Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.
The moon rises high over the camp, bathing the world is faint light. Gaius and Panne stalk the perimeter, ears alert for signs of movement.
Chrom is in the strategy tent, it's another late night for him. Virion retired to his bed long ago, saying there wasn't much they could do exhausted, but the blue-haired boy stayed. He has to find something… and he's waiting for help.
The chill in the air tells Chrom his help has arrived. As per usual, he turns around to face them.
"Prince…" The ghost whispers. It's pale ethereal form is almost invisible, but Chrom can just make out their figure and deduced long ago that they have a coat on, but he's never been able to quite see their face. Their entire body is a faint purple. "Problems…?
"My sister's been captured. She's scheduled for execution in two days." The prince says, gesturing to a pinned point on the map in front of him. The ghost doesn't move, but Chrom isn't put off. This is normal. "This fort is the target. It's built into some large bones, so we'll have to come at it more or less straight on."
"Pegasus…"
"Well yes, but we're also expecting them to bring in a wyvern brigade."
"Archers… wind… cut off…" The ghost murmurs. "Hide… strike… rescue…"
"But if we wait to long, Gangrel will execute her!"
"No…" It's form flickers. "Show… audience… you..."
Chrom growls, annoyed, but he knows the ghost is right. "So we wait, ambush the reinforcements, then take the fort?"
"Yes…" It murmurs. "Caution… tricks… surprise…"
"You think they have a backup plan?" The prince asks.
"Always..." The ghost says softly. "King… foolish… grimleal…"
Chrom nods as he turns back to the didn't strike him as very smart, it would make sense is someone else is the brains. Maybe that dark flier, Aversa. "Alright. We'll be on guard."
"Rescue… don't ride…" The voice murmurs in his ear. "Flank… regroup… warp…"
The prince grabs an ink pen, quickly writing that down. Ambush the wyvern brigade, flank with pegasus knights, regroup, use a rescue staff. Pegasus knights can be shot down, stopping magic is harder.
"Good…" The ghost whispers, it's voice fading off. "Prince… Sleep..."
When Chrom looks back over his shoulder after he finishes writing down his notes, the ghost is gone.
###
"Miriel, signal the pegasus knights!" Chrom roars. Falchion slashes through the last of the riders, the wyvern brigade lies butchered in the sand. "The brigade has fallen! Shepherds, prepare to flank!"
Frederick thunders up next to the prince, and the blue-haired boy leaps on to the back of the horse. The two of them thunder off to the fort, catching up with the ranged units that were positioned further back. The dark mage they recruited, Tharja, launches out tendrils of black magic at a fellow Plegian soldier, sapping his life. She gives a curt nod as the prince shouts instructions and falls in beside Miriel and Ricken.
Kellam, Frederick, and Chrom spearhead the attack on the fort. They push through enemy soldiers and dark mages while the Shepherds' backline rains fire and arrows on the fight.
The pegasus knights, headed by Phila, soar over the bones and barrel down on the fight. Javelins and steel lances smash through the lightly armored Plegians, killing them with elegant, precise strikes.
From far above on a single bone arch, Emmeryn watches the chaos below. She's both relieved and horrified at seeing her brother's brutal efficiency in combat. Even the enemy general in his heavy armor is no match for Chrom, who finds a chink in the armor and kills the man with his rapier.
"Lissa! Rescue staff!" Chrom calls as soon as the last soldier falls. He can see Gangrel cursing from up on a balcony and Aversa whispering in his ear. "Shepherds, guard for ambush! Defensive circle!"
The Shepherds form up, putting their armored members on the outside. Lissa raises her staff, which glows a fierce green. An aura of green wraps around Emmeryn and in a few seconds she's standing in the middle of the Shepherds' formation, safe and sound.
The ground around them starts to shift, and the dead hands of Risen start reaching out, pulling their bodies from the sand and stone. The Shepherds don't break though, and they beat back the sudden wave of undead horrors.
"No, no, no!" Gangrel snarls. "You said you had a plan Aversa! A plan! A bunch of measly corpses is not a plan!"
Chrom and his squad quickly pull out of the fort, leaving Gangrel to shout at his assistant. They could try to attack him, but they don't want to waste time. They're massively over-extended as is; the main bulk of the Ylissian-Feroxi can't get to them anytime soon if they run into trouble.
###
Chrom doesn't like hiding what's actually going on. He gets credit for plans that aren't his own, and the prince has always preferred honesty. The problem is that he doesn't expect telling people he gets plans from a ghost is going to go over well.
