Sunlight shined through the open windows in their bed chamber, Xander slowly rose from his bed and rubbed his eyes. He turned his head and was surprised to see Selena was not beside him. Ever since they've been together he always had woken up first. He then noticed her crown sitting beside Selena's mirror.
"Odd, I figured she would be showing that off every chance she had," Xander muttered to himself.
Assuming she must be in the restroom, Xander shrugged his shoulders and got out of bed. Once he finished getting dressed he was visited by a few Nohrian servants. "Lord Xander? We have your-" A maid said, taken back at Selena's absence, "Where's Lady Selena?"
"I think she's in the restroom, you know it's strange, for as long as we have been together she's never been up first, must be a first time for everything." Xander said.
"Umm Milord? I was just cleaning the restrooms on this floor, I didn't see her anywhere," One of the butlers explained.
"Hmm? Strange indeed, well she must be down in the training grounds, she was talking about wanting to be a strong queen, I'll just take a look," He says as he walks over to one of the windows. When he looks down into the training ground he sees Elise throwing pieces of meat out of a bucket towards Keaton and watching when he catches them in his teeth. While he was curious why that's what they were doing, why there doing that in the training grounds, or why they were awake this early, his biggest concern was that Selena was nowhere in sight. "I assume none of you have seen her this morning since you're asking."
All the servants shook their heads, not a single one of them have seen her since the ceremony.
"Is that so?" Xander looked back at the empty bed, then looked at the crown. "There's no way she would head into town without it," Xander thought. "Well she must still be in the castle, could a few of you try to find her, and tell her I'll be in the mess hall?" Xander asked.
"Yes Milord," They all said before Xander dismissed them.
During all the festivities Xander invited many of those who he grown close too during the war to spend the night in the castle, many of the elites of the Nohrian army took him up on that offer. Upon reaching the mess hall Xander was greeted by his brothers Corrin and Leo.
"Morning brother, did you have a rest befitting a king?" Corrin asked with a light chuckle before taking a bite of his breakfast.
"Hm, you two sure are up early," Xander said, asking one of the cooks to prepare his breakfast.
"Of course brother, just cause we are at peace doesn't mean we aren't going to be busy around here," Leo replied.
"Studious as always Leo, but there's nothing wrong with relaxing from time to time, and this is me of all people suggesting that," Xander said, even he knew what he was saying was rather uncharacteristic.
Leo sighed, "I guess you're right, after helping you with the speech for all those days I probably could use a day off."
"Sounds good brother, by the way have either of you seen Selena around this morning?" Xander asked. Leo and Corrin both shook their heads, "Well she wasn't in bed when I awoke, she wasn't in the restroom, none of the help has seen her, and she wasn't down in the training grounds either."
"Well maybe she just headed into town?" Corrin asked.
"I thought that but she left her crown in the room," Xander explained.
"Hm, hard to believe she of all people would go out in public without it," Leo said.
"Exactly, makes you wonder where she might be, I didn't see her on my way down here, but I had asked some of the help to look for her in the castle and let her know I'm down here," Xander said. Just as Xander finished speaking, the same group of servants entered the mess hall. "Hm, there they are now."
"Um, Milord?" One of them said.
"What is it? Haven't seen her?" Xander asked.
"Well no, but Milord did you move anything in your chambers before you left earlier?" Another one them asked.
"No, once I woke up I got dressed, and that's when you all arrived, and I left right after you did," He explained.
"Well, some of us went back to your bed chamber, just to see if Lady Selena came back, and we noticed a lot of her stuff was missing," One of the maids explained.
"What!? For what reason would that be?" Xander asked, starting to sound concerned.
"We noticed a few things weren't there earlier, but we thought we were making a mistake, but upon further inspection are suspicions were right, her crown was still there during our second visit, if she left she had to have done so long before any of us noticed," The maid tried to elaborate.
"B-But why would she have left!?" Xander shouted, losing his composure for a brief moment. Once he realized he was losing his cool, he tried to calm himself down, taking a few deep breaths. "S-Sorry about that everyone, I guess I just need a little more rest, she'll turn up eventually."
