It All Falls Apart - Ikasury - Fire Emblem: Kakusei (2024)

Chapter 1: Gallant Knights and Fearsome Battles

Chapter Text

It all falls apart

When she was younger, her mother used to tell her stories about gallant knights and fearsome battles. How any odds could be overcome with perseverance, dedication, and hope. So long as those things were strong enough, and your body still worked, anything… anything was possible.

Lucina wished those things were true, and some part of her kept those childish dreams and fantasies despite how much the world changed around her.

Her father… died when she was young. He lived long enough to teach her how to wield a sword, his sword in fact, and she loved him dearly for those days training. They helped her survive, helped her be strong.

And dealing with the coming years of darkness, she needed to be strong.

Her mother had cried, but quietly. Lucina had always assumed it was because she was the Queen. She had to keep up appearances, be strong in the face of overwhelming tragedy.

Then she saw her mother cry when her friend Severa’s mother died, rushing out into battle in her father’s name, fighting the horde of Risen… only to fall all the same.

She’d never seen her mother cry like that; tears falling freely from her eyes as she couldn’t breathe, latching onto Severa’s father, Lon’qu, trying to stay standing… only to collapse on the floor as he rubbed her back, letting the Queen of a nation crumble at the death of a fallen soldier…

She saw the look in the man’s eyes; that quiet pain, feeling it himself but it almost seemed like he felt more for how her mother felt and burdened himself with her loss more than his own.

Severa had stood next to her when this all happened, they had come to the room uninvited, happy to get to play together… only to hear Lon’qu’s words to Lucina’s mother, and watch the scene play out before them. The young brown haired girl had just looked furious, cursing her mother for dying in battle, and Lucina was left staring as so many pieces started falling into place…

Her mother always told her stories about gallant knights and fearsome battles, about a team of two Pegasus Knights that ruled the skies, raining down righteous fury on any that tried to take down the Exalt. Stories about a woman with fiery red hair, who was the epitome of perfection wielding a lance and riding her winged steed, diving in and out of the air, crushing enemies and saving those just in the nick of time…

The way her mother’s eyes lit up telling those stories… her stories… about a time of war, impossible odds, and the determination she gained thanks to the one always at her side…

And it wasn’t her father…

Even at this young age, in this bleak time, Lucina knew the difference between crying over a lost friend…

And losing the one you truly loved.

Now in this current time, in the bright, beautiful past where things were still possible, her father was still alive, and she intended to challenge her fate and that of the world…

Lucina took a deep breath, hoping to calm herself down, as her hand trembled. Gripping them to her chest, biting her lower lip, she knew what she had to do, what she promised herself she would do…

Her mother had taught her many things with her stories, but she never told her about giving up, about true loss.

Seeing her mother cry that day, so long ago, at the death of the Pegasus Knights Captain, she knew somewhere along the way her mother had given up something truly important.

And given the chance, Lucina would help her not lose that precious thing ever again.

She was glad she was her mother, glad she taught her valuable things that got her through the coming wars, the raids, even her mother’s death and Lon’qu’s… that gave her the strength to even try something as insane as this; coming to the past, intending to change the fate of the world.

Now, she just wanted to change one little thing, one other thing, so that her mother could truly be happy…

With determination, Lucina took another breath, calming her entire body. When she opened her distinct blue eyes, she was ready…

Ready to face the woman that would become her mother.

-----

Sumia was sitting on her cot reading.

It had been two years since the end of the Plegian war. Two years since she got married to Chrom, becoming the Queen of Ylisse and setting aside her lance and armor for hopefully peaceful days and the rest of her life.

Nearly two years since she’d seen or heard from her… friend.

If she were telling the truth, she didn’t beg her husband to let her rejoin the army for this new war to stand by his side and show a united front for their people. That was part of it, and she did want to end this conflict soon so she could return to her cherished daughter who was barely a year old, but…

No, truthfully, it was just an excuse. An excuse to ride her Pegasus again, to fly in the skies, to get that rush from swooping and diving, to go back to doing something she was relatively good at.

And… hopefully… to see her again.

Cordelia. The perfect Pegasus Knight, gallant survivor of the order bent on restoring it, pledging her life to Ylisse and whatever else she could claim to keep her close to battle.

Away from the capitol. Away from her.

She had made a mistake two years ago, only by the time she realized it, it was far too late. Out of nervousness and fear she had said ‘yes’ to a question she hadn’t truly wanted to hear from Chrom. It was the end of the war, they had survived, everyone was excited and she was swept up in the joviality once she left the medical tent.

She had… been on her way to see Cordelia, to speak to her, to share in this triumph and joy, to just… something!

And just as she thought of where to look for the gallant knight, the prince had come to her, confessing undying love, making such a grand gesture, and spouting off all this about celebrating the end of the war with a wedding and… honestly she may have lost some of his declaration as she was too shocked and embarrassed it was happening.

What brought her back into focus was a tall woman in armor with red hair, standing by the tents… holding flowers… and looking right at the scene with the most pained expression Sumia had ever seen on her face.

It made her cry…

What was she supposed to do? All those people, all those expectant looks, Chrom so sure of himself and his proposal…

Cordelia watching, not saying a word…

‘You don’t turn down a prince… ’ that had been the flimsy excuse she gave to the gallant knight when she finally got to see her again; ten minutes before she was to say her vows at the altar. Next to that prince…

Cordelia had looked just as hurt there, but at that point Sumia didn’t have any pity for her friend. She had hoped, prayed, begged for the woman to come earlier, come sooner so she could just get on her Pegasus and they could run away! But…

Her knight did not come, and this wasn’t some fairy tale.

A nation waited for her, what was one person’s feelings compared to that… no, two peoples’ feelings.

Cordelia didn’t stay for the ceremony, and the next she heard was months later she had gotten married to Lon’qu, seemingly out of nowhere. Just as well, she had to learn about it from Lissa anyway.

So, had she given up?

Chrom was good to her; kind, loyal, patient… it… worked. Their marriage worked, it was what Ylisse needed after the war. Just a little bit of hope and a bright smile.

Those smiles became more genuine when Lucina was born, she truly did love her daughter, even if she still only saw her father as just a bit more than a friend.

But she wasn’t going to show that to Lucina, no way! Not ever! As far as her daughter was concerned, her parents were deeply in love, always had been… always would be… and there weren’t any lingering thoughts or considerations of things left unsaid between two people that missed their chance. None at all.

Closing her book, Sumia took a deep, calming breath. She needed to get out of this tent, go work on something productive! Like training! Or cooking… or cleaning… or… organizing the weapons, maybe?

Guiltily she wondered if a certain redhead would be there… those were the things Cordelia did when she wanted to avoid something after all.

The flap to her tent was pushed aside and someone came barging in, “Mother!”

It made Sumia squeak, “Eep!” jumping on the bed as she still wasn’t used to this whole… future-daughter thing! Wide light brown eyes turned slowly towards the beautiful blue haired woman smiling down at her, it made Sumia blush every time she saw her, amazed at how beautiful her little baby girl was going to grow up to be!

“L-Lucina!” her voice cracked, hiding behind the book she was holding only to realize it a moment later, putting it down quickly enough to nearly slam her knees, “Er-ah-haha! What… um… what do you need? Sweetie?” oh this felt so weird!

Her youthful face got tight around her blue eyes, her smile looking a bit more fragile as her fingers nervously intertwined in front of her, “Um, yes! I… uh… that is to say, there is… um…” Lucina swallowed hard, this was more challenging than she thought.

Seeing the so stalwart girl mumble and fumble with her words, it was honestly quite cute! It made Sumia relax for some reason, probably seeing at least some of herself in the girl that took so much after her father.

“Hehe,” with a giggle the reinstated Pegasus Knight pat the seat next to her, “Come, sit down, it might be easier… not standing there, fidgeting… like I normally do?” it was hard not to state the observation… Lucina was really cute, even as a young woman around their age.

A bright blush spread on the blue haired woman’s face, “T-thank you, mother,” nervously she moved to sit next to the woman, oddly close Sumia felt but if they truly were mother and daughter that should be normal, right? She kept her blue eyes forward, fingers moving in her lap, Sumia honestly wondered if she gave the girl a flower if she’d start pulling off the petals like she did with her fortunes. She really hoped she didn’t inherit that too. “Um, mother?”

“Hm?” Sumia perked up, raising her eyes to her future child’s face.

“There’s…” Lucina swallowed hard, “There’s something… I-I want you to be honest with me about…”

A pit of dread opened up in Sumia’s stomach but she hoped she kept it off her face as she just smiled encouragingly at the young woman, “Of course! Anything!”

Those blue eyes turned to the Pegasus Knight, sharp and intimidating, and at this distance Sumia could see the Brand of the Exalt in Lucina’s left eye. There was no way of denying she was her daughter, not with that staring right at her.

“Do you… truly love my father?”

Forget the pit, she just got struck with a stone the size of a mountain in her gut.

“Why… why would you ask that, sweetie?” the smile hurt, it hurt so much to put on, especially with her earlier, treacherous, thoughts. But she would do it, for her daughter she would do anything, “Of course I… love your father.”

“Don’t lie to me mother,” instead of angry or accusatory, Lucina’s voice was oddly soft and sorrowful, “I’ve… I’ve known for years… and I’m just, sorry…” looking down, her fingers were at it again, “When father died, you were sad but you didn’t allow yourself to show it much. I thought you were just being strong, for the nation…” her hands clinched, “But then… when word of the Pegasus Knights Captain died, from her husband no less… you cried… you cried for days and I don’t think you ever truly recovered.”

Eyes wide, Sumia just stared at her future daughter. -How… how could she…- unconsciously, her hands went to her mouth, covering it as tears started to form in her eyes. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be, she was supposed to be strong! Keep those abhorrent thoughts away from her daughter… how could she betray her so horribly?! “Lucina… I’m… I’m so sorry… I should have never-I can’t even begin to tell you how-!!” the words caught up in a jumble in her throat, the tears falling now… “I’m so sorry.”

Shocked blue eyes stared at her, appalled at what her admittance had done to her mother, “N-no! No! It’s-it’s fine! Mother, please! Please don’t cry!” she wanted to reach out to her, wanted to hold her, hug her, something, ANYTHING that would make her young mother stop crying! This wasn’t how she hoped this would go, how she planned things-!!

With a sniffle, Sumia rubbed her eye, erasing the shameful evidence, “No… you’re right… I had no right to act such a way, especially with your father gone… and right in front of you…” she didn’t even know what her future self had done, but she could definitely imagine. If Cordelia died… and she didn’t have Chrom… and poor Lon’qu having to tell her… it must have been horrible.

And for Lucina to see… how shameful.

“Mother,” the young woman’s soft voice cut into Sumia’s dark thoughts, taking her young mother’s hand in her own, “I… I don’t bring this up to make you sad,” she squeezed her mother’s hand, gaining her attention, “I’m glad…I could see that side of you.” She meant it, smiling brightly at the woman in front of her, “You… you used to tell me stories, about gallant knights and fearsome battles,” Lucina looked down with a bit of an embarrassed blush, “You were always so happy to tell me tales about the Pegasus Knights, about how they fought and won, were fearless and great warriors,” she looked deep into her mother’s eyes, hoping she saw the sincerity she felt at these memories, “Especially about two from the previous war, you never said their names, but… with the way you said it, the way your eyes would light up describing them… it was like I knew them.”

Sumia could only stare, swallowing hard. Did she really… REALLY tell her daughter stories about herself… and Cordelia? Was she really that insane to… oh who was she kidding, of course she did! She wanted to inspire her daughter to do great things… and there was no one she knew more inspirational than her gallant knight.

Lucina watched as her mother’s eyes went from stunned to considerate to soft, that kind gentle gaze she remembered from when an older version of her would tell her such stories.

“You truly loved her,” it was all Lucina could say, gripping her mother’s hand in comfort.

A funny smile passed Sumia’s lips as she wiped away an errant tear, “You really shouldn’t make your mother cry,” glancing up, she saw the terrified look pass Lucina’s face, and she couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss her on the forehead, petting her hair. “It’s alright… I’m just…” she put her hands through her future daughter’s hair, content for the moment to just be honest. This Lucina was an adult after all, seen more war than she had, “How could I keep anything hidden from you, you’re such a clever girl.”

Pursing her lips, tears welled up in the corners of Lucina’s eyes, “I’m sorry mother, I just… I love father, but I want you to be happy, truly happy,” reaching out she took both of Sumia’s hands in hers, “And I know… my mother wasn’t as happy as she could have been…” when she looked up, blue eyes matching those light brown ones, she hoped her young mother understood.

She wasn’t condemning her mother, in fact she was condoning it. She wanted Sumia to go, anywhere with whoever she wanted, and be happy. Her mother, the one she knew, the one that told her stories growing up about gallant knights and fearsome battles, she wasn’t happy. She loved her daughter, loved her husband in her own way, but he didn’t make her happy.

There was a knock on the tent post, a tall shadow at the door, “Um… Sumia? A-are you in there?”

Sumia’s eyes just went wide. Of all the times for Cordelia to just randomly decide to come speak to her, now was it?!

Watching her mother closely, Lucina quickly deduced who this woman intruding was. Her mother’s reaction was a dead giveaway.

With a far too charming smile, Lucina gripped her mother’s hands, amused by her terrified look, then stood up and headed towards the door, opening the flap.

“O-oh! Princess Lucina!” Cordelia was much better at hiding whatever her feelings were about this situation, making a perfect salute to the Exalt’s daughter.

Lucina just stared at the woman. In her time she had never had the chance to meet Cordelia face to face. There were a handful of times she met Severa and Lon’qu, the swordsman leaving messages for his wife as he didn’t like to leave such important matters to another she learned later, but never once had she seen the Pegasus Knights Captain herself.

But thanks to her mother’s stories, she had a pretty good idea who this woman was… who she really was.

She gave the woman an honest smile, “You must be Cordelia, the Pegasus Knights Captain,” she held out her hand, “I hate to say we never met in my time, but I feel like I got to know you quite well through my mother’s stories…”

A cherry red blush crept over the taller woman’s face, her grip on Lucina’s hand unconsciously tightened, “S-she… S-Sumia…” retracting her hand, Cordelia gave a quick cough, clearing her throat, “I mean to say, the Queen would bother telling stories of someone like me?”

That reaction made Lucina smile, raising a hand to support her chin amused, “Indeed she did, quite often,” slyly her eyes crept into the tent, seeing the embarrassed look on her mother’s face, “In fact, I think she rather missed the action of a Pegasus Knight, with her closest comrade at her side.”

Those red eyes shifted, nervously glancing towards the tent, “I… I doubt that…” Cordelia looked away, scratching her cheek, “Your mother has always been kind, I’m sure she prefers to be off the battlefield…” her eyes fell, along with her voice, “It’s not the place for someone with as kind a heart as her…”

“She didn’t get to fly much, being the Queen,” Lucina kicked at the ground, “I think that’s what she missed most,” her blue eyes lifted, catching hold of Cordelia’s red ones, “Flying freely in the sky, with the person she trusted most on a Pegasus next to her…”

At first Cordelia automatically assumed Lucina was talking about her father, it was rare but even Sumia could convince her Pegasus to let men ride him on occasion.

But as those last few words fell from the future princess’ lips, the inflection, the tone… she couldn’t possibly mean…

Suddenly Lucina’s hand was on Cordelia’s shoulder, a bright smile on the future princess’ face, “Please take care of her? I’m sure she’d love to go flying again…”

And with that she left, this was as much as Lucina could do for her mother. She knew it was selfish, it was cruel, and Cynthia and Severa would probably curse her from the other world…

But she had to do it. She had to let her mother know the truth… let her have the chance to find her own true happiness.

And maybe then she could help her father find his too…

-----

“HOW COULD YOU!?!”

She deserved the punch across her face.

Several days ago Sumia and Cordelia had gone out on a patrol and never came back. Two days later Lon’qu finally reported that his wife ran off with the Queen. The quiet swordsman, while feeling obviously hurt or betrayed, didn’t seem all that surprised. In fact, when Lucina watched him on his own, he seemed to almost smile at the ring that had been returned to him.

Her father hadn’t taken it well. Robin, their tactician, had been furious that two of their best flying units would take off at such a critical time.

And Severa… she’d taken it the worst.

“YOU STUPID SELFISH BITCH!!”

She deserved that punch too… and the one that came after… and the rest of them…

“Severa STOP!!” of all the people to pull the brunette mercenary away, Lucina hadn’t expected it to be her own sister…

Cynthia, her hair like their father’s and her eyes just like their mother’s, shockingly glared at her older sister while holding Severa around the waist and pulling her away.

She didn’t know, she was too young when their father died… didn’t know what it was like seeing their mother like that; empty, stony… only to finally get some emotion out of her and it was such horrible sadness when someone else died.

She had been old enough to understand when their mother died. Lucina had never been good at riding, especially Pegasi, or calling them, or had any of that natural talent with animals their mother had, Cynthia had inherited all that along with her clumsiness. All Lucina was good at was holding a sword.

Cynthia had been the one to calm down the frenzied Pegasus that had returned, covered in blood. Had taken its bridle in hand, grabbed a lance and swore to live up to their mother’s example as a hero.

Lucina had been terrified of seeing her little sister get killed… had asked Lon’qu to watch over her. The quiet swordsman had simply told her he couldn’t do anything while she was in the sky, but he could watch Lucina for her parents, and have the likes of Cherche watch over Cynthia.

These were unreasonable requests Lucina would later regret.

“Let me go Cynthia! Let me beat her pretty little face into the ground!!” Severa was still struggling, still trying to maim the damnable princess.

“No! You can’t do that! Not before we beat the bad guys!!” and Cynthia just held on, her small body being surprisingly strong. She was angry too, but she didn’t want to see her friend or her sister fighting anymore!

“Cynthia let her go,” Lucina wiped her lip, not looking at either of them.

“But, Sis-!!” those eyes, just like their mother’s widened.

“I DESERVE THIS!!” her voice silenced the whole area.

In the next instant she was pushed up against a tree and just let Severa hit her as much as she wanted.

Five minutes, ten, fifteen… it didn’t matter, Severa soon winded and let the princess fall to the ground. Collapsing herself only a moment later as she tried to cover up her sobbing.

“I… did it… for them…” Lucina panted out, her whole body felt like lead. Painful, throbbing lead.

Cynthia had walked over to her, but hadn’t offered to help her up, only glared down at her sister, “And what about us?” she pointed to herself and Severa, “Did you think about us?”

“Did you think about our mother when you flew off into the heart of battle hoping to get yourself killed?” the words were biting out of Lucina’s mouth, and the slap that answered them was just as painful.

There probably would have been another, with how furious Cynthia looked, but apparently this time it was Severa that grabbed the smaller girl’s thrown back wrist and prevented it.

Severa’s eyes were red, just like her mother’s Lucina now realized, having finally met the woman.

They were glaring murder at her.

“What about my father?!” her voice was hoarse and harsh, barely holding back sobs, “He died for you! And this is how you repay him! By putting some fantasy in my f*cking mother’s head and having her run off with yours!! Before your sister is even BORN!!”

“YOU SAW THE SAME THING I DID!!” now it was Lucina’s turn to growl, gripping the dirt below her, in so much pain she didn’t even care anymore, “You saw her… how she cried over your mother’s death… more than your father, more than she EVER showed towards mine!!”

There were tears now, in all their eyes…

“She loved her… they both did…” Lucina covered her eyes, recalling the nervous looks from both young women she met, “Isn’t that why we came back… to make them happy!?”

“We came back…” Severa scowled, spitting on the ground, “Because your stupid dream…”

Cynthia and Severa left her…

Whatever history they had, it was gone now. Both her sister and her friend were gone.

-----

It all went wrong… and it was all her fault.

Without her mother and Cordelia, without Cynthia and Severa, everything just took a turn for the worst.

Gerome and his mother could only do so much against the mounting mages and flying enemies. Without air support the ground troops suffered.

Her father was crippled, Lon’qu fought to the bitter end to protect him…

Robin foolishly tried to sacrifice himself to save the rest of them, giving Grima exactly what it wanted. A willing host…

It was all her fault, the end of this world came about because Severa was right, she was being selfish.

“NAGA!!” wounded but still standing, Lucina did the only thing she knew at this point, pray, “NAGA!! Can you hear me?! Please! Send me back!! Do it again!! I won’t mess it up this time!!”

Grima was approaching, everyone else had fled or were dying…

“Please…” her legs failed her, kneeling with only her father’s sword to hold her up, “I won’t fail them again… I’ll make this right…”

Looking passed the possessed tactician, she could see her father’s body, Lon’qu’s not far away…

“I’ll go back further, I’ll stop this from happening…” she swore, she pled, she begged, she gripped the handle of Falchion and promised to whatever god out there would listen that she would get this right next time!

“I’ll make it so all of them can be happy…”

As Grima’s sword plunged into her chest, she felt the temporal magic take hold.

Whatever she was sacrificing was worth the price, she just wanted to prevent this from happening, save her father, save her mother, save all of them and give them a future worth having.

Those glowing possessed purple eyes seemed to smirk at her as the world faded into white.

She hoped it was Naga that heeded her prayer and not Grima…

-----

Chapter 2: The Cost will be your Clothes

Chapter Text

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Wherever she landed it was white and cold…

“AHCHOO!!”

Cold, and her nose was already itchy and runny.

“Ugh…” with a deep groan, Lucina sat up. The ground was covered in snow, she never remembered snow like this in Ylisse.

