Lucina threw herself into the Shepherds' next mission. The travel south from Plegia's castle was hot and exhausting, but it took her mind off of Morgan. Her precious little brother still hadn't come along – he refused to look her in the eyes.

"Lucina, get some rest." When had her mother approached?

"But Mother, what if Validar summons Grima while we sleep?" Lucina had been on her watch shift, fighting the heaviness in her limbs. The Shepherds had pushed through two full days' worth of marching without rest with the hopes of catching up to Validar before he reached the Dragon's Table. This was the first and only allotted break before they charged the Grimleal's haven. Despite all of it, Lucina felt restless. She never wanted to see Grima rise ever again. The gripping fear that she had experienced in her own world was closing in on her.

"He can't summon Grima."

"But he has the Emblem. And the gemstones. All he has to do is,"

Mother put a hand up, and Lucina fell silent. "Trust me, he cannot summon the fell dragon without one more piece. I've read some Grimleal manuscripts. Validar cannot resurrect Grima without its heart – just like you cannot summon Naga without Falchion or the Fire Emblem."

"And where is Grima's heart?" Lucina's voice was hoarse. "What if Validar already has it?" He must have it, Lucina thought, in her world, he did.

"He doesn't have it. We do." Her mother sounded so confident. As if she held the key to victory.

Lucina's eyes widened, her mind suddenly alert amidst the fog of fatigue. "Why don't we destroy it?" her voice was a hoarse whisper. She was afraid to speak louder, to make her growing excitement known.

"I think we ought to wait a little while longer." Lucina's mother took her by the shoulders and steered her towards the tents. "Go and rest."

"Yes, I suppose I should." Lucina replied stiffly, and began wandering to her tent.

As she walked, she thought it was silly of her mother to ask her to sleep when they were so close to what could be the beginning of the end of the world. Lucina wanted to articulate that she wasn't capable of rest until Grima's revival was halted for good. But she couldn't find the words to describe the feelings inside. She was anxious – why were the Shepherds taking precious time away from stopping the horrible fate assigned to the world? Lucina's memories of her own decimated world bubbled up, showing her images of entire towns ablaze, swarming with Risen. The same feeling of helplessness she experienced then was present as she remembered the moans of the dying.

Lucina's right hand went to Falchion's pommel. It had a cool feeling, a comforting effect on her frayed nerves. Falchion reminded Lucina that yes, she had been helpless before, but no longer. She was able to wield a great power; a privilege among even the most famous heroes.

But even though she had such power, why was Lucina worried?

/

Lucina lay in her bedroll, unable to sleep. Her body was heavy; it needed rest. Her mind, on the other hand, refused to quiet itself. Was it fear or excitement? Lucina couldn't be afraid. If she were, then she wouldn't have been able to come this far. Fear of death had not been the culprit, she knew.

Lucina's thoughts were interrupted by soft rustling outside her tent. Wearily, she rose from her position, half welcoming the distraction.

"Do you need something?" Lucina opened her tent flap to reveal Morgan, pouting, appearing to be the least bit excited to see her. "Morgan?" She had not been expecting him.

The blue haired boy scuffed the ground with his boot. "Can I come in?" His eyes flicked to meet Lucina's for a brief moment.

"Of course," Lucina had barely said it when Morgan pushed past her and plopped himself in the farthest corner of her tent.

"What did you need?" Lucina closed the tent flap and fumbled around in the dark for her allotted candle. Her hands found the waxy stick and metal tray. Now to find her flint…

Morgan muttered some indiscernible phrase and a warm light spread from his outstretched hand. It was a good thing he liked to carry fire magic tomes with him.

"I'd move if I were you," he said. Lucina put the candle down and stepped to one side. With a flick of his wrist, Morgan shot a small flame to light the wick.

Lucina gave her brother a smile in appreciation, and sat on her bedroll, waiting for him to speak further. She supposed it was better to let him approach her.

"Mother and Father talked to me." Morgan said after a while. He brought his knees to chest, peeking out at Lucina through his shaggy hair. "They told me you only wanted to help."

Lucina was quiet. She had wanted to kill her mother so badly in one terrifying moment. She had wanted to serve justice, to protect the future of the world. The future her own mother was destined to take away. Part of her reasoned that she loved her precious family too much to tear it apart once more. Another part of her had made the resolution that if her mother showed any other signs of succumbing to Validar's magic…then Lucina would surely prevent her father's death at any cost. And yet another, more peace-seeking part of Lucina wanted to find another way. A way in which no friendly blood need be shed to restore order.

