The motorcade for Emmeryn drove slowly through the countryside. Chrom chewed the inside of his cheek a bit as he and Robin rode in towards the front of the caravan of armored vehicles. Robin clutched her riffle and looked at Chrom.
"Do you suppose this trip has been too quiet so far?" Robin asked.
Chrom shrugged and said, "Should it not be?"
Robin laughed and scratched her head in a bit of embarrassment.
"I guess that's a stupid question," she said.
One of the soldiers in the front of their vehicle turned around.
"Don't say that Officer Robin! It's bad luck!" the soldier said.
The driver next to him chuckled and punched his comrade lightly.
"Hey, it never hurts to be a little nervous. Gives you an edge!" the driver said.
"Yeah, but you shouldn't tempt fate! The Gods will surely punish us! Now all I've got are bad feelings about what's going to happen," the soldier.
Chrom reached out to the soldier and looked into his eyes with the confidence of any great leader.
"Don't worry. I will do my all to protect every soldier that is in my care. It's the least I can do for this country," Chrom said.
"Thank you, Commander!" the soldier said as he saluted Chrom.
"At ease. We still need to be cautious."
They started to cross rocky terrain. The roads to the eastern castle were not taken care of, and in some cases, were not even paved. It only did more to unsettle the soldiers making the journey. After a while though, everyone got used to the bumpiness. So when the first car of the caravan spun out of control, everyone assumed a tire just blew out. The reality was much worse. A second vehicle hit a roadside explosive and proceeded to flip into the air. Just as that car was demolished, other cars were meeting similar fates.
The driver of Chrom and Robin's car maneuvered around the carnage. Robin desperately made contact with Frederick in the back, trying to warn him of the ambush at their end. As their car weaved, Plegian forces started to attack.
"What the! They have grenade and rocket launchers!" Chrom said.
"Everyone, stay down!" Robin yelled right before one of those explosives made a hit on their vehicle, sending them flying.
Robin clutched onto the seat in front of her as the deafening explosion covered the sound of her shrieking in terror. Every second seemed stretched into infinity until she realized she was hanging from her seat. Robin scrambled to free herself from her seatbelt and dropped to the ground. Beside her, Chrom hung unconscious in his seat. She checked the driver and soldier in front. No pulse. Robin muttered a prayer to Naga for them while she turned her attention to getting Chrom out of the time bomb known as their vehicle. She grabbed the knife she knew to be at Chrom's boot and cut him free. She put her arms beneath his and dragged him across the floor and out of the vehicle.
"Shit… Dork, you are banned from pie for life… Not that you're fat. You are like solid muscle. Gods, that sounds so weird saying that. But I know at least four women who would love to have a chance to feel you up. Five, if you count me, and I'm only saying that because you will never have heard that. Gods, why do I have to be so weird," Robin said.
She hid her self and Chrom behind some rocks placed his head in her lap. She slapped his face a couple of times. She looked for a canteen but remembered that it must have been in the vehicle that was now blazing away. She then realized that she always carried smelling salts with her. She pulled out the vial of salts from her vest. She bent over and smiled at Chrom.
"You are so lucky that I am your tactician and that I'm always prepared. You are really letting me rack up the favors," Robin said as she opened the vial in front of Chrom's nose.
Chrom inhaled deeply and woke up. He felt a little sore in his back and shoulders, but he was more confused as to why he was where he was and what happened before. He got up a little and realized that he had been resting on Robin. He blushed furiously and questioned if he was actually dead or living out one of his stranger sexual fantasies of Robin.
"What happened?" Chrom asked.
"Plegians just launched some explosives at our car. It flipped over, and you and I were the only ones alive. So I dragged you out of there," Robin said.
"Okay… Definitely not what I was hoping you would say."
"Well get up, dork. You're making my legs fall asleep, and I need to radio in with the others."
Robin pulled out her radio and called in to Sully, who she knew to have been in the front part of the caravan.
"Sully, do you copy?" Robin asked.
"Loud and clear, Robin," Sully said.
"You okay?"
"Got a few scratches, but Ruffles got some damage. He'll be fine, but he needs some shrapnel removed ASAP. Damn Ruffles, he went off being all heroic for once."
"Don't worry, Sully. I'll get a medic your way. I'm counting on you to take care of any enemy forces that come our way."
Robin hung up and checked up on Chrom. Normally, Chrom would be nervous at how Robin was touching him, but he felt ease from her touch and care as she patched him up.
"You think you can stand up?" Robin asked.
"I can try," Chrom said.
