Chapter 4: Into the Darkness

Shamir gazed out at the village. Or at least she had tried to. The entire village had been blanketed in a strange darkness. She couldn't see anything past the archway leading into the monastery. It was quiet, too. She could've chalked up most of that given the entire village was attending the ceremony but…

The grip on her bow, tightened, an act that Ashe didn't miss. "Is something wrong?" he asked with wrong.

She eyed both Ashe and Annette, before sighing. "Yes," she confirmed. "There is." She narrowed her eyes. "There's some magic blanketing the entire village. I can't tell you where it's originating from but…" She trailed off, her mind racing. She needed a plan.

"There is?" Ashe squinted as if he could somehow see the magic.

Annette blinked. "She's right," she said. "There's something faint in the air." She shivered. "It feels a bit eerie."

Shamir ignored the two and instead walked to the edge of the archway and, after a moment of hesitation, stuck her arm into the wall of darkness, watching as her arm disappeared from her very eyes. She quickly withdrew it and clicked her tongue, as Ashe and Annette looked astonished behind her.

"That's…" Ashe said a little weakly, understanding the implications.

Shamir slung her bow over her shoulder. "You two stay here," she ordered, the two. "Make sure no one gets through here. I'll search the village for your classmates and try to find the mage that's causing this spell." She gave them a sharp glare. "Understand?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Ashe said with a nod.

"We got this!" Annette answered, sounding a little more confident. "Just make sure the rest of our class is okay."

Shamir nodded and, without hesitation, jumped into the curtain of darkness, disappearing from the two's sight immediately.

A silence followed soon after, only broken by Ashe a few minutes later. "I hope everyone's okay."

"Hakuno's probably scared out of her mind," Annette said, scanning her surrounding for any enemies.

"She's got Dedue and His Highness with her," Ashe reasoned. "They'll take care of her-!" His head suddenly snapped up and he knocked his bow back with an arrow. "Someone's coming," he warned, as Annette raised her arms, ready to cast magic.

An armored boot stepped through the wall of darkness, followed by a thinly clothed leg. Ashe and Annette tensed as the assassin stepped into the light, gave the two a blank stare. Making very little sound, he drew his blade out from his sheath and flipped it around in his hand so that he was holding it backhand. There was little pity in his eyes; he had no qualms about killing a couple of kids.

Ashe gulped. This was not going to be easy.

Xxx

Felix narrowed his eyes as he and Mercedes walked through the dark streets. "Mercedes," he suddenly said. "Was it always so dark in town?"

Mercedes blinked before placing a hand on her cheek. "No… now that you mention it, it is unnaturally dark." She grew worried. "Do you believe that someone might be trying to sneak into the monastery?"

"Perhaps." Felix frowned and held up the lantern he had been carrying, sweeping it in front of him in a large arc. "We're close to the entrance to the town," he grunted, recognizing some of the houses.

Mercedes blinked. "Already? But I didn't even realize…" She looked even more worried. "I wonder if the others are alright…?" she wondered aloud.

He glanced at her. "If you're talking about Hakuno," he said with a huff. "Don't be. The boar prince and his pet are with her. With them by her side, I doubt she'll even have to lift her weapon."

"That's true." Mercedes places her fingers together and giggled lightly. "It's almost like Dimitri is Hakuno's charming prince like in the stories. Maybe we'll see him confess his love to the girl by the time the dance occurs."

Felix snorted. "Unlikely. That man doing something so chivalrous is unthinkable. I'd think it more likely if the boar prince skewered the girl where she stood."

Mercedes frowned. "You know, Felix, you don't always have to be against His Highness all the time. I may not know what happened in the past, but perhaps it's time to forgive him?"

"Forgive him?" he repeated incredulously. "I don't have to forgive him for anything! If you saw what he did that night, then you'd-!"

