Fire Emblem Three Houses: Five Years War
I don't own Fire Emblem Three Houses, or any of its characters. This will be a series of one-shots concerning the five years timeskip that occurs right as the war starts. It will contain spoilers for the Azure Moon storyline, and the supports of some characters.
I will treat everyone from the Black Eagles as being recruited by either the Golden Deer or the Blue Lion house, except Hubert who's impossible to recruit. I will attempt to put the shipping to the side as much as possible, but here's what you can expect: Dimitri/F!Byleth, Claude/Hilda, Ferdinand/Dorothea, Petra/Linhardt, Caspar/Bernadetta, Felix/Annette, Dedue/Flayn, Lorenz/Leonie, Sylvain/Ingrid, Lysithea/Cyril, Catherine/Seteth. It will also contain the Ashen Wolves, who will get a dedicated chapter.
I might operate some minor design changes for some of the characters who don't have any post timeskip designs (Catherine, Shamir, Seteth and Flayn for example).
That said, I hope you enjoy your read.
Chapter 10: Leonie "A matter of loyalty" Around the Blue Sea Moon (July) of year 1183
The land of Leicester is well known for its political schemes, as the different lords of the Alliance try and grab on the power of a seemingly just system. The fall of the legendary house Daphnel showed to any small noble houses that bearing a crest was not necessary for holding power, as the minor house of Edmund was given a sit instead. This bred a generation of opportunistic lords, waiting for their hour of glory, to finally project their names into the legends of a still young country.
Rather than using their own troops, the small lords would hire mercenaries to keep the dirty work off their reputations, which made the job flourish in Leicester. The mercenaries would serve several purposes, such as making sure commercial routes were safe, or, if someone put a higher salary, making sure it was trapped with wild beasts. They would also serve as law-enforcement units by hunting down bandits, as Leicester preferred to keep its military around Fodlàn's locket, or steady for an impending war, as it had the lowest military numbers compared to its two fodlians neighbours.
With the war in Fodlàn starting, the demand for mercenaries exploded, with many courageous fellows taking up arms. This led to a very competitive market to which the lords of Leicester had no choice but to start running into debts to keep the imperial troops out of their territories.
It would be lying to say that the small village of Sauin was any place of importance in the Leicester Alliance. It was lost in the middle of nowhere, barely anyone outside of its inhabitants came there. Today, however, was different.
Banners were hanging from some houses' roofs in the small village, the golden yellow of the Leicester Alliance reflecting the sun going up in the sky. Out of the central tavern came a young red haired lady, kicking the door open. Leonie's eyes wrinkled from the sun on her face. "Uh? it's already morning?" She faced the wall of the tavern, unzipped her fly, and started peeing on the wall.
She heard soft footsteps on the gravel behind her, so she quickly stopped and zipped her fly back, panicked, before facing the man that just arrived. Leonie had expected one of Sauin's villagers, but she clearly didn't expect a pompous looking messenger of some sorts saluting her, even though it was clear her state was disgusting him. "Are you Leonie Pinelli?" She raised an eyebrow "Indeed, I am, why?"
He reached for a letter in his pocket, and held it out for Leonie, who took it. "The sender would rather have you read it once sober. And alone." He said as Leonie was going to open it. She sighed, feeling a headache incoming "Sure. You're dismissed, whatever." The messenger made a quick bow, before taking his leave. Leonie scratched her hair as she looked at the letter, and went back inside the tavern after putting it in one of her pockets.
…
"What does this mean?!"
Claude looked at her "What means what?" Leonie was red "You barely paid us half of what we need!" Claude sighed "I'll pay you fully once I have the money for it." Leonie didn't let go "You already said that last time! Do you know how much I am getting into debts for you, Claude?!"
Leonie had thought that the job of mercenary would be perfect for the war, but she didn't take Claude's financial resources into account. She had seen Jeralt and his daughter Byleth get along well with their lives as mercenaries, but she didn't take into account they were doing fine because there wasn't any war being fought.
