A Day in the Life of a Commander

Summary: He wanted to know exactly how many problems could arise in a single day. Surely, he had reached the limit of things going wrong. Surely that meant that things could only start to look brighter from there. Though, perhaps things looking brighter, is really only the result of looking at them differently.

"They were an odd bunch but, in reality, what family was ever completely without its quirks? If a man was defined by those who stood at his side, then he was indeed a lucky commander to have such men as these. Those who followed him unwaveringly through trials as well as victory, joy as well as pain."

A/N: As of recently, I have found myself wondering what it would be like for Chrom to observe, and sometimes deal with, all the support conversation business that goes on between his men from his position as commander of the army. I also wondered how he would deal with all the heartbreak, hilarity, moments of quiet and excitement, love, and general bro-ness that ensues because of it all. I have had this idea and the rough draft for a while now and finally found enough courage to post it. I enjoyed planning this out and writing it and, it is my dearest wish that you will all enjoy reading it. :)

Morning- Ambush

"Heads up!"

Sumia's voice rang through the shadows of the pre-dawn forest. Chrom leaped out of the way of a speeding arrow seconds before it hit him. With a deft flick of his wrist, he thrust his blade Falchion through the Risen archer who had shot it.

"Thanks," he grunted, allowing his tensed muscles to relax slightly as his gaze took in the apparent lack of foes nearby.

He had long since learned to take advantages of the lulls in battle when they came. He relaxed his muscles but not his guard, never his guard. He silently cursed the thick forest around him. Ever since they had entered its dark depths to cross the border from Ferox to Plegia, to say there had been nothing but trouble would have been an understatement.

To think that this was supposed to have been a peaceful diplomatic mission to Plegia to ask for aid. Valm was leading a campaign against their continent and they needed ships. Chrom thought that simply trying to meet and negotiate with Ylisse's former enemies would be a task difficult enough in itself, without the added dangers that they now faced. They had not even made it to Plegia, so hindered had they been by the hidden treacherous nature of these beautiful pine mountain foothills.

This day was no exception to their struggles. His Shepherds had been awakened a couple hours before sunrise when Frederick, Chrom's head knight, had spotted a skirmish army of Risen while on his watch, intending to catch their army off guard. They had since driven the enemy off and had nearly defeated them. Unfortunately, the rocky, thickly forested foothills of the mountains had forced them to divide their forces leaving them to fight skirmish guerrilla style rather than their typical battle formations. Consequently, Chrom found that his half of the split forces were spread thin throughout the mossy trees.

Sumia landed her Pegasus at his side, her beautiful light mouse brown hair streaming behind her in the early morning breeze. His eyes softened slightly as he looked at her, to him she was always more beautiful than any of the flowers she used for her fortunes. He quickly shook his head back into focus- now was definitely not the time for him to go all ogle eyed.

"I think one of the Risen slipped through our attack," she told him softly, her tone concerned.

Chrom frowned at her words then turned swiftly as he caught a fleeting motion in his peripheral vision. He saw the silken streaming fabric and flowing light lavender pink hair of Olivia the dancer. She was followed closely by the black cloaked thief Gaius- whom Chrom might have missed entirely, such was his practiced stealthy movements from shadow to shadow- if it were not for his bright copper-red hair.

"Those two will get it," he said.

Olivia and Gaius were some of his nimblest troops and he did not doubt their capabilities. Sumia nodded her agreement. Olivia and Gaius were both known to dislike killing, but their reservations did not extend to the resurrected dead, soulless, creatures of evil they fought now. Chrom could not say he liked fighting real humans either, but he would do anything to protect the ones who could not defend themselves. His eyes flicked to the spot where the Risen he had slain had previously lain; only to see that it had vanished, dissolved into a noxious purple haze. A blackened stretch of ground was the only remnants of its gruesome presence. He shuddered.

When he looked back up, he saw Frederick and the taugel Panne heading towards him for a rally so they could regroup. Chrom called Gaius and Olivia's names but was interrupted by Sumia.

"Captain look!"

