Author's Note: Get ready for lore and headcanon heaven guys, because there's a lot of it. I think I explain it a lot. As I always say, thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows. We're at 164, 256, and 371 respectively now, and I couldn't be happier. It still surprises me so many people have the same interests I do, to the specificity seen in this story. We'll see if that holds after this chapter though, since this involves a lot more of my personal interests and thoughts than past chapters. Last thing, when will the special edition of FE Echoes: Shadows of Valentia get announced for North America!? I need it, and I don't speak Japanese nor do I have the money, so I can't import. Eh, NoA isn't the greatest, so I doubt we're ever going to get one. I'm going to hold out on preordering for a little while longer though, just in case we do get a Sp. Ed. Getting back to the games relevant here, without futher ado, enjoy.

EDIT: I wrote this chapter before Shadows of Valentia was released in my language and that information was available. So that's why some things that happen here are in direct opposition of that. I didn't have the canon available at the time. I was trying to fill in a hole that got filled in after this was written and posted, and didn't know that the hole would be filled in a very different way than I had imagined.


The ship lurched forward as Severa aimed at Robin, throwing the two of them off balance. As a result, Robin's neck which had been in front of the pigtailed woman was thrown back with the rest of his body flat onto the bed. He fell under Severa's blade then, as the woman was launched forward on top of him, losing her grip on her sword as she put her hands down to stop herself from falling face first onto Robin and the edge of her sword. When its owner had fallen, it had been thrust into the edge of the wall. Its blade was long enough to cover the distance of the side of the bed, which was up against the wall, and so Severa at the other edge had to prevent herself from landing on top of it.

"What the?!" Severa shouted, pushing herself up and looking around.

From where Robin was, he could glance up at the window he'd seen his reflection in. His view included one of the Nohrian warships, which was now free of ice crystals. Flora and her companions must have unfrozen the sea. They saved his life, it seemed.

He looked back to Severa, who had picked up her sword and gone to open the door. Robin didn't try to get up just yet though. He didn't want to move in a room with someone ready to kill him if he was unarmed. But lucky enough for him, the boat lurched once more, again down toward he was.

The tome he'd set on a table outside had been knocked off by the first lurch. The second slid it toward him.

Using his feet, he clamped his ankles around the cover, lifting his knees until the book was close enough for him to reach. He slid it under the messy covers before Severa turned back to him.

"Damn you-"

"Severa, please. You're mistaken. Think, why would I come with Corrin and pretend to be Robin if I was truly Grima? Even back in Arit-"

'No, Ylisse. Or Plegia. Severa doesn't know what Arit is, only I do. If I start calling places weird names she'll doubt my stories even more.'

"Even back in Ylisse, Grima stayed away. He didn't pretend to be me. The closest thing he did to taking my place was showing up to the meeting in Plegia before the Valm war, and then all he did was show we looked similar. And maybe said his name was Robin, but he didn't pretend to be me. Just said that we had the same name. Nothing more."

"So?"

"So, what I'm saying is why would Grima pretend to be Robin right now? As in not just a man named Robin, but your uncle Robin, Chrom's best friend and the grandmaster tactician of Ylisse? Why would Grima stand at Corrin's side? Why would he pretend to be goody-goody with everyone? If he truly wanted, he could have offed me, could have offed the real Robin back in the first war for Ylisse, and replaced me. We look the same, no one would notice. And that Grima was just future me. He would've known what the Shepherds acted like; what their favorite foods were and how much sleep they got a night; whom they had a crush on, who liked to surprise me in the morning with a sunrise hike or a nervous question. He knew what they acted like, and could have imitated me to a T.

"But he just didn't care for the people. Grima, or future me or whatever you want to call him, didn't like people. He hardly even associated himself with those from Plegia. There's no way he would insert himself in a new army where he would not only have to deal with, but become close friends with what will eventually become dozens of people and counting. Not to mention he would never try to eliminate casualties. Because you can ask anyone here - I've been trying hard to keep as many people from dying as possible, civilians over soldiers, but people nonetheless. When Grima sacrificed all those people at the Dragon's Table, do you think he was regretful in the slightest? No! Because he just doesn't care about anyone other than himself. If he cares for himself that is. I never really understood him. But please Severa, at least try to understand me. Please."

Severa looked away, staring at the ground with a small pout. She ripped her sword from the wall and stabbed into the plank flooring to rest her hands on the hilt.

"Yes, you're right."

"Ah, see-"

"Of course you can imitate Robin to a T. You look the same and you know his actions. And how do I even know you're close to the people of this army? I've been hearing of Corrin's Army, not Robin's Army. Not to mention no one stopped me when I dragged you away. If they were your friends, wouldn't they have asked who I was? Maybe joked about me being an old girlfriend or a crazy stalker? My friends used to do that all the time. Yet they stood silent as I dragged you away. And I hate to admit it, but I was obviously angry. Disturbed. Scared. Whatever you'd call it. Shouldn't they have been worried for your sake if you held any sort of friendship? Shouldn't they have tried to stall me for a second, or followed for your safety?"

"..."

Severa scoffed at his silence, pulling her sword from the ground and beginning to lift it back toward where she could take another good swing at Robin. Or stab down, since he was still pressed against the bed.

That was why he hadn't moved, actually. It would take a little while to maneuver a sword up above him and to stab it down, so he figured he'd have more time to roll out of the way by doing that. Because if she had her sword at her waist and he was sitting upright, it would be a single forward swing. If he was on his back, it would take an upward and downward swing. More time equaled more chance to survive.

That and he wasn't feeling all that great, and lying down was nice.

"It's because we're friends that they didn't come after me, actually," Robin said, causing Severa's eyes to widen and her arms to pause. "We're friends, so when I didn't object past that one 'wait,' they figured I could handle it. They knew that if I was truly concerned, I wouldn't have walked along with you. That if I was worried you would do something to me, I would have asked for help. But I didn't. So they left us alone. Does that make sense?"

"...Tch. I-"

"But I have to say, good job coming up with an explanation. I give you a B+ for that, with an extra A+ for effort!"

Robin gave Severa a wink then, and chuckled slightly. Which was difficult and quite frankly painful positioned as he was, back bent at an odd angle as he sat practically on the side of the bed, back really being the only thing making contact. It was a nice stretch, at least.

"You.." Severa whispered, tears building in her eyes, "You really are him! You're the one who saved us..."

She barely managed to say the last part, her voice cracking as she began to sob. Severa dropped her sword in an instant, jumping on top of where Robin was, making his back crack rather loudly.

"Am I to assume 'him' in this instance is me, aka Robin? Or is 'him' still G-"

"Robin you big jerk! How… how could you so that! How could you do that to them!? To me!? I-I- uwah!" Severa was bawling by then, hands clenched in Robin's shirt, face shoved into his top coat. "If… If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been able to defeat Grima… sure it took us a while, but you were the one that helped weaken him enough so we could win. I don't… Bastard!"

Severa's hiccups were making her syllables repeat, and Robin was having trouble understanding the girl. Er, woman, now.

"Hey hey, I'm alive and okay, so don't worry about it, you hear me? I'm not really sure how I'm alive and okay, but I am, so calm down 'nd catch your breath a little bit, please?" Robin pet Severa's head a bit, the red head raising her eyes to look at his own a few seconds later. Then she looked up and frowned, shooting to her feet and pushing his hand off.

"Hey! When did I say you could touch my hair! Never, that's when! You got no permission from me. If you do that you're going to mess it up, and I'm going to have to go through the trouble of fixing it for no reason! Hair this long doesn't look this good with no effort, you know," Severa scoffed, before dropping into a hastily mumbled whisper "Or, you wouldn't, since your hair is pretty short..." A shout again: "But still!"

Robin realized something was off then though, and asked Severa another question: "Wait a minute, what do you mean that if it wasn't for me weakening him, you would never have been able to defeat Grima? 'M sure that I killed him!"

Severa shook her head. "Maybe in your timeline, but not ours. I'm not… I'm not the Severa that fought by you. I'm from… I think you guys called it 'The Future Past.' Where you guys came from some alternate past to save us after Grima had already won. You let Lucina deal the final blow after the fight with Grima, but after meeting you and seeing how good a person you were, and then seeing how underneath that Grima there was still a little bit of a Robin left, even if he wasn't really the one in control… Lucina couldn't do it. So that Robin managed to make Grima go away for a little while, while Tiki took up her new position as Naga and helped restore the land to how it once was.

"But eventually that Robin lost the control he had over Grima, and Grima returned to terrorize the land once again. Thankfully we had recuperated enough to fight back, and had managed to build up our supply of weapons, medicines, staves, and trained fighters as well. So we launched our own counterattack, without your help, and managed to kill the guy once and for all. As Grima was fading away, dealt a mortal blow by Lucina and the Falchion, that Robin came back. He came back to the surface and smiled, thanking us for finally killing him and letting him have his peace, and apologizing for killing Chrom and taking our futures away from us. He…

"You're both jerks. That Robin, and you, Robin. Self sacrificing jerks who don't care about how others will feel when you're gone. The B+ A+ thing… you said that back when we were fighting off Grima. So when you said it again I knew. I knew it had to be you."

"Uh…" Robin trailed unsure of what to say.

He had never said that. Or at least, he had never said it to her. Sure, he had said it to a girl named Severa. But that was time traveling Severa, not the Future Past Severa. So the person who told her that must have been either Grima, or the Robin possessed by Grima. Not like he was going to correct her though, since it had been the one thing that earned her trust and he wasn't just going to throw it away.

Instead Robin gave Severa a wink, but then noticed another thing was off.

"Wait, Severa, move your bangs again for a second, will you?"

"What are you talking about? Also, it's Selena now. Oh, and Inigo and Owain are with me too. They're going by Laslow and Odin, by the way."

"Laslow, huh? Like lazuli, but with an 'oh' instead of an 'ee?' That's creative. Still blue, but a new one! Pretty cool. And Odin, like the mythical god of war and poetry? Sounds like something Owain would pick. Say, has he gotten better about actually speaking in a way others can understand? Or is he still going off 'bout references no one gets and his twitching sword hand? And Selena… it's a pretty name. Did Owain pick it out for you, since he chose Odin? Selene's the goddess of the moon, after all. Too bad Laslow doesn't have 'ny mythical components. Although, it is a variant of László, which means one who commands glor-"

"Enough already, Robin! Gosh, you're getting to be like Odin with his rambling. I've already heard the same thing from him, thank you very much. Now then, here, I've moved my bangs. So what's up?,

Robin squinted for a second, stating at a spot just above Severa's right eyebrow. "Mm. I was right. Are you sure you're fully healed, Sev- Selena? You've got blood on your forehead. Fresh blood, by th' looks of it."

Severa patted her head, rubbing the blood off. There was no cut visible underneath.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Maybe I just- Robin! For Naga's sake!"

"Hm?"

"Your neck you birdbrained… I cut you when we fell over! You're the one who's bleeding!"

Robin blinked, slowly moving a hand to the left side of his neck. After digging through his layers, sure enough he felt the wetness of what had to have been blood on his fingers. He was so focused on Selena's conversation with him, so sore, aching, and tired from fighting, and so tightly bundled that he hadn't really noticed. He figured the pain was just something left over from the battle, but it seemed not.

That would explain why he was feeling so sick.

Robin moved to straighten himself, since he was still lying in his back, but when he sat up the world went for a spin. He fell back down and sighed.

"Man, this is really not how I wanted to start my day. I was gonna get a nice nap, 'nd read a book, maybe go out and state at the ocean for a while. Now I'm gonna be forced into th' medical tent for the rest of the day…"

Selena leaned over Robin then, frowning. "Medical tent?"

"I-I mean ward. Room. Cabin. Whatever. Here, lemme just-"

Selena 'tsk'ed and pushed Robin back down by the shoulders, lifting up his legs and sliding him over so he was fully on the bed.

"Do you have any bandages in here? Tell me now or I'm going to sprint over and find someone who can tell me where they keep the medical supplies on this ship."

"In th' middle right drawer of that desk over there. It should be in th'-"

"Less talking, more holding a tight hand on your neck."

With a quick glare sent Selena's way, Robin moved his right hand to his neck, gripping it as tight as he possibly could without blocking his airway. Or more like as tight as he could provided his hand wasn't really listening to him at the moment. With his left he reached over for a glass of water sitting on a table next to his bed, moving it until he could see a reflection of his neck in it. The dark colored layers he was wearing sure did a good job of blocking out any signs of blood. They weren't spectacular in the first place, and had a few dark splotches, so the gray spot made black by his neck wound blended in with the rest of the discolorations on his top layer. The remnants of the scarf Selena had ripped off him also sat upon the cut, blocking view further. Thankfully (or maybe not thankfully, since it was dark and he thus must have been bleeding a lot) there was a small space in between the scarf and his coat that was visibly red, which cued Selena in to his condition.

Robin had to wonder, if he hadn't asked her about her bangs and allowed her to leave, would he have continued to not notice until he had bled out enough that he couldn't get up to call for help? He had been okay as he was, and was thinking about taking a nap in the position. Would he have bled to death in his sleep, then? It wasn't a very nice thing to think about. But he couldn't help his curiosity.

