"Amnesia?" Robin asks. "Well, that explains why I have no idea where I am."

"This is a country known as Ylisse," Chrom explains, and she nods, as if this has triggered some kind of memory.

"I've heard of this place. Am I from here?"

"No. Perhaps it would be best if we sit down."

She does so without question, making herself comfortable among the long grass. Chrom flattens some of it down, with Lissa helping, and they too sit, passing worried glances to each other.

"Did you two know me before?"

"Yes," Lissa answers, before Chrom can put his foot in his mouth. "You were… a prominent member of the royal house of Ylisse. And very important to the army! Oh, we should introduce ourselves," she says, changing the topic before Robin can question what she just said. "I'm Lissa, and this is my brother Chrom." She smiles sincerely, and Robin manages a smile.

"I suppose you know what my name is too, then?"

"Robin," Chrom answers, not missing a beat, and the white haired woman smiles.

"That's right. I recognise it now you've said it. Now… what was that about… royalty?" She asks, addressing Lissa again.

"Y-yes. Well, not by blood. It was mainly because of your… talents as a tactician. It made you a valuable asset to the army."

"If it wasn't by blood, then it must've been by marriage, right?" She says, glancing at her hands, folded over within each other. "That explains the ring, then," she laughs. She doesn't ask whom she was married to, and Lissa breathes a sigh of relief.

"We were really good friends," Lissa says, trying to steer Robin as far away from marriage as she possibly could.

"I hope we can be friends again, even if I don't get my memory back," she smiles, before turning to Chrom. "What about us? Were we friends?" Lissa shoots him a warning look, and he as to open and close his mouth a few times before answering.

"Yes. Very good friends, in fact. You were a great asset to the army, and… well, I hope you reconsider rejoining at some point in the future."

"Tell me about that."

"We found you out here before, by accident. It must've been about six years ago, now!" Lissa starts, folding her legs and trying to recount the time long ago. "You joined us in the army, and we fought a lot together! You were a really good tactician, but you were also good at fighting too!"

"She's right. We fought many battles, against different people and different countries. Our most prominent foes were Plegia, to the west, and Valm, across the sea."

"And where was I from?"

"…Plegia. It was interesting when you found out. You'd been living in Ylisse as a Ylissian for three years by that point, so to learn you were from a member of their royal house came as a shock to all of us."

"Right," she nods, and Chrom looks worried for a split second. "Sorry for asking so many questions," she laughs. "Did I have amnesia when you found me before?"

Lissa nods. "You didn't even remember your own name for a while. But it turned out fine in the end!"

"Do you… do you want me to rejoin the army?" She asks, although she looks apprehensive.

"Your help would be greatly appreciated. We can give you somewhere to stay, as you lived in the palace anyway," Chrom says, noting her furrowed brow.

"Are you… are you royals?"

"Yes!" Lissa responds. "You know, it's funny you say that, because last time you didn't realise we were for ages as well!"

"It's not my fault," she pouts, and Chrom is reminded of Lucina, and there's a pang in his stomach. "You certainly don't look like royals!"

"That is true," Chrom admits with a laugh. "It's to be expected, especially of someone of foreign blood. But you've always been one of us, ever since you decided to join the shepherds. No one ever considered you an outsider."

"Apart from Frederick," Lissa points out helpfully.

"Frederick isn't with us anymore," Chrom mumbles, and Robin's face softens. His facial expression is so, so clear to her, but she can't quite place where she knows it from.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Robin whispers in return, and Lissa rolls her eyes at how sombre the scene is becoming.

"And Maribelle."

"Well, that's Maribelle for you. She warmed to you eventually, I promise. She'll be glad to see you back, if you do decide to."

"I think I'd like that," Robin tells them, nodding firmly. Chrom clambers to his feet and holds a hand out to help her up, which she gladly takes.

"We should head back then. We'll avoid Southtown, as I want to deliver the news straight to the capital."

"Chrom, that means we have to take the long route," Lissa complains, but Chrom brushes her off.

"Are you ready to go, Robin?"

"Yes sir!"

They set up camp a good few miles north of Southtown, taking a longer route around to avoid the villagers. Although Chrom knew he could trust them, he knew someone would sneak off to the capital in the middle of the night while they were resting and get the news out before they arrived themselves. It isn't really a proper camp, merely consisting off a few logs for seats and a fire. Lissa had fallen asleep almost as soon as she lay down, her head resting on her bag. Chrom is asleep too, but not deeply, and a crackle from the fire wakes him easily from his slumber.

Robin hasn't even thought about sleeping yet. She perches on a log, staring into the flames, not even flinching when they lick slightly too close to her boots. She rolls the log backwards calmly, coolly, and sits down again, resuming her previous position. Chrom gets up after watching her for a few minutes, and the clatter of his armour makes her turn. He smiles sheepishly, sitting beside her.

