Future perfect
Chapter 1
Forlorn faces running from the cold regret.
It was in that moment, as the shepherds of Ylisse fought back the seemingly unending army of Risen upon the back of the great fell dragon Grima, that Robin decided that he truly hated himself. This decision was not born of some strange feelings of self-pity or inadequacy; it was instead born from the person standing across from him. Standing wasn't quite right word for it however, nearly doubled over in pain was perhaps a closer description of the state that the Grima possessed Robin was in at that moment.
In an effort to end this final conflict with his possessed self as quickly as possible, Robin had made a beeline directly for him, cutting down any Risen that shambled in his way before beating the possessed Robin into submission. The only reason why he had not struck the finishing blow was because Lucina had caught on to his plan and managed to catch up in time to stop him, telling him that Chrom was on his way over. This much was true, as Robin could hear Chrom's desperate call over the clashes of steel as the battle raged around them.
"THAT'S RIGHT ROBIN, WAIT FOR YOUR PRECIOUS CHROM TO ARRIVE AND SLAY ME, IT MATTERS NOT IN THE END. YOU CAN FORSTALL THE INEVITABLE, BUT IN THE END I WILL STILL WIN, THIS WORLD WILL DIE BY MY HAND, BE IT NOW OR IN A THOUSAND YEARS." The fell dragon growled at him, the smirk on the possessed Robin's face was clearly visible despite the obvious pain he was in.
"Ignore him, Father is almost here." Lucina called to him as she intercepted another Risen knight that had shambled its way into her path.
"You're a fool if you think that I'll ever let that come to pass." Robin told his possessed self as he took his chance, closing the remaining distance with his blade drawn while Lucina was distracted.
"YOU WILL NOT KILL ME, YOU ARE ME, IF I DIE, THEN YOU WILL DIE WITH ME." The fell dragon declared confidently as Robin drew closer.
"It's funny really considering you are me, but what you really should've really realised by now is, I'm okay with that." Robin told the possessed dragon, before thrusting his sword forwards, in an effort to drive his blade into the chest of his other self.
"Robin, what are you doing?!" Chrom yelled, having finally felled the last risen that stood between him and Robin, only to see Robin drawing his arm back to thrusting his blade towards the puppet of the fell dragon. "Lucina, stop him!"
Lucina, who had just finished dispatching the Risen knight, turned just in time to see Robin's blade driving home towards himself. Robin could tell that if she wanted to, she could easily cover the distance between then in a second and stop him, but he could see the look of hesitation on her face.
It was the same look that she had when she had first confronted him after he had been forced to hand over the fire emblem to Vaildar. A look that told him that she knew what had to be done if she truly wished to stop Grima, no matter how much she disliked it.
As Robin's blade sank into the chest of his possessed self, an inhuman scream emanated from the actual fell dragon. As the scream rang through the air, the shepherds all felt the fell dragons death throes as the ground around them trembled chaotically. The head of the fell dragon, which had been spitting dark magic at the Shepherds for the entire battle suddenly exploded in a rain of scales and gore to reveal a horribly deformed face underneath, before that face too, fell from view. The army of risen suddenly started falling to the ground around the Shepard's as whatever magic that kept them animated started to recede back to its dying source, leaving the risen as lifeless husks on the ground.
Robin also felt the effects of the fell dragons death, it was as if the very essence of his being was being forcibly pulled away, returning to the source from where ever it came. It was obvious that his doppelganger was feeling the same thing, except that he was taking it far less gracefully then Robin was. As Robin turned to face the Shepherds, he could hear the cursing of his doppelganger behind him while they were both being pulled from existence.
"Robin why?" Was all that Chrom managed to ask him, a heartbreaking look of sadness shown plainly on his face.
At least that was the look that Robin thought he could see on Chrom's face since his vision was already starting to fade.
"I'm sorry Chrom." Robin told him, biting back the sadness that was threatening to engulf him as he realised this might be the last time he would see the Shepherds again.
"The future is safe now, so please make sure that it's a good one." Robin told them as his vision faded entirely, his own words sounded far away to him now. He swore that he could hear someone calling his name for a moment, before he was finally pulled from existence.
