Author's Notes:
I feel like I've been uploading the first few chapters rather quickly, but I'm not sure how long I will be able to keep up this uploading speed. That being said, I will continue to write, I just might take longer between uploads.
When it comes to this chapter, I find it fairly awkward to write about 'Marth', especially when it comes to using pronouns. I'm sure those of us that have played Awakening can understand. For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about: Welcome! I'm glad you decided to read something new, and hope you enjoy what I have to offer.
That being said, if you haven't played Awakening before, the end of this chapter might be a little bit confusing. But if you wait, its purpose will become more clear later in the story. Enough talking. Here is Chapter 3:
Road connecting Southtown to Ylisstol
The four slowly but surely made their way towards Ylisstol. Lissa passed the time by telling Robin stories about the Shepherds, with each one seeming to have a unique purpose in their group. Robin had to admit, the cheerful and bubbly personality of Lissa was really enjoyable to be around. Her mood was contagious, and everyone, even Frederick was laughing and having a good time.
They marched for a couple hours at a time, with a 15 minute break separating each. Frederick was very thorough in making sure they marched and took breaks at exactly the right moment. Eventually, the sun began to set, and they decided to get ready to make camp for the night.
"I'm hungry." Chrom declared. "I'll go see if I can hunt something to eat."
"I'll go with you," Robin volunteered. "We'll have a better chance with two people than one, right?" This earned him a smile from the blue haired swordsman, but a look of suspicion from Frederick.
Chrom noticed this, and quickly addressed the Great Knight. "Peace Frederick. Robin is right, and besides, I think I can trust him. You should stay here and make camp with Lissa."
Frederick hesitated for a moment, before replying "Understood, milord." He watched the two as they ran off into the woods. "What's wrong?" Lissa asked, noticing the scowl on the knight's face. "Something about how he volunteered seemed… off. I think I might regret not going with them. This would be a perfect opportunity for Robin to kill milord without us being able to stop him."
"Oh come on!" Lissa pouted. "You saw how he helped us defeat those Plegians back there. And besides, wouldn't you worry about if you went with Chrom and I was left here alone, or with Robin?"
Frederick sighed, conceding the point. "I hope you are right milady. I honestly wish that I'm just being too cautious."
With that, the two began to look for a place to make a firepit and somewhere to sleep for the night.
With Robin and Chrom
The two had been looking around for about half an hour. So far, they hadn't found much. They walked around in silence, not wanting to scare away any animals with their chattering.
That was perfectly fine with Robin. He was just content with admiring the scenery. It was extremely relaxing for the new tactician of the shepherds.
Suddenly, the two noticed a rustling in the brush in front of them. Chrom turned just in time to see the rump of a large, brown animal disappear further into the forest.
'Bear!' Chrom thought as he ran off in that direction. "Wha-hey wait!" stammered a confused Robin as he ran after the swordsman.
Unfortunately for Robin, Chrom was much faster than he was. It wasn't even that Robin wasn't fit. Compared to normal people, Robin can be considered very athletic. However, he spends significantly less time battle training, and significantly more time reading than the blue haired swordsman. Within two minutes, Chrom was nearly 50 m ahead of Robin, and had all but disappeared in the maze of trees.
By the time Robin had caught up, Chrom was in the middle of a clearing, already attempting to kill the bear. He slashed at the bear whenever it lunged at him, keeping himself far away from the deadly claws of the large animal.
Robin almost didn't even want to help, and just watched the swordsman and admired his skill. Chrom looked like he was handily beating the bear. Bit by bit he wore the animal down, waiting for the perfect moment to land the killing blow. However, Chrom accidentally got his foot caught on the root of a nearby tree and falls down on his back.
The bear sees and opportunity and lunges at the fallen swordsman. It opens its mouth in preparation to bite down on its attacker, and Chrom sees his life flash before his eyes.
*CRRRRACK!* a bolt of thunder flies directly into the bear's mouth and explodes, killing the bear instantly. Its limp body falls onto Chrom, and besides feeling a massive amount of weight on top of him, Chrom ended up mostly OK.
Chrom is dazed for a second before pushing the bear off of him. He got up and turned to Robin and scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. "Thanks friend."
Robin smirked. "I thought you would be able to beat it, so I didn't do anything until just now. In the future, you should be more careful of your surroundings. I'm not always gonna be there to smite people in the face when you trip."
