It was a day was filled with rain and thunder, but it was nevertheless a joy for all of Ylisse. Cheers sounded from the Exalt's castle and revelers swarmed the streets. Shops were closed and taverns were overflowing, the people ready to celebrate. It was a day was one that many Ylisseans had not expected to come. It was the day that Robin returned.
When she had woken in the field, Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick had been there to welcome her, just like they had two years prior. Upon her arrival at the castle, many of her old friends rushed to meet her. Sully, Stahl, Vaike, Sumia, and more. Throughout the days that passed, many of her other comrades arrived from afar, such as the Khans, Lon'qu, Say'ri, and Tharja, who Robin met with a mix of happiness and unease.
After residing in the castle for a few days, she realized that she hadn't seen a particular dark mage, so she asked around. Apparently Henry had set off on a journey only the day before she was found. Yet when she asked where this journey would take the white-haired comic and how long he would be gone, no one seemed to know. Robin brushed her worry aside and continued on with her life.
Days passed. Then a week. Soon enough, a month had gone and most of the former Shepherds had gone back to their homes. By then Robin's worry had grown from a seed to a boulder, weighing down her every thought and movement. No one had heard or seen a thing of the dark mage.
Concerned, she confined in Chrom. He listened and afterward grouped some of his knights into a search party. Other former Shepherds joined. Gaius heard the rumor and volunteered to attempt to track Henry, even though it was probable that there would be no trail.
It took days of searching, but a trail was found. Throughout the brush of the forest, severed and rotting limbs were found. They formed a path that could only be from Henry. After all, he loved to play with limbs of dead things.
The path stretched throughout Ylisse and to the Plegian border. Even as the landscape turned from forest to sand, the corporeal path stretched into the horizon. The morale had faded from the majority of the group, even several former Shepherds. They demanded a return to the castle, but Chrom and Robin made them press on.
In a matter of hours, the sun disappeared behind the dunes and it was growing dark. Tents were pitched and fires were lit. The knights chatted amongst themselves, many complaining about the futility of continuing the search.
Robin sat alone at one of the fires, trying to block out her anxiety. Henry had been gone for so long and hadn't sent so much as a raven to carry his words. Many of the knights whispered that he had been killed and even Chrom was losing hope in finding Henry.
"Robin, why are you so sad?" a voice chirped from behind her. She turned to see Nowi standing behind her, devouring a slab of bear meat.
"What do you mean by why? Henry's been missing for more than a month!" Robin exclaimed.
"I knew that, but why are you sad? There's nothing to prove that he's dead!" Nowi sat down next to her and tore at her food.
Robin sighed, "I know, but what if he is?" She had been best friends with Henry; she had even loved him. But she never told, always because she was too busy and later because of knowing that she would only hurt him when she killed Grima and therefore herself.
"Don't say things like that." Nowi stopped eating for a moment. "You're going to make me sad, I've lost enough friends already." Tears were welling in the manakete's eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad. I'm just a bit worried, that's all."
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes. But after a while, Nowi spoke, "Hey, I know what might cheer you up!"
Robin raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"A fire show!" Nowi stood and raised her Dragonstone, which glowed with a powerful light. In a matter of moments, Nowi had transformed into an enormous dragon. " Watch this!"
The girl then flew high above and soon enough she looked to be one of the stars. When she was well above the camp, she blew a plume of fire, illuminating the landscape in orange.
When she did this, Robin noticed a speck in the distance. As Nowi blew more flame, the speck clarified. It was a town. Possibilities flooded her mind. What if Henry was sheltering there? As quickly as she could, she ran to Chrom and told him about the town.
"Are you sure?" he questioned.
"I am," Robin stated.
After a moment of consideration, Chrom replied, "The majority of my knights wouldn't go with you and you can't go alone. If I leave, the camp will likely turn to chaos. I-"
"Chrom!" Robin cut him off. "I don't need anyone to go with me. I can go alone."
The Exalt furrowed his brow. "Are you sure?"
The white-haired woman took a deep breath. "Yes, I am."
And that was how Robin found herself trudging through the desert, her way lighted only by the fire that Nowi blew. As she moved, she grew tired, but hope and dread drove her. She had to find him. Before long, she was standing in the town's plaza, her mind whirling at its state.
The town was decimated. The buildings were crumbling and the stone paths were cracked. Old merchant stands lined the streets, their wares buried in sand. In the center of the plaza was a fountain featuring a likeness of Grima. The fell dragon's stone head had been severed and now lay in pieces on the ground. The wind carried sand everywhere and there wasn't a person in sight. So Robin was startled when she heard a voice behind her.
"Robin, I'm glad you've finally come." Turning around, she saw none other than Henry. Yet he looked like a completely different person.
He looked so weak, so small. He was emaciated, his once tight clothes sagging and his ribs showing through his shirt. His hair was matted and stained with dirt and blood. A small smile showed on his face, but it wasn't the smile that she had known. It seemed to speak of sorrow more than joy.
"Henry!" Robin cried, running to him and enveloping him in a hug. "I can't believe you just disappeared like that! What's happened to you?"
"Nya ha," he chuckled. "I can feel your touch and hear you clearer than ever... This is the most realistic hallucination I've ever gotten."
