Author's Notes: I have been MIA for a while because I had eye surgery to fix my crap eyesight. I have been banned from staring at screens for long periods of time until I'm fully recovered, which will take a couple months. In fact, my screen still looks blurry to me, lol. So...I ended up typing this up on my tiny phone when my mom wasn't looking. So please. Leave a review if you enjoy Pursuit. ;-; I wrote this out as fast as I could as soon as I was feeling better.

Thanks for waiting and for not giving up on me.

P.S. If the grammar or writing is sub-par...cut me some slack, lol. :P

Chapter 25 - Thank You

"Lon-lon!" whined Ke'ri in exasperation. She punctuated her sentence with a teenage sigh to drive her point across in case her brother hadn't picked up how she was feeling.

"What?" asked Lon'qu, not bothering to look up from the pamphlets and paperwork Nurse Olivia had dropped off earlier.

"You look like you got test results telling you that you're pregnant," huffed Ke'ri. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

She hated how Lon'qu worried about her. Like any orphaned little sister, she loved seeing her busy brother, but not like this. He always freaked out whenever she had a surgery or medical procedure and insisted to be present by her side.

Of course, the equivalent of Lon'qu freaking out was being extremely short with people, losing sleep, and refusing to eat. It was usually hard to notice since he was always short with people and it was hard to catch him asleep, but she knew the signs. Lon'qu looked like a panda. And not a cute panda at that, but rather an angry, starved panda.

"Hmm?" he responded to her remark several seconds later.

Ke'ri got out of bed and stomped over to Lon'qu with a hand wheeling the heart monitor over to the other side of the room.

That got him to snap out of his obsession over the list of possible side effects on the waiver.

His face darkened and his brows slanted sharper than usual. "What do you think you're doing? You're sick. We don't want any complications," said Lon'qu.

"Lon-lon, I walk to the washroom all the time. This is no different," said Ke'ri trying to pry the clipboard of forms from Lon'qu.

Unlike usual, the older brother didn't even protest against his nickname. He hadn't in days—another sign he was losing his mind over her surgery and health.

"Go lie down!" scolded Lon'qu.

"It was just the flu! I'm better now!" Ke'ri attempted to match his ferocity but failed to do when she had to sniffle. She still had a bit of a runny nose.

Darn it.

"Go lie down."

"They just need need to do maintenance on the pacemaker, which was planned a while back," said Ke'ri, yanking at the clipboard again but Lon'qu was still stronger than her whether he was an angry panda or at full-health. She let it go. "That's all. You heard Olivia. It's not a huge deal. Gods, you worry-wart."

"I'm serious, Ke'ri. Go lie down."

She held out her hand in front of Lon'qu with the palm facing up.

"What?" asked Lon'qu. His frown deepened.

"Phone," said Ke'ri.

Lon'qu's lips pressed into a dangerously thin line. "What for?"

"I dropped mine in the toilet this morning," she said. "I want to play Jelly Crush. And you're not going to leave me alone to get me a new phone, so give me yours."

The stressed older brother did as she asked and took his phone from his pocket and slapped it into her open hand. "Go lie down now," he ordered.

Ke'ri's fingers wrapped around the phone. She saluted playfully. "Will do, Captain Serious."

To Lon'qu's utter dismay, she skipped back to her bed instead of carefully walking back. He watched her until she was settled under her sheets before going back to work.

Ke'ri already knew his password. She had peeked over his shoulder enough times to memorize it. Humming the theme song of Jelly Crush to herself, she downloaded the game onto Lon'qu's phone. But that wasn't the only reason why she snatched his phone. She needed someone to keep her brother company when she went under.

Dark brown eyes flicked up from the phone to the older brother to double=check he didn't suspect anything. Yup. He was still panicking over the surgery tomorrow.

She scrolled through his contacts and found her future sister-in-law's name: Robin Grima. A wide smile spread across her glossy pink lips (thanks to the makeup Robin sent).

"What are you smiling about?" asked Lon'qu.

"Just got a high score," said Ke'ri, tapping on Robin's contact and then the text icon.

Ke'ri gandered from the phone again and saw that he had finally begun to work through the paperwork. Thank the gods, she thought. At the rate he was going, her surgery would be delayed.

Once she was done sending a couple texts to Robin, she decided to jazz up his phone a bit. The background was boring; it was the manufacturer's set background. She'd change that.

Ke'ri scrolled through his photos to see if there was anything interesting. Lots of boring background pictures...more boring building pictures...blurry pictures of odd-looking men…She was starting to wonder if Lon'qu was terrible with a camera. Then as she got closer to the end, she saw a picture with Lon'qu and a girl in a long ponytail. He had his usual scowl, but the girl smiled like she was teasing him for being too serious. It was obvious that this wasn't taken by Lon'qu. Ke'ri just knew based on the selfie angle and Lon'qu would never take a selfie. Did he even know how to take one?

"Hey, Lon-Lon?"

