Chapter 52: Bonds Stronger than Fate
Everything was in darkness.
For a time Robin wondered where he was, peering out into the void with sight and consciousness alike. It felt cold, like the inky lightless depths of the sea. Empty. Lifeless. Yet shapes began to form, not of sight, but of the mind. It was then he realized where he was: within the ethereal dreamscape conjured of his own mind. A place of refuge against the cold that closed in all around.
"At last… you are mine…"
The words, the whisper, were empty. Silent. Yet he'd heard them all the same.
First came the pinpoints of light, the flicker of flame eyes in the darkness. A smooth stone mask, impassive, slinking out from the void. A shape of deeper darkness behind, utterly black against the veil of the lightless sea. The shape of a dragon, a predatory god amongst the still silence.
"Anankos," he said, staring back at the mask. "I'd like to say it's a pleasure to meet you face to face, but… well the mask, you not actually being here, and the invading my head bit really have set a bad first impression."
"Jokes… a means to find comfort… in your doom. An annoying… coping method… all too common… lesser beings," the dragon whispered back. His speech was strange, both melodic, yet somehow distant. Disjoined. As if fragments of consciousness breaking through a storm. As if the dragon's attention was somewhere between this place and countless others.
Or perhaps he really is just insane, Robin considered. The extent of degradation may have started to rob him of higher functions by this point.
"Did you… consider this… a sacrifice? Believing… this would… mean something?" whispered the Silent Dragon. His form slinked around the tactician's mind-shape like some predatory cat, movements relishing over some trapped, helpless prey.
"Maybe," Robin told him, seeing again the moments before he'd ended up here. "I had to do something. If it matters? That's still to be seen."
"Foolish… Pointless… Irrelevant…" whispered the dragon, stopping for a moment, then continuing to encircle the tacitian. "It changes nothing… Your defiance… Your insolence…. All futures… All possibilities… present themselves to me at my whim. All… as ever… have and will end… in my victory."
A wave of cold washed over Robin, the feeling almost seeming to be coming from within. For a moment he felt like he was sinking, plummeting down to even darker depths. His head aches and his vision blurred. It took every ounce of focus he had to recenter himself and regain enough mental composure to respond.
"So far, maybe. But you'd do well to take care, Anankos. Arrogance can often be one's undoing if they're not careful," Robin warned the dragon, following its movements so that it never once left his sight. "Being so sure of yourself could leave you utterly blind. Oblivious to a trap or miscalculation."
"To… a mortal… perhaps… But I am greater… more… and you are in… no position… to dare lecture me," Anankos snear. "Not as my curse claims your soul… enslaves your spirit to my will…"
Another cold laugh shook the blackness, punctuating the gloating of the dragon as he reveled in his all so evident victory.
"Do you know… I have seen your world… peered into it and all those like it… to all your… possibilities," Anankos told him, his form stopping to regard him almost curiously. "Entirely unremarkable… average… no defining deviations from the… expected template of Naga's realm. And yet…"
Water pooled at their feet, lifting up into a sphere that showed within it a planet, familiar land masses marking it that of Robin's home. Then the orb split, becoming two, then four, then eight, then sixteen. Exponentially they multiplied, until the entire space was filled with images of those infinite worlds. All representing possibilities and alternate versions to his own.
"Yet…somehow… despite all indications… all because… all logic… your's is a… curious anomaly."
Many globes shifted, showing dead lifeless worlds. "Most are doomed…" Other gloves became ravaged lands barely clinging to life. "Those few that survive do so…. Barely…" Other remained clouded in creeping darkness and the scars of war… "some even… defeat the fell dragon… but not without cost. But yours... yours is a beacon within the sea. A single exception… one where all that should have been… was not…"
Robin felt a icy pit in his stomach at this revelation. Was his world so truly isolated? An statistical anomaly amongst. Should he feel proud? That they'd defied the odds? Or was it merely luck? Instead he should feel small, knowing what Anankos said. That there was truly nothing remarkable about him and his world.
"We have hope. That's all we need.," Robin said at last, letting the words carry a flicker of the defiance yet within his heart.
