I will never leave you again
Robin is taking a walk outside the camp, being alone with his thoughts surrounding him and his father, and their strange connection. Robin does not know if he can escape from his father's grasp the next time he tries to take over his mind. But that is not the only thing on Robin's mind. He is still thinking about what he did two weeks ago. He can focus when engaged on the battlefield, but when he is alone by himself, his thoughts go straight to that day. The day that Morgan died.
Suddenly, his wife appears before Robin, beautiful as ever, clad in her usual battle gear.
"Yes Lucina? What is it?"
"It's about my Father. I have memories of him you know. From when I was little. Before he… died."
"I see…"
"He was courageous, and kind and everyone spoke fondly of him. People say he was brave up until the very end. I always yearned to know him better. And now that I do, I can see the world will be robbed of a very great man. …I won't allow that to happen."
"Yeah, I understand. You love him. We all do."
"Robin I… Please forgive me…"
Lucina unsheathes her blade, pointing it towards Robin's chest.
"Lucina?! What are you doing?!"
"Stay where you are Robin! In the future, you are my father's killer."
The master tactician drops his gaze to the ground, clenching his fists.
"…Chrom too?"
"…No. You don't kill my father because of a bad decision. I could not believe that you killed my father after I saw how close you two were. But after what I saw today, I know it's the truth. You are at the mercy of Validar. You cannot control yourself."
"So if I die now, everyone will be saved?"
"Yes Robin, everyone will-"
"Do it"
"What?"
"…If I die, everyone will be happy when I am gone. They won't have to suffer from having me- I mean Grima around."
Lucina knew you could perceive it as Robin saying "me" as him being confused about who he really is. But Lucina knew there was more to it than that.
"No one blames you for what happened to Morgan, Robin."
The tactician looks up at his wife.
"I was not thinking about Morgan- I really mean it. If I can make everyone happy by going away, if everyone is better off without me, then I really do think it would be better if you finished me off. "
Lucina looks into the sorrowful eyes of her husband.
"You know I can tell when you hiding things from me. You hesitate, and you begin speaking faster than you usually do."
"Lucina… I got her killed Lucina. I got our daughter killed."
"Like I said, no one blames you for-"
"I know. Everyone has been really supportive. Especially you. But I can't shake it off Lucina. They all say it was not my fault, but I still feel them hesitating around me, looking at me differently than before. They might try to hide it, but they do not really want me around anymore. They are afraid I will fail again."
"Listen Robin. I loved her as much as you did, but we have to move on. Listen, I have lost many people in my life. My father, Mother, dear friends. They hesitate around you because they are concerned for you. None of us think that you-"
"Alright, I get it. Please. Just finish me off now."
"No Robin, you don't get it! You are standing here, talking like… talking like you already wanted to die!"
"Please do not make this harder for yourself. You came here to take my life, right? Why don't you just do it, I will not resist."
"Maybe you are right. It would be easy to finish you off now, when you don't even want to live. While you do not even remind me of the man I married. It would be so much easier for me… Damn it Robin! You just stand there, almost begging for me to kill you."
"If you can't save the others because of me, I understand. You don't want to kill me, right? But I have to save the others, even if they hate me, I have to save you. I will have to do it myself-"
Suddenly, Lucina drops her sword to the ground beside her, not even unsheathing it, before she smacks Robin's face with an open palm. Robin put a hand up to his chin, staring at his wife's tear filled eyes in disbelief.
"Stop pretending that this is about everyone else! You just want yourself to die, so you do not have to look at yourself anymore! Nobody wants to see you die Robin, nobody want to see you suffer, least of all me! Nobody hates you; the only one looking down on you is yourself!"
Lucina drops to her knees, and her cries of frustration turns into a sobbing of unrelenting sadness. Robin just stands there for a bit, looking down at her, with no clue what to do. Slowly, he realizes all the pain he has caused her. She lost a daughter too, but she was too worried about him to allow herself to cry, to really cry, to let out all of her sadness. He was not there for her. He did not let her cry on his shoulder. She could not depend on him at the most crucial time.
Robin drops down beside her, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Look at me. Oh Lucina... I am so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I promise I will never leave you again. I will always be there for you. I will not let Validar control me. I will not hurt Chrom! I will stop feeling sorry for myself. Just please, stop crying… I cannot believe I hurt you this much, and I did not even notice. I'm so stupid! I'm here now…"
Lucina looks at her husband's face. She is so relieved he finally understands, so glad he came back to her…
"I am sorry too… I was about to kill you! I know you will not falter again. I trust you enough to be sure of that. Even if I was not sure… I would not be able to go through with taking your life."
Lucina throws her arms around his neck, and Robin accepts her hug, putting his hands around her back.
"It's going to be alright. I will make sure of it"
He sits there a while, on his knees, and lets his wife cry as much as she needs too. Even though he wants to cry too, he cannot bring himself to do it in front of her. At least not now, when she needs him.
"Please promise me…Promise me you will not sacrifice yourself for any of us. I can't make it through this without you." She pushes her head back so she can look him in the eye. "I love you Robin!"
"I love you too Lucina, I always have, and I always will… And I promise I will not sacrifice myself."
The two lovers stare at each other's faces. There is a bit of silence, but it is not an awkward silence. It is a silence of understanding; they do not need to speak, because they both know how the other feels. They slowly get of their knees, and they sit beside each other, with Lucina resting her head on his shoulder, and both of them looking up at the night sky.
