Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was hardly the first time Takumi had been jealous.

In his youth, he had quietly envied his siblings, Hinoka and Ryoma for their leadership in battle, Sakura for her many talents outside of it, Corrin and Kamui for how very much they were adored by the rest. He had envied Yukimura, and how excellent the older tactician had been at shogi, and Takumi hated that he could still only beat him once in every four games. And even yet, with shame, he had envied his own retainers, who so highly admired him, he had envied their strength and their worthiness in battle, and he had thought he did not deserve them.

But he had loved Odin, though perhaps not at first-- not when Takumi had been busy envying how easily he'd fit into Azura's army, though Takumi had been among their number for far longer and was not quite so well-received. But he had, in the end, fallen for Odin's charms, odd as they were.

(Perhaps it was the shock from hearing that Odin once, too, had envied. "I come from a family of heroes," he'd said, and even smiled. "It's tough to establish one's panache. But that drives me to do even better, and live up to their legacy, you know?")

And once he had fallen for Odin, before he'd found the courage to speak of it, Takumi had envied wildly, worrying over each interaction, certain that he was being wooed by someone or another, that Takumi was certainly too late. Odin, after all, was a man of many (albeit strange) charms, a peculiar charisma. Laslow, winking at him in passing, and Odin guffawing as if it were some sort of inside joke. Hinata, and those very strange, seemingly pointless lessons in the art of "auramantic divination-casting" (whatever that meant). Even once, memorably, Leo-- which had been the most absurd thought Takumi had ever had in his entire life, for Prince Leo regularly spoke to Odin on purely business-related matters, and, furthermore, was already married.

"You can stop looking at me like that," the Prince of Nohr rolled his eyes, calling him out on it. "I told Odin where he's going to be stationed for the day. You know. Like I do every morning."

"Sh-shut up," Takumi flushed. "Who says I was looking at you at all?"

"Were you glaring at Odin, then? I'm sure he'll be disappointed to hear that," Leo deadpanned-- dry, "Since he seems so fond of you."

"Odin's fond of everyone," Takumi sulked.

"Particularly fond of you, then," Leo corrected himself. Matter-of-factly, "You know, in Nohr, it's customary to ask a knight or retainer's liege for permission to marry them."

"Yeah, well, I'm Hoshidan, in case you forgot," Takumi huffed. "And I don't need your approval, or anything. If-- IF-- I wanted to ask him to marry me... I would just do it."

"Strange tradition," Leo tisked. "Well, Odin isn't courting anyone else... and for what it's worth, you'd have my blessing if you wanted it. Everything he attempts to cook ends up with a significant amount of edible glitter in it, and someone should introduce him to the idea of a decent soup."

"I'll have you know my soup is better than decent," Takumi crossed his arms, and turned to leave. "Later, nerd."

"Odin gets off the Lottery Shop at six," Leo hollered in reply, and Takumi picked up his pace to get away from him.

Totally crazy. And the fact that Takumi had worked up the courage to propose later that evening had nothing to do with that conversation, he thought. If he happened to be passing by the Lottery Shop at exactly six, then it was a complete and total coincidence. But still, then... Odin, miraculously, had accepted his proposal, and in turn had presented him with his own ring.

("The ring used to be my mother's," Odin admitted. "I've been... I've been thinking about it, too, asking you to marry me. But I'll want to return home, someday... and I cannot deprive a country of its prince.")

("Hoshido has princes in excess," Takumi replied, flippant. Then, more softly, "And their youngest would follow you to the ends of the earth, and beyond.")

("That's not too far from the truth," Odin had laughed, and whatever else they might have said was forgotten, because he kissed him, then.)

He had thought, once Odin wore his ring, this sort of envy would subside. That it would fade, once more, into mere obscurity. He could never in a hundred years question Odin's loyalty, and o, how he knew Odin was the least worthy of his suspicions. Knew that his suspicions, even, were a ridiculous knee-jerk reflex.

But upon Anankos' defeat, when it had been Selena who sought out Odin first, something horrible swirled in his gut, and though he knew he shouldn't be, Takumi was vividly jealous, particularly for what she'd said.

"It's done," she whispered, and hugged him tight. And, for the first time, she smiled, "We can go home, Odin."

Odin's reaction, then, when she'd spoke-- Takumi had never seen Odin at a loss for words, before, but he was at a loss, then. His face scrunched, mouth curling into a squinch. His eyes watered.

And at last, he sobbed, "Selena. We can go home."

"What're you crying for, you dork," Selena sniffled, beginning to weep, herself. "We can go home. That's a good thing."

"We did it, Selena," Odin buried his face in her hair and cried harder. "We saved the world, as once prophesied by... by a friend, long ago."

"That's a good thing," Selena wailed, no longer trying to suppress her tears. "S-stop crying, Odin!"

The matter seemed too personal, then, for Takumi to intrude. And so he relinquished that moment, and sought out a healer to get his wounds re-checked. Though they'd all been healed in battle, Takumi didn't know what kind of procedure came with dragons'-breath wounds, what kind of after-treatments, and decided that Azura was most likely to have some kind of answer.

