Part One: The Silence

How Ricken was able to hold onto his secret for so long, no one knew. Robin reasoned that, being a mage and most likely schooled, he was able to take every precaution he knew to hide it.

And he was probably working with a few of the Shepherds to make sure it went smoothly as well.

It certainly did explain a few things, though. Really, it did. He had been acting strangely on the battlefield, and especially around her. He seemed a little more timid than usual, and he developed this nervous habit of clutching his robes that always worsened when she drew near. Ricken had never had these issues before, and to see it come about in the last month was, at first, concerning.

The way he was staring at her, seated across her at the small table of her tent, was one of guilt and silent hope, but most of all anxiousness. It was a stare that could break the hearts of grandmothers worldwide, coupled with his boyish face that made seeing him as something else difficult. Even now she could feel her heartstrings being pulled, heavy chords in her chest plucked away by the fact that she would have to break his heart.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and did her best to make a firm voice. She shook her head, white locks rocking back and forth over her shoulders.

"No."

"But Robin!" Ricken started, "You… I…" but he found himself at a loss for words.

"We cannot afford to harbor a puppy in the Shepherds."

"I can take care of Blackie!" he stood up and put his arms on the table, doing his best to look bigger, taller, in control. "I've been doing it for the last month and there were no problems!" It only seemed to startle the white ball of puppy fur that was seated in between them, however. "I'm good at it! I walk her at night-"

"And probably distract the night watch."

"-feed her-"

"At the cost of lacking energy in combat, as well sneaking away rations of milk."

"And she's usually very calm, I don't know-"

"Until today, where a-"

"Will you let me finish, Robin?"

"Where a good amount of our forces," she raised her voice and talked over him, "were drawn out of position because you went to chase 'Blackie' after it jumped. Out. Of. Your. Robes."

Ricken was silent, his eyes glued to the puppy's cute pink tongue that dangled from its open mouth.

Instead of slamming her hands down, trying to make a point, she instead leaned forward just a tiny bit, folded her hands across in front of her and lowered her voice, speaking slowly, subtly increasing her presence at the table.

He was smart, she knew that, and she did her best to not sound admonishing. "Today's skirmish could have ended very differently," She softly said, the harshness in her tone gone. "We were skilled enough to prevent the situation from spiraling out of hand, but a lot of things could have gone wrong."

"I…" Looking up at Ricken, he had the most defeated look on his face. Even though she had tried to remain passive, to break the truth that he was trying to deny as gently as she possibly could, he still could not prevent the sadness from seeping out. "I know."

The guilt was trailing on the corner of his lips. Robin was sure that in any other moment, she would have been more than willing to hug the growing boy, to let him know that things would be alright and that mistakes were just learning experiences. But this was on a bigger level. These were the lives of their brothers and sisters born in blood and battle. She had to be firm.

"I'm…" He spoke again, "I'm sorry about Lon'qu's arm." The swordsman's harsh words and tone from when he just barely made it in time to shield Ricken from an arrow still rang clearly in her ears. She was sure it was even louder for him.

"He didn't mean it like that." Robin calmly replied. She had talked with her husband earlier about his particular word choice and through some careful prodding and phrasing was able to at least eke out a small response. "He was just worried about you. He was the first to reach your side, after all."

That didn't make the boy seem any happier with the situation, and she decided to change the subject. "Where did you find her?"

"A-About a month ago. We had just gone through that… that village. The one that refused to bow to Walhart."

She recalled that village. It was burned to the ground when they found it. There were no known survivors, only charred bodies of families forcibly locked in their homes. She shuddered at the terror they had to go through as they cradled themselves, praying to the gods that the torment would end quickly.

"I remember that. We arrived a day too late. Aside from a small standing Valmese force, nothing was left."

He solemnly nodded. "It was in the last house that I found Blackie. The home was mostly burnt away, and in the corner… there was a group of huddled bodies. I was about to report back but then I heard a noise and turned back."

"A-And then, Blackie… popped out from the mess." His voice buckled near the end, but he spoke again, trying to be calm. "She was so weak when I saw her. She could barely crawl, and when I picked her up she was smaller than my fist. She just barely started to grow fur. I didn't want to disturb the bodies because I knew Libra was going to collect them for a burial, so I went around the back and tried to pull away at the boarding."

