The afternoon after their battle with the Risen, the Shepherds were finally approaching the Longfort, which marked the Feroxi border. As they had marched north it had become noticeably colder. More and more snow became visible on the ground or hanging in the boughs of trees, and the Shepherds' breath became visible in front of their faces. As the temperature decreased, Arthur, Robin, and most of the other Shepherds pulled their cloaks more tightly around themselves, with the notable exceptions of Chrom and Vaike. Arthur marveled at how Chrom handled this weather – his shoulder was completely bare, and yet he seemed fine. Maybe the brand kept his shoulder warm? And Vaike, for that matter, was simply incomprehensible. Bare-chested in weather like this? While Chrom seemed fine, Vaike seemed to be concentrating intensely on maintaining the image of being fine with the cold – Arthur imagined he viewed this as another competition with Chrom. Not Arthur's problem really, although he sympathized.

The Longfort entered view as their group crested a hill that the road ran over. True to its name, the Longfort was indeed quite long, stretching as far as Arthur could see in either direction. He had always wondered why it was called 'The Longfort' and not 'The Great Wall' or something of that nature – now he could see why. From his view on the hill he could see that this was no ordinary wall – it was defensible from both sides, which was probably a wise design choice considering the Feroxi's frequent internal wars.

As the Shepherds approached the Longfort's gate, they were hailed by the guards standing at the top. "Who goes there!" shouted one of the guards, her voice thick with the accent of Ferox.

"Prince Chrom, of the Halidom of Ylisse! We seek entry into Regna Ferox to conduct negotiations with the Khans!" Chrom shouted back.

There was a moment of silence in which Arthur assumed the Feroxi were having a discussion atop the wall. "That's funny, 'Prince Chrom'" the Feroxi shouted back down, her tone clearly showing that she did not believe the identity was true. "The last time we let a group of 'Ylisseans' pass through this gate, they turned out to be Plegian bandits! You claim to be the Prince of Ylisse? Then prove it on the battlefield!"

Something that Arthur couldn't hear was said atop the walls, and suddenly a volley of javelins rained down on Chrom. Arthur leaped toward Chrom by instinct, but someone else was quicker. Before the volley of javelins could strike Chrom, a pegasus and its rider swept to his side and lifted him quickly out of the way. As Chrom and the pegasus rider ascended toward the top of the wall, Arthur recognized Sumia as the person who had saved Chrom. There was little time to focus on that, however – Feroxi infantry were already charging at the Shepherds from their West. Where did they come from?

Robin seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Feroxi!" she shouted, warning the Shepherds who had not yet noticed. "They must have a sally port in that direction! Everyone, engage! Nonlethally, if you can manage it!"

Arthur pulled Rust from its scabbard and readied to engage the charging Feroxi. They were mostly lightly armored, seeming to prefer mobility in combat to heavy armor. Arthur didn't think engaging them nonlethally would be too much trouble – judging by their furious charging shouts, however, he did not think the Feroxi would extend the Shepherds the same luxury. Robin ordered a countercharge, and Arthur and the other Shepherds charged into the mass of Feroxi.

For a few moments there was chaos. Arthur dodged the vicious axe-swing of one Feroxi before slamming the flat of his blade into the warrior's head, knocking him unconscious. Only moments later another Feroxi was upon him. Her sword caught him in the arm, leaving a long but shallow cut – he returned the favor shortly, sweeping her legs out from under her and delivering a strike of his own to her head, again with the flat of his blade. As she dropped unconscious, Arthur looked up and found that the skirmish was over. A dozen or so Feroxi lay unconscious on the ground, and none of the Shepherds seemed worse for wear.

Arthur leaned down to check that the Feroxi woman he had just finished fighting wasn't mortally wounded. She seemed okay, but as he stood up his eye caught on her hair. It was black, but where he had struck her it had turned gray. Checking on the other Feroxi warrior he had fought he found that he was also alive, but his brown hair had also turned gray where Arthur had struck him. Arthur looked down at Rust, reconsidering the properties of the sword Dialga had given him. He had known it wasn't a normal sword by the way blood crumbled off it and how rust formed where it contacted enemy weapons and armor. It seemed there was even more to the blade, however. It must age things when they come into contact with its surface. That would explain the rust, and the gray hairs. I guess that's why blood crumbles off of it too – it's just rapidly drying and evaporating. Arthur shook his head, wondering at the sword. It was certainly dangerous – he shivered at the thought of touching the edge himself. But the more optimistic side of his mind was already filling with uses for this ability. Could it rot wood? Could it dry his laundry? Could it ferment alcohol? There were so many possibilities, but there was no time to think about them now. Robin and the other Shepherds were assembling by the wall, where they had found the Feroxi's sally port.