He felt a cold hand lift his own then, and turned his eyes back up to see Selena had resumed her position above him. He hadn't noticed her walk over.

"Damn it Robin, how out of it are you? This is like the time we battled against Grima, where I almost got my head cut off by a surprisingly fast enemy with an axe. It was the left side for me too. The first thing you told me was to put pressure on the wound. But you made sure I did it with the left hand. The palm is better than the fingers, after all. You still in there Robin? You just made a speech about not dying, and this would be such a pathetic way to go out. C'mon, answer me…"

Robin tried to wink, but opened his eye so slowly it was more like someone trying to get up after a long nap. "Mm, I'm good. D'ya have a vulnery on you? To rub on the wound and close it up?"

Severa's breath caught in her throat. She had an expression Robin recognized, but couldn't read. Her face was shaking too much for that.

"Do you… Do you mean a vulnerary? I've got a concoction, let me just-"

"Nah, nah, don't wasde a cncoction. You're gonna need it later. 'M fine, just a vulnry'll be good 'nough."

"Robin!?" Severa choked, looking him up and down. She started ripping layers off of him, stopping at his undershirt, which had a growing red spot on it. "What? Why didn't you tell me you had another injury? And why did it only catch up with you now? I understand a minute or two delay, but-"

"Hey Sevs, d'ya see m' dagger in the coat? My coat? Y'know, the one I alwayzz wear? 'ts not really 'ven a dagger an'more. Just a dagger hilt w'th 'n inch or three uh jaggedy medal…" For whatever reason, Robin's mouth wasn't really listening to him anymore either. His lips just wouldn't move like he wanted them to...

Severa's face wasn't just shaking at that moment, it was moving every which way. Along with her body. And the bed. And the walls. Did the boat just hit a rough patch on the seas or something? Was there a bit storm out there they were caught in the middle of? Robin could've sworn he saw blue skies past the ice Flora and friends made. But… did he? It was kind of hard to remember. Concentrating was difficult with how topsy turvy everything was.

"Uah?" Robin cried, or tried to cry, his voice coming out more like a soft gurgle than anything. Cordelia had flipped him into his back. Wait, when did Cordelia get there? Well, no matter, it had to be her. No one else had hair that bright red. He couldn't really see who it was anymore.

He felt a small yank at his back then, and was let go to fall back flat on the bed.

"Owww…"

Cordelia was standing in front of him in a weird outfit, holding something shiny and red. Well, mostly silver. But it had some red too. Everything was blurry, so it could have been a really small book for all he knew. Was it a new ornament for her javelin? She hadn't taken him out to practice for a while. Or more like show off… but that didn't make sense. Was she showing him the piece for approval?

"Looks nice, 'Delia. 'M sure you'll have th' prettiest jav'lin eround if ya put tha-at on," he told her, smiling the best he could. It was hard to move his face at the moment. But why was that again? Oh yeah, he was injured. But wasn't it his neck? Well, maybe neck muscles were connected to the face somehow? Robin knew there were some connectors, but he couldn't come up with them at the moment. Maybe Miriel would know. No, she would definitely know. Or definitely nose. He giggled a bit at that.

Maybe that wasn't the best joke, but the nose was on the face and-

"-!" Cordelia shouted, dropping her javelin piece to shake him. He couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Aaay, 'Delia, get Mirul fer me, please. I gotta ask her a quezztion…"

Cordelia disappeared from Robin's view, and he smiled again. She was such a nice lady, to do him a favor. For now he'd close his eyes and doze off. Miriel could wake him when she got there.


"Pathetic."

Standing over the unconscious man before him, Grima couldn't help but think how ironic the situation was.

"Once upon a time, I was sleeping inside of him as he ran around awake. Albeit a small, small part of me, given most of my soul was still trapped away, but I was still there. Now I can finally call myself awake, and he is the one asleep, but I get stuck sitting around in his damn empty consciousness, still trapped but for no good reason."

Grima turned away from Robin. Long robes brushed up against his shoes and Robin's face, the fake god taking a step away from the man who'd been made to be his vessel.

"Really, Naga, wasn't it enough for you to paint me as some sort of insane god of death; to send a legion after me time and time again; to put the one I was meant to inhabit up against me?

"Up until now I thought it was to kill me. But no, you couldn't leave it at that. You couldn't just let me die. I hadn't paid enough for my sins I suppose. You just had to condemn me to suffering for the rest of… his life at least. Trapped away in the mind of someone who fails to even realize I'm here my , less acknowledge me, watching him try and fail at things that would be so easy to fix if he would only listen. Yes, he's succeeded well enough to this point. But he's not always correct.

"His little speech about me not being able to deal with people? You know it's not true. Even in the… well, not really present time given our current location. Even in the new age, where Robin existed as a natural entity, I built my army at least partially off cunning. I never cast some sort of spell on them to make the Grimleal come my way. I simply asked. Promised them what I knew they wanted, and what I knew I could give. I approached Plegians outside that cursed cult and befriended them, filled them with curiosity, enticed them. They joined of their own free will. A choice made because they could see something in the one they chose to follow. Just as the Shepherds could see something in Robin."

Grima sent a glance over to Robin, rolling his eyes at the man's body, lying still on the ground as if he were a forgotten corpse. He kept moving forward though, knowing that no matter how far he walked, the distance between him and the heap on the ground that called itself a genius tactician would never grow to more than a few feet.

He continued his story, directing it up as if in Naga's direction. "The priests of the cult were mostly insane. I doubt the majority of them had the ability to correctly inform me the date, or even recall the names of their closest kin. Those I asked failed to, anyway. So caught up were they in their own ministrations and work that they blocked out everything not directly related to my 'revival' and their success. It was not even a revival, either. It was an awakening. The first exalt's blow hadn't killed me. It had simply put me to rest. A rest I miss. Being condemned to a new prison such as this…

"Hah, though those priests were so far gone they would have followed me no matter the actions I took, the rest joined me because they could see it was a good decision. Or, a good decision in their minds at least. My cause was one that would benefit no one but myself. Or not even myself, at that point. Even I was too far gone, caught up in the degeneration that plagued my people...

"Is this my punishment, Naga? Is this my punishment, for acting accordingly after what you did? You sealed them all away… every single one of them. My kin, all gone. Was I spared simply because you deemed me salvageable due to my impurity? Or would it be purity, without the imperfection? Because I held the blood of your kin as well, loath as I am to admit it.