Chrom sighed. "Yeah, you are right." Then he turned back towards the bear, and became much more excited. "On a brighter note, we can have bear tonight!" Robin chuckled. "Bear? Is that even any good?" In response, Chrom gave him a thumbs up. "You'll have never tasted anything better once you try it."
Robin shrugged. "I guess the more pressing question right now is how are we going to get this bear back to camp. It's getting dark soon, so we are going to need to hurry."
Chrom looked deep in thought. "I guess we could butcher it here. It's not like we can finish all of the bear anyways. But that still leaves the matter of how we are going to carry the meat back…"
Robin smiled. "Don't worry about it. Leave that part to me." Chrom nodded. "OK, ill cut it up then." He fished out a large dagger from his side and began to cut into the dead bear, seeming to know exactly where the good meat is. A few moments later, they had cut out several sizable pieces of bear meat.
"Well? Now what?" Chrom asked. In response, Robin picked up the pieces one by one, and gently pushed it through the air away from him. One by one, the pieces disappeared into thin air.
"Now I've been meaning to ask you about that. I saw you pull a scythe out of the air earlier… what was that about?" Chrom inquired. "I don't remember how I originally was able to do this, but what I do know is that I'm able to put stuff in and take stuff out of an astral plane. It's like having a personal storage room following me around at all times." Robin grinned. Chrom looked confused. "Astral plane?" "It's a dimension that is… or rather used to be inhabited by dragons. From what I understand, most of them are dead now, so it's basically just an empty room that only I can access." Robin explained.
At this point, they had walked out of the woods and were back near the road. It was already dark. Looking around, they spotted Lissa and Frederick sitting in a clearing nearby, stoking a fire. The two walked over to them. Frederick was busy whittling some sharp sticks so that they could cook food over the fire.
"Welcome back milord." Greeted Frederick. Then he frowned. "Judging by your appearances, I'd say you were unable to catch anything?"
"Ugh…" Lissa complained "I guess I'm going to bed hungry tonight."
Chrom and Robin smirked at each other. Robin picked up some of the completed sticks and proceeded to reach out to his side. He pulled out the bear meat one piece at a time and stuck them each onto a stick. Frederick and Lissa watched in excitement and relief.
"Wow, that's so cool!" Lissa exclaimed. "There's so much meat too!"
"I must say, I am quite relieved we have anything to eat at all tonight. Pray tell, what type of meat is it?" the Great Knight asked.
Chrom grinned. "It's bear meat!" At this, Lissa and Frederick's faces fell and they both sighed in exasperation.
"Guess I'm going to bed hungry tonight…" Lissa muttered.
Minutes later, they had cooked the meat, and some of them began to dig in. "Mmmm! It's been too long since I last had bear meat! Delicious!" Chrom exclaimed. "What's wrong Lissa? Dig in!"
The girl in question had a frown on her face. "Pass! ...Gods, couldn't you spear us an animal normal people eat for once? I mean, come on! Who eats bear?! You're meddling with the food chain. Right, Robin? Uh… Robin?"
Robin was busy stuffing his face with the meat. "Hmmm? *munch munch* Yes… Right. *slurp* Of course."
Lissa looked at him in shock. "Don't tell me you're actually enjoying that!"
Robin looked annoyed. "Go away… *chew chew* angry lady… *munch* Robin is eating."
Lissa sighed in exasperation. "I suppose you'd enjoy eating anything after not eating for several days." "Just eat it. Meat is meat." Chrom said sternly. "Since when does meat smell like old boots?" Lissa retorted. "I take that back, old boots smell better!"
"Every experience makes us stronger milady. Even those we don't enjoy." Frederick told Lissa with a grin on his face as he snuck his portion into Robin's possession piece by piece.
Lissa pouted. "Really? Then why don't I see YOU eating Frederick?" "M-me?" The Great Knight stammered as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm not really hungry. I...I had quite a large lunch. Yes, quite."
Lissa scowled at Frederick in suspicion, but eventually got herself to choke down a few bites of the bear. Throughout this time, Chrom and Robin both snarfed down the meat like they hadn't eaten in days, which, for one of them was true.
"See? I told you it was good, didn't I?" Chrom nudged Robin after they finished eating. Robin nodded in agreement. "That really was delicious. I don't think I've ever had anything like it before."
"Hmph… how did you even manage to find a bear anyways?" Lissa asked.
"Well…" Chrom began. "It happened like this...:"
He then went on into detail about how they discovered the bear, and how Robin had saved his life when he tripped. This seemed to put some of Frederick's early suspicions at ease-for the time being.