"Hey, I see a light!" Whatever Felix, was about to say, was suddenly interrupted by Sylvain's grating and loud voice. Both Mercedes and Felix turned to face the direction of the voice, only to find both Sylvain and Ingrid coming towards them, their lantern lighting up a small circle around them. Both were dismounted, as they led their mounts by the reins towards them.

Felix raised his lantern a little higher to realize they had reached the entrance of the town. "Why are the both of you on the ground?" Mercedes asked curiously.

"I couldn't see the light from the lantern when in the air," Ingrid explained. "I thought it was less dangerous to stay near the ground with…" She groaned. "Well, maybe I should've taken my chance in the dark. Sylvain wouldn't stop going on about a girl he had met the prior day."

"Wha-?" Sylvain blinked. "I thought you were enjoying the story!"

"I can assure you that I did not."

Mercedes giggled, but at the same time, Felix heard something rustle behind them. He whirled around and raised his lantern, just in time to see a shadowy figure disappear into the surrounding darkness. "Prepare yourselves," he barked to the others. "Someone's here!"

They all tensed, but before they could even move, the shadows around them began to recede, revealing more of their environment. Surrounding them were four dark-clothed assassins with stern looks and their weapons drawn. It took Felix only a second to realize what this was.

"It's an ambush!"

Xxx

Saber swung her blade at Assassin, grimacing when it collided with Assassin's weapon. Assassin was able to hold her back just by using the blades that extended out from her arms.

Time to take advantage of the situation.

Saved suddenly spun around and slammed her foot into Assassin's side, sending her flying. "Archer!" She yelled.

Archer, who was behind her, staying close to their master, just scowled. He had already pulled back the string on his bow, and arrow notched. "There isn't a reason to yell," he grumbled, firing the arrow at Assassin.

Her eyes widened and spun her body in midair so that the arrow didn't hit her center. Rather it hit a spot just below her upper right shoulder. She landed on her feet and, after regaining her balance, she pulled the arrow out from her shoulder. No blood flowed from her wound and Archer could only watch as she snapped the arrow in two.

"Master," Archer said, pulling his bowstring back, another arrow appearing out of thin air. "Do you have any idea who she may be?"

Hakuno massaged her neck. "She's… She's an Assassin," she managed to sputter out.

Archer's lip curled. Rather unhelpful. Though, in Hakuno's defense he supposed, she still hadn't grasped that he had somehow been summoned here in this new world. Even he had trouble wrapping his head around the new terms and information that the Moon Cell had flooded his head with. However, even that information was fragmented and missing several pieces.

And then there was Saber.

While Saber was a lot more willing to jump into the fray with Archer as backup, Archer was a lot more hesitant to trust her. He knew that he was Hakuno's only Servant, so for what reason was she also Hakuno's Servant?

Things just didn't make sense at the moment, not that he had the luxury to parse the information. Right now, he had to focus on protecting his Master.

He let loose several more arrows, taking caution to try and not overextend. They were in a village and while he was assured by the fact that there didn't seem to be anyone around, Archer didn't desire to leave people homeless. However, each arrow he fired at Assassin, would just be dodged or she would let hit her as it didn't do much damage. The arrows would get caught in small holes within her armor, but she would just pull them out again and toss them aside.

Archer was also aware that there was some more fighting happing behind them and to the right. He couldn't see what was happening behind as the darkness was too thick (some sort of magecraft, perhaps?), but to his right, there was a young man with blonde hair who was wielding a lance trying to keep another human from getting close to Hakuno. He would have to thank the boy later.

"Archer!" Saber suddenly yelled again, bringing Archer's attention back to the battle at hand. He tightened his grip on his bow. With two servants fighting alongside their master, there was no way Assassin had any chance.

It seemed like Assassin realized this too, as after parrying another one of Saber's strikes, she glanced behind her and somersaulted backward, almost disappearing into the darkness behind her. She vanished from their sight, but Archer could still sense her. She was retreating, moving towards the edge of town.