"Hmm?" asked Lon'qu, fixated on another booklet on caring for sick adolescents.

"What does Robin look like? Like how tall is she? What's her hair colour?" asked Ke'ri innocently. She hoped he was too stressed out to notice the nature of the problem.

"Comes to about my chest," said Lon'qu, not looking up from his work. "But a little taller than you."

"And?" asked Ke'ri.

"Dark brown hair but lighter than yours," Lon'qu said quickly so he could get back to stressing.

Ke'ri squinted at the photo and zoomed in. There was a faint scar on the girl's left cheek.

"Does she have any moles or scars?" asked Ke'ri, hoping that Lon'qu hadn't caught on yet.

Lon'qu was quiet. Ke'ri's heart began to pound in her chest and her heart monitor sped up as well. He looked up and saw her heart monitor. He got up from his seat with deep concern etched into his face.

"What's wrong?" he demanded.

Stupid heart monitor!

"Just excited. I got a rare item. Never got this one before," she lied smoothly. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"Why are you asking about Robin?" asked Lon'qu.

"Because I want to know what my future sister-in-law looks like!" exclaimed Ke'ri.

"Ke'ri," growled Lon'qu. "I'm not in the mood for this."

Ke'ri knew he was all bark and no bite. Well, when it came to her anyway.

"Just humour me. I could die tomorrow," said Ke'ri dramatically.

"Do not joke about that," snapped Lon'qu.

"If you had to identify Robin if she suddenly died, let's say, how would you identify her based on her body marks? Because taller with lighter hair than me is so broad, Lon-lon," said Ke'ri.

Worry spread his agitated face. "She has a small scar on her right cheek," said Lon'qu very reluctantly. Evidently confused and annoyed with the questions, he answered them for the sole purpose of being a good older brother of a little girl going into surgery the next day.

Jackpot, thought Ke'ri. She couldn't contain her excitement.

He opened his mouth again but immediately closed it. He blushed and turned away.

There was more! Ke'ri had to know.

"And?" asked Ke'ri. "And?!"

Lon'qu spoke the next couple lines very quickly with a flaring blush. Ke'ri had to concentrate to catch everything. "Do not get the wrong idea. But she has a small mole on her upper right thigh and a mole on the back of her left shoulder."

Ke'ri squealed.

"I swear, Ke'ri. Once you're better, you are in so much trouble," snapped Lon'qu.

"Feed me all the brussel sprouts and cauliflower you want!" she shouted back triumphantly. "Wait, Lon-lon. I never knew you weren't a virgin."

"Ke'ri!"

But at this rate, it was too late to stop her teenaged mind to run rampant.

"You're not even denying it!" She accused him with a finger while giggling hysterically.

"I'm going for a walk," said Lon'qu, heading for the door.

"Does that mean I can get a boyfriend now?" asked Ke'ri.

"No boys! And no sex for you until you're fifty!"

"No fair!" she whined. "You said if they best you or Master Yen'fay in a one-on-one battle I could!"

Lon'qu slammed the door.

"Well, that went better than expected," said Ke'ri with a proud grin. She set the photo with Lon'qu and Robin as his background. Knowing her brother, he probably had no idea how to change it back.

Ke'ri snickered and thought, noob.

The air was thick with the smell of nauseating chemicals that Chrom knew he couldn't pronounce. An unfamiliar young woman slipped on a pair of latex gloves as he shivered in the cool autopsy room. She had short, blunt ginger hair and a set of wire-rimmed glasses resting on her nose. Her white coat had two pens tucked into her breast pocket.

"Where's Ed?" Vaike asked about their usual forensics guy.

"He retired last week," the woman said.

"And you are?" asked Vaike.

"The new medical examiner slash forensics specialist," she said.

"How should we address you?" Chrom elaborated.

"Yeah, what he said," said Vaike.

"Dr. Miriel Cole," she said, brushing past the two officers to the examination table.

On top was a blue sheet covering something lumpy underneath. Miriel pulled back the sheet and folded it with care along the way, revealing a pale, blue corpse.

Upon first look, Chrom could tell it had been cleaned thoroughly and all the pieces had been assembled accordingly. The young woman's naked corpse was still bloated from its time in the sewers.

"Jane Doe. Age twenty-four," said Miriel pacing around the victim.

Vaike turned his attention from the victim to Miriel. "How'd she die?"

"Blunt trauma to the head frontal bone," said Miriel, pointing to the computer screen opened to a program that modelled the victim's skull and her cause of death. "We suspect it was possibly a hammer. But there's also evidence of strangulation if you look at the end."

"Holy fuck," swore Vaike under his breath.

Miriel responded with a solemn silence. She folded back the rest of the sheet, revealing the rest of the body. She pointed at one of the numerous marks on the legs.

"Cigarette burns," she said.

"Potentially a victim of abuse?" Chrom thought out loud.

