Chapter Text
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Ever since Kiran had summoned Takumi, Leo had kept a watchful eye of the archer from the distance. Between training sessions with the other Heroes and reading more books abouthist, he observes Takumi from afar, while praying that he wouldn’t be found out that he was watching him. Leo is never really afraid of anything or anyone (well, except heights maybe. Camilla’s flying lessons still haunt him.), but something about Takumi irked him.
Leo’s first observation: Takumi never interacts with anyone. Often, Leo would find the Hoshidan prince isolated from everyone else. From the morning meetings that Kiran would hold everyday about the Order of Heroes’ agenda of the day where Takumi stays in the farthest corner and (probably?) listened, to the lively dinners where Takumi had either sat at the table farthest from everyone or he never showed up at all. Anyone who would try to interact with him are only met with either no response or a suffocating glare.
His second observation were Takumi’s...odd actions. Takumi moves so slowly, with his back hunched a bit and the dark circles under his eyes always so noticeable. When Kiran speaks with him, Takumi only speaks in a very, very soft voice that almost no one hears him. Only Kiran does and they understand. There are also so many times, with the first time Leo caught by accident, wherein Takumi secludes himself in the darkest corners of the castle. He wraps his arms around himself, like he was clinging to his dear life and start mumbling to himself. Leo can recall that he speaks Hoshidan when mumbling, but he doesn’t remember all the words...except one.
Help.
His somber cries that wail in the halls, which usually frightened the other Heroes. But not for Leo, not anymore anyways, because watching Takumi like this worries him. He can’t help but say to himself how he is like that too . The thoughts of Xander, Elise, and the feeling of his heavy crown appear in his mind once again and he tries to shut them out. The minor difference is how Takumi is more prevalent of his emotions now.
His final observation is how Takumi’s mood shifts to a complete 180 on the battlefield. Leo is only teammates with Takumi thrice, but he can already tell what this Takumi is like once confronted in battle. He readily has his bow, called Skadi— what happened to the Fujin Yumi, Leo ponders —and once the enemies come out, Takumi starts to play.
Moving swiftly yet ungracefully, Takumi makes haste for the enemies. The string of his bow and arrow forms on his fingers—purple aura emitting from it—and he shoots them all down quickly. No one in the team even has the time to even come to his aid, and Takumi gains all the experience in the battle.
But that’s not all Leo sees in Takumi in the battlefield. No. When Takumi battles, he is hungry and bloodthirsty. His red red eyes shine brightly and Leo swears he can see the sparks twinkling in those irises as Takumi makes the enemy bleed.
But despite all that, Takumi never smiles. Not even when he fights, not even when he kills, not even when the battle is over and there is only him and the rest of the team. Takumi shows how he is tired after battle, with his breathing short and sluggish and the sweat trickling down his forehead.
Isolation from peers, sluggish movements, the cries in Hoshidan, his bloodthirsty eyes, and never forming a smile, it made Leo realize. The Takumi here isn’t the Takumi he knew about in Nohr. This was a different Takumi, one who shows more resentment to him with just one look with his intimidating, red eyes, one who has been through hell and back, one who needs...comfort?
As Leo watches Takumi return back to Kiran’s side, their shoulders brushing by each other, he feels a chill shiver down his spine.
.
A spell from the enemy’s tome bursts out from their hands and attacks Leo. His body takes the hit and he winces, nearly falling out of his stead. The enemy’s spell sears his body and his breathing turns ragged. But he still has enough energy in him left, so he quickly formulates a spell from Brynhildr. Vines and branches leech from the ground and target on the enemy. It soars the sharp edges for the enemy’s heart but just as Leo thinks he is able to kill them, the mage quickly shifts away at the last millisecond before the vines could pierce their heart. The vines move downward instead, hitting on the ground below. The enemy somehow manages to dodge the attack and Leo isn’t pleased.
Leo is about to cast another spell but his body aches and is unable to move. Gods , he thinks as he watches the enemy opening his tome again, I’m done for . The enemy mage murmurs another spell, a sinister grin forming on their face. Leo closes his eyes and braces himself for the kill, but he hears a shout from behind him.
