Chapter II
Life in camp had met little of Rowan's standards. Chrom tried his best to include Rowan in all camp activities. He showed him the ropes of taking inventory, managing equipment, preparing dinner, and other topics of the like. He had him meet everyone and introduce himself.
And Rowan dreaded every bit of it.
Course, that was the best of it. Frederick - or "Freddy," as he had taken a liking to calling him - was all over him. "Train with her!" "Show him how you do that!" Ugh. Need he reiterate that he's not here to teach people his secrets? It's not as if the subject had crossed their conversations several times.
Today was an especially bad day. Frederick wanted him to train with Miriel, of all people. Her continuing questions and incomprehensible, inconvenient style of communication gave him migraines.
Everyone nearby stopped what they were doing to watch the two spar. It happened every time. "You could all use watching this! You never know what you might learn! It could save you in the next battle!" Freddy cried out.
Rowan sat down in the middle of the grassy plain walled out by a mass of flesh. "Do your worst," he said, as apathetic and bored as ever.
Miriel showed no mercy. Elwind, Arcfire... She tried each tome in her arsenal. Just as the spells would hit him, they were dispelled by lightning bolts. Occasionally these would carry on through the grass. Some would try to make their way to the crowd. Others zipped past the mage or jumped back at Rowan.
"I worry about Rowan training like this. It just isn't right." Henry voiced.
"And why's that?" Chrom inquired. He traded places with Cherche to talk to the Dark Mage.
"He can't actually control his powers. It responds to his emotions, so if he gets distracted or feels threatened, it'll go haywire."
"What? Why? How do you know this? Did he tell you?"
"See... He's my cousin. His mother and mine both got pregnant at the same time, roughly. So that's why we're the same age. I was planned, of course! Him... not so much. His father was just about to abandon his mother, actually. But he didn't have the heart to leave a child. So he thought... 'If I kill his mother, I won't have that guilt!' Not sure if I agree with that reasoning... But he drew up a lightning tome and tried to dispose of her... She died, and it was off in a barn where no one would find her 'til morning. Apparently some goat came around and realized there was something still living... And her mother instincts kicked in! She ripped open his mother, and ta-dah! Rowan was born. His midwife was a goat! Isn't that hilarious?! Course, he killed her seconds after. Anyway, the magic lingered on in him for some reason. That's how he slaughtered his poor savior! But it became a part of him, a part of his parents' frustration, still burning bright. It's like an alternate personality. He can't always tell when it's going to come out. Sometimes he can make it work, but other times it explodes and there's nothing he can do. It's part of the reason he lived alone for so long. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Other part is cause I went on a rampage and tried to kill everyone in the village, but that's another story!"
Chrom waited for a second to make sure he was done. "I'm not sure if I should believe a single word you just told me."
"But it's true, I swear on it! Rip me limb for limb and feed me to the pigs if I'm lying! Or you could push splinters under my fingernails and burn them, your choice! I'll even prove it to you, okay? Watch this!" He stepped forward slightly, sidestepping another jolt. "Hey Rowan! Guess what! I told Chrom about the goat!"
He immediately turned his attention, glaring at Henry. As he did this, his defences went out of control. They jumped out at Miriel, connecting with her fingertips, spreading all the way up to her neck. Her scream was heartbreaking, with how much pain she was evidently undergoing. "Miriel! I didn't mean to, I swear!" Lissa ran to her side to heal up what she could, and Libra pushed him away before joining Lissa. "I don't know what kind of joke you thought that was," he said. "Leave before you get yourself in a worse situation."
Disregarding Libra's words, he stood by the assess the damage. There were several patches of skin that had been burnt to a crisp. Everywhere else his magic touched left it bright red and already blistering. Gods, did he feel terrible. He finally left after he met Libra's furious eyes once more.
Rowan kept his head down. He forgot how much he could really hurt someone. Unfortunately, the only place to give him any sort of solace was his hut, yet that's the last place he wanted to be. He wanted to make sure she was okay, but his now villainous reputation wouldn't allow that.
"What's with the tail between your legs, Rowan? Something happen?"
Robin, of course. The admirable tactician everyone loved without knowing why. The guy whom everyone could agree with. It wasn't fair. And, of course, he had Tharja on his arm every minute of every day. He could never see what she saw in him.
"I hurt her," he whimpered.
"Sorry... I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat that?"
"Gods, I feel terrible. I didn't mean to... It was an accident..."
"Don't waste your time on him, Love. Leave this muttering fool and we'll just see for ourselves."
"Geez, Tharja. You can be pretty cold sometimes! Let him finish."
"He doesn't even want to talk to you. He hates your guts."
Rowan looked up just to communicate his level of agitation towards Tharja for that comment. "I was sparring with Miriel, and got distracted. It's really bad. Really, really, bad. Even Libra was furious. I just worry it'll get infected or something like that. That'd put her at viable cause to die... Gods, I couldn't let that happen again. Not again. Tell me how she is, please. I need to be alone."
Again? Robin thought... That would explain his years in solitude... But why? "Alright. I promise you our healers will do everything in their power to make her better."
"Thank you." Rowan sped off on his way.
