Content Warning: This chapter contains a brief depiction of attempted rape. It's not very explicit, but it is there.

Chapter 2: A Strange Awakening

War. It seemed like a constant in Chrom's life. When he was a child, his father had declared war against the nation of Plegia as part of an extermination campaign against the Grimleal cult. It was a bloody, violent mess that helped no one and caused only destruction. The war officially ended with his father's death and Chrom's elder sister took the throne. But in practice, the war between his homeland of Ylisse and Plegia still waged on. Border skirmishes, mostly. And as prince, it was Chrom's responsibility to take care of his father's mess.

He was currently headed back to the capital after taking care of one of those border skirmishes. One of the southern villages had been attacked by bandits and he had rushed down to rescue it. While he had a full militia under his control, due to a lack of time and other situations that needed to be dealt with, he had taken only his younger sister, Lissa, and their retainer, Frederick, with him. Even with just the three of them, they were able to clear out the bandits without any hassle. Now, they were taking the scenic route home.

That was when everything went wrong and the path of Ylisse's fate was set.

"Hey, there's someone collapsed on the road!" Lissa suddenly called out and ran ahead.

"Wait, it could be a trap!" Frederick called out after her. As the only one on horseback, he quickly cut her off while Chrom hurried to catch up to them. "This is a common tactic for bandits to ambush passersby. We need to be cautious."

"But what if they're really in trouble," Lissa insisted, trying to walk around the knight's steed. "We have to help them."

"It will be alright," Chrom said as he ran up to them. "We're in the middle of a clearing, there's nowhere for bandits to be hiding."

"That just makes it more suspicious," Frederick said. "This seems like an odd place for a traveler to collapse, does it not?"

"We can find out what happened as we check up on them." Chrom walked right past the others, towards the fallen stranger. Lissa stuck close to him while Frederick sighed and followed at a trot.

As they got closer, the first thing that Chrom noticed was the thick black overcoat that the stranger was wearing, with purple and gold accents. He didn't recognize the markings or style but it seemed ill-fitting for the summer heat. It seemed that heat exhaustion was the most likely culprit.

"Get the spare water pouch," Chrom ordered Frederick, who quickly dismounted his horse and searched through their supplies. "Lissa, keep your staff at the ready. They may need healing."

The second thing he noticed was their hair, her hair, which was strikingly white and tied back in a pair of ponytails. The style wasn't too dissimilar to Lissa's, in fact, through straight where his sister's was curled. The woman had pail, delicate features and a slender build. Opening up her coat to help ease the heat, he noticed the gentle rise and fall of her modest breasts. Good, she was still breathing properly.

Lissa popped around his side while Frederick approached with the water that Chrom had requested. Just then, however, the unknown woman's breathing stopped for a second and she shuddered violently before calming down again.

"Chrom, we have to do something," Lissa said, clearly worried.

"What do you propose we do?" Chrom replied.

"I… I don't know." She started to turn her head to the side but then looked back down at the woman.

Her eyes slowly opened and the stranger blinked a few times as her vision came into focus.

"I see you're awake now," Chrom said, relieved.

"Hey there!" Lissa said cheerily.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know," Chrom tried to lighten the mood as the woman gradually stirred. "Give me your hand."

Chrom held his hand out and the woman grabbed it, so he pulled her up to her feet. She was relatively tall for a young woman, though still slightly shorter than Chrom. If he had to guess, he would say that she was somewhere around his age, in her twenties. She eyes the trio cautiously, as to be expected when someone wakes up in the presence of strangers.

She took a couple of wobbly steps back and ran her fingers through her hair. For some reason, her eyes widened and she seemed entranced by the long white locks before turning her focus back to Chrom and his compatriots.

"Are you alright?" he asked, trying to remain friendly.

"Yes." She turned her gaze down for a moment as if examining her body. He hoped that she didn't think that he had done anything unsavory to her while she was unconscious but he could understand her fear. There were more than plenty of dastards out there who would do exactly that. Thankfully, she seemed satisfied that nothing happened and looked back at him. "Thank you… Chrom?"

"Ah, then you know who I am?" he said, relieved.

"No, actually, I…" the woman shook her head, then pointed at Lissa unsteadily. "She said the name as I was waking up. I just assumed that was you."

"Ah, right." Chrom nodded, that made sense. "Yes, I am Chrom. This girl here is my younger sister, Lissa, and the large man behind me is Frederick. He may be a bit stern but I assure you that he doesn't bite. Now, tell me, what is your name? How did you get here?"

"My name is L-" the woman suddenly winced and held her hand to her forehead. "No, my name is… Ro… bin?"

Chrom stared down at her, confused. "You don't seem very sure about that. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Sorry, it's just that I…" the woman held her hand to her breast, then gasped and looked down again. She moved her hand further down before snapping it away again. "My memory is a bit of a haze right now."