"Takumi," she greeted him with a smile, battle-worn and tired, her throat just slightly sore from song. "I am glad to see you unharmed."

"You didn't drink anything yet?" Takumi frowned.

Azura chuckled hoarsely, "That's an interesting question to ask someone who can summon water at will. I'll be fine... I just need a bit of rest."

Takumi flushed, embarrassed. "Yeah... I guess so."

"You seem troubled, little brother," Azura whispered, turning her head to the side. "And I don't see Odin around you..."

"You can be too perceptive, sometimes," Takumi remarked, bitterly. "He's off with Selena... they were talking about going home."

"Going home?" Azura sat up, alarm crossing her rarely-emotive features. "But Selena... I..."

"What about her?" Takumi furrowed his brow. "Did something...?"

"No," Azura sighed. "I can't blame her. Surely she hasn't realized-- ah. Um."

"You're making no sense, Azura," Takumi shook his head, and turned as his eye caught a familiar shade of yellow from another corridor. "They've both returned, anyways."

"Lady Azura!" Selena called, her eyes still wet from weeping. Her eyeliner smudged.

"You will understand in due time," Azura carefully patted Takumi's shoulder, and glided away to greet her.

Takumi huffed, and sat back against the ground once more. He supposed he would be able to hold out until Sakura finished making rounds. It wasn't as if any of his injuries were particularly urgent, anyways.

"Hark! Does the distressèd sound of my companion's sigh catch my ear?" Odin swept in, draping Takumi's shoulders with his garishly yellow cloak. "It is not my blood, but my heart that aches at such a sigh!"

"I'm not sighing," Takumi scowled, but leaned in and rested his head on Odin's shoulder regardless.

"What ails you, o glorious light of my heart?" Odin took him beneath his arm, and held him close. "Now, our quest is complete, and burdened hearts are made light."

"Can't you just say you're worried, like any other person?" but still he nestled closer. "I overheard you and Selena, you know."

"You did?" surprise in his voice. More solemnly, "I suppose a subject of such gravity would dampen any victory, even one of such legendstuff as this... take heart. We will not return to our homeland yet. There is much left to our predestined quest."

Takumi frowned, "You can cut it with the 'mystical storyline' stuff."

"I thought you might be worried about leaving your siblings," Odin offered. Hesitated. "Or... that you might be having second thoughts about going home with me. If... following me is what you still want to do."

"Hey," with a huff, an offended look. "That's the last thing on my mind! Of course I still want to be with you. We're engaged, aren't we?"

"Indeed! You and I still yet bear the promised pact, the vow that two hearts shall someday become one," Odin proclaimed. And, after a moment of thought, "So... if that isn't your concern. what is? No quest is too great for Odin Dark to undertake, if it will but steal away your worries!"

"I... well, I don't doubt you, or anything like that," Takumi cleared that immediately. "But Selena... I know you're from the same homeland, but you still seemed really close."

"Perhaps that is so," Odin answered, slightly perplexed. "But the flames of war forge stronger bonds yet, and I've been through two beside the great Selena of the Severest Sword. And, of course, Laslow of the Indigo Skies, as well. I know it sounds strange, but you're closer to your siblings now than you were before the war... right?"

"Yeah, but," Takumi pouted, and tried not to resent that. "It's completely different. They're... they're my siblings."

Odin paused. Pursed his lips, and thought quietly for a moment.

Then, as if testing the waters, "Selena's mine, too. She's my sister."

"You mean, like a sister. I'll bet it's something about spilling blood in the same war, and some kind of... sibling-esque pact of camaraderie, or whatever," Takumi rolled his eyes. "You look nothing like her."

"Well... that's a little bit true," Odin admitted. "We lack the umbilical pact of siblings born of the same womb, and we take after different sides of the family. But we share the same parents, whose deeds have become the legend of my homeland. We share the same upbringing, that selfsame tragedy wrought across our doomed house. The same family of heroes, whose blood flows through both of our veins."

"There's no way," Takumi shook his head, obstinate. "Firstly, that doesn't make any sense... sharing the same bloodline and parents, but not... the other stuff. Besides... should't you have mentioned it before now?"

"Odin Dark has shed his name... his identity... and even an entire head of hair, in order to be allowed passage into this world," Odin made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm. More solemnly, he added, "We deal with a great many mysterious and unknown forces in this land, which functions so differently from the land we hail from. I... was unsure if it would tear a rift in time, or open up a black hole beneath us all if I were to reveal too much. An... old friend of mine... would've described it as a paradox. History must never know that Selena and I are siblings."

"If it's as serious as you say, then why'd you tell me?" Takumi rebuffed him with a light hit on the shoulder.

"Because... I think I know now. My identity is not only Selena's brother, and nothing more," Odin smiled, "And because I trust you enough to keep it a secret."

"It'd be a problem if there was a rift in time, or whatever," Takumi sighed again, this time faintly sympathetic. "But... you're more than just who your family is. You and I both are."

"Maybe," Odin ventured. "We can be our own family, too?"

