The Shepherds arrived at Plegia's outpost located at Carion Isle. The heavy door creaked loudly as Frederick went ahead to open it. "…Milord," He said. "I have an uneasy feeling about this."
The Great Knight stepped back and let Chrom take the lead. The rest followed behind the Exalt through the entrance.
"Hello Lord Chrom." A seductive voice welcomed.
There they saw Aversa, the Dark Flier who was formerly the subordinate of the late Mad King Gangrel.
Frederick drew his Silver Lance and ordered Chrom to stay back. "This is a trap, isn't it…"
"My, my, you Ylisseans sure jump to conclusions quickly. I am just here to greet you before meeting milord." She laughed. "There are no tricks, I assure you, Lord Chrom."
"…So you serve the king now?" Chrom asked, with his hand placed on Falchion's hilt just in case.
"Why yes, Lord Validar is a most wonderful leader for Plegia. We have been doing tremendous under his rule." She explained.
They heard footsteps approaching, with short strides followed by a slight sound of fabric dragging along the floor.
"Ah, here he comes now."
The new ruler of Plegia looked quite familiar in Chrom's eyes: The tossed back long hair, the goatee, the light purple cloak…
Where had he seen it before?
"Greetings Lord Chrom. I am Validar. I am pleased to fund Ylisse's campaign against the Valmese." Validar said, as he stuck out his hand for a hand shake.
Validar had really long purple fingernails, something that creeped Chrom out a lot. "Thank you, Lord Validar. You are truly too kind."
"Well nothing but the best for Ylisse. I assume that everything is in the past now. Anyways, I can offer the sea vessels you requested, as long as some supplies." Validar grinned.
The grin on the Plegian King's face looked all too familiar to Robin. "We cannot ask for anything more." Robin added. "…Have we met before? I feel this vague familiarity with you, your Highness."
Validar chuckled. "Unfortunately, I do not recall such a meeting, but I do know of you, Miss Robin. Everyone across the land knows of Ylisse's top tactician!"
"Yes, we are blessed to have Robin in the Shepherds," Chrom commented. Such praise from both Validar and Chrom had Robin quite embarrassed.
Chrom and the others turned back towards the entrance.
"Before you go, Milord…" Aversa said. "We would like you to meet someone: our hierophant."
A figure draped in a black cloak walked down the hallway. Their face was covered by the cloak's hood, all that could be seen was the person's blank expression.
"So, you must be very intelligent to be Plegia's hierophant." Robin commented.
The hierophant stood there silently, acknowledging Robin's words, but no reply was spoken.
"…I'm sorry, have I said something offensive? I am gravely sorry if so."
The hierophant mumbled quietly to themselves.
"Good Hierophant, may I request you lower your hood? That is courtesy when in front of Ylissean Royalty." Frederick said.
"...Very well, sir..." The hierophant mumbled. They removed their hood from their head, and their face was covered no more.
"What?!"
The voice, the white locks of hair, the eyes...everything about the hierophant, resembled Robin!
The Hierophant glanced at Chrom, with a smirk on her face. She chuckled lightly.
"...Is this better, sire? My name is Robin."
Chrom took a step back. "What is this sorcery? How come...she looks just like OUR Robin?"
Frederick took out his silver lance once again. "...I knew you Plegians were up to something fishy."
Aversa cackled. "I am afraid that is all the time we have a the moment, Milord."
The Plegian trio disappeared, most likely teleportation from dark magic.
That evening Robin could not rest.
The image of the other Robin was etched into her mind.
Who was she?
Who was Validar?
Why did everything today seem so familiar to her?
She tried to lay down until she felt a pang of pain well up in her head. A sort of a vibrating ringing sound rang in her head.
"Heed me..."
"Heed me, Robin..."
She had officially gone crazy. Now there were voices in her head!
"Why is there this voice...coming from my head? My thoughts? No..." She questioned. She clutched her head in pain, and tried to resist this voice.
