They thought the other dead, thought themselves free from war. But Corrin and Azura find themselves once more in the thralls of war in the land of Askr, with and against heroes from worlds of heroes who have won and lost their own wars?
Authors's note: Hey there, Radiklement and FuzziFox speaking. This is our joint account and a story we've set out to write together, based off Fire Emblem Heroes.
Considering that Radiklement is a shipper maniac for the Fire Emblem series, you can expect a lot of ships. But we will be focusing on two main pairings:
Fem!Corrin x Azura
Fjorm x Alphonse
While taking liberties from heroes, we will be following its plot more or less and summoning people from every fire emblem translated in the US. On a side-note, Fire Emblem Fates is taking a very big part of this story, and we're just pretending Revelations never happened, because NO to Corrin and Azura being cousins. 😉
We hope you enjoy!
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Once my ally
Chapter 1 - Lost
Her palms crashed against her eyes to shield them against the sharp light that felt like it bored straight into her skull. She staggered, falling to her knees when the grass beneath her feet vanished causing her to stumble at the nothingness, palms crashing into cold stone. What? Panic began to rise as the sounds of water and birds had vanished, replaced by the throbbing of her own pulse, the hiss of her hyperventilating breath, and the distant din of unfamiliar voices. Did someone say my name? She felt the fire ripple into her muscles, trying to open her eyes, her vision still swimming with colored splotches that she tried to squint through. She screamed, the feel of her muscles shifting and bones extending. Her armor melded against her flesh as the draconian inside overtook her, the blood pumping in her veins fueled by sheer panic.
"Corrin!" Why do they know my name? Who are they? She looked down, the dragon's blood pulsing from her heart focusing her vision down the source of the voice. She was a young blonde woman, likely little older than herself. She was clad in pale gold armor with a white overcoat; a dark haired man in similar garb beside her and standing two paces ahead was a red-haired woman with the same uniform. Standing behind them was someone in a hooded jacket of the same white and gold pattern.
"Look at that! We can just have her eat Veronica !" Anna exclaimed, "are those scales silver? We can equip half our army with just a handful of those!" she took a step forward and Corrin lurched, lowering her head and preparing to strike,
"Anna stop!" The dark-haired man bellowed, reaching out and grabbing her by the back of her collar and jerking her back. The woman glared at him, but he was walking past her, hold up a palm to forestall whatever she was going to say. "Corrin! Please! I will explain everything! I'm sorry we frightened you." She hesitated. They didn't appear to be from the cult that formed in the wake of Garon's death. The Norhian loyalists who didn't take the defeat of their Dragon King well, and worshiped his memory with fervency that plagued Corrin and Ryoma's attempts to build and maintain a peace between the war-torn nations. Where am I? she tried to ask, reminded of her draconian form by the rumbles in her throat that replaced words.
"Look… we mean you no harm. I am Alfonse, Prince of Askr. This is my sister, Princess Sharena. Behind us is Summoner Kiran. And that," he paused, sighing, is Commander Anna. We have called you here to ask for your help!" he shouted. I'm tall not deaf. Rumbles. She tried to find her center, her calm, herself. Another rumble in her throat as her bones began to pull back, her muscles warping. Her whole body ached as it found itself once again. Oh gods. That was a mistake. She bemoaned to herself, wincing as she ignited the fire in her still healing ribs. She felt to her knees again for a moment, but quickly righted herself pushing the fatigue to the back of her mind. Her head throbbed, but her hand came to her hip and unsheathed Blazing Yato, holding it at her side, fingers gripping the hilt ready to lift it.
"Tell me again, who are you. Where am I?" she asked. Alfonse's eyes flicked down to her sword,
"Please put that away we mean you no harm." He asked. Corrin nodded in the direction of Anna,
"When she does." Alfonse's brows knit together and he turned,
"Commander! Please, put your axe away! We mean Corrin no harm!"
"She was a freakin' dragon!" Anna shouted, muttering under her breath "Not used to people bursting into dragons." Such weird accents. I'm nowhere near Norh or Hoshido. Corrin pondered. She tightened her grip on her sword, eyes trained on the woman still holding her weapon.
