Archive of Our Own

It started as a buzzing in Robin's head. Just a buzzing, nothing more. She would've mentioned it, but all of the Shepherds were so excited about having vanquished evil and gotten Robin back. She didn't want to ruin their good mood.

It got just a little worse every day. It was so slow of a progression that anyone else wouldn't have even noticed it, but Robin did. She noticed every change in excruciating detail. Every increase in Grima's voice rattling in her brain.

She still didn't bring it up to any of the Shepherds. She could handle this on her own, without dragging them into her problems again.

Two months after Robin's re-awakening, the Shepherds were still together, at least for the time being. And Robin suddenly felt a craving to summon heroes from other worlds. She didn't know how it started, but it refused to go away, much like Grima's layered voices in her skull. Eventually she decided to talk to Chrom about it (the summoning, not the voices), and he gave her the go-ahead.

The first she summoned was Celica, largely by accident. Some of Cordelia's hair had happened to be on the table of summoning focuses, and it ended up making the rite look for the most courageous redhead of the world that she was summoning from.

Not that it was a problem. Celica was nice, and was also very interested in learning about Ylisse. She had an affinity for both magic and swords, which caught Robin's interest immediately. A kindred spirit. But… for some reason she felt… unsatisfied.

She decided to continue summoning, and asked Lucina to be Celica's guide. It seemed that the two made fast friends, which was a relief to Robin. Lucina hadn't been making much of an effort to make friends outside of the Shepherds. Well, Robin supposed that she herself hadn't made any outside friends either, so who was she to judge? The point was, the red and blue-haired girls seemed to enjoy each other's company.

Robin began her next attempt. But, after setting it up fully, the tactician felt a strange compulsion to pluck a few strands of her own hair and add them to the table. The result was Corrin, another ivory-haired woman with a bit of a tactician's mind in her own right. Robin didn't know why, but something just felt right about Corrin. And suddenly, she didn't feel the need to summon anyone else.

Despite that feeling, Robin and Corrin didn't actually interact that much beyond passing greetings and small conversations. Robin was just too busy dealing with some followers of Grima who were making a ruckus in Ylisse after the fell dragon's brief appearance. Having to think about the stupid dragon certainly wasn't helping to quiet down its voice in her head.

Then one day, they started to get to know each other a lot closer.

It was roughly another month after her summoning-spree that Robin woke up and the voice was all-consuming. She couldn't hear. She couldn't think. She could barely even breathe. All of the world around her seemed blurry… fuzzy… blotchy? She stumbled out of her bed, out of her tent, out of the camp. She didn't know where she was going. Her brain was incapable of knowing anything at this point. She just felt like she had to keep moving, or her mind would stop working entirely.

And, out of sheer coincidence, she trudged her way into the same area of the woods that Corrin happened to be in.

“Oh, hey Robin!” Corrin said cheerfully, but her smile faded when she saw Robin wobbling on her feet. “Are… are you okay?”

Robin clearly remembered one moment trying to respond a ‘yes’, and the next being sideways on the ground.

“Robin?!” Corrin rushed to her aid and tried to help her off the ground, but the last of Robin's consciousness was lost in her grasp.

___

She woke up in the medical tent, with a concerned-looking Lissa above her.

“What happened?” she asked her new patient. “Corrin just said that you passed out, and I can't figure out why!”

Robin rubbed one of her temples. The buzzing hadn't gotten much quieter, but now she had gotten used to it at least. “Nothing really happened. I think I just got dehydrated is all.”

Lissa eyed her with a little bit of suspicion.

“Seriously Lissa, I'm fine now,” Robin lied. She stood from the medical bed and headed towards the door to the tent. Lissa trailed her the whole way.

“Robin, I know you sometimes don't tell us things because you don't want us to have to deal with them, but-”

“Lissa, I'm fine,” Robin said, turning to the shorter woman. “I can handle myself now. I'll be sure to drink plenty of fluids from now on.” One of the perks of being a tactician is that it makes decieving people easier.

Lissa's semi-pout finally erased itself, and she gave a small smile. “Alright. But come see me, Libra, or Maribelle if anything like this happens again.”

“I'll do that,” Robin said. She was definitely not going to do that.

Robin started heading across the camp back to her own tent, but she was yanked by the arm into another dwelling.

“Spill it,” Corrin said, releasing the tactician's arm. “Something's going on with you.”

“Good morning to you, too,” Robin deflected.

“It's afternoon. You woke up and went into the woods in your nightgown before it was even dawn, and you've been asleep for hours. Something's up. Stop dodging my question.”

Robin sighed. She really had no choice, did she? She moved a lock of hair out of her own face and smoothed out the nightgown she was still wearing, just to buy herself a little time to collect her thoughts.

“Tell me,” Robin said, “what have the others told you about Grima?”

___

“So… you're a dragon too?” Corrin asked. They were now both sitting on top of the blue sheets of Corrin's bed.

Robin tilted her head side-to-side. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”

“Well, glad to see I'm not the only one,” Corrin smiled brightly.

