Title: Lovebirds
Description: Lucina, still fresh in her relationship with the Shepherds' Tactician, is unable to find him anywhere in camp and goes looking for him. However, she was not prepared for just what Robin managed to get himself into this time.
Notes: Takes place during the Valm arc, two weeks following Robin and Lucina achieving S-support and a few days before Morgan is recruited.
"Robin?" Lucina called out, cupping her hands to either side of her face to amplify her voice.
No reply came other than the rustle of the wind through the green canopy overhead and the fading echos of her own voice.
Frowning, Lucina continued further into the tree-line, pausing every so often to once again call out the absent tactician's name. Where was he? He wasn't been anywhere at the Shepherd's camp, none of the others knew where he'd gotten off to.
Worry gnawed at Lucina's gut with each step she took. This wasn't like him to leave without telling anyone. What if something happened? What if he… she bit her lip, forcing herself to abandon the thought before its completion.
She was scared, an icy dread that had proved a constant companion in the past two weeks. No, longer, it had started before that, when she first realised her growing feelings for her father's tactician. Those feelings terrified her, for the first time since her parents had died, she had someone she could lose. Someone more than a friend or ally… whose death would surely shatter her into pieces.
Lucina stopped again, lifting her head and calling out once more. "Robin?".
For several long moments there came no reply, But then, just as she was about to turn away, she heard a voice speaking from what seemed to be a great distance. "Lucina?" There was no mistaking the voice, it belonged to Robin.
"Robin? Where are you?" Lucina called back, frowning. Where was it coming from? It didn't sound like he was somewhere in the forest surrounding her, it was almost as if…
"Up here."
Slowly Lucina raised her gaze, her jaw falling open in what she could only describe as dumbfounded awe as she beheld the tactician's predicament. In the branches of a tree nearly thirty feet above was Robin, perched a branch. Leaves and broken twigs stuck out from his hair and disheveled clothes, his face and hands covered with scrapes and scratches. Yet from the sheepish grin he wore and the nervous wave of greeting, it was clear he was far more embarrassed than harmed.
For a long moment Lucina just stared at him blankly, working to gather her scattered wits. "Robin…" she managed at last, covering her face with the palm of her hand. "...why are sitting up in a tree?"
"Well… funny story about that," Robin called back, his works punctuated by nervous laughter. "You see, I borrowed some tomes from Meriel so I could learn some new spells. As it so happens one of those might have had something to do with flight."
"... you didn't…" Lucina breathed, realising at once where this was going.
"How was I supposed to know it was going to be way harder to control than I thought it would. The spell looked so easy," Robin shouted back, crossing his arms defensively.
"Why didn't you just fly down after you crashed?" Lucina asked, shaking her head. Gods, how could a man so smart act so stupid and childish at times.
"I dropped the tome when I… landed…. Look, the point is I dropped it over there." He pointed at a spot at other side of the tree.
Circling along the outside of the trunk, Lucina found the dark gray tome lying in the dirt between two tangled roots. Bending down she retrieved the book, dusting off its cover before returning back to other side of the tree. "Found it."
"Great, do you think you can throw it up to me?" Robin asked.
"Wouldn't it be easier for me just to go get help?" Lucina asked. "I'm sure my mother or another pegasus knight could fly you down easily enough.
"I'd… I'd prefer it if no one else knew about this, if possible…" Robin answered, his face turning bright red as he rubbed the back of his neck. "This is embarrassing."
Nodding, Lucina took a step back. "Alright, I'm going to throw it up. Tell me when you are ready."
"Go for it!" Robin called back.
Pulling her arm back, Lucina threw the tome as hard as she could. The gray book sailed through the air, her aim carrying it right to where Robin sat amongst the branches…
Thunk.
Reacting an instant too late, Robin's free hand passed through empty air as the heavy tome smacked against his forehead. The impact sent him reeling back, and he would have fallen not for the arm already wrapped around another branch.
A moment later the tome landed back at Lucina's feet, kicking up miniature cloud of dust and dirt.
"Ow," Robin replied at last, wincing visibly as he rubbed her forehead.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any harm. I shouldn't have thrown it so hard," Lucina called back to him, shaking her head profusely.
"It's alright Lucina, it didn't hurt that badly," Robin assured her, waving a hand before him assure her he was fine. "Try throwing it again. If that doesn't work maybe you can find something to break my fall or…"
Lucina frowned as the tactician continued to list off ideas for how to best get him out of his current predicament without resorting to the informing the other Shepherds and the embarrassment it would bring. Scanned the tree, she saw that was lowest branch was more than fifteen feet above her, with the next one not much further up than that. It was a long shot, but it looked like she could reach them.
"Hold on, I have a better idea.." Setting the tome down on the grass, Lucina unbuckled Falchion from her belt, setting it against the base of the tree along with her cloak. Both of them would just get in her way. Retrieving the book, she stepped several feet back, taking a deep breath to prepare herself.
Clearly Robin must have realised what she was doing, as his eyes widened suddenly. "Lucina, this is really not necessary, I am sure we can-"
Before he could even finish Lucina charged forward, breaking into a full sprint towards the tree. With a shout she pushed off of the ground, propelling herself up into the air. At the apex of her leap she pressed her boots against the tree, twisting around as she kicked off. Covering the last few feet to grab hold of the branch, heaving with all her strength even as the last of her momentum carried her forward to swing up onto the branch.
Crouching, she waited there for another moment before she jumped up again, grabbing hold of the second branch just a few feet above her head. "You worry too much, Robin," Lucina called out, pulling herself up. "I knew it wouldn't be a problem for me to-"
A sharp crack drowned out the rest of what she'd been going to say. A sudden lurch nearly tore her grip from the branch, barely managing to hang on with her free hand as the branch bent down under her weight, wood splitting and cracked at the joint. The sudden jolt knocked the tome from her, hands, the book falling to the dirt as she dangled.
"Lucina!" Robin cried again.
Before he or she could do anything there was another loud snap, the branch breaking. Lucina yelped in helpless fear, her eyes squeezing shut as she began to fall.
The sound of another crash reached her ears, following be an deep thud as the broken branch smashed into the earth. Yet rush of wind and sudden agony she'd been expecting never came, even the sound of the impact seeming to have come from further off than it should have. Slowly Lucina opened her eyes, finding herself dangling far off of the ground. At the foot of the tree were two broken branches, the lower arm of the tree having been broken by the other as it fell. It was then that she realised that a hand was clamped tightly around her wrist, hanging onto her with such fierceness that hurt.
Looking up, she was Robin staring down at her, dangling from where he had both an arm and a leg wrapped around a branch above them. He must has jumped down when I started to fall, Lucina realised. He could have killed himself too, if he hadn't managed to grab hold of the branch…
"It's alright, I've got you," Robin breathed, a nervous laugh falling from his lips. Straining visibly, he pulled her up to branch, joining her a moment later. "Lucina, that was reckless and stupid and dangerous and…" The tactician trailed off, shaking his head.
"I'm… I'm fine," Lucina assured him, her voice wavering. Her narrow brush with death had shaken her more than she like. "Dammit, what was I thinking. I could have gotten you killed, trying to-"
Robin put a hand on her arm to silence her, smiling gently. "Its okay, Lucina, neither of us were hurt. I was just scared..." For a long moment Robin said nothing, a seconds passing into minutes as neither spoke. When at last Lucina looked towards him, she saw that the tactician's gaze was on where the flight tome had landed on the ground after being dropped, far out of their reach.
"Looks like we aren't getting down from here any time soon," he noted at last, frowning deeply.
"Gods, I'm sorry, It's my fault." Lucina shook her head. How had she been that stupid.
"I'm as much as fault for getting us both stuck in this mess. I was the idiot who got stuck in this tree in the first place, you know." Robin said, chuckling softly at what Lucina guessed was the ridiculousness of the whole situation. "This could have all been solved if I'd just swallowed my pride and let you go get help. Now the others are going to find out for sure, so I'll just have to live with that bit of embarrassment."
"I suppose it can't be helped now. But this way you won't have to face it alone," Lucina replied. Smiling she leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder. "How long do you think it will take before the others realise we are missing?"
"Not too long, I hope…" Robin sighed, shaking his head again. "An hour, maybe two at the most…"
Nodding, Lucina closed her eyes, brushing up closer against him. "Then perhaps it is not all bad then. It is rather hard to find time alone for just the two of us."
"I suppose you're right. What an odd couple we must make stuck in a three and…" Robin trained off suddenly, then burst into laughter, the sound echoing through the surrounding forest. ...two lovebirds in a tree. Its so perfect. Lovebirds, in a tree." He continued to laugher, his entire body wracked with such merriment that Lucina almost feared he would fall from the branch supporting them.
"It is an amusing thought, though I do not see how it is that funny," Lucina said, gripping the tactician's arm to keep him from toppling over.
"No, you see, its a play on words. And birds sit in trees and… " Robin's voice was lost in more laughter, several moments passing before he'd regained control of himself. "I'm sorry, just after the whole lunacy of all this, I couldn't help myself. That our lives are so weird that this is, well, normal."
"I don't think things can ever be normal with the two of us together. Abnormality is the curse we must bear together," Lucina replied, grinning despite herself as she two considered all the craziness that had befallen them at of late. "And I wouldn't change it for anything."
"Yeah," Robin said, grinning as well. "Just wait until we have kids. It's going to be an adventure explaining that one."
Author's Note: Well, I was planning on getting back to focusing on this one now that A Future Disowned has finished… which was four weeks ago. I really suck, but yeah, I am working on this now and sorry for the delay, the next one should be out sooner