A/N: My goodness, 17 reviews? For one chapter? I'm blown away you guys. I'm flattered. Truly flattered. And motivated enough to churn this out early.

Ajani's-apprentice: Lilith had already caught Corrin and flown him away from the Canyon before she teleported them to MyCastle, that's why he reappeared on solid ground. Remember that Hoshido and Nohr were in a battle when he was teleported away, and when he came back they were still fighting; that's how Rinkah was in the area to knock him out and capture him.

When I mean wasted away...I mean they starved to death. In the game Corrin needs to use Dragon Veins to manipulate the plane, construct buildings, and most importantly, grow food.

The original defenders did not have Dragon Veins. Ergo…

Spiner909: Glad you like the modifications to the theory! I'm kind of iffy on Lilith. As she is in the game, I don't care much for her. But I do think she was a bunch of wasted potential, so I'm going to try to utilize that potential.

GuestWithIdeas: Don't apologize for long reviews, I love long reviews (short ones too)! Corrin will be keeping his name; it's just more familiar to him than Kamui. SOL and Lilith will eventually reveal what they know, and Hoshido, Nohr and Valla will eventually need to host an event of some sort to build trust and rapport between their people, yes. As for whether Corrin's new nobles will rebel against him…wait and see.

EDIT: After some consideration, I decided to drop the number of surviving Vallites, since most of you found the original number a bit high.

They return to the battlefield to find it exactly as they left it; devastated slabs of land, deep scars in the ground, and the sky a dark void. The sudden shift from late morning to late evening is jarring, and even though they've done this plenty of times, Azura still has to reorient herself with deep breaths.

"This way," Lilith says, already floating back towards Gyges.

They follow, the mages throwing up small balls of light to illuminate the way. Azura trails at the back, keeping her lance at the ready. She notices that while Corrin is ahead of her, his head is angled slightly to indicate he's watching her out of the corner of his eye, and she knows he wants to talk about her reaction at the meeting. But that's a subject she'd rather not tackle at the moment, so she does what she always does: reverts to avoid mode, keeping to the rear of the group. Don't acknowledge a problem and maybe it'll go away.

Rebuilding and ruling Valla, he'd said. The problem is, Azura doesn't want to rule. She's not comfortable leading people, or being looked to as a leader. She needs to tell him this, she knows, but fear of disappointing him, of losing him, glues her mouth shut. Later. I'll tell him later. When we aren't in the middle of a mission.

The battle had not occurred too far from the castle, but it still takes them twenty minutes to get back to it. Anankos had ripped up most of the ground in the fight, and they have to navigate from one floating isle to the next before they can return to the throne room. As they pass through one ruined hall after another, stepping carefully over or around the rubble in their way, the songstress gazes at the walls, trying hard to remember living here and coming up blank. She was just so little when Valla fell; she only has hazy sensations, not even memories really, of stone walls and grass beneath her feet. They don't see any of the undead puppet soldiers, but once in a while a stray Faceless crosses their path and is quickly dispatched. Azura supposes it's not a surprise—Anthony had been transformed into a Faceless, so the same fate may have befallen Anankos's other servants.

That makes a horrible thought occur to her, and she shudders. Have all the Faceless we've fought once been human? I thought the Nohrians were responsible their creation, but could Anankos have had a part in it? If so, were the Nohrians aware of what making those things entailed?

Finally, after an hour of traversing the ruined castle and the area outside it, their journey comes to an end as they descend the crest of a hill. Before them the island comes to an abrupt end, with a rickety bridge, darkness beckoning beneath it, attached to the sheer face of the cliff. On the far end of the bridge is an island with high, towering walls, visible as far as the eye can see and covered with carvings of Anankos. The only visible entrance is a small gate. From this distance it looks only like a slit in the stone.

"Is that where the slaves are?" Corrin asks, lifting a hand to his brow and squinting. Evening had turned to night during their walk, and the full moon is rising in the sky, painting him in shades of silver. Azura feels the back of her neck prickling, like someone is watching her, but when she turns sees only a flicker of movement on the hill they came down from, and nothing else.

Lilith nods, gesturing with her tail towards the bridge and the place beyond. "The walls completely circle the island, trapping them inside. On the inside, they're too high and smooth to be scaled, and Anankos used to station archers on the battlements to shoot anyone who tried to escape. All the water on the island was drained so the Vallites couldn't flee through it. There are no amnesties, no comforts; they have to survive in the wilderness as best they can. Anankos called the place Fort Tartarus, but the slaves preferred 'the fortress of sorrows'…"

"How do you know all this, Lilith?" Takumi asks suddenly, "First about the existence and purposes of these slaves, then their location and living conditions, now what they called their prison? That doesn't strike me as well-known information, especially since Azura here was apparently unaware."

