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Xander was dead, that much was for certain. He couldn’t remember much of how he’d died, or how long he’d been dead, but it had been a long time. The afterlife, it seemed would not take him yet, or there really was no afterlife, in which case Xander feared he’d go mad with loneliness and boredom in this void. There wasn’t much to do besides wait for something to happen, really, so wait he did. He thought of his family; his beloved sisters, perpetually-ruffled brother, and his lover. Really that last one had been very short-lived and the prince spent a good deal of his new overabundance of time imagining all the things he wished he’d been able to do with lovely Inigo, and how cruel it was his life had been cut short so soon after finding someone to love. He sighed. Fate was indeed cruel, but there was nothing to really be done.
Suddenly, there was a bright white hole in the endless emptiness and through it, sunlight. Xander reached out and, remarkably, he was able to touch it. Abruptly a whooshing noise surrounded and the hole expanded towards him, swallowing him up in its warm white light. And there he was, standing a bit shakily on a stone floor, blinking in the sunlight streaming into a large room through vaulted windows. And…there he was. Lovely Inigo, standing wide-eyed behind a white-robed figure Xander couldn’t bring himself to care about. Seeing his love, he found his legs again and ran towards him. But Inigo backed away, visibly unsettled. It was then Xander noticed his lover’s expression was not simply startled, but held confusion, discomfort, and even anger.
The robed figure cleared their throat, “Um, Laslow is this who I think he is?” Xander started, and gave a small bow “I am Xander, crown prince of Nohr, may I ask where I am and who you all are?” The figure nodded, satisfied, and looked to Inigo, “I’ll leave him to you then?” they asked. Inigo pursed his lips, staring at Xander intently, and nodded. Shortly, the robed person had escorted everyone out of the room, leaving the prince and whom he presumed to be his lover alone.
Inigo sighed and looked at Xander with a pained expression, “This is the world of Askr, realm of the Order of Heroes, who can summon people from other worlds to help them in battle, as they are significantly lacking in military might. They can summon heroes from multiples of the same world, so I am going to ask you very nicely, what Nohr are you from?” Xander took this information in stride, being used to such strange happenings ever since his beloved brother Kamui settled the war between Hoshido and Nohr. Still, he didn’t know exactly how to differentiate his Nohr from the multitudes of Nohrs that apparently existed, so he asked “Dear one, how exactly would I know? Until this very moment I was unaware there were any other Nohrs.” Inigo softened at the term of endearment and cleared his throat, “well, I suppose I’m more or less asking if you’re my Xander or not. I have been…lonely without him, you see.” Xander smiled, “My love, not half as lonely as I have been without you, er, if you are my Inigo, that is…”
Immediately Inigo stiffened, “Where did you learn that name?” he snapped in a very uncharacteristically harsh tone. Xander, caught by surprise, said “You told me, dearest. I am aware that it is a great secret, however, and I had told no one.” Inigo frowned, “I haven’t told you my name yet” and sighed, “I guess you’re not mine then.” he made to turn and leave, but Xander grabbed him gently by the arm. Facing his, no not his, the prince, Inigo raised an eyebrow. “How…am I in your world?” Xander said guardedly, and Inigo, rather, Laslow, smiled sadly, “Still as dutiful and as much a stick in the mud as ever, though I think I’m finally making progress after all this time. I finally got you to attend a proper ball for fun a few months before I was summoned. When you get back to your world, you should really make a more concentrated effort to go places with me, you seemed to have a great time.”
It really hit Xander then that this was not the same Inigo he had left behind. His Inigo was still out there somewhere, maybe still in mourning, maybe having moved on with his life, but not here and now, facing him. Inigo carefully returned the question, and Xander hesitated. “I…don’t know how my Inigo fares. I was assassinated before we could do much of anything together, for which I am deeply regretful.” He took a steadying breath before smiling a watery smile “But that was a long time ago, and by now he has surely moved on. At least, I hope so.”
Inigo was visibly stunned by this. He just stood there for a few minutes, eyebrows scrunched together in a hurt and concerned manner, mouth opening and closing uselessly, before whispering, “you…died?” Xander nodded solemnly and pointed to the large hole through the left side of his armor, just the right dimensions for the tip of a sword to protrude from after stabbing through his heart. Inigo reached up, hesitated, and looked at Xander. He nodded and Inigo touched the jagged hole, stuck his finger through and touched the…wow Xander hadn’t noticed before, but apparently his last wound had healed when he was brought to this new world. There was whole, unmarred sin where Inigo’s fingers felt around through the hole in his armor.
After a few minutes, Inigo drew back, his features less pained and more saddened. “How long…?” “Very long ago,” Xander replied shakily, “perhaps years. I hope for his sake he has forgotten about me; I would hate to haunt him as he haunts me. It would be best if he forgot about me and found someone else.” He considered for a moment before adding wryly “Hopefully someone at less risk of being murdered at his desk.” Inigo scowled at that, “Well, if that’s how the you back home thinks, I’ll have to teach him a good lesson when I get back. I’m sure your Inigo hasn’t gotten over you, even if it has been years. I can’t imagine loving anyone else but you for my whole life, even if you die on me.” Xander’s whole face crumpled, but Inigo put a hand on his shoulder, cutting off what he was going to say. “Well, I don’t think I’m going home any time soon, so we’ll have plenty of time to talk about heavy subjects, for now let’s find you a place in the barracks” “the…barracks?” “Oh yes, my prince, you’re going to be sleeping with common soldiers for the first time in your life” Inigo laughed, and even though Xander knew this was not his Inigo, he couldn’t help but relax. He’d missed that sound dearly for a long, long time.