There was a strange feeling of emptiness that came with the end of the war. A feeling that made everyone in Nohr's royal army collectively say, "What do we do now?" The war against Hoshido had consumed their entire lives. It had been all they could really think about each day, and all of a sudden it was now gone. That had been the point though, hadn't it? To put an end to the fighting that seemed to last forever? A new era of peace could begin in the ashes of a tremendous loss, something they had been promised would be worth it. Sure, the safety of the future generations was something they desired, but what good what it do them in the present? They were soldiers. Without a war, they had no purpose, and nobody felt like they were without a purpose more than the youngest prince of Nohr.
Leo stood in the desecrated throne room in Hoshido's capital. The puddle of muck that was once King Garon, his father (not that Leo had ever truly been able to think of him as one), festered in front of the throne of the Dawn Dragon. People were scattered around the room, tending to their rooms and comforting one another. The struggle of fighting King Garon and then the surprise attack from the fallen Prince Takumi had taken its toll on even the strongest of their soldiers. Miraculously, they hadn't lost anyone in the battle. The hadn't lost anyone in the final battle, but they had definitely lost someone before. Azura. Leo's wife, although the marriage was painfully short. It had been a spur of the moment decision. After the death of his retainer Odin, Leo had determined that survival wasn't going to be guaranteed, and that he'd rather die without regrets than continue to live with them.
Azura hadn't died in a previous battle like Odin, or Charlotte, or Benny, or the countless others. Leo had seen their deaths with his own eyes, horrendous wounds from Hoshidan soldiers. The thoughts of their lives being snuffed out made it hard for him to sympathize with the remaining members of Hoshidan's royalty. Perhaps Princess Sakura could be afforded his feelings, since she reminded him of Elise, but Princess-Soon-To-Be-Queen Hinoka could choke as far as he was considered. She had killed Odin herself, and Leo would never forgive her for that.
No, Azura had technically died after the battle against the fallen form of Takumi, but Leo suspected she had started to die before that. He heard the pain in her voice as she sang to keep Takumi's spirit contained, and then he watched her dissolve in his arms, begging to see Corrin one last time. Leo hadn't cried at his wife's passing, but he had cried at the idea that she wanted to see his brother over him. Their marriage had been rushed, sure, but there were true feelings behind it, at least Leo had hoped. Now it just seemed to be an act of courtesy. He was the first person to ask and she didn't want to hurt his feelings. What a fool he was to believe that somebody could that way about him...
"Father!" A voice called out, snapping Leo out of his self-loathing stupor. Forrest ran up to him, his sky blue curls bouncing underneath his hat. "Shigure and I are going to go out and see if there are any civilians who were caught in the fighting and need healing. Will you be alright here?"
A father was the last thing Leo had expected to become during the war. Much like most of the marriages in the army, the children had been for convenience. Another decision based on life being too short, and being reminded of their own mortality at the sight of death. If Leo's memory served correctly, it had been seeing the girl from Cheve executed that had caused the first child to be born. A couple that had lost themselves in nights of passion had come up with the idea to use the Deeprealms to wait out pregnancy and pass off childcare before returning to war. Leo had deep reservations about using inter-dimensional pockets as day-cares, but as usual nobody listened to him.
Soon enough, everyone seemed to be having babies, even Elise, which deeply concerned Leo and his older brother Xander (Corrin remained obliviously happy to see a new child be brought back, of course). Elise's husband was her own retainer, and he adored her, but their age difference was the topic of more discussions than Leo would have liked. At least when he ended up with two children, people weren't as eager to talk about that. Leo kept most of the details of those nights to himself and Azura, who he was sure immediately spilled all of them to Corrin, who then likely circulated them around the army a couple of times. It was embarrassing, but he was inexperienced. They all were, and yet nobody wanted to be the voice of reason to stop any of them. Life was too short, children were made, and as a result some of the children died. At least Leo had survived the war with both of his sons in one piece. The same couldn't be said for everyone.
"Of course I'll be alright," came the automatic response that Leo was used to saying when people expressed concern for him. "Don't worry about me. Just please be careful, okay?" Forrest gave a nod and ran back to his brother. Shigure caught his father's eye, before turning shyly away from him, which furthered Leo's feelings of guilt. Of his two sons, it was clear who he was closer with. Forrest had seemed so vulnerable as a child, and Leo wanted to give him constant protection. Meanwhile, Shigure was just like his mother and didn't seem to need anyone. Leo couldn't help not being able to relate to him like he could relate to Forrest.
