The problem with Robyn's plan of trying to crush the team's hopes and spirits was that, for some unexplainable reason, they were really good, and no matter how much she put into putting them down, they were able to overcome all of the challenges. Some of it was dumb luck, with opposing teams finding worse misfortune befalling them right before gametime, but a lot of it was the sheer stubbornness of the Ylissean team and their desire to make it to the championship tournament. That was how, despite all of the ugliest tricks in the book that she tried, Robyn was left watching them win league game after league game, in the second swing of the season she'd already tried her hardest to keep them out of.

Between sabotaging their supplies so they showed up to a game without their bats and gloves but ending up getting to borrow some from the home team, tainting a delivery of food to an away game hotel just so the players played while in the throes of illness, and straight-up changing where their schedule said they needed to be only for the other team to also not show up, it seemed that everything Robyn had to offer was met with resistance. "I don't get it, does Naga just happen to like this bunch more than everyone else in the world or something?" she grumbled over the phone, Tharja's listening ear on the other side. "Father is going to be furious with me if this team makes it to the league championship game."

"Maybe you need to get a bit more creative in your approach," Tharja suggested, her sultry tone one that Robyn immediately took note of. "I'm sure that you can offer things that the team would never find anywhere else."

"Me trying to offer any of them sexual favors isn't going to be a deterrent to their performance on the field, unfortunately." Robyn remembered the nude-sharing incident all too well, she didn't need a repeat of that debacle even if it would be a low-effort activity to put into place. "I think what I'm going to need is something a bit stronger. A bit sharper. A bit…deadlier."

Tharja cackled on her end of the phone, one hand covering her mouth while she tried to muffle her reaction. "That's brilliant, you kill one of them and you'll stop their team dead in its tracks. Farewell, championship dreams, farewell, being the best school in the region, farewell, farewell, farewell."

"I'm glad you like the idea, but I'm not sure how I'd go about putting it into action," Robyn admitted, never one to outright state her inability to do things but the situation driving her to do it. "I can't just walk into their practice and hurt someone, they'd catch me on the spot. I'm going to have to think outside the box on that one."

"Or you do it on the biggest stage you can find." Always the voice of reason when it came to causing mayhem, Tharja's idea was tantalizing and one that Robyn found hard to resist thinking about. "I believe in you, the Plegian people believe in you, you'll figure out how to stop them somehow. Good luck."

The call went dead and Robyn sighed as she set her phone down, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temples, the sight of Chrom's face appearing in her mind. How she loved him, how she wanted to watch him tremble and suffer at her own hands, how she wished that he wasn't associated with the school that she was trying to destroy for the sake of her own father's wishes! "Maybe you'll be able to beg me for mercy when the time comes," she said as she opened her eyes, Chrom's visage disappearing as quickly as it had shown up. "Maybe you'll be able to convince me to do it to someone else instead."

She glanced at the schedule she'd written down for the Shepherds' league season, dates where she'd tried to cause mayhem crossed out in dark marker and the remaining few games still untouched. They were on a hot streak, winning despite setbacks and damages they couldn't explain to their team's physical state, and it was all but guaranteed they were making it to the league championship tournament at the end of the season, chasing the coveted title they'd lost so dramatically before. If she let them get close to that mark, the defeat would be all the sweeter, but so would the consequences of failing…. She could barely fathom having to report back to her father that they'd won the big game even with her attempts at sabotage, so she knew that she had to put a stop to the team before they had that opportunity.

Perhaps there was some credence to what Tharja had suggested after all, she realized as she looked at her phone and thought about Chrom. She had him in the palm of her hand, they were doing everything but dating at that point, if she could get into his head and get him thinking about her and her alone, then she would have at least a little power over what happened to his team in the end. Robyn just needed Chrom to fully give in to her and her every demand, then she could control him in whatever way she pleased and could get him to submit to her needs without a problem.

