Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/11855385.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Fire_Emblem:_If_|_Fire_Emblem:_Fates
  Relationship:
      Camilla/Hinoka/My_Unit_|_Kamui_|_Corrin, Sakura/Tsukuyomi_|_Hayato
  Character:
      My_Unit_|_Kamui_|_Corrin, Camilla_(Fire_Emblem), Hinoka_(Fire_Emblem),
      Tsukuyomi_|_Hayato, Sakura_(Fire_Emblem)
  Additional Tags:
      Multiverse, Parallel_Universes, Sister-Sister_Relationship, Healing_Sex,
      Rape/Non-con_Elements, Voyeurism, Forced_Orgasm, Loss_of_Virginity, Angst
      and_Hurt/Comfort, Sister_Complex, Character_Death
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-11-24 Updated: 2018-02-01 Chapters: 5/? Words: 43540
****** Feathers, Scales and Skin ******
by PubliusEros
Summary
     Corrin has always been defined by the choices she makes. She chooses,
     not between Hoshido and Nohr, but between Hinoka and Camilla. Between
     her dearest lovers. Between the two who make her heart and body erupt
     with happiness. And although they live to duel for her affections,
     she knows there is nothing but pain in a world where she cannot have
     both. Mistakes are made. Hearts and bodies wounded. Her families
     forced to fight. Deciding to reject the necessity of choice, Corrin
     decides that no longer will she be limited to just one lover. As she
     loves, so shall she choose.
     She will have Hinoka and Camilla both.
     This is a story set across all three timelines of Fire Emblem Fates;
     an epic about the love between the last daughter of Valla and the two
     women most beloved to her. They will fight and compete for her love,
     her intimacy, and her happiness. They will learn, about mistakes past
     and futures yet to be. And they will learn that there is so much more
     to Corrin - and themselves - than mere choice.
Notes
     This story is a collaboration between two writers on the Publius Eros
     team, with chapters divided up between the two - many chapters will
     contain material from both. As is tradition, there will be no
     clarification as to which writer(s) wrote which chapters. We
     sincerely hope you stick around for the story as we tell it, first
     through Birthright, and then onto the other timelines! We have a
     great deal of material planned and will update whenever possible.
     Please do enjoy!
***** Prologue: Dreaming *****
There was this dream Hinoka had sometimes.
In it, she had just violated the woman she loves.
Those fragmented scenes always ended her sleep for the night, no matter how
early. As she lay there, covered in nervous sweat, she let the vague feeling of
shame drain away with the final wisps of the dream. There was nothing left in
bed for her – it was time to get up.
She looked out the window, the sky still black and star-filled. On the window
sill sat three folded pieces of paper - a Pegasus, its rider, and a second
person beside them. The two effigies were touching, the perfectly folded rider
touching its much more flawed neighbour, clumsily made by Corrin. She grinned
at it, recalling the dragon girl's twinkling eye as she had bent the elbow of
her little paper self.
"Now it's us."
The memory of their first night together swirled through the knight’s mind as
she readied herself for the day ahead. Training. Duties. Drills. Stratagem. And
then more training just as the sun came down. On this day, like all others
before it since Corrin had re-entered her life, Hinoka would have to endure her
painful sense of remorse. She flexed her arms; the only things that did not
slow. She then exhaled, emptying sleepy, stale breath out of her lungs.
Shame and guilt were useless unless used to create drive, she decided. The
woman nodded to herself as she reached for her training clothes. To prevent
anything like what happened in those dreams, she'd have to be as strong as
possible.
No sense in wasting time.
--
Breathe.
A steadying breath flew through Hinoka’s lips, its cool clarity easing her
aching muscles. The thought came again.
Breathe. Focus. She says you’re stronger when you do.
Suddenly feeling quite clearly the stillness and solitude of the darkening dojo
around her, Hinoka’s red eyes went to the weapon in her hand. There was nary a
waver in the speartip that was poised in a completed thrust before her, the
blade perfectly still following the peerless precision of her training strike.
The thing was more an extension of her own tensed body by this point, a
lifetime of training fixing the naginata to her hand. The curved tip wobbled
slightly as Hinoka’s thoughts drifted to the person she had taken up the lance
to protect.
Or, rather, reclaim.
Corrin.
Smiles, loving and adoring, flew across Hinoka’s face as the beaming visage of
her lost sister danced across her closed eyelids. That they had been reunited,
so suddenly and so peacefully, almost seemed to undermine the discipline she
had spent her whole adolescence honing. She had imagined storming Castle
Windmire with a squadron, death on her wings.
It doesn’t matter how, she thought. She’s back now, and you have to protect
her.
The woman sucked in a breath, the tired air of evening filtering into her lungs
alongside a flash of familiar, nauseating guilt. Vague memories that she felt,
dreamed from time to time. Always to do with Corrin. Always painful. Always
begging the question:
Protect her from who?
From Nohr? No. A quick glance at the joined sigils of Hoshido and Nohr that
hung from the dojo wall quickly dashed that thought. Both nations held equal
meaning here.
No, Hinoka thought bitterly as another hazy flash of a Corrin in pain flashed
against her. I’m more likely protecting her from myself.
Lowering her spear, Hinoka now felt quite alone in the quietude and
tranquillity of the dojo. She was painfully aware of her own exhaustion,
training a second time even after a full day of duties. She was intimately
aware of the sweat that trickled down her skin, seeping into her clothes and
dripping onto the floor. As thoughts of Corrin grew with each passing second,
guilt and delight mingling in her heart, so too did the desperate longing she
felt for the absent sister. She wished desperately for Corrin to appear, in all
her glory, to appear in that doorway and embrace her like she had on that night
when they had first-
The door slid open loudly.
“Corrin?” Hinoka asked it automatically.
The knight turned hopefully to face the source of the sound. Her heart leapt at
the mere possibility of her sister being present to grant her wish – instead,
the woman instead had to stuff back disappointment as she saw the entrant.
“N-no, ma’am. I’m sorry.” The young girl’s voice was respectful, apologetic.
“That’s… that’s fine, Soleil.” Hinoka paused, made awkward by the way the
silver-haired swordswoman and her friend bowed deeply in royal presence. “A-at
ease, you two are making me nervous.”
“We’re sorry!” Piped up Nina, the cheeky other accompanying the would-be hero.
“We were just… taught to always respect our betters.”
Betters. The word fell bitterly on Hinoka’s ears. With the dreams she had
sometimes, of betrayal, of hurt… she felt anything but a better.
“Keep sparring, and you’ll be my better one day.” The Hoshidan princess did her
best to sound cool.
It worked; Soleil went a bright and very vibrant red. “R-really!?” The girl’s
blush spread from ear to reddened ear. “No! You’re just saying that, your
highness.”
Smiling at the flustered girls until they passed her, Hinoka felt an odd sense
of fate about the two friends. She watched Soleil take up her place at
practice, Nina observing as she wrote idly in a small notepad that was
nonetheless stuffed with ideas. For some unknowable reason, the two seemed…
Important. Significant in some cosmic way that outstretched the boundaries of
this life alone. Hinoka tried to push the thought away – it was something she
could not contemplate when she was this tired.
Sighing, Hinoka tried to shrug off a growing pain in her arm. A dull throb had
been wedged in the tricep of her lance arm, and now the limb ached seemingly at
will.
Years of training screamed at her. Salve. Treat. Compress. The cruel logic of
the field never stopped its rolling commentary in her head. Don’t let it
worsen. She sighed, realising that she couldn’t afford to sleep of this kind of
burgeoning inflammation. That meant a trip to the apothecary –
Or it would, if she wasn’t related to a better option.
The hallways seemed to shorten for Hinoka as she traversed them, taking in the
quiet of the darkening hours. The entire castle was dressed in the exhaustion
of the early evening, and no doubt the fortress’ harder workers would already
be moving on to sleep shifts. The smile on the woman’s lips on broadened as she
grew closer to the warm and open door of her younger sister, Sakura.
“Sister!” The chirping sibling’s voice greeted Hinoka mere seconds before her
hug did. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Sakura,” the knight elder princess sighed, nonetheless patting her sister’s
pink hair affectionately. “It’s only been a few hours.”
“A few hours too long,” the maiden corrected, nuzzling her face into Hinoka’s
lean body. “Come in!”
It was warm inside the sparsely-decorated quarters, cosiness amplified by the
sound of bubbling, boiling water. A thin, comforting layer of steam filtered
through the air – to breathe in here was to breathe pure comfort.
“Oh… hi, Lady Hinoka…” Snapping to attention, the precocious diviner Hayato
looked up from what must have been three or four simultaneous tasks. He hastily
tried to rise, and then had to sink back down as he nearly knocked over a tall
inkwell. He looked sheepishly at the two sisters, then quickly flooded with
red-faced embarrassment. “I… I can’t get up.”
The display brought a teasing chuckle out of both siblings, only serving to
deepen the boy’s shade. “Don’t get up, Hayato,” Hinoka giggled jovially. “Good
to see you. How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Hinoka?”
“But-”
“Hells, even just… ‘sister’. You’re family now.”
At the mere insinuation of being more than a boyfriend, Hayato blushed and
stammered childishly on his words. “Y-yeah. Sorry! Hah.” He hastily turned back
to his implements – scrolls, beads, a kettle, charms, a curious length of rope,
everything in seemed in its right place to the boy.
“Please, sit down,” Sakura suggested, beaming at her warrior sister. “Ooh, I
know! Hayato, can you give us the tea you’ve brewed?”
He looked up dumbly. “Huh? B-but I was gonna read the leaves.”
Sakura’s patience was near-infinite. Near. “We have a guest, my sweet.” She
bent down to pick up the large, simmering teapot, adding a teasing kiss to the
boy’s cheek. “Besides, you’d just ruin it anyway. Sister, can you believe he
adds milk?”
“It’s fine, really,” Hinoka laughed, refusing to let the young couple be
disturbed on her account. “I just dropped by to see if you could do anything
about this.” A single gesture at the contentious muscle, and instantly Sakura’s
tender fingers nursed the spot with saintly gentleness.
“Ooh, yes,” she sighed, seeming saddened by even the slightest discomfort in
her sister. “I’ll fix this right up. Hold tight!”
Scurrying across the room to retrieve her festal, the girl wasted no time in
waving the light staff across her sister’s arm. With a flash of benign light
and a rush of soothing sensation, all the pressure and pain that had bunched in
Hinoka’s muscle drained away – merely a memory to be instantly forgotten.
“All done!” Sakura chirped. The knight flexed the arm, marvelling at how it
felt as fresh as it had before training – her sister really did seem like a
walking miracle sometimes. For the second time in only this short evening,
Hinoka felt a kind of connection from these two that stretched beyond this
life.
She looked at the pair, still growing and learning next to each other, and felt
a peculiar kind of magic. Something about them, a sense of arcane memory, some
appeal to a life previously lived. Like the two friends in the dojo, these
young lovers seemed significant in an unknown way.
“By the way, sister…” Sakura began, suddenly nervous as she cradled the teapot,
“did you… also get the invitation? T-to Princess Camilla’s luncheon?”
The older sister betrayed no emotion as she nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“A-and?”
“And I’ll be there, of course.”
The younger girl’s eyes lit up, and she turned to her boyfriend excitedly. “Oh,
wonderful – isn’t that great, my sweet? We’ll get to have fun with both
families!”
“Yeah. Great.” He seemed hesitant, and had been ever since that one Nohrian
name had been spoken. Camilla’s name, for some reason, clearly held difficult
meanings in his heart.
If pressed to tell truths, Hinoka’s feelings towards the woman were not
dissimilar.
“It is nice she’s doing this for Corrin,” Hinoka suggested with a blush. The
once-lost princess, despite all those dreams of a hard past life – or perhaps
in spite of them – seemed more determined than ever to harmoniously join her
two disparate families. They now ate together at meals, served together in
duties, and trained together in drills. As much as the Hoshidan princess hate
to admit it, Camilla had been endlessly co-operative in assisting this
initiative. The malig knight had made sure that the two previously warring
families now smiled and shared memories together.
Because that made Corrin happy, and Camilla enjoyed Corrin’s lips most when
they smiled.
“You seem unsure, sister.” Sakura seemed saddened by her sibling’s hesitation.
Snapped from her reverie, Hinoka shook her head. “No, no! I’m excited, I swear.
I’m just…”
“It’s okay,” the girl said, her voice soothing and warm. “I understand. You’re
like Hayato. Something about Princess Camilla makes you… uncomfortable.”
Suddenly bashful and guilty, Hinoka stammered back. “N-no! Not uncomfortable! I
just… still have trouble getting used to Nohrians.” It was no lie. “And Camilla
can be… overbearing company.”
Sakura stifled back giggles. “I can see that! I made friends with her, but
every so often she’ll do something that just… freaks me out! Is it… the same
with you?”
Memories of heavy gasps, wet lips, clasping skin. “Yeah,” Hinoka rasped.
“Something like that.”
Again, the warm arms of the pink sister wrapped around the knight’s midsection
and squeezed. “Well, stick together and we don’t have anything to be scared of.
Right, my sweet?”
 The proud diviner offered a shy smile as he watched his royal partner receive
pats on the head from her older sister. “Heh. Yeah.”
Sakura hummed contentedly. “We’re all together now. One big, loving family!”
Even as she said her goodbyes to the blossoming pair, Hinoka felt anxiety worm
its way back into her stomach. She had forgotten about the luncheon. Forgotten
temporarily about her rivalry with the lavender woman. Forgotten, as
unbelievable as it seemed, about Camilla.
The last piece of the worrisome puzzle.
The night deepened as Hinoka made her way through the part of the castle which
she called home. Each report of her heels was familiar to her now, the smell of
limestone bringing a fond smile to her lips. This was the place where all
trouble melted away like sleet, the place where sadness and fury gave way to
comfort and love. Here, there was no deadline, no schedule. The room ahead was
a sanctuary, the door to which she now stopped at.
This was Corrin’s quarters.
Hinoka raised her knuckles to knock, then caught herself. She could’ve laughed
at herself, if she wanted – a dozen times Corrin had scolded her for knocking,
and a dozen times Hinoka had gone to knock anyway. It was just how she felt;
she never wanted to intrude on Corrin. Never wanted to feel like she was
forcing herself on the girl.
The mechanism gave way, and Hinoka swung the door ajar with a delicate motion.
The barrier, now askew, gave way to the spacious enclosure of Corrin’s private
quarters. There was much to examine, if one looked – Hoshidan and Nohrian décor
displayed in tasteful unison, mementos of both families she treasured, books on
tactics and stratagem – but the knight’s eyes went straight to the bed, and
what she saw straightened her lips.
“Please don’t look so disappointed to see me, Prince,” Camilla said, never
losing her mischievous smile.
The other woman was a commanding presence. Powerful, intelligent, and
exceptionally beautiful, the eldest daughter of Nohr was the woman Hinoka
continually found herself in contention with for their mutual sister’s
affections. Right now she sat on Corrin’s bed, legs folded in a display of pure
control, her fingers gently tracing the pale skin of its sleeping occupant.
Cheeks reddened as Hinoka studied the slumbering girl. Corrin’s gentle face
seemed somehow even more wonderful in rest, soft and free from worries. Her
nightgown, a gauzy, black, ribboned thing that reeked of Nohr, hugged her form
within its silken lines. It made her so beautiful, so inviting – Hinoka crossed
the room to be closer.
“I thought you’d be touching her.” The red princess filled the statement, as
always, with accusation.
“I decided not to. She seemed so… distracted, tonight.” The other royal, as
always, didn’t seem to care. Still, not even Hinoka could deny that her voice
radiated warm concern.
“Huh. That doesn’t usually stop you.”
Camilla’s face lit up with sarcastic delight. “How much you’ve learned of me,
Prince!” Her eyes fell back to the sleeping woman, and her expression softened.
“But really, I just couldn’t tonight. She seemed so… sad. She wouldn’t have
liked it.”
“The memories again?”
Hinoka’s question beckoned a silence that stretched the air. Both women
maintained an uneasy contact, their eyes communicating wordless knowledge. Both
looked into the irises of the other and saw the very same thing: recollection
of a tragic past life.
“So she says,” Camilla sighed, at last breaking the gaze. “She said she
remembers more and more.” Another glance back at Hinoka. “Do you believe her,
Prince?”
Pacing over to the bed, the knight gently sat down on the other side of the
bed. “Of course,” she confessed, her own fingers brushing Corrin’s other cheek
gently. “I feel them too, sometimes. It’s only… fragments, but I can feel that
we’ve been through this before.”
“Not quite,” the Nohrian suggested with a shaking of her lavender locks. “She
said that… in the memories, she chose Hoshido. Chose you. That must be nice.”
Her tone was devilishly sweet. “So that’s your jurisdiction, Prince. What do
you remember?”
Shudders slithered up Hinoka’s spine as the memories of her crime assaulted her
again.
“N-no, all I can remember,” She said, risking tears, “is that I did… horrible
things. That I…” The knight’s voice became tiny as she craned her neck in
shame. “Th-that I hurt her.”
“Now now, Prince. No more tears. She wouldn’t like that.”
Lifting her head at the sudden and unexpected sympathy in the other royal’s
voice, Hinoka saw a Camilla caught in the contemplation of her own failures.
“At least, let me share them,” the woman continued, her smile bitter. “If my
memories are right, I wasn’t perfect either. Terrible things, to try and get
her back. I wasn’t myself, Prince.”
The two women met each other’s eyes once more as Camilla finished. “And neither
were you.”
Looking at Corrin’s face, contented in sleep, Hinoka tried to feel forgiven.
Her brow inevitably furrowed – she didn’t know if forgiveness was something she
could even ask for. The dreams, like the waking memories, were fragmented.
Incomplete. Scenes from a play never properly performed. She could only
comprehend the basics – blades crossing, betrayal… Corrin hurt by her hand.
“It’s okay,” Corrin had said once, when Hinoka had confessed to seeing them
too. The apologies had left her mouth before anything else, and so the dragon
girl hadn’t wasted a moment in embracing her scarlet sister. “I don’t think it
was you, Hinoka. Something inside you just got…” She had paused, trying to find
the right word in her complete sincerity. “…corrupted. That’s all.”
Hinoka smiled, remembering her final statement. “You’re my Hinoka, now. That’s
what matters.”
Minutes passed by in peaceful silence as they both watched their lover sleep,
her chest rising and falling with the light rhythm of rest. The two women
eventually reclined themselves onto the bed next to her, swinging their long
legs onto the mattress. As each lay on either side of the dragon girl, they
felt her shift in her sleep with loving motions. Corrin’s body stretched and
craned adoringly, shifting to fit the familiar contours of both her lovers.
Then she smiled and murmured, perfectly warm between the two.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Hinoka offered at last.
“Yes. So cute. And happy. We won’t hurt her this time.”
“No. We won’t.”
Another pause as both of them simply allowed their hearts to swell with love
for their Corrin.
“S-so what now?”
Brushing the hair out of her darling sister’s face, Camilla gave her sweetest
smile yet. “So now,” she said, “we let her sleep. Only by dreaming them can she
face those memories.” The lavender woman graced the girl’s forehead with a
kiss, before finishing with a sad smile. “And only then can she forgive us.”
Corrin smiled as Hinoka leaned down and kissed her as well, face aglow with
warmth. “Well,” the knight said, smiling a hopeful smile, “that means we have
to be worthy of it first.”
And so they cuddled into Corrin, reassuring the woman as she dreamed of a time
that went wrong.
***** Painted Red - Birthright, Part 1 *****
From within the flickering candlelight of her room in Krackenburg Castle,
Camilla, the eldest daughter of Nohr, rehearsed. She cast her eyes over the
various maps and battle plans laid out over her desk. They held nothing
interesting to her, now. Read and memorized, squeezed of as much information as
they could be, they were just useless pieces of paper under her hand. The hand
which held the true focus of her interest. A memory played in her mind, of
better times, of a time that would happen again.
“H-hey! Camilla! I can fix my own hair!” Corrin had said, false indignation at
being treated like a child at the hands of her doting sister.
“Of course, darling,” Camilla had cooed, parting and combing back the mess of
silver hair. “But you forget, I like doing this.”
After setting the ribbon back, she pressed their cheeks together, her spools of
lavender hair spilling over Corrin’s shoulders.
“There. Adorable.”
This memory had been playing on repeat since Camilla had started holding the
ribbon. Black and velvet, it had belonged to Corrin. Her Corrin, who months ago
had been snatched by the Hoshidans and forced to choose them over her true
family. Now, she had even been forced to fight them. The whole situation
squeezed at Camilla’s heart. How scared poor Corrin must be, alone and afraid –
and clinging to that Pegasus knight with crimson hair. Trying to find her older
sister and finding only a shabby imitation.
She had seen them at Cheve, Corrin virtually never leaving the thief’s side.
The memory of Corrin running to her for protection and love filled Camilla with
a cold rage. That was her place, and she wasn’t going to be replaced – not by
some backwater princess, certainly.
She looked to the window, wondering what Corrin was doing.
--
Corrin knew she had to stop this. She sat in her bed, staring at wet hands,
shuddering; a reaction to halting as much as revulsion. But she didn’t know
what to do; she just felt full of Camilla. Against her eyelids memories played,
in hear ears, whispers. Skin ached for the comfort of being enveloped in soft
flesh. She even smelled lavender perfume if she paid attention.
This had to stop. She took a steadying breath as she decided what to do. There
were a few reasons why she had picked Hoshido, and it was time to go see the
biggest one – Hinoka.
--
Corrin’s perpetually bare feet shifted her weight, restless in front of the
wooden door. Having just knocked and hearing movement behind it, it was too
late to risk making any more noise than necessary. After what seemed like a few
minutes – even though it had actually been seconds – the door opened to reveal
a half-asleep Hinoka.
She was almost the complete opposite of what Corrin had on her mind. Where she
wanted cascading lilac tresses, there was a short mess of fire. A life of
discipline and training had made planes instead of curves; only enough flesh
for what needed to be done, nothing more. And yet, for all their differences,
her heart still skipped a beat. Despite being almost the antithesis of what she
craved, something inside her still whispered, perfect. Because she was, too:
Hinoka’s body was a testament to her continued effort to protect, whether
friends, family or home.
“I was sleep- ...’Rin? Are you -” she interrupted herself with a yawn,
“alright?” Her eyes began to clear. “Is something wrong?”
Not even waiting for an answer, Hinoka stepped aside, an invitation Corrin
readily accepted, walking into the room and relishing the click of the lock.
Corrin paused once she stepped past the threshold. Shame grabbed her throat,
making her attempts to explain pointless.
Tears sprang to her eyes.
"W-woah! What's wrong?"  Hinoka took the few steps between them and pulled her
sibling into a hug. It made it worse. Something in Corrin broke, and she began
crying in earnest. She wanted to be enveloped; no matter how Hinoka tried,
there just wasn't enough of her to do that. She could take on any trial, any
worry onto her shoulders, any number of enemies, but she couldn't ever be a
wall to the rest of the world.
"I-I feel like I've been unfaithful," Corrin began, her face buried into
Hinoka's neck. She felt Hinoka freeze against her. "Ever since Cheve... C-
Camilla has been like a toxin, like she flows through me. I can't help it. I-
I..." She sobbed, guilt preventing her from continuing.
Hinoka had no idea what to say. All she could think of to do was to squeeze
tighter, tilt her head to Corrin's ear and mumble, "It's not your fault. It's
alright." But it felt like a lie as her mind burned. Why not tell me? What did
she do to you? For how long? I knew she was a pervert. Freak. How dare she.
But the brightest thought in her brain was, she's not yours. No matter what
you did, she's mine.
It was a desperate, unconvincing line that seemed to echo inside her head. Her
whole body tensed in reaction to that feeling. Hinoka wasn’t one to ruminate on
problems, though, she solved them. "Is there anything I can do?"
Letting out only a few sobs before getting a better hold of herself, Corrin
mumbled something further.
"I didn't-"
"Fix me."
Hinoka’s pause only lasted a breath. "Don't need to ask me twice."
Corrin bit back a disappointed sigh. Usually the knight's one liners left her
giggling, in love with her awkwardness. It was a part of Hinoka, intrinsic to a
life spent dedicated to becoming stronger, ignoring social entanglements as
frivolous. Not tonight.
Hinoka – unaware of the inner turmoil that Corrin felt – smiled the softest of
smiles, her teeth closing around the tip of her sister's ear, making her
shudder. Another wave was brought on by the taller woman kissing down her neck.
A moan rumbled through Corrin when the skin connecting her neck to her shoulder
was bitten.
And yet, Corrin still wanted something else. Slow? Torturous? Hinoka couldn't
ever do that. She promised pleasure all the same, but it was so different. She
figured out the best way, the most efficient, and used that. Why delay
completion when it was so easy to reach? Corrin scrunched her eyes. I’m in
Hoshido, I chose Hinoka. Corrin’s mind repeated itself. I chose her.
"H-Hinoka..."
The woman in question lightly pushed Corrin in the chest with her hand, an
order to move backwards. Corrin's hands were trying to work the buttons on her
shirt, arousal making her clumsy and slow. The hands were waved away, Hinoka’s
making quick work of the buttons, essentially ripping the clothing off of the
trembling girl.
Corrin almost fell backwards into the bed when her knees hit the frame, knees
so shaky from lust that they threatened to give out. She slid back on the
mattress, bumping the wall, relishing the cool stone as she leaned into it.
Almost faster than Corrin could follow, Hinoka leapt forward, kneeling between
the legs of her lover. She ripped open the string at the front of Corrin’s
trousers. Instantly, there were fingers – rubbing, exploring, reaching. It was
so wet. Too wet. Realization swept over Hinoka – of course. Corrin had looked
so guilty, after all.
Terror flashed, threatening to overwhelm the mask she had carefully built
around herself. No. I can’t be afraid. She let rage swallow it down. Hinoka's
gaze hardened while Corrin's wilted in shame, looking away to the hand between
her legs.
"S-stop. L-let me…" Corrin whispered. Just paint me, she thought. I am so sick
of purple.
Hinoka narrowed her eyes. "Why? How would you touching help?" She dipped her
head and nipped the top of a breast. "How can I know you're not thinking of
her? How will you know it's me?"
Hinoka regretted saying this as soon as the words left her mouth - Corrin
wasn’t allowed to see her weaknesses. That wasn’t who Hinoka was. She was
strong and fearless... at least, that’s all she wanted to be. She looked up,
red eyes blazing with anger; Corrin thought she saw something flicker
underneath.
Her eyes widened; this is what she had wanted – to be fixed by Hinoka,
whichever way that may be. She nodded. "R...right! Of course!"
She nipped again, seeing the shallow grooves of her teeth in Corrin's flesh
filling her with a satisfaction she wouldn't have ever admitted to. She barely
heard the squeak of surprise, so deep was she into her own thoughts. She's
mine. There's proof.
With no warning, a jolt of pleasure made Corrin jerk as two fingers entered
her.
"Remember what you said at Cheve?" Hinoka raised her head, face so close her
panted breaths warmed Corrin's cheeks. "What did you tell me?"
The memory of Camilla walking up to her, encircling her, made Corrin stiffen.
That touch, that voice, that smell – stop. Think of Hinoka. Of her words. Her
mind switched to the next scene, against a wall after the Hoshidan debriefing.
Corrin's command had been clear: No one would be killing Camilla, or any other
of her siblings.
"We need to, she's dangerous!" Hinoka had tried to explain, face becoming a
more and more alarming shade of crimson as she tried to convey how stupid it
would be to leave such a strong enemy combatant to continue fighting. She had
been shaking with frustration at the commander’s desk, head bowed and eyes
squeezed shut when she realized she wasn’t going to be able to convince Corrin.
The final decision to not execute Nohr’s eldest princess had filled the Pegasus
knight with fear. Hinoka closed in, pinning Corrin to the wall of the war room
once everyone had left. Hands holding wrists, thigh between thighs, eyes
begging for a rebuke, a reason to get angry.
None given. Corrin had stood there, breathing through her teeth, close to being
overwhelmed by the knight's anxiety. It was as though she had been left naked
by their brush with Camilla. Without that, it would have felt normal, exciting
even; Hinoka pinning her against something as she brought her face close.
"You're mine," Hinoka had blurted out. It wasn't a question, it was a
statement, sounding much more certain than she felt. "No matter what she does,
or says, you're mine."
Corrin had nodded quickly, blushing. "O-of course. I belong here in Hoshido;
with you. Camilla couldn’t take me away." Already, lavender was pumping through
her veins. “There’s only you, Hinoka.”
Even then, Corrin had felt like it was only half a lie.
In the present, Hinoka blinked at Corrin, waiting for a response. “Well?”
Feeling fingers moving, Corrin’s walls clenched, trying to hold them still. A
moan jerked out of her.
