Author's note: One... One thousand followers!? Seriously!? Ahhh, thank you all so much! I'm glad so many of you have stuck around for so long. It's been almost 2 and a half years since I started this story. I'm sorry for the long time in between updates. I did meet my NaNoWriMo goal of 50k, but it went toward a Castlevania story that's sitting unfinished in my google drive. This chapter fought with me a lot, and I hit a long bout of writer's block where I could only get down 50 or 100 words at a time. Or none. But now I'm past what's probably my least favorite point in the game so yay? This chapter includes some injuries by lava that might be seen as a little more gruesome than other stuff I've covered, but nothing too crazy, so this is a warning just in case. Thanks again for 1,000 (one thousand!), and without further ado, enjoy.


They met Hans' army first, of course. Robin had never been particularly good at avoiding battles. Just surviving them.

And to make things even 'better', Hans' army just had to meet them in the middle of the area with the most lava and steam chasms and cracks that Robin had seen in a single place during his entire trip through the lava fields. Robin's luck wasn't nearly as good as the last time he'd been in a lava-filled area, it seemed.

"Subaki!" he yelled, drawing the pegasus knight over. "I want you to fly over to Ryoma's group and bring them here as fast as you can. We're outnumbered and need all the help we can get. They might be headed toward the jump point, but there's no point in them getting there if we're killed first and can't meet them."

Subaki nodded, and directed his pegasus to rise. There was a rush of air as his pegasus took off, the flap of its wings creating a faux wind that Robin wished would stay to keep them cool. But with the wind came a small cloud of ash and smoke that tickled at Robin's throat, so it wasn't all good. To be expected in the situation.

Robin shouted up at Subaki once more. "Make sure you watch out for lava spots while you fly! The further we've gone, the higher the spouts have shot, and I don't want you getting burned up there from haste!"

"Got it, chief!" Subaki called down to Robin, before leading his pegasus toward where he'd seen the Hoshidans heading. It took less than half a minute for his form to disappear into the smoke.

Corrin stepped up to Robin's side. "We're going with Plan A, then?"

Robin nodded. "You got it." He faced the rest of their group, which had gone silent and looked toward him and Corrin. "Everyone, as you can probably see, the Nohrian army is up ahead. So, we're going with plan A. Get to your spots! Keep the lava and its activity in mind, as this area's chock full of burst spots. Make sure you tell someone if you're getting overheated - we don't need to lose someone to exhaustion. Fall back if you feel yourself fading. Subaki's heading for the Hoshidan group, so reinforcements should be on their way, but for now it's all on us. Remember: our goal for now is survival and defense, not high kill counts and offense!"

Corrin's soldiers gave various cries of affirmation and moved to get into position.

During the time between when Beruka had informed him of Hans' approach and when the two armies had gotten close enough to see one another, Robin had explained to the others their two plans of attack: the creatively named plans A and B.

Plan B was to be enacted if they met up with Ryoma's forces first; plan A was to be enacted if they encountered Hans' forces first. As Hans was in sight, and the Hoshidans were still nowhere to be found, it was time for Plan A to shine.

Plan A, in summary, was a delay tactic. A stall-until-the-Hoshidan-reinforcements-arrive tactic.

As he'd said to Subaki, Corrin's forces were outnumbered. It was certainly possible they could win, but not without a number of casualties that Robin wanted to avoid, and Corrin certainly wouldn't accept. That meant they couldn't go with Corrin's preferred rush-the-enemy strategy, and instead had to be a little more reserved.

Their goal was to hold back and go slowly, using the terrain to their advantage the best they could.

There were several lengthy fissures in the region that Robin had seen spurting lava fairly frequently, so the idea was that they would lure Hans' troops towards the fissures, some of which were narrow enough to leap across, some of which were not. In areas the fissures couldn't be crossed, Corrin's army would launch a ranged attack. In areas it could, they'd do their best to get Hans' troops to approach right as the lava was about to spurt. Though it wasn't guaranteed, there was a chance they could get the lava to do their work for them, burning and defeating Hans' troops without Corrin's having to deal a single blow. Or it would lessen the amount of work they had to do to cut them down due to burns, at least.

They were in the middle of a battle so he couldn't expect Corrin's troops to be fantastic with their timing, but the goal was in place nonetheless. The less damage they took, the better. While they had staves and festals with them, it was likely they wouldn't have a place to restock once they crossed into that place, so they needed to conserve them to the best of their ability. That meant they had to avoid all the attacks they could.

Avoiding attacks included avoiding both human and nature. In addition to realizing that the lava bursts only came from the fissures and cracks in the ground, Robin also noticed that there tended to be a small burst of steam fifteen to twenty seconds before the lava came out. The larger the steam burst, the larger the lava spurt. So, if they could lure the Nohrians over to the lava once they saw a steam burst, and then move away, nature would defeat the enemy for them.

Of course, they ran the risk of getting hit themselves, so it was a bit of a shaky tactic. Robin had made sure everyone understood that it was better to not use the lava at all than to risk getting hit though, so hopefully they wouldn't have any casualties from accidental, partially-self-inflicted lava wounds.

One of the things that worked to their advantage, though, was who Hans had brought with him.

Robin could spot several sorcerers and outlaws among Hans' forces, so he assumed they would try to target Corrin's non-ranged troops from a distance. They would be good ones to lure to some of the deeper fissures, the ones that couldn't be crossed, in hopes of them stopping on the other side and being so distracted by firing off spells and arrows that they didn't see the lava until it was too late.

The big kicker was the fact that Hans had brought a huge amount of armored units with him. Based off what Beruka had told him, they made up roughly a third of Hans' forces. Normally that would be annoying, even with the amount of armor-slayers Corrin's army held, but in this case it was almost a blessing. Their only general-type, fully armored unit was Benny, and he was already getting tired and a little dizzy just from walking. Robin had ordered him out of the battle because of it, actually. Hans' army had far more generals, and they were all wearing helmets from what Robin could see. They had to be getting boiled alive in their armor, which meant there was no way they could effectively block attacks or run particularly fast. It would probably be even easier to lure them to the lava fissures than it would be to lure the sorcerers and outlaws over. The more tired someone was, the less they noticed, so while they might notice the lava as it was hard to miss, they would likely miss the steam bursts, and either way their reaction time would be down so they wouldn't be able to dodge as fast. Not that anyone wearing such heavy armor was particularly fast anyway.

