Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Takumi dreams of a dark corridor, illuminated only by the dim candles on the wall. He dreams of a lance being prodded into his back, forcing him to continue to walk. He dreams of the cold hand wrapped around his neck, thrusting him forward. He dreams of the emptiness of the castle, the dreariness of the walls.

Takumi dreams of death, but strangely enough, he feels calm.

Leon dreams of a dark corridor, illuminated only by the dim candles on the wall. He dreams of people at his feet as he daintily steps around them. He dreams of the magic pulsing between his fingers, the coldness of his hands. He dreams of the hardness of the floor, the echo of the footsteps throughout the hall.

Leon dreams of life, but strangely enough, he feels agitated.

Takumi dreams of a throne, impossibly light in an otherwise dark room. He dreams of the tension in the air, palpable to the touch. He dreams of the rows of people, flanked on either side of him, watching him with wary eyes. He dreams of the cold air stinging his cheek, the hard grip as his head is pushed toward the ground.

Takumi dreams of fear, but strangely enough, he smiles.

Leon dreams of a throne, impossibly light in an otherwise dark room. He dreams of a shadowy figure forced to the ground. He dreams of a cackling laugh echoing throughout the room, the sharp tone causing everyone to wince. He dreams of crackling thunder cutting through the air, sizzling and breaking apart the heavy atmosphere.

Leon dreams of discomfort, but strangely enough, he laughs.

Takumi dreams of forgiveness and love. He dreams of positivity in the otherwise dark execution hall. He dreams of another world, of another life. He dreams of the friends, the family, the kingdom, the world he would be leaving behind. He dreams of smiles, of the memories, of companions

Takumi dreams of hope, but strangely enough, he trembles.

Leon dreams of forgiveness and love. He dreams of the absurdity of such cruel notions, the unforgiving world and the darkness that surrounds him. He dreams of a cold heart and emotions. He dreams of heaviness of his hands, the echo of his steps. He dreams of the bundled figure on the ground.

Leon dreams of cruelty, but strangely enough, he feels pleased.

Takumi dreams of a dark figure. He dreams of impending doom, of the soft yet harsh patter of footsteps across the bare floor. He dreams of a sense of fulfillment, a sense of fear, a sense of determination. He dreams of the sound of crackling, the pressure of magic. He dreams of his execution hitting him straight in the chest.

Takumi dreams of the end, but strangely enough, he feels no anger.

Leon dreams of a dark figure. He dreams of power, the overwhelming feeling of superiority. He dreams of blood, of darkness, of death. He dreams of magic, weaving itself through his body to the very core. He dreams of its release, the overpowering surge, the uncontrollable thirst. He dreams of the figure falling backward, head snapping against the hard floor, finger twitching until the body moves no more.

Leon dreams of power, but strangely enough, he cries.

When Takumi wakes up from a dream that he can barely remember, his real life isn’t very much different from it.

There is no sunlight streaming in through his windows. The air temperature seems much colder than he remembers and the mattress below him feels too hard. The blankets barely provide any warmth and his feet are cold, but strangely enough, he does not feel uncomfortable.

He blearily sits up and rubs his eyes, and then stills.

When Leon wakes up from a dream that he can barely remember, his real life is very much different from it.

Sunlight streams through his window, nearly blinding him. The air is warm and cozy and there are a couple extra pillows that have been fluffed up next to him for his convenience. The blankets cascade heat around his body like a cocoon and everything seems weird, but strangely enough, it feels just right.

He blearily sits up and rubs his eyes, and then stills.

Takumi stares down at his hands. His hands that have been properly calloused, his archer hands that have been pulling his Fuujin Yumi all these years, were gone.

Instead, he finds himself staring at his elegant, delicate and nimble fingers.

Leon stares over his shoulder. His head had alerted him, the extra weight something foreign. He runs his hands through his hair and realizes that his silky hair, his conditioned image as a prince, was gone.

Instead, he finds himself staring at his silky, smooth and long hair.

The door opens, and Takumi expects Oboro or Hinata. But instead, he gets Niles. Niles the outlaw. Niles the flirt. Niles with his seductive smirk and his numerous innuendos. Niles the Nohrian retainer.

“Lord Leo,” he says, and Takumi’s heart stops, because there was no one other than himself that Niles could be addressing. “You normally don’t stay in bed until the afternoon. Did you want breakfast in bed, hm?”

Takumi stares at him wordlessly before shifting his gaze to the mirror hanging on the opposite wall.

Prince Leon of Nohr stares back at him.

The door opens, and Leon expects Niles or Odin. But instead, he gets Oboro. Oboro the lancer. Oboro the tailor. Oboro with her angry expressions and her hatred for all things Nohrian. Oboro the Hoshidan retainer.

“Lord Takumi,” she says, and Leon’s heart stops, because there was no one other than himself that Oboro could be addressing. “It’s time to get up! Hinata has been going on about preparing for your party tomorrow, and you promised me yesterday that you would let me arrange an outfit for you today!”

Leon stares at her wordlessly before shifting his gaze to the mirror hanging on the opposite wall.

Prince Takumi of Hoshido stares back at him.

The date is December 13.

Chapter Text

Takumi blinks at his reflection in the mirror, at his short hair, thin body, amethyst eyes. His scalp feels strangely light, his shoulders smaller, his skin paler. His nightclothes are flimsy, much flimsier than his sleepwear back in Hoshido, and his hands and feet are freezing.

He notices Niles the retainer still standing at the doorway, as if expecting something, and Takumi quickly backtracks and tries to remember what he said. Something about the afternoon, though judging by the darkness outside, there was no way that that was true. There was no sunlight at all. Something about breakfast too.

“Um,” Takumi says, and he realizes his throat feels scratchy and his voice coarse. The sound, however, still comes out softer, smoother, more eloquent sounding than his real voice. “Can I have some soup?”

Belatedly, Takumi realizes that he does not know what Prince Leon of Nohr talks like. He barely even knew what Prince Leon of Nohr looked like, with the very fragile balance between the two kingdoms in this already bloody war. He fought Nohrian soldiers every day, to protect his country and to stop Nohrian cruelty. And he knows that the Nohrian royals did the same think to Hoshidan soldiers to further their own agendas. But he has never met Prince Leon of Nohr, and Prince Leon of Nohr has never met him.

Niles stares at him and Takumi realizes that he probably screwed up, that the man probably saw right through him and it hadn’t even been two minutes yet. He resisted the urge to fidget under the scrutinizing blue eye, his left one covered by an eye patch. There was just something about the man that was unsettling.

Niles, however, simply smirks and says, “As you wish, milord.” Offering a small bow, he leaves the room quietly, so quietly that if Takumi hadn’t had his eyes on him, he wouldn’t have noticed at all.

Takumi is left alone again and he takes the time to take in more of his surroundings.

The Nohrian castle was exactly like the horror stories Hinoka had told him as a child. It is dark, gloomy, and so very cold. He feels the coldness gnawing at his insides, but he can’t bring himself to shiver, no matter how hard he tries. He supposed that this was still Prince Leon’s body, so even though the mind isn’t used to this kind of environment, the body was.

However, he cannot recall any war meetings or childhood memories or battles replays. All he can remember are bits and pieces of Leon’s knowledge, and the names of his closer companions. Niles. Odin. Xander. Camilla. Elise.

This makes Takumi feel better briefly, as this means that Leon cannot see that he slept with a teddy bear way beyond the age deemed proper. He hid it a couple months ago after Felicia entered his room without warning and saw him cuddled with the fuzzy bear.

Takumi then realizes for the first time that if he is in Leon’s body, then Leon must be in his.

He scrubs his eyes furiously, irritated at the very idea that a Nohrian was in his body right now. He thinks back to the previous night, trying to think of possible causes for this strange phenomenon. He had ate dinner with his family like usual. He had lightly sparred with Hinata after the meal like usual. Hinata had brought up the fact that his birthday was tomorrow—is today, Takumi thinks wryly. Happy birthday to me.—and Oboro had excitedly told him that she had the perfect outfit prepared for his eighteenth birthday.

He supposed he wouldn’t be able to see this outfit anymore.

Then he had gone to the library, like usual. Nightmares always plagued his mind at night, and he much preferred the soft glow of the candlestick and the smell of pages of the library to his dark and confining room. He had read there for a couple hours, curled up on the couch and studying different battle strategies. He had gotten a little agitated over one of them when he couldn’t understand it—rare, but not unusual—and he had left the library a little while later with a headache and feeling rather dejected.

Was that it? No, he didn’t think so. There had been times before when it had taken him a little longer to understand some of the books he read, and feeling insecure about his own prowess was nothing new to him.

He had gone back to his room afterwards and curled up on the bed, the words from his readings still flowing freely in his mind. It had been one of the fastest times he had ever gone to sleep, he remembered. Usually, the looming threat of nightmares and darkness and fear kept him awake for hours.

But he had fallen asleep quickly and had that dream—Takumi only wished he could remember what it was about because it had been chilling while he was still in it—and now that he had woken up, he was in another bed, another kingdom, another body.

Takumi racks his brain, but he cannot think of anything unusual that he did last night to trigger this switch.

“Milord!” The door bangs open, and a man with golden hair and what looks like a sorcerer’s uniform walks in, balancing a bowl of soup on his outstretched hand. Odin, his mind supplies. “Niles has spoken that you have been bewitched by the evil! Fear not, milord! Embrace your darkness and quell the evil spirits in your chosen body!”

Takumi starts once he manages to shift through Odin’s elaborate speech, but Odin doesn’t look like he has discovered that it is in fact, not his Lord Leon that he is speaking to. He does, however, look at Takumi, eyes positively sparkling, and Takumi swears he can see sparkles flying out of the man.

Odin seems to be waiting for some sort of reaction, and Takumi, not knowing what to say, simply responds, “Er, thanks for the soup. Please leave it here.”

Odin drops the bowl on the drawer next to him, seemingly used to short responses from his master. Before he leaves, he spouts more theatrics—all Takumi can get this time is the fact that he has a meeting in a couple of hours—before he disappears out the door.

Takumi doesn’t think he’s ever missed Oboro and Hinata more.

He leans back against the pillow and thinks. Until he finds out why this has happened, or how to get himself back into his original body, it would be wise to keep this soul swatch fiasco under the wraps. Nohr was not known for its compassion or understanding. King Garon, as all Hoshidans knew, was an evil bastard who would stop at nothing to further his own gain. There was no telling what would happen to him if Garon discovered that there was a Hoshidan in their mists; son or not, Takumi had no doubt that he would have him, in Leon’s body, be executed.

He doesn’t doubt that the other Nohrian royals are just as bad.

Takumi briefly wonders if his siblings will come to save him, or if his siblings will even notice that he is a different person altogether. He thinks of Leon, escaping this dark and gloomy Nohrian kingdom, only to end up in the peaceful and kindhearted Hoshido. He thinks of Leon, sparring with Ryouma. He thinks of Leon, sitting at the dinner table with the rest of his family. He thinks of Leon, practicing public speaking with Sakura in her room.

He thinks of Leon, in his body, and he clenches his fist.

It wouldn’t surprise him if that bastard Nohrian had done this. They had called him the genius young prince after all, the extraordinarily powerful mage who wielded a divine weapon much like his own. If anyone could’ve done this, it had to be him.

Takumi brainstorms a rather long list of ways he could properly ruin Leon’s life, but then he stops himself. His main priority, he thinks, needs to be adapting into this new role that had been thrust upon him. He needs to learn the Nohrian strategies and secrets that they employed during this war. And when—not if, he reminds himself—he gets back to his original body, he will use his newfound knowledge to help Hoshido win this war.

This is something only he can do.

With his newly found determination, he shoves the Nohrian utensil—spoon?—inside his mouth, and discovers that unfortunately, he and Prince Leon of Nohr seem to have the same taste.

Leon blinks at his reflection in the mirror, at his long strand of hair, darker skin, and rather over excessive sleepwear. His hands feel rough, but not chapped, and his head feels much heavier. The room is much too warm and he would have worried about the state of his skin, but he supposed it wasn’t even his skin anymore.

The girl—Oboro, he reminds himself—is still standing there with that ridiculous grin on her face. He’s never had to deal with female retainers before. He’s had Niles for as long as he could remember, and before Odin was another man who had been only after the castle riches and had been part of an underground gang trying to overthrow the Nohrian royalty.

Needless to say, Leon had learned then that Niles is very very good at what he does.

“Thank you,” Leon says, and his voice is lower than he imagined. It could be worse, he supposed. If there was anything worse than being in the body of the prince of the enemy kingdom. “I will be up shortly.”

Oboro looks surprised, and Leon filters it into his mind that this Prince Takumi of Hoshido is not overly polite or formal, but she nods and leaves. Leon looks around the room but finds nothing of interest; it looks like a normal Hoshidan room, from what he has read in books.

It is very different from his Nohrian bedroom, to say the least.

He himself had never been to Hoshido before. He had fought Hoshidans of course, but never any of their generals or royals. Everything about Hoshidan customs he had learned from his books. Those two wooden sticks they used to eat with. Those over excessive robes they wear on festivals. Their usage of different weapons and different forms of speech.

Their possession of plentiful land, resources, and happiness.

Leon gets up and scourges the rooms for any clues, any incriminating diary that this Prince Takumi of Hoshido could’ve possibly left behind. He remembers names well enough, the names of his retainers and family members, but past that he is drawing a blank.

He finds a pair of sticks—chopsticks, he recalls—and he tries to use them but they clang to the ground on his try. Pride slightly wounded, he picks them off the ground and shoves them back in their case. No matter. He will continue practicing until Hoshidan utensils become a second nature to him.

He also finds a teddy bear stuffed in the corner of his closet and he snorts.

He will have to tread carefully, he decides. He doesn’t know how close this Takumi is with his close companions, but it is imperative that he is not caught. He has learned enough about the kingdom to know that while they preach peace and happiness here, it doesn’t stop them from eliminating enemies based on their own definition of justice.

No, he will not trust them. Never has, never will.

He’ll have to find a way to get out of this predicament, he thinks. He does not know what triggered this event, nor who was responsible for it. If it is in fact Takumi who someone pulled this off, the Nohrian army would have a traitor in their midst. Leon would like to think that either his family or his retainers will be able to notice something, but it would be safer to consider the other options.

If no one notices, then he will have to find a way to alert them. But that’s easier said than done. He has no way to get to Nohr without rousing suspicion, and even if he somehow makes it all the way there, there is a very high chance he would get killed on sight. He doesn’t know if killing him in Takumi’s body meant killing both of them, and he didn’t plan on finding out.

Unless, of course, it was utterly necessary.

He will stay, he decides, and find out more information about the Hoshidan side of the war. He will attend their war council meetings and learn all their secrets. He will make it back to Nohr and he will help them win the war.

Leon sits down on the bed—too fluffy, he thinks—and tries to remember what he did the night before. He had a meeting with Xander and their advisors. Afterwards, he went to their family dinners, imposed by Elise. She had been talking about her peace book to Xander, and even though he was indulging her, Leon could see that he had no plans to make peace with any of his enemies. Afterwards, Camilla had bid him goodnight, pinching his cheeks, before dragging a tired Elise back to their rooms. Afterward, he had headed toward the library after dismissing Niles and Odin for the day and spent the entire evening pouring over books.

So he hadn’t done anything unusual last night, which didn’t come as that much of a surprise. His life had been a routine ever since the war started. Fight in battles. Kill lots of people. Attend war meetings. Report to his father. At night, he would get his family time and his alone moments in the library, but that was it. His retainers followed him around everywhere, so he guessed that was the extent of his friend list.

He had once called himself a puppet to Xander, and his older brother had scolded him. He never brought up the topic ever again.

He would succeed in this impromptu mission. For his kingdom, for his family, for himself.

Leon stares at himself in the mirror, at his long strands of hair falling almost down to the floor. He always got trims every couple of months. He wonders if Takumi ever cut his hair in his life before. He also wonders how he’s supposed to put this up.

And that’s how Hinata finds him hours later.

The first person Takumi runs into when he finally musters up the courage to venture outside of his room is this little bubbly girl who looks like she has sucked in all the energy of this gloomy kingdom and taken it for herself. She’s bouncing around a little, her blonde pigtails going up and down, up and down.

“Elise,” he says, remembering that this is the youngest Nohrian princess, and the girl whirls around, her mouth open so wide it almost looks comical. Before he can even continue, she hurls herself at him and nearly knocks him backwards. Takumi manages to right himself and tries to will down the blush from appearing on his face. Even though he knew that his family back in Hoshido loved each other, they never showed such blatant displays of affection. Or rather, Ryouma and Hinoka rarely showed any affection at all. Sakura could be affectionate, but her shyness often made her keep her distance.

“Big Brother! You’re okay!” She said, beaming up at him with her wide eyes. She went against all his notions of Nohrians that Takumi thinks that he has somehow ended up in the wrong kingdom. He wonders briefly if this little cheerful girl has ever killed any of his soldiers before. “Odin said that you would be resting because you felt sick!”

“No… I’m feeling better now,” Takumi says, prying her arms away from his waist. Her long hair reminds him of his own, and Takumi sorely misses his ponytail, the reassuring weight of it brushing against his back. His neck is too bare now, and every little wind seems to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Elise blinks at him and without warning, puts her hand on his forehead.

“H-hey, what are you doing?”

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” She pouts. “If you’re not feeling well, you should go back to bed! I’ll tell Father and Big Brother Xander that you can’t make it to the meetings today!” She tries to push him back in the direction he just came from, but her little arms barely put any force on his body.

“I just said I was fine, didn’t I?” Takumi says, walking in a direction that he only hopes is correct. He supposes he should probably go find that Odin guy. He didn’t seem as bright as the other retainer, and he had mentioned that there was a meeting in a couple hours.

A meeting that Takumi doesn’t know how to get to.

It was only an hour in, and his brilliant undercover mission was already failing spectacularly.

“Yes, but you always get mad when I talk to Odin,” she says, and Takumi blinks at her. Elise puffs herself up and does her best impression of him, dropping her voice so low that she almost sounds like an old man. “Odin! I told you not to flirt with my sister! Don’t let me catch you two talking alone again!”

The idea that Prince Leon of Nohr might have a sister complex makes him almost burst out laughing, but he manages to catch himself before he does. “I do not,” he says instead.

“Uh huh you do!” Elise says, and then looks at his armor and gasps in horror. “Big Brother, are you sure you’re feeling okay? I mean, your collar isn’t inside out today!”

Whatever already low opinion that Takumi had of Leon was steadily declining.

“Odin reminded me today, that’s all,” Takumi says, self-consciously tugging at his collar. Was it really always inside out? How did you even make that mistake more than once? Was this a daily thing? “Speaking of which, do you know where he is?”

Elise squints at him suspiciously. “This is a trick question, isn’t it?”

“What? No, of course not.”

“Nuh uh!” She sticks her tongue out at him before running down the hallway. “You’re not going to use me to get him in trouble today! You can find him yourself!”

“Hey, Elise, wait—”

She ignores him and disappears down the corridor, and Takumi realizes, standing in the middle of a dark and empty hallway, that he is completely and utterly lost.

Takumi groans and scrubs his face tiredly. Great. Now what? He could retrace his steps to get back to his room, he supposed. But then he would still be left with the predicament of not being able to find his way to the meeting room. At times like these, he wishes there was someone as oblivious as Felicia in the Nohrian Castle, someone he could trust to help him without fearing any ulterior motives.

