State banquets were rare occasions in Nohr. With the exception of the traditional winter solstice ball, there was never a reason to invite the entire Nohrian court to Krakenburg. In the past, when important allies of the country had conducted visits to the capital for diplomatic discussions, it was standard for them to be greeted by Nohrian nobility. The practice had died off in recent decades, when more meetings began to take place in neutral territories, like Izumo.

So it struck Leo as odd when his brother insisted that they gather the court to receive a delegation of Hoshidan diplomats that included Sakura and Prince Takumi, two days after their arrival. It had been four years since the two countries' royal families set aside their differences to defeat the Silent Dragon in Valla. Relations were warmer than ever before, what with a strong friendship between Elise and Sakura, as well as Leo's (mostly) private courtship of the younger Hoshidan princess.

He wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, as annoying as the aristocracy could be. Xander had also mentioned offhand an announcement that he wanted to make to them personally, so Leo reasoned that his brother had simply chosen to combine the two events when the opportunity arose. The purpose of the announcement, however, was still a mystery to everyone except the king himself.

"Xander. I'm interested in what you plan to say at dinner tonight. None of your advisors appear to know, and both Camilla and Elise are in the dark as well. Surely it would be a good idea to at least revise your script with someone else first."

The pointed crown of black iron that rested on his older brother's head glinted as the man turned around. With the hair around his temples already losing their luster to stress, and the fur-trimmed cape around his shoulders, Xander was starting to remind Leo of the late King Garon. His brother's knowing smile was much warmer, though. "I meant to keep it a secret from them, but there isn't harm in telling you. It's your engagement, after all."

The sentence took Leo completely by surprise. "My engagement?"

"Yes," Xander replied, in a matter-of-fact tone. "To Princess Sakura."

Leo continued to stare at him blankly.

His brother looked at him incredulously. "You haven't proposed to her yet? Leo, I saw you purchase a ring almost a year ago. I assumed that by now the two of you were engaged, and decided to keep quiet about it until a better time. With both the Hoshidans and the court in Krakenburg, I thought you would choose to announce it tonight. That was the entire purpose of inviting the court."

"I... I haven't found the correct time yet." It was obviously a lie. Leo had tried to work up the nerve to ask Sakura for her hand on at least three occasions, and every time, he found a way to convince himself to wait. The first time, he reasoned that without the explicit permission of her eldest brother, he risked being bisected by Hoshido's holy sword (nevermind that King Ryoma had already, privately, implied his approval of Leo with minimal threats of violence). There were too many people around the second time, he had thought, believing that Sakura would be too embarrassed to respond if he were to propose in public (ignoring that she was the more affectionate one, even in full view of others). And just the night before, he changed the topic when he came to the sudden conclusion that she would be more comfortable if he proposed in Hoshido (only moments after she made him promise to show her and Takumi other parts of Nohr).

Xander's face was one of annoyance. "That is a poor excuse, Leo. Why are you having second thoughts about this?"

It pained him to admit his fear, which had quietly crept up on him as his relationship with Sakura progressed. With his thoughts no longer occupied with strategy, battle formations, and diplomacy, he was given more time to observe other things, including other couples. "I'm afraid. I love her, and I know that she loves me in return, but what if that changes with time? There are so many loveless marriages in Nohr that I fear they are an inevitable outcome."

"I've seen false love before, Leo. I see it all the time when nobles bring their spouses to the solstice ball. They are always formal with one another, polite, saying 'Lord husband,' or 'Lady wife.' Only one couple out of the dozens ever kissed, or hugged, or held hands in public, and even then it seemed fake. What you and Sakura have is so much greater than any of that, and unless you are deliberately stringing her along—" His brother's stare suddenly intensified. "—there is no reason for you to fear that so-called inevitability."

Turning dramatically on his heel, Xander strode away, leaving Leo's mind in turmoil.

He was distracted all through the banquet, prodding at his food. The pink-haired princess beside him glanced repeatedly at him as the dishes were being cleared away.

"Something is on your mind, Leo," she finally declared. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

He blinked once, and then shook his head. "Nothing is bothering me, Sakura."

Her eyes shone with concern, seeing through Leo's attempt at nonchalance. "Th-there's something worrying you. I can tell. You don't have to hide it from me. What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, he slid his chair back and stood. At the front of the room, Xander was already standing, lightly tapping on a glass. The older man's piercing gaze was on him, something Leo didn't have to see to know. "I'm going for a walk. Would you like to join me?"

