The four members of the group were currently walking on a path through thick woods. The sun had just set, and pretty much all light was gone.
Most of the party was fairing well, in fact, most of them enjoyed this little hike through the woods. All of them except Lissa, who had settled on just grumbling and complaining.
"I told you it'll get dark soon, and look what happened, the sun set that's what. Now we need to-Eck! Now all the bugs are out! Noisy bugs that are attracted to you, well I mean I don't blame them, but crawl all over you and bite your when-Agh! Won goph in mah mouph! Agh! Bleck!" Lissa gagged and coughed as she tried to get the bug out of her mouth, with no luck.
Robin leaned towards Chrom, "She's not an outside person, is she?" He whispered.
Chrom just laughed and shook his head as Lissa continued to struggle. "No, as kids, she mostly liked to stay indoors while my fellow friends and I played outside. In fact, I can't remember a time she willingly went outside just to enjoy nature, she always had to have a reason why, whether it was for pranks or shepherds duties."
'Pranks?' Robin thought. He made a mental note to watch out for that later on.
Chrom looked at Lissa, and gave her a "sweet" smile, "Aw, come on now, sister. Hardships build character. Anyone could say that you desperately need character building, and this is a great way to start! Want to help me gather firewood?"
Lissa had stopped gagging, and her face became mortified. "Tpht! Ew…I-I think… I think I swallowed it…" Lissa looked sick, and Robin was afraid she was going to throw up.
Lissa then huffed and said sharply, "Yeah and I think I'll pass on the firewood, thanks. I've built quite enough character for one day, so go gather firewood by yourself…hmph!"
Frederick interjected, "I can go grab the firewood milord. I believe you mentioned the other day how much you would love to go hunting."
Chrom perked up, and grinned, "Heck yeah! C'mon Robin, I'll give ya a little lesson on how to hunt!"
Robin grinned, too, and stood up with Chrom. Frederick looked skeptically at Robin, then turned to go and collect firewood, staying in eyesight of Lissa.
Robin then quietly followed Chrom. Robin had the feeling of happiness again. Chrom and the others, with the exception of Frederick, we're very accepting and Robin was actually starting to feel like a part of them.
Robin was following closely behind Chrom, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Chrom then stopped abruptly, and Robin nearly bumped into him, but stopped himself just in time.
Chrom grew giddy with excitement as he pointed eagerly into the distance. Robin had to stifle a chuckle so he didn't scare away the game. He looked to where Chrom was pointing, and Robin had to stifle back a gasp.
Back in the brush was a small grizzly bear. At first, Robin thought Chrom was joking that he actually wanted to hunt a bear. But as Chrom drew quietly closer to the creature, he knew he was being serious.
Robin sighed, and he quietly followed after Chrom. The bear was oblivious to their presence, and it had moved into a large clearing. Robin caught up with Chrom just as Chrom was about to charge the creature head on with his sword.
Robin held up a hand.
"Wait," he said. Chrom looked at Robin confused, but then understood as Robin drew his tome.
Chrom rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Heh, sorry, got a little too excited there." Chrom whispered.
Robin rolled his eyes,"Yeah, maybe try and use your head a little more. You probably would've either scared the game or got your arse seriously injured." Robin whispered back.
Chrom chuckled lightly, and Robin began to conjure a spell. "Thunder!" He yelled, and a lightning bolt shot out of Robin's palm and hit the bear directly in the head, killing it.
Chrom pumped his fist in the air.
"Alright! Dinner time!" He yelled happily.
Robin walked up to the fallen beast. Judging by its appearance, Robin thought it looked to be at least 300 pounds. 'There is no way I can drag this thing. Geez, where's a Frederick when you need one?' Robin thought.
Chrom, very pleased, walked next to Robin and said, "Alright, so how are we going to get it back to camp?"
Robin raised his eyebrows and looked at Chrom, "You think I know how to get this thing back to camp? Who's the bear expert here?" Robin paused, and added, "I'll give you a hint, it's not me."
"Well, you are a tactician, so I assumed you had some sort of plan." Chrom retorted.
Robin scoffed."Yeah, let me fetch you next time I need some apples cut, Mr. Swordsman," Robin shot back.
The two were silent, just glaring at each other, then both of them broke into laughter.
