It was reasonable for Nina to believe she was alone. Anyone with a head on their shoulders could see, and sympathize with, her reasons. She wasn't lonesome because she wanted to be a lone wolf such as the likes of Velouria. No. Nina loved company, though she may not have acted nor looked it.

The Deeprealms left its mark on her. Her father was absent. Her mother was absent. Friends were few in number. It was natural that she favored the shadows and corners. After all, they were all that extended its hand to her. They were what raised her. They were what comforted her. They were what conformed her into the girl she was to this day.

Every bird, however, was bound to spread its glorious wings and depart from the nest. Her time was drawing nigh, and the sun was preparing for slumber; it became her friend, for it lingered over the horizon to give her just enough time in the light.

She emerged from her tent one nippy morning. Her body demanded that she shiver in order to warm herself more than huffing into her hands would do. That same shivering body gave way to a long stretch before she hunched over, eyes dulling. The grayness of the sky deadened what would otherwise be excitement.

She should've been excited.

Instead of skipping to the beat of a quickening heart, she simply furrowed her brows and closed her eyes. Wordless, she guided herself through the maze of tents that was camp, making her way to the very edge of its boundaries. The lake was there, and it was before it she came to a pause. When she found a spot that wasn't wet, she seated herself at its bank.

And she stayed there.

When she peered into the stillness of the water, the tranquility, she found herself looking down at the void sky. Another person met her. It was an interesting looking girl. She had pale skin. Olive green eyes. Long hair, wavy from being woven into tight laces. A grim, collected expression.

Nina found Nina the exact way she had last seen her.

"Hmf. I don't look any older today." she muttered softly to herself. The other girl mimicked her. Was it because she was mocking her? Or was it a sign of reverence? Whether she knew or not, she reached out to cup that face with a delicate palm. Her fingers spread across the plains of her soft cheeks; the chilliness was turning them a light shade of blue.

When that hand departed from its friend, her eyes wandered down the ground upon which she sat. Those eyes landed on a decent sized rock, moist from the water that occasionally assaulted its skin. Nina hospitably took it, therefore saving it from the harassment of the still tranquility. She stared at it. Its bottom was muddy and slimy. Its surface glistened beneath what little sunlight could peek through the dreariness of the sky. The roughness of its outside almost drove her away.

"Hello, Mr. Rock." she said.

"Hi, Nina." Mr. Rock replied.

"How're you doing today?"

"I'm fine. I think Mr. Hay and I are hitting it off well. We have a date later on today."

"That's good."

"How about you?"

"Fine myself. Today's my birthday."

"Oh, happy birthday then, Nina."

"Thanks. You're the only person who's said that today."

"You poor thing."

"I know."

"You know what else you know? You know it's pitiful that you're sitting here talking to a rock and feeling sorry for yourself."

"You're right."

"You must be going crazy."

"Probably..." she was in tears at that point, feeling them roll down her cheeks and drip off her nose. One landed on Mr. Rock's no-so-delicate outside and slid to his bottom. The moment the tear tapped against the ground then after, she felt her grip on his body tighten. Rage began to build inside of her as she clamped her teeth together, then rise to her feet. "If you're right, then I should get rid of you!" she wound her hand back, pivoted her hip, and mustered as much strength she could summon. Away Mr. Rock flew when her hand zoomed forward and sent him from her fingers. Just seconds later, he disappeared into the lake with a plunk and never resurfaced. Standing in the wake of the murder, Nina heaved, only to have her face soften seconds later. "Uh oh. Mr. Hay isn't going to be happy with me for doing that..."

The criminal fled from the scene of the crime, constantly checking to make sure there were no witnesses.

