AN- This is a story I have been tossing ideas about for a while, it takes place in the original timeline(the one adult Lucina is from). The main premise being a what if Robin was not possessed by Grima, but instead the two were literally one and the same, that the only difference between the two was their memories, experiences, and interactions with others that shaped them and led to their different decisions and outcomes. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed thinking it up and writing.

Either way, have fun and let me know your thoughts, discussing this stuff is just as enjoyable as writing it.

The city of Ylissetol was seeing more activity in the last few weeks than it had seen in the last few years. Soldiers, citizens, merchants, mages, and all manners of people moved to and fro within the many streets and districts of the city in their respective roles; as the recent summons, by none other than the Exalt himself, had called forth the battle hardened and veteran Ylissen Royal Army to muster at the capital in preparation for their final battle of the conflict with Plegia. Rumor had it that the army was going forth to not only rout the gathering Plegian forces at the Dragon's Table, but to also prevent some manner of dark ritual being perpetrated by the Grimleal stationed there.

If one considered the city in its current state to be calm, then the palace itself was in a state of chaos as a small army of squires, officers, and logistical officers plowed through the inordinate amount of work needed to be done in preparation for the upcoming campaign. Of these staffers, a certain Plegian Tactician was currently in his office pouring over the finalized missives to be sent to the various units assembling around the city. Running his hand through his silvery hair, the tactician looked over the documents one final time before reaching into his signature purple coat and pulling out a stamp press. After stamping each document, he passed it to the waiting messenger in the corner. "Alright, each one of these missives are to be delivered to the unit commanders outside of the city, ten letters for ten commanders, understood?

The messenger saluted in response, "Yes sir, I'll have these delivered at once, anything else lord tactician?"

The tactician simply shook his head, "No, you are dismissed."

At this the messenger quickly exited the room and set about his task, as for the tactician, he merely slouched in his chair as he tried to relax now that he had finally burned through the mountains of paperwork the campaign had dumped on his desk.

"That good for nothing Exalt of mine better not be shirking off and dicking about in the training yard while I am trapped in here," he muttered to himself as he approached his window overlooking the castle's main drill yard.

Scanning the field below him, he quickly located a certain blue haired lout sparring with a certain shirtless blonde.

"Chrom...", the tactician ground out as he quickly grabbed some of the duplicate paperwork and bunched it up into a thick ball. As the two men sparred below, the tactician took aim and launched the the wad of paper with a burst of wind magic into the back of the blue lordling's head.

Thrown off by the sudden hit to the back of his head, Chrom spun around to be greeted by the sight of his tactician grinning while giving him a single finger salute.

"What did Teach tell you about not paying attention in class!" the Blond man bellowed as he took advantage of Chrom's lapse to deliver a firm hit with the flat of his axe on Chrom's back. The force of said blow sending the man sprawling into the dirt as his balance was completely destroyed by the attack.

"That is what you get for dumping all this paperwork on me while you fool around with Vaike, Chrom!" Robin shouted as he closed the window and retreated into his office as he heard Chrom curse him for throwing his match.

Returning to his desk. The tactician slumped in his chair as he rested his eyes from all the reading he had done the last few weeks. As he yawned and stretched his arms, the door to his office slowly creaked open, the tactician looked over and recognized a familiar pair of blue eyes peaking at him through the crack. "Well, well, I take it you're giving old Freddy Bear the run around again Lucy?"

At this the door creaked open and the elder princess slipped into the room as she shut the door behind her.

"I don't know if you want to hide here though, whenever he gets upset he usually comes to dump more paperwork on me as stress relief, I am starting to think he might be a sadist." he said with a chuckle.

As Lucina slowly edged forward, the tactician noticed that her eyes were red and that she was sniffling. "Crying I see, care to tell why?" he said as he motioned her to sit down on the spare chair he kept in the office.

While rubbing her eyes, Lucina pulled the chair up and slowly began to speak in a soft voice, "I... I was playing in the corridors with Kjelle and Severa, when we saw some of the knights stationed here speaking, they said that since the Grimleal have the Fire Emblem, we won't be able to stop them and that you and Father are leading the army into a grave, that isn't true, right Robin?"

At this Robin chuckled, "Is that all Lucina?" he said as he rubbed her head. "If I had a Florin for every time Chrom and I went up against lousy odds I could probably open my own bank."

