Corrin had a cloud over her head. During strategy meetings she would speak briefly, forgoing her usual jokes and observations of her fellow comrades. She stopped speaking around the castle, spending more time alone in her room. A small house built on top of a luscious tree, high above the rest of the camp, Corrin's room was both beautiful and isolating, placing the young dragon far away from her allies.
Her family worried about her, not knowing what to do. They tried being direct with her, but Corrin's hollow assurances served only to concern them further. This wasn't something they could help with. Her Nohrian siblings were keenly aware of that, yet they wished they could reach her. They remembered her going through these spells at the Northern Fortress, becoming unreachable to the world, trapped inside her own mind just as she was trapped inside the tower.
Xander had hoped that once Corrin left the tower these recurring spells would end, but that wasn't the case. As he walked through the castle courtyard on a cold night, he felt a bitterly chilly breeze against his skin. He looked up, noticing a lone light in the treehouse, and was struck by how familiar this felt.
…
Xander rode his dark horse through the Nohrian night, cold wind biting at his exposed skin. He finally reached a break through the trees, and saw a lone light illuminating a dark tower. He climbed up its spiraling staircase, as quiet as he could be, then opened the door to Corrin's candle lit room. There he saw the silver haired girl lying far away from her bed, shivering by an open window. She wasn't asleep, nor was she fully awake. She had just stopped, like a clock with a stuck hand. Xander picked up the girl, goosebumps covering her arms, and placed her in her bed, wrapping the blankets over her. Her glassy eyes would stare at him, but display nothing, they were like a shattered mirror.
Xander would shut the window, pulling heavy curtains to keep out the wind, and take a seat across the room from Corrin. By that chair a lone candle was lit, the wind not blowing it out by pure chance. That lone light in the dark tower, lit by a Princess who hadn't the willpower to move, was like a silent cry to the world. Notice me, help me, save me, it said, proclaiming the message throughout the dark forest and the tower halls. How many nights had this occurred, with no one noticing? How many nights did she lie there, letting the freezing wind chill her bones, not as penance for sins, but as a punishment for a perceived weakness, only visible by her own critical eye?
This entire situation was a question, posed by someone in a fragile state of mind. A single sentence, asked during the worse of her spells. I'll always be alone, won't I? Every night that no one came, she got her expected answer. She was alone, and would always be. Every night sapped the life from her, she had less and less energy the next day, and her thoughts became more cloudy. She existed, but she had stopped living. Her heart beat, she breathed, but she had lost herself. Yet she kept a small flame of hope, her tiny light in seemingly endless darkness, and she lit the candle each night.
Xander put out the candle, answering her question, and he sat in the chair all night, watching over the Princess. She eventually slept, and woke to see the Prince dozing across the room. As if a spell had been lifted, Corrin would realize what she had been doing, and how foolish and strange it seemed. How had she considered that to be normal, she had her family, her friends, she wasn't alone. What a strange mindset she was in, though now she felt better. Not perfect, nor back to normal, but better. She would try to get up, but underestimate how weak she had become, and stumble. Xander would wake up, and help her up, helping her move about the tower. He never brought up her candle lit question, and she never spoke of it either. She told the others that she was recovering from a cold, which felt strangely truthful, and over time she would recover from her spell, wondering how she could have thought like that. She felt foolish and was embarrassed that Xander saw, but she was secretly pleased. He had answered her question, and helped save her.
These spells repeated every year or two, often occurring during the beginning of winter, when formal holidays pulled the Nohrian nobles away from the tower for weeks at times, Felicia and Flora returned to their village for festivities, and Jakob and Gunter were summoned to the capital to help prepare the long celebrations. Leaving the Northern Fortress with a skeleton crew, consisting of humorless guards and servants that cursed their luck at their temporary posting.
