No POV (at all for this story, odd for me, I know)
A light sigh passes through slightly chapped, rosy pink lips of a young woman, who can't possibly be any older than twenty, with snowy hair, slightly peeking out from under a large hood. She stares up at the setting sun from her seat on the hill in the middle of the field, her branded hand -the six eyes now only showing as a faint pink scar whereas it had once shone dark purple- fiddling with a small flower she had picked a while before. With a slight shiver, she pulls her heavy purple cloak closer over a simple silver gown, torn along the hem and grass stained where it's trailed on the ground for gods know how long, and blood stains discolor the gown in small spots all around the shimmering skirt.
She closes her eyes, feeling exhaustion settle over her in an almost numbing blanket, when alertness shocks through her system violently as the sound of something on the approach from the distance, not too far off, and very fast, makes its way to her. She opens her eyes to find a large, shadowed figure moving almost as fast as the demons of Grima, and forces herself to rise, running back to the road in the direction of the woods, remembering having seen the signs of a village being in this direction during the day while she had been wandering around before trying to settle down for the night, now unsuccessful in her endeavor.
The winding trail takes her past a small house, one she finds dark and uninviting, therefore deciding to pass over. Continuing to follow the path, she finds a split to go left and right, the left into a cave system, the right a lighter tunnel with the sound of splashing water, not to mention some sort of activity over there. Voices reach her sensitive ears, talking in hushed voices, and a horse's patient snorting as it grazes by its master as well. She clenches her hands in front of her chest, nervous and fearful, staying close to the wall, trying to stay hidden behind the large brown beauty as best she can, while still admiring the spring and the area around it.
"Link, do you ever feel the sense of melancholy whenever twilight descends upon the land?" the older blonde asks the younger one, turning to the obvious rancher to his left.
The young man nods quietly before nodding. "Yes, I do sometimes, Rusl. I must admit, it is an odd feeling, for I feel it only some days, and others I don't," he informs his elder. He then frowns. "Why do you bring it up?" he asks, curiosity oozing out of his very pores.
The man shakes his head. "No real reason, I was just wondering if you too felt a similar sensation." He turns to the spring, relaxing for a moment.
The rancher, sighing, rises to his feet, dusting off his rear and turning to his horse, then stopping with a gasp. The girl simply stares at him, slightly fearful as she cringes back, trying to melt into the tunnel wall and leaning back. He steps forward slightly, a gentle smile on his face. "Rusl, I think we have a refugee here," he calls back to his friend, eyeing the state of her garb.
The man rises and hurries to the younger man's side, making the girl stumble back, tripping on the hem of her skirt and nearly tumbling to the ground before Link's quick reflexes allow him to rush forward to catch her before she crashes to the rocky ground. She doesn't struggle against him, but shivers in his grasp and hides her face in his arm the best she can.
He cradles her in his arms as Rusl approaches them. "Young lady, who are you, and where are you from?" he inquires gently, before gesturing to himself and Link. "My name is Rusl, and this is Link. We live in Ordon, just over the ravine."
She turns her head to look at him, finding no malice, only wonder and concern. "R-Robin, sir. I lived in Ylisse as a tactician before, in a different world." She then looks at the six eyes branded onto the back of her right hand. "You probably don't believe me, do you?"
Rusl shakes his head. "Actually, I do believe in parallel worlds and other such things, so I wouldn't be surprised if that is where you are from. Besides, you don't seem like to type to spin tall tales or be easily scared."
She shakes her head, letting the hood fall from her head, revealing eyes like the darkest honey, a small nose, and bangs falling askew into her eyes and mouth, no longer held back by the cloth. "Why, that stupid-!" she curses the fabric, pulling away from Link to shove her hair out of her face in irritation, making both men laugh, though Rusl silently takes in the scars on her cheek and hands, and the thick calluses on her palms.
He clears his throat. "What did it entail, being a tactician in your world?" he asks.
She smiles softly, yet sadly. "Just that, taking charge of the Exalt's army and ensuring as many of the soldiers Chrom was given were able to return home after each of the wars. Even… even if I couldn't after the last one."
Link frowns at that. "What do you mean, you couldn't return home?"
Her gaze becomes faraway, as she becomes lost in her own memory. "When weighed against millions, what is one life, no?" she asks them rhetorically, and she spies a set of interesting blue earrings in his earlobes.
"Robin, no!" he yells as she pushes him aside, just before he is about to land the final blow to her doppelganger.
