This was not supposed to happen. Everything had started out well enough. They assembled at Mount Prism with most of the Fire Emblem, but then everything started to fall apart as it usually did.
Risen. One of the largest hordes she had ever seen. Grima was desperate, but they were more so. The rite would take time. More time than they had. Laurent had objected, but Lucina – ever the pragmatist – countered with the fact it was better to take the risk of going early than it was to die waiting for the portal to stabilize.
Despite the instability, she managed to land near her destination, albeit alone. However, that was not what had her so distressed. What sent a cold chill down her spine was the glowing eyes of those beasts that had followed her through the portal. They were not supposed to be here yet. Lucina fought with a cold terror that she had inadvertently brought ruin upon this world.
She was not so weak willed, however. The once-Exalt refused to let them spread. That was her primary goal of the moment. Her father fighting in the clearing was a matter to be addressed once she was done banishing the blights around her.
With determination few would ever match, the now princess fought with a cold fury which she had refined through years of hardship and turmoil. Her movements were precise and refined to minimize energy usage while still staying true to her father's legacy. Her more defensive stance was partially a product of her world. Protecting key areas was a priority and keeping her blade close to her body allowed her to defend as needed. Her somewhat unnatural strength was still nothing compared to her father's – especially as she battled malnourishment – but she did her best to balance nostalgia with practicality producing something that was uniquely hers.
Lucina was a warrior. Before she was a leader, daughter, or sister, she was a warrior. Life had afforded her few options. The sword came instinctively to her at this point, and she had spent her life learning how to dispatch Risen efficiently and quickly. Without their overwhelming numbers, they were no match for her. She alone defeated more than her father's entire group did combined.
However, she had been fighting all day, and rations had been especially low lately. She had not eaten in several days. These conditions combined to make the warrior fatigued beyond most people's ability to cope, but for her, it did make her disoriented. Disoriented enough to miss one Risen which she had disarmed – literally – but had not dissipated as it struck her from behind while she caught her breath.
The last thing Lucina remembered was a quickly approaching rock and a sharp pain as her broken mask pushed harshly into her face.
Robin approached tentatively as the charred corpse of that…thing dissipated. Despite having been relieved of its weapon arm, it did not even seem to slow down. Too many times during that battle blows which should have been debilitating had been shrugged off. It was a terrifying prospect fighting an enemy which not only did not seem to feel pain, but also possessed a massive resilience to injury.
However, that mysterious stranger seemed to know exactly what it took to kill these things. Well, almost. It seemed that a mistake had almost cost them their life. It was a good thing Robin got there when he did, or else they may have lost the only person who seemed to know what was actually going on.
"How is he?" Chrom asked as Lissa tended to the fallen warrior. It seemed that Robin had taken out the last of the creatures, and Chrom and the others had not been far behind after hearing the crack of a thunder tome. Lissa had quickly assumed her duties while Frederick and Sully continued to survey the area and the mysterious man that no one seemed to know – the one that was not Robin – stood to the side and watched the situation unfold with surprisingly analytical mind.
Lissa tentatively removed the broken and now somewhat bloody mask after moving the warrior to a stable position. As she removed it, long blue locks cascaded onto the ground below having been disturbed by the mask's removal.
"Well, first things first, pretty sure she's a girl."
"But why would she want to hide that fact?" Chrom eyed the woman's face suspiciously. Typically, people who hid their faces had something to hide, and in his view, that usually was not a good thing. Still, he could not deny the goodwill this stranger garnered by saving his sister.
Robin also eyed the stranger, but not exactly for the same reason. Despite the swelling of her left eye, she was rather beautiful, if not extremely thin. Her cheeks were slightly sunken in, and her arms appeared toned, but they were also exceptionally thin. Her clothes were also torn and thread-bare. This woman had not had an easy life, that much he was fairly certain of.
"Why don't you ask her when I'm done?" Lissa replied with slight annoyance as she started looking over her eye. That mask had broken and lacerated all around her eye in addition to the blunt force of hitting her head on a rock causing significant swelling. If she ever used the eye again, it would not be for a while. Eyes were one thing that healing staves did not work on. It would have to heal naturally. All she could help with were the lacerations. The woman probably had a concussion too, but there was little she could do for that either. Still, Lissa was fairly confident that she would pull through.
