Chapter four: Home Again?
4/07, Saturday: Late Night; School Gate, Ylisstol High School
It felt like Robyn had spent a long time at the school and she was surprised at how late the hour had gotten when she left the doors together with Robin. Frederick and Chrom saw to locking the school gates and then went on their ways home, along with the other Shepherds. That left Robyn and Robin standing together outside the school with their bags, as if they had wrapped up a study session.
But that had also left Robyn with a bit of a problem too.
"What will you do now?" Robin asked her. "You need a place to stay the night, but you pretty much have nothing on you."
"I would have normally gone home to where I lived before," Robyn replied. "But clearly I don't know anyone here except you, so far. Well, do you mind if I stay at your home for now? Then I'll work something out. I'm sure."
Robin nodded. Then a thought struck his mind. "Well, since it's the weekend, would you be up for a game of Generals of Hyrule? That might take a load off your head for bit."
Robyn smiled at the thought of playing one of her favourite games. "Sure."
They began walking in the direction of Robin's home, which was on the part of Iris-shi that was a hill and high ground. Robyn was well aware that there were two ways to get home. The first was to take the take the side road where the school was located and go directly up the hill, passing by neighbourhoods on the way, which was a quieter and shorter road.
Or they could walk on the larger road that was Ignis Avenue and cross directly onto Ylisse Street which had more lighting and was often busier. Ylisse Street was also a major artery in Iris-shi, where it ran past many houses decorating the hill at the north, and through the commercial district of the city at the bottom of the hill and onwards to the train station at the south. Since it was late, the two of them agreed to walk on Ylisse Street, instead of the side road.
While walking together, Robyn was experiencing conflicting emotions. One part of her found it incredibly strange to be walking home with what was essentially her male counterpart, but her other part was feeling a mix of nostalgia of sadness, given she was walking on familiar ground that she had seen destroyed. According to Naga, this world – that is, Robin's – was due to suffer the same fate. With that thought in mind, Robyn's thoughts drifted to the Fire Emblem. Just how was it supposed to help prevent the coming disaster?
"Robyn-chan? What's on your mind?" Robin said.
"It's… nothing," Robyn replied. "Just reminiscing, that's all."
Only Robin would understand what reminiscing meant, as far as anyone was concerned.
4/07, Saturday: Late Night; Robin's Residence
After they had walked the length of uphill and turned onto the familiar neighbourhood where Robin resided. Despite how late it was at night, Robyn could still recognise Robin's house as the same as hers the moment she saw it. It was a humble two-level home, and Robyn guessed that her keys (surprisingly still in her bag) might work here. After all, this was her same home, right? Still, at the same time Robyn felt a twinge of grief, owing to what she had witnessed and might happen again.
Robin went forward to unlock the doors, but before Robyn could follow him in, he stretched out his arm to block her. "Wait," he said. "I don't know how Morgan would feel if she saw a sudden stranger walking in at this time of night. I imagine she would panic, though I wonder if she is sleeping too."
'She'? Robyn recalled the Morgan she knew was male – her younger brother to be exact. The thought left her head spinning. So in addition to there being a male counterpart to herself, there was a female counterpart to Morgan. Still stunned, Robyn merely nodded and let Robin walk in. There was too much in this reality for Robyn to bear, even though this world was practically identical to hers.
Then there came a very, very, loud sound from inside the house that sounded like a demolishing building. But it was in fact the tumbling of tomes that, somehow, had been stacked in the dark of the front door when Robin walked inside. And the tomes tumbled on top of Robin, which knocked him off his feet and sent him to the floor, practically crushed.
"R-Robin-kun?" Robyn said, surprised. Kneeling down to check on him beneath the pile of tomes. "Are you okay?" The tomes looked so heavy that she wondered if Robin might have suffered any injuries from that.
"Heheh…" Robyn heard a small giggle.
Looking up at the stairs, Robyn saw a young, dark-haired, girl who looked no older than seven or eight. She wore a bright but mischievous face which probably came as a result of seeing Robin in a crumpled mess beneath the tomes. Robyn recognised her almost immediately at first glance, but as she let her mind settle Robyn realised something was off. For one thing, this girl was the splitting image of Robyn's younger brother Morgan, and the second thing was that… her Morgan would never pull a prank of this scale. Her Morgan would never think about harming others like this, like stacking a tower of tomes and pushing them over to crush someone.
