A Boulder in the Path of Conquest
In the waning hours of a great war, a battle is raged in the skies. Grima, the Fell dragon battled against Naga's chosen bloodline and their allies. Upon Grima's back,the blood of armies was spilt, legions of Grimleal slaughtered defending their god. Yet for all their fanaticism, it meant little in the face of the Shepherds' bonds and their tactician's brilliance. The great wyrm struggled for all it was worth, but in the end, found itself weakened and at the mercy of its foes.
"HA… HA… I… WILL NOT… BE…"
"Now Robin, this is our chance!"
Rushing forward, swords drawn was a blue haired lord and a purple haired woman. Chrom, the Exalt of Ylisse, and his wife, Robin, Queen of Ylisse and Royal Tactician stood before the Avatar of Grima, a ghastly reflection of the young woman. Its faced marred with sweat and blood, the purple flames that once roared and danced around it were barely a flicker. But its face remained defiant, twisted in scorn.
"With this blow, I will end this!"
Chrom slowly walks forward, and with a flourish of his sword, prepares to strike down Grima, to seal it away for another thousand years. That was of course, until he was tripped by his most trusted friend. Ungraciously falling to the ground, he could only stare in disbelief at his wife.
"Sorry Chrom, but I lied. I can't let you take care of this."
Glancing briefly at her fallen husband Robin walks forward, hand outstretched to the heavens, gathering a familiar purple energy.
"Grima cannot fall save to his own power… for once I am glad we are one and the same."
"WHAT… YOU CANNOT DO THIS! YOU WOULD KILL US BOTH… FOR SUCH INSECTS?!"
"No, but I would kill us both for family"
"Wait Robin! No!"
Her hand swung down, and with it an orb of chaotic energy, striking down her twisted reflection, shock and horror warping its face. Its body faded, burned away by the very flames that once sustained it. The main body of Grima roared in pain, as its mind fades away into the abyss, the disintegrating body slowly gliding into the sea below. Robin herself begins to fade away, the wind blowing away her disintegrating body into flecks of purple dust before they themselves fade into the night.
Chrom could only stare in horror as his wife slowly fades away before him, her back turned against him while she looks at the sunset at the distance. They only stand there unmoving for a moment, until the shouts of their two blue haired children snap them out of their stupor.
"Mother, no! You can't leave us!"
Lucina and Morgan run beside their father, and gaze upon the fading figure of their mother.
"Why Mother… you promised… you'd come back with us…"
Morgan, her daughter and youngest child pleaded as tears streamed down her face. Her sister Lucina could only look on with a stoic face. Yet, her feelings were betrayed by the watering of her eyes.
"Mother…"
Turning her head to look at the family she was leaving behind, she gave them a sad, resigned look.
"I'm sorry… but I had to. I could not condemn you, my grandchildren or any of my descendants to live under the shadow of this monster. With this… we are free…"
"But at what cost mother? I did not come to the past, or falter in killing you only to see you die here! We could have… *hic* we could have… *hic* found another way…"
Lucina's stoic façade crumbles as she speaks those words. A river of tears stream down her face and her voice, normally strong and full of conviction, became so meek and powerless akin to a young child.
Robin could only give Lucina a wistful smile.
"I'm sorry my child, for burdening you with the future once more…"
Tears slowly fall from Robin's face, her body almost completely faded away.
"Lucina, Morgan, take care of your father for me… Chrom, let everyone know my final thoughts were of them. And thank you Chrom for everything. I love you... may we meet again in a better life…"
"Robin! No! Ah gods, NO!"
Chrom ran forward, hand reaching for his wife, only to see her finally fade away. The last image he saw of his wife was her sad, resigned smile, her eyes closing with a final wave of goodbye as Naga teleported him and the others to safety.
