(Special thanks to Hozier for the song and music video, UndyingNephalim for the Church of Keaton, and Rachel Carsenti for being such a diehard Fates fan)
Takumi observed his sister with scorn. She was taking that damn box of hers down from the shelf, probably to spend hours staring at its contents like she always did.
"I told you, Anju, he's off limits. Why don't you go ahead and burn it and forget about that Nohrian scum you're so in love with?"
"I don't care, he's my husband and I love him!" she cried. Hearing Takumi scold her for loving another ripped her heart into two—no, four—no, a billion. She didn't understand why someone from Hoshido could not end up with someone from Nohr.
"Well, you can go ahead and leave!" he snapped. "You're not polluting our country with dirty half-breeds any time soon!"
"Fine!" Anju hastily tied a chain around the wooden chest, grabbed a shovel, and ran sobbing out the door and off the castle grounds. Her family didn't need her. Hoshido didn't need her. But Kafei did, and she needed him too.
Nohr only had one church, and that was the Church of Keaton, right on its edge. Here, fox-masked recluses gathered for worship and to plan their invasion of the neighboring countries.
"All right, people!" Father Leo stood at the front of the main room, sword in hand. "We lost a couple of men on our last attempt at conquest. What do we do to improve? Any suggestions?" He pointed to a random part of the room. "Yes, Brother Jakob?"
"We could eat their babies," Jakob suggested. Everyone else looked at him funny.
Leo sighed. "No, Jakob, eating babies does not solve anything."
"How about we send people door-to-door, like—what do you call them? —Mormons?" Laslow piped up.
"DO YOU WANT TO GET US KILLED?" Leo slammed his fist down on the podium.
"Is mayonnaise an instrument?" asked Elise.
Leo sighed again. "That, dear girl, is an unrelated question." He stood awhile in thought. He needed the help of his closest friend.
He scanned the room. Not a single streak of purple stood out to him. Unbeknownst to Leo, Kafei had already stolen a horse and was making his way to that special spot that only he and Anju knew…
And she would be waiting.
It had taken Anju a day and a half to get to the small green valley where she planned to bury the box, far from Takumi's prying eyes. If he had seen her burying it instead of, say, burning it, he would be at her throat with a bow and arrow in an instant.
Bedraggled and weary, she put her fatigue behind her and her shovel before her as she began digging. It was a small hole, but it was big enough to keep the box hidden. When it was finally covered by soft dirt, she fell to the ground, burying her face in the soft soil. Through her sleep-fueled haze, she could hear muffled hoofbeats. He had arrived.
"Whoa there, Falchion." Stiff from the long and tortuous ride, Kafei dismounted his stolen steed and made his way to the patch of earth where his love lay half-unconscious. He wasn't that used to traversing the rocky mountain valleys of East Hoshido, but he kept going. It was all worth it. For her.
When he finally made it to her, he took his hands in hers. Sensing a warmth that could only be his, Anju awakened, brushed the dirt off herself, and got to her feet.
"K-Kafei…" she managed to say, "I thought you'd never make it."
"I knew you would say that," he replied as he embraced her. "C'mon, I'll walk you back home."
As her sweetheart let go of her, Anju came to a realization: "Takumi! The guards! They'll kill me if they see you!"
"Easy there, dearest. You'd best be going home now." He looked down, noticing something was different about her. And it wasn't the fact that she was covered in dirt. "Is that…"
"Yes, Kafei. I'm pregnant."
(LE GASP)
Note: I'll be putting LE GASPs here and there at surprising moments like this.
"C'mon, you know you feel safe around me. And especially with that new arrival coming…"
She agreed, and they began the walk back to the castle.
In the shadows, someone was watching. A very mysterious someone.
A very mysterious someone in a fox mask.
FATHER LEO.