AN: Welcome to my first fic. Terrifying. This will hopefully be the first in a series of stories about Robin and Lucina's relationship throughout some of the events of Awakening, with a major divergence in the plot that drives everything else. Hopefully this doesn't end up just being yet another R/L fic. Enjoy.

"Lucina?"

The exhausted princess from a ruined future heard her companion, Robin, croak her name harshly from where he lay. His voice was barely audible over the soft creaking of the ship that slowly carried them across the sea, drifting aimlessly as neither of the people on board had a map nor compass to guide them. They had been lost at sea for weeks, attempting to simply find land, any land, as their supplies dwindled and desperation set in.

Lucina unsteadily walked to his side and sat down next to him. His skin was dry and cracking, his eyes were sunken in his head, and he could barely speak. Robin reached into his coat with a shaky hand, and pulled a small waterskin out. His arm trembling, he presented to her and nodded in its direction.

"Lucina… take the last of it." he mumbled, his eyes barely remaining open.

She shook her head and gently put his arm down. "Robin… you need to keep your strength up. We can't be too far from the land now. Drink the water."

He put his arm back up and said more clearly, "I'm not gonna make it, Lucy."

Lucina forced herself to smile at him and said, "Where's the optimism you're so famous for, huh?" She clasped his hand and said, "You'll survive this, I promise you." His hand was shaking and cold, so she put her other hand over it to try to steady him and provide him some warmth.

He laughed roughly and said, "I think the optimism died after the first week on this gods-forsaken boat. Let's face it, Lucy, we're lost at sea, running out of supplies, no end in sight. I need you to think rationally here… you need to survive, to warn your father about what's to come. To tell him what happened here. I need you to survive."

"I won't let you give up that easily. I need you to make it through this just as much…"

He groaned, and painfully pushed himself off the wooden floor of the boat cabin. He looked into the deep blue eyes of his companion, and saw the worry in them, the fear that betrayed her optimistic words. Robin held her hands, and said the four words that he had been holding in for too long.

"I love you, Lucina."

"Impressive… but not surprising. I yield, sir."

A deafening roar overtook the arena, as the victorious prince raised his divine sword in the air in his right hand, and in his left, he grabbed the arm of his tactician and raised it alongside him. Robin had architected Chrom's win over the mysterious blue-haired swordsman from start to finish; the moves Chrom would use to counter the oddly familiar style of their foe, the tactics the other four Shepherds would employ in defeating the lesser champions in the arena, and even how to best impress the warrior people in the stands. The tactician had only been with the Shepherds a short time, but he had already left an indelible mark on the group as they became more skilled and notched more victories under their belt.

After a suitable amount of time gloating in the arena, Chrom and his comrades - the pegasus knight Sumia, the indefatigable Frederick, the archer Virion, and Robin - exited through the arena gate to a room for the victorious champions. They heard a metallic clapping from the other side of the room, where they found Khan Flavia with an enormous grin on her battle-scarred face.

"Well fought, well fought! Ylisse has its alliance, Prince Chrom, and we will enter the war against Plegia alongside you." Flavia said, rubbing her hands in anticipation of the battle that awaited them.

"Truly? My thanks, East-Khan." Chrom bowed out of respect to the new ruler of Regna Ferox.

"Ha! I should be thanking you, Prince! It feels like ages since I've been in charge of this place. Stay here for the night, friends, because tonight we celebrate!" Flavia laughed and exited the room, and the Shepherds could faintly hear her barking an order for something called "firewater, and lots of it" in the distance.

A large, bald, shirtless man stared at Flavia from the hallway and snorted loudly, startling Sumia. He entered the champions' room, and said, "Bah! Any excuse for a party and Flavia jumps all over it."

Chrom sized up the man - this is what Robin had imagined the Khan of Regna Ferox would be, a giant man with dark mahogany skin, his chest bare and a giant ax strapped to his back. "I'm sorry, have we met?" Chrom said with a hint of distrust in his voice.

"I'm Basilio, the West-Khan you so rudely removed from power, boy! Although, I gotta say that you're handy with a sword. I thought I'd picked the stronger man for sure."