Nothingness, it was all that Robin could understand, as he drifted through the emptiness that surrounded him. There was nothing but the constant pull that tore him from his world and was now his only direction against the darkness that was engulfing him.
Robin didn't know how long he had been drifting in the dark void before he finally saw something he could understand. The darkness around him was suddenly no longer a completely impenetrable blackness, but rather it became something more akin to the night sky complete with twinkling stars in the distance. Not long after that, Robin realised the destination of the incessant pulling that was dragging him further and further away from the place he called home. He could just make out a dark cloud in the distance that was drawing ever closer as he drifted towards it. He could not see any light in the cloud, and it was probably unlikely that he would be able to see it at all if it wasn't for the light that those stars produced for him in the first place.
As he watched the dark cloud draw closer, Robin realised that he could feel the essence of something familiar pushing past him towards the cloud, as if it was being sucked in just like he was. If Robin had to guess, he would guess that the remains of Grima were being drawn to the cloud, and his connection to the dead fell dragon was what brought him along for the ride.
It was not long before Robin found his senses once again being swallowed by the cloud of darkness, before he finally lost all consciousness.
"Hey ****, are you alright there?" Robin heard someone ask has he suddenly jolted back into consciousness.
The first thing Robin realised was that he could feel ground beneath him, as if he was lying on a stone floor. The second thing he realised was that his vision was swimming back into focus, so he was able to see some grey blurs in the blackness around him, and thirdly he realised that the voice close by had called a name, yet Robin was unable to recall what that name was, despite hearing it only a moment ago.
As Robin's vision slowly restored itself, Robin realised that he was face to face with the source of the voice he heard.
"**** what's wrong, I'll help if I can." Robin heard as the owner of the voice finally came into proper view. Robin found himself staring at a young man who was crouched beside him. He was probably about the same age as himself or Chrom, with bright red hair and was wearing what looked like a blue overcoat and a light chest plate, complete with a blue cape. But what Robin found most fascinating about him was his face, his expression showed worry and trust as he looked at Robin, and his features seemed more delicate in comparison to someone like Chrom and his chiselled jaw.
Realising that the young man was waiting for his response, Robin quickly scrambled back to his feet.
"Where am I?" He asked the stranger before him.
"I don't know, this place is a mystery to me as well." The young man replied as he turned to look at their surroundings. "However, this place sets me on edge, I think we should try to avoid lingering here."
As he said this, his hand dropped to the rapier at his waist, yet despite this Robin didn't feel any sense of danger from the man in front of him, instead he felt an odd sense of familiarity even though he could not place why.
Deciding that the stranger with him was not a threat, Robin instead decided to take in his new surroundings. They were standing at the front of what looked to be a large castle, yet there was something about the castle that just seemed off to Robin. The castle itself looked old and in need of repairs, with holes in the several walls and damaged decorations.
There was a large waterfall in front of them, yet instead of crystal clear water falling from the top, there appeared to be glowing molten lava in its place, though Robin couldn't feel any difference in temperature from where he stood. Curiously, Robin walked over to the fountain only to see that instead of the fountain having a basin where the water would collect, there was instead nothing beneath, and the lava that fell from the fountain would simply keep falling into the darkness which mirrored the night sky above.
Robin turned to look behind him, away from the castle only to find that there was a large gate in what would usually be considered the outer wall of a castle. The young man followed Robin's gaze before saying. "I had the same idea when I first woke here, but it seems that the gate is shut tight."
"I don't know why we are here, but I feel as if the answer may lie inside the castle." He continued, turning back to face Robin. "I would not like to investigate alone, but as long as you're here with me, I have no doubt that we will be fine."
There it was again, Robin noted. The young man had just shot him a look that implied absolute trust in his presence, despite the fact that Robin couldn't remember ever meeting this man in his life. However Robin couldn't deny that the trust was at least partially a two way street since he couldn't help but feel a surprising amount of trust for the red head in question.
"Alright, let's go." Robin told him, causing the young man to shoot him a relieved smile.
As the two of them reached the front doors of the castle, the young man turned to Robin as he reached for the door.
"Let me go first ****, I'll do my best to make sure no harm befalls you." He told Robin before he opened the door.
