Chapter 5: Warrior Realm

"We must defend Ylisstol from the Risen!"

"I can see their leader from hear! Sword hand, ready thyself!"

"Prepare to die!"

"What are you two doing? We don't have time to play. The Risen are truly out there. As well as…him"

"Aww but Lucyyyy~"

"No Cynthia. We must stand vigilant. You as well, Owen. We never know who he will attack next."

Robin stared up at the night sky as he lay on his back in the dirt. The Shepherds had settled in for the night, though they were only a half a day ride from Regna Ferox. He had settled on a spot a little up a hill, not far from the camp, but nowhere near any other person. He still had a lot to figure out in his head, like who he was, what the voice he had heard was, his feelings towards the Marth character, and his standing with the Shepherds. The tactician let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, unsure where to even start. Sitting up, he gazed out at the remaining embers of the three fires that had been set up. As they had gone north, the weather kept getting colder and colder. Many members had opted for heavier leather armor to keep warm. Robin had opted for simply buttoning his robe all his way up. It was surprisingly warm, given that it apparently came from the desert.

"Even more confusing thoughts to add up to my blank slate of a life. At this rate, I might as well give up on discovering who I really am" Robin sighed to himself. A rustling in the trees beside him caused his hand to quickly find his sword. He turned slightly to find Chrom emerging from the bushes, the prince glancing past Robin and instead looking over the camp.

"I see you can't sleep either" Chrom spoke without making eye contact. Robin let off a dry laugh.

"You don't know the half of it. Every time I try to piece my life together, it just leads to more dead ends and questions. I'm considering just giving up on recovering my memories." Robin laid back down in the dirt as he spoke quietly, a hint of resignation in his voice. Chrom was unaffected, and continued speaking stoically.

"Then give up on it"

Robin let out a confused grunt, leading Chrom to finally turn towards him.

"Give up on your memories. I do not care what you might have been prior to meeting us, you have proven yourself a good man. From here on out, write your own story. Don't let somebody else control your destiny, or allow some false sense that who you used to be must decide who you are now"

Robin stared at Chrom, amazed at the honesty and sincerity at the man's words. The message was simple, yet it made a lot of sense. Realizing he was right, Robin decided he could push most of his concerns to the back of his mind, though one of them he still felt he needed to figure out.

"Hmm. An interesting thought, maybe I will take you up on that. By the way, when am I supposed to start my training?" Robin asked.

"Ah, I had almost forgotten. We will most likely get you training with Frederick once we return to Ylisstol. I can't have you tired should we meet more Risen along the way."

"When we return. That could be a while, I really need to start training so I can control whatever is in my head. I hate the lack of control I have…" Robin thought out everything before looking at the ground with troubled eyes.

"Chrom. There is something I need to tell you about."

The captain let out a noise to show he was listening, so Robin continued hesitantly.

"There….there is some voice in my head. It only speaks when my life is in danger. But it talks about letting it control me, and that it can give me unimaginable power. It has only controlled me once, and I killed like it was no big deal. My actions weren't in defense, they were in a blissful state of murder. After that one time….I never wanted it to take over again. That is why I want to train so badly. I believe if I get strong enough, and am able to prevent my life from being in danger, then maybe…..maybe I might be able to stop the voice from coming back"

Chrom stood silent for a while, mulling over the tactician's words. It certainly was something he had never heard of, and it made him more curious about the man's past. However, he firmly believed that Robin's past would not affect him, so after thinking for a while, he took a seat next to his white haired friend. He propped himself up against a tree and closed his eyes as he looked at the night sky, the breeze brushing his blue hair.

"I see. I don't think I can say I've ever heard of that before, but I do know that you aren't the kind of person with an evil heart. And it seems you haven't lashed out at anybody recently, so you must be controlling yourself well. Although, I could see where there would be a problem if our tactician began to fight with bloodlust."

Robin lowered his eyes, ashamed at his prior actions. He knew deep in his heart he didn't enjoy fighting, and he didn't enjoy taking lives. Chrom looked over and noticed a sparkle in the dark night as the moonlight reflected against tears. The tactician tried to cover his crying by hiding his head, but his friend had already seen. The prince smiled as he placed a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"I know you already care deeply about everyone, and I can say with full confidence that we already see you as family. You aren't alone, Robin. Most all of the Shepherds are without their true kin and have their dark pasts, but that just brings us all closer. We are one big family, and we would never see you different because of something in your past."

Chrom slowly started to stand up and dusted off his pants. From seemingly nowhere he drew two wooden swords and tossed one at Robin's feet.

"Now, if you are truly serious about using strength to control this, we best start practicing" Chrom said with a smirk as he assumed a battle stance.

Robin felt moved at his friend going to such lengths to cheer him up, until he realized nobody just happens to be carrying practice swords on them. He let out a dry laugh and stood up, gripping the wooden hilt tightly.

"Prepare yourself!" Robin yelled as he lunged forward.

