A/N: Tick tock, tick tock… Lupus, you're gonna have to do something sooooooon~

Though, with a title like this, I think y'all are gonna have a good idea on where this is headed.

Canon name = Nickname: Corrin = Lupus. Velouria = Vella. Keaton = Keaty. Setsuna = Seta. Hinoka = Hina. Sakura = Saku. Subaki = Superman. Ryoma = Red. Selkie = Silky. Kaden = Ka-da. Orochi = Viper. Takumi = Tako. Lastly, only Selkie/Silky refers to Corrin/Lupus as Lu-pu.

Consort: Yep, the Queen herself would have to travel to these conduits and attune them to her, so this was something most likely done before the 'peace meeting', since she would have the time to make such a long trip.

I would think that, while there would be some conduits closer to the border, that there would still be some scattered around Hoshido. Though, I suppose if they destroyed the ones near the border, then the stress on Mikoto would start to slowly overcome her, then it would be a matter of whether or not Hoshido could build enough of them before she succumbs to the magical toll it's taking on her.

They might not have them in-game now, but that doesn't mean Nohr's greatest magi can come together to think of new Tomes. I'm sure if Garon ordered it, then Nohr could craft long-range tomes. Same with catapult-style bombardment. Also depending on how high the barrier reaches, they could equip Wyvern Riders with some bombs to drop down on the conduits. The point being, Nohr doesn't have to be within an arrow's distance to strike at these conduits.

And nobody in this fic knows the constant danger the Wolfskin are in better than Lupus and the Wolfskin. I think, while that time with Saku helped, she won't be able to stay still. Lupus will act soon, regardless of how it's done.

Good point, it's a simple difference, but a significant one. Lupus already made it clear to her mother that she wants help sent to the Wolfskin. I'm sure reinforcements would be sent regardless, but the difference would be that if those reinforcements would be accepted by the pack… or if the order came out too late. If Lupus left without warning, then she wouldn't be able to tell the pack, which would likely lead to extreme aggression, to which she would be forced to fight them back… or maybe they would listen to her ordering them to leave?

I agree on your assumptions of the endings, and since the 'Revelations' path is technically already up and considered AU… Assume what y'all will, I just might do the 'Revelations' path anyway.

Curse of Whimsy: Well, we'll see soon, won't we?

Oh, I'm sure Lupus will want to take lives for revenge, but she's also going to have to realize that there are some really strong humans with really deadly weapons out there.

All the more to add to my little headcanon.

Most of the royal family. Hina is the only one who can 'get' Lupus right now. And of course, Seta is the only one who understands Lupus completely. It's a shame that the other family members are taking this long to understand Wolfskin reasoning, hopefully they'll be able to get it before she snaps.

Joe (Guest): As long as Lupus fell asleep with her clothes on, it should be all good. If there's nothing wrong with joining family members in a large hot spring, then I'm sure there's nothing wrong with snuggling up to someone related. For as much as the rest of the castle is concerned, they fell asleep while comforting each other… or maybe Lupus was just too tired to return to her own room.

Lupus laughed as she chased Vella across the dens… it's been an 'off-season' as the alpha puts it. The poachers were far and few, mainly evidence by the distinct low amount of traps, not to mention the poachers themselves. This is the time where the alpha would send the Wolfskin out for supplies. The pack would go out en masse to gather berries, herbs, and other non-perishable things. It will give them an edge for when the dangers come back in force.

Now obviously, neither Lupus or Vella are on that duty right now. The 'sisters' are far too busy playing around to be considered anything productive…

The alpha is unique indeed, to let this sort of thing happen in the first place.

"Can't catch me!" Vella shouts, narrowly avoiding another grab from Lupus.

"Yeah, keep tellin' yourself that!" Lupus kicked up more dirt in an attempt to pin her sister down. "I caught you before, and Imma catch you again!"

"That was yesterday, and this is today!" Vella jumps over a rock… before planting her feet on another one, and using it as a platform to leap from that one.

"And today will be the same as yesterday!" Lupus counters as she bursts into an all-out sprint, closing the distance while Vella is in the air. "C'mere, you!" Vella's form quickly closed in… and she smirked.

Uh-oh.

Lupus moved out of her way as her Beaststone glows… then stops glowing, effectively fooling Lupus that she was about to shift. "Heh…" Vella pants as she lands, then resumes running.

"Not fair!" She pouts as she restarts her run…

A howl echoes in the distance, causing the two to stop. Loud, almost ear-splitting if they were within a few dozen feet of the source, urgent… Lupus and Vella share a concerned look. "Poachers?" Vella states more than asks, before going towards the source. "Stay here."

Her heart turns heavy as she watches her sister run off… "...not fair." She gripes again, "I… can't fight with you all." Tears sting her eyes as she sees the glow of her sister's Beaststone. "I… I want to defend too…"

"Sister…" Lupus's eyes glisten as she cries. The pack… they're in more danger than normal, and she's… she's not there. She glances beside her, Saku is still in deep sleep. She must have been more tired than she let on. The Wolfskin-raised half-human half-dragon gets up, nearly throwing the covers off of her, before quickly leaving the room.