"After running some more tests, we determined time of death to be a month ago and dismemberment was prior to being dumped in the sewers," said Miriel.

She walked to the middle of the table. "Now if you look here." She pointed to one of the victim's hands. "Someone didn't want us checking fingerprints. See? They cut off the fingertips. They even pulled her teeth so we can't track her based on a dental record."

The two officers' faces grew even darker.

"What are those?" asked Vaike. He pointed to the ragged borders on the abdomen.

"Bite marks by rats," said Miriel. "They're on the lacerations on the legs too."

"Do you know what weapon might've been used for the lacerations?" asked Chrom.

"We suspect it to be a forked knife," said Miriel, adjusting her glasses. "You can see two close parallel cuts every couple cuts. The attacker dragged the knife vertically across her skin." Miriel traced her fingers over one pair of cuts on the shin.

"She was tortured," said Chrom quietly.

"Most likely," agreed Miriel.

"Are there any other details we should know about?" asked Vaike.

"Yes, there's one detail." Miriel pushed the upper body part to its side. "There's a tattoo here." Gently, she placed the body back in place. "We took a picture."

Miriel grabbed the manila envelope and slid out a set of pictures. She handed them to Vaike and Chrom leaned in to get a better look.

It was a close-up of a tattoo. The tattoo was composed of two prongs twisted together at the bottom. There were three eyes drawn on each prong. The purple colour of the tattoo had an added ominous vibe to it against the pale blue skin.

"Shit," said Vaike.

Chrom didn't say anything. The truth was, he couldn't say anything. Anger simmered up from deep inside and he had to calm his nerves before speaking again.

"Thank you, Dr. Cole," said Chrom. "We'll need a copy of the autopsy."

"Already made. Let me know if you need anything else," said Miriel, covering the body with the sheet again.

Robin reminded herself in the car that she needed to call Lon'qu that evening. She had received an SOS from Ke'ri about the situation and to not respond back to the text in case Lon'qu had his phone again and caught on. She set an alarm after calculating the time difference between Ylisse and Chon'sin.

"Brat, are you sleeping?" asked Priam as he turned out of the condo underground parking lot.

"Mmm?" hummed Robin. She put down her phone, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back.

"You look like shit," said Priam.

"You do wonders for a woman's self-esteem," said Robin without moving.

"Who said you were a woman? You're still the snot-nosed brat who burned a hole in my wallet one week a month over ice cream," said Priam.

"Pretty sure Grandpa reimbursed you every month," said Robin.

"Worried about Friday? Or is the boyfriend not giving you a break in bed?" asked Priam.

"Priam! What is wrong with you? Can you not be an asshole first thing in the morning?" she hissed.

"Hey, it could be a possibility," said Priam. He smirked and shrugged.

"The Grima escort died. The one you were supposed to move," said Robin.

"I know, you keep guilt-tripping me over it," said Priam.

"It just feels off. It feels like...I don't know...like something bad is going to happen," said Robin.

"Robin, I think the worst thing right now is your dinner with Validad," said Priam.

"Please stop calling my father that," groaned Robin while massaging her temples.

"Just pointing out the truth," said Priam. " Try to sleep at night. You need your energy. Especially if you can't keep up with Po-po in the sheets."

"Why are you so insufferable? You have the maturity of a teenaged boy!"

The blinds of Meeting Room 13 was were closed. The board at the front of the room was filled with pictures, locations, maps, and notes. On the table were piles upon piles of fat manila folders and empty coffee cups.

Kellam and Sully were discussing and jabbing at the board. Well, mostly Sully was stabbing at the board while having a heated on-sided debate. Kellam, on the other hand, remained calm and presented his facts.

Chrom walked in and placed the file he retrieved from forensics on top of the stack.

"What'd you find out?" asked Sully, snatching the folder.

"Dead Grima prostitute, I'm presuming," said Chrom. "Kellam, can you get Cordelia to do a cross-analysis with the missing persons cases? Maybe we can get a match. Whoever did this didn't want us the police to be able to find her identity. I'm not sure how much luck we'll have, but it's worth a shot."

"Right on it, Chrom," said Kellam before leaving.

Sully let out a whistle. "No fingertips and teeth. We've got a pro on our hands."

"I know," said Chrom, rubbing his chin in thought. "Did you and Virion organize the details on this case?"

Sully closed the folder and added it to one of the mountains. She shot Chrom a confident smile.

"We did some digging. And we found a trail of Grima Syndicate related crimes starting from the Plegian-Ylissean border. Now, Nosfer is notorious for gang wars and we think that Oasys is being smuggled in," said Sully, pointing a map of Plegia and Ylisse.

"Oasys?" asked Chrom.

"It's the latest drug on the market in Plegia," said Sully. "It's been in Plegia for a while, but it's only began to spring up in Ylisse. I'm not sure about other countries."

"Is it in Ylisstol?" asked Chrom, examining the red line snaking through red X's from Nosfer to Ylisstol.

