The unfamiliar scents, there were hundreds of them, and still, he could only focus on one of them. This scent was made up of air exposed to a shining day that was only specked with clouds. Made up of the fauna drinking from calm lakes and nursing their young. From the birds that flew with pride returning home from the receding winter. From the grass that cradled his head like nature's own mattress forming around his body.
And then, it was all gone. He was somewhere familiar, yet cold. It was dimly lit with crackling gothic torches lining evenly spaced columns along the cobblestone walls. The interior showed no sign of abandonment, no cobwebs, decayed furniture, or rotten food. Yet the environment felt like no one had lived happily inside its walls for years. This area was the deliberate opposite of where he was before.
He was engaged in battle with someone, a man filled with darkness. Another familiar and cold symbol, the very embodiment of where he was. Where the connection for this man was coming from, he had no idea. He just felt it and the feeling was a strange offshoot of sadness. The same kind of feeling when two people trying to find one another will never see eachother again.
Fighting alongside him was a man embodying the unfamiliar warmth he was in before. He was garbed in a pure white that waged its own war against the bleak environment, and wielded a sword that made him feel hope when he looked at it. What this man symbolized to him was certainty. Certainty in a bright future, where the world would hardly know the definition of hopelessness.
"Robin, up there!" the lord had shouted to him. Robin...that was his name.
While the haze of this vision was still clouding his senses, Robin heard the man's words with full clarity. Along with the message came the obvious direction. The enemy warped to the ceiling, avoiding close combat with the man in white. Hoping to catch the enemy off guard, Robin summoned a spell creating a searing fireball in the palm of his hands. Launching the flame at the enemy proved futile as he simply warped away from that attack as well.
Robin and the man stood back to back, waiting for their enemy to reveal himself. Eyeing every corner, the man in black couldn't be found but his presence could definitely be felt. Their enemy laughed at their inability to find him, finding humor in the fact that the ultimate test of light versus dark had been relegated to a simple child's game of hide and seek.
"Hahaha! DIE!" the enemy shouted as he revealed himself in the blindspot of Robin and the man in white. What Robin didn't expect out of himself was his reaction time to the enemy's attack. Immediately sending another fireball at the fatal attack coming their way. The two orbs of magic collided, creating a smokescreen that consumed the entire room for a few moments. When the smoke cleared all combatants were unscathed, the man in black no longer being amused with this battle.
"You were created for a grand purpose Robin! Greater than any man! A god!" he yelled. Robin felt a wave of anger rush over him.
"I'm going to end you Validar!" he screamed. So that was this man's name.
"After everything you've done, everything you're planning to do, we're finishing this now!"
Robin tossed his fire tome, revealed a new one with green detailing, and took out a javelin with some kind of curved engraving at the tip. It occurred to him that physical items were becoming things Robin knew nothing about the origins of. Robin felt no need to read the tome in order to use the spell as there was some kind of muscle memory connection he had with this spell.
"Elwind!" he shouted, summoning gusts of wind that flung Validar towards him.
Robin tossed the tome away and readied his javelin, preparing for the man coming at him. Validar was skewered onto the weapon with more than half of the javelin sticking out of his back. Robin removed his grasp on the javelin and stepped back from the evil man. Validar had a face of utter shock. Shock that transitioned into pain, and then pain that finally transitioned into rage.
"Why you-" Validar interrupted this thought, carefully deciding his final words.
"This isn't over. It will never be over. You... and your descendants… will live in the world created by the Fell Dragon. Damn you… both…" Validar collapsed to the ground.
Robin walked over to Validar's body, stopped only to take in the image of Validar's motionless body in a pool of his own blood, and tore the javelin out. The man in white approached from behind and placed his palm on Robin's shoulder.
"Good riddance…" he announced.
Turning towards Robin he continued to list off the good things that would come from Validar's demise and walked towards where a jeweled shield was placed. Robin felt some relief as well, but it was suddenly replaced. The rage he felt towards Validar had returned, but now it wasn't directed towards the recently deceased. The man in white was a brand new problem, he felt annoyance and disgust towards him. Robin readied the blood stained javelin and walked to the man. By the time he had turned around, Robin was already midway in thrusting the javelin into his chest.
"Wha-" the man looked at Robin with shock. Shock that transitioned into pain, and then pain that finally transitioned into sadness.
"But I thought…" he gasped before collapsing to the ground.