The door was metal – Miriel's fire magic couldn't break through it. Luckily, one of the sallying force had been carrying a key. Vaike unlocked the door now, revealing stairs which lead to the top of the wall. The Shepherds rushed through.

Atop the wall, Chrom and Sumia were already engaged with the Feroxi defenders, performing hit-and-runs from the back of Sumia's pegasus. Sumia would swoop down for a moment, allowing herself and Chrom to pick off and double team isolated Feroxi defenders. To defend against this strategy, the remaining dozen-or-so Feroxi had clustered together in a defensive formation centered around a large armored figure who was shouting orders. Arthur recognized her voice as the Feroxi defender who had shouted down from the wall when they first approached. She must have been their leader.

Robin shouted orders, dividing the Shepherds quickly into two groups and executing a pincer attack on the stationary group of Feroxi. The Shepherds struck from both sides, throwing the Feroxi group into confusion. Frederick in particular sowed chaos in the group of Feroxi, laying into them ferociously with the blunt end of his silver lance. Seeing the main group of Shepherds engaged, Chrom and Sumia quickly committed to the fray. In moments, the remaining Feroxi had been incapactitated.

Chrom put Falchion at the commander's throat, breathing heavily as he recovered from the exertion of battle. "Is that proof enough?" he asked.

Her eyes flicked from his sword at her throat to the brand visible on his shoulder. Suddenly she started laughing. "Proof indeed!" she said, seeming to judge that Chrom would not kill her in cold blood. "Welcome to Ferox, Prince Chrom."

— The Next Day —

Arthur and Robin sat together in a wagon, headed northwest to the Feroxi capital, Castle Ferox. As night had been falling during their assault, they had spent the night in the Longfort. Raimi, the leader of the section of the Longfort they had assaulted, had informed them that weekly convoys of supplies ran between the Longfort and the capital, and they had arrived at the wall just as the convoy was preparing for its return journey in the morning. It had taken a while to convince Frederick (according to whom "marching builds character") but after he had been convinced the Shepherds had secured spots for themselves in the wagons returning to Castle Ferox. The wagons did not have to carry much more than empty barrels on their return journeys, but most were still too cramped for more than a few Shepherds. It was still better than walking, and Arthur had been privately quite excited when Robin had suggested riding together.

Arthur rifled through his bag before pulling out the fire tome he had bought in Southport. Robin looked at the tome curiously. "You can do magic?" she asked him, surprised.

"Oh… no, actually" said Arthur, blushing slightly with embarrassment. He held the tome out in front of him, giving her a better look at it. "I bought it, but well… I don't know how to read it." He rubbed the back of his head with his other hand nervously. "I thought you might be able to teach me a bit, actually. Since we have a lot of time… and it could be useful for fighting."

Now it was Robin's turn to be embarrassed. "Oh… well I don't know if I can teach you, really. I mostly just do it by instinct. Although I could probably piece things together. Actually–" her eyes lit up as she reached into her bag and pulled out the book Miriel had loaned her, the massive volume entitled Elementary Arcane Theory. "It would be a good opportunity to use some of the stuff I've been learning." She moved from her side of the wagon and sat next to Arthur, opening the book to a page covered in diagrams he could make no sense of. She also reached over and opened his fire tome, revealing page after page of shimmering orange runes.

"Let me explain the basics. When you do magic, you're essentially drawing upon the basic energies of the Universe. That includes elements, things like fire, lightning, ice, and wind. That also includes things like light and darkness. These energies come into the world from the dragons of creation – beings like Naga, for instance. A tome is essentially a set of instructions, written in the Draconic language, which guide the energies into your body and then out into the physical world. When you're a beginning mage, the words in a tome help explicitly direct the energy you're drawing upon. Once you get more advanced, directing the Universal forces becomes more of a reflex, although tomes still might be necessary if you want to do more complicated things."

