Guest: I'm glad you liked it!
Temporal King: I wouldn't say I'm having romance be a focal point of this story, but I am considering including it to some degree, though I won't say with who.
Bakururu: I'm glad you're so interested in the story! Elise will definitely grow and change, though I'd say more mentally than physically.
Starsoarer: Unfortunately, the names of the months have no real significance. I just came up with them on the fly.
4th of Cralst, Nohrian Royal Calendar
"Remember Lady Elise, Corrin doesn't know about it yet. You're supposed to act surprised when he receives the news." Effie was arranging Elise's hair into its usual style, and Elise was staring right at herself in her hand mirror. She frowned, angling it to check all sides of her face. "Is something wrong? Worrying about possible acne again?"
"What?" Elise was snapped out of her contemplation, setting the mirror down and looking up at Effie. "Oh, no! No, I was just…thinking." Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. This was all too familiar, it was all the same. If she did something different, sure, things would wind up different, but if she acted as she normally would, things wound up similar.
Elise thought to ask someone about it, but any questions she had were gone the second she saw Corrin again. She had hugged him tight the last time, she remembered that, but that was nothing compared to how tight she hugged him this time around. He actually let out a little gasp for breath; not the fake ones he would always make whenever she hugged him, a real one. Camilla seemed proud of that, in a way.
When Corrin failed the same test he had taken last time, Elise went to him to give him advice, yet again. "Keep a look out, you'll never know when an enemy might be hiding! Watch your step around the canyon, and keep an eye out for Gunter! The terrain there is super rocky, so his horse might have a hard time navigating!" She stopped, remembering the most important detail. "A-and keep an eye on Hans. I don't trust him, Corrin."
15th of Varn, Nohrian Royal Calendar
Her advice didn't work. Corrin was gone, again, and for all she knew, she might've made things worse. She tried to get more time on her violin, considering it a sign that it was back in its original state before she broke it; a sign that she needed to keep practicing. However, her shot nerves didn't allow her to make any considerable progress. Now, she and her siblings were being tasked with leading the initial assault on Hoshido, again.
"Leo?" Elise walked around Leo's personal library in the castle, inspecting a few books. There were some titles that interested her, some being Leo's personal curation while others were donated to him by friends and family alike. An Abridged History of Nohr, Volume 12, 101 Fairy Tales, Make Him Fall for You in a Fortnight…
"Yes, Elise?" Her brother set his own book down on his lap, glancing over to her. "What can I help you with? You look troubled." Once again, his intellect was above anyone else in the family. There was a reason why he was the bookworm.
"That's because…I am troubled, Leo." Sighing, she kept pacing through the room. "Have you ever heard of déjà vu? Not the normal kind, where things are just familiar. Really, really strong déjà vu, where you feel like you've already done the exact same thing before."
"I can't say I have. Though, in my experience, déjà vu comes from rather extreme monotony. The days tend to blend together into one, and you start noticing patterns crop up. Is that perhaps what you've been experiencing?" He suggested, his eyes telling her he was more interested in what she was saying.
"You say that like recent events have been monotonous…" She puffed her cheeks, sighing and looking down to the ground. "I'm probably just really tired, and really stressed. Nothing some beauty sleep can't handle, right?" It was too soon to say if what she had really was anything more than a coincidental nightmare. Considering the events that unfolded, she hoped that they were.
28th of Varn, Nohrian Royal Calendar
"Xander, withdraw your troops." Corrin had stood with Hoshido, his real family. In his hand was that blade, the Yato, the same one he wielded last time. Just like last time, he started arguing with their siblings, accusing them of keeping the truth from him, of lying to him. Elise wasn't shocked this time, so she was able to pay more attention to what they were saying.
"Corrin, it was for your own well-being. If you had known, you would have never wanted to stay." Xander calmly explained, but Elise knew when he was trying to hide his stress. She could see it behind his eyes; the desperation that wanted anything but to be hidden. "Please, just come back with us and we'll tell you everything. No more secrets."
"No more secrets!?" Corrin's face snapped to Elise. "Then tell me how Elise just happened to know exactly what was going to happen at the Bottomless Canyon. She told me to be wary of Hans, and said that I needed to make sure Gunter didn't have any issues in the canyon. Hans killed him there; sent him falling into the canyon! Was that planned!?"
