Sorry this took forever! But had to work on College stuff. I'm about to take a test and I'm freaking scared. Uhm, wish me luck?
Thank you to Muggzy, XenoEmblem4TW, DBZ ftw, and Angelus Candida for reviewing last chapter! Oh and all of the favorites and follows! XD
And, sorry, I wasn't able to reach the preview... I'll change that after my exam. DX
DISCALIMER: (I think I forgot to do this) I don't own them!
II
._._._._._.
The skies were clear as two boys were in a grassy field, sticking their hands into the ground. From a distance, one would think that it was a pair of brothers digging around for some treasure, but that was not the case. In fact, right next to the two boys was a small sapling.
"Hey, Robin," began Chrom as he got up from his swatting position, holding the sapling in place. His face was a mess with the dirt smudge on his cheek, and his hands and fine clothes were filthy.
The manakete kneeing on the ground beside him faired no better. His snowy hair was blotched with dirt and his thin, silk like clothes were caked brown. Despite his messy appearance, the smile on his face was bright. Although, Chrom was pretty sure that Robin wasn't really wearing "clothes" to be exact, but rather a light teal, silk half-cape and a second, longer cape cloth underneath his arms as it wrapped around his chest. Its two ends were tied with the top cape's baby blue ribbon. Whenever the wind blew or if Robin moved in anyway, it would reveal the pale skin of his chest and stomach. He was also wearing a pair of silk-like shorts with a light blue sash tied around his waist. Robin never wore shoes.
"Yes, Chrom?" he prompted, glancing up from his task of shoving the soil back in. His green eyes were regarding him with a bit of curiosity.
"I never really asked, but how old are you?" Chrom asked, placing a hand on his hip. Robin took a moment to firmly pat the soil in place before answering with a casual smile.
"Well, let's see... I was four hundred forty seven when Tiki fell asleep... And that was a hundred years ago. So, I am... about five hundred to six hundred years old, give or take." he said proudly, placing his hands on his hip with a smile. Throughout Robin's little musing, Chrom's expression changed from slight curiosity to flat out startled.
"Wha-"
"Hm?"
"..."
"..."
"Uhm...You sure you're not joking?" Chrom finally asked, staring at Robin incredulously. The young manakete placed a hand on his hip, smearing a chunk of dirt on the soft silks he wore, and gave Chrom a slight frown.
"Why would I be?" Robin shot back. The young lord scratched the back of his head as he looked away.
"Well... I just can't believe you when you... look younger than me." he answered honestly. "Then again, you are a manakete..."
Robin blinked at him for a moment.
"Chrom, I've been with you for three years, and just now you're noticing this?" he said, disbelief clear in his voice as he dropped his hands.
"Ah... yeah?" Chrom said, shrugging his shoulders, "I mean, you haven't grown over the years." He emphasized this by hovering a dirt caked hand high over the young manakete's head.
"I have grown!" Robin snapped, crossing his arms.
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did!"
"I'm still taller."
"I did grow! An inch, in fact!" Robin proclaimed, placing a dirt covered hand at his head with his palm to the ground.
"Yeah, an inch!" Chrom scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm sixteen and a foot taller than you!"
"But I'm older than you!" Robin tried, placing his hands on his hips with determination.
"That's nothing!" Chrom said, laughter slowly inching its way in his voice.
"Well, it's something!"
"You don't even act your age!"
"Yes, I do!"
"Oh yeah? What kind of manakete plays tag with my sister?"
"I do!"
"She's six, Robin."
"Oh for my Mother's sake!" Robin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.
Chrom couldn't take it anymore. The look that Robin gave him was too ridiculous on his childish face! Chrom burst into laugher, clutching his stomach as he took several steps back.
"Chrom!" Robin snapped, his face flushing in embarrassment. But, even with his snap, Robin couldn't help the laughter that slipped. For a few minutes, the air around them was filled with laughter.
"I still can't believe that you're a manakete." Chrom said after their laughter died down, kneeling back down to tend to the tree. Robin shook his head in amusement.
"And I have to constantly remind myself that you're a human." he said honestly. He gently placed a hand underneath one to the leaves on a tree branch and curled his hand slightly around it. "At times, I don't realize that time moves so quickly... Three years had already passed and it still feels like not enough time passed."
