-Valm Encampment, Battlemaster's Tent-
"Wake up."
Robin blinked. He was back in his tent, with wounds healed once again. The door was slightly open to let light in, and Pheros had a lantern besides, illuminating the room.
"Pheros? That's you, right?" Robin asked. Pheros nodded in response. Robin sat up in the bed and looked around, completely unsure how to feel. "So… I take it that I survived, then."
"You sound disappointed." Pheros noted. "Did you expect to die?"
"Medallion can nullify one physical hit and one magical hit." Robin said. "Even if I took the full brunt of that Flare, that wouldn't have killed me. Though it wouldn't have protected me from anything after that."
"Good. Because you did take the full brunt of the Flare." Pheros shook her head. "Marth – Lucina – whatever her name is. She showed up at the last moment and slashed your magic back at you using her sword and Chrom's sword. Though she still got caught in the blast herself, given the aftereffects of that particular spell. You did get sent flying from the shockwave and collapsed when you landed."
"Huh. Swing a pair of completely indestructible swords against highly volatile magic and that happens. Good to know, I guess." Robin said, thinking back to the incident. He recalled her howling FATHER as she did so. Was she an Ylisse royal bastard after all, especially given that she could wield both swords? She was definitely too young for Chrom to be her father, though. "That's a mystery for another time. Does that mean Chrom survived? And what of Lucina?"
"Both of them are alive, more or less." Pheros said. "You did a number on him with that sword technique of yours. But he was unharmed by the entirety of the explosion. Marth, on the other hand, took quite a bit of it while redirecting that blast, so we aren't quite sure about her."
"The sword technique is called Kuzu-ryusen." Robin said. "The Dragon's Fangs. Nine hits at once. It's part of my Spectrum technique, similar to Medallion, and unfortunately, I can't do either of them again."
"Hmm. Now what?" Pheros asked. She was looking at him expectantly, ready to judge his response. Robin knew she wasn't asking because she didn't have ideas, but it was because she was interested in knowing what he answered.
"Please tell me I haven't been asleep for a while and that the army's done something stupid in the meantime." Robin winced. "Because that would be really bad."
"No. We retreated from the battle lines once the duel between you and Chrom ended." Pheros said. "You haven't been asleep for long, either. It's only the next morning. Besides, Ravena was very insistent that we do nothing until you woke up."
"How are our soldiers handling it?"
"Not well." Pheros sharply inhaled. "The fight was quite a spectacle, but a lot of people were dissatisfied with the ending, to put it mildly. Especially considering the flagrant cheating on the Ylissean's part. In fact, we were set to charge their army, only for Ravena to call it off."
"…And that worked?"
"You disciplined the army yourself. Of course it did."
"My adopted daughter is pretty awesome. Thank goodness for that." Robin said, shaking his head. "That was a snap judgement call, and exceptionally made." Robin got up, went to his trunk and started putting on his old tactician cloak. "I've a feeling Ylisse won't do anything stupid like attack us. And that gives us time to plan."
"And what, exactly, are you planning to do?" Pheros asked. She put no emphasis in her question, yet Robin could feel it nonetheless. He – Robin – had acted out during that fight with Chrom in a manner similar to Walhart, but not in a manner similar to Robin, or at the least a Robin that Pheros once knew. Robin hadn't made a secret of the fact that he wanted to keep Chrom alive, yet he hadn't hesitated to kill him at the end of the fight.
"Good question." Robin sighed. "Pheros … am I a good person?
Pheros stared at him.
Robin scowled. "What!?"
"No, I just think this is the first time you've succumbed to self-introspection and questioned your own actions." Pheros said. "I think I like it. See if you can do it more often."
"Mock me, will you?" Robin tried to muster up anger, but he couldn't. Either he'd exhausted his emotions in the battle with Chrom, or they just hadn't recovered yet. There was a third option, that he couldn't get mad at Pheros, but honestly, that couldn't be the case and he wasn't sure why that possibility showed up in his mind. "…You're not mocking me."
"No. I wanted the discussion to head this way, though I didn't expect it to be this easy." Pheros sat down. "Let's discuss this, shall we? Why did you feel it necessary to try to kill Chrom? You told me that it was never going to come to that, except out of necessity. But you had him defeated, at which point you lost your temper and tried obliterating him and his wife."