Sakura seemed taken aback by his sudden change in subject, but rose to her feet anyway. "I-isn't your brother's speech important?"

Leo felt the square box in his pocket weighing down on his entire being. He gently led Sakura out of the banquet hall, towards the castle courtyard. "No, it isn't."


Cobblestones, with blades of grass sprouting up in between them, began to emerge from the earth. When Leo crested a hill, the small, crumbling structure of the temple appeared on the horizon. To the west of it, the wooden remains of a small market were still present, as was a tiny hut. As expected, the entire area was free of human life. Even the signs of looters scavenging for valuables in the rubble had disappeared over the years.

Leaving a few yards of slack on the rope, Leo tied his horse to a fence post that seemed to be securely planted in the ground. He approached the temple on foot, a glass vial clutched in his hand. A carving of the Dusk Dragon was recessed into the moss-covered stone archway. Its eyes seemed to follow him as he passed underneath.

The interior of the temple had been emptied of its finery. Only faded murals, depicting the First Dragons at war with one another, and the bonding of the Dusk Dragon to Leo's ancestors, remained untouched.

Following the instructions he had scrawled onto the back of his map, Leo brushed away moss with his boot, and carefully pried up a false section of the floor, revealing a ladder that led into the darkness. He climbed down without hesitation.


Two young men sat, silent, in a chamber outside the castle infirmary. Their postures were similar. Hunched forward on their wooden chairs, heads in their hands, fingers twitching, and feet tapping nervously. Years ago, if anyone had pointed out how alike they were, it would have immediately provoked two voices vehemently declaring otherwise. In the time since, both had matured, making peace with their common interests, hobbies, and now love for a person lying completely unresponsive in a bed on the other side of the door.

Leo's mind was trapped in a loop, constantly replaying the fateful day that Sakura fell into a coma. For weeks, she had suffered from piercing migraines and a tightness in her chest. Her smile had faded to a weary line, and her energy levels dropped until she could barely stand for a few hours. An examination from Elise and a second opinion from a castle doctor found no obvious cause of her symptoms. It wasn't until Leo was awaken one morning by an inexplicable feeling of dread that he found his wife as still as a stone beside him. No amount of noise or physical stimuli could elicit a reaction from her.

He cursed himself for not taking her complaints seriously. It wasn't often that Sakura voiced her problems, and Leo had dismissed her symptoms as something that could be solved with bed rest.

When the rest of her family had received word of her illness, Prince Takumi had flown by pegasus to Krakenburg, where he stayed by his sister's bedside for hours on end. There was no misunderstanding about the cause of her coma, only a silent acknowledgement that there was nothing he could do but wait. Two weeks after Sakura had slipped into indefinite unconsciousness, her condition began to shift. Frustrated by the two men constantly getting in their way, her healers, led by Elise, had forbidden Leo and Takumi from entering the infirmary.

The voices from beyond the door grew louder, and the sound of footsteps approaching made both royals look up. The door was eased open, and Elise poked her head out. Without saying anything, she beckoned for Takumi, and the Hoshidan immediately jumped up and slipped past her. Leo was prepared to follow him when, without warning, Elise stepped out of the infirmary completely and closed the door behind her.

"Leo… I think you should wait a moment before seeing Sakura."

He almost didn't recognize his hoarse tone. "What? What happened to her, Elise? I'm her husband, I have the right—"

"Leo!" his sister shouted, uncharacteristically forceful. Her violet eyes were glistening, as though she was on the verge of crying. "Please, listen to me. If you want to see her, I need to you to promise me that you won't be too… familiar with her. Too intimate."

He stared at her in disbelief. "Of course I will exercise restraint. Recovering from her ordeal is the most important thing for her right now, and—"

"No! You don't understand, Leo. When…" Elise wiped her nose, sniffling quietly. "When she was able to speak in full sentences again… Sakura asked me where her siblings were. She asked me where her m-mother was."

Leo felt icy cold inside. His heart dropped to the floor, shattering to pieces.

"A-and then I asked her how old she was. She said she was s-sixteen years old." The dam broke, and tears began to flow down Elise's face, but Leo couldn't see them through his own blurred vision. "You get it now, right? She doesn't r-remember anything from the past seven years."


