"Chrom?"

The voice of the Mario-clone doctor cut through the deathly silence in the waiting room of the Smash Mansion's medical wing. Upon hearing his name, the blue-haired prince of Ylisse rose from his seat and walked over to where Dr. Mario stood.

Seeing the grave expression on the doctor's face, Chrom knew the verdict wasn't going to be good.

"Well?" the prince asked quietly, a noticeable hint of worry in his voice.

The Italian doctor reached up and placed a gloved hand on Chrom's shoulder.

"Her situation's not looking very good," Dr. Mario replied. His face wore a the same grave expression as the prince's. "Come with me."

Chrom turned to follow the doctor out of the room, leaving his comrades Marth, Ike and Robin to wait for his return.

Chrom followed Dr. Mario down a series of short corridors, until the doctor stopped outside one of the many doors. Looking the prince in the eye, he nodded silently before opening the door.

The late evening sun streamed in weakly through the windows of the room as the two men walked slowly over to the bed in the center of the room. Even though Chrom had mentally prepared himself for the worst, he still couldn't help but gasp in shock at the sight before him.

For in that hospital bed lay his beloved daughter, Lucina.

Taking a deep breath, Lucina strode confidently into the center of the Colisseum, where her opponents, Marth, Ike and Robin, already stood waiting. She didn't really like fighting against people she was close to, but deep down, she knew it was just a bit of friendly competition.

What she didn't know, however, was that today's "friendly competition" was going to get serious.

"3, 2, 1... GO!"

Upon hearing this signal from the announcer, Lucina immediately dashed towards her challengers. Dodging a bolt of thunder from Robin, she thrust upwards with a dolphin slash, striking Marth on the way. Landing atop one of the platforms, she quickly turned to face Ike. Lucina knew that the mercenary was easily the strongest of the four fighters, but that did not stop her from jabbing forwards with her sword, which Ike narrowly avoided. Jumping down off the platform as it receded into the ground, Lucina readied her next attack. As Ike threw his sword upwards and jumped up after it, Lucina thrust her weapon upwards. The tip of the sword hit Ike on his way down and momentarily stunned him.

Ike's recovery was too quick, however.

Because Lucina was preoccupied with countering an attack from Marth, she didn't see Ike's next attack. She barely even noticed his blade swinging sideways until she felt a sharp, stinging sensation in her left cheek. Ignoring the sting and the feel of the blood trickling down her face, Lucina prepared to attack her next opponent. Narrowly dodging an arcfire from Robin, she ran towards Ike.

Normally she would have been fast enough to avoid him, but this time, she wasn't so lucky.

Lucina drew back her sword to prepare for the next strike forward. Unfortunately, this gave Ike the opportunity to strike her before she struck him.

As Ike swung his mighty sword sideways once again, time seemed to stand still.

"Lucina, watch out!"

Hearing Robin's cry, Lucina made to jump out of the way of Ike's sword.

But she just wasn't quick enough.

The next thing the princess heard was the sound of slicing flesh, followed by an overwhelming agony in her lower abdomen. Realising what had just happened, Lucina placed a hand over her stomach. Her eyes widened as she saw her hand in front of her. Through her blurring eyesight, she saw that it was covered in thick red blood.

The crowd fell silent.

"Lucina!"

As the blue-haired woman slumped to the ground, she heard the cry of concern from Robin. Racing over to his loved one's side, the tactician knelt on the ground beside her.

"STOP THE FIGHT!"

The voice of the white-haired strategist cut through the silence like an arrow. Returning his focus to the injured woman beside him, Robin cradled Lucina's head in his lap as the others rushed to her side. Seeing the ghastly wound and the amount of blood seeping though Lucina's clothes, Marth removed his cloak and laid it over the injured site in a desperate attempt to stem the rapid bleeding.

Ike was speechless with a mixture of shock and guilt.

