'It's hard to believe... that so much time has passed... in such a short while.'
The young woman was lost in her thoughts as she strolled through the capital of Touma. It had been several months since the war between Hoshido and Nohr had ended. Since the dragon that had oppressed the citizens here was slain. And, most importantly, when Corrin was crowned Ruler of Touma.
Said queen, in her usual get-up of silver and black armor, with a blue cape hanging of her back, was currently walking around to check on things herself. The young, silver haired woman would never had guessed that she would become a ruler of a nation, her TRUE birth nation no less, but here she was; greeted by the occasional citizen as she wandered the city, taking in the sights.
'Maybe I should head back soon. She thought to herself. Azura couldn't hold the fort forever, and it would be irresponsible of Corrin to shirk her duties and leave it all to her cousin to carry her burden.
However, before she could dwell on it too much, a sound was heard. It sounded eerily similar to an explosion. Battle instincts kicked in, and she put her hand to her blade as she rushed off in the direction of the sound.
When she reached the source, there was a large crowd of people standing around it, blocking her view. "Everyone step away!" Corrin ordered.
Hearing the commanding voice of their queen, the citizens did so as she made her way through the crowd. She had to speak up on occasion to get the attention of those that didn't herar her before. After about a minute or so (she was surprised at how big of a crowd had gathered in such a short amount of time), she had made her way to the front of the crowd, just in time to here a new sound.
"YOU LITTLE FREAK!"
Her eyes widened when the sight before her became clear. In the middle of the crowd, a huge, obese man with a bushy moustache was holding a small child. But by 'holding', it was more like 'strangling', holding the tiny boy by the throat with one hand as he glowered furiously down at him with a purple face. The poor boy's eyes were filled to the point of overflowing with terror, and he was starting to cry.
Needless to say, Corrin had seen QUITE enough of that.
"You there!" Corrin called out, instantly getting the man's attention. "Unhand that child, immediately. Just what do you think you're doing; trearing a child in such a way?" As Corrin spoke, she made her way towards the obese offender. The man, on the other hand simply scowled at the queen of Touma.
"Who are you to tell me what to do?!" He demanded. The crowd gasped.
"Is he not from around here?"
"How could he talk to the queen like that?"
"The man has some nerve..."
Corrin ignored the murmurs. Her main focus was the man in front of her. While she had gotten used to the praise and respect the kingdom gave her, she had made sure to remember that respect was earned, and had Azura help keep a good head on her shoulders.
Resting a hand on her sword, she kept her features schooled. "Sir." She began, keeping a lid on her temper. "I prefer not to repeat myself. Release the child. Now." She finished on a warning note, but the man in front of her was undeterred.
"You want him?!" He roared, blinded by his fury and hatred. "Here! Take him!" And with that, he threw Harry at the ground in front of her as hard as he could. Corrin's breath hitched when the child hit the ground, an audible crack heard when he made impact.
Corrin was LIVID. With a quick lunge, she struck the man on top of the head with the flat of her blade, immediately rendering him unconscious. She took a few shakey breaths before crossing her arms. "Will one of you please do me a favour and alert the guards to have this man detained? I will attend to the child's injuries..." She said, in a kind yet authoriative tone.
Recovering from the shock of earlier events, a young man acknowledged Corrin's order and ran off to find the nearest group of guards. All the while, Corrin had grabbed the child, cradled him carefully in her arms, and began rushing back to the palace. It was faint, but she could still feel the child's life force, but it was fading. She needed to get this child help soon. Before it was too late.
'Hang in there, young one. I'll get you help.' She promised herself, bound and determined to make sure the child made it.
At the palace of Touma...
Azura understood why her cousin took a stroll through the streets of the capital. She knew that it helped Corrin relieve stress that came with ruling the kingdom. But imagine her surprise when she came back earlier than expected.
She had been busy rehearsing for her perfornce in the upcoming festival in a few days. Making sure her dance was flawless and her voice clear as ever. She may be Corrin's advisor now, but she was still a dancer at heart. As she finished her final verse, her white dress settling with her movement, the sound of clapping had caught her attention. Looking into the stand of the theatre room, she saw a younger looking girl with long blonde hair wrapped in intricate white ribbons.
"That was amazing, Azura. You're gonna knock the audience dead at the festival." She exclaimed, much to the bluenette's amusement.
"I hope you don't mean that literally, Elise." She stated, making the blonde chuckle.
