This is a rewrite of The Front Line (2017). It is not necessary to have read the original to read this one.

Corrin suffers from a nightmare. Leo dwells in the aftermath of Izumo.

It was long past midnight when Corrin shot upright with a scream dying on her lips. Her body trembled as she glanced around her quarters. A mantra of "It's not real" raced through her head, but it did little to quell her thundering heart. It had felt real. She could still taste the chill on her tongue, the unholy aura in the air.

Drawing her fingers through her sweat laden hair, she stood. As she made her way to the window, she let her hair fall against her back and then winced at the slime of it on her neck. With two fingers, she pushed aside the curtains and stared through the opening. The courtyard was dead. The usual hum of activity was gone. A hollow silence hung in its place.

Corrin turned from the window. The curtain swung back into place with a soft rustling. She wrapped her arms around herself. She stared ahead into the unyielding dark, dazed and unfocused. Her head throbbed with a phantom memory that hadn't happened and she was too weak to keep it at bay.

"I hope you like the dark! I'm about to drown you in it!"

Her chest tightened, strangled her breath. Her jaw clenched. Her fingernails carved crescents into her palms. She was too weak to do anything else.

Then, it passed and her chest ached. Tears dripped off her chin and then splashed onto the bare skin of her forearm. She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and then she moved to the door. She threw it open and then raced down the steps, taking them two at a time, until she was outside.

The night air was soft. Her damp hair swayed in the gentle breeze. She walked around her treehouse and then set off through the camp, a sea of tents and huts stretching endlessly into the horizon. Before the end of the month, there would be more huts built for more families that arrived.

Every day since the attack on Fort Jinya, waves of refugees, Hoshidian and Nohrian alike, poured into the fort. With the threat of war ever present, they flocked to the idea of peace and quickly surpassed the capacity of the fort. In those first few days, tempers had run high and Corrin had braved more than one shouting match, lashing out at anyone that dared suggest she had no idea how to acquire provisions. The stress had driven her to thoughts of abandoning her cause. Then, she'd spoken to Lilith.

"Lilith, when you first brought me here you said this place was safe!" Corrin shouted. "You swore no one could get here unless you showed them how."

"What is this about, Lady Corrin?" Lilith questioned.

"There are hundreds of people in the courtyard and I want to know how they got here!" Corrin demanded. Lilith's tail twitched and she began, "Lady Corrin, you must understand that—"

"Either you lied to me or you brought them here!" Corrin interrupted. "Which is it, Lilith?"

Lilith hung her head.

"I brought them here."

Corrin's anger fizzled at the candid confession.

"You… what?"

"I brought them here," Lilith repeated.

"But, why?"

"You are an inspiration, Lady Corrin. They're following in your footsteps. They want peace just like you do."

"You can't know that! They could be spies, sent by Garon to wipe us all out in the dead of night!"

"The Astral Dragons told me."

It wasn't a thorough explanation, or even a good one, but Corrin knew she'd receive no other from the little dragon.

"These people need security and a cause. They have that here. And you need them."

"And why exactly do I need them?"

Lilith laughed.

"You can't fight a war without an army, Lady Corrin."

With Lilith's guidance, Corrin had been able to manipulate the wards surrounding the fortress to allow them access to a land abundant in lumber, food, and anything else they needed. The refuges had been more than willing to help, but it had not been easy. Establishing a livable space for an army was an arduous process and still, months later, there was no end in sight. New refuges arrived by the dozens every day and they wouldn't stop coming until the war was over.

Thankfully, they had their uses. As they banded together, the displaced villagers had been able to turn the everyday minutia of the fort into a functional base. They ensured that the army was well fed, equipped, and clothed. With their basic needs accounted for, all those of able mind and body devoted themselves to training and the army ranks swelled with young soldiers, eager to fight for a cause of justice and peace. Though inexperienced and quickly trained, their vigor and dedication to their cause and to her proved to be ferocious on the battlefield. When Zola's lackeys had outnumbered them two to one in Izumo earlier that day, they'd emerged victorious and suffered few causalities. It was unbelievable.

