Hey guys!

I apologise that this chapter took longer than the last one, the time-consuming; energy-draining occupation that is school hit me hard and I have had barely time to write, and when I did, what I wrote turned out to be garbage. Hopefully the quality has not dropped too much ^^

Before I go on, I would like to give a MASSIVE 'Thank You' to my fanfiction buddy furrwolf, if it weren't for him, I would quite literally not be here writing what I love. The experience he has given me as I edited for him and the advice he gave me was super useful!

By the way, check out his series Zootopia - The story of Nick Wilde for any of you Zootopia fans :)

Now that I think of it, both our stories have similar titles, y'know with the beginning being "Story of..." (^^;)

Oh well.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3
(Robin's POV)

"Who are you? W-why do you have Chrom's sword?" I asked my saviour, the purple mist from the dead foe dissipated from the flourish of his 'Falchion'. The technique he displayed is much more graceful than what I have seen from Chrom, whose own style relied more on strength and power.

I could not tell if the swordsman was looking directly at me, his butterfly themed visor obscured his upper face. Stepping through what was left of the dusty smoke, the masked individual offered a helping hand for me to hold onto. I gladly accepted it with my left, uninjured arm.

"Oh thank you, mister?"

"You may call me Marth." The stranger's response was inexpressive while I was assisted back to my feet, the pain in my shoulder throbbed.

"I'll handle the rest, you should get that wound treated. Don't worry about giving any sympathy to these things, they're not human." With that comment, the warrior turned succinctly and dashed away into the forest and out of sight, the sounds of metal clashing now echoed through the trees.

Still standing in fascination, I focused myself and followed the man's orders and called Lissa (who stood in a mixture of amazement and fear the whole time) to me. It was a flesh wound that ran horizontally across my right deltoid, as Lissa approached I immediately felt the revitalising effects of the heal staff.

I glanced at my friend and replied with a quick 'thank you' before Chrom reached us, out of breath and sweaty from his run, "W-who was that?"

"Not sure…He had your weapon though, which was odd."

The noble was taken aback from my comment as he looked at the Falchion still in his right hand,

"That's not possible, there's only one of these in existence!"

"Yeah! There's no way! Hmm…Maybe that person made a copy of it?" The cleric proffered.

"Hmm. In any case, let's not waste time here. There's still more of those humanoids in the forest—"

"I have finish dispatching the enemy soldiers, milord." Our great knight had galloped towards our position during our conversation, still mounted on his steed.

"Great that you're here Frederick. I have a new plan. I want you to protect Lissa and stay behind us while Chrom and I enter the forest and deal with whatever is left of those things! You deal with anything that gets past us. Lissa, you keep out of harms way and heal Frederick when he needs it, don't come to us unless I say so. If there are more than a few of them, I'll switch places with Frederick in that unlikely situation."

"Got it."

"Yep!"

"I shall follow you orders, for my duty as a knight."

I could not hold back a smile as my strategy came into fruition, "Let's do this."

The formation is: Chrom and I on the front lines, not paired but standing side by side to maximise our offence, and Frederick kept to the back with Lissa right behind her, also not paired up. I simulated this formation a couple more times in my head and it is the best course of action so far, we need to take down these monsters quick and efficiently.

The fight was in our favour so far, but the more we gradually advanced into the woods the more difficult it was for us to attack them due to the cover of the trees. I decided to camp ourselves in the same formation, just inside the skirt of the forest, this way the advantage of the terrain is available to us. I cannot do much about being flanked by the enemy, however they seem to be advancing from the same, single direction so far.

I will have to keep an eye out.

While we methodically eliminated the unknown assailants, occasionally I would spot the flash of blue move past in the trees, accompanied by the sound of clanking metal and the slicing of flesh. I incanted a thunder spell with my tome and successfully fried one of them to a crisp, I had been using my sword more often than magic so it seemed the best time to practice, especially on inhuman targets.

While the soulless figure disappeared into a purple cloud, It occurred to me now how desensitised I was to this violence! As I felt the electrifying power coursing through my hand…

Such power. It was a kind of scary power that I have not properly thought of until now.