Ricken looked up at her and she could see the water in his eyes, tears unshed because he was trying to force himself to be a man. "There was a whole litter, Robin." He sniveled and drew a shaky breath. "They died trying to protect them, a-and only Blackie made it. I couldn't just leave her there after knowing that. I… That family, they wanted her to live."

Death wasn't new to them, wasn't new to her. She orchestrated it well, after all. But there was something about the death of children and newborns that oftentimes kept her up at night.

Not long after the Shepherds had scouted out a large pack of roaming Risen, they realized that it was on a warpath with a town that was just out of reach for them. While they were march double time and prevent them from razing the entire population, fighting became particularly intense at the central plaza, and across from them, with Risen swarming into it, was a large orphanage. Their screams of terror and confusion as to why they were dying, it taunted them, taunted her as they tried to push through, to do something.

But the silence that filled the air after the fighting ended was the worst. Moans and cries of pain meant that though they were hurt, they were alive. Quiet meant nothing survived. And the quiet continued. Libra and the other healers tended to those that needed immediate care. Everyone was exhausted by the end of it all. There would be no guiding prayers that night.

Robin made it through unscathed and hated the fact. She paced and fumed in her tent. She punched and crushed her pillow until feathers flew from it. It was only when she started to throw her books around that Lon'qu decided to step in, grasping her wrist. She fought at first, but his words were calm, telling her that it was okay, that both of them knew he had gone through the exact same thing and that she was making it worse by blaming herself.

And it was when he brought her into a tight hug, kissing her cheek and telling her that it wasn't her fault, that there were many others that they saved today, that the ugly tears finally came out, all of the self-loathing and pain collapsing in on her. Nothing she did or failed to do would separate his love from her, he whispered to her as her trembling form grasped his.

When morning came, their eyes puffy from crying and bodies just a little sore from the love that they made, Lon'qu said that she should enter the orphanage with Libra. She hated the idea. He said it would make her ideals and goals stronger.

Reluctantly she agreed, and later she wished she had never crossed the threshold as Libra showed her room after room, blood splattered across walls. In some areas the liquid covered the entire floor in a sickening puddle, not to mention the ruined corpses. When she exited the orphanage to let Libra do his work, her husband was waiting for her and she fell into his embrace, sobbing again.

But it did something to her. Seeing the bodies, the blood, hearing the terror and living through the silence, she could feel it when she woke up and when she went to bed. It made her work harder, with more purpose. She wanted to make sure that she had done everything. She had gained a new focus, a new drive for her life and goals to protect the lives of others. That was her silence.

But this…

This was Ricken's silence.

It manifested itself differently, but both had the same goal: to make sure that they did everything they could to foster life. She saw it through blades and tomes, wielding it to protect the weak. He actualized it by raising the life among the death that he found.

More importantly, though, the silence made them grow.

"Quite a journey." Robin found herself having a bit more respect for the dog, though another question came to mind. "You call her Blackie, but her fur is white."

"Well, her… her fur," Ricken chuckled a little, a hand going out to pet the puppy. Blackie seemed more than happy to move towards his hand, rolling onto its back and letting him pet her stomach. "When I first saw her it was so dark, I thought she had black fur. I didn't get a chance to wash it out, so until it grew some more, I didn't know it was white. But she wasn't responding to any other name by then, so… Blackie stuck."

Sticking a hand out to the animal, it turned to sniff at Robin's hand before beginning to tickle it with its tiny tongue.

It felt sickening to just throw away the puppy. It really did. It didn't do anything wrong, and at the end of the day all it wanted to do was to survive in this world. But they had a nation to fight for. Chrom was counting on them to be on their best to end Walhart's reign.

"I… I won't be able to keep her, will I?" A single tear rolled down his cheek and he brushed it away, more threatening to take its place.

His silence, though well placed, was still a bit naïve for their way of life as Shepherds. Noble as it was, it didn't quite belong. He needed to understand that he would be called to greater things and that this was a small step in that direction.

Running her hand along its floppy ears, she shook her head. "We'll try to find someone who can adopt her. We can't just leave her to die, after all. Not unless we don't have any other choice." She sighed deeply. "But we can't keep her."

"WHAT?"

A young girl's voice came from just outside the tent and the pair turned to see Nowi rushing in. The young manakete's green hair looked unruly, like she had just run through a parade to get to them. But Robin was not one to simply question the manakete's unreasonable tirades. Despite her young appearance, her dragonstone meant that a dangerous transformation was always nearby.