Chrom wiped the mirth from his eyes, "Alright, alright, you win. But seriously though, what do you think the best way to get the beast back to camp is?"
Robin thought for a second. Then an idea came to mind, and he grinned mischievously.
"Hey Chrom, what's the heaviest weight you can carry?"
Frederick had just collected all the firewood, and was beginning to start the fire. Lissa had pirched nearby on a log, watching as Frederick started the fire. Soon, Frederick managed to get a fire, and Lissa scooted closer to it for warmth.
Lissa sighed, "When do you think Chrom and Robin will be back?" Lissa's stomach growled loudly, "I'm starving! I will literally die if I don't get food soon!" She complained.
Frederick chuckled, "If I had to guess, they may be back in about 30 minutes." Otherwise he was going to go out and search for them, just in case Robin tried something.
"30 minutes?! That's like way too long! Tell Chrom that my last thoughts were of him, and that he's the reason I'm dead!" Lissa whined.
Frederick just chuckled, "Milady, you are most definitely not going to die. Here, you can munch on these while you wait."
Frederick pulled out a small pack of nuts and dried fruit from his satchel. Lissa happily took it, and devoured the whole thing in a matter of minutes.
She looked into the empty bag and sighed. She was still hungry, but she decided to suck it up and just wait for her brother's return. She gazed into the fire, mesmerized by how the flames danced back and forth. Frederick, too, seemed to be deep in thought while staring at the flames.
Suddenly there was rustling in the bushes, followed by grunting noises. Lissa and Frederick looked up eagerly to see Chrom and Robin carrying a bear. Well, it was mostly Chrom doing all the lifting, Robin was mostly just giving him morale support.
Chrom dropped the bear on the ground near the fire with a grunt, and dropped to his knees, dripping in sweat.
"Remind me to never ask for your advice." Chrom muttered to Robin, and Robin just grinned.
Frederick paled and Lissa groaned.
Chrom happily ignored them as he and Robin began to harvest the meat for dinner.
The squad's camp was filled with the smell of roasted bear meat. Chrom and Robin stuffed their faces, while Frederick and Lissa didn't touch their food. Robin even thought he saw Frederick toss a piece of meat to the side. 'Geez, who'd of thought Frederick would be a picky eater. Frederick! Of all people!' Robin thought, then grinned, 'More for me I guess.'
Chrom however, was too busy stuffing his face to notice that Lissa and Frederick had yet to touch their food.
Chrom swallowed, and held a piece of bear meat high in the air, as if it were a trophy.
"Ah, bear meat…It's been too long since I've had fresh bear meat like this!" He said happily, then shoved the piece of meat in his mouth.
Chrom finally took notice of Lissa after swallowing.
"Hm? What's wrong Lissa? Dig in, it's great!"
Lissa crossed her arms and scowled, "Pass! Gods, couldn't you have spared us a normal animal that normal people eat? I mean, come on! Like who the heck eats bear?"
Chrom sighed, "Just eat it, Lissa. Meat is meat." Then Chrom went back to eating.
"Oh yeah? Well since when does meat smell like old boots?" Lissa retorted, then she smelled her share of the meat and gagged, "Bleck! I take it back, old boots smell better!"
Frederick smiled, "Every experience makes us stronger, Milady. Especially the ones we don't enjoy."
Lissa turned to Frederick, and looked at his plate.
"Really? Then why don't I see YOU eating, Frederick?" Lissa said, getting annoyed.
Frederick silently cursed to himself, 'I thought I was being discreet,' he thought. Frederick made a nervous laugh, "Me? Oh, well…I-I'm not hungry. You see, I had a large lunch. Yes, quite a large one, s-so I'm not hungry." And as if on queue, Frederick's stomach made a loud audible growl, causing everyone to laugh.
Frederick sighed in defeat, and Lissa rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure Frederick."
Once everyone, meaning Chrom and Robin, finished their food, the group decided it was time to go to bed. They each set up their sleeping rolls, with the exception of Robin. Chrom offered to give Robin his, but Robin declined. Robin felt oddly used to sleeping on the ground under the stars, so it didn't bother him. Soon, everyone fell asleep, for they were all tired from the long day.
