~Prologue: Present Day~

There was the soft pattering of feet, and then a small giggle. Rather than turning around, the Exalt sat very still in his chair, focusing hard on the papers that lay on his desk in a disarray.

"One…two…" Chrom whispered, counting quietly to himself as the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder.

Before the young lord could reach three, his daughter pounced on him. Grabbing at her father's cape, the young princess Lucina giggled as she told her father, "Boo!"

With a smile Chrom pulled back from his study desk and tugged his cape out of Lucina's chubby hands. Leaning down a bit, the Exalt exclaimed, "You startled me, Lucina!"

Giggling happily, Lucina laughed, "You're scared so easily Father! What are you doing?"

Reaching down, Chrom pulled his four-year-old onto his lap and played idly with her hair. Straightening the small crown she wore, Chrom told her, "I'm just doing some boring grown-up stuff. Aren't you supposed to be doing something else right now too? I thought Frederick said he was going to watch you…"

Chrom's sentence was left unfinished as the doors to his study burst open; rushing in came Chrom's right hand man and his younger sister, both of them with frantic looks on their faces.

"Milord!" Frederick gasped, the normally serious knight obviously panicking, "The young princess-"

"LUCINA!" Lissa interrupted the knight, rushing around the desk to where Chrom was sitting. Picking Lucina up, the healer scolded, "How many times have I told you not to run away from Frederick? You made him panic again!"

Rather than looking remorseful, Lucina just giggled again before peeking over her aunt's shoulder at the knight. Waving at Frederick, the little princess smiled encouragingly at him before looking up at Lissa and complaining, "I only wanted to see Father…"

"Your father is very busy," Frederick said, calming down as his serious expression returned at the sight of the princess. "Besides, it's time for your afternoon nap."

With a pout, Lucina turned from him and asked her father, "Will you tell me a story about mother? The story of how you met her and fell in love with her? I won't sleep if you won't tell me!"

Both Lissa and Frederick started to protest the absurdity of her request when Chrom said amiably, "Of course, Lucina. I'm sure your Aunt Lissa and Frederick wouldn't mind filling in the bits I don't remember as well."

Standing up, the Exalt moved forward to take his daughter out of Lissa's arms, and as he carried her out of the room and down the hallway both Lissa and Frederick exchanged looks of worry. Biting her lip, Lissa murmured, "Poor Chrom…"

"We must be strong, milady," Frederick insisted, although the worried look on his face matched the healer's. "Even though he may miss Robin he will surely miss her even more if we act sad about it."

Shaking her head, Lissa grabbed her skirt and sighed, "It's been so long…surely you'd think we'd have found her by now. It's hard enough that Chrom's had to raise Lucina on his own for the last three years; Morgan and the Lucina from the future miss her as well. Goodness knows where they've gone now to search for her."

Frederick opened his mouth to say something when Chrom and his daughter poked their heads back into the study.

"Frederick, Aunt Lissa, are you coming?" Lucina asked, watching both grown-ups with curious eyes from the arms of her father.

Exchanging one last look, Lissa and Frederick smiled and reassured the young princess before following Chrom and Lucina down the hallway. As the four entered Lucina's room and Chrom put her into bed, the three adults settled themselves on the edge of the mattress before all looking at each other.

Patiently, Lucina looked at her father before settling herself into her sheets more comfortably. As his daughter snuggled into her bed, Chrom smiled at her before a frown crossed his face.

"A story about your mother, huh?" the Exalt said thoughtfully, completely missing the looks of pity that Lissa and Frederick both threw him. As Chrom's thoughts turned to his lost wife, the Exalt smiled sadly and shook his head. Reaching out to pat Lucina's head, Chrom began.

"Once, I was very lucky to stumble across someone taking a nap in the middle of a field. She'd no memory of who she was, and no memory of where she came from, but there was something about her that struck me even though I didn't know her; it was the promise of something amazing…"

And so it begins :D I hope this prologue is intriguing enough for people to continue!

Disclaimers now before I forget: I don't own the characters, or the stuff from the game or the picture for the story but the plot will be mine!

It's going to kind of follow the plot of the actual game but I'm going to try and sort of twist it in my own way-as in, the mainline is gonna be the same but there will different things here and there. Either way I hope it's enjoyable and that the start of the story is intriguing enough that you want to read the rest when I start posting!
Thanks all for the reads and I hope to see you when I post the first chapter!