"What'd you think? Like what you see?" The tanned skin man gestured at his face.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm just trying to diffuse the tension here. It seems like you took my little icebreaker a bit too seriously, and I'm getting this "I really want to stab this person" vibe from you."

"Don't tempt me," Chrom said codly.

"See that's exactly what I'm talking about. I get the feeling that you don't trust me and that you're going to seriously hurt me; and I can't have that, I have way too much going here for you to be leaving any lasting marks. I'm not trying anything shady or underhanded, I just want to talk."

"Really?"

"Does this look like the face of a liar?"

"Looks like the face of plegian to me. So forgive me if I don't see the difference."

"Okay, ouch, that was both rude and uncalled for," the man stuck out his tongue at the prince, "one would think that you would be a bit more grateful to the man who saved your life earlier."

"So it was you."

"Of course it was me, who else would it be? That kid with the oversized hat? I mean sure he's cute but unless his puppy eyes are deadly I don't see him being much us in the midst of a fight."

"I'll have you know that Ricken is more talented than you'll—wait what the hell am I doing? Why am I explaining anything to you? You're the one who should be answering to me!" Chrom yelled in annoyance.

Robin rolled his eyes, "first of all, I don't have to do anything. I could just walk away right now and leave you standing there like a slack jawed fool; and second, if you want my cooperation, you're going to need to start calming down. If I wanted to listen to hot headed ramblings, I would have signed up for Gangrel's inner circle."

"...all right, fine. What do you want."

"Well for starters how about you put away that knife of yours?"

Chrom hesitated for a moment, unsure if he could trust the man or not. Eventually, and reluctantly, he sheathed his sword onto its scabbard.

"See? Doesn't that feel much better?"

"I've agreed to your terms, now let's get down to business," Chrom said bluntly.

"Of course."

"Let's start with the obvious: who are you?"

The man gave Chrom an over the top bow, his hair falling before his eyes, "you may call me Robin."

"Very well, Robin. My name is—"

"Oh I know who you are," Robin waved him off sitting down on a large Boulder and raising his leg so that he could rest his arm on his knee, "prince Chrom, second in line for the throne of Ylissea and leader of the vigilant force titled the Shepherds."

"How do you know of me?" Chrom narrowed his eyes.

"You're the prince of the second largest kingdom in this continent, so it's not exactly confidential information. Anyone who actually pays attention to politics would know as much."

"And why would you be interested in politics?"

"I'm interested in a lot of things. Politics, economics, military tactics, history, religion, I study them all. It never hurts to be well versed in as many subjects as possible; after all, knowledge illuminates the mind."

"So you're a scholar."

"You could call me that. Personally I prefer the term "freelancer". I just wander around Plegia and provide my services wherever they are needed. For a price."

"What services could you possibly provide? You do not seem like the sell sword type."

"I could show you, but it will cost you."

"Nevermind, not interested."

"Oh come on, I'll give you a discount."

"Moving on, why did you help us?"

"If I said I did it from the bottom of my heart as a good samaritan, would you believe me?"

"No."

"Good, because that would be a lie," Robin laughed. Seeing that Chrom was not doing the same he stopped and fowned, "Oh come on prince, that was funny! You know I'm starting to think you don't have much of a sense of humor..."

"Why did you help us?" Chrom repeated coldly.

"Oh all right fine. If you must know I was just wandering around when I heard the sounds of a battlefield. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to see what the commotion was all about."

"So that's it? You were just wandering around when you saw us fighting and decided to help us?"

"Well not immediately. I was just watching for a while until I got bored; in fact I was just about to leave before I decided to spice things up a bit."

"Why? Why did you help us and not your countrymen?"

"Trust me, I was tempted to start picking you Ylisseans off just for the fun of it. Wouldn't even be that hard, just zap you down like a bunch of flies. But I decided not too in the end."

"Why?" Chrom asked again, his tone rising.

"Something caught my interest. Something that was at the moment surrounded by a bunch o wyverns. A pretty little thing that didn't want to see smeared all over this ghastly ravine," Robin grinned.

"Maribelle?" Chrom asked before he could stop himself.

"Maribelle? What a lovely name," Robin closed his eyes and sighed, "just, rolls off your tongue doesn't it? Maribelle...Maribelle...I could say it all day."

"Enough," Chrom cut in, "you will not lay a finger on her, not as long as I draw breath."

Naga what is it with Maribelle and Plegians?

"Oh? Is she taken?"

"None of your concern."

"Or, could it be, that you are interested in her? Afraid of the competition?"

"That is neither here nor there. Now you will cease talking about her that way or I will cut off your tongue and make you swallow it," Chrom growled.

"My, my, you really need to control that temper of yours prince. But if you insist, I will stop talking about that perky little blonde," Robin sighed.

"Good."

"I guess I'll just have to shift my attention...elsewhere," Robin grinned.

