Title: A Fledgling's Journey
Idea: Awakening: Lucina goes to the past.
Summary: Lucina knows that the only way to save the world is to go to past. Her wish is to save her parents, and the world.
Disclaimer: Nintendo owns Fire Emblem
Warning: Robin is Build 1, Face 1, Hair 3, Hair Color: 12.
(A Bird's Remorse)
"No, no!" Robin shook his body, anything to get him to move, to get up. "Chrom, beloved, get up. It can't end like this!"
She shook her head against the laughter she could hear in her mind, getting louder and louder. "We need to go home remember? We promised Lucina and the twins that we'd spend the whole week with them when we got home. No work, no nothing, just us five…" The tears in her eyes built up and then overflowed as she began sobbing.
Robin had always known that she was Grima's vessel. The Queen of Ylisse had never thought that she couldn't overcome any attempts Validar made to possess her to harm Chrom in this way. She'd been overconfident in her own ability to regain control of herself before she could harm her loved ones. She was now living her greatest fear.
Robin knew that they had to flee, but she couldn't bring herself to move. Now Chrom was gone, and the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She was not about to leave her king's body here.
She attacked every Grimleal that came close and waited for the others to arrive. Her Shepherds were her friends, and she was sure that they'd share in her grief. She'd say that Chrom was murdered. She'd let them come to their own conclusions as to who did it.
Finally, Lissa burst in on her horse. "Robin! Big brother!"
Robin turned. "Lissa, be careful!"
Lissa nodded as she rode towards her brother and sister-in-law and shot wind magic at the Grimleal that Robin had missed until she got to Robin's side. "Is Chrom alright?"
Robin turned her golden eyes to the ground, "I think he's dead."
"But," Lissa found that she had nothing to say. This was worse than when Emmeryn died.
"Please, Lissa," Robin pleaded over the sound of her thunder magic as she shot another Thoron spell at the last of the Grimleal, "help me bring his body home."
Lissa swallowed. "Okay." She helped lug Chrom's body up behind her saddle. "Will your escape plans still work?"
"They should," Robin bit her lip hard enough to make it bleed. "I need to get home, to Lucina and Marc and Morgan."
"We'll get you home Robin."
Three weeks later
Robin brought her pegasus, Tiny Hero King, down in front of the gates to Ylisstol and had to swallow the bile in her throat yet again. What could she do? This was the second exalt dead in less than ten years, and she had already told Lissa that the younger girl was not going to sit on that throne.
Robin wasn't about to let her sister work herself to death to distract her from the grief at the loss of her older brother. Robin didn't even want to think about how her children would react to learning their father was dead.
She knew there would be tears. Robin closed her eyes and rubbed the tears away as best she could, already feeling the familiar burn in her marked hand, a sure sign that her children were close. "I hope Nowi hasn't let them out of the castle." She didn't want them to see their father's body, not before she could explain what happened to him at least.
Robin sighed as she led Tiny Hero King to the stables. "Cordelia, can you and Sumia take care of Tiny Hero King while I go find my children?"
Cordelia nodded. "Worry not; we'll take care of Tiny One." She shooed the queen off. "Go spend time with your children."
Robin gave Cordelia a forced smile and left the stables. She hummed a sad, forlorn tune as she began searching out her three blue haired children. She found them by the maple grove where her beloved had often come when he was 'dueling with unpleasant thoughts'. Marc was on Lucina's lap, and Nah was cuddling with Morgan as Nowi regaled them with stories of the days back when she was simply Chrom's tactician and not his wife.
The simpler days that she now wished they could return, too. She cleared her throat. "Thank you for looking out for them, Nowi. I take it that Lon'qu is still here somewhere?"
Nowi's eyes widened. "Oh, yes. Yes he is," Nowi scooped a disgruntled Nah into her arms, away from Morgan. "He has a report for you. It seems that the number of Risen are starting to surge again."
"Again?" Robin sighed as she watched Morgan, crying that his friend was gone, crawl over to his sisters. "I guess I'll just have to deal with it later."
Robin scooped up her two-year-old boy. "Did you miss mother, Morgan?"
Morgan's eyes lit up. "Mama!" He giggled, ignoring Robin's sad smile as she tickled under his chin.
