Sorry for the delay! Please forgive me ahhh. Fair warning, some of the future chapters will have mature material, so it may take a while to make toned down versions for . You can always read them at my ao3, whitearrow, or on my tumblr, tacticiansquill. You can also check out my imagines blog imaginefeawakening ^_^
Thank you for your patience and continued support!
She wouldn't think of the way his muscles tensed and stretched when he discarded his shirt. She was told not to look, after all. but of course the second Frederick had to look away she took in an eyeful of his body. Muscles taut, probably rock hard from years of training. She wanted to touch them. Robin had briefly fantasized just lying Frederick down next to her so she could trace his abs. And then maybe do some more things afterwards. Wait, didn't she say she wouldn't think of that? Then why was she?
"Oi," Gaius rapped the distracted tactician's head. "Get your head outta cloud nine, 's kinda important."
"Right," Robin nodded, and focused her attention at the mission on hand. She gulped as the band of assassins narrowed their eyes at her. It was tough, integrating amongst these types of folk. They'd scrutinized her endlessly, questioning Gaius's claim that she was there for the same cause. Gaius had infiltrated the band before she, and had already established some sort of relationship with them. Getting them to include her two was a little more challenging, especially considering her role as tactician and the fact that there was a traitor in their midst sitting in this very circle. She personally wanted to jump them all and find out who it is. Gaius of course had to talk her down, to make sure she didn't do anything reckless, and assured her that he'd love to beat down the traitor too, although with different intentions than she.
All things aside, she still wasn't feeling too great. Although she wasn't feverish, things were beginning to pile to be a bit too much. What with Emmeryn's assassination plot in the palace to all things after, the tension was growing thicker by the day. One would think that all focus would be on the war. But, humans will be humans, she'd reasoned. When she wasn't busy with her duties, she'd be dueling with relentless thoughts of everything else. Her friends...yes, she supposed she could call them that. Friends she didn't even know she had once were ready to defend her with all they had.
Some of the soldiers still regarded her strangely, but Lissa would always glare at them on her behalf. Lissa, Sumia, Stahl...that new farmer they'd recruited the other day that had been training with Chrom ever since...even the prickly Lon'qu...they all were her friends. Sure they'd poke fun at her (or in Lon'qu's case growl about her mere presence) but they loved her. Her best friend of course was Chrom. She wouldn't trade her time with him for anything.
There was just one big question mark left. Frederick. What was he-OUCH!
"Bubbles, you wanted to do this, I need you to keep your head in the game. Tactician duties overwhelming you? Or is it something else," he hissed in her ear with an accusatory tone as quietly as he could. That earned them a few more suspicious glances, but Gaius covered it with a quick peck against her ear.
"Lovebirds, keep it in the bedroom," a blonde woman said snidely. "We don't have all day. Something big's gonna happen soon. If they don't kill the prince, we do."
"Yeah," a bald man snorted. "Like that's goin' well. How did that last plan go, exactly?"
"Shut up. Didn't think that stupid girl woulda been the one to scarf them grapes down," the woman said scathingly. "Whole damn camp was kissing her ass. Can't blame 'em." The woman chewed on an apple and spat out bits of the peel into the campfire. "Prince Chrom's new shiny toy, who wouldn't be interested? The man probably goes through a dozen a month though, so I'm sure the shine will wear off soon. 'Course, we'll snuff him out soon enough."
Wait...did that mean that she was the one to poison the grapes? That she was the one feeding all the information to this group? Robin glanced at Gaius out of the side of his eye, and could see that Gaius wore a blank expression. He squeezed her hand once...that was enough for her to know that he was thinking what she was. They got her...what they could do with this information, however, would be left to the ginger.
There was one issue though. Robin was close to lunging at the woman, who seemed to be the most evil one of the group. And the most competent. And the last sentence revealed that it was she who was the traitor. Well of course...to keep a charade this long...it would have to be someone brilliant. Brilliant but...a certain word Robin was furiously repeating inside her mind. She felt pressure on her hand again, likely from a Gaius who had a faint idea of what she wanted to do. She clucked her tongue and focused on the licks of fire before her. This was supposed to be a simple meeting...they could leave soon. And then she'd release her rage into a more positive outlet. Yes.
"That slut though...how many guys do you reckon has sucked her-"
"Hey, shouldn't we get back to the plan?" Gaius's jaw is set, and although it was a small slip in composure, it was monumental for someone like him. This time it was Robin's turn to squeeze his hand. He returned the pressure, and indicated that he wasn't about to blow his top. But the anger radiating from him wasn't very convincing.
"Eh, there ain't much to talk 'bout today. Gotta see what Mad King Gangrel's up to. No use dirtying our hands if the freak gets the job done 'fore we get there," another man said. "Time for shut-eye. 'Sides, looks like the lovebirds are ready to get frisky, eh?"