Nina spent the majority of her day wandering around camp. It was, without even the slightest pinch of exaggeration, completely deserted. Not a soul was there, including town. At first, the sight spooked Nina, for it made her stand still in the cold and observe her surroundings oddly. She blinked a time or two before continuing to explore, where she was met with the same sight as she had been met with for a good while. Before long, queerness lost the battle to fear, for she was soon running desperately around camp until the back of her throat was dry and sore. She peeked in her head into the mess hall, which was completely dark and unused. Every shop did not have a clerk (she would have seized the opportunity to snag a few goods, but now wasn't the time). Nobody was sleeping in their tents. Even Corrin wasn't in his quarters, for no soul was there to answer when she knocked.

Where was everyone? Had they marched into a battle and left her behind? How was it that she was the only they abandoned?

...What did it matter?

She was used to being alone.

Well, she wasn't completely alone; her wanderings soon led her to the prison that stood in the darker corner of the castle grounds. Out of curiosity, she entered into its darkness and proceeded to explore. To her fortune, she then found that she wasn't alone at all. Down the rows of bars of iron and despair, she happened to find a man standing within one of its holdings. He was light skinned, had deep brown eyes, and wore very peculiar clothing. Very peculiar. It was this evidence that led her to believe this man was a Hoshidan prisoner, yet to be convinced to realign himself.

"O-Oh... Em... Hi there. How are you today?" the man remained silent in the corner, breathing heavily while hugging his knees. He didn't appeal to Nina as being in the talking mood, but this didn't drive her away- not yet at least. "Hey, no need to worry; I-I know how it feels to be forced out of your home and taken somewhere you don't like. We can talk about it if you want. What's your name? Got any m-man friends at home?"

"Don't you have anything better to do?" his slight accent made it difficult for her to understand what he was saying at first. "You must be a pitiful thing to want to spend your time talking to prisoners."

Pitiful thing she was, and she didn't like facing the music. This ultimately led her out of the prison without so much as an additional word. Again she met with the chilly air that awaited her outside.

There's a friend for her: the chilly air. It was waiting for her to return, and it welcomed her by surrounding her with itself. What a comforting thought, but it wasn't a comforting feeling. Nina didn't want to be in the cold, even though it was offering her its hospitality. She returned to her den, which she effortlessly slid inside. Upon kicking off her shoes, she bundled herself in her blankets, curled her form, and chose to close her eyes to drift into a more appealing realm.

Her return to slumber was pointless, as it offered her no dreams, nor refreshment. This would be because, just a while later, the entrance to her tent would be violated to reveal the face of a little excited boy. His eyes were wide and young, as was his fresh smile, as he crawled his way deeper into her dwelling until he was seated at her side and nudging her awake. When her eyes opened, she groggily turned her head up to him with a moan.

"Mmm... Hi Percy."

"Hiya, Nina. I was wondering if you wanted to come eat lunch with me. Benny said he would join us and share his sugar cubes! Doesn't that sound like a blast?"

Nina stared for a while, but this session did not end the way Percy wanted it to; she shook her head and retracted it into the shelter of her covers, which she pulled and sealed over her entire body. Afterwards, she didn't so much as budge to any other motions made by her visitor. Several unsuccessful attempts finally made him depart, heavy hearted.

An hour or so had Percy return, except he was far different in appearance. Instead of being short and stubby, he had grown tall and lanky. His gray hair that once grew short was now long and aqua, some even shielding half of his delicate face. No wait, that wasn't Percy- it was Shigure. He was far more appropriate than Percy was in approaching, for he knocked on the flap first. When Nina didn't respond, he took it upon himself to peek inside slightly. He found her lying form on the floor of her tent, still curled and shielded by her blanket, and it was a sight that had his face drop sadly.

"Nina." he cooed. "I'm sorry for interrupting your nap, but the others, including myself, have noticed that you've been asleep all day. Why don't you depart and join me for a ride atop Aiko?"

She didn't move.

"No thanks." and yielded nothing more to anything he said.