"I did," Lucina confirmed slowly, "I don't want anyone to go through what we did. The fell dragon must be stopped." It was the phrase that had kept her going through most everything.

Morgan seemed to sink into himself. "I know we lost our parents once. I can't remember how it felt, but I don't want to feel it again." Lucina couldn't help but see the child beneath the soldier. Morgan was scared. Scared because he didn't quite know who he was, scared because he did not want to lose his familiar surroundings…

"I know. You must understand that I love Mother as much as you do. She is a hero – in every sense of the word. She was willing to forfeit her life instead of fighting me, her inferior and child. Mother was like that, too, in our world." Lucina remembered bitter sweetly. Indeed, the Robin who had raised her was in fact different from the woman in this world, but the same aura of maternal love was there.

"Our parents are heroes," Lucina continued, "and we must accept that if they die, it will be for us." She thought of the scars she'd seen on Mother's body during bath time as a young child. She'd seen the evidence of battles on her Father's body, too, when they went as a family to a foreign place that encouraged mixed bathing. And that was before the wars in her original world had escalated to the point of no return. Lucina especially remembered that her parents were proud of their scars because they were earned by protecting comrades. Lucina had some scars of her own. Many of them were received when she'd gone ahead of her friends to take on the first lines of Risen, trying to make her comrades' work just a little easier.

Morgan frowned. "But why do our parents have to be heroes? Why can't they take care of us like other children's parents?"

Lucina could hardly believe what she was hearing. Perhaps it was because Morgan couldn't remember, but she recalled how proud he used to be that their parents had died in the name of justice.

"Morgan, it is selfish to want our parents to coddle us while others suffer." She couldn't come up with the conviction to back up her statement. Morgan looked like he wanted to cry.

"B-but what if they die again? We'll be alone." Morgan was fighting his tears. Lucina took the opportunity to inch closer to her brother. He didn't seem as standoffish as he had been at the beginning of their conversation. Rather, it appeared he simply needed some comfort.

"We won't be alone. We have our friends." Lucina had a feeling that her assertion would have more weight to it if Morgan could remember all the time their group spent travelling alone. Finally, she put an arm around his huddled figure. For a second, she expected him to shrug her off, but he didn't. He leaned into her embrace.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"What is there to apologize for?"

And they stayed like that, silently waiting for morning as siblings once more.

/

When morning did break, it was a storm of fierce winds and whipping sand. The Shepherds salvaged what hadn't been swept away and pushed forward. Laurent and his mother were particularly challenged due to the dirt clouding their spectacles. Cynthia and Owain seemed to be holding a contest to see who could complain louder. Nah and Yarne had cleverly transformed into their beast forms so as to tolerate the conditions more effectively. At times like this, Lucina wondered what it would be like to be able to turn into a large animal. A camel, perhaps. She had observed them during their journeys in Plegia, and found that they were perfectly suited to endure such storms.

The Dragon's Table seemed to fade into Lucina's vision through the haze of sand. It lurked behind the curtain of dust, waiting for them. Looking at the towering building, a dull throbbing worked its way from the old scar on her left leg. Lucina pushed the ache to the back of her mind – it must be her head playing tricks on her.

Lucina watched as her parents announced their intent to whoever was guarding the Table. She couldn't see very far from her position. The wind swept the sound of battle orders away. There was confusion among the Shepherds around her. Lucina drew Falchion just in case.

Through the howling blasts of hot air and the tense atmosphere, Lucina felt herself settle into that one place in time and space where everything was in sharp focus. The high of battle was a feeling unlike any other.

She didn't know how she'd gotten separated, but Lucina found herself engaging a lone Risen soldier. There were hardly any opponents on the field – not that Lucina noticed. And yet, she had found one reanimated corpse to cross blades with.

Had she been unfocused, Lucina would have found that the Risen she was fighting was a legendary warrior whose prowess with the sword was unmatched for years after their death. But she paid it no mind. All she knew was when Falchion was in contact with the opposing blade. Her shield came in handy; the Risen was fast – faster than any other opponent she'd faced.

Only when Falchion cut deeply enough that the putrid smoke of a fallen Risen billowed out of the corpse and the Shepherds' rallying horn sounded through the gusts did Lucina snap into the present. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was cut in some areas left unprotected by her light armor. She didn't feel any pain, yet, as whatever forces that allowed her to fight so relentlessly had not worn off.

