Garreg Mach, 1180

It was the night of the ball, and Leonie was not attending. Her village had already raised a fortune just to send her to Garreg Mach, and she was not going to trouble her family for money to buy a poofy gown. She also had too much pride to borrow one from one of her fellow Golden Deer. Lorenz had clumsily hinted that he would like to dance with her, and she found herself slightly disappointed that she wouldn't be attending. But balls were for stuffy nobles to find mates. She had plans:

1)Graduate from the monastery

2) Become a kick-ass mercenary

3) Pay her village back.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help feeling a little lonely as she aimed her bow at the training dummy.

Suddenly, a small light darted around her. On closer inspection, it was a tiny woman with wings. Leonie rubbed her eyes and shook her head, but the creature was still floating in her face. "Good evening! I'm your fairy godmother, and I'm going to make sure you get to the ball!"

Leonie still didn't know quite what to say. The fairy began casting a spell and waving her wand. Bright sparkles surrounded Leonie, and she gasped in amazement.

Then the fairy screamed and burst into flame. The magic dissipated, and all the was left of the fairy was a puff of smoke and her wand. Standing in the doorway of the training grounds was Hubert.

"What the fuck, Hubert! You fried my fairy godmother!"

Hubert strolled into the training grounds and waved the smoke away. He carefully picked up the wand. "That wand is probably pure magic, Hubert. You shouldn't be touching it," Leonie warned.

"The wand is pure evil, and you should be thankful I'm now the one using it. Goddess only knows what your 'fairy godmother' was going to cast on you with it. Honestly, Leonie, I expected you to be more skeptical than most of the idiots here."

Leonie thought the fairy seemed beautiful and kind, and Hubert always seemed terrifying. However, Hubert wasn't a liar either. "I guess I wanted to go to the ball more than I thought," she said wistfully. "Thanks for the save, Hubert."

Hubert smiled - it was a rare sight. " I could use the wand to send you to the ball. Rumor has it a certain purple-haired dimwit has been looking for you."

Leonie couldn't believe that Hubert, of all people, was willing to send her to a ball. "What can you do," she asked?

"I could use the wand to make you look like a noble for one night. However, all magic comes with a price."

Leonie raised her bow towards the training dummy, "No thanks, I've got debts to last a lifetime."

"Oh, I don't deal in money. Just favors," Hubert said.

"Leonie put her bow down. "Oh yeah, what favor would you need? I can't make Edelgard love you, and I don't do dark magic, so I don't think I have any skills you need."

"I'll find something. Do we have a deal or not? I have to be back at the ball to make sure Ferdinand doesn't take up all of Lady Edelgard's time.

"Fine - let's do it," Leonie said.

Hubert waved the wand, and Leonie was transformed from a mercenary to a princess. She was now wearing a flowing, form-fitting purple gown. Next to the dress was a pair of glass slippers. "What's with the slippers?"

"Because every story needs a memorable detail." Now," Hubert grinned, "In the future, I will come for something of yours. When that time comes, you must give it to me."

Leonie nodded, and they both headed towards the ballroom.

Crestwood

Byleth started her first day as Deputy at Ashe's with a cup of coffee. It was nice having a regular place where the staff was happy to see her. It was nice, at least, until Arundel walked in and scanned the room. He smiled at her and sat down across from her. He continued to smile at her, and Byleth's skin crawled. "What?" she finally said.

"I just wanted to let you know that I know everything, but you can relax because I am no longer worried by your presence here."

Byleth gave a little laugh and said, "Great - your state of mind was weighing heavily on me."

Arundel gave a little laugh of his own and said, "Of course. You see, it all comes down to the number seven. That's the number of addresses you've had over the past decade. In fact, the longest you've ever stayed anywhere is two years. I do wonder what was so fascinating about Tallahassee."

Byleth shrugged, "Yet I did manage to find a place here to stay."