Soon enough someone else would enter the mess hall, "Lord Xandeeeerrrr! Why are you yelling so early in the morning," A very tired looking Peri says. Still wearing her sleeping clothes and rubbing her eyes, she clearly just woke up.
"Sorry about that Peri, just having a confusing morning. Where's Laslow?" Xander asked.
"Hm? I was going to ask you, he wasn't in the bed when I woke up, and some of his stuff was gone, was he moved to a different room last night milord?" Peri asked.
Xander's eyes widened, he slowly turned his head toward Leo, "Brother, Odin arrived at the castle the same time as Selena and Laslow correct?" He asked. Leo very hesitantly nodded, he knew something was bothering Xander. His face got serious and he very quickly began giving orders, he sent the help to make another search for the castle, "Leo, try to contact Odin, if he's still around, he'll be able to give us answers."
"Already on it, I'm going to have Niles look for him too, he's got better tracking skills than I do that's for sure," Leo said, getting up and quickly leaving the mess hall.
"Xander, I can contact Kaze, he and some others can start searching all through Nohr in a flash, they'll tell me if they find them," Corrin says.
"Thank you Corrin," Xander replies as Corrin leaves the mess hall as well. As fast as he could Xander ran up the stairs toward his bed chamber. Upon arriving he found what the maid said to be true. Selena's make-up, her clothes, her armor, her accessories, and all her weaponry was nowhere to be found. Xander was awestruck, several things racing through his mind. Was it something he did? Was she just that worried about being a poor queen? Did something happen last night that pushed her away? He continued having these thoughts as he sat back down on their bed. He picked up her crown and simply stared at it, one tear fell down the king's face. "Selena, where'd you go?"
Several hours passed and Xander called for a meeting in the throne room, present was Corrin, Leo, Niles, Peri, Camilla, and Elise. "Any word from Kaze and the others Corrin?" Xander asked.
Corrin lowered his head, "No, they said there was no trace of them, Kaze even sent a few people to check some areas in Hoshido, but still came up short," Corrin explained.
"Same goes for us Milord, I checked everywhere I could but Odin is nowhere to be found, and most of his stuff was gone from his room just like the others," Niles said.
"Waaaah! This doesn't make any sense, why would Selena up and leave like that without saying anything? I was so looking forward to having another sister," Elise added.
"I can't believe this, I warned Selena if she ever left my side I would never forgive her, and now she made my older brother sad, she's gotta pay!" Camilla said, very clearly upset about the whole ordeal.
Madder than anyone in the room, as everyone was airing their grievances, Peri shoved her fist through the wooden table she was sitting behind, "Do you think you all have it rough!? The man I married! The man who taught me it was wrong to kill my servants! The man who sympathized with me about losing my mother, telling me about losing his mother! He was even showing me how to dance," Peri very quickly grew silent, all the eyes in the room on her as she slowly slid to the floor. She suddenly grabbed the nearest sharp object and began ferociously stabbing the ground, "When I find him I'm gonna wrap my hands around his adorable little neck and never stop squeezing! He thinks he can leave me without even a single word! Do you hear me Laslow!?" Peri screamed, tears falling down her face, Camilla and Elise going to console her.
While not as violent, Xander felt everything Peri was feeling, he couldn't let his feelings or his tears fall in front of his family no matter how much he desired it, he couldn't look weak in front of them. "First things first everyone, we must make sure this news does not leave this castle, the Nohrian people have been through enough lately, if word gets out the new queen has disappeared, there will surely be a panic."
"Sorry to say this Xander, I love our people, but you know how they are, word will spread like an Elfire in the wilderness, we are going to have to address this soon enough," Leo explains.
Xander let out a sigh, for the first time in a long time, he was without a clue. Selena's absence left him in a state of distress, he was broken inside, he slipped his face into his hands.
"Big Brother, what are you going to do?" Corrin asks.
"The only thing I can do Corrin," Xander said, lifting his head to face his family, "I'm going to find her."
