I am not sorry in any way for the title.
The Prankster Princess's Perfect Plan!
01
Adoration from Afar
The night was young, with the sun having crossed the horizon only a minute or two ago.
A despairing voice was the only thing preventing the night from falling into total silence.
"I can't believe it!"
This voice belonged to none other than Lissa, princess of Ylisse. Sprawled out on her bed, she looked to the roof of her tent, fighting the urge to toss and turn in a fit of anger. The reasoning behind her sorrow was a simple one, at least to her. One which was unknown to all members of the Shepherds, including even Chrom. That being...
...She loved Robin.
This was a feeling she had come to accept months ago, and, though unrequited as of yet, was something that spurred her to work her hardest both on and off the field to try and get him to notice her. Though it did draw eyes to her, more so than before her acceptance, unfortunately for her said eyes were not the pair she was hoping for. Compliments on her improvements in battle had came from Chrom, Frederick, and the like, but not Robin. And that annoyed her.
Sure, she knew that his focus was on winning the war and keeping everyone alive, and she respected him greatly for it - it was one of the many aspects she fell for - but she couldn't fight her innermost desire to at least be complimented by him.
Despite this, Lissa couldn't possibly bring herself to hate him for it. Robin was a great man. He put so much care and effort into his plans, and she'd caught him asleep at his desk more than once. He constantly reminded everyone that they meant a lot to him, and that he'd deem any plan which risked losing a life unacceptable.
To put it simply, he was incredibly kind. And caring. And smart. And nice. And handsome. Very handsome.
Lissa's cheeks grew ever-so-slightly warmer with the last thought, and she brought up her hands to cover her face despite there being no one else present.
"Ugh..." She sighed.
Though it pained her to admit it, she couldn't help but compare herself to a secret admirer.
Someone who looked on from afar, holding their affections to their chests but being unable to act on them. Who'd always be the first to defend their actions, but who'd also never find themselves in a situation where the target of their affections would defend them. Who'd always catch their eyes wandering off to the direction of them, losing track of what they were just doing as they watched him work, as he'd talk, read, eat, laugh... and as Robin fought...
"...Ahh!" She fiercely shook her head when she realised she directly brought Robin into her monologue. "What am I, some kind of creep?!"
Lissa rolled from side to side, trying to clear her mind and bring her thoughts back down to a more reasonable level for nighttime. She slowed, and eventually stopped, returning to her original position, staring once more at the roof.
"...Why does he have to be so busy?" She muttered, a coldness enveloping herself as she did so.
It was true that she wanted to spend time with him. But, it was also true that she was getting fewer and fewer opportunities to do so.
Robin's status as the tactician of the Shepherds meant that he was constantly running back and forth between conferences with Chrom and his own tent to devise strategies and develop tactics.
This wasn't to say that it was something she didn't expect, but it still irked her that it began happening before she could make a move on him.
She brought her hands away from her head and onto her stomach.
"...I should have acted while I had the chance." Lissa turned onto her side to face the green fabric wall of her tent. "Now it might be too late..."
She sighed once more, a mixture of regret and disappointment rushing over her like a wave. Too late was certainly one way to describe it. Though she had no current knowledge of anyone else holding feelings for the tactician like herself, there were multiple girls who'd had more than enough opportunities to develop said feelings without her having a chance to find out. Sumia was always recommending him books, since they shared a deep interest in literature, something which Lissa admittedly tried to get herself into with no luck. Maribelle seemed to have wrapped him up in some sort of etiquette lessons, from what she'd been told. Heck, she even caught sight of Sully training with him one-on-one on more than one occasion!
Headed on a downward spiral of self-loathing, she began to reflect on the few moments of her own with Robin. Her mind was drawn in particular to her first encounter with the tactician.
Having at that point accompanied Chrom and Frederick for a grand total of two days, Lissa remembered distinctly how unprepared she was for the amount of walking she actually had to do. En route southwards, the three had originally planned to stop at Southtown for the night. But, with only a few hours of travelling under her belt, she'd quickly grown tired.
They'd reached an open field at this point, mostly flat and with few trees in sight, bar those which seemingly surrounded them in the distance.
Her feet ached.
Her thighs burned.
Everything was in pain, to the point where she eventually dropped to her knees to take a breath.
"I'm tiiiired!" She complained, turning to face Chrom. "Let's take a breeaaaak!"
Chrom and Frederick slowed to a halt, and Chrom let out a puff of air.
"... I guess we don't have a choice..." He pointed towards the direction they'd been headed, and gave her a soft smile. "The village is over there. We're almost there. Then we'll take a break."
"What? Really!?" Lissa bounced back up to her feet in glee with this news. "Great!"
With a newfound burst of energy, she raised a hand to the sky and let out a cheer.
"Working hard is important, but breaks are important too~!"
She quickened her pace so she could arrive faster. Her mind began to be filled with thoughts of food as she'd gone far too long without a proper meal. Well, long for her standards. Which was about a day.
"Wait, Lissa!" Chrom called out, though she was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice. "Slow down, you're going to get hurt..."
As if on cue, her foot suddenly caught itself on something. Within a half a second, her vision was suddenly filled with that of the cloud-filled sky.