"Ooh, ooh, I've heard about this!" Lissa jumped up. "It's called amnesia!"

"It's called a load of pegasus dung." Frederick shook his head. "We're to believe that woman has no memory of who she is?"

"We can work that out later." Chrom shook his head before grabbing the water pouch from Frederick and handing it to Robin. "Here, drink. For now, why don't you come with us? There's a town nearby that we just came from, but we can head back there for now."

"Very well." Robin nodded before grabbing the water and taking a long, hearty swig. "Thank you."

Chrom nodded and took a step back along the path. "Come, if we hurry, we should get there before nightfall."

Link wanted a word with Death. This isn't what he had agreed to. That blasted reaper hadn't said anything about him being a woman. Over a thousand lifetimes and this was his first time in a female body. He was already finding the experience uncomfortable. But, he supposed that it was on him for not asking more questions before accepting the offer. It's not like Death had told him otherwise, he had merely assumed his new form would be male.

The walk was long and hot. After a while, Link had to take off the heavy black coat that he'd woken up in, draping it off of his shoulders. Or rather, Robin's coat. The name of his current form had popped into his head the moment he'd tried to introduce himself and for some reason, he'd felt compelled to use it. Unfortunately, he couldn't draw on any of Robin's memories or knowledge, assuming that she had any to begin with. Looking back on it, Death had made it sound like the 'vessel' he'd picked out wasn't even a person but now he found himself questioning that.

Perhaps he could help trigger some of Robin's memories by association. He was planning on being in this world for quite some time, after all, and it would be best to try and learn as much about it as he could.

"Where are we?" he asked and his own voice sounded strange to him. After so many lifetimes, he no longer had a specific voice that he thought of as his and even his accent had varied wildly between lives, but this one still felt different to him. "What is this place?"

"We're currently in the southern province of Ylisse," Chrom replied. The blue-haired man seemed friendly enough but there was something off about him. From the way he carried himself to the general utility of his lightly armored blue clothes, it seemed clear that he was some sort of fighter or warrior, perhaps a mercenary. And that was without going into the odd sword at his waist which had a guard unlike anything Link had seen before, rounded with a large hole in the middle. He supposed that could have simply been a difference in weapon design that this world had compared to Hyrule but his intuition told him that there was more to it.

"And what is Ylisse?" Link asked. "Is that a country?"

"You've never heard of the halidom?" the mounted knight, Frederick, scoffed. Unlike Chrom, this man was decked out in full armor and had a more professional air about him. A soldier, to be sure. "I'm sure the Embar Theater Company would hire this actress in a heartbeat, she puts on quite the performance."

"Frederick, please." Chrom scowled at his companion, then gave Link an apologetic look. "This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler, Emmeryn, is called the exalt."

None of that meant anything to Link, which meant that he would have to learn more later when he got the chance. Hopefully, the town they were headed to would have some sort of library that he could study in.

"You know, it's a good thing that we're the ones who found you," the girl, Lissa, spoke up. She seemed young, barely on the cusp of adulthood by hylian standards, and seemed a bit out of place next to the others. She also carried a staff which he suspected to be some sort of magical catalyst. Perhaps the girl was a mage? "Brigands would've been a rude awakening but you're lucky the Shepherds found you."

Link made a show of looking around before responding. "I don't see any sheep."

"I suppose you could say that our flock is scattered throughout the country," Chrom said but despite his jovial tone, it seemed clear to Link that he wasn't talking about sheep. "Shepherds is just the name. We're part of a standing militia that keeps the country secure from threats like bandits and the like that would be too difficult to maneuver the proper army to handle."

So, it sounded like they were mercenaries after all. Link's initial impression of the man seemed correct. It would likely be for the best that he separate from them as soon as they reached the town. He didn't want to inadvertently align himself with any factions in this new world before he knew anything of its geography or political situations. Though, perhaps if they did prove to be trustworthy, he might…

"I smell smoke," Link sniffed the air.

"Chrom, look!" Lissa pointed up the road, where Link could now see that there was a fire up ahead. "The town!"

Chrom swore under his breath and broke out into a run, the others following suit. "The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands must have returned… Frederick, Lissa! Quickly!"

"What about her?" Frederick asked, turning an eye to Link.

"Unless she's on fire as well, it can wait!" Chrom snapped back.

"Aptly put, milord."

"Let's go, already!" Lissa shouted.

Link watched the trio closely as they ran ahead of him. They seemed sincere enough, though Frederick seemed oddly suspecting. He couldn't blame him, though. Link probably wouldn't trust 'Robin', either.