In Southtown no civilians were killed, which was surprising despite the amount of damage the bandits caused. During the battle there, I could tell Chrom did not enjoy killing those bandits, but he kept his composure during the whole battle. Unlike me when Garrick took that hostage…

Frederick had the definite appearance of a veteran, and not once showed any fear or doubt, but he was honourable in his method of attack and gave them a quick death.

Lissa, not being warrior herself, showed apparent dislike for bloodshed, but like her brother, understood the reality of battle.

But I? I am not so sure now of myself. The way I talk of strategy so calculated and assured. In the heat of battle I don't think I hesitated before I fought, as if I grew accustomed to fighting in my past. The sensation of cutting flesh with a sword and the process of summoning spells was all too familiar in my head, somewhere…

What was I before I met my new comrades?

"Your orders, Robin?" The blue great knight spoke in a firm tone which returned my focus back to the immediate battle. From observation of his silver lance, it appeared to become burred and scratched along its blade.

I'll think about it another time. Right now, they need me.

"Ah yes, the enemies are appearing less frequently, but you will hold your position until they stop their offence, which will be when they are all dead—or rather defeated. They have shown themselves to be unorganised, so they will keep throwing themselves at us."

Frederick was about to return to his position but I halted him by tossing my bronze sword towards him, handle first, "Here, you're weapon is wearing out. Save the lance for when it's necessary."

"Are you sure? You will only have your magic to defend yourself." The knight inquired.

"I'll be fine. I need to work on my magic anyway, now go!" He momentarily felt the grip of the simple sword in his hands, pleased by the quality he rushed back to his position and engaged an axe-wielder that passed Chrom's control. It stood no chance as the knight redirected its slow, but powerful hack and beheaded the monster with deadly precision. Its head bounced hollowly on the grassy floor once, before it scattered into a cloud like the rest of its body.

I observed the scene, even though they are not human it should have evoked something akin to disgust at the display of gore (of which there was little since they do not have innards), instead I felt a small bit of pleasure of seeing things going to plan—Wait…What is that?

To the left there is a flash of red speeding through the trees, parallel to us. It is heading towards a small trio of our enemies.

Like lightning, the red figure sped past one of the humanoids and caused it to spin violently in the air for a moment, before slamming into the hard dirt with a large gash in its torso. The other two were knocked to the ground by the impact of the large mass that barrelled into them.

Our new ally circled around into clear view and smiled in satisfaction of their handiwork, about ten metres away from our formation. One monster dead, already up in smoke and the other two still stumbling to their feet and holding their swords awkwardly.

It seemed to be a cavalier that came to our aid. He—she rather, as I notice by…her feminine traits, was on horseback and coincidentally her short messy hair was just as red as her armour.

Judging by the tremendous power of her previous attack, she must be strong. Most of the power generated by the charge was due to the speed of her horse, sure. But to be able to brace that bronze lance with her body to strike and rend a solid object like that body, I found it an impressive example of such strength.
"All right you ash-faced freaks! Which one of ya wants to try my lance on for size first? I know just the spot for it: shoved right up your—"

"Hold, milady!" Unexpectedly a sleek haired man emerged from the same direction the red head came from, slightly weary from the run.

"…Me?" The red head cocked her gaze at the sight of the grandiose archer.

"Yes, milady! Life may be long, but attraction is fleeting! Would you leave me in your sweet dust? Leave war to the warriors, dear bird! A beauty such as—oh, let me get those for you." With refined movements, the elegantly dressed individual nocked an arrow onto his bow, drew back its bowstring and sent the arrow flying into the empty eye socket of one of the staggering foes. He fluidly did the same with the other, embedding another arrow into its temple.

"Damn, nice shot Ruffles." The dusty-blue haired archer gave a regal bow at the red head's frank compliment.

"Why, thank you. A compliment from a beauty such as yourself is more precious than gold!" The red cavalier looked to be one that did not hide her emotions, it was apparent by the look of confusion she donned.

"Wuh? Who the hell are you to say that!?"

The flamboyant man before us, approached the woman, close enough that she could easily stab him if she wanted. His attire was of a noble adorned in light armour, suited to his role as an archer, "Ha! Is the lady intrigued? Of course you are—it's only natural, I am myth and legend! I am he—"

"Okay, let me quicken this up, tell me your names you two." I interjected, my decision supported by the amount of time that has, and will be wasted if this chatter continued.

