Author's note: Just another writer's take on the story of Fire Emblem: Awakening, like the countless others on this site. And like almost every other story, there are some personal twists to this story, but the main plot will be the same. The story deviates quite a bit further in so...that's that. Critiques and reviews are appreciated since it'll point out any flaws in my writing.

Hope you enjoy, and I'll catch you on the flipside.


Rapid footsteps echoed off the walls as two men ran down the marble flooring of a grand hall. Behind them, the sounds of war could be heard. Screams of men filled the air as they let out their last breath, the dull thuds of weapons clashing against armor and shields, and the vibrant hum of magic being tossed around was loud enough that Robin felt as if he was still outside, in the midst of the battle, rather than inside a desolate castle.

"Robin? What's wrong?"

He looked up at the face of a man with navy blue hair. Robin winced as the torchlight bounced off of the man's armor and into his eyes.

"Naga above, that's blinding," Robin cursed. "Tell me again why you decided to wax your armor?"

"Because it got dirty from our previous skirmish?" the other man retorted.

"Yes, clean your armor only for it to get dirty the next day in a fight against our enemy's king," Robin sassed. "It's not as if Validar is one of the most powerful dark mages in the land. Shiny armor isn't going to help deflect his magic in any way."

The man crossed his arms. "You didn't answer my question."

Realizing that the man wasn't going to let it go, Robin sighed as he ran his fingers through his snow colored hair. His feet crawled to a stop in front of a looming set of obsidian doors, and he took in a deep breath.

"It's just... Chrom, I don't feel right about leaving the others," Robin confessed. "We should be fighting with them, watching their backs as they watch ours, not running off to face Validar."

It was Chrom's turn to sigh. "I know. The Shepherds fight together, live together, and laugh together. What we're doing goes against what we are, but this gives us the highest rate of success." His frown turned into a playful smirk as he lightly punched Robin on the arm. "Isn't that what you said at the meeting, o Revered Tactician of the Shepherds?"

"Only so that you would stop shaking in your boots, Prince Chrom," Robin replied without missing a beat, just as he had done countless times in the past.

"Hey, I'm Exalt now, remember?" Chrom jabbed.

"To the rest of the world? Sure. However, you're still that same prince I met on that beaten road all those years ago to me."

"And you - "

" - I am most definitely not that same amateur tactician-in-training from back then, Chrom, and you know it," Robin interrupted with a victorious grin on his face. His grin faded when Chrom's lips curled into a confident smile.

"I was going to say that you're still that same sarcastic, snarky pansy of a tactician from that time, but if your self-confidence is so fragile that you need to keep reminding yourself of your skill in tactics, that's fine."

Robin opened his mouth to make a retort, but words failed to form and he clicked his tongue in mild irritation.

"Alright, I'll give you this one," Robin huffed.

"Yes!" Chrom victoriously pumped his fist in the air and Robin couldn't blame him. It wasn't often that Chrom would win in their childish banter and he relished every single one of his few wins.

Both of their smiles vanished instantly when the earth rumbled. From down the hall, past the main doors of the hall that the two of them were in, was the muffled sound of an explosion. Their moods dropped and turned serious as they focused on their task.

"Let's go."

With those two words, Chrom placed his hand on one of the obsidian doors as Robin placed his hand on the other. Before either of them were able to apply any pressure on the door, an unseen force pulled the doors aside.

"It'd be quite rude of us to refuse such an invitation, wouldn't you agree?" Robin asked.

"Quite indeed," Chrom agreed, and the two stepped forward into the room.

The first thing that Robin noticed was the dim lighting of the room. Unlike the grand hall that he was just in, there weren't any windows in this room, nor were there any torches or chandeliers. The second thing that he noticed was the drop in temperature, almost as if he was standing in a field of snow. The last thing that he noticed was a gilded table on the opposite end of the room, which was cloaked in a purple flame.

As he and Chrom continued to walk forward, their shadows stretched across the floor and the two of them drew their respective weapons; Robin took out silver tome with a golden binding from the inside of his cloak, and Chrom unsheathed an elegant sword from his side. No matter how many times he saw it, Robin's eyes were drawn to the unique, tear-shaped guard of Chrom's sword.

