A Welcome Change

"Mmph!" she yelped as she rolled out of her bed in a tangle of blankets, hitting the ground with a thud.

"Ah! Lady Corrin, are you alright?"

Corrin paid no heed to the alarmed voice as she leaped to her feet and stumbled backward, pressing against the stone wall of her chamber as she pulled a surviving sheet taut around her - a bulwark against the encroaching cold. Any traces of lingering sleep were long since lost.

"Fool me once!" she cried, pointing an accusatory finger towards the two figures.

"We weren't going to-" Felicia began to protest, raising her hands in front of her placatingly.

"Yet." Flora amended with a slight smile.

"Milady, this scenario has played out a vast number of times. I must commend the fact that this is the first time you've prevented an unpleasant awakening with one of your own doing." a third voice added to the mix.

"This doesn't involve you, Jakob!" Corrin retorted. She rubbed a hand over her face, taking in the room again before glancing at the doorway. Gunter leaned adjacent to it in full armor, and she could swear the glimmers of amusement danced across his eyes.

"What are all of you doing here, anyways?"

Felicia wrung her hands nervously behind her back. "Lady Elise has been in the courtyard for the last hour..."

"Odin is with her," Flora added, back to her usual cool exterior.

"Your quarters are the highest point in the fortress," Jakob finished, his brow creased.

"Ah. I suppose that would do it," Corrin laughed lightly, nodding in thanks as Flora handed her a set of fresh clothing. "I'm surprised I slept through it all! Must've been that strange-"

She paused, turning towards Gunter questioningly. "How'd you get swept up in their antics?"

He dipped his head. "You misunderstand, Princess. I've come to relay that your brother is expecting you."

She rolled her eyes, pulling a black blouse over her tangled hair. "Surely Leo can handle sleeping in for once- shit!"

Jakob took a half-step back as Corrin lunged to her feet, scurrying about the room. "I've taken the liberty of readying your-"

"Armor! Yes!" She spun towards the others, red eyes frantic. "Felicia, I need the- you know, the-"

"Right!" she exclaimed, pressing her fist to her chest. "I won't let you down, Lady Corrin!"

She paused her rampage across her bedroom to glare at Gunter, who looked as stern as ever if one couldn't spot the slight wavering at the line of his mouth. "I will leave you to it," he said with a suspiciously stiff bow.

Corrin rushed out onto the rooftop arena, hair hastily swept back, bronze sword swinging at her hip. She paused a moment to swallow, then wiped the remains of a jelly-laden bun from her mouth before crossing the distance. Xander was standing in the center of the raised plane, back turned as he fiddled with Casper's saddle. Laslow stood off to the side, flashing a winning smile that she just managed to return - as much as her nerves allowed anyways.

"Got here... as fast... as I could..." she panted, skidding to a halt. Xander turned, smiling warmly as he spotted her.

"Good morning, little Princess. Are you prepared?"

Corrin nodded shakily, straightening herself out and taking a few breaths. "I almost wish I didn't know the stakes. I might've gotten a decent night's rest!" she mock-pouted, jabbing a finger at Xander's chestplate.

He chuckled, pressing her arm down. "It is the fire your aspirations grant you that will allow you to best me in battle. This is what you've been training for, Corrin." Turning back, he planted a boot in his stirrup, pulling himself atop his mount in a single fluid motion. "Prove to me that you are prepared to face the world beyond the view of your window!"

Corrin unsheathed her blade, brow knit as she took several strides back. "I might have a better chance if you fought me down here, you know."

"You are a princess of Nohr! Your enemies will not grant you the courtesy of honor, and neither shall I." He bent an arm down, and Siegfried revealed itself in a flash of almost-violent red light. Corrin had crossed blades with the divine weapon a handful of times, but she knew well that much of the strength to its blows was Xander's own. The idea of its full might turning against her was not one she wished to entertain.

That being said, Xander wasn't pressing the attack. "The first move is yours, Corrin," he said by means of explanation. "Come at me when you are ready."

Corrin raised an eyebrow. "No courtesy of honor, hm?" Nonetheless, she began to stalk to his left, eyeing both horse and rider warily. If Corrin was a princess or a knight, Xander was the looming stone wall of an impenetrable fortress. From Casper - monster of a stallion that he was, to his black steel armor, not to mention the legendary blade. How exactly was Father expecting her to defeat the best warrior in the kingdom?

Leo's last words to her echoed through her mind. "You don't need to be stronger than him. You're fast, agile, and you've fought him before. Think outside the box. All it takes is one good hit to bring down the castle of cards."

