I was waiting for Xander's grand battle so I could write this. And that's not just because I love him.
You'll see what I mean once you read it!
Holding his will against the force of the mighty blade Siegfried, Alfonse was able to hold off Xander and kept him distracted long enough for Sharena to jump from behind her brother and strike the crown prince in the chest, sending him flying back.
"Accept it, prince Xander, you've lost," Alfonse boldly spoke, watching as the crown prince was barely able to hold himself up on his knees.
"… Such… strength…" He used his sword to shakily stand up. But he was only able to stand for a second before collapsing back to his knees.
Kiran stepped forward, "You have great strength yourself. Strength that would better suit us than to be wasted on the Emblian Empire. Xander, consider where your allegiance lies, and lend the Askr Kingdom your strength!"
Remaining silent for a moment, Xander answered by unleashing a beam of energy from his sword towards Kiran. Alfonse quickly reacted and pulled Kiran out of the way. In retaliation, Linde, who they brought along to fight Xander, unleashed a powerful blast of magic, hitting the crown prince.
"Nice one, Linde!" Kiran thanked her.
As the smoke from the magic attack faded, they saw that sparks of dark purple energy were radiating off his body.
"Linde, is that your magic?" Sharena asked.
"No. This is something else."
Painful groans slipped through as the sparks became larger and more intense. Xander's hands painfully grasped at his hair, threatening to rip his blonde hair right from the roots. The Order of Heroes all took an unconscious step back at the display. With one loud scream, a shockwave of dark energy shot out, the sparks dissipating as Xander fell to the ground, unconscious.
"What… What just happened?" Sharena asked.
"I have no idea," Kiran said, "But we have to bring him back to the castle."
"Are you sure that's a wise move?" Anna asked, "What if this is a trap? Do you know what danger we would be bringing to us if we take him back to the castle?"
"But we'll be inviting even more danger if we just leave him here to be picked up again by Veronica."
Anna remained silent before giving a nod.
"Then it's settled," Alfonse answered, "Let's hurry and move."
Back at the castle, the Nohrian royals were relaxing in their room. Leo was browsing through one of the many interesting books from the castle library and Camilla was fixing Elise's hair.
"Kiran is taking a while to come back from scouting," Elise spoke.
"I'm sure everything's alright, sweetie," Camilla answered, finishing her sister's hair, "He said he would come to us once he got back. I'm sure he'll be here soon."
"Still, I am wondering about what they found," Leo spoke up, looking up from the book, "They said whoever they found seemed to exude the same presence as us. I still can't tell what they meant by that."
Before either of the princesses could answer, a sudden fervent knock on the door came a mere second before the door swung open and Azura came in.
"I finally found you."
"What's wrong, Azura?" Elise asked, worried.
"Alfonse and Kiran want you to come to the infirmary. They've found Xander!"
Shocked and not wanting to waste another moment, the three royals followed her out the room and ran through the halls to the infirmary. Once they reached it, they found Alfonse and Kiran standing outside the room, Laslow and Peri already there as well.
"Thank you for bringing them, Azura," The prince said.
"My pleasure."
"Alfonse, is it true?" Leo asked, "Have you really found Xander?"
"Yes. He's in there right now. We're trying to pinpoint what exactly happened to him."
"What do you mean?" Camilla asked concerned, "What happened?"
"When I was trying to negotiate with him, some strange dark magic started coming off of him. It wasn't caused by Linde and even she couldn't really identify it. But it seemed to cause him pain and it made him pass out."
"Is he OK?" Elise asked, just as worried as before.
"He should be fine. Right now, we're having Sanaki examine him to try and see what that magic was."
"Sanaki? You mean that girl who claims she's an apostle?" He remembers the short mage from the last gauntlet, or more specifically how upset she was at her loss.
"She's very potent in magic. We trusted that she'll be the best for us to turn to for this," Alfonse answered, "She should be done soon, but, in the meantime, we've been wanting to ask you something."
"Go right ahead," The Nohrian prince said.
"Xander isn't at all like how he was described in legends we heard. What exactly happened? What cause him to change so much?"
"That's simple: Veronica," The prince answered.
"What do you mean?"
The elder Nohrian princess answered, "When Veronica and her army first attacked our kingdom, he tried to see if he could negotiate with her. She was so young and seemed so inexperienced, he wanted to stop her before she could try anything drastic. But… when he came back, he was a completely different person."
"Completely?" The summoner asked.
The prince continued his sister's story, "Rather than oppose the Emblian Empire, he wanted us to fight alongside her. He said she deserved our full cooperation. At first, we thought he was using this as method to weaken her army and catch her off guard. But this was genuine intention to further her goals. We were completely against it, but when she bound us by the contract, we had no choice but to listen to her. Our hands were tied and we were forced to be just as obedient. When you and the Order of Heroes came and freed us from the contract, we thought this would be the moment Xander would snap out of it and realize his mistake. But, the next morning after you came, he was gone."
"Gone?" The summoner was puzzled, "Just like that."
Elise shook her head, "He didn't let anyone know he was leaving, and no one saw him leave. Well… except for them."
She motioned at Laslow and Peri, who have silent throughout the siblings explanation.
"You two saw Xander leave?" The Askr prince asked, "Did you try to stop him?"
"Of course," Laslow answered, "We tried everything we could to try and convince him he was making a mistake, but nothing got through to him. He said that if we weren't willing to completely dedicate ourselves to the Emblian Empire, not to even bother coming along. Xander is the one we are to protect, not her. So we refused to go with him."