"That would be a no on the whole 'mocking', then." Robin said. "Wouldn't it?"
"You don't seem concerned." Pheros furrowed her brow. Was she going to get angry with him?
"One of the benefits to realizing that you are, in fact, evil is that you also lose your conscious along with it. As a package deal, I guess." Robin said. "Yes, I tried to kill the man, and I don't feel remorse. I mean, not that much remorse, anyway. A little, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"I realized during the fight with him." Robin sighed, hanging his head. "Chrom isn't evil. He's a good man, trying to do his best to save his country, and do what he thinks is right. I recognized it because I was that person, once. But I'm not anymore. I'm invading Chrom's country, after invading a whole stock of other countries, and I don't feel bad about it. After all, it's the shortest path to my goal, that is, Walhart's goal of uniting the world."
"Robin, a lot of good people do things that they don't want to do. That doesn't mean you're evil…"
A hoarse chuckled escaped Robin's throat. "No, that's exactly what it means, Pheros. Chrom is good. I am evil for opposing him now. And furthermore, this war is great. I love this war – I get to claim innocence because Plegia is behind the whole thing and still conquer the whole continent anyway. I'm not saying that I'd do something as sinister as placing a false flag to start this whole bloodbath, mind you. But let's say that I was approached back before this war begun, and I was given two choices. The first option was that evil didn't exist in Plegia, no war would occur, and the continents maybe could be united through treaty. The second option is what actually happened. Which do you think I'd pick?"
"I see."
"You're disgusted with me, aren't you?" Robin asked, looking at her. "You hide it well, but there's no point. I can tell. How could you not be? True, what I've been doing has been justified so far, but that doesn't detract from my intentions. Intentions which became pretty clear when I tried to kill Chrom. I'm the equivalent of a rabid wolf, Empress. I'm evil, it's just all my life I've been fighting worse evils than I. That's pretty much how this world works. People say power corrupts, but you've got to be pretty corrupt to be able to get decent power in the first place, two notable exceptions of course. You're the one, so you're safe from this wolf's bite, but Chrom? No. He's an idealist who refused to acknowledge my true nature."
"And so you wanted to kill him."
"It's my nature." Robin shrugged.
"Robin, for all the time I've known you, this is actually the first time I get to see a rare side of you." Pheros said. Robin braced himself for the worse. Pheros continued. "You're usually quite good at getting to the truth, Robin. But you're so very, very wrong."
"Wrong?" The word felt funny in Robin's mouth, it clearly didn't belong there. "Pheros, just because you can't accept-"
"Kindly shut your mouth. Consider it an order, if you must."
Robin's mouth clamped shut.
"Robin, you are many things, but evil is not among them. One of the hallmarks of true evil is a refusal that they are actually in the wrong. You believe you're in the wrong, but you do not care. What you're mistaking for evil right now is zealotry." Pheros said. "That is the emotion you're feeling. That feeling that you are right no matter what anyone else says or does, and that things only fall in a binary directly aligned with your personal code and no one else's? The philosophy which lets you say that you're evil, but have no remorse whatsoever? That is zealotry. And you, Robin, have become a zealot in your quest to fulfill the will of Walhart. And it's not evil, not inherently. There are zealots who only have done good things, as well as zealots who have done bad."
"But what is it, then, if not good or evil?"
"Wrong."
"No. I told you, Pheros." Robin shook his head. "I'm not wrong. This is-"
Pheros slapped him. Hard.
Robin winced. The blow had come from his blindside, or he would have blocked it. "Aren't you supposed to heal patients?"
"I'm supposed to do more good than harm." Pheros said. "And you needed that slap. You are wrong, Robin. Wrong in that mindset of yours. You've locked yourself into it like some child insistent on a sweet, and you refuse to adjust or move. Being a zealot is wrong, Robin. It means that you ignore your conscious, ignore the advice of others, ignore your heart, all for the sakes of one idea that started it all. It's the equivalent of a blind berserker charging at an enemy with an axe, but for all he knows that enemy has dug a pit clean in front of him. And I know that you're far too capable of a tactician to do something that stupid, so stop being a zealot!"
