ToOH: Honestly, I forget about that scene (like the exact placement of it) until you mentioned it :P so... I guess not. But I do have plans to extend Chrom's family backstory :) like I said, I'm sure we all don't need the game script being rewritten (that would be some sort plagiarism, anyway)


Ever since the incident with Maribelle, Plegia seemed to have lost interest in provoking Ylisse. However, even without the bandit problem, the Shepherds had their hands full with the Risen invasion. No one knew where they came from, who commanded them, and what motivated them, but the black smoke rising from their arrival was reminiscent of the fell dragon and that was enough reason to fight.

To deal with the problem, the Shepherds divided themselves into smaller groups and patrolled their assigned regions. Roxanne tried to split the group according to their combat abilities, as well as compatibility. Chrom had assured the tactician that everyone in the Shepherds was on good terms with each other, but Roxanne believed that, as she promptly told the commander, "good terms doesn't mean good compatibility."


Chrom studied the map spread on the strategy table—at least, he tried to.

"…as I have explained earlier, if this pattern continues…"

He glanced at Roxanne, who was at the middle of explaining the tactic scheme to the Shepherds before they split into their designated groups. He would travel to the Plegia-Ylisse border area, where Risen attacks seemed to be more frequent, together with Roxanne and Lissa. The rationale of sending the royals to the dangerous area was precisely because Roxanne felt—and he had agreed—that the civilians should know that the capital did not abandon them at times like these.

He looked at his tactician. He would not describe her as a 'lady' per se, but her appearance was never less than 'professional' if he were to label it as something. Her hair was always neatly tied into loose ponytails draped on her shoulders while her fringe was swept aside. Every time a loose strand of fringe fell off to her eyes, she would just simply sweep it back in one swipe of her hand. That was what she was doing right now while still explaining the strategy

"…the magic unit will move here…"

He liked it when she did that: sweeping her fringe off. That gesture summarised the kind of person she was: efficient with no movement wasted, yet graceful in her own way.

"Er, Chrom…?"

Her voice jolted him back. Only then he realized that the meeting had been concluded and they were the only two left in the tent. The last time they were alone in the room was in the East Ferox castle, and he still remembered how the warm steam lightly enveloped her silhouette, leaving only her flushed cheek completely visible… and perhaps a good portion of her upper body.

Blazes! What am I thinking?!

"I—ah, I mean… I didn't…"

She crossed her arm in front of her chest, and Chrom couldn't help but noticed it and remembered that beneath that cloak…

"Chrom, what happened to you?" she asked, concerned. "You're stiff like a statue!"

"Er… no, nothing—I mean it! I'm so sorry!"

"Had you been listening? We will split up to our groups and head to our respective stations at dawn."

"Y—Yes! I get you! I mean, I catch—no!"

Roxanne raised her eyebrow, "I think you really need to clear your head."


"Goodness! Why can't I focus when I'm alone with her—no, I can't even focus every time she does that with her hair!" He took off the pauldron on his left shoulder and put it down. "During that meeting alone, she did it five times! Gods!"

Now his cape detached, too, he began to pace up and down his tent. "Why is this happening to me? What is going on with me? Goodness, there are so many other female officers, but this never—well, I've never seen them like I saw… but that shouldn't be… aaaaagh!" He took a deep breath, "Think, Chrom, think of something else!"

An idea popped out in his mind. "Right! I'll just take a bath, calm down, and think there!"

It was long past dinnertime, and most people in the army should have taken their evening bath by then. Feeling satisfied with his idea, the prince took his toiletries and headed for the bathing tent.

After stripping off the rest of his clothes and putting it aside, Chrom stepped into the tub. The water was heated through a simple system fuelled by Fire magic courtesy of Miriel, who was researching the optimal temperature of water for tense muscle or something like that. He leaned against the wooden tub, sighing heavily, and somehow—as if it was natural—his mind found its way to Roxanne.

There were so many things that he didn't know about her. Her last name, for one, was still unknown to everyone in the army, even to herself. And he was still wondering how she had lost her memories. He remembered there was no sign of battle anywhere near the place where they had found her; in fact, that time he had honestly thought she was a scatterbrain who had accidentally fallen asleep there.

Well, she turned out to be a brilliant tactician.

Chrom closed his eyes, the steam's warmth starting to relax his tense muscles. Perhaps, Miriel had gotten the right temperature, after all.

"…should be here, hm…"

That voice. Chrom abruptly opened his eyes and jumped out from the water. He tried to reach out to the nearest towel, but she stepped in right before he managed to do that.

As expected, Roxanne's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red as she quickly closed her eyes. "AAAAAAAAA!"

"Goodness! Why are you screaming?! It should've been me screaming!"

"CHROM! I don't care whether you are a prince or that you happen to have perfect abs—for gods' sake WEAR A DAMN TOWEL BEFORE YOU GREET SOMEONE!"

"I am not about to greet you! I mean—hey!"

Roxanne interrupted him by starting to throw things at him—from soap to the soap dish. Chrom immediately shielded himself, "Hey, hey, is this what I got from you walking in on me?!"

"—what?"

"Where do you think is this? This is the men's bathing tent!"

Roxanne began to regain her senses. She looked back and realized that her real destination, the arms' tent, was located across this tent.

Her jaw fell open and she brought her hands to cover it.

"Er… perhaps you want to wait outside while I'm covering myself?" he offered, "I… I never changed while being watched, you know?"


Roxanne was waiting outside of the tent, her back facing him, when he stepped out from the tent, now fully clothed except for the pauldron and cape that he had left in his tent earlier. He could see that her cheeks were still flushed red—he remembered that last time, when he had walked in on her, it also took her quite some time to get rid of her blushing cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Chrom…" she murmured, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"Nah, it's fine. Gods' justice for my earlier blunder, I guess—so now we're even." He laughed lightly, but that only made Roxanne became even more flustered as she recalled that earlier incident. She looked away.

"…not the most proper way for a man to get to know a woman."

"Ack, I'm just trying to—"

"I know." She said, and now she finally raised her head to meet his eyes. Only then he realized that her eyes were actually dark grey like tempered steel. He had never really paid attention to them, being too distracted with her pink hair, but he was glad that he did now. "Thank you for being very good-natured about… this chain of events."

"This can be a secret between the two of us," he offered.

"No one in their right minds would want this kind of things to be spread!" she quipped, prompting him to laugh.

"I'm not done yet—sharing a secret will strengthen our bond, and that will strengthen us on the battlefield. Trust me!"

Finally, her face relaxed and she even chuckled. "We'll see about that—we'll be fighting side by side for quite some time, anyway."


A/N: I think the events in MU-Chrom B and A support conversation should happen in close proximity to each other, that's why this chapter comes very quickly. Oh, and I made a small adjustment to Roxanne's eyes, changing it from dark brown to grey because I think it's a better fit for her :)

In any case, thanks for reading! Please rate and review!

(PS: I just knew that all children characters in FE Awakening will inherit their dad's hair, or mom in female Morgan's case)