We've jumped right to the night after Emmeryn's death.

Lucina was miserable.

There were a bunch of small things that made her miserable. The desert was hot during the day and freezing during the night, there was sand everywhere, and she had burns on whatever skin was subject to the suns rays.

These were things she could put up with. She never had any luxuries growing up in a post-apocalyptic world, despite being a princess.

However, it was the crushing amount of dread that was really getting to her.

She had failed to save her aunt.

It was heartbreaking to have arrived on the scene right when she was about to die. The scream of despair from her father and the cries of her aunt Lissa almost broke her.

It was a bit sad that the reason it didn't was because she was already used to so much death.

A painful pang of hunger struck Lucina. She had run out of rations, and was running dangerously low on water. She would likely survive the night, but, come morning, the blaring heat might be too much for her to survive.

She noticed a camp ahead of her. It was the Shepherd's camp, judging by the tents. They were lying low after the disastrous attack.

Lucina knew she was trying not to intervene too much, but this was a life or death situation for her. They probably saw her as an ally, so odds were they would give her something. She knew they would be polite enough not to ask any questions.

She was surprised how easily she walked into the camp. She thought the lookout would have stopped her or something. She remembered hearing something strange in the wind as she walked past the area the guard would usually be. Odds are the person keeping watch out was that elusive knight. His name escaped her. Odds are he trusted her enough to give her free rein.

Lucina noticed that all the tents were dark, meaning everybody was asleep. She didn't want to disturb anybody, given how stressful of a day they just had.

She suddenly noticed that the lights were still on in one of the larger tents. She didn't know whose tent it was, but she knew she had to take her chances.

Slowly, she opened up the flap.

Books.

Books everywhere.

Books and maps and writing utensils were scattered all around the tent.

The entire mess seemed to center around a desk, which held a lantern, a bottle, and the tactician of the Shepherds.

"Hmm?" Robin looked up at Lucina. "Oh. Marth. Hi."

The man did not look good. He looked exhausted, bags under his bloodshot eyes.

"Have you been...drinking?" Lucina asked, looking at the bottle.

"Huh?" Robin looked at the bottle. "Oh. No, not yet, but I was planning on it. However, unless you would care to have a glass with me, I think I'll pass for now."

Lucina glared at the man.

"...Ok, that sounded way more flirty than I intended. Sorry about that. I just thought it would be rude." Robin explained.

Lucina was tempted to press him on the fact that he just admitted to flirting with her a little, but she decided to let it be. She knew from a dancing swordsmen that flirting could be so much worse.

"I don't drink." Lucina said. She never drank before, and she needed to make sure her mind was at its clearest. Robin was a clever man. If she let her guard down, he could make use of her loosened lips and get whatever information he wanted.

"Alright." Robin said. He reached into his desk and pulled out a loaf of bread. "Here. You look like you need it. I have some water, too." Lucina graciously accepted the offer and attempted not to eat it too quickly. The gentle laugh of the tactician revealed that she was not successful in her task, and she felt her cheeks heat up.

Lucina suddenly noticed that all the maps that were scattered across the room were of the same battle field.

The last battle. The loss of Emmeryn.

"What are you doing?" Lucina asked, looking at the maps.

Robin looked around with a somewhat grim smile. "Well, Marth, you may have noticed that we made a bit of a mistake in the last battle. Loss of one of the most important and what not. As a tactician, it's my job to make sure we don't lose any body and, if we do, formulate a plan about not losing anybody else."

"So you're...going over the situation." Lucina observed, looking at one of the maps. There were a lot of angry red lines on them.

"Yup." Robin replied. "I've gone over the battle 200 time already."

Lucina's eye's widened. "That's…!" She was shocked. "Did you...find anything?"

Robin leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying the rush of impressing someone, despite the grim circumstances. "Welp, I did figure out one thing." He looked down at the map on his desk. "The best case scenario was the scenario that happened."

"What?!" Lucina exclaimed. "How could you say such a thing?!"