Elise had decided to visit ahead of time to check on Corrin and Azura. The second Princess of Nohr had dropped in a while after her and her siblings recived invites to the festival coming soon, and she couldn't wait to spend it with her extended family. Seeing as how they were now on good terms, anyway.
"But you're seriously SOOO good at singing! Teach me!" Azura giggled.
"Perhaps some other time." Elise pouted.
"Aw, fine...Hey! Where's big sister? I brought presents for everyone and I wanna give her her present now!"
"Oh, I'm sure she'll be back-"
"I NEED A HEALER!"
"...Oh dear..." Azura caught the frantic tone in her cousin's voice as the door was thrown open.
"A healer...?" Elise gasped, afraid something had happened to Corrin. "Hang on! I'm coming!"
Running up to her adoptive sister, with Azura not far behind, Elise looked upon Corrin in concern, ready to help as much as she could. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" She questioned frantically.
"I'm fine, but this little one needs help." Elise and Azura both gasped when they saw the child in the silverette's arms.
"What in the-? Here. This should help somewhat." The blonde stated as she got to work. Azura walked up to her cousin's side to get a better look at the child. He was so small. She didn't know why, but she felt as though Corrin had saved this young boy from something, putting mildly, unpleasant.
"Where did you find him?" She asked, adressing her cousin. Red eyes met gold as the cousins locked gazes.
"In town square..." She said gravely. "The man who did this to him is in the process of being locked away." Azura's eyes widened. It wasn't like her cousin to be so...angry. She could tell...Corrin was trying to remain calm, but anger and sadness were evident in her eyes.
"Corrin...Do you want to talk about it...?"
Her cousin looked down to the child in her arms for a moment, before replying. "...Not right now. I want to make sure this child is alright first." Azura didn't say anything, except for saying she understood. Elise, meanwhile, was frowning as she was healing the boy.
She had a feeling she wouldn't like the story that likely waited for them. But that wasn't at the forefront of her mind at the moment. As she was healing the child, the Nohrian princess could sense magic within the child, as well something that was seemingly tampering with it. Something dark.
She couldn't think on it at the moment. Shaking her head, she focused on the injuries she was healing.
She was beginning to sweat a bit. "This is REALLY bad..." She muttered, making Corrin uneasy.
"How...bad is it?"
"From the sound of it, I can tell I'm mending a LOT of broken bones...He was bleeding a lot on the inside, but I think I managed to stop most of it...And...I don't even wanna know what's under that big shirt..."
Both cousins exchanged a glance in concern, getting the sinking feeling that unless the man Corrin had arrested was able to deliver a quick and burtal beating, something was happening under their noses and they didn't notice. That also made them wonder...
'Just what did this child have to endure?' They thought simultaniously.
Later on...
When the child was healed, the trio of girls had moved to the sick room in the castle to let him rest.
He looked anything but peaceful. In fact, he looked like he was having a terrible nightmare. His face was contorted in distress, he was letting out soft whimpers and sobs, he was squirming in the bedsheets...He simply looked miserable.
A hand gently moved across his forehead, a gentle glow coming from the finger tips. Instantly, the child settled, and was slumbering peacefully.
Elise let out a sigh of relief, having cast the spell. It should keep him calm until he wakes up. The poor thing. Just what happened to him?
Azura and Corrin were also relieved to see the child calm. Usually, one only had nightmares THAT bad if they had lived through a very traumatic experience, and it made them worry as to what the child had lived through before. Azura turned to her cousin, who was staring at the child with worry in her eyes, and frowned slightly.
"Are you gonna tell us what happened at the town square now?" She asked.
Looking to her blue haired cousin, Corrin could see the slight expectancy in her golden eyes. She then turned to her younger adoptive sister, who had a similar look, but was also a bit worried. Letting out a sigh, she decided to explain.
"I'm not really sure what was going on, but it was clear enough what I had to do..." And so, she told both the other girls what had happened in town; how she heard the supposed "explosion" before finding the child being nearly strangled by the obese monster she encountered, and how she was pretty sure said monster was sitting in a jail cell by now.
By the end of the explanation, both her sister and cousin were frowning deeply.
"Ooooh, that big monster!" Elise broke the silence by getting angry the only way she knew how. "I'll go get him! I'll beat him with my staff until he begs me to stop! And then I'll hit him even harder!" Her words were childish and silly, but both of the other girls could tell that Elise was enraged and heartbroken. She ADORED kids, so seeing one suffering so much must have been really hard on her.
