So this chapter is about half the usual length, sorry about that. I'm spending spring break with the fam out of town so that means very little time to write (stuck using my very old laptop). I still wanted to get something out to you guys though. As always: concrit welcome, flame ignored, enjoy the stor-
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The rest of this is replies to guest reviews so if you're uninterested in that then feel free to skip the rest of the bold text and go right into the story. Now:
guest from chap 4: thank you for your Kind words and I'm happy you're enjoying my work. Tuguel Robin would be awesome for a RobinxPanne fic, its a great idea!
guest from chap 3: I'm not aiming for absolute realism. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear with my unrealistic, over the top fight scenes (especially Robin's very first bandit encounter. The whole point of that was to sort of show what to expect down the line). But that is beside the point. His memories and hatred of mankind in its entirety won't be coming back. read the title I gave this fic.
I never planned on expanding on Robin's escape but if there is enough demand I could throw together a dream sequence as a filler chap to explain it.
I never planned to expand on how he got his dragonstone, but I could touch on that in the possible aforementioned dream sequence, and as to the power sealing I never planned to address that either. Both are unimportant. Thank you for your review.
prt1: I'm sorry you feel that way. I am super biased towards Lon'qu so I disagree there, Lon'qu for the win all day every day. Just think of Super'Lon'qu as another one of the twists I mentioned in the summary, or don't its up to you.
Robin won't be getting his memories back or his hatred for the entirety of mankind, please read the title. Robin has been having inner conflict, and he is developing. A loss of control is in the cards and could happen in the future. About Naga I 100% agree with you. from some points of view Naga could be seen as really irresponsible and that was deliberate, good catch. Finally, as to Naga discarding her form 'some time' after sealing Tiki, that leaves plenty of time to get laid! XD nah but seriously, I do plan to touch on that down the road. thank you for your review.
NOW enjoy the story,
If Robin had to describe the entire march to the meeting place of the parley with one word it would be: awkward. The night before they had left Chrom had approached Robin and asked if he'd be interested in courting, yes COURTING, Lissa. Robin had to admit he had thought of it recently but ultimately declined the offer as politely as Robin possibly could. During Robin's silent contemplation he came to the conclusion that Lissa was more of a sister or a best friend to him and Robin said as much to Chrom. Chrom seemed disappointed, but he took it well.
Robin couldn't help but notice that he hadn't seen Lissa throughout the entire march which he was pretty sure was a bad sign and things were still a bit uneasy between him and Chrom even as they were walking side by side in an awkward silence.
Robin occupied his time during this unsettling march by admiring Ylisse's breathtaking views once more as he so often had. The closer and closer they got to their destination the rolling plains and long grass continuously morphed into rocky hills with steep, sudden drops until they were the size of small mountains. The long grass that swayed in the wind became shorter and shorter to the point where it didn't even cover the entirety of the ground and instead only patches of green stubble spotted the rocky terrain like a horrible shave.
Even the sky slowly grew more and more corrupted as they neared the sight of the parley. When they departed Ylisstol the day was like any other; a shining sun bathing the world in its soothing warmth, few if any clouds and a gentle breeze. Now the wind was dead and gone, the sky was covered in a thick, seemingly endless layer of foreboding grey clouds, and Robin could no longer feel the sun's tender warmth against his face. It was like nature itself was trying to tell them this was a bad idea.
"Robin, I wanted to apologise for yesterday" Robin turned away from the bleak scenery and gave Chrom his attention. "I shouldn't have sprung that on you out of nowhere the way I did yesterday"
Robin shook his head, "you did nothing wrong, Chrom" Robin assured him. "Lissa deserves a man who loves her, I am not that man."
"I agree, Lissa deserves a man that loves her, but I would still like that man to be of good character and a capable warrior. Those are the reasons I was willing to let you wed her if you had wanted. You're a good man that I trust unconditionally, and you are a terrifying force on the battlefield"
"Well, that could be the said of any man in the Shepherds, couldn't it?" Robin proposed, desperate to get this conversation away from him. As they kept on marching forward.
"it could, but Lissa didn't choose any of them. She chose you"
Robin let out an exasperated sigh. "Chrom..."
"I apologise, I don't mean to make you feel guilty. You have every right to decline, I just want Lissa to be happy." There was the tense and awkward silence again. "Robin, I've been meaning to talk to you about your solution to your trust issues as well..."