"Well, maybe Frederick and I should do the hunting next time." Lissa muttered. Then she scooched over next to Robin and leaned in close to him. "Hey, I just remembered. That hex something you used when we fought the bandits… what was that?"
"U-um... " Robin began, with a light shade of pink beginning to dust his cheeks. Chrom coughed loudly, and Lissa reluctantly gave Robin some space and the time to compose himself.
"Well," Robin started again. "Hekseer is a tool I built using quintessence." Seeing the looks of confusion on the faces of his audience, he quickly added "I'll get to that part later."
"The main function of Hekseer is for me to be able to survey the battlefield without having the high ground. The grid that appeared when I activated it is like the map of the battlefield." Robin explained. "Soldiers that bear no hostility appear as green, and enemies appear as red."
"Oh…." Lissa said, with her index finger touching her lip in contemplation. Then she turned back to Robin. "But you turned some into blue, didn't you?"
Robin nodded. "If I know that someone is an ally that I can directly give commands to, I can turn their marker blue. If I set up a link with someone, they will automatically appear blue the next time I use Hekseer." He smirked. "In addition, I can communicate with blue allies that I've set up a link with without talking, and over long distances."
The other three looked at him with skepticism. Robin shrugged. "I know I didn't use it this battle, but trust me. In fact let me demonstrate for you." At this point, he fished Hekseer out of his robe and activated it. Four blue units instantly appeared at the center of the grid.
"Give me your hand." He commanded to Lissa. The girl in question pretended to look away and fan herself. "Why Robin, this is so sudden!" she joked. "Give it." Robin replied nonchalantly. Once the girl touched her hand to Hekseer she felt a flow of energy travel from the object into her, leaving the center of her palm slightly numb. "That feels really weird." The cleric complained.
The process was repeated for the other two members of the party.
Robin smiled with his lips shut. He pointed to them with his right hand while Hekseer rested on the palm of his left. {Can you hear me? This is Robin talking to you} Robin said into the minds of the other three.
"Naga almighty!" stammered Chrom as he was the one taken off guard the most. Lissa and Frederick simply looked shocked.
Robin turned Hekseer off. "With this tool, I can give orders to soldiers without ever needed to be in their sight or hearing distance. Convenient isn't it?"
"Does it have an effective range?" Lissa asked. Robin nodded. "Yes, but it varies based on terrain and weather conditions. I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how far I could use it."
Frederick brought his hand to his chin in contemplation. "Interesting, this would indeed be a useful tool to have in combat."
Chrom nodded in agreement. "A tool very fitting for the new tactician of the Shepherds, don't you agree?" Robin scratched his head sheepishly.
"So what about the quint.. The quint something?" Lissa asked.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot." Robin smiled. "Quintessence, simply put, is life energy. Everyone has it, but the amount each person has is determined on many factors, such as age, personality and skill."
Chrom frowned. "So when you say you built that with quintessence…" "You mean you built it from people you killed." Frederick finished. Robin shrugged. "I don't remember how I built it, but it doesn't necessarily mean I murdered people. I can just as easily harvest it from people that recently died or are dying."
Chrom smiled. "Well since you don't remember, let's just assume that was what happened." Robin gave an affirmative nod with a smile. "Yes. Good idea."
The four chatted amongst themselves for a little while longer before deciding to go to bed.
Robin was lying on his area of the ground, trying to rest, but not sleep. He was busy reflecting upon everything that had transpired that day, and trying to remember anything he could about his past. After much effort, he has only able to vaguely remember one person. He didn't know who it has, only that it was a girl with long black hair. In the blink of an eye, a couple hours had passed.
Robin let out an exasperated sigh. 'I'm not going to be able to get to sleep' he thought as he sat up. Lissa, who had been the closest person to Robin stirred in her sleep as well. She opened an eye slightly, and saw Robin sitting next to the fire. This prompted her to get up as well.
"*Yawn* what's wrong, Robin?" The girl asked. The tactician smiled. "Nothing, I just couldn't sleep. All my thoughts are keeping me awake." The cleric nodded in agreement. "Mhmm, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose my memories."
Robin got up. "Where are you going?" Lissa asked. "I think I'm going to go take a walk… to clear my head." came the reply. Lissa frowned. "In the dark? Not alone, you won't! I'm coming with you." She said matter of factly. This earned a smile from the tactician. "Heh, thanks Lissa."
As they took a walk in the woods, the two chatted about random things. Robin asked some questions about the shepherds Lissa had talked about earlier in the day. Both enjoyed each other's company.
