Disclaimer : I do not own Fire Emblem nor its characters, which are the properties of Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.
A/N : In this, Robin has a eyepatch. She's about Built 3 in the game (the small one). Her physical charateristics like her facial features are left to imagination.
Robin had only been with the Sheperds a few months, and yet many things have already occured. From being found in the grass by a hansome yet awkward prince to succeed in making a alliance with Regna Ferox by beating one Khan in a arena, being stalked by a masked man with too graceful movements whi was actually a woman, or even throwing rocks at an especially too rude blue-haired individual... Or even helping Frederick with his aversion to bear meat, and while doing so, earning his trust, much had happened. The small woman felt she truly belonged with the Sheperds, memories or not.
Did she even need her memories ? With new bonds forming, new friends made, her days occupied at planning, she felt she didn't need them anymore. Whoever she was, it was in the past now. She knew with who she belonged and what she needed to do.
Protect the Sheperds. That was it. She only had to protect the friends who gave her a home and a reason to live.
Nothing else really bothered her.
Ah, that was not really true now. That may have been true a few weeks back though.
Gaius bothered her. At first, nobody trusted him because he was a former thief who worked for Plegia, and that was why she decided to be the first to talk to him. His situation reminded of hers when she joined the Sheperds ; Frederick The Wary, true to his nickname, always had an eye on her and seemed to wait for the occasion when she would "betray herself and reveal her foul identity". The others were welcoming, but Robin always had the impression they held back around her, as if she was intruding. Now, she was friend with everyone, but she wanted to help him – and he seemed quite fun, too, always searching for sugar.
And so, it happened. Robin walked on him when he was taking his bath – she hardly saw his body, but here was not the point. She saw his mark, the mark delivered to criminals when they are thrown in jail. He didn't want her nor anyone to see that for they would become extremely wary of him, and maybe he would not have the right to be with them anymore.
And so, he made her swear to not tell anyone, but right after, he did favors for her, saying keeping secret was not free, asking what she wanted in exchange. She guessed it came from his job ; he could be working for anyone before, and so today's allies could become tomorrow's ennemies. When she declared she didn't want anything, he only distrusted her more.
Well, to her, it was a sign he really liked the Sheperds and wanted to stay with them, and at first it made her glad, or she thought it was actually a little funny, but it was becoming annoying. Really, really annoying.
She had to do something.
And so, first, she waited for Gaius to find her. He would have prepared an idea of favor he could do for her, anyway.
She didn't wait long. Only by performimg her daily tasks, such as doing an inventory in the weapon tent, it attracted him like honey attracts a bee. Wait, he would be attracted by honey too.
He entered the tent silently, but didn't surprised her at all, she was used to his sudden appearances.
"Hey, Bubbles," he began, without a lollipop in his mouth for once, "do you need some help ?"
He seemed not to need an answer as he walked closer, stopping just behind her to look at the inventory she was doing on a paper. She was scribbling fast, he noted, and had no interest for his presence. The letters was small and he wondered how Frederick or Chrom could read them. Wasn't a tactician supposed to write beautifully ? At least enough to be understood ? Surely, the great knight had confronted Robin about her awful writing before.
"No, I don't, thank you,"she responded to his earlier question harshly, "but maybe you do."
The thief furrowed his brows in confusion, stepping away from her rapidly. She seemed way too annoyed for his liking, and somehow he knew that had to do with the favors he did to her, trying to make her keep his secret. She told him a billion times he didn't need to do all that, but that wasn't how it worked for him. How many times he chose to trust someone he believed was a comrade, and how many times was he betrayed ? In fact, he didn't want to count.
Well, sure, the Sheperds were different. But people were people.
The small tactician sighed and turned to face him, putting her notes on a small table. Her upset eye faced him as if asking for a duel – and while Robin's intention was to scare him, it didn't impress him at all, in fact he found it cute.
"Listen, I told you to stop many times with that, I won't tell anyone."
"I know, but it's not really really sure, and that's not how it works, Bubbles," the thief said carelessly as ever, "and you tell me to stop, but you're wearing that necklace I made for you."
He only grinned at her and that was sufficient to set her cheeks ablaze with embarrassment. She looked away, not wanting to meet his eye, "well, that's something else, I happened to find it pretty, that's all."