“DIE!”
His eyes open wide and he sees Takumi, running to the enemy with his bow at the ready. An aura of purple surrounds the archer as the string on his bow and arrow forms in his hands. His red eyes shimmer with the thirst to kill as he focuses on the enemy mage, his arrow at the ready to fire. So quickly, Takumi releases his grip of the arrow—the dark purple aura is on the arrow—and it launches straight the enemy’s heart. The arrow pierces through their body and a blood-curdling scream escapes the enemy’s lips. Blood spilling all over from their core and their body recoils to the ground with a loud thud. They fade away as the deed is done. Leo watches it all in silence, frozen in place as he watches Takumi take the kill.
Leo realizes that Takumi just... saved him ?
With the battle finally finished, a bright blue aura surrounds all of his comrades with a cool breeze blowing from below. The next thing Leo realizes, they have returned to the castle. They stand at the center of the Order of Heroes meeting room and as soon as the aura dissipitates, he sees Kiran rush to their side, clapping their hands, and shouting praises to them all. One of his teammates, Inigo— he looks like Laslow , Leo thinks, but Inigo says he never has heard of the name Laslow before —comes walking to him and tells him that they did a good job on the field today. Leo nods and while Inigo starts to chatter away, the king can’t help but look behind him to see Takumi.
He is with their other teammate for the day, Mae, and Kiran, who all commend Takumi for the final blow to the enemy and saving Leo from being knocked out. Takumi only nods and looks away from the two, not wanting to give them any attention. Kiran and Mae continue to converse, though Leo can see how Kiran would constantly look back at Takumi with concern. Ever since Kiran had summoned Takumi, aside from their usual care and training sessions, they constantly watch the archer from the distance with a somber look on their face.
“—Anyways, I’ll be heading off now. I’ll see you in the mess hall for dinner, Leo.” Leo catches Inigo’s words and he only nods, telling him that he will see him there as well. He watches as Inigo leaves and soon after, Mae follows him out of the room. Leo realizes that the only people left in the room is him, Takumi, and Kiran. Still wary of the archer’s presence, his feet start to move and head for the exit. Unfortunately, he hears Kiran’s voice call for him from behind.
“Wait, Leo!” Leo flinches and stops in place. He turns around and sees Kiran walk up to him from behind. Their hand is holding on to Takumi’s, dragging the archer with them to Leo.
“...Yes?” Leo raises an eyebrow to Kiran, wondering why they called his attention.
Kiran scratches the back of their head and gives a Leo a sheepish grin, which makes him even more suspicious, “Um, well...you see, there is something I’ve been wanting to do.” Kiran tugs their hand that is holding Takumi and the gesture catches Takumi’s attention, “I’m going to partner you two together from now on.”
Oh.
Oh no .
“...Sure.” His words betray what he wants. Leo wants to say he doesn’t wish to be partnered with Takumi. The thought of being side by side with the archer who would only look at him with a glare is haunting. Nothing but bad memories and the blood of his siblings form in his mind at Takumi’s presence. But he comes face to face with an enthusiastic Kiran, who’s hopeful smile pushes him a bit to try and give Takumi a chance.
“Great! I’m so glad you’re willing to do so, Leo.” Kiran grins and they take Leo’s hand. Kiran interlock the two hands together and while they are all smiles, Leo and Takumi don’t look at each other.
“You’ll get along so well, I’m sure of it!” Kiran’s optimistic words resound through the hall.
.
With every opportunity Kiran had, they partnered Leo and Takumi together. Yet even so, he feels so much discomfort around Takumi’s presence.
On the battlefield, he never really pays much attention to his presence. While they stay close to each other, back to back with Leo holding Brynhildr and on his stead, and Takumi clenching onto Skadi tightly in his hands, the thrill of combat distracts them from the other’s existence.