The rage Robin was under had left and now that he had full control of himself, he realized the atrocious crime he had committed.
"Oh gods, CHROM!" Another name revealed.
Robin rushed to the side of his impaled friend. He swiftly removed the javelin out of Chrom's chest and searched for a tome that could cauterize the wound while expressing apologies over and over for his betrayal. Chrom reached out to the frantic Robin.
"This isn't your fault." Robin placed the hand away and continued to search.
"It is Chrom! This is all my fault! I should have known killing him wasn't enough!" He was panicking despite his importance being yet another mystery to Robin. There was nothing he had that could save the man. No fire tomes to cauterize the wound, no vulneraries to stabilize the wound, and nowhere close to any healers.
"Robin…", Chrom gripped his arm. "This is not... your fault. Promise me that... that you'll continue to fight. For everyone in the world. For everyone...we cared about. Please, promise me that." Robin stared at Chrom with no answer.
"I want to promise you that. But how can I fight this alone? This was our last hope, our last chance!" Chrom let go of his grip Robin's arm and looked blankly into the ceiling.
"If at first we don't succeed... just try… again…" Chrom exhaled, closing his eyes, before he finally stopped moving.
"Chrom? CHROM?! Don't die on me! I need you, I can't do this alone!" Robin continued to shake his motionless friend. Tears welled up in his eyes.
"What about Lucina? What am I supposed to do?! Chrom?! Chrom wake up! Please! CHROM!"
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"-he was doing?"
"Who knows. There's better places to take a nap than on the ground."
"All we ever sleep on is the ground!"
"Actually Lissa we-"
Robin's eyes gradually fluttered open. Two people stood above him, one was a girl in a yellow frilled dress with blond hair put up into two pigtails. The other person was man with short blue hair and a white cape.
"Hey there sleepyhead!" exclaimed the blond haired girl. The blue haired man extended his arm.
"I see you're awake now. You shouldn't be sleeping on the ground you know. Give me your hand."
Robin took the man's hand and was pulled onto his feet with great strength. After getting his footing Robin swiped off the grass and dirt that covered his cloak.
"What were you doing laying out in the open like that?" the man inquired.
"Uh... I'm not exactly sure. I don't really even know where I am."
"Do you remember where you were last?"
"No, I don't."
"Well you're currently near the border between Ylisse and Plegia. Is your town close by?"
"I...I don't actually remember that either." Robin looked at his surroundings, taking in the lush forest next to them and the flower specked grass and then back at his two new acquaintances.
"To be perfectly honest I don't remember anything beyond my own name." Robin could see the suspicion in their eyes as the two glanced at one another.
Robin felt his own eyes wince at knowing what he had just told this man. What person in their right mind would believe that someone totally unharmed would also happen to have full amnesia? It'd be one thing if he couldn't remember a night or even a full day, nothing from since the day he was born? Robin guessed that he was probably in his mid twenties. Whether it was to see how far this rabbit hole went or just genuine curiosity, Chrom decided to investigate Robin further.
"Well then, let's see if you can remember basic things. What is your name?"
"My name is Robin."
"Quick to remember that one, good."
"Guess it just came to me." Robin smiled shyly, trying to avoid scrutiny for remembering something. He felt the vision he witnessed before being woken up was something best to be brought up when Chrom trusted him enough to not see it as a metaphorical death threat. So likely never again.
"What is your name?" Robin asked.
"I'm Chrom. The delicate one over there is my sister Lissa."
Lissa's brow furrowed. "I am NOT delicate!", Chrom laughed at his tease. He then refocused his attention to Robin.
"We hail from the kingdom of Ylisse, currently under the leadership of the Exalt Emmeryn. My sister and I, along with a few others, are a part of Ylisse's defense force. We call ourselves the Shepherds."
"The Shepherds? Ylisse has a defense force dedicated to protecting sheep?" This question, along with Robin's bewildered face, was enough to make Chrom laugh loudly.
"I guess you could say that. It's just our 'sheep' happen to be the halidom's people. There also happens to be a lot of them." Chrom walked past Robin and pointed to a nearby dirt path.
"We've been patrolling this area for a few days now. Currently tensions between Ylisse and our western neighbors Plegia are rising. We've been getting more and more reports of incidents caused by bandits near the border and they almost always include the detail of them having Plegian accents. To be quite honest, we're surprised that you weren't another casualty of these incidents when we saw you lying on the ground."
