Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem

"Chrom?"

The blue-haired man formerly known as a prince lifted his head. "What?!" he snapped angrily.

Robin flinched behind the partially opened door. "You've been in there a long time," she said quietly. "Morgan wants a bedtime story."

"Just tell him I'll be out in a minute," he murmured.

Robin stepped into the room. "But he's worried about you. If you could just come out for a moment and-"

He whipped around and threw a glass bottle in her direction. It shattered against the wall. "I told you I'll be out in a minute!" he screamed.

Robin flinched and scrambled back towards the door. She could see he had been crying. Her heart pounding, she slammed the door behind her. She could still hear muffled noises from inside. Don't tell me he's breaking stuff again. She clenched her hands into fists as waves of frustration washed over her. "Not anymore…" she murmured to herself. She headed to her quarters, her steps dripping with fatigue.

Robin felt herself snap awake with the terror that she couldn't breathe. As her eyes took a second to adjust, she could see that Chrom was on top of her, choking her. As she thrashed and struggled, she could see the mad, crazy look in his eyes. The deranged, blind rage.

"You made me do this," he hissed.

Blindly groping around her, Robin had the incredible luck of resting her hand upon an Arcthunder tome sitting on the bedstand. Even though she knew her chances were slim, she made a desperate grab for living and tried to summon the magic from it. She succeeded, and a brilliant flash rang out for a split second. Chrom went flying against the wall and crumpled down on the ground. Robin leaped out of the bed and ran blindly down the seemingly endless halls. My husband just tried to kill me. The thought resounded throughout her head, obstructing all rational thought. As she finally located the front entrance and ran outside, she could hear Chrom's enraged shouting from inside the palace. Her terrified mind only taking note of the words, she kicked up her speed another notch and headed into town. Her feet bled and she distinctly felt her toenail get caught on a stray stone and tear off. Despite the pain, she did not dare stop for even a moment. The fatigue didn't even catch up to her until she was well into town. As she slumped against the side of the building, she directed her attention towards the faint light emanating from the distance. She looked back towards the palace and the source of the light and could see that the palace was on fire. He wouldn't! she thought in disbelief as she saw the licking flames rise higher and higher.

"Lucina! Morgan!" she screamed as she slumped down onto the ground. As her tears fell freely, she desperately tried to find a positive thought to rekindle her hope. They probably got out. Chrom wouldn't leave them to burn to death. Even though she knew her husband had lost his mind, she still saw that he could still form cognitive thoughts. And a very sensible one would be that it wouldn't be a very good idea to burn your only heirs down to the ground along with your house. But if he was enraged enough to set the palace on fire…he might have been enraged enough to burn Lucina and Morgan down along with it…

As she struggled to stand back up on her feet, she felt two arms wrap themselves around her. As she stiffened, she could distinctly hear a familiar voice say, "Shush, Bubbles, it's just me."

She turned around to look at Gaius. "What..?"

He was looking at the burning palace in the distance. "We better hide. If I know Blue, he probably sent out every soldier from here to Valm looking for you."

She tried to push past him and head back toward the palace, but she felt Gaius wrap his arms around her, preventing her from leaving. "But I have to go save Morgan and Lucina!"

"I'm sure he hasn't harmed them."

"But I can't just leave them with…with…that tyrant!" she spat. Just the mere thought of what her children could be going through brought tears to her eyes.

"You'll have to." Gaius' reply had an eerie finality to it that made Robin remain quiet and not protest.

"But…"

"People like him… They won't stop until you stop them. Right now, we aren't powerful enough to do that." He looked around as the townspeople started to come out of their homes to look at the blazing display in the distance. "Come on; we want to be seen as little as possible. When the guards reach this town, the last thing we need is an eyewitness to give us away."

Silently and in a daze, Robin let him lead her away.

Wow, first chapter fic, huh. I'm interested to see how this goes. I think I'm finally back in the swing of things! It's only been a day since my last post. I'll make sure to elaborate on why Chrom's acting like a little bitch and why it's just Gaius in the next chapter, if I remember. If I don't, y'all are free to yell at me in chapter 2's reviews. I hope to hear everyone's thoughts. Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed~

Listening to: 'Drop Pop Candy' cover by Gumi and YOHIOloid