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For all of Xander's life, he did it for the greater good. For the good of his people, and for the good of his family.
For Camilla, for Leo, for Elise, and for Corrin.
But war changes things. War changes people. War changes hearts.
For the very sibling he picked up the sword for, he struck down.
"Xander... Your sword.... Lay it down for me." Elise whispers, but her breathing interrupts her. Xander holds her, too shocked to say words. His grip on her is tight, because he's scared she'll fade away. Her blood starts to smear his armor, but he does not care. He holds her as if she was a toddler again, scared to let go of her.
"Elise..." Xander croaks, but that is all he can manage to say.
Elise looks up to her big brother's face, "Nohr needs more from you. Not just your strength... What we need.... is caring... and a warm hand... and tears."
Xander thinks, no, what Nohr needed was a better prince. What Nohr needed was a better man. What Elise needed was a better brother. Xander only had strength to offer, and for once, he was ashamed. Ashamed of himself and what his strength had brought him. For once in his life, his strength had brought him pain.
His tears don't stop, and he can feel her time fleeing. He can feel her time is almost up.
With the last of her strength, she musters up a smile and a tear, "That's the way. Try to be at peace."
Then, he feels her hand finally go limp.
He lets out a cry, a cry that princes do not make.
As the prince of Nohr, he hid away his feelings. He hid his morals. He hid them away for the sake of his family. But now, what did that all bring him? How much farther would he go?
Was everything he did in his life for nothing?
All the times he ignored his country's crimes, it was for Nohr. All the times he ignored the begging of the poor, it was for Nohr. All the times he looked the other way, it was for Nohr. It was for his family.
But now, he had to choose between Nohr or his family, and he was conflicted. The country he came to love, or the siblings he had sworn to protect.
Xander wished, he wished there was another way. A way without this pain, this suffering, but there was no way. He could not bring back the dead. He could not bring back Elise.
He failed, he failed as the duty of her big brother.
He watches the moments he had with her before his eyes, the times she would cry "Big brother!" while asking for a piggy back ride. The times she would play hide and go seek with him, the times she would laugh and beat Leo at chess, the times she had with Camilla as they picked out dresses, but most importantly, the times where she smiled.
Those were the past, and they were no longer the present.
It was a present, a future, that Xander could not bear to live.
It was a future he helped create.
He gently laid her body to rest, before drawing his sword.
Xander's heart tugged at him, not wanting to lose another sibling. But he pointed it at Corrin, because he would not let his whole life go to waste.
He would not let everything he was fighting for be ruined.
But he did not want to fight his sibling either.
He could not bear to live with striking down two siblings, but he could not betray Nohr either.
He knew what he must do.