Robin's body wasn't as fit as Link was used to but he reached the burning town quickly enough. Chrom and the others had just spotted the bandits raiding the village.

"We have to stop them!" Lissa cried out.

"Don't worry," Chrom assured her, drawing his sword. "These bandits won't be bothering anyone ever again."

With that, he charged into battle with the bandits. Frederick followed suit with the spear he kept at his side, piercing several of the thugs with it. Lissa, however, stayed back with her staff at the ready. One bandit managed to sneak around and drew his dagger, aiming straight for her. Lissa turned around and screamed but before he could strike, Link was on him.

The bandit clearly hadn't been expecting the full-body tackle and was knocked off balance, falling onto the ground. His knife flew into the air where Link caught it and plunged it into his throat before he could react. He let out one final gurgle as blood welled up in his mouth before Link thrust the old knife to the side, ending him. Lissa yelped in surprise and horror at how easily 'Robin' killed him. She must have been new to this.

"Never leave your back open in a fight," Link instructed her and, as if to prove the point, whirled around on his heel and thrust his hand into the face of another bandit that had tried charging him from behind. "Din's Fire."

Flesh melted off bone and where the man's head had just been, a torched skull was now clutched in Link's gloved hand. He simply tossed it to the side before the dead man's body slumped to the ground. His sword seemed nicer than the knife Link had already taken, so he grabbed that to use instead.

Lissa screamed, drawing Chrom and Frederick's attention, and the two rushed over to see what had happened.

"Lissa!" Chrom called out, then stopped in his tracks as he took in the situation. "Robin? You followed us?"

"People are in trouble." He shrugged. "Did I need another reason?"

"I suppose not."

"He just melted that guy's face off!" Lissa's voice cracked as she said it.

"Fire magic?" Frederick asked. "But I don't see a tome…"

"Not the time, we need to wrap this up before anyone gets hurt." Link stepped past them, making a mental note of the positions and armaments of every bandit that he could see. "Chrom! You take out the ones on the left. Frederick, the right. I'm making a beeline for their boss."

"Who are you to order-"

"That wasn't a request!" Link cut off Frederick's complaint. "I have more tactical experience than everyone here, combined. Follow my orders if you want to get this done properly."

"I thought you said that I didn't have any memories," Frederick replied skeptically.

"She seems to know what she's doing," Chrom told him. "For now, let's just follow her lead."

"But what about me?" Lissa asked.

"I'm not sure what you can do," Link replied honestly. "For now, stick with your brother."

"Right."

With that, they broke off from each other. Link trusted the others to be able to take care of themselves, so for now he shifted his focus on his targets. He quickly spotted a middle-aged man at the other end of the main street, balding with red hair and who was wearing a bearskin cloak in lieu of a shirt. Judging from the way he was ordering the others, he must have been the leader. At the moment, he had two of his thugs holding down a defenseless woman who was struggling to escape their grip as he tore her dress off. With no time to spare, Link charged.

Two bandits ran out from the houses on either side of Link. One took a swing at him with a sword, which Link ducked under before slicing his stolen blade upward across the man's torso, then spinning and thrusting the sword into the other bandit. Rather than retrieve that blade, he grabbed the first bandit's sword and the second's spear as he continued running. Another bandit attacked only to find the spear suddenly lodged in his stomach. An archer near the leader finally spotted him and fired an arrow.

A quick casting of Nayru's Love was more than enough to block the incoming projectile, though Link noticed that he had only been able to create a small shield rather than the full protective bubble. His magic seemed to have been significantly weakened. He assumed that it must have been a side effect of being in this new world, if they were farther from the boundary with the Sacred Realm than Hyrule had been, then that meant that magic in general would be much weaker than he was used to. Regardless, it was still strong enough for his purposes.

Link grabbed an axe from a fallen bandit and hurled it at the archer, vertically bisecting his face while he was busy notching a second arrow. This finally caught the attention of the bandit leader who pulled himself away from his victim as the other two let go of her to grab their own weapons. The woman took that opportunity to run away, sobbing and holding up what remained of her clothes to try and cover herself.

"Who do you think you are?" the leader shouted at him, waving his axe in what was clearly meant to be an intimidating display, though the effect was lost with his trousers hanging around his ankles.

"I'm the man who's going to kill you," Link growled.

"Man?" the bandit chuckled. "Heh, good one, girlie. Now, why don't I show you a real man? You two, tie her down. I'm going to have fun with this feisty bi-"

Link fired a lightning spell at the thug to his left and the charred corpse that remained fell to the ground. The bandit leader and his remaining lackey both started swearing up a storm.

"A mage!" the leader yelled. "Kill her!"

But Link had still been closing in on them that entire time and it was now too late for them to do anything. Link cut the head off the remaining lackey before slamming the leader into the ground.