"Commander." He stated again. Anna rolled her eyes and put her axe into its sling on her back, shrugging and holding up her palms. She's right to be afraid. I used to not be able to control this. She remembered the first time the dragon overtook her, when fear and rage gripped her heart at the sight of her birth mother slain before her. She reached a palm over her chest, where the dragonstone she wore around her neck was secured beneath her armor.
"I'm not going to use it Corrin. You just surprised me." Anna shouted.
"Where am I?"
"Askr. We have much to tell you. But you must be exhausted, come with us." Alfonse tried to soothe. Corrin paused, looking at the strangers.
"How did I get here? Why am I here?" she asked, heart beginning to race again. What's just happened to me? Am I dead? She looked up and around for familiar faces. Her siblings, her friends. Those she lost to the senseless war with her mad father. But they weren't there. Xander, Elise, Kaze, Lilith, Azura.
"We brought you here. Please… let's go get somewhere more comfortable." Alfonse beckoned. Corrin hesitated, and took a look around her. Nothing was familiar. She stood upon a large stone altar decorated with blue glass, the statue of a tree engraved into a tall grey arch in the center. Beyond it, to what appeared to be the east, was nothing but a thick forest of trees. Behind the trio begging her to come with them was a complex tent-city that put the war camps she had come to know over the past four years to the forefront of memory.
"Come on, we have mead! That'll calm that dragon of yours!" the blonde woman in the group finally chimed in. She smiled broadly, reaching a hand out to Corrin. She paused before reaching out her own hand to accept it, the woman closing her fingers tightly around her hand and shaking it vigorously. "I'm Sharena! You'll like it here in Askr, I promise. I know this must be… jarring. But let's go have a drink, some good food, and we'll explain everything." Corrin stood rooted to the spot, toes curling.
"Your feet must be freezing!" Sharena announced. Corrin quirked a brow and tilted her head, looking down at her bare feet.
"Oh," she looked down at her feet, where the leggings she wore beneath her armor ended in a tight cuff around her ankles, her feet bare. "No, I feel fine." She insisted.
"Wait are you barefoot all the time?" Anna asked, crossing her arms.
"Well, yes." She answered.
"That must be so freeing! I've got to try that!" she declared. "Probably can run better too!"
"Anna…" Alfonse groaned, squinting his eyes and massaging the bridge of his nose. "Please, Corrin. You seem like a good judge of character, so trust your instinct and follow us." He tried to ignore Anna muttering to herself beside him about the merits of carrying her boots back to camp to try this new barefoot thing. "We'll get you something to eat, drink, and you look like you need sleep." He added after Sharena nudged him. Corrin glanced around once more in search of a familiar face, or landmark. Seems I have little choice. She mused.
"As long as you explain to me what I'm doing here." She narrowed her eyes, and peered through them all. "You've been quiet." She remarked to the hooded person introduced as Kiran.
"Nothing to add." The voice was masculine, okay. Two men two women. She counted.
"Oh stop being so brooding, it doesn't really suit you." Sharena asked, pouting her lip.
"I haven't slept for three nights!" he shouted, suddenly more animated. "How the three of you are so spritely is beyond me. Now before we panic this poor girl any more let's go feed her and explain a few things." He suggested.
"That's the spirit! Come on!" Sharena waved her hand, Corrin finally stepping forward to follow the trio. She wondered what her brother Xander would tell her. Don't trust them. She could almost hear his voice in her head. Elise's voice countering with Oh stop being so mean! They seem nice! The two were striking opposites. Her chest ached at the thought that all she had of them were these echoes in her head. The others swam to her mind again. Kaze, Lilith, Azura. She struggled to fight this. Move on. Look ahead, not back.