Robin smirked. “What about Nowi? Or Tiki? Or Nah?”

“That's different. They… they're different. With them it's like they control their dragon side. With me it's like… I have to keep it from controlling me,” Corrin said, fiddling with the dragonstone that she had taken out of her pocket.

“Ah. I guess you understand my issues, then,” Robin said.

“So… is that what's happening? Do you think that Grima is trying to take back over?” Corrin asked.

“No. I don't think that's it. Grima's dead… or… mostly dead? I guess I technically am Grima, so it doesn't really make that much sense…” Robin rambled. “The point is, I think this is just some sort of… remnant of Grima. Something that was left behind once the two of us separated. I don't think I'll be turning into a gigantic, world-destroying god any time soon, so you don't need to worry.”

“But it's hurting you,” Corrin said, placing her hand on Robin's upper arm. Her hand was cold, but not uncomfortably so. “You're in pain, and it's only getting worse. That seems like a pretty good reason to worry.”

“I'm fine. I can handle it,” Robin said, trying to give a smile. The raging headache she was having made it come out a little shaky.

Corrin, unsurprisingly, didn't look convinced. “Well, what did Lissa say that you should do about this?”

Robin smirked. “She had no idea why I passed out like I did. Even if she knew, I doubt she could do anything.”

Corrin's eyes widened. “She doesn't know?! We should go tell her!” She stood up and grabbed a coat, but Robin caught her arm.

“You can't tell anyone, okay?” she said.

“But… why? You need help!”

“There are many reasons why,” Robin said, sitting back down on the mattress of Corrin's bed. “The Shepherds… they went through two wars within a year of each other, and then immediately started having to pick sides between gods. These past few months have been the most relaxed I've ever seen them. Sure, there are still a few scuffles with Grima devotees, but it's pretty quiet beyond that. I mean, Cordelia is actually starting to get through to her daughter on how to be a decent human being! Tharja has started stalking me less! Olivia's working on her shyness, and Lucina and Celica have gotten really close!” Robin paused for a second. “Now that I think about it, they've gotten really close.”

“Yeah, I think that there might be something beyond friendship in their relationship,” Corrin said. “Though, from what I know about Lucina, I'm sure she hasn't recognized it yet, and I'm sure Celica is too gentle to make Lucina figure it out.”

“Regardless,” Robin said, getting back on track, “I don't want to interfere with everyone's happiness by announcing that the being that they fought so hard to defeat still partially exists. They deserve to stay happy.”

“And you don't?” Corrin asked. “You probably had the hardest fight of anyone. You had to defy the influence of your father, and then you were in Grima's mind-belly… thing, and had to fight your way out of that, before confronting yourself from an alternate timeline and essentially killing yourself in the process, and then you came back from the dead.” Corrin plopped back on the mattress next to the other ivoryette. “That story is really confusing, but the point is that you should get the chance to rest, too.”

“I'm not that important. I'm just the tactician,” Robin said.

“Don’t talk like that,” Corrin said. “You’re important. I've asked plenty of people about you, and they all come to the same conclusions. One: that you're extremely important and they don't know what they would've done without you, and two: that you constantly work yourself down to the bone. You put other people before yourself and they sometimes wish you'd stop.”

“This isn't about me overworking myself,” Robin said.

“No, it isn't. But you're still self-sacrificing when you don't need to be.”

“Look, just… please don't tell anyone about this. I'm telling you this in confidence,” Robin said.

Corrin gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “Alright.”

“Can I trust you?” Robin asked.

“You can trust me,” Corrin responded. “I don't like it, but I'll keep it secret for as long as you still want me to.”

Robin gave a big smile and wrapped Corrin in a tight hug. “Thank you so much. I'm kind of glad that you know now, though. Now I have someone to talk to about it!”

Corrin nodded. “I'll always be ready to listen. If you're not going to tell anyone else about your pain, at least tell me. Ranting can sometimes make everything feel better.”

“Are you sure that you're okay with that? I would feel bad wasting your time-”

“Stop,” Corrin said firmly, holding both of Robin's shoulders. “You are in terrible pain every day now. Let me make it just a little bit better.”

“Okay,” Robin said. “Okay. I think I'm going to go try and sleep off the rest of this headache. See you, Corrin!” The tactician approached the door to the tent, but then stopped. “Actually, I have one more question.”

“Yes?” Corrin asked.

“What were you doing in the middle of the forest before dawn?” Robin inquired.

“Oh, sometimes my dragon side gets a little rowdy, so I let it out in unpopulated areas so it can blow off some steam,” Corrin said, as if that were a completely normal problem that everyone had.

“... Right. I'll be seeing you, Corrin.”

“Rest well, Robin.”

___

Eventually, the voices seemed to reach a maximum volume, so Robin didn't need to worry about it getting worse anymore. Now she just had constant, throbbing migraines in six different places around her head, something that she often complained about when speaking with Corrin.