"What are you—"

The man jumped to his feet and made his way towards Chrom, causing the prince to instinctively grab the hilt of his sword. Robin stopped in his tracked, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Woah there prince, take it easy. I'm not going to attack you."

"Can't take that chance."

"Tsk, I see your sense of trust left with your sense of humor," Robin clicked his tongue. He let out another grin as he began to untie the strings at the hem of his cloak, "but if it makes you feel any better..."

Before Chrom could ask him what he was doing the man's cloak slid off his shoulders and onto the ground, leaving him completely bare chested. He outstretched his arms and spun slowly, taking his time in finishing.

"See? I'm not hiding anything. No knives sewn into my sleeves, no tomes strapped to my chest. Though if you're still skeptical," he grabbed the buckle of his belt.

"No! Don't...just...do not...Fine, I won't pull out my sword. Just...keep your pantaloons on," Chrom ordered, his face turning red as he let go of his weapon.

"Aw, you're no fun," Robin pouted, continuing to walk towards the blue haired noble. Once he was a few feet from him, he changed his trajectory and began circling around him. Chrom followed his movements, not wanting to give the man any opening; judging by the way Robins gave kept moving, he assumed that the man was sizing him up.

"Hmmm, not bad...tall, muscular, perhaps a bit too pale for my liking; clashes with the blue too much. But definitely not bad to look at," Robin muttered to himself.

"Excuse me?"

"I can already imagine the possibilities," the white haired man said biting his lip.

"Is there a point to this?"

"Hmmm? Oh, no not really," Robin answered looking up.

"Then stopped wasting my time!" Chrom snapped, feeling his anger boiling over. It had barely been ten minutes and this person was already pushing him past his limit. He had never met someone so infuriating, and he was including Gangrel in that list.

"Geez, you need to relax," Robin snapped his fingers, causing a new cloak to materialize on his back out of thin air, "I mean you were the one who called me out here."

"Fine, then feel free to leave!" Chrom yelled at him, "you have done nothing but infuriate me and waste my time. I would accuse you of deliberately stalling me while Gangrel's men ambush my sister, but I seriously doubt you are clever enough to even come up with even the most basic traps!"

"You know, if I had any feelings I'm sure they would be quite hurt right now. I'm starting to think that you're not worth it. Maybe I'll just take a chance with this sister—"

Before he could even finish that sentence Chrom drew his sword and closed the gap between them, grabbing him by the hem of his cloak and pressing the blade against the man's throat.

"One more word about Emm, and I will spill the earth with your blood," Chrom hissed.

"Now this is more like it," Robin said excitedly.

"Stay. The hell. Away. From us. You freak," Chrom seethed.

Robin didn't even flinch, continuing to smile at the red faced prince, "you sure you want that? Because I happen to have some information that I think—urk!" He was cut off when Chrom pressed the blade tighter against his throat, gently pricking his skin.

"I don't care what information you could possibly have, it is not worth it. Nothing is worth spending another minute around you. The only reason you're not dead is because I don't like killing in cold blood; but even I have my limits."

"Limits are meant to be broken prince; and boundaries are meant to be pushed. If you think for a minute that you can intimidate me, then you are in for a surprise. The bad kind. But go ahead, kill me. I dare you. Make my day," Robin smiled devilishly.

"...ngh!" Chrom tossed the man aside in frustration, putting his sword away, "no, I will not play into your game. I will not give you that satisfaction."

"Oh you poor naïve prince," Robin chuckled, getting up and brushing the dirt off his clothes, "you are already part of my game. Everyone is. You just don't know it yet."

"Then tell your king that I am ready for whatever he throws at us. If he thinks that he can catch me off guard by sending you, then this war will be over sooner than he thinks."

"You think I'm working for Gangrel? I wouldn't go near that toad even if I was paid a king's ransom."

"What?! But...he's your king," Chrom said confused.

Robin snorted, "he's not my king. To me he's just a dog wearing kings clothes. A dog that looks like it died and was left in a well for too long before someone fished it out; also, have you seen what he does to his nails? Seriously, who does that to themselves? I refuse to serve someone like that."

"Then what is your end goal here? Why did you show yourself to me? Why are you even telling me all of this?"

"I have my reasons. I could tell you, but I feel like it would be too much for that pretty little head of yours to comprehend. All you need to know is that we have a common enemy."

"If you don't like Gangrel either than why don't you try to throw him out of power?"

Robin shook his head in amusement, "oh you poor, poor prince. I don't know what's more adorable: how much you think you know, or how little you actually know."

Chrom gritted his teeth in frustration, "we're done here. Thank you for saving us earlier, and I hope you fall into a ditch and die."

"That might be the nicest thing you've said to me all day."

"Goodbye," Chrom spat, though he didn't move from his spot.

"You know, usually people leave after they say goodbye," Robin smirked.

"If you think I'm going to turn my back to you, then you are clearly a bigger fool than you seem, which I didn't think was possible."