And Robin's? This was exactly the case.
"Morgan…!" Robin groaned.
Oh, thought Robyn. So this really was perhaps her equivalent of Morgan. That kind of made sense, Robyn guessed. If her 'other self' here was a male, then what were the odds that the male Morgan in her world was a female here? But while it was less surprising that this was exactly that, Robyn hadn't expected this Morgan to be so playful yet cruel.
"Whoops." Morgan smiled. "You know, I could have used more tomes if I wanted, but I figured you might get really hurt if that happened. Tome stackers are fun, you know!"
Still crushed beneath the weight of the tomes and riling from the shock, Robin couldn't move. So Robyn knelt down to begin heaving tomes off her other. Gosh, just how strong was Morgan? She wouldn't have guessed the girl to be this strong judging from the weight of these tomes and how high she had to stack them.
It was then when that happened did Morgan notice the twin-tailed girl.
"Oh hi there," Morgan greeted Robyn. "I didn't know you were bringing friends over, onii-chan. But isn't it a bit late for you to do that? Let me guess. You have an exam or something tomorrow and need a study partner!" She went up to help Robyn with the tomes. "Well, anyway, I'm Morgan. What's yours?"
"Um… Robyn," Robyn replied nervously, wondering how strange it would be to answer that question. Here was someone who she should have known, and yet a stranger at the same time. Plus, she wondered if it was even creepy how similar she looked to Robin here. "Pleased to meet you, Morgan…san." And adding that honorific seemed out of place too (and it did cause Robyn to shudder), but better safe than sorry here.
Morgan seemed more curious than confused. It was hard to tell if she was more curious that Robin had brought some girl with him here or if she was trying to make sense of the girl who looked almost exactly like her brother. Judging from the greeting Morgan gave, the former seemed more likely.
When the tomes had finally been removed, there lay a beaten Robin on the floor. He looked like he had lost the strength to stand. Robyn thought about helping him up to his feet, but there was one thing that had to be taken care of first: shoes. She removed her shoes and placed them on the floor, between the door and the stairs, and also removed Robin's shoes too for him – school shoes, of course. Then she helped the boy to his feet.
"A-anyway," Morgan said. "Onii-chan. What's going on? What is Robyn doing here? It's a little late to cram, you know."
"Robyn-chan will be staying here for a night or so," Robin replied. "She's new to Iris-shi and was looking for last-minute accommodation."
Morgan glanced at Robyn once more, looking at her from head to toe. "Hmm… Will you be staying here for long then? There's a spare room we can prepare for you in any case."
"I can do that, Morgan," Robin said. "Besides, you should go get some sleep. Isn't it past your bedtime, like really late? I can prepare Robyn's room. You better sleep then."
Morgan pouted. "Aw… but would you pass on some lemon puffs, though? I just baked a batch and hoped you try some when you got home. Now they've gotten cold…" She pouted at Robin. "Pleeeeaaase, onii-chan? You promised!."
Robin smiled. "Okay, but you better go to bed after."
Robyn stared.
It was only last yesterday that Robyn had returned home from school that her younger brother Morgan welcomed her as she came through the door. "Welcome home, onee-chan!" he said and Robyn smiled back at him.
"Hi there, Morgan. How have you been?" Robyn greeted. "Well, something smells nice and sweet! Are you cooking something?"
Mentioning that as a compliment made Morgan smile. "Yes! I'm making lemon puffs," he said, and he hadn't expected after was his sister's eyes to light up and to smile back. Did she really enjoy the biscuit sandwiches that much? The square biscuits sandwiching a layer of lemon cream was irresistible and to get them homemade was a treat she would die for. "I only have time on Fridays to make these, but I can try making them on Saturdays too."
Looking at the smile on Morgan's face, Robyn guessed that they turned out well.
"How did it taste?" she asked.
"They're not done, but I'm sure they'll taste good," Morgan replied. He looked closer at Robyn's eyes. "I'll have some ready tomorrow, but promise me you'll try one, okay?"
Robyn smiled. "Promise."
Robyn found herself clutching her shirt, thinking back to that promise she made yesterday to her brother and… her brother was dead, as far as she knew. Why her? What did she have to suffer this fate while Robin here didn't have to? It wasn't fair, and in the back of her mind Robyn was mourning once more. Although, in a way, her promise was being fulfilled in front of her right now, with the only difference being that she wasn't the subject.