One good hit, Corrin repeated. One good hit...

...The first hit was not her one good hit. After several more moments of sizing him up, Corrin ducked low to deliver a quick blow to his side. What she hadn't been expecting was just how quick Casper was. With a pivot of his hooves he was facing her head-on, and Xander parried her sword with a wrenching strike that nearly disarmed her. Figuring now would be a poor opportunity to turn her back, she pressed the attack - feint left, strike right, leap up, slash low. Xander's height and effective bulwark of skillful swordsmanship made him the exact opposite of a simple target. Spotting an opening, Corrin lunged forward, aiming to pierce the gap between the plates at Xander's side with the tip of her blade.

Before she knew what was happening, she was flying head-over-heels, red light burning into her vision as Siegfried's magic sparked across her body. Hissing, she stumbled to her feet nearly five yards back, Xander watching her resolutely. Clearly, she wouldn't gain the upper hand like that.

"You swing timidly, without resolve," he called towards her. "You must genuinely try to kill me."

She didn't want to genuinely try to hurt him, much less kill. But at this point, she wasn't sure that would even improve her situation.

Think outside the box...

Short of asking Laslow for help - who was currently giving her an encouraging thumbs-up while simultaneously masking his grimace - she had absolutely no inkling of where to proceed from here. And a tactic like that would be pretty low-

Huh. There's an idea.

Corrin closed her eyes, and focused. It was... a little like fumbling for a match in the darkness. She reached out blindly, sweating and panting, brow furrowed and... there. Like a room illuminated she could feel it, the gargantuan Dragon Vein slumbering beneath the Northern Fortress. Its energy permeated nearly everything - the grounds, the sky, the lake, even the castle stonework.

She just needed to light the match.

She thrust her hand down. She wasn't quite sure if hand gestures were actually needed, but the physical movement to match her mind had always seemed to help. All at once, the roof tiling shuddered, green light welling forth from the ground and enveloping her. Scrapes and scuffs vanished, sweat evaporated, breathing evened out. She felt like she'd ran three laps around the fortress and was still bursting with energy. But she wasn't done yet.

Clenching her fist around the flame, she wrenched her hand upwards, pouring the magic of the Dragon Vein into every brick, every tile, every sheet of stone...

Then it was gone, the light extinguished. Corrin fell to her knees, panting twice as hard. Opening her eyes in a daze, her face quickly broke into an incredulous smile at the fruits of her handiwork.

Casper was pacing about nervously, Laslow's thumb appearing once more from behind the warhorse as he calmed him down. Siegfried lay spent upon the ground, hazy tendrils of crimson energy fading away into the early morning light.

Xander happened to be in the same place - merely suspended several feet off the ground by a stony fist of tiling and mortar rather than Casper's saddle. Despite the position he was smiling, a sight that warmed Corrin's heart after the momentary horror faded.

"I yield."

"Knight to- oh, no, that won't do. Alright, I yield."

"Do you even have a board?"

"Nah," Robin replied, lamenting the act of losing to himself for only another moment. He tapped the side of his head. "It's all in- you probably can't see me."

"Nope."

"..."

"..."

"...So," Robin pressed on, sitting up from his cot and stretching with a satisfying crack. "Been here long, mysterious female voice?"

The voice sniffed. "The Nohrian's practically built my cell around me. With my gold, no less." She sighed, laden with equal parts exasperation and apathy. "How'd you end up here?"

Robin sat down, leaning his side against cool steel bars. "You didn't hear all the interrogation-slash-recruitment scheme?"

He could practically hear the indignation through the still silence. "A girl needs her beauty sleep! ...Even in temporary incarceration."

The conversation lulled for a while longer. Robin considered another round, but chess had gotten boring hours ago.

"What do you know about the Dragon's Gate?"

The voice bit back in an instant. "What do you know about the Dragon's Gate?"

Robin shrugged. "I... think I fell out of it? Assuming it's the architecture this fortress was built around. And you mentioned you were here before then."

"Oh, don't tell me-"

"Amnesiac."

"For the love of-" the woman cut off, and Robin could hear the irritated irregularity of her footsteps pacing about the opposing cell. She stopped, the mattress squeaking as she sat.

"Look," she began. "We can talk. But not here. Nohr has too much interest in the Dragon's Gate to risk eavesdroppers."

At this, Robin grinned. "You know, I've probably always wanted to execute a prison break."

Freedom.

