Disclaimer: Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.
Characters: Chrom, Robin, mentions of Morgan, Lucina and Validar.
Pairings: Chrom/Robin.
Warnings: Spoilers for Chapter 13 and beyond, specifically Chapter 21.
Author's Notes: It's usually a Lord who has my favourite pairing in the game, and Awakening is no different. Maybe it's because of the incredible amounts of screentime they get together, but Chrom/Robin is thus far my absolute favourite in Awakening, although not quite my favourite across Fire Emblem as a whole.

I told my friend I wanted to write a Chrom/Robin fic but didn't have a prompt. He gave me 'comfort fic after Validar makes her steal the emblem.' Done.

Chrom fiddled with the package in his hands, waiting outside of Robin's tent. He tried to tell himself there was no reason to be nervous, he was past that. He'd done the nervous and sweating and heart-pounding-in-throat thing when he'd proposed to her. He was just giving her a gift to cheer her up… a gift the cost of which had run well into the quadruple digits. Well, hell. He was the Exalt of Ylisse, money was no object. Certainly not if it was to cheer up Robin.

Going to Plegia Castle for the last Gemstone, to complete the Fire Emblem, had turned out to have been a dreadful mistake. King Validar had ambushed them, using Sable as bait to lure them into a trap. He had failed to kill Chrom and his family, but by using some strange sort of magic on Robin, he'd taken the Fire Emblem… or rather, had made her take it from Chrom and give it to him. It was fortunate that she had shaken the spell, and they had escaped the castle.

However, Chrom wouldn't say she had snapped out of it. She'd shaken it off for the sake of getting everyone to safety, but ever since fleeing the castle, she had been avoiding him, afraid that somehow from wherever he was hiding, Validar would try to control her again and make her attack Chrom.

It had gotten bad enough that Robin slept in a separate tent. It was ridiculous, but Chrom lacked the words to comfort her and assure her nothing would happen. Against his better judgment, he'd asked Morgan what to do; the kid might have been of questionable sanity and poor memory, but his memories of his mother were apparently as crisp and clear as could be. He probably knew Robin better than she knew herself.

For the umpteenth time, Chrom turned the package over in his hands and he shook his head. This was ridiculous. He and Robin were married and they had a child, for crying out loud. When she had accepted his proposal, they had agreed that their marriage shouldn't get in the way of combat matters, so why was she letting THIS get in the way of their marriage? Taking a breath, he shoved aside the tent flap and walked in.

Robin had her back turned to the entrance, working on something at the small desk she'd moved from Chrom's tent into this one. "Not now, Morgan... I told you to stay away."

"I'm not Morgan," Chrom said. The results were spectacular; Robin jolted from her chair, turning around mid-jump and pressing herself back against the desk while grabbing onto the surface so hard her knuckles turned white. Her eyes flitted around the tent, but Chrom was blocking the only exit with his body. "I brought you something. We haven't been in town together for ages, but Morgan said you'd like it." He held the package out to her, which prompted her to look at it as if it was a poisoned dagger he was offering her tip-first. Finally, she took it with shaking hands, tearing the paper off of it to reveal the cover underneath.

When she recognized the cover to what Chrom had been told was a rare and powerful magic tome, she bit her lip and put it on the desk before grabbing her wrist, seemingly trying to stop her hands from shaking. "…are you bringing me a way to kill you quickly and painlessly when he takes control of me again?" she asked, refusing to meet his gaze.

"What?" he said, his brain needing a few seconds to process this reaction. "No!" He felt himself getting angry. "Dear Naga, Robin. Validar is not going to possess you and kill me as soon as you get within thirty feet of me, or talk to me, or look at me…"

"But he is, Chrom." Robin had put her arms around herself and still avoided his gaze. "You saw what happened in the castle. There's no telling what he can make me do."

"Robin, you're killing me as is!" Chrom stepped forward so she was within his range, and grabbed her shoulders. The shock and fear on her face broke his heart, but if he didn't act now, this would only get worse. "I love you, for crying out loud! If I have to spend one more night alone, without you by my side, I'm going to lose my mind!" Robin shook, her head lowered. Chrom calmed down at the sight of his wife crying, realising shouting at her wasn't helping. "Don't you see you're giving Validar exactly what he wants? You're letting him drive us apart."

"…seen what I have." She muttered something under her breath, but he couldn't hear.

"Robin?"

"You haven't seen what I have!" She screamed, making him jolt and squeeze her shoulders harder in surprise. "Lucina was right, Chrom! In her future, it was me who killed you! Validar will make me do it again- please don't make me turn that nightmare into a reality!"

Silence fell between the two, and Robin finally shook Chrom's hands off of her. He realised what her words meant. It wasn't unusual for her to be tossing, turning, and groaning in her sleep, only to wake up bathing in sweat and grabbing on to him like a vicegrip. Now he knew why. Whenever she did that, her nightmares… she'd seen herself kill him, like Lucina had said she would do.

Deep down inside, Chrom knew it was a very real possibility. He HAD seen how easy it had been for Validar to make Robin steal the Fire Emblem from him. He KNEW that in Lucina's timeline, he was dead and Robin had killed him.

But he had also seen that Robin had struggled against Validar's mind control. She didn't blindly obey. He had also noticed that Validar had used his own body and magic to strike him down and paralyze him so Robin could take the Fire Emblem without him resisting. "Validar's control over you is not absolute," he said. "You can fight it. You HAVE fought it." He put one hand on her shoulder again, more gently and closer to her neck this time, while he used his other hand to wipe away the tears he saw streaming down her face. "We'll be fine. Don't let the bastard rob me of my wife, Robin. Please."

"Chrom… wh-what if…" Finally, she broke. He'd broken down the wall she'd pulled up between them. She came closer to him, embracing him and resting her head on his chest. "Morgan and Lucina… they're his grandchildren. What if he can control them, too?"

"I won't let him," Chrom said, petting the back of her head. "And I know you won't, either. The second he lays a hand on the children, be it physical or magical, he'll have Falchion and that tome to explain himself to."

When Robin finally broke the embrace, she turned to the desk to take another look at the tome. "…yes," she said. "We'll… we'll figure it out."

They'd figure it out. They always had, and they weren't going to stop now. As long as Chrom had Robin, he didn't care what Validar threw at them. She had once said there were invisible ties binding them. He hadn't known what she'd meant at the time, but now he felt their presence as surely as he breathed. And he felt they were something worth fighting for. No one, Validar or otherwise, could take that away from them. No matter the danger.

Additional Author's Notes: Brace yourselves. The Awakening fics are coming.