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The ground was rough and scratchy. Her wings brushed against the sky, not filled with holes. Shadows moved in shadows, watching her as she moved.
Nothing was around her. Everything was around her. Sky full of smoke. Sky full of leaves. Old blood that had yet to be washed away. Nothing was safe, she had to make sure she was safe, nothing was here but everything was after her.
Men with blank gazes. She swiped her body at them, movement blurred, and they disappeared into the fog of the surroundings. Bubbles. Nothing stayed and nothing was enough for her. She wandered. Her heart pumped in her ears.
A direction felt right. She followed.
People in front of her. Dangerous. Weapons in their hands. Blood scented in the water. Closer and closer, get away, get...
... the one in front of her. The two in front of her. Her own blood. Her own kin. Her children. One smelled strongly of dragons, stronger than the last time they had met. Kana. Kana dropped the blade in her hands, walking forward.
Corrin focused on her. She wanted to speak her name, but the mouth she had refused to move. The name bubbled from her, hissing out from her horns. "Grrraghh... naaa...."
"Mama," Kana said, hands held up. Nothing in them. Reaching out for her.
Corrin leaned in, too big head and too long neck exposed to the sky that was not on fire anymore. Kana's hands were a little rougher than they used to be. There was a wound across her palm, healed.
Kana brushed a thumb over her face. It felt weird, foreign. Kana's smile spread on her face. "It's okay, Mama. We're okay. Just listen to the song, okay?"
A song. Words strung into a melody. The very air hummed with power, was that what it was? Corrin breathed out, listening to a voice she didn't know the identity of. The words washed over her, her wings folded back against her side. Wings that she had spent so long with, yet were unfamiliar. They bent oddly.
Kana's hands traveled from her face to her side.
Corrin opened her eyes.
She had no wings. She could feel the remnants of her dragon horns on the side of her face. She had no tail. She was in the remnants of a forest. Was it always like this? Her dress touched her knees. She was wearing a dress on the day of the attack. But her feet were bare. She was sure she wore shoes on that day...
"MAMA!" Kana hugged her side, and squeezed tight.
Corrin's hands lifted into the air, before she settled on rubbing her hand down her child's head. "It's okay. I'm back. It's alright."
Kana pulled back, grinning. "I made friends, Mama! I traveled to find you, and I made so many friends!" Her daughter turned around, waving a hand to the crowd.
A red-haired boy was still singing, though instead of the song's aura washing over the ground of the forest they were in, it seemed to be focused in front of him. A stone rested in the palms of a blue-haired girl, who had a slight frown on her face. A young boy stood curiously nearby that looked rather similar to the man that greeted her on the day of the attack, holding tight onto the bow that the man also had wielded.
Dwyer walked forward, holding onto a fancier staff than she ever had in the first aid room. She stared at it, trying to recall the name of it. She needed to distract herself from the dark blue-haired boy. Dwyer cleared his throat. "Mother... it's a Recover staff."
"Oh!" Corrin laughed. "I see! Of course. You must've traveled far to meet with me."
"Well, we did." Dwyer smiled. "Kana decided she wanted to visit Nohr and Hoshido on her way to find you."
Kana pouted, stomping her foot. "Well, it worked, right? We found her!" She waved up to the sky, and Corrin found herself freezing up when Kana's hand shifted into dragon-like claws. She shot a water bubble into the sky, which exploded into sparkles.
Her hand shifted back to normal. Corrin let her breath out. "...how...?"
A pegasus swooped in, landing on the ground right next to the three of them. A red-haired lady jumped off her pegasus, brushing her scarf over her shoulder. "Kana, what's the..." Her eyes focused intently onto Corrin for a long moment, going silent. Her eyes trailed over to the red-haired boy and blue-haired girl. "...Shigure. Caeldori. Is the dragonstone ready?"
The blue-haired girl, Caeldori, held up the stone. It shone with a blue light, about as light as her hair. The red-haired boy opened his eyes, the glow from his pendant starting to fade. He watched the shine carefully, then nodded. "...It is. Caeldori, would you do the honors?"
Caeldori smiled, and she walked forward. She handed the stone to Kana.