"I-I wouldn't leave. I'll always come back. You're mine, and I'm y-yours."
"What else?" Hinoka's eyes bored into Corrin's, her fingers curling every so
often, reminding Corrin who she was full of.
"That they -"
"They?"
"She. C-Camilla. I wouldn't," Corrin corrected herself, "I won't let her take
me away."
"Neither will I," Hinoka promised. "No one will take you away again."
The kiss that followed felt like it was going to bruise lips, trying to
manifest more than a decade of guilt, anger, and dedication. How could anyone
like Camilla know anything about this, she thought, her other hand dragging
down Corrin's waist so nails left angry red trails behind them. How could
anyone.
Five hard points of pressure then squeezed at Corrin's hipbone, making her
insides clench. Hinoka did not not release, even as her lover squirmed and
moaned at the lingering pain of it.
Let her body be painted with red, if her mind couldn't be emptied of lavender.
Hands hung useless at her sides. What could she do with them? She was half
afraid touching Hinoka would burn her. And touching herself was out of the
question - the fingers inside her moved as if in an act of aggression,
precluding any other involvement.
Hinoka was back to biting her across her chest, leaving pink skin and spittle
in her wake. Every few nips she glanced up, her eyes searching for something in
Corrin’s face. If she knew what was being looked at for she’d have radiated it,
shouted it. She wished she knew what the right thing to say was. She whispered
her knight’s name again in absence of anything else to say as she cautiously
raised a hand to her sister’s cheek.
Hinoka resisted the urge to shake the thing off. If she wanted to be cleansed,
she was thinking of it much too softly, she thought, pulling away to see the
results of her teeth and Corrin’s skin. She chuckled as she turned her head
into the hand and quickly bit into the soft flesh.
Whimpers reached out as Corrin squeezed in reflex, fingers harmlessly digging
into the smirking face underneath them. She couldn’t do anything else. She
wanted to tell Hinoka to do something that Camilla would do. That was much too
cruel for Corrin; she couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that to the Pegasus knight. Maybe
just to touch someone would help. She didn’t care whether it was herself or the
woman in front of her.
Shakily, she began to form the question, but didn’t get through the first word.
Starting the request with 'can' had not been the best idea. In response,
Hinoka’s face changed imperceptibly, everything seeming to crack before tensing
back into that mask of fury. She then stilled, the moan of disappointment
elicited from Corrin making her shiver.
“What did you say?” It was deadly, a threat Corrin recognized: it was the same
clipped tone she took with Nohrian soldiers. Ones who had done wrong.
Corrin felt actual fear in her, a deep coiling in her insides; the look was
drenched in rage. She winced as if struck, squirming under the weight of
Hinoka’s hatred. “I just wanted to t-touch you,” she whispered. “...Or myself.
I just want to touch…”
The heaviness of guilt was no stranger to Hinoka as she now felt its familiar
weight destroy her armour of indignation. It was almost comforting. Her face
softened, her free hand crossing to to Corrin and pausing on her cheek.
“Forgive me,” she said, pulling the hand down and guiding it between its
owner’s thighs. “I… shouldn’t talk to you like that.” Hinoka winced as she said
this, ashamed she would talk to her lover like an enemy. That’s not what she
was supposed to be to Corrin; she was her protector, not some threatening
jailor.
Not like Camilla.
Forgiveness came from Corrin like breath; so as it was asked, it was given. The
fear disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared – it was Hinoka, after
all. Leaning forward, the knight kissed the trail of teeth marks across her
sister’s chest, her breasts, her neck. They reminded Hinoka of burn marks as
she whispered apologies and pledges to their bearer.
Shame burdened her movements, making them slow, languid; Corrin's hips writhed,
trying to eke out some sort of stimulation out of the still digits pressed to
her. This was what Corrin had wanted, though: to crave completion without being
offered a way to get there. She whined in need as her captured fingers caressed
her folds with one swipe, then were brought to Hinoka’s lips. Mercifully the
taller woman’s other hand, still nestled in the girl, began to move again.
“I just want to be yours,” Hinoka admitted, voice soft. “I’ve always wanted
that.”
With a sigh, she slid Corrin’s fingers in her mouth, moaning at the taste, the
evidence, of her pleasure.
Corrin all but choked at the action. She remembered Camilla tasting her,
tracing fingers over her lips to make her shudder – I am with Hinoka. Stop
this.
And with a groan, Corrin came, slumping into Hinoka’s shoulder, arm wrapping
around her neck, whispering snatches of names and love into the soft flesh.
Whimpers escaped the silver girl as her scarlet lover withdrew, Hinoka’s
fingers leaving her folds. She then returned Corrin’s own moist fingers to her,
squeezing the digits in the chill of night. They sat like that for quite some
time, Corrin leaning into the lean body of the knight. She tried to not think
of the fullness of thighs or the swell of breasts.
It didn’t work.
Finally, Hinoka asked, “Do you feel better?”
 “Yes,” she lied. Corrin was still full of lavender, its scent rushing through
her veins like a drug. One more thought slipped from her lips. “I just hope she
isn’t lonely.”
A kiss on her head replaced a scathing remark about who deserved to be lonely.
I wonder if she thinks of me, Corrin mused as she let herself be laid down in
bed. Blankets wrapped around her body, then Hinoka herself. Corrin snuggled
into the heat of her, relishing the feeling of her beloved knight, but wanting
something else as well. Someone more.
She didn’t know if Camilla thinking of her would make her happy or sad. I just
hope she doesn’t feel like this, at least, Corrin thought to herself. Her body
throbbed. Hinoka, her choice, settled around her, warm despite Corrin’s
emptiness. Warm despite the need for something she could not have.
No one should.
--
There was a knock on Camilla’s door, pulling her from the reverie. Stuffing the
hairpiece back into her armour, she got up and opened the door to a Nohrian
soldier.
“Princess. About tomorrow’s battle. Lord Xander has specific orders for you.”
“Tomorrow? It’ll just be stragglers.”
"Yes, but... our recon teams have seen what looks like an honour guard. We
think it's mostly likely the younger princess. Lord Xander says you are to
capture and transport any Hoshidan royalty.”
She nodded. Sakura was the small one, the one who actually looked like a
princess. Gears started turning in her mind, pieces falling into place. What a
chip she would be if it came to bargaining with Corrin.
Or, she corrected herself, for Corrin.
With a nod, she dismissed him, the soldier turning on his heel, and Camilla
turning back to the window.
Being denied anything was a foreign feeling to her. Ever since childhood, walls
would lean in to listen to what she said, light would bend to shine on her in
the most flattering way. To the eldest princess of Nohr, having something
precious taken away was a situation that would not stand.
She would get her Corrin back, no matter what.
***** Priority Target - Birthright, Part 2 *****
As he ran, Hayato wondered how many retainers had died protecting the Hoshidan
royal family.
He needed to know, after all, if his name would be in good company.
Princess Sakura’s hand did not dare weaken its white-knuckled grip for even a
moment, her fingers clenched around his as if their touch was that of life
itself. Their bodies heaved with effort, legs and lungs working to exertion in
order to buy precious seconds of additional time.
He risked a look back. There, behind the princess’ cherry-blossom locks, Hayato
caught sight of their pursuers – a pair of sweating, grunting Nohrian
mercenaries with wild and ambitious eyes. Their swords glinted hungrily in the
overharsh sun. Sakura, for her part, did not dare turn around, keeping her eyes
instead fixed on the dead end that rapidly approached them.
Her companion swung around, sweeping her behind him with a guiding swivel of
his arm. His reddish-brown tufts of lengthy hair bounced with sudden inertia,
and Sakura was suddenly between the buffer of his body and the unscaleable rock
wall that had intersected their path. A flash; Hayato had spun his magic
scroll, unleashing a fistful of deadly sorcery with a flick of his wrist.
Pained hollering was all Sakura heard at first. She spun on her heel, staff
ready to heal – instead, however, she thrilled to see the efforts of her mage.
Her beloved mage.
Pounding in her ears, the girl’s heart now jumped forward a few vital beats as
she glimpsed Hayato in action. His lips were pursed and his eyes narrowed in
deadly concentration, his arms posed all the way to his fingers with the
flourish of a skilled Diviner. The scroll he had channelled still spun around
his outstretched fingers, traces of smokelike magic still lingering from the
Tiger Spirit he had summoned to gore their Nohrian foe.
“Leave,” he ordered, eyes following the hasty movements of the remaining man.
“Your friend is bleeding out. You can save him if you leave now!” His
instructions attempted authority, but youth stopped them just short of the
intended firmness.
Sakura gripped her staff close to her breast – Hayato was brave, but this
second thug had a crazed glint in his eye.
“You think I’m stupid, kid?” His voice was deranged glee. “I don’t care ‘bout
him. For the girl, though…” His sword tilted in his hands, flicking forward to
readiness. “For her a get a pair of rewards… gold and flesh.”
Tension boiled the air between them as Hayato again spun the plates of his
scroll. They circled his arm, ready to unleash their guardian spirits, but he
was too close. A second’s delay – or worse, a miss – would doom them both.
Then, as if summoned, doom descended.
Both combatants scrambled back as a pair of gnashing wyverns were suddenly upon
them, the savage creatures presided over by a midnight-clad woman who rode the
larger beast. Her wavy locks of urgent violet hair, upturned nose, and piercing
gaze of effortless and exacting calm gave the woman away.
This was a royal of Nohr.
“Ha!” the mercenary guffawed. “Princess Camilla! You’re screwed now, kid!”
From atop her living throne mighty Camilla examined the scene at hand; notably,
her opponents. Both teenagers felt a chill slide down their spines, sweat cold
as the woman’s eyes greased over them. She seemed to detect the stench of
desperate, mortal fear caused by the maddened soldier still leering at the
Hoshidan princess.
“Beruka, dear?” Her voice was control. Perfect, peerless command. If Hayato had
not been pledged to Hoshido, he might’ve hastened to answer it.
“Yes, Commander?” The petite woman at the reins of the other wyvern,
imperceptibly still until this point, now stirred.
“Remove our footman, he’s being uncouth. And make it look like the enemy did
it.”
“As you wish.”
Before he could question the order, the man was reduced to screams as Beruka’s
lizard lunged forward and forced its keratin talon through his calf. Pulling
him to the ground and dragging him like a careless child with a doll, Sakura
was forced to clench her eyes shut and fasten herself to Hayato’s arm as the
rider and mount retreated – raking their pierced prey across the cragged, burnt
ground into the distance.
Expelling the breath he’d been holding, Hayato reassuringly squeezed Sakura’s
fingers, but did not tear his wary gaze from the true threat for even a moment.
Dismounting to the receding cries of pain, Camilla flicked her luscious hair
flippantly. Her stare settled on the demure girl.
“Princess Sakura of Hoshido,” she said coolly. “We have a sister in common.”
This unexpected statement caused the young woman to open one cautious eye.
Somehow, this reminded Camilla of her own younger sister. So cute. Just like
Elise.
The woman’s smile became overripe with sweetness. “Won’t you talk to me,
darling?”
This made her retreat slightly behind her mage boy.
“Alright,” Camilla snapped, shifting her gaze to the scruffy youth. “You, then.
Bodyguard?”
He grit his teeth, saying nothing. The Nohrian smirked. “Boyfriend. Got it.”
Watching scarlet spread in their cheeks, Camilla made her weapon startlingly
visible. “Alright. So, children, here’s how this is going to happen. It’ll make
poor Corrin upset, but my orders are to capture sweet little royals like you on
sight, Princess.”
The woman tried not to let her inner fury show. The image of Corrin with that
red-haired wench flashed in her mind. Revenge filled her veins like acid.
Getting Corrin upset, she thought, is precisely the point.
“Y-you’re not getting her!” The boy stammered. Camilla caught the flicker of
motion in his hand before it completed, and so faster than his magic could
build to potency Camilla lashed out. With swift savageness her steel axe thrust
into the swirling circle of the mage’s scroll and shredded the wooden slates
into sawdust. Torn shreds of arcane wood fell to the ground in sequence.
Camilla advanced. “You’re in over your head, boy,” she chided. “Still, that you
tried at all is… admirable. I can see why Corrin trusts you with her precious
‘sister’.” She dwarfed the boy with her closeness. “Now seal those lips and
listen.”
A desperate, defiant cry as he swung the girl’s healing staff at Camilla, fear
flashing in his eyes as he was disarmed and restrained with only barest effort.
The woman gripped his wrists in one of her hands. “Listen to me,” she hissed,
threat lacing every word. “I know it hurts, but-”
“Let him go…!”
The princess had stepped forward, eyes watering but determined not to cry as
she met Camilla’s examining gaze. “I-I’ll come quietly if you let him go
safely.”
Hayato fell back with a thud, casually shoved aside by the wyvern knight as she
advanced on Sakura and looked the girl over anew.
“You’re a brave girl. You’d trade your life for his.”
“O-of course.” She hid her eyes behind her rosy hair. “I… I love him.”
Feeling her heart seize in her chest, Camilla fought back the sudden waves of
guilt that assailed her. She did not offer her customary retort – this girl’s
love was not something to be casually disrespected.
“I understand,” she said instead, kneeling down to her height. “I’m… sorry. I
really am.” Turning to the diviner, she gestured to him also. “I know you don’t
want to leave her, either. But I promise you, she’ll be safe. My lord brother
and I will make sure of it.”
Conviction carried her words. She could leave no room for doubt, in their minds
or in her own. She imagined a time beyond conflict. Corrin in her arms again,
Xander on the throne. It was a promise of a happy future – and this poor girl’s
capture was the first step towards it.
Yet, pity still squeezed at her heart as the younger princess reached for her
distraught boyfriend.
“Look,” Camilla said to both. “You two will be together again. Maybe after the
war… maybe even before. Corrin might want to negotiate.”
Hopefully, she thought. So long as she realises that the trade will be costly.
Gesturing the two towards one another, the woman tried desperately to make the
moment seem generous. “Go on. Say goodbye.”
Trembling, the tearful pair flew into each other’s arms, a jumble of hair and
hormones. They squeezed each other to the point of pain, whispers and whimpers
of reassurance flying between them.
“I’m sorry,” he kept wailing.
“It’s not your fault,” she kept returning, soothing him.
Watching them swap tears and tentative touches, Camilla felt sympathy morph
into sadness. When the Hoshidan scourge had stolen her Corrin, forced her to
choose them over her true home of Nohr, Camilla had longed for the chance to
say goodbye.
“I… I wasn’t strong enough…”
“I’ll be okay… just… be strong for me now, my sweet.”
For these two, so young and so raw, this departure may as well be forever.
She watched them kiss, quivering lips imparting delicate passions, motions
loaded with things unsaid – and deeds undone. Unsung desires and passions
flitting between them. I cannot hurt them. The plan depends on it.Corrin needed
to be reminded of Camilla’s gentleness, her softness. Her mercy. The only
remaining question, then, was how best to still make an impression.
“Boy.” Her voice cut the air. “Does my sister trust you around the princess?”
A tentative nod. The Nohrian chuckled at his confusion, at the way the
distraught boy scrabbled for any lifeline he was offered.
“So, you’re her retainer. Perhaps not in the official sense, but…” She
pretended to examine them. “Does Corrin know about your little relationship?”
It was Sakura who answered this time, eyes filled and cheeks flushed with the
separate scarlets of sadness and attraction. “Y-yes. We’ve told her.”
We. It said it all. “And she approves?”
“Yes. She… she has us to dinner sometimes.”
Clapping her hands together, Camilla played coy through her beaming smile.
“Terrific! She likes you. I like you, too. Just one more question…”
Suddenly she was close, too close. “Have you two been intimate yet?”
Blood rushed their faces instantly. Sakura hid her face and her partner
stammered incessantly. “N-no! Of course not!”
“Why not? You’re clearly very enamoured.”
Oh, how she loved watching them squirm. Watching them struggle to articulate
reasons they did not know how to describe. Things like station, honour,
culture, commitment, adult concepts all equally alien to these infants.
Concepts all equally worthless to Camilla.
“Alright,” she sighed. “I’m going to let you two say goodbye properly. I’d be
cruel if I didn’t.”
Her fingers gripped the diviner’s arm, dragging him apart from his young
girlfriend and forcing him to his knees. The sable armour of her gauntleted
hand then rested threateningly on Hayato’s shoulder as they turned to face the
pink princess.
“Sit,” Camilla commanded.
Doing as she was told, the gentle girl rested on her knees, gazing at her
lover, the two breathing nervous gasps across the distance.
“Now, boy,” Whispers in his ear. “Perform for her.”
Grasping her meaning, Hayato shook his head with an awful sob. The grip of the
armoured hand tightened menacingly, threatening his bare shoulder with bruising
dimples. She could not truly harm him, of course. Getting Corrin back relied on
them being unhurt.
But they didn’t know that.
“You touch yourself for her, or I’ll do it. And I will not be gentle.”
Fear and shame stabbed at the boy as, resigned, he slipped undone the knots on
his shorts and let them fall, exposing the bare skin of his thighs. “Good,”
Camilla sighed, keeping her eyes fixed on the other royal as Hayato slid down
his briefs and took his firm member in his hand.
Expecting to find shame and sympathy in the watching girl’s eyes, the elder
princess was somewhat surprised to see that she struggled with her own intense
curiosity. Camilla's heart squeezed for the young princess, unsolicited
memories of guiding Leo and Elise through the overtures of puberty racing
through Camilla's mind. This Sakura had that same hesitation, that same curious
despondency.
She was indeed so like Elise, Camilla thought. Well, if Elise had been raised
in a nation of honour-obsessed prudes. She left Hayato’s side, moving to the
girl.I will free her from them, she determined. I will reward her daring, and
remind Corrin – she made the wrong choice.
Hayato flinched at Camilla’s giggling, his rhythm of light strokes and touches
interrupted. “Look at you,” she chided. “You’re bone dry. I thought you loved
her?” He choked under her words, his posture shrinking and slumping. “Maybe you
just need a little… stimulus.”
Not daring to watch their captor’s movements, the Hoshidan princess panicked as
she felt lavender hair spill over her shoulders, enveloping her, marking her.
The wyvern knight’s hands seized upon her hips, pushing in at her red skirt,
beginning to move her.
“Stick your chest out,” she advised. “Give him something to focus on.”
Balling her hands on her thighs, Sakura stretched her back – pushing her bosom
out towards her lover. Arousal sparkled in his eyes, and ease found its way
into his fingers as he doubtless imagined the girl underneath the robing.
“That’s good, boyfriend. Show her what you can offer her.” The woman then
caressed Sakura’s arms, her fingers scraping gently up the girl’s arms, making
her wince as the armour left thin white trails on her skin. “Now it’s your
turn, princess.”
“No,” Hayato breathed, glowering at her as he pumped. “I’m doing what you want.
D-don’t hurt her.”
“Silly boy.” Camilla reached down and yanked the girl’s skirt up, causing her
to yelp loudly. “Your body offers me nothing. You’re not half as beautiful as
your darling little princess.”
Tears stung at Sakura’s eyes as she tried to cover herself, the sight of her
white panties nonetheless causing the boys’ glans to slicken with precum.
Wordlessly, gently, Camilla rolled the girl’s hips, encouraging her to move.
What the Nohrian whispered into his lover’s ears Hayato could not discern,
however these fervent whispers caused the smaller girl’s eyes to narrow and her
fingers to settle into the fabric of her undergarments, pawing and stroking at
herself.
“That’s good,” Camilla whispered. “You control your fingers, I control
everything else. Is that clear?”
“Nn…nngh.” As one hand slipped into her smallclothes, Sakura let her other fly
to now-exposed skin of her breast.
“You’re enjoying this. What are you thinking about? How did you two imagine it
happening? Are you healing him after he gets hurt, darling? How about you?
Perhaps her skin was so warm from the baths, you had to kiss her?”
Both of them gasped and clenched. Simple laughter from Camilla. They were too
easy. “Have you never even touched yourself before?”
Sakura stammered an answer. “Not… not like this.”
Visions of the girl rubbing her dry self on her staff, a table edge, possibly
one of her little boyfriend’s arms as he slept. Each one filled Camilla with
pity, enjoying watching the girl melt as she fell in love with her own touch.
She could not resist. “And your sister never taught you? How cruel.”
By now Hayato was slowing, his awkwardness taking over, unable to continue his
carnal act. His mouth was curled downwards with upset at how Camilla threatened
his love. The way Sakura touched herself intoxicated him – but even despite
that need of sex, he stopped pumping his skin, holding his dribbling shaft and
squeezing his legs together to compensate for the sudden vacuum of contact.
“Still trying to be a hero?”
The words snapped the Diviner back to attention, Camilla’s upturned nose hiding
her intent behind a layer of cruel command. “I didn’t say that you could stop.
And your darling is working so hard. Look at her, taking control of her own
pleasure.”
Moisture had dampened the pristine white cloth of her panties now, her fingers
slick and her moans spilling out in a procession of inexperienced gasps.
“It seems you both need reminding who’s really in charge.”
The pink-haired girl all but cried out as the captor curled her fingers around
Sakura’s panties and slid them down her thighs, revealing the pert skin of her
wettened entrance. A thin trail of aroused fluid trailed from the garment as it
fell, and so Camilla held Sakura’s arm cruelly as she displayed the girl to
Hayato.
“Lucky you,” she cooed, glancing at her. “Not many get to make love straight
away.”
Realising her meaning with a shudder, the girl shook her head madly. “N-no. I’m
not ready for that.”
Hayato found himself lifted by his collar, and was dragged struggling until he
was just in front of his partner. “What about you, boy?” the lavender woman
asked. “Do you want this?”
She was so close to them, she may as well have been a third participant. “N…not
if Sakura doesn’t want it.”
That chuckle. That dreadful, all-swallowing chuckle.
“Cute. So cute, both of you.”
Her hands suddenly clamped each of them at the back of their heads.
“But your bodies. Say. Yes.”
They were pushed into contact, their lips forced to collide in a clasping of
glistening skin. They could barely whimper, much less speak as their mouths
were squeezed to bruising under Camilla’s dire guidance. When she let go they
broke apart, sucking in air, desperately gasping as they tasted their forcibly
swapped spittle.
“You two are so sweet. Now. Enter her.”
He refused.
“Enter. Her.”
“Please… no...”
Camilla did not ask a third time. She grabbed him and pulled him closer, drew
him in until the bodies of the two youths pressed together like flowers in
tandem blossom. Their nipples touched. Their bodies twitched. Hayato begin to
cry freely as his tip brushed against her folds.
“P…please… don’t make me…” His sobbing was panicked and intense. It was not
becoming, after all, of a servant to deflower his master. “D-don’t make me hurt
her…”
“My sweet,” Sakura moaned, her smile as reassuring as it could be. “Y-you won’t
hurt me.”
“It will hurt,” Camilla objected. “But not for long. Promise.”
As his member slid into her, the diviner gasped with sudden and uneven
pleasure. His wet glands of skin throbbed in time to his partner’s pained
ecstasy, the girl feeling her walls push against something for the first time.
“Are you okay?” He whispered.
“Yes… just…” she gulped in air. “Just give me a moment.”
“Don’t stop.” Camilla’s order snapped their fragile connection.
The two began to grind against each other, Sakura biting back against the
virginal pain that wracked through her loins, taking much too long to
transition into pleasure. Hayato had his hands in her hair, resting her head on
his shoulder as he rolled his hips in wavelike motions, the piston of his
swollen cock continually pushing into her. Eventually, the girl’s body adjusted
to the pleasure of their contact, and she hugged back against her lover, her
sex wet and dilated around him.
“All that exposed skin,” Camilla chided, pushing Hayato’s lips onto Sakura’s
exposed breast. “You have a tongue. Use it.”
His mouth deliberated there, as if he hoped the Nohrian would shift her focus
elsewhere. No such luck. “Boy, take that nipple in your mouth now or I will
make it bleed.”
This deeply personal threat persuaded Hayato, the tears flowing once more.
Shivers ran all throughout the girl as her lover’s lips kissed at her exposed
nub, sliding upon its velvet surface with curious touches. Camilla had
positioned herself behind Sakura, the woman bracing the girl as she endured the
mage’s inconstant thrusts. The smaller girl squeezed her thighs and moaned, her
pleasure approaching peak – with her lover before her and Camilla’s softness
behind her, there could be no doubt of the pleasure that wracked its way
through her. Digging her nails into Hayato’s back, she came.
With a joyous cry, her walls clenched and expelled the wet ebullience of her
pleasure. Fluid splashed across the boy’s groin and thighs as she tearfully
melted into him, her shoulders slumping. Her pleasure completed.
Their ordeal, over.
His deep discomfort still working at him, Hayato began to withdraw his manhood.
“Stopping again?” Their captor’s voice was torture in itself. “You’re not
finished.”
“Please…” Sakura begged. “Please, just let us go…”
“No way. Boy, you stay inside her or neither of you leave alive.”
That did it. With a frustrated grunt the young man paused, his shaft still
soaking inside Sakura’s sore, warm body. Camilla, stretching her arms out, took
the captive girl by her waist. Sakura cried out at this, the sharp pain of
continuing stinging at her.
“Alright, little princess,” the woman breathed. “We’re just going to go up and
down, alright?”
“Stop!” Hayato demanded, glaring at Camilla, eyes full of hate and sorrow.
“You’re hurting her!”
“Don’t… don’t worry, my sweet,” the Hoshidan breathed. “I’ll endure it. For
you.”
“You both will,” Camilla reminded them, “or one of you will watch as I take the
other.”
Lacking the knowledge that it was a bluff, the threat was enough for Sakura to
resign. She let Camilla’s arms settle around her abdomen. The Diviner, fighting
the helplessness in his heart, pleaded with their captive through half-lidded
eyes.
“Just… please. Don’t touch her anymore. Hurt me instead. I don’t know what we
did, but… please.”
Feeling sudden indignation rise in her throat, Camilla stifled the urge to slap
the boy. The only thing more frustrating than his earnestness was his
correctness – she looked at these two and saw only the nation Corrin had left
her for.
When she saw these two, she saw only things dear to Hinoka. Dear to the red-
haired thief who had stolen her lover.
She wanted to destroy them. To tear their innocence to shreds. To send them
back naked and crying. To destroy their fantasies, one at a time, until their
intimacy drove them apart.
Camilla grimaced. It was now on them to prove that their love could outlast
her.
“Okay,” she said. “Sure. I’ll hurt you instead.”
“Good,” he shot back. “I can take it. I’m an adult.”
Laughter shattered the statement’s strength, sending foreboding chills down the
spines of the two lovers. “You’re such a little hero,” the Nohrian snarled.
“But you’re wrong. You can’t take it.”
Sakura tensed painfully as Camilla’s arms tightened, and raised her up.
Panic filled Hayato’s eyes. “B-but! But you said!”
“Learn, boy,” she spat. “This is how adults hurt each other.” The woman leaned
in on the captive girl’s ear. “Your sister taught me that.”
She rammed Sakura into her lover, heaving the girl painfully into the waiting
length of Hayato’s leaking member. The girl tried in vain to hold back tears,
droplets in freefall as Camilla tried to drive a wedge between her and her
love. “You endure this for him? You are royal, and a woman. He is worthless,
little princess. Just flesh.”
“He… he is… not!” she drooled between thrusts.
“Really? That’s all you are to him. Look. You’re not enjoying this, but look at
his face. He definitely is.”
Opening her eyes to look at her beloved, she saw Hayato caught in absolute
physical rapture. He was torn by pleasure, spittle dripping from the corner of
his mouth as he fell victim to adolescent adulation. Sakura grit her teeth,
trying not let doubt spread in her heart.
“Adult,” Camilla scoffed at him, now bouncing Sakura on his cock with greater
speed and intensity. The girl’s body trembled madly from the sensation. “Tell
her, little hero. Whisper adult words in her ear. Tell her it’s going to be
alright.”
The way he moaned and stammered out broken syllables filled Camilla with
anticipation of failure. The way his mouth gaped open, a yawning chasm of
ruptured pleasure, tongue protruding slightly from his lips… he was going to
crumple. His skin would fail him, and in doing so, fail his love.
And yet.
“I’m… here…” he panted, hugging her for dear life. “I’m here, Sak-nnnngh…”
Though the moan of pleasure had broken his words, the sentiment had leaked
through. He was meeting Camilla’s challenge. The woman did not yet worry,
however. She still had one more nasty surprise for these inexperienced lovers.
A test never passed by anyone she had presented it to.
As Hayato reached climax Sakura leaned forward, hugging her boyfriend as she
tried not to think about how she was being lifted up and down, up and down, up
and down. It was as though she did not own her own flesh. She sank into his
warm skin, heated with the flush of sex, and tried to imagine them in any one
of their fantasies. Tried to imagine how magical this would’ve been if it had
been just the two of them.