She shakes her head, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Chrom! But you know how this has to end!" she shouts at him over the wind, before turning her blade on their enemy, and with a magnificent sweep of her silver sword, the tactician buries the blade hilt deep into the chest of her future self. A world of pain, of agony, fills her, takes over her mind, as the other her steps back, black blood spilling to Grima's scales as she falls, her own black tinted but crimson blood spilling from her lips and unknown number of wounds all over her body.
"Robin!" Chrom roars, running to his best friend's side, catching her as she falls to the side, gasping for breath. "Come on Robin, stay with me!" He turns back to find Lissa and Morgan rushing forward, their spouses hot on their tails, the enemies gone with the fall of their master. "Look at me! You're gonna make it, you're gonna be okay!"
She smiles and coughs, hacking up ever more blood, staining his once perfect uniform, for which the maids would fret over later. "You… fool… let me… do… what I… want… What is… one… life… Chrom…?" she asks him, to which he finally understands, she sees it in his eyes. "Tell them… it… for them… I will… treasure… memory… I want… meet… y-yoo-ouu… aagg-ggaa-aaiiinnn…" she whispers with her final breath, as she and her counterpart fade from existence, leaving nothing behind, nothing but glitter, blood, and the memories to haunt the Shepherds.
Unbeknownst to them, Naga caught Robin before her spirit vanished, and let her watch what happened next. She watched as Naga spared them in the crash of Grima's body back to Earth, and the encouragement for her to return to life with them, and the promise for them to never stop searching for her.
However, there was a price to this.
"Robin, Hyrule is in need of assistance. Soon, darkness will be taking over, and the power of the gods will be tested by three mortals once more, this time with the use of light and darkness. You have been through both, and have the power to resist darkness, even throw off the power of a near god," the divine dragon informs her. "If you choose help the youth who is to become the Hero of Twilight, you will have the chance to return to your world. If you don't, then you won't ever be able to return, only remain here and watch over them for all eternity. The choice is yours."
She looks over to Morgan, who stares off into space, ignoring everything going on around him, thinking about the mother he just lost. The boy who looks like nobody from this world, with pointed ears, striking blue eyes, and much taller than her childish height –the joke only ever made once for a very good reason- but an average height overall, and a different set of sword skills from the other children, which he couldn't explain due to his amnesia, so like her own. The only memento he had of his parents was the coat on his back and the blue earrings she swore she would never buy for herself, yet he claimed to have found in his pocket only recently.
With determination, she looked to Naga and nodded. "I will find the Hero of Twilight, and give him my aid, if it means getting back to Morgan."
Coming back to herself, she finds her feet being guided over a rickety bridge to the other side of a ravine, Link keeping his arm wrapped carefully around her shoulder to lend her warmth and to guide her at the same time. Robin blinks and rotates her head slowly, finding Rusl to be only just ahead of them, holding the horse's reigns.
Link, noticing she's coming around again, breathes a sigh of relief. "Glad to see you're back, Robin," he murmurs gently.
She casts her eyes down slightly. "I'm sorry, Link. I've just… been through a lot before I got here."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he offers.
She opens her mouth almost immediately to accept, but hesitates. Could she really burden him with the knowledge that she had been destined to destroy her world? That she had essentially killed herself rather than letting someone else put a dragon to sleep to spare her life? Share that she had been responsible for the destruction of the world in one time, and for the death of a ruler she had held dear? The sister of her best friend? That most of what she knew of life was war, strife, betrayal, and bloodshed, a life without hope or lasting peace?
A shadow of grief fills her eyes as she shakes her head. "No, thank you, Link. Maybe someday, but… I just can't right now."
He seems to understand, and lets the matter drop, continuing to hold her close as Rusl hands him the reigns so he can lock the gates to the bridge. Seeing Robin look at the mare, Link nudges her over. "This is my horse, Epona. She's a bit wild, but she's sweet once you get to know her."
The horse, getting a whiff of the blood, sweat, metal, and tears on Robin the humans can't detect, snorts and nuzzles up to her, also sensing her hidden stress from the trauma. Robin hesitantly rubs the creature behind her ears, smiling slightly to herself as the tension drains from her body. "By Naga, she is the sweetest horse I've ever encountered, wild or trained," she compliments.
Rusl, almost seeing something of a soldier after a bloody war, pales slightly. "By Nayru," he whispers in horror, seeing for the first time just how clean the scars are, and just how similar the calluses on her hands are to those on his from years of being a palace guard, using a sword and various other weapons. And a scar on her hand, not puckered like it was carved into her skin, but like burnt into her skin when she might have been a child, or even a faded tattoo from childhood, marking her as someone's property. He quickly turns away to lead the younger people past the spring once the gate is secured, Link explaining what it is, and promising to show her there the next day.