"What about it?" Robin's one eyebrow rose curiously, grateful for the new direction of their conversation.
"Are you sure there is no other way? I mean, yeah fighting tooth and nail back to back would quickly build trust between any two people but are you sure that it's a good first choice? For most people something that dangerous would be more of a last resort"
"Honestly, that hadn't even occurred to me." Robin said with an almost embarrassed tone, rubbing the back of his head. Chrom's eyes popped wide open at that. "I was worrying for a while that it'd be too inefficient given the gaps between our skirmishes, and with the Feroxi alliance that gap was only going to grow. But if things go as I expect today I'll have nothing to worry about"
"It sounds like you aren't even the least bit afraid of war" Chrom pointed out, a touch concerned.
"I've noticed that as well." Robin admitted, void of any concern which itself was concerning to the prince.
"But don't misunderstand, the thought of getting burned alive, electrocuted by mages or cleaved by a barbarian are still very unsettling but that unease before combat you talk about? I don't get that." Robin explained. "In fact I'm more comfortable on a battlefield than I am walking through a town, and this war that will probably be declared in a couple hours is against Plegia. In this case, I'm looking forward to it."
'Every. Single. Kind.' The words echoed in Chrom's mind. "I don't blame you" Chrom replied absent mindedly,
"You don't? So you're looking forward to the war too?" Robin sounded relieved "I thought I was weird for it but knowing you are as well is a bit comforting I'll admit." Robin said with a small smile.
Holy shit that was close. Chrom was going to have to be more careful... Gods...
'It's fine Robin, we'll get your memories back, we'll get your questions answered, and I'll be by your side every step of the way. For now... We fight' Chrom's face fell. 'We' he said at the time. This was all wrong, so, so wrong. Chrom was beginning to feel sick.
Chrom looked away, his frown still etched deep on his face. "Forgive me Robin, but I need to find Sumia"
"Three behind the food wagon" Robin said, not thinking anything of it.
"How do you know that?" Chrom asked, surprised.
"I made the seating arrangements, the Pegasi are right behind that wagon"
"Which wagon are you supposed to be in?" Chrom asked, his curiosity slightly piqued
"I leave one seat open on each wagon so I can go on whichever one I need to in case you or I need to speak to one of the Shepherds, like right now"
Chrom had an impressed smile, "I knew there was a reason I kept you around"
Robin had a sideways grin, relieved to be rid of the tension between them. "Well, if things go as I fear you'll have a lot more reasons in the coming days"
"Thanks for the reminder," Chrom grinned "I'll talk to you later Robin"
Robin waved as Chrom departed then went back to looking at the landscapes. Something was bothering Chrom, something more than his... heartbroken sister. Gods, Robin felt bad about that. Lissa was a sweet, sweet girl and the thought of her crying at all made him incredibly uncomfortable and feel monumentally guilty. But like Robin had told Chrom earlier Lissa deserved a man who loves her. Robin wasn't that man. But when that man did come along Robin would make damn sure he was a good man. Many men could fall for a princess simply because of her station. Him and Chrom would have their work cut out for them.
It was no longer than an hour before they reached the meeting point, Robin felt his anger immediately flare at the sight of the man who could only be the Mad King. His skin was a sickeningly pale shade, his hair was a blood red color and looked greasier than a used pan slicked back in a way that made Vaike's hair look fashionable. His getup was reminiscent of a trickster only made with more expensive materials and centered around a yellow and black color scheme. Robin wanted to rip his throat out with his bare hands as soon as he saw the man. The cretin.
Backing him up was a curvaceous woman in an odd, revealing black get up. She had a skin tight hood on the back of her head leaving only a small bit of her long white hair visible. Was she some sort of concubine? The 'king' had low standards it seemed.
Hearing footsteps behind him Robin turned his head and noticed the royal trio approaching. "Seems we've kept the Mad King waiting Your Grace" Robin said, turning around to face them.
"Our trip was the longer one" She pointed out
"No doubt the Mad King intended for it to be this way, give him another reason to harp on us" Chrom growled
"Nothing we can do about it now, time we faced the music" Robin said, motioning for Emmeryn to lead the way.
As Robin got closer and closer to the Mad King and his concubine the angrier he became. He had his hands on his hips and was sneering down at them from his elevated position. Robin wanted nothing more than to jump up there and slice his throat.
