Sorry for taking ages, I had some finals to take care of!

Once Robin had recovered from the ramifications of her temporarily inebriated state, and somehow managed a brutal training from Frederick (who seemed to have a vendetta against some slip up she might have pulled, he won't tell her what), Gaius sought her out once more.

"Don't take me out for drinks to tell me this time," Robin said the moment his figure approached her. She shuddered at the beating she'd undergone just a while before. "Apparently I did something despicable, and so vile that Frederick wouldn't even tell me what I did!" The knight had looked gravely serious, and almost flustered at her appearance. She tried to thank him for the tea leaves, but he pretended not to hear her.

"Oh yeah?" Gaius waggled his eyebrows, his train of thought clearly coming up with his own picture of what transpired last night. He had been fantasizing after all, after he was left alone to crawl in camp.

Robin hit his arm, and started to regale their interesting conversation.

When she'd arrived to their designated meeting spot, Frederick was wearing a sterner expression than usual. He had averted his gaze, and even flushed for a moment. She remembered him helping her...but that was the full extent of her memories from the previous evening.

"We must train you hard...to keep something so horrendous from ever occurring again." He nodded at her gravely, and she gulped. What on earth had she done? Did she throw up on him or something? Oh Gods, she could never look him in the eye if she did that.

"I'll clean it up! Whatever it is!" she waved her hands around, trying to gesture that somehow she'd fix the literal mess she had probably caused. And then she would swear off of alcohol for good. Or any juices of questionable history, if that was it. He just shook his head, with a look of remorse in his eyes, and her heart sank.

"This is one thing that can never be cleaned...It will forever remain a blemish on our lives. What if you do this to another man?" Throw up on him? She could do that too a woman too, what was he referring to-

Oh.

OH NO.

THEY DIDN'T!

She quickly looked down at her clothes, as though it had vanished the moment she had her epiphany. "Oh no...Frederick..."

"Have you understood now?" he asked her. He took a few strides to her and gazed imperiously into her eyes, his face drawing closer...

She stepped back and gasped. "No! We couldn't have! How could you do such a thing!" She looked positively scandalized, and clutched at her robes, relieved that they had not abandoned her yet.

"If I recall, you had attacked me. I will forever remain impure..." He touched his cheek for the umpteenth time since they've met up that morning, and pinked once more.

"I-I did? Why didn't you stop me! My chastity! Who will marry me now?" Robin clutched the sides of her heads, feeling like this knowledge would crush her forever. Oh, she would murder Gaius the second she got her fingers around his throat-

"Your what? Good heavens, no, nothing like that happened. Surely a man of my power would be able to fend off a drunk woman such as yourself." He had that gall to say this all so matter-of-factly, as if he didn't cause the misunderstanding in the first place! "I would never let you touch me so intimately, I mean really I have a sense of morality, and I wouldn't hand it over to the likes of you-"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Robin said drily, and held back the urge to throw her shoe at him. "Then what the hell happened that you're acting like I snatched away your virginity!"

"I must not say," Frederick said. "I'll let you stew over it. Understand the repercussions of the...act. Now, let us train."

"But-"

"Train, I said!"

And he left no room for argument as he charged at her, using her as a punching bag to forget...the thing.

Gaius doubled over in laughter as she finally finished telling him why Frederick was so hell bent on training her to tears.

"Aw man, you screwed up big time!" he wiped away tears of mirth, that turned into tears of pain as she slugged him in the stomach. "Ouch!"

"This is your fault! Your fault! I did something to him and I don't even remember!" she hit him for each word, and he could feel himself bruising up.

"Easy, easy Bubbles!" he rolled away from her hits, and caught her small fists in his hands. "Now, we've got serious business to discuss, as much as I want to keep seeing you die of embarrassment." She sobered up and bit her lip. The night before was a blur, but some things stuck out to her before her inebriation.