The four led her away from the alter, down a staircase and through rows of tents until they reached a large white and gold tent, the opening lined with banners that she assumed bore the symbol of their nation. What was it again? Askr? She mused. Alfonse opened the tent flap and gestured for her to go inside, Anna stepping ahead first and clapping him hard on the shoulder,
"Thanks!" and went in. The man rolled his eyes and gestured again, eyes narrowed at his companion. Corrin went in and was surprised at the warmth inside the tent. Anna was sitting in a chair already pulling at the clasps of her boots to kick them off, Sharena sitting down opposite her and patting the chair beside her. Corrin approached and took the seat closest to the tent flap, and felt a flash of guilt at the disappointed expression on Sharena's face when she sat so far away from the others. Alfonse sat next to his sister, Kiran next to Anna.
"So, where's the grub? Didn't we offer to feed the dragon?" Anna grunted while tugging a boot.
"Please don't call me that."
"Would you prefer lizard?" she asked, lifting a brow and Corrin couldn't tell whether she was serious. She opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by Alfonse,
"I'll have someone bring some food." He got up to leave the tent, Anna shaking her head.
"Well we can at least start with some bread and mead while he finds something a bit yummier." She remarked. She extended her legs and wiggled her toes for a moment before standing.
"I really feared for a second there you were going to put those feet on the table." Sharena admitted.
"Oh come on, even I have better table manners than that!" She snapped back. She walked several paces to a table and grabbed a loaf of bread and a bottle of gold liquid as well as all the glasses she could manage to fit in her grip. "I see why you like this barefoot thing." She cheered, offering Corrin a smile and a glass. She handed the others to Sharena and Kiran, pointing out that Alfonse would have to fetch his own. "I'm his commander not his retainer." She remarked. She started pouring everyone from the bottle,
"You're pouring everyone's mead. Sure you're not our retainer?" Kiran asked. Anna narrowed her eyes at him, and sat back down placing the bottle back down.
"Well you and Sharena can pour your own mead then." She huffed. "So grouchy today. So. Down to business. Corrin,"
"Shouldn't we wait for Alfonse?" Sharena interrupted. Corrin was watching the banter carefully, her glass clasped between her hands with her thumbs running over the rim to try and reign in her sense of restlessness. I need to get back home. Everyone still needs me.
"Nah he'll just brood down the mood like snarky over there." Anna thumbed over at Kiran, and even with part of his face obscured by a hood Corrin could make out the way he scrunched up his expression. "Look you're not here by accident. We summoned you." She blurted.
"Way to ease her into it…" Kiran mumbled, but Anna carried on, Sharena leaning on her arms over the table watching carefully.
"We've been at war with a girl named Veronica. She has the ability to pull heroes from all different realities. She's taking over Askr and surrounding nations, I'll not be getting into all the complicated political and geographical crap now, that boring stuff is Alfonse's job. She's been working with a man named Xander," Corrin's face blanched at the name, stomach roiling. Oh gods just hearing the name hurts. It's not an uncommon name Corrin, settle yourself! She chided, trying to listen. But behind her eyelids she could only see Xander. Elise. Her siblings. Her family. Gone. "Since he's your brother and you kicked his ass once, we figured you'd be able to help us create an effective strategy to stop their army-"
"What?!"
_._._._._
Alfonse walked back into the tent to see Corrin standing up, her eyes shooting daggers at both Sharena and Anna. Kiran would have been a target too if he hadn't fallen asleep, and he remained stubbornly asleep, with his face laying on the table as Corrin's ire rolled off her raising voice.
"Are you people insane?! I lost Xander once, I'm not going to help anyone kill him in this… weird land! Why is he even here?!"
So much for going easy on her, Alfonse thought.
"We didn't mean it like that!" his sister instantly tried to appease her.
"Are you suggesting you'll simply capture him?" Corrin clearly thought it ludicrous and with how strong her older brother had proven so far, Alfonse knew she had a point. She went on, her words betraying how shaken she still was, "I just finished one war, I know how many casualties they involve!"
Corrin whipped around, breaking into a run in her rush to get away from them. Alfonse stood before the tent flap, resolutely blocking her way.
"Please, I understand that you've been through a lot, but we're not fighting because we want to. Veronica's army has been endangering my people, our people," the prince of Asker explained, exchanging a brief look with his sister and their commander.
Corrin took a step back from his extended hand, the look in her eyes reminding him of what a wounded animal looked like.
"You're asking for too much. What would you do if you had to fight against your own sister? Would you just plot against one another?"
