Hello and welcome to my first fanfiction. Been reading them for a few years now and decided to finally try my hand at one, and with my personal favourite Awakening ship of Robin/Maribelle, a criminally underrated pairing if you ask me, there is barely on this site and any others for that matter. So anyway I hope you enjoy, all criticism is welcome since it's kinda needed.
Prologue- Ties that Bind
"RAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"
That was the first thing he could hear. His vision was obscured by a dark hood, but he could make out the limestone bricks that created the temple and the dark purple carpet that paved his way, as his vision turned right, he could make out the back of a blue haired man in similar coloured clothing with silver armour and a cape flowing behind him as they ran forward.
"Chrom"
The name of the man he was running with, he felt a deep connection with him, almost like a brother, but they weren't related in any way.
"We're not pawns of some scripted fate. I believe we're more. Much more, there is something between us all. Something that keeps us together… Like…invisible ties, connecting us."
He had said those words, as if they were an age ago, he could remember a boat then, on the ocean. Then flames, as if the sea itself was on fire. Was that because of him?
His vision turned behind him, a large wall of dark purple flames, he could barely make out some figures behind it. A large wyvern and two pegasi flew in the air avoiding all sorts of projectiles, horses with different coloured figures riding them, he could scarcely make them out. There were more figures on foot, some were nimble, others didn't move and a select few who seemed to become enclosed in crystal, before shattering their prison.
"Shepherds,"
These brave men and women who he had fought countless battles with, he led them into battle, with Chrom, he was proud he'd had the skill to keep them all alive till now.
There was one last figure he could make out; they were clearer than any other person, except for Chrom. She was clear to his view, even though his vision should've been obscured by the flames, blonde hair flows like a river too her shoulders and blazing red eyes pierced into him. Pink riding clothes and a parasol, he instinctively rubbed his head when he made it out as if searching for a bump, and a shining staff that he had been on the receiving end of more than once, both for healing and for thwacks to the head, he proceeded to rub his head again.
"M***be**e" "*ra*y*" "**rga*"
For some reason three names popped out to him, but he couldn't make them out fully in his head.
Turning back to the blue haired man, he noticed him engaged in a sword fight with a dark skinned man with spiky black hair, he wore purple robes that barely covered his skeletal like upper body. The man's finger nails were sharpened and easily could have been mistaken as claws that had purple energy flowing from them, his red eyes seemed to stare into his soul, a strange mixture of fear and anger ran through him as he stared at them.
"Validar" "F*****"
He raised his right hand, crackles of magical electricity surged around it, preparing, waiting for the right opportunity to release it in a fearsome blast.
"Above!"
He noticed Chrom take a pause from flailing his sword to point above him, the sorcerer, now known as Validar, was now floating above them readying an orb of intense black magic. Leaping backwards, he unleashed a massive bolt of energy at the floating sorcerer.
"You fool!"
Vanishing once again, he released a smaller ball of energy at the blue haired man, though not nearly as powerful as the one that was being charged before, it was still powerful enough to launch him into a pillar, as the smoked cleared he noticed Chrom struggling to stand, using his sword as a leaning post as he recuperated some of his strength.
"HAHAHAHAHA, DIE!"
Turning back to the sorcerer, he had once again built up a large ball of shadow magic. Validar fired the large ball of energy at the recovering man. Thinking quickly, he fired a quick bolt of energy to intercept the ball, the resulting explosion caused all of them to look away, and try to shield their eyes from the large dust cloud that was created. Regaining his eyesight, he noticed Chrom was back on his feet preparing to re-engage. As he turned to the sorcerer, he cringed back in shock and fear at the intense glare he was sending his way, as if it were judging him rather than just a glare of unrelated hatred.
"This is it Robin, our final battle." He heard Chrom, his words gave off comforting aura. Yes, Robin, that was his name. "You're one of us, and that will never change, let's end this together."
The brief lull in the chaotic battle allowed for a respite and allowed Robin to look at his belongings, the most obvious piece of clothing was the large cloak he wore, in his left hand was the tome he was channelling his magic from. Thoron, the highest level thunder magic that was of common accessibility, and even then it cost more than most would earn in a month. Robin's right hand was currently empty but he did notice that he had two swords strapped to his belt, the first was a common Silver Sword, similarly to the Thoron tome was that it was easy to come by but was expensive to buy. The strange thing about the second sword was that it was zig-zagged and seem to crackle with electricity. A Levin Sword, much rarer that his other weapons, and had to be specially crafted by only the most experienced of blacksmiths. The design wasn't made for direct combat, but rather to parry other swords to allow breathing room for the wielder to strike with their magical energy.