Robin looked at Robyn again. "You look tired, Robyn-chan. Why don't you get some sleep?"
"Aw… But she should get one too," Morgan said. "Come! Let's go upstairs! You can't stay down here forever, and I have to go to bed."
Relaxing slightly, Robyn followed Robin up the stairs to familiar surroundings. At the top of the stairs Robyn was greeted by the kitchen and eating table to her front, the living room and TV to her right, and the bedrooms and bathroom to her left. This home was pretty comfortable, but company was a little scarce, with its occupants only ever being Robin and Morgan (the same could be said for Robyn too). As far as Robyn was concerned, she had never known her mother as she had died when she was a toddler. Then there was her father who was almost always away from home but only did as much as carrying title for the house.
That meant it was mostly her and her little brother who lived at home, and no one else. But that was also in the past now, because Robyn knew her little brother had died. Would Robin suffer the same fate, seeing this little sister go down in flames?
On the eating table at the kitchen was the set of lemon puffs that Morgan had mentioned. Robin welcomed the sight of the treats and went ahead to try one, but stopped short when he considered Robyn. Looking at her face, there was nothing but sadness all over it. Was the sight of lemon puffs really that tough to stomach? It looked like she was about to cry tears.
"Robyn-chan? Are you okay?" he asked.
Robin only got a nod from her, and at that, Morgan took a lemon puff and offered it to the twin-tailed girl ("Come on! There's nothing like something sweet to cheer you up," she said). It seemed obvious to Robyn to not to refuse it, so she separated the biscuit sandwich into halves (earning a raised eyebrow from Robin, because he also liked to do that with lemon puffs) and ate one half. It tasted surprisingly good.
But it still left a sour feeling in her heart because Robyn knew too well that her brother was going to make this for her too.
"Robyn-chan, go take a shower," Robin said. "I'll go prepare your room."
Robyn nodded and was about to take her leave, but was stopped by Morgan.
"Hold it, you two! You still need to tell me what you think of the lemon puffs," she said.
And hearing that did lift Robyn's mood just a little bit.
Robyn soon emerged from the bathroom wearing a set of nightclothes Robin had lent her. Thankfully they were loose-fitting and proved little of a problem to wear, but she acknowledged that she needed to buy some clothes of her own too. If she was going to live here for the time being, it was best to prepare for what's coming.
She also went to the room that Robin had prepared for her. Now, Robyn knew pretty well that there were three bedrooms located beside each other, as if in a circle. Normally, in her old reality, she and her brother Morgan would sleep in two of the three bedrooms, with the third one virtually left for any guests. But guests were extremely rare so the room was never used. Robyn expected then that she would be using the guest room.
And she was half-right. Mainly because while Morgan slept in the same bedroom as Morgan knew in her reality, Robin's room was a different story. That is, Robin slept in the room that Robyn knew as her guest room in her reality. Apparently, the opposite was true here, because Robin's guest room – the one Robyn would be sleeping in – was 'her' room in her reality. What a coincidence, Robyn thought.
"You should feel comfortable here," Robin said. "I'm sure you know what this room is already, so I won't have to explain anything to you."
"And you are absolutely right," Robyn replied, smiling sadly. "I feel right a home already here. Plus, I know I kept the case of Generals of Hyrule in the closet here." She opened the closet to find the video game case right in the spot where she expected it. "Heh… So it's still here."
And then after, Robyn flopped herself on the bed. She was tired but yet there was so much on her mind right now. First was the overwhelming nostalgia that she would be back in 'her' room albeit in very different circumstances. Then there was the issue of staying as a guest of her counterpart, and the counterpart to her own sibling. But the feeling was still bitter too because this wasn't her reality. That reality of hers was no more. So what in the world was she doing here?
With her eyes closed, Robyn thought back to the Fire Emblem and Naga's warning. What did Naga mean by keeping an eye on the daylight hours? But Robyn couldn't worry about that for the time being. For one, she had to get used to her new reality and adjusting to school once again.
Robin meanwhile had put away the Generals of Hyrule game back to its place, as Robyn had taken it out. One part of him was excited that he could find someone to play this game with, but the other part was also concerned for this girl too. How many problems were on her mind? He thought it best to ask her another time, but for now she had present problems to worry about.
After checking on Morgan to make sure she was asleep, Robin also went to bed.
The chapter is still setting the stage. I could use some feedback though!