"Huh! I should say the same. Who are you?"

"What? You give your attention to this gentleman, and not I? Oh woe is me…"
"Shut it, Ruffles. Now, who are you to order me around?" The archer and cavalier both looked at me suspiciously, for different reasons. It was then Chrom came into the scene, after ensuring his area was clear of any threats.

"Hey Sully! This is short notice, but this guy right here is Robin, our new tactician. I trust his judgement so you do as he says, as if it was me giving the order, like a commander!" My friend quickly instructed, already aware of her name. They must share a past of some sort.

"Captain Chrom! Sorry I couldn't make it sooner…Anyway, nice to meet ya, Commander Robin, I'm Sully. Say the word and I'll jump right into the thick of things! Oh and sorry about what I said before, water under the bridge and all that, right?"

Commander, huh…I was going to ask but the noble already hurried back to his position, defending his position diligently. Sully was about to rush in and join the fight but I motioned with a hand and told her to stop, to which she complied hesitantly.

"Is it Robin, yes? I am Virion! An archer, as you have seen from my majestic display of marksmanship! I cannot let such a lovely bird like Sully fight at all, and no less alone. If you will, count me as one of your noble, stalwart—OOF!"

"You think I can't hold my own in a fight!? Say that again! Or call me a bird once more, and I'll do you worse than a kick to the head." Sully looked away, visibly irritated and awaiting my orders as Virion massaged the pain in his head.

"…Alright then. Sully, you're with me for the time being, I hope you don't mind if I sat with you on your mount, I've got a plan and your versatility will help."

"Sure thing."

"Virion, your skill with the bow will be invaluable, but since you are vulnerable to close range attacks, I want you keeping to the back with the knight in blue and that cleric over there."

His mood immediately perked up at the sight of Lissa, "Ah, another lady of beauty! I shall ask of her to relieve me of the throbbing pain in my temple with the wonders of magic. And in return I shall protect her with my legendary marksma—"
"Yes, yes, you do that." I dismissed the archer, who had no issue with my curtness as he strode in the direction of Lissa and out of earshot. She looked at the eloquent man questioningly, and promptly bonked him on the head after an exchange of words, before healing him. It was kind of cute how she bumped Virion with her heal staff, hope that teaches him to flirt in the middle of battle.

"Hey, lemme know when you want to get on, Commander Robin."
The red head extended her arm. I thanked the assistance Sully offered as I settled myself onto her mount, her strength was verified by how easily she pulled me up with her slender, yet muscular arm.

"Just Robin is fine. Don't listen to Chrom when he said 'commander', I'm still new to this position so as far as I'm concerned we're equals."

"Heh, alright Robin. Hope your plan is solid. Let's go! HYAA!"

(3rd Person)

Sully had second thoughts of Robin's plan. She was cool with letting the tactician ride with her, but she assumed he wanted to just sit there and be dropped off somewhere else.

She did not expect her horse to be his personal stool which he would sit on and fire lightning at enemies, not that she disagreed with him shooting magic at things. It was the fact that the magic was occurring so close to her, the cavalier felt the back of her head stand on end each time Robin effortlessly casted lighting at the lumbering undead.

Robin, on the other hand, enjoyed his spontaneous plan. So many factors could have rendered this plan redundant: His proficiency to cast, the speed Sully would be galloping and his skill to land his lightning whilst in motion. However, he was proud that they were doing well, the tactician only missed one of the five humanoids he targeted on their first sprint past a disorganised squadron of soulless fighters.

This had to end eventually! The tactician thought to himself.

"Hey, want to go for another round? I can smash right into them, save you the trouble of frying 'em."

"We could, but you'll put your horse in risk. We may be quicker and more coordinated they are stronger than us, but there's no need to risk it."

"What? You don't think Rose and I can't take a hit from these sorry excuses for soldiers!?" The red head pouted at the tactician's response.

"N-no! I'm fully aware of you—and Rose's capabilities from what you demonstrated earlier. My priority is to ensure that everyone will be safe. Both of us will be able to hold back the waves of soldiers, while Chrom acts as a second line of defence, and Frederick is out last line of defence."