The ghost always appears for Chrom alone, which is problematic in convincing other people of the ghost's existence.
Well Chrom presumes it would be problematic, he's never tried. It's not exactly a conversation the prince wants to attempt without solid evidence.
The boy is mulling this over in his own tent, having finished his tactics session with Virion a good hour ago. He extinguishes the candle next to him, settling down for the night-
"Prince…"
"Gah!" Chrom yelps, sitting upright. The ghost is hovering near the door. "Gods, don't do-"
"Wake…" The ghost says in a tone of warning. "Assault…"
"Assault?" The prince asks, blinking in confusion. "What-"
"Under… attack…"
"Fuck." Chrom swears, scrambling up out of his bed. He grabs for his armor and Falchion, which he'd just finished taking off, and quickly pieces his armor together. As he's doing this he starts hearing the shouts of the sentries and the sounds of shouting.
The prince steps through the ghost, mind already focusing on the battle. He runs tent to tent, alerting everyone he can. Frederick soon finds Chrom, with Lissa already riding on the back of his horse. As they gather the other waking Shepherds a group of assassins and mages slip into view. Their bows and tomes come up, and a barrage of dark magic and arrows fly to them. Frederick moves to block, bringing his armored horse and shield into the path. The arrows are harmless, but dark magic is not kind to the brunette and his blue armor darkens (not burned, just… shaded) from the impact.
One arrow slips past the knight's guard, almost hitting Chrom in the shoulder. It doesn't even hit his armor though as a faint film of purple energy delects the shot.
The prince doesn't have time to consider what that means as more foes start appearing. He brings up Falchion and charges alongside Frederick; sword and lance are more than a match for the thin leather and cloth their enemies wear and the night quickly devolves into chases around the camp as all foes are weeded out and either killed or chased off.
Chrom doesn't bother to acknowledge Emmeryn's remark about him glowing as he heads back to his tent and collapses into his bed.
###
The prince wakes up very late the next day. Even the others who fought last night have been up for a few hours, and Chrom is lucky to snag breakfast leftovers. His memory is a bit fuzzy, but he remembers how the ghost appeared in his room to warn him. This is the first time they've done something like that, and the blue-haired boy wonders how the ghost knew about the attack.
The war drags on. The Shepherds rejoin the main army and start serving as a specialist group primarily responsible for clearing out forts (where the Shepherds' small unit size and fighting style variety isn't as much a hinderance).
Chrom starts noticing strange things about himself in battle. He starts to be more aware of the battlefield around him: noting particularly difficult enemies, problematic weapons like beast killers, and seeing opportunities to flank.
Virion says he's starting to become a proper tactician, but the prince doesn't think that's right. It doesn't feel like he's noticing things. It's like something is invisibly drawing his attention to certain details.
The boy also notices how he's started to deflect hits. Sometimes it's an arrow, or a stray blow from an opponent, but it bounce off something just before hitting Chrom. He never has time to look at what though (because he's in battle, obviously).
The ghost continues to appear, still whispering advice and strategy to the prince. One night Chrom makes the decision to try and talk to the ghost about something other than tactics. As they finish up the night's tactics, Chrom tries to redirect conversation.
"Open… danger… overwhelm..."
"I understand." The prince nods. "I'll warn the Shepherds to be wary of the opening."
"Fight… small… space…" The ghost murmurs. "Numbers… irrelevant…"
"I know, I remember your advice from before." Chrom chuckles. "By the way, I have a question."
The ghost says nothing, floating silently. The prince takes that as a signal to continue.
"What's your name?" He asks. "I'm tired of calling you 'the ghost', surely you must have a name."
A long, quiet pause. The ghost doesn't move and Chrom focuses on its face, trying to make out features. Unfortunately he couldn't make out anything concrete, just a vague nose and an undetailed mouth.
"Robin…"
"Well nice to properly meet you then Robin." Chrom says firmly. He was glad to finally get some information out of Robin, no matter how small. It would also act as a measure of proof if he ever tried to convince someone else of Robin's existence.
The ghost doesn't comment and slowly fades from view. Apparently their conversation is over.
###
"Your end has come!" Chrom snaps. He swings Falchion overhead and crushes the skull of the dark mage in front of him.
Chrom is in trouble. He shouldn't be alone, but he got separated from Frederick. The prince rushed to kill a sorcerer and got cut off. Now he needs to puzzle his way back through these hallways.
