Oh wow, I'm writing another story shipping Frederick and Robin... But at least it isn't too like my other stories in the way in which the plot develops...

"Milord, need I remind you that this woman is a stranger to us all, with naught to offer us but a name and strategic knowledge?" An armour clad knight was stood before his lord, a young man bearing the brand of the Ylissean royal family upon his right arm, expressing his concern towards the newcomer of the Shepherds. Bearing the nickname 'The Wariest Knight of Ylisse', it was expected for him to state these worries outright, of course.

The prince ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head as he provided what he thought was a sufficient response. "Robin… There is something about her which I trust. I know that you have your concerns, but with a war against Plegia occurring at right this moment… There is more to think about than whether a single person can be trusted, considering how helpful she has been so far," he stated, looking down at the ground.

Chrom had been distracted a lot as of late, and it was quite evident in his tone of voice. Well, how else would someone react upon their sister being forcefully taken by the ruler of the neighbouring kingdom, and with it being declared that she would be executed within the moon?

Not only was the burden of knowing this weighing down on Chrom though.

The fear of losing Emmeryn was a burden upon everyone's shoulders. And no more than the very woman which the prince had been talking about – the Shepherds' relatively new tactician of a mere few months – Robin. She was expected to come up with battle strategies in limited amounts of time, hours at most, before carrying them out within the same amount of time.

"I understand that… However-"

"Chrom..." Frederick was cut off from saying another word by the young woman opening the flap of the tent, in order to see if the Ylissean lord was present. "I- I've finished… We… We should be able to reach the Plegian capital by nightfall of the day we leave… And launch our attack to rescue Emmeryn the day after by dawn- I- I mean midday… Or was it dawn?... Well, it's one or the other..."

With the way in which Robin was stumbling over her words, it was more than obvious that she had been sleepless for many a night. Plus, alongside various ink stains which decorated her coat, and the way in which her messy white hair had been threw back, she had not been taking care of herself as much as she should have been.

With a concerned frown, Chrom silently gestured for Frederick to allow him to talk to Robin alone – something which did not please the knight at all due to his open distrust. However, he respected his lord's wishes, and left. Chrom took advantage of the tiny bit of extra space then to take hold of Robin's arm and take her over to a chair present in the tent.

"You need to sit down and rest, Robin."

It was an order which Robin refused to obey.

"I've been sat down for..." Robin counted four of her fingers then, before continuing, "at least, um… Six days. I don't need to rest..."

Not the response which Chrom was wanting to hear. He had never realised that she had been straining herself so much in trying to rescue Emmeryn, he had been too busy trying to keep up the Shepherds' spirits. "If I say so, you will do it, Robin. I never realised how tired you are making yourself! Gods, if I have to, I'll have to force you to drink some of Panne's tea…"

Robin, however, knew about the 'sedative effect' of said tea, and she had only one word to respond to that with. "No."

Within a few moments, the tactician had her parchment snatched off her, and Chrom held it above the candle which was lit within the tent.

"Sit down."

"Chrom… Don't fire- I mean burn it! I spent too much time on that," She whispered quietly then. Chrom knew that would be her response. What was unexpected to the prince though, was the sheer look of panic present on Robin's face. It was well known amongst the camp that Robin often hid her emotions, especially to those who were of a higher sort of authority to her. But this was the exact opposite to what was seen to be a known fact. And it almost… hurt him. Robin was important to him… And to break the trust between them would lose Ylisse the entire war. "Please..."

He placed the parchment on the table, but placed a book of his upon it, before pointing at the chair.

That is what made Robin realise that Chrom was only trying to look out for her as a friend. So, this time, she complied.

She never really liked being told what to do when she was basically at the verge of sleep. It was the point where she felt as though only what she thought would go, but that obviously wouldn't be the case this time.

"Honestly… I'm fine… Just… I need a bit of… space? Is that the word?"

"You've sealed yourself off from all life for days now, Robin! No!"

