Corrin-Chapter Seven-A Leg Man-Tatsuta Village Ruins

Evening, night two of our stay at the village, or rather, what was left of it... Takumi shot Novala in his smug face, and even though we suffered numerous casualties when the Gorgons attacked preemptively, we were left with just 126 villagers out of the original 300. I remembered a story like this, of a proud Izumo warrior who once enacted such moves against Mokushujin Armies...

Takumi's men would arrive at six in the afternoon, but the horde of Bael would arrive just before noon. The remnants of the previous monster armies were with them, bolstering their numbers further. Riev, the Blood Beryl, was riding atop the Elder Bael, a monster significantly larger than any previously seen.

Last night though, had almost been our end...

Thanks to Takumi's timely arrival, we struck many of the revenants down. The skeletons required us to crush their skulls or their ribs to demobilize them, so we had to face them in close combat.

Novala didn't even die when Takumi shot him down. He got up, a dark aura circling him, and even though Takumi pumped him with four more arrows, he marched on. He went just west of the village with his forces, only for me to realize too late his goal; the largest cemetery in Hoshido was just outside this village, hidden in a secret grove.

I rushed in to stop him, and killed Novala myself, but... It was a trap. He wasn't actually the boss; he was only a decoy. I was then trapped in the cemetery as the real mastermind, Riev, revived the countless dead. I struggled and fought for nearly an hour, trying to fight my way free, but it was too much.

I only had myself to blame for overlooking this; I was an amateur, no good in being a general, and it would have cost me my life had I not been saved...

"Hey, Corrin! It's time for that meal we promised," Hinoka walked up beside me and helped me to my feet, "You look depressed. Is something wrong? Or are you just anxious over the fight?"

Camilla rebuked her, "Silly Hinoka, she's not scared of fighting. She's upset over the losses she had. The deaths of the villagers must weigh greatly on her conscious."

Hinoka shrugged Camilla off, "Whatever you say. Corrin, look, you did your best, alright? You held out long enough for us to come save you!"

"It's fine, Hinoka," Camilla interjected, "She's always had a tender heart. A tender body, too." Did she have to add that last part? Camilla approached me and held my head in her chest, patting me softly, "We're here for you, dear. Even if we're from different kingdoms, even if we might fight..." She turned to Hinoka, "Right?"

"Y-yeah..." Hinoka said, blushing a bit, "I said it before, you're family!" She gave me a cheerful grin, causing a part of me to come bursting out. I pulled Camilla with me and brought Hinoka into the hug as well, "H-hey!"

Camilla patted Hinoka's head with her free hand as well, coddling us both, "It's alright, I won't bite."

After a couple more moments of Camilla caring for us, we eventually headed to the table where the others were. Hinoka sat on the left side, with Takumi beside her and Sakura at the end. Mikoto was sitting across from Robert at the back end, while Azura and Camilla seated themselves across Sakura and Takumi respectively. I sat across from Hinoka at Robert's side.

We all had illustrious plates of food before us, and our retainers were digging in. Even the villagers had tables set up, and they feasted and laughed, like the world wasn't going to end soon. It was... weird, to say the least.

"Why do I have to sit across from her?" Takumi complained, "She's a Nohrian!"

Camilla smirked, "Oh, feisty, are you? Isn't that cute?"

Takumi freaked out, "Don't make fun of me!"

"I'm being sincere, Prince Takumi... You have this cute look about you. You remind me of my retainer, Selena..." Camilla looked over to her retainers, dining with Subaki and Hana and arguing over silly things. Oboro just glared at them, but eventually dropped her gaze and started eating, too.

Hinoka sighed, "Stop teasing my little brother."

Takumi took offense to that, "Hey, don't call me little in front of the others! That's embarrassing!"

"There's nothing wrong with being younger," Azura commented in between bites of her food, a delectable, melt-in-your-mouth salmon cooked and fried just right, "We're here to enjoy ourselves, not fight."

Mikoto nodded, "Agreed, daughter."

Azura looked uncertain, "I'm not actually..."

"Whether you're related to me by blood or not, you're my sweet child, Azura," Mikoto reassured her, a hand on hers, "You're precious to me."