His abnormal powers seem to be out in full force as well. The strange deflections seem to be happening frequently, and the prince noticing more and more about the situation as he moves. His attention is being pulled to small things like tiny imperfections in an opponent's movement or deep shadows in the walls.
The deflections are sparking very visible purple energy, and even when he's not being hit the prince can see a faint outline of something over his body.
Chrom also doesn't know why he feels the urge to try and shoot a chandelier when he sees one positioned over a few soldiers' heads. He doesn't even have a bow.
"Milord!" Frederick calls, smashing through a wall of fighters. "Are you unharmed?"
"I'm fine Frederick." Chrom says, absently noting the slight echo in his voice.
"As you say Milord. May I enquire as to your new clothes?"
"What?" The prince glances down at himself, and blinks in surprise at translucent purple coat overtop his armor. "I have no idea…"
"We shall worry on it later then." The knight grunts. He pulls a javelin from his back and throws it. The long wooden pole impales a dark mage that had been sneaking up on them. "The Shepherds need you back Milord."
"Of course, lead the way."
###
"Here's how it's done!" Chrom shouts, bisecting an unfortunate archer. Falchion flickers with an odd mix of purple and blue light as the prince fights, and the familiar semi-solid coat has manifested already.
The prince looks around himself, noting the position of his frontline and the mages further back. Lissa is a bit further up, with Lon'qu-
Lon'qu is holding back those axemen, Lissa is undefended. Chrom sees that wyvern rider, she has no time.
The prince dashes forwards, his body pumping with adrenaline. He won't make it in time, there has to be something! Something in the back of his mind whispers, and Chrom is desperate enough to try. Giving in to the impulse to shoot that has become so common by this point, the prince frantically raises an arm and shouts the first spell that comes to mind: "thoron!"
A lance of lighting flies from his fingertips and slams into the wyvern, knocking it out of the sky. The rider falls from the saddle, already dead, and the wyvern jumps back into the air and awkwardly flies off, one half of its body heavily wounded and leaking blood.
"Since when can you use magic Chrom!?" Lissa shouts, waving her staff at Lon'qu.
"Since now apparently! A thank you would be nice!" He calls back. "Thoron!"
The spell works again, demolishing an unfortunate cavalier.
"This is so cool…"
"Focus, both of you!" Lon'qu snaps, sparing both of them a withering glare. "Talk later, fight now!"
"R-Right!" Lissa squeaks. Chrom silently nods and shakes off his wonder. If he has lightning now might as well use it efficiently. No sense wasting it on every little soldier.
###
"Chrom, I'm worried." Emmeryn murmurs, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know your new powers are useful, but… you don't always seem yourself when using them."
Chrom can't deny that. Even he has noticed his switch from emotional to calculated when battle comes around and the slight echo in his voice. It's almost like his body isn't entirely his own anymore, and he has a good idea why that's so.
Robin. The ghost is purple and has a keen strategic mind, two of the things in common with Chrom's powers. Besides, what other realistic explanation is there for this?
"I agree." The prince nods. "I've noticed as well."
"And you aren't concerned?"
"Well Robin has always been helpful so far, and I think he's the one giving me these powers, so I argue we give him the benefit of the doubt." Chrom says firmly.
"Robin?" Emmeryn blinks.
The prince assumes now is as good a time as any to explain. "Yes. My sudden gift for tactics isn't really… me. I have help from Robin."
"And who is he?"
"A ghost."
The exalt gives him a long, careful look. "A ghost?"
"Yes." Chrom says flatly. "You should know I never had a gift for tactics before the war…"
"I see. Can I meet Robin?"
"Maybe…? I've never tried introducing anyone. They would think I was crazy." Chrom sighs.
"Of course…"
###
"Robin? Are you here?" Chrom coughs, desperately hoping this is going to work. "There's someone who wants to meet you."
Silence reigns in the tent as the prince prays the ghost will appear when asked. It's late in the evening, and he doesn't want to waste Emmeryn's time.
"Prince…" Just as called, Robin appears on the other side of the table. Rather than floating as he usually does the ghost is sitting in a chair. "Exalt…"
Emmeryn is stunned, not truly expecting to see a ghost. "H-Hello. Robin, was it?"
"Yes…"
"It is an honor to meet you." The blonde-haired woman murmurs. "I am Emmeryn. It has come to my attention that you have been assisting my brother since of the war, and I wish to ask if you are responsible for his new abilities."
