A/N:
Hello to everybody reading this right now!
So, here we go with this 3rd little chapter. It contains a little blood and some action(the first action scene I ever wrote). :D And of course some sadness and love and several small conversations.

Hope you enjoy!

I do not own Fire Emblem; Awakening.
+ the cover of this story belongs to its rightful owner.

Chapter 3.

During a long break on their march

They wandered till afternoon until everyone decided to take a break to recover from their long walk on a lone mountain path.

Because of the upcoming battle, everyone is very tense, which is why the camp is rather quiet, only a few Shepherds talking to each other. Robin herself doesn't feel well, her thoughts swirling around her strategy for this crucial battle. Her stomach feels sick, angst and insecurity trying to dominate her thoughts. The brown-haired tactician is sitting further away on the ground, looking at several sheets of paper where their formation and each possible outcome is noted down. When she arrives to the part of 'drastic situations', swallowing suddenly becomes hard, feeling her hands shaking. She thought she had overcome her trauma from the last battle at least a little bit. But oh, how wrong she is.

Robin hears footsteps approaching her. Olivia joins her, sitting down next to her onto the ground. "Hello, Robin." she says with a quiet, calm voice.

"Oh, hey. Is something the matter?" the brown-haired tactician asks. She is glad to be distracted for an instant. The dancer looks shyly at her feet.

"I-I wanted to talk do you about what happened in the morning..." she lifts her head then and looks at Robin, insecurity and concern mixed in her eyes. "You seemed so...lost. Especially after Lord Chrom talked to you." Her delicate arms hugged her knees. She blushes. "I-I mean, I have no intention in forcing you to tell me what was wrong. B-But I am..worried. One could see that something was bothering you immensely."

The memory of this morning hits Robin's mind again. She looks into Olivia's eyes, somehow feeling horrible right now. That girl in front of her is worried about her, and the only thing the tactician thinks of is her jealousy towards her because of Chrom. But Olivia is perfect. She's the perfect woman for probably anyone. A perfect woman for a perfect man, a man like Chrom. Robin swallows, her throat somehow as dry as the desert, and forces a smile. "Well..." she begins, not actually knowing how to continue. "...I was just...in a bad mood. I'm sorry for making you worry, though. This was absolutely not my intention"

The pretty dancer's lips form a small smile, which fades after a few seconds. "Do you tell me the truth?...I mean, you really looked hurt when our Lord walked past you, and you barely talked to each other during our march, and-"

Robin interrupts her in putting her finger onto her lips, then placing her hand on the rose-haired dancer's shoulder. "Things are just complicated right now, you know. The wounds that our last battle caused still need to recover." Her voice sounds now breakable, saddened. The dancer nods slowly, looking into the tactician's brown eyes.

"May I ask you something, Robin?...And please...don't be mad at me."

Robin blinks, but nods, not guessing what could come. "Mhmm."

Olivia breathes in and out, as if trying to ready herself for what she's going to ask. "Robin," she pauses, looking on the ground for a short moment before looking into the tactician's face again. "do you hide...any romantic feelings for Chrom?"

Robin's heart stands still for a moment, heat rushing to her cheeks. She parts her lips in surprise, but nothing but 'errr's' and 'uhhm's' come out of it. Olivia waits patiently, though she starts to smile at Robin's loss of words. The tactician herself is shocked by her stuttering, but before she can answer, a loud cheering interrupts their conversation. Both the dancer and Robin turn around, looking to the others. Out of curiosity, Olivia stands up, and Robin follows, now glad that she doesn't have to answer Olivia's question yet. As they join the others, they spot Frederick and Sumia. They were holding hands.

"Congratulations!" Lissa squeels in excitement, clapping her hands.

"I hope ya' take care of Sumia, or I'll kick you to the moon, you hear me!?" Sully threatens, and Frederick smiles confident.

"I shall give you no reason to do so. I will protect Sumia, even if it means to sacrifice my own life."
Sumia then turns to him, frowning.

"My love, I won't let you die for my sake. We'll protect each other...and not even my clumsiness will hinder us!" Both share intense eye contact, which seems to be awkward for Lissa now who's standing right next to them.

"W-What's going on?" Olivia is as confused as Robin, though the situation seemed obvious enough for the tactician to come to a fast conclusion of the situation. Still, Stahl confirms her thought:
"Frederick and Sumia just announced their engagement! Isn't that great?" Olivia's mouth falls open, and she rushes quickly to the soon-married couple and congratulates them. Robin's lips form a smile.

'I thought Sumia loved Chrom...' The tactician walks over to the couple and also congratulates them happily, wishing them the best and looking forward for their wedding. She knew that they spent a lot of time together, since they were always the first ones to be awake and preparing a lot before anyone even attended a half-sleeping state. Robin got the feeling that pairing them up in battle here and there had a great impact on their relationship. Observing both Sumia and Frederick, they look happy, their eyes sparkling with admiration for one another and their hands never parting. Somehow, Robin is relieved to see Sumia happy with Frederick, a man worshipping her efforts and love for him.

