Author's Note: The idea kinda just came out of the blue, so the story itself was mostly a one-sitting word storm. I don't know how well this story turned out, but I need something to get rid of the writer's block for my other story, so hopefully this will help! I hope you enjoy!
The Shepherd's camp was quite. Unusual, given how its normally jovial fires were still lit and the mess tent was still serving food. But none the less, the camp was lacking its signature antics. Even though they were embroiled in the war against Grima's servants, the Shepherd's had always had a positive outlook. Until the battle they had partaken in earlier this day.
The sorrow felt by the group was obvious, even if someone who had never met the Shepherds encountered them. The bubbly Princess Lissa had red-rimmed eyes, and their courageous leader Chrom was isolated in his tent. The rest of the company, though also dealing with their own various forms of grief, had not seen the royal family react as such since Exalt Emmeryn's sacrifice.
However, the one who was most troubled was the group's tactician, Robin. She, much like Chrom, shut herself away from the others in her tent. Most of the others didn't blame her, though. After all, she thought of herself as the reason that the Shepherd's numbers had been cut down.
That morning, the Shepherds had marched to Plegia's capital for peace talks with King Validar regarding the Fire Emblem and its sacred stones.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Chrom stated nervously as he, along with Robin, Lucina, and Frederick approached the throne room of Validar's castle.
"Don't worry about it, Chrom." Robin chuckled as she fiddled with her long, white hair, betraying the fact that she too was worried. "We have a plan just in case this goes south. You do trust me, right?"
Chrom grinned at this. "Of course, Robin. Your plans have yet to fail us."
His grin quickly disappeared as he added "But we still can't be too careful."
Frederick nodded. "Wise mindset, milord. But with that sentiment, why refuse to leave the Fire Emblem at our base?" Frederick also looked pleadingly at his wife, but Robin shook her head as her answer.
The crown prince sighed in response to Frederick's continued questions. "Frederick. I've told you. There is no one else who I would rather keep it."
" Besides,"He added with a smirk, "I am perfectly capable of defending myself."
Lucina shook her head. "While I agree your battles prowess, Father, I still think Sir Frederick is right. Taking the Emblem into the enemy's base is far to dangerous."
"Lucina..." Chrom started before she interrupted with a pleading "Just let me take it back to camp!" Frederick continued with "It is a much better idea, milord."
"Enough!" the blue-haired swordsman nearly roared. Lucina and Frederick took that as their sign to stop trying to pressure Chrom into leaving the Emblem behind.
"We're here. Time to be serious." Robin cautioned as the group stopped before the throne room's dark, immense doors. They opened silently, inviting them to enter.
The room was huge. Golden arches adorned the area, proclaiming Plegia's famous wealth. But they were far from the most impressive or most intimidating part of the royal chamber. Black banners emblazened with the mark of Grima hung across its entirety, and several dark mages were chanting a haunting rythm in a rough circle. At its center, a ball of pale purple energy was building.
"I knew this was a bad idea." murmered Lucina as the continued their path towards King Validar, who was leading the chant from a slightly elevated platform. At his side was Aversa, and the dark witch glared at the party as they approached.
"King Validar!" Chrom called. Validar lightly raised his arm, and the chant quickly dissipated.
"Well, how nice of you to join us, Princeling." The Plegian king remarked as the circle of mages broke to allow the four closer access, his words dripping with obvious malice.
"Indeed." the prince replied, obviously trying to ignore the king's threatening tone.
"We have heard that you the holder of the final sacred stone." Chrom continued. "We would like to request possession of it, at least for a short time."
"You would think to come into my court, and demand a Plegian treasure?" Validar sneered. Before Chrom could respond that Ylisse could easily reimberse the loaning of the stone, Lucina jumped into the conversation.
"Would you rather we let the world descend to darkness?" she accused Validar.
With a snarl, the king swung over to Lucina. "You interloper! I have half a mind to rid myself of you now! Besides, do you not recall the tragedy that fell upon the Grimleal the last time the Fire Emblem was complete?"
"Tragedy!" Lucina yelled, ignoring the warning glances she received from Chrom and Robin. "You would call the sealing of the dark dragon a tragedy?!"
The king's snarl turned into a grin. "I would, and so would the rest of my troops!" Validar proclaimed with a snap of his fingers. Immediately, the dark mages that had formed the circles warped away, replaced by armored knights and sword-wielding guards. The large doors also slammed shut, preventing the group from exiting from where they came. Chrom and Lucina unsheathed their respective Falchions in response, with Robin readying a powerful thunder tome and Frederick drawing his backup short sword.
"Robin! We need to start now!" Chrom commanded as the group of four retreated. With a nod, the tactician cast a spell from the other, smaller tome she had tucked away. Rather than an offensive strike, the spell summoned forth a dozen other battle ready Shepherds. Acting in quick coordination, the total sixteen Shepherds broke into four groups of four, further separated into two duos in each group.
The battle then began in earnest. Each group split off, fighting off the enemies they knew had to fall for their survival.
Gaius and his Taguel partner, Panne, worked together in quick strikes to take out faster units while the other duo in their group, Vaike and Lon'qu, were in a competition to see who could defeat a particularly defiant knight.
Miriel and Virion hung back from the fighting, sending both magic and arrows into the fray while Lissa and Maribelle continuously healed the core fighters from afar.
Kellam and Donnel used their heavy armor and lances to support the sides of their other duo, allowing Sully and Stahl to strike out without fear of their flanks being struck.
But easily the most impressive group was the original four sent for peace talks. Chrom and Lucina where a pair of deadly storms, their dual Falchions blazing with righteous blue fire. Even a group of four of Plegia's best swordsmen quickly fell beneath their onslaught.
Yet, even if they were overshadowed by the royal duo, Frederick and Robin easily had the best teamwork of the group. Frederick had obtained his signature silver lance from Sully when they arrived, and was keeping a low stance, using his expertise with the weapon to keep his foes at a fair distance. Robin, taking advantage of the space provided by her husband, would fling devastating bolts of Thoron towards the Plegian soldiers, ripping through their heavy armor like paper. Any left standing would quickly fall to a swift thrust from Frederick.
As the Shepherds fought, they gradually made headway towards the back exit of the throne room, a place they knew from Gaius' mission the previous night.
However, just as the reached the room and Lissa and Maribelle retreated back to camp, the unthinkable happened. A luck strike opened a small would on Vaike's arm, leading to him dropping his huge ax beneath his usual guard. Seeing and opening, the knight pierced through the little chest armor Vaike was wearing before Lon'qu could react. Vaike wouldn't let his death be useless, however. With the last of his strength, he swung his weapon, beheading the one who had killed him.
"Well. I guess I win, huh?" was the last thing Vaike was able to stutter out to his partner before he collapsed, blood poring out of the grievous wound that had destroyed his heart.
"NO!" Lon'qu roared as Vaike fell, his usual stoic image shattered. The swordsman spun to where the rest of the Plegian should have been, rage on his face. However, with the knight being the last of the obvious Plegain forces, he simply fell to his knees.
The other Shepherds, however, with all of them in a position to see the encounter, where shocked. They had never seen a fellow Shepherd fall in battle, Robin's strategies always leading to only wounds for the elite squad.
It was during this confusion that Validar made his move. He suddenly appeared before the Shepherds, and began to use the dark control over the fell blood within Robin.
"Robin?" Frederick asked, worried as the tactician suddenly stopped moving. Then, with the Shepherds helpless to stop her, she shot a bolt of Thoron point blank through Frederick's heavily armored torso.
With a gasp and a confused look on his face, the knight fell, dead before he hit the floor.
The elite fighters, already in a state of shock over the death of their comrade, were momentarily stunned by the murder of Chrom's right hand man.
"Robin!" Chrom yelled, his voice full of conflicting emotions. Each of the other Shepherds expressed themselves as well, rage, grief, and confusion mingling together.
However, Validar was not done yet. With a cackle that only half drew the attention of the group to him, he snapped his fingers and the dark mages reappeared. With another command, the mages blasted the remaining Shepherds with an onslaught of dark magic. Most of the Shepherds avoided the attack, but Kellam, slowed down by his heavy armor, and Miriel, tripping over her own robes, were ripped apart, their screams bound to haunt the remaining group for the rest of their lives.
"Now, Robin! Bring me the Fire Emblem!" Validar hissed. The white-haired tactician, though it was obvious that she was fighting against the dark powers that had robbed her of her free will, sent a mercifully weaker blast of magic towards Chrom. The prince, who had been trying to recover his footing from his roll away from the blast, couldn't move fast enough.
He collapsed, alive but paralyzed. Robin wrenched the Emblem from Chrom's arm, throwing it over to Validar. Unluckily for the sorcerer, the throw was enough to propel the Emblem straight into his face.
Validar yelled, and the distraction caused him to lose his control over Robin.
With her brief respite, Robin tried to ignore the horrors she had cause and yelled "We need to leave, now! Some one grab Chrom and just get us out of here!"
Donnel followed her command, despite the tears streaming down his face due to the death of his instructor and the death of his friend. However, before anyone else could say anything, Sully hit the tactician in the back of the head, knocking her out. The knight then slung her over her horse.
"You heard her!" Sully yelled at the remaining Shepherds. "Time to get out damn asses out of here!"
With Virion and Gaius provided support as the Shepherds fled the castle, the King of Plegia simply laughed, his plan falling into place.
Robin's tent was dark, the tactician wallowing in self-hate.
"I murdered my own husband!" the tactician mumbled to herself, knowing she deserved worse.
When they had returned, Chrom had simply instructed Robin to get rest. Robin knew he was feeling bad for her, and she couldn't help but hate him for it.
"He should have just gotten rid of me." She told herself as she paced her tent.
Finally, deciding that she should try to walk off some of her negative emotions, Robin left her tent. Silently glad that no one saw her, she left the camp.
She walked through the abandoned plains, trying to enjoy the nice evening. The setting sun left a golden glow on the landscape, making it seem like a heartless killing had not just occurred. Eventually, she came across a river and sat down at its bank, staring at her reflection.
"Those are the eyes of a killer." she told herself as she glared at her reflection, her red eyes mirroring her current state.
"Robin. Please forgive me." a feminine voice told her from somewhere behind her.
Quickly putting the pieces together, Robin accepted her fate, simply staring at her reflection as she awaited the sacred blade Falchion to end her life.
Unfortunately for her, her executioner was not content with murdering the tactician without looking her in the eyes.
"Robin. Face me." Lucina said, her voicing breaking before she could say anything else.
Robin did as asked, turning to face the daughter of her best friend. Lucina stood, holding out Falchion shakily, tears streaming.
"Go ahead, Lucina." Robin told the princess. "Don't worry about making it quick unless you want to. I deserve worse."
Lucina nodded, not even bothering to hide her desire to not do what she would anyway. She raised Falchion, and swung the blade at a diagonal angle towards Robin's neck.
The last thing the tactician saw before her head rolled into the lake was of Chrom running to stop Lucina, a cry forever frozen upon his lips in her mind.