"What? You getting all sentimental on me, old man?" Chrom asked, raising an eyebrow as he joked slightly. Robin rolled his eyes and dropped his hand. He took a step to Chrom, going beyond the boundaries of personal space, and grabbed Chrom's face in his dirt covered hands. "Gah! Robin!"
"Yeah, yeah, you can handle a bit of dirt on your face." Robin said, frowning a little bit. Chrom was about to struggle out of robin's grasp, but stopped when he looked at Robin's emerald eyes. They were normally light and kind, but Chrom was shocked to see a bit of sadness and jealousy in the manakete's eyes. "You know, sometimes, I wish I was human."
Chrom blinked, hardly believing the words that were spilling out of Robin's lips. "W-what? Why? Being a human like me isn't all that great."
"So?" Robin said, frowning as he closed his eyes, "Chrom, I've lived for hundreds of years. I've already spent a majority of it at my mother's side. You humans live your life so differently from me that I'm starting to fell like I don't know anything. Humans don't live as long as us, and yet they seem to live better than us."
His emerald eyes opened again, staring right at Chrom. "Tell me, why do you humans try so hard to live your lives? Why do you humans live the way you do? What do you live for, Chrom?"
Chrom was at a loss for words. One moment, Robin was the easy-going, generally happy child, and the next... Heck, Chrom didn't know what to even call it!
"I... Well..." Chrom tried, scrambling to form an answer. Robin seemed to have caught on and dropped his hands away from Chrom's face with a small sigh.
"Haaah, never mind. Forget I said anything." the manakete said, turning away from Chrom and looking over the tree. Chrom watched for a moment as Robin moved his hands gracefully over the soil at the tree's roots, muttering a few words under his breath. The tree glowed a little, perking up from whatever Robin was slowly giving it.
"Who knows for sure?" Chrom said suddenly, causing Robin to curl his hands a little in slight surprise as he continued. "Maybe it's because we know that we don't have that much time. I mean, you're a manakete, and you've been alive longer than me. I care about my family, and I would hate to see them get hurt or anything. I care about my friends too. I'd do anything to protect them, too. Maybe that's why we live the way we do. We have things we want to protect, things and people we keep close. Isn't that the same way with manaketes?"
Robin stopped muttering his little incantations a while ago and slowly curled his hands into small fists, not looking up at Chrom who continued.
"Your mother brought you into this world right? So, I'm sure you care about her more than anything. Isn't that why you live the way you do, too?" Chrom asked, watching Robin closely for any reaction. The manakete dropped his hands in his lap, looking up at the bright blue, cloudless sky above them.
"...Protecting those you love and care deeply for, huh?" Robin muttered, then he raised his voice to be heard, "But what if you have to die in order to protect what you hold dear? Would you really forfeit your life like that?"
Chrom answered without hesitation. "I'd be scared, no doubt, but I would."
"Hmm..." Robin looked away from the sky and stared at the tree in front of him. "So you live to protect those closest to you, huh?"
"Well, that's just me. I'm not sure about everyone else in the world." Chrom said with a shrug of his shoulders. "But what I am sure about is you."
"Me?" Robin echoed, looking genuinely confused.
"Despite us being two different races, we both live to protect what we hold close, right?" said Chrom, giving Robin a smile. The manakete took a moment to take that in. He remembered the day when Naga put her own daughter to sleep. He remembered asking Tiki to reconsider going to sleep, since she was the only other friend he had in the world other than Naga and his own Mother. Yet, Tiki had insisted to sleep, saying that it was best for everyone. At the back of his mind, Robin knew that Tiki was trying to protect those from her power, and he was most certainly one of them.
He looked down at his own hands. Robin knew that he would never become as strong as Tiki, yet vaguely, he began to wonder if he would do the same if he ever did. He turned to Chrom and returned his smile with his own, settling with an answer for now. "Well, I suppose you're right."
._._._._._.
"No." said a gruff, old manakete. He was donned in heavy silks and walked right past a tiny, white haired manakete.
"Aw, come on, Gotoh! I'm just here to visit her." Robin said, hurrying to catch up with him.
"And I said no, Robin." Gotoh growled, but that didn't hinder the little manakete one bit. Robin scampered past the elder manakete and overtook his path, forcing him to stop.
"But, you were there when Naga told me I could visit her." he countered.
"Really. I don't remember." came the fast reply.
"...You're a meanie, you know that?" Robin huffed, crossing his arms. He met with Gotoh's hardened glare.
