Azura was dead.
She remembers the feeling of her body dissolving into water as she used her necklace's power to assist her comrades in Nohr and bring peace between it and the kingdom of Hoshido; at the time, it was a truly painful feeling on her body, and yet Azura felt glad throughout that pain, knowing that her power would end the conflict of the two kingdoms and assist her friend Corrin in saving the world, as the legend of Yato foretold. Now, her time was spent as a ghostly apparition, her spirit traversing around the world, unable to interact with anyone, only an observer as she watched the results of the Nohrian conquest unfold around her. She was glad to see Xander, now King of Nohr, keeping peace and a fair, brutality-devoid rule among the people as his younger sisters, Corrin and Elise, had wished for the kingdom; it was a sight that brought her joy, alongside watching her royal "sisters" & "brothers" trading in their weapons for books and quill pens, and watching her husband, the Hoshidan ninja Kaze, and her children, Shigure and Midori, relish in the peacetime as a faction of Corrin's retainers. Azura was a little sad knowing she died without letting Kaze know, without wishing her children goodbye, or saying she loved them one last time, but the desperation of the final battle presented no chance for final words, and she knew that even if they didn't know she was dead, they all truly loved her back.
On this particular day, Azura found herself in Castle Krakenberg, observing Elise, the royal who called her "big sister", getting ready for bed after an exhausting day of playtime. The young royal kicked her legs back and forth while sitting in front of her vanity, happily letting Camilla brush her hair while she brushed one of a small doll in turn.
"Thanks for helping me get ready for bed Camilla! It's soooo hard to brush my hair now that it's so long!" The older, purple-haired princess giggled at her younger sister, enjoying their time they spent together.
"Anything for my darling little sister; I'm just surprised you can manage to tie all this hair up into those pretty pigtails, and with the dyed strands in such a perfect helix too!" Elise was gladdened by the compliment, never shy to nice words directed towards her. "And how is the hair of that darling little doll you're working with?"
"Oh, it's just doing fine!" Elise answered with glee, "Big Sis has such pretty long hair, but it is kind of a pain to run a comb through sometimes."
"Big Sis?"
"Yeah, Big Sis! Here, look!" With that, Elise turned around and handed Camilla the doll she had, allowing Azura to take a better look at it from over Camilla's shoulder. The doll was a perfect knit replica of Azura, with a fine white fabric sewn to be her dress, beautiful blue strands of yarn for her hair, and a wide knit smile with beautiful onyx eyes. Camilla felt a small murmur in her chest, finding Elise's childish love for Azura to be quite adorable, and a small smile crept over her face.
"Ah, now I understand, you meant Azura." Camilla ran her fingers across the dress, respecting the craftsmanship of the doll. "Elise, you wouldn't happen to have made this yourself, would you?"
"You know it! Hold on a second, you're gonna love this!" Elise leapt off her chair and ran over to the corner of her room, next to her bed, and directed Camilla's attention to a small dollhouse. Elise pulled away the wall of the dollhouse, opening it like a door on a hinge, and began pointing to the dolls inside her home. "You see? I made all of us for this house! There's me, you, and Corrin in the tea party room, Xander's right there in the living room, Leo's in the kitchen, and Father's on that big sofa! The real Father, not that spooky monster thing from before." Camilla came closer and looked at the display she was presented, admiring her little sister's work and love of her family combined into one.
"My, my! This must have been a lot of work for you! Now where on Earth did you find the time during all our marches to make this?" Camilla handed off Elise the Azura doll she held, and the little princess set the doll inside a bedroom, tucking her in and closing the dollhouse's wall.
"Well, the dollhouse I had Effie buy for me from a toy store, and she and Arthur helped me knit these dolls together when Leo yelled at me for using up the royal funds on toys; he was a mean dummy, so we made him last." Elise looked inside the window of the dollhouse, smiling as she looked at Azura. "Big Sis was a last-minute addition. It took a couple spurts of time to do it, but it was so worth it, cause now we're a big happy family! Big Sis even gave me some of her hair to tie in with the yarn to make her more real!" Azura couldn't feel it in her ghostly cheekbones, but she knew she was smiling at Elise's love towards her. Elise sat on her bed, unruffling her pajamas as she got ready to lay down for bed. "Hey, Camilla? When is Big Sis going to come back to us?" Camilla felt a sense of worry, not expecting the question presented; she knew Azura was dead, Corrin having spoke to her, Xander, and Leo in confidence, and was sure the young princess would not be able to handle or understand the information, despite seeing her own share of corpses in her time. Camilla sat down on the bed next to Elise and wrapped an arm around her sister.
