I will change the tides of fate

Date with Lucina. Date Fee: $23.92 Customer Comments: "I hope my future spouse is just like Lucina! (Female in 30s)"

“Yeah, we all did - so how dare you even think about doing that to someone else! How dare you-”

She was about to dive forwards when Noire grabbed her shoulders again, forcing her back with a warning glare. Cynthia was about to protest but paused, letting out a low growl and shaking her head instead. Fine, fine, she wouldn’t rise to it anymore. She hoped.

Ignoring the crowd gathering around them she gestured out in the direction she’d come, wondering how long it would take for the rest of her family to arrive and see what a spectacle she was making of herself. For all the wrong reasons, for once. “Don’t you DARE say you did this to protect me - protect anyone! I - for Naga’s sake, Lucina, there’s no point SAVING anybody if you’re just going to do the same kind of shit my father-in-law did!”

The bad joke at Validar’s expense fell flat, and she scowled and shook her head. Openly comparing what Lucina tried to do to how Validar tried to murder Emmeryn would be a line too far, so instead she let it hang in the air, unsaid. “We have to be better than them, we can’t just - you can’t just let it all beat you like that!”

She was about to say more when she froze, tilting her head and staring into her sister’s eyes. When was the last time she’d seen her cry like this, over a conflict with her family? It was… weird. She didn’t like it. Gods, she wished she could just punch her again. She still wanted to punch her. She took a step forwards, shoving Noire out of the way with a reassuring if firm look before stopping inches away from Lucina.

“I dunno, Lucy.” She said after a moment of awkward silence, staring into her eyes. “Are you gonna do it again? Are you seriously going to do something that dumb? Or are you actually going to listen to me for once?!”

Her hand struck out again, not in a punch but a slap to the face, turning her cheek as Cynthia’s face flushed with a mix of rage, frustration, humiliation and hope. “Snap out of it! You gonna get beaten that easily, huh? Fine! Give me Falchion and get the hell out of my way, ‘cause we both know that unless you stop feeling sorry for yourself you’re just gonna keep getting worse!”

         For a moment, she was tempted.

         One of her hands slowly shifting to loosely grip the hilt of Falchion at her side, eyes squeezing ever tighter closed as she waged an internal war that lasted only moments but felt as if it were centuries. She couldn’t do it. Falchion had been entrusted to her; as the elder Princess, as the leader of their ragtag group of orphans, as Cynthia’s sister, she couldn’t hand the responsibility off to another. It was her duty, her burden to bear... And Cynthia had children, Lucina couldn’t take their mother from them like that.

         She wouldn’t give Cynthia Falchion, but would the others even want to follow her command now, she wondered. After seeing how truly weak she was; after witnessing her break down, hearing her tell Cynthia to end her... Lucina had always tried so hard to keep her vulnerabilities; her weaknesses and fears from the others so that they only saw her as strong and dependable, what would they think of her now?

        Would any of them even trust her still...

        “Of course I’m not going to attempt it again.” Her voice is soft, that slap (and being compared to him, that hadn’t quite hit her yet but when it clicks in her mind what had been said... It wouldn’t bode well for her emotional or mental state) draining the fire from her and leaving her once more tired. Just moments prior she had been hurt and enraged; trembling with the intensity of her emotions, but now she was simply exhausted. 

        She didn’t want to deal with this; she didn’t want Cynthia to hate her, didn’t want to do this in front of everyone... She would rather this happen in private, where they could talk and just be themselves, instead of making a scene... But, it was what she deserved, she supposed. “Father and Robin both asked me to trust in the strength of their bond, I gave them my word I would have faith.” Not to mention she felt awful enough the first time, she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle a second attempt.

        “... Are we done here, Cynthia?” Finally, finally Lucina managed to turn her head back to face her sister, shoulders slumped and fatigue in her eyes. She didn’t know where this conversation would go from here; Cynthia was angry, she was... She was a mess, honestly, as well as covered in blood- being separated would likely be good for them, allow Lucina time to further break down in private as well as clean herself, give Cynthia time to hopefully calm herself even slightly, or at least spend time with her family... 

It was oh so hard for her to calm down. Noire was shouting something in her ear, flickering between her anger and her timidity as the hubbub around the camp slowly died down into a quiet lull. There was tension in the air now as Cynthia waited, glaring daggers at her sister while Brady healed her nose and she tried to catch her breath.

She felt a little guilty about the punch, but not enough to relax and step away. She turned her head and glared at Noire, the other girl releasing her after a moment of silent communication - Cynthia violently shrugging away the archer’s hand when it touched her shoulder. She didn’t move towards Lucina, standing almost perfectly still as she stared at her and tried to piece together the question: why? Why?