Elise couldn't believe it. Corrin was accusing her of somehow being responsible for it. Xander began to say something, but she wasn't listening by that point. She merely stared at her brother, trying to understand what was going on, and how she could fix it. She came up with nothing. Then, as he turned away, she felt an intense pain, one that rocked her to her core, running up from her gut to her neck.
She fell off her horse, hitting the ground hard. Camilla was the first one to reach her, shouting something to her, but for some reason every word was dulled to the point of being inaudible. All she could feel was that spiking pain, and right before she passed out, she remembered faintly that the pain was in the same spot where Xander had struck her with Siegfried.
17th of Trisk, Nohrian Royal Calendar
That pain became something agonizingly familiar to Elise over the coming months. On occasion, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, that same agony would strike her, leaving her unable to even pull herself up from wherever she had landed. Every medical professional in Castle Krakenburg was consulted, but none could make heads nor tails of what was happening to her. Leo and Camilla tried to silence them, but she could still catch occasional murmurings that she was making it all up for attention.
Elise continued to learn songs on her violin during the next two months, getting down three this time, rather than just two. Her private instructor applauded her progress, bewildered that she was doing so marvelously at such a fast pace. He was so enthused, in fact, that he recommended she attend the concert in Cyrkensia that her father was going to, in order to learn more about the musical arts from some of the best in the world. She accepted, more hesitantly than last time, mostly because nobody seemed to remember that there even was a "last time".
By this point, Elise had decided that it would be necessary to try and do everything as close to as she had done it last time as possible. This was a decision made in part due to her wanting to make sure that this truly was a repeat of last time, and because of how Corrin had treated her just like her siblings the last time she had tried to change something. So, when Corrin and his troops arrived on the scene, Elise did the same thing she had done the time prior; standing in his way and distracting him long enough for Corrin to get away. Once again, she was kept in Castle Krakenburg, and once again, she would use the secret exit to head to Windmire's underground.
21st of Rorst, Nohrian Royal Calendar
"She's my fiancé. We're to be married once the war is over." Elise heard those words once again and found herself still overjoyed to hear them.
Elise held her hands together in her lap and smiled. "I'm so happy for you both. Really, it's so wonderful!" Hana seemed like an even nicer girl than when she had first met her, and Corrin seemed even happier than last time. Yet, once introductions were over and Hana left to attend to other matters, a more downbeat side emerged.
"Elise, I'm…sorry. It wasn't right of me to accuse you of the things I did, back then." It took a moment for her to realize he was referring to what she said about Gunter and Hans. "It's silly to think you had anything to do with it, and I realize that now. Not to mention, even when you fell off your steed, I didn't even stop walking." She quickly forgave him, explaining what had happened to her. "Intense pains, you say? You know, if I'm ever struck by a Wyrmslayer, I get similar pains for a few days afterward. Who knows?" He began to chuckle. "Maybe you're part dragon!"
Rather embarrassed by the jape, Elise chuckled nervously back. "Well, I don't think I've taken any Wyrmslayer blades to the chest, though I'll try and keep an eye out for one." That just made him laugh even harder, and made her more embarrassed, her face flushing a bright red.
"Are you still keeping up on your violin practice? You were always so fantastic at it." Corrin asked. Admitting the truth was a bit precarious, so she decided to simply explain what she had done without telling him why she had done it.
"I threw it in the river down here."
"…huh?"
4th of Cralst, Nohrian Royal Calendar
Sunlight beamed down through a stained-glass window imprinted with the image of two doves flying in front of a golden sunrise. This sunlight, now painted white and gold, hit Princess Elise of Nohr, who laid in her bed with the sheets strewn out around her, a consequence of a long night that ended with very little actual sleep. Who could blame her for being so restless? After all, today was a very, very special day for her.
Elise's brief sleep was ended by a loud knock on her bedroom door, and a shout from the other side. "Lady Elise!" The princess almost immediately shot up from the bed, breathing heavily, drenched in sweat. She could still feel the pain from Siegfried, but there was no wound. And yet again, her violin sat in the corner of her room, untouched.
2nd of Varn, Nohrian Royal Calendar
"Teach me magic!" Elise demanded, staring up at Odin Dark, one of Leo's retainers. The dark mage looked over at her, in the middle of chewing a bite of mutton, making a muffled, confused noise. "You heard me. Teach me magic! Offensive magic, to be specific! I wanna learn as much of it as I can!"
