I really don't think I need a disclaimer. You all know that I don't own Fire Emblem.

Chapter 3

Inigo sat just outside the fort, holding meat to his eye while fights continued within. He couldn't believe that Robin was a fist fighter, let alone the champion of Jamil's fist fighting league. He moved extremely fast, with punches that made Inigo's vision shake. He knew that by this time Robin had been a Shepherd for more than three years, so he must have started leaving every Saturday night to fight in Jamil's league. That meant he would have to go back to their camp, so Inigo waited for him to leave and approached him.

"Excuse me, Robin? Can I talk to you?" Robin whirled around, grabbed Inigo by the throat, and pressed him into the wall.

"How do you know my name? And-" Robin held up Inigo's right hand to reveal Olivia's wedding ring, "How did you steal Olivia's wedding ring? Donnel bought it this morning. Unless- are you from the-"

"Yes. Olivia is my mother. She gave it to me when she and Donnel died. Have you met one of the other Justice Cabal?"

"Justice Cabal?"

"Other future children."

"Yeah, we've already recruited Owain, Lucina, and Cynthia. Come on, let's go join the others in camp."

"Wait, we can't leave yet. I have to go try to make tea with a lovely lass from a nearby farm." Inigo seemed to really be looking forward to this very much.

"Do you want to see your parents or not?" Robin said sternly, unable to believe that Donnel's son became a philanderer.

"Fine, we can go. But you better not take away any future opportunities for me!"

"If you prioritize philandering over battle, you'll feel my fists again." Inigo shuddered in fear before hopping onto the back of Robin's horse.


Lucina woke up early as usual, popping out of her tent around the same time as her father did. She went to check to see if Chrom and Robin were meeting in Robin's tent, but she only found Chrom sitting at the tactician's desk.

"Is Robin not back yet? I saw him ride away on his horse last night towards the fort, but I have no idea where he actually went. He left all of his valuables, so he must be coming back, right?"

"No worries, Luci, Robin will be back soon. The evenings are his only time off, so he often leaves the camp, often returning with new equipment or other strategic stuff when he was supposed to be sleeping or taking time off. I will just wait for Robin here, he never arrives later than 9, which is in about two minutes." Just as Chrom finished saying this, Lucina heard Inigo yell, "Mother! Father! I missed you so much!" just as Robin entered the tent, with a small bruise on his visible neck, as well as a cut on his cheek.

"Hello, Chrom. Sorry I'm late. I found the not-so-little dancer that we were talking about the other day. I still can't quite believe that Donnel's son is a philanderer."

"In that case, Lucina, please make sure he stays away from Cynthia." Lucina nodded, knowing that she should take this request very seriously. "Anyhow, I can tell that you had a rough night. Get rejected or something?" Chrom's most recent comment alarmed Lucina. Did he meet someone he didn't meet in my time?

"No, Chrom, I just got into an unpleasant encounter with some bandits on the way back with Inigo." Robin shrugged and sat down on the desk next to Chrom. "Anyhow, I'd say it's time to focus on the Valm campaign again, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, I think that's wise, but first, I think that there's a few other conflicts around here that I should call to your attention."

"Fire away, Chrom. You have yet to stump me for strategies."

"Alright then. First off, there are reports of a large group of villagers being terrorized by wyvern riders in Wyvern Valley. However, some say that one rider has gone rogue and turned against the group, but whenever the villagers try to talk to him, he flies off muttering some nonsense about fate." Lucina's eyes went wide at the news. Gerome is near here. His skills could be very useful to our cause.

"Next, there are reports of slavers attacking near the twin's hideout and another run-down fort, while closer to here, there are two groups of mercenaries that are feuding with each other." Yarne, Noire and Nah, I bet. "Also, there are reports of other bandit groups attacking a run-down castle," Kjelle, Lucina thought, "A brotherhood of priests," Brady, "Another small village," Severa, I guess, "A mythical mirage town in the desert," Definitely Laurent, "And a strange ice-and-water place with some bandits near it." Don't know about that one, thought Lucina, there isn't any more Justice Cabal beyond them.

"Besides those, Robin, There's just the Valm campaign." Robin sat in thought for a few seconds, then replied, "We'll visit Wyvern Valley today, then the run-down castles of bandits and slavers. After that, we move for Tiki's tree and see if we can defeat Cervantes."