When they reach Link's tree house, Rusl pulls the younger man aside. "Can you bring Robin to see Bo now? I need to get Colin and Uli home before it gets too much later, and you need to make sure Fado doesn't need any help up at the ranch," he explains, and they look to see the very short woman nervously introducing herself to Uli and Colin, smiling shyly, though a true smile of joy.
Link, feeling a foreign sensation of needing to keep that smile there forever, nods. "I'll take care of it. I'll just get the wood inside, then I'll be into town to distribute everyone else's shares."
Nodding, Rusl leaves him, tapping his wife and son on their shoulders, dismissing them politely from Robin for the night, leaving her with a smile. She then turns to Link, smiling shyly and walks back to Epona, rubbing between her eyes. "So, Link, what did Rusl have to say about me?" she asks hesitantly.
"Nothing bad, he just wanted me to take you to see our mayor, Bo, before it got to be too late," he informs her, going around Epona to relieve her of a bundle of wood tethered to her saddle. "While we're in the town, we'll also be dropping off a bundle at everyone's house, but there's only four other houses, so it won't take long." Robin nods, and watches as he skillfully climbs up the ladder to his house, somehow managing to hold the bundle without a problem and get up there in less than ten seconds, then jumping back down rather than climbing back down. He then walks over to her. "Shall we be off? I also need to be sure Fado isn't having any problems with the goats again."
Smiling, Robin walks beside him, Epona following behind them into the village. Their first stop is very quick, Link just grabbing a bundle and running into Sera's shop to give them theirs before they close up for the night, then catching a child named Talo to give his parents their wood in the last ditch effort to get him home before they realized he wasn't home again, and leaving Rusl's with him at the creek where he had decided to get some sword practice in.
Robin, though standing back, saw a small flaw in his stance, and an overuse of power in his swings, which would lead to him being exhausted faster in even a practice match than would be necessary, and could lead to a fatal mistake should he ever be called on to defend the village. Making a mental note to talk to him about it in the morning in a manner like she had with Chrom, she follows Link up the rest of the short part of the hill to the next house, the largest one in the village, where a rather large man and a blonde girl only just shorter than Link stand outside.
"Link!" the girl calls, excited, then her face falls, seeing another girl with him. "Who's that?" she asks, venom in her voice.
The male seems oblivious, but Robin decides to turn a blind eye to it, not having any kind of particular interest in Link beyond being friends with him, unlike this girl, who clearly has a major crush on him. "Ilia, Bo, this is Robin. Rusl and I stumbled across her when we were in Faron woods this evening, and we were wondering what we were to do with her. She is not from this world, and we are only to assume that she is going to be stuck here for a while," he informs them while untethering the second-to-last bundle from his saddle.
The mayor steps towards her, opening his squinted eyes slightly to get a better look at her. "You look like you've been through a lot, young lady."
She stiffens and looks anywhere but at them. "Three wars and amnesia does that to a tactician, sir," she replies stiffly.
Link's head swivels to stare at her. "Three wars?" he asks for clarification, to which she nods. "In just how many years? You're barely even twenty!"
"Four years," she mumbles under her breath, clenching her fists and eyes shut, whole body trembling. "I don't want to talk about it. Please, just stop," she begs, almost brokenly.
Almost pityingly, Ilia takes her hand. "Let's go to the Spirit's Spring, it'll calm you right down. It's the most soothing place, I'm sure you saw it on your way here." She guides the tactician away, eyes locking on Link. "Where is she staying?"
"We hadn't figured that part out yet," he informs her.
Ilia turns to Robin. "Do you care where you stay?" she asks, getting a head shake in response. She then turns to her father. "Daddy, does anyone have any extra space at their house?"
Before Bo can answer, Link shakes his head. "I'll just need to clean up the loft. I'm the only one with any extra space here, now that Uli and Rusl are going to be having their baby anytime now."
Ilia nods. "Then I'll just take her to your house in a little while," she informs them, before dragging the short girl off to the Spirit's Spring to relax for a little while.
The men stand there staring after them for a moment before shaking their heads. "I can't believe it, she's survived through three wars and come out so well," Bo comments.
Link gives him a worried look as he hands over the bundle of wood. "Is war really that bad?"