He also never thought that he would miss Felicia and her burnt food and dropped teacups. But she had worked at the Hoshidan castle for as long as he could remember. She reminded him of home, and he desperately wanted to be there.

After standing in the middle of the hallway for a couple of minutes, Takumi decides to follow the corridor that Elise disappeared down. But that corridor simply leads to more corridors, the twists and turns forming a rather elaborate maze. He does pass by what looks like a dining room—a long table and a grand chandelier hanging above—but there is no one there.

He continues to walk, and the lack of sunlight seems to be wearing him out. The gloomy atmosphere of the castle seeps into his body and his legs feel like they suddenly weigh a ton. The coldness stings at his skin and even though Takumi has never taken the time to really notice the sun, now that he has to live without it he realizes how much he was dependent on it.

Suddenly, Takumi feels very lonely.

He’s always felt lonely, especially when he was a child. After Corrin had been taken, everyone became obsessed with getting her back. And he was expected to be Prince Takumi of Hoshido, the strong second son who supported his older brother in his protection of the kingdom. And Takumi understood that, understood his role and his duties and his expectations. And so he pushed his insecurities to the side for the sake of his kingdom.

But sometimes, in the darkness of his own room plagued by nightmares, he’d allow himself to think of a life that Corrin hadn’t been taken. Of what would have happened if they had been a happy family, if he had been allowed to be just Takumi, the second son who occasionally needed some coddling and attention, and be who he wanted to be.

He felt selfish sometimes, but he couldn’t help it. His alone time was the only time he could act selfishly, act for himself and for his own interests. He spent his whole life working for others that he allows himself moments of weakness when he thinks about nothing but himself.

When morning came, however, he’d revert back into Takumi the archer, Takumi the warrior, Takumi the prince of Hoshido.

He shakes off these negative thoughts, ignoring the way his heart feels hollow. He reaches a set of doors and it is like someone has noticed that he wasn’t feeling too well and decided to send him a gift. He immediately feels a wave of warmth wash over him, like the feeling of home and comfort. Takumi blinks at the doors suspiciously, but this is the end of the hallway, and he can hear no voices come in from the other side, so he slowly props it open and sticks his head.

And despite the kingdom having no sunlight or warmth, the room glows like no others. Despite the dimness of the room, it illuminates his heart like nothing else. Despite feeling lonely moments ago, Takumi suddenly feels at home.

All plans of the meeting forgotten, Takumi shuts the door behind him and takes a step into the Nohrian library.

“Happy Birthday, Prince Takumi!” HInata says for like the fiftieth time, walking next to him and whistling. They were heading toward a sparring room, or so Hinata had said, and Leon was in no position to doubt him. “We can get a light workout done before Oboro drags you away to play dress up with you.”

“Sure,” Leon says, and then wonders how he’s supposed to spar with a bow. In fact, will he even be able to shoot it? He has never been very good at archery, and his aim is not terribly precise. Not to mention, the other prince had a divine weapon, didn’t he? Would it even obey him? He’d like to think that his Brynhldr wouldn’t let just anyone use it.

But then again, he supposed he was Takumi right now, so the divine weapon wouldn’t be able to tell.

“The other day I went to the marketplace with that girl Setsuna,” Hinata says. Leon notes that he talks a lot and has no problem carrying the conversation by himself. “And all the rumors about her are true! We were just walking along and she somehow manages to trigger some kind of pitfall! She dropped all of the peaches too, and we had to go back and buy new ones.”

This Setsuna person sounds a lot like Arthur, Leon surmises, his little sister’s retainer. The thought of Elise made his heart ache, and he realized that even though he tried to busy himself ever since he woke up in this new body, he really did miss his family. They had always been together; they had chosen each other out of all of his Father’s other children. They saw each other every day, except when one of them had a mission.

He supposed that this was a mission too, so he just had to think of this as another one of Father’s orders. He would complete his task and go back, and Elise would welcome him back with a hug, and Camilla would ruffle his hair like he was a baby, which he hated—but he missed even her motherly doting now—and Xander would pat his shoulder and congratulate him on a job well done.

Hinata leads him what looks like a sparring ring and goes off to retrieve his own sword. Leon looks around and tries to find the bows. They didn’t really have that many bow users in Nohr, except for Niles. And Leon shudders when he remembers how that training session went; Niles had spent the entire time chasing Odin around and using him as target practice.

His father had scolded him afterwards and Leon in turn had yelled at his retainers to stop fooling around. But even though he was their master, they never seemed to listen to him, especially not when he really wanted them to. He would’ve expected that from Niles, but Odin was strangely rebellious as well. The outlaw was definitely rubbing off on him.

He decided long ago that he would need to get more obedient retainers, but that had never happened. Despite all the trouble they cause him, Leon knows their loyalty cannot ever be measured. And really, he suppose that he would rather have his two friends than any other retainers he could possibly find. Even though they were loud and intrusive and never seemed to learn the definition of personal space, Leon knew that whenever he was having a bad day or not feeling well, he could always count on the two of them to cheer him up with their antics.

Not that he would ever tell them that.

“Prince Takumi!” Hinata says, and Leon barely has enough time to pull himself out of his thoughts before a sword is flung at him. His battle reflexes quickly kick in and he manages to catch the wooden thing before he embarrasses himself. It feels heavier than his sword back at home and doesn’t seem as sharp. He supposed that these were the so-called “samurai swords” that he had read about in books.

Hinata gets into his stance, his cheerful grin sliding easily off his face and replaced by a more serious look. Leon realizes belatedly that Hinata is waiting for him to get ready so that they can spar. He used to practice swordplay every day with Xander before he switched to magic, so he can still fight decently with just a sword alone, though obviously not as well as before.

Another thought pops into his mind: Prince Takumi can use swords?

Apparently so, because Hinata charges at him like he really wants to kill him and Leon barely has time to bring the sword up to defend himself. While he was of course no match for Xander, Hinata was no pushover either, the swing of his sword precise, decisive, and determined like a true sword master. Leon, who had basically just been flipping pages of his tomes ever since the war started, realizes just how rusty his swordplay is when one particularly well-placed swing by Hinata manages to knock the sword out of Leon’s hand.

“Are you feeling alright, Prince Takumi?” Hinata asks, nose a little scrunched up as he picks up Leon’s sword. “I know you’re excited for your birthday and all, but normally you fight a little better than this…”

Leon suddenly feels irritated, so very irritated that Prince Takumi of Hoshido, the archer, was a better swordsman than he was. He grabs the sword out of Hinata’s hand, aware that he’s being childish, but it isn’t even his body so he doesn’t care anymore, and glares at Hinata. “Again.”

Hinata looks slightly surprised, but then he’s all smiles. “Of course!”

Leon wins the next round, which serves to mend his tattered ego a little bit. Beside him, Hinata is whistling as they clean up, and Leon can’t help but feel like he got baited into this. He’ll have to pay more attention around Takumi’s retainers, it seems. They were both smarter than they appeared.  

A pink haired maid pokes her head in and tells him that Oboro is done with the outfit, before ushering him to the baths. He tells her that he’s hungry and she goes to bring him some snacks before he goes to wash himself up. She returns with a plate of food that has no tomatoes on it—his favorite foods! the maid tells him—and he grudgingly accepts it. He soon realizes that even though Takumi is his archnemesis and they will never ever be friends, Leon has to commend his taste in food.

Leon doesn’t spend as long in the baths as he would like. Halfway through taking off his clothes he suddenly feels very awkward, like he’s a teenager again going through puberty. He doesn’t even know why he’s feeling embarrassed; it’s not like he’s technically doing anything wrong, right? Right.

Nevertheless, Leon is out in record time, eyes looking anywhere but at himself when he steps out.

There is a fancy looking outfit waiting for him outside. He supposed that Oboro had left it there. It really was strange, he muses as he tries it on, having a female retainer. Niles, for example, would have had no qualms about waiting for his lord to finish bathing before trying to dress Leon himself.

This new respect of personal space is nice, though it is also kind of lonely.

He puts on the outfit and discovers that it is very comfortable. The cloth is very smooth and silky, and it doesn’t scratch or irritate his skin. There is also a string, though he is unsure how to tie it—does it go in the front or the back?

He wonders why the girl, Oboro, is serving as a retainer rather than opening up a tailor shop when clothing is clearly her passion. Is it devotion to her master? It was nice, he supposed, to have retainers with dreams. As much as he tried to push Niles to build his own future after the war, the outlaw had stated many times that he wanted nothing more than to remain by his lord’s side for the rest of his life. And Odin was always so tightlipped about his future and his past, so Leon had learned long ago to stop asking.

He puts his hair up, and it comes much easier than the first time had. He managed to weasel it out of Hinata before, though the boy had said that usually it was Oboro who did it for him when he was having trouble. Leon had also noticed that both retainers seemed to sport similar hairstyles, and he supposed it would’ve been cute, if they weren’t on opposite sides of the war, if they weren’t enemies trying to kill each other.

There is a knock on the door, much too quiet to be either Hinata or Oboro. “Come in,” he says, wondering if it’s the maid—Felicia—coming to collect his empty dishes.

But instead, his sister enters the room. Sakura, his mind supplies helpfully. She seemed to be the same age as Elise, but they couldn’t act any more different. While Elise is a bundle of energy and oozed happiness, Sakura is more subdued, casting him a small smile while keeping her head halfway lowered, as if making eye contact was uncomfortable for her.

“Big Brother,” she greets, and her voice is soft. “The kimono looks really good on you.”

Kimono. So that’s what this was called. She moves around him slowly and reaches for the string in the middle and surprises him by tugging hard, much harder than he expected her capable of. Leon lets out a surprised wheeze and Sakura instantly drops the cloth.

“Oh no! D-did I hurt you? I’m so sorry!” She says tearfully. Leon, still panting a bit and trying to recover, shakes his head and motions for her to continue. She pulls with the same strength—suddenly, he doesn’t like kimonos much anymore—but he is more prepared, so he is able to squash down the grunt of pain before it leaves his mouth.

Sakura steps back and offers him a small smile. “Should we go now? Big Brother Ryouma wants you back before dinner so that we can all celebrate together.” She looks down and shuffles her feet a little. “I love the marketplace. It’s always so lively, and they have a lot of really fresh fruit!”

Leon realizes that despite being in enemy territory and in an enemy’s body, he is genuinely looking forward to this marketplace trip. They didn’t have this kind of thing in Nohr, with resources being so scarce that it was every man for himself.

He wishes Elise was here. He’s sure that she would love this kind of thing.

They leave the room together and Sakura fits her small hand into his own and Leon allows himself to relax just a little.

Takumi spends a good half hour just walking around and taking in the sight of all the ancient books. While the Hoshidan library had not had a lack of books, there was just something about this library that seemed magical and enchanting. There were spiral staircases and fireplaces and dimly-lit chandeliers and Takumi just wants to grab a book and forget about the war and curl up and read.

He browses around, up and down the aisle, not quite knowing where to start. There are simply so many! And they all look so interesting. He hasn’t felt this giddy since he received the Fuujin Yumi so long ago, when the divine weapon had chosen him over everyone else.

Thinking about his weapon kind of put a damper on his mood, and he only hoped that Leon hadn’t completely trashed it or done other unspeakable things to his precious weapon. He wonders if Leon has a divine weapon. He must have one, right? He’s got to find it, even if he has absolutely no capabilities with tomes.

That can wait though.

Takumi picks out a book, and immediately, the musky scent of its pages reaches his nose. Other than the smell of miso soup and perhaps his mother’s hair, this is his favorite scent in the world. He is a warrior and a prince, but he is also a scholar. He loves strategy, whether it is devising it or just simply studying it.

He had picked it up back when he was very young, trying to do anything he could to help Ryouma and the rest of his kingdom. But he had discovered very quickly that not only was he good at retaining information, he also enjoyed reading very much. And reading only seemed to become more enjoyable when he started to do it for himself rather than for other people.

People always seemed surprise when the topic was brought up. Even Oboro had blinked at him the first time he told her he was going to the library. It still irked him every now and then, but he had mostly grown past the point of being offended. It didn’t matter what other people thought after all. He served his kingdom as a warrior, but he learned and studied for himself.

He heads to the couch and flips open the book, ready to skim through the beginning, when he notices that there are tiny words written in the margins. He blinks at them, then bends his head closer to read.

It’s little commentary, a conversation of sorts. Different remarks and reactions are scattered across the pages, sentences underlined and words circled. Under normal circumstances, Takumi would’ve been appalled at such vandalism of sacred property, but as he continues on, he realizes he agrees with a lot of what the tiny words are saying.

He has no doubt that this is the work of Prince Leon of Nohr, that he wrote in these margins like a lonely boy who wanted so desperately to talk to someone about his passion but had no one to do so with. Takumi supposed that he felt the same way; no one in his family really thirsted for knowledge except maybe, well, Corrin, but he didn’t really want to think about her right now.

And so Takumi reads on, and even though it doesn’t really feel right since he is reading and agreeing with the enemies’ words, he can’t bring himself to stop. The more he reads, the more he realizes that had this war not occurred, he might have wanted to be friends with this Prince Leon of Nohr, to have someone to discuss literature and strategies and knowledge together.

Of course, this Leon probably has a really bad attitude so that was unlikely anyway.

He doesn’t know how long he spends there. He feels like he’s having a conversation with Leon, someone who he has only heard of but never met. He feels a connection with this idea of a person rather than the person himself, and it disorients him, but the book itself is too good to put down, so he continues.

He doesn’t write in the book because that goes against all his moral beliefs, but he does find some particular lines he enjoys and grabs a couple of pieces of paper to jot them down. Glancing over his work one last time, he puts the book back and folds the pieces of paper and puts them inside his armor, feeling oddly content with everything.

He stretches out his limbs, and out of the corner of his eyes, he sees a desk. Books are scattered around it, most of them still open to certain pages. He peers over them curiously and notes that they are all spells.

It seemed like this Prince Leon lived in the library. And Takumi didn’t blame him. Compared to that dark and cold bedroom, the library seemed infinitely more alluring.

Takumi also looks around, as if to make sure no one was there, before he puts his hand on one of the books and reads off one of the spells. Nothing. Even though it came as no surprise since his magic aptitude had always been horrendous, Takumi couldn’t help but feel bitter that magic abilities did not come as an added benefit for residing in Leon’s body. He was perfectly content with his bow, of course, but he would be lying if he said he had never been curious of what it felt like to have magic pulsing through your veins.

The door opens and Takumi jumps back from the book, as if caught doing something wrong.

A man stands at the doorway and Takumi suddenly realizes that he is facing the crown prince of Nohr. He is taller than Ryouma, but holds himself with similar pride, similar posture, and he is certainly no less imposing. Takumi can almost feel himself shrink and resists the urge to turn around and run.

Even though there is no way to tell that he isn’t Leon, Takumi still feels scared. It is the same kind of scared he gets on the battlefield when facing the enemy general, a twinge of terror mixed in with adrenaline and resolve and anger. Even though Ryouma tells him to slow down sometimes and think with his head, Takumi knows that it is his emotions that fuel him and give him strength.

This is the man, Takumi reminds himself. This is the man that is second-in-command of the Nohrian army. This is the man that caused great devastation and numerous Hoshidan casualties. This is the man Ryouma has been fighting against.

Takumi clenches his fists and bites back any angry retort that is on the tip of his tongue. He braces himself for a lecture, for cruelty, for orders to kill—and no matter how important this mission may seem, Takumi doesn’t think he will be able to kill any of his fellow Hoshidans—because the Nohrian royalty are all rotten and heartless bastards and it bothers him so much that the crown prince of Nohr is right in front of him and he can’t do anything about it.

And then the man smiles at him. Smiles. Xander, crown prince of Nohr. Smiling. “Leon,” he says, and his voice is much smoother and calmer than Takumi could’ve ever imagined. Based on Hinoka’s descriptions, the Nohrian royalty were all monsters that spent their days gurgling up nonsense and justifying their own evil actions. “How long have you been here?”

Takumi finally finds his voice and clears it discretely, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. “I’m not sure,” he says, eyeing Xander suspiciously when he walks over, but the older man simply stops at an acceptable distance from him, still smiling. “I got caught up in reading.”

This earns him a chuckle. “That’s so very like you,” Xander says, casting a glance around the library. “We didn’t talk about too much during the meeting today. Just some minor domestic policies, but you know how everyone always has so much to say.”

Oh right. The meeting. He had totally forgotten about that.

“Join us next time, okay?” Xander pats in on the shoulder and Takumi can’t help but tense up, his whole body screaming Danger, danger! There is a Nohrian hand on his shoulder. There is a Nohrian being friendly with him and smiling at him. “You know we all value your opinions.”

“I… of course,” Takumi says, suddenly feeling very sick. Why did he think this was a good idea? This, this man right here, is his real enemy, the one he has to defeat. But can he really do this?

Xander leans in a little and says softly, “I’m proud of you, Little Brother.” Without waiting for his reply, Xander turns around and leaves. And it is a good thing that he did, because Takumi has frozen in place. And while he has always yearned to hear those words, always yearned for praise, he has never expected to get them from Crown Prince Xander of Nohr.

Takumi scrubs furiously at his face and sinks down to the ground and that is how Niles finds him hours later.

Outdoor markets are clearly the best thing that humans could have discovered, except for maybe the first tomato seeds, and Leon tries to refrain himself from jumping around like a little kid again. He settles instead for visiting all the booths and sampling all the foods.

Did they even have this many people in Nohr? They are all crowding around each other, bunched up in groups. There are people yelling from their booths, trying to promote their items and sales. Leon bumps into at least fifteen people in the span of five seconds, and even though he normally dislikes physical contact, he finds that he doesn’t really mind now.

He wonders if this is what Nohr would’ve been like, if they had had land, sunlight, and resources. He wonders if instead of spending all his days cooped up in the castle library, he would’ve instead spent it outside, exploring the forest and going on walks along the pond. He wonders if they could’ve have had family trips to the marketplace every morning, Camilla examining the fresh produce while Elise excitedly drags them all around to see the little trinkets on sale.

He has no doubt that their familial bond would’ve been as close as it is now, regardless of whatever situation they lived in. But he can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if they had been born into a different world, or even just a different country where Mother Nature was kinder to them. Leon wonders how much would be the same, and how much would’ve changed.

Sakura’s gentle tug on his sleeve brings him back to the present. “They’re making a lot of delicious food for you tonight,” she smiles. It’s strange; even though her personality is the complete opposite of Elise’s, she still reminds Leon of his little sister. They share the same warm smile and pure heart.

“Wasn’t that supposed to be a surprise?” Leon asks, sampling one of the grapes. It’s a bit too sweet for his taste, but he pushes it down anyway, being sure to memorize the texture of the fruit, the juiciness and taste. Any vegetation was rare in Nohr, and their diets consisted of mostly meat.

“Felicia says that there will be a surprise dish,” Sakura responds, and she seems to really like fruit because she is grabbing them in bunches. “But of course they will make all of your favorite foods, like miso soup. Felicia says that they made two whole pots this year!”

Leon wonders what this mee-so soup thing tastes like.

Sakura leaves to go buy some bread from one of the shops, and Leon follows after her. He watches as she tries her best to converse, an occasional stutter giving away her nervousness. The shop owner, however, converses with her freely, a middle aged woman with a large smile.

It’s very different, Leon notes, how these people react to royalty. In Nohr, commoners tended to avoid the royal family and only talked when spoken to. Here, though, as he watches Sakura speak with the woman, the two of them seemed to be talking like equals, like they’re good friends instead of ruler and subject.