There was something else too of course. Stray thoughts that Leo refused to validate. Seeing Shigure atop his pegasus, his Falcon Knight armor glinting in the light as he skewered enemy soldiers left and right, reminded him too much of seeing one of his retainers run through by another Falcon Knight. Azura had shamelessly brought Shigure up to honor his Hoshidan roots, and everything from his mount to his clothing oozed with the foreign style. The others thought it was refreshing, and for some they found it easier to accept the enemy as human beings who still deserved honor on the battlefield. Leo couldn't bring himself to do the same. Hoshido had taken away one of his only friends. It had taken his wife. It had almost taken the rest of his family.
As he always did, Leo just directed the feelings toward hating himself. What sort of father loathed his own son for his heritage? He didn't hate Shigure, but he found himself being more tense when he was around. He couldn't relax. He was afraid. Leo, Prince of Nohr, strategic genius, and an object of his retainer's worship (how sad it felt to only be able to refer to one retainer instead of the usual two), was afraid of his own son. Leo was a coward.
"Prince Leo," said another voice, and Leo was once again dragged back into reality. It was Niles, with his doting mannerisms that instantly started to make Leo feel somewhat better.
"Niles, I'm glad you're safe," Leo said earnestly. "We have a lot of work to do and I'd like to start with-"
"Forgive me, Prince Leo," Niles interrupted, "but I'm needed elsewhere. Corrin would like me to stay with him, Nina, and Kana. I hope you understand."
"Yes, go with him," Leo said, his gaze drifting over to his brother and his two adopted children. If Leo could choose to blame anyone other than himself for the tragedies that had struck them, it would be Corrin. Barely his brother anymore, it had been Corrin who blindly trusted everyone and led them into so many traps. It had been Corrin who favored his own sense of strategy over that of Leo and Xander's, which subsequently got people killed. It was Corrin who had taken Niles away from his liege and took up all of his time. And perhaps worst of all, it was Corrin's name that Azura had called out as she died. After worrying so much about which side Corrin would take in the war, Leo wasn't convinced he was better off than if Corrin had sided with Hoshido. It was clear that neither kingdom was the top of Corrin's priorities.
"Leo, I'm so sorry about Azura," Corrin had said after Leo had witnessed her death.
"She wanted you there," Leo had replied, his tone deadly. "She did this so that you would live."
"I know," Corrin hastily, "but I can't imagine how she could possibly make such a sacrifice for me." It was his usual way of defusing a situation by not taking a clear stance. Favor both sides and hope to reach a compromise. It had been unimpressive when they were younger, and now it just made Leo sick.
"How could you not know?!" Leo snapped. "You were the only one that ever seemed to understand her! You don't know why she died for you?!"
"Leo, hold," Xander has said in an attempt to intervene. "I know you're upset, we all are."
"It's so sad when family is separated," Camilla added with a breathy whimper. Elise sniffled by her side. "But blaming Corrin isn't going to solve anything."
It was clear, then and there, that blaming Corrin wasn't going to solve anything because nobody in their right mind would ever blame him. He had ruined all of their lives with his choices, but because they volunteered they didn't hold anything against him. Such a fierce loyalty for family, that only seemed to apply to certain members of it. Leo had choked down his emotions in that moment and said no more, leaving Corrin to continue to spew more nonsense about compromises and peace. Camilla and Elise quickly ran after him to offer their support, leaving only Xander to linger with Leo.
"Corrin doesn't understand how the world works," Xander said. "He was imprisoned his entire life. His history is a lie. He's just as lost now as he was when this all started. You can't blame him-" Leo turned to look his brother in the eye, making Xander rethink his words. "You can blame him...but it won't do you any good. He's our brother, and we need him just as much as he needs us. Azura made her choice. I'm sorry it wasn't the choice you wanted her to make." With that, he left Leo to go finish off the last of the enemy soldiers.
Leo had always felt lonely, even surrounded by overbearing siblings, but he had never felt such an hollow pang of being alone than he did as he stood in the center of the throne room. He stood alone, watching families grieve and comfort one another. His sons had run off to do their civic duties, his wife was dead, his retainers were gone, and his siblings were busy with their spouses and children. Nobody would notice if Leo had just slipped away, and as a result nobody noticed when he did. Leo hated the concept of running away, but that's what he was doing now. He ran out to the look next to Hoshido's castle, where a small dock jutted out into the water. It was unsafe to just leave without a guard, anybody could be lurking at the water's edge, but Leo wasn't exactly in the mood for self-preservation.
He sat on the dock, not wishing to remove his boots and get his feet wet. The full moon was directly overhead, casting a ghostly reflection onto the mostly calm water. Dragonflies darted around the water and small groups of fireflies twinkled in the reeds. Such insects didn't live in Nohr, and when they had first arrived in Hoshido Leo had been fascinated by them. He was curious about what made them glow and move so fast. If he had time, he might like to study them and see what new magic he might be able to create from the inspiration. Such pastimes would have to come after the restoration of Nohr and whatever fate was in store for Hoshido. If Leo was correct, and he usually was, Corrin would give everyone in Hoshido a full pardon and have a treaty be signed between the two kingdoms that prevented them from going to war. The treaty would be honored at least until Corrin passed away, and every other current member of the royal families was dead. Then war would likely begin again. Such was fate.