"I can't." The words were out, and Robin grit his teeth. "What I've done-"
"Haven't you been listening to me? Or yourself, for that matter?" Pheros demanded. "You've done nothing wrong. It's not your actions that are the problem, it's your thoughts. I haven't disagreed with any of your actions or what you've done. If you decide that its best for Valm to conquer the continent, that's fine with me. If you decide that its best for Chrom to die, that's fine. But let me ask you this: why did you try to kill him when you told me that you decided not to?"
"I had to."
"What changed?"
"HE WOULDN'T KILL ME, DAMN IT!" Robin howled. His broken ribs informed him that it wasn't a good idea to do that, but Robin ignored it. "He thinks I can be redeemed, or some nonsense like that. I told him that I would kill him and his family, but he still tried to be an idealist about it. He wasn't trying to kill me because he thought we could still be friends. He's too naïve to lead a country. I had to replace him."
"Ah. That's why." Pheros said. "No. You didn't decide to kill him because he's too naïve to be the leader of a country. You decided to kill him because he sees a part of you that you don't want to see. He sees the part that isn't a zealot."
"You're right. That is what Chrom sees. But it's not what I see, Pheros. I caught a glimpse of myself when I was fighting Chrom." Robin said. "I'm someone who has become a conqueror, destroyer of worlds. Someone who kills to solve his problems, someone who thinks his power means that I can control everyone, someone who believes that the only authority is his own. I've become a zealot, Pheros. You're right – and I have no intention of stopping. This is the only path I can take."
"But why?" Pheros said. "Why do you feel that this is the only thing you can do?"
"Because some things cannot be undone." Robin said slowly. "Most things can, sometimes in spirit only. But there are some paths which, when walked down, leave the walker with only two options. Walk forward or stop walking. Forever."
"There's such a thing as repentance, Robin." Pheros said. "I would know, I'm a holy knight."
"Can everything be repented for?" Robin asked, looking at her. "Answer me honestly, Pheros."
"Well… there are some things which are harder than others." Pheros said. "Far harder. But what you have done is right, isn't it? You told me that you'd rather this war exist than not, but that doesn't change the fact that up until now you haven't actually done anything which can't be repented for. Have you, Robin?"
"I … I don't want to think about that!" Robin winced. Easy for her to say. She doesn't know how much I'm responsible for. "Pheros, if I start questioning myself, if I start double-guessing, I might not be able to continue what I'm doing right now. Like I said, once I started this path-"
"That sounds like an excuse to me. If what you're doing is truly wrong, shouldn't you stop doing it? And if what you're doing is truly right, then why should introspection scare you?" Pheros asked, gently.
Her words make far too much sense. Robin shook his head. No. I can't stop. I won't stop. I've come too far. I need to- need to- need to unite everything under Valm. I'm right. Conquered Plegia, they wouldn't understand. Conquered Regna Ferox, they wouldn't surrender. Conquered Ylisse, but killed Chrom in the process.
Killed Chrom? Color drained from Robin's face. No, that's not right. I didn't do that, I was just going to do that. But that would have been wrong.
What am I doing? I want to unite the continents, didn't I? My emotions – they have gotten the better of me. And not the good ones. If I killed Chrom, that would only make everything worse. Pheros was right. Zealotry, but not good zealotry at all. My desire to be right overruled my desire for good.
I don't believe everything I've done was evil. Maybe not even most of it. But the path I was walking was leading downwards. The road to hell is paved with good intentions indeed. And where did it start? When did I switch onto it, if that was even the case? I don't know. Robin shook his head. I doubt I can ever know for certain. But I don't think I've hit the point of no return. Yet. I came perilously close to that. Killing Chrom in cold blood would have truly put me past what can never be undone.
"Pheros." Robin coughed. "You're a good friend. Better than I deserve, to be able to give me the hard truth like that."
"Robin, are you alright?"
"No, I don't think so. But certainly better than I've been for a while. You're right, Pheros." Robin swallowed hard. The words were bitter in his mouth. "I made a mistake. I made a lot of mistakes. And – and they almost cost me. They almost cost me – Valm, really – a lot. I've had tunnel vision for a while, haven't I?"
"The focus is part of what makes you such a valid tactician, Robin." Pheros said. "Unfortunately, it's doubled-edged."
