A what-if scenario for Previous LordxRaizel III.

…

"You can sit down to look at them. My sister wouldn't mind. She's always been sentimental ab-" his words died in his throat as he saw the pictures.

"I know. Two years and she didn't change a thing. Twelve and nobody else did either," Ashoka said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and reaching out to trace Hulda's face in one of the photos, "I'm grateful for it."

"You knew her," Raizel said.

"I did."

"You-" unable to take his eyes off of the figure of his partner alongside his sister in the photos, Raizel could feel his heart beat faster- "You were the one she was constantly talking about. The love of her life."

"…I was."

Finally tearing his eyes away from the photos, he whispered, "You left her."

Startled, Ashoka looked at him, expression shifting to resignation- "I did."

Seeing his face made him reel, but not out of what he just learned. Rather, because he still looked like he had in those photos. Photos that were over a decade old. No wrinkles, no scars, not a single minute change. There was only one group capable of such a thing.

"I didn't know you were a dermatologist too. Were you one before you became a hero?"

"Huh?" Ashoka stared at him, face scrunched and mouth agape- "Raizel. What the absolute fuck-" but stopped partway, an amused smile creeping out- "You're right. That's exactly what I was. I look wonderful for my age, right?"

Raizel nodded, serious, "You do. So why did you leave her?

"Why did I-" Ashoka's eyes narrowed before widening, and he looked away. Was it to hide his shame? "Ah, well… That was about the time I decided to become a hero, so it was difficult for both of us. I didn't want to put all that pressure on her."

So that was what happened. Hulda had never explained it to even his elder brother despite being the closest to him. As much as he still couldn't forgive Ashoka for hurting his sister, Raizel understood why he did. To be a hero was difficult. It required sacrifices. Even their mother had felt guilty about being unable to be with them often, and she had been much more present than most heroes with families usually were.

They continued to talk. Ashoka explained to him how he'd meant to come back to her if she was still willing to have him. How he'd searched desperately for the ones who'd come after their family. How it had ended in meeting him. And most importantly, that they could get what they both wanted now. The monsters dead, and his sister awake.

Years later, a millennium actually, Ashoka watched his husband hum happily as he vacuumed.

With fascination, he remarked to Edian who sat beside him sharpening her swords, "All this time and he still hasn't realized we're in the Empire. How does he do it?"

"By being a moron. I thought it was obvious," Edian replied, eyes remaining focused on the sword in her hand.

Bringing a hand up to his cheek, Ashoka continued to stare, head tilting slightly- "It is but… What a shame. I don't think it'll work again."

The words of her Emperor (former Emperor, just like she was a former General) made Edian pause in her work, looking up at him through her lashes. It was… foreboding. Again? What did he mean by that? Did he mean tricking Lord Raizel again? Or tricking someone else?

"Ah, definitely not!" Ashoka sighed, completely ignoring her reaction, "She's much too smart for it. I'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way."

When Hulda wakes up, for the first few days she finds herself to still be in a surreal dream. Her baby brother insists to her that Mika and his home just have an amazing care routine even as she looks at the date which puts them long past a natural lifespan. She can't bring herself to argue though. It's a better delusion than whatever she'll end up with, held tight in the arms of her rapist.

The version where Raizel doesn't become a bad person and is instead just the stupidest person alive until Lusar's born which is when he becomes the second stupidest person alive.