The five horsemen of apocalypse were here. And they were sweaty. But they were also hot. To be perfectly honest, seeing all these hot people around him made Robin lose a little bit of confidence, but he felt pretty today so he decided to ignore that dread and save it for later.

Currently, they were on their way to watch the best moment of the field trip: The Battle of the Eagle and Lion. And the Deers but they're not in the title. Basically, it was a battle between the empire and the kingdom, blah blah, no one really cared about the history. What was really exciting was the battle itself. A splat fest, in this case. Whichever team covered the other teams with the most paint wins. Claude had his scheming face on and he was a giggling mess so they could only assume that the Deers had already won.

And what do you know, after a lot of screaming and failed attempts, the Deers did win. By a large margin. See, one of Claude's plans was to layer each member of the Golden Deer with as many clothes as possible, and so when the time came, they got rid of those clothes so that there was barely any paint on them. Edelgard and Dimitri of course protested against it, but nothing in the rules said it wasn't allowed, so they let pass. Not only that, but the Deers had another advantage with them: Byleth. Byleth happened to be their counselor, so with the help of their one and only Teach, the Deers had an easy victory. The leaders of each club shook hands, though two were completely covered in paint, and congratulated each other.

Claude ran to his friends and embraced them, covering them in any paint he had on his body. They tried to push him off, but they ended up falling instead.

Robin offered to go get them some drinks to celebrate Claude's victory, so he sneaked away from the group and ran to a shack not too far from them. On his way there, he noticed something odd from the corner in his eye. Between the cracks on the rocks, there were too people. It looked like they were about to engage in some... interesting activities, so he decided to not get involved and run away. But then he heard a scream. Followed by muffled ones. But even then, from that one scream, his whole mentality changed.

"Come on, I know want this."

"Stop, please! I don't want to be with you anymore."

"After all you've done? Sweetheart, the only person who's gonna love you is me."

"You don't love me, Palutena, you just want my body!"

"And what if I do? I thought you wanted me, Lucina."

"I've learned to respect myself more than be with a wench like you."

"You bitch!" Palutena raised her hand, to which Lucina immediately prepared to receive. But it never came. She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw Robin standing next to the two of them, squeezing Palutena's wrist to the point where her hand was turning purple from lack of circulation.

"Hey there," Robin said, completely monotone.

"L-let go! You're hurting me!" Palutena cried, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh gee, I didn't notice," Robin sassed. He threw her over his shoulder, took Lucina's hand, and ran the hell out of there. Lucina was too shocked to even protest. The look on Robin's eyes back there was not that of a human. It looked like the devil himself had entered Robin's soul and corrupted him. She was really scared.

They stopped by the shore and sat down, both of them tired from the run. Lucina hugged herself tightly while Robin put his head back and sighed. He looked at Lucina. She was shaking and looked like she was near tears. Poor girl must be terrified. He could only imagine what she had to go through before she broke up with Palutena, especially since she probably wouldn't have realized it was wrong back then.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked.

She tensed up. "Yes, thank you."

Silence.

Robin scratched the back of his head. "Well, if you're fine, then I guess I'll be going."

Robin started to get on, and, though Lucina was probably gonna regret this, she went for it anyway. "Wait!"

Robin stopped. "What is it? Are you hurt?"

"N-no, it's not anything like that, it's just," she didn't how to phrase it. "Um, why did you... well, um, why did you-"

"Just say what you need to say."

Lucina flinched. "Sorry. Um, why did you help me?"

Robin stared at her. If he was being completely honest, he had forgotten what happened with Lucina. Well, more he blocked out what happened. It was locked away deep within his mind, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember specific details of what happened. And it was probably for the best.

"Listen, Lucina, I saw someone in trouble, that someone happened to be you, and that's it," Robin groaned. "If there's nothing else to say, I'm leaving."

"Right, I'm sorry for wasting your time," Lucina said through sniffs. Shit. Robin, you're talking to a sexual assault victim, now's not the time to be feisty.

"Ugh," he plopped back down and scooched closer to her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and put his head on hers. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? I deserve to be scolded by you after what I did," Lucina said.

"No, no, you don't. It's all in the past anyway," Robin sighed. He looked at her, who was avoiding as much eye contact as possible. "Hey, you wanna get some drinks?"

