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It was a day full of joy for Ylisse. The war with Plegia was finally over and the new Exalt Chrom had chosen a bride, so that the Exalted bloodline would continue. The whole country was celebrating peace and love. The deaths of the war were also honoured, especially the one of the late Exalt Emmeryn, yet it was a day full of joy for everyone. For everyone, but Robin. The tactician preferred to stay in her new chambers instead of celebrating with her fellow Shepherds the marriage of her best friend even through she was given a place of honour at the banquet after the Chrom's and Sumia's marriage ceremony.
She couldn't bear to sit at this table and watch Sumia to get everything she always dreamt of.
From the moment on Robin woke up in the middle of nowhere with no memories besides her name and his name, she felt connected to the prince. During her time as the tactician of the Shepherds she and Chrom grew closer and her feelings for him grew, too. However this was only one-sided. The feelings of the prince for the clumsy Pegasus rider were obvious and mutual. For everyone in the Shepherds it was only a question when those two would become a couple. Yet Robin hoped that she was the one for him. Couldn't he feel their special connection, too?
She wanted to confess to him right after the war with Plegia ended, yet after they killed Gangrel Chrom ran to Sumia and asked her to become his wife. Robin had no chance even to confess to him.So she stayed quiet about her feelings and congratulated the newly engaged couple like everyone did. No one seemed to notice that she hid in her tent afterwards, crying until her eyes had no tears any more. The next days no one also seemed to notice how withdrawn she was, avoiding Chrom and Sumia at all costs and when she was offered a place on the castle everyone thought she was just polite by refusing a chamber. In the end she had to accept one, yet she choose one which was as far as possible from the royal chambers.Being Chrom's best friend everyone tried to make her as involved as possible in the planning of the marriage ceremony and yet no matter what kind of excuse she tried to use, in the end she was more involved than she wanted. It was bad when she was working with Cordelia who was on the one hand excited that her best friend married, but on the other hand she had a certain melancholy about the event. It was even worse when she was working with Lissa and Maribelle who were non stop talking about the event and what a perfect couple Chrom and Sumia were. The only bearable times were when she was working with Frederick. The knight rarely spoke about the event so it was easily to imagine that they were preparing some other event like a spring fest. Those were the only times Robin's heart and mind felt at ease.“You don't have the chicken pox, do you?” Frederick's sudden words made Robin jump. She was so deep into her thoughts that she didn't notice him enter. What a horrible tactician she was.
“Why are you asking? Just because I'm not laying in my bed like the doctor said? My back hurts.” The chicken pox excuse was poor, yet it was the only thing which kept everyone from forcing her to attend the ceremony and the party.
When Ricken got the chicken pox a few weeks ago he was ordered to stay at home by Frederick until it was healed cause neither Chrom nor Lissa had that sickness as a child and he didn't want them to get sick. Apparently getting chicken pox as an adult was more dangerous than getting it was a child. So chicken pox was her rescue.
“Because I'm not seeing any red spots and you don't seem to have fever.”
“The red spots are on my chest which I won't let you check.” She sounded more aggressive than she wanted to in this moment yet she didn't care. She was too hurt by this day to care.
“No need to get mad at me, Robin. I just want to check on you.”“Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be at the party and make sure that Sumia doesn't stumble and falls into the cake?”
“As I said I wanted to check on you. I know that you weren't feeling well the recent weeks and I know that the chicken pox isn't the reason for this.” He said down next to her. “Robin, you should know that it is my job to watch and read people so that I can protect milord and milady. Do you really think I didn't notice that you have feelings for milord and that's the reason why you are hiding tonight?”So one person had noticed it. It didn't surprise Robin that it was Frederick who noticed it cause he always watched her due his still existing mistrust of her.
“And let me guess. You want to tell me now that I should go down there to make Chrom happy.”
“No. I know that wouldn't work today. Chrom might be clumsy when it comes to feelings like love but he had noticed that you are sad recently. However his conclusion wasn't correct. He thought that you are feeling sad because you lost your purpose and giving you a home at the palace will make it go away. And giving you the place of honour was his way of saying thank you and showing you that you are a part of the Shepherd's family.”
However Robin was unable to reply to Frederick's statement for a moment as new tears broke out of her. Things like that were the reason why she felt deeper and deeper in love with Chrom. He always made sure that she wasn't left out when others mistrusted her and gave her a home and a purpose even through he barely knew her. What Robin didn't expect was Frederick's reaction to her tears: The knight pulled her on his lap and hugged her tightly. Without saying anything he let her cry while stroking her head.
“It's not like I'm not happy for him... or Sumia.” She managed to say between some sobs. “But seeing this reminds me of something I would have had if I just had met him sooner... or I did something differently. Maybe if I wasn't a stupid amnesiac tactician he would have seen me as a woman.” She was probably ruining Frederick's shirt with her tears yet it was another thing she didn't care about on that day. “My heart isn't broken... it's worse. It's missing a piece and that's what hurts. It's like what the wounded soldiers are describing. The ones who lost limps say they can still feel pain in those lost limps and it's the same for me. Every time I see them the missing part of the heart hurts.” After she said that the sobs became stronger and she was unable to speak.The tactician had no idea how much time had passed when her tears finally stopped. She wanted to pull away from the hug yet the knight didn't let her. “It's alright.” Her voice sounded croaky thanks to the crying. “You can go now. They are surely missing you on the party.”
“No. I won't let you be alone tonight.”
“Just because I have a shitty day, it doesn't mean you should have a shitty one too.”
“As I said. I won't leave you alone.”
“Why? I'm not Chrom or Lissa who are your priority. You should be with them.”
“But I don't want to be with them. I want to be with you.”“Wait... Frederick, the official mother hen of the exalted family, doesn't want to be with them? What happened?”
“You. I can't celebrate with them if I know that you are up here and crying.” Even her tactician mind didn't expect that answer.
“Why?” was all she managed to reply.
“Robin, it's because I cannot bear the thought of leaving your side, especially if you are in pain.”
“Frederick, it's alright. It's not like I'm not used to this. Today is just a... bad day.”
“No it's not alright. You deserve as much happiness as milord Chrom and milady Sumia.” He took out a handkerchief and gently dried her face. “I might be not as perfect as milord in your eyes, especially because of our rocky start, but I want to help you to replace the missing piece of your heart.”
“What do you mean?” Did Frederick just confess to her? No, that was impossible in Robin's eyes. She just cried her eyes out because of some other guy and Frederick confessed? No, she must have interpreted his words in a wrong way. “Robin, I meant it the way I said it. I want to help you to feel whole again. You don't need to have the same feelings as me, not now and not in future, but let me help you. I don't want to see you that broken any more.”
“Bu-but I... you. Your job is to protect Chrom. I'm just in the way of that in my current state. That doesn't make any sense.”
“Chrom doesn't need me now. The war is over, the danger from Plegia doesn't exist any more and he is busy with things which doesn't need my presence. I can be there for you whenever you need me.”
“Then if it is alright... can you stay with me tonight? Please?”
“As milady wishes.”Frederick wasn't like Chrom, but that's exactly what Robin needed. She didn't need another reminder of what she had lost. She might have lost a future at Chrom's side but during that night she gained a new one at Frederick's side.