Through the Fire

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A/N: Hello everyone! I'm very sorry for the delay, I got pretty busy with work and school and such, but now it's summer and my laptop is fully functioning again! Woo! This chapter is a lot longer than the first, so I hope you guys all like it!

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Chapter One: Waking Up

It was the nothing that woke her up. A frighteningly endless expanse of absolute nothingness and it was so unnatural, her eyes fluttered open instinctively, searching for anything more. She was met with a bright flash of light as her eyes began to adjust, blinking several times to help speed the process along. Vision faded in, and she found herself staring at a white tiled ceiling. Slowly, the other senses began to catch up. She was lying in a clean bed with crisp sheets loosely draped over her, something hard and plastic pressed against her cheeks over her mouth; there was the sound of talking far away and the whir of machinery close by; the air was cool and smelled clean; her skin felt strange, as if she was suddenly very aware that she had skin at all.

A hospital? She moved her head to the side, glancing at the door. Her vision was blocked by something clear, and her eyes went cross trying to look at it. A ventilator? Feeling nervous for reasons she couldn't quite place, she slowly began to sit up, careful not to move any of the wires that she was hooked up to. What happened?

The question appeared in mind and she expected an answer to soon follow. Nothing came. Her brow furrowed a little as she tried to think of something, anything, that would explain why she was in a hospital.

The only answer that came was silence.

Suddenly, she became very aware that there was nothing there. She blinked, pulling her hands from under the blanket and looking at them. They seemed strange, foreign. Why do my hands look foreign? Desperate now, she tried to sift through her thoughts, tried frantically to recall her name, why she was here, what had happened to make her skin look so pink.

Nothing.

The more she tried, the more her head hurt, but she refused to stop. There had to be something hidden in this void, she reasoned. There was – she knew that she was in a hospital, knew what a hospital was and who worked there, she knew that the color of the door was a light brown with a silver metal handle, she knew that the bed she was in had been recently washed as was standard procedure in a hospital. She knew that the sky was blue and the grass was green and that every human in the world perceived color differently because of the way the rods in the eyes formed, she knew that she was female because of the curve of her chest and the emptiness between her thighs. She could tell you the names of every country on the continent, when they formed and what sort of government they had.

But she could not recall her name, nor could she remember how she had come to learn all of that. Her head kept pounding the more she tried, and she dimly heard a heart monitor speed up as panic fully took over. I have to get out of here! She mentally screamed, yanking the plastic off her face and was just about to tear the small circle holding the heart monitor in place when the door suddenly opened.

"Hey there," said a young woman. She had bright green eyes and gentle blonde hair, dressed in yellow scrubs. The nurse smiled a little, but when she saw the frantic look in her eyes, she stopped. "It's okay," she said softly. "Do you know where you are?"

The girl blinked. She hadn't considered whether or not she would be able to speak. Nervously, her lips parted and she nodded. "A hospital," she answered, voice sounding weak. The sound of her own voice startled her in a way that she knew it shouldn't, like a deaf man with his new cochlear implant. "Why?"

The nurse frowned. "You don't remember?" she asked gently. Silence. "My name is Lissa," she introduced instead, pushing the door open until it clicked into place. "Let me go find the doctor for you for, alright?"

Lissa was gone before she could answer, and she slumped against the back of the bed. Lissa, Lissa. Nothing was coming to her, no matter how extensively she tried to put the name to something other than a fading image of the girls smiling face. She returned a moment later dragging in a woman that was clearly older than her, but not terribly old. "Hello, my name is Doctor Miriel," she said, eyes glancing up at her for a second before looking down at the clipboard in her hands. "Can you tell me your name?"

"No."

Lissa chuckled a little. "There's no need to be nervous," she said comfortingly, grinning. "Go ahead."

Before she could explain that she didn't know, couldn't even imagine what her name could be, a word suddenly floated out of the void. "Robin?" she said, blinking. Was that her name, or did she perhaps see a bird fly by the window? Neither hospital worker missed the way she said it; a question, not a statement.

"Your name is Robin?" Miriel asked, eyebrow raised. "You don't sound very sure."

"I don't…I can't remember anything," she explained softly. "The name just came to me."

A horrible pause filled the room as her words sunk in. "You don't…remember anything?" the doctor repeated slowly, looking at her over her glasses. She shook her head and she sighed, standing up. "We'll have to run some tests to test any damage to your brain. If there's nothing, we'll have to assume it is retrograde amnesia caused by the incident," she said, half to her and half to the nurse. Lissa nodded, offering her a sad smile.

"For now, we'll call you Robin, okay?" she said. "If you can remember anything else, just use the buzzer there to call in a nurse."