"I think she'll make it," Lissa declared after tending to what she could, "But she needs some food. Seriously, she's skin and bone. Well, and muscle apparently.
"What are we going to do?" Lissa asked her brother.
"Help her, of course," Chrom smiled. Despite his misgivings about her need to hide her identity, he was not about to turn away someone who had helped them quell these creatures. He shuddered to think of what would have happened had they gotten to a village, or worse, Ylisstol.
"Milord," Frederick rode up with Sully at his heels, "I have scoured the area and found no other traces of those creatures."
"Good work," Chrom noticed Frederick's gaze on the strange woman, "We'll be taking on another passenger. She helped us stop those things. We owe her."
"Shall I point out that they seemed to come with her?" Frederick may have had a point, but he had no proof she was to blame. Besides, it was not like Chrom was not going to help this stranger. It was his nature.
"You can, but we're helping her anyway."
"Very well, milord," Frederick straightened up and dropped the subject. That was how he operated. He would voice objections, but at the end of the day, Chrom's word was law. Robin had yet to realize how close to reality that was, but he was increasingly suspicious of how the knight kept calling him "milord."
"If you don't mind, I'll ride on ahead to make sure Ylisstol is okay," Sully offered.
Chrom paled at the idea of these things in the capitol. Emmeryn may have been well defended, but if those things fell inside the walls, they could do a lot of damage before being dealt with. Not to mention the fire and earthquakes. However, the chaos did seem limited to a relatively small area of the forest.
"I'd rather not move her too much," Lissa reminded them that they had a wounded fighter.
"Hmm," Chrom put a hand to his chin, "Very well, Sully. Ride for Ylisstol. If there are any signs of danger, circle back and report it. Understood?" All of that had been communicated in what Lissa liked to call his "commander voice."
"Aye, aye, captain!" Sully saluted before spurring her mount into a full gallop.
"You, sir," Chrom turned his attention to the blue-haired archer, "What will you do now?"
"Ah, I had no specific plans, but I do think I would like to stay with your group for a bit."
"I'm not one to turn down able bodies, and you certainly know your way around a bow," Despite the man's pomp, he was the best archer the prince had ever seen, and someone with that skill would be an asset even if he was a little irksome. Chrom extended his hand, and much to Frederick's chagrin, offered him an invitation to join them, "I'd be happy to have someone of your skill among our ranks.
"With that settled, let's get out of this burning forest and let our new friend here get some rest."
Robin helped Frederick and Lissa situate the young woman on the knight's horse. While doing so, he found himself both admiring and pitying this strange woman. On one hand, she was the most beautiful woman he could remember seeing which, admittedly, was not the most stellar of compliments coming from him, but he also could not help but be saddened whenever he noticed how light she was. He was in awe of her ability to radiate such beauty while in such a state, and marveled at the idea of what she would be like in good health.
A blush creeped up on his face when he realized what he was doing. He mentally reprimanded himself for those thoughts as Frederick secured her on his steed. As they started on their way, he was very grateful for the cover of darkness to mask his shame.
After they were clear of the forest, they stopped again. It was still a few hours before sunrise and they were all tired. Except maybe Frederick who offered to take the first watch shift.
With more ease than he was comfortable with, Robin was able to carry the injured woman over to where Lissa had prepared a makeshift bed using whatever she could find to make the cold earth a little more comfortable. It was not much, but it was better than nothing and a testament to Lissa's caring nature. Really, Robin found himself surprised by how competent of a medic she turned out to be.
Robin carefully laid the woman down before retreating, but not before sneaking one last guilty look at her paradoxal face. He then joined the other men standing a respectful distance away.
"I wonder what her story is?" Chrom watched as his sister made sure the mystery woman was well situated.
"It is a great mystery, no?" The archer – Virion it turned out – commented, "A beautiful young woman beset by such foul monsters. It is the stuff of folk tales."
"Yes," Frederick commented clearly unamused, "Regardless, I would very much like to question her when she awakens. If she knows anything about what happened tonight, I would like to know it."
"In due time," Chrom put a hand on the knight's pauldron, "In the meantime, I suggest we catch up on some much needed sleep. You sure you'll be alright all by yourself, Frederick?"
"I assure you, milord, I will be quite alright."