"Believe it or not," Tharja whispered into his neck, "he really does despise you. I never thought he'd be the actor type. What a ruse that was!"
"Peace, Tharja. I'm sure he's just having a hard time adjusting to the lifestyle. Whatever happened must've really bothered him and made him release a different kind of stress."
"Sure..."
They were now at the mostly-dispersed crowd. "What happened, Chrom?"
"See for yourself," he replied, pointing at the mass of healers.
"I can't do this!" Lissa squealed. "Libra, you do it!"
"We've already been over this! I have to keep her down, and Maribelle's too squeamish to do it."
"I'm no better than her, then! Oh, Robin! Come here! You can do it!" Lissa grabbed his hand and pulled him over.
The sight was horrifying. "We need you to pull off this burnt skin and pop these blisters so we can bandage her up and start the healing process."
"Can't you do that with magic?!"
"You think we haven't tried that?! Something about Rowan's attack made her immune to healing spells!"
"What did he do?"
"He got bored," Libra criticized. "Sent off some super-charged attack meant for torture. I don't think I've seen anything more cruel."
"He said it was an accident though... I just saw him running off to his hut!" Though he was shaking uncontrollably, he got to work. "I'll just watch from a distance...," Tharja grumbled before approaching Henry.
"I'd hate to see the curses that kid could pull off... Though I'd love to at the same time."
"He's actually not that big on curses. Not much of a Sorcerer, either. He's actually got a good heart. The violent nature of his gift makes people label him as evil. Looked like he wanted to kill himself when he realized what he did."
"Why'd he do it? Aren't we suppose to... Oh, I don't know, protect each other?"
"It's kind of my fault. I wanted to prove to Chrom that he really can't control it, but hey... What's done is done!"
"You truly are a sadistic little beast. I'm surprised you're not over there fawning over all the blood."
"Hey, that's medical condition! How sadistic I am has nothing to do with it! Besides, you're no cherry pie either."
"Never said I was. All I'm saying is I'm not sure if it's a good idea having someone like that around. What if he were to hurt Robin?"
"You're so predictable! 'Robin' this, 'Robin' that. It's not like you two are even dating or anything. He probably just agrees to let you crawl all over him cause he's afraid you'll curse him."
"Or I'll have to curse you for saying something like that."
"Ooh, are you starting a duel with me?! This'll be fun!"
"Not what I meant. You're not worth the reagents."
"Even for a friendly competition? Geez, you are NO FUN!"
"Sorry I'm not catering my life to you."
"Didn't ask you to! ...You bored? I sure am! Let's go for a walk in the forest and explode birds for a bit!"
"Fine. Couldn't hurt. It better be important, though."
"That's the spirit! There's something I wanted to talk to you about, anyway. It'll be easier without the chance of everyone overhearing it."
"What is it?"
"We're not far enough. Actually, this pond's nice! And there are tiny fish in it! Let's make their eyes bleed!"
The two sat down. Henry pulled out an herb from his pouch and dropped it on the water's surface. Instantly the fish entered a frenzy and began attacking one another.
"Kya-ha! That's awesome!"
"Heh. I guess so. What did you want to talk to me about?"
"Well...," he got choked up. This never happened, not to Henry. He cleared his throat and his eyes cleared up. "What do you think of Rowan? What do you actually think of him?"
"He's bothersome. And he's always giving Robin these dirty looks..."
"Leave Robin out of this. What do you honestly think of him?"
"He's... irritating and cocky, as well as overly emotional. I realize he's been without human contact for a long time, but still..."
"I've tried to kill him twice. Once was when we were little a this man killed my best friend. Course, I killed just about everyone in town. Second time... He was wanted by the Plegian government. They deemed him too dangerous to live. Do you remember? That man who ripped an entire crowd apart?"
"I do actually. Guards checked every house to see if anyone knew anything."
"Yep. Since I'm related to him, they asked me to track him down. Found him walled up in some cave. He looked Hell, let me tell you. It was kind of funny, actually. But he told me a lot. Made me feel bad for him. See, once upon a time, he had a lady friend. Her name was Scarlet, and she could whip out curses like nobody's business. She was contracted to dispose of him, and they ended up hitting it off. Not sure how that happens! 'I'm here to kill you! But you're actually pretty cool. I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life with you!' Eh-he... Well, well. Day before their wedding, when they were out picking up the ring they had this man forge, some stranger tried to pickpocket them. Rowan lost it, and KA-BOOM! Lightning everywhere. Everyone died. The end. Lost his beloved Scarlet. So sad."
"Does this story have a point?"
"Yeah. I met her once, though I never realized they were together until he told me. That day he asked me to end his life because he couldn't deal with the burden, and he couldn't kill himself because his lightning kept guarding him. I'll tell you what I told Chrom - basically, the lightning is his mother still living inside him. She was never there for him, so she keeps him alive that way. Kind of confusing, but yeah. He asked me to end him, and I did my worst! His mama must really want him to live. That's why he's still breathing today! But he has this weird fixation with hurting people now."
"Are you almost done?"
"Fine, fine. I'll cut it short. Chance are he'll want to get close to you. Real close. Cause... You act a LOT like Scarlet did."