a/n: buries head in my hands i could've like done some homework but instead i wrote the first chapter for this... listen i just really love ryolet and wanted to like. do some post-birthright stuff i guess. where like. they pine for one another. because we all know that's the good stuff.
anyway yah this is just like a prologue chapter. with like. ryoma actually getting to cheve and meeting scarlet and she probably almost beheads him because he's suspicious. they're in love and i love them and why didn't they have support convos? wtf IntSys you can't make it this blatantly mutual and then not do it.
Ryoma's voice is hoarse from yelling for his brother, and he's so distracted by his own yelling that he doesn't catch the Nohrian soldier in time. A lance pushes into his shoulder, but Kagero slices the man's throat from behind before it's shoved in deep. The wound still gushes blood, however, and his arm spasms to the point where he nearly drops Raijinto. She covers him while he catches his breath and tries to regain control of his muscles, and watching her is as fascinating as ever– she slices with her blade as though she's doing something as simple as cutting vegetables in the kitchen.
Ryoma looks beyond Kagero, and he still cannot see Takumi. He doesn't even see Oboro or Hinata. His heart is racing, and his shoulder keeps bleeding profusely. He feels woozy, dizzy, but still holds on to his sword and shouts for his brother. The brief thought that he got too close to the canyon and fell invades his mind, but he shoves it away. His little brother is too smart to get that close. He must be somewhere.
But still, he cannot see him. His throat is closing up in panic.
He stumbles forward suddenly, his mind becoming weaker as the blood flows out, and Kagero catches him. She hoists him up, all but carrying him with only one arm–"We're retreating!," she shouts– and brandishes shuriken in her free hand. He does his best to walk, but his legs feel as strong as Sakura's favorite gelatin desserts, and he has no choice but to let Kagero support him.
Other soldiers of his are covering them, slicing through Nohrians easily, and Kagero guides the two of them through the carnage. She waits patiently for him to step over a body, then continues to pull him along. She's covered in his blood, and it's probably making it hard to hold on to him, but Kagero is as stubborn as a mule and doesn't let him go.
A Nohrian soldier, howling a battle cry, rushes through the wall of soldiers and towards them, but all it takes is a swing from Raijinto, a burst of lightning, and the soldier is no more than a pile of charcoal. His shoulder bleeds even more heavily, and his vision blurs.
Kagero guides him over the body and towards the cover of trees in the distance, away from the violence.
Ryoma doesn't see Takumi.
Kagero gets them to a port town called Hakodate after two days of walking. Ryoma's shoulder stopped bleeding quickly after she tended to it, once they were out of the range of the battle, but it's still wounded. Swollen, infected, and he can't bear to turn his head and look at it. Even if he wanted to, he doesn't have the energy to do so.
Kagero sets her cold hand against his forehead right before they walk into the town. "You have a fever. We need to rest."
Still leaning heavily against her, Ryoma lets her guide him through the backends of the city, away from the main streets and the prying eyes of gossips. In a port town that trades with places like Nestra and Notre Sagesse, it wouldn't do to have anyone see the high prince of Hoshido bleeding all over his retainer.
"This is a safe house," Kagero says as she fiddles with the lock of a simple, tiny, wooden shack. "Yukimura showed it to me, when I was a child. We can rest here while you recover from your fever, my lord."
There is nothing in the safe house, except for a chest that Kagero produces some basic first-aid supplies from. She helps him sit, leans him against wall, and begins to peel his clothes away from his shoulder to get at his wound. She is obviously not pleased by the condition it's in, when she unwraps the bandages. She reapplies clean ones after rubbing some ointment on it, and then goes back to the chest. Out of it, she pulls out a pair of simple clothes.
"I'm going to go to the local pharmacy. The first-aid kit I hid here doesn't have anything for fever," she says.
"I see," he mumbles, and he turns his head away while she undresses. He stares at the ground, watching her bloody uniform pile up as she abandons her arm guards, her shirt, her sandles. When he looks at her again, she's dressed in a simple yukata and pulling her hair back. Kagero looks different with her hair pulled out of her face. It's her best disguise, Ryoma thinks, and it always has been.