"We can keep our hands to ourselves," Gaius said smoothly. "So nothing? I told you all our movements for nothing then, huh..."
"Hey now, youse volunteered," the man continued. "We ain't gonna spill all the beans to ya."
"Then there's no point stickin' around to watch all of you get trashed. Come on." Gaius stood up with Robin in tow, and without any fanfare, left behind the band of assassins. She'd stopped asking if they should say bye or not. It was too polite, he said.
Considering the vulgarity she'd just been party to...she finally understood.
She'd had to cut dinner short, so the two of them decided to make a quick trip to the kitchen. Truth be told, she still had a strong aversion to the area thanks to the poisoning incident (courtesy of the blonde woman she'd be exacting her revenge on), but Gaius promised to try everything before letting Robin have a taste. It wasn't exactly reassuring, but he was hungry and claimed that he'd go hard, or go home.
They had been recapping whatever they'd learned. That the bandits were pretty lazy, but they would be figuring out someway or another to kill the prince, if the war didn't take him first. Gaius said that he wouldn't have even considered them a real threat, had they not already managed to poison Robin. It was just too simple to blend in, and Chrom was much too trusting. They were at a standstill; and it looked like they didn't take a liking to Robin either (who was posing as his girlfriend). He'd said that perhaps it would be better if he went alone for a while.
As much as she wanted to help him, she'd agreed that this was probably better. And loathe as she was to admit it, her tactician duties were catching up to her. Planning, bonding with the Shepherds, her pesky relationship issues...Her body was growing more and more weary by the day. She'd claimed to be a master at stress, but the weight was starting to be a heavy weight on her. And the guilt, oh the guilt. If it weren't those horrible nightmares, then it would be the guilt that would be keeping her up...or something of a more mature nature.
Cordelia had given her back the necklace after dinner, earlier that day. She cooed over how beautiful it was, and it was back around Robin's neck, tucked under her shirt before she'd left for her mission (yet something else that was robbing her of her sleep). It didn't help that the very people that she wanted to kill thought of her badly...in a way that she really didn't want to be thought of. Rumors shouldn't hurt her, but the way she was treating her best friend...it wasn't good.
Every time she walked she could feel it thud against her chest with every step. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve it. Why did she take it in the first place?
She clutched at her necklace, wondering if she should bring it up. "Hey, Gaius..." Robin said in between picking up an apple (helpfully taste tested be Gaius) and digesting it. What they had said, earlier at the campfire was bothering her. Crude words were used, but really, was she any better than that?
"Yeah?" He'd started to 'test' the sweets now. "Mm, no poison here." His stuffed mouth proved that much. When he'd earned Robin's eye-rolling, he swallowed and went back to what he knew was really plaguing her mind. "Don't pay attention to them."
"But I-I know you know Gaius." It was a vague statement, but she knew Gaius was sharp enough to know what she was saying. The ruffians hit a nerve, but could she blame them? She felt no better than a common tramp.
He took a deep breath and set down the bag of goodies on the makeshift counter. He put his hands on her shoulders (she winced, as she was only in her usual top and thus bared her shoulders; his sticky hands were not pleasant against her skin). "Listen, Robin. Whatever emotional crap you have going on with Blue and Tight Pants doesn't mean you're a bad person. You're confused. It's quite common at your age," he said sagely.
"And how old are you?" she narrowed his eyes. 'At your age.' As though he were the all-wise sage or something.
"Older than you. Not important. The point is that even though you need to sort your shit out, you can't beat yourself up over it...or get distracted when you need your head in the game."
Just then there was a rustling as Frederick entered the tent. His hair was tousled, and his clothes were wrinkled. She'd say that it looked like he couldn't sleep, but he was still in his dress pants and shirt, suspenders and all. Just what was he up to?
"Here's your chance," Gaius whispered in her ear and clapped her on the back. He winked at her and bowed out. He knew when to make his exit, and abandoned the poor tactician without so much as a goodbye.
"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. "Good for nothing..." She awkwardly fiddled with her apple core and avoided looking at the elephant in the room. She did poke his nipple, after all. He couldn't be too pleased about that. She wouldn't be either...well...that would depend on the situation. She dared a glance at him, and he was just standing there. Why was he there in the first place? Should she leave? She looked down at once was an apple and back at him.
He wasn't leaving either...what could she say? Hey, how's the weather, were you out collecting pebbles? Yes, that sounded good enough. The weather was always a safe topic.
So with that in mind, she furrowed her eyebrows and looked him directly in his eyes, equally as intense as hers.
"We need to talk."
Those words flowed out of her mouth...at the same time as they did from his.
Oh dear.