Lissa grew a wide smile on your face. "If we hadn't found you when we did any moment later and you probably would've had all of your things stolen and then some. I guess-" Lissa was interrupted by the growing sound of clanking armor.
"YOU WILL NOT HURT THEM PLEGIAN!" yelled a man charging at Robin with
a long silver spear pointed directly at him. Immediately realizing who this armored charger was referring to, Robin began sprinting to save his life.
"Robin wait- FREDERICK!" Chrom stepped in front of the charging war machine.
Frederick immediately stopped and stood above Chrom on his armored steed. Noticing the absence of clanking armor, Robin stopped his escape from certain death and moved back to the group.
Frederick jumped off his horse and immediately began questioning Chrom. "Sir, what are you doing talking with a Plegian tactician?"
Chrom grew a confused look on his face. "Hold it Fred we just met this man! What makes you so sure he's with Plegia?"
"Those robes. They are the same ones worn by Plegian military tacticians, specifically ones of the Grimleal religion."
"Maybe he got them off of one somewhere.", Chrom lifted his arms to encompass the area they were standing in. "We are on the borders after all."
Frederick ignored Chrom's words and stomped over to Robin's position. With the armor Frederick wore Robin was considerably smaller in size to the hulking mass of metal armor. And this wasn't even when he was on his horse. Federick finally stopped when he was close enough to tower over Robin striking utter fear into him.
"Show me you weapons." Frederick demanded.
Robin had no recollection of carrying weapons, however he had hardly any recollection of anything to begin with. Rather than voice his amnesia, Robin decided to start checking himself for any weapons he might've carried. Searching through pocket compartments scattered in his cloak he found a few tomes, ones for lightning and fire magic, and a sheathed sword with a lightning shaped design. Robin handed all of these over to Frederick and he immediately tossed them back to Lissa and Chrom's position.
"Remove your gloves." Robin slipped off the black silk gloves that covered his hands. First was the right glove revealing a plain hand. The second glove was removed and revealed a purple tattoo on his hand. Frederick stared at this tattoo for a moment and took a deep breath, he then looked back at Chrom
"With your permission sir I'd like to restrain this Plegian tactician."
All three of the people in the audience made a loud "What?!" in response.
"Frederick what are you saying?!" Chrom demanded.
Frederick glanced back at the tossed lightning shaped sword. "That is a Levin sword milord. Only Plegia's most distinguished and powerful military officers wield these swords as they are only bestowed by Plegia's rulers. Unless you're saying this man was able to take out a Plegian tactician with minimal effort, indicated by the fact I see no burns from his tomes on his cloak, I'd say this man is a danger to all of us! And even if this man was able to take out an elite member of Plegia's military with basic tomes, look at this mark on his hand! This is a clear cut symbol of the Grimleal!"
Chrom stayed silent for a moment and calmed himself down. He turned to look at Robin with stern and analytical eyes. "Robin, is this true? Are you a Plegian tactician?" Robin stared back at Chrom without hesitation and not a single trace of doubt in his demeanor.
"I don't know, truthfully. With all this evidence, it's likely I probably am a Plegian tactician. If it makes you feel safer I'll gladly have myself restrained. Just please help me find out who and where I am." Frederick stepped in front of Chrom after Robin's response.
"What exactly did you say you wanted?" Frederick demanded.
"To help find out who I am. I've lost my memory-" Frederick interrupted Robin with a loud chuckle.
"You cannot be serious!" Frederick looked back at Robin's face. It told him there was no jest in his words.
"Gods you are serious! A plegian tactician lost his whole memory and just so happened to lose it during one of milord's patrols? You genuinely think I'd buy a story like that?"
"Hey I've spent enough time healing to know amnesia can happen anywhere!" Lissa intervened.
"I'm sorry milady but this isn't a case of amnesia. It's a case of a pegasus shi-"
"Enough Frederick." Chrom commanded. Frederick ceased his amused demeanor and reverted back to his stoic attitude. Chrom looked sternly at Frederick.
"You trust me correct?"
"Yes milord."
"Then listen to me when I say I don't sense any deception in Robin's words. Plegian or not, I genuinely believe this man has lost his memory. What kind of Shepherds would we be to bind someone who needs our help when they've done nothing to deserve that treatment?'
Frederick stayed silent, knowing where Chrom was going with this and that arguing with him would be futile. Chrom turned back to Robin.