As Robin slept, he didn't really dream, but rather, he had three names that seemed to echo in his head, over and over again. Heather, Validar, and Grima. The name Heather filled him with warmth and comfort and…something else. The name Validar made him feel sadness, anger and rage, but also an underlying love. Finally, the name Grima made Robin shiver with fear. He went cold as the name repeated itself in Robin's head. The three names continued to echo louder in Robin's head, until finally it was loud enough to wake Robin from his slumber.
Robin was greeted with total silence. Not even the birds or insects made noise. 'Weird, I didn't know that all the animals went to sleep at night,' he thought.
Robin slowly opened his eyes and was greeted with a dark sky, filled with stars. It must have been early morning, maybe around 3:00. Oddly enough, Robin wasn't tired anymore.
He had long forgotten his mysterious dream, and Robin wanted nothing more than to stretch his legs. He also wanted to find out why the forest was absolutely silent. Robin may have lost his memories, but he was smart enough to know that there are nocturnal animals that thrive in forests, and should be active at this time of night.
As quietly as he could, Robin slowly got up from his sleeping area.
Apparently, he wasn't quiet enough because soon both Lissa and Chrom began to stir, too. Soon, they too were awake, and both of them noticed Robin getting up.
Chrom sat up, "Going somewhere?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lissa yawned and stretched. Robin glanced around, then looked at Chrom, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Just…something seems…off." Robin said, as he completely stood up.
"Define 'something'." Lissa said groggily.
"I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to go have a look around, just in case." Robin replied.
To his surprise, Lissa and Chrom both got up. Chrom suddenly grew very alert, and nodded at Robin. "Yeah Robin, you're right. Something's off. It's way too quiet."
With that, the trio left camp to go and explore while they left Frederick to sleep.
"Yeesh, it sure is dark out here. And quiet. Hey, where do you think all the insects went? I mean not that I'm complaining, but shouldn't they all be out and about." Lissa asked.
Robin and Chrom shared a nervous glance, "Something is very wrong here," Robin muttered.
Suddenly, the ground started to violently shake. Lissa yelped in surprise. As quickly as it began, it suddenly stopped, leaving the trio all to be wide awake.
"Uh, is this normal in Ylisse?" Robin asked with concern.
Chrom grew very tense, "No. Not at all."
The ground then continued to shake again. With a loud crack, the ground itself started to break apart. Lissa screamed and ran over to Chrom in fear, clutching his arm. As the forest floor began to crack open, large pieces of rock and rubble started to shoot out of the cracks.
"RUN!" Chrom yelled, and the three sprinted in the opposite direction of the eruption.
Giant pieces of rock continued to rain down from the sky, nearly crushing the trio. Chrom was the fastest of the group, so he led the way.
"This way!" He yelled, and Robin and Lissa followed.
The trio managed to get in a large clearing, away from the catastrophe. Lissa, Chrom, and Robin doubled over, trying to catch their breath. Then the night sky began to glow, but not from the moon. A glowing, eye-like thing appeared in the sky near the group.
Lissa was the first one to notice,"Chrom, w-what is that?" She said, pointing at the thing.
The eye opened, and out came three horrifying human like…things. .
Chrom drew his sword while Robin drew his own sword as well. He was still too exhausted to use his tome, otherwise he would've blasted all three creatures where they stood.
"Lissa, you better stand back." Chrom said as he raised his sword.
Robin stood next to Chrom as well, sword ready in hand. These creatures looked a lot like people, Robin noted. The only difference was that they seemed…dead? Robin wasn't sure what to make of them, but he did know for sure that they weren't alive in a way like him. They didn't seem to have any human qualities left in them. But, each of them dragged along weapons, which meant that they could fight.
Chrom charged at one creature, and with his sword, he sliced right through its torso. Usually, a blow like that to the torso would kill a man instantly, but the creature appeared to be unharmed despite the open gash in it's side.
The creature charged at Chrom, and swung a heavy axe right at his head. Chrom ducked, and kicked the creature hard in the side, causing it to lose its balance and fall over.
Chrom's sword began to glow a faint blue, and Chrom quickly shoved his sword down where the creature's heart would be. The creature moaned, then instead of falling limp, it disappeared into a cloud of putrid, black smoke.
While Chrom had his fight with this creature, Robin had a similar experience with one of the other things. 'Man, Ylisse is full of some weird things, but this tops them all,' Robin thought.
However, Chrom and Robin momentarily forgot about the last creature as they were trying to catch their breath. It took advantage of this, and slowly made its way to Lissa. Lissa screamed in terror as the creature drew closer.