This had been her fourth time around, and after her third attempt ended in death once again, she refused to just sit idle and wait for events to repeat themselves yet again. So, after a bit more convincing, she managed to get a teacher that rivaled some of the best, even if he was a bit…bombastic.
"That's right!" Odin shouted as she held the book open. "Maintain your proper stance! Let the magical energy flow through your veins, and prepare to unleash it in the form of a furious bolt of lightning! Imagine that target is your sworn enemy, and you finally have the chance to strike him down once and for all!"
That made Elise stop and think. Who exactly was her enemy, here? The Hoshidans, for taking her brother away? Corrin, for being so willing to leave? Her siblings, for driving him away? Herself, for not being strong enough to stop these events from playing out? She closed her eyes and imagined Prince Ryoma of Hoshido, then tried to cast her spell. Nothing. She tried again. Nothing. "Odin? What does this pose do again?"
"Absolutely nothing! But it makes you look cool, and it can be a great confidence booster!" He answered. Elise let out a long sight.
17th of Trisk, Nohrian Royal Calendar
Elise decided that this time, she would warn her father of the assassination attempt this time. When he asked how she even knew, she came up with a hasty excuse, claiming she had heard nobles in Castle Krakenburg whispering amongst each other about whether it would succeed. He seemed to believe her, and so Corrin and his troops were found before they even made it into the opera house. A few of his men were killed, but he and most of his forces managed to escape. Once again, she felt that pain wrack her body and leave her unable to stand.
21st of Rorst, Nohrian Royal Calendar
"I love Hana with all my heart. She's given me so much support in these times, and I'm honestly unsure if I'd be able to keep going on without her support. Especially after losing Rinkah and Orochi in the opera house…" Elise felt a strong pang of guilt spike through her as he spoke, strong enough that she almost mistook it for that phantom pain of Siegfried's strike returning.
"I'm…so happy for you both. Really, it's wonderful!" She put on a happy face, even though she felt too guilty for words to even express, knowing that she had just caused him more misery. That was the point when she knew that her fifth time around had failed.
15th of Darth, Nohrian Royal Calendar
On her eighth "loop", as she had begun to call them, Elise dedicated whatever free time she could to practicing her violin. Her teacher was continually astounded with her progress, claiming that she had to be a musical prodigy, but she knew that she was just a cheater with nothing but time on her hands. The only improvement she could say she had made was not shutting Arthur and Effie out as much this time around, instead spending more time with them, when she wasn't practicing her violin.
She had even held a faux concert with her two retainers in attendance, playing some of her favorite pieces, receiving thunderous applause from them both after every one. She had to admit that it brought her at least a small amount of comfort; a rarity, by this point in time. Near the end, the pain wracked her once again, and she found herself waking up in the castle infirmary.
15th of Darth, Nohrian Royal Calendar
It had all started with a bold decision; the decision to tell Leo everything. Every little bit of knowledge that Elise knew about the loops, she told him. He didn't believe her of course, instead thinking she had merely had a nervous break, but then the events leading up to Corrin leaving Nohr happened exactly as she predicted. Suddenly, she was explaining the exact same thing to her father, who listened to her every word. He never went to Cyrkensia, and instead sent spies to Windmire's underground in anticipation of Corrin's arrival. Something must have changed around the timing of events because he had arrived earlier than she had expected.
Before Elise knew it, there were Hoshidans in her bedchambers, weapons drawn and pointed right at her. Corrin emerged from behind them, donning a noticeable number of scars. He pointed Yato right at her, demanding to know if the rumors were true; rumors that the youngest Nohrian heir had powers of clairvoyance that were used to predict his plans. She felt she had no choice but to admit that the rumors were true. "Hana…she's dead, because of you. Because of what you said. I—" He choked back a sob, steadying his blade. "I loved her, and now she's gone…"
The next few seconds were a blur. Xander had fought his way in, Siegfried slicing through Corrin's soldiers effortlessly. The two engaged in a duel, arguing about something; she wasn't listening by that point. Eventually, Corrin was on his knees, defeated, and Xander was above him, preparing to deal the final blow.
Why did she jump in his way?
15th of Darth, Nohrian Royal Calendar
"Oh Corrin, there's no need to flatter me so much! Especially when you deserve far more praise than I do. You're the reason we've gotten this far, after all. That kind of persistence is why you're the man I fell in love with." Hana laughed before she and Corrin looked over at Elise, who had a nasty scar on her lower left cheek from when a violin string snapped due to intensive practice, cutting her cheek open.
