A/N: This is for a really great writer named TheGoogler who took the time out of their busy schedule to write a request from me and this is my way to thank her. I'm sorry if this came out subpar or bad, school starts Monday and I've been busy getting ready as well as the fact I had events this weekend that would have prevented me from writing so I kind of had to rush this out. It's also why the grammar might be off (and I'm really bad at grammar as well too so...)

From the beginning, Scarlett knew it was too good to be true; that he was too good to be true.

When Scarlet thought about her ideal man she thought of a man who was the living embodiment of a warrior, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. A man who was fearless, assertive, confident, honest and didn't just let fate dictate his life- Ryoma didn't just fit the bill, he exceed it. He was kind, patient, smart and he listened, not just to her but to those beneath his station, those who hated his guts and even those who he hated in return he still tried to listen to them. Sure he had a temper but he always apologized whenever it got the better of him, sure he could be stern but never without good reason and sure he could get a little bit high and mighty but never in a way that would put others down.

It was no wonder she fell head over heels in love with him.

Upon the realization of her feelings for Ryoma, Scarlet instantly tried to pursue him. She didn't throw herself at him like some of her more aggressive comrades but she didn't wait around for him to start pursing her either. She started off slow, just trying to learn the basics about him- his family, his friends, his likes, his dislikes, his childhood memories, and any other pieces of information she could get out of him. Through this Scarlet also learned some deeper information about Ryoma: how he had hated Queen Mikoto when he was younger because she was brought in as his fathers concubine while his real mother was still alive, how he had spent nearly a year training with a group of monks to control his horrible temper, how he couldn't master Raijinto originally which caused him to throw a temper tantrum and launch the legendary sword into a training dummy, and how difficult the first few after his fathers death and his sisters kidnapping had been on himself and the rest of his family.

In turn she shared herself with him, in a way she never had with any other person as she has never felt safer with anyone else before him. She told him how she had been extremely sickly as a little girl yet still choose to learn how to fight, how she ran away to live with her grandfather in Cheve when her parents forbade her from fighting, how long it took for her to gain the trust of her now dear Wyvren Pryna and how after witnessing a group of Nohrian soldiers arrest a priest who had been feeding a wrongly accused prisoner she jumped at the chance to join the rebellion. Through their talks Scarlet could feel both her respect and her feelings for him deepen.

That's when the catch came, not in the form of a dire flaw with his character or even his position as the High Prince of Hoshido but in the form of a aqua-haired Nohrian songstress. When talking to him about his life Ryoma had been rather open about everything, except for the Princess of Nohr- any mention of her came after a brief pause and were very vague, he always seemed sad when talking about her, even more so than when he talked about his sister Corrin. From what she could gather they had been great friends growing up but then the war started and she along with Ryoma's sister Corrin betrayed him. Scarlet could sympathize with Ryoma, if she had a best friend who decided to betray her one day she wouldn't want to talk about them ever again.

Gods, she was so stupid.

She met the princess of Nohr properly after the battle in Nestra, she had approached Scarlet and Ryoma trying to explain what was going on. Scarlet didn't believe a word she said, the idea of an army of invisible men was ridiculous and when they had asked her to go into more detail she adamantly refused to, how in the world the songstress expected them to even listen to her was beyond Scarlet. And yet... Ryoma listened to every word she had to say, listened without once interjecting (something that was rare for the high prince) and he stared at her with considerable intensity confusing Scarlet greatly. When they left the battlefield Scarlet looked back and noticed the blue haired songstress was staring in their- no, Ryoma's direction. This only added to Scarlet's confusion.

Scarlet's confusion was cleared up later when they made camp, she went up to him and pointed out both his and the princesses strange behavior earlier, the response she had gotten was not what she had been expecting. Ryoma's cheeks flushed a deep shade of red, he looked away from her and when he tried to explain himself he actually stuttered a bit- she had never seen him like this, even when he was telling her some of his most embarrassing childhood memories he just spoke with confidence and nostalgia. Almost instantly Scarlet became worried and it felt like a shard of ice was starting to form at the bottom of her heart. After a few minutes of mumbling Ryoma took a deep breath and explained everything that he had left out himself and the Nohrian Princess. Ryoma even went into detail about certain things, things that made Scarlet's cheeks redden. While he spoke his features softened and his bashfulness was replaced with a look of wistful happiness.

When he was done Scarlet was sure her heart had broken into a thousand pieces.

Scarlet immediately set out to just try and be friends with Ryoma, they continued to talk, train and spend time together but now Scarlet kept her distance from him emotionally. Their conversations outside of the war became less deep and emotional, if they spent time together it was usually with one other person or even a group of people, and training together wasn't as fun anymore as they stopped pausing to trade quips and just focused at the training at hand. Scarlet tried to convince herself that things were ok and that she was fine just being friends with him but keeping her distance from him felt worse than when Ryoma told her about his relationship with the Nohrian princess, it especially felt horrible when she realized Ryoma didn't notice the change in their relationship. Scarlet's feelings for Ryoma hadn't subsided, if anything they increased as her heart longed for the way things used to be. When Ryoma and Hinoka decided to join up with Corrin Scarlet decided to go with them despite how much her head told her not too.

They managed to make it on the battlefield just as the skies started to change and just as Corrin and her friends were about to be overrun. When Scarlet saw Corrin, Takumi and Sakura running towards Ryoma and Hinoka with looks of surprise, excitement and happiness on their faces she felt her heart lighten a bit, even more so when the Hoshido royal family engaged in a series of hugs. After the reunion ended the battle finally began, Scarlet was put onto a team with a Nohrian mercenary named Selena who despite her origins seemed alright enough but Scarlet still side-eyed the girl just in case. Ryoma ended up getting paired with the Nohrian princess and it took all of her willpower not to make a jealousy laced remark at the pair who upon reuniting gave each other small, secretive smiles as if nothing had ever happened.

It wasn't right, she had betrayed Ryoma, she left him on the same day his step-mother died without ever looking back, so why did he still love her? Why were they even together in the first place? She was a princess of Nohr while he was a prince of Hoshido, he was a hulking samurai while she was a delicate songtress, he was aggressive and brash while she was demure and gentle; it couldn't work, it shouldn't work and yet... it did.

Scarlet believed a way a person fought said a lot about them, she also believed how two people fought together said a lot about their relationship as well. When the two of them fought together they always stayed close together never wavering far from each other, but they didn't try to coddle each other or lose sight of what's in front of them, not because they didn't care what happened to the other but because they knew nothing would happen to the other, they trusted the others abilities. Of course if the one of them seemed like they were getting overwhelmed, the other would quickly step in and defend them with a fury and their differences helped fill what the other was missing.

They were different but they well fit together.

It made her feel not as bad about her situation when she saw how much the two really cared about each other.

That didn't mean of course her feelings for him didn't automatically disappear for him though- if only it were that simple. They even didn't really even weaken all that much, if they had than she wouldn't still feel sad watching the two of them together, her heart wouldn't have fluttered when the two of them got paired up together in the next battle and at the very least she would have hesitated before throwing herself in front of the assassin to save the blade didn't hurt that much, after everything she had been through in her life with her family, her career as a soldier and Ryoma nothing could really hurt her that much anymore.

Her only wishes as she felt her life leave her body was that somebody would take good care of Pryna for her and Ryoma and the prin... Azura... found a lot of happiness together in the future.

A/N: I really need to stop doing all of my writing really late at night