Ten Yesterdays Equal My Today

Summary: When Grisia dreams, he sees events either ten months into the future or ten years. Understandably, this changes things. Time-travel AU!

Disclaimer: Insert witty I-do-not-own-disclaimer 'here'.

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Sob.

"Ahh, my poor, poor child."

Sob. Sob.

"Even your best efforts didn't save them."

. . .

"Wait, what are you doing?"

. . .

"No, stop! That book, that spell―!"

Please . . . God of Light . . .

"NO! GR―!"

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CHAPTER ONE: "HOW TO HANDLE A ROCK FOR A ROOM-MATE"

"Grisia, come child! We don't want to make everybody wait."

The matron of our orphanage was almost vibrating in excitement as she led me down the narrow halls. Thankfully, I have been living there for a few years already and therefore knew the orphanage had never touched the shady side of the world.

If I didn't, I would have been afraid that I have been sold as a slave, with the matron's almost giddy impatience and her misleading words!

"Make who wait, Mother?" I asked curiously as I followed the homely woman who had once insisted for all the orphans to address her as such. Though everybody seemed unwilling at first, somehow, it hadn't taken long before all of the children found themselves calling the matron 'Mother'. Even I hadn't been immune.

The matron didn't answer, however, and instead pushed me through the front door. Stepping into our courtyard in bewilderment, my eyes widened as I took in the scene.

A tall man was surrounded by countless children, his aura imposing even with his gentle smile. But that was not what really caught my attention. No, it was the man's wavy blond hair that cascaded down his back in an imitation of a golden waterfall. And to drive the similarities home, sharp blue eyes accentuated his extremely handsome face.

Had the situation been any different, I would have thought that my biological father had came to take me away!

"Sir Sun Knight," the Matron began in an awed voice. "Grisia is the last of the children with the specifications you wanted."

Sun Knight? Why did that sound so familiar? And specifications? . . . Don't tell me I was really being sold as a slave?

The Sun Knight (?) smiled amiably as he beckoned me to his collection of kids. I walked over cautiously, eyeing the man even as I came to a stop beside a brunet around my age.

"Ah! Children," the blonde began in a booming voice. "Under the God of Light's watchful gaze and his endless benevolence, it is Sun's greatest honour to announce the commencement of the selection for the thirty-eighth Sun Knight."

My eyes widened even as my brain took a few seconds to translate the slightly convoluted speech.

. . . Wait, what?

The first years of my life passed in a blur. A colourful blur, one with vague tropical scenery and hazy exotic lands.

To be honest, I didn't have much memories of that time, and almost everything I could remember melded together in a truly indistinct manner. Only one thing stood out in my muddled memories, and that was the Lady.

The Lady . . . She had been the only constant in my forever changing life. Though time eventually chiselled away the other features of the Lady, I could always remember her blinding gold hair and her sharp blue eyes.

I don't really remember what we did those years. Obviously, we somehow got by, and surprisingly I could not recall ever being hungry. The Lady was always there too, her gentle hand brushing through my hair and a voice I could no longer remember singing a soft lullaby to send me off to sleep.

I remembered loving the Lady's warm hands and her sweet smile. I remembered loving the Lady's joyful laughs and twinkling eyes. I remembered loving the Lady's soft promise, how she would always take me with her.

And she did.

Until the Lady's milky skin was splattered in a bright red.

The memories after that were quite fuzzy. After burying the Lady, I ran around like a headless chicken. In fact, I think I starved in a week more days than I didn't, but somehow I didn't die. No, somehow I ended up in an orphanage, waking up to see a plump woman fussing over me as she tried to feed me some porridge.

"You don't have to stay," the matron said complacently, but her bright and worried eyes contradicted her words.

(And it was only then, the first time I took a look in a mirror, did I realise that the Lady had probably been my mother.)

Nonetheless, I did decide to stay at the orphanage.

. . .

The orphanage I was now leaving.

"Lodging is provided," another man decked in white armour explained. I don't think he knew just how many of us weren't listening, too busy admiring the beautiful interior of the Church.

"So is food. We will also supply lessons. And anyone who is not chosen as the thirty-eighth generation will be offered a chance to become one of the Church's holy knights."

Honestly, it sounded too good to be true. Unfortunately, we really were at the Church of Light, which ruled out the possibility of this being a scam.

Damn! How could the Church afford this? The citizens must have been charged a monstrous amount of taxes this year!

"Please listen for your name, I will assign you to a room and a room-mate and one of us will lead you to your new room . . ."

Tuning out the rest of the holy knight's words, I took the chance to take a look around. The other children could not be faulted for not paying attention, because the Church really was gorgeous. Everything was made out of shining stone, with delicate tapestries hanging high up on the walls. In any case, it sure was different to the plain but homey feel of the orphanage.

"Roland and Grisia, room thirteen . . ."

Snapping out of my daze, I turned around to see the brunet from my orphanage step up. Was he Roland? Following him silently, an older holy knight beckoned us to him before making his way down a hall.

"Here's your room," the knight smiled softly as he handed each of us a key. "If you have any problems, ask any holy knight with the Sun emblem for help, okay?"