"Do you really not trust me yet?" Robin pinched the bridge in his nose, "I've told you, I have no interest in hurting you, much less killing you."

"And why in Naga's name would I ever believe you?"

Robin sighed and snapped his fingers. Before Chrom could think a ring of fire sprouted up and surrounded him. He grabbed the hilt of his sword, only to find it stuck on its scabbard and refusing to budge. Swearing loudly he looked up and saw Robin smiling at him calmly, his eyes changing from brown to red.

"Believe whatever you want prince. But know this: if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you hours ago without even a second thought."

He snapped his fingers again and the fire vanished instantly, as well as his eyes reverting back to normal. Chrom tested his sword again and saw to it was no longer stuck. He glared at Robin, his mind racing as he was unsure of what to do next.

"...fine," he grunted, letting go of Falchion and walking away from Robin, though he was still tense and ready to spring at a moment's notice.

"Bye, bye prince! Send my regards to Maribelle!" Robin called out. He saw the lord tense at that last part, but refused to turn around and show it. Once he was out of range, Robin called out behind him, "you can come out now, he's gone."

"Nyahaha, he sure looked angry!" He heard someone laugh, followed by the cawing of several ravens. He turned to see a a young man—about a year or so younger than him—who also had dark skin, bone white hair, and a cheerful demeanor. The difference was that his eyes were constantly shut, and he was wearing robes that belonged to a dark mage.

"Indeed he did Henry, indeed he did."

"Soooo does this mean your plan was a bust?"

"On the contrary friend. Everything is going on exactly as planned. Did you managed to get any information from the soldier we captured during the fight?"

"Nyahaha, yep! It wasn't easy, he sure was loyal to Gangrel. But he started talking once I slowly began pulling his eye out of his socket; well, after he was done screaming in pain that is."

"That's my boy," Robin ruffled the mage's hair playfully, "so, what did he tell you?"

"There's going to be an attempt on the Exhalted family tomorrow night."

"That's all? I'm sure they can handle that."

"And it's going to be carried out by the high priest Validar."

Robin bit the inside of his cheek, "that...might be a problem. It's almost impossible to stop father, so usually gets what he wants..."

"Awww, is the exhalted family going to be slaughtered? But that means Ylissea will be weakened and the war will be over soon; what a waste of a perfectly good war," Henry pouted.

"Worry not, I have a plan. We may not be able to save all of them, but at least we can make sure that they don't all die that night," Robin reassured him.

"Yay! So what's the plan?"

Robin drew a pen and paper out of thin air and began scribbling something down, "you're going to go to this location tonight, and you're going to find a woman hiding amongst the forest there. Knowing you it shouldn't be too hard to track her down. Plus, I think you'll really like her; she's half beast."

"Really?! What is the other half? Wolf? Tiger? Bear?"

"Sorry, rabbit."

"Awww..."

"But she could still maul you and rip your limbs off."

"Ooooh!"

"Anyway go to her and warn her about the attempt. If I'm right, which I am, she'll run straight to the castle and manage to save at least one of the members of the Exhalted family. The other two...well those are going to be a crap shot's luck now."

"Why can't we just tell them?"

"Henry, Henry, Henry, look at us. Would you believe two people like us?"

"Hmmm, I guess not."

"Besides you know that I can't leave Plegia. I want to, but I physically can't unfortunately."

"Oh right, I forget. It must be very boring being couped up like that."

"I manage. Speaking of which, I need to get back to the temple. I have some...pent up stress I need to relieve."

"Oh are you going to have one of your special parties again?"

"Exactly. Do you want to come? I would be more than happy to have you over," Robin smiled at him.

"Hmmm, nah. I think I had my fill last time; not really my kind of party. But if you want me join I will."

"Tempting as that may sound, I don't want to force you into it. It takes away all the fun; for me at least. Not to worry, I'm sure I'll find something that will tickle your fancy eventually. And when I do," he gave the mage a sly wink.

"Nyahaha okay!"

"Now then run along. You have work to do; and let me know when you have finished it."

"Yes sir!" Henry began to mutter something in the ancient tongue, causing the ravens that had been following him to suddenly swarm and swirl around him like a pitch black vortex. After a while they dispersed, revealing emptiness where the young mage once stood.

Robin looked back down the cliff to where Chrom had gone too, the prince no more than a small dot in the distance.

"You'll be seeing me again prince; I guarantee it. And we are going to have so much fun."

Well...at least I will.

With that last thought Robin began to laugh before disappearing into thin air.

Author's note: and chapter 3 is up! You know what's great about writing a shorter fic? Chapters come out much faster. Who would have thought it?

And so, ladies and gentlemen I present you... my Robin. Is he a tactician. No. A grandmaster? Nope. Even better. He is...a sass master. A very eccentric sass master to boot. This is going to be fun.

And don't worry, "To Change the Past" is on the works. I got the first part done and am now working on *sigh* the battle scenes (ARRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

As always leave any comments and critiques below. See you next time!