"A cross between an Earth Dragon and a Divine Dragon, who would have thought it possible. Ha! Sure, my 'divine' blood saved me from being sealed away with the rest of my kin, with the rest of the Earth Dragons, because you supposedly believed I would remain incorruptible. That I wouldn't degenerate, that I would accept your dragonstones and your manakete, and every other name and item and suggestion you placed in my hands.

"And I did for a long while. For almost a thousand years. Until finally, I grew tired of your excuses. Of how you slandered the name of my father, and those of his ilk.

"Whenever the humans would meet you, fears of dragons and their dangers on your mind, you would always correct them: 'Oh, have no fear my child,' you would say without fail, 'the Earth Dragons were the ones that brought terror to your land. We Divine Dragons, the last present in this place, have never brought harm to you of our own intentions, and shall not ever bring harm to you. Place your trust in me, and I will make sure your days are safe and undisturbed. The Earth Dragons shall not harm you again.'

"It was bad enough to have to hear it from you. That much I was able to bear; your words weighed upon me but could never completely get to my heart. No, it took until the days you went around the land, searching for all the remaining divine dragons to unify and spread your story that I decided I would hear no more. That what you were doing was wrong. The Earth Dragons weren't all inherently evil. Yes, they degenerated. The truth that many went mad and many injured humans and other creatures that went their way cannot be ignored. But you never gave them a chance. You offered dragonstones to those you saw, you offered a way to becoming a manakete and away from insanity to those who just so happened to cross your path. But you never tried to get them all. You never offered an alternative despite knowing that the Earth Dragons did not want to stoop so low as to play human. You didn't even put in any more than minor effort to spread word of your attempts at playing savior, and of the options the dragons had before them.

"No, you simply put out enough effort to get yourself painted as what would eventually become the people's goddess, and enacted your final plan once the view had solidified. You sealed away the Earth Dragons without input as soon as they had fulfilled their roles as toys. As figures. As stepping stones. If you had put in a little more effort… if I had been old enough to realize the situation and to put in an attempt at saving my father's - at saving my kin…"

Grins scoffed. "The blood of the divine dragons may flow in my body, but I shall never associate myself with your kind. You and your people, dwindling because no matter how hard you tried to put the people's fears on anyone but you, they still slaughtered and enslaved you one by one, will never be more than a stain upon my existence. Never more than a source of hatred in my 'pitiful' life.

"Sealing my people, not even allowing them the release of death, was already a cruel enough action. Then, when you deemed me insane too, you collected up Marth's descendant and gave him your tooth once again, sending him after the only Earth Dragon still roaming free, just as you had his ancestor do with mine. Though I wonder if the two of us are too close in relation for him to be considered my ancestor. It matters not. In the end we of the earth were just pawns in your plan to gain power. To have yourself revered as a goddess. And at this point…"

Grima let out a dry laugh, turning away from the direction he'd been walking in to see Robin lying on his back, head toward Grima. The tactician's eyes were open.

"Oh. You finally decided to stop lazing about and wake up, it seems."

"What did you mean by that?"

"By what? I said a great deal of things. You have to be more specific, Robin."

"All of it, frankly. What Divine and Earth Dragons are, the degeneration, why you were speaking to the…" Robin turned his head up, looking at the black abyss above him. His consciousness was pretty bland. "Well, not really sky since we're in wherever we are, but you know what I mean. Did you really think Naga could hear you, and that she'd even be listening?"

"Asking something like that is rude, you know. But the answer is: not really, for your last questions. The damn wench is in all likelihood unable hear me. There is no harm in yelling though, is there? As long as I am trapped here… you and I are the only ones who can hear me if Naga cannot, and I care little about you determining me insane for doing it. You've already seen me at my worst."

"I have? You seemed to be doing pretty well when I saw you. With an army, and plenty of undead soldiers, plus a whole cult at your back…"

Grime scoffed. "Psch. As if! Having someone at your side is no sign that you hold any intelligence or 'well-ness' in the slightest. Even the incompetent can gather men, have they the least bit of charisma and a crowd of the terribly desperate.

"You remember those two bandits that brought along their many, many identical siblings to capture the merchant girl, do you not? They were idiots, and though able to swing an axe poor examples of leaders. Yet in their battle against you, they had full backing from their siblings. And in the battle beforehand, they had full backing from several unrelated persons. It is in no way necessary to do well to have a following. You just have to find a common interest."

"..." Robin looked to the other side, and pushed himself up into a sitting position, grunting as he did so. His body was aching. Particularly his back and neck, which were throbbing on top of the ache.

"Don't push yourself. I will not be helping you more if you disregard what I did and injure yourself further."

"What do you-"

"Before you pack on any more questions, at least allow me to answer the ones already put before me. It is fairly difficult to keep track of them all."

"Fine," Robin gritted out, pursing his lips. "Then I'll bring back a question I asked before. What's up with the degeneration thing you were talking about earlier? I'm guessing you being at your worst had something to do with that." Robin tightened his face for emphasis, relaxing a second later due to the pain the action brought to his neck.

Grima simply raised an eyebrow in a way that was barely noticeable. He then crossed his arms, and looked at Robin with a curious expression.

"...When in my speech did you wake?"

"You can't ask a question in return for mine!"

"..." Grima stared at Robin, face blank.

"..." Robin glared back.

"..." Grima sighed and adjusted himself again.

"Darn it. Should've known better than to try to out wait a guy who apparently spent 1,000 years being patient for something. I woke up a little before you started talking about the first exalt's blow only sealing you. That was the first thing I focused on enough to comprehend."

"... So you missed the only thing I had to say specifically directed at you," Grima muttered. "No matter.

"The degeneration is something that happens to all dragons eventually, provided they don't take on manakete form. Naga and her people, the Divine Dragons, decided to do so. The Earth Dragons, on the other hand, were not willing to sacrifice their power to be trapped in some weak human's form. Along with the other types of dragons that resisted, they degenerated, going insane, and with the exception of one were all sealed away. The exception was Medeus, who sided with Naga and served as the guardian of sorts for the sealed dragons.

"Over time, manaketes faces more and persecution from the humans, and eventually Medeus waged war. He was defeated by Anri, your friend Chrom and even Marth's ancestor, but revived to fight again. But he still lost, despite his support and the effort out into his revival.

"You must have heard the story before, I'm sure, and our time together is limited so I won't go into detail. Technically there was another dragon who wasn't sealed away, but he didn't exactly take manakete form. It was more complicated than that. But as I said we're running out of time, and he isn't essential to what I need to say, nor will he ever be.