"Spend your last moments thinking about what you've done wrong." Link planted his foot squarely on the pathetic excuse of a man's chest while the tip of his sword hung precariously over his unimpressive manhood. "And when you see Death, tell him that Link wants a word."

The sword dropped and the man let out a high-pitched scream before passing out from the pain. Link then sliced up along his torso and left the sword sticking out of his chest before turning and walking away. It seemed that all of the bandits were either dead or fleeing and he could see the Shepherds gathering up ahead.

Chrom pulled the cloak off a fallen bandit and used it to wipe the blood off his sword, the Falchion, before returning it to the sheath at his waist. It always felt wrong to him to use such an ancient, holy weapon for such carnage but he had to remind himself that it was still a weapon. And what nobler cause could there be than protecting the innocent from those who would do them harm?

"Well, that should be the end of that," he said as he and Lissa regrouped with Frederick in the middle of the village square.

"Yeah, we sent those bandits running for the hills!" Lissa pumped her fist into the air in a very unladylike fashion.

"But I am worried that they may try to return after we leave," Frederick said. "This is already the second time that we've had to drive them out."

That did seem a valid concern. Even if this bandit group was, like so many others these days, just a diversion sent from Plegia to try and ignite a larger conflict, they still posed a threat to the locals. Perhaps they would have to give chase after all. But, if the bandits managed to cross the border before they could catch up then it could spark the very war he was trying to keep at bay. It was a tough dilemma.

"I doubt they'll be eager to come back anytime soon." Robin walked up to them. Chrom worried for a moment as the young woman was covered in blood but he quickly realized that none of it was hers. In fact, she didn't seem to have a scratch on her and carried herself with dignity and grace as she walked. He had no doubt that she would be popular with the noblemen back home. "I struck down their leader while he was… well, let's just say that I caught him with his pants down."

Chrom grimaced. While he may have led a sheltered childhood back in the capital, he'd been defending the halidom long enough now to know what sort of unsavory acts that men of this ilk were unfortunately prone to, even if he tried not to think about it.

"What, you mean he was taking a dump or something?" Lissa asked, clearly confused. Chrom prayed that she could hold on to that naivety for as long as possible.

Robin hesitated, giving her a pained look before replying. "...Yes."

"You were certainly something out there," Chrom said, desperate to change the subject. "I didn't catch much of your fights but you must have held your own well if you took down their leader so quickly."

"I guess I know my way around a blade." Robin seemed to avoid eye contact when she said that for some reason. She was clearly avoiding something but Chrom decided not to press the issue.

"And magic!" Lissa added. "I've never seen anyone cast spells without a tome or staff before!"

"Is that really so uncommon?" Robin asked.

"Before today, I didn't even know that was possible," Frederick said, eyeing her warily. "Which raises the question of how you acquired such a skill."

Robin looked up at him with an unreadable expression before finally shrugging and turning back to Chrom. "Thank you for your help, all of you, but it seems that it is now time for us to part ways. Perhaps we'll meet again, someday."

Robin turned on her heel and headed back into the village. As Chrom watched her walk away, a nagging voice seemed to pull at his mind and before he'd realized it, he'd taken a step forward with his arm outstretched. "Wait, don't go."

Robin stopped and turned back, looking at him with her cool brown eyes. He also seemed to have earned strange glances from Frederick and Lissa but he couldn't blame them. He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, himself.

"Is there something else?" Robin asked though she made no further move to return to them. "You said that you would take me back to the nearest village and here we are. It seems our business is complete."

"Yes, but…" Chrom searched for the words he was trying to say, which was difficult since he didn't even know what it was that he wanted to say. Why did he feel like he couldn't let her go? "The Shepherds could use someone with your talents. We've brigands and unruly neighbors all looking to bloody our soil. We could use every hand we can get to defend our lands and people. Do you think that you'd be willing to join our cause?"

His question seemed to give her pause, though Frederick was the one to reply. "Milord, please try to think this through. We still don't know anything about this woman."

"Yes, but…" Chrom hesitated. "She fought for Ylissean lives today and my heart tells me that's enough."

"And your mind, milord?" Frederick asked. "Will you not heed its counsel as well?"

"I will go with you if that is what you wish," Robin said at last, and Chrom felt his heart practically leap out of his chest. "But I won't join your group until I know more about you and this land. Frederick here keeps going on about how you can't trust me but that's something that goes both ways."

"Right, then it's settled." Chrom closed his eyes and tried to make sure that his breathing remained steady before opening them again. "Then we're off to the capital. You can make your decision after we get there."

Frederick shook his head. "I still think this is a bad idea."

"You think that everything's a bad idea," Lissa pointed out, prompting a chuckle from Chrom.

