Just outside the Sheperd's campsite, in the training area set up in a field, Lucina was hard at work honing her skills with a blade. Refined steel "thwacked" harshly into straw, as Lucina's Parallel Falchion cut through a training dummy. The slice was clean, Lucina's inanimate opponent never stood a cut. The top of the dummy's torso fell to the ground with a harmless thud.
"Confound these worthless dummies!" Lucina growled under her breath. She jerked her sword arm, as if shaking off her anger she'd built up inadvertently during her exercise. "Tch."
Lucina brushed her blue bangs out of her face with her free hand. She scowled, keeping her head down. This practice with her blade was meant to cool her nerves but, as Lucina walked through a veritable graveyard of training dummy "corpses" that she'd made, it became obvious to her that each felled straw-man was only increasing her frustration.
Deciding to take a break and rest, Lucina cleaned her face off with some water, washing her sweat away. The day's sun was strong though, and it's heat was getting to even the normally cool-headed Lucina. She didn't want anyone to see her in such an unusually enraged mode, so she found a nice, shaded spot under a large tree. Sitting down and making her comfortable, Lucina tried to relax and not think about the events of the day before. She failed to clear her head.
It was yesterday, while moving camp that Lucina, and the rest of the Sheperd's, were ambushed by bandits. Normally not a very troubling encounter for the well-trained units of Ylisse, but this particular group of ruffian thieves had their strength in numbers, swarming the travelers from all sides. Not exactly that smartest tactic, but it was enough to wear down and even separate Lucina from her allies.
During the ensuing fights, Lucina took down foe after foe with no fear or hesitation. They kept right on coming though, seeming to double in number with each one she felled. They were not strong individually, but as the battles raged on one after another, even the capable Lucina was starting to feel fatigued. Luckily for her, most bandits preferred using axes, putting her at an obvious advantage with her blade, the Parallel Falchion.
Unfortunately, Lucina got cocky at some point. She took yet another bandit down with ease, but failed to notice his friend sneaking up behind her. His axe swiped right by her left shoulder, narrowly missing her. Lucina gasped, feeling afraid suddenly, and she began to realize how tired and outnumbered she really was. She flinched, but dodged in time to deliver a counter-attack that struck true. In her haste, however, yet another bandit jumped at her. Only out of the corner of her eye did she see this man, wielding a lance, lunge for her. She gasped again, but this time, she froze.
The next thing Lucina knew, her opponent was falling face-first into the dirt. She looked up and found that her father, Chrom, had saved her at the last moment by cutting the bandit from behind. Lucina fell to the ground, panting heavily and sweating profusely. A panic attack that was most unlike her. Chrom rushed to her aid, asking if she was all right. Lucina fainted before she could answer.
Later that evening, she awoke in the med-tent, with Chrom looking over her. He explained that the bandits were driven off by everyone, and then he told her what happened to her, much to her shame and embarrassment. Chrom noticed her mind still seemed stuck in that moment. He would try and tell her it was not her fault, and that everyone makes mistakes, and that he was just glad she was okay now. While Lucina appreciated the sentiment, and tried to forget things, as she lay in bed that night, Lucina was kept up by thoughts of what she could have done differently, or more importantly, if she were stronger, strong enough that something like that would never happen in the first place.
Things escalated in Lucina's mind as her sleep was wrought with nightmares of the event. Lucina had not told anyone of her nightmares so far. Why would she? It was not like her to burden others with her problems, besides, dreams were just that, not real. Despite how frightening her nightmares were, she knew deep down that it was not them that truly scared her, it was that terrible feeling of weakness that she felt when the actual event occurred that kept her fearful. But most all, she was kept on her toes and had acquired a new sense of resolve to get stronger, no matter what.
Which is why Lucina presently faced an ever-growing pile of straw and wood from each defeated dummy. They proved no challenge, but she couldn't go to anyone else and ask to spar with them. She feared that her insecurities might be discovered if she did. She shook her head, frustrated as another makeshift warrior crumbled against her sword. This training was going nowhere fast, and she needed a way to get stronger in secret...
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