Chapter 1: In a Better Life

Oh god, my fingers are NOT ready for how long this is going to be. Creative side of my mind, please have mercy on me today...

She remembered the first time she met him. She had been laying on the ground in that field, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a navy-haired man with a young blonde girl wearing pigtails on the sides of her head. They both smiled at her, as the man lent a hand to her. She accepted his help, and that's when she saw an odd purple mark on the back of her hand. She paid no attention to it at first, but later on, it would come to play a significant part of her life, in many, many unfortunate ways.

The man, whom's name was Chrom, offered for her to join his small army, the Shepherds. She didn't have anywhere to go, and couldn't remember anything, so of course, she did the logical thing and joined. What harm would come of it, anyway?

She remembered meeting all the other members. They were all very...unique. As in, peculiar. There was Vaike, whom always had a big ego, boasting about how strong he was and talking about how he and Chrom were destined rivals. Though, she'd admit, it was quite hilarious. And that was just one of the Shepherds.

She remembered leading them through their very first victory, a battle against a group of Risen blocking the road to Regna Ferox. Everyone praised her, impressed with her tactics. With some, they even immediately wanted to become friends with her (or rather, "study" her, in Miriel's case as she was very interested in her amnesia).

She would go on to lead the Shepherds through many more victories of battle of all types, an arena battle, a battle to save a hostage noble girl, and so on.

She remembered when the exalt, and Chrom's eldest sister, Emmeryn, was captured by Plegia. The captain of the Shepherds was absolutely enraged- rightly so. They marched through vast deserts in order to get to her, when they finally reached the place where she was to be executed. The night before they had traveled there, she had already formulated a strategy and everything.

But she failed.

Her plan had failed.

Emmeryn gave her life up so Chrom wouldn't have to make the decision. She made it for him.

He was broken. He refused to talk to anyone, and stuck behind the group the whole time as they escaped. But then, they were intercepted by Mustafa, one of Gangrel's generals. One wrong word, and Chrom had instantly been set off. He struck down every soldier that dared to come onto his path.

She was terrified, both of what was happening and, shamefully, of him. It was all her fault. She should've known Gangrel's assistant would've come up with a backup plan. If she had just changed one single thing, added one single thing, to her plan, Emmeryn wouldn't have sacrificed herself. She would've lived, and so would have Phila and the other two pegasus knights. It was because of her foolish mistake, that he had lost himself in the battle.

In a mere matter of minutes, they had won the battle, with the general laying dead on the ground. She kept her eyes away from his body, doing her best to focus on only healing Chrom's wounds as everyone else arrived, along with healers.

Thanks to a girl named Olivia, they were rescued from Plegia, and were all safely getting away. Alexa and Chrom were in a horse caravan in the front, which was leading all the other horse caravans. She sat on the side opposite from Chrom, glancing at him every once in a while. He looked absolutely miserable; sitting with his knees up, head against his legs as he wrapped his arms around himself. She felt her heart shattering into a thousand pieces as she realized she hadn't done a single thing to comfort him, guilt beginning to overwhelm her.

She scooted over to him, slowly placing a shaky hand on his shoulder. He flinched, tensing up. She feared he would shoo her away, yelling at her that this was all her fault, but he didn't. Instead, his own hand moved to rest on top of hers, squeezing it. And that's when something happened that she thought she'd never see- and would never want to see again. His body began to shake, quiet sobs being released from his throat. She immediately brought him towards her, holding him in her arms as she cradled him. He cried, curling up against her.

She would give absolutely everything she had to make sure the one secretly dearest to her would never have a grim reason to shed tears ever again.

When they arrived at Ferox, everyone had given him their words of comfort and belief in him. She was so glad that the broken look on his face had faded, and he was back to his old self, that she almost cried. She thought she'd never be able to see the unstoppable determination that filled her with hope, the warm smile that caused her heart to race, and the unwavering kindness from him, ever again.

After dinner at the castle that night, she had gone looking for him to discuss the map he had drew up for their march to Plegia tomorrow, that would end this war once and for all. Eventually, she found him leaning against the wall alone. Bracing herself to speak to him, she took in a deep breath and went to him.

She never thought, that at the end of their talk, that both of them would end up confessing to each other their feelings. Though she felt selfish, she was glad that it was finally off her chest, and Chrom actually loved her back.

Everything after that was a haze; she remembered them triumphing over Gangrel, them returning to Ylisse and rebuilding it to its former glory, and their wedding and honeymoon after everything was back to normal.

Then, everything they once knew had changed. Valm had chosen to conquer the entire world, she met a practically identical woman who looked exactly like her, who was now Plegia's head tactician and high Grimleal priestess, and "Marth," had revealed herself to be their daughter, Lucina, from the future.

Many, many more things that were entirely impossible and crazy happened, but through it all...

She had had a great life, before she chose to strike down Grima herself.

With the power of the Fell Blood within her, she withdrew a sphere of dark magic, and sent it flying towards her future self; the self who had chosen to embrace her lineage.

Everything began to blur around her; she couldn't feel her lower body now. She heard voices crying out her name, but three of them stood out to her. She turned around, a sad smile on her face.

Her husband, Chrom, and their two future children, Morgan and Lucina were rushing towards her, Chrom in front of them. They looked absolutely destroyed as she started to fade, her existence beginning to lose its grip on the world. She had so much to say, but she knew she wouldn't be able to say all of it, her time growing shorter and shorter.

So, she raised her hand, and with a simple wave goodbye to them, uttered her last words.

"May we meet...in a better life."

It was strange. One moment, she was in the dark space she had grown so used to, and the next...everything just...changed. Birds chirped around her, wind rustling against grass...was she just dreaming again?

"Chrom, we have to do SOMETHING," a high-pitched voice said. Wait...that voice...

"Well what do you propose we do?" Impossible. There was no way.

"I...I don't know!"

She couldn't take it anymore. Even though she knew she was probably just going to wake up to pitch blackness once more, the familiar voices were driving her insane.

Her eyes snapped open at last, and when she saw the people that were speaking looming above her, time seemed to screech to a halt. The girl with blonde hair and pigtails on the sides of her head...and the man with navy blue hair...

A warm smile pulled at the man's lips, tears beginning to build in his eyes. "I see you're awake now," he said quietly; more quieter than the first time.

"Hey there," the girl also spoke quietly, her eyes shining with liquid as well. She heard the man take a deep breath, before he spoke again. "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know. Here; take my hand." He offered his hand to her, just like the first time. Her hand shakily moved to take his, her mind blanking as the purple mark on the back of her hand that had tortured her for so long was gone. Her eyes went back to the man, as he gently pulled her up.

She was brought against his chest, his arms tightly wrapping around her. "Welcome back. It's all over now," he whispered softly.

She blinked, desperately trying to get rid of the tears rapidly coming into her eyes, as they streamed down her face.

"I'm...back. I'm finally...back..."

Okay, I'm honestly REALLY disappointed in myself right now. I thought this would turn out a lot longer than my other writings, but apparently not. So I apologize for this terrible mistake of a response to a writing prompt.

But anyways, man! Chrobin Week was SO much fun. It was absolutely wonderful; there were so many amazing pieces of art submitted to the Chrobin Week blog, and I got to read many amazing stories for Chrobin Week. So I'd like to say, thank you to the Chrobin Week blog for this, and thank you to those who submitted prompts for Chrobin Week. And a big thank you to everyone who participated. I'm so glad I chose to take part of this as well, it was a truly fun time. I will be looking forward to the next Chrobin Week!~

Update: I rephrased some wordings.