Chapter 1: The Tactician and the Zero
It was... sparkly, the world around him was sparkly. Robin checked his right hand, the mark was gone and he was no longer Grimas vessel. A familiar figure appeared before him, her figure was benevolent.
"Naga..." Robin uttered. "Where are we?"
"This is the space between worlds." Naga answered. "You have been brought here due to the effect your final actions had on your body." The benevolent dragon explained. Robin thought back to last thing he did, he killed a god... a god that also happened to be himself... technically.
"So something happened after defeating Grima? I remember fading away did something happen then?" Robin asked.
"Your soul shattered into multiple pieces, you will be required to search through worlds you are unfamiliar with." Naga informed the tactician.
"I see..." Robin was slightly annoyed that he wouldn't be getting a proper break anytime soon, but at the same time the prospect of learning about new worlds was excited him.
"You will not go unprepared however, I will bestow some of my power unto you so that you will have a base knowledge of the language and technology of each world." As Naga said this a warm light enveloped Robin. "I must send you off now, may we meet again once you have reclaimed the fragment of your soul." And with that everything went white.
The first thing that Robin noticed upon awakening was the blue sky above him and the feeling of grass underneath him, he slowly sat up and upon doing so noticed that there were people around him. The surrounding people appeared to be students, Robin made this deduction from the fact that most of the people around him were wearing uniforms and were noticeably younger than him, one of the students, with pink hair and a shorter stature than most of the others, was standing in front of Robin.
"Louise the Zero summoned a commoner!" A tanned red haired student called out before everyone erupted into laughter.
"Shut up!" The girl, whom Robin assumed was Louise, shouted. "Mr. Colbert, can I retake the summoning ritual?" Louise asked.
"No, the summoning ritual is sacred and effects a mages entire life, to try a second time would be a blasphemy against the ritual itself." The teacher explained. "Now please continue with the ritual before you are expelled." The teacher warned.
"Fine." Louise huffed, she walked over to Robin and knelt down. Before Robin could ask any questions Louise kissed him... and took her time before drawing away, Robin was used to a lot of confusing things happening, this one was quite high up the list. Again Robin was interrupted before he could ask questions, a searing pain enveloped his right hand. Once the pain subsided Robin looked down at his right hand, a look of horror took to Robins face. It was back, the mark of Grima was back.
"No..." Robin muttered, Louise looked at him in confusion. "No!" Robin yelled, this took everyone by surprise. Robin hopped to his feet and started pacing back and forth, to his own surprise he actually calmed down pretty quickly.
"What are you doing?" Louise asked her familiar, the man that she had summoned had started having something akin to a panic attack. The creamy haired man stopped pacing and turned on his heels, his eyes scanned the area before setting on Louise.
"I could tell you, but it's a long and probably unbelievable story." The familiar smiled awkwardly. "Oh, but where are my manners. I'm Robin, it's nice to meet you." The familiar introduced himself.
"I am Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere." Louise introduced herself in response. The familiar was at least a foot taller than Louise, he was currently smiling down at her with a calm smile.
"It seems you've settled down." Louise stated, Robin rubbed the back of his neck and let out a small chuckle.
"Yes, I have. I must apologise for my behaviour, I was caught off guard." Robin looked at his right hand again, the mark on his hand glowed slightly.
Colbert noticed the mark and found it curious, he didn't recognise it.
"Alright class, that is all for today, you have the rest of today and all of tomorrow to bond with your familiars. Dismissed." Colbert announced, the students headed back to their rooms.
After the teacher, 'Mr. Colbert' as Louise had called him earlier, dismissed the class, Robin followed Louise. No words were spoken during the walk, but Robin could tell that Louise was annoyed. Eventually they reached Louise's room, it wasn't too different to Robins usual accommodations, the room was actually a bit bigger than his one in Ylisse, there was small bed of hay next to a queen sized bed and there was a table with three chairs around it and a chest of drawers.
"What is the hay for?" Robin asked.
"That is your bed." Louise replied bluntly.
"Funny, but seriously." Robin deadpanned, Louise turned to face him.
"That. Is. Your. Bed." Louise repeated sternly, Robin bit into his lip lightly as he thought for a second.
"No." Robin shook his head. "I did not come here to sleep on the floor."
"Whatever, you're my familiar, you do as I say or else." Louise threatened, she didn't realise that she had given Robin the advantage.
"Or else what?" Robin asked with a mocking smile, Louise went over to the drawers and took out a riding crop.
"Or else this." Louise said with an angry smile as she took a practice swing, advantage lost.
"You seem irritable." Robin tried to change the subject as he sat down. "Did something happen?"
Louise let out a sigh as she put the whip back in the drawer.
"I summoned you." Louise said, Robin took some offense, but decided to hear her out. "I wanted to summon a wise, strong and beautiful familiar, but instead I summoned a commoner. I'm going to be even more of a laughing stock than I already am." Robin let out an amused laugh, which frustrated Louise slightly.
"I may not be beautiful," Robin began as he stopped his laughter, "But I can promise you that I am wise and strong, I was the tactician of an army and I made sure that we never lost an ally." Robin smiled, the thought of the army and the Shepherds tugged at his heart.
"Prove it." Louise demanded, Robin looked at the left side of his waist and scowled, his sword broke during the battle with Grima, he checked his coats inside pocket and pulled out his tome.
"What is that?" Louise asked.
"A tome, one that has every spell I've ever used in it." Robin explained with a calm smile.
"Every spell you've used? Impossible!" The pinkette declared. "Commoners can't use magic."
