he sun shined brightly on Robin as he took a sheet of parchment from Ness's hand. There were ink and quills on the ground next to him.

"Based on your answers, I'll work with each of you differently. Work alone, you have until sunhigh. Begin. Robin looked at the questions. They weren't what he was expecting, questions that tested his knowledge, but they made sense. They were questions testing his morals in different situations. This would be a piece of cake.

"Question one... who is the most important person in our group?" He murmured aloud. "Remember, it can be anyone." Robin scribbled 'Anyone, we are all equally important.'

"Question two... would you push the group further, or let them rest as necessary?" Robin tapped his quill against the inside of the ink container, then wrote 'Push them further.' After another couple questions, Robin let his mind drift to another event that happened that morning.

The snow crunched under Robin's boots as he walked to the general store, shopping list in hand. He was about to push the door open when he heard something that sounded like... crying. He paused midstep and listened, straining his ears to see if he could pinpoint where the sound was coming from. He slowly, cautiously walked forward, following the noise. Eventually, he came across an alley. There was a girl, head in her hands, crying. She was dirty, wearing falling-apart rags, and the dirt around her was stained with tears that had since sunk into the earth.

"Hello, miss? What's-"

"Stay back!" the girl growled, pulling her hands from her face to reveal the face of a young girl, eyes red from crying but with the unmistakable look of fear in her eyes. She stretched one arm out, and in the other, was a battered, old Wind tome, as if to attack Robin.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said, chuckling. "Put your tome down, I'd be willing to bet that you don't know how to use it." With that, he casually opened his robe, revealing several powerful tomes. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not going to hurt you." He sat down a few feet from her. "Tell me what's wrong, I won't judge."

"Why should I trust you? I don't even know you," she said suspiciously.

"You don't have to, and you could sit here, sniveling and crying to yourself, or you could tell me what's with you, and I can help you sort out a problem. Your choice," Robin added.

"All right, all right..." she began. "It started twelve years ago, in the farthest reaches of my memory. My parents divorced then. Both remarried, and I felt increasingly like an object, a piece of property for which they used for bartering with the other. I was relatively happy until my fifth-grade year, when my father had another child. I wasn't truly happy after that, and things escalated into violence, and at the same time, my mother slipped farther and farther into depression." With that, the girl burst into tears, her face in her hands again.

"Here, go on," Robin soothed. The girl continued.

"I felt trapped, a target for my step-mother's rage, who my father was powerless to stop, and my mother's sadness, for whom I had no answer. They had such high expectations for me, and it drove me crazy. 'No, no,' they told me. 'We don't approve of you writing. You can't do that, becuase we don't like it. It's wrong. Do something valuable with your time,' they said to me. Now, two years later, they're forcing me to choose between the two. Each says the choice is obvious, but to me- it isn't. I couldn't choose between them, so I ran away. I spent my time writing stories of my idols, Chrom and the Sheperds. You know, from Ylisse? Especially Robin- he was my favorite, how he could use magic, swords, and even married Nowi, the most beautiful woman in the Sheperds... I wrote fanfictions about them! Then, my mother separated me from my boyfriend, the one person who I truly felt loved me, and my step-mother forbid me from writing my stories. I couldn't take it anymore..."

"I'm quite flattered!" Robin said, delighted.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"I'm Robin," he laughed.

"Are you serious? That explains the resemblance... it's always been my dream to meet you! You should let me come with you! That's what happens in my story! You were heading to the store, and you heard me crying, and I told you what happened, and you let me come with you!"

"Wait, wait, wait... what? I did what now?" Robin asked, suddenly suspicious.

"You were about to go to the store, and you stopped and heard me. Do I really have to repeat myself again?" she asked.

"Let me see this notebook of yours," Robin said, holding his hand out. The girl placed the notebook in his hands. Robin opened the cover of the notebook and read the first page, after opening the magnetic seal. Of course, he thought. The title makes everything make sense.

The Notebook of Fate.

