So... Through the power of reading various different Chrom X Robin fanfictions (due to a severe lack of Frederick X Robin... Hmph...) I have decided to start writing fanfiction for my next favourite couple!

I hope that it's okay, for the first chapter~

"And if I were to direct our pegasus knights this way..." There was nothing but the sound of the tip of the tactician's quill being tapped upon the sturdy crate which was being used as a makeshift desk within the tent. "No! That won't work, gods! They would leave our cavaliers open to the right! And I don't think that Sully would appreciate both herself and her horse being targeted by that large cluster of dark mages, at least without someone to return the attacks alongside her... Especially considering that our own mages are positioned over there..."

Briskly, the piece of parchment in front of the woman was crumpled up and tossed into the growing pile of abandoned plans. It was time for her to rethink her strategy for the upcoming battle.

Again.

For the past five hours, Robin had herself cooped up in her tent in an attempt to come up with a plan sufficient enough to bring out as many people at the end of what they think would be the final battle as they brought in at the beginning. Everything which she was doing was based upon the enemy's formations which had been relayed back to her from her flying companions, and from what she had heard, they were rather… Simplistic. But then again, Plegians were simplistic people from what she had seen when passing through some villages there, so it would be understandable that the soldiers were too. That would, in theory, make her job at coming up with a strategy that allowed the Shepherds tactical advantage much easier than she was making out to be.

But something had been playing on her mind the entire time.

Actually…. It was more of a matter of someone being on her mind. She had never seen him so distraught before, nor had she ever seen him shed so many tears in such a short amount of time. This was piling up the pressure on her shoulders, to make sure her strategy was completely perfect, or else everything, namely their lives and the entire halidom of Ylisse, would be forfeit. Nothing but a doormat for Plegia's mad king.

"Chrom… I promise… I will get this right. We will avenge your sister. I- I swear on every fibre of my being that I will..."

Stress, however, was beginning to get to her. Adding that to the violently dancing flame of her candle, she was beginning to feel as though she too was restless. She needed to get this done quickly, so that she could take a moment to stretch her legs.

"Right… I need to rethink this… Maybe if I split the cavaliers apart, and do the same with the pegasus knights… Sully and Sumia to the east with a few other men, Stahl and Cordelia to the west with others, due to the brunt of Plegian soldiers being in those two directions… Yes! That should have a higher probability of success!" Robin smiled with satisfaction then, before she remembered one other thing which she was begged to add in to her plan at last night's meal.

'Please… Allow me to be the one who kills Gangrel for what he did…'

Reluctantly, she then scribbled out a name within her new plan, and then rewrote it at the front. "And I guess… Chrom goes after Gangrel… But I don't want him alone… Frederick would be ideal, but he is best positioned where there is more opponents, due to him being able to cope with the sheer amount of them… So… I should go with him." She looked at the plan for a moment, before she grabbed a book from nearby and hit herself over the head with it as she went an embarrassed shade of red in the face. Thinking of herself and Chrom fighting alone had reminded her of two certain… Situations that she had ended up in alongside the Ylissean prince just a mere three days ago.

She had decided to relax, and had made up her mind on going for a bath to calm herself. It was deeply soothing, being able to feel the touch of warm water against her clammy skin for the first time in a while, and the ticklish sensation of the bubbles surrounding her…

And then Chrom just had to walk in.

Just to rub salt in the wounds, a similar situation had happened that evening also, just the roles had been in reverse. Robin had walked in on Chrom. Every time, Robin had ended up over-reacting, and now, Chrom was beginning to accumulate injuries worse than his ones from battle… from soap.

Biting her lip as she looked over her plan, the tactician sighed. It was the most successful one that she had come up with so far, and her time was running out. "I have no choice but to fight alongside Chrom… Of course, I need to run it by him first..." And so, she looked over the plan one last time.

The thing is, she then could feel her stomach grumbling at her. She needed to eat. With a sigh, she blew out her candle and then placed a book on top of the plan to make sure that it couldn't be stolen or peered at whilst she was absent from her tent. Showing it to Chrom would have to wait.

Tiredly, the tactician then trudged out of her tent, and was almost instantly met with a certain Ylissean princess grabbing hold of her arms. "Robin!" The girl's face was tear stained, presumably from mourning the death of her sister, and on top of that, she also seemed tired. "Finally, I've been wondering when you would come out of your tent! I have a question to ask you!" Her cheerful manner seemed forced almost, in contrast to her facial expression.

Robin raised an eyebrow, suspicious due to Lissa's quite evident acting, yet still allowed the princess to continue, on the grounds that she couldn't actually bring herself to deny the princess a chance to ask this question.

"If say… Chrom admitted that he loved you… What would you respond with?"

