Can't believe I haven't done one of these before, but gonna have to give Warnings for Castor and Pollux being Castor and Pollux in this chapter, who really should have their own warning by now.

Corrin was sat at his desk, sorting through paperwork when Hinoka stormed into his office. The redhead paying Sir Mordred no heed as he tried to usher her away from his Monarch's rooms.

He glanced up, and narrowed his gaze. Azura, who was next to him, sighed, and dismissed the Royal Blade with a gesture. "Do you ever knock Princess? We are busy with matters of state."

"Takumi. I wish him released into my custody." Hinoka bluntly stated. "You do not have the authority to execute him."

"It is only by chance that it has taken this long to prepare the documentation that allows us to do this under Havenite Law." Corrin sighed dramatically, offering his 'sister' a mockingly amused smile. "If seems that regardless of where you go, you can always count on the bureaucracy to slow things down."

"You do recognise what you're asking, yes?" Azura asked in a faintly curious tone, her golden eyes boring into the redheaded Princess. "Truly?"

"I do, yes." She confirmed. "I understand that his crimes are unforgivable. But I ask that he stands trial in Hoshido, not Haven. He is a Hoshidan citizen, not a Havenite one."

"Will Hoshido appropriately punish him for his great crimes?" Corrin asked her pointedly. "I doubt it."

"That might be so, bu-"

"Hinoka. It is done." Azura snapped. "He is guilty, and more horrifically, proud of that fact. He'll die."

Hinoka glared at her.

"What would you honestly have us do, Hinoka?" Corrin asked quietly. "You and I both know that the most Ryoma will do to him is internal exile, or force him to take holy vows. That is not justice. That will not grant his victims their rightful eternal rest. I ask again, what would you have us do?"

The Hoshidan Princess froze for a few moments, and cleared her throat. "Send him to Izumo! They are still neutral, they would give justice. Rightful justice. You could send an emissary to ensure that I speak true."

"Izumo has turned isolationist." Corrin replied dismissively. "Unless you intend to force open their borders, they are unlikely to wish to interfere."

"Nestra is also off of the table." Azura cut in with a faint smile. "They have their own problems. What with their civil war. Regardless of whether or not they are at peace now, they will break out into war once more soon. One faction, under Gallo Barozzi is backed by Nohr. Whilst the other main faction, under Ezio Morosini has the backing of most of the other Trade Princes. War is coming to Nestra."

"Hell, we'll probably get the blame." Corrin piped up. "And we didn't even do anything."

Hinoka snorted. "You're telling me you truly didn't? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."

"It was not us this time." Corrin told her, with a smile. "We'll happily take credit for things we actually did, but not things that had nothing to do with us."

"Go rest, Muromachi Hinoka." Azura told her. "We bear you little ill will, so go and rest. You need not attend the executions. Enjoy the festival, if you can."

Sensing her dismissal was final, Hinoka shot the pair one last glare, before departing. The Royal Couple shared a look, and Corrin sighed. "..Have her watched. If she tries anything, Castor and Pollux can have her."

"Are you certain Love?" Azura asked softly. "She is the only one of that family we li-...tolerate."

The King smiled sadly as he stood up. "..If she betrays our trust, we must punish her as harshly as possible."

"Where are you going?" The Queen questioned.

"To ensure Dorian is prepared." Corrin smiled. "The Plan continues, my Love."

As the small group made their way through the backstreets of Haven, the feeling of something being off grew ever more prevalent in Zola's heart. They were all covered by heavy brown cloaks to hide their faces. Camilla especially, Zola had said, needed to be hidden. The sight of a Princess of Nohr would undoubtedly cause a stir, and gain attention.

"What's with all the banners?" Camilla asked, gesturing to the colourful banners and streamers hug from every wall. Realisation finally dawned on Zola, who paled.

"Oh gods...it's the Founding Festival…." He murmured, panic clear on his face as realisation set in.

"Do I even want to know?" Beruka drawled.

"It is exactly as it sounds." Zola explained, forcing his panic down. "The anniversary of the death of Anankos and the election of the Isauros Dynasty as the rulers of the Havenite Peoples. Aside from Year's End, it is the largest celebration of the Havenite Calendar. Crowds of people, lots of food and drink and general revelry. All paid for by the royal family."

"..Why is this a bad thing?" Camila questioned. "Surely, with more people on the streets it would be easier to hide.."

"You think it would make it easy to go unnoticed? The reason Nohr's homeless population has dropped to near zero is because Haven brought them here. There's probably about five thousand, possibly six thousand, people that could identify you on sight in this city, Princess. Minimum. We need to move."

"..What's the population of Haven?" Beruka queried as Zola tried to pull his hood further down over his face as they walked.

"A few hundred thousand." Zola replied. "Half a million, at most. Almost all live within the walls of this city."

Camilla snorted. "That's tiny. Nohr has cities of similar size. Love him though I do, my brother is a little foolish to proclaim being King of a single City."

Zola shrugged. "..Perhaps. But the peoples of Haven love him. Him...and his family. The young Crown Prince, his brother...and their still beloved, missing Sister."