The question was an actual punch to the gut, but Alfonse didn't stumble, holding his voice steady, his eyes hard and resolute.
"If Sharena was to hurt our people, I would stop her," he declared.
The heaviness underneath the tent was palpable and Sharena quickly approved her brother's words.
"I'd do the same if it was Alfonse turning evil," the blond princess explained, raising her fists with conviction.
Corrin couldn't help a wince, "Xander isn't evil."
If her brother was here, he most certainly felt terribly lost. And how was she to know Veronica and Xander weren't on the good side of this battle? Like there really was a good and a bad side. How she wished things were this clean cut back home.
"I'm sorry, Corrin, that was badly said," Sharena apologized. "Since you defeated him once, we thought… well, we assumed… Gosh, I'm not helping our cause, am I? We are strangers picking you off your home to pitch you against a family member, it's really awful!"
Alfonse frowned, doubting this admission was going to help them.
"There must be something we can do…" Anna muttered. "As long as it's not money…"
Corrin gasped and Alfonse quickly stepped in, seeing as things were going downhill fast.
"Corrin, lady Corrin," he blurted out, hoping that the use of a title might put her just a little more at ease, "you have a right to question our motivations. You can ask us as many questions as you want…"
Kiran's snoring was getting very disturbing, but it was the freshly summoned princess who cut off Alfonse.
"I don't have questions for you. For all I know, you could be in league with Iago and trying to push me into doing something that would hurt the fragile balance Ryoma has been working on so hard."
"Who's Iago?" Anna asked, Sharena nodding to show her own confusion.
"What can we do to ease your doubts, Corrin?"
"Let me talk to Xander," she decided, barely containing the shaking in her shoulders.
How surreal that she could ask for this? Was anyone else she'd lost also here? How unfair for Camilla and Leo that they couldn't see Xander one last time when maybe she would…
Alfonse's mouth hung open at first, his mind going over the very few possibilities that would make talking to the enemy's commander possible. Just snatching away a piece of his purple cape had taken an insane amount of luck. He hated to base any plan on luck and knew this time around, things wouldn't be as simple.
"If preparing a ceasefire was that easy, don't you think we would have done it already?" Anna observed.
Corrin shook her head.
"I can surely go find him on my own!"
"Oh no, wait, wait, Alfonse, catch her!" Sharena begged her brother.
The white-haired princess was fragile on her feet, needing more than bread to recover from the emotional shock of her summoning to a foreign land. She still landed a mighty punch in Alfonse's jaw, spit and blood flying, Kiran roused by the three violent gasps or outright cry of surprise following.
"What the hell?" he mumbled.
He saw the silver and black armor of his most recent summon rushing out of the tent, the left flap torn open in her haste, while the prince he served righted his balance, face red and his lower lip split open.
"Whoa!"
"Alfonse, are you okay?!" Sharena instantly asked.
"You just got sucker punched by a girl!" Anna couldn't help laughing at the look on his face, already half across the space beneath the tent as she threw over her shoulder. "I'll get her right away!"
"Don't… hurt her," Alfonse managed, blinking the shock away.
Damn did he want that girl as an ally, and not as an enemy if that was what she could do without a weapon.
In the tent-village of the large camp, Corrin had no real landmark, even though she'd focused on her surroundings as best as she could while being guided here. Her heart was beating fast, her breath ragged from the sudden exertion and she was hoping she could put distance between herself and the pair of royals. She'd just punched a prince and one of the leader of this so-called Order of heroes. She wasn't going to wait until heroes from gods-knew-where rushed at her with their blades and axes raised. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been allowed to join in a battle and now she was supposed to go back?
Wasn't there enough blood on her hands as it was?
She had trained with Takumi and Hinoka, grieving for everyone they had lost, wondering if she had led her friends properly or made a mistake along the way.
Right now wasn't the time to linger on sad memories though, and she took a right and a hard left, hoping she could find the larger row splitting the camp that would lead her back to that summoning stone. Maybe she could reactivate it with her dragon blood? Or should she try to find a village and ask around the whereabouts of Veronica's army?