The two bonded quite a bit through these little meetings. Robin would complain about Grima this or Grima that, and Corrin would talk about her vast family issues. Then they would just keep talking about everything or nothing, and suddenly hours would have passed and Robin would've completely forgotten to plan a completely redundant strategy or do unnecessary tome exercises. Corrin had been right. Talking with her was therapeutic for Robin, in more ways than one.

But, just when Robin thought that she had seen the worst of Grima's remnants, she was proven sorely mistaken.

It was maybe a month and a half after the original conversation between the two white-haired women. Corrin was laying down on Robin's bed with her head on top of her friend's belly. They had run out of things to talk about, so now they were just enjoying each other's company. Robin excused herself to go to the bathroom, and that left Corrin without her pillow. She reached and grabbed one of Robin's tomes from the other side of the bed, and started leafing through it. She had always wondered if there were English words in any of these. Brynhildr did not have any English contained in its pages, as she discovered when she snuck a peek at it when Leo was sleeping. This 'Arcwind’ tome seemed a lot more user-friendly. There were even a few pages entirely in English.

She was about to read one of them when she heard Robin screaming.

Corrin leaped off of the bed to assist. Right in the doorway, having just returned from the bathhouse, was the tome-user, still dressed in her tank top and doubled over on the floor. And her right bicep was completely engulfed in purple fire.

Corrin acted quickly. She grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table (thank gods that it had been there) and poured it on Robin's arm, dousing the flames.

They both took a moment to catch their breath after that rather terrifying moment. Then Corrin spoke.

“Robin, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks to you,” Robin responded.

“What the hell was that?!” Corrin exclaimed, not missing a beat.

“I… uh… think it's the Grima thing. I guess it's more than just headaches,” Robin said. She then gently touched her bicep with her left hand, and flinched at the pain that resulted.

Corrin could see the burned area in excruciating detail. It was bad. A second degree burn at best, and it had only been on fire for about four seconds.

“You need to get this healed,” Corrin said, leaning down towards her friend. “We're going to the medical tent.”

Robin flinched backwards. “No! They're going to find out about Grima!”

Corrin gave Robin a wide-eyed stare. “You're seriously still worried about that?! The dragon inside of you just set you on fire . It's time to start caring about your own health!”

“I don't want anybody finding out about this,” Robin said stubbornly. “I'll let you take me to the medical tent, but you have to promise me that you won't say what happened.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Corrin seemed livid.

“Absolutely not,” Robin said, with a steadfast gaze directly into Corrin's eyes.

The half-dragon once again made a long sigh. “I promise. Can we please go get your arm healed now?”

Robin slowly nodded, and Corrin brought her to the medical tent, where Maribelle immediately took her into care.

“How exactly did this happen? This burn is horrendous!” the healer asked.

“I burned myself while practicing with a fire tome,” Robin said. Corrin had to consciously keep herself from objecting.

“Really? That's so unlike you, darling!” Maribelle said while performing her healing magic.

“I guess it's bound to happen to every tome-user at some point,” Robin said.

“We'll, I'd advise you to use more caution in the future,” Maribelle said as she finished up her healing. “That must have been very painful.”

“Yes. I guess it was,” Robin said dismissively.

___

Two more fire incidents occurred before Corrin decided that that was enough. She couldn't bear to watch Robin in so much pain anymore.

She had told Robin that she was going on some errands into the nearby town, but her actual plans were very different. She felt bad about lying to one of the people she was closest to, but it was necessary.

While crossing camp, she passed by Lucina and Celica holding hands. They would claim that it was purely platonic, but Corrin knew better. Even if the two women didn't know it themselves.

A few meters later, and she was at the war room, otherwise known as 'the place to find Chrom between the times of breakfast and dinner’. She entered the room.

“Ah, Corrin,” Chrom said. “I'm surprised to see you without Robin. You two have seemed attached at the hip lately.” He said this with a smirk.

Corrin did not return any sort of smile.

“Actually, I'm here to talk to you about her. That's why she didn't join me.”

Chrom sat up a bit straighter in his chair, realizing Corrin's seriousness. “I'm listening,” he said, gesturing to an empty chair next to him.

Corrin took the seat and took a deep breath. She was having some trouble getting up the nerve to reveal the secret that she had been entrusted with. Eventually, though, she spoke up. “Has Robin seemed… any different to you recently?”

Chrom stroked his chin. “Sometimes it's hard to tell. She has a tendency to put on a fake smile when things are bad. But… I guess she has been a bit peculiar for a while now. Especially when she suddenly decided to summon you and Celica.” Chrom stopped himself. “Uh… no offense intended, of course.”

“None taken,” Corrin responded.

Chrom nodded, then continued. “I guess she's been a bit quieter? And… I've been getting some reports that she's burned herself a few times recently. That's out of the ordinary. She's usually really careful with her spells.”

Corrin solemnly nodded. “I know the reason for both of those things.”

Chrom's ears seemed to perk up. “You do?”