Robin groaned in pain as she felt herself floating, being tugged and pulled in different directions. Opening her eyes, she looked around and saw lines of light wrapping around her, pulling her to what seemed to be a river of light above her, only to be opposed by a claw made by a familiar purple fire, attempting to drag her down into the abyss. In the distance she saw other rivers of light, suspended in the void, as numerous as there are stars in the sky.
Focusing on the lines of light, she could feel the love, hopes and dreams of her friends, and in the claw, the waning strength and wrath of Grima as he fades into oblivion.
Heh, I wasn't expecting the bonds of friendship that Chrom and Naga spoke of to be quite… literal.
Briefly smiling to herself, she watched the struggle between the two intensely. To her horror, she watched as the bonds stretched themselves too far, slowly tearing and ripping apart, only to notice that Grima's claw, his lingering will, was fading away at an equal pace. The claw burned itself out of existence at the same moment that the bonds were stretched too far and were torn asunder. Robin found herself floating in the void between Outrealms, unable to rise back to her own, but safe from sinking into the abyss.
Huh… the bonds of love and friendship I had was equal to the will of a god. Still, being stuck in the void between realms was not what I was expecting. Perhaps this was the rule of three that one gray skinned traveler mentioned to me all those years ago. Of course, with my luck this was bound to happen. In the situation where there is a coin toss, instead of getting heads or tails, the coin lands perfectly on its side
Closing her eyes and shaking her head, Robin twists her body around to look upon all the rivers of light. Focusing hard on them, she could make out some of the events occurring, as faded out images, and feeling the emotions of those in the scenes.
Are these all the Outrealms that Chrom and I visited in preparing for Grima? Ah, there's the alternate future where we aided our alternate children. And there are the Outrealms where I received the Einherjar cards from Hubba. The skills we learned from there were well worth the effort. But when I look at my own Realm, I cannot see it over the bright light it gives. Am I too close? Or is there something else obstructing my vision?
Turning away once more to study the other Outrealms, she noticed something intriguing. In several nearby Outrealms whenever the river of light faded, a cluster of lights would erupt out of the fading end and in a graceful arc impact the river earlier on, causing a split. The newly formed split would grow strong and become the new main path of the river while the original path withered and faded, becoming a dead end. Other times the arc was too wide and it impacted other rivers, diverting the path there but ultimately causing the same conclusion.
Interesting, is this how Naga's time travel looks like from the outside? Splitting timelines until the ideal one is the dominant one? Hm… this could be my way back. If I hitch a ride on one of those arcs, I can find my way into an Outrealm and ask Naga to transport me back to my own. Granted I'd probably have to fight in the wars against Grima again, but that's better than just waiting out here in the void.
Studying the sister Outrealms to her own, Robin watched carefully. For what seemed like an eternity, she watched. Arcs from several of the sibling rivers were sent back in time, all of which were just out of her reach. Until finally, the closest river of time to her own flung one back. The arc swung close to her and she reached her hand out. Grazing the outermost light of the arc, she was pulled in, and found herself careening into the past, along side whoever else was in that particular light.
Five years before Robin was found by Chrom, near the lands of Rosanne. A falling light graced the skies and fell to the earth. All who gazed upon the spectacle believed it to be a shooting star, and several wished for peace and the safety of their loved ones in these ever-darkening times. For many in the coming years, this "shooting star" turned their hopes and wishes into a reality.
Author's Notes
Hello everyone! I hope you like the Prologue to my first fanfic ever! I always wanted to write my own novel, but was too anxious to make much progress, so I figured, why not write a fanfic for practice.
As you might have noticed, I changed the ending scene of Awakening. I thought that the rest of the family should have been there with Chrom and Robin as he/she faded out of existence. So, this timeline, I made it happen!
Oh, and for anyone who is wonder what this Robin looks like, she's female build 1, face 4, hair 2, hair color 8
Oh, and in this chapter, I threw a reference to an old RPG game I played a long time ago. A cookie to the first person who gets it!
So, until next time, See ya later!