Chrom followed her pointing finger to see Robin, his tactician and best friend, dash towards him, worry etched upon her features.

She had been leading the second half of his forces, and she was not one to just abandon her troops and run off before she saw the fruition of her plans. The absence of the taciturn sword master Lon'qu only added to his worry, for she had paired herself up with him at the start of the fight.

Despite Lon'qu's reservations around females, he and Robin made a formidable team on the field of battle. The Myrmidon warrior normally turned into an ill at ease half of himself in the presence of ladies, but somehow Robin seemed to have alleviated some of his trepidation so that they had almost become close friends even off the battle field.

Robin had a knack for creating perfect matches for battle partners during a fight, they varied depending on the situation and were often some of the most unlikely, but they turned out to work extremely well- like Frederick and Panne for instance. Robin could instantly see both the big and small pictures of anything and know what it would take to win and how to go about it. Tangent aside, he rushed towards her, knowing something was seriously amiss.

"What's wrong? Where's Lon'qu?" he asked in a rush of worry.

"Chrom!" she gasped with a frown, "I left Lon'qu to hold the line. Our army is in serious trouble. I had thought that when I split our forces to compensate for the way the enemy split themselves to hide on either side of this edifice," she gestured to the thirty foot tall mica encrusted granite outcropping of rock to their right which split the forested valley they were fighting in right down the middle, "I thought each half of our army would be facing an equal number of foes. By all rights it should have been, but it's as if the enemy caught wind of our scheme, almost like we had an informant blab secrets. The other half of our forces have met with heavy resistance, if we don't send help they will be overwhelmed."

"Oh, no," Olivia declaimed, who in responding to Chrom's earlier call had finally joined them and heard Robin's last words.

"Where's Gaius?" Chrom asked noticing the absence of the thief from her side.

"I thought he was right behind me, but he disappeared," Olivia whispered with a blush, obviously not enjoying the stares of everyone around her.

"I saw Gaius sneak out of camp last night, he disappears now when everything goes wrong, and Robin thinks there is a traitor amongst us," Frederick spoke with a frown, "forgive me for saying so but that seems extremely suspicious."

"B-but Gaius wouldn't-" Olivia started to protest but was cut off by the furious knight.

"Gaius is a thief; Milord only let him join us because he had use of his skill for thwarting the assassination attempt on Emmeryn. Once you start down the dark path it only ever gets easier to step farther." Frederick mumbled the last part as if speaking to himself.

Chrom frowned at the accusation. Frederick had always been very wary and extremely protective of his close friends, he knew because they had practically grown up together. Almost nothing meant more to him than honor and loyalty, which made him slow to trust or respect anyone. It had been that way with Robin at first.

Chrom trusted Gaius as did most of his Shepherds, but it was true that something was not adding up, and with all the evidence and way things were turning out, Gaius was not smelling much like the proverbial rose at the moment. He quickly thrust those thoughts aside, this had no bearing with the immediate situation at hand, his troops were in danger. He could deal with this later.

"Now is not the time," he warned Frederick, and his first knight nodded. "Right," Chrom said. Signaling for his troops to follow, he began to lead them away.

"Wait Chrom! Let the others go, I have another plan," Robin called.

Chrom nodded and gestured for the others to go on without him. They shot him slightly apprehensive glances but obeyed none the less.

"There is a bit of a clearing up ahead and I want you to meet me there," his tactician said in a rush. "I'll catch up with you as soon as I can."

Chrom agreed and set off in the direction she had indicated. Her instructions did, admittedly, seem odd, but a few of her more brilliant schemes had seemed that way at first. She had gotten him out of many a tight situation and he trusted her with his life; more than that, he trusted her with the lives those under his command.

"I will be right there," she assured him as she backed off into the shifting shadows of the surrounding tress.

Her normal expression seemed to flicker for a fraction of a moment. Her eyes seemed to harden and an uncharacteristic smirk, that more mirrored a leer, spread across her face. Before Chrom could puzzle at it, she was gone. Shrugging it off, he dashed towards the clearing.