"What do you know about Marth?" Robin asked Basilio. Chrom looked at his friend and saw a familiar look - the look that he was on to an idea.

"Bah. He's a sell-sword with delusions of grandeur. He showed up a couple nights ago, knocked my champion on his ass. It was love at first sight, and I'm too old for that kind of nonsense any more. Last I saw him, he was rushing to his room, probably heading for the hills now that you've knocked him on his ass."

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Which room?"

Basilio scratched his bald head, and pointed to his left. "Just down the hall, third door to the left, I think. He's probably gone already, boy, I don't know why you're bothering."

Robin was already out the door before Basilio finished talking, jogging down the hall in the hopes that he would catch Marth before the masked swordsman left the Arena. The West-Khan watched him exit in a hurry, and said, "What's with him?"

The prince shrugged. "Sometimes he just gets an idea in his head, and it's usually best if we just let him play it out. He's never led us astray."

Basilio laughed a deep, roaring laugh. "Youth! Always so headstrong."

Robin darted down the hall, counting the doors until he found the one he was looking for - he could hear rattling inside, and the door was slightly ajar. He gently knocked on the open door, and said, "Marth? May I have a word?"

Through the opening in the door, he saw the masked man freeze and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. Looking at who it was at the door, he removed his hand and sighed. "What do you want? I trust that you aren't here to gloat over Chrom's victory in the arena, are you?"

The tactician put his hands up. "No, no, nothing of the sort. I just want to speak with you, if it's alright."

Marth hesitated, and motioned Robin inside. "Shut the door." he commanded, and Robin complied.

"So… what do you want?"

"I wanted to thank you for saving Lissa from the Risen. I shudder to think of what might have happened had you not been there." Robin stated simply.

Marth turned away from him. "Thanks aren't necessary. Did you really chase me down here just for that, Robin? You must have something else on your mind, you always do."

"I always do? How would he know that?" Robin thought to himself. He put a pin in that thought for later, and chuckled.

"Truth be told, Marth, it was something you said in the arena that piqued my curiosity. Chrom asked you who taught you to fight the way you do - I haven't been with the Shepherds long, but I recognize Chrom's fighting style when I see it. You told him that your father taught you how to fight, and you have Falchion in your possession. Care to speak about that?"

"I wasn't lying. My father did teach me how to fight, and how do you know that there isn't more than one Falchion?" Marth still refused to look in his eyes. Robin got the sense that he had touched a nerve, but continued on.

"Chrom told me a story recently about how he got so worked up in a training session that he bashed in a stone wall with the hilt of his sword. It left a huge scuff on the hilt, right about there." He stepped closer to Marth and ran his thumb over the scuff mark, chuckling. "I guess the blade is indestructible and holy, but the rest of it isn't."

Marth stepped away from him and turned around in a hurry, redness in his cheeks making it obvious that he was getting flustered. "So? What are you saying?" His hand was back on the hilt of his sword.

"You have Falchion in your possession, and it bears the same scuff mark that Chrom's blade does. You have the exact same shade of hair as him. You cover your eyes and your shoulders so that nobody can see them - concealing a Brand of the Exalt, perhaps? Both times we've seen you, you've been one step ahead of us. You showed up just in time to save Lissa from the Risen. Just a couple days before we got here, you showed up and defeated Basilio's champion, and I get the feeling we'd be seeing you once we got back to Ylisstol for one reason or another."

Marth's hand was shaky on the hilt of his sword, so Robin pressed on. "I believe you to be the daughter of Chrom from the future, sent back in time to prevent a catastrophe. Am I correct?"

The swordsman ruefully laughed. He reached behind his head and unclipped his hair, revealing long, lustrous blue locks. He removed his mask, and Robin confirmed that he was, in fact, a she.

"I suppose if any of the Shepherds were to figure it out, it would have been you, wouldn't it?"

Robin's jaw dropped as he stared at Marth. He didn't think he was even on the right track, much less as dead on as he was. The redness returned to Marth's cheeks as she quietly said, "You don't have to stare…"

The tactician snapped out of it. "Right. Sorry. I guess it's time to properly introduce myself. I'm Robin, and I take it your real name is not Marth." He extended his hand, which she grasped and shook firmly.