A flash of movement caught his eye and Chrom turned to see a woman walking up to them, dressed in the tattered remains of an old dress and a cloak that looked like it had been taken off one of the bandits.

"Excuse me, good sirs," she said as she drew closer, catching the attention of the others. Robin seemed to perk up at the sight of her.

"Are you alright?" she asked the newcomer.

"Oh, um, yes," the villager blushed slightly. "I-I'll be fine, thanks to you. A bit shaken up, but… well, you managed to rescue me before he… before…"

"There's no need to say more." Robin shook her head as the other woman began to tremble. "I'm just glad that I was able to help."

"Puh-please, if you wouldn't mind, you must stay the night!" the woman finally said. "We are simple folk of simple means, but we must reward your help how we can. A feast, in your honor."

"A most generous offer but I'm afraid that we simply do not have time to stay," Frederick shot down the offer immediately. "We must hurry back to Ylisstol at once."

"Dark meat only, for me." Lissa closed her eyes contentedly, no doubt lost in thought at the prospect of a good meal. "Medium well and no salt…"

Her eyes widened as Lissa's mind finally caught up with the situation. "Wait, what? We're not staying? But Frederick, it's nearly dark!"

Chrom simply shook his head, a bemused smile on his face at his sister's antics before his lieutenant replied.

"When night falls, we'll camp," Frederick said. "Eat off the land, make our bed of twigs and the like. This is the life of a Shepherd, after all. You did agree to learn our ways when you asked to join."

"But I didn't think that it would be like this!" Lissa whined. "Isn't it rude to turn down their hospitality? Besides, we've got Robin with us as well and she's not a Shepherd, yet."

Chrom noticed Robin flinch at that last remark and he felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps they'd been pressuring her too much. He hoped that she didn't feel that she had to join them now, even if she didn't actually want to. But at the same time, he really did hope that she would. He wasn't quite sure what it was that drew him to her, though. He supposed it must have just been because of what a competent and noble warrior she seemed. She would certainly make a worthy member of their militia if that's what she decided.

"I'm fine camping on the road." Robin glanced at Chrom, who averted his gaze as he realized that he'd been staring at her. She then turned back to the village woman. "Thank you for your offer but it seems that we will have to decline. If you still wish to honor our help, then do so by paying the kindness forward to the next person you meet in need of help."

"Oh, um…" the woman started to curtsy but quickly stopped, not wanting to inadvertently expose herself. Instead, she simply lowered her head. "Yes, milady. I wish you well on your travels."

Robin returned the gesture with a bow, then turned back to Chrom and the others.

"Now, with that sorted out, shall we be going?" Frederick asked him.

"All right, all right." Chrom shook his head and turned towards the road back to the capital. "We'll head as far as we can for the evening, then make camp at nightfall."

They ended up making camp deep in the heart of the Westwoods, much to Lissa's annoyance. Worse still, though, was that she'd been dragged into gathering firewood with Frederick. A 'character building experience' Chrom had called it. Like she hadn't already built enough character on this stupid trip! She would have refused if Robin hadn't taken her stupid brother's side. Lissa found it hard to say no to the other woman and she wasn't quite sure if it was because she looked up to her or was utterly terrified of her after seeing Robin fight. Possibly both.

Either way, she and the rigid knight finally made their way back with the last two bundles of old sticks. Chrom and Robin were sitting on opposite sides of the fire that Robin had lit after they'd brought in the first load of firewood. Lisa was glad to finally be able to sit down, enjoy a hot meal and-

"Agh! Blech! Ptui!" A bug! A bug flew right into her mouth! She dropped her bundle of gathered firewood right there and tried to wipe it off of her tongue, not realizing that her hands were far dirtier than the bug had been. "Ugh, I think I just swallowed it."

Chrom and Frederick both let out a 'good-natured' chuckle at her misfortune. Robin was different, though. She quietly set down her meal and rushed over to grab Lissa's dropped firewood. Good, reliable Robin looked up at her with her soulful brown eyes, about to offer some word of encouragement.

"Lucky you," she said dryly. "Extra protein."

Okay, never mind. Apparently, Robin was just as bad as the boys. No, worse even!

Lissa tried to just let that go and walked up to the fire. Chrom had a huge slab of meat roasting on a spit and she couldn't wait to get a nice whiff of her next meal. Then she quickly had a severe coughing fit.

"Ugh, what kind of meat smells like old boots?" she asked, scrunching up her nose.

"What's wrong, you don't like bear?" Chrom asked innocently.

Lissa had a few choice words to say about that but managed to bite her tongue. "Bear! Gods, why couldn't you spear us an animal that normal people eat for once?"

"First rule of wilderness survival, you eat what you can get just so long as it's not poisonous," Robin said as she sat back down and returned to her own plate of roast, ugh, bear. "Be thankful we're not stuck eating rocks."