~x~X~x~

Sumia urged her Pegasus to faster speeds as she reached the edge of the rock outcropping and made a sharp dangerous swooping turn around it so it was to her left. The suddenness of the motion nearly knocked her off her graceful mount and she scrabbled frantically at her steed's mane to steady herself, nearly dropping her lance in the process. She righted herself swiftly and speed towards where the other half of their forces were embattled, cursing herself for being clumsy.

She frowned in confusion. There were Risen, that was true, but they were nowhere near the numbers that Robin had indicated and it appeared that the Shepherd forces were acquitting themselves well. What she saw next caused her to gasp in shock. It was a sound that was echoed by the other reinforcements behind her. Robin was at the head of the army with Lon'qu at her side.

Sumia felt her brow furrow in concerned suspicion. She had a reputation amongst her fellow soldiers for having a tendency to be a bit scatterbrained on occasion, but even she knew that there was absolutely no way Robin could have gotten there before them. Something was terribly wrong.

Robin must have seen them for she signaled Sully, Libra, and Stahl to take charge before she and Lon'qu ran towards them, followed by Maribelle.

When Robin took in their horrified faces, her own crinkled with worry.

Sumia heard Frederick begin to breathlessly explain what had occurred. As he talked, Robin's expression grew more disturbed.

"That wasn't me, I've been here the whole time," she whispered.

"It's true," Lon'qu affirmed shortly.

"There is only one reason I can think of to explain what has just occurred—a trap." Robin mused softly, "I fear Chrom is in danger- we need to get to him as soon as possible."

"Climb on!" Sumia said, and Robin mounted her Pegasus behind her. Frederick extend the same offer to Lon'qu and they sped off back the way they had come, followed by Panne, Olivia, Maribelle, and a curious Tharja on foot. The rest of the Shepherds stayed behind to finish off the remaining Risen.

Sumia turned the corner sharply again, but this time with more control. She felt Robin's arms encircle her and hold on tightly as she urged her steed up over the treetops towards where they had last seen Chrom.

Sumia felt her breath hitch when she caught sight of a clearing up ahead. The granite edifice- the source of all their consternation- looped slightly around the edge of the clearing to make a U-shape. There, backed against the cold wall of the cliffs was Chrom and, surrounding him on all other sides, was about twenty Risen warriors. The man she loved was fighting like a demon, but even he hardly stood a chance against so many.

"Try to fly over the Risen. See if we can get at him from above."

Sumia could tell by the tight, horror filled tone of Robin's voice that she was just as terrified for their leader's life as she was.

Wordlessly, Sumia guided her pegasus towards the one-sided battle, only to be driven back by countless arrows. The heavy shafted bolts were fired at them as soon as they were spotted within range.

"I can't get to him in such heavy fire," Sumia exclaimed miserably, on the verge of panicking, "We will be shot down. There is no way I can possibly reach him." Her voice tightened with anguish.

Chrom's sword glistened. The first rays of the rising sun reflected of its surface as he twirled it expertly around himself in a deadly display of mastery. A pile of dissolving Risen carcasses lay by his feet, but any fool could see that he was overwhelmed. It would only be a matter of time before an enemy slipped past his guard.

"We will just have to fight our way to him from the ground," Robin said.

Sumia guided her mount downwards towards the back of the mass of foes. They arrived on the ground at the same time as Panne in her taguel form, Lon'qu and Frederick.

The first knight charged forward immediately, lance outward in perfect form, a battle cry emanating from his lips. Sumia had hardly ever seen Frederick so furiously desperate in his manner of attack. As Frederick charged forward into the enemy lines, Lon'qu leaped of the back of Frederick's charger, and landed, sword flashing, into the ranks of enemy soldiers, scattering them like wheat at harvest day. With Panne and Robin on Frederick's left and the recently arrived Tharja and Maribelle with Lon'qu on the right, they began to carve a path to their leader as they attacked in a near perfect wedge formation.

Sumia felt tears prickle her eyes. From her slightly elevated position, she could see Chrom was tiring. Two years of marriage to the warrior prince, years of fighting at his side and training with him had made her attuned to him. Deep down, she knew that, despite her friends' valiant efforts, they would never reach their captain in time. She was about to lose the person she loved most in this world.

