Prince Khalid of Almyra did everything to avoid getting married—because he’s tired of his pursuers only wanting the title of being his first bride. No one knows what he really looks like so he always scares off those seeking his hand by dressing as a robust middle aged man.
Vildan (once known as Cereze in Fodlan, Claude’s) mother, decides it’s time to request help from Judith (her sister) to find someone that her son might come to love.
Queue Lorenz in Gloucester, who has a blindness condition that developed mysteriously on the eve of his 20th birthday, and has since been adjusting to life with his eyesight vanishing. In the years that follow (I'm thinking that Claude’s 27 and he’s 28 at this point) he watches as his sight worsens until all he sees are light and shadows.
His stepmother (a narcissistic and cruel woman who hides behind the facade of being a caring and doting person), has slowly warped Lorenz’s delicate self-image. She's managed to convince him he’s nothing to look at and can’t even offer anything to anyone because of his condition. Less than useless.
Vildan concocts a plan for her son to at least play along with her and pretend that he’s a small but affluent merchant from Diedru who is seeking to buy a “bride”, Judith thinks it would benefit Lorenz to get away from his home—that its a shame he’s become so passive when in his youth he was passionate about the round table. So she coerces Lord Gloucester to consider this a boon, much to his second wife’s consternation.
“Claude” is surprised by Lorenz during their meeting when he sees that the other man's sight is impaired so completely and decides to give him a chance. They bond slowly while Claude stays in Deidru running a family friend's merchant business while they're away, with it all culminating into an “Could I see you?” scene with Lorenz mapping out his face after six months of living together peacefully.
Lor tells him he has “beautiful and intense eyes” and though he seems shocked by his beard (spoiler, he can tell the texture is different from the hair he touched on the others' head and even from his brows) he tells Claude he likes what he’s seen both emotionally and physically. Claude tries to tell him he’s a rather large man in his middle, but Lorenz tells him that it must mean his business is going well.
"Besides, anyone can be beautiful Claude. It is all about their heart."
Khalid starts noting little details about him after that. His habits, and tells. The way Lorenz' cheeks dimple when he tries not to laugh at Khalid's complaints about balancing the books and tracking inventory.
"But my darling man, are you not a merchant? Why, there was a time in my younger days that I could tally all the individual roses of my ancestral estates by breed and colour variation alone in one sitting."
It's the first time Lor opens up about himself, talks about what he was like before his eyesight was lost. It's thrilling for Khalid and he pushes the other man gently into talking more about the things he liked to do. From that moment on, he has Lor challange him on things through verbal relay, and finds himself falling slowly for the other even more.
He also notices that there’s something strange about Lor’s medicine (that his step mother seemed adamant he takes) and pays close attention to how it affects him like making Lorenz get paler which was a feat in itself or weak as though he were close to fainting, getting headaches that left him prostrated on the bed—etc.
Eventually Khalid tests it and realizes that what Lorenz is taking is a slow acting poison that’s been eating away at him and the root cause of his blindness.
With this discovery the step mom gets exposed and jailed by Lord Gloucester for harming his only hier, and Lorenz gets taken to Almyra to be tended to by the best care that Claude can afford.
Which ends up being the royal physicians. He doesn’t know it yet at the time, Khalid decids he wants to take care of Lor first before giving up on the sham of him being a merchant. He wants to give Lorenz the choice of whether he wants to get to know the real Khalid of Almyra, or if he wants to leave. He’s free to chose.
Everything is such a big shock, his step mother, the poinson, his eyesight, the possibility of it returning slowly, and the truth about Khalid.
It overwhelms him so much that he just requests to be sent away to Judith—the only person be can trust at the moment as she’s the one who has his step mother arrested.
It takes a year for him to decide because that's how long it would take for his eyesight to return. In that time, Khalid writes to him; sends him courting gifts and even one of his personal medics to aid and ensure Lorenz is ok as his eyesight slowly starts coming back.
In that year, Lorenz tries to relearn himself and the ongoings of both Fodlan and Almyra (through some of the books Khalid sends him).
He never responds to Khalid’s letters, afraid that he’s too emotionally raw to control himself, but as the year wears on, the gifts Khalid gives him become his treasures.
A book of poetry (that he requests the same maid who has been dictating Khalid’s letters for him to read), a high quality leather journal and a beautiful exotic peacock feather quill (for when his sight returns, as if Khalid could not fathom the idea that it wouldn’t), a promise ring with a gem that looks like dusk, bolts of soft fabrics that compliment his hair, eyes, and skin so perfectly that he has little choice but to ask a tailor to create something out of them for him to wear. Finally, a set of dangling pure gold earrings with a gorgeous emerald set into each one to catch the light in whatever way they can.
The moment he puts them on, there is no taking them off. Just like the promise ring which he’d started wearing soon after.
He uses the quill gifted to finally write to Claude the moment he realizes he can see clearly. He wakes one morning and after a year of being cared for by one of Almyra’s royal medics, he can see. His gifts that he’s so carefully kept and cared for as much as he could, now fully availed to his newly restored eyes. He looks in the mirror and sees the love Khalid has been showering him in for a year, for longer even. With shaky hands he writes a letter back.