"Regardless, the Earth Dragons began to descend into madness, and for the sake of convenience I'll say they were all sealed away. However, that wasn't to say the Earth Dragon line was extinguished. Before embarking on his 'reign of terror,' as the humans like to call it, Medeus took a wife, and had a child. I suppose you can guess who that child was?"

Grima's face morphed into a cynical smile, and he raised a hand to the level of his eyes, turning his hand to gesture forward.

"A child of both Divine and Earth Dragons, it was lost to history. But not to Naga. When Medeus was dead and gone and the people began attacking any dragon out of fear, those remaining decided they needed someone to place the blame on to save themselves. A scapegoat that they could tell the humans to be scared of, so they could paint themselves as saviors," Grima finished. He let his arm go limp, and turned away from Robin, looking back up at the black abyss above.

Robin stared into the dragon's (manakete's? His form was that of a human at the moment. And from what he was saying…) back.

"They chose you."

"I never said I was the child."

"You're not? And I didn't say you were the kid, just that they chose you."

"You know the answer."

"...Why deny it?"

"I never denied it. I just failed to identify myself as the child. Why should I?"

"Why shouldn't you?"

The world seemed to shake then, in time with the harsh laugh coming from Grima.

"Do you think the divine dragons that are left would appreciate someone such as me calling themself their kin? No, not that. There is no one such as me left. And even if there were, it would be me alone that stood the object of their detestation. My being an Earth Dragon was surely a factor, but my direct lineage was what truly punched in their hatred of me. What made their choice that which it was when they needed to create their 'dark god.'"

"Why is not mentioned in the legends, then," Robin asked. "That you're Medeus' son - or frankly related to him at all?"

"Do you really think I was consulted in the matter, as to be aware of the exact reason?"

Robin blushed in embarrassment at being called out. Grima rolled his eyes again.

"But if I had to wager a guess, I would say that it was because of fear. Medeus embodied all the fears the humans, and even the remaining dragons, had. To the humans, he was an ultimately powerful being that they could not hope to best without 'divine' intervention. To the remaining dragons, he was a symbol of what would happen to them if they strayed from their paths; he was a symbol of what would happen to them if they lost their dragonstones, or if the manakete form was not a true solution, but something that would delay the inevitable. Medeus had taken manakete form at one point. Yet he still became filled with so much hatred. Degenerated, in the eyes of the other dragons. Whether or not he ever got to the level that truly defined a degenerated dragon as applied to those who were killed or sealed away is something I cannot tell you.

"So in that way, he was the truest monster any conscious being could think of. Even the birds and the insects of Archanea avoided him, as legends said. They could feel the 'pure, evil power' dripping from him, as the people would say, and would speed themselves away lest they be subject to his terror. At least, the humans liked to spread that story. You decide if it sounds reasonable.

"When a monster is defeated, people never want to think of it returning. When it dies, it should stay dead for the rest of eternity. When Medeus truly died, the dragons who knew of me told all the humans and other dragons they could that he and his legacy were dead. It was never mentioned that he had a child, simply because that child alone would keep the people living in fear for the rest of their lives. For the rest of their lives, their children's lives, and the children after those and so on.

"My mother had been a divine dragon, and she worked to keep me sheltered to the best of her ability. She hid me from the hatred of my father and for his blood, and whenever the other dragons asked her about my father, she would tell them not to pry. But there was only so much misdirection and denial she could put up, and my identity became known. Just to the dragons, the humans staying uninformed, but known nonetheless. She was shunned, attacked, violated… Divine dragons were not the pure, kind beings the humans made them out to be. They could be just as cruel and ugly as the humans who revered them. My mother died young and alone, with only me by her side. But by that time, she had grown to hate me as well. I was the source of all her suffering. If I had never been born, she could have lived another several hundred years happy and in peace. I was her child though, as well as Medeus', so she never did live her happy and peaceful life, and as much as she wanted to abandon me, never could. She did make it very much known on her deathbed how much she hated me. Perhaps if she hadn't spent the last hours of her life spouting off all the reasons I was a demonic, terrible being, she could have lived a few more, the damn woman."

"That's-!"

"Well earned. Or perhaps, not well earned, I had yet to do anything to earn her hatred at that point past existing. But easy to understand. The reasons behind her hate were justified. Not that I approve of them, of course. Our lives would have been so much more pleasant if she had spent less time fussing over someone to the degree she invested herself in hating me. But she did fuss, so she brought it upon herself to a degree."

"So while you were a child and especially after her death, word got out about you among the dragons, and though they kept it from the humans, they kept it going within themselves so if the time ever arose…"

"They would have someone to blame, guilt free. They could say I was descended from the Earth Dragons and bring fear and hatred from the people, while keeping the fact that I got that blood from Medeus to themselves. The people would fight against an Earth Dragon - they would flee against Medeus' spawn."

"What was it that drove the dragons to tell the people about you, then? What made the people suddenly become so scared of the dragons?"

"Mob thinking. When there is someone more powerful than you, your first instinct is to become frightened. In the next moment, you may find yourself filled with awe for their strength, or a great veneration for their abilities. But at that first moment you become aware of how far above you that being is, by nature you fill with fear. For a few hundred years after Medeus' death, common human thought was to be grateful for the Divine Dragons' power since it would help protect them. But along the way, one or two here or there started to think about how helpless they would be if one day the dragons decided they could do without humans being around. These humans spread their fear to the other humans, and soon dragons were widely known as beings to be scared of.

"Attacks on dragons became common. Often, the humans would gather in mobs to attack. The dragons had been instructed by Naga, who by that time became their leader, not to fight back against the humans' attacks lest they confirm the humans' fears. But it would just as often lead to their deaths. And in all but the fewest cases in which the dragons disobeyed and fought for their lives, they would be swiftly defeated. A manakete's dragon form is not the same as a true dragon's form. A transformed manakete is smaller and weaker, as well as a slightly different shape. Among the dragons there were rumors that transforming back would induce degeneration, so many had never or extremely infrequently gone into transformed state. They had lived the last hundred years in their 'human' bodies, and had no experience working their dragon ones. When they attempted to fight back against the humans attacking them, they found themselves unable to win, outnumbered to the extreme, lacking power, and unused to the forms they had not quite retaken.

"Dragons died out by the hundreds. And since they had died out by the thousands when widespread degeneration and the sealing had occurred, these new deaths meant the Dragon population was dwindling.

"Despite Naga's best attempts, she could not quell the humans' fears with promises that her people would not harm them.

"No, the only way she could do that was to direct their fears elsewhere. At me."

Grima took in a breath.

"Though all dragons looked similar, or at least in the eyes of humans, they had distinct qualities depending on their race. Earth, Ice, Divine, and so on looked different. Which meant that I, a cross between two, was unique. Especially since one of the two was extinct.