Lissa backed up quickly, but unfortunately backed herself right into a rock, trapping herself. She had nowhere to run. Lissa looked at the creature approaching her and she let out another scream in terror and called out for her brother.
About a minute prior, and going unnoticed to the trio due to the current crisis, there was another object coming out of the eye portal thing. Except, this object was a person, though he hid his face behind a blue, butterfly-like mask. He seemed to be running in slow motion to the edge of the portal. He reached out a hand, trying to reach the other side. The man noticed the events taking place on the ground, and he grit his teeth.
He saw the girl in trouble, and saw two men who had just killed two of the creatures, seemed dazed, and hadn't noticed the girl was in trouble. Though, even if they had noticed, they never would've made it in time.
If the man was quick enough, he could save this girl. He mustered as much strength as he could, and he flung himself out of the portal. The man fell, from pretty high actually, and landed on his feet, ignoring the pain that shocked all throughout his body, he sprinted as fast as he could.
His top priority was to save the girl.
"LISSA!" Chrom and Robin yelled together, and began to run towards Lissa. However, they were both too far, and wouldn't make it in time.
"NO!" Chrom screamed, and held out a hand to his baby sister.
The creature was now in reach of Lissa, and raised its axe above Lissa's head. Lissa held up her healing staff to try and defend herself, but that was her only defense. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow…though it never came.
Then was a loud clang of metal clashing with metal.
Lissa slowly opened her eyes, then gasped as she saw a man with a mask right above her. He was facing her, though he was holding the blunt end of his sword to his back to try and get more leverage against the creature. The creature growled.
"Future…child," It snarled.
The man pursed his lips. Then he grunted in pain as the pressure was beginning to weigh him down. The masked man looked to the other two men, both who seemed to be frozen in shock.
"Help!" Was all the masked man could say. Sweat began to pour down his face.
"Right," The masked man heard a voice say.
The man felt the weight on his back disappear, so he quickly spun around and swung his sword as the creature's heart. The blunette who had helped him, seemed to mirror the masked man's moves…or was it the other way around?
Lissa sighed in relief, and quickly made her way over to Chrom and pulled him into a tight hug. Chrom and the masked man were panting heavily, both of them had sweat dripping down their faces.
Robin on the other hand was staring at the masked man. Something was off about him, Robin thought. Robin noticed that this man seemed to be a little more…curvy than most normal men, especially standing next to Chrom.
Another thing that caught Robin's attention was the fact that the masked man resembled Chrom a lot, all the way from his hair color to his fighting style. Robin furrowed his brow, deep in thought. Ylisse is weird, he thought, then shrugged.
Once Chrom regained his breath, he sheathed his sword, as did the masked man and said, "Quite an entrance. What's your name?"
The man looked at Chrom, and was silent. The man seemed to be very conflicted and at a loss of words. Chrom gave the man a curious look and was about to say something when Frederick rode up to Chrom on his horse, distracting the other three members.
The masked man took this opportunity to stay quiet and move slightly to the side. As much as he wished to leave, he knew he had to stay to protect these people. He must.
"Milord! Milady! Are you hurt?" Frederick asked in concern.
"Does Ylisse normally have things and people fall from the sky?" Robin asked while eyeing the masked man.
"Whatever those things were, they aren't from Ylisse," Chrom replied.
Frederick gave a sigh of relief, "No one is injured, then. Thank the gods…"
Chrom turned to the masked man, "What were those things? And how did they get to Ylisse? How did you get to Ylisse?"
The masked man gritted his teeth. He couldn't say more than he had to. Not yet. The man remained quiet, much to Chrom's dismay.
Not too far in the distance, there was a loud and audible growl. The growls began to overlap with each other, and Robin deduced that there had to be about a dozen of the creatures lurking in the shadows.
"We'll worry about it later. Right now, we need to focus on killing these…things, before they can hurt more people." Robin said.
In response, he got three confident nods from the group, including Frederick. The masked man gave a curt nod as well, and Robin nodded back. There was something about this man that set him apart from the others, but Robin couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Slowly, the creatures began to come out of the shadows, and Robin could make out eleven of those creatures, each of them holding a weapon. All the creatures growled, and started to make their way towards the group.