"Well then," Chrom yawned, "I'm beat. See you in a few hours." Chrom was the only other one Frederick trusted to keep watch. Normally, the knight would refuse his offer to keep watch, but he had insisted on taking a shift given the knight had no one else to fall back on. Even Frederick needed sleep after all.
Robin yawned himself as he rested his head on his arm. The small fire they had set up had almost entirely gone out by now, and, honestly, Robin was kind of sick of fire for one day. What a day too. What a day.
Pain. That was the first thing she became aware of. There was a splitting pain in her head. It almost hurt to think, but she managed to push through it until it was not so unbearable.
She made a valiant effort to open her eyes, but she only succeeded in getting a small sliver of blinding light through before she halted her efforts. That was bright. She decided to try again, but slower this time.
Slowly, the world started to come into focus as her eyes – well, eye it seemed – adjusted to the light. She was a bit concerned by the fact that seemingly only one eye was obeying her. Putting a tentative hand up to where her left eye should have been, she felt a swollen lump where the organ was supposed to be, but as far as she could tell, her eye was at least still in her head.
With that issue slightly resolved, the woman endeavored to sit up. She succeeded, but almost wished she had not as her head swam and she threatened to topple over.
"Woah," She heard a girlish voice call out as hands took her shoulders and slowly pushed her back down, "Don't rush it."
As her vision stabilized, she was able to make out the source of the voice. It had come from a small girl with blonde pigtails. She radiated ease and happiness making it hard to be on edge around her. This girl could probably disarm most people, but this woman was still wary.
"Where am I?" She croaked out. Her voice sounded quite rough, and she realized that her throat was aridly dry.
"Here," Lissa provided her with a canteen and the woman gulped down the precious life-sustaining liquid. "Easy," Lissa pulled the canteen back to keep her from drinking too much too fast.
"Thank you," The woman replied with her voice sounding much more normal.
"You're welcome, as for where you are, we're about five miles south of Ylisstol."
"I…don't know where that is," The woman furrowed her brow in confusion, and the more she tried to recall information, the more panic started to set in.
"And here I thought we were more famous than that," A tall man with strong features who radiated confidence and charisma offered a kind smile, "You must be quite a way from home if you don't know of Ylisstol but pardon my manners. My name is Chrom," He told her with a hand on his chest before gesturing to the younger girl, "And this is my delicate little sister, Lissa. Ow!"
Chrom rubbed his head from where Lissa had smacked him with the butt of her staff, "Don't listen to him," She smiled a dangerously innocent smile, "So what's your name?"
"I…don't know," The woman looked up in horror, "I can't seem to remember anything."
Frederick struggled not to roll his eyes while Lissa gasped, "Oh! You must have lost your memories when you hit your head!"
"I…what?"
"You hit your head after being knocked down during battle," Chrom explained, "It's what led to," He circled around his eye, "This."
"Oh," She reached up and tenderly touched her swollen eye."
"Don't worry," Lissa chimed in, "You didn't lose your eye. It will take a while to heal, but I'm fairly confident it will. I'll see about getting you some special salve when we get back to Ylisstol."
"Thank you," The woman replied in gratitude.
"Don't mention it!" The bubbly girl answered, "But, wow, what are the odds of finding two amnesiacs in less than 24 hours?"
"What are the odds, indeed," Frederick scoffed under his breath.
"Wait, you found someone else who lost their memory?" The woman thought that was unlikely.
"Yeah," Lissa pointed at the young tactician, "That homeless looking guy over there."
She followed Lissa's finger to the young man and…well. He did not look homeless to her. Well, maybe a little homeless, but that did not change the fact that she thought he was very handsome. Suddenly she became very aware of her swollen eye as his sharp eyes met her one good eye.
"My name is Robin," He held out his hand and smiled. She awkwardly took the man's hand leaving the two an awkward mess that Lissa and Virion could not help but smirk at, but Chrom seemed totally unaware and Frederick was completely unamused if he did notice.
"So, what should we call you?" Chrom asked, "At least until you remember your name."
"How about Morgan?" Robin blurted out and received stares from everyone present, "What? I like it."
"As do I," The mystery woman replied with a slight blush, "But I do not think it fits me."
"Fair enough," Robin pulled back from the conversation with a blush.
