Chapter 4

"Remember, Robin, you're one of us now, and no destiny can change that!" Chrom and Robin stood alongside Lucina as they stood before Validar, each readying their blades as Validar laughed evilly. Other Shepherds were nearby, fighting Plegians viciously, slaughtering them, but only Chrom and Robin could fight Validar. Lucina charged forward and sliced Falchion at Validar, but it passed right through, and Validar did not appear to see her.

Chrom charged forward and swung Falchion at his foe, who matched him blow for blow. Robin jumped back as they fought and shot Thoron at him, wounding Validar mortally. With his final bit of strength, however, Validar shot magic off at Chrom. Lucina screamed and ran towards him, but Robin shoved Chrom out of the way and took a direct hit from the spell.

Chrom ran to Robin as he got up, his eyes rolling and his vision clearly being blurry. "You'll be fine, Robin." Lucina breathed a sigh of relief until she saw Robin's eyes turn red. "Are you alright, Robin? What's wrong?" Then Lucina screamed in horror as Robin summoned Thoron and plunged it into Chrom's torso.

"It's… alright, Robin…" Chrom choked out, "I know… this… isn't you." Then Chrom toppled over dead, Robin collapsed in shock, and Validar cackled maniacally while Lucina woke up in tears.


The blue haired princess was soaked in sweat and tears as she whirled around her tent, her heartbeat still going fast. She had these dreams many times now, where she watched Robin kill her father or watched Robin die. Ever since she had met Robin, she was suspicious that Robin was the one who killed her father rather than Frederick like she originally expected, but she couldn't resist him regardless. She stumbled out of her tent, still sputtering as she caught her breath.

"Lucina, does this happen to you every night?" Sumia reached out to her daughter and pulled her into an embrace as she caught her breath. "You know, Panne has a potion that a lot of the Shepherds use to fight off nightmares. I don't use it, but you could ask Robin next time you kiss him or fall asleep leaning on him." Lucina immediately stopped mumbling, her face turning bright red, though it couldn't be seen in the faint 5 AM light. "Wait, two things: One, that wasn't a dream? And two: YOU COULD SEE US?"

Sumia laughed lightly at her daughter's embarrassed reaction. "Yes, I saw and heard everything from him giving you these flowers," she took the flowers out of a pocket in Lucina's shirt, "To you falling asleep in his arms. It was like something out of one of my romantic fanfictions! After that, he carried you into your tent, set you down on your bedroll, and went off to bed himself after kissing your forehead. It was almost as romantic as the way your father proposed!" Lucina blushed and laughed lightly and slightly bitterly, saying, "Why were you stalking Robin in the first place?"

"After Robin left the medical tent, Maribelle told me to find Robin and bring him back at lance-point if necessary. But as I was about to enter his tent, he emerged with his coat on, a nice shirt on under it, and a bouquet of flowers, and I got suspicious. So I followed him first to your tent, but when you were not inside, he asked Chrom where you were, telling him that he wanted to discuss battle tactics with you- you know how gullible your father can be. Then when Chrom told him that you should've been in your tent, he checked at that tree and found you there, and you should know the rest better than I do."

Lucina was bright red as she looked at the ground. "Lucina," her mother said, "I'm not trying to make you feel guilty about being in love with him. I think it's great that he seems to make you happy, and he adores you more than anything else in the world. If I heard him talking to himself correctly earlier, he intends to take you out to dinner this afternoon, and he plans to ask someone to throw Chrom off when he does so. If you'd like, I can just volunteer for the task."

"You'd do that for me, mother?" Sumia nodded, smiling warmly at her daughter. "T-thank you, Mother! Now we'd better get ready for battle before Frederick gives us extra training this afternoon and I have to tell another person about my date to cover for it." Sumia nodded in terror before jumping up and dashing to the stables, while all Lucina had to do was seize Falchion and rush to join Robin, her father, and the rest of the shepherds to go to battle.


"We've almost made it, Chrom. I'd recommend sending a scout or two forward." Chrom nodded, and motioned for Lucina and Lon'qu. They split up, Lucina to the east and Lon'qu to the west.