"What do you mean?" Robin asked, looking up at him. "This isn't a hallucination!"
"You always say that," he answered, his voice soft and sorrowful.
"What are you..." Robin trailed off when she saw his face. His eyes didn't look like they normally did; they were open. The light of Nowi's fire made them gleam orange, but they were a deep brown, almost black. And they were filled with pain. "Henry, what's wrong?"
Instead of giving her an answer, he let go of her an turned, walking towards the edge of the plaza. "Walk with me, Robin. I have a story to tell you."
She did as he said and fell in behind him, but before she could ask any questions, Henry spoke, "This is where I grew up." He spread his arms to indicate the destruction around them. "A sad place, isn't it?"
Without waiting for a response, the mage began, "I wasn't always like this, you know. All sadistic and everything. I used to be a normal little kiddie." Robin heard him take a deep breath.
"When I was a boy, my parents hated me. I never found out why, but they really didn't want me. So I ran away. You see, the desert surrounding this place used to be a great big forest, filled with cute little animals. It was easy to make a life. This one wolf befriended me and we became best friends. I named him Wolfie. We lived together for years. He would hunt and bring me food and I would pet him and play with him. We were inseparable. That's why I'm always around Panne when she's in her rabbit form. She reminds me of Wolfie.
"But one day my parents found me. They dragged me back to this town kicking and screaming and crying. And they gave me horrible punishment. They beat me and yelled at me and everything. I got really sad for a while.
"One night, after I had been there for a while, Wolfie showed up. He howled for me and I climbed out the window. As soon as I stepped on the ground, he came over to me and we started wrestling. But then the other townspeople saw and started shouting. They tore me away from Wolfie and then shot him with a bunch of arrows. I can still see all the blood...
"After that, they sent me off to this mage school. All of the students were cruel and the teachers were ten times worse. Sometimes I would get sent to this room full of spikes. Sometimes they would make me sit in a chair while spiders crawled on me and bite me. Other times, they would dunk me underwater until I passed out.
"The people at that school are most of the reason for who I am today. I had to be strong, so I put on a smile while they hurt me. Eventually I snapped and used my tome on one of them and they died. I had so much fun that I killed the entire class. The teachers tried to stop me, but I killed them too. I ended up killing everyone in the school. It was the first time that I felt happy since Wolfie died.
"After that, I came back home. I went to my house and my parents weren't there. The man that lived there told me that they were killed by a wolf. That made me angry, because I wanted to be the one that killed them. In my anger, I ended up killing the whole town. Which is why no one lives here anymore," he finished.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Robin asked.
Henry suddenly stopped and whirled around to face her. "Have you ever felt lonely, Robin?"
"Of course I have, everyone feels lonely sometimes," Robin responded.
Henry shook his head. "Not lonely like that. Lonely like this town. Deserted and dead. Have you ever felt so lonely that it's all you think about? Have you ever felt so lonely that everything seems to fade? Have you ever felt so lonely that you start hallucinating about the person you love?"
"You love me?" Robin gasped.
Henry laughed, "Nya ha ha, of course I do. I have for a long time. But it's not surprising that you couldn't see it. You were always with Chrom or fighting a battle. No time for old Henry, eh?" His tone was bitter.
"Henry, I'm not a hallucination. I'm real and I love you too. I'm sorry about-"
"Shut up!" he snapped. "Don't you realize that saying that makes me even more sad? If you were really alive, you would have come back already. It's been a year since you died. You're gone and I've accepted that."
"Henry-"
"Do you know why you're here? You're here so that I could put the both of us at peace. I don't want to see you anymore, I want to be with you. I want to love you and hold you and the only way that might be possible is if I die." Tears streamed down Henry's face, making paths of white in the dirt.
Then Robin realized something. They had left the town. They were now standing in an open area that ended in a cliff. A cliff that Henry was standing dangerously close to the edge of. "Henry, you can't-"
"Be quiet!" he roared. "I can't live anymore. I've tried to cope, praying to Grima and Naga alike for your return, but all I see are hallucinations. And those are never as good as the real thing. Do you have any scars, Robin?"
Startled by this new information and the sudden change in topic, she scrambled to say, "Yes, why?"
"This is why." Henry then removed his shirt and threw it behind him, letting it fall and flow with the wind. His ribs were even more evident and, to Robin's dismay, Henry's arms were covered in scars.
He moved so that his right arm was facing her. She saw that the scars were horizontal, parallel to each other. "Each of these scars is a year that I've spent without Wolfie." He turned to that his left arm faced her. There were many more, so many that they overlapped. "Each of these is a day that I've spent without you."
"Now, Robin," he spoke, "I'll see you in the afterlife." He then spread his arms and closed his eyes for the final time, tipping backwards. Robin rushed towards him, but he disappeared over the edge of the cliff. For a moment she watched him fall, but them she turned away and burst into tears.
Robin didn't return to the camp that night. Chrom became worried and traveled to the town, only to find Robin sitting on the cliff's edge, weeping and murmuring Henry's name. She never told anyone what happened, only that he was happy now and that he was in a better place.
Later, historians would write that after Grima's demise, Henry made a cold, clean break with history, never to stain its pages again.