Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, but between still recovering from sickness as mentioned last chapter, returning home from college, summer courses, and helping friends write their fanfics, I barely had time to write, and when I did have time, I felt unmotivated. I finally managed to finish this chapter after writing bit-by-bit over the course of a month. Hopefully things can resume a weekly pace soon.
My Castle
Selena stood in front of a mirror, brushing her hair, when Azura entered the room. "Knew I'd find you here."
"I can't not look my best," Selena replied, continuing to brush. "And what's your business anyway?"
Azura looked down at her pendant, which Selena noticed. As the Nohrian retainer watched through the mirror, the songstress pulled out Corrin's Dragonstone.
"... I see."
"How did you do it?" asked Azura. "You made it look easy."
"Dragonstone dust. A substance Odin, Laslow and I... found. On our way to Nohr."
Azura gave Selena a cross look. "Odin already told me more than that."
Selena groaned, mentally cursing Odin in ways that shan't be put to text. "We received it in our fight against you-know-who. Our leader predicted we'd need it. I didn't expect he meant we'd need it for Corrin."
"Whoever your leader was clearly knew our enemy well."
Finally finishing her hair routine, Selena set down the brush. "He was our enemy."
Azura stared blankly for several seconds. "... What."
"Long story. I'll tell you next time we're in you-know-where to avoid setting off you-know-what."
"Alright. Fine by me." Azura walked out and closed the door as Selena moved on to styling her eyelashes.
. . .
Takumi stood at a practice range, shooting arrow after arrow into a target. After managing to split one arrow with another, Takumi stopped, wiping the sweat from his brow and turning to look at Silas, who was there as well, sweeping his lance and bashing away at a dummy. The Nohrian warrior was striking with the flat of his lance's tip as well as its haft, wielding it almost more like a bo staff than a blade-edged polearm.
"What are you doing?" asked Takumi. "Trying to replicate a Hoshidan fighting style? Or...are you practicing to fight someone specific?"
"A bit of both," Silas admitted. "I've always been interested in your culture, but I have friends back in Nohr. Friends who I might end up facing on the battlefield. I want to make sure I can take them down without killing them."
Takumi scoffed. "Why bother? I'm not gonna show any mercy."
Silas whirled around with a swing, his lance stopping an inch from Takumi's neck. "If the positions were switched," he said, "surely you'd want to spare your former retainers too."
Takumi stared down Silas in silence. Wind blew, their hearts beat. The Hoshidan prince finally yielded with a resigned sigh. "You're right. I'll try to do it your way, then."
"Good." Silas suddenly gave a great big smile. "Now that that's settled, how about a spar? We could both use the live practice."
"Heh. You're on." Takumi pointed an arrow at Silas. "Let's see how long you last."
. . .
Mozu and Sakura sat together, eating breakfast. No words were exchanged until they had finished their meal. When they had, Sakura said, "You know, um... th-there's this thing people who lost their loved ones get called..."
Mozu finished for her. "Survivor's guilt?"
"That, yes."
"You don't need to worry about me," said Mozu. "I'm doing my best to make it up to my family by fighting for the people who tried to save them."
"Oh..." Sakura looked away glumly.
"Do you have it?"
"Yes. I, well... Corrin, my brother and our leader, was a Hoshidan who got kidnapped by Nohr and raised as one of their royalty. When I was little, shortly after it happened, I heard rumors that I was the original target."
Mozu put a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"They were only rumors, but even to this day I feel a weight on my heart. If it was supposed to be me, it should've been me. Not my...not my big brother."
"I mean, on the bright side, you got 'im back now, right?"
"Yes..." Sakura sniffled. A tear ran down her cheek. "But you have no one. Here I am, talking ab-about something that...that seems so trivial now, while you..."
The village girl gave Sakura a shoulder rub. "Hey now, we all take things differently. Just 'cause you're a princess and I'm a farmer doesn't mean it's wrong for you to cry over less than me."
"I had hoped I c-could relate to you, and m-make friends that way." Sakura rubbed her eyes. "In the end, we are...we're not alike after all."
"We don't have to be similar to be friends. And y'know?" Mozu wrapped her arms around the Hoshidan princess. "I'm happy to call you a friend."
"Oh... th-thank you so much..."
. . .
Leo and Camilla met with the Hoshidan ninjas and Yukimura in a war room, laying out a map of their current location in realspace. Leo placed a pin in the road they were currently on, and another pin on the location of the Wind Tribe's village. "It is strange to be laying plans with you and not my usual retainers," he remarked.
"You know what they say about strange bedfellows," quipped Kagero. "But let us proceed. You said you had something in mind, Lord Leo?"