"I wish I did go with him!" Peri answered, anger burning in her eyes, "I would have gutted that princess where she stood for what she did to our lord Xander!" Laslow rubbed her back to calm her down.
"But, still," Alfonse puzzled, "After what we saw today and the magic we witnessed, I get the feeling we might be getting even more answers."
At that moment, the door to the infirmary opened and Sanaki came through.
"I assume you all are acquaintances to Xander?" She asked as she looked at the large group.
The summoner answered, "Yes. These are his siblings and retainers."
"Then you all may come in. Xander is awake now."
The apostle lead them into the room. Inside the room, sitting on one of the beds, was Xander, rubbing his forehead as he looked at them.
Elise sniffed as tears started to form, "XANDER!" She ran up to him and embraced him, crying into his chest. After a second of hesitation, one hand wrapped around her thin body and the other lightly patted her head.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Camilla walked up and rubbed his shoulder.
Leo followed behind her, "To think this would happen."
"Lord Xander!" His retainers ran up, just as delighted as his siblings.
"Everyone…" His voice was somber and rather weak. As he tried to move, a quick spark of the strange magic came from his head, making him groan and grab his head in pain.
"You have to take it easy," Sanaki said, "There's still a copious amount of magic in you."
"What?" Alfonse asked, "But I thought you had already removed all the magic."
"I will, but it will take some time. Right now, I removed enough of it to ensure it wouldn't overtake him again. In truth, the amount of magic in his system is incredibly lethal."
"Lethal?" Elise asked, wiping the tears from her eyes, "You mean he could have died?"
"Of course. It's an absolute miracle that he's still alive right now. Most people would not be able to withstand that much magic affecting their mind, the affects of it could easily destroy one's sanity and leave them an empty husk. It astounds me that there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage to him."
"Sanaki, tell me," Kiran asked, "Just what kind of magic was used on him?"
"Magic native to the Emblian Empire. More specifically, magic native to princess Veronica."
"Veronica?" The Askr prince asked, "Are you certain?"
"Most definitely. I recognize this magic as the same she used to try to ensnare me through that contract. And this wasn't just normal magic. It's magic one uses to warp and manipulate another's mind. To bend them to their absolute will no matter how much they are opposed to it."
"Then… when he went to negotiate with her, that's when she used that spell," The younger Nohrian prince said, the missing pieces finally coming into light.
"That's what she did to lord Xander?! I'll never forgive her!" Peri was more enraged than before.
Laslow tried to keep her calm before asking, "Lord Xander, do you remember what happened that day? When she put that spell on you?"
"Sorry… My mind is still-" Another sudden spark came, interrupting him.
Sanaki answered for him, "The amount of magic used on him seems to have left a temporary effect on his memories. And his mind is rather weak at the moment. Once I remove all the magic from him, his memories should return to him. But I can promise you that we won't have to worry about this spell overtaking him again."
"Thank the Gods," Elise whispered under her breath, hugging her brother tighter.
"Although, it's best that I remove all the magic from him as soon as possible. Not only is it leaving a toll on his health, it's still trying to regain control of him. Even though it doesn't have the strength to do so, that's not going to stop it. I can tell it's still prominent within him due to the effect it's had on his eyes."
"His eyes?" The summoner questioned.
Camilla chuckled, "Yes, honey. This isn't Xander's natural eye color."
"It's not?" He asked, looking towards the two bright red orbs that were weary and clouded with exhaustion.
Leo shook his head. I noticed this change around the time you and the others showed up and freed us. I was planning to look into it before he ran away."
"And considering that his eyes are still like this even though I have already removed a great deal of magic, then there's still much left for me to do before he is in perfect health. That's why it's best that, until I've finished, Xander should remain here."
"I see," Alfonse turned to the crown prince, "Xander, I assume you don't mind staying here for a bit longer?"
"Not at all… If that's what it takes…"
"Then, if our course of action is clear, we best start right away to make this faster."
"If there's anything we can do to help, feel free to let us know," Leo said.
"Right! I want him to feel better really soon!" Elise chimed in.
"Very well. You two will be of some use. Meet me in the library as soon as I'm done here. We'll get the next part of the recovery spell ready."
"It seems like you have a plan. Come everyone, it's best we allow him to rest in the meantime."
Everyone nodded and started to leave, saying their goodbyes to Xander. Elise, however, was rather hesitant to let him go. He could see this hesitation and lightly kissed her forehead to calm her down.
"I'll be fine. I promise."
His stable and calm words helped to ease her fears and she let him go and followed her other siblings out the room. Closing the door behind her, she let out a sigh before she felt Camilla hold her.
"Are you alright, sweetie?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. And I'm really happy! We're gonna get our brother back!" Her normal cheerful demeanor returned.
"I'm really happy, too!" Peri gleaned, "And this time we'll keep lord Xander safe. We won't let Veronica touch him again. Right Laslow?"
"Of course. I may as well give up my title as a royal retainer if I allow this to happen again."
"And we'll keep him safe too, right?" She looked up at Camilla.
"Without a doubt."
Leo smirked, "Let's just see that princess Veronica try to take him from us again."
I just love to work my theorist brain to give my own variation on something. Plus it's nice to write something that doesn't have a pairing as the main focus. I love the Nohrian family and I love to write for them.
Hope I can do this again soon!