Author's note: This next story contains some inconsistencies with my other stories in this collection. Think of it as a What if?-Scenario. It takes place after Robin's sacrifice at the end of Awakening.

Alternate ending

Nothing. An endless stream of bleak black nothing. No light, no colors, no sounds, no feelings… Robin had no idea where he was right now or where he was going. If he was going anywhere at all. Maybe he would just spend an eternity in this strange world of absence. Did time pass in this world? He couldn't tell.
Somehow, through all the darkness and emptiness he heard a voice appearing out of nowhere.

"… to do something." Robin couldn't quite understand everything the voice said, but at least some of his senses came back. He noticed something under his hands. It felt like grass. Was he lying on the ground? He wasn't sure, since he still couldn't see a thing. Instead, he heard another voice answering the first one.

"Well, what do you propose we do?" Robin recognized this voice. He was sure that he had known this person once, but he couldn't tell who it was. His memory was still a little foggy.

"Oh… I dunno…" Suddenly light burst into Robin's eyes. He saw two figures standing in front of him. A very familiar looking young blond woman and a just as familiar sapphire-haired man, both of them smiling at him.

"I see you're awake now."

"Hey there."

All of a sudden thousands of memories flooded Robin's brain all at once. Chrom! Lissa! He remembered them! They were his friends, who had been with him through thick and thin, along with all of his other comrades among the shepherds. He remembered how they faced off against Grima, how he chose to sacrifice himself. He remembered seeing the sad faces of his friends as he disappeared from this world.

Did he manage to somehow come back? Was this real? Or did he actually die and was merely reliving all the memories of his life before he would move on to the next?
He noticed that Chrom reached out his hand. "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know. Give me your hand."

Still not sure what was going on, Robin took the hand and was helped back on his feet. He was still a little shaky, since he hasn't been standing on his feet since… actually he wasn't quite sure about the last time he has been standing upright. Chrom laid his hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Welcome back. It's over now."

Robin needed a moment to process what Chrom just said. Welcome back. These words were the confirmation that he needed. This wasn't just a memory that he was reliving, he really was back! All of this was real! Realizing that, Robin couldn't help but trap Chrom in a big hug. "Chrom, I thought I would never see you again. How am I still here? Did we win?" Before Chrom got a chance to answer, Lissa joined in on the group-hug.

"Yep, we were victorious. Grima is no more! And it is all thanks to you and your sacrifice. But now you are finally back and I can't even express how happy I am to see you again. Don't you ever pull something like that again. I missed you a lot Robin!" She happily exclaimed, tears of bliss rolling down her cheeks.

"Everyone among the shepherds missed you." Chrom added, while looking quite a bit teary-eyed as well, then he released his friend and his sister from their hug. "I always knew that you would eventually come back. It was only a matter of time until we would find you and seeing you again now was definitely worth the wait, no matter how long it took. It just feels great to hear your voice again after so long."

Chrom's words confused Robin. To him the battle against Grima and his heroic sacrifice felt as if they happened a day ago, maybe two. Yet he realized that he actually had no idea how much time has really passed since these events. "How… How long was I gone?" He asked, a bit uncertain.

Chrom and Lissa exchanged a worried look before Chrom decided to answer. "It's been almost a year since your sacrifice. But we never gave up hope that you would return."
Almost a year… Hearing these words gave Robin a sick feeling in his stomach. Had he really been gone for so long? He needed to sit down.
Chrom, who had noticed that Robin was overwhelmed by this news, tried his best to calm him down.

"It's okay Robin, the important thing is that you are back and well. It doesn't matter how long you have been gone, we will do our best to make sure you are caught up on everything and soon you can return to your normal life." Chrom reassured him in a comforting manner. "Don't stress yourself just because you missed out on a year."

Robin wasn't so sure if this would be as easy as Chrom made it sound. On the one hand, he felt like losing an entire year was something he should feel stressed about, but on the other hand, he should be glad that he was still alive at all. Besides, if he could manage to get used to losing his memory, then he should be able to adjust to the fact that he lost a year.

Suddenly Lissa took him out of his thoughts, by jumping up and down eagerly. "Oh, this reminds me! Happy anniversary Robin!"
Robin looked at her confused. "Wait… Today is my anniversary?" He asked and Chrom nodded in response.

Since Robin didn't know when he was born, he couldn't celebrate his real birthday, which is why Chrom and Lissa had decided that each year they would celebrate the day that they found him instead. If what they said was really true, then this must be his fourth anniversary since he had lost his memory.

"Happy Anniversary, Robin." Chrom congratulated him as well. "Actually, your anniversary is the reason why we are here in the first place. Even though you hadn't returned yet, we still wanted to celebrate today, which is why we returned to the place where we first found you. We were hoping that this way you would be with us in spirit, but we would have never expected to actually find you here. It was on this very day that we first met and I'm so glad that we don't have to celebrate this special day without you."

