Illusions and Lies (A Super Smash Brothers fan fiction)

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR: DIDN'T MEAN IT.

Robin was tired. His head ached. And to top it all off, he was studying for a test he wasn't entirely certain he should be studying for. Not that he didn't enjoy studying. Actually, it was one of his favorite things to do. Well, normally he enjoyed it. But not today. It was frustrating him, so he closed the book and looked up with an aggravated sigh. 

"Everything okay, Robin?" Lucina asked, looking up from the book she had been reading. 

"Yeah. I'm fine." Robin put a hand to his forehead and tried his hardest not to start scowling. Gods, his head ached. He cast a cautious glance over to his bag, since the whispering from the tome seemed to be exceptionally loud right now. As he'd learned from previous experience, nobody could hear it but him. 

But the whispers were really, really loud. Robin closed his eyes and tried to block them out, because he wasn't in the mood to deal with what the tome was trying to get him to do. 

"Are you sure? You seem kind of... off." 

"Yes. I'm fine. Trust me." Robin replied, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. 

Lucina was quiet for a moment. But, unfortunately, she kept pressing the issue. Rationally, he knew that she was just worried about him. Half of him was actually glad she cared about him enough to do this, because he was well aware of the way he'd manipulated her into being his girlfriend. While he may not have been entirely certain that it was him who had done the manipulating, the fact that he could slightly remember it spoke volumes about the matter. On the other hand, the rest of him was just annoyed with her. Why couldn't she just drop it? He'd given her an answer. Yes, that answer might have been a bit of a lie, but she needed to just believe him. This wasn't a big deal. 

"You've been more irritable than usual lately. And you forget stuff a lot. It's concerning, Robin."

"I said I'm fine, alright? Back off!" Robin snapped. 

"I'm worried about you. Seriously, you've been so dependent on that tome. I know it's not doing you any favors. Clearly something's wrong with it." Lucina said. She definitely looked and sounded worried, which only pissed Robin off more. 

"There's nothing wrong with it. And I'm not dependent on the damn thing. I almost wish I could throw it out the window and be done with it, but Chrom explicitly told me that I'd be thrown in jail if anything happened to it." Robin replied sharply. Still, despite himself, his eyes returned to his bag as he spoke. And the voices were still whispering to him. 

She's upsetting you, Robin. You should make sure she doesn't do that again. 

Hurt her. 

Make her suffer, it'll be funny.

"Stop." Robin mumbled, gripping his hair and and bracing his elbows on the table. The ache in his head turned from mild discomfort to splitting pain, and he had to bite his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain. 

"Robin? Is everything alright?" Lucina asked, standing up and moving over to crouch next to him. 

"Get away from me." An odd mix of fear, concern, and anger laced his voice and threatened to overwhelm him. He noticed that she was about to say something in response, so he stood up and walked a short distance away to clear his head and fight the voices that were growing in intensity alongside his anger. 

Lucina actually looked scared. The part of him that he had since identified as his real self was horrified by the sight, but the part that was controlled by the voices was pleased. 

"I fucking told you, I feel fine." 

"No. You're not." Lucina whispered. She walked forward and put her hands on Robin's shoulders.