Altered Fate

Time itself seemed to freeze. The world around him seemed to come to a halt when his last arrow finally managed to knock Shanna off her pegasus as she and her steed collapsed to the ground. Silence filled the room; every nerve in his body was numb as he felt his mind spacing out, small growing noises falling on his death ears, the only sound that reached them was the voice of the Askr prince.

"That's the end of the round. Congratulations, prince Takumi. You are the champion of this gauntlet!"

Loud cheers erupted, but he was still processing the prince's words in his mind, his thoughts repeating the words over and over. He was unconsciously mumbling "I won... I won..." under his breath. It was the sudden feeling of a smaller body crashing into his chest and arms wrapping around his back that finally brought him back to reality. He looked down and saw it was Sakura, his sister looking up at him with a bright smile and happy tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Brother, you did it! You won! You're amazing!"

"Amazing... I'm... Amazing..."

The weight of everything that happened sank in immediately. He wasted no time wrapping his arms around his sister and burying his face into her shoulder. He sank to his knees, bringing the redhead down with him, though her hold on him didn't lessen. He felt many other things; Hinoka hugging him against his back, Ryoma's hand smoothing out his loose hair, both Corrin's patting his shoulders, Elise and his retainers leading a chant of his name, the rest of his family all around him. But he hardly took notice of them as he kept his face buried into the redheads shoulder, wanting to shield the tears falling from his eyes, even though most of them could see it, even the pegasus knight across from him, who was staring with a pleasant smile.

Takumi felt the night breeze and calming moonlight on his skin as he walked along the outside courtyard of the castle. He knew he should be inside celebrating his victory, but he's never been too fond of loud crowded parties, especially since the Order of Heroes was much larger than any group he's been with, making the experience even more claustrophobic than any banquet he's attended before. Thus, feeling the cooling breeze flowing through his hair, which he tied back into a ponytail since he's never been fond of having it loose in public, felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the tightened space within the castle. But it also gave him time to think.

The gold medallion in his hand felt both immeasurably heavy and almost nonexistent at the same time. His mind was still having a hard time rationalizing its existence and that it was in his possession. He found himself unable to look away from it, his own reflection staring back at him in the shinning gold.

"Figured I find you out here," He turned around and found the young Nohrian prince walking up to him, "Though I'm not that surprised, I already know you're not one to stay for too long."

"I just needed some time to think."

"Well, if you think I was going to leave you alone out here, you're out of your mind. I already know leaving you alone to think is just asking for trouble."

He pouted, "I hate how easy you can read me."

"Just tell me what's on your mind this time," He said, not caring for the his tone.

Takumi looked back down at the medallion, "I just... I guess I'm still in shock. I still can't grasp that I actually won. Not that I'm ungrateful for it, but..." He sighed.

Leo placed a hand on the other prince's shoulder, "Trust me, I could tell that right away you were having a hard time accepting it. But this is something you should be proud of. Getting into one of these gauntlets is already an accomplishment and winning them even more so."

The Hoshidan prince gave a mocking smirk, "So says the guy who's been in three gauntlets and won none."

Leo ignored his snappy comeback and continued, "Regardless, this isn't something you should be beating yourself up for."

Takumi looked down for a moment, "I saw you speaking with some of the other participants earlier. Tell me; Karel, Soren, Shanna, have they been saying anything about me?"

"They have. They've been singing your praise. Karel is impressed by your strength and resilience. Soren admires your quick thinking and ability to outsmart his strategic planning. And Shanna is relishing that you were able to give her one of her most enjoyable battles. And she's been rallying some of the female warriors, talking about how she found you crying to be cute."

He groaned, "I was really hoping no one saw that. It's embarrassing that I broke down that easily, and in front of everyone nonetheless."

"From the sound of it, no one is talking ill about it, so that's one less thing for you to worry about. But still, try to enjoy this rather than questioning if you deserve it."

He sighed before smiling, "Tha-" He was cut off when Leo leaned forward and pecked him on the lips, making his face flare up, "I-If you're gonna do that, give me warning! We're not in our world anymore!"

"Have you forgotten that you purposefully distanced yourself as far away from the others as possible? The chance of someone seeing us in very unlikely. So I think you can afford to let your guard down," he leaned forward again and lightly kissed him, "I think you've been away long enough, considering your brother is the one who asked for me to look for you. And considering I don't want to go back empty handed, you're coming with me."

He groaned loudly, "Do I really have to?"

"Just put up with it for a while, I'll find a way to sneak us out."

"... Alright," He felt his face flush when Leo grabbed him by the hand, "But I'm only staying for 10 minutes."

"Fine by me."