"I … I do suppose I have a lot of introspection to do." Robin said. "But not right now."
"What do you mean?"
"The present is too valuable. No matter what I've done, the past is the past, and we can only affect the present. I need to push this all out of my mind – all my failures, all my successes, my dreams, my desires. We need to focus on what's needed in the here and now. And we have a war to stop."
"Alright. I'm in favor of finally ending this war, but how to you intend to stop it just like that?" Pheros asked. "Or do you intend to end it by attacking?"
"That's not an option, Pheros. I'm in not state to command an army right now." Robin said. "Your kindness successfully introduced a crisis of faith in me and crippled your army's tactician. Now, as the direct recipient of that kindness, I'm not going to question your poor choice as Empress, but I will tell you that I've got a plan."
"Are you going to tell it to me?"
"Naturally." Robin told her his plan, concisely. "You should know, that isn't something I'm pulling out of thin air. Argeni has been doing research on empire building, and this seems to be the best method for joining all the nations."
"If that is truly your plan, you have my blessing." Pheros said. "One last thing before you go. There was something else you got wrong."
"Something else?"
"I'm not disgusted with you, tactician. I never was."
"How could you not have been?"
"Because when I look at you, Robin, I don't just see who you are. I see who you could become." Pheros said. "And, as your friend, I'm very glad to help you that way."
-Ylisse, Castle Infirmary-
"Are you alright, Marth?"
"Yes." Lucina winced. "Owwwwww."
She was stuck in a bed, covered with recovering burn wounds. The cost of taking that blow. Not something she regretted, of course, and it didn't even hurt that much. Especially not when compared with the pain that was her hubris. Robin was going to kill Chrom! I assumed I didn't have to worry about that problem until after the Valm war, but I guess that Fate isn't as picky about time as I thought. I thought Father was fine because he survived the Valm war in my time. Father could have died because of me!
The fact that she'd managed to save him was a consolation, though a small one. Now, she was in a hospital bed, recovering. Chrom, despite taking life-threatening wounds, was allowed out of bed, and now he and Olivia, her mother, were sitting beside her. It felt like she was a young girl again, getting scolded for something dangerous she did.
She missed that feeling with a burning passion.
"You don't sound all right." Chrom frowned.
"I've … been worse." Lucina said. That time with Grima, I came a lot closer to death. Still not even sure how exactly I escaped that one. "Though I should be asking you that, given what Robin did to you. Are you alright?"
"No, he isn't." Olivia sighed. "But he refuses to listen to anyone telling him to rest."
"I'm fine, Liv." Chrom chuckled.
"You almost died." Chrom's wife snapped. "I thought you did. How do you that made me feel, Chrom? I don't want that to ever happen again, but you're not helping at all."
"Olivia, I'd never do anything to make you cry." Chrom said. "I'm sorry, alright? I made a mistake. I thought I could talk with Robin, reason with him."
"Never sparing a single thought for yourself in the process." Olivia sighed. "You know-"
"-people rely on you, Chrom. By putting yourself first, you're really putting everyone who relies on you first as well." Lucina interrupted. "Then Chrom says 'It's the responsibility of the Exalt to put himself last, Liv. You knew that when you agreed to marry me.'"
"Eep!" Olivia squeaked and blushed furiously, almost as if she'd forgotten Lucina's presence and getting called out word-for-word reminded her that they were arguing in front of her. The royal couple turned to look at her, only to see Lucina to smile.
"I must have heard that argument a hundred times growing up." Lucina said.
"I guess I remind you of your father, then." Chrom said. "You know, you never told us much about your past."
"…There was a very good reason for that." Lucina looked aside. "I'm not sure there is anymore, what with everything going so topsy-turvy on us."
"Lucy!" The door burst open, and Inigo entered, stopping short when he saw their parents. "Ah…, sorry I thought she was alone."
"No, come on in, Inigo." Lucina gestured. "I think it's finally time to tell them."
Inigo blinked, and entered the room, sitting on the side of the bed as Lucina sat up and moved back to rest against the headboard. Inigo placed a hand on her bandage-wrapped forearm, gently.
"Marth, are you sure?" Inigo asked. "I'll follow your lead, you know that."