Annoyed, Archer clicked his tongue and lowered his bow, before turning around to face Hakuno. The blonde boy lowered his lance and regarded Archer carefully, but Archer just ignored him. "Master," he said, respectfully. "I'm glad to see that-!"

"Praetor!" Archer was suddenly shoved aside by Saber, as she grabbed Hakuno's hand and pulled her to her feet. She wrapped Hakuno's hands within her own. "I'm so glad you're alright! I hope you were pleased with my performance. Now…" She drew her sword and pointed it at Archer. "What should I do with this fool of a Servant?"

Archer scowled, pushed the blade away from him with two fingers. "Saber," he said rather stiffly. "We have both been summoned by-?"

"A mistake!" Saber declared instantly, only furrowing Archer's brow. "I am the only Servant my praetor has ever had."

"Um…" Hakuno piped up, looking a little nervous. "I don't… think… that's true?" She said it haltingly. Hakuno wasn't even if what she was saying was even true. She remembered both of them. It was as if two different memories were playing simultaneously within her head and it was making her head spin. For now, she tried to keep her attention on the matter at hand.

"Hakuno…" Their attention was suddenly drawn by the young blonde man, who had been watching the exchange with a baffled expression. "Who are these people?"

"Oh… um…" Hakuno glanced at Archer, with a desperate look on her face, which momentarily confused the Servant. It took a second for him to understand the situation.

"We're mercenaries," Archer said, flatly, ignoring Saber's bewildered look. "We were in the area when we sa- heard the sound of fighting. We met Hakuno a couple of days ago at the…" He trailed off, looking towards Hakuno to come up with a believable end to the story. He may have some consistent information about the country they now found themselves in, but he wasn't privy to the girl's whereabouts before their summoning.

"Near the shops," Hakuno finished simply, after a moment skipped by. "They are good people, Dimitri."

Dimitri looked unconvinced, but at that moment Dedue ran in. "Your Highness!" He sounded like he was on his last breath. "I was worried! When my opponent retreated, I assumed the worst…"

Dimitri waved his hand. "I'm alright, Dedue," he assured. "For now, we need to determine what we should do from here." He took stock of his surroundings "I'm assuming a mage is responsible for our current battlefield."

Archer glanced up at the sky. "I think that a fair assumption," he said before shaking his head. "However, I suggest we retreat for now."

The prince frowned. "Retreat?" he repeated, incredulously, before shaking his head. "We cannot."

"Oh?" Archer raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"It's our mission," Dimitri explained. "We were tasked with defending the monastery from any intruders. Now that we've been attacked, we need to capture them so that the church may be able to do a full investigation."

Archer glanced at Hakuno for verification and she nodded silently. "Alright," he said begrudgingly. "In that case, perhaps let me and my associate take care of the female assassin you saw. I apologize for being blunt, Your Highness, but she's far too out of your league."

Saber scowled. "I don't follow your orders-!"

"I think it's a good idea," Hakuno suddenly said and that quickly changed Saber's tune.

"Do not worry, Praetor," she said with a nod. "I'll keep you and your friends safe!"

Dedue seemed like he wanted to argue, but Dimitri raised a hand, stopping him from speaking. "Your plan is sensible," the prince said to Archer. "Very well, we'll follow your lead." He then turned his head towards Hakuno. "But after that, I would like to hear the entire story. And the truth." His meaning was clear to the girl.

She nodded a little glumly, wondering just how she was going to explain this properly.

"If that's everything, then let's begin moving," Archer ordered. "Saber, you take point while I bring up the rear. You three," he said addressing Dimitri, Dedue, and Hakuno. "Will follow Saber from behind. Understood?"

"Of course." Dimitri nodded along with Dedue, following Dimitri's decision. Diligent and sharp like real soldiers. Archer immediately liked the two.

Saber was another matter entirely. She latched her arm around Hakuno's and dragged her away from Archer. "Do not worry, Master! I'll keep you safe!"

"Oh, um…" Hakuno blinked owlishly. "But Archer said-!"

