Chapter Text
She’s disoriented, at first. Joy, at her older brothers working together, her two families reconciling to offer peace and cooperation. Confusion when she realizes she’s not in Nohr or Hoshido anymore, but the two blonde siblings, Rowan and Lianna, introduce themselves and explain their goal for justice and victory over the Chaos Dragon. Determination, then, strengthens her will -- she and her families would fight for the kingdom of Aytolis and its right to the light, as it is the only right thing to do.
It’s a tumult of emotions that floods over her in a short amount of time, but once she gets her bearings with help of her siblings -- Takumi, a little standoffish, of course, but nonetheless begrudgingly accepts their new alliance -- she feels a little more at home.
Maybe, ‘at home’ isn’t the way to put it. Becoming all too familiar with war, she feels no comfort in knowing that Yato would only see more blood in the coming days, her blade cutting through hordes of demons and possessed soldiers sent only with the purpose of being cannon fodder for their dark mage leaders.
Not that their ragtag army didn’t have their brief moments of respite, of course. Chrom is surprised to see her again, as is Lissa and Frederick, but she clasps forearms with them all the same, sharing a smile and a grin with patriots she’d met so long ago. The girl with blue hair who always seemed to appear and disappear at a moment’s notice at the castle in the Deeprealms hovered near Chrom’s side, and she comes to learn that her name is Lucina, daughter of Chrom from a future torn asunder.
Her heart aches for Lucina. The suffering in that girl’s eyes, one marked by a brand that reminds Lucina forever of her own destiny, is a sight that she’s seen one too many times. Offering all the strength she can give and praying for her world to be saved too, Lucina thanks her, a spark of hope in her voice.
Leo is thrown off guard when his retainer somehow also appears, albeit Odin -- or Owain, as he calls himself in front of his mother Lissa -- remains the same as ever, dramatic and possessing that same excessive flair as always. His performances cheer the army up, keeps them going on the long days of battle.
Niles, and Oboro appear, too. Familiar faces bring a comfort to her Hoshido and Nohr families, and it somehow brings them all together. She prays this alliance will last, if and when they return to their homeland.
But one person is missing.
It had only been a day after she’d met Rowan and Lianna, when she’d met the rest of the Aytolis siblings’ allies.
“Has...has a girl with blue hair, and a white dress, and a golden lance, has she appeared here at all? Have you heard any reports?”
They apologize, pointing to Caeda and Lucina as the only women they’ve seen with blue hair; she shakes her head, trying not to show the twins how her heart aches, how it breaks a little more each day she moves forward without a songstress by her side.
Every night she wakes up, a cold sweat down the back of her neck, blankets askew the bed and the ground, and she buries her face in her pillow, trying to stifle the sobs that shake her chest.
Each day, the sun rises, and she gets up with it, throwing on her armor and her mask and fighting for justice and peace. Each day, the sun sets, and she fakes a smile as she bids goodnight and ducks back into her tent, anxiety and frustration gnawing at the pit of her stomach.
And the strength that had kept her standing for the day falls away, and she clutches the luminous, sky blue dragonstone to her chest, praying with every fiber of her being that her other half is still alive, somewhere, out there, and that they would meet again.
Maybe the Dawn and Dusk Dragons hear her wish, because she wakes up one day to Ryoma and Xander frantically shouting her name outside her tent, a cacophony of her siblings’ voices mixed into the fray of sound.
She hurls herself out of her cot and throws on her armor as fast possible, haphazardly buckling things and slinging together straps as she whips open the flap to her tent.
“Thank Gods, you’re awake,” Xander says, relief coating every word.
“There’s been a report, they say they’ve found a girl with a golden lance,” Ryoma continues, and Elise tugs Sakura around the large berth of their older brothers, with Elise excitedly repeating “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” as she grabs a hold of her sister’s hand, the other tightly clinging onto Sakura’s.
She doesn’t need to be told twice; Hinoka and Camilla are there already, grinning, their pegasus and wyvern mounted up and ready to go for a speedy excursion. Grabbing Yato and slinging the blade into the sheath at her waist, she grabs onto Hinoka’s hand and climbs onto the saddle behind her Hoshidan sister. Next to them, Xander helps up Ryoma onto his horse, with Elise almost bodily throwing Sakura onto her horse before the two speed gallop away, Elise’s laughter ringing through the camp. Takumi and Leo share a brief stare, before Takumi takes Leo’s offered hand and he joins Leo on his horse.
Camilla points the way; as her and Hinoka take to the air, she calls over the wind blowing past, “They found her by the lake to the east. She’s unharmed!”
Below them, their siblings’ horses tear through the camp, and bystanders jump aside as their party speeds out into the forest.
---
She doesn’t even wait for Hinoka’s pegasus to touch the ground; she jumps off the saddle, still ten feet in the air, and rolls before sprinting past a pair of startled scouts. Her bare feet barely touch the dirt as she hurls through the trees, everything a green blur around her as she focuses on the lake ahead.
Behind her, she doesn’t know that her siblings had attempted to make a harried chase after her, but Camilla had thrown an arm out, that knowing smile on her face as she wags a single finger at her siblings and Hoshidan counterparts. “Let them have their time,” she says, and of course, Camilla’s word is law. “Let them be.”
---
She skids to a halt where the trees stop by the edge of the water, and just a few yards away is a small wooden dock; at the end of it, she sees her, and the girl at the end of the dock turns.
Their eyes meet, bright gold to deep burgundy.
She holds her breath, takes only one small step forward, disbelieving that what she sees is real, but the girl across the way doesn’t disappear, isn’t an illusion.
They stare at each other, for just one second more. And then they’re running at each other.
When they collide, she’s already sobbing, tears running down her face as she wraps her arms as tightly as she can around the other girl, burying her face in the crook of the girl’s neck as her entire body shakes with joy and relief. She feels gentle hands run through her hair, feels the solid warmth of her other half press tightly against her, feels a pair of lips brush the tip of her pointed ear, and she hears a word she’s ached to hear for so long, from a voice that sings peace and love.
“Corrin. ”