Corrin, once again, nodded, slower this time. “I….. she…” She paused and collected herself. “One day, I found her stumbling out into the woods. I know that isn't strange on it's own, but she looked like she was… suffering. And then she collapsed and passed out.”

“That sounds… bad,” Chrom said.

“Yeah,” Corrin responded. “I confronted her about it later that day, and… Chrom… she's not okay.”

Corrin proceeded to tell the Shepherd king everything that Robin had told her. She told him about the remnants of Grima, about the migraines, and finally explained the burns. By the end of it, she was crying and her chest felt heavy.

“It's just… it's so hard to see her in so much pain… A-and I couldn't say anything. She trusted me not to tell an-anyone. I-I made a promise to her… a-and now I'm completely betraying her trust.” She gripped at her stomach. “I f-feel like a terrible person.”

Chrom placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it's alright. You're doing this for her. That in no way makes you a bad person.” He leaned back into his chair. “Thank you for telling me all of this. Robin's really important to me, to all of us. I wish she would have just told us this from the beginning instead of making you have to bear the burden of this secret.”

“It's not her fault. Please don't blame her for this,” Corrin said.

Chrom smiled at her. “I know. She had good intentions in not letting us know. But in the end, all that matters is that we find a way to make her better again.” He leaned back towards the woman in front of him. “You did the right thing, Corrin.”

“Please… please don't tell her I told you,” Corrin said weakly.

“I won't. Don't worry,” Chrom said reassuringly. “But, I think I'm going to need your help to deal with this. Please come talk with me tomorrow.”

___

And so, Corrin did exactly that. On the night after telling Chrom about Robin's secret, the princess's sleep was restless at best. She couldn't get the feeling of guilt out of her gut. Thankfully, this wasn't one of the many days that Robin would spend sleeping in the same tent as her, so she didn't have to look at the person that she had just betrayed.

She didn't talk to Robin in the morning like she normally would have. She just couldn't deal with that. So she headed straight to Chrom.

“You want me to what?” Corrin asked.

“Just take Robin on a walk out of camp for a little bit. I need to be able to inform the rest of the Shepherds about the problem, and she'll realize something's up if she's still here,” Chrom said. “I'm trying to deal with this tactfully.”

Corrin took a long moment to think about it, and then said, “Okay, I'll do it.”

“Thanks, Corrin. I know that this isn't really your responsibility, but the fact that you've done so much for Robin shows how great of a person you are,” Chrom said.

“She's important to me, too,” Corrin responded.

“You know, Celica came in here after you left yesterday and said something similar, before asking for my blessing to profess her love to my daughter,” Chrom said, with some sort of a knowing smile on his lips.

“Really? Are they finally getting together?” Corrin said, thankful for the distraction.

“Hopefully. If Lucina doesn't completely shut down once she's confessed to, that is.”

Corrin smiled. “Ah, young love.”

Chrom looked at her with that same knowing gaze. “Yeah.”

Corrin left the tent feeling a little more relaxed than when she had entered it. She wondered what she had even been so stressed about.

“There you are, Corrin,” Robin said after spotting the princess.

Ah. There was the stress.

“H-hi, Robin!” Corrin said, a little too energetically. Tone it down. Be more natural, Corrin thought

“Where have you been?” Robin asked.

“Oh, Chrom wanted to talk to me,” Corrin said, then mentally berated herself. That answer's just going to make her ask follow-up questions…

“About what?” Robin asked, tilting her head a bit.

There it is… “Just… talk.” Corrin said. She hoped that it would be enough.

Thankfully, it seemed that it was. “Yeah, he's nice to talk to. He's a really understanding guy.”

Corrin smiled. Yeah, so far so good.

“So, do you want to do anything right now?” Robin asked.

Perfect. “How about we go on a walk?” Corrin asked.

“Sure!” Robin responded cheerfully, but then flinched and rubbed her temples. “Sure,” she said again, quieter.

“Are you okay?” Corrin asked.

“Yeah, you know…” Robin looked around her for for anyone within earshot, “same old headache.”

“Sorry, Robin,” Corrin said. “I wish that you didn't have to deal with that.”

“I can handle it,” Robin said. “Come on, I've got an idea for somewhere we can go on our walk.”

Robin grabbed Corrin's hand and practically dragged her out of the camp. Hopefully this'll give you the time you need, Chrom, Corrin thought.

Their walk rapidly became a hike, as they started venturing into the nearby mountainous area. Robin led Corrin into a little alcove of cliffs, and… it was absolutely beautiful.

There was a little hidden waterfall that felt like a forbidden delight for only her and Robin to see. The water spilled into a clear spring, seeming untouched by humanity and nature both. The stones around her glistened and sparkled. To sum it up, everything felt both private and beautiful.

“This is my favorite place in this part of Ylisse,” Robin said. “I mean, people are good and all, but sometimes it's great to just have a place to get away.”

Corrin nodded. She understood exactly what Robin was talking about.

“Come on, let's go swimming,” Robin said, beginning to take off her clothes. Corrin grinned and joined her.

