Epilogue's Prologue

"Come on, Robin, this way!"

The girl was certainly quick on her feet. After taking in the sight of Ylisstol, discovering that Chrom and Lissa were royalty, and meeting and being addressed by the Exalt herself, he was certainly not expecting that he would have to practically chase after the spritely girl. She seemed very excited to show him the barracks.

She was starting to round the corner, about a good twenty paces ahead of him. Lissa didn't seem to understand that in order for him to follow, she would have to let him have the opportunity to actually see where she went. Rounding after her, he began to yell.

"Lissa, I need you to-"

He ran into something that was hard, made of metal, had red hair and was distinctly human. Taking a step back, he began to stammer a quick apology.

"S-Sorry, I didn't see you there. I was trying to-"

He got a good look at her face and felt his heart hitch for a moment. "S-Sorry, was trying to… um…"

He was at a loss for words, and all he could squeeze out at the end was a sheepish "Sorry."

Too bad she didn't share the same sentiment. "There is a reason why we don't run down these halls." Her tone was harsh and annoyed and Robin felt himself cowering a little.

"I'm really sorry, I am! I-I was just trying to-"

"Don't 'sorry' me." She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in, forcing him to stoop a few inches down and shaking him a little bit.

Her crimson eyes were suddenly very close. And angry. But mostly very close.

"Oh, look at Ms. Perfect go. Just starting her guard shift and she's already caught someone."

"Sounds just like her."

She gave off a low growl and averted her gaze, letting go of his cloak. "It does not bode well to conduct yourself poorly in the royal castle, you know."

"Robin, come on!" Lissa came running back, grabbing him by the sleeve. "What's the holduuuuup?" her excitement didn't mask her annoyance with the situation.

"Oh, Princess," Cordelia backed away from Lissa and gave a short bow. "I was unaware that this… Robin was a part of your company." He noted that her whole demeanor had changed.

"Not just my company," Lissa said matter-of-factly, "he's part of the Shepherds! He needs to meet all of them!"

"Forgive me, Your Highness, I didn't mean to withhold him from your meeting." She looked around, as if scanning for someone. "Although, if he is to be introduced, shouldn't Lord Chrom be here as well?"

"Nah, he has some boring council to get ready for. Come on, Robin, let's go!" the princess began to drag him along by the sleeve and he was forced to move along with the princess.

"W-Wait!" she started, taking a hold of his other sleeve, "I know you need to take him somewhere, but I need to let him know of the rules here."

"Aww, can't that wait?" Lissa pouted.

"Let it go, Cordelia," another woman's voice echoed through the hallway. Her hair was silvery and her eyes red.

"Captain Phila!" the red-haired Cordelia turned around to face the older woman and saluted her, releasing Robin's sleeve. "This man was-"

"Was running in the hall, yes," the lady finished. "However, Princess Lissa requires his presence elsewhere. Let it go."

"U-Understood, ma'am." He watched as her shifted just a little under her officer's gaze.

"I'm not trying to reprimand you, Cordelia." Phila said, smiling softly. "In fact," she gave a slight pause and turned her eyes to the rest of the guards, "I appreciate how attentive you are to your duties. However, there are a few things, like running in a hall to try to keep up with the Princess' plan, that you can let slip by."

She then turned to Robin. "I hope you understand that Cordelia doesn't intend to be rude, but merely upholding her duty." He was reminded of parents introducing children to other children.

"N-Not at all, Captain Phila. I understand." He stammered.

"Good," she smiled at him. "Now then, hopefully everything is in order. Cordelia, continue your shift as scheduled. I need to prepare for the council with Exalt Emmeryn and Lord Chrom. I hope you enjoy your new position here, Robin."

"Of course he will!" Lissa replied, "He'll be with the Shepherds!" She started to drag him again. "Now come on! I have to show you your room, too!"

As Lissa dragged him off and Phila walked away, Robin found that his gaze and thoughts were still on Cordelia, who gave a frustrated sigh and began to round the corner.

That night, he found himself sleepless with the thought of beautiful red eyes while warm crimson locks flowed between his fingertips. He was unable to understand his sudden infatuation with her, wondering if some of it was attributed to his prior memories.

It had been a harsh year for Morgan. Though Ylisse had entered a time of peace with its larger neighbors on the north and west, smaller nations in their continent had begun to offer terms of peace and becoming its allies. Though Robin had done some minor negotiations during his time, never had they been in bulk. And with her father gone, this meant that she, who was under his brief tutelage, would be the first candidate of several to take up his mantle.