Chrom was standing on the sideline, and he was watching the entire scene between the two. One is his beloved daughter, and the other is his very best friend. When Lucina and Robin had first told him about their relationship, Chrom was very skeptical, and confused about what to feel. He could not believe his friend made a move on his daughter! But if someone had to be with his daughter, he was glad it was a man such as Robin. He originally wanted to go up to them and give Lucina a speech about how he trusted Robin, but he could see it was not the time, and that it was unneeded now.
"Robin… why?!"
Robin turns around slowly, his body beginning to disperse after he landed the final hit on Grima. He is disappearing slowly, with orange balls of light coming out from all over his body him. His life force is leaving him in a rapid tempo.
"Lucina, I promised I would not sacrifice myself, and I will keep that promise. Remember what Naga said? If our bonds are strong enough, I will survive this. I might have doubted my bonds before, but after that night with you, I now know that our bond cannot be broken by anything. I do not really know where I will wake up, but I will make my way to the outrealm gate. Please wait for me there, dear."
Lucina looked like she was about to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. Instead, she gave a slight smile and nodded to her husband.
"But why go to the outrealm gate? Why not the castle?" Chrom asks.
"Chrom. And everyone else too. I have decided to go with Lucina to her timeline."
Pretty much everyone gasped. "So you are not coming back with us..?"
"No. I want to go back and correct everything my other self, Grima, has done to her, her friends and their world. They did not deserve what happened to them. I know that it is technically not me that did it, but I still feel like I owe them. Besides, I could never leave Lucina"
"What are you going to do about that times Grima?" Asked Donnel.
"Donny, we just took care of their times Grima. There are only the risen left, and I have a-"
But as he was about to explain his plan, he felt that he was running out of time. He still wanted to say farewell, and he was not about to leave his friends with only another of his plans of war to remember him.
"Robin?"
"I do not have much time left everyone. I want to say that you were all fantastic people to live with. Every single one of you is a dear friend to me, and even if we are worlds apart, I will never forget any of you."
As he turned around to face him, Chrom was looking down at the ground, looking quite angry.
"What am I going to do without my master tactician? Could you and Lucina not just st-"
"Oh, I'm sure at least one of your apprentice tacticians has picked up some of my tricks. But it may take a few years to actually get them ready for navigating the battlefield. I hope you will not start some war again right when I turn my back to you. Since I have gotten to know you, we have only had two years of peace. At least let the apprentices get up to your level before you begin marching your armies again. Even I can barely keep up with you, and we all know how good a tactician-."
"Alright, alright Robin! Enough with the jokes. I see that you are not going to change your mind. Take care of my daughter, okay?"
"Jokes? What are you talking about? I meant every word I said." Robin could not hold a lighthearted laughter back anymore. Neither could Chrom for that matter. "Do not worry, you will not need to worry about her when I'm around. She is safe with me."
Robin moved closer to Chrom and whispered something so only he could hear what he was about to say. Historians never found out what this last remark from the tactician was. The only things they could gather from the soldiers that were there that day, was that he had a look of genuine fear upon his face as he talked to the king. "I worry more about you. Do not let Sully into the kitchen, you hear me? I still remember what happened four days ago."
Chrom simply smiled at this remark. "As long as I am king, I will make sure that will not happen, my friend."
"It has been a true privilege being your tactician. And your friend too."
They grabbed each other's hands in a firm handshake. After about ten seconds, the last of Robin faded away into thin air.
"The other kids could have waited until I got here. Were they really in such a hurry to come back to their world?"
"They went to prepare the rest of humanity for the plans you have come up with. An intelligent choice, I have to say."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?!"
Lucina laughed. "The others know they will not get an hour of rest with you around. You will begin moving us everywhere as soon as you step into our world."
"Of course, we need to get moving right away. I am not about to let the risen control the pace of the battle."
"Are you sure about this? We will most likely not be able to return to your home ever again."
"It does not matter where we are, as long as you are with me, there is no place I rather be Lucina"
Lucina smiled at this slightly corny line. But it was true. She would be okay, as long as he was with her. He is over the incident with Morgan now.
"How do you plan to take care of the remaining risen?"
"Do not worry, I know what to do. You said you retreated to the southeastern part of the continent, right? Well, if we go north and take siege up in the mountain pass, we will get a much better vantage point. When I arrive, I want to know how many pegasus knights we have, I need them for scouting. I also want to know how many food rations there are left. If we need to get more food, enough food for what remains of humanity, we should consider-"
"We have reached the end, dear."
The end of the outrealm gate is now in sight. Only a few more steps and they would enter the world they would spend the rest of their lives in.
"I will clean up the mess the other side of me created. I will make this world one where we can live happily, without the influence of Grima. I am so sorry you had to go through all that because of-"
"shhhh. Stop apologizing. It's alright now. I know you will. Only you can save this desolated world. Only you can secure our futures now."
They held each other's hands, as they entered the ruined world. It was not going to be cleaned up in one day. It might take months- years even. But Robin knew he could do it, and he would do it, no matter how long it took, as long as he could fill his wife with happiness.
"Now, let us tip the scale in our favor…"
"I will be by your side."
"Together?"
"Together."