"Lucina, were you three good for Nowi?" Robin turned her attention to the seven-year-old.
"Yes, Mother, we were very well behaved," Lucina reported to her mother. "Where's Father? You promised that it would be just us."
"Nowi, can you take Nah inside please?" Robin turned to look at her Manakete friend. "There's something I need to tell my children, alone."
"It's about time I go find Lon'qu anyway," Nowi agreed. "We'll see you later."
"Mother," Lucina tugged on her cloak to get her attention back, "where is father?"
Robin took a deep breath and licked her lip. "Your father was murdered," she replied, sliding to her knees as she held Morgan close, "by someone close to him."
Lucina's eyes widened, "But…"
"I'm sorry, Luci. I couldn't save him this time," Robin pulled both Lucina and Marc into her lap and hugged her three children for all she was worth.
That night, Lucina's tactics games got much harder.
Three weeks later
With a heavy heart, Robin became the Exalt, even if she wasn't of the Exalted Bloodline. Her work load piled up, but she still made time for her children.
When Morgan and Marc turned three, Robin allowed them to join Lucina in her tactics lessons but not her royal lessons.
One night, Lucina overheard her mother talking with Aunt Lissa.
"…His voice is getting louder. I don't know what to do, Lissa." Robin paced her study. "It's getting harder and harder to drown him out."
"But you had no problems before," Lissa watched. "Are you sure you aren't just stressed?"
"No, Lissa!" Robin took a deep breath, "Chrom was my rock. I couldn't hear him at all when Chrom was around."
Robin turned to her sister and bit her lip. "Something about your brother blocked him out. Maybe it was just that you and he are of Naga's blessed line. I don't know."
Tears started to fall from the queen's eyes. "I just, just don't know how long I will be able to fight him with Chrom gone."
Lissa bit her lip as she watched her sister fall apart before her eyes. "You need to keep fighting though, for Lucina, Marc, and Morgan."
Robin nodded as she turned to look out her window. "I know. I will never give up without a fight," she sighed deeply, "but I don't know how long I can hold out."
The next day, Lucina and her siblings tried harder than they ever had in their lessons. They threw themselves into studying for their mother's lessons and even almost beat her several times, much to Robin's delight. But that just meant that Robin upped her own level, just a bit.
When Lucina turned ten, Robin looked into her vanity mirror and almost had a heart attack. Her eyes were glowing a faint red. "I've lost," she breathed in fear. "I've lost."
So, Robin took that day off and spent her last day with her kids. While in the market, she slipped into the tailor's shop and ordered three tactician cloaks for when her kids were older. "Have these delivered to the castle when they are done."
"Yes, Your Grace," the tailor bowed, "I shall get these done for you."
"Mother," Lucina called from a nearby stand, "can we have lunch now?"
Robin smiled. "Yes dear, we may have lunch now." She took Marc's hand in her left and Lucina's in her right before leading them down the lane to the shop that made Stahl's favorite pastries.
Lucina took her first bite of one and her eyes lit up. "Uncle Stahl was right. These are very good."
Robin watched with sad eyes as her children enjoyed their last day with her. "What shall we do next?"
"Can we go look at the magic tomes, Mother?" Morgan asked.
Robin chuckled. "You want to learn magic?"
All three of her beloved children nodded. "Yes please, Mother," all three chirped.
Robin had to bite down hard on her response. Her little ones were adorable, "Alright, my Tiny Ones, once we're there you can pick out which type of magic you want to learn, and the lessons will begin tomorrow."
How Robin hated to lie, especially to Chrom's children, but she could not stay, not with Grima so close to the surface. She forced a happier smile onto her face as her children cheered and gobbled up the rest of their pastries.
Marc and Morgan especially loved her lessons, and Robin couldn't be happier. Lucina would need her little siblings' help if the three of them were to survive Grima's wrath, which Robin could no longer fight. This had been a long time in coming. Honestly, Robin was surprised that she'd lasted this long without Chrom.
Robin shook her head, pushing Grima's murderous musings away as best she could so that she could enjoy this last day of freedom.
That night, she sang her children to sleep one last time, and after making sure they were actually asleep, she slipped into her study and penned Lucina a letter, dropping as many hints as to what was really going on as she dared. Then she grabbed the book her father had been carrying that fateful day all those years ago, and after gently placing her crown on top of the letter, slipped out of the castle for the last time.
