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It stings.
His chest, of course, stings. There’s a heat that bursts through it, and his nerves crackle with electricity. They spark, and erupt into a searing pain, and then they die. He’s on fire, and he feels for the lightning bolt that eats away at his soul.
“This is not your…your fault.”
Is what comes out of his mouth.
How could you betray me?
His heart screams.
“Promise me…you’ll escape from this place.”
There’s a desperate desire that aches from deep within him for him to stay.
The face that looks back at him is dazed, but full is dread and heartbreak. He’s shaking ever so slightly.
“Please…go.”
It’s the last thing he hears, and a tragic scene is the last he sees.
The fire has scorched his heart and charred his nerves. His heartache lifted by Naga’s grace, he falls to his knees and collapses onto the ground.
“My poor child."
It’s dark. He no longer feelings the scorching pain that burdened his body. There’s nothing left to harm him. He’s left that realm.
“Life has been unfair, and aches of cruelty.”
There’s no feeling in his hands, though he knows he reaches out.
“Fate cannot be so easily escaped.”
Though there is no one there, he feels leather on his palm. He pulls it closer to him.
He should feel no pain.
“That does not mean, however, that it is impossible.”
It stings.
“Love is a strange thing.”
He remembers moonlit nights full of laughter, and full of comradery. His army unified against one enemy and unified towards one cause.
The laughter is subdued, a hidden chuckle, with the same leather glove he felt hiding the smile that graced his comrades face.
“It can grant miracles that even I am not capable of.”
He remembers the weight of another person close to his chest. The smell of smoke from a blown out candle. The soft snoring of someone dear to him fills the silence of a sleeping world. It keeps him grounded, for the loss of so many weighs on his shoulders.
“But it is only when we know what love is, that it will grant us that miracle.”
He remembers the loss of a loved one, and the ache of his chest. He remembers nothing like it, he remembers seeing it happen right before him. He remembers being too late.
He remembers a feeling on his back; a hand that reminds him that he is still of this mortal realm, while she is not. He’s guided away, he chose to save her, and now she’s gone. He remembers the defeat he felt. He let her down.
“Tell me,”
But it is not his fault, he’s reminded. He did his best, and for that he should give himself some grace.
He holds himself together for his sister, he tries to console her, to be there for her. But is he so strong?
“Who do you love?”
Not without the strength of someone so brilliant.
“Tell me, child.”
Brilliant, shining days spent with a friend.
“Why do you love them?”
The sound of his own laughter as he pulls up his friend after falling on his butt during a sparring session.
“What does that love do?”
The unwavering faith in one single individual to lead them to victory.
“How can you express your love?”
A chance meeting blessed to him by fate.
“Chrom.”
It stings.
“What is your miracle?”
Chrom gasps, and shoots up out of bed. He looks around his tent, the cold sweat chills his bare skin with the kiss of a midnight breeze.
He can’t remember, but he feels as though he’s lost something dear to him. He aches for something desperately, though he’s not sure what.
Outside, there is a figure outside lit by candlelight. He sees their head tilt, and come closer to the entrance.
“Chrom? Are you alright?”
Someone comes in, worry exaggerated by the bags under their eyes. A long night of tactical preparation.
Relief floods through his body, and warms his chest and soaks his being.
There is always time, there is always a second chance.
Fate is difficult to escape, though not impossible.
Though, he does not know, and does not worry about what fate has in store for the two.
His nightmare fades from memory, and he greets his visitor with an adoring smile full of hope and relief.
“Robin.”