"Corrin?!" A small voice squeaked, surprise clear in the way the tiny creature held its breath.
Water splashed and crimson and sapphire-blue scales shifting with the impatient wave of their owner. Her bare feet froze on the cold stones surrounding the pond where the creature was bathing, Corrin staring with widening eyes.
Golden eyes stared back, the small dragon raising on its legs, its large head moving from side to side as it recognized her.
"Lilith!? You're alive!"
Corrin couldn't help herself, moving forward, arms outstretched, tears threatening to fall as she was overwhelmed with joy. Her friend, her good old maid, her dear Lilith was here.
"Why would you…" Lilith started, slowly realizing what that question was about.
"Oh. Oh! You were just summoned by Alfonse and Sharena, weren't you?"
Corrin found herself nodding and she quickly checked their surroundings, spotting Anna rushing toward them.
"Lilith, have those people hurt you in any way?"
"What? No, everyone's been really nice to me! There's so much to talk about! I've missed you a lot since they summoned me, but even though I can't fight in this form, I've made friends with all of them. Sharena gives me the best head-rubs!"
"Head-rubs?" Corrin repeated, before to oomph as Anna tackled her to the ground with a victorious "Ha-ha! That will teach you for punching the prince like that, Corrin!"
They hit their heads, the Hoshidan's bruised ribs protesting to the rough treatment while Anna grumbled something about a weird flower scent.
"Let… go of me…" Corrin managed through clenched teeth, pain hissing on her breath.
Lilith jumped out of the water, her long tail slapping Anna in the face to push her off the princess, baring her teeth as she climbed on the silver-haired girl.
"Don't hurt Corrin!"
"Oww, oww, I'm sorry, I yield!" Anna agreed, shielding her face with one arm while moving backward.
Lilith glared at Anna, humming the air in the hope she could sense what was wrong with her friend. Corrin couldn't move, holding herself with one arm, fighting against the white shots of pain wracking through her. She'd wished her ribs were already healed, otherwise she would have been able to react better, but this was just too much at once, her wounds too raw. Running footsteps echoed at the edge of her mind and she somehow acknowledged that Alfonse and Sharena had finally caught up to them, Kiran not far behind.
"Oh, you found Lilith! Is everything alright?" the blond asked, crouching in front of the scene to catch her breath and be at eye-level with Lilith.
Anna was rubbing at her red cheek and started answering, but the small dragon spoke first.
"How could you let her run around like this? Corrin's hurt. We had agreed you would take better care of my friends, Sharena."
"I'll be fine," Corrin whispered.
"Okay. But if you need to see a healer, all you need to do is say so. No need to suffer in silence," Alfonse told her.
Anna muttered something about needing a healer herself, but Sharena focused on the situation at hand.
"Lilith," she whispered. "Would you be willing to explain the situation to Corrin? About how we summoned you and the battles we've fought so far. We'd really like for her to help us, but I also want her to be at ease."
And we started on the wrong foot," Alfonse sighed.
"Of course, I'll talk to her!" The dragon exclaimed. "We should go to my tent! And don't gang up on her like that, I remember how overwhelmed I was when I first got here."
Kiran offered his help to Anna while the pair of royals from Asker stayed behind to make sure both of their summoned guests would be okay. When Corrin tried getting to her feet, she stumbled and Sharena rushed to her help, offering her shoulder as support.
"What happened to you?" the blonde princess asked.
"Cracked ribs from a battle against a mad dragon the size of a castle," Corrin explained.
"By the gods! I've never faced a dragon that big! Or any dragon. Alfonse, did you hear that?!"
Alfonse nodded with a chuckle. Somehow, seeing these two interact together made Corrin feel at home. She missed her siblings terribly, but at least Lilith was here. Stepping into the small tent reserved for the astral dragon, Sharena helped Corrin sit down in a pile of cushions Lilith had quickly gathered for her. Fresh vegetables waited in a large tray and the colors on the small pieces of furniture reminded the silver-haired princess of her Nohrian home.
"We'll let you two catch up. If you want, we can have a bedroll delivered to this tent, Corrin," Alfonse offered.