"Yeah," said Sully. "It's a crystal blue powder you can smoke or inject. Injected, it has a higher potency."

"This was the unknown chemical in the bakery van from the explosion," said Chrom to himself.

"Yup. You catch on fast," said Sully.

"What are the effects?" asked Chrom, a prominent frown appearing on his face.

"Takes you back to a happier time, supposedly," said Sully. "It's a narcotic analgesic drug with hallucingenic effects. There are candy versions of it that you can stick under your tongue, popular with the teens and twenty-somethings. But not nearly as potent. What's really interesting with this one is that you can be taken in a lot of different forms but depending on the form, it's potency is different."

Chrom sighed. It was hard enough with cocaine and meth, and decriminalized marijuana, being dealt by the gangs. Now with Oasys, there was no denying a war was brewing. And in wars, always the innocent suffered the most.

He had to do something before it got out of hands. Chrom continued to study the board. If there was a new drug on the market and it was gaining enormous popularity, that meant competition. And competition meant bloodbaths between competitors.

"The bombing...it's not an internal struggle," said Chrom. He finished his speculation. "It's a territory war."

There was a knock on the door. Sully and Chrom turned around to see Vaike.

"We need to go to the hospital," said Vaike. "Melanie Blythe, the assault victim at the hospital...she's dead and there's a suspicion she was murdered since they haven't found evidence of malpractice."

Robin paced about in the basement of the hospital where all the bodies were housed. She bit at her fingernails and her eyes darted about. Her body shivered in the low temperature, but she didn't notice.

Overdose on barbiturates. That's what the report said. It wasn't a clot in a major blood vessel or a machine malfunction. It was an overdose on a drug.

This was on purpose. Libra had also came down to check the results. He gave Robin a hug when he saw how shaken up she was. He whispered a small prayer of Naga for her and the deceased patient before leaving to check on his other patients.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the folder splayed down, hand-written notes scribbled onto the paper. The sight of the report tortured her.

This was her fault. This was her fault. It was all her fault. If only her bloodline didn't exist. If only she could fix all of this.

She had hoped that it was an unfortunate outcome of the physical assault and surgery, but it wasn't. Her intuition was never wrong.

How much longer did she have?

"Robin? What are you doing here?"

Robin gasped and jumped. Her heart pounded in her chest and rang in her ears.

"C-Chrom?" she stuttered. He was the last person she wanted to see. She didn't want him to see her in her current state.

"What's wrong?" he asked, walking over towards her.

Robin took a step back. Concern pronounced itself on his handsome face.

"Hey, it's okay," said Chrom. He held out a hand and Robin took it. Slowly, he pulled her into him and held her.

"I...I failed her," said Robin. "She was killed under my watch."

"Shhhh. It's not your fault," whispered Chrom.

"Someone killed her. I'm scared, Chrom." She held back a cry.

"It's okay," said Chrom. "I'll keep you safe."

How much longer was she safe for though? When would she be forced to play her hand? To make a move? How much longer could she play innocent?

"Why are you here?" she whispered into his chest.

"Investigation. Why don't you go upstairs? Vaike might have some questions for you. Get something warm to drink. You're freezing," said Chrom. He kissed her forehead.

Robin tightened her arms around him. Someone died because of her family. Her cursed bloodline.

"I need to work and Maribelle is looking for you," said Chrom.

She nodded into his chest.

"We can do something fun later tonight?" suggested Chrom with a warm smile.

Robin went on the tip of her toes and kissed him. Just for a moment, she forgot why she had been flooded with guilt and fear.

"You're going to catch a cold," said Chrom, rubbing her white sleeves. "Don't worry. We'll catch who did this. This is my job after all. And I'm pretty good at it," said Chrom with a grin.

Robin nodded and tried to move on with the rest of her day.

It turned out Melanie had been poisoned to death with barbiturates and someone had rigged the heart monitor to let her slow death to go unnoticed. What really bothered him was that the victim happened to be a Grima prostitute as well. There was the same tattoo Chrom had seen earlier that day except there was a burn mark on top, like she was branded like cattle. It was a circle which encompassed three large dots inside. Cordelia couldn't find a match for the Jane Doe, but Melanie Blythe was enough to confirm his suspicions.

After a long meeting of debating the Grima case, Frederick sent the entire team of invested keeners home, which included Chrom.

On his drive home while he was stuck in traffic, he dialed Robin on his phone and put the call on the car speakers. It rang for quite a while before someone finally picked up.

"Hello?" answered a deep voice.

Chrom frowned and his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"Who's this? Why are you answering Robin's phone?" demanded Chrom.

"Maybe because I live with her and her phone won't stop ringing?" said the man.

"What?" asked Chrom. Lived with her? If Chrom wasn't mistaken, the man who answered sounded amused. There a sick churning in his stomach. Then he tried to rationalize who it was rather than jumping to other conclusions.