TWO DAYS LATER-The base of Tiki's Tree


"Lucina! Duck!" The blue-haired princess ducked as Robin shot off an Arc-thunder at an enemy barbarian. He ducked and slashed at Robin with his axe, but the tactician merely jumped out of the way while Lucina impaled the barbarian with the Parallel Falchion. "Get down, Robin!" Lucina tackled Robin to the ground just in time to avoid Gerome swooping down to strike another enemy, while Kjelle charged recklessly after him, striking down the enemies who had been weakened by Gerome's attack. Jumping off of Robin as quickly as she could, Lucina charged further up the giant roots, followed closely by Robin as they mowed down Valmese soldiers with precision. As Cordelia slashed through the neck of a Paladin who attacked the duo while Henry unleashed his fury on their enemies, Robin and Lucina ran up the roots to Cervantes and two Paladins as Chrom and Sumia joined them, with two assassins following close behind.

"Father, behind you!" Chrom turned to see the two assassins, but Lucina had already charged towards them. Seeing that his daughter had the situation under control, he joined Sumia in fighting the two Paladins.

The two assassins each slashed multiple times at Lucina, but she blocked them with precision. She gracefully moved Falchion around, deflecting the enemy assassin's blades. As one assassin fell back and the first kept fighting, Lucina knew that the one that fell back was going to fire arrows at her, so she quickly grabbed the closer assassin's arm and threw him in front of the arrows. She then charged forward and skewered the other assassin with the Parallel Falchion before he could draw his sword again. She ran to help Robin fight Cervantes, but the two of them were trapped within some sort of shield bubble.

"How courageously dumb of you, tactician!" Cervantes chuckled at Robin's trick. "You challenge me to one-on-one combat when my never-trimmed mustache makes me invincible!" Robin laughed at this last statement. "Let's put that theory to the test, shall we?" Robin tossed aside his tome and drew a Killing Edge from his belt. Cervantes took his Tomahawk off of his back and readied for combat.

Robin leaped up and slashed downwards at Cervantes, who easily deflected the strike with his axe. The general countered with a low swing of his axe, which Robin jumped over. They fought in this manner for a while, Robin dancing around Cervantes with quick strikes, and the general, not fazed by his attacks, swung wide swings with his tomahawk to try to kill Robin in one blow.

Eventually Cervantes saw his opening, right as Robin lunged and took off a piece of the general's chest armor. He swung his axe at Robin's midsection, and Robin sidestepped and slashed with his sword, slicing off half of Cervantes' axe and leaving it only one-sided. Knowing that this would happen, Cervantes flipped the axe over and moved it back as quickly as he could, lodging the axe right in the side of Robin's chest.

Robin yelled in agony, while Lucina and Chrom alike began to try to slash open the shield with the Falchions. "I told you my mustache made me undefeatable! Now I will look you in the eyes as we wait here until the life drains out of you!" Lucina began to truly fear for Robin's life until she saw electricity begin to form in his hand. He's going to cast Arc-Thunder without a tome? Her suspicion was confirmed when Robin formed the full bolt of lightning and thrust it towards Cervantes.

The electricity spread through Cervantes' armor and hurt him badly, causing him to fall to his knees. "Nngah! But...how can this be? My invincible mustache! Blasted science, you have...played me for a... fool..." Red light began to shine around Cervantes, and in seconds, he was gone, leaving an exhausted and wounded Robin to remove the axe from his side. "That was… way more tiring than I thought it would be." He snapped his fingers and the shield went down, and all of the other shepherds ran closer while Chrom and Lucina got on either side of Robin to support him while the tactician let his sword fall to the ground.

"You can be really dumb sometimes, you know that?!" Chrom yelled angrily at Robin, who winced as they stumbled over the paladins that Chrom and Sumia had killed. "Robin, you can't fight one-on-one with someone like Cervantes!" Lissa ran to her brother to help heal Robin, with Gaius close on her heels.

"Really, the axe wound isn't a problem, Lissa," Robin muttered in a dazed manner, "The thunder spell wasn't a good idea, though. As you know, the tomes and staves we use are meant to take any recoil from casting the spell, so without them, casting a spell can be…" he stumbled a few more feet forward while Chrom and Lucina quickly caught up with him, "Exhausting…" He stumbled forward and was caught by the two lords as the tactician's world turned into darkness.