"Robin, we'll advance towards this dastard together, then we'll decide on how to fight him," the blue haired man explained, as Robin turned to him he noticed the mark on his right shoulder, it radiated power and comfort, yet it also seemed to put a light feeling of hate and anger into him, he ignored them and nodded back to Chrom.
"Okay, we'll pair up and fight together, it's the easiest way to beat him," Robin replied, it seemed like a normal reply as if he had done it many times before.
"Why do you continue to resist?" Validar questioned with obvious intent behind the voice. "You know it's only a matter of time."
"Ignore him Robin, we're in this together, no one will change that, not even this dastard," Chrom's words reassured him of their situation, any form of hesitation left dark cloaked man as they continued their advance towards sorcerer.
"Chrom, you strike first and then I'll follow up, while he's distracted try to go for the finishing blow, remember to try and dodge the magic from that tome, it's the most powerful dark magic I've ever seen." Robin explained the attack plan. He looked back towards the flames, and noticed the pink clad woman still staring at him, the maroon red eyes gazed at him with increasing worry as they got closer to their target, she seemed to be mouthing some words to him but he couldn't make them out through the flames.
"Don't worry Robin, you'll be able be together again soon, we just need to win this last fight." With those last words they engaged the dark skinned sorcerer. Chrom charged first swinging his sword in a curved and powerful arc, the swing must've been faster than what Validar was expecting since he didn't even attempt to move, and as he said Robin let loose a charge of Thoron as Chrom stepped away, the powerful magic didn't seem to do as much as what Chrom's swing did, but seemed to leave a lasting impression as the sorcerer was slumped over and panting heavily.
"The future is already written!" pink petals of energy flowed around the sorcerer, appearing and evaporating as he charged his magic, his attack seemed his most powerful yet, as Validar released the stored magic blast, Chrom was able to roll to the side, as the blast hit the far wall, it completely destroyed the outer layer.
"I think it goes without saying that we can't afford to be hit by something like that Chrom!" Robin said, stating the obvious.
"I think even I gathered that much, Robin." Chrom replied, he may not have been the most observant, but even he could see how powerful that blast was.
"HAHAHA, don't you see, there is no possible way you can survive!" Validar cackled victoriously, "Give in prince, give in to your destiny!"
"Your warped interpretation of destiny doesn't exist, Validar. We decide our fate!" Robin shouted his reply with all he could afford and the same petals of energy that enveloped the dark skinned sorcerer now surrounded him. "It's time to tip the scales!" he yelled before firing off another blast of Thoron.
Validar couldn't even hope to dodge the large blast, "What have yo-?!" he was interrupted as he was engulfed by the powerful beam of magic. His entire being let off shadowy energy as he fell to his knees, before finally falling over.
As Robin turned to Chrom, they both smiled at each other, the day was wo-.
"THIS ISN'T OVER! DAMN YOU BOOOOTH!"
Robin barely had time to push Chrom out the way and take the blast head on, he was sure he heard a high pitched scream, but the excruciating pain barely let him register it, as he opened his eyes again, Robin noticed Chrom rushing over to him.
"You okay?" he asked. A quick nod from Robin was his only response. "Good, thanks to you we carried the day."
As Chrom continued his speech, Robin's vision turned red, and his hearing distorted, "At long last we can," Chrom interrupted himself. "Hey are yo-urrrk" he flinched backward in pain. He was staggering on his feet, Robin gazed at his right hand, faint crackles of magical energy still existed around it, as a large rod of electrical suck out of Chrom's midsection.
"This…This is not yo…your fault! Promise me… that you'll leave this place, please go." Those hushed words, were the last words Chrom uttered before collapsing to the floor.
Robin staggered backward, in complete shock and fear over what he had just done, this man, who he considered a brother, he had just stabbed and betrayed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA"
He could hear a faint cackling with no obvious source, before everything went white.
"Chrom, we have to do something,"
As he seemingly regained consciousness, those were the squeaky spoken words what he awoke too.
"Well what do you suppose we do?" A recognisable voice perked up after the first.
"I, I dunno." the first voice answered back.
