"The prisoners?"
Corrin heard footsteps and turned around in confusion. In marched a pair of guards, alongside three men and a woman. One man stood out to Corrin. He wore a face of steel, and it was clear to Corrin that he must be some type of warrior. He had strange, green hair and worse for wear clothing. Corrin supposed he couldn't talk about strange hair colors, since his was basically white. The strangest thing about this man was the fact that Corrin felt as though he had seen him before. The woman was showing more facial expressions. She was scowling, and had her arms crossed under her bust. Although her choice of clothing was different from the man's, it still looked torn in certain places. They were obviously prisoners, just without chains for some reason.
"These two are our most recent prisoners. They were caught while we were in a skirmish with Hoshidian forces," Garon explained, his face once again stone cold.
These were the Hoshidians? Corrin stared at them, and they stared back. From what he had heard, they were all foul, villainous beasts. But these two looked like, well, normal humans to him.
"What is it that you wish for me to do, father?" He asked.
"Fight them. I wish to see your strength with my own two eyes," Garon stated.
Corrin inwardly frowned. More fighting? He was just gonna have to get used to it. He would put up a good fight if it meant impressing his father. Garon sat back down on his throne, while Corrin's siblings stayed back to watch. He could tell without even looking that Camilla was worried for him. But he wasn't gonna let himself be babied forever.
"Milord."
Suddenly Gunter and Felicia were by his side, with weapons of their own drawn. And for some reason...Gunter was on a horse?
"I am here to join you, milord. My lance arm may be rusty, but it should still suffice," Gunter stated. "Felicia? Will you also be joining?"
"Of course! I can be a good bodyguard too!" Felicia replied cheerily.
Corrin sweatdropped. Felicia was as clumsy as they come. And was Gunter really about to help him fight these prisoners while on top of a horse? What was with these people and horses? He supposed he'd just have to trust them, as he always has. With that in mind, Corrin gripped his sword and faced his first opponents: the female and one of the male prisoners. Gunter and Felicia were tasked with facing the other two men.
The woman scrunched up her face before speaking. "I am Rinkah, daughter of the flame tribe's honorable chieftain. What is your name?"
"My name is Corrin...uhh err Prince Corrin, that is. If you wanna be technical...but you can just call me Corrin for short. Well Corrin isn't short for anything. I just.."
As Corrin continued to babble on, the green haired man raised an eyebrow having overhears their conversation. 'Corrin? Could it be…' The ninja decided to shake these thoughts. It was time to focus on the battle.
"We won!" Corrin put his fists in the air. There was something about that battle that made him feel stronger- as if he had gained some more skill, more experience.
"They were really tough to beat too! I wonder if all of them are like this!" He stepped away from the prisoners on the ground and beamed at Felicia and Gunter, but was surprised when they didn't return the happy gesture. Then he heard loud clapping, and turned to see that it was Garon. He had an odd smile on his face, one that made Corrin feel uncomfortable.
"So this is how it ends…" He heard the green haired ninja whisper. Now he was really confused.
"I see why Xander praised you. It seems aa though you have gotten much better with a sword. Your also have a lot of stamina, which is necessary in long battles," Garon stated, causing Corrin to instantly smile brighter. Finally, his father was praising him. Maybe now he could get rid of all previous doubts about his relationship with his father. Corrin knew that deep down inside, Garon loved Corrin as any father would love their son.
"But I see that you lack common sense. Not surprising," Garon coldly stated, causing Corrin to tense up and for the smile on his face to drop. "Do you know nothing of war? Kill them before they kill you."
Kill them? He must not have heard his father correctly. Not only had he raised Corrin's hopes only to bring them down, but he also expected him to murder these people?
"Father...but they're already beaten. Why hurt them anymore than I already have?"
Garon's face grew dark. "How dare you question anything I command, boy? I am ordering you to kill them!"
If there was one thing Corrin wanted, more than anything else, it was to be respected and loved by his father. Every time they were near each other, it was as if Garon had some type of distaste for him. Corrin never knew why, but figured that maybe if he did enough to impress him he'd finally say 'I love you.' But Corrin just knew that if he followed his father's orders, it wouldn't sit well with him for the rest of his life. The albino knew that he didn't have much experience with the outside world, but something told him that killing these prisoners would be wrong. So he faced his father, squared his shoulders, and spoke.
"No. I refuse to kill any of these people."
For a moment, the room was quiet. It was incredibly tense, and it was making Corrin sweat. Not even Camilla had uttered a word. His confidence was wavering. Maybe he should have said no in a nicer way? But then Garon did something Corrin had rarely ever seen him do: he smirked. As soon as that smirk came, it was gone- as if it had never been there in the first place. Corrin wondered if he had seen it correctly. What he did next, however, horrified Corrin.
"If you refuse to do it, then so be it." With that being said, Garon raised his gloved hand. Instantly a flash of golden light surrounded the king. Corrin recognized this as magic. The king proceeded to catch one of the prisoners on fire. The poor man shrieked in pain, but it was short lived- he instantly perished. Corrin's red eyes were now wide in shock. The albino prince nearly shook in fear- did that really just happen? Did his father just murder someone in cold blood?
"Good god…" Corrin whispered to himself. Was this what they did to other human beings? Play with them as if they were toys, break them and then throw them away? It was absolutely foul. Thousands of thoughts were running through his mind; he was more confused than he'd ever been before. His body didn't feel as if it were his own. Maybe that's why when Garon prepared another strike, towards the green haired man, Corrin ran in front of him and blocked the attack using his sword.
