Sorry it took so long to get this up, I actually only started writing this a week or two ago when I realized how long it had been since I updated (I had two separate ideas for this chapter and ended up asking my husband what I should do, to which he responded that this one was far more within my style of writing)...I never had any intention of that happening, I just got distracted. I have a basic plan for at least the first part of the next chapter, so hopefully it won't take so long. Hope you all enjoy, read and review.
She wished there hadn't been any blame to place, that everyone could just understand what she had done was for the best...but life was never so simple, and she could never forget how hard her life had suddenly become.
"We thought she was in a coma!" Robin awoke to yelling, her foggy mind taking several moments to realize the voice was Chrom's.
"It was the best way to take care of her!" Henry? Oh gods, they were fighting, and over her! She had to get up, had to stop this!
"It's been a week and a half, we were all afraid she was going to die!" The king responded angrily as the tactician tried to move, only for pain to flood her body at the attempt and stop her...just as expected, she had pushed her body far beyond what she should have in the last fight and now her wellness had regressed.
"And if your little distrustful hypocrite of a child had managed to keep herself out of danger we would have shown Robin was awake in a few days!" The argument was obviously upsetting the dark mage, as he was resorting to harsh words rather than his usual cheerful tone.
"Don't bring my daughter into this!" The sword-user had openly contemplated killing the white haired boy when they had first met him, and the orange haired teenager refused to let him regress to those sorts of thoughts again.
"Thanks to your princess not noticing the danger Robin is weaker and sicker all over again!" The closed eyed boy hissed back.
"Stop!" The black eyed teenager called out, quickly followed by a coughing fit as Owain and Morgan helped her sit up. "H-Henry..." The robed boy immediately backed down at his name, walking to her side.
"How can you just act like nothing happened Robin?! They kept you away from us, we thought-"
"I-it was my i-idea." The cloaked teenager cut her friend off, quickly taking the blame onto herself.
"Robin..." She could feel everyone staring as the blond prince softly said her name, she hated to lie...especially to the Ylissian royals, after everything they had done for her, but her once travelling companion's place in the Shepherds was still new and frail which meant they couldn't risk the others wanting to get rid of him.
"I-I needed time t-to heal, i-if you a-all knew I m-may wake up a-at any t-time...i-it could d-distract you in b-battle. I-I couldn't r-risk that..." A logical reason behind the decision, one of the several the child-like teenager had thought up when her little 'doctor group' had mentioned they wouldn't be telling anyone else she was awake. "M-Morgan is m-my son...m-more than c-capable of b-being the tactician f-for a bit. O-Owain also told m-me that I-I've taught h-him some strategy a-and tactics when h-he was young...I-I decided you w-would all be fine." Her voice was soft now, so she hopefully wouldn't start coughing again.
"You trusted our LIVES in the hands of two children?" Lon'qu questioned, eyes slightly narrowed.
"M-most of you s-still think I'm a-a child. That m-makes them no d-different." Robin pointed out, taking a deep breath. "Owain, a-at least, has s-seen battles lost o-on a f-far larger scale than o-our war...h-he understands things w-we couldn't hope t-to, they all d-do. Morgan m-may be sweet a-and childishly o-optimistic at times, but h-he's smarter and m-more mature than most o-of you give him c-credit for." She subconsciously held her breath, hoping the others would just drop this argument now.
"...What about Henry?" It was the blue haired man who asked, because of course it would be.
"C-Chrom..."
"Why was HE allowed to know you were awake but not us?!" This question...the tactician had an answer, though at hoped not to use it.
"Henry w-was looking after Morgan w-when I woke u-up the first time. I-It was just luck." Henry had made it a point of keeping their connection from the group, and while she didn't know why the black eyed teenager would follow that wish...despite that her words sounded insulting to her own ears, of both him and the rest of the Shepherds.
"Why was he suddenly taking care of Morgan anyway? He didn't seem to care before." It seemed her best friend intended to keep pushing for answers...she sighed.
"Because Morgan i-is his SON Chrom. M-most of you were a-already married when we f-found your ch-children...he h-had barely met me, o-of course h-he was overwhelmed a-and scared to s-suddenly be a-a father, he's s-still FIFTEEN. B-but Morgan needed a p-parent, especially with me s-sick. He t-took his place a-as the father...a-and I'm grateful, b-because it's b-better late than n-never." The pigtailed girl explained, giving a sad smile at the king. "I-I'm glad you a-and Sully took t-to being the parent o-of teenagers so well Ch-Chrom...but we a-aren't all as brave a-and strong as you." The man opened his mouth again, only for his nephew to cut him off.
"Uncle Chrom, I humbly request you hold thine questions for a later date, Robin needs her rest." The blue eyed prince said, kneeling down to pick her up.
"...Why is it them?" The adult sword user growled, receiving a blink in confusion. "You're always thinking, and always keeping things to yourself...no matter how hard I tried you would never confide in me, and I told myself you simply didn't talk to others of your thoughts and feelings, I forced my worry aside because I thought you couldn't HELP it. But the moment THEY come along you're more than willing to spill your thoughts out!" Chrom yelled suddenly, his friends all taken aback by the outburst.
"Chrom-"
"Don't try to give me excuses Robin! By the GODS, we thought you were going to DIE! My NEPHEW shows up and suddenly HE'S privy to information that I'M not?! You don't even KNOW him, you don't know ANY of them!" He was getting madder and madder.
"Chrom, that's-" Lissa couldn't stand them fighting, trying to stop her brother but he ignored her.
"Henry ACTIVELY ignored you, made you look like you were going to CRY and left you to take care of Morgan ALONE just because he was AFRAID! But that's all just FORGIVEN because he tried to assure him you would be OK?! WE ALL DID ROBIN!"