A cold laugh sounded then, almost a rumble coming up from the depths. "The nature of… your world's… anomaly is to be… determined. Mere chance, perhaps? Or maybe… as you said… a foolish hope. I shall soon know… now that your soul belongs to me… Within it… I may find… the answer… I seek…"
Great wings spread out, utter backless bearing down on him. From the dragon's form the dark closed in, surrounding Robin, smothering cold cutting to his very bone. Thought vanished, and he felt himself sinking. Plummeting deeper and deeper into the endless light.
"Now… now it belongs… to me," laugh Anankos, triumphant.
There was a burst of light, a flash of blinding radiance that filled the mindscape. A scream cut through, one of confusion turning to rage. Inky shadows reeled back, flowing back from the point the light had emanated. It felt warm. Like acceptance. Like belonging. Like understanding.
"What… is… this…" spat the shadows of the dragon's consciousness. For the first time since its presence had entered Robin's mind it sounded uncertain. Confused. Afraid.
The light receded to a shimmering glow, revealing Robin's mind-form from within it, untouched by darkness that had enveloped him.
Robin laughed, "I thought you looked hard at my world, Anankos? I would have thought you should have foreseen this," Robin said, eyes burning with defiance as he stared down the masked visage amongst the fleeing void.
"You… you shouldn't be… you can't!" the inky blackness bellowed, rage taking hold amongst the confusion. "You are a mere mortal! I am a god! No man can defy my will. This isn't possible!"
Robin laughed. "You're right. I am just a man. Alone I wouldn't have the faintest hope to resist you. But you made one little mistake, Anankos. Either you forgot or completely missed something about me. I'm not alone. I'm never alone."
Robin's form shifted, light branching outward like spreading winds. The light split and danced, coalescing into not one radiant silhouette, but many, all standing side by side, defiant against the dragon. Threads of starlight stretched out from Robin, tying him to the many figures that had appeared alongside him. The manifestation of bonds is not easily severed.
Robin looked back over his shoulder, a gentle smile on his lips as he beheld those at him. Lucina. Morgan and Marc. Chrom, Sumia, Cynthia, Lissa, Frederick, and so many more. Alongside him was every one of his friends and loved ones, the people who'd found and accepted a man without memories or connections. The ones who'd given his life meaning and purpose. Those whose bonds they all shared had overcome every challenge before them. Bonds whose strength could defy even a god.
"This can't… be… what trickery is this?!" Anankos demanded. Tendrils of darkness lashed out like storm-tossed waves, only to shatter against the light, inky blackness sizzling into wisps of smoke before the inferno.
"This is no trick. Alone I am truly nothing. But even here, even an entire world away from them, my friends are always beside me. Alone, I am helpless. But with them, you can't hope to defeat us," Robin told him, taking a step forward as the void shrunk back. "Your curse has no power here. You have no power here."
Step by step the darkness was driven back, forced to retreat toward the very edges of Robin's mind. Brighter the light shone, rays splitting through the gloom as though sliced by razors.
"You-" Anankos began to scream, only for the words to be cut short in a guttural cry as Robin's hand shot forward. Like flaming whips, the light of his will, of his friends' will, lashed out, wrapping around the retreating presence. Anankos howled in rage and pain, thrashing against the bindings even as they wound ever tighter.
"Did you really think you were so mighty, so all powerful, that no one could challenge you?" Robin demanded. "You invaded my world, my home! You dare threaten my loved-ones and yet believe you've already won? That is one mistake that I assure you, will prove to be your last!"
Anankos roared in hatred and rage. Wings thrust open, snapping many of the threads. He lunged, one taloned claw free as he groped for Robin, only to be yanked back as more shimmering ropes lashed out to restrain him. Again and again Robin replaced every shattered binding with yet more, until soon the dragon seemed to be entombed in the radiance, searing away his darkness with the purity of their bonds.
"What… is…?" was all Anankos could get out as he continued to struggle, trying in vain to lash out again before being dragged down.
"This is the power of our bonds. Bonds that defied death and the Fell Dragon alike. Grima could not stop after all that, you acted like I should be afraid of you? Like we should have trembled in fear before you?" Robin laughed, the sound cold and holding no mirth or joy. As was the smile that tugged at his lips as he finished, letting every ounce of venom fill his words stabbing them deep. "Why would I ever be afraid of you, Anankos? Not when Grima was so, so much bigger."