A small room with all stone walls resided within the palace of the Western Khan, Basilio. It, along with many other identical rooms, were designed to house fighters in the khan's tournament to choose a champion. The room only held a stack of hay meant to be used as a bed, a small wooden desk with no chair, and a fireplace to keep the cold out. In this small room, a figure dressed all in blue laid beside the fire, trying to soak up all the warmth it could. On the desk resided a mask that the person used to hide their identity. The woman beside the fire had been pretending to be a man for a few weeks now, in an attempt to hide her true identity. Without the mask, nobody would be fooled into believing said person was truly a man.

"Yet….who could recognize me at this point?" She mused to herself. The sword she used would be more of a giveaway than her face, yet she had no qualms with it. Most people just assumed it was a model Falchion, as opposed to the real thing.

Lucina had come north to Regna Ferox in order to fight against her father, in what she could only describe as a selfish desire to fulfill a childhood dream to spar with Chrom at full strength. After she had left the small group of Shepherds in the woods, a memory had surfaced of her being told of the militia's adventures. She knew their next stop would be to Regna Ferox, as that is how it was in the past. The only difference was her timeline had them going for help against Gangrel, not the Risen.

She let out a sigh. Lucina wanted to change as few things leading up to saving her father as possible, yet her carelessness led to the Shepherds already finding the Risen. Although, history seemed to correct itself and nothing was out of place besides everything occurring a little faster than it should. In recalling the past, Lucina had realized that most of her memories were intact, except for one frustrating detail. Whenever she called up certain memories, it felt as if something was missing from them. For example, when she remembered the story about the Shepherd's adventures and where they would be going, she could recall each event described to her perfectly. She could remember being a young child sitting in an adult's lap in the palace's library. The thing she couldn't remember was who was telling her the story. It was as if someone had taken scissors and cut them out of her memory. She couldn't remember a face, a voice, a name, anything about the person. But it wasn't just this memory. Many of her memories featured somebody missing. Or at least many felt like somebody was missing. She pressed both of her hands against her head as she tried to remember, but all that came was a frustrated feeling, as if it was at the tip of her tongue.

Her anguish ended when somebody knocked at her door. Judging by the voice, it was the guard that had been placed to watch her door.

"Marth, your match is in thirty minutes. Get ready and come to the arena" the guard grunted out.

Lucina quickly cleared her head, deciding now was not the time to be thinking over this. She placed her mask back on and picked up Falchion from her bed, then rushed over to the arena. The path to get there was a rather simple stone corridor, only lit by a few torches. It wasn't exactly lavish, but using these types of underground passages kept the cold out.

The passage ended with two large wooden doors, with guards on either side. They gave her a nod and opened each door, exposing a large coliseum covered in snow and filled with spectators. At the far end stood Lon'qu, her uncle, the man favored to win the tournament. Between them in the stands was a covered balcony, where Khan Basilio sat in excitement. Given that there was still a lot of time before the match, Lucina began going over the bits of leather armor she wore, tightening each strap to ensure nothing would come loose. She then closed her eyes and concentrated on the nature around her as she held onto Falchion with both hands.

"The wind is blowing right to left. Which means his attacks will be stronger when he attacks from his weak side. If he uses a strong strike from his left, it should leave him open long enough to hit. The ground has a little ice, so I need to keep from using large strides, otherwise I will lose my balance.

Lucina opened her eyes and looked up, noting that the sun was in front of her. She made a final note to use her sword to reflect sunlight into her uncle's eyes should all else fail. When she finished her observations, her head began to hurt again as she realized she could not remember who had taught her the way to observe the fighting environment.

Grunting in frustration, Lucina approached the center of the ring, where Lon'qu stood ready for their fight. Neither competitor said anything to the other. Khan Basilio stood up and yelled in a booming vice.

"Welcome, Marth and Lon'qu! Congratulations to make it to the finals, you are some of the best Regna Ferox has to offer! This will be a fight to first blood. Now, the match to decide the champion begins!"

Once Basilio finished, Lon'qu bolted forward with a lightning quickness. Lucina brought her Falchion up to block his strike just in time, but instead of easing up the myrmidon kept attacking, putting pressure on Lucina to block each hit. His strikes had no time for a counter attack, as Lucina had hoped. However, the onslaught was cut off when Lon'qu slipped slightly on a patch of ice, giving Lucina enough time to bolt to the side and begin her own attack. As she expected, her uncle was quick and held off her attacks with ease. Their movements were so quick that some of the spectators could not even see each attack. Lucina quickly realized that this would become an endurance battle at this rate, and while she had trained hard in her time, she did not want to leave the battle to chance. Lucina raced forward and pressed her sword against Lon'qu's, the two fighters pressed against each other. Apologizing to her uncle in her head, Lucina leaned in ever so slightly.

"Lon'qu" Lucina spoke in her most feminine voice.

As expected, her uncle froze in place, allowing Lucina to quickly run Falchion across his cheek and draw blood. She then stepped back and looked towards Basilio. The khan saw the blood along with Lon'qu's shocked expression and proceeded to announce Lucina's victory. The stadium erupted as Lucina sheathed Falchion and headed back for her room.