"Can't sleep?" He asks, and she nods in response. "You always were a night owl. Before, that is." She shifts beside him, almost uncomfortably.

"How long was I gone for?"

"Two years." His answer is automatic, and she casts her eyes to the ground.

"I guess that's a long time for an army to be without its tactician," she laughs, trying her best to make light of the situation. "I hope I didn't cause you any harm."

"No, no. We're at peace- none of us have fought for two years."

"So… did I disappear at the end of the last war?"

"Yes," he answers after a pause. "We were fighting a dragon. Which… which was you? But also not you. It was you from a different timeline… it was confusing at the time, so I don't know how I'm supposed to explain this to you now. You landed the final blow on the dragon, which was you, so you effectively killed yourself."

"That does sound confusing. I wish I could remember this stuff. It would make my life a whole lot easier."

He makes some sort of noncommittal noise in response, and she returns to staring into the fire. He spends the time staring at her, taking in her features. She hasn't changed much- her hair is still messy, and she still wears the same expressions. He notices her biting her fingernails, and wants to stop her, but doesn't want to say anything to annoy her. She looks confused, and this is the time she needs to sort her brain out. Her amnesia may never go away, but if there's anything he can do to help, he'll always be right beside her. He realises, for the millionth time, that he loves this woman, even if she can't remember him at all. Suddenly, she turns to him, as if she's remembered something, and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"It was you."

"What was me?"

"It was you that I was married to," she says, and his heart softens.

"You always were smart."

"I felt some sort of connection between us."

"An invisible tie," he says automatically, remembering the words she used to use so often.

"I guess that explains why you were the one that came looking for me, then."

"I think that was mostly a selfish move on my part," he admits with a sheepish laugh. "I missed you a lot, as did the rest of the country. I think you probably would've been brought to us anyway, if you woke up on your own. The country, will recognise its queen, after all," he says, and slaps a hand over his mouth, realizing what he just admitted.

"The queen?" She splutters. "Lissa wasn't joking when she said royalty… I guess that would make you the king, then?"

"Exalt, it's called," he corrects with a smile. "But yes. Prominent figures was spot on."

"Gods… is there anything else I should know before returning to the palace?" She asks, a slightly horrified expression on her face.

"… We have a child. Her name is Lucina. She's nearly four," he fills in, and her facial expression changes from shock to love in a matter of seconds.

"Oh. That's nice. I can't wait to meet her."

"She's lovely. She… she really takes after you, to be honest."

"Chrom… I… I won't be expected to retake my position, as… as your wife, will I? I just…"

"No, no! Not if you don't want to."

"It's not that! I just… don't want to… you know… well, I don't remember you at all, so I don't want to be expected to perform 'royal duties'," she says, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers. She's blushing, and now he is too, but he shakes his head.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen. I care more about you being happy and well looked after than I do about us being together. And if that means you want to leave the palace, then I'll support you in that, too."

"Thank you. I'd like to see if I can get my memories back. I feel like that would make everything a lot easier for everyone, myself included. So I'm not going to abandon you just yet," she jokes, and he smiles, finally perfectly relaxed in her presence.

"I think that would be good."

"I'm going to head to sleep, now. It's late, and you should too."

"I will. I'm glad we could have this conversation."

"Me too," she smiles. "It was enlightening. Good night, Chrom."

"Good night, Robin," he says softly, before disappearing to the spot where he lay before. He half wants to tell her to sleep beside him, but she disappears off to the other end of the field, and he can hear a muffled scream before silence. He's not sure if he did the right thing in telling her everything, but a huge weight has definitely been lifted off his chest in doing so.

The trio sneaks in the back way of the palace, Robin's hood up, Chrom wrapping his cloak over his head, and Lissa walking normal, because it wasn't unusual for Lissa to be entering the palace with strangers. The sun is almost up, barely waking from its nightly slumber. It stretches into the sky, casting a sleepy orange glow over the town. As soon as Chrom's foot hits the tiled hallway into the kitchen, everyone is there, and their faces match what Chrom feels.

"Well well. You did it! I'm surprised," Maribelle says, standing on her tiptoes to pat Chrom on the shoulder.

"Welcome back, Bubbles," Gaius directs to Robin, who nods blankly.

"Lissa, maybe you should take Robin upstairs. She's probably tired," Chrom commands, and Lissa grabs her arm.

"Your room?"

"For now," Chrom reassures, upon seeing the look on Robin's face.

Lissa drags Robin off, up the staircase to the left, and Chrom pushes through to the main entrance, the other shepherds following him. Lucina and Owain stand there, Ricken standing over them, trying to pull them apart from a fight. Lucina catches a glimpse of her father out of the corner of her eye, and drops the toy she and Owain were fighting over, and runs towards him.