With a murmured incantation, a tiny ball of fire appeared in the air, lighting up underground passage. The air was stale after essentially no circulation for decades. Leo ignored the musty smell and hastily walked further down the hallway.

According to stories, a future king of Nohr, then the seventeen year-old son of the crown prince, had fallen from a battlement and suffered a head injury. Upon regaining consciousness after two days, the boy was left with only a faint recollection of the prior six months. Hearing a tale of a sacred spring in the basement of a temple, the boy's uncle had traveled north to find it and, allegedly, cured his nephew's amnesia using a flask filled with water from there.

The amnesia suffered by the boy was real, recorded in the diaries of advisors and castle doctors, but no other source had confirmed or denied the truth of the spring's restorative powers. For all that Leo knew, the story was a lie, and the boy had simply recovered over time. Compared to the gaps in Sakura's memory, it was a minor ailment anyway.

The hallway began to widen into a room. Leo channeled more energy into his spell, forcing the flame to grow brighter and illuminate every corner of the chamber. In the center was a freestanding circular pool made from stone bricks.

Leo hurried towards it, pulling the vial from his belt. He hear didn't any water flowing or bubbling, but perhaps it was just a still pool—

"What?"

It was bone dry. Empty. Completely devoid of liquid. Even if water from the spring had the power to restore lost memory, it meant nothing if there was no water for him to take. He couldn't fix Sakura's condition. He couldn't even prove the legitimacy of his ancestor's 'miraculous' recovery.

In his despair, the vial was thrown from his hand, spiked into the ground violently. Countless shards of glass littered the floor, joining the pieces of Leo's broken heart.


"As soon as she's recovered, I'm taking her back home."

Leo couldn't work up the energy to respond. His siblings had tactfully chosen to leave him alone, avoiding the library and his rooms, but Prince Takumi had evidently not realized that he wasn't in the mood to discuss anything related to Sakura's memory loss. His hopes that it was only a temporary condition were dashed the moment he was finally composed enough to see her. She had been awake for two days by then, but did not recognize Leo at all. Instead of being the sweet, graceful, and confident woman that she had grown into over seven years, Sakura had reverted back to the stuttering and painfully nervous personality he had originally observed when the Hoshido-Nohr conflict began. It had taken all of his willpower not storm out of her room in that moment, crying tears of grief and frustration.

"Did you hear me, Leo? I know that you won't like it, but—"

"I heard you, and I understand and agree wholeheartedly with your decision."

Takumi seemed surprised at how easily he gave in. "I thought that you would at least argue with me… Even if just for old times' sake."

"Why should you give me a say in her life when I mean nothing to her?" Leo laughed bitterly. "You cannot even begin to understand how it feels when the person I loved for six years, and who loved me back the entire time, wakes up and doesn't even know that I exist. I truly hope you never have to understand how I feel, Takumi. It is more crushing than having a mother who never loved me, or a father who only saw me as an instrument of war, or siblings who tried to kill me, because I never cared for them the way I cared about Sakura. She could be right here in front of me, and she would still be out of my reach."

"So you're just going to give up on her, then?" Takumi's tone grew angry, and Leo finally looked up to see the other prince glaring at him. "I didn't grant you permission to marry my sister just so you could quit after the first bump in the road."

"I never asked for your approval."

Takumi let out an irritated huff. "That's beside the point! What I'm telling you is that you shouldn't lose hope now. Try something, anything, to make her remember. I don't care how stupid the idea sounds, because I…" His voice cracked, and Leo realized that, although Sakura remembered her brother, Takumi had still lost the past seven years with her. "I miss the Sakura I know. I don't want to watch her grow up for a second time."

"Anything…" Leo echoed thoughtfully. "Even if it's based on some ridiculous, unproven story?"

"Whatever it takes," Takumi reaffirmed. "I'll be trying whatever I can, too."

Leo squeezed his hands together and exhaled heavily. "I have research to do, then."

"Wait. One more thing." Takumi briefly seemed unsure of himself, but shook his head and smiled resignedly. "It won't bring back what you— what we, lost, but… If nothing works, then who says you can't make her fall in love with you again? She's worth another shot, right?"

Chuckling, though only to give the false impression that he was feeling better, Leo replied, "Must I even answer that? Of course she is."

