For those who enjoy music for scenes, cue Obokuri-eeumi, by Ikue Asazaki, to be played starting at the *
To Be Human
Tiny streams of water wove through the dozens of stacked pillars around the wide cavern. Deep red-orange light streaked from the entrance, setting sun twinkling from behind rustling trees to glimpse every pillar, each a set of stones balanced precariously on one another. They varied in size and shape, some waist high and others towered over men's heads, though most fell somewhere in between. Each looked centuries old and about ready to topple at the slightest breath. No one knew who'd been the first to begin the tradition, some say monks made a pilgrimage to this sacred shrine and built the little towers when they'd arrived. Others believed it to be the work of something more supernatural, to be able to keep the stones from falling for so long. Regardless, here they'd stood collectively for more years than humans had memory of them, a monument to the shrine and a symbol of its eternal.
Robin flew through two of them, stones scattering about the cavern knocking others off balance.
"Robin!" Lucina shouted, making a dash in his direction before being tackled by a thug.
The big man laughed as he held her knife aside, stopping when a rock smashed his jaw. Lucina dropped the improvised weapon and sprung to her feet to engage his companion as Robin groaned, standing and seeing two more men bearing down on him.
"You guys are really pushing my rule against killing," Robin warned them, raising his arms awkwardly to avoid bumping into the towers.
One thug grinned, pushing down a set of stones as he approached.
His grin was short lived as Robin raised an arm to expel fire, flames weaving around the towers to engulf the man. He ran screaming for the streams, knocking aside other towers.
"Your turn," Robin threatened the other, raising his arm in intimidation and giving the man ample time to flee. The attacker didn't move, glancing to the entrance and back to him with a grin.
The flash of movement out of the corner of Robin's eye caught his attention, and he turned. Almost in slow motion, the world growing silent, he saw the arrow coming. Too quickly to respond to.
"Alright your turn," Robin grinned as he ducked under a branch in the forest path, morning sunlight providing patches of warmth between the pleasantly cool air of the shade.
Lucina stopped ahead of him at a fork in the road, shaking her head. "I'm afraid I have no funny stories."
"Oh you know that's not true, come on just think of a time you laughed."
"I don't laugh."
"You laugh with me."
"You know those stories."
Robin sighed when he caught up to her, "You can't take life so seriously you don't have time to laugh. Look, even now you're walking at legendary-speeds. We'll get there soon enough, and then we'll lament about the time we were walking through that one forest enjoying the morning and wish we'd spent more time there. Smell the trees, look at these colors! This is the last time you'll ever stand in this exact spot, isn't that worth remembering?"
"Which path will take us to Mila?"
"Nope," Robin refused, and moved in front of her, "Not until we make some progress on this front. Smile."
"We don't have time for this, Robin. Say'ri is waiting for us," Lucina spoke sternly, folding her arms.
"C'mon, you can't laugh until you know how to smile."
"I know how to smile."
"Prove it!"
"Robin," her expression set. "You are wasting time."
"I'm spending time, with you! It's important to know the difference. Now smile."
"No."
"In the time we've spent arguing we could already be on the way."
Lucina showed her teeth and gestured to the path impatiently, and Robin rolled his eyes before doing a double-take.
"You have perfect teeth," he stared but she closed her lips.
"I can't see them."
"Like, 100-percent straight and even and everything."
"How can you account for the life history of everyone in a room before meeting them and not notice my teeth?"
"Maybe I would have if I'd ever seen them before..." Robin shook his head, "No, don't distract me with your pristine dentition. I demand a smile. Think of oceans‒!"
"Full of leviathans."
"Kittens‒!"
"Who won't survive without mothers."
"Friends‒!"
"Risen."
"Me!"
He caught her off guard, drawing out a reserved smile before she covered her mouth with a gasp.
"Oh, that did it?" he asked, grinning at her.
"No." She stared at him, straightening her expression quickly with a tinge of red to her cheeks.
"Why are you lying? I make you smile, that's a good thing."
"It really isn't," she muttered under her breath.
"Hm?"
"Nothing. I've smiled; now, the direction?"
Robin gestured, and she turned to continue the trek without another word. He frowned after her, sighing and making down the path.
Chrom knelt beside the remains of a home, wind billowing dust around the former village square as Shepherds picked through rubble. He used Falchion to push aside a layer of ash before blowing the excess to reveal a piece of coal. He tapped it a couple times before breaking it in his hand. Cool throughout. The razing happened days ago.
Eventually, if someone did come back to this place, they'd find nothing left to come home to. Lives were uprooted by every war, refugees left with nothing but their lives and the clothes on their backs. Though the army was here to liberate, the guilt of being unable to protect so many weighed on him.
"Sir," Frederick's voice drew his attention and he stood, turning to see the scouts arrive in the village clearing, pegasus wings kicking up great torrents of ash as they landed.
Cordelia dismounted, approaching to salute Frederick. "The surrounding area has been cleared, no signs of Valmese, or natives."
"No bodies?" Frederick asked, taking her field report and giving the map-sketches a once over.
"Nothing, sir. As though the villages and towns were razed for no reason other than mass displacement."
"It doesn't make any sense," Chrom muttered, scratching his chin. "The population will flood the capital in droves and strain resources, spread sickness… This is probably the worst‒"
"‒tactical thinking I've ever heard of!"
The giant sat motionless in his throne, sun cascading from the high windows above them onto the youth gesticulating her anger before the long steps.
"You want to quash the resistance, so you flood the capital with refugees? Giving them motivated recruits and means of infiltration?"
"What would you have done, let them continue to hide in their holes like rats?" Excellus sneered, bead of sweat betraying his tone as he watched the shadowed throne, "My plan set them back weeks of scheming, now they have to rebuild their houses instead of attacking our supply lines and ambushing our patrols!"