"Corrin! What are you doing?!" Elise cried, worry all over her features. Truthfully Corrin didn't really have an answer to her question. What was he doing?
"You would dare to oppose me, Corrin?" Garon more so stated than asked. The man looked as if he were preparing another attack, but Xander cut in.
"Father wait! Corrin does not yet understand the situation! Allow me to be the executor," Xander said, to which Garon gave an angry, but firm, nod of approval. Xander walked towards Corrin and the prisoners, his grip on his legendary sword tight.
"Listen, little prince. You must move out of the way. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Sorry Xander….but I can't move." Corrin replied. The brothers stared each other in the eye for what felt like hours.
"Dear god, please have mercy on my adorable baby brother," Camilla whispered to herself.
"Leo!" Elise turned to her brother, scared out of her mind. "What are we gonna do? What are you gonna do? Do something!"
"There you go again demanding things," Leo sighed. "Of course this task falls to me. Troublesome siblings…" And with just a wave of his hand, the prisoners had disappeared. Corrin and Xander faced Leo in surprise. "Father, I've killed the prisoners. My only request is that you're merciful towards the ever so naive Corrin."
Garon stared at Leo for a good moment, before his lips curled in a sneer. "Enough of this foolishness. I will decide later." And with that, the King marched off.
Corrin couldn't believe what had just transpired. Really, he was having a hard time believing this wasn't just some wild dream. After Garon had left, along with the guards on Xander's orders, Corrin turned to Leo.
"Why did you do that? Are you out of your mind? They were already beaten, Leo! That was just cruel! How would you feel if the situation were reversed? What if you were one of those prisoners, huh? Would you really want your life to end there?"
"If you would calm down, I can explain to you what actually happen. The prisoners aren't dead. I just weakened them and sent them somewhere else," Leo calmly replied.
"...Oh. Thank you, Leo. I'm sorry for teasing you about your collar. Which is still not on correctly."
"How about you just stop mentioning it?!"
"Corriiiin!" Elise hugged her brother tightly. "You were so brave! I was really scared for you!"
"Yes, you pulled quite the stunt dear brother," Camilla said, a hand on her chest. "You even gave me a scare."
"I'm sorry everyone. I didn't mean to be so rash. I just...my body reacted on it's own, I suppose," Corrin said.
Xander sighed in clear agitation. "You're just lucky that nothing worse came from that. Mark my words Corrin, one day an act of kindness could be the death of you."
"Maybe so...but if I'm kind, I'll die without regrets," Corrin replied, patting Elise's head with a smile. His words drew a small amount of laughter, and every head turned to the woman who looked exactly like him: Kamui. The princess had her eyes open, exposing her brilliant red eyes.
"Shall I quote you on that?" She asked, and though her voice was much more monotone than Corrin had remembered, sarcasm was laced within her comment. With all the commotion going on, he had almost forgotten his twin sister was here to visit.
"Kamui!" Corrin approached her with his arms wide open for a hug, but was surprised when she made no move to step towards him. Her face was void of emotions. "Errr...hello?"
"Corrin," she said his name in acknowledgement before turning to glance at the rest of her siblings. Corrin noted that she had become more softspoken. "I am pleased to see all of you here and in good health. I would love to stay and chat, but my servants and I have business to take care of." She gestured towards Jakob and Flora, who were both still standing there with blank faces.
"But Kamui, we haven't spoken to each other in a really long time. Don't you want to hang out?" Corrin was becoming more and more sad. "We could all hang out together. We could have a family picnic? Or maybe-"
"I am going to have to refuse. Excuse us," Kamui interrupted. She swiftly turned and walked away, with Jakob and Flora following behind her. Neither of them had even said a word. Corrin was at a loss for words. He reached out for her, but Xander's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"She's busy," He simply stated. Corrin could only stare after her and wonder why his twin sister was acting so cold towards him. Maybe she was in a bad mood?
Though it was always dark in Nohr, Corrin knew that it was nighttime. He stood outside with Xander, alongside two of the prisoners from earlier.
"Listen well. The only reason either of you are alive is because of my brother's kindness. I suggest you leave before you're spotted by the king," Xander said.
The green haired man took off into a sprint. He was gone faster than Corrin could blink, which amazed him. The girl, Rinkah, however, stayed behind.
"Let me tell you something. I'm not one of your freed hostages, and I'm not someone to pity," She tuned to Corrin, and he was shocked by the fierce fire in her eyes. "You said your name was Corrin, right? The next time we meet, you will pay for this humiliation. Mark my words."
"Really? I was hoping that we wouldn't be on such bad terms the next time we met?" Corrin replied. "You see, Hoshido and Nohr are at war-"
"I know this," she growled.
"-So I'm just planning ahead for the day in which we can all find peace."
Rinkah stared at him for a moment, something everyone seemed to be doing today.
"You really are as naive as they come, aren't you? You sheltered prince. You prince who knows nothing of hardships, nothing of suffering, nothing of despair!" She was practically sneering at him now. Then, with one last glance, she snorted and took off in a random direction.
I don't know if anyone actually reads the A/Ns? But I'll type this anyhow haha. Sorry for the weird update schedule. You all know how life is. I also apologize if the storyline is kinda confusing so far? I try to make it as clear as possible, but still leave some mystery in there. I also didn't even attempt a fight scene, because I feel as though I'm kind of dragging the beginning along for a little too long haha. I want to get to the point where this story really becomes my own. I mean I've made some changes here and there, but the real story hasn't even started yet. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter- if you did, or didn't even, please leave a review! I'd really appreciate reviews, they help me grow as a writer I suppose. Thank you!