Silence

Cast: (Elise & Sakura)
Prompt: Elise struggles with her notions of right and wrong when visiting a prisoner

"Hey…"

Elise couldn't find the right words. But she had to do something for Sakura. Here in this tiny room in the newly conquered Fort Jinya, where the little princess was kept in isolation, Elise had to search her mind and find the right words: something, anything to console the poor girl.

"I brought you some food," Elise started, "uh, I don't know what you like, but I hope you like it!" She set down the tray of leftover steak on the ground close to Sakura. The priestess was completely silent. She sat by the wall, hugging her knees close. She made no sounds and never once acknowledged Elise's presence.

Ever since Izumo, Elise could not get the Hoshidan princess's words out of her head, the words she had given Corrin:

I was just, um...th-thinking...it's really nice to finally see you again. I'm glad you... I'm glad you f-found a way to be happy...

At the time, Elise scoffed. She was Corrin's little sister, not this girl, and Elise declared herself as such. As though pretty words could drive Corrin to abandon Nohr and go back to Hoshido. That princess, she was Elise's arch-nemesis…

Or so she thought.

"It's… kind of cold, isn't it?" No response. "So here's a blanket. It's no problem, really."

Then the attack on Fort Jinya happened. That jerk Hans came in and started killing Hoshidans even after Corrin and Xander got them to surrender. Sakura begged to be allowed to heal the wounded, but she never got that chance. It was only through Xander's quick thinking that they had managed to imprison a few of the stragglers, sparing them. Though, being a high-profile prisoner, Sakura was being kept away from the rest.

This was too cruel, even for her nemesis. No one should have to go through what Sakura did, Hoshidan or otherwise.

Elise then realized that the two of them were rather similar. The youngest in their families, princesses at that. They even specialized in healing magic. And while Corrin was indeed part of Elise's family (not Sakura's), the foreign princess still came across as a friendly person, not unlike Elise. Perhaps in another life, the princesses could have been friends.

"Um… I don't know what to say," Elise admitted. She could not bear to look at the broken princess sitting before her. "I'm sorry about what I said to you in Izumo. That was uncalled for, huh?"

Sakura said nothing.

"Yeah, it was…" Elise looked around awkwardly. "Corrin told me about you, about all of you, from the time when… well, you know." The lack of any response was beginning to bother Elise, but she had to keep trying. "They were kind words. You seem like a really good person."

Elise had seen for herself how the other princess had strived to protect her people. The whole time at Fort Jinya, the people of Hoshido and all the wounded soldiers were at the top of Sakura's priorities. Elise found herself reminded of a conversation she had held with her oldest brother, when he found her reading a certain book…

Oh, this? It's a book about peace.

It says it's important to never fight when it's possible to avoid it. And to always have compassion for others, even for your enemies.

Thinking back, it came as no surprise that Elise would find herself tending to the Hoshidan princess. It really did give her a new perspective, especially in light of some troubling thoughts that had plagued her mind. From the day the princess had become an adult (from Nohr's legal perspective), everyone had told her to act like one. So why did they turn around and insist that she destroy her enemies, rather than show compassion?

Sometimes Elise humored the idea of Xander passing the throne to her instead of accepting it for himself. Usually this led to the wildest of fantasies. But lately, she had found herself thinking about it more realistically. She decided: if Queen Elise were in charge, she would not even have this war in the first place. There had to be a way to feed Nohr without sacrificing innocent lives on both sides.

But that would not happen. Garon had already declared war, and Xander would take the throne when Garon passed on. If Xander had no children, Camilla or Leo would take the throne, and then pass it to their own children. Elise had no chance.

So instead, Elise would just have to do whatever she could with whatever she had available. Starting with showing compassion to her former nemesis- a defeated princess who did not deserve this pain. "Do you need anything else right now?"

Sakura remained silent.

"D-do you want me to find where they're keeping your friends? Tell them you're okay?"

Nothing.

Elise sighed. "Well, I'm going to be busy, but I'll see you again later. If you think of something, you can tell me then, all right?" Sakura said nothing, and Elise was beginning to wonder why she should expect any different. "O-okay then. I'll see you later…" The young Nohrian princess had walked out of the room, leaving Sakura with her meager food and her blanket.

When she heard the door shut, Sakura slowly lifted her head. She stared at the gifts, her face wet and her eyes red. Just as solemnly, she winced, and went back to her original position, quietly sobbing into her knees.

A/N:

Back when I was writing Forsaken, LovelyLori and I were talking about Sakura being imprisoned during Conquest, and how Elise visited her at one point. Given my my fic's series of events, Sakura was never taken prisoner, so this would never come up. But it did give me an idea to try to write out the scene of Elise trying to console Sakura, so here we are.

Between writing Forsaken and reading some other good Sakura-related fics, she's becoming one of my favorite characters.

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