The first time Robin saw Anna, was when they rescued her from bandits.

Not that she really needed rescuing anyway, since she seemed to be holding her own pretty well way before they got there.

But besides her fighting abilities, there didn't seem to be anything special about her. There was nothing at first glance to differentiate her from her "sisters". That was something Robin found hard to put his head around. She'd claimed the girl who helped them rout bandits the last time was an identical sister. And Robin had seen scores of "Annas" around the place – he'd bought weapons from several of them after all. All of them with red hair, all cheerful, all with an extremely sharp business acumen. This particular Anna didn't catch his attention.

So it surprised him when she paid attention to him.

"Hey handsome," she greeted him. "Here to save the damsel in distress?"

"Um, I suppose?" Robin answered. "Not that it looks like you need any saving."

"So you're going to leave a poor defenseless girl on her own?"

"You're anything but poor and defenseless," Robin smiled. "How about this instead: let's fight together."

"Sounds like a good deal to me! Mind the hand axe."

"Mind the – whoa!" exclaimed Robin, jumping to the side to narrowly avoid the hand axe hurtling towards him. "I owe you one. I'll take down this guy."

"Don't forget to leave some for me!"

Anna was impressed. She had seen scores of fighters in her lifetime, but Robin still managed to be different. There was a kind of intellectual way to his fighting. Every move was tactical. Although not physically as strong as Chrom, Robin could make every move count. And he was versatile too! She had watched him switch seamlessly from sword to tome. Anna was convinced that no enemy could go undefeated if he was there, no matter how much of an advantage the enemy seemed to have. He was like the perfect warrior.

It made sense, given how good a tactician he was. After joining the Shepherds, Anna had realized that. He knew everyone's strengths and weaknesses. He understood the advantages and disadvantages of a terrain at a glance. Everyone trusted him with their lives, and he took it seriously. He would never willingly send a friend into danger.

And his smile. The first time she had seen him, when he had offered to fight with her, he smiled at her, and she never forgot it. It was the kindest smile she had ever seen. It fit the man well. He was always looking out for everyone else on the battlefield.

He cared for everyone off the battlefield as well. Anna remembered how he had come to her again after their first chat, concerned by her idea that money could buy everything. Which was awfully sweet of him, even if he was wrong.

Or rather, she thought he was. Anna wasn't so sure anymore. The first time she had been looking for someone to complain about her horrible day to, he'd teased her about it and asked for payment. Which was funny, in hindsight, but extremely frustrating at the time. She wished he'd just offer a listening ear straight away instead of teasing her each time she walked into his tent with a grumpy look on her face.

Today was no different.

"That's the second time today," Robin remarked, looking up from his books as she huffed into his tent. "My limit is once a day, but I'll make an exception if you pay double the usual."

"Ha ha," retorted Anna dryly. "This is serious."

"It was also serious when a customer managed to haggle the price to five gold lower than you were willing to go."

"It was five gold!"

"Out of two thousand, Anna."

"You always have a witty reply for everything, don't you," huffed Anna, sitting down next to Robin.

He looked at her with amusement. She was fun to tease, but also the first girl who could legitimately hold her own in a battle of wits against him, which intrigued him. Fighting by her side also seemed to give him more strength. It was as if she always pushed him to get better. No other girl in the army seemed as perfect a partner on the battlefield as she did.

Her eyes caught sight of the map spread over the table. "Still working on battle plans? The meeting was over an hour ago."

"Just running everything through my head again. I think I may have overlooked the possibility of units coming through here." He tapped on a spot on the map.

"Send the back flank to take care of them then."

"No, because I also expect a larger enemy force to attack from here." Robin tapped the other side of the map. "We shouldn't divert too much of our resources to deal with this part."

"Well, then send a smaller unit there."

"Exactly what I was thinking." He looked at her. "Would you like to team up with me the next battle?"

"Me? Sure!" Anna agreed with alacrity. "We make a good team."

"We certainly do," Robin laughed. "You are astounding on the battlefield."

"Aww, are you trying to flatter me? That's sweet of you."

Their banter continued. In that moment, they felt invincible, their bond unshakable.

The next battle would change everything.

Robin left the medical tent, wincing slightly as he raised a hand to run it through his hair. Now that he was all patched up, there was no time to rest. There were things to discuss with Chrom, and plans to prepare for the next battle. He headed off in the direction of his commander's tent.

"Hey Robin!" came a cheery voice from behind him. "Looks like Lissa and Maribelle have fixed you all up already."

An intense feeling of annoyance rose up in his chest. He ignored the voice, striding forward.

"Robin!" Anna called, running to catch up and planting herself squarely in front of him. "Hey, what's the big deal? Just trying to be friendly here!"

Robin looked at her pouting face and felt his annoyance rise even more. "Not now, Anna," he said curtly, brushing past her.

"Hold it!"

Robin froze as Anna grabbed his arm. "I was showing concern for you, okay?! You nearly died!"

"Thanks to who?" asked Robin coldly, turning around and staring her in the eye.

Anna's eyes widened, and she let Robin's arm slide out of her grasp as she realized. "You blame me."