Lucina treaded quietly through the forest. She had become quite good at stealth during her time in the shattered world, as it was a necessity for avoiding the risen. As she moved through the forest, she thought about Robin. He had not asked her about the date yet, but he was preoccupied with the battle. Oh, but what if Mother was wrong? That would be humiliating!

"Gotcha now, pretty girl!" Four thieves popped up behind her and seized her suddenly, knocking Falchion out of her hands. She tried to shake them off, but they tied her hands quickly and punched her to the ground as their leader approached.

"Yes, she'll do nicely! Might not fetch the best price ever, but she'll give us some dough, and besides, though I prefer bigger titties, she'll do just fine to pleasure us, eh?" The group cheered as the leader said, "Leave the sword, it has no use to us. Toss her into the back of the wagon with the other one before we head back to base camp!" They pushed Lucina over to the wagon and pushed her in, where she saw Noire tied up inside. As the wagon headed off, a sword master rushed back to Chrom's Shepherds.


"Lucina's been captured by the slavers, as well as another girl. They took off in a wagon towards the run-down fort." Chrom whirled around and shouted at Lon'qu, saying, "WHAT? Where did they take her? How did they get her? Who was the other girl with her?"

"Cool it, Chrom. Lon'qu, do you know where the wagon stopped?"

"In the exact center of the fort. The girl with her had blonde hair and green clothes, but I couldn't see any other identifying factor." After hearing Lon'qu's reply, Robin began pondering a rescue strategy.

"Wait, green clothes and blonde hair? That's Noire!" The Shepherds turned in confusion to Kjelle, who was repeatedly making eye contact with the other children.

"Let me guess: Another future child?" Owain nodded, adding, "Noire, the archer extraordinaire and Sunshine's vicious daughter." Gaius laughed and said, "Son, are you saying this is Sunshine's kid?"

"Yes, idiot. Now we must go. THEY WILL BURN IN HELL FOR HARMING MY DAUGHTER!" Tharja's eyes were red as she tapped into dark energy. All grass within three feet of her died, and the other Shepherds backed away in terror.

"Chill, Tharja. I have a plan. I need a steel sword, bow, and a quiver full of arrows." The objects were brought up in less than a minute, during which time Robin wrote a note. He picked them all up, tossed them into the air, and shot off Rexcalibur to send them flying into the fort.

"What now, Bubbles?"

"We continue with our normal plan. I have a feeling they'll join us from the other side."


"Remember, boys, I get first go on the prisoners. You'll all get yer turn soon enough! In the meantime, I'll deal with our attackers." The leader walked out of the wagon, leaving Lucina and Noire with bound arms and legs.

"I-It's over… I'll be by your side soon, mother…"

"SNAP OUT OF IT, NOIRE!" Lucina shook Tharja's daughter as she shout-whispered to her.

"Can't… no talisman… no bow…" Suddenly a steel sword, steel bow, and quiver of arrows floated in, along with a note. Lucina cut her bonds with the sword, picked up the note, and began to read.

Very sloppy, Lucina. I've never known you to be a damsel in distress, so I thought this would suit you better. We will be approaching in two groups; mine is to the south with your father. Lon'qu told us about your friend, and the other Justice Cabal told us about her archery skills, so I included one bow. Apparently she's Tharja's daughter, so… try to keep her in check. Also, this is an unrelated note, but would you like to go out for dinner later? I was going to ask lunch but this will probably take too long. Sumia somehow knows and offered to explain your absence to Chrom. Creepy as Tharja during a menstruation cycle.

-Robin

Lucina laughed at both Tharja parts, as she knew that Noire was terrified at the moment until she heard Noire say, "Good bow… Now if I can find where my talisman ended up…" Lucina panicked and shout-whispered, "NOIRE! NO!"


"You're sure your delivery worked? The guards haven't moved from the front at all, and they would have if they had gotten the weapons."

"Quit worrying, Chrom. It's fine, they're probably making a careful escape."

"I am tired of waiting! I want to start absorbing some souls soon and getting vengeance! I don't think my daughter can-" Chrom, Robin, and Tharja all jumped as they heard a shrill, demonic-sounding voice.