"These tears that burn my eyes are all the tears the queen can shed," she sang to the wind as she turned to look back at her beloved home one last time. "These tears I weep in silence as I mourn my heralds dead…"
Grima was already guiding her feet to the Dragon's Table, where he would take over completely. How she'd hated that place as a child, and she was forever grateful to her mother for taking her away. Her journey was much faster than she remembered the march being the first time.
"Oh Gods that dwell beyond the stars if you can hear my cry," she flinched at Grima's dark laughter as she unwillingly ascended the steps to her demise. The Risen were already gathered and parted for her as she grew closer.
Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the familiar body of her beloved lying at the center of the table. "No, how could you be here? We buried you in the graveyard, next to Emm and your parents!"
Robin sprinted up the steps. The tears in her eyes fell freely as she knelt next to his prone, yet somehow, still perfect body. Her tear filled golden eyes widened as Chrom's body was lifted by Grima's dark magic, and she swallowed the bile rising in her throat and covered her mouth as she watched in horror.
His skin was peeling away leaving only grotesque purple muscle underneath. His royal blue armor burned away leaving a red simile and poor caricature of his armor behind. When the magic let him down, he was standing. The new Grand General of Grima's army.
Robin shook her head weakly as his eyes opened, glowing that same cobalt that they had been in life. 'What have you done?' she demanded of the voice in her mind.
'I have simply given you the best guardian of them all.' Robin shivered in terror as the risen form of her husband knelt before her and held out a hand to help her up, just as Chrom has when he was alive all those years ago, the day she'd first fallen in love with him. "No," she breathed shaking her head, wanting nothing more than to scream. "NO!"
Robin knew no more for the next three years
Three years later
Waking up and not being in control was very disconcerting. Robin couldn't do anything at all. It was terrifying, especially when she heard rumors of her children. Morgan and Marc would be what? Eight now? Yes, that was right. Robin hoped that she'd been able to teach them enough.
Robin had no sense of time at all when she slept. She knew Grima could use her in some way while she slept. It terrified her that Grima might always be several steps ahead of her clever children. Months at a time seemed to go by when she was out, but Robin had no way of counting them.
It wasn't until two years later that she finally saw them again, when Grima's Risen overran her home. She could feel Grima's sick pleasure, his glee at the vision of her home in ruins, as Ylisstol burned.
Robin watched with baited breath as Lucina gored a Risen with Falchion. "I believe the woman you want is me." Lucina pulled upward hard, saving the soldier.
Lucina glared at the soldier. "Pick up a sword and fight," she commanded, panting.
Robin watched as Grima destroyed more of her home, but knew she was helpless to do anything. "So ends the human race," Grima hissed. "The future is built upon the past."
"But your kind shall never see it."
Lucina's eyes widened in fear, and Robin couldn't stand it. Her daughter was clever and strong, and together with Marc and Morgan, they'd find a way to stop him.
"Your mother and father are dead, Tiny One," Grima told her elatedly. Robin noticed Lucina flinch at the nickname.
Grima's laughter made her sick, but since Robin was Grima and Grima was Robin, there wasn't much that she could do for her daughter.
She watched as Lucina grabbed her younger siblings and they fled.
Over the next year, Robin began hearing rumors about how the children of the Shepherds were planning to go to the past, and Robin realized she knew exactly what she needed to do. 'Grima!'
'Yes?'
Robin licked her lips. 'We must stop them, stop them from awakening us. From changing the past.' She swallowed her anxiety. 'To do that, we must follow them into the past. I'm sure that's what Naga intends to do, send them back!'
This was it. This was her last gambit she waited with baited breath as Grima pondered what she'd said.
'Yes, you're right.' He finally agreed. His huge body began to disappear.
Robin found herself back in command of her body, though she knew it wouldn't last as she fell into the arms of her Risen husband. "Put me down, Chrom," she commanded.
And she found herself placed lightly on her feet. She was surprised to find a fond, soft smile of that grotesque face. Was Chrom's mind in there?!
Robin watched from the behind glowing red eyes as Lucina dragged her younger siblings into the Outreach Gate and smiled to herself. Grima was about to build his own coffin at her own suggestion.