Their shadows met in front of the flame-lit table, pooling together to create a murky puddle. The puddle started to squirm and writhe about before it started to rise into the air.

"That's disgusting," Robin distastefully said.

"Now now, is that how you are to speak to your father?" A voice chided as the puddle started to take shape into an ovular void. A tall figure strode out, dressed in a dark robe that openly revealed a large portion of his torso. A short cape flowed freely behind the figure, which was only visible due to the golden marking on the end of the cape in the dark room. "I expected better from you, my son."

Raising his arms slightly, Robin channeled mana through his arm and to his open tome. White lightning sparked to life on the pages, which he transferred over onto his free hand.

"Consider me a disowned child then," Robin scowled.

"Light magic? No matter. Disowned or not, a father must discipline his son," Validar calmly replied. "And yours is long overdue. Now, be a good boy and accept your punishment for abandoning your fate!"

With the lightning that was flowing around his hand, Robin crafted a ball of pure light. "Not happening."

"You ungrateful little brat!" Validar growled.

Robin let loose his magic before Validar finished speaking. The torrent of lightning crashed against an invisible wall in front of Validar and Chrom ran forward. The moment Robin's lightning dissipated into feeble sparks, Validar retaliated with a narrow beam of dark magic, which Robin deflected with a burst of mana. The magic was sent back at Validar, who changed its trajectory at Chrom with a lazy wave of his hand.

A surprised yelp escaped Chrom's throat as he rolled to the side. Validar's magic harmlessly passed by Chrom and he got up to see a mass of dark energy swirling around Validar's hand. Cackling, the mage loosed a bulletstorm of dark matter at Chrom.

"Obex!"

Robin yelled a single word incantation and a crystalline barrier honeycombed outward in front of Chrom. The barrier lasted for only a few seconds as Validar's bullets tore off chunks of the barrier at a time, but those few seconds were enough from Chrom to reach Validar.

"Fools!" Validar swiped his hand in front of him, generating a powerful wind that buffeted the two Shepherds. Chrom, who was much closer to Validar than Robin, was forcefully thrown backward, while Robin was only pushed back a few feet. "It is still a hundred years too early for you to face me!"

"Is that overconfidence I'm hearing?" Robin asked.

"Stay focused, Robin!" Chrom scolded, picking himself off the ground.

"I'm very focused," Robin replied. "If he's overconfident, we - rather, I can exploit that."

"You've got that look in your eyes again," Chrom said. "Whatever it is that you're going to do, know that you have my complete trust, just like the countless times before."

"I'm flattered," Robin deadpanned. "Just one thing..."

Chrom raised an eyebrow at Robin, who gave him an apologetic smile.

"You might want to prepare yourself for...uhh...for some queasiness."

It took a moment for Chrom to process Robin's words, but when he did, a look of horror dawned on his face.

"Shall we?" Robin grinned.

Without waiting for an answer, Robin ran towards Validar, who was kind enough to patiently wait for the two to finish speaking. Muttering a quick spell under his breath and onto his tome, Robin crafted fireball in his hand as four spears of lightning materialized around him. Validar, in turn, started to pool mana from the black tome into his hand, creating a vortex of purple energy at his feet.

Two of Robin's spears shot forward, both of them striking against another one of Validar's barriers. Without wasting any time, Robin threw his fireball, which erupted into a pillar of flame upon impact with the barrier. Knowing full well that the flames would obscure Validar's vision, Robin shot a mass of mana into the air above Validar's head. The mana flashed once before vanishing, and Robin pocketed his Light tome.

He reached out and grabbed the remaining to lightning spears in his hands when a bolt of dark energy shot out from the pillar of flame. The bolt hit him in the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and throwing him backward. Before he even landed, the ground beneath him erupted with dark energy, and Robin recognized the energy as the same vortex that surrounded Validar moments before. The vortex ragdolled Robin straight into the air, where three purple fireballs homed in on him. The following explosion shook the room and destroyed a portion of the ceiling in the process.