In spite of the recent revelation, Corrin could only shake her head while Azura giggled a bit into her hand. Don't get her wrong, she was upset after hearing about how the child was treated when Corrin found him. But Elise tended to have the effect of lifting one's spirit in unexpected ways.
"I'm sure we'll be able to deal with it later Elise, but let's wait until things have calmed down after the festival." Azura stated in effort to calm the blonde down. She seemed to get the desired effect and more, as Elise gained a bright look in her eyes.
"That's it!" She exclaimed, surprising the other girls in the room a bit. "We could bring him to the festival with us! He'll love it!"
"I don't know." Corrin replied. "He's likely lived through something... scarring, to say the least. I'm not so sure taking him to the festival would be a good idea."
"Aw c'mon! All we'd have to do is get him used to us and stay with him." She had a good arguement, but there was still something else to be adressed.
"I'm with Corrin on this one, Elise." Azura spoke up. "There others will be here in a day or so, and I'm not sure if introducing him to so many people will be a good idea." Elise, however, didn't budge.
"It'll be fine, we just gotta do it slowly. It'll be good for him! Pretty please~?" And that's when she brought it out: the dreaded puppy dog eyes.
"Stop it..." Corrin said softly. "Elise, please stop..." It continued. "I...I'm not looking..." Corrin turned away, only for Elise to move in front of her every which way she turned. The queen squeezed her eyes shut...then felt her little sister hug her. She looked down and groaned at the sight of her sad eyes. "All right...SLOWLY."
"Yay!" Flinching at the volume of the younger girl's cheer, Corrin and Azura tried to shush her, but it was all for naught. Looking to the child, they saw him stirring slightly.
"Elise, why don't you run along now?" Corrin said gently, pushing her sister to the door. "Go...meet our siblings and explain the situation."
"Okey-dokey!" Elise saluted. "Count on me!" And with that, she cheerfully skipped out of the room.
Corrin and Azura sighed with relief. "I adore her, but she needs to learn when to...tone down her enthusiasm." Corrin admitted to her cousin.
"She can be rather excitable, can't she?" Azura asked with a nod.
They both turned their attention back to the boy who was slowly waking up. As his eyes fluttered open, they both hoped to at least get an answer about what happened earlier.
One could only hope.
Harry Potter never felt so relieved in his life... and that worried him. He wasn't hurting anymore. As long as he could remember, he always felt as if something was hurting him. The beatings his uncle always gave him always left something lingering. Do where did it all go?
His eyes fluttered open to see a completely different place than he was used to. This wasn't his cupboard, where was he?
He let out a soft whimper, then looked down to see a warm, cushy bed beneath him. "No...This is wrong...This is all wrong...I shouldn't be here...I don't deserve to be in a place like this, I...I...I have to go...He'll kill me ...He'll beat me up again, he'll..." And with that, the boy had begun to hyperventilate, panicking.
He began to panic further when he felt a hand on his shoulder, afraid that he was about to be hit again by his uncle. That was soon replaced with confusion when the hand simply gave his shoulder a gentle, comforting squeeze. Opening his eyes, he looked to the black gloved hand on his shoulder and followed the armored arm to its owner, and was left speechless.
Holding his shoulder, slitted red eyes looking over him in worry, was a woman with silver hair and a fair complexion. While the eyes were odd to him, he couldn't help but feel reassured that he was safe. This woman just seemed to radiate the feeling of benevolence that made a child feel safe.
"Are you okay?" The woman asked, almost sounding like she was upset at something, but what? Not knowing what to say, he simply nodded, despite his confusion.
Why was this woman not hitting him? His uncle told him that everybody hated him. That no one would hesitate to beat him on sight, that he wasn't worth the time to care about. But this woman was looking at him like his aunt when Dudely was hurt (for no reason), before blaming it on him.
"Are you sure?" The woman spoke up again, taking him out of his thoughts. "You looked like you were about to have a heart attack. Can you tell me why?"
Harry hesitated. This woman seemed so nice. Was she pretending? Or was she actually worried about him? It certainly seemed so. Still, he couldn't help but ask... "Where am I?"
Corrin smiled and stroked his shoulder gently. "You're in my castle." She explained. "In the medical ward." Harry looked at her with wide eyes. "I understand this is all very confusing for you..." She spoke gently. "But I assure you, you're safe here. I will do all I can to ensure you feel at home. All right?"
"B-but, I already have a home." Harry replied. He didn't know what he was doing in a castle, his uncle told him that castles were meant for normal, powerful people, not freaks like him.
