I did a bit better getting this chapter up in a more reasonable amount of time. There is a time skip in this one and some canon divergence. Unfortunately this is not the most exciting chapter, most of it's set up but I'll try to get the next chapter up relatively quickly. So anyways, please enjoy.

"It will take time to investigate how the assassination plot got so far," Philia said, "We have no leads at present,"

"It was Plegia! I'm certain of it," Chrom declared, "They'd do anything for the Emblem. Emm, you can't stay here. Come to Ferox where it's safe,"

"And leave the people undefended?" Emmeryn countered calmly, "War is at our borders, Chrom. Do you expect Ylisse to stand against Plegia without a leader? They must know their exalt stands with them,"

Robin watched the exchange carefully. This was where everything went so wrong. If Emmeryn left for the eastern palace Ylisstol would be left without many of its forces. Emmeryn would be captured and lose her memory again. Chrom and everyone else would believe her dead, and that haunted look would enter Chrom's eyes again, and she wasn't about to let that happen. Even the first time around she had thought it was a better idea for Emmeryn to remain in Ylisstol where the defences and guard was better, but she was unsure of herself at the time and so said nothing. She had no such issues this time.

"Your Grace, perhaps you might relocate to the eastern palace for the time being?" Frederick suggested, "The other kingdoms would know nothing of it. You would be safer,"

"No," Robin said, speaking up for the first time, "It would be best for you to stay here Your Grace," The others, aside from Emmeryn, looked at her as though she'd gone mad. She found herself hard pressed to disagree.

"Robin, what are you saying?" Chrom protested, "How could it possibly be safe here after what just happened?"

"Chrom," Emmeryn scolded gently, "Let her speak,"

Robin nodded her thanks to the exalt and proceeded to explain, "Despite tonight's occurrence, Ylisstol is more secure. If we were to go to the eastern palace, we would be leaving with a part of the standing guard, and with war at our borders we can't afford to move any of our troops from her," She could see Chrom about to protest again, but held up a hand to stop him, "Also, the intruders came through the siege tunnels. Outside the royal family, only two people have access to the keys to the gates. The royal family's personal guard," she nodded to Frederick, "and the first advisor to the exalt,"

The attention of those present turned to the hierarch who had been trying to sneak out of the room without drawing attention to himself. He halted a poorly disguised look of panic on his face.

"The hierarch?" Chrom asked incredulously, shaking his head, "There must be some mistake Robin. The hierarch has been a friend of the royal family for years. He was the one who helped Emmeryn in the early years of reign after our father's death,"

"Yes, but what other explanation is there?"

"They could have forced their way through the gates into the tunnels," Chrom suggested. Robin saw the hierarch relax slightly, while she smirked slightly. She had expected this, and had pickpocketed the key from the hierarch so he couldn't lock the gates again.

"With your consent, your excellency, I would recommend that we go and inspect the gates to the siege tunnels," Robin said in an even tone directed at Emmeryn.

The exalt sighed with a slightly sad look on her face, "Very well," she agreed, though with some resignation. She turned to her advisor, "Will you agree with this hierarch?"

The hierarch nodded hesitantly. His face was pale and it looked as though he was going to be sick, obviously terrified that he would be found out. It was likely the only reason he had agreed to it was because it would be suspicious should he protest.

The four of them ventured down into the tunnels beneath the castle, following the dank, rarely-used passageways until they reached a heavy iron door hanging loosely open, letting pale moonlight spill into the tunnel. Robin saw Chrom and Emmeryn's shoulders fall slightly at this sight and felt a small pang of guilt at her own joy. She shook it off quickly. This is for the best, she reminded herself as Frederick arrested the hierarch, and they returned the way they came. The iron door was now shut tight behind them.

"How did you know it was him?" the prince asked her.

"As I said, he was one of the few with the keys to the siege tunnels," She said simply, "And I couldn't imagine Frederick would ever betray you like that,"

"Yes, you've said as much already, but what made you so sure that there was an insider," Chrom continued, "They could have simply destroyed or damaged the doors to enter the tunnels,"

"Yes, but it would have been loud and at least one person would have heard it," She had thought all this through. After all she couldn't very well just tell Chrom, I'm from the future and I know what was supposed to happen tonight. She imagined that wouldn't go over very well.

Chrom seemed to accept her explanation and didn't ask further on the subject. They walked in silence for a short while before he asked, "What's the plan now, Robin?"

"War is all but inevitable by now," The tactician began once they had returned to the counsel room. A map of the city and the surrounding countryside lay on the table in front of her, "Chances are Plegia already has forces marching against us, so we will need to fortify our defences at the western, northern, and southern gates since those are the ones they are most likely to use. We should also station a few more soldiers at the eastern gate to prevent them from flanking us," She scanned the room, and saw no sign of argument as she continued, "I also noticed while walking along the walls the other day that there are weak sections here, and here," She pointed to two spots on the southeastern wall, "I suggest we repair that as soon as possible, and we'll need to increase your guard detail milady,"

"I'll get the Shepherds on it," Chrom said

"No," Emmeryn spoke up, having been fine with leaving the strategizing to those more familiar with the art of battle, "I need you to go to Regna Ferox, Chrom,"

