Lucina

Cold wind gently brushed against her face as she tightly held onto her younger sister. The winter winds of Ferox were excruciating, especially as high up in the sky as they were. She hated suffering in the cold winds upon the back of their mother's old pegasus.

Lucina grimaced, burying herself further into Cynthia's shoulder as she hugged her firmly for warmth. Lucina had never been a big fan of flying. She preferred to be in full control of her own actions at all times. Every misstep, every mistake, they would be hers and hers alone. She didn't want to put her fate into the hands of a mount. She would have felt the same even if they were riding upon the warm back of their uncle's mount.

Lucina supposed she should at least be thankful she wasn't forced to walk her way to Ferox to execute her plans. By Naga's grace, she had ended up at Cynthia's side once she had finally crossed through the portal to escape their doomed time.

Cynthia turned her head, looking back to face her. Her face was a deep red due to the cold winds. Her little sister didn't have the merciful option of hiding behind another to stave off most of the direct winds. Cynthia did her duty well as a little sister by taking the brunt of the cold winds that would have otherwise assaulted Lucina.

Cynthia didn't seem to mind the cold nearly as much as Lucina did. Cynthia looked to be in good spirits as she met Lucina's gaze. Cynthia had a smile on her lips, her eyes full of life. That was something Lucina had always envied about her little sister. Despite everything, Cynthia's gaze had never dulled like it had for everyone else.

"I think we're almost there! Eclipse can see lights!" Cynthia cheered.

Lucina would take her word for it. She didn't understand the bond Cynthia had with their mother's old pegasus. Eclipse was an old female pegasus their mother had tamed back when she was around their age. While their mother never did explain why she had named the pegasus the way she did, Lucina had a few guesses of her own. If she recalled the old stories aunt Lissa used to tell, Severa's mother once rode upon a pegasus named Aurora. Eclipse had likely been named the way she had as a way to poke at Severa's mother. There had apparently been some type of rivalry between their mothers.

Cynthia and Eclipse bonded in a way that reminded her of Uncle's bond with his own mount. The two were able to synchronize with one another to such an extent that Lucina firmly believed they had to have been reading each other's minds.

Lucina had to swallow back the wave of grief that had threatened to momentarily overwhelm her. She hated how all her thoughts kept drifting to her uncle. Nearly a week had passed since they traveled to the past. She had to let go of what happened. Her uncle was dead and nothing was going to change that.

He had died a pitiful death fighting to the very end to buy time for her and the others. Lucina had been the only one to witness it outside of her uncle's murderers. She didn't have the heart to tell Cynthia, not now at least. Not while Cynthia's morale was so high. They had a plan that included deadlines they could not risk missing due to grief. Lucina would carry the burden of grieving for her uncle alone until she could gather the others.

She needed to be strong for Cynthia's sake. For the sake of everyone she dragged alongside her into the past. Her heart still hurts. The death of her uncle was fresh, not like the deaths of her parents or the death of aunt Lissa. It was hard to contain her grief, to contain her rage. Yet, it was her duty all the same.

"Lucina! What's the plan again? We're going to go kick some butt or something? I forgot."

Lucina quietly sighed to herself as she rested her head on Cynthia's shoulder once more. She didn't regret keeping Cynthia in the dark. She loved her sister too much to force her into sharing her grief, her anger.

Lucina knew the truth would break Cynthia's heart. It would shatter the remaining innocence Cynthia so desperately clung to. Cynthia didn't need to know Uncle never made it to the portal. She didn't need to know Uncle had died. Cynthia would probably just assume he was scattered away from them alongside the rest of their group.

Lucina feared the prospect of encountering the younger version of the uncle now that they were in the past. She didn't think she would be able to hold back her grief. Thankfully, her uncle would be somewhere in Nohr by now according to old stories she had heard. He wouldn't return for around two years.

That gave her plenty of time before she would see him again. Time she could spend figuring out how to prevent Emmeryn's assassination, prevent the crippling of her father, and stopping the multi-year slog that was the second war with Plegia. The moment she stabilized things just enough in Ylisse, she'd be able to turn her attention to her uncle's own unfortunate circumstances. She owed it to her uncle to ensure he received a happy ending of his own for sacrificing himself as he did.

It was difficult to recall all the snippets of his life in Nohr he had shared with her and the others as he raised them. It was a period of his life he never liked to talk about. When he ran away from home, he had found a place of his own in Nohr. He lost someone there, someone he dearly cherished. While her uncle would not return for two years, the loss of his loved one would happen sometime during the next year or so from what she could roughly piece together.

She needed to somehow stabilize Ylisse and then turn her attention to Nohr to help her uncle all in a single year. She was stretched far too thin.

"Lucinaaaa!" Cynthia whined.

Lucina shook herself out of her thoughts. She had so much to do and so little time to accomplish her goals. For now, Ferox took priority over all else.

