Hey guys, sorry for the late release. College is starting to pick up, and I'm starting to show signs of fatigue. Regardless, I thank each and every one of you who stuck by me through this adventure. Let us begin the next chapter –ArcanaHermit

Chapter 11: Jewel (Corrin X Scarlet)

"Now just place it there and we should be good."

Corrin carefully did as she instructed, placing the shiny blue gemstone at the exact spot in the center of the sword. Once that was done, he carefully wiped the sweat from his brow. He never thought something as simple as sword decoration would be so nerve wrecking.

"Good job. That blade looks pretty fine, Corrin."

Corrin turned around to meet his wife Scarlet's cheerful smile. Corrin definitely didn't think he'd be doing something like this, but ever since his marriage it had become a frequent pastime for both of them, decorating this weapon or that, with some exceptions. Much as he loved her, the idea of embellishing a blade as important as the Yato seemed like a bad idea to Corrin, and he shuddered to think of the idea asking to put pretty jewels on his brother's sacred blade.

"Hey Corrin, are you still there?"

"Huh, oh sorry Scarlet, I was just…thinking about something.

Scarlet took the blade he finished working on and began swinging it. It moved naturally in her hands, the decorations not encumbering it at the slightest. Once she was satisfied, she put it down and gave a bright smile.

"Now it's flashy and practical. Who says you can't have it both ways?"

They continued their banter, playfully teasing each other. It had been a long time since their marriage, and Corrin has since matured from the easily-flustered youth he was a few months pass. Now he could match her witty banter and teasing with his own.

Soon their talk turned to a more serious tone, particularly in her homeland of Cheve, which at this point was in a pretty tense situation, with the political unrest there was slowly escalating. Riots were breaking out, order was being slowly demolished, and it looked like it wouldn't be long before they would be in a state of open anarchy. Ryoma promised to devote whatever resources he could to help maintain order, but even that had a dubious chance of succeeding.

Though she tried her best to hide it, it was fairly clear to him that Scarlet wanted nothing more than to return back to Cheve and help settle the tension there. Time and time again Corrin would try to persuade her to, but she adamantly refused each time.

"Scarlet, Cheve is your home. I wouldn't want you to stay here if it meant that your home would suffer for it."

"Not happening. I know it's my home, but there's too much importance in this fight for me to just pack my bags and high tail it out of here. Trust us, Chevois aren't Nohrians. We can actually sort things out without having to kill each other."

Though she gave out her trademark grin, Corrin could still sense her inner conflict. Despite that, he decided to keep quiet on the subject for now and tried to change the topic to something more light-hearted, but couldn't think of anything.

They stood there in awkward silence, but Scarlet quickly tried to lighten the mood.

"Hey, I spotted some rocks just on the outskirts that might have some jewels in them. Wanna go help me bust up some of them?"

Corrin nodded, and both of them felt a little less tense. They took their time strolling around camp before reaching the outskirts where, just as Scarlet said, a group of large rocks were there. Scarlet gave him a look of confidence.

"Hey, think you can bust up more rocks than me?"

Returning her smirk his own, they began busting out rocks like their lives depended on it. They smashed at the rocks, and by the end they were sitting on the ground panting, the ground being littered with stone dust and small rocks, with sparkling rocks scattered here and there.

Corrin was glad Scarlet brought him here. It took both their minds off of things, like the war and Cheve. They know that they will have to deal with the issues as they come, but it's nice to not have to constantly worry about such things.

Once they recovered from that exercise, they became scouring for rocks they could use to decorate their swords. They managed to find quite a number of jewels, and by the end their bags were full and heavy.

Once they got home and took a bath, they laid on the bed next to each other. They were still sore from the rock smashing, but they can definitely say that it calmed them down a bit. In wartime, even the most mundane of things can be soothing when compared to the onslaught of war

"Corrin…"

"Yeah?"

"We both have a lot of weight on our shoulders huh? The war, Cheve, all those things are on our shoulders."

"Yeah"

"Don't worry about it; I got your back, just as I know you got mine. When we're together, nothing can stop us."

"Yeah…"

Sitting up, she got out of the bed and went to a large bag with her stuff inside. She returned with a slab. Sitting up and taking a closer look, he could see that is was mosaic painting of the both of them, holding hands. His eyes were inlaid with a clear cut ruby instead of the usual shiny stones, which looked not unlike his own shade of red eyes. It looked beautiful, their image in the form of colorful stones.

"I made this in our spare time; I hoped that when we settle down, I can hang this up in our new home."

Home…it wasn't something Corrin really thought about all that often. His old home has always been in the Northern Fortress, but he couldn't go back there now. Now his home has always been camp, but he never thought about his home beyond that.

"Hmm, a home…I suppose that'll be in Cheve."

"Well, I was gonna say that it'll be wherever you are…but yeah, I'd like it to be Cheve. Bringing back a prince as a husband, I'd like to see the look on everyone's face when they see that."

He chuckled. He could somewhat imagine that scenario. He sighed and hugged Scarlet, making her blush and yelp a bit.

"Thanks, for everything. I'm glad that you're always here to help relieve me of my stress."

Scarlet hugged back.

"Heh, that's what marriage is about. You lean on my back, and I lean on yours…only a little bit. I love you, Corrin."

"I love you too, Scarlet."

Once they separated, they began talking about battle plans, once again returning to their duties as soldiers. However, whenever they feel like the burdens of war were weighing down on them, they would show the other side of them, the side that laughs and cries and loves.

As long as show that side, they will always be happy together.

Man that took a long time. Sorry about that, college is making things a bit stressful. Regardless I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Next up, we're going to be looking at one of the retainers, until next time. -ArcanaHermit