I noticed Robert tense up when she said that, but it happened so briefly I couldn't catch it well enough to comment. What I did notice was that he seemed different, even more so than before. Grizzled, maybe. He had stubble, something he normally never had, and his face had gotten harder, more worn, somehow.

I held my curiosity in, "The food is delicious, Robert. I'm proud that Felicia and Setsuna could make something so good."

"I tried to help, too," Hinoka said, laughing awkwardly, "I didn't burn it too bad, did I?"

Azura confessed, albeit reluctantly, "We had to feed your fish to the horses, Hinoka. We couldn't grind it up ourselves."

Hinoka hung her head in shame, but Camilla tried to help, "Everything takes practice, Princess Hinoka. I'm not a chef either, I'll have you know."

"Like you have enough food to practice," Takumi remarked, not watching his mouth. I dropped my knife and fork in shock; we all knew Nohr had it bad for food, but did he have to say that!?

Camilla focused her attention on Takumi, smirking sinisterly, "I could eat you up instead, little prince."

Hinoka interjected, "Camilla, please... Don't corrupt him."

"Would you be jealous?" Camilla was teasing her now, "I love how hot-blooded you can be. It's... exciting."

"Stay away from my family, seductress!" Takumi stood up, placing his palm on the table, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

Camilla stood up and towered over him by a foot, "Am I seducing you? Do you like forceful women?" She winked.

Takumi stuttered desperately, "N-n-not at all! I just... I don't want you hitting on everyone in my family!"

"I haven't done that quite yet..." Camilla turned her attention to Sakura, "Though I didn't mean to ignore you, Sakura. You're charming in your own ways, just as well. I'd enjoy teasing any one of you."

Sakura blushed, "W-w-what!? Camilla, th-that's..."

Watching everyone bicker and argue made me think back to my childhood, to all the fights Camilla and Leo would get into, how she'd tease him just like this. In the face of such antics, all I could do was laugh, a hearty one, the first time since Zonta died. I may have gotten too caught up in my own grim thoughts, but this... This reminded me why I fought, why I loved. As Robert laughed with me, I felt bonds with everyone there, ones I'd never want to sacrifice.

Eventually, the others all finished their meals and split off one by one, leaving me alone with Robert. The silence between us was palpable, so I decided to ask, "I never got to ask. Why did you want Yato so much?"

"Oh..." Reaching for it, he picked Yato up, sheath and all, and put it on the table, "I figured, if the Tribes didn't want to help me, this might convince them. But with saving the Fire Tribe and then impressing the Grass Tribe with mercy..,. It has yet to be necessary."

"You want them to ally with you, right? Is the wind tribe next on your itinerary?" I asked, knowing it was not too far from Fort Jinya, "Hayato could give you a good word, if you need it..."

He folded his arms, resting his chin on them, "You're quite a special person, you know that?" What was this all of a sudden!? "If I was a tactical man, I'd have saved you only if you swore fealty to me. Then I'd be one step closer to holding Hoshido in my grasps."

I didn't think about it like that, "But you didn't hesitate to jump in for me."

"I'm still too damn nice... It's because of that..." Shaking his head, he tried to smile at me, but it was hollow, "Are you alright, Corrin? I know the battle's weighing on you. If they got my messages in time, Magnus and Chester should arrive shortly, and then... We'll drive them off, certainly."

That reminded me... "Chester, he... Elise is..."

Robert closed his eyes, his brow furrowed, "...he and I are... going to the Kitsune Hamlet. To try and grant his wish, to bring her back."

"That's what you said..." I worked up the courage to ask, "Hey... I just wanted... Well, I'm curious. You said they both... fell in love with multiple people, right?"

"Yeah, they did," he leaned the chair back, "When what little self-control left them, they selfishly pursued a group of beautiful girls," he laughed to himself, a dark, spiteful laughter, "What kind of loser would..." He noticed my apprehensive look and coughed twice, "I mean, not that I blame them. I could understand it. Hell, the guy who unified Japan had like, 28 wives and concubines. It's not strange. Even Garon had a few wives..."