She hesitates, tail twitching. "I…would prefer not to say why, at the moment."

His orange eyes narrow. "So you have something to hide?"

"Takumi!" Corrin objects as the dragon seems to wilt, head drooping as she curls around her crystal ball, "You can't really think Lilith's up to something, can you?"

"I didn't say that. Just that it's odd she's so privy to what went on in his ranks."

"Listen," the albino presses beseechingly, "Lilith's served us faithfully the whole war, and she served me for years before that. Let's not turn on her now because of whatever may or may not be in her past."

His brother sighs. "I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, okay? I just want to be prepared for anything. There's a phrase in Hoshido about defeat being most bitter when victory is snatched right out of your grasp, and I just want to make sure that doesn't happen."

Lilith takes a deep breath, raises her head, and floats over, nudging Takumi's head with her nose. "I understand your concerns," she says gently. "But believe me when I say my only priority is the safety and happiness of Lord Corrin and his friends. You have nothing to fear from me."

Takumi ponders her for another moment, then nods, his posture relaxing. "…Alright. I'll trust you on this."

They carefully start to trickle across the bridge, going one at a time so Lilith can swoop down and grab someone if they fall (she's surprisingly strong, according to Corrin, his mouth tight with memories of his first time at the Bottomless Canyon). Azura sees now why Lilith had warned them to leave their mounts in the astral plane; the wood is old and aged, and she can practically feel it bend beneath her feet. She wouldn't be willing to trust it to hold the weight of a horse.

She steps daintily onto the other end and turns, awaiting Felicia as she begins her sojourn across. She's almost made it, is practically within arms' reach, when, with a loud splintering sound, the plank beneath her foot crumbles, sending the maid tipping dangerously over the empty space below, arms windmilling. "W-whoa!"

Fast as a snake, Azura snatches Felicia's arm and pulls her forward onto solid ground. "Be careful!"

The Nohrian presses a hand over her heart, gasping slightly. "Ha…ha…that was scary. T-thanks, Lady Azura! It would have been really ironic if I survived fighting a god only to die because I fell off a bridge, right?" She lets out a nervous, cracked laugh.

On the far end the rest of the group has taken several half-steps forwards, as though to try and save her from far away, and Niles has started to pull out his Rescue stave. Lilith, who had begun to swoop to grab Felicia, floats back to her position over the bridge. Mozu's dark brown hair bobs over to them as she races across the bridge, jumping nimbly across the new gap. "Are you okay?" the former farm girl asks breathlessly.

"I think I'm a little hysterical after everything that's happened," the salmon-haired woman squeaks. Azura drops her arm and steps away, letting those who are good at comfort handle Felicia, and that's the only real scare they have; everyone else crosses safely.

The gate isn't hard to open; the lever operating the door is on their side of the wall, and in a few short minutes the party is entering Fort Tartarus. The name "fort" is a misplaced one; the entire island is surrounded by outer walls, but as Lilith said Anankos hadn't bothered constructing inner walls, a floor, or a roof, leaving the island's natural vegetation to grow wildly. It's more of a giant animal pen than a proper building.

As they start walking towards where Lilith says the slaves usually congregate at night, Felicia joins Azura at the back of the group. "U-um, Lady Azura?"

"What is it?" She does her best not to sound too curt, but from Felicia's flinch she doubts she succeeded.

"Um, I just wanted to thank you again for the rescue at the bridge."

She shrugs. "It was no trouble. Anyone would have done the same."

"Oh, I know, but still. And I also wanted to say…I think you're really brave. It, um, it must have been hard, knowing all about Valla and not being able to do anything about it. If it had been me I don't think I could have gone on hoping for a better future!"

She's not used to compliments. Awkwardly she just nods, trying to appear gracious and dismissive at the same time. Instead, Felicia takes that as an invitation to continue talking.

"Maybe, since the war's over now, we could hang out more? I mean, you and Lord Corrin are together, and I serve him, so we'll probably be seeing each other a lot. It'd probably be a good idea to try and be friends."

"That'd be nice," Mozu pipes up, glancing over her shoulder. "Uh, sorry to eavesdrop. I…I thought about going back to Hoshido after the war, but…it wouldn't really be home anymore, with my village gone. And I like the people in our army. I could see myself sticking around, making a new life in this new Valla."