"But they're not rebuilding houses, you codpiece!" The girl spoke condescendingly with raised eyebrows to emphasize, "Why would they, when you've given them free passes to our doorstep?"
"So close the gates," Excellus licked his lips nervously, not taking his eyes off the tall-backed chair at the top of the stairs, "Don't let anyone else in‒!"
"And give the Ylisseans an army of peasants pissed at us for burning their homes for no reason!" She strode up the steps to address the throne while Excellus stepped back, speechless, "My lord, wars aren't won by good tacticians ‒ they're lost by bad ones. Anything I do to push us forward is undermined by this eggplant's outright sabotage. If you keep letting him make decisions, we will lose this, with or without my help. But I'm not lifting another finger until this mouth-breather is out of a job!"
"Y-you see, milord," Excellus scoffed, hesitantly moving onto the steps, "You see how she makes demands, gives you orders‒?"
For the first time in what seemed like days, the throne creaked. Sunlight glinted off the deep red armor as the giant shifted, metal plates clinking into place as the figure stood to its full, considerable height.
Heavy boots descending one stair at a time, though the giant only seemed to grow taller as he approached.
The man stopped before the girl who faced him, craning her neck to stare into the unreadable expression. Her jaw set, and she tried standing taller. An admirable effort, though her head didn't even reach his breastplate.
The boots turned slightly, taking the stairs at an angle in a line to the quivering Excellus. The shadow extended over his sniveling form and his knees buckled, cowering before the giant even stopped before him.
"My lord, please, I have served you with nothing but loyalty! P-p-please let me live!"
The girl watched with trepidation as the giant waited patiently for Excellus to finally raise his greasy head. She didn't care for the man. At all. But she was pretty sure she didn't want to see whatever came next.
"You have been with me since the beginning, Excellus. You know the workings of our forces, our history, the grand design. You have knowledge she does not, but you are inferior." The giant reached forward, hand waiting. Excellus hesitated before pulling the tactician's signet from his finger, depositing the ring in the gauntlet. "You will answer to the new sole tactician of the Valmese military. You will not issue orders, command, or otherwise affect her decisions beyond your role as an advisor. If there are any reports of insubordination by you, you will die. If any harm comes to her, you will die. If she fails… You will die. Is your purpose understood?"
She stared, not realizing how right she'd been. She didn't care for this, at all.
"Y-y-yes m'lord, thank you m'lord!" Excellus sniveled and tried to kiss the crimson steel but the giant was already turning away. Excellus wiped his eyes, sniffed and scuttled away down a dark corridor like a cockroach.
The giant approached and the girl looked up with hesitant anticipation, forgetting it didn't matter what her expression was.
"So I'm like… In charge now?"
"Effective immediately. You'll be recognized at sundown before the legion. Wear… What seems appropriate," the giant's eyes wandered over her shoulder, and his stoic mask broke so that the very corner of one side of his lips could crease upwards slightly.
"No time to change, there are about a thousand combat doctrines that need to be rewritten!" She saluted him, fist to her chest before dashing away to the study. "And no more razing!"
"Well that's good for us, then, right?" Sully sauntered over to the small circle, wrists draped over the spear resting across the back of her shoulders, "Shitty tacticians make wars easy."
"Don't be careless. A tactician isn't carrying an arrow with your name on it," Cordelia reminded her,
"You never hear the one with your name on it, anyway," Sully replied, but Cordelia's eyes were on Frederick's. "See?"
Chrom cleared his throat and they looked in opposite directions.
As absolutely prohibited, ignoring fraternization was easier when they weren't doing it directly in front of him.
Sully grinned, spitting to the side as she moved on to check on her unit. They'd set up just outside the village and she spotted some tending gear, others playing a game, flipping coins into a distant bucket. She let them be. They were at rest and would be back to the march soon enough.
"See, you wanna wrap it twice-lengthwise, or it'll sag off the sides and fall off," Stahl explained patiently to a recruit who scratched his head.
"Gee, these knot-tyin's pretty complicated. How come you're so good?"
"Give it some time, Donny. You're still fresh," Stahl grinned as Sully approached, dismissing the new rookie.
"I thought you'd be wearing that badge of green honor a little longer, but they grow up so fast," Sully sighed, dusting off Stahl's shoulder.
"He's a quick learner, I think he'll go far with the Shepherds," Stahl watched him go and turned to her with a wry smile, "Farther than me, anyway. Once this war's over I'm out."
"The conscript, who made it to training new Shepherds, and then left to get fat and lazy."
"You're talking like the war's over already," he chuckled, watching Donnel join the others flipping coins.
"It will be, soon enough," she sighed, "We're pushing through the countryside faster than our supply lines can keep up. At this rate we'll be knocking on Walhart's door next week. Maybe we'll get to see a siege, but these things usually end in negotiations."
"You sound disappointed."
"I don't train to watch people negotiate." She shook her head and looked at him. "But this time next month you could be a free man. A lazy, fat, free man. Probably married with a sulky kid that's into poetry and wearing black..."
Sully thought for a moment, planting her spear in looking around with a frown. "Speaking of those things, I haven't seen Tharja in a few days."
When he didn't answer she followed his gaze to where Cherche stood some distance away, clearly waiting to speak with him when he was finished. He glanced at Sully but she tilted her head towards Cherche.
"You hittin' that?"
"W-who?" Stahl stammered, staring at her, "Am I‒What?!"
"You heard me," Sully met his gaze evenly, "You nailing her?"
"Am I nailing her?"
