Chapter Text
Corrin tried his best to put the smell away from his tired minds concern as he attempted to sleep. He slept alone in a far too wide of tent designated only for the leader; despite this fact, it was often very hard for him to get a full night’s rest without being interrupted. Tonight was no exception. Turning to his side, the Prince buried his face further into his favorite pillow and muttered to himself. Despite the time of night, there was a bon fire happening? Didn’t these soldiers understand they had a march tomorrow morning at the beginning of dawn? Granted, they did reside in the Astral Plane, and time almost always moved somewhat differently here than in the ‘real’ world. Still, they were being loud, and he needed his precious sleep.
Opening his eyes, Corrin realized that they really were being too loud. Not just annoyingly loud, but scary loud. Sitting up in bed, the Prince gaped as he saw flames crawling their way through his belonging’s, the wall of the tent so neatly nailed down for him now succumbing to the fire’s grip. Jumping to his feet, Corrin grabbed Yato from where it resided next to his cot and made his way outside. Expecting an onslaught of enemies attacking their camp, he was obviously surprised to see his sibling’s arguing in the middle of the grounds where the Royal family tents were kept, others around them running about trying to find some way to put out the ongoing fire.
“Your mages started this mess! We’re at war! We can’t afford to have our supplies tampered with, let alone destroyed!” Ryouma stated, his massive warrior like body trying to stare down Xander, who stood a full head higher than that of the Hoshidian.
“Ha! Our mages are trained from the very best from early childhood! A mess like this has to be from one of your people, Prince Ryouma.” He remarked, lifting a gauntlet clad finger to point at the somewhat smaller man.
“Why you…” Hinoka growled, her naginata clutched at her side as she stood closer to her older brother. Sakura stayed behind her, desperately tugging at both her Brother and Sister’s sleeves, hoping to pull them away before a fight started.
“Now now, let’s not worry too much on who started it.” Camilla said, no weapon in hand though Corrin couldn’t help but think her smile was enough to threaten with. “Even if whoever did was obviously poorly trained and oh so reckless, I’m sure we can forgive you for it.” She finished with a smile, Leo smirking beside her.
“If everyone else in the army camp can, that is.” He offered, his attention turned away from his sister as Takumi took hold of his tunic by the collar in a bout of rage.
“Listen here you pompous, over confident bastard!” He started, Leo laughing in return as he circled one hand around the fists clutching onto him.
“Big words for such a barbaric prince.”
Hinoka obviously didn’t take kindly to that as she spun her naginata at Leo’s direction, causing Ryouma to start yelling at his sibling’s to stop while Xander threw his hands in the air as if they all just answered his point. Sakura continued pulling at her sister, tiny feet digging into the ground and Camilla, looking far too pleased with herself, stepped in between the two younger princes to which only aggravated Hinoka even more. Now uncovered, Corrin turned his gaze onto Elise—his beautiful little sister, now tearing up as their sibling’s fought with each other. She finally noticed his stare and with trembling lips mouthed a simple, ‘Help’ over to him.
He was appalled. His sibling’s, though none related to him in a sense, had agreed to help Azura and him fight in Valla. He still remembered the night they all came together; the sky was a strange concoction of night and dawn, thunder roaring as his army clashed swords with that of the Nohrian. They fought their way through what seemed like countless enemies, many of their close comrades falling to the constant onslaught. But then there was Ryouma, alongside the now Late Scarlet, Hinoka and her retainers. Even with their added strength, it wasn’t until Xander and Leo, also followed by their trusty retainers, did they finally make it into Valla. They swore a pact of temporary peace and Corrin remembered tearing up at the sight of his two families finally together as one.
But now he was just livid.
Running over to them, he felt his body shake in anger, embarrassment—in absolute impatience for the whole ordeal. He knew thanks to his dragonstone he wouldn’t helplessly lose himself in rage like when his Mother died, but he also could sense his horns appearing on his head as he drew closer to the fighting. His attempts at containing himself failed as he finally reached the arguing and flipped.
“That. Is. ENOUGH.” He shouted, his enraged voice shocking the group entirely as he slammed his Yato into the ground, the power emitting from the ancient sword enough to make them pause in hesitation.
“Corrin…” His two older brothers said in unison, both speechless as their shared sibling huffed at them in anger.