"You may accompany us to a nearby town. We'll figure out where you could've possibly come from and provide you with the essentials to travel there. Understood?"
Robin stared back at Chrom for a moment, stunned at his generosity. "Crystal clear."
"Good.", Chrom turned to Frederick. "Frederick go call for three horses."
"As you command." Frederick mounted his horse and proceeded to travel away from the group.
Robin didn't know what to think he was more thankful for. The fact that he had been awoken by this man and not a bandit or that he had the guts to stand up to an armored behemoth for him. He silently promised that one day he'd repay Chrom for this kindness.
Deciding it would save some time and energy on the horses, Chrom decided to have the three travel in the same direction as Frederick to lessen the meetup distance between them. They walked in awkward silence, each contemplating of what had just transpired and what to do further. Chrom knew not to trust every soul he came across, especially now that Plegia sought to instigate a war and assassinating a prince of Ylisse was one sure way of doing it, but he always felt he had a knack for telling when a person was lying or when they were telling the truth.
Everything lined up for Robin to be a Plegian tactician, even one of the Grimleal religion, yet that could also be an avenue that would perfectly explain his amnesia. Perhaps one of his rituals backfired or he was exiled from their religion. Whatever the case, Chrom was determined to help Robin in any way he could.
"CHROM!" Lissa yelled. Alerted by his sister's scream, Chrom followed the direction Lissa was pointing towards. In the distance red hues were glowing from buildings and smoke had started to fill the sky. A town was completely on fire.
"Dammit! They're burning a whole town!" Chrom motioned to Lissa, "Come on Lissa!"
"What about Robin?"
"Unless he's on fire as well he can stay here and wait for us."
Lissa nodded and the two took off. Robin was taken back by the sudden willingness to go help a town that was in shambles with hardly anyone left to save, if any. Inspired by this, Robin ignored any kind of self preservating notion to stay behind and ran after them.
Upon reaching the town and walking to a nearby street market, Robin saw that the damage was noticeably less severe than it had appeared from far away. What had looked like a town engulfed in flames was actually a supply depot that had clearly been sabotaged and the radius of the fire was only enough to engulf nearby buildings. Attempts to start fires in other buildings had clearly been made as some of the structures elsewhere in the town were spewing smoke out of their windows and doors but showed no signs of an active fire.
Relieved by this revelation, Robin began scanning the area around him for any sign of Chrom and Lissa, the two had quite easily outran him and Robin wasn't exactly the fastest thing alive. As he turned his body to scan a few more alleyways he noticed a man standing a few yards away from him. He looked at his face, he had ragged red hair and a long scar across the side of his face. His upper chest was completely exposed, only wearing ragged pants and the pelt of some large animal on his back. If the savage clothing wasn't enough of an indicator that this man was probably not a local, the spinning axe flying right towards his head sure was.
Robin rolled to a nearby fruit stand, one with fresh fruit still in baskets and also one that he'd have to revisit considering he hadn't eaten anything since he woke up and Gods only know how long he must've been without food even prior to that. Maybe that melon there would be a good- FOCUS! Robin snapped himself out of his hunger induced trance and refocused on the current situation. Some half naked mad man wearing an animal pelt was trying to kill him with hand axes. So what could he do? Robin's weapons had been confiscated by Frederick, hand axes only have one use, it was unlikely that the one that flew at him was the brigand's last axe. So no weapons to fight back with. The only thing around him were- MELONS!
He quickly grabbed the box of melons and took one into his right hand. He poked it a few inches out of cover as a test to see how fast and how accurate this man was.
One…
Two…
Three…
FWOOSH!
The melon was still in his hand, only now it has cleanly cut in half. Though this man's aim was spot on, three seconds was enough time to constantly throw fruit at him and keep Robin's own head from looking like the melon slices still in his palm.
"Come out ya white haired freak!" the bandit taunted. "Yer just wastin' my axes and I wanna use them on somethin' more... pressing."
That had to mean Chrom, in all the time formulating a plan to escape the bandit, he hadn't thought about what he should do once he lost the man. Should he escape the village? Would Chom need his help? Surely he wouldn't have been killed by bandits, especially ones that could be distracted with fruit, right? The man continued to taunt Robin and his voice grew louder, he was coming towards him. Now was the time to strike.