The tingling, almost painful sensation of rapid healing magic ebbed the excitement away. From a distance, one of the healers must have seen Lucina's condition. It must have been Brady – he fretted over every little cut and bump any of the Shepherds may have received. The pleasant thought went just as quickly as it had infiltrated her mind.

/

Being in the Dragon's Table was painful for Lucina. It was the place she'd found the Shepherds' remains in her time. Now, with it in its full glory, she was more convinced of its awfulness. It reeked of death, like the breath of the fell dragon.

Lucina did her best to wriggle through the formation, trying to get to her parents. The suspicion that her mother had put her near the rear on purpose flitted through Lucina's thoughts, but she was too focused on her task that it found no purchase in her mind. She had to keep a close eye on them – this battle was the one Father was fated to die in.

The great altar room was dark; only torches and the flashes of spells being cast offered light. The Shepherds spread out easily, and Lucina took advantage of the space to locate her parents. She saw them, beside the fell dragon's altar, facing a tall man in Grimleal robes. Validar. Lucina's stomach dropped as she raced to aid them.

As Lucina was about to call out to her parents, she saw a burst of violet light erupt from below. She ran into what felt like a solid wall. Lucina felt a rush of warmth on her face – flowing from her nose and mouth. Blood dripped onto the floor in fat drops. Lucina hardly registered the pain.

"Lucina! Look out – whoa!" Cynthia came barreling towards her on her mount, only one leg in her stirrups. The younger girl had thrown a javelin and killed a Grimleal assassin not three paces from where Lucina stood.

After resituating herself, Cynthia beamed – a moment of happiness in an atmosphere of spiraling doom. "Yes! I finally got to be your hero for once!"

"Focus, Cynthia," Lucina stumbled over her words on account of the rapid swelling of her face and her blood-filled mouth. The other girl stared at her uncomprehendingly for a wink of an eye before continuing her "heroic spree".

Lucina clung to the edge of the magical barrier, though she could only see flashes of her mother's mighty Thoron-powered spells through the murk of dark magic from Validar's tome. Various magical attacks from her side of the wall that went astray and hit the force field were like a light breeze to an oak tree. Physical weapons fared worse against the might of the wall.

It drove Lucina mad that she was helpless to interfere in her parents' battle. She was so distracted that she was unable to enter that calm frame of mind that got her through so many fights relatively unscathed. Each evasive tactic Lucina employed was forced; extra energy was spent catching herself after tumbling to dodge enemy attacks. Every so often, a healing chant was casted her way, and her injuries mended themselves a fraction. It kept Lucina going, but it wasn't enough to take away the pain.

In one split second of clarity, Lucina saw her mother strike her father. History had repeated itself.

Lucina's insides dropped.

Severa and Noire arrived to cover Lucina's back. Yarne came running in rabbit form with Owain and Morgan on his back. Kjelle hauled a limping Brady to their side. Nah came diving in with Laurent and Inigo. Cynthia and Gerome touched down to complete the protective formation.

But Lucina's mind was elsewhere.

She should have done something.

Anything.

She should have killed her mother.

She had failed.

"NO!" Lucina's cry came barreling from her throat. Everything she had come to undo had, inevitably, happened. What had she done wrong?

"Everything I've done is worthless," Lucina said hoarsely.

"Like hell it was!" A deep, gruff voice bellowed from the shadows. It couldn't be…

Khan Basilio.

The beast of a man came lumbering from the sidelines with a look of grim satisfaction on his scarred face.

"Don't you dare put any stock into this destiny bullshit! I'm alive and I'll be fighting 'til my last damn breath!" The west khan growled.

Validar's expression of triumph was short-lived.

"It cannot be! You're dead!" Lucina was almost certain that the image before her was a figment of some magic illusion.

"Thanks to you, kid, I came out a bit battered, but breathing." A grateful glint in his good eye expressed the emotions that could not be expressed at the moment.

"This changes nothing!" Validar hissed. "I will kill you now!"

Khan Basilio tsked smugly. "You haven't realized that Robin had you all figured out, huh?"

Lucina barely comprehended the khan's account of her mother's plan to swap out the gemstones so early on. Father was still sprawled out on the ground, a blackened spot in his midsection.

It was in the time that khan Basilio spent boasting his mastery over fate that Lucina's mother made her move. She lashed out with her silver blade and caught Validar in a swipe from shoulder to hip. It must have been relatively shallow; as the man did not buckle. Or perhaps the blow was fatal and he was being sustained by ungodly forces.

It was also in that moment that Father chose to stand.

Lucina was too stunned to speak.

"No! Robin killed you!" Validar snarled.

