Work Text:
It was raining. Her hair was soaked, dripping wet, droplets of water falling from her purple locks onto the shoulder plates of her armor. The sky was a sea of gray clouds, dread, with the distant crackling of thunder in the background.
The slash of lightning in the sky, the booming of thunder, the pittering of the rain. She heard them like echoes, white noises barely grazing her eardrums. She couldn't hear, couldn't see; didn’t care enough to even try. All she saw were gray and yellow, and silver, and white, and Corrin, Corrin, Corrin.
Her beautiful, lovely, precious, darling Corrin.
She let out a breath, and smiled, ever so bitterly.
“Camilla…” Corrin started, shaking ever so slightly. “Please, let me talk to you, let me explain to you.” Corrin’s determined eyes gazed into her own, pupils radiantly red, blood red. She wondered when her little sister had grown up so much. It seemed like only yesterday that little Corrin would find herself in Camilla’s room late at night, shivering from nightmares, crying, and clinging onto her older sister.
How she missed those purer days.
Her knees held down Corrin’s wrists, pinning her down on the soiled grass and dirt. The axe laid beside her, as Corrin laid beneath her, arms side by side, fingers extended to her waist, trapped by her brute strength. It did not matter though, she didn’t need a weapon, she could do it with her bare hands if necessary.
She gave a sweet smile, her hand stroking her little sister’s face, wiping the droplets of rain from Corrin’s pale visage. “My, my, we’ve only been apart for some time, but you’ve grown so much haven’t you, dear? My sweet, sweet, Corrin.” Corrin let out a shudder, her body shivering slightly. She ran her thumb across Corrin’s cheek, back and forth, back and forth, admiring her little sister’s ghostly complexion.
“Of course we can talk, dear. I’ve been longing to hear your voice again.” Her voice, light yet sweet, only caused Corrin to scrunch up in dismay.
“Camilla, I understand you’re hurt but ple—” She placed a finger against Corrin’s lips; so soft, so smooth.
Lowering her head to Corrin’s ear, she whispered, her lips grazing the tip of Corrin’s ear. “Everything will be okay.”
She laid down, her body on top of Corrin’s, her arms snaking around Corrin’s neck.Her head rested on Corrin’s chest, completely immersed in Corrin’s scent; sweet sweet honey, mixed in with the rainwater.
God, how she had missed her scent.
“Your big sister is here, darling. I will make this as easy as possible.” She murmured softly, fully embracing Corrin as they laid on the damp mossy ground. The temperature was dropping; the wind’s breeze chilling the air even moreso. But, she couldn’t remember feeling this warm ever since Corrin had left them, left her.
“I will never stop holding you, dear.”
Corrin let out a breath. “Please don’t do this, Camilla.” She spoke through shuddered breaths. “I-I can explain...I am not the enemy here.” Corrin tried to wrangle her way out of her grasp but Camilla just gripped her harder, tightening her embrace around Corrin’s neck.
She chuckled lightly, the droplets of rain cascading down her face, dripping onto Corrin’s chest. “Darling, I have never thought of you as my enemy. Even now…” She paused. “You’re only my sweet little Corrin, my precious darling sister. Even if they did take you away, you do not belong to those heathens.” She spat out the word, as if it was acid on her lips.
“You will always, only, belong to me.”
She raised her head at her little sister who had given up squirming, laying frozen like a carcass, eyes furrowed in deep dark sadness. She was glad, truly. She didn’t want to hurt her, not anymore than she had to. Truthfully, she didn’t want to hurt her at all, she wanted it to feel like bliss, a soft sweet lullaby as she fell asleep. If Corrin had tried to resist, Camilla would've had to strike her down, and it ached her heart even fathoming the thought of harming her darling sister.
She heard Corrin breath out. “Camilla, you don’t have to listen to him.” A sharp intake of breath. “King Garon is a monster. He is not the father you knew! So please,” her voice cracked ever so slightly. “Let me complete what I must.”
Corrin embraced her body, and she allowed herself to melt in the comforts of the warmth she’d been longing for. “I know the choice I’ve made to side against you has scathed you all… I will not ask for forgiveness.... At least, I must first obtain the peace that I’ve broken my family for.”
“I wished,” she paused, steeling herself, her emotions. “Everyday, I had wished you’d come back, you’d tell us it was a ruse, a mistake, a lapse of judgement.” Unconsciously, her fingers fisted together, digging her nails into the dirt, scooping up tufts of grass. “I was wondering if you’d cut me down,” She laughed melodiously, though her eyes showed no mirth.
“I believe, I would have welcomed it. To be released from this pain by you, of all people, would be a blessing that I didn’t deserve.” Her lips twisted into a wry smile.
“Tell me, would you kill me, my love? Do you have it in you?”
She could feel Corrin stiffen beneath her, saw her expression tighten slightly. “...I do not want to hurt you. I would do everything in my power to avoid this.” Corrin’s grip on her body tightened. Whether she clung to her out of a sense of desperation or guilt, Camilla wasn’t sure. She relished in the close proximity nonetheless. “You are my family. I love you more than you can know. But, I already chose my path, so if I had to, I believe that I would.”
She pushed herself upwards, letting the clumps of grass in her palm flutter to the ground, a crackling of thunder boomed in distant sky. “My,” she cooed. “How big you’ve gotten, hm? I told you, darling, you are not my enemy.” She felt eerily serene, while in comparison Corrin’s expression grew darker.
