First Time Destiny | Fire Emblem Awakening (Oneshots)

The Happy Family

Original prompt: Paintbrush

"No, Lucina! Don't do that!"

When a five-year-old asks you if they're allowed to do some painting, my advice would be this: say no.

My daughter stiffened, her brush strokes coming to an abrupt halt. She knew that she was in trouble. I'd used her full name.

"You're supposed to paint the paper, not your hands." I pointed to the blank sheet in front of her, and then to the multi-coloured skin that she was now wrapping back around the paintbrush. "Lucy, wash the paint off your hands before you...never mind."

The handle of the paintbrush was now thoroughly coated in purple gloop, the colour that had featured the most heavily in her rainbow mixture. She grinned at me, pulling her best face of innocence.

I sighed. Where had she learned that from? Her older sister didn't do it.

"Paint the paper," I said sternly, "or I'm taking the purple paint away."

Her eyes widened, and she turned back to the easel with alarm. Less than two seconds later, her blank sheet was being slapped with paint. Most of it was purple.

My shoulders sagged with relief, and I turned away to gather up the sheets of paper that she had already covered and dropped on the playroom floor. Some of them contained questionable blobs that may have been humans, but most were just purple. Lucina the elder always flinched when she saw those. I would probably have to hide them.

I started to walk past Lucy so that the paintings could be spread out on the wooden table. She latched her hand around my own, smearing purple paint into my palm. "Mommy."

I paused, extending my arm as far as it could go before dropping the paintings on the table. "Yes, Luce?"

"Can I paint a butterfly on your face?"

"No. You can paint one on the –"

I was cut off by a paintbrush almost gouging out my eyeball. Lucy giggled. "Oops! That's not where I wanted it to go. Hold on..."

"Er, Lucy, I don't really want my face to be painted on."

She ignored me. I stayed still, afraid that I might yet lose an eye if I pulled away. "Lucina. Stop."

She pouted and pulled the paintbrush back. I took her by the shoulders and spun her around to face the easel again. "This is the last chance before your purple paint goes."

The door creaked open, and I glanced up. Chrom strode in, Morgan balanced on one hip. His stride faltered when he saw my face, and his eyes widened. Then he grinned. "Nice...decoration. What exactly happened here?"

Lucina turned to him, her paintbrush flicking its contents everywhere. "Daddy! Can I paint your face?"

By this point in our parenthood, Chrom and I had started to devise a new language of facial expressions that spoke some very specific words for us.

Chrom gave me the "Please help," look.

I gave him the "You can handle it yourself," look and left him to his demise so that I could clean my face.

However, Lucina had already informed us that Chrom was a much stricter parent than me. By the time I got back, the artwork had been arranged properly across the table, and Lucy was painting her paper quietly, seemingly using Chrom as her subject.

He was sitting behind the easel, looking very relaxed and paint-free. Morgan was, remarkably, falling asleep against his side.

I glared at my husband.

He gave me the "I'm very smug," look. Then his eyes softened, and he patted his thighs with a hopeful expression.

Damn. That was where Lucy had got her innocent faces from.

I was definitely going to have words with him later, but for now, I let my glare turn into a smile as I crossed the room.

Once I was on his lap, he licked his thumb and rubbed my nose. "You missed a bit."

I blushed.

He laughed softly, entwining his arms around my back and pulling me closer. I rested my forehead against his.

"Daddy!" Lucy complained, straining to see him properly. Then she dropped the paintbrush and came to clamber into our laps. When she'd settled, she grinned and nestled her blue head into her father's chest.

I closed my eyes and smiled.

Even to this day, I was overwhelmingly grateful that we'd defeated Grima. Nothing would separate me from my family now.

THE END

____

A/N: Thank you for reading this book.

If you enjoyed it, you can find more Fire Emblem fanfiction on my profile, including a novelisation of Awakening, a novelisation of Fates, and plenty of seasonal short stories.

Thank you again for your reads, votes, comments, and support!

Love,

Morgan xxx