“Brr…” she shivered, pulling her cloak around her. As far as she could remember she was fighting in the deserts of Plegia, to suddenly go from that balmy heat to this dry cold. -It reminds me of Regna Ferox…- the country was relatively nice, if you didn’t mind freezing every day and-!!

“Wait…” looking around she noticed snow, snow, more snow, rugged mountains, barren trees and… oh thank Naga! There was smoke over there! Standing up Lucina started moving, shivering all the while, “Why in the world would Naga drop me off in Regna Ferox!?”

Last time she’d gone through the portal she’d managed to arrive just in time to save her aunt Lissa from getting a critical wound in the forest of Ylisse… soon after her father picked up Robin…

Her teeth clinched bitterly, and it had nothing to do with the snow.

How could she, how could any of them have been so blind! That tactician… he’d been a plant the whole time! Had killed her father in that time… probably even was responsible for killing him in her original time!

If it wasn’t for Robin… her father would have never died! Her mother would have never had to suffer… Cordelia, Lon’qu and everyone else’s parents never would have had to sacrifice themselves! It was all his fault!

Hell, her mother being trapped with her father was probably that bastard’s fault as well! She’d seen how he paired people up… playing matchmaker… not even taking people’s true feelings into account… just trying to make more soldiers for their army, wasn’t he?

Always looking for the tactical advantage, even at the cost of other’s lives and happiness…

Well not this time!

Lucina would be damned if she let that damn traitor get his way again! Damned if she let him make her parents miserable! Damned if he killed her father again… let her mother suffer… even if it meant she never got born! She’d change all of this!

Suddenly something very hard and very heavy hit her in the head, and like that Lucina’s plotting and revenge was felled… by a loose hammer head.

“Oh sh*t!!” voices gathered around her. “There’s so much blood! Quick get a healer!!”

“There aren’t any healers!”

“Then get that crazy red head!!”

“But sir-?!”

“Go!!”

Everything felt warm and sticky… why was the snow so fluffy…

-----

“Oh my! Just look at the sight of you!”

That oddly cheery voice… where had she heard it before?

“Let’s get you cleaned up… Teeheehehehe… a cute girl like you shouldn’t be running around in such messy armor…”

There was tugging and it got so much colder…

“My, my, all these bruises… tsk, tsk, tsk, this is going to cost you quite a lot…”

In her dazed and delirious state, Lucina managed to open her eyes just long enough to see a cheery woman with red hair up in a ponytail and bright red eyes smiling down at her… well not at her specifically, she seemed to be looking at her stomach with her hands out.

“Okay, here we go!”

There was a bright flash and what felt like electricity shot through her body as things were rather violently put back into place. Blood, bones, bruises… everything put right back where it was originally intended.

Lucina couldn’t help the scream, this was the worst kind of healing she’d ever received in her life!

“And there we go!” there was a snap, and when she managed to look up, the vibrant redhead was winking down at her, “So, how do you want to pay me?”

“P-pay? What?” wincing, Lucina tried to rise. Why did everything still hurt so much? Putting a hand to her chest she realized she was naked, “EEEAAAGH?!” suddenly up and covering herself she glared furiously at the giggling woman, “Are you REALLY a healer?!”

“Well… that depends…” the redhead tapped her chin, “Most of my sisters are merchants, but I do find myself stuck as a Trickster at the moment, maybe if I level up some more…”

Lucina could only stare, mouth hanging open… only to shake it off a moment later, who was she to question the crazy woman that apparently just saved her life, “Right… well… thank you, for saving me,” she looked around the immediate area, “Can I… where are my clothes?”

“Hm?” the redheaded Trickster seemed to blink, “Oh you mean that Great Lord outfit of yours, yea I’ll be taking that back…”

“What?!” Lucina furiously glared at the woman, how DARE she even consider-!!

“Well, I mean it’s either the clothes or your sword,” she pointed with a charming shrug, “And I figure a cute woman like you would probably need the sword more…”

Red rushed across Lucina’s face but she looked to the side of the table. Falchion, the one from her father from her original timeline, it was still with her.

And if she had to choose between her armor from her last world or her father’s sword from her original one… that was no question.

With a sigh she looked away from the redhead, “Fine, take them… I hope they cover the bill…”

The woman just seemed to smile, “Well, you’ve got some change, you weren’t really dying, just knocked out, but it’s not like these random villagers would notice that…” she looked around the room, “Hrm, not much to compensate you here, guess I’ll just have to pick up a regular outfit… oh and that mask! Yea, that’ll be good for hiding your features!”

“W-what did you say?!” suddenly this woman had Lucina’s attention… she didn’t happen to know who she was, right?

“Hmm?” those adorable red eyes blinked before she chuckled, “I mean, we can’t have people seeing that eye of yours too early, right?” she waved her hand as if telling a joke, “Like I said, these villagers might not notice but anyone with some brains certainly would…”

Lucina was off the table, holding the woman’s shoulders and staring directly into her eyes, “My mask, the one from before… even my clothes from back then… could you get them?!” the temporal magic hadn’t worked the same as it did last time, so she’d been left without all her gear…

From back when she pretended to be Marth…

“Hmm… well…” the redhead had a finger on her chin, pondering and not even seeming to notice Lucina’s closeness, “There was another version of you… she didn’t make it here… I’m sure I could just get her things, they’d fit right?”

“A-another… version…?” what? Distinct blue eyes just blinked as her hands slipped from the woman’s shoulders…

“Oh yea!” she clapped her hands cheerily, “My sister Anna managed to acquire the merchandise, a real shame too, as she was supposed to come here with her comrades… but… well,” she shrugged nonchalant, “Things happen, am I right?” she opened one eye, smiling at the Lucina in front of her, “That’s probably why you’re here after all, might as well fill the role or the world could collapse!” at the end she clapped her hands happily, before pondering, “Huh, though that doesn’t really explain everything, does it?”

“What else do you know?!” Falchion was suddenly in Lucina’s hand, she didn’t care if she was injured or naked, this woman had answers and she wanted them, NOW!

“Teehee,” The redhead simply raised her hand, flicking Lucina on the forehead with enough force to send her over the table behind her, “Now, now, is that anyway to treat someone offering you this casual information so freely?”

Lucina just growled, pulling herself up on the other side of the table, “Who… who are you?”

“Me? Oh, I would have figured you’d know me by now,” she gave a knowing wink, “I’m Anna of course, merchant, Trickster,” she leaned over coyly with her finger on her chin, looking more sinister than anything, “Looooooover if you so desire~ teehee…” at the horrified look on Lucina’s face, Anna just laughed, standing up straight, “Course, that’s all if you have the money, which you look pretty broke right now, so once I get your change I’ll be on my way…” she gave a wave, “Back in a bit!”

“Wait-!!” Lucina started reaching out for the woman… only for her to literally disappear right before her eyes. Blue eyes couldn’t help but blink. -Was that… a personal Gate?- such magic existed?!

Well… that probably explained how she got here…

It was still cold, and her eyes drifted down reminding her of her state of undress!

Squeaking, Lucina looked around the room for anything she could remotely use to hide her modesty. There was really only the blanket on one of the beds to the side. This looked like someone’s house, not a cleric’s tent or hospital, so she didn’t want to get into trouble by getting into something she wasn’t supposed to.

Wrapped up in the blanket, she grabbed Falchion, and sat down, waiting for this Anna to return with something for her to wear…

Though the idea that there was another Lucina? That didn’t make it back to the past and she was just taking her place? wouldn’t leave her head. What did that even mean? Wasn’t she just going back into the past?

She’d honestly never thought about how Naga’s magic worked… if she changed the past that would change the future, right? So… wouldn’t that mean the world she came from wouldn’t exist in the first place? She’d have no cause to return to the past?

Was her very existence just a sign that her cause was hopeless?!

She’d never really had the time to experience this much existential dread before…

Was it impossible to change her fate? The fate of the world?

-No!!- gripping Falchion tightly, she knew that wasn’t true! She had seen it! In that past world… where she… might have… made a mistake…

That world still collapsed, but she had seen SOMETHING change in it, something she’d caused…

Her mother was happy, for a moment, with the woman she truly loved…

That was hope, right? That impossible thing her mother always told her could break any barriers and spurned the hero on to fight more?! To beat the bad guy and eventually win!!

‘Hope will never die!’ that’s what she told her, always with a smile and wink before revealing how the heroes, in such dire straits, would beat the bad guy and bring about peace and prosperity to their world.

A fantasy world where everyone was happy…

Lucina bit her lower lip. Could she really still believe in that?

Her mother had been happy, but the world had been destroyed?

Did that really matter?

“Maybe… maybe if I change things before… I’m even…” her fingers rubbed along the handle of Falchion. What she was considering was absolute madness… but she had been willing to sacrificed two of her comrades for her mother’s own happiness before… would sacrificing her own existence be enough?

“What if… I let mom be happy… and got father a different wife?” would she still exist? A different version of herself, maybe? Her mother always said she took after her father more than anything else, that it was difficult to see any of herself in her… even Cynthia said so.

A frown spread on her pale cheeks. Her poor sister… gone, stuck in that world where she would never exist… all because of her selfishness!

“Aragh!!” she just felt like screaming. If she weren’t conscious of the fact this was someone’s home she’d probably break something, but so far she’d just have to suffice with holding Falchion tight enough to hurt.

“Well that’s not very nice…”

Teary blue eyes shot up, Anna had returned, a pile of clothes in her hand… along with a familiar mask…

Those tears grew and started to fall as Lucina abandoned the blanket and walked over to the table where Anna was standing.

“Th-thank you…” mechanically she reached out to start putting them on. She didn’t want to think about whose clothes these were… about another version of herself that failed to get here…

“You’re welcome!” Anna clapped her hands together, smiling that unnaturally cheery smile, “I had my sister, Anna, fix them up for you, get that whole burnt smell out,” she waved her hands when Lucina paused to stare at her with a horrified look, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, that’s a courtesy of ours, no point trying to sell something if it’s got the original blood all over it! That’d lower the price!”

Overcome with grief, Lucina gripped the clothing in her hands, just staring at it…

This… this was the same outfit she wore when she first went to the past… back in that previous timeline. This… this version of her… she didn’t even have a chance… and now… now…

She couldn’t help the bawling that escaped her, surprised when a strong hand was on her shoulder and someone was near enough she could throw her face into their chest.

Her friends. Her father. Her comrades. Her whole world… just… gone… and it wasn’t even the only one?!

“Shh, there, there,” Anna pet the young woman’s head, holding her to her breast and being as gentle as she could, “I know things seem bleak and terrible, but you’ll get through this… you always do!”

There was a choked sob, as Lucina looked at the clothes in her hand, “She… she didn’t…”

“Oh, right,” Anna nodded, patting her head, “Weeeeeeell…” she pushed Lucina back, just so she could look the young woman in the eyes, “She wasn’t you enough, let’s just say that, hm?”

“That… doesn’t even…” she couldn’t finish the sentence, sniffling, rubbing her nose and eyes, staring at the ground, “That was… shameful of me. A Princess of Ylisse shouldn’t be collapsing on a stranger in such a state…”

Anna leaned down, looking up into Lucina’s eyes as she tried to look away. The Trickster was smiling, something a bit more genuine, “Now, don’t go saying that! Everyone’s got their times they need to cry,” Her eyes closed and she gained a Cheshire smile, “And you’ve got more than enough to be crying about, it’s surprising, in fact quite precious!” Anna stood up straight, hand on her chin and pondering, “Now… what should I give you for such a precious thing, hmm…”

“W-what?” Lucina finally finished rubbing her eyes, she could still feel tears there but… she needed to know what Anna was going to tell her.

“Well, I can’t give my services, that would be too early, and too easy…” the redhead leaned to one side, “And I can’t give her all the details, what would the plot be without that mystery…” she leaned the other way, “And a weapon certainly wouldn’t do, even if it’d be cheap for me…” she started walking in a circle, hand still on her chin, eyes closed, deep in thought, “Hmm…”

“Um, A-Anna? What are you…?” it sounded like she was talking crazy.

Finally the red-haired merchant stopped, eyes gleaming as she clapped her hands, “I’ve got it! Teeheehee…” her hands rubbed together as if scheming, “This’ll be perfect!”

“What are you-GAH!?” before Lucina could fully comprehend what the redhead was saying, Anna had apparently warped next to her, grabbing her around the shoulder and spinning her around, doing a pose with one arm up.

“TaaDAA!!!” her voice jingled, going into a giggle as she squeezed Lucina’s shoulder and offered her what appeared to be a ring, “This little gem will help you find your lost comrades!”

“My-what?!” distinct blue eyes blinked, confused. Before Lucina could even get an answer, Anna had put the ring on her finger.

“Now remember, don’t take this off unless you AB-SO-LUTELY have to!” she spun the ring so the rainbow colored jewel was facing up, “As it stands, this will go off whenever you’re near one of your comrades!”

“M-My comrades?” Lucina was still blushing and staring at the ring. It was beautiful, don’t get her wrong, but why the hell did Anna have to put it on her left ring finger?!

“Teehee,” Anna just pat her hand, “You know, the other kids that came back with you!” she had brought Lucina’s hand up to her cheek, rubbing it, making the Princess blush even more embarrassed.

“I-agh-uh-what?!” she was tense, and suddenly very aware she still hadn’t managed to put her clothes on!!

“Oh right,” Anna’s eyes opened suddenly and she dropped Lucina’s hand, putting her finger to her chin and pondering again, “I suppose that matters too…”

Blushing furiously and putting the clothes of her DEAD!self on as fast as humanly possible, Lucina didn’t address Anna’s ominous mumblings until she had her hair up and the butterfly mask covering her face. Oh sweet Naga, it felt so good to hide again right now…

With a stern voice and cool posture, Marth sheathed her sword, staring at Anna, “And what is it that’s supposed to ‘matter’?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Anna had her fingers tented in front of her, giggling, “Just that… remember, your comrades might not be quite the same as you remember them, teehee~”

That brought a frown to Marth’s face. What exactly did she mean by that?

“Welp! That’s all my time! I’ve gotta go!” Anna gave a little salute, wink and skipped out the door quickly.

“Wha-wait?!” it left Lucina completely flustered… how do you just leave like that?!

“Oh, by the way!” Anna seemed to lean into the open door frame, winking at the dressed up Princess, “You look soooooooo cute like that!” blowing a kiss, this time the Trickster truly left.

It left the flustered pretender of Marth stunned.

What was WRONG with the world she just got suddenly dropped into?!

-----

Chapter 3: All I ask for is a Dance

Chapter Text

-----

It took a while for Lucina to fully get a grasp on her surroundings.

No, no, she should be thinking of herself as ‘Marth’, the hero-king of legend! As that was who she was pretending to be while wondering around the wilderness of Regna Ferox.

She spent quite a lot of time wondering in the wilds, going from village to village, helping out where she could and gathering information on her whereabouts and what time she had been unceremoniously dropped in. Thankfully it was the same age as her father’s time frame, like her last jump, but for some reason she was there over three years early! What the hell was she going to do for three years until she had to go save her aunt from Risen and start her plan to help out her mom?

At least when she learned this from one of the villages she passed through, that helped calm her nerves a bit. She had time; time to plan, hone her skills, and be a better ‘Marth’ when she finally made her entrance and set about her plan in motion.

… and, well, if she wanted to hone her skills without drawing too much attention, there was always the Feroxi arena right? She’d gone there before… beat Lon’qu… in the hopes of testing her father’s mettle in battle. Hoping him being able to beat her meant he was strong enough to prevent the dark future in store for them…

Shaking her head, Marth put on a grim face. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things! She had to keep Hope! Alive! And first thing was to keep herself positive and get started with her plans.

So she worked her way through the Feroxi countryside, getting lost really as none of the villages were really that good at giving her directions or were reluctant to give her a straight path towards Arena Ferox for some reason.

“Halt, intruder!”

Marth was standing at the gates of Arena Ferox, having finally found her way, and was making her way inside like any other city…

Only to be stopped by a boy with a blue top with furred accents, dark brown hair that was short in front with a little ponytail and similarly colored eyes. His hand was hovering over a sword at his hip, something that looked too big on a kid his size.

Rolling her eyes behind her mask, Marth just ignored the boy…

“I said HALT!” the sword was suddenly out and at her throat. The boy was apparently very serious about his role as a gate guard.

Gripping her own covered blade, Marth just gave a deeply annoyed sigh to the boy, “I’m here to speak with Khan Basilio, he and I have much to talk about.”

The sharp eyed boy moved, placing himself between the intruder and the gate to Arena Ferox, his blade never leaving the masked person’s throat, “You look suspicious. Why would the Khan speak with you?”

“Why would a boy be guarding the gates to Arena Ferox?” Marth chided with a frown, staring down the boy behind her butterfly mask, “Shouldn’t you be practicing somewhere how to swing that sword and leave battle to the adults actually capable of wielding their swords properly…” this boy was really starting to annoy her…

“I am the West-Khan’s Champion,” he pulled his blade back, getting in a serious two handed style pose with his blade hands next to his head and the curved katana’s tip pointed down at the intruder’s heart, “I will stop anyone that threatens him.”

“Er… wait… his Champion…” her voice may have squeaked a moment. Wasn’t the last time she’d been here Lon’qu was Basilio’s champion… and he’d been said champion for a number of years, sure but… but…

Looking down at this boy; the Chon’sin garb, the black high collar, the furred boots and arm guards, those sharp eyes of his…

Holy Naga she knew every detail of this… boy?! -But… but Lon’qu was always… he was… WHAT?!- Every time she had seen him he always seemed so calm, cool and collected. Acted with such a level of maturity she swore he was older than her father by YEARS!

How in the world was this… this boy?! The same Swordmaster she met and bested in combat two years ago?

The same man that… after her father passed… helped her continue her training with the sword… even… even…

Tears started to well up in Lucina’s eyes, grateful for the mask hiding them as all she could do was stare at this boy in front of her, trying very hard not to imagine the man he would become.

“Yo! Lon’qu!” a cheerful broad voice cut in between them as the great doors to Arena Ferox opened. A big man in gold armor with a bald head and an eye patch had his hand up in greeting, wide smile never leaving his face, “They’re about to start the next match! You should get in here!!”

Lucina could only stare, partly because this man just confirmed her own thoughts and it was always something taking in the sight of West-Khan Basilio.

“Hrm?” Basilio seemed to finally pay attention to what was going on in front of him; his young champion having a masked stranger held at blade point, “Oi! Lon’qu, who is this ruffian?”

Marth bristled at being called a ‘ruffian’…

“Just an intruder.” The young boy gripped his blade tighter, “He shall be dealt with.”

“Now, wait a min-GAH!!” it seemed the time for talking this through rationally and peacefully was over, as Lon’qu struck forward.

Lucina merely dodged the boy’s initial blow, drawing her sword knowing the second that was coming was the one that mattered. She’d trained with the Swordmaster Lon’qu became back in her original time, even dueled his younger self in Arena Ferox two years ago in order to test her father, and while he wasn’t as good as he was in her earlier memories, that version of Lon’qu was still leagues better than this boy.

Their short battle lasted several clashes, Lucina only being defensive as she had no desire to be fighting him in the first place. But he was coming at her like a hellion, clearly having something to prove, probably because Khan Basilio was watching them…

Frustrated and annoyed, Lucina finally countered the boy, deflecting his blade and punched him straight in the face while he was trying to recover.

He stumbled back and looked honestly shocked, wiping blood from his nose, “You craven!”

“Not everyone will fight fair, boy,” Lon’qu had been the one to teach her that… the man that had been Severa’s father, the man that gave his life to save her.

This boy was not him, not by a longshot.

Marth sheathed her sword, approaching the clearly amused Khan.

Basilio gave a broad laugh, “See Lon’qu, there are things even mongrels can teach you,” both gave him a scathing look but he didn’t care, turning his attention to the masked oddball, “So, you have business with me?”

“If you don’t mind, Great West-Khan Basilio…” she tried to bow, show the man the upmost respect she had for him…

“BWAHAHAHA!” only for him to slap her shoulder and drag her into Arena Ferox with him, “Stuff it with the formal stuff kid! There’s a match to watch! We can discuss things after! I want to see your opinion on this fighter! Maybe even get you in the ring to test your mettle stranger!”

“U-uh, yes, sure…” well, she had come here to train…

“Wonderful!” Basilio’s voice boomed as he called behind them, “LON’QU! Get in here! You need to see this too!” he turned back to Marth, who was struggling to breath under his jovial headlock, “He managed to beat my last Champion by the skin of his teeth, but the boy really needs to learn how to fight dirty! All that Chon’sin nonsense about an honorable fight, am I right?”

Taking a deep breath, as Marth managed to move the large man’s arm enough to be more comfortable, and nodded, “Honor will only get you killed…”

“BWAHAHAHAHA!” another big laugh from the man as he slapped the stranger on the shoulder, “See! You get it!” when Lon’qu joined them he was subjected to the same arm-around-the-neck treatment, “I want you to follow this guy Lon’qu, learn all you can, and kill him if he turns out to be any kind of trouble!”

“Y-yes Khan Basilio,” despite struggling to breathe, and both being in the same predicament, the young myrmidon glared at the stranger. He’d keep a close eye on this man alright.

Marth could only glare back, not that the boy could see, but the obvious sentiment was mutual.

Khan Basilio didn’t care, he had the potential for a great fight right here!

-----

It had been a year since she stuck around Arena Ferox…

It was still cold, it was still covered in snow, and she might just have started getting used to it… almost… maybe… sort of…

Shaking her head, Lucina tried to relax, leaning back into the private bath she had been awarded.

