I want to say something before we begin. Thank you so very much! The support for this story has been so overwhelming. This project has ended up becoming one of the most wellreceived things I h ave written. So, thank you to EVERYONE for your kind words.
Honestly, I was scared to add any more to this little story. I was terrified I might ruin a good thing! Still, here is a second chapter, so I suppose we can call this story a two-part special now! Please, enjoy!
Our Little Secret – Part II
"Keep your stance light and you strikes precise. In battle speed can mean the difference between life and death." Words of wisdom imparted by a master swordsman to his pupil.
In an open valley, there was nobody to interfere. In the late hours of night, there was nothing but the glowing radiance of the moon as witness to this training. Severa swung her sword out with a shallow grunt and quickly leapt backward with an agile flip. Her movements remained as swift as ever, a source of great relief to Robin. The battles worsened with every passing day, and of that, there was no doubt.
Alas, the sword master looked down at his hands and pondered in deepest thought. His skill with a blade was unquestioned. His title from the troops of Silver was proof enough of that. However, even he did not have the power to stop the raging war with Valm single-handed. Walhart was a destroyer of men, and a brutal military leader. Any who stood against him fell with indiscriminate force.
"Hey! Don't you go spacing out on me, Robin," the barking voice of Severa snapped the tactician back to reality. His eyes fell upon her slender figure; hands on hips, looking most indignant indeed.
"I'm sorry, truly," he uttered with an apologetic bow. "Now, where were we? Oh, that's right... evasive technique."
However, Severa simply looked on in puzzlement as she flicked her hair back with a little sigh. The young lady had no intention of taking such a simple dismissal of Robin's spaced out behaviour. This kind of occurrence was becoming all too frequent of late. Whenever the army was free of battle, he would simply drift off into his own little corner and read books about combat training and the like. In the days that passed since their first kiss it was an uncommon happening, but now it happened almost every other day.
"Well, I'm done for the night," Severa spoke abruptly and with a bite of venom. The stabbing of her blade into the soft earth was enough to cause Robin to flinch a little. He looked onward in a little hint of confusion.
"But we've barely started practice tonight." A handful of words from Silver that held a demanding amount of urgency to them, almost as if the world would end if they were simply ignored.
"Nope, I'm done. Deal with it," Severa refused outright, turning to leave. "We can pick up later on."
Truthfully, Robin half expected his younger apprentice to leave for her tent. Yet, he was most surprised when she sat down on the ground beside him; her back leaned up against the sword she had rooted in the ground. Silence followed for the longest time, a type of silence that quite simply tore at the mind…. Furthermore, with neither one of the pair willing to speak, it simply dragged on even longer.
"Hmph," Severa finally cracked out of annoyance and gave an exceedingly frustrated roll of the eyes. "What in the name of the Gods is bothering you, Robin? Come on, just tell me already," she demanded in her more characteristic tone of frustration.
Silence, it certainly seemed to be the most dominant factor this evening. As the wind blew, Silver simply looked at the sword laid upon his lap and gave a disheartened little frown. His powerful eyes seemed to remain fixated upon the emblem of house Ylisse that remained proudly etched upon the hilt of the blade. The extravagant silver glow of the weapon beamed in contrast with the faint glow of the moonlight.
"We lost so many men in our last battle. I feel as though… I should be doing more to stop that." Robin's words held a degree of weight to them unlike anything he would show to people publically. His downcast expression supported the gloomy declaration of his feelings. In fact, it was even enough to make Severa shake her head a little.
"You're an idiot," she retorted with a surprisingly soft and gentle voice. Sometimes this young woman was so hard to read for Robin. A woman from the future, an unfortunate victim of a broken future who was tossed into an uncertain past in order to survive.
"Maybe you're right, but we have lost so many people." A barrage of flashbacks served as uncomfortable reminders of just how many comrades had already fallen in the name of protecting the kingdom of Prince Chrom.
"If Frederick were still here, I'm sure he would keep things in line," Robin smiled sadly in recollection of the most recent lost. Sir Frederick the Wary. An honourable and upstanding knight who gave his life so that Chrom and his defeated army could still fight another day. "Lissa's still beside herself too. They were only married such a short time..."
At that moment something inside of Severa simply snapped. She came to her feet as quickly as she had sat. With great vigour, she marched a couple of paces across to Silver. Her delicate; pale hands clasped his, their warmth served as a brief respite from the cold feelings that the man she loved felt.
"C'mon. Up you get. I'm not leaving you there," Severa spoke commandingly as she brought her surprising amount of strength to bare. In a single swift movement, she was able to pull Robin to his feet.
"Severa… what are you doing?" The tactician and swordsman asked his question with confusion as his brow furrowed ever so slightly.
However, his love was already in the process of yanking her sword from the ground as he spoke. With a single swift tug, she held the weapon in both hands for a second time and looked to Robin with a gentle smile, "Fight me…. Not just a practice… for real." It was bizarre - the young woman had this way of making a command sound like a gentle request when she wanted to.
"I would rather not," he said with an adamant shake of the head, his shimmering silver blade still held loosely in the left hand.
"I'm not giving you a choice!" Severa gave a powerful battle cry and lunged. Her technique was something of an anomaly. It held the same deadly trademarks of her father, but also seemed to mix elements of agile gymnastics that only royal guards had an obligation to learn.
Just how important was this young lady in the future? This question raged through Robin's mind countless times in their practice battles…. Even now, as she stood inches from striking distance - he still pondered it in all of its significance.
"Very well. I will face you if I must, but be prepared," Robin declared his words with a stern undertone as he moved to engage in battle.