"Insolent whelp!" Anankos bellowed, the tactician's words cutting deep into the dragon's ego. His whispering, melodic voice he'd spoken in before was gone. Now he utterly screamed and raged. "You cannot slay me! Even if your precious bonds protect you, they cannot slay me! My victory is still- Rraaaaaaaagghhh!" A guttural scream cut off the rest of his words as the bindings twisted tighter, smoke curling between them as his dark presence burned.
"No, I can't. I have no illusion that I can kill you, Anankos. That's Corrin's destiny, not mine," Robin admitted."Nor can I bind you here forever. But I can make you suffer so long as you remain in my head. So writhe in agony. Writhe in your fate, Anankos!"
The dragon shook, ripping at his bindings. No longer did he move to attack or overwhelm Robin with his might. Instead he tried to withdraw, the escape the mind that had turned to his prison and torment.
No you don't! Not so easily! Robin gritted his teeth, pooling his full will upon restraining the dragon. More bindings snapped, but he refused to let go, wanting to hold him as long as possible. To make the dragon suffer for as long as he could, in retribution for ever daring to threaten his friends, his family!
A roar filled his head, followed by a blinding flash of incinerating brilliance. The cry became one of pain even as Anankos at last broke free. One final parting gift, a last shot from Robin before the dragon's presence fled from his mind.
Everything was white now. The inky void like ocean depths that had surrounded him before had vanished, replaced by a gentle stillness of a calm sea. Exhaustion filled Robin, a fatigue of the soul rather than the body. He felt himself slump back, only for the figures around him to catch his battered form. He smiled up at his friends, thankful as he always was. That even a world away, they'd always be there to support him. To catch him.
The world of his mind seemed to glow brighter, until everything was but light.
. . . . .
Robin landed on his hands and knees, the world spinning before his eyes. For an instant his hands seemed to become translucent, only to return to normal in a blink of an eye. For a moment he didn't dare move, didn't dare even to breathe.
Then when nothing happened, he laughed. He couldn't help it: his head felt like it'd been split by a hot iron, his every bone and muscle ached, and it took everything not to become suddenly, violently, ill, but despite it all he was still here.
Take. That, he thought, relishing in that last defiant curse against his repelled foe, relishing in his victory. Of course, the whole thing had been a huge gamble. He had no way of knowing, even with his suspicions that it would be so, that his bonds to his friends could overcome Anankos' curse. It had, in all honesty, been probably one of the dumbest risks he'd ever taken. Which, speaking of…
"Robin!"
Right on cue. He chuckled. Ow, that hurt. Everything sore, very sore. Wait, if it was all mental why did… oh nevermind.
Lucina's cry of alarm signaled her approach, his wife rushing at once to his side. "Father!" Morgan and Marc's voices joined in unison, the twins crowding around their parents and Lucins stooped down next to him. All around them jumbled voices drowned out all other sound, all those gathered erupting into confusion as to what had just happened.
At once Lucina hauled him to his feet, gripping his hand fervently as if still terrified he'd vanish at any moment. "Are you alright? What happened? Why did you- please, don't leave me- I…" She demanded, fumbling through her words even as her eyes glistened with tears.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," he assured her, setting his free hand atop of her's. "I took a risk, but… turns out by coming back from the dead like I did, I'm pretty much immune to the curse. See, no vanishing again today. He smiled gently."
"Oh…" Lucina said. There was a long pause. Then she slapped him, hard, the sound ringing out in a blow that left a stinging red mark across his face,
"Okay…" Robin winced, his jaw aching with every syllable he spoke. Gods, it felt as though that slap had nearly dislocated his jaw. "I… deserved that."
"You very much did," Lucina affirmed, both relief and anger now showing in her face. "Why do you insist on risking yourself like this? Even if it worked out, wasn't there some other way? What would have happened if it hadn't worked? What would I have done then?"
"I'm… I'm sorry," he whispered in apology. He slipped his hands free from Lucina's grasp and reached out to cup her face. He kissed her. "You're right, and I will make amends as soon as I can. But right now, let's stop another war, shall we?"
