#rpau;; FE:Fates

[kikaromi]

AU Rambling -- The Struggles with Trust

One of my favorite things about my FE:Fates AU is exploring Ludger’s central conflict: trusting in others, particularly the Nohr Royal Family. 

So the framing is as follows: as part of conditioning the other Kresnik Clan members into martyrs against the Kingdom of Nohr, no members outside those hand-picked by Bisley are allowed to leave the village. This avoids giving those who aren’t completely loyal chances to sympathize with those outside the clan, which could later plant a seed of doubt in their actions come their future invasion. Ludger, the naturally kind-hearted boy, is of course not one of those people. Thus, as Ludger escapes the village by himself, he’s left in a world he barely knows, tasked to find people who’ll help him rescue his brother. 

Who may those people be? There’s two options: Hoshido or Nohr. 

The first thought would be the peace-loving Hoshidans, but there’s an immediate problem: his situation’s circumstances. It’s hard not to suspect a stranger who hails from seemingly nowhere asking you to come help him with a problem within enemy territory. And it gets worse-- helping Ludger would mean following him up into his secluded mountain village into what’s almost guaranteed to be a trap, as Bisley knows Ludger’s going to come back eventually to rescue Julius. Anyone with sense would conclude Ludger was intentionally trying to lead his country’s enemies into a trap for the Kingdom of Nohr’s sake. 

Plus the opposite could be true too-- maybe the Hoshidans would only go with him to kill a future cog in the ongoing war. Ludger would finally be with his brother again, only to get them both killed because of his naivete. Asking for their help isn’t an option. The next option would be the Nohrians, but that’s a no-go as well. 

Though Ludger now knows Bisley’s stories of the Nohr Royal Family being vile, untrustworthy monsters were just to mold the other members of the Kresnik Clan to feel no reservations killing his conquest’s enemies, that doesn’t change that all his life, he’s been taught the Nohr Royal Family are his enemies. And he can’t entirely shake off that stigma through the power of will alone; it doesn’t help either that the current king at the time, King Garon, falls pretty in-line with what he’s been taught. 

But to his good fortune, a third option does exist. Ludger hears of Corrin’s forces, who purportedly has Hoshidans and Nohrians fighting together as comrades. It sounds perfect... until he finds out the entire Nohrian Royal Family (excluding Garon) is among the forces. And they call Corrin their sibling, meaning the leader is also part of the Nohrian Royal Family. It creates an ultimatum: does he put his faith in these supposed “monsters” to save his brother, or does he let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity go? Ludger chooses the former, yet his reluctance keeps him from telling the group why he’s interested in joining their fight. He lies and says, “I want to see an age where all Nohrians and Hoshidans can call each other comrades.”

The cycle of distrust sadly doesn’t show signs of stopping after he joins. Ludger has a hard time sleeping in the camp for the first few weeks in fear someone’ll think him a traitor and kill him, and he refuses to so much at look any of the royal siblings (bar Corrin as they’re his commander) because being near them reignites his worries of what Bisley might be doing to his sibling. This behavior makes Ludger come off as incredibly sketchy, rightfully so, thus Ludger isn’t afforded much trust in return. 

Corrin’s faith in Ludger does allow him to eventually invite them out to a late night picnic where he admits the real reason he wanted to join the army: he was looking for someone to help him rescue his older brother, Julius. He’d kept his intentions secret until now because he couldn’t expect people to risk their lives for what might be a pointless suicide mission when he can’t even trust them first. In that vein, he asks Corrin not to tell anyone about his brother-- he promises he’ll tell them when he feels ready. Corrin goes along with it. 

Finally spilling his heart out does encourage Ludger to start putting his faith in the other members of the camp. He starts talking more about himself (where before, he restricted that information to near nothing), mentions his brother, and generally tries to include himself in the conversation. But he’s still got a sour point in the Nohr siblings, finding it near impossible to get a word in without wanting to abort the conversation. Not because they seem like bad people--he think them to be kind souls--he just can’t shake that small voice in his head telling him not to associate with his “enemies”. 

Once he feels comfortable enough, Ludger blurts out during a strategy meeting that he needs everyone’s help to rescue his brother from Bisley back in their hometown deep within the mountains. Corrin naturally agrees to aid Ludger’s plea and Ludger storms the Kresnik clan in full confidence. Ludger goes on ahead to search the houses, finds his brother, and escorts him to safety. Julius needs time to recover (he’s not eaten a proper meal since Ludger left and his wounds need medical treatment), but he’s quick to congratulate Ludger for finding comrades who've loved and trusted him in his absence. Ludger agrees.

His burdens lifted, Ludger recognizes he’s got a real apology to give Xander, Camilla, Leo, and Elise. He apologizes for avoiding them and refusing to trust them up until they’ve done him a great favor, and he’s going to try extremely hard to treat them properly from now on.