For so, so long, it had seemed a distant dream. Something that would happen to her one day, certainly, but was she really ready just yet?

Then all of a sudden she was grown, childhood swept away into scattered memories. She had spent her whole life preparing - the war with Hoshido made the chance of a peaceful role as a princess of Nohr unlikely, as much as it pained her. But all too fast swordsmanship lessons with Xander, tactics tutoring with Leo, and hand-to-hand combat with Camilla had shaped it into something imminent, looming over her every waking hour.

Now, her time had finally run out.

Corrin shook her head. That was quite enough gloomy introspection for one morning. She was going to see the world! And even better, she'd be able to see her family every single day! No more long nights spent waiting for the next correspondence from her brothers and sisters. She'd be able to see Castle Krakenburg for herself again, not just in dusty history books or pages torn from Leo's sketchbook. And not only that, but Windmire! All of Nohr! Maybe even Hoshido, one day.

Corrin grinned from ear to ear, swinging her legs as she sat on her bed. Well, surely Father would think her prepared enough for that. The trick with the Dragon Vein had impressed even Xander, for Dusk's sake! The last fainting spell had been well over a year ago, and any other side effects even longer. If she could live in Nohr outside the fortresses barrier, Hoshido should be no different. It might even be sort of fun to fight with her siblings on the front lines-

"Lady Corrin?" a voice cried from outside her room, following a soft knock. Corrin jolted out of her thoughts, leaping to her feet in her haste to swing the door open.

Standing there was a young woman just shorter than her, garbed in blue and white servant's attire. Much of her azure hair was hidden beneath a pale kerchief, ending in a blue-and-red braid draped over her shoulder. She bowed her head slightly as Corrin caught her eye. "The horses are ready, milady. In fact, they seem pretty excited-"

"Lilith!" she exclaimed, lunging into a hug.

For the briefest moment, Lilith went stock-still, and if Corrin hadn't been wrapping her arms around her she was sure she'd have missed it. But it passed in an instant, and she relaxed into the embrace for a long stretch, before pulling back rather suddenly. Corrin nearly spoke up, but Lilith's slight little smile remained in place as ever.

If Corrin's grin could grow wider, it did. "I'm so glad you're coming with us!"

Lilith's eyes took on a strange light, but Corrin truly failed to notice this time.

"So am I, Lady Corrin. We'd, ah, best not keep your family waiting."

Corrin nodded eagerly. "Yes, let's go!" She spun on her heel, pushing open the door once more and turning down the hall with a spring in her step.

Swept up in her excitement, any trace of the morning's bizarre dream was lost to time.

They made their move at nightfall.

At least, Robin assumed it was nightfall. The whole fortress had been rather gloomy well before he'd been thrown in a cell, and if the permeating chill and lack of windows was anything to go off of, they were probably some distance underground. Nonetheless, a Nohrian guard - not Leo, curiously enough - had dispensed some wonderfully browning mush in each cell. Robin shut his eyes, tapping out the footsteps of his heavy black-steel armor as he marched down the hall. Three, two, one...

Silently slinking to his feet, Robin held his gloved hand just over the door's lock. With a softly murmured incantation, the flaming orb of his Arcfire spun out wildly, searing a cannonball-sized hole straight through his cell door and into the opposing one. A yelp of surprise echoed out, but Robin's focus was locked on the soldier as he kicked the door open and rose both arms.

"Thunder!"

As the first bolt rang out, Robin caught it with his other hand, spinning it through the air for a brief moment as it built momentum before allowing it to ring out towards the guard - followed by a rapid second cast. The first struck the knight in the square of his back before he had so much of a chance to turn. He staggered, but continued to raise his spear - just in time for Robin's second bold to strike the head, channeling straight down the metal shaft and flooding the hallway with the scent of ozone as the guard toppled to the ground.

A light voice dripped with curiosity behind him. "You can cast tomeless magic?"

Robin spun around, lowering his arms as he finally caught sight of his mysterious ally, just visible through shades of gray in the darkness.

"I suppose so. Is that - Fire - unusual in Nohr?" As he spoke, a small spark of flame sprung to life in his hand, and he bent for the burnt-out torch the knight had dropped. Raising it high, he caught the raised eyebrow of his companion.

"Rare enough the Nohrian's didn't consider it when they locked you up. We're going to want to find some tomes soon, you can't keep up that kind of casting forever."

He nodded in thanks, extending his free hand. "I'm Robin. To getting out of here in one piece?"