Arundel's smile got bigger. "Ah yes, my niece's spare room? How long is your lease?" He put one hand on his chest and raised the other in a stopping motion. "No, wait, don't tell me - I bet you didn't sign one."

Byleth couldn't come up with a retort to that one, so Arundel continued. "See what I mean? For something to grow, Miss Eisner, it needs roots. And you - don't have any. People don't change. They only fool themselves into believing they can."

Byleth clenched her fists and said slowly, "You. Don' .Me."

Arundel stood up and said, "Oh, I do. So why don't you just leave town before my niece gets too attached to you? She's suffered great losses in her life, and I'm the one that's been there for her the whole time. You should save her the disappointment and make a clean break now." He headed for the door and turned around to say, "Enjoy your coffee!"

Byleth had heard enough and decided to go after him. She slammed her fists on the table as she rose. Unfortunately, she knocked over the coffee and spilled it all over herself. She sat back down in defeat. Hapi came over and tried to dab the coffee off with a napkin, but it was no use. Byleth asked her if there was a laundry room nearby, and Hapi told her it was next door at Raph's. She put some money on the table and left.

Byleth stomped in the laundry room, took off her shirt, and threw it into the washer. There was a blue shirt hanging up to dry, and she took it and put it on. She figured it would be best not to show up on her first day of the job topless. Leonie came in with a giant load of laundry and was so startled to see someone there that she dropped her basket. Byleth apologized and explained why she was there. "Are you not juggling today?"

"Ha, like that's going to pay my debts and rent," Leonie laughed bitterly as she emptied the dryer. An entire load of white sheets was now pink from one red washcloth. "Shit!" she cried and sat down.

Byleth took the dirty load of laundry and put it in the washer with her shirt. She added detergent and started the load for Leonie. "Have you tried bleach? Raphael seems pretty forgiving."

Leonie put her head in her hands, "He is. It's just how am I supposed to take care of a baby when I can't even wash clothes right? No one thinks I'm responsible enough to be a mother."

"That's bullshit," Byleth said. "Everyone loves to tell you what you can and can't do, especially with a kid. But ultimately, whatever you're considering doing, or giving up... the choice is yours."

Leonie rubbed her stomach and said, "I'm not sure it's that simple."

"People are going to tell you what you are your whole life. You just gotta punch back and say, 'No, this is who I am. "You want people to look at you differently? Make them. You wanna change things, you're going to have to go out there and change them yourself because there are no fairy godmothers in this world."

Leonie sat up straighter and said, "Yes, change things myself!"

Later that evening, Hubert closed down his pawnshop for the night. He turned all the lights off, flipped his sign from "Open" to "Closed," and locked the front door. He sensed that something wasn't right, so he checked the door one more time. It was locked, so he took one more look up and down the street. Nothing was there, so he headed towards home.

As soon as he left, Leonie came out of her hiding place around the corner. She broke the window with a brick. The noise and mess made her stop for a moment, but she steadied herself. It was too late to turn back now. She put her hand through the hole and unlocked the door. She began looking through Hubert's merchandise. "Who wants a drawing of a centipede?" she wondered. She continued down the wall to a creepy portrait of a white dragon surrounded by other smaller dragons. She removed the portrait, and there was a wall safe behind it. The safe had a keyhole, so Leonie figured she could rummage around for the key. A voice behind her said, "Leonie?"

She turned to find Hubert staring at her. "What do you think you're doing?" he said incredulously.

"Changing our terms," and she pulled out pepper spray. She sprayed him right in the face. Hubert cried out in pain and stumbled backward. He banged his head on the armoire and fell. He was out cold. Leonie took the keys from his pocket and opened the safe.

Edelgard watched as Byleth unpacked her things in her new room. It wasn't going to take very long since Byleth just had one backpack. "Is there still more at Raph's? I know he'll bring it over if I ask. He's always willing to help."

"Why would there be more?" Byleth asked.