"That's the cheesiest thing I've ever heard you say," Takumi buried his face in Odin's shoulder, hiding his blush. "But... yes. Please."

"Come home with me?" Odin asked, eyes wide and imploring.

"I said I'd follow you anywhere," Takumi mumbled, muffled by Odin's cloak. "I meant it."

"Even if," Odin hesitated, if but momentarily. "Even if you're unable to return here ever again?"

Takumi knew his answer immediately.

"Even then, Odin. Even then."

It had been an odd thing, indeed, when Azura had met Selena. In retrospect, she thought, odd-- but memorable.

"I heard you're an amazing singer," she'd said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Her arms fell, crossed, into her stance. "That you're the best in all of Hoshido."

"I'm very flattered to hear so," Azura turned her head to the side, curiously, but nothing could have prepared her for Selena's next words.

"I bet I can out-sing you."

Azura's eyes widened, surprised, "Pardon?"

"I said, I bet I can out-sing you," Selena let a smile dance upon her lips. "Maybe not in terms of... magically refreshing someone on the battlefield, or whatever. But in terms of endurance, and concert length, and song variety... I bet I can out-sing you."

But it was Selena's turn to be surprised when Azura replied, "Oh... well, if you're certain, then I suppose so."

"H-hey!" Selena sputtered, frowning. "You're just going to give up your claim? Just like that?"

"Um," Azura paused. "Isn't that a good thing for you?"

"No," Selena scowled. "Usually, when someone issues you a challenge, you're supposed to have a contest to see who's really better."

"A contest..." Azura let a small smile play upon her lips. "Or a concert?"

"Aren't those the same thing in this case?" Selena tossed a pigtail over her shoulder. "So? Are you up to doing it?"

"Well..." Azura hesitated, but then, thought on how badly the soldiers needed a reprieve. How lovely a concert might be for all of them. "All right."

That concert, indeed, had concluded in a tie-- for though Azura was, indeed, the better singer, she knew the lyrics for merely seven songs (three of which, in fact, carried the same melody). Selena, however... Selena seemed to have an endless supply of lyrics, of melodies, and hymns in Hoshidan, and rowdy Nohrian drinking-songs... even, to the surprise of all, a smattering of Nestrian operettas, a handful of Izumite funeral dirges. The soldiers had clapped and called for their old favorites, and Selena knew more than she did not.

"I'll have to cede in terms of professionalism, I guess," Selena had huffed, downing a canteen of water. "You're really good at singing... you could feel the entire room re-energize itself, you know."

"But you know so many songs," Azura seemed surprised. "Even in all of the music books at Castle Shirasagi, there aren't that many songs."

"If you keep your ears open when you travel, you learn things," Selena replied. "And I've... traveled a lot."

And she sang more songs, still, at other times, songs that Azura knew couldn't be meant for the ears of others. Songs with deep, grim cadences that did not sound Nohrian, or Hoshidan, or belonging to any land in-between. Azura had dared to ask, once, had dared to admit to her eavesdropping.

"Where are they from?" she'd questioned. "Those songs that you sing?"

"It's not polite to spy on other peoples' singing, you know," Selena had pouted, little true vitriol in her voice.

"I'm sorry... but it was just so," she paused, pursed her lips. "It was very beautiful, and very sad. I couldn't bring myself to look away."

"Well... if you have to know," Selena uncrossed her arms. "They're hymns from my homeland, about heroes of legend and all that stuff. A friend of mine back home wrote them."

"Would you... would you be willing to teach me one?" Azura ventured, hesitant. "If it isn't too much hassle."

"I'm basically an amateur compared to you," Selena exhaled, "But I guess so. Just try to keep up with me, okay?"

"All right," Azura smiled back, and watched as Selena began to sing.

"O holy, that day, when the gods had been slain, and the skies, o, the skies washed their blood out with rain," a pause. "And rise, to the earth came a flourish of green-- and the land of... my home... seemed to bow to its Queen."

And Azura, who knew just what kind of curse could forbid someone from speaking of their homeland, accepted those hesitating changes without comment.

But now, when the land of Azura's birth had been freed, and her labors brought to fruit... now, when there was talk of Selena leaving this land altogether to return to her own, far away... 

"Selena, please... this way," Azura whispered, taking her hand and leading her through the halls of Castle Gygas.

"Where are you taking me?" Selena huffed, but let her lead regardless.

"Somewhere quiet," Azura answered, and at last swept into a lonely, dusty corridor-- one which had suffered marginally less demolition than its neighbors.

Selena's eyes scanned the hallway, its macabre decor. "It looks like a music wing."

Azura carefully stepped over the skeletal remains of a cello, "It was, once... I don't remember the castle well. I haven't lived here since I was very, very small... since before I could walk. But I remember this hall... I have walked it, a hundred times, in my dreams."

"Your throat sounds sore... don't push yourself," Selena scowled, and shoved a half-full vulnerary into her hands. "You definitely out-sang me, that time... singing for almost six hours. I know it tastes gross, but if you swallow some of the vulnerary..."

Azura did as she bade, and found herself feeling immediately better. "Thank you, Selena. I wanted to ask you... Takumi said he overheard you and Odin speaking."