"There is no need to listen to that foolish Servant when you have me." Saber smirked arrogantly. "I can keep you and your friends safe by myself." She began to drag Hakuno away, as Dimitri and Dedue shared a look and began to follow Saber.

Archer held back a sigh. Well, he could at least trust Saber to keep the three protected if he could not. The matter behind their summoning could wait. For now, it was important to try and just survive this ordeal.

Reproducing his two most used weapons, Kanshou and Bakuya, he began to follow behind Dimitri and Dedue, straining his senses to catch anyone that may try and ambush them.

Xxx

Shamir narrowly dodged another strike from her opponent. After leaving Ashe and Annette she had headed straight for the village entrance only to be attacked by someone near the end of the journey. An assassin but, to her annoyance, she didn't know where the man hailed. He was dressed in dark clothing with no insignia and hadn't even responded to any of her questions.

She gritted her teeth as she attempted to nock an arrow in her bow, only to abandon that when her foe jumped at her with a flurry of his blade. Shamir had trouble getting any sort of distance on him; the assassin was just too fast. An expert in his field, no doubt.

She raised her bow above her, blocking an attack from above, as the assassin brought his sword down upon her. However, Shamir knew she was struggling to hold the man back. Her arms were straining and she could feel her bow bending against the weight when-!

"Instructor!" From the darkness, Felix jumped out and made a wild swing at the assassin. The assassin managed to dodge it by jumping away, but Shamir grabbed onto this chance. She nocked an arrow and fired, hitting the assassin square in a small unarmored area of his neck. The assassin stumbled away from them, grasping at his fresh wound, before falling to the ground.

Shamir snapped her eyes towards Felix. "Report!" she barked, her eyes wild, not missing that Felix was currently bleeding from his shoulder.

He opened his mouth, but, before he could say anything, Sylvain burst through the darkness on the back of his horse with Mercedes riding behind him. Ingrid landed her pegasus on the ground, shooting Felix an annoyed look. "Felix," she admonished. "Don't just jump off while I'm in the middle of the air!"

"Oh, be quiet," he snarled. "It was an emergency!"

"Instructor Shamir?" Sylvain seemed to just notice that Shamir was there. "What are you doing here?"

"I suspected that something was wrong and it looks like I was right," she answered, calming down a little. "Now care to tell me what happened with all of you? You all look hurt," she said, taking note that all of them were wounded.

"We were ambushed," Mercedes explained with a wince. "They came out of nowhere. We managed to escape, but they're still at the entrance. We're lucky they just didn't chase us."

"If I had to guess…" Shamir said slowly with a furrowed brow. "They might be protecting their escape." She frowned. If only she hadn't killed the assassin she was fighting. Information was key here! If they were after the Archbishop then she need to either capture them and prevent them from escaping. Otherwise, they'd be unable to discover who was behind this plot. "Okay," she said slowly. "We cannot let the enemy escape. We're going to have to go back and confront them."

Sylvain's blinked. "But… we're in no shape fight them straight on," he pointed out.

"What has Hanneman been teaching you?" Shamir muttered, rubbing her temples. "Listen I understand retreating in your situation, but they haven't followed which means we have the upper hand in the counterattack. We'll perform a pincer maneuver on the…" She looked at Felix.

"There were three of them," he answered.

"On the three," she continued. "Ingrid will come from the air, Sylvain and Felix from the sides, while Mercedes and I take the rear provide support." She shook her head. "However, if you get injured immediately retreat. Remember you're just the distraction. The moment I can get a clean shot, it'll all be over." She looked at each one of them. "Understand?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Xxx

"Annette!" Ashe nocked an arrow and quickly fired at the assassin's feet, startling him enough to let Annette retreat a few paces away from him. He could feel sweat dribbling down the side of his head, as the assassin looked back up. The assassin's head lolled to one side as he stared at Ashe with blank and empty eyes.