Robin was about to tell him not to worry, until he realised that he didn't actually have a weapon on him, not only that, but the coat that he was wearing was not the familiar black tacticians coat that he had worn since Chrom had first found him, but rather a green coat. The coat itself, while still comfortingly heavy, did not bear any signs of the Grimaleal, nor any of the wear and tear of his previous battles. Deciding that these were questions for another time, Robin looked up to realise that he had simply been blindly following the red head, who had suddenly stopped as they reached what Robin would guess to be the main hall of the castle.
Across the room from them was a throne on a raised platform, where a king or lord would usually sit and provide audience to the subjects of his realm. The room actually seemed rather familiar to Robin, in fact now that he had thought about it, the room seemed almost exactly the same as the throne room of Ylisse. However there were a few differences, for one Robin didn't recall the original throne room in Ylisse having large statues of Chrom, Lucina, Lissa and Frederick in the corners of the room. Secondly, he was pretty sure that the symbols of Grimaleal could not be found anywhere in the castle, let alone on giant banners in the throne room. Lastly the room itself seemed older, and suffering from far more wear and tear then the real throne room, there were even holes in the roof which revealed the night sky above.
Robin was then brought back from his train of thought by the sound of a blade leaving its sheath, before he realised that the red head with him was pointing his blade at a figure who was lounging lazily the throne.
"Who are you?" He called across the room to the figure. "Did you have anything to do with bringing us here?"
The figure laughed a cold feminine laugh as she stood up, allowing Robin to get a better look at her. It was then that he realised that the woman across the room was wearing the exact same cloak that Robin was used to wearing, in fact she was wearing all the same clothing that Robin wore when he killed Grima. Her hair, while longer was also the same colourless white that Robin's own hair was but unlike Robin, she bore a cold malicious smirk as she stepped down from the throne towards them.
"Do not come any closer." The red head said to the woman as he raised his blade as an obvious warning.
However the woman ignored him as she walked across the room, her hands behind her back as if she was truly a noble walking towards her subjects. It was then that Robin realised that he could make out a faint yellow glow behind her.
"Watch out, she has magic!" Robin yelled in warning, but as the words left his mouth, the woman sprang into action revealing the spell of lightning that was in her hand which was then flung at the red head.
However the red head had thrown himself out of the way of the spell, forcing himself to land with a roll to avoid losing his footing.
"Thanks ****!" Robin's new friend called back as he stood up, before immediately making a cautious advance towards the hostile woman.
Robin could tell that he was obviously not an inexperienced fighter, the way he held himself as he made his way closer to the woman told Robin that the red head was ready to avoid any new spells at a moment's notice. The woman on the other hand looked completely relaxed, if even slightly bored as she held out her hand to ready another lightning spell.
The red head's approach slowed even more as the woman stared at him with her readied lighting spell in hand. However the red head then decided to take the opportunity to strike his opponent, bringing his rapier forward with surprising speed and dexterity.
The woman's reaction was just as fast, as she let loose her spell at the young man in front of her. However the young man's attack proved to be a faint as he spun out of the way of the spell, before striking back with deadly precision, confident that he had just won the fight since his opponent had missed her spell.
His opponent was not left as helpless as the red head expected however. As he made his attack the woman's other arm made its way between the two of them faster then what seemed humanly possible, before another spell emanated from her hand. Dark magic emanated from her fingertips, striking the red head directly in the chest before he could finish his strike.
"Eliwood!"
The name came unbidden from Robin's throat as he watched the young man fall lifelessly to the ground. He couldn't understand what he just saw, no spell could be cast instantly like that, Eliwood's faint should've guaranteed the victory against the woman.
What was even worse to Robin however, was why didn't he try to help? After everything he had gone through with Chrom and the Shepards, assisting an ally in a fight was practically second nature. Instead he remained rooted to the spot in the middle of the great hall as the young man that he unexplainably remembered the name of, fought and died for him instead.
"You resist, you cling to your old life as if it actually matters, you will learn."
It took Robin a moment to realise that the woman was now speaking to him directly.