Just before emerging with a basket full of melons, Robin noticed that there was a small set of steps between the market street Robin was in and the alley the bandit appeared from. Tripping on these would only cause an infant to have some bruises, but injuries wasn't what he was looking for. If he could surprise the bandit with one fruit to the face... Just as the bandit placed his foot on the first step, Robin slugged a melon right at the man's face. The bandit had no idea that Robin would have fought back, as scrawny as he was, and especially not with fruit of all things. The melon smashed into his face and caused the bandit to trip on the steps, just enough time to get away! By the time the bandit had recovered from his fall, Robin had already sprinted down several alleyways. His boss was not going to be happy about this.
Robin kept sprinting down randomly chosen alleyways in directions that lead away from the market street until he found a vacant building. Robin decided that running away would eventually exhaust him and leave him in more danger than he was earlier. He ducked into the building, a tavern from the looks of plates with half eaten food and half drank glasses, and hid behind a counter. He waited for several minutes, only peaking out from the counter to watch if any bandits had successfully followed him.
After enough time had passed to know it was unlikely a bandit was looking for him, Robin stood up from the counter, only to immediately see a horse and its rider standing right in front of the tavern he was in. Robin ducked back behind the counter and frantically searched for a weapon of some kind. All he could find was a metal fork, better than nothing he figured. He heard the metallic sounds of buckles being moved, the man was stepping off of his horse. Dammit, he saw him! The door squeaked as it was opened and he could hear the metallic clangs of battle armor. What good would a fork be against battle armo- Wait. What kind of bandit has a horse and battle armor alongside half naked bandits? There's no way…
"Frederick, is that you?" Robin quietly called out from behind the counter.
Within seconds he was single handedly thrown from behind the counter and onto his back. Robin's head was throbbing from slamming into the wooden floor and his vision was fuzzy. Once his eyes focused he saw a silver lance pointed directly towards his chest.
"Jeez Frederick it's me! It's Robin!"
"What have you done with them?"
"What do you mean 'what have I done with them'?"
Frederick inched the lance closer to Robin's neck, barely touching his skin. Robin then figured out exactly what Frederick was asking.
"Frederick I swear to you I did nothing to them. We were traveling in your direction when we came across this town. Chrom and Lissa ran to try and help the town and told me to stay. Considering I'm unarmed right now you'll forgive me for hiding behind a counter after escaping death by throwing melons at a half naked man throwing axes at me."
Robin stared at Frederick's face hoping to get an answer from his face depending on his reaction. Frederick merely stared with the same expression he had given him this whole time. For every second that passed by with Frederick's lance inches away from the inside of his throat, Robin felt like hours passed as he had no clue to what his one man judge and jury might decide. To his relief, Frederick removed the lance and offered his hand to Robin.
"You are either one of the worst liars in the realm or one of the luckiest men I have ever met."
"Have I finally earned some trust?" Robin inquired as he brushed off the dust from lying on the floor.
Frederick gave him that same stern stare from before.
"You will be given an opportunity to earn it.", Frederick replied. He then reached into a large bag strapped to his back and brought out a bronze sword and fire tome. "Take these. We'll need them if we are to aid my lieges."
Robin took the weapons grabbing the tome in his left hand, sword in his right hand, and stared at them. "Aren't you afraid I'll take these and use them against you?" Frederick scoffed at Robin's warning.
"Haha! I've spent my life protecting milord and his family. A plegian tactician, even with decent weapons, is far from the worst things I've ever faced." Frederick walked to the door and opened it, but stopped before he walked outside.
"Also, I need something other than me for the archers to shoot at. How can I make you a target if you don't look like a threat?" Frederick had, for the briefest moment, given Robin a look that teetered between the lines of psychotic and stern happiness. He prayed that this was just some of Chrom's teasing rubbing off on Frederick, for his own sake.
Robin walked out of the tavern and noticed that the air had become much thicker and harder to breathe within the time he had been hiding in the building. This meant several things to Robin.
The fire was much worse than he had initially thought if this much smoke was covering the town. The only reason this fire hadn't been put out yet by Chrom and Lissa meant that they weren't successful in stopping the bandits as a town this big surely would have enough supplies to stop a few burning buildings. This also meant the the people living in this town were either long gone, unlikely given the remoteness of the area making fleeing town an incredibly dangerous venture, or being held hostage which meant that they could be suffocating in a building filled with smoke this very moment. The bandits may have just flat out murdered everyone in the village which could also include Chrom. Also unlikely given that a plan to set up fires in the town meant the group wasn't large enough to take on an entire town on their own with brute strength. Hostages was the only way they could've done this much damage.