You really want to do this here?

“Oh, yeah. You’re damn right I want to do this here and now.” Cynthia snarled, about to take a step forward before Noire grabbed her shoulder again. She twitched, about to turn on her friend as well before silently agreeing to back down - taking two steps back and crossing her arms under her chest. Her gaze didn’t get any more sympathetic, though, and the deep breaths she took to try and calm herself made her nostrils flare with anger.

Who turned to murder and subterfuge to try and set the world right? Cynthia knew others considered her deluded, thought that her belief in fair play and chivalry and always doing the right thing was childish and impossible - but she had to stick by them. Had to. If the future was won over to safety by cruel acts…how could they ever possibly view that as good? How could Lucina have even considered stabbing an unarmed man for a moment?

She had to talk with her husband about his apparent suicidal streak to agree to go along with this plan later, but he’d been talked down. Thank the gods for her father. Lucina, though…Lucina had damn well crossed a line.

“So go ahead, Lucy.” She said stiffly, once she trusted her own voice and that she wasn’t about to try and lunge for the older princess’ neck again. “Please tell me and everyone else here exactly what you were thinking when you tried to kill an innocent man, make *me* a widow and leave my children fatherless.”

That last point agitated her more than anything else, and even though she knew she’d regret saying this later she couldn’t help but lash out with it. “I would have thought you, of all people, would know what it’s like to lose your father. How could you even think of doing that to my daughters?! You wanna go look your nieces in the eye and tell them you tried to kill their daddy, huh?!”

A brief, horrified thought flickered through Cynthia’s mind and made her eyes widen before narrowing suddenly, gaze growing even harsher and colder. “Morgan’s got Grima’s mark too, remember? What, have I got to make sure you don’t try and stab her next?”

         “All of us from the other time know what it’s like to lose their parents, Cynthia.” Lucina had been exhausted, beaten and ready to just. Accept what her sister was going to throw at her. She knew she was in the wrong, she knew it; knew that she had made a grave mistake and there would be consequences- but how dare Cynthia make light of the fact that she was doing this for all of them. So that in this time, their own selves could have their parents; so that the lands will have peace, no one will have to die, have to suffer. 

        So that Cynthia’s daughter won’t have to worry about the mark on her body.

         Lucina’s fingers curled into fists at her sides and her eyes narrowed even as wetness pricked at the corners. She had little corner to stand on, how could she feel hurt by this when it was Cynthia’s own husband she had attempted to end? But still, she did hurt and she couldn’t keep the betrayal from her own eyes as she locked gazes with her sister. “Everything I have done for years has been for others. Has been to protect you; protect our friends, protect our people because our parents weren’t there to do it.”

         Without her consent the tears pooled further in her eyes before finally trailing down her cheeks, one of her trembling fists flying outwards to gesture at the ones gathered nearby to show just who she had been speaking of. “I won’t say that I was in the right, I won’t. But I will say that my intentions were for the good of many- I did not seek out to end Robin to make you a widow, to take your child’s father from them; how could I be so cruel as to want that?” 

       “ What I wanted was to continue protecting everyone; we have been fighting and struggling near our entire lives, everyone has. If one death could prevent so much suffering; so much death, how could I not consider it? After years of trying to keep everyone alive, how could I not try?“ Her voice was wobbling and she hated it. Hated how weak she was; hated the tears falling from her eyes, hated everything about this. 

        She had just wanted to keep everyone safe; Robin and Chrom had said their bond was stronger than she knew, and she wanted to believe them but that didn’t change the fact that her worlds Robin had killed her father. Perhaps it was selfish to want to keep her father alive, but he was Exalt now; with him dead it would fall to Lissa, there would be turmoil, who would lead the Shephards? 

        Such chaos would be caused, and it could be prevented with just one death... It was far from ideal, and Lucina was disgusted with herself for considering it, but after so many years of death, of the stench of blood and watching everyone around her die... She just wanted to end it; to keep everyone safe, to finally succeed instead of fail. “I’m not, I’m not fucking perfect; I want to keep everyone safe, I want peace for everyone and I made a desperate attempt at achieving that peace. What do you want me to do?”

Cynthia hadn’t felt this upset or betrayed in a long, long time. The closest she could remember was when she was a child, and her mother hadn’t come home. More broken promises and more broken families.

How could Lucina want to put me through that again?

Maybes. Maybes and what ifs and potentials and that was all that Lucina had been working on. She’d been scared and lashed out and up to a certain point Cynthia could have understood that, hells she’d worked on less. Both of them had worked on less. But how could her sister take those feelings, all those maybes and what ifs, and use it to try and-

How many times do I have to have my family get torn apart?

