Chapter 1
Win the Battle Lose the War
The day had just beginning to show its end. Robin was just sitting in his favorite spot in Ylisstol Castle, staring at the reddish tint in the sky, not muttering any single word. Of all the places they had gone since he joined the Sheperds, he always prefers the small stairs fronting the center garden more than the extravagant hall in Ylisse, the bustling arena in Ferox, the calmness of the plains in Valm, even the quietness of his own room. He loves the view of the center garden from the first day he laid eyes upon it. He loves how the flowers in the garden, the castle wall, and the sky almost make an even split in his eyes, how the small pond in the middle of the garden would reflect the full moon, making it looks like there are two moons looking back at him on a clear night, and how he could hear the occasional chattering of the maidservants while doing their works.
For the first time in hours, Robin broke his gaze from the view to glance at the mark on his right hand before a tingling sensation on his left arm made him shift his sight to his left. He saw his left hand, bandaged from the elbow to his palm. He could almost smell the minty flavor of the vulnerary used on his arm. Robin rubbed his left arm gently, as if trying to calm a crying child.
"I guess you'll be out for a while, huh?" He asked jokingly, remembering the event of his injuries.
The night was black. It was the new moon, and thick clouds blocking any light reaching the ground. The night was quiet except for the sounds of clashing steels and exploding magic. The Sheperds were in a place called the Dragon's Table facing off against Plegian new king, Validar. Mere months after returning from the campaign in Valm, the Sheperds were once again found themselves knee-deep in a war. Only this time, the fate of the world was at stake. As the head of Plegia's Grimleal faction, Validar aimed to resurrect the Fell Dragon Grima. The same Grima the Hero King supposedly sealed more than 1000 years ago. After a few skirmishes, utilizing a controlled Robin, Validar managed to get his hands on the Fire Emblem. The Sheperds had gone after Validar at the Dragon's Table to take back the Ylissean treasure. They had Validar cornered in what looks to be the throne room.
"You arrogant fool!" Validar barked.
"You would dare betray me, your own father for these…. mere mortals?"
"Yeah, well, turns out blood not thicker than water huh, dad." Robin said mockingly, slight grin on his face.
"And besides, my father died more than 15 years ago….trying to save me. He failed, but it's nice to know that someone cared." He said, slight sadness in his tone.
"Since we're doing this, then as your son, I'm reclaiming the throne of Plegia for myself." Robin shouted, pointing his steel sword at his father, knuckles white from gripping the hilt.
"So be it. There's more than one way to tame a lion." Validar spouted, all the while raising his right palm towards the Sheperds.
"Sheperds, brace your selves!" Chrom ordered, standing beside his best friend, Falchion tightly in his hand.
Hearing their leader's words, the Sheperds swiftly formed a defensive formation just in time for them to be engulfed in a dim, eerie light. After the light faded, they realized they were surrounded by a group of undead soldiers, Risens, as they called them, with Chrom and Robin separated from them by a purplish magic wall.
"No! What did you do?" He shouted at Validar, alternating his gaze from the man sitting on the throne to Sumia and Lissa, two of his most precious beings in the other side of the room.
"Calm down, Chrom." Robin spoke lightly.
"Frederick and Cordelia's there as well. Between the two of them, I'm sure they'll come up with something." He added, glancing towards Chrom's and his second in command.
After sharing a few glances, Robin saw Cordelia shouted something to their comrades, and the Sheperds once again changed their formation. Without their leader and chief tactician to the firepower, Cordelia opted for a more defensive tactic, ensuring her comrades' safety first, rather than an all out assault on the undead soldiers. Robin chuckled slightly at how he rubbed on her from their sleepless nights together devising plans and strategies for their campaigns before moving his eyes back to his sworn brother.
"To be completely honest with you, I'm more worried about us rather than them." He said nonchalantly.
Realizing they too were surrounded by the risens, Chrom gave his surrounding a look, noticing the presence of more tome-wielders than he's comfortable with.
"What're you talking about? We've been in far worse than this." Chrom joked, now realizing a few axe and sword –wielders are starting to appear as well.
Robin noticed the glowing blade of the Falchion, with its wielder also emitting a light blue, almost dusty aura. Aether. Robin thought to himself. He gave a slight grin to his friend, before his hazel eyes turned a deep, dark red, he himself coated by a reddish tint of light.
Before long, one of the axe-wielders leaped towards them, clenching his silver axe in both hands, ready to pummel. Chrom parried the attack before giving him a hard kick in the gut. The berserker fell down with a loud thud. Chrom swiftly planted Falchion into his throat. He gagged a few times before finally stopped moving altogether, dead. The risen disappeared leaving just a purplish smoke in its place. Robin eyed their enemies, his head spinning for their best course of action. He noticed a sniper and a dark knight ready to attack.
"Bow, your left, 20 paces." He muttered to the Lord. Chrom nodded, grinning.