Eating rocks? Were they even sure that they wanted to know what kind of life this weird lady lived before now? Lissa opened her mouth to object to that but ultimately relented. It was true that she would have to get used to 'roughing it' if she was serious about properly joining the Shepherds as a full-time member. Plus, her mind went back to the villagers that they had just saved and the bandits they had saved them from. As a princess, Lissa's life had been quite sheltered and she had to remind herself that not everyone had the comfort and security that she'd known up to now. There were people out there who would quite literally kill for a decent meal. The least she could do was occasionally settle for something that wasn't up to her usual standards.

"Fine." She shrugged and pulled out the dagger she'd taken to wearing on her left thigh, using it to carve off of chunk of the spit roast.

It tasted almost as bad as it smelled but she managed to force down the whole thing, somehow. Then she realized that someone was conspicuously not following her example.

"Hey, why don't I see you trying any, Frederick?" Lissa asked the lieutenant accusatorily.

"Me?" He practically jumped back from his seat. "Oh, well, I'm not hungry. I… had a large lunch. Yes, still quite full."

Ugh, boys. Such hypocrites.

"Eat what's offered," Robin instructed him. "You never know when your next meal might be."

Lissa sighed and tried to wash the foul taste out of her mouth with a swig of water. Somehow, that just made it worse. She found herself deeply missing the tea parties she used to have with the other girls of Ylisse's noble families. Especially her best friend, Lady Maribelle. Gods, what she wouldn't give for one of Maribelle's hand-baked strawberry teacakes. Eating them together on the balcony behind the palace, the sun shining overhead. Lissa would accidentally get a bit of frosting on her nose, leading Maribelle to wipe it off for her with a gentle smile and that infectious laugh.

Wait, what was Lissa thinking about? Oh, right. Camping stunk.

Chrom stirred awake with the sense that something was wrong, though he couldn't place what it was. He would have simply gone back to sleep but figured that since he was awake anyway, he might as well take over watch. He quietly slipped on his boots and Falchion's scabbard, taking careful effort not to wake Frederick as he did so before crawling out of their tent.

It was still dark out, the forest canopy blocking out the stars. He could faintly make out the moon through the treetops, though, and estimated that it was just a few hours before sunrise. Looking back down from the sky, he could see that Lissa was dozing off in front of the fire. It seemed that it was a good thing that he'd gotten up, then, and went to send his baby sister off to bed.

"Huh, Chrom?" she blearily looked over at him as he approached. "What's up?"

"It's my turn for watch," he gently picked Lissa up and slowly carried her over to the girl's tent, where Robin was no doubt fast asleep already. "You should get some rest."

"Alright," Lissa whispered back. "Nighty-night."

Then the earth shook violently.

"Huh? What was that?" Lissa jumped out of her brother's arms and looked around frantically, now fully awake.

"I don't know." Chrom looked around as well. Something still felt off, even more than before, but he didn't know how to place it. "I'm going to have a look around."

"I'm going with you!" Lissa ran over and grabbed her staff before standing firmly by his side.

"Alright, thanks." Chrom spared a glance at the two tents and could hear both of their other companions stirring within, no doubt shaken awake as Lissa had been. He considered waiting for them to get ready so that they could all investigate the disturbance together but ultimately decided against it. He had a nagging feeling that they didn't have a moment to spare. "Let's go!"

The royal siblings headed west, the direction where Chrom's unease seemed strongest. After a while, Lissa looked up at the trees warily.

"It sure is dark," she said, "and quiet. Where did the birds go?"

Chrom followed her gaze and listened. Sure enough, he didn't see or hear any signs of wildlife nearby and even the light of the moon seemed to have faded. Animals, he knew, had much more acute senses than humans did and if they all fled at once like this, that could only mean that something very, very bad was about to happen.

"Something's wrong here." Before he could finish his thought, another quake rocked the forest. It was far too strong to be a simple earthquake but he wasn't sure what else it could have been. Some sort of explosion nearby, perhaps?

"Chrom!" Lissa yelled, using her staff to steady herself as best she could. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but I think-" Then the trees, thick, mighty old oaks, started to topple over. "Run!"

"What?"

Lissa hesitated but Chrom didn't. He grabbed her hand and took off as fast as his legs could carry him, his sister struggling to keep up as he dragged her along. A fissure split through the ground where they had been mere moments before and some form of liquid fire bubbled forth from beneath the earth, unlike anything that either of them had ever seen before. Chrom somehow managed to pick up even more speed in pure desperation to get his little sister out of harm's way, until at last he decided that they were far enough from the carnage that they could stop and rest.

"What… what was that?" Lissa asked between deep, heaving breaths.