"Yes…" Robin says again. His body is still hard to properly make out, but Chrom thinks the figure raises an arm to him. "Host…"
"Host? I'm your host?" Chrom asks hastily. "Wait, what does that mean?!"
"Grant… power… share… thoughts…" The ghost murmurs. "Share… mind... "
"How much of my thoughts?"
"All…"
"Prove it."
"Courting... Sumia… plans… propose…" Robin hums. "Have… ring… bottom… drawer…"
"I-I u-uh-" Chrom stammers, totally caught off guard. "That's- uh- okay, I s-suppose you do know a-all my thoughts."
"Chrom?"
"Not now Emm…"
"I disagree." The exalt smiles serenely. "Why did you never tell me you found love?"
Chrom shoots Robin a withering glare, and the ghost waves back cheekily. "You're lucky I can't touch you."
###
Chrom isn't sure what he was expecting from Robin when the war ended, but the ghost sticks around. He starts to apparate more sporadically (his skills not really being needed) but always appears upon request.
The ghost starts to experiment with other hosts (Emmeryn volunteers). It takes a while to adapt to any given host, so a transfer is always followed by a week of silence. Robin always comes back to Chrom though.
Even baby Lucina is a perfectly acceptable host. The girl shows no signs of realizing there is a ghost hanging around in her head while he is adapting, but happily gurgles at Robin when he appears next. Robin describes her mind as "simple but entertaining".
In fact Lucina seems to be Robin's backup host. If Chrom or Sumia ever want privacy, Robin simply jumps to the child and spends the day entertaining the girl with his intangible form. The ghost also admits that if something were to happen to the prince, he would eventually take up residence in the baby girl to protect what remained of his legacy.
While Chrom prays such a future never comes to pass, he is silently thankful knowing Lucina will have yet another person looking out for her. Robin was a massive help to the prince, and he knows the ghost would try his best to guide his daughter as she grew.
Hopefully Robin would never be guiding his daughter though. Chrom didn't want to imagine a world where both he and Sumia weren't around to raise Lucina. What sort of horrible catastrophe would have to befall the world for that to happen?
Chrom would prefer never to find out.
So, Fire Emblem Three Houses…
In short, I came away more worried than excited. The trailer makes it look like an older style game, which is both good and bad. Good because it might mean we get a good story, bad because it might mean the characters become more subdued and the support conversations might change.
See, the old style of support conversations were sorta… underwhelming. You were very limited in who you could talk to, and sometimes the talks had to happen on the battlefield (which is a massive hassle). The characters were less over-the-top, which is what makes Awakening and Fates' characters so fun in the first place. Characters are the main strength of the new games, and I'd hate to see that strength get thrown out the window with Nintendo trying to go for an older tone.
Really I don't care about the gameplay as much as fun characters and good support conversations. There was nothing on that in this trailer, and it looks old-style (Path of Radience/Echoes mostly) so I'm worried. That said, the story strength of older games is sorely needed. Hoping, but not expecting, a perfect fusion here.
ScorinVoidSeeker: Well I wasn't exactly going for funny, so I'm fine with that.
Grima Robin is the high bar? I guess I can see that in terms of story, but for romance I consider Grima Robin one of the weakest I've written. I'd consider Succubus or Hairweaver Robin better for romance, but that's just my personal opinion.
Giant Marth would drastically change the story unfortueately, I found it easier to keep her out.
You'll see both of those soon enough I think.
Gonna rename Shapeshifter Robin to Mimic Robin, but I like the idea. Conqueror Robin is also an interesting one. Both noted. Also, I don't know many pop culture or anime references, so I'm probably not getting any examples you give.
I have a few ideas for Pokemon. Need to chew on it for a bit though, it's a big project. It's not a priority right now though, so let's table that discussion.
As I've said before, as long as you give me a shout-out at least once you have permission.
The Restless Drifter: I have a head cannon as to how I'd handle rare meta-human species in a universe like this. Their children have a high chance of being full-blooded members of the meta-human species rather than half-breeds. That way you can justify the species not dying off. That's basically how I assume succubi work too.
So Druid Robin and Inventor/Steampunk Robin. Alright…
Kamencolin: Already on my radar, but you are the first to suggest it. Now that I know someone wants it I'll bump it up the list.
IsThisWorking: Ah, I've never played that game, many games actually, so references are usually lost on me.