A/N: Not many people has done this before, so why not start to make some more? This will be a chapter while I work on 'The Demons Inside Me' chapter 5. Hope you enjoy it! I will come back to this after a while.
~Action speaks louder than Words~
First True Meeting…
It was exhausting… It was tough… It also shamed part of her pride.
But 'Marth' was able to change an event in the past – the death of the brave, strong warrior, Lon'qu.
It was a small step to change the future that she wanted to avoid at all cost.
She even got to see him, one of the many reasons she travelled to the past, a second time.
It took 'Marth' every ounce of her strength to hold back the desire to be held in his arms… the joy to see him alive and well again.
But now, she needs to move on.
There are much more important objectives to focus on.
As the mysterious swordsmen begins to walk away from the arena and towards the entrance, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.
The time traveler almost unsheathed her sword on instinct as her hand reached for the hilt of the parallel Falchion.
However, she reminded that this is not her future, 'Marth' immediately stopped her actions and loosed the grip of her weapon.
She turned to see blackish-brown orbs staring back her own blue irises.
There was a man with snow white hair and wore a black and gold tactician cloak around his shoulders with a white inner shirt.
The mysterious man had a look of worry on his face as he continued to stare at her with kind, gentle eyes.
"Is there something you need? I am in a hurry." 'Marth' asked the man, lowering her pitch to disguise her feminine voice.
'Marth' was confused. She had never recalled seeing or heard of this man before. She saw how he guided his father and his comrades during the battle in the arena, so she should to be a close ally to him.
'Marth' remembered all the name of the members of the Shepherds, she is even close friends to their children… all except him.
She was even more confused that the way he looked at her. He had look full of concern and worry. Was it directly to her?
Who is he?
The man did not speak. He simply tugged her sleeve and pointed to her leg. 'Marth' looked down to where he was pointing at, only to find torn fabric and a flesh wound on her leg.
Oh… that
For some strange reason, she never felt pain during the sword clash… maybe it was the adrenaline that numbed the pain from the wound she did not recall receiving.
"It's… just a minor wound. I can fix it later." 'Marth' said as she tried to walk away from him. But… she immediately stopped as the once gentle tug on her arm became a sharp pull. She turned to him in shock and was angry from the rude action.
She wanted to rage and yelled at the man. 'Marth' frowned in anger and was about open her mouth to address his actions, but was interrupted… as the man shook his head twice before giving a small smile towards her.
What is he…?
He produced a small vulnerary from his cloak and dragged her towards a nearby bench. The force on her arm was firm but light enough that she can break it at any time. 'Marth''s curiosity got the better of her and finally allowed him to do what he wants.
Seeing that she did not resist anymore, the man flashed a bigger smile.
As they sat on the bench, 'Marth' had to stop her instincts control over her to take off her mask… for she will reveal her identity accidentally.
'Marth' looked down to see the wound on the leg… It was cut quite deep, but it was not deep enough to cause any danger to her. It was then that she was beginning to feel the pain in her leg.
She wanted to heal the wound by herself, but when she tried to pry off the vulnerary from the man's hands, she was stopped by one of his hand pushing hers away from the item.
'Marth' looked up to see her mysterious helper giving a stern and scolding look towards her stubbornness.
She finally gave in once again as he poured the cold liquid from the vulnerary onto the flesh wound is. It stung at first but after a few seconds the wound miraculously began to close up and leaving no traces that the skin was damaged in the first place.
'Marth' muttered out a word of gratitude towards him. During the whole ordeal, she realized something about the man. All while he did not speak a word, only giving looks and gestures to say out his thoughts.
"Can you not speak?" she finally asked the man.
He looked where he thought her eyes should be behind her mask before giving a sad smile and shaking his head side to side, while pointing at his throat. The man then searched his cloak and produced a small notebook and a pen.
The mute man quickly wrote a quick scribble on a page of the notebook and held it up to let her see.
'Marth' leaned closer to him so that she can focus on what he was writing. The handwriting was surprisingly smooth and fluid, something she did not expect to be produce at such a short time.
It reads:
I believe I have not introduce myself
My name is Robin.
I am a tactician of the Shepherds.
He is a tactician? I should be able to recall him since he would close to my father, or at least heard of him… yet… why?
Why have I not seen him before?
"How do you come across Chrom?" 'Marth' asked curiously.
As soon as he heard of the question, Robin immediately flipped to another page of his notebook and began scribbling on it with his pen once again.
It took longer with short pauses as he seemed to be pondering it would worth sharing to a stranger.
Before long, 'Marth''s face was greeted with a page of white paper once again.
It reads:
It's… complicated.
Apparently not so long ago, he found me unconscious on the ground in a grassy plain and took me in. Ever since then, I followed him and serving him with the best of my ability.
"I see…" 'Marth' replied uncertainly.
It only raised several more questions about this man. But time was running short, she needs to leave soon. However, she has one more question for him.
"If you are mute… how are you able to lead them? They can't hear you, so I don't think you are capable of being a tactician." She asked.
If this is the man that helped her father in all those wars in the past, 'Marth' felt unsafe with him by her father's side. What will happen to him when an immediate order is needed but everyone can't hear him?
Robin paused and looked at her in the eye, as if it indeed was an interesting question. He then leaned down and rubbed the back of his neck, as if he seemed unsure about the whole 'leading' thing.
The tactician looked around him to see if anyone was looking at them, as if he was going to share a secret. 'Marth' was immediately confused at his sudden and weird change of behaviour.