"Well," Chrom rubbed his chin, "I've always liked Lucina."
"Lucina," She repeated, "It feels…right."
Chrom smiled, "I hoped you'd like it. Now, we need to figure out what you're going to do from here. Normally, I'd like to ask about last night, but seeing as you don't remember that, I can't very well do that. I'd certainly like to know your backstory. How about joining up with us until your memory comes back?"
"That is a very generous offer. Are you certain?"
"We already recruited one amnesiac," Chrom grinned and shrugged, "What's one more?"
"Yes," Frederick responded disgruntled, "I suppose you will not even consider how uncanny it is to find not only one, but two people who claim to have amnesia?"
"Ah," Chrom seemed amused by the knight's objection, "This here is Frederick. My lieutenant. And she has a very obvious physical wound to explain her condition."
"I still find this oddly coincidental."
"Your objections have been noted, but she was injured fighting off those…things. I think we can afford to trust her."
"Very well, milord," Frederick bowed in defeat, but it was clear that he was more accepting of Lucina than he was of Robin. At least Lucina had some level of corroboration for her story. Robin's case, on the other hand, was much more suspicious. Still, he would be making a point to keep an eye on both.
"Captain!" Everyone turned to see a red-headed rider making for their position. With her was a male rider in green armor as well as a wagon. It seemed Sully had not encountered any issues at Ylisstol.
"Sully! Anything to report?"
"Nah, capitol's fine."
"Then what are you doing here? Stahl could have escorted the wagon. You rode almost all night!"
"And let him have all the fun?" Sully smirked, "Never."
"Alright," Chrom sighed knowing that arguing would get him nowhere, "Just help us finish up here."
Robin was doing one last check to make sure they did not forget anything when Lissa called out to him, "Hey! Robin! We got room for one more in the wagon. Want a ride?"
He was tempted to turn down to be polite, but he seemed to easily be in the worst shape of those not in the wagon except maybe Virion. It was not like he was in bad shape – far from it, but his stamina could use some work.
"Thanks," Robin told the princess as he hoisted himself up into the wagon. It would be him, Lissa, and Lucina in the back. While Virion may have also been tired, it did not take an observational genius to figure out that he had a bit of a philandering streak, so Robin thought it for the best to not have him bother the ladies during the whole trip. It certainly had nothing to do with Robin not wanting the womanizer around Lucina. At least, that was what he told himself.
After Lissa did one last check on Lucina, she diverted her attention to chatting up the drivers. Robin thought that was a little odd, but she was probably the most social person of the group, which was saying something when Chrom and Virion were with them.
This, however, did end up leaving the two amnesiacs mostly alone and unsure of what to say to each other. The two awkwardly fumbled with their thoughts without any sort of experience to fall back on. Eventually, it was Lucina who broke the silence.
"So you really have no memory?"
"Not really," Robin replied solemnly, "I remember a lot about tactics, my name, Chrom's name apparently," Lucina looked at him quizzically, "Yeah, I don't know about that one either. Either way, that's about it. Oh, and I remember how to fight. Lissa just found me in a field, and then one thing led to another, and here I am. Though, uh, you'll have to excuse my appearance. I have no idea when the last time I bathed was."
"You cannot look any worse than I do," Lucina lamented the loss of the use of her left eye. She definitely was not also upset that a handsome man was seeing her in such a grotesque state. Okay, maybe a little, but anyone would be hard pressed to get her to admit it.
"Hey, you still look great if you ask me," Robin powered through his embarrassment in an attempt to cheer her up. If her small smile and light blush were any indication, he had succeeded, but that smile soon returned to a somber expression.
"Doesn't it scare you? Not remembering anything?"
"It does," Robin nodded, "But I can't really do much about it. For the time being, I'm focusing on getting my life somewhat stable, and I think these Shepherds are my best bet for that right now. From what I've seen, they're good people. Trustworthy people."
"Do you think our memories will ever return?"
"I don't know," Robin answered truthfully, "I hope they do, but if they don't…we'll just have to make new lives for ourselves I suppose. I think I could have done worse with who found me, too."
Lucina's small smile returned, "Indeed."
A/N: A project I had thought of quite a while ago. Expect relatively slow updates thanks in part to the chapter size, but hopefully they'll be a bit better than my standard fare.