Kana took the stone eagerly, and she turned to her mother and held the stone out. "Here you go! This is a Dragonstone! I have one too!" She used a free hand to pull a stone from a pocket, with it similarly glowing. "You can control your dragon self, Mama! Just like me!"
"...I..." Corrin took the stone from her daughter. Her eyes glanced over to the red-haired lady, who had an intense stare on the group of them. Then she looked at Dwyer. "...Does he... need to have one as well?"
Dwyer laughed, smiling. "Well, why would I want to? It seems like a bother. I'm too busy being a butler."
Kana huffed. "You're royalty, Dwyer!"
As Dwyer huffed a response with a smile, the red-haired lady stepped forward. She had a serious look on her face. "Please hold onto that. I don't... want anything else to happen to you. Not again."
This was someone important. Corrin glanced at her face. Her face shape seemed similar to Takumi's, in a sense. The intensity of their eyes were the same. Corrin held the dragonstone up to her chest, feeling her body hum in harmony with the stone. She let her arm fall back to her side. "I'll... try to."
The lady smiled. "Oh, thank gods. "
The way she spoke...
Kaze had told her about her birth family. Listened to her as she begged to not be taken there, out of fear that she'd have to face the family she was raised with, even as the nation they were from hunted for her. Hunted her to the point of her turning into a dragon form she didn't even know she had.
She'd met Takumi.
Blood under her palms blood sinking into her shoes blood in the air as she tossed those shoes off and stumbled away from the scene and the roaring in her ears—
Her stone glowed, and she breathed out, letting the panic seep out. The woman held a hand out, before drawing back, tense. Kana and Dwyer glanced over from their squabble, stopping and watching.
Corrin wouldn't bring attention to it. "... Are you... Princess Hinoka?"
"...Your older sister." Hinoka said, smile breaking her face. "I... I know you wouldn't remember at this point. It's been... years and years since we've been raised together." Hinoka tightened her fist, stepping forward. "And I... I've been waiting for this day for so long. Finding you again, making sure you're safe..."
Corrin watched as Hinoka glanced away, towards the group of kids. Hinoka glanced back to Corrin. "... I just... I want to embrace you again."
Corrin smiled, holding her free hand to her chest. "... Of course you can. If it helps you."
Hinoka lunged forward, pulling Corrin into a hug. Corrin yelped, almost dropping her dragonstone, but managing to keep her grip. Hinoka gripped tight, breathing out a shaky sob. Corrin wrapped her hands around Hinoka's back, smiling. Her eyes drifted from the woman holding onto her to her children, who were both smiling.
Her eyes briefly brushed over to the dark blue-haired boy, who was joined by a taller kid with strikingly red hair. Hinoka pulled away from Corrin at that moment, and Corrin's eyes darted back to her big sister.
"I'm... the only one from your family that had the time to spare to come." Hinoka admitted, eyes glancing low. "When my son visited, it reminded me that our nations were closer at peace than we ever thought possible."
"Your..." Corrin blinked, glancing her red-haired sister up and down. "You have a son?"
Hinoka sighed. "Gods. You just met me, how are you already on the same wavelength as Ryoma?"
Corrin laughed, and she heard Dwyer and Kana join in. The red-haired kid drew closer, smiling as well.
"You do have to admit, Mother," The kid said, "It does not help that you took steps to make sure people did not know you were pregnant at the time. What was it my father said?" He put a finger to his chin in thought. "He spent several months with you and the only reason that nobody suspected he had a mistress was because he was out there for only seven months?"
Kana chuckled. "Sounds like Uncle Leo to me!" She laughed.
Corrin stopped. Her eyes darted between the red-haired kid and Hinoka. "... ... ... ... Leo?"
Dwyer sighed, starting to walk. "We can talk about hot goss, or whatever people say, once we have a camp set up. I'll be the responsible one and tell us to keep moving."
Kana laughed, darting to catch up with her brother. "C'mon, Mama!"
Corrin glanced to the kid, who looked only a little sheepish. Her eyes trailed back to the dark blue-haired boy who held onto that bow.
She turned around and walked after her kids. "So, tell me, how did you get here in the first place...?"