A Night With Corrin

Chapter X (Scars)

After a wonderful dinner it's time you head home. You need all of the rest you can get before facing Camilla's army.

You step out of Corrin's of treehouse with a smile. Then you yawn.

"I really must sleep," you mumble before giving your cheeks a quick and invigorating pat.

You look upward.

The sky is dark and dotted with twinkling stars and a full and radiant moon overlooking the world below as though a silent and compassionate guardian. Its soothing light relaxes you further. "If only the world could be this peaceful all of the time," you lament.

Shutting your eyes, you take a large mouthful of the Astral Plane's crisp night air and then exhale. "Peace..." You speak the lonesome word with deep-rooted longing. "For the world to actually know peace would be a blessing."

A time when soldiers can return home to their loved ones without fearing the next draft. A time when mothers can embrace their sons and daughters without fear of losing them to war's folly, and most importantly, an end to the conflict that has plagued Hoshido and Nohr alike for a generation.

You open your eyes, brandishing a small but nonetheless tragic frown. "I sometimes wonder if the war will ever end." You sigh.

Past scars have left you cynical. Uncertainties toward Hoshido's ideal (though faint) dwell within you. While you felt content with swearing yourself to Corrin's dream of toppling Nohrian tyranny, you can't help feeling her goal is both lofty and idealistic. A mountain to assail.

"If only it were so simple." Steeling yourself for the journey home, you get on your way through the Astral Plane's square at a brisk pace.

Ash and flame cloud your memories of you walk - recollections of a time Prince Ryoma failed to protect his people. And you.

"Okashi..." Reciting the cursed name leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

Young women's screams echo within your skull. Ghostly reminders, they pull you back to a darker time.

Your open hand clenches into closed, shuddering fist. "Hana..."

You stall by Fort Dawnlight's outermost walls, leaning against them to catch your increasingly ragged breaths. Your forehead is clammy and your entire body is burning hot - almost as hot as the fires that burned through the long-dead town on that forsaken day.

You slip your free hand into the inside pocket of your swordsman's overcoat and produce a small bronzed ring. A lump forms in your throat. You feel sick to the stomach at the sight of it, dizzy even. "Forgive me..." You close your fingers around the keepsake and lift your eyes.

A towering muscle-bound brute donning blood-soaked black armor stands before you in your mind's eye - a man turned inhuman monster through barbaric deeds. You dare not recount his name a second time tonight for fear the very world will topple around you.

Step by step, the man walks toward you, clutching a dripping red axe in one of his veiny hands.

"Dammit, Keiji," you wheeze, shaking your head and steadying your breathing. "Keep it together."

You shut your eyes as the monster raises his axe above your head with a guttural laugh.

"Calm down, fool," you command yourself. "Tis not real. None of it is real."

You open your eyes again out of sheer panic, and the black-armored barbarian is gone. Your frantic heartbeat settles, though the hairs at the back of your neck still stand on end. Exhausted, you lean into the wall and look to the midnight moon for respite. Your lips twist into a frustrated frown.