Leo had come up with his own ideas for what should happen to Hoshido. He felt that if Hoshido would not become a part of Nohr, that Nohr should at least rule over Hoshido. Taxes would be paid to the Nohrian royalty, but they would be fair. Hoshido had an abundance of resources, and Leo felt that they were too stingy with their neighbors. The constant turmoil, and subsequent need to conquer, in Nohr was caused by the country not being able to support its growing population. If the two would share resources, for Nohr boasted minerals and plants that Hoshido did not have, then the conflicts would stop. That was how you made peace, in Leo's mind. Not whatever Corrin was trying to do, which wouldn't solve anything. Alas, the secret prince had been very gung-ho about his own ideas, and Leo didn't stand a chance of getting his ideas heard until council meetings were held in the following months.
His own future was something that he had been thinking more and more, now that all conventional ideas had been completely shattered. He'd have to find a new retainer...but could anyone really replace Odin? After his death, Leo had sought out his daughter Ophelia and offered to teach her magic that her father loved so she could feel closer to him. She was talented, and her mother was a villager who had nothing, so Leo could pull some strings to improve their situation. That was assuming Odin's two best friends, his siblings' retainers as well, ever let her leave their sight. If he could make that happen, she would be great for carrying on her father's legacy. Of course now that he thought about it, he might have to replace his other retainer as well, given how possessive Corrin was of Niles.
Even if his retainer situation was figured out, what was next for Leo? Unless Xander by some chance died, he was to remain a prince. Perhaps he could continue his studies and invent new spells. Or maybe he could take a long vacation. Maybe he would find a new wife. That idea didn't exactly make him feel good, but he couldn't very well resign himself to being alone forever. His marriage, which had been expected to last his whole life, had been crammed into a span of time that didn't even reach a year. If there hadn't been a war and the marriage had ended by a means other than death, he would be ridiculed for how short it had been. He had loved Azura, but it hadn't been enough time to fall truly in love with her. And clearly it hadn't been enough time for her to fall in love with him, either.
The hair on the back of Leo's neck began to stand on end, an indication that someone was behind him. "What do you want?" Leo asked, not turning to look at whoever was behind him. When he got no response, he turned around and immediately wished he could turn back around. There on the dock was a spectral version of his deceased wife, Azura. Leo shot up to his feet, his first curled to prepare a spell. He lacked any tomes, but a blast of unfocused magic would still be powerful coming from him.
"What is this?!" Leo shouted. "An apparition? Some sick joke? Answer me!" An orb of magic began to form in his grip.
"It's just me Prince Leo," Azura said, and Leo felt his power fading. The orb subsided and he stared at the spectral Azura. "I wanted to speak to you. To answer you questions and ease your thoughts. Your mind has been dark lately, Prince Leo."
"You can't even refer to me without my title," Leo said bitterly. "Is it true what I'm thinking? Did you ever love me?!"
"No. I'm sorry." Leo stared at Azura, whose expression remained unchanging. She took a step forward. "But be honest, Prince Leo, did you ever really love me?"
"I thought I did," Leo replied. "I thought what I felt was enough. I thought it was what love was supposed to feel like. It wasn't anything magical, or overpowering like it's described in books, but I think what I was feeling was right. We had children together, Azura."
"You're not being fair to Shigure," Azura said.
"Don't tell me how to treat my son," Leo hissed. "You can't even be there. You're dead. You died to stop Prince Takumi. You died to save Corrin."
"I did it to save you as well," Azura remarked, coming to stand closer to Leo. Leo just scoffed. "We could go back and forth about our love, or lack of it, but I don't have much time. I am here to set you free."
"Set me free how?" Leo asked suspiciously.
"Set you free from your feelings of obligation," Azura explained. "You did not really love me, and I never loved you. I'm sorry we ended up married and with children when there was truly nothing between us. I cannot undo that, and I don't think that I would want to after seeing what wonderful children we had. All I can do is let you know that I never loved you in any way."
"You're really taking some liberties with this whole dead-wife-comes-back-to-speak-to-her-still-alive-husband bit aren't you?" Leo said sarcastically.
"Prince Leo, you're free to move on," Azura sighed. "You can find a new wife, have new children. You can return to your duties as Prince of Nohr with no obligations to me as your wife. You need not even write of me in the royal records. It can be as though I never existed. A fresh start. I am doing this for you because I believe you deserve better-"
"If you really thought that you'd never have married me in the first place!" Leo shouted. "Try as much as you'd like, but you can't just erase your own existence. There are two living, breathing pieces of evidence that you were here and that we had something. Or at least I thought we did. What, do you want me to disown them and pretend they never exist either?"