The Feroxi were a wild bunch, she knew that from before, having spent a month or so with them before her father and his merry band showed up… but living with them for a year? Oh sweet Naga did it show her so much more of the militaristic and ‘savage’ culture the Feroxi enjoyed.

Everything was decided by strength. Every. Goddamned. THING!

You have a dispute, go to the arena and sort it out. You want to marry someone, go to the arena and sort it out. You want a divorce, GO TO THE ARENA AND SORT IT OUT!

Sweet Naga it was like these people had never heard of just talking out their problems…

It was thanks to Lon’qu, after finally hitting a growth spurt but still being a good bit shorter than her, constantly accusing her of being a spy for some other nation or planning to kill Basilio that she’d gotten fed up and finally just did things the Feroxi way. She challenged him in the arena and beat the snotty little brat within an inch of his life… FUTURE BE DAMNED!!

Naga that boy could be such a hassle…

But thanks to that display, Khan Basilio basically required her to be his new Champion, as she had beat his old one in the arena so it was official.

It was quite the nightmare, Lon’qu even swore to beat her again to get his hard-fought, and she knew from previous timelines, well-earned title back.

The next day he joined her for training, and honestly having nothing better to do she helped the poor boy. If it got him to stop questioning her presence there as just a random traveler and not there with any kind of ill-intent, fine! She’d help train him… maybe he could finally start living up to the man she remembered if she helped him out a bit…

Lon’qu wasn’t bad, he was just… young. It pained her to admit this, but she was almost twenty now, counting her previous timelines, and this boy was barely fifteen. The man she knew and admired had been in his thirties, the man she fought before had apparently been seventeen. It wasn’t fair of her to be comparing him to those men, it really wasn’t…

And she’d been sixteen when she fought him to a standstill before in Arena Ferox, her skills improving immensely over the next two years and they both had continued to spar and improve.

It really wasn’t fair of her to look down on this boy… when he was years behind her, both in age and real battle experience.

So she trained him… trained him into the ground every day so he’d both learn quicker and would be too exhausted to follow her around accusing her of anything! More often than not she wound up dragging him to his barracks room and just throwing him on his bed, making sure his sword was put away properly before leaving and enjoying the spare free time she had acquired for herself… which she mostly just spent training more. It helped keep the nightmares away, she told herself.

When the Arena Ferox festival tournament for deciding which Khan would rule for the next year came about, Marth had been forced to participate. She really tried to not make it so obvious she was trying to fail, but the other fighters were just… so BAD! How could she convincingly lose to any of them?!

Khan Basilio certainly wouldn’t believe it, and if she somehow managed to convince Lon’qu, he’d beat whoever had ‘beat’ her so quickly and preen about it she just knew it’d be detrimental to his training in the long run.

So she beat her opponents, not overly so as to not show her true strength, but enough…

And when it came to facing Lon’qu, who looked to have gotten a bit taller… well, she gave him an honest fight. It wouldn’t look well for the master to be outdone so easily by the student, no one would believe that.

But he had fought well, she could see his improvement, and that had made her smile when she pointed her blade at his throat while he was stunned on the ground. She wasn’t going to kill him, but he could swear to Naga she was going to rub this in and force him to get stronger!

East-Khan Flavia’s Champion hadn’t been much after that…

Khan Basilio had been generous in rewarding her for winning, giving her a large suite with a private bath, large feather bed, all the trimmings and trappings a champion deserved…

She wondered if Lon’qu had lived here before…

The private bath was nice and convenient. Hiding her identity behind her mask and Marth had been… taxing, to say the least. Getting a good bath was a matter of strategic precision and awareness. The public baths were only accessible late at night when no one else was around, and as Regna Ferox was seemingly in a constant winter so it wasn’t like she could just go bathe in a stream any time she wanted…

So, she was going to take this moment to relax and enjoy this! To the victor go the spoils!

She was barely in the bath for an hour when a large pounding came from her door.

“sh*t!” Lucina scrambled immediately out of the bath, putting on her attire as Marth as quickly as possible. She managed to put the mask on just in time as apparently the guard or whoever was at her door decided to just let themselves in… or at least let someone in…

Coming out of the private bath, Marth came face to face with a young female dancer… hair long light pink tresses in the revealing silk garb of a Dancer and looking quite nervous.

Confused, Marth descended the small rise into the living area of her suite, “Um, excuse me? Can I help you?” this young girl looked vaguely familiar…

“Eep!” she squeaked and spun around, the braids framing her face moving delicately with the movement as her beautiful pink eyes widened taking in her patron, “I-ah… um!” nervously she bowed low, prostrating herself on the floor, which Marth had learned wasn’t all that uncommon for the Feroxi without any kind of power, “K-Khan Basilio s-sent me to s-show gratitude t-towards his f-favored Ch-Champion…” without a gesture, she rose timidly, looking to the ground as one of her hands lingered near her chest and a bright blush appeared on her cheeks, “I-I am to service your desires, C-Champion…”

If the young dancer’s blush was a sight, the one that passed under Marth’s mask was visible from space.

There were two reasons for this; one being Lucina recognized this woman as the Feroxi Dancer that was her friend Inigo’s mother, only just as young as Lon’qu from this day and age apparently… and two… two?!

She understood perfectly what kind of implication Khan Basilio meant by her ‘servicing’ her desires…

Lucina’s mouth went dry. Partly because she was appalled, but also because a terrible part of her was half-tempted by the offer… it had been… awhile since she’d had such company… and Inigo had been fun, as fun as their dark future allowed, same with Severa… and Olivia looked quite cute all blushing and nervous in that clingy outfit…

-NO!!- Suddenly Marth slapped himself with both hands. The action caused Olivia to squeak and jump as she watched the strange man shake his head vigorously for some reason.

“Ah-um… C-Champion?” nervously, the young dancer seemed to inch forward.

“Marth,” Lucina took a deep breath, releasing it and took on the calm tranquil features her alter-ego afforded her. Looking down at Olivia now, she could see how scared the young girl was.

If she recalled she was said to be in the ‘service’ of Khan Basilio for many years, traveling around when needed to show off her dancing skills. Having lived in Regna Ferox for a year, Marth had certainly learned of the ‘other’ side of that occupation. Both spy and concubine should the need arise, Feroxi dancers were a subtle kind of power, a necessity for any nation but something extremely underestimated.

As far as she knew, Olivia was primarily just a legitimate dancer, her skills on the battlefield in her previous time had been unprecedented. She could motivate the army to fight harder or distract their foes, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t her own fierce warrior. There was a deadly if beautiful dagger hidden under those silken folds…

It still made Lucina blush, seeing the woman in battle she had been… quite enticing. She’d never thought further about her title then, but now… now she truly understood.

But that was the Olivia from a former life, the one here, like the Lon’qu here, were just young children compared to her.

She didn’t know of the dancer’s training, or what kind of experiences she had here, Khan Basilio was a simple man and seemed truly enamored and satisfied with her dancing purely from what she could recall before.

Maybe she was just overthinking things and assuming too much…

“Um, Marth?” suddenly the young dancer was close, her shy yet inquisitive pink eyes watching the young man, “Is there anything I can do for you right now?”

She didn’t seem so shy and fragile right now, this close… when did she get so close?!

“Gah!” Marth took a step back, quickly correcting himself and coughing into his hand, “No. No, Olivia there is nothing I require,” she waved her hand, “I have no need of your,” squeak, “services.”

Pink eyes blinked at the nervous young man, raising her hands to hide a bit behind them, “I-I see,” her head dropped, “My… reputation must proceed me, and it must not be very good if… if…” she sniffled, shaking.

Oh that did not sound good! “What, no!” immediately Marth was at her side, hands on her shoulders and trying to get the dancer to face the masked man, “No! I’ve only heard good things about your dancing!” she had in this time, right? Olivia was known for her dancing prior to her father ever meeting the woman… right?!

“Oh-oh…” the shy dancer nibbled on her lower lip, it was rather adorable, “Um?” those pink eyes looked up at Marth, “Is-is there anything I can do for you?” suddenly frantic she waved her hands, taking a step back, “I-if you aren’t interested in my, um, ‘services’ that is… I… well…” she pressed her fingers together nervously, “I-it wouldn’t do well to deny the Khan’s hospitality, and I-I don’t exactly want to return to the… um…”

Lucina swallowed hard. -Right… most of the dancers… lived in the harem… uh… whatdoIdo?!- She didn’t want to send Olivia back, she could do at least that much! And it would hurt Olivia’s reputation if she did and… oh man this was a weird situation?!

Though part of her wondered if, in the previous timelines, would this have been how Olivia and Lon’qu met? And if so…

Marth immediately shook his head, banishing the thought, “Dance for me.”

“Hm?” pink eyes rose, blinking. She was surprised by the sudden change in attitude… and that confident voice, “Just… dance?”

“Yes.” Marth confidently nodded, moving to take a seat, “Just… dance…”

The way the young dancer smiled was charming, but Lucina felt like she had been conned.

Not that it mattered, Olivia’s dancing had always been a spectacular sight. So what if she indulged a moment.

She did something vibrant, cheerful, the kind of dance one did at an overwhelming victory…

That wasn’t how Lucina felt right now.

“Please… stop…”

It took a moment but Olivia found a point to end her dance, eyes rising, surprised to hear such a sullen voice from the victorious Champion. She bowed her head low, “I-I’m sorry… was there something wrong with-?!”

“Nothing,” the masked person sighed deeply, shaking her head, “Please, I just… your vibrant dance reminds me of someone…” her eyes trailed the ground, shadows of a boy with grey hair dancing with a bright smile as he always held his hand out to her, trying to get her to smile and laugh and play with him.

Olivia watched Marth’s face, a gentle smile passing on her own, “If it would please you more, I can get one of the other dancers…” a light blush passed her cheeks as she lowered her gaze, fiddling with her fingers, “A male one perhaps?”

A blush rushed up under that mask, but Marth immediately waved it away, “Th-that’s not… not what I meant,” she scratched the side of her face, “No, I’d rather see you dance… he danced like you…”

That gentle smile spread on the young dancer’s face, “I’m sure he was quite the sight, if he danced like me,” she brought her hands up and giggled behind them, amused by that masked gaze on her, “I must admit… it’s easier to dance for you… w-with that mask on…” shyly Olivia smiled at the champion, “Do you have any requests?”

“Something sad…” Marth leaned back in the cushioned chair, thoughts drifting to the shadows she remembered, “Something… lost… and slow…”

Sympathy spread over Olivia’s face as she watched the champion lean back, his voice drifting away forlorn. She had only seen such expressions on the old veterans, even Basilio at times…

This young man, he should have been basking in his glory and victory, but all he could think about was those he’d lost. There had been a rumor among the concubines and other dancers, that this wanderer that took up the name ‘Marth’ was a royal from some distant land that had been lost to invaders. His sword-arm was strong, his technique nearly flawless, his tactics patient and refined… but he was so cold and distant; everyone could only feel sorrow for him.

Lon’qu was the only one that could speak to him frankly, and the two were always butting heads, fighting or training. Basilio took some kind of pity on him, letting him stay and leave as he pleased, only requesting the use of his strength when necessary.

Olivia could see something hurt and fragile in his countenance. He was kind, but distant. Guarded, but that was obvious with the mask he wore. This request, this leniency, was probably something no one else in Regna Ferox had seen from the Champion.

She would hold it close and do as he requested.

Olivia’s movements were slow and deliberate, showing something tragic yet beautiful…

For the first time in nearly a year, Lucina cried, remembering everything she had lost one more time…

-----

The ring started acting up.

She was halfway into another year in Regna Ferox, most of her time spent training with Lon’qu, entertaining Khan Basilio or enjoying Olivia’s company. Whether she wanted it or not, thanks to winning the festival for Khan Basilio had made him extremely generous; Olivia was basically in Marth’s service now and by Feroxi rights she could do with the young girl what she wanted.

All Marth… well, no, all Lucina wanted from her was the company and to watch her dance on occasion. She was bright, and gentle, and kind, but could be sharp as a whip at times. Lucina encouraged her to continue her training as a dancer, not that Olivia needed much pushing there, so she was not always available for the masked swordsman’s whims.

This left her with time to train with Lon’qu. The young man was truly growing into his own… so quickly it honestly surprised Lucina.

He was starting to grow into an actual challenge and while part of her was proud of that, another dreaded it. The more like the Lon’qu she remembered he became, the less time she had in this carefree state.

Every swing she couldn’t block, every blow she couldn’t dodge, every razor’s edge she felt… every inch he grew…

They were just reminders. Reminders that she had a purpose here and staying in Regna Ferox wasn’t it. Even if she had grown to like the cold and snow…

When the ring on her finger started to react she knew it was time to leave. Someone… one of her comrades from the future must have been nearby, close enough she finally got an understanding how this thing would work.

It gave off a strong vibration in her hand, it grew stronger for a number of days, then started to grow fainter. Whoever had been nearby was moving away… she couldn’t let this chance slip her by.

She needed comrades, she needed to start truly planning what to do to change the future. She knew several of the others had come to the past longer than the rest, but she hadn’t thought one would already be here… part of her had hoped she had more time.

But that was something she knew she never truly had.

So she had gathered her things, told Khan Basilio she would be leaving on a journey with no idea how long it would be.

He’d given her a stern look, put his large hand on her smaller shoulder and gave an approving grunt.

Lon’qu had been furious, caught between demanding to go with her, ‘to make sure he returned’ he’d said, still only knowing Lucina as Marth… and sticking to his duties to Regna Ferox. Marth told him to stay and train, that if he beat the next festival, he had every right to come chasing after ‘him’ and drag his teacher back. So they could settle their score on who was truly stronger.

Olivia all but demanded to go with Marth, he was her patron after all, he was responsible for her, she was supposed to go where he went or where he sent her after all. As much as Lucina truly appreciated the gesture, and considered it, she didn’t want to interfere with the young woman’s future. Not yet anyway. If she was going to find some of her old comrades, she needed to be able to talk with them frankly, as Lucina, not Marth, and having Olivia so close… she doubted she could do it.

So she told them to stay in Regna Ferox, to get stronger, so that when she returned they could join her on her next adventure.

At that bold declaration, Basilio laughed heartily, saying he’d take care of the two, ‘For when you get back!’

Marth smiled at the big man. She had enjoyed his company last time, dreaded his death, and valued his aid in battle. Now… now he was a friend, and she’d do what she could later to try and save him…

Fate could be changed, she had seen it. Khan Basilio, Olivia and Lon’qu, they were her friends this time around… she’d change their fates to the best of her ability.

Pack strung over the masked man’s back, Marth departed Arena Ferox with a wave. Not looking back, because the next time she saw this place, it would be in the company of comrades and triumphant.

-----

Chapter 4: That's Your... WHAT?!

Chapter Text

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The ring took her south.

When she came to the great wall that separated Regna Ferox from the rest of the continent, its boarder countries of Plegia and Ylisse, Lucina was at a crossroads on which way to go.

It seemed the ring wanted her to go south, but both east and west. West of Plegia, east of Ylisse. Unless she was looking at this rainbow colored jewel wrong, or had gone crazy, it seemed as if there were two small sparks shining on both sides pointing which ways to go.

Seeing as she wanted to avoid Ylisse… in case someone mistook her for her father, or worse she accidentally stumbled upon him… well that would be a nightmare to explain. She wasn’t exactly in the mood to employ the theatrics she used last time… they hadn’t helped one bit.

Plegia was still dangerous. She decided to take a western route along the wall of Regna Ferox, where it was still ‘safe’ for her to travel, and intended to take a ship from Port Ferox down the coast until the ring told her to stop. Maybe she could avoid Plegia all together…

This wound up being a good plan, as she managed to stop a bandit raid on the wall and the ring seemed to take her to the island to the south west of Plegia and not the continent itself. The boat dropped her off on the moderately sized island, it only had one real town and a bridge to the mainland. They would stay there for a month getting supplies, so she had that long to find her ‘comrade’.

This place was familiar; a rundown fortress in the middle of a forest on an island off of Plegia. She did recall someone being portaled in here, but who…?

She supposed the better question was why they were here so early, most of the portals didn’t appear until after she was born in this world… right?

Or had some of her comrades been stuck in this world longer than she thought?

Deciding to just be direct with this mission, assuming that would be the quickest way to find her comrade, Lucina walked right up to the run-down fortress and knocked on the large wooden door…

One of them fell down off its hinges, clearly in need of some kind of repair or support.

The loud noise got the attention of all the bandits inside and before she even noticed there was about twenty of them using various weapons surrounding her.

The masked swordswoman only really had one thing to say to this situation, “Um, oops?”

“Lookit this dandy, boys!!” one of the bandits approached with a scimitar, a rusty jagged thing that had clearly seen better days. “Comin’ strollin’ on up here, just to say ‘ello, ey? Come to sell us on sumthin’ boy?” he made a few test swings to seem intimidating, only really showing how completely unskilled he was with the blade, “Well, ya got somethin’ ta say, boy? Before we slice ya guts to gizzard and take them fancy clothes of yours?”

Lucina felt really bad for that sword, wielded by an idiot and left in such horrible disrepair…

When he poked it at her again trying to get an answer she flicked it out of his hand by simply drawing Falchion, getting a squeak from the ‘man’ as she put it to his throat, “I’ll be the one asking the questions here…” a malicious smirk rose on her face, playing the villain a moment, “Boy.”

“Eep!” the man squealed like a small frightened child, frantically pointing at her and not even seeming to notice the danger he was putting himself in by flailing about, “G-GET ‘IM BOYS!!”

Lucina couldn’t help but roll her eyes, dodging a pikeman, back handing an axe-wielding fighter, and jumping over a myrmidon, putting her sword back at the man’s throat, “I just want to know if you’ve seen anyone…” what WAS the best way to describe someone that just got dropped out of a portal and came from a broken future? “Uh… strange? Around here?” that worked right?

“YER THE ONLY ONE STRANGE ‘ROUND HERE!!” the man grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at her, seemingly ignoring she was wearing a mask so it was completely ineffective as he scrambled to grab some weapon while ordering the rest of the bandits to attack her again, this time en masse.

Lucina just sighed, this was going to be a boring day…

She tried to fight the bandits nonlethally, they were all young and stupid and didn’t know how to properly use their stolen weapons. She’d knock one weapon out of someone’s hand, put them in a chokehold asking questions until they passed out then dropped them as the others tried attacking while she was still. If they had any sense they’d be trying pincer moves or something, get her cornered and stab her… but they were all about open areas and charging attacks, it made things so laughably easy she just honestly felt bad for them.

“Oi! Git the kid! We gotta ditch this place before that she-devil returns!” the ratfaced coward that was their leader snapped at one of the guards still in their base. Seems he wanted to leave…

“Expecting company?” Marth couldn’t help but ask the man sternly, holding one of his lackeys under his arm.

The man seemed to squirm, yelling back, “YOU’D LEAVE TOO IF’N YA KNEW WHAT’S GOOD FER YA!!”

The masked swordsman could only frown at that, flatly staring at the man but aware her condescending gaze was covered up by the mask on her face.

Not that it mattered, as a second later a bloody tornado showed up hurling a cut up fighter and myrmidon at the ratfaced bastard knocking him to the ground.

Turning surprised, and dropping the lackey under her arm, Lucina caught sight of the one that did this… and was utterly shocked by who she saw.

Narrow red eyes, ashen brown hair in distinct familiar pigtails, fuming some manner of fury as she drew an axe from her back and a sword from her hip. Severa, covered head to toe in some manner of blood, had burning eyes aimed straight at the bandit leader.

It was all too obvious she wanted blood…

Lucina was far too stunned seeing her again, and in such a berserker frenzied state, to say a word.

Severa stalked towards the ratfaced man as he was struggling to get up under the two bodies she’d thrown at him, casually killing any of the bandits that tried attacking her in brutally efficient swings of either her axe or sword. Not one of them able to slow her down a single step.

When she finally made it to the ratfaced bastard, putting her boot on his chest, holding her sword to the throat of the door guard, and her axe an inch away from falling and severing the leader’s head, she asked a question that left Lucina speechless.

“Where. Is. My. KID?!”

The ratfaced man made some kind of squeal, pointing frantically into the base accompanied by what might have been words, but Severa quickly threw down her axe, cutting his head off and stalking into the base.

There was some screaming from within, and that would have been enough to disturb anyone, but Lucina was still caught on those words her friend from a lost future said.

-Her… her… her… what?!- Her mind literally could not process this.

When Severa walked out again Lucina couldn’t believe what she was looking at.

Gone was the fury on her face, ignoring the blood splatter, she just had that normal exasperatedly flat expression Lucina remembered on her face. But the cause of this momentary lapse into ‘normalcy’ from her friend seemed to be the small child she now carried in her off hand, the other still wielding her sword and clearly ready to stab it into anyone else should the need arise.

“Se… Sev… era…?” slipped from the masked person’s lips.

Those flat red eyes turned to look at the weirdo in that get up… that lord get up… with the butterfly mask…

Her eyes suddenly widened, “WHAT THE HELL?! LUCINA?!”

“I SHOULD BE THE ONE SAYING THAT?!” Marth’s voice cracked so high it was unmistakably female as she pointed a shaking hand at the thing held in Severa’s left hand to her breast, “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”

“ITS MY KID YOU IDIOT!!” she marched right up to Lucina in the mask and practically growled in her face, “What in the world are you doing here?! HOW did you get here?!”

Before Lucina could even make sense of the questions being thrown quite literally in her face, the both of them turned in unison to stab a remaining bandit.