At this Lucina looked at him quizzically, "If you want to open a bank couldn't father loan you the money?"

Robin simultaneously chuckled and groaned at the princess misunderstanding another euphemism, "Lucy, sometimes I really do worry that you take after Chrom and his density too much." Shaking his head, Robin decided that teaching Lucy the concept of Euphemisms would unfortunately have to wait for another day. "So why don't you tell me how your sword drills are going, Chrom may be as dense as a wall at times, but he can definitely make a sword sing."

At this, some of the dark clouds lingering over Lucina began to disperse, "Father said I have the techniques learned, and that all I need now is practice, lots of practice."

Robin nodded approvingly, "very good Lucy, hit the practice yard every day, and maybe in a decade you can tell teach to tap out and let you smack Chrom around for a change."

Lucina beamed at the praise.

"And what about magic, your mother just started teaching your sister, but you've been at it for a few years now. Made any new progress?"

And Lucina's smile rapidly reversed at his comment, "I can create a gust of wind."

Robin winced slightly at this, "I know, but you have been able to do that for a while, have you managed some progress?"

Lucina simply looked glum.

"Its not a big deal," he said as he rubbed her head reassuringly, "nobody became an arch sage in a few years, the best mages became the best because they kept at it and focused on it their entire lives, its something that grows with you."

Lucian looked up to him, "even you?"

Robin chuckled, "even little old me."

"So who taught you then when you were a kid?"

At this Robins voice caught in the back of his throat as memories of his childhood flooded in. He recalled the gruelling drills his father had subjected him to from the moment he could walk and how he would be drilled on martial combat, practical magic, theoretical magic, and every other subject under the sun. The fact that Robin could even keep up with the regimen at all was a testament to his inborn talent, but spending the formative years of your life constantly exhausted, beaten, and broken from constant exertion and pressure left a hidden mark that Robin had never quite come to terms with.

Robin started when he suddenly felt a tug at his sleeve, "You alright? You look like you ate a bad oyster. Father ate one once and couldn't get out of bed for a week, should I get auntie?" She said with a look of concern.

Robin sighed, "no Lucy, just remembering my parents, it doesn't matter though."

"You never seem to talk about them, you don't like them, do you?"

Robin was slightly taken aback by Lucina's insight, for all her density in regards to humor, she could be surprisingly perceptive at times, "half-credit for your answer, mother was alright, father can go rot for all I care."

"Well then, I suppose now you get a chance to finally thank him for your childhood then, eh?" Looking up Robin saw Chrom slowly enter the room, his usual sparring attire caked with a thin layer of dirt, "Oh, and thank you for your help earlier, I definitely needed Vaike to send me into the dirt, it really filled out my day."

"Think of it as a handicap, adapt and overcome and all that." Robin said as he chuckled at the Exalt, "Obviously you need more practice if you can get thrown off that easily." Smirking as he continued, "though with how well you dodge paperwork I half expected you to dodge that wad of paperI sent your way."

Chrom went red at the mention of his delinquency, "uh... well I figured that we should... all focus on what were best at?" He offered weakly.

"Quite, and that is why your outside getting tossed around by Vaike," Robin quipped back while smirking, "my head is too valuable to damage unlike yours; after all, how much skill does it take to sit on a throne all day."

Chrom sighed, until he noticed Lucina tugging at his sleeve, "hey there Lucy, coming to take my side over your evil uncle over there?"

Lucina stared Chrom in the eyes, "I think Robin is calling you a dolt."

Chrom winced at his daughter's bluntness.

"He said you were dense before, so I wanted to make sure you knew." she proffered flatly.

Chrom simply leveled a stair at the tactician who was currently trying(and failing) to suppress his laughter, "remember Robin, though your head may be valuable, if you don't tread carefully, you could lose it."

"Peace, I surrender," Robin raised his hands up in mock surrender, "Either way, I take it you came up here for a reason other than complaining about your lost match?"

"Right, I heard from Frederick about a certain crying Princess that was seen heading this way." Chrom knelt down to Lucina's level as he grasped her hand, "so why don't you tell me whats got you worked up dearie."

Lucina's smile from the previous conversation faded as the incident from earlier cropped back up, "Its just I don't want you two to go, what if you don't come back this time like some of the knights are saying?"