The red-haired woman met him with a wry smile, reciprocating the gesture. "Anna. To getting out of here in one piece."

Robin turned back just before the pair rounded another bend in what seemed to be an upper floor of the complex. "Are you really going to stop for every one?"

Anna actually stuck out her tongue at him as he rifled through the unconscious Nohrian's pouch. "I used to make a killing off of bandits and mercenaries. It's just business." She stood up with a grin, coins jangling as they slipped into her own pockets, arrows rattling as they nestled in her quiver. Anna had recovered many of her belongings from a storage cell shorty after they'd began their covert escape, including some sort of spellcasting apparatus she'd identified as a scroll. "It's the tome equivalent they use in Hoshido," she'd explained. "Neighboring kingdom." Robin had a feeling he knew exactly where his own belongings would be found.

"Clear," Anna murmured, having taken point and leaned around the corner. "These look like quarters, could be the jackpot."

Robin nodded, peering down the hall himself. "I'll take the left."

This wing of the fortress certainly seemed better suited to royalty than the rest of the dreary surroundings. Violet carpet ran down the length of the hall, flanked by oaken doors and banners presenting what seemed to be Nohr's coat of arms. That same many-eyed dragon curled its way around an emblem, backdrop illuminated by the light of a moon. Robin hesitated, staring at its crimson eyes only a moment longer before tearing his gaze away and continuing to scout the hall.

Most of the doors were, predictably, locked. Thankfully there seemed to be a lack of further guards, but Robin would still prefer not to test their luck with the ruckus of another Elfire. The Nohrian's must have been banking on the secrecy of their fortress, rather than its defenses. Just as he was about to see how Anna was faring, one of the last doors on his row clicked open.

Robin broke into a smile the moment he looked into the room - it screamed mage. An entire wall and a half of the quarters were lined with books (the shelf topped with... a raw tomato?), while a small table held some sort of tactical game frozen in time - the pieces were shaped differently, but it seemed like chess. What really caught his eye, however, was a scorched workbench blanketed in papers and brass tools - alongside a very familiar black cloak and worn blue tome. Robin cheered internally, slipping the former over his pale shirt - a welcome reprieve from the chill of the stronghold. Turning back down, he ran his glove over the runes lining the book's seemingly untouched leather cover, before flipping it open.

"Arcfire, Elthunder, Arcthunder, Elwind..." he murmured to himself as he paged through, writings and parchment as strangely familiar as they were completely foreign. "...No Mire, but that's not a terrible loss. And... ah." Robin broke into a grin as he came across several pages in the tome's heart. "I think I missed you, Thoron." Honestly, he was beginning to wonder if Leo had actually damaged the book, or if it was some sort of interrogation tactic he'd been blind to-

Robin

Tactician of the Shepherds

Entry I

The rest of the page was scorched and blackened.

Robin turned the page. Another. Another.

The entire second-half of the tome was long gone.

Something panged in Robin's chest. He wasn't sure it was remorse - how could you miss something you'd never known you had? But it was...

It was something.

Shaking himself, Robin patted down his cloak and turned to leave the chamber. There would be plenty of time for introspection when he wasn't deep in enemy territory.

"Anna?" he called out softly. A grunt answered him, and he turned his gaze to the right to see-

Anna on the ground, an arrow embedded in her shoulder. Her legs were wrapped around the neck of the retainer he'd shocked earlier - Niles - who attempted to struggle for a few more moments before his head slumped, bow clattering to the ground. Anna panted, pulling herself to her feet and ripping the shaft out with a hiss. "Did you really not hear any of that?"

Robin raised his arms passively. "I was, uh, occupied. Found my equipment, but are you-?"

"Fine," Anna responded, slipping a vulnerary off her belt and tipping it down her throat. "If you have anything else to add-"

"No!" Robin responded too quickly. "Nothing. That was, very, erm, resourceful." He coughed.

Anna rolled her eyes, examining the unconscious Niles' silver bow appreciatively before slinging it across her back. "Let's just get out of h- duck!"

Her warning came just a moment too slow, Robin's breath abandoning him with an oof as someone tackled him from behind and threw him to the floor. Distantly, he heard the sheen of metal as Anna unsheathed some sort of blade, prompting him just in time to roll left as an axe embedded itself in the ground where his face had been moments before. Axe dug into stone, the armored figure opted to headbutt him, leaving Robin to groan in pain as she made to continue the assault-

She reacted too slowly for Anna, who knocked her across the head with the butt of a shortsword. The girl shoved her back and stumbled to her feet, just into the line of fire as Robin released his tome's magic with a shout of "Elthunder!"

