Before Fates

Robin took a sharp intake of breath as he awoke in his bed. A loud, metallic creaking noise had awoken him.

"That must be the front door." Moonlight shone through a window and illuminated his view. He looked to his right to see his wife, Cordelia, snoring peacefully into a pillow. "Cordelia, someone just used the front door." He stated while nudging her bare elbow. His nose felt frigid and his feet were aching.

She swatted his hand away before grunting, which meant that she was still asleep. Robin pulled the covers off his body as he exited their bed, and his eyes were drawn to the wooden cradle where Severa slept. Not the Severa that had come from an alternate future and slept in the dining room. He was referring to the Severa that Cordelia had given birth to six months ago.

Robin leaned over the sturdy carriage to verify if Baby Severa was still there, and indeed she was. Her miniature frame rested in the small bed, and her tiny fists were waving in the air while she frowned.

Robin donned his insulating cloak before walking down the main hallway of his humble abode, which was located directly next to the grand Ylissean Castle. The slate flooring sent shivers through his body as his teeth clattered against themselves. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and began to reminisce.

It had been about two years since the fall of Grima, and given that Chrom had supplied Robin's family with an enormous pay for their invaluable service in the war, he and Cordelia found themselves unemployed and with a vast amount of free time. Robin decided that he should spend his free time with a hobby, and that diversion was painting. He wasn't necessarily the worst at it, but he was not the best at it either. Something about his selection of dull colors in his older works had always irked him, and it didn't help that Cordelia hung every portrait up on the walls of their house like a hunting trophy. At one point, Severa had taken up the craft of painting, and her works looked like national treasures compared to the nursery school art projects that Robin called 'art'.

He continued down the long hallway and entered the main room, which also doubled as a dining room. He wasn't exactly joking when he referred to his house as 'humble'. Immediately the source of the cold was made apparent, as the front door was open and the stove was flame-less. The open doorframe acted as a large window to the outside, and Robin noted the shower of snowflakes that floated into his house and settled at the entrance.

The first thing he did was shutting the entrance to prevent cold air into his house, and he wrapped his hands around the chilled doorknob. By the time the door was shut, he felt as though he was about to catch frostbite as he stuffed his hands into his sleeves. His second task was to start a fire in the stove, so he waded through the small snow pile and towards the boiler.

A large pile of wood was stacked next to the stove, and Robin tossed a few pieces into the metal container. Once it had gotten full, he needed something to light the flame.

His gaze was drawn to the large, red tome that sat on the wooden dining table. He trudged over to the counter and lifted the tome up before inspecting the symbol of a flame on its cover. The entire book smelled as if it were brand new, but that did little to make Robin think twice about what he would do next.

After flipping through the dusty pages, he tossed the book into the stove and mumbled an incantation after shutting the metallic door to the heater. Robin took a few steps backward as the tome exploded into flames, and subsequently ignited the wood. Now that he had a fire going, he needed to figure out why the front door was shut.

A note on the table caught his attention as he walked towards it. He sat down on the chair and was startled by how warm it felt; almost as if someone had used it recently. Robin lifted the paper note off the table while noticing that the ink still drying on the parchment.

"Hi, daddy (or mother, depending on who reads this). You're probably wondering where I've gone, right?" The note read.

Robin sighed as he realized he hadn't checked on Adult Severa, who's mattress was bare and Severa-less. "Anyway, I've found the opportunity of a lifetime for more adventure in a far-off land, so I'm afraid I have to leave. Make sure you do a darn good job of raising me, or I'll never forgive you. Love, Severa."

Robin crumpled the note into a ball and tossed it into the fire before tip-toeing back down the hallway.

The sound of an infant crying broke the silence.

He hurried his pace to his bedroom. He felt as though his feet were going to fall off from the cold flooring. He stepped into the area and noted that Cordelia was now awake. She was bare naked and cradling Severa in her arms while shivering.

"What caused her to wake up?" Robin asked as he sat on the bed, which was also blisteringly cold.

"Probably the sound of some lunatic setting a book on fire." Cordelia gave him an angry stare as she gently rocked her crying daughter.

"Touché." Robin smiled meekly in an attempt to save face. Cordelia looked ready to impale him with a lance as her entire body trembled from the lack of heat. "Adult Severa left, by the way."

"What?!" Cordelia's tone rose as Severa continued to cry. She placed a hand to her forehead in anger. "That girl can never stay still, can she?" She questioned while she attempted to soothe her infant daughter to sleep.

Robin noticed that his wife was currently bare naked and in the cold, so he got to his feet and walked to her side. He wrapped his arms around her bare stomach and held her in an embrace; Cordelia was thankful for the warmth of his body. Severa had grown silent and was now snoring.

So, after four months of being forged in the fires of Google Docs, this story is ready to upload.

My main problem with Make Her Fall For You in a College Semester (the previous story that I wrote) was that the characters lacked emotion. Sure, I'm still proud of it, and I'd say it has good writing, but it was essentially a loosely strung-together collection of episodes in a TV show. This story, however, adds emotion and action to the mix, so it will hopefully stay fresh and not boring.

So moving on, one (i.e. whoever reads this) might be wondering why Hisame, the resident joke character of Fates, is in the title of this story. The answer to that question is that I wanted to write a story that fleshes Hisame out and makes him feel more human. That's not to say that Hisame will be the only focus of this story. Rather, he is one of the three main characters in this adventure/comedy/tragedy/action/swashbuckling story.

I hope that whoever reads this will enjoy the following story, and thank you for your time.