Hello there, friends. This is Digital here with a little announcement. I wrote some angst, but it gets a little bit sensitive at one point with vague talk of self-harm. So this is an official trigger warning for self-harm. Feel free to skip out on this fiction if you are prone to negative feelings over this subject. For everybody else, I hope you enjoy!

If Hinoka was sure of one personality trait she possessed, it was reckless.

She had been this way for many years, and she wasn't sure if it would ever leave. While it did have its advantages, such as making her the brave and fearless warrior she was known for all across the continent, being reckless had its downsides as well.

The most prominent example at that moment was the fact that she charged into battle without warning, and, good gods, that sure did bite Hinoka in the ass sometimes.

The royal siblings were in the middle of fighting in a skirmish. Invisible soldiers had appeared in a village on the border of Hoshido, and since they happened to be nearby, the royals had decide to go assist the townsfolk.

There weren't many people fighting this time around. It was a small battalion made up of only seven, Azura, Sakura, Takumi, Ryoma, Scarlet, Corrin, and Hinoka herself, to be specific. Scarlet mowed through a half-visible naginata wielder using a steel axe and gently pet the neck of her wyvern. The dragon roared in approval of the small battle having been won. Scarlet shot a grin to Ryoma, who had taken down an axe fighter mere moments before.

"Hinoka!"

Takumi's voice rang through the air, snapping Hinoka out of her daze. She turned to face him, but she was a bit too late to understand what it was he was shouting at her for.

The pain shot through her shoulder in the blink of an eye. Hinoka let out a cry of pain and touched her shoulder with her left hand, the one not holding a weapon at that point. Blood seeped through fabric and reached the tips of her fingers. A stray arrow had been shot by the final remaining archer in the group. Takumi swiftly finished him off with a pristine arrow of blue from the Fujin Yumi.

The numbers of the enemy were being thinned around Hinoka. She commanded her eyes to focus, as she was growing hazy due to the sudden blood loss, but they refused to. She heard a few blades clash before Azura let out a small laugh to herself, no doubt having defeated yet another enemy.

Only one figure could still be seen before Hinoka. She could make out the menacing purple aura despite her blurred sight. A sword was in his hand, a wyrmslayer, to be specific. She put her naginata into her left hand and prepared to block the attack, but she still got the sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to time it right due to her sudden yet grievous injury.

The blade raised into the air, the violet hand holding it fading in and out of view. They lunged forwards, preparing to strike Hinoka down. She held up the naginata in preparation, waiting for the blow to come...

But it never did.

Instead, there was a scream.

Hinoka instantly recognized who it was. Her eyes focused themselves as the adrenaline kicked in. She saw an arrow pierce the invisible soldier, sending the purple mist that had made up the invisible samurai fading away into thin air.

Hinoka's gaze shifted down to the ground, where a person was lying on the ground. Hinoka immediately forgot about her own wound as she hopped down from her pegasus to run to...

"Corrin!" Hinoka cried, feeling guilt pull at her core. This was all her fault. If she had been paying more attention, she wouldn't have seen the arrow and wouldn't have gotten hit. If she hadn't gotten hit, Corrin wouldn't have felt the need to protect her. Damn it all! This was all her fault. This was all her fault. This was all her-

"I... I had to protect you..." Corrin said through choked breaths. Hinoka propped up Corrin in her arms, looking into the draconic girl's red eyes. The redhead slowly looked to Corrin's stomach, seeing blood coming from the terrible and jagged sword hit on her torso. When Hinoka looked back to her sister, the white-haired girl had let her eyes slip shut. Tension vanished from her body as she fell unconscious.

"Corrin!" Hinoka screamed. She felt warmth pass through Corrin's body, so she looked up over her shoulder. Sakura was standing there, sun festal in hand. She was shaking furiously. Sakura had never liked blood, so this was not the best situation for her.

Ryoma was the first one to say anything about the situation. "Lilith!" he shouted into the air. It was time for them to return to the astral plane. They had to go somewhere with more medical supplies than the mere sun festal that Sakura had brought along with her for this fight. Hinoka, like the stupid piece of crap she was, hadn't brought along any healing staves despite knowing how to heal. She could have helped, but she didn't follow the advice of others to bring along a damn staff.