"Hmph..." Robin slowly rested her head on the arm of the chair then, a small pout upon her face. She really wasn't taking this entire situation well. It didn't help that moments later, she fell off the chair and began to mutter a large variety of obscenities which he was never even aware of her knowing. "Just let me go..."

"If you go, it is to lie down in your tent. I'll have Frederick escort you and keep an eye on you if you do leave."

The tactician growled as she rose to her feet, before rubbing the temples of her head. "I don't have a… um, choice, do I?..."

"No. No you don't. We're all worried about you, Robin… I'll be glad if you take a short nap, even if it is only for a few hours… I'll read your strategy as you rest, okay? And if you need anything, as I said, Frederick will be keeping an eye on you..."

It was so strange, seeing Robin wrapped up under many layers of blankets in the middle of the day whilst in Plegia… Did she really feel so cold in this climate? On top of that, she was sleeping under that pile. She was nothing but a woman of many mysteries to Frederick.

But at the same time… Seeing her sleep like that… It made her seem so much more fragile than she made herself out to be at times.

Alongside his slight confusion, there was also the matter that she had managed to get herself into such a tired state. Could he have been a contributor towards her being in this state? After all, he had made it mandatory for all members of the Shepherds to train for at least an hour every morning for the past week in the lead up to what could be the final confrontation with Plegia…

Whilst mid-thought, Robin made a slight whimpering sound, and her hand had began to twitch a slight bit. It Was quite evidently her showing slight discomfort as she slept, but it was difficult for the knight to figure out what the cause of that could possibly have been. Could it have been her bed? Was it uncomfortable? Or was she experiencing pain, considering the amount of training and fighting which she had done as of late? Nightmares?… It was definitely open to interpretation.

Then came the slight mumble, and her eyes opened a slight bit. "Where?… Oh… Oh, right… My tent..." Following that, she sat up and rubbed her head, oblivious to the fact that Frederick was staring right at her. "I can't remember lying down to sleep..."

"That is because you were not awake when you were lay down. I had to carry you here, and was made to keep an eye on you as you slept."

Frederick's stern voice was enough to make the tactician's face fall. "Well, you don't have to now, I'm awake… goodbye, Frederick."

"No. I have been told to make sure that you remain resting for at least another hour by Milord, so I shall not be leaving at any time soon."

The response was not what she was wanting to hear. As a matter of fact, it was almost the exact opposite. She wanted him gone. It was a well known fact that the two held no feelings but resent towards each other after all. "Well, if you are not going to be making yourself scarce, I will leave then, despite the fact that this is my tent. Gods damn knight..." Robin stood up, and threw a book in his general direction before slowly making her way towards the tent's entrance due to her legs feeling as though they too were half-asleep.

Once she was outside, the arms around her waist and chest were quite the surprise. "You are not leaving until I say you can, understand? I do not trust you, so if it means that I have to restrain you to your bed or desk, then I shall not hesitate. If I have to hold you at the point of a weapon until this time is up, then so be it. But no matter what, you shall not be leaving your tent."

"Kidnapper. You're acting like a kidnapper! Just you wait until I tell Chrom this, you will be in so much-!"

"I am just obeying my orders. If you were in my position, you would do the same." Following that, Frederick noticed that Robin was trying to dig her heels into the ground in order to prevent him from pulling her back in. "And if you think that shall stop me, then I shall ask you to try harder, because it won't."

Robin was never expecting him to be serious about tying her down if she continued to try and leave until Chrom said that she could… The rope which had ended up around her ankle was chafing her skin, and gods, she just wanted it to be free. Thankfully it was just one rope though, despite him threatening to have her completely tied down. "I never thought that one day, I would end up as your damn prisoner. What next, you lock me up in a cell, feeding me nothing but bread and water once a day?!"

"I would not do something such as that. You think too much of my authority."

"Authority? To me, you've never had authority, Frederick."

"You know, I preferred it much better when you were sleeping. You actually seemed less obnoxious as you slept."

"Obnoxious?!"