Chrom closed the green-patterned notebook, and with a magnetic 'click', it snapped shut.

"Anja," he said, addressing the girl. "In this notebook of yours... without even knowing where we are or what we're doing... everything you've written has happened to us. How is that possible?"

"She's writing the future," Lucina said. "I'll explain. The Notebook of Fate, and it's counterpart, the Eternity Quill, are able to write the future and rewrite the past, respectively. In my time, they were sought after to end the life of Grima by many. I, however, sought the Eternity Quill instead, for its ability to rewrite time. The Notebook and the Quill were lost to us for milennia, until they resurfaced in a house in the south of Calagua. The Grimleal and others sought out the notebook, happy to kill the holder of it. Anja, you are that person. The Notebook can only be written in by someone pure of heart, however, and perhaps that is why nothing has happened to it until Anja came along. Now that she has it, it's only a matter of time until people come for her. In order to protect the future, preserve the past, and keep our world in existence, we need to protect Anja and find the Quill- even at the cost of our lives." Lucina paused, and let her words sink in.

"So... what happens to me now?" Anja asked, nervously. Morgan put a hand on her shoulder.

"We aren't going to let you get hurt, I know that for sure. I didn't listen to whatever came out of Lucina's mouth-"

"Hey!"

"But I, for one, will give my life to protect the future."

"No one's gonna hurt you!" Nowi said, throwing her arms around Anja.

"Here," Ness said, raising his voice. "You guys only have me to thank for this. Had I not been sent here, five years ago, at the exact moment Anja found the Notebook, she would be dead. I've spent the past five years keeping her alive long enough for you to get here. That message-in-a-bottle- that was me. I've had to kill every person who sought to kill Anja. I, however, need to do something. Anja, come with me. We're going to the Cape at the Edge." Ness got up and started walking out of the room. Anja hurried after him. The rest of the group sat around in silence for a while, until Lucina broke it.

"Well, all this waiting is making me hungry. I'm going to get something to eat. See the rest of you later." With that, Lucina got up and walked out the door. She worked her way around various roads until she came to a restaurant. It smelled delicious from the outside. She pushed the door open, and raised her hand.

"Table, please?" she asked.

"Here," some man said, raising his hands from where he was at a table several feet away. Lucina walked over to him and sat down in a chair he had pulled out. He handed Lucina a menu, and she began to read it. She looked up, and looked around the restaurant. There was a piano, with a brown-spotted cat sleeping on it. What to choose... there's so many choices! There has to be at least 15... maybe I'll have this. Lucina raised her hand, and the man walked over to her. She ordered a plate of eggs and sausage, and sat, patiently waiting. A half hour later or so, her food arrived. It was hot and fresh, it looked delightful. She drank some of the complimentary orange juice first, then tried some of the eggs. It was some of the best food she had had in a long, long time. 10/10 would eat again, she thought. When she had finished, she dropped her fork on the plate and walked out. She pushed the door open to the lodge. It was sunny outside, and the comfortable heat was making everyone drowsy. Nowi was sleeping, splayed out across the bed, and Robin was cramped in one corner, snoring. Maribelle was sleeping as daintily as when she was awake. Almost everyone was asleep, and soon the temptation to lie down in her bed was too much. She laid down on top of her bed, and she couldn't have been asleep for longer than a half hour before she heard Ness's voice. He and Anja must have returned.

"Anja has a story to tell you all," he said.

Nowi's jaw dropped as Anja finished her story. The rest of the group looked equally astounded.

"Every detail was spot-on!" Nowi said, her voice high-pitched with excitement.

"How did she...?"

"It's magic!"

"It isn't magic, you idiot!"

"Then what do you suppose it was?"

"I don't know! You explain it!"

"I can't! The girl's a prodigy of some sort!"

"She isn't doing it, the Notebook is!"
"Oh, yeah..." Chrom waited for all the clamor to die down before speaking.