"We need to." Lucina said. If nothing else, there's no reason to continue lying. And, maybe, just maybe, if Father knew more about Robin, that might help. And I can't tell him about why I and the rest of the Future Children helped Robin in Valm without giving him the background. Not to mention – I really should have done that a long time ago. "With your permission, then?"
"Alright." Inigo said.
"Chrom, Olivia." Lucina swallowed. "There's something we need to tell you. All of us, really, but something Inigo and I specifically need to tell you. It's about who we are, or I guess more importantly, who are parents are. Haven't you ever wondered why I took the name Marth, why my sword and fighting style is similar to yours? Why the color of both mine and Inigo's hair is the exact same shade as yours?"
"I didn't want to pry…" Chrom said. "But I have to ask – why did you call me 'Father'?"
"Wait, you did what?" Inigo said, staring at her.
"It was a mistake!" Lucina defended herself. "I – I couldn't help myself! Robin was about to kill him. It was on instinct. I didn't mean to. And, on that note, I also used Chrom's Falchion in the process."
"Well, that's a dead giveaway, among other things. I suppose it couldn't be helped than." Inigo sighed. "Well, go ahead then."
"It's …" Lucina bit her teeth. "Gah, it's like your stage fright, Inigo! I had no problem early on the battlefield, but I can't do it now!"
"You have stage fright too?" Olivia looked at Inigo.
"Yeah." Inigo stared down. "I inherited it from my mother. She was a beautiful dancer but was absolutely petrified to dance in front of a crowd. You wouldn't believe it, but I used to be shy and nervous too."
"Chrom, please. My eye." Lucina blinked with it. "Look into it."
"Alright…" Chrom said. "I'm not sure this could get any stranger, but I'll do it." Chrom met her gaze and looked into her eye, staring deep. Then his eyes blinked. "Ah, what am I supposed to be looking for?"
"Forgot. Laurent's eye glass. He insisted I wear it once I started hanging around with the mask off." Lucina uttered a muffled curse. She flexed her hand, braced herself, and plucked the dome-shaped blue-tinted glass out of her eye. "Try again."
"What am I – the Brand of the Exalt!?"
"And if you'll look into mine…" Inigo said, gesturing to his own eye after removing a similar glass dome. "You'll see that I've one too, in the opposite eye that she does. But that doesn't mean anything to you yet. After all, right now I'm not even born. My older sister, on the other hand…"
"My full name is Lucina Lazuli Lowell." Lucina offered a weak smile. "And I'm your daughter from the future. You, ah, might want to sit down. It's going to take a while to explain."
Chrom barely caught Olivia as she collapsed, helping her sit down.
"Lucina…"
"Yes." Lucina said. "Do you remember what I told you? About how I came to stop a tragedy from happening?"
"You come from a world where it already happened, didn't you?" Chrom's hand cupped against Lucina's cheek, tears falling into it. "Lucina … my daughter … I'm so sorry."
"Father!" Lucina hugged Chrom, suddenly. Not to be outdone, Inigo moved in to follow, who was quickly followed himself by Olivia, leaving the four Ylissean nobles in a group hug, embracing.
"And you're Inigo?" Chrom turned to him after the embrace had ended. "I'm quite lucky to have a son like you. I'll look forward to it."
"You ... really don't know how much that means." Inigo said, tears pooling down his face. He wiped his face with his arm. "This is so not cool. I'm crying in front of my parents, how am I supposed to face girls now?"
Olivia was bawling at this point. Lucina hadn't quite reached that level but was still crying anyway. Inigo was valiantly trying to hold back, and Chrom was the only one who wasn't, but had enfolded his entire family in a great bear hug.
It took a while for the family to stop crying, and that was when Lucina recounted her story, with Inigo helping along. She omitted several details, the foremost among them was the fact that Robin had originally been Chrom's best friend and tactician for Ylisse.
Morgan had been surprisingly insistent on this point, telling Lucina that even if she told Chrom about the past, she was never to tell Chrom about the relationship he had with Robin. Lucina protested, until Morgan told her the reason. If Chrom learned that the two of them used to be friends, he'd tell that to Robin. And there was no telling exactly how Robin would react if he learned that a previous version of himself used to be working alongside Chrom.