There was a knock at the door, and Edelgard excused herself to answer it. It was Hubert. His forehead had a large cut on it, his face was bruised, and his eyes were bright red. "Hubert, what happened?" Edelgard took his hand and brought him inside. Hubert squeezed her hand back and almost smiled, but then his expression turned serious again, and he snatched his hand away. "Is Miss Eisner here?"

Byleth heard her name and stepped out of the room. "I sure am - you look like shit, Hubert. No offense"

"I need your help to find someone, Miss Eisner," Hubert said.

Edelgard gestured for Hubert to sit down on the sofa. She said, "Of course we'll help you. Who is it?'

Hubert sat down gingerly. Byleth sat down as well. He turned to Edelgard and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't want you involved in this, Edelgard."

Edelgard looked disappointed and said, "Fine, I'll take a shower." She left.

Byleth waited for Edelgard to shut the door and said, "Okay, what's so important that you had to offend your crush?"

Hubert bristled but quickly went back to his cool demeanor. He pulled out a picture and showed it to Byleth. It was security camera footage of Leonie spraying him. Byleth snickered at the thought of Leonie taking down Hubert. I guess she wasn't exaggerating her fighting skills. "I take it you know her," Hubert said.

"I do. But why don't you just go to the police station and file a report? Why come here with the cloak and dagger routine?

Hubert set down the photo and said, "Because Leonie is young and pregnant. She's just confused, and I would hate to see her child born inside a jail. Surely you of all people, know how hard it is to live down a police record. Plus, I'd rather get my property back without involving Ingrid."

Byleth picked up the photo and nodded. "Does this mean you'll help me?" Hubert asked.

"No, it means I'll help Leonie. " Byleth corrected.

Hubert narrowed his eyes, "Grand."

Both Hubert and Byleth were startled by the apartment door flinging open. Claude ran in but stopped cold when he saw Hubert. "Hello, Claude."

Claude returned to his easy grin and said, "Hubert! I just didn't expect to find you here with Byleth instead of perched on the roof of a cathedral somewhere."

"So, so funny. It never gets to be the least bit tiresome." He stood up to leave. "Give my regards to Arundel, Claude. And Miss Eisner, good luck with the search."

After he left, Claude shuddered and said, "Please tell me you haven't already made a deal with him."

Byleth showed Claude the picture, "Actually, he came to me for help."

"Weird, fortunately for you, my evening is free. I want to watch some of those awesome finding skills of yours. Plus, I want to congratulate Leonie for kicking Hubert's ass and living to talk about it."

Byleth laughed, "Fine, let's go." They left a note for Edelgard and set out to find Leonie.

Garreg Mach, 1185

For the first time in five years, all three houses plus the Ashen Wolves were under one roof again. Edelgard, Dimitri, Byleth, and Claude had spent the whole day negotiating a nonaggression pact. Considering all the bitterness in the past, it had gone relatively well. What had started as a simple supper in the dining hall had turned into a celebration. Claude and Hilda had managed to find several kegs, and everyone was imbibing.

Lorenz stepped into the center of the hall and clinked his fork on his glass to get everyone's attention. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make. For years I have made an issue of the role of commoners and nobles." The crowd groaned. "But I was too foolish to see what friends could accomplish together." He took Leonie's hand. "Over the years, I have seen time and time again what this exceptional woman can do and have fallen deeply in love..." This time the crowd gasped, and Hilda said, "Seriously?"

"...As I was saying. I have fallen deeply in love and am supremely lucky that Leonie feels the same way about me. Today I asked her to marry me, and she said yes!" The crowd cheered, and Claude told everyone to drink up. The former classmates surrounded Lorenz and Leonie and congratulated them. After the excitement settled down, Hubert approached Leonie.

"You seem happy," he said. "I'm sure there will be songs about The Duchess and the Dimwit for generations."

Leonie smiled tightly and said, "What are you getting at Hubert? Are you here to collect from our bargain? Name your price. Do you want the ring?"