There was just one pesky little bug standing in her way, and his name was Robin Grimsley, who was clearly just as in love with Chrom as she was and didn't want her anywhere near him. If she could get rid of Robin, she could have Chrom all to herself, and then she'd be able to live out her fantasy of crushing his dreams of being a big baseball star and probably get to crush his face between her thighs on his way out.

"I'm going to cause some chaos," she told herself confidently, knowing that it was her only way out. "Chaos, broken hearts, and maybe even a broken neck if he lets me."

Robyn's plan did not work in any expected ways, to the point that she was left standing at the airport alongside Chrom's sister while they were waving the team off on their way to the league championship tournament, somewhere they'd only be following them to if they made it all the way to the end. That was Chrom's demand, him telling them both that if the Shepherds were in that big game, he wanted to see them in the stands cheering them on. "That totally means he plans on asking you out after the game, win or lose," Lissa whispered to her after Chrom and the rest of the team were long gone, a prospect that made Robyn's heart lurch and her legs press closely together.

Damn, did she want him dead, or did she want him in bed?

On the airplane, the entirety of the Shepherds baseball team was having the time of their lives, celebrating going to the big tournament yet again despite the odds of their coach-less team ever amounting to much. "I can't believe you've managed to blunder our way into this mess," Robin said to Chrom, who was standing up in the aisle mid-plane, trying to get his teammates to do the wave with him. "But we're going to lose just as badly as last time, you know this, don't you?"
"Don't be such a sourpuss," Chrom replied, reaching down to flick Robin's ear, which he quickly covered to keep it safe. "We're a better team than we were before, we've got star power for days and all the talent in the world. There's nothing standing between us and the title beyond three teams that we're going to crush. Big time. You think they'll call on the mercy rule to put an end to things?"

His eyes going wide at the cockiness that question brought with it, Robin took a moment to figure out how to answer it gently. "No, I don't think they'll do that, because if this team's going to be celebrating like this already, they're hopeless. Doomed from the start."

"Are you for us winning, or against it?" Leaning down, Chrom had an intense look in his eyes that made Robin's heart pound in his chest, him feeling intimidated by and slightly attracted to what he was seeing. "Come on, Robin! This is our year, we're going to do fine!"

"I-I think if you want it to be our year, you've got to keep everyone in check, starting right now," Robin admitted, the intimidation overpowering his attraction to this stunning blue-haired man. "And keep them in check the whole time. We aren't going to be beating any other league tournament teams if we're slacking on our fitness and our sleep."

Popping back up to full height, Chrom cupped his mouth with his hands and yelled for his team to shut up and start resting up for the big games ahead, something met with raucous laughter and dismissing attitudes. "Well, I tried," he muttered, looking at Robin and seeing him staring unamused back at him. "What? It's true, I did. I'll get harder on them once we're actually at the tournament."

By the time they were landing, he had successfully gotten everyone quiet for long enough that he could get some ground rules (at Robin's insistence) out to the group. Ample sleep time, making sure they were staying out of trouble, all sorts of safety nets to ensure that they were going to be fit and ready for their games. Even though there was nary a person on the team—Lon'qu being the only non-Robin exception—who was happy to hear about the "no mingling with strange ladies" rule, and Frederick was the only person who applauded after Chrom's presentation wrapped up, by the time they'd made it to team vans on their way to their hotel, everyone was warming up to the ideas. That didn't stop them from pointing out various strip clubs and viper pits along the way, some of the guys getting rather antsy to go checking them out with players from other teams.

That sort of exploration was going to have to wait until after check-in at least, a time which revealed to them all that the team's bedrooms were all on the same end of the middle floor on the building, which made any chance of intermingling with the other teams slim at best outside of the elevators, but given how fondly some of them felt of members of other teams it wasn't going to stop them from trying to socialize. "Just make sure that you're in bed by midnight, we don't need to be sleep-deprived for the media show in the morning," Chrom reminded everyone, despite each person there itching to break away from the team and go exploring. "I'll know if you ignored me when you're half-awake on TV tomorrow, so don't risk it."