"Naga spread word of a dark dragon named 'Grima,' descended from the Earth Dragons that had almost brought humanity's end a few centuries past. The people latched on to this new fear, and word spread quickly. What the original crimes Naga said I had committed were, I do not know, but I do know that by the time I realized I was the most hated living being in Archanea there was hardly a crime I was said not to.

"I could ignore it, at first. Keep my distance from humans, run from those who found me regardless.

"Eventually, though, that became impossible. Sometime after Naga spread her word, a cult rose up. The Grimleal. Just as Naga was the goddess of Anri's descendants and his people, those living in the lands Medeus had once ruled took me as their god. They had never gotten along with the followers of Naga, so they thought the perfect way to combat those people was to worship me, who she was said to detest.

"So not only was there word of me being an evil criminal about, but there were also fanatical men who described me as some sort of dark god that would displace Naga in time - displace Naga, who was the people's savior and guardian deity. That solidified my fate.

"With fear of me mounting, finding me became a higher priority. There were also more humans by then, so more people could work to find me.

"When you are attacked by three people, you can just run in the direction they have failed to cover. But when you are attacked by thirty, there is no way out other than fighting," Grima finished.

Robin was unsure. "What about flying out? Warping out? Couldn't you have done that?"

Grima stared at Robin as if he was an idiot. "Yes, just let me cast a warp spell while surrounded by a violent mob. They will surely give me the time to say the proper chant, the space to not catch any of them in it, and the peace to be untouched while casting it.

"It would have been nigh impossible. Besides, it was a long while before I mastered warp magic to the point you have seen me use. I was not aware of it at that point. No one was.

"And as for flying, you have manakete companions, do you not? Have you ever seen Tiki or the young dragon girl transform? Do they suddenly appear flying twenty feet in the air when they transform? Or do they transform at ground level, and then have to propel themselves up?"

Silence. Robin knew it was the second answer, and Grima had a way of making him feel so… small. He couldn't respond to that.

"Exactly. Transforming was my response in a few cases. But if I did, then I would knock away everyone in my path, and all around me would be injured. It was much easier, and held much less damage, to clear a path by casting a spell in a single direction, and firing back at those who chased me. Damages were dealt either way.

"Transforming was more of a bother, anyway, so I preferred magic. Though dragon form may be my natural state, manakete-dragon form is not. That bastardization holds no comparison, and always has a slight uncomfortable feeling associated merely because of the knowledge that it is not what it could be. Staying in that form after already having transformed is not such a bother, but the actual act of transformation is unpleasant. Feeling your bones twist and grow, muscles lengthen and new ones suddenly manifest. It is utterly disgusting. Plus, to cast a spell takes less energy than transforming. If I were only to transform for a second, I would rather use magic than have to feel myself change twice - once to leave human-manakete form, and once to return to it. You understand, right? The unpleasant feeling is akin to dark magic, in a way."

"..." Robin didn't really understand. He'd never transformed. He didn't think he could, either.

Once, after the whole incident at the Dragon's Table, he'd taken a dragonstone from the convoy and snuck off into the forest to see what would happen. He'd gotten a really weird feeling, but stopped when nothing happened. Although, that stop was because he didn't want to feel that way anymore. Maybe nothing had happened yet, but something could have if he kept trying? No, he'd been standing there trying to use the stone for a while. It never took Nowi that long. The feeling was just a remnant of something long lost in his blood. Or maybe some sort of resonance with the piece of Grima's soul he held.

"Nothing to say?"

"Not exactly. I'm just trying to process. You've said a lot…" Robin suddenly felt the need to defend himself, but couldn't come up with a good excuse. Grima could tell.

"Making you feel sympathetic is not my aim here," the so-called god said.

"No, but it's… Ugh, sorry, I don't even know how to say it." His own inability to express his thoughts was frustrating Robin, and the man ran his right hand through his hair, closing his eyes.

"I at least understand what you mean, despite your inability to form the few words required to express it."

"You don't have to say that, I-"

"Robin, we are currently inside your consciousness. You are not the only one feeling your emotions. Every time your mind races, a breeze brushes past. When you realize your mistake with a jolt, an earthquake shakes the area. So no need to describe what you feel. Please. Being here is bothersome enough. I do not want to listen to someone describe the annoying 'weather' I already have to endure."

"W-well it's bothersome enough being with you too! No need to be so sassy. Sheesh." Channeling his inner Severa (or Selena now, he supposed), Robin crossed his arms.

"Hmph. I never asked to be stuck here with you," Grima shot back, mimicking Robin's pose.

"Neither did I!"

"If you had just died like you were supposed to, or submitted to me-"

"Like I would do that! I have friends I want to see again! Places I want to go to in a non-wartime setting! Books I want to read, and things I want to learn! If it were up to me, we would be separate, and I'd be back in Ylisse. Besides, what would you have done if I had submitted to you? Destroyed everything? Become ruler of the world? Because in Lucina's timeline, it sounded like you just killed everyone without regard, so I don't know what you would do with that kind of place. How do you rule if everyone's dead?"

Robin's speech got him riled up, and he was ready for some answers. Grima's actions really didn't make any sense. If he had started out defending himself, why did he eventually get to the point of wanting to destroy everything? Suddenly, Robin realized that his hair was flying every which way. Grima wasn't kidding when he said Robin's emotions were controlling the space they were in. It was as windy as the Wind Tribe village where they were at the moment. It calmed down upon his realization though, and as Robin took in a deep breath the wind faded.

While Robin was thinking Grima had resumed talking, so the tactician missed the beginning of the other man's response (did that apply? He thought of Naga as a woman, so that would make Grima a man. But, no he didn't, really. She was always a goddess to him, not just a woman. Even if she wasn't really a goddess. Calling Grima some random man was just as odd. But then again, Nowi was a… well, girl since she looked like a kid, so Grima would be a man then. Still, calling someone he'd always thought of as a god a simple "man" seemed so… anticlimactic? Wrong? Thinking really wasn't his strong suit at the moment).

"-s just destruction. I never cared about ruling over anyone. Similar to the Anankos we must defeat, I suppose. I was mad by then. Insane. After ever-increasing clashes with idiotic humans who believed it possible to kill me with their meager forces, I grew tired of dealing with them. Instead of blasting away at those in front of me, I would cast a spell in all directions. That way those that attacked me would be unable to join later mobs. If they were maimed or dead, they would no longer be a nuisance.

"The attacks the humans dealt hardly ever dealt real damage, they were more annoyances than anything, so after a while I stopped dodging. I would get hit and turn to fight back. It was too bothersome to try and jump out of the way, and the more I got hit, the less damage I took the next time.