"Hold on. Are you saying that this is the place where you originally found me?"
Robin hasn't paid that much attention to the landscape until now, but as he looked around, he realized that the green fields that surrounded him looked very familiar. The hills and trees in the distance closely resembled the ones from his earliest memories. Even the flowers that grew around him looked the same. It was here at this place, four years ago, where Robin's life had truly begun. At least in a sense.

"This really is the place from all those years ago..." Robin commented, still having a hard time processing everything. As a strategist he was supposed to always be three steps ahead, but right now he felt like he was a mile behind on everything.

"Come, let's get you to the others." Chrom said and lead Robin to a nearby pathway.

As they walked towards the camp Chrom explained to Robin what happened while he was gone. After Robin's disappearance, Chrom had wanted to look for him all over the world, but after just a few weeks of unsuccessful searching he realized that he was needed in Ylisse.

Chrom apologized to Robin about not being able to look for him any longer, but as the ruler of Ylisse he had more important things to do, than to search for a friend, no matter how much he missed him. He also repeated that he deeply believed that Robin would return eventually, but Robin had trouble imagining that Chrom didn't have at least some doubts.

On the way to the camp, they bumped into Frederick, who seemed a little angry, because apparently Chrom and Lissa have decided to go for a walk without informing him, making him incredibly worried about their safety. When he saw Robin, he was quite shocked, but he quickly managed to find his posture again after Chrom explained what happened.

"To think that Lord Chrom found you on the exact same day as four years ago. This almost seems like a miracle. But of course, I am pleased to meet you again Robin. I assume you probably want to return to your position as Chrom's tactician, correct?" Frederick asked with a smile.

While Chrom and Lissa were overly excited when they saw Robin again after a whole year, Frederick acted still very formal, but Robin could tell that he too was very happy to see him again. Mainly because he couldn't remember ever seeing Frederick with such a big smile on his face. It looked rather out of place on the usually strict and grumpy Great Knight.

They soon made it to the camp, that Chrom had build up near the place where they had found Robin. Apparently, not everyone of the Shepherds was able to come here today, meaning that it was only Chrom, Lissa, Frederick and a handful of their friends. Robin recognized Sully, Stahl, Vaike, Sumia, Gaius and Henry. They were all overjoyed when they saw him and Robin could barely handle all of the attention that he was getting, as all of them were talking to him at once.

"Figured you haven't kicked the bucket just yet. You may not look like it, but I know you're as tough as they come. You're one of us, Robin, and we shepherds don't go down so easily."

"It is great to finally see you again, Robin. Are you hungry? You probably haven't eaten anything in months! That sounds like a true nightmare to me."

"Hey buddy, good to see you. Don't worry. The Vaike was taking care of everything while you were gone."

"Oh Robin, my flower fortunes told me you would come back to us someday and I'm glad that this day is today. Chrom was so worried about you."

"Heh, I knew you would be back, Bubbles. You're not the type of guy who would simply disappear like that."

"Nyahahaha! What's it like being dead, Robin? Wait, actually, don't tell me! I don't want any spoilers!"

It filled Robin with glee to see so many of his friends again, but he at the same time he couldn't help but feel like something was off. Namely the noticeable lack of black-haired dark mages running towards him and hugging him aggressively. He couldn't see his wife anywhere, which was very odd, since he had a hard time imagining that Tharja wouldn't come with the others to celebrate his anniversary.

Thinking about his wife made Robin sigh deeply. The thought of facing Tharja after his sacrifice scared him a little. After they married, he had promised her that he would never leave her, but he had broken that promise when he gave up his life to defeat Grima. A bitter feeling spread across his body as he remembered the look in Tharja's eyes when she realized what he was about to do. The mixture of shock, sadness and anger on her face still made him shiver.

But at the same time he was very much looking forward to seeing her again. He would beg for her forgiveness and do his best to make up for his broken promise. Even though Tharja was the type of person who could really hold a grudge, Robin was confident that their relationship could return to normal. Well, maybe not normal, that was impossible with Tharja as his wife, but return to how it used to be.

Yet no matter where he looked, he couldn't find his wife anywhere. He decided to ask Chrom about her.
"Hey Chrom, is there a chance that you know where Tharja is? I thought she would have come with you guys, but it seems she is not here."

Chrom, who was talking to Lissa at the moment, turned his head towards Robin to answer his friend's question.
"Tharja stayed in Ylisstol. We let her have a room in the palace, but she couldn't come here today, because…"

"Wait Chrom! Don't tell him!" Lissa interfered. "He needs to find out for himself."

Lissa's words made Robin very confused and incredibly concerned. "What's wrong? What happened to her?!"
His mind quickly filled itself with worries and he was scared beyond believe. He couldn't imagine a scenario in which Tharja would not come to his anniversary unless something very bad has happened to her.