After a while, they had finally run out of things to talk about, leaving them to walk in an awkward silence.
"It sure is dark… and… quiet." Lissa noticed. "Where did the birds go?" "Something is wrong here…" Robin agreed.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake as if and earthquake has hit the area. "Aah! Robin!" The cleric shouted. "Gods what is this?!" said the man in question. "Stay close Lissa!"
The earthquake grows stronger and causes several trees to fall over. "Run Lissa!" shouted the tactician, prompting the girl to run back towards their campsite as fast as humanly possible. After they were a good distance away, the two stopped to catch their breath.
Suddenly, Lissa lets out a gasp of astonishment. "Look Robin! What IS that?" she pointed to a portal that resembled an eye which suddenly appeared in the night sky.
As she said this, two humanoid figures dropped out of it. Once they hit the ground, they got up with their axes held ready, groaning in a way that made one seriously question whether they were alive or not.
Robin pulls his scythe out of the astral plane. "Lissa, you'd better stand back." This earned an affirmative nod from the girl.
Suddenly, the two undead began to charge them. Robin met them and swung his scythe around, instantly decapitating the first one and turning it back to smoke. The second one got closer and brought its axe down, which Robin blocked. He then slipped to the side of the undead and pulled his scythe away. The axe harmless drove into the ground. Robin then cleaved the Risen in half with an upwards slash.
Lissa screamed. Robin turned around to see another one of the undead moving towards her, prepared to kill. Suddenly, a masked swordsman fell out of the portal and rushed in front of Lissa. The man blocked the undead's strike with his sword, but struggled to maintain the block.
"Help!" The swordsman pleaded. Robin nodded and ran at them. He easily cleaved the preoccupied undead in half with a horizontal swing, causing the thing to evaporate into black smoke.
The masked swordsman turned towards Robin. "My thanks... huh!?" Robin swore the swordsman froze in place for a moment at the sight of him, but didn't press the matter. "No, thank YOU for saving Lissa." he replied with a genuine smile.
"D-don't worry about it. I…I was just doing the right thing." Came the reply. Robin thought the swordsman sounded slightly different somehow, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but he thought he could see a shade of pink on the swordman's cheeks.
Several loud groans redirected his attention back to reality. He turned around and saw many of the undead creatures walking slowly towards them. A few of them began to charge at them.
Robin and the masked swordsman prepared to counter engage, when two people rushed out first. One undead got slashed in half by Chrom while another got impaled on Frederick's lance.
"Milady, Robin, are you hurt?" The Great Knight asked.
"Chrom! Frederick!" Lissa exclaimed.
"Are such creatures commonplace in these lands?" Robin asked the two. Chrom shook his head. "They are not from Ylisse, I can promise you that."
"No one is injured them? Thank Naga." Frederick breathed a sigh of relief.
Lissa smiled. "Thank the masked man who saved me. If it weren't for him, I'd be… Hey! Where'd he go?" Lissa looked around, thinking maybe he was hiding behind someone.
"We can worry about him later, AFTER we put these...things...to the blade. Eyes open, now. We know nothing about this enemy." Frederick said with resolve.
"Keep those things off me for a minute." Robin requested. "Let me get a better sense of our surroundings."
Chrom and Frederick nodded, standing in between Robin and the undead creatures. Robin knelt down and fished out Hekseer, activating it immediately. He saw four blue icons pop up near the center. A green icon a few hundredl meters away. 'That's probably the masked swordsman' Robin concluded. He estimated that there were about ten or so undead around the swordsman, and about twenty in the clearing in front of them. Then he took a minute to survey the surroundings.
"Alright." Robin got up. "Here's the plan. Most of the undead are carrying axes. With the exception of one with a hammer, both Chrom and Frederick should be able to handle them due to Chrom wielding a sword and Frederick's thick armor." He then pointed in front of them, towards the southwest. "In that direction there are a couple abandoned forts. To begin, we'll draw them out one at a time from the woods, where we'll have the terrain advantage. We'll inch our way towards the forts and hold out there. Lissa and I will stick to the rear and she'll heal anyone that gets injured. I'll keep and eye on my Hekseer and help out with my magic when needed"
Hearing the plan gave everyone the morale and confidence boost they needed. They began to execute the plan.
Chrom aggravated a nearby axe wielding undead and lead it back towards them. He dodged the undead's swing and decapitated it, causing it to turn to black smoke. Frederick, on the other hand, took the blow from the undead, but was not fazed. He then proceeded to jam his lance through the undead's skull, killing it instantly.