That night, he made preparations to leave the castle. Wearing a cloak to place a shadow across his face, he led his horse through the deserted streets of Windmire and rented a stable on the city outskirts. After digging through his chests, he found the sword, still wrapped in layers of cloth, that he had last wielded six years before, in Valla. Finally, in the library, an old atlas that he had first perused as a twelve year-old. His quill scratched into parchment endlessly as the candles burned down beside and the moon rose outside. The morning found Leo slumped over a desk, asleep, a finished map lying on the table beside him.


There was no one waiting to welcome Leo home. It made sense, as he had left without mentioning where he was going, or for how long he would be gone. The sun had passed its apex when Leo finally crossed the bridge into the castle. He could have gone to the library and furiously restarted his research into memory loss cures once again, or to the guest chambers to report his failure to Takumi, or even to his own room to collapse onto a real bed again. Instead, he decided to brood in the courtyard.

He sat down on one end of a wooden bench, and stared down at the gold band on his left ring finger. In a sudden fit of frustration, he pulled it off, whipped it away and watched it sail into the dirt. Years ago, the two youngest princesses had planted flowers in a corner of the courtyard. They had carted in dirt from beyond Windmire, which were followed by boxes of tiny flower bulbs. In addition to native roses and lilies, the Hoshidan princess had planted azaleas and chrysanthemums. Despite the odd combination, and best efforts of the Nohrian climate to kill them, they had survived. It was a shame, Leo mused, that he could not say the same about his marriage.

"E-excuse me… Doesn't this belong to you, Pr-prince Leo?"

She was both the first and the last person that Leo wanted to see. Unaware of how her presence was tormenting him, Sakura offered her hand towards him, with the ring he had thrown aside lying in her palm. He plucked the ring out of her hand, closing his hand over it tightly.

"It does."

She looked at him in confusion. "I-if it's yours, why did you want to get rid of it? Isn't it important to you?"

"It's a reminder of someone," he replied softly. "Every time I see it, I think of them, and it hurts."

Her mouth became an 'o'. "I'm so s-sorry! I didn't m-mean to pry…"

Leo was reminded of his first conversations with Sakura. She had the same timid, unsure demeanor that he thought she had left in the past. Always apologizing, even if she wasn't at fault. "It's alright. You didn't know better." He patted beside him. "Sit. I doubt that you're strong enough to stand for too long after staying in bed for two weeks."

After a bit of hesitation, Sakura sat down on the bench, maintaining a polite gap in between them. "Is the person you're talking about… the one you don't want to think about… is it m-me?"

Leo stared ahead stonily and tried to dodge the topic. "Has your brother been talking to you about me?"

"No!" she exclaimed. A second later, looking ashamed about her outburst, Sakura continued in a quieter tone, "N-no, he hasn't. I'm s-sorry for saying something so presumptuous, I just had a feeling that—"

"No, no," Leo blurted out finally. "Your suspicion was correct. This ring was a symbol of our marriage. I loved you. I still do, Sakura."

Her face crumpled, and she shrank away from him. "I… I… I don't know h-how I should be feeling r-right now."

"You don't have feel any specific way. I don't expect you to love me back, and I've accepted that our relationship is irreparable now. It's not your fault that your forgot. I'm sorry that I put this burden on you so suddenly." Leo berated himself internally for his poor handling of the topic. He couldn't face Sakura anymore than she could face him. Rising quickly, he tried to leave before either of them burst into tears.

"L-Leo, wait, please." Sakura stood up and grabbed his hand, her fingers wrapping around his. "If… If I loved you once, then why can't I l-love you again?"

He shook his head, still avoiding her gaze. "I don't want you to feel obligated to love me, Sakura. It's not fair to you."

"I don't feel obligated!" She stepped closer to him and took hold of his other hand, forcing him to turn around. "W-would you like to know how I'm feeling right now? I feel at peace, Leo. I'm not s-sure why, but I want to find out. Will you show me?"

"Who says you can't make her fall in love with you again? She's worth another shot, right?"

Takumi's words resonated through his head. "How about…" Leo began slowly. "How about we start with a stroll? We could speak about happier times, the ones you forgot. Is that okay?"

Sakura smiled at him, genuinely. "It sounds wonderful."


(2/2)

[Ages: Years-Months] Flashback 1: 22-8, 21-10. Present: 24-2, 23-4. (Leo, Sakura)

This story started off with a clear direction. Then I got lost along the way, and it turned into a series of vaguely-connected, weak, filler paragraphs. Wonderful. Also, out of character characters, once again.