A gate appeared nearby, the path to the astral plane. Hinoka picked up Corrin and put the unconscious girl on the back of her pegasus. Hinoka mounted her steed shortly afterwards, nudging the pegasus to fly forwards once she was sitting on his back.

They dashed through the castle that was the base for the army. People turned heads at seeing Hinoka coming through so suddenly. Kaze watched her with a curious glaze. Saizo and Kagero halted their conversation with Orochi to watch the redheaded princess dash through the area.

Once Hinoka had arrived at the treehouse that Corrin called home, she hopped from the back of her pegasus and took Corrin into her arms again. She dashed inside as quickly as she could and gently set Corrin down on her bed. She felt guilt pull at her heartstrings once again as she saw Corrin so pale, so weak and helpless.

She heard footsteps from behind her. It was Sakura, dashing in with more medical supplies to assist Corrin. Hinoka turned to face her sister, to instruct her to help out Corrin, but she never got the chance to speak to her.

The adrenaline was wearing off now, so Hinoka's vision had gone blurry once more. The pain of the arrow, which was still lodged through her shoulder, rushed to her all in a moment. She stumbled, unable to keep her balance. A distant voice shouted her name, likely Sakura. Hinoka staggered one more time before the ground rushed up to meet her cheek, leaving everything to fade to black.

When Hinoka's eyelids opened next, she was aware of something wrapped around her chest. It felt like bandages to her, though she couldn't say for sure. She knew the feeling well, as on her worst of nights from her youth, nights when Ryoma would approach her room and see her with her own blood on her wrists, he'd always patch her up using the material.

"Hinoka?"

She saw the outline of Takumi above her. Her eyes focused to meet his. He was showing concern, something he often hid from the outside world. Hinoka became aware of his hand on top of hers as her senses fully returned.

Hinoka was in her room at the base on the astral plane. She could tell that much. Though she couldn't figure out why. The last time that she had been awake, she hadn't been in her room, she had been with-

"Where's Corrin?!" Hinoka cried out sharply and suddenly. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, letting out a gasp of pain as ache hit her shoulder. She remembered everything. The archer, the wyrmslayer, Corrin getting hit...

"Hinoka, calm down!" Takumi shouted, gently trying to push Hinoka back onto her bed. "Sakura said you can't be moving around yet!"

Hinoka disregarded his warning and used her strong arms to push her way past Takumi. She dashed out of the room, doing her best to ignore the splitting and white-hot pain in her shoulder. She glanced around for a moment before sprinting to Corrin's treehouse, throwing open the door before ending up inside the room.

Hinoka sat down on Corrin's bed, breathing heavily. She saw her asleep, unmoving but breathing. White bandages surrounded her stomach, where the wyrmslayer had hit her. Hinoka put one hand over her eyes. This was all her fault. Corrin had been hurt protecting her. How could she have let this happen? It should have been her in this condition, not Corrin. The wyrmslayer wouldn't have hurt her as much. Besides, even if it had hurt her that badly, hell, even killed her, it was better her than Corrin.

Takumi entered the room not long after. Hinoka could feel the anger coming off him before she had even heard him speak. "You can't do stuff like that, Hinoka! Do you have any idea what would have happened if you had put too much stress on yourself?! You've already been unconscious for three days!" he exclaimed.

Hinoka froze. Three days? Had the arrow really injured her that badly? The last thing that she remembered was collapsing due to the blood loss, but had that really been three days ago?

"Three days?" she repeated, slowly turning around to face her brother.

Takumi nodded, a frown tightly knit onto his face. "You heard me," he told her.

Hinoka let out a breath that she wasn't even aware that she had been holding. She didn't know what she was supposed to say to that. What could she say?

"You should get back to your room," Takumi said. "Sakura won't be happy if she hears you started running around so soon after waking up."