The idea of sleeping during the day shocked her, but she settled as Lilith sounded happy to hang out with her as much as she could. It had taken her a moment to understand that this Lilith wasn't the Lilith she knew. After all it was impossible. People weren't summoned to foreign lands when they died… Or did they?
Once Sharena and Alfonse took their leave, Lilith gave Corrin some time to adjust herself to the new environment, waiting for her first question. It reminded the Hoshidan of how patient Lilith had always been with her as she grew up.
"How long have you been here?" Corrin finally asked.
Lilith gave her that pointy teeth smile that was so endearing.
"For over 8 months already. My Corrin had just started leading an army…" They both winced, and the small dragon apologized. "It's going to sound weird, but I can tell you're not the Corrin from my world. You've seen a lot of horrors, haven't you?"
"I've lost a lot of people," Corrin confirmed, fighting against the knot in her throat to keep her voice steady. "Including you." Lilith nodded, taking it in stride, so the Hoshidan went on. "We lost Xander. I was running earlier because of what they asked of me. I can't fight my brother…"
Lilith lowered her eyes at first, her tail unfurling from around her, waving around as an idea popped in her mind.
"So then, don't fight him! Your brother will be surprised to see you too, Corrin. No matter what happened in his version of our world, he'll know you. But you must keep in mind that Veronica's soldiers are all subjugated by a very dark magic. The heroes she summons. They don't get to chose on whether they want to fight for her or not. I'm glad it was Alfonse, Sharena, Kiran and Anna summoning me here. I don't know what that little girl would have done to me."
"Veronica is a little girl?!"
There was so much to learn about this new world. And so much darkness in it too. Corrin was far from done with the shocks.
But who am I to judge a little girl leading an army? I've just been there…
…
They had tried to explain it, and she could understand it on the surface, but all of it seemed just too confusing for Corrin. What world was she in that such powerful objects existed as these summoning orbs? They could call out and rip a person straight out of their own reality. Impartial to what's going on. We just endured a war, I haven't woken up from that nightmare and I'm in a new one she couldn't help feeling slightly bitter, and could have sworn she could hear Elise's voice in the back of her head telling her that this mopey girl wasn't her big sister Corrin. Azura asking her to smile. Xander telling her to be stronger. She squinted, trying to push the faces and the memories away so she could focus on what was ahead of her.
"Through there," Alfonse's voice jerked her back to the present. They were on a lightly worn path through a sparse forest, and now that she was trying to focus on her surroundings Corrin could see that there was a crumbled pile of stone that once may have been called a wall nearly obscured by the snowfall. The trees had started to thin out during the last two kilometers of their walk She nodded in acknowledgement, hearing in her mind Elise asking where her talkative sister is hiding. They led their horses through an opening in the wall and dismounted on the edge of the ruins.
The forest had reclaimed much of it, collapsed and crumbled stone structures coated in a layer of moss beneath the layer of snow. Corrin suspected that the rooves of some structures must have been thatch that rotted away eons ago, leaving the shells of former houses standing like open boxes. It was difficult to fully take in the area, snow and new growth obscuring much of their surroundings, the brush underfoot making walking difficult.
"You need boots?" Shareena asked, "since you always run around barefoot I packed an extra pair." Corrin looked down at her feet and shrugged,
"No. But thank you, that is a kind offer." She answered the blonde woman, who shrugged and smiled, reaffirming that the offer would still stand should she change her mind.
"I don't know how you do it. I'm freezing even in my boots." Sharena continued. She had tried to insist Corrin wear boots to ward off the danger of frostbite and the dragon-woman had tried to humor her by wearing them. But the boots lent to her had felt half a size too small and after several hours she had taken them off when riding their horses, promising to don them again before stomping through the snow.
"Come on, let's go." Alfonse suggested. "These places make me feel… leery." They had been riding north for four days, and the prolonged period away from camp was making the young man agitated, each day spent on the road meant another day traveling back. He had only wanted to be away for a week, but the storm that dropped this snow had halted their travel for a day and he was anxious to get this mission over with and return back to camp.