"Chrom, do you really think it's a good idea to let everyone leave like this?" Robin asked, watching as his captain dismissed the team and people started bolting for the lobby's exit doors or for the elevators back up to where their rooms were. "You and I, we'll both still be here in the building but there is no guarantee that anyone else will make it back before sunrise. Should we have made them stay here where we could watch them?"

"No, it would just lead to them sneaking out. I know that trusting everyone to follow my rules is risky, but we made it this far, I doubt anyone would intentionally sabotage the team at this point." Chrom looked towards the elevators, where he saw Frederick and Lon'qu standing, mid-conversation as they waited for their ride up. "As long as we have those two still in the building, as well as ourselves, it doesn't matter what kind of asses the rest of them make themselves look like tomorrow. The four of us will be fielding the media's questions, we're the ones who have to look rested."

Robin swayed his shoulders as he contemplated how to respond, but Chrom heading towards the stairwell that also led up to the rooms made him follow him and change his course of action. "So what are we going to do in here tonight? Sit around and wait until your girlfriend or sister call us telling us what's going on back home? Go over the plans for practices and the first game? What's your decision?"

"We're going to talk to Ike and Soren, that's what we're going to do." Chrom's response was taken with an understanding nod, Robin realizing that he shouldn't have needed to ask what to do when those two were around. "I hate that we're going to have to play them in the first round, I had been hoping they'd be playing us in the finals, but the people in charge of the tournament know best. If they think Ylisse versus Crimea is the way to go, then so be it. I'm not going to get heated against my friends, though."

"Our teams get along rather well, and as we proved when we played them in the regular season, we can get serious against them without getting dirty." Opening the door to the stairwell so that Chrom could enter, Robin followed him inside and they took the stairs side-by-side, not hearing anyone else in there to interrupt them. "Now all we can hope is that they think the same about playing us clean, I know that some of their players have a bit of a grudge against some of ours, but that shouldn't come up, right?"

"The so-called grudge is entirely off-field, I wouldn't be surprised if when we see Kieran next he has a black eye or two for messing with the wrong person." Chuckling, Chrom jumped a step ahead of Robin, before offering his hand back to pull him to catch up. "When I say that we're going to talk to Ike and Soren, I mean we're not talking anything about baseball with them. Yes, it's two captains and two right-hand men that'll be in discussions, but we're talking about unrelated things. Bring up the game and you're leaving, easy as that."

"Heard you loud and clear," Robin replied, taking Chrom's hand and nearly stumbling over the step he was pulled up. "Are you going to talk to them all about Robyn, tell them about how you're close dating some girl you barely know just because she basically started stalking you? Or are you going to avoid that topic too?"

When Chrom replied, they were almost at the door to enter the highest floor of the hotel, which happened to be two above theirs and, more importantly, the one that the Crimean team was staying on. "If either of them asks about my relationship status I'll mention her, even though we're not officially dating, but if they do that to me I'm asking them about their love lives. Only fair, right?"

"Yeah, definitely fair." Under his breath, Robin muttered something about how it wasn't fair at all, but he didn't want Chrom to hear him and think that he wasn't being genuine with what he was telling him. "Let's just hope neither of them just had a messy breakup or something, that'd be super awkward to walk into."

What they did walk into was arguably worse than visiting two guys who were in the throes of heartache. Soren was the one who opened the door before they knocked, giving them both a wave before inviting them inside, and his quickness with letting them in was explained within seconds when they both saw Ike laying on the bed, fast asleep. "I don't know what it is that he did on the trip here, but he made it into the room and passed out right where he is, and we've been here since just after lunchtime," Soren explained, sounding irritated as he spoke. "I'm starting to wonder if someone poisoned him to handicap our team against yours."

"That's tragic," Robin said, looking at the sleeping man, while Chrom climbed onto the bed next to him before draping himself over him, hitting him with his elbow to try and wake him. "Ugh, will you get off of him? I doubt Soren's gone this long without trying that for himself, you're just making this situation worse than it needs to be."

