Sorry if these next few chapters are a bit short. Or feel a bit fillery, anyways hope you enjoy.

The Princess's Dragon Bride

Chapter 20: Sneaky

Robin followed the rest of the gang towards their rooms. His mind was a whirlwind of plots and precautions. The next step they needed to make, how far they needed to get, etc.

"So, who's got first watch?" Byleth's voice snapped Robin out of his thoughts.

"We've been driving the wagon, so we could use our rest," Cloud said as he and Byleth entered their room, closing the door and leaving no room to argue.

"So I guess that leaves us, but …" Akira looked slightly confused.

Robin sighed, "I'll do it." When Akira fixed him with a look, he felt he needed to explain.

"If what Corrin said is true, King Bowser will probably be taking his fleet of airships." Although I doubt Chrom would ever want to leave the ground after …. "An enemy that big should be visible for miles. We should consider leaving town the second they get close."

"But they don't know what we look like." Akira tilted his head

"And you're right," he made direct eye contact with their leader. "They don't know what we look like, but I don't think a change of clothes will keep them from recognizing their daughters." Akira seemed to get the idea after that.

Robin peeked at Leven from the corner of his eye, "You two should get some sleep." He knew the lad was tired. He and the girls were the only ones who knew Leven was the one staying up almost all night taking care of the horses, and although no one said it, they all knew his hard work was the only reason they got this far.

"I'll take whoever's bed is free tomorrow." With that said, the other two nodded and took the second room.

Robin took a deep breath. Looks like it'll just be him and his thoughts tonight.

Marth lept backward, dodging Shulk's jab. The clang of that massive red blade hitting the stone floor made the prince thankful he'd done so.

Marth retaliated, but Shulk was a lot faster on his feet than he had expected. Expertly sliding and backstepping out of the prince's range.

The prince countered, the clashing of blades ringing out as an almost deafening clang. Marth wasn't sure what that blade was made out of, but he had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't steel.

Marth had expected Shulk to toss another jab his way. What he hadn't expected was for the jab to come from a fist rather than a sword. The blow sent Marth tumbling backward.

He shook it off and dove out of the way of another backslash.

Then Shulk slashed downward in a wide arch; there was nowhere the prince could run to avoid it. In one strike, he hit the ground.

"D'aw!" Rex tossed himself backward as Marth sat up. "You almost had him!"

"No, I didn't," Marth shook his head, "he was going easy on me."

Shulk returned his blade to his back before holding his hand out to the prince, "Don't sell yourself short. You've gotten better at reading my movements."

Marth pulled himself up with the seer's help, "You didn't say you weren't taking it easy on me."

Shulk only laughed at that, but the prince couldn't help but smile. He's going to beat Shulk soon. He can feel it.

"How about another round?"

The hustle and bustle of the tavern on the first floor had made sleeping difficult. But Lucina had since adapted to the sounds of the inn at night. The pleasure of sleeping in a real bed after weeks spent in the wagon had been too great to pass up.

She had only been asleep for a few hours before she was awakened by a faint sound. It was a soft and beautiful sound despite the way it made her chest tighten, and listening a bit longer, she realized what it was.

She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "Corrin?"

"Lucina?" Hearing her voice, now she knew Corrin had been crying. "Did I wake you?"

Lucina removed the covers and walked over to sit on the edge of Corrin's bed. There was only one reason she would be so upset. "Did you have a bad dream again?"

Corrin nodded as she tried to rub the tears out of her eyes. "I didn't think they would come back so soon."

"Is this the first time you've had them while we've been on the road?" Corrin nodded again.

Lucina looked pensive, "I wonder what could have caused it."

She had difficulty getting to sleep, what with her nerves about the whole situation they had gotten themselves into, but once her eyes closed, she found herself sleeping like a stone. In truth, she was surprised it took so long for Corrin to have a nightmare.

"Well, whenever we slept together in the wagon, I never felt alone." Lucina could feel her cheeks begin to warm up. "I guess I just got used to feeling you so close to me; it made me feel safe."

Lucina could feel the fire in her face as she slowly lifted Corrin's covers, "Well, if that's all it is." she rested her head on the pillow beside Corrin's. "Then we can make arrangements."

Corrin's eyes widened before a soft smile blessed her once sorrow-filled features. "You don't have to do this. I feel a bit silly asking."

"Nonsense," she smiled at Corrin as the other princess took her hand in her own. "We can't have you feeling lonely on our adventure, now can we?"