The four slowly made their way to one of the forts. Chrom and Frederick defended the entrance as the undead began to move towards them. Robin moved further back inside with Lissa.
Suddenly, Robin noticed two green icons appear on the edge of the grid. "Hmm? These aren't undead." Robin muttered. "What happened?" Lissa asked. "Two new characters just entered the stage. One is a red short-haired female cavalier using a lance. The other is a blue haired archer."
Lissa put an index finger to her lips in thought. "That cavalier sounds like it could be Sully. I dunno who the archer could be though." Robin nodded, remembering Lissa's descriptions of her earlier today.
{Frederick} Robin commanded through his Hekseer. {There are two potential allies to the southeast of us. Go inform them of our location and bring them here.} "On my way." He heard Frederick reply.
Frederick charged out of the fort and rode in the southeast direction. This left Chrom to defend the entrance by himself. He seemed to be doing fine against the axe-wielding undead that rushed him one at a time.
Suddenly, Chrom cried out in pain. Robin turned to him to see an arrow protruding from his left arm. Chrom dropped to one knee. "Damn, I didn't expect them to have an archer."
"Lissa, heal him quickly! I'll take care of the archer." Robin commanded. "Right!" came the reply.
As Lissa tended to Chrom's arm, Robin pulled out his scythe from the astral plane. The six eyes of the dragon head glowed purple, as did the edge of the blade. He swung the weapon diagonally through the air, which launched a blade of purple energy towards the archer. He repeated the action, swinging in the reverse direction, sending another wave of magic hurling towards the archer. His target evaporated after getting hit twice.
When the archer died, he turned his attention to the rest of the axe fighters closing in. He was able to kill one from a distance with his scythe, but a few more got much closer. Robin focused, and the scythe began to change color, from glowing purple to glowing red. He mentally prepared himself to fight the undead in close range.
Robin continued to defend the entrance while Lissa continued to work on Chrom. However, it was evident that he was struggling a lot more to fight against the undead fighters than Chrom. 'I really need get into better shape' he felt himself thinking. He took down two, but the third managed to close in on him and attempted to chop him with a vertical swing. Robin only had time to block the attack with his weapon. However, Robin was stuck in a stalemate: he couldn't move his weapon without getting cut in half, and the undead was not giving an inch either. 'Crap, there will be more of them coming soon…' he thought as sweat poured down his forehead.
Suddenly, an arrow flew from the south and hit the undead in the arm. 'More archers?' Robin thought in surprise. He didn't have time to process his thoughts before a cavalier ran in and stabbed the axeman in the side, causing it to evaporate.
Robin looked up at the cavalier. "Ah, so you must be Sully I presume?" "Yeah, that's me. And you must be the new tactician Frederick told me about." Just as she said this, the Great Knight rode in with the blue haired archer.
Robin turned to them. "Nicely done Frederick. So who is this?" he gestured to the archer. "No idea." Sully replied. "At least knows how to be useful with a bow though." Frederick also replied with a shrug.
The archer dismounted from Frederick's horse and took a bow. "You see, my good sir, I am called Virion, the archest of archers!"
Robin put up his hand. "Save it for later, Virion. First, we need to take care of these undead. Sully, you join Frederick on the frontlines. Keep them from entering the fort. Lissa's in the back tending to Chrom's injuries. Virion and I will assist you two from a distance. It looks like they are not organized, so we can take advantage of that by letting them charge at us one by one."
Sully looked furious. "I'm gonna rip these guys a new one for hurting the commander." Frederick didn't say anything, but had a murderous look on his face.
Sure enough, Robin was correct. The undead were not very well organized, and charged the fort on sight. Frederick and Sully formed a wall in front of the entrance, impaling anyone that got too close. From behind them, Virion launched volley after volley of arrows at the charging undead, taking some of them down before they got within 50 feet of the fort.
Not having enough room to use his scythe, Robin put it away and pulled out a thunder tome. He carefully aimed it at all the healthy looking undead, weakening them significantly for the others to finish off.
Eventually, only one undead was left. He carried a short axe and threw it at the frontlining cavaliers from a distance.
"Alright, the two of you break formation and charge the last one. Be careful Sully, because Frederick has heavy armor and can withstand an attack. You're armor is relatively light, so you could get seriously injured." Robin instructed.
"Don't need you to tell me twice." replied the tomboy.
"Stay here and support them from a distance if they need it." he instructed Virion before he ran back into the fort to check if Chrom was OK.