It was a role she found herself struggling to fill, especially now.

Yesterday, all of the Shepherds gathered at the castle in solemn remembrance of that day. While the rest of Ylisse celebrated the victory over Grima, they remembered, and for many it was tearful. But once they started to come to Morgan and thanking her for what her father had done and the courage he gave them all that day in spite of the sheer bleakness, she found herself becoming numb at their remarks.

Yes, her father had done a great thing for them. Yes, he led the charge when all others trembled. But it felt suffocating for everyone to try and be supportive, to try and offer her words of encouragement when everything she did was a constant reminder of what he left behind. When it ended and they finally parted ways, Morgan was glad it was over.

Cordelia had her hands busy between taking care of her younger self and fulfilling her job as the captain of the Pegasus Knights. Severa had gone off on her own with Owain in tow, the man refusing to leave Gantrithor's feats unsung, although she was sure that it was her sister he followed after.

All she could busy herself with was her father's work. She vowed not to show the pain of flipping through his notes when it came to devising a treaty. She made sure never to falter in her orders when issuing Shepherds patrol routes to keep the bandit problem in check. She promised herself that every day, every time she put on her father's cloak, she would honor his legacy in serving. She would be optimistic and not show weakness.

It slowly chipped away at her for the past year. It angered her. It made her silently weep in her room some nights, the pain of seeing the other Shepherds, even her mother and sister, recovering from the void while she was forced to endure because the Ylisse needed it.

And now tonight, a year after Robin left, a year after Grima was defeated, a year where she suffered, she found herself clutching the key he had given her. Her feet had taken her to her mother's room, where her father had slept and worked. She used her spare door key to enter the room and was now standing across from his desk.

She was able to immediately identify where the key he left her was to be used. On the bottom right, near where the frame met the ground, was a locked drawer. She stared at it, eyes filled with grief, determination, anger, resentment, suspense, anxiousness, and most of all curiosity. Her father had told her that when she was ready, she was to open it. But what did ready mean? When she became the best tactician in the nation, surpassing even her father? When she was ready to get married?

Taking the key out from her coat, she slipped it into the lock and turned, hearing a muted click from the other side of it. She put her hand underneath the handle and paused, her breath suddenly hitching in her throat.

If there was ever a time when she would be ready, she figured this was as close as she would get to it.

Very gently, she opened the drawer, taking a peak into the crack. It was a leather bound book. There were some papers beneath it, notes perhaps, but she slid the rest of the drawer out and took a hold of the tome. It was thin, smaller than the other books she had seen in her father's possessions.

It showed signs of much use. There was no doubt that her father had gone through this book many, many times, seeking to draw as many meanings and interpretations as possible, no doubt. But it was so thin. Perhaps not even fifty pages. What could have been in this book that was worth reading over and over again?

She looked at the title and felt her heart ache, thinking back to that night on the boat to Origin Island.

Circumstances

This was the book that was responsible for his choice that day. It was why they were experiencing a time of peace and why he was no longer there. It was the book that his ideals arose from. Hesitantly, she opened the cover. Reading the first page, it was as if her father had come back, the words ringing in her ears.

Suppose you're a general. While leading a group of soldiers, you find that your line was pushed back and in the chaos you are cut off from the army and trapped behind enemy lines. Retreat is possible, but only if you are able to fight your way through enemy troops back to your line, which is as equally armed. Suddenly, the opposing army's general is exposed before you and you see an opportunity to exploit it. Defeating him is the objective of the battle and will result in victory. In terms of raw strength, both forces are equal. However, they have the numeric advantage. Even if you are able defeat him in one-on-one combat, his troops may cut you down before you can accomplish the deed.

What do you do?

She wanted to put the book down. She wanted to put it back into the drawer, lock it, and perhaps never come back to it again. But this was her father's book, the father that she adored and the man she wanted to be proud of her, even if he wasn't there to do it. Fighting to remain still, she continued down the page, and it once again spoke like her father.

There are good choices among wise decisions. But what is best depends on the circumstances that you are in, and the true circumstances are to be known only by the commander.

This is not a book about strategies to utilize. It is not a book of flanking maneuvers, stealth, or ambush. This is a book on how to approach decision making and why you make the choices you do. It is about why you must fight. It is about why you must retreat. It is about why you must sometimes avoid waging battle.

It is about why, when the time, location, and reasons are right, you must be willing to put your life on the line and die for your war, for your convictions, for your love.