"This isn't how questions work. I ask, you tell; we don't just keep asking questions back and forth. Let's do this again: are you two humping, copulating, exchanging bodily fluids, playing hide-the‒?"
"Yes okay stop! I understand you, just… Stop talking. Please. Ma'am." He blushed profusely, looking to Cherche imploringly, but she simply smiled from the distance, unwilling to intrude or knowing better.
"Hmph." Sully followed his gaze, narrowing her eyes as she looked Cherche over like a father assessing his child's choices in life. "I guess she's pretty. For a civy."
"I'll uh… Tell her you said that…?" he requested, taking a half step towards the path.
"If you take her out I want the horse back by midnight!"
He grinned, passing her to join Cherche and the two walked in the opposite direction.
Sully sighed. They really did grow up fast. The fat little cherubs with their love-arrows had been busy.
"You really never hear the one with your name on it..."
Trees rustled in an afternoon breeze as Lucina paused in the middle of the path. She sniffed the air, tilting her head to get the general direction as Robin caught up.
"Sulfur," she announced, pointing through the trees down the hill.
"Huh," Robin answered catching his breath, untying his flask to take a drink and handing it to her, "Should we check it out?"
"No. Let's keep moving."
"Kay, I'm gonna check it out."
Lucina said nothing, watching him with a resigned expression as he descended through the bushes. She should have known better than to stop. When he disappeared through the bushes and there was no chance of him seeing her disapproval she took a drink from the flask, tying it around her waist and folded her arms.
Since her possession two days ago, she'd kept her distance from him as best she could, but the pretense of making their deadline to Mila was barely half and a shrinking portion of the equation. The unspeakable truth was that since that night, her thoughts weren't her own.
She caught herself staring after him if he walked ahead, so she took point. She realized the more they talked the more she appreciated his wit and humor, so she walked fast. She couldn't even look at him without remembering his arm around her in the abandoned house, shadows flickering across his face as her head tilted, possessed body leaning closer towards an irrevocably life-altering direction the mind had already accepted. So she stopped looking at him.
In short, she didn't trust herself anymore. And the longer they remained together the more dangerous she felt the situation becoming. Every time she held back a laugh, a smile, a stolen glance, she felt her heart pound harder. The emotional dam being tested. One moment of weakness was all it could take for it to crumble.
She would not be what she was, and that frightened her. More people than had ever existed depended on her being the paragon of justice, bringer of hope. She couldn't be just… Human.
And that's exactly what Robin reminded her she was. In her time she was humanity's hope, in this, nothing more than an assassin. But with Robin, she was just Lucina. A girl who was allowed to laugh and play and feel.
She'd told herself that this was her sacrifice, the burden she bore so others didn't have to. She wasn't allowed to have the things she wanted for other people.
This creed shaped who she was.
Emotionally distant, slow to anger, and laugh.
Stoic in the face of hardship, and joy.
Numb, to pain and pleasure.
None of those words described her interactions with Robin. Her weeks with him had shown her more of life than the last two years of this world, and the damnable taste of intimacy was something she couldn't get out of her head the last few days. The way he made her feel brought elation, tempered only by the ache of realization that it could not be.
She had to be more than human, to slay a god.
"Lucina!"
His urgent tone snapped her to attention and she listened intently for signs of danger.
"Come quick!"
She dashed down the slope, sliding the last few yards with her hand on Falchion as she pushed through the bushes towards his voice.
Bursting through the foliage it took her a moment to search for the cause of immediacy before realizing there wasn't one. Robin sat facing her at the edge of a large steaming pool, bare feet slowly sinking into the lapping water. A small waterfall emerged from the rocks to his right, hot water pouring into the pool sheltered on all sides by thick trees and bushes. It was a hidden oasis in a forest of vibrant life. He grinned at her as she stared at him incredulously, rolling his pants up to lower more leg in.
"Robin," Lucina breathed, voice shaking to maintain control, "We are in a hurry."
"We are?" He stared at her blankly.
"Say'ri is waiting for us! In Mila! Still another day's journey from here!"
"Exactly, we have a whole day until we're late‒ okay I can see you're angry," he explained quickly as she strided around the large pool towards him, "But you will feel a lot less aggressive once you try this water. Say'ri said these things have healing properties? I can already feel my blisters mending."
She didn't stop until she stood over him, hand on her belt. He looked up at her uncertainly. After a moment he cleared his throat.
"Okay I don't really know who's supposed to talk first‒"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because we probably won't ever be here again… And the water feels really nice?"
"I must resume my search for my father's killer," Lucina stared at him in disbelief, "Because it literally, cannot be you. You don't have the attention span to throw the world into chaos, and I believe luck is the only force that has managed to keep you from impaling yourself on your spoon every morning at breakfast."
"Lucina… That was funny! We must celebrate, let's enjoy the hot spring correctly."
Robin began to remove his cloak before catching her raised eyebrow.
"Well you can't go in like that," Robin gestured at her as though she were being ridiculous.
"We're not sharing a bath, Robin," she stared at him in wonderment, clearly uncertain when he thought they'd become so close.
"Why not? You've already seen me in the shower."
"But you haven't seen me, and it will remain that way," Lucina asserted firmly.
"Honey," he sighed exaggeratedly, and she stared at him, "We're married now. It's going to happen eventually."
"We are not married."
Robin frowned in consideration. "So that's what that feels like to hear… Anyway, you seem stressed about something. What's up? I promise the water will help."
Lucina groaned and turned to leave when Robin called after her.
"Okay, okay wait..."
She turned to see him wading towards her through the center of the pool that came up to his waist. He watched her for a moment before looking down.