"So… I need to learn Draconic runes first?" asked Arthur.

"Yeah. It certainly isn't easy – Draconic writing is very different from ours. The language of the continent is written phonetically. Each character or combination of characters represents a certain sound. Draconic is logographic, with each rune representing a basic concept. It's hard to learn, but if you want to…" she trailed off, glancing briefly at him and biting her lip. "I'd be happy to help."

The brief look sent his heart racing. Focus, Arthur. A look doesn't mean anything. Draconic. Unlocking the secrets of the Universe. Preventing apocalypse. Much more important than flirtation. Definitely. "Oh, er– great." Although… I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive. Dialga wants me to save the timeline, right? Surely getting a bit… closer… with my allies will help me save the timeline, right? Excellent point, Arthur, absolutely excellent point. Dialga couldn't argue with that. If flirting with Robin could help save the timeline, then at that point it would practically be a moral obligation, wouldn't it? He smiled at the absurdity of the thought, although he didn't really need more convincing.

"Might as well start now, then!" said Robin, breaking him from his thoughts. She scooted closer next to him and positioned Elementary Arcane Theory between them, flipping to a section of the book which listed Draconic runes and their translation. "You don't have to learn every rune just yet. We can start with the runes you'll need to cast Fire and work forward from there."

They sat together studying runes for hours. Arthur had worried his request would distract Robin from her own pursuits, but she seemed just as eager to expand her knowledge of Draconic as he was. By the end of the day they had both learned all of the runes necessary to use the Fire tome. Robin, with her previous experience in magic, could create small flames in her palm by the end of the day. Arthur, having less experience, was still struggling.

Casting magic felt like nothing he had ever done before. Draconic was not only unlike his first languages in writing – it was also bizarre to speak. Speaking the Draconic syllables gave him a very peculiar feeling, like they were resonating through his body. Robin had told him that casting spells was about tapping into that feeling and manifesting it into the physical world, generally out of your hands. It took him hours of trial and error, but by the end of the day he could use the words of the Fire tome to noticeably heat up the air above his palm. It wasn't particularly useful for combat, but even that small amount of magic filled Arthur with pride.

"Magic is like a muscle" Robin told him as she put Elementary Arcane Theory away. Dusk was falling, and they no longer had enough light to read by. The wagon train was beginning to slow, with their Feroxi escorts scanning the roadside for a place to pull off and make camp for the night. "The more you use it, the more endurance and power you will have with it. Honestly, manifesting the energy is really the hardest part – some people just can't do it. Since you can already do that, the rest is just about growing your magical muscle and learning more Draconic."

As the wagon train pulled to a stop, the two of them hopped down. The Feroxi ground was hard, frozen under their feet. Arthur shivered, pulling his steel blue cloak more tightly around himself. Ferox lived up to its harsh reputation – dusk had just fallen, and already the temperature was plummeting. The other Shepherds had already dismounted from their wagons and started assembling wood for a campfire. Once the wood was gathered, Robin lit it with the fire magic she had learned. "Show-off" said Arthur quietly, shaking his head in mock-disdain. Robin only smirked in response.

With the fire built, the Shepherds unpacked their bedrolls and spread out around the campfire. Arthur set up his bedroll a decent distance from the fire – he would like to be warm, of course, but he couldn't sleep with a source of light like that nearby. Plus, this was a perfect opportunity to keep practicing his magic. It wasn't quite useful for combat at this point, but making the underside of his blanket warm? That was something Arthur could do.

Suddenly something poked the outside of his blanket. He opened his eyes and looked up. He recognized Robin in the dim light. "Make room, dummy" she said, shooing him toward the far side of his blanket and slipping next to him under it.

"Robin? What are you doing?" asked Arthur, blushing profusely. She has amnesia, Arthur. No need to jump to conclusions. Who knows what she's thinking? Maybe she thinks it's normal for platonic friends of different genders to sleep together. Is it? Am I the abnormal one? If she was interested, this was a very aggressive way to go about making that known. Not that Arthur minded, really.