With a scream of anguish she began to guide her Pegasus back up to the sky to re-try her earlier failed desperate gambit. She wished with all her heart that she was stronger, and prayed that she could find a way to save the man who had always loved her for who she was, despite what she perceived as shortcomings, the man who was the father of their child and shared her heart.

She stilled suddenly as her sharp silvery mouse-brown eyes caught sight of a black shadow by the largest tree near the edge of the 'U' shaped granite escarpment. The shadow had been unnoticed by the enemy as he had come unexpectedly from the side. Sumia recognized the stealthy moving figure as Gaius.

She watched as the thief scaled the massive tree with all the agility of a squirrel. When he was about thirty feet up and at a parallel height to the cliff's top, he dashed out across a thick bow of the huge pine and leaped the twelve feet from the branch to the sheer wall of stone. He just caught the ledge with his hands and slowly pulled himself over the top, boots searching for footholds in the granite.

He scrabbled over the edge and then ran across the flat top of the cliff to where Chrom fought below him. Sumia felt her heart fill slightly with hope. Perhaps Gaius's shortcut would buy them the time they so desperately needed. Her determination bolstered, she landed her steed amidst the Risen forces with a wild battle cry.

~x~X~x~

Chrom felt his arm tremble slightly as his blade and the axe of a foe met in a grind. He disentangled his weapon quickly and dispatched the dark creature only just in time to duck another axe and parry a sword thrust.

In following Robin's instructions, he had managed to walk straight into an ambush. He had lost count of how many enemies he had slain. He knew he was tiring. The solid wall of the cliff face behind him was proving to be his greatest asset yet also his greatest curse. Without its solid presence guarding his back, he would have long since fallen, but as it was, he was cornered by it with no way to escape.

Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes. His muscles burned form the exertion and still the enemy came at him. They were like a never-ending tidal wave. In the distance he saw seven of his men fighting desperately towards him, and that small sidelong glance nearly cost him his eye. He dodged, but blood poured down from the slight graze and half blinded him. There were just so many of the enemy, he knew he could not hold out much longer. He knew his friends would never reach him in time. If he fell, he would surly die.

A spear butt slipped passed his guard and cracked him in the side. As he reeled back, a massive axe thrust pushed him further off balance. The tail end of a magic attack blasted him to his back. As he fell, he saw his friends' wide terrified desperate eyes. Even Tharja looked horrified. He could hear many of them screaming out his name as he hit the cold unforgiving ground with a dull thud.

He was down and he knew he was finished. He stared numbly in to the dead glowing eyes of a Risen warrior as the monster raised its axe to end his life. All Chrom could think was that this was not how or when he had wanted to die. The risen axe-man began to bring down his weapon in a deadly gleaming arc. Something black detached itself from about halfway down the cliff face directly above him, and with a cocky cry of, "sneak attack!" landed on Chrom's would be murderer and crushed the Risen, using its monstrous body as a shock absorber.

"Gaius," Chrom gasped.

"Yup," the thief shot him a grin and parried the sword thrust of Chrom's next attacker. "Oh, rejected!" he mocked as he pushed the solder back.

Filled with new hope and strength, Chrom leaped to his feet and placed himself back to back with Gaius.

"Where in Ylisse did you come from?" Chrom asked as they fought.

"Up," Gaius replied with a chuckle.

"I could see that," Chrom resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "But I mean how did you get here, or rather up there?"

"I saw you needed a hand. So I climbed."

Chrom could tell by the sound of the thief's voice that he was smirking and Chrom could not hold back a grin of his own.

"Let's see if we can fight our way free; skirt the cliff and move to the right!"

"Got it, Blue," came the reply.

The two began to move, their swords carving themselves a desperate path to freedom.