Noticing that his friend was freaking out, Chrom tried to calm him down again. "Don't stress yourself Robin, Tharja is doing just fine." He paused for a moment and turned towards his sister. "Do you really think it would be better not to tell him? I feel like he will just unnecessarily worry himself if he doesn't know."

"Knowing Robin, he will probably unnecessarily worry himself even if he would know about it. I think it would be better if he finds out for himself." Lissa remarked.

"I'm not so sure about this. I mean, I get what you mean, but I think it would also be good if Robin gets some time to prepare himself before he meets her again." Chrom replied.

"Can you two please stop discussing what is good for me or not." Robin exclaimed in annoyance, feeling like this conversation was going nowhere. "I don't want time to prepare, I just want to see Tharja again as quickly as possible. Chrom, could you please ask Sumia if she can fly me to Ylisstol right now?"

"Of course. I'm sure she will gladly help you out. I will quickly go get her, because you look like you won't last much longer, if you don't see your wife within the next few hours." Chrom answered and hurried to find Sumia.

Robin impatiently started walking in circles as he waited for him to return. What Chrom said wasn't wrong. Robin couldn't stop worrying about Tharja. Even though Chrom claimed that she was okay, it seemed obvious to him that there was something wrong and now he wanted to be with her as quickly as possible. If Tharja needed help, he would be there to help her and if she was just fine, then he would feel relieved to see her again.

He tried to keep calm and breathe. Right now, he just needed to wait for Chrom to return with Sumia. Everything will be okay, he tried to convince himself.

Only a few minutes later, Robin found himself sitting behind Sumia on the back of a Pegasus far up in the sky.
The air was icy-cold and the world below seemed tiny from up here. The fire of the camp that he had just been in, slowly vanished in the distance. Robin usually got a little uncomfortable to be so far away from the ground, but all that was on his mind right now was getting to his destination as soon as possible.

"Uhm, Sumia? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but could you fly a little faster?" He asked impatiently.

"I could, but it's going get a bit rough. You will have to hold on tight." Sumia answered and ordered her Pegasus to speed up.

Because of a lack of options, Robin had no other choice than to hold onto Sumia, so that he wouldn't fall off the Pegasus, as it accelerated. If Tharja would find out about this, she would undoubtedly get very angry at him for touching another woman, but Robin was way too concerned about her well-being to worry about her temper.

Thinking about his wife reminded him of the last time he saw her. Back when the shepherds were facing Grima, he had gotten the feeling that he wouldn't make it back from their last fight. But he had been ready for it. If it was really necessary for him to sacrifice himself to save his friends, then he was willing to do it.

His only regret had been leaving Tharja behind.

With all of his other friends he had been confident that they would eventually get over the fact that he was gone. He was sure that even Chrom would accept the loss of his friend with time, even if it would take a while. But with Tharja, he didn't know if she would ever get over it, if he left her. He had no idea how Tharja would deal with losing him and that had made Robin's decision a thousand times harder. But this had been for the greater good, he had to do it, even if it pained him.

Still, Robin had felt the need to give Tharja one more day of happiness and bliss before he would break her heart. The day before the shepherds reached the Volcano that Grima seemed to approach, Robin had planned to spend the entire day with his wife.

But when he looked back at this now, he felt like his actions may have been more selfish than he initially realized. Wouldn't his sacrifice hurt Tharja even more, after he had spent more time with her beforehand?

Maybe those last few hours that he spent with her, were something he did more so that he could get some feeling of closure, before he would vanish from this world. Maybe he made his wife's suffering much greater, by reminding her why she loved him, only to for him be gone the next day. Maybe his actions were actually cruel and egoistic.

The more time Robin spent thinking about it, the more irrational his thought-process became, as he guilt-tripped himself over what he did in the past.

After few hours of flying they finally reached Ylisstol. Sumia's Pegasus landed directly in the royal palace's garden, not far from the place were Lucina had revealed her face to Chrom for the first time all these years ago. The cold air of the high skies had left Robin freezing, but he barely noticed it, as his mind was still somewhere else.

"Sumia, do you know where Tharja is?" he asked the Pegasus Knight, who was looking after her exhausted steed.

"Chrom has given her your old office to live in, so I guess that she will probably be there. Unless she went for a walk or something. You still know where it is, right? Uh… Robin?"

Before Sumia had gotten the chance to finish her sentence, Robin already made his way to his old room.
He had thought about Tharja during the entire flight and now his brain was exhausted. The only thing that he could still think about, was the way to his office.

As he finally reached his old chamber, he noticed that the door was still open. Peeking inside the room, he saw his wife sitting on a chair, her back turned to him. She looked like she was holding something, but from this angle he couldn't tell what it was.
Robin swallowed nervously.