"And you're an Earth Dragon."
Robin flinched at the harsh tone of the Sacred Dragon, knowing the heavy meaning behind the words. It wasn't his fault that the Earth Dragons weren't in good terms with Naga, or any Sacred Dragon for that manner. His mother and himself were completely innocent, seeing how Grima took great measures to stay out of the feud since Robin was born. Of course, Robin never knew anything about his mother before that. Only, he just knew that she was caught in the crossfire. He wasn't about to give up though, so he forced his resentment to the back of his mind and resumed his self-imposed mission. "Who cares?"
"Robin, if you insist on standing in my way, I will not hesitate to throw you out of the temple." Gotoh said.
"Why are you like this?" Robin asked suddenly, staring up at him with a slight frustration.
"Hm?" It didn't even sound curious, but plain condescending from Gotoh.
"I mean, why are you so against me seeing Tiki? Because I'm an Earth Dragon?" Robin began, curling his small hands into fists. "Why can't you accept that there are manaketes like me?"
There was an odd silence that fell between the two, each staring at each other. The old manakete had a set frown on his face while Robin just looked at him. About a minute later, Gotoh closed his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh as he held out a large hand to Robin. The little manakete stared up at him in confusion. Gotoh's eyes told him that it was all right to take his hand.
He was hesitant at first, but Robin took the manakete's hand. His smaller hand was practically dwarfed Gotoh's, but he was shocked that Gotoh was holding his hand firmly, almost like Grima's grip on his own. Gotoh gave a light tug on Robin's hand, leading the way deeper into the temple.
"I don't hate you because you are an Earth Dragon." Gotoh said, breaking the silence. Robin took several steps to keep up with him.
"...Is it because I'm half human?" he asked.
"...Your father was a murderer of manaketes." Gotoh said, not bothering to beat around the bush. Robin nearly froze in surprise, but the tug on his hand forced him to move along. "He stopped at nothing to kill our kind. He was savage, cruel, and yet, your mother, of all manaketes, was able to love him."
"...So, you hate me because I'm the son of a murderer." Robin said, lowering his head. Gotoh didn't look down.
"Forgive me, Robin, but my grudge against your parents hadn't faded. You..." he slowly came to a stop, causing Robin to look up at him in confusion. "You do not deserve the hatred of us manaketes. It's true, you have done nothing wrong. Blood does not define a manakete."
Gotoh suddenly reached over to place his other hand on top of Robin's head, "I'm relieved to know that Tiki has a friend like you. Never change, Robin. Never change."
"...can I go see Tiki now?" Robin asked, unsure of what to say or do.
Gotoh gave a quick, heavy laugh, "Haha, of course, little manakete."
._._._._._.
"Hey, Tiki," Robin began, plopping down on the ice cold floor. Gotoh stood near the entrance, far from where Robin was to give him a bit of privacy. His talk with the older manakete shook Robin to the core. He never knew that his father was a human that hated manaketes so much. It made sense, but at the same time, it didn't. Yet, it made him question, how in the world did his mother fall in love with him?
He shook his head and placed a smile on his face as he looked up. "It's been a while, huh? I'm sorry I couldn't visit you. I just could muster up the courage to see you until now."
Robin rubbed his arms under his silk cloak, feeling the cold get to him. "Ever since you fell asleep, I got a bit bored. Mother was willing to play with me, but recently I made a friend. A human friend. His name is Chrom. He's weird, strong and kinda dense. But, then again, I'm pretty dense too."
He laughed a little to himself. "A few days ago, I ended having a serious talk with him. In a way, he made me think about what you did... You agreed to fall asleep to protect those you love, right? Heh, I could be over thinking it, but it feels like that what you did. I could be wrong, or maybe humans are just weird."
He suddenly blinked. "I've known Chrom for three years, but it doesn't feel like it. Instead, it feels like it was only a few days. Why do we manaketes live so long?"
He looked up again. "You know, I wish I could see you. You'd usually know what to say... Oh! Gotoh and I are friends now. Well, at least I think we are. He wasn't very easy to convince to let me see you..."
Ahahaha, I'm not gonna put a preview since I'm gonna do some serious editing with this to make it believable. Oh! If you want to see what Robin was wearing, I drew it! You can find it on Deviant art in my account CloudyLightning. It's labeled "Mother Approves!"
Uhm, good luck with any finals, to you college people! DX
Later!
~CloudyLightning
