. Mewtwo's power strengthened him in return and made it easy to get them back to Magicant. Who could say what horrors were waiting for them down there?
Lucas's last thoughts before falling 'asleep' were hoping that someone in this room had taken his advice about talking to Rosalina.
"...Are they alright?" Lucina squinted at her allies standing motionless as statues near her boyfriend and her alternate-timeline mother. It still sounded so strange in her head.
"Their vitals are stable, and their temperatures are all normal. We'll a-have to wait and see if Lucas and Ness get any of those psychic fevers..." Mario said.
"That's not what I was asking."
"They do have strange-looking brainwaves, but that's no different from last time." Mario stroked his mustache while looking at a screen with a chart that only made Lucina squint more.
"What on earth is a brain wave?"
"Mama Mia...listen, even if you did understand technology, there wouldn't be much I could a-tell you. They're all asleep and otherwise healthy. Well, as asleep as someone can be while still standing up. What's going on in their minds, though, I don't have a clue."
"There must be something you can tell me..."
"I understand, you don't like being reduced to a spectator like this." Father said. "You want something constructive you can do to help." He knew her rather well despite the fact he was barely older than her, not the same Chrom who had raised her. "You take after me in that way. Reflet would say now is a time to watch and wait, not act impulsively...the best way we can help her and Robin is to keep using Falchion's power to weaken Grima's magic, which should be easier for you since you have two of them. Besides, didn't we just say how we have faith in them?"
"I know, Father, you're right, I just wish there was more I could do. I can't stand imagining Grima tormenting Robin in his mind while I stand out here doing nothing. And I do have faith in him, it's just..." Lucina tried to steady her breath. She'd failed too many times already, and she'd already thought she lost him once until she found out he survived sacrificing himself to destroy Grima for good.
"You can't help but worry, can you? I know, I know...just take a moment to relax. You're doing all you can, and they'll be fine. Remember, they're more than prepared, and they're hardly the types to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory. I wish I could get some payback on Grima personally, too, but they'll have to do it for us."
Lucina simply nodded. That last part hadn't been what she was thinking in that moment, but it was true, so she didn't correct him. Instead she took a deep breath to calm herself, then unsheathed her Falchion and the one Marth lent her one at a time. Dual wielding was not her forte...why practice wielding two swords when there is only one Falchion? And yet now there were three in this strange land. Lucina crossed the two swords in front of her and channeled their power.
They looked different enough on the surface. Marth's had a red gem in the hilt and a crossguard that went out to the sides and curved upwards and slightly back towards the blade. She could tell even before Marth demonstrated it in their sparring matches that it was well suited to catching an enemy blade and countering by locking it in place or deflecting it. Hers had a circular hole in the hilt and a curved guard around it that protected the hands just as well, except it did so by making enemy weapons slide to the side and past her to leave them open while they overswung. However, there was a far more glaring difference to her left eye, which now glowed blue with the Brand of the Exalt.
Both swords were Naga's same fang alight with a bluish-white aura of her holy power. But Marth's was at its full radiance, and hers was ever so slightly dimmer, a reminder of the incomplete Awakening ritual. A reminder of her failure. Only having four of the five gemstones of the Fire Emblem kept Naga from restoring Falchion to its original power, and what power it regained was not enough to slay Grima, forcing her and her friends to flee to the past. Father's Falchion, on the other hand, was just as bright as Marth's, and brighter than hers. He hadn't failed like she had. Lucina frowned, she needed to find something else to think about.
Like the fact her help was what made Father succeed where she failed. Her Sight helped her save him from assassins on several occasions that would have dealt him crippling injuries, and it was not just because of her future knowledge. There was something to take some solace in. Father's Brand was on his right shoulder, so he had superhuman strength instead, just like Auntie Emm had been magically gifted thanks to having the mark on her forehead, and Cynthia had it in her right eye instead of her left. Naga had bestowed many blessings onto their bloodline, like her ability to see life itself, the way she could use holy magic as easily as breathing, the strength that let her claws and fangs cut through nearly anything, and more. However, royalty or not, they were only human, so they could not each hold all of Naga's gifts, and their unique abilities didn't make them better than everyone else like Grandfather thought. That was how Father explained it when she was a child seeing things others could not.