Back at base camp, Lissa was tending to an unconscious Robin as Lucina and Chrom sat on either side of him on the table. After using a more advanced Recover staff on Robin, she applied a bandage to his side. "You know, Chrom, maybe you should spend less time sitting here by Robin while he's recuperating and more time keeping Inigo from flirting with Cynthia." Chrom was at the flap of the tent in a flash, and upon seeing that his sister spoke the truth he said, "That was your job, Lucina! Whatever, I'll deal with it," as he stormed out. Had Lucina not been concerned about Robin, she would have laughed a little bit, but she was too worried about Robin's safety.

"You should go rest, Lucina. I will take the responsibility of looking after my niece's true love." Lissa smirked as Lucina reddened, saying, "WOULD YOU STOP WITH THAT?!" Annoyed and wanting to escape Lissa's jokes, Lucina left the tent, leaving Lissa alone taking care of Robin until she saw Gaius poke his head in the tent, which then prompted her to say, "GAIUS! Come in! I have something to give you!" Lissa reached into her handbag for the stuffed cat that she had sewed, while Gaius approached warily and said, "Okay, whaddaya got, Princess?" Gaius popped a piece of gum into his mouth as Lissa presented the cat. "I listened to your tips and I think this one looks a lot better!" Gaius held the cotton creation in his hands and said, "Yeah, Princess, this looks much better than before." She turned her head and gave him a puzzled look.

"Can I at least get a piece of bubble gum for my efforts?" Gaius checked the bubble gum pocket in his scarf before shrugging and saying, "Sorry, Princess, but I'm all out. I can give you a piece when I buy some more tomorrow."

Lissa made a mock pouty face at the thief. "That's fine, I guess. I'll just take… this piece!" She reached up on her tiptoes and pulled Gaius's head down to hers until their mouths collided. His eyes went wide in shock as he felt the gum he had in his mouth get pulled out. She let go of the back of his head and let him stand up straight again while she chewed the piece that she took from his mouth, still standing right up against him.

"Sweet. And you bought the watermelon flavor! My favorite!" Gaius just looked at her for a moment, still in shock until the sound of Cynthia running past the tent brought the assassin back to his senses. He backed away and tried to run to the tent's exit, but Lissa grabbed his arm and kept him from running off.

"GAIUUUUUUUUUUUS! Why won't you ever stay with me for more than two minutes?" Lissa looked angry and sad, actually beginning to cry a little bit. "You spend practically all of your free time training Owain, so what did I do wrong? Do you not want to be with me?!" The princess let go of Gaius's arm and fell to the floor, weeping loudly as Gaius walked back over to her and crouched down on the floor.

"Princess, I am the most wanted thief and assassin in all of Ylisse. I have more money on my head than any slaver or bandit chieftain: 750,000. The royal advisors for Blue in Yllistol would never let you marry me, and they have to approve of any person that royal family members want to marry. I have been looking through the Ylissean law with Owain to find any little loophole that would allow me to give you this," He took out a little box and revealed a beautiful gold ring with the symbol of the royal family on it, "But I can't. You'd really be much happier with someone who's made less enemies." Lissa wrapped her arms around the thief's shoulders and looked deep into his hazel eyes.

"I. Don't. CARE, Gaius. The royal court can go suck eggs. I love you more than anything, Gaius, and the royal court literally can't stop us. We have proof that we make good parents in the form of our son. OUR SON! We can get married during the Valm campaign with Libra's help, so let's be together now, while we still can." Their lips met again, this time in a more relaxed way, Gaius's hands falling to Lissa's hips, pulling her closer to him. Slowly they pulled apart, eyes still closed. Lissa squeezed his hand tight for a second and proceeded to exit the tent, saying, "You can propose later when I'm done working." Gaius watched her walk out, slowly realizing that the gum was back in his mouth and that he was now forced to stay in the medical tent as long as it took for Lissa or another healer to show up.

"Heh. You got played, Gaius," he said to himself, "Women always get their way."


