a/n: So this started when I named my conquest character as Masako and her birthday's coming up soon so I thought—-fire emblem au maybe? For those who've played the game, this story is set when Hoshidan and Nohrian forces have come together, but! I haven't played revelations yet so! no spoilers please!

Story and chapter titles come from the fe:fates ost. If you want a better feel of the chapter, you can listen to the designated song while reading~

Implore the Dawn, Dance in the Dark

1: What Can You Do?
[Masako & Yasuhara]

-:-

A deep sigh escapes Masako.

"Is the Nohrian prince truly as dreamy as they say?" asks the bespectacled paladin from beside her. Pointer finger to his bottom lip, Yasuhara stares openly at Prince Oliver. Or rather, instead of staring at his face as Masako has been doing, Yasuhara squints at Prince Oliver's armored chest. "I mean, I see it, but he's not really my type."

"His features are perhaps the most symmetrical I've seen on any man," Masako starts, agreeing in a roundabout way. "But something tells me he's a bit of a . . . How do I say this."

"Ah." Yasuhara chuckles. "Shall we gift him with a comb for his birthday?"

"That is a marvelous idea." She eyes the prince's terrible mess of black locks. It could have been lovable, but paired with bags under his eyes and their permanent glare, the prince simply looked like one of the castle's haggard defense puppets. "You know when it is?"

He hunches forward into her personal space and whispers into her ear, "It's tomorrow."

"Is it? How have you come to know?"

"From the the Hoshidan princess."

Masako scoffs. "Of course. Trust the traitor of her own birthright to utter the truth."

Yasuhara, affronted, gasps and holds both his hands to his chest. "Princess Mai would never tell a lie!"

"She told me you were the smartest person she knew."

"Yes. Our liege never deceives," Yasuhara states.

Masako's eyes twitch at the mention of the L-word. It is true that Masako family's loyalty still lies with the estranged princess and had offered Masako to be her retainer, but that doesn't mean Masako has come to accept her. And it doesn't help that Princess Mai has taken in Yasuhara, a Nohrian, as her second retainer during her brief mission to that cursed land a fortnight ago.

"Just yesterday you asked me if you, a Nohrian paladin of the highest rank, would be accepted as a mechanist in Hoshido. A man with half a head on his shoulders would never utter such nonsense in the vicinity of a Nohrian prince."

"Yes but—"

"Don't you—"

"Just last night you asked me—"

"Keep your voice down—!"

"If you, the heir to the greatest line of apothecaries in Hoshido, could instead become a mage."

Masako huffs, leering at his smirk. "It was said after the heat of a battle. I was merely tired of wrenching my arrows out of carcasses."

"True. I do think tomes might suit you better than that heavy bow."

Biting her lip, Masako says nothing in return.

"Shall we dare ask Prince Oliver for a heart seal?"

She rolls her eyes. "Dare if you must. I heard he's given his last one to the strategist Madoka for safe keeping."

"Safe keeping for whom? It will just gather dust until the end of this war."

"Perhaps for the lost prince Eugene?"

"Exactly—the heart seal would be left to waste. I doubt we'd even come across Prince Eugene's trail before the war ends."

From behind them, a dark aura loomed closer and closer.

"Shall we cut this chat short for now? Let's not wait until Prince Oliver brings out Brynhildr."

"Agreed."

a/n: Naru = Leo. No one can convince me otherwise.

btw! my castle address is 15786-93810 | 48985-83242 —my children are in great need of accessories