Tharja could not help but be suspicious of Gangrel.

Even though she had once served in his army, she had never been truly loyal to him and had not particularly cared if he died for what he did to both Plegia and Ylisse. That was why abandoning his doomed cause and joining the Shepherds had been so easy for her. However, they were now on the same side and she had to deal with him cozying up to Robin like a dog who was starved for attention.

It was disgusting, really.

Hidden in the shadows, Tharja watched as Gangrel waited for Robin and Anna to come back from running their errands. Then, after the merchant left, she followed them when they went to the tactician's room to "talk." She had a feeling that there was more to it than that when she heard the faint click of the door's lock.

That was questionable, to say the least.

Tharja then waited until the door opened and Gangrel took his leave before sneaking into the room to speak with Robin, who was in the middle of packing the last of her belongings into her trunk.

"My, my... It's not like you to still be getting ready at the eleventh hour, Robin."

Robin, startled, spun around to look at her. "Tharja?! What have I told you about sneaking around like that?"

"Not to."

"Yes, so, please, stop." Robin crossed her arms. "Anyway, can I help you with something?"

"No, actually. I'm offering to help you." Tharja smiled, looking at the tactician through her fringe. "I couldn't help but notice how Gangrel's been hounding you. If you're not careful, people will begin whisper. I doubt they'll say anything good."

"What...?" Robin frowned. "How long have you been spying on us?"

"Not long. Can't I be concerned for my dearest friend?"

"I'm fine with you being concerned about me, but I can take care of myself. I have everything under control."

"Do you, though?"

"Yes, I do."

Tharja's smile became a touch more sinister. "All it would take is a little curse to make him leave you alone for good. If he ever goes too far, just say the word and I'll take care of him for you."

"You will not be cursing Gangrel." Robin said firmly, shaking her head. "I want to talk this over some more, but we'll be departing soon, so it'll have to wait until we're on the ship. Is that okay you?"

"I guess..." said Tharja sullenly.

Robin was never the kind of person to dismiss someone without a good reason, but being brushed off like that still stung.

Robin felt bad for telling Tharja to leave like that, but the dark mage's insinuations had struck a nerve. She was ashamed to admit it to herself, but it was how she felt. All she was doing was helping Gangrel back onto his feet so that he could support himself in the future. Nothing more, nothing less.

Or was she?

Now that she thought about it, she was one of the few women among the Shepherds who were not in a relationship. Tharja, Miriel, and Cherche were the other three. The wyvern rider had been recruited recently, so it was normal that she would have few connections other than Virion at the moment, but Tharja had joined the militia a couple years ago and Miriel had been a part of it for longer than that.

They were the only ones to not have any children from the future...so far as they knew. Lucina and the others were eager to share what they knew of times yet to come, but all of them became rather quiet when asked if there were more of them. That could mean many things.

The thing she wondered about the most was whether she had a child that Lucina had neglected to mention or not. And if she had a child, who the father.

Also, she wondered whether rekindling things with Frederick would be a wise idea.

Few people were privy to this knowledge, but Robin had been a relationship before. Two, in fact. The first with Chrom and the second with Frederick.

When she had been with Chrom, it was because he was her best friend and she had been told that strong relationships could be formed from strong friendships. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way. Despite the strange circumstances that surrounded how they had first met, Chrom loved and trusted her more than anyone else, but she could not handle how quickly their relationship was moving. She was not ready to marry him, become the Queen of Ylisse, and bear his children. Thankfully, he understood her needs, and was happy to remain friends.

When she had been with Frederick, it was because they had bonded over the mutual guilt they felt because of the late Exalt's death. Her plans should have been good enough to ensure Emmeryn's safety. His role as Emmeryn's retainer should have pushed him to fight hard enough to rescue her. They had both failed, and no one quite understood who they felt except for each other. However, they were only able to take comfort in each other for so long before the pressure of making their relationship public was too much and they both decided that it was best to call it off and simply be comrades-in-arms.

Robin had loved Chrom and Frederick and they had loved her in return, but it was far too late to even think of being with the prince and she was unsure of whether the knight would want to be with her again. If he didn't, then she would have to find someone else to be with.

But why was she interested in Gangrel of all people?

She knew that he had died as an enemy of Ylisse during the war of Lucina's time, so there was no chance in hell that he was her husband or the father of her child then. But things were different this time around. He was alive and a member of the Shepherds. He was even making the effort to be nice to the point where she could swear that he was flirting with her.

Perhaps Robin was interested in Gangrel because she wanted to prove that she could change her fate and live a life that was different from her future self. It was a selfish reason, but it was still a reason.

Author's Note:

I'M NOT DEAD

The end of the semester was busy. Writer's block kicked in and made it difficult to write for a while. I still lacked motivation to work on this story when writer's block wasn't kicking my ass, so that's why I started a Robin/Gangrel drabble/ficlet collection that you should totally check out because it's great and you can request stuff.

There, that's why it's taken me so long to update. I'm sorry the chapter's so damn short.

Also, I'm in the middle of revising chapters 2-9 of this story. I already revised and updated chapter 1 since it was fairly easy to do, but the other chapters will take a bit more work since I have to rearrange a bunch of stuff to make it all flow better. Please be patient with me during this time. I promise it'll be worth it.