"It's freezing, and the blanket Frederick gave me is too thin. Yours seemed a lot warmer and larger than mine, so I figured we could share," she whispered, wrapping part of his blanket around her tightly. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Uh…" Arthur's brain had briefly stopped working. "No! I mean, er… no, I don't mind sharing if you don't." It's just sharing a blanket. A perfectly normal thing to do on a cold night.

"It's sooo much warmer in here. Wait, did you use your magic? You found a use for that little parlor trick?" she said, grinning mischievously.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "If you're going to sleep in my blanket you can't make fun of my parlor trick. I'll have you know it takes quite a talented mage to make just a little bit of warmth out of a Fire tome. Most people probably don't have the restraint for such a feat."

"Oh shut it" she said jokingly. "I taught you everything you know about magic. Today."

The two of them lapsed into silence for a few seconds. Arthur, for his part, was wondering at her behavior. Did we really meet only a week ago? I guess fighting and traveling together have a tendency to make people closer.

"Hey Arthur?" asked Robin after a few more seconds of silence.

"Yeah?" he said.

"My hands are cold. Could you warm them up with your little heat spell?"

"My fire spell, you mean?"

"Whatever you want to call it. I'd do it myself, but as your magic instructor I think it would be good practice for you."

"Oh, alright. Give me your hands." Arthur found Robin's hands under the blanket. They were indeed a bit cold. He held them for a moment, trying not to think too hard about the situation. He distracted himself by trying to remember the words of the fire spell. For some reason, they were much harder to remember now than when he had just been heating up his blanket. The words came to him after a few moments, and he began speaking them under his breath, channeling the energy into his hands. He felt Robin's hands begin to warm.

"Mmmmm," she moaned lightly, expressing pleasure at the warmth and sending an electric thrill down Arthur's spine."That feels… nice," she said. She paused for a few moments, leaving her hands in his. Still, she never missed an opportunity for a joke. "Maybe if this whole soldier business doesn't work out you can open some sort of heated massage parlor."

"Maybe if this whole tactician business doesn't work out you can be a comedian."

"Is it too much to be both? Comedians keep troop morale high. That's a tactical advantage. I can't help it Arthur. I'm simply cursed with too sharp a mind."

Arthur laughed at that, and they lulled into a comfortable silence.

"Robin, I–" Arthur knew he wanted to say something, but he just didn't know what to say. She was looking at him, waiting, and suddenly all he could feel was panic. He let go of her hand and pulled away, settling in on his side of the blanket. "I… guess we should go to sleep. Who knows what the capital will bring tomorrow." Dammit. Okay, Arthur, it's fine. There will be other chances. Clearly she's at least platonically comfortable with you – we'll see how things go.

Arthur closed his eyes but remained painfully aware of Robin's presence. It was a long time before he fell asleep.

—Later That Night —

Arthur suddenly awoke, nearby movement breaking him from his sleep. For a second, still half-asleep, he thought that the Shepherds were being ambushed. Then he realized that there was only one source of movement – Robin, thrashing as she slept and whispering unintelligible words. Concerned, Arthur leaned over her, looking closely, forehead creasing with worry.

"Robin?" Arthur asked, not wanting to speak too loudly with the other Shepherds sleeping so near. He grabbed Robin's shaking shoulders, hoping he could stop her from hurting herself with her movements. The moment Arthur touched her, her eyes flashed open, wild with fear. She shot up with alarming speed, rolling Arthur from where he leaned over her and pinning him under her. She raised her right hand as though about to strike a blow, electricity crackling between her fingers as she prepared to strike. Suddenly she seemed to realize who she was pinning. She froze, mouth hanging open, seeming horrified with herself. Somehow, none of the other Shepherds had woken – it had all taken place in a few moments, practically in silence.

Arthur laughed nervously, trying to brush it off. She was moments from killing me. That would probably be a dealbreaker for a more reasonable person… but… Even having faced death seconds ago, all he could think about was how close they were with her perched on top of him, pinning him to the ground. "You were thrashing in your sleep" he told her, deciding to focus on something else. He could think more about the near-death experience later.

"Arthur," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to… er… I was just, uh… having a dream, and I thought… well, I wasn't exactly thinking. I was just… reacting."