"You've been… Distant. Ever since the abandoned village, you seem frustrated, you won't look at me anymore. I guess I've been trying to get a rise out of you because I miss how things were before." His eyes came back to hers, but she looked away.
'Me too…'
"Something happened there that's weighing on you, and I wish you would share it with me. I told you before, I'm with you, and I'm not going anywhere."
The earnesty of his voice made her meet his gaze, and her heart skipped an aching beat. Her yoyo-ing with her own feelings was confusing in her own mind, she couldn't imagine how it felt for him. Her behavior was easy to decide on an island, but here, faced with another's perspective, she realized how unfair this was to Robin.
She took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts before giving them voice, and not daring to look at him.
"Anyone I've ever cared about in my life was taken from me. I'd forgotten how quickly it happens‒ but there in the village, just like that… You or I could have been gone."
"So before I get taken you're gonna push me away?"
"Before you get taken I need to master myself," Lucina corrected, frowning. "If you were taken, I need to carry on, and I fear I'm not strong enough."
Robin grinned, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't be modest, that'd be the entire world off your shoulders."
"That's not funny," Lucina uttered, closing her eyes. "Don't ever speak like that again."
Robin blinked, smile fading. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're going through, but I want to help. So… Tell me what to do."
"You don't need to do anything, Robin, I just… Need some time."
"To distance yourself from me?"
"To be prepared to lose you."
"Or take me."
Lucina straightened, finally meeting his gaze. "Or take you."
Robin nodded slowly, taking another step closer. "I'll make you a deal, Lucina. After our travels I've been forced to admit, you aren't a psychopath. I've grown to trust your judgment. If a day comes when you decide the fate of the world rests on my own, I won't resist you. I won't run or fight, you have my word."
Her expression grew tense at the prospect but he continued, "If you stop whatever this is you're doing. This isn't living, and I want more for you. Yeah pain hurts, but if you can't feel pain you can't feel happy, and I really want you to be happy, Lucina."
It could have been the steam but his cheeks looked slightly flushed. She looked away. There it was again, that throb that yearned for more. She hadn't experienced much "happy" in her life. Finding her mother's wedding ring in the ruins of Ylisse castle; seeing her father in his youth again; holding Robin's arm as he slept; those were moments that stood out. Lucina wasn't sure she deserved more than what life had already given her, but Robin wanted more. So did she.
Lucina looked up to meet his gaze, and nodded.
He half-grinned. "So no more ice queen, or keeping me away?"
"I'll do my best."
"Shake on it," Robin demanded, holding his hand out towards her.
Lucina knelt, leaning forward to reach for him and spotting his stance. She straightened, slow smile matching his. "Are you trying to pull me in?"
"You wound me!" Robin exclaimed, hurt by her lack of trust. "I can't believe you think I would abuse our tender moment for the sake of some childish‒!"
He tripped on a slick stone, stumbling towards the edge of the pool, head plunging towards rocks as Lucina caught his arms.
"Robin," she breathed, shaking her head at his carelessness, "You have to be more‒…"
She'd looked up and caught his expression, his hands fastening on hers.
"Robin. Robin," her voice rose in volume as he took a step back. "Robin, no. Stop it, don't‒!"
But she was in an awkward position that offered little leverage, and as he stepped towards the center of the pool she was forced to inch forward. "Falchion!"
He acquiesced one hand so she could fumble with her scabbard, pushing the belt down her hips quickly and redoubling her efforts to free her trapped arm.
"Robin!" She called out one last time before leaping towards him like a cat avoiding water.
Robin laughed as he caught her, water splashing around them as she stood on his feet trying to keep as much of her body above the waterline as possible.
"Fear not, Princess! I won't let you drown," he reassured her, arms around her waist as she strained for the edge of the pool and he pivoted to keep it out of reach.
"This is not my idea of fun, Robin!" she scolded, glaring down at him, cheeks burning by how easily he lifted her.
"Oh fun is rarely something you plan, it's in the moment!" Robin chuckled, sinking to his knees so she would be further submerged. "Feel the water gently lapping against your skin… Or clothes. Feel all your aches and pains ebbing‒!"
She dunked him, finally freeing herself from his arms as he released her waistline. She grinned until his hands reappeared at the back of her knees, pulling her in and sinking her another level deeper with a yelp.
Robin's head broke the surface, wiping water from his face and locating her directly in front of him. He grinned, taking in the mane of hair floating with her cloak behind her. "'If you never did you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.'"
Lucina's glare couldn't be maintained, and holding back a smile was too much. The water did feel nice, and as usual Robin's spontaneity disarmed even her most serious of ruminations. She didn't understand why she'd ever want to distance herself from him, his joy for life, his touch…
"W-what?" she asked, noticing him staring at her.
Robin seemed to realize he'd been caught and blinked, "N-nothing."
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing! You just have… a really nice smile," he grinned boyishly and looked away. "It's cute."
Lucina didn't know if she'd ever been called that before, let alone to her face. It made her stomach flutter, though that could have been the proximity to him. She silently wished he'd lift her again, if only to feel his arms around her waist.
With a pang she realized this was exactly the kind of dangerous thinking she'd vowed to avoid. This was the dam she was gleefully punching more holes in, daring it to hold against the lifetime of repressed feelings straining against it.
But this was also… Happy. Fun was not so bad.
Ripples created by their necks radiated out, disappearing into steam. Beneath the water her hands flowed, enjoying the warmth, and felt his fingertips graze against hers. Her automatic reaction was to pull away, but when she returned to the same spot his were still there. She was slower to pull away a second time.
"H-hey..."
She looked at him, trying to make the physical contact seem unintentional, but he seemed to have something else on his mind.
"I'm really happy I got to know you."
Her fingers found his once more. She left them there, cheeks warming as she met his gaze.