As they neared the edge of the swarming mass of attackers, the sound of countless twanging bow strings filled the air. About ten of the Risen had notched arrows to their bows aimed and fired straight at the thief, and Chrom's back. An arrow whizzed past Chrom's ear from behind, followed by two successive dull clanking sounds as the thief batted two others aside with a sudden lightning fast movement of his sword. He heard Gaius gasp suddenly behind him, followed by a strangled muted cry. Chrom tore his eyes off the enemy for the fraction of a second it took to glace behind him, only to see that Gaius was still standing at his back.

"Hang on! Were nearly free," Chrom assured. He got only a muffled grunt in answer.

Chrom lost himself in battle fury, he acted and reacted to every Risen in his way and soon he realized he was swinging his blade at nothing. They had made it through the insurmountable press, and pushed through the enemy's weakened right flank. Grinning, he turned towards Gaius only to be met by empty air.

"Gaius?" he whirled around, searching the battlefield he had just come through.

In the distance, he saw his men engaging the last the Risen ambush party. Directly in front of him were the slowly dissolving husks of the Risen he and Gaius had slain. Chrom dashed back through their midst until he found what he was searching for- baggy black pants tucked into grieves and black boots, a grey and black tunic framed by a flowing black cloak, and a bright shock of silky straight copper-red hair surrounded by a darker stain of heart clenching red. And that stain of red could only belong to him for Risen could not bleed.

Chrom felt his breath hitch as he raced to where the thief lay. The grey goose-feathered shaft of an arrow protruded from his chest near his shoulder, his left forearm sprawled at and awkward angle, broken like the gauntlet above it, a red stain wetting the black of his sleeve and the ground beside it. It was as if, in desperation, he had thrown up an arm to ward of an axe blow and his bracer had not been able to fully shield him from the hit. His face was even more pale than usual, his eyes closed, his mouth for once devoid of the characteristic sucker-stick that usually occupied it. If it weren't for the shallow shuddering rise and fall of his chest Chrom would have feared the worst.

He knelt at his side, whilst searching his person for any healing equipment. His search was rewarded only with near empty bottle of vulnary. Gaius's eyes flicked open and he fixed Chrom with a sad shadow excuse of his cocky smile.

"Guess I got careless," he grunted, his voice thick with pain, "but obviously even the swiftest thief can't dodge every arrow in a volley," his breathless chuckle ended in a groan.

Careless dodging? Chrom wondered with a pang. He knew that Gaius had tried to block all the arrows with his sword. They had been standing back to back and the arrows had been aimed at the thief's front. If Gaius had, in fact, dodged, Chrom knew he would be the one with an arrow in his back instead of the thief with one in his chest.

"I owe you my life," Chrom whispered softly, "thanks."

"Consider us even, you've saved my hide more times than I can count," another half-smile.

Chrom clenched his teeth, "I'm going to get the arrow out, alright?"

Gaius nodded. That was by far his most dangerous wound and it needed to be taken care of quickly. Everyone else was too busy with the last of the enemy to be of any help so the task fell to him. Though his supply of vulnary was small he was sure it would suffice to stop the bleeding, if nothing else. Chrom gently lifted Gaius up to see that the arrow had passed clean through him.

That, at least was a bit of a blessing. All he would have to do would be to break off the head and pull it out. Chrom bit his lip when he saw the massive barbed head of the arrow, made especially for piecing armor and bone. Its size in comparison to the shaft was a sure explanation for the bleeding. He took a breath to steady himself- he knew well how badly what he was about to do hurt.

"Ready?" he asked.

Gaius clenched his right hand and nodded. Chrom tried to make it as quick and as painless as possible. He closed his eyes and winced at the sound of the thief's cry. When it was out, he quickly poured vulnary into the entry and exit wounds, to stop him from bleeding to death. He watched as it took effect and mended the torn muscles and flesh. By this time, Gaius was only semi-conscious, staring blankly at him through half-silted eyes. Chrom cursed the Risen for about the millionth time that day.

Grimacing, he turned his attention to the thief's arm. He gently took it in his hands and began to carefully remove the broken gauntlet to see the extent of the damage to the limb. Gaius's hazel-green eyes suddenly went wide with pain, and surprisingly, with what Chrom interpreted as terror. All hints of his casual manner were gone. Perhaps it was this sudden change which startled Chrom the most.