"Now!" Robin shouted. Both men leaped towards their targets. The sniper let loose an arrow in Chrom's direction, which he dodged, barely grazing his shoulder. He lunge his sword to the sniper's heart, killing the risen instantly.
Sprinting towards his target, Robin noticed a hero was also approaching him from his left, sword at the ready. As soon as he came in range, Robin swung his shield towards the hero's wrist, dropping his attacker's sword before it even gained enough momentum to do any harm. The risen's eyes widened, no doubt trying to understand what had happened. Robin then pierced his left shoulder with his steel sword. The risen screamed painfully. Robin ignored the noise, and with one fluid motion, shifted the hero's body towards his original target. The hero was burned to a crisp from his own comrade's Arcfire spell. The dark knight stopped moving for a moment, trying to comprehend the event unfolding before his eyes. Not one to waste a perfectly good chance, Robin leaped in front of the tome-wielder, sword ready to pound. One swing. It only took him just one powerful swing to cleaved the rider's head from his body.
Robin silently watched the dissipating corpse before him, noticing the air around him was getting heavier. He felt a slight burn on his exposed face and, realizing what about to happen, quickly jump out from the spot. As soon as he stopped his hops, Robin just noticed a fireball was closing on him. Unable to dodge in time, he instinctively raised his shield to block the attack. He flinched a little bit from the heat, and the impact from the fireball somehow managed to drop him to his knees. He saw the floor where he stood just now was somehow melted, leaving behind some sort of goo in place. Judging by the smoke rising from the pool, a very hot goo. Robin noticed the origins of his new attackers. Two mages emerged from the shadow behind were the throne, tome at the ready, watching him.
"Huh, that's annoying." Robin muttered under his breath, clearly irritated. He was trying to contemplate his next move, when a loud clang broke him from his thought.
Chrom was now engaging two swordmasters in the middle of the area, with a sage trying to aim her attack. Seeing this, Robin ignored the mages on his side and jolted to Chrom, shield half-raised anticipating an attack. Sure enough, the sage released her Arcfire attack towards the swordsmen. Robin managed to get in the fray just in time to block the magic with his shield, letting out a loud cry from the burn he felt on his arm.
"You alright there buddy?" Chrom asked his friend lightly. He had somehow managed to repel both the swordmasters, and for a brief moment, the fight stopped, giving all four men time to catch their breath.
"No, I'm not alright. This is like, the worst thing that can happen. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of burn scars? Ask Lissa. She'll hit you on the head if you ask her to do it. And Maribelle'd just outright kill you rather than deal with it." Robin joked, trying to ease their situation.
Chrom chuckled lightly hearing his friend's response. "Ready for round two?" He asked to no one in particular.
Both men were now standing back to back, with Chrom not letting his eyes away from the swordmasters, and Robin eyeing the three tome-wielders. Both were grinning widely.
"Fools, what are you waiting for? Erase them from existence." Validar finally broke his silence, demanding the undead soldiers do what they were supposed to.
"Turn around, now." Robin said to Chrom, before sprinting towards the sorcerer from earlier, ignoring his other targets.
Chrom, knowing what he should do, rushed past the swordmasters, parrying their attack. He swiftly changed his direction, letting out a wide slash, managing to hit one of the swordman's back. Too shallow. He said to himself. With his new positioning, Chrom now had complete view of their battlefield. He saw Robin focusing onto one of the magic users, occasionally shifting his direction, dodging the others' attacks. His sight interrupted by a blur coming in front of him. Realizing he still needed to dispatch the two swordsmen, he raised his own sword to around his chest, ready to counter.
Robin meanwhile, was inching to his target. Twenty paces. Ten paces. He raised his shield just enough to cover his face, and rammed the slab of steel to the sorcerer's face. Robin swiftly pierced his sword to the sorcerer's chest, impaling his heart. He kicked the body from his sword, and turned towards the sage near him. Before he managed to even cast a spell from the tome, Robin cut his hands, dropping the book. He put his sword to his throat, instantly killing him.
At the other side of the field, Chrom had managed to kill both the swordmasters, leaving only Validar and the sage from earlier.
"Bah, useless fools." Validar barked, shooting a Thoron spell to the woman's head. She disappeared into a purplish smoke, not knowing what had killed her.
"Why would you do that? For all we know, she's your ticket outta here." Robin asked Validar, clearly irritated by his father's action.
Validar just watched the two men in front of him. Silent. He opened the tome in his hands, ready to attack.
"Be careful. Something's not right." Robin cautioned his friend. Chrom just shook his head in agreement.
"Up!" Robin shouted, pushing Chrom to the side. Three magical spikes now stood where they were once, dissipating into thin air after a few moments. Robin could clearly see the three holes from the attack. He realized some sort of spiky wall had formed before Validar. Putting his glowing hand on his tome, Validar somehow launched two spikes at his son. Robin hopped back two steps, dodged the first, and parried the second spike with his shield. Validar grinned menacingly.