It’s a rather strange dynamic, he supposed.

Sakura comes back with two loaves of bread and smiles when she notices him loitering in the corner of the shop. “You used to do that a lot when we were younger,” she says softly.

“Do what?” Leon asks, crossing his arms in what seemed like a Takumi thing to do.

“Stand in the back and try to look bored. Do you remember the first time we went to the market together?” She asks as the two of them begin to head back to the castle. The sun is now setting, halfway hidden behind the mountains, but it isn’t any less beautiful. “When Big Sister had to drag you out here?”

Leon, of course, does not remember.

“You were yelling how you didn’t want to come outside from the library. Big Sister always thought you spent too much time reading,” Sakura giggles. Leon hadn’t pegged the other prince as the studious type. “You kept saying you wanted to finish the book you were reading before leaving, but Big Sister wasn’t having any of that.”

Leon understood that feeling all too well, having been the victim of that himself. He originally had installed a lock on the library doors to prevent his siblings from barging in, but he found out how useless that was when he had a rebellious outlaw of a retainer. After that, Leon learned to just treasure whatever moments of peace he had when he was alone because it would most certainly not last.

Sakura looks down and shuffles her feet. “B-but I knew the real reason you stayed in the library even though you wanted to go. It’s because I told you that I was s-scared to go to the marketplace because there was so many people, r-right? So you helped me out, even though Big Sister got really mad at you.” She fiddles with her fingers, still not meeting his eye, before reaching into her pocket. “E-even though everyone always says what a bad person you are, you’re a really great brother and you’re always helping me out even if other people don’t notice, s-so…”

Leon just stares at her, because suddenly this feels oddly personal and he is an outsider thrust into a situation he has no part of. He feels very awkward of this sudden profession of familial love, but there’s nothing he can do about it, because like it or not he is trapped in Prince Takumi’s body for an indefinite amount of time.

But it still feels very, very intrusive and he doesn’t feel like he has any right to hear these words clearly meant for Takumi alone.

She pulls something out of her pocket and hands it to him, and Leon sees that it is a hair tie. Even though it is very obviously handcrafted, it is still very well made, the stiches upon stiches showing that the creator had spent quite a lot of time on this little trinket. A simple but beautiful pattern has been stitched into the fabric, and the material is light and soft to touch.

“I-I made that for you,” Sakura says. “You used to complain a lot about how your hair kept falling out of your ponytail and getting in your eyes, so I thought that I could h-help you like you always help me.” She looks around nervously, and then suddenly steps forward and gives him a very chaste hug. Leon barely has time to process it before she moves away and gives him an anxious smile. “H-happy Birthday, Big Brother!”

She scurries away back into the crowds of people before Leon can respond, and he is stuck there by himself, staring at the little hair tie in his hand. He swallows and suddenly, he feels like he can’t do this anymore.

He had decided to make this a mission, one to bring down Hoshido. All Hoshidans were enemies, evil and cruel, enjoying their lives of happiness while their neighbors starved from lack of resources. He hated Hoshido for what it did to his kingdom and his family and never once before had he doubted his resolve as a prince, and as a soldier.

But even though Sakura’s words weren’t meant for him, he supposed that they had managed to touch him all the same. Even though he would slay thousands of Hoshidan soldiers if his father commanded, even though he would do anything to protect his family, Leon realizes that perhaps he is starting to see not all Hoshidans as his enemies.

And that was very, very scary.

Chapter Text

A week later, Takumi is slowly but surely adjusting to his new life.

It is weird, he thinks, that it has taken him only a week to adapt this new persona, to learn to speak and act and think as Prince Leon of Nohr does. Even though he has spent all his life building up and polishing the personality of Takumi, it doesn’t take very long for him to be comfortable with pretending to be someone else.

Or perhaps that simply meant that he and Leon were more alike than he originally thought, but that was disturbing to even think about, so he often pushed it out of his mind.

To be fair, though, Takumi would be lying if he’d said that he hadn’t noticed the similarities. Both of them were the second sons, overshadows by the backs of the crown princes, their extraordinary big brothers. Takumi could see that he would’ve grown up insecure here too, if he had been born into the Nohrian royal family instead. The pressures and burdens and expectations were all the same.

He also noticed how similar the royal families were. Both kingdoms had a stern, but kind older brother. To this day, he doesn’t know whether Ryouma values his kingdom or his family more, and Takumi is sure that Xander has this same problem.

Sakura and Elise were the same, both too sweet and pure and innocent to be fighting in this war. They would’ve been great friends, he thinks, if they were not bound by family obligations. They would’ve wanted to be great friends too, if they were not on opposite sides of this brutal battle. The war has robbed these two little girls of their freedom to live their lives the way they wanted to.

And then, there are the eldest princesses. Hinoka and Camilla, who are as much warriors as they are sisters.

Of course, there were some differences.

Takumi thinks back to his first meeting with Camilla and he shudders.

It had been a couple days after he first found himself in Leon’s body, and he had been trying to adjust. He still slipped up sometimes, got angry too quick or spouted something childish. But no one really called him out on it so he supposed that Leon also had a childish streak to him, and that thought made him laugh, because looking in the mirror you could not see anything other than a prim and proper and merciless prince.

He had been eating breakfast with Elise, who had been once again pestering him about playing with her little tea set again. Sakura had never been this pushy, though she had given in once or twice and worked up the courage to ask him to play with her stuffed animals. Elise, however, had no filters, constantly dragging him around and talking his ear off.

It had been a rather quiet couple of days. He spent most of the time in the library, or with Elise, when she managed to hunt him down. He hadn’t seen Xander since that first day, and to be honest, he hadn’t really wanted to see the crown prince either. Elise had mentioned that both he and Camilla were off on missions, so it was just them two siblings in the castle.

Elise was in the process of talking with her mouth full when the door slammed open and she coame in. Lilac hair, black armor, imposing aura. She was wielding a very very large axe that looked like it could easily cut stone in half.

Behind her stood two girls, whom Takumi assumed were her retainers. The one with short hair silently took her axe but didn’t say a word, her eyes silently flickering around the room as if gauging for threats. She reminded him a lot of Saizo. The other girl, however, the one with the red hair, started snarling when Niles appeared out of nowhere and smirked at her.

Camilla, however, ignored both of them.

She accepted Elise’s hug gracefully, as if she hadn’t just gotten body slammed by another person, and tweaked her nose. From the way she talked, Takumi could see that she was the motherly figure of the four siblings, doting and caring for the rest of the Nohrian family. It was rather different from Hinoka, who, though caring in her own way, had a rather one-track mind focused entirely on fighting.

Camilla then looked at him and objectionably speaking, she really was quite pretty if he could forget the part where she is Nohrian and was just wielding a giant axe and probably killed a lot of Hoshidans. And he planned on ignoring her, because while he could live with Elise since she was not a combat fighter, he didn’t think he could go play nice with a Nohrian general who killed people of Hoshido and came back home and smiled like nothing was wrong.

But then she reached over and absolutely smothered him, pinching his cheeks and cooing at him. And while of course he always craved affection and attention with his Hoshido family, Takumi thought that this over-the-top demonstration wasn’t much better either. Camilla seemed to look at him like a baby or a doll rather than an actual person.

He felt kind of disrespected.

Takumi sighs and picks up one of the swords in the training room. Camila had come and gone like the wind, heading off to another mission just days after she came back. Elise adored her older sister, but Takumi couldn’t help but feel that the over excessive affection put a wall between her and, well, Leon. Their relationship seemed weird. It was like they both knew they loved each other, but they held each other at an arm’s distance.

The Hoshidan royal family was made up of people who excelled at not letting people, not even family, in too close, so Takumi supposed that he could somewhat relate to the other prince.

Just a little bit though.

He was still a Nohrian.

The door to the training room slams open and Takumi is jolted out of his thoughts. A guy with very little hair and big bulky armor stands in the doorway. He looks at Takumi in surprise, as if not expecting anyone else to be here, but then a smirk appears on his face and Takumi is getting strange vibes from him and starts to feel very uncomfortable.

“Lord Leon,” the guy says, and his voice is deep and gruff. Everything about him screamed criminal. Takumi tries to scourge through his brain but he can’t seem to remember this guy’s name. His family’s and retainer’s names came easily enough to him, so Takumi could only suppose that this guy was not one of Leon’s closer companions. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I’m just practicing,” Takumi says, and that wasn’t a lie. He still hadn’t managed to get magic to work, but he had discovered that Leon wielded both tomes and swords. There weren’t very many bows that he could train from here, but he still had to keep himself in shape and ready to fight.  He was still rather proficient at swordplay, so he could use that for the time being.

He’d have to figure out something to do about the magic though, or he was in big trouble.

“King Garon has a mission for you,” the guy says, and Takumi freezes. He had known that this day would come, but he doesn’t know if he has mentally prepared himself yet. “There is a village in south that refuses to obey his orders. You are to take care of them, and I am to accompany you.” He smiles and it is all rotten teeth and bad breath that Takumi has to look away.

He supposes this is the better alternative. He wouldn’t have to deal with trying to get around killing people of his own country, and hadn’t he always been killing Nohrians anyway? But he had never had to kill civilians before, not intentionally at least, and certainly not a whole village. And even though he spread his hatred of all things Nohrian to everyone who would listen to him, that didn’t mean he necessarily meant condoning the slaughter of defenseless citizens.

He shakes himself out of these thoughts. He can’t afford to start second guessing himself, because then he knows he’ll never get anything done. Leon is also in his position, back in Hoshido, and Takumi wonders if he will kill Nohrians just because the Hoshidan royalty told him to.

“I see,” Takumi says, pushing aside all his emotional turmoil, and then he finally remembers the guy’s name, along with a feeling of unpleasantness that came with it. “Thank you for telling me, Hans.”

Hans nods and then gives him an unnerving smile. “Lord Leon, would you like to spar?”

Takumi blinks at him, and no, he really does not, but Hans is already heading to the weaponry and picks out one of the biggest axes there is, even bigger than the one Camilla had a couple days ago. Hans then picks one of the flimsiest swords Takumi has ever seen and gives it to him. “Swords have the advantage over axes, so please go easy on me, Lord Leon.”

Takumi stares down at his weapon. He doubts that this thing could beat Hans even if the other man was defenseless.

He is about to voice his complaints, but instead he becomes occupied with dodging and making sure his head isn’t cut off. Hans is seriously swinging at him like he wants to kill him, and Takumi wonders if this is how all practices in Nohr are held. In Hoshido, they used wooden weapons to spar to prevent injury, but Hans’ weapon looks very silver and very sharp.

“What are you doing?” Takumi bites out, because he can’t imagine that someone from Nohr would actually attack Nohrian royalty and disguise it as training. He knew that some of the advisors in Hoshido disliked the royalty because of difference in views and beliefs, but they would never actually resort to physical violence.

Hans, however, doesn’t seem to be about to respond and Takumi determines that the longer this keeps up, the worse it will get for him. He remembers one of Kagero’s tricks that she taught him a long time ago, for disarming foes with the element of surprise, and he goes for it.

The next time Hans swings his axe down, Takumi catches the surface with his blade and hopes that it is sturdy enough not to crack under the pressure. He pushes down slightly and twists his sword, forcing Hans’ wrists to bend at a rather weird angle, and uses that moment of hesitation to kick up.

The weapon flies behind both of them, hitting the floor with a loud thud. Takumi feels rather good about himself; he’s always heard whispers about how he could only fight afar with his bow and always needed someone to do the actual dirty close combat for him, and he feels accomplished that he has proved all of them wrong, even though they were not here to see this.

Hans looks utterly surprised, and a little angry, but he’s smirking again in no time. “As expected of Lord Leon,” he says. “Your skills are unparalleled. My apologies for attacking you without warning. King Garon wanted me to test you before went out to make sure you were ready.”

Yeah right.

Hans takes his leave, but Takumi doesn’t move, staring at the axe that he had left behind. He had gotten used to it, he supposed, after spending time with Elise and Odin and Niles, people who were certainly eccentric, but did not seem heartless and evil. Even Camilla and Xander did things for the sake of their country, and even though Takumi still hated them because of what they stood for, he understood the desire and obligation to stand by your kingdom.

Hans, though, matched his vision of the typical Nohrian. Evil, merciless and blood thirsty. Someone who clearly had no qualms about attacking even royalty if he thought it was beneficial. Takumi decided that he was going to have to watch himself around the Nohrian castle.

A week later, Leon is slowly but surely adjusting to his new life.

He has gotten used to the sunlight, the outdoor markets, and the Hoshidan culture. He is also proud to note that he has gotten fairly proficient at chopsticks, though eating rice with them still causes him grief. He’s also gotten used to the outdoors, to the walks by the pond, to the afternoons in the park.

However, despite all the nice things he has been getting in Hoshido, Leon misses his family. He misses the bubbly and energetic Elise, and his stoic but kind big brother. He even misses Camilla and her babying, and though he’s always hated it when she treated him like a child, he would trade anything he had right now to have her pinch his cheeks again.

The Hoshidan siblings are… unusually distant. He has not seen the crown prince yet, but among the two sisters, Leon could tell that they had a very different family dynamic. Sakura was the only one he saw on a daily basis, and it was nice talking to her, but she was no Elise; she was more subdued and thoughtful about the words she said, her sentences carefully filtered in her mind before she spoke.

And the older sister, Hinoka, was rarely around. Whenever she had free time, which wasn’t very often, she’d come and grab some food from the kitchen before heading out to the stables. Leon was almost a hundred percent sure that she liked being with her Pegasus more than she liked being with her siblings, because when she wasn’t practicing with her lance, she was with her horse.

It was a rather lonely feeling, having so many people around you but knowing that you were not their first priority. He wonders if Takumi felt the same.

Speaking of Takumi, he isn’t deaf to the rumors that have been circling around, the whispers and the discrete stares. He’s heard enough to build up an image of what Takumi appears like to his country. And even though he’s heard praises about his marksmanship and his occasional strategic genius—which seems to come as a surprise to everyone—Leon has also heard his fair share of bad things.

Of course, it all starts with his personality. Apparently it is fairly well-known that Takumi has a rather short fuse and ran his mouth when he was upset. How he’s always so cynical and quick to be suspicious of strangers. Leon has never met the real Takumi before, so he can’t say for sure whether these statements are true or not.

But he also hears things that hit a little too close to home. How Takumi will never compare up to his big brother. How the crown prince is mature and considerate and brave, while Takumi is immature and needs to learn to grown up. How even Sakura would make a better leader than Takumi would. How if the Fujin Yumi, the divine bow, hadn’t chosen him, he would just be a mediocre warrior.

How if he hadn’t been born into royalty, he would just be a nobody.

Leon sighs. It isn’t his problem, really, what other people think of the Hoshidan prince. No matter what, he was still the enemy, someone he would have to cut down if he wanted to win this war. But Leon felt that he was starting to understand Takumi a little bit better.

A knock on the door drew him out of his thoughts, and Leon blinks in surprise. Normally, no one came to the library when he was reading, and even his retainers always waited outside when he came here. He’s wondering if he’s supposed to get up and open the door, but it opens by itself anyway, so Leon supposes that the person outside only knocked out of politeness.

But then the crown prince steps through and Leon is speechless.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Prince Ryouma of Hoshido says, smiling slightly. He has the same imposing aura as Xander does, and he smiles just like Xander does, and he seems distant just like Xander is. “What are you reading?”

Leon holds up one of the books about Hoshidan customs that he had been reading about, wondering if it was weird that a prince would have to learn about the customs of his own country from books.

However, Ryouma simply nods. “You always really liked shogi,” he says, which makes Leon’s ears perk up. From what he can tell, it is a Hoshidan version of chess. So Takumi liked strategy games as well? “You were always very good at it as well. I haven’t seen you play recently. Do you still play?”

Leon thinks back to his quiet nights in the library, playing chess against himself because he had no one else to play with. He wonders if it’s the same for Takumi. “Not really.”

“That’s a shame,” Ryouma says, and even though Leon can tell that he means well, there is very little emotion in his voice that makes it hard to convey any sort of sympathy. He is very similar to Xander in that remark, Leon supposes, very warm yet very cold at the same time.

“Did you need something, Brother?” It feels weird to call anyone other than Xander by that title, and his heart aches a bit. Then, Leon suddenly remembers that since he hasn’t seen Ryouma all week, that meant that he must have just gotten back from a mission. “Welcome back,” he adds hastily.

Ryouma laughs. “Thank you. I trust you are well.” He is loitering the doorway, and the whole situation feels awkward. “I have returned with some news.”

Leon sits up a little straighter.

“The Nohrian army has been more aggressive lately, spreading their troops out further west,” Ryouma says, and of course Leon already knows this, because he was there when the idea was proposed. “They seem to be hastier than before, so I will head to Cheve to see if we can gain the support of the rebels. If we work together, perhaps we can stop the Nohrian forces once and for all.”

Leon, of course, does not agree with this plan of action, but he instead says, “Will you be alright going by yourself, Brother? Shall I accompany you?”

He remembers that Cheve is a rebellious Nohrian village, which meant going there would allow him to step back into Nohr, however briefly. He can’t, of course, try to find a way to talk to his siblings, because they would most likely kill him before he even had a change to explain himself. He could perhaps try Elise, but the girl was well guarded most of the time. She’d slip out of the castle sometimes using that underground passage she thought no one knew about, but there was no way he could slip out from the Hoshidan army to go underground without being noticed.

Not to mention that female retainer of hers kind of scared him a bit.

No, what he really wanted to do was to keep an eye out on Takumi, to make sure that he wasn’t destroying the kingdom while in Leon’s body. And, if necessary, he had to take him out if he became a threat to his family. This was a last resort, of course, since Leon didn’t know if their bodies and lives were linked, but he would do whatever is necessary to protect those close to him.

Ryouma, however, quashes all of his plans with a quick, “No. I will be travelling by myself.”

“But Brother—” he says, and then quickly gets cut off.

“No.” His tone is final, and Leon can feel himself deflate a little. “I will be travelling by myself. The war with Nohr is becoming more heated now, so it will not do for both Hoshidan princes to be out in Nohr and leave its people defenseless. Are we clear?”

It’s phrased like a question, but Leon has heard the phrase come out of Xander’s mouth so many times that he knows he has no say in this conversation. “Yes,” he says, and he must seem a little dejected, because Ryouma’s expression softens.

“Takumi,” Ryouma says, and Leon still has trouble adjusting to that name. Every time he is called Takumi, Leon feels like he’s just an outsider looking in, that he is reading about the story of someone else’s life. “You know that I would like to take you with me, that I would like for our entire family to go together. But we cannot afford that right now. We are in the middle of the war, and we must put Hoshido’s needs first.”

“I understand,” Leon says, because he really does, because that’s what Xander has always said to him back in Nohr.

It doesn’t mean he has to like it, though.

“Very well,” Ryouma says. “Then, there’s something I need you to do.

Takumi arrives at the village he’s supposed to punish, and it looks like he’s already too late.

There are houses burning and people running and screaming. It looks like a bloodbath and in the middle of it, he can see Hans, laughing maniacally as he swings his axe around, connecting with people and flesh and bodies. Takumi watches as he murders one of the children without remorse, in front of the pleas of the child’s parents, and Takumi feels sick.

He hates all Nohrians. That is the unwavering faith that has kept him going all these years, that has kept his resolve up and his determination alive. But he also refuses to slaughter people who cannot fight for themselves, who have already given up and are begging for their lives, regardless of their lineage.

