First Time Destiny | Fire Emblem Awakening (Oneshots)

First Time Destiny

One Robin met Prince Chrom as soon as she opened her eyes. One Robin knew nothing but him.

But one Robin had a life before she met a prince. One Robin met Prince Chrom in a burning town, on a quest for vengeance of her own.

This is how they were supposed to meet.

***

Any Ylissean citizen who originated from an area further inland might have marvelled at the quaint scenery of Southtown, but Robin was immune to its charms. It looked the same as the village she had stayed in last week and the same as the one she had visited the week before. There had been a time when her sharp eyes would have marked the subtle differences in the layout, buildings, customs, and people, but now it all melded into one. It was nothing more than a red splodge on the map pinned inside her brain, marking its high-risk location on Ylisse's western border.

All of the towns along this edge of the realm were in danger, so Robin had tried to predict which one was the most likely of all to be the next target. Her calculations were hardly reliable, but at the moment, they pointed here.

She had to be quicker this time. She had to be ready.

As day turned to night and night turned to day and the cycle of the week dragged on, Robin kept telling herself that. She occupied her mind with studying battle tactics from her only remaining textbook during the hours of light, and she earned enough money to live on by tending the bar of the tavern she was staying in during the hours of darkness.

Some days, she dreamed of settling down in a larger town and finding better work. Some days, she dreamed of joining the Ylissean army and having someone to train her again. But every time her mind wandered too far she would stop herself and remember why she had to stay.

Yet, even with those reasons, she had lost almost all of her patience by the end of the week.

Until the afternoon when the screams started.

Robin leapt up from her spot on the grassy bank outside the tavern where she had been studying her textbook. It fell to the ground.

The Plegians were here.

She scrambled down the bank and onto the cobbled road, but she was almost knocked off her feet by the rush of villagers that were flooding along it. Other residents sensed the danger and joined the running flock like sheep, fleeing further into the town and away from the sound of crackling flames.

Robin pushed through them in the other direction. She was instantly thrown back again, hands clasping her by the shoulders and shoving her out of the way in desperation. If she fought against the current of people like this, she'd be too late to catch the bandits.

She turned around and moved with the villagers, hoping that she could find a shortcut between the houses. As she neared the tavern, she hurried back up the bank and out of the foot traffic, gasping for breath as she scanned the area around her. The wide road made it easy to see the potential routes.

Within seconds, she was gone.

***

Hacking Plegians to death in burning streets was exhausting. Robin pulled her sword out of her latest victim and dragged the sleeve of her coat along her hairline, being careful not to knock the protection of her hood away from her face. She'd lost count of how many brigands she'd felled since finally catching up with them. It didn't seem like it would ever be enough.

The sound of war cries and the clash of weapons had been ringing out from just around the corner for the past few minutes, but she knew from experience that the villagers wouldn't last long. Few of them were experienced fighters, and those like herself were outnumbered.