As his eyes fully opened, he instantly recognised the man on the right was the one from the…memory...dream...he couldn't remember much really. The girl to his right wore a yellow dress with a white apron, she had grey eyes and blonde hair done up in pigtails, she also had a weird hat on, he couldn't remember her from is sleep. They both gasped as they noticed their charge having awoken.
"I see your awake now." the blue haired man eased out.
"Hey there" the girl giggled out.
"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know." he continued. "Here give me your hand." As he reached his right hand up he noticed a light purple mark that seemed to have a faint glow before fading, but still visible, taking grip in the blue haired man's hand he was pulled up coming face to face with the man.
"How are you feeling, friend?" the blue haired man asked.
"I'm feeling fine, Chrom." Weird, the name just came to him.
"Oh, you know of me." Chrom replied, slightly shocked that a stranger knew his name.
"Not really, your name, it just came to me, also she," he pointed to the pigtailed blonde, "kinda said your name while I was waking up." He explained.
"Yeah, I did, didn't I." the girl rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
"Well since you know my name, why not tell us yours." The blue haired man asked.
"My name, its…errr…I can't remember." He answered, it was kinda scary once he realised he couldn't remember his own name, in fact, he couldn't remember anything before waking up!
"Hey I've heard of this, it's called amnesia," the little blonde explained, "the victim can't remember much or anything of the time before they get it."
"It's called a load of pegasus dung if you ask me." A brown haired, heavily armoured man spoke, causing the recently awoken man to jump having not recognised he was there, a horse in similar coloured armour was grazing just behind. "You expect us to believe that you remember milords name but not your own, even if it was conveniently said before. Highly suspect is you ask me."
"Come now Frederick, the poor man has just awoken, it might not be the best too put pressure on him so quickly." Chrom retorted. "It might be best if you come with us to the next town over, we might be able to get some of your memories back, maybe even find out your name." he finished.
As they walked out of the field they were in, a dirt path made a road, which guided them towards the next town. The amnesiac took the opportunity to give himself a look over, his hair seemed a white like colour, he was wearing a large black cloak with purple markings, he was obviously attached to the cloak by the large number of stitching's it had, it must have held a lot of sentimental value, he also had a tan top and beige trousers. His boots where black and came up to his shins. His left pocket had a pouch with a moderate amount of gold in it, his right pocket having a water flask inside that was half empty. He also noticed that he had a lump in an inner pocket, he reached inside and noticed a collection of books, most where seemingly normal, but one stood out with its binder having a lightning bolt mark on it. His belt had a sheath for a sword, the handle was a dull bluish green, and as he extended the blade, glancing briefly at the stoic, armoured man, he noticed that the blade was the same colour as the hilt and was slightly cracked, as if the smithy had no care for its creation.
"So I take it I'm supposed to be your prisoner?" The amnesiac man questioned.
"Peace friend." Chrom made sure to reply quick to comfort the man. "We only want to help you make it to the next town and help you on your way, we are on our way to Southtown, a border town for Ylisse."
"Ylisse? Is that where we are?" the white haired man questioned.
"You mean you haven't heard of the halidom, someone pay this actor he plays quite the fool." Frederick answered clearly not taking the amnesiac seriously.
"Frederick that's enough." Chrom chided. "Sorry about Frederick the Wary there he can be a bit too cautious."
"A title I shall wear with pride, Naga knows that one of us should keep our guard up." The great knight added.
"Now as you know, my name is Chrom." The blue haired man started. "The delicate one hear is my younger sister Lissa."
"I AM NOT DELICATE!" The now named Lissa practically screeched while stomping her feet and pouting in a way that was difficult to take seriously. "Sorry about my idiot brother here, he's just overprotective, he seems to forget that I'm the one that patches him up."
"Though begrudgingly I have to say, you already know me as Frederick." The brown haired man finished.
"It's good to meet you all, my name is Robin." 'Wait what, why did that just suddenly come to me?' The white haired amnesiac thought. "I'm sorry that name just came to me now." Robin finished, he noticed the brown haired knight's glare becoming much sharper after he said that.
"Well that's one mystery solved." Chrom laughed.
"I'm afraid that this still seems too highly suspect for me milord." Frederick replied.
"Yes, but what kind of Shepherds would we be if we didn't help a man in need." The blue haired man retorted.
"The same kind milord, T'would be wise to not let a wolf into our flock." The brown haired man chided.