"I'm sure the presence of a certain someone has nothing to do with it, hmm?" Felicia teases, and the brunette flushes.

"Well...maybe just a little."

"Oh, don't be ashamed! I think you two are a cute couple." Azura's vague hopes of sneaking away while they're distracted are dashed as Felicia turns back to her with a hopeful smile. "So what do you say, Lady Azura?"

Let's be friends are some of the most terrifying words she's heard in her life. She hasn't really spoken to Felicia since the first trip to Valla, and she can't begin to imagine what they'd do or talk about now. Short of Corrin and her sisters, she tries not to interact with the army. She just can't bring herself to open up to or trust people, not after what she'd seen and what had happened to her in the Nohrian courts. Logically, she knows not everyone is like that, and it can get terribly lonely at times, but still…

"I'll consider it," the songstress finally answers, and hurries on ahead before they can try and drag anything else out of her.

The Vallites are gathered in the center of the island, beneath a canopy of trees. There's a whole sea of them, huddled together for warmth in clumps around many small, makeshift fires, shivering in the chill night air, and Azura's heart twinges with pity as she takes them in. Many have the same golden eyes she does, their ratty hair ranging in colors from Hoshidan dark to Nohrian blonde and anything in-between. Their faces are thin and malnourished, and they turn in surprise and a bit of fear when they see the group emerging from the underbrush. Corrin steps forward and the ones closest to him shrink away.

"My name is Prince Corrin of Valla, Hoshido and Nohr," he announces. "I'm here to tell you Anankos is dead and you're free."

If he'd expected rapturous applause, he was to be disappointed. The Vallites look at each other, a range of emotions from skepticism to shock to anger on their faces.

"They don't believe us," Azura hears Oboro murmur to Hinata.

Refusing to be cowed by their silence, Corrin tries again. "Is there a representative among you I can speak to?"

The crowd of slaves shifts uneasily in their seats. Then, from one of the groups, an old man who looks to be in his mid-forties rises. His pale green hair is receding from his forehead and streaked with silver, and his clothes are handmade. "I can speak for us," he says clearly. "And I would ask you to present something to substantiate your claims. We have little hope or faith to spare these days."

"Will this blade be proof?" Corrin asks, drawing and holding out Omega Yato. The blades whir to life and the sword bursts into flame, allowing the Vallites to see it in all its glory. It's an impressive display.

None of the slaves are moved, and Azura recalls how hard information on the Fire Emblem had been to come by. Her mother, Valla's queen, hadn't told her about it, and she'd had access to the best books and information in the kingdom; if she hadn't known about the Fire Emblem, what were the chances the rest of Valla would?

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she pushes forward, pulling her pendant off and holding it out. The Vallites' eyes snap to her, and excited murmurs start to swell over them like a wave when they see what's dangling from her hand. She feels herself start to sweat under their hungry gazes. "I am Princess Azura of Valla," she says, looking at a spot above the crowd's heads, "And this pendant was the heirloom of the royal family, passed down to me by my mother, Queen Arete."

The old man inhales sharply, staring at the pendant reverently. "May I?" Hesitantly, Azura walks over and gives it to him, and he turns it over in his hands, examining it closely. "Yes…yes, this is more than sufficient proof. The queen was wearing this same pendant about her neck when she fled; there is no other like it in the world, and no chance Anankos would tolerate its existence if he had it."

He returns it to her and bows. "My name is Nestor, Your Highnesses. I was a chamberlain at Castle Gyges before 'King' Anankos came." He spits the word king out like a curse. "Forgive us our wariness; we noticed the disappearance of our guards, but we weren't certain it wasn't some new sadistic trick or game of Anankos's."

Azura quietly retreats, letting Corrin take over. He smiles in turn at Nestor. "It's no problem. We've had our own run-ins with his cruelty." A shadow passes over his face, and Azura knows he's thinking of his mother. She's still a bit shaken by the encounter with hers, and she's had days to recover from it; his fight with Queen Mikoto had occurred just yesterday.

Nestor turns to Corrin curiously. "You said your name was Prince Corrin? And that you're a Vallite prince? Does that mean you're a second son of Princess Mikoto, a younger brother to Prince Kamui?"

"No, I am Kamui, but the name I prefer is Corrin," he answers.