That left just the fighter-type units. For them, Robin had given separate orders to certain people. Ranged units like Nyx and Takumi were to lure enemies to fissures too large to cross by firing at them from far away on the other side. Ideally the enemy fighters would then run toward them only to find they couldn't get across to land a hit. Melee units like Keaton and Selena were to wait in certain spots near where Corrin's team had centered themselves, picking off individual units as they appeared and running back for healing when necessary. They would be working in teams of two, so someone would always be at the front in case one of them needed to go back. As for their flyers, Camilla's goal was to strike with lightning from above and retreat, and Beruka was to lure melee enemies toward deep fissures that one of Corrin's ranged units could attack from.

Once Subaki came back with Ryoma and Reina, they'd consider how to rework things. They might go into a charge at that point, but Robin would have to talk to Ryoma about his troops' actions first.

It wouldn't be the fastest way to get rid of enemy troops. It was no direct charge. But it was their best option, all things considered.

Thinking about it some more, while he had initially called it a delay tactic, it was probably more accurate to call it a hit-and-run style plan. Yes, their main goal was to secure their spot and stay standing until the Subaki arrived with backup, but they were still trying to pick people off in the process. That would prevent them from being overwhelmed by a sudden flow of troops at any given moment, before or after Ryoma and his men had arrived.

Go in, get in a hit or even just the enemy's attention, and then back up to a safe spot where nature would help them inconvenience and defeat the enemy. That was the big goal.

"Ready?" Robin shouted, seeing the first of Hans' troops approach.

More shouts from behind him. "Of course!"

Robin smiled. "Then let's go."

Corrin's forces adjusted their weapons, and the battle began.

Robin had placed himself among the ranged units for the battle. His main goal was to fry the soldiers who had gotten too close. He held an Ember tome, rather than his traditional lightning based weapons. While lightning definitely had heat to it, the attacks from fire tomes were always hotter for far longer, and could cover a larger area.

Anyone wearing armor was susceptible to both magic damage and heat exhaustion. Corrin was still trying to avoid all deaths possible, so Robin would be trying to heat the men until they collapsed from exhaustion, rather than shocking them to death.

He still had a sword by his side, in case he got up close to any mages. It would be more difficult not to land a fatal blow with that, but protecting himself and his allies was also important. He didn't have any backup, so it was all himself.

Normally, he'd try to stick by Corrin or Azura, but the former was fighting with Jakob, and the latter was moving around with Kaze and Felicia to help revitalize anyone in need. Everyone else was paired off as necessary. Besides that, he just kind of wanted some alone time.

Well, as alone as battle could get. Which wasn't very.

The first enemy he reached was a general. Before they could get close, Robin had already lit them up.

They screamed in their armor, the metal turning blistering hot and burning any skin making direct contact with it. Even skin with a cloth buffer between it and the metal couldn't have been faring well. A brief sliver of apology flitted across Robin's mind before vanishing as the next general approached, meeting the same fate as his companion. The two collapsed, rolling for a little, before stilling to a twitch or lagging movement.

Really, bringing fully armored units to a battle in a lava field was nowhere near smart. With Benny, Robin hadn't specifically gone looking for a lava fight. That had just happened. Hans had purposefully chosen armored units to go to a lava field. It was a stupid move, and one his men were paying dearly for.

Dark wisps formed in front of Robin. He jumped to the side as they shot up in the spot he'd just been standing in, intensifying for a brief moment before fading away. The first sorcerer had approached him.

He cast Ember again, aiming it toward the enemy. She dodged. Robin cast another Ember, leading to another dodge. Unfortunately for the sorcerer (or sorceress, technically) she happened to step back toward a fissure, which promptly erupted. Robin looked away as the lava fell on her body, not wanting to see what would be left once the lava returned to its source. Lava battles weren't pretty.

He kept at his strategy, taking a few hits here and there, but nothing big. He'd only been hit by magic attacks, and his resistance was high enough that they were nothing he couldn't recover from with some rest and maybe a bandage or two. Small ones.

His feet were getting hot from running for so long near the lava pits. He was already sweating far more than he would've liked. It was getting to the point that he'd have to retreat, even if he wasn't physically injured to any great extent.

What a frustrating way to be removed from a battle!

A throwing axe entered Robin's field of vision, and he threw himself to the floor before it could touch him.

And gods did that seem like a stupid idea once he was on the ground. Part of Robin's chest was exposed where his shirt's collar dipped down, and Robin could instantly tell he'd be looking at blisters the next time he found something reflective. Not to mention the fact that one of his gloves had caught fire, so Robin had to rip it off and toss it as fast as he could.

He did his best to cast an Ember in the direction the axe had come from, shoving his slightly burnt hand into his pocket to grab the burn cream Saizo had given him before the battle. He rubbed it over his palm and then his chest, figuring the faster he put it on, the more effective it would be.

The barbarian was far enough he'd have time to do it, he thought.

Then he swung his head around to find his attacker was far closer than he'd anticipated.

The axe came back again and Robin cursed under his breath, dodging once more and sending another Ember spell at the barbarian who had thrown it. They were knocked back, and it was Beruka who swooped in to get the kill.

She didn't care much for Corrin's no-kill wish, and Robin doubted he could convince her to. She had her own way of doing things and the only one who was able to influence her in the slightest was Camilla. Even then, Robin thought there were things no one could change about the assassin.

Beruka didn't so much as glance in Robin's way after the blow, flying back up to take on a different enemy. That meant no one had seen his little slip up. Or dumb mistake. Whatever. The point was hopefully no one would notice and try to pull him away…

Robin tied the string of his coat together, pulling it closed over the exposed part of his chest. It was still open at the top, but that way nobody would be able to see the burns. It hurt his hand to grip the strings, and he could almost instantly feel himself heat up as the air to his chest was cut off, but better to be uncomfortable than to have to leave the battlefield because of his own poor judgment.