Just as Corrin opened his mouth to give them all a piece of his exhausted mind, Azura came running in, Felicia not too far behind her.
“Now!” Azura called out, slightly out of breath as she stopped in front of what seemed to be the worse of the fires. Nodding gently, Felicia held out her hands and waited for only a moment. Suddenly, all could feel a chilling breeze rush past them and they all watched as it had absolutely the opposite effect.
“W-What?!” Felicia cried, pulling her arms back to her as the flames grew even higher. Azura pursed her lips in disappointment before turning to the now equally upset Corrin, seemingly for advice. Clenching his teeth as he watched all his things pretty much burn into the ground, he returned his attention to his siblings, who flinched at his accusing stare.
“Help get this fire out! You can all fight about it later, but right now we need your help!” Corrin ordered, pulling his Yato from the ground and walking past them to go investigate some way to gather water.
“But…” Xander started only to stop when Corrin’s head turned to him. Something in the way he looked at him reminded him entirely too much of King Garon, his brother’s ruby red eyes reflecting that of the still growing fire.
“Now.”
They all watched him walk off in a huff, Azura and Felicia quietly excusing themselves as they followed after their leader. An awkward silence spread about the two families, the only noise able to be heard was that of the crackling flames. The first to speak after what seemed like several minutes was Leo, who merely sighed.
“We should help.” He stated casually, gently pushing Elise over to where Sakura stood next to Hinoka. “Hinoka, can you please make sure these two are safe from the flames? Xander and I will go and see if we can help carry some water.” Though unpleased, Hinoka nodded and silently walked away with the younger girls over to where her Pegasus was standing, out from the stables due to the chaos, twitching its wings as it nervously looked on to the spreading fire.
“What about Takumi and myself?” Ryouma asked, ignoring as Takumi glared daggers over at Leo for taking lead.
“Since we can’t really ride out ourselves, why don’t we see if anyone needs help getting our supplies safe?” Takumi muttered, crossing his arms and beginning to walk in the opposite direction.
“Sounds good.” Leo said, smirking as he barely made out a growl made by the other Prince. Ryouma frowned, like he normally would, and went off to join his fuming brother.
“And what of me, my darling brother?” Camilla asked, tossing her hair off her shoulder as she turned to face Leo. Musing for a bit, he simply shrugged as he too started towards his horse.
“Just come with us. I think we’ll need all the help we can get.”
“You can say that again.” Xander muttered, jumping onto his horse with a sigh before riding off to where he knew the spring was.
Corrin was surprised the following morning when several mages came out in confession to the Royal family during an emergency meeting. Odin stood slightly hunched over, flinching at the glare Leo gave him after the long confession. Beside him was Orochi, who smiled nervously at the group, as well as Hayato and beside him, a saddened Nyx. Apparently they had all wanted to test each other’s skills that night before and things ‘got out of hand.’ With two fingers massaging his aching temple, Corrin sighed.
“And this was all an accident, you say?”
“Yes, milord.” Odin confirmed, swallowing as he moved his hands behind him.
“I take responsibility for this, Lord Corrin.” Nyx stepped forward, regret clear on her face. “I should have known such clashing magics would cause destruction. I’ll move out of the camp immediately.”
“There’s no need for that, Nyx.” Corrin smiled softly at the ‘child’ sorcerer. He also noted how Orochi let out a relieved sigh, gazing over at the Nohrian mage. “Though this has complicated matters for our current mission, I understand this was not intentional.”
“Then…?” Hayato started, his trembling fingers fidgeting together in front of him.
“In ‘punishment’,” Corrin said, making air quotations tiredly in front of him. “you four will go out and help me find more supplies for our sleeping arrangements. You will also help me rebuild them.”
“I’m sure we will gladly help, milord.” Orochi bowed, that seemingly permanent smile on her face growing along with it. “I am forever grateful for your forgiveness and can only ask to continue helping you in the future.”
“As am I—You and Prince Ryouma.” Hayato followed Orochi, bowing deeply once to Corrin and then to Ryouma. “On behalf of the Hoshidan army, I apologize for this accident. It won’t happen again.”
“My one and only lord, Prince Leo! I humbly ask for your forgiveness as my fell hand could not--!”
“You’re forgiven, Odin.” Leo quickly answered, not wanting to give his strange retainer any room for his speeches.