Kagero returns a couple of hours later with bags of food and medicine, and their waterskins refilled. She helps him eat, drink, and then even helps him take the medicine. It's embarrassing, being taken care of like a child, but he's too grateful to really complain.
While putting together a makeshift bed for him, Kagero says, "Lord Takumi's army is supposed to be coming this way in a few days. I sent a messenger bird while I was out, requesting a scout come by and give us a report. Let's focus on getting you all better before they come."
She spends days sitting over him while he flickers in and out of his fever-haze, curing his shoulder of its infection, rubbing a cloth over his head to keep his fever down, feeding him medicine and food, and he thinks, through the fog in his head, that he really should give Kagero a raise.
By the time the scout finds them, his shoulder is infection-free, its swelling has gone down, and he can roll his shoulder around and hold Raijinto comfortably again. His fever is also down considerably, and he no longer feels as though he's fighting through a fog whenever he's awake.
The scout is a willowy archer from Takumi's battalion, just like Kagero said she would be. Kagero offers her tea, as though she's a hostess treating her guest, and not like she's an overworked ninja trying to keep her prince alive in a tiny wooden shack. She's always been particular like that. She's picked up many of her mannerisms from his mother, Ryoma thinks, and it briefly causes him to feel nostalgic for her.
The scout takes the tea gratefully and kneels in front of Ryoma. He tries to sit straight and look princely, but from the way her eyes flicker over him, he knows he looks like a disaster.
"Before you start," he says, "have you seen my brother?"
She sets her tea down after taking a long sip and purses her lips. "Afraid not. We haven't seen Hinata or Oboro either, so we assume they took him from the battlefield, just like Lady Kagero did with you."
Ryoma knows that that probably isn't the case. Takumi wouldn't leave a battlefield while there was still a fight to be won, but he hopes against hope and tells himself that his little brother is safe.
"In any case," the scout says, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers, "Hoshido is still secure. Any incursions by the Nohrian military have all been put to a stop. They're pressing relentlessly, however, and it's only a matter of time before the border is breached again.
Kagero kneels at his side, watching him closely for any sign of discomfort. Ryoma hums and folds his arms. His shoulder twinges, but he ignores it. "I see. Hopefully, we can invade Nohr and put a stop to this before they get inside the country. Gods only know what they would do to the border villages."
The scout picks up her tea and swirls it around the shoddy cup. "More importantly, we've gotten news regarding the Nohrian territory of Cheve."
The name Cheve always sends a strong chill down his spine, but he fights it. Kagero sets a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, and he tries not to see the image of his father's corpse, riddled with arrows, in his mind.
"Cheve?" he repeats. "What's happening in Cheve?"
"A rebellion against Nohrian occupation," she says. "Cheve has been Nohrian territory for the past century, and it seems it hasn't been all rainbows-and-kittens. There's been a rebellion going on for about two years, I've gathered, and it's starting to really heat up with the start of the war."
"Cheve is filled with talented knights," Kagero adds in. "It's likely that they're putting up a solid fight."
"So I hear," the scout confirms. "Their leader's name is Scarlet. Most of the country is rallying behind them, apparently." She stands, drains her cup of the tea, and bows after handing it back to Kagero. "That's the end of my report, Prince Ryoma."
Ryoma excuses her, and Kagero escorts her out of their safe house. When she comes back, she kneels next to him again and unwraps his bandages for another check-up.
"Kagero," he says. "What do you make of the Chevois resistance?"
His retainer finishes studying the remnants of his wound and wrapping it up again before responding. "It seems like it has the potential to be a powerful force. My father often told me that the knight companies of Cheve aren't soldiers that should be taken lightly."
"We should be grateful for their rebellion," he muses. "It could have been bad if Nohr set them upon us."
Kagero starts putting her bandages and ointments back into their box, but she eyes him warily as she does so. "What are you thinking of, Lord Ryoma?"
Ryoma rolls his shoulder, satisfied that the twinges are fading with each movement, and says, "I think I should go there."
"Absurd," Kagero says. "What will you gain?"
"More information on Nohr, possibly," he says. "And allies in the Chevois resistance."
"What do we offer as incentive?" Kagero asks. "If we defeat Nohr, we promise them our assistance in getting them their liberation?"