Hubert laughed and said, "No, I don't need the engagement ring. I need something precious. I know Lorenz didn't announce everything about you two - I want that baby you're carrying."

It was then that Leonie decided to run away. It would hurt, but first, she was going to help her friends finish the war. She owed Jeralt that much, at least.

Crestwood

Byleth and Claude went to Ashe's to try to find Leonie. Surely, Hapi knew something. Unfortunately, Hapi was not feeling very forthcoming with information. Byleth asked her if maybe the father of Leonie's baby was involved in her disappearance. Hapi scoffed and said, "He would have to be involved with her for that to happen. Lorenz ditched her as soon as she got pregnant. No one gives Leonie enough credit. She takes night classes and works like ten jobs. She's going to be a great mom."

"Look, Hapi, I know what it's like to have everyone look down on you. I want to help. I'm on her side. Just please tell me how to find this, Lorenz."

"The bookstore isn't open on Mondays, so that means he's probably at his Dear Daddy's house."

"I know the way to the Gloucester's. I'll show you," Claude said. They got into the car.

On the way, Claude said, "Wow, I didn't realize Leonie was getting so desperate. I thought she dumped Lorenz, because well...he's Lorenz. He's so irritating, but he usually keeps his word. I'm guessing his dear old dad made him dump her to save the family name or some garbage."

They arrived at a stately mansion and stepped out of Byleth's car. A young man in a sports car pulled up next to them. He stepped out and greeted Byleth. He acknowledged Claude. "I take it you're Lorenz Gloucester?" He nodded.

"I'm looking for Leonie Pinelli - she's missing."

A voice from behind Byleth said, "My son doesn't have anything to do with that girl anymore, and whatever trouble she's in - I'm sorry about it - but there's nothing the two of us can do to help her."

Claude said, "Oh, that's understandable. You have to take care of your family first. I'll be sure to mention how 'protected' Lorenz is from Leonie next time I'm having lunch with my grandfather."

This didn't seem to have much of an effect on the man. "You go right ahead, Claude. You can tell him that I didn't let my son throw his life away for one mistake."

Lorenz looked down at the ground, clearly conflicted. Byleth turned her attention to him and said, "Look, if you want to come to help us, you can come. You need to stop letting other people make decisions for you. We need to find Leonie fast. If she runs away with this baby, she is in serious trouble."

Mr. Gloucester told Lorenz to get in the house. Lorenz started to protest but went inside. Once he was gone, Mr. Gloucester angrily said, "I went to a lot of trouble to get that stupid girl a good deal. She was going to be paid very well to give up that baby."

Byleth was stunned, "You're telling me she sold the baby?"

"Please, you make it sound so crass. That baby was going to go to someone that could give it a loving and proper home."

"And who are you to judge if Leonie can provide a 'loving and proper home'?" Claude asked angrily.

"I'm someone who looks out for my family - something you two probably don't know anything about. I found someone who would pay Leonie well for that baby. He was going to make sure everyone turned out happy."

Claude and Byleth looked at each other, and both said, "Hubert."

Mr. Gloucester said, "Well, of course - didn't he hire you to get the baby back?

Byleth and Claude sped back to the diner to once again talk to Hapi. Byleth demanded to know why Hapi hadn't mentioned that Leonie had sold the baby. Hapi shrugged and said she didn't think it was necessary. "Really? You didn't think the main reason she's running away was important to mention?" Byleth asked. Hapi shrugged again and began explaining all the ways the town of Crestwood was filled with "judgmental pricks." As she continued, Byleth noticed an empty parking space in front of the restaurant. "Hapi, where is your car?"

Hapi didn't reply. Claude spoke up, "You didn't send us to Lorenz because you thought he knew anything - you were giving Leonie a head start!" Hapi crossed her arms and looked down.