“DO YOU MIND?!” they both shouted in unison, glaring at the man’s dying body as it dropped from their weapons.

It was enough of a distraction for both of them to realize the predicament they were in: on a battlefield surrounded by groaning, dying bandits and some of them were unconscious, in the middle of nowhere.

“We should get out of here,” Marth said commandingly, thinking of what would be the most tactical thing they could do and how best to leave-

“Hold the kid for a minute,” and she was suddenly having a toddler thrown at her.

Lucina squeaked, picking the small child up out of the air as its mother seemed to nonchalantly throw it at her. She couldn’t believe Severa would go one second murdering her way through a bandit camp for this child only to half-assedly toss it to an almost stranger the next.

The toddler didn’t seem to mind, opening its eyes a moment, watching its mother move away, and just curl up on Lucina’s chest like this was normal.

“Um, th-there… there?” Lucina’s voice squeaked as she bounced the kid a moment on her arm. What the hell was she supposed to do with a kid?! Turning, she spotted Severa kicking the dead body of the bandit leader in the groin, only to crouch down and riffle through his pockets, pulling out a ring, slipping it back on her finger and grabbing her axe.

Seemingly finished, Severa just walked back towards Lucina casually, putting her axe back on her back and taking back her kid, then looking her friend in the eye, “So, we got an inn or somewhere I can get washed up? These assholes bled all over my clothes…”

Mentally Lucina squeaked about how it was her own fault for such a thing, going on a murder spree like that, but… well, didn’t have time for it. They needed to leave, now, and put as much distance between themselves and this place as possible, “I’m sure we can find a stream or something to help wash all…” Marth looked the woman up and down, “This off…” she pointed at the kid, “Then you are explaining that!”

“Feh,” Severa just shrugged, holding her kid and walking away.

It really disturbed Lucina how the kid just stared at her over Severa’s shoulder… and was so calm about the bloody battlefield around them.

She needed answers… soooo many answers.

-----

They traveled until they found a stream.

“Alright! Time for mommy to get cleaned up, hold the kid!” the first part was high pitched and jovial, baby talk tone obviously aimed at ‘the kid’ while Severa growled the last part, handing said kid off to Lucina for a moment.

“H-hey!” the masked swordswoman honestly thought Severa was just dumping the kid on her again, only to watch with a slight blush as the mercenary just stripped off her top without a care. Sputtering, Lucina held up the kid, blocking her sight from its apparent caregiver. -No… no, don’t look, you know it’s been a long time… DON’T LOOK!!- A strangled squeal escaped her lips when rough hands were suddenly removing the kid from her grasp. She turned back without even thinking, “A-ah-wait-?!”

Severa was standing there naked just boredly staring at the Ylissian princess. She raised a trim ashen brown brow, putting the kid on her hip, “What? It’s not like you haven’t seen any of this before?”

“You’re not helping!!” flustered, Lucina couldn’t help but snap back. That was years ago! So many YEARS ago at this point, back in a future when they were just teenagers figuring things out when the world was coming apart!!

There was a very scrutinizing look from those narrow red eyes, but the kid flailing in her arm, more awake then it was back at the bandit camp apparently, got Severa’s attention by hitting her chest.

Lucina was grateful it distracted her tentative ‘friend’. Watching her chest jiggling like that wasn’t appropriate… not at all… and they seemed bigger now that she got a good look…

Narrow red eyes turned to the awkward princess again, garnering a squeak when she turned around flustered as if caught doing something inappropriate.

Severa just rolled her eyes, walking over to the stream. She helped her kid get out of their clothes so they could get cleaned off as well, and she could assess if those idiots had done anything to them.

“S-so, um… that kid?” Lucina’s voice really needed to stop squeaking, at this rate she wouldn’t be able to even pretend to be Marth. She could hear they’d gotten in the stream, the kid laughing and Severa humming lightly at it.

The ashen brunette just rolled her eyes, letting go as her kid tentatively stepped out a bit more, washing some of the blood off that had soaked through her clothes, “Yea?”

The blue haired woman’s hands twitched, trying to stop herself from fiddling with her fingers, it was a bad habit she really needed to stop when she was nervous, “Uhm… boy or girl?” it seemed like the most logical question… after a long string of ones that would probably get her slapped!

“Tchehhehe,” at least it only made Severa laugh, “You could just turn around and look,” narrow red eyes looked over her shoulder at the Ylissian princess, “Since when are you so shy?”

Lucina had to swallow her first response. -Since I spent the last year and a half pretending to be a man in Regna Ferox!!- Instead she took a deep breath and turned around. She could handle this, it was just her friend after all, no pressure, nothing big happening or inappropriate…

Her hands started fiddling in front of her as she approached the stream. The odd nervous habit completely contradicted the stern look on her face under the butterfly mask.

Severa’s eyes clearly picked this up, going from Lucina’s hands to her face a few times before turning to look at the kid, making sure she hadn’t fallen into the stream and was okay.

“A… girl?” blue eyes blinked behind the mask. The child had its hair cropped short, or wasn’t old enough to have it grown out, and wore such unflattering clothes she honestly couldn’t tell, even when holding her.

“Brilliant deduction there,” red eyes rolled as Severa snorted, going a bit further into the stream to help wash off some of the grime from the kid. Mussing up her short hair, getting any blood and smudges of dirt off her.

Even just the little bit of care made enough of a difference to surprise Lucina…

“That hair…!!” it surprised her, she’d only seen hair that red on one other person. The same woman that Severa got her eyes from.

That grumpy frown came back to the mercenary’s face, her eyes glancing from the girl to her friend and back, “Yea, seems to have skipped a generation,” her hands slowed as she rubbed a spot on her daughter’s forehead, her face placid, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s just as perfect and naturally talented as my mother…”

“Y-your…” Lucina’s eyes went wide. That was all but confirmation of a thought she didn’t want to entertain, “Severa, this girl’s your daughter?!”

One of those ashen brows rose high as Severa gave her ‘friend’ a queer look, “Why else would I be dragging this kid around?” she tilted her head, looking from the kid to Lucina one more time, “If this was someone else’s kid I’d have dropped it off with the first couple willing to take it I found!” she clicked her tongue, turning away furious and working on her clothes, “Tch, of all the stupid things for you to… urgh!” she picked up a rock and threw it, clearly frustrated and annoyed.

Lucina could only nervously watch. What was she supposed to think?! They were just kids! None of them had kids in her last timeline! Sure there was certainly time for it, and some of her comrades had gotten together but there was still the whole END OF THE WORLD looming around that kind of stunted that!

-How did… who did… why would…ARGH!!- Of all her comrades from the future to wind up with a kid, Severa was at the bottom of her list. It just… didn’t fit with the mercenary girl’s attitude! From what she remembered she had so many problems with her own mother, not that Lucina helped there at all, that the idea of her having a kid of her own, especially a daughter, just seemed… unfathomable?

What the hell was she supposed to do now? They couldn’t go trouncing off to war with a toddler… could they?

“I know you’re staring at me, could you please stop,” came Severa’s flat voice. She was scrubbing out her armor, really only resulting in smearing the blood more than get any of it out… but if she could make it all one red color no one would notice, right? Her kid was just sitting next to her, splashing water around…

A frown passed under the butterfly mask, “Just… trying to think about how this… complicates things…”

There was a dismissive snort, “You? THINKING?” for some reason Severa released a full-on laugh, finding the concept so astoundingly amusing she chuckled for a good five minutes.

Lucina was not amused, crossing her arms indignantly.

“By Naga’s scaly ass,” the ashen brunette turned to look over her shoulder, her gaze something Lucina couldn’t truly decipher as her normally so brusque voice came out a tab bit softer, “You really aren’t her, are you?”

There may have been a squeak like she was caught, but Lucina tried very hard to cover that up with a cough and some confidence, “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“See, that,” Severa pointed, eyes flat again, “You’re too polite, nervous even,” her red eyes rolled as she snorted, “Honestly it reminds me of my mom and that’s freaking weird…”

“Huh?” okay that confused Lucina quite a bit as she turned to stare at the ashen brunette mercenary, tilting her head, “The few times I interacted with Cordelia she never seemed the nervous type? And my mother always said she was quite brave and the epitome of perfection on the battlefield…”

Those narrow red eyes rolled again with a sarcastic snort, “And what? Did she use to tell you stories about some gallant knights and the fearsome battles they fought and won?” she had said it sarcastically, hadn’t meant anything by it really, just a response to what sounded oddly familiar to what her mom used to say about her mother and…

Why was Lucina staring at her like that with her mouth open agape?

Those normally so flat eyes widened as Severa stared at the Ylissian princess, “No…”

“Your… mom? Is…” the blue haired princess was absently pointing between them, trying to process this information.

“NO!” Severa suddenly covered her face and turned away from Lucina, shaking her head vigorously, “No, no, no, no, nononononononono… NO!!” throwing her hands down she stood up and yelled something unintelligible, “WHAT THE HELL?!” suddenly she turned heel and marched out of the stream, not caring about her state of undress, not caring about her kid, just focused on marching right up to this person she thought she knew, grabbing the mask right off her squeaking face and looking her right in the eyes.

The Brand was there, the damn Mark of the Exalt was RIGHT THERE! In her precious left eye!

But everything around it, how she acted, how her face moved? The stunned shock and nervous spooked animal look?

That was something Severa was used to seeing from her mom when her Mother was being particularly aggressive.

“ARGH!!!” shoving the mask into Lucina’s stunned hands, Severa covered her eyes yelling because it was the only way she could process this right now, “I ALMOST SLEPT WITH MY SISTER?!”

“What?!” Lucina’s voice squeaked, finally getting SOMETHING out as her brain was also having a hard time processing this information.

Suddenly Severa’s hands were on her shoulders, those sharp red eyes boring into those distinct blue ones.

“Tell me…” she leaned in close, her voice a low growl, “Are. We. Related?!”

“What?! NO?!” Lucina was visibly shaking at this point, “Your mom is Lon’qu and your dad is Cordelia…” she blinked when Severa was staring at her appalled… and she thought about the words that just came out of her mouth, “Wait! No! the other way around!” being too embarrassed by this she covered her own eyes, shaking her head back and forth, “My father is the Exalt, and a Pegasus knight named Sumia is his wife…”

“Ew…” at least Severa didn’t look angry anymore, just disgusted, “Your dad with my mom?! And why would my mother be with this… who? Exactly?”

The sudden shift allowed for Lucina to glower, taking back some control from her nervous confusion as part of her bristled at the probably unintended insult to her student in this timeline, and close friend and mentor in every other, “Lon’qu, he’s a swordsman from Regna Ferox,” crossing her arms, Lucina frowned, “Do you really not know him?”

Severa just shrugged, “Not ringing any bells, and I can’t imagine my Mother sleeping around with a man, especially one not your dad as mom said she used to have a thing for him…”

“I’m… not sure how I feel about that…” whatever confidence or aggression Lucina had used to build herself up deflated. -Cordelia had a thing for my father?- She’d only ever thought of the woman in the context of her mother, any other way just seemed… wrong, for some reason.

“Mom always said it took her awhile to get over it,” now Severa crossed her arms, snorting sarcastically, “Especially when he married a woman like your mother…” when she looked back Lucina was staring at her with that unfamiliar expression and the mercenary woman had to cut herself off. -This isn’t my… THAT Lucina…- her face became more placid, eyes going to the ground, “Sorry, meant the Lucina from… my timeline, I guess?” she scratched her head, this was getting weird.

Lucina was also scratching her head, brows furrowed, “I guess that explains your hair, I thought I was just seeing things or not remembering right,” her distinct blue eyes shifted to Severa again, “It’s not as dark as I remember, more ashen like mother’s…”

There was another indignant snort, “Well, I had to get something from her…” despite her cruel tone, Severa twirled one of her locks with her finger, seemingly rather fond of her hair.

Blue eyes watched, narrowing momentarily, “You don’t… trip like she does all the time, do you?”

“HAHAHAHA!!” this of course made Severa laugh, “Oh thank Naga, no!” she wiped her eye, “I might not have gotten mother’s talent, but at least I didn’t get mom’s clumsiness…” red eyes rolled as she snorted, “Cynthia got all that…”

“Cynthia’s…” suddenly Lucina’s eyes popped up, wider than before and trembling, “She’s… your sister, in your timeline?”

Severa just blinked, wary of that look, “Yea… why? Isn’t she-?!”

“She was my little sister,” Lucina had her arms crossed and looking away, shoulders up and looking suddenly very closed off.

Raising an ashen brunette brow, Severa gave the Ylisse princess a look. This was probably the first time she’d seen her shut off like this. Part of her wondered how her Severa would respond to such an action having someone else as her… other parent.

Well, whatever her response was going to be, it was tossed aside as there was a yelp by the stream.

“Mommy!!”

Both future warriors perked up, moving before either truly had a thought of what was happening.

The little girl that was Severa’s daughter had apparently slipped into a deeper part of the stream, having tried to either clean or fetch her mother’s clothing that was now being whisked away by the current.

“Damnit!” Lucina jumped forward further down the stream, yelling over her shoulder, “Get your kid!!”

“Like I need you telling me!!” Severa just shouted back, grabbing her daughter before she got too far. The poor little thing was sniffling and trying not to cry, but as she was a toddler that wasn’t going to happen. “Shh, shh, mommy’s got you…” Severa whispered to her, holding her tightly and patting her wet head. She turned to glance down the stream…

Catching just in time as the normally so coordinated princess of Ylisse tumbled face first into the freshwater…

If Severa doubted her claim before, she sure as hell didn’t now, “Yep, you’re mom’s daughter…”

At least she managed to save her clothes… mostly.

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Chapter 5: Oxcart Philosophy

Chapter Text

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They made their way back to the port and got on the boat…

Everyone thankfully ignored Severa’s suspiciously blood red clothing and Marth managed to convince the captain to travel south and to the east, saying he could drop them off anywhere in Ylisse once they crossed the border.

The mercenary and lord passed the time sparing more than talking. Any words passed between them were few and innocuous. Both were just trying to come to terms with their own existence, along with the idea that there are, or were, multiple futures they came from where their parents were different and circ*mstances slightly changed.

This Severa’s parents were Cordelia and her mother, Sumia. Somehow, this Severa wasn’t just a fluke or something, like her mother Cordelia actually just found a guy that looked suspiciously like Sumia, with all her same quirks and flaws, and got pregnant. Same with the Sumia from her timeline. Nope, according to Severa they were both biologically her parents, Cordelia just being the one that bore her, while Sumia had her sister… Cynthia.

When Lucina asked for further details, the mercenary just looked at her shrewdly and said quite flatly, “How the hell should I know, magic?”

Considering they were both from differing futures, Lucina having traveled back twice now, and they were trying to stop a dark future brought about by some mythic evil dragon with the aid of the divine dragon Naga… yea, ‘magic’ sounded like a perfectly logical explanation to how two women had two daughters together…

Lucina was just going to chalk it up as a ‘win’ for this Severa’s future, since at least her mothers were together...

That had been her goal, after all…

Lucina sat back in the cart they’d been traveling in, twisting the ring that was still buzzing on her hand as they moved east.

The whole line of questioning and thought had brought back memories of that second timeline she’d been in, the one where she had messed up. The one where her Severa and Cynthia left her, because she had seemingly doomed them to nonexistence…

“Keep doing that and you’ll rub right through your finger until it comes off,” came a flat voice from across from her.

Marth raised her gaze, staring at the ashen brunette mercenary, who was looking at her bored as she held her sleeping daughter to her chest, rubbing her cherry red hair idly, in the back of some filthy ox cart.

Once they’d crossed the border to Ylisse the captain had dropped them off at the closest port. He and his crew needed to gather supplies and since Marth had no idea how far away their next comrade was, didn’t bother asking for the captain’s schedule. They’d just travel through Ylisse and make their way back to Regna Ferox, familiarizing themselves with the terrain and probably stop by the sites she remembered battles occurred…

She had offered that Severa simply head to Arena Ferox on her own, keep her daughter safe and avoid any fighting.

The mercenary woman had just snorted, shaking her head, holding her daughter at her breast and flagged down an ox cart heading east.

This had been the third one they’d been in, each one stopping in a village and Severa would just hitch a ride with another. They were halfway across Ylisse now, as far as Marth knew…

Behind that butterfly mask, she stared at the little girl in Severa’s arms.

Not once had she heard Severa call her anything besides ‘kid’ and for all the affection the mercenary woman showed her daughter when she was unconscious or tired, outside of that she was rather harsh; tossing her back to Lucina at a whim, making her walk and keep up with them despite almost running half the time, even left her in the middle of a field when they were attacked by ruffians… all this on top of the fact she was still bringing the girl with them.

It was so… reckless. It truly bothered Lucina. The little girl couldn’t be older than three as far as she could tell, and just followed along quietly at her mother’s impossible and expectant pace. The Ylissian princess was sure in a year or two, once the girl got strong and coordinated enough, she wouldn’t be surprised to see her dragging spare weapons behind her for her mother during battle.

It was so cruel; a battlefield was no place for a child… hadn’t they experienced that enough? Wasn’t that one of the reasons they’d gone back, trying to make a difference?

‘We came back… Because your stupid dream…’

It had been what? Two years since she heard that? From a Severa that hated her guts at the time, with dark brown hair like Lon’qu’s…

Only a few months before everything went wrong and she had to abandon that world as well…

Along with her sister…

“Seriously, I will tie your hand behind your back if you don’t stop fiddling with that ring like that,” the Severa in this world with her growled, bringing Lucina back to the present.

“S-sorry…” she balled her hands into fists, putting them both at her side as she looked away.

It was like this the whole way. She’d notice something, start thinking, then out of nowhere Severa would snap at her to quit it, or she would distract Marth by playing with her kid.

It had been awhile since they were on that island and she was still trying to wrap her mind around the whole idea of entirely different futures. Where her friends still existed, but might be a bit different because their parents were different… or as Severa suggested, she was different depending who her mother was…

It brought another bout of existential crisis and she was trying to keep the worst of it at bay…

Severa was humming to her daughter across from her, counting her fingers as the child just seemed to watch.

Despite her thoughts on the matter, Severa was rather close with her daughter. She’d give her… friend that much at least.

“Would you stop thinking?” the red eyed mercenary pipped in, not raising her gaze from her daughter’s hands, “It’s giving me a headache…”

“S-sorry…” Lucina just sighed, putting a hand to her forehead over the mask. Even she had a headache at this point, “I just… there’s so much to think about and plan, so much to consider now that…” her hidden eyes trailed to the woman in front of her, an unconscious frown pulling at her lips.

“Now that what?” Severa had both her daughter’s hands in her own, tugging them playfully as the little red haired kid squirmed, “We have to think about the fact we’re from two wildly different futures?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘wildly’ different…” Lucina grumbled, headache increasing.

“Alright, then let’s go over what’s the same?” an ashen brunette brow rose, sharp if bored eyes on the masked woman, “Both our future’s sucked enough we ended up here, sound good?”

That frown under the butterfly mask spread. That was way too broad and over simplified… was Severa right though? Yes. It was still… too simple, “There’s got to be other things, I mean my father’s the same in both our world’s right? Same as… Cordelia being at least one of your parents?”

Severa gave a huff, “Sure, there’s that,” she waved her hand dismissively, “Our parents all seem to have the same personalities, just… I can’t really say different ‘tastes’ just… made different choices?” an eyebrow rose on her forehead, looking confused.

“That seems to be the only difference,” Lucina frowned, crossing her arms and behind the mask closing her eyes, pondering, “Our mother seemed to tell us the same stories, so that’s the same…”

“My mom told me those stories, Mother was the one that gave birth to me,” those sharp eyes got flatter. She’d made this distinction a number of times already, “Seems no matter who your mother is you still have a hard time grasping that concept,” she sighed and shrugged, “For Cynthia and I those words mean two different people, I don’t understand why it’s so hard to grasp!”

“Eh-heh,” the Ylissian princess could only nervously scratch the back of her head, “I guess? I only have… my mother, and ‘mom’ just seems too… informal? To call her that…” she was raised to have etiquette, being a princess and all. She was supposed to give her mother the proper respect! She was a Queen for Naga’s sake!

“Well, give it a try!” again Severa shrugged like this was no big deal, even though she was the one making a big deal out of it, “You know mom relatively as well as I do, you know she’s much more hands-on and approachable… only Mother would expect some kind of formality…”

“She didn’t seem like that when I met her before…” Hand still in her blue hair, Lucina just looked up to the sky. Maybe it was because she was the Ylissian princess and the other members of her father’s army took it seriously despite her being from the future, but while Cordelia was respectful of her title the Pegasus knight didn’t seem to demand such formality herself?

There was a snort from the mercenary woman as she just pet her daughter’s cherry red hair, “Yea, what, back when you were five?”

“No, the last time I…” and suddenly Lucina shut her mouth.

That brought Severa’s eyes up to the masked swordswoman, “The last time you… what?”

The frown spread below the mask, “This is going to sound insane…”

“We were both just talking about what’s the same from our broken futures, because newsflash, Luci, we’ve both traveled through freakin’ time?!” Severa waved her hands in a grandiose way, rolling her eyes so hard it required moving her whole head, “What the hell sounds insane after that?”

“This is the second time I’ve jumped back…”

And like that the mercenary woman dropped her arms and turned slowly to look at her friend, “You… what?”

A pained looked spread on the Ylissian princess’ face, something the mask there couldn’t cover, “I said this is the second time I’ve jumped back!”