'There's too many of them,' Robin thought, 'We need a better battlefield.' Robin looked around desperately, trying to find something that would make the odds more even.
It was dark, but in the distance, Robin could slightly make out what appeared to be an old fort. Robin smirked, 'Bingo,' he thought.
Robin turned to Chrom, "Chrom I have a plan."
Chrom grinned, "Alright Robin, I'm all ears."
Robin's plan was to lure the mysterious creatures over to the old fortress, and bring the fight there, where they had more leverage. Robin decided that they would fight close together. Getting separated in the dark forest with mysterious creatures could only mean disaster, and Robin wasn't the person who wanted to risk that.
Once everyone made it to the fort, Robin explained the plan thoroughly. Lissa was to stay back and heal anyone who got hurt. Frederick, Chrom, and the masked man were to fight on the frontlines, fighting any of the creatures that got close. Robin was to be in the middle. He was going to try and pick off any of the creatures that held tomes or bows, making the job of the front liners easier. Once Robin was too exhausted to create any more spells, he would join the trio on the front lines.
Everyone seemed nervous, even Frederick and Chrom. The only person who seemed at ease was the masked man. However, the masked man did tense up a little when he snuck a glance at Chrom, which did not go unnoticed by Robin.
The group were just waiting on the creatures to catch up to them. They were a lot slower than Robin had anticipated, but they were coming.
The group was currently inside the first floor of the fort. There were some windows facing the direction that the creatures were pursuing them. The masked man had opted to keep watch. He seemed to want to be far away from the others, which confused Robin. 'Maybe he's just antisocial?' Robin guessed.
Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick were discussing something the Robin didn't understand. Robin was growing more nervous through each passing second, so he decided to go up to the masked man, and try to create small talk.
Robin slowly approached the man, who was staring out the window, hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Hey," Robin said, standing next to the man.
The masked man stayed silent, creating an awkward silence between the pair. He had yet to breathe a word, which Robin found strange. Robin shrugged, and continued, "I don't believe I got the chance to thank you earlier. If it weren't for you, Lissa would probably be dead…so thanks, for saving her life."
The man curtly nodded.
"Every life is precious," He said plainly.
Robin noticed that there was something off in this man's voice. It seemed higher than what should be normal.'Something weird is going on here,' Robin thought. The fact that this stranger was also taking orders from him without question…Robin just found that odd.
"The Risen are here." The masked man said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Risen?" Chrom asked, but was greeted with silence from the man.
Chrom sighed, "Alright then. Robin? You ready?"
"You bet!" Robin said, "Everyone, let's move!"
Chrom, Frederick, and the masked man lined up outside the fort's walls, while Lissa stood at the entrance. Robin stood slightly in front of Lissa, tome in hand.
As the Risen started to approach the group, Robin saw something coming at them quickly in the distance.
Robin started to panic, "They can ride horses?!" He yelled in disbelief.
"That's not a Risen," The masked man said, earning a skeptical look from Frederick.
"Hey! That's Sully!" Lissa said excitedly.
"Sully?" Robin asked.
"Another one of us," Chrom said, "It looks like she's seen us…and it looks like there's someone else with her."
A fierce woman with short, spiky red hair, similar to her red attire, rode up to Chrom and the others. She had a lance in hand, similar to Fredericks's, but slightly smaller. There was a man with long light blue hair, and a frilly noble outfit with a bow slung on his shoulder, clutching the rim of her saddle. His face was dirty, but he wore a determined expression.
"Captain Chrom, I'm here!" She said roughly as she approached Chrom.
Chrom smiled, "Sully! Glad to see you're safe! Umm…Who's your companion?" He asked as he peered towards the frilly man.
Sully just rolled her eyes and was about to say something when the frilly man let go of Sully's saddle, and beamed, "Oh, I am so glad you asked! It is I, Virion, the archers of archers and I-"
He was interrupted when Robin held up a hand. This man had a bow, meaning he must know how to fight, and having another long ranged fighter could prove to be quite useful.
"Hold up ruffles. You hold a bow, so I assume you know how to fight, correct."
Virion scowled, "Ugh, they never let me finish. Yes, I know how to fight. Were you even listening?"
Robin rolled his eyes and ignored him. Sully cocked her head, "Who's he?"
"He's our new tactician," Chrom replied proudly.