"I don't know," Chrom replied, gripping his knees. Wracking his brain, he could recall stories of a mountain in the west having spewed flames, believed to have been the wrath of the gods, but that was thousands of years ago. Just an old legend, or so he thought.

Their troubles were far from over, however, as a hole opened up in the sky above them. Lissa let out a scream as shadowy figures dropped down from it. The creatures shambled forward and in the light of the fires growing nearby, he could clearly see that they were monsters. Horrible creatures. Vaguely human in shape but with distorted features and leathery red skin. Despite walking with a crouched posture, they still stood taller than Chrom himself. Their enlarged, grotesque heads sported pig-like snouts and large floppy ears, as well as a single small horn jutting out from the top and pupilless blue eyes that seemed to glow in the night.

Chrom found himself paralyzed by fear as the first two monsters slowly walked up to them. They bore swords, crudely built and primitive in design but no doubt still just as deadly as modern steel. The creatures also covered themselves with furs, suggesting some level of human-like intelligence. To Chrom, that was the most frightening part. Whatever these things were, they were no mere beasts.

"Lissa, stay back!" Chrom finally found his courage and stepped in front of his sister defensively with his sword drawn. He may not have been able to draw out the full powers of the divine relic but the Falchion was still a weapon that could handle its most basic duties as well as any other.

The first monster struck, leaping wildly into the air and swinging its massive blade down towards Chrom. He jumped to the side and slashed upward, carving through its flesh and knocking the creature away. Unfortunately, the wound was not fatal. The monster crawled back to its feat as its companion suddenly made a mad dash, swinging its sword back and forth through the air.

"Aether!" Chrom dashed forward, closing in on the monster just as its sword swung to the right and stuck it with an upward slash before it could attack. He jumped back as the monster stumbled, then dashed again, running his sword through its chest. It was a risky technique that he'd picked up while researching the sword techniques of other lands but he couldn't doubt its effectiveness in combat when utilized properly.

The second monster fell dead at his feat but while Chrom was busy dueling that one, the first monster had stumbled towards his sister with its sword raised high in one hand while it clutched at the deep gash across its chest with the other.

"Lissa!" Chrom yelled as she screamed and the monster lowered its crude weapon.

To everyone's surprise, however, another swordsman ran forward and parried the blow, saving Lissa's life. He sported bright blue hair, like Chrom, and a matching cape with a red inner lining, over a lightly armored outfit of an antiquated Yllisian style. More prominent, however, were the butterfly mask he wore and the blue-hilted sword he wielded, which had a yellow gemstone placed in the center of the winglike crossguard as well as a distinct triangular symbol etched into the base of the faintly glowing blade.

The monster stumbled backward, giving the mysterious masked swordsman the perfect opportunity to strike, chopping its head off with one powerful swing.

"Thank you." Chrom walked up to the swordsman and held his hand out as the stranger returned his blade to the gold-encrusted sheath at his waist. He simply glanced down at the offered hand and made no motion to shake it, instead looking back up at Chrom.

"Don't let your guard down yet," the masked man said in a higher voice than Chrom expected from him. "There are more of them."

Chrom glanced back to where the first two had come from and, sure enough, more of the monsters were now falling from the strange purple rift in the sky. He also heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Frederick and Robin running up to them.

"Milord! Milady!" Frederick cried out, spear in hand. Though he seemed to have left his horse back at camp. Or perhaps the animal could have run away in the commotion. Even a trained horse could be a skittish creature. "Are you hurt?"

"No, thanks to our new friend here," Chrom replied, gesturing to the masked man. Strangely, he seemed to recoil a the sight of Robin, who in turn eyed the newcomer warily, her gaze primarily fixated on his sword. "But there are more of those creatures on their way. Be prepared to fight."

As he said that, Chrom could see more of the red monsters marching over to them, as well as several larger, bluish monsters that stood nearly twice as tall as the red ones, with elongated faces and a long, curved horn.

"Bokoblins?" Robin gasped as she spotted the beasts. "And Moblins?"

"You know what these monsters are?" Frederick turned to her.

"Yes, but… no." The poor girl clutched at her head, clearly pained. "I don't understand how they're here!"

"There will be time for questions after the battle," the masked swordsman took a step forward, readying his shining blade.

"Questions like where you got that?" Robin replied, raising her hands to prepare to start casting spells.

The horde of monsters charged forward and a fight broke out. Chrom did his best to hold his own against them but it was a struggle for both him and Frederick to fight such strange opponents that they had no experience against, especially when they had to protect Lissa from harm as well. Robin and the swordsman, however, looked like they were both right at home on this battlefield, felling the 'bow-kaw-blins' with ease.