***

Now she stood in front of a trial. Four eyes judged down upon her with zero mercy. Life, or death, what would await her. Zelda would decide.

"Why is she here?" Zelda asked cold-heartedly.

"I invited her," Robin smiled, completely over his previous anger.

"And are you okay with this?" Zelda asked him.

"Yep!"

Zelda's gaze turned a bit less cold, but there was clearly still some resentment there. "Then of course she can stay. As long as she doesn't pull anything stupid." She smirked a little at the end.

"T-thank you for letting me stay," Lucina said. "Um, here are your drinks." Robin and Lucina gave everyone their drinks, Lucina of course being the only one without one. She was unsure of what to do. On one hand, she could run away. On the other hand, she could stay. Considering Zelda clearly still hadn't forgiven her, she really wanted to run. But also she wanted to stay because she's been mentally and physically drained for so long to the point she craved social interaction. Stay it is.

Minutes went by and nothing happened. She was bored. But was she about to say that? No. Because that's rude. Lucina sat under the umbrella the others had set up and sighed. She watched as everyone else had fun in the water, swimming around and splashing water at each other, laughing. She was so jealous. She wanted to go out there and have fun with them too, but that would just be inappropriate. She glanced at Zelda, who was unintentionally the cause for most of her awkwardness, and noticed something.

You know when you can tell a girl is uncomfortable or upset even though she tried not to show it? Yeah those were the vibes she was getting from Zelda right then and there. Her laughs were becoming less enthusiastic and a little more forced, she started looking less happy and more depressed. Even though Zelda was trying really hard to hide it, and it seemed to work because no one else noticed, Lucina did. And she felt bad about it. She should go ask her if she's okay, right? But would it really be alright? It's not like they're close or anything. No, Lucina, if you keep thinking like that, you won't make any progress on the road to redemption! And a better mental state. So up she went and confidently walked up to Zelda, that confidence diminished with each step, but before it was fully gone, she made it there safe and sound.

"Um, Zelda," she said quietly. Zelda turned to face her, judge mental eyes meeting her. She gulped. "Uh, well, I-I just w-wanted to ask if-if you were okay? You seem a little uncomfortable, so I- um..."

Zelda was surprised to say the least. She couldn't help but smile a little. "Would you come with me to my room? I was actually thinking about going to get a sweater."

Lucina's eyes brightened. Her chance had come! "I'll go! I-If you don't mind, of course." Zelda only smiled and lead the way.

Now's her chance to make things right and end all the awkwardness once and for all. But like how. Deadass how. How do you not be awkward. Especially after being the cause of all the drama. How do you undo that. She could always ask Twitter, but she'd be the one getting dragged in the replies so maybe not. Obviously talking it out was the best way, but she was afraid to talk. How was she gonna make things better?

To her relief , Zelda made the first move, "Lucina."

"Ah, yes?" Lucina said. She stopped in her tracks, as did Zelda, and waited to be scolded.

"I can't say I fully forgive you for what you've done, because the truth is I don't, but I've seen your growth," Zelda turned around, giving Lucina a warm smile. "I am willing to put the past behind us and start over again with our friendship," she extended her hand, "so, what do you say?"

Lucina felt tears brimming in her eyes. She smiled, something she hadn't genuinely done in months. She took Zelda's hand eagerly and shook it. "I'm happy to be your friend!"

Zelda smiled. "Now then-"

"Excuse us, ladies."

The disgust that came on Lucina and Zelda's faces when they heard that. The looked at the two men who had dared speak to them. They weren't from the academy, that was for sure. They were clearly here to get laid (in their dreams) and it seemed they had chosen the two of them as their... prey. Gross. They also looked like they were in their thirties so... ay yo, pedo cheeeeck.

"We're not interested," Zelda said immediately.

One of the men chuckled. "Come on, we just wanna talk. We won't do anything, promise." Both of them then winked. The two girls gagged.

Lucina, completely rid on any anxiety she previously had, grabbed Zelda's arm and tried to run away as fast as she could. But it seems the men were expecting that because as soon as they ran, they had already separated them and were dragging them away to a crack in the rocks.

"Sorry, ladies, you are ours today," the other man said. Lucina sneered and tried pulling herself away from the man, but his grip was too strong. She glanced over at Zelda, who was trying to do the same. Zelda raised her hand, ready to attack, but when it came down, all she did was slap the mans hand. She looked baffled.