"… What?" The sudden shock on Robin's face at such a personal question was enough to knock her thoughts out of whack. "Why are you asking this?..."

"Well… I've noticed a lot of guys in camp with their eyes on you! I was just wondering what your reaction would be if my brother admitted this to you..."

"What?!"

Lissa sighed, and poked Robin's forehead. "You can't answer questions with a question, you know..."

This conversation was not one which Robin was willing to go through in her tired state, because she had heard in the past that her half-asleep musings were quite personal and also revealed a lot about her rather secretive personality. "Look, Lissa… A general and his chief tactician… It wouldn't really work when at war."

"Okay… Let me ask the question in a different way… Do you love my brother? Do you? Please answer-!"

A loud cough from nearby was enough to cut the eager girl off mid sentence. Despite it only being just a cough, there was most definitely something commanding about it. It was enough to warn off Lissa from questioning Robin any more about the potential of her and Chrom being 'a thing', and make her sigh yet again as she backed away to find someone else to talk to.

With such an overwhelming sense of relief, Robin smiled at who had saved her from being pressured into answering Lissa's questions. Chrom. Of course it would have had to have been him.

"I'm… So sorry about Lissa..." Robin was quick to notice that there was something forlorn about the way in which Chrom was speaking, and her smile was quick to turn into a concerned frown. The prince had been like this ever since Emmeryn's sacrifice, but never had it been this bad.

She wanted to find some sort of meaningful response, but the words just weren't coming to her. So, she decided to try and find a way to stop him from sounding so glum. "Hey… Mind going with me whilst I get something to eat? I wouldn't mind the company, I've been in my tent for most of the day..."

There was silence for a moment, before Chrom suddenly realised that Robin had spoke to him. There was a heavy-hearted laugh, before he simply shrugged his shoulders. "S- Sure, okay-"

"Gods, you had no idea what I just said, do you?" With a sigh, she tightly grabbed hold of his wrist, and rather than go to get something to eat, she pulled him into her tent. "Right, explain what is that matter with you, Chrom! You're not acting normal… I know you're mourning Emmeryn's death, but..." As she trailed off, Chrom had ended up grabbing hold of her tightly and had burst out crying.

"She- She did it for me, Robin… I- I could have saved her!"

No words which the tactician could possibly dare employ would be capable of easing the pain which the prince was going through. As a matter of fact, she didn't even know which words to say to him. The best that she could do was hug him back for a moment – to assure that it wouldn't become too awkward with it lasting too long – before she went over to her desk and decided to pull her plan out from under her book. "We… Can avenge Emmeryn's death tomorrow morning… If you wish..." After that, she handed him the piece of paper, and then sat down as she looked at him in the corner of her eyes. He wiped away some of his tears, before looking at the plan as he shook a little bit. It was rather worrying for Robin to see him like that, especially after his sudden breakdown over Emmeryn. She could see him clench his fists, so she began to worry that he wasn't sure as to whether the plan would work. "It… It was the best that I could do in the time that I had… S- Sorry that it's bad..."

"No… I like this plan…" Chrom then laughed quietly, and was able to then finally wipe away his tears. "I'm glad that… You will be fighting alongside me..." Things stayed silent after that, as Robin stayed sat still and Chrom continued to look at the plan.

It was only when Robin could feel her stomach grumbling again that the silence was broken, as she stood up off the rickety seat. "I'm getting something to eat now..."

Suddenly, Chrom placed his hand upon her shoulder, and used his other hand to give her the plan back. Both hands were shaking, and it was quite obvious that the prince was just using Robin for support, to stop himself from collapsing down in tears on the floor. "I'll go with you then… I feel more… Reassured when with you, Robin."

"Just as long as my shoulder isn't soaked by the time that I've ate, okay?"

Lissa was pacing back and forth that night, after finally getting away from Frederick trying to dote over her as he wanted to make sure that she was sure about staying with everyone over returning to Ylisse, away from danger.

"I know that Chrom likes Robin, but she isn't getting the hints that he keeps dropping! Gods, she's so naive when it comes to love..." The princess continued to pace around, still mumbling to herself and also Sumia, who was with her as she spoke. "Chrom doesn't want me trying to tell her that he likes her… And since before, he hasn't left her side! No doubt he's managed to get Robin in on staying with him in battle tomorrow too!"

Sumia brought her finger to her lips as she began to get a thought. "Maybe… He's just worried that she's putting too much pressure on herself to get everything right?..." The pegasus knight pondered, before she stood up. Lissa nodded at Sumia's suggestion, before she added on to it.