___

After swimming together for a while, Corrin and Robin laid next to each other on a grassy spot with a good view of the waterfall. They were silent for some time, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was peaceful.

“Hey,” Robin said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah?” Corrin asked.

“You've been a little quiet today,” Robin commented.

“Really?” Corrin asked, and she was grateful that the droplets of water from the pool were still on her, because she was surely sweating. “Sorry, I don't mean to be.”

“It's alright. I don't mind,” Robin said, and then she did something that Corrin was not prepared for. She rested her head on the princess's shoulder.

Corrin jumped a bit, and Robin seemed to take that as an objection, as she started raising her head. “No, it's fine,” Corrin reassured.

Robin hummed a response as she placed her head back in the crook of Corrin's neck. They descended into silence once more, but this time it wasn't for quite as long.

“I'm really glad I ended up summoning you,” Robin said. “I think I was desperate for someone to talk to about the Grima thing at the time, someone not from the Shepherds, but I never expected that I would end up summoning someone as amazing as you.”

“Th-thanks,” Corrin stuttered out, blushing profusely.

“I… I want to thank you. For keeping my secret for so long,” Robin said, smiling into her companion's shoulder. “I know it probably isn't easy, and I feel really bad that I put you in this position, but I'm so glad that I could trust you to keep it between us.”

It felt like a punch in the gut to Corrin. The guilt and dread pulling at her chest increased tenfold. Gods, I betrayed her trust.

“Corrin?” Robin asked, drawing her attention to the other woman's face.

“Sorry, I was just… thinking,” Corrin responded. This is the worst I have ever felt. Hands down.

Robin smirked. “Classic Corrin, always thinking about things.”

Corrin gave a half-hearted laugh. She hoped to the gods that it passed as real.

She felt Robin scoot a bit closer, and then the mage removed her head from the princess's bare shoulder. Corrin turned to look at the tactician, and suddenly they were gazing directly into each other's eyes. They stared for a good while, Robin into bright red and Corrin into deep brown.

Then Robin smiled. “You know, when I'm around you, I often forget that I even have headaches.”

Corrin slightly nodded without breaking eye contact. She was too entranced to do that.

Then Robin stood up. “We should probably head back,” she said, walking over to the clothes that she had discarded on a rock near the pool. “I have some responsibilities that I have to get to.”

Corrin snapped herself out of her stupor. “R-right.” She grabbed her own clothes and started putting them back on, and was suddenly jealous of how simple Robin's clothes seemed to be to put on compared to her own.

“Chrom will probably be looking for me too, knowing him,” Robin commented. And that reminded Corrin of why she was here, and a whole new rush of guilt hit her.

“Yeah, I'm… I'm sure he will be,” she said, and completely avoided eye-contact.

They walked back to camp mostly in silence, which did not help with Corrin's complete and all-consuming anxiety. But she certainly didn't trust herself enough to start a conversation now, so silence it was.

They reached the camp, and there was a noticeable mood change among the Shepherds. Some were looking at Robin with pity, while others were forcing themselves to look away. But either way, everyone seemed sombre.

“What do you think happened while we were gone?” Robin whispered to Corrin.

“I don't know,” Corrin lied. “Hey, I'll try and investigate. You go talk to Chrom.”

“Okay, sounds good,” Robin said. She briefly took Corrin's hand and squeezed it, before heading to the main tent.

Corrin's heart had never ached this much in her life. She decided to lay down in her tent and try to wish away all of these feelings. It didn't work.

___

Robin entered the main tent and immediately knew something was up. Assembled at one end of the table were Chrom, Lissa, Frederick, and Lucina. Some of her closest and oldest friends, all gathered there and waiting for her.

“Robin,” Frederick said as she entered. As always, his voice was commanding, but there was a little twinge of sadness in it, too.

“What's… going on?” Robin asked,not sure whether she should step in or stay near the door for a quick escape route.

“Robin, we… know about Grima,” Chrom said.

Robin's heart skipped a few beats, but she still decided to be cautious. “Oh? What about Grima?”

Chrom shook his head, visibly disappointed in her. “We both in know what I'm talking about. Grima's still partially inside of you, and it's hurting you.”

“It's why you suddenly passed out in the woods several months ago,” Lissa commented.

“And why you kept having burns on your body,” Lucina added.

“We just want to help,” Chrom said.

“No. Stop. I'm not letting anyone throw themselves at my problems anymore,” Robin said, backing towards the door.

“It's okay to need help,” Lucina said, standing from her seat.

“No! Stop it! This is my problem! All of you almost died the last time that I started causing problems. I'm not waiting for that to happen again!” Robin was shouting at this point.

“Please calm down, everything is going to be alright this time,” Lissa said, trying to be reassuring.

It worked, to an extent. Robin lowered her eyes to the ground and spoke quieter. “How did you find out?”

Chrom stood up from his seat. “We just pooled our knowledge of what's been happening with you recently and figured it out.”

Robin's eyes widened and she looked up at Chrom's face. “You're lying.” Her voice sounded like it was filled with disbelief.