Robin found himself in the clouds, faced by a strange dragon that had white plating and black markings. "What are you?" He reached out to touch the dragon, but it suddenly shrunk down and became a man, with the same color armor as the dragon, but sharing Robin's hair color. As Robin was about to speak to the strange dragon-man, the world slowly began to turn into mist around him.

He was now getting up off the ground, wounded, while Chrom helped him up, smiling at him. Suddenly his vision turned red, and Robin lost all control of his body as he impaled Chrom with a silver sword. He could hear an evil cackle as he screamed, "CHROM! NO!" and the mist returned.

Now he saw an assassin cutting down dozens of soldiers in front of him. Using his instincts from fist fighting, Robin kicked the assassin down and snapped his neck, but realizing too late that the assassin was really his friend Gaius. He choked out a small gasp of horror as the image dissolved.

Then he panicked as he cut down Lon'qu and a taguel, while another ran away. He let out a cry of agony as he watched himself impale both Donnel and Olivia with swords. He was already almost on the verge of breaking when he saw a terrified Lucina draw Falchion on him. Against his own will, Robin charged forward, and he closed his eyes while he drained Lucina's life away. He opened his eyes to see her dead at his feet, and he fell on top of her, sobbing uncontrollably as the mist turned into smoke and close in as he shot up, awake once more.

"Where are they? Chrom, Lon'qu, Panne-" he saw who had turned towards him, "Oh, Gaius, thank the gods." He started to get up, but Stahl walked in and shoved him back down.

"Take it easy there, Robin," the cavalier said, "An axe in the abdomen would keep any weaker soldier from getting up for days. I know you'll only let the clerics keep you another hour, so you better use that hour well." Vaike walked in and added, "Teach would be up and fighting in 15 minutes, but you shouldn't hold yourself to the Vaike's high standards." Stahl whacked him on the back of the head and stood up, taking a chocolate bar out of Gaius's scarf and starting to eat it.

"So how're you doing in your efforts to win over Maribelle, Stahl?" Vaike chuckled at Robin's question as the cavalier's smile disappeared. "Stahl can't learn etiquette to save his life, and he can't win a girl like her without it."

"Big words from the big, hairy barbarian!" Stahl retorted, turning the humor onto Vaike. "How many spells did Tharja cast at you today when you interrupted her stalking of our over-heroic tactician friend here?" Vaike paled at this while Robin laughed out loud, wincing in pain throughout the action.

"What about you, Robin? Having better luck with the ladies? I saw Say'ri talking to you a few days back, and Lady Tiki was being awfully affectionate earlier today." Robin chuckled and replied, "No, unlike you guys, I haven't spent the last three days philandering. You guys have starting inviting Inigo to the bar with you, haven't you?" Vaike nodded. Robin face-palmed and said, "Of course you have."

"Well, you won't be able to get Bubbles to enter the dating scene," Gaius added nonchalantly, "His thing is he only goes for blue hair." Stahl and Vaike laughed at this, while Robin got red in the face. "Tell me, Gaius," Stahl asked, "Are you talking about Chrom or Lucina?"

"Yes," replied Gaius. Stahl and Vaike fell over laughing at Robin's expense, while Robin glared at Gaius, red-faced and annoyed out of his wits. "Really, Gaius? Really? Lucina doesn't care about me, not as much as Chrom does, and I don't swing that way. Even if I did, that's only legal in Nohr and Hoshido."

"I was just joking about Blue. As for Blue Jr, she was in here by your side longer even than Blue Sr. was, and she only left because the Princess kept teasing her."

"Now you're just pulling my leg, Gaius. I know better than to trust a thief. Or a cavalier. Or barbarians." Stahl chuckled and slapped Robin on the back, making him wince in pain. "Go get her, man."

"He will kill me when he finds out that I intend to propose to Lissa today, but since you're Chrom's golden boy, he'll let you do anything." Gaius got up and exited the tent on this note. Vaike followed soon after, until finally Stahl exited the tent, leaving Robin sitting on the edge of the table. He was about to stand up when he saw a note on the end of the table.

Get well soon, Robin. I don't want to lose anyone else, and I don't think you want to either.

-Lucina

Robin folded up the note and stuffed it into the back pocket of his pants, since he didn't have his signature coat on, and stood for a second in silence, thinking. She seems like she actually cares about me. I mean, it's probably just in a friendly way, but maybe not. It's worth a try. He walked out of the tent to retrieve a new shirt, his coat, and some flowers.


