Chrom slashed out with Falchion. Validar managed to jump back turning a fatal blow into a survivable one. "Damn you BOTH! This isn't over." In that moment, a plan hatched in his twisted mind. He gathered his magic and launched it at the Ylissen prince. Before faining defeat. As he predicted, Robin shoved his husband out of the way taking the full hit. The tactician fell to the floor.

"Robin!" Chrom knelt by his side propping his back up. "Are you all right?"

"I think so." He didn't feel any pain or see any wounds.

"That's the end of him. Thanks to you we carried the day. We can rest easy now."

Suddenly, pain shot through Robin's head and all color changed into shades of red. There was a loud roaring in his ears.

"What's wrong? Robin, what's?"

Alone bolt of lightning formed in the tactician's hand and as if it was a dagger, he stabbed it into Chrom's chest. The prince gasped dropping Robin so he could clutch at his chest.

With a blink, the head pain and red coloring were gone. "Chrom!" Robin shouted scrambling to cradle his husband in his arms. "Oh, gods, Chrom, what've I done?!"

"This is not your, your fault." Chrom lovingly caressed his cheek. "Promise me you'll escape from this place."

"No, I can't, I won't leave you!" Tears pricked at Robin's eyes.

"Please…go." His hand slipped from Robin's cheek and fell limply to his stomach.

"Chrom!"

Validar laughed staggering to stand. "With the five Gemstones in hand, my magic knows no bounds. Robin is powerless to resist me. Your ace in the hole."

"How could you, Mother?! I trusted you!" Lucina yelled savagely at Robin.

"Do you see now, son? How quickly your daughter turned against you." Validar's wounds began to visibly knit back together as he spoke. "Human bonds are leaves in the wind. They offer you nothing.

"This can't be happening. We were supposed to change this!" The future princess clenched her fist. This was all her fault. She should have killed Robin instead of listening to her father. Now he was gone. "Everything I have done is...worthless."

"The hell it was!" A loud familiar voice boomed.

Everyone in the room turned to see Basilio enter with a cheeky grin.

"Don't you put any stock in this destiny hogwash! Let the dead whine about their fate. As long as I draw breath, I choose to keep fighting!" He thumped a fist to his mighty chest. "That's what life is all about!"

"Khan Basilio!" Morgan cheered. "You're not dead after all!"

"It almost went that way. But I scraped by, thanks to your big sis." Basilio cracked his neck. "Once I took a couple hits from Walhart, I knew he was too strong for me. Normally pride would've had me dead before I'd even thought twice about it. But your warning gave me the courage to be a coward." He laughed like a gleeful pirate. "I played dead like a big, bald opossum! It wasn't hard. In truth I almost WAS dead. You saved my life, Lucina. Had you not said anything... I'd have stood my ground against that monster and died on the spot."

Validar seethed. "This. Does. Not. MATTER!" He punctuated every word. "If you didn't die there, then you can die HERE!"

"You're no Walhart, snake eyes! Not as strong, or even as clever. You STILL haven't realized that you've been tricked.

"Impossible!"

"Robin predicted everything that would happen here. He saw it in a dream. Saw this very fight with you. Guess what else was in the dream? The five Gemstones. When Flavia gave my stone to Chrom, Robin saw what fate had in store. He knew Chrom couldn't bring the real Gemstones here to Plegia. That would be like swinging a big, juicy steak right in front of destiny's choppers!"

"A worthy bluff, Ferox fool." The Plegia king was impressed such an oaf could come up with it. It must have taken all his braincells. "But ridiculous all the same. I've had your merry little band watched since Carrion Isle. Your every move! So I know Robin hasn't touched the stones—he hasn't been near them!"

"You watched our party, yes, the members your men knew about; the live ones. But they weren't watching dead men, were they?" Basilio jerked a thumb towards himself. "They weren't watching me."

The smug look on Validar's face dropped.

"Looks like it might be finally starting to sink in."

"That is not possible!" He hurried to the emblem. "These have to be... They must be."

"Why? Because of...DESTINY?" The male khan snorted making a rude gesture. "Robin had your destiny beat days ago, when he came up with this plan. The expression on your face." He laughed. "It makes all those long nights in hiding worth it."

"Damn you! Damn you to all the hells!" Validar stormed away from the emblem, past his son still crying over his pathetic husband. "None of this matters! Chrom is dead!" Even without the stones, he still had Robin at his mercy. He'd kill everyone here and then go after the stones. These fools were only delaying the inevitable. "Your fate is sealed! Grima will…" Something slammed into his back causing him to stagger. He whipped around to find Robin on his feet, an Archwind tome cradled in the crook of his arm while the other helped steady Chrom. His purple coat still rippled from the magic.

Validar's eyes went wide as dinner plates. This was impossible.

"Father!" The siblings cried.

"Robin...spared me..." Chrom pulled away from his husband to stand on his own. "He weakened his magic...just before the strike."

"It's over, Validar." Robin held up a sword. "You lose." He rushed forward and thrust with his blade.

With no protection, the sword pierced Validar though the stomach. He gasped in a mixture of pain and shock. "Why?" He fell to his knees with a sickening 'thud'. "Why would you squander your birthright?" He reached for the tactician. "Robin, my son."

Robin batted the feeble hand away. "I am myself before I am any man's son."

Validar dropped the rest of the way to the floor on his side. "Foolish…boy."

And he was dead.

"We did it! We did it, Robin!" Despite his weakened state, Chrom took his husband into his arms lifting his feet off the ground causing Robin to laugh. "We've altered our destiny! We, we've won!"

A slow, condescending clap echoed along with a pair of footsteps. "Well done." Hierophant Robin stepped out of the shadows beside the Dragon's Table. "But it's a bit early to be celebrating, don't you think?"