I do not own Fire Emblem.
A corpse shouldn't make Chrom uneasy.
It was more of whose corpse it was than what it was.
The event couldn't have occurred more than five minutes ago, yet it felt like he'd done it a decade ago. Grey eyes that once lit up his world had dulled almost immediately when he stabbed her through the heart. Long, white hair tied up in ponytails were speckled with blood and grime from the battle just a few moments ago. The crimson liquid slowly seeping onto the cloth of the Grandmaster robes. The cheers of the other Shepards rung hollow in the prince's ears. They rejoiced over the fact that the future had been saved from a great danger sure to rise, but that didn't make Chrom any better as he stared at the body before him.
"Father!"
The voice brought him out of his trance and he looked over to his daughter.
Their daughter.
The blue-haired princess' face brighten at the sight of her father still standing before her, "Is the deed done?"
There was a lump in his throat before the words came out, "Yes. Grima is dead. She is dead."
Lucina wrapped her arms around her father waist tightly, "I'm so glad you're safe. Everything is going to be okay."
"Not exactly that, my dear."
Hairs stood on the back of Chrom's neck. He quickly drew his blade and stood with his sword in hand, thinking that this couldn't be happening to him. He whipped around to see something that shouldn't have been real, couldn't have been real, and why was it happening?
At the altar, there was a bloodied tactician who gave a crooked smile towards the soldiers that they had once led. The only thing that was out of place was the fact that they were supposed to be dead if the bleeding wound on their chest was worth any indication.
"H-how," was the only word that escaped from the princess' mouth.
"This was done by no one else, but you," the used-to-be person gestured towards Lucina with a smile that grew more and more. "You thought you could save your future, a future that had been because of a tactician killing your father.
"Had you actually put some thought into your actions, you would've realized that there were so many other options. As in, who was the one that actually killed him in the end? It could've been the one that you affectionately called Robin, Bubbles, whatever pet name you gave her, or ", the woman brushed her hair to the side."The one standing in front of you at this very second, the powerful Grima."
Chrom's grip tightened on the hilt of Falchion because this was getting to him. He had to be level-headed in this situation, not reckless and driven by his emotions. If they survived, then-
"Why should we believe that," Frederick brought his steely gaze onto the thing that had taken the form of the supposedly-deceased Robin. "You could've controlled her from the very beginning and killed anyone at any time."
"Isn't it obvious," Grima let out a soft chuckle at the question, "Validar tried to kill Chrom by controlling her mind, but her core, that disgustingly human soul, is what gave her the strength to overpower the manipulation. Robin had become her own person, thus robbing me of this form since one soul is equal to one body.
Although she is part of me, she is the merciful and caring part that wished to thrive and prosper amongst her comrades. Her hope was her greatest strength against me, your only way of getting rid of me for good. Too bad, the same hope you needed was what you destroyed only a few minutes ago."
"You're lying," Lucina unsheathed her blade, the same blade given by her father who stood right beside her. "I didn't do anything."
"Coming to the past to alter your other self's future is more than doing anything. You doomed yourself before you could even think about the consequences. Thinking things would change for the better until you now realize that they were for the same ending that you desperately wanted to avoid. It's down right pathetic."
Shadows stretched themselves to wrap around the distracted Shepards, each one of them fighting valiantly against the tendrils that dared to surround them, but disabling them in mere minutes. Chrom and Lucina sliced through them with their blades, sparks flying as they fought off the impending darkness. Grima watched on with ease, knowing that they would tire if the pressure kept on them increased as time passed.
Although they were blessed by Naga herself, they were still human.
True to her prediction, they fell in exhaustion and were bound up in shadows like everyone else. Brought before the white-haired woman who stood proudly at her altar, everyone waited for someone to speak.
"I would like to see you dying in pain, but that often leaves a bloody mess. If you were to die, how would you like it?"
Chrom couldn't help but stare incredulously at the eyes looked at him in scrutiny, "Are you serious."
"As much as I'd like to kill you myself, I try not to dirty myself with the blood of mortals. It stains things quite easily," Grima waved her hand towards her side. "Then again, you might ask for a painless death, or worse, a passing in your sleep."
A dark silhouette formed beside her, shifting endlessly before it stopped moving. The person wrapped in the darkness stood still with blinking lights for eyes. Soon, the apparition had revealed a snowy-haired woman with stunning grey eyes that contrasted the shadows that surrounded her.
Chrom's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. Cast in the shadows herself, Robin stood with dead eyes, looking only at Grima whom smiled a humane-looking grin.
"Robin, how would you like them to die?"
She floated over to Lucina who stared at her in a strange mixture of horror, anger, disbelief, and apology. The princess flinched when the apparition of her own mother opened her mouth to speak.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't be the mother you so desperately wanted to have," Lucina's eyes widen as the woman petted her head as much as a ghost could. "I truly wanted you to be happy in your life, but for you to suffer this fate...it is something that I wish you'd realize sooner. Do not be like your father who continues to be as thick-headed as one could be."
"Hey, I'm not that thick-headed," Chrom quietly mumbled under his breath.
"A man who goes into the women's bathing tent without thinking about the outcome is as thick-headed as one can come," Robin let a giggle escape from her at the look that Chrom threw her.
"Not in front of Lucina!"
"Wait, what," Lucina was just confused as one would be. "What about bathing tents?"
"Anyways, I have something to say to Chrom." Robin floated over to him, and for Chrom, it was strange.
It was strange seeing the woman he loved standing before him when he killed her by his own blade a while ago. Their future daughter came to the past, warning him that he would be killed by that same woman, and in the end, this was the result of their efforts with Robin thinking of ways to kill him while appearing in the form of a ghost.
In short, it was complicated.
"Chrom, I knew something like this would happen," Robin started, raising a hand when he tried speaking. "After Lucina explained that I was a vessel of Grima, I had a feeling that I would one day die because of it. In paranoia of redicule, I would work through the battle guides and became cautious in the long run. Even though everyone felt skeptical of me in the aftermath, I'm glad that you still cared enough not to kill me until now because you probably knew it was coming. The fork in the road where you would choose between me and the nation that you've lived to protect. There's only one thing that I truly regret agreeing to."
"What's that," Chrom croaked out, a single tear beading down his face. Robin tried brushing it away, although it passed through her hand.
"I knew it was impossible, but I still agreed to it in the end to make you happy. With all my heart, I actually wanted it to come true in the end. However, promising for a better world that's just for the two of us is impossible."
Suddenly, Chrom's body lurged forward. The familiar looking bolt of lightning stuck through his body by the smiling woman who bore the same face as the ghost that stood beside her.
"After all, all promises are meant to be broken."
My first sad one shot in a long time! Hooray!
My headcanon is somewhat centered on the fan stories that have been going around lately. I wanted Robin to be accepting of her fate and to die by the hands of her loved one in peace. There were moments when I thought I should've added bits of anger and resentment, but Robin plans for every scenerio possible, even her own death.
Of course, Robin is Grima's human counterpart, but what would happen if Chrom killed Robin a bit too early and accidently doomed the world by giving what Grima wanted? To be more precise, a human body.
Robin was made to be a vessel for Grima; thus if Robin dies, then the dragon can easily possess her body and BAM! Everyone's dead!
Of course, one soul can only occupy one body. Well, you can figure out the rest.