"I AM DIVINE FIRE AND DEATH AND WILL CONSUME YOU ALL! FALL BEFORE ME AND REPENT, THOUGH IT WILL SAVE THEE NOT! DROP DEAD BEFORE ME!" Four guards backed up and ran towards the two escapees, and proceeded to fall dead from arrows.

"Or not." At Chrom's comment, Chrom's group charged north, dashing across the field as a barbarian was burnt by Miriel's Arc-fire tome.

Cynthia flew west, struck with an idea, and seized a nearby soldier. "Where are you keeping my sister and where is the leader of your group?"

"I won't talk to you, girl. Go back to mum and dad." Cynthia shrugged and flew up into the air, suspending the myrmidon 150 feet into the air.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you! The prisoners are to the northeast and the boss is to our north! Just put me down already!"

"Suit yourself!" Cynthia released the myrmidon and let him fall screaming. She flew down and caught him, then punched him hard in the head, knocking him unconscious. Tossing him to the ground, she called out for Lon'qu, Panne, and Inigo to follow her up the north path.

On the other end of the battlefield, Chrom charged up the east side of the camp, reuniting with his daughter and Noire, and immediately set on scolding Lucina. "You shouldn't have let yourself get captured! These guys are slavers; you know what they wanted with you!"

"I know, Father! I just let my mind wander, that's all. Now I gotta go get Falchion." Chrom handed her the parallel Falchion from his belt, which he had retrieved before the charge. Robin, meanwhile, approached Lucina slowly after her father had continued on.

"You alright, damsel of the day?" Lucina scowled and nodded. "Hey, I'm joking. That aside, though, does dinner sound good?" Lucina nodded and quickly replied, "Yeah, sounds great. Sumia saw us last night, by the way. That's how she knew."

"AAH! Creepy! I need to be more careful! Well, no time for that now, we have to go catch that slaver bastard and save Noire from her mother."

"Hey, don't forget about Teach! Wait up!" Vaike ran up behind them, gasping for breath with a large hammer in his hand. Robin rolled his eyes and walked over to Vaike.

"You forgot your weapon again, didn't you?" Vaike replied, "The Vaike never forgets anything! He temporarily ignores things!"

"Yeah, whatever, Teach. Just hurry up." The trio ran forward quickly to catch up with the rest of their group.

On Cynthia's side, the Pegasus knight was in her element, flying grace fully and fighting savagely. She swooped down on a barbarian and a knight and deflected the barbarian's hand axe while her Pegasus kicked down the knight. She impaled the barbarian with her lance with a quick turn before he could retrieve his axe. She turned to deal with the knight, but he threw a short spear before she could stop him. She leaned out of the way so it wouldn't hit her, yelling, "Ha! Missed me!", until she leaned right off of her Pegasus and fell.

"Careful there!" Inigo reached out and caught Cynthia as she fell, noting, "You sure are a lot like your mother, you know." Cynthia blushed and slapped him, laughing, until Chrom yelled, "INIGO I WILL KILL YOU!" Inigo cursed loudly and ran north, away from Chrom's vengeance, which was stalled when he saw Gaius pull Lissa into cover under a bridge nearby.

"We've been talking about this for a while, Princess, so I figured this was the only way to surprise you." He produced a ring from his scarf pocket. "Lissa, will you-"

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!" Lissa shrieked and threw her arms around the thief. "Ugh, what will the head council think?" Chrom was already worried when he turned his head to see Stahl get shot seven times with arrows.

"STAHL!" Chrom and one other voice shouted and ran to him. Another voice yelled, "Father!" Chrom propped up Stahl, who had fallen off his horse, and Maribelle tried to use her staff on him. "It's not working, and I can't safely pull out the arrows!"

"I can!" A man in priest's clothing with a scar on his face ran to him. "Here, Mother- I mean, Maribelle- put these leaves 'round the arrows and be ready to use a Mend spell." The troubadour quickly complied, placing the strange leaves that the priest produced from his satchel while he prepared to pull out an arrow. "This'll hurt. A lot."

"Better than dying." Stahl let out a cry of agony every time the strange priest pulled an arrow. This vicious cycle of extreme pain and sudden healing continued for a total of seven times until all of the arrows were out.