"Oh," was all Sully said.
The masked man cleared his throat, and everyone turned to him. The man gestured to the approaching Risen.
"What about him?" Sully asked again, scratching her head, visibly confused.
"Shoot!" Robin said, realizing they were still on a battlefield.
"Okay, everyone in positions now! We don't have much time!" Robin hurriedly said.
He looked at Sully, "I want you to fight with Chrom and the others on the frontlines."
Sully muttered 'yesss' and went to join Chrom.
Robin turned toward Virion."I want you to fight from the back lines. Your job is to shoot any Risen that gets close. How good's your aim?"
Virion scoffed, "Good enough to place an arrow right between those things's eyes from a mile away."
Robin couldn't tell if he was exaggerating or not, so he just nodded and went back to the center of the group.
Robin could hear the clash of metal. The battle has begun.
The masked man was definitely the most agile person here. Chrom noticed that as he fought the Risen, he seemed to be able to pinpoint their weakness, and take them down with ease. It has only been a few minutes since all the Risen had approached, and the masked man had already taken down seven Risen.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be more than a dozen Risen coming from the trees, but the group was fighting them with ease. Sully and Frederick had a little trouble at first, but once they learned that they needed to hit either the head or heart, they too were taking them down with ease.
Periodically, an arrow or thunder spell would kill a Risen that got past the front lines, or if they were overwhelming any of the front liners.
Chrom was faring well, too. But, there was something bothering him about these creatures. They looked so human, but at the same time they didn't. One Risen that approached him was wearing a beaded necklace around its neck. Chrom froze as he watched it approach.
Chrom looked into its eyes, well, eye sockets, and saw that it had a faint red glow.
Chrom didn't realize that the Risen had raised its axe and was about to finish him off, when he heard someone shout and something pushed him hard to the ground.
The masked man had tackled Chrom, both of them landing hard onto the grass. The Chrom groaned in pain from the impact, and the masked man let out a small high pitched yelp in pain. He then quickly jumped to his feet and attacked the axe wielding Risen. He ducked as it aggressively swung its axe at the man's head. Then, the masked man swiftly kicked the Risen in the side, making it stumble. The masked man then sliced at its arm and cut off its hand, making it drop the weapon. Finally, the man swiftly sliced the Risen's head clean off. But, like earlier, the Risen turned to the same putrid black smoke.
Chrom watched in awe. Something about this man seemed so familiar, but Chrom couldn't figure out what or why.
Chrom slowly got up. Sully and Frederick were busy fending off oncoming Risen. The Risen numbers were starting to dwindle, and the fight was slowing.
"You should pay more attention. Being distracted will get you killed," The masked man hissed to Chrom.
Chrom sighed, "Yeah, sorry about that. But thanks, for saving my life I mean."
The man just nodded, then continued to fight off the few risen left. Chrom shrugged, and did the same, staying focused the entire time.
Robin was exhausted. He was seriously pushing himself. He had managed to launch a total of five spells, all of them hitting their targets. Virion was doing well, too. He never missed, and to Robin's astonishment, Virion did manage to plant an arrow in between each of his target's eyes. Lissa seemed to be bored. The front lines were all such good fighters, none of them sustained any injuries.
Robin noticed that out of all the fighters, the mysterious man seemed to fight these creatures with the most ease. Robin had stopped to take one short break, just to catch his breath. As he did, he watched the masked man fight, and Robin couldn't help but feel some admiration towards the man. Maybe one day I could fight like that…
Robin's thoughts were cut short when he saw that Chrom had let his guard slip a little. The Risen took advantage of this, and raised its axe. Robin tried to launch a spell to intervene, but he was too exhausted. He made a small spark, but that was all.
Robin watched in horror as he watched the closest thing to a friend about to be killed in front of him.
"CHROM!" He screamed.
The masked man heard this, and quickly spun around and sprinted right at Chrom, tackling him. Both men went down, just as the axe was brought to the ground. Robin watched as he saw the masked man quickly get up to dispatch of the Risen.
Afterwards, Robin noticed the masked man clutching his arm, and the man winced a little in pain.
Robin grimaced. He'll need to check on the man afterwards, to get Lissa to treat his wound.
The battle was slowing, and there were a few more Risen left. Sully and Frederick took care of them, and Robin went down to meet up with the rest of the group. Lissa and Virion followed him as well.
