a/n: so, this is the shortest chapter of them all. It's basically just a closer, right before the very end. It's a pretty teary one, not going to lie. Enjoy!:)

v.

[So thank you for this life you have given me, Corrin. For the love, for the tears, for the years. I cannot think of any other way to have spent my life on this world than with you. In certainty, forever and always, I have loved you, I love you, and I will always love you. Remember that, won't you?]

So many years spent together, so many memories, so many loves and tears and kisses.

They grew old together and eventually, Leo stepped down from the throne. There was no surprise when Forrest shook his head politely and Kana took it in stride, his love for peace and for happiness the best possible thing a ruler could have brought for Nohr. Kana would do his people well, Leo knew, and so he blessed his youngest son and set the crown atop his head on his twenty-first birthday. The people, who had always assumed that Forrest would take to the throne, were surprised but not upset as Kana was a clear picture of the future and, in many ways, both of his parents: two rulers who had treated the kingdom fairly and helped it recover after the long years of the war.

Forrest had taken Brynhildr as a legacy, and it would be passed on for the generations to come, as Leo had always wished for it to be.

Leo and Corrin moved to a house outside the palace, apart from the kingdom for the first time in their lives. They lived on the grounds still, but their cozy home on the grass was still something different, something for the both of them to enjoy as they sat back and watched their sons grow and Nohr take its place in the world.

Hoshido still had a strong bond with the kingdom of Nohr, and because of Corrin's marriage, there was no doubt that there would be for a long time to come. King Kana and King Shiro had already agreed that peace would rule so long as they were crowned; Shiro's daughter, too, proclaimed that she would keep the peace when she became of age, and there was no doubt that if Kana's children were anything like him, no warfare would be found for miles.

For two kingdoms once at war, the two prospered well into the years, growing and expanding, the people happy once again. Crime was low, though it was still there, and the guards kept a careful eye on the townspeople who glared a little too long at the palace.

It was a peaceful existence, and Leo realized it as he sat with Corrin on their front porch, curled together on a seat he had brought specifically from the palace. They sat out and watched as some children ran past their front yard from town, thoughtlessly waving as they passed, yelling and hooting, their voices filled with a joy that all children should have.

Leo knew Corrin was smiling at the childhood she never had.

But he also knew she was smiling at the memories she had earned, the ones her children had given her. He knew she was remembering Kana squealing after her, toddling, and Forrest yanking at her hair, his bright smile always beaming up at her. She was remembering them.

And he was proud to say he was a main source behind the smile that almost never left her face.

They settled into a life of content, a life of slow days and setting suns and watching the stars at night. It was never a hurried existence, not after the Great War, and now the war was only in songs, sung and told in the bars and the taverns. Corrin was well-known by the children as the Hero and often stopped in the morning from her flowers to tell them stories, the dozens of children gathered in a circle at her feet as she retold what all her adventure had been in the war of the tales.

Their children visited often, Forrest with Nina on his arm, and Kana whenever he could spare the time. The boy had grown into a fine king; he ruled with a steady head and a careful hand, though there were quite a few more festivals and balls then when Leo had been king. Kana had grown tall and looked exactly like his father, though his hair had remained spiked up since his teenage years. He took care of Nohr and Nohr took care of him.

Camilla had passed on before anyone could protest, her body failing her after something zapped her strength and she couldn't move from her bed. Corrin and Leo visited her one last time and remembered the times in the Northern Fortress—a place that had been long torn-down by now—and the war and their childhood. They rememebered Xander and Elise and their Father, all the times they spent laughing and playing and smiling; the times that had been eventful after the war, like the weddings and the births and the coronation. She passed with Sophie and Silas at her one side, Leo and Corrin on the other, but she smiled and passed with ease. She was young, in terms of death, but it was inevitable, and she moved on with a quiet breath and a slim smirk, just as she had always done.

It was a bittersweet moment for Leo to see his third sister put into the ground, buried beside his youngest and his oldest sibling. He cried, of course, but he knew she was happy still—her and Elise had so much catching up to, he doubted they would be done by the time he arrived. Corrin had filled both her and Elise's stones with enough flowers to last for weeks, and then they had left without much else, tears in the eyes, but hearts on their sleeves.

As the kingdoms flourished and the world turned, however, things were set into motion that Corrin could never really explain.

It was a morning just like any other and she was cooking in the kitchen, tending to the tea that was set in a kettle over the flames. She pulled it off to pour two cups, one completely left alone and the other with four sugars and a bit of milk. Corrin took the one left alone and sipped at it before moving towards the bedroom, her head poked around the corner, still playfully as she had done for the past hundreds of mornings.

"Sleepyhead," she called, moving fully into the room. "It's nearly noon! Time to get up!"

Corrin dropped her teacup onto the floor and it shattered.

Leo was propped up, but he was pale and coughing—his aged face was weary, but he was trying to smile at her, his eyes a bit bright. He coughed again. "G—good morning, darling."

"Leo!" She rushed to his side and he was coughing again, this time blood coming away with his hand. "I'm fetching the doctor," she told him, and she was gone in an instant, yelling for the messenger boy.

He ran for the doctor as she returned to their bedroom.

Leo was quiet as he watched her come in, his face sad. She went to his side and he let her, his worn hands catching both of hers between his, holding her close to him.

"He can't help you, can he?" She whispered, and her eyes held his, unsteady as she may have been.

He shook his head.

Corrin climbed atop of him like she always had, her body curling into his like a missing piece, and he welcomed her warmth, her familiar warmth at his side. She soothed him with a soft, aged hand and he held her tight to him. "How long?" She asked.

"Long enough," Leo answered.

The doctor came, but he confirmed what they already knew; it was the same thing that had gotten Camilla, apparently something that had been etched into their blood long ago. Their father's dark magic had likely seeped into their bones, and now, it closed in on his heart, forcing his health into a state of loss. It was something no one could cure. It was something even love could not surpass.

Leo was going to die.

He knew it, and had accepted it; he had lived a full life.

He had lived a full life, but only because she stood at his side.

And he was content.

He had loved, had been loved, and had left his mark on the world the way Xander would have wanted it.

Kana and Forrest had just left his bedside for what would be the last, both a bit teary-eyed, both a bit in shock, and Leo had a moment to himself as Corrin spoke to Silas beyond the door. At the table to his left was a quill, a bit of parchment, and a glass of ink.

He saw his chance and he took it.

Leo reached for the quill and parchment and began to write.

It was to be his last letter in this life.

And he was okay with that.