It could be her co-worker, but why would she live with a co-worker? Possibly a friend? No, her gay roommate was halfway across the world.

Oh. Her cousin with separation anxiety.

"You must be her cousin," said Chrom. "How's it going?"

"Cousin?" A chuckle filled Chrom's car. "Yeah. I've known her since her mother was pregnant with her. You must be her new thing."

Robin's cousin called him a 'thing'. Already, he wasn't fond of this cousin. He decided to be polite. Emm would've wanted him to be polite.

"Yeah, I'm Chrom. Nice to meet you."

"Priam."

"Can I speak with Robin?"

"Oi, brat!"

There was a rustling sound and then cursing.

"What the hell is your problem? Don't use your fucking foot to wake me up! Do you even wash?"

"I wash more than you, you nasty sleep-deprived surgeon!"

Gold Digger barked in the background, adding to the kerfuffle.

"Your fuck buddy is calling you for a booty call!"

"No, I'm not!" shouted Chrom almost reflexively.

"Why do you have my phone, you insufferable dickwad?"

"Maybe it's because it wouldn't stop ringing and you were snoring away! And does Thing know that you have a potty mouth? How attractive."

"Stop making up lies! I don't snore!"

There was more sounds of a struggle until finally Robin answered.

"Hello?"

"Did I wake you?" asked Chrom with an apologetic smile.

"No, it's fine. I have to be up soon anyway," said Robin.

"You seemed really shaken up earlier today. I wanted to check on you," said Chrom.

"Oh," said Robin. "That's sweet of you." Chrom listened to her yawn into the phone.

"Have you eaten yet?" asked Chrom.

"No. I'm not feeling well," said Robin.

"Do you need me to go on a medicine run?" asked Chrom.

"I just need rest. How're you? I'm really sorry about how unprofessional I was earlier today," said Robin.

"It's quite okay. You were understandably upset," said Chrom. "My day was busy. I want to see you tonight."

"Mmm..." hummed Robin. "Sorry. Tonight doesn't work. I have plans."

"Oh," said Chrom. He hoped he hid his disappointment fast enough for Robin to not notice.

"Chrom?"

"What is it?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For caring. Sometimes I wonder what I did right to deserve you. You're too good for me," said Robin.

"Are you kidding me? It's the other way around, Robin!"

A soft giggle played on the speakers of his car. He blushed and felt squishy inside.

"You're headed home late," remarked Robin.

"Work," he said.

"Officer Knight is okay with this?" she asked.

"Nope. He kicked us out. All of us. Told us to play clubhouse elsewhere."

Again, Robin giggled. The sound of Robin melted away the stresses of his day.

"You know, we still don't have pet names for each other," said Chrom with a grin.

"Yeah," murmured Robin.

"Is there a name you prefer?" asked Chrom.

"I'm not very good at nicknames," said Robin. "Ow! Gold Digger! Don't bite me you stupid pug!"

"Everything okay?" asked Chrom.

"He nipped me," Robin tattled. "I'm fine. I just fed you this morning!"

The pug barked.

"You need to go on a diet. Look at how fat you've gotten," said Robin. The pug growled at her. "I'm going to grab your fat rolls all I want! Don't sass me! Chrom, I'm sorry. I need to go. Can nicknames wait?"

"Sure. I'll see you later...babe." Chrom tried out a pet name.

He was answered with silence.

"Okay...umm...let's try that again later?"

"You don't like 'babe'?" he asked.

She made a funny sound on the speaker. Chrom could hear her grimace.

"But I think you're a babe." His sentence died off. "Okay, maybe not 'babe'. But I'm not giving up!" exclaimed Chrom.

"I know. You don't know how to give up," said Robin.

"Okay. Bye, sweetie," said Chrom.

Again, silence.

"Bye...boo?"

The call ended right after her uncomfortable attempt.

Chrom chuckled as he shook his head. She was so shy sometimes. He wanted to spend every free minute with her to get to know everything about her. What made her happy and sad? What made her shy? What did she want in her future?

Was he part of her future?

Robin dropped her phone by her side and buried her face into her blanket. Gold Digger grabbed one end of the blanket and pulled.

"Stop that! You suck, Gold Digger!" shouted Robin, yanking her blanket away.

She scooped up the pug in her arms and scooted herself over to the edge of the bed. He wagged his tail and panted with a smile.

"Let's feed you." Robin sighed and got up out of bed. "He called me 'babe'," she whispered to the pug.

Gold Digger continued to wag his tail.

After Robin fed the pug and herself, she nagged at Priam to turn down his video game. This game was about stealing cars and beating hookers. When Robin thought she couldn't lose more faith in humanity, she did. Because of games like this probably made by people like Priam and teenaged boys.

She returned to her room and dug out her phone from her blanket. Then, she snuggled back into bed. As much as she would've loved to spend time with Chrom and go through the awkward ordeal of picking out embarrassing pet names for each other, someone needed her company.

