"See you two later!" Lucina waved in the general direction of her brother and his girlfriend, a happy smile on her face. She was sitting on the couch in her apartment, Robin next to her and focused on the television screen. He had the grace to look over and wave farewell to Marth and Caeda, but he nearly jumped off the couch itself when he heard the sound cue he'd been waiting for. 

"There! It's right there!" Robin exclaimed. "Look!"

Lucina looked away from the door and at the screen, spotting the object that had caused Robin's outburst. "So it wasn't a prank after all! That's awesome!"

Of course, Lucina already knew that it hadn't been a prank. Perks of being able to see the future and all that. But she didn't bring it up to Robin, because she knew he'd be a bit upset by how she was "cheating" when all she was doing was using her resources.

Thinking about how she'd been trying to get her Gift under control was a bit of an upsetting subject, though. The work she'd been doing had only made her Gift more uncontrollable, and now she was getting visions when she didn't want them. Such as when she slept. That was rather unfortunate- okay, it was really annoying. Especially when the visions weren't so pleasant. 

Sometimes she couldn't quite keep her visions and reality separate. It had lead to a lot of... problems in the past few weeks, but she was working on it. Kind of. 

It was a little difficult to explain why she thought Robin had misplaced his book again when in fact, he had it right in front of him. Marth had started teasing her a bit about "early onset memory loss," which Lucina hadn't really appreciated that much. 

Still, the fact that these were just visions and therefore not real (yet) was a bit of a comfort. Lucina didn't want to tell anybody that she was having problems keeping her Gift under control, because that would only lead to questions about what she was seeing. Which was a problem in and of itself- the future was a damn fickle thing. It was literally always changing. Her visions were only right about fifty percent of the time because of this, which was... unsettling and a relief at the same time.

"...Lucina, are you still listening to me?" Robin asked, sounding a bit embarrassed. 

"What?" Lucina blinked and looked over at him, realizing that she'd totally just zoned out on him. Whoops. "I'm sorry, Robin. What were you saying?"

"Nevermind. It's not that important." Robin laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. 

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to zone out on you." Lucina said, feeling a bit of an embarrassed blush rise to her face. 

"You're fine. I know that I talk too much when I'm passionate about something." Robin replied, shaking his head for emphasis. 

"I should have been listening. I'm just kind of... preoccupied, I guess." Lucina sighed and leaned back on the couch. It was true, she was feeling a bit down. There wasn't really a specific reason why, she just was. 

Robin frowned slightly. Clearly he could tell that something was off about her. Of course, it's not like Lucina could really hide anything from him. "Do you want to talk about it?" Robin asked. 

"I'm not even really sure what's got me feeling so... eh." Lucina responded, determined to look anywhere but at Robin. He was distracting. Like, really distracting. 

"Try to talk through it. I'll listen. And hey, it might make you feel better." Robin smiled crookedly at her, and Lucina felt her heart skip a beat. Or three. 

"I don't know..." Lucina said hesitantly. "I think a lot of it is just me worrying about the future."

That clearly caught Robin's attention. Lucina didn't like to talk about her Gift, so her initiating a conversation about it was rare. "Oh?"

Lucina nodded. "I'm sure it's nothing. My Gift is probably just acting up because of stress. Still, it's getting a little out of hand."

"What have you been seeing?" Robin asked. 

"You know I don't like talking about my visions if I'm not sure they're harmless. The future is... hard to see. It's very fluid. Small things can change a person's destiny." Lucina said softly. "I don't want to tell someone that they'll get hurt without a solid reason to suspect it." 

"Of course." Robin held out his hand, and Lucina took it. He gave it a reassuring squeeze, and his smile-

Oh, gods. His smile. 

Despite her less than happy mood, Lucina found herself smiling back at him. 

"If you don't mind, would you tell me what's going on with Marth and Caeda?" Robin asked, changing the subject. 

"They're dating. Have been for... three days? Yeah. Three days now." Lucina answered. 

"I see." Robin sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment, obviously thinking about something. When he opened his eyes again, he looked vaguely upset. "It's weird. Marth goes and starts dating Caeda without even talking to you first, but then..."

He didn't need to finish his sentence. Lucina's heart practically leapt into her throat at the very implication of dating Robin. She wanted that. She really did. But her brother didn't trust Robin enough.

Marth didn't see what she saw in Robin. That was frustrating, honestly. Why couldn't Marth see that Robin wasn't going to hurt her? He would never even think about hurting her. 

"It's Marth. He's contradictory." Lucina laughed once. "But I'm not happy about it, either. I just don't know how to confront him about it. Because I do want to date you, Robin. I don't see what the problem is, honestly. You're the sweetest guy I've ever known."

"I'm also one of the only guys you've known." Robin pointed out, the gentle smile still on his face. 

"That's not the point, and you know it." Lucina replied. 

Suddenly, Robin reached over and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. The gesture was so unexpected and, well, intimate, that Lucina inhaled sharply. She hadn't realized that she was leaning in ever so subtly, and Robin was so close now... 