"We may be trying to prevent the bad future, but what we aren't doing is trying to make everything into our perfect reality." Morgan had said. "People in this time have the right to make their choices and trying to invalidate those choices by telling them what they might have been otherwise isn't something we should do. Please don't tell Chrom the full extent of my father's past actions."
"But it might lead to Robin-"
"Lucina, just because something is easy doesn't mean it's right." Morgan said softly. "I know that you want to do it, but please trust your big sister on this, okay? It's very important. Don't tell Robin that he used to serve as Ylisse's tactician."
"Robin, from my world, served as Grima's vessel, reborn." Lucina recounted. "I came to this world to change that but … well, we had some forms of success more than others."
"Even Morgan isn't sure of what happened." Inigo sighed. "All we know is that Robin lost his memory around the same time that Lucina showed up in the past. Very specifically Lucina."
"Specifically?" Chrom asked.
"We, ah, were scattered through time." Lucina said. "Not by much – a few years, really – but Robin's memory lost coincides with my appearance, as near as we can tell. The magic we used was of Naga's doing, and it affects both time and space. Laurent suspects that there was some kind of backlash that wiped Robin's memory. It's somewhat ironic. It seems that my very presence here has had a greater effect than anything I've ever tried."
"So, to that end, we allied with Robin." Inigo said. "After, ah, exhausting some other possibilities first."
"We tried killing him." Lucina said, holding up a hand. "Which, we realized afterwards, was a mistake. We shouldn't have killed in for something he might do in the future. But we joined forces with him in Valm. We told him about the future, and it seems that Robin was on our side when it came to stopping Grima from destroying the world."
"To that end, the amnesia helped quite a bit. So, we succeeded." Inigo said. "Robin turned out to hate Plegia quite a bit. He killed the Hierophant and destroyed the Dragon's Table. Not only that, but we've got the Fire Emblem in our possession."
"You mean, I do." Chrom corrected.
"He means that we collected all the Gemstones." Lucina said, hastily. "We're safekeeping them, if we need the Awakening. Father, there's something you need to know about Robin. This Robin. I could tell you a lot about the Robin from our time, but our tactician – Morgan – thinks that it'll probably be detrimental. That said, we need to tell you about Robin from this time."
"What about him?"
"We helped him kill Walhart. That was his price, in exchange for the Gemstones." Lucina said. "He's not a bad person, he wasn't even a bad person from our time. But this version of him cares about the ends far more than the means. He doesn't care what he has to do to get what he's seeking, but he also doesn't care how he gets it. Do you understand, Father?"
"I … I think so." Chrom said. "Rest, Lucina."
"Yes… I think that's a good idea…" Lucina sat back. "It's … good to call you Father again…"
"She gets like that." Inigo said, shaking his head. "Bottles up her emotions, and lets it burst."
"And you aren't like that?"
"Hey, I already cried once." Inigo smiled brightly. "Please don't continue this conversation and make me cry a second time. I'll watch her, don't worry."
"Dear, they do need rest." Olivia said.
"Right." Chrom left the room, wiping a tear out of his eye. Olivia followed him. The two of them walked through the halls of the castle. Ylisse wasn't in the greatest of spirits. The army was holding steady outside the city, and Valm had made no move, but morale was down.
"So … what do you think she meant by that?"
"Robin is like me." Chrom said. "Awfully stubborn. Let's say that two people walking in opposite directions met each other. What would happen?"
"They'd step to the side and continue walking?"
"Well, if both of them were you, they'd do that." Chrom smiled at his wife. "Robin and I, not as much. That's why we clashed. What Lucina was telling me was that, at the end of the day, we are both looking for the same thing. Just since we have very different ideas of how we want to do it, we hit each other."
"Literally." Olivia added, dryly.
"If either had us chose to move to the side, even a little, we could have made it work."
"That's not true, Chrom." Olivia said. "You're willing to negotiate."
"Am I?" Chrom asked. "Robin was furious about me refusing to kill him – and I'm not moving at that point. But he didn't reach the point where we were fighting each other all on his own. Maybe there's a way past this. Maybe there's a way where both of us get what we want, if only both of us step aside for a while."
"You don't know that, Chrom." Olivia held up a hand. "Wait. And now you say 'But isn't trying that better than just fighting with each other?'"