"Frederick!" He yelled. Frederick turned to Robin's face with the typical stern look he always had, now with a small bit of annoyance to it.
"What?" Frederick replied.
"Did you see any buildings that could be large enough to hold a lot of people?"
"Depends, how many people are you talking about?"
"An entire town's worth."
Frederick was silent for a moment and then, for the first time Robin had ever seen, he grinned with a non-psychopathic smile towards Robin.
"Hop onto a horse, I know exactly what you're looking for."
Robin grinned in return, finally the armored behemoth was starting to trust him. Hopefully the people they found in the building hadn't suffocated just yet and there was still time to save them. He hopped onto one of the horses Frederick had brought with him, impressed that he was able to have four horses under his control by himself.
"I'll take point. Make sure to use that tome." Frederick commanded.
"Will do."
Smoke continued to fill the streets of the town. It had occurred to Robin that perhaps that supply depot had much more flammable objects in there, maybe even oil, as any normal building couldn't cause this much smoke in a town alone. Sure enough when the two turned the corner, the once engulfed in flames supply depot was now a crumbled pile of ash and stones. Robin guessed the only reason he hadn't heard the explosion was because the adrenaline of trying to stay alive blocked it out. Nearby buildings had all been engulfed in flames and none of them were given any mercy by the fire. A nearby apothecary was spewing smoke out of its windows, an inn was completely in flames and was going to collapse in minutes, and even people's homes were starting to crumble.
What horrified Robin the most was what he saw inside some of the burning shops. Bodies of what were clearly the owners of the stores were positioned in ways that meant they had no intention of willingly giving up their stores to the bandits. The only justice he saw in these sights were that some of the stores had more than just one body and were lit with flames near the top of the body, a clear sign that at least some of the bandits went down with the store owners. Robin looked to Frederick, his horse just a few yards away, and while he could not see Frederick's face due to him looking straight forward the entire time, he noticed that the demeanor of Frederick's position on the horse meant a terrible fate was coming to these bandits in addition to what he was going to do them from whatever they did to Chrom and Lissa.
Suddenly, several small axes clinked off of Frederick's armor. They were caught in an ambush as several bandits emerged from alleyways and from behind barrels. Robin immediately counted six of them. Five were bandits like the one he had seen before, half naked, only wearing pants, and wore a beast's pelt. The other two were simple archers and appeared much less savage than the other five, wearing armored shoulder pads and actual clothing. Frederick reared his horse to stop and within seconds had charged towards bandits, silver lance at the ready, and skewered three of them in one charge. The two archers sent a volley of arrows at Frederick and, even without looking, Frederick managed to block every single arrow of of his shield. He launched his lance like a javelin at one more bandit impaling him onto a wall and brought out a glimmering axe. He glanced at the two archers, now terrified for their lives, and immediately tossed the axe at one of them. Within seconds the axe collided into one of the archers and the force of the throw was enough to send the axe through his body and stick into the ground. Frederick slowly approached the last archer, now sitting on the ground in disbelief and utterly terrified. Frederick towered over his ambusher, with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Please! Spare me! I'll never ransack a village ever again, I'll dedicate my life to helping people every day!"
The archer got no response from Frederick as he continued to approach him slowly. To cement the nail in his fate, Frederick unsheathed a silver sword.
"What kind of demon are you!" the Archer screamed.
Frederick finally towered over the man, letting him wallow in fear. He stepped off of his horse and even though he was still walking, was quick enough to get to the archer and stab the sword in his right leg. The archer screamed in pain and began to wail in fear for his life. He looked up one more time at his executioner and saw only the face of death himself glaring back at him. Frederick pulled the sword from the archer's leg and picked him up by the throat.
"You will answer my questions right now and you better hope you have the correct answers. I will know if you lie so if you do I will not hesitate to make your end the most miserable I can right now. Do you understand?"
"YES! YES I DO!"
"What did you do with the people of this town?"
"We took hostages! We used them as a way to get access to where they keep all their oil kegs. We lit that place like a bonfire!"
"Where are they now?"
"They're in the… they're in the… the…"
Frederick tightened the grip on the archer's neck.
"You have until you suffocate to tell me where these people are."