The girl fell to the ground, joining her companion in silence as her armor smoked.

"Whew," Robin exclaimed, breathing heavily. "Thought that was Scary-Axe-Lady." He nudged the short, pale-haired girl gently with the tip of his boot. "Maybe that was a little overkill."

Anna cocked her head. "...You mean Princess Camilla of Nohr?"

Robin waved a hand dismissively. "It's an inside joke."

Despite the ruckus, their pattern of slinking through the halls and disabling guardsmen returned to relative normalcy for some time. That being said, this fortress was massive. Robin was beginning to wonder if it wouldn't just be simpler to blast a hole through the wall and leap out-

"Robin!" Anna hissed, holding out a hand.

Raising an eyebrow he looked to her as she gestured pointedly to their right. The wall opened up here, thin, tall windows overlooking a chamber another level or two below. Carefully, Robin peered down, revealing...

The Dragon's Gate.

And it was open.

Pale, green-gold light emanated from the sandstone arch like the tide, washing over the room before retreating into its domain. Standing just before the gate was a man, ornate black armor indicating some form of mage. Oily black hair spilled out over his shoulders, his only visible skin the pale white features of half his face - the other covered by an eerie golden mask.

Everything about the appearance and energy of the situation screamed 'bad', to the point that Robin grit his teeth, knuckles whitening as he held his tome tight.

"We need to get out of here," he murmured, turning to Anna.

"Do you see that?! He's using it for... something!" she hissed back, waving her hands for emphasis. "Nothing they could pull out of that gate would be good in Nohr's hands."

Robin hesitated, but his own instincts aside she was right. Whatever that sorcerer was cooking down there was bad news, to say the least.

"Alright, alright. I've got an idea, I'll just need you to-"

"Robin!" a voice called from the far end of the hall. "Anna. What a pleasant surprise."

Robin turned just in time to meet Leo's glare.

"Can you cast?" Anna knit her brow, eyes widening as she realized what Robin was getting at. "You shouldn't-"

"Best chance," he finished, thrusting his tome into Anna's grasp. "Cover me."

Before long, the sounds of combat engulfed the far end of the hall. It hardly took a novice to tell Leo was an incredibly accomplished mage, but whatever Anna was doing seemed to be holding him off well enough. Gritting his teeth, Robin raised his hands.

"THORON!"

The bolt struck the left wall, carving through concrete and melting stonework. Rather than releasing the blast, Robin gripped it with his other hand, steadily turning the beam of light in a circular formation as he carved through the wall. The humming of the gate, Anna's shouts of "Arcfire!", the creaking and tearing of... roots? Roots. All of them faded away, the entirety of Robin's focus devoted to getting the two of them out of here alive.

That was, until the sorcerer below started speaking a language he could understand.

"By the power of Anankos, vested in me by King Garon! Relinquish your power and yield your secrets, Dragon's Gate! Deliver unto me the fell blade that shall lead Nohr into its new dawn!"

Something new was resonating with the energy of the Dragon's Gate now. Something dark. Robin tensed.

Not fast enough.

Gritting his teeth, he prayed to whatever gods were listening that they might care enough to help out an amnesiac tactician with a superiority complex.

Flames began to dance between Robin's fingers as he released the Thoron spell, one hand pointed at the nearly sheared-through stone wall, the other angled down towards the Dragon's Gate.

"BOLGANONE!"

And Robin saw no more.

"Mmph."

"Shut up," Anna murmured, spooning a mix of broth and vegetables into his mouth as he opened his eyes blearily. Birdsong echoed in the distance. "You nearly died."

Robin groaned, reaching up to push her away. A gloveless, unmarred right hand stared back at him.

"Huh."

"What?" Anna questioned. "Surprised you didn't burn them off?"

"No, it's..." Robin trailed off, still transfixed by his hand. "...I don't know. Probably nothing."

I'm back, and I'm never going to promise a release date ever again! Though, I am happy to note I acquired a Switch and beat Crimson Flower in my off time. Always happy to hear feedback and comments, this chapter continued to build upon certain alterations that have been made to the story :)

In other news, I've also recently joined a great little community - The Fanfiction Treehouse! Many of those fellas are Fire Emblem readers and writers themselves, it's a great place to hang out, chat, and brainstorm - plus I'm there, if you ever wanna chat. Here's the invite link - discord .gg/9XG3U7a