Corrin had been so impressed by their success that she'd nearly cried. Now, the thought of Izumo made her eyes sting and her chest heavy for entirely different reasons.

"You've abandoned us and I've abandoned my care for you," Leo had said. He wasn't wrong and she had expected nothing less, but it wasn't fair. His family had kept her as a glorified prisoner and hostage plaything for twelve years.

Twelve years without my family, Corrin thought, Without my freedom.

Corrin came to a halt, suddenly aware of the heaviness of her feet. They had grown numb from the chilled ground, but they began to pulsate in their stillness. The breeze whistled through the slumbering camp. It blew damp curls across her face and through her parted lips. She spit it out and then brought a hand to her chest, feeling for the source of the dull aching.

But I loved them.

The hoot of an owl drew Corrin from her reverie. The stars were painfully bright overhead. She winced. Then, she began walking.

Corrin walked until she came to the gates and manipulated the wards to take her to the forest and then kept walking. She walked into the shrouded trees and didn't stop until she reached the lake. It was just as beautiful as the first time she saw it.

They had spent the past hour tramping through the forest, documenting any resource they located. It was exhausting, but it needed to be done if they were going to survive. It may have been a magical forest in a mystery land, but, so far, nothing they needed had magically appeared. So they scouted.

Tired of staring at tree after tree, Corrin insisted they follow a nearby creek to its source. When Jakob refused, Corrin snuck off and then followed the creek alone. When she crested the hill to stand before the lake, she was glad she was alone.

In reality, it was more of a glorified pond than a lake but it might as well have been the ocean. It was a murky blue with a scattering of water lilies and cattails. A heron stood by the edge, hunting for lunch. A warm breeze blew through her hair and when she inhaled it tasted like the sun. Standing on the hill, staring across the water, she wept.

This is freedom, she thought to herself, this is it.

Now, she sat on the sandy bank with a sigh. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her chin on her knees and stared out at the calm water. There were ripples and, in the distance, a lone bullfrog called out into the night. Though her dream had not left her, she felt a restless peace.

She didn't know how long she sat there before someone came through the woods behind her. At the sound of their footsteps, her fingers shot to the smooth stone around her neck and then she shot to her feet, shouting, "Who's there?"

"Calm down," came the gruff reply.

As her brother stepped into the light, she breathed a sigh of relief and released her grip on the dragonstone around her neck.

"Can't sleep?" she asked as he approached. In the starlight, his hair was just as colorless as hers and his skin even paler. His entire body glistened with sweat.

"No," Takumi replied, crossing his arms. She turned back towards the lake saying, "Me either."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Saw you leaving, followed you here."

"Oh."

She sat back down on the bank and motioned for him to join her. Without protest, he joined, crossing one leg under the other.

Did you have a nightmare? she wanted to ask but didn't. The moment was too fragile. They sat in silence, staring out over the lake, listening to the running water and the wind through the trees.

"There was a lake like this in Shirasagi," Takumi told her, "Did you ever—?"

She shook her head and then he turned from her, saying, "I'll take you there after this is all over."

"I'd like that."

They stayed until the stars went away and the sun began to peak over the horizon.

February 17

I had the dream again tonight. The one that I don't know I'm having until I wake up. Is a dream really a dream if you don't know it's a dream? If, even after you wake up, it still feels real even though you know there's no way it could be?

This is the fifth time that I can remember having it, though it's my first time writing it down. I always wake up in a cold sweat with my own name ringing in my ears. Then everything goes so quiet that I swear I must have gone deaf. I bet if my name were Beth it'd be a lot less foreboding.

I wish I could remember. If I remembered then maybe it wouldn't be so damn frightening. It's not so much the dream but the feeling after I wake up. The silence, the dread that settles in goose flesh across my entire body when I realize where I am, that I'm not wherever I was in the dream. There's always some part of me that feels wrong and out of place. I wish I could say it was ridiculous but I feel like it's something I've always known but never admitted.

All I want is to be there. I know if I go to the place in my dream, things will heal. I feel broken but I don't know what's done the breaking. It's always been a part of me but it's so much more unignorable now.