As she checked her phone, something whined and scratched at her door. Robin rolled her eyes, threw of the covers, and headed to the door. The whining stopped for a moment and there was a loud fart.

"Gold Digger," groaned Robin in exasperation. The whining continued until she opened the door.

Gold Digger zipped past her and sprang up on his short hind legs to jump onto the bed. And like every single time the silly pug had done so, he bounced off the side of the bed and landed with a flop on the soft rug on the floor.

"Do you ever learn, you dumb dog?"

The pug slurped up some drool and panted at her. He had that smile dogs made. His butt shifted because of his violently wagging tail.

"You loser," said Robin. "But I still like you."

She bent down and picked him up. Then, she tossed him onto the bed. His legs splayed open and his ears shot up while he was temporarily airborne.

"You're not sleeping in my bed. This is only until I'm done my phone call," said Robin as she climbed into the bed.

Gold Digger walked in a circle a dozen times prior to settling in. Meanwhile, Robin checked her messages. They were all from Chrom in a very short time frame.

Chrom: What about bae? Is that too similar to babe?
Chrom: Sweets? Honey? Since you're incredibly sweet. :)
Chrom: Angel? Since you fell from heaven
Chrom: Please don't break up with me...I'll stop with the terrible pick-up lines. Promise.

Heat flared at Robin's cheeks. Then, she laughed. Chrom was so terribly corny, but he was her corny idiot.

Gold Digger pawed at her. Robin scratched behind his ear and continued to read the large volume of texts Chrom had sent in the brief moment she fixed herself some food and fed the silly dog.

Wearing the widest grin, she cuddled further into her blanket and read the messages.

Chrom: Beautiful is fitting too
Chrom: Darling? Does that make us sound like an old married couple? Too 1940s? My dad used to call my mom that…
Chrom: Love is pretty solid. Or too soon to even say the L-word?

Robin paused and stared at the last message. Could she label what they had as love?

Chrom: What about Duckie? Since your name is a bird and ducks are birds too. Duckie sounds cute.
Chrom: Are you asleep again or have I scared you off?
Chrom: Robin? Boo?

She wanted to hide. She didn't know how to do this. Why was it so hard? He made it impossible to think straight and to just breathe.

"You're killing me, Chrom," she said under her breath. "You're killing me."

Chrom: I have decided that I will try out all pet names until I find the find the perfect one for you.
Chrom: Perfect is a good one too.
Chrom: I hope you're feeling better duckie

Robin couldn't handle it. She closed the conversation. It was suffocating to be smothered in somebody else's affections. Not in bad way. She just wasn't used to this. There was a weird feeling in her chest and she had an urge to either squeal or giggle. Or both. She couldn't tell.

In the end, she made a weird squealing giggle sound that made Gold Digger whine at her.

The alarm she had set on her phone earlier that day rang, bringing her out of Chrom's messages. She needed to keep Lon'qu company while Ke'ri went in for her surgery.

A tall, young man slouched over himself in a seat in front of the operating room. His head was bowed and his elbows rested on his thighs.

He uncurled himself and dug out his phone. He checked the vibrating phone to see who was calling. It was Robin.

"Lon'qu speaking," he said. "Is there a problem, Miss Grima?"

There was a sigh. "Yeah, there is. You're being formal with me again."

"I'm not in the mood to joke," said Lon'qu curtly.

"I know. Ke'ri told me you worried yourself sick over her surgery and her, in general." Her voice was soft with a nagging edge to it.

"How?" he asked, but then put the pieces together.

Ke'ri said she wanted to play Jelly Crush, but that wasn't the only thing she did. She changed his background to an old picture of him and Robin. He hadn't slept enough to figure out how that happened. She must've texted Robin then.

"Never mind," he said brusquely.

"I'm going to keep you company until she's out. I promised her," said Robin.

Lon'qu didn't say anything. He was too drained to protest. It always felt like he was alone in the world when Ke'ri was in the hospital for another test or a procedure or surgery. There was always that chance she could die and he'd be left alone in the world with no family.

"Is it nice in Chon'sin?" asked Robin.

"It's spring, so there's a lot of festivals. The cherry blossom festival is coming up. Ke'ri wants to go," said Lon'qu.

"I've heard about that! I'd love to see the cherry blossoms fall in spring one day," said Robin wistfully.

"You should visit Chon'sin in spring one day. I think you'd like it," said Lon'qu.

"Will you accompany me?" asked Robin.

He paused.

There was a significance to the cherry blossom festival. It was like Valentine's day, where you took your love to the festival. Often, people went with their friends and families, but couples often outnumbered them and it was a day for the more shy people to confess or certain brave souls proposed.

Of course, Robin probably had no clue what it meant.

"Sure, next time you come," he said.

"Lon'qu, you seriously don't have to worry about this procedure. It's routine and straightforward. Nothing bad will happen. And I say this as a medical professional. I swear my life that she'll come out fine," said Robin.

