AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've been musing a while about how to integrate Corrin and Kamui both as central characters without making one twin or the other redundant. I've got a few ideas in mind, and so while on one hand it's clear that Corrin will lean in support of Hoshido and Kamui will lean in support of Nohr, I also fully intend to make sure they see both sides of the situation one way or another. While these next couple chapters are loosely based on chapter 1 of the game, they play out very differently due to Camilla's presence, coupled with Kamui being a lot more experienced and jaded than she is in the game.
Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 7: In the Dark Night

Sing with me a song of Families and Night...

Kamui cried out as she was struck by Camilla's axe again, sliding across the rooftop of the fortress from the impact. She growled as she hopped to her feet.

"You seem distracted, darling…" Camilla twirled her battleaxe in her hands. "Come, fight like you mean it! Fight me like your life depended on it!"

Kamui gritted her teeth, clenching her bare toes against the slightly uneven surface of the rooftop tiles that lay beneath her soles. It was here that she felt the flowing surge of a Dragon Vein. Lifting her foot, Kamui brought it down against the Dragon vein, her eyes briefly flashing as one of the tiles on the ceiling flipped over, emanating a welcoming aura. Kamui jumped atop it as she kept her eyes fixated on her sister, feeling her wounds heal.

"Clever girl…" Camilla smirked, "I was wondering when you'd notice that. You probably could have gotten away with not needing it if your head wasn't in the clouds, although you might need to put it to some use against your brother."

"Maybe if I could ever face him," Kamui's breathing was still a bit heavy, but her strength was returning and her gloved hands clenched her sword rightly. "But how can I even face him if I can't even defeat you?"

"Do remember that Xander doesn't so easily mop the floor with me," Camilla chuckled, "he certainly offers a stimulating battle, but the criteria of defeating me before facing him was more or less something the two of us agreed on."

Kamui nodded, glancing over to the side where Xander sat watching the two sisters duke it out. Camilla was a formidable opponent, but even he knew that there was something on Kamui's mind. He did not bring it up either, however—for enemies on the battlefield would care little for her internal thoughts as they cut her down, and while he had reminded her of this multiple times, it seemed that she was more distracted than usual today.

The steel of Kamui's sword and Camilla's axe clashed, and sparks flew. Even though Camilla left parts of her abdomen and thighs exposed, Kamui still couldn't hit her there either, much to her dismay. Maybe she did that on purpose as a distraction for something she was far too skilled to allow an enemy to hit. All Kamui knew was the last time she herself hadn't covered up, she took a grizzly wound to the thigh that nearly killed her from blood loss. Nowadays she covered everything but her head and her feet. She had always held a strong disdain for wearing shoes.

"You're cute when you're angry," Camilla taunted, hoping to fire Kamui up. She knew the young princess was passionate when she needed to be, and like Xander, was curious as to what was occupying her mind more than the fight that could potentially grant her freedom.

"And this whole fighting thing seems unreasonable…" Kamui lashed back, not mad at her siblings as much as at her own poor performance, "however strong I get, you two just get stronger!" She parried another blow, but then took a blunt strike from the flat end of Camilla's axe, throwing her off her feet. Taking a deep breath, she threw herself at Camilla with all her might, actually putting her older sister on the defensive for a moment. However, right before she could strike her or knock her down, Xander had raced into the fray, shooting Kamui with a bolt from his sword Siegfried. Kamui cried out as she was hit, spiraling briefly through the air before hitting her head against the roof tiles with a crack.

"That's foul play!" she sat up, rubbing her head, now feeling dizzy. She knew she was going to lose this fight.

"A competent enemy is not going to wait for you to best his ally before confronting you." Xander warned, "And Father's word still stands: you cannot return to Castle Krakenburg until you have bested the both of us."

"It's a good thing that I don't know how to get to Windmire from here," Kamui spat, a few drops of her blood staining the grey tiles red. "I swear, you two are going to kill me one day."

Honestly, I've tried a few times," Camilla chortled, "you're strong enough to fend me off though, sweetie. You just need to have the gusto in you to want to kill us first."

"But I don't want to kill you!" Kamui argued, clutching her chest, "I mean, yeah at this point I'd really like to make the two of you bleed a bit, but that's just my injured pride talking. I don't want to hurt either of you too badly."

"That's part of the problem," Xander reprimanded her, "there's no room for idealism in Nohr, when the truth of war is that death happens. I know as well as you that these might be just sparring matches, but you need to come at your sister with all you've got, and when you do, you can come at me, and then the both of us."

Kamui sighed, conceding defeat at this point. Considering that her black and grey armor was starting to show signs of red, it seemed like a good time to take a break.

"Don't worry, Kamui," Camilla chortled, bringing back a familiar "goochy-goo" tone to her voice once again, "we'll go back inside and I'll take good care of you. I know just the place."

"I'm glad I'm at least able to travel around the surrounding area," Kamui sighed, "really I don't think I would have learned to stand a chance against either of you without seeing some of the harsh realities of this place."

"You can learn a lot in this fortress, especially with a retainer like Gunter," Xander nodded, "but indeed, some experience must come from the outside world as well."

"So why does Father not wish to see me until I've bested you?" Kamui had never understood the reasoning behind it herself, and had never once felt love or any kind of affection from that man.

"That's not something I know the answer to myself," Xander admitted, "but I know better than to question it. I wish I could provide you with a better answer, little princess, but it would be in your best interest to rest up. Perhaps Elise can help with those wounds."