"I have to get back to the battle, but you'll need to tell me where you got that." As Chrom hurried away, Stahl turned to the young priest, who was getting ready to get up and run away, but Stahl grabbed his arm and held him there.

"You called me father, young man. And you called Maribelle mother as well." He looked over at the troubadour, who smiled happily. "So I have a son. What's your name?" Nervous at first, he replied, "My name's Brady, Pa." The name of Maribelle's father. "I'm s-so happy to see y'all both!"

"I can't believe it. My son speaks like a farm boy!" Stahl rolled his eyes and stood up to try to get Maribelle to ease up. "You need to speak more like a priest and a gentleman!"

"I'm orful sorry, Ma, it's just… Oh, Ma, I missed you so much!" He hugged Maribelle tight, who began to cry herself. "I hate to ruin the moment, but we do have a battle to attend to." Maribelle and Brady nodded and stood up, readying to head back into battle.

Chrom, meanwhile, had rejoined his wife in closing in on the leader of the group, Ezra. "You will pay for ruining my plans!" He leaped off his horse and shot an arrow at Sumia, crippling her Pegasus. Ezra deflected one Falchion swing from Chrom, but a leg slash from the other Falchion and an Elthunder from Sumia crippled the bow knight as Robin rushed to join them.

"Move one step closer," Ezra seized Robin and held his sword to the tactician's throat, "And he dies." Lucina readied a spear from a strap on her back and prepared to throw. Tharja and Noire had their weapons trained on the bow knight as well as he backed up into the forest.

"I must say, sir, I doubt I will sell very well as a slave compared to your previous 'business partners.'" Ezra moved the sword closer to Robin's neck, and blood started to trickle from his neck. "Fresh meat for the wolf tonight! You may have killed all of my men, but you can't beat me! My trade will live on-" Miriel hit him with a fire spell from behind as a Taguel burst from the bushes and tossed him into the air and a Manakete devoured him whole. "-For about ten more seconds!" She landed on the ground and regurgitated a sword and a bow.

"Ew. But thanks for the backup, Miriel, Panne, and Nowi." Robin turned back to the group to see the three people he mentioned looking right past him. "Wait, it wasn't you? Then who was-" Robin whirled around to see a male taguel, a girl with Ricken's hair, and a male mage with blonde hair.

"Let me guess," Chrom said, not entirely impressed. "You're Miriel and Libra's son, you're Ricken and Nowi's daughter, and you're Panne and Lon'qu's son." Nah happily nodded and ran happily to Nowi, who hugged her tightly, squealing with happiness while Panne, Lon'qu, Libra, and Miriel studied their respective children in a puzzled manner.

"Robin, are you alright?" Lucina ran to Robin as he wiped the blood from his neck. "No worries, it'll scab. But who's Noire's father?" Tharja quickly ran to him and said, "Why, you of course, Robin." Robin backed away while Noire shyly inserted, "Er, no…" Tharja went wide-eyed and whirled around as a deep voice said, "Why, you should all have been able to tell that the Vaike is her father!" Robin went wide-eyed just as much as every Shepherd when Noire exclaimed, "F-Father!" and ran to Vaike, laughing and crying happily.

"How did you know that I was your daughter?" Vaike chuckled happily as he held his daughter tight. "Yer father is called Teach for a reason! I saw you in battle earlier, and I knew that you were my daughter when I saw you fight!" The two laughed and cried together until Vaike was blasted away by Nosferatu.

"NO! IT CANNOT BE! I DID NOT MARRY A TOAD!" Tharja fired spell after spell at the axe-wielding hero until Robin and Lucina held her back. Noire, meanwhile, put her talisman back around her neck.

"SHUT UP, MOTHER! YOU TWO LIVE A HAPPY LIFE TOGETHER ONCE YOU FINALLY REALIZE YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH HIM AND TRY TO GIVE HIM A LOVE POTION AND HE PROPOSES BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN MAKE HIM DRINK IT! SO SHUT UP AND GIVE FATHER A CHANCE! HE MAY NOT BE AS FLUENT IN MAGIC AS YOU, BUT HE'S A FAR BETTER PARENT THAN YOU! ALL YOU DID FOR YEARS WAS TEST CURSES ON ME!" Tharja yanked herself free from Robin and Lucina's grip and ripped the talisman away from her daughter's neck.