He is a warrior, not a murderer.

“Milord!” Odin calls out, and Takumi never would’ve thought that he would be happy to see his eccentric retainer. “You forgot your book of secrets! The power of the chosen one that resides in these pages! The key to unlocking your inner power!”

Takumi glances at the book that Odin is holding and then realizes that that is his divine weapon, the one Leon was said to wield that made him so powerful and merciless. It comes as no shock that Leon’s weapon is a tome; after all, he is known as a gifted and talented mage, the best Nohr had seen in a long time. The Hoshidan scouting reports always mentioned him, and his older brother’s remarkable swordsmanship.

However, there was still the problem that Takumi has zero magic potency.

He accepts the book anyway, but like he expected, he feels no different. No fireworks. No tingling or pulsing. It feels just like a normal book to him, and he pushes down the feeling of disappointment. It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t hoping that the divine weapon would solve all of his problems.

Takumi thinks that he will simply have to go grab his sword and figure out an excuse later about why he is no longer using magic, but then he realizes that he doesn’t know what he’s going to use the sword for.

Was he going to cut down the defenseless Nohrians, like the mission dictated? Did he have a choice in the matter? He gritted his teeth. Could he really take the lives of these villagers? Was he really willing to go that far?

What scared him even more was the fact that he didn’t even know the answer to that, that he was even hesitating.

He is pulled out of his thoughts when he hears Odin running in the opposite direction from the bloodshed and he instinctively calls out to him. His retainer stops in his tracks and turns around to look at him. “Where are you going?” Takumi asks.

Odin looks thoroughly confused, and Takumi wonders if he was trying to run away. He wonders if Leon generally lets his retainer do so. “I’m doing the usual, milord!” He says, though his voice is uncertain. He is speaking normally for the first time, and the whole situation must have looked very comical to an outsider, since both of them were so utterly confused. “Unless your orders this time are different? Niles is already in the process of escorting the villagers to safety from the back, but if your orders have changed, I can inform him…” he looks at Takumi expectantly, but all he can hear are the words escorting the villagers to safety, and suddenly his heart feels so much lighter.

“No. Please proceed as usual,” Takumi says, and Odin nods and is about to turn around when Takumi cuts him off and says, “…and thank you, Odin.”

Odin looks confused, but smiles nonetheless. “Of course, my liege!” He says grandly, and Takumi can’t help but see him in a new light. “I will conquer the darkness and the villainous foes to obey your orders!” And with a flurry, he’s gone.

Takumi supposed that he might have misjudged Leon after all. Just a little bit, though.

He looks around and grimaces when he still sees Hans running around maniacally. Clutching his—Leon’s—divine weapon, he slips into the shadows, determined to do his own part in helping the villagers, even though he cannot fight with the tome he is holding.

The tome which he drops when someone knocks into him.

“Apologies, milord,” comes Niles’ rather surly voice from right next to him, and Takumi almost jumps a mile in the air.

“N-Niles, what are you doing here?” Takumi asks, trying to catch his breath because he hadn’t heard Niles approach at all. It was just like with Kagero and Saizou, who always popped up out of nowhere and managed to scare him, even after all these years.

“Odin told me to move to the inner village, so here I am,” Niles says, and even though he’s still smiling, Takumi can see that his eyes are serious. “I will report back when I have completed my mission.” And then he disappears again, into the shadows, and Takumi is really disconcerted by the lack of the sound of footsteps.

He notices the divine tome lying on the ground, open to a certain page. He can’t read any of the words on the page and he sighs. He reaches down and picks it up, his fingers grazing along the pages, and that’s when he feels it.

It starts off faint, as subtle as a heartbeat, but then it grows. He can feel it expanding outward, to his feet and his arms and his head. It feels tingly, as if there is something crawling along his skin, gathering up power and accumulating at the tips of his fingers. It feels sort of like the Fujin Yumi does when he is creating the arrows. Takumi takes a deep breath and then concentrates and releases all the energy from his hand.

The ground seems to erupt upwards where he points, leaves and branches and roots, and Takumi can’t help but stare in awe  as it glows for a little bit, and then it vanishes, just as quickly as it came.

And he can’t help but feel the childish glee inside of him, the fascination of someone who has done magic for the first time. It makes him feel powerful; with just a couple of fingers, he can summon such a powerful weapon.

There is still a tingling feeling inside of him, though that fades away as soon as he closes the book. Takumi makes a mental note that he doesn’t seem to be able to use anything other than this divine weapon—and it had to be open—but for now, that’s enough for him.

With his determination strengthened and a new spring in his step, Takumi goes forth to go help the villagers.

Leon arrives at the village he’s supposed to save, and it looks like he’s already too late.

They hadn’t been planning on stepping into Nohr. They were only supposed to do border checks and then head back to give a status report. Because of that, their troops were few in number. It was only him, his two retainers, and a couple of other foot soldiers.

He also had the Fujin Yumi, but Hinata had not handed him any arrows when he had given him the quiver, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Was he supposed to smack his enemies on the head? Somehow, Leon thought it was probably sacrilege to treat a divine weapon that way.

They had been scouting around near the border when suddenly, a ton of villagers came running out of the woods, terrified looks on their faces. One of them managed to calm down enough to say that the village next to theirs had been ransacked by Faceless and they had all escaped before their own townspeople met the same fate.

They probably didn’t know that they were speaking to Hoshidan royalty. But then again, Leon doubted they would care even if they had known. He knew that while the Nohrian upper class certainly cared about defeating their sworn enemy, the commoners only wanted enough food to get them through to the next day.

And even if he was in Takumi’s body, he was still Prince of Leon, and he still cared for his people.

He had directed his troops to the village, Oboro and Hinata following him instantly. The fact that they hadn’t protested meant that the real Takumi probably would have done the same thing as well. Leon, though, is glad that for once, he can go out and save his people in the open, rather than having to go in such a roundabout way to hide and let them escape when his father’s henchmen weren’t looking.

However, it didn’t look like there was anyone left for him to save when he got there.

“This is awful. Those damn Nohrians,” Oboro hisses. Leon wonders if this is Iago’s work, and if it is, why the mage is annihilating random villages far from the capital. Hinata’s hand is on his sword as he surveys the damage around him, and even though he isn’t as vocal as Oboro is, Leon can see just as much hatred in his eyes.

He splits them up to go search for survivors, and it isn’t until his two retainers are gone that he remembers that since he doesn’t know how to use the Fujin Yumi, he is essentially defenseless.

However, he isn’t going to call them back to protect him, so he does his part in searching for survivors, being careful to stay out of the range of any Faceless. He used to be able to command those things, back in Nohr, but he never liked them. They were mindless creatures that attacked and killed everything they saw and were completely unable to possess even a shred of morality. Unless his father absolutely demanded against it, Leon preferred to bring human soldiers instead.

He hears a whimper to his left, and he quickly heads over into the shrubs. Past the clearing, he sees a girl with brown hair, trembling in a little ball. She is still hidden from sight, but Leon knows that it is only a matter of time before she gets spotted by the Faceless.

“Hey,” he calls out, and the girl looks at him, but her eyes are dead. Her posture is lifeless, as if she has already given up, and she doesn’t even react when he steps closer to her. “Are you okay?”

“No,” she says. “My mother… my friends…”

Leon recognizes that look of anguish. It is the same anguish he has had to see on his siblings, his retainers, and even himself, when countless of their soldiers fall during battle. “I’m so sorry,” he says sincerely.

He hears the familiar growl of the Faceless, and instinctively steps in front of her. “I’m sorry, but there’s no time to grieve right now,” he tells her, and even though he is just as defenseless as she is, he says, “Stay behind me. I’ll protect you.”

Because even though he’s in Hoshido, he is still a prince, and a prince protects his people.

The girl—Mozu, she tells him later—refuses his offer though and says that she has to fight. She picks up what looks like a twig, but he supposes it’s one of those wooden lances that Xander used to use back when he was very very young. Her legs are shaking and she doesn’t look like she’d be able to scratch the Faceless with that thing, but Leon is happy to see that at least she doesn’t look dead anymore, so he allows her to join him.

It isn’t looking very good though, because they are outnumbered and they only have a twig and a quiver for weapons.

“Isn’t that a bow?” Mozu asks him, taking a step back to avoid getting hit by one of the Faceless’ swings. “Where are your arrows?”

Leon is aware of how petty he sounds when he says, “Hinata forgot to give them to me.”

Mozu looks at him weirdly, but Leon can see that while she is forcing herself to keep talking right now, she is about to reach her limit. Her legs are still shaking so much that he is a little bit worried she is going to pass out from stress alone.

However, before he can tell her to retreat, she says, “The village elders used to talk about bows with no arrows,” she says. “How the arrows were formed by determination and concentration. How the wielder had to possess extraordinary prowess to be able to even wield the bow.” She shrugs. “They’d never seen one though, so who knows if they were just making stuff up.”

Leon looks down at his quiver. And then he looks at the Faceless. He realizes Mozu’s idea is as good as any, because without that, they’re basically just sitting ducks waiting for someone to hopefully rescue them.

He holds the bow up—he’s not even really sure if he’s holding it correctly—and concentrates on his fingers, the same way he does when he is performing magic. He imagines the arrows forming as an extension to his own body, imagines a bowstring to pull back, taught against his fingers.

He hears the heavy footsteps of the Faceless approaching, but he ignores them, keeping his mind clear and curling his fingers, as if to wrap around an arrow.

And suddenly, the bowstring and the arrow materialize in front of him in a flash of light, and it is simply beautiful. He certainly understands why this is a divine weapon now; it glows in his hands and it feels very real and it is utterly stunning.

Leon pulls back the bowstring and aims as best as he can before he lets the arrow fly.

It doesn’t go exactly where he wanted it to, but it does hit the Faceless, which topples backwards. Mozu turns and stares at him in awe, and as Leon manages to make another arrow, he feels powerful. It is a different strength than his Brynhildr, but it is strength all the same, and it is mesmerizing to watch.

He manages to defeat the rest of the Faceless—with Mozu chipping in to knock one down with her lance—and he meets up with Oboro and Hinata afterwards. Mozu wants to join their army, and although his retainers are skeptical about allowing a Nohrian into their ranks, Leon welcomes her and allows her to ride home with them.

He hears her crying later, sniffling softly in her new bedroom, and he thinks that she is so strong to be able to go on after losing all her loved ones like that. He has always had nightmares about losing his siblings, about losing his retainers, about losing all those close to him. The threat of being left behind, of being alone, always gnawed at his chest, and he couldn’t bear to think what would happen to him if everyone left him all at once.

In a couple days, however, Mozu seems to put her grief behind her. He sees her working on the fields all day long, and even though she sometimes looks into the forest with a sad and longing expression, Leon can tell that she is slowly, but surely recovering.

And just like that, the Hoshidan army gains another member.

When he returns from his first mission, he is told to report to King Garon in the throne room, and suddenly his palms feel sweaty. Familiar hatred started to pulse throughout his body once more, a certain vengeance making its reappearance.

This was the man that killed his father. This was the man that destroyed the peace in Hoshido. This was the man that would continue to do so, continue his villainous conquests, until he was forcibly stopped.

However, even though he is fueled by his emotions, even though he is known to be reckless, Takumi isn’t stupid enough to think that he could attack Garon now and win. Not here in Nohr. Not with all of his advisors with him. Not with a divine weapon that he barely knew how to use.

But you just wait, Takumi thinks. I will find out your weakness and Hoshido will destroy you, Nohrian scum.

It strangely makes him feel better and quells his anger a little bit. But he still feels a little anxious and jittery as he heads to the throne room.

The corridor to the throne room seems strangely familiar, like a sense of déjà vu. Takumi frowns, because there was no way he has ever been to Nohr before, and he had kept away from Garon for the week that he had been here. When Takumi reaches the grand doors that separate the throne room from the rest of the castle, Takumi feels a pulsing in the inside of his head, as if his mind is desperately trying to get him to remember.

He pushes the door open and he sees the dark room, the thick walls, the bright throne. He sees the stone floor, the thick atmosphere, the softly glowing candles. He sees this room, and then everything comes rushing back at him.

This is the room from his premonition.

This is the room where he dies.

Takumi clutches his head as the dream comes back to him, the dream he had before he woke up in Leon’s body. It is very vague and dark; he remembers this room, he remembers being forced to the ground, he remembers the shadowy figure standing near the throne in black armor.

He couldn’t see the figure’s face in his dream but…it had to be Garon, didn’t it? Garon was going to kill him. Not now, because they weren’t alone in the dream like they were now, but he was going to kill him one day.

But why had he just gone with it? Why had he not fought? Was there something he was missing here?

A loud laugh brings him out of his thoughts and Takumi jumps; he had forgotten that Garon must have seen his little display just then. But when he looks at the Nohrian King, it doesn’t look like Garon is paying any attention to him at all. Instead, his arms are spread wide open and he is looking at the dragon figure on the ceiling above him, a maniacal grin on his face.

“F-father…?” Takumi calls weakly. The word felt foreign on his tongue. He hasn’t had a father in many years.

“Be quiet, Leon! Do not interrupt me!” Garon all but snarls at him, and Takumi takes a step back. Was this how Garon normally was? Was this how Garon normally treated his children?

“Destroy Hoshido,” Garon cackles gleefully, and Takumi feels familiar hatred rising up through him again. He is about to turn and leave the room—Garon is obviously in no mood to listen to any report he  could give, and if he stays here any longer he might actually attack the Nohrian—but two words stop him in his track.

“Destroy Nohr!”

Takumi blinks, trying to process what he just heard, but that’s all the time he gets because the door swings open behind him. A wary looking Xander enters and looks surprised to see him there, and then offers him a tired smile.

“Leon,” Xander greets. “What are you doing here?”

“I…” Takumi gestures to Garon. “I think there’s something wrong with Father.”

Xander looks like he’s about to say something, but Garon’s maniacal laughing draws his attention. Garon repeats the same words he did before, and Takumi watches as Xander looks confused, torn, and betrayed. He tries to communicate with his father, but to no avail—he is told to shut up just like Takumi was—so the two of them end up leaving without getting their audiences with the king.

Xander is silent, and Takumi would give anything to know what was going through his mind. They both heard what Garon had said about destroying both kingdoms. Was he still willing to follow his father, even when it was obvious that he wanted nothing but death and destruction?

“Xander,” Takumi says, but he gets cut off.

“Not one word out of you, Leon,” Xander says, and he looks as serious as Ryouma does before he draws his blade. “We are the loyal princes of Nohr, the sons of King Garon. We must stand firm in our resolve, and never doubt our cause.” Xander finally looks at him, and his eyes are steeled and determined. “Do you understand?”

“Y…yes…” Takumi mumbles, because he does. If something like this happened to one of his family members, if something like this happened to Ryouma, he would not let his faith in his brother waiver. He had built up too much trust to let it break just like that.

Xander sighs, and he really does look tired, like he would like nothing more than to run away from the war and never look back again. “I ran into Corrin today,” he says.

Takumi whips around to look at him. “You what?”

“I saw her today, when I was battling the Hoshidan crown prince.” At the mention of his brother, Takumi perks up. Any news about his family now was welcome. “She was speaking about invisible enemies, about a third party in this war other than just Nohr and Hoshido.”

“…and do you believe her?” Takumi asks carefully, because even though his time with Corrin hadn’t been long, he knows that she would never deliberately lie. At the same time, he knows that she is hopelessly naïve, so not everything she says is always correct, even though she always means well.

“She was being extremely vague,” Xander says, and he’s slouching, his posture giving away how truly bothered he is by the whole ordeal. “She said something about meeting at the Bottomless Canyon the day the sky changes color. And also,” Xander looks straight at him. “Camilla’s with her.”

Takumi blinks in surprise. That explains why he hadn’t seen the lilac haired woman in a couple of days. He knew that even though Hinoka loved and adored Corrin, she would not hesitate to fight her little sister in order to defend her country. If Camilla was anything like Hinoka, then it must have meant that Corrin had fought her with her little army, and she had won.

“We need to be at the Bottomless Canyon on the day the skies change,” Xander says, and Takumi wonders if this is his chance to meet up with his Hoshidan family. If Corrin was going around gathering all the members she could find, then she might do him a favor and bring Leon in his body to him. “We have until then to gather our most trusted soldiers.”

“What are you planning to do, Xander?”

Leon has fond memories of his trips to Izumo back when he was a child, back when there was no war. He remembers coming with all of his siblings, and even his father back when he was still his stern but loving self. It was a place for relaxation, to escape the pressures of the kingdom for a while, and to just enjoy each other’s presence as family.

But now, Leon doesn’t think he likes it very much anymore.

He’s sitting in an empty room, his Fujin Yumi taken, listening to the real Izana talking his mouth off about some thing or another.

It makes it worse that he’s in this situation because Zola of all people managed to trick him.

He was going to murder that backstabbing sneak once he got his hands on him.

“Prince Takumi, we’re really sorry,” Oboro says for the hundredth time. She and Hinata are sitting next to him, and both of them look utterly defeated and ashamed. “If only we had been stronger, then we could’ve protected you.”

“It was my fault too,” Leon says, because he had let his guard down, thinking that as long as he had the Fujin Yumi he was invincible. He had thought that the archduke seemed suspicious but hadn’t acted upon it until Zola showed them a whole room of hostages and made them hand over their weapons.

Not that the real archduke was much better though.

“I am so ashamed that this is happening here in Izumo!” Izana says, and Leon would’ve thought that he was actually distressed if it weren’t for the fact that he was sitting on a nice and luxurious bed that they had moved in just for him. He supposed that even Zola wasn’t stupid enough to try and start a war with a neutral kingdom. “Do you think anyone will come rescue us?”

Before he had been ordered to leave Hoshido to check in with the archduke, Ryouma had left for Cheve and Hinoka and Sakura were heading south to quell some minor skirmishes. It would be awhile before any of them noticed that they had been captured. “No.”

“Phooey,” Izana says and sulks in his little corner of glorious materialism.

Hinata is fidgeting next to him. “Prince Takumi,” he says. “Do you remember when we used to come here all the time when we were younger?”

Leon doesn’t, but he nods anyway.

“Oh yeah!” Oboro smiles, and next to her, Hinata looks pleased with himself. Leon thinks that he is a good retainer, always looking out for both his lord and his fellow retainer. He thinks of Niles, how everyone always misjudged him based on outward appearances and the flimsy words that come out of his mouth. How he actually had one of the kindest souls if one was patient enough to look for it.

He thinks of Odin, how everyone thinks of him as a weirdo and tries to steer clear of his theatrics. How he values life more than anyone else and despite this horrible war, never lets his morality waver.

He thinks of his two eccentric retainers, his two friends, who are more than he deserves. He never really noticed how much he appreciated them until now.

“We would always come here during the summer,” Hinata is still chatting, trying to lighten the mood. “Prince Takumi refused to come though.” He scrunches up his eyebrows and narrows his eyes in his best Takumi impression. “I refuse to waste time sitting in some spa when I could be practicing shooting my arrows! In the woods! All alone!”

Oboro laughs and Leon indulges them with a small smile, even though that sounded exactly like what he would do with his magic.

“And remember that time we went to the beach?” Oboro says, and the two of them seem to have no reservations about making fun of their master. He wonders if these two are to Takumi what Niles and Odin are to him. If they bonded over beach trips and outdoor visits while the Nohrians bonded over fighting and surviving.