Corrin gave Lucina's hand a little squeeze. "Thank you, Lucina."

She gave Corrin a playful smile as she closed her eyes. "Besides, it was getting cold without you next to me."

The last thing Lucina remembered was a soft chuckle from Corrin before the two drifted off to sleep.

Akira should be the one out here; Robin pulled his coat closed as he leaned against a nearby chimney.

Now that he was utterly alone, he couldn't help the internal screaming. What by Naga's name were you thinking?

Letting Joker steal from the castle was one thing but this. This is an absolute catastrophe. Chrom is going to be absolutely furious.

Robin shook his head. Thinking of Chrom, he only had good memories, but when he thought of the Exalt's rage, all he could see was Plagia. Robin had been there for him when it happened. He said Robin was keeping him together.

Robin shivered to think about it. He had hoped it would be something stupid that had been stolen. Some little thing that wouldn't be missed. But this … this was going to get them all killed.

This was Lucina, the king's pride and joy, one of his greatest treasures, Prince Marth being the other one. This crime wouldn't be forgiven by the gentlest of kings. And Chrom, for all his charm and charisma, was a fearsome lion.

Robin had seen his outrage when they attacked him in his own castle. He could only imagine his fury now.

To make everything worse, Robin couldn't imagine how Chrom would react to seeing him again after he'd abandoned him so long ago. "He hates me; there is no way he wouldn't."

If he'd ever doubted his decision so many years ago, now he was having full-blown regrets. "I'm so sorry, Chrom."

Chrom half fell out of his bed as the airship abruptly stopped. Thankfully he managed to not fall face-first into the hard wooden floor. Unfortunately, he was left lying there as his sleep-addled mind tried to process what had just happened.

He rushed to his feet, snagging Falchion on his way out of his room. "Bowser, what happened?"

The main deck was empty, aside from Kamek, who at the moment was simply sweeping. "Oh, Lord Chrom, His Majesty demanded we stop; I was told to inform you everything is fine."

Chrom stared at the wizard for a long time before taking a deep breath. As if to answer all his questions, the Clown Car floated beside the ship. When the Koopa King stepped out of the floating death trap, Chrom realized the king wasn't alone.

Just behind him walked a giant purple rabbit, not the strangest thing Chrom had seen since meeting Bowser, but the image was odd regardless. The rabbit had a white bandana tied around the lower part of its face. The bandana itself had a strange mouth painted into it.

Perhaps it was a look in fashion in the Mushroom Kingdom, since Bowser. Jr. has one similar.

"Bowser? Who's this?" The look in the rabbit's eyes was terrifying as if they were peering into his very soul.

"This is Nabbit," a large grin crossed the Koopa's face. "One of the greatest thieves in the Mushroom Kingdom."

Chrom tilted his head, "and why are they here?"

He tossed an arm over Chrom's shoulders, "we're chasing some slippery runts, right."

Chrom sighed and nodded; it was true. That counter curse the thieves put up had given them quite the headache.

If what Kamek said was true. It would only be a matter of time before the Princess's magic charm, which they had initially been tracking, would fade and leave them without anything to follow.

He knew Lucina didn't have anything even remotely magical in nature on her person, so Corrin's charm had been a stroke of luck.

"Well, what better way to catch a thief," he motioned to Nabbit, "than with a thief?"

It sounds good on paper. In fact, Robin had used that same argument to convince him to speak to a thief invading his home before the war. To his benefit, it was a good plan. The ex-thief, then shepherd, had become a valued teammate.

Chrom reached a hand out to their new thief ally, "very well, show us what you can do."

AN/ Again, this chapter's draft had a few differences from the original.

Originally that scene with Luci and Corrin sharing a bed would just be Lucina having gay panic, but I thought more about their relationship, and this flavor of fluffiness would be more their style. Don't worry, we will still have gay panic, Lucina, just not now.

In the first draft of this, Chrom was going to have another long internal monologue about Robin. I changed it when I realized that we already get many of those scenes from Chrom's pov but none from Robin, which didn't sit well with me. In the original draft, we never see how Robin feels about this.

Marth also fought Rex in the original and then would move on to Shulk, but I felt this fit more.

Bringing Nabbit in was my friend's idea; some of the weirder segments were his idea.

Anyways, I can't wait to see you guys in another chapter. I hope you've enjoyed. Have a wonderful day.

~ (7/4/2022)