"Look," Byleth said. "Don't make Leonie have to deal with Hubert on her own. We want to help her - just please tell us where she is heading."

"Atlanta, she left about a half-hour ago." Once again, Byleth and Claude sped off.

As Byleth drove to the town border, Claude continued to talk. "We have to get to Leonie before she crosses the town border. Bad things happen to people that cross the border. Just look at what happened to us."

"I don't have time to argue about a curse with you right now. We have to get to Leonie before Hubert does."

As they got to the town sign, they noticed tire tracks leading off the road. "I told you," Claude said. Hapi's car was flipped over on the side of the road, and the driver's side door was open. They heard a moan and found Leonie on the ground nearby. She said, "The baby is coming."

They helped her into Byleth's car and began to race to the hospital. Leonie begged them to take her out of town instead of going back to Crestwood. "If we go back, then I have to give the baby to Hubert!" she pleaded. Byleth and Claude assured her that was not going to happen. Byleth continued to speed to the hospital.

Byleth and Claude stayed in the waiting room. Manuela came out and assured them that everything was fine. Leonie had given birth to a healthy 6-pound girl, and that mother and baby were doing great. Manuela left the waiting room, and Byleth heard a voice say, "What wonderful news." They turned around to find Hubert. "Excellent work, Miss Eisner," he cooed. "Thank you for returning my merchandise."

Hubert walked away from them to the coffee machine. Byleth followed him. He held his cup under the spout, but no coffee would come out. After multiple tries, Hubert tapped the machine, and the coffee began to pour. "It must be my lucky day. Want a cup, Miss Eisner?" He held out an empty cup to her.

Byleth ignored the cup and said, "A baby? That was your merchandise?" Hubert began to walk away and said, "You didn't need to know that at the time," he replied.

"Oh, because I wouldn't take the job?"

"On the contrary, I thought it would be more meaningful if you found out yourself. You've spent the whole day seeing Leonie's life. Surely you see now why she needs to give up that baby and keep our deal."

"You are not getting that baby."

Hubert turned back around, "My agreements are always honored. If this one isn't, I will simply go to the police and have Leonie arrested for assault. The baby will end up in the system. Did you enjoy your time in the system, Byleth? Would you like that to happen to someone else?"

Byleth wouldn't take the bait, "What jury is going to convict a woman that doesn't want to sell her baby? Besides, you don't want a police investigation into your affairs. I suspect you're more than a simple pawnbroker. Do you want to start that fight?"

Hubert smiled wickedly, "Ohhhhh... I like you!"

"Does that mean Leonie can keep her baby?"

Hubert sipped his coffee and said, "Not just yet. For me to tear up one deal, you have to make a new one with me. You'll owe me a favor."

Byleth put out her hand and said, "Deal."

In Leonie's hospital room, mother and daughter were cuddling. Claude and Byleth tiptoed in to check on her. She told them the baby's name would be Jeree, after the man who saved her family's farm from cattle rustlers. Byleth assured her that Hubert had been there but that he would no longer ask for her baby. Claude gave her a hard stare, but Leonie thanked her profusely.

Later that evening, Lorenz came to the hospital, holding a little gift bag. Leonie glared at him and said, "Give me one good reason why I don't get up and kick your ass right now."

Lorenz stepped back, "...Because you're recovering?"

Leonie snorted, "I'm willing to chance it."

Lorenz bowed his head and said, "I'm sorry. I should never have left. It was wrong. I'm here now, and I promise I won't leave again. Business is good at the bookstore. I can take care of you both without my father interfering."

Leonie sighed, "I forgive you. But Daddy Dearest stays away from Jeree."

Lorenz's face lit up, and he sat down by Leonie. "I love you, Leonie, and hello, Jeree. I brought you something." He pulled out a pair of tiny shoes. "I'm not sure they'll fit." He tried to slip one on Jeree's foot, but it was entirely too large. "Oops," Lorenz said.

"No," said Leonie. "They're perfect."