Lava flew into the air once more, lighting a sorcerer on fire. They tried to roll, but that only made things worse. Robin had touched the ground clothed and not on fire (other than his hand, which had only gone up in flames) and had suffered an already unpleasant burn. For the sorcerer, whose outfit was much thinner… That was harsh.

But they probably weren't a good person anyway. Hopefully. Hans was a criminal. They were working for him. So maybe they were a criminal too, then. He couldn't assume every person was good. For the sake of his sanity, he'd push the thoughts to the back of his mind.

Robin began his retreat, watching as another person caught fire as a result of spurting lava. He felt guilty about what was going on. He hadn't conjured the lava, but he'd lured Hans' men there, so it was at least somewhat his fault.

He shook his head, trying to clear his head. He changed his thoughts to a new topic.

'I wonder what it would be like if I could just manipulate the flames already here, rather than having to conjure them from a tome. I'd have so much more material available to me, and wouldn't have to waste any time trying to make the flames appear from my tome or sending them toward my opponent. They'd already be right there! But that's impossible, isn't it. Eh, oh well.'

Robin made a poor smile as he continued to make his way back to the center of their group. Then a familiar voice filled his mind.

'Not totally. I knew a few Fire Dragons who could manipulate flames already in existence. I never personally saw them move lava, but volcano flames were not beyond their control. Of course, you aren't a Fire Dragon, so it probably is far beyond your capabilities. You're much more aligned with darkness and lightning than flame, anyway.'

Robin jerked to a stop, eyes widening.

'Grima?! You're awake!?'

'Awake enough. Now get moving. This is not the place to die. Or to receive unnecessary wounds. I can feel the injuries you bear already, and would rather you don't worsen your condition. It's annoying. Especially when it was your own stupidity that brought the most uncomfortable ones on.'

Robin frowned at the last comment but gave a small nod, despite the fact that Grima wasn't in front of him and couldn't even see the nod (or could he, since he could feel Robin's injuries? He saw everything Robin did, didn't he? Did he feel everything as well, see the movements Robin made?), then sped up into a jog He didn't have time to be thinking about Grima. Grima, Robin could do nothing about for the moment. The battle was much more urgent and required more attention.

Ahead of him were Azura's group and Camilla. Kaze was fending off a sorcerer while Felicia healed Camilla, Azura singing by their sides.

Just as Beruka had, Camilla took off before she saw Robin. Azura noticed him first.

"Robin! How are you doing? Do you need any healing?" she asked, eyes wide.

Robin briefly considered responding with a 'yes'. The burns hurt even with the cream, and there was a chance the ones on his hand would impede his fighting ability. He certainly wouldn't be trying to wield a sword anytime soon.

Still, he decided not to. He'd made his plan to minimize staff use, and he'd be okay without Felicia healing him. He could manage just fine. They didn't know what they would be facing, and his injuries were fairly superficial. Burns hurt, but his wouldn't kill him, nor would they stop him from fighting entirely. He'd have to keep them clean so they didn't get infected, but that was on him to do, and being healed by a staff couldn't do it for him.

A staff didn't clean wounds, just closed them up (and regenerated blood and internal tissues and so on, but that was still adding stuff, which was the main point). This proved a problem when someone had a dirty injury, as if they were immediately healed, then the dirt would be sealed inside as the wound was healed over. And that was far from a pleasant experience. He'd have to try to find some water to rinse his chest off later. And a rag to rub off what he could. He'd get to it when he got to it.

"I'm fine, Azura," Robin responded. "Just a little overheated, so I'm stepping back for a minute."

"Wearing a heavy coat like that isn't very good for keeping cool, you know!" Felicia said, hands on her hips.

Kaze yelled over to the woman, keeping his eyes on the enemy in front of him. "Felicia, eyes forward please! Look out for enemies or wounded!"

Felicia stumbled a little. Over what, Robin didn't know. Probably her own feet, Sumia style. "O-oh yeah! Sorry! I'm looking now!"

Azura nodded. "Felicia is right. If you left your coat back at the center of our group, you might cool down more quickly." She looked him up and down. "Say, you usually keep your coat open. Why did you draw it closed? That certainly isn't making anything better."

Robin raised a hand toward his collar, feeling the spot where he'd tied the strings together. "Ah, well, given there's so much fire and lava and steam and whatnot flying around, I thought it would be good to cover as much skin as possible. Keep from getting burned."

That was true. Even if he only realized that after he'd already gotten burned. That didn't make it a lie though. It was completely true. Just missing the 'I did it to keep anyone from seeing the burns I already have' part. So true, but not the entire truth.

He was doing that a lot lately. Hiding things he probably didn't need to hide. Giving out partial truths while keeping the full extent of the information to himself. More than he used to. Was it some sort of natural change in his character, or was it due to Grima's influence? It was getting hard to tell. He'd have to ask the dragon about it later, if he'd even be polite enough to reply.

'Or if you're listening in and want to respond right now, feel free, Grima,' Robin thought.

He was met with silence.

Back to what he could see and the people who would respond to him, Robin saw the look of concern Azura held dissipate. "That makes sense. Then you should draw your hood up as well, to save your head. Your hair is too nice to catch fire and be cut off, and facial burns don't sound particularly fun."

"Ah yeah, thanks," Robin replied, "Although, if anyone should be worried about their hair, I think it's you. Yours is much closer to the floor."

Azura smiled softly, moving over to Felicia.

Robin then threw on his hood, looking for a good spot to go to. He hadn't done it before because he was only trying to cover the burn and hasn't even thought of it, but with his current story it would be a bit suspicious not doing so. He didn't like drawing his hood much because it was pretty big and decreased his field of vision. That and it was hot enough as it was, and putting up his hood would only make it hotter.

But Azura had suggested it, and she might get suspicious if he didn't do it, so he didn't want to refuse. Although his worries weren't unfounded, so it wouldn't be totally weird not to…

"To your left!" Kaze shouted, warning Robin and prompting the tactician to cast an Ember spell in said direction. A berserker was engulfed in flames as Robin jumped aside, dodging an axe which was never thrown.