Oddly, Lon'qu was a little reassured by Robin's words, her voice. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. Sleep tried to drag him away from reality.

"Are you still there?" asked Robin.

"I'm here," he said. He just wanted her to keep talking to him and to listen. "How's everything on your end? And Priam?"

"Fine, I guess. Priam's same old. Still a major douche. Gold Digger is still special as ever. And...that's about it," said Robin. "I miss you."

"I'll be back soon," he said.

"I know. But I still miss having you around. And your scowl, strangely."

He stopped himself before saying the words back. The urge came as a reflex to return the sentiment, but he told himself he would never cross that line.

"It's just you two, right?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"That must've been hard growing up. I'm guessing there's a relative that cares for Ke'ri?"

"Our godfather."

"Is he as serious as you?" Robin teased.

"Yes."

"Oh."

"He says I take after my mother. Calm and collected. Ke'ri is energetic and curious like my father," said Lon'qu. "Or so that's what our godfather claims."

If he were in top condition, he would've never shared such personal details of his life, but he hadn't slept in days. Nor eaten well.

"I used to send my mother letters when she passed away."

Lon'qu slowly perked up from his half-awake position. "How?"

"Grandpa told me if I addressed them to 'Heaven' the angels would come pick them up from the post office like the mailman and deliver them to her."

Robin laughed softly to herself and Lon'qu listened with a refreshed concentration. She was trading him an intimate detail about her life in exchange for what he told her.

"I struggled a lot with my mom's death and I refused to talk. The therapist was at his wit's ends with me and Priam was no help, as per usual. He only succeeded in making me cry.

"So, Grandpa thought up a plan. He got the local post office involved and asked Mrs. Norris down the street to write responses. She had beautiful cursive like my mom. Apparently, Grandpa asked everyone he knew to write cursive to see who had the closest style to my mother. Mrs. Norris was more than happy to help out.

"The people who lived around us and the post office played along the entire thing. I would draw a picture and write a letter to my mom. Except the only problem was that writing a letter as a seven-year-old is hard because of the limited vocabulary and terrible spelling.

"Grandpa offered to write it for me, as long as I told him what I wanted him to write. So...after months of not speaking, I recited a letter to my mother in heaven. He also made me talk to the post office to make sure the letter was given to the special mail angel in case it got lost in normal mail."

Lon'qu couldn't help but smile. His defenses and stress faded away at the heartwarming story.

"What happened?" he asked. The phone was warm against his cheek, like her voice.

"Well, Grandpa got post office to deliver the letter to Mrs. Norris, who wrote a very motherly response. She had four kids around my age, so it was an easy job for her. Then Mrs. Norris gave the letter to our mailman who would deliver the letter in person to me. Grandpa wouldn't let the mailman go until I said thank you."

"Your grandfather sounds like a clever man," said Lon'qu

"He did work for the Plegian government for over half his life. You have to be pretty clever to survive that long," said Robin.

"What happened when you found out what was going on?" asked Lon'qu.

"I never quite found out like how kids are disappointed when they find out that Santa isn't real," said Robin. "I got one last letter before I was supposed to go back to school. It said that my mother could no longer respond because she was selected to go into guardian angel training so she could always watch over me and Aversa. It was too confusing for me to understand, but it was essentially a final good-bye letter. I asked Grandpa to read the letter over and over again until dinner time that day. For the rest of that week, I made Priam read it to me endlessly to the point he threatened to tickle me to death if I didn't stop. And by the end of that summer, I accepted that she couldn't write back. Now that I'm older, I know that sending letters to heaven is impossible, but it helped. Actually, Grandpa told me how he pulled it off during one of his secret trips to the Sable hospital I was in when you and I first got acquainted."

"That's quite a story," said Lon'qu.

"Yeah, you're the first person I've ever told," said Robin.

"I'm honoured," he said.

"Look at how time passes. The surgery's almost done," said Robin.

Lon'qu checked his phone and saw that she was right.

"What's she like? If you don't mind me asking," said Robin.

"She's...a handful. But a good kid," said Lon'qu. "She hasn't thrown a tantrum yet like some of the teens in the hospital."

She laughed. "Oh, just you wait until she starts getting into boys."

"I told her she can't date until she's thirty," said Lon'qu.

"Protective much?"

Lon'qu grumbled something, but his words were drowned out by another poorly concealed yawn.

"How's work?" he asked.

Silence. Robin made an odd sound that was a hybrid of a squeak and a groan. She added at the end. "Fine. I guess."

"It doesn't sound fine," said Lon'qu. He had heard that response on numerous occasions.

"When is my life ever just 'fine'?" she retorted.

He heard some rustling and a clinking sound—most likely Robin rolling in her blanket with Gold Digger.

"Are you eating?" he asked.

"Yup," she said. "Ke'ri tattled that you aren't. If you really want to help out your little sister, take care of yourself. Don't you know you need to eat to grow tall and strong?"