"I hadn't actually thought of climbing onto him before this. I've poured water on him, yelled obscene things at him, done basically anything you'd hate to have wake you up from a nap, but not climb on him." Soren shrugged, winding a long strand of his dark hair around a finger as he watched Chrom's attempt at waking Ike up through physical force. "It's a shame, everyone else went out to do some sightseeing today and we've been in here all day."

"You could have gone out without him, you're not his babysitter." Now Chrom was tugging on one of Ike's arms, trying to get him to react with that, but was finding him rigid, stiff, and nearly impossible to move. "I think he's dead, though. Is there much you can do with him being dead? Do you have a spare player for his position?"

"He's not dead," Robin and Soren said simultaneously, forcing Chrom to apologize for making the comment—and although both had sounded annoyed when they spoke, only Robin truly was, having already warned Chrom about bringing up baseball while there visiting with them. Soren didn't seem to be too bothered by that aspect, he just tended to be annoyed-sounding whenever he had to correct someone's wrong statement. He didn't even seem to mind that Chrom was still laying on Ike, trying to wake him up by getting his head smashed in between his calves, he just wasn't a fan of someone making bad assumptions.

"I've considered going and getting some of the hotel staff, since I know that Greil isn't anywhere around at the moment and he can't come talk some sense into his son to get him awake, but the thought of leaving Ike alone worries me." Shuddering, Soren walked towards the window in the room, throwing the curtains open to let the natural light flood the air. "I think about going and I freeze up, just worrying that if something worse will happen to him without me here."

Looking to Chrom to see what nonsense position he was in now (and finding him still attempting the calf-lock), Robin made the one offer he could think of in the moment: "We could stay here and watch him for you, if you really want to get someone. Your call, we're not going to leave until he's awake either way though."

"No, it's fine, as much as I trust you both I don't know what anyone here will do." Looking out the window at the city below them, Soren shook his head and sighed. "We need Greil or Titania at this point, either one of them would know what to do. What kind of guy am I, not knowing how to handle my…friend falling asleep like this?"

"You hesitated there," Chrom said, finally giving up on using strength to get Ike to wake up and rolling off of him, standing back up on the floor. "What was the hesitation for? You don't actually like him, do you? Is that it?"

"Every time you find someone admitting to romantic attraction, you get super dense about it, don't you, Chrom?" Robin asked, trying to sound condescending but ending up coming off more hurt than anything. He looked to Soren and bowed his head in apology. "Sorry, he's never been good at recognizing when people like each other, he can't even do it when he's the person being liked."

Chrom looked at Robin, offended at the words that had come out of his mouth. "Excuse me, but I am plenty aware of how Robyn feels about me."

"Dude's right there," Soren quipped, pointing at Robin and watching how he flinched and shook his head rapidly at the instance of mistaken identity. "What, it's kind of weird how he's referring to you in third person like that. You decide that's your preference?"

"Robyn's a girl," Chrom quickly replied, not even noticing how his right-hand man was starting to blush and get rather flustered at what was going on. "A girl that I really like that really likes me back, but we're not anything official or anything like that. Just two people who have a thing for each other. Kind of like you and—"

Soren shut him up with a glare. "Don't even think about saying it."

"—right, sorry about that." Backing away from Ike entirely to get closer to the door, Chrom continued with, "I'm just going to…go find someone who might be able to help here. Robin, you stay and keep Soren company and to come find me if Ike wakes up."

Before anyone could say anything to stop him, he was bolting out of the room, letting the door slam behind him in his wake. "How likely do you think it is he finds anyone?" Robin questioned, not knowing where anyone who could be of use could possibly be, meaning that Chrom was going to have even less luck. Soren gave a rather annoyed shrug, proving that the whole situation was beginning to irritate him more than his roommate being dead to the world already had.

