Relative Severance

(Note: This story was written and originally published in 2013)

--------

It was cold, and it was raining. Nobody was outside, nobody except for me. I didn't have anywhere else to go. Ever since my mother and I ran away from father fifteen years ago, and my mother dying three months after running, I haven't had anywhere to go. Everyday I sat in a small alleyway, arms wrapped around my legs, my head resting on my knees. I stared at the ground and watched the drops of water falling on the ground endlessly. I felt the water pour on me, then down my face, and then watched it drench the precious jacket my mother gave me before she died. I thought about my father, who my mother took me away from without a reason to spare.

'Who is he?' I thought. 'Why did mother leave him?'

I have always wanted to know. But here I was, sitting alone, with no family to comfort me. Suddenly, the rain stops pouring on me. I look up to see a girl holding an umbrella over me. The girl reminded me of myself as she looked very much like me, even with her long hair.

"What are you doing, sitting out here alone in the rain? You're going to catch a cold. Here."

The girl reaches her hand towards me, allowing me to take it. I took her hand and the girl helped me get up. My legs felt sore as I had been sitting for a while. She didn't let go of my hand, and for a little while, we just stood there awkwardly. I only stared at the ground.

"You don't seem to have anywhere to go. Come with me. I'll take you to my home and see if you can stay."

I really didn't have anywhere to go, so I let the girl guide me to her home. After walking for a while, we stopped at the castle gates. I looked up and admired the castle's beauty. But why did the girl lead me to the castle? The castle wasn't her home, was it? She quickly turned to look at me and she treated me with a beautiful smile.

"I just realized I never introduced myself. I'm Lucina. Princess Lucina." I just stood there, shocked that this girl escorting me to her home was the princess.

"What's your name?"

"...Robin."

--------

The stars were shining brightly in the midnight sky. Like many other nights, I found myself sneaking through the royal garden. Slipping through the royal garden's broken gate I sneaked through the garden, hidden from the castle guards' view. Reaching the circular fence at the other side of the garden unnoticed, I picked the fence door's lock. When I entered the door, I was treated to the beautiful sight of a garden different from the royal garden.

This garden had dazzling white flowers that circled around next to the edge of the fence. In the centre of the garden, there was a beautiful stone fountain with a stone bench in front of it. There was a door at the other side of the garden. I walked up to the door and knocked twice. Immediately, the door slid open and I saw the person I wanted to see. Lucina. Tears started to stream down her face. Lucina pulled me into a tight embrace.

It had been almost four months that we haven't seen each other. I had been caught by castle guards after villagers turned me in for being a thief. Nobody in the village likes me. They don't know me as the lone, poor, homeless boy who steals as a last resort for survival. They know me as the pesky, bratty, thief boy with no heart. Lucina sat down on the bench, shifting to the left so I could sit as well. I sat down beside her. For a few silent moments, we just sat there, gazing at the stars. Lucina put her right hand over my left hand and lightly gripped it.

"I missed you so much, Robin. As much as I miss my mother. Being away from you was like learning of my mother's death." More tears streamed down her face as she remembered her late mother. Her mother died about ten years ago. Lucina had thought for a long time that her mother was alive somewhere. Her father only told Lucina of her mother's death on Lucina's sixteenth birthday.