"Maybe not in your world, but in mine so long as you have some magic ability you can at least pull off a level one spell." Robin looked for one of the afore mentioned level one spells. "This should do it." He mumbled as he stood up, he stretched out his hand and cast the spell. "Thunder!" Robin yelled as a bolt of electricity shot forth from the palm of his hand, he stopped the bolt just short of the wall as not to damage it. Louise had a look of absolute shock on her face, Robin had his usual calm smile.
"Impossible!" Louise exclaimed, a commoner just used magic as if it were his second nature.
"I'm also quite proficient with a sword, nothing compared to my best friend mind, though my sword broke during my last battle." Robin commented.
"You can use magic, but still use a sword as well?" Louise inquired, why would a mage need to use a sword?
"Sometimes a sword has a more tactical advantage than magic, a sword swing is faster than a spells cast time." Robin stated matter of factly.
Louise was surprised by her familiars way of thinking, it was different to say the least.
"I'm going to bed." Louise yawned. "We can talk about this more tomorrow." Louise started to undress. Robin ran to the other side of the room and stood in the corner, Louise threw her clothes at him and he turned around in surprise before his face went red.
"What are you doing?" Robin asked in a panic.
"Getting changed." Louise replied.
"In front of a man?" Robin asked in a way that said 'do you see the problem?'
"You are my familiar, I do not see you as a man." Louise responded bluntly.
"Twenty two years of age and girl that's younger than me doesn't see me as a man, I'm not quite sure how to react." Robin looked astonished.
"Whatever, dress me." Louise ordered.
"I believe this situation calls for the same answer as the hay bed, no." Robin shook his head.
"Don't disobey me!" Louise shouted.
"Don't oppress me." Robin remarked. "I'll wash your clothes from today, but you can dress yourself." Robin said as he headed for the door.
"Where can I wash your clothes by the way?" Robin asked as he picked up a bar of soap.
"There's a basin outside." Louise sighed in resignation.
"Thank you." Robin bowed slightly before leaving. After she was sure he had left, Louise huffed as she put on her nightgown.
"First he freaks out when I summon him, then he uses magic and then he disobeys me, the nerve."
"She's going to be a handful." Robin sighed as he looked for the basin that Louise had told him about. "She could have given me a more specific direction than 'outside'." Robin vented, he didn't like venting his frustrations or getting angry, but the rare occurrence of an angry Robin has happened before and he did have a lot on his mind right now.
"Ah, there it is." Robin told himself as he spotted a small metal tub with a wash board leaning against the side, the basin was empty. Robin spotted a water pump nearby and set the pile of clothes down so he could fill the basin and then he noticed it, the sky had two moons. The blue moon was bigger than the red one, but the number of moons was what grabbed Robin's attention. The tactician went back to the task at hand and filled the basin with water from the pump, he put the basin back where he found it, rolled up his sleeves and started washing Louise's clothes.
"It's times like this that remind me of how useful I am compared to Chrom." Robin chuckled.
"Um... Excuse me." A feminine voice called out from behind Robin, needless to say he was startled as he was sure he was alone.
"Wha..!?" Robin screamed, he spun around to find a maid standing behind him. The maid had short black hair with a headband on top and a black uniform accompanied by brown boots similar to Robins.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The maid apologised.
"Oh no, don't worry about it. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and didn't think anyone would call out to me." Robin let out a small awkward chuckle. "Um... Was there a particular reason you called out to me?" Robin inquired.
"Oh! Yes, I was wondering why you were washing someone's clothes?" The maid explained.
"There my masters, I'm a familiar." Robin admitted.
"I see, but you could have asked one of the maids to wash them instead." The girl mentioned.
"It is better to do something for yourself than to rely on others to do it for you." Robin stated, he looked back at the clothes he was washing. "The irony of what I'm doing as opposed to what I said is not lost on me."
"I think your right though, if there's something you want to do you get a more desirable result by doing it yourself." The maid nodded, Robin smiled at the fact that a maid, whose job was to do things for other people, agreed with him.
"I don't think I've caught your name?" Robin questioned.
"My name is Siesta." The maid introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you Siesta, I am Robin." Robin introduced himself for the second time today.
"It's lovely to meet you Robin, though you will have to excuse me as I have some work to finish." Siesta excused herself.
"Oh right, sorry to keep you from your work. Have a good night." Robin smiled as Siesta walked off.
The washing took some time, but Robin finished a bit earlier than expected. Robin was heading towards the stairs when he noticed a couple, or so he presumed as they seemed a bit too familiar to be friends, the boy of the couple was the one who caught Robins attention, he had blonde hair, was dressed in a fancier version of the uniform and held a rose in his right hand. The boy noticed Robin looking at him and called him out.
"Is there something you need of me?" The boy asked, Robin averted his gaze for a second before looking back and replying.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare, it's just that you remind me of a friend." Robin admitted.
"Then you must have an excellent taste in friends." The boy said with a showy attitude, Robin smiled and nodded before proceeding back to Louise's room.
'Virion may have been a friend, but by comparing you to him I am not complimenting you.' Robin thought as he remembered the discussions he had with Virion on tactics, a nostalgic smile made its way onto his face.
Robin walked through the door and was greeted by silence, he noted that Louise was sleeping in her bed and set her freshly washed clothes down on the table. The tactician stared at the hay bed and took a seat on one of the chairs that surrounded the table, he was used to sleeping at his desk back in Ylisse or when they camped and he worked late.
"Good night Louise." Robin whispered before resting his arms on the table so he could rest his head on them, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