"Gawds," Selena sighed, "Is this whole... eavesdropping thing... commonplace in Hoshido?"

"No more common than in Nohr, I think," Azura shook her head, and took both of Selena's hands in hers. "I heard you wished to go home... is that the truth?"

"Yeah," Selena seemed to deflate a little. "Of course it is. I want to go home, and see my family again... and. It's been a long time since I've visited my mother."

"Selena," Azura's grip tightened. "I... regret not letting you know sooner. I suppose it's fitting, that I should only find my courage when you are about to leave. But before you go, there is something you must know... I've grown to care for you deeply, Selena. I would have asked you to... to marry me."

"W-what?" Selena sputtered, her cheeks flushing vibrantly. "It's not like we were going to go back home today, or anything! Odin's got this whole... complicated moral thing about Takumi being a prince, and stuff. And Laslow wants to stick around to help everyone rebuild, anyways..."

"O-oh, I see," Azura's cheeks reddened in turn. "I'm sorry. It was foolish of me to assume..."

"Well," Selena darted her gaze away, embarrassed. "I... I wanted to be around for a while, too. For you. Maybe, even, for a little bit... I was considering staying for you."

"Selena," Azura's voice seemed soft, incredibly soft. "Do you mean that, truly?"

"I mean it," Selena bit her lip in an effort to not cry. "But you're a princess, you know... and Odin's right, for once. It would be wrong to rob a people of their royalty. But, maybe, if we hadn't been from such distant lands... I would have said yes."

"Yes?" Azura startled.

"To your question," Selena sniffed, and she might have sounded haughty if not for the tears that slipped down her cheeks.

"To... marry me," Azura's voice hung in the air, grave. She held her arms open, and took Selena between them.

All of Azura's tears had long ago been cried away, weeping for a mother twice-lost, weeping from the agony of her disenchantment songs, weeping for secrets kept. But there, as she took Selena in her arms, there were enough left for her to shed one more.

"I'm sorry," Selena said, her make-up staining Azura's clothes.

And, challenging her for the first time, Azura answered, "I'm sorrier."

She had been beautiful, there, atop the Vallite throne on the day of her coronation. It seemed to Selena that the past several weeks had been nothing but one coronation party after the other, as each capitol city became re-inhabitable once more.

Their army took on the repairs at Shirasagi first, Nohrian hands paving over a square that had been once destroyed by a Nohrian king's sneak-attack. Then, like a storm, Azura's men fell upon a Windmire torn apart by rioting during the war.

(The royals seemed to dance between the two locations, at times, and Selena had spent fewer hours than she'd liked among the bulk of the reconstructing forces. But too was she Lady Camilla's retainer, and a woman who upheld her contracts-- and the riots had still been running, when they'd arrived in Windmire. It seemed, to Selena, that peace might never come.)

And when judicious use of the Dragon Veins tied the bits and pieces of Valla back together, brought Castle Gygas back to its former glory-- then, and only then, could heirs be crowned. Ryoma, made a king amidst a court that still mourned Lady Mikoto, whose popularity was nigh unparalleled. Xander, mere weeks later, crowned in a cautious court, a hesitant one that worried he would be nothing like his father... or, perhaps, too much like his father.

Then, at last, Azura, beautiful atop the Vallite throne when she claimed her birthright as Queen. Her citizens brought back to their senses, snapped out of the madness that had spread from their once-god. Her crown, forged by Kamui's hands, the metal heated in Lilith's breath. Laid upon her head, with a vow, by Corrin, the last of his kind.

(A feather motif, they said, just like the previous queen of Valla's headdress. Azura appreciated it more deeply than anyone could ever know.)

Selena knew, then, that Azura would be nothing short of an amazing queen-- exactly what a Valla in recovery needed. And she felt foolish, in her heart. Perhaps for that quiet, secret hope that Azura would have changed her mind about inheriting the Vallite crown, that she would have left it instead to follow Selena home. She had relatives enough, by then, and Corrin or Kamui could have easily ascended to the throne in her place.

But it was a fool's thought. An idle fantasy, a ridiculous hope. The idea of Azura rejecting her crown for this purpose had been ridiculous.

Neither would Selena change her mind about returning with Odin or Laslow, for though she was no heir, not every royal had the same courage as Takumi. And Selena thought on her hair, then, how it had gone from Mom's radiant blonde to her Mother's red when she'd traveled, how the Exalted Brand upon her shoulder just opposite Owain's had too been erased, as if her own royalty had been purged from her very blood. But her upbringing would never be erased, nor the years in her childhood where the people of her homeland, afraid, had turned to her for inspiration, for protection.

She was a princess, too-- and it would be wrong to rob her people of their royalty.

Even now, she and Odin had been gone far too long. You could only spend so much time traversing the world without anyone back home hearing of you, and her brother at least was not a one to make himself scarce. She had missed her home, and her cousin Lucina, and their friends-- and how refreshing it would be, then, to say the names "Owain" and "Inigo" once more, and to hear the name her mother chose for her, "Severa." 