How should he approach her? What should he say? He quickly decided that he shouldn't waste too much time on considering his options and just go up and talk to her.

"Hello Tharja."

A short and simple introduction was all that he could come up with right now.
Tharja noticeably twitched as she heard his voice, then she turned her head so quickly, Robin feared that she might hurt her neck. Her eyes widened at his sight and she immediately teared up.

"R-Robin… You are back…" Her voice sounded weak, as if she was in disbelief, but Robin could see the happiness in her eyes, even through all of her tears.

He expected her to rush towards him at an instant and throw herself onto him, but much to his surprise she lifted herself up from her chair very carefully.
Then she turned around, giving Robin a chance to look at what she was holding.

His heart almost stopped. Tharja was carrying a baby in her arms. It looked like it was only a few months old, but he could already see some white hair growing on its scalp.

Robin's brain needed a moment to process what he was just seeing. During that time Tharja stepped closer to him. The baby in her arms prevented her from hugging him, so she simply leaned her head against his shoulder, tears still rolling down face.
"I was always confident that I would see you again someday, my love." She looked into his eyes, feeling the need to talk to him, so that she could hear his voice again, but Robin was still staring at the baby in her arms.

The last night that he and Tharja had spent together… He never even considered the possibility that they could have conceived a child that day. It was still a little difficult for him to truly wrap his head around this.

"Do you want to hold her?" Tharja asked. Robin nodded silently.

"Look Noire, say hello to your father." She reached Robin the infant, who took her into his arms as gently and carefully as possible. Noire looked a little confused, but she eyed Robin curiously.

As soon as the baby left Tharja's hands, she rushed behind Robin, wrapped her arms around his waist, buried her face in the backside of his coat and hugged him aggressively, much like Robin had expected her to.
But even though he had missed her so much just seconds ago, right now he barely even noticed that she was there. The young child in his arms occupied all of his attention right now.

"I'm a father."

The first words that he spoke after seeing Noire were just as simple and on the point as his introduction to Tharja earlier. He felt as if the recent events had removed the ability to form longer sentences from his brain.

He gently poked Noire with his finger and she grabbed it with her little baby-hands. A smile grew on Robin's face.
But this smile didn't last long, as suddenly a depressing realization entered Robin's mind. Not only had he broken his promise to Tharja by sacrificing himself, but he had also left his unborn child alone without a father. He wasn't there when Tharja was carrying their child. He didn't support her when she gave birth to Noire. He wasn't able to help her at all during the year that he was gone. He had already felt bad before, but now the guilt was eating him up.

"Tharja, I'm so sorry that I left you all alone a year ago. I felt like it was the right thing to do, but I want you to know that it was not an easy choice for me. My biggest regret was not being able to see your smile anymore. I can't even imagine the amount of pain that I caused you when I left. If there is any chance that you can eventually forgive me, then that would be enough to make me very glad."

He couldn't see Tharja's face, but he noticed that her grip on him became tighter. Then he heard her voice, still sounding like she was fighting with her tears.

"Of course I will forgive you. But that doesn't mean that I can just ignore your betrayal. Now that you are back, I have plenty of time to punish you for leaving me..."
Even though she tried her best to sound threatening, her voice betrayed her and she started sobbing loudly. Robin figured that it would be very difficult to appear intimidating while crying your eyes out. After Tharja found her voice again, she continued speaking. "Not today though, today I am too happy to be angry at you."

Hearing that made Robin feel relief. Even though Tharja's words made it clear that she was still very mad at him, they also gave him confidence that their relationship would be able to overcome this little grudge of her with time.

Her grip on him slowly grew even more fierce, to the point where it started to become a little painful for Robin, as he felt Tharja's sharp fingernails piercing him through his clothes. She had never hugged him so violently before and he got the feeling that she wasn't going to let go of him any time soon.
This was okay, though. He wouldn't want her to let go of him anyway.

Noire managed to recapture Robin's attention, by letting out a yawn. It seemed it was time for her to get to sleep. Robin slowly moved her back and forth in his arms to calm her down some more, so that she would soon start to slumber.

"I will make up for every second that I wasn't there for you, I promise you that." He whispered quietly to his daughter as she closed her eyes. "And this time, I won't break my promise."

Author's note: Like I already mentioned at the beginning, this story is not really "canon" to the other chapters. For comparison, the previous story takes place around the same time as this one, but Robin was not missing for a whole year and Noire wasn't born yet. The next chapters I write will use the same "canon" as chapter 1 and 2.

This chapter also felt much harder to write than the previous ones. And I really mean significantly harder. I think I have difficulties writing stories that have more emotional impact on the characters and even though I am mostly satisfied with how this chapter turned out, I think for the next few chapters I will just stick to casual fluff stories without any greater emotional moments.

Thank you for reading my story. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it and have a nice day. Bye.