The sound of flapping wings came up in the distance, growing louder by the second, and Robin did his best to locate the source. He looked up among the ash and steam floating all around him, trying to spot a pegasus.

His search soon revealed Subaki's approach, the pegasus knight accompanied by a red-haired woman on her own pegasus. A man with some of the biggest hair Robin had ever seen sat behind her.

"Robin!" Subaki shouted, landing beside him. The other pegasus knight followed. "This is Princess Hinoka, and the man with her is her retainer Azama. Reina is with Prince Ryoma right now, a minute or two behind us. They've agreed to help."

"On one condition," Hinoka interjected. "You have to prove to me that you're not trying to hurt Hoshido. Where are my siblings?"

Robin looked around in the direction he'd put them in in the planned formation. He spotted them a moment later and pointed. "Sakura and Takumi are in that direction. You should be able to see them from here."

Hinoka frowned as Azama got off her pegasus. She raised a finger, bobbing it as she counted the people off. Her frown deepened. "And Corrin? I haven't worked this hard just to let her get taken away from me again!"

Robin stared at her in surprise for a moment. She still considered Corrin her sibling? And she felt that strongly about it? That was just about the opposite of how Takumi had originally reacted to her. The positivity, at least. Takumi had had a fairly strong reaction too, just not in a nice way. But it was good Hinoka cared for Corrin, Robin supposed, as that meant less conflict to deal with later.

He began to answer. "She's-"

"Hinoka!?"

The two swung around, seeing Corrin standing alone nearby. Her hair was slightly blackened, and she was holding her side, leaning forward slightly.

Hinoka started to say something, probably Corrin's name, but Robin cut her off. He cringed internally at the rude move, but continued to speak. "Where's Jakob? You two were supposed to stay together. He'd never let you run around by yourself, injured." Robin gestured to her side.

Corrin looked down to where he was pointing. Her eyes widened, and she let go, straightening. "No, don't worry! I'm not that hurt. Just a cramp. I think I'm dehydrated, and sprinting over here didn't help much. Jakob's with Hayato. He got slashed pretty badly earlier, and he's not doing too great. Jakob only has a regular heal staff on him, and he said that he'd need a mend or better if we wanted Hayato to be back to fighting condition anytime soon. He sent me to get help while Rinkah defends the two of them."

She looked over to Felicia, who had come over during the conversation. "You have a mend, right? Do you think you could-"

"Of course Lady Corrin!" Felicia said, hurrying to remove the staff from her back to hand it over. "I have an extra heal, so I'll be fine. Just be careful when hurrying over not to get hurt!"

"I'll do my best," Corrin responded, taking a big breath and making brief eye contact with Robin before turning back in the direction she must've come from.

"Wait!" Hinoka shouted, grabbing onto Corrin's arm.

Corrin looked sad for a moment, withdrawing. "Hinoka I'm glad to see you again, and I'd love to talk, but we're in the middle of a battle right now and my friend is injured. I don't think he has the time for us to talk. After the battle, okay?"

Hinoka looked hurt, but shook it off. "Got it. But you'll get there faster on pegasus than on foot, won't you? Especially with all the lava. So do you want to fly with me?"

Corrin's face brightened. "Definitely! Then you can fly and I'll tell you where to go, if that's all right."

"Great!"

The two mounted Hinoka's pegasus and prepared to take off.

Before they were airborne, Azama called out to them. "But wait, Lady Hinoka, what about me?"

Hinoka looked to Corrin for advice, who pointed down to Robin. "Robin's trustworthy, so do whatever he says!"

Azama continued to look up at Hinoka. "Lady Hinoka?"

Hinoka readjusted herself and Corrin, and got in one last set of shouts before her pegasus took off. "I trust Corrin's judgment. If Ryoma comes then his authority goes over Robin's, but listen to him for now. I'll be back soon!"

With that, Robin, Subaki, and Azama were left alone. Felicia had gone back into the fray right after handing off the staff, so she wasn't there to act as a buffer.

"Ah, and so I'm left alone in the middle of strangers. If this is how I die, then so be it. It's too bad Setsuna isn't here to enjoy it with me," Azama said with a bright smile, still staring up at the sky. He seemed entirely undisturbed by the situation. In a kind of creepy way.

And that wasn't a Henry-creepy way. Henry was more 'oh gore and fighting are fun and I've seen a lot of them so I'm going to do so well right now and this doesn't bother me at all!' person. Happy-creepy. This Azama was much more… empty. No overflowing fun in the situation. Just some weird sort of rapid acceptance. Or something. Robin had known the man for about 30 seconds and had nothing close to a good read on him.

"Uh," Robin cleared his throat. "Azama, right?"

The man nodded. "That would be my name, yes."

"Could you please get on Subaki's pegasus and heal whatever wounded you come across?"

He tilted his head, smile wide as ever. "Well I suppose I could. But will I? Should I? That's a different matter entirely."

Robin frowned. He didn't have time for whatever Azama was trying to pull. "Then let's try this. Get on Subaki's pegasus. Hinoka told you to listen to me, so please just do it."

"Now that's just rude. Peppering in a please you don't really mean to try to make yourself sound kind. We've only known each other for a minute and you're already so forceful! If-"

Robin pointed to the pegasus, which Subaki was sitting on, ready to depart.

"Just do it, Azama. You can tell me what you do or don't like about me later. I don't have time for this."

Finally, Azama's smile slipped away. His face held an expression closer to disappointment.

"Oh well. I suppose I shall, if that's what I must do for the sake of Lady Hinoka." Azama mounted the pegasus, sitting behind Subaki. The two took off.

Azura, Felicia, and Kaze were gone when Robin looked back to where they'd been. So, he too took off to rejoin the fight.


The rest of Ryoma's troops arrived shortly thereafter, and thirty or so minutes later, Hans' army was left in tiny fragments. A sorcerer here, a berserker there, a fighter realizing he was surrounded and putting up his hands.

Most of Hans' troops had kept fighting even after they'd been cut off from the rest of their companions and were left alone to defeat groups of people much stronger and well off than themselves. Many of them fought in some sort of desperate craze, despite the impossibility of their victory. It was suicidal, and it made Robin frown.