“Yea I heard that,” with a groan Severa rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache, “But… how? Why?!” when she opened her eyes the woman in front of her had no answer on her partially covered face, just blatant guilt, “We came back to fix things… how did you screw this up?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!!” Lucina drove her fist into the wooden cart below them, biting her lip after her outburst and taking a deep breath, trying to calm down. It didn’t stop the pain or guilt that admittance brought about, “I just… don’t… know…”

Narrow red eyes just watched the woman break apart. Severa could only look at it so long before she had to turn away, sighing deeply as she pet her daughter’s hair, “That’s the kind of reaction I expect from the… other you,” she scratched her head, frowning, “My… Lucina…” she chanced a glance at the masked swordswoman, but her posture hadn’t changed. It made her snort and roll her eyes, “Though I guess you could just have gotten that from mom too… Mother always said she could be pretty scary when upset…”

“Tell me about our… er, mom,” Lucina was still looking at the ground, she just needed a distraction for the moment before the nightmares set in again. Something to just get her mind off that abandoned future… where she failed… just something to tell her she wasn’t wrong about all this.

“What’s there to tell?” Severa twirled her finger in one of her pigtails, staring at nothing, “I mean, you already know a lot about her? She’s clumsy, believes in silly things like fortunes and fairy tales, way too enthusiastic about stupid little things…” despite her words, the mercenary woman seemed to relax, getting lost in her memories, “She’s kind, quiet when you need it, loud and invasive when she knows something’s wrong and you’re trying to hide it,” there was a chuckle, from both of them, “Hell, she was the one that told us those stupid stories about gallant knights and fearsome battles, but Mother was the one that lived it every day. Always telling us to behave and treat our mom right, else she’d be the one to hear it,” Now Severa was openly laughing, “Mom never showed it to us, but apparently she was scary enough to even put my perfect mother in her place from time to time…”

“She… fought… with your… with Cordelia?” that was something Lucina never saw of her mother, that fighting spirit from her stories. She saw it in the end, when… when she left, but never before that.

This brought a snort from the mercenary woman, “More like mom had complete control of the house,” Severa waved her hand like this was common knowledge, “We lived on a Pegasi ranch, she raised and bred them and we helped out here and there, while Mother was the Pegasus Knights Captain, working hard to bring the order back because they were stupid and got killed or something,” red eyes rolled, clearly unimpressed, “But every time she came home, whatever authority she had out in Ylisse ended at the door. Mom was the boss on her ranch, even mother knew that, and she was whipped so mom could really get away with anything if she wanted to…” there was a grumble, “Probably where Cynthia got it from…”

“Were they…” Lucina’s voice quivered as she bit her lip. She needed to ask this, needed to know she’d done the right thing, “Were your mothers… happy?”

The desperate tone is what got Severa’s attention. Lucina was gnawing on her lip, staring at the ground. She could imagine how upset her eyes must have looked like… it was the same kind of expression her mom made when worried about her mother.

-You really are like mom…- the ashen brunette just shook her head, pushing away the thought, “Yea, far as Cynthia or I could tell, they were happy together,” those sharp eyes watched Lucina, “Suppose that’s why I just can’t imagine mom being with anyone else,” a shiver went down Severa’s spine, “it just… feels wrong…”

A pained smile spread below that butterfly mask, “I’m… glad…”

An ashen brow rose at the odd tone, “You’re not planning something stupid, like getting mom hooked up with your father this time around, are you?”

“What?! No!!” the response was immediate, Lucina raising her head surprised and waving her hands, “That’s what I’m trying to prevent!”

“Your own birth?” okay, now Severa was confused.

“No, no, no!” again, frantically waving her hands about, Lucina shook her head, “I just want my mother- our Mom! To be happy!” her shoulders dropped as she looked to the side, “Last time… I managed to convince her to pursue her own happiness with your mother and… well, things didn’t turn out so well…”

“Did they get killed?” it was surprising how flat that question came out.

Lucina just shook her head, “I-I don’t know, they left before… well, awhile before the final push to beat Validar,” she ran her hand through her bangs, both nervous and trying to get this out coherently, “but… without them, Cynthia and Sev-er, you?” her voice picked up in pitch as a raised ashen brow was aimed at her, “Well, my version of… you, whose father was Lon’qu like I said… left, and…”

“Still don’t know who that is,” Severa added with a snort as she rolled her eyes, “Must not be all that great if his daughter turned out to be such a coward.”

“She wasn’t a coward,” Lucina growled, “Just angry… at me, for what I did…”

“Potentially sacrificing their lives so your mother could be happy, I assume?” the voice sounded snide, but when Lucina looked up there wasn’t a hint of it on Severa’s face. She was placid, looking away, “What a child…”

“You don’t… care? About that?” Lucina knew her words were desperate, but right now she needed something…

The mercenary woman just shrugged, waving her hand to suggest all of herself, her daughter included, “I’m living proof they found a way to still have kids, why would I be upset?” her red eyes narrowed, “I just care about what you plan to do this time around, because I may have my issues with my mother, but I’m not going to let my mom cry and not be with the woman she loves…”

It was a promise, and Lucina could see that plain as day. She’d seen this woman hack through a bandit camp for a kid she didn’t seem all that concerned about, and even her Severa, while antagonistic towards Cordelia, didn’t want her Mother to get hurt and especially not killed.

A fragile smile made its ways on the masked woman’s lower face, “I don’t want that either,” she balled up one of her hands, “She wasn’t happy being my mother, and maybe because I didn’t stop her before I was born that time around that things ended up the mess they were, but…” she raised her head, looking directly at her… sister from another future, “I want my mother to be happy, to have a future she desires where she has the freedom to do what she wants,” a small laugh, “Like raising Pegasi on a ranch with her daughters…”

Severa just looked confused, “You make it sound like she didn’t get to do any of that? Wouldn’t the Queen of Ylisse be able to do what she wanted?” she scratched her head, “I know your-er, my Lucina’s mom did whatever the hell she wanted…” her face fell with a minute frown, “But I guess, mom doesn’t really show that side of herself much… only mother really could drag it out of her…”

Lucina just frowned, shaking her head, “My mother was the Queen of Ylisse, custom dictated she couldn’t do things like raise Pegasi on the grounds or go flying whenever she wanted because that was… dangerous…”

There was a loud snort form the mercenary woman, “Tell that to your mother…” when she glanced back to Lucina she saw the confused look on her face. A blush rose on Severa’s face when she realized what she’d said, “Naga’s tit*! I mean… not your mom… our mom, but the one… the Lucina from my time.” With a grandiose wave, Severa raised her voice, as if wiping everything previous clean, “She was brash, reckless, and didn’t bother sticking to all the decorum of high society. She wanted to go work out and train with the army, she just went and did it,” a snort, “Honestly, I guess that’s where you got it from…” realizing her mistake again, the blush increased, “Er, I mean, she got it from…” there was a deep sigh as Severa shrugged, “Both you and your sister, gods you two were such a handful…”

“My sister?” Lucina perked up, almost hopeful, “B-but I thought you said… Cynthia, she was your-!!”

“Cythina’s my sister,” those red eyes scowled, “Your… her sister was Kjelle…”

“Who?” blue eyes blinked behind the mask.

“Tch, c’mon, Kjelle, she’s kind of impossible to forget,” at first Severa thought she was joking… but then she reminded herself, again, this wasn’t the same Lucina she knew. This Lucina shared her mom, apparently having Cynthia as her sister instead… so by that logic it would make sense her friend wasn’t her sister, “You’re… serious? Aren’t you?” when all she got as a response was a nod, the mercenary woman sigh, “Oh man this is so weird…” Severa rubbed between her eyebrows, “She was tall, muscular, took more after your mom then you did, always wearing this huge armor like a knight… even wanted to be a general one day…”

“Not ringing any bells?” absently Lucina shook her head. She went through all her memories of the future she originally came from and not one bit of that description matched any of her comrades.

Red eyes just stared, before Severa put her hand to her head and just yelled, “UGH?! This whole different timelines things is such a pain in the ass!!”

“Language!” for whatever reason, Lucina snapped that back at her, “Your child is right there!”

“And you know she’s heard a lot worse!” Severa just growled back. The two glared at one another for a while before Severa just finally gave in, leaning back with her head over her face, “This is just… too much right now, can we just make a chart or something later and fill in the blanks?”

Lucina just frowned, sitting back with her arms crossed and DEFINITELY not pouting, “At this point we might need to,” even she had a headache from this, “Figure out what our plan is and whose parents are going to be who…”

“My mothers are staying together,” a red eye glared between her fingers. Clearly this was not up for debate.

Blue eyes rolled behind the mask, “Obviously,” that was the whole damn reason she came back again. To fix her mistake earlier, “Just the question of who my mother is going to be this time around so my father doesn’t go try to interfere…”

“Ugh, just… just save that for another day…” Severa waved her hand, moving to lay down with her daughter on her chest, “We’ve got time… I’m just so over it right now…”

“Heh, yea,” watching the mercenary move and play with her daughter a bit was… relaxing, to say the least. “Do you mind… telling me a bit more about your… our mom?” even that small tidbit earlier gave Lucina hope that this was the right path.

Sharp red eyes glanced over at the princess, she looked so desperate and raw; it didn’t make sense for Severa to see such a look on her friend’s face. -Maybe that’s because she isn’t my friend… she’s my half-sister…- she openly sighed at the thought, but even this Lucina was stating that. Perhaps the sooner she got used to the idea, the sooner she could stop mixing them up, “Yea… sure, what do you want to know?”

“Everything,” pulling her legs up, Lucina set her head on her knees. She was exhausted, confused, at her literal wits end trying to make sense of this situation… but maybe that was why she thought this might help. It’d certainly help assuage her feelings about what happened before.

“Ugh, why do you have to be so vague?” Severa rubbed her eyes. This was going to be one long headache, she just knew it.

-----

Chapter 6: A Drink in the Desert

Chapter Text

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So traveling via ox carts across Ylisse was… a thing.

It gave Severa and Lucina time to ‘talk’ about things, namely the similarities and differences between their respective futures. They both reasoned that something happened that changed how things went about, and as Lucina was the only one with any kind of idea what the past was like between them tried to sort out what she was told in her future versus the failed past she had to abandon.

Like Severa’s ‘friend’ Kjelle that Lucina had no recollection of or her mother. Once the two of them mulled things over for a day or two the conversation picked up again. Severa hadn’t wanted to mention ‘her’ Lucina’s mother’s name because it was still weird just thinking that the woman in front of her wasn’t the one she knew, so didn’t even think to mention the Queen’s name when talking with her.

Apparently, she was a red haired cavalier named Sully. Lucina’s only recollection of such a person was a woman that had showed up with Gerome’s father in the past, when she was portaled in and managed to save her aunt from being gravely wounded. The female cavalier hadn’t survived the battle because the Risen had swarmed her, she’d sacrificed herself to save the pompous archer that wound up being Gerome’s father.

When Lucina mentioned her wyvern riding friend, Severa had looked at her like she’d grown another head. The Ylissian princess assumed that was the same look on her face when Severa had mentioned Kjelle. Apparently Gerome didn’t exist in Severa’s timeline, though she knew of his dad, the duke of Rosanne in Valm or whatever, who according to her had married a mage from the Shepherds. Their son was a good friend of hers…

That just struck Lucina as odd, since if Gerome’s father still lived, but didn’t have him as a son, and with how Cynthia was Severa’s sister in her time… she was starting to wonder if their generation was determined by their mothers.

“Then how the hell do we explain you?” had been Severa’s rather blunt criticism.

The mercenary woman wasn’t wrong, Lucina existed in both timelines and the only similarity was her father being Chrom, the Exalt of Ylisse. He had married a woman after the war with Plegia and that had become her mother, but all the other details like who the woman was and her siblings apparently was flexible.

It made Lucina feel nauseous, quite honestly. The idea that Naga specifically intended she be born, by any means necessary so long as her father survived the war and wed was… disturbing to say the least. Especially when other people could or might not exist.

When Lucina asked how Severa recognized her mask, which in her timeline she’d gotten from Gerome, along with her Severa’s meddling, the ashen haired mercenary had just snorted with a shrug.

“Owain had it in one of his trunks full of props, went on about it like it was some long lost treasure. Where else would you get it?”

It was hard enough being told that her dear friend… whom she had left in her previous attempt to die, and his mother who had died protecting her sister in her original timeline… that he didn’t exist in an alternate timeline… but something as stupid as the mask she used to hide her true identity remained…

There were just too many coincidences and details centered around her that made Lucina feel extremely uncomfortable.

Luckily the kid could help distract her, and her mother, when she wanted to… running off into the woods and stumbling upon a bandit camp they then had to deal with. It was a bit cathartic. At least… this way she was helping the world, right?

They had been dropped off from their last ox cart days ago and traveling through the thick forest the kid ran into surprisingly took them to a desert. Lucina remembered being here, there was an oasis in the center of this oddly placed desert on the eastern side of Ylisse. They’d come looking for a Goddess Staff for their army back then, how… their Tactician had gotten word of it she didn’t really know, but it is where they had found…

“Laurent!!” Severa yelled out suddenly as she ran halfway towards one of the oasis towns. It was blazing hot with the sands shimmering, and Lucina had been carrying her kid because she felt bad for the small child in this dry heat. Suddenly she saw a man with a distinct mage’s hat and glasses… well, Severa had said they were friends.

The glasses wearing mage had enough time to turn, spotting a red mercenary charging at him. A tiny smile came to his face as she jumped right at him, thankfully he was sturdy or else they both would have been thrown into the sand.

He gave a deep chuckle, patting the woman’s head, “Quite enthusiastic miss, though might I inquire how you know my name?”

“Eh?” Severa blinked several times as she looked up, “Huh? You’re… you’re…” suddenly she jumped back, putting her hand over her head and putting it forward, lining up with the tall mage’s chin, “Since when are you TALL?!” immediately she bounced around the young man, looking him up and down, “And you didn’t even budge when I hit you full force…”

“H-Hello, Laurent.” Lucina smiled when he turned to look at her. She remembered him from her previous time, he’d apparently gotten thrown back further than the rest of them and wound up in the past years before she showed up, let alone the others. He had been a boy, the youngest when they left, but when they found him again he was the eldest. -Well, at least not this time…- he’d been twenty when they found him, and that was three years in the future, right? Though he didn’t look that much different from then…

His sharp eyes seemed to scrutinize the woman in the mask, holding a child? While the other moved around him as if familiar, “I take it you are Lucina?” he brought his hand up, holding his chin and tilting his head, “Though, you seem older than the one from my time, and your posture is off…”

“Haah?” Severa seemed to finally stop bouncing around the young man, poking him in the side only to get a scowl which she returned in kind, “Laurent, you’re a lot older? What gives?” suddenly she reached up and flicked back his hat a bit, standing on her tiptoes to glare above his eyes, “And since when the hell is your hair GREEN! You got a problem with blue?!” she pointed behind without even looking, “Her hair is blue!”

“Eh-heh…” Lucina just looked nervous, holding the kid, “Well… in my timeline he had red hair… so I guess he’s not from either of ours, huh?”

Two sets of sharp red eyes turned back to her, blinking.

“Er, what?” the masked swordswoman scratched the side of her cheek. Was this not obvious to both of them?

Severa marched right up to Lucina and growled at her, “You make this sound like it’s easy to understand!!” angrily, she grabbed her kid and held her to her chest, poutily glaring at the Ylissian princess while absently patting her child’s back.

Lucina just held her hands out, “I mean… we just… c’mon, Severa!!”

The mercenary woman just growled, shook her head and headed towards the closest town.

“Hm, I see,” meanwhile Laurent just nodded and moved next to this Lucina, analyzing her behind his glasses, “It was only theoretically postulated, but it seems the multiple worlds conundrum has been proven with our existence,” he glanced the way Severa had gone with that child, which he intended to fully question about later, “I had thought she was familiar, but her hair color is all wrong and she’s a bit more…” he raised a thin brow, frown slightly forming, “I’m not sure how to put it quite honestly,” then turned back to the masked woman, “Whereas you look relatively the same, if decently older and carry yourself with far more experience… but you lack the grace I remember, and there is also something intangible about you that’s different which I cannot quite grasp…” with a small sigh, the mage just held out his hand, “Either way, this would technically be our first meeting then; my name is Laurent, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

… And just like that, Lucina was grateful to have one of her friends back, “You have no idea Laurent,” gratefully she took his hand and shook it firmly, noticing he was much stronger than she remembered him being, “It’s good to see you again, even if we’re all a bit different.”

His face seemed placid but she could tell he was quite grateful. This Laurent must have been thrown back further, like the Severa she was traveling with, meaning he would have had to endure far longer isolation than the one she had met in her second timeline. She was glad to save him from that at least.

-----

Having Laurent made things a thousand times better…

The first town they stopped by turned out to be a mirage, somehow? Severa was cursing all the way to the actual town, her poor kid was dying from the heat, trying to not show it to either Lucina or her mother, but thankfully Laurent just picked her up and held her under the shade of his big mage hat.

The mercenary woman glared but Lucina was grateful to not have to hold the poor kid anymore… her outfit was hot enough as it was… fully covered with armor… and she’d spent the last year and half in Regna Ferox. By the gods Olivia and Lon’qu must have been dying when they came to pick up Laurent in her previous timeline…

As soon as they were in the town they stopped by the tavern, for drinks and to just have some shade. Severa grouchily took her child back and Laurent pulled out a notepad and writing utensil nonplussed.

He immediately started asking them about their futures, accepting the idea rather brusquely. He wanted details on their parents, their abilities, what events they could remember, and were willing to divulge of course, including a list of all their comrades they knew. He picked up on there being differences between their timelines and who was and wasn’t born fairly quick…

“What do you mean you don’t know who Noire is?” Severa just groaned, kicking back in her chair and waving her hand, “Mousy little girl, always quiet and keeps to herself, mostly… until she flips out over NOTHING then it’s like dealing with some kind of rampaging demon,” she clicked her tongue and whistled, “That dark mage mom of hers REALLY messed her up…”

“Sounds like you on a bad day…” Lucina may have spoken under her breath into her cup, getting a kick to her chair from the mercenary woman, “Hey!”

Narrow red eyes just glared in response…

“I see,” Laurent pushed up his glasses and jotted things down, “Her mother, what was her name?”

Sending one final look at Lucina, Severa crossed her arms and looked boredly at Laurent, “Tharja, a Plegian sorceress… apparently hooked up with another crazy from her country, both of them joining Ylisse, for whatever reason,” holding her hands up in a shrug, “Honestly, between her parents it’s a wonder you could have a normal conversation with her…”

“You mean Henry?” Lucina raised a brow behind her mask, turning to the mercenary, “He joined us when Valm was being invaded and we were heading towards…” when the two looked at her intently the masked woman blushed, scratching her head nervously, “S-sorry, other-other timeline…” sitting back she crossed her arms, “But I do remember him, a bit creepy to say the least, always smiling…” a frown passed Lucina’s face, “But he seemed very angry at Plegia, I can’t imagine him getting together with someone else from his country… or be genuinely happy about it…”

Severa just shrugged, “Can’t say it turned out well, I only met Noire shortly before her parents died so…” she nodded her head, “Probably turned into a mess… mother always spoke cautiously about Tharja, she and mom were grateful the woman joined us, sure, but, well…”

“Plegian hexers are rarely in the proper state of mind,” Laurent added calmly, still writing a few notes before turning to Lucina, “Do you recall anything specific about either of her parents, since you were in that version of the past directly related to your own future. Anything that could hint as to why Noire wasn’t born in your time as opposed to Severa’s?”

A shudder passed along Lucina’s shoulder; the calculating look Laurent was giving her and how casually he dealt with all this new information… it was a bit disturbing, “Well…” looking away from the two, Lucina tried to grasp some hint about this supposed female Plegian hexer. She recalled several during the Plegian-Ylisse war… male and female… “There was a rowdy one, during one of our skirmishes in the desert… one of their hexers started attacking their own troops, but… we rerouted to protect a war cleric, Libra, who joined our cause and by the time we got to the Plegian camp they were all dead…”

Severa made a face and just shrugged, “Maybe she died there; like the queen from my time…” she grabbed her cup, downing it while looking away, “Just didn’t make it in time to save them…”

“Gah,” Lucina had the clinch her jaw at that jab. She didn’t need Severa, of all the damn people, even if it wasn’t the same one from her timeline, poking such old wounds…

“I see,” closing his eyes Laurent nodded, “So this would account for two of the missing children from your time and at least one from mine.” Holding his chin he nodded, “I knew Kjelle fairly well, she looked to my father to learn how to be a knight. Training with her and him are probably the reason I’m so ‘sturdy’ as you both mentioned…” the women just shrugged at him, “In any case, it is fascinating to explore this research. Multiple timelines was something my mother dabbled in but never took a full interest in as it was all theoretical mysteries, they could not be proven concretely, at least she had thought.” He gave a soft smile, giving a little nod to them both, “I enjoy this opportunity to divulge the differences between our timelines.”

Lucina just shrugged, “Having you here helps organize this better, we need to start planning how to help our friends’ parents get together to ensure they’re born in this timeline, right?” she looked down at her cup, tapping her fingers on the rim, “I-including changing it so my mother… isn’t my mother this time around…”

“Indeed,” the green haired mage nodded, “I was quite surprised by your countenance, Lucina. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you looking so much older… or ungraceful…”

An embarrassed blush spread all over the Ylissian princess’ face as she tried not to spit out her drink.