"Chrom's in trouble, huh?" Chrom, her one and only friend here. Ever since he gave her the necklace, she did spend more time with him, but then...she walked in on him, and oh Naga was that embarrassing. She battered him with a soap dish, and even though he had said it was all water under the bridge, she couldn't face him in the eye. I mean, we saw each other naked! she thought in horror. Well, it's not like he sees me as a woman anyways. This wasn't important though (even though it would still pierce her thoughts more often that she'd liked). She cared for him, and would go to hell before she'd let anything touch him.

Gaius made sure her full attention remained on him, before carefully filling her in on everything. He, the spymaster, had learned that there were a band of rogues that made for pretty damn good assassins. What their vendetta was, he did not know, but he knew that their sights were set on Chrom. Were they paid? He did not know either, but it would be better if they had. An ideology carried a stronger torch than material gain.

"And here's the tricky bit. There's someone, somewhere here in the ranks that's part of this." A traitor amidst them! Robin gritted her teeth. How dare someone, part of the Ylissean army take Chrom's trust and betray him like that. Even if it's just a foot-soldier, they're betraying everyone around them.

"Do you know who it is?" Robin asked hopefully. A shake of the head gave her her answer.

"Sorry. They were getting suspicious by the time our two faced comrade was about to join them. I had to bolt."

"Oh." She looked so distraught, that he felt a surge of pity towards the girl. He ruffled her hair comfortingly. She was genuinely worried. Not a surprise. Though he prods her and teases her about her relationship with the uptight knight...whatever it was, she was taken with the prince. It was a pitiful love that she carried in her heart. They didn't spend much time together outside of work. He could see that she wasn't confident enough to keep the man's company. With a pretty, girly woman like Sumia around Chrom, he could see her comparing herself with Sumia.

There was a certain charm to Robin. She was strong, but weak. She could take down an enemy and doubt her strengths in the same turn. She was confident only when it came to tactics, where it was needed. There was no room for doubt when formulating a plan.

In a way it was like thieving. You could think that you're scum of the earth, but when it came down to carrying out a plan, it's mind over matter.

He found that he wanted to help her...beyond a reason that involved helping himself. Perhaps this was...friendship? She seemed more than annoyed by his presence though, to make the feeling mutual. Ah well, they had to worry about a certain commander at the moment, more than all the mushy shit.

"Don't worry, Bubbles. I've got a plan..."

And so they've started sneaking out of camp at night. She's not suited to be a spy, so in addition to her daily training with Frederick, she had to spend her evenings learning to sneak around in shadows. She trades her tactician's garb for plainer ones, nothing too dark to draw suspicious, but nothing too flash either. She's able to blend in easily enough with the bushes. She wasn't sure what would be accomplished with her coming along, but he promised her that she needed to see.

He told her to pay attention to how they worked, how they spoke, how they acted. Each night they looked to see if their little traitor met up with the group, but to no avail. They moved forward, and so did the group. The band followed them, intent on their mission. Robin grew more and more jittery, but he assured her that they weren't up to anything...yet. They were waiting for the perfect opportunity.

At least all of this had improved her agility. The first nights she rustled around in the branches too much. Climbing a tree was an enormous ordeal. But under Gaius's patient instruction, she blossomed. And this translated well to the rest of her skills. She was lithe as she trained, and even got in some hits on Frederick, much to the knight's shock (and it was an injury to his pride, he spent many extra hours training). She was a menace on the battlefield, and Chrom owed her many more dues recently.

Frederick didn't miss these changes. He'd seen her changing her clothing and sneaking out with Gaius. This did not help his suspicious nature at all. Robin and Gaius always came back at different times, not to arise any suspicion, but Frederick noted even this much. Just when Robin thought she'd returned scot-free, Frederick cornered her. Her eyes widened like a trapped animal, and he'd effectively made her as such, as he grabbed her wrists and pinned her against a tree.