Alone. When they were ready.
Seed shot from Hayato’s tip into her as, with a final, quivering shudder, the
boy came. Tensing into Sakura, he finally relaxed, withdrawing himself. They
exchanged no words. No thanks. No apologies. They only pressed their foreheads
together, panting into each other as, for a second time, they let their love
outlive the ordeal.
They then yelped in unison as Camilla, her gauntlet removed, ran her fingers
along their genitals and squeezed them both in one motion – slickening her hand
with fluids both cloudy and clear. She had reclaimed their fearful attention as
she held the glistening digits before them, the musk of their mingled ejaculate
wrinkling their nostrils.
“Now, prove you love each other.”
Smirking, the woman remembered the disgust, the refusal of the couples she had
guided – or persuaded – through this process before. They all, inevitably,
refused. It was the death knell for the relationship that was not willing to
endure.
And yet. Tongues tickled her hand.
Incredulously, Camilla’s gaze took in the sight of both teenagers, wordlessly,
tearfully leaning in to lick the arrival from her hand. She was astonished.
That these teenagers, so pure and so inexperienced, might be the first to pass
her test? Unthinkable. It twisted at her hardened heart. These were not
apparitions of Hoshido, she realised. These were not shadows of Hinoka. Their
tongues teased at her skin, obediently lapping up the musky liquid and
swallowing with difficulty.
These were daring, beautiful lovers.
“Exchange,” she said, pulling her hand away. Almost gratefully, they kissed
each other. They shared the taste, saliva, sweat, tears, semen – it all mingled
in the crucible of their mouths, a complete tableau of all the passions of the
other. Hayato could taste Sakura, and Sakura could taste Hayato.
They embraced each other through this drenched kiss. Far from the disgust of it
all, they seemingly only found more solace in one another.
“Oh, Hells,” Camilla sighed at last. “You two are so… dedicated. I couldn’t
possibly tear you apart if I wanted to.”
Staring the Nohrian down defiantly, both Hoshidans broke from their kiss and
glared at the woman.
“I’m seeing Hoshidan fliers headed this way,” she informed them. “So I have to
leave. Now, Princess Sakura, should I take you or leave you…?”
The girl’s response was so determined, one might’ve forgotten about the fluid
that stained her lips. “I… I would like you to let us go, Princess Camilla.”
“And so I shall,” the woman replied with a slight curtsy. “On a final, small
condition.”
“Name it.”
“A message for our sister Corrin.”
Sakura shuffled on her feet as Camilla approached. “O-okay,” the girl affirmed.
“What is it?”
Camilla’s speed once again beguiled the teens as the woman leant down and
caught Sakura’s lips in a filthy kiss. Possessive and bruising, Camilla’s
tongue swirled and snatched at the younger girl’s mouth with such force that
breath became scarce. Hayato, who had been pushed back the second he had tried
to intervene, fell back as the Nohrian imparted deep tenderness into the
contact. The message was clear.
If I’d wanted you to lose, boy, you wouldn’t have won. Not if I had tried.
Enjoy your victory by forfeit.
The kiss lasted a few seconds more, Camilla’s lips gently biting at Sakura’s,
until she broke free and let the crying girl fall to the ground gasping. The
boy held her in his arms as tears threatened to trickle, looking to their
captor for her final meaning.
“Give her that,” the Nohrian snapped, one foot on the stirrup of her gnashing
wyvern. “Tell her that Camilla is waiting to kiss her again. Just like old
times.”
That ought to drive the crimson wench mad.
The floodgates broke. Brave Sakura, finally felled by Camilla’s last act of
domination, wailed openly into her white robes as Hayato held her.
“Why!?” The boy snapped at her, his defiance shattered by confusion. “Why do
this to her!?”
Offering a last and most infuriating chuckle, Camilla swung herself onto her
saddle as examined the young man with all the exacting cruelty of a scorned
woman. “Practice with your tongue,” she advised him flippantly. “You’re not
bad, but unless you work at it she’ll think of me every time.”
Dismantled by this last torturous suggestion, tears welled in Hayato’s eyes
also. The idea that Sakura would think of this tormentor’s kiss as opposed to
his broke him, and he began to cry into his partner. The lovers, reduced to
distraught tears once more, wailed in unison as Camilla rose into the air on
black, leathery wings.
It was no effort for Camilla to evade the Hoshidan fliers. They had no hope of
catching up to her. Instead, the woman just grinned with anticipation for the
final confrontation to come – her targets fixed in her mind. One was to be
killed, the other claimed.
Hinoka would fall, and Corrin would be hers.
She did not think another second about the two infants she had just left
behind. No, Princess Camilla of Nohr flew ahead towards the future, leaving her
victims violated and broken in the sand.
Just more shattered lovers to add to the pile.
Only one remained to finish it.
***** Mercy - Birthright, Part 3 *****
All Sakura wanted to do was to look at Hayato. Braced by the tall, lean Subaki,
she could only turn into his tunic. An expanse of blue and white leather
reminded her that, right now, - like for most of the day so far- she was
powerless. Slowly, the princess turned back to stare ahead at the sky as it
sped past them on their way back to base. The comfort of home was blighted by
the thought of the inevitable questioning about what had just transpired with
the Nohrian princess. It filled her with dread.
For being known as a crybaby, Sakura had actually much better control of the
intensity of her crying, but Hayato... she curbed the instinctive crane of her
neck, wanting to see if he had calmed down. Her diviner had been crushed by
failure, sobbing into her when the squadron had touched down to rescue them.
They had been lifted onto separate Pegasi and whisked off into the clouds in a
riot of flapping wings and pounding hooves.
Her thoughts were then interrupted; her stomach dropped as the horse took a
dive. Despite having a Pegasus knight as a vassal - and another as a sister -
she had never gotten used to riding them, even as a passenger. Flying was too
foreign a feeling for her to ever feel comfortable. Knowing this, Subaki
slightly tightened his arms, making his limbs' hold just a tad more snug. The
strength of her retainer soothed only the barest of her nerves, though, as she
saw through the clouds what was her home for the time being - an old,
dilapidated hunter's lodge within a constellation of tents.
Since her first Pegasus ride, Sakura hated landings the most. The rough bounce
of the beast striking solid ground made her nauseous as it slowed to a stop.
She didn't move as the knight easily dismounted the horse, then stepped beside
her. Gently, the small princess was lifted off the saddle, Subaki easily
holding her in his arms.
"S-Subaki," the princess whispered through sniffles. "Please put me down. I
want to see Hayato."
Her vassal grimaced as if in pain. He gently put her down, but kept a hand on
her shoulder as he said softly, "I'm sorry, Princess, I cannot allow that. I
have already failed you once." He looked away to where he was to bring her.
The building's mess hall, while not being big enough to house all the hungry
soldiers in the army, was large enough to hold the wounded. The priestess was
familiar with the makeshift infirmary, often doing rounds to heal wounded
fighters herself.
A shrill yelp made her turn as a blur of blue and brown rushed her.
“Sakura! I’m so s-sorry!”
Hayato wailed into her ear, clutching her shoulders, unworried about
appearances or what a grown-up would do.  Grabbing back, she whispered
platitudes into his hair.  She kissed the greasy, sweat matted mess.
“B-be strong, my sweet. I love you-” Sakura was cut off as a gloved hand
wrenched her diviner away.
Hinoka was taut, her hand now clamping on the boy’s shoulder in a mirror of
what Subaki was doing to her sister. The contact was neither comforting nor
respectful, holding him like one would hold a misbehaving dog. She glanced at
the shivering boy, and then looked at Subaki.  The knights blinked at one
another before the older princess walked away, Hayato stumbling to keep up with
her long strides.
Sakura tried to watch for chestnut in the mess of white, but she wasn't able to
see him be led in the opposite direction.
--
Despite having heard the war room to be a dark place, it seemed to Hayato it
had been darkened even further for his presence as he shook behind the large
table. Usually used in planning battles, it was at the moment a prop in his
interrogation.
It's not an interrogation. They just need to know what happened. He's repeated
the thought many times, trying to stave off the feeling he was being treated
like a criminal.
Corrin had tried, since the beginning of the interview, to make sure the boy
knew where she stood. Reassuring glances and a soft voice were among the things
she offered. Hinoka, on the other hand, was so obviously furious he felt like
cringing away from her lest she reach out and throttle him. Absolutely nothing
had come out of her mouth, lips in a hard line. Her only commentary had been
disappointed shakes of her head.
"So, after..." The commander trailed off, trying to find a euphemism for what
she had just been told.
"So after rapi-" Hinoka spat, being interrupted by Corrin.
"Hinoka! He didn’t do anything." She turned back to the boy, seeing tears fill
his eyes. "It's not your fault, Hayato. No-one blames you. Did anything else
happen?"
He nodded, pain making the movement tortuous. "Then C-Camilla kissed her." He
started sobbing as he continued, "a-and she said I had to practice. Or all
she'll think of will be h-her."
The mage crumpled into his arms, the memory of Camilla's voice articulating
fears he hadn't known he had. The only sound in the room was his struggling to
get a hold of himself.
Corrin was looking past him; eyes unfocused and thinking thoughts she knew
shouldn't be thinking. Shaking her head clear she once again brought her eyes
to him. "Anything else?"
Hayato wiped his eyes and met hers. "She said... that it was a message. She was
waiting to k-kiss you like that, a-again."
He shuddered at the thought of anyone kissing her, and so didn't notice a tinge
of pink spread across Corrin's cheeks. Her mind and heart had leapt at the
thought, feeling the familiar desire for Camilla spread through her. Her eyes
unfocused again, lost within a mental gallery of old memories.
Hinoka did notice, though. Her fists dug into her thighs, attempting to channel
the same fear Hayato had just been introduced to into something else - anything
else. She bit her tongue to keep from pointing out the incriminating change of
colour; it didn't concern the child in front of them. What would he understand,
anyways? She thought, looking at the heap of quivering flesh in front of her.
He's useless. He couldn't even protect someone he loves. Her mind offered a
tail-end thought before she could stop it.
Just like me.
Corrin began, "I-I'm sorry you both had to endure that." And she had meant it,
though a part of her - the part that was painted lavender - asked if this was
as bad as it could have been. They could have been hurt, maimed, or even
killed. Hayato himself had said the mission was to capture Sakura. The eldest
princess of Nohr was known to be cruel to her enemies - but not children. That
wasn't her Camilla.
This had been mercy.
Corrin shook her head as she tried to reconcile the crying diviner in front of
her with the mental image of her doting sister. Surely not as bad as it seemed
to them at the moment, she convinced herself. Surely.
She looked down at the quill she had been torturing throughout the interview,
the soft feather stringy and moist from her sweaty palms. ‘Again.’ Such promise
in one word, every heartbeat whispered it. She could hear Camilla saying it.
The three sat in silence as Hayato summoned up the courage for himself to ask
one question. An adult needed to be able to ask them, after all. His eyes tried
to meet the far off gaze of his commander, even the harsh glare of the oldest
Hoshidan princess. Both of them Sakura's sisters, both people he wanted
desperately to make proud. To make them see he was good enough for her.
I'm not. I'm not even a royal. I hurt her. I enjoyed it.
He sighed at the thought but remained resolute. Taking a deep breath he asked,
"Can I see her now?"
Pride welled up in his chest - not even a stutter.
The look of outright pity from Corrin and the harsh scoff from Hinoka shattered
it.
"Hinoka!" The commander didn't even turn to admonish the knight. "Hayato...
there are certain things we have to do first..." She trailed off with no idea
how to continue. For all the books she had read, none of them gave any hint at
what to do in this situation. "As soon as we think it's wise, you'll see her.
I'm sure it won't take long." The soft smile she produced was the last straw.
What she had offered in kindness was misread as deception.
They think I did it. That I enjoyed it.
The boy shattered. There was only one course for someone like him. "I-I’m
sorry. Please... please execute me," he whispered, nothing but an exhausted
sadness in his voice. His lip quivered minutely as tears simply overflowed from
his eyes. There were no sobs, there were no wails. Just Hayato whimpering,
imploring the baffled commander to end his life.
"Of course not," she said kindly, resisting the urge to get up and physically
reassure the boy. "You didn't do anything. I th-"
"Why?" Hinoka shifted in her seat to lean closer to him.
Corrin whipped her head at the interruption. "Excuse me?"
"He wants to be executed. He must have committed a crime. So, why?” Her eyes
were harsh, examining the trembling boy. Her frown deepened. “Did you enjoy
it?"
That word again. The boy tried to stutter out an explanation the he had been
forced to participate – that his flesh was not his own.
“I don’t care! Did. You. Enj-”
The sound of Corrin’s fist hitting the desk interrupted the knight.
 “Enough, Hinoka!”
Hinoka turned to face her. “What if I want to take him up on his offer,
Corrin?” She paused then added softly, “what if it’s what I think he deserves?”
A sob pulled their eyes back to the boy. He was racked by them, his chest
heaving. That word… he hated it. It was true, right? He had. "I... I... she
made me en-" he interrupted himself with hiccups. He tried to continue. "I
just... please, kill me. I'm... so sorry."
"Hayato... I'm not going to execute you. No-one will." Corrin said this gently,
glaring at the knight. “You did nothing wrong. Hinoka, go. You’ve done enough.”
The knight got up from her seat, glancing at the boy slumped in his chair as
she passed him. He didn’t look at her, only bowing low when she neared him –
cowering from that fury. Swollen eyes made him blind; his dirty chin was
covered by a curtain of snot. Nothing but the hallmarks of a scared child.
Hinoka shook her head in disgust at the failed protector of her little sister;
he flinched.
She heard Corrin’s soft voice start to comfort the diviner as she exited the
room. Breathing in the cool air, she tried to calm her burning nerves.
“Hey, H. You look rough.” The familiar voice of Scarlet, the army’s most ardent
anti-Nohr extremist and only Wyvern rider, made Hinoka turn. “Anything I can
do?”
Seeing the rebel planted a half formed idea into the knight’s mind. The demand
for retribution would be answered. Heart and brain agreed on a course of action
in a moment. “Yes. Get me Subaki and Reina, and meet me in the armory.”
 “Got it. What should I tell them?”
“We’re Wyvern hunting. Only blood can answer for this.”
--
“You’re upset with me, Beruka.”
The words were distinct, even over the rushing air that slipped underneath the
two riders. The leathery wings of two pitch-black wyverns sailed the skies over
contested territory, the latest front in Hoshido and Nohr’s perpetual conflict.
Camilla, atop her scaled mount, lacked the charming sparkle that usually
decorated her eye.
“Not at all, Lady Camilla.” Beruka responded without error, not a waver of
doubt in her voice. “I live to serve you. No question or hesitation.”
Camilla did not turn to look at her retainer. “Speak honestly,” she said. “Do
you think I made a mistake, doing what I did?” There was no response. Camilla
continued. “You can’t fool me, Beruka darling. You are loyal, but you do have a
heart. Tell me honestly.” She paused. “Was I wrong to pursue the Hoshidan
girl?”
“No,” the short-haired assassin shot back. “To take the Princess into custody
would have been a decisive tactical success.”
“But I didn’t.”
A longer pause.
“…I believe that what you did was needless.”
“Oh, just that? Nothing more?”
Beruka stuffed back her concerns about her liege’s soundness of mind. “I am
worried, Lady Camilla, that you have tempted revenge.”
Even to her allies, Camilla’s satisfied chuckle could be a source of
frustration. Beruka frowned at its sound as she flew, biting her tongue to stop
herself from voicing concern over her lady’s reckless nonchalance.
“But I have you to help me with that, don’t I, Beruka?”
Snapping to look at her, the smaller woman found Camilla turned to face her –
her eyes were placidly closed and lips pressed in an oversweet smile. Beruka
felt her throat tighten, its muscles contracting to match the sinking in her
belly.
She’d failed this test in the past.
“Yes, Lady Camilla.” She broke gaze, turning back to face the horizon. “Until
the end.”
The final pause lasted several seconds too long.
“Good. I’m glad you decided you’d fight with me, Beruka…”
Four dots peeled into sight on the far edge of the horizon.
“…Because here they come.”
--
At the fore of her uneven formation, Hinoka checked the leather harness keeping
her secured to her mount. She had not been thrown from her seat in years, of
course, not since she was a novice – but there was no harm in checking. Her
opponent, after all…
She examined the two flecks growing ever closer, their dark hue already visible
at this distance. Ugly hatred flared within the pit of Hinoka’s belly, rage
reddening her cheeks. This demon, this lech, was going to count the cost of her
transgressions in blood.
“Fly straight into them!” Hinoka commanded. “Don’t let these Nohrian devils
scare you!”
Pulling out of their place in her jetstream, her compatriots peeled off to fly
along at her flanks. Whilst the princess could not risk breaking gaze to look
at them, she could imagine their responses – Reina hungered, her arrow already
nocked in its string. Scarlet licked her lips, eager to close in and claim the
head of a Nohrian royal. Subaki seethed, his lance ready to wreak foul revenge
on the woman who had hurt and humiliated his liege.
And me? Hinoka caught herself wondering. Am I fighting for Sakura, Corrin, or
for my own pride?
Though her cries demanded bravery of her fellow riders, she alone felt fear.
The savage hollering of Reina’s divine Kinshi bird echoed throughout the midday
skies, reaching from the lake below them all the way to the sun directly at
their backs. It was a horrible portent of sound, foreshadowing a clash of
metal, leather and flesh.
“You ready, Reina?” Scarlet shouted, practically standing atop her wyvern mount
with eagerness.
“Oh, yes. I’ll skin them alive.” The rogue knight’s voice dripped with
anticipation as her arrow held taut.
“Focus, both of you!” Hinoka commanded. “Do not pursue them alone!”
By now, it was easy to tell which Nohrian was which. The princess Camilla, with
her lavender locks and ample body, was the immediately more noticeable target –
but she did not shirk or scatter no matter how close the Hoshidans came. Both
Nohrians had their axes drawn, crescent blades ablaze with the whiteness of
reflected sunlight.
Hinoka tucked herself in, naginata prepared to pierce with impunity. By now
there were only precious metres between their formation and that of the enemy,
the two wyverns impending upon them like jet-black bullets.
Hinoka suddenly became aware of how far she had to fall.
“Aww, you brought your friends!” The Nohrian princess roared across the divide.
“All three of them!”
“FIRE!” Hinoka directed, ignoring the woman’s insult. Reina loosed her arrow,
blasting it from its sling with a snap of taut wire. The arrow sizzled through
the air, parting the seam of the sky as it trailed towards its target. The
Hoshidan’s aim had been dead on – but with a timely swerve Beruka condemned it
to the water below.
Hinoka trusted Reina to nock another arrow without being ordered, as she had to
keep her gaze fixed on Camilla. Both princesses were ready to clash now, their
weapons verging forward with the glint of revenge –
Until Camilla vanished.
Hinoka instinctively swerved to prevent a strike to her horse’s legs as Camilla
dropped in a curtain of wings. Spinning around to prevent a flanking attack,
the Hoshidan’s eyes scoured the sky for her foe’s revised location, and found
nothing. Everywhere her eyes allowed her to look, the Nohrian was not there.
She cursed herself for falling for the feint, but flew in close to her allies;
even the lech would be reluctant to attack multiple foes at once.
“Did anyone see her? Stay sharp!” Hinoka’s order crackled across the ears of
the Hoshidan squadron as they closed in on Beruka, who darted between positions
in a frenzy of flapping wings.
If the remaining Nohrian was afraid she did not show it; the assassin’s lips
remained straight and her brow unfurrowed even as another arrow came
tantalisingly close to piercing her. Reina flanked Beruka’s starboard side, and
Scarlet and Subaki held divergent altitudes to prevent her escape as they
funnelled her ever closer to where the arrows could easily pierce her. It was a
deadly trap, one that induced claustrophobia even in the limitless sky.
Hinoka tightened her grip on her reins as she moved in – and only then noticed
the angular shadow that fell across her. Horror spread throughout her at the
realisation.
“EVERYONE, EYES UP!” She roared. “SHE’S IN THE SUN!”
The cry was too late. Camilla was a meteor of death as she screamed out from in
front of the sun, the only place where a flier’s eye would not naturally
search. She collided, mount and all, into Reina – her axe did not make contact,
but the ear-splitting screeches of desperation as wyvern and kite sank teeth
into each other was enough to test the mettle of all watching.
Her yumi bow knocked from her hands, Reina immediately reached for the naginata
at her side and instead found herself blindsided by Beruka, axe blade glancing
past her shoulder and making her twist in her seat. Subaki immediately
intervened, but he was too late – the scarred woman toppled backwards and fell
from the sky, trailing blood and feathers as she and her mount drifted
perilously towards the ground. Hinoka exhaled in relief as she saw them limp
their way safely to the shoreline, but had no time to readjust as an impatient
shout from her side brought her back to the fight. The Nohrian princess was
climbing again; she ascended higher and higher as though appealing directly to
the heavens, laughing all the way.
Scarlet, shaking with rage, thrashed at her reins.
Hinoka swerved to face her. “Scarlet- no! Do not chase her! Do not engage
alone!”
“Then back me up!” She snapped back as she shook Hinoka off, offended. With a
crack of leather on plated scales she launched into a streamlined and
vertiginous ascent. Between each of her pursuing comrades, Hinoka suddenly
found herself at a tactical crossroads.
Fear, momentarily numbed by combat, returned. She squirmed in her saddle as she
contemplated the rapidly diminishing options available to her scattered
squadron. As the vicious melee between Subaki and Beruka intensified, Hinoka
grasped only one reality: they could not let the Nohrians split them any
longer. Clinging tight to her Pegasus so as to best chase the wind, Hinoka sped
forward.
Above them, Camilla felt her mount screech beneath her as a thrown hatchet dug
itself into the scales just inches away.
"How do you like that?!" Scarlet shouted. The blonde woman, with her blood-red
armour, made a target of herself. "You're next, head bitch of Nohr!"
Smirking, Camilla jerked hard on the reins of her wyvern, causing the beast to
shriek in rage and pull up. Letting out an uncharacteristic grunt as she
twisted, the princess nonetheless smiled knowingly as she felt her lizard crane
accordingly - pulling both of them into a tailspin. It looked bad. Fatal. As if
the Nohrian knight was doomed to crash into the ground as a pair of impaled
corpses.
It was the perfect bait.
Scarlet cheered beneath her, lining up her weapon with its deadly edge for a
killer blow. "Down with the oppressors! Down with Noh-"
The illusion of helplessness crumbled like a flower in a fist. From out of the
violet haze Camilla's axe flashed, tearing pauldron and plate off its quarry at
high speed. Realigning in a single swift movement, she chuckled as she watched
Scarlet launched from her saddle trailing blood, kept from falling only by a
belt fastened in a moment of fortuitous foresight. The woman's wyvern, roaring
and croaking, righted itself and descended as its rider passed out at three
hundred feet.
Camilla dipped and pulled again into an ascent, spotting Hinoka’s fluffy,
white, noble pegasus just within distance. Its purity, all white, begged to
defiled. To be painted in red. She licked her lips.
What naughty flies, she thought as she flew, to think they could swat me.
Banking hard into the cross-combat of spear-blade and axe, Hinoka was surprised
to hear a conversation playing out between the two dutiful retainers as they
swapped blows.
“Do you know!?” Subaki demanded, his usual composure lost in the vital moment.
“Do you know what she did to my liege?”
“I serve Lady Camilla,” Beruka stated, grinding her axe against the curved edge
of his naginata, before darting away from his riposte. “That is all.”
“You serve a madwoman,” Hinoka interjected, pointing the singing tip of her
blade at her Nohrian foe. “Her crimes are yours – I’ll see you answer to them!”
“You are royalty. But I do not see your army.” Beruka narrowed her eyes. “I
deduce this operation is not sanctioned.”
“So?”
“So,” Camilla’s new, sultrier voice added, “you are not acting with the
authority of your nation or your army.” The woman floated into the meeting,
caught halfway between bloodlust and lust. “Does Corrin know you’re here? Are
you acting on her orders?”
“She doesn’t need to know I’m here,” Hinoka snapped back. “She already chose
me. She just needs to see how much easier our life together will be… with you
gone!”
The Nohrian’s eyes narrowed, her pride struck. “She did not choose,” she
seethed. “She was taken.”
“Keep thinking that! Maybe at some point, you’ll believe it.”
“Lady Hinoka,” Subaki gasped, his voice wavering with uncertainty. “I thought
we were here to avenge the Princess Sakura…?”
Humiliation spread like wildfire through Hinoka, unravelling outwards from her
core. “O-of course!” she stammered, lowering her gaze to offset her furious
blush. “This lech hurts all our family!”
Laughter burst from the lips of the Nohrian royal, loud and mirthful even at
this altitude. “Oh, aren’t you just red,” she spat. “All passion and posturing.
I can see why Corrin likes you, though I am surprised. You are my very
opposite.”
“That,” Hinoka snorted, “is probably exactly why.”
Rage. Camilla’s face contorted with a most potent seething as she was
confronted with a rare strike of her own barbed tongue.
“Enough talk,” Hinoka finished, trying to keep her voice from trembling and her
motive straight. “You hurt my sister. You baited me here. Well now you have me,
and I’m going to prove that even you can bleed.” She turned to the other
Pegasus knight. “You with me, Subaki?”
“Princess, it is not my place, but… did we come here to avenge Lady Sakura’s
honour…?”
Of course we are. It sounded right. It fed her purpose. But in her fury-flushed
heart, she knew it was a lie. “Does it matter, right now?”
Face falling, the perfectionist knight bit his tongue. “No, my lady. I suppose
it does not. I will fight,” he replied, before addressing Beruka. “I suppose we
share one thing. We’re loyal, even when we shouldn’t be.”
Much to his surprise, the smaller woman nodded imperceptibly, the faintest
trace of regret visible in her eyes.
“Follow, Beruka,” Camilla commanded as she licked her lips with anticipation
for the struggle to come. “Let us unseam these feathered jesters.” Her axe was
flicked forward to blood-starved readiness.
“At your ready-!” Hinoka had barely completed the sentence before Camilla
lunged through the air towards her, strong draconic wings crossing the gap in
frightful seconds. Hinoka’s eyes reflected lavender death as her quarry rushed
her position.
Pulling hard on her reins, the Hoshidan weaved her way under Camilla’s overture
strike and pulled up on her flank, jabbing hard with spear and sinew. Despite
the bulging force of the red woman’s blow, her opponent was ready – a lightning
swipe of the Nohrian’s gauntleted hand knocked Hinoka’s weapon away. She
riposted then, the wyvern knight making herself a wall of talons and tearing
edges. Not shirking, the Pegasus knight commanded her steed to raise itself and
scrum with their foe; the divine horse whinnied and reared beneath, its hooves
thudding uselessly against the scaled hide of the wyvern’s prow.
The lavender princess tutted. She had clearly not expected Hinoka, on her
gentle animal, to meet her joust. She flew under her opponent, the wyvern
curving and sweeping into gravity at its master’s word. The scarlet princess
moved to follow, but caught the impulse that had felled two comrades and
instead glanced at Subaki.
The man was on the defensive, clearly on the defensive against the speeding
Beruka but nonetheless calm and guarded in his style. He switched grip on his
lance mid-parry, blade fending off the assassin’s marauding weapon even as she
circled behind him.
“Pursue!” He urged, catching Hinoka’s eye. “I’ll handle this!”
Nodding, Hinoka turned and directed her steed into the slipstream left by
Camilla’s beast. Sliding into the trail left by where the enemy’s wingspan had
cut the wind, Hinoka gained speed quickly. She cursed her lack of an additional
weapon. She fervently wished she’d packed a javelin or short-spear – even a
beginner’s scroll would have shot this lech out of the sky. Had she a ranged
weapon, this position on Camilla’s tail would have been advantageous. As if
detecting this the Nohrian suddenly twisted, the veil of leathery wings drawing
back to reveal her smirk and flashing axe.
Both were ready to pierce her as she approached.
Banking right, Hinoka slammed her momentum to a halt and placed a counterattack
with her spear. Camilla’s laughter again pierced the skies. “So heroic!” she
cried as she lashed out with her cudgel. “All you need is trousers and a cape.
A fiery princeling rescuing his cute dragon maiden.”
“Shut up!” Hinoka snapped. “You’re the reason she needs rescuing! What would
you know about her!?”
“Only what years of intimately tending to her has taught me.”
With an aggravated snarl the Hoshidan thrust forward, naginata sparking off the
plated barding of her foe’s mount. There’s so much of her to hit, the red woman
thought through sweat and fear. How does she dodge the way she does?