Rustling up the hill made Robin pause, and after a moment she moved to retrieve Falchion, resting her hand on its hilt as the foliage right before them shook.
A disheveled man emerged, staring at them in relief.
"Thank the gods, I thought I heard people. I need help, my family is trapped in a cave in the mountains!"
"How far?" Lucina asked, rising from the pool as Robin followed. "What happened?"
"Up the mountain path, not far from here! I went out to hunt and when I returned brigands had moved into the cave, my family is still inside!"
"What were you hunting with?" Robin asked, pausing wringing out his clothes and looking the man up and down.
"I-I dropped my bow when I saw the bandits," the man answered, flushing with shame. "Please, don't let them hurt my family."
Lucina turned at Robin's touch. He jerked his head and she drew aside.
"This guy seem weird to you?"
"He seems desperate, Robin."
"This isn't some adventure game. People don't just happen to find us at the exact moment they need help."
"You think it's a trap?"
"Please, the longer we wait the more danger they're in!" Robin looked over her shoulder at the man wringing his hands, and raised his eyebrows thoughtfully.
"He seems genuine. But I'm not feeling we're getting the whole picture."
"We'll see the cave. If it looks suspicious we'll discuss it there," she suggested, fastening her scabbard and looking to his nod before turning to the stranger. "Lead the way, quietly. They may have scouts in the woods."
The man exhaled in relief and turned up into the bushes, Robin quickly air drying his feet before donning his boots. Lucina came up to the path they'd parted from, crossing it into the brush on the other side.
"We're not taking the path?"
"N-no, they may be watching the road."
"How many?"
"I couldn't count, I saw half a dozen outside, and heard more inside the cave."
"Hold," Lucina commanded as they entered a clearing, listening for Robin. The brush behind them was quiet. "Robin? We're in a hurry, hike in wet boots if you have to."
The lush forest around them was hilly, foliage limiting visibility in all directions. Lucina didn't like it. They needed to move together, it was far to easy to get separated.
No sooner did the thought cross her than rustling came from behind. Then ahead. Then the sides. Lucina spotted the stranger backing away shaking his head.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Men emerged from the trees around her. Lucina snarled, drawing Falchion with a flourish and taking a stance to strike at any angle an attack came from.
"Easy there, girl," a voice came from behind, and she looked to see a pair of men holding up Robin's unconscious form. One had a dagger to his neck. "Someone could get hurt."
Almost five hundred men stood, shoulder-to-shoulder at attention in the great hall. They were ordered by rank and remained perfectly still as a teenage girl stumbled from a side corridor to the steps leading up to the throne. She straightened her dark robe and stood taller, marching to the center of the steps where the giant stood. He looked in her direction and turned to the men, expression stern. Then his deep voice boomed out, echoing around the great hall and turning all eyes to him.
"Centurions… There have been whispers, of late. Rumors, that The Conqueror does not hear the cries of his people. That I do not know of the undead that claw our walls at night, or of the rebellion that stalks the shadows, or even the eastern warriors who press from the sea. That I don't understand the plight of Chon'sin, or that we're even at war."
The giant stepped onto the marble floors, echo resounding through the silence.
"To these whisperers, these… Malcontents, I say this…" He gazed out over the heads of every centurion in the hall, waiting for his own echo to die, "I am War."
He stepped forward suddenly, boots almost cracking the marble but the men before him didn't flinch.
"We are soldiers, and we understand casualties. And make no mistake, we are at war! A war victory paramount; greater cause unfathomable. The cost of defeat… Our species."
He looked out again, expression hardening. "Our enemies are without number. The rebels use darkness to snuff the light we bring, the Easterners expend their greatest warriors to dull our blades. They do not know the greater threat looming over us all. The poison already in our veins. They do not know that the undead merely wait, for the moment when we are all broken... Defeated... Isolated. So they may consume what remains."
He turned back to the stairs, "I believed our mission too vital to be trusted to any one mind, yet I have seen the error of my ways, and what it has cost us. One body cannot be commanded by two minds. From this moment forth, the Legion will be commanded by one voice!"
"Hoo-ah!" the centurions barked in unison, echoing.
"One mind!"
"Hoo-ah!"
"The sun of the warrior has set," he shouted, pointing to the high windows where the orange light disappeared beyond the mountains. "Rise now, the dawn of the soldier!" He saluted, fist over chest.
"Hail! Walhart!"
"Our enemies may be legion, but we are Legion!" he bellowed as he turned to salute the girl who stood proudly beside him, her large eyes brimming with hope. "Hail! Tactica-Primus Morgan!"
Without hesitation the centurions saluted, echoing as one:
"Hail! Morgan!"
"...so, so sorry! I had no choice, if I didn't bring you they were going to hurt my family!"
"We would have protected your family," Lucina growled from somewhere beside him. He heard her shifting from where she sat, bound.
Robin's eyes opened, adjusting to the dim cave they sat in, feeling his own hands bound behind him. Towers of stones stacked precariously around them. The sun was beginning to set past the mountains outside, casting them in orange light as wind whispered through the trees. The back of his head throbbed, and he vaguely recalled following the man from the spring, through the woods, and a brief ambush. Then all went black.
"Quiet, old man, and get. If we see you or your family again…"
But the footsteps were already tearing out the entrance, men laughing at the departure.
"Robin, you're okay," Lucina breathed and he blinked at her.
"My head is killing me, but yeah besides a mild concussion I'm sure I'm fine."
"Boss was very specific, he said: 'If you find the right man, keep him alive.'"
"I'm sure your boss is always looking for the right man," Robin muttered, spotting Lucina fumbling behind her belt and buying her time. "I'm just surprised I'm worth the trouble. Ask anyone, I'd make way less of a mess if I were dead. Pretty much everywhere I go gets ruined."