“Um, no I'm not. That's how we figured it out,” Chrom tried again.

“You're lying! That's what you sound like when you lie, and the evidence you had would've never led you to that specific of a conclusion!” Robin shouted, looking infuriated now.

Chrom cringed. He had clearly underestimated Robin's intelligence, even after knowing her for so long.

Lucina walked towards the distressed tactician. “Robin-”

“I can't believe it. Corrin fucking told you!” Robin shut her eyes in rage. “I trusted her.”

Chrom decided to come to Corrin's defense. “Robin, she just-”

“I TRUSTED HER!” When Robin opened her eyes, they were blood red.

A gigantic burst of wind emanated from her body, throwing the others away from her and tearing the war room to shreds. The Shepherds who happened to be outside at the time had to duck out of the way of several pieces of debris. They then got to see Robin begin floating in the air with glowing, red eyes. She took out a red tome.

“Oh no, Grima's gotten to her,” Chrom said, mostly to himself.

“It does seem that way, yes,” Lucina said from beside him. He turned to look at her, and saw her clutching at a splinter of wood that had pierced her midsection.

“Lucina, you're wounded,” Chrom said.

“My skills of perception aren't that bad, father,” Lucina said.

“You should get off of the battlefield,” Chrom said, with an edge of commandingness to his voice.

“Not while our friend is still like that,” Lucina said, pointing to the currently malicious-looking Robin.

“SHUT UP!” the tactician shouted, leveling her gaze at the two blue-haired royals. “YOU TWO THINK THIS IS A JOKE?!”

“Robin, you have to fight back! This anger is coming from Grima, not you,” Chrom shouted back to her.

“Oh, I'm pretty sure a lot of it is coming from me,” Robin said, before pointing her tome at a tent and reciting, “Dying Blaze!” The tent was completely destroyed in an explosion of fire. Thankfully, no one had been in it.

“Please calm down! Corrin was just trying to help you!” Lissa shouted over the sound of the wind blowing violently around her friend.

“That's easy for you to say! You're not the one she stabbed in the back!” Robin said, glaring at the blonde healer.

“Robin,” came a new voice.

The mage's focus was drawn to its source: a rather guilt-ridden Corrin who was just emerging from her tent, completely unarmed and unarmored, and with both hands in the air. If the shouting hadn't roused her from her deep thoughts, the explosion had.

“YOU!” Robin yelled at the top of her lungs. She started floating towards the silver-haired woman.

“Robin, I'm so, so sorry. Please stop attacking everyone else. I'm the one who deserves it.” Corrin said, falling to her knees and presenting herself without resistance.

“Corrin, stop,” Chrom said.

“Don't do this, Robin!” Lucina said.

Regardless, Robin continued levitating toward her target, electricity crackling at her fingertips. “You betrayed me! I trusted you so much, and you betrayed me!”

Corrin nodded, tears falling from her eyes. “I did. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” Her voice was on the brink of being sobs, but she stopped herself from breaking down.

“SORRY ISN'T ENOUGH!” Robin shouted. “Thunder!” She sent a torrent of lightning at the other woman. It wasn't a deadly amount, but it was enough to be incredibly painful.

Corrin screamed and spasmed as the electricity surged through her body. Once it ended, however, she still stayed on her knees and didn't show any will to protect herself.

Lucina drew her sword with the hand that wasn't clutching at her wound. “Robin that's enough!”

“No…” Corrin said. It was barely audible. “I d-deserve this…”

“Stop saying that! You did nothing wrong!” Frederick protested.

Corrin ignored him and looked to the enraged tactician. “Robin… I'm…” a new wave of tears escaped her eyes, “I just couldn't stand to see you getting hurt any more… I couldn't.”

Robin's hand, which had been poised to send more bolts of electricity, started to tremble. Then it slowly lowered back down, as did the mage's entire body. Once she landed on the ground, she blinked a few times and the red disappeared from her eyes. It was silent as she looked around. From the wood splinter lodged in Lucina's torso, to the demolished tent, to the fried, trembling form of Corrin. Her eyes filled with tears.

“Robin?” Chrom asked tentatively.

“... Get away from me…” Robin said, barely above a whisper.

“You need help,” Lucina said, starting to approach.

“I said get away! I'm too dangerous!” Robin shouted. When Lucina took another step towards the tactician, she cast “Elfire!” and the ground between her and the Shepherds caught fire. She fled into the woods.

“Robin, wait!!!” Lissa shouted after her, but to no avail. She turned back to who she had originally been trying to get to in order to heal, only to see that Corrin had assumed her dragon form and bounded over the flames after the other white-haired woman. “Corrin!”

___

Corrin didn't care that everything hurt. She had to fix what she had caused. Lissa could wait.

After clearing the flames, Corrin stayed in her dragon form in order to run faster. She kept running, almost deliriously, until she found Robin curled up against a tree and sobbing. Corrin returned to her natural form.

