"There you are, Corrin." Azura smiled as she entered Corrin's tent. Corrin was too absorbed in the book in front of him to notice her. "Corrin?" Azura slowly approached the young man. He didn't usually absorb himself in books, not like this. She placed her gentile hand on his strong shoulder. He jumped at her touch, causing her to flinch and quickly take her hand back.
"Oh, Azura, it's you. I didn't hear you come in." He forced a tired and sad smile. "Is everything alright?"
"Who did you think it was?" Azura smiled, dodging Corrin's question.
"I don't know, maybe Felicia." Corrin shrugged. Aura let out a short laugh just a beat too late. Corrin stood up from his chair and wrapped his arms around Azura's small waist. He loved the feel of the soft fabric. "Azura, I'm your cousin, we're all we have left of our family, you can tell me anything." Corrin's crimson eyes stared deeply and playfully into Azura's yellow ones.
"I wanted to check on you. You haven't been yourself lately." Azura whispered, ashamed of herself for wishing they weren't cousins. It was Corrin's turn to miss a beat.
"Do you…. Think of that day often?" He asked. He removed his hands from Azura's waist. The playful look draining from his face. He glanced at the book he had been absorbed in. Azura followed his gaze. He had been drawing out his days, his thoughts, his feelings, since the day he was forced to choose between his bloodline and his loyalty. The page the book was open to was the day his mother died.
"No, I don't." Azura replied, walking over to the book. She could see Corrin tense up as she got closer. She noticed that next to the drawing of the late queen was a dragon. It looked nothing like Corrin, but he had never seen himself as a dragon. She turned the page. She tensed up herself as she saw the two pages were one picture, the thing that had been haunting Corrin all this time. She so herself, drawn to beautifully, being pinned down by an ugly dragon. Her face was filled with pain and tears and the dragon seemed to show no mercy. Azura held back tears as she turned the next page. There was Azura's pendent with a dragon stone next to it, and Corrin has written 'You're lucky she stayed, Corrin. Never forget that." Beneath the objects.
"Azura, are you alright?" Corrin mumbled, avoiding her gaze. She turned the page back to the drawing on her and the dragon.
"This isn't what happened, Corrin." Fire was in her voice. Corrin's eyes went wide as he took a step back. "You didn't do this on purpose. You couldn't control what you did!" Tears were falling from Azura's face as she tried to keep her voice strong. "You aren't the hideous beast you drew. You aren't lucky I stayed, I'm lucky you allowed me to stay, I took your place in Hoshido while you were being abused in Nohr." Azura tried to talk more but she could only make incoherent babbling because of how hard she was crying. "How could I let him think this for so long?" She scolded herself. She hid her face behind her hands and continued to sob. She felt something soft touch her and behind pulled into something.
"I'm sorry." It was Corrin. He wrapped his arms around her and was holding her. "For everything." He whispered. "You've felt guilty for being in Hoshido. I wasn't abused in Nohr, not at all. I was loved and I am still loved by my siblings, Camilla more than anyone. Even after all the years of separation, my family in Hoshido still loves me just as much as they did before I was taken. It's not your fault I was taken from Hoshido." Corrin fell silent as he ran his fingers through Azura's long, blue hair. "I'm sorry to worry you, my dear cousin. I will be more open and honest with you from now on." He lied. He knew he couldn't tell her how much pain he was hiding, how much his history and what he forgot hurt him and how he did nothing as his mother died.
"Don't lie." Azura whispered, trying to control her tears. Corrin just held her tighter.