Once they set foot out of the arena and return to the castle though, everything comes back tumbling down and they try to avoid each other’s presence. That’s when Kiran steps in and tries to make them interact. It starts with a slight push from the back of the other, to constant holding of the two boys on the shoulders and huddling them together. Takumi’s face turns sour and he looks away, pouting and mumbling something inaudible under his breath. Leo just stays silent as Kiran talks away, unaware of the uncomfortable aura that the two are having. But Kiran never gives up, as they continue constantly pushing Leo and Takumi to be together somewhere, any where.
Inevitably, Leo is the first to give up to his desire to be away and tries to interact with Takumi.
It starts with short greetings to the Hoshidan prince in passing. “Good morning” and “good afternoon” greetings are spoken, but never returned by the second Hoshidan prince. Takumi only answers Leo with glares and increasingly, growls.
Leo wants to give up already after the ninth really, really loud growl Takumi gives him, but Camilla, his currently only other close relative in the Order of Heroes, is supportive of his efforts. Like Kiran, she constantly encourages him to continue communicating ( pursuing, Camilla actually says, and Leo almost spits out his drink hearing that ) with Takumi. She has gone to the point where she starts shoving Leo to Takumi’s side everytime the three get grouped together in a team.
Unfortunately, Camilla’s efforts to help Leo grow closer with Takumi only makes the Hoshidan grow angrier at the king. Leo apologizes relentlessly to him and Takumi just scoffs at him, before leaving the two siblings alone for the battle ahead of them.
They (Takumi) wins the battle and they return back to the kingdom, where the familiar sight of Kiran greets them with smiles and praises. Leo has grown to the routine in the Order of Heroes. Unfamiliar faces become familiar, and soon, are now his new acquaintances and companions in the Order. Fighting battles everyday for the same goal with people no matter who they are and having a supportive and kind tactician by their side...it feels nice.
Somehow, these train of thoughts bring back to those words Camilla had spoken to him many nights before, how Hoshido and Nohr fought together for the same cause with Corrin by their side.
He wonders what it felt like being in that scenario and somehow, it felt painful just even thinking about it. And Xander...and Elise...they’re—
“You.”
The familiar voice halts his thoughts and the atmosphere suddenly feels cold. Leo grips his tome tightly and turns around, facing to the source of the voice.
“...T-Takumi.”
The two boys only stare at each other in the silence, with the atmosphere growing cold as none make a move. The hallway is empty and quiet and the only light lit up on this cold night is the moonlight. Leo observes Takumi, noting how the moonlight shows his face quite decently. Eyebags are obviously seen under his eyes and his skin is pale like snow. Wisps of purple and black aura emit away from his body, dancing and dissipating away to the halls. The red eyes that Leo has grown accustomed to seeing glare at his own brown eyes.
Xander. Elise. The blood. Again and again and again it starts to play in his head and Leo can’t help but sweat and his hands shiver and the heavy crown and feeling of his family all gone just starts to flood—
“...Why…”
“Huh?”
“Why...why do you...keep…” Takumi grips his bow tightly in his hand, his glare never leaving Leo, “...coming...to me…?!”
“I-I…” Leo’s frozen in place and lost for words. But with little strength he can muster, the king gulps and speaks, “Well, Kiran wants us to be...acquainted. Be more comfortable with each other.”
Takumi doesn’t respond immediately. His grip on Skadi tightening more and he starts to growl in pain. He lifts his hand to his hand and clutches on his hair tightly.
“T-Takumi, are you o—”
“ STOP! ” Takumi screams and it cuts Leo to shut up, “Don’t...don’t get...close...please.”
Takumi turns away from Leo and starts to walk small steps back to who knows where. Leo can only watch him move away from him more and more. His feet locked to the floor of the hallway drowning in the moonlight. Takumi’s figure grows smaller and smaller by his side until there’s nothing left from the trail, not even the purple and black wisps that he emits.
The king is left all alone (as always) in the empty hallway. His legs move now, but only to kneel down on the ground. He drops Brynhildr to the carpeted floor and his crown isn’t placed on his head straight as it always was. Somehow, he realizes, that just seeing Takumi’s eyes makes the dreadful feeling in his gut grows worse.