He sighed, looking around. "So… Not boding well for this place."
Lucina's ropes severed, Robin turning for her to slash his bindings before the first brigand was on them, taking Robin's boot to the knee before falling on Lucina's knife.
Robin yanked the body off her and stood to catch the next attacker, keeping the sword arm at bay while lighting the man's long greasy hair on fire.
Lucina lunged forward, feigning a stab which made her opponent leap back as she switched grips and threw the dagger into his neck. She guided an incoming swing into a pillar of stones, grabbing a falling rock to smash the attacker's wrist, then head. Both men crumbled to the ground at the same time and the others gave her a wide berth, no one eager to mount the next offense as she retrieved her dagger.
Another man ran screaming for the pools in the back of the caves, knocking aside towers of stones as his clothing caught fire.
"Your turn," Robin threatened the other, raising his arm in intimidation and giving the man ample time to flee. The attacker didn't move, glancing to the entrance and back to him with a grin.
The flash of movement out of the corner of Robin's eye caught his attention, and he turned. Almost in slow motion, the world growing silent, he saw the arrow coming. Too slow to prevent his mind from racing, slipping into a memory he'd never had.
He opened blurry eyes, looking around the sunlit gardens. The tall green hedges provided privacy, but that wasn't why they met here. She liked the serenity of the soft grass, the trickling of distant fountains, the birds in the trees. And he liked seeing her happy.
"Robin? Are you well?"
He turned to see her watching him, morning sunlight catching her hair, large blue eyes full of uncertainty. He smiled at her, taking a deep breath.
"So… So well," he answered, rising from the stone bench to embrace her as she smiled in relief at him. "Unbelievably well."
"I feared you would…" she trailed off, shaking her head, "I do not know what I feared, but‒!"
She was silenced with a kiss. She smiled into it before they broke and she rested her forehead against his.
"Though…" he murmured.
She opened her eyes, catching the look of distant concern on his face as the sounds of birds faded.
"This probably means I should talk to Chrom sooner rather than later."
"You haven't told him?!" She slapped his chest lightly, staring at him.
"I've been meaning to, but something would always come up and I'd get distracted."
"What have you been distracted with?" she asked head tilted, arms around the back of his neck.
He answered her with a sly grin, and she rolled her eyes with another smile.
"We're telling him. Today."
Robin sighed, "I suppose that's better than him finding out he's a grandfather first… Which means we really should get started on that whole 'wedding' business..."
He broke their embrace to hold her hand and move towards the garden entrance when he felt resistance, making him stop. The unseen fountains went quiet.
"Robin…"
"Lucina." He smiled, but she just looked at him with dampening eyes.
"I never thought… This…" She took a shaky breath, "If someone told me where I'd be now, how happy I would be, right now, five years ago? I… Would have never believed another word they'd say again. The very idea that I… Would know this…"
She looked up to the warm sun as a tear escaped down her cheek. Robin smiled, closing the distance between them again and holding her tight.
"I love you so much, Robin," she whispered into his neck, "You make me so happy, every day."
"That's a man's job," he grinned, stroking her back, "To make sure the woman he loves is happy."
He felt her smile against him as footsteps approached. He looked up, mouth going dry as he saw Chrom poised at the corner of the next bend. He looked relieved to find them but unsure if he was intruding.
Chrom frowned, signing, 'She okay?'
Robin returned the Okay sign and Chrom nodded, mouthing 'I'll come back later,' before disappearing again. Robin pat Lucina's back. Maybe they'd been less sneaky than they'd thought.
"Shall we go deliver the good news to your father? That he'll be a grandfather before age thirty?"
"In a moment," she answered him softly, resting her head against his neck, "I want to enjoy being here with you awhile longer."
He smiled, resting his arms around her. When he opened his eyes the colors of the world seemed to have faded, degrading into shades of grey.
"As you wish."
The world was quiet now. He hadn't realized the entire time they were talking the sunlight was dimming until the only thing left was her, and him, in a spotlit patch of grass.
He had done everything for her. It was all for her. It would always be for her. Lucina was his everything, and he would do whatever it took to protect the woman he loved, and their unborn child.
Robin's eyes opened. "Huh."
The arrow punched through his neck.
The shock took a second to process but he was already feeling lightheaded. He gazed up the shaft, a straight line pointing to the shooter by the entrance. The blurry form silhouetted by the setting sun lowered its bow and smiled.
Robin stared around, world moving slower. Breathing strained. More men filled the room, sounds echoing dully in the cavern. Harder to breathe. The stream beside him swirled with a red droplet that stretched past his boot before being followed by another, and another, until a thick crimson flow created its own river beside it. He didn't know he had that much blood in him.
A voice made him look up to see blue eyes staring in horror.
The only thing he could focus on in the entire room. The two most beautiful, fearful eyes he'd ever seen, watching him drop to a knee.
"No!" she screamed, trying to sprint past a brigand who caught her around the waist. She spun, dagger sinking into his ear as another man grabbed her arm. She headbutted him, breaking his nose as two more ruffians wrestled her back and disarmed her.
"Take her with us, we could use some entertainment after this hunt," the leader bellowed to cheers and laughter.
"Robin!" Lucina called out to Robin as he shuddered, coughing silently. "Robin!"
He stumbled towards her, reaching forward to grab a pillar for support only to have it crumble and send him sprawling.
"You boys meet me out front, I gotta settle this score," the wiry bandit with the bow chuckled, setting it over his shoulder and limping into the room, through the city of tumbled towers, broken bodies and rivers of blood.