"My magic isn't working," Zelda whispered. Before Lucina could respond, there was a hand at her mouth and her hands were held behind her back while Zelda was thrown into the sand. Lucina tried to scream Zelda's name but it came out muffled. Zelda gave her a thumbs up to assure her she was okay. Lucina nodded and tried again to free herself from the man holding her.

"Look who it is, the girl who took everything away from me," a new voice said. They looked further down the crack and saw her. Cia. The one who had ridiculed Lucina in front of the entire school. The one who had done awful things to Link and ruined him completely. The one person who caused the most suffering for everyone.

She walked up to Zelda and kneeled down in front of her, offering a sly smile. Zelda backed away. "What are you doing here? You were expelled along with Link."

Cia laughed. "That won't stop me from doing what I've been wanting to do." She grabbed a chunk of Zelda's hair and pushed her down, slamming her head into the sand. Out of her bra, she pulled out a box cutter and rolled he blade up all the way. Zelda flinched on the final click as she stared at the sharp blade. She tried not to make any sudden movements, because if she did, her life could be ended even more prematurely. Lucina let out a muffled scream and started flailing around in her captor's arms. Zelda tried to signal her with her hand to calm down, but in all truth she couldn't even move her body from the absolute fear she felt. She looked back at Cia.

"What are you trying to do?" Zelda asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Kill you," Cia smirked, pointing the blade at Zelda's chest. Zelda flinched hard. "First, because of you, Ike wouldn't rail me, then, also because of you, Link stopped railing me. I lost my best customers because of you. Do you know how angry that makes me?"

"I wouldn't want to sleep with you either with that stink of yours," Zelda smirked. She really shouldn't be playing sassy considering her life is at danger, but when even she could smell it from where she was, she couldn't help it.

Cia, obviously, didn't like that. "You bitch!" She took aimed at her chest.

That's when Lucina snapped. She wrapped her leg around her captor's and pulled up, unbalancing him. She then folded herself forward and flipped him over, finally freeing her from his grasp. She stepped on his chest, knocking the air out of him, and ran to Zelda's aid. She kicked the hand that Cia was holding the blade with, breaking it, then with her other foot, kicked Cia off of Zelda's body. Cia clutched on to her broken hand and screamed in absolute despair. Lucina took Zelda's hand, which she noticed was shaking heavily, dragged her up, and ran away as fast as she could. She looked behind her to see the other man running towards them, and he was catching up quickly. Curse her inability to run in sand.

She didn't stop running though. She needed to get Zelda and herself away from this situation safely. But when she bumped into someone she else, she lost all hope for survival. She gripped Zelda's hand as she looked at the chest of the person she had bumped into. She recognized what they were wearing and all hope came back to her.

She smiled. "Robin-!" She looked up to his face and that smile disappeared quickly. He looked absolutely terrifying.

"Robin?" Lucina said quietly. He gently pushed her and Zelda out of the way, stepping closer to the man who had been following them. The man stood there, shook to his bones. Robin stopped in front of him. No emotion was on his face as he punched the upper part of the man's head, sending him to the ground. Lucina was pretty sure she had heard a crack.

She had never seen Robin like this. She was really scared. Her stomach hurt and her entire body was shaking. She glanced at Zelda, and judging by her expression, it seemed this was her first time seeing Robin like this as well. She looked back at him. He stood in front of Cia, who was still on the sand clutching her hand. He stepped on her face and she heard another crack. Blood oozed from Cia's nose as she screamed again. He crouched down to her level and yanked her hair, pulling her up to his eye level while dragging his foot on her face.

He tilt his head. "Are you the one I need to get rid off?"

A chill ran down both Zelda and Lucina's spines. Hearing Robin say that is what finally broke Zelda and she started tearing up, then crying, soon sobbing, and finally bawling. She lost all feeling in her legs as she dropped to the ground as she screamed and painted as tears continuously flowed down her cheeks.

Why was this happening? Why? Why?! WHY?! She was so scared, so so scared. She was terrified. She couldn't think properly but she knew that much. Her life was almost cut short again, she put Lucina in danger, she made Robin furious. It's all her fault. She almost died. She almost died oh my goddess! Oh my goddess! She couldn't breathe. She tried to breathe but she felt as though she was suffocating.