"I only feel leery if this ruin is another dud. Did the kings of old never hear of gold?! I thought dragons hoarded shiny things like gold and jewels?" Anna asked, planting her hands on her hips and looking around. "There's got to be something other than orbs lying around." She tisked.
"You act like the orbs are meaningless." Alfonse chastised.
"Oh don't get me wrong, they're pretty damn useful. But just once I'd like to find a lost treasure." She clarified. "Soldiers are nice, but pretty useless if we don't give them pointy things to stick in the other guys and armor to protect them from the other guys' pointy things. And after all the work I've done I think I deserve a little bonus." She huffed. "Well. Let's get started." She added quickly to cut off a protest from Alfonse, sure that he was going to chastise her for her attitude. "Hey, Lizard."
"Excuse me?" Corrin asked, quirking a brow.
"I'm just trying to make you settle down a little," Anna pat her shoulder.
"I don't think calling her Lizard is a good way to do that…" Sharena suggested.
"Point remains lizard-girl," Corrin could have sworn she heard that's not much better mumbled from behind her. "do dragons just hoard gold? Can you find it?"
"I'm not a tracking dog for gold." Corrin answered. "And I spent much of my life in one tower. The library I had access to had almost nothing on my dragon ancestors so I can't really answer your question." She provided, and made to try and catch up with Alfonse who had clearly decided to give up on the girls and started setting to their task at hand.
"What specifically am I looking for?" Corrin asked. He had already explained to her that these orbs seemed to emanate from an old source of magic, their best scholars were still trying to research the objects. She felt unsettled at the idea of using such a magic that they didn't fully understand, but occupying herself with a task felt better than lying in her cot lost in thought and memory while Lilith did her best to try and cheer her. She could hear Azura in the back of her mind trying to reassure her that these people meant her no harm, and to allot them her trust.
"We've been to this particular place before. The orbs have tended to be a bit… scattered. Between time, looters, monsters. We've gone through most of this place but had to revisit it because of Mogalls showing up at night." Alfonse explained.
"Yeah, the little brats like to eat our orbs! Maybe some dragon blood got into the monsters too somehow." Anna suggested. She had her axe slung over her shoulder, and when Alfonse looked behind him he groaned at the sight.
"Please treat that axe with respect." Alfonse chastised, getting a pout from his red-haired companion. With an exaggerated sigh she held her weapon less casually, widening her eyes and jutting her jaw as if to say better? with an open palmed gesture. Apparently satisfied he turned his attention back to his surroundings, looking for something Corrin wished he had described better; said woman trying to hide a smirk when she looked over her shoulder and saw Anna swing her axe right back over her shoulder.
The small retinue moved into the center of the fallen structures, things growing more defined the deeper they progressed. Alfonse suggested looking for something that may have once been a library or a laboratory, and Corrin found herself wondering how that would even be possible unless they found books somehow intact after so long exposed to the elements, or laboratory objects not already picked by looters. Need a new book from the library?She squinted hard to try and push away Elise's voice echoing in her memory, cheerily volunteering Camilla to recommend something new. You hated reading Elise. She thought, and a sad smile found its way onto her face. Her elder sister always tried to push romance novels on her, and it was Leo who would bring her something more to her taste.
"Corrin?" She turned to the blonde woman who had come up to her, Alfonse and Anna searching the area.
"Just thinking about my siblings." She answered honestly. Sharena frowned, and pat Corrin on the shoulder offering a sorry and a sympathetic smile. Something about her seemed honest, or at the very least as bad a liar as she was. "I'm okay. Happy memories," she insisted.
"Hey I think I got something!" Anna called, drawing her companions near. She had wandered through a broken doorway into what once have been a room only about the size of two of their tents. The one mostly intact wall had deep holes in it from the layout of the stone, and appeared to be a makeshift series of shelves built into the room itself. "As good a guess as any" she offered, pointing to the wall.
"A good place to start" Alfonse approved. "Let's start digging. And not with your axe!"
"Well you're no fun." She huffed. She set the axe down, hands on her hips. "Then with what?" she asked.
"Grab the latrine spade." He suggested.