'The way they are, they're not going to win. In a one on five battle, the one's going to be the one going down. There have been cases where the one's won, but not in this battle. Not when they're exhausted and injured and facing people far more refreshed than they are. So why do they keep going on?'

He glanced over to where three men were tied together, a pile of armor next to them. Two were unconscious, and the third looked ready to pass out. They were all generals, who'd either surrendered or collapsed close enough to someone who had that they were grouped together. The heat exhaustion had gotten to them, evidently.

An explosion occurred nearby.

Robin whipped around to find the source, eyes landing on a sorcerer who'd been impaled by one of the troops Ryoma had brought with him. The sorcerer was holding a tome that still held a light glow. If Robin had to guess, he'd say the sorcerer was stabbed in the middle of casting a spell, making it go haywire and explode in a way that the spell wasn't intended to. Possibly upon contact with the lava.

Ryoma's soldier put a foot on the sorcerer's body as it fell, jerking her lance out of the dead man's chest with a swift, but harsh movement that caused her to swing around once the lance came free.

She didn't look particularly happy about the kill, which was of no surprise to Robin. Her expression was that of exhaustion, which was simply the norm given the situation. There was no one left with a perky smile.

Even Hana's eyelids were drooping as she leaned forward on her sword, talking to Sakura, who was healing Selena. Her armor looked slashed. She must've been caught by the edge of an axe. Nothing terribly severe, as Robin could still see a sliver of the armor at the innermost part of the cut, so the blow didn't appear to have reached skin.

Still, it was unfortunate they were doing so poorly. Going into a land that was not only unfamiliar but contained hostile forces in such a condition was not a recipe for success.

After the Shepherds' volcano battle, they'd had some rest time. Not a lot, but they had some. And even though they, too, were heading into hostile territory, it was at least familiar enough. Say'ri had been to almost all of the areas they visited, and the ones she hadn't one of her men had and could describe it to them. All of their data on the locations was recent, the longest time since a part had been visited by one of their troops being just under two years.

When it came to that place, they only had one person with information, and Azura could only give them so much. She hadn't covered much of the land at all since she'd been taken away as a babe, and even then it was hard for her to say much about the true condition.

Most everything was in ruins. She thought there were people in hiding. She'd seen troops a few times, but it was by chance, and she couldn't tell them if they patrolled or not.

She knew the Bottomless Canyon led to that place. She knew its portal would close at the changing of the skies. She knew where the palace was located relative to a few landmarks, but she didn't have any sort of map that could point her to it, nor one that placed any of those landmarks. She knew the approximate amounts of time between those landmarks. She did not know if there was anywhere they could rest or resupply on the way there, whether it be for food, water, or anything else. Of the anything else part she was fairly confident there was nothing, unless the group happened to find something useful in the ruins of some town.

They were walking in blind, for the most part.

Blind and injured and at a disadvantage.

They didn't have time to stop to recover though, so their current conditions would have to do. They'd pushed through before (albeit with a smaller group), and they would do so again.

Xander's group still hadn't arrived, so they had that to count on in terms of refreshments or reinforcements. Having missed the battle with Hans' troops, Xander's forces would be in much better condition, not suffering from heat exhaustion or wounds as Corrin and Ryoma's combined forces were. Corrin's troops were in worse condition of the two, since they'd been not only fighting for longer, but travelling in the lava fields for longer.

Of course, their second set of reinforcements were not guaranteed. Robin had never received word back from Xander. The scouts he'd sent out earlier had not spotted anyone other than Hans and Ryoma's forces. But there was a chance Xander was on his way, and for the sake of Robin's sanity and the group's hope, he decided to continue moving on as if Xander would reach them before they made the jump.

He had made backup plans in case Xander didn't show, but he'd rather not have to enact them. All he could do was trust in Xander's ability to make sound judgement and realize that his father was some sort of evil tyrant and that the strange, translucent soldiers he'd seen were trouble, and that it would be best to try to defeat them at the source before they managed to get the drop on his country.

Xander seemed reasonable enough. He'd probably listen.

At least, with Leo's help. From what Camilla said, Xander, while intelligent, was a little too loyal.

"He's not entirely blind to Father's actions," Camilla had told Robin sometime not long after he'd met Xander, "he just turns away from them.

"I suppose it's more like he blinds himself. He sees something he doesn't like and pretends that it's just temporary, or that perhaps he's overthinking things, or that nothing is wrong at all. He can't completely convince himself of it though. No matter how hard he tries. I watch him do it and I watch how much it hurts him to feign ignorance and to pretend everything is okay and that Father isn't the monster that he has proven himself to be the last few years. And it hurts, in a way, but I've never been very successful in convincing him otherwise. For a moment, perhaps, but not permanently.

"Leo's similar. He wants Father to be good even if all evidence points away from that. I'm not sure if he actually remembers the way Father used to be, or if he just thinks of the Father that Xander would tell him about, but either way he knows that that man is long gone. That the 'Father' we know today has been corrupted beyond repair. He'll acknowledge it far faster than Xander will. He'll notice the small things that Xander tends to shove away before he can process how distorted they are. The longer he stays around Father and the worse Father becomes, the harder it will be for Leo to continue pretending things are fine. Xander might be an impenetrable wall, but Leo isn't. And if Leo is somehow convinced to abandon Father… With Elise and I already gone, I think that'll be the final push necessary to get Xander to go too. Leo's smart. He can win an argument with a brick wall. If anyone can show Xander that the Garon on the throne is no longer the Father he loved as a child, it's Leo, with his logic and evidence and stubborn streak.

"So if you're going to aim for anyone, aim for Leo. That's your best chance."

Thinking about Camilla's words, Robin felt bad for her. Having to deal with not only Garon, but the way her siblings tried to delude themselves? That had to take a toll. Add on the false happiness she showed for Elise, and it all came down to one extremely unhealthy family. Pretending like that did nothing good for one's mental state.

Robin looked around for the woman. She was with Beruka and Selena. He heard Odin and Laslow's names mentioned, which meant they were probably talking about Xander and Leo. That was another strategy they could use to convince the prince's to come. Convince the retainers to reunite with Selena, and there was a chance the lieges would follow. Even if proper procedure said things should go the other way around.