Then there was the familiar feeling of Chrom's hand on his shoulder. "Calm yourself Robin" Chrom said that, yet he sounded ready to scream too. It didn't help.
"Well, the Exalt herself in all her glorious radiance finally decided to show up and bless us all with her blinding presence. How generous" The King spat, his tone filled with pointed sarcasm.
"I have come for the truth of this incident between our fair kingdoms" Emmeryn's voice held none of the serene grace Robin was son used to hearing. Now she spoke with steel and authority.
"The truth? I can tell you the truth." The concubine chimed in, stepping forward. She wore an infuriatingly smug smirk, hip cocked to the side with a hand planted firmly on it.
"Perhaps you would first share your name, milady?" Emmeryn asked
"You may call me Aversa" she said with an almost mocking bow
"How fitting" Robin mumbled venomously, earning a snort from Chrom.
"Tell us Aversa, is Maribelle unharmed?" Emmeryn requested.
"Is that her name?" Gangrel asked, uncaring "yes your little blonde bitch is unharmed, see for yourselves"
Higher up the mountain was Maribelle, hands tied together being guarded by a shirtless barbarian.
"Maribelle!" Lissa shrieked.
Robin closed his eyes and started taking slow deep breaths trying to keep himself calm while the negotiations continued on around him. He was only half paying attention to them, he heard vague mentions of a previous war, the Fire Emblem, and every Plegian wanting the grass to drown in the blood of Ylisseans.
Robin's hands were basically white at this point they were clenched so hard. Things were going just as poorly as he had expected. The only thing keeping him from exploding at this point was his duty to Emmeryn and the exalted bloodline. Until the parley had officially failed there was a chance Emmeryn would succeed. So until the parley failed Robin would not take a step or move a muscle. He felt that I he let himself take even a single step right now he would lose control and attack the Mad King. Thankfully, that's when he heard the dreaded words.
"... I shall have the Emblem even if I have to pry it from your shiny dead hands!"
Synchronised, Robin and Chrom took off, Chrom cleaving a barbarian deep across the chest and Robin dashed, plunging his brand new iron sword right into the heart of a lancer. Kicking his sword free Robin turned his head and saw Chrom dispose of the final axe wielder.
"Stay back! Or you will suffer the same fate!" Chrom shouted at the top of his lungs.
Gangrel laughed, "now that's a declaration of war if I've ever heard one! Ba ha ha ha!"
Robin snarled "You want a declaration of war you Plegian MUTT!? By this time next year your skull will be holding my reading candles!"
"Oh my, now that IS a declaration of war! Quite the promise you're making too! Tell you what you... you..." the Mad King somehow paled even further, looking like he was just struck with realization, or maybe recognition? Robin couldn't exactly place the look. He began muttering to himself, suddenly growing fearful, but thanks to Robin's keen hearing he was still able to pick it up. "oh this is not good, not good at all... of course he would end up serving the Naga worshiping Ylisseans! Damn that conniving woman" he cleared his throat. "You overestimate your power! It'll hardly be my first time killing the likes of your kind! I'll have your skull made into a table! SOLDIERS! BATHE IN THEIR BLOOD AND GET ME THE FIRE EMBLEM!"
Turning around Robin could already see the rest of the Shepherds running towards four of them. Robin whipped his head forward again, taking in the surroundings that would soon be soaked with Plegian blood. He mentally compared his current surroundings with the maps he was looking at last night, mind working full speed deciding which Shepherds would be sent to deal with which groups of enemies and the most appropriate strategy to work with the current situation.
Robin gritted his teeth. He was grossly outnumbered here but that had long stopped being a big of a deal as it usually was. Chrom had somehow gathered this generation's greatest military savants all into one unit. Every Shepherd was a combat prodigy, each member worth ten or more regular soldiers.
Alright, he had a plan.
"Look! Ricken just saved Maribelle!" Robin heard Lissa scream, pointing up to a cliff.
"That foolish child! I told him to stay in Ylisstol! They're surrounded now, Robin, we must save them!" Chrom shouted in frustrated desperation.
And there goes his plan.
Robin felt himself snarl again, that damnable mage. "I understand Chrom" Robin's eyes darted from Shepherd to Shepherd trying to rearrange and resort everyone's orders to factor in a rescue. Okay, he knew what he had to do.
"Chrom, Sumia, Kellam, Frederick, and Virion. You five are on rescue duty. Kellam and Frederick will lead the charge. Get Maribelle and Ricken in one of the forts and hunker down if you need to.
