The purple-dark magic sizzled against Falchion as Chrom roared, bringing the blade down toward Validar. His blows were blocked by the sorcerer's counters, and I saw my opening. I launched the thunder magic known as Thoron toward Validar, and gasped when he launched more magic at me. I dove to the ground, and then heard Chrom cry out in pain after a sickening thud and the sound of crumbled stones hitting the golden floor.

"Ahahahaha!" Magic was crackling again as Validar's hoarse voice laughed. I surged to my feet, saw that Chrom was struggling to his feet with Falchion used as support, his white cape spattered with gray dust. The dark magic I'd heard was hovering just above Validar's pointed black nails, his red eyes fixated on Chrom. "Now... die!"

I launched my Thoron the same moment he launched his magic, and they collided in a shower of yellow and purple sparks. He turned, a terrible glare in his eyes. "Chrom!" I called

"I'm here, I'm fine." He gave the sorcerer a wide berth as he ran to my side. "Vulneraries. Do you need one?"

"No." I wasn't hurt, not seriously, and those were better used for emergencies. "I'm fine."

"Come now, Robin," Validar growled, very real anger still on his face. "That's not the truth, and both of us know it."

"Just remember: this is it," Chrom told me, turning to face me with fire burning in his royal blue eyes. "Our final battle."

"I'm aware," I replied. He smiled at my curt tone as if he were used to it.

Of course he was used to it. He was my... my...

"You're one of us now, Robin." He was speaking again. "No "destiny" can change that. Now," he whirled toward Validar, cape swirling aside just in time for Falchion to flash at his side. "Let's kill this dastard and be done with it!"

Who is this amazing man I am fighting beside... have been fighting beside?

"Right," my mouth responded with icy determination evident in it. This is so odd. I could feel my devotion to Chrom, yet it was so alien. So detached...

"Fools!" Validar growled from the middle of the room. "You cannot erase what is already written."

I searched my detached feelings as we rushed toward him. I hated Validar. He had done... unspeakable things. So unspeakable that I couldn't seem to grasp them. If I were not a passenger in this body, I would have gritted my teeth in frustration.

Validar has always paid far more attention to prophecy than people. You stay away from him and Plegia.

That was my mother's voice. There was a definite hatred toward Validar, yet a strange... attraction. The feelings toward Chrom were stronger, and yet...

No man can serve two masters. Divided loyalties are always dangerous.

My mother again. "Rragh!" Chrom swung down at Validar, finally landing a hit, and I launched a Thoron as he launched dark magic at the two of us. The magics collided once again, and Chrom leapt to the side, and then back as purple sparks flew at him from Validar's fingertips. I jumped through the air, throwing another Thoron. He blocked it, but I watched as the combined force of both magics backfired into him.

His scream ripped through the air as I landed on the floor. Chrom grabbed my arm, pulling me away as the purple flames began to consume Validar. We turned just in time to see the sorcerer fall to his knees. Chrom gently tugged me behind himself before letting go of my arm, a protective gesture.

I'm wearing a Plegian coat. The black and gold fabric had caught my eye. Didn't mother say to stay away from Plegia? And Validar? I'm a terrible listener, apparently.

Validar fell on his face, his body still burning in the dark magic. Chrom turned back to look at me, a relieved, triumphant smile lighting his features. Relief coursed through me as well before there was sudden unease.

Danger.

"This isn't over!" Validar snarled, pushing himself up on his elbows and throwing a cannonball's worth of dark magic at Chrom. "To the grave with you both!"

No! My body was already moving as he spoke, shoving Chrom out of the way, putting myself in the path of the dark magic as it reached us, snarling, hissing and spitting.

Everything went white for a second. When the white cleared, there was dull pain and Chrom running toward me. I'd fallen... "You all right?" Chrom asked as he gingerly lifted me with his strong hands on my forearm and back. I felt myself nod, and he smiled. "That's the end of him," he told me, helping me sit up so that I could see the last of the purple flames fading. Validar's body was gone. "Thanks to you, we carried the day," Chrom was saying and I felt myself smile, looking down. "We can rest easy now... at long last..."

Alarm shot through me. Those words were warped, along with my vision. Red tinged it in a familiar way, and there was... how many people were in this mind? There was the faint emotions and sensations of the true being, myself, and this... it felt like...

Chrom, run. The red was taking over, along with the fell purpose of this new and powerful being that seeped like poison into the cracks of this mind. "Hey, what's wrong?" he was asking, his face blurring. There was intent, killing intent, and a struggle that I could barely feel. Hatred, fear, pain, hatred, killing intent... "Hey! Hey, look at- guh!"

The sickening sound of something slicing into flesh, and the red was gone. No. He was stumbling away, Thoron sticking out of his stomach. A fatal wound. No. No, no, no. Wrong. Why? My vision looked down at the electricity still sparking on my palm.

My palm.

My Thoron.

My killing blow.

NO!

"This is not..." Chrom began weakly. "Y-your fault... promise me..." he shook his head. "Promise me you'll escape from this place. Please... go..." his blue eyes dimmed, and he fell to his knees, just as Validar had done earlier. Only he fell face down at my feet much more quickly.

Horror exploded through my body, pushing aside the poison and turning my world white. Validar's laughter was everywhere, and Chrom was dead. The war was lost, and it was my fault. That thought slipped away, screamed away with memories of my mother, memories of who I was. Everything was leaving, the world itself exploding into nothing, and I fell, only able to hold onto one thought:

This cannot happen.