Confident that Robin would be out of the fight for at least a short time, Validar turned his attention to Chrom. The mage sneered and released a volley of purple fireballs. To his surprise, the approaching Shepherd was able to knock aside the fireballs with ease without slowing down. Deflecting magic with anything but mana would require an unreasonable amount of precision as the weapon would have to hit the "core" of the magic without detonating the fireballs. Validar concluded that the exalt's actions bordered on bravery and idiocy.

Validar decided to use a different magic. Projectile magic with a set form had a "core" that can be exploited, but a formless magic, such as a web of lightning, had no such weakness. Mana pooled in Validar's hands with a quick chant. Fire and lightning enveloped his right and left hand respectively, both purple in color.

"As if I'd let you!" Chrom roared.

The Exalt reached behind him and pulled out a spear so short that it was easily hidden underneath his cape. In a smooth motion, Chrom swung his arm and released the spear.

While the spear was easily sidestepped by Validar, it was enough to distract the caster for a couple seconds. Those few seconds were enough for the gap between Validar and Chrom to become nonexistent. Lightning arced across the room as Validar met Chrom's sword with his lightning enveloped hand. A stalemate ensued as neither force was able to gain the upper hand.

"You and the child..." Validar growled. "Why do you both continue to resist? You cannot hope to change what is set in stone! The ending of a story!"

"Maybe it is set in stone," Chrom muttered.

"Then - "

"However!" Chrom pushed down on his sword, pushing back Validar just an inch. Lightning ran down his sword and started to electrocute his arms, but he kept applying more force despite the growing pain. "We, the Shepherds, have a tendency to go against the norm! We'll prove that 'impossible' is nothing more than a limitation that man set upon himself! We've defeated a mad king, fought against an army with a force barely a quarter of their size and won, and toppled a god emperor!"

Validar scowled behind the raging magic. "You damned dogs of Naga..."

"And now, we'll put an end to your so-called destiny!" Chrom shouted. "Isn't that right, ROBIN!"

Pain exploded in Validar's chest. His strength momentarily waned, his magic flickered, and Chrom's sword sliced through Validar's torso like a hot knife through butter. As he crumpled to his knees, Validar looked down at his chest and saw a spearhead protruding from his body.

"You nearly killed yourself with your monologue, you know that?"

Validar's eyes widened when he heard the voice behind him.

"I'm fine, Robin."

"Sure, because having lightning course through your body with your own sword as a conductor won't do anything to your body at all, right? It's not as if your insides would get fried or anything."

These damned sheep. Did they really think they won? Did they really think that they could have a casual banter in front of him?

"You...you impudent..." Validar rasped. Rage bloomed within him and a wild flame gathered in his hand. "You impudent pieces of TRASH!"

He slammed his palm onto the floor. The raging fire in his hand was sent into the ground, and the flooring began to crack open. Purple fire shot out of the cracks like a geyser, and Chrom and Robin had no choice but to move away from Validar lest they get hit by the flames.

"I thought you would've killed him," Chrom said to Robin when they were a safe distance away.

"I speared him through the center of his chest! With the spear that you missed, mind you! What more do you want me to do?!" Robin retorted.

"I don't know, how about stabbing his heart!?"

"I thought you had that when you cut his chest open!"

"Of course not!"

"Then don't go blaming me for his not-death because you're part of it!"

Heat washed over the two as Validar rose to his feet. The dark mage's eyes were practically glowing in anger as he ripped the spear from his chest and threw it onto the floor. The geysers of fire had faded, but the heat from the flames still remained. Without a word or a chant, a dark bubble surrounded Validar.

"That's just fantastic." Robin rolled his eyes. "He had the time to put up a safety bubble. Nice work, Chrom."

"Don't you dare go there," Chrom said as he glared at the person he called his friend. "Not after we just ended the previous argument."

"That wasn't even an argument," Robin muttered.