"Before I tell you my name, I need you to promise me something, Robin. Promise me that you won't tell my father about this. He can't know who I am, or why I'm here."

Robin looked at her with a confused look on his face. "I was going to ask you to join the Shepherds, fight alongside us… but if that's what you want, I'll keep your secret. Why can't he know?"

"He hasn't met my mother yet."

Robin ran his hand through his hair, contemplating the bombshell she had just dropped on him. "Your mother isn't Sumia? Or Cordelia? I know both of them have a thing for Chrom, but… he hasn't met your mother yet? When will he?"

"I don't want to say, Robin. I'd like to make sure that I'll be born in this timeline, and if I tell you, you might do something that causes the timeline to break down. You'll… well, you'll know her when you see her, I guess. It's not for awhile yet."

"Well, alright. I should be getting back with the rest of the Shepherds, I guess, and you should be heading to wherever you're heading. Are you sure I can't convince you to travel with us?" Robin asked her with a pleading tone.

"As much as I'd like to be with my family again, Robin… I can't. Not yet. When the time is right, I'll be there, but until then… I'll see you again."

Nodding, he turned around and started to leave when her hand shot out and grabbed his arm, turning him back around.

"Hey, wait. You need to make sure that the Shepherds head straight back to Ylisstol… it's important, very important. By the way, my name is Lucina."

Robin smiled. "Nice to meet you, Lucina."

The tactician left the room, and Lucina realized something as he left - something that he couldn't have possibly known.

"How did you know that I'm his daughter?" she muttered to herself, closing the door and putting her hair back up and her mask on.

Robin entered the Great Hall and saw that the party had clearly begun in his absence - Flavia and Basilio had started up a drinking contest, discarded bottles of fire water littering the ground at their feet, a crowd of Feroxi warriors cheering them on. In the corner, a gruff swordsman monitored the situation, without participating. Robin made a mental note to introduce himself to the man later.

"I clearly missed the party, Chrom!" Robin yelled at his friend, who was busy arm wrestling Sully at a table, more bottles of fire water surrounding them.

"Robin! Robin! This stuff is amazing, Robin! Try some!" A clearly boozed-up Lissa pushed an empty bottle in his face, and Robin laughed, gently pushing her away.

"I think you've had enough, Lissa." Her delicate, teenaged constitution was clearly not used to the potent Feroxi liquor, and she was slurring her words. She stumbled forward, falling into Robin's arms, giggling. "You're really strong, Robin. Have I told you that before?" she said suggestively.

The tactician rolled his eyes at the drunken flirting from the Ylissean princess, and stood Lissa on her feet. Steadying her with one arm, he waved Frederick over.

"Frederick… would you mind taking her to the Shepherds' quarters? I think she has had enough for the night." Robin whispered to him, motioning to the struggling teenager in his arm.

"I'll take her. Did you get anything from Marth?" the knight replied.

"He said that we need to go back to Ylisstol immediately, but he didn't say why. I trust him - we need to get going at sunrise," Robin lied - he had to catch himself before accidentally spilling the beans on the masked swordsman's identity.

Frederick nodded, and the big man gently picked the princess up, slinging her across his shoulder. Once her sluggish mind caught up with what was actually happening, she yelled, "Aw, come on, Robin! Drink with me! I love this stuff!"

"I shall make preparations to depart in the morning, Robin. Good night." Frederick walked out of the hall with Lissa on his shoulder, despite her drunken protesting.

"Bye, Lissa!" he waved. Lissa had been something of a good-natured thorn in his side since he joined the Shepherds, constantly pulling pranks on him that made him wary of her on a personal level. On the battlefield, though, she was a consummate professional, healing injuries with mastery.

Robin rolled up the sleeves of his long coat, and grabbed a bottle of fire water off a table. Joining the drinking contest between Basilio and Flavia, he ripped the cork off the bottle and chugged it in a single go. Belching loudly to get the attention of the gathered throng, he gleefully yelled, "Alright, you guys, it's my turn!"

When he looked back at this night in the future, Robin could only remember two things: the massive hangover he gave himself, and the moment he learned Lucina's name.