"We'll worry about that later." Corrin spoke up again. "For now, you rest. We'll find your home after we deal with the man that was hurting you." From the expression on her face, Azura saw that her cousin was ready to give the fat bastard a piece of her mind. Neither woman noticed Harry's surprised look until he spoke up, his voice shaky.
"U-uncle Vernon?"
Corrin's eyes widened. "Uncle...That man was your uncle?" She asked softly, putting a hand on the boy's shoulders. He flinched at the contact and nodded.
"U-Uh-huh...P-Please...Don't hurt him... He was doing the right thing..."
"The right thing? You mean when he was strangling you in public?" The subtle rise in her tone started to make Harry nervous. Why was she getting angry because of that? Uncke Vernon was trying to beat the freaky stuff out of him. What would happen if she found out about it? He didn't know what to do.
Azura also noticed Corrin's increasing anger. This wasn't good; if her cousin lost it now, she could end up traumatizing the poor kid further.
There was nothing scarier than an enraged dragon, even one that was part human.
Moving quickly, the bluenette stood with her silver haired cousin and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Corrin, calm down. I know what you're feeling, but he will get what's coming to him." She placated quickly. "Remember what happened the last time you lost control of your temper?"
That was all Corrin needed to hear, before letting go of the childs shoulders and started to breath steadily.
"I'm sorry for that..." She told him softly. "Listen...You did NOT deserve to be treated so...so SHAMEFULLY by that beast...Please don't say otherwise." She spoke gently.
"But-"
"Shh..." Corrin whispered. "You didn't deserve it."
Harry lowered his head, his eyes filled with inner conflict. On one hand; he grew up believing that he was a few and didn't deserve anything in life, thanks to his guardians. They made him believe that he was worthless and deserved to be hit when he messed up, and that he didn't deserve to live. On the other hand; this pretty lady was telling him that he didn't deserve what just happened to him, and the blue haired lady said his uncle was going to be punished for it, if he figured things correctly.
Corrin noticed the conflicted look in Harry's eyes despite his head being lowered. She wanted to say something; something to help reassure him or just take his mind off of matters. Thankfully, she had help.
"You know," Azura spoke up, getting their attention, "we were so caught up in what was happening that we forgot to introduce our selves." Corrin's eyes widened slightly, before she smiled.
"You're absolutely right." She replied. She turned her attention to Harry with the softest, most sincere smile she could muster. "My name is Corrin," she began. She then gestured to the bluenette in the room. "And ths is my cousin, Azura." Said cousin gave her own soft smile in greeting.
"What' s your name, sweetheart?" She asked.
The boy looked down. "H-Harry..." He said, softly and shyly. "Hi, Miss Corrin...M-Miss...Miss Azura..." The two women smiled.
"All right, now we know each other. Isn't that nice?" Corrin asked.
"I guess." He admitted shyly. It was weird to him; to have people who wouldn't treat him like dirt, and call him names. It gave him a feeling he never felr befor. It felt... warm.
"Here." Corrin spoke up. Harry looked to her, just in time to see her starting to tuck him in. "You get some rest. We'll talk more later, if you like." He didn't protest: he had to admit, he was a bit tired.
"Okay." Resting his head on the pillow, he allowed sleep to over take him.
Corrin smiled at the sight. He looked so peaceful as he rested. Turning to the door, she spoke to the servant that was waiting, and stood at attention when the queen's gaze fell upon her. "Let me know when he wakes up." She said curtly. Nodding as Corrin and her cousin passed, the servant moved to a spot where she could keep an eye on Harry.
Queen and advisor moved through the halls to meet up with Elise. As they walked, Azura decided to voice her thoughts.
"I'm not sure what he lived through, but the damage done to him is apparent." Corrin could only nod in agreement to her cousin's statement.
"Yes...It's awful." She agreed. "The poor dear..." She looked down at her feet. "I do intend to insure that man is given what he deserves..." She said. Azura nodded.
"It's understandable." She agreed. "He IS an awful man from what you have told me..."
"And everything I told you is what I know." Which was true. All Corrin knew about Harry's past was what she saw at the town square and what she picked up from their brief conversation earlier. She just hoped she'd be able to handle the full story someday, not that she's eager to hear it.
"Never the less," Azura spoke up, "the poor child's likely going to need someone to take care of him." Looking to her cousin, she rose a brow. "Any ideas?"
"I'll think of something." Corrin stated. For now, the rest of her siblings have arrived and are being debriefed on things by Elise. She knew there were going to be questions when she met up with them.
She just hoped some of her own would be answered soon.