Location: Forest near Southtown.
Robin woke up with a start, the earth was shaking quite hard, he tried to stand up, something that was wise but hard to do, even Frederick; a well-trained knight was having trouble to keep his ground.
After a few minutes; that felt like an eternity, the earthquake stopped, both remained alert should start trembling again. Fortunately that was not the case and soon Robin found himself riding behind Frederick on his horse, looking for Chrom and Lissa, both of them missing from camp.
Flashback
It was quite an eventful day; waking up in the middle of a field with no memories aside from a blurry dream, fighting brigands-actually plegian soldiers under disguise- with his benefactors, a regal looking noble alongside his little sister and a stern knight.
After sorting things in Southtown Robin was offered the position of tactician of the Shepherds, he accepted without a second thought, not like there was much for him to do anyway and it seemed the group was a nice one, plus he was a skilled swordsman with magic abilities and he enjoyed doing plans and tactics.
So they went back to Ylisstol, of course it was a long way there, and camping was needed. After hunting a bear – somehow Chrom and Robin managed to do it – and sharing a few campfire stories, everyone went to sleep.
Back in the Forest
Robin picked up a sound in the distance, it was a familiar sound; battle noise.
"Frederick!"
"Yes!"
Frederick had also heard it, he commanded his steed towards the direction of the battle cries, and they soon emerged into an open field in the forest, Chrom and Lissa where there, both looking none the worse for wear considering the recent earthquake.
"Robin, Frederick!"
Chrom turned to look at his companions, relieved to see them well.
"What's going on?"
"I don't know, something was off and I could not sleep" Chrom briefly explained how he woke up and wandered through the forest with Lissa in tow, when the earthquake started both of them ran back to camp but got lost, soon after that an unknown magical gate – from what Robin could tell – appeared in the sky, bringing some unknown creatures and another person.
Robin looked around spotting the swordsman – quite slim for a man – standing a bit away from the group, dressed up in a full blue outfit, his sword was strapped at a waist belt, he couldn't get a clear view of it, it felt like he was hiding it from view, the most eye-catching feature of the mysterious man was the butterfly-shaped mask covering his face.
"So…" Robin started "are those creatures a common sight here?" asking Chrom about their new enemy.
"No, they aren't, I can assure you that"
"It's not going to be an easy task to take on them with just five of us"
"Five? Are you including him on your battle plan?" Chrom motioned with his head towards the swordsman.
"He did help you before and we have better chances fighting together"
"Very well, I will ask for his aid"
Chrom went towards the masked swordsman however, he was cut-off by the noise of an upcoming horse, the raider was another member of the shepherds; a red haired woman named Sully.
She was not alone however, someone was riding – forcefully at that – behind her, a man wearing an archer's uniform, with a few modifications like a white ruffled shirt.
Chrom was about to greet them when Robin approached and told him to get into the fort where Frederick was keeping guard, he departed taking Sully and the archer named Virion, the archest of archers or so he said.
He looked towards the masked man's direction, he was standing still, looking at the soon to be battlefield and the creatures roaming around, grasping the handle of his sword; quite hard, part of his fingers going white.
"It seems you helped Chrom earlier, thank you"
The masked swordsman glanced towards Robin, nodding before looking back to the creatures.
"Will you help us again? The situation seems a bit dire"
He seemed to be deep in thought for a bit lowering his head, after a moment he raised his head and nodded to the tactician.
"Good, let us depart then" and like that both went towards the fort, perhaps their situation wasn't that bad, he did not wanted to make mistakes, overconfidence was a prime step to failure after all.
After introducing Robin to Sully and Virion and discussing their battle plan it was decided to use the fort as a pivot point, fighting outside and retreating to it if needed, Virion would cover them from the inside while Lissa was ready to treat any wounds.
Frederick and Sully would go with hit and run tactics, making good use of their mobility to strike and pull back to avoid being overrun.
Chrom, Robin and the masked swordsman were going to have the hardest part in the fight, since it was up to them to attract and fend off the bulk of the creatures, all three of them were using swords as weapons, and Robin could always change to magic if necessary, but he was not inclined to that idea.
"Just keep in mind this everyone; those creatures will not stop unless heavy damage is sustained, try to pierce it heart or cut off it head" Chrom added after, remembering his previous combat experience with them.