"Well," Robin said, folding his hand together, "It's all about priority. We both know Emmeryn would never allow someone to sacrifice themselves for her. Yet every one of the other plans that do result in her rescue also results in sacrifice."

He looked down at the map in front of him. "Take this strategy, for example. We would have our archers and mages distract the archers trained on Emm and have our Pegasus riders go in for the save. Even if they did grab Emm in the amount of time it take of the archers to outright kill the distraction team, the chance of them making it out of the archers range by that time are slim. We would lose Virion, Miriel, Ricken, Sumia or Cordelia, and eventually Emm, if she doesn't survive a Pegasus crash. Not only that, the rest of the army would be without these members in the actual fight, greatly decreasing our chances of victory." Robin explained.

"...Chrom would fall." Lucina realized. She thought it was somewhat selfish of her to rank the lives of her parents over the lives of others, but her parents were very important figures.

"I doubt we would all survive." Robin noted. "But, yeah, Chrom is a priority. Which brings me to the tough part about all of this: Emm's death strengthened our forces and appears to be weakening theirs."

Lucina realized what Robin was trying to say.

"The Exalt's death was a good thing?" She asked.

"If Emm didn't sacrifice herself in such a public way, we wouldn't have the opening we have now." Robin replied. "There is no way we would have the advantage we have now. She's become a symbol to the Plegian army. With all of the desertions and low moral, they're right where we want them."

Lucina looked over all the maps, both impressed and a little horrified. "And it took you 200 tries to figure this out?"

"No." Robin replied. "It took me 50 tries."

"Fifty?" Lucina asked, surprised. "Then why would you…?"

"Marth." Robin look Lucina directly in the eyes. "Do you know what I do after I go through all over these battles?"

Lucina looked over at the bottle.

"...Not after every battle." Robin said. "No. I take my final report and present it to Chrom."

Robin sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Marth, how do I tell a man just lost his sister that everything went as well as it could have?"

"...Chrom thinks he failed." Lucina commented.

"And I have to tell him we didn't." Robin added.

"Wouldn't that make him feel better?" Lucina asked.

"With Chrom, who knows." Robin sighed. "We've seen plenty of situations where the best possible solution would have been to sacrifice someone, but we figured out ways around that. If someone dies, it's seen as a loss."

"...That's childish." Lucina heard herself say somewhat harshly.

"What?" Robin asked, looking up at her.

"This is war. People will die." Lucina said. "I can't tell you how amazing it is that you've managed to keep as many people alive as you have, but the fact is, in battle, people die. Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it. You just have to learn from your mistakes, take a second to catch your breath, and continue to protect people." Lucina spoke from experience. She's lost a lot of people under her command. It was emotionally stressful, but ultimately you had to learn how to cope.

"...You're right." Robin said. "I know you're right. Chrom's going to have to see that you are right." Robin looked at Lucina curiously. "Hopefully he'll only punch me once…" He smiled at the princess. "Thank you, Marth. Or whatever your real name."

"Who do you think I am?" Lucina accidentally asked.

"What?" Robin asked, curiously.

Lucina sighed. It would help to change the subject, and this was something she was curious about. "Who do you theorize I am. I'm keeping it a secret, but I want to know how close you are."

"I assume you won't tell me if I'm right." Robin said. Lucina nodded. "Alright." He clapped his hands and leaned toward Lucina. "Well, the only fact I have is that you're related to Chrom."

Lucina was pretty impresses with herself about how she hid her shock. "What makes you say that?" She asked.

"Well, the first time we met you, you were wearing a mask, which meant that, whatever you were trying to hide, it was in your eyes. Sure enough, you seem to be rocking a fashionable Mark of Naga. I doubt anyone else noticed after you ditched the mask, but I'm pretty observant." Robin explained. "Also, you have a few physical similarities to Chrom. How am I doing so far?"

Lucina was really impressed with herself about how much she was hiding her wild panic. "T-That's a pretty solid theory. How do you think I'm related to him?"