He planted his hands to the ground and started pull himself up. He already could tell he had been bruised all over his torso just judging by how sore he felt. Robin got up to face him and held out her hand. He grasped her hand, and she pulled him up. He felt a little dizzy from the sudden movement and found himself staggering a bit until Robin put her arms around him for a bit of support.
"Are you good?" Robin asked.
"Clearly I'm going to need your support," Chrom said.
"I wouldn't normally say this… but…"
"What?"
"Let's get to safe cover. I'll direct our agents' movements from there. Maybe pick off a few Plegians with this damn sniper riffle."
Robin had picked up a sniper riffle near one of the car wreckages. She loaded the gun and dragged Chrom along one of the ditches by the roads. They hid in the ditch while the Plegians continued their assault. She watched as other soldiers sent and responded to the Plegian onslaught. Every once in a while, Robin fired her riffle and picked off a few well-hidden Plegian soldiers.
"Since when were you a sniper?" Chrom asked.
"Since our sniper got injured. Also I think my tests said I had a knack for this," Robin said.
"Gods, I keep forgetting that about you. You're kind of amazing."
Robin blushed a little and said, "I'm trying to shoot here! Can't be distracted by…"
Robin started to mumble as she shot down more enemies. Reports came through that most of the pockets of enemy soldiers were taken care of, but that many people had been injured in the assault. What was left of the soldiers and agents met up around Emmeryn's vehicle. Lissa and Maribelle had their hands full treating the most severe cases while Robin had Stahl help her with passing around medicine and painkillers.
As the soldier attempted to recover, the sound of a helicopter cut through. Chrom looked above.
"Gods, that better be ours," Chrom said.
"It is. That's a Pegasus Knights chopper," Robin said.
Cordelia landed the helicopter in the middle of the road, kicking up dust and dirt everywhere. She ran off to her stern but still caring superior, Captain Phila. The look of shock on Phila's face was expected, but Cordelia still felt unprepared for the upcoming reprimand.
"Cordelia, explain why you've left your station!" Phila said.
"Captain, the borders are being heavily assaulted. We are losing forces there by the minute. We need reinforcements, and we can't do that without your permission. You weren't answering any of your phones or devices. I came as soon as possible to deliver that news," Cordelia said.
Emmeryn practically shook from the news. Every part of her body seized up in some form of punishment for leaving Ylisstol. Making the move to the eastern castle already gave her doubts, but she felt like it was the gods telling her that she made a mistake.
"I should have never left Ylisstol," Emmeryn said.
"Don't say that. We're almost to the eastern castle. We can sit this out until Ferox sends reinforcements," Chrom said.
"Chrom, you know I have duty to the people of this nation above all. I need to return back to the capitol, but before I go…"
"What's this?" Chrom asked as his sister dropped a thumb drive into his hand.
"It's top secret information that's been guarded by this family for who knows how long. Some project they called Fire Emblem. I can't entrust this to anyone but you. Never let this go. The lives of our people- no- the lives of everyone are at stake, and the information on this will save everyone. That's all I've been told. Go to Ferox and arrange for more troops to move to the border. I'll see you when you get back."
"Emmeryn, why can't you just be selfish for once? You know you're putting yourself in danger. If they've attacked the border, the capitol isn't far off their list of targets."
Emmeryn smiled and shook her head. She looked at Chrom and Robin, then to Lissa.
"You know, I see the future in you, and it looks beautiful. It makes all of what I do worth it."
Emmeryn hugged Lissa and Chrom tightly. She took Robin's hand and led her away from Chrom. She then held Robin by the shoulders and looked into Robin's eyes.
"I know you will do the utmost to keep Chrom safe. He thinks all the world of you, and I can't think of anyone else who would better be at his side than you. So please, just be there for him. I don't want Chrom to feel alone and take this all on by himself," Emmeryn said.
"I won't make that promise," Robin said.
"You won't?"
"I don't want to make the kind of promise that puts you to death before any of us have the chance to change that. I don't believe in fate. So I will do all I can to help you and Chrom make a future for Ylisse."
Emmeryn closed her eyes and smiled.
"I see. Then it doesn't matter if you make the promise or not. You already have," Emmeryn said.
She waved one last time to Lissa and Chrom before she entered Phila's helicopter. As she settled into her seat, Emmeryn looked out of her window to see Chrom and Lissa looking on. Her fingers grazed the window over that image. She slowly turned her head back and closed her eyes. She thought about the things that genuinely scared her: war, disease, famine… anything that would hurt her people. Never once did it ever occur to her to be scared of death. She always thought of it as something that eventually happened to everyone, and she would be no different. She never thought about whether or not that death would be painful or in old age- just something that would happen. She hadn't even stared death in the face like Chrom or Lissa did. But maybe for once in Emmeryn's life, she was scared of death.