Father coughed, but he shared khan Basilio's smug grin. "Robin knew you…were going to do this…and she pulled back her power…in time." His voice was weak, but Mother quickly helped him support himself and put a vial of elixir to his mouth.

"Damn you to all the hells!" The Grimleal ringleader was enshrouded in magical light and he disappeared an instant later. The great barrier shattered.

Either Validar was too drained to transport himself to a safe area, or he had other plans in mind, but he reappeared on the opposite side of the chamber.

If there were one act of vengeance Lucina would ever make, it would happen now. She broke away from her friends, running at Validar with only one thing on her mind. For a moment she feared he would teleport away.

Instead, his unearthly gaze met her eyes and he gave her a twisted smile.

"I've grown tired of you, meddler. Trying to change what has already been written. Just like your mother." Validar held out a hand and fired a curse.

Lucina deflected the attack with Falchion. Her vision was red – all her shame, rage, suffering – it was all Validar's doing. That she shared blood with the man disgusted her on every level.

"You're too late, meddler!" Validar sent out multiple spells this time, and Lucina dodged or blocked each of them.

"I say when it ends!" She thrust Falchion forward before she was assaulted again. Lucina felt the familiar resistance of her blade meeting flesh and bone, and for one instant, time slowed down.

Validar glanced down to see that he had been impaled. The grin dropped from his face. His mouth moved but no words came out. Then, the far away light that had illuminated his eyes went out and his body disintegrated.

Lucina leapt backwards, sword at the ready, just in case it was a trick. People did not simply disintegrate – Risen did. There wasn't much time to contemplate what had just happened as another Grimleal knight rushed Lucina.

When the fighting died down and the Shepherds were left standing, Lucina joined the larger group, not quite sure how to take the outcome of the battle.

Her parents were by the altar, where the Fire Emblem was secured in a perfectly sized indentation in the stone structure. The fifth gemstone completed the magical circuit and energy was pulsing freely into the entire building.

Before the Shepherds' leaders could free the artifact, another jolt of what Lucina had come to know as teleportation magic appeared before her parents. Her battered body couldn't get her to her family fast enough.

When the newcomer had fully come through the portal, Lucina's body froze up with pain. It was as if her blood was molten metal – she was too stunned to cry out. Her vision was blurred with tears, but she recognized the woman who had appeared. The coat, the long hair and dark skin, the pale scars on her face and the beginnings of worry and laugh lines around her mouth.

The woman who had raised Lucina – her birth mother who had slain her birth father – was there before her eyes! Lucina felt sick. Her body felt like it was on fire. It was a struggle in itself to stay conscious.

The entire building was shaking – or maybe it was Lucina's sense of balance. No, the structure was definitely compromised. A portion of the roof came crashing down. Lucina lurched to avoid falling debris. The order to evacuate passed through her mind, but her eyes were trained on the figure of her birth mother transforming into…

Grima.

As the Shepherds cleared the crumbling temple, the fell dragon emerged in a shower of rubble. The beast's visage had been burned into Lucina's memory for years. Now, she was reliving the horror of being in the presence of the demon that had ruined her world.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Grima paid no attention to the Shepherds. Instead, the dragon headed west, gusts of foul wind buffering the soldiers in its wake. Lucina knew where the beast was headed – Origin Peak. Grima wouldn't wreak havoc just yet. But soon…

Lucina fought the urge to drop to her knees and wretch. The awful burning sensation that had plagued her was starting to fade, bit by bit only to be replaced by a cold weight settling in her chest.

The fell dragon had been revived. She had failed her mission.

There was commotion among the wearied Shepherds. It wasn't the groans of despair Lucina had associated with people witnessing Grima firsthand. No…cheers of hope were clashing with the destruction all around.

Lucina lifted her bleary gaze to see her (second) mother – beaten, bloody, but smiling – hefting the Fire Emblem, stones and all. Her father stood beside his tactician, awestruck.

Validar was wrong. It couldn't be that everything was written in stone. Father was still alive. The Shepherds had the completed Fire Emblem. Already things had changed from their fated outcome. In the past (including the battle she'd just gotten out of), Lucina might have been tempted to lose her determination. She smiled, and it hurt her battered face. Still, she couldn't help it. How could she give up when proof that they – the Shepherds – could change destiny was spread out so beautifully before her?

/

Wow, it's been forever! I'm in college now – woo! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update, but here's a chapter. Again there were certain liberties taken in my interpretation of this part of the game that might not resonate with everyone. R&R, if you feel like it :p Till next time!