“Robin,” Corrin said. It was a little hard to say even that with how out-of-breath she was.

“Don't get any closer!” Robin said through the sobs, clearly startled that she had been followed. “I don't want to end up hurting you again!”

“Robin, I don't care. All I care about is that you're okay,” Corrin said.

“How could you say that?! I almost killed you! You should hate me!”

“I betrayed you. You should hate me ,” Corrin countered, coughing a little bit at the fact that it felt like her lung was trembling.

“You were just trying to protect me from my stupid self,” Robin said, curling more in on herself.

“Don't say that,” Corrin said firmly, despite her voice being frail.

“Say what?” Robin asked softly.

“Never call yourself stupid ever again,” Corrin said, slowly approaching the tactician. “You are a brilliant, beautiful, incredible person. It hurts me so much more than lightning ever could when I hear you say otherwise.” She kneeled down in front of Robin and reached out to touch her. The mage flinched away from her hand. “Shh shh shhhhh, everything is okay now, Robin. Everything is okay.”

Robin relented and allowed Corrin to touch her. It was first a comforting rub on the shoulder, then it was stroking down her arm, and it eventually ended with the hand cupping Robin's face.

“Look at me,” Corrin said. Robin's brown eyes found her face. “I'm alright. Everyone's alright. We're going to be okay, okay?”

“But you're not alright,” Robin said with a trembling voice. “I hurt you. Lucina got hurt too! And I could've killed someone! And-”

Corrin brought her other hand up to clasp Robin's other cheek. “And we're going to be able to move on from this. None of us blame you for what happened. Do you hear me? This wasn't your fault.”

A new wave of sobs that Robin had been holding in emerged, and Corrin grabbed her hands to support her. After another minute or so, she ran out of tears to shed.

“... You didn't deserve it,” Robin mumbled.

“Huh?” Corrin questioned.

“You kept saying that you deserved what I did to you back there,” Robin said. “You didn't. Deserve it, I mean.”

Corrin smiled. “Okay.”

“And… that wasn't Grima who did all of that,” Robin said. “Sure, Grima made me more violent, but it was my anger that was driving it. Gods, I was furious, and I had no right to be.” It was Robin's turn to cup both sides of Corrin's face. “I'm sorry.”

“I forgive you,” Corrin said. Their two faces were leaned very close to each other now.

“... Can you forgive me for one more thing?” Robin asked.

“What?” Corrin inquired.

“For what I'm about to do,” Robin said, and then their lips met. It was sparkles and it was fire and it was nothing and everything at the same time. Robin tasted like cherries and warmth and purple, and maybe the information from her brain was scrambled enough to think that purple was a flavor, but that was just the effect that Robin was having on her. There was a certain feeling of danger, but also an overwhelming feeling of comfort and safety. Everything was right in the world the moment that they made contact.

The kiss could have never lasted long enough, but eventually it ended. The two women stared into each other's eyes.

Corrin was the first to speak. “Wow. That was…”

“... something that was long overdue,” Robin finished.

“Yeah,” Corrin responded.

Then Robin rubbed one of her temples, and Corrin's face immediately went to one of concern.

“The voices?” Corrin asked.

“Yeah,” Robin said. “I think… I think I'm finally ready to admit that I can't handle this on my own.”

Corrin smiled. “You don't have to anymore. There are so many people who want to help you.” She nuzzled Robin's nose with her own. “Especially me.”

Robin gave a goofy grin. “Especially you.”

___

“They're back!!!” Lissa shouted, and everyone's heads turned. If Robin didn't have Corrin firmly squeezing her hand, she might've been intimidated by the number of eyes on her. Now, though, she felt fearless.

“Robin,” Chrom said, tentatively approaching. “Are you… okay?”

Robin glanced from him, to Corrin's eyes beside her, down to the ground. “No. I... think I haven't been for a long time. I'm sorry that I never told any of you. I thought that I was sparing you, but I was so wrong. I know I don't really deserve to ask, but... could I have some help trying to find a solution for this?” She gestured to her own head.

Chrom smiled. “Of course. We're going to do everything we can to help you get through this. And then you're finally going to be free from Grima's influence.”

“CORRIN!” Lissa shouted, and the woman in question cringed. “Never run away when I'm trying to heal you again! I know that it was a strange circumstance, but you need healing now!”

Corrin slowly nodded, rubbing circles into the back of Robin's hand with her thumb before releasing it. “I'll be back soon,” she said before following Lissa into the medical tent.

“Oh, Lucina! Is she okay?” Robin inquired, remembering the other victim.

“She's alright, she's just resting now,” Celica said, emerging from the medical tent. She dropped a blood-covered splinter of wood on the ground. “But I'd ask you to refrain from impaling my lover any more.”

Robin smiled. “Aww, congrats! You two are finally together?”

Celica pointed at her. “That's not the part of the sentence that you should be focusing on. I expect you to be more careful in the future.”

Robin's expression became serious. “I promise.”

Celica smiled. “Alright then.”