Lucina crouched down and wrapped her arms around her to try to calm her down but nothing worked. Hearing Zelda's cries and screams snapped Robin out of his trance and he diverted his attention away from Cia. He hurriedly stood to run to comfort her, but before he could even take the first step, he was ambushed by the two men and pinned down on the sand.

Zelda screamed, this time louder and screechier than before. "ROBIN!"

They punched him repeatedly. Again, and again, and again. In his face, his stomach, his chest, his legs. It hurt. He tried to swing back but fighting a 2 v 1 game wasn't easy. He saw one of the men pull out a box cutter from his pants and he panicked.

"NO!!" He looked up and saw Zelda grabbing the man's arm and trying to pull it away from Robin's body, even if it was obvious she had no strength. The man grunted and elbowed her in her stomach, sending her knocking her into the sand. Robin's trance of fury returned when he saw her clutching onto her stomach in major pain.

He screamed, wind rising from the ground and finally pushing the men off of him. Slowly, he stood up, glaring at the men. With his magic, he made an illusion of wings behind him, which belonged to the Fell Dragon, Grima.

The two men stepped away from him. They were really scared now.

From the sand, Zelda looked at Robin's mirage. He had been practicing it so he could use it as a Halloween costume for the costume party they had planned on throwing the next school year. It was a shame that he was using it now.

The men backed away, but Robin stepped forward, closer and closer to them with every step he could. Too ridden with fear, the men picked up Cia and ran away from the scene as fast they could, fast enough that Robin couldn't even catch up with them.

Robin panted harshly. After the beating her didn't have much energy, but producing this illusion had drained the last of it. He dropped to the ground and leaned on his hands, sighing from complete exhaustion.

"Robin!" Zelda screamed. She crawled over to him and sat behind him, gently putting her hand on his back to support him. She turned to face Lucina. "Get help! Hurry!"

Lucina, who had been in too much shock to act on anything, simply nodded and ran away.

Zelda panted as she slowly turned to face Robin. He was panting too while looking down. He was covered in bruises and was even bleeding from some spots. The tears returned as she quietly weeped. Robin looked up at her and smiled reassuringly. He leaned his head on her shoulder and placed his hand behind her head to comfort her. Even so, Zelda didn't stop crying.

<><><>

"Alright, sweetie, this should do for now. We used some healing magic for the big wounds and closed them and we'll just let the small ones heal themselves, okay?"

"Yes, thank you, profesor Manuela," Robin nodded.

"Of course, oh and don't worry about Cia and her gang. They were caught and will be brought to justice, alright, honey?" Manuela pat Zelda's back. She didn't respond. Manuela sighed. "Well, I'll let you rest now, call me if you need anything."

Robin nodded and Manuela made her way out of Robin's room in the hotel. He looked at Zelda and tried to find to ease the tension in the air. "It's the way I almost died for me." Zelda flinched. Shit that sounded as if he were blaming her for what happened. Well, what was said was said and he can't take it back now.

"I'm sorry," Zelda whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's no biggie," Robin said. That's a lie. It's not okay, and it is a biggie, and it's not her fault but how the hell was he supposed to say that? Communication, even with the people he's closest with, he isn't good at it.

Awkward silence came over them. He hated it. Usually, whenever they weren't talking, there was a comfortable silence between them and there was no need to start up another conversation. But this silence felt suffocating. If Robin knew Zelda well, she probably wanted to know what the hell happened to him back there and why he got so violent. She just didn't know how to bring it up and probably didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Looks like he'll have to start the conversation this time. Ugh he hated doing it but he really wanted to get rid of this silence. Let's see if his intuition is right.

"You wanna know what happened back there, don't you?" He asked. She perked up. Bingo.

"Um, only if you're comfortable talking about it," Zelda said, finally looking at him.

Robin laughed. "I don't mind, but, can we cuddle? It'd make me feel better while talking about it." Zelda nodded and leaned against the headboard of the bed and opened her arms to Robin, to which he immediately warmed up into and rest his head on her chest. Her heart was beating really fast. He could tell she was nervous.

"You can start whenever you want," Zelda said while running her hand through his soft hair.