The small moment of rest was nice, even if it wasn't going to last. If they were going to rest, it would be best to get out of the terrible environment they were in first. But they still needed to gather the energy to leave, so Robin and Corrin had decided to give everyone a minute. Hinoka had agreed.

Robin still hadn't spoken to Ryoma, not had he seen the man for more than a few seconds at a time.

At the moment, he was somewhere over with his men. Robin couldn't see where in the group the man was, despite his distinct armor. He must've been lower down than those between him and Robin. The ground was uneven in the area, after all. It wasn't just a flat surface with fissures. The terrain was rough all around.

Ryoma broke from his men about a minute later, walking over to Robin. He was frowning.

"So you're the one that's led my sister so far away from our country," Ryoma said.

Robin returned the frown. "You're acting as though this is the first time we've met. And I wouldn't say I led her. She split from you before I ever saw her. It's more accurate to say I've been the one to follow her around. She and Azura have made most of the decisions where to go. Along with a few other people… but my aid hasn't been in choosing destinations. Just battle plans. I had and have no plans to steal your sister away from you, if that's what you're so worried about. Corrin or any of the others."

"That's true. Still, what are your reasons for helping her? Even if it seems like you support Corrin, there's the reason of why that hasn't been answered yet."

"Because I had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go when I met her, and now I've realized she's a pretty outstanding person with good intentions and I don't want to leave."

"...So you joined her out of boredom? Out of uncertainty?"

"Sort of. There was a little confidence mixed in as well."

"That's…"

Ryoma looked like he didn't know what to say. His brows were drawn together slightly and he had tensed slightly. So Robin saved him the trouble of trying to come up with a response.

"Look, the full answer is a lot longer than just that and I know you want to hear it, but as I said before now isn't the time to start spouting that story. I can tell you later, but for the moment we need to get out of here." Robin paused to look around once more at the various people sitting and standing around the area.

He continued. "I don't know what kind of pace you were driving your own forces at, but those of us with Corrin have been walking for several days straight, including several hours today, and we were fighting for about twenty minutes before you even arrived. None of us are in top shape anymore. You can feel the sort of temperatures we've been dealing with. If it's alright with you, I'd like to have everyone move over in that direction-" Robin pointed toward where he knew the canyon was "-so we can rest somewhere a bit cooler and regain our strength. It might seem a little harsh to push everyone to walk so quickly, but it should improve recovery time in the end."

Ryoma nodded. "That's fine. I'm not particularly enjoying the heat either, and I'm sure my own men would rather be out of it, so I'll talk to them." He paused again, crossing his arms and taking a breath. "But first, whose army do you fight for?"

Robin frowned, his brows drawn together. What did Ryoma mean by that? He thought it was clear already. And he'd already said he wasn't going to give the full story at the moment, if that was what Ryoma was looking for. So Robin mimicked Ryoma's actions and responded. "Look, if this is some kind of attempt to get me to confess I working for the Nohrians or something, you're not getting the answer you're looking for. I don't work for them. I fight for Corrin and her cause. If that happens to align with Nohrians, then I might do something to benefit them. But right now I'm just doing as she says. If that answers your question."

Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "And the troops who fight with you? Who do they fight for?"

Robin's frown deepened. He was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Ryoma's questions weren't making sense. Who else would they be fighting for but Corrin? Was he trying to get Robin to announce Azura as the leader of the group or something? Was he trying to blame the betrayal of his blood siblings on the only other option that wasn't related to him by blood?

"Robin?" Ryoma pressed on.

Robin blinked and uncrossed his arms, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I fight for Corrin. They fight for Corrin. All of us you see here that aren't Hans' soldiers or your own are part of Corrin's army. Does that make sense? I don't really know what else I could say about this. Do you want me to give some sort of longer name to make sure this is the right Corrin? I don't know her surname, if she even has one. I've only known a few people with one, and she hasn't given me hers if she has such a thing. So we all fight for the Corrin who as far as I know is your younger sister, and that's as detailed as I can get." Robin huffed, slumping his shoulders momentarily. He then realized he was being terribly rude and straightened, shooting his hands out of his pockets to shake them in front of him in a gesture that hopefully conveyed innocence, or a wish show his earlier actions weren't ideal. "O-of course I'm not trying to say that your questions are bad questions. Or to be impolite. Sorry, the heat is just getting to me, probably. I've got a lot of things on my mind right now, and all this fire and smoke isn't doing wonders for my filter and processor, you know?"

Ryoma coughed a little.

Robin swore he felt the blood drain out of his face. He'd messed up somehow, hadn't he?

"Uh, that is, what I mean to say," Robin stuttered, "is that, with all intention of being polite, all of us here are fighting in support of what Corrin wants, and take orders from her. Sure, I help guide her sometimes and give suggestions, or may take charge on the battlefield, but she's the one who has the final say in things. Unless she specifically tells me to make the final decision, but even then it's because she asked me to, and not because I took charge from her. So it's still her decision that's making us do things in the end, if that makes sense. Just, they're sometimes things that I came up with rather than things she came up with, so-"

"Uh, Robin," Ryoma said, reaching a hand toward Robin's arms which were waving about as he gestured rapidly (and probably excessively, he was fumbling with his words and not quite sure what to say because the question confused him and if he was being honest he didn't feel very good). Ryoma made gentle contact with Robin's left forearm, but didn't grip it very hard. It was more like Ryoma put his hand on Robin's arm with a very loose touch to push it down out of the way. "Thank you for your explanation, that works just fine. And I'm sorry for giving such poor questions. I'll admit I didn't phrase them very well. I was just trying to figure out the extent to which you considered this your army versus Corrin's, and wanted to do so by hearing your take on the leadership and loyalties within your group. I've heard from Reina how much influence you had, and wanted to make sure you weren't acting like it was your show, and that Corrin wasn't just a side piece. She's my sister, and even if she made a decision I didn't agree with, I still love her and want to make sure she isn't being manipulated."