And thus, once Azura had finished her coronation speech, when at last the people of three countries dispersed into the festivities, Selena swung her bags over her shoulders, heavier than when she'd arrived there, and began to make her way to where Odin and Laslow had agreed to meet.

"Selena, darling," Lady Camilla took her sleeve, looking uncharacteristically morose. "You don't have to leave right away... stay, at least, for the first round of dances."

"Sorry, Lady Camilla," Selena shook her head, wrapped her arms about herself. "I... I don't think I can. B-besides! I can't let Odin and Laslow keep waiting for me. But you know I'll think of you, even when I'm back at home."

"I wish I hadn't locked away my axe," Camilla sighed, looking as if she might very well change her mind about removing Selena's legs instead. "Do take care, my dear retainer. And if, on the off chance you find a way to write..."

"I'll send you letters all the time, Lady Camilla," Selena assured her, and allowed herself to be crushed in one of Camilla's suffocating hugs.

"Goodbye, Selena," she sighed, and with a maternal pat upon her cheek, at last set Selena free.

The mercenary slunk through the halls of Castle Gygas, far less frightening than they had been when she'd first seen it. The party went on, near the central castle, but Selena quietly stepped against stone, heading towards the secreted exit.

Suddenly, a familiar voice: "Selena."

Startled, she pivoted on her heel, "Lady Azura?? What are you doing here... shouldn't you be at the party, still?"

"I've never been one for gatherings like this," she replied, smiled sadly. "And I didn't want you to leave before I could say goodbye."

"You still should have stayed," Selena sighed, though her heart did not truly protest. "What will the members of the court think, if the guest of honor isn't at her own coronation celebration?"

"Only until the first dance," Azura promised. "And then... however much it pains me... I'll let you leave."

"Well... if nobody's going to be upset about it, then I won't complain about getting to see you again," Selena said, but thought, if I can see you one last time.

"Selena, I..." Azura hesitated. "Are you sure you wish to leave now?"

"Not really," Selena admitted. "But if I stay any longer... I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back. And I definitely have to go home. Odin and Laslow want to return, too, you know. And... well, Prince Takumi arranged all of his affairs so we could leave tonight."

"I see, then," Azura clasped her hands in her skirt, and was silent.

Selena watched her, for a second-- then, tore a necklace from beneath her vest, a single feather hung from a beaded string, "Here. Take it."

"What..." Azura accepted the necklace delicately, gently brushed the feather's fringes, stiff with resin.

"It was... a memento of my mother's. Not really of my mother," Selena corrected quickly. "The feather fell from her commander's pegasus, a long time ago, even before the first war I fought in. But she made the necklace, and I've been wearing it since I inherited it. So... take it, and remember me when you see it. Okay?"

"Of course," Azura promised, her words heavy with weight. "I... I only wish I had brought something to give you in return."

"I don't need anything," Selena replied. "Since you gave me your song so often during the war... I'll never forget it. And I'll never forget you, either."

"You gave me a song, too, remember?" Azura whispered. "How did that ending go again? O, holy that day when the gods' voice was slain..."

"And holier still, those that mourned with the rain," Selena finished, and her voice cracked.

A moment.

"I've thought of something I can give you," Azura wiped Selena's wet cheek. The sleeve of her ceremonial gown stained. "Someday, when I must choose an heir for this land... when I must take beneath my wing a child of my own... let me name them for the rain of your homeland, Selena."

"It was more of a messy drizzle, that day," Selena sniffed, and wept even more. "The kind that you think is going to stop... but just keeps going. The kind that... even once you think you're over it, the skies just keep crying. A total nuisance."

"Then, Selena," Azura leaned in, and touched her own wet cheek to Selena's. "Let me give you something else, too, to remember me by."

"Yeah?" Selena answered, and met her eyes just once, briefly.

Azura kissed her, soft and tender. The pressure of their lips together, close-mouthed, but pursing, warm, and perhaps this was Azura, giving her as much of her heart as she could fit into one motion. Fitting, Selena thought, that their first kiss together should also be their last.

The sound of instruments, mid-tuning, filtered in through the walls.

"The first dance," Azura sighed, withdrawing reluctantly.

"Are you sure you want to go now?" Selena asked, the phantom of the sensation still upon her lips.

"No," Azura shook her head, something tremendously sad upon her face. "But if I stay any longer... I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back."

"To the party?" Selena looked perplexed.

Azura smiled, soft, "To Valla. Especially when I know that my heart leaves with you. Goodbye, Selena."

"Goodbye," Selena echoed, and took a deep breath.

She turned around and took a step towards the castle exit, where Odin and Laslow surely awaited her. She thought, again, on how wonderful it would be to call them by their true names. What it might be like to hear her own name, true, once more.

Suddenly, irrationally, she decided that 'goodbye' wasn't good enough. That she wanted (no, needed) to hear her true name from Azura's lips. She turned around, prepared to call out--

But Azura had stepped away, already, walking down the hall once more with her dress' train flowing behind her, her crown gracing her head as regally as ever. And Selena remembered that Azura was a queen, now, and that this petty need of hers could also potentially cause a serious rift in time if it was ever writ in history. Her real name, she thought, would never be said in the cadence of Azura's voice.