Robin and Chrom were flipping and moving all over the area for some time now. They were clearly out of breath. Dodging. Parrying. Shielding. They only managed to keep the spikes from piercing them. Robin realized it would be just a matter of time before one of them slipped up. A wrong turn. A slower dodge. A smaller step. Validar only needed one instant of them screwing up, before the tide would turn. Turned out he didn't need the sage after all. Determine to get them out of the predicament, Robin sheathed his sword. He raised his shield to cover his chest, ducking his head into the shield. Robin rushed towards Validar, ignoring the burn he felt when the spikes would occasionally hit him. Chrom, realizing Robin's plan, swiftly started moving towards Validar, dodging and parrying the magical spikes along the way.
Just as he did earlier, Robin rammed his shield towards Vallidar, flinching him, stopping his onslaught.
"Gah!" Validar gasped for air from Robin's attack. Before he could recover, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked to his right to see Chrom had planted the Falchion right in the side of his stomach.
"You….you…." Validar laid there, motionless. Chrom pulled the sword from the corpse and smiled to his friend.
"We di…." His words cut out from Robin ramming him with his shoulder, shielding him from Validar's magic. The last struggle of a dying man. Robin was flung to the magic wall separating them from the rest of their comrades.
"Heh, heh. I win." Validar mocked, grinning. His bloody mouth really made him more eerie than usual. Validar died, and the purple wall soon began to disappear.
"Robin!" Chrom shouted, sprinting towards his tactician.
"I'm fine Chrom. Let's not do that again." Robin said to the smiling exalt walking towards him. Stab him! No! Stab him. Do it. Do it! Robin heard the voice in his head. The same voice ordering him to take the Fire Emblem not too long ago. No! No! No! He felt his head spinning, his vision blurred, and then everything went dark.
When he came to his senses, Robin saw Chrom lying in front of him, bloody. His sword piercing the bluenette's gut.
"No! No! Chrom! Talk to me!" Robin rushed to his friend, cursing his carelessness. Validar had won. And he didn't see it coming. He had done it once. He could do it again.
"It's…. it's not your f-fault." Chrom whispered weakly to him.
"Go. Save them. Save yourself." Chrom pleaded.
"Don't you dare say that. We came here together, we'll go back together. That will never change. Always." Robin said, pouring some vulnerary on his friends wound, pulling his sword out.
"Frederick! Get over here, now!" Robin shouted just as the purple wall completely disappeared. The Sheperds had managed to fend off most of their attackers, still leaving some risens left.
Frederick rushed to his commander's aid.
"Take him." Robin said to the great knight, tying Falchion to the other side on his hip. Frederick nodded, taking the lord onto his horse.
"Lon'qu, Gregor, open a path. Gaius, Ricken, Miriel, cover them. Cordelia, report. Now." Robin ordered. Cordelia flew beside him, eyeing her surroundings.
"No casualties for now. But I don't know how much longer we can take. They're probably getting reinforcements as we speak. We should go, now." Cordelia answered, stating her mind. Robin nodded in agreement, before noticing something, or rather, someone in the distance.
"No. Frederick!" Robin shouted, rushing towards the great knight carrying his friend.
Frederick shoulder armor was almost melted when Robin managed to push the knight out of the way, his left arm caught in the acidic rain. Frederick dropped to the ground, dropping Chrom alongside him. Both unconscious.
"Gah!" Robin writhed in pain, clenching his left arm. He could feel the burn seeping through his flesh, all the way to the bone.
Cordelia had managed to pierce the sorcerer with her javelin, killing him instantly. She dashed to where Robin was sitting.
"I'm fine. Sully, Stahl, help Frederick. Sumia, take Chrom with you. Vaike, guard her." Helped by Cordelia, Robin instructed his friends. All four of them followed without any hesitation.
With Lon'qu and Gregor at the helm, the injured in the middle, Robin, Cordelia, and Kellam guarding the rear, and the rest of the Sheperds keeping the enemies out of range, they managed to escape the battlefield, everyone intact. At least, that's what Robin was hoping for. He instructed the three healers to focus on Chrom and Frederick on their way home, occasionally pouring some vulnerary on his left arm to sooth the pain. He watched from the back, as the Sheperds, clearly tired from their constant skirmish, marched sluggishly towards Ylisstol, barely stopping just to catch their breath. Just before crossing the border from Plegia, Robin watched back to his homeland once more, noticing the reddish tint of the sunset, glowing through the mountains' peak, before everything went dark.
"….bin. Robin." The voice woke him from his thought. Robin turned his head around to see Sumia and Lissa standing behind him, bloodshot eyes, no doubt from crying.
"You should go see him." Sumia said softly.
Robin gave a warm smile to the women, ruffling his brown hair before getting up. Lissa helped him stay on his feet, and he followed the falcon knight and the war cleric into one of the rooms.