"Speak," he hissed at her. "I've given you enough of a benefit of the doubt, but you've crumpled whatever trust I've had. What are you scheming?" His eyes bore into hers, his jaws ground against each other, and for the first time she was truly terrified of him. But she realized that it was his intention; to intimidate her. As much as she wanted to say that she'd stand her ground, she was quivering in her boots.

"I-I was here to do some surveillance," she stammered, and winced as he held her wrists with an iron grip. Her skin was screaming, she could feel the bruises forming, and she has no doubt that she wasn't the first person to receive the third-degree like this.

"Poppycock! You spend all your time skulking around with that thief, and you expect to just say you're doing surveillance. He was on the opposition side, how do I know you're not plotting against Milord?"

She knew that it was his greatest fear, and it was hard to blame him. She was after all trying to quash the current plans against Chrom's life. She wanted to understand him, because she wished thawt they understood her, that he understood her. She wished she could confide in him, but with his tendency to be overbearing...Gaius was convinced that his affection would get in the way of solving the issue. He loved the royal family as though they were his own kin...She didn't want to blame him...Perhaps she would do the same in his place. She looked into his eyes. Fear, desperation, anger, hatred...And it was the hatred that still managed to stir irritation in the less sensible part of her. She could forgive him, but he should give her a chance to speak for herself!

"He's not—look just because you have trust issues that doesn't mean everyone else needs them. Caution is necessary but you go too far!" She wrests a wrist away from him, and her burst of ferocity startles him. That's right. Why should she be so nice all the time? To be so hateful all the time. Her mind was going in circles. On one hand, she wanted to be the bigger person. They had an almost amiable banter as they worked together. He even helped her out every now and then. But his icy glare was just too much to bear. "Chrom is your best friend, isn't he? then why don't you trust his judgement? You even said you'd believe in me in front of Exalt Emmeryn, or was that but a ruse? Maybe you just have such an ego that you-"

"Enough!" He barked at her, and her eyes squeezed tightly, as though she were recoiling from a hit. She opened them slowly to see that his orbs of amber held what looked like remorse, for once. The steel in them died down, and she could feel for the first time, how warm they were. And then she noticed that yet again, how close they were.

Her lips were an inch away from his. his breath mixed with hers and it tasted unbearably and frighteningly sweet. their respiration had grown heavier form the argument, but something else had permeated the haggard air they drew. A tension. Like a string was pulled taut and ready to break, much like their up and down relationship. The strings were frayed, but someone kept gluing them back together. And it's like now someone just added more fibers to the messy rope that was them.

"You wouldn't happen to be jealous, would you?" she broke the silence with words she didn't even understand. Him jealous? Of what exactly? She expected him to ask that, but instead he released her, and stepped back.

"We are done here." He turned around and as always, she had to look at his back. A sight she'd grown accustomed to long ago. Why did she say that? Why did she go ahead and say that?

And why did it end like that? So many questions that remained unanswered. Robin felt very wrong-footed and alone once more.

Robin's mind was in a blur. Thoughts spun around in her head, and she did not like it one bit. And an empty stomach did no good for that either. She stopped at the kitchen for a quick snack. There was a bundle of grapes that lay about invitingly, and she thought she'd help herself to some. It was...sickeningly sweet, she thought. The odd taste distracted her from the tension in her mind. Her stomach felt like someone was trapped inside and pushing to get out. It was painful-much too painful.

Her lungs constricted and breathing became difficult. Oh gods, what was happening? She lost her footing, and clanged into some stray pots and pans; this alerted the night guard. Discomfort seized her throat, and she coughed for what felt like hours. Looking at her clothes, she could see that she'd spilled a good deal of blood from inside of her. Fear overtook the women and tears sprang at her eyes. She didn't want to die. Not like that. She had to figure out everything first. She had to save Chrom. Convince Frederick. Make a friend...

Don't panic Robin...Don't panic...

Just as her senses failed her, a strong pair of arms caught her, yelling her name.

Sweet dreams, Robin.