He chuckled again, but she knew he wasn't mocking her. Well, at least she hoped.
"If you want to trade secrets, then I will, but seeing as you didn't consider the story I told you last time as a payment, I'll show you something more important." She fidgeted with the hem of her coat, not looking annoyed or upset anymore, only plain serious. "I'll show you something anyone have seen before, even me," she whispered quietly, her voice softening in nervosity, he guessed.
Surprise showed on his face as his cheeks took a rosy shade, waving his hands in front of him like an idiot.
"W-what do you mean ? You're aren't going to..."
"I'll show you what's beneath my eyepatch," she finished as quietly. Robin never knew what her eyepatch hid, she didn't remember, and in fact, she was scared, so she never looked or even took it from her eye. She seemed used to use only one eye from the start, so she never really thought about using the pair. She didn't even know if she had an eye there ! There would surely be a reason to hide it. She thought maybe it looked horrible. Maybe the others would traet her as a moster if they knew. She tried to forget she had only one eye, and Gaius helped her enough, covering in battle she side she could not see with his presence. He had grown accustomed to it and did not think of it as a hindrance like Frederick would.
"Oh."
Robin glared at him wity annoyance, crossing her arms for a second, she relaxed soon enough, and added playfully, grinning, "what, did you expect to see me naked or something ? There's no way I'll do something like that."
He was certainly the one embarrassed now, but kept it hidden by chuckling again.
His eyes darkened, suddenly looking serious. "Ya know, it's okay if you don't show me. Its sounds painful."
The small tactician looked up at him with surprised eyes, she didn't expect him to be so considerate over this. Especially when he didn't listen to her recently because of that stupid favor thing. She almost forgot he was sweet.
"No, I want to," she sniffled, causing him to stiffen, "to end this."
She put her hands on her eyepatch, caressing it slowly, hoping she would not regret this. Thenm she slowly began removing the cloth from her eye, but hiding what was hidden beneath with a hand. When she had completely took it off, she looked up again, holding her eyepatch with both hands. And revealing what she tried to forget.
Gaius was used to see his comrade's scars, may them be the Sheperds or other thieves in the past. He did not mind them, big or ugly, and yet the sight of hers was utterly horrible. He was speechless as he looked at the circular wound, red stains of unhealed skin patched together. There was not an eye anymore ; it seemed a doctor had pulled the skin around the missing eye to close the void.
Only the thought someone had removed the eye out of her body in a battle, when she was still alive and counscious made him shiver in anger.
Robin could feel her tears slipping out of her eye, seeing Gaius' expression. "As I thought, it looks horrible. I-I'll put my eyepatch back-"
She stopped talking when he touched the thin, red skin. It was rough inder his fingers, and he treated it with care, not wanting to hurt her. He looked pained, she thought.
"It's not that, Robin."
He never used her real name unless he was very serious. He looked at her in pain, but nop pitying her the least, nor finding it disgusting. He didn't want to ignore it.
"There's a scar in there. You might want to touch to see for yourself."
"I-I see. There's no eye, then..." She laughed nervously.
He put a hand on her cheek, trying to dry her tears in a gentle gesture. His skilled hands were surprisingly gentle when he caressed her scar.
"I don't like to think there's someone who did that to you." He looked in her eye fondly, and she mirrorred the affection she saw in his. "I can't bear the thought."
"But hey, eye or not, you're still our tactician. It's not horrible. You're not a monster. The one who did this is the monster."
She broke down in tears, waterfalls bursting from her eye, blocking her sight, and she could only feel Gaius' presence beside her, as always, like he belonged there. She reached out for his arms, and clenched her fists, gripping his gloves before pulling him in a sweet embrace, sobbing in his chest. They stayed like that for a while, the thief patting her back, trying to confort her.
"It's okay, Bubbles."
The whipers she let through were muffled by his clothes and he could not understand what she was saying. He did not need it anyway, and only titled her chin so she looked at him.
"I'll be your missing eye."
A/N : I hope Gaius isn't to out of character for this one. I always thought he could be pretty serious because of his experience in thievery and such, he could have seen cruelty as its peaks, especially working with Plegians.
[Emilyka]