She turned, again. Picked up her bags, and quietly strode to the meetingplace.

"-- of course, when your conceptual design bears the effective transdimensional mass of several elemental lodestones, the multiplicitous factors should cumulate in a secure wormhole... albeit a small one," a voice that was neither Odin nor Laslow.

"I can't believe you told him, Odin," definitely Laslow, there, groaning.

Selena doubled her pace, "Odin! What'd you do now? I'm really not in the mood to fix anything."

"Nothing needs to be fixed," Odin waved at her. "I mean... I just told Lord Leo about the teleportation crystals, and--"

"You did what?" Selena looked horrified.

"In his defense," Leo coughed, awkwardly still in the room. "I was very persistent in requesting an explanation for Odin leaving my service. No doubt Camilla thought to spare you the paperwork. I suppose Xander filled Laslow's out for him. But 'I can never return to this world in a thousand years' is not an acceptable answer as a reason for leaving the service of the Nohrian court."

"Anyways," Takumi cleared his throat conspicuously. "You gave Odin the thing you were trying to give him. Unless you're planning to leave, too, maybe you should go now."

"You're welcome," Leo sniffed, beginning to sweep away. "If it works, I expect to see a letter within the week."

"Nobody's going to explain what's going on?" Selena huffed, visibly irate.

"Well," Laslow strained, bearing a very heavy-looking stone artifact in his arms. "I'm told this box can open a portal between our world and this one. Provided... of course... it travels in-between the two worlds itself, by some other magical means."

"A portal?" Selena's heart picked up.

"A small one. Big enough for missives of vital import," Odin offered. "Lord Leo helped me perfect it, supplying all the knowledge within his grim compendium of dark literature... the one between Valla and Nohr already works."

"A portal," Selena repeated, more softly. She thought on how she might have another chance to tell Azura her name-- her real name. "All right. I'll forgive you just this once... let's go home before Laslow's arms give out."

"On three," Laslow suggested, shifting his arms so he had a better grip on the weighty object. "One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Crystals fell, there, and then-- there was light.

"Good gods," Inigo groaned, dropping the box atop a very familiar meadow, one that Owain recalled from his very earliest childhood.

"Did everyone make the trip okay?" Selena-- no, Severa-- picked herself up from where she'd fallen against the ground, rubbing at a bruise. Owain smiled at her hair, now, as vibrantly yellow as it had been once upon a time.

"I'm fine. Odin?" Takumi stood, and there, Owain remembered that it had not merely been a dream.

He took Takumi's hands in his own, "I'm great. I'm... I'm home. I... I..."

"Hey, are you all right?" Takumi frowned, pulling a hand away to pat Odin's head. Realized, suddenly, that his hair was red. "You didn't hit your head when we landed, did you?"

"No, I'm fine," Owain chuckled, bowing deeply before his fiancè. "Allow me to introduce myself once more, o noble heart, wielder of the sacred bow. My name is Owain... Owain..."

"Midnight?" Takumi lifted a questioning eyebrow, dubious as to what kind of name he might have had in this world.

"No," Owain smiled in return, realization clicking in his eyes. "Owain of Ylisse. That's what this land is called. Ylisse."

"Ylisse," Takumi tested the country's name upon his tongue. "That seems a strange name. So then, Odin Dark..."

"I... might have embellished on my last name a little," Owain admitted.

Takumi tried to hide his chuckle, "That's a relief. I was worried I'd have to change my name to something weird to match."

"You would have changed your name to match?" Owain seemed to perk up.

"Well... that's... I mean, Selena," Takumi abruptly changed the topic. "What are you doing?"

"My name is Severa, here," she scowled, and promptly rolled up her letter and shoved it into the very faint glow from inside the box. "And... Lord Leo said if it works, he'd hear from us in a week. But who knows how long it'll take, or anything, so I just wrote and reported that we all got here safely. I'm sure your family'll be grateful to hear that."

"I'm sure they will," Takumi shook his head, and reached up to run his fingers through Odin's hair. "I didn't know your hair was red."

"I almost forgot my hair was red, too," Owain blew a lock from his face, changed his pose so that he held his hand over his face. "Do you still think I look dashing?"

"Who said I thought you looked dashing?" Takumi huffed, but flushed deeply.

"Look up, milady and gentlemen," Inigo smiled brightly, lifting a small telescope from his bag, turning it skyward. "I thought I spotted something familiar on the horizon. Look who's out on patrol today..."

A small shadow grew closer and closer, and then, gliding in for a landing, she yelled.

"INIGOOOOOOO!" she dropped from her pegasus and flattened him to the ground. "I thought you'd never come back! How was traveling the world, and stuff?"

"It's nice to see you, too, Cynthia," Inigo wheezed, the wind knocked from him by the force of her aerial hug. "You wouldn't believe the things my half of House Ylisse got up to."

"That's no way to talk about the Exalted family, you dummy," Cynthia ruffled his hair good-naturedly. "Privilege to serve, and all that! Who's the new guy?"