Chrom smiled, "Simple solution then, I promise I'll be back before you know it then, and once we are back we can celebrate your birthday, after all, you turn twelve in a month, right Robin?"

"Right you are, and seeing as how we won't be here for the special day most likely, I got you your gift early." Walking towards his bookcase, Robin extracted one of the books lying on the top of it and turned to hand it to Lucina.

Receiving the book from Robin, Lucina looked over the cover and noted that the book seemed to be very old, but well-maintained none the less. "The Plegian Lieutenant's Guide to Tactics and Strategy." she whispered as she looked over the title.

Robin smiled as she read the name, "Correct, mother gave me that book years ago, and once I get back I can dump all the paperwork on Chrom with no more crisis going on and have some time to kill. So start reading it and I can start teaching you tactics and strategy."

Lucina looked at Robin and Chrom with a nervous knot forming in her stomach, "you think I could be a tactician like you?"

"Easily!" Robin blurted out. "Between your parents and myself, we will make you a sword slinging, spell flinging, army leading Exalt in no time." Robin cocked his head to the side in thought for a moment, "Exalt to be actually, though I wouldn't put it past Chrom to try and use death as a way to weasel out of this blasted paperwork."

"Ahem" the three occupants of the room turned to the doorway to see a familiar knight standing in it. "Milord, Milady, Sir Robin, I shan't have to remind you of the ongoing preparations that require your attention, much work remains to be done."

"Frederick, its just a short break, no harm in that right?" Pleaded Chrom.

Frederick simply maintained his trademark stare at the two delinquents in front of him.

Robin stepped forward, "Fine, you win, back to work, that includes you Chrom."

Chrom sulked at getting roped back into his job, "Seems I have no choice, Frederick, you mind taking Lucina back to the Royal wing?

Frederick nodded, "Of course milord." Extending his hand out to the princess, "Shall we milady."

Lucina grasped his hand as the two began to leave, "Bye father, bye Robin, thanks for the gift."

The two men watched the knight and princess depart, "Alright Chrom, the sooner we get back to it, the sooner we can be done."

As Robin oversaw the final stages of loading for their supplies, he went from cart to cart looking over them, unaware of the presence approaching from behind. "Ah, Lord Robin."

At the sound of an unfortunately familiar voice behind him, Robin began to scowl and tense up in preparation for what was likely to be an excessively unenjoyable discussion with one of the more detestable men of the kingdom.

Forcing a calm, stoic look upon his face, Robin turned to face the approaching voice. Its owner, by all looks, a noble from the way he carried himself. While actually an attractive man in his late 30s with a strong set face, well kept brown hair, and determined, fierce eyes; alas, his looks were deceiving as to his actual character. "Ah... Duke Lamprius, its good to see you, I did not think you would be in the capital." Robin forced out with as neutral a tone as he could muster.

Some of the nobility, such as Maribelle's father the Duke of Themis, were honorable, upstanding men who tried to do right by their lands and the realm as a whole. Epitomizing everything that was truly noble about mankind. Most nobility, while not paragons of honor and justice, were at least reasonable men that knew that needlessly antagonizing your own people was pointless and unproductive in the long, and they were generally easy to work with even if they were prone to grandstanding and being somewhat insufferable at times. Then there were men like Duke Lamprius, who were everything the Duke of Themis was not; men who were perfectly willing to let the peasants under their care suffer for their own personnel gain. Unfortunately for Robin, as Grand master of Ylisse, he had the immense joy of having to deal with these great nobles and their antics. After nearly twelve years of this, Robin was looking forward to the end of the conflict so he could stop caring and tell them to kindly fuck off. Everyone needs dreams to look forward to after all.

Lamprius scoffed at Robins remark, "the realm is preparing for what is to be one of its greatest battles with those heathens to the east, no offense to you Lord Tactician, and I would not be here? It would be remiss of me to not visit the capital to lend the Exalt my support in this trying time."

"Quite so," Robin replied as he ground his teeth at the Duke's earlier comment, "so I take it you will be joining us for the campaign with the forces from your dukedom?"

The duke smiled at this, "unfortunately the conduct and commission of war was never my forte, I do hope you and the Exalt forgive me for this lacking on my part, and find that the men and funds to be a suitable contribution to the campaign regardless of my direct participation."