Chrom was about to protest, but Robin quickly spoke up, "She's right. Our best bet at winning this war is with the help of Ferox,"

"Sister, please," Chrom pleaded, "Come with us or at least head to the Eastern Palace, you'll be safer,"

"That's not an option Chrom," Robin reminded him, "We can't afford to spare any soldiers escorting her to Ferox, and everyone will be in more danger if she goes with you,"

"But she'll be safer with us," Chrom countered stubbornly, "

It would be so much easier if I could tell him, "They would expect us to move her and keep spies stationed around the city," Robin explained, her patience was beginning to run thin, "If they see her leaving, then they'll send more of their forces against us, and we won't have the walls of the city to protect us from an all out assault. I'm a good tactician Chrom, but not even I can come up with a way to prevent that from being a slaughter,"

Chrom fell silent. Robin could see the conflict clear on the prince's face as he struggled between Robin's logic and his own desire to protect his sister. She hoped he would see reason, but she had no way of knowing. This was no longer her future.

And she had every intention of keeping it that way.

"You're right," Chrom conceded resignedly, "I don't like it, but you're right Robin, and I trust you," The tactician allowed herself a sigh of relief when she heard this. Everything seemed to be going alright.

"Thank you, Chrom,"

Early the next morning, all the Shepherds were saddled and ready to head out. All that is, except for their leader and tactician. When Chrom had seen Robin without a horse and unprepared, he had been confused and more than a little irritated, until the tactician explained that she would be staying to help prepare the city for a siege. Emmeryn had, of course, objected to the very though, insisting that Chrom had more of a need of a tactician than Ylisstol.

The prince wouldn't hear of it though and agreed that it would be best for Robin to stay here, trying to convince his sister that they were unlikely to face more than they could handle without their tactician. Eventually, Chrom and Robin were able to convince Emmeryn that this was the best course of action and the Shepherds left.

The sight of them leaving without her filled Robin with mixed emotions. On one hand, it hurt a lot. In her timeline, she had gone everywhere Chrom went and had formulated nearly every winning strategy they had utilized. In this timeline, she had distanced herself from all of them. She had injured herself and couldn't fight many of the battles where she had forged her initial friendships with her comrades. They still listened to her, but they didn't trust her quite as much as if she had fought by their side in the heat of battle. So it hurt to watch their backs as they walked away.

She shook herself out of her self pity. She needed to stop focusing on the differences. For all she knew this was all she could have for the rest of her life. There was no guarantee that she could return to the version of events that she knew, and even so there was still much destruction and sorrow to prevent in this one. Until the day came when she could devote the time to finding a way home, she had to focus here and now.

And right now that meant focusing on the upcoming battle.

Cordelia should be arriving today with news of Plegia's forces marching over the border and trampling over the other pegasus knights, so she didn't have much time. Plans were made, the walls reinforced. She doubled the guard on the gates with orders to inform her if they saw anything unusual. She unfortunately couldn't do much else at the moment, as there was no way they could know when someone was coming.

Emmeryn was doing wonders just by being within the city. She was able to calm the people as they began to panic, and kept the peace simply by being there. The people felt some assurance to know their leader was still among them and had faith in the strength of the city. It helped morale over all, and reinforced Robin's feeling that she had made the correct decision.

The short time they had flew by quickly and Cordelia had soon arrived and warned them of the fast approaching Plegian army. What last few preparations they had time for were quickly completed, and the citizens were told to remain inside their homes in preparation for the oncoming battle. The guard was focused at the western gate from which a dark line could be seen along the horizon. They had an hour maybe two before the bulk of the army arrived at their front gates.

Cordelia would be fighting alongside the ground troops without the aid of her pegasus, which she had decided to allow to rest. She had refused multiple suggestions from Robin and Emmeryn that she should rest as well, it took an order from Phila to get her to rest even the few hours they had before Plegia's forces would arrive. It wasn't the redhead's specialty, but it was better than nothing, and hopefully it wouldn't prove to be a mistake.

Robin was mostly going to be involved in strategy, but would likely end up in the fray herself depending on when Chrom returned. She would also be helping to guard Emmeryn. It wasn't likely that the Plegians were going to give up on assassination attempts just because they were now at war. Though, knowing what the Mad King was like, she was inclined to believe that he wouldn't be attempting any assassinations. He probably wasn't involved in the original assassination attempt in the first place, as Gangrel was more of a sadist than anything else. A death he didn't get to witness personally just wasn't his style. Despite this, she wasn't about to take any chances. Validar, she knew, still lived and he wasn't above trickery to get what he wanted.

"Robin," the captain of the guard snapped her back to reality. She nodded at him to indicate she was listening, "The Plegians are nearly upon us now,"

"Thank you," She replied, and looked at the light pouring through the western window, "They aren't likely to attack until morning, but it's better to be safe than dead," she muttered to herself before directing a question to the captain, "are the men in position?" The captain answered in the affirmative and left the room, Robin soon to follow. This was a defining moment. She had never had to defend this large an area before. Most of the time, she had been formulating attack patterns and siege plans on the opposite side of that wall.

She only hoped she hadn't bitten off more than she could chew.

Please leave a review on your way out, and thank you for all of you who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this story already.

-AlyRe