The air thickened with magic as Validar's bubble darkened. Ripples spread across the surface of the bubble as countless beams of dark energy shot out of the bubble. The beams flew towards the two Shepherds, slicing through the air at unnatural angles.

"Obex!"

Robin slammed his foot down in front of him and a crystalline barrier sprouted from the ground. The beams crashed against the barrier, ripping off large portions with each hit. It was obvious that the barrier wouldn't last for more than ten seconds, Robin brought his fingertips together in front of his chest and started to channel another magic. A white light formed in the space between his palms and grew more intense by the second.

"Robin, whatever it is that you're going to do, do it quickly-"

"Shut it, I'm concentrating!"

Robin cut off Chrom so that he could focus on his magic. One of Validar's beams managed to puncture a hole in the barrier and just barely grazed the side of Robin's head. A second beam tore through the barrier and headed for Robin's chest, but was blocked by Chrom's sword before it could hit the caster.

"Robiiiinnnn!" Cold sweat rolled down Chrom's face as he watched the barrier start to dissipate.

The barrier finally shattered under the relentless barrage of magic, and Chrom raised his sword in a defensive stance. The beams continued their angular flight towards the two Shepherds. Chrom braced himself for the magic, but it never came. A watery screen was suspended in the air in front of him, absorbing all of Validar's magic. Behind him, Robin let out a deep sigh.

"Did you really have to wait until the last second?" Chrom turned around and immediately regretted saying anything.

Beads of sweat had formed on Robin's forehead and he was breathing a little bit heavier than normal. Chrom didn't know much about magic, but he knew enough that casting powerful magic would put a strain on the user's body, similar to physical exercise. Robin was one of the most powerful magic casters that he knew, and for his breath to be labored must mean that the consecutive magic had taken a toll on Robin.

"I would've finished earlier had you not been such a nuisance. Also, what did you think putting your guard up would've done? That magic would've run right through you." Robin pointed at his head, the area just above his right temple, which now had a large gash in it thanks to getting grazed by one of Validar's beams earlier.

"I-It was on instinct... Anyways! What magic was that?" Chrom motioned over to the screen, eager to change the topic.

Robin didn't answer immediately. Instead, he ran a magically heated finger across the cut on his head, cauterizing it just enough for the bleeding to stop. When he was done, he relaxed his face, ridding himself of the grimace that he wore during the cauterizing process. As he was wiping the blood that ran down the side of his face with his sleeve, Robin decided to answer Chrom.

"Spacial magic. I merely redirected Validar's magic elsewhere."

As he spoke, Robin gestured over to where Validar stood. Above the dark mage was a small ball of light, and Validar's beams of magic was pouring out of it, hammering down onto Validar's protective bubble. The bubble started to dissipate under the torrent of magic, much like how it easily destroyed Robin's barrier.

"By the way, I figured I ought to tell you..." Robin clapped his hand down on Chrom's shoulder. A playful smirk was plastered on his face. "You might want to get ready for that queasiness that I spoke of earlier. You'll appear above Validar, where I placed my magic. In three..."

"Wait, what?"

"Two."

"Robin, what are - "

"One."

Just as Robin finished counting down, Chrom realized what Robin meant. Unfortunately for him, Robin had already activated his magic, literally flipping Chrom's world upside down. The ceiling was now below his feet and the ground above his head. The last of Validar's dark magic whistled by Chrom's ears as they completely disintegrated Validar's bubble.

Chrom managed to flip himself right side up as he fell. He raised his sword above his head to strike Validar during his fall, but that idea left his head in an instant as Validar looked up eyes full of hate. A stream of purple fire was loosed from the mage's hand, and Chrom was in no position to dodge. He braced himself for the incoming flames, but instead of a burning pain, he felt a churn in his stomach. A second later, and Chrom found himself drop kicking Validar from the back. He landed on the marble floor with the grace of a sickly water buffalo, and he rolled onto his feet just as a plume of purple flames shot out of the ground where he was a second ago.