She expends so much energy, Camilla thought, her own brow burdened with effort
and worry. Where are the gaps? How does she not tire? She flicked away lavender
hair as their steel once again sparked and scraped. Her eyes narrowed with
deadly intent. No matter. The gap is between those eyes.
“Hm,” she began flippantly as she lazily traded another blow. “I’d never expect
Corrin to fall for some boyish would-be prince.”
Immediately, the svelte royal’s cheeks matched her hair. “Sh-shut up! Don’t you
dare talk about us, you demon! Oni!”
That omnipotent giggle spilled from her cheeks once more as she dipped and
weave around her less mobile foe. “Did Sakura send my message? Did my dear
Corrin like it?”
The mental image of little Sakura kissing Corrin in that foul and near-drunken
way, her mind not her own but supplanted by Camilla’s all-pervading lust, drove
Hinoka to even greater fury. She all but screamed as she clashed now, her
naginata placing gashes across anything it could. “Of course not!” She snapped.
“Disgusting!”
Camilla grinned. Now was the moment she learned which atrocity Hinoka was more
bothered by.
“…And she’s not your Corrin, either! She’s mine! And staying with me!”
Leaving their exhaustion behind, both women rallied themselves for a fresh
offensive. Patience was Camilla’s weapon. She had disarmed Hinoka within,
planted the seed of insinuation that Corrin was not hers. Rage, however, was
the red woman’s weapon, the honour of her family and her own terrible fury
driving every movement from her shoulder to her fingertips. Insecurity, indeed,
was her weakness. A part of her, she knew, was like Camilla. She wanted to own
Corrin, to erase the history Camilla represented and take the woman all for
herself. Every appeal Camilla made to the youth that Corrin had spent under her
fingers was a dagger in Hinoka, and each new cut filled her eyes with raging,
bloody red.
The taunts stopped. The giggles halted. The grunts persisted. The struggle was
fought with mind to equal muscle as both women bled and brawled over the woman
they loved.
--
A pair of white nostrils sniffed sadly at Beruka as she waded backwards through
the water, laboriously trudging through the soft peat towards shore. Shed of
her sharp armour, the Nohrian pulled an unconscious Subaki through the water,
his head held above the softly lapping waves. The man was pale. His saddle had
been severed in their battle, and he had been thrown from it when they had
placed their decisive blows on one another.
Pulling him onto dry gravel, Beruka propped the knight up against his Pegasus,
the beast now resting to support its rider’s form. The woman watched his chest
rise and fall. The thought of slitting his throat entered her mind. It always
did. She had almost flied on after seeing him hit the water. Almost gone back
up to assist her liege-lord. But she had decided against it.
Once the spear left the hand, a life was a life. And the life of a trustworthy
person had value. As she watched him rest, Beruka knew that he, if no-one else
among the Hoshidans present, would have done the same for her.
She looked back up, to the ongoing war between the two princesses. A
meaningless melee between two flawed beings, too damaged and too enraged to see
how alike they truly were.
Beruka wanted nothing less than to add to it.
A rare, slight smile appeared as her wyvern, curled to hide its painful but
recoverable injury, nuzzled her affectionately. Still dripping mud and
freshwater, the woman sat amongst the dry and breathed in deep the air,
watching the royals bicker – before realising she didn’t even want to do that.
She closed her eyes, relaxed her muscles, and simply waited for when they would
need to retreat.
Waited for a battle worth fighting.
--
By now, Hinoka and Camilla were long past exhaustion. Long past probing
defences and testing reactions. Each swing was now a kill, thwarted only by the
reflexes and ripostes of the other. Camilla strafed through the air, spinning
her steed in a full revolution as she struck. It made her a whirling wall of
blades, maximising where she could strike and minimising her opponent’s avenues
of retaliation.
“Does Corrin still shiver when you touch her here?” Camilla questioned,
swinging her axe at the base of Hinoka’s neck. The physical attack failed as
the Pegasus knight dodged the strike, but the words left a mark.
“Shut up!” The reply came, the Hoshidan’s face deepening several shades to
vermillion. “Don’t talk about her like that!”
“That was always one of my favourite things about her,” the wyvern rider
taunted, continuing as if her rival had said nothing. “One touch, and she’s a
trembling mess. Can you do that to her?”
Failing to come up with a response as she countered another blow, Hinoka
evaluated her position in this storm of steel. The streamlined body and greater
wingspan of Camilla’s wyvern made her much more manoeuvrable; the lizard moved
in air like a serpent in water, with frightening speed in its uncanny twists
and lunges. The Nohrian would outpace her at every movement.
I can’t dodge the storm, Hinoka thought. I have to go through it.
“Your silence says it all!” Camilla laughed as she her beast began to gyrate
its muscled wings. “Corrin’s going to love coming back to me. Her real sister.
The one who knows where to touch…”
Angry tears threatened at the edges of Hinoka’s eyes. The lavender woman’s
words drove her to fury. Her heart rioted in its ribcage, rage pumping the
organ. Tucking in the wings of her steed, the knight charged for her princess,
lance low and steadied against the rushing winds. The foe dragon snarled as it
twisted, its nightmarish rider laughing devilishly as her steel cleaver caught
the midday sun.
In this moment, Hinoka pictured Corrin in her mind, her laughter, her smile.
The rest would be easy.
It always had been.
Hinoka’s naginata drove through the scaled skin of her foe’s gnashing mount,
her bolting steel opening the flesh just above its shoulder. The beast shrieked
in agony, the madness of pain causing it to convulse and drop. Though it
thrashed and flapped it wings to guide its inevitable descent, Hinoka loosed
the breath she had held, letting the spear hang loose in her hand.
I won.The thought was like a gulp of fresh air. Victory soothed the red in her
eyes. Corrin’s image smiled at her, wreathed in glowing silver hair –
Silver hair suddenly overlaid by purple.
Camilla’s foul image corrupted her thoughts, fingers roaming, giggle echoing as
Corrin was subsumed by her foe. The girl cried out for Hinoka, called the name
of her rescuer. Begged Hinoka to help as she was trapped and buried within the
Nohrian’s body. I just won, Hinoka reminded herself. I’ve saved her. It’s over.
So why won’t she leave me alone!?
Blinking back frenzied, disgusted tears, Hinoka’s eyes darted down to where the
lech was descending. Camilla made landfall on a flat area of the grassy fields
below, the cries and hollers of her wyvern still audible. Hinoka could feel the
woman’s eyes even from this distance, watching her, judging her as inferior.
They challenged her to follow. To see even now who truly deserved to be the
recipient of Corrin’s love.
Hinoka blinked her eyes clear. Rage brought no clarity. Only daring.
She pointed her steed towards the ground and accelerated, reaching out for
Corrin in her mind as that venomous, all-pervading chuckle pounded through
every chamber in her body.
You’re going to leave us alone, she snapped at the Camilla poisoning her
thoughts, the wind streaming across her descendent face. I’m going to make it
so.
--
Hana looked over Hayato and Corrin with a critical eye.
“Alright,” the short samurai said, her hand never leaving the handle of her
katana. “Princess Sakura said you could come in.” She motioned to the diviner.
“She also told me…” she trailed off, pausing a second before finishing, “you
were brave. That I would have been proud.”
He shook his head as Corrin moved to open the door. “I-I…”
“It’s okay,” Hana whispered. The two closest to the princess shared a look of a
shared pain, that of the sworn who fail to protect their liege, but more
importantly, someone they loved. It was a brief look, but for the first time
Hayato felt like her equal in her eyes – worthy of the princess they both
dearly cared for. The girl nodded as she inspected him one more time, then
turned away, making a show of not being interested in anything the pair had to
say to each other.
The commander’s hand rested on the doorknob as she blurted out, “Please don’t
think she hates you. Hinoka’s…” A shake of the head, trying to figure out how
to describe the woman. “She’s not angry at you. She’s angry at herself.”
“Why…?”
“Same reason Hana is. Same reason you are. She feels that she failed her duty.
That as an older sister, she should have kept her safe. So, she acted on
instinct… and her instinct was to burn.”
The boy sighed. “But I was supposed to protect Sakura."
"And you did."
"But..."
"My s- Camilla was planning on kidnapping her. It's only because you were there
that she didn't. She saw your love for her and knew that she couldn't take
her."
“But… s-she used me to...” he blinked back tears at the memory. Sniffling, he
ran the back of his hand across his eyes.
“And she’ll answer for it, Hayato.” His commander placed a reassuring hand on
his shoulder. “But because of you Sakura’s here, safe with us. I understand
that, and Hinoka will too. Don’t worry.”
“Okay… I’ll try. Only because you said so.” He steadied himself with a breath
and turned up his lips slightly.
Her heart squeezed as Corrin wished Hinoka wasn’t so hard to defend sometimes.
“You’ll come to see your older sister is very good at apologizing.” She beamed,
hoping to blot out any insecurities the boy might have had. “We love you,
Hayato. All of us. And Sakura most of all.” She placed a hand on the doorknob
again. “You ready to see her?”
Hayato nodded and smiled, a radiant thing that looked at odds with his tear
stains and blotchy cheeks. “Yeah.”
Corrin pushed open the door, the squeak of old hinges making Sakura look up
from her book.
The smile from the small princess was full of recognition and love when she saw
the two standing in her doorway. She said both their names, practically crying
out the name of her diviner as he ran over to her, shame making him stop short
of her bed.
“Sakura! I’m so sor-“
She didn’t let him finish. “Hush. Please… just sit with me.”
And he did.
Corrin felt nothing but delicious validation. Much better than her being taken
away, she thought as she watched their heads bow in quiet reconnection. They’ll
be okay. I should tell-
“Where’s Hinoka?” Sakura said, as if reading her sister’s thoughts. The absence
was noteworthy, but didn’t seem to bother the younger princess much. Hayato was
there, and that’s who she had wanted.
“Oh, you know her, probably training…” Corrin started thinking, though - where
was she? Shouldn’t she be here, comforting her youngest sibling? “I think…” she
trailed off a second time, looking at the two lovers in front of her. For all
intents and purposes, she did not exist to them. “I think I’ll leave you two
alone. I have a few things I need to do.”
The teenagers both nodded, eyes filled with only each other.
“Thank you, sister,” Sakura whispered.
Corrin was making her way out as she turned and shot them a smile she knew they
weren’t going to see. “Of course. I'll see you both later, okay? Dinner?”
Another pair of nods as she shut the door behind her. Corrin could feel herself
being eyed by Hana for the second time.
“She’s going to be alright, I think,” she said. “Sakura is stronger than she
looks.”
“Yes. People don’t know how strong she can be,” the vassal replied with a nod,
quietly but obviously proud of her liege.
“Well, we are as strong as the people who surround us. Thank you for keeping
her safe here, Hana. Truly.”
Tears collected at the edge of Hana’s eyes, prompting a savage swipe of her
hand across them. “Of course. That’s what a samurai does.” She gave another nod
after replacing her hand on her katana. Then the vassal was the image of stoic,
ancient duty in the shape of a young woman with a weakness for pink.
The conversation over, Corrin walked the small distance to Hinoka's quarters.
There was no light underneath the door, no sound behind it; a knock produced no
movement beyond it. She sighed and opened the door to find the room empty. Next
she found herself at the dojo, hoping Hinoka was sweating out her rage. No such
luck - it was silent and dark. Anxiety bubbled in her belly, going to the
stables, hoping her reckless lover wasn’t so brash as to –
It wasn’t just one stall empty. It was two.
She muttered Subaki's name in uncharacteristic fury. If Hinoka had convinced
him, she would have undoubtedly brought Reina and Scarlet – their resentment
for Nohr making them the perfect reinforcements.
All their commander could do was shake in front of the empty stalls, earthbound
and useless.
All she could do was wait.
--
As soon as that glorified pony had touched the ground, Camilla knew she had
won. Looking up at that winged horse as it descended had confirmed two things:
firstly, that this prince was not going to just give up this duel over the
princess, and secondly, that Hinoka obviously did not understand Corrin as well
as she thought.
It was going to be another victory by forfeit for the soldiers of Hoshido.
Between those eyes, she thought, licking her lips in anticipation of the ruined
triumph of her foe. Inside that chest.
"Always the bravest, aren't you!?" Camilla snapped, her axe in a dance of
malicious steel. "Why not follow your idols and die for your maiden?"
Nothing. The knight might have growled, but for the Nohrian princess, that was
not nearly enough. She closed the gap between them.
"Come, it's not such a bad offer!" Her weapon ran astray of Hinoka's spear, its
heavy cudgel tearing a clump of grass out of the earth. "I'll even let her
mourn you."
Her opponent’s form stiffened. Evidently, the concept of Corrin being
controlled by anyone was an easy bruise on the knight’s psyche to poke and
prod. Camilla was disappointed, though – insulting her counterpart's lack of
femininity was delightful. The fact no one had done so before was baffling to
her.
What a waste, Camilla lamented as a slash was repelled off of her axe. With a
face as pretty as that…
Hinoka then dodged a lazy swing and answered with a stab at Camilla's
midsection, muscles jerking like she was a novice again practicing follow-
through. All it took to dodge was a quick step back by the lavender woman,
dragging the spear's blade back with her.
She chuckled. "My goodness, look at you! You're like those wind-up soldiers my
brothers played with!”
Hinoka shook her head slightly, refusing to take the bait. Insults about her
meant nothing. All she needed was to imagine Corrin.
I can save her, the knight thought to herself, blocking out the maddening
voice. The silver hair in her mind was still hidden by purple. Hands were still
reaching for her.I just need to cut this monster down.
Another arc of metal, smashing her naginata into the ground, created another
scar in their arena. Despite the amount of force behind the blow, Camilla was
still the epitome of ease. No effort, no work. It rankled the Hoshidan as she
wrenched the weapon from underneath the cudgel. A sigh was bit back as that
maddening voice began to speak over the relative quiet of their duel.
"Too bad they got so boring. Poor Corrin, stuck in a backwards nation with a
broken toy!”
Hinoka's mouth spat the response before she could stop it. "She still chose me,
broken or not."
The laugh that erupted from the other woman made her flinch.
"How long had she known you? A day? She didn't choose you. She found herself
alone in a foreign kingdom and wanted her big sister, and found you instead. A
lonely girl will play with boring toys." Camilla's mouth formed a seductive
grin. "I would know. I watched her play with them."
The overt reference to Corrin's captivity, that wasted youth, was enough to set
Hinoka off. She grunted, slashing against the barrier of metal that Camilla
created with her own weapon. There was no form, no grace. Just rage made
manifest, brute force trying to impart fury and fear.
It didn't seem to bother the axe wielder, her movements languid compared to the
furious jerks of the shaking knight. With a twist of her weapon, the glint of
afternoon sun flashed into Hinoka's eyes, causing her to screw them shut for a
split second. Using this moment, Camilla shoved the smaller knight away. She
landed with her back against the ground, winded from the force of the push.
A dreadful chuckle came from the Nohrian. "You know, you even look like a doll
she used to have!"
Hinoka scrambled backwards, trying to control the anxiety making her stomach
churn. To have fallen for something so simple...
The mosquito whine of Camilla’s taunts kept on droning.
"...but she said she'd rather play with me."
"S-shut up, you lech-"
Camilla's words were like a waterfall, unstoppable. "...does she press your
clothes for you, like a doll? Dress you, brush your hair?" She laughed as the
knight rushed her. "Has she ever -"
Hinoka caught the side of the axe’s blade and bashed the thing from the
lavender woman's hands.
"Shut up! Just! Shut! Up!"
The now defenceless Camilla tilted her head to the side, bringing her face
close, examining the scarlet knight's face. Bile rose in the Hoshidan's throat
as the smell of lavender filled her nostrils.
"Sumeragi must have had a pretty mouth."
"How dare-"
"All three of his daughters, the same lips. I wonder if yours are as soft as
the oth-"
Hinoka's teeth ground at each other, her heart hammered. Each muscle was
tensed, wrath making her form a deadly geometry of force and speed.
And Camilla finally went silent, interrupted by a flash of steel at her chest -
and then she giggled. Before Hinoka could react, the woman grabbed the shaft of
the spear, and forced the blade deeper between her ribs.
"She’ll never forgive you for this," she hissed, smile never wavering.
Hinoka’s brain echoed agreement with the statement as she remained silent,
stunned into compliance. Corrin never would. Her eyes grew wide, realizing she
had taken the bait so perfectly laid out for her.
Camilla let out a chuckle as she pulled the naginata from her chest and, once
again, shoved the knight back. "Don't think I've lost,” she croaked. “I'm a
believer in second lives, and next time..." She wiped blood from her mouth,
perhaps forgetting her hand was already covered in the vital fluid. She didn’t
seem to care as her fingers left crimson streaks across her pale cheeks. "I'll
be closer. I'll be better."
Hinoka shook her head. Her tone almost bland from shock, she simply stated,
"You're insane." Making a spectacle of one’s death felt strangely offensive to
the Hoshidan. As expected from a Nohrian, though. She backed away from the
lavender princess, offense keeping their gazes locked.
“Maybe. But at least she still loves me.”
“She won’t - doesn’t. Corrin loves me. She chose me.”
Another wet chuckle. “Keep telling yourself that, Prince.” She literally spat
the word at her opponent, blood running down from her lips. Camilla fell then,
to her knees, somehow still holding on to that deadly grace even at death’s
door.
The leathery wings of a Wyvern beat in the distance, the sound reminding Hinoka
that she should return to her allies. She deliberated at her horse as the other
Nohrian landed. No sound other than the beast's breathing could be heard as
Beruka hopped down into the grass, the assassin unreadable to the knight.
Regretful, maybe. Mounting her Pegasus, she watched vassal settle royal atop
the winged lizard.
 Camilla kept her gaze locked on Hinoka, as if they shared a secret no one else
did, her infuriating grin never once faltering. Its madness made Hinoka shiver.
She looked over to the shore of the lake, assessing the damage wrought by her
campaign of revenge. Reina was leaning against her Kinshi, both barely
conscious. Scarlet was still out cold, laying in the grass, her wyvern curled
around her. Subaki at least had managed to get on his mount, but his usually
immaculate posture was bent and old-looking. The man looked at the princess
with palpable disappointment. He must have watched the fight – seen Hinoka
attack a disarmed opponent. She squirmed, knowing what he had seen, what it
must have looked like.
Looking away, her eyes gazed skyward one more time, seeing the streams of
lavender hair waving like a battle standard. Was she still facing her? Wearing
that awful smile, certain in the knowledge of the loss of her opponent?
 But I won the duel. I rescued her.
She heard Camilla's words echo in her mind.
"She'll never forgive you for this."
--
“So, that’s what happened?” Corrin looked up from her notes, the story
impossible to believe. “The four of you were went on a training run – just
hours after battle - then Camilla and Beruka found and attacked you.”
None of the Hoshidan royals were good liars, but Hinoka was probably the worst.
Fury had managed to create conviction throughout the recounting of her tale,
but even that had started to lose its edge. “Yes.”
“You all managed to fight them off – you say Camilla might have gotten
injured?”
“…Yes.”
Corrin sighed, frustrated and impotent. Feeling she was being lied to - but
unable to prove it - she waved her hand dismissively at the knight.
“Fine,” she snapped. “Just… go.”
 A thread of guilt made the commander pause. It could be true. It wasn’t out of
the realm of possibility her Nohrian sister attacked their formation – the
princess did have a possessive streak. And Hinoka was no child – there would
have been no mercy. She would have been killed.
 “Hinoka?” It was sad, conciliatory. An apology for doubting her partner.
Already up and almost out of the room, her name made the woman freeze. “Y-
yeah?”
“I-I’m sorry. I’m happy you’re back. That you made it home.”
All Hinoka could do was nod.
Corrin continued on. “Go see the others if you want. I need to talk with Azama
about Scarlet’s injury first.”
Hinoka nodded again, trying to smile. “I’ll do that.”
--
“All of them will be fine with some time,” Azama had said, arriving at the war
room minutes later. “Nothing permanent other than a few scars.”
The news was comforting to the commander. The idea of any of her fliers, the
backbone of her army, permanently out of commission was one she didn’t want to
contemplate. Comfortable in the knowledge that they were all going to be
alright, she had gone from the war room to the infirmary to see Subaki – the
least injured of the lot.
The infirmary was just a large room with beds and rolls thrown into what seemed
like strategic sections, though presently they were mostly ignored. At the
moment, only a few wounded from the day were in the hall. As patients spread
out to create the illusion of privacy, Subaki rested on a bed as far as
possible from the other two women. The illusion wasn’t a total lie – at least
for him. He was out of earshot of everyone there.
Beside him sat Hinoka, though to Corrin it seemed like neither of them were
talking. Just… existing in silence together. They both straightened when she
neared them, as if caught doing something wrong.
“Hello, Subaki. It’s good to hear you’ll be alright.”
He simply nodded.
“Do you want to answer some questions now or…? If you don’t want to right now,
that’s fine - Hinoka gave a fairly detailed report.”
A wince marred his handsome face.
“I would like to report what happened, Lady Corrin.” His speaking was stiff,
uncomfortable. He glanced at the older princess at his side. “But can I do so
privately?”
“Of course. Hinoka?”
The woman shifted uneasily in her seat. “I really think I should stay.”
Corrin couldn’t resist a jab. “If you didn’t lie, there’s no reason to be
afraid.”
“Y…yeah.” With that Hinoka got up. She could feel their eyes on her as she
started walking away. The knight turned to face them, both still looking at
her, their silence crowding her ears. A flush of shame overcame her cheeks; her
stomach stormed. She turned back and stalked out, each step a slog with the
weight of guilt slowing her limbs. They followed her exit with sad interest.
The stillness was broken by Corrin taking a deep breath. “So… what happened,
Subaki?”
His story seemed to go on forever; it was only a few minutes. The commander was
silent, finding herself unable to write notes as the injured man described
Hinoka using them in her own version of a rescue. When he arrived at the finale
– the duel on the ground, the disarming and stabbing of Camilla, she couldn’t
help the grimace that crossed her face.
When he finished, she thanked him. Silence reigned.
The knight broke it. “I beg your forgiveness.”
Corrin shook her head. “Your liege was dishonoured. I-it’s understandable.” She
stood up, trying to hide her trembling. “Thank-you again for telling me what
happened, Subaki.”
He nodded as she turned to leave. Thoughts wandered. One that struck the knight
was how strangely the eldest princess had acted – scared, vengeful. It made him
shake his head. From what he knew of the fiery woman - her gentleness, her
courage, her honour… that wasn’t the Hinoka he flew with.
 He spoke up. “Lady Corrin?”
“Yes?”
“Forgive me for saying so, but…” he paused for a second. “Something has changed
in Lady Hinoka.”
There was no response.
“Using us as weapons in revenge; mortally wounding an unarmed enemy; leaving
Princess Sakura alone after she was hurt… She never would have done that. Any
of it.”
“I-I know,” the girl said. She didn’t know what else to say as she finally
exited the room, heart heavy with doubt.
--
The war room was still dark from the interrogation of Hayato. Corrin lit
another lantern, feeling a sad sort of comfort as light filled the cramped
space. The commander sighed as she settled in her chair, examining the
miniatures used to represent the Nohrian units on the great map of the
continent; the bright maple carvings of her own army held no interest.
The small pieces of dark wood represented people, people whom she had once
thought of as her own. People she still loved - would always love. The three
biggest she touched softly - a crowned horse, a crowned tome, and a crowned
Wyvern - her siblings' units. They were overtly detailed, their importance
carved into mahogany.
Truth be told, she had never liked Camilla’s; the mount's snout was wrenched
back in a permanent snarl - a visual metaphor of the savagery of Nohr. It made
her sigh internally as she traced its bent spine, imagining Camilla atop hers.
They never believed Corrin when she explained that wyverns could be sweet,
bonded animals, maybe not as soft as Pegasi but just as loyal and good.
Marzia was, at any rate. Marzia, who now was now laying in a field, unable to
fly. Marzia, who would never again soar in the sky with her rider.
Corrin couldn't understand. If what Subaki had said was true, why would Hinoka
be free of all wounds? They had fought Camilla only a few weeks ago in Cheve,
and it had taken almost everything the army had to stop her. Of the two
knights, Hinoka would still be weaker. Maybe not forever, but at the moment…
the commander shook her head. Did Camilla forfeit? Impossible – but Hinoka was
here, unscratched, and apparently Camilla was dying, if not already dead.
Her eyes misted; Corrin knew what had to be done. When a unit was struck down,
they were removed from the map, their threat to Hoshido gone. Yet she couldn’t;
flickering eyes gazed at the commander, jaws snapped, asking her if her choice
had been right. She didn’t know her answer.
 A soft knock made her head snap up. “J-just a moment,” she called, quickly
wiping the tears from her eyes. Hoping she didn’t look like she was just
crying, she nodded to no one. “Alright! Come in.”
The door swung open to reveal a sheepish Hinoka. Awkwardness made her stiff as
she walked in, eyes cast down. Words tumbled from the knight. “I’m… so sorry
for lying to you. I was being foolish. I should have just told you.”
The apology was honest. The plan to lie might have worked – Reina and Scarlet
wouldn’t have cared, dead Nohrians needed no excuses – but Subaki was too
honour-bound for her to have even contemplated that solution. It was stupid,
she realized now. Impulsive. She should have just admitted it in the first
place – she had dealt with a threat to their family. Her duty. Why did she even
have to explain herself?
Finally, she looked up at the girl. She sat quietly at the head of the table,
staring at the lech’s game piece. Hinoka squirmed uneasily. It wasn’t like
Corrin to ignore someone, even in anger.
Silence. Corrin’s eyes dragged from the figurine under her fingers to her
sister. She wanted to just send her out; ruminate in silence and tears about
Camilla. Knowing she shouldn’t, she instead moved her hand in a gesture
inviting Hinoka to continue.
The knight nodded. “I just got so… angry. That she would do that to Sakura.
That she would just fly free, no consequences.”
The commander was smacked with offense, but still said nothing. The imprinted
girl didn’t, couldn’t understand how the situation looked to the knight. It was
Camilla. Soft. Doting. Kind. She had done wrong – they obviously weren’t ready
for what she had shown them, but she could have done worse to an enemy royal
and her partner. So much worse - things that deserved the execution she
received.
Hinoka continued in the silence. “I shouldn’t have killed her. B-but she needed
to answer for her crimes. For our family’s honour. Hoshido’s –“
Finally, the dam broke. "Where's her axe, then? Her wyvern? Her corpse? Her
anything? If this was about Hoshido -" Corrin stood, almost shouting now. "Why
did you take my most powerful soldiers and risk their lives for a minor
target?!"
"Because she hurt Sak-"
"Quiet. Sakura is with us. She is safe. Camilla showed her mercy. She could
have taken her away, killed her. Instead, we will wake up tomorrow and she will
be in her room, warm and alive. But Leo? Xander?" She cried harder. "Elise? You
killed their sister. You killed my sister." She fought the urge to sit back
down. Instead she moved away from the table, closer to the object of her fury.
In her hand was the carved Wyvern. The tears had stopped. “You hunted my sister
in cold blood, Hinoka. You murdered her.”
Hinoka had stopped listening after the first few words. The accusation, the
admitting of familial bonds, all of it went unheard.
 “Mercy?” Her face now matched the colour of her hair. She too was shouting
now, body shaking with indignation. “You call that mercy? She used the diviner
to rape Sakura! Do you not care? Is Sakura not your sister?”
“I do care! And of course Sakura is! But it could have been worse! Cam–“
“Why do you keep defending her?” The knight’s voice had no inflection. Devoid
of passion.
The simple question stole Corrin’s momentum. “What?“
“You heard me.” Her eyes went hard. “She said the most disgusting things about
you. Yet you cry over her. Did you even cry for Sakura? Camilla forced her to –
“
“She was wrong but –”
“But? But what?”
"Sakura’s going to be okay. Camilla did no permanent damage to either of them…”
Stunned silence.
Corrin continued, undaunted. “I put them back together. They're okay as long as
they have each other! I saw it!”
“You… what?”
They stood there, then, for a half-minute. Hinoka spoke slowly, incredulously.
“You let him see her?”
“O-of course. They both wanted to…” she sighed as she saw the knight’s face
melt into surprised fury. “I’m commander, Hinoka. It was my choice, and I
decided it was alright. It wasn’t Hayato’s fault! He couldn’t help what
happened.”
Another beat of silence. Hinoka’s stomach seemed to be alive, its writhing
making her nauseous as she watched Corrin’s fingers idly trace the carving
again. She shook her head, trying to empty her mind of fears about being a
replacement, a toy – it wasn’t even what they were taking about. Then,
wonderfully, mercifully, that anxiety turned to rage. Nothing was inside her
but fire, wanting to burn that stupid statuette clutched in that pale hand. To
disintegrate every piece of that lavender whore to ash.