"Right," Kamui smiled. It was hard to stay grumpy at the prospect of seeing Elise. The younger girl's cheery and bright personality easily softened up Kamui even on her worst days, but at the same time, she also felt guilty. She knew Elise was going to lecture Xander and Camilla for the 'tough love' they inflicted on Kamui in the form of those red stains on her clothes. Then Leo would show up and reprimand her about the dangers of combat or something, the two would argue, and Elise would diffuse the situation by healing her.

Kamui had few qualms with people seeing her undressed, although was particularly against showing Leo because he did not share her same sentiments in that regard; and against ever letting Elise see much more of her than her head and feet simply because even with her magic staves repairing most of the damage, Kamui's body was crisscrossed with numerous battle scars and old wounds. This was also the reason she had modified her old outfit so that her thighs were no longer exposed. So much of her skin was scarred that she'd hate to let it ravage Elise's innocence. The only reason she stayed barefoot was because of her strong disliking for shoes of any kind—a trait Leo often mocked her over.

It was not that she loved Leo and Elise less than Camilla, but as she went through the motions with them (vaguely listening both to Leo's lectures about being careful and Elise's much friendlier lectures about not being so careless with her physical well-being), her mind was still fixated on a dream she had had that morning, which had been detrimental to her performance today. She did not want to alarm Elise, Leo would dismiss it as an excuse to get attention, and Xander would shrug it off as a mere superstition. Perhaps he was right, but she still felt like she needed to tell someone, and Camilla would listen. She always did—usually also forcing Kamui to lay her head in her lap while Camilla untangled her hair. It was a small price to pay, but even after Elise culled the bleeding, the dream grew heavier and heavier on her mind.

"What's the matter, sister?" Elise was obviously concerned.

"It's just… daydreaming again," Kamui stammered slightly. "It's a long story."

"What you need is less daydreaming and more focus," naturally, this was the kind of comment she expected to hear from Leo as he showed up..

"I know, I know," she sighed, "today's really just not my day. You're right, Leo."

"Say what you want, but if you don't apply it, you might as well just gaze at a brick wall all day." Leo replied, "You're definitely strong, if the amount of attention Xander and Camilla give you is anything to go off of; which is why I'd think you'd be better than this."

"It's an off-day, alright?" Kamui shook her head, before noticing something off about how Leo was dressed. A slight, mischievous smirk appeared on her face. "Speaking of off-days, Leo—your collar's inside-out."

"Are you—" Leo stammered, his face reddening, "blood and damnation, why didn't you say anything earlier, sister!?" he ran off as Elise giggled.

"Looks like someone got dressed while they were still half-asleep!" she chortled.

"That's the kind of thing that makes him so lovable though," Kamui chuckled. "And of course, you're lovable for a myriad of reasons, Elise. I don't think I need to remind you why." she playfully tickled her younger sister, causing her to emit shrieks of laughter as she jumped back.

Elise only 'released' Kamui into Camilla's care after she was certain her big sister wasn't bleeding anymore. With a brief goodbye (since they'd only be gone a couple hours), Camilla took her sister north into the mountains.

"And you brought bathing suits?" Kamui was a bit skeptical, "what's this, the Ice Tribe Sneeze-N-Freeze?"

"Nonsense, darling… there's a spring not far from here, and heaven knows those muscles of yours need the R&R."

Sure enough, there was a small outpost on the mountain that housed several delightfully warm springs. Camilla was already marinating in one by the time Kamui stepped out, the black bathing suit doing little to cover her scarred body. Camilla noticed a pair of particularly red marks: one on her right shoulder and the other on her abdomen, from the fight earlier. By contrast there was nary a mark or scratch on Camilla's body. She did a better job at healing herself than Kamui did, and was not as fond of scars.

"And here you and Xander thought you didn't abuse me to hell and back," Kamui quipped as she slid all the way under before reemerging, her long violet locks sticking to her head.

"You should never had admitted you liked how your scars look," Camilla chortled, "but enough about that. I know you wished to speak to me earlier, and now we're alone. What's on your mind, darling?"

"I had this dream…" Kamui was glad to the the subject off of her scars. Camilla and Elise in particular always worried so much about them. "I was with you and the family on the border, facing off against the family from Hoshido. I don't recognize them but they seemed to know me."

"Tell me this," Camilla shifted next to Kamui as the younger woman vented, "if a family took you in and raised you, only for you to learn later that you were not related to them by blood, how much would that change things?"

"Well… probably not too much, but is that what you're telling me my story is?"

"That's essentially the gist of it," Camilla nodded, "I do not know it fully myself, or if your blood family is actually even from Hoshido or not. What I can tell you, however, is that I love you as much as I love my other siblings. You know how serious family is for me, darling."

"Right," Kamui nodded, "I guess the most intriguing part was that there was a man—he had the same hair, same eyes, very similar clothes… he called me his sister."

"It's not rare for siblings to have different parents," Camilla reminded her, "All of us but Xander were pawns born of concubines. We had no love for our mothers, but as far as any of us are concerned, we're as close as any full-blooded siblings."

Kamui simply nodded before resting against Camilla and closing her eyes. She knew her sister was right. No matter who her blood family was, she knew her real family, and loved them the same way they loved her. That, and the hotspring bath was particularly pleasant.

"Don't get too comfy now sister," Kamui teased after several minutes of contented silence, "tomorrow I want to challenge you and Xander again—and this time I'm going to win."

"Oh ho…" Camilla gave a hearty chuckle, "I'll talk him into that. Hopefully you got that silly dream off your chest so we can see your full potential."

"Right," Kamui nodded, smirking. It wasn't necessarily that Camilla or her siblings were trying to hide the truth from Kamui (since they didn't know the full story either) as much as Camilla simply wishing for Kamui to focus properly on combat. She wanted Kamui to earn the right to return to Windmire, and she knew that this was how it was going to happen.