"It is unlikely our venture to the Wind Tribe will be a smooth one. We could be ambushed at the border, or led astray by Zola and Iago's dark magic. The tribespeople, too, could be manipulated." Leo gestured to Camilla. "With Camilla, or better her retainer Beruka, in the sky and the ninjas on the ground, we would be able to scout ahead with little to no risk of being attacked. Once you have a lay of the land, return to the rest of us and report your sightings."
"Why Beruka and not Camilla herself?" asked Kaze.
Leo simply looked at Camilla, who nodded and asked them plainly.
"Would you rather have a large and well-endowed armored princess, or a professional assassin barely anyone knows, who knows how to keep quiet much like yourselves?"
Yukimura rubbed his chin. "Excellent point. However, we still cannot be certain of your loyalty. An assassin shrouded in such mystery is just as likely to have been sent to kill us as to aid us."
Camilla crooned. "I find that sense of intrigue and suspense rather... romantic."
Kagero, oddly, nodded in approval. Saizo, on the other hand, grumbled, "I will be seated behind Beruka on her wyvern, then. If she makes any hostile moves, I will be in position to throw her down immediately."
Leo winced. Would Camilla consent to this risk? Just as the Hoshidans could not trust the Nohrians, neither could the Nohrians place their full trust in-
"I accept." Camilla shook Saizo's hand.
"... I suppose this has been settled, then."
Camilla noticed Leo's furrowed brow. "Darling, one of us has to show faith for the others to return that favor," she told him. "Without taking a risk of trust, one will never make friends."
Hoshidan Road
On the road to the Eternal Stairway, Corrin sat sullenly in the back of a carriage steered by Lilith. Rinkah came up to him.
"I'm going to take Flora, Kilma and some of the Ice Tribe back to the Flame Tribe now. If you don't die, we'll meet back up on this road."
Corrin nodded. "Good."
"What do you mean, good?" inquired Rinkah.
"I don't want to see them."
"... I get you. Wanting to keep the ones who hurt you at a distance." Rinkah sighed and jumped off the carriage to meet up with the group behind it.
Long after she had left, Corrin muttered to himself through bared teeth, "Do you?"
Along their path, the carriage stopped. Corrin lifted his head.
Azura ran to him. "Faceless are blocking our path!"
Corrin didn't move. "You can't handle it yourselves?"
She shook her head. "Iago is there too, along with..."
Corrin looked at Azura, seeing desperation and worry in her eyes. With a groan, he rose to his feet and walked out to the front, where he saw...
Corrin
Azura
Lilith
Felicia
Ryoma
Takumi
1. Hinoka✓
2. Sakura✓
Kaze
Saizo✗
Kagero
Yukimura
Oboro
Rinkah✗
Camilla
3. Leo✓
Beruka✗
4. Selena✓
5. Odin✓
Niles
6. Peri✓
7. Mozu✓
8. Silas✓
"Brother?!" Corrin gasped.
"L-Lord Xander..." Peri's lip quivered, on the verge of tears.
There among the Faceless rode a man on horseback, wearing a mask with a black visor over the eyes. Despite that, based on his dark armor, blond hair, and glowing sword, he could be none other than Prince Xander.
"Hmhm, yes," crooned Iago the tactician. "Lord Garon has persuaded Xander over to our way of thinking. And now he will destroy you!"
Corrin stood in stunned silence, totally open as Xander charged towards him, until Leo used Brynhildr to separate them with a wall of roots.
"Iago... I don't know what you've done to Xander, but you'll pay for this!" Leo snarled.
Hinoka dropped in from the skies, her pegasus hip-checking Xander and his horse away. "You shouldn't have to fight your prince," she said to the Nohrians. "Let me handle this."
Peri rode up to her. "Not without me. I'll believe my Lord Xander is turning on us when I see it!"
Iago cackled. "If you insist!"
Time seemed to slow down for Peri. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Xander's horse rear up and charge at her.
She deflected the blow with the neck of her lance, but fell sideways and off her horse, tumbling to the ground. Xander rushed to trample her, and she gasped, raising an arm to cover herself... only for Hinoka to intercept him once again.
The elder Hoshidan princess looked back at Peri. "I told you, this is my fight. Don't force yourself to face him."
Peri silently, sullenly nodded.
As Hinoka and Xander clashed, Iago teleported away with another freakish cackle, and the others at the front of the carriage engaged the Faceless. Those not up towards the front were busy keeping the Ice Tribe members secure at the rear.
"Foul abominations! Let the darkness claim you!" declared Odin as he unleashed a variety of spells. One Faceless managed to get up close and clobber him to the ground, but before it could finish him off, Silas charged through and skewered it, carrying it atop his lance before pushing it off with his free hand.
As Sakura tended to Odin's wounds, they looked over at Peri, who sat alone while Mozu and Selena defended her.
"Won't you move?" asked Selena, parrying a chain swung at her before executing the attacker with her riposte.
Peri remained silent.