“Though I do not agree to such a soft punishment, I thank you and Lord Xander for your kindness.” Nyx noted, clutching a hand to her chest uncharacteristically as she gave a long stare to both Corrin and Xander.
“Please be more careful in the future.” Ryouma remarked, tiredly beaming at the two well known diviner’s as he accepted the apology.
“I would hate to see you two leave. Thank you.” Xander sighed, a hand coming up to wave the small group of offenders away. As they did, Corrin closed his eyes as he pretty much fell into his arms crossed on the table.
“This was absolutely the last thing I wanted to happen today.” Corrin whined, comforted only by Azura’s equally tired giggle and her soothing hand on his back.
“Corrin…” Xander began.
“About last night…” Ryouma continued.
“I don’t know what happened—it was like something sparked inside us.” Xander sighed, causing Takumi to snort at the unintentional pun.
“I know what happened—your mages are out of control and almost caused us to lose all of our housing and supplies!”
“If I recall from literally a few seconds ago, two of your so called infamous ‘enchanters’ were part of the problem as well, Prince Takumi.” Leo fought back, too tired to raise his voice above that of a mumble.
“They’re ‘diviners’, you jerk.”
“It was both of our faults.” Hinoka stated with an agitated sigh, gently pulling Takumi back from where he had leaned forward in a glare.
“Indeed. How unfortunate.”
“What? ‘How unfortunate’?! How can you say it so nonchalantly?” Hinoka retorted, frowning at Camilla. “Someone could have been hurt! Even worse, killed!”
“And yet no one was, so why are you fighting back so passionately, Princess?” Camilla smiled, her eyes narrowing slightly at the now angry Pegasus knight.
“Guys, please stop fighting!” Elise begged, a considerably nervous Sakura nodding quickly at her side. “It’s been a reallllly, reeeeaallllyyyy long night! Can’t we just get along for once?”
“I agree.” Xander nodded, his frown deepening as he turned towards Ryouma opposite of him. “If you can convince your siblings to stop being so aggressive then perhaps we may be able to make some progress here.”
“I’m surprised with such hostility not from my siblings but from yours, Prince Xander.” Ryouma calmly replied. “And here I was just beginning to think well of you Nohrians.”
“STOP! Stop! Just…” Corrin shouted, weakly lifting his head up to glare at his large family. “Just stop. This can’t continue. We are fighting an unknown, likely dangerous enemy that has been manipulating both of our divided countries for Gods know how long and you all can’t stop bickering long enough for us to actually advance on such a huge threat!” Azura nodded beside him, turning her gaze to Ryouma.
“I understand that Nohr has not been Hoshido’s ally for what seems like decades. They have been, considerably, your enemy. But we are not in Hoshido right now. Or Nohr, for that matter.” With the mention of the dark kingdom she turned her golden, piercing eyes onto Xander who faltered under the stare. “We are in Valla. My homeland; very well many others, the more we learn of it. You all agreed to act peacefully in contribution to this army, this war. But this,” She gestured amongst the eight staring at her. “This is not peace.”
“Not to mention we now have to worry about supplies and sleeping arrangements before we can even march further into this abandoned land.” Corrin added, leaning back into his chair to glance at Azura. “I’m not sure we can afford to replace all those tents in time for our advancement.” The blue headed princess tilted her head at her friend, her expression questioning at his comment.
“Can we not gain some gold in time to replace them?” To which Corrin shook his head no.
“What about some villages? We can probably get a deal in one of the Deep realms!” Takumi spoke up, a worried expression creeping onto his face.
“Even then, will they be big enough like our previous tents and can we accommodate everyone who lost their belongings?” Camilla asked, pouting as she twisted a single curled strand of her lavender hair. “I lost many things last night. None too important but enough that I am left with very little in my possession.”
“For once, Princess Camilla and I are in agreement.” Hinoka nodded, frowning at the idea of being even slightly friendly with the Nohrian.
“I don’t believe we can replace everything right away. Perhaps after the war, when peace is finally gained, I will see to everyone’s lost possessions.” Corrin sighed. “As for the tents, we may have to share until we leave back for the border.” At that, everyone quieted down at the idea of sharing their quarters. Being Royalty, almost all of them had grown up sleeping separately of each other, so the idea was not entirely a welcomed one. Xander was the first to speak as he stood up, a hand moving to rest on Leo’s shoulder.