Heat washed over Chrom's face as he stood to his feet. His vision was painted a bright violet, and then his chest erupted in scorching pain as he was hit by a blast of fire. The force of the magic threw him backward and into a wall. Before gravity even had a chance to pull him down, spikes of dark energy ran through his body, impaling him to the wall.

"You will all die today!" Validar seethed.

The dark mage was weakened, that much was obvious. He was heavily favoring one leg over the other, his clothes were ripped in various places from Robin redirecting his magic, and wounds were visible from the torn clothing. Despite all this, dark energy was swirling around him, and his eyes seemed to glow from rage alone. He raised his hand, and flames wreathed in lightning burst to life in his palm.

"Neither of you will leave this place alive," Validar vowed.

A figure appeared in the air behind Validar, and the mage stepped to the side as Robin's axe kick slammed down onto the ground. Robin then ducked as Validar's lightning flames ripped the air apart above his head, and he struck Validar's side with an open palm. Blood erupted from Validar's mouth from Robin's blow, and he was forced back by a few meters.

Exhaling through his mouth, Robin lowered his center of gravity and bent his knees slightly as he took an unarmed combat stance. His left hand was burned from coming into contact with the energy surrounding Validar, but he ignored the pain. He flexed his hand, curling and uncurling his fingers, and lightning crackled to life around his hands and feet.

"Brat..."

"Geezer," Robin retorted.

"What manner of magic are you using?" Validar questioned, narrowing his eyes at Robin's lightning coated limbs.

"I'm not about to tell that to the likes of you," Robin calmly answered.

Kicking off the ground, Robin flew towards Validar. A plume of fire burst out of the ground between the two, but Robin nimbly stepped around it and used the momentum to throw a kick at Validar. His attack failed to hit as Validar took a step back, and the instant Robin had both feet on the ground, he kicked off once more. This took Validar surprise, and Robin's knee smashed into his chin.

Before Robin started to fall, he managed to twist his body around and raised his leg high over his head. He cast a burst of wind from his feet and used it to swing his heel down onto Validar's skull, only for it to be blocked just barely by Validar crossing his arms over his head. Robin pushed himself off of Validar's arms, buying himself another couple seconds in the air. Another burst of wind was cast, giving Robin just the amount of force required to turn his body and throw another kick from the air. His lightning reinforced kick landed squarely against the side of Validar's head, and the dark mage was forcefully sent sliding across the floor.

Robin's feet finally touched the ground. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek as he steadied his breathing patterns. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Chrom managed to dislodge himself off the wall, but he was more focused on Validar, who was rising to his feet. The proud king of Plegia was on his last legs, and all three people in the room were well aware of that fact.

But, Validar wasn't the only one that was weakened. The wounds Chrom received from Validar severely damage his body, and he was losing blood fast. Robin was hardly injured, but he was running very low on his mana reserves. It wasn't as if he was helpless without the aid of magic; he still had his sword and martial arts. However, no mana meant that he wouldn't be able to redirect any of Validar's magic attacks, and Robin had no idea how much mana Validar had remaining.

"You are a disgrace!" Validar spat at Robin.

The sudden insult threw off Robin's focus, and he was hit by an arc of electricity as a result. Dark lightning coursed through his veins, numbing his limbs.

"Beg pardon?" Robin managed to control his tongue just enough to toss Validar a reply.

"You are a disgrace!" Validar repeated, hurling fireballs at Robin in unison. "You pride yourself in magic, yet you fight in such a barbaric manner? You bring shame to all magic users throughout both the world and history!"

"Never said I was purely a magic user," Robin said through grit teeth. He sidestepped most of the fireballs and knocked away the few that he couldn't dodge with his hands. After deflecting the last fireball, Robin flicked his hand behind his back before proceeding to taunt Validar. "Why not try expanding your skill set? If you did, maybe you wouldn't be losing this fight, father. Or, perhaps you don't have the Fell Dragon's blessing at all?"

A vein popped up on Validar's forehead. The taunt had clearly worked, and Validar opened his tome. Roughly a third of the pages were torn out of its spine before they quickly burst into black flames. The flames started to gather together in front of Validar, creating a giant ball of fire so powerful that it started to burn up the oxygen in the room. The moisture in the air vanished, and Robin's lips cracked from the lack of moisture.