Takumi gestured to himself, confused.

"Yeah, you!" Cynthia beamed. "Nice to meet you. Any friend of Lord Owain's a friend of mine! ... not Lady Severa, though. But that's because she makes friends with a lot of archnemesis-type people."

"Tch!" Severa snorted. "And here I thought you'd grown out of playing 'rescue Owain from his evil sister' years ago."

"You did once play a most worthy villainess in our childhood games," Owain laughed, and hugged Takumi close beneath his arm. "And this man is more than a friend of mine, o noble pegasus knight. In his homeland, he is an archer of unparalleled skill, the tales of which are told across the land! His legendary weapon, hailed from his family for--"

Takumi interrupted him, "My name is Takumi. Od... Owain and I are engaged."

"That's all I needed to hear," Cynthia laughed. "I can listen to all of that star-crossed warrior stuff later. But now! I have to report back to Lucina, and let her know that you guys came back just in time!"

"Oh! We made it back in time this year," Inigo smiled. As smoothly as he could possibly muster, "How many years did we miss, again...?"

"Gawds, Inigo," Severa sighed. "Don't ask weird questions like that."

"What?" Inigo looked affronted. "I lost track of time, all right?"

"Almost five years," Cynthia looked briefly pensive. "Since you left so shortly afterwards, that time. But somehow... somehow, I just know that the reason why that place is different is because of you guys. I just know it!"

"Well... a friend of ours may have had something to do with it," Inigo winked. "Today?"

"Yep, today!" Cynthia answered, already swinging herself over her pegasus' back once more. "Lucina and the rest just left the castle! You guys just wait right here; they'll be on their way at twice the speed once they hear the news!"

She took off again, soaring back over the horizon.

"Lord Owain??" Takumi hissed under his breath.

"I, er, well..." Owain rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm beholden to my own people, too... otherwise, I think, I might have stayed with you back in Hoshido."

"And this whole time, you've just been... letting Leo address you as a servant?" Takumi seemed upset on Owain's behalf. And then, suddenly, "You didn't tell me you were royalty!"

"Hey, don't pick on him for that," Severa huffed, and flicked Takumi's forehead. "I mean, it's not like we could have said anything, since we were sworn not to reveal our identities and all."

"He told me you were his sister," Takumi crossed his arms. "Frankly, I don't see the family resemblance."

"Owain, you did what?" Severa rounded on him, appalled by such a breach of their agreement.

In turn, Owain just laughed. "You're treating him like family already, Sev. Getting yelled at by you is like... a rite of passage, I guess."

Severa scoffed, "Either way, being royalty wouldn't have done much good for us over there, since nobody would've heard where we're from. It isn't like either of us have the whole... dragon thing going on, anyways."

"I guess my title doesn't mean much over here, either," Takumi snorted.

"That may indeed be the case, for though the blood of dragons flows indeed in thy mighty veins, there be but one dragon-goddess we have ever acknowledged in this world... a goddess who ascended, actually, from kin of those who transform into dragons in our own world. The Dragon of Dawn... I know not what weight that name might carry, for the legends dare not speak of it," Owain hesitated. Spoke again, "You don't regret it, already... do you?"

"It's... strange," Takumi admitted, for when he felt the air there, he could sense no dragon veins nearby at all. "But I don't regret it. Not for a moment. Hah... I've never really felt all that princely, anyways. You've got enough titles for the both of us."

Whatever Owain might have replied, then, he was interrupted by Lucina rounding the edge of the next hill, waving.

"Cousin Owain! Severa!" she smiled, hurrying down. "I admit, when I didn't hear back form you for so long, I feared the worst. I'm glad to see my worries were unfounded."

"Never fear, Lady Lucina," Inigo bowed, excessively flourishing. "I would allow neither of them to come to harm under my expert retainership."

"I see you are the same as ever, Inigo," she answered, then turned, examining the fourth member of their party. "And... Sir Takumi, correct? My cousin's intended?"

"That's right," Takumi nodded, cautious. Unsure how one went about meeting your future spouse's family, he gave a deep nod on acknowledgement, an abbreviated bow.

"Then you have arrived in excellent time to meet the rest of our family," Lucina nodded back. "Inigo... would you let the others know that we went on ahead?"

"As you wish," Inigo replied, secretly relieved that he would be able to take a moment's rest from carrying the truly heavy lodestone-box.

"This way, then," and Lucina led them on ahead, further South, until the town faded from view and only meadows grew as far as the eye could see.

"Those trees weren't there before," Severa shifted, ill at ease with departing the box while she awaited her reply.

"They weren't," Lucina answered, and stepped towards the copse of willows. "Accounts from the area said that they suddenly appeared, one day. And... well. Look within."

One by one, they stepped past the dangling branches, and too, one by one, fell into awe.

"Mother's favorite flowers," Severa whispered, tears teetering at the corners of her eyes as she stepped towards them, spellbound.

"The Missletainn's here," Owain sniffled. "That day at the bridge... I thought I lost that sword forever!"