Both me and the brunet ―Roland?― nodded obediently. Looking satisfied, the holy knight patted our heads before he made his way back down the hall. Once he was completely out of sight, I turned around to face my new room-mate.

". . ."

". . ."

". . . My name is Grisia," I said after a few seconds of awkward silence. The boy in front of me nodded, eyes so serious I almost thought that I told him the secrets of the universe and not just my name.

"Hello, Grisia. My name is Roland," Roland said, firm and unshakably. I gave him a small smile.

". . ."

". . ."

Why did I get such a serious guy for a room-mate? Bullying him makes me feel extra despicable!

". . . Should we go inside?" I asked awkwardly, feeling a bit relieved when Roland nodded again in agreement.

Using my new key, I opened the door and stepped in, Roland right behind me. The room was nothing special, but it was certainly bigger and much better furnished than the one I had back at the orphanage. In addition, each side of the room looked like an exact copy of the other. There was a bed, a drawer, and a small desk. Clearly, we were supposed to each pick a side of the room to call our own.

"Which side do you want, Roland?" I asked. Both sides were really identical so it didn't even matter to me, and I was renowned for being picky.

Predictably, Roland shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

Does this guy treasure his words or something? I don't think I've heard him say a sentence with more than six words!

"Okay then," I said, giving both sides a look. Well, if I was on the right, the farthest away from the door, that meant I won't need to go and open the door as much, right? "Then I'll take the right side."

Roland nodded and swiftly moved to the left. Resisting the urge to shake my head, I began unpacking the meagre belongings I had and moved them into the drawer. Dinner was in a few hours (there was a lot of kids which takes a while to get them all settled in, y'know!) so maybe I could take a nap in the meantime?

Tiredly rubbing my nose and feeling the exhaustion of the confusing day settle in my bones, I settled my head onto my surprisingly comfortable bed before closing my eyes.

The quiet sounds of Roland shuffling around the room was almost as effective the Lady's lullaby.

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"Roland! Make sure you beat up Arthur and Angus for me in your next sparring session," I whined as I sat on the stairs, watching my friend strike the practice dummy. Roland finished executing a very complicated-looking move that I will probably never be able to imitate before pausing.

"What did they do this time . . ." Roland sighed as he turned around to face me. Immediately, his expression changed as he stopped bullying the practice dummy and hurried over.

"Grisia?!" Roland exclaimed, hands fluttering around me anxiously. If it didn't hurt to laugh, I would have burst into giggles at the face Roland made. Who knew Mr. Rock could look so worried?

"Did Arthur and Angus do this to you?" Roland asked, dark blue eyes sharper than before. I shrugged, hiding a wince when the motion irritated the wound on my back.

"You'll definitely seek revenge for me, right Roland?" I asked my friend instead, widening my eyes to look extra pitiful. Roland's hands twitched, but he seemed to have used up his expression quota for the day because he just blankly made me sit down.

"I'll go get a cleric to heal your wounds . . ." The brunet said, looking ready to hurry away. His face and voice was emotionless, though, so I wasn't too sure if Roland was really going to get me a cleric or if he was actually going to exact me some revenge!

Anyway, either won't do! The clerics implemented the rule that we could only get three free heals per week. I've already used my heals for this week, so that meant I'll be using Roland's instead! Roland was a good swordsman, but even he got hurt. I couldn't use up his heals for something small like this.

And on the other hand, if Roland was really going to beat up Arthur and Angus, I wanted to be there to see!

"No, it's fine Roland!" I said with a smile as I grabbed his sleeve to make sure he didn't leave. "See?"

Closing my eyes, I muttered the incantation for a Moderate Heal. Immediately, I felt something warm caress my wounds and the pain fading. Opening my eyes, I blinked at the stunned face of my friend.

". . . Grisia," Roland said seriously as he inspected my fading injuries, "If you aren't chosen as the Sun Knight, being a priest wouldn't be too bad either! Then you'd be able to help heal my injuries in the future."

". . . In the future . . ."

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In . . . the future?

Gasping, my eyes shot open as I held a hand to my chest. Taking deep breaths to calm down, I took a look around the darkened room. With the curtain drawn and the door locked, it became obvious that my room-mate had long left me to my nap.

Sitting up, I pulled the covers off of me (did Roland put me onto my bed?) as I glanced at my shaking hands.

That dream, wasn't it correct? Because aren't Roland and I very good friends?

. . . But no, I had just met Roland today. Being friends was merely something that had happened in the dream I had . . .

Right?

CHAPTER ONE END

AN: Hello LSK fandom! It's been a while since I've been in here, and if any of you still remember me you'll probably notice how much my writing has changed. I don't know if she'll see this, but this story is dedicated to Lucathia (my fave LSK/Yu Wo fic writer and the person who made me ponder a few hours before I finally found a trope she hasn't dabbled with yet, haha) and Kiyutsuna, my favourite LSK artist. I don't think anyone wrote a time-travel back in time (kind of) AU for Legend of Sun Knight before, and especially not one that takes place in Grisia's training days. So, here you go! Please enjoy and drop me a comment on your way out! :)