The walls separating Regna Ferox from Ylisse stood tall against the snowy banks. The Shepherds had finally arrived, although a little worse for wear. Robin had pulled his hood up and tried to keep the cold off of him as he scanned the Feroxi archers along the castle gate. It was he, Chrom, Lissa and Frederick that had led the convoy of Shepherds through the snow, the rest of the group had taken shelter in the covered wagons. Robin could understand what made him, Chrom and Frederick stay in front, but he could not figure out why Lissa was here.

"Fr-fr-fr-Frederick….its so c-c-cold!" Lissa chattered as she stood beside the knight and his horse. Frederick the wary wore an annoyed expression as he turned towards the princess.

"Then maybe you should go into the wagons like the rest. You don't need to be out here, Lissa."

Lissa let out a yelp as she clung tighter to the visibly uncomfortable horse.

"It seems as if they don't want us to enter here….. Robin, be ready" Chrom spoke, unfazed by his sister's actions. Robin nodded as they got closer to the fort. A woman dressed in heavy armor emerged at the top of the wall.

"Halt there! You will not cross these borders unless I permit it!" She yelled at the Shepherds, her voice echoing across the undisturbed snow. Chrom looked to Frederick and Robin for advice, but both simply shrugged.

"I am here to speak with Khan Flavia as diplomat for Ylisse!" Chrom shouted back. The woman on the wall sneered back at him.

"And I am Raimi, queen of the entire Ylissean continent! We will not be fooled by your attempts to trespass! Ylisse has sent no words about wanting an audience with the Khan. If you truly want to speak with our ruler, you must first get through me!" The knight, revealed to be Raimi, shouted. At her signal, the archers drew back their bows and fired straight at Chrom. Robin quickly pulled an elfire tome, but drew back his hand before casting. A white blur flew through the sky and swept up Chrom before the arrows could hit.

Robin looked up to see Sumia riding a Pegasus and holding Chrom in a bridal carry. The two seemed to be exchanging words and enjoying their lives up in the sky, completely forgetting the world below. Robin sighed. He knew these two lovebirds were going to end up together, but now really was not the time. In the meantime, he gathered the Shepherds up and readied them for battle.

"Listen up. It seems there are two entrances to get up to Raimi. From what I've seen, they have split their troops equally between the staircases. They also have more troops than us. Therefore, a pincer movement is out. Instead, we will fight our way up the left side and flood the top once we get there. Kellam will take point since he is heavily armored, meanwhile-"

"You-you remembered me!" Kellam shouted out in pure ecstasy. Robin stared at him with a blank face before continuing.

"Meanwhile, Virion and Miriel will cover our rear. Frederick will stay at the base of the staircase to prevent a pincer attack against us. When we finish off the guards at the top, we will form a line and signal Frederick to come up. We will then form a horseshoe and enclose Raimi. Everybody understand?" Robin finished the tactical plan, receiving an "aye" in return. Chrom and Sumia finally came back down as the Shepherds assumed formation.

Robin's plan worked out beautifully, with Chrom besting Raimi in a one on one duel. As the Feroxi knight gave her apologies and promised to bring the Shepherds to Flavia at once, Robin stared off the wall at the world of snow. He had learned not to think of his past, as it only resulted in a headache, so instead he imagined what his life would turn out to be. Would he spend his whole life as a Shepherd? Would he make it through long enough to see a peaceful world? Would he find his death on the battlefield? It was truly a sad thought, to die when he had barely started to live. At least, he didn't remember living prior to awakening in the field.

"Don't worry, I won't let us die, vessel." The dark voice from before appeared in Robin's consciousness. He was startled, but controlled his reactions as to not frighten the Shepherds.

"I'm sure you won't. Say, what exactly are you? And why did you call me 'vessel'?"

Robin almost laughed at the thought of him having a conversation in his head, as if he had an imaginary friend.

"I'm afraid my memory is about as good as yours right now. I just know that we share a body, but you won't let me play. As for the vessel part, I'm not sure. The name just came to me"

The tactician stared off into space, trying to take in the voice's words. It claimed it shared his body, an idea that deeply unsettled him.

"If you share my body, then what does that-"

"Robin! Come on! We have to get going! We don't have time to rest!" Chrom shouted, interrupting Robin's thoughts. The tactician gave one last look off the wall, then turned and followed the Shepherds to find Khan Flavia.

A/N: Sheesh, it has been a while. Here is a big apology to everyone for my absence. However, I am now on a much more open schedule and have decided I really want to get all of my stories moving. Thus, updates are going to start coming more frequently. Also, for those following Return to Life, I really didn't mean to leave off on that cliffhanger for so long, but now I am working hard to get the next chapter out by the end of the week. Anyhow, review time!

Antex- thank you! There has been much more planning for this story than I ever thought I would do!

Ajani-thank you! As for your question, it will become apparent that the Grimafied Robin starts losing control. This will be explained more when I release parts told from the future Robin's perspective.

Blacksword-the wars could end sooner, however Robin is scared to use said powers…most of the time. But that is another chapter for this story.

Thanks to those that reviewed, I love the feedback and hopefully some more people will drop their thoughts for this chapter!

Until next time,

Austin