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She woke up with a start. Had she heard something? Was someone there? She looked around the dark room. Nobody there… yet. But that could easily change. She scrambled out of her bed, checking the door. Locked… but what about the windows? Did she remember to lock those too? She checked each and every one, and then checked the door again for good measure. Everything was secure and untouched. She wasn’t in danger.
Wait.
What if it wasn’t her they were after?
No. No, no, no, no! Without hesitation, she grabbed her axe, not even bothering to fix her hair or to fully dress herself. Unlocking the door, she crept out into the hallway, and began to slowly comb every inch of it. If someone was there, she would find them. She would stop them. And she would not lose anyone else. Never again.
----
Hinoka was exhausted. She had been on watch for the night and had only just swapped out with the next shift. So here she was, dragging herself to her quarters, trying to stave off the beast called Sleep for a few moments more.
Wait, which part of the barracks was she in, anyway? Dammit Hinoka, you’ve gotten yourself lost. She stopped walking, and took a moment to rouse herself, whacking her temples with her palms a few times. That seemed to do it. Now, to find my way back to my room. She turned the corner of the hall…
...and was greeted with the glint of a raised axe.
Hinoka screamed, leaping backwards and hitting the wall. After a moment of hyperventilating, the adrenaline began to wear off, and Hinoka noticed that the person with the axe hadn’t moved an inch. Finally getting her breath under control, she took a proper look at her apparent attacker…
...Camilla?
If it weren’t for the purple hair, Hinoka wouldn’t have recognised the Nohrian princess - her hair, normally immaculately combed and tended to, was a tangled mess. She was only partially dressed - something that would’ve caused Hinoka’s face to turn red if she hadn’t just been given the fright of her life, so instead all she was noticing was the scars covering her body - several of which looked to have been from far before any person ought to be on a battlefield.
But what caught Hinoka’s attention the most was Camilla’s face - she was wearing an expression of absolute terror, something the Hoshidan princess was certain she had never seen before on her, and her eye had a wild, almost feral gaze. And with her hair in the state it was in, the right side of her face was on full display - and it was a grisly sight. Horrific, ugly scars covered every inch, and where an eye should have been there was only a mangled red mess that had scarred over very poorly. If Hinoka had to guess, someone had attempted to gouge it out and had done a poor job of it.
Why have I never heard about this? She’s usually so open about herself… what happened?
Hinoka’s focus was broken when she noticed Camilla slowly lower the axe. The Hoshidan princess then noticed her Nohrian counterpart was trembling. Despite standing a head taller than her, Camilla looked so… vulnerable. Like a cornered animal.
The silence was finally broken by Camilla. “H...Hinoka…?” Even her voice was shaky.
Hinoka’s head was swimming with questions. In a rare moment of tactfulness, she elected to start with the one least likely to touch on sensitive ground. “Camilla… w-what’re you doing out this late with an axe?”
“I…” Camilla began. She seemed to be having a tough time getting her words together. “...I thought I heard something.”
Wait, that was it? “You heard something? That’s got you jumping out of bed with an axe? Look, it was probably just me-”
“But what if it wasn’t?” Camilla shot back. “What if it was something else? What if it was someone else? What if it was an assassin? What if they’re after Leo or Corrin or Elise-”
“Hey, hey! Calm down!” Hinoka grabbed Camilla’s arms. The Nohrian princess was hyperventilating at this point. Hinoka was equally concerned and bewildered. An assassin was a very real concern, but this was the woman who had hired the last person who tried it. Why on Earth would the possibility of one going after her siblings whip her into this much of a frenzy-
Oh. Oh.
Hinoka had heard rumours of the Concubine Wars from several of the Nohrian soldiers in the army. The Nohrian royalty themselves were understandably very tight-lipped about it - the most she’d ever seen or heard from them was Elise occasionally seeking out Sakura after having a nightmare about Garon or something else along those lines. But she had never seen anything of this caliber.
Hinoka wondered how many siblings Camilla had to watch die. How many she had been made to kill herself. And how long she had lived in terror trying to guess who she would lose next.