Lucina looked at Robin. One of those things had been his Mark of Grima. Even now with Grima sealed within him, it glowed the same dark purple as ever, and she could see its glow even through his glove. She watched carefully for any fluctuations in the magic and life force within him and occasionally glanced at Reflet as well. She had known his nature as Grima's vessel ever since she first laid eyes on him as a child. However, what mattered more than that was that he was Father's best friend, and a wise and good man, albeit a mysterious one. That was why she tried to change his fate after returning to the past, even though she knew almost for certain he was Father's killer despite not witnessing it. How ironic that she fell in love with the man destined to become her mortal enemy. She'd thought she would hate him at first, but the more she got to know him, the more she knew he deserved a better future than becoming Grima's puppet or dying to her blade. But in a moment of weakness, she had lost hope in changing his destiny and decided the only way to save him was to-
"Lucina? Is something bothering you?"
"Gah!" Lucina looked around, startled and snapped out of her introspective stupor. "Oh, Father. It's nothing, I was just thinking..." She looked back at Robin and tried to focus her Sight again. Everything looked normal for now, but the purple glow of his magic had noticeably dimmed in the presence of the Falchions. "I can see Falchion weakening Robin and Reflet as well, not only Grima, since they share the same magic." They were one and the same, as the Fell Dragon would put it, but she knew that wasn't remotely true.
"That may be so, but they have dependable allies to rely on, and Grima does not." Other than whatever horrors lied in each of their thoughts.
"Yes, I know it's to their advantage, I just don't like weakening him like this. I'd rather not be pointing a blade at him in any way..."
"Ah...this is about that time, isn't it." Chrom said grimly.
"No, it's-" She'd said too much. "Fine, I'll admit it." Lucina frowned. "The worst part is that he would have let me do it..." Even though Robin told her his plan to try to avoid being possessed by Grima and forced to kill Father, they both knew it might fail, especially when the Grima of her future had stolen his body and brain and might see through any strategy of his. "And it would have been a terrible mistake. Grima still had the Robin of my time to use as his puppet to resurrect himself, even after we stopped him from using the Fire Emblem, so I would have killed him for nothing. Is a fool like me truly worthy of holding both of these Falchions?"
"Lucina, it's not fair to hate yourself for something you didn't even do. It's only natural you considered it: you were thinking of the greater good, no matter how much it would have hurt you and him. You had no way of knowing the Grima of your timeline was capable of using the other Robin to revive his main body in this time and merge with his past self. In the end, you made the right choice by not going through with it, so focus on that."
"Mama Mia, and here I thought I had it bad when I had to fight Luigi and Dimentio!"
"I almost forgot you were there..." Lucina said, looking at Mario like Father did and grimacing from the awkwardness. "I know Luigi is your brother, but who is this 'Dimentio'?"
"Just think of him as an evil wizard who was trying to control Luigi and use him to fulfill his prophecy. We beat him and a-turned Luigi back to normal, so don't a-worry about it." Mario said that, but the look on his face wasn't as carefree as he sounded. Fighting the possessed Robin was just as disturbing for her. While she had saved her boyfriend from Grima's deathly cold grip, the only mercy she could grant the Robin she knew as a child was death. At least this short mustachiod man with the strange accent had been luckier in that regard.
"Well, I'm glad everything ended well for you." Father said to Mario, then turned back to her. "Back to what I was saying...I know it's awkward with Mario in the room, but bear with me here."
"Don't mind me, I'm not a-listening."
"Anyways...as I said, you did the right thing there, and that's what matters, not what you were thinking or could have done. You tried to make the best of a bad situation, just as you've done many times before. I'd say you've more than lived up to my legacy and Marth's, and if anything, it's my fault for not giving you a better future to work with. Well, not me, as in the me here now, but the me of the future...I mean, your past...no, not your past in my time, your past in that timeline where Reflet is a man...er..."
Father fumbling his words somehow managed to make her chuckle. "I understand, Father. But don't blame yourself: there were many things outside your knowledge and control that made my timeline go so wrong, and it's not your fault you didn't have the benefit of foresight back then."
"I'll accept that if you can say the same about yourself."
"Thank you...you know, you may not be the same person as the father I knew, but you have some of the same wisdom, even though you're much younger than him."
"Hah, and here I thought my wife was the one with the brain!"
Lucina smiled, even though it was still strange to hear him say that about Reflet.
Then she looked at Robin again. Like before, everything about him seemed fine, and she hoped it would stay that way. Hope...that reminded her of a talk she'd had a few days ago when she reluctantly took Ness's advice.
"Hope doesn't have to mean a naive faith that things will always get better somehow." Rosalina said while sitting on a comfy armchair opposite Lucina's in the Terrace. "It's a choice to believe a better future is possible and work to make it a reality, no matter how futile it seems to try. I wish I could tell you there was some guiding force in the universe ensuring good people do not suffer, but there is no destiny dooming you either. You can't control what happens in the future, but you can make sure you don't regret not trying."