Robin could see she still was not pleased, so he edited his plan slightly, to suit her skills more. They were about to gallop past a second time so he quickly offered Sully.

"How about this, Sully? To make it more efficient, you can charge at every second enemy with your lance, I'll handle the rest with my magic. Sounds good?" Sully paused for a moment to digest the information, her mount trotted on the spot, heat radiating from its warm breath turned to smoke, in the cool night air.

"Heh, sounds good to me!"

As the pair prepared for another run, another mounted unit was struggling in the rear lines, the knight wished his new sword could cut the archer's attempts to court Lady Lissa as well as it did with these undead beings.

"Milday! If you only gave me a moment of your time, I can reveal to you the wonder that is I, Virion, the archest of archers!"

"Hmm…How about no. The first time you said your name was annoying enough"

"No? You are not aware of what you are missing out, my lady!" Lissa sighed in exasperation, realising being direct was not the solution for this man.

"Oh no, I did not realise…I guess I'll have to live with my decision, for the rest of my life…"

"Hah, I see milady has seen the mistake she has made—" She almost laughed at how sincere he was, but decided to set him straight.

"I was joking, Virion." The cleric glared at the archer, "Maybe another whack with my staff should help you understand~"

"Oh, no need for that! Oh well, I shall continue to perform my duty nevertheless. Let it be known that Virion at defended the lovely Lady Lissa from these mysterious brutes!" With that the archer continued to snipe as usual, shooting with frightening accuracy.

The great knight chucked to himself, acknowledging to himself how well Lissa dealt with the situation. He wished to stop the philanderer himself, but at the present moment he was occupied with assisting Lord Chrom and defending Lady Lissa, keeping a constant watch of all sides even though the enemies came from the front so far. To him, a knight's duty is to go above and beyond what is required of him. It was in his nature.

On the other hand, Virion the archer had no qualms with being in the back, especially with the blonde beauty that is Lissa. He understood the tactician's choice to keep him in the rear, the forests spanned around them, yet the enemy did not take advantage of the surrounding terrain and fight us on a single front.

It made his role easier as the archer anticipated for more of them to appear through the trees, an arrow nocked and already aimed. He hoped that his impressive display of marksmanship would be sufficient to impress either of the brave beauties during the battle.

Sitting in the rear lines, being protected by Frederick the Wary and Virion the Annoying, was Lissa the Bored (a title she gave to herself). In spite of Virion's annoying attitude, she had to admit that he was skilled in archery, the cleric had time to observe the battle and the archer had not missed a single shot so far. She would not mind getting to know the well-dressed man more, if he was not so tiresome to talk to.

Frederick the Wary recently won a fight against another swordsman that attempted to attack Lissa, and as a result the knight's horse took a couple cuts underneath its armour, as well as a light cut to its left hind leg.

"Oh no! Your horse…"

"Oh don't mind her, milady. Just a scratch, she can handle it."

"Still! Let me quickly heal that." With a raise of her staff, both the knight and steed felt the invigorating sensation of her healing magic. The horse neighed pleasantly at the cleric.

"See? She's all good now!"

Frederick bowed his head in thanks, turned his horse around and returned to his post.

(Chrom's POV)

"Your end has come!" I had the enemy right where I want them, I leapt high into the air and propelled towards the soulless creature in a mid-air forward somersault, Falchion poised to strike.

Feeling the ground on my feet (and feeling slightly dizzy from the attack) I knew my sword hit its mark as I looked up from my crouched stance, the human-like thing stood paralysed by my slash for a moment, before splitting from between the shoulder to its crotch, and dissolving into a cloud of dust from its fatal wound.

It had been a long time since I used that move.

Sweeping the dirt from the edge of Falchion with my hands, I take a momentary breather. Robin seems to be successful in handling most of the mob, combining his magic and Sully's lance to alternate who attacks is genius, I could not expect more of him. The blue haired archer seems to be doing his job really well; calmly injuring, and sometimes killing these unknown invaders with ease.