Next to her, Severa was laughing her ass off and banging on the table, “Oh, man… yea, that’s mom’s influence on you right there! HAHAHAHA!!!”

A thin green brow rose on the mage, “Really?” he looked at Lucina again, ignoring her embarrassed state, “I had simply assumed it was due to the dancer Olivia not being her mother…”

“O-Olivia’s my mother?!” and the embarrassment turned up another notch for Lucina. She was friends with the fifteen or sixteen year old dancer back in Regna Ferox! Not to mention she and her son had… -Nonononono… bad thoughts!- IT DIDN’T HELP THAT HIS MOTHER PROPOSITIONED HER WHEN THEY MET IN THIS TIMELINE!! “Gah!!!” rolling back, Lucina wanted to burn the memories out of her brain, “No! No! No! That would make Inigo my brother!! And Olivia and I are already… GAH!!!”

Passively, Laurent watched the entire display, “I feel like I am missing some information…”

“Hehehe…” with a few more snickers calming down, Severa leaned over and whispered a few things she’d learned about this Lucina without her really noticing to the green haired man.

The normally so stoic mage’s face turned bright red, “I-I see…” he pushed up his glasses trying to make sense of this information, “I had no idea such relationships existed.”

“Well, maybe if you get out of those books of yours once in a while you’d see what’s right in front of you,” casually she nodded towards Lucina still freaking out quite a bit, “From my experience with my Lucina, that kind of reaction means she slept with both of them, meaning your posit from I’m guessing YOUR Lucina just put her in an incestuous ménage à trois,” she winked at the man, hoping to get him even more flustered. The guy really needed to learn social cues after all.

“I didn’t sleep with Olivia!!” Lucina had her head on the table with her hands over it, like she was trying to hide.

An ashen brow just rose as the bored mercenary looked at her, “But you did sleep with Inigo and thought about it with his mother?” Severa’s grin turned a little vicious, enjoying seeing the mighty princess brought so low, “That’s right! You’ve been living in Regna Ferox for a while now, huh? She’s only about 15 or 16 now? My, my, Luci, I never knew you had it in you?”

“I didn’t touch her!” for some reason, the masked woman shot up in her seat and growled at her friend, “She proposition me! I told her to leave but she stayed and danced for me instead and-and…”

Severa’s smirk got wider and wider with each word dropping out of her mouth.

… and she realized she was just telling her NOT-friend about something she swore to herself she’d never mention after that night!

“Gah!!” back with her head on the table under her hands, “Why did I say that out loud!?!”

“Well, aside from the Inigo bit,” there was a sigh from the mercenary woman as she shrugged, “At least your taste is about the same.” Grabbing her chin, Severa pondered something for a minute, “Though, I would think with mom you’d be more like my Lucina… huh?”

There was a pathetic squeal from the table.

When Severa looked she could see the masked woman facing her, desperate for some kind of answer. There was really only one she could give, “Er… let’s just say her and Inigo were never that close…” Severa shrugged, looking away, though if either other adult looked they could see a bit of a blush on her placid face.

Lucina could only gulp, keeping her mouth shut. -At least THAT’S the same…- she and her Severa had been close, very close… it was why her abandonment had hurt so much… and why dealing with this Severa that was technically her half-sister was so odd.

“I see,” at the deep voice, both women looked up to see Laurent writing down a few notes again in his notepad, “That is quite the bit of information to keep in mind…”

Both women blushed.

“W-wait… you d-didn’t… you didn’t write ALL of that down, did you?!” if Lucina’s eyes were any wider she was sure they’d be visible behind her mask, not to mention the cherry red blush spreading all along her face!

“Y-you… YOU DON’T WRITE THAT STUFF DOWN!!” Severa yelled, jumping at the man across the table.

There was a chuckle. Apparently Laurent could chuckle?!

“Heh-heh-heh,” it was a deep baritone that had both woman stunned, as the mage effortlessly dodged out of the mercenary’s way, out of his seat and standing in a polite gentlemanly pose, “You said I need to learn more about these things, it would do well I keep these notes for later reference.” He was openly smiling, still small by a normal person’s standard, but amused nonetheless, “After all, I want to keep every detail in mind while I try to organize the possibilities for our plan,” taking off his hat he gave a polite, gentlemanly bow, “Good evening ladies, but I must retire and compile this information.” And with that, the mage walked away, through the crowd and out of the tavern, assumedly towards the inn.

Lucina was just left stunned. -Since when was Laurent so…suave?- they hadn’t gotten around to discussing it, but the Laurent from her timeline was Ricken and Mirial’s son, both talented mages affording their red haired son explosive talent in magical arts. But like his father he was on the timid and frail side, while also being analytically focused like his mother. This Laurent was… sturdy, to say the least, and apparently not nearly as shy, if still quiet and analytically focused.

That smile and come back of his left her and Severa understandably godsmacked…

“That JERK!!” Severa though, seemed to be handling it better than her, “Hey, Luci,” and suddenly a cherry red haired toddler was being thrown into her lap, “Watch the kid,” Severa growled as she got up, “I’m going to go get those notes and burn them before he has any adolescent fantasies or whatever other perverted thoughts about them!” and she was headed out as well.

“Sev-wait!” and she was gone. Lucina just lowered her arm and sighed. Why did her friends never listen to her?

Looking down at the surprised kid she couldn’t help but sit back and hold the girl up, “This world is really weird kid…”

She was sitting in a bar, in a desert, with the child of a former-lover-turned-enemy-turned-half-sibling in her hands, in a second timeline she’d jumped back to, as said former-lover-turned-enemy-turned-half-sibling was racing off to go throttle if not flat out murder another comrade of theirs, from another future, whom both of them knew as the youngest of their generation and yet even in this second timeline he wound up being older… not older than her at the moment, but still older than Severa, technically…

All over some notes about things from former lives with former not-siblings or parents and…

Everything was just so weird.

She pet the kid’s head, holding her to her chest, “So, so weird…”

She needed another drink…

------

Chapter 7: Now is not the Time

Chapter Text

-----

It felt strange traveling across the country with a band of people… old friends that weren’t old friends…

…and a kid.

Leaving the desert was a godsend. Not just because of the heat but because it helped end the bickering…

Severa’s kid was burning up in the desert so Laurent insisted on holding her all the way out of the sandy wastes, keeping her in the shade thanks to his hat. It pissed Severa off royally but apparently she wasn’t cruel enough to make her kid walk in such conditions…

Soon as they were out of the desert and in the forest though… the kid was back to practically running along beside them just to keep up.

Then the bickering got reversed; Laurent wanting to help the kid and Severa snapping back to him that she was fine and could walk on her own… so long as she held her mother’s hand so she didn’t get lost in the forest or trip over something.

Lucina wound up carrying the kid on her shoulders when they got to the plains of Ylisse, or really she should say ‘Marth’ had to since it was dangerous to even think of herself as her true identity in this country.

It didn’t help that the kid kept playing with her hair and tried to grab her mask more than once. “Hey, c’mon! Don’t touch that!” -I’ll be screwed if someone recognizes anything about me now… especially thanks to this kid!-

The little girl put her hands out flat on Marth’s head, like she was considering what was said to her… Then went back to grabbing at her hair.

“Grrrmm…” a frown formed under the butterfly mask. She really didn’t want to be mad at the kid but she was pushing it…

Not that Marth really had a choice here.

“I’m telling you it’s this way!” a rowdy voice yelled.

“A moment and I can discern the quickest route,” a seemingly calm voice retorted. Laurent was looking at a map they’d manage to pick up in the Oasis town. The mage had wanted to stick around the desert to try searching for some mythic item, but wound up putting that desire aside and joining them instead.

Marth knew it was because of the kid, they couldn’t very well drag her around the desert like they were for long…

So they got the map, and Lucina had Laurent keep hold of it and guide them. He was smart like his mother, he should have a good sense of direction right?

“Look! I’m the one that’s been living on this side of the continent for a few years! I know what I’m talking about!” Severa growled, leaning over the mage as he sat on the ground reviewing the map.

“Hrm…” he’d been studying it awhile, wound up sitting down and Marth almost wondered if he was memorizing it. The only sign he was annoyed by Severa’s pestering was a twitch of his brow, “If you would stay out of the light I could read this better and expedite our path…”

“Look!” she finally just crouched down and pointed at a part on the map, “This is where we are, you can tell by the plains and distance to that forest!” Severa pointed her finger out in the distance, where a slight mountain could be seen, “And that is Ylisstol! The capitol of Ylisse!”

“How can you tell?” Marth was blinking behind her mask staring off into the distance. She could barely make anything out, it just looked like a small mountain to her…

Narrow red eyes raised to frown at the masked woman, “Benefits of living outside the city,” she stood up, crossing her arms and looking in a certain direction, “Over that way is another forest, then there’s the main road, it’s really little more than a dirt path, but I always knew my way around…” her voice lowered, “Just had to look towards the city…”

“That’s pretty impressive, never knew you knew that kind of stuff, Sev…” an unconscious smile picked up on Marth’s face, truly impressed as she turned to her friend, “When did you-?”

Severa was staring off in one direction, arms crossed, face pensive…

… and Lucina realized why this all must have been familiar to her. -Mom’s ranch must have been near here… Pegasi need a lot of room to roam around and grow…- the frown dropped as she looked around. -This must have been like her backyard…- She didn’t know what to say after that. This was near a home for Severa Lucina never knew. A side of her mother she never got to see or experience. A whole other missing history…

That ended the same...

“I have compiled the quickest route,” Laurent piped in, folding up the map and standing up as if nothing happened. Which, Lucina supposed, nothing did happen...

“And it’s that way! Like I said!” Severa turned on her heel, pointing in one direction while giving a placid look to the mage.

“You are partially correct,” he pushed up his glasses, “According to this map there’s a road block in the way, we’d best avoid any main roads or guard posts to ignore detection or unnecessary questions,” he pointed slightly away from the mountain in the distance, “Animal trails would be safer, through the woods…”

“You know how easy it is to get lost in the woods!!” the mercenary woman growled, stomping her foot.

“Our discretion is best.” and the green haired mage simply turned, heading in the direction he pointed, “Only a few preparations are required and we’d be able to navigate safely towards the border into Regna Ferox.”

“And how the hell are we going to get through that bigASS wall!” The mercenary woman growled, stomping after the mage, “We going to get some climbing gear, have ourselves a nice little jaunt!”

“I’m sure there’s a reasonable solution,” it almost seemed like Laurent was annoyed as he pushed up his glasses, “Which can be met once we reach our next destination…”

“Yea, sure!” Severa’s arms went up, “That’s a great way to deal with this!!”

“Um… guys?” Marth tried to get their attention but the two seemed to be stuck in their own bickering again. She just sighed. Getting into Regna Ferox would be easy, so long as she was there. The guards knew her, at least by reputation… it was really just a matter of them getting there without running into anyone they shouldn’t. -Guess I’ll just tell them later…-

The kid pulled at her hair. When Marth glanced up she could see the chubby little girl’s hand waving towards her mother that was moving further and further away.

“Yes, yes, I understand…” Marth sighed, following the bickering duo.

-----

They went northeast, skirting the edge of the sea past Ylisstol.

Marth didn’t care which way they went so long as they avoided the castle at all cost. She did NOT need to accidentally run into a teenaged version of her father or watch the young version of her mother fawn over him. When Severa questioned her on that statement, the masked woman just said her mother once mentioned having a crush on her father, and that was the whole start of the problem.

“Then why in all of Naga’s creation aren’t we over there stopping it right NOW?!” had been Severa’s rather abrupt response. Both Laurent and Marth made to protest using all forms of logic… but the damn mercenary woman did have a point.

Why weren’t they over there interfering with her mother’s love life?

Aside from the whole temporal mess they were in, not to mention the various timeline screwups, and OH YES!! Marth was now around twenty when her ‘parents’ would be, what? Seventeen right now? And sure as hell would not believe her, and it’d be far more of a screw up if they ever caught sight of her without her mask on or looked too closely at her left eye…

Okay, there were a lot of reasons not too, namely selfish ‘I don’t want to explain things’ reasons on Marth’s part… but also she had no idea what this would do in the long run. She knew, vaguely, the events from her previous jump back, which apparently she must have screwed up worse than she thought since Laurent’s notes on the matter kept getting longer and longer and the whole mentioning of comrades she never knew because their parents died before having them in her timeline… And she wanted to safeguard the parents of those she DID know… so…

It was really getting to the point that her arguments against any interference at the moment were getting weaker and weaker as they were passing the east side of the great mountain top city.

Looking at it, gazing at the palace on top while the three adults from various futures and the kid stood in its shadow… it was breathtaking.

… and heartbreaking.

The last she’d seen of this place in her original timeline was when her mother died. For the first time in her young life she had seen her city burn and watched as her mother donned armor, grabbed a lance and mounted a Pegasus, charging into battle to try and defend them, giving them time to escape with Lon’qu and the others that had been hiding out in the palace before it fell.

It was the last time she’d seen her mother, charging off like that…

Lucina had to raise her hand, rubbing her eyes under the mask as she tried to wipe the image from her mind.

Severa glanced over, seeing the swordswoman as she tried to bury her emotions again. Her Lucina would have been shouting fury with bold tears in her eyes, making declarations to fight for their future. This one… she was so frail, but Severa supposed that made sense, her being her half-sister and everything.

She reached out, taking Lucina’s free hand, looking at the mountain palace, “I take it mom did something as dumb in your time as she did in mine…” it wasn’t really a question, a statement of sympathy and understanding maybe.

The princess sniffled, pulling her hand away from her eyes and setting her mask straight again, “Like charge off on a suicidal mission,” she sniffed hard, suppressing further tears as she kept her voice steady. Her lowered hand became a fist at her side.

That actually brought a smile to Severa’s lips, as she held her daughter and sister’s hands tight in both of hers, “Heh, you should have seen her when we left the ranch,” that brought out a full chuckle from the mercenary, “Mother…” for a moment her eyes lowered, a short pause for something else she didn’t want to say before shaking her head and continuing, “Mother had already gone off… so when mom got the news, and the Risen were at our door, heh,” Severa had to let go of Lucina’s hand, chuckling to herself behind her hand, “She told us to run to the barn, Cynthia and I obeyed of course, but Cynthia was worried about the Pegasi, so opened the doors, let them all fly loose…”

“Heh,” a small smirk picked up on the Ylissian princess’ face, “Yea, that sounds like her…”

“Yea, always worried about those stupid animals more than herself, just like mom,” Severa waved her hand, seeming to not care or was annoyed, “But then mom came back, decked out in this armor-robe I’d never seen before, lance in one hand, a tome in the other…”

“She had a tome?” blue eyes blinked behind the mask as Lucina turned to the mercenary. She’d never seen her mother wield anything aside from a lance and ride her Pegasus, not even in the altered past she went to.

“Dark Flier,” Severa just shrugged like it was nothing new, “Mother went the route of a Falcon Knight after whatever as the new commander, like all of them before, while mom picked up a tome, she was pretty good with magic, far as I saw.” The words came out as if they were no big deal, but when Severa opened her eyes, she was looking in the past, at something she couldn’t look away from, “She called down a Pegasus from the skies, like it knew exactly what she wanted without a word. Told us to get on, then mounted in front of us, riding with that lance in one hand and the tome in the other and just…” she waved her hand in a grand gesture, as if suggesting the whole field before them, “It was really awesome… the way she took them out…” lowering her hand, Severa sighed, placing it on her hip and looking up at Ylisstol, “Got us to the palace, with you and your mom,” her red eyes glanced to the side and she made a face, recognizing her mistake again, “Er, sorry, other you and the other Queen…”

Lucina just smiled, not bothered anymore, “At least she protected you…”

Looking towards the ground, Severa nervously twirled her finger in her ashen brown hair, “Yea… all the way up until the end…”

That smile became a tight frown as Marth looked at the acropolis again.

There was silence for a moment, nothing else for them to say at the haunting memories of this place.

They weren’t ready to be here again, not yet.

With that thought in mind, Marth turned, heading northeast again, “Come on, we’ve got a ways till Regna Ferox.”

“Hm,” Severa just grunted, giving the mountaintop city one last look before turning to follow, her kid trailing next to her.

Laurent seemed to be deep in thought, gripping his chin with his eyes closed. The two women and child got a fair distance away before he noticed and quickly followed, catching up to them soon enough and made his way to Severa’s side. His sharp red eyes kept glancing at the mercenary woman behind his glasses, trying to discern something clearly.

It grated on Severa’s nerves, and after a while she couldn’t take it anymore, snapping at him, “Is there something you want, Laurent!?”

The mage blinked at the angry look sent his way, holding his chin in that contemplative way and tilting his head, before answering quite cordially, “Pardon, Severa, but there was something I wished to ask about your story.”

Flat red eyes stared at him as she put her free hand on her hip, “Then ask.”

His head tilted the other way, blinking behind his glasses as he seemed to try and determine exactly how he wanted to word this… seemingly deciding to be blunt, “Who is Cynthia? As well as this ‘mom’ you were referring to? In my time only your mother, Cordelia, Captain of the new Pegasus Knights, was a noteworthy Pegasus Knight in service to the Exalt.” His head tilted the other way, looking up, “I don’t recall my mother mentioning another-!!”

“WHAT?!” the mercenary screeched, causing Marth to jump in front of them, before Severa grabbed the mage’s collar and dragged him down to where their noses were nearly touching, “How the hell do you not know who my baby sister is or my mom!! Sumia! The famous Pegasus Rider of the Shepherds!”

The green haired man didn’t seem phased by the contact or aggression, simply pushing up his glasses, “This is why I ask, neither of those names I recognize from my timeline…”

And just like that, Lucina came to another realization. Her and Severa’s mom, Sumia, might not have survived in other timelines…

Apparently meaning her little sister Cynthia didn’t exist either…

Marth slowly turned, watching as Severa growled and shouted about her family, filling the oblivious mage in on all the details she could muster. Their mom, the Queen of Ylisse in her time and a humble Pegasi rancher in Severa’s, was in danger.

She needed to make sure Sumia survived, her mother’s happiness was the cause she had stuck behind for this jump back in time. Sure, saving the world was important, and ensuring her own birth was part of that, and maybe getting her father with someone that would make him happier…

But he, and by extension she, Lucina, so far always existed at the very least in these other timelines. They were safe! Protected by Naga or ordained to survive long enough for this all to happen…

But her mother, Severa’s Lucina’s mother, Gerome’s mother, this Noire’s mother, along with Lon’qu and everyone else in the Shepherds…

They were expendable.

They could die and history would move on without noticing.

A fire burned in Lucina’s chest, her fists tightened at her sides as her teeth clinched.

-That is completely unacceptable-

She had a new goal to her mission. Somehow, some way… she would make sure all the Shepherds of her father’s army would live.

-----

Chapter 8: I just want a Drink...

Chapter Text

-----

Driven by this new desire to save everyone, even more than just restoring the future or preventing the tragedy that lay ahead, no, Lucina wanted to make sure everyone in her father’s service survived this war, found happiness and had the children they were clearly meant to have and live on with them peacefully…

This new goal, new drive, spurned on her movements quicker. Severa, Laurent and the kid were forced to keep up with her new driven pace as they made it to the border wall of Regna Ferox quicker than anticipated. Severa even spared her kid at some points, letting the little girl sit on her shoulders as they moved brusquely out of Ylisse.

Marth surprised her comrades by simply greeting the gate guards and being allowed in without any fuss.

Severa kept eyeing the masked woman sharply, only asking what was on her mind once they’d gotten far enough away from the wall, “So what’s this whole champion thing they kept calling you?”

“A-ah, well…” nervously Lucina scratched her cheek, it was safer here, she could relax a bit and the snow and cold were a welcome to the swordswoman, “I mentioned I’ve been living here for the past year and half before coming to find you both, right?”

“Mmhmm…” the mercenary was still eyeing her narrowly, while the mage silently mimicked her interest.

“I may have…” Lucina’s voice trailed a bit, looking decidedly away from her companions. Why were they giving her such weird looks? Abruptly she cough, speaking quickly, “… won the Arena Ferox festival and granted Khan Basilio reign over Regna Ferox for the year…” another cough, “As his champion…”

Severa just kept staring at her flatly.

“Hmm,” Laurent on the other hand seemed to hold his chin, pondering, “That could pose a problem.”

“Huh?” “Why?” both women stared at the mage, shocked and vaguely curious.

Laurent didn’t seem to notice them, still walking and pondering, “Basilio is the West-Khan of Regna Ferox if I’m not mistaken.”

“That’s correct,” Lucina answered him, keeping up but still giving him a questioning look despite the mask on her face.

“Well, the issue stems from you being his champion,” finally the green haired man turned serious eyes on the masked woman next to him, “West-Khan Basilio may be in charge of Regna Ferox at the moment, but we just entered into East Regna Ferox, where his influence would be arguably lessened,” his sharp eyes seemed to narrow, “And there could be some resentment not only towards him, but also the one who won the festival for him…”

The obvious implication sunk in for the masked swordswoman...

“Oh, damnit…”

-----

Laurent’s prediction was not far off.

“Naga-be-damned! Luci! Did you have to piss off an entire country!!” Severa shouted, throwing a man over her shoulder.

“It’s not my fault!” the masked swordswoman shouted, hitting another man with the pommel of her sword.

Each village, tavern, bar, stable, and even wayside spot designed to give travelers a reprieve had SOMEONE there that not only recognized ‘Marth’ as the West-Kahn’s champion, but wanted to pick a fight with her.

