Disclaimer: Fire Emblem belongs to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo.

Characters: Chrom, Marth (Einherjar).

Pairings: None.

Warnings: Spoilers for Chapter 9.

Author's Notes: While he hasn't seen a whole lot of use in my first few files, over the course of my Hard Mode file I've grown VERY fond of the Pr. Marth DLC character. As a Marth fangirl in general I'm interested in the relationship between ancestor and descendants… I might turn this into a series if I come up with more prompts, but for now this stands as a short one-shot.

Emm… Chrom pressed his forehead into his hand hard, trying desperately to hold back his tears. Robin said there was nothing anyone could have done to change his sister's fate, but what did she know? He wasn't supposed to be 'anyone'! He had been Emmeryn's brother! He should have saved her! If only he'd been stronger, or smarter…

He put his other elbow on the table, joining his free hand to the one on his forehead. It was a good thing it was the middle of the night and everyone had gone to bed- if Lissa saw him crying, she'd lose it as well, and if Frederick so much as suspected he was upset, he'd never hear the end of it.

The maps and scrolls full of tactics that Robin had written up had already been shoved off the table, having been proven unsatisfactory in distracting him from his grief. He didn't look up when he heard the rustling of the paper scrolls against each other or against the table. Great. Someone'd woken up and seen him… and for some reason decided to clean up the mess before bothering with him. Probably Miriel.

He gasped for air when an ice cold hand was put on his shoulder, and looked behind him. Even before he recognized its face, he spotted the faintly glowing, blue aura that encircled the spirit like a corona. The Einherjar of his ancient ancestor stood behind him, one hand on his shoulder, looking at him with that blank stare that he had grown accustomed to.

"Lodestar," he managed, still refusing to call the spirit by the name of the man it resembled. It wasn't the Hero-King, no matter how much it may have thought it was. He wondered how the Einherjar had found him and why it was staring at him like that- the spirit never sought contact. It only followed Robin's orders, like it was supposed to do. It was almost entirely incapable of speech or emotions- although the tactician claimed it had held intelligent conversation with her in the Outrealms.

"…what do you want?" Did Einherjar require sustenance or rest? Robin had summoned it from the card and not dismissed it since. Was it tired? "I can try and find your card if you-" he interrupted himself when the Lodestar held out its other hand. He had no idea what it wanted from him… "Listen, I'm not in the mood to deal with your malfunctioning-"

Suddenly, the Einherjar stretched its free arm, putting its hand on the back of Chrom's head, and pulled him in. Without really knowing why or wanting to, the Prince of Ylisse let the spirit embrace him, putting his face to its chest and no longer attempting to stifle his tears. The mirror image of the long dead king let him cry, patting his head as if to comfort him… much like Chrom imagined a father would have.