"I'm staying here," Hinoka told him firmly. "I'm staying with Corrin until she wakes up."

"Hinoka-" Takumi tried to say.

"No. I'm staying with Corrin," Hinoka said. "You can't change my mind."

Takumi let out a sigh. "Fine. I know I can't change your mind anyways. You were always just as stubborn as the rest of our family."

Takumi left the treehouse, leaving Hinoka alone with Corrin. Hinoka turned back to Corrin and looked down at her. She was still rather pale from the wound that she had received. She looked so.. Sickly. Sakura had always been the type to fall ill easily, but never had Hinoka expected to see Corrin this way.

Guilt pulled at her core. She was to blame for this. All of this was because of her. If only it had been her on the receiving end of that blow...

Hinoka looked down at her hands. She could see faint scars, cruel strikes made not by battle, but by her own doing. They were from nights when she blamed herself for Corrin's capture, beginning back when she was a young teenager up until the week before Corrin's return. She had been going strong for so long, but the guilt at her core made her think that maybe-

No. She couldn't think like that. Hinoka took a deep breath and tried to think of something else to distract herself. She glanced around Corrin's room, her gaze falling upon an envelope sitting on a nearby table. She gasped to herself. It was familiar. It had been given to her by her mother, Mikoto, shortly before her assassination. She had said that it was to be opened if Hinoka ever questioned who it was that she loved. Hinoka had lost it a while back, due to being unorganized, but here it was. She had likely left it in Corrin's room on accident when they had hung out recently, talking about boys in the army.

Hinoka remembered that conversation. Corrin had asked her if there were any boys that had caught her eye, but Hinoka had replied in a negatory fashion. Come to think of it, no boys had ever gotten her attention before. Hinoka had found it odd, but in recent times, she had understood.

Hinata sometimes talked about Oboro and the way that she fought. He was impressed by her in most ways, even if they bickered from time to time, and Hinoka suspected he had some sort of feelings for her. He had been like this for years, and it was only until after Hinata had told her that he liked Oboro that her mind clicked.

Hinoka remembered the days of her childhood, back when Oboro had just become a retainer to the family. They had fought together frequently, and Hinoka had even taught Oboro how to use the naginata. They spent much time together, and eventually, Hinoka began to feel strange. Her heart leaped when she saw Oboro each day. While she hadn't realized it at the time, she had been crushing on Oboro. A girl. After Oboro had told her that she was infatuated with Takumi, Hinoka had let her feelings slip away. However, she could tell that something akin to that sensation was beginning to return, but this time, it wasn't for Oboro.

It was Corrin.

Hinoka crossed the room and picked up the letter with her good hand. She sat down on Corrin's bed once more and opened the seal on the envelope. She was instantly hit boy the scent of her mother, which made a tear come to her eye. She missed Mikoto greatly, and this letter only reminded Hinoka of such. Despite the sadness gnawing away at her, she let her eyes scan across the letter's words, being entranced in it all. Everything seemed to disappear around her as she read, and soon enough, the outside world was forgotten.

Once she was done reading, she couldn't believe what she had read.

She wasn't related to Corrin at all.

The shock left her feeling numb. Hinoka had believed all her life that Corrin was her precious little sister, but now she realized that was false. Everything had been a lie. Her parents had lied to her since she had met Corrin. That stung.

But at the same time, she knew now that her love for Corrin was no longer forbidden. She could find happiness by living at Corrin's side once the war was over. They'd be able to settle down and make a family together.

Assuming Corrin liked her back, that was. When they had been talking about boys, Corrin had said that there was someone that piqued her interest. Though she hadn't said who, Hinoka got the feeling that it was somebody like Silas or Kaze. Corrin was around them quite a bit as it was. It wouldn't be odd if she developed feelings for them since they were so close now. Hinoka didn't stand a chance.

Hinoka set down the letter onto the table and got up. She knew that she'd just think about this if she kept on with sitting in the silence and listening to Corrin's gentle breathing. She had to do something.