The yelling and shouting between the two continued for quite a while, to the point that the whole camp was starting to hear the argument. The last one to hear was quite obviously Chrom, the only person with the power to get the two to stop what they were going and calm down. Some people were not liking the arguing, and wished that they would stop and try to find a way to get along with each other. Different people were listening in around the tent, sometimes making the risk of peering into the tent.

Robin's face was bright red, a horrific contrast in comparison to what she looked like when she happy. Frederick had lost his straight face, and it was easy to pick up on the fact that he was just as mad as the woman. Things were threw about, weapons occasionally used, and every so often, there was the sounds of Frederick grabbing hold of Robin's wrists to stop her from slapping him across the face.

Chrom stormed in, frustrated at the yelling in the middle of one of the knight's slapping interventions. "What in the name of the gods is going on here?! I said for you to rest, Robin, and for you to keep an eye on her, Frederick! Not try to murder each other!"

"He called me obnoxious, unfeminine, and then said that I was a waste of space! Is it not surprising that I am mad at him?! Plus, he won't let me leave my own damn tent! And look! He tried to tie me to my bed! Thank the gods I found a fire tome a few minutes ago to burn the rope off!"

"She refused to rest, and she blatantly ignored me when I told her what you had said about her resting, Milord! That, and you even witnessed her attempting to violate me with her fist."

"Violate?! I'll show you violate in a minute!"

The prince's face was twitching at their shouting then, and he couldn't take any more of it. "Enough! One more word from either of you, and you both will be in serious trouble once we have rescued Emmeryn! We can't be doing with arguing between allies at the moment, and especially not when the life of the exalt is at risk! I was hoping that you both could put aside your differences and just rest for a while, but quite obviously I was wrong there..."

Robin's face was now rather pinkish, but not due to her calming down, but rather through humility. She hadn't expected her best friend to snap at her like that… Though she was aware that he was mad at them both, it felt more as though the anger was directed towards her.

"Now, Robin, I want you to lie down for a few minutes, and Frederick, you are making sure that she does not leave the tent. No arguing. Is that understood?"

Glares were cast between knight and tactician, and both of them made a similar grunting sound, as if to say that they didn't exactly care, but if either of them overstepped their boundary, they probably would snap.

"Tch… Fine… But only because I don't want to stress you out, Chrom..."

"I suppose."

"Bastard!" Robin swung her sword towards a Wyvern rider which had tried to cut her down whilst she was focussed upon a different enemy. "Trying to pick off the one person who wasn't fighting alongside one of their comrades?!" It was quite noticeable that Robin was the only one of the Shpeherds which didn't happen to be fighting alongside an ally, especially considering that she was fighting out in the open. That was because she had directed the majority towards a wall, to allow them to move further in less time to try and rescue Emmeryn quicker.

It wasn't too tactically sound to fight out where she was, but she did have reasoning for it. She was trying to prove herself. Frederick had accused her of continuing to get insufficient rest, and had said that on the battlefield, she would be a hindrance. She didn't like being seen as a burden, and her pride was what led her into making the brash decision.

After a few moments, she had killed the first soldier which she was fighting, leaving her with just the wyvern rider to battle. Or at least it did for a few moments. Arrows flew at her from various different directions, and she had noticed that Plegian archers were trying to keep her in one spot with their arrows. That also allowed for another Wyvern rider to approach her from behind, and that sent shivers down her spine.

Perhaps that stupid man was right… It was almost definite that she would be leaving the battlefield as a corpse to be disposed of…

Her sword was quickly discarded, and a tome was whipped out of her coat just as an arrow pierced some loose material of her coat, almost pinning her down to the ground if she hadn't have ripped it out. Not long after that, the blade of an axe made contact with her arm, making her scream out loud. Thank the gods she had stepped to the side the second that she felt the blade, for otherwise, her arm would have been brutally severed off. Blood trickling down her arm wasn't exactly welcomed either, because she was desperate to finish off these enemies to try and help in the efforts to get towards Emmeryn before the order for her execution was to be given.