…
Xander climbed up the ladder to the treehouse, unafraid of any rumors such a late visit may cause. He reached the top and lifted up a hatch, then looked into the treehouse. Corrin was sitting by an open window, a small candle lit near her. Xander climbed into the chilly room, but she didn't look his way, she knew who it was. Xander shut the hatch and walked over to Corrin, then sat next to her.
"You know I got what I wanted. I'm free from the tower, and I'm surrounded by so many interesting and kind people.", Corrin didn't look at Xander when she spoke, she just stared out the window, looking at nothing in particular. Her eyes were red, as if she had been crying, and she continued speaking. "I realized something a week ago. I was eating lunch with the others, and we were laughing and talking. I was surrounded by people, by family, by friends, and I knew everyone there. Yet, despite being so close to all of those people, I have never felt more alone. I smiled and laughed, but I wasn't, I wasn't really…".
Corrin began crying, and Xander embraced her, holding her tightly as she wept. "Why can't I be happy! What's wrong with me!".
"Nothing is wrong with you little princess, I promise you that.,", Xander felt a lifetime of emotion surging through him. Kidnapped from her home, forced to watch both parents die to protect her, caged in a tower that she couldn't once leave for fifteen years, the poor Princess didn't deserve such a fate. Xander couldn't help her, he couldn't save her from the cruel isolation and loneliness his father inflicted upon her, nor did he ever go against his father's orders.
He had failed her, as he had so many others. He chose a coward's path, refusing to accept his father's obvious tyranny, blindly following his every order no matter it's morality. His fervent faith in his father, a child's foolish ideation, preventing him from seeing what he had become. Corrin had saw Garon for what he truly was, and stood against Hoshido and Nohr, invoking the ire of both nations to save all of her family. Xander had even raised his blade against her before joining them, a sin he could never repent for.
The Prince and Princess sat there under the pale moonlight, a icy breeze trying to separate them. The raw emotion of the room, Corrin's despair, her uncertainty, combined with Xander's guilt and self-loathing, it almost felt palpable. Their draconic blood started reacting to the astral realm, and the air began to bend.
…
Somewhere deep in Valla, Anankos grimaced, sensing that something had gone horribly awry.
…
A wish, a single desire shared by the burdened royals. They wanted to escape their past, to cast aside their burdens.
…
The first dragons, slumbering for millennia, began to stir.
…
In essence, the two royals wanted one thing, something all those marked by destiny desire.
…
Grima growled, sensing a disturbance, while Naga shuddered, causing the land to shake.
…
They wanted to be free.
…
The air tore apart and Corrin was sucked into an empty void. Xander held onto the Princess, and they fell through the tear, falling between the outrealms. They screamed, but the sounds seemed to die in their throats. Myriad colors burst from the worlds, showing the royals a glimpse of their history.
Corrin saw a young prince betrayed, fleeing his home as it was taken from him. She saw him fight tooth and nail to reclaim everything he had lost, yet he never lost his kind heart. Xander saw a man covered completely in black armor fight battle after battle, wielding a giant blade. He acted honorable yet killed and slaughtered mercilessly, never doubting the orders of his master. Only at death had he peace.
The two royals clutched each other tightly, and were pulled into a recently formed tear.
…
The air above Ylisstol ripped apart, and a strange object burst from it, glowing bright red. The light illuminated the night sky, and the newly crowned Exalt ran through the city streets, clutching his sacred blade Falchion. A silver haired tactician ran beside him, her face filled with worry. They pushed panicking Ylisseans out of their way, and ran out the city's main gate.
They stood outside the city's walls, and watched the object fall towards the forest, unleashing a bright flash before it crashed. The impact shook the ground, and they heard panicked screams across Ylisstol. The Exalt ran through the woods, ignoring the loud warnings from his tactician, and searched for the crash site. The object had left a trail of destruction in its wake, crashing through tree after tree until it landed.