Robin nodded. He took a deep breath, then breathed it out slowly. "Well, I told you my dad why a drug dealer, right?" Zelda nodded. "Well, as you could assume, life at home wasn't the best. My dad was really abusive, and when he got high, he'd go the extra mile. The only person he didn't harm was my sister, and that was because she was on his side and willingly went along with what he said. My mom and I opposed him, though. Because of that, he would beat us up, constantly. He'd call us worthless, useless, everything in the book. He used racial slurs against his own people, and when he found out I was bisexual, well, you can only imagine how that went. Convertion therapy, slurs, beatings, you name it. It was horrible." Zelda's embrace tightened around him. He looked up at her and saw her pouting, clearly trying to keep her tears in. He smiled and wiped them away.

He continued, "It was frustrating. I couldn't exactly take out my anger on my dad himself because otherwise I'd probably not be in this world. So, I took it out on everything else. My pillow, my bed, my room, other kids. I just wanted to let all the stress, the anger, everything out. But nothing really satisfied me.

"Then, once I turned 13, my dad got me involved in the 'family business' as he called it. He basically told me to sell weed brownies to other middle schoolers. And me, being a nervous and angry wreck at the time, was terrified. I refused multiple times but my dad wouldn't let me rest until I did what he said. He would slap me, punch me, leave me hungry for days, until I finally had enough and agreed.

"So, when the time came, he gave me the weed brownies and told me to sell them to other kids for 20 bucks each. I was so scared, Zelda," he started crying, "I was really scared. What if messed up? What if I did something wrong? What would happen to me? What would happen to my dad? What would happen to my family? It'd all go down the drain, right? Well, it did. The first sell was successful, but the second time my dad told me to sell, one of the kids ratted us out.

"One day, when I got back from school, the police were on our porch and they were arresting my dad while my sister and my mother watched. When I saw that, you could not believe the happiness I felt. I'd been freed.

"It didn't last for long. My sister saw me standing there with a grin on my face, and she was angry. She pointed at me and told me I had been conspiring on the weed sells along with my dad. My mother didn't say anything.

"What do you even say to that? As a terrified 13 year-old boy who had been suffering his whole life, how do you defend yourself? I didn't. The police arrested me and I took my last taste of freedom for the next two years, where I spent in solitary confinement.

"I was going insane, Zelda. I didn't talk to anyone for two years. Not even the police officers who brought me my food talked. They just gave it to me and left. I was so lonely. All the anger I had felt turned into anxiety. Everything that had happened was my fault. All the choices I made led up to that very moment, and I had done everything wrong.

"Once I got out, I was two years behind academically, which is why I'm so much older than all the other juniors. I went back to my old house with my mom and my sister, though I never talked to them. I didn't want to. I hated them a lot. My sister because she was the one that got me arrested, and my mom for not even trying to defend me. So yet again, I was basically in solitary confinement.

"Things at school weren't much better. Everyone knew what happened, everyone knew I was way older than them. And what did they do? You guessed it, they bullied the living shit out of me. Because of the age gap, I was physically taller and stronger than them so I could defend myself, but my mental health didn't allow that. I took it all. Because I deserved it.

"Multiple times, I tried killing myself. So many times. Each time, I never ended up doing it. Because I was too scared. All the way, even through my final year at my old high school, I was too scared for anything. And then I came here. And I met you. My self-esteem rose, the suicidal thoughts left, and though I'm still scared of some things, I feel way more confident than ever before. So, what I'm trying to say is, thank you. Thank you, Zelda, for saving my life. For being my best friend. For being there for me. Thank you."

Both of them were a crying mess. Zelda couldn't let out any words and only hugged him tighter, which he responded just as equally. After crying for a bit more, and both of them were calm, Zelda responded, "Robbie, I'm so glad you came into my life. I love you so much, you know? I really love you, Robin. I'm so glad you're alive. I'm so glad you didn't give in to your thoughts. I'm really proud of you, of all the progress you've made. I can't wait to see you make more and be there to support you."

Robin looked up at her, even more tears flowing down his face. He was so happy. After hearing those words, he felt more confident than ever before. He moved away from Zelda, standing from the bed while he took off his torn jacket.

"Robin?" Zelda said as she sat at the edge of the bed. Once he had taken it off, he ran towards the window, opened it, and threw it away. He watched it flow away in the wind, slowly falling to the ground as he became more and more confident the more it fell. Once it had reached the ground, he turned to Zelda, a wide smile on his tear-stained face.

"I'm really happy now, Zelda."