"Maybe he is doing that, but because he loves her? I mean, he has done it in the past when we were trying to help Flavia become ruler to Plegia… And when we were meant to be rescuing Emmeryn a few days ago..." She trailed off as she fell into a state of deep thought, and stayed in this condition for quite a while as she continued to stroll. "By the way, Sumia… Can you also see that Chrom is quite obviously in love with Robin?"

Awkwardly and reluctantly, Sumia nodded. "I… Think that we should sleep now, Lissa… You heard what we were told before… We are going to be leaving just before sunrise..."

"Huh? Well, you do that then… I need to think of a way to get Chrom to just admit that he loves Robin!"

"Damn it! My tome is beginning to fall apart! I hope it lasts until the end of this battle..." Robin growled, throwing a bolt of electricity towards a Plegian archer which she had noticed was aiming for Chrom at a distance. "Doesn't help that it is extremely difficult to use a sword at long range, hey? Just… Throw it like a javelin!"

Chrom rolled his eyes at Robin's attempt at humour mid-battle, before looking at Falchion in his hands. "If you expect me to throw this sword… Think again." He then planted the tip of it into the ground, to take a moment to catch his breath.

The two had been trying to pursue Gangrel across the battlefield, but had instead been met with various different Plegian soldiers which they had to briskly cut down. They knew that the mad king was simply toying with them, in order to tire them out and then catch them when they ended up at their most vulnerable. A basic cat and mouse strategy, but it was nothing that Robin could devise against in a matter of moments. Either way, they were still having to keep their eye out just in case Gangrel did decide to strike.

There was also one other thing which was holding the two back from being able to quickly locate Plegia's king also, and it was not just hindering the prince and the tactician, but literally everyone else upon the battlefield. A sandstorm was brewing, and visibility was already at a minimum.

"Gods… We should stay put for now – but then again, you seem to have already got that idea..." Robin mumbled, pulling the hood of her coat up in order to shield her face from sand blowing into her eyes and mouth. Carefully, she then positioned herself directly next to Chrom in the direction that the sand was blowing from, in order to allow him some protection from the weather also. "Anyway, are you okay, Chrom?… I mean, we could go and pull back, join the others-!"

"No! I couldn't allow that!"

"But what would happen if it turns dark, and we still can't find Gangrel?! We would have no other choice but to go back!"

"Fine – you do that then. I'm not stopping until Emmeryn's death is avenged…" Chrom sighed quietly, before he grabbed hold of Robin's wrist as he took a deep breath. "Anyway… I'm with no choice but to continue come nightfall… I am not just doing this for myself. I'm doing this for Lissa. For the Shepherds. For Ylisse… And for you too. I can't exactly allow your only memories to be of war, can I?"

That came as a shock to the tactician. He was doing this… For her? Well, yes, there were others, but there was a very specific reason for her… "Ch- Chrom…" She wanted to respond to what the prince had said, but she was forced to refrain from saying it, or else she would possibly die from embarrassment. Especially considering that she still felt awkward enough around Chrom after those bathing incidents as it is.

The best that she was capable of giving was a nod. Not just a nod meaning that she understood that Chrom didn't want to return, but also one acknowledging his - in her opinion - noble reasoning.

He was the exact opposite to Gangrel when it came to standards as royalty. The prince was kind, and insisted that he be treated in a way in which the people of a lower status were treated – as a human being. The king had set himself up on a plateau of pride and greed – a superior being to all those around him. Chrom understood people. Gangrel… Well, he just exploited them. And Chrom… He was lovable.

Then she went red in the face, thankful that her hood was covering this rosiness. Lovable?…

But she knew that her thoughts were true. She admired the future exalt. He was a figure to look up to, despite his more… uncouth attributes, put politely. As a leader, and also as a person.

No wonder people such as Sumia and Cordelia are in love with him.

Robin then let out a small sigh, and that brought Chrom's eyes to look directly at hers. "Robin? Are you okay?"

With a small shake of her head, she then changed the direction in which she was facing in order to look out for the Plegian king. "Sort of… We still don't know where Gangrel could be." An excuse, but at least it were a true one. It could cover up her thoughts… At least until the fighting is over.

"I know..." Chrom then picked up the hilt of falchion again, and in that one moment, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. The prince had noticed a sudden figure nearby, and it had pounced at the two of them before they even had the chance to react. "Robin! Look out!"

"Ah-!" The shout wasn't enough to warn the tactician to be careful, for it were too late. She felt something sharp be forcefully dragged across her back in a manner as though to immobilise her, but not bring her any grievous harm which could leave her permanently paralysed or incapable of any sort of movement. It started off as a sharp pain, but quickly developed into something which stung more than anything due to the sandstorm. "Ch- Chrom… I… It hurts..."