One final visitor came to visit her when the sun was beginning to sink. He was far more strict in nature, hence why he barged in without warning as though he owned her tent. One of his hands snatched the blanket over her body and tore it off with a vengeance. Before she could scramble to grab the other end and begin a session of tug-of-war, he tossed it outside the entrance of her tent. While she was lifting her head, prepared for a scornful mouthful, he reached out to snatch again; this time it was her ankle, which he used to drag her out of her tent.

"Heard you've been ignoring everyone all day." he muttered, to which Nina began struggling- even kicking.

"Stay out of my business, father!" she roared when her body began to be dragged across the lawn. A few minutes into struggling, when she surely had grass stains on her clothes, her captor finally dropped her leg. Freedom had her try to scramble onto her feet and get away from him, but he promptly snatched her by whatever article he could grab. This article happened to be one of her braids, which he began to gently tug. Said gentle tug, thanks to a tender scalp, was enough to have her submit to his will, so she slowly began making her way to his side, albeit begrudgingly.

"Let's take a walk together." Niles said slyly. It caused Nina to flinch and frown.

"I'm not in the mood today."

"If you don't, I'm going to make you."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Too bad. You won't be able to see me do anything at all." while he was speaking, Niles reached into one of the many pockets on his person, where he withdrew a string of black cloth. Said cloth would be forced over her eyes before she could react, then tied tautly behind her head. As she began to struggle and try to remove the handicap, she would be surprised when similar material snaked itself over his wrists. At this point, Nina was shouting anxiously and trying to get away, but she would ultimately be brought down by tripping over a stone she didn't know was there.

"Hey! What're you doing?" she exclaimed when she felt his hands bring her up and wrap his arms around her torso. He lifted her, then slung her light body over his shoulder. All the while, she continued kicking and screaming. "Father! Father put me down! Now! Father! Niles!" she halted her kicking to gasp, then continue with all the more sincerity. "You're throwing me in the lake aren't you? No, no, no! Not the lake! This is Mr. Hay's doing! He's paying you do get rid of me for what I did Mr. Rock! I can't believe you'd sell me out like this, father! Curse the day you were born! Curse the air you breathe and the places you walk! Curse you! Curse you!"

"God, do you ever shut up? If you keep your trap closed, you'll make things better for both of us."

"I'll never give, not with your malicious intentions. I'll haunt you until the day you die, and once you're dead, I'll be sure to usher you straight to-" she'd be surprised to feel her feet being placed on the ground. Beneath the cover of the blindfold, her eyes widened, and she, puzzled, attempted to free her hands. No matter how hard she tried, the knot would not give way. Lucky for her, Niles reached down and gently tugged her blindness down her neck, granting her vision.

Her olive eyes widened at the sight of the inside of the mess hall, where all stood gathered around a table, surrounding a bowl of fresh strawberries with a banner hanging behind them. They were all she knew- those friend and those foe.

Soleil.

Siegbert.

Velouria.

Beruka.

Ignatius.

Shura.

Benny.

Corrin.

Felicia.

Laslow.

Keaton.

Nyx.

Kana.

Selena.

Effie.

The sight left her speechless, more so when they all mustered a shout:

"Happy birthday, Nina!"

Leave to her, the one and only Nina, to feel her legs turn to gelatin. She closed her eyes and fell backwards; to her fortune, Niles happened to be there to catch her. Concerned, he kneeled down and proceeded to shake her. Not a single gesture could possibly prevail, for she remained zonked out, mouth hanging open, eyes shut painfully tight.

"Wh-What happened?" asked one from the crowd.

Niles lifted his head with a tsk.

"She's out cold. Too bad, I guess we'll have to eat her strawberries."

Oh, Nina, don't ever change.


And done. Thanks for reading this mess, I hope you enjoyed it. If you, by some sort of strange stroke of luck, happened to like this story, I would recommend reading its 'sequel' "How to Win A War". As of January 31, 2017, it is currently incomplete, but I am dead set on typing that final word.

Please, have a wonderful day.