I shouted. "How dare you return after all the pain you've caused?! All the death and destruction you've spread? They're all things that cannot be undone!" I clenched my jaw, seething with rage. "You may have been me at one time in your life, but you've forsaken all we held dear! I'll give you two words - you hear me? TWO WORDS - to explain why you're here, or Naga help me I will rip your heart from your chest, all-powerful dragon or not!!"
Grima breathed in, and...-"...I'm sorry."
Everything seemed to freeze. There was not a noise in the room for what seemed like an eternity.
Utter, deafening silence.
...
.....
"...w-what?"
Grima wordlessly gazed at me, his eyes seeming to repeat what he just said. I turned to Naga, the only sound in the entire grand hall being the ruffling of my turning cloak. I stared at Naga with a blank expression. Naga only met my gaze and nodded. After a moment, she slowly turned her head back to Grima. I followed her sight and looked at him again. I wanted to challenge his claim: an idea so foreign to my mind, so irrational that it could not be comprehended. Yet, looking into his eyes - my eyes, all I saw was something I've never seen there before.
'Emotion... sorrow... remorse.'
Once my mind recovered from shock, it did not process this information well. My mind lurched and my gut followed suit. 'Nothing makes sense.' I simultaneously felt the urge to fall on my knees, pound my fists on the cold, stone floor, weep, laugh, and shout in rage, all at the same time. Just as the rest of my body was about to comply with my ravaged thoughts, I felt an almost imperceptible touch on my shoulder: a hand, belonging to Naga, and it gave me strength.
I faced Naga as a child seeking guidance from a parent. She nodded to me again, and that was all the assurance I needed. 'You may claim that you are not a god, but my people and I have more faith in you than anything else,' I thought. I nodded back, my confidence in the very existence of this world returning. I stood straight, firmed my posture, and looked to Grima again.
Grima noticed my determined look. In response, he closed his eyes for a moment in thought. He breathed deeply, and began to explain.
"Eons ago, there were many more dragons besides the two that stand before you today, yet we were not physical creatures. We were divine beings. However, we chose to become involved in the physical realm, some for charitable reasons, others for more sinister purposes. We assumed physical forms: what humans normally perceive a dragon to be. However, cut off from our divinity, we began to weaken. And as time passed, it became increasingly apparent that we could not maintain our grand physical bodies. It would put too much of a strain on our remaining divine power and our minds. Some dragons accepted this fate, and reverted to a human form, sealing their unstable power into Dragonstones. Manaketes maintain an amount of dragon blood in their heritage, allowing them to both live for extremely long amounts of time, and transform using Dragonstones, such as Nowi, Tiki, and Nah, all of whom I assume you are acquainted with."
I nodded, grimly noting the fact that Grima was almost responsible for the deaths of all three of them.
"However, there were other dragons who refused to seal their power. The strain on their minds grew over time. Eventually, it drove them all mad. They had to be sealed away, for as their madness grew, their physical strength they sacrificed their minds for did not diminish. They would be the cause of untold destruction."
At this, Naga seemed to reply, "Yes, that is correct. There are different tribes of dragons, and I am the leader of the Divine Dragons. Sealing those who grew corrupted with their power was required for humanity's survival."
I quickly cut in to ask about something. "Wait... So are there quite a number of dragons like Grima?" I felt myself grew afraid and enraged at the same time. "Incredibly powerful beings who are bent on destroying humanity?"
Both Grima and Naga shook their heads.
"Yes and no, Robin. They only act this way not out of a hatred of humanity, but because they were driven mad. They cannot even be blamed for that, as they simply wished to retain their identities."
My argument with Twilight about changing me into a pony before I entered Ponyville sprung to mind.
"And Naga is the most powerful of the dragons. The fact that I can match her in the right circumstances is one reason I was powerful enough to break through the seal. The other reason is the Grimleal: my followers who were so deluded as to sacrifice themselves to summon me, a mad dragon, in order to end their own world." Grima shook his head in disappointment. "They bred generations upon generations of heirs, but only one every thousand years would be worthy enough and obtain the rare hereditary Brand. Those who had it were said to hold the 'Heart of Grima'." He shook his head again. "What it really meant was that the heir would be suitable enough to peform the Awakening ritual to free me, and I would assume that heir as a physical human manifestation." Grima raised his right hand, bearing the purple Brand: six eyes in an elaborate pattern. "You were to be this heir, Robin."
I subconsciously drew my own right hand out and stared at it. The mark was still there. I stared at it in contemplation.
"Wait... so what you're saying is, since you took on the 'alternate future' version of myself, you were... you were given a human form..." My mind boggled at the implications. "But -- but you still maintained your dragon form, even if you used my future self's body as a host."
Grima smiled sadly. "And that would still be the case, Robin, if it weren't for you."
I felt like taking a step back, but doing so would push me into Naga, so I stood still.
"What... do you mean?"
"He means that, whenever I imbued the Falchion with my power to seal him away for 1000 years, doing so would reseal the dragon counterpart's mind and body, but kill the human host."
Grima continued. "However, since you dealt the killing blow, the physical form of the dragon was destroyed..." He paused, as if waiting for me to answer.
I swallowed, but finished the sentence. "...But the human host lived, with the dragon's consciousness."
Grima nodded. "Exactly. Your potential to be my host gave you the power to permanently affect me. The suitable, Branded heir is the only one capable of doing so, but normally, the only heir existing at one time is the one being controlled, and he cannot harm himself. And furthermore, because of the ties you've created with your friends, you survived the ordeal, and through you, I did as well."
Against all expectations, Grima closed his eyes and... bowed to me.
"Your bonds of friendship allowed your sacrifice not only to save Ylisse, but save me. That is something no other hero I have fought has done, and for that, you have my sincerest gratitude." Then, something happened. Something so unexpected that it nearly made all the previous revelations pale in comparison. After Grima rose, his shadows faded. His voice lost its powerful echo and dark undertone; for a moment, just a moment, I saw someone else within Grima's face: the person who the face originally belonged to.
'Grima' looked up at me, and spoke in a human tone, one that seemed to have laid dormant for several centuries. He whispered, so quietly that Naga possibly didn't even hear him. But I heard him, and every word he said in that moment felt like a ray of warmth. He said to me, "And I would like to thank you as well, for having the strength where I had failed... Thank you, *chuckle*, Robin..."
Then, he was gone. And all that stood before me was his body, occupied by a once feral spirit, now healed.