She kept her hands under the table, hiding how her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood. "I-I'm so happy for you both. Really, it's w-wonderful…" Why did he keep siding with Hoshido? Was Elise not good enough for him? Was nothing she did good enough for him? Were the Hoshidans always just going to be better!?
Loop thirty-two was a failure.
28th of Varn, Nohrian Royal Calendar
Elise had made herself a cake this time around, to celebrate fifty loops. Or at least, she was somewhere around that range. After a while, they started to blend together. Maybe she was more around seventy, or maybe even a hundred. Either way, she was sure she needed to celebrate something. When the time came for Corrin to announce he was siding with Hoshido, she didn't even stick around, instead riding her steed into a nearby forest as soon as nobody was around to keep an eye on her. She had spent her last one or two loops looking for the opportunity, so she wasn't surprised when nobody spotted her leaving.
Eventually, she happened upon a small creek, running peacefully through the woods. She had to admit, Hoshido had astoundingly beautiful wildlife, far more so than Nohr's. Finding a nearby tree to rest against, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, the sound of gently running water and chirping birds helping her along.
When she woke up, she spotted a pair of eyes directly above her, making her scream and sit up suddenly, banging her head against the head of the person above her. They both groaned in pain, Elise sitting back against the tree as she rubbed her head. With her senses fully restored, she looked at the girl who was now standing in front of her, rubbing her own head as well. She was young, most certainly no older than Elise, with short pink hair and beautiful Hoshidan clothing. "…Princess Sakura?"
The girl, staring back at Elise, blushed just at the mention of her name. "P-princess Elise! I-I didn't know there would be anyone else out h-here, let alone y-you…" She looked around the forest, glancing at Elise's horse, tied to a tree and lackadaisically munching on some grass. "Why are you here, instead of at the battlefield?"
"Couldn't I ask you the same? Why are you here?" Elise asked, though her tone indicated she honestly didn't care in the slightest. She had seen Sakura before, enough times to recognize her so quickly, but she never paid the girl any mind. Why would she? Sakura was everything Elise wasn't, the little sister Corrin wanted more. Just thinking about her made Elise seethe with rage, let alone looking at and talking to her.
"A-ah! My apologies, I didn't mean to be nosy…" She nervously kicked a small pebble into the stream as a stiff silence occupied the large gap in their conversation. "Do you mind if I sit?"
"Do I look like I mind?" Elise answered apathetically, not even bothering to glance back at Sakura, instead closing her eyes once again and trying to go back to sleep. She could hear Princess Sakura sit down, likely against a nearby tree, and for a while, she once again was pleasantly on her way back to sleep.
"We'll p-probably be enemies, once we leave. It's a shame…" Sakura muttered, inciting Elise to open one eye and glance at her, before closing it again. "I suppose I should say w-while we have the time that I adore y-your violin skills. I play the shamisen quite a bit, b-but it's nowhere near your level of skill."
"Thanks." Was all Elise said in response, not quite caring what the girl thought of her ability to play the violin. A second later, she realized something. "Wait…when did you hear me play the violin? We've never met." At least, they hadn't met yet in this loop. She opened both eyes, looking at Sakura, whose face was pale as death itself.
"I-I, um…that is to say, I…" Sakura began to stammer incoherently, tripping over her own words every other second. Sitting up against the tree, Elise stared at her intensely. "Y-you don't remember?"
Elise paused. Then, she went along with it. "Right! That time in Cyrkensia, when I played it in front of an opera house. I wore a disguise, so I'm surprised you recognized me!" This was something that had happened, but it was in another loop. Sakura nodded.
"Y-yes! I remember, everybody clapped once you were done, and one man even tossed a bunch of roses at you that he had intended for a performer!"
"That's it! Only, that didn't happen." Elise stood up, walking up to Sakura and grabbing her wrist, yanking the girl up to her feet. "Yet you know exactly what happened." A spark ignited in her, an enthusiasm that she hadn't felt in years. "Don't tell me…you've been repeating events?"
A gasp of utter shock escaped Sakura's lips. "H-how did you know!?" Time seemed to freeze for that moment. She wasn't alone. Nobody else understood what she had been going through, no matter how many times she repeated everything over and over again, but finally, somebody else knew! She wanted to scream in joy, but contained herself, taking a deep breath.
"It's been happening to me too."