"That looks incredibly dangerous," Robin said to himself.

Extinguishing the lightning from his limbs, he threw mana into his arms as he began to weave magic together. The mana started to take shape into a transparent sphere with a watery surface, and it only grew in size as Robin poured more of his mana into it.

"BURN IN REGRET AND SUFFERING!" Validar roared, throwing the large fireball in Robin's direction.

Robin cursed in his head. He miscalculated the time it would take for his magic to finish and canceled his magic. Channeling a new spell, he reached out to his side and made a grabbing motion with his hand. His vision tunneled and his stomach lurched, and Robin was now standing roughly ten meters from where was a second ago.

The fireball detonated behind him, creating an explosion so large and powerful that it shook the earth. The force of the explosion tossed Robin through the air and into one of the many pillars in the room, despite him having been far away from the explosion itself.

"I thought he wanted me alive... That attack would've killed me," Robin groaned.

Before he was able to get up, Validar was already in front of him, grabbed his neck, and hoisted him up into the air. The fingers around his neck tightened their grip, cutting off his airflow. Robin grabbed onto Validar's wrist in an attempt to pry off the cold fingers, but the dark king was stronger than he expected.

"Do not test me, boy," Validar growled. "You may be the vessel for Lord Grima, but that does not mean that you are untouchable. You WILL submit, and it is entirely up to you how much suffering you'll bring upon yourself. Fate cannot be changed!"

Robin's vision was starting to fade as the strength in his arms. There was no way for him to free himself from Validar's grasp. At least, by himself.

"Heh, maybe," Robin smirked and grasped onto the arm that was holding him up, much to Validar's confusion and irritation. He raised his free hand up between his and Validar's face and placed the tip of his middle finger against his thumb. "But, as we've told you time and time again, we make our own fate!"

He closed his eyes and snapped his fingers, creating a sudden flash of light. He felt Validar's attempt to pull his arm back from shock but was unable to do so since Robin was tightly grabbing onto his arm. With the grip on his throat loosening, Robin was able to take in a deep breath.

"CHROM!"

Validar's reaction was exactly as Robin expected. He watched in triumph as the dark mage, still blinded, swept his arm behind him, creating a wave of flames. The flames would have burnt Chrom to ashes... That is to say, if Chrom was running up from the back. Instead, the exalt fell down from a ripple in the air above them with his sword raised high. As he landed on the ground, he swung his sword with all his might and cut off the arm holding Robin just above the elbow.

The pained howl that came from Validar was unlike anything Robin ever heard. It was as if it split the very air itself, and Robin's ears started to ring. Tossing the fact that he could barely hear aside, Robin ran forward and slammed his palm into the center of Validar's chest and released a powerful burst of mana. He felt Validar's ribs crack from his blow, and he followed up with another palm strike to his jaw.

As Validar stumbled backward, Robin swiftly pivoted behind him and struck him square in the back with his elbow. The mage was sent forward and impaled himself straight onto Chrom's sword.

"It's over, Validar," Chrom coolly said, twisting his blade further into Validar's gut.

"Nothing...is over...brat!" Validar coughed.

Validar grabbed onto Chrom's sword, not caring about his hand getting sliced open. With the stump that was his other arm, he started to prepare a powerful magic. It was the same concept that Robin pulled earlier, only Robin grabbed onto a limb, not a weapon. That worked to his advantage as Robin performed a yanking motion at Chrom, and he vanished and reappeared face down next to him. Without having Chrom's sword to hold onto, Validar fell to the floor, and his magic flew off towards the ceiling.

Nothing moved. Silence hung in the air, ironically deafening for what it was. Robin counted the number of his heartbeats as he stared at Validar's fallen body, making sure if he was dead or not. A full minute passed in this manner, and satisfied that Validar was finally dead, Robin let out a deep sigh and looked down at Chrom, who was still lying prone on the ground.

"How was your trip?" Robin playfully asked.