Takumi stood, silent. Gazed at the stones that rose from the ground. The depictions, in relief, at the base of a statue whose sword looked exactly like the one Lucina bore. The flowers that decorated each slightly-raised mound of earth, polished plaques at the heads.

At last, he managed four words: "This is a graveyard."

"Perhaps it may be more accurate to call it a memorial," Lucina smiled sadly, touched the shoe of the statue. "I know for certain my father's remains were lost when the Fell Dragon rose, and brought darkness to this world. They didn't have time to save it, in their haste to escape... some of our parents' remains are buried here. But unless the magic that brought this place to bloom brought back their remains from places unknown..."

Takumi nodded slowly, "I see."

"Hail, Takumi," Owain hurried over, beaming brightly. He tugged at his sleeve. "Come on! I want you to meet someone."

"I... yeah," Takumi managed to smile back. "Yeah, okay."

Owain led him to a grave that, at first glance, seemed overgrown with wildflowers, bursting with life. Daffodils, buttercups, vines covered the statuette at its head-- until, then, Takumi realized that the statuette was not merely overgrown with flowers by the thousands, but rather that the flowers somehow had become the statuette. A sword, broken in two, lay at its feet.

"Hi, Mom," Owain knelt before her. "Sorry I was away for so long... I haven't been here since Sev and I left to go on that really important quest. I... we did it, Mom, we brought peace to that faraway land. We helped save them all. And... I met someone there, a brave and mighty archer of legendary caliber, whose strength is only superseded by his kindness."

"That's not what 'superseded' means," Takumi added, but knelt down respectfully beside him.

"He keeps me from folly, too," Owain chuckled. "A worthy match, indeed... Mom, this is Takumi, and I intend to marry him at earliest convenience. Takumi... this is my mom, Lady Lissa of the Exalted. And... if you ask me, the biggest hero of my bloodline. The one who gave her life to save mine, in the battle where my weapon broke. And though I couldn't do the same..."

"You've saved hundreds of lives," Takumi asserted, and clasped Owain's hand in his. "And... probably more, that I don't even know about yet."

"I can only hope I've done right by Mom's sacrifice," tears beaded in the corners of his eyes, then.

Takumi took a deep breath. Then, clasped his hands, knelt so that his forehead touched the ground, "Lady Lissa... it's an honor to meet you. Know this: had your children not come to my world, there would be many lives still yet lost or in danger. I've... never been great at diplomacy. But I think I speak for everyone when I say we're grateful to you, and to your family. Me, especially."

The wind rustled in the leaves.

"Please," Takumi prayed, and glanced up towards the statuette. "Let me have your blessing to marry your son."

Silence, and silence again-- but then, one of the white roses upon the statuette's head leased a single petal to land atop Takumi's.

"Mom," Owain wept, then, openly. "Takumi!"

"It's all right," Takumi hugged him close, sighing softly. "I think that means yes."

"She'd have liked you, you know," Owain wiped his face with his sleeve. "I think she would have. You've got a radiant aura, just like Mom did..."

"Hey," Severa swept by, ruffling Owain's hair. "Don't forget about Mother, too, okay?"

"I wouldn't forget about Mother!" Owain protested.

"Yeah, well," Severa seemed to soften for a moment. "Maybe you don't remember it, since you were still little, but when Mother came back from fighting, the first thing she'd do every time was tell us how much she missed us. She gets lonely easily, so someone has to keep her company while I talk to Mom!"

"All right, Sev," Owain stood, offered Takumi a hand up. "Let me introduce you to Mother, too! She was a pegasus knight of legend, whose heroic deeds number by the hundreds... Severa takes after her, you know."

"N-no I don't!" Severa elbowed him, scowling. Then, as her expression shifted, "Not yet, anyways... I've still got a long way to go before I'm her equal."

"She must've been really something," Takumi began, Owain's hand in his. "If even Sel... Severa doesn't match up to her."

"I'm glad you have the chance to meet them," Owain smiled back, soft, and it was difficult to believe that this man had thought he would ever make a persuasive dark-anything.

Takumi replied, a rare smile gracing his features, "I am, too."

And then, bursting in abruptly: "We've got a missive back! The box works," Inigo proclaimed, breathing hard from the run.

"What missive?" Lucina, clueless, asked.

"Where's the letter?" Selena demanded, turning abruptly. "Did Azura write back?"

"Laurent has it. They're Lord Leo's instructions," Laslow added, and for once, named all parties freely. "To be read by 'the highest caliber intellectual in your world,' quite specifically."

"Two mages of dark legend, teaming up in a feat of supereldritch proportions?" Odin's eyes widened. "So cool!"

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Lucina furrowed her brows. "What...?"

"It's fine," Takumi sighed, and stood beside her as the three of them hammered out the details. "I don't really get what's going on, either. But... sooner or later, we'll have a chance to sit down and get them to explain everything. I hope."

"I hope so, as well," and Lucina turned to him, offered a small smile. She held out her hand, "Welcome to the family, Takumi... I feel as if you belong among us already."

"That's funny," Takumi's lips twitched upwards. "I'm beginning to feel like that, too."

He took her hand, and shook it.