"That's the idea," Ryoma responds.
Kagero hums uncertainly. "Cheve is a landlocked Nohrian territory that must be entered from Nestra. Forgive me for saying, but I don't think you can just waltz in past the border guards."
"I will be stealthy," he argues. "I'll sneak in. Use a fake name and a disguise."
She looks amused. "Forgive me once more, but stealth has never been your strong suit."
They argue back and forth for at least two days, and finally, when he's back to complete health and Kagero cannot force him down any longer, she relents. It's mostly because she has to, he knows that, but Ryoma will take whatever victory he can get.
She secures basic supplies for him: Food, water, medicine. She also manages to find him passage on a cargo boat headed to Nestra. It's not luxurious travel, and he'll have to sleep in the hold, but it's the only ship headed there any time soon, and time is of the essence.
"You're certain you don't want me with you, my lord?" Kagero presses once more. They're standing in front of the boat, about to leave, and still she is trying to convince him.
"I need you to go back, find Hinoka or Yukimura, and tell them the plan, Kagero," he insists. "You would be extraordinarily useful in getting me into Cheve, but it's more important that the main army is kept updated. Besides, Saizo was already upset when I left him behind. I would feel guilty if I continued to leave him out of the loop."
Kagero hides a smile by ducking her head. "Saizo is always upset, regardless."
Ryoma finds it in himself to smile. "I know you are still fond of him."
She puts her hands behind her back and looks away. "Of course I am. Saizo is a dear friend."
It's unusual to hear any ninja speak in such a way, and especially Kagero. Seeing her let her hair down, especially at such a moment, refreshes Ryoma. "I hope you remember that you are Saizo's only friend. I need you to keep him in check. You've proven over these years that you're the only one who can."
For a moment, he thinks she might look flustered, but a merchant passes, tells him the boat is leaving, and she's professional and straight-faced again. She hands him his traveling bag, his disguised sword, and urges him aboard the boat, promising one last time to relay his plan to his siblings.
The journey to Nestra is three weeks by boat, the merchants tell him. Ryoma settles against a crate in the cargo hold and closes his eyes.
As the journey comes towards its close, Ryoma pays one of the merchants aboard the ship, around his build, for a set of his Nohrian-style clothing. The merchant is clearly a little puzzled, but the handful of gold is enough persuasion, and he even shows Ryoma how to put them with no further questions.
"You're looking to blend in, ain't you?" another merchant comments over that night's dinner.
"I'd like to, yes," Ryoma responds.
"You ought to know, then, that it's real uncommon for Nohrian men to have long hair like yours," says the captain of the ship. "You'd get around easier without it. One of our crewmen is a barber– he'll take it off for you, if you want."
It's incredibly distressing to Ryoma. The very thought of cutting his hair makes him a bit anxious. He's grown it out since childhood, and he is, quite literally, very attached to it. But there are more important things at stake than his appearance and good looks, so he lets the portly man take a knife and pair of scissors to it.
When the merchant is done and marveling at the amount of hair on the floor, Ryoma is shocked at how light he feels. His hair is cut clean, close to his ears, and he runs a hand through it. He barely recognizes himself in the mirror he's handed, and he wonders if even Hinoka or Sakura would recognize him this way, in Nohrian clothes and with his hair cut so short. He's satisfied with it, however. He might not look completely western, but there is likely no one in the world who could recognize him as the high prince of Hoshido.
They land in Nestra two days later, and it's incredibly dark and a bit chilly, even though it's the late afternoon in the middle of summer. Ther merchants aboard the ship laugh when he makes such an exclamation to them, and say, "Nestra's a vacation spot, lad! It's delightful, compared to Nohr."
Ryoma doesn't look forward to the possibility of being in Nohr during the winter.
He pays them for the journey, and then a little extra for a map and some more food, and then he makes for Cheve territory. Nestra is a smaller country, he remembers from his geography lessons as a child. It would take him perhaps two weeks to cross it on foot, assuming he made minimal stops, but a passing caravan picks him up and lets him ride, for a price.
The caravan gets him to the Chevois border in only a few days, and they hide him well underneath blankets, straw, and pillows while the border guards search for anything suspicious in their carts. They allow the group on their way after a couple of hours, and Ryoma thanks every ounce of luck that he has as they roll into Cheve. He thanks the caravan owners profusely as well when they stop in the first city on the road, and pays them.