"THEY'RE IN THE BASEMENT OF THE DEPOT! WE THOUGHT...THAT IF NONE OF THEM LIVED THERE'D BE NO ONE TO HUNT US DOWN UNTIL WE WERE LONG GONE!"
Frederick slammed the archer onto the ground.
"YOU WILL TELL ME RIGHT NOW, WHERE IS PRINCE CHROM AND PRINCESS LISSA?!"
"Who…? Wait, you don't mean. Oh gods I'm so sorry!"
"WHERE ARE THEY?"
"WE PUT THEM INTO THE DEPOT AS WELL! WE HAD NO IDEA THEY WERE ROYALTY! PLEASE DON-" He was silenced as Frederick launched his metal fist into the archer's face.
Robin knew that the only way this man wasn't going to have a massive head injury is if that man had a skull made of the Earth's strongest metal. He was also stunned by the ruthless display Frederick had shown him as his mouth was open the entire time. Frederick slumped his knees to the ground in utter defeat. Robin didn't know what to do, everything in him told him to go and console the man, but he was terrified if this loss had broken the man and whether this man was an utter killing machine now. Clearly his fears weren't stronger than his need to console as he found himself only a few feet away standing behind Frederick. He could hear him sobbing.
"Frederick, I'm so sorry."
Frederick raised his head and stared forwards. There was only silence for a few moments.
"This isn't your fault, Robin." He finally broke. Robin was shocked that Frederick had finally used his name. He got back onto his knees and wiped his face before turning towards Robin.
"It was my duty and life to protect Chrom and Lissa. I failed them both. I failed the halidom. I FAILED!"
He began to walk towards the bodies of the men that he tossed his weapons at, retrieving each of them.
"I will make them pay. They took my liege, my purpose, and my honor. They will not leave this unpunished."
He turned to Robin.
"You want my trust? Help me fulfill this one last task."
Robin immediately nodded. He didn't have the attachment that Frederick had to these people, but they were the ones who showed him kindness and trust. He owed it to them and the people of this town to avenge them for what these bandits did. Before the two rode off, Robin noticed a bandit was still alive, though barely as a pool of his own blood surrounded him. Frederick took no notice of this man so Robin decided before death claimed him, in the form of a lance or blood loss, he would get one last thing out of him.
"Where is your leader?" he demanded. The bandit merely glanced at Robin and furrowed his brows. He spat in his face with blood. Robin wiped the blood off of his face and brought out his tome.
"You see this book? It is a fire tome. If you don't tell me where he is right now, I will use this to cauterize that wound of yours and then stab into you again with this sword.", Robin unsheathed his bronze blade. "I will then close the wound again with this thing in you, melted and seared to your organs. If you tell me right now where your leader is I will make sure to cauterize your wound and you might live to see another day."
The bandit ended his angered look at Robin, replaced with one of utter exhaustion and defeat.
"He's in the street market. Y'know the one, where you threw those melons at me."
Before Robin could say anything else, the bandit fainted. Robin didn't have any medical expertise to say if the man had died or not, but just to make sure he kept his end of the bargain, he cauterized the bandit's wound and left him some vulnerary in the event he was still alive. It was strange to be the one possibly saving the life of your attempted murderer.
"Hurry it up lads! This fire isn't going to stop just for us!", the bandit leader ordered.
"Yeah, set the city on fire, that'll be a great idea. Just forget the part where we are in the town during the fire.", a lackey quietly quipped carrying a large basket of melons to a nearby cart.
The bandit leader sharply turned directly towards the back talker.
"What did you just say?"
The lackey was screwed. How the hell did he hear him?
"Nothing sir. I said nothing."
"Really? Are you saying I'm deaf? I certainly heard you say somethin'. I don't take too kindly to insults." The leader stomped towards him.
"I'll ask again, what did you just say?"
"... I said KNIGHT!" the bandit screamed, dropping his melons and sprinting away.
"What the-" the leader was interrupted as he saw a silver lance fly past his head, grazing his cheek, and impaling the bandit that had been back talking him. He looked back in the direction where the lance had come from. There, standing at the other end of the market street, was a man clad in armor atop an armored horse. The blocked sunlight casted a shadow onto the knight and some would have called this sight as seeing the manifestation of death itself.
"I thought we killed everyone!"
"WE DID! He must've come after that blue haired guy!"