Lucina shot up out of bed, panicked from the nightmares that she had every time she slept, though in this case, she woke up as the sun was setting. Normally, she was used to the nightmares and wasn't bothered by them, but this time she had to watch every death she had ever witnessed over again- except it was Robin every time. She didn't quite understand how her attachment to the tactician had overlapped into her dreams, but it terrified her. She decided to step outside to catch her breath and walked over to the tree where she had talked with Robin earlier that week.

"Hello, Lucina." The blue-haired princess whirled around, but relaxed as she saw that it was Robin, still looking rather misshapen after his injuries. He looked rather concerned and kind of nervous, in a way she had only seen when Tharja was trying to get his attention. His right hand was at his side, and his other hand was behind his back. "Robin? Fancy meeting you here."

"Actually, I… followed you." Lucina perked up, curious. "I, er...wanted to give you these." He brought out his left hand and revealed a bouquet of daisies, pressing them into her reaching hand.

"Oh, Robin! Did you pick flowers for me?" She could smell the sweet aroma coming off of the freshly picked flowers. "They're absolutely beautiful, and they smell heavenly!"

"I'm glad you like them." Robin was running his right hand through his hair, just as he did when they last talked under the tree.

"We have no flowers in my world. The whole land is barren." Lucina immediately realized that this would dampen the mood, so she instead took a gamble to see if she wasn't dreaming. "-But enough of that. Tell me, Robin, what are we celebrating?"

"Er- Nothing, really. I just thought you could use some cheer." Robin's face reddened as he looked away.

"You really shouldn't worry about me so..."

"It's no trouble…I... You're a..." Robin began to stumble over his words, "Dear friend, and I want to do anything I can to help." Lucina's smile fell as a crestfallen frown replaced it. I was foolish to hope for anything more. No matter what I do or say, I will just be the daughter of Chrom. She started to turn away, and Robin began to panic even more. SHIT! What do I do? Just spit it out, you idiot! After scolding himself, the tactician tried to get his confession back on track.

"...Actually, I'm not being entirely honest." Lucina stopped turning away instantly when she heard these words. "You ARE dear to me, of course, and the daughter of a true friend. But..."

"But…?" Lucina turned back to face the tactician, beginning to hope again.

"But you are more than that. Much more! I didn't pick that bouquet to cheer you up. I did it because..." Lucina was certain that this was too good to be true, and tried to think of what he was going to say. Because their poison could be useful in battles? Because they can cure nightmares?

"...Because I'm in love with you." Lucina froze, unable to believe what she had just heard. Still unbelieving, all she could say was, "What?"

"Lucina, I've fallen helplessly in love with you! I tried not to, I know it's wrong, but I couldn't help it!"

"Oh, Robin…" Lucina was still barely able to form words because she was still staggering in surprise.

"We've been through so much, and I know many trials still await us... But no matter what happened or is yet to come, my feelings cannot change!" Robin clasped both of Lucina's hands in his and pulled her close to him, making Lucina blush even more than him. "I love you, Lucina. With all my heart." She looked into his eyes for a second before kissing him, slowly and passionately.

"I.. I'm so glad you told me all this. ...Because you are in my heart as well." Robin gave Lucina his signature sloppy grin.

"Truly?" Lucina nodded. "Oh, those must be the sweetest words I've ever heard!" The tactician picked up Lucina by the waist and spun her around, which she would have found demeaning if anyone was watching, but made her giggle like a teenager now. "Lucina, I promise you, no matter what: I will be here for you and Chrom. Whatever road you choose to follow, I shall follow it at your side."

"And we won't rest until we reach the end! Together!" They kissed again for a few minutes, before Lucina broke away and leaned her head against the tactician's shoulder.

"I love you," she whispered, "And no matter what the future holds, I'm going to cherish every moment." And for the next fifteen minutes, no words would be shared as the tactician and the time-traveling princess of Ylisse embraced, basking in each other's warmth for the first time.

And there it was! What everyone has probably been waiting for: Either the love confession between Robin or Lucina, or some actual relationship development for Lissa and Gaius. I struggled on this chapter, so be sure to review if you have any advice for me. Stay tuned for the next chapter!