"Ryaaargh!" Turning around to meet the owner of the voice, it belongs to another one of these aggressive life forms. It was dressed differently, more specifically, it wore much less than the others, very much like a certain fighter I know. But this one was more bony, as if it had not eaten for a long time, its hair was long and messy too.

Hmm, you're different from the rest.

The male-looking monster set its sights on me, its red beady eyes glowed unnaturally.

"Graaaah!"

I did not expect a proper answer anyway, I took a stance and awaited for the axe-wielder to attack.

"Heh, well what are you waiting for? Come at me!"

(Robin's POV)

Oh gods, what is he doing!?

"Sully, bring me closer to Chrom, I'll get off and I want you to go and fight alongside Frederick against the enemy! Their numbers have lessened so you won't have trouble holding them off."
"You got it!" We finished our fourth and final run, when Sully bolted towards the noble's position with zeal.

"Thanks, we'll take care of this guy. Let the others know on your way." The red cavalier nodded with a faint smile of amusement, before I dismounted. Her mount turned around, back into the main battle. I was forced to forward roll in order to prevent injury.

My cloak is dirty, great.

The monster and Chrom contested even in strength, that much was obvious to my perception of the scraggy, masked being.

Perhaps I should let the fight drag on, I can learn more about Chrom's strength and weaknesses this way. The immediate area is clear, so we can take our time with this one.

"Hey Chrom. I thought for a moment you needed my help, seems like you're fine," The noble did not look pleased that I stood there and did nothing. Though I kept my thunder tome open and ready to cast in case the fight turned against us.

"HAH! Do you think you can—help out!?" The blue haired swordsman had already taken a few nicks around his arms, he was having some trouble parrying the humanoid's aggressive form.

"Hey Chrom, instead of attempting to counter, evade and then strike!"

The noble landed another one of the few blows he managed upon the axe-wielder and suddenly dodged the wild swing of his axe by a wide margin. Chrom stared at me with a clear expression of alarm, waiting for me to assist.

"Hey Chrom. You forgot to strike!"

"You're not—HELPING!"

"Oh but I am! See—"

"I don't care! Just help me out!"

Ah well, I really should…

"Thunder!" My projectile smashed into the back of the wild-looking fighter, causing its body to jolt. It paused long enough for Chrom to thrust his sword hard into the fighter's neck. The body he punctured did not bleed, nor did it react in pain from the fact a blade jutted out of its own neck gruesomely. The void where its eyes should be left only a faint glow as it stared malignantly at me, then at Chrom. The mask it wore hid what expressions it could form.

"Gods!" The blue haired swordsman retracted his Falchion and swiftly cleaved the monster's head from its shoulders before the fighter could bring its axe down on him, "…Thanks, Robin."

"Sorry for not intervening sooner. It was the best time for me to examine your strengths, as well as the weaknesses in your fighting style."

Chrom spun his Falchion a couple times before sheathing it, hand rested on the hilt, "You could have told me, you idiot."

"If I did it would've altered the results of my observation…Hey! I did it with reasonable precautions, it's not like I left you to fight with the intent of you losing. But I digress, it looks like we have taken are of all these…things."

I scanned the battlefield and everyone was thankfully alive, though tired from the worrying ordeal. The land was split and spilling open with lava which left many of the surrounding flora either engulfed in said lava or set on fire from being in close proximity. Everyone would be able to feel the intense heat originating from the earth, it made my skin prickle from the sudden changes in temperature. No more of those unknown beings were in sight.

I asked the noble if these attacks usually happen, already aware of what he may say.

"Of course not! I think you would have realised by how confused we were when they arrived. We may be able to find out more from that person who came through that mysterious portal in the sky"

"Portal?"

The noble sighed at my ignorance, "You didn't see it since you were busy making a plan against the enemy earlier, but that person—the one you said had my sword—fell out of that large sphere in the sky, the one with the yellow symbols. I would like to ask him about my sword anyway, so…"

The portal, these monsters, and Chrom's Falchion in that man's possession. What could it all mean?

"Let's look for this 'Marth'."

I felt like I spent a bit too much time on the whole fight in the forest, I originally intended for it to be a 1/4 of its length. What do you think?

Feedback will be much appreciated, I thank everyone who left a review, it helps me out!

See you next time.