"Alright," Lucina nodded, seemingly placated by this promise. "But you do owe me a full explanation after this. And an apology."
"That I do," Robin assured her, before turning away to face the crowd. Even as he did, Lucina gripped his hand once more. Robin didn't fight it. He suspected it would be several hours before Lucina dared let go of him, let alone let him out of her sight. Not after the stunt he'd just pulled.
"What's going on?" Yukimura demanded once Robin turned to face them once more. "What do you mean there's a-"
"Don't" shouted several people at once, thankfully cutting off the Hoshidan tactician before he could say it.
"Don't," Robin repeated in emphasis, holding up the hand Lucina wasn't clininging to in warning. "Anankos' curse kills anyone who so much as mentions its existence. "The only reason I'm still here is...well, it's rather difficult to explain, but due to circumstances we don't have the time to get into, I gained a special protection that enabled me to avoid succumbing to the curse. The same cannot be said for the rest of you."
There was a long pause before Yukimura spoke again, his expression uncertain. "If this is the situation, then how do any of you know this?"
"The curse only works while you're in this world. Before coming here we traveled to the Ethereal Summit and spoke with the Astral Dragons there. That's how we know of this," Robin explained. This of course wasn't exactly the whole truth, but really, explaining how the ghost of Azura had appeared before him, so that he could go to Valla with people who knew about the curse was really not that important in the grand scheme of things. That, and mentioning it would probably make him sound entirely insane.
"We can vouch for everything that Robin just said," Hinoka agreed. As did Xander, and Sakura, and Leo, each in turn.
Another long pause, followed by murmurs from the crowd. "If you are telling the truth, then you better give us everything," one of the other nobles, one of those in Yukimura's camp, demanded.
"Yes. we need a full account of the… circumstances," the royal tactician agreed, picking his words carefully now.
So it was that Robin explained everything. He told them about Valla, about Anankos, and about the curse. He told them about how King Garon had been replaced by a servant of Anankos, thus beginning the invasion of Hoshido, and how the dragon intended to finish the job in destroying both of the now weakened nations. Most of all he told them of their plan, to with the four Divine Weapons and Yato, assault the realm of Valla, and so end the threat the dragon posed.
Through it all, Robin paid careful attention to the expressions of the Hoshido. Most, like Yukimura, seemed genuinely surprised by these revelations, the context of everything that had truly happened over the last few years slowly beginning to sink in. However, as Robin had expected, a few there did not seem at all surprised. Indeed, though they tried to hide it, Lord Kieda and many of his compatriots looked more than a bit angry.
At last, the seething noble could not contain it any longer. Right as Robin finished his account, Lord Kieda stomped forward, shouting out to the gathered crowd. "Really, how can any of you believe this utter nonsense? All of this is clearly a fabrication intent to ensnare you to this outsider's lies. Do you really trust the words of our enemies, traitors, and those that deal with them? Do not listen to-"
"Really? That's your game? I'd be impressed with your stubbornness if it didn't reek of desperation," Robin interrupted, entirely done with humoring the nakedly traitorous lord.
"You dare-" Kieda started
"Yes, I do dare. Try me. Prove that I'm lying, Lord Kieda. It's very simple. Say Anankos' name. Mention the curse. See what happens," Robin said in a low growl. "If you can't do that, then do us all a favor and shut up."
The noble's face turned bright red, rage taking hold of him. His mouth worked silently, his hand twitching next to the hilt of his sword. For a moment Robin almost believed he'd dare attack him and the others, but the Hoshidan's eye flicked around, seeming to take in just how thoroughly outnumbered he and his forces truly were. Slowly he lifted his hand away from his weapon, stepping back to rejoin his fellows. Though his eyes did not leave Robin now, their gaze filled with a murderous fury.
We're going to to have to do something about that one sooner or later, Robin thought to himself. They certainly could not proceed with such an obvious traitor at their back. With luck the lord would make some move against him and so ought his true allegiances. If not… well, he'd just have to convince Yukimura and the other nobles to deal with Kieda with traditional means.
The retreat of Keida seemed, at least, to banish many of the doubts of the other nobles. Perhaps instead Robin should be thanking the lord for so graciously proving the validity of his words
"This plan of yours, how certain are you that it will work?" Yukimura asked.