No wonder she was so protective of them, Corrin especially. Hinoka was brought back to reality of the clattering of Camilla’s axe hitting the floor. Her breathing had slowed, but was still shaky. What Hinoka was not expecting was Camilla’s toned, muscular arms to wrap around her back, pulling her into a tight, desperate embrace. The shorter princess’ face burned red, not helped by how the difference in height between them had led to her cheek currently brushing against Camilla’s generous chest.
The sound of sobbing and something wet running down her shoulder made Hinoka forget her predicament. Camilla was crying.
“Hey… Camilla-”
“I-I can’t lose anyone again… I can’t…”
Now it was Hinoka’s turn to surprise Camilla with a hug. “Shhh… it’s okay,” the redheaded princess assured, “We’ve got people on watch all over the castle. And I’m here. No-one’s gonna hurt you. No-one’s gonna hurt them.”
After a few minutes, Hinoka felt Camilla finally relax in her embrace, and the sobbing receded into the occasional sniffle. The two princesses remained there for a while more in silence, before it was finally broken, again by Camilla.
“...Thank you.”
“Any time.” Hinoka responded. Then the soft, pillowy feeling pushing against her cheek made her realise again that the two of them were standing out in the hall, in each other’s arms, and one of them was half-naked while the other was a slight tilt of the head away from a faceful of bosom. And it also occurred to her that she still wasn’t entirely sure how to get to her quarters from here.
“Um… maybe we should go back to your room?”
“M-My,” Camilla answered, a sliver of mirth back in her voice as she sniffled again. “How forward.”
While that normally would’ve made Hinoka even more flustered, in this situation it was what finally put her concerns to rest. There’s the Camilla I know.
----
Hinoka laid Camilla’s axe back into its original place while its owner sat on the edge of her bed and continued to comb her hair, locks now back in place over her missing eye. Hinoka sat down next to her. “So,” she began. “You feeling okay now?”
“I think so,” Camilla replied. “Or at least I’m close enough to okay.”
“That’s good.” Hinoka then took a moment to think about what she was about to do. It was far bolder than she usually dared when it came to Camilla, and it would no doubt be treading on sensitive ground, but there was something she had to know.
Slowly, she extended her hand towards Camilla’s face. Camilla didn’t move, but watched the hand warily. Carefully, Hinoka cupped the right side of Camilla’s face with her hand, and tried her best to fight off the resulting blush that crept across her cheeks. Camilla sharply inhaled at the touch, and flushed a tinge of red herself. Finally, Hinoka gently brushed the other princess’ hair aside with her thumb, exposing the injury beneath once more.
“Camilla… when and how did… this happen?”
“Someone broke into my quarters while I was sleeping and tried to slit my throat. They woke me and I fought back. It was Ma- it was one of my sisters. I had to throttle her. We...” Camilla paused, a distant look in her remaining eye, before she concluded. “We were twelve.”
“Camilla…” Hinoka really wasn’t sure what to say. So she opted to speak with her actions instead, pulling Camilla into another hug. This time, she was prepared when Camilla returned it. She was not, however, prepared for when Camilla shifted her weight and pulled them both down, leaving them lying across the bed.
Hinoka blushed once more, not helped by the way Camilla looked back at her. She wore a tiny smile, with a peaceful look in her eye. As she was now, even her scars bore an odd beauty. Hinoka was absolutely enraptured.
That was, until she felt herself begin to succumb to sleepiness once more, breaking her out of her trance. Hinoka slowly began to pull herself up. “Well, I better be goi-”
She was interrupted by Camilla tightening her embrace, preventing her from getting up. She gave Hinoka a pleading look.
“Stay with me,” Camilla whispered. “Please.”
Hinoka considered protesting, but then shrugged, or at least attempted to in Camilla’s grasp. “Oh, alright. Just this once.”
Camilla giggled. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything too untoward.”
“Just over a traumatic episode and you still find the time to flirt?”
“Is there a better time?”
“Just go to sleep, Camilla.”
And so the two princesses reclined back into the bed, Camilla still clinging to Hinoka, albeit now more gently. Despite it taking every last bit of willpower she could muster, Hinoka refused to drift off until Camilla was soundly asleep. She told her she would be safe, and she’d be damned if she gave her any reason to feel otherwise.
And at some point, long after Hinoka finally allowed herself to sleep, her arms found their way around Camilla once more.