 “Why can’t you see how disgusting she was?”
Without warning, Corrin’s lip began to tremble. Her grip on the wooden figure
tightened, as though proximity to it ensured the safety of the person it
represented.
“Don’t call her that,” she pleaded, voice stammering. “Camilla’s not
disgusting. She is-”
“Was.”
The reminder forced a sudden sob out of the girl. “F-fine. Was. She was my
sister, Hinoka. Just like you.”
The sound of the slap reverberated through the room. Tears left silent and
scalding trails down Corrin’s cheek as her skin smarted from the blow. Her
gloved hand hovered just shy of the skin, disbelief keeping her lips ajar.
“Don’t ever say that again.”
“B-but…”
“You chose me,” Hinoka snapped, “You chose Hoshido. And whether you like it or
not, those monsters you call family? We’re at war with them. They’d kill us all
without a second thought.”
“But… I can’t do what you want! I can’t not try to talk sense into them!”
Desperation soaked every syllable that spilled from Corrin’s mouth as the
difficulty of tears choked her. “I can’t do it, Hinoka… I can’t – I can’t hate
them!”
“Do you love us?”
“Th-that’s not fair.”
“Answer it. Do you love me?”
“Y-yes, Hinoka. Of course. Always.”
The scarlet princess began to take firm steps forward, her rider’s pauldrons
jangling with each determined movement. Her fists were flexed with the
certainty of control, her very body an arrow in motion. Seeing the hurt and
anger in her eyes, Corrin squirmed out of her path without directly fleeing,
hoping that her lover would be stalled by a sudden mercy – but no such luck, as
she was pursued all the way to the stone wall.
“Hinoka,” Corrin murmured. “Please, c-calm down-”
“She’s gone.”
A shiver streaked down Corrin’s spine as Hinoka’s hand caressed the cheek it
had just slapped. Its thumb navigated the curve of her cheekbone, almost
relishing the hot panic of her tears. It stopped a droplet in its tracks as
though sampling it, so obsessed with defeating Camilla that it would stop even
mourning of her.
An errant sob from the girl, and Hinoka found her hand grabbed by Corrin’s own.
Her fingers scrabbled at the knight’s wrist, attempting to halt it. Far from
dissuaded, Hinoka merely tightened around the pale flesh of her lover until her
face showed a sufficient degree of regret, and the hand withdrew
apologetically.
Hinoka’s smile broadened. The sweat on her palm felt like blood smeared down
Corrin’s cheek.
Her hand was that of death.
“You’re mine,” she breathed, obsession burning her breath. “And no-one else’s,
anymore.”
Maintaining her tearful focus, Corrin’s crimson eyes stared through the other
woman. The words came before she could stop them. “You sound like everything
you fear she is.”
There was a sudden silence as the hand left Corrin’s cheek, and several long
seconds passed in absolute silence. The meaning of the words dawned on the girl
who had spoken them, and now she began to quiver under Hinoka’s cold stare,
regret blooming in her belly like a nauseous flower.
“…Take that back.”
Fear flooded Corrin’s veins.
“H-Hinoka…! I’m-”
“Take. It. Back.”
The remorse crept up Corrin’s throat like bile as she became aware of Hinoka’s
tensed form pressing against her, hands against the wall, closing her in like
an unhinged jaw.
“Hinoka, please… you’re scaring me.” Her squeak of protest was pathetic.
“I’m scaring you? And she never did?”
The silver girl crumpled under the accusation, her knees wobbling precariously.
Her lover, a wall of taut muscle, felt hostile and hard in the heat of the
impassioned moment. “I-I’m sorry,” Corrin sputtered, wishing an end to the
torment. “I didn’t mean it.”
“I’m sorry and…?” There was no discerning Hinoka’s intentions from her face.
Distaste made the usually kind woman unreadable.
Lacking a hint, the smaller girl tried something proven. “I’m sorry and I love
you…?”
“No.”
A nervous gulp. “I’m sorry and… you’re r-right?”
“That’s not it either.”
A tortured sob from the trapped girl as sadness squeezed her, begging for
relief. Tears muddled every syllable she spoke into a useless jumble of sounds.
“I’m s-s-sorry a-and… p-please…”
At last, Hinoka’s armour seemed to crack. “Fine. Say this: I’m sorry and I
give…”
“I g-give,” Corrin repeated instantly, biting down on any invitation to make
peace.
“Give you…”
“Give you, Hinoka…”
The final word sizzled off Hinoka’s tongue. “…everything.”
Corrin swallowed hard, apprehension suddenly filling her heart. Hinoka’s eyes
were so cold, so absent, so lacking their usual warmth. They were narrowed to
slits of resentment, daring her to repeat that final word of promise. Something
within Corrin begged herself not to relent, to not give in. She squeezed the
sculpted Wyvern, feeling its edges dig into her palm. Mere relief was not worth
betraying Camilla and herself.
But this was Hinoka, wasn’t it? Hinoka would never hurt her.
“Everything.” She merely hoped that Hinoka heard what she wanted to hear in
that word.
“Good,” the knight sighed, her voice softening instantly. “That’s… good.”
Though the woman’s body remained stiff against Corrin, one of her hands left
the wall and allowed her lover to breathe. Those very fingers then traced the
dragon girl’s jawline lovingly, passing through curls of silver to graze over
the petite softness of her white chin. She seemed mesmerised as she did so, the
woman lost behind layers of deep focus.
A trickle of sweat made itself known to Corrin, wetting her temple and
slithering downwards. None of it made sense to her.
“Hinoka,” she wept, “can I… leave, now?”
As she shifted in place, the taller woman’s wayward finger toyed with Corrin’s
lower lip, almost prying at the seam. “No,” she replied, her breath lowered and
hazy. “We still have to resolve this.”
The silver girl made to move. “W-well, we can talk later. I need to report to-”
Wetness suddenly spread through her as Hinoka lunged in, muffling the girl by
trapping her in a sudden and savage kiss. Haste drove every motion; from the
clasping and unclasping motions of her mouth to the marauding tongue that took
advantage of Corrin’s surprise, silencing her protests with its wet length.
Corrin revolted against it, whimpering as she tried to push back the invader –
but failed, the appendage sliding freely through her and feeling whatever it
pleased. Saliva pooled in her throat. She gagged, shuddering underneath Hinoka
as she was drenched in the woman’s torrid touch.
There was no softness to be found in her. Weakened by shock and sadness, the
girl’s fingers loosened – and the crowned wyvern of Camilla fell to the floor
with an ungracious clatter.
The Hoshidan woman nipped at her captive’s lips as she broke away from the
contact, red marks scorched across that once-unblemished skin. The tongue had
been a brand of flesh, Corrin open-mouthed and drooling in its sudden absence.
Hurt tears fell freely once more, mingling with her saliva.
“Sister… please…”
Hinoka’s eyes dissected Corrin into portions of flesh and leather. Her posture,
slumped. Her face, sullen. Her skin, clammy and cold with the compounding pain
of the day. Her exhaustion was visible in every slouched muscle and every
fearful glance. It struck the knight that her partner was very obviously
incapable of enjoying this right now.
Good, Hinoka thought, not even recognising herself. She’ll never think of
leaving me again.
A pained gasp as the woman’s knee pried open the space between Corrin’s thighs.
The shocked sobs that the girl let out would’ve given any lover pause, only
Hinoka was no longer herself.
There was no colour in her eyes but red.
A horrified sound choked out of Corrin’s throat; mingling with spittle as her
captor ground the flat of the thigh up into the fabric between her legs. The
movement of that foul appendage against her clothed sex caused every one of the
girl’s muscles to recoil and jerk. These complaints did not stop Hinoka. Her
teeth began to tease the smooth skin in the crook of her captive’s neck.
Clinking metal, and the clasp of her cape came undone. The azure garment fell
to the ground, its shed weight only driving Hinoka’s fingers to further frenzy.
Tears did nothing to slow her hands – only when Corrin sobbed at how her
leathers were pulled away did the other woman pause to admonish her.
“Be quiet,” she hissed. “I’m trying to forgive you.”
Despite the sniffling receding into the darkness as ordered, Hinoka remained
hardened. As she dragged her hand through Corrin’s blouse, tearing is
fastenings and sampling her skin in one motion, all the Pegasus knight could
see was the moistened, brainwashed doll of her enemy.
A girl made of wasted years.
Squeezing a bare breast, the taller woman placed a rough kiss at the base of
Corrin’s neck – and sure enough, as her lavender opponent had promised, the
girl melted into a mewling pile of pleasure-soaked nerves. She let loose a
filthy moan, drenched with need and the memory of previous experiences.
Rage blinded Hinoka. There was no stopping the image of purple hair falling
over those tensed shoulders, flowing like a fountainhead from this eternally-
marked patch of skin. Even now that Camilla was gone, Corrin was still darkened
with her ownership.
“You… you…” Hinoka paused, her accusation held back by the last remnants of her
true and reasonable self.
It was not enough.
“You… whore. Did you even once say no?”
Corrin began to wail, sobbing herself to depletion. More threading was unhooked
or torn as directed by the other woman’s discerning fingers, each new inch of
exposed skin eliciting fresh crying. By now tears stained the silver girl’s
face all the way down to her neck. Every so often Hinoka would grip Corrin’s
chin, lifting her head, forcing their eyes to meet. Then, satisfied, she would
move ever downward.
Nibbling again at that spot on the other’s neck, Hinoka spoke. “How long?”
Violated and scared, Corrin winced at the anger that dripped from every word.
“P-pardon?”
“How long was she doing things to you?” Hinoka snapped, clearly lacking any and
all patience for her lover’s fear.
Petrified by the seething jealousy behind the question, the smaller girl
desperately searched for her answer. Camilla had used to make jokes about her
sensitivity, had used to make necklaces of tantalising kisses while laughing
about how easy it was to unravel her. When had she changed? When had the
touches lost their innocence? The dark princess had always been… just Camilla,
to her. Always given love without reserve.
“I…” She shook her head. When had hands gone under shirts and start undoing
armour? She couldn’t remember.
A grunt from her Hoshidan sister, a grunt that was only half-disgust. Jealousy
was the other portion, seething envy driving every aggressive brush of skin.
That should have been their adolescence, their trembling sessions of
exploration and joyous discovery. The lavender whore had stolen it from her,
and now every sound Corrin made was a reminder that Hinoka did not have those
years of history. She had only what she had carried with her into this war
room.
And that was rage.
Shudders from the smaller girl as Hinoka leaned down and nipped at a breast,
pinching the skin between her teeth, hand grabbing the other with such force
that it was more like a slap. Hinoka’s eyes, as bloody a shade as her hair,
examined her shivering girl from her prow to her scalp. She studied the girl’s
bust, nipples pert from the cold room, up to her tear-soaked neck – and then at
her face. Her mouth was held open by shock and fear, leaking drool. Her cheeks
were glistening red from her humiliated crying. Her pupils were dilated with
unwanted pleasure. She made gurgling sounds, pathetic dribblings of noise that
lay somewhere between sorrow and desire.
“Disgusting.” It was the only word that came to Hinoka’s mind. She could not
even place its intended recipient. Was it Corrin? Camilla?
Herself?
She buried the thought as she committed to tearing away the last garments at
Corrin’s waist. All Hinoka knew was that she was disgusted, and that the
perfect receptacle for her rage was right in front of her. Fingernails left an
angry trail of pink around Corrin’s waist as a single digit explored the band
of her black panties.
“Hinoka, please don’t,” Corrin begged, chest heaving out the words. “Please
stop- no! NO!”
The noise of tearing fabric may as well have been a thunderclap, it was so loud
and so present. With a petrified whimper Corrin doubled over, shivering as her
last layer of protection landed in tatters beneath her.
Again, that hand cupped her chin. Throughout their growing romance, Corrin had
always loved Hinoka’s hands. Firm, dexterous, but tender and capable of great
gentleness. She had delighted in holding them, feeling them, touching them as
their love deepened. Now, however, all Corrin could focus on was the roughness
of them – every callus and scar scraped against her with martial savageness.
Those hands were made ugly by the deeds they committed.
Shaking her argentine hair in vain, the shaking girl was pulled into another
bruising kiss. She was pierced deep by those scrutinising scarlet eyes.
Wordless contact held a thin tension between them - before finally, Corrin
winced as Hinoka’s fingers slid through the fine, silvery hairs between her
legs and down between her folds.
“Tell me something she did,” Hinoka said, every word a fresh wound. “It’s going
to be mine now.”
“I… ahh…” Corrin sputtered out misshapen sounds, quivering in slight jerks with
the rhythm of the other woman’s fingers. She shook her head, and Hinoka quickly
punished her silence with a rough stroke, two fingers rutting the moist divide
of her lower lips. Corrin whimpered.
“Not going to tell me?” Hinoka snapped, pinching and tugging at a nipple with
her other hand. “I’ll just have to improvise…”
“Nngh… no…”
Hinoka stopped, surprised. “Oh? You will?”
Suddenly, Corrin opened glassy, pleading eyes. She seemed almost thankful to
her captor, as though the question was an offer of freedom if she could just
find an answer that satisfied. “She… she would sometimes-”
The girl was interrupted by Hinoka’s palm clamping her mouth shut. Gripping
Corrin’s wrist with her other hand she then slowly brought the limb up,
ignoring the girl’s frightened squeaks.
“Demonstrate,” the woman commanded, pushing her lover back into the wall.
“O…okay…” Her eyes squeezed shut, Corrin reached between her legs, fingers
reaching for herself tentatively as if the wrong movement would warrant
punishment. She trembled with trepidation, biting her lip to not give away the
immense pleasure that Camilla’s touch drew out of her. Hinoka, after all, saw
everything. She seemed to follow every muscle at once, her ears detecting every
mewl and murmur, her nostrils wrinkling with disgust at every shameful
pheromone Corrin’s body released in its unwanted pleasure.
“She… nnn… like this…” Words crumbled in her mouth once more. Her fingers,
slick from the gathered arousal of her dewy folds, now trailed gently up her
mound and over her navel. A sudden gasp and yet more liquid trailed down
Corrin’s thigh, the memory of Camilla’s touch irresistible. The fingers ran dry
just over her stomach, their faint glossy trail barely visible in the dim half-
light.
“…That’s it?” Hinoka scoffed, letting out a single, derisive laugh. “That’s the
lech’s big move?”
Torn between wanting to defend her Nohrian sister and not wanting to worsen her
punishment, the silver girl chose to merely crumple under the shaming laugher.
She bolted upright, however, when Hinoka’s entire hand pressed against her
entrance. Kisses at her neck reduced Corrin to helpless tremblings as the
taller woman swiped across her sex, gathering wetness. The arousal was siphoned
away, the knight’s hand dripping as it lay an accusing fingertip upon Corrin’s
pubic hair.
“It’s weak,” Hinoka mocked. “You would like it.”
A guttural moan of pain-mingled pleasure escaped Corrin’s lips; two more
fingers had joined the first as Hinoka began to scrape the fluid-soaked fingers
up the younger woman’s unblemished body. The touch was uncouth and unkind,
rough fingernails dragging seething red trails up her front, thin liquid
seeping in their wake to sting at the point of contact between them. It was an
intimate torture, the fingers pressed against sensitive nerves, reappropriating
memories of comfort and happiness.
Rupture built within Corrin’s walls with each new muscle stimulated by that wet
pressure. Burning from her loins to her navel, the girl thought to relax as the
fingers reached her belly – but instead nearly cried out with fearful ecstasy
as her jailer continued all the way up her torso. The trail of secretion ran in
shameful rivulets up between the smaller girl’s reddened breasts, to her neck,
past her dripping chin, until finally Hinoka’s wet fingers deliberated on the
pillowy derma of her lover’s lips. The girl locked her jaw, refusing the moist
digits that now demanded entry.
“Tell me who you love,” the ruby-haired woman demanded, equal parts inviting
and threatening.
Corrin shook her head defiantly. With a mocking giggle, the knight began to
spread the fluid, painting the girl’s recusant lips with watery arrival. She
choked and gagged at the feeling, humiliation misting her eyes over once again
as she was decorated with her own violated release.
Muscles coiled in her belly, Corrin fought against her own shaking body. Her
nerves and skin did not aid in her defiance, streaks of pleasure running freely
through her body. She leaked and squirmed, biting back moans she did not want
to voice as the other woman pressed and pressed against her with ever firmer
touches.
Again, eye contact was forced. Hinoka kept asking the same thing. She bled the
same words over and over, trying to make her captive open her mouth to be
freshly violated. The finger, waiting for its moment, continued edging at her
spittle-soaked lips.
“I’ll ask one more time,” Hinoka whispered. Corrin readied herself, teeth
clamped shut.
Two fingers suddenly slipped between the silver girl’s thighs, moving up to her
dripping entrance. She froze, a gasp held in her contracted throat.
“Who. Do. You. Love.”
Fingers were suddenly all there was. The roaming two now slid into her, forcing
themselves against her walls until the knuckles stopped at her folds. Eyes
watering with pain and pleasure at this invasion, Corrin let out an involuntary
moan of ill-gotten arousal. Like some swift predator Hinoka’s other hand,
waiting for this moment, lashed out to shove its fingers down into the girl’s
salivating mouth. She was now occupied by fingers, both sets of lips now filled
with Hinoka. She was being painted. Saturated. Lathered with the bitter taste
of her own arousal.
A nibble at her pointed ear. A third finger. A twist, a grab at her tongue.
Jealous whispers swirling around her. It was all too much.
“Hi…nookaaa…” she gurgled the answer through her fleshy gag, hoping it would
end.
In response, Hinoka pulled her digits out of Corrin’s reddened sex and rammed
them back in, three times in rapid succession. The overwhelming force of the
movement was too sudden, and so the girl’s walls squeezed in a desperate
scramble for completion. Liquid splashed across her thighs as she came, her
quaking body reduced to a pile of painfully overstimulated nerves and shivers
of release.
“You… came?” Hinoka asked incredulously, disgust filling her features. “You
enjoyed that?”
Despite the hand leaving her throbbing folds, the one buried in her mouth still
remained, meaning Corrin could not reply. She could not rebuke. Could not
defend herself with correcting words. She was instead merely forced to taste
the acrid and acetous mixture of fluids. She could only suckle those cycling
fingers as Hinoka examined her, appalled. The knight watched fluid pool on the
stone floor, falling in trickles from swollen flesh, and at each droplet
hitting the stone her revulsion grew.
She waited until Corrin’s face was distorted from exhaustion before withdrawing
the fingers from her lips. The girl was whispering little mutters, apologies
and promises. Her rage unabated, Hinoka growled as she took a bunched fistful
of silver hair in her hand and forced another kiss out of her captive. Far from
merely holding it in her fingers, the older sister possessively clutched at the
ivory strands with a lover’s fervour. It cascaded from her palms like a stream,
allowing the rider to stroke and rub the gossamer hair against her face and
lips with a need so great it seemed painful.
“Mine,” she hummed, first to the locks, then to their frightened owner. “All
mine.”
Dislodging tears, Corrin merely bit back fear and resentment. Fear ripped at
her with each fresh movement of the other woman, but she dared not move –
instead, she merely waited for a merciful stop. Waited for Hinoka – the real
Hinoka – to come back.
“What else?” The ruby-haired woman now asked, eliciting a scared whimper from
the other.
“I- I don’t know. Hino-”
A yank on her hair silenced the protest. “Quiet. What else did she do?”
Struggling to select just one thing, Corrin shuddered as she sorted through a
plethora of pleasurable memories. Recollections of smiles, blushes, whispers of
love and security. Wet lips. Dilated pupils. Nerves firing off jolts of
pleasure through skin explored in tandem touches. Laughter. Comfort. Joy.
How far away it all seemed now.
“I’m waiting,” Hinoka ordered, her eyes empty of herself. “Or do you want to
remain that whore’s property forever?”
Wincing at the remark, Corrin nonetheless narrowed her thoughts, trying
desperately to push back the disgust that pooled in her throat. A voice
screamed from within her. I’m not property. Hers or yours.
It’s Hinoka, her other side thought. If I can just please her, she’ll calm
down. She’ll stop.
An angry voice reverberated in the chambers of her heart. It was her own hurt,
gradually emerging from where she had stuffed it down. Corrin was known for her
mercy, but even she could not push down the indignation at how her supposed
lover was treating her. Why give her that? She degrades me. Hurts me. She
treats like this for loving the family she killed.
Her kindness replied. It’s not her. Hinoka would never do this.
Her rage snapped back. No, you’re right. This is not Hinoka. She’s lost the
right to be someone that loved.
The words ‘spoken’ by that inner fury were ancient, proud, and deeply enraged.
It was her dragon, her mercilessness, pulled from dormancy by the betrayal she
now endured. It offered Corrin to save her from her own kindness.
I can fix this.
Suddenly, Hinoka’s palm cradled her face. Its thumb caught a wayward tear, the
shockingly gentle motion jolting the captive girl back to attention. Though she
was too drained and too sore to smile, the faintest reminder of her once-gentle
lover still sent a throb of undeserved love through her fatigued body. It was
enough for her selfless nature to win again, even when it perhaps should not
have.
She forced her dragon back into the recesses. I don’t need you to fix this.
“She’d… she’d…” Corrin struggled to form the words, her voice so used to the
cries and whimpers of ceaseless stimulation. “She’d use her mouth.”
It was a simple suggestion, a memory that Corrin hoped could not be defiled too
easily. She flinched as the knight lifted her hand – expecting another slap to
match her first. Instead, the arm found itself a place at the crown of Corrin’s
head, pressing gently but insistently down.
“Show me,” Hinoka demanded, her other hand casually slipping into the cavity of
her lover’s mouth and pulling her jaw ajar, exposing the glistening pink of her
resting tongue.
Almost gratefully, the ivory girl nodded and lowered herself to a kneeling
stance, the grey padding of her leathers bouncing lightly off the hard ground.
She was forced into place by that hand on her scalp, fixing her head into
position before Hinoka’s groin. The woman’s skirt was hiked up around her
narrow hips, revealing the lean firmness of her inner thighs – and the
featherlike cotton that clung tight to the woman’s triangle of pubic flesh.
Spiderwebs of thin fluid trickled down the muscled length of her legs.
Corrin banished the spittle in her mouth back to the belly with a hard swallow;
everything about this made bile rise in her throat. Pleasuring Hinoka had
always been sacred until tonight. She gagged at the collision of fleshy tastes
that swirled about her senses. She could taste her own sex on her tongue, she
could smell the lingering scent of Hinoka’s fluid, and she knew that soon those
disparate tastes would mingle and mix. The thought made her stomach churn
queasily. This swapping of tastes might have been a nice experiment for them to
share – if there was no enforcing hand that made a slave out of her.
If they were still lovers.
Cloth peeled away, the knight’s fingers exposing herself in choking slowness.
Moist scarlet hairs revealed themselves in strands as the underwear was slipped
down. The scent of the rider’s arousal now doubled in potency, now imminent and
heady with readiness; Corrin nearly choked. Tears again made themselves known
as the hand coaxed her closer, her face right before the knight’s now-exposed
folds.
Looking up, Corrin could only see those judging, jealous, absent eyes. None of
the Hinoka she had fallen in love with. “Plea-”
The appeal was cut short the very second it was produced, the older sister
cruelly shoving the smaller girl between her thighs. Her desperate sound of
indignation was drowned in the noises of clasping and wet skin. The fine hairs
tickled at her lips and tongue, dewy folds snuffing out any hope Corrin had of
voicing her displeasure. She merely cried silently, her suckling mouth trapped
in the wet genitals of her captor.
Moving her hips forward in a binding thrust, Hinoka locked the girl’s whole
body in place with her legs. Corrin felt her head bump against the cold surface
of the stone wall behind her, caught in the slump of submission. Seized between
her sister’s thighs, the girl balked as Hinoka again thrust into her mouth,
filling her senses suddenly and completely with the tang of sex. Roaming
fingers, planted in her silver locks, coaxed Corrin’s head back and forth into
the overworked skin that loomed impatiently before her.
A whimper again dribbled through the captive girl’s teeth at her own peril. If
she could just move, she could use her tongue properly and sooner end this
torment – but those strong legs kept her gripped in immobility, forcing her to
reach out with her tongue and angle her neck into the movement as if she were
enjoying it. She gagged on a wad of her captor’s fluid as it trailed down her
dry throat.
Feeling tantalising rapture shoot up her spine all the way from her loins, the
scarlet knight allowed herself to enjoy each tortured movement of the pink
tongue that shuddered between her folds. Every so often, in desperate need of
yet more stimulus, Hinoka would press forward with her pelvis – her hands
locked the girl’s head in a vice against the wall, and that tongue would pause,
extended and firm, inside her. The woman delighted in each in little thud of
Corrin’s head against the stone, each offended, muffled sob reminding Hinoka of
that new and splendid truth.
Corrin was hers now, and hers alone.
Hinoka’s walls contracted at the sudden pleasure of this thought. Corrin now
strained with ever-increasing difficulty to please her. The way she leaned in
and groaned, manoeuvred her way through obstacles put there by Hinoka herself…
it squeezed satisfaction out the woman to see her little dragon try so hard.
She became aware of a hand tapping at her thigh. Deigning to crane her neck and
behold the princess slumped in servitude below her, Hinoka was promptly aroused
by the sight all over again. Corrin’s face was scrunched into a wet mess of
discomfort, her tongue rooted deep between Hinoka’s folds, her nose tickled and
marked by the vermillion hairs. The girl’s hand kept insistently tapping,
bouncing against Hinoka’s firm thighs, then down to her calves.
“What… is it?” The woman gasped impatiently between moans.
Crying, Corrin merely continued to strike weakly at her. It took the knight
only second more to realise that she’d hemmed the girl in to the point where
breath was hard to come by. Stepping back, Hinoka watched with detached
interest as her exhausted partner fell forward onto all fours and took deep,
restorative gulps of air. Her hair tossed about in reams of grey as she coughed
and spluttered into the floor. Wetness fell from her lips, saliva and arrival
mingled in the clear liquid that dripped off the girl.
“Swallow it,” Hinoka suggested, as sweetly as rage would allow.
Nodding obediently, Corrin produced a broken noise and gulped back the hybrid
fluid; recoiling as it trickled down her throat.
“Good. Now, stick your tongue out.”
Excitement filled the taller woman as, sure enough, that pink organ appeared. A
disgusted shiver ran through Corrin like a blade as Hinoka swept in and ran her
lower lips along the waiting flesh with a filthy swiftness. She flinched as it
happened again, more forcefully now, a swipe of folds across her tongue that
gave off a clear message:
See? I own you.
“Do I taste good?” Hinoka asked, her words laden with heat as her body
approached climax.
“Of- of course,” Corrin whispered between the lashes of her sister’s womanhood.
“And you’re mine.”
The girl hummed agreement, hoping it was what she wanted to hear.
Fingers cupped the captive’s chin a final time. A hurt and resentful gaze
passed between the two women.
The air was broken only by the sound of sniffling from the smaller girl, her
whole form caked in one liquid or another. The echo of Hinoka’s iron heel on
the stonework was loud in the tense air as she shifted.
“Tell me who you belong to,” she commanded, eyes still alive with a raging red
hue.
The dragon within Corrin screamed, a snarl directed at its abuser. I belong to
no-one!
Ever the diplomat, however, the violated girl swallowed her pride – and a musky
mouthful of her partner’s arrival. “Y-you, Hinoka.”
The way Corrin’s breath carried the scent of her sap made the scarlet sister
tingle with delight. Slender and sure, the knight’s fingers began to creep down
in front of Corrin’s face. They slithered through matted bangs, across puffy
eyes, and over soaked lips.
“Kiss,” Hinoka ordered.
With a miserable whine of confirmation, lips were applied dutifully to whatever
flesh Hinoka provided, all the while she was bombarded with questions. Each one
tore at Corrin’s already fragile pride, prodding the waiting dragon.
Beckoning it closer.
“Who are your family?” The woman’s tone was haughty and demanding even through
breathless pleasure. “Hoshido or Nohr?”
Both. “H-Hoshido.”
A lick at Hinoka’s folds.
“And was I right to- aaahn- end a threat… to our family?”
No. I loved her. “Y-yes…”
A forced peck at the knight’s saturated fingers.
“And who was… hhhh… right about… Sakura?”
She wasn’t hurt by him! “You were, Hinoka…”
Without warning, the elder sibling’s vicelike hands grabbed Corrin’s head and
shoved it deep between her thighs. The scalding suffocation of Hinoka’s folds
made the silver girl gag as her tongue was buried deep into its searing
entrance.
“Who do you love?”
The woman began to grind against her face.
“Y-you… Hinoka…”
Electric sensation throbbed through the knight’s body. “Again. Who do you love?
The only one you love?”