Streams bubbled quietly as a single boot met stone between echoes of wooden thuds.
Robin opened his eyes with effort as the shadow settled over him. The silhouette shifted and the sun fell across a familiar face.
"Vasto," the man reintroduced, perspiration dotting his forehead as he nodded politely before kneeling with a hiss. "I know, you probably didn't remember it last time we met, with all the screaming and butchering. Oh and the dragon, I particularly enjoyed that bit."
Robin mumbled, voice barely above a rasp, "...welcome."
"For what? For this?" Vasto spat, extending his leg for Robin to see the ankle ending in a wooden brace. "Oh yes, thank you. Such a generous gift you've imparted upon me."
He sneered as Robin gasped like a fish out of water.
"The healer that took me in said I shouldn't be up yet, but I've had my boys watching, listening, and when I heard you'd been found I came running."
Robin whispered something indistinguishable and Vasto panted, leaning forward over him.
"I don't know if I've ever been in this much pain before, but I wouldn't trade this moment for the world," Vasto wiped his mouth and exhaled a pained breath with a smile, "The others all called it quits, said they'd rather live the rest of their lives maimed than lose anything else. But I knew," he pointed, "I knew I'd find you again. I knew there was a reason I lived. Why stop what you're doing when you've already lost something? Might as well go all-in, so I rounded up some new boys, and… And here you are."
"Lu-cina…"
"Is that her name?" Vasto looked over his shoulder at the sounds of struggle outside. "Thank you for telling me, I'm sure I'll be calling it all night long in celebration. My gift, to you."
Vasto leaned in to flip Robin over, knocking aside his feeble arms and grabbing hold of the arrow to push it through the other side.
"A smarter man would have finished the job, with something so beautiful worth protecting…"
His words were fading, darkness closing around Robin's vision. Words turned to sounds, then nothing.
Whatever it takes.
Lucina's cry from somewhere distant roused him.
Whatever it takes, to protect Lucina.
Robin's eyes refocused on the cave ceiling, systems running on minimal reserves. He didn't need to be sustainable, just effective.
"Yes, cling on a bit longer. I need this," Vasto breathed, reaching to take Robin's shoulders, laughing as Robin's hand clumsily reached to rest on his face, fingers barely able to scratch skin.
"Oh-ho, are you going to make sparks? Or perhaps summon another dragon?" he mocked.
"... Something like that."
Magic took a great deal of concentration and energy to create, and Robin was hemorrhaging both. Vasto couldn't see the brand on the back of Robin's hand glow. Fel particles swirled the air, converging on his hand as his fingers against the skin glowed purple.
"This is new! Tell me, with your last breaths on earth, what will you muster your final energy to do?"
Robin's eyes met his, fingers finding purchase. "Whatever… it takes."
Vasto's eyes went wide as numbing cold sank beneath his skin, crackling of searing meat splitting the air and he stopped feeling the fingers against his face. Robin's hand had sunk to the jaw bone, the flesh between burned away in cold flame. Vasto scrambled back, feeling for his face when Robin grabbed his upper arm.
Like squeezing a stick of warm butter, flesh sizzled away until he was only grasping bone, Vasto staring in horror at the painless dismemberment. His mouth opened in a silent scream, scrambling back to put distance between them before Robin gripped his knee, devoured leg falling limp.
Vasto convulsed, body going into shock. But Robin wasn't done. Not until there was zero possibility of Vasto ever making a return as man or risen, that he would never pose a threat to Lucina in any form again.
Robin crawled over, taking what shallow breaths his wound would allow, and gripped Vasto's neck.
The convulsions stopped.
Robin rolled onto his side, spitting out a mouthful of blood and taking a labored breath.
The entrance to the cavern darkened, sun setting somewhere out of sight, a single star visible in the dimming sky. He wished he could have done more. Gods he was tired. Like he'd stayed awake for four days straight.
A figure appeared against the sky, two handed sword clattering to the ground.
"Robin!"
Boots rushed to him and he felt slick hands around his neck, trying to stop the blood flow.
"Robin, you're going to be fine," Lucina stated, nodding at him encouragingly to make herself believe it. "You're going to be okay, look at me."
Robin's eyes roamed over her bloodied forearms and taking in her appearance. It didn't look like the men outside would be interrupting them.
"Kay…"
"H-hey, remember what you told me: you're not going anywhere. You're going to stay with me, remember?" Lucina murmured, tearing his shirt to make a bandage. "You're going to be…"
He looked at her, eyes smiling as he lifted a finger to clumsily stroke a bang out of her face. He was glad she was okay.
She stared at him, shaking her head as her eyes watered.
"You're not dying," she declared through grit teeth, unable to keep her voice steady. "We have to go, Say'ri is waiting for us. We still need to find the others, right? C'mon, we need…"
Robin couldn't muster the energy to lift himself. It took everything he had just to stick around, just to be around her a while longer.
"I need you with me, Robin. I don't want to be alone anymore, you said you wouldn't leave me," she took a fist of his robes, holding him close. "So… So tell me what to do," she sniffed, trying to meet his unfocused gaze, but his half-lidded eyes began to close. "Robin? Robin! Tell me what I need to do!"
He was unresponsive, and her heart wailed in despair. Panic set in, denial that this was happening, fury at the world, fear of losing the only person she'd let past her guard, before she took a deep breath.
This wasn't the end yet. If he was alive, there was hope. If there was hope, there was a chance.
She blinked away tears, looking around the darkening cavern. No fire or miracles here. Healing magic was the only thing that could save him now. Where would she find healing magic? No healers so far from civilization. The land? What could heal...