“If that is how we can all move forward, then I agree, little Prince. Leo and I can share quarters until we return.”
“I have no problem sharing with Sakura.” Hinoka added, smiling gently over to her quiet sister. Ryouma nodded, standing up as well as if they were already dismissed.
“Then we are all in agreement? I’m sure, Corrin, that you need some rest before we start with the rebuilding. You can go have a nap while we start.” Almost all the siblings then nodded, standing up to leave. Corrin could feel his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Nothing had been solved between them. They were going to fight even more so now that nothing was resolved. He cleared his throat loudly and stood up at the head of the table, Azura looking confusingly up at him.
“Not so fast, everyone. I’m not done yet.”
“What’s wrong, darling? You look angry.” Camilla said, her eyes looking him up and down as he turned stiff.
“That’s because I am.”
“What’s wrong, b-big brother?” Sakura asked, hunching back down into her seat almost like to prepare for whatever would come next.
“You all. Or at least, the majority of you guys. That’s what’s wrong.”
“What?” Leo asked, a little bit of shock showing up as he gaped at his brother.
“What are you talking about, Corrin?” Xander inquired, placing a hand on the others arm only to have it be jutted off.
“You all are not getting along. We have so much at stake right now and I know that these fights of yours are affecting the army.” Corrin said, glaring down at his now guilty siblings. “It’s affecting morale and everyone, even those not from Hoshido or Nohr are arguing over these tensions! We need to get along! We need to do something drastic! To show that we are in a peaceful agreement!” Corrin continued, a fist hitting the table causing his two younger sisters to jump at the noise.
“What do you propose we do?” Ryouma spoke up quietly, arms crossed as he watched his seething younger brother.
“The tents.” Corrin simply stated. “You all will be sharing tents. But not with your siblings.” He made the point of looking at each of his sibling’s equally widening eyes. “You’ll be sharing it. With each other.” Standing up a little taller, yet another tired smile appeared on his face. “I know that if you all took the chance to get to know each other, you would all be friends.”
“What?! You can’t honestly believe I’ll survive sleeping with…W-With that!” Takumi pointed harshly at Leo who only sneered back in return.
“Oh, I do believe so. I believe you’ll sleep in his quarters just as he will yours because you’ll be sharing both from now on.” Corrin smirked, not in the tiniest sorry as Takumi opened his mouth up in a rebuttal to Corrin’s proposal before slowly succumbing to the order with a grumble. “The same is for everyone here—Sakura and Elise, you’ll be sharing it together.” He watched as Elise grinned and jumped over to hug the other girl who merely blushed at the attention and close contact given to her so suddenly. “Camilla and Hinoka? Together as well.”
“Fine by me.” Camilla smiled lovingly at the now reddened princess, standing up to saunter out of the meeting tent. “But you should know, Princess Hinoka—I’m a hugger.” Hinoka merely muttered to herself and followed after Camilla out of the tent.
“Do you not think this is a bit much, Corrin?” Xander asked, standing up as well. “Surely you won’t put two commanders from enemy armies together in one bed!”
“That! That right there! ‘Enemy’! That is why you’re going to do this for me, Xander. Because despite your declaration of peace, you still see yourself separate from that of the Hoshidian army!”
“But--!”
“I won’t hear it! My word is final.” Corrin held up his hand, turning away from his beloved big brother. He didn’t watch as Xander and the rest of his remaining sibling’s left, barely even listening as they muttered lowly to each other in protest to the idea. Yet none of them would fight him on that—that much he was sure of. They both knew despite not being the commander of either army, he led them all within this foreign land. Without him, none of this agreement would even had happened.
At the sound of Azura finally standing up, Corrin turned back around and smiled at the other.
“You don’t mind sharing with me, do you?” To which she giggled and patted his arm lightly.
“Of course not, Corrin. I would be delighted.” Corrin grinned back at her and the two slowly made their way out onto the camp grounds of their Astral Plane.
“Corrin?” Azura said quietly, only getting a hum in return. “This very well might be your best or worse idea ever.” The prince shared a laugh with her as he looked upon the damage the fire had caused that night before.
“Yeah…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens tonight.