"Tomorrow, Paula will train the second group. Until tomorrow, everyone, we need to get rest. Off to sleep, everyone." Maribelle blew out her candle, and one by one the rest of the group did the same. Anja couldn't sleep, something was nagging her. She felt the urge to go out into the night. Following her urge, she swung one leg over the window and then the other, elegantly landing on the dirt near the window. She heard some nearby banging noises, perhaps on wood. She wasn't armed, but wanted to find out what it was, so she cautiously walked around the corner. One building down, she saw four men, in government uniforms, trying to beat the door to someone's house down. She recognized the house- it was of her friend Lyla, the village dancer, said to be the most beautiful woman in all of Calagua. Either she's forgot to pay her bills, or I'm looking at a crew of hardcore perverts. Suddenly terrified they might see her, she turned back around the corner. What were they going to do to her? Either way, she's going to be hurt.

Not if I can help it. Anja pulled out her notebook and began writing in it. It wasn't three minutes later when Robin ungracefully tumbled out of the window next to her, with a painful "Agh!" as he hit the ground.

"Anja?" he asked, looking at her. 'Did you wake me up?"

"Yes. Lyla, the village dancer, is in trouble. Some government officials are trying to hurt her!"

"Hang on, I'm not going to get involved in domestic affairs."

"But she's my friend!"

"All right, all right, I'll go have a look," Robin reluctantly agreed, already up and following Anja. The men weren't where they were before, they had already kicked down the door, and were inside. Robin peered around the corner, and saw one man destroying ceramics, another ransacking valuables, and two more... Robin wanted to throw up. "Get away from her!" He growled, in a low voice.

"What do you want, pipsqueak?" one of the men grunted at Robin. You're not getting any of this pie, runt." He pulled on Lyla's hair, causing the girl to shriek in pain. The other man threw her on the floor painfully.

"Try not to vomit, Robin. I've already done it," Anja said. He had forgotten she was there.

"I said GET AWAY FROM HER!" He roared, as a carefully-aimed Bolganone exploded a short distance from the mean, ripping their bodies into pieces and sending blood spraying evrywhere. The other two men dropped whatever they were holding and ran, terrified of Robin. Satisfied they wouldn't cause any more trouble, Robin hurried to Lyla. She was bound at the hands and feet, unconsious. Her clothes had been torn off of her, they were lying in now-bloodstained strips around her. I can see why they wanted in here so badly! He thought. "Anja. Wake Lissa and have her bring clothes and her staff." Robin worked to get the ropes binding her off, and threw them in a distant corner. After a few minutes, Lissa emerged in the doorway, raising her staff. A beam of light surrounded Lyla, and she emerged rubbing her eyes before realizing what had happened.

"Who are you... agh! Oh gods, I'm not wearing anything!" She quickly moved to cover herself up, wincing, and Lissa tossed her a small shirt and a matching skirt for her to put on. Trying to be as modest as possible, Lyla slipped the clothes on. "Those men... did you drive them..." Lyla looked around her now-bloody room. "I take it you killed them, yes?" Then she saw Anja, near the doorway. She took off running and embraced Anja. "Anja, my dearest! Are you all right?"

"Yes, I am. We can explain in the morning. Come back to our lodge. You'll be safe there." As they were exiting the house, Lyla walked to Robin.

"I'm really sorry I awoke you at this hour. The men in my town- they have no respect for women, or even young girls. We're sexual slaves, valued and priced by our bodies. You've been told I'm a dancer, no? I'm... not exactly a regular dancer, if you're getting my drift. My "shows" are highly coveted performances, and even though I despise doing them, they force me, against my will. to "perform" for them. Afterwards, they take me home and do horrible things to me. Men who treat women without respect are barbarians." Robin could understand, his own wife, Nowi, had been forced into doing similar things.

"It's all right. We'll take you with us. You'll never have to do one of those horrible performances ever again." The four climbed into the lodge through a window, one after the other.

"Wow... so many people!" She said.

"It's all right," Anja said. You can sleep peacefully. You're among friends now."

End Of Chapter Four