Lon'qu heard the teasing smile Robin often shot at him. It was vivid in his head—her eyes crinkled with a mischievous twinkle and a closed-mouth smile spread slowly as if she was savouring the moment. He usually lost his words by then because of some ridiculously questionable thing she said or did, so he ended up giving her a scowl.

A giggle erupted from the phone. "You're making that face, aren't you? You always do when I say something silly."

"No," he lied.

"Okay, sure," she said playing along.

For some odd reason, Robin sounded much cheerful. He couldn't put a finger on it, but she sounded content. In fact, more than content.

"You sound good," he blurted out.

"Hmm?" she hummed pleasantly. "What do you mean?"

Again, he could hear a smile in her words.

"Something good happen?" he asked.

There was a long pause.

Lon'qu waited. There was something and it tugged at his curiosity.

"I…mmm…I don't know how to even talk about this," said Robin sheepishly. "I can barely really discuss it with Phila."

He hoped his silence encouraged her to confess. He wondered what it was. Was it a promotion at work? Did she get a raise? Was Rickus the Overenthusiastic Intern finally a competent physician? Wait…did something bad happen to Priam, such as getting a viral STI from unprotected sex?

"I'm seeing someone," she said quietly.

He did not expect that.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

He imagined her tucking a hair behind her ear as she lowered her gaze and blushed.

Lon'qu wondered who it was. There was no way it was the cop. Priam said he'd keep an eye on her and Lon'qu was confident that Robin had excellent judgment, even if she enjoyed trolling him and fought with Priam like mismatched siblings.

"Hello?" said Robin.

He hadn't realized his throat had gone dry and the fact that he hadn't eaten much in the last couple days made his stomach clench. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.

"I'm here," he said.

"It's nothing serious," she said quickly. Pause. "I just thought maybe I should try to get to…y'know…get to know people. Try out this whole dating scene."

"Yeah," he said.

"You should get out too. And meet people," she said. Her previously comfortable vibrato now faltered as she began to ramble. "I mean, you're a great guy. Anyone would be lucky to have you."

"Relationships aren't a priority for me," said Lon'qu, cutting her off before she went on for longer.

Who was she seeing? Did Priam do a background check? And why wasn't he notified? Was it right for him to know every detail of Robin's life? Did he even have a right to know she was dating?

"Right. Ke'ri and all," she murmured. "But don't you ever want to get settled down and have kids, Lon'qu? I mean, you can't follow me around forever." Robin's voice died away as she spoke.

He answered her despite the stream of questions he had for her. "One day. I would like to grow old with someone I care about and start a family. But now isn't the right time."

"Right," said Robin.

He knew she was slightly pursing her lips. He knew her body language and facial expressions so well that it played in his head.

"Is Priam okay with him?" asked Lon'qu as neutrally as possible.

There was a loud, exasperated groan. "He won't stop teasing me about sex. Typical horndog. If I didn't know him as well as I unfortunately do, I would pin him as a misogynistic piece of shit that thinks women exist for the sole purpose of sex. But as much as I hate to admit this, he does have a shred of humanity. Scratch that. A grain."

Sex. That's what couples did, Lon'qu reminded himself. She was probably sleeping with this new guy, and he was probably touching and exploring every intimate space of her.

His stomach clenched. He seriously needed to eat.

"Hello? Lon'qu? Why is the reception so bad? You keep cutting out on me," she said, her voice growing louder as if increasing her volume fixed bad reception.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the doors of the operating room open and out came a fully-scrubbed doctor. Lon'qu bolted up to his feet. She pulled the mask down and smiled.

"Everything went well. Ke'ri will be wheeled back to her room and she should wake up in a bit once the anesthesia wears off," said the doctor.

"Thank you," said Lon'qu.

"Is it over?" asked Robin on the phone, reminding him he was still in a call.

"Yes," said Lon'qu. The several days of tension loosened and exhaustion washed over him, relief, the trigger.

"Did it go well?"

"Yes."

"That's great. I told you so."

"Robin?"

"What?"

"Thank you."

"For what? For being a human being and keeping you company? You should thank Ke'ri—"

"No, thank you."

"You've done more for me than I can ever do for you, Lon'qu. This is the least I could do. You should get going. Once Ke'ri comes out, you'll want to be by her side."

"Yeah."

"Tell her I say hi. I like her. Usually teenagers terrify me because they're angsty balls of hormonal emotions and rage, but I like Ke'ri."

"Robin."

She laughed and played along. "Lon'qu. What? Spit it out."

"I miss...I'm…"

"Huh?"

"I'm glad you're happy."

"Oh. Thanks."

"I need to go. Bye."

Quickly, he hung up before Robin could say anything. Lon'qu stood in the hospital hallway by himself with his head hung low. Robin deserved to be happy. He of all people wished that for her. But he felt off, almost sick, after the call.

It was probably the sleep deprivation and lack of sustenance. Once Ke'ri woke up, he'd get some rest and food.