The delicate while shimmer of the moon seemed to beam down upon the young man as he ran a hand through his greyish-silver hair. An aura of great power pooled all around his body; its divine elegance consumed both he and his blade in a divine glow of radiant light. Quite simply, Robin inhaled and exhaled, his eyes still closed. His senses stretched outward. Alas, his choice of tecnnique in battle was to feel as appose to sight.
Severa closed with a confident smile, "I've got you," she declared confidently with her sword raised to strike.
An ear-shattering clang of weapons, it echoed throughout the expanse of the valley, its intensity served to jar the senses. In a single swift blur of silvery light, Severa felt her body collide with the grassy surface of the ground. A sharp friction burn enthralled her body as her petite form skidded against the mud. Everything happened far too quickly for her to even register, and now she was on the ground in a heap.
Meanwhile, Silver stood over her with a single focused expression. He stood in perfect stance with both his own sword and that of Severa clutched firmly in each hand. A light sigh of contentment escaped his dry lips. As if by instinct he sheathed both of the blades and turned to walk in the direction of Severa.
By now, the young woman stood half-upright with muddied clothing. Her expression was strange indeed, half-content and half angered beyond compare, "That should make you see my point," she spoke as her arms subconsciously reached out for Robin, who stood before her.
Without a thought, she embraced him and smiled, "You're a damn legend with that sword! You couldn't do anymore to help the army if you tried."
The meaning behind this strange turn of events was enough to cause Robin to smile. A warm sensation of compassion gently filled his heart as cast his eyes downward to the slender brunette that he held protectively in his arms, "Thank you," he whispered in a low voice and placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead.
A light pink flush consumed Severa's cheeks. Her automatic response to such affection was to clutch Robin tighter with her slender fingers, "Y-you're welcome," she spoke softly as her gaze drifted upward to meet that of her lover.
"Now," Severa continued in a gentle but demanding tone, "We should get back to camp. I don't want to be spotted by the guards."
A little further, in the evening, Severa and Robin remained awake despite the extremely late hour. The rest of the camp had fallen into a deep slumber. However, Cordellia's daughter sat upon the edge of Robin's bed in her nightclothes, a long vest that was more typical the sleeping attire a man would wear.
She let out a sleepy yawn as Robin set his book aside and came toward the bed, "….Are you going to sleep tonight, dummy? We have to march in the morning, you know…."
Alas, Robin came to sit beside Severa on the bed and smiled softly. He gently placed a hand upon her delicate shoulder, and moved to lean his head softly against her own, "Thank you for your help…. I've been thinking about Frederick since that day, and it was… troubling me."
Severa gave a heartfelt smile and let her hostilities drop for the moment, "It's fine. I just… don't want to see you get distracted…. If that happens on the battlefield you might get hurt, and…."
A lone tear of shimmering crystal rolled from Severa's eye. Emotion welled inside and she threw her arms around Robin with reckless abandon to squeeze him tight, "I don't want to lose you, Robin," she declared so desperately as her face nuzzled against his slightly toned chest.
At first Severa did not say anything. She simply hugged Robin as if her life depended on it. She always felt that caring about people was so difficult. In her own world, her mother and father both abandoned her. They marched to battle and never came home. To lose her first love in the exact same way was a thought far too heart wrenching to even think about.
"Do you promise me that you won't go?" Severa asked as she looked into Robin's eyes tearfully. Her own dark eyes pleaded with desperation. She needed some kind of assurance. It was the only way to be sure that another person dear to her heart would not vanish.
Robin smiled softly and softly swept up Severa in his embrace. Yet, she was quick to reverse such a movement upon the tactician and end up laid on top of him. All the while, her eyes still begged with sheer desperation to hear the words she needed.
"I promise you, with all my heart," Robin spoke his words with the deepest of heartfelt honesty to the woman who laid upon his chest… Softly, he placed one of his hands upon her pale and delicate cheek, and softly caressed it with his thumb, "I'll be here to protect you, and I won't ever leave your side."
Tears streamed from the beautiful and shimmering eyes of Severa. Tiny whimpers escaped from her lips as she cried and cried with absolutely no regard in the world. Suddenly, and aggressively, she swept forward and pressed her soft lips against Robin's with great intensity. Her grip was so strong, and so loving, that she simply pinned him down. However, he did not refuse her in the slightest, and lightly gripped her back as the intensity of their kiss deepened.
It was a kiss of tearful love, a showing of both longing and dependency for one another in a world of such dark uncertainty. The faint flickering of the orange candle painted a reflection of their shadows as they danced together. The only sounds to break the silence were those of loving whimpers as the feelings of love and affection overwhelmed Severa's fragile heart.
The two lovers eventually once a final moist embrace of the lips. Now, quietly, Severa inhaled and exhaled softly as her fingers delicately traced upon her lips. She looked so happy.
Finally, with the heat of the moment faded, she looked to Robin with a fragile smile, "Don't you ever break that promise to me….."
"Never," Robin slowly sat upright and scooped the woman of his dreams into a second protective embrace. With gentle movements of the hand he caressed her silky brown hair, "My sword, I will use it to protect you in the harshest of battles, and my heart, I'll use it to shield you from harm. Always, Severa… I solemnly swear…."
A tiny chuckle escaped from the young woman's lips, "Thank you, Robin..."
To Be Continued...
I honestly could not tell you if I am going to write any more chapters, but thank you all the same. As always, please feel free to leave me some feedback if you would like. All of your support has left me humbled beyond words!
I have also wrote a few other Fire Emblem oneshots as well. Please feel free to read them at your leisure! Thank you once again for taking the time to read this second chapter!