That and Jeralt was one of the most well-known mercenaries out-there, or so she thought. When she had been to the monastery, it had been weird that no-one knew Jeralt from his job as a mercenary, but rather by his past in the knights of Seiros, which she always found strange. He had never told her such a thing.
Claude raised an eyebrow "Do I look like the beers you spend money on each night? I'm sure I paid you enough to sharpen any weapons in your band." Leonie huffed "You gave us barely enough to pay our own food."
"I'm sorry Leonie, but if I can't pull money out of thin air." Leonie snorted "Yet, you find the resources to fund the Ashen Wolves, or whatever their pompous names may be." Claude smirked "Funny, coming from 'Blade Breaker the second'"
Claude sighed as he saw Leonie sulking. "Fine, as soon as we reach Derdriu, I'll pay you completely." Leonie exaggeratedly sighed back "You better do so." She went back inside the inn. After climbing up the stairs to go lock herself in a room, she picked up from her pocket the letter the messenger gave her earlier this day.
She unfolded the letter:
"Dear miss Pinelli,
This letter will cut to the chase. We need your help to end this long and terrible war."
Leonie nearly strangled herself with the water she was drinking while reading that last part.
"It seems you have been assigned to the young leader's personal escort. For anyone else, it would be a great honour done for them, but for a great mercenary like you, it is just an employment such as any other.
The war has been affecting the mercenary market rather negatively the last three years, and so I send this letter with an offer that would solve any problems of debts, or anything of the sorts, you could have been accumulating during this long conflict."
This caught Leonie's interest. A way to get all the debts off her back? It seemed rather suspect, but the sender had caught her attention.
"However, the war shall not last forever. From my observations, the Adrestian Empire has the upper hand these days, the Alliance barely able to push back its attacks. The Kingdom of Faerghus is falling apart under the pressure of political struggle. From an outsider's perspective, it would be logical for the Empire to conquer the other countries fast.
Yet, this war drags out. It has been dragging out for more than three years now, but this could end quickly with your help. You need to kill the leader of the Leicester Alliance, Claude von Riegan."
Leonie choked on her water. What did she even read? What did she need to do? It wasn't unusual that someone of importance would be targeted for assassination in the Alliance, but for someone to put into words to target directly the leader of the Alliance was something Leonie didn't think would ever happen.
And the most unsettling thing was that it was asked directly to her, someone who knew Claude well. It couldn't have been innocuous. She was going to warn Claude about that potential threat, but she stopped, morbidly curious about the rest of the letter. She picked the letter up to finish her read.
"By doing this, the Leicester Alliance will crumble, headless, as the lords will argue about the succession. House Gloucester and House Edmund desperately crave for the power of the Alliance leader. House Goneril would be too spiteful to ever consider allowing Adrestria's existence after it declared war on the other countries, while House Ordelia is bound to the empire. The Alliance would crumble in a matter of weeks."
Leonie was filled with dread. She knew Claude was important as the new leader of the Alliance, but she didn't realize that he was barely holding the pieces together. Intrigued by the letter, she continued.
"After the Alliance's fall, it would take no time to quell the rebellious kingdom lords. But this victory couldn't have been made possible without the help of the second coming of Jeralt Eisner, the second Blade Breaker herself. The name Leonie Pinelli would equate to peace everywhere, most would be eager to spend entire fortunesfor the presence of someone so skilful.
If you agree with such plan, imperial troops will give you a distraction near the Great Bridge of Myrdin.
My most sincere regards,
L."
Who could that 'L' refer to? Lorenz? No, it couldn't be. Someone as upright as him wouldn't use such an underhanded tactic, on someone she thought he considered a friend… Indeed, Claude and Lorenz had fought together back at the battle of Garreg Mach, Lorenz even taking some of the enemy's attention off of Claude. But he had always talked about how he suspected Claude of shady things, and how he wished he was the next leader of the Alliance… And the Great Bridge of Myrdin was dangerously close to Gloucester territory… And he hadn't partaken in the last battle near the Airmid while everyone else was here…
But now what? What did she have to do? She didn't believe Claude would pay her immediately after arriving at Derdriu, and she was in desperate need of money. Claude had paid her band's meals last night, and their weapons started getting blunt. They couldn't get going for much longer…
…
The Great Bridge of Myrdin was visible further down the hill they were riding on. Even from where she was, Leonie could see workers quickly trying to fortify it. Myrdin had always been a gigantic bridge, she remembered when they went over it to go fight on the Gronder Fields. She had to admit that they got crushed really hard by Jeralt's daughter's class. Dimitri himself had been a really good leader, expertly driving his classmates to battle. Well, she wouldn't have to dread facing them in combat since they were both pretty much dead for three years now.