Hinoka told herself that she was going to grab her naginata and go train for a little while. She had a secret spot just outside the castle that she could hang out at without being spotted by Takumi, Sakura, or anybody else, for that matter. Hinoka went for the door and started for her room to grab her lance.

Hinoka had been training herself for about an hour when she heard a gentle humming from nearby. A girl wearing crimson armor came into view, holding a spear of her own. Hinoka put down her own lance and looked up to meet the eyes of Scarlet.

"Hey there, Noka," Scarlet said, approaching her with a smile. Noka was the loving nickname that Scarlet had given Hinoka since their meeting in Cheve. They had grown rather close since Scarlet and Ryoma were now engaged, set to be married after the war's end. Since they were to be related, Scarlet had insisted on the two of them having nicknames for one another. Hinoka had politely declined to give Scarlet another name, though the blonde wyvern rider had taken the opportunity by the reins instantly.

"Hi, Scarlet," Hinoka greeted.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better," Scarlet told her. "Your brother was really worried about you. It took a lot to get him to calm down the day you went down."

"I figured he would be. Ryoma's always been protective," sighed Hinoka.

"Gods, do I know it," Scarlet said, a smile on her face. She sat down in the grass and dumped out a collection of stones and a bottle of gunk. Hinoka recognized these materials. She was going to decorate her weapon like she always did.

Hinoka watched her for a moment before sitting down as well. "Scarlet... I need some advice."

"Shoot," Scarlet instructed, picking up a silver stone and examining it in the sunshine.

"I think I like someone," Hinoka told her. "But I don't know if I should tell them. I'm sure that they like somebody else, and there's no way that they'll like me back. Plus, it's a girl, and when was the last time you heard of a girl going out with another girl?"

Scarlet set the silver stone back onto the pile and looked at her with a small smile. "First off, you shouldn't worry about girls going out with other girls. Really. It's fine. I doubt your family will flip out. Besides, I dated a girl once. Nobody really minded. I'm sure things will go the same for you."

"That's nice to hear," sighed Hinoka.

"As for this girl you like, I'm positive that she'll like you. I have faith in it. You're a charming girl, Noka. Whoever it is, there's no way she'll be able to reject you," Scarlet assured her. "And if she's not the one, just think of it this way. You're one heartbreak closer to your happy ending with the girl, or boy, depends on how you swing, of your dreams."

Hinoka smiled to Scarlet. "Thanks, Scarlet," she said. "I think I'm going to tell her."

"You go, girl!" Scarlet cheered, dimples showing as she grinned.

"I'll see you later," Hinoka told her, taking her lance and walking back to the treehouse.

Night fell a few hours later, and there were still no signs of life from Corrin. Hinoka had been sitting with her ever since returning from her conversation with Scarlet as well as her intense training, but nothing had changed. She was still just as motionless as ever.

Hinoka ended up lying down next to Corrin. The bed was rather large, so there was room for the both of them. Hinoka placed one hand on Corrin's chest. There was still a heartbeat. Thank the gods. Hinoka wrapped her arm around Corrin's body, comforted by her warmth. She would have been in her perfect happy place, if Corrin had only been conscious and smiling back at her.

It didn't take long for Hinoka to fall asleep afterwards. She was comforted by Corrin's presence, though this still wasn't enough to keep the nightmares of the dreaded wyrmslayer incident at bay.

Morning came, and Hinoka awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. She didn't sit up, instead turning to Corrin. Sleep didn't come easily, as each time she drifted off, she was forced awake after seeing the wyrmslayer pierce Corrin's skin in her nightmares. The screams echoed in her mind until she finally found herself in a restless and unsettled slumber.

Hinoka looked at Corrin's face. She looked like she was doing better, but she was still feeling guilty. This was all because of her. All of it was because of her. If only she had been more focused. If only, if only, if only! Hinoka should have done something, but instead, she let Corrin take a blow for her. Hinoka's purpose for years upon years had been to keep Corrin safe once she returned, but she couldn't even do that right. She deserved to have this sort of thing haunt her nightmares. She truly did.

