Fur and Scales

Warning: Contains spoilers for Revelations Path!

The night felt beautiful. The astral plane was covered in summer breezes that made the dark feel comfortable in its coolness rather than in humidity.
In the hot springs they had discovered the bath which had been built was open to the sky and steam rose up from the heated waters. Within the bath was a single soul.

Corrin was never more grateful to be alone than now.

She was often up late and sometimes she wondered if it was the dragon blood that ran through her veins. So while everyone was sleeping she was here to hide.

Hide the tears with water. Hide heated cheeks of anger with the heat around her. Force the crushing guilt down to the bottom of her heart.

Scarlet was gone.

She had finally convinced all her family and friends to follow her down the Bottomless Canyon into Valla. She waited until everyone had gone before attempting the jump herself along with Scarlet. She had watched the Nohrian put a flower on to symbolize her troop before leaping with her.

"In the name of the King of Valla, I sentence you to death!"

"Corrin, look out!" There was a flash of purple coming at her before a hard red armor slammed into her. She watched the flower explode before her.

She had found herself in Valla, shaking a lifeless Scarlet who stared up at her silently. Judging.

"Shut up!" Corrin hissed to no one in particular as she reached up to grab at her hair. She felt a new set of tears bite at the corner of her eyes. She hadn't lost a single person yet and now she caused Scarlet to lose her life. All because she couldn't defend herself in time.

"Why..."

"Oh hey, Corrin! I didn't see you in here!" She gasped at the male voice and swiftly sank further into the water. The familiar face of the kitsune came to view from around a pillar. "Can I join you?"

"No!"

The male stopped at her sharp protest and his ears drooped to either side of his head.

"O-oh..." Corrin felt her heart break at his response.

"I-I mean... I just wanted to be alone..." His ears perked once more and he stepped forward. She immediately directed her gaze to the side when she saw what he was dressed in, positive now it wasn't the heat that was making her red.

"You're... upset?" He sniffed the air and frowned. "You smell... sad." Corrin stiffened. "Humans all have different scents and when emotions are strong enough they can taint the scent," he explained. He sat down at the edge and put his feet into the spring. "Wanna talk about it? It's not the bloodlust again is it?" Corrin sighed softly and glanced up at him quickly to meet his eye. While normally mischief sparkled in his amber orbs she could see genuine concern in them now. They were soft towards her and she felt her walls start to break.

"I... no... it's not." She felt her hands clench under the water. She hadn't even talked about this with her siblings. How could she when they had trusted her enough to jump down into Valla with her only to see what trusting her got Scarlet?

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want," he said suddenly. Kaden grinned down at her, tail swaying behind him. "I love seeing all your expressions but..." His ears suddenly lowered and his eyes flickered away from her. "I don't like seeing this one."

She felt a warmth bloom in her chest and she gave a soft smile in response, but she bit her lip and the tears gathered once more. She sniffed once then everything broke.

"H-hey!" Corrin felt the water splash around her as Kaden entered and his hands found hers. "Corrin, what's wrong?" She didn't answer and merely gave a sob to press her face against his shoulder. Kaden stiffened under her grip, but wrapped an arm around her shoulder while his tail went about her waist. He was quiet next to her and merely rested his cheek against her hair. After a minute or so she began to slow her crying and took a shuddering breath.

"I... was thinking about Scarlet."

"Oh..." came the soft response. Everyone in the army knew by now that the blonde wyvern rider had passed. Ryoma had been hit the hardest by her passing and he made her promise her death would not be in vain. "You're sad about her?"

"I... It's my fault she's dead, Kaden..."

"Did you kill her?" Corrin stiffened against him and looked up at him with surprise.

"W-what?"

"Did you kill her?" He repeated.

"I-I... no but—"

"Then why did you say it's your fault?"

Corrin opened her mouth before closing it and looking down. "Because she saved me from that hit. If I had been faster, I could have—"

"So she saved you?" Corrin's mouth snapped shut at his interrupting response.

"Ye-yes..."

"So you're saying she chose to save you. Chose to take the hit?"

"Yes, Kaden I think I said that." The young noble's brow furrowed with slight frustration as she rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"Then why would it be your fault if she picked her choice? She knew her consequences, but she still chose to defend you because she believed it to be right. That's not your fault."

"But the attack was aimed for me!" She protested.

"And she took that for you. I would protect my hamlet from anything because they're my family. If a hunter came and I was killed protecting them would it be their fault?" Corrin's lips tilted in a frown as she processed his question. Some might say it could be their fault because they weren't able to protect themselves... however if it had been a sneak attack, or an overpowering attack, and they had been powerless against it...

"No, obviously it was the hunter that would be at fault." Kaden's lips split in a grin and he nodded.

"Then it's not your fault but the one that attacked, right? Even if you had been able to dodge, who's to say it still wouldn't have killed you or Scarlet?" The Nohr princess pressed her lips together and thought over his words.

If she listened to him then it let her completely off the hook so to speak. It just felt like rejecting complete responsibility was wrong. As a leader wasn't it her duty to bear those burdens? Even if it wasn't her fault, if she hadn't been the one to strike the blow, there was still a heaviness in her heart. A weight.

"I still feel... guilty."

"Are you sure that's just not sadness?" Kaden leaned close and she felt her cheeks redden as his scent washed over her. Almost like pine or citrus. "It's ok to feel sad about someone passing on. But they wouldn't want you to feel guilty. Or drag their death around with you all the time." His familiar grin was directed towards her once again. "My people and I celebrate life. I'm never happy to lose a friend, but I'd rather enjoy what life I was able to share with them than remember what life they didn't get to see. I didn't really get to know Scarlet too well, but if she chose to follow you she knew what could happen and chose to do it anyway. She's probably cheering you on!" Corrin let her eyes trail back to the water.
Celebrate life?

In Nohr she hadn't known much about celebrations being alone in that fortress for most of her life. But Kaden was right about one thing. Scarlet had known what she was doing when she put herself in front of that attack. She wasn't sure if she could let go of all her guilt yet maybe...

"So uh... How to you um... celebrate life with your family?" She asked shyly yet once it was out she regretted her words instantly. Kaden's entire expression lit up with mischievous glee and his face came against hers so swiftly she didn't have the chance to register it. It nuzzled against hers in a gentle motion while his chest was mere breaths away from hers. His hands had never left hers and now they strengthened their grip.

"We feast! Let's go hunting! We'll get started right now!"

"K-kaden! Wait!" He hauled her out of the bath and she couldn't help but shiver at the cold that swept across her heated skin. "We don't have clothes!"

"Kitsunes and dragons don't need clothes!" He sang to her while pulling her along. "I'll bring back your happy expression, Corrin. Promise!" Corrin's eyes widened as they continued and she felt her fingers tighten against his. The weight in her chest felt like it lifted ever so much—enough for a smile to pull at her lips as mildly hysterical laughter bubbled out of her.

By all the gods she couldn't understand him in the slightest sometimes but he...

He made her so happy.

A/N: Is there a way to keep Scarlet from dying? Like, I got her A support for my F!Avatar but still didn't help? Either way she's for real dead here. –nodnod- Gotta have someone die in every path right? Right… I feel like they glossed over this so much in the game though so I hope I did it at least some justice.

Thank you for all the support you've given my story!

Tykronos: To my knowledge, no? I've only seen Naruto through parodies/AMV's on YouTube so I could have done so accidentally but it was not on purpose.

Until we meet again~

- Zehava