"You know, Father told me something just like that once. I understand...I need to stop worrying about what could be and just find something constructive to do. I won't be able to find out what happened in my timeline until Naga recovers from the strain of the Awakening ritual." And her generous warping of the army onto Grima's back, not to mention healing them and warping them once more after his demise so they didn't fall to their deaths with his corpse. "Even then, I don't know if she can send us back the way we came, or if we can make a return trip after that. I don't want to leave until I know I won't be stranded there. In the meantime, I have to train myself here so I'm ready for whatever comes next. Perhaps if luck is on my side for once, all the Risen in my time simply dropped dead the second Grima traveled to the past." Lucina chuckled. "Now wouldn't that be funny? The Fell Dragon's reign of terror cut short by his own folly for failing to understand how time travel worked. He thought his present would be undone by my friends and I, and tried to stop us to save himself, only to travel to a past where Robin could kill him once and for all. Truly an ironic end."
"I certainly hope it ends up that easy for you, but only time will tell. It's easy to waste time dwelling on what could go wrong in the future, or what could have been in the past...so try to spend some time appreciating the small joys you have in the present."
"It has been nice having some peace and quiet for once. Ever since Grima's death, my life has calmed down for the first time in what feels like forever. Alas, this peace will not last for long. I may have another dragon-sized problem to worry about soon now that I know what Inigo, Owain, and Severa have been up to for the past year. They certainly have been busy..."
"All the more reason to enjoy it while you can."
"I know, I just don't want to become complacent and fail to prepare myself to help them. I wish they could have told me the full story sooner, of why they had to leave." Lucina frowned. "They gave me only half the truth about how they were helping people in another land, and they said it wasn't that they didn't trust me, but that they couldn't tell me everything. But back then, it didn't make any sense why they couldn't!"
"That must have been frustrating."
"You have no idea." She had lost enough loved ones as is, but for them to abandon her willingly? Was she that worthless? "Corrin helped me piece the truth together with what she had heard from them, what I knew, and what she heard from Azura. Even so, there are still things I don't know, and I wish I could hear them explain it in person. I'd tell you more, but it's a very confusing story, and I'd rather not talk about it..."
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm sure it must have pained them to leave you like that too, and you might have that chance to speak to them soon enough. Just remember what I said: try to enjoy the present instead of only worrying about the future or the past."
"Yes, you're right...even though I do miss them, the time I've had with Robin has been wonderful. I used to be too busy just surviving to imagine a better life for myself like this."
The reason she was able to change was the man she couldn't help staring at. Instead of just desperately surviving the present and regretting the past, now she could imagine a future not just of saving her people and avenging the fallen but finding her own happiness. Meanwhile, he was unable to look back at his past, so it was only fair she helped change that to return the favor. What an odd couple they were.
"Do you think they can hear us, Father?" Lucina said.
"I doubt it. They're asleep, aren't they? Or something close enough."
"You may be right, I was just thinking that if we said something encouraging, it might help...like in the final battle with Grima, when Robin had nearly succumbed to his power. Hearing us helped him break free of the dark void Grima trapped him in."
"Oh, so that was the same in your timeline too? I don't think this is the same kind of situation, but I suppose we might as well say something anyways. The worst that could happen is us looking foolish."
"So you're a-trying to do the same thing Ness did when Lucas was recovering from his battle with Mewtwo?" Mario said. "Ness did manage to reassure him while he was still asleep fighting his nightmares, but he was using telepathy, and you can't do that. There's no harm in a-trying to talk to them, though." He said with a shrug.
Lucina walked closer to Robin and crouched down next his bed, lowering the two swords and sheathing Marth's while still channeling their power. She laid her now free hand over Robin's, which was still holding the Binding Blade. The Mark of Grima glowed a faint purple, and her left eye glowed blue with the Brand. Naga and Grima were two sides of the same coin: life and death, hope and despair, and light and darkness. Neither could permanently destroy the other, and Grima had somehow found a way to magically hijack Naga's time portal that sent Lucina and her friends to the past, even though she was certain his vessel wasn't anywhere near close enough when she and her friends went through it. Perhaps their strange connection she still didn't fully understand would let her words reach Robin.
"Robin, I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, then don't ever give up. I don't know what you're seeing in there, and I know it might be horrible. You and your mother had to run from the Grimleal trying to turn you into Grima's vessel, and many others might have feared what you could become too and persecuted you for it...but no matter what happened back then, you're not a monster, no matter how many people thought so. You're one of the bravest, smartest, and kindest men I've ever met, and that's why I love you. So don't give up...come up with something brilliant and win this battle like I know you can."
She paused.
"And tell Grima this is my payback too."