Lissa immediately ran over to Chrom and Frederick, while Virion ran over to Sully, babbling something about how she was the woman of his dreams.
Robin however, made his way over to the masked man, who was clutching his arm.
"You okay?" Robin asked while staring at the man's arm.
The masked man looked up.
"Never been better," He said gruffly, but Robin could tell he was in pain.
"You'll need to get Lissa to look at that," Robin said, and made his way closer to the man.
"I'm fine. I don't need her help," The masked man said, and tried to cross his arms, but groaned in pain.
Robin noticed that the masked man's voice seemed different then the last time he heard him speak. His voice seemed…higher…more feminine. Robin's eyes widened in realization.
The masked man caught this, and frowned."What?" He asked as Robin stared at him.
"Are you a woman?" Robin asked plainly.
The masked man's jaw dropped, but then quickly regained his composure, "Excuse me?"
Robin grinned, "Hah! I knew it! You are, aren't you?"
The masked man scowled, "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, clearly growing irritated, but he didn't bother masking his voice anymore.
"Have you even looked in a mirror recently? You don't even look like a dude, like at all! So why the mask?" Robin asked.
"That's none of your concern. Now if you'll excuse me," The masked woman turned and started to walk away.
Robin panicked for a second, "W-wait! Don't go! I won't tell anyone! I promise! Just wait! You're injured, so please let me get Lissa so she can treat your wound!"
The masked women paused for a second, and sighed in defeat.
"Fine," She finally said. She walked over to Robin and whispered, "But you say anything about my gender I'll…," She bit her lip and tried to figure out how she would threaten him. She wasn't very good with threats, especially towards this man.
Though the majority of her face was covered, Robin had to admit she looked kinda cute with that expression.
The masked woman just shook her head and stalked off to Lissa, who was more than happy to treat her wound, and left Robin to mull over what just happened. He looked at Lissa, who was currently twirling her hair and trying to start a conversation with the masked "man" in a very flirtatious way. Robin just pictured Lissa finding the truth about the masked man's gender, and he couldn't help but laugh to himself.
Robin made his way towards Chrom, Frederick, Lissa and the masked woman. Sully and Virion were out of sight.
Chrom noticed Robin looking for them, "Don't worry, Virion said that he wanted to join the shepherds, so Sully is taking him back to our base,'' Chrom explained.
Robin nodded. Then, the four of them turned to the masked woman.
"I never got to thank you properly for saving my life. So you have my thanks. I'm Chrom by the way. I don't think I ever caught yours though," Chrom said, holding out a hand for the masked swordswoman to shake. She frowned, and seemed to tense up. 'Huh, I wonder if Chrom has this effect on all the ladies,' Robin thought. She however, never took his hand, so Chrom just dropped it to his side.
"You may call me Marth," She said plainly.
Chrom looked surprised, and cocked his head slightly, "Marth? You mean like the hero king?" Chrom then smiled, "Well, you certainly fight like a hero. Where did you learn to fight like that with the sword?"
"I'm not here to talk about me, sir," Marth said quickly, "This world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity. What you saw tonight was just the beginning. You have been warned."
And with that, Marth turned to leave.
"Huh? The world's teetering on what now? Hey w-wait! Where ya going?" Lissa hollered, though Marth was already gone. Lissa sighed in disappointment.
Robin narrowed his eyes. This was a mysterious person who no doubt knew more than she was leading on with.
'What a weird day this has been,' Robin thought,'I woke up in a field with no memories. Meet this quirky bunch. Save an entire village, and somehow know how to wield a sword, magic, AND tactics. Save a cute girl, then hunt a bear for food, then somehow, creepy creatures start appearing in Ylisse, as well as a mysterious woman. Can this day get any stranger?'
"It appears that his concern lies elsewhere. I wager we'll hear his name again…but for now I'm more concerned about the capital. We should make haste." Frederick said.
Chrom nodded, "Right, if what that man said is true, then the capitol could be in danger. Who knows how far those…things…have spread." Chrom shuddered.
With that, the group left for Ylisstol. As the group walked, Robin swore he heard a faint scream. He looked around, but there was nothing.
He shrugged, and continued with the group. As much as Robin hoped that this was the strangest his life was going to get, he had a feeling that his life was going to get stranger…A lot stranger.