As soon as they set foot on the grassy valley, Chrom felt a relief wash over him. Even if he wasn't certain of a bright future, the hope for it shone as bright as the grass wrote out long sentences that were brushed out by the wind's next breath.
"Do you feel it too, Lucina?"
"Yes. I do, Father. In my future... This place was the last place I visited before I faced off Grima for the last time. Before he... Destroyed the mountains."
"He could do that?" Lissa echoed.
"He could do mucb more..."
"Let's get going." Chrom said. He did not want his daughter to linger in the past for too long.
"Feels like any other valley to me..." Robin told Morgan.
"Yeah... But I bet there are some cool bugs around!"
Robin smiled. "I'm sure there are."
"Gods! Why can't they be on a nice village somewhere, with a lively inn and beds! Why foes it always have to be a huge mountain or a fucking tree...?"
"Come now, don't be like that! Don't tell me you can't feel the calm on the breeze!"
"I'll take my breeze with a side of toast, preferably."
"Damn! How have the risen stretched out this far already?!"
"We have to fight them off."
"It's no use. They'll keep coming. As long as they don't enter the sanctuary, everything should be fine. But we have to strengthen it. You'll have to take on the awakening ritual, Father."
Terrified did not begin to describe what Chrom felt. The Awakening ritual. Only one person with the brand could perform it at the time. But, Emmeryn couldn't awaken Naga. Why would he be able to? Did he have a right?
"What if I can't...? What if I'm not worthy of her ideals?"
A crushing silence chilled everyone's back.
What if Cheom couldn't awaken Naga?
"I may not know what goes on inside that sanctuary, but I know who you are. You, Chrom, King of Ylisse, are the next exalted in the bloodline. And if a fellblood can see it, Naga must see it too." Robin gestured his head toward Morgan and Lucina. "Rushing in is our strategy. We'll have to split up, to keep them busy from the west and the east..." Robin took a sticm and scribbled on the dirt to explain what the tactics would be.
"Let's get this over with."
Robin and Morgan feel weaker and weaker as they get closer to the sanctuary. They're not doing well in battle.
The group barely makes it into the sanctuary, dragging Robin and Morgan with. It's the only way to keep them safe as risen flood the main gates. The only way out is to perform the awakening ritual successfully.
Chrom starts getting at it.
And as the ritual starts, Robin and Morgan start losing it. It's painful, it's dazing. Lucina, Lissa, Frederick, and the rest kinda keep their composure for a bit, but as the ritual goes on, it starts to hurt them too.
Not to say Chrom. He's really going through it.
Hearing the pained screams and pleas for it to stop from his loved ones makes him second-guess if the whole ritual is worth it or he should just stop and find another way to defeat Grima. But there's no other way to do it. If he wants to make his own fate, he will have to impose his will on a god.
"Stop harming my friends."
"Is your will strong enough to not succumb, child?"
But he feels a touch, Lucina's body pushing against Naga's shit. In the distance, he can hear her pray.
He will be the Father Lucina needs.
Chrom doubles down and pushes against Naga harder.
"Stop harming my friends!"
"You brought fellblood into my home."
"My decisions are my own. They've come to help."
With the little strength they have left, Robin slmas down Morgan into a kneeling position, head touching the ground and starts to pray one of the nursery rhymes that were taught in the castle. They're spitting blood.
"Me." Chrom starts pushing down on Naga. "We will challenge our fate, fellblood or blessed. We are more than whatever the future has in store for us."
