Title: Robcina Week 2025 Day 3 - Wedding

Description: After a long time as a couple, Robin and Lucina's wedding is finally here. But in the moments before, Lucina looks back on their relationship and how she feels about her husband-to-be. Her love for him is not in doubt. She cannot, however, help but doubt if she truly deserves a happy future with him

Notes: Takes place at the same time as Love Across Time chapter 84, only this time from Lucina's point of view.

Words: 1388

Lucina fidgeted with her hands, eyes on the floor as her mother finished tying up the laces of her dress. She dared not look in the mirror before her, afraid she'd find some imperfection or realize that she no longer suited the dress. Today had to be perfect, and the thought of ruining it sent her stomach twisting.

No, that was not the only reason for the butterflies in her stomach. Today was a big day, the day something she had never even dreamed would happen. And a wonderful, exciting, yet terrifying occasion.

For today was the day of her wedding to Robin.

It still didn't feel real. Throughout much of her life, ever since the death of her parents in her own world, the thought of having the opportunity to find love and build a happy life for herself…it had all seemed like an impossible fantasy. Her duty to save her world always took precedence. To pursue any other desire for herself would have been an act of unforgivable selfishness. Arrogant, even.

Besides, there had always been so little hope in that bleak future. How could she even consider the possibility of a life after her duty was done, for how unlikely such a chance seemed? Even as hope for her world was lost and she traveled back in time to this one, to create a world where her future would at least not come to pass, her duty remained her only concern. Always her duty, always putting her own wants and happiness aside for what she knew needed to be done for the world and everyone in it. She still never let herself consider what may come after. The thought that maybe now, in this past, she could find happiness was something that hadn't ever crossed her mind.

Then she met Robin.

It felt strange to think of their first meeting being in this world, but to describe it any other way would not be the truth. Though yes, she had met the Robin of her world countless times. How could she not, for as her father's closest friend, he had been a constant fixture in her life growing up.

But for all the similarities, and despite being the same person, she simply couldn't consider her world's Robin and the one she knew now. They were so different in many ways that she couldn't help but consider their meeting as meeting him for the first time.

The Robin of her world was always distant and reserved, almost mysterious in how he kept to himself. There was a kindness there, beneath that mask, but also a loneliness and melancholy whose source always remained a mystery.

She'd had something of a crush on him. A silly childish one, exactly what one would expect from a young girl towards some mysterious handsome figure straight out of the romance stories her mother would always read. It was rather embarrassing, looking back. And even so, it was never more than that. Something long resigned to memory as she grew older.

Until she met him, the Robin of this world. The feeling not only returned, but came stronger. No longer a childish crush, but something more. Something real.

She didn't trust him at first. How could she? She knew that her father had been killed by his closest friend. Robin was the only suspect, the only one who fit. She had every reason to be wary of him, and was so through their initial few interactions. But even then, doubts began to form, seeing how different this Robin was from how she remembered.

Robin. Her Robin, the one of this time, was different. So compassionate and cheerful, always the first to lend a hand or a shoulder to lean on for anyone in need. Quick to trust and forgive slights against him, always trying to better himself not for his own sake, but so he could better help those he loved, even if only in the smallest of ways.

A flurry of memories flashed before her eyes. Robin's kind words and compassion on the day of her birth, despite not knowing who she was or possessing any reason to trust her. The many moments they spent together in camp, Robin offered an ear to her burdens and offering of support. Snippets of conversation, moments in which he urged her to take better care of herself, even as she saw the same tendencies for self-sacrifice in him that lived with her. The evening he offered her the bouquet, moments before his confession.

It was no wonder she found herself smitten. It was all too easy to fall in love with someone like him. Someone who wanted nothing more than to see her smile. Someone who could see a life beyond the war, and seek not only happiness for himself, but for all those he loved. A future she found herself wanting to share.

A part of her could still not fully reconcile what she knew of the future and the Robin of this time. Maybe she was mistaken and someone else betrayed her father. Perhaps the whole thing was a lie. Or perhaps the Robin of her time was the betrayer, and that betrayal only came from the things that differentiated that version from this one. Perhaps, or perhaps not. She did not possess an answer.

But she had faith. Faith in this Robin. She had to.

She glanced up, at last looking in the mirror before her. At the white dress embroidered with sky blue. The silver crown holding back her head was decorated with white flowers and blue roses. Of the bouquet clutched in her trembling hands, the flowers within the same kind that Robin had given her before. At her own anxious expression, filled with both uncertainty and joy in equal measure.

She was excited. And terrified. She still wasn't used to this. The thought of a future beyond her duty, or of having another to share her life with. A part of her still felt it was selfish, that she was putting her own happiness first at the cost of others. Or perhaps it was that she feared that she didn't deserve this, for had she not failed to save her own world? Did she really deserve to be happy after that?

Lucina shook her head, banishing the thought. No, it wasn't about deserving happiness, nor was seeking it merely for herself. Not anymore. Being happy was not just for her anymore; it was for all of the people who wanted her to be happy as well. She had to be happy because they wanted her to be, because that would make them happy too. And for Robin, for the happiness they would share.

"No matter what the future holds, I'm going to cherish every moment."

Lucina recalled her words that day when she returned his confession. She meant every one of them when she'd said it. She still did. Or at least, she hoped she would live up to that promise. She still didn't know if the future Robin wanted for the two of them was even possible. Would they even prove victorious, averting her future form coming to pass? Could she even stay with him after, or would circumstances force them to part ways? She did not know. Truly, she did not.

But today… Today, she would be taking the first step in fulfilling that promise. She did not know what the future held for either of them. But now was the first step to making the most of what moments they did have together. To swear their lives as husband and wife, and vow to face whatever may come together.

"Are you ready?" her mother asked, looking up as she finished tying the deep blue sash around Lucina's waist. Bells rang from beyond the doors, signaling that it was time.

"Yes. I believe I am," Lucina said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Taking her arm, her mother led her to the set of double doors before the main chamber of the temple. She breathed out, swallowed her fears and doubts, and then, slowly, opened her eyes.

I am ready. Ready to face whatever the future may hold for us. A future we'll face together.

The doors swung open, and she stepped inside.