“This will not be because you are my enemy, but instead because I love you.” She spoke in a low murmur, feeling Corrin hold back a shudder. “I would never let you die at the hands of anyone who loved you less than myself, dear.”
“You’re going to kill me then? I won't just let you do it.” She followed Corrin’s line of sight as the younger girl turned over to her Yato sword lying on the grass yards away. She put her palm on Corrin’s knuckles.
“Don’t bother, darling.” She spoke in soft whispers. “I’d cut your legs off before you even had the chance to lean towards your sword. Please, dear, don’t make me hurt you, I’d like for this to be as painless as possible.” Her lips curved into a gentle smile, with Corrin’s uneasy expression given back in return.
Corrin spoke slowly, cautiously, her words clearly weighed heavily on the younger princess’ mind. “You’ll never forgive yourself if you do this.” Her shoulders tensed even more at the sight of that morose, eerily light smile, peacefully set on Camilla’s lips. “I am not afraid of death, sister. But I can’t die until I set Nohr free from that monster, until I set you free.”
She chuckled quietly, her lips not moving from that that quirked up, gentle smile. Corrin looked haunted by it. “I dreamed of hearing those words, day and night. I couldn’t eat, nor sleep, nor even drift from my bed. Only darling Elise could coax me out of my misery,” she paused.
Corrin’s eyes glowed with sadness, though she wondered if that was just her own pain reflected in her younger sister’s irises.
“Though, I suppose that was just my feeble attempts at composure for our darling little sunshine.” She gave a laugh devoid of mirth, expecting wetness behind her eyes, but instead found they were dry. It seemed her tears had subsided long ago, and now all was left was the aching grief that tugged at her heartstrings.
“I realized, dear, that we could never be a family again. You chose your real family, and as hard as I tried, as much as I wanted, I couldn’t make Nohr your home.” Corrin was silently, her face ashened, looking down at the ground. “So then,” she tapped her fingers against Corrin’s knuckles which were tightened and clenched together. “Father sent me on a mission… to kill you. I agonized over it, for a long time, my stomach churned at the simple thought of that, awful, awful mission. But then I realized, I’d get to see you again, get to hold you in my arms again.”
Her insides burned, her chest ached, and she almost laughed at the thought of the Eldest Princess of Nohr, reduced to this sad, pathetic, mess of love and anger and pain and love love love love.
She wondered what else she could’ve given her little sister. What did they give her that made her choose them? Choose them over the family that raised her, that gave the fragile little princess their heart and soul.
So what if those vermins shared Corrin’s blood? Blood? What was so important about that? She loved Corrin like her own, accepted her for all she was, with every vein that ran through her body, every blood vessel, flowing through her.
She raised her hand to Corrin’s neck, her finger trekking over to the underside of her chin. With a slight flick, she turned Corrin’s face till her little sister was looking directly in her eyes. She felt Corrin shiver slightly, her body giving off little quiet trembles. Was it the rain, she wondered, or was is their proximity? They were mere centimeters apart, and in the cold drizzling air, she could feel Corrin’s hot breath on her neck.
Sadness clouded over her features, and she could feel her throat wanting to close up, but she persisted.
“Corrin,” she started, voice too shaky for her own liking. “I’m going to kill you, darling. It will be quick.”
She gave a small smile for reassurance but it didn’t ease Corrin’s shivering, nor did it dissipate the pained look painted on her face. “I promise to make this as easy as possible, dear. Think of it as when you used come to me with your nightmares. I would hold you, and caress you, rocking you with sweet lullabies in your ear.”
“Big sister—” She interrupted her with a quiet ‘shh’.
“I promise you won’t be lonely, dear.”
As if it could hear their hearts, the sky roared with an even greater intensity than before. She held back a shiver, as a cold breeze flew over. The rain poured down, as if the clouds were shedding tears that she could not. Corrin was pale, frozen, and eerily quiet, her body only moving with slight trembles here and there, her gaze stuck on Camilla’s.
“I promise, I’ll be right behind you.” Another smile, that yet again had no place, with its sickening cheeriness, on her visage, tainted with melancholy.
She leaned down, lips inching near Corrin’s. The only space between them being the chilling air, and the ever so rhythmic tapping of the downpour rain. She put one hand on Corrin’s collarbone, her palms melting into the girl’s soft skin, bumpy and shivering, and dripping with rainwater. Her finger ran over the lines of Corrin’s bone, tracing across every bump, every edge, dancing up and down her neck. Corrin let out a breath, shivering beneath her.
“C-Camilla,” came out, in a broken whisper, the guilt etched so deeply on her face. “I-I’m so, I’m—” She was interrupted by lips, grazing against hers.
She covered Corrin’s mouth with her own, embracing the softness of her darling sister’s lips, sweet, mixed in with the freshness of the rainwater that beat down on them. She could feel a hot wetness sliding down her chin, could taste the saltiness from the tears that were captured, stuck between their lips. Corrin was warm, so warm, and she begged the gods to strike her down where she laid, to let her die entrapped in Corrin’s embrace, tasting her sweet, lovely lips.
But heaven was not at all kind, especially not to a bastard child like her, and there they stayed, under the rain, under the sky. The lightning close enough to see, the thunder close enough to hear, but never enough to touch.
And she dreaded the moment where they’d have to let go, to pull away, where she’d have to strike down her darling Corrin.
So she settled on the taste of her lips; distracted herself with the warmth of her touch, invigorated by her honeyed floral scent with a tint of petrichor.
She buried herself in the bliss of Corrin’s taste, sweet, oh so sweet, her precious sweet release.