Now everybody's talking about the couple, excitement and laughter could be heard from every corner. It was a good idea to announce their engagement, the tensed atmosphere is almost completely gone...for now.

Robin's smile fades slowly, coming to a realization. It's up to her if they'll be able to marry. They have to survive the final battle against that mad king, and the pressure is greater now than ever before. Sumia and Frederick need to survive, everybody needs to survive, so they can celebrate their wedding all together. The burden on the tactician's shoulders feels now almost too heavy for her to bear, and she feels her hands shaking again. 'I need to take a walk.'

With her sheets of paper ready, she simply walks along the road back where they came from. Robin walks slowly, her thoughts lost in her sheets of paper. She thinks about the war books Flavia had back in Ferox. 'I should've taken them with me.' she thinks frustrated. Her tactic would be save, but what if it isn't save enough? She bites her lower lip, sitting down under one of the few trees on this mountain path. She places her sheets next to her after studying them over and over again, her elbows resting on her knees and her face in her hands. 'What if someone precious will die again? Emmeryn, Phila and all the others. Can you forgive me?'

Her eyes start to burn, and she feels the tears coming. She suppressed them all the time, since she didn't want anyone to worry, or else. ' Don't cry.' she whispers in her mind. 'Be strong. I know you can. You can cry out of happiness if we win this war.'

Then, something unexpected happens.

Robin twichets, hearing a fireball smashing against the tree above her. A big, burning piece of wood is about to fall down on her, and only the gods could save her now. But the gods didn't.

The tactician feels someone crashing against her, rolling into a save distance and getting away unharmed. As Robin opens her eyes, she blinks in relieve. "Tharja!"

Tharja gets up immediately, pulling out her tome. "I told you once I'll save your bones. Get up now." Robin does, pulling out her own Elthunder.

"You really did, thank you." Robin smiles, and she could see a smirk on Tharja's lips. The mage who tried to attack Robin pops out of his little hideout, facing now both of them. He's a Risen.

"What's a Risen doing here?" Robin asks in wonder.

"You should rather question what he's doing here on his own." Tharja says, and just in this moment more Risen appear, two, three, now ten of them. "Yay, danger."

"Let's do this." Robin says confident, making herself mentally and physically ready to attack.

And so the lady-duo fights with all they've got, striking down the first four Risen easily. The next few are harder to hit, but they can manage to do so. And finally, the last two are dead, disappearing in a purple fog. Robin tries to catch her breath, adrenaline rushing through her body. "We should inform the others." The darkmage only nods, and so they run back. That's what they thought to do, until they heard a strangesound in the air. "What's this sound?!" The tactician turns around.

A short axe comes flying in her direction and she quickly tries to avoid the attack. Still, the axe hits her shoulder badly, leaving a deep cut and making Robin scream in pain while falling to the ground. Tharja's eyes widen, and immediately turns to kill the Risen they didn't notice before. The darkmage defeats it and immediately turns to Robin. Her cloak is drowned in blood on her shoulder. "Sit up." she commands. The brown-haired tactician moans quietly from the pain, sitting up slowly.

"Take off your coat, we need to see how deep your wound is."
Robin is able to pull one arm out easily, but refuses to pull out the other. "No..." she breathes out. "Not here." she gasped, the pain making her mind fuzzy.

"Well then. Can you walk?" the black-haired darkmage asks. The tactician gets up with Tharja's help, and together they walk back, the darkmage looking around for any other enemies.

Though they didn't expect Chrom, Vaike and Gaius rushing into their direction. Vaike stops in front of them. "What happened!? We heard someone scream and came here immediately!"

"Some of those monsters lurked around here, trying to kill our tactician." she said with her usual voice. Gaius sucks on his sucker before he speaks.

"That looks bad there..." he points at Robin's wound. The prince himself looks at Robin, fear and worry in his face.

"Let me carry you to Libra. He'll take care of this." Robin looks at Chrom, her cheeks getting hot. He looks at her the way he sometimes did a few weeks ago whenshe was hurt in battle.

"You don't need to carry me. I can walk by myself." she didn't want to say this in a harsh tone, but she did. Chrom frowns angered.

"Stop talking. You're wounded, so let me carry you and don't struggle."

Before she could complain, Chrom picks her up bridal style, making sure that her wounded shoulder isn't the one pressed against him. "L-let me go!" his tactician commands angrily. "My shoulder's wounded, not my leg!" Chrom just carries her back, don't paying attention to her complaining. "We'll fix this quickly, just hold still and let me hold you."

Robin blushes at his words, her heart rate growing faster. It's the first time he talks to her in weeks, and somehow, she feels amazing in his arms. She won't show it on the outside though.
"You overprotective fool..." she mumbles, her eyes burning again. She lets her forehead rest against him.

A/N:
I don't know what to think of this chapter, actually. The first time writing an action scene was...strange. And difficult.
I hope you liked this chapter and the content of it nevertheless. :)
Reviews and critique are welcome as always. :D