"I-I-" Robin was trying her best not to start crying, but the tears had begun gathering in her eyes.
"I'VE BEEN WITH YOU FROM THE BEGINNING, I TOOK YOU IN, BUT YOU WON'T TELL ME A DAMN THING! FOR THREE YEARS I HAVE STOOD BY AND WATCHED HELPLESSLY AS YOU PUT YOUR OWN WELL-BEING ASIDE, BECAUSE GODS-FORBID YOU TALK TO THE PEOPLE YOU ACTUALLY KNOW CARE ABOUT YOU! HE DOESN'T DESERVE YOUR FORGIVENESS ROBIN, DON'T YOU SEE THAT?! WE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE HERE FOR YOU, WE ARE THE ONES WHO UNDERSTAND YOU, BUT YOU REFUSE TO LET US IN! AND I'M SICK OF IT!" The tactician reached out as the king spun around and stormed off, her lip trembling...she didn't have the strength to go after him, but it wouldn't have helped even if she could, because she had no defense against what he had said.
"Chrom!" The war cleric called her brother's name as she ran after him, Libra following his wife without a word.
"...Damn." Sully cursed softly, going after the royals. The child-like woman could feel glares burning into her, even though her carrier had picked her up bridal style and blocked her view of everyone with one hand...she knew his cousin would be glaring, but the numb part of her mind wondered who else was.
"I apologize Robin." He murmured sincerely into her hair as he carried the orange haired teenager to her tent, her son and the dark mage close behind.
¬NF¬
"Robin, please...don't take what mine uncle said to heart. He is merely concerned for you." Owain tried to assure her as he softly placed the tactician on her bed. Her fingers immediately tangled themselves in her cloak sleeves, fiddling with them but the child-like teenager likely didn't even notice...she had been getting better about her nervous habit, usually pushing through any anxiety she felt...but the black eyed teenager could only handle so much, and all she could do was hope this wouldn't be her breaking point. The small body trembled with barely contained emotions, and the breath she took in sounded far shakier than she had hoped.
"I-I know." Robin gave a smile so forced it made the three males feel sick, especially with the tears she was obviously trying to stop slipping down her cheeks...it was clear to each of them that she was trying SO hard not to breakdown. Morgan opened his mouth, trying to think of something to say that would make his mother feel better...his father suddenly sat on the bed beside her, drawing everyone's attention. Without a word the white haired boy wrapped his arms around the teenager beside him and pulled her into his lap as she made a startled squeak. "H-Henry-" The dark mage turned her so her side was against his chest, pulling at the knees of the pigtail wearer until her feet rested on his own and her legs were against her chest.
"Shhh." He hummed in a soothing manner and any further questions fell flat, without missing a beat the myrmidon carefully pushed the head of orange hair so it fell to the shoulder of the boy holding her, giving a soft smile of comfort to the older. The arms of the closed eyed boy moved to encase the black eyed teenager, around the back and knees, giving another soft hum as he placed his chin on the top of her head.
"H-" She felt safe like this and it confused her, the voice that rumbled things she didn't want to think about was silent in her head. Before the cloaked teenager could even begin properly asking what was happening she had been cut off by the robed boy starting a gentle rocking motion.
"Shhh Robin...your cage will protect you. It's ok." Cage? Why did those words sound so familiar? "The outside world can't hurt you anymore. These bars will bind you, protect you, and ground you." Her eyes widened at the mumbled almost mantra, remembering that she had heard his voice and these exact words when she...the three here referred to it as 'losing control'...but these words, this voice, was what had guided her back. Robin's bottom lip trembled, and suddenly she couldn't hold back the flood of emotions. The fingers that had been against her sleeves tangled themselves in Henry's shirt, her head turned away from the time travellers as she began to sob into it. He merely continued his humming and rocking, as though he had expected this to happen...if she wasn't so consumed with sadness she may have thought that he had, or perhaps even planned it.
"C-Chrom...everyone...I-I never meant...f-for them...to f-feel...like I-I...don't c-care..." The tactician stumbled horribly over her words between desperate gasps and sobs.
"It is not thine fault Robin. It took more than three short years for you to reveal to me thine plight...thine past, though not accessible to you, still controls much of thine ability to open up." The blond explained softly, taking up the humming as the one holding her began to speak.
"And it took a lot longer than three years for me too...and I was rather persistent about trying to help you." Henry stated, letting his heartbeat calm her along with everything else.
"These people are your family Mother...I'm sure they understand that you can't help it." The younger tactician assured.
"B-but then...then w-why...?" She hiccuped, the crying not faltering in the slightest.
"Why open to us then, when this you has never met us? Because the way we speak to you, treat you...you already know you've opened up to us before, even without the memory." The dark mage had known her the longest beyond her their son, but the other two doubted he knew anywhere near the amount they did...the orange haired teenager said nothing else, crying until she ran out of tears. She moved so that the side of her head was against the white haired boy's chest again, her far hand still gripping his shirt as her body relaxed...she felt numb now, her emotions exhausted and calm. Owain smiled as though the event had caused him to be reminded of a fond memory, while his fellow time traveler looked almost amazed at how his parents were acting. "Try to get some sleep Robin, you deserve it." At the words black eyes slid shut, the owner asleep in moments.
I ended up going for Chrom becoming emotional due to thinking Robin was going to die, then his worry for her and her tendency to bottle up her thoughts from anyone but these three people who have rather suddenly shown up gets the better of him. "Why does it have to be them" sort of thinking...with no memory Robin has clung to the members of the Shepherds as family, especially the Ylissian royal family, making her all the more upset with herself that more people than just her best friend likely feel the same way as him. Hope you all enjoyed, see you soon.