Another choked gargle. “Y… you…”
Each laboured movement the girl’s fatigued tongue drove Hinoka closer to the
peak of her ecstasy.
“Say it again!” She hissed through her building, throbbing delight. “Say all of
it!”
“You’re… the one I love, Hinoka.” Corrin cried out the words between touches,
barely audible, spluttering against skin. Fingers clenched in her hair. “I
belong to you.”
Walls clenched around the point of contact.
“You and… you alone.”
Hinoka cried out in sudden and all-enveloping ecstasy as her shrieking nerves
reached summit. She locked her captive in place beneath her, Corrin’s tongue
chafing against her flowing, erupting skin. Sublime arrows shot to end of every
nerve in the knight’s body as the object of her desire massaged her in shivers,
the girl owned and enslaved by her touch.
Painted red in blooming blushes.
Choking on a final stream of arrival that spilled into her mouth, Corrin began
to cry once more. At last Hinoka relented, stepping back and letting her
captive fall forward in a pile of spent skin and ravaged muscles. Crawling
forward in a miserable slump, the girl felt her stomach unravel in queasy bouts
at what she had just endured. Every so few seconds, she would cast a glimpse at
Hinoka, who was still processing the pleasure she had seized with a heavy
chest.
Despite how desperately she had wanted it to, the woman’s rage had not drained
out through her legs. Fury still clutched to her heart like a sickness,
belligerent and lingering inside her. The words Corrin had said still smacked
at her, and even watching the panting girl limp across the floor she felt a
creeping sense of disgust and arousal.
Even trembling pink with humiliated blushes, Corrin seemed far too pale. Though
she quivered in the growing cold of the room and stank of the other woman’s
sex, it was still too easy to imagine purple hair cascading down over her
breasts, strong and warming hands gifting the girl pleasure.
Hinoka’s brain always suggested the worst. She knew the real Corrin to mutter
and moan, to whisper thanks; the Corrin pictured in her jealousy always revoked
her Hoshidan family, forsook them at the lech’s insistence. She denounced
Hinoka every time, apologising in pleasure-frenzied whispers to her ample-
breasted Nohrian sister for ever having strayed.
The worst part was, she could imagine it happening. If the lech had won. If she
had reached Corrin and taken her again.
It would’ve happened.
Only she had stopped it.
And Corrin had the gall to be upset?
The bones in Hinoka’s hand shook as her fist clenched shut with rage. The girl
crawling before her had never denounced that whore. Never forsaken Nohr. Never
renounced that family of degenerates. Her iron heels clicked against the stone
as she advanced on the violated woman once more, the question pounding angrily
in her head:
Why should I have to tolerate that, when the Nohrian bitch wouldn’t?
By now, Corrin had gripped onto the wooden leg of the interrogation table like
a rock in the rapids. Unable to bring her sobbing form to bear, she began to
curl herself around the post sorrowfully – until, like a feather falling from
the sky, Hinoka’s beckoning hand was held out to her.
For a few fearful seconds the hand was stared at, fear constricting the girl’s
actions. She could not see the woman’s face, could not discern her intentions
in her eyes. All she could do was focus on was the hand, strong and weathered,
firm fingers angled invitingly in offer. It was no different to the dozens of
times she had been invited onto the woman’s Pegasus, or ushered to her side in
battle. It was a familiar gesture, loving and kind without fail.
Plunging her heart into the hand, Corrin smiled through her tears as she let
her lover’s hand lift her to shaky feet.
See? She told herself. I told you it wasn’t the real her.
“That’s my good girl,” Hinoka breathed, her voice still tainted. “My little
wyvern.”
Instant revulsion shot through Corrin. Her face twisted into disbelief as the
insult echoed inside her. Wyvern?!Her heart pounded against her ribs in fury. I
am a dragon!
Despite her rage at the insult, the aftertaste was fear. Hinoka never used pet
names. Never belittled Corrin with titles or teases. The use of this insulting
label made the Hoshidan woman sound more like Camilla – and worse, a Camilla
significantly more deranged than the real one. Deeply uncomfortable now, Corrin
began to shake again – the fact that Hinoka had compared her to a housebroken
mount hurt worse than any physical blow. She had been reduced to a Nohrian
slave, Camilla’s pet creature to be ridden – a weak, failed dragon.
Hinoka’s next question came before the girl’s trembling knees had settled. “Did
she ever take you from behind?”
Corrin blinked, her veins freezing in fully-realised fear. “Wh-what?! No!”
“Good,” Hinoka snapped, still broken. Still absent. “I’ll at least claim one
first.”
The contact of their hands broke, and suddenly the hand pressed deep into
Corrin’s naked back. It shoved her into the table, bending her over its
surface. The edge of the furnishing dug a red line into her thighs as she was
rammed against it, stomach and breasts flattened against the cold wood. The
hand pushed down, keeping her in place, keeping her exposed.
“Hinoka, no! NO!” She cried, feeling the woman’s other palm cup one of her
buttocks and squeeze with enough force to redden it.
The knight did not reply, merely smacking her captive sharply in response. The
stinging skin of the girl’s thigh smarted against the cool air of evening,
feeling as though it bled and burned. Fear and sorrow and churned into anger as
she felt her abuser’s fingers inch deeper down.
“Hinoka… sister…” She sobbed. “I-I’m warning you.”
A derisive scoff. The hand slid greasily from Corrin’s bare back up to her
neck, squeezing painfully, keeping her head pinned to the table.
“Don’t,” the girl said, her breath rattling the surface. “Please.”
Thighs squeezed together as Hinoka positioned herself behind the helpless girl,
squelching their skins together with wet contempt. The hand between Corrin’s
legs brushed its fingers roughly over the swollen skin of her lower lips,
swiping at the stinging tissue with jerking touches. Corrin whimpered under
each admonishing slap of the fingers on her lips, then sobbed as the digits
crept up between her buttocks.
The voice from within her returned, anger staining its words. She’s just
torturing us now. No more excuses.
N-no, I can… if I just…
The fingers positioned themselves behind her, tracing her entrance.
No. Enough.
Corrin let her human brain be consumed by the synapses of a superior being.
There was a moment’s stillness as magic flooded her veins –
Then she stopped shivering.
Hair was brushed aside as the knight’s pinning hand slid up her neck into her
locks. The fingers clenched around the back of Corrin’s head, pressing her face
into the wood, the arm’s tensed muscle fixed in place, until its skin was
suddenly slashed.
A blot of sharp red blood was cut from Hinoka’s wrist as a streak of hard light
sliced out from within the silver hair. Grunting with surprise, Hinoka recoiled
back, watching the pearlescent light harden into a metallic length of silvery
sharpness.
The extension curled and flourished like a ribbon, making delicate twists until
it coalesced to a cutting edge. Clutching at the fresh wound near her bicep,
shallow but bleeding, the knight realised – in a flash-flood of fear – what the
shape was.
A feral, animal growl emerged from the girl she had dominated until mere
moments ago. Hinoka went pale, her brow caving with sudden, gut-clenching
dread.
It was a dragon’s antler.
Another snarling growl, low and modulated by ancient magic, emanated from
behind the visage that Hinoka now saw covering her lover’s face. Platinum hair
fells in spools around the featureless planes of a draconic mask, the face of a
divine being that had been deeply wronged. The antlers, bladed and shaking with
anger, seemed to cut the very air. Scales, shimmering like opals with each
shift of the light, spread across the abused girl’s skin. Rage tensed every one
of Corrin’s muscles, stretched every tendon to lethal readiness.
And every bit of this eyeless nightmare was focused on its captor.
Hinoka spoke through tears. “I- I’m sorr-”
A spear of flesh shot from Corrin’s empty hand and robbed the words of their
breath, as the sharp weapon shredded a lock of scarlet hairs away from the
woman’s ear. She stumbled back, away from the naked girl, as the scaled lance
flew behind her and punctured the stone wall. Bricks crashed and crumbled at
the explosive force of the impact.
“How dare you…!” Corrin snarled, her voice shaking with the difficulty of
conflict even now. “How dare you do this to me! After all… After all I…”
Adrenaline from the shock faded. Hinoka felt the burn of friction on her scalp.
Corrin’s blade had been much closer than she first thought – blood trickled
down one side of her head, its surface practically shaved of all hair. Any
further abreast, and the strike would have killed her instantly.
Hinoka could not help thinking that that may have been the preferable outcome
to the shame that now spread through her. Robbed of words, she choked on the
sounds in her throat. She swallowed back guilty, horrified sounds of apology.
That featureless face glowered at her, still and seething, as though daring her
to say the wrong thing.
“C-Corrin,” the knight stammered, reaching out with one hand. “I… I’m-”
An explosive shockwave of magical energy crackled through the air, blowing the
taller woman back against the wall. Now it was Hinoka’s head that thudded
against the stone, jaw locked, rendering her helpless before her sister.
The dragon advanced. “DON’T,” she warned, “touch me.”
Electricity crackled between the two women, Hinoka realising with awed fear
that the blast had erupted from a massive, monstrous jaw that had sprouted from
Corrin’s wrist. Lined with teeth and growling in a low rumble, the vestigial
maw dared the knight to try and approach again.
“Corrin,” Hinoka continued, tears beginning to crowd her eyelids. “I’m so, so
sorry.”
There was no sound as the dragon stood resolute, staring down her abuser with
seemingly limitless strength. Hinoka winced at the lack of any kind of
response, the constant expression of that draconic mask giving away nothing.
It was a mirror, and Hinoka saw only disgust.
"I... I was an idiot," ... "I should never have killed her." Realization spread
through her as she beheld the red blushes over the dragon's girl's body. "I
would never... I would never do any of it to you. I-it wasn't me!"
Another blast of energy slammed Hinoka back into the wall.
“Is that so?” intoned the layered voice of the silver princess. “It’s no
excuse. You… you hurt me. And now you try to…!” Rage followed on her voice’s
heels, raising to a furied scream as arcane pressure flowed from her body.
Hinoka felt breath become short as she was squeezed against the bulkhead,
pressed into its unyielding surface with bone-splintering force.
“You killed Camilla,” Corrin snapped, more sorrow than anger. “You killed my
Camilla!”
Hinoka could not answer, her throat contracted by the concussive aura that now
crushed her.
“Maybe it wasn’t really my Hinoka that did that. But how dare you try and…!”
The knight’s vision began to blur. Her head lulled around on its neck,
consciousness draining as her body began to succumb to the vicelike force that
constricted her. She could not even see the tears, lonely and pained, that fell
from behind the dragon mask.
Is this it? The thought struck Hinoka as she failed again to breathe, trying to
look at the woman she loved. It wasn’t me… I promise. But I… still hurt her.
The thoughts were bitter. Why was I so… stupid.
The knight simply focused on looking, trying to see the image of the divine
woman once more before her eyes went dark.
Corrin shuddered with the weight of her crying, now. Even in this moment,
wreathed with tears, she struck Hinoka as a sacred being, beautiful and
incredible in her nakedness. The woman’s leathers, still stripped away, meant
that all that covered her was the argentine scales that freckled her pale body.
Dewdrops trickled down her torso, the woman’s body a giver of life even in its
betrayed state.
Everything about her made Hinoka freshly and mortally aware of her own rapid
heart, pounding in her chest.
She is so… beautiful, like this. She stopped me.
Fear and adoration ripped through Hinoka in the same instant, the woman in
front of her both reaper and saviour.
Good. I deserve this. I can’t protect her anymore. Except…
She let her eyes close, her whole body numb from the crushing force.
In dying, I protect you a final time. From myself. I’m sorry, Corrin. So sorry.
Tears fell in unseen trails.
Goodbye.
Air flew in to fill the vacuum of Hinoka’s lungs, as Corrin halted her magic
with a broken sob. The suffocating woman crumpled to the floor and landed on
her side, heaving and gasping as she sucked in desperately-needed oxygen. Wet
coughs sputtered out of the older sister, spittle dribbling from her lips as
she slowly rose to a wounded crawl.
Shaking, Hinoka gazed up at that sublime dragon, looking up at her from limbs
without feeling. “F-finish me,” she croaked, the very image of despair.
Corrin took one step forward, caught between tears of sorrow and anger as she
beheld the traitor Hinoka.
“I… I deserve it.”
This made Corrin stop.
“Deserve…?”
Long silence stretched throughout the frigid air of the war room, as Corrin
considered her next words.
Finally, she began to speak.
“I’ve kept every feather that fell from you. And with each one I picked up, I
grew to love another of your flaws, because you were mine. And because I was
yours…”
She stared into Hinoka’s eyes. “And never once did I pity you.”
The woman huddled on the floor began to sob as Corrin continued, already
feeling an abundance of shame crowd her guilty heart.
“Can you imagine what I sang to myself as I held the feathers close to my
heart? I thought, ‘I’ve fallen in love with an angel – and she will take me
into the sky.’”
The stone floor drank Hinoka’s tears. Corrin, unable to look at her, turned
away and cried the words into her own naked chest. “You and your flaws endeared
my heartbeat, I devoted myself to loving you in every way! In always being
true! In trying as hard as I could to be the lover you deserved! Because your
feathers meant wings, and wings meant flight, and when our love flew...”
She turned around to yell.
“The world around me soared!”
Letting the outburst hang in the air, Hinoka had just begun to respond when
Corrin cut her off with further, pacing thought. “I’m thinking over our moments
together. I’m trying to think of the moment that I earned this punishment, the
moment I became deserving of this torture. I can find not a word, not an
action, not a singular instant in which I became so… wrong as to be violated by
you.”
 “C-Corrin, please. I’m-”
“You, so strong and so swift to protect, betrayed the one who forgave your
every flaw, your every fault, and still said “I love you” – because I pitied
you in your sadness.”
At this confession, Hinoka held her head in her hands. She wracked herself
internally with the weight of her failure, pounded by Corrin’s accusing and
justified words. “Can you imagine what my heart then told me, as you raped me
with your strength? It said, ‘You’ve fallen in love with a meteor. She is
burning you as she falls.’”
The hand once again turned into the dragon lance.
“You and your paranoid obsessions…!”
The lance hit the wall, crumbling the stone.
“Your fixations on the life that I left!”
Another crash. More rubble peppered Hinoka’s crooked back.
“Your strength, now so… so… VILE!” She smashed the wall between tearful words.
“YOU HURT ME! YOU… YOU…!”
Seconds of silence turned to minutes as both women cried themselves to
emptiness. Withdrawing her lance-like hand from its carving in the wall, Corrin
straightened herself up. Her back was suddenly straight, her eyes dulled, her
voice composed as she spoke her resolve.
“I’m throwing the feathers away,” she said. “I hope dreams and memories remind
you of this moment, when you lost all my love – and saw the feathers soar.”
In a sudden motion she grabbed Hinoka by her arm and pulled the woman to her
feet, throwing the knight into the wall and shouting in her face. “Watching all
your flaws and faults, there in the sky, circling and choking you! You lose all
right to my love! You strip yourself of my trust! You don’t EVER get to TOUCH
me again!” Spittle sprayed the back of Corrin’s mask as her tearful screams
begged for a fresh start.
“I will be nothing but scales, nothing but flame, if you dare to approach me! I
pray for the end of this world! I pray for an end to this pain! I pray you have
nothing but ghosts and phantoms of the time I belonged to you!”
Calming again in a series of stabilising breaths, Corrin threw the weakened
sister back to her guilt-soaked place on the ground. Weary and saddened from
the force of her tirade, the girl merely said a final thing to complete her
former lover’s guilt.
“I can’t believe I was fool enough to pity you.”
Something in Hinoka broke. She felt nothing but remorse as the words impaled
her heart.
Blinking free the enraged tears caught in her crimson eyes, Corrin rose up. Her
dragon mask melted away as she composed herself from her outburst, having sated
the need to lash out. She no longer trembled, now. No longer shook or quivered
with the immensity of her hurt. She was all control as she shook her head in
very human disappointment and turned away.
Out of Hinoka’s sight, she allowed herself a new sniffle of sadness. Her
outburst at Hinoka had been paired with a secondary realisation: that neither
sister was the angel she had thought of them. If Hinoka, corrupted by rage, had
proved able to hurt her… then Camilla, corrupted by jealousy, could easily have
hurt her loved ones. She could easily have been just as cruel and as terrible
as the crying boy claimed. The image of their return played in her head – both
shaking and wailing as they were torn from each other, broken and violated by
their encounter with the Nohrian.
With Camilla.
With her beloved sister.
Her shaking fists raged impotently at her sides. Why did both feel the need to
hurt, to hold on to her at the expense of all goodness?
No more. The dragon in her wanted to find her absent sister and shake her
violently, admonish her for the disgusting conduct. They’re so young! And you
hurt them! Impaled her on him and tried to tear them apart!
Her anger melted again to sadness as it reached her stomach.
Can I not love them without jealousy making monsters of them?
A single thought coalesced in her mind. Again.
I want to try again.
Crossing the room in a matter of moments, the naked Corrin examined the table
on which their campaign was planned. Her eyes passed tiredly over the wood
figures, no longer caring to contemplate tactics, deployments, and formations.
Without Camilla’s wyvern there, it all seemed so… pointless. Without that
crowned dragon, that promise of peace, and healing… What good was any of this,
if she had to farewell one family and be betrayed by her other? What good was
choosing? Corrin grabbed a fistful of the tablecloth underneath the display.
Rejecting her fate and her decision, the woman pulled hard on the fabric,
yanking the material free and sending the figures flying in a ferocious display
of strength. All the armies of Hoshido and Nohr fell through the air, mountains
and rivers tossed casually aside as the tiny continent was thrown skyward. The
ornaments thudded off the walls and ceiling with a defeated clatter, coming to
rest in useless pieces on the floor.
Corrin now wrapped the cloth around her sore, naked body, glaring at her sister
in absolute silence as she restored her dignity with the white wrapping. The
rough cloth fell over the floor in her wake, yet the girl wore the massive
thing with every ounce of pride that she could muster.
Having clothed herself once more, the patter of Corrin’s bare feet took her to
the door. She hesitated on the handle, emptiness clouding her feelings. She
turned back to face Hinoka’s pitiable form.
The regret in the woman’s eyes was all-consuming. It was truly as though the
real Hinoka had returned.
Corrin’s hand left the brass mechanism. In a few long strides, the girl loomed
over her former captor.
Hinoka looked up.
“I still love you,” Corrin confessed, words dripping with emotion. “I always
will. But you will never hurt me again.”
And then she was gone, leaving the eldest daughter of Hoshido to contemplate
the completeness of her failure.
--
Sakura shivered in spite of being under heavy furs. She had been sentenced to
bed rest, and had decided that simply going to sleep would make the forced
uselessness more bearable. It wasn’t a chill that had prompted her quivering,
but a feeling of something she had never felt before. If the princess had been
forced to place it, she would have said the only similar feeling was when she
was being healed by a fellow priestess. To feel that vaguely similar energy go
up her spine made her nervous – there was no one around to have created it.
Hayato – her wonderful, brave Hayato – was sitting beside her bed in a wood
backed chair, his body limp and loose. His eyes were darkly ringed from
exhaustion, glassy and vacant. And yet they still caught the minute movement of
her under the thick hides.
Then he felt it, too.
A tingling started in his fingertips, the same sensation as when he tapped into
power he had no business channelling. With this familiarity, he knew that he
could only do one thing.
Be an adult.
“Sakura…?” His voice was quiet, nervous that the noise would frighten her.
The lump under the blankets shifted. “Y-yes?”
“You shivered…”
“I… I felt something... m-magical?” Sakura turned towards him, her eyes dry but
wide. “I don’t know what it i-is.”
Hayato flashed a smile – his haughty one, his grown-up one. “It won’t hurt
you,” he said soothingly.
“Promise?”
“Yeah. After all, I’d know…” His smile grew wider. It felt fake to him, the
confidence he was trying to project, like he was lying to her – but that was
irrelevant because he wasn’t. He couldn’t hurt her, not again. Not through his
weakness. “I’m an adult.”
A small giggle from the bed. “O-okay.” She rolled over to him, looking over her
diviner with affection. “Could… could you come lay with me? I want to hold
you.”
His smile faltered; he didn’t want to touch her, to be reminded of what he had
done. “I-I…” Tears sprung to his eyes as he stammered. The idea of their flesh
touching made his skin crawl. “I-I can’t. Not after…”
“T-that’s fine. C-Can you just lay beside me? No… no touching?” Desperation
laced Sakura’s words. Her spine was now racked with shivers, her vision edged
with white. The princess was terrified, even with Hayato’s soothsaying.
There was nothing but silence as the boy considered the offer. That warmth and
love, the comfort of her; of the soft bed; of what he could offer her. He
sheepishly wiped his eyes as his grin returned. “Yeah. Alright.”
He couldn’t muster laying under the coverings with her. Both teenagers watched
the ceiling, neither saying a word. After a few creeping minutes, Hayato turned
to Sakura, his grey eyes studying her profile through the strange fog that was
overlaying his vision. Love filled his heart as he asked a final question. “W-
want to hold hands?”
The smile she offered him was magnificent, and her garnet eye caught his. “Y-
you sure? We don’t need to… you being close is enough.”
“N-no. I want to. I-I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t pro-“
The princess’s hand touched his, silencing him. “Shush. I love you too, my
sweet. And you did protect me. And you a-are right now. Right?”
He smiled a final time as the light overtook his senses. “Yeah. Always.”
--
Hinoka wondered what Corrin was doing at this moment.
Lying on her bed, trapped in the self-imposed exile of her blank room, the
older sister fought back a new wave of guilty tears as the mere thought of her
sister forced the knight to remember her crime. Hinoka twisted her body
painfully and suddenly to try and escape her guilt.
Had she been wrong? About the lech? No, the Nohrian had committed a horrific
crime against Hinoka’s family, and so she sought revenge. Corrin never would
have done it – she had been seduced by Camilla the whole time. Hinoka had done
right to pursue. But how could she have been so stupid as to fall for those
base and goading taunts which were the lech’s speciality?
How could she have let her covetousness ruin everything?
The lavender woman had been right. Even left to her own actions, Hinoka had
ruined herself. Through jealousy. Through rage. Through envy and fear and
paranoia, through doubting Corrin’s choice, she had become a woman entirely
unlike herself. And that woman had destroyed everything she held dear. She felt
as bad as Camilla.
No, she realised with a start. I am worse by far. I hurt Corrin.
I hurt the person I pledged to rescue and protect.
She recalled interrogating Hayato earlier in the day. How pathetic and low he
had seemed, how disgusting he had been made by his actions.
Again, Hinoka felt worse. No-one had forced her to hurt Corrin.
Rage. Rage had been the ghastly venom that drove her to hurt her lover. Hinoka
tossed and turned in the empty coldness of her sheets, wondering what part of
her would do that. Wondered what part of her, so capricious and so ravenous,
could bring itself to hurt even the person she loved the most. And worse, to
have enjoyed the feeling of her forced submission. The total devotion of
Corrin’s body, pleasing her and no-one else.
Maybe that’s it, Hinoka mused. By her choosing me, I thought I owned her.
Lethargy slowed the woman’s muscles as she remembered her own words.
"He wants to be executed. He must have committed a crime. So, why?” The words
she had snapped at the boy shot through her mind like a siren. “Did you enjoy
it?"
I’m right; I should be executed,Hinoka thought. What I did was the worst crime
of all.
Suddenly, the knight began to feel quite tired. She did not know how – the
gravity of her crime had kept her eyes vised open even moments ago – but her
muscles now seemed to grow weak and pained as whiteness crept into the corners
of her sight.
An unexplained fear began to spread through her. It was as though something had
changed in the very air, some unknown fabric of the world torn.
Hinoka began to cry. A higher sense of regret, remorse and loss overpowered the
woman’s heart as the whiteness forced her into the beginnings of sleep. She
pleaded for forgiveness all the way as the emptiness crept through her eyes.
The morning, Hinoka thought in these final moments. I will see her in the
morning.
She felt around the vast sadness of her empty bed. The woman’s body was numbing
now, slowing rapidly to stillness.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, my life is hers. I will do whatever she asks of me. For
now, though, I should sleep.
A last remnant of panic pounded against her ribcage. But what if she needs me
tonight!?
Succumbing to the exhaustion, Hinoka thought fondly of the good times in which
Corrin and she had shared so many blissful memories – and then closed her eyes.
She knows where to find me. I’ll see her again soon.
In the morning.
In the morning.
In the m-
--
White. A nearly opaque fog surrounded Hinoka, her eyes darting around the
unfamiliar space, trying to see through it. She wondered idly if she was dead,
if this is where souls went to do penance for their sins. The thought was
comforting to her.
Then she heard it; footsteps echoed, the familiar sound of skin against the
floor made Hinoka spin towards it. She tried to call to Corrin, to apologize
again, to apologize for her failings forever. No sound came out. In the face of
being unable to use her voice, the knight began to run towards her sister.
The space was featureless. There was no way to know where she had started from,
or where she was going. Just an endless expanse of hazy nothing. For what
seemed like hours, she chased. Her lungs needed no air, her muscles no rest.
The entire situation felt like a dream.
Out of this endless blank sea, a drop of crimson caught her eye. As the knight
continued on, it grew, until Hinoka was facing another Hinoka. Shocked to find
anyone here, least of all herself, she halted in front of it. It tilted its
head at her, looking over her, smirking. Upon inspection, she realized her
other was not a perfect imitation. The twin's eyes were sunken in, bruised by
exhaustion. The hard glints of scarlet shrewdly sized her up. Its face was
leaner, with a deep gash that ran from one cheekbone to the other.  Red hair,
while still short, was longer than what the knight usually sported, making it
even more messy and wild. It reminded Hinoka vaguely of blood splatter.
Maybe that's what I should look like. Savage. Violent. The idea made her
shudder as she watched the doppelganger point in the direction of the
footsteps, which were growing weaker with each passing second. The slim finger
twitched slightly as it hung in the air, the arm swaying tiredly. Hinoka
glanced at this unfamiliar version of herself one more time, and it blinked at
her, smirk growing, before its mouth moved. It was obvious what it was trying
to say: "Go."
So she did, not seeing her savage twin turn in a different direction.
Her body was a living blade, cutting through the mist effortlessly, continuing
to lurch forward towards the source of the sound.
Then, finally, she saw her.
Almost hidden by her ivory hair that blended with the fog, Corrin was standing,
her back still turned towards the knight. Again, her desperate call was
silenced, but the dragon girl still turned, pale face wrenched in anguish.
Wherever they were, Corrin’s tears had not passed on – her cheeks had no
blotches, her eyes no longer puffy. Still, the hurt was heart-wrenching to its
creator. Hinoka tried to step towards her – and realized the dragon girl was
standing on air, a few feet above the ground. She looked to her scarlet sister
a second more before turning back and walking on nothing, footsteps still
echoing in the unnatural silence.
Thoughts ran uneasily through the knight’s mind as she backed up, unable to
figure out where the edge was, if there was an edge to this confusing place.
Nodding her head in determination, she ran once more, not knowing if she was
hoping to leap up to the girl or to catch the wind like a Pegasus would. It
didn’t matter, really. She just needed to reach her.
Suddenly, there was no ground for her feet to pound against. She tried yelling
in fear; nothing came out. Corrin continued standing on her invisible stair,
watching with only the barest hint of interest as the woman tumbled down.
There was no pain when Hinoka hit the ground. Dazed from fear, she pulled
herself into sitting, once again looking around. Still foggy, still
featureless. The knight recoiled when she realized she was beside the lech,
even her face showing a slight hint of confusion. The easy nonchalance from
their earlier duel was gone, replaced with a regret Hinoka recognized. It
seemed to bowl the Nohrian over, the gravity of her actions. Hinoka was loathe
to admit she felt any kinship with her, but it was impossible not to. Lavender
eyes, so recently glinting in madness, now were shiny with tears.
They had failed the purest being imaginable. Now both carried that burden.
Good. Hinoka’s mind spat. She deserves to feel horrible. We both do.
Then the knight felt it. That eerie, beautiful power that had radiated off
Corrin in the war room. She materialized from the haze, gazing at them,
disappointment etched across her face. They both spoke over each other, in
their haste not realizing they could actually produce sound again.
Camilla reached out to the girl. “Darling! I’m so-!“ Raw emotion cut her off.
“I… I’m so sorry.”
Hinoka bowed her head to the floor. “F-forgive me. I don’t know how I can
atone, but I’ll do it. Anything. J-just please…”
The dragon girl looked at each sister, her face slowly melting into a soft
smile as she shrugged. There was none of the easy absolution she usually
offered, no kind words. She just continued to gaze at them silently. After
several long seconds, she opened her mouth, speaking a single word.
“Again.”
And with a final, optimistic smile, Corrin closed her eyes - and let the world
fade.