Taken by surprise at her sudden lack of hostility, Robin quickly opened his mouth to respond in an effort to keep her occupied while he devised an escape plan, or at least to find a way to defend himself.
"Who are you, what is this place?" He asked as his eyes darted around the throne room, looking for anything that could help him escape the threat that stood before him.
"This place? It is a dream, a dream of what has happened and what may happen." She responded, as she kicked Eliwood's body away from her. His rapier clattered as the body brushed passed it, leaving the weapon out in the open.
She then looked directly at Robin before saying "I wonder, will you cling to the past or will you be able to see through the pain?"
"You said this is a dream, then did you bring us here, is any of this real?" Robin asked in as much of an effort to buy himself time as he did out of curiosity.
He couldn't run, with her magic she would most likely be able to shoot him down with a well-placed lightning bolt before he could reach the doors of the main hall. The only weapon that appeared to be available to him was Eliwood's fallen rapier. Robin had no real experience with rapiers, the only time he saw one used was when he first met Chrom, and while he was no expert, he was pretty sure that one did not use a rapier like a broad sword.
"It is you who brought us here to the dream, none of this is real…not yet."
The level of finality in the woman's voice told Robin that his time was finally up. Throwing caution to the wind, Robin ran as fast as he could to the fallen rapier, before leaping desperately for the weapon.
Snatching up the weapon, Robin quickly turned with the rapier raised towards the woman, only to find that she was now directly in front of him with a lightning spell ready in hand.
"It is time for you to wake up Robin" was the last thing he heard before he felt the bolt of lightning strike him directly in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground. The last thing he saw before the burning agony in his chest overtook his sensors was Eliwood's body lying nearby, then everything was dark.
The next thing he knew, was that he was falling. The sky was dark and the wind was pushing against his body as he fell. He didn't know how he had gotten there, or why he was falling, but that didn't change the fact that Robin was suddenly falling at an alarming pace towards what looked like an ocean below him.
Robin gritted his teeth and tried to brace himself, he had heard enough horror stories from both Cordelia and Sumia about what happened to people who fell from a high flying Pegasus to know that it was unlikely that he would survive the landing.
He hit the surface of the water with a loud SPLASH, but to his surprise, his landing was far softer than it really should've been, and the water itself was far more shallow then he expected which confused him even more. Planting his feet on the sand, Robin pushed his head above the surface of the water to see a beach rather close to where he landed.
His immediate relief at seeing land was soon squashed however, when he saw a small group of figures on the dark beach and the glint of steel reflecting the moonlight of the night sky.
Raising his arms in an obvious gesture of non-hostile intentions, Robin started making his way to shore, completely ignoring the gentle push of the waves that swirled around him as he kept his gaze locked on the people at the shores edge.
He could make out approximately twelve people standing on the beach, all of which were looking towards him while many had various weapons drawn.
As Robin drew closer, he was able to make out more details of the dimly lit beach, which was a challenge in itself since he had only the moonlight to guide his vision. The twelve were standing nearby what looked to be a temporary camp located within a rocky outcrop that would make the area hard to see from any who were not coming from the sea itself. Planks of wood had been repurposed into benches and knee high walls while several bags had been scattered around the camp site, however Robin noted that there was no trace of a camp fire or any source of light, an obvious attempt to give off as little signs of life as possible.
As for the twelve themselves, Robin felt a sense of familiarity, possibly born from the creature that looked suspiciously like a Wyvern near one of the figures, or the Pegasus near another.
Was it possible that I've managed to return home? Robin couldn't help but think to himself as he finally stepped out of the water and on to the sandy shoreline.
"Who are you, to fall out of the sky so suddenly stranger?" A very familiar voice rang out, however the suspicion and hostility behind each word was palpable to Robin's ears.
"Lucina, is that you?" Robin asked, hoping to confirm his suspicions.
If Robin had hoped that his response would lessen the hostility of those around him, then he would be sorely disappointed. He heard a few gasps of shock from the group, before a sudden flash of steel crossed his vision, and he found himself staring down the blade of the Falcon into familiar blue eyes, one of which was marked with the symbol of Naga.