"Is something wrong?" she asked as she too looked around, wondering what was the fuss about.
Seeing that they are alone, Robin wrote on his notebook once again. The man wrote with longer pauses and at a lesser speed than before. It seemed that he was trying to find the words to make it as easy as it can to understand about his method.
After a long while, he held up the notebook uncertainly and pointed at it for 'Marth' to look at. Robin also gave a small shrug and an apologetic smile, as if he was trying to say, "I did the best I could, HaHaha…"
'Marth' looked at the notebook, expecting to be a weird and clumsy explanation.
But was she did not expect was instead of words, it was a drawing…
It was a rough and childish sketch of the face of Chrom and Robin himself looking at each other. A straight dotted line connecting the forehead of the both of them and words reading 'my voice'.
Then, there was a small speech bubble on Robin of him saying hi to Chrom, who has also another speech bubble saying Robin says hi.
There were also many crosses over many other rough and slightly accurate faces of other members of the Shepherds.
In summary, Robin can talk only to Chrom through telepathy. He would give the orders on where to move and who will move to Chrom, which he will then tell the others what Robin's plan is.
'Marth' stared at the little piece of drawing that Robin made. For the first time, she felt two conflicting emotions, the urge to laugh on how ridiculous the drawing looked or to show admiration that he had such an unusual ability.
Fortunately, she quickly solved this conflict inside her by looking away from the notebook and gave a deadpanned stare at Robin.
Robin looked at her reaction and flashed a bright grin, before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.
'Marth' wanted to address him that this is a serious matter. She still could see the flaws on his way of communication, and she still felt at unease that with him by Chrom's side.
As soon as she thought about talking to him about it while keeping it as short as possible, 'Marth' was interrupted yet again, but this time…
It was something unique… something special…
Robin was looking at his notebook, particularly looking at the page with the childish and ridiculous sketch. He was processing how funny it looked.
At first, there was a goofy smirk forming on his lips.
Then, his shoulders began to shiver up and down slightly as he covered his mouth with his free hand, mimicking a giggle.
Soon after that, Robin could not contain the joy inside him. He let go of his hand and slammed the notebook onto the bench, laughing freely as his body shook vigorously and his mouth opened with a wide smile. All the while he was pointing at a specific spot of the sketch where the lip of Chrom was just too big to match his beady small eyes on his face.
The laugh was silent… but his actions were clear that he was enjoying himself.
At first 'Marth' did not know how to react to him laughing so hard even though it was silent. However, seeing him laugh and just the sheer enjoyment from began to spread to her.
She too was laughing inside as she finally saw how funny and wrong the sketch of Chrom looked. She tried to hold all in… but the childish side deep within her that wanted to happy all over again triumphs it all.
She didn't even bother to musk her girlish voice as she laughed. The mask began to become loose as her body shook harder and harder.
When was the last time I laughed this much?
But as soon her mask falls off to the side, it revealed part of her face. 'Marth' immediately snapped out of her stance and put back the mask back.
No… Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen.
Shock was could be easily be seen all over on his face as he stared at her. His mouth hung open in astonishment as he could not believe that the man before him is not a man.
"I need to go now." 'Marth' quickly stood from the bench and ran off towards the exit.
Robin immediately picked up his notebook and scribbled what he wanted to say as he too stood up from the bench and started to chase after her.
He knows… he knows now… her thoughts repeating in her head as she ran as fast as she could.
Just as she was about to reach to the cold, harsh weather of the outside world, a familiar sharp tug on her arm caused to her to stop in her tracks and prevent her from moving on.
"Let me go! Let me go in this instant!" She yelled in desperation.
'Marth' turned around in order to try to force Robin's arm away from her, only to be greeted by his notebook once again. The handwriting was rushed and messy this time, so it was barely readable.
Inside it there were a few questions asking about her situation.
Why are you disguised as a man?
Is there someone going after you?
Who are you? …Really…?
Do you need help? Please tell me!
But 'Marth''s eyes were focused on the last question on the bottom of the page of the notebook.
Will we meet each other again?
She looked down to the ground, repeating the question in her head.
Does she need to see them again…?
Can she get involved with the past more than she should right now?
Can she… truly trust Robin?
'Marth' felt the firm grip on her arm loosen, as if Robin was going to let her go after she answers the question… just at least one of them.
She looked up to him… and saw the worry in his eyes. …For her…
A man that she barely met… is worried about her…
With this, she finally made her decision.
"Yes… We will meet again. I promise."
Robin finally let her go with what seems to be a look of relief. Before 'Marth' walked off, the tactician tore away a page from his notebook and gave it to her, with a small supply of vulnerary.
'Marth' received the gift from him, giving him a look of confusion. Robin waved at her and mouthed two words 'Good Bye' before turning away to join with the Shepherds that was waiting for him.
'Marth' looked down at the paper that he had given him.
It was a single sketch of a flower garden from the palace of Ylisse. It was exactly like the garden that she had hang out with her parents and at time with her precious friends. Instead of a childish drawing like before, the sharp straight lines and perfect shading around the areas reflect the artist's passion and determination to draw out a accurate depiction of the wondrous and beautiful place in her heart and holds the only good memories of her childhood.
A smile was brought upon her face… her eyes sparkled with joy underneath the mask.
'Marth' looked at the place where he once stood.
"Thank you…"
She turned and walked towards her destination… out in the cold harsh blizzard of Ferox.
She left the arena… never to be seen again…
…For now…
A/N: So… do you enjoy it? If so please, rate and review!
Next chapter: …Realization…