She can't, she can't. The concern is eating away. It… it doesn't matter if she's 'too late', she needs to see for herself, she needs to return. With her Dragonstone in its clasp, and her bag securely strapped to her, she walks… then runs… before sprinting. Weaving around the halls of Shirasagi, not letting anyone stop her.

She can't stay here if the pack is in as much danger as she thinks they are. She… she shouldn't have relaxed, she should have returned sooner. How many of the pack has fallen to traps?! How many deaths could have been prevented?

Keaty… Vella… the alpha… the eldest bitch. Faces and forms come and go, all the more reason to hurry… faster and faster. She hears grunts and gasps as she twists around people, but she doesn't actually listen.

They're just humans, they're so far removed from the constant dangers. They'll be fine if she runs off… it's not like they have to constantly watch over their surroundings for traps and poachers. They have an excess of resources. They have Festals. They have Concoctions.

The Wolfskin don't. The pack doesn't have these things.

…

She needs to go back, now. With her resolve set, she makes her way out of the castle, yet no more than a minute after she left, Superman soared down on his Pegasus with his 'Perfect' timing. "Ah, Lady Corrin." He smiles. "Off to the woods again?"

Taking advantage of his assumption, she nods, "I am. Gonna run around."

He chuckles, "Alright, have fun, Lady Corrin." With that he flies back into the sky. Smiling to herself, she runs off.

Without as much as a single wave of goodbye.

How long has it been since Lupus has ran the plains of Hoshido? Since she started traveling here in the first place? She ran a while with the Kitsunes, but that happened more in the forest, rather than the open field.

…

When was the last time she pushed herself? When she took the time to run a long time? Jump around and avoid obstacles? Hefted around heavy objects? Too long, it's been way too long.

That much was evident when she stopped to catch her breath no more than an hour into her sprint. The… the alpha will be displeased if she returned like this. She somehow got the worst of both, she doesn't know how to fight in her dragon form, and she's become unfit. And there's no way she can gain that fitness back just by sprinting back to the mountains. She growls, then taps into her Dragonstone. She's gonna learn, she has to learn. She's… going to at least learn how to run in this form, learn how to not stumble around.

The familiar glow she associates with the Wolfskin shifting applies to her, and the world seems that much smaller once more. She walks around on all fours for a bit, getting a sense of stability, before she attempts to run…

Then skids across the ground as she ends up tripping over her own feet. Growling again, she gets up, and tries again. She makes it about four whole strides before she trips and falls again. "Keep pushing…" She tells herself, her voice echoey. "I need to be better." She rises. "The pack needs me." She stamps her feet on the ground, causing small bursts of water to rise up, "They need help… Keaty, Vella." She restarts her run a third time, stumbling a few times, but managing to keep her speed…

Until she has to turn, to which her balance is thrown off and she falls down once more. "Grr…" This is embarrassing, to say the least. What would Keaty say right now? Seeing Lupus stumbling around and falling like some newborn pup? No, she knows. He'd start snickering, but not actually say anything. Vella would try and comfort her. She shakes her head, rises once more, then starts running, this time intentionally twisting left and right, even though there's no obstacles. She needs that agility back.

Once more, as her initial running, she keeps falling over, the grass from where she has fallen is being ripped off from the force of her impacts, and instead find a new home on her body. "Not good enough…" She gripes… but she refuses to stay down. Again she gets up, again she runs… again she falls. She keeps repeating until she reliably turns without falling… then she starts adding jumps.

Like a broken recorder, she crashes when she lands, but being as stubborn as she is, keeps getting up. Her draconic body aches, it really hurts in a number of spots, she can even feel some warm blood exit. She's fallen so many times that even her scales can't protect her. Still she rises, still she tries. Next step… jumping and turning. She's going to keep pushing herself.

…

The pack needs her.

She couldn't… she couldn't run the whole way, even in her dragon form. Lupus crashes into the ground once more, heaving breaths, the patches of scales that have received continuous hits from her falling have since torn, her body bleeding in a few spots. "K-K… Vel…" She whines. The mountains should be within a few hours! She should be faster than ever…

But the mountains are so far away.

The glow covers her as she shifts back, unable to maintain her draconic form any longer. She lies down, unable to push herself back up again. Her arms and legs are practically pudding. Her fingers scrape into the dirt as she berates her lack of physical activity, how often she lazed around the Castle.

...the influence the humans had on her.

She growls, but she ends up coughing instead… water. She didn't think it through...again. She needs water, she should've brought something to drink in her bag.

Flap, flap, beat… wings? Too large to be a bird. "Gods, sister!?" ...Hina? "What were you thinking?!" She feels hands roll her over, Hina looks like she's panicking and… and…

Scents, a mixture she can't exactly place, but something she can't get enough of… "Seta?"