I remembered that from Camilla's talks. There was Xander's mom, the first queen, Katerina. Garon married Arete when Azura was a child; he'd had Camilla with a mistress named Goetia, who was still leading the royal court with an iron fist. Leo was Katerina's second child, and as for Elise's mom... Well, I've never even met her.

I questioned further, "So you plan to unite the world, right? Do you plan on living like that?"

Robert slammed his fist onto the table, scaring me with his sudden reaction, "I promised my all to Lucina... I never even considered betraying her trust. I promise you that."

"But she's... Well, she's gone," I didn't know what was pushing me to broach this agonizing topic, but I pursued it further, "Are you... going to move on?"

Once again, he sat back against the chair, putting his arms behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling, "I'm lost, Corrin. I've lost my convictions when I lost her that second time... I don't even think about the future that much."

I argued, "That's not true!"

He glanced at me, a curious look in his hollow eyes.

"If you really stopped caring, then why did you come save me!?" I demanded to know what drew him to me, at this place and time. Why would he risk everything, everyone he loved, for me!?

"Perhaps it was guilt," he eventually replied, slowly and methodically, "I hate myself for letting Lucina down, and figured throwing my life away to save yours would be a fitting end. Maybe it's despair; and the hope that I die. Maybe it's self-preservation, and I only plan to save you so you can aid me in return... But I'd be lying if i said any of those were the primary...cause."

I pushed him further, "Then why!? What compelled you to come here!?"

He averted his gaze, refusing to look me in the eye, "...It doesn't matter, Princess Corrin. I'm a broken man, and not someone you should worry about. Just focus on winning this fight, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"I'm holding you to that," I was standing firm on this, "No matter what happens, you will tell me."

"As if you couldn't guess yourself," he said, a bit haughtily, "But if you want to play the fool, I'll oblige. Now... Let's just hope my friends get here in time."

"You called?" Chester stepped inside, his expression weary, "It took us a bit, and... Well, I didn't really want to come. You know, giant spiders and shit."

Robert stood up, "Good, you're here. Get Jakob, Olivia, and give them this," he handed his compatriot a paper, "It's a battle diagram. Read it, love it, live it."

Chester looked it over carefully, "A vanguard. Healers and Olivia in the middle, three layers. Front line fighters swap in with line three, line two is the ranged attackers. Fliers provide air support and we march through the enemy lines. Not bad."

"Thank you," Chester walked off, analyzing the plans further, and Robert turned to me, "Also, here." He placed a sword on the table, the red hilt and the dragon-like blade, "Sol, heals you in fights. I used it for a... trip of mine. Thank god for hyperbolic time training..."

"What?" I was confused, but took the sword anyway, "Thank you, regardless. I'm sure it will prove useful."

He nodded, "Yeah, yeah. We'll have a chat after the fight, okay? For now, I have to set up the field."

I nodded and left him to it, spending time with my allies. And eventually, just before noon, someone came running out of the gate, covered in sweat, frantically panicking, "I'm here, I'm here!"

Chester started antagonizing him, "Finally here, Magnus? It took you long enough," he smirked evilly, "We don't have all day to cry about letting Cordelia down."

Magnus growled, "At least I didn't kill her."

"You son of a-" Chester went to retaliate, but Effie grabbed his arm, nearly crushing it, causing him to stop his infighting.

I decided now would be a good a time as any, "Enough! We've gathered here today, to save these people. We don't have time to have disputes!"

Chester shrugged, "It's not? If I don't distract myself with savaging magnus, I'll go insane. Either from the arachnophobia, the lack of fire to kill said arachnids, or my dead precious princess." he winced when he uttered the last one, "Yeah, still hurts."

Once again, Robert tensed, but he stepped up beside me, "Now is the time for teamwork! We have the battle strategy, let's engage the enemy!"

We gathered into our formation, the healers and Olivia giving us medical aid and regenerating our stamina, as us frontliners engaged with the terrifying Bael. I could barely think over Chester's erratic screams of communistic jumpscare bullshit, but despite our disunity, the plan managed to pull together for us to clear the first wave of a hundred or so.