"We were the only ones on that side of the battlefield! Who else was with me at that time?"

"I tried! It's not like I let you get hurt on purpose!"

"No? Then why is it that when enemy after enemy attacked me you did nothing in my defense?"

"I was having problems just holding my own! There were too many enemies for just the two of us to handle!"

"There shouldn't have been!" Robin felt his temper fraying. "Given our performance in previous battles, we should have had no problem defending against that many people!"

"That's what you think!" Anna yelled back. "It looked pretty hopeless to me!"

"It wouldn't have been if you'd just stuck to the plan and helped me!"

"You and your plans!" exclaimed Anna, jabbing a slim finger into Robin's chest. "You think you're so clever. Why didn't you let me stand in front and take the blow then, huh? Didn't think I could handle it? Why then did you bring me into battle with you?"

The retort Robin had been readying caught in his throat, surprising him. In the silence, both he and Anna faced each other, both fuming. Without warning, Robin turned on his heel, leaving Anna abruptly. A small voice of reason at the back of his mind told him that this was no way to treat a friend, but he stubbornly refused to listen.

"Fine!" Anna yelled at his retreating figure. "See if I care the next time you get hurt, you jerk!"

Although equally as furious, Robin kept quiet. For some reason, he didn't think he could trust himself to speak just yet.

By the time Robin reached Chrom's tent, he had calmed down somewhat.

"Ah, you're here!" Chrom greeted him as he pushed aside the tent flap and entered. "All better now?"

"I've had worse," Robin grimaced.

"Seriously though, Robin, never do that again. It was too close for comfort."

Robin looked at Chrom's eyes, which were full of worry, and felt a pang of guilt.

"…I'm sorry Chrom," he told his friend. "I won't do that again."

Chrom sighed. "It isn't me you should be apologizing to. I only saw the aftermath. It must have been more terrible for the person who saw it happening. Anna was there with you, wasn't she?"

At the mention of Anna's name, Robin stiffened. Why is the mere mention of her name irritating me? Why am I so angry at her?

He looked up to find Chrom regarding him curiously.

"You've had a fight with her, haven't you?" He asked, matter-of-factly.

"Wha-?" asked Robin, taken aback. "Yes! I mean no! I mean, why would I even be fighting with her?"

Chrom laughed. "You're a horrible liar, Robin. I'm a married man, I know what it's like. You're displaying all the symptoms. Want to talk about it?"

"As if being the first to get married makes you an expert," Robin muttered, to which Chrom's response was to clap him on the back.

"Come on," coaxed Chrom, steering Robin to a nearby chair. "Battle plans and everything can wait. You won't be able to concentrate on them the way you are now."

"I can concentrate well enough," said Robin stubbornly, but sat in the chair anyway.

"So," said Chrom, sitting in a chair opposite him, "when did it happen?"

"Just now," Robin replied, half annoyed and half amused at the sight of Chrom playing counsellor. "On the way from the medical tent to yours."

"What was it about?" Chrom pressed further.

Robin crossed his arms and looked away.

"Come on, Robin," Chrom sighed, "we'll get nowhere like this."

"…It wasn't that big a deal. Why are you insisting on hearing it out, anyway?"

"Because you helped me out when I was going crazy about confessing to Olivia, so now it's my turn to help."

"It's not like I'm in love with her or anything!" Robin said in exasperation, fervently praying that his face wasn't turning beet red. "I just had issues with how she fought the last battle and she had issues with me having issues, that's all!"

"You had issues with how she fought?" Chrom queried, raising an eyebrow.

"We weren't really in sync the last battle," Robin admitted. "I thought we would be able to take the enemies on the flank, but we didn't do so well."

"I did think it was rather rash of you, Robin," Chrom told him. "Not that I'm in any position to criticize your wisdom, but you were up against seven powerful enemies."

Robin rubbed his eyes. "That was the plan. The enemy would think we were easy targets, and lower their guard. We could then dispatch them once they got near enough. Our offence was supposed to be our defense. We'd pulled it off in previous battles, but this battle, somehow…."

"So you're disappointed with Anna," Chrom concluded.

Robin didn't say anything.

"But why did you keep Anna behind you the entire time, then?" Chrom asked, puzzled. "Because of that, the enemy all focused their attacks on you, and you…."

"….almost died?" Robin finished for him, quietly. "Yeah. But I couldn't."

"You couldn't?"

"I….I couldn't risk her getting hurt. Do you think I didn't notice early in the battle that she wasn't fighting as well as she normally did? By then, we were too far from the main force to call for back up. It was a mistake, and I realized too late. I wasn't going to let her die because I messed up."

"So why are you angry at her then? It wasn't her fault."

"I don't know!" Robin finally exploded. "Because maybe she should have told me that she wasn't feeling up to it? Because that way we wouldn't have been placed in such a dangerous situation? Because I was counting on her to help me, and she didn't, and that made me realize she wasn't as great as I thought she was? Because it showed me how overconfident I was?" He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Maybe I'm just really angry at myself."

Chrom kept quiet, watching his friend. He knew Robin well enough by now to know that he was capable of figuring things out on his own. He just needed a little push.