"Stahl, Vaike, Miriel, Sully, Lissa and I will take the far fort out in front of us and rendezvous after ascending the nearby incline. We will take that second fort if you haven't already Chrom. Lissa, you're riding with Sully.
"After rendezvous we'll split one final time and execute a pincer! Everyone understand? Good! Let's kill some Plegians!" Robin shouted, raising his iron sword.
With a collective war cry the two parties split up, Frederick and Kellam's heavy armor absorbing and deflecting everything the Plegians hurled their way and their advance up the incline continued unimpeded. Robin smiled, reassured for the moment that everything would be fine for Chrom he turned his attention forward to the Plegian soldiers he was quickly approaching.
Robin squared off with a lancer, the Plegian was able to keep with Robin for a short while displaying a level of martial skill with his weapon of choice far greater than a common bandit.
However, the Plegian was clearly not a master either. Baiting out a thrust after feigning an all-in over head chop Robin swerved his upper body avoiding a confident thrust aimed for his heart.
Robin cut the wooden pole of the weapon right in the middle catching it in his free hand before it could fall to the dirt and plunged the bladed end of the busted lance deep into the unprotected area where the shoulder met the neck. Gargling a throat full of blood the Plegian's death cry was something Robin wasn't soon going to forget. Robin found himself wearing a near maniacal smile, relishing in the death of the Plegian. Robin shook his head, he needed to stay focused.
Using his momentary reprieve Robin scanned his immediate surroundings. Lissa was healing a minor wound on Vaike's shoulder, Miriel and Sully protecting the focused healer. Stahl was playing hit and run with two axemen while dodging the fireballs of a mage who was simultaneously trading blows with Miriel.
Stahl was a highly Competent knight and Robin knew that the brunette would have no trouble making short work of the barbarians if he didn't need to worry about the mage. With this in mind Robin put some wind in his step and ambushed the preoccupied Plegian mage from behind and cleanly dismembered his spell throwing arm with a swift strike.
Screaming in agony, his face horrified by the spurting blood he was abruptly silenced when he was engulfed in a massive sphere of fire shot by Miriel. Just like Robin had figured with the mage out of commission Stahl finished off his opponents with no effort.
The party reconvened at the captured fort, Lissa still working on Vaike's shoulder. Robin had noticed that Vaike had been getting a rather disproportionate number of the Shepherds injuries and thought it best to bring that up.
"Vaike, I may be relatively new to the Shepherds but I've been starting to notice that you get injured far more than any other member of our militia"
Glaring, Vaike began to bark "oi, what're you trying to say? You saying the Vaike isn't up to snuff?"
"No, honestly it kind of baffles me. You are capable of going toe to toe with Chrom with an axe during training, that is commendable and says a lot go your skill. But on the battlefield you're almost always the first person I see getting injured... But this conversation can wait. Stahl, you're staying with Lissa and Vaike. Miriel, Sully we're heading up the incline." Now that it was at least at the forefront of Vaike's mind now he could try to figure it out for himself and how to rectify it. That would save Robin the trouble of spelling it out for him, because Robin was pretty sure the guy was just too reckless. But Robin didn't know Vaike all that well and while on the surface it may look that simple Robin could not know for sure so perhaps having Vaike do a bit of self reflection would serve him well. Robin could only hope.
"Sounds good to me, hop on Miriel" Sully patted the space behind her on the leather saddle.
"Thank you kindly Sully" Miriel got atop the mount with obvious unease, he feet and arms shaking. "I look forward to observing how this elevated position affects the accuracy of my spells, let us move post haste Sir Robin"
"Absolutely Miriel" Robin smirked "I'd never stand between you and your research." But he was a little surprised she agreed to ride with Sully now in the middle of a war zone if she hadn't trained to do cast spells on horseback before. Then again, Miriel was one of the most talented mages in Ylisse's history so if anyone could pull it off on their first time in a war zone it'd be her. With that in mind, Robin didn't comment on it. "Lets kill some more Plegians ladies"
"hell yeah!" Sully cheered, galloping ahead of Robin for in him to use his wind magic to keep up.
Robin spotted the archers almost immediately as they started their ascent towards the second fort. Robin aimed a thoron but had his focus broken when the Plegian he was aiming at was all of a sudden completely engulfed by a ball of fire. Then another archer, and another, and another, until there were none left.