"I could be lying to your face," Robin blurted. He then cringed. His normal filter wasn't working at all at the moment. Maybe the heat really was getting to him. His coat felt heavy, and he was starting to get nauseous. And sweaty. It would probably be a good idea to speed up the conversation and get a move on.

"Ha!" Ryoma bellowed, more a shout than a real laugh. It startled Robin enough to make him jump. Ryoma then put his hands on his hips, a huge smile on his face. "I suppose you could be, but I'd hope you wouldn't do that. And there was the chance that you'd be bold enough to say you were the leader to my face, in which case I'd definitely know things weren't as they seemed. But you're either smart enough to lie, or good enough to not need to, so either way I'm reassured, if that makes sense."

Ryoma kept smiling and Robin just stared. Slowly, Ryoma's smile lessened into a more neutral expression, but not before he winked at Robin.

Robin had to use all his strength not to let his jaw drop.

Who was this man? What kind of personality did he have? He could be formal, but kind, and awkward too. He was all over the place! Or maybe it was just Robin that was all over the place. Yeah, it was definitely Robin who was all over the place. Possibly both, but definitely at least him.

There was something about Ryoma that tickled the back of Robin's mind, but he couldn't figure out what. Some sense of...familiarity.

But where did that come from? There was no way Robin had met him before, outside the one time during the battle with the Invisible soldiers. It couldn't be the way he dressed. Ryoma's outfit was very...unique. Although Robin had seen a few men in Chon'sin dressed in garb that held a few similarities to Ryoma's, so it wasn't entirely foreign. But that wasn't it. It wasn't his hair either. The closest Robin had seen to it was probably Azama, but Ryoma had let his grow down long rather than tall. Or maybe he was thinking of Lucina? She had longish spiky hair. It was blue and not to the level of length or spike Ryoma had, but it was sort of in that realm. Would Chrom have had hair like that too, if he'd ever grown it past his shoul-

"Oh!" Robin exclaimed, slamming his right fist in his left palm. "That's it!"

Ryoma blinked a few times, looking confused. Or lost.

Yes, that really was it!

"What's it?" he asked, the confusion evident in his voice; something that only made the similarity stronger.

Robin nodded, and thought to himself.

'I see it now, it's Chrom! He reminds me of Chrom! His voice is similar, and he has a similar way of talking when he's confused or in an awkward situation! Not when he's confident, but when he sounds lost or unsure of something, that's definitely a Chrom voice I hear. The famous Chrom confusion voice! And a bit of the look Chrom would take on too. Not the same but… when he uses that voice it's close enough to spark my memory. Man, when I thought I had finally escaped him too...,'

Robin let out a sad chuckle and rubbed his head. Ryoma's confusion morphed into something that looked more like worry.

"Excuse me, but what's it? Seriously. Are you feeling well, Robin? Do you need to get out of the heat? I'll go talk to my men, you wait here."

Ryoma put a hand in Robin's shoulder for a brief moment before taking off, leaving Robin alone.

Robin tried to shout something back, but couldn't think of what to say. He sighed and rubbed his temples.

Ryoma's words echoed in Robin's head, and he decided he should probably get a move on too. But before he took a step, Grima's voice entered his mind once again.

'Why is your mind so dominated by thoughts of that man? Thoughts of Naga's chosen? He's gone now. Why let him mess with your mind when you're so far away from his influence? Or his presence, at the very least. Unfortunately his influence appears to have lasted a long time, and over a great distance. You should move on to more current matters. More important, less annoying ones. '

"Oh shut up," Robin whispered. "Chrom was my best friend. I'm allowed to miss him. And it wasn't as if I was trying to look for signs of him. I happened to have a conversation with someone who brought back a few memories, that's all."

'I wouldn't call that a conversation so much as a stream of whatever unfiltered thoughts came to your mind while he stood there unsure of how to deal with you. Conversation has at least a bit more intelligence and two-sided speech than whatever you just participated in.'

"I don't agree with that statement!"

'Which one? I made two.'

Robin grit his teeth. "Stop being such a jerk, you… jerk!"

'Oh wow. How creative. You have an impressive vocabulary. My vessel is truly an intelligent man.'

Robin opened his mouth to respond, but ended up choking instead, as some of the smoke in the area had drifted toward him and caught in his throat.

He coughed a few times, pounding his chest in an attempt to catch his breath. Which wasn't a very good idea, when he thought about it, but he was distracted. It really seemed like the world was trying to kill him, either by embarrassment or by smoke inhalation. First there was Ryoma- or rather first there was Grima, and then there was Ryoma and sort of Chrom, and then there was Grima again, and then during his conversation he started choking on air. A lot was going on and he was probably half delirious from the heat and dehydration. His judgment had seen better days, and he just wanted to crawl in a (cold) hole.

"Hey, Robin?" Corrin asked, surprising him as she suddenly appeared out of the steam to put a hand on his shoulder. "It looks like it's time to go." She nodded over his shoulder to where he and Ryoma planned to move. He could see Ryoma and his men lined up and already on their way, several of Corrin's troops following behind them. Others were making their way over. "Ryoma came over and told me you'd suggested we get a move on so we could relax somewhere a little cooler, so I told everyone to follow him toward where you'd pointed out. You looked a little distracted and I didn't want you to accidentally be left behind."

Robin looked at the departing troops, then at Corrin's face, then at her hand, and then back at her face.

"Ah, yeah, I said that. Thanks for checking up on me." He lifted her hand from his shoulder and moved toward the rest of the troops, quickly shuffling away from Corrin. His embarrassment hadn't faded and the nausea was still there (as was a headache that Robin was pretty sure Grima had somehow caused just to spite him, since he'd done that before with all the Naga references), and the last thing he wanted was Corrin getting a good look at him and pointing something out.

Corrin then took a few huge steps forward to catch up and locked arms with him at the elbow.

She leaned in close to his ear, keeping pace with him. With her new shoes, she was just a tiny bit taller than him, so when she tilted her chin toward his shoulder she was in perfect speaking position.

"You don't have to pretend you're okay, you know. It's fine to say you're not feeling well. I don't want you to overwork yourself trying to maintain some unsustainable image. Just because you're in the lead doesn't mean you have to show you're all powerful or untouchable or anything," she said.

