Robin grasped at his Thoron as he crossed the boundary of the town. The smell of burning buildings punctuated the gravity of the situation, and he scowled.

He had a hunch, really, based on what had happened last time this happened, and he prepared to meet some resistance.

He wasn't expecting a welcome party, though.

"Well, well, well! Lookie what we've got here!"

Robin stared down the twenty or so men, covered in soot and spattered in blood. The one in the middle, the one who had spoken, stepped forward, tapping the back of his axe against his shoulder. He eyed the tome in Robin's hands, before his grin transformed into a wicked smile.

"Who do you think you are, little man, to interrupt Jackyl's fun? Why don't we show him a good-" a blast of lightning shot from Robin's palm, and the man barely dodged the beam.

"Oooh! Feisty, aren't you? Get him, boys! Baaaaaaaaaahahaha!"

At that, the men around him charged, wildly swinging their weapons as they ran. Robin ran to the side, firing bolt after bolt at the mob. Robin managed to catch three or four of them in the blasts, stopping them in their tracks, but he didn't have the benefit of a planted stance or concentration. He instead settled for a strafe tactic, which meant sacrificing accuracy for safety.

Robin ducked into a nearby building, barreling through the front door, looking for some sort of window or back door or something to get through. His idea was to get as many choke points between him and the rabble of brigands as possible.

He found what he was looking for: a window with a shattered pane. There was barely any glass left on the frame, no doubt caused by the bandits themselves. Barely given any time to think, he leapt through the window, suffering a few minor cuts but nothing too major. He landed weirdly, though, and felt a pain shoot up his left ankle.

Damn it.

He heard a cackle behind him, and instinctively shot another bolt of lightning through the window. He registered a loud thud, and hobbled down the street as fast as he could, before winding down a set of alleyways.

"Keep running, Morgan, come on!"

She couldn't. She couldn't keep running. She was getting tired, and running out of breath.

"I'm... sorry, sis... I can't... keep... going..."

"What? Oh come on!" the other girl gasped, before turning to look behind her.

Morgan followed her gaze, to find three bandits rushing at them.

"Damn the gods!"

Morgan found herself flung by the wrist into another alleyway. If she was being honest, this was getting tedious. The last thing she saw was her sister getting surrounded by the bandits, who had by now caught up.

No, you... can't...

It seemed that Robin had somehow lost the mob, and he sat against a wall of the alley, catching his breath. His ankle ached, and tried to massage the pain away. He was also using the lull to try and piece his memories together.

See, the problem with remembering every iteration of the loop was that it became almost impossible to recall what had happened in the most recent loop.

He stared at his ring. He stared hard, hoping that something would pop up in his mind. He was so focused on this task that he almost forgot that bandits were roaming the streets and buildings were burning not a few blocks away from him.

It took a thud from nearby to snap him out of his thoughts. He popped his head out from the corner, his tome at the ready, just in case.

She was wearing the same robes as he was.

"Oh gods, Morgan!" he said, a sort of loud whisper escaping his lips. He scooped up his daughter, checking for any wounds.

As he picked her up, he couldn't help but notice her bright red hair.

"Mmmh... Father... you're back," she breathed. Robin sighed in relief. She looked fine. Tired, but fine.

"Thank gods, you're unhurt."

"Father... S-... Severa's..."

Robin registered the sounds of fighting nearby, and the pit in his stomach returned with a vengeance.

"R-Right. You wait right here. Stay hidden. I'll be right back."

Robin had already put two and two together, and rushed towards the sounds of fighting.

"Gah!" Severa gasped as her side exploded in pain. She bit her lip before running her blade across the neck of the two remaining bandits. She'd managed to send her sword between the ribs of one, but the axe of the second one had caught her in the hip. She stared down the last brigand.

"Whatsa matter, girly? Does it hurt?" he taunted.

"Sh-Shut up! You won't be laughing when you're dead!" she shouted before charging toward him. She swung the blade down, but the bandit parried with the handle of his axe, shoving his arms to the side, bringing her sword to the side along with it. He righted himself, swinging the flat of the axe to her head. She ducked the swing, before sending her shoulder into the man's gut. He staggered backward. Severa matched his steps, moving forward as he did backward. She slashed at his stomach and drew blood, but over-swung, leaving her open to-

Severa found all the wind knocked out of her as she fell to the ground, the wound at her side not helping matters.

The bandit said nothing, a grim expression on his face being the only thing he showed as he raised his axe. Severa squeezed her eyes shut.

Morgan... I...

The sound of lightning nearby, followed by the clanging of the axe onto the ground next to her and the thud slightly behind her, caused her to open them again. The bandit was no longer standing above her. Instead...

"Severa! This way!"

"...Daddy?"

She couldn't believe her eyes. Robin... her father... was back.

Quicker than even she thought she could, she stood and rushed her father for a hug.

"Oh gods... Daddy, you're back!"

"Yes, dear, I'm back," Robin said, a smile appearing on his face momentarily. "I've missed you, Severa. But we should continue our reunion later. We still have a battle on our hands."

"Huh? R-Right! Where's Morgan?" Severa quickly stammered, moving away from him.

He wordlessly pointed down to the alleyway he had just come out of, the same alleyway that Severa had tossed Morgan into.

Morgan hugged her father as soon as she saw him.

"Father... I've missed you... *sniff* so much..."

Severa hesitated for a few seconds before doing the same.

"Girls... I... can hardly breathe..."

Sheesh, so much for saving the reunion until later...

A/N: So Severa is Morgan's sister, which means it should be obvious whom Robin married in this loop.

I still feel that writing out action-heavy scenes is something I need to improve on, so I was really stretching out writing this chapter (he says, after publishing the last chapter a day beforehand). I'm not 100% satisfied with how this chapter ends, but at the same time it leads well into the start of the next chapter, which I honestly don't want to tack onto this one.

So, next time we'll see the conclusion of the battle and get into the real meat of the story. As always, please leave a review, and stay tuned!

OH GOD IT'S 2AM RIGHT NOW I'M SO TIRED