"Huh… feel silly not thinking of that." He admitted. Corrin pondered the wisdom of shifting into a dragon, sure that her claws could make quick work of the semi-frozen ground and save everyone a significant amount of labor trying to dig in with their small latrine spade. A moan snapped her attention, the startle nearly causing her to shift with it so close to the forefront of her mind. Calm down. She chided.
"I have an idea." Corrin offered. "With my dragon stone when I want to, I can keep my head on straight when I turn into a dragon. I can probably dig faster than that spade." Alfonse looked contemplative, but the expression on his face flinched when Anna gave an approving whoop.
"Heck yeah! That'll speed this up! Maybe we'll even find buried treasure…." She trailed off, looking at the ground and Corrin wondered if the woman expected gold and jewels to spontaneously shoot up from the ground. Alfonse relented that it was probably a good idea and would get their task accomplished sooner, Sharena declaring her excitement of seeing Corrin turn into a dragon without wanting to kill her and her brother.
"Kiran is sure missing out!" Anna declared watching the transformation happen. Everyone stepped away from Corrin, and when she looked down at them she could see the tense ways they held themselves, but turned her attention to the frozen ground and scratched at it. It was hard, but early enough in the season that the soil gave way with some effort. She began to dig, a rumbling in her throat at the effort.
"Should I still get the spade?" Sharena asked after a minute of watching, shifting her stance between her legs with her lips quirked into a half-frown. "Feels unfair to have Corrin doing all the work." She added when she felt her companions eyes burning holes into her.
"I'm enjoying the break." Anna insisted. "Besides, one hand… paw… claw? is scooping away five spadefuls of dirt a go!" She looked up when a deep noise reverberated through Corrin's elongated throat. "See? She agrees! Take it easy!"
"Still feels wrong." Alfonse answered, agreeing with his sister. But he couldn't pose a realistic argument. The small spade would make little progress compared to the work the dragon was already doing.
"We should take her on treasure hunts! Look at her go!" Anna cheered. A few more swipes at the dirt and Corrin chirped, the higher-pitched sound startling her companions who had been listening to the low rumbles. Alfonse took this as a clue, and looked into the hole corrin had made. Her claws had felt something hard, too warm to be ice, and had drawn back to investigate. Her eyes fell upon a multicolored sphere partially buried in the dirt,
"You did it Corrin!" Alfonse reached out and pat the Dragon's leg, forcing a smile through the nervousness written into his face with knit brows and wide pupils. Corrin tried to step back in the limited space that she had, another excited chirp when she saw Alfonse pull an orb from the ground. "We got one!" he announced, and held it out to Anna. "Stop giving me that look, we both know these are more valuable than any gold we can find." He added. She rolled her eyes and admitted her agreement. Corrin's head turned sharply when she heard the same moan from before, her more sensitive draconian ears able to distinguish it much easier.
"You hear that?" she asked, the rumbles coming out reminding her of her form and she shifted back, pressing a hand against her temple and began to look around for the sound, hoping to hear it again. "moaning." she clarified when she saw how confused her companions appeared to be. An echo of the sound had everyone looking around, and Alfonse suggesting they wait to dig for orbs until they figured out what this sound was, and eliminated what was most likely a threat.
"Monsters drawn to the orbs?" Corrin asked. He nodded, and soon the three women were following the Prince outside.
"By the gods!" Sharena yelped after they started pacing around. They all gave her chase, shouting confused series of what is it?! with weapons drawn and preparing for a fight. "It's a woman! She appears hurt!" They all came around and looked down at the blonde woman lying in the snow, hand clutched over her side as she moaned between rapid breaths. Her short hair was pink in places, frozen with odd patterns, blotches of dried blood spattered on her face. More stained her blue-trimmed white dress, the other side of her bearing scorched fabric and bearing the unmistakable stench of burnt flesh. Her face was partially swollen, obscuring her features and sealing one of her eyes shut, the other blearily looking up as her arm shook and tried to lift the lance sunken into the snow beside her, the fingers curled around it pale blue from being buried in the cold.
To be continued…
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Who's that lady in the snow? We're finishing the setting up of the story with the next chapter, please let us know what you think!