Riev had organized the Bael into three groups, each larger than the last, with him riding the Elder at the end. The second wave was maybe three hundred, the last wave could be a thousand enemies strong, as the spiders were lumped together with the remnants of the other armies we had fought off before.

"This is going surprisingly well," Takumi spoke aloud, as we prepared for the second wave.

Magnus agreed, wiping the sweat from his brow, "A bit too well, I think."

Before I could call him out on jinxing it, the ground beneath Chester, Robert, Magnus, Hinoka, Takumi, and I crumbled away, and several trap spiders emerged from the ground below us. They had hollowed the ground out and led us into another trap. Dammit all!

As we hit the webbed ground beneath us and looked up at the one hole, sunlight peeking through, it was covered by the spiders. Drawing our blades, we launched into a desperate fight. Takumi saved me several times with a well-placed arrow. Hinoka, who had fallen from her pegasus, fought off a spider with a lance and her bare fists, while Magnus and Robert flurried the enemies around them.

Chester was screaming and spraying them with fire magic.

Eventually, we managed to drive them back. Now we just had a tiny, minor problem.

"If we head out through these tunnels, we'll be under their main horde," Hinoka said it plainly, to which Robert and Chester started crying, "We have no choice but to attack them from below. It might help our friends up top."

Chester raised his hand, "Not first!" Robert and myself shouted it next, followed by Hinoka and Takumi.

We all looked to Magnus, who muttered, "Fuck me," under his breath and took point.

As we started making our way out through the rows of cobwebs, our feet clinging to them as we ripped ourselves up from the ground every time, praying we didn't unearth anything unfortunate, we eventually found another hole to the above ground, the light peeking through.

"I don't trust this," Takumi raised his bow and let fling a couple of arrows, striking near the hole, knocking more dirt down on us. It was indeed uncovered.

Hinoka raised her lance and weaved it into the side wall. She stood up on it and grabbed the edge climbing up. One by one, she gripped our hands and helped us up onto the field above.

The second wave of spiders seemed to be in ruins at the hands of our allies, and the third was well on its way. In front of us, just a kilometer or so away, was the Elder. Riev was gone, as was Morva. They likely abandoned it earlier.

"We have to kill this thing here," Hinoka yelled, "Otherwise, it'll just whip up a new army!"

Raising Tyrfing, I nodded, "Understood. Let's go!"

Chester took a step back, "Can I opt out now? I didn't choose this..."

"You can't run now," Magnus pushed him forward, "It's your turn to go first, asshole!"

Grabbing his fire tome, Chester sighed, "I just want a flammenwerfer."

"Say flamethrower like everyone else," Magnus shot back, "This is what you get, using me as a human shield."

The fight with the Elder Bael was... pathetic, to say the best. It was a trainwreck to be honest. With Chester's screaming, Magnus's screaming that Chester kept aiming for him, Takumi's inability to land a headshot deep enough to cause permanent damage, and Hinoka fighting off balance without her horse, it was pretty painful to watch.

I half expected us to lose, but suddenly, a large swath of Hoshidan soldiers ran past us, attacking the Elder en masse. Takumi's army had arrived, and within minutes, the battle had been won. I'd say it was an anticlimactic victory, but it would be what came next that meant what our future would hold.

With Takumi's army on hand, the other Lords and I gathered for a meeting; Hinoka, Camilla, Takumi, Sakura, Robert, Chester, Magnus, Mikoto, and I were all gathered to discuss what our future would hold.

Leo angrily barged into the room, "Hey, why wasn't I invited to this meeting!?"

"Because your collar's unbuttoned," Chester replied bluntly, shutting him down in an instant as he grumbled, sat next to him, and fixed his shirt.

I took everyone's attention, "The first meeting of the Council of... Uh... What do we call ourselves?"

Takumi suggested, "The Council of Royals? Oh, but then who let these civilians in?"

Magnus took offense to that, "Don't start something you can't finish, pony princess."

"What did you just-" Takumi reached for his bow, but Hinoka stopped him, "But Hinoka...!"