As more and more blood continued to flow out of her body, Lucina felt her senses fading away. She vaguely registered the presence of Robin, the man she loved.

"Robin...?"

With tears in his eyes, the tactician looked downwards.

"Shh. It'll be alright," Robin said gently, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice. He softly stroked the side of Lucina's face. "Just stay with me. Please..."

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Robin..."

"Yes, Lucina?"

Between pained gasps, Lucina just about managed to reply.

"I... love... you."

Before succumbing to unconsciousness, the last thing Lucina heard was Robin's tearful voice.

"I love you too, my princess."

Walking over to the side of the bed, Chrom took in Lucina's injured state. His daughter's skin, which was already naturally pale, was now practically white in colour. Her pallid face appeared gaunt and sunken, and her left cheek sported a strip of white gauze, through which a row of small stitches could be vaguely seen. The duvet was the only thing preserving her modesty at that moment in time - her shoulders and arms were completely bare, save for a strip of brown cloth wrapped around her right elbow, which held an IV drip in place. Looking down at Lucina's hand, Chrom noticed a plaster wrapped around one finger. Following the wire attached to this plaster, he noticed that it was attached to a steadily beeping heart monitor.

Chrom looked over to the side and saw his daughter's outfit lying in a crumpled heap behind him. Not one item of her clothing was unstained with blood.

The exalted princess of Ylisse, in her current condition, was a very sorry sight indeed. It broke Chrom's heart to see his beloved daughter in such a weak, injured state.

Dr. Mario walked over to the prince and stood beside him. Chrom let out an anguished sigh.

Looking over his patient's condition, Dr. Mario said softly, "I don't know how I'm going to say this, but..."

"But what?" Chrom asked.

The doctor took a deep breath before answering.

"I don't think she's gonna make it."

Chrom was stunned. That couldn't be true.

"No. Lucina's a fighter. She wouldn't give up that easily."

Dr. Mario turned to the prince and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I believe you," the Mario clone replied. "Any other person would probably survive such an injury. They'd probably have a 50% chance of recovery, maybe less. But by the time I was able to tend to your daughter, she had already lost a lot of blood. It doesn't help that she's naturally slightly-built and borderline anemic anyway. I'd say she probably has a 20% chance of recovery."

Chrom's heart sank.

"Is that all?" he asked quietly.

Dr. Mario nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so."

The prince of Ylisse turned towards Lucina once more. For the next few moments, the only sound to be heard in the room was the beeping of the heart monitor. Then Chrom spoke up again.

"Is it okay if I... spend some time with her?"

Understanding Chrom's fatherly concern, the doctor replied, "take all the time you need. Just don't expect any change. Don't get your hopes up."

Then he turned and left the room, leaving the prince alone with his injured daughter.

Chrom walked over to the other side of Lucina's bed and sat in the chair that was positioned there. Leaning in closer to his daughter, he took her left hand in both of his and started to gently stroke it. Her pale, skeletal hand felt cold to the touch.

The prince of Ylisse took a deep breath.

"Lucina?"

Chrom's voice filled the near-silence in the room. He continued.

"I know you probably can't hear me, but I have some things to say to you."

Taking a long, deep breath, Chrom prepared himself for what he would say next.

"Remember those times when we didn't always get along? Or those disagreements you had with your mother? Maybe even the times you were unfair to Morgan? Well, I want you to forget about all that for a moment. Think about me. Or Sumia. Or Robin. Or Morgan. Or even Marth."

Chrom's voice started to break a little, but he had to go on. Just in case... no, he didn't want to think about that.

"Just stay strong, Lucina. Don't leave us now. Everyone back home needs you."

Chrom really was crying now. A solitary tear rolled down his cheek.

"I need you. I love you, Lucina. You're the best daughter a man could wish for."

Leaning forward, the prince planted a gentle kiss on his daughter's forehead. Gently stroking her midnight-blue hair, he had to say one last thing.

"And I'll stay here with you for as long as it takes."