The battle went according to Robin's plan, little out of the ordinary happened, the creatures were skilled and posed a treat but they pulled through, everyone spotted a few cuts here and there but they were otherwise fine.
He felt oddly comfortable at fighting, his body remembered how to use a sword pretty well, dodging and sidestepping, slicing and thrusting, every now and then he felt a piercing gaze directed at him, analyzing him.
The battle kept going in favor of the Shepherds, until one of the creatures appeared right in front of them, bigger than the rest, its face covered with stitches and a vicious looking axe on his hands.
The creature was fast, swinging his axe around blocking and evading, striking with brute force, Chrom tried to take on it but he was repelled and had to stand back after he took a nasty cut in his arm.
Robin ran towards it, dodging his attacks and throwing some of his own whenever the chance showed itself, the masked man also did the same, both waltzing around the creature, both wary to not lock blades with it.
It was resilient, the creature would not go down easily, so Robin thought of something, he did what he was avoiding for a while; lock blades. He chanted as fast as he could to unleash a lesser wind spell.
"Ventus est ego!" with that a layer of wind covered his sword, concentrating the energy on it he released it at once, his own weapon bursting into pieces as well as his opponent's, the small burst also threw the creature off balance.
"Now!" without even a hairs breath, the masked swordsman ran to the creature, piercing its heart.
The creature turned into a purple-dark fog and banished, soon Chrom arrived with the others, cleaning the rest of enemies with ease after losing what it seemed to be their leader.
Everyone took a small break to catch their breath, something necessary after fighting for their lives against an unknown enemy.
"You keep surprising me, I haven't seen that technique before" Chrom approached Robin while complimenting his sword style.
"You flatter me" Robin said, scratching his neck "I would tell you were I learn it, but…."
"Right, no memories"
"Indeed"
"It appears your technique is a mix of several styles, Ylisse's own style included" interjected Frederick.
"Certainly, but enough of that" Chrom decided to change the topic of the conversation "I did not give you my thanks before, thank you, for saving my sister" he said looking towards the masked warrior.
"Yes, you were very heroic, thank you" added Lissa.
"No need to" he replied with a monotone voice.
"What's your name?" the lord asked.
"My name is Marth"
"Like the Hero-King of Old? You certainly fight like a hero…"
"I'm not here to talk about myself, a dark future is upon us, today is but a sample of what is to come, you have been warned…" Marth said this last words before leaving towards the forest, on his way out Robin felt his gaze on him, just like he felt it during their previous fight.
So it was you earlier he thought to himself.
He shook his head, discarding those thoughts for later, seeing how Lissa was daydreaming about Marth; someone has a crush it seems. While Chrom was trying to calm down Sully who was enraged by Virion's attitude.
He joined them and soon they parted towards Ylisstol.
Lucina kept running through the forest, trying to put as much distance between her and the group, once she was far away from them she stopped.
Steading herself against a tree, she removed her mask to vent some of her emotions, on the inside she was a mess.
Happiness and joy mixed with a bit of sadness, her father, aunt and heroes from childhood were all alive, but she couldn't get close to them, her mission was to save the future, not to make friends or anything.
Even if it mean to steel her heart and become emotionless, she would do so in order to complete her mission, it was her duty after all, yet in face of her father she couldn't help but feel vulnerable, her heart screamed to go and hug him tight, but her mind would not allow that.
Yet something worried her, they were weak, of course war has not started yet but they were a far cry from their future selves, Robin caught her attention though, was he always that capable?
His combat prowess seemed to indicate someone who was dedicated to train and hone his skills, yet it seemed as if his body remembered how to fight but not his mind, as if he were relying on muscle memory.
She took a deep breath, putting her mask on again, for now she would go to Ferox, if history is to be rewritten, that's the first place she must visit.
A/N
Hey there! Thank you for reading, this is my first long project, featuring of course my Awakening OTP: Robin and Lucina.
Start felt a little dry to write, i couldn't manage to make it different, i tried but decided to go like this in the end.
But upcoming chapters shouldn't be like that, hopefully.
Thank you for reading(again) and feel free to write a review or point anything odd, a mistake or anything ^_^ (I was so nervous that i forgot to add an "Author Note" +_+ Cheers~