"Heeeeey, Lupus~" Seta comes into her vision next, concerned, but… happy. "Kaze came to me and asked how to understand you more, so I asked about his latest conversation with you, it's a good thing that he remembered what he saw, even if he didn't knew what it meant… he didn't need to add about what he overheard with Queen Mikoto's meeting when I knew better." Then the smile fades, a frown adorning her face, "You just left…"

Lupus yelps as Hina applies some sort of soothing cream on various parts of her body, "..." Her face remains almost stone-like, her eyes are shining with unshed tears, her body is so tense… but she stays silent.

"Big sister?" Lupus asks, and Hina ends up choking on some air.

"When Setsuna ran to me and… she… had an assumption on what happened, I…" She stops applying the salve and tears stream down her face, "I… I know I said I'd… but, I can't. I can't watch you leave us like this."

Her earlier determination cracked under Hina's emotional state, but… "The pack needs me." Lupus's voice comes out weak.

Hina looks away, conflicted about something, though it's clear she's deep in thought. "Lupus?" Seta asks, before grabbing some of the salve Hina was using. "I should've done more." She gently rubs some of that stuff in, "I should've tried to get everyone together and explained how you are… what all the little things mean."

But, she didn't, did she? Lupus never bothered with that information, she hadn't thought that Nohr would do the things they were doing now.

What a foolish line of thinking.

"I still need to aid the pack." She states, "At least you all are safe… you don't have to look over your shoulders every day for thing that'll trap and kill all of you." Feeling returns to her limbs… but now she's incredibly sore, not to mention the pain that comes with the feeling.

"It'll take days to round up the troops to send over there." Hina finally speaks up, "We're at peacetime, so there's only certain squads available at the moment." She takes a breath, "Even if mother did give the order to send a few platoons over to the mountains the second she got the report, it'd be almost a week before they get there."

Stubbornness rears its head again, "I wasn't going to wait for them, anyway." ...But, she spent time sleeping at Saku's side. "Which is why I left so quickly," But, she stopped to talk to Kaze. "I'm not staying idle any longer." She shifted into a dragon and stumbled for a least an hour.

"That's the Lupus I know~" Seta smiles, with a pause, "...and love."

Lupus chest tightens… love. That foreign feeling that she first experienced with Seta. Something Wolfskin don't have. And probably one of the main reasons she was so conflicted with, one of the reasons she hesitated on leaving.

Lupus loves Seta, too.

"But, I'm not going back on my word." Hina continues, "I'm not going to stop you from returning to the pack… as long as that is what you want." Her dimmed fiery eyes meet Lupus's own wild red ones, "So tell me, look at me and tell me. Do you want to return to the pack, right now?"

The two sisters lock gazes, and even though Hina's fire is dimmed, she currently has a hold to them, demanding that Lupus only looks at her. "I'm going to return to the pack, big sister."

Satisfied, but saddened, Hina nods. "Alright." She grabs and applies more of that salve to Lupus's scrapes. "I'll let our family know… so that way they aren't clueless." She takes a deep breath, "I'm… gonna miss you." Tears fall once more, "But… at least I can tell myself that you chose this, rather than being stolen from us." Hina then does something that seems so far away from her…

She yanks Lupus into a hug, muttering about 'Corrin', her little sister, her grip tightens.

One last hug, it seems.

Seta tilts her head at them, "Say hi for Keaty and Vella for meeeee~" She nearly sings.

Another pause, "Setsuna… if you want to…?"

"Can't." Seta cuts her off, "The pack won't accept humans. It doesn't matter if Lupus favors one."

Oh, "Yeah, they won't let her join, Hina."

"...Should've known better." Hina bitterly chuckles. "And I'm also assuming you won't ever be able to leave again? Even for a visit?"

"Not without being removed from the pack, no." Lupus honestly replies.

"Hey… I'll always love you." Hina speaks with a certain definite finality. "Be safe… and kick some Nohrian butt for me, alright?"

Lupus tilts her head, "Is there a reason why you want me to 'kick their butts'?"

For a moment, Hina seems confused, "Hina means that she wants you to kill some for her." Seta supplies.

"Oh…" Lupus nods, understanding, "Okay, I can do that!" And for the first time since this encounter, Lupus smiled. "And I love you with all of the sisterly affection I can manage!"

…

Then Lupus takes two steps and falls down, her legs far too sore. "How about we keep you company for the night, too?" Hina offers. "I can fly back to the Castle real quick and let our family know… maybe I can get some food, too?"

A short pause, then Lupus nods, "I'd like that, big sister." She glances at Seta, then flushes slightly, "I'd really like that."

A/N: So… going by Consort's assumptions for the endings, this looks like it'll be 'Conquest'... it can no longer be 'Birthright', since Lupus has chosen to leave her family for the pack. There's a chance it could be 'Revelations'...

Or, maybe it isn't going to follow a definite path, and there's gonna be a mixture?