"I figured it was a nightmare," he said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah, I think it might help to talk," said Robin. She paused for a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose and thinking for a second before speaking. "Well… there was… that dark mage, you remember, from my previous dream? And… they were fighting Chrom, and… they… stabbed him. I was trying to stop them, but I was frozen."

"That sounds awful," he said, although her words raised another anxiety in him. Chrom? Does she…? I mean, he is a prince, and they're pretty friendly. Arthur tried to restrain any jealousy, realizing it was ridiculous. Would you prefer she had a dream about you getting stabbed, Arthur? Would that make you happy? Plus, you can't be jealous when you aren't together. Be supportive. This isn't about you.

"Do you think it could be… a premonition?" asked Robin, voice shaking nervously. "I couldn't be seeing the future, right?"

"I…I don't know," said Arthur, not wanting to lie. "But I doubt it. I'm just guessing, but maybe it's the stress of being tactician? The Shepherds are the only people you know, and so maybe the image of Chrom being stabbed represents an internal fear that you will let Chrom and the others down, get them killed. It has to be a lot of pressure."

"Maybe," said Robin, but she sounded unconvinced.

"Well, do you have any evidence that it's a premonition?" Arthur asked. "You didn't recognize the dark mage, did you?"

She was silent for a few moments, seemingly deep in thought. Is she trying to remember? "I… never get a good look at them in any of my dreams," she said. "But… er… I've dreamt about them every night since I met you guys. I kind of thought that… er… not sleeping alone… would help… y'know, with the dreams." Robin was normally much more composed than Arthur, but in the moonlight Arthur could see her blushing. So that was why she wanted to sleep here. To stop her nightmares? That certainly complicates things.

"Oh" he said. What can I say? I certainly can't tell her I'm interested now. What if she isn't interested? What if she just wanted a friend who could help her avoid nightmares? I can't tell her. She's vulnerable, and scared, and if I told her… who knows? She would feel pressure. It seems like I'm her… emotional support person? If she thinks she'll lose me if she says no, wouldn't that be sort of… coercive? Yes, that would be a bad situation to put her in. Okay, so no telling. Robin needs a friend more than a boyfriend, Arthur, and it would be selfish to put your own wants over that. Decision made. No telling.

"Okay Robin," he said finally. "Well… it doesn't seem like sleeping here really helped."

"Well…" she said, face turning even more red. "I still think… it could be helpful if… maybe… you could…" She trailed off, saying something that Arthur couldn't hear.

"What did you say?" he said, heart beating a bit faster as his mind filled with possibilities.

"I said that maybe you could hold me!" she said, tone slightly angry now but face still red with embarrassment. "I thought… you know… I've heard it's… erm… comforting? Or…" Her face turned even more red, and she spoke with frustration now. "Don't make me explain, idiot! Just… will you?"

"Yes!" he blurted out before he had time to think. All of his previous thoughts had gone out the window. Fuck. Okay. Breathe, Arthur. She asked, so it's fine, right? Friends cuddle sometimes. It's no biggie. Chrom and Sumia have been hanging out a lot recently – they probably cuddle, right? Cuddling is a classic platonic activity, Arthur. "I mean… yeah," he said, trying to play it cool. "I would be happy to try… if you think it would help."

"Great" she said, sighing with relief. "Well… er–" she didn't finish the thought, quickly (nervously?) rolling onto her side facing away from him.

Arthur looked at her back, now facing him, taken aback for a moment. Uhhhhh. Okay. Okay. She's still wearing her robe, soooo – not awkward at all. Zero awkwardness. After hesitating for a moment, he rolled onto his side and gently slipped his arm around her. What's the protocol here? Unsure, he kept his hold of her loose and maintained a distance between their bodies.

After a few moments he heard her voice again, little more than a whisper. "Would you… umm… hold tighter?" Naga help me. Well… she did ask. Heart racing, he strengthened his hold around her waist, pulling her body gently against his, closing the distance between until her back was against his midriff. This, of course, presented its own problem.