Chrom waved at Robin. “Hey, how about you help us pick up the pieces of the war room?”

“Gladly,” Robin said, moving to join the other Shepherds.

___

Finally. It had taken two months of searching, and Tiki was the one who finally had the contacts needed to find what they were looking for. Robin sat down on the strange, wooden chair that had been presented to her, Corrin clasping her hand between both of her own the whole way.

Corrin looked to the medicine man. “Are you sure this will work?”

The man busied himself with preparing some herbs. “The being inhabiting her mind is a greatly powerful one, but much of it seems to be gone. Only a small fragment remains, and that could make it possible to remove by medical means.” He turned to Corrin. “But I won't lie to you. This is dangerous, and it may have never been attempted for a being of this strength before. There isn't a guarantee that this will work, and there isn't a guarantee that she will leave the process unscathed, either.”

Corrin squeezed Robin's hand even harder. “Are you sure you're ready for this?”

Robin nodded. “I need these voices out of my head. The voices, the fires… it's time to leave them behind me.”

“But…” Corrin protested, “I… I just don't want to lose you…”

Robin leaned up and gave her a tender kiss. “It's okay. I'm not going to let this be the end of me.”

Corrin closed her eyes, tears threatening at the corners, and silently nodded. The medicine man led Robin to a bed with a cup of green liquid next to it and prompted the tactician to drink it.

“That's going to make you sleep in a minute or two,” he said to Robin, and then began speaking to Corrin. “Miss, I'll allow you to stay here until she's unconscious, but then I'll need you to leave so that I can work.”

“Okay,” Corrin said, and the man stepped into the back room for a moment. Corrin felt a palm find its way to her cheek, and she leaned into it's familiar warmth.

“Corrin,” Robin said. “I know I was acting brave before but… I am scared. I'm scared of what might happen. But… this needs to happen.”

Corrin took Robin's hand from her cheek and kissed the back of it. “I know. I know that. You've had to deal with Grima for too long. This has to happen.”

Robin was silent for a moment as her eyes began to droop. “... Corrin… if this doesn't go well…”

Corrin started shaking her head. “Robin, I can't handle you talking like that…”

“Corrin, please…” Robin said, and Corrin grew silent. “If I don't make it out of this… please find someone else who makes you happy. I don't want you to stay sad because I'm gone.”

“Robin, how can you say that? I… you can't…” she looked at the tactician, whose eyes were now shut. “Robin?”

She didn't respond. The doctor came from the back room. “Ah, she's asleep. Okay, I'll need you to leave the room now.”

Corrin slowly stood and made her way out. Outside of the door, several other Shepherds were waiting, including Chrom. She walked to him, collapsed into his arms and started crying.

After the process was finished, Corrin stayed at Robin's bedside for hours. Lucina and Celica had to bring food for her because she refused to leave. She didn't eat much of it, though, because her nerves were definitely affecting her appetite.

The moment that Robin's eyes fluttered open, Corrin's heart felt three times lighter.

“Robin! You're okay!” she said.

Robin's head twisted to look at her. “Hey.” Her voice was rough and strained, but it was there. Then her eyes widened.

“What's wrong?” Corrin asked, immediately concerned.

Robin's eyes filled with tears. “It's… so quiet in here.” Tears of joy fell from her eyes. “It's gone. The voice is really gone!”

Corrin started tearing up too. “Robin, Grima's gone forever! You don't have to suffer anymore!” She started smothering her love in kisses. Kisses which Robin readily accepted.

“Wow, how long was I asleep?” Robin giggled through the onslaught.

“Long enough to make me worry,” Corrin said. “I'm so happy right now.”

Robin's smile only grew bigger. “I'm so glad.” Then she looked at the open doorway. “Would you do me a favor and find Chrom? There's something I need from him.”

“No need,” Chrom said, entering the doorway. “I was already outside.” He walked to Robin and placed something in her hand before settling in the back corner of the room.

“Thank you,” Robin said. Then she turned her attention to the woman at her bedside. “Corrin, I was waiting to see if this went well before asking you…”

Corrin covered her mouth with both hands as Robin fumbled with the object in hers. It was a ring.

“You make me whole, Corrin. Any time that I'm around you, everything just feels right. So, will you do me the honor of helping me feel whole forever? Will you marry me?”

Corrin had cried a lot today, but apparently she hadn't been out of tears just yet. Through glistening eyes, she managed a quick, “Yes,” before diving into a kiss on Robin's lips, hopefully conveying all of the endless amounts of love that she felt for the tactician.

After the kiss ended, they heard a noise from the doorway and, sure enough, almost every Shepherd present was there and making poor attempts to hide themselves. They couldn't see Kellam, but they were sure he was there somewhere.

“Chrom?” Robin accused, her eyes narrowing at the king.

“I may have let a few of the details slip,” he said, with a shameless grin.

Robin grinned too, turning back to gaze into Corrin's red eyes. “I'm so glad that everyone I know is terrible at keeping secrets,” she said, before beginning another kiss with her new fiancee.