Chapter 0: Prologue

The tears weren't there.

He knew he was supposed to feel something, anything, and yet…

His fists clenched tighter around his mother's final letter to him, its words still haunting him.

…he felt numb to it all.

And so, Robin simply stood there, dimly aware of the priest saying his mother's final rites as she was lowered to the cold, uncaring ground.

There was no one else beside him, the local priest and the undertaker of the latest village he and his mother had fled to. No one else to mourn the passing of a woman who might have just saved everyone through her actions.

A woman who had sacrificed everything to ensure the world's safety.

Flashback

Robin grinned at his new friends, "Okay, see you tomorrow!" he called out happily, having just spend the afternoon playing with them.

"Dibs on the Hero-King!" one of them, a boy whose name Robin could not remember said.

"No way! I want to be the Hero-King!" another replied.

Robin's smile widened as he saw his new friends leave even as they bickered amongst themselves. That smile quickly began to fade as he approached his new home.

He tried to cheer himself up. He'd made new friends! In spite of everything, in spite of being new and looking foreign, he'd made new friends!

And yet he found himself unable to muster any kind of cheer as he opened the door leading to his humble abode. They'd never had a lot of money and his mother was quite the frugal woman.

"Robin?" her voiced called out as he entered.

"It's me." He replied, his voice barely above a murmur.

"Good," his mother stepped into his sight, "pack your bags."

He felt as though he'd been punched. "W-what?"

"Pack your bags," she commanded, "we need to leave."

"B-but…"

"No buts. Make haste!" her tone was one of finality.

"But you said we might be able to stay here!" Robin found his voice, anger and betrayal coursed within him.

Her expression changed from emotions he could not recognize before finally settling on a cold, strict frown, "I said pack your bags."

"No! Why do we keep moving around like this?!" Robin demanded angrily, feeling tears well up in his eyes, "It's not fair! I made friends!"

She slapped him. Hard. Robin fell on his back, stunned.

"That's not important," she levelled her glare down at him, "Pack. Your. Bags. I will not tell you again."

Too frightened to scare his mother, whom he knew from previous experience that she would hit him again if he disobeyed, Robin did so, tears flowing freely from his eyes now.

"Done?" she asked.

He nodded mutely, unable to meet her gaze.

"Good." she seemed to hesitate and tentatively reached out to him, causing him to flinch and subconsciously take a step back.

Her hand froze and fell. He heard her sigh.

"Robin, once we find a new village, I promise I'll buy you some of those sweet cakes you like so much, okay?" she asked, her voice now back to her normal tone.

He once again nodded mutely.

She sighed once more. "C'mon, let's g-"

A loud explosion interrupted her. The ground shook and they both stumbled as they strove to maintain their balance.

Robin looked up, his eyes wide. "W-what's going on?"

His mother swore. "They've found us. We need to leave. Now!" she took his hand and slammed the door open.

"F-found us? Who?" and then his mouth fell open as he finally took in the view before him. The air was filled with smoke and blood, clogging his nose, making him gag.

Hell.

That was the only word he could find that could describe what this once idyllic village had become. People screamed and ran around the place even as it burned down around them. Further down, he managed to catch a glimpse of the town's watch desperately trying to hold off cloaked men who mercilessly cut down all who stood in their way.

"Don't look! Keep running!" his mother yelled at him, her voice barely audible over the wails and screams coming from the town in spite of their proximity.

"B-but my friends!" Robin screamed, still tripping over his own feet.

"They're already dead! Keep running, don't look back!" his mother nearly begged as she dragged him away. Away from what had been the happiest afternoon in his life thus far.

And so, they fled the all consuming fires.

Robin smiled grimly as he remembered that night and the subsequent explanation his mother had given him. He stopped complaining whenever his mother said they needed to flee after that.

"Damn Plegians, look at him, smiling at his own mother's death." He heard the undertaker mutter under his breath.

If only he knew. The undertaker and the priest left shortly after, their duty done and feeling no connection to this foreigner that had shown up on their village a few short days ago.

Robin approached the unmarked grave. "I…I feel I should say something." His lips twisted into a bitter smile, "Truth be told, I don't think I ever loved you," he finally felt something stir within him. Regret? Grief? "But I will miss you."

In hindsight, he realized how much this woman had done for him, how much she had lost because of him.

"I…I'll miss you." He repeated, shocked by how true the words were.

Robin looked up at the sky and remembered a prayer he had heard a long time ago. "May you find solace and peace. May you never be forgotten. May your sacrifices be forever remembered. To the gods I offer this humble plea," he said quietly, feeling the familiar and unwanted presence of tears beginning to form, "grant her rest. Grant her happiness-"

A single tear fell.

"-and grant me the strength to find my path."

"I will need provisions," Robin stated calmly, "I have the gold to pay for it."

The shopkeeper had glared at him suspiciously when he'd entered the store, but the word "gold" seemed to placate him.

Greed.

Robin suppressed a bitter smile.

"Planning to travel?" the shopkeeper asked gruffly.

"Indeed," Robin nodded, "at least 3 days." He placed his rucksack over the counter. He also drew his coin pouch.

The shopkeeper stared at Robin's coin pouch and nodded. "Where to? Gonna need a lot of waterskins?"

Prejudice.

Still, at least this was understandable. Robin was more than aware of his Plegian appearance. This time he did not suppress the smile. "No, Ylisstol."

His mother would have killed him if she knew his plans, he mused.

The shopkeeper's eyebrow rose suspiciously, at least until Robin jiggled the coin pouch. He shrugged and began to place salted foods and a decently sized waterskin into Robin's rucksack.

"If you don't mind me asking, what does a Plegian want to do in the capital?" he asked.

Robin's bitter smile widened. "Offer my aid."

The man snorted and handed him back his rucksack. In return, Robin passed the coin pouch at him before leaving the store, heading towards the main road.

'I hope you are as reasonable as they say, Prince Chrom.'

End

Author's note:

Yeah, I know, pretty late for a Fire Emblem Awakening fic, but what the hell, it's not as if I can afford 3 Houses yet.

As for the story itself, I don't think I've seen too many authors write about the original timeline, the one where Lucina and co. came from. Or at the very least, I haven't found any.

This will follow Robin and eventually Chrom until, well, it's spoilers, but I'm going to assume everyone here already knows what happens, [SPOLERS] Lucina jumps into the portal. In my headcanon, OG Robin would have his full memories and therefore be a little less…social than the Robin we're familiar with, not to mention having a whole lot of other assorted problems due to knowing who, or rather, what he is.

Anyway, I've been trying to practice my "show, don't tell" approach as well as trying (and failing miserably) to depict emotions, but I'm an overgrown manchild with the mental maturity of a 12 yeard old, so I think it was kind of meh.

All I can say is that I hope I can at the very least make it interesting. Any and all criticism is appreciated.