Laurent hit another man in the face with his tome, Severa’s kid clutching to his robes while her mother went about duel-wielding her axe and sword guarding their leader’s back. The two warrior women arguing with one another more than actually paying attention to their attackers.

The mage merely pushed up his glasses and questioned the men attacking them. He had gotten into the habit of doing this, mostly out of his own curiosity, and because there was generally plenty of time to question at least one of their attackers while the other two dealt with whomever else wanted to join in on the fight.

He had learned that most people were attacking ‘Marth’ for one of three reasons. They were legitimately irritated that he’d won the championship so East-Ferox lost, so some manner of patriotism. They wanted to fight the West-Khan’s champion and beat him in order to gain favor with East-Khan Flavia. Or they simply wanted to fight someone that won the Area Ferox festival.

The Feroxi were truly simple when it really got down to it.

“AAARRRGGHHH!!” Severa hit a man with the side of her axe and sent him flying.

Nonplussed, Laurent knocked out the gentleman he’d been questioning and crouched to pick up the kid just as her mother sent another poor bastard over his head and through a window. The green haired mage just sighed, correcting his hat and standing with the young child in his arms. The kid didn’t seem bothered at all by the brawling in front of her, clapping her hands and cheering ‘Luci’ and ‘Mommy’ every now and then.

Severa was hunched over while Lucina kicked the last man attacking them in the face, knocking him out. The mercenary woman breathing hard but needing to get at least one more dig in at her half-sister, “Can we PLEASE just go to a tavern and NOT get in a fight!?” her narrow eyes glared at the masked woman, “I just want a drink! That’s it!”

Lucina was staring at her, panting as well, and from her countenance it was easy to surmise she was glaring as well behind her mask as she growled out, “You think I don’t?!”

The two woman continued to growl at one another, catching their breaths, and Laurent could only shake his head.

“These were some of Flavia’s men,” he told them flatly, “It seems she may have sent word to have you detained.”

The two women managed to drag themselves to the bar and just sat down, or collapsed on the bar top in Severa’s case. Her daughter, sitting in Laurent’s lap, reached over to tug at her mother’s ashen hair. Laurent watched as the mercenary woman opened her eyes, looking at her daughter before narrowly glaring at him.

The mage just sighed, having no idea why Severa would look at him like that, her daughter was the one tugging on her hair.

Lucina just gave a long groan, her shoulders dropping as she felt a bruise on her ribs, “The bartender left…”

“Who do you think I put through that window!” Severa snapped, ducking her head between her arms. She just needed a minute to recover.

That statement made the masked woman groan louder, “Sev… you don’t throw out the bartender…”

“He was coming at me with a club!” she waved her hands, clearly making a point.

Lucina’s shoulders dropped further and she needed to rub her eyes. This was so stupid, wasn’t there some rule about Champions who won a festival not getting attacked or blamed by the inhabitants of Regna Ferox? They brought in foreigners to fight in this tournament for a reason right? Why attack them later?

-Ugh… they probably bring in foreigners knowing they’d leave afterwards and never return, so it’s never been an issue…- she wouldn’t put it past the Khans to implement a rule for something that stupid.

She finally lowered her hand when she heard glass moving. Looking towards the sound she saw Severa lazily grabbing a bottle from behind the bar.

“Severa!” Lucina snapped, “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“What?!” the ashen haired mercenary groaned, flatly looking towards her half-sister, “I came in for a drink! I’m getting a Naga-damned drink!”

“You threw out the bartender!” the masked woman waved her hand, referencing the window that was clearly broken with a groan coming through it.

“Yeah!” Severa turned with low brows and narrow red eyes, holding a bottle between them that looked awfully expensive, “All the more reason for me to-!!”

Suddenly an arrow came through the broken window and shattered the bottle.

Lucina jumped back, drawing her sword. Laurent jumped away, holding the kid in his hand and his tome open in the other.

Severa… she just stared at the broken bottle in her hand. A vibrating rage starting in her hand that dropped the bottleneck, up her arm, to her shoulders as she formed a fist and let out an unbridled scream of fury.

“I f*ckING HATE REGNA FEROX!!”

The axe and sword were in Severa’s hands again, fury in her eyes as she was ready to take out whomever ruined her well-deserved drink!

-----

The archer had been chasing them for days now.

First it’d be an arrow, aimed close but not lethal, then it’d be a hail of arrows after they’d have just long enough to get their bearings and ready for a fight, then they’d managed to slip away, typically thanks to Laurent’s magic, and then the bastard would shoot them the next day. Often all of this was accompanied by some crazy screaming Lucina had yet to decipher. Laurent couldn’t make much sense of it either but Severa…

“Did they just say ‘Blood and Thunder’?” she’d asked that one day during their attempt to flee from the crazy person. Laurent and Lucina didn’t really have time to respond to her as they were deflecting arrows or sending off lightning to try and hit the archer…

Laurent blocked one of the arrows with his tome, it had pierced through the pages but halted… right in front of the kid’s face.

Severa saw red after that and whatever questions she may have had disappeared as she went on a rampage trying to find the damn archer that was stalking them.

She came back the next day with an arrow in her shoulder and pissed beyond all reason, but the first thing she asked was if her kid was alright… then fell over flat on her face.

Lucina couldn’t believe the recklessness of her comrade, more so since they didn’t have a healer with them! They were going to have to bandage her wounds, which turned out to be more than the arrow in her shoulder. A few arrows were sticking out of her back just with the shafts broken off. They just had to hope she healed quick because they didn’t have time for her to rest if this bastard was going to keep dogging them like this.

Laurent examined and cleaned the mercenary’s wounds. He wasn’t a sage but he knew enough about anatomy to tend to what he could; remove the arrowheads, clean the wounds, wrap them up. Both he and Lucina were honestly grateful Severa had passed out, otherwise this would have never gotten done.

Lucina had stood watch that night, waiting for their ‘friend’ to start shooting again… trusting the green haired mage to watch over their mouthy irrational comrade.

Severa was up again by the time the first arrow hit the ground, sore and angry as hell. At least this time she focused on protecting her kid and freed up Laurent to rain down thunder with his broken tome. The thing was going to fail soon and Lucina dreaded the moment the worn pages evaporated. Laurent really was the only thing able to hit, or at least hit near enough, their advisory to run them off.

Archers really were annoying, Lucina was realizing. She had no idea how anyone could think they were push overs or easy to deal with after this ordeal. -I’m not even a flier and I can now fully understand mother’s irritation at these bastards…-

This archer managed to keep their distance, always moving, yet always hitting near them but never fully at them… unless it was Severa when she’d run off chasing after them and came back a pincushion. Lucina couldn’t tell if they were hunting them, toying with them or what? As their goal didn’t seem to be to kill them immediately yet they’d attack constantly but didn’t have the conviction to kill them? It made no sense, especially from a Feroxi.

They needed to either trap this archer or slip them entirely. They were clearly a decent enough tracker, finding them after they retreated multiple times, but maybe with a big enough distraction they could lose the bastard all together…

“Ugh!” Lucina growled, this was so frustrating. They needed something to throw this bastard off.

They were retreating again, ducking through some woods, using the trees as cover. Severa still wasn’t in good shape, sticking close to her kid and taking unnecessary hits, while Laurent tried to help. His tome had broken yesterday, so they didn’t have a means to attack back from this distance.

It was really down to Lucina and her Falchion. If she couldn’t find a way to get close to this damn archer to kill him, they’d never get out of this stupid cat and mouse cycle.

“Lucina!” Laurent’s deep voice caught her attention, an arrow of course brushing past the tree he was behind as she turned to the tall mage. He didn’t seem fazed by the close call, keeping Severa and her kid safely behind his body, while nodding his head towards the masked swordswoman.

It took Lucina a moment to realize he was signaling behind her. Taking a moment she turned around, she couldn’t just glance thanks to the damn mask, but refused to remove it. Even when Severa threatened to take it off her face and throw it in a river since it was likely what everyone in East-Ferox were recognizing and why they were attacking them. Not many people walked around with masks like it, but Lucina refused as without the mask… how else could she be ‘Marth’?

But right now, having the mask meant she had to fully turn around to see what Laurent was signaling to her. What she saw was a large mansion with a broken wall not far away. If they could get to that, they could probably lure the archer in and trap them, or lose them all together if they managed to find a secret way out.

Either way, it could give them a reprieve from this lunatic.

Turning back she gave a swift nod, agreeing with the mage’s suggestion and darted out, heading towards where the archer was firing, intending to be a distraction. Lucina liked to think she was faster than Severa, with better reaction times, she had been fighting longer than this version of her friend. She should be better, right?

Charging right at the archer, she got two arrows across her shoulder and face, small nicks that did nothing or bounced off her armor. She managed to find the archer, perched up in one of the trees overlooking their positions… it seemed to be a woman with purple hair she’d never seen before.

There was a buzzing on her left hand, like something she’d forgotten about long ago suddenly coming to life.

With a charging jump she intended to at least strike the damn archer, but the woman jumped to another, higher, branch as Lucina cut the lower one off.

The masked swordswoman growled, hearing the woman cackle some kind of mad laughter as she aimed straight down, forcing her to dodge.

She would have tried again, running up the tree to get higher or something, but as Lucina started her charge a javelin came out of the sky and stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Tch!” she growled, hearing heavy armor and spotting a knight coming through the trees. The damn archer had backup.

-Time to retreat- that should have bought Laurent enough time to move Severa and her kid to the mansion, or at least she hoped.

Ducking to the side swiftly, Lucina dodged arrows, zig-zagging through the trees and bounced between them to gain momentum and managed to jump over the mansion wall. She had only a moment to catch her breath on the other side when another javelin was impaled through the wall behind her.

“Damn!” she bit out, turning to see the damage. Whoever threw that javelin was strong, the thing almost went all the way through!

But she didn’t have time for this; the archer was still perched in a high enough branch to shoot at her and it would take the knight a while to retrieve their weapons and find a suitable way around. Lucina had to go.

Turning around, she ran towards the mansion, hoping to regroup with the others.

-----

“CRETINOUS SCUM! I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND MAKE YOU SUFFER MY WRATH!!” the green clad archer jumped down from the tree she’d been using to snipe her prey. They’d gone and taken refuge in the decrepit mansion not far away. If they were going to scurry around like rats then she’d just have to hunt them down like-

“Ugh…” a wave of dizziness struck the purple haired woman and she would have fallen to the ground if not for a sudden strong hand grabbing her around the middle. Gone was the countenance of a bloodthirsty hunter, now a meek and timid face rose, looking upon her savior, “A-ah… K-Kjelle… uh…?”

The stern knight looked down at the meek girl, a small frown picking at her lips, “You need to stop overexerting yourself with that talisman, Noire.”

“Eh-hehe… r-right…” Noire pouted, going limp in Kjelle’s arm and staring at the ground, “S-sorry I’m so-so weak… especially like this…” she mumbled that last part more to herself.

With a short huff, the knight just dropped the archer, walking towards the wall to grab her javelin.

Noire squeaked, hitting the ground, picking herself up enough to rub her nose and tearily glare at the girl in the big tin can, “That was mean!”

The pale blonde knight just looked back at her flatly, pushing out her lips, “You need to stop whining and learn to take care of yourself.” Her voice was fairly flat, neither encouraging or disapproving, just stating a fact as she looked back at the wall in front of them, seeing if she could move some of the bricks around the hole she’d made to get a better look at the other side.

The archer just kept pouting, sitting down more comfortably while she tried to will herself to not be dizzy anymore. It was always the same, she’d have her ‘other self’ take over to hunt down and fight this group East-Khan Flavia had hired them to get, only for the battle to take longer than anticipated and eventually her anemia would kick in and she’d pass out from the strain. Kjelle typically showed up in time to catch her, giving her that disapproving look because this version of her was so weak, before she’d just head on ahead looking for their query.

It hurt Noire’s feelings in some sense, being dismissed so easily, but at the same time she couldn’t argue with Kjelle’s assessment. As herself, her ‘normal self’, she was timid and weak and cowardly… she forced herself onto the battlefield out of necessity… or her ‘other’ self would come out and she’d just go berserker crazy enjoying the frenzy. Kjelle disapproved of both sides for one reason or another, and Noire wasn’t sure what to do. So far, they were the only others from the future they’d found, so they were stuck with one another…

Suddenly the big knight rammed her elbow into the wall, hitting the hole she’d made with her javelin, and pressing as much as she could. A few more hits like that and the whole section seemed to come down, giving them a clear view of the mansion their prey had run into.

Kjelle just sighed, unimpressed by her own handiwork, “Well that’s not good…”

“Hmm?” Noire perked up, honestly quite freaked out by the demolition, but got up to walk over to Kjelle to get a good look at this place. It looked old, decrepit, and like it had been abandoned for years… and were those moans coming from it?

Squeaking, Noire latched onto Kjelle’s arm and mostly hid behind her bulky frame.

“Tch,” the knight didn’t seem to notice the archer clinging to her, just flatly staring at the building in front of them, “Now why’d they have to run into a place like that…”

“It l-looks c-creepy!!” Noire shook behind her, trying to will herself to not be so frightened. They had to go in to get their quarry right? She gripped her talisman and everything just melted away… into a senseless fury, “HAHAHAHA!!” she stepped out from behind the wall of a woman, bow in hand now and marching with intent towards the place, “SO THE RATS HAVE SCURRIED HERE!! NOW IS MY CHANCE TO SKEWER THEM ALL ALIVE!! BY MY RIGHTEOUS FURY I WILL GET THEM!! BLOOD AND-eep!!”

Before Noire could skulk her way raving any closer, Kjelle had just reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. Such quick contact generally got her ‘other’ personality to go away, leaving the more rational one to deal with, “We can’t go in there.”

“Huh?” her indigo eyes snapped open, blinking back at the pale blonde knight, “W-why n-not?”

Flat black eyes just looked at the frightened meek version of the archer, “Because this place is dangerous…” Kjelle didn’t need to look at Noire to know she was internally freaking out, as both turned to look at the decrepit mansion, “I’ve heard rumors about this place holding a monster… a lot of people have gone missing in these parts, supposedly…”

Noire visibly shook, swallowing hard, “Y-y-you d-don’t t-think o-our p-prey h-has-?!”

There was suddenly a large roar from the place, causing both of them to stare wide-eyed.

“EEP!!” Noire of course, ran to hide behind the knight. That was ENOUGH for her!

Kjelle just sighed, staring at the place mostly unfazed, “Let’s just wait out here; catch them when they come out.” East-Khan Flavia had asked a task of her, it wouldn’t do to ignore it just because a place was big, dark and spooky…

Noire squeaked again when another roar came; Kjelle would never admit it might have scared her a bit too.

-----

Chapter 9: Dragonheart

Chapter Text

-----

Lucina was running through the ground floor of the decrepit mansion.

She had broken in through one of the barred windows. It was strange, there were broken windows all over yet there were newer iron bars on most of the ground floor. She’d been lucky to find a rusted one else she would have had to try climbing up the trellis to get to the second floor.

“Argh! Where are you?” her pace picked up. She wanted to find Laurent and Severa quickly, they didn’t have long before that knight and the archer decided to try and break in after them.

There was suddenly a loud roar, shaking the entire foundation of the mansion.

“What the-?!” Lucina had to stop and brace herself. Several parts of the floor caved in, dust and cobwebs dropped from the ceiling, but mostly everything was just shaking.

“M-mommy!!” that sounded like the kid, not far down the hall.

Lucina breathed a sigh of relief, waiting for the shaking to stop and headed towards the grand doors at the end of the hall. If the kid was there, at least Severa had to be nearby.

“G-get off me, kid…” that was definitely Severa, though her voice was strained, “You’re just making it worse…”

The masked swordswoman came around through the doors, entering what seemed like a large foyer once. Severa was sitting on the floor, leaning against one of the walls, breathing heavily and clearly trying to suppress the pain of her still healing wounds. Laurent was looking her over while the kid was kneeling next to her mother. Her back was towards Lucina, but she could easily imagine the look on the young girl’s face; she and Cynthia must have made it hundreds of times when they thought about their mother dying on the battlefield. She didn’t know if the kid was even old enough to know what ‘dying’ was, but she was worried about her mother, knowing she was hurt but probably didn’t know how bad.

Gripping Falchion, Lucina walked over to the three gently, she didn’t want to spook them and wasn’t sure about the structural integrity of this place.

“You made it.” Of course, Laurent was the first to notice her. He didn’t even look up from rewrapping one of Severa’s wounds, just addressing her in that deep monotone voice of his.

A frown pulled at Lucina’s lips, but she pressed forward, suppressing the feelings she had. They didn’t have time, “A knight has joined that archer, I’m sure they will come in any moment looking for us…”

Laurent turned with narrow sharp eyes and low brows, clearly finding the insinuation unacceptable, “Severa needs time to rest. Several of her wounds have reopened, she shouldn’t be moving-!!”

A hand came up and pushed on the mage’s shoulder, forcing him to look back at the serious look on the ashen haired mercenary’s face.

His words died on his lips as his frown spread.

Those narrow red eyes turned from the mage to the swordswoman, “We need to move? Let’s go.” Putting the blade of her sword point down Severa pushed up on the steel, stumbling to her feet but standing on her own. She had holstered her axe on her back, gripping the sword in one hand and reaching out with the other to her daughter, “Come on.”

The kid just nodded, taking her mother’s hand, sticking her fingers of her other in her mouth. It looked like she was pouting, her own narrow red eyes kept looking at her mother, occasionally traveling to the mage as he looked concerned as well, but she wasn’t going to say or do anything against her mother’s command.

Lucina took point, moving from one side of the halls to the other, checking each door and room they passed with at least a cursory glance. She was hoping to find another way out, something that could be hidden or a secret passage, just so they could escape and hide their tracks from the two pursuing them. Severa was in the middle with her kid, gripping her sword tightly while clinching her jaw, pushing down however painful this whole ordeal was. Laurent took up the rear; he may not have been much help without his tome but he could still be a shield for the wounded mercenary. If anything approached them from behind, it’d have to get through him first.

There was another loud roar, the ceiling above them shaking as it sounded like something large and heavy was moving around…

“What the hell IS that?!” Severa shouted as the ground around them shook. Her kid was clinging to her, clearly terrified, and when Lucina looked back, the look on the woman’s face said she was just as scared but just hid it better.

Lucina just frowned, she wasn’t sure either…

The hall behind them shook as it sounded like something large and heavy dropped from the second floor back in the foyer.

Pushing up his glasses, Laurent narrowed his eyes, “It seems whatever this beast is might be chasing us…”

“Oh great!” Severa roared, her grip on her sword tightening, “First a crazyass archer, then a knight, why NOT a beast! Hell it might even be a goddamn DRAGON!!”

Lucina squared her shoulders, staring at the end of the hall, Falchion gripped between her hands. -This sword is blessed with the ability to kill dragons… if such a thing is chasing us…- flashes of that broken past came to her mind. Validar spouting off about a great evil dragon…

“Gah…” suddenly the masked swordswoman reached up, holding her head as if it hurt. Why were these images coming to her mind now! She’d been trying to suppress them for years! Only stumbling upon them in her nightmares where she had to watch her father get murdered by that-!!

“LUCI!!”

Suddenly the world went sideways as Lucina was tackled to the ground; something big, scaly and red charging through the wall behind her, coming through it as if it were tissue paper.

With a groan the blue haired woman pushed herself up as the dust started to settle, the beast had run right through, almost like it didn’t even notice them? There was something heavy on her and when she looked down she saw Severa clinching her teeth, free hand twitching as she rolled off.

“Goddamn f*cking wounds…” the mercenary woman growled.

“Severa!” Lucina was at her side, putting her hand on her shoulder… only to pull back and it was red.

A hand waved, pushing the bloody appendage out of the swordswoman’s face as Severa moved to get up, “Don’t be spacing out on me now… we’ve got something big to deal with…” she pushed herself to her feet, swaying a bit as she pulled out her axe, “Laurent, watch the kid… you’re pretty useless right now anyway…” and she took a shaky step forward.

The mage was glaring at her, but he didn’t really have a response. No tome meant no magic, all he could really do was hold on to the kid and keep her out of the way.

Lucina scrambled to her feet, pushing the sight of Severa’s blood out of her mind the best she could and stomped over to the woman, pulling her back, “Wait! You can’t-!! You’re in no condition to-!!”

The mercenary just shrugged her off, stepping through the dark hole the beast had made into the next room, “Does it look like we’ve got a choice, Luci?!” turning back just enough she glared at the blue haired princess, “My Lucina wouldn’t be such a goddamn coward!” she roared, “She was stupid and she was reckless, but she wasn’t the type to let some f*cking fear get the better of her!!” her breath hitched, clearly her pain getting to her but also something else. She held up her sword, pointing it at the Ylissian princess in front of her, “Get your sh*t together and pick up your goddamn sword and let’s deal with this thing!”

Those were tears, Lucina realized. Severa was holding back tears… just remembering the version of her from her own timeline.

It made Lucina’s chest tighten painfully.

“But you could DIE!!” the masked swordswoman roared back, her grip on Falchion tightening.

“So WHAT?!” Severa snapped back, glaring, “I’ve put up with all this bullsh*t so far! The fighting! The bandits! Every goddamn bastard that’s wanted me dead for one reason or another!! Now I’m dealing with those that want YOU dead and you treat me like some delicate little f*cking girl!” she waved her hand out, showing in the dim light the amount of arrows she’s taken and all the other damage her blood red armor has taken since they met, “You’re the f*cking one Naga’s chosen to fix all this mess… so what if a nobody like me dies out here saving your ass from a stupid monster!”