The bandit looked back at the knight, who was now slowly approaching him. The bandit leader had no idea what to do but surely this knight couldn't single handedly take everyone on, right?"
"Do you have any idea who I am? I am Garrick, the leader of one of the biggest-" He didn't have time to finish as an axe smashed into a mage next to him. After the dust settled he saw his worst fear. This knight was midway into slaughtering his men. Every attack they threw at him either bounced off of his armor or was swiftly dodged by the horse. Crap, he needed an outing fast. He darted his eyes around, looking for something when he finally found what he was looking for. There was a man in a black cloak casting weak spells and, the best part, had a bronze sword with him. This easy of a hostage was practically a blessing from some benevolent god.
After Frederick finished off the last of the bandits, he turned to the final target he'd been saving for last. He did find the leader, but was caught off guard by what he had with him.
"Throw your sword down or the mage gets it!" Garrick demanded.
"Don't worry about me Frederick! Kill him!"
"Shut it before I carve your mouth off!"
Robin ignored him.
"If he gets away he is going to do this again! Kill him!"
"That's it!" Garrick pushed Robin to the ground and stabbed his leg. Robin yelled in pain and was pulled back into an armlock to continue his role as a body shield.
Frederick dawned the stern look he always had but there was something new about it. Rather than staring with intent, his eyes were constantly shifting between Robin and Garrick. What he did next shocked Robin. Frederick dropped his sword and stepped back away from the two.
"Good. You stupid Ylissean!" the bandit yelled as he stabbed Robin through the chest.
Frederick could only stare at what was happening before him. Failure again. What could he return to now? What would Ylisse do in response to his failure? An entire town lost, an impaired man killed in front of him, the Exalt's siblings murdered. He began to imagine places he'd have to go to when after he would surely be exiled from Ylisse, but was interrupted when he heard Garrick scream.
"There's no way! I killed you!"
"You made a mistake trying to kill me. Now I'm angry" Chrom yelled as he thrusted his sword into Garrick's chest. Garrick coughed up blood.
"Ylissean...scum!" Garick sputtered as his final words. Chrom then kicked Garrick's body out of the sword after his body went limp. He turned to see Frederick staring at him in awe, clearly relieved he was alive, and then saw a man in white hair passed out with blood streaming from his chest.
"Robin! Lissa go help him!" he commanded. Like emerging from the clutches of death, Lissa appeared from behind Chrom and ran past him to heal Robin. Frederick was stunned. Nearly the entirety of the dread and guilt he was feeling had been lifted at this revelation.
"Lord Chrom you're alive! I thought you were both dead!"
"You don't give me enough credit Fred. Com'on, we'll catch up on things later, right now we need to get Robin out of here while we can still save him!"
"As you command my liege!" Frederick replied and then whistled the horses he had brought with him.
"Hang in there Robin, don't die on me just yet."
Robin awoke in a new area with a massive headache. He could smell the grass so they were still outside. He was in a tent, clearly makeshift as it was only lit by a single lantern. He then noticed he had guests. To his left Lissa and Chrom were asleep, Lissa practically snoring. He nearly screamed when he looked to his right at the armor behemoth known as Frederick was also there. Unlike Chrom and Lissa however, Frederick was wide awake.
"I see you're awake now." He stated.
"How long have I been out?"
"You've been asleep for three days now. Falling in and out of consciousness."
"Gods, what happened?" Robin asked, and then noted that Chrom and Lissa weren't dead. "How are they…?"
"Lord Chrom and Lady Lissa willingly let themselves get captured. That was their plan to find the townspeople as fast as possible. While you and I were searching for them, the entire townspeople had escaped with their help."
Robin breathed a sigh of relief. Please don't be another weird dream, he thought to himself. He knew he was already incredibly lucky to be found by the Shepherds and hoped this wasn't a false continuation of his luck. His stomach then growled and it dawned on him that he likely had barely eaten anything in the past couple of days.
"Frederick I don't mean to inconvenience you, but please tell me you guys have something to eat."
He grinned with that psychotic grin that only meant trouble was coming his way.
"We have something, stay right there."
Frederick exited the tent and left Robin for only a few moments, when he came back he had some kind of kabobed meat stick.
"Fresh bear meat, hunted from yours truly."
It smelt utterly disgusting but as someone who had barely eaten, anything was better than nothing at all. He took a bite out of the meat, and it was the best tasting bear he had ever eaten.