"We don't, but both Izana's foresight and the Astral Dragons' wisdom told us this was our only chance," Robin answered honestly. No matter how carefully laid their plans were, there simply were no guarantees, and they could not deceive them of chances when it'd be easy to see through.
"You saw what our enemy can do. Your city shows the scars of that. Nohr is no less sorely pressed," Xander said. "We must unite our strengths now, or perish. It's the only chance we have."
"We have to stand together. Like it or not, this is about survival, past hatreds be damned," Hinoka said, facing the gathered Hoshidans.
For a long while no one spoke, though the expressions of the nobles were plain to see. Fear, uncertainty, hesitance, yet among them was now some glimmer of hope. A way out of the darkness that had fallen over them.
Yukimura turned to regard his men, also seeming to gather what they were thinking. When he at last faced Xander, Hinoka, and Robin, he seemed to slump, almost deflated.
"The choice you ask us to make is a hard one. To trust those who causes us nothing but harm… but with what you said, we must put that aside. This enemy…" He straightened, shouldering again the weight of his role as he looked to Hinoka and Sakura directly. "You will have Raijnto and Fujin. Beyond that I am not certain what forces we can spare. The extent of Hoshido's direct involvement in the assault must be discussed at length."
A palpable sigh of relief sounded at this. Had he not been standing in the middle of a field, Robin would have probably allowed himself to collapse from exhaustion at that very moment. He felt himself squeezing Lucina's hand tightly even as she did the same.
They'd done it. They averted a war and gained Hoshido's, if still hesitant, support. And all it had cost was nearly getting his soul eaten by a dragon.
And to think, only now the real work starts.
. . . . .
"I still can't believe you survived… that…" Corrin repeated for perhaps the dozenth time since the conversation began.
Robin frowned, resisting the tiniest twinge of annoyance. Dapples of fading sunlight danced across the tent's canvas, mixed with the shadows of a tree swaying in from of the open flap.
It was late in the day, following a much longer meeting with Yukimura within the capital. They'd hashed out with much of what would happen short term as well as the accommodations for the Nohrians while they remained in the city. So it was that Robin had managed to drag himself away from Lucina to speak to Corrin and inform him of what transpired. And to apologize for the manipulation the previous day.
Corrin fidgeted in his chair, his gaze on the dirt. He'd seldom met Robin's gaze other than to regard him with an occasional suspicious look. "And you're certain that this only works for-"
"No, this won't work for anyone else. It's, well, I think more a side effect of how I came back from, well, dying," Robin interrupted, sighing wearily. "To be honest, I am not sure I can be considered a hundred percent alive at this point. Certainly not normal by any stretch. So not, do not try it."
Corrin said nothing, still not meeting his gaze. A few seconds passed before Corrin shifted in his chair, seeming to be about to pose a question.
"And yes, the curse is real. It's not a bluff. Talking to Anankos in my head is proof enough of that," Robin answered in anticipation for the next coming query.
"I wasn't going to ask that," Corrin told him, shaking his head. "I never doubted the curse existed… I never doubted Azura when she told me…"
Another awkward silence. Then Corrin coughed quietly, breaking the still and asked "What I was going to ask for confirmation you knew this would happen, didn't you? That you could survive the curse."
"I had a suspicion. I didn't know for certain. Given how if I was wrong I'd be dead, I wasn't exactly keen on testing it out," Robin told him bluntly. "I didn't want to bring it up before simply because I didn't want to inspire undo expectations. Nothing more."
"Fine, fine, it's just… forgive me from being suspicious still," Corrin said. "I can't be sure with you anymore."
"I am a bad liar, Corrin. Withholding information is pretty much the only way I can manage pulling it off. So I can assure you that's the truth," Robin answered earnestly. He wasn't lying one bit about that part.
Another suspicious look from Corrin, before again turning away, his eyes on the open tent flap and the pond he'd pitched it alongside. His gaze grew distant as he stared at the water. Almost longing.
"You know you can come into the city, right? Yukimura agreed to allow it at this point. I don't think any of the Hoshidans would do anything either if you did," Robin reminded him, his words snapping Corrin back to the present.