"You'll reach the Chevois capital in a day or two on foot," one of the owners tells him as she pockets the gold. Her husband brings him a sack of bread and dried fruits for the road while she speaks. "Cheve is a very small territory, and its capital is close to the border. If you're looking to avoid Nohrian soldiers, laddie, avoid the cities. There are backroads that'll get you there just as easily."
It's an exhausting trip, despite the shortness of it. Cheve is even colder than Nestra was, it's rockier, and it's dark for longer. Ryoma is shocked to find, however, that the sun does come out for a few hours a day, even though it's much dimmer than the sun in the eastern lands. He'd been raised on the idea that all Nohrian territories were cursed with unrelenting darkness, but the appearance of the sun gives him hope, in a weird way.
The Chevois capital is a large city of around 250,000 people, Kagero had told him while they planned his route. It's called Lyon, and it's made for defense. The Chevois knight companies built heavy walls around it centuries before, and it's nearly impossible to enter unless you're allowed through, or, in Nohr's case, you force your way in.
Kagero had not been lying to him, Ryoma finds as he stands outside the city. It's the middle of the night and it's pitch black, but he can still tell that the walls are massive, stretching high above any human height, and the material doesn't look like it'll break, even with a blow from Raijinto. Furthermore, he can see the glint of eyes atop the wall, watching him silently, attempting to decide if he's a threat. He decides to call it a night when he notices an archer aiming at him from his right, patiently waiting for him to make a wrong move. He'll try entering in the morning, a much less suspicious time, and he'll think of a good story to feed the resistance in the meantime.
There's a lake not far from the walls of Lyon, with a good stretch of meadow that he can sleep in. It's far from comfortable, nothing compared to his plush futon and down pillows back at Shirasagi, but Ryoma has never been particularly fussy, and he's been away from luxury for a few months now. He finds a particularly soft patch of grass at the base of a tree, sets down his things, and eases himself down against the trunk with a groan. His legs are stiff and aching from his long journey.
He falls asleep after deciding that his name will be Sora, he's a soldier from Izumo, and that he's been inspired by the news of the Chevois resistance. He's come to ally himself with them and offer support. It's not the strongest story, but it's not a bad one, either, and Cheve and Izumo have always been friendly with one another.
He awakens some time later to the sound of a wyvern roaring.
Ryoma has only ever heard a wyvern roaring on the battlefield, and it startles him. His blood pumps and his hands fumble frantically through the grass for Raijinto. He starts to calculate how long it will take for the wyvern and its rider to be upon him, and he knows he has to be armed before then if he wants to stand a chance.
Thirty seconds pass before he finally finds the hilt of Raijinto in the dark, but he's woken up enough to process that the roar of the wyvern isn't ferocious at all, and that it isn't even in the skies. It's racing along through the meadow, making happy sounds, and it almost looks like a massive, brutish, scaley dog as it flops into the lake and splashes around. Its wings send up waves the height of Ryoma, and he nervously hides behind the tree.
The shape of a person comes rushing behind the wyvern, and Ryoma puts his hand on his sword's hilt. The outline of the body is distinctly feminine, he can tell from his distance, and the sound of the voice as it calls out, "Mavis, easy!" helps him conclude that the wyvern's rider is most likely a young lady.
Ryoma watches cautiously as the rider splashes out into the lake to follow her wyvern, her arms reaching up to grab it around the neck.
"It's been awhile since we got to play in the water, but keep quiet! Never know if there's Nohrians lurking around, you know?" she tells the beast.
The wyvern makes a sound that's exasperated and beats a single wing, whacking its rider on the back and nearly sending her sprawling.
"Don't talk back to me! And don't hit me with your wing, either. You know it hurts!"
The wyvern hits her with its wing again, and Ryoma chokes back a laugh at the string of curses the rider lets out.
Not even a second later, there's the tip of something sharp at the back of his neck, a woman's voice saying, "Do not move, sir," and the pounding of enough footsteps that Ryoma knows that he's been surrounded by no small number of people.