It is rather strange that they could be so different, yet so similar.

“Princess Hinoka won some tickets, right?” Hinata laughs. “She tried to give them to you, but you kept saying that it was a waste of time and that you didn’t want to go.”

“But then we saw you staring at them later,” Oboro quips.

“When we caught you, you quickly threw the tickets out the window,” Hinata continues.

“Your face was so red.”

“You were stammering so much.”

“We told you that you should go if you wanted to,”

“But of course you wouldn’t, and then you said,”

“’It’s not like I wanted to go enjoy the sun or anything like that anyway!” They chorus together.

Leon is sure he is going to die from second hand embarrassment.

“Oh man, those were the good days,” Hinata continues when Leon doesn’t say anything. “Before the war, we could go anywhere and do anything we wanted to.”

There is a silence. “Do you think we’ll be able to go back to that?” Oboro asks, but her question is directed at Leon. “Do you think that after the war ends, everything will be alright?”

Leon thinks about this all the time. About what will happen when the war ends, whether they are victorious or not. “I don’t know,” he says truthfully. “But that’s what we’re fighting for.”

And it’s not a definite answer, but there are very few definites in war, and both his retainers look satisfied with his respones.

He is about to say something else when the door to their room opens, and a familiar voice floats into the room. “A-archduke?”

“Have you come to save us?” Izana jumps up, and poor Sakura is so scared she looks like she wants to do nothing other than flee.

“Y-yes,” she says instead. “I’m sorry we took so long.”

“Don’t worry about it! I had a grand time.” Izana gestures toward the bed that he was given. “Oh! That reminds me! Your brother is here too!”

Sakura looks up, surprised. “B-big Brother?”

“Hi,” is all Leon manages to get out, before Sakura barrels into him and wraps her skinny arms around his waist. The action strongly reminds him of Elise, and he thinks that the two of them could have been the best of friends in another world.

“I’m so glad you’re safe!” She says, and she smiles up at him as she leads them out of the room that they’re in. “Big Sister is the one who knocked out all the enemies though, so you have to go thank her too!”

“Princess Hinoka is here?” Hinata speaks up, looking confused. Leon doesn’t understand why Hinoka is here either. Both he and Ryouma weren’t at the castle, so it makes no sense for the Hoshidan tactician to send both princesses away to Izumo as well.

“Sakura?” calls a very familiar voice, and Leon freezes.

She is exactly like he remembers her. Her long white hair, her pale skin, her small nose. He remembers her black hairband and her armor and her red eyes.

She stops, looking as surprised as he feels. “Takumi?”

He remembers the face of his sister.

“Corrin,” he says.

Chapter Text

This is the first time he has seen her since that day, that faithful day when she turned away from them. He can still remember her back, one that was once so small, now determined and resolved. He remembers chasing after that back all throughout his childhood, thinking that if he ever caught up, he would receive Xander’s love and Camilla’s doting just like she did.

He never did.

He remembers feeling betrayed when she chose to side with neither kingdom and instead chose to carve her own path. Perhaps he was only feeling jealous that she could do what he couldn’t, that she could break free and create her own destiny while he was forever bound by family and obligations.

He remembers hating her for leaving them, for breaking up their family. He remembers how Camilla shut herself in her room for days, how Xander stopped smiling, how Elise ran away to her underground home more often. He remembers the same question hanging over everyone’s head—no one dared to voice it, but it was on their minds all the same.

If ordered, can we really kill her?

“Takumi,” she says, and even though it isn’t his name that leaves her lips, he remembers his sister. He remembers her kindness and her strength, her merciless teasing about his clothes. He remembers her curled up against him as they read books in the library late into the night. He remembers her smile of happiness every time he visited her in that lonely tower, how she cherished every book he gave her. He remembers her scrunched up nose and her pout and her crimson red eyes.

He remembers Corrin.

“What are you doing here?” He asks Sakura instead, because looking at Corrin brings up too many feelings and memories.

“Well… I decided that I would fight alongside Corrin,” Sakura explains. “She says that there is something much worse than Nohr’s aggression going on. She can’t explain, but I trust her. Takumi, p-please trust her too!”

Leon turns to look at Corrin, who is looking back at him like she’s already expecting him to refuse. And he didn’t blame her; it sounded extremely vague and sketchy, and the whole thing reeked of a trap.

But… this was Corrin. And as much as he claimed to dislike her, to hate the cruel things that she did to his family, he still knew his sister better than most. He knew that she would never intentionally deceive them, would always try to reach the best possible outcome, would always give her hardest. He didn’t think she would lie about something like this.

Besides, these unknown enemies seemed like just what he was searching for. If the war was indeed caused by a third party, then it was just as possible for this soul switch fiasco to have also been caused by them as well.

Not to mention, if Corrin was planning to go around and gather people from both armies to join her little party, there was a chance that he could meet Takumi along the way. And that was his biggest priority; once he met the Hoshidan prince, he would decide what he had to do, whether it be stop him or work together with him.

Leon gives a few halfhearted grumbles to make it seem like he isn’t too overeager, before they end up joining Corrin’s army. Oboro and Hinata come too, of course, and Oboro isn’t giving him the stink eye so he supposes that she doesn’t oppose his decision.

The two of them leave him alone, though, when Corrin approaches. She is still treading very carefully around him, and hesitancy is something he’d never thought he’d associate with Corrin.

“Takumi,” she says softly, as they begin to walk out of Izumo together. “How have you been?”

“Fine,” he says, because he’s mostly been cooped up in the Hoshido castle anyway. He’s spent a lot of time having an identity crisis, to be honest, but she doesn’t need to know that. “What about you?”

“Oh, the usual,” she says, trying to sound nonchalant, but she has never been good at hiding her excitement. “Jumped off a couple of bridges, teleported to some astral plane, stuff like that.”

“You what?!”

“I jumped off—“

“No, I got that part, and never mind about that,” Leon says, because Corrin has always been rather reckless and he doesn’t want to hear about another one of her near death experiences ever again. “What was that second thing?”

“Oh, the astral plane?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I don’t really know,” she scratches the back of her head sheepishly. “Lilith tried to explain it to me, but it was all rather confusing and you know how I’m not the best at explaining things anyway…”

“Try me.”

Corrin looks at him in surprise, but then she laughs, sounding more like her usual self. “Sakura told me you were always hungry for knowledge,” she says gently. “My younger brother in Nohr is actually the same way. He’d have to know how everything in the world works.” She laughs again, and Leon can feel himself begin to loosen up, and it feels just like old times again. “I wonder how he’s doing now…”

Fine, thanks for asking, he thinks. But outwardly, he says, “I bet I’m better than him at everything,” and it feels kind of weird, to be competing with himself, but he supposes that he’s the winner here in either case, so he’ll let it slide.

“Hmm…” Corrin taps her chin. “Well, you are a much better marksman than he is. Don’t tell him I said this, but I think he picked up magic because he couldn’t aim, so he figured the easiest thing to do was to just blast the whole area.”

Leon wants to sputter that that is definitely not true, but he can’t without seeming too suspicious, so instead he forces out a laugh at his own expense and suddenly this isn’t very fun anymore, so he switches the conversation back to the astral plane.

She tries to explain, but after a while it seems like he knows more than she does. He remembers that they used to study together, and she would never memorize dates or names, opting instead to learn only the big picture.

It was a wonder how she hadn’t gotten anyone in this army killed yet.

They end up outside the building, and Leon breathes in fresh air for the first time in what feels like forever. There are horses waiting for them, and he can see Sakura’s two retainers bringing three of them over. He is about to turn to Corrin to ask where they were going, when a very familiar voice speaks up.

“And who is this?”

“Oh! I have to introduce you two!” Corrin beams, pulling Leon over. “This is my younger brother, Prince Takumi of Hoshido! And this is my older sister, Princess Camilla of Nohr!”

Leon stares wordlessly at her.

“Not very talkative, is he?” Camilla says, looking over at him. He is relieved to see that she isn’t harmed, but it is weird, for her to look at him without a trace of recognition on her face.

“Er…” Corrin says. “Actually, he normally is…”

“Hi,” Leon finally manages to say, because he fears that if he keeps his mouth open for too long, words will spill out. His feelings of relief at seeing his sister threaten to overflow, and it takes all his willpower just to push them down.

“Hello dear. I look forward to working with you,” she smiles at him, and Leon is so very thankful to see that it’s her normal smile, and not the one that she uses right before she cuts down her enemies. “There’s no need to be so wary. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

He trusts his sister, of course, but he can feel Oboro literally glaring holes through his back at Camilla. And even though he was her brother, he was still Prince Takumi on the outside and he had a role to keep up.

“Well, I don’t trust you,” he says, and it pains his heart when Camilla’s smile drops and her eyes are a little sad.

“Takumi!” Corrin says, appalled.

“That’s alright dear,” Camilla says. “Perhaps a little talk will allow us to smoothen out our differences.”

“Anything you want to say to Prince Takumi, you can say in front of us!” Oboro snarls, suddenly appearing in front of him. Hinata also comes up from behind him, and though he doesn’t say anything, his hand is on his sword too.

Behind Camilla, he can see Beruka silently getting ready for battle. Selena is muttering curses under her breath, but she too goes to retrieve her sword. Corrin, meanwhile, is looking back and forth between both sides anxiously, as if unsure what to do.

He doesn’t want to fight Camilla though, so he says, “It’s fine. I’ll go talk with her.” Oboro looks like she’s about to protest, but she changes her mind last minute and instead opts to glare at Beruka, who stares silently back. Corrin smiles thankfully at him, and he feels a little better, as they all leave him and Camilla to themselves.

“You are… Prince Takumi, correct?” Camilla peers over at him once they’re alone, and it sounds very weird to hear that name come out of her mouth.

“Takumi is fine,” he says, because he has never ever heard her use formalities with him, and he didn’t want to start now.

She nods. “You remind me of my baby brother.”

“What?” Leon says, slightly irked by the fact that she still refers to him as a baby.

“Oh, he’s as cynical as you are,” she smiles at him. “You’d have to do a lot to get him to trust you. But he’s the voice of reason in our family. I wonder how he’s doing right now.” She sighs. “I didn’t really leave him in the best situation back home.”

Leon looks at her. Even though she always babies him, she still cares extremely for him, as well as the rest of their family. She dotes on them as a way of showing her affection, as a way of making sure they can feel her love.

And he trusts Camilla with his life. She isn’t from Hoshido, so there is no reason why she would betray him. This is his big sister. She would listen, like she usually does, and she would understand.

And even though his hands are trembling slightly—probably due to the fear of being rejected—he grabs her wrist and looks her square in the eye and says, “Camilla, I have something to tell you.”

Takumi spends his days in the castle practicing his magic, trying to get it to flow through his body and out his fingertips. And even though he is obviously not as proficient with it as he is with the Fujin Yumi, he can feel himself improving at an extraordinary rate for someone who didn’t seem to have a single magic bone in his body.

Divine weapons were incredible things.

He had noticed that Brynhildr didn’t require accuracy anywhere close to what the Fujin Yumi did, but it was harder to control. Whereas with his bow, he simply created the arrow and aimed and fired, the Brynhildr required him to actually focus on how much energy he was putting into it. It was a rather strange dynamic, but he always liked challenges, so he continued practicing with it whenever he had free time.

He meets his first mage a couple days later.

“Lord Leon,” the man bows slightly, and the first thing Takumi notices is that strange headpiece he’s wearing. “I trust that your mission went well?”

Takumi thinks back to the last mission, when he rescued the dancers of the Opera House in Cyrkensia. “Yes.”

“Good,” the man smiles, and Takumi is getting Hans vibes from him, but he seems to be better at hiding his bloodlust.

“Um…” Takumi says, when the man shows no sign of leaving. “Did you need something from me?”

“Oh no, I just wanted to observe your training,” he says. “As the king’s advisor, it is only right for me to know how his sons are doing.”

Takumi blinked. The king’s advisor?

“Besides,” the man says, giving him a calculated look. “I was worried about your wellbeing, Lord Leon.”

“My wellbeing?”

“Yes, it must have been quite a shock to hear that your two sisters both turned traitor.”

Takumi looks at him in surprise, the information filtering through his brain. He knew about Camilla, but… “Elise left…?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” The man asks, too dramatically not to be an act. “Yes, she went missing a couple days ago, along with those two retainers of hers.”

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen her in a while. But he had simply assumed she needed space like most teenage girls, and besides, he had been too focused on training with Brynhildr to pay her much attention.

He wonders if it’s his fault that she left.

The man looks over and eyes his tome a little hungrily. “Are you training with the Brynhildr?”

“Yes,” Takumi says, and he wants to take a step back when the man runs his hands over the pages.

“It’s beautiful,” the man murmurs, still staring at it almost obsessively, and Takumi wonders if he’s going to fight him just like Hans did.

Before he can find out, though, the door slams open and a mousy looking man falls through. The man in front of him lets go of the Brynhildr, and Takumi quickly takes a step back.

“Zola?” The man says, peering down at the bundled heap on the floor.

“Iago!” says the mousy looking man. “I need to speak to King Garon right now!”

Takumi watches as Iago narrows his eyes. “His majesty is occupied at the moment,” he says. “He wasn’t expecting you back so early, and certainly not emptyhanded.”

“It wasn’t my fault that that traitor decided to show up!” Zola says, dusting himself off. Now that he’s not on the ground, Takumi can see that he has injuries all over his body, scratches and bruises marring his skin, but no apparent fatal wounds.

“The traitor?” Iago says. “As in, Princess Corrin?”

Takumi’s head whips up at the sound of his sister’s name.

“Who else?” Zola says. “I was just getting to the good part too! I just captured that young Hoshidan prince and that fool of an archduke, but she just had to come in and ruin everything!”

Takumi tenses. That fool Leon allowed himself to be captured? In my body?!

Iago didn’t look impressed. “If I recall correctly, Princess Corrin only has a very small number of troops,” he says. “Are you telling me that you still couldn’t defeat them, even with the generous army that His Majesty gifted you with?”

“They had Princess Camilla on their side!” Zola argues. “She’s gaining members from both armies! I even saw the youngest princess of Hoshido, but she always stayed in the back and didn’t fight.”

Sakura was with Corrin?

Takumi supposed that that wasn’t surprising. After all, she had always had the biggest heart in their family, and if there was anyone who would listen to Corrin, it would be Sakura. But that didn’t mean that Sakura’s judgement was necessarily correct, and Takumi still wasn’t sure whether or not Corrin’s little army was trustworthy or not.

“And what about this Hoshidan prince you say you captured?” Iago asks.

“I barely escaped with my life! They probably freed him or something.”

That probably meant that Leon had joined up with Corrin’s army. That meant that the easiest way to meet up with him would be to go after Corrin under the premise of an attack, and find a way to speak to Leon.

…and then what? What was he going to do once he finally met Leon? Were they supposed to talk it out? Takumi still didn’t trust him, not one bit; Leon could’ve easily orchestrated this whole thing. But what was his purpose? If he was going to join Corrin’s army, then surely he didn’t need to do it in Takumi’s body?

He would figure that out later, he supposed.

Iago was still interrogating Zola. “Are you saying,” he hisses. “That you achieved absolutely no results, even though His Majesty went out of his way to give you resources? That you have wasted his precious time?”

Zola is looking anywhere but at him. “But I got him some valuable information!” He argues. “Let me see King Garon right now! I need to deliver my report!”

“You won’t be needed for that,” Iago says, pulling out his own tome, and Takumi watches as Zola’s expression turns terrified. “I will inform him for you.”

“No, please don’t—“ Takumi watches in horror as magic flies out of Iago’s hand, a strong wind magic, and hits Zola square in the chest. The mousy looking man flies back and hits the wall with a deafening crack, before he falls to the ground and moves no more. Takumi doesn’t even have to go check to know that he’s dead.

“My apologies that you didn’t get the pleasure of killing him yourself, Lord Leon,” Iago says, snapping his tone shut, eyes half lidded. Takumi wills himself not to feel sick, not to show weakness in front of this man who looked like he was going to pounce on him at any moment. “But there’s no need to sully your hands with such filth.”

Takumi looks over at Zola’s body and thinks that no man deserved a death like this, a death by his own ally. He thinks of the merciless look of glee on Iago’s face, and has no doubt that the man would do the same to him if he could.

He suddenly feels like this castle is constricting him, the walls closing in and trapping him here for eternity. He has to find an excuse to get out of here, before he goes insane, or before someone kills him.

He looks at Iago. “Where is my father?”

Iago looks surprised. “What?”

“Where is my father?”

“The throne room,” Iago gets out. “But Lord Leon, why do you need to see him right now?”

“I’m going to request a mission,” Takumi says. “I’m going out to kill that traitor.”

They make it to Port Dia, on their way to Mokushu. Apparently one of Ryouma’s retainers had been last spotted there before she went missing, and of course Corrin had to save everyone, so they were all being dragged there.

Camilla’s standing next to him, polishing her axe, as they wait for the ship to come. Corrin is trying her best to distract Oboro to give him and Camilla some time together. She definitely had the wrong impression about them. When he told her he wanted to talk with Camilla alone some more, she had smiled and given him her best wink before going off to try to distract the four retainers.

Oh well. It wasn’t his problem once they got back to their original bodies and Takumi suddenly found himself with rumors about an alleged forbidden romance between him and Princess Camilla of Nohr.

“You’re holding up rather well,” Camilla comments, glancing over at him. “Does anyone else suspect that you’re not the same person?”

“I don’t think so,” Leon says, looking over at Hinata and Oboro. He still couldn’t get a good reading on the two of them sometimes. “Could you?”

“No,” she laughs, and then leans over to ruffle his hair, but it’s too long and her hand gets caught in the ponytail, so she stops. “Your acting is quiet excellent, baby brother.”

“Don’t call me baby brother.”

“I suppose it is weird to call you that when I’m looking at that face,” Camilla admits.

“That’s not the problem here. Camilla, I’m not a baby anymore.”

“But you’ll always be a baby brother to me!” She says, and he sighs, because if it were that easy to change her, he would’ve succeeded years ago.

“How are things at the castle?” He asks her quietly. “With Xander and Elise?”

“Elise is fine. She was still happily fawning over you—oh, well I guess it was actually Prince Takumi,” Camilla says. “The poor soul was being dragged around to play tea party every day. Xander, of course, is still Xander.” She smiles reassuringly at him. “Don’t worry, you know how strong he is.”

It does make him feel a little better, but he’d prefer if he could see them face to face. “You couldn’t tell that it wasn’t me when you saw me?” he asks, feeling a little offended.

“I didn’t see you for very long, but from what I remember, Prince Takumi did a very good job in your place.” Leon groans. “Though with that retainer of yours snooping around, he might not be able to keep his identity hidden for much longer.”

“Niles?” Leon frowns. “Odin may not look like it, but he’s very observant as well.”

“Leon, Niles knows everything about your life.”

“…that’s true.”

Camilla hums noncommittedly, and they lapse into a comfortable silence. It had only been a short while, but he’d forgotten what it felt like to talk with his family, to be able to communicate without worrying about his identity.

He had been a little scared when he had revealed the truth to her, scared that she wouldn’t believe him.

But she always believed him.

“Camilla,” Leon says. “Why are you here?”

“What do you mean?” she asks slowly.

“I mean, I’m here because I need to meet Takumi, and this was the easiest way. But why are you here? Is it because you lost to Corrin?”