First Jeralt, and then his daughter, yet she had the gall to call herself the Second Blade Breaker? What a joke.
But she still could earn a name for herself, even now in the middle of a war.
Claude and his men were calmly riding their horses, not expecting anything to come and disturb the ride, despite being not so far from the border. She took an arrow out of her quiver, holding it firmly, but calmly with her left hand. She waited for the right moment.
Leonie took her bow off her back, while being careful to not alert anyone around. She took aim.
Claude was calmly discussing with Nader, when an arrow flew right in front of his nose. When he checked where it came from, he could see Leonie putting her bow on her back, raising her spear towards him and charging "We're being attacked!" Claude looked behind him to see some troops that bore the colours of the Empire heading towards the convoy. Leonie rode past him to attack the enemy, while Claude yelled "Battle positions, everyone!" He pulled out Failnaught from his back, and shot a flying demonic beast heading towards him.
…
The Alliance soldiers were eliminating the last remains of the small imperial strike force, as Claude headed towards Leonie to check on her. He smirked "For a second there, I thought you betrayed us." She huffed "What if I did? I'm a mercenary after all." Claude raised an eyebrow "I know you, we're friends, aren't we?" Leonie just looked upset at that phrase "Sure." She couldn't think of anything else other than the fact that Lorenz might be willing to kill his friends for political power. Though she wasn't to be spared from any blame, as she almost decided to kill Claude for fame.
Claude sighed "Let's move back to Derdriu, shall we?" Leonie nodded silently, and went back to her horse.
…
The summer in the Alliance was always coming with high temperatures, as opposed to the rather fresh summers Faerghus goes through, and it showed especially in Derdriu, as the water brought in humidity, making the temperature nigh unbearable at the peak of the summer. The windows of the palace were all opened so its occupants wouldn't suffocate.
At the centre of the palace's front, facing the whole city, were the windows of the main office, serving the leader of the Alliance. There was Leonie, waiting patiently for Claude to come back to the office, when the door opened, not to reveal Claude, but his assistant, Nardel, coming with quite a nice bag of what sounded like coins.
"Claude isn't here?" Leonie asked. The counsellor shook his head. "He went to settle some problems with count Goneril along the almyran borders." Leonie huffed "Shame, I wanted to tell him something private."
The old man smiled reassuringly "If you don't judge it too confidential, you can entrust with such information." Leonie hesitated, having known Nardel for a year and a half, but sighed "Tell him to watch out for a potential traitor."
Nardel scoffed, which surprised Leonie "Did I say something funny?" Nardel shook his head "I don't think you have to worry, miss Pinelli, master Claude is already aware about the dangers this war brings for his safety." Leonie raised an eyebrow to that, but didn't comment further, took the bag of coins, and left the small room.
First of all, I'm sorry to have missed a week from posting chapters, exams period tend to do that to weekly schedule. However, that was only an exceptional pause and I'm back to weekly posting.
Next, I'd be lying to say that this chapter wasn't difficult to get through. I wanted to portray Leonie in another manner than her overly fangirl attitude towards Jeralt, that she even keeps after the timeskip (I mean, shit, her death quote is literally "I'm sorry, Captain. I couldn't keep my promise." like, what promise?), even though I know her supports talk about other things, but she felt so unattractive (her B support with Byleth was the final nail on the coffin) I couldn't be bothered to listen to all of them (I finally understand how those who hate Cyril feel). Now, I wanted to show the dilemma that her job description created, that wasn't even mentioned in Verdant Wind, sadly…
But enough of the rant, next chapter is: Valuables