"That's where I hit a wall." Robin replied, much to Lucina's relief. "I have two theories, but neither of them hold a lot of water. My first theory is that you and Lissa were switched at birth. You resemble Chrom a lot more than she does, and you have the mark she lacks. I would guess that it was potentially one of the nobles looking for a tie to the throne. They would show to Lissa her true birthright, and hope that she resented the royals enough to try and claim the throne the name of her birth family. I really doubt Lissa would turncoat, though, so they're plan wouldn't work. Besides, while she doesn't resemble Chrom, she definitely resembles Emm."

She would have considered the idea that Lissa was switched at birth, but Lucina knew that Owain proved Lissa's birthright. There was no way Robin would know that, however.

"My second theory is more believable. Given what I've read about the earlier Exalt, he was a mad man driven by religious fury. Basically he was our side's Gangrel. My question is if he was also dishonorable."

"What do you mean?" Lucina asked.

"I don't know, Marth." Robin replied. "Are you a the old king's bastard child?"

"W-What?!" Lucina exclaimed. Robin laughed.

"I'm joking!" Robin exclaimed. "Neither of those theories explain where you got that sword, or why you know the things you do." He grinned at Lucina. "Just crazy old Robin rambling crazy old conspiracy theories." His smile softened as he saw Lucina smile. "Look at us. Two of the most mysterious figures in the Shepherds, speculating one each other's pasts." His smile fell. "And I guess that's the elephant in the room."

Lucina looked at him, confused.

"What is the secret behind the most mysterious figure in the Shepherds?" Robin folded his hands. "Who is Robin?"

Lucina felt the mood shift into something more ominous.

"...Who do you think you are?" Lucina asked.

"I was found in the middle of a field with no memories. I'm wearing Plegian robe. I have several subtle habits that trace back to a Plegian upbringing." Robin sighed. "There are a startling amount of signs pointing to me being some sort of sleeper agent."

Lucina felt herself grasp at the handle of her blade. Was this a confession…?

"...I don't know if I am or not, and that terrifies me. Don't worry, though. I've set up a few failsafes in case I am. Chrom was having none of it when I talked to him about it, so I told someone else who could be trusted to look over me in case I turned coat. I'm not going to tell you who-"

"Sir Frederick." Lucina said.

"Well, yeah. Guy didn't really trust me, but we bonded over how neither of us trusted me." He joked. "So hopefully it won't be a problem." He looked at Lucina. "...Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?"

Lucina looked at the man, shocked. "If you think sharing your supplies with me gives you the right to-"

"Nononono!" Robin quickly protested. "I was wondering if you wanted to sleep in the women's area. Odds are, after such a stressful day, people are still awake, trying to think about what happened."

Lucina calmed down. "I would, but, as you noticed, someone might notice my eye. Thank you for the offer."

"Right." Robin said. "If you're leaving, take some supplies with you. I'm sure if someone notices them missing, they won't mind as long as I tell them it was just you."

"T-Thank you." Lucina said. It was rather startling how trusting the Shepherds were. It was somewhat reassuring to know there was someone like Robin on the team, thinking about what nobody else noticed.

"Thank you." Robin retorted. "I really needed to get some of that stuff off my chest. This was a nice chat." He looked up at Lucina, but she was already gone. "Huh. Talk about dine and dash." He sighed, pulling out a small notebook.

Marth Theories

Switched at Birth X

Bastard Child X

Alien?

Outrealm, gender-flipped Chrom?

Reincarnated Hero King?

Time Travel?

So yeah. Robin and Lucina talk about how nobody know anything about them and how fishy that is.

So that Smash Demo is out, so I'm keeping this short.

Also, I saw 22 Jump Street the other day, and am trying to figure out a way to adapt a certain scene from that movie into the general Fire Emblem universe. If you've seen the movie, you know what scene I'm talking about.

Hope you liked this, and I hope you have a nice day.