When they had a moment of respite, Mozu walked over to Peri and offered her a hand to help her up, but Peri stared at it without taking it.
And then, there was Corrin. Corrin had not moved the entire time since Xander's reveal; he was trying to hold back his anger. His reasoning told him Xander could not have turned against them just like that, but his instincts told him to kill Xander for betraying them regardless of how or why. Unlike with Silas, he was at least able to understand his instincts were leading him astray... but not knowing why he was like this only made him angrier.
"Remain calm," said Azura from behind. "There's always a reason."
"I know," Corrin replied through gritted teeth. "I know...but this urge is gnawing away at me."
"Then stay back. Don't fight."
"I can't just do nothing, though."
Azura tapped her lance against the mace-form Yato on Corrin's back. "It will obey your will, even if you do not hold it. Let it fly free."
Corrin closed his eyes, nodded, and smiled. "I can do that."
After donning his oni mask, he took the Yato from his back and hurled it into the air, where it smashed down upon a Faceless, crushing its head to a pulp. The legendary weapon then rose up and swept side-to-side, swatting away several more.
Xander stabbed Siegfried into the ground, channeling an earth Dragon Vein to surround Hinoka in a tomb of stone. However, Leo noticed. He paused his assault on the Faceless to channel the Dragon Vein right back to free Hinoka, whereupon her pegasus lunged forth with a lance thrust. Xander deflected the blow and countered, leaving a gash on Hinoka's arm.
The Hoshidan princess cried out, her pegasus flapping its wings frantically to try and make distance, but Xander launched crescent beams of dark energy with Siegfried, refusing to give her a chance to catch her breath.
Silas intervened, charging Xander with a sweep of his lance along the ground and upwards. Xander parried the strike with a downwards swing forceful enough to disarm Silas, but that distraction was enough for Hinoka to disengage and get to Sakura.
With Corrin's help, the Faceless were soon slain, leaving only the masked Xander surrounded by foes. The crown prince of Nohr stopped and watched as Corrin stepped forth.
"Why, Brother? Why are you doing this? Why are you aiding King Garon?"
"You were never one of us," Xander replied, his voice unnaturally deep and echoing. "Garon has opened my eyes. Your ambitions are fruitless, your words hollow. In time, you too will see the truth."
"You...!" Corrin's eyes glowed red with frenzy and his hands sprouted claws, but just when he lunged to attack Xander, the swordsman teleported away, leaving Corrin on his knees in the middle of an empty road. He stared at his hands, panting in fury as the others rushed to his side.
. . .
Back on the road, Corrin returned to his sullen seat in the carriage.
Silas shook his head. "That couldn't have been Prince Xander. He'd never talk to you like that. He just wouldn't!"
"You don't know that," muttered Corrin, but that was the only statement he could muster.
"I do," replied Camilla. "Our dearest Xander has never once spoken to you like you say he did until now."
Leo rubbed his chin. "He called Father by his name, rather than his honorific. Iago might have him under a mind control spell. If that is the case, the only way I know to break it is to kill Iago."
Ryoma vocalized an, "Mmm..."
The Hoshidan siblings shrugged their shoulders, but Azura spoke up. "I may know a way to break the spell... but it's risky. After we finish our visit to the Wind Tribe, we should return to the Bottomless Canyon."
Leo turned to Selena and Odin. "What do you think?"
Odin nodded. "My cursed eye foresees that-"
Selena interrupted him with a curt elbow bump to the side. "We should go there."
Saizo and Beruka arrived a little later. "There are no signs of Nohrian soldiers or Faceless along the rest of the path," reported Saizo.
Leo raised an eyebrow, then gestured to Camilla, who threw a dagger from her belt at the scouts.
Saizo caught it and studied it. "What is the meaning of this?"
"We had a run-in with Iago while you were out," explained Leo. "He's proficient in illusions. It was to make sure you were really there, as opposed to mirages conjured up by him while the real ones had been captured or killed."
"Thorough," Saizo grunted. "Commendable." He handed the dagger back to Camilla.
Ryoma stroked his chin. "So, you are not illusions, and that means the coast really is clear. Good. Hopefully getting the remaining Ice Tribe members to the Wind Tribe will be smooth sailing from here."
"What about Peri?" asked Selena.
Camilla huffed. "I would stay away from her for now. Who knows how many limbs could be lost..."
"About that." Takumi glowered at Camilla. "Why IS a psychopathic woman with the mind of a baby a Nohrian retainer?"
"Simply put, her ruthless efficiency in killing can make her very presence a deterrent to hostility. Her skill is great enough to be worth the risk of allies being injured... and when Xander was here, he was able to keep her in check."
Takumi shrugged in agitation. "So now there's nothing stopping her from slaughtering people on a whim. Great."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Leo. "We'll check back on this issue later; for now, the Eternal Stairway is near."