It was certainly Lucina who stood in front of him, she looked almost exactly the same as he remembered, but there was something different about her that he noticed immediately from looking in her eyes. Back home, Lucina would always view the world around her with a look of caution and suspicion. It was a gaze that Robin had become used to receiving whenever he tried to talk to the future lord of Ylisse, but the look he was receiving now was far more than that. Rather than just caution and suspicion in her gaze, there was also desperation mixed with fear. It was the look of someone who was rapidly running out of things to lose.
"How do you know my name, who are you?" Lucina asked, her voiced had lowered dangerously, the promise of violence hiding any fear that she might have been showing in her gaze.
Realising that the situation was bound to go badly for him if he didn't start talking, Robin opened his mouth to speak.
"My name is Robin, I'm the tactician of Ylisse under the command of your father Chrom." He explained quickly, hoping to delay any thoughts of violence from their side.
However it seemed that he had failed in his goal as Lucina's grasp on the falcon somehow tightened even more.
"Liar, my mother was Ylisse's only tactician!" Lucina told him angrily, though it seemed that she was actively trying to keep herself from shouting and drawing attention to them.
This caught Robin by surprise, to his knowledge, there was nobody in the shepherds who ever gained an interest in tactics with the exception of Severa. Since there was no way Robin could ever really justify Severa both becoming proficient enough to take over the role of tactician within the Shepards, and become Lucina's mother on top of that, he was suddenly at a loss.
"Those clothes of yours are striking, from where did you acquire them?" A new voice calmly chimed in, as a figure that Robin was quickly able to identify as Laurent stepped forwards towards the two of them.
Robin quickly tried to look down past the blade of the Falcon that was pointed in front of him to confirm that he was actually wearing his old tactician cloak rather than the green cloak from the dream before replying.
"I've had these clothes for as long as I can remember."
"Ha! Doesn't that sound like a familiar story." A far more scornful voice ran out from the group that Robin could instantly recognize to be Severa's.
"Now Severa, we should give him a chance. Perhaps he is some hero of legends, sent to help us in our darkest hour!" Another more excitable voice that Robin could only place as Owain's replied.
"Yea, come on Lucy give him a chance, he could actually be a hero of justice, or at the least he doesn't seem like a bad guy. One more voice that Robin could easily place as Cynthia's joined the fray,
"Don't be foolish, one mistake such as this could get us all killed." The voice of Kjelle snapped back, her voice as firm as iron.
"Kjelle, we can't just go around treating everyone as the enemy, otherwise there won't be anyone left to save once we're done here." Cynthia argued back before she was suddenly interrupted.
"The Risen have found us." The cold calm voice of Gerome cut through all the rest, demanding immediate attention as everyone turned to him.
Gerome was not facing the group but instead was looking behind them at the hills that lined the beach, and the silhouettes of many shambling figures that were starting to descend the hills.
"We can't fight them here, we're too exposed. Everyone head back to the camp site and I'll make a plan there." Lucina spoke up, her voice suddenly laced with unspoken authority.
The effect was immediate as the rest of the group quickly started making their way to back to their camp site while Lucina turned back to Robin, her blade still raised.
"I don't have time to figure out why you're here so I'll make this quick." She told him as she fixed him with a now unwavering gaze. "Are you a friend or a foe?"
"Friend" Robin answered instantly, "I may not know exactly what's going on here, but I can tell you now that I am no friend to the Risen or their master."
Lucina continued to gaze at him intensely for a moment, before she seemingly came to a decision.
"Fine, if you truly are a friend to us, then you'll have no problem helping us fight these Risen." Lucina told him as she lowered her blade to a far less threatening position.
"Just give me a sword or a tome and I'll help however I can." Robin told her, before she gestured him to head towards the campsite.
The two of them entered the rocky outcrop that contained the campsite, to find the rest of Lucina's group grabbing supplies and weapons in preparation for the battle to come.
"What's the plan Lucina?" Asked Severa, who had noticed their entrance and had walked over.
"Well, since our new friend here claims to be a tactician, so I'd like to hear his thoughts on the situation." Lucina said in a carrying voice, which caused the rest to stop what they were doing, and to turn towards them.
Realising that he was being given a chance to prove that any intentions he had were purely beneficial to the young Shepards, Robin quickly took in their surroundings and pulled together a plan.