Camilla smiles. “You and I both know that that’s not the only reason why you’re here.” She cuts him off before he can protest. “Yes, I am here partially because I lost. But Corrin is my precious little sister, and I believe in her. My defeat simply allowed me to follow that belief. I think it’s the same as with you.”

Leon sighs, because she was always knew everything.

“Hey!” He hears Corrin call out in the background. She sounds surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see you, silly!” comes a familiar voice, and he can tell that Camilla recognizes it too, because she looks just as shocked as they both turn around.

“How did you get Leon and Xander to let you leave?” Corrin asks the girl, whose arms are wrapped around her waist in a tight hug.

“It’s simple! I just didn’t tell them!” Elise giggles. “I’m here to join you, Big Sister! And I won’t take no for an answer!”

“Elise,” Camilla calls, walking toward her two sisters. Leon can’t do anything but watch, and even though he wants nothing more than to go over with her, it is not his place, not while he is in this body. “It’s too dangerous here. I won’t allow it.”

“Big Sister Camilla! I knew I’d find you here too! I knew you two weren’t traitors!” She says excitedly, jumping over to give Camilla one of those bear hugs Leon had become well accustomed to. “They were saying all kinds of mean things about you two at the castle, but I knew they weren’t true!”

“You have to go back right now,” Camilla says sternly. “If you apologize, Xander will forgive you.”

Elise pouts and crosses her arms. “I’m not going back! You can’t make me!”

“Elise, you are behaving like a child right now.” Out of the corner of his eyes, Leon can see Sakura peering curiously at their newest addition. “We’re here to fight.”

“Well, so am I! And I’m sick and tired of doing nothing at the castle!” Leon recognizes that glint in her eyes all too well. He’s never won an argument with her after she becomes like that, and apparently Camilla knows that too, because she sighs.

“Nothing I say is going to make you go back to the castle?”

“Nope!”

Camilla looks over at Corrin.

“Fine,” Corrin relents. “But stay behind me, okay? I’ll protect you.” She smiles down at her. “I’m glad you’re here with us, Elise.”

“Me too! Now if only Big Brother Xander and Leon would stop being so stubborn and come join us, then we could be family again!” Camilla shoots Leon a small smile, and he turns away, determined not to look at her.

Elise finally notices Sakura and zooms over to her, scaring the poor girl. “Oh wow! You look like you’re my age!” She says, clutching Sakura’s hand. Sakura’s retainer has her hand on her sword, and Effie looks like she’s going to start a fight as well, but neither of the two girls notice. “I’m Elise! It’s nice to meet you! Let’s be friends!”

“Yes, let’s—“ is all Sakura manages to get out before Elise starts talking again.

Camilla makes her way back to him and lowers her voice. “I would hold off on telling Elise,” she murmurs. “She’s not the best at keeping secrets.”

He knows that all too well, so he nods.

Still, he can’t help but feel a little sad as he watches Elise go around and make new friends, talking cheerfully to all these new people that she is meeting, but never once does she look his way.

They’re heading to Mokushu, apparently. King Garon had waved him off, which he took as permission, and Iago grumbled out that they were probably heading for the ninja village. It was currently under Garon’s rule, so Takumi supposed that he didn’t need to worry about having to fight them.

He had only brought his two retainers and a couple of foot soldiers. Most of the army still belonged to Xander, and he hadn’t told him about his plans. He knew that they had originally agreed to wait until the day the skies changed, but he suddenly felt as if he couldn’t wait that long. Corrin had literally gotten Leon for him and they were heading for the same location. He couldn’t risk someone like Hans or Iago getting to them first.

They are riding along, him and Odin and Niles. Odin is chattering away as always, and Takumi is getting better at understanding him, but he’s been wondering where Leon picked up such an eccentric retainer. Niles is riding alongside him, but is strangely quiet today, which made Takumi tense up.

A silent Niles was never a good Niles.

“Lord Leon!” calls one of the soldiers. “We are halfway to Mokushu, sir, so it’d probably be best to find a place to rest for the day, so that we can arrive tomorrow.”

“I’m on it, my liege!” Odin perks up, excited to do something other than trot along on his horse. Before Takumi can say anything, he speeds up to the front of the pack and begins speaking animatedly to the poor bewildered soldiers.

 That left him and Niles, and to be honest, he would’ve been perfectly content with the silence. While he couldn’t deny that Niles was an exceptional fighter, he was always so sly and Takumi never knew what he was thinking, as if behind that eyepatch of his hid a world of secrets. He couldn’t get a grasp on his character, as if Niles knew what he was doing, and darted away every time that he got close to catching him.

Unfortunately, Niles had other plans, and he slowed his horse down to a trot so that they were riding side by side.

“Milord,” he says. “What are you planning to do once we get to Mokushu? Do we have orders to kill?”

“No,” he says, because the last thing he needs is for Niles to snipe his real body. “We will talk first. We don’t need to get caught between Corrin’s army and the ninjas. Even though Mokushu is under my father’s rule, I don’t quite trust them yet.”

“Hmm,” Niles hums. “I have to say, I’m impressed.” He glances at Takumi from the corner of his good eye. “That sounded exactly like something Milord Leon would have said.”

Takumi almost falls off his horse. “W-what?”

Niles’ lips curl up. “Bingo~”

Takumi can feel his heart pounding and his palms are sweaty and he is as scared as he was when he faced Garon for the first time. The way Niles is looking at him reminds him of the way a predator looks at its pretty. “What are you talking about?” he manages to get out.

“You can’t think that you can trick me when it comes to Lord Leon,” Niles says. “I know him too well. Now, tell me what you have done to him, or you’ll find yourself without a head.”

Takumi forces himself to calm down and makes himself look Niles in the eye. “Will you shoot your master dead here? In the open?” He motions toward the other soldiers. “With everyone watching?

“They would believe me. No one knows Lord Leon better than I do,” Niles says, but he does take his hand off of his bow, and Takumi let’s out a sigh of relief. He’s glad he doesn’t have to publically duel Niles right now, not when his mind is on other things.

“How did you figure it out?” Takumi asks, because he might as well drop the act. Niles doesn’t look like he’s the type to fall for lies, and even though Takumi doesn’t trust him as a person, he trusts Niles as a retainer. And as long as Niles knew that the two bodies were connected, he wouldn’t have to worry about any arrows hitting him while he was sleeping.

At least, that’s what he hopes.

Niles leans back on his horse, smirking. “I had my suspicions on the first day,” he says. “Your little act was impressive, but nothing can fool me. The way you wiped your mouth with your napkin, the way you sat in a chair, the way you flipped through your books… it was all different.”

Takumi pales. “Oh.”

Niles glances over at him. “Answer my previous question. Who are you, and what have you done to Lord Leon?”

Takumi inwardly debates how much he can tell him. “I seem to have switched bodies with him,” he admits at last. He decides to keep his real identity a secret. “I don’t know how it happened, so I want to meet up with him and see if he does.”

“So that’s why you’re going to Mokushu,” Niles hums. “I knew there must have been a hidden motive. You’ve been avoiding all mentions of Princess Corrin for the entire week.” Takumi sweat drops, wondering just how closely Niles had been watching him. “I suppose this works out for me as well.”

“Yeah,” Takumi swallows. “So, can we, you know, stay quiet about this whole thing?”

Niles smirks. “That must mean that Lord Leon is someone in the position to travel with Princess Corrin. He’s probably in the Hoshidan army.” His lips curl upwards. “Then… Prince Takumi of Hoshido?”

Takumi nearly falls off his horse a second time. “H-how?!” He sputters.

Niles laughs. “Right again~”

Takumi grumbles, because at this point his whole ego is in tatters. “Did you know all this time and just didn’t say anything?”

“Perhaps,” Niles smirks. “But that deliciously shocked look on your face when I told you just now made the wait worth it. I never thought I’d ever see that look on milord’s face. It’s delightful.”

Takumi just stares wordlessly at him.

“That said, I am willing to work together with you right now since we share the same goal. I also believe it’s beneficial to you to keep Lord Leon’s body out of harm’s way.” Niles narrows his eyes. “But the second that changes, you’ll find yourself with another enemy. Are we clear?”

Takumi sits up a little straighter, because he’s not going to let this Nohrian retainer think he can get away with threatening and pushing him around. “I’d like to see you try,” he fires back haughtily.

“Heh,” Niles says, and Takumi has no doubt that the man is going to be watching him like a hawk for the remainder of their trip. “There are ways I can deal with you without harming Lord Leon’s body.”

“Like what?”

Niles winks saucily at him and Takumi decides he really doesn’t want to know.

“Oh, and,” Niles says. “A little gift for you. You haven’t asked for tomatoes all week, and even Odin is starting to get suspicious. Be careful, will you? I don’t need King Garon bringing down the axe on milord’s pretty little head.”

“Tomatoes?” Takumi asked, confused.

“Yes,” Niles smirks, and he proceeds to describe Leon eating tomatoes in such a graphic way that Takumi decides he’s had enough of Niles for a lifetime.

Elise is complaining about the heat, but she doesn’t want anyone to treat her like a baby, so she doesn’t whine too much. Leon walks in the back of the pack, watching her as her braids sway, remembers what it was like back when she was a baby and he tied her hair up for her.

Camilla is walking next to Corrin, and the three sisters are laughing together. Leon wonders if Xander will come, if he will go against their father’s wishes and trust in Corrin. He also wonders what will happen if Xander doesn’t, if he puts his pride and loyalty in Nohr and decides to fight. He wonders if Camilla and Elise will fight him.

He wonders if he himself will.

“Y’know, you can just go up and talk to her,” Mozu says, appearing out of nowhere next to him. He nearly jumps.

“Who?”

“Lady Elise,” Mozu says, gesturing toward where Elise is putting both her hands on her hips and pouting. “You’ve been staring at her ever since we met her at the port. I’m sure she’ll be willing to talk to you.”

Leon doesn’t know what’s worse, her catching him staring or her insinuating that he might have a crush on his little sister.

“It’s nothing,” Leon says quickly, because if any rumors spread about him and Elise, Camilla is sure to tease him forever. Not to mention if Elise actually takes those rumors to heart… ugh. “She just reminds me of my sister, that’s all.”

Mozu glances over at Sakura, who is chatting quietly with Azura. “If you say so.”

Leon’s glad that Elise decided to come join them, though. She and Sakura had hit it off right away, and Elise was so excited to get to know another princess her age that she wouldn’t let Sakura out of her sights the day before. Sakura, even though she had been stammering and shy in the beginning, eventually warmed up to her and the two of them spent all day yesterday picking flowers they found by the side of the road.

Mozu is staring to her left at some farmland that they pass. “This reminds me of my village,” she says softly, and Leon remembers when he first met her, when he first learned how to use the Fujin Yumi. It felt like so long ago, even though it had only been a couple of days.

“Did you like it there?” Leon asks, because it was not a secret that Nohrian land was usually barren and hard to grow stuff on. It was why they were fighting this war in the first place, to get more land and to get more food.

“Oh, of course! It was home,” Mozu smiles warmly. “It wasn’t anything as grand as the royal castle, but we were lucky to get decent soil. Stuff didn’t always grow, but when it did, we had a major celebration and all the village elders would cook up something nice for all of us to eat.”

He visited villages once in a while back when he was still the prince of Nohr, not as much as Elise did, but still a decent amount. While Camilla and Xander were more focused on war duties, it fell on him as the second prince to make sure that there was still a kingdom to support once the war ended. However, he dealt more with the logistic side of things. Elise dealt more with people, and she would always take her time to visit nearby villages and converse with them and find out how they were doing.

He remembers once, she came back and complained to Xander about the living conditions of the people. She had been pestering Xander, telling him how they had no food and no soil and no hope for the seasons to come, and even when he asked her to stop, she had kept going.

That was the first time Leon heard his big brother raise his voice at Elise, and she never brought up the topic again.

He knew it was on all of their minds. He knew that neither Xander nor Camilla wanted their people to starve, and they’d want nothing more than to swoop in and magically fix the whole situation. But they couldn’t, and that was why they were forced to wage war on Hoshido. Because if they didn’t, their people would slowly die painful deaths, and that was something it was his duty as a prince to prevent.

Leon glances over at his sister. “I’m sure Princess Camilla will listen to any suggestions you might have. Why don’t you go talk to her?”

Mozu fidgets. “The Nohrian royalty are very distant,” she explains. “Some people say they don’t care about their people, and that’s probably not true, but they’ve been absent for most of the time so it feels weird to ask them now.”

He supposes it was only fair that they saw them like that. “I see,” he says.

“I heard Lady Elise goes around though and talks to people,” Mozu continues. “She can’t really do much except smile and chat, but it’s a nice thought. Not everyone appreciates her visits, though, and some say that she’s just trying to flaunt her royal status.”

“That’s not how she is,” says Leon before he can catch himself.

“I know,” says Mozu, and if she didn’t think that he had a crush on her before, she definitely does now with the way she is grinning at him.

Leon sighs and is about to excuse himself when Mozu suddenly says, “Oh, and Lord Leon sometimes comes around too! Though that’s much rarer, so I’ve only heard stories.”

Leon blinks, because his visits have been mostly obscure from the public view, hidden away while he goes about his business. He has never talked to any of the people, nor has he appeared before them. He’s surprised that they even saw him.

“Does he?” Leon asks, trying not to sound too interested.

“Yes, and I heard that he tries to hide too,” Mozu says. “Some people say that he comes around once in a while and works his magic and does his best to grow some food for some of the villagers. He never stays and talks to anyone, so he never gets any credit, but it’s awfully nice of him to do so!”

“Right?!” They both jump when Elise appears in front of them. “Isn’t my big brother the best?”

Camilla walks over to them, giving Leon a small smile. “Elise, dear, it’s not polite to eavesdrop.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She doesn’t look sorry as she glances over at Mozu, who looks a little overwhelmed by this sudden addition of royalty. “But don’t tell him I said that he’s the best! He’ll let it get to his head. His ego is already big enough.”

“Now, now, I’m sure he’d appreciate it,” Camilla says, and she is looking far too amused. Leon wonders if he really should have told her.

Elise seems to notice him for the first time and smiles widely at him, and she smiles in the same way to anyone, to her family, to her retainers, to her subjects, to her enemies. Leon manages a weak smile back.

“Hello! I don’t think we met before yet! I’m Elise, and I’m an adult!”

Leon nearly laughs and bites back an ‘adults don’t bring their teddy bears to war’ and instead says, “I’m Takumi. Nice to meet you, Princess Elise.”

Elise looks at him, her mouth open wide. “Oh wow! You’re much nicer than my brother! He’s a big meanie!” She leans in, like she’s going to tell him a super big secret. “Did you know that when we were younger, he used to pull my pigtails all the time? He’s a big bully!”

Leon resists the urge to roll his eyes and remind her that he only did that because she was squirming around when he was trying to put her hair up and does every member in his family feel the need to badmouth him behind his back? “I see. That sounds terrible.”

“Right?! And then there was this one time when he—”

Camilla cuts her off before she can say anything else, looking far too amused with the situation. Leon often wonders why she and Niles weren’t partners-in-crime. “Now, Elise, why don’t you run along and go play with Princess Sakura? I’m sure she’s very excited to spend some time with you.”

“You just want Prince Takumi all to yourself!” Elise sticks her tongue out, but she does as she’s told and launches herself at the Hoshidan princess.

“Don’t say anything,” Leon says as soon as she’s out of earshot, and Camilla lets out a small chuckle, but thankfully lets the conversation slide.

“Who were you just talking to?” Camilla asks, and Leon realizes that Mozu has fled over to where Corrin is leaning against a tree, and the two of them are talking in hushed voices.

“Her village got attacked by Faceless,” Leon says. “She’s the only one left.”

“Poor thing,” Camilla murmurs.

“Camilla,” Leon says, looking over at her. “Can we really help them if we win this war? Now that we’re not fighting Hoshido, what are we going to get if we win? What are we fighting for?”

Camilla is quiet for a moment as she mulls over his questions. “I don’t know if we can help them,” she says finally. “But we are trying, and even though they may hate us for being so distant, for seeming uncaring, it is all we can do right now.”

Leon nods, because it sounds very vague, but there was nothing else she could’ve said.

“As for what we’re fighting for…” Camilla gestures over to Corrin. “I’m fighting for my precious sister, of course.” Then she looks him straight in the eye. “And now, I’m also fighting for you, dear brother.”

Takumi wakes up smelling blood.

It is the dead of the night, and they decide to camp out before heading to Mokushu the next day. Takumi spent a long time tossing and turning in his makeshift bed, thinking about what will happen once he sees Corrin tomorrow, once he sees his real family tomorrow, once he sees Leon tomorrow.

What will they say to each other? Will they fight? Will they agree to work things out? Does Leon have a plan on how to switch their bodies back? He himself has spent a long time thinking and researching the issue, but he knows next to nothing about this phenomenon.

Takumi lies awake as thoughts race through his mind, as he feels slightly jittery about what the next day has in store for him. He is also a little wary that Niles will have changed his mind and try to kill him in his sleep, but the retainer is sleeping quietly next him. It seems like every time Takumi shifts and tries to get comfortable, though, the outlaw wakes up and makes some kind of snarky comment before he goes back to sleep.

Sheesh. And Takumi thought he was a light sleeper.

It had taken him a while to fall asleep, like it usually did. He used to purposely keep himself awake to avoid nightmares, and now that had become such a habit that even if he didn’t want to stay up, he ended up doing so anyway. After about two hours of tossing and turning, he managed with great difficulty to finally make himself fall asleep while counting Fujin Yumi arrows.

But he wakes up to the smell of blood.

He immediately sits up, but he can hear nothing outside, no signs of a struggle or a fight. He reaches over quietly to where he put the Brynhildr and slowly stands up. Nothing seems amiss outside, but the stench is so permeating that something must have happened.

Weren’t there guards on duty though? Why didn’t they ring the alarms?

Takumi steps out of his tent quietly and then looks around. Nothing. Which is a problem, since there were supposed to be people keeping watch. He sniffs around, like he used to do when he was hunting, and then determines that the smell is coming from his right. He carefully steps forward, clutching the tome to his body as he looks around.

The air is cool, the temperature severely dropping between the day and the night. Takumi shivers slightly; Leon’s nightwear is still as flimsy as the first day, and it does little to stop the wind from biting at his skin.

The smell gets stronger, and Takumi sees a lantern up ahead. He approaches it carefully, Brynhildr open, ready for any monster to jump out at him.

But nothing does.

He reaches the candle and he sees him. His retainer, the outlaw with the eyepatch. Takumi had just spoken to him a couple hours ago before he went to sleep. He is sitting on the ground, as if mulling over something, and even if it is Niles, Takumi can’t help but feel a sense of relief at seeing someone he knows.

“Niles, did the smell wake you up too?” Takumi asks quietly, but then his eyes adjust and he sees it.

He sees the blood.

All discretion forgotten, Takumi rushes over and drops to his knees and presses his ear against his chest to check for a heartbeat. He can’t hear anything. The man isn’t breathing either. Takumi doesn’t know any healing, and it doesn’t matter now anyway, because it doesn’t take a medic to see that Niles is dead.

“Why?” he whispers in horror, because even though he has fought in countless battles, even though he has seen numerous dead soldiers, this is different. Even though Niles isn’t his real retainer, he still felt a sort of companionship to the man, the two of them sharing a secret together. To see his body marred like this, slashed and hacked at like the other person wanted some sort of revenge…

Takumi wonders if this happened because Niles figured out that he and Leon had soul swapped.

