Hey look, I finally finished this chapter! Yay! That...actually didn't take as long as I thought it would, luckily. This chapter is around a thousand words or more shorter than most of the chapters, but I was expecting it to be, due to it having to be written from Robin's perspective. I don't know how long until I write out the next chapter, but I have a basic plan for it so hopefully that'll help. Anyway, hope you enjoy. Read and review if you can!
She couldn't believe that she had forgotten how crucial control was for her, especially of her emotions.
Robin's carrier let her down once they reached the foot of Mila Tree in Valm, finding their enemy around it and trying to get to the manakete on top. Say'ri was obviously panicking, which made sense considering they were going to try and kill what amounted to a demi-god to her people.
"Say'ri, calm down." Chrom said, placing a hand on her shoulder before gesturing to his tactician. "Robin will come up with a plan." He assured the Chon'sin princess, as said child-like teenager's eyes scanned the battle field. Fliers, axes, bows, swords and some thieves with a general as their leader; one of the Pegasus knights was holding a beast killer, putting any riding units or those like Panne and Nah in obvious danger...currently three bow users, which their fliers couldn't approach...the falcon knight with a mend had to be gotten rid of quickly.
"Chrom, Sully, focus on the warriors." Owain relayed the order for her, the king and queen nodded.
"You got it!" Sully smiled widely, exuding confidence...she may be no good against axes but she was more than capable of protecting her husband.
"Maribelle, focus on taking down that falcon knight with the mend, use Elwind or higher...Vaike goes with her, make sure you don't lose your axe, help her take out the pegasus knights after that before focusing on healing."
"Of course Darling." Maribelle agreed, pulling her own husband onto her horse.
"Say'ri, please protect Lissa as she deals with the last falcon knight, then she will focus on healing just like Maribelle."
"I would be honoured." The black haired princess bowed slightly before moving to her assigned place.
"Olivia, we'll need you to dance, it looks like reinforcements might show up if we take too long. Virion, keep everything off her."
"But of course!" The grey haired man had no reason to complain, this was basically always his job...he understood when to attack and when to retreat, after all.
"Cynthia, Lucina...the bow knights and snipers, Lucina will distract them while Cynthia swoops in."
"Can do!" Cynthia looked proud to be brought into a fight, and while sending her after those who could shoot her down may seem like a poor plan she had the blue haired princess to keep their attention from her.
"Everyone else, back to the caravan." The blond prince gave the order, but knew full well that he wasn't expected to follow it, just as Henry wouldn't ever just stay at the caravan.
"Morgan, t-to the caravan." Robin repeated to her son.
"No." Morgan disagreed, shaking his head in response and refusing to move. "I'm not leaving you alone anymore. I'm helping, I'm fighting too." She had never heard her son sound so resolute, so determined...so confident.
"Morgan, she won't-" The young myrmidon was trying to talk 'reason' into the white haired tactician, he must have known how scared the younger boy's mother was of having him fight...but she couldn't hide him away forever.
"Stay b-behind me." It was hard, but she would let him fight...just so long as she could keep an eye on him. The battle started, everyone doing as they had been ordered, with the four who had not been given orders working to take out the rest of the enemy...flames snaked across the tree's branches, freaking out most comrades and enemies alike, but served to keep the enemies where the child-like teenager wanted. The sounds of metal clashing and spells being cast filled her ears, an odd sense of calm washing over her...she controlled this battle, no matter what the opposing general thought.
"Morgan!" The calm was shattered at the sound of her son's name being called, red eyes snapping to him just in time to see the time travelling blue eyed boy deflect a short spear that would have skewered through the innocent black eyed boy. Suddenly all she could hear was the thundering of her heart in her ears, everything around her felt so warm and the thought of being without him after the time they'd spent together was...unacceptable.
"G...ack..." The orange haired teenager heard a voice her mind recognized as Lucina call something out in a panic, but she couldn't make out the actual words...her senses were becoming fuzzy, it was hard to focus on anything now, though her mind was running into overdrive. She could feel her flames moving, trapping the enemy and becoming pillars to catch those pesky fliers...if they cried out as they died she couldn't hear them, didn't really care to either. Her vision had become a pure, bright red that somehow seemed to shift around despite no other colour or shade in view now, her cheeks felt odd as that red vision somehow felt like it tripled. Fire was snaking up her body, covering her like some sort of armour, yet it never burned her or her clothing.
"Your blood and bones will be ash for this. I will not allow the attempt to spill the blood shared with me, all those who try must be punished." The pigtailed teenager didn't realize she had spoken, her voice echoing deeply in her own head...it sounded so much lower, louder, and unrecognizable, she couldn't understand how it sounded so calm when she felt this all consuming rage. A step towards the spire that now engulfed the Valmese army, raising the hand that had once held her Elfire tome...the cloaked teenager could feel the flames become hotter and flare up in response to her movement, but even that odd sixth sense was beginning to fade. No longer could she see, hear, smell, taste or feel...the five senses that grounded her to the world had become numb, and it was even becoming hard to think.
Why...am I still fighting? Robin wondered, feeling...exhausted. Is that even...what I'm doing? Fighting? But why fight in the first place? She felt like she was slipping into unconsciousness, but it felt different from when she fell asleep or worked herself too hard and her body forced her to rest...this felt comfortable, warm and overall pleasant...why would the tactician disagree when she was finally getting the rest she deserved? Just...a few minutes... It's not like it would hurt, nothing could possibly hurt the black eyed girl when she felt like this.
"...bin..." A...voice? That was wierd, she couldn't hear anything a moment ago. Suddenly her back and waist felt too hot, like they were on fire, but she couldn't move. "Your cage is here Robin, it's ok now." Cage? What cage? She wasn't some bird...was she? Was the voice even calling out to her? She couldn't remember her name, or even what she looked like anymore. "The outside world can't hurt you anymore..." Had she been hurt? Was that why she couldn't remember anything, could barely feel anything? "These bars will bind you, protect you, and ground you." The voice sounded so familiar, so calming...she wished she knew who it was. "Life is just so GRIM without you, remember?"
Henry... The name came to her immediately, only he would make such a joke; Robin hated them, they made her uncomfortable, but that was what made her recognize the dark mage...she tried to laugh at the irony, but it came out as more of a dry chuckle. The extra heat the pigtailed teenager now recognized as his arms around her and chest against her back moved to six circle spots on her back, three sets with a circle on her right and left side each; one barely below her shoulder-blades, one just above her hips and the last right between them. The flame armour covering her must have begun to recede, because the cloaked teenager was beginning to become cold. She tried to keep awake despite how utterly exhausted her body felt, with her ability to think having returned she couldn't help but worry her friends had been hurt during whatever had happened to her, but the moment the cold fully covered her she was asleep.
If you have very little clue as to what is going on in this chapter don't feel bad, it's MEANT to be rather confusing because neither does Robin. To put it simply Grima was taking the life energy of the people she was killing to give her his six eyes and wings before taking over (there wasn't nearly enough to get his full form back), with the comfortable and whatnot feeling of 'unconsciousness' being her control of her body...luckily Henry managed to get through to her and she fought back control subconsciously thanks to him. Of course her body really IS exhausted after that, so she ended up losing consciousness anyway once she fully got control of her body back. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and see you soon!