Her eyes roamed over Vasto's body, and she stiffened. That was the mark of the Fel. What she'd deferred Robin's judgement for showing no signs of. What she swore to fight until the last breath left her. Which would have been much sooner if Robin hadn't saved her countless times before.
The sobering reality had finally come face-to-face with her ideals. She looked down at Robin, the culmination of her entire lifetime suddenly weighing against the last few months with him.
If there was an opportunity to secure the future she'd vowed to bring, this was its genesis. All she had to do was nothing, and the horrors she'd witnessed, the deaths, the killing, would never be. This was the moment she'd promised humanity.
And this was the moment she made the most selfish, heretical, traitorous decision in her entire life. A thousand vows, shattered as she stood. Promises discarded, meaningless as the breath wasted to make them, as she pulled Robin by an arm, dragging him towards the entrance.
She couldn't let him die. She was her people's hope, but he was hers.
The journey grew harder the moment they left the cave, slick stone becoming uneven dirt. She heaved, dragging his unconscious form past more bodies, knowing where she needed to go for there to be any chance of recovery.
Lucina panted, cuts and bruises paining every movement. She ignored them, leaning back to continue pulling, until she heard impatient stamping from the trees behind the path.
She parted branches to find the bandits' horses tied together, watching her warily. *
Lucina yanked on the reigns, dismounting hastily and sliding Robin from the saddle.
"Stay alive," she murmured, dragging him under the arms, "We're almost there, stay alive, Robin."
She pulled him down the slope, pushing through the bushes that scratched at her exposed skin. She heard the water behind her and didn't stop, stumbling into the waist-deep spring and pulling him in after her. Already she could feel the exhaustion of her legs fade, warmth easing into her flesh as surface wounds began to close.
"Stay with me," she pleaded, keeping his face above water and allowing his body to sink beneath the murky ripples.
Her heart pounded as she felt along his neck, sliding a finger under the bandage and holding her breath to quiet herself.
The faintest of pulses, barely breathing. But alive.
She refastened the bandage, holding it in place as she sank with her back to the edge of the pool.
Robin didn't stir, and she shifted her hands to cradle his head as the water lapped alongside his face. White hair flowed between her fingers, tickling her skin and she found herself sinking lower, hot spring easing her state of mind.
He had remarkable healing, combined with the spring's rejuvenating properties meant this was his best chance. She'd done everything she could…
The full weight of that meaning threatened to eat at her guilt but she thrust it away. This was her decision, and she stood by it.
The small waterfall bubbled beside her, warm water rolling past them as she pulled Robin's head to rest in her lap. Once he was secure she leaned back, spotting fireflies emerging from the trees to trail lazily overhead.
The ring of forest around them framed the clear night sky, twinkling stars emerging from the darkness as the full moon crept into view. Chill of the night was staved off by the steam, tendrils stretching for the stars as Lucina stared into memory.
She looked out of her bedroom window, full moon casting her in baleful light. Knees drawn up to her chest, sleeping gown pulled over her feet. A knock at her door made her look as a younger boy poked his head in, moonlight catching his straight dark hair.
"Lucina?"
She said nothing as he entered, turning to make room as he moved to sit beside her. He faced the room, she faced the stars.
"Why are you here?" she asked, wiping her cheeks to make sure they were dry.
"Mom and dad were… Visiting your mom."
He glanced over, averting his gaze when she looked at him.
"I'm sorry. Your dad was really nice."
She sniffed. It was quiet until she decided to speak. "I don't know why anyone would… How could someone..."
Her throat tightened and she stopped to clear it.
"We'll get him."
She looked over at his words. "What?"
"The monster that…" He swallowed, "We'll kill it."
"Don't be stupid," she huffed, looking out the window again, "There are no such thing as monsters."
"Yes there is," he muttered darkly, fingers tightening on the window sill. He looked at her, "But I'll protect you."
"I don't need you to protect me," she answered automatically, thinking of her father and throat seizing again.
They didn't say anything for minutes until he stood, trying to appear taller. "But I will."
Lucina looked to him. His being two years younger didn't stop the notion that it somehow fell on him and no one else to safeguard her. She reached out with a smile, ruffling his hair.
"Go to bed, Gerome."
He looked like he wanted to stay longer but nodded. When the door closed she let herself sob immediately, looking out the window once more.
Monsters didn't exist…
She didn't know how right and wrong she'd been. Monsters did exist, but Robin wasn't one of them.
Naga had warned this would come to pass, just before she entered the window through time. In her arrogance Lucina had doubted the divine, and now in an even greater showing she defied it. Did she truly know better? Every voice in her head screamed she'd made the wrong choice, except her own.
Most people were born into their fate. Lucina held hers on the day she returned, and chosen a second chance. This day she'd done the same. She couldn't begin to calculate the fates of those affected, what unknown future she'd decided for them all. The only thing she knew was that when she placed all those possibilities against Robin's life, the scales didn't tilt.
It wasn't a matter of owing someone. It was needing them.
Her eyes opened. The full moon was surrounded by stars, high above their window of the sky. Steam caught its beams, streaming down across the water and Robin's face. Grey eyes were watching her upside-down, familiar half-grin in place.
She blinked, staring. Her heart skipped a beat, rising in her throat. Her mind was frozen, heart a firestorm.
"Knew there was some way… To get you back in here with me…"
Lucina's mouth opened, silent gasp escaping her lips as words failed her. The dam of emotions dissolved, and she was at an utter loss to process them. Disbelief, joy, terror, ache, love, all swirled in a maelstrom inside her, vying for dominance, needing Robin to know them.
"See, how I lured you in before... And then took that arrow straight to the neck?" He swallowed hard, grinning at her knowingly, "All part of my master plan‒?"
He cut off as her lips pressed to his.