I swear to Naga Arthur if you get hard I will take Rust and cut your fucking dick off. You are an emotional support person, okay? This is absolutely platonic cuddling – think of Robin as your sister. Or… uh… maybe not. Yeah actually do not do that. Think of her as… y'know what Arthur? Just don't think of her. Robin who? All I'm thinking about is… erm… Rust! What could we use the aging effect for? Making… cheese? Does that take time? Aren't older cheeses more valuable or something? I guess I could stick Rust into a block of cheese for a day. Would that work? Does time actually make cheese taste better, or is it just a prestige thing to have a cheese aged a hundred years? I guess I could also use it to age wines. But– Robin shifted positions, pressing herself back against him even more closely, setting his heart racing again. WINE, ARTHUR! Think about wine, for Naga's fucking sake. Think about anything but her.

Occupied as he was with thoughts like these, it took Arthur a very long time to slow his racing heart, distract his racing mind, and fall asleep.

(Authors Note: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) – Okay so here's another chapter. Did you blush, you lil freaky-deaky? I actually did blush while writing this so I won't judge. Am I ashamed of what I've written? A little bit, but I think that's natural. I know a lot of people like slow-burn, but honestly I find really slow burns a little bit boring. They've had more than three conversations – by Fire Emblem logic, it's already well past time to bang.

Anyway, I'm really trying to capture the two most fundamental human emotions: angst and horniness. Bear with me. Philosophers like Plato and Hobbes saw humans as fundamentally creatures of desire. Later, existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre saw us as fundamentally characterized by existential angst at our state of being. I'm going to go ahead and combine these ideas of human nature into one and argue that most humans are fundamentally characterized by horny angst (hangst, if you will). I apologize that this definition excludes certain asexuals, but honestly being free of horniness low-key might be a good thing (more time for pure angst, amiright?). This fanfic is horny and absurd, and yet also takes itself seriously – much like human existence. Is it a mistake to try and stuff philosophical meaning into a horny fanfic? Perchance. But I think it's kinda funny. Anyway, get used to the hangstiness, because there will be more.

Also, to be very honest and a little more serious, I will say that this fanfiction is meant to explore male heterosexuality. I am a het man, and I'm not going to sit here and bemoan my experience or claim to have it worse than anyone. Relative to the experiences of nearly any other demographic, heterosexual men have it pretty easy (let's be honest boys). With that said, however, that does not mean there are not serious problems suffered by those within this category. One problem that I think about a lot are our standards of masculinity and masculine sexuality. As a heterosexual men I really do feel constantly bombarded with images of the ideal man – strong, assertive, bold, dominant, yet also somehow sensitive, kind, understanding. He knows when to be strong, he knows when to be sensitive. He knows exactly what he needs to know. He is exactly who he needs to be. 'Nice guys' commonly raise the question: why do girls only want bad guys? It is, of course, a simplification that comes from a place of inexperience, and yet I also empathize, because I think this question comes from the fundamental question that nearly all people are asking themselves internally: what do I need to be to be loved? What do I need to become? We internalize so much media on the topic of love. This fanfic, for instance. I guess I am part of the problem lol, but I am just as inundated with this stuff as everyone else, just trying to work through things. I just wanted to share these thoughts. I have a good Youtube video on this subject later in the Author's Note.

Also also, one thing I wanted to bring up is Robin's characterization, because I feel like she is a very complicated character. I mean, as a tactician she would probably be pretty decisive and a little bit of a schemer in other aspects of her life. Arthur might know a little more about the world right now, but honestly Robin is the smarter one in this relationship, especially when it comes to understanding people. So she's decisive, but she also has no memories and thus no experience, so she'd also probably be pretty awkward. That's what I was kind of going for. Anyway, more characterization for both of these characters coming up – plus, everyone's favorite male character Marth will be returning and perhaps interacting with our characters?! Also, sorry for how long these chapters are taking. It's a lot of fluff at this point but I've also been plotting and writing some later chapters, since there is some serious plot that requires planning in advance.

Also also also, I have been inspired by Gamer Emblem Awakening to put a song for each chapter, so I'll put a song I like that I think is loosely related to the chapter at the end of each one. Apologies for the very long Author's Note, they won't be this long in the future. I just had many thoughts all at once.

TL;DR – Topics to be explored: Horniness, Angst, Sexuality, Marth's Secret Identity (who is the man under the mask?!)

Song: Superposition – Young the Giant

Youtube Video: our conception of love is messed up – oliSUNvia)