"Shepherds? You tend sheep in full armour?" Robin questioned, it seemed silly when he thought about it.
"It's a dangerous job, my friend." Chrom laughed. "Now let's cont-".
"CHROM, look, the town." Lissa interrupted urgently.
The males of the group looked to where she was pointing, nearly the whole town was ablaze.
"Gods!" Chrom exclaimed. "Quickly we need to help."
"What about him milord?" Frederick questioned.
"Unless he's on fire it doesn't matter!" Chrom answered.
"Aptly put milord." The brown haired man accepted.
"Quickly guys we need to hurry!" Lissa rushed them.
"Wait what about…me." Robin sighed as they had already left.
With nothing else to do, he looked around. 'Maybe I could take this time to slip away.' He wondered. But as he stared again at the blazing town, something pulled him, compelled him to go towards it, as if he was drawn by an invisible force.
A sharp pain ran through his head. 'You never did leave an innocent behind did you.' A haughty voice sounded in his head. Quickly recovering, he shook his head and once again turned his gaze towards the blazing town.
"Gods damn it!' And with that he set off in chase of the small group Shepherds.
"The entire town is crawling with bandits." Chrom exclaimed as they arrived at the marketplace of the town.
"Chrom wait." The group turned to notice Robin running up to them.
"Robin what are you doing here?" Lissa asked.
"I came to help, I've got nothing else to do, and I don't know anyone else, I thought it would be best to be with those I already knew." The white haired man reasoned.
"Good to know we have backup then, Robin." Chrom thanked. "What equipment do you have?"
"I have a sword, but I don't know how useful it would be, and I have this tome." Robin answered.
"You know magic?" Chrom was curious, having someone who could attack with magic would be a great asset since Lissa could only heal.
"I think." Was Robin's only reply.
"You think?" The blue haired man was more scared than curious now, uncontrolled magic was far worse than a poor sword fighter.
"I have a tome so I must have studied it somewhere, I can also see how the battlefield looks, I might have also studied tactics and strategy." The cloaked man replied.
"Well as long as you aren't near me when you test it, and if you think you know what's best I'll follow you." Chrom thought that it was the best answer he could give.
"Okay, the bandits seem to be very aggressive and will most likely attack us as soon as they see us, it might be best to have Fredrick and Chrom lead, with Lissa in middle, I can make up the back, but I'll be on the lookout for any enemies that come from behind. My magic would give me extra range, so I can beat out any bandit that tries to attack, as well as being able to make extra cover to the front if need be." Robin explained his plan.
"All right, sounds efficient enough to me." Chrom answered. "Any thoughts Frederick?"
"Although I'm wary of Robin marking our back, the plan has little holes in it from a standpoint for both offence and defence, we have complete 360 degrees of vision and a well organised formation, although our left and right flanks have little guard, our vision will be able to come to Lissa's aid should the need arrive." Frederick summarised.
"Don't forget Robin, if you or anyone gets into trouble I can patch you back up, not to mention both me and Chrom have some Vulneary's on us should you need that little extra healing." Lissa explained.
"Okay, let's go, hopefully we'll be able to do this with little bother." Robin finalised.
As the battle begun, the bandits rushed them as soon as they entered their line of sight, just as Robin had anticipated. There were a few swordfighters, but they fell quickly to the teamwork of Chrom and Frederick, some axe wielders tried to flank the small group, but Robin's magic, which did work much to Chrom's relief, was able to fry them before they could get anywhere close. A few mages looked like they would give them trouble, but Robin's magic seemed to be superior as their spells were evaporated by the more powerful spells of the tactician, which allowed Chrom to finish them off.
As they crossed the bridge, Robin noticed that there was something on the ground. "Hmmm, did someone lose this, maybe we could make use of it." It was a tome, but rather than the yellow of the Thunder tome he already had in his possession, this one was red and had a flame emblem on its cover.
"Micaiah's Pyre…who's Micaiah?" Robin questioned, but he had no time to ponder that, since the leader of the bandits was ahead of them, unlike the rest of the bandits he seemed to be waiting for them to come to him, his weapon was also different, while the underlings seemed to have bronze weapons. This man's weapon was a curved axe, as if it were designed to be thrown as well as to it.
"Come little sheep lings, like lambs to the slaughter." The lead bandit taunted, goading them into attacking. His accent was familiar, but Robin didn't know what it was.