"I know that. It's better though, this way. For them as well as me. Too many painful memories…" He shook his head. Robin thought he whispered something else then, but whatever the words had been, they'd been too quiet to make out. Then Corrin sighed, slumping slightly. "Still… What happens now? What's the plan?"
"We have a lot of details to work out. Preparations to make. Hinoka and Sakura were on their way to the vault to claim the Divine Weapons when I left. The next few days will be much the same," Robin answered. "I'll keep you in the loop so long as you decide not to come inside the city."
"Thanks," Corrin said. He frowned. "Do you think they are ready? Hinoka and Sakura, I mean, to wield the weapons. If they aren't, if they don't bond with them in time."
"They have to be," Robin answered. He sighed. "I know it's callous to put it that way, but it's the reality we face. You're worried about them, your sisters, but we have to trust they can do it. We need Yato, the Fire Emblem, to defeat Anankos."
Corrin did not look any less concerned, but he didn't push the issue further. "Just… let me know if there is anything I can do to help."
"I'm sure they'd appreciate that. But you could tell them that yourself. They don't hate you, Corrin, you know that. Even after everything that happened," Robin told him.
"I know that… it's just… it's difficult," he explained.
"I can understand that. Just… give it some thought." Standing up from his own chair, Robin moved to depart. He made it almost to the flap before Corrin stopped him
"Robin?" Corrin called out.
Robin turned back to the prince. "Yes?"
"Robin, I need to know I can trust you. I understand why you felt like you had to keep my step-father's identity as the Invisible Soldier from me. But it has to stop," Corrin told him, his gaze fixed firmly upon him. "No more hiding things from me. No more lies."
For an instant, Robin almost told him. Almost told him the secret he'd held for the past several months. But despite the pangs of his own conscience, he could not cross that threshold. Some secrets were too dangerous to be told.
"I understand," he said. In a way that was not a lie. He did understand the situation perfectly well. That what he was doing was wrong, but necessary. It's for his own good, he told himself.
Corrin nodded, accepting this answer, his gaze once again drifting off to the tranquil pond beyond the tent'a opening. Robin again could not help but see the longing look in the prince's eyes. He wondered what he was looking for.
So it was that Robin departed, making sure not to obstruct Corrin's sight for too long as he slipped outside. He didn't want to stay there any longer anyways. He hated it. Hated the lie.
It's for his own good, he repeated to himself. Corrin had to be ready to face Anankos. No distractions or doubt.
Corrin had to be ready to kill his own father, and for that reason he could never know.
. . . . .
Robin found Lucina standing out on a balcony overlooking the city below. Much of the city was still in ruins, smoke still smoldering amongst wreckage in the places where the attack had been its fiercest. And yet, even now, life had already begun to claw its way back to normalcy. For late as it was, lights still burned in many of the windows and amongst the lanterns that illuminated streets. People were still moving about their business and their lives best they could in the wake of what had occurred. A testament to humanity's ability to recover and move forward, and the will to live in the face of death.
"It's getting late, but seeing as you're out here I guess you'd rather talk," Robin said, leaning against the railing right alongside her.
"Yes," Lucina replied simply. For a moment she just continued to stare down to the city below, and the twinkling lantern lights that seemed a mirror to the stars glimmering above. Then she turned to look at him. "I know what you did was necessary, but… must you always risk yourself so? Wasn't there another, safer way? I'm glad it worked out as well as it did, but…" she shook her head, trailing off.
Robin didn't really have a response to that. Could he have come up with some other means to convince the Hoshidans? Perhaps, but none seemed particularly certain to have worked. Far from it, telling the truth despite the curse had been the only one he'd seen as having any great likelihood of defusing the situation.
"I wish I could say otherwise. I wish there had been another choice, something that wouldn't have… something that wouldn't risk causing you any more heartbreak. But I…" Robin felt the words choke in his throat, the pang in his chest sharp as he imagined the pain his wife would have been put through, being forced to watch him vanish before her eyes. Again.
"I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry. I wish there'd been another way," he whispered at last, letting his head hang in shame.