"Nowi?" Ricken did his best to discretely wipe his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"When I was flying around in the last fight I overheard that Ricken found a puppy-"

"Nowi, please calm down."

"-was so excited to see it and I was waiting all day outside his tent but then-"

"Nowi!" Robin tried again, this time raising her voice, "We are having a private meeting."

"ANDNOWYOU'REMAKINGMYHUSBANDCRY!"

A different type of silence filled the tent as Nowi looked did her absolute best to look angry, though it seemed more like she was pouting. Robin slowly looked over to the young mage. "Husband?" Lon'qu described how Nowi would sometimes drag him out to play as a pretend family, stating he had real experience, but he said she found another person to play with and divorced him.

Ricken tugged at his hat, a sign that he was nervous. "She likes to play family," he quietly said, trying to stop the blush from being seen.

"You're being mean, Robin!" Nowi yelled, getting the tactician's attention again. Running up to the table, she put her hands on it and looked at her straight in the eye. "Don't make me send my ex-husband on you! He's reeeeaaally good with a sword!"

Robin was sure that this would have been more intimidating if Nowi didn't look like a floating head with hands next to it, or if she wasn't married to said ex-husband. "Look, Nowi, we were discussing-"

A loud, prolonged gasp cut her off again and she suddenly felt her insides cringe.

"Is… Is that the puppy?" the manakete slowly said, a rare moment of awe going across her features. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung wide open.

Robin put her hands against her temple. "Yes, that is the puppy. And no, we can't-"

She then made the terrible, terrible choice of looking into her eyes. "Can we keep it? Can we?" It was as if the manakete's countenance had changed entirely. Where her eyes were once angry, that anxiousness and excitement and hope once again filled the air, not unlike what Ricken had just subjected her to.

If this was what having a child was like, she obviously was not ready for it yet. Maybe she could have one moment per day like this, where she had to put her foot down and say no. That would be a decent start. But to have to do it again and again? And when they were her children, not just young friends? She could already feel her heart caving in.

Letting her hand fall to the table, she groaned. "Fine. One month. You can have Blackie for-"

"YAYWECANKEEPIT!" Nowi's hands shot out to try and scoop up the puppy, but the table was too long and she was stuck trying to desperately climb up to get to it.

She didn't know if she should help or let the little moment continue. Gods, if she had a child that was anything like this…

Ricken was able to spare the both of them by picking up Blackie and passing it over. Nowi, overjoyed at the ball of fluff, laughed and spun around, holding the puppy tightly to her chest, which didn't seem to mind at all. The mage turned back and gave her a grateful look.

"Thank you, Robin," his smile was wide.

"You can be our pretend baby! We're going to feed you and wash you and play with you and change your diapers and-"

"Hah," the tactician lightly scoffed, "maybe."

This was only going to make parting harder for them, after all.

A/N: Surprise! A bait and switch that isn't RobinxLucina. Originally this piece was going to just show Robin and Ricken talking about the puppy and how they have to get rid of it, but as I kept writing it out things just kind of fell into place. It was always going to be a three-part fic about tough decisions, but bits and pieces kept getting thrown in that seemed really good and it all just came together to become this. Originally Nowi wasn't going to be in here at all, but again, made sense and didn't seem to detract from the story. In the end though, this fic was meant to be just painful of sorts, but now it's adorable and painful, so I think that's nice to have.

This fic came from Ricken's barracks quote when he's asking someone why they're happy. After seeing it during a playthrough I couldn't stop thinking about Ricken and his puppy, and so eventually it led up to this. This isn't meant to be a large fic - as mentioned it is a three-part story - and it's sort of like a mini-experiment. Most multi-chapter stories I write are of a decent length, but this looks like it's something that is both enjoyable and manageable.

Also, as most of you can tell by now, I love to ship RickenxNowi. It's just too fun not to do so. Plus it mostly looks right. RobinxLon'qu, however, is new to me. I probably put him in a more talkative and nicer light than expected, but again it fit the story. I also liked it because of the whole 'husband' thing and it incorporated their support conversation in a way. Originally, as mentioned earlier, Nowi wasn't meant to be in here but we're going to be seeing hints of the two together. I suppose this is kind of a revamp of their support. Also it makes writing maternal!Robin outside of the context of Morgan quite fun.

Still, I look forward to writing the other two parts. Cya around!

Also, made some slight edits. I really shouldn't be proofreading so early in the morning...