"Daddy! Did you have fun on your trip?" She asks earnestly, and he drops down to be at the same height as her.

"I did. I brought back someone who I want you to meet, but you'll have to wait a minute until they are ready to see you, okay? Sumia, can you take Lucina and get her cleaned up?"

"Of course, Captain," the Pegasus knight says with a nod, and Lucina reluctantly lets go of her father and follows the woman away. Chrom stands up again, and addresses the rest of the shepherds with a sad look in his eyes.

"As you know, we managed to get Robin back. However, she has a severe case of amnesia, which I suppose we should've expected in hindsight. We'll try everything we can to regain her memories, and that's where I'd like your help, Miriel."

"I'll do my best," she responds, lazily pushing her glasses up.

"Is she alright, though?" Maribelle asks, a hint of worry edging into her tone.

"Physically, she's okay. She was hungry, but apart from that she seems fine. I'll get Lissa to do a full examination of her soon."

"Tell her we're glad to have her back," Gaius repeats, and Chrom nods.

"Will do. I'm going to bring Lucina up to her now, and I expect if you want she won't mind some of you visiting her later."

Chrom turns to leave before anyone can say anything else, heading off in the direction Sumia took Lucina. He can hear his daughter before he can see her, and follows her voice into a small room, where Sumia is standing, Lucina wriggling impatiently in her arms.

"I hope I did a good enough job. I don't have much experience with children, unfortunately!"

"You did fine," he says, taking his daughter from the knight. "Thank you so much."

"Congratulations, by the way," she offers.

"Thank you." His voice drops a few tones, and he glances to Lucina as he speaks. "She has amnesia again."

"That's awful!" Sumia exclaims, throwing a hand over her mouth dramatically. "Will she be okay?"

"I don't know. We better hope so."

"Good luck, captain. I feel like you're going to need it."

Chrom pauses outside his bedroom door, Lucina's tiny hand clenched around his own. He kneels down in front of her, and places a hand on her shoulder.

"The person I would like you to meet… is your mother."

"Mummy?" She asks, and her eyes widen. "She's here? But… Aunt Lissa told me she was dead!"

"She wasn't," Chrom confirms. "Now, she might not remember you, but I want you to be your best behaviour for her, okay?"

"Yes!"

Chrom stands, and knocks on the door politely. Lissa's voice calls to enter, and he pushes to door open, still holding Lucina's hand. Robin sits on the bed; on her side of the bed, while Lissa hovers on the other side. Robin's coat lies discarded on the end of the bed, and she looks up when he enters the room. Lucina can barely contain herself, and throws herself at Robin, whose maternal instincts kick in, and she catches her, wrapping her arms around the child to keep her safe.

"You must be Lucina, right?" She asks, and the girl nods, sad even though Chrom warned her about this.

"And you're my mummy!"

"I guess I am," she laughs. "You really look like your father, though."

"He says I look like you."

"Well, he's wrong."

"You're really pretty," Lucina says.

"And so are you."

"I missed you, even though I didn't know you. Aunt Lissa says you were dead!"

"I don't think I was dead," she confirms.

"Lucina, get off her knee. It's rude to do that," Chrom points out, and Robin laughs, setting the child on the ground. "It was lovely to meet you, Lucina."

"Can I go and play again, daddy?" She asks, traversing the room back towards Chrom.

"Of course. Off you go." She shyly waves goodbye to Robin, before disappearing out the door. "She has a short attention span," Chrom explains apologetically.

"Just like her father," Lissa mumbles, and Robin can't help but laugh.

"I've asked a friend to help you get your memories back. I don't know what she'll be able to do, but hopefully it'll work," Chrom fills in, ignoring Lissa's comment. "We'll start tomorrow. For now, I'll find you another room, and you should rest."

"It's early," Robin points out.

"If you're okay to start now, then I'll go get her."

"I'd like that," she says, nodding almost aggressively.

Miriel enters the room, following Chrom. She scans Robin once, twice, and then glares at her, trying to see if she can figure out what's wrong just from looking.

"Well, I've never dealt with amnesia before, so I'll just try some methods out and see what happens," she says off handedly, lifting her glasses off her face and setting them down again. "I promise these will be safe."

"Are you sure you're okay to go along with this, Robin?" Chrom asks, hovering nervously at the side of the bed.

"I'm sure. I'll do pretty much anything to get my memories back."

"Good. Lie down then," Miriel commands, and Robin complies, resting her head on the pillow, hands crossed on her stomach, just like they found her in the field.

Miriel lifts a book from the foot of the bed, one that she set there when she entered earlier. She flicks through the pages, and lands on one with a memory spell. She read the page quickly, scanning the words and not reading properly.