The rocky outcrop they were in had four entrances that would need defending, but the rocks around them completely blocked any other way of seeing those inside, meaning that they were safe from any archers. However while the rocks were tall, Risen were not human, and it was entirely likely that they may try to scale the rocks and drop in on them from above, giving them a fifth place that they will need to defend. They had a few wooden planks and benches that could be used to help fortify the areas and Robin knew the basic strengths and weaknesses of the young Shepards thanks to his history with them.
"Ok here's the plan, the two entrances to this area that face away from the ocean will be hit the hardest. Lucina and Inigo, the two of you will defend one entrance while Kjelle and Severa will defend the other. Take the planks of wood lying around here and use them as makeshift barriers to help slow the Risen down. Nah, you and Yarne will defend the entrance that faces to the open ocean, any attacks from the Risen there should be small in number since they can't force many across at a time.
Laurent, Brady and Noire, the three of you will be our support team. You'll need to move between the entrance groups while giving out ranged support or healing the injured where necessary. Communication will be key here, if anyone finds their area getting overwhelmed or if somebody gets injured, then call it out.
Cynthia and Gerome, the two of you will use your mounts to keep an eye on the top of our shelter here, deal with any Risen that try to climb into this base. However do not fly too high up, any archers that the Risen may have won't have anything to shoot at, so don't give them a free target.
Owain and I will hold the side entrance, it shouldn't get as bad there as it will by the front areas, but we may need the support group to look in if necessary.
The enemy have numbers on us, so this will be a fight of endurance rather than pure power and skill, so don't waste any energy unnecessarily." Robin finished explaining his plan with a deep breath as the young Shepards all looked at Lucina for confirmation.
"Owain, you'll join with Inigo defending the entrance in my place, i'll defend the side area with our new tactician." Lucina told them, giving Robin a pointed look.
The look told him that she didn't completely trust him yet, however it seems that she found his plan sound enough to follow through with otherwise.
Everyone started gathering at their appointed positions, including Robin and Lucina who moved towards the side entrance to the rocky outcrop that had become their makeshift fortress against the Risen army. The wooden tables and planks from around the camp had been set as makeshift fortifications for the two front entrances, since there was not enough to try and fortify each area.
Robin gripped the sword that Owain had thrown over to him tightly as he saw the dark silhouettes of many Risen moving towards them. Many of the Risen were moving away from Robin's line of sight, in the direction of the two front entrances like he had predicted, however the sheer size of the Risen horde inevitably forced quite a few of them to simply head towards the side entrance.
Raising his sword, Robin readied himself as the first few Risen started to get dangerously close to striking range. He noticed that while she had obviously readied herself for the first contact on their end with the Risen, Lucina also seemed to be throwing glances his way. Most likely preparing herself in case he turned out to be treacherous.
Robin knew however, that her fears were for nothing and that all he wanted to do was help them survive this new situation, but it seemed that he'd have to show her in actions rather than just words.
It was then that the battle descended, not just on Robin but on the rest of the young Shepards as well. The sounds of steel on steel rang out against the night as the Risen horde fell upon the defenders of the rocky outcrop.
Robin was holding his own easy enough against the Risen, he was no master swordsman like Chrom or Lon'qu, but after everything he had been through, a few more Risen wasn't going to be the end of him. Lucina was holding her own right next to him, tirelessly striking down any Risen that came near her with the speed and ferocity of a cornered animal.
Robin could also hear the shouts from the other young Shepards over the sounds of battle, and couldn't help smiling to himself. It had taken him a solid month of work to get Chrom and the rest of the Shepards to properly communicate with each other during a battle with anything that didn't involve insults, but the young Shepards here seemed to have understood the importance of communication and were doing their best to use it as much as they could.
The Risen horde finally started to thin out after a few more minutes of fighting, and Robin was starting to tire as he struck another Risen that had swung at him with the reckless abandon of someone who didn't care if they lived or died. But suddenly he caught a glimpse of a strange sight past the remaining Risen.
A young man, couldn't be past the age of sixteen, was outside behind the horde of Risen.
Lost in a strange new place, so much like his own home yet also so very different, Robin didn't have much information to work with before he made his decision. If there was a chance that the young man out there was an innocent bystander in all this, he couldn't risk leaving them to the Risen. The young Shepards were holding their own ends by the sounds of them all yelling at each other, and Lucina was defending their entrance against the Risen with suprising ease at this point. It was as if she was gaining strength with every strike she made against the Risen as she practically danced through the enemies in front of her.
"There's someone out there!" Robin called to her, as he swung his sword down hard on the arm of another Risen, taking the offending appendage clean off. "I'm going to try and get to them before the Risen do."
With that he started pushing forwards out of the entrance that he had been defending with a sudden surge of strength, born from the fear he held for the bystander's safety. Focusing completely on striking down the enemies in front of him as quickly and precisely as possible, if Lucina had replied to him, he missed it completely.
Dodging, weaving and blocking the attacks of the Risen surrounding him as he struck down the ones that stood directly in front, Robin finally broke away from the dwindling horde, and quickly ran to the bystander who was standing a few meters away from the fight.
Now that he could finally get a good look at the bystander, Robin found himself grinding to a halt in front of the stranger as he took in his appearance.
Past the youthful face, Blue hair and surprised expression, Robin found himself staring at his clothes. The young man wore almost a carbon copy of the same tactician cloak that he wore. In his hands he clutched a tome that looked suspiciously like dark magic, but his stance and the way he held the tome showed surprise and alarm rather than hostility.
"Who are you?" The young man asked him, looking up at him with a worried look on his face. "You look like Mother, but you can't be. You feel so different.
Robin was unsure what to take from that, so instead he decided to focus at on the situation at hand.
"Why are you out here with all these Risen about?" He asked the young man, as he took a quick glance behind him. Some of the Risen had turned to follow him, but had seemingly been distracted by a moving wall of silver and blue, which Robin could only guess to be Lucina cutting down any Risen that got in her way as she also pursued him.
"Mother sent me, to deal with her, but she didn't foresee you." The young man told him, as he started to raise his tome.
Instantly alert, Robin raised his own sword, suddenly aware that the distance between the two of them was still large enough that he wouldn't be able to stop any spells that the young man would cast. Instead he prepared himself to dodge aside as he asked. "And who is your mother exactly?"
"This fight is over, I have to inform her about this." The young man said to himself, as magic started to flair around him and take form into what Robin could recognize as a teleport spell.
"Morgan wait!"
Robin heard the cry pierce the air as Lucina sprinted past him towards the young man, however she was too late as the spell finished causing him to disappear in a flash of light.
"Damn it!" Lucina cried in anger, before turning back to Robin.
"We'll talk about this later, the fight here iss almost over, help me finish off the rest of the Risen." She ordered him before running back into the fray.
Following her lead, Robin ran in after her, doing his best to intercept any of the Risen that Lucina left behind, as she viciously fought her way through the remaining Risen.
Robin could see the rest of the young Shepards coming from the rocky outcrop that they had been fighting in to help finish off the rest of the Risen too. The Risen themselves suddenly seemed far less organised then they had been a moment ago, and without the stranger to direct them they became far easier opponents to deal with. Before long the last Risen fell to the ground lifelessly and the rest of the young Shepards had grouped back together.
"That was amazing." Owain said while gasping of air, "A battle of epic proportions, and barely a scratch on anyone. It's just like those stories our parents told us about back in their time."
"Indeed, I had thought that I would not be able to behold the smiling face of a beautiful maiden again." Indigo agreed with Owain as he two tried to catch his breath. "But instead I am left with a story of heroism that would be sure to sweep any lady off her feet."
"What I'm more interested in, is what Lucina and our new friend were doing out in the middle of the enemy army?" Severa pointed out while putting extra stress on how she said friend like she was saying something horrible.
"I'll explain later, or should I say we'll explain later." Lucina told them as she gave Robin another look. "First we need to relocate to somewhere safe, then we can all start getting some answers.
So this is the start of a new story that I've been brewing up for a long time now, It should only be about 4 chapters long all together but as you can see already, they're gonna be big ones. If you guys liked this, then any comments or criticisms will be greatly appreciated.