"One day I did as such, and after defeating the group that attacked me, went on my way. It took an entire day before I realized that I was missing my dragonstone. The attack had torn a hole in my robes, and the stone had fallen out. I never payed it much attention in the first place, so I never checked to make sure it was still with me unless I was undressing to bathe. I had had an odd feeling ever since the attack, but at the time I attributed it to having taken more damage than usual. But it was the stone that caused it. It took me another day to return to where I had been, as the situation was not one in which I felt the need to hurry, but the people were gone. It had been in the middle of a road, where I had encountered a group of traveling mercenaries. They had been sent out to get me, and caught me away from people as to minimize civilian casualties. My attack did not succeed in killing them all, so when I returned it was to a few bodies, but no stone. They had taken it with them."

"And you didn't go after them?"

"I saw no need to. As I said, I held and still hold no love for transforming into manakete-dragon form. So, I let it go.

"After a few days, the odd feeling grew from one that proved a slight distraction to one I hardly noticed unless I put in a thought about it. A few weeks and it was something I enjoyed. It was a free feeling. Dragonstones restricted one's power. With that gone I felt… the feeling is indescribable. But it was not something I wanted to let go. Naga and her companions said that to avoid degeneration, all one had to do was put their power in a dragonstone. They never said that it was necessary to keep one's dragonstone with them.

"It turned out to be something like that. Though I had put enough of myself into my dragonstone as to remain in human-manakete form, my power continued to grow without it. And with power comes degeneration. When one degenerates… it is not something you really notice until the time to avoid it has already passed.

"The attacks by humans had continued and grown the entire time, as did the violence of my responses. All I could think was that I needed to make them suffer. That the humans who never ceases in their attempts to destroy me needed to he taught a lesson. That the people who had caused the dragons to turn my own mother against me needed to be crushed. I would show them true destruction. What it meant to 'destroy' something. I could hardly find any reason not to. The humans were pests - not only did they attempt to crush me, but they crushed everything in their path. The beautiful fields of my youth were burned down and replaced with cities. The endless desert I once called my home was stolen and settled, without any regards for the creatures that lived there. Forests that once housed all kinds of life imaginable were cut until only the dead trees still stood. Humans were ugly things, and they were making the world ugly with them. To get my peace, and to reclaim the world that was once so wonderful, I had to get rid of them. The world would have to suffer in the process, but it was only after the humans were gone that it could flourish again. It would be unfortunate during the time it took me to kill off my opposition, but after that the world would be born anew in no time at all. To my crazed mind, it was the perfect plan. So I made a pact with a human, one of the Grimleal that worshipped me as the dark god who would bring him salvation. We would destroy Ylisse together, other regions' destruction put off until I determined how effective the ruin of Ylisse proved.

"Naga clearly did not agree. She sent Marth's descendant after me.

"We fought. I was sealed away. 'Killed,' to the people he was with. But really, I was only sleeping, trapped in the same place my kin had been forced into over a thousand years prior."

"The Dragon's Table. Grima's Alter. Your Alter."

"Exactly. From what I gathered, the Plegian mages assumed that I was simply lacking the power to break free, and that killing themselves would give it to me. I found no reason to object. I could not object, unable to communicate with them in my slumber. Sealing me was not done with the goal of restoring my sanity, after all. As evidenced by what happened in that girl's timeline. Lucina."

Grima once again looked annoyed. But Robin was stuck with a revelation.

"Wait - You're the Grima from Lucina's timeline!?"

"Who did you think I was?"

"The one from mine! After all, I killed Future Me, who you were possessing, so shouldn't you have died and he survived, if anything!?"

"Mm, yes, that sounds most fitting. Not what happened though, sorry to say. Deal with it."

"But, that's-"

"I suppose this was the only option, then. Possessing you, or the future you, was what gave me the sanity to go about as I had. You were like my dragonstone, in a way. My anchor. Your body could contain my power in a way I could go back to being my old self, if only a little. The dragon we fought on was the Grima of your timeline. He died, that much is certain. But killing both of me with a single blow was impossible, I suppose.

"You remember the 'Future Past' timeline, correct? Where I had won, and was using you as I saw fit… In that timeline, after Naga died, her power went to Tiki. That may have been what happened with us. Your blow 'killed' me and the other Grima, but instead of both of us dying, he faded from existence while my power went to you," Grima explained.

Robin bit his lip. "That mostly makes sense, but there's one thing I don't get. How do you know about the Future Past? As in, how do you know we called the timeline that? How do you know there's a timeline we called that?"

Grima gave Robin an incredulous look. "Really? How do you think I could know?" he said, disappointment evident. "I am stuck in your consciousness, Robin. Everything that you have experienced had been run by me while I have been trapped here."

"But that doesn't work out! To know that you would have to exist for an equal amount of time that I experienced it, which would take a few years but still not really apply because then you wouldn't be aware of what's going on now, and-"

"You are overlooking a vital piece of information."

Robin made a noise of confusion. "Wait, what? Have I… are you saying that my 'death' back in Arit and my waking up in the field with Corrin, Azura, and Jakob weren't back to back? Was I unconscious for that long? But I… wouldn't I look older? Wouldn't my clothes have decayed or something? Or is it that I was held in some sort of strange realm where time didn't really pass, even if it was occurring? It's not as though I could've been in that exact position for several years. Unless I was transported there, but-"

"I think saying you have an overactive imagination would be a compliment. How you ever managed to decide on a single plan for your army to stick to while working as the tactician for Anri's descendant is beyond me."

"Hey, this situation is a lot different than war! Battles follow logic, to the most part. This doesn't."

"Excuses do not become you."

"Is that supposed to be some sort of redemption compliment?"

"Of course not. There is nothing that requires me to redeem myself. Not to you anyway. And though you were asleep while I mentioned it this time, you should already be aware of it, so your misunderstanding is pathetic.

"While I was sealed away in the Dragon's Table, a piece of my soul slept inside you, remember? I may be from an alternate future, but my soul is still mine. After the two of us were brought together following our 'deaths,' that piece of my soul returned to me, even if it was to fill a gap that had already been filled when I merged with the other Robin. That piece of my soul had seen everything you had in life, and had recorded it as your memories have recorded your life. When it came back to me, I was mad aware of your doings. A lot of what you have done is along the same lines of what the other Robin did, which I had already looked over, so all I had to focus on were the parts that failed to match up or otherwise interested me. Your memories do not play constantly, do they? As you live your life, they stay in the background until you find yourself in need of the experience they provide. It is the same for me. In our conversation I wondered what I could say that was applicable, and that is what came up. Stop being so cautious. It can be helpful at times, but I'm other situations it is needlessly time consuming and annoying.

