(Mod Toto) I’ll be reposting some of my best edits so everyone can give them a second, better view, starting with my edit of Lucina (and Masked Marth) with her Black color palette from Smash Bros!
How would the Robin who was separated from Grima get along with the other Robins, Chroms, etc? I imagine that his smiles while still kind are a lot more heavy and pained in some way, especially when he sees Chrom because the one from his world is gone ;;-;;
okay this answer got ridiculously out of hand you keep doing this to me I hope you’re pleased
You know Robin would have a really hard time at first. He and Grima spent a lot of time together, and even though Robin was essentially a passenger in his own body throughout that time, he got used to that constant companionship, that feeling of never being alone, of always being able to speak up and get some answer, even if it was just a prickle of irritation from Grima’s presence. That would be his first big challenge, just getting used to the separation…and it would be surprisingly difficult; he would end up spending a significant amount of time on the roof with the dragon because after all the time they’ve spent together, there would be something comforting about the dragon’s company. Even if they lack the same mental connection they used to have, the bonds they established remain true (to the point that Robin still doesn’t go out into battle with a tome, Grima just follows him and rains destruction down on anyone that attacks him and then hovers over the Summoner if Robin gets knocked out).
Of course, that’s not an entirely healthy way of handling this change, so the rest of the Robins would stage what amounts to an intervention. Grima would not protest when they all show up to coax Robin down from the castle roof, because as much as he does enjoy Robin’s company, he would realize that this probably isn’t good for either of them in the long run – and he would still be harboring some major guilt about everything he put Robin through, and he would want to see Robin move forward and start to heal. So the rest of the tacticians would take him somewhere to relax and enjoy himself: nowhere crowded or raucous, just somewhere quiet and pleasant, out into the gardens perhaps or maybe even down to the castle library where they’ve gotten special permission to have some tea and cake while they read together. It would be nice and peaceful, and it really would do wonders for him.
He would gradually spend more time in the castle, tagging along with one of the other Robins at first and gradually branching out to engage more with other Heroes (though often enough he’d still spend nights with Grima, and the dragon would indulge this without complaint, covering Robin with his feathers when he inevitably falls asleep up there). He would have a different way about him than the other Robins that would make him easy to recognize at a glance: a certain tiredness in his eyes and a certain distance in his smiles, because he has seen too many horrors, witnessed too much death, and committed too many crimes to have gone unaffected, for no amount of atonement can change what he has been a part of. But he would be trying, even still, to more forward. He cannot forget that past, and he doesn’t believe he can be forgiven for it, either, but if nothing else, he can try to change the future for the better.
Unfortunately, he would still have a hard time with other Heroes from Awakening beyond the Robins. He would keep his head down around the Shepherds, engaging awkwardly only if they approach him first, since these are not the people he knew: they’re other versions of old friends that he’s lost, and a part of him aches at that knowledge. It’s worse with the Chroms, since the bond they shared was stronger still, and he still feels responsible for that death (and no matter how many times Grima has reminded him that it wasn’t his fault, it was Validar’s manipulation, that hasn’t absolved Robin of the guilt he feels). But worst by far are the future children: they are the ones that he works actively to avoid, because he feels he can’t face them – that he has no right to speak with them after what horrors he made them suffer through. There are times when he catches sight of Gerome or Owain that he even wishes he were still trapped behind Grima’s control, because Grima didn’t care like Robin does: Grima could continue forward, push past Robin’s emotions and not flinch when they turned their attention on him – but Robin feels his gut twist just at the mere sight of them, and wants to cry at the thought of speaking with these children who he loved as an uncle, who he helped to raise…and then whose lives he ruined.
Out of all the future children, Lucina would be the one that he causes him the most grief, because she lost everything because of him – and of those who have made their stand with the Order, the one who goes by ‘Marth’ would be the one that he can least bear to face: she is the one who holds the most rage, for she is the only one who has not been reunited with a past vision of her father. And yet she would be the one that seeks him out. She would be the one that sees him begin to weep as he apologizes to her for everything that he did: for her father’s death, for the destruction of her world, for the suffering she’s endured…
…and she would be the one that embraces him and welcomes him back. Because she has spent so much time mourning him while Grima controlled his body, has so long feared that his soul was lost…but she recognizes her papa’s eyes, knows his smile, and for the first time in so long, she feels real happiness because she has back something she’d thought lost forever: her family. It’s that reunion that finally sets the both of them on the mend – and though ‘Marth’ keeps her mission at the forefront when she’s among the other Heroes, she seeks Robin out often, and will even remove her mask and let her hair down in front of him while they talk or share tea or just spend some much-needed, much-deserved time together as family.
