Work Text:
Chrom watched Robin disappear with the first rays of the rising sun. Her form was nothing but a shimmer of light, a mirage in the desert. The body of the Fell Dragon, slain by Robin's own hand, faded as well, reduced to sun-bleached bones scattered in the sand. Their life force was linked together, just as Naga the Divine Dragon had warned them. As one was leaving this world, so was the other. It was so very like Robin to sacrifice her own life in order to ensure a peaceful future for their world. Then there he was - the prince of Ylisse, the leader of the Shepherds, the descendant of the great line of heroes. All Chrom could do was seal Grima for a thousand years; the power to vanquish the Fell Dragon was Robin’s alone. As he watched her disappear, he felt completely useless.
In her last moments, her eyes were only on Chrom. Her lips parted as she tried to say something, but he couldn’t hear even a whisper. He stepped closer to her; maybe if he could touch her, he could ground her to this world. Maybe they could have at least one more second together. Robin reached her hand out toward him, and then she was gone.
All of this felt wrong, just as wrong as the ancient dragon rising once again to bring death and destruction to the world. After all the battles they had survived, the promises they made to each other, after all this time they’d spent together, how could she be gone?
No matter how it felt, the truth remained the same. In order to prevent Grima from being reborn, Robin had to vanish; now the world could start anew. They could continue to restore Ylisse, rebuild Plegia, and support the recovery efforts on the continent of Valm. The peaceful world Chrom once promised to build together with her would come into existence, yet she wasn’t there to experience it. He would have to do it alone.
Chrom couldn’t even begin to fathom a world without Robin in it. She was his other half, his beginning and ending, his everything, and now she was gone, like she had never even existed at all.
“Father,” Lucina’s voice dragged him out of his thoughts. She sounded as distraught as he felt. “It’s over, isn’t it? The Fell Dragon is gone, and the future I know is no more. And Mother, she…”
“She did it for you,” Chrom interrupted. “For all of us.”
Lucina nodded, trying to contain her tears. Their daughter, their little princess, a brave young woman, a fearless warrior, and a noble leader of her country - she was the proof that Robin truly existed. If she was real in both of her forms, so must be Robin. A deep sense of guilt pierced through him. In his distress, Chrom had almost forgotten about her.
How could you? he could almost hear Robin’s voice. How could you forget our daughter?
Her grief must be even greater than his, Chrom realized. Her time with her mother was cut short once again. He turned towards Lucina and hugged her tightly. She sobbed into his shoulder, unable to contain her tears.
“Let’s go home, shall we?”
As they were retrieving back to camp Chrom realized that there was another thing he’d almost forgotten about. A faint tug in his heart, the one he felt whenever Robin was away from him, the connection they shared was still present in him. The bond that they forged, the invisible string that tied their lives together, whatever it was called… As long as that connection was there, however faint, Chrom knew Robin couldn’t be truly gone. He could find her again, just like he did when they’d first met.
Even if he had to search for the rest of his life.
Even if it meant he had to go to the ends of the world to find her.
Returning to Ylisse turned out to be harder than he thought. Instead of a triumphant parade, it was a solemn walk, a funeral procession through the capital city. People mourned the loss of their queen. Nothing was the same without her; the castle felt too quiet and too lonely.
Her absence was noticeable in every room. In the dressing room, her robes and dresses still hung in the closet. In the library, her favourite reading chair remained unoccupied. In their study, her desk was slowly collecting dust. On Robin’s work table there were maps of Ylisse, new and old and ancient, books about dragon tribes of yore, her quills, parchments and notes… All were arranged in a disorderly manner only she could make sense of. Chrom couldn’t bring himself to put anything away.
All these objects seemed to be waiting for Robin to return, to pick them up and study them again. In many ways, he felt the same. There were moments when Chrom would think that she’d just stepped away and would return back to the study any minute carrying an interesting manuscript she had found and couldn’t wait to share. At times, he swore he could hear her light footsteps, but each time turned out to be a figment of his imagination.
The nights were the loneliest. Once the castle settled and the bustle of the day calmed down, Chrom was left alone with his own thoughts. He had gotten so used to sharing this time with Robin; it was the only part of the day that belonged to the two of them alone. They would talk about their day, plan for the time ahead, joke and laugh as they got ready for the night. Robin often had read her novels before bed, sometimes late into the night if she found the book particularly captivating. He had rested next to her, calmed by her presence and the muted sound of the turning pages. That routine was no more, and he felt Robin’s absence in every inch of his body. The bed they once shared seemed too big for him alone. All he could do was lie awake, waiting for the morning light to come.
Chrom sent out scouts to every corner of the world. In every country, on both continents, there was at least one person actively searching for Robin. He would revisit places that held significance to them hoping that Robin would turn up at one of them. Reports of sightings arrived daily. A fear lived in his mind that Robin might have lost her memory again, and was wandering the country unaware of her identity. Because of this, he rushed to investigate any promising leads, though none provided successful results.
Days turned into weeks, weeks became months, and months grew into years. More and more people around him lost hope of Robin’s eventual return. After all, if the Fell Dragon had vanished from this world for good, then she must be gone as well. Still, Chrom persisted in his search for her. In his heart, he felt an ever present tug of that invisible thread which tied their hearts and bound them together. As long as it was there, he knew that Robin couldn’t truly be gone. As long as he still loved her, he knew he would find her again and Chrom knew his love for her to be endless.
It could reach her, even at the ends of this world.
As time passed, he was able to sleep once more. Still restless, still desperately lonely, still laying in the bed too big for him alone. The only difference was now Chrom was dreaming and all of his dreams were about Robin.
In his dreams she waits for him in a place that does look like the same field where they found her and doesn’t. It is the place where the sky meets the horizon, where the day ends and begins anew. The place where they can be together once again. Chrom runs through the field’s tall grass to reach her.
“Did you truly follow me all the way here?”
“I would follow you to the ends of the world.”