She’d been unbelievably, apocalyptically angry when Robin had told her the story, feeling the words would be better from his mouth than others. She would admit to screaming, particularly when Robin said for a moment he’d seen the logic to her words and had considered letting her damn well kill him. Thank the gods her father was there. She’d promised that she’d approach her sister calmly, try to talk it out, that Lucina had been heartbroken enough and surely and surely she’d want to apologize and get the air clear-

Cynthia had never been very good at living up to promises. The moment she’d seen her determination had given way to tears and upset and rage all over again, and her voice cracked when she let out a fierce, near primal shout.

“HEY!”

Lucina turned, and Cynthia had the briefest moment of seeing shock and - gods, was that fear? - on her face. Then, before she could even really think about what she was doing, she’d pulled her arm back and her fist slammed into her perfect sister’s perfect, murdering face.

She froze for a moment, staring at the blood on the knuckles of her gauntlets in what looked like confusion, before growling and being a moment away from diving on the girl to beat some damn well more before her ears stopped being filled with the sound of her own raging mind and she heard the shouts. Arms locked around her waist and tugged her back, away from her sister’s prone form as Noire managed to keep Cynthia restrained with surprising strength, Brady checking on the fallen princess as chaos raged around them.

It looked like her nose was broken. Good.

“What were you thinking, Lucina?!”

         She should have expected it, really.

         If she were in a relationship with someone and her sister had nearly murdered them, she assumed she would be angry. Be upset; hurt, demand answers and want to understand. Of course Cynthia would be upset; of course Robin would have told her, of course. Lucina hadn’t expected it however, she had been in a haze since it happened; wandering, lost to herself and her own inner turmoil. She had killed grimleal; she had killed risen, taken the lives of bandits and those who used their strength or influence to hurt others-

         But. She had never taken the life of someone in the manner she was prepared to take Robin’s. Unarmed, alone; it settled uneasily within her, a taint that she could never scrub away, a reminder of the lows she is willing to reach to protect her father, to protect the future she wanted to secure for this world. She was at odds with herself, part of the reason she was now crumpled upon the ground with a throbbing and broken nose while blood (why is she always covered in blood, why will it never wash away?) poured freely down her body.

        When she had first heard Cynthia’s enraged voice, she should have prepared herself; should have expected it. She hadn’t, had barely even registered seeing her sister when she had turned to face her, the punch took her completely by surprise and once she was on the ground... Honestly, it was difficult to attempt to find the will to get back up. She was so tired. She had been fighting for so long; fighting to protect the other’s, to try and salvage their home, to save people, and when she finally had the chance to end the person who would murder her father... She failed.

         It had been nothing but battle after battle; she was too young to feel this old, this tired, she was exhausted and she... Right now, she just wanted it to stop. At least, at least for a short while. Let someone else be the strong one; let someone else be the pillar of leadership among the children, let someone else carry the weight of the other timeline on their shoulders, just let her rest please. 

        “... You really want to do this here, Cynthia?” Tired, oh so tired, eyes meet her sister’s enraged gaze as Lucina accepts Brady’s hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She had been silent for a minute, allowing him to work his actual magic and tend to her injury, and now that it was taken care of she knew she had to deal with the consequences of her actions. Robin had forgiven her, something she knew she did not deserve, she doubted Cynthia ever would- even if she bothered to hear why Lucina had done it.

        “In front of everyone? I will, if that’s what you desire. Right here and now, I’ll do it.” Gods but she’s so tired, defeat in her eyes but back still straight even though all she wants is to curl in on herself for eternity. She was far from perfect, she felt so cracked and chipped and worn, she tried so hard to hold herself together and she had managed for so long... 

If they had a child meme; send me a pair and I’ll talk about their child!

Name:

        Kalla (call-ah) Emmeryn Maribelle Olivia Ylisse

Gender:

        Female

General appearance:

         Pale brown hair; usually kept short, tangles easily but since she takes good care of it it’s quite soft to the touch. Light blue eyes; a little big but they suite her round cheeks and heart shaped facial structure. Slender pear esque figure when she’s all grown; smaller bust size, stands at five feet four inches and rather enjoys wearing pretty dresses- though will gladly wear more practical clothing when necessary (such as during training or when gardening etc etc). Her exalt mark is about the size of her palm and is located over her heart. 

Personality:

        Soft spoken; quite polite and kind, but far from a pushover. She isn’t afraid to speak her mind, though her voice tends to be quiet or soft in general, and stands up for others- whether it be speaking in their defense or smacking someone with her staff to protect another, she dreams of living up to her parents heroics one day. She favours more ‘girly’ and ‘princessy’ things such as tea parties; dresses and arts (she adores painting and learning/playing instruments), but she’ll eagerly be dragged into rough housing or playing in the dirt with other children with just a little bit of coaxing.