As the battle raged on, they were eventually able to thin down the monstrous forces, thanks in no small part to the glowing portal in the sky finally closing, meaning that the enemies could no longer replenish their numbers. However, it was still largely a battle of attrition for Chrom and his allies and his strength was beginning to fail him. Lissa may have been able to use her magic to patch up minor scrapes and wounds but there was only so much she could do for fatigue.

Chrom lopped an arm off one of the bokoblins with an upward swing and the monster screached in pain as it stepped away from him. However, three more were alerted by the sound and rushed him. He raised his sword, not sure if he would be able to take them all on at once. But, as it turned out, he didn't need to.

A horse galloped across the forest, its armored rider skewering one of the bokoblins with her spear while the archer seated behind her managed to shoot another through the eye. Chrom stuck down the third, allowing for a momentary respite. He looked up at his saviors and quickly recognized the short red hair and smug smile of the knight.

"Sully?" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"When I got back from my last assignment, I heard you went out on your own," she explained. "I figured I couldn't leave you three to fend for yourselves and came running. Oh, and I picked up a hitchhiker on the way."

"I couldn't simply let a young maiden rush off into battle by her lonesome, now could I?" The unfamiliar archer asked with a flourish, his long blue hair brushing over his shoulders. "I am, as you may have guessed, an archer. The archest of archers, in fact, and I have come to lend you all my aid. My name, of course, is Vir-"

"Yeah, yeah, no one cares," Sully barked as she turned her horse around. "So, we're monster hunters now?"

"It would seem so," Chrom confirmed gravely, clutching his sword and turning back to the battle. Though it seemed that he didn't need to.

One of the larger monsters, a moblin, Robin had called it, seemed to be all that was left of them. It swung its heavy club down at the masked stranger, who deflected the attack to his side with a swipe of his sword while Robin stepped up from behind him and launched a ball of fire at the monster's face. It raised an arm defensively to block the attack, giving the swordsman a chance to run in and slash its belly open. The bokoblin let out a howl as it desperately tried to keep its entrails from falling out with its hands, letting go of its weapon entirely, but there would be no surviving an attack like that. Especially not as Robin ran around to its back and kicked the monster forward so that it fell just as the masked man thrust his sword up, impaling it through the head from under its jaw.

With that, the fight was over. Chrom, Lissa and Frederick approached the two victorious warriors, Sully and her new companion following close behind. The masked man pulled his sword from the monster's corpse and wiped the blade clean before returning it to its sheath once again.

"Was that the last of them?" Lissa asked, her eyes darting about nervously.

"It would seem so," Chrom replied. "Or at least I don't see any others around here."

"But what were those things?" Frederick asked. "And where did they come from?"

"Monsters summoned by the Grimleal," the masked man said, turning to leave. "That is all that I can say other than that more will come. You should hurry back to the capital and report this to the Exalt. Yliise will need to be prepared."

"Wait!" Chrom called out to him before he could leave. "You saved my sister's life and yet we don't even know your name."

He stopped and turned his gaze back to the assembled Shepherds and their allies, hesitating before replying. "You may call me… Marth."

"Marth?" Chrom repeated the familiar name of one of his distant ancestors. "After the Holy King of Archanea? You certainly fight like a hero but where did you learn your way with a sword?"

"And more importantly, how and where did you get that sword?" Robin took a step forward, hostility in her voice.

"That is a long story, which I am not ready to share and that you are not ready to hear," he said with a sigh, before turning away again and muttering under his breath, "Farore's Wind."

The winds suddenly picked up in a gust around the mysterious swordsman and, in a brief flash of green light, he was gone. Chrom had never heard of someone, even a great mage, being able to pull off such a feat. Only Robin didn't seem thrown off by the sudden display, instead clenching her fist tightly.

"You seemed oddly fixated on that man's sword," Frederick pointed out.

"That was the Blade of Evil's Bane," Robin said bitterly. "Also known as the Master Sword. That is all that I can say on the matter."

It seemed Chrom was finding himself with more and more questions. But there was little that he could do about it now. He would follow 'Marth's' instructions and return to the capital at once. If his country was about to be attacked by an army of unknown monsters then he must alert his sister to the coming threat. They needed to be prepared before tragedy could strike.

"We must head to the capital at once," he ordered. "I must speak with the Exalt."

Author's Notes: The first chapter was mostly focused on setting up Link/Robin's characterization and some of the worldbuilding, while this chapter is where the story itself finally starts. If you were expecting a straightforward adaptation of FE Awakening but with Link as Robin, then I'm afraid that you're in for a surprise. While things may play out similarly to the story you know here in the beginning, I've got plenty of twists and turns waiting in the wings that will send things on a very different path.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this chapter and where you think this story may be heading. I hope I was able to keep you on your toes. Also, remember that I have a Discord server for discussing my fics, which you can find a link to in my bio.