The wait for Chrom to come back with someone was long and boring, Robin trying to keep his wits about him by reaching out to all of the other players on the team to see what they were doing, while occasionally glancing toward Soren to see what he was up to. His way of coping with things was to sit and read a book that he had resting on top of Ike's body, so that any movement would be immediately detected; by all means it was a genius strategy and Robin had half a mind to compliment him on it. The only thing stopping him there was how frosty Soren always seemed to be, and he didn't want to make a bad situation worse than it already was.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the room's door opened and the dark orange-haired Titania came strolling into the room, Chrom right on her heels looking like he'd winded himself running all over the place. "I'll take this from here," she said with a commanding tone, making Robin immediately head toward the door. "Thanks for having our backs, Shepherds. We'll meet you out on the field for the game and make it a clean one."

"Sure will, keep us updated on how this ends," Chrom replied, waving for Robin to follow him out. They walked in silence away from the room, making sure the door was fully closed before going down the hall together. Even though they were walking shoulder beside shoulder, they were acting as if the other person just happened to not be there, a strange feeling beginning to form in Robin's chest now that he was alone with Chrom yet again. He was sure that Chrom was thinking about what Soren had said and how he'd reacted to it, something that Robin had always been scared of happening ever since that damn Robyn had gotten involved in their lives.

After all, it really had only been a matter of time before someone mixed them up based solely on how their names sounded. "Titania thinks my idea of asking Robyn out is a good one," Chrom finally said, breaking the silence in the worst way possible for his friend. "Of course, I didn't really tell her too much about it, I didn't have the time, and she told me that she thinks it's a good idea in kind of a…I don't know, gritted teeth kind of way?"

"Did you really think asking her about that while retrieving her because one of her players is in trouble was smart?" Robin snapped, in complete disbelief at how dense Chrom was proving himself to be right then. "She was clearly occupied with thinking about other things, she was just trying to get you to shut your mouth about your potential girlfriend."

"Huh, now that you mention it, that's probably what it was." Oblivious as always, Chrom shook that right off and led them back down the stairs to get to their floor, taking them straight to their room that had its door sitting wide open, almost as if one of them had forgotten to close it when they'd left. That wasn't the case, Robin was sure of it, yet they had to act cautiously when entering just in case they were about to walk in on an attempted robbery or something of the sort.

It wasn't any kind of thief, it was Frederick making himself right at home in a chair in the corner of the room. "Oh, hello," he greeted with a smile, waving at them both. "I just arrived, sorry for not warning you about coming by but I figured that it would be expected and perhaps anticipated to begin with."

"I mean, it's definitely not something I thought wouldn't happen," Chrom laughed, while Robin held a hand over his heart, feeling it pound steadily in his chest. He wasn't sure how much of it was the panic of coming into the room thinking they'd been robbed, and how much it was still from the previous conversation, but he knew that he needed to find some way to relax. But relaxation was far from possible in a stressful situation like the one they'd been thrust into leading up to the championship tournament, and Robin knew that he was going to be on edge until the end of the last game they played in while they were there.

Frederick was merely visiting to make sure that, if nothing else, they were all safe and sound while the rest of the team had gone off to do their own things. Ever the work-minded man, he had brought some schoolwork with him to get done while they were on the trip, and he was trying his best to get Chrom to work with him as well. Chrom's mind was elsewhere, as it usually was, and that left Robin to be the one to have to pull out homework of his own to accompany Frederick on that endeavor.

They worked late into the night, and when they could hear people coming into the surrounding rooms that was when they stopped altogether, Frederick wanting to check to make sure everyone else was in one piece upon their return and Chrom having fallen asleep hours before. Robin, tired as he was at the time, bade their friend farewell before letting him leave the room, locking the door as many times as he could upon his exit. Now it was just him and the sleeping Chrom, and while this was nowhere near as dire of a situation as the one they'd entered with Ike and Soren's room, it still felt almost impossible to be in there and not act on his desire to be with the other man.

"This shit sucks," Robin said under his breath, changing into a pair of lounge pants and turning the lights off to go to bed for himself. "I don't know how things can get much worse beyond whatever this is."