"Damn you all!" She then screamed, throwing magic towards the wyvern rider behind her, due to them being the next one preparing to attack. Before she was able to fire another attack though, she noticed that three arrows were heading towards her at once. No matter what… No matter where she moved… She would be too slow, and end up being pieced by at least one of them.

It was a lost cause trying to escape… But it wasn't too late to be rescued by somebody who was fast enough. Feeling somebody grab hold of her hand and pull her as out of the line of fire was enough to send her bawling into tears. She wasn't going to die yet… Looking up though, she could barely make out her rescuer… At least until she wiped the tears away from her eyes. "F- Frederick?..."

His eyes were opened wide, almost as if out of concern or worry. That was a surprising look for him… "What were you doing?! You are the tactician, and we need you alive! It looked as though you were on a death mission just then! You are lucky that I decided to pull back to get you away from those arrows!"

"Forget that… Wh- Why did you decide to save me?! You were meant to be fighting with Virion!"

"We were joined by a Plegian dark mage and one of the Ylissean war monks. He is with them. And I saved you because, as I said, we need you! Stop being reckless!"

"It's your fault… The only reason I was fighting alone… Was because you said that I would be a hindrance. I never in a million years expected for them to all gang up on me like that!"

Robin was also starting to look wide eyed then, so the knight was quick to take hold of her wrists and pull her up onto his horse just in front of him. "I am not allowing you to leave my sight. A dead tactician is not what we need at the moment."

That was surprising… He was expressing concern towards her…

"Robin, do you understand?…" She could only give a slightly shaken nod. "Are you capable of fighting? That wound on your arm looks as though it is painful." Another small nod was given then, and he sighed because of that. "Don't push yourself. I will be the one responsible if you die now, and I shall not allow myself to be put to shame like that."

And there came his pride… His stubborn, stubborn pride… Robin could feel her face heat up as she thought that, and she assumed almost straight away that it was frustration towards that aspect of him.

Before either of them were able to move further on, they were surrounded by the enemies which had almost took the tactician out of the picture within a matter of seconds. That made Robin's tactician instincts kick in almost instantaneously. "We need to head towards the others, we're getting a bit too far apart on the battlefield… Aim for the enemies directly ahead of us, and clear a path out of here. I will aim with my tome towards any archers which emerge before us, or at any opponents which get too close to us. Get that?" A nod was received, and so they were quick to start moving forward. "Once we're a lot closer to the others, we can face the remaining enemies then, because whoever is close to us could assist us in stopping their advances if necessary."

"Understood."

Now, that felt good. Ordering Frederick around… Maybe she could pair herself up with him in future battles, just to feel this warm, tingly feeling that was coursing through her body again through bossing him about…

Three archers, two wyvern riders, and five footsoldiers later, the duo were reunited with the remaining Shepherds. Unfortunately, it was at the worst possible time…

"If anyone moves, Emmeryn gets it! Unless, of course, you are willing to give me the Fire Emblem!"

"The Fire Emblem… That's what is on Chrom's arm, isn't it?..."

"Yes..."

Robin then gulped, before she shouted out as she noticed that Chrom was slowly pulling the object off his arm. "Chrom! Make sure that you're doing the right decision, okay?! Don't let his threats influence your mind and your decision!"

And in a flurry of emotions and shouting…

Emmeryn fell.

Seeing the pain on the faces of the Ylissean prince and princess was enough to make Robin start shaking and tearing up also, and her breathing was turning shaky. Seeing the exalt hit the ground though… It made her start to hyperventilate, as it was the most horrific sight she had seen that day.

And on top of that...

Her plan, her well thought out strategy… had failed.

She was that shaken up, it was a relief to feel Frederick's arms around her, and to hear him whisper down her ear to take deep breaths to steady her breathing, and then to keep her breathing at the same pace as his to calm down. "Do not panic yourself like that. We will get our revenge for this horrific deed… We need you to keep calm in order to coordinate ourselves after this, okay Robin?… Though we may dislike each other, I will be there to assist. That is my duty as a knight, after all."

"As long as y- you don't get on my nerves by following me around all of the d- damn time… Or h- hassle me to get rest..."

"As you wish."