Chrom followed the path, and stopped as he came upon the crash site. Robin caught up with him, gasping for breath. "Naga's breath Chrom! Do you want to get killed for no reason?!", then she looked up. A silver dragon, bearing several severe wounds stood before them. Bark protruded like spears on the creature, it must have crashed through the trees with its armored body. A blonde man in dark armor knelt by it, badly wounded, clutching a black longsword that seemed to buzz with power. The dragon wobbled and roared, falling on its side. A bright light engulfed the night, and where the dragon had fallen a girl lay, in black armor with silver hair. The girl opened her red eyes and lifted her head, then passed out, still retaining the wounds her dragon form had suffered.
Chrom's eyes sparkled, he remembered this girl. "Corrin!", he said, running toward his old friend. The blonde man jumped forward, barely able to stand but he pointed his blade at the Exalt. Robin pulled out her tome, the man may be wounded but he was radiating power, he must be an extremely dangerous foe.
"Wait!", Chrom shouted, holding his hands between the two. "We're not going to harm her, look.". Chrom unsheathed Falchion, and the blonde man tensed, then he set the blade on the ground. He motioned to Robin to follow him, which she reluctantly did. The man relaxed, but kept his sword out.
"My name is Chrom, Prince of Ylisse. We can help both of your injuries, but you'll have to trust me. Our capital is a short way behind us, we can get you medical attention there.", the blonde man hesitated then sighed, sheathing his sword.
"Very well. I am Xander, Crown Prince of Nohr. This is Corrin, Princess of… a few kingdoms.", Xander said, slightly bowing. He then walked over to Corrin, and carefully lifted the wounded girl over his shoulder. "Which way is your capital?".
"Follow me.", Chrom said, and he began walking towards Ylisstol. Robin followed, but kept her eyes on the Nohrian Prince. Xander stopped by a tree and pulled out an embedded yellow blade, then followed Chrom.
"You recognized this girl?", Robin said, speaking quietly to Chrom. The Exalt smiled.
"We met a long time ago, she had a bit of a livestock problem that the Shepherds helped with.", Chrom said.
"Livestock?".
"It's a weird story.", Chrom said, "It was actually a few hours before we met…", Chrom told Robin the story, as the four of them headed to Ylisstol.
…
Author's Notes:
The more I try to focus on Awakening, the more Fates pulls me back in. I was working on a long piece, sort of retelling Fates story if Corrin had a twin, in a similar vein as Hatzo's excellent story Shattered Reflections. If you haven't checked that out, please do, it is phenomenal, easily my favorite story on this site.
Anyways I hit a few road bumps, and I just couldn't continue the story. So I started on this, imagining male Corrin in a slight slump after Azura married someone else. Then I made it a bit darker, and realized that a piece about female Corrin and Xander sounded great! I absolutely adore Xander, that Camus archetype combined with his duty to both his family and country won me over completely.
About the actual story, Corrin was literally trapped in a tower for as long as she can remember. She never left, except maybe once with Silas, but that would seriously affect her. Her family wasn't there all the time, and her main trait (that they don't really emphasize that much in the main story) is how lonely she feels. Social isolation is hell on the mind, it'll really mess with your head and self worth.
Xander tried to carry the world on his back, and grew up under his father's abusive guidance, commiting acts he knew were wrong. He's not naturally talented at anything, and worked hard to get his strength, forcing himself to become a pillar his family and country could rely on. Xander has many regrets about his choices, and it weighs on him.
This story will be about them finding themselves, learning to live with their shortcomings and becoming who they want to be. Because of that I had to start it in a dark place but don't worry, it will get better. I can't promise anything, but I'll try to upload the next part within a week, I have some ideas I'm working on. Thanks for reading this, if you have any suggestions, comments, criticisms, please leave a review, I read all of them.
Also I didn't mean to hospitalize Corrin again, it just kind of happened. One day I'll write a story where Corrin isn't seriously wounded in the first part, but you know they had to land somehow. By the way Chrom knows Corrin from Before Awakening, which is free dlc for Fates.