"Sorry, I was going over the plans again in my head. Nothing has really changed. I'm going to disguise myself and participate in Ferox's arena to ensure Ylisse receives the Khan's support no matter who wins. Ideally, I'll beat Owain's father so I can represent Khan Basilio's team as his champion for the final fight."

Cynthia hummed, "But why do we have to beat up Owain's dad again?"

Cynthia still didn't seem to understand. Lucina didn't want to take chances. Any chances. As much as Lucina wished she could go with Cynthia's plan of just flying right to Ylisstol to meet with aunt Emmeryn, there was way too much risk doing so. It was far safer to manipulate events into their favor first.

"If we don't, Father will have to fight him in the arena during the final fight. Don't you remember aunt Lissa's old stories? Father is an honorable fool. He'll force the rest of his team to surrender once they beat Owain's father's team just so Father and Owain's father can fight one on one. Aunt Lissa said Father only won through dumb luck. We need Ferox's army for the war with Plegia."

"Maybe she was wrong. Dad may have just been that good! Don't you want to spar with him? I know I want to see what Mom can do up in the skies with Eclipse at her best," Cynthia had been quick to defend both of their parents.

The pegasus neighed, as if offended by Cynthia's words.

Cynthia gently stroked the top of the pegasus's head, "Sorry, girl. You know it's true. I know how hard these winds are on your old bones. Don't worry, I'll get you the juiciest fruits I can find."

The pegasus neighed again, its tone sounding strangely offended and satisfied at the same time.

Cynthia's innocence was showing again. She showed her heartfelt desire to reunite with the family they had lost when they were both children. Cynthia desperately yearned to meet Father and Mother. She wished to do so far more than Lucina did.

Lucina didn't hate her parents. They were just strangers to her, distant memories. She never latched onto the tales of her parents in their glory days as Cynthia had. Cynthia had been only three years old when both of their parents died. Lucina had been five. Neither really had strong memories of their parents.

Most of Cynthia's desires to meet their parents came from aunt Lissa's tales. She had told them so many stories as she raised them alongside their uncle. Until Lucina was nine years old, aunt Lissa acted as a surrogate mother to her. Aunt Lissa had been killed not long after Lucina had turned nine.

If anything, Lucina wanted to meet aunt Lissa more than her own mother.

"I want to see Auntie again…" Lucina quietly voiced her feelings.

"Ah… Me too. She's going to be here in Ferox with Dad, right?"

"Mhm. We need to be careful, Cynthia. We can look from afar, but we can't expose ourselves. They'll just think we're crazy and it will put our other plans at risk."

"I know! I know…" Cynthia's voice was filled with yearning.

Lucina squeezed her sister's shoulder reassuringly, "Someday. I promise. We need to save aunt Emmeryn first and stop Plegia."

Lucina still didn't have a solid plan for that second part. There were many methods to potentially stop Plegia. She hadn't settled on one quite yet. Although, Laurent's suggested plan was starting to grow on her day by day. It was far too tempting to let loose and go with his suggested plan of a string of assassinations.

She wouldn't be able to pull it off with just Cynthia at her side. She didn't know when she would be able to reunite with the rest of the group either. That's the main reason she settled for her original plan of manipulating things into their favor. Not that she expected her somewhat subtle approach to last once aunt Emmeryn's assassination neared. She needed to directly interfere there to prevent the death of aunt Emmeryn and the crippling of Father.

"Hey… Lucina…" Cynthia sounded hesitant.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking…" Cynthia trailed off.

A tiny smile grew on Lucina's face as she instantly responded, "Isn't that a rarity."

"Hey!" Cynthia sounded indignant for a mere moment before brushing off Lucina's teasing.

"I was thinking. If we… If we save aunt Emmeryn… That changes things. A lot. Aunt Emmeryn stays as the Exalt. Dad doesn't take the throne from her. We're going to save Dad too so he never gets hurt. Lucina… Are we… Are we going to be born?"

Lucina closed her eyes, a chill running down her back. She didn't know. Father and Mother fell in love during Father's healing process. She had cared for him during his grief, during his lowest moments. If those events never came to pass, would they still fall in love?

If she beat Owain's father in the arena, would Owain still be born?

If she followed Laurent's plans to prevent the war with Plegia, would Noire ever be born?

Would Nah ever be born?

Would their uncle ever return from Nohr if his lover never died?

She didn't know a single answer to any of those questions.

"I don't know."

Her perspective was too dark to share with Cynthia. In Lucina's eyes, it ultimately didn't matter if they were or weren't born.

Naga had granted them a second chance at making the world a better place. They were living on borrowed time. They were just condemned souls, spectres of a lost future working for the happiness of ghosts of the past.

Note: The Future Children believe they traveled to the past, they did not.