"Lucina. Have I ever told you that you're beautiful?" Robin murmured. His breath ghosted across the skin of her face, and she wanted to just lean forward and kiss him. 

Instead of paying attention to the voice of common sense in her head that said this was a very bad idea, considering that Marth would flip out if he knew about this, Lucina leaned forward and kissed Robin. 

After a second, she leaned back and looked away. Embarrassment and shame fought for attention in her head, and Lucina whispered "Gods. Why'd I do that?"

Robin looked vaguely confused. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. I feel like I'm leading you on." Lucina mumbled. "I want to be in a relationship with you. I really do. But I can't help but feel like it's a bad idea. Marth clearly has no intention of letting you date me, and I don't want to lie to him. He's been lied to enough." 

"Why would you let him keep you from doing what you want? I understand, he's your brother, but-" Robin started speaking, but Lucina cut him off when she heard where his sentence was going. 

"I told you, he's been lied to so many times. I don't want to hurt him any more than he's already been hurt." Lucina reminded Robin gently. "I just don't see how being in a relationship would work. We'd be lying to everybody. Even ourselves, if you think about it."

"A lie can't hurt anybody if it's never found out." Robin said.

"Secrets always get out. The lies we tell to hide the truth would only make us look worse." Lucina protested. 

"I don't really care. I'd rather have you in secret than not at all." Robin replied. 

"Robin, please, think this through. I won't live a lie. I can't do that to my brother, or our friends. Or myself. Relationships that are built on lies will never work. You saw what happened to Roy and Marth." Lucina said, a hint of frustration creeping into her voice. She wasn't yelling, though. Lucina rarely yelled. She was far too kind to do that. 

"But they were- and are- different. We could make it work. I believe in that." Robin said, taking her hand and just holding it. And without fail, her heart gave that little leap at the contact. 

"No, I don't think we could. Something would happen eventually. And then what would we do? I'd have betrayed my brother's trust, and if I did that to him... he'd have almost no one left. He really doesn't trust anybody anymore. He's keeping secrets from me, I can tell. So as much as I want to date you, I just don't see how it could work out." Lucina looked at Robin, regret and sorrow plain in her eyes. 

Robin shook his head stubbornly. "This won't end like that. If anything, that's the worst case scenario. Just because something could happen doesn't mean that it will happen. You should know that, Lucina."

"I'm trying to be realistic. I won't sacrifice my brother's trust for this, Robin. No matter how hard we hide it, and no matter how good our lies are, it won't work. As much as I want it to, it just won't work." Lucina 

"I understand." Robin replied. 

"I really don't think you do." Lucina sighed. "I'm sorry, Robin. It's just not a very good idea, no matter how good it may sound."

Her heart was practically trying to do a gymnastics routine in her chest. By now, she could hardly even look at him out of fear that she'd do something that she would regret. Like kiss him again. At the thought, Lucina inhaled sharply and tried to ignore the mental images that conjured up. 

"Luci. Look at me, please." Robin whispered. 

Oh gods. The nickname. Her heart could not handle this. There was an uncomfortable tension in the air between them, so thick she could almost see it. Slowly, Lucina looked over at Robin, forcing herself to look away from the spot on the wall that she had previously been fixated on. 

"I love you. I have loved you for as long as I can remember." Robin said plainly. 

"Robin, I-"

"So, you see, I'm not sure how we could remain friends. I hate that this could ruin not only our relationships with our friends and family, but with each other as well." Robin continued, efficiently cutting her off. 

"Then what are we supposed to do? A secret relationship will not work out, and our friendship will slowly fall apart because of our feelings for each other." Lucina pointed out. 

Robin nodded. He didn't respond for a moment, seemingly trying to puzzle the situation out. Knowing him, he wouldn't rest until he found a solution that made everything okay. But what if there wasn't? The only options that they had were, quite frankly, terrible to choose from. "We would have to pick the lesser of the two evils." Robin finally said, his voice quiet. 

"In other words, we have to pick between lying to everybody else or destroying our friendship?" Lucina asked. 

"Yeah. We have no other solutions, seeing as Marth has made his feelings on the matter clear. But I'm not going to force you to lie if that's not what you want." Robin responded. 

Another silence fell. Lucina tried to think of something that wouldn't end in her either betraying Marth's trust or losing Robin's friendship, but it was useless. What was she supposed to do in this situation? Choosing one over the other felt disloyal, but... really, there was only one option here. And as much as it pained Lucina to admit, she knew that she would have to lie to Marth. She couldn't lose Robin's friendship. He meant too much to her. 

"I really have no choice in this matter. I can't lose your friendship." Lucina whispered. 

"I don't want you to feel like you're being forced into this, though." Robin said. 

"Then I promise that I'm making this decision for myself." Lucina took a deep breath and continued speaking. "I love you too much to let you go, even as a friend. So I will lie for you. I will lie for the sake of our relationship."

"I'm sorry that it came to this." Robin murmured, though something in his voice sounded a bit... off. Lucina tried to ignore it, but it was a bit worrying. She felt a little terrible about this, if she was being honest. Lying to Marth like this... it didn't sit right with her. Not at all. 

"So am I, Robin. So am I."