A hand slipped over his on the railing, gently wrapping its fingers around his. "I know," Lucina told him. "I understand why you had to try it, even though I'm still furious about it. So too does it hurt that you didn't think to tell me of this plan before… but…"
"You'd certainly have tried to talk me out of it, right? Probably even get me to swear on Chrom's life not to even think about it again?" he asked. He chuckled, seeing the knowing smile tug of his wife's lips.
"You know me all too well. That's the true problem, Robin, on one hand everything you did makes perfect sense. The reason behind it was truly sound. But…"
"It doesn't change how it made you feel," Robin finished for her. "You have a right to be upset, Lucina. I can't begrudge you that."
"Of course. Though really, I should expect this. After all, I knew what kind of man you were long before I married you. To think you'd ever act otherwise… well, if you ever did, you wouldn't be the person I swore to spend the rest of my life with," she told him. She squeezed his hand a bit tighter.
"You saved me, you know?" Robin said, at last lifting his gaze. Seeing the perplexed expression on Lucina's face, he continued. "When the curse tried to claim me, it was the bonds with you, Morgan, Marc, your father, your mother… everyone, all of our friends, that protected me. Without all of you… I wouldn't be here still. Twice over now.." He laughed, shaking his head. "I still don't know what I did to deserve all this love, from everyone. Sometimes I think I must be the luckiest guy in the world, to have been blessed so…"
"You earned all of it, Robin. It was you who helped forge those bonds, who stood by all of us no matter what. It's only nature that I- that all of us, would so too stand by you no matter what." Lucina told him. She laughed, the sound almost a sob, though there was no sadness in it. "I'm glad, though. Happy to know we were there alongside you. Even if all but a few are now worlds away. "
She slid closer to his side, leaning to rest her shoulder against his. "But in the end, the how or why does not truly matter. You're still here. To me, that's all that really matters."
Robin twisted his hand around beneath her own until he could grip it back, giving it a gentle squeeze in response to her words. Assurance that he was still there. That he wouldn't leave.
For several moments they sat there in silence like that, gazing down to the city below, simply enjoying the peace and quite in each other's company so long as it lasted.
Then it was Lucina who broke the silence. "So, what happens now?" she asked.
"Now? Well, now we prepare. Yukimura has already pledged to gather what forces he can spare for the assault on Valla. With those as well as Xander's army, we'll have a sizable force to take with us when Corrin opens the way to that realm. After that? Well, it's rather hard to plan beyond that. We still don't know what we'll face once we get there. Anankos is certainly ready for us," he answered. "Safe to say the deck is thoroughly stacked against us. So, you know, the usual."
"So nothing to worry about, then?" Lucina said, forcing a smile. But he could see it in her eyes. She was just as worried as he was. Uncertain in the face of the challenges before them.
"He won't win," Robin said, the words an oath. A promise. "Anankos won't win. Because now we have something he doesn't have. We have hope. Hope born of knowing that fate is not certain. It can be challenged, defeated, and changed. His sight, his future, is not as certain as he wants us to believe. And that's what he's afraid of."
Lucina nodded, the glimmer of uncertainty he'd seen in her gaze turning the burning fires of resolve. Again she was the woman he'd first met what felt like ages before: the one who crossed the bounds of time itself to defy a grim fate and avert a doomed future. A resolve that would never truly falter or break.
For a long while they stood there, gazing both upon the city below and the stars above, ready to meet whatever the future had to throw at them. Content knowing that no matter what, they would as always face it together
End of Act II
Author's Note: Sorry to leave everyone on that cliffhanger for so long. Life got in the way again, this time having to move right at the end of Robcina week when I still needed to do my final prompt. This essentially killed my motivation to write for a long while, as I promised myself I would finish that day 7 prompt before I returned to A Future Tied by Fates. But I finally got around to that and now had this chapter done.
That said, we are finally done with Act 2, by far the longest section of the story. Act 3 is going to be quite a bit shorter, so we are finally approaching the end of this long, long, long journey.
So with that, I have nothing else to add right now. I hope everyone is still interested in this story despite my very infrequent updates. I do intend to finish this story, even if it's the last thing I do. Please as always let me know what you think. Your constructive criticism and feedback helps me improve as a writer… as well as helping to motivate me to get off my butt and actually write. Thanks as always, and until next time, have a wonderful day everyone!