After her faint whisper, she sunk down into the sand, unable to pull herself up due to the pain coursing through her body every time in which she had intended to move. She could speak, yes, but the shock was mostly forcing her to withdraw from doing that also.

"Well… It seems as though I have caught the Ylissean pup and one of his lackeys!"

Gangrel. He had slipped out at the one time in which they were actually trying to seek him out, rather than at the time which they were not paying as much attention.

Chrom was annoyed. Upset.

No. He was infuriated and grieved.

This man was the scum of the world all rolled up into one in his opinion. It was due to him that Emmeryn had to die in such a horrifying and sacrificial way. He had personally threatened not just him, but Lissa and Ylisse also. He had the nerve to demand that he hand over the Fire Emblem. And now… He had hurt Robin…

And she was crying.

Out of anything which he paid attention to other than Robin's injury… It was her tears. Never had he seen such a strong woman cry like that before. It was something which he could not let Gangrel get away with…

"What's the matter? Afraid that you won't be able to win? Pah!" Gangrel was almost literally mocking Chrom's horrified look, and was enjoying it. "Maybe I should see what would happen if I do this!"

Robin couldn't see what what happening completely, but she knew that it had something to do with her. And possibly the tip of the mad king's sword, which had now slipped out of her view. Feeling something cold against her neck, making her very faintly wince, confirmed this.

Chrom couldn't take this any more. He couldn't allow Gangrel to cause any more pain. After all, that is what he had shouted upon their first clash on the battlefield about two hours previously. As he had also said earlier… 'I shall be death's agent...'

"Do what you wish… But leave Robin out of this! You've already taken one important woman in my life, I can't let you take another!"

The phrase which was enough to send Robin into a state of shock before she fell unconscious, due to being no longer capable of withstanding the stinging and aching.

Important woman… I thought I never fit his definition of a 'woman'…

"We've beaten almost all of the Plegian soldiers now… Heck, we've even been able to regroup and wait around for a while because of how few there are… But where are Chrom and Robin?" Lissa questioned, before she looked up with a smirk. "Maybe Chrom has fell into the snare of Robin's seductive charms, and has decided to show her how much he loves her..."

Frederick, Maribelle and Cordelia gave Lissa a disgusted look as she said that out loud. Then again, that were to be expected for if a princess – the supposed image of someone who should be pristine and perfect – blurted out such an opinion to many people at such a time.

Despite that, a few people were murmuring their agreements. Something which annoyed Frederick greatly.

"Need I remind you all that Gangrel is still out there, and for all that we know, milord and Robin may be in combat with him as we speak, and we are doing naught but standing around idly?"

Everything fell silent then. They had almost all but forgotten that this was a war in which they were fighting, and that very battle mentioned could mean the difference between peace and an entire halidom being wiped off the continent. It was hearing that which gave them all a newly found resolve.

"We should go an assist them...What if they get hurt, after all?..." Sumia whispered, her mind focussed upon Lissa's previous remark.

Could Chrom have actually done as she said, and admitted that he loved her?…

Who knew, other than the two themselves?…

"No! Don't you get it, Gangrel?! You've lost!" Chrom shouted, swinging his sword towards the mad king yet again.

Both men were beginning to become tired, but the Ylissean prince was steadily prevailing. He was fuelled by nothing but pure anger and frustration by that point, and was wanting to get to Robin's side as fast as he could.

"Think again, little princey..."

It took a matter of moments for Gangrel to get past Chrom, as he had a slight change in target. The weakened Robin was the one which he wanted to kill now - being fully aware of her importance to the prince - despite strange requests from Aversa to keep her alive and to hand her over once the fighting was over.

Almost instantly, Chrom went into a panic. He had left her vulnerable, all because he was needed something else. In a way, it was similar to what had happened when he went to Ferox for assistance in fighting Plegia, as Emmeryn had been taken…

But this time, he did have a chance to stop him. He did have a chance to save Robin from that evil king.

It was helping that the sand was now starting to diminish, so everything was beginning to get clearer. That meant that Chrom found it easier in trying to get to Robin before Gangrel dared had a chance to. Damned if he got hurt, the tactician was all that he cared about.

However, fate seemed to be against the prince at that time. He was just a moment too late to get to the woman… Gangrel was holding his sword just over her back. All it took was for him to loosen the grip of his sword, or for him to plunge his sword down, and Robin's life would be forfeit.

And just as blade was about to meet flesh…

"Chrom!"

Ah... I just have to leave it there for now~ I do have something planned for next chapter, getting to the shippy stuff rather fast, but of course, I feel as though it works well ending here! Cliffhangers, yay!

Anyway... I hope that it was okay, because... Well, I'm never ever sure about whether my writing is or not.

So, I'm hoping that you're willing to review, favourite and follow...