"Ahh!" She cried, landing hard enough on her back to send a short shock of pain through her body. "Oof!"
"Are you alright?"
"Lady Lissa!"
Chrom and Frederick wasted no time in catching up to the princess, worry quite obviously plastered on their faces.
"Owwww..." Lissa groaned as she sat up, rubbing her back to try and soothe the pain. "What was that?"
She took a moment to let the pain subdue, and then glanced down to whatever was the cause of her stumble. Her immediate thought was that of a rock or some uneven surface.
However, it was neither of those.
"Wha-!"
It took a moment for her to process what she saw.
On the ground rested a white-haired man.
"E-Eeek! C-Chrom! S-s-someone's collapsed here!"
"What?" Chrom questioned, only to discover exactly what she'd just announced. "Oh! Is he alright?"
With a helping hand from Frederick, Lissa rose back to her feet. She gave him a quick thanks and proceeded to eye the man down.
There weren't any immediately noticeable wounds, and his robes seemed intact, at least from the half she could see. His face didn't have any scratches, either, so she couldn't exactly say that he was injured with any certainty.
To add to this, the man suddenly moved, rolling onto his back. Frederick, being his ever-wary self, flinched at this. Lissa, on the other hand, took a step closer.
"Lady Lissa," Frederick spoke up. "I'd advise that you practice caution towards this unknown man."
Lissa simply waved him off and leaned over him to get a better look.
Noting his slow but constant inhaling end exhaling, she began to come to a conclusion as to what was going on.
"...You think he's sleeping?" She asked.
"Seems like it." Chrom moved over to her side, falling silent. He pondered on something, though he made no attempts to say what it was.
Lissa felt she knew what he was thinking, however, and gave him a disapproving look.
"Chrom, we have to do something."
He returned the glance, however it took no time at all for him to concede. "...What do you propose we do?"
"I... I dunno!"
Their back and forth was cut short by the rustling grass. Both Chrom and Lissa turned their attention back towards the man, and saw that he was finally stirring. His eyelids fluttered for a few seconds, before finally opening completely, revealing a pair of eyes of a deep brown colour.
"I see you're awake now." The man stared between the two in a daze until Chrom spoke.
"Hey there!" Lissa said with a smile, ignoring the strange feeling she felt in her chest.
"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." Chrom quipped, extending his hand. "Give me your hand."
The man took a moment to respond, eventually accepting his offer and grabbing on to be pulled upright.
As Lissa returned to the present day from her recollections, she brought a hand up to her heart, feeling its beating rhythm intensify when she pictured his face. There was a lot of new experiences she came across and subsequently forgot during her journey, but this was not one of them. It would never be. Especially after she realised that the strange feeling when she first spoke to him was love!
For that matter, when she put it to though, a lot of the foreign emotions she waved off when she looked or talked to him were love.
She rose to a seated position and quietly let out a chuckle.
"I guess it really was love at first sight..." When she spoke these words, it was as if a cloud of gloom blew in from the tent's entrance. Her eyes fell to her hands which lay on her lap, and her posture slouched. "Was, huh..."
A minute passed as she sat in silence after essentially taking the wind out of her own sails.
Did she really even have a chance with him in the first place? After all, he was so smart whereas she would at times struggle to understand the intricacies of the plans he came up with. He was always reading, but she could barely manage to keep her attention for some short stories, let alone full-fledged novels. And he was so kind, while she was probably as far from the ideal image of a princess as one could get.
And this didn't even scratch the surface in terms of how different they were.
Perhaps it was just a fruitless endeavour from the get-go. One where she was destined to fail simply due to their incompatibility.
When she thought about this, she couldn't deny that it brought her almost to tears.
But, at the same time... it caused something else to arouse within her.
"No..." She muttered.
The Ylissean princess clenched her fists
"No more wallowing in self-pity."
A sudden lift in spirits washed over the princess, making her jump out of her bed and walk over towards the entrance of her tent. Lissa closed her eyes and stepped outside into the cold midnight air.
This particular night was incredibly dark for some reason, to the point where one could barely see a few meters ahead of them without any light. Because of this, despite being dressed only in her smallclothes, she continued to step further out into the darkness than she otherwise would have, ignoring the icy blowing of the wind with her currently steeled resolve.
After a couple of steps, she stopped and, drawing in a deep breath, looked to the sky.
"I'll come up with a plan of my own!" She announced, thrusting her fists into the air. "And I'll definitely make him fall for me!"
I'm kind of surprised at the relative lack of Robin/Lissa fanfics. Or maybe they're everywhere, and I just haven't delved deep enough!
Either way, I ended up taking her "And since the very beginning!" comment to heart. So she's already very much in love with him, but isn't able to approach him because of his duties. Well, that's how she feels, at least.
This was written up across three nights, each time at ~3:00 AM. Arguably not ideal, so I might come back later to improve it. Though, before doing that, I'd like to progress a fair way further into the story. So unless there's a glaring issue with it, it'll stay how it is for now.
That being said, if I've managed to catch your attention, then I look forward to seeing you in the next chapter!