He is about to go into one of the tents and call for help, because it is obviously no longer safe here anymore, when he sees a dark figure out of the corner of his eyes. He whips around and the figure stills, but they can’t fool his trained eye. He can see them, hiding behind the trees like a coward, waiting for the right moment to flee.

If he goes and gets help now, it’ll be too late.

Takumi chases after them.

The figure runs, occasionally firing back what look like small daggers at him. Their aim is not very accurate, but the daggers do enough to slow him down, and the forest isn’t an easy place to run through to begin with. He almost trips over a tree branch, but he rights himself and fires off his magic.

It misses, but the figure has to dodge and Takumi is making up ground quickly. Just a little more, he thinks. Just a little more until I catch you.

They get out of the forest and reach a clearing, and this is much easier for him. Even though he doesn’t look like it, he is a fast runner; he used to be able to beat Ryouma sometimes when they raced as children. Takumi presses his feet against the soil and tries to give himself a final push to tackle the figure to the ground and pin their arms before they have a chance to do anything else.

But before he can reach them, he notices it.

All the Faceless around him.

He almost gets hit straight on by one and has to jump backwards to avoid the collision. The figure has stopped running as well, but none of the Faceless are targeting them; in fact, the Faceless seems be parting for them, providing an escape route.

“Hey, wait!” Takumi shouts, killing off one of the Faceless with his magic, but there are too many. Every time he takes down one, five seem to take its place. “Who are you, and what do you want?!”

The figure turns around and looks at him, but from this distance, he can’t see what they look like. They’re simply a dark blur, and he can’t focus too hard or the Faceless will end up killing him.

For a second, Takumi thinks that the figure will actually answer his questions. But instead, they leave and the Faceless fill in the gap and close in on him, and at that point Takumi feels stupid that he actually thought to chase the figure by himself, and he feels angry that he couldn’t even catch one person when it mattered the most.

Most of all, he feels scared, because even though he’s been prepared for his death ever since the war started, that didn’t mean he actually wanted to die.

But the Faceless crowd around him with their fists swinging, and he doesn’t really have a choice anymore.

Leon wakes up groggy with the sunlight beating in his eyes. It takes him a while to figure out where he is, but it is undoubtedly his Hoshidan bedroom. Something feels wrong, but he ignores it and stretches himself out and yawns widely. He wonders when he’ll be allowed out of the castle; he likes the library and the gardens, but he feels useless staying here all the time.

Then Leon blinks and suddenly he is wide awake. Isn’t he supposed to be in Mokushu with Corrin and Camilla and Elise? Why is he all the way back here in Hoshido? The last thing he remembers is trying to fall asleep to Elise and Sakura chattering in the tent next to him, and Hinata’s loud snores.

He looks in the mirror and sees that he is still Takumi. He pinches his arms, but this doesn’t feel like a dream to him. He looks down at his hands, and they look very real.

He’s still in the middle of his confusion when the door opens and Oboro pops her head in. Leon blinks in surprise at her, but she doesn’t look like there’s anything wrong. In fact, she looks rather happy.

“Lord Takumi,” she says. “It’s time to get up! Hinata has been going on about preparing for your party tomorrow, and you promised me yesterday that you would let me arrange an outfit for you today!”

Leon stares wordlessly at her, because he’s heard her say that once before. “O…Oboro,” he manages to get out, and his throat feels dry as a wave of dread washes over him. “What’s the date?”

Oboro looks at him like he’s grown two heads, and maybe he has, because even that seems much more plausible than the situation he’s in right now.

“It’s December 13^th, of course.”

Chapter Text

Leon gaps at her and feels his head spin. Oboro is staring at him strangely, as if trying to decipher what is wrong with her master. He looks in the mirror and sees Takumi, he’s still Takumi, but surprisingly this feels more disorienting than it did his first time, as if his head is spinning from being spun in a whirlpool. He feels like he’s travelled across the world and then landed back here in his Hoshidan bed. And maybe he has, if this is really what he thinks it is, if he has really travelled back in time.

He notices Oboro still looking at him, so he says, “Thanks, I’ll be up right away.” Oboro looks like she wants to say something, but she can hear the clear dismissal in his voice—and he really does want to be left alone—so she nods and quietly shuts the door behind her, but not without giving him a look that means that they’ll talk later.

Leon waits for a moment, hears her footsteps pad away softly. The room is quiet except for the birds chirping outside. The sunlight flows in through the window, something he never took for granted in Nohr, but has started to become accustomed to here in Hoshido. He sits up with poise and gracefully puts on Takumi’s Hoshidan attire—not enough armor in his opinion—and ties his hair up calmly. There’s no need to panic; he’s got this situation under control. He will go and eat breakfast and gather some clues, and then using those clues he will deduce what is going on and a suitable plan of action, because he’s a genius, and that’s what geniuses do.

Or, at least, that’s what geniuses should do.

Instead, Leon nearly falls out of bed in his haste to get up, glancing around wildly as soon as Oboro shuts the door. He is completely and utterly confused and darts to check if anything is missing, if there’s even the smallest clue that indicates that something is out of place. He checks the drawers and finds the chopsticks still in its box, checks the closet to find the teddy bear still stashed in the corner.

He checks for the hair tie Sakura buys him at the market, the one he always makes sure that dust doesn’t get on—because as much as he hates to admit it, he likes Sakura—but it isn’t there, is probably still sitting at the market booth waiting for him and Sakura to visit later.

There’s no way around it. Leon has always known that the truth can be twisted, can be warped, can be changed depending on perception; enough history books and hours in the library and energy spent studying has taught him that what is obvious is not always the right answer, but he doesn’t know what else can explain this besides time travel, that he is officially stuck not only in another body, but also in a time loop.

He looks in the mirror, as if expecting some monster, some hidden enemy, to stare back. But all he sees is Takumi’s face, guarded and confused, holding millions of questions yet offering no answers.

He wonders if this will be the face he wakes up to every morning from now on, if he will live the rest of his life repeating the same days as the prince of Hoshido. He wonders how long it’ll take, how many loops he will have to go through, before his personality becomes more Takumi than Leon.

He scrubs that thought out of his mind, because the last thing he needs now is an existential crisis, because even though he feels more alone than when he first arrived in Takumi’s body, there is a time for weakness and that is not now. His mind has been the one thing that has always been by his side, the one thing he could beat Xander with, the one thing he was proud of.

And, stuck here in another kingdom, in another body, in another time frame, it seems to be the only thing he has left. His appearance, his family, his life, his time has been stripped from him, but they haven’t robbed him of his ability to think.

And so he does.

He remembers the details perfectly, of his life as a Nohrian prince, living with Xander and Camilla and Elise. He remembers suddenly finding himself in Takumi’s body a couple weeks ago, of trying to adapt to this new lifestyle, of trying to push on surrounded by strangers and foreign customs. He remember meeting up with Corrin, with Camilla, with Elise, of travelling with their neutral party to Mokushu.

He remembers the last few weeks perfectly, yet Oboro has no recollection of them at all.

Perhaps it’s because of the soul switch, because people not residing in their own bodies retain their memories before the loop resets. He wonders if there is a clearer connection between these two phenomenons, if there’s something he’s missing, if there’s someone in the background somehow pulling the strings. Because the more he thinks about it, the less he thinks that it’s Takumi’s doing; and even if it is, Leon can’t puzzle out a motive.

He does not know if the fate of the world is to loop between these couple of weeks, or if it’s because he had done the wrong thing and the world was forced to reset to erase his mistake. He thinks about going to Mokushu with Corrin, he thinks about going to Mozu’s village, he thinks about his switch with the Hoshidan prince. Somewhere along the line, he messed up so badly that there was no choice but for time to reset, to give him another chance.

He dresses himself quickly and when Hinata comes, Leon tests his freedom and sends Hinata away. Apparently he has quite a bit of it, because his retainer leaves, unlike when they sat together in the room for a conversation during the first timeline. Oboro speaks the same lines, Hinata speaks the same lines, until Leon says or does something he didn’t do before. Then, it’s as if the script tears off, as if it was wiped clean so that a new story could be written.

Leon heads to the training room and calls out for Kagerou, and she materializes right in front of him. He wills himself not to jump at her appearance, because he had been the one to call for her, so he should’ve seen it coming.

Hoshidan ninjas are strange. They are amazingly loyal, hiding in the shadows to protect their masters just like retainers would, but not receiving any of the credit. They move quickly, stealthily, and what they lack in power they make up for with skill and technique.

When Kagerou drops down in front of him, Leon is reminded of Niles, the outlaw who could walk without the sound of footsteps, the man who could sneak up on you, who couldn’t be found if he didn’t want to be.

He thinks idly that Niles would make a good ninja and he can just picture his retainer’s expression, probably a smirk and some snide comment, but he would do it in a heartbeat if Leon asked. Because even though he may be lecherous, or blunt, or whatever other adjectives the public threw at him, no one could ever call Niles disloyal.

He misses Niles, he realizes. He really does. He misses him and Odin leaning in too close, encroaching his personal space and making inappropriate comments.

But in order to see them again, he has to get back to his body.

And somehow break through this time loop.

Leon sighs; his problems just kept building up, one by one.

“Hello, Prince Takumi,” Kagerou says. It’s still bright and early in the morning, but she looks awake and alert. He’s read in books before that ninjas sleep upside down like bats and is tempted to ask her if it’s true or not, but holds himself back. “What may I do for you?”

“I’m going to Izumo in a couple days,” Leon says. “Can you accompany me? I’m not allowed to take too may troops in case the archduke sees it as a war declaration on neutral territory, but I would appreciate if you were there.”

Kagerou looks at him suspiciously, like she can’t guess his motive. And it’s not like he can just tell her that he needs to keep her away from Mokushu, keep her from getting caught so that they won’t have to go rescue her.

The loop reset the night before they hit Mokushu. That must have been the wrong action.

He doesn’t want to change too much either. He initially deliberated not going to Izuno, to just follow Kagerou around, but then he wouldn’t meet up with Corrin. He doesn’t know what effect doing so would have on the future, and it is a risk he cannot take right now, because he has too many questions and any surety—even getting deliberately caught by Zola again—is the only thing he has.

When it’s clear that he isn’t going to offer up any other information, she mulls over his offer and finally says, “Okay, as long as Prince Ryouma is in the castle.”

Leon knows that Ryouma will run off by himself to Cheve in about a week, and Kagerou will have no problem following Leon to Izumo if he tells her that they are going to search for Ryouma.

And with that, it’s one problem solved.

“Is there anything else?” Kagerou asks when he doesn’t move from his spot. An idea suddenly pops into his head, and since she’s already here, he might as well ask.

He thinks back to the mini-war he had with his retainers, where the two of them had ganged up to Leon. He thinks about Niles—that traitor—teaching Odin some stealth tips, and the two of them going out of their ways for months to scare the crap out of him whenever they could. He thinks of that one ball that he had been forced to attend, that one time he had been talking to the daughter of one of the high ranking lords, when Niles suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tickled him and Leon had made the most embarrassing noise he has ever heard.

He thinks about the saying, revenge is a dish best served cold.

So he smiles at her and says, “Teach me how to be a ninja.”

Takumi wakes up with a jolt, his head pounding and his body covered in sweat. He’s shaking, he realizes, shaking as badly as he does whenever he wakes up from his nightmares, but this feels so much worse. His breath comes out in short pants and he clutches where his heart is supposed to be, because his chest hurts and feels hollow, both at the same time.

“What the hell,” Takumi says, because he died, his head was caved in by some Faceless. It was real, much more real than his nightmares have ever been. Because when he wakes up from those, he is as scared as he is now, but he can tell that it’s just something that his imagination had conjured up.

Now, however, the line between dream and reality has blurred.

Dying is scary. Dying is terrifying. He can remember seeing that fist swing down, knowing that he wasn’t going to make it, that he wasn’t going to cast his magic in time, that he was going to die. That fear that had gripped his heart, rendering him frozen and resigned to his fate.

He has seen death all the time, of course. Dying is as common as living on the battlefield, and as a warrior, he sees countless soldiers go down every day. But he is an archer, and there’s just something less personal about shooting someone from afar rather than bringing an axe down on their head. He doesn’t usually stay long enough to see the life drain out of the victim, to see the fear in their eyes, and maybe that’s for the better, because he cannot imagine what he must have looked like, what kind of expression he must have made before he died.

Takumi sits up slowly, as if expecting himself to fall apart from the effort. But nothing hurts. He looks at his hands and bends his fingers, and nothing is broken. Aside from the pounding in his head and the new fear that has instilled itself inside of him, he feels no different from a physical standpoint.

Emotionally, however, he’s a wreck.

He can still remember the sickening crunch of his skull as the fist made contact with his head, and he must have not died instantly, because he remembers agonizing pain as he lay against the cold ground, his whole body throbbing, and wishing that everything would just end.

He remembers Ryouma telling him long ago about seppuku and a samurai’s duty. He thinks about voluntarily stabbing yourself in the stomach so that you bleed out slowly and painfully. And while Ryouma always seems to go on about honor and pride, Takumi can’t imagine subjecting anyone to such horrible pain, to inflict that upon yourself. He had only been alive for maybe a minute or so after he fell to the ground, but that had been the most excruciating moment of his life and even if that meant preserving the honor of the royal family or whatever… Takumi isn’t sure that he can ever bring himself to commit seppuku, not after this.

Takumi draws his knees up to his chest and trembles, and he wants nothing more than to scrub his memory clean, because even though dying is scary, it is even more terrifying to die and then come back with memories of the experience.

The door opens, jolting Takumi out of his thoughts. He feels rage, much stronger than usual, because he just wants to be alone and wallow in his thoughts by himself, but then he looks up and all thoughts about his death fly out the window.

“Niles?!” He nearly yells, and for once, the outlaw looks surprised. Takumi can’t help the surge of happiness that rises through him, and even though this man isn’t his retainer, he’s alive, and that’s all that matters. “Are you alright?!”

“Yes,” Niles narrows his eyes at him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Takumi himself certainly hadn’t been alright when he woke up, memories of his death still lingering in his mind. However, Niles shows no recollection of what happened to him the day before, shows no signs of trauma, and Takumi wonders if the man lost his memory.

He also wonders idly if they’re in heaven.

“Sorry, sorry. I was still dreaming,” he apologizes, and even though the outlaw is still staring at him suspiciously, Takumi gives him the biggest smile he can muster. It must look really strange on Leon’s face. He doesn’t look like the sort of person who smiled a lot. “I’ll be out in a moment.”

“If you say so, milord,” Niles says, recognizing dismissal when he hears it, but Takumi knows he’s not off the hook. He wonders if Niles already knows that it’s not his Lord Leon in this body—and it’s not like Takumi’s been very subtle about it either, not like he was the first time, when he had been so cautious with every action, and had still been caught.

Takumi frowns slightly. Does this mean that this is the second time? What does “second time” mean, anyway?

Niles is almost out the door when Takumi calls out to him again. “Niles,” he says sincerely. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

Niles looks surprised for the second time, and Takumi can’t help but feel a certain pride that he managed to catch the outlaw off guard. But the expression quickly melts away into a smirk, and he says, “Aren’t you being awfully affectionate today, milord?” He winks before exiting and makes it obvious that he knows.

Well. He could deal with that later. He turns his attention back to his current dilemma.

He looks around, at the dark and stony castle that he had started to get used to for the past few weeks. It’s thundering outside and the interior is so cold and gloomy that it gives off a rather eerie feel, but after spending the past few days travelling and living in tents outside, the Nohrian castle is a healthy change of pace.

Takumi frowns; how did he end up back here, anyway? The last thing he can remember, he had been… he shudders and pushes that thought out of his mind. He had been on route to Mokushu, anyway. After what happened, he had suddenly found himself transported back to the Nohrian castle, and it looked like Niles had no recollection over his supposed death.

That means that Takumi had been resurrected, Niles had been resurrected and had his memory wiped, and the two of them had been magically transported back to the castle. Takumi is seriously considering the option that they are both in heaven, that he had actually died back then, but then there’s no reason why Niles lost his memory while he still has his.

“Milord!” The door bangs open and Takumi jumps, getting a certain sense of déjà vu as Odin appears in all his magnificence and glory. His hand is outstretched, and Takumi flashes back to his first day here, when Odin had brought him soup in a similar manner. “Niles has spoken that you have been bewitched by the evil! Fear not, milord! Embrace your darkness and quell the evil spirits in your chosen body!”

Takumi stares at him for a while until his retainer starts to fidget restlessly under his liege’s gaze. Odin’s lines are grand and often make no sense, but that’s what makes them even more memorable.

And Takumi remembers the first lines Odin had ever spoken to him very well.

“No,” Takumi whispers to himself, and he would’ve felt guilty over how confused Odin looked if he hadn’t felt even more confused himself. His head is spinning and the thumping in his brain intensifies, and he wonders if he’ll ever get a break, if some higher being hates him and is out to get him because there’s no other reason why he’s shackled with worse and worse luck.

“Is this a time loop?!”

“Prince Takumi,” Hinata says uncertainly as they trudge through the fields. They are walking, the three of them, to the borders of Nohr. Fujin Yumi is once again at his side, and Leon wonders when he started to think of it as his divine weapon. Brynhildr, of course, is immensely more familiar and he misses the tome, but the bow has started to feel more and more at home in his hands.

“Yes?” Leon responds absentmindedly, looking around. They’re about an hour ahead of the original timeline and should reach their destination in a couple of minutes. It’s much easier, he realizes, going through this while knowing the end result. It makes life much easier to navigate through.

“Why are we going this way?” Hinata asks carefully. Oboro is busy sulking; she hadn’t wanted to come, she doesn’t like anything Nohrian, but Leon knows that she will follow no matter where he goes. He hadn’t told them why when he dragged the two of them out of the castle, and even though he knows that they trust him, that doesn’t necessarily mean they always agree with his decisions.

“There were reports that there are going to be attacks here soon,” he says. He wonders if these little changes he’s been making will accumulate into something massive; he’s been trying to keep things as consistent as possible, but he has yet to see what his work will yield. He also does not know what Takumi is doing, if he too has been caught in the loop while retaining his memories, if he is changing things one step at a time as well.

“But…” Hinata says, looking unsure of himself. Sometimes Leon wonders if they can see right through him, if the can see right through this disguise he’s wearing. They remind him of Odin, whom he constantly finds himself surprised at how perspective he really is. “This is Nohrian territory.”

“It’s close enough to our borders to provide a threat,” Leon supplies. The excuse sounds weak even to his ears, and Hinata and Oboro are still staring at him, so he sighs and says, “I’ve been sitting in the castle for the last few days doing nothing, so if we can help, then we’re helping.”

He wonders if this is what Takumi would have done. It’s different the first time, when the Nohrians had come running to them for help. His retainers had approved of his quick decision then to jump in and help save them.

This time, however, they are making the trip specifically for this village, and Leon doesn’t know if he’s officially stepped out of the realm of what-would-Takumi-do. Hinata just shrugs it off, but Oboro looks like she wants to say something. When he looks over at her, however, she simply turns away, and the conversation grinds to a halt.

Not that they have time for a conversation anyway, because as soon as they arrive at the village, they hear the unmistakably roar of the Faceless.

“Oboro, you take the right. Hinata, the left,” Leon instructs. The two retainers, now in battle mode, obey his orders without questioning, weapons already drawn as they head to their assigned areas.