"This says it's to enhance your memory, so we'll-"

A sharp knock on the door interrupts her mid sentence, and Miriel sets the book down with a sigh, tutting under her breath. She opens the door, and Tharja sashays in, waltzing past the elder mage.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Miriel demands, but Tharja ignores her with a swish of her cloak.

"Good morning, my lord… my lady," she drawls, pausing to look deeply at Robin, who has moved her head up to see what the commotion is about.

"What are you doing here, Tharja?" Chrom asks. "You shouldn't be here when Miriel is working."

"I know, I know, Miriel is the head of the medical corps, and poor little Tharja doesn't have a healing bone in her body. But what if I told you that I'll be able to help her more than Miriel ever could. That nice healing spell will never regain twenty odd years of memories, but…"

"Very well. Let's see what you've made," Miriel agrees, stepping back from the end of the bed.

"Oh no, I didn't invent this. Your wife did," she informs, addressing Chrom this time.

"She invented a spell?"

"She was experimenting on herself, trying to get her memories back, towards the end of the war. All she wanted was some information to help us win the war."

"How do you know about this?" Robin asks, sitting up straight.

"We used to be very close. As a dark mage, you came to me for help with learning about dark magic," Tharja explains, turning her back and sauntering towards the bookcase, where she runs her hands over the books before lifting a specific one from the shelf. "You told me where the book was in case I never needed it. And I think this is the perfect time to try it out."

"I don't want you experimenting on her!" Chrom pushes in, throwing an arm between Tharja and Robin.

"It works, though. She remembered almost ten years of her life previous to joining the shepherds. She didn't tell you, because she knew that it would upset you. There was a lot of unpleasant stuff in there. Now, are you going to let me try this?"

"Fine," he agrees, retracting back into his position previously.

"I have to check that you're okay with this, Robin. Are you?"

"Yes."

"Well then, lie down, and we'll begin."

Robin puts her head on the pillow, and Tharja opens the book. Immediately, it begins to light up, a dark and eerie light that surrounds Tharja's hands and immediately sends Robin to sleep, her eyes shutting tight.

"Wow, I haven't even done anything yet," she smirks, and uses one painted fingernail to follow the words on the page. She speaks incoherently, a combination of muttering and another language. Some words are shouted, and Chrom involuntarily edges towards the door.

"What's she doing?" Chrom asks, Miriel appearing beside him.

"It seems to be some sort of Plegian counter curse. Perhaps her amnesia is a form of curse, and that's why she managed to develop this. I wouldn't put it past Validar to curse her."

"But he was dead before the fight with Grima," Chrom points out.

"He was a powerful sorcerer. It's not beyond possibility that he added a memory-sealing curse onto Grima's so that Robin would suffer when she killed Grima. He knew Robin better than any of us did, unfortunately, and knew that she would choose to sacrifice herself, but was determined enough to come back. So he prevented her ever living a happy life again. It's pretty sick, but also very Gangrel, if you think about it."

At this point, Robin's whole body was enveloped in the dark light, and Tharja had ceased muttering. Her hands were high in the air, slowly pressing down the darkness towards Robin's body. Suddenly, it was all sucked inside her, and the white haired woman coughed violently, sitting upright. Chrom rushed to her side, placing one hand cautiously on her back.

"Are you okay?" He asks calmly, and she looks at him with a look of confusion on her face.

"Chrom?"

"Yes, Robin, it's me."

"And Miriel is here, and Tharja… what are you all doing? Where are we? I thought we were fighting Grima? Did we win?" She asks, tearing her hair down from her ponytail and putting it back up again.

"Yes. That… Robin, that was two years ago. You've been missing since then."

"I think we'll give them some space," Miriel offers, dragging Tharja kicking and screaming from the room.

"So… we won?"

"You landed the last blow, even though you told we you wouldn't. You sacrificed yourself for us and for the country, and killed Grima."

"So… how am I here? I should be dead!"

"I guess it's those invisible ties," Chrom jokes, using her favourite phrase.

Suddenly, she leans over towards him, and plants a kiss on his mouth, her hand resting on the side of his face to bring him closer towards him. He can't move for the shock of the action, and ends up breaking the kiss abruptly.

"I'm sorry. I must've caused you so much pain," she says, and he can see tears welling up in her eyes.

"But you're here now, and that makes everything so much better." He embraces her, quickly, resting his chin on top of her head. She wraps her own arms around him, and he swears he can feel her smile against his chest. She's warm, and her breathing is steady, and she's here, and that's all that matters to him.

"Come on. There's someone I'd like you to meet."

AN: Although everything seems good now, I can promise that theres a lot more angst to come c: