Title: Monster

Description: Following the confrontation with Validar at the Dragon Table, Robin is shaken by the revelations regarding his identity and his role in the destruction of Lucina's future.

Notes: Spoilers for Chapter 23 and assorted events prior to it.

Robin slammed his fist into his desk, pain lancing up his arm. Papers flew from his desk, swept aside as a groan of frustration-mixed-hopeless fell free from his throat. How was he supposed to do this? How could he do this? There was nothing, no strategy, no tactic that could work. Grima… Grima would anticipate everything, every strategy, every tactic, every plan! He would because he thought just like him… because Grima was him.

Grima was him.

That single thought reverberated through his consciousness like the pealing of a great gong, its vibrations shaking him to the very core of his being.

Oh gods, I'm Grima. He slumped down into his chair, cradling his head in his hands. The revelation had shaken him before, but… until now he hadn't had the chance to think about it. Keeping Chrom alive, the final fight with his father, he just hadn't had the chance. "Gods, no. Why? Why me?"

It was his fault, it was all his fault. Everything from the beginning, it was all his fault. All the war, the bloodshed, all of it because of him. All because he existed, because as long as he was around Grima could return. He'd been the cause of all of it, so many dead and in the future he-

He'd killed them all. Oh Gods, he'd killed them all. Not just Chrom, but everyone. Lissa, Frederick, Sumia, and every other member of the Shepherds, the men and women he'd grown to love and respect, all of them dead!

Knocking over his chair as he leapt to his feet, Robin howled in despair. With a sweep of his arm he knocked the remaining books and papers from his desk, spilling them onto the floor of his tent. He clenched his fists shut, so tightly his palm began to bleed. He was a monster! A monster who killed his friends. His comrades. The people who'd become the only family he had ever known. And Lucina…

Lucina.

His heart shattered in his chest at the mere thought of her name. He was Grima. The monster who'd taken everything from her, the being she hated above all else. He was the reason she couldn't have lived a happy life, why she'd been forced to fight for her life every single day. He was the reason she woke up at night screaming from nightmares so horrible he couldn't begin to imagine them. She'd given him nothing but her love, but in the future he'd done nothing but make her suffer.

Does she hate me? And… and why wouldn't she? She had every reason to, after everything Grima… I… did to her. She didn't know what I was when she agreed to marry me, didn't know I was a monster… An insane, hopeless laugh fell from his through. What a cruel joke for the world to play, letting her fall in love with the very monster she came back through time to kill.

Tears stinging his eyes, Robin staggered away from his desk, swaying on unsteady feet. He couldn't stay here, he needed to get away, to be alone. He reached for his coat, only to recoil away from it. Grima had worn the same coat. How could he ever wear it again, when it was tied with the monster he was destined to become?

Without a look back he ran. Ran until he was alone, collapsing on his hands and knees in the middle of a field far from camp. Tears in streams down his face, wetting the parched earth. He began to sob, opening and freely. Gods, why him? What was this his fate. He hadn't wanted this. Gods, he hadn't wanted any of this!

For how long he cried, Robin couldn't say. Behind him the sun sank deeper into the horizon, the air growing chill with every passing moment. It didn't matter. None of it mattered then as he cried again and again, pained and more hopeless than he'd ever felt in his life.

"Robin?"

Lifting his head, Robin turned in the direction of the voice. Standing a few feet away was Lucina, his face full of concern. "Is something the matter? I was worried, I was told you ran out of camp…" She let the question hang in the air, slowly approaching him.

"Lucina... d-do you hate me?" he asked, the question stopping Lucina in her tracks.

"Hate you?" Lucina asked. See took another step towards him, putting a hand on his. "I don't understand, why would I hate you?

"B-but, you were there today. I'm one who destroyed your future, it was me." Robin said, choking back another sob. "You should loath me now. I took everything from you, made you suffer. You have every reason too, and I deserve your hate. I'm a monster, nothing but a-"

Before he could finish, Lucina stopped him, place her hands on either side of his head. Gently she lifted his head up, stopping once their eyes met. Instead of the disgust and loathing he'd expected to find, the blue orbs stared at him carried nothing but compassion. "Robin, whatever you were in my timeline, that's not who you are. I know you, and you would never do those things. You proved that today: my father survived and you refused to allow yourself to become Grima's vessel."

Robin reached up, squeezing his hand around Lucina's forearm as tightly as he could. He wanted her to still love him, wanted it with every fiber of his being. He wanted her to never let go, he couldn't bear the thought of her slipping away. "Lucina, I don't understand… after everything I… the other me did to you… just how…"

"What is there to understand?" She leaned in, kissing him upon the forehead. "I love you, Robin, so much that it hurts. And I can't stand to see you blame yourself like this! You aren't Grima. The Robin from my future, he… no matter what he's done, you aren't him. You never made me suffer…" Trailing off, Lucina removed a hand from his face, wiping away his tears streaming down his face on the sleeve of her shirt. "...You aren't a monster."

"If I'm not Grima, then who am I?" Robin pleaded, his eyes glistening with tears. "Please, If you know who I am, please tell me... Am I fit to stand with Chrom and the others? … am I fit be with you? I-" The words died in his throat with another sob. "I don't know who I am… what sort of person was I before… before Chrom found me? And… I was born to be nothing more than Grima's vessel. I only exist to be his slave. Is that who I am meant to be? Is it-"

"Hush now, dear, it's going to be alright." Lucina wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close against him. "I know who you are, who you truly are. You are Robin, the tactician of the Shepherds. You are smart, brave, kind and most selfless person I have ever know… ." She ran a hand through his hair, brushing the tangled mess of strands from his forehead. "...But more than that, you are the man I love. No matter what happens, there is nothing that can change that."

"I… If you believe so, than I can… I can believe it too." He clung to her tighter. He would not let her go, not even for an instant. "If being the man you love was my only purpose, that alone would be enough. As long as I can give you a happier life, then my life would mean something."

"And you always will. You promised to be at my side for the rest of our lives, and I intend to hold you to that," Lucina assured him. A smile crossed her lips as their eyes met again. "And I will always be at yours. We will find a way to stop Grima, we will save this world, and we'll do it together. You don't have to do this alone."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Robin said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. Lucina brought her hands up to his face, brushing away the remaining moistness he had missed. Leaning in close, their lips met, washing away his worry in a tide of love.

He felt like a fool, thinking that what they'd learned had changed what was between them. Lucina still loved him, and for that he would be eternally thankful. When he was with her, he never felt alone, scared, or weak. Perhaps that was what set him apart from his future self. That Robin hadn't had Lucina to give his life purpose.

Author's Note: What's this, two chapters in one week? Madness, I say, madness!

This was a scene I had imagined for a long time, with one of the biggest missed opportunities of the game was the fact that it never really addressed the fallout of Robin discovering he became Grima in the future. More so if he married Lucina, where that would make his future self responsible for everything bad that happened to her. And would make his future the thing she hates above all else.. ouch. Couple this with Robin's immense lack of self-esteem, an often overlooked but incredibly vital aspect of Robin's canonical portrayal in the game, it's not hard to imagine just how hard he'd take this.

You may have also picked up the parallels to a certain other character's reaction to a similar revelation during A Future Disowned, which was 100% intentional on my part. Felt right to be some direct similarities there.

The next couple of one-shots will be based on the suggestions people left me in reviews for chapter 5, so look out for that.