Leon takes out Fujin Yumi, feels the bow light in his hands, before running toward one of the houses up north. She had pointed it out to him before, the first time he had been here, and he is relieved to see that it has not been destroyed yet.

As he nears it, the door slams open and two figures exit the house with panicked expressions. And even though they are still in danger, even though there are Faceless everywhere, Leon allows himself to smile.

Because coming out of the house is Mozu, and a woman who must be her mother.

The battle goes much more easily than the first time around. He is much better at handling the Fujin Yumi now, and even though he is still a mage at heart, he can now see the appeal of wielding bows. There’s just something satisfying about letting an arrow fly, hearing it whiz through the air before it hits the target with a thunk. He always preferred magic to strength based weapons, such as swords, because he hated seeing blood spurt everywhere and getting all close and personal. But a bow avoided all of those things, so he supposed it was alright.

Mozu runs up to him as soon as he finishes taking out the last of the Faceless on his side. She still looks scared, which is understandable, but she smiles at him in a way that she hadn’t before, in the first timeline when she had lost her mother.

“Thank you so much, sir!” She says, and the lack of name or title tells Leon that she doesn’t recognize who he is. It was not surprising; even he hadn’t really known about the Hoshidan royal family aside from what had been presented in scouting reports. “We owe you our lives!”

“It’s no problem,” he tells her earnestly, and her mother comes up beside her and thanks him as well. The way they look at each other makes Leon’s heart ache a little, thinking about his own parents. A father who had grown cold over the years. A mother who had died trying to use her own son as a bargaining chip. The countless number of dead siblings in the Concubine Wars.

He is pulled out of his thoughts when Mozu thrusts a basket of vegetables in his arms. “We don’t have much, but please take this!” She tells him, and he is reminded of how she stood next to him and taught him how to farm. He realizes that she doesn’t plan to follow him this time around—and why would she, when she still has a family here?—and the thought makes him feel a little sad. Because even though he is royalty and she is a commoner, they are both still bound by the same land, the same kingdom, the same Nohr.

As soon as Hinata and Oboro report back to tell him that they have also finished taking care of the Faceless in their area, they leave, but not before Leon sees Mozu give him the biggest grin he has ever seen before. And it makes his heart swell, because he has been called a lot of things before: a child genius, the cold prince, the merciless mage, the coldblooded killer, but never once has he been called a savior.

Leon allows himself to smile back genuinely at her as they leave, and has to deal with Hinata’s wolf whistling and Oboro’s teasing all the way back to the Hoshidan castle.

(He’s already dealt with Mozu implying that he had a crush on his younger sister, though, so at this point nothing really bothers him anymore.)

There’s no way he just time travelled like that. People don’t just find themselves stuck in a time loop for absolutely no reason.

Takumi paces back and forth, deep in thought. It’s been a few days already, but he still cannot believe that he somehow transported back to the first day he found himself in Leon’s body. December 13^th. Of course he remembers the date; it had been a day before his birthday, after all. Or a day before what would have been his birthday anyway, since he had found himself stuck in the body of the Nohrian prince and obviously could not celebrate his birthday with his real family.

Leon must have celebrated his birthday—twice now—and Takumi feels his teeth grit at the thought of Leon going to the market with Sakura, Leon eating dinner with Hinoka and Ryouma, Leon celebrating his birthday for him.

Takumi takes a deep breath and resumes pacing. After Odin had left that day, he had retraced his steps. He had purposely left his room and made the wrong turn, because even though by now he hates to admit, he knows the castle rather well by now. Just as expected, he had run into Elise again, who teased him about his collar, and ran off when he mentioned Odin.

Just like that, Takumi knew for sure that he must have been caught in some sort of time loop, a reset that only he seems to be able to remember. Even though he was sure that these kinds of things only happened in stories, he supposed that after the soul swapping, nothing should surprise him anymore.

It is fairly obvious why time had rewound to this point. He had died in that forest that day—he still feels a tremor of fear wash over him whenever he thinks about it, so he tries not to—and that was probably not supposed to happen. He thinks of all the lessons Yukimura used to tell the Hoshidan siblings when they were younger, how time was a precarious entity and even if you had the chance to change the past, you shouldn’t.

However, it seemed as if time itself disagreed with that statement and decided to give Takumi another chance.

He frowns; Niles had died on that day as well, yet he does not remember anything, so obviously this loop is not triggered only by the occurrence of death. Perhaps it is because he is in another body, because his soul is not in the right place, that he still retains his memories of the first loop.

If that is the case, he wonders if Leon still has his memories, and if he does, what he’s thinking right now. Takumi is almost certain that this time reset was caused by his death, a death that Leon didn’t know about. He wonders what the opposite prince thought had caused this phenomenon. If Leon had died and Takumi hadn’t known about it, then he would’ve torn his hair out trying to figure out where he went wrong.

He is going to have to meet up with Leon as soon as possible. It has now become fairly apparent that Leon is most likely not the cause of the soul switch, since it seems that that and the time loop are intrinsically connected. Takumi also doesn’t know how stable this loop is; even though it all seems fine now, there is always a chance this fragile balance could shatter and they end up finding themselves with a ruined future or something. He decides to try to retrace his steps as accurately as possible to prevent possible catastrophes.

However, he is not going to spend the night camping outside of Mokushu again. There are just too many unknowns for Takumi to deal with—how had Niles died, how many villains were there, who was that dark figure?—and honestly, he doesn’t think that he can emotionally visit that spot again without wanting to throw up.

They still need to meet up with Corrin and her little army in Mokushu though; he isn’t going to lose his one chance to speak to Leon, his one chance to sort things out. He has always thought of Leon as his enemy, and he still kind of does, but now he feels like he shares something deeper with someone that he has never met before. They are residing in each other’s bodies, living each other’s lives. And they may be the only two people in the world who are aware that they are stuck in a time loop.

As much as it pains Takumi to admit it, maybe they are going to have to work together to solve this.

The door swings open and in strolls Iago, right on time. Dealing with the Nohrians has been much easier this time around, so much easier when he knows exactly what to expect. They read their lines to him as if they’re reciting a script, rehearsing for a play that he has seen so many times already.

It makes things boring, of course. But it also makes him feel safe.

Iago speaks in that slippery voice of his, but Takumi has already heard all of this before and doesn’t let it intimidate him. The man is not so scary when Takumi knows all his moves, all his motives, and even though he wants to get out of this time loop and get back to his own body and return to his kingdom, for the moment, Takumi allows himself to revere in this new power that he suddenly has.

Zola comes blubbering in a little bit later, though, and Takumi kind of breaks all the rules he had set up for himself. The rule to not get involved, the rule to keep to the script, the rule to not change the future. And it speaks a lot about him when he can’t even follow the rules that he himself had made.

Takumi sighs as he finds himself standing between Iago and Zola. Time doesn’t just crack and shatter the palace, though, so he supposes that he has a bit of leeway with changing current events.

“Lord Leon,” Iago says calmly, but Takumi can detect underlying anger in his voice. “What are you doing?”

“This is not for you to take care of,” Takumi says, and he can hear Zola sniveling behind him and regrets getting involved just a little bit. But he can’t just let Iago kill him in front of Takumi because he now knows what death feels like, how terrifying it can be. He doesn’t want to witness it anymore for awhile. “Zola, go report to my father. I’ll speak to you afterwards.”

Zola scampers off without another word.

Iago sighs, disappointed, and shuts his tome. “I shouldn’t have expected otherwise,” he simpers. “You were always like this.”

“What do you mean?” Takumi asks cautiously, because he is now in foreign territory, and probably now on Iago’s bad side as well. You saved a life, he tells himself, and it’s surprisingly reassuring.

“That one-eyed retainer of yours,” Iago says with a disgusted look, an expression that Niles seemed to be able to elicit out of everyone. “You were supposed to kill him, but you saved him instead and made him your retainer! Your father certainly was not happy.”

That Takumi hadn’t known, though it explained how an eccentric man like Niles came to become so loyal to Leon. It has been a rather strange experience to learn about this foreign prince through the thoughts and conversations of the people around him, building up an image even though he’s never met Leon. It’s all rather surreal, and he wonders what others back at Hoshido are saying about him.

He feels a slight twinge of insecurity; if Leon runs into the court advisors, they’d no doubt fill his mind with what a pathetic prince Takumi is.

“Niles is a good retainer,” he says, pushing his thoughts aside. And even though the man has been creeping around like usual, Takumi feels much closer to the outlaw, even though the retainer himself has no idea why his master is suddenly being much more open with voicing his gratefulness. Nothing like death to bring two enemies together, he supposes.

“Of course, Lord Leon,” Iago says, his lips curling up. “But I don’t trust him.”

He doesn’t really care what Iago thinks, and he realizes that perhaps, he does trust Niles a little, something he would have never thought himself capable of doing with Nohrians. The fact that Niles was out of the tent when he died meant that he had gone to confront the dark figure alone, and it was something so similar to what Takumi himself would have done.

He’s not going to let either of them die this time.

They get released from their little prison room in Izumo by Corrin and her little army. It’s him and Oboro and Hinata, and also Kagerou. He has managed to successfully pull her away from Ryouma, managed to keep her away from Mokushu. There’s no need to go to that ninja village now and Corrin doesn’t even bring it up. Hopefully, this way, time will continue to flow like normal instead of looping back to December 13^th.

Still, he feels paranoid, like doing such a small thing could hardly offset whatever triggered the time loop. So he takes precautions and avoids telling Camilla about his situation, and it makes him a little bit sad when she dotes on him for a little bit and then leaves for Corrin’s side. A part of him had been hoping that she would recognize him, even in this different body, but it was not fair to her for him to thrust his silly expectations on her.

It is a bit lonely, though, as they head to Port Dia on their way to the Bottomless Canyon. Mozu is not there, jabbering away like she had been the first time around. Camilla is not next to him, whispering reassuring words to him that make him feel better. Corrin has tried to talk to him a bit, but he can tell that she and Takumi hadn’t had the best relationship, and she has too many people who want to talk to her anyways, because she never lingers long at his side.

As usual, Oboro and Hinata walk next to him, but even though they think he’s Takumi, he knows that they’re not his real retainers. And it makes it feel more like obligation than anything else.

He lingers near the back of the group and allows himself a moment of insecurity. He’s been pushing ahead all this time, eyes looking straight toward the future, that he’s not let the familiar feeling of loneliness wash over him. Now that it’s back, it comes back at full force.

He wonders what he’ll do if time will loop no matter what, if he will be stuck in this body and in this kingdom for as long as he lives. He wonders if he’ll be forced to continuously repeat these past few weeks, to be the only one with memories of this cycle.

He wonders how many times time will have to reset before he loses his mind.

He is lonely. There is no one here who recognizes him for who he really is, recognizes him as Leon the little brother, Leon the prince of Nohr, Leon the bookworm. Even if he tells them, they’ll forget as soon as time resets.

So what’s the point then?

What is he supposed to do?

Elise joins them at Port Dia, and this time, there is no one next to him to make fun of his supposed crush on his little sister. It’s lonely without Mozu, because even though she was several social classes below him, she was still a Nohrian.

And even though he’s been in Takumi’s body for a couple weeks now, even though he’s lived among Hoshidans for longer than he has ever expected to, it’s difficult to just undo years and years of racism and hatred that has been ingrained into his very being.

It is difficult for him to imagine a Leon who doesn’t hate Hoshidans, a Leon who doesn’t think they’re selfish and hypocritical, a Leon who plays nice with the other kingdom. He remembers all the lessons he had been forced to attend on Saturday mornings as a child, of all the tutors who continuously told him that the Hoshidans were evil bastards who refused to share their resources.

If he works at it, he can get along with them, sure. But there’s still a voice in the back of his head, the one that warns him whenever a Hoshidan comes near him, the one that thinks that all Hoshidans are up to nothing good, the one that automatically assumes that if there’s two people in an argument, the Hoshidan is the one at fault.

It’s a voice that he isn’t sure will ever go away.

And even if Corrin is right, even if there is a third party responsible for this war, then what? He’s sure that Xander and Ryouma could probably put aside their differences to fight together, but what happens after they win? Even if there’s a peace pact or something like that, both kingdoms—royals and commoners alike—are already so prejudiced toward the other side that it seems very difficult to reach a point where Hoshidans could walk into Nohrian territory without fear and hatred, and vice versa.

Is this why he ended up in Takumi’s body? So he could experience what it is like to live with Hoshidans, to interact with Hoshidans, to become a Hoshidan, before the war ended? Is it the goal of whoever was responsible for the switch to make sure that he and Takumi knew the other side of the story?

If so, then why had they picked them? Why didn’t they pick Ryouma and Xander, or even Camilla and Hinoka? Surely they would’ve been the better choices.

“Hello!” He is abruptly jolted out of his thoughts when Elise appears in front of him with that big smile of hers. She is looking at him without any recognition—which stings him a little—but also without any judgement. He envies her sometimes, the way she isn’t touched and tainted by the kingdom’s racism and ideals. “I don’t think we’ve met yet! I’m Elise, and I’m an adult!”

“I’m Takumi,” Leon says, and he remembers sneaking her out to the park once. Even though it was dark and gloomy, she had loved it, jumping around and introducing herself to everyone in sight. They all knew who she was, of course, but she had never seen so many people outside of her royal siblings and the advisors. “Nice to meet you, Lady Elise.”

“Oh wow! You’re much nicer than my big brother!” Elise grins, and perhaps the company of someone else is all that he needed, because he can feel the insecurities and dark thoughts from earlier ebbing away. Camilla had once told him that his greatest enemy was his own mind, and of course, like always, she had been right.

So Leon tunes out his thoughts and listens to Elise chatter away, and even though it’s the second time and she’s saying the same things as she did before, he listens carefully to her voice and pays full attention to her rather than his own thoughts, as the group heads toward the Bottomless Canyon.

He had been so sure about coming out here. He had retraced his footsteps almost exactly—aside from Zola, but there was nothing he could do about that. He was going to meet up with Corrin and Leon at Mokushu and they would figure out where to go from there, and he was so sure that it was going to work out.

But he is terrified.

It is the day before his supposed death once again. He’s going to loop around Mokushu to one of the nearby towns, much safer than camping out in the woods, and find an inn to spend the night at. He had planned everything out so carefully that even Odin had come to ask him if everything was alright.

But he is still scared.

He’s sitting in the inn right now, far away from the place of his first—and hopefully the count will remain at one for a long time—death, but he can’t help but feel anxious. What if it was never about his actions? What if he’s fated to die on this day no matter what he does? What if time will loop regardless of his actions? What if he has to live out the rest of eternity in this infinite loop, knowing the exact date of his death yet being unable to prevent it?

He knows that he’ll have to die again someday—and really, it’s a terrible thing to have to experience death more than once—but he hopes that it’ll be when he’s old and has children and living in peaceful times. He hopes that he’ll be given the opportunity to do so, because while he can try his hardest to avoid death on the battlefield, there’s nothing he can do when his opponent is a time loop.

The door to the lounge opens and Niles slips in, silent as ever. Takumi wonders what Leon does with his retainer. He and Hinata and Oboro spend some time together by going to the outdoor market, but the outlaw doesn’t seem like the type of person who would enjoy Sunday strolls with his master; besides, there basically was no outdoors here in Nohr.

He practices sparring sometimes with Hinata as well, though he doesn’t know how that would work with magic and bows. He supposes that the two of them could do target practice together, but he’s learned over the last couple of weeks that magic requires very little of the marksmanship that he learned as an archer.

“Hi,” Takumi says, and Niles raises an eyebrow, as if he hadn’t expected Takumi to ever speak to him on his own accord. And yes, it was true that basically all of their conversations so far were started by the outlaw.

But it is the night that he has both been looking forward to and dreading for so long, and a little companionship, especially from Niles, would help calm is nerves. Besides, Odin had been talking to himself in the library when Takumi last saw him, and when the dark mage got like that, everyone tended to steer clear of him.

“Feeling talkative now, Prince Takumi?” Niles smirks and hearing his own name after so long isn’t supposed to make him feel irritated, but it does. The man moves closer to him but does not sit, as if reminding Takumi that he doesn’t trust him one bit.

Takumi huffs but says, “Do you use any other weapons?”

“Do you?” He smiles like a predator stalking it prey.

“I asked first,” Takumi fires back childishly. He had never been good at diplomacy, not even because he didn’t have good ideas, because he definitely did. It was just that he spent the majority of the meetings sounding either immature or angry, and no one wanted to listen to his ideas after that.

“Ah ah,” Niles tsked at him like he was a little kid. He absentmindedly wonders how old the man is. He seems older than him and Leon, but surely he can’t be that old…? “You can’t expect information when you aren’t willing to offer any first.”

“Swords,” Takumi says, because as much as he is reminded of why he and Niles don’t get along the longer this conversation drags on, he still doesn’t want to be left all alone. Not tonight. “I stopped training with swords and close combat after I started using bows, though.”

“Hm.” That jerk isn’t even pretending to look interested.

Takumi grits his teeth and says, “And what about you?”

“Who knows?” Niles shrugs noncommittedly. “You’d be surprised what people can do, what weapons people can use, when they are under pressure.”

“I asked for an answer, not a definition of adrenaline,” Takumi says bluntly. Niles simply smirks and says nothing else.

Jeez. This was like dealing with a toddler. Like a toddler that hid your shoes and acted all smug while pretended to be innocent.

“Okay then,” Takumi says slowly, the way his mother used to talk to him when he was upset. He hopes, feeling slightly vindictive, that Oboro is giving Leon just as much trouble. “Are you excited to see your master tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Niles drawls. “Though it will take some getting used to, to see him speak with that ugly face.”

Never mind what he thought before; Niles could go and die alone for all that he cared.

They talk a bit more after that, if Takumi’s one sided conversation and Niles’ snide comments counted as talking. He leaves a little afterwards, and Takumi is fuming slightly, wondering where Leon could’ve possibly gone to pick up such an annoying retainer. He is half convinced that Niles simply enjoys the sound of his own voice making derogatory comments.

It isn’t until later, when it’s all quiet, that Takumi realizes that he doesn’t know why Niles came to the living room area; it’s not like he had to get anything anyway. He just came in and ran his mouth off while Takumi was enjoying the peace and quiet by himself…

Takumi squints at the door and asks it to tell him that that wasn’t Niles’ eccentric way of trying to cheer him up.

The door remains silent.

He sighs, though he has to admit that even though the outlaw had riled him up, he feels much better now than he had before. The inn also feels much safer, and knowing that Niles is still in the building and not somewhere outside, dead on the ground, is reassuring.

But still he watches the clock, tick tock tick tock for hours, as he waits for the sun to come up. He listens for any strange movements, any signs of attacks, but the inn remains blissfully silent. The fireplace’s crackling is the only sound that accompanies him throughout the night.

When morning comes, he allows himself to breathe a sigh of relief. He survived. Niles survived. Time didn’t reset. And now he could finally go and meet up with Leon.

For once, Takumi allows himself to feel happy, truly happy, that he is alive.

It must have shown on his face, because Odin asks him about it the second they see each other. Takumi brushes off his question and greets both him and Niles with a big smile.

It just feels so nice to know that he isn’t bound by that time loop, that he still has a chance for a future. He feels so relieved. He’s pretty sure that he’s grinning the whole time to Mokushu.

A grin that promptly disappears when they get there.

Because he gets there, and he waits, he waits patiently, he waits for hours, he waits until the sun goes down.

But Leon never shows.