"Plegian dogs." Frederick muttered, though Lissa and Chrom didn't seem to hear him, Robin did and he couldn't help but flinch by the aggressive tone Frederick took.
"Okay, this is the last one, Chrom, you attack first, swords have an advantage over axes, I'll lend support with my magic, Frederick keep lookout for behind in case we missed some to help guard Lissa." Robin explained the last of his strategy, so far little had gone wrong, so it seemed that this last part should go just as well.
"Alright Robin, this is it." Chrom said.
As Chrom charged, he held his sword out to go for a long swing, aiming to cut across the bandit leader's chest. Robin charged his tome waiting for Chrom to step back before releasing his magic.
"THUNDER!" Robin yelled as he fired his magic.
"Wha-ARGHHH!" The Bandit yelled in pain, he obviously wasn't used to being attacked with magic, as the attack ended, his skin was charred and smoking. The bandit let out a puff of smoke before his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell over, dead.
"Good, it's all over, we couldn't have done it without you Robin." Chrom congratulated by white haired amnesiac.
"Wow Robin, swords, sorcery and strategy, is there anything you can't do." Lissa exclaimed, it seems like she was impressed, and couldn't stop singing his praises.
"Loathe I am to admit it; this battle could have gone a lot worse if it hadn't been for you Robin." Frederick begrudgingly remarked.
"Just glad to know I could do my part, even though I didn't use my sword much." Robin answered. "But I admit I don't know what to do anymore."
"I can answer that for you." Chrom remarked. "Why not join us in the Shepherds, we've been in need of a tactician."
"I would be honoured Chrom. Thank you." Robin answered.
"Hey Robin, I just noticed your stance. It's very…well defined, I have a friend back home who I think might want to meet you." Lissa pointed out.
"I didn't really notice, it just feels natural, but I look forward to meeting them myself." He answered, once again a sharp pain ran through his head, as he gripped it instinctively as if it would ease the pain.
'You have the posture of a damp noodle! The resolute promise of a soufflé!' the same haughty voice as before remarked.
"Hey you okay?" Lissa asked worryingly.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, just a headache." Robin reassured her.
They made their way towards the centre of the town, as they were walking Frederick started speaking something that had been on his mind.
"Did you notice milord." He started. "Those bandits spoke with a Plegian accent."
"Excuse me but what's Pelgian? I heard you say it during the battle as well Frederick." Robin questioned.
"Plegia is Ylisse's, westerly neighbour." Chrom began. "Ever since the most recent exalt came to power, they've been tormenting our borders, but only recently have they been hiring bandits to raid and raze our border towns."
"And it's the poor peasants and townspeople that are suffering for it too." Lissa explained sadly.
It was at this point when they reached the town centre of Southtown, they were approached by a citizen.
"Thank you for saving us and our town, we are holding a feast tonight, name anything you want and we'll make it for you." He said.
"Your offer is too kind, but I'm afraid we must be making our way towards Yllistol." Frederick answered.
"I'll take soup, some salad and beef hold the sa-," Lissa started. "But Frederick it's nearly dark!"
"C'mon Lissa, camping out builds character." Chrom answered for him.
"I think I've built enough character for one." The pigtailed blonde remarked, remembering the battle they had before finding Robin. 'Dumb invisible beaver things'. She exclaimed in her head.
"I'm sorry milady but we must make haste to Ylisstol as fast as we can." The armoured man noted while atop his horse.
"Quite the stern lieutenant you have there." Robin remarked.
"Yeah the only time Fredrick has a smile on his face is when he's bringing down the axe." Chrom mentioned.
"Or when lighting a fire." Lissa added.
"You do realise I'm right here milord and milady." Frederick imposed.
"Oh, we realise." Chrom answered. All Frederick could do was sigh.
"Hahaha." The white haired amnesiac chuckled.
'Well looks like I'm on my way too Ylisstol with these guys, but what's that voice I keep hearing, I hope I'm not insane'. A flash of pink entered Robin's mind's eye. 'And why do I feel like it means more than a few headaches down the path.'
"Hey Robin, you just gonna stand there or are you going to join us!" Lissa shouted back to him.
"Coming!" he replied.
With that, Robin caught up to the group as they headed out on the dirt path that would take them to Ylisstol by the 'morrow. Little did anyone realise this was the first in the chain of events that could change the world they live in.