Thankfully, the arrow wound hadn't been too deep. Lissa had already healed it with her staff and wrapped it up in gauze. Robin helped the swordsman to his feet, and the three walked back towards the entrance of the fort, where their three other companions were waiting.
"That was pretty sick, Frederick." Sully declared as she gently bumped the Great Knight's shoulder with her fist.
"After witnessing the gracefulness of the great Virion in combat, would my good lady please reconsider my proposal of marriage?" The blue haired archer asked with a bow.
"Fuck off!" Sully replied and gave him a kick to the chest.
"Ahh!" Virion exclaimed as he fell on his back. "Alas, 'twould be the second time today I've been kicked by such a divine beauty!" He shook his head, as if emphasizing his point.
Frederick cleared his throat. "Milord, it seems that all the creatures have been vanquished."
Robin nodded in agreement. "And I think the masked swordsman took care of the rest…"
"Indeed I did." said a new voice. They turned to see the masked swordsman walking up to them.
"Umm…" Lissa spoke up. "I never got to thank you for saving me earlier. Thank you. You were very brave." Chrom nodded. "You saved my sister's life. My name is Chrom. May I ask for yours?"
The masked swordsman hesitated for a moment. "... you may call me Marth."
"Marth?" Chrom questioned. "Like the heroic king of the legends? You certainly fight like a hero. Where did you learn your way with a sword?"
Marth shook his head. "I'm not here to talk about me. The world is teetering on the brink of a horrible calamity. What you've seen tonight was but a prelude. You have been warned." With this, Marth walked away.
"Huh?" Lissa wondered. "Teetering on what now?"
Robin chuckled. "Not much for conversation, is he?"
"I'll wager we'll hear his name again." Frederick said. "But for now, I'm more worried about the capital. 'Twould not be wise to sleep after that, and to be honest, I'm not sure we would be able to sleep at all. We should make haste towards the capital."
"Agreed." Chrom nodded in consent.
A short distance away….
Marth stopped running as soon as he was sure Chrom and the others would not be able to find him.
Tears began to fall from underneath the mask. "Robin… Chrom… Lissa…. All of them… they're alive!" he sobbed.
His heart was beating extraordinarily fast. It was not due to running.
Some time in the future…
"Daddy! Daddy come play with me!" a young girl with blue hair exclaimed as she ran through the castle halls. She was no older than five years old.
A man with blue hair and beard smiled at her. "I'm really sorry Lucy, but daddy is busy right now. Daddy needs to meet with some important people."
The girl pouted. "Daddy is always busy. He never has time to play with me…." "Darling…" the man started. "And mommy doesn't have time to play with me, 'cause she is always with baby sister…"
The man smiled. "I promise you I'll find some time to play with you tomorrow. But for now, could you go play by yourself?"
"O….ok…" the young girl replied with a visible look of disappointment on her face. She walked back the way she came from, hanging her head and dragging her feet along the way.
Not looking at where she was going, she ran face-first into someone. "Oh? You must be princess Lucina!" the man said. Then, seeming to notice the sad expression on her face, he asked "What's wrong?"
The girl looked up to find the compassionate face of a man with white hair and a white beard. "My daddy is too busy and won't play with me." she complained. "Now I have to go play by myself."
The man smiled. "Well, it turns out your father has just ordered me to take some time off. Would it be OK if I played with you in his place?" the princess nodded. "You… you know my daddy?" she asked.
The man laughed. "Yes, I guess you could say that. Your father and I are best friends." "B-best friends?" the young girl inquired. "Then what is your name?"
The man smiled again. "My name is Robin." Lucina looked away and was deep in thought. 'I think I heard daddy and mommy say something about Robin… I guess he is not a stranger…'
She turned back to the man. "OK mister Robin, let's go play!"
"Alright." the man grinned. "What shall we play?"
Lucina thought for a moment. "How about Knights and Dragons? I will be the knight, and you will be the big bad dragon that I fight!" she grinned.
"That sounds like we need to find a large enough place to play then." Robin reached down and picked Lucina up, placing her atop his shoulders. "W-woah!" little Lucina cried in surprise.
"Let's go play in the courtyard!" Robin declared as he walked in that direction. "Heehee! I am taller than daddy! Faster, mister Robin, faster!" the little girl exclaimed in joy. "You got it!" the man in question replied with a grin as he began to jog.
He stayed with her the rest of the afternoon, playing with her the whole time.
Sully: Age: 18
Class: Cavalier
Viron: Age: 21
Class: Archer