"But I'm-"

"Not alright. I saw you fall earlier, and burn yourself on the ground. I only saw your face for a split second before some steam got in the way, but you looked like you were in a lot of pain. And when I talked to Felicia a moment ago about the types of injuries and people she'd healed, you weren't among them. Plus...you were just talking to yourself a moment ago. About some kind of weird stuff. Like you were arguing about something.

"Sometimes you get this look on your face like you're thinking hard about a plan and make a similar face to the one you were making, but you almost never say things out loud while you do it, and you never sound like you're, well… Like I said. Like you're arguing with another person who's really getting on your nerves. And even if you sometimes get caught up in your own mind you usually don't end up so deep you don't hear me calling for you. I don't think you're okay, Robin. And you're allowed to admit it. At least to me, please?"

Robin took in a deep breath to prepare his retort, but found he didn't have a good one. He could truthfully oppose her last statement, and say that he did end up so deeply caught in his own thoughts that he missed what she was saying on a semi-frequent basis, but what good would that do other than to make her upset at learning he zoned out during her speeches? It wouldn't boost her self confidence. It'd make her think he didn't care about what she said, most likely. He had enough experience talking to her about her self-image that he knew that wasn't the path to take.

So he exhaled slowly before taking in a new deep breath, slowing down slightly. Corrin kept with his pace.

"Look I know you're worried about me, but I'm f-"

'You are not fine and I can feel it. Don't lie. I'm tired of you pointlessly destroying this body by stretching your limits for far longer times then they ever should be.'

Robin coughed into the elbow not locked with Corrin's and continued what he was saying. He noticed Corrin's brow furrow in worry. "I'm tired and a little injured and not quite in top shape, I suppose, but I should be okay after some much desired rest. Sorry for worrying you, and thanks for the advice."

She tilted her head to the side so she could look at him, now speaking in a regular voice rather than a whisper. They were far enough behind the others that no one would overhead them with the gurgle of lava and rush of wind and other conversations going on.

"So you admit it then!?" Corrin sounded almost excited. Robin must've made a face at that because Corrin looked down and blushed. "What I mean is that I'm glad you're being honest with me. I feel like you'd become a little colder lately. More shut off from me and Azura and the others." She made eye contact with Robin again. "So I'm really glad you could tell me that."

Corrin smiled, and Robin responded with a smile of his own.

"Yeah. I'm glad I could be honest too. I'm sorry if I haven't seemed myself lately, or if I've been distant. I've just had a lot on my mind."

Grima scoffed in Robin's mind. 'If? It isn't "if" Robin. Your friend already stated that you were. Don't bring doubt to a certainty she presented. That's rude. And don't you think you're forgetting to thank someone? The person who motivated you to be honest?'

Robin shook his head, hoping it would make Grima go away. Maybe with his head moving about, Grima would tumble around in whatever space in Robin's mind he occupied. That could make him shut up.

'It will not, and I will not because of that.''

'Whatever. I'll talk to you later. If you want me to be honest with Corrin you're going to have to give me a chance to talk to her and not constantly interrupt our conversations.'

'I suppose so.'

"Hey, are you still in there?" Corrin asked. She gently knocked on Robin's head.

"Yeah, yeah, I am. I have a little bit of a headache and it's throwing me off. The burns and the heat must be getting to me!" Robin responded with a laugh.

Corrin's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

"What for?"

"I hit you on the head while you had a headache! That's not a very helpful thing to do. Jeez, what a friend I am…"

Robin tapped her head back. "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Now let's speed up a little so we don't get left behind. The last thing I want to do is lose sight of everyone in this place. Especially when there's still lava and stuff that might pop up and burn me, and I don't have any potions. You don't have a hidden staff on you that you could use, do you?"

"No I don't, sorry!" Corrin said, shaking her head. Her voice was light and she was grinning, but Robin could sense the tension still present.

He hummed in response.

Corrin then reached for his face, surprising and confusing Robin. What was she doing? Flicking him?

His question was answered when she grabbed the edge of his hood and threw it back, letting it fall around his neck. Suddenly the air felt much less stuffy.

"I noticed you put that on in the middle of the battle. Was that really the smart thing to do in such a hot place?"

"Azura suggested it, to keep any sparks or lava and such from burning my neck."

"Well you don't look burned anywhere above the collar, but you do look like you were standing in the rain or just dunked your head in a stream, so I think it's time to take that off and take a breath of fresh air."

"Fresh air? In this place?"

"It's fresher than whatever you were getting under there. It should help you clear your head."

"Mm. Thanks."

"No problem. I don't want you passing out on me now. I don't want to embarrass you by having to call Benny over for help carrying you because you fainted and I don't think I could carry you without partially dragging you on the ground and singing the tops of your boots."

"Why, how considerate."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't really a compliment"-'That wasn't exactly a compliment.''

Robin tripped a little at the alignment of his and Grima's comments, but kept walking. They could think the same thing on occasion. People did that all the time. People without shared head-spaces.

He cracked a joke about how he really had to stay awake now to protect his boots since they obviously weren't in top shape given he'd tripped to try to keep Corrin from worrying. She seemed to accept it.

They walked on.

Robin felt a sense of foreboding he couldn't place.


Author's note:

Ryoma is a hard character to place. I like him, but he shows different sides in his different supports and in the main story, which makes it difficult for me to write him. I hope he's acceptable. And as for Chrom, he really does remind me of him in more than just his voice. They're definitely different characters, but he has a little bit of that awkward confused Chrom charm that I love, that mostly only comes out in supports. Other than that, I think the biggest challenge here was writing Robin at the end and Grima. I rewrote the last one or two thousand words and revised dialogue a bunch of times to get the right tone I was going for, but it's still a bit messy. When I go over this fic, when I'm done, I think I'll change some things about my initial depiction of Grima. Same general idea but... Well you'll see if I ever get there. Next chapter is Xander time. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. It was a reviewer who got me writing this fic again after not touching it for two months. It means a lot.

Originally posted February 1st, 2019. Word count: 10,475, not including Author's notes.

Until next time, Mariyekos.