After I'd woken, I walked around the fortress. The cold stone felt good under my feet. There's something really calming about being the only one awake in the middle of night. No one can h—

"Ah, I was wondering where you were hiding, Leo."

Jolting upright, Leo slammed the book shut. The sound was stifled by the thousands of tomes adorning the walls of the study. Remembering himself, he uncoiled his guilty posture, sent his gaze to skim the curves of his jagged fingernails, and then asked, "How is Father?"

Xander sighed. Leo knew that his eyebrows were pinched together. Camilla often said their older brother's royal portrait should be redone with the customary worry lines between his brows.

"Someone might get the wrong idea," she'd remarked, "they might think he knows how to relax."

"Father is occupied with the war. We barely spoke."

Leo clenched his fist and then his fingers were taunt and bloodless. He buried his hand into the sofa cushion beneath him and thought, What he means to say is that Father is continuing to act strangely and pray to the ceiling dragon but there's nothing to be done about it.

As his brother moved to sit in the armchair across from him, Leo's thoughts turned to what Corrin had said in Izumo, "I learned that Garon… He's being manipulated by someone," and then to Corrin herself. To the ragged hole she'd torn out of his chest when she'd turned from them.

She lied, he thought. That's what traitors do.

But he'd let her go.

"Has there been any word from Camilla?" Leo asked, glancing towards his brother. Peri and Laslow stared at him from either of Xander's shoulders. It had been months since he'd seen his brother with only one shadow.

"She's made contact with the Ice Tribe but there's been no word beyond that."

"Good," Leo responded, leaning back into the sofa.

The once overbearing Camilla had become a recluse. Since that fateful day on the outskirts of Hoshido, she avoided everyone and spoke only in monotone. She hadn't been at Castle Krakenburg in at least a month. She'd taken to charging into the thick of battle whenever possible. If not for Beruka and Selena, she would be dead. Before he'd left for Mokushu, Odin had shared a letter with him from Selena: Lady Camilla is getting worse. She refuses to listen to us and keeps throwing herself into danger every chance she gets. She wants to die before King Garon sends her after Corrin.

Lost in thought, Leo wormed a fingernail between his teeth and then began to gnaw on what little bit of nail there was.

"What are you reading?"

Finger still parting his lips, Leo's eyes widened. Behind either of Xander's shoulders, Peri and Laslow loomed. Their faces were cast in shadow from the mage light overhead.

It's nothing, Leo nearly blurted but the fear withered under Xander's unaccusatory stare. Leo relaxed, laid his hands across the cover, and then announced, "This details the geography of Hoshido.

Xander's mouth tightened but he didn't press the subject. Leo thumbed the spine, wondered if the loose binding was Corrin's doing or damage done from his own poor care. He'd already read it several times over, though he found no comfort in the words written in her cramped, unbecoming penmanship. He'd found it the day Corrin had seemingly died, hidden among her many unworn shoes.

The anguish of memory assaulted his tongue. He could picture himself, hunched over and shaking, peering down into the abyss that he was so certain Corrin had fallen into.

But she didn't fall into the abyss, Leo thought, staring at the guarded expression on his brother's face. We did.

They all handled Corrin's betrayal differently but they all handled it alone. Xander had so thoroughly devoted himself to his role as Crown Prince that Leo rarely saw his brother anymore. He never spoke of Corrin, having gone so far as to forbid the mere mention of her name. Camilla had stopped speaking entirely. She hid within her quarters when she wasn't drowning in the distillery or cleaving through a battlefield. Leo took notes from both but he couldn't be as selfish as Camilla or as heartless as Xander. He had tried, but Izumo had changed everything, shaken his faith in himself. Only Elise had chosen to act like everything was the same, but she wasn't very good at it. Especially after Xander had snapped at her, had told her to stop believing in fairytales.

Corrin, do you know the pain you've wrought?

He glanced down at the worn journal in his lap. His eyes began to burn. He began to burn. She'd abandoned them, didn't deserve his thoughts.

"I've abandoned my care for you," he'd told her, but that was only partially true. They had been the best of friends, thicker than thieves. His affection for her could not be so easily dashed and done away with. He couldn't pretend it had vanished the moment she turned traitor. It would always be there to stay his hand and to give him pause.