Famous last words coming from someone who knew exactly how things could get worse.

The media day went over well, all things considered. The Crimean team was in working order when they came to their availability, something that made Chrom and Robin both happy to see after the previous night. "Do you know what happened to him?" Chrom asked Titania, now that she'd managed to get Ike awake and walking around again, him looking like nothing weird had happened at all.

She shrugged, giving a glance to her team's star player. "I'm not really sure, he ended up waking up not too long after you guys left and was a bit bummed he missed out on talking to you. Soren was there to catch him up to speed on everything, though."

"Good for Soren," Chrom laughed, while Robin hung back, wondering how much detail Soren would have gotten into about what had been said. There were so many things that could have been left out for the better of everything, but he wasn't going to go up to him and ask a word about it. Instead, he remained near Chrom at all times to overhear anything else that might be of note going into the next day's game.

Media days were always awkward affairs, with how many of the reporters didn't know the difference between teams and the countries from which they hailed. On two different occasions, the Ylissean team was mistaken for being from elsewhere on their continent, and even once the Crimean team got asked about life somewhere completely different, something that earned stern, annoyed reactions from the players being addressed. While most of Ike's team had shown up for the briefing, it was only the core four members of the Shepherds that made it, much to no one's surprise. Lon'qu was only there until the first time a female member of the press corps addressed him, then he slunk out after, leaving the trio of Chrom, Robin, and Frederick there to shoulder all of the questions. It did mean that they got to answer a lot more than they would have otherwise, but seeing the fun responses that the other team was giving meant that the reporters were asking the Shepherds a lot less questions than they would normally.

Thanks to the performance in league championship games passed, there was a level of friendliness between the two teams that didn't translate well to the smack-talk the press was looking for from them. Chrom would only sing praises about Ike and his team, while Ike would talk about how he saw them as a real challenge and a threat to win the overall title. "I'd go so far as to consider them friends," he said, looking straight at the three Shepherds when he spoke, "and if we somehow beat them tomorrow—which I don't know, it could happen, but maybe not—then I'll keep fighting for them in our future games."

"And we'll do the same for them, no doubt about it," Chrom added, giving a friendly nod toward Ike. "One of these teams will win the game tomorrow, but that doesn't mean that the other has to leave as losers. We'll support each other in spirit, no matter the outcome."

The press wasn't super thrilled with that kind of answer, but by that point most of the members of the media that had gathered had accepted the fact that they just weren't going to get a beatdown between the teams that they would find in other briefings. When all was said and done and everything wrapped itself up, the first thing Robin wanted to do was get away much like Lon'qu had before, but he had the unfortunate problem of getting roped into a conversation with Frederick about the likelihood of each team winning, statistical outcomes and potential scores that the game could end with. While he was being drilled about the possibilities, he was watching Chrom talking to Ike and Soren, only to be interrupted by a phone call that he left the room to take. Whatever happened there, that was going to have to be addressed when they got back to their room later that night.

As was the tradition started the last time they'd played in the league tournament, that evening was spent out at dinner in the fanciest restaurant they could afford as a team, the whole group gathered to celebrate their achievements and look forward to what was coming the next day. For the first time since they'd all initially gotten to the hotel, everyone was in the same place at the same time, and Chrom was able to look out at his team with pride in his eyes, knowing that they were going to accomplish great things during the next day's game. Even with the theme of the night being celebration and looking forward to their inevitable win, he had something he wanted to share with everyone before it got too late.

"Attention, guys," he finally broke in somewhere after the main course had been delivered and the members of the team were all feasting like the kings (and queen) they were. "I have some big news that you're going to want to hear. Tomorrow, in the stands, we're going to have actual fans for us cheering us on."

"The school decided to send some students to watch?" Robin asked, surprised that this was the first he had heard anything of the sort, but Chrom's quick reaction to shake his head told him that he was being too hopeful. "Oh, well, who's going to be here, then?"