Camilla's eyes widened considerably. "That rumour was *true?*.

"Indeed." Zola sadly confirmed. "It was...four years after Their Majesties seized their throne. Muromachi Ryoma took control of the Deeprealm gate and snuck into the Palace during a feast, and kidnapped Princess Cana. He slew Highlord Gunter in the process, and lost an arm for his...foul actions."

Camilla went quiet as she mentally digested the information. She never noticed the person that was approaching them, only doing so when they cleared their throat loudly.

"Fancy meeting you again, Princess Camilla." Marc greeted with a polite bow. "Forgive me but I must ask, what is it you are doing here?"

Castor sighed, and glanced across the execution platform. It was, at long last, completed. She was privately pissed off that she had been roped into doing what amounted to manual labour. She was one of the Royal Blades! She wasn't meant to do menial tasks.

The sole upside had been that she had not been kept away from her cherished Pollux. The other half of the soul that rested within her. He who she had entered the world with, and if she had her way, would leave it at her side. Whilst she did not care for anyone save herself and the other half of her soul, she was...grateful to Anna..or felt something she believed was gratefulness towards the redhead, for bringing her and Pollux to Haven. For giving he and her this life of unashamed, bloody hedonism. Murder, torture, sex, alcohol and feasting, all things she enjoyed without hesitation or regret. She was as old as her King had been when he had taken over Valla, twenty-one, yet she had already lived, and lived well in her opinion. That wasn't to say she was in a hurry to be killed, of course. She was quite fond of living, even if she did say so herself.

She cast her mind back to the day she met Anna, the day her life changed.

She and her brother dashed down a back alley, out of sight of the guards that were chasing them. Their trophies from the man they had..had their brutal fun with still about their persons. Ill advisedly, certainly. But at the age of fifteen and after four years of living through hell, neither twin cared about what was morally good or morally bad.

The Sister pressed The Brother against a wall, her lips pressing against his in needy victory. Their ragged, almost fading brown hair soon tangled together. The Brother's fingers threaded themselves into his sisters sodden locks, and a soft, musical chuckle left his mouth.

"Come now sister, we can't do this here. It's hardly...enchanting." The Brother chided her with a grin.

"Don' care." She growled, kissing at her twins chin. "Clothes off. Now."

"Sweet sister, we're hardly in private."

"Still don' care." She hissed. "I need you..."

"Well well, what have we here?" A coy voice filled the twins ears. Striding towards them with a pronounced swagger in her step, was a red headed woman, grinning broadly. "Two naughty children being naughty? How interesting~."

The Sister let out a snarl, and broke away from her brother. She drew her knife, and bolted towards the woman with a screech. She slashed and stabbed at her, and the woman kept a smile on her face as she dodged every attempt. The Woman kicked The Sister in the chest, and batted the knife away. She followed up by taking out The Sister's legs, causing her to land in a heap on the ground.

"Come on, Kid." The red haired woman smirked. "Did you really think that running at me with a knife would work? I survived far worse in the deeprealms. Demons and monsters and things that make both flee in terror. A scrawny brat with a knife is unlikely to get the better of me."

"Who are you?" The Brother questioned as he helped his Sister up.

"The name's Anna." She introduced herself with a flamboyant bow. "I work for King Corrin Isauros of Haven.

"You often get your kicks from beating children up?" The Sister spat.

"And if that Kid tries to stab me? I'm not seeking fights with children, but I'm not so foolishly noble as to not defend myself against them if need be."

This caused both twins to go silent.

"So! Whatever to do with you two. I coould leave you here. Gods know you'll cause chaos if I let you remain here...which could work in our favour. I cooould slit both of your throats now and be done with it….probably the safest option.." She paused, casting her gaze over the defiant looks on the faces of the twins, and she grinned again. "Alternately, you could come with me."

"...What?" The puzzled tone of voice from the female twin.

"Sure! If you are ballsy enough to attack me, the Gods only know what you'll be capable of with training. You kids got names?"

"..Not anymore." The Brother answered, approval of Anna's idea plain to see.

"Hmm..if you need names….well, we're in Nestra, so...Castor and Pollux. They're famous Nestrian twins. Came over with Iskander, if the stories are true."

"Dibs on Castor!" The Sister declared, her brother shrugged, a name was something precious, and Pollux was good enough.

"..Well, I suppose that's that then. Come along, twins….you need a bath...or five.."

Castor smiled a little at the memory. It was a...good one. One she held dear. The start of her new life. The start of her true life. Her brother approached, and greeted him with a smile.

"Are we all ready?" Pollux asked. "The King wants this to go smoothly."

"Looks like it Pol. As long as no one interferes, the King's plan will go without a hitch."

Her brother smiled. Gods did she love that smile. "Good to hear.."

"..Think we can have some time alone?"

Pollux offered her a hand, and the twins slipped away…

Again, apologies for the delay. Not entirely sure if I'll manage to write the third entry of this series, but I will at least finish Darkhearts. If I don't write the third one, I will of course put up a summary of what would have happened.

Also again, thank you to those of you that used the ask blog: askdarkworlds over on tumblr.