The ruckus alerts the woman in the water, and her head snaps towards them.
A suspicious man hiding in the field outside the capital city, the home of the rebellion, with a massive katana on him, no less. He's sure it doesn't look good, and wonders if they'll allow him to explain himself before trying to execute him.
"Drop the sword. Get on your knees," the woman behind him says, and Ryoma does as he is told.
The woman from the lake and her wyvern are stalking towards him, but are stopped by a man wielding an axe. He gesticulates wildly towards Ryoma and the group of his captives, and his stomach falls as she takes the axe from him.
"The lady is kind at heart," the woman behind him says. "Be honest and do not touch that sword, and you may get out of this alive, spy."
They think he's a Nohrian spy. These are not Nohrians, but likely the resistance.
Ryoma cannot even say "I-" before the woman pokes the tip of her weapon against his neck hard enough to break the skin and says, "Quiet now."
The wyvern rider is in front of him now, and he still cannot see her clearly in the dark, but he can see her outline even more clearly. She doesn't look particularly intimidating in the long, soaked red dress she wears, but the hard muscle on her arms and the axe slung over her shoulder fix that.
The lake water drips off of her and splashes onto his face as he stares up at her. His throat is dry, and he can't stop eying the sharp edge of her battle axe.
"Nohrian spy?" she asks the woman behind him. Her voice is hard and short, compared to how she spoke to her mount while they played in the lake.
"No," he answers before the woman behind him can say anything. "Who are you?"
The woman turns her gaze back down to him and scrutinizes him. Her grip on her axe is firm and ready, but she makes no move that indicates that she's about to swing it down and lop off his head. She looks back up at the woman behind him.
"Got your sash on ya, Mannon?" she asks.
"Yes."
They're going to either strangle him or blindfold him, and he speaks up again, "If you let me explain myself, I can-"
Silk loops over his head to cover his eyes, and something heavy slams into the back of his neck.
Ryoma passes out.
He wakes up for the second time that night, except instead of laying in a nice, plush field of grass and flowers, he's tied to a chair in the center of a dark, bare room with bars on the windows. Two soldiers with their hands tight on their lances flank the door, and they eye him coldly.
Sitting across from him is the wyvern rider from the lake. She looks even more intimidating now, dressed in ornate crimson riding gear, and especially with her axe resting against her chair.
She's cute, despite how intimidating she is, Ryoma notes. Her face is round and there's a splash of freckles across her cheeks. Her hair is short and messy, a fair blond, and her eyes are warm brown. Her full lips are crooked into an easy smile, and while Ryoma wouldn't describe her as a traditional beauty like Kagero, she has a soft, rustic look that he finds charming. He finds all that, and the fact that she doesn't look as murderous as she did at the lake, very calming.
Her eyes flick over him and she leans in a bit. "Definitely Hoshidan."
Ryoma scrunches his nose at her, miffed that his haircut and change of clothing hasn't at least made her doubt his origins a little bit.
She cracks a broad grin. "Think if you dress in some Nohrian clothes, you can pass for a Nohrian? That's kinda cute! You should know, your features give it all away."
Ryoma stays silent, subtly pulling at the rope binding his wrists behind the chair. It's strong, and he has no hopes of breaking it through sheer strength, so he stops and decides to be a good guest. The wyvern rider shows no signs of hostility, so neither will he. He sits straight and makes eye contact and pretends that he's in a court meeting, staring down a noble who has pressed their luck too far. He always wins battles of wills like that, and this shouldn't be any different.
The woman stands, but leaves her axe where it is. She clearly doesn't find him a threat, and he thinks that's a good thing. He doesn't want to antagonize the locals here. He wants to join them. Fit in with them.
"I'm sure you've guessed that you've been captured by the Chevois rebellion, at this point," she says. Her hands are on her hips and she's smirking down at him. "You may suck at being subtle or whatever, but you don't look stupid."
"I wasn't trying to be stealthy," Ryoma protests.
"You were spying on me," she points out.
"I wasn't spying on you!" he exclaims. "I was just sleeping there, and you happened to show up. I'm sorry for what it looks like, but it was a coincidence."