It feels like a new dawn for him.
And when he meets Khalid, this time properly…
It feels like he’d never left. Like the distance between them of mountains and valleys, of a year were only a dream.
“Lorenz of Gloucester—“
“No, not anymore my dear. For a year and some months now, I have been Lorenz, the bride of Khalid. Can you not tell?”
The smile Khalid gives him is just as warm and handsome as he’d known.
Ha! Too easy! I did Khalid's officers academy uniform💖 and in fact, it was too easy to do fkfkfkdk i think i will do Golden Deers designs first before doing any character of any other house🥺💛 i feel very proud because look at it! So beautiful💛✨
don't forget to credit me if you repost this somewhere else (i also post this on Twitter)
EDIT: A quick update, this is how it looks in Animal Crossing New Horizons, I'm so happy it looks so beautiful bfjeh💖🥺
Oh shit they're here!! It's my FE3H tea charms! 🍵 I've never played an FE game so doing so many characters was so new but I'm in love with all of them. These charms are available for preorder, link is right here!
Uuuh so I got a little carried away with this one. It’s really long!
Claude Von Riegan x f!Reader
Tw blood, tw death, tw slight gore, angst to fluff!
Listen man fantasy worlds are rough on the whole not-being-dead thing.
Claude could feel himself slipping away. Maybe it was his arrogance. Maybe it was his drive. Or maybe it was the massive gash in his stomach. Whatever drove him to this point, it had been worth it. He could feel his body growing cold, the intense pain turning his body numb. The sky... was it always this bright? When was the last time he actually took the time to look up? Look up from his paper work, his bow, his allies, his port, his life? When was the last time he saw you smile?
In those moments, against the caked, dried blood, his lips turned up. Sure it had been a long journey. Was it filled with turmoil and strife? Yeah. Were there a lot of tears? Oh hell yeah. Would he change it for the world? Never. He could hear voices around him. Was there someone nearby? He couldn’t tell, because his vision was so blurry that he could only see the blue of the sky. Then it was covered by a figure. Who were they? Another joined. A bright light filled his vision. A spell?
He could feel his body being picked up, but just barely. Just enough for him to recognize that he was being moved, but numb enough to feel like he was still floating. Someone was grabbing his hand, and he did all he could to grab back. He prayed to whatever goddess might be out there that it was you. He moved a finger. That’s all he had in him.
The main thing he wished he was able to do was to confess. To tell you how he felt, how he loved you, and how you only knew a false version of him. This mask he had on was to keep him alive, sure, but it was painful. Plus, he had a duty. There was a war, and he was intending on staying alive. Well, that plan seemed to have certainly fall through, huh?
Claude remembered the blackness as he drifted away. He remembered thinking that, if he were dead, that this was a really boring afterlife. Just endless space of black, nothing like the glorified heaven that he was supposed to go to. Or maybe he wasn’t? He certainly hadn’t been any sort of saint in his life, just an imposter of questionable intent.
As he stared on, he thought he saw something. A light. Was this really the light at the end of the tunnel that everyone blabbered on about? He started to walk. But that walking lasted for so, so very long. So he had time to think. What had he accomplished by getting killed? He left a lot of people hanging, that’s for sure. A lot of debts to be owed, he really didn’t want to think about those. People who he dared called friends, they would miss him, right? And then there’s you.
You, who had been his only sanity since you joined the Golden Deer class. You, who was the only one to actually make him smile. Or laugh. Or cry. Not in front of you, of course, but... from a distance. Your antics would make him chuckle, and when you were being flirted with, he would silently cry to himself late at night. Not loud enough for anyone to hear. Just.. enough to get the frustrations out.
Suddenly, the light was a lot closer than he thought, and he looked up to see himself walking into it. And then, his entire body was in pain. Vision was blurry, but he could make out a brown ceiling. He blinked, having it come into focus. He knew that ceiling. All the times he had been sent to the infirmary for doing something stupid, like hanging upside down on a rafter.
A pained groan left his body. He heard some shuffling as a result of it, and in a couple of seconds, Professor Manuella was over him. She gave a big sigh, holding her hand to her chest.
“Claude... You worried us, you know!”
“Man...uella?”
“Yes, it’s me, sweetie. How are you feeling?”
“I’m... in pain.”
She chuckled. “I’m sure you are. We almost lost you back there.”
“Where... is she?”
A look of recognition passed over her face. Strangely enough, out of all the people that he knew, Manuella seemed to be the only one privy to his attraction for you. “She’s resting. She was also injured, but she’ll be okay.”
Claude sighed, the action of relief bringing enough pain to make him cough. That caused Manuella to stand up and start concocting some sort of medicine. It was certainly not going to taste good, he knew that much, but he hoped that the pain relief coming with it would help with both the throbbing aching in his side and the intense anxiety he just got.
You were injured? How badly? Apprently bad enough for you to be bed ridden. This anxiety never stopped, not once, throughout the next couple of weeks that he himself was bedridden. His condition slowly improved, between the healing spells of Marianne and Manuella. But they had to be metered out between the two of you. He had eventually been told that you had been speared through the back, and barely made it yourself. It was difficult to get the two of you back into the land of the living.