Several long hours and more tests than Robin cared to count later and she was finally back in the hospital bed. They determined that she could walk, her reading and writing abilities were fine, she remembered facts about history and science. But when they asked what grade she learned anything in, she had no answers. It was frustrating on both ends, to say the very least.

"One last thing," the doctor said, running over the clipboard once last time. Robin sighed, uncaring on whether she heard or not. She was exhausted, her head hurt, and she wasn't entirely convinced that whatever was happening couldn't be fixed with just a good nights' rest. "There's a woman here from the news station to take your picture."

"Why?" Robin asked curiously, eyes narrowing a little. Was this really an appropriate time for an interview? The doctor chuckled a little and explained that they needed to show her face on the news in case someone recognized her. She fidgeted a little, feeling a little uncomfortable at the notion of who-knew-how-many people seeing her face before she even had. They hadn't let her near a mirror yet, like they were worried the sudden shock of seeing her own face might cause problems.

The doctor only offered her one semi-reassuring smile before she rose to her feet and went to the door, beckoning someone in. Too tired to fidget anymore, Robin leaned against the bed as the lady appeared, a large camera around her neck. She greeted her, teeth a little too white and pretty brown hair, all smiles despite the tired look in her eyes. She only stayed for a little bit, chatting with the doctor while gently positioning Robin and flashing the camera a few times before scurrying off again, promising that it would air in the news that night.

The doctor left not too long after with the promise that a nurse would be back to check on her in a few hours. Lot of promises tonight, Robin mused, making herself comfortable. She debated on whether or not to sleep, get that good night's rest she kept thinking about. However, when she tried to lie down and close her eyes, she found that her exhaustion was not quite deep enough for actual sleep. Groaning, she sat back up.

Before she could decide what exactly she wanted to do to pass the time, Robin heard a soft knock on the door. Surprised, she turned, finding a tall young man standing in the doorway. The very first thing she noticed was that his hair was an impossible shade of – of all things – blue. He cleared his throat, smiling a little. "Hi," he said, hand dropping back down to his side. "May I come in?"

Robin blinked, a spark of hope igniting in her chest. Maybe he knows me! "Y-yeah," she said quickly, realizing she had been staring. "Of course." He nodded and stepped in, heavy boots clunking on the tile. As he got closer, she noticed that he was covered in some sort of dirt, from the skin of his arms all the way to the dingy yellow of his pants. He took a seat next to her bed, and she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, I don't know if the nurses told you," she started to say, glancing down at her hands. "I don't remember anything."

The man nodded, his smile reassuring her. "I know. My little sister was in here earlier," he explained. "Lissa. Short, blonde nurse?"

Robin nodded, letting her eyes go across his features. "You don't look anything like her," she told him. The man laughed, and she couldn't help but join him a little. "You must get that a lot."

"Like you wouldn't believe," he told her with a lingering laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think I ever introduced myself. I'm Chrom." He held his hand out for her, and the amnesiac reached forward to grasp it.

"Robin," she replied. His eyes widened just a little, and she quietly explained that the name, or word, had just come to her. "It's strange, but it fits, I think." Chrom nodded, though she suspected he had no idea what she meant. It did seem to fit, for reasons she wasn't sure how to explain.

For a few seconds, they sat in an almost awkward silence before something came to her; why was this stranger coming to visit her? Before she could ask, there was another small knock that grabbed her attention. "Oh! I see you found your way in," Lissa said cheerfully from the doorway, waving. The other two waved back and she joined Chrom in one of the chairs. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the tests," she said to Robin with an apologetic smile. "How did everything go?"

Robin shrugged a little, wishing she had something to tell. "Well, I'm not stupid," she finally said. "But I still can't remember anything about myself."

The siblings offered her an apologetic smile, but she shrugged them off. The last thing she wanted was pity. "Has anything come back to you?" Lissa offered, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

"Nothing that goes beyond when I woke up here," she admitted, fidgeting a little under their stares. Chrom leaned back, a strange look going across his eyes for a flash. "They won't even tell me why I'm in here."

There was no mistaking the look they shared this time. For the first time, Robin began to wonder why Chrom had come to visit her, when Lissa had barely been around her all day. Her eyes narrowed a little bit, and she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps they knew something about herself they didn't want to share. "The doctors are hoping you'll be able to remember it yourself," Lissa explained. "Besides, this might just be temporary, you know? You could wake up tomorrow with a full memory!"

At that, she couldn't help but grin. "That's what I keep hoping," Robin told them. The three of them exchanged smiles for a second before Lissa rose to her feet.