The large man nods solemnly. "You have no idea my boy, nor do you ever want to. War has a way of changing a person, and never for the better. A person may physically have scars when they come home, and be hailed a hero, and look not much different than when they left but for some muscles, but their minds are scarred with untold horrors. It is best to stay uninvolved with it, Link, lest you find a way to recover fast. That girl has been in back to back war, and it may be the only thing she knows. She is scarred, and she is scared."
The younger man nods and takes Epona's reigns. "I'll be checking up on the ranch before I head home for the night, Bo. Have a good night."
"Link, one piece of advice, about Robin?" Bo calls out before Link gets too far. The younger man looks back, acknowledging him. "Don't ever tell her a lie, or turn her away if she needs something right now. Just be there for her. I'll assume you were the first one to find her in this world?"
"Yes, I was," he confirms, unsure of where the mayor could be going with this.
"Then she will have already formed an unconscious trust in you, and may already see you as a friend. That is all Link. Good night." With that, he walks into his house for the night, remembering to leave the door unlocked for when Ilia returns later.
When he reaches the ranch, he finds Fado chasing the goats around in circles, and a few chasing him around as well, angry at having been chased around too much by a silly human. Placing the last bundle of wood by the gate before shutting the heavy wooden doors left open by some mistake once more, Link hops on top of Epona and begins aiding his fellow rancher, herding the goats into the barn quickly and efficiently without getting them angry.
Relieved at having been rescued and the goats all being put away for the night, Fado approaches Link as he dismounts. "Thanks for showin' up when ya did, buddy! I woulda come an asked ya for help, but some o' these guys were busy chasin' me 'round an' I couldn't get away quick enough!"
Link shakes his head, grinning in amusement at his friend's antics. "Did the monkeys set them off again?" he asks.
"I'm athinkin' so! Malo swears he saw 'em again today causin' a big ol' racket down past Sera's," he informs Link. "So, you wanna practice jumpin' fences again?"
He shakes his head. "I need to clean up the loft, I have someone staying over at my place for a while."
"WHO?! You never git a guest!"
Link winces, rubbing his ears. "We found a refugee from some other world, her name is Robin, I'll introduce you tomorrow, but I'm the only one with any extra space, and she's comfortable enough around me, so I figured why not let her stay over."
Fado grins at this. "Ya like this girl, don't ya?"
Link rolls his eyes. "She's something to look at, I'll admit, and she's nice, but she just needs a place to stay right now."
"Yer avoiding the question, Link."
He glares at Fado. "And you're prying."
"Tryin' to get Ilia off yer back?" he asks. Link stiffens, and Fado grins in triumph. "Admit it, she's been crushin' on ya, and it's been botherin' ya from day one, and now that ya found another girl ya like, ya see a chance to tell her ta stop it!"
Link turns away from Fado. "I don't want to hurt her feelings, since we've been friends our whole lives."
"Link, buddy, we all know you ain't meant to be tied down to this small town in the boonies. Ya just gotta see it fer yerself. Fer now, go on home, make sure the pretty lady has a bed," he jokes, patting Link on the shoulder. "And Ilia will understand, it's just a phase she's agoin' through! Don't worry 'bout her, got it?"
Link finally cracks a smile. "Thanks, Fado. See you tomorrow!"
"Take tomorrow off Link, relax and show Robin around, introduce her to everyone and all that," Fado orders him sternly.
Shaking his head, Link mounts Epona once more and jumps the gate out of the ranch, trotting through the village as the sky quickly darkens, seeing the candle lights flickering in every house, including his own as he reaches the ladder. Tying Epona reigns next to her trough of food and water, he climbs up the ladder to find Robin sitting in front of his fireplace, her coat draped over the back of her chair. He finds her silver dress to be sleeveless as she rises to greet him, cut to cover her back and most over her chest, though leaving her scarred arms and shoulders bare for freer movement. Her skirt turns out to have slits up to her hips, revealing tan leggings underneath the ensemble as she moves towards him. She now wears her hair in a braid over her shoulder, organized and picked out with pale pink and blue flowers found only at the Spirit Springs.
"Hi, Link," she greets him, blushing under his inspection.
His eyes flick back to the coat draped over the back of the chair, before he walks up to her, taking an arm in hand, running his fingers up along one scar from the length of her wrist until it vanishes under her dress. "Robin… I promise I won't ask until you want to tell me, if you ever decide you do, but just know that you can trust me, alright?"
She smiles and nods. "Thank you, Link," she whispers.
He releases her arm and steps away, going over to the cabinet to pull out the half loaf of bread, smoked ham, and cheese. "If you could fix us some food, I'll go get the loft presentable, and see if there is something I have you can borrow to sleep in."