"No daughter of mine needs a talisman to call upon the spirit's rage. You can do without it." Noire's demeanor immediately was more enraged until she realized that it was with no help from the talisman, at which point she settled down. As Chrom ordered the new and old shepherds back to camp, Robin waited up to talk to Laurent, who was staring as Noire walked away with her parents.

"What are you waiting for, Laurent?" Robin looked around, and there was nothing unusual about any of the Shepherds that he had gotten to know, which was basically all of the 1st generation ones.

"Noire is absolutely incredible!" Laurent laughed giddily. "I think I'm in love!"

"This is going to be an interesting few months." Grabbing Laurent by the arm, Robin began to head back to camp in order to get a new shirt for his dinner date.


"I was thinking we'd go somewhere nice, but not too high-class. Any other area would result in us being noticed too quickly." Lucina and Robin sat down at an outdoor table at a Valmese restaurant, eating grilled squid for an appetizer while birds flew overhead in the twilight.

"Robin, this is just fine." Lucina was overjoyed like never before. This was exactly what she'd wanted: a good memory to add to all of her terrible ones.

"By the way, sorry to change the topic, but what leaves was Brady using when he was healing Stahl earlier?" Lucina paused a second before replying, "He calls them leaves, but they were petals from Hoshidan flowers. They're used by Hoshidan monks to make healing tools called Festals." Robin nodded, clearly intrigued by all of this. "You sure know a lot that you don't tell anyone, Lucina. I'd love to hear more about stuff like that."

"I'd be happy to tell you about stuff like that. I'm sure it will let me keep your attention for hours longer than usual!" Robin and Lucina both laughed out loud, so loud that they didn't hear the three fighters climb over the fence by them.

"Hey you!" One of the fighters pushed Robin from behind in his chair. The tactician turned calmly to face them as Lucina gave them a wary look, determined to protect Robin if she needed to. "How can I help you gentlemen?"

"Don't play dumb with us," another man said, "You remember who we are, Dragon Bird." Lucina was puzzled now. Dragon Bird? "Yeah, you remember beating us to a pulp in Jamil's arena last week." Robin turned to Lucina and mouth the words what the hell are these guys talking about while the first man added, "They call you the Mystery Fist, but it doesn't take long to show who you truly are!" He grabbed Robin by the collar and threw him into another table, breaking the table.

In an instant, the man had an arm around his neck and Falchion at his throat. "Leave now if you value your lives." The two who didn't have a holy sword at their throat ran away as fast as they could. Lucina released the last one, who shouted, "The great Dragon Bird has to be defended by his girlfriend! Next time we face off in the arena, Mystery Fist, you will have no one to hide behind!" He jumped over the railing as the bouncer escorted Lucina and Robin out of the restaurant.

"Don't know who those guys are." Robin began to fall over, so Lucina put his arm around her shoulders and began to trudge to a carriage that could take them back to camp. "I tell you, Lucina, that guy hits like a truck." They climbed into the carriage and Lucina told the driver their destination as Robin sat up and rubbed his back.

"How's that for a first date, Lucina?" Robin smiled as he said this, but he looked somewhat sad as he spoke. Lucina put her hand on his shoulder, then leaned in and kissed him.

"It was just fine for me. Thank you, Robin."


"So you're telling me," Chrom said in a puzzled manner, "That Robin got into a bar fight earlier?" Lucina scratched the back of her neck and replied, "Uhh… yeah… Are you upset that he was drinking?"

"No, I'm upset that he didn't invite ME! He could've won the fight! I've been asking him if he wants to join me for a night out, and now he goes off and gets beat up and hammered on his own!" Lucina, in her usual lack of humor, was wide-eyed at this sudden rant.

"No matter. Is he being tended to by a healer?" Lucina nodded. "Good. I'm going to have a talk with him tomorrow and force him to join the other guys for a night on the town!" Severely weirded out, Lucina exited the tent to find her mother standing outside.

"A very odd first date, I hear. Don't worry, the first one always is."