        All in all she’s a sweet soft child who isn’t afraid to stand her ground and protect others all while wearing a cute pink dress and keeping a dignifed sophisticated air about her. She’s wonderful.

Special talents:

        She has a natural affinity for healing as well as a natural grace about her- though she throws off that soft dainty gracefulness out the window when she’s playing with others. Can play both violin and piano, she wants to learn the harp and perhaps the flute one day. She’s really good at making little tarts, the mini pies, but doesn’t have much luck with other baked goods; she’s also pretty good with tea making and has a wide aray of knowledge about herbal remedies. 

        She can use staves but she isn’t skilled with tomes at all; she’s tried her hand at axe wielding, lances, swords and bows, with her favourite being axes and bows- though she wasn’t very good with the axes (she just likes them), leaving her main weapon as a sword and a bow/arrows being her preferred after that.

Who they like better:

        I don’t think she’d like one parent more than the other to be honest!

Who they take after more:

        Hmmm, maybe Brady a little bit with the healing stuff? But Lucina with her desire to protect others and stand up for what’s right; she’s a mix of the two appearance wise, Lucina’s eyes and with her hair leaning closer to Brady’s family’s colour.

Personal headcanon:

        She knows from a young age that she likes both boys and girls. As she is not the daughter of the Lucina who will be Exalt one day, she is not held to the same sort of standards that that Lucina’s children will be held to and so does not seek out royalty or nobility when she is of courting age- instead she will focus on finding someone she has a connection with, someone who she adores and knows she will have a comfortable happy life with. In the end, she will have both a husband and a wife; the three of them will live happily together in a quiet village and travel Ylisse as they please, living life to the fullest. 

        Her husband will orchestrate a grand proposal with a dazzling ring to accompany it, while her wife will make her proposal a more private affair and present her with a beautiful hand crafted sword fit for royalty in place of an enagement ring. 

Face Claim:

        Kinomoto Sakura! (with edited eye colour; full image here and art credit here)

         Fates verse/s will be made at some point when I finish Revelations- for now let’s just talk for a moment about how against the deeprealms Lucina would be. She lost her own parents when she was young; she grew up quick, she grew up hardened and traumatized and terribly alone despite being surrounded by the other kids- being the leader was a burden she took upon her shoulders alone, she had to be strong for the other’s and kept a slight distance in some aspects to keep them from seeing her vulnerabilities and flaws.

         Do you think she’d be able to just leave her child in some other realm; away from family, away from friends, away from her (and her husband), to be raised by other people? Hell no. She couldn’t do that to her child; she couldn’t do that to herself- her spouse would be extremely hard-pressed to convince her that the deeprealms were the best option, because Lucina would definitely straight up be like ‘Either our child stays with us or I go with our child :|”. 

cynthia: *dumps snow down sister's back*

         Cold.

         A sharp breath left Lucina as the frigid flakes slithered down her spine, back desperately arching in an attempt to flee from the cold wetness, surprise so intense that not even a shocked squeal escaped her lips. For a moment she is frozen, no pun intended, heart pounding and a quiet groan slowly bubbling from her throat before finally she finds her will to speak once more. “C-C-Cold!” 

         Involuntarily she squirms, as if that would help her escape from the snow, before spinning around to face her ‘attacker’- only to let out an offended gasp when she realized who it was. “Cynthia!” Immediately the Princess’s hands are shooting forward to shove at her sister's shoulder, scowl fixed firmly on Lucina’s face. “You do realize, of course, that this means war.” 

“Really? It’s snowing?” As much as Fox loved seeing snow, being from a desert planet, wasn’t it technically spring now…? The weather as of late sure deemed so, if not his shedding coat.

Still, it didn’t exactly halt any eager inspections; a quick wander toward the window showed that the swordswoman was not lying. It was indeed snowing in April.

“That’s… weird. Snow when it’s been so warm out?” He mused out loud, though it weren’t particularly aimed at Lucina.

         “Hm, that’s certainly a well-deserved question- though one I don’ t quite have an answer for.” Fox had made an excellent point, it was strange to have snow after the warm period they had been experiencing, but Lucina wasn’t terribly interested in discovering the answer. Honestly she was more interested in having fun, after all this could perhaps be the last snowfall until winter came round once more, this should be enjoyed! “I have to wonder how long it will last... I hope we’ll at least be able to have fun with it.”

YEAH SOREN BE QUIET

         “Go squawk somewhere else.”

         “How exciting, I can’t wait to meet our new allies!”