Turning his head Robin barely caught the teasing smirk Miriel shot at him when Sully's horse turned his back to Robin engaging in combat with a foot soldier.
"Why was I even worried?" Robin muttered to himself with a small grin, shaking his head in light amusement. Robin refocused on the task at hand, and ran at an oncoming enemy soldier, flourishing his blade.
When the battle was over and Maribelle was saved Lissa made no effort to downplay her gratitude to Ricken for going against Chrom's wishes and saving Maribelle. She hadn't let him out of her grip since the last Plegian fell. Robin was happy to see Lissa smiling, but Robin knew that as soon as they were back on the road the poor girl would be moping again. The guilt tore at Robin. It didn't help that Maribelle was What Robin was certainly going to give him once they were all back at the capital. Probably go in to try and stab him with the point of that parasol too. Speaking of The capital, the moment Robin got back to his desk he was going to have a lot of strategizing to do. He was looking forward to cracking open more books at his desk.
"Forgive me, Emm" Chrom's subdued tone refocused Robin on his current group conversation between himself, Chrom, Frederick, and Emmeryn. "I acted rashly"
"As did I, Your Grace." If Chrom was apologising Robin figured he'd better do the same. "More is expected of Chrom and I, and we did not live up to our stations today. Please accept our most sincere apologies."
Visibly mortified by the blood staining their clothes and the bodies strewn about Emmeryn's effort to remain composed was commendable in Robin's opinion. "its all right Chrom, Robin" she said as she shook her head. "King Gangrel is the one at fault here. You two were only protecting me. But Robin, the threat you made to Gangrel was thoughtless. He will milk that and use it to rally his people against us and garner support for the war in Plegia. A rather short sighted move for a tactician"
WOW. She had him there. "Er... Yes. You are right Your Grace. It was foolish of me, my anger and hatred clouded my judgement, I will strive to do better in the future" Robin tacked on a shallow bow at the end for good measure.
Emmeryn smiled softly at him, understanding sparkling in her eyes. "Your job isn't in jeopardy, you needn't worry. I understand your anger, but you should try to control those emotions before they cost lives"
Robin bowed again. "I will keep your advice close to the heart, Your Grace"
She smiled at him again, it was an almost sad smile. Yet it was still so radiant. Robin would never forget that smile. "Thank you Robin"
"The Mad King will be rallying his forces, if they havent mobilized already." Good ol' Frederick jumping right into the thick of it. "I suggest we make haste to Ylisstol and discuss strategy"
"I second that. The sooner we conclude the meetings the sooner I can retreat to my quarters and go over my books" Robin immediately stated With the smallest of grins.
With a crestfallen expression Emmeryn gave a single, sombre nod. "Of course. It'd seem war is upon us"
The trip back to the capital was a quiet one, the knowledge of war weighed heavy on everyone's shoulders. The momentary bumps in the road to deal with bandits were welcomed, serving as momentary distractions. Chrom, ever an eye for talent, even accepted a local farm boy into the ranks of the Shepherds by the name of Donnel.
Robin was both excited, and saddened by the addition of Donnel. He was a year younger than Lissa, barely a man and he was marching off to war alongside Chrom's personal army of ungodly talented combat prodigies. Though that is also why Robin was excited. Chrom hand picked every member of the Shepherds and every one of them was unnaturally talented. That went thrice fold for Donnel. The boy radiated potential to Robin, and the tactician inside of Robin was excited to have someone with so much raw potential to work with when making strategies.
As Robin passed through the doors to the meeting room, he knew that if Donnel wasn't a war hero by the end of the war none of them were going to be. Robin was THAT confident in the kid's potential. But that brought Robin back full circle, Donnel should be worrying over crops, or his first love, not being worried about whether or not he would live up to Robin's lofty expectations. It wasn't fair.
But when was life ever fair?
So, about my RxL fic I was planning, it was going nowhere and what I had was garbage. I've decided instead to do some RobinxLissa one shots instead and I've had much more success with planning out a Fates fic with a RobinxSakura crack pairing. It will be following Robin (sorry, I could never stand Corrin/Kamui) and the Revelation route of Fates. I'll be changing some things a bit to accommodate (for lack of a better word) Robin and toying with the whole outrealm concept. Its looking promising so far and I'm looking forward to uploading the first chapter whenever it's ready. Pretty ironic huh? Well thank you for reading and have a great day!