He wanted to punch his fists through his eyes, to dig and twist until he'd reduced the simmering heartache to ash. But he couldn't do that with Xander in the room. He couldn't do anything but think and wonder and remember.

"I can't stand it here, Leo," Corrin said. "Sometimes it's so lonnely and horrible that I think about leaping from my bedroom window."

They sat pressed against the black iron gate that secured the perimeter of the Northern Fortress. He'd joined her only moments prior. She had disappeared after her morning training session with Xander. The entire estate had been turned upside down in the ensuing search.

"But I never have and I don't think I ever will."

Leo folded his hands in his lap and then stared out into the woods beside her.

"I want to see the world outside these gates."

"I want to go flower picking with Elise and attend galas with Camilla and hunt down ruffians with Xander and… and…"

She raised a hand to the bar and then grabbed onto it until her fingers whitened.

"What brought this on?" Leo asked. He didn't know what else to say. He was only fifteen. She would be sixteen in three days' time. The spring thaw had just melted the ice blanketing the forest around them.

"Xander told me why he can't be here for my birthday. About the peace summit with Hoshido."

Leo hung his head, glaring into his open palms.

Of course. Hoshido.

The topic of Hoshido always made Corrin sullen. She never gave any indication that she knew the truth of her imprisonment, but mentions of Hoshido never failed to sour the mood. Some part of her knew and it was always clawing to get out.

"I've read that sun shines every day in Hoshido. And that the people there know no hardship."

Where did you read that? Leo thought but didn't say. Corrin leaned forward and then laid her forehead against the bars, staring cockeyed into the looming pines.

"And I know Hoshido is our enemy but a place like that—"

She stuck a hand between the bars and then grasped at the empty air.

"It can't be all bad, right?"

Leo stared at his hands. A cold chill gripped him and wrestled with the fury that boiled within his chest. His encounter in Izumo had stirred up these memories and nothing he did kept them from returning.

"Something troubling you, brother?"

Xander's stern eyes bore through Leo's skull. Leo longed for the time before war and politics bloodshed had hardened his brother's eyes and heart.

"Could you kill Corrin if it came to it?" Leo asked. His voice was calm, metered despite the question. His brother scowled. Behind him, Laslow and Peri's expressions shifted into frowns of bald concern.

"Where did that question come from?"

"What does it matter where it came from?" Leo spat. "Could you?"

"Did something happen in Mokushu?"

"Could you kill her, Xander?"

Xander didn't respond. He sat impossibly still. Shadows cut sharp angles from the planes of his face, twisting it into something darker. Leo's stomach turned.

He looks like father.

"If necessary," Xander said. Leo scowled as a shiver sank into his core and then pressed, "And if it wasn't?"

Xander sighed in frustration and then leaned back against the armchair. His grim expression melted away. He looked so much older and very tired. He asked, "Could you Leo?"

"Of course," he lied, sounding far too confident in his answer. Xander nodded, mouth tight and turned away, almost too fast for Leo to catch the burning emotion in his eyes.

He was lying, Leo thought. He doesn't know it but he was lying too.

Then, as Xander announced his leave, Leo thought, How much longer will it be before it's no longer a lie?

This is a rewrite of The Front Line (2017). You do not have to have read the previous version at all to read this one.

A/N: And so the rewrite begins! I intend to update this weekly unless I fall completely behind in my writing schedule. I have the first ten chapters written already so that shouldn't happen, but life's crazy sometimes!

Not a lot changed from the old version of this chapter. I made some grammatical & structural edits, but the main changes came in Leo's section as I wanted to go much more into his emotional turmoil and confusion over the whole situation. I also decided to start here rather than at the very beginning because that was more of a lukewarm introduction than an actual start to the story and I honestly just didn't really like it much!

PSA: If you read the rewrite comment and went WTF, don't fret. This is the most current and correct version of this fic. An older version exists, but it has since become obsolete (since I wrote OBSOLETE next to the title and in the description lol) and will diverge MAJORLY from the scope of this version.