Nestor raises an eyebrow. "And you said you're a prince of Hoshido and Nohr as well? There must be quite the tale behind that. But there will be time to hear it later. The last time I saw you, Prince Corrin, you were but a newborn, and Princess Azura a toddler. I'd feared one or both of you had died when I saw the abominations Anankos made of our queen and her sister." His yellow eyes are a bit bright with tears, and he swallows. "I am glad to know those fears were misplaced."

He takes a moment to compose himself, then turns back to the Vallites, his voice a bit heavy but joyful. "My people, rejoice! Yesterday we were slaves, but today we are free! Our prince and princess are returned to us! They have overthrown the tyrant Anankos, and our nation shall live again!"

Azura's skin prickles with discomfort at the hope and expectation in his voice, at the ragged cheer that rises up over the crowd and the way the Vallites look at her the way they do Corrin, with an almost manic kind of hope and deference. Like she's some kind of savior.

She isn't. She really isn't. Corrin is; he's the one who can talk to people and get them to work together. All she'd done was point him in the right direction. But as the crown princess, the Vallites will be expecting her to reassure them and bless them with her presence, and the thought of addressing so many, on a constant basis, makes her blood chill. Singing is one thing, but public speaking is another entirely.

Inadvertently, the memory Corrin's words that morning, "we can rebuild and rule Valla together" rise up again, and she has to force down another wave of nausea at the very thought. Being a leader terrifies her. She does not do well with crowds, with people, and hearing Corrin suggest that she become one hurt, even if she knew he didn't intend it.

No, she really does not want to be looked to as a queen.

Lilith brings them all back to the castle and immediately retreats to her shrine to rest, saying that teleporting two large forces in technically the same day is exhausting. Once again, the snap back to daylight makes Azura dizzy.

The "afternoon" is passed taking a census of the slaves and settling them in. The number of surviving Vallites is close to 15,000, barely enough for a city, and they are desperately in need of proper food, clothes and medical care. It is only by the magic of the astral plane that they are able to obtain enough supplies for them—Corrin, Azura and the royal siblings manipulate the plane with Dragon Veins, as Lilith had shown them, to create what the Vallites need.

Finally, as the "day" draws to a close, Corrin calls together a meeting between the three nations' royalty. Azura normally prefers to avoid such things, but as crown princess of the soon-to-be-reconstructed Valla, it's her duty to attend. Nestor is there too, having taken to the role of liaison between the Vallite slaves and the prince quite well.

No sooner are they seated then Leo jumps straight to business, mind ever on the important things. "So how are we going to leave? Only Vallites can travel through water, and the canyon is sealed."

Corrin leans forward on his elbows. "Lilith filled you all in on the history of this place, right?"

"It was a real place transported to the astral plane centuries ago," Camilla sums up.

"That's right. Well, she said she would beseech the leader of the Astral Dragons, Moro, to remove this place from the astral plane and return it to our world, taking us with it."

"That's what you meant when you said the Vallites would stay here," Hinoka realizes, understanding dawning on her face. "You're going to make this castle and its land the new Valla."

"That's right," Corrin says with a nod. "Castles aren't exactly easy to come by, so I may as well use the one I already have, right? I was worried about whether the surrounding area could hold the entire population, which is why Nohr and Hoshido's contributions of land will be much appreciated."

"So where on the map was this place?" Ryoma asks, clasping his hands together, "I had some ideas about what land to gift, but it's no good if it's too far from here…"

Corrin pulls out a map, pointing out where Lilith estimates the castle was, and those gathered launch into a discussion about the Hoshidan-Nohrian land nearby. The castle was by the sea, and soon new, tentative borders are drawn out; Nohr would give up land from the north and east of Mount Garou to the Bottomless Canyon, and Hoshido from the north and west of their borders with Izumo and Mokushu. The mention of Mokushu prompts Corrin to recall Shura's desire to rebuild Kohga, and Ryoma promises to broach the subject of returning his land to him later.

Nestor tells them about what skills the Vallites have to offer, so they can start planning out what Valla can produce and what will need to be traded; Anankos had mostly had them repairing or making weapons and armor for his soldiers, so nearly all are decent blacksmiths. They also have much experience with foraging, hunting, weaving, and making clothes, since they'd been left to fend for themselves. Lastly, they finalize the plans to stockpile supplies for a few "days" before beseeching Moro, and the war council disperses. Before Azura can lose her nerve, she approaches Corrin; his desire to rule and her desire to not rule is a hurdle in their relationship, and it's best to resolve it right away. "Can I speak to you?"

