Marianne and the Forbidden Codex: A Fire Emblem Three Houses story

Bewilderment

Leonard let her in; truthfully, she walked in before he could even ask her to come in. The girl stood with a questioning look, waiting for the boy to close the door. He did so, then approached her.

"Good night, Hilda," Leonard said, with his gaze serious as he looked down at the girl.

"Good night, Leonard," she answered with a stern look that was very different from the cheerful tone she used to show. "I come here to consult you a little more regarding the information you gave us a while ago."

"Why would you want to know more," Leonard said with a confused expression. "The truth is that I said everything I knew."

"That's not true," she claimed angrily. I know you're hiding something. "I want you to tell me everything now."

"Uhm... So, it was you," he replied, looking at the girl somberly. "I felt like someone was spying on us when I talked to Claude."

"What?" Hilda's annoyed reaction was fake in Leonard's eyes. "Why do that?"

"Why do you have any interest... I don't know if it's because of Marianne or me; I believe it is because of her."

"Well, you found me out," Hilda grabbed one of her ponytails as she looked at Leonard with an annoyed and embarrassed expression. "But that doesn't stop me from wanting to know."

"Do you really want to?" he questioned, with such a dark look that it made the girl recoil a little in fear. "I don't know if you've seen or heard enough before, but if you want to know, you must prepare."

"No, I didn't hear much," she replied, lowering her gaze. "The truth is that I spied from a point where there was not much visibility. I could hear bits of it, they talked about a Crest, but I could only see Claude, not you."

"Yeah," the man replied, moving closer to Hilda. "Do you think you'll be ready to know?"

"...Show me," she moved closer to Leonard, trying to reach up to him in a ridiculous pose to avoid being intimidated.

"You'd better sit down, Hilda."

Hilda did not want to obey the young man. What's more, she stayed as close as she could. She didn't imagine Leonard's explanation wouldn't be in words precisely. He took a breath like the last time and closed his eyes. He held his breath, then exhaled. At that moment, Hilda was shocked.

"What happened to you?!" she yelled, falling into the chair Leonard had pointed out. "What kind of monster are you? You're like those guys we fought at the Academy."

"Yes and no," Leonard answered, keeping his cool, which didn't stop causing the girl turkeys. "The Heroes' Codex is a weapon that can only be used by Agarthans, from what I could find out." Hilda was nearly passed out by now.

"I wear a special Crest that has been implanted in me. This is the one that allows me to use the codex but at the cost of mutating into a hybrid form between human and Agarthan, my human form being one that has limited and temporary access to those powers."

"How horrible... What would that Crest be?"

"It's called the Crest of the Tartar," Leonard replied, as Leonard projected the image of the Crest from his right arm. "Here you can see it."

Hilda no longer reacted. It was a lot of information. She was a little dissociated in that chair, in which she finally fell into a trance, like being unconscious. She didn't know how much time passed, but she woke up lying down after a while. She hoped it was her bed and that it had all been a terrible dream. But the truth can be more terrible than any dream.

She was still in Leonard's room. She left her on his bed, and now he was sleeping in the chair he had offered her a while ago. It felt strange. She had never slept in the same room with a man. She proved easygoing and outgoing, but she was much more reserved than she made out.