"I was too proud to admit that I had misjudged the situation, and so I blamed Anna. It's unfair to her, I know. It was my hubris that nearly killed us. She came looking for me out of concern, and I was mean to her. She probably hates me now."

Chrom placed his hand on Robin's shoulder, and then started laughing.

"What?" asked Robin irritably, peeking at him through his fingers.

"'She probably hates me now'. You sound just like me when I thought Olivia kept on running away because she hated me!"

"That's hardly the same as this!"

"Don't deny it. Why were you so keen on protecting her when you realized she wasn't faring so well?"

"I would have done that for anyone, wouldn't I?"

"Why were you so disappointed at her for that then?"

"Again, same with anyone else."

"Not a chance. You would admonish us, true, but you wouldn't be so emotional, would you?"

Robin paused. Chrom had a point. Why was he so annoyed at Anna to the point that they got into a fight? What was this confused jumble of emotions that were raging inside of him?

Chrom smiled. "You, my friend," he declared, "are in love."

"Chrom…." Robin grimaced, "we're just friends."

"Keep telling yourself that," said Chrom, still smiling. Then his face turned serious. "You should apologize to her."

Robin sighed. "I know."

"Right. Go do it now."

"Wait, what? Right this minute?!"

"Right this minute. And," Chrom quickly continued, seeing the protest on Robin's face, "consider it a royal order."

"This is a gross abuse of your power," Robin grumbled, getting up from his chair.

"Good luck!" laughed Chrom, as Robin left the tent.

A cooling breeze met Robin as he stepped outside. He took a moment to enjoy it, and then opened his eyes and turned to look in the direction of where he knew Anna's tent was.

Should he?

Robin sighed. Royal order or not, it wasn't an easy thing to do. He wavered for a second, then turned and headed for the common tent instead.

You do owe her an apology, you know, his voice of reason reminded him.

She's still angry at me, she'll probably just throw me out of her tent, he thought back at it. Perhaps it would do him some good if he could relax a bit in the common tent.

His boots barely made a sound on the soft grass as he made his way towards the large round tent in the middle of camp. It was Robin's favorite place to be. There he could take a break from work, talk to his comrades and get to know them better, and maybe even get a good book to read. He reached the entrance, ducked inside, and froze.

Anna was in the tent.

Anna was the only one in the tent.

She stared at him in shock too. Evidently she hadn't heard him coming. She was kneeling in front of a large, open crate, and seemed to be in the middle of unpacking its contents.

An awkward silence hung between the two of them.

"Um," said Robin uncomfortably, breaking the silence, "what are you doing?"

"Oh, interested now, are we?" sniffed Anna, regaining her composure. She turned away from Robin and continued unpacking the crate.

Risen, Robin decided, were far less terrifying than this. He would have given anything to flee from that place. Instead, he walked towards Anna and knelt down beside her, silently helping her unpack the crate. If she was surprised, she didn't show it.

"Anna…" Robin tried again. He was met with stony silence.

Robin took a deep breath. Now or never, Robin, he told himself.

"Look….Anna, I'm sorry."

Silence.

"I was unfair to you," Robin pressed on. "It wasn't your fault that I got hurt, it was entirely my fault. I was proud, overconfident, and made a tactical error that could have been fatal for both of us. And in the end, blamed you for it. I'm truly sorry."

Anna had stopped rummaging in the crate and just knelt there, looking at Robin. He forced himself to look her in the eye.

"I understand that you may still be upset with me, and rightly so. I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier, and for putting you in danger."

Silence.

"My presence here is probably unwelcome," he continued awkwardly, getting to his feet, "so I won't bother you anymore."

Anna remained where she was, still silent. Robin turned and headed for the exit.

"Do you think the red or the blue will fetch a higher price?" asked Anna, abruptly.

"Huh?" Robin paused mid-stride, and turned.

Anna smiled at him and held up two tunics. "The red looks rather fetching, but the blue has some exquisite stitching. Not that many people notice that, though." She sighed.

"I…." Robin was confused. "Um, the red then. Aren't you angry at me?"

"Don't be silly," said Anna, cheerfully. "I forgive you. Now, are you going to help me unpack or not?"

Robin stood there, slightly in shock, and then smiled. The same kind smile Anna remembered from when he had first come to her aid in battle, and it warmed her heart. She had been frightened during the last battle, when Robin was trying desperately to fend off the attackers, and had panicked when he had collapsed after felling the last of them. Cradling him on the battlefield and frantically looking for her staff, she had been forced to realize that Robin was not as invincible as she had thought him to be. And when he had treated her so coldly afterwards, it was a side of him she had never seen before, and it had scared her. But now his kind smile was back, the smile she had missed and had been afraid she would never see again.

Not that she was going to admit it to him.

Robin noticed her staring at him. "Is there something on my face?"

"Nope," she replied cheekily. "Just wondering when you were going to come over and help."

"Sorry," Robin laughed, and knelt down next to her.

Both of them had learned the most important lesson about each other:

Neither of them were perfect.

And that was perfectly all right.