She reached the bottom of the page. It was not a strategy book she held in her hands, she realized, but a book about philosophy in regards to strategy. She turned the page, expecting a table of contents like so many other books, but instead she was greeted by a small set of instructions and what she realized was her father's handwriting.

On this page, write down anyone and anything that you would give your life up for.

Cordy, Severa, Future Severa, Future Morgan.
Chrom
Lissa
Frederick
Ylisse
Shepherds

She knew that, from the varying quality of ink, the list had evolved as time went on. Also, with how worn the book was, it was impossible for him to have received it after her parents had married. He must have acquired this book a long time ago, meaning that for some time it was only Chrom and Lissa on the list. Looking down at the very bottom, she saw more text.

These are the factors, the true circumstances that will shape your decisions. Do not let anyone know of them, for you risk being undone by revealing such critical information. It is your weakness, and you must be very careful of who you show your weakness to.

She put the book down on the top of his desk. It was eerie, hearing some of her father's last words to her communicated in this way. Though she intended to finish the text, it was becoming too much for her right now. Turning her gaze away from the tome, her eyes fell to the open drawer. Inside there were many sheets of paper. Reaching down, she pulled them up from the compartment, straightened them out, expecting them to be notes on the book.

But as she read the first line, she felt her heart wring once more.

To Cordy,

Her breath hitched in her throat. It couldn't be. She began to thumb through the top of the pages, eyes widening in disbelief.

To Cordy, My One Love,

To the Lovely Cordelia,

These were far from notes.

My Dearest Cordy,

Dear Cordelia,

These were the beginnings of love letters, and there were many of them. Eyes running to the bottom, she stared incredulously at the signature.

Or, where there should have been one.

Quickly rifling through the rest of the letters, she saw that they were not in order. Some had been labeled with her mother's full name, others had been started with his own pet name for her, not to mention that the date of the letters varied. The handwriting was not her father's, but as she took a closer look, she could see where he began to slip up and his characteristics seeped through. But all of them lacked a proper signature, instead being signed by a stamp of a flower with many layering petals. Almost a rose, but not quite, and she recognized that it was a cordelia.

These were anonymous love letters that her father wrote to her mother so long ago.

She went through them, picking out each letter and placing them in chronological order. She then carefully held the first one and began to read.

To a Lovely Lady,

She could feel her eyes beginning to water, and she felt herself sniffle before a tear coursed down her cheek.

Her father was right. She would treasure what he left her above Gantrithor. He knew what she had always wanted and gave it to her. Though it would not be his voice that would narrate the memories, it would be enough until her mother could finish the story.

Through the only way left, he would tell of how he and Cordelia met and fell in love.

A/N: Wellp, here's where that key went to: a real Robin x Cordy fic. Towards the end of True Grit, I realized that while it featured the two of them and how their relationship was, it didn't really answer how the two got together. And seeing as how I wrote that Morgan wanted to understand how her parents met, I saw a nice opportunity to write it out and decided to put that as priority one of sorts while I work on fleshing out my other ideas. Originally this was just going to be an epilogue, but now it's going to be a fic of its own. I don't expect it to be as long as True Grit, but I do expect it to be brighter than its other half.

One thing I am a bit concerned about is its time span. I wrote how Severa was born not long after Lucina. If we were to follow canon, this means that Severa must be conceived in close to twenty eight to twenty nine months from the game's start, assuming that it takes about a year to defeat Gangrel and the Valmese campaign starts a little after two years, maybe a month or two. Then I would say subtract about four in regards to measuring time for chapter seven to hit, which is where Cordy joins the party, so really it's twenty four or twenty five months. I think that's enough time, but it still puts a bit of a constraint that I'm a little worried about, which is why I have it so that Robin meets Cordy before she actually joins the Shepherds. Expect some canon and non-canon moments to help make up for the short time.

Although I'm really looking forward to writing out this type of relationship. In a sense, Robin still needs to be involved, but he has to keep himself away until it's the right time to present himself. That part is going to be a bit hard to write, but it looks pretty fun to do.

I am also worried that in a sense, this is a sequel-prequel of sorts. I've never exactly written a full-on sequel, and with a prequel I have to make sure there are no discrepancies. But thankfully this operates perfectly fine as a standalone. You could replace the setting with just about anything and it wouldn't change too much. I plan to jump to both the past and present, so it may be a bit confusing at times, but hopefully it will be clear enough.

I also must apologize to all Robin x Anna fans, because originally this started out as a Robin x Anna fic. Sorry, you'll get your merchant gal story one day. I think.

I do not own Fire Emblem.

I appreciate all comments and criticisms.