"What do we do?" Annette asked, her voice steady, though there was a hint of fear hidden behind it.

"The best we can do is keep our distance," Ashe reasoned, as the assassin reached for something attached to his back. Ashe had a hard time seeing what it was due to the darkness. "We should try to-Ah!" Something whizzed inches by his head and he found his voice caught in his throat, finally noticing what the assassin was holding. A large bow, more intricately and impressively made than the one he held in his hands.

"Wind!" A burst of wind sent the next shot flying. Ashe turned his head to see Annette with her hand outstretched.

"Hurry Ashe!" she shouted. "Shoot him!"

Ashe snapped out of his fear and quickly pulled back another arrow, but this one just bounced off the man's armor. "Just how-!"

Before he could even curse, the assassin jumped towards them, his blades spinning around him. Both Annette and Ashe pivoted away from the attack, but each was grazed by the blade. The moment he was out of harm's way, Ashe grasped the cut he had gotten on his forearm. He prepared to dodge again but noticed that the assassin had instead turned his attention to Annette, who was sprawled, a deep gash just above her chest. "Annette!"

Time seemed to slow down as the assassin raised his sword to strike down Annette. Ashe had managed to notch an arrow to his bow, but even then he didn't know what he could do.

Am I… Am I really this worthless?

"Wind!" Annette raised her hand again and managed to cast a spell that threw the assassin momentarily off-balance. "Ashe!" she called out, snapped Ashe to attention. "His neck!"

"R-Right!" He drew his bow, quickly taking notice of the spot that Annette had mentioned. A space in the man's armor. He steeled himself and let loose the arrow. The arrow flew through the air and pierced the assassin's neck. He stumbled for a few moments before collapsing onto the ground.

Annette pushed herself away from the dead man before pulling herself up to a standing position, still holding her wound. "That was a little close huh?" She let out a rather nervous laugh. "We should probably see if the others are alright. No doubt they've run into guys similar to him."

"R-Right," Ashe agreed, but at Annette turned away from him, his expression only grew more troubled.

Xxx

Dimitri, despite his reservations about the situation, chose to follow the mercenaries' advice. The man called Archer hung behind him and Dedue while the woman called Saber was practically glued to Hakuno's side. There was certainly something that Hakuno was hiding here. Hakuno hadn't spent much time within the shopping area of the monastery, unlike him and he didn't recognize these two at all.

There was a preestablished bond between the three. Something that Dimitri couldn't understand given Hakuno's circumstance. He brought a hand to his head. Is she…

"Your Highness." Dimitri snapped out of his thoughts and glanced behind him. It wasn't Dedue as he had expected, but rather Archer. "The enemy is right in front of us. Prepare yourself."

Dimitri nodded and drew his lance, motioning Dedue to listen to Archer and do that same. Dedue was still suspicious of the pair, but gripped his ax tightly, nevertheless.

Soon enough, they reached the young girl that had attacked them before. She stood close to the edge of the village with her arms crossed and two more assassins flanking her. "I suppose you were expecting us?" Archer asked, recalling his two blades and summoning a more standard bow and arrow much to Dedue's and Dimitri's amazement.

Assassin's eyes flicked to Archer for but a moment before quickly refocusing back on Hakuno. Saber placed an arm in front of her Master protectively. "Orders were…" she spoke haltingly. "Obtain… the Regalia."

Hakuno frowned. "I-I don't know what that is!"

"You… You are the Regalia. That much is clear," she insisted, her voice emotionless. She bent down, placing a hand upon the ground to keep herself balanced. Both Archer and Saber tensed, only to be thrown off when a large container popped out of her back.

It took Archer a full second to realize his mistake. "Get down!" he barked at Dimitri and Dedue, managing to push them away from the line of fire. Saber quickly grabbed Hakuno and pulled her aside.

"Fire."

The container launched from Assassin, propelled forward by some engine, whizzing through the group and exploding upon a house behind them. Small debris landed around them, as the three students gawked at the explosion. "What… What in the world was that?" Dimitri sounded at a loss for words.