"Elise, that's a little...tough to answer. Azura has...gone away on a trip for a while, and she's not exactly going to be coming back anytime soon."
"So, it's like you and Selena?" Camilla bit her lip, remembering Selena's departure; she had told Camilla that she was from a different world and had to urgently go back home, and had taken Odin, Laslow, and Peri with her, the latter two having gotten married under their time as Xander's retainers. The thought was a little depressing, but Camilla understood it, and at least she had the knowledge Selena was alive and well, as well as a pair of friendship earrings shared between the two of them and Beruka.
"That's...different, sweetie. Sure, she's on a long trip, and we might not see each other again, but you see, they had to go back to their hometown, where as Azura is just..."
"'Just' what? Camilla, you're not making any sense." Elise started to tear up a bit and puffed her cheeks out. "Did she go back to Hoshido after the war? To see Sakura again? Does she not like me?"
"No Elise," Camilla answered, stroking her sister's face, "Azura loves you very much, I know that for certain."
"Then why is she gone? Give me one good reason why we can't be a family again!" Camilla took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Look Elise, I can't explain it; sometimes, grown-ups just do things for weird reasons, but I promise you, we're still a family, and the day will come where we're all a family once again. Do you understand, little sister?"
"Not really..." Elise answered, feeling dejected.
"I know it's hard, but I promise that you'll always have Corrin and I around to love you. We promise to love you twice as much until Azura comes back, to make up for her absence."
"...Promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to...well, let's just say it's a sisterly promise." Camilla leaned into Elise and held her finger in front of her face, quitting her petting. "Now, how about the two of us take you shopping tomorrow in the slums? We'll buy you some toys, chocolate, and new clothes, but only if you get right to bed and brush your teeth tomorrow morning, promise?"
"Okay..."
"Good." Camilla leaned into Elise and kissed her forehead, before removing herself from the bed and walking to the door. "Goodnight little princess, I love you!" Camilla unlit the lamp in Elise's room and left, leaving Elise to her own thoughts in her moonlit room. Azura looked upon Elise, sorrowed that Elise couldn't see her back or that she could never interact with the young princess again, and her heart felt truly wrenched when she watched the young girl begin to cry. Elise looked up at the moon out her window, looking at the sky in the surprisingly clear Nohrian night, and silently asked why things had to be why they were. Just then, a shooting star shot across the sky, surprising Elise. She remembered Corrin had told her Hoshidan stories about shooting stars and how they could grant wishes, she felt now was her chance to get the answers she needed; Elise clasped her hands together and began to pray.
"Oh Mr. Star, please bring back Big Sis to me!" prayed Elise, "I don't care how, I just want to have a happy family again, we've already lost Father and almost lost Corrin, so we really need this one! Please help me out here, I just want her all to myself so we can play together again, with Camilla, and Corrin, and Xander, and even Leo! Thank you Mr. Star! I need to get to bed now, goodnight!" From that, Elise leapt into her bed and stuffed herself under the covers, sobbing herself to sleep softly. Azura watched this whole scene unfold with sorrow, before feeling sleepy herself, an odd sensation considering she didn't require rest anymore; she willed herself to close her eyes and let her mind go adrift.
----------
When Azura "awoke", she instantly felt different, actually feeling a ground under her, feeling the air around her. She ran her hands across her body, feeling the flesh of her arms and legs and the fine cloth of her dress and stocking, alien feelings to her after she became a spirit; Azura rubbed her face, trying to "wake" herself, and pondered the situation.
"I...I'm alive..." She grasped for her pendant, but could not find it; inwardly, she relished that the tool of her demise was free from her person. Azura began to look around, trying to make note of her surroundings. "Where...Where am I...?"
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