"I'm sorry, I promised a friend that I would get dinner with her," she explained with an almost sheepish grin. "I'll see you tomorrow Chrom?" He nodded, and they waved as she left, blonde pigtails bouncing with her footsteps, leaving the two of them alone once more.

Chrom cleared his throat, running a hand through his messy hair and Robin once again found herself staring at the color. Did he dye it? "Oh, did you want to see the news tonight? I heard they were airing a little segment on you," he asked, nodding to the television hanging in the corner. For a minute, Robin considered. On one hand, she wasn't sure how to feel about being aired on television in the hopes someone might recognize her when she still didn't have any idea about what she looked like. But on the other…

"Yeah," she finally said, clenching her jaw just a little. He watched her for a second before getting up to turn it on, reaching up to make sure the station was right. The screen flickered before her for a few seconds before it settled on two rather pretty people sitting at a desk. Anchor-people.

"Yesterday evening, there was a reported fire at a small apartment complex on Eastdale Drive," the woman began, her eyes staring right into Robin's. "Fire fighters arrived on the scene immediately, and found almost everyone had already evacuated."

The screen changed suddenly, to the sight of the building. Or, rather, lack thereof. It seemed like the fire had managed to bring the whole complex down, though it didn't seem too large to begin with. The camera changed again, this time to a large fireman with dark brown hair and serious looking eyes. At the bottom of the screen, his name appeared. Officer Frederick. "These people were very smart in getting out there as quickly as possible," he said, voice deep even on camera. "It seems that the fire started on the first floor due to an electrical fire. Not only did it spread rapidly, it also caused several other electrical problems that contributed."

Robin blinked. There was something strange about seeing this segment. She could feel Chrom's eyes on her, but she couldn't look away, blinking in surprise as the blue-haired man sitting next to her suddenly appeared on the camera. "I saw something fall from the third floor window, and immediately went in to investigate," he was saying, gesturing behind him towards where the object may have fallen.

He disappeared as the camera once more began to show the wreckage of the building. "A young woman was pulled from the fire and is now currently at the hospital," one of the anchors was saying, face off screen. "She was treated with minor burns overnight and this morning, we received news that, although she will recover from the burns without issue, she is currently suffering from retrograde amnesia."

Robin felt her head start to ache a little as the view changed back to the anchors. On the side of the screen, a picture of a young girl with long white-blonde hair sitting in a hospital bed. Her skin looked pink with several bandages wrapped around where the burns must have been a little worse. "Doctors are requesting that, should anyone have any information on this woman, please contact the hospital at…"

"Is that me?" she suddenly asked, tearing her eyes away from the television to look at Chrom. He was already watching her, a sad smile on his face. "I was in a house fire?"

At that, his smile widened a little. "Yeah," he told her, voice calm. "The fire alarm didn't go off. I pulled you out last night."

So that was why he had come to visit. Robin looked down at her lap, staring at the hands that still looked a little too foreign to be hers. She felt as if she should be bombarding him with questions, asking if he knew anything about her, but nothing was presenting itself so she didn't. "Hopefully, someone will recognize you and come forth," he said instead, tone suggesting that he had no doubts that someone would be around within the next few days. "Until then, Lissa said that you'll stay here and recoup."

Robin nodded absently. She couldn't help but feel that it would be lonely, staying here in the hospital for some unknown amount of time, just hoping someone would see her picture. "Hey," Chrom said suddenly, and when she turned to face him, she found him grinning. "Lissa and I will come and keep you company when we can." She stared at him for a second before a smile broke through. It was like he read her thoughts. "I'm sure that it won't take that long, but I'm sure it wouldn't be very enjoyable to spend all that time by yourself, right?"

"Right," Robin agreed, laughing a little. "Well, thank you very much." He grinned and, after checking his watch, rose to his feet.

"I should let you get some rest," he explained. The amnesiac nodded, feeling a lot more exhausted than she thought she would. "I'll come by and visit tomorrow before my shift starts, alright?"

With one last nod and another thank you, Chrom left, carefully closing the door behind him. Robin stared at the door for a few seconds after he left, unable to determine if he was really just that kindhearted of a person or if he was taking pity on her because she had been in a house fire and had amnesia.

Feeling too tired to really think too much more about it, she adjusted the pillows and laid down fully, reaching over to the switch near her bed and flicking the lights off. Yawning once, she let her eyes drift close, deciding that the first thing she was going to ask Chrom tomorrow was why he decided to color his hair to match his eyes.

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Author's Note: Tada! Moving the story along just a little bit. I'm sorry if it was a little slow, things are definitely going to pick up as the story goes on. But yes! I hope you all enjoyed it, and I will definitely try to get the next chapter out a lot quicker than this one!