--
Even with her eyes closed, Corrin could still hear the war-drums.
Sweat gripped at the palms underneath the smooth black fabric of her gloves,
the thin layer slick with perspiration. The Yato slid inside her grip, the
ancient steel rattling with every tremble of her fearful hand.
An impossible choice loomed before her.
The sunset was a layered red on tainted gold, the entire battle before her lit
in the hue of a tragic bloodshed. The clashing armies of Hoshido and Nohr may
as well have been one, their uniforms and battle-standards bathed in the same
ominous colour.
Stop these thoughts, Corrin reprimanded herself, tearing her brain back to the
task at hand. They’re all waiting.
Flanking her on both sides, caught in all different states of concern, were the
girl’s two families. The midnight hues of Nohr were on one side – the adorable
Elise, the cunning Leo, the paragon Xander. They all waited on her word with
looks of worry uncharacteristic of their usual regal bearing. Across from them,
the daylit shades of Hoshido – the demure Sakura, the prickly Takumi, the
sentinel Ryoma. Each concerned glance communicated a desperate desire to not
lose the same sister twice.
And speaking of sisters…
Hinoka and Camilla each earned their own glance. Though she did not realise it,
the sight of each woman, mounted on their flying steeds, free and untethered,
caused Corrin’s heart to beat with quickened passion. There was fear in their
eyes, fear of losing access to the enormous and intimate love that they had
each developed with Corrin in their own time.
For some reason, the silver princess felt disappointment shudder down her spine
at the sight of them. Some arcane reminder of wrongs inflicted, an
indecipherable memory from a past life.
Still, this ill memory was not enough to detract from the love she felt for
both, divine and unique, a love quite unlike that she felt for the other
siblings. The idea that she now had to choose one, and thus endanger the other,
now struck Corrin as pointless. Arbitrary. Wrong.
My family…
Her thoughts raced, seconds diminishing at the crux of her fateful and fatal
choice. Frustration boiled within her, fuelling the sadness and the ever-
building feeling of impotent fear. Why couldn’t she say no? Why couldn’t these
armies share a colour, a standard? Why couldn’t she love both sets of siblings?
Was it really that much of a fantasy!?
She thought of each elder sister. Remembered the comforting touch of each.
Remembered the acidic disappointment towards each. She did not know why she had
it, only that it was there – and one other thing.
She knew that she had been hurt because she had chosen a side.
The dragon inside her hummed proud and righteous agreement, clearly privy to a
memory that Corrin herself was not. Suddenly, the girl was flooded with
beautiful and overwhelming feelings – sympathy, and longing, and mercy touched
her soul from end to radiant end as she envisioned a life freed from the
tyranny of choice.
Her answer became easy. Clarity such as she had never known.
“Neither.” Her voice cut the air. “I will not fight.”
A gasp from the collected family members. The younger siblings reeled as she
began to attempt to reason with her eldest brothers. Sakura risked weeping.
Elise’s lip quivered. Takumi scowled. Leo grimaced.
Hinoka and Camilla merely watched.
Each older sister found themselves at the dawning of an unknown sun. Each had
expected the name of their nation, of their family, on Corrin’s lips – and as
such, each woman now wrestled with love and fear alike as their beloved sister
and love flung them all into a new and unknown future. They resisted the urge
to intervene as Corrin dashed between her warring brothers in defence of her
new ideals.
The girl had made herself clear – she decided her own fate, now. She was
choosing neither, and both.
Hearts pounded in time to the war-drums at this new and frightening
possibility. From atop their skyward steeds, lavender and scarlet eyes each
caught the other, burning with emotion as they both realised a singular and
fundamental new truth in the exact same moment.
This story was far from over.
***** Love Like Folded Paper - Revelations, Part 1 *****
There was this dream Hinoka had sometimes. Though it had many unpleasant images
to offer, what unsettled her most of all was that it felt more like a memory
than a dream.
In it, she had just violated the woman she loves.
She tried not to think about those disturbing images as she watched that same
woman now march at the helm of the uniquely blended army she now led, beaming
at her siblings. Corrin, regal in her Nohrian leathers, wreathed in the evening
sun, looked at odds with the shaking, naked thing that Hinoka dreamed about –
and yet the knight had still stiffened at the relieved embrace the commander
had offered after the fight.
“I’m so glad you’re back, Hinoka! Are you alright?”
She had pulled away almost instantly, pretending a wound had caused her pain.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine! I’m sorry it took so long, sister.”
Now, along with Ryoma, they were returning with her and the rest of the army.
Sakura, and even Takumi, spoke excitedly, determined to not let the gruelling
battles prevent them from interacting with their long-absent siblings.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” asked Sakura, the youngest of the Hoshidan siblings, a
short boyfriend shy and quiet at her side. “We’re all together again!”
Takumi nodded. “She missed you both a lot.”
“S-so did you!” Sakura said, nudging him playfully.
She then invited the commander to add to the discussion. The shared princess
now had to be part of two dialogues – both halves of her family were now
suddenly complete, and so both now vied for her attention. Finally joining in -
her only addition to the conversation so far having been laughter and nods –
she echoed the gentle princess’s statements of missing her siblings.
Then, with a bit more prodding on Sakura’s part, Corrin began describing the
castle she’d made their home. The nonchalance with which she talked about the
magic in which they were going to live was unsurprising to the knight. The girl
had accepted already so much – her past, her heritage, her future - that a
magical fortress in some crinkle of reality was just not attention-grabbing at
this point.
---
Once inside the castle, along with Ryoma and the two Nohrian princes, Hinoka
was led down hallways and up staircases as their little sister explained that
the castle was theirs to use; that this pocket plane would be their home, if
they chose to stay and fight the true enemy of their nations.
After showing her Nohrian brothers to their rooms, Corrin walked beside her two
newest royal recruits. No prickly questions were asked about why it had taken
them so long, no oaths of loyalty were demanded. Just the invitation to secure
the peace both royal families wanted for their nations. Of course, Corrin had
asked for their vows to keep the peace within the army – there would be no
blood feuds or duels happening here, not while she was commander. And with
their promises, she had shown them to their rooms.
At the top of one of the turrets, Ryoma's was the first room to be shown. All
the Hoshidan siblings had their quarters in one of the spires. Across the
castle, the Nohrian royals’ quarters mirrored theirs.
Corrin was talking about the area surrounding the building, about farms, mines
and – even she sounded surprised when she mentioned them - shops. She vaguely
waved her hand as she continued. “Well, tomorrow I'll show you both around.
We’ll be taking a few days' rest before starting the combat drills… by then
you’ll know it like the back of your hands.”
As she listened to the girl, Hinoka caught movement out of the corner of her
vision. Turning to catch it, she saw a black mass of scales topped with wings
through the window. Her crimson eyes blinked in surprise as two specks of
ghostly red light met them in the darkness. “Is… is that a Wyvern on their
roof?”
“Oh!” Corrin barely glanced outside. “That’s Marzia… Camilla's room is at the
top of that turret. She stays up there with her. Don’t worry, she’s a good one!
Camilla even taught her to open her balcony door to let herself in!” Fondness
dripped from the description and, as if affection tied her to the beast, it
forced her to turn towards it.
“Savages,” Hinoka muttered, wondering how anyone could stand having a giant,
bloodthirsty lizard in their room - and then teach it to open doors. It was
irresponsible. Stupid. Nohrian. Quickly remembering she had just promised to
get along with her new siblings, she tried to focus on the good it could have
done.
It’s protected Corrin, too. The thought smacked at her, but its truth was
possible - even probable. It was enough.
“B-but at least it looks interesting! You have quite the view, Ryoma!” She
still had to look away from it; the idea of a Wyvern flying free, even a ‘good’
one, was too nerve-wracking. Having been raised on anti-Nohrian propaganda,
fighting against them in the sky… it was hard to think of the mount as anything
other than a soaring war crime.
The samurai nodded, a thoughtful smile on his face. “I do, don’t I?”
While her two siblings continued to gaze at the mount, Hinoka took in glances
of Corrin. Of the way she subtly leaned into their older brother, just to be
closer to him; the way her mouth opened a fraction as she breathed, tongue
flitting over an elongated canine tooth; the way her fingers toyed with a
frayed edge of her navy cape; all tiny pieces of a perfect puzzle. But Corrin
had always been that way to Hinoka, her kidnapping having glossed over whatever
imperfections there might have been - if there had been any in the first place.
Hinoka doubted it.
Suddenly, Ryoma yawned - a deep, loud one that brought tears to the corners of
his eyes. The noise caused the two women to flinch and snap their attention to
him. He chuckled, partly at himself, partly at their reaction. Almost
apologetically he said, “I guess it’s pretty obvious to both of you… but I have
to rest.”
Corrin patted his arm, beaming up at him. “Of course. Sleep well, brother. You
must be exhausted. I'm…” Emotion made her throat close for a moment. “I’m so
happy you’re here.”
Ryoma placed a loving hand on her head. “You know I am too. We both are.” He
looked to Hinoka and nodded. “I’ll see you both tomorrow. Good night, sisters.”
Then he hugged the dragon girl, almost making her disappear in his immense
frame.
With his farewell it was just the two of them in the hall, walking to Hinoka’s
new quarters. Corrin was still being a tour guide, slightly ahead of her
sibling, pointing out rooms of other members of the army. She spoke so easily,
so happily, ivory hair bouncing with each step.
The knight just watched the girl, silent and nostalgic. This is what she had
wanted. But Corrin should have been walking through bright halls with papered
walls, back in Castle Shirasagi, not through these dark, stone tunnels. The
familiar resentment made her sigh.
Corrin hadn’t heard the sound and stopped in front of a wooden door; the dark,
obviously Nohrian-grown wood making it seem like a portal into the void.
“This is it!”
She turned towards the knight, her smile faltering at its edges when she saw
her sister’s overly serious expression. “Are you all right? You look…” She
reached out her hand towards the knight, then, quickly, pulled it back. Hinoka
sometimes seemed sadder when she was touched. “Is there anything I can do?”
Anxiety filled Hinoka’s chest as the arm recoiled away from her. In Hoshido,
they had grown so close in such a short time; nothing physical had happened,
their relationship ended by the beginnings of war - but the girl hadn't not
touched her like that before. Did she have those dreams too? Did she have
strange quasi-memories of being hurt by her older sister? Or had Hinoka ruined
it by staying in her country, protecting her home? To the eldest princess,
there hadn’t been another option. If that absence had ruined what they had, all
she could do was fix it by being here now.
With a firm shake of her head, she cleared her mind. First things first - there
was no point in making Corrin worry over her.
“No, I think I’m just tired.” Trying to emulate the soft bravado that usually
came so easy to her, Hinoka flashed a half-false smile. “No need to worry about
me! I’m your big sister... so shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
The smile became true as Corrin produced the reactions that had been hoped for:
A giggle and a step closer.
“Nope,” Corrin replied, instinct wrapping her fingers around the knight’s
wrist. “We can worry togeth-“
“Ah, darling! This is where you are!” A sultry voice from behind them
interrupted their moment, another woman striding towards the pair. “I’ve been
looking all over for you!”
Neither had heard the Nohrian as she had entered the hall; despite her full
figure, she was impressively stealthy. Corrin jerked away from her Hoshidan
sister like proximity to her would burn. As if to prove it, a flush spread
throughout the dragon girl’s cheeks. Surprise made her stammer. “O-oh, Camilla!
I was showing everyone to their quarters…” She interrupted her own explanation
with a laugh. “I guess I lost track of time! You must remember how I said I
missed them.”
Camilla nodded, walking up to the usual target of her affections. Her favourite
target. An errant lock of platinum hair was swept back, curled behind a pointed
ear with such a routine flex of the wrist it came to the older princess like
breathing. A soft and embarrassed laugh came from the shorter girl, almost a
sigh of loving frustration. Camilla adored it: of all Corrin’s expressions of
joy, it was unique, reserved only for when her lavender sister showed her love
in front of others.
She smiled down indulgently. “You’ve spoken of almost nothing else. Isn’t it
wonderful our family is complete!” As if just realizing there was someone else,
she turned. As her violet eyes met crimson, her usual lilting tone turned to
ice. “How nice of you to join us.”
Conversation ceased. Uncomfortable in the silence, Corrin fidgeted, shifting
from foot to foot, looking anxiously between the two women. In her chest, while
watching them, she felt a rising tension much like one before a battle. It
caused a stir - her dragon fed off of the crackling energy that flew between
them. The beast was easily held in check by the Corrin’s kind nature, being
soothed back to sleep in her veins with barely a thought.
They both promised, she told herself. Still, she worried.
 They were still but for their breathing; they didn’t break gaze even as she
cleared her throat. Finally, she managed to get their attention by speaking.
“I-I introduced you both earlier out on the field, remember?”
 The energy in the air dissipated, cut through with the razor of her voice.
To Corrin’s surprise, Hinoka spoke first. “O-of course,” she said, bowing her
head low. “Lady Camilla.”
The response was a curtsey, practiced and graceful. In a polite tone – the kind
used for outsiders – the Nohrian replied, “Princess Hinoka. Pity we didn’t get
to speak more. I’ve heard so much about you!” The pleasantness in the words was
undermined just a little by her lavender eyes continuing to rake over the sky
knight. "Handsome. Protective. White steed. Why, I was almost certain she was
mistakenly calling you princess when she talked about you."
Just get along, the girl pleaded silently. Please just get along.
“Camilla…” Corrin’s blush darkened, though she didn’t know if it was from
having her enthusiastic descriptions be exposed or that they were used to taunt
the object of said descriptions. “D-don’t tease her.”
"Oh, she doesn't mind - do you, Prince?"
The news of being talked about filled the knight with renewed hope, barely even
hearing the inane tease. If Corrin had described her like that, she’d happily
oblige. “Nope. Grew out of that a long time ago.” With a quick glance to her
younger sister, she winked as she finished, “but it’s cute you thought so.”
The blush spread across the girl’s features, red spreading to the tips her
ears.
Camilla’s smile turned wry. “My goodness. No wonder you’re excited to have her
back. All of this-“ she motioned to the Pegasus rider’s face, “-and charming
too. Anyway, my dear, the day’s been too long for me. Let me kiss you
goodnight.” Corrin smiled as the Nohrian pressed her lips into her hair. “Don’t
stay up too long, you two.”
How dare she act like we’re children,Hinoka’s mind bristled at the innocuous
statement. “We can do as we please,” she snapped. “Can’t we, Corrin?”
Being called into their conversation so harshly made the girl flinch. “S-sure.”
Their younger sister looked between them once more, undecided as to what the
right answer was. “Um. No? …s-sorry?” She didn’t have any idea how to respond.
Baffled, she ended her stammering with a shrug, letting her shoulders droop in
disappointment.
Squeaking in surprise as strong arms embraced her, she was pulled into a hug
that was too warm, too close. Camilla enveloped her, full body a blanket. There
was another kiss on Corrin’s silver hair, although this one was so languid, so
tortuously slow she knew it was an obvious ploy to rankle the Hoshidan.
It worked.
The Pegasus knight started to tremble in offense. “L-lech! Let her go!”
Corrin squirmed in embarrassment at the entire scene. “Camilla?”
“Oops! Sorry. I just couldn’t resist.” As if just realizing what she was doing,
the Nohrian let go.
“Then maybe try next time,” Hinoka spat.
“It’s okay, Hinoka.” Corrin turned to her lavender sister, going on tiptoe to
give her a peck on her cheek. “Have a good night!”
Once more red and purple eyes met for a brief second before Camilla left,
smirking and chuckling all the way down the hall. She called over her shoulder,
“have a good night, darling!” just before turning out of their sight.
“That… certainly was something,” Corrin whispered, not knowing what else to
say. After a brief pause, she looked at the remaining sister with confusion.
“What was that about?”
“I-I don’t know.” Hinoka looked down at her feet. “She was treating you like a
child. And that kiss.” The last word was spat out, hurled at the floor.
“Oh, that’s just Camilla, though… she does it to everyone; you can tell she
likes you when she treats you like that.”
“She’s like that to everyone?”
The girl paused to think before speaking carefully. “It’s not exactly the same,
but… yes? The people she loves, she… cares for them.”
The knight shook her head in disbelief.
Corrin smiled at the woman in front of her, glancing a hand with her own. “She
wasn’t my captor. You don’t have to treat her like one.” She said this kindly,
the admonishment only given out of loyalty to Camilla – it was easy to see
Hinoka was already embarrassed at her own conduct. Before stopping herself, she
quickly enclosed the hand she had just brushed and gave it a reassuring
squeeze. “I’m safe here, Hinoka. I’m surrounded by friends. By my family.
Ourfamily.”
“You’re… you’re right. F-forgive me.” With a quick flick of her head to get
shaggy bangs out of her eyes, the knight’s eyes met Corrin’s own. “I shouldn’t
have spoken like that to her. And after just promising to keep the peace…” She
trailed off with an embarrassed sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it! And besides… you were just trying to protect me from my
‘jailer.’” She laughed at the thought. “I’m sure Camilla will forgive you too;
she did tease you first, after all. But first!” She motioned to the door still
in front of them, looming, dark and vaguely threatening. “Let’s get you settled
in your quarters!”
“If you want to. It’s not a big deal. I can do it myself –“
With a flourish of Corrin’s arm, the door opened. The room was spacious, if a
little imposing in its emptiness. Lanterns had been lit by Jakob; the off-
yellow from the flames passing through the rice paper making the space seem
even more dreadful. Corrin started explaining the sad state of it, looking
around. “I-I left the smaller rooms to be decorated by their occupants. The
shops sell all kinds of things - beautiful things. There’s this one that sells
really great wall hangings… every time I visit it, I always think of going with
you.”
She walked into the space, beckoning her sister to follow. They awkwardly stood
in the middle of the room, nowhere to sit but the bed.
Hinoka furrowed her brow in disbelief. “Really?”
A confirming nod.
“Why?”
“Well, they have so many paintings of cranes. Who else would I think of,
looking at that?”
Origami. It had enthralled Corrin; the folds, the creases, how straight they
were. Nothing like that existed to her before, a way to make something so
beautiful out of a plain square of paper. She had had trouble with it, fingers
unused to such detailed work. So, sometimes out of frustration, she would
simply sit beside the knight, watching her gently turn the paper in her hands,
jealous of both Hinoka and the paper she held.
Hinoka laughed, embarrassed at the idea Corrin was reminded of her by beautiful
art. “You were getting good at making them, too.”
“I was. Now I'm out of practice!” Corrin huffed. It was overly theatrical, and
she ruined it by giggling.
“I can always teach you again, i-if you want me to.”
“You’re offering to teach me again? I was so, so terrible at it. I would
understand if you didn’t want to go through that again!”
Hinoka shook her head. “Of course I wouldn’t mind! If I had paper, I’d make you
spend the rest of the night practicing with me. You’d be better than when you
left, I know it!” She had grabbed a gloved hand in her enthusiasm to convince
the girl of her sincerity. “I will always want to do things with you. I’ll
always want to teach you. Even if you forgot how to make cranes a hundred
times, I’ll be here to remind you. No matter what,” she said, bringing the hand
to her lips. “No matter what you forget, I’ll come running back to help you
remember. Alright?”
Face now an alarming shade of crimson, Corrin couldn’t help but look at her
hand still in Hinoka’s. Still near Hinoka’s mouth, through the thin black
material that covered her hands, she felt hot breath. The puffs of warm air
sent waves of goosebumps up her arm, making her shiver. Neither moved. The pair
barely breathed, as if the moment would be broken by their ribcages expanding,
the cacophony of breath.
After a few long seconds, Corrin broke the serenity with her voice.
“W-well. Um… Thanks, Hinoka. But I know I can go to you! That’s not new!” The
laugh she gave was awkward, too high pitched and through her nose. “But if
you’re serious, I-I do have some paper I bought from a shop. I just… never got
around to using it. It wasn’t as fun without you.” She cast her eyes down,
pausing for a moment, looking almost guilty. Continuing on, she mustered a
mumbled “…but I’ll need my hand back to get it.”
Realizing she was still clasping the girl’s hand, Hinoka dropped it. “O-oh!
Yeah! Of course. Sorry!” She ran her hand through her cropped hair,
embarrassed.
You moron. You’re going to scare her.
“That’s okay!” A wide smile seemed to dispel the last of the awkwardness,
replacing it with Corrin’s usual enthusiasm. “Alright! Let’s go grab that
paper!”
Even in Hoshido, Hinoka had seemed nervous, randomly caught in the grip of some
anxiety, like she didn’t believe her sister actually wanted to be around her.
“Er… do you want me to come with you?”
The question hung in the air. It was so hesitant, so unsure, that Corrin
couldn’t help but wrap her arms around her sibling. She instantly regretted
doing so. Reveling in the feeling of firm muscle and hard bone, she squeezed
the knight’s ribcage, testing the resistance of it. A contented sigh escaped
her lips as she rested her cheek on a warm shoulder. She realized what she had
done, and to compensate, chirped an overly enthusiastic “Of course!”
Hinoka glanced down at the soft ivory hair ticking her skin. She stopped
herself from nuzzling into the shorter woman’s neck, to breathe on it, to kiss
it, to do something to that taut skin stretched between throat and collarbone.
Slowly, she freed herself from the embrace – she didn’t want to do something
stupid.
Corrin looked her sister over as if inspecting her. Then the commander grinned,
turning on her heel and walked out. She stopped just beyond the threshold, then
looked over her shoulder. The question she finished with was asked in a soft,
playful tone. “Coming?”
The inexplicable apprehension drained from Hinoka’s chest as quickly as it had
set in. She nodded. “Let’s go! Just point me in their direction!” She rushed up
to Corrin, who fell into the knight’s long, purposeful stride.
After a brief, thoughtful silence, Corrin said in a grave voice, “I feel sorry
for them.”
“Who?”
Her façade of solemnity cracked, letting a quiet giggle through. “Any of my
captors who cross you.”
Face hardening, Hinoka softly hit her palm with her fist. “You should!” she
muttered, making her voice gruff. Then the serious expression melted instantly
- she never had been a good actor.
The sisters both laughed as they traipsed down the hall.
--
“Here we are!”
Corrin was crouched before a desk, large and made of maple wood; popular in
Hoshido for its white hue. The drawers were stuffed to the brim with notes,
quills, inks and parchments, yet she knew exactly where the stack of paper was
in that maelstrom of chaos.
It was just plain red origami paper, tied together by twine; but she held it
aloft like some sort of long lost treasure. The simple enthusiasm of the action
made Hinoka's heart flutter; it was so purely Corrin. As the girl raised
herself back up with a surprising amount of grace, causing bashful eyes to
shift, looking around the room.
The room should have felt more eclectic than it did. The strange combination of
Hoshidan and Nohrian styles should have clashed horrendously, but somehow
Corrin had managed to pull it off. Her desk may have been maple, but her
nightstand was mahogany; walls were graced with inked parchment and paint
covered canvases; books of both Hoshidan and Nohrian tactics filled her
bookcases. Everything contrasted with something else, as if the balance of the
entire room had been measured out to the last item. There was no favoritism to
be found here, just a shrine to the unity of the two families she loved.
Hinoka took it in with a kind of stunned amazement. The idea her sister was
somehow able to pull in two disparate aesthetics and twist them into such a
gorgeous space was incredible. Everywhere she looked, sloping curves and hard
angles coalesced, their edges creating serene lines that held her gaze in
baffled awe.
Corrin watched Hinoka as she looked around the room, the knight’s gaze getting
caught in the paintings of Nohrian architecture and flora; beside it hung two
inked parchments depicting Castle Shirasagi and its gardens. Her reverie was
interrupted by a small cough.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it? They compliment each other.”
Hinoka surprised herself by agreeing – and meaning it. Turning back to Corrin,
she asked, “where should we sit? Here, my room, mess hall...?”
The girl shrugged. “The seat over there would work, I think?” She pointed at a
place right before a giant window looking over the grounds. “I can move a table
to it, too! Is that alright?”
“Sure.”
Hinoka soon found that sitting in this room and teaching Corrin origami was
almost disconcerting. Surrounded by evidence of her power, of the army she
commanded, she still leaned in to learn how to make paper birds like any other
little sister. All the older one did was try to concentrate on was the paper in
her hands, and not the cheek that leaned on her arm. She cursed herself for
taking off her gloves and wrist guards. “S-so then you-“
“You fold here, right? Like this?” Corrin bent the paper too softly; barely
even folding it.
“Yes - well, sort of. You gotta use a bit of force, or else it won’t look
right.” Hinoka took the smaller hand in hers and pressed them over the crease,
making it crisp. “L-like that.”
“Right!”
A few more delicate movements and Hinoka finished her crane. She looked at the
one in the girl’s hands. If nothing else, you could tell it was meant to be a
bird.
Corrin sighed, frustrated at her monstrosity. “Can you make a Pegasus? I don’t
think I can follow along - I remember you saying they were harder. I just want
to watch. Is that… okay?”
“You got it!” Without having to slow her movements to teach, the paper mount
was completed in less than a minute. She handed the horse to the commander as
she looked it over, blushing as Corrin smiled at it. “Like it?”
“Y-yeah. Now make a person for that Pegasus.”
“Sure,” Hinoka said, chuckling as she watched a gloved hand go for the stack of
paper. “Going to follow along?”
The girl nodded.
“Alright, so you start folding here… ” and, slowly, a humanoid shaped crumple
of paper was created from unskilled fingers trying to mimic the knight’s.
A laugh erupted from Corrin as she compared the two. “Mine sure looks…
different. Oh well.” She placed Hinoka’s piece onto the Pegasus. Standing hers
beside it, she looked at the paper models, then her eyes started to twinkle.
“Wait…” Then, picking up the flawed piece, she bent one of its elbows. Putting
it back beside the steed, the end of the bent arm now touched the rider.“Now
it's us!”
“W-well, then you should’ve put mine on the ground. Y-you’re the pretty one.”
Hinoka's cheeks were now quite pink, staring at the fleeting contact of their
effigies.
That strange guilt – an image of a crying, frightened Corrin - was back.
“Hinoka!” Offence drenched the exclamation, Corrin whipping her head to look at
the knight. “Don’t ever imply you’re not beautiful around me again! You’re so…
so…” the girl floundered then, unable to think of a word that encapsulated
everything she saw in Hoshido’s eldest princess. “And on your Pegasus? I-I've
never seen someone more gorgeous! So…” she trailed off as the knight turned to
look at her, eyes filled with inexplicable sadness. “So… don’t ever say that
again.”
The outburst hung in the air, the room silent as neither sister knew how to
follow up the statement. The knight looked over the earnest face in front of
her, trying to figure out how the proclamation was a lie.
“I love you, Hinoka.”
Hinoka’s face crumpled at the simple statement. Somehow managing to keep her
head from shaking, from refuting the simple statement – she used her mouth
instead. “Y-you shouldn’t.”
“Why? Of course I should. What have you done to me, in the time we’ve known
each other, to keep you from my love?”
“I… I-“ She felt the hand cupping her cheek gently motion downwards, pulling
her face close to Corrin’s own. The second hand came to rest on the other side
of her face, cradling her jaw. “P-Please don’t…. don’t do anything you don’t
want to.”
The serious expression on the girl’s face melted, revealing a radiant smile
that dispelled any doubt. “I don’t anymore. That's what I chose to do, all
those months ago.” And with that, she closed her eyes – and the distance
between their lips.
Time stood still. Hinoka tried to stop her head from jerking back, so instead
she pressed into the kiss. Her eyes screwed shut as an afterthought, somehow
surprised by the contact Corrin had created. Muscles in her belly coiled in
twin responses of anxiety and arousal, terrified that any more movement would
hurt her little sister, as if she were made of glass.
Corrin gave no reason for the knight’s apprehension. Love seemed to radiate off
of her, comfortable and content. She hummed happily as a shaking hand covered
hers on a crimson cheek, impressing the feeling of the other’s flesh on
blushing skin. And after the longest seconds of Hinoka’s life, Corrin pulled
away, leaving the woman to wonder at how raw her lips felt - as if a layer of
protection had been stripped away, leaving them cold. Her cheeks, also, missed
the warm pressure of those gloved hands.
Silence reigned.
The dragon girl spoke first. “Ever since leaving Hoshido, I-I’ve missed you so
much.”
Tears appeared at the corners of the knight’s eyes. Memories of old dreams
flooded her – storming towers and palaces, a saviour on wings. Running up
stairs or through old forts, and finally, finally, finding Corrin, rescuing her
from the Nohrian scum that had taken her away, and bringing her home. And each
time she was found, the girl would wrap her arms around her knight, her
protector, her rescuer, and whisper, “I missed you. I thought about you every
day. I knew you’d save me.”
But the Nohrians had stolen that fantasy too, because when Corrin had returned,
she didn’t remember her sister, or anyone else in the family.