A pulse of light appeared in front of her, and Validar, the king himself, was beside her. The red irises of his eyes glared deep inside her thoughts, with ill intent.
"Why do you insist giving your heart to these Ylissean scum?"
"...You were calling me, V-Validar..." Robin winced, the pain too strong for her to handle. "Get out of my head!"
Validar was unshaken, instead he looked at her with a sarcastic hurt face. "You ignorant child...You dare take that tone to your very own Father?!"
"...My father?"
It was true that Robin did not remember even a bit of her past, but Validar being her father seemed like such a hoax.
Validar looked almost demonic, and Robin looked pure human. That couldn't add up. Maybe an adoptive father, but not her biological father surely?
"Yes, you are of my flesh and blood. That is why you are destined for much more! Submit to Grima and become the prophet you can be!"
Robin struggled to keep herself upright. She was about to lose her balance.
...Grima? Am I Grima's puppet?
"Robin!" Chrom called. She saw the prince run up to her and place his hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Validar groaned. "You'll see," as his illusion dispersed.
"Nngh..." Robin winced as she tried to free her mind of Validar's control. It was over before she knew it, and the pain subsided in a few seconds. "...I think I'm fine, Chrom."
"'Fine' is a poor choice of words, Robin! What happened?" Chrom's voice was riddled with concern.
"King Validar...he told me I was his daughter," The words seemed to flow roughly as she spoke them.
"What?! How can you possibly know this is true? It could be Plegia messing with us again!" He accused.
Robin's voice faltered, and she stared at the ground. "Maybe I don't want to know about my past again..."
Could this mean that the Plegian Hierophant is my sister? My twin?
Oh gods, what a conundrum...
Frederick rushed up to both of them. The Great Knight was panting out of breath. "Milord, risen have circled the camp!"
"Damn, not this again..."
There was something different about these risen. The risen evaded their moves much easier, as if they anticipated every move...
Were the risen being controlled?
Validar...
She opened up her elwind tome, and cast gusts of wind to the first risen. It flew and hit the rocky ground, excreting the purple smoke.
Robin was about to cast another spell, but she found herself surrounded by a flock of crows. "Caw-Caw!" A voice chirped. "Caw-Caw!"
A man with white hair and a light purple robe emerged from the flock. "How are ya holding up here? You look kind of shaken...mind if I join your 'CAW'SE?"
"Another Plegian?...Why should I trust you?"
The man chuckled a hearty laugh. "Man, that sounded stone cold! I got a thing for killing. The jokes are just the tip of the iceberg, nyahaha!"
The dark mage took out his Ruin tome and struck the horde of risen creeping towards them. A burst of sinister energy built up in the spell's core and exploded. That must have inflicted major damage on the risens' most critical spots.
"...I'm not even going to try to stop him." Robin said.
Chrom plunged Falchion into the Risen Chief's chest, and it hit the ground with a moan.
The Exalt wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed. "...That's all of them."
"Chrom, look out!" Robin called. She noticed an assassin gripping a silver sword ready to strike.
"Huh?"
Chrom was suddenly pushed back, and he heard the assassin's blade clash with another.
A grunt was heard, following deep breaths.
"Don't you touch my father..."
A woman blocked the hit from the assassin as she stood in front of the Ylissean prince. Who else could it be, other than...
...Marth?
Marth scared the assassin away, it retreated back to its previous location. She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead and turned to the group.
"Thank the gods you're safe..." She huffed.
She was watching us the whole time?
Was she spying on Chrom?
Everyone looked in disbelief at Marth's sudden presence yet again. Chrom was completely confused, and asked Marth to speak with him privately.
Robin watched Marth and Chrom from afar as the two had their private chat. She saw Marth's face completely wet with tears, as the swordswoman collapsed into the Exalt's arms.
Crap, don't get jealous...don't get jealous...