She quirks an eyebrow. She's expressive, and he thinks it's another charm point of hers. "Are you sure you weren't waiting for me to take my clothes off or something? You sure you weren't waiting for a cute girl like me to frolick in the lake, practically nude, with her wyvern?"
It's bait. It's so obviously bait, a way for her to tease him, and he knows that, especially given the light-hearted way she smiles, but he sputters and tries to defend himself anyway. She laughs and waves a hand as he protests.
"You're easy to tease, too! Definitely not a spy. You seem okay." She sits back in her chair, still ignoring her axe. "I'm real sorry about what happened back there, honestly. I just wanted Mannon to blindfold you, but she's pretty excessive."
Ryoma finally takes not of the throbbing on the back of his head, and decides that he doesn't really like Mannon, whoever she is. "It's fine. I apologize for looking suspicious. It's my fault."
Her eyes warm up and she her smile softens a smidge. "I'm Scarlet," she tells him.
The guards at the door look at each other nervously.
"Should you tell him that?" asks one.
"It's sort of sensitive information, you know," says the other.
"He's fine," Scarlet tells them, and she doesn't take her eyes off of Ryoma while she says it. They're warm, friendly, full of mirth and joy. "I can tell."
"Scarlet," he repeats, finding that he enjoys the name more than he did when he heard it come out of the scout's mouth. "Are you the Scarlet who leads the rebellion?"
"The one and only," she says. "Who are you?"
"Ryoma," he says before he remembers he's supposed to be Sora, and he bites his tongue.
"You named after the high prince?" she asks.
He swallows. "Yes. I was born not long after him. My parents thought it would bring me good luck, I suppose."
"That's neat!" she says with a genuine smile. "So, what's a Hoshidan doing all the way out here? I mean, it's not a short journey, and it ain't cheap either."
He reworks his story a bit, deciding to tell some truth, some lie. "I'm a high-ranking officer in the Hoshidan military. A scout told me about the rebellion here, and my commander sent to me to solidify an alliance between you and Hoshido, if it pleases you."
Scarlet leans back in her chair, swinging up one leg to lay over the other. "That so?"
"Is is," he says. "Hoshido has always been against Nohr's terrible treatment of its territories. The high prince wants to offer you your independence, in the event that we win."
She looks interested, based on the tilt of her head, the gleam in her eye, and the way she starts leaning in. "Really? They'd do that for us?"
"I promise," he tells her, leaning in to meet her at the middle.
She smirks. "You promise?"
"I, ah, promise that the high prince promises. That's what I meant. He's my direct commander, you see. All of what I say comes straight from him."
Kagero was right. Ryoma is terrible at stealth. He's terrible at lying, at hiding, at disguises and everything else. He just hopes his good luck pulls him through this, and that she's not able to see through his clumsy lies.
Their noses are nearly touching, their bangs are pushed up together, and he can smell the sweetness of her breath. He can practically hear his heart beating in his ears as he waits for a response, and the deafening silence is broken as Scarlet laughs again and throws herself back into her chair. The two soldiers at the door look more nervous than ever, but also more relaxed than they did when he'd woken up.
"I like you," Scarlet says, and it doesn't sound like the sort of "I like you" that Ryoma is used to hearing from courtesans. It's not "I like you" as in "I'm buttering you up. Offer me more land," or anything like that.
Scarlet says "I like you" as in "I like you."
"I'm glad," he says, and then he thanks her as she walks behind him and starts cutting carefully at the ropes with a pocket knife. He'd been so caught up in speaking with her that he'd honestly forgotten he was bound.
"You got any cool Hoshidan military formations or anything?" she asks as she saws through the bindings. "Nohr's starting to get used to ours. We could use the advice."
"I can think of one or two," Ryoma tells her, but he's actually thinking of ten of his particular favorites.
"Let's discuss it over dinner," she says. "Ever had Chevois food?"
"Never in my life."
"It's to die for. Let's get you cleaned up, Ryoma."
a/n: ANYWAY i'm not really on since it's the end of the semester and i'm trying to get my work done and stuff, but you can follow my tumblr, which is witchnyx, and my twitter raijinshuus. i post previews, wips, and i also do edits and hacking and stuff, so check it out! also, if you want to donate to me, my ko-fi is linked in my profile! thanks so much!