"Alright, but are you saying that to be nice, or because you just want to see a girl wearing your clothes, handsome?" she teases him, blushing slightly.
Though he blushes, he smirks at her. "Guess I shouldn't have tried to outwit a tactician, huh?" he shoots right back, making her blush an even brighter red. Feeling thoroughly accomplished, he climbs the sets of ladders up to the top of his tree house to the highest loft, grabbing the spare pillow on his way up. Reaching the loft, he's pleased to find he didn't leave it in too much of a mess, just his blankets strewn everywhere and the majority of the trinkets he's gathered ever since he first learned to walk, and had been allowed to traverse Faron Woods with Rusl.
Hurrying, he gathers up the old trinkets from ancient civilizations and carries them back to their places on the shelf, carefully placed so that they won't fall off in case he accidentally walks into the shelf, or if Robin does by accident, as she doesn't know the layout of the house yet. He then takes a rag broom and takes care of the dust and grass that's built up –how in Farore's name did grass get up there anyway?
Finally, he returns downstairs, carrying an old nightshirt that could be considered a nightgown for Robin, she's so short and it's so large, even for him, although he also has a pair of breeches and shirt from when he was much younger that stand a much better chance of fitting her, as well as being much more suited for life in Ordon than a fancy dress.
"It's not much, but it's something," he informs her, holding out the clothes to the rosy cheeked girl, trading them for a sandwich. "If they're still a bit big, you can ask Ilia for some of her old clothes that might fit you."
She takes them and climbs the ladders like she's been doing it all her life. "I think these will fit just fine, Link, thanks," she calls back, making sure that Link can't see her before she slides out of the silver gown and leggings, pulling off her knee high leather boots and the socks underneath. She then pulls on the soft cotton nightshirt Link had given her, being enveloped in the fresh, grassy scent that seems to fill the house. Pulling it down past her hips, she finds it to continue down to her knees, and a just a couple inches more, being almost a nightgown. Blushing again at the fact that she's wearing a man's clothes, she pulls on the breeches, finding them to be only slightly too big, but perfect for sleepwear.
Coming back down the ladders, Link takes in a good eyeful, giving a long whistle at the view. "Wow, I think you're gonna have to keep that outfit for yourself," he teases.
She covers her blushing cheeks with her hands and picks up her half eaten sandwich, continuing to take another bite. "Link, stop teasing me. We just met, and you're already worse than Virion… I take that back, you're not proposing, he proposed to Sully before he even introduced himself."
Shaking his head, Link takes another bite out of his meal, before clearing his throat. "Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that Rusl asked me to present the annual gift to the Royal Family of Hyrule, in his place, since I've never been out of the village, he had wondered, since you mentioned being a tactician, if you might give me some pointers on how to address royalty."
She shakes her head. "I'm afraid I'm going to be of little help. I was close friends with the royalty of my world, the crown prince and his little sister actually found me passed out in a field half dead." She then frowns. "My father, as a matter of fact, may he never find peace in the afterlife, took over the throne of our kingdom. I just hope Chrom found a worthy person to fill in the position of monarch," she mutters, almost to herself.
Link almost chokes on his food. "Wait a moment! Are you telling me you're a princess?!"
She looks up at him dully. "If I accepted the role, I could have been. But I refused it, and I will never be one, that I promise. He was not of royal blood, only of Fell, which he passed to me, cursed me with," she growls, clenching her branded hand. "Link, please, do not tell anyone about this, I don't want to be treated any differently. I just want to live a peaceful life. I'm tired of war, and I just have one more mission to complete in your world before I have a chance to go home."
He takes her hand and squeezes gently. "What mission?"
"Find a certain person and give them my help, and I can go home. I don't know who they are, or what they look like, but I feel like I'm close." She then squints her eyes at him, looking deeply into his eyes. "You remind me so much of someone, I just can't think of who," she whispers, leaning forward slightly to get a better look at him.
He shrugs and closes his eyes, polishing off his meal. "I don't know, but whatever the case, I'm going to go get changed for bed. Now, I know you were checking me out earlier, but please don't peek, Robin," he teases her, winking.
Her cheeks light up again, and she buries her face in her arms. "You insufferable male!" she squeals at him, secretly liking the tormenting, and him loving her reactions to the teasing, and wondering just how far she'll let him go.
Haha, Link is a bit of a tease in this, and Robin can't resist him either! How long until they go beyond friendly teasing?
I do not own Fire Emblem or Legend of Zelda