"If you have any questions, I will always be stuck here, unable to leave, so worry not. Your information source will not be going anywhere soon. Unfortunately."

"Hey, I'm not too happy about you being here either!"

"Mm. Now that that topic has been covered, do try and be more careful, Robin. Sustaining such a stupid but severe injury is really not something you should be doing so willingly. I healed you this time, but thanks to how much energy that took I am not sure if and when I will be able to do it again, much less speak to you. Next time you are injured, it will be up to your own natural abilities to heal. I will not be able to save your life as I did now."

"Sustaining a-"

Oh yeah. Selena had cut him, hadn't she?

"Wait, what? What do you mean you won't be able to speak to me?!"

Grima sighed. "I only woke up myself a short time ago. For now, while I am sealed here, I have been able to recover some of my energy. Not much, though, and I expended almost all of it to make sure you lived from your wounds. Talking to you has used up the rest. Our conversation has to end here because of it. Staying awake… is not something I can do much longer. I will see you eventually. Any other questions you have about what we discussed now will also have to be answered next time we meet. Goodnight."

With a deep exhale, Grima collapsed, breathing heavily. He was barely awake.

"H-hey, you can't fall now! You're a great dragon god thing that may not actually be a god but is still crazy powerful! Can't you give me any other advice or information?"

"Advice…?" Grima's eyelids fluttered. "Grow your hair out. I have always worn mine long. You would look nice that way too."

The world shattered when Grima's eyes closed, and Robin could feel the world breaking apart. Not in a way that meant he was waking up - one that felt as though he would be swept into sleeping again. One last question sped through his mind before he was completely enveloped in the blackness and pushed into unconsciousness:

'Grima has long hair? Oh yeah, he isn't just me, and I guess he has a human form too. He was in it the entire time we talked, I suppose. But wait. What the heck did he look like!? His robes were swishing around and I know he had long hair, but what else? Oh come on I was looking at him, please mind before shutting down remember what he looked like, remember what he looked like, rememberrr-"

The world shut.


"Is he going to be okay?" Selena asked, staring at Robin. He was pale, paler than usual, and lying on his bed. The ship lacked any sort of room specifically for medical purposes, so Robin was kept in his own room until he would recover.

Jakob kept his eyes trained on Robin as well, a puzzled expression in his face. "I don't… I don't know."

"What!?" Corrin yelled, shooting up from the chair she had been sitting in. Kaze had brought a few in some hours earlier, so the people caring for Robin could sit while they monitored his condition. "He can't… We can't just let Robin die! Because if he does, I… I don't know what to do! He's always led the army, and I know he said I was the one that brought everyone together and could lead if he couldn't, but I really don't know if I can and-"

"Lady Corrin," Jakob said with a firm voice, "take a deep breath. I did not say that Robin would die. I just… am very unsure of what is going to happen. By all accounts, he should be dead. He cut an artery. How he managed to live for over two minutes is a miracle - how he managed to live for over four with an additional back wound is unheard of. Impossible. There is absolutely no logical explanation for why he isn't dead. I mean, you saw the blood on his sheets. He must've lost over two, maybe even three liters of blood. And he isn't a particularly large man, either. This is the strangest thing I've ever seen."

"Do you know when he'll wake up?" Azura asked. She was at Corrin's side, petting the other girl's arm to calm her down.

"Frankly, it isn't a question of 'when,' but of 'if.'"

Corrin's breath caught in her throat. Sakura sounded alarmed from behind her.

"I suggest we cut or journey short. Instead of docking at Cheve, as we planned, I say we go to Frete. It's closer to our current location, and has one of the best clinics in Nohr. It isn't cheap, by any means, but…"

"Let's do it," Selena said, voice so certain it made Camilla raise an eyebrow. Finding out the relation between her retainer and Corrin's tactician would be interesting.

"Let's," Corrin agreed, setting the decision firmly into place.

"Then I'll inform the captain," Kaze called over, walking out the door. "She'll probably be glad to get rid of us early."

Corrin gave the ninja a teary eyed nod, and looked back down to Robin.

They were friends. He couldn't leave her, could he? She wasn't going to let anyone die, especially not him. Because if she lost him… How could she expect to keep anyone else alive?


Author's Note: So... Here it is. All the lore, very-headcanony stuff. It's... I did my best. As for the one other dragon I mention that wasn't sealed but didn't name, don't worry about him. He will never show up again. It's just so I didn't mess up the lore too much. I've never played the game that character appears in and didn't want to upset anyone who has, so that's why there's a sort of throw-away reference with no info. I won't write about someone I don't know anything about past the fact that he exists. I read the wiki for my information to write that one sentence, so nothing more will come of him. This chapter is named 'Red' because I couldn't think of anything better than that. But it's kind of because of blood and Selena's hair? That was my inspiration, although that's kind of crummy inspiration, I suppose.

One of the reasons this took so long is that after writing this, I realized how badly I messed up the timeline and continuity. I was trying to make it so the kids you fight with in the Awakening storyline came from the Future Past timeline, but after rereading it a week later I realized how that made 0 sense, and despite writing about 1-2,000 words of explanation involving memory alteration and double timelines I decided it was too convoluted and trashed it all. So I had to rewrite, which meant I didn't touch this for almost two weeks while dreading doing just that. That and as I mentioned above, I just haven't had the time to write. This chapter has technically been 'complete' since January 29th, based on the date I created the beginning of chapter 15 (which has about 800 words, so don't be expecting that soon. I haven't touched it at all this month), but I changed so much of it I wouldn't really say so. Oh and edit two minutes after publishing: Robin's A+ B+ line comes from his supports with Severa in Awakening. Edit 20 minutes after publishing: Grima's personality is supposed to be... well, he's supposed to be bitter and easily annoyed. Angry, but not furious. Just kind of... done with the world. Based off how he appears in the DLC and his more sane appearances in game, like when in Plegia with Validar and Aversa.

This note is really long, so I'll cut it here. Happy 10th Anniversary, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn! That happened 4 days ago and I meant to write something in honor of it, but that didn't happen, oops. Maybe I'll write something for Path of Radiance's 15th instead, in... 3 years. Eh, that leaves me plenty of time to get started! Please take the time to leave a review if you can, and thank you for sticking with me. With this chapter we'll be at around 130,000 words, which is a lot to read. That takes dedication, so it's an honor to have held your interest so long. See you next chapter!

Originally posted February 26, 2017. ~11,600 words without ANs.

Eruran out.