Hinoka felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't try to stop them. There was no way for her to. She was feeling too bad to attempt it. Salty drops fell onto Corrin's face. Hinoka reached out to wipe them away, but she was surprised by something else when she did.

Corrin's eyes opened slowly. Her fingers rose to take Hinoka's hand. "Don't cry..." Corrin said to her with a bittersweet smile. "It's okay."

Hinoka pulled Corrin into a tight hug. She only began to cry more furiously. Words didn't come out despite her pleading with herself to say something, anything, to melt away her tears.

Eventually, something did leave her lips. "I was so worried about you... Please, don't ever do that again. Corrin, you scared the life out of me. If I lost you, I don't know what I would do. Next time something like that happens, let me take the hit. Corrin, I wouldn't have a purpose anymore if I lost you," Hinoka said, rambling on and on. Her mouth was going way faster than her head, but she didn't know how to stop it.

"Hinoka, that hit would have killed you!" Corrin told her, quietly but still intensely. "I saw what that arrow did. Any other wounds would have been too much for you. You act strong and everything, but you're still human. I don't know what I would have done if I had seen you die when I could have done something."

"But it was a wyrmslayer!" Hinoka cried. "You know those are made to pierce dragon skin! You could have easily been killed by that blow!"

"But I wasn't," Corrin assured her. She reached out and wiped a stray tear from Hinoka's cheek. "We're both okay. That's what matters here."

"I guess so..." Hinoka murmured. She paused for a moment before her gaze wandered to the letter still sitting on the nearby table. "Listen... I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Corrin asked.

"I-I don't really know how to say this, but... I like you. A lot. Well... More than like. Okay... Love," Hinoka said. She cursed her awkwardness mentally. She hated the fact that she was so easily flustered when talking about this sort of thing.

"Well... Isn't that natural for family members?" Corrin questioned.

"This is different," Hinoka insisted. "I mean it romantically, Corrin."

"Oh," Corrin said simply. "Well, you know that we can't be together like that. We're siblings."

"A-Actually..." Hinoka began to stammer. "I need to tell you something."

With that said, Hinoka launched into an explanation of what she had read in the letter. She told Corrin about the truth regarding their mother meeting King Sumeragi, about how all of the other kids had been birthed by the former queen, Ikona. She added in that she hadn't a clue who Corrin's true father was, knowing that the white-haired royal would ask about it if Hinoka didn't address it. Corrin looked shocked through it all, but didn't say anything until once Hinoka was done.

"I... I see..." Corrin murmured. "So... I guess this means that we really can be together..."

"Does this mean that you like me back?" Hinoka asked.

A small smile appeared on Corrin's face. "Maybe," she said, seeming to glow through Hinoka's eyes.

"I thought for sure you liked Silas or Kaze! You said that you liked somebody in the army when we talked a while back!" Hinoka exclaimed.

"Yes. You," Corrin smiled. "I didn't want to bring it up since I thought we shared blood, but now..."

"Oh, this is great!" Hinoka cried. "Gods, I never thought this would happen!"

"Me neither, but sometimes, the unexpected just so happens to be okay," Corrin said. "And to think, this is all because of that wyrmslayer..."

"I guess it is," Hinoka muttered, interlacing her fingers with Corrin's. "Just don't scare me like that again. It won't do for me to do nothing but worry about my wife all the time."

"I won't," Corrin assured her. "After all, we have a life ahead of us to make, and it isn't really 'us' if we aren't together."

I did the thing.

I should have updated my other Fire Emblem fan fiction, but instead, I did this. Why? Because I'm in a group chat for Corrinoka and talking with other people in the group like CustomSC gave me inspiration to do the angsty thing, but longer.

Unlike most of my updates, this one wasn't done at 2 in the morning. That's new. I typed this all in one sitting, but it only took two hours instead of four, so it's actually a somewhat decent hour. Wow. I'm impressed.

Now I'm going to leave. I have to finish up act 4 of Echoes. Also, expect at least one more update this week, but on Demon of Desire. I have this week off school so I have time to type. Thank god.

Anyways, I'm off. I hope you enjoyed!

-Digital