"A shame, even the presence of local leaders has a major impact on the fighting spirit of soldiers, regardless of whether they are under arms or not."

"Very true, but we can't all rush off to war in these times," Lamprius responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the word, "after all, some must remain in the kingdom to ensure law and order are maintained, it would be quite unfortunate to win the war only to return to a smoldering heap, correct?"

Robin sighed internally, "correct," looking back at the carts, Robin noticed that the loading on them was nearly finished and they were preparing to move them to the various units they would be attached to, "it seems the men are almost finished loading, if you will excuse me I must return to my duties, if you are looking for the Exalt he should be in his office at the palace, good day duke."

"Good day to you Lord Tactician."

Beating a hasty retreat, Robin scowled at the conversation he just had. The most infuriating part being that the Duke was correct in almost every regard, not all nobles are competent soldiers and some do need to remain behind to prevent anarchy; if only Lamprius didn't spend all his time while he and Chrom were in Valm abusing his authority and exploiting the free hand he had with no royal oversight, Robin might of thought better of the man. Unfortunately though, the man was a slimy snake, polite and respectful to those with power, and ruthless and cruel to those he could abuse with no repercussions.

Robin could only hope that with Frederick, some of the shepherds, and the Queen staying behind, that Lamprius and his like minded fellows wouldn't be able to perform an encore of their acts on the home front during the Valmese Wars. At the very least, Robin and Chrom wouldn't be gone for more than a single season most likely and with Plegia being their neighbor, Lamprius would listen to his caution and not try anything ludicrous with them so close by and due to return soon.

The Ylissen Army had spent the last several weeks marching towards the Dragon's table, and were finally within sight of their goal and the Plegian army surrounding it, they set camp one final time before the fateful battle would begin in the morning. Robin paced the perimeter, ensuring sentries were in place and ready to spot any Plegian attempts at a night raid or other preemptive moves. Looking at the immense black spire in the horizon though, Robin knew it was ultimately unnecesary given the state of the Plegian Army and the kingdom in general.

Plegia and Ylisse, while sharing common ancestry and origins, have had centuries to diverge in terms of military style and tactics, each carefully developed to exploit their countries tactics and available. Ylisse, being rich in arable land, had an immense population and no shortage recruits for its military, even in the worst of times; unfortunately, this has lead to times in the past where when discounting the royal knights and sky knights, you were left with a large, but wildly varied army in terms of quality and training. Levies from places such as Ylissetol, Themis, Jungdren, or the port of Solis in the south supplied large levies that at least had adequate training,equipment, and leadership, not shock troops, but still more than serviceable. Whereas smaller, poorer settlements like Southtown provided the equivalent of conscript peasants with atrocious morale and leadership who served little to no purpose on the field.

To counteract this unpredictability in quality, the earliest Exalts formed first the Royal Ylissen knights, and later the Ylissen Sky knights, after all horses were in plentiful supply in Ylisse and control of the Elysian Fields to the east gave Ylisse a monopoly on the continent's pegasi population. These two groups formed the core of any royal army, providing an immense value in both shock and flexibility. The knights, when on foot able to provide an elite corps of heavy infantry, or when mounted supplying Ylisse's vaunted heavy cavalry. The Sky Knights providing an excellent force of scouts, skirmishers, and raiders able to move quickly and strike in unexpected places; more importantly however, Robin knew they were the only group on the continent with the training and numbers to stand up to the Plegian Wyvern Order and not get butchered for their trouble.

Plegia, on the other hand possessed a usually smaller, but far better trained and equipped army. While this was likely due to the relatively smaller population, combined with the immense mining and industrial activity in the western and southern ends of the country; thus allowing for them to field an incredibly well equipped and trained army. Plegian History claims the beginning of this began with Grima, the Fell Dragon and the patron of the Plegian people, being a general and leader in his own right, pushed the Plegian military down this path via his own thoughts and experience with strategy and tactics; While Robin was unsure of the veracity of this, he begrudgingly admitted fighting Plegia with Ylissen forces in the last war made it abundantly clear that even with poor leadership, Plegian forces typically outclassed their more numerous Ylissen counterparts and were extremely dangerous. Since the beginning, the Plegian military has been built around three major arms: first its heavy infantry forces providing a stable, strong front to fix the enemy upon; Secondly, its archer and mage corps providing fire support for the infantry in front; and finally, Plegia's vaunted wyvern riders providing a force as mobile as a the Ylissen Pegasi knights, but as hard hitting as a swarm of Feroxi beserkers, a combination that gave Robin no shortage of headaches when facing them last time. As Ylisse controlled the continents supply of pegasi, Plegia controlled the continent's supply of wyverns in southern Plegia giving them an immense advantage in having the only significant force of wyvern knights on the continent.

