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Body
“Really? On the day you’re to be wed?” Grima sneers.
“My bride is fully understanding of where my heart lies.” Chrom reddens. “Or, well… You know what I mean.”
Grima chuckles humorlessly. Chrom’s heart lies with Robin, his tactician. But his body lies with Robin, the Plegian hierophant. And it lies with him often.
“Then, you wish to continue… this.”
“Yes, if… If it’s still possible,” Chrom says. “I do enjoy your company.”
Grima snorts. Company. It’s certainly not his personality that Chrom enjoys time and time again.
They’re just bodies to each other. It doesn’t mean anything.
“Very well.”
End
“A shame this will be our last time together,” Grima sighs. “But all things come to an end…”
Chrom nearly falls off the bed.
“L-last time?” he exclaims. “What do you mean?”
“You’re running off to defend Ferox,” Grima drawls. “Do you really think the Valmese will be satisfied with a single battle?”
“Well, no…” Even Chrom knows another war is inevitable. “But… It’s not as though I intend to die! I’m going to come back!”
Grima hums dismissively. He knows what Chrom will be coming back to.
“Can I write to you, at least?”
Grima chuckles.
“You do that.”
History
Since they both have to be at Carrion Isle anyway, they might as well have one more round.
Chrom clings to him more than usual when they’re finished.
“You know, a king of old, Anri, couldn’t wed his lover… She married someone else out of duty. But Anri, he… He never had children, so his kingdom was divided after his death. It sounds bad, yes, but without this, we would never have had Marth. We wouldn’t have history as we know it.”
Grima hums.
“But without Artemis, you wouldn’t have the Fire Emblem.”
And then where would they be today?
Evil
If Grima hadn’t lost so much of his power traveling through time and space, he wouldn’t be feeling this way now…
Or maybe he would.
It’s the world that wants the fell dragon to be evil. But when Grima thinks about Chrom… about what Chrom wants…
There is a weakness in him, a terrible fault that threatens now to split him in two. He has never been able to defy others' demands of him.
I’ll be in Plegia to meet with King Validar. Can I count on you to be there?
Grima has made Chrom believe he’s on his side.
Heart
It’s a last-minute change of plans, but Grima is a master tactician and can make it work. He warps inside the Dragon’s Table just in time to block the blow that would do Chrom in, then he warps out with Chrom, leaving Validar and his other self to complete the dragon’s resurrection.
Chrom gets enough of a shock from Grima’s explanation.
“But… How did you know we switched the gemstones?”
“… What?”
Grima’s ignorance reveals the truth to Chrom. Now Grima’s heart, terrible but bleeding, is laid bare.
“Oh…” Chrom breathes.
“You were counting on me,” Grima says, his voice cracking.