"I hate you." Chrom threw up an ancient gesture at Robin that consisted of a single finger.

Laughing, Robin extended his hand to help his friend up onto his feet. Chrom looked over at Validar.

"Is he dead?"

"Pretty sure he is," Robin answered, walking over and crouching next to Validar.

Validar's eyes suddenly snapped open. His remaining hand lashed out, and due to Robin being startled, his reaction was a second too late and took a blast of magic to the chest. An intense pain spread throughout his chest and into his head, and he blacked out.

He didn't know how long he was out. Maybe it was for a few seconds, maybe longer, but seeing how Chrom was just now pulling his sword out from Validar's heart, it couldn't have been that long. Chrom looked over at Robin, the expression of anger on his face turning into worry in a second.

"Are you alright?" Chrom asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He just caught me off guard," Robin croaked. Which was a complete lie. He felt as if his entire body was on fire, his pulse going a mile a minute.

Chrom frowned. If he knew Robin was lying, he didn't mention it. Instead, he simply turned to look back at Validar. The corpse of his late father was literally vanishing, turning into wisps of purple energy and dust. It was as if he was watching a dead body decompose at a greatly accelerated rate, and Robin found it to be both fascinating and revolting.

"What a weird way to die," Robin muttered. "Chrom, mind helping me up?"

"Yeah, no problem."

Chrom walked over to him and extended his hand. Gratefully taking the hand, Robin pulled himself up with a pained groan.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Chrom asked again, and Robin waved him off.

"As I said, I'm fine," Robin sighed. Unknown to either of them, mana was swirling together in Robin's hand. "Just a bit of pain, but that's expected after fighting one the most powerful, if not the most powerful, dark mage in the world."

Chrom laughed. His boisterous voice bounced off the walls, and Robin couldn't help crack a grin himself. And then his hand moved on its own.

Time froze. At least, it seemed to as Robin and Chrom stared at each other. Neither of them knew what happened, for it was so sudden and unexpected. A warm liquid rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away with his hand. It was blood. From where? Validar? No. He was dead, his body gone. There was no fighting. There shouldn't be. Then where? His hand felt warm. And wet. Why? He looked down and his eyes widened in horror and shock.

"Wh-What...?"

There was a dagger composed of lightning sticking out of Chrom's chest, right where his heart should be. There were two hands holding onto the dagger. Both were right hands. One belonged to Chrom. That much was obvious. Robin could see it clearly. But the second hand? Whose was that?

Robin felt a warm liquid run down the back of his hand and to his wrist.
Blood was running down the back of the second hand and to the wrist.

Robin felt another hand gently grab onto his.
He saw Chrom grab onto the second hand.

Robin felt his hand relax a little and let go of something.
He saw the second hand let go of the lightning dagger.

"It's not your fault..." Chrom weakly said.

What?

"Validar did something...something similar before...didn't he?"

Why's Chrom bringing that up now?

"Hey... Can you...can you promise...?"

Robin's head moved on its own. It must've been a nod since Chrom smiled.

"Promise me...that you'll escape..."

Escape? Why? Why just him? Why not together?

"It's alright... I don't...I don't blame you...Robin..." Chrom stumbled backward. He was struggling to remain standing as long as he could. His eyes remained strong, and he gave Robin a confident, yet still somehow wistful and sad, smile. "Promise."

Chrom fell to the floor as the last of his strength left his body. Robin looked down at his hand. It was covered in blood. Blood that was still warm. Bits of electricity danced around in his palm and fingers.

Maybe that was it. Maybe it was seeing Chrom fall in front of his eyes and seeing the very lightning that was embedded in his friend's chest on his hand. Whatever it was, it was as if a veil was lifted from Robin's eyes. His breath fell short. Every thought in his brain stopped with the exception of a single, horrifying realization.

He just murdered his best friend.


And that's the first chapter. Thanks for reading.

Some of you older readers may have realized, but I pretty much - scratch that. I completely rewrote this chapter with the exception of...four(?) sentences. Everything else is new so that it falls more in line with my current way of writing.