All of this said though, the Ylissen Crusades and the last twelve years of near constant warfare had done much to throw these facts on their collective heads. The Large but relatively green Ylissen forces were still quite large, but filled to the brim with veterans from three major conflicts, and while equipment varied widely, Robin and Chrom's efforts to reform the military in the wake of the Plegian war of Revenge had ironically begun to push the Ylissen army towards mirroring their Plegian counterparts, much to the displeasure of certain nobles. Robin assumed this was not due to general dislike of Plegia in Ylisse, but more likely due to their distaste for the increase in royal power that follows possession of a large robust military, but Robin was well past caring what those nobles thought at this point.

While Ylisse had ultimately grown stronger from the conflicts, the Plegian army had suffered immensely in the last three wars, with the Crusades destroying a portion of it's population and the constant fighting eroding their supply of experienced soldiers. While still well equipped, their heavy infantry's feet were unsteady, their archers aim untrue, and their mages unskilled. Only their wyvern knights retained their strength through the conflicts, but one strong arm and two shriveled stubs was nowhere near a complete and comprehensive army.

"Someone's head seems to be turning some gears," the Exalt said as he chuckled and came up aside Robin, "thinking of tomorrow?"

"They aren't fighting to win."

Chrom's brows furrowed at Robin's comment, "What? Then what are they..." understanding dawned on Chrom's face as the pieces clicked in, "they are simply trying to stall us."

"Nothing else makes sense, but what they are stalling for I don't know. After all, none of our spies or scouts have been able to figure out exactly what the Grimleal are doing in the table, all they know is that its big." At this Robin chuckled, "which isn't very enlightening when you can figure that out just by how they are acting, they wouldn't drag their army out here into the middle of the desert for a party."

"I take it we are using your backup plan then?" Chrom said as he turned to take in the sight of the spire on the horizon.

Robin nodded, "Have the footmen roll up on their flanks, forcing the Plegian infantry to shift away from the center. Then have the Royal knights and supporting cavalry charge the center and open a gap for us to enter the Spire. The Sky Knights will run interference and keep their wyverns busy." Robin frowned as he went through the plan's overview, "Not exactly graceful or efficient, but its clear we need to be inside the spire sooner rather than later."

"Agreed," turning away from the spire, Chrom clasped Robin's shoulder, "don't look so glum, its been a long journey, tomorrow is it, one more push and we have that better tomorrow everyone has always hoped."

Robin smiled, "one more push, at least this time we are the one's with the stacked odds, definitely a good change from the typically hopeless situations we find ourselves in."

"Definitely so," Chrom said as he smirked at their fortune for once, "you go to bed, Ill let everyone know what were doing tomorrow."

"Alright Chrom," Robin began to head towards his tent, after a few steps though he stopped and turned back to Chrom, "Chrom... thanks... for everything."

"No need, were family, always will be, I'll see you in the morning Robin."

AN- If you saw my previous story, I have obviously decided to take a mulligan at it for three reasons. First I felt it was a bit bare in places, second I was not happy with the quality in a few places, and finally I have decided to commit to all but one of the ideas I had about the story( the last one is a bit of a big one and I am still hemming and hawing on it, though you can see some hints towards what it might be if you notice some stuff that is present and conspicuously missing). If you don't mind being spoilered a bit, drop me a pm asking about this and Ill gladly tell you what the idea is as additional thoughts on it would be nice so as to see if I am digging myself into a hole or if it could definitely spice up the story in a different way. All I ask is that you humor me and take a guess at what you think it is.

That all being said, I am putting it all in a new story so I can easily manage it all and be able to access the stuff I kept in the old one for quick reference. All in all I seek to improve size and quality; so what you, my interested readers can do, is simply drop me a review or pm letting me know what you think of the content and the quality, especially in comparison to the old version if you read it before or decide to read it now for whatever reason.

Either way, see you soon.