So to hear that admission, so dreamed about for years – even for a different
period of time – was overwhelming. She blinked away the hot tears threatening
to fall, wiping them away before she made a fool of herself.
“So…” A deep breath made Hinoka shudder. “So have I. I mean, I love you.” She
looked away, finishing her confession. “I’ve… always loved you, Corrin.”
“A-always?”
An ashamed nod from the redhead.
“Hey.”
Slowly, she turned her head to face her sister again. “I-I’m sorry.”
“Why…? You showed me that letter before I had to choose. We aren’t blood
related! So please don’t-“
“Because the letter wouldn’t have mattered. I grew up thinking you were my
sister. I still think of you as my sister. I've been in love with you since…
Hells, I don’t even know.” She launched herself from the seat. Her steps were
long, purposeful, striding towards the door, towards escape. “This was stupid.
I’m so sorry. I should just-“
Gentle fingers gripped her wrist, preventing her from leaving.
Corrin beamed, offering the absolution she so easily offered to everyone. “It
doesn’t bother me, Hinoka.”
Baffled at the statement, the knight turned. “What?”
“So… you loved me. How could I be disgusted with someone like you loving me? I
mean…” The girl glanced at their paper avatars. “You’re still perfect.”
“D-don’t say that.”
“But it’s true! You’re one of the best people I know! You’re so inspiring! So
strong! So brave! So beautiful!“ Corrin moved her hands, gripped biceps,
imploring the woman to believe her. “All I want to do is convince you to kiss
me. To t-touch me.”
“What if I hurt you? What if I-”
“Do you want to hurt me?”
Hinoka shook her head with such force her head began to ache. “N-no! Of course
not!”
“Then I don’t think you will.”
After seconds of silence, Hinoka sighed. “You mean it? You really want me to
kiss you?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to t-touch you?” As she asked the question, her fingers came to
rest on the curve of Corrin’s waist. The action, though looking like an
afterthought, was as controlled and mindful as a weapon strike. Hinoka’s
anxious gaze was so focused on her other’s eyes she didn’t see the quiver the
question elicited – she felt it. It made her blush deepen, cheeks now the same
shade as her hair.
“M-more than anything.” Corrin reached out and grabbed the hand that was still
motionless at the knight’s side, bringing it close to her mouth. Bending her
head, she began covering the hand in kisses so light they tickled the skin. She
only stopped when she heard a chuckle. “What?”
“Just you… you really like my hand. It feels like it’s being hit by raindrops,”
Hinoka explained. She gave the girl a shy smile. “I-it’s cute.”
A shudder travelled up her arm as Corrin licked up a slim index finger, kissing
its tip. “I adore your hands, Hinoka. Let me kiss them.”
Hinoka watched, mute as each of her fingers was lathered in attention and
spittle from kisses and licks.
“I-I thought you wanted me to kiss you,” she finally mumbled, trailing her wet
fingers across a pink cheek. A quick, definite nod from Corrin made Hinoka dart
forward, making her lean form fit the curves and contours of the smaller woman.
Her other hand pressed gently into the small of the girl’s back, making their
bodies flush, the pressure of their groins together making both hitch their
breath. Arms entwined around her neck, making her head crane down to once again
bring their lips together. She watched Corrin’s eyelids flutter shut, her mind
reprimanding for her awkwardness.
Close your eyes, you idiot!
But she couldn’t, instead trying to memorize the soft curves of the face in
front of her. Silver accents – eyebrows, lashes, bangs – trembled as Hinoka's
lips parted, tongue barely touching the seam of lips before they opened.
In that moment she realized that no fantasy she’d had could compare to the way
Corrin’s mouth felt when she moaned; to the way she tasted.
The realization sparked Hinoka into action, fingers that had been resting on
her lover’s cheek began to move, taking in the different textures of skin
pulled over bone, cartilage, and tendon – her jaw, ear, and neck. Need won over
reverence as her fingers ran down the chest piece quickly, skimming over the
artistry of the leather. The fingers were creating a shape – the shape of
Corrin – for her mind's eye as they travelled lower, pulled by the gravity of
purpose. The girl pulled her head away and gasped as Hinoka rolled her hips
back to allow room for the wandering digits. Their path was interrupted by
their quarry's rocking, trying to trap the limb between their bodies.
“A-armour…” Corrin muttered, her shaking hands now at the clasp of her cape.
The two sisters were silent as they watched the thing billow to the floor,
Hinoka’s hands already at the buckles that strapped the leather armour
together. There was no tantalizing drawing out of the action – the material was
simply in the way, made useless with Corrin’s mumbling. With each loosening of
the leather chest piece, her quivers grew stronger. She sighed at its removal,
free of its comforting snugness.
She wasn’t even aware of Hinoka removing her own pauldrons until they clattered
onto the floor. With a quick tug she undid the knots that held up her boots,
the move so practiced her eyes never left Corrin’s face.
Feeling a finger underneath her chin, she looked up into burning crimson eyes.
Breath caught in her throat to see the need in Hinoka's eyes; years' worth of
need. They bored into her own, trying to determine whether she was lying only
to fulfil the desires of her older sister. Corrin smiled, putting her mouth to
a blushing ear, whispering requests to continue on, confirmations of her
enjoyment. In between each statement, she kissed the ear, relishing the tiny
quivers they brought about in the determined woman. Those tiny pinpricks of
pleasure seemed to be brushed off as quickly as they appeared, though, nothing
more than distractions.
Now the buttons of her blouse were being undone, each opening prompting another
shiver from the smaller girl as the cool evening air reached her flushed skin.
Skilled fingers made short work of them, her stomach clenching as two palms
rested on her flanks, so hot they seemed to burn. Trails of heat travelled up
over the whisper of ribs and the curve of breasts to her shoulders – and with a
prompting shrug of them, the clothes were pushed off.
Hinoka’s face crumpled for an instant as her eyes dragged up the newly bared
torso. The reason wasn’t sadness, or even trepidation; just raw emotion. Years’
worth of dreams and imaginings were contorting to reality. The woman’s breasts
were a bit smaller; her hips, wider. The only thing that she had gotten
entirely perfect was the ivory white skin, smooth and unblemished except for
blushes. They reminded her of cherry blossoms.
She’s so perfect. She can’t want this; not with me.
 Her hands were still stalling at those pale shoulders, as if the removal of
the coverings had now made the smaller woman more delicate, more prone to
breaking under her touch. She looked back into those scarlet eyes, their
slivered pupils dilated in pleasure, bright and shiny and happy. Those eyes
crinkled a tiny amount as the girl smiled, raising a comforting hand to
Hinoka’s cheek yet again.
“Please don’t stop,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the knight’s cheek with
affection. ”I-I'll tell you to if I need you to, alright? I won’t let you hurt
me.”
Hinoka’s throat bobbed in nervousness as she whispered, “Y-you promise?”
If Corrin was anyone else, she would have sighed in frustration with the
constant reassurance asked of her – but the dragon girl was different from
other people, and had always been. A well of boundless patience and kindness,
she laughed and kissed Hinoka’s nose. “Yes. If I want you to, I will tell you
to stop. I swear.”
Corrin’s hands went to the ones at her shoulders and, bringing them down to
waist level, held them as she walked towards the bed. Pulling gently, she gave
a reassuring smile as the knight followed her, trepidation evident in each
step. Scooting back on the mattress, she held fast. A final tug; the knight
followed the direction and knelt astride her knees.
Then, silently, they knelt across from each other, the moment still.
Hinoka looked over the smaller woman, entranced by the ivory beauty of her.
That pale skin, that silver hair, made even more stark by the black bedspread.
The feeling she was blemishing the purity of Corrin began to rise in her belly.
She caught herself.
No.
She trusts me; a shaky breath.
I won’t hurther; a bashful smile.
She won’t let me;a determined nod.
Corrin’s hands, now invited, shot into red hair, pulling Hinoka into another
kiss; Hinoka’s hands, now free, made their way the girl’s waist.
Quickly making the journey once more up pale flanks, the knight’s hand’s
reached the softness of breasts, delighting in them, warm and bare.
Deft fingers caressed and grasped; they were so quick, so fleeting, Corrin was
unsure if she was actually being touched. The speed of the knight’s desperate
glances was so contrary to what she was used to, as if trying to fit a hundred
fantasies in a single touch. The idea sent trembles up her spine. Still, her
fingers went to the ornate knots on her sister’s dress, fumbling uselessly at
them. Suddenly, her hands were stopped, being lifted away.
“L-Let me,” Hinoka breathed. Soon the dress hung in two flaps, revealing her
torso in a long, vertical strip. The sound of a gasp made her flinch. She could
imagine the disappointment shooting through the other woman.
Because she had never given much thought to her body; it was a means to an end,
the same way a weapon was. It had been made the most efficient and useful as it
could be – appearances were never even considered. Constant training had made
her lean, her chest slight and waist non-existent.
Even she knew that wasn’t what was considered attractive.
That opinion was apparently not shared by Corrin. Peeling apart the
surprisingly soft leather of Hinoka’s dress, her hand started to tremble as she
placed it on the flat space between the small breasts. Soon she was cupping
them, the action slow and reverent, measuring their shape and weight;
imprinting the very feeling of them in her hands to memory. Sighing in
contentment, the silver girl then craned her neck and kissed the gentle swell
of each. Her soft hair tickled the sensitive nubs of Hinoka’s nipples, sliver
curls trailing all the way down to the tensed muscles of the knight’s torso.
She giggled at the twitching of them.
“Hinoka, you’re so...” she couldn’t articulate the sheer beauty she was seeing;
she had to trail off.
“S-shush,” Hinoka admonished, grabbing the hands still at her chest and kissing
their fingers. “Don’t worry about me, just let me t-take care of you.”
Corrin glanced at the body between the flaps of material longingly. The light
played in each of the small valleys and plateaus of the knight’s bones and
muscles, each shadow another testament to dedication.
To love.
She had been craving that firmness, that hardness. For weeks, the yearning had
gotten worse and worse, dreams filled with long, slender limbs and rough,
playful chuckles. Instead Corrin smiled, choosing to do what came naturally to
her – be kind. So, wordlessly, she tilted her head to the side, exposing the
pale length of her neck.
Before Hinoka’s lips had even made contact, Corrin’s skin shivered with the
overwhelming stimulus of the kiss. One hand was still being held as the other
moved up to the knight’s fiery hair. Resisting the urge to force movement out
of the woman, her hands stroked the flames with careful appreciation.
Then the solid warmth of Hinoka’s lips froze them mid-course.
The gasp that came from the girl when she made contact was music to Hinoka. She
began pressing her lips in different spots on the sensitive flesh, learning
which few centimetres produced which notes as if playing an instrument for the
first time. 
In the dip of Corrin’s collarbone, Hinoka found what she was certain was her
new favourite sound: a deep, rumbling moan. Fingers now furrowed into her
scalp, as if she could be forced to create more sensation through the woman’s
desperate clutching alone. While it was impossible to do so with her mouth
without including teeth – don’t hurt her,her mind reprimanded instantly at the
idea–the blunt pads of her fingertips instead traced the waistband of the
silver woman’s armour. The buck of those teased hips was swift and accompanied
by desperate, murmured requests.
Blindly groping at the buckle that cinched the half-skirt to the leather
leggings, Hinoka refused the instinct to tear herself away from the solid,
tangible connection of their joined bodies – her hand being clutched; her head
pressed into the curve of the quivering woman’s neck; the strip of heat along
her torso where it touched its flushed counterpart.
The seconds felt like an eternity before the metal jingled softly, announcing
the knight’s triumph over the mechanism. Corrin didn’t wait, wriggling out of
the flap of armour as soon as she felt it loosen; Hinoka then tossed it away.
Now with enough room to do so, she ran the back of her hand up the now more
accessible thigh. Legs separated with its creeping ascent, soon shifting to
straddle one of her own. She ran a hesitant finger against Corrin’s clothed
sex, prompting an immense jerk – her whole body contracted, attempting to
invite sensation in. Nails dug even deeper into the flesh of the knight’s scalp
in reflex, demanding more stimulus.
Even now, Hinoka felt her cheeks redden as she slipped the impossibly soft
material to the side, feeling heat radiate off the needy skin. Hips rolled
forward as her fingers slipped between folds, the digits enveloped by warmth
and fluid. Above her hipbone, she could feel moisture spread where Corrin was
pressing herself into the tentative touches.
The first time she brushed that sensitive bundle of nerve endings, Corrin
yelped. Already sensitive to begin with, the dragon woman’s body was a stranger
to such directness, making it more like painful overstimulation than pleasure.
The next caresses didn’t produce such marked reactions, but that didn’t matter
– the girl now shook as if she was coming out of cold water.
Hinoka gulped as she felt her lover’s entrance. “C-Corrin?” Her voice was still
muffled by a throat.
“Hmn? Y...yes?” With effort, the silver woman let her lover pull her freed face
away.
Hinoka looked her sister over, trying to memorize every detail she could.
Silver bangs stuck to her forehead, damp with sweat; her eyes clenched shut in
desperation; her jaw, the same. The skin she had been held against was red from
the weight of lips and tongue, glistening in the soft light from their
attentions.
The knight’s cheeks went crimson as she asked, “do you want me… um.” She looked
at nothing, willing herself to fade into the aether. It didn’t happen, so she
tried again. “D-do you want me i-inside?”
Corrin’s eyes snapped open at the question. She nodded vigorously, a string of
pleases dripping from her mouth. Each word might as well have been a caress to
the knight, insides coiling at each needful request.
A nanosecond of stiffness; then Corrin arched her back into the woman yet
again, body seeking any and all contact. She jerked in time to the hesitant
tempo of the digits inside her, moans and gasps leaked from her as her hips
tried to force a greater speed out of her hesitant lover.
Torn between going faster, going harder, and her own fear, Hinoka’s face was
awash in tension. It prompted the girl to shower kisses over her face with
whispered words of gratitude between them – and soon it was just the knight’s
name, repeated endlessly until it was just three random syllables; nonsense
sounds.
And yet, Hinoka couldn’t register any of it. All her brain focused  on was the
heat that surrounded her fingers; the liquid that dripped off her hand and onto
her thigh; that then trickled down over them into the sheets, leaving trails
that attracted the night’s chill down the blushing skin.
Corrin tightened around her, walls clenching in a desperate attempt at
completion. With a nervous shudder, Hinoka curled her fingers, pressing into
the stiff flesh. Dipping her head low, she then closed her teeth on the tight
skin of the girl’s collarbone; not even a bite – but the hardness of teeth was
enough.
With a groan, a stillness overtook the girl, her whole body seemingly trying to
pull into itself; then shuddered as it released its stored tension, hips
rolling in time to deep, unstoppable quivers. Arrival dribbled down the
knight’s wrist in spurts.
Hinoka didn’t dare move, not wanting to somehow ruin the moment. Seconds passed
as her fingers remained in the other woman, her walls clenching in aftershocks.
 Each one was echoed within her own body; nerves and blood pounding for
attention. They were pointedly ignored by the knight.
The fingers slid from the girl to a satisfied hum, Corrin’s hips wriggling at
their newfound emptiness. As if the digits were holding her upright, she
melted, sinking completely into her lover with a kiss to her cheek.
“Th-thank you.”
“D-don’t mention it,” Hinoka mumbled, embarrassed. Untangling her fingers from
Corrin’s, she moved to wrap her arm around the girl’s waist. “You… you
alright?”
A tired giggle. “Yes, Hinoka. It was lovely.”
“Good.” The statement sounded more confident than she felt.
With Corrin nestled in her neck, Hinoka quickly pressed her lips into the ivory
hair, her nose nuzzling into the divine softness.
Like rain,she thought as she breathed in its scent. She smells like rain.
They sat like that for some time, cloistered together, their shared heat enough
to ward off the cold, their heartbeats complementing the silence of the room.
Hinoka was nervous of anything breaking the quiet, unspoken connection; her arm
wrapped protectively around Corrin, guarding her in her fatigue. A flame of
pride swept through her – I caused this. I made her feel this way. She grinned
at the thought.
Corrin jolted the knight from her thoughts with a satisfied hum, squeezing her.
She said, her sleepy smile changing into a practically predatory grin, “it’s my
turn!”
“N-no! Just rest. Just… feel it. I wanted to please you, that’s all. Nothing
else.”
Corrin giggled. “Hinoka, I’m offering because I wantto.”
“You’re… sure? You don’t have to – I don’t expect anything.”
“I know. That’s why I want to.” The slumping girl then straightened her spine
and, raising herself to her knees, made herself taller than her older sister.
Her long, gossamer hair tumbled around her face as she looked down, becoming an
ivory curtain.
The streams of platinum fell around Hinoka’s face, her cheek twitching at the
contact. A contented sigh escaped her as she simply pressed some strands into
her flesh, eyes closing reflexively at this cool branding of skin.
“You’re so…” the knight couldn’t complete the thought.
The dragon woman giggled at the breathless adoration. “I’m so…?”
  …holy. You’re so holy compared to everyone else.
“You’re just… perfect. I don’t think I can let you do this. You’re good and
soft and… and…” She turned her head away. “I’m not like that. I don’t deserve
you touching me.”
“Of – course – you – do,” Corrin said, kissing a random spot on the woman’s
face between each word. Each kiss was reciprocated with a tiny flinch.
“Don’t you feel like I've hurt you? A-a long time ago?”
Corrin began to shake her head – then caught herself mid swing. “It’s true that
I feel something. It’s… it’s disappointment, though. I’ve never been afraid of
you. I’ve never once felt like you’ve hurt me.”
“N-no. I did. I’m certain.”
The sigh that came from the girl was patient and unrushed. Settling herself on
Hinoka’s thighs, she simply gazed at the woman for a few long seconds. Settling
a palm on the strip of skin between the dress's flaps, she smiled at the
pounding inside the lean chest. “Hinoka, may I touch you?”
The heart slammed into its ribcage in response. Hinoka shifted uncomfortably,
her eyes on the hand resting on her skin. “O-Only if you want to.”
“I do,” the girl replied.  With that strange consent given, she traced the edge
of a nipple. “I’ve wanted to feel you since… well, ever since I saw you fly.”
With no idea how to respond, the knight remained silent. Even if she had, her
trembling would have made it into a stuttering mess; the girl’s excited fingers
dragged across sensitive nerves.
Instead of continuing the spiel, Corrin kissed the top of her sister’s
forehead, then followed with pecks down the front of her face to her soft chin.
It quivered slightly, prompting another kiss – and murmurs of how cute it was;
how honest.  
“M-my chin?” it was all the knight could say.
Corrin raised herself and pressed their noses together. “Yes! Every part of you
is amazing, Hinoka. Every. Single. Part.” She paused between each word to lay a
playful kiss on the knight’s frowning mouth. Without warning, she gently
tweaked a nipple, causing a jerk in the taller woman. Her other hand traced the
combination of definitions of the knight’s midriff, feeling the muscles clench
in response. “Y-your body couldn’t lie if your life depended on it. As soon as
you feel something, the whole world knows.”
Hinoka couldn’t respond, instead just blushing an even deeper crimson.
Corrin once again giggled, kissing a now-red ear. “Even these tell me how you
feel.” Another kiss, this time answered by the knight trying to squirm away.
“And… you’re allowed to feel it. Really. You might have hurt me in a past life
– but whatever happened… that wasn’t you. I know that, a-and-” the girl
squeaked, words interrupted by surprise; Hinoka’s warm palm was on her ear, its
fingers outlining the point of it, rubbing it, fondlingit.
“Sh-shush. Um. Th-thank you… I-I'll try my best to…” Hinoka floundered then, as
fingers that had been glancing at her torso were now tracing the sensitive skin
of her hips; the touches tickled, making her jerk as gooseflesh spread like a
colourless rash. “…to be w-worthy of your confidence.”
“You are.” These two words sounded different from Corrin’s past whispers. It
was a command, an edict; it was spoken with the finality of a ruler. She moved
from her seat – Hinoka’s thighs – as her hands then edged the seam between
them.
The Hoshidan complied with the unspoken order with so far uncharacteristic
alacrity, separating them.
Shimmying backwards, Corrin now rested flat on her stomach, her face in front
of the knight’s covered groin. When she flicked her eyes upwards, they were
smouldering fires that seemed to bore into Hinoka’s own.
“You are worthy… because I say so.”
Liquid darkened the already-moist fabric further – Corrin’s strength spoke to
something within Hinoka; something deep.  Her hips bucked as breath skimmed
through ruined smallclothes, a maddening ghost of sensation.
Corrin giggled at the sensitivity of her partner, that even breathwould cause
reactions – not that she was any better, but… she had never been the one
bestowing pleasure to someone so sensitive. Kissing the virtually wet cloth in
front of her once, she then looked up at Hinoka and teased, “I think these are
quite useless now.” She tugged at the offending piece’s hem. “Take them off?”
The knight nodded, slipping them off and sitting herself awkwardly in front of
the still supine girl. Every muscle below Hinoka’s waist tensed as Corrin
leaned in and kissed the knight’s lower lips, the movement slow and gentle.
With another questioning look to her older sister – and the latter’s subsequent
nod – Corrin touched her tongue to the electric skin of Hinoka’s folds.
The reaction of the scarlet sister was immediate and pronounced, her hips
rocking to close what little distance there was between their different pairs
of lips. Her hands remained at her sides, desperately clutching the sable
blankets in fear of grabbing that head and controlling the sensations it
bestowed.
Hinoka trembled, a livewire of nerves. Her whole body contorted around the
point of contact, each movement of that quivering tongue prompting a tighter
curling of her form, another electric wave down her spine.  A comforting hand
stroked her thigh as if to soften it, stiff from the effort of not trapping the
source of her pleasure.
“Cuh… Corrin… are you s-sure…”
Corrin’s eyes opened, looking up in surprise. With a final swipe of her tongue,
she pulled away, her lips trailing arousal and spittle. An unconscious lick
severed the thin strands. “Hm?”
Hinoka shuddered at the sudden vacuum of contact, managing to contain her groan
of frustration. “Uh… are you s-sure you… y-your mouth? When I f-finish?” the
scarlet princess jolted as her inner thigh was kissed. The hybrid liquid of
arousal and saliva that covered Corrin’s chin transferred to the flushed flesh,
cooling it. The knight continued, “I just don’t want to… um, d-drown you?”
Corrin, barely able to contain a peal of – what would have been loving and
affectionate – laughter, nipped at the glistening skin. Then, looking up at her
lover’s anxious face, said, “Gosh, you’re sweet.” She lay another kiss on the
knight’s thigh. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, Hinoka. Remember? I’ll stop if I want
to.”
Even more scarlet from the compliment, Hinoka simply nodded, silently watching
as Corrin returned to the crux of her thighs. Slowly, cautiously, before the
girl made contact with her skin, the knight brought her hand from its anxious
station at her side, and rested it on the wonderfully soft, ivory hair. There
was no push nor pull, it merely remained there as – finally – a tortuously slow
lick swiped the length of her folds.
Corrin’s tongue seemed to dance across Hinoka’s skin, enthusiasm making its
darting movements maddening as it flitted through creases and ridges of
inexperienced flesh.
Each gasp and chitter made the dragon girl’s heart radiate sublime happiness.
The thighs that barely framed her head were still solid lengths of muscle,
which not even the most violent of contractions could force together. She felt
the barest disappointment – being cradled in the flesh of the one she was
pleasuring was a favourite part of this, but… she knew Hinoka’s anxiety
prevented her. Besides, that strong hand, clenched from effort in her silver
hair, was enough; a symbol of her older sister's trust in herself.
In Corrin.
All it took for Hinoka to reach completion was her lover moaning.
Brought on by an unconscious curling of her fingers into the gossamer strands,
reaching skin, the vibrations caused by that skilled mouth caused the fingers
to dig even deeper into the skin, causing another thankful rumble. Hinoka
sobbed when she came, an almost pained cry release. For several seconds, she
couldn’t move, her muscles locked as her lover continued to stimulate the
overwhelmed nerves. Only when she began to squirm away did the tongue finally
cease.
Corrin looked up at her with bright, twinkling eyes. “See?” she whispered,
moving her head up to the knight’s heaving chest. “You can’t drown a dragon.
Not this one, anyway.”
Hinoka offered a slight smile, unable to form a verbal response. She tensed,
however, as her sister raised herself, wet face level now with hers.
The girl reeked of arousal, of sex; of me, Hinoka thought. Still flushed from
exertion, her cheeks somehow managed to darken at the passing thought. Tiredly,
the scarlet princess wrapped her arms around her smaller lover as she felt
hands settle on her shoulders, playing with the fabric still hanging off them.
“Hinoka, may I kiss you?”
Each of Corrin’s breaths carried that cloying smell; Hinoka gulped. “O-Of
course! You never have to ask!”
A giggle. “Even if it’s the morning after a party?”
The morning. Just the thought of merely sleeping in the same bed, so mundane to
most, made the knight sniffle. “Especiallythen.”
The kiss was almost chaste, considering the dragon girl’s lips were covered in
arrival. It was Hinoka’s tongue that pried at their seam, a pathetic throb of
desire eked out of her body when she first tasted herself in her lover’s mouth.
Too tired to chase the feeling, the knight broke the contact, instead resting
her head on Corrin’s narrow shoulder.
“Thanks,” she whispered into the pale skin.
“Pardon?” The younger sister tried to turn her head to look at her lover’s face
nestled into her. “For what?”
“For… for loving me.”
Corrin’s arms wrapped around Hinoka’s almost flat chest, flush with hers. “Of
course I would.” Interrupted by a yawn, she continued, “Wanna sleep here?”
Hinoka raised her head in surprise. All she could do was nod.
--
Underneath the covers, surrounded and trapped by unfamiliar limbs, Corrin
wordlessly mulled over her options, of how to tell Hinoka about Camilla. Each
scenario ended in understandable hurt on the knight’s part and, right now,
seemed like the wrong end to the evening. In the end, snuggling into the firm
warmth of her Hoshidan sister, she decided on procrastination. Her movement was
answered by a tightening of the arms encircling her chest and a murmur of
nonsense.
--
Camilla was proud of herself. The idea of knocking on either the knight’s – or
Corrin’s – door to hear the pair’s awkward, stilted excuses when the door swung
open had struck her as entertaining. Corrin was so cute when she was flustered,
if nothing else.
And yet, here she was, in her quarters, stuck with one of the girl’s ripped
shirts. An offensive replacement, in her opinion, but there was nothing else
she could do – and that was because of Corrin.
A nostalgic smile brightened her features when she remembered her little
sister’s face the moment everything had changed. Well, Camilla thought,
everything and nothing.Not until tonight.
Corrin had been adorably preoccupied when Camilla had first returned to the
army. The girl’s looks and touches were a wonderful, constant weight to bear;
but her blushes had sometimes come at strange times, and she seemed melancholy
– especially watching the flying drills.
And it all had to do with that 'princess’.
The Nohrian's smile soured as her memories continued on.
“Camilla,”Corrin had begun. “You know I adore you.” The quality of the girl’s
voice had been different than usual; usually demure around the powerful woman,
it had taken on the seriousness reserved for official business. 
Camilla, unruffled and serene, had flicked her eyes from the book she had been
reading, a perfectly executed movement that had elicited a blush from the
younger princess. “Of course, darling. I adore you too. What is it?”
Out of anxiousness, Corrin had stayed near the door, an audible gulp escaping
her throat. “You know I adore you; that I’d never so much as look at anyone
else.” Her breath had been shaky, and she had paused to take one. “But there’s
one exception.”
“Oh? Which lucky person has caught your eye?”
Corrin had been so flummoxed by the non-reaction she stammered. “Um. H-Hinoka.”
“Good eyes. She is handsome.” A wink. “And you always preferred princely
dolls.”
“Hinoka’s not a toy, sister. Y-you would like her if you got to know her.”
In the present, Camilla remained unconvinced. To her, it was almost cute – a
new toy for Corrin, to make her clench a little harder in the bedroom.
The memory played on as the Nohrian continued to sew.
“Well, you’re free to kiss your prince charming –“
The girl interrupted her. “She’s not a boy.”
Camilla had continued on like Corrin hadn’t spoken.“- as long as you keep
kissing me.”
“Like I’d ever stop,”the dragon girl had laughed, walking to the woman and
kissing her with overwhelming affection.
Camilla smiled at the sensation of Corrin’s lips on hers. The idea that some
random wannabe prince would be able to usurp her position as Corrin’s beloved
was ludicrous – she’d been here before, and she’d be here afterwards. No-one
had ever bested her for the girl’s heart. The thing she was sewing may as well
have been a tapestry of her victories, a rich history that Camilla would ensure
continued.
After all, Corrin was notorious for getting bored with new toys.
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