“I CARE!!” the shout was raw and primal as Lucina closed her eyes, shaking at just the idea of one of her current comrades dying so stupidly. “What’s the point of you coming back if you just die! What about your kid! What about our MOM!” opening her eyes behind the mask she stared at her half-sister, “What the hell am I supposed to say to her when I see her again? How am I supposed to face her and tell her only ONE of her daughters made it back!!”

Severa lowered her sword… it was heavy.

Lucina kept up her fury, her feelings burning as she took several steps forward towards the mercenary, her right hand holding Falchion shaking while her left was in a tight fist that buzzed. She leaned into Severa’s face, seething, “I’ve already lost you once; don’t even joke about that happening again.”

The bloody mercenary just frowned and looked away. The ground shook and the beast seemed to be making its way back. She had made a decision, gripping her weapons tightly, “You still need me to fight that thing,” narrow red eyes cut to the masked woman, “You don’t have a choice in this…”

“Just don’t be stupid and reckless,” Lucina growled, moving to stand in front of Severa with Falchion in both her hands. There was something warm about the blade this time, and did the room seem a bit brighter? “I don’t know what happened with your Lucina, but neither of us are dying here, understand.”

Severa watched the lord’s back… how much she reminded her of her Lucina, but again at times like this there was always something different. Something cautious, something hurt… -Something smart…- she was so used to her Lucina being gung-ho for anything, charging ahead without fear… but maybe that was just stupid bravado. This one always looked so damn concerned about everything… but maybe that was why she was alive…

Turning slightly to the side, Severa got into a position that bolstered Lucina’s stance, holding her up, but covering her back and side, “Fine, I’ll support you, but don’t screw this up!”

“Tch,” Lucina growled, bracing herself in her stance and waiting for this thing to come at them.

Green eyes glowed in the darkness. A tail whipped by, ruby scales with a translucent green underside, before slinking back into the darkness of one of the other rooms it had barreled into. A ball of multicolored fire formed in the center, below the eyes, presumably from the thing’s mouth as it sucked in a deep breath…

“Is that a dragon?” blue eyebrows rose over the mask, surprised. They hadn’t been serious when they questioned it earlier… but this?!

“Hey,” Severa pushed on her, “Isn’t that thing supposed to be good against dragonkin?!”

Gripping Falchion, Lucina nodded, “Yes. It is.”

A light started to glow from the divine sword, illuminating the whole area, including the room the ‘dragon’ was inhabiting. Those ruby and translucent green scales appeared along its whole body, odd wings of a similar color splayed out as the light spread to reveal its full form.

It looked strong, big and powerful. Lucina just hoped she would be able to strike it down and get her comrades out of here.

The fireball in its mouth seemed finally ready while Falchion was prepped to take this thing down…

“WAIT!!” suddenly Laurent had run between the two parties.

“L-Laurent! MOVE!!” Lucina shouted.

“You idiot!!” Severa called to him, concern obvious in her eyes.

But the mage didn’t seem to heed them, facing the dragon, “Nah! NAH!! That is you isn’t it?!”

Those glowing green eyes seemed to blink before the dragon swallowed the fireball, “Hmm…?”

All three humans blinked surprised, hearing in their minds the dragon’s questioning.

It seemed to tilt its head, slinking a bit closer, “A… mage?” it got close enough to snort at them, blowing Laurent’s hat back. Lucina and Severa tried to move forward to defend the clearly ludicrous man, but he pushed them back.

His eyes were only on the ‘dragon’ ahead of them, “Nah… you’re the Mankete Nah, are you not?”

The ruby dragon seemed to narrow its eyes on him, then sat down with a huff, “Half-Mankete… have you forgotten Laurent?”

A small smile spread on his face, glad to see his assumption was correct.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” of course the shout was from Severa, pointing her sword at the dragon and shaking as she glared at Laurent, “You know this damn thing?!”

The mage sighed, pushing up his glasses as he turned to the ashen brunette, “Technically… you know her as well,” a slight pick-up of his lips showed an almost smug grin, for him, “At least, the you from my timeline.”

Severa had barely the time to look at him funny, replying with a, “Huh?” when there was a flash of light and a girl looking to be a few years younger than her latched on to her around the waist, “WHAT THE-?!”

“Severa!!” the girl nuzzled the mercenary’s middle, only to pause and back away, “What the-?!” she wiped off her face, pulling her hand away and seeing blood, then blinked surprised purple eyes and stared at the woman in front of her, “Oh man! Severa! You’re injured!!”

“Yea, no kiddi-AGH!!” what started as a sarcastic snort ended with her being turned around and pushed towards the hall, “What are you doing you brat!?!”

“Less talking, more walking!!” the pointy eared girl growled out, pushing the wounded mercenary forward, “I’ve got some healing supplies in the back! I’ll treat you first and we can talk then!!”

Lucina was just left watching stunned, only snapping out of it when Laurent passed her vision.

“Laurent,” she called out to the man, stopping him in his tracks, “Who is that girl… what is that girl?”

He merely raised a dark green brow, dusting off his hat and placing it back on his head properly, “That is Nah, she’s a half-Mankete, and one of our comrades.” He gave a small smile before turning around, taking the kid’s hand and intent to follow the two. If Nah had any elixirs or concoctions it would be beneficial if they took a few for the road. Not to mention, she might have another tome for him.

The masked swordswoman looked confused, but followed the group soon enough. She didn’t want to be left alone in this creepy place.

-Who the heck is Nah?- She wanted to know more about this girl… another one of their friends that she had no idea existed.

-----

“Okay… Severa… you… go… right… HERE!”

With a mighty heave the young looking girl dropped the heavy mercenary on what amounted to a cushioned table. As in it was a table with a number of cushions on it… along with weapons, gold bits, bottles, papers, and all manner of random assortment of things.

Severa groaned, raising slightly and pulling a knife out from under her, narrowly glaring at it before turning that glare on the little girl, “Are you trying to murder me?!”

Nah just waved her hands, zipping over to another pile of… stuff… shiny stuff, “Pfft, course not,” she literally dove into the pile, papers and gold coins flying all over the place, “Now where did I put that…”

Several books went flying as Laurent and the kid entered. He bent down to pick one up, curious of its contents while the little red haired girl zipped over to her ‘cushion’-ridden mother.

“Mommy…?” her little voice squeaked between the tings and bonks of random objects flying behind them.

“Ugh…” the mercenary just groaned, rolling her head towards her daughter, giving her a not-bitter look and in a rare sign of affection reached out to pat her head, clearly trying to console the little girl.

“No! It’s not here!!” and Nah was zipping to another pile, giving it a similar treatment.

Laurent had already picked up three books at this point…

This was the scene Lucina walked in on, brows low and holding her left hand. The ring was certainly buzzing, she must have not noticed thanks to the ungodly cold of Regna Ferox. –Or was I just too distracted?- she had hoped to get to Arena Ferox by now, start training again, get to planning, they couldn’t have long left until the day her father met that-

With a growl Lucina shook her head, shaking her hand out and moving to the center of the room, “I’m sorry for the rudeness, but we need to get out of here-!!”

“Yea, yea,” the little dragon girl waved her hand, diving into a third? Pile, tossing out gems, coins, various other things that looked priceless, “Just hold your horses a moment while I treat Severa…” she actually pointed to a chair on the far wall without even looking.

Lucina gave it a glance before turning back with a scowl, “Treat her with what? Are you a healer of some sort along with being a dragon?” she crossed her arms, clearly agitated by this situation.

“Aww!!” Nah turned back with a small pout, two bottles of something in her hands. Her pointy ears twitched as she looked at the masked swordswoman with furrowed brows, “C’mon, Luci? Don’t you recognize me?” she moved over towards Severa while speaking, pouting the whole time, “I know it’s been like twenty years but I haven’t changed that much…”

“Twenty years?!” was as far into that questioning as Severa got before Nah flicked her in the head, putting her down flat, and putting the first bottle in her mouth and forcing her to drink it. What came out of her mouth next was some manner of slur before her eyes rolled back in her head.

“MOMMY!!” the kid’s eyes were wide, holding and shaking her mother’s unresponsive hand.

“Wow that worked faster than I thought,” Nah just seemed to shrug nonplussed, moving about Severa’s body to look over her wounds, applying the liquid in the second bottle to each one meticulously. Whenever the kid tried to glare at her or halt her progress, she simply waved her away, the 2 or 3 year old may have been aware enough to call out for her mother, but she really didn’t know what to do in a situation like this.

Laurent, who had apparently been collecting all the thrown books, set down a stack of about twenty on a side table before turning towards the half-Mankete. He pushed up his glasses, observing her as she went about healing their drugged up comrade, “An anesthetic I presume? Then an elixir application? Those are quite rare…”

“It’s amazing what people will drop when you’re a ‘big scary dragon’ and they’re trespassing on your horde, hehehe…” Nah seemed to be speaking more to herself, chuckling at the comment.

Lucina just frowned at the comment, but looking around the room. It truly was reminiscent of a ‘Dragon’s Horde’ from those fairy tales her mother would tell her and her sister late at night…

Pushing up his glasses again, Laurent moved to stand between Nah and the kid. For a moment Lucina thought this was so the kid would stop pestering the off red haired dragon-girl as she healed her mother, but he placed his hand on the kid’s head and she clung to his robe. Clearly it was more for her than Nah.

“How long until she is combat ready?” the mage asked with that deep, serious voice of his.

“Hrm…” one of those pointed ears twitched, “Honestly, soon as she wakes up,” Nah just shrugged, “This stuff is really good, I’d rather not waste it, but it hurts like hell while it works… so I figure save us all the pain of having Severa yelling at us.”

“A pragmatic choice…” the green haired mage nodded, holding his chin in his hand. His sharp red eyes turned towards the Mankete girl, “Nah, were you kidding when you suggested you’ve been here twenty years?”

“Nope!” her lips popped on the ‘p’ sound in the word, her purple eyes never leaving the wounded woman in front of her, “I mean, I could be off by a few years, but it’s been at least that long for me…” she turned her head fully to the mage, looking him up and down before her eyes trailed to the kid clinging to his side. She seemed to stare at her longer, before giving a glance back at the masked swordswoman still standing in the center of the room. When she was done looking them over she turned back to her patient, “I take it, it hasn’t been that long for any of you…”

“Indeed,” Laurent nodded, giving a small sigh, “I cannot speak for these two but I’ve been wondering around the desert at least five years…” he nodded down towards the kid, “Considering her age I would assume it’s been at least three years for Severa…”

“You assume?” with a raised reddish pink brow Nah snorted at the man, “I could have sworn she was yours with how you two are acting…”

The kid clung tighter to Laurent’s robe and all he did was pat her head, giving her a comforting smile before turning a more serious gaze to the Mankete, “No, I’ve only been traveling with Severa and Lucina a few months now…”

“Months…?” Nah’s brows were quirked, as she looked between the three adults again, “Hmm… has it really only been that long?” she glanced back at Lucina, eying her narrowly before turning back to Laurent, “is that really Lucina?”

There was a sharp intake, but the masked swordswoman only looked towards the ground. What was she supposed to say? She didn’t know this… girl? How was she supposed to prove her identity to her? –And what does she mean twenty years? That’s impossible… right?- she didn’t know, the girl looked about 14, but the way she acted? And that dragon form? Laurent kept calling her a ‘Mankete’ and they had seen a dragon turn into this tiny form… what was all this?

Laurent seemed to give a flat look, looking at Lucina, then Severa, then the kid before turning back towards Nah, “She isn’t the Lucina you know,” there was a small sigh from him, “She isn’t even the Lucina either of us knew from our separate futures…”

He let that statement sink in. It wasn’t just for Nah, but for Lucina as well she realized. They were all from different futures here…

“W-wait,” That mask turned towards the mage swiftly, “You mean she isn’t from your-!!”

“WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN?!” Nah just dropped her hands, staring at him as they twitched. She did not understand his words, that much was obvious on her face.

Laurent seemed to give a small sigh, pushing up his glasses and prepared himself to give a long and grueling lecture about temporal variance, choice, and the possibilities of multiple worlds, similar but significantly different from the ones they knew…

Instead he just sighed, his shoulders dropping feeling heavy, “I’m sorry Nah; it is as I said.” He turned towards her with sympathetic eyes, “Each of us is from a different future, we or our comrades lost to time, while all of us have managed to find ourselves here, taking each of their places…”

“Y-you mean…” those pointed ears dropped, her hands shaking as her lip quivered, “Y-you’re not… the Laurent from… my world?”

The mage shook his head, “No, I am not.”

Nah’s trembling hand went to Severa on the table, “She’s not…?”

Laurent looked at the unconscious woman, his lips forming a line, “No, I am afraid not. She has not mentioned you, though she did know others from her timeline I did not…”

The Mankete girl’s ears dropped further, her brows furrowing and she looked so small, turning to the last adult in the room, “Lucina? You’re not…?”

Her mouth opened to say something, anything as a response; the truth, a lie, something that would help this all make sense. Instead she just closed it, shaking her head swiftly, looking down at the ground almost in shame.

For some reason this action got a small, sad chuckle from Nah, “Nah, you can’t be my Lucina…” she turned back to Severa, continuing her treatment a bit more delicately, “She would have shot back with a scathing retort, not be quiet,” the half-Mankete gave a long drawn out sigh, her shoulders dropping, “Nope, she had a snappy wit and a wicked tongue, just like her mother…”

Lucina folded in on herself with each word out of the dragon girl’s mouth.

-So… there is another version of me… with a different mother… and a different set of recognizable traits…- she collapsed into the chair initially indicated to her by Nah. She’d let her and Laurent watch over Severa and talk, while she figured some of this out. It was a lot to consider after all…

Another world…

Another her…

-Another failure…-

She put her head in her hands, rubbing her eyes. She felt so cold…

And her damn ring wouldn’t stop buzzing.

-----

There was a chuckle.

“That’s a crazy story!”

The girlish giggle continued, joined by a deep baritone chuckle.

“It is all true,” the mage smiled at the young looking Mankete girl.

“Hehehe,” Nah tried to cover her mouth, glancing from the unconscious mercenary still on her table and the masked lord that had fallen asleep on the chair in the corner of her horde, “I never would have thought… that these two…” another fit of giggles escaped her.

Laurent just smiled, pouring more tea for both of them, “Well that is about all I know from our journey, compiled with your information from earlier…” he looked at the notepad between them, “It is quite the compelling evidence for the multiple worlds conundrum.”

“Well, at least one of us is enjoying this madness,” Nah sipped her tea, her pointed ears twitching as she looked from the mage fixing his notes to the little cherry red haired girl sitting next to him, watching his actions. The little girl was… more manageable with Laurent around, and not at all what Nah would expect from a child of Severa’s, “Sooo…” those purple eyes turned back to the mage, “You know anything more about her?”

Behind his glasses, Laurent’s sharp red eyes went from Nah to the small girl and back, shaking his head in the negative, “I apologize. I only know she is Severa’s daughter, her hair color and eyes being so similar to her own mother makes it impossible to deny the claim.”

“Mmhmm…” Nah’s ears twitched, eyeing the small girl, “But it begs the question about her father…”

“Assuming her other parent is male,” a small strained smile passed the mage’s lips. His sharp red eyes turned to the little girl, her own similar to her mother’s looked back at him curious. He honestly had no idea what to think, “The subject is… difficult to approach.”

A light red brow rose on the Mankete girl’s face, “What’s so difficult about it?” she lowered her cup, leaning around to get a better look at the mage’s face, “Just ask her? Same as asking any of us about our parents…”

Laurent turned to her, brows drawn in the center of his brow, concern seeping into his features. He pressed his lips together, turning to look at Severa. Even unconscious thanks to drugs she didn’t seem… comfortable. Her hands twitched, her body moved and her brows were drawn low.

Shaking his head the mage just sighed, “It is the same reason I am sure Lucina and I haven’t asked about why the girl doesn’t have a name…”

“She doesn’t?” furrowing her brow Nah looked confused, looking at the kid again, “I thought it was just easier to call her ‘kid’ or something…” she blinked, “Didn’t realize that was basically her name?”

The mage just shrugged, “As far as Lucina and I know, that’s as close to a name as she has. Neither of us have heard Severa refer to her as anything else.”

Nah just narrowed her purple eyes on him, frowning, “So why not just ask her?”

With a slight frown, Laurent turned to the mercenary. His hands were tight, not sure how to put this gently, “She is… difficult… to approach about such things.” His hand shook, “When I asked Lucina why she had not addressed this, she claimed to have simply not seen the necessity, that we each have things best not spoken of…”

A frown spread on Nah’s lips, her eyes looking down as her fingers laced in her lap, “I… suppose that’s true…”

Laurent just sighed, “I must confess… I do not feel I have any experiences that are so painful I could not speak of them with my comrades.” His sharp red eyes looked to Nah, seeming apologetic, “If there is anything you wish to talk about, I would be more than willing to listen.”

A slight smile picked up on Nah’s lips, “Now why would you think I have such things to say?”

He looked at her softly, then turned to look around the room, at the mountain of treasures and junk surrounding them, “You stated you’ve been trapped in this time for nearly two decades…”

“Oh, that,” Nah snorted, waving her head, “Just a… hiccup with the time stream or whatever we passed through to get here,” she looked down at her hands, tapping her fingers, “Though… I must confess, for a Mankete, even a half-breed such as myself, that kind of time passes quickly… but…” a sorrowful look passed her face, “I do… I miss Yarne,” purple eyes nervously flicked to the mage, but he didn’t seem to be giving her a look that lacked recognition. It made her smile, “Sorry, I don’t know if the one from my world made it here or not, but… he pushed me through the portal when we were attacked on the other side, a-and I’ve… been anxiously waiting to hear word of a male Taguel…”

Laurent just gave her a soft smile, sipping his tea, “I see,” he set his cup down, “I must confess we have heard nothing about him yet, but undoubtedly some version of him will arrive here, we all will, I’m sure of it.”

A light smile picked at Nah’s lips, “Think I’ll find him if I follow you guys?”

Red eyes blinked behind the mage’s glasses, “Did you wish to remain here?”

“Weeeeelllll,” with a smirk Nah scratched the side of her cheek, looking around the room at all the treasures she’d collected over the years, “I mean I have all these treasures…”

Laurent chuckled in his throat, “Perhaps we could take some with us? You had a number of powerful tomes in you collection, would you be averse to parting with a few?”

The young looking girl laughed out loud, waving her hand, “Of course not! You need one don’t you?” she looked him over with sly eyes, “A mage without a tome is pretty useless,” her smirk spread as she picked up her tea cup, “You can’t very well garner Severa’s attention just standing on the sidelines now can you?”

For all intents and purposes Laurent looked unfazed, though his eyes narrowed slightly, “You truly have matured over your time here despite your appearance…”

“Hehehe,” her girlish giggle contradicted his compliment, “A woman just notices some things…”

Laurent just smiled, “Care to share this wisdom along our journey, and any treasures you don’t mind parting with here?”

“I’ll think about it,” she leaned on the table, giving a wry smirk, “I might need this stuff later,” she reached out and pat his hand, seeming sympathetic, “But don’t worry, you’re a friend, you can take… eeehh, two tomes should suffice, right? You guys can’t be fighting that much right?”

“You saw the state of Severa…” the mage narrowed his eyes, giving her a wry look.

“Uugh…” Nah just shook her head, “You’re right, take three,” she turned her eyes to the woman lying on the table, “And see if you can’t find her some better armor, and some new weapons, or at least a whetstone. That axe of hers looks chipped, and the sword nearly blunt…” then turned to look at the other woman in the chair, “And grab a few elixirs. I’ve been looking into Falchion’s abilities in my spare time, that sword can keep her alive, but the rest of us?” her purple eyes looked at the mage skeptically, shaking her head, “We’re out of luck there, and none of us are healers…”

The mage sighed, “It is a troublesome position we are in…”

Nah looked at him head on, then around him at the little girl trying to remain unseen, “And get that… kid some warmer clothes, I’m sure there’s a few furs in here that can be fitted to her.” The Mankete woman tilted her head, “Perhaps give her a dagger? That should be small enough she can handle, right?”

Looking concerned, Laurent turned from the toddler to the woman on the table and sighed, “I’m not sure if Severa would approve…” a frown tugged at his lips, “Though it would be good if she could defend herself… though I’d be concerned if she accidentally turned it on herself…”

Nah reached out and pat the concerned man’s shoulder, “Well, that’s just where one of her parents are going to have to keep an eye on her, hmm?” those light red brows on Nah’s face wiggled, her insinuation quite clear.

Laurent just sighed, getting up, “I will look and see what is available,” he looked at the Mankete, “Would you mind keeping an eye on her and her mother a moment longer?”

The light red haired child looking woman just waved her hand. She’d keep an eye on the little girl, she wasn’t that difficult, her mother unconscious was worse. “Don’t mind us girls, go see what I have available.”

The mage gave a shrug, moving away from the table to sort through what was available. He passed by Lucina, she had passed out soon after sitting down, he could tell her thoughts were troubling with how she moved in her sleep, but he didn’t want to disturb her. None of them had been sleeping well thanks that archer.

Spotting a bear skin in a pile nearby, he grabbed it and set it over their leader, hoping it brought her some comfort.

Nah watched the man and his concern for their leader, watched as he moved from pile to pile, diligently separating and sorting what could be useful for their journey and what wasn’t.

The half-Mankete woman just sighed, turning to the other on her table, a small smirk passing over her lips.

Severa’s narrow red eyes were open, watching the mage just as diligently.

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