The thief opened his mouth as if to speak but no words came out only a muted strangled sound. His right hand shakily flew towards Chrom and desperately but weakly tried to pry his captain's hands of his injured forearm.

"Gaius, hold still. I need to see how bad it is," he pushed the questing fingers away.

"P-please Chrom," Gaius chocked, his uninjured hand once again trying to stop his commander.

The use of his real name instead of the friendly nickname, Blue, which Gaius usually called him by, caught Chrom off-guard.

"Stop it! I'm trying to help," he tried to say gently through his growing exasperation, "you will only hurt yourself if you keep struggling."

Gaius did not stop. Chrom was about to get annoyed, when he was startled by a soft voice behind him.

"Why not let me try?" Robin stepped forward. "It's his left arm, is it not?" she said with a slight sigh, more as a statement of fact then an actual question. Her stormy eyes filled with concern as she took in the state of her fallen friend.

"Oh, Gaius," she whispered as she knelt beside him. She did not bother to ask if he was alright for she could see well enough that he wasn't. Chrom could see the worried pain on her face as she leaned towards one of her closest friends, her hand giving a feather soft yet fleeting touch on his ashen cheek.

"May I see it?" she finally asked, gently.

Much to Chrom's consternation Gaius agreed. He glared at the pair with a raised eyebrow and did not miss the slight secretive look that passed between them, as he placed the thief's badly broken arm in his tactician's care.

"Why do I feel as if I have been left out of the loop?" he asked suspiciously.

Robin shot him a sympathetic glance, the effects of which were somewhat spoiled by her next comment.

"Maybe he just wanted a more gentle, caring healer?" she suggested all too innocently.

Chrom snorted, "I was being gentle."

"Says the man who decimates the camp every time he trains."

Her teasing smile turned into a wince as she took in some of the damage to the arm without even removing the gauntlet. Gaius was quickly losing consciousness from the pain and blood loss. A shadow fell across them and Chrom, Robin, and even Gaius, looked up to see a stern looking Maribelle. She eyed the stricken thief with an expression akin to distaste, and a glare so hard it made even Chrom feel uncomfortable. Gaius seemed to blanch further, if it was at all possible, his previously terrified hazel orbs filling with shame or regret, perhaps.

"I-I'm s-sorry," Gaius muttered, his eyes continuing to dull as he slipped further.

Maribelle's eyes softened ever so slightly. She brought down her cleric's staff towards his bloody injured arm, intent on mending the bone and gash. Gaius's teeth were clenched in pain as he tried to contain a gasping moan. As Maribelle continued her ministrations however, his breathing calmed and his body relaxed fractionally.

'What was that about?' he thought at Robin, while the healer worked.

She caught his questioning look and shrugged. Chrom liked to think he knew everything about his men, but obviously that was not a true as he had hoped. Maribelle usually had the poise and bearing of a proper lady, but if someone got on her bad side, there would be hell to pay. Maribelle ignored his potent glance of inquiry and flounced away amidst the rustle of petticoats as soon as she was finished.

"Why do I feel as if I have been left out of the loop again?"

"Probably because you have been?" Robin suggested unhelpfully as she bent over Gaius.

She removed his ruined gauntlet, and dressed the freshly healed wound with surprising speed, before Chrom could even get a good look. All he saw was a fleeting glimpse of something black, a tattoo perhaps? Although it was mended, it was going to be very sore for a while, Chrom knew.

Gaius muttered the nickname he had given Robin before his eyes shut completely and his consciousness finally left him.

Sighing, Chrom picked up the limp body of the thief, which was much lighter than he had expected- considering his obsession with sugary treats. In fact, his slender well-muscled and fit body gave no indication whatsoever to his sweet tooth. He held him bridal style and turned to trudge wearily back to camp.

He glared at the barely risen run. If the beginning of a day gave any indication as to how the rest would play out, this was probably going to be an excruciating one.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you all have the most pleasant of weeks until next time! I really appreciate feedback and constructive criticism. I plan for this tale to be about five chapters long, and the next chapter should be up about this time next week. Thanks again!