"Is that what you want?" Azura asked. "I know how you feel about Shigure, and how you used to feel about Forrest."
"I've grown to accept Forrest for who his is and that was done with no help from you," Leo reminded her. "As for Shigure, I'll be damned if I let your choices in raising him prevent me from one day being able to look him in the eye."
"So be it then," Azura said. "If that's how you feel, then you've already started moving on. Goodbye Leo. Give my best to Corrin." She turned and Leo felt something snap.
"Don't you dare fade away from me again without me finishing," he roared. Azura turned back to face him. "I know you only love him, and that's why he was the only person you wanted to see as you died. Everyone knew that, and I didn't say a word because of what I thought was love. And now you've let yourself die and left me with two children. You should have married him instead."
"Yes, perhaps if I had been faster then things would have ended differently and you wouldn't have felt so much anguish," Azura admitted. "Once he married Niles, I thought I would be happy enough being the bride to one of his brothers, and that we could share a sibling bond instead. It would appear I was mistaken, or perhaps I had just had the misfortune of falling in with the wrong brother. No offense."
Leo almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he was also talking to the ghost of his dead wife so nothing was off the table at this point. "You married me...to get closer to Corrin?" He whispered.
"It is a choice that has brought me great shame," Azura began, but Leo cut her off.
"Go," Leo said.
"Please do not take out your anger on Corrin," Azura begged.
"I won't touch your precious Corrin," Leo promised. "I see now that you both deserved one another. You're both too careless with the feelings and lives of others to be good enough for anyone else. I would thank you if I had any ounce of respect left for you, because for the first time in my life I know that I'm not the worst person in the world, or the one who is at fault for everything wrong."
"Do you feel free?" Azura asked, reaching out a hand, with Leo backed away from.
"Yes," Leo remarked, "because now I know that if things had played out differently, I'd be spending my whole life with a woman who wanted to use me as a pawn to be with my brother."
"Your wording is harsh," Azura sighed, "but I suppose my actions were as well. Does this not upset you?"
"Oh I'm mad as hell," Leo said with a chuckle, "but I find solace knowing that for all that you've done and tried to do, you still didn't get what you wanted. You brought me two great kids in your attempt to get Corrin and even in your final moments, he wasn't there for you. He's got a husband who adores him and two children that worship him. And what did you get? You're dead." Azura stared at him, pain in her eyes, but Leo relished the sight.
"I will leave you then," Azura said, her voice strained. "May you find the happiness you seek."
"I'm not done yet," Leo said, taking a step closer to Azura. "You're dead, and as you've already given me permission, I'll see to it that nobody remembers who you really were. I'll keep you in my family's records, as my first wife. You wished to be Corrin's and in doing so you decided to mess with the wrong Prince of Nohr."
"This darkness you're allowing yourself to feel," Azura said, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "it will consume you, Leo. You must forgive me!"
"I'm done with forgiving everyone who's done me wrong and then blaming myself for their hurtful actions," Leo declared. "The only person I need to forgive is myself, for almost ending up as your cuckold." Tears swiftly fell down Azura's face, and her spectral form began to cry. "You can leave now. And even if you're not here to stay, I'm happy the universe allowed your soul to stop by. You've been able to set me free." And just like that, Leo blinked and she was gone.
For some time after, Leo wasn't sure whether or not he had truly met with the spirit of Azura. Maybe, in his agony, he had hallucinated or dreamt the entire thing. Nobody else had been there that night, and Leo didn't dare say a thing. The last thing he wanted was to spread rumors about what Azura had told him only for them to have just been the product of his own imagination. So Azura's memory was maintained as shrouded in mystery like it always had been. Leo had chosen not to give into whatever darkness that lurked in his heart, but felt satisfied with the threats he given spectral Azura.
Nothing seemed to change from that day on, except for Leo's demeanor. He had ditched the inferiority complex to the best of his ability, and sought out to repair his relationship with Shigure. Shigure had helped him appreciate Hoshido's culture, something Forrest was eager to learn about as well. He never forgave Hinoka for killing one of his best friends, but he was surprised to find himself spending more and more time with Princess Sakura. Leo ended up taking Ophelia on as his second retainer, and his fears that Niles would leave his service never became a reality. After many years, Leo found himself confronting Corrin in a manner similar to confronting Azura, but unlike with Azura he found Corrin to be accepting of his mistakes. A genuine apology was given, as time had taught Corrin how much he had to learn about the real world. Their relationship was no longer the happy-go-lucky sort that Corrin had hoped for, but Leo had built up some sort of respect for his older brother as a result. Now, Leo could look forward to what the future would bring. Yes, there was the fact that one day he'd be reunited with Azura in death, but he had the rest of his life to figure out whether or not he was going to truly forgive her.