"Robyn. And Lissa, she's bringing Lissa with her too." The way Chrom sounded so happy to tell everyone that, while most of the team didn't care in the slightest, would have been a morale killer had he not already anticipated most people not caring. There was only one opinion he was really looking for, and that was Robin's—who happened to be staring at him slack-jawed at the casual way he'd brought it up. "They called me earlier to tell me about this plan, and I must say, I'm excited that they found a way to make it happen."

"That's…great," Robin replied after gritting his teeth, not wanting to hash out all of his reasons why he knew Robyn being present was a horrible idea for them all. "Can't wait to see their faces up in the stands. You think she's going to bring any of her tricks with her, or is she going to be leaving them back in Ylisse?"

Blinking a few times as he tried to figure out which person Robin was referring to, Chrom took a swing at things and answered, "I'm sure she'll be leaving them, it's such a big deal and she cares so much about this team that any sort of sabotage…I don't see it happening."

"I'm not talking about your sister's harmless pranks, Chrom."

"I wasn't either." Those three words were said immediately, and much harsher than Chrom usually spoke, stunning Robin into a silence that lasted the rest of the meal. He couldn't believe how blinded by love Chrom was about someone as nasty as Robyn, unable to connect the dots between her and every single bad thing that had befallen the Shepherds over the course of the whole season. She was actively trying to get them to lose, and now that he'd given her the go-ahead to be at one of the biggest games they'd ever play, Chrom had effectively signed off on the death of the team's championship hopes.

Unfortunately for Robin, despite having figured that out for himself, no one else would ever believe him that the lovely woman that had stolen Chrom's heart like he stole bases during games meant bad news. They didn't mind that she was going to be there, almost like to them, she didn't matter at all; that was going to do nothing but allow her to sneak her way into causing more mayhem before anyone could try stopping it. But the good news was that they didn't actually see her until after the next day's game, when the Ylissean team won over the Crimean team in a nailbiter of a game that had the announcers on the edge of their seats and the local crowd roaring with every pitch thrown and bat swung.

When the dust around home plate had settled and the Shepherds were given the win, moving them into the second round of the tournament and one game closer to winning the whole championship, the entire team stormed the field to celebrate, but most notable was Robyn jumping down over the stadium wall to get onto the field as well. "Chrom, you looked brilliant!" she called, sounding every bit as fake sultry as she could manage, something that brought the celebrations around her to a screeching halt. "The way you command your team while leading them to victory, it's something beautiful."

"Heh, thanks for that," he replied, face red from the exertion of playing the game, not so much her compliment. "You can say that we run like a well-oiled machine out here, we know exactly what we need to do in order to win."

"Lissa and I were both so, so in awe at how you pulled out the win there in the last inning," Robyn continued, stepping closer to Chrom with her arms behind her back, her shoulders swaying with every step. From right nearby, Robin was watching her carefully, noticing that she had her hands withdrawn into her long sleeves behind her. It was only when she got closer to Chrom that he saw the flash of something silver in one of her sleeves, his stomach dropping at the shimmering sight.

Unsure of how effective he was going to be in being a distraction, Robin looked around at everyone who'd resumed celebrating around them, before yelling out, "I think we should be going, everyone! There's plenty of time to celebrate back at the hotel!"

"Calm down, Robin, they're not playing another game out here right now," Chrom said, his eyes focused on how Robyn was approaching him and not at how distressed his friend's expression had become in such a happy moment. "We can spend all the time we want out here, it'll be fine."

"I don't think you'll be spending that much time out here, actually," Robyn quickly interjected, stepping closer to Chrom, much to Robin's absolute dismay as she moved the sleeve that she was holding something in around to her front. "Unless you get left to die here, that is."

"What do you—" Those three words were all Chrom was able to get out before Robyn had plunged her knife into his stomach, pulling it out almost as fast as she'd inserted it and watching as he crumpled to the ground, blood beginning to stain the front of his jersey.

