A/N: Hey guys! This is another short shipping story with, of course, my OTP. However, there's a twist; this avatar has largely different personality traits to spice up things a bit. It's still Robin, though, so no OC's.
Hope you enjoy this twist on the story!
In the Shepherd army, there was a mix of all sorts of people. Funny people, serious people, and many others. Most could talk with and have a normal conversation with another without issues. There was, however, one person that nobody dared approach for casual talk. A person that unnerved even Tharja, the epitome of unnerving.
Robin himself.
There was no denying Robin's incredible ability to lead the army into battle, securing many an important victory, whatever the cost, but never at the cost of a life. With all this said, one would wonder why he was so difficult to approach.
Simply put, Robin was a very solitary and stoic person. Nothing ever seemed to change his general attitude, which while not negative, still wasn't the generally socially involved demeanor of most of the army. Always a loner.
Out of battle, there were many attempts to change him, if even a little. Invitations to small hangouts, causal walks, dinners...nothing casual moved Robin, only important things did, making Chrom the only person he consistently trusted to request an audience with. At this point, nobody bothered to try and involve him. Except for one brave soul: Lucina.
Lucina, despite knowing that Robin was virtually unbreakable, wanted to try her hand at doing so; she had been paying attention to him since the very beginning, eventually finding out that despite his cold, yet not rude, attitude towards most, that he had a soft side. She didn't exactly know for what, but he had one. The point was to uncover it.
Lucina walked towards that lone tent one night, praying to Naga that she'd manage at least to catch Robin off guard. At the same time, knowing that she brought some papers from Chrom was instrumental to her plan's success and gave her a lot more peace in the matter. Her thoughts vanished when she finally stood in front of the tent, the lit torches outside meaning that he was in, and awake. Taking a deep breath, Lucina called for him.
"Robin? May I enter?" she asked.
Nothing, at least for a few seconds.
"Please, come in." said Robin.
Another deep breath escaped Lucina before she entered his tent. Everything was well organized, with Robin seated, facing the entrance, his eyes locked on her face as she entered the tent and stood there, nervous.
"Do you need anything, Lucina?" he asked.
Lucina was blocking herself for a moment, unsure of what to say, being locked down by Robin's soul piercing stare.
"I...brought you some papers from Chrom. He sent me to deliver them to you." she said, nervously.
Robin quickly noticed that Lucina was practically dying on the inside, regardless of how effective the facade was. The simple act of being in his presence unnerved practically everyone, but to him, Lucina's attempted masking of it looked...admirable. Almost cute.
"You look nervous, Lucina. Is there something you want to say?" he asked.
"N-no, Robin..." she said, giving him the papers. "I just understand why people have trouble talking to you normally now."
Lucina turned around, ready to leave.
"Lucina, wait."
The request just stopped Lucina from leaving. She turned around to face Robin, now looking doubtful.
"Do I frighten you, Lucina?" he asked.
"No, you don't. I've seen much worse. But your efficiency in combat...it's almost surreal. I'd willingly ask to be assigned with you again just to feel safe. But the same stoic efficiency you have in battle also comes here...and that's what puts me off." explained Lucina.
"Then if you don't fear me, what makes you nervous?" asked Robin. "It doesn't add up."
"It's just the picture that's been painted of you that unnerves me." said Lucina. "I'd honestly like to see a different you. Someone more open."
Robin stayed silent for a moment. For once, someone was wiling to express their thoughts on him. But not the way he imagined it; he swore that the first to tell him would be Chrom. But it was his daughter instead.
"You just might get your wish, Lucina." he said. "That's all I wanted to ask, then. You're free to go."
Without a word, Lucina turned and exited the tent as he asked, leaving Robin with the papers delivered to him. Shaking the immediate thoughts off of him, Robin turned back to his desk and began sorting through them.
"Total gold, weapon requests, reports of Risen, and-wait. What the hell...?"
A single piece of paper at the very bottom of the pile, not attached to anything else, and it didn't look like any of the other documents. Pulling it out, it brought a look of surprise to Robin's face. A rather detailed, colorless sketch, showing what looked like an artist's rendition of himself, posed with a Levin Sword and a tome...back to back with Lucina.
A flurry of thoughts came to him as he began putting everything back in place so he could turn in. Lucina didn't strike him as an artist, so someone else made it for her. The question was who and why. And more importantly, if there was anything else in store for surprises. These questions followed him to bed, only vanishing once he drifted to sleep.
As the early morning came to be, Robin felt something disturbing him in his sleep. Something was rather close to him. The feeling woke him from his slumber getting him curious.
It didn't feel like an object, but whatever it was, it felt very close. Directly behind him. Still somewhat drowsy, Robin slowly turned to look behind himself to see just what had awoken him.
He lightly jumped when he saw what it was. Or rather, who.
"Lucina?!" he thought to himself. "What are YOU doing here, next to me?!"
The sight of her face, now not blurred since the revelation jolted Robin, and by extension his senses, awake, brought an inquiry to his mind. He could, under the limited light of the night, see her very noticeable frown. Her face in general just screamed sadness. The question was, why?
"It's my question, I'll find out." thought Robin.
Slowly edging out of bed so as to not wake her, Robin quietly stood up and went to a stack of tomes close by. He felt around until he found one specific tome, always placed at the bottom given the rarity of its usage.
"Mind Monologue" thought Robin. "Last time I used this, it was to look at my own memories. And now, it's use shall be to see into a dream."
Robin sat on a chair and began tracing a path on the page with a finger, knowing that the primary method of activation was risky to use given that it made use of a voiced incantation. Once the path was traced, a flash of light blinded Robin, taking him into the unconscious mind of his unexpected guest...