"She's some sort of automaton." Archer grit his teeth. He had a couple of possibilities about her True Name, but without any way to verify it in this different world, it was nigh impossible to take advantage of it. "A doll," he added as if that would somehow make it more clear.

"A doll." Dedue wasn't buying it.

Archer wasn't in the mood to explain. "You two handle her underlings. Can you handle them?"

Dimitri gauged the two assassins. "Yes," he said firmly. "However their leader…"

"Leave that to Saber and me," Archer said.

"Understood." Dimitri quickly shot a look towards Dedue, who looked ready to protest. Best not try to argue now.

With the two assassins now distracted by Dimitri and Dedue, Archer and Saber could now focus on Assassin, who had returned to her usual stance. Without bothering to let her take a breath, Archer pulled back the string of his bow, firing an arrow. However, Assassin barely reacted and flipped out of the way, before jumping into the air and pointing her fists at Archer. They flew off her body like two bullets only connected by a thin wire, but luckily Saber was there to get in between the attack and Archer, blocking it.

"Hmph." Saber snorted. "To think that I would need to protect you."

Archer scowled. "I knew what I was doing. I would've been fine."

"A 'thanks,' would be appreciated," grumbled Saber, as the fists returned to Assassin, who then landed back on the ground. Without a moment's hesitation, Saber dashed forward and swung her sword in a wide arc. However, despite the weapon's reach, Assassin dodged it by sliding away from Saber, her feet creating sparks along the cobblestone ground.

Saber gave her a lopsided grin. "I'm impressed," she admitted. "I didn't think that an Assassin could give me as much trouble as the one I fought during the Grail War." Archer gave a short nod, recalling a similar experience.

Assassin narrowed her eyes and, with a surprising burst of speed, jumped towards Saber, blades sprouting from her forearms.

"Code Cast!" A keyboard appeared in front of Hakuno and she quickly tapped some buttons. "Gain Defense!" An aura appeared around Saber, as Saber deftly blocked Assassin's attack. However, using Saber's sword as a platform, Assassin vaulted over the block and slashed downward cutting through Saber's clothes. But thanks to Hakuno, the only wound Saber sustained was a small cut above her chest.

Archer moved closer and tried to slash at Assassin with his twin blades, but he just wasn't as fast as the ninja. Each strike was either parried or deflected, but still, he could feel himself pushing her back. She was still an Assassin, and her forte would never be a head-to-head fight.

"Master!" Archer heard Saber yell from just to the right of him.

Hakuno nodded. "Code Cast! Gain Strength!" She targeted Saber once again, as Saber rushed into the middle of Archer's fight, slashing upward and slicing off Assassin's arm at its elbow. The decapitated arm landed a few feet away from them, as Assassin, realizing that she was in trouble, jumped back several feet. She attempted to locate the other two men that had been with her but, at that moment, saw that they had been defeated by Dedue and Dimitri.

Assassin hovered a hand over her stump of a left arm, her eyes suddenly turning sharp. Her Noble Phantasm. If she were to activate then she could blow away all of them and, in the confusion, kill the girl and obtain the Regalia. "Assemble, wind…" she began to chant.

"Assassin." Her master's voice suddenly echoed within her head. "Retreat. You've done all you can do. Return to the shadows."

Her eyes glazed over. "Yes, Master," she said hollowly, before dissipating in golden particles and vanishing. Once she was gone, the darkness around the group began to lift, and finally, Hakuno felt as though she could see the village a little more clearly.

Dimitri could only stare. "Where did she…"

"Your Highness!" Dimitri and Dedue looked behind them and, to their surprise, found that they were close to the village entrance and, nearby, some of the other Blue Lions were standing victorious over some more mysterious assassins.