She stood over him, a smirk on her face, before throwing the knife down into the ground and turning around, Robin standing right behind her. "Was that your plan this whole time?" he asked her, trying not to give in to his desire to rush to Chrom's side, especially since the rest of the team had already noticed and was doing that job pretty well. "Get to him on his biggest stage and kill him?"

"My plan wasn't originally to kill him, no," Robyn quietly replied, tracing her toe into the dirt as chaos was unfolding right nearby. "But I got tired of having to wait to make him suffer the way I'd wanted to, so I got impatient and did something today. Hope you like your dreams all being crushed, Grimsley, because around here? You're not getting him the medical attention he needs for that wound."

All of the possibilities of what she meant by that racing through his head, Robin realized that she'd said that just to distract him, as in the time he'd been processing her words she'd decided to make a break for it. Rather than let her escape, or even just report her to the proper authorities when they arrived, Robin took it upon himself to chase Robyn down and keep her nice and occupied for when the police showed up. She was fast, sure—the sort of hell situation she'd been raised in the middle of back in Plegia instilled that sort of flight mechanic in people—but Robin was faster, able to catch up to her even with his energy having been depleted from the game that had happened right before. Taking her down without a fight was difficult, because she was prepared to thrash her way out of restraints if it meant escaping, but the blackened eyes and bruised body parts Robin sustained in keeping her in the stadium were worth it, in his mind.

Robyn's plan had been foolish, she'd jumped the gun horribly and in front of the wrong people to make it go off correctly, and she was left to pay the price for attempting to murder the star player on the Ylissean Shepherds baseball team. But the team had a price to pay as well, losing Chrom to such a blatant attack, and even though they'd defeated the Crimean team just before everything fell apart, it was their opponents who got to go on in the tournament, allowing for Ike and his team to win for their friends after all. Until they were defeated in the next round because they actually weren't that good of a team to begin with, despite their closeness between their players.

Nothing was fair in this game of baseball, especially not when what had looked like love had gotten involved.

"You think they're going to win any games this year?" Cordelia asked Sumia over a cup of tea at the beginning of the next school year, sitting in the café on campus while a couple of the members of the Shepherds baseball team hung up a banner inviting people to come watch their first home game. "After what happened to…well, you know?"

"Hm, that's a good question," Sumia replied, giving a friendly smile at the players when they finally looked over in her direction, her making eye contact with Frederick and him nodding at her. "I know that they want to win the league championship this year, before people start graduating, but with what happened last season…" She let her eyes drop, which in turn brought Frederick over to their table, him drawing up a chair and offering Sumia his hand.

"Everything will work out this year," he assured her, almost as if he'd known exactly what the two were sitting there talking about. "Chrom has sworn off romance for the season, just to keep his mind clear and focused on the game, and he's been cleared for physical activity as of last month. Plus, with the expulsion of the Plegian team from the regional league, and the addition of the teams of Fódlan to the championship league, it's a completely different season compared to last year. We have the title locked up already, more or less."

Sumia nodded, understanding every word that Frederick had said, but Cordelia's crestfallen expression had come at early words and she'd tuned out everything else. "Sworn off…romance…?" she repeated, almost shocked to hear it. "But I was going to make my move this year, I'd be much better of a partner than his last girlfriend was. She's in jail, after all, I can do better than that."

"Never was actually his girlfriend, despite everything," Frederick corrected, letting go of Sumia's hand before looking at Cordelia and offering it to her instead. "A woman travels out of country to chase him down and stab him, and couldn't even call herself his girlfriend in the end. What a pity."

And just like nothing was fair in the game of baseball, nothing was fair in love either.

A/N: was this the ending I had always intended for with this fic? sort of. there was definitely more detail in the league championship arc in my original plans, but I fell off of writing FE:A fics so hard so fast when I was still in the middle of posting this fic that I was left with about 2k of this chapter and no actual notes to look back on. I told myself I was going to come back and tie this sucker up someday, and so I did...and I feel satisfied with it.