"You started it," Hinoka scolded him, "Now act like an adult if you want to be treated like one."

Mikoto shook her head, "Some things never change with you kids, does it? Hahaha..."

Camilla suggested, "Why must we have a name? I don't mind going without..."

"Because it sounds official," Sakura agreed with me, "Something cool!"

Azura stepped inside and sat next to Mikoto, yawning, "Sorry for being late. I was singing in the springs, that's all."

Chester chuckled, "There's an idea. The Council of Grey Waves..."

"I don't even have time to explain how annoying that is..." Magnus replied, rubbing his temples.

"The Council of Voices?" Sakura optioned, "We're all pretty vocal about things."

"Objection!" Chester stood up, pointing a finger, "That's very copyrighted! I think... Well, we could just say the Council of Lords."

Robert didn't say anything in our petty naming dispute, just sighing deeply and sitting back against his chair, arm folded, eyes closed.

Magnus made the next suggestion, "The Council of Heroes?"

Leo balked at the idea, "Then why is Chester here?"

Hinoka shrugged and suggested, "The Council of Survivors?"

"No survivors!" Robert and Chester shouted in unison, the only time the former spoke.

"Then what?" Camilla pondered, "What would you all agree on?"

Robert sighed, "Just get on with this. Call us the Council and leave it at that."

"No, it needs to be memorable..." I thought until something finally came to mind, "The Council of Misfits would be an apt choice."

No one particularly argued with that one, and we could finally continue, "Alright, so, the agenda. What are we all doing?"

"Well, I'm going to a hamlet full of fluffies to get a wish granted, however that checks out," Chester spoke up first, "And if it works, Elise will be able to rejoin us here."

I acknowledged that, "But then what? Where are you going to go? If we're going to work together against the enemy on some level, we need a plan, or at least a vague concept of what we're trying to accomplish."

"I'm uniting the elemental tribes under my watch," Robert answered, "And crushing any resistance that any would put forth between me and that objective."

I nodded, writing that down into the catalogue, "Then your next bet would be the Wind Tribe. I intend to wage a defensive war against Grado, which means I'll have to handle their lieutenants back in Hoshido..."

Takumi chuckled, "For them, it'll be the greatest defeat they'll ever feel."

"Well, I'm heading to Cheve to find a friend, and maybe some others," Magnus explained, "If I have to, I can handle Plegia for now."

"Plegia will be under your discretion, then. Don't let up," I reminded him, "Once they're taken care of, we'll need you to face Grado, or even worse, Nohr. And Chester?"

"Lobsters seem to follow me everywhere I go. If I'm not fighting Ryoma's or Yukimura's troops, I'll likely be fighting the Valmese no matter where I go. I... don't really know where I'm headed after I visit the Kitsune Hamlet. If things pan out, maybe I'll head back to Nohr to fight the Valmese. If not, I'd have communism and lobsters after me at the same time..." Chester finally professed.

Writing that down, I sighed, "Well, that's that, then. Finally, I think my group should split off into your guys's," the others seemed surprised by this announcement, "Frankly, Yukimura will just throw our lives away. I'd rather let him deal with Grado while we seek alternatives. So, we need to reorganize our parties."

And like that, we finally got around to deciding who would go where. Magnus would be getting Hayato, Saizo, Hinata, Oboro, Azama, and Kaden from me. Cherche ofpted to join him to get a break from Virion, much to his displeasure.

Chester, in his quest to save Elise, received the aid of Subaki, Kaze, Hana, a begrudging Takumi, and Brady (who wanted to avoid Maribelle). He was informed by Jakob, who had become a surprisingly efficient wet nurse, that his three children were nearly adults by then and would likely join him soon.

Meanwhile, Azura, Sakura, Orochi, and I would join Robert, while Chester would exile Peri to his team after several botched murder attempts of the smarmy butler, the generous wyvern rider, the horse caretaker, and even Chester himself for intervening.

That was how my individual adventure ended, but as long as I had people I cared about on my side, I knew I could trust these three to try and make things right. They had proven to me their intents weren't harmful, and in that, I found solace...

End of Corrin's Path