Leo hated his life. Not that it was uncomfortable: his family was very wealthy, and their manor was removed from the nearest village quite some distance. But his father was a notorious womanizer, with only the oldest child – Xander – being legitimate. All other children were result of one-night stands that his father had started engaging in after his wife had died. People talked, of course. Such a behaviour of a wealthy noble was scandalous to say the least. And after death of his wife, father had changed. While never outright abusive, he started ignoring his family, content to waste his time gambling, drinking, and getting into bar fights. His younger children were literal children of whores that father had brought home after having sex with them, his kind heart – what remained of it – not allowing him to leave them not taken care of. But they died, one by one, leaving their children behind. Leo never understood how that had happened. In the end, only his father and his siblings were left. But ever since father had given to drinking, old man Gunther – his father's guard - was the one managing family business – trade and mining, mostly.

At his fifth birthday, Gunther brought an orphan home. Corrin – that was her name, as they found out after she had stopped crying – was a child of travelling traders. But her parents were killed by bandits when caravan was attacked, and she ran off into forrest. It was by pure luck that she met Gunther who had been patrolling the estate after hearing of a string of attacks by bandits in the area. Gunther brought her to the Woodstock estate, bathing her and giving her new clothes before introducing her to the family. She was nearly unanymously adopted into the family, but Leo was still unsure what to think about her. She was polite enough, but very withdrawn. While she did open up with time, she was more interested in playing with dolls or, later, swordplay – though Leo did value time they spent reading together in the library, it was very limited, their sessions few and far between. Corrin also became close to Gunther, and old retainer sometimes took them on camping trips. Even there, Leo typically observed Corrin fooling around while he read, at least until Gunther took them both for a combat training session – Leo had taken to darkness magic quite quickly, while Corrin preferred magical weapons. But like all good things, it couldn't last.

It was a calm, moonless night. Leo had stayed up for a long time, watching stars, before retreating to a bed. But the reprieve did not last long before Gunther came rushing into the room.

"Lord Leo! Wake up!"

"..."

"Leo! Get up! We have to get Corrin!"

"What? What is happening?"

"Mansion is under attack! They hit the rooms in the other wing with a cursed fire. We need to leave!"

"What about the others? Father, Xander-"

"Dead. There's nothing to do, we need to leave!"

At that, Leo jumped out of the bet and quickly dressed, while Gunther went to Corrin's room. Leo took with him a dagger and few apples and tomatoes from the nightstand before rushing into the hallway to meet Gunther and frightened Corrin. She was a sobbing wreck, but was keeping up with the old knight. They went into the basement, to an old statiue which Gunther opened to reveal a secret passage. After few minutes of walking, they exited into a forrest. Gunther apparently knew directions well, for he immediately continued walking towards, as he explained, a small town nearby. Leo had been in the town a few times, and recalled that it was the place where Guther had found Corrin.

They had been walking in silence another few minutes. Corrin felt the chills run down her spine while looking around the dark, silent forrest, and took Leo's hand in an attempt to calm herself. She thought she had seen the shadows move, but said nothing out of fear that Leo would think her ridiculous. But Gunther's age had not dulled his senses, and he too noticed that something was amiss. The old knight quickened his pace and turned to undergrowth, beckoning the kids to follow him. But his efforts were not enough, as a blast of magic exploded but few meters away.

"RUN!"

"Gunther, we're not-"

"No time to argue, Corrin! Leo, take her and run!"

Leo just gritted his teeth, took Corrin by hand, and ran away. He knew that odds were good Gunther will be overwhelmed by the enemies, but if they died, then everything the old knight did for them would have been for nothing. So he ran, and never looked back. It was only few minutes later that they stopped running, and decided to hide in the bush. It was only then that Corrin calmed down enough to speak.

"Leo, why did they do this?"

"Like they needed a reason. Dark guilds spread misery, that is what they are best at. Maybe they wanted money, or some tome from the library, or maybe they did it for no reason but to pass time. Trying to discover their motives with this little information is hopeless".

"What are we going to do next?"

"I don't know. Ask me in the morning."

With that, Corrin fell asleep while Leo stayed up, thinking about the past and the future. Few hours later, he woke up Corrin and went to sleep. At dawn, Corrin woke him up and they continued on their trek towards the town.

NOTES:

Yes, Leo is aware that he and Corrin are not related. I could not just transplant the entire FE:F universe into Fairy Tail, so I changed a lot in the backstory, as much as I thought I could get away with without changing characters in a major way.