"You know me well, Liv." The pair passed the throne room. Chrom hesitated and stopped. "Liv, do you mind if we step inside?"
"Sure, I don't mind at all."
The two entered the throne room. No one was using it, so no lanterns were lit. The palace, for the most part was empty, but Chrom like seeing the throne in person. It gave him a reminder of just what his responsibilities were. Though, since the room was dark, the throne was shrouded in darkness. And then something moved in it.
Chrom moved to draw his sword and Olivia did the same.
"Relax. I'm just turning on the lights. Fire." A series of fireballs shot to the various torchers and lanterns throughout the room. At the other end, standing beside the throne was Robin. He took the slim red tome he had used and pocketed it. "Sorry to disturb you so late, but I think we need to talk."
"Is that all you plan on doing?"
"I understand that you're going to be suspicious of me, given that our last meeting ended with my attempt to kill the pair of you." Robin said, slowly. "I – I was wrong to do that, Chrom. I'm sorry. I was hoping that we could talk about it."
"What do you want to talk about?" Chrom asked slowly. "Why are you here?"
"The Battlemaster of Valm humbly seeks an audience with the Exalt of Ylisse." Robin said, getting down on one knee. "We have much to discuss."
"I think we do, too. I was told by someone close to me that as long as you reach a goal, you don't care about how you reach that goal." Chrom said.
Robin winced at that. "That's – that's certainly been true for a while now. I'm trying to work on that flaw. Not that I would know if I had much success."
"Well, if you want to unify the continent, I have some ideas on that front."
"I suspected you might." Robin said. "Of course, I've got some ideas of my own. Care for a frank and direct discussions of those ideas so we can find out where we agree and see if we can avoid murdering each other?"
"Robin, it would be my utmost pleasure as Ylissean Exalt to agree to your audience." Chrom slowly walked to his throne. "Olivia, would you care to join me for this discussion?"
"Of course."
"Now, I'm guessing that Lucina is the one who told you about me, didn't she?" Robin asked. "She told you that I become the Dark Dragon Grima in the future."
"…Yes."
"I just want to let you know, that isn't me, Chrom." Robin said. "I will not fall to the Grimleal, I swear it. I've destroyed their religion, and I've destroyed the Dragon's Table. The Gemstones are in the possession of Lucina's group."
"Robin, that was never what I was worried about." Chrom smiled. "I know you're a good person, deep down. I have faith in you. There must have been some accident in Lucina's timeline which turned you into that thing."
"You trust me, even knowing that?"
"Trust is also hope, Robin." Chrom said. "For all your protests otherwise, there's good in you."
"You too, huh?" Robin hung in head in resignation. "Fine. For all your protests, we both know who won that duel of ours. Which was me, by the way, given that Lucina intervened on your side and still only managed to bring it to a draw. So let's discuss your unconditional surrender."
"If you told me this is what you intended by 'unconditional surrender', I might have agreed from the outset." Chrom said. "Most conquering countries don't consult on 'unconditional surrender', after all."
"This isn't what was meant from the outset." Robin said. "But the situation now is slightly different. So let's talk, Chrom."
A/N: This chapter wasn't the easiest thing in the world to write. Writing a 'villain protagonist' fic isn't the easiest thing in the world – and yes, technically this one. If this were a Fire Emblem game, no doubt Chrom's heartfelt speech last chapter would have convinced Robin to switch sides, or something of that nature. Of course, this fic is a bit more complex than a traditional Fire Emblem game. Robin isn't a traditional villain, but he's not exactly a traditional hero either. (I hesitate calling him an anti-hero because that term has some unfortunate connotations thanks to edgelords.)
This chapter was tricky. Robin doing a full 180 to one-dimensional white knight paragon was completely out of character, but at the same time, not everything Robin has done is something a good person would do. Justifiable, yes, but as pointed out by Robin, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So it's kind of jarring to wind up with a character with a redemption arc that isn't really a redemption arc, because all Robin needs to do is change his mindset. Now is also when I have to stop talking, because Robin's character development still isn't over for this arc, so I'll talk over there about what I was trying to accomplish, and how close I felt I came next chapter. Which is also the last chapter for this arc, by the way. Questions and comments are still welcomed though, I just might not be able to answer them.