The sight of Chrom and Marth embracing made her confused, slightly agitated, and a little sick.
She glared at Chrom after a while, wanting to punch his face. "Hands off my woman..." Robin grunted quietly. The Prince was caressing the swordswoman's hair while she sobbed into his shoulder.
She cleared her throat. "Ahem... Chrom?"
"Is there something wrong, Robin?" Chrom asked, as he broke his hug with Marth.
Well yeah, if you'd get your hands off of her earlier that'd be great! She wanted to say.
"It's just you and Marth are alone and hugging...that's how ill rumours are born." She actually replied, trying to keep her composure. She pointed at Olivia, who stood beside her, sobbing. "Oh Chrom...I thought we would last forever..."
The prince took a deep breath. "Should we tell her, Lucina?"
Lucina...isn't that...?
No way.
"Olivia, listen to me." Chrom said. "...This is going to come as a shock but, this is our daughter."
...So you're telling me that the woman that I've been deeply infatuated with is...
my best friend's daughter.
"Do you think I'm an IDIOT?" Olivia shouted at her husband's face.
"...It's true, Olivia. Look closely, my left eye possesses the Brand of the Exalt." Lucina explained.
"It's the brand..." Olivia gasped. "The one that my baby has...how is this possible?!"
"I am her from another time, more than ten years hence...when history takes a deep dark turn."
Robin wanted to scream and yell.
What kind of situation did she get into?!
"Marth," Robin called, but she quickly corrected herself. "…I mean Lucina. That is who you are, right?"
"Yes, I am Lucina, just in another time." The princess answered. She kept her hand nested on Parallel Falchion's hilt. It was truly Chrom's sword as Robin's suspicions predicted. Every part of Lucina's Parallel Falchion mirrored Chrom's: from the divine sword's pommel to its blade.
She glanced at Lucina again. Her cerulean hair was long, falling past her shoulders, and she could clearly notice the Brand of the Exalt in her left eye now that she looked at her straight in the face. Lucina looked to be around eighteen, and Robin herself assumed, she was around twenty.
Damn, she is Chrom's daughter! Robin, how could you be so stupid to be attracted to your best friend's daughter, and a royal no less! And not to mention that she's a woman, you're a woman, and that she's a baby! Er, I mean technically she's a baby in this timeline…oh gods, this is confusing.
"Robin, are you feeling okay, you seem frustrated." Lucina said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I know it is a shock, but I am truly the princess back at Castle Ylisse."
Lucina still had the look of concern in her eyes. "Robin, I thought you would be the one to get over the shock the fastest frankly." She brought the tactician into a hug.
"Back in the future, you were still a very close friend to our family. You made the dark times so much brighter for everyone, including me."
"…I'm sorry Lucina, I just need some time." Robin said. She bolted away from Lucina's hold, and didn't look back.
"Robin! Where are you going?"
She rushed to her tent, and frantically looked for her notebook. Once she saw the book's silver spine, she picked it up and opened it up. She flipped through all the drawings she made of "Marth", now known as Lucina, and felt disgusted.
'489 days have passed since I have seen her', one of the captions underneath described.
She wanted to burn the book into ashes and leave its remains in the scorching desserts of Plegia, but she couldn't. She harboured a deep love for these drawings, even if her new feelings of realization and anger conflicted with those.
"Ugh, why did I…have to…" She muttered to herself, as she pounded her fist into the book. Her fist made an imprint in the page, right around the princess's face in the drawing. She traced the imprint with her finger, and started to cry. The tears drenched the edges of the paper, leaking through onto another page.
"Am I really going to force myself out of this?"
Damnit...I...love her.
I'm back!
I'm not completely recovered but at least I'm good enough to keep writing for you guys :)
Man, a lot of stuff happens in this chapter. Awakening was all sorts of weird time travel shenanigans.
The hiatus is done, so with that, I'll see you next chapter and thanks to all who are still reading this!