Claude found himself praying. Praying that you would be okay. Your condition was unstable, while he was the one improving steadily. He had been informed that they had, indeed, won their side of the war, but he didn’t want to be in this world if you weren’t in it, too. It was when he was able to walk that he was escorted to your room by Manuella.
“Now, Claude,” she said softly just before they had made it to your room. “She’s fragile right now. Be careful where you touch her, she can’t move very much right now.”
“I’ll be careful, don’t worry. Sheesh, it’s like you don’t trust me with her or something.”
She gave him a pointed look. “You know, she asked about you a lot, too.”
Claude’s smartass demeanor faded for a second. “...Really?”
“Mhm, she wasn’t concerned with her health. She was concerned with yours. She’s not just fragile physically. She’s emotionally fragile. Be gentle.”
Claude swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes ma’am.”
Manuella smiled. “Go on then. She’s been patiently waiting to see you.”
Claude took a deep breath, approaching your door. It felt almost like he was breaking in, but he pushed past the rising fear in his chest and slowly pushed open the door. The room was most of what he expected of you. There was a little teddy bear in the corner, a bunch of books on the windowsill, clothes strewn about everywhere, a sword in the other corner, and a rose beside the books. Though, it was a different rose than he was expecting. Thorns along its rough, yellow stem, and orange petals instead of the typical red.
“Claude...?”
A weak voice reached his ears, and his eyes trained themselves to your broken form upon the bed. You looked just about as bad as you sounded; a white robe, disheveled hair, tired eyes with bags underneath them, and several rags with blood on them next to a bucket on the floor. But there you were, a smile on your face and a look of joy to greet him. He couldn’t lie, his heart beat out of his chest a little at that sight.
“Hello darling. Heard you nearly died?”
He closed the door and walked over to your bed, careful not to step on the clothes and the rags. The bed creaked in protest as he sat down next to you. He wondered how many people had been in this exact position since you’ve been here. Almost immediately, you hand reached for something of his, anything. He bit his tongue, fighting the urge to hold it in his. Instead, it clasped onto his arm. It was weak and shaky, but you were here. You were alive.
“Yeah, though I think I’m starting to get better.” Your voice was raspy, like it hurt to talk, but that never impeded your smile. “How are you fairing?”
“A lot better now, but I wanna hear about you! How’s the wound holding up?”
“I... was pierced through, so it’s been a hard recovery. If it weren’t for those healing spells...”
Your voice trailed off and your eyes darted to the side. You would have died. They put just as much effort into you as they did him. He couldn’t help it anymore. He placed his hand on yours. Your eyes darted back up to him, only to see his sad smile.
“I’ll be okay, Claude, I swear.” There was that grin again, always in the face of any danger or pain.
“Khalid.”
“What?”
“My real name. Khalid.”
Manuella probably knew just as well as he did how fragile the both of them were feeling. Seeing you like this, on your last strand of life, smiling at him like nothing had happened? He couldn’t handle it anymore. The mask was coming off now.
“Khalid...?” you got out. Oh it was so nice to hear it in your voice. A foreign word at this point, but in your voice, it came to life again. “That’s an Almyran name, right?”
“As Alymran as it gets!” His voice started to waver as the tears fell. “And you know what? I’ve almost died because of that heritage! Half Fodlan, half Almyran. This lie I’ve been living? I’m tired of it. I’m so tired of it. And I’m tired of lying to you.”
“To... me?”
“Yes. To you. You, who have risked yourself so many times for me, in exchange for nothing. You who have brought me the brightest days and the saddest moments. You who taught me emotion again, taught me longing and drive.” He held your hand to his chest, where his heart beat, and held it in both hands. “You’re smiling at me like it’s the good old days, like you just fell in the yard. But you’re on death’s door! And you smile! I don’t care if you--you hate me, or what I’ve done. I love you with all the fury of the sun and the moon, so please, stay alive. Please...”
There was a silence, and then your smile widened. You pulled him closer to you, and he didn’t resist. Your hand moved from his chest to his neck, and then to his cheek as you pulled him into a kiss. He hoped he wasn’t bothering you with the tears plopping on your cheeks, but when he pulled away, he saw that you had your own tears to worry about.
“I love you too, Khalid. But I think the only way I’ll get better is if you visit me everyday.” You smirked at him, winking. He chuckled, sniffling and planting another kiss to your cheek.
“You’re twisting my arm here, but I suppose I can manage that.”
You giggled. “Good, because I don’t want you to go.”
“Then I’ll stay here tonight, until Manuella kicks me out.” Though climbing was difficult, he managed to make it to the other side of the bed against the wall. It was there that you two fell asleep, holding onto each other for dear life. And he thought to himself that, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to make a life out of this. One that wasn’t filled with so much strife. But that would have to wait until the morning. And until you were better.
He didn’t care how long he had to wait. He would wait until the sun died if it meant that he could stay like this forever. Just like the Almyran rose on the window sill, who waited patiently for someone to love it just like you did.