Robin regained his sight within moments, finding himself in the middle of Ylisstol. Something, however, was wrong. It wasn't the populous and bright Ylisstol that he knew.
The whole city was on fire. People were running around everywhere, screaming for their lives, being pursued by Risen, who were also locked in combat with the soldiers.
"My god...I have to find Lucina, now. Who knows what she's dreaming about..." said Robin to himself.
Robin walked across the town, towards the palace, amongst the hordes of people, soldiers and Risen interacting with each other. As a blue phantom, Robin was invisible to everyone except the dreamer, so he could roam around without overly worrying about getting involved in combat.
Reaching the palace, he saw that the gates were battered and broken as he walked up the steps, Risen and human bodies littered everywhere. Entering, Robin witnessed the conflict between human and Risen raging on as it did outside. Both sides were suffering casualties, but the Risen had a nigh infinite number of units to spare to their advantage. Looking around, Robin finally spotted Lucina, fighting valiantly against Risen, just having bisected one from the middle.
"Lucina!" he yelled. Nothing. His voice was not unlike an ant fighting the sun in terms of volume, being drowned out by the screams of enemies and allies alike. He began walking closer to her, now understanding the source of her frightened expression on the outside. Once he was a few steps away from her constantly moving position, Robin yelled a second time.
"Lucina, over here!-"
His call for her attention was interrupted by a massive collision into the castle walls, leaving everyone scattered amongst the massive dust cloud. While Robin wasn't affected the dust or the collision itself, it still blocked his vision, leaving him in the dark for a few moments. When the dust settled, Robin looked around frantically for Lucina, concerned for her condition. He spotted her standing above some rubble, pointing the Falchion at something...something huge. In front of her stood the enormous, imposing and frightening Fell Dragon, Grima. The beast expanded it's wings as it rose above the wreckage it caused, revealing it's multi-horned face and multiple red eyes. Robin himself was stunned by what they both saw. She was dreaming the end of the world.
"This is only the beginning! I will start a bigger fire, and watch it rise through your world!" said an ominous, evil voice. It came from Grima itself, who was now looking down on the one remaining soldier standing ground, Lucina herself. Robin grew increasingly worried despite it only being a dream, because with the possibility of failing to prevent Grima from awakening, it certainly felt real.
"Lucina!" yelled Robin. "Get out of there!"
She didn't hear him, her attention focused squarely on the demon that stood before her. Robin immediately began rushing towards her, hoping that he could snap her out of it before something worse happened.
"Your mother, and father are dead, young one." said Grima. "Now it is time for you...to die!"
Grima lunged at Lucina with its maw open, intent on killing her, all while she screamed almost helplessly.
"Lucina!" yelled Robin, one last time, right before the same flash of light blinded him again, forcing him out of the dream.
Robin came back to his body, sweating heavily as he dropped to his knees, hands on the ground. He couldn't believe what he just saw, considering that Lucina had been able to maintain a fairly balanced, if mostly serious, demeanor. He couldn't even tell if she dreamt of a memory or a completely new type of nightmare. Considering her future, he was inclined to believe it was the former.
Finally back to reality, Robin slowly stood up, figuring that he might as well start the day already.
"No!"
A an unexpected scream from Lucina caught him completely off guard. She bolted from her sleeping position to a sitting one, breathing heavily, given that she had just bore bigger witness to what Robin had just seen as well.
Tears began forming in her eyes as she remembered every vivid detail of the dream. How real it felt. She couldn't stand it. She curled into a ball on the ground she slept on and laid her head on her knees, still sobbing.
Robin felt quite sad seeing Lucina completely broken down like that, a feat that hadn't been accomplished since Emmeryn died. He wanted to do something for her...but the consequences if he were seen doing that would be huge.
Ignoring his fears, he walked to Lucina, kneeled down behind her, and hugged her in an attempt to calm her down. He didn't know the first thing about counsel, but he had to try.
"Listen to me, Lucina. You're okay. Nothing's going to harm you." he said. "It was all just a dream."
Lucina trembled less when hearing Robin's words. She came in the middle of the night to escape a nightmare, but also fearing Robin's possible reaction, and here he was, the stoic and emotionally tough tactician, giving her counsel. It felt unreal.
"T-thank y-you..." she said, weakly.
Robin continued to hold her and made a small pledge to do so until her tears had vanished. At least it would be done peacefully.
"Hey, what seems to be the problem, I heard a loud-"
Unexpectedly, Laurent stumbled upon them. A surge of awkwardness overcame both Robin and Laurent, as Lucina was still recovering from her trauma and not paying attention. Luckily, Robin knew how to drive Laurent away.
"Um, what is this?" asked Laurent.
Robin quickly grabbed a Levin Sword that was close to him and pointed it at Laurent.
"Laurent, listen to me very carefully. Turn around and leave. Pretend you never saw anything. If I realize that a single word escapes you about this, I'll get quite mad. Are we clear?" said Robin.
Laurent took a step back, intimidated.
"Alright, alright!" he said, clearly surprised by Robin's reaction. "Nothing happened, no sir..."
Laurent turned and left, leaving Robin to continue giving counsel to Lucina. Surprisingly, she had stopped crying and had managed to doze off again in the process. Relieved, Robin gently laid her on the floor to not interrupt her newfound nap and covered her with the blanket she brought. A smile formed on his face as he saw her at peace, leaving him in a good state of mind to leave the tent.
"This isn't over." he thought to himself. "It might be the start of something new...something unexpected...something...wonderful."
End Chapter Notes: I know you're probably going to jump on me for introducing sort of heavy trauma in the very first chapter, but I had to start with something. Hopefully this different type of Robin I've created doesn't put off too many readers. Like my previous story(Comforting Comforter), this will follow four chapters as a support conversation of sorts.
Please leave a comment! Everything is taken into account.