His face brightens, the way it always does when she's around, and her heartbeat pounds in her ears. "Sure." They linger in the room until everyone else leaves, then he takes her hand and sits down next to her at the table. "I've wanted to talk to you myself. Are you alright? You seemed upset at the meeting this morning, then you barely spoke to me all day."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." She trails off, licking her lips, and he waits patiently.

"What you suggested this morning…I didn't like it," she finally says, and he blinks, taken aback.

"What, about rebuilding and ruling together? I don't see why—"

"I don't want to be queen of Valla," she says clearly.

"Oh." He looks completely crestfallen. Azura swallows, already regretting speaking, regretting hurting him. He slips his hand out of hers and stares down at his knees. A heavy silence settles.

Corrin sounds choked when he speaks. "So, um, what's going to happen to us then?"

"I…what do you mean?"

"Well, I figured—if you don't want—I mean, I guess you won't have a reason to stick around…"

Azura frowns. What makes him think I don't want to stay? She plays their conversation back, searching for what she said to make him draw that conclusion. I didn't like it… Rebuilding and ruling together…I don't want to be queen of Valla… I don't want to be queen—

And instantly, she feels dumb. Oh, you foolish woman, of course—

"No," she stresses, reaching out to take his hand again, and his head snaps up. "No, that's not—gods, Corrin. I love you. It's not marrying you that's the problem—" and doesn't that image do all sorts of weird things to her, makes her heart skip beats and her belly churn with anticipation, "I'd be overjoyed to marry you, it's—it's the ruling. I'm not comfortable leading people."

She'd never given much thought to what would come after the war; truth be told she'd expected to be dead of her curse. But of course Corrin would want to marry her, and of course she'd want to accept.

He looks inordinately relieved. "Oh! Oh. That's good, I thought…I thought you didn't want me."

The guilt worsens, and she moves her hands to cup his face, gazing into his eyes beseechingly. "Corrin, no. Never think you aren't enough for me. If anything, I worry about not being enough for you."

"Azura—"

"You see why this could be a problem, right? I don't want to rule, but if I married you, I'd have to."

He shakes his head earnestly. "Says who? What if, instead of me marrying you and becoming King-Consort, you abdicate the throne to me, then marry me and become Queen-Consort? I'd be the one handling the public speaking, and you could do the behind-the-scenes stuff. Isn't that pretty much what we did with the army, just on a bigger scale?"

She pauses; she hadn't considered that. Her mother had always stressed on her that a queen's duty was not just to protect her people, but to know them as well. Later she'd seen Mikoto's example, how she often went into Shirasagi's castle town to speak with her citizens or get involved in public events. And it was the thought of doing those that terrified her.

But they'd been Queen or Queen-Regent, rulers in their own rights. A Queen-Consort or King-Consort didn't share those sorts of duties. They primarily worked from the castle, advising their reigning spouse and handling paperwork. And doing that sort of thing, never having to face more than a few people at once? That sounded magnificent.

"That actually sounds nice," she admits. Then, feeling playful, she winks and adds, "I'll be expecting a better proposal than that when the time comes, however."

He smiles brilliantly. Corrin lifts her hand and presses a kiss to the knuckles, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "I'll be sure to come up with one that exceeds your expectations."

A/N: And that's why I really wanted to keep MyCastle—so Corrin would actually have a place to live! I could have found a way for them to leave Valla without it, but castles could take up to twenty years to build. Corrin's kids would be adults by the time it was done! And yeah, I could have had them use magic to accelerate its construction, but the thing is, the more power I give magic, the more restrictions I have to place on it. Otherwise you start getting questions like "if Nohr has grow-a-castle magic, why can't they grow food?" and conflict in general becomes harder to build when magic is a no-strings-attached fix-all for everything.

To see a self-made map with the planned borders of Valla (including borders for all the countries, since IntSys was lazy this game), look here (remove the spaces and add a dot com/ after "tumblr"): theapocryphalone. tumblr post/146721978796/my-attempt-at-drawing-the-borders-for-the

Name meanings (in which Apo wants to show off):

Nestor is the name of the aged king of Pylos in The Iliad and The Odyssey. He often acted as an adviser to the Greeks, especially young and upcoming Greek kings.

Tartarus is the name of the worst prison/deepest pit of hell in Greek mythology. It was a place of eternal suffering and, notably, divine torment. It was supposed to be reserved for only the wickedest of souls, but given Anankos's view on humans, he'd be the type to just throw everyone in there regardless of whether they deserved it or not, so the name seemed appropriate.