Grima walked calmly through the gate, heading a different way. 'What should we do first once we get there?'
Robin asked her past self forgiveness and sent a prayer to Naga for the same for what she was about to do. 'We should merge with our past self,' she looked out their eyes, 'that way we have the pleasure of killing Chrom twice.'
Second timeline: field near Southtown
A young woman named Robin with sky blue hair and golden eyes hummed as she walked towards the next town on her trek. "I know I'll need help. I just wish Prince Chrom wasn't so hard to track down."
A twig snapped and Robin whipped around, tensing when she saw a woman nearly identical to herself standing there with a sadistic grin. "Who are you?"
"I'm you," they hissed and lunged at her.
Robin reached for her thunder tome, but the other was already on her. She found herself on the ground.
Robin gave a muffled scream as she felt something tear into her mind and heart. "No!" She struggled to get out from under her attacker.
The older Robin looked around at all the memories her younger self would have to give up and cried for the loss of her brilliant mother who had taught her everything she knew. She tore it all down.
Bird, as the older Robin thought of herself, carefully pulled her memory of that horrible day, the day her beloved died from her own mind and planted it into her younger self's mind. "I hate to do this," Bird whispered to Robin and took apart her own memories and leaving impressions and feelings for the rest of the Shepherds as Grima realized that the younger Robin's heart was not yet ready, "but this is the only way to guarantee that Grima dies."
Bird took a deep breath. "Forgive me, but this is the only way that I can promise that our beloved will live through that horrible ordeal. It is better that you don't know. It is better that beloved be the first thing you remember. I am so tired. All I want is to be with him again, and you, Tiny Robin, will be the one to grant me rest."
Robin's Dream
She ran after him, a step behind as always slipping around their enemy as her husband engaged him with his sword. She charged a bolt of thunder magic in one hand as she watched.
Her husband's blade was caught on the dark magic the other used and he rolled under the shot and looked up. "Up there," he warned. She shot her bolt of magic at him but missed.
"Beloved," she called as the ball of dark magic hit her husband, "are you alright?"
"Yeah," he called back as he used his sword to help him stand. His arm was shaking, a sure sign that it was hurting him again like the many times he had assured it would not.
She turned back to their enemy and snarled as he shot another globe of dark magic at her husband. This time she shot her own magic at his to protect her love. She bristled when their foe gave her a contemplative look. She sent all her magic at him, trying to kill him swiftly. "For killing Emm, for almost killing my beloved, and for continuing your attempts on his life, I'll kill you!"
Beloved glared at the other man from her side, panting. He was ready.
"Damn you both!" She barely heard him and saw the bolt of dark magic from over beloved's shoulder. If she let it hit him, her beloved would surely die.
She shoved him away and took the attack herself. She must have blacked out for a moment because the next thing she knew her beloved was leaning over her.
"Are you alright?" he asked and helped her to sit up, letting her lean against his side. "Thanks to you we carried the day, Robin. No "destiny" will ever take you from us."
She chuckled as he pulled her to her feet. "You're right, that's-" Something in her chest pulsed, and suddenly, everything seemed so far away, including her husband's voice.
"That's the end of him," he was saying, though she could barely hear him. It was as if she was under water. "We can rest easy now."
He looked down when she didn't say anything, "Hey are you alright?" he asked urgently, "Hey, hang on!"
When she came back to herself she saw that her beloved husband had a look of agony on his face. "B-Beloved?" she asked fearfully. "What happened? Beloved!"
He took a few steps back. She felt as if her heart had been ripped out. A bolt of her thunder magic was sticking out of his gut.
"This isn't your fault," he struggled to get out. "Promise me, that you'll leave this place…"
"Not without you!" she tried to argue. "Let me call Lissa or Maribelle!"
"It's too late for that." He fell to his knees. "Please… Go…"
She screamed his name as he fell face down on the ground, and for some reason, she was certain he was dead.
(End)
Ok, you will notice that this chapter does not follow the trend for the other Fledgling fics, for one, this is in Robin's perspective not Lucina's because it would not have worked as well. Lucina didn't witness her father's death, only Robin did.
And I must confess, the whole reason I wrote this was so that I could write the end, where Bird attacks Robin, the memories being erased and all that.
Thank you to my lovely beta, who has the best ideas and cleans up my mess.