It had been Mercedes that had called to them. Shamir, Felix, Sylvain, and Ingrid were also with here, looking just as battered as they were. "Good." Shamir sounded relieved, raising an oil lantern to provide some better light to the area. "You three are okay."

"Yes, well, without the aid of Hakuno's friends, we would've…" Dimitri turned back around and found his voice trailing off. The two called Saber and Archer had vanished without any of them noticing. Only Hakuno remained, a dark shadow crossing over her face. "Where… where did they go?"

"Where did who go?" Shamir frowned and raised an eyebrow.

Ingrid glanced around. "No one else is here. When the darkness lifted, we only saw you three."

"You sure you're alright?" Felix asked cautiously.

"It's just…" Dimitri exchanged a look with Dedue, who gave him an affirmative nod. So, he hadn't been imagining things then. If Dedue could confirm that those two had helped them…

Dimitri found his eyes straying over to the still silent Hakuno. She had yet to say a thing nor even register their presence. Who had been that strange girl and what had she been after? Who were the pair of mercenaries that called themselves Saber and Archer and where had they gone?

He suspected that even Hakuno didn't truly know the answers to these questions.

Xxx

Dedue/Hakuno Support C

Hakuno walked into the small greenhouse that the monastery had, her curiosity piqued. She had heard Annette mention it before and she had wanted to see it herself. She had not seen many actual gardens during the Holy Grail War and not that she was among the living, she wanted to truly experience it. However, despite walking inside the greenhouse during lunchtime thinking that there'd be nary a soul around, she found someone she recognized kneeling close to some of the flowers.

She froze, but Dedue had already noticed her presence. He stood up and dusted his hands, waiting for her to speak.

Hakuno, in turn, waited for him to say the first words.

The two stared at each other for a few moments, each one waiting for the other to speak. Finally, it was Dedue who broke the silence. "Did you want something?" he asked.

Hakuno blinked, before rapidly shaking her head. "N-No!" she insisted. "I mean… um… I just wanted to look at the flowers."

Dedue seemed to digest her words for a minute. "I see," he finally said. "In that case, if you have the time, I'd like to ask for some assistance. I am to water the flowers in the greenhouse."

"O-Of course!" Hakuno nodded rapidly. "I'd be glad to help!"

"Thank you. Just avoid watering the flowers in the corner over." He pointed over to a group of flowers sequestered in the corner of the greenhouse.

Hakuno blinked. "But why? Don't all flowers need water?"

He shook his head. "Those flowers are from Duscur. As such they require a dry environment. Otherwise, the roots will rot and the flower will perish."

Hakuno blinked. "Duscur?"

"My home country. It's where I was born."

"O-Oh," Hakuno said quietly.

"…"

"…"

"They may sound rather curt," Dedue suddenly said. "But I hope you understand the precarious position you're in. Dimitri and the other Blue Lions may have graciously given you their trust, but I still have my doubts. If you are to do anything to harm His Highness then I'll be the first to do the right thing."

Hakuno recoiled. "I-I wouldn't do anything like that!" she insisted.

"So you say," he replied simply. "Unfortunately, your word isn't enough. His Highness's protection is my only reason for living."

Hakuno fell silent, unable to find anything to say in her defense. "…"

After another long period of quiet passed, Dedue finally asked, "Was there something else you wanted?"

"O-Oh, um…" Hakuno stammered. "No. I'll go get some water."

Dedue bowed his head. "Thank you very much, then." He turned back to tending the plants.

Hakuno could only sigh. She already wasn't the best conversationalist, but with Dedue it seemed her inadequacies were doubled. For now, it'd probably be best, to check when the greenhouse was empty before coming back.

With another sigh, she ran off to retrieve some water for Dedue.

I'm just updating this really out of boredom. I've playing FE: Three Houses and this document has been rotting in my folders, so I figured it'd be nice to spruce it up and finish some of it, before publishing it.

Reviews are appreciated, yada yada. I don't know when I'll post another chapter. It'll be pretty dependent on the response to this one.

Thanks for reading.