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cruelangelstheses · 2 years

Text

on each other’s team

fandom: fire emblem rating: T characters: hilda/edelgard words: 2.2k additional tags: post-canon, post-crimson flower, comedy, forced to work together, unresolved sexual tension description: after an attempt to parley ends in them being knocked out and captured by slithers, hilda and edelgard must work together to free themselves and defeat their captors. a/n: ok so this was written for the 2021 fe3h femslash exchange on ao3 except i kind of forgot tumblr existed and never posted this on here until now. oops! don’t think too much about the politics/lore of this okay i just needed a reason for them to be tied up together in the dark lmao. title from “team” by lorde

read it on ao3

—

It’s quiet, deathly quiet, and darker than the blackest night. The only sound is Hilda’s breathing and that of the woman whose body is squished against hers.

Finally, Hilda can’t take it anymore. She speaks.

“This is your fault, you know.”

Edelgard—Emperor Edelgard—scoffs and shifts slightly. Her back is up against Hilda’s, and the rope that ties them together constricts against Hilda’s chest. More rope binds her hands and feet, and Edelgard’s are probably the same. Hilda tries not to think about how close they are.

“My fault?” Edelgard says. “You’re the one who couldn’t resist bringing a Heroes’ Relic to a parley.”

Hilda rolls her eyes, not that anyone can see it due to her blindfold. “Fine, fine. Blame me for wanting to be safe. Blame me for being a bit cautious about meeting with the emperor I fought in battle against not six months ago. Pretty sure they came here for you, Princess, not my stupid weapon. Of course they’d take advantage of the fact that the Emperor herself was going to be here.”

Edelgard sighs. “I didn’t want to send an envoy because I thought you would trust me more if we spoke in person. And I didn’t want to bring a whole squadron of bodyguards with me for the same reason, as well as so they wouldn’t give away my location. But clearly someone found it regardless.”

It’s only been a couple months since the war ended with the Empire’s victory. About two weeks ago, Hilda received a letter from Edelgard herself asking to meet at Gronder Field, about halfway between Enbarr and Goneril territory. It’s a bit further to travel on Edelgard’s end, but Hilda supposes she wanted to show that she was dedicated to peace talks and negotiations. Or something.

Hilda’s not sure what, exactly, Edelgard had intended to discuss. Probably something to do with the Almyran border, though she could have just sent a message directly to Claude—no, Khalid—or even Holst, for that matter. He’s the one who’s been in charge of fighting the Almyrans at the Throat, though that’s all starting to change now. What does Hilda have to do with any of this?

It doesn’t matter now, of course, because they barely had the chance to speak before they were attacked, knocked out, and tied up together alone in the dark. It feels like they’re moving, and every once in a while, Hilda feels a small bump. They’re probably in a carriage or wagon, being taken somewhere else for…she’s not quite sure what.

This is why Hilda avoided Edelgard at the Academy. There was always something about her—her serious demeanor, her strong will, her ambition—that set off warning bells in Hilda’s head. Don’t get involved with her, they said. You’ll just get caught in her whirlwind. Now look where she is.

“Ugh,” Hilda groans, “who are these guys, anyway? I thought the war was over. If they’re your enemies, then what do I have to do with it?”

“They’re enemies to all of Fódlan, not just me,” Edelgard replies matter-of-factly. “I worked with them in the past, but only because we shared a common enemy in the Church. Now that our alliance is done with, we’re fighting our own war, though most of it takes place in the shadows rather than out in the open.”

If Hilda could, she’d rub her temples. “Sounds exhausting. Finish one war, start another.” Her head hurts just thinking about it.

“After we defeat them, the fighting will be over for good,” Edelgard replies, a sense of conviction in her voice—impressive, considering their current situation. “I swear it.”

“Good to know,” Hilda says, squirming. She’s starting to sweat due to their combined body heat (and definitely no other reason). “But first, I think we should focus on getting out of here.”

“Right,” Edelgard says. “Hubert had a feeling something like this would happen. We have a system set in place. He should be here soon.”

“Ughhh,” Hilda says, both at the mere thought of that creepster and also at the thought of having to wait for him to save them. “You don’t think we can get out of here ourselves? It’s just rope, right?”

She feels Edelgard shrug in response. “We can try.”

She and Edelgard both strain against their bindings, to no avail. Even with their combined muscle—for, despite their short statures, Hilda knows they’re both quite strong—the ropes barely budge.

Hilda kicks her foot out and feels it connect with what is probably one wall of the wagon. She kicks again—and feels something small and sharp jab against the sole of her shoe.

“Oh, hey,” she says. “Help me scoot over here. I think I found something.”

She and Edelgard inch their way closer to the sharp object. With what limited reach she has, Hilda feels around against the wall until her fingers brush against what she thinks is a nail sticking out of the wood.

“A-ha!” she hisses, so as not to alarm whoever might be driving the carriage. She holds her tied-up hands next to the nail and slides the rope back and forth against the rough edge.

It doesn’t cut cleanly, but after a good thirty seconds, the rope tying Hilda’s hands together splits apart and falls to the ground, freeing them along with her lower arms. She bends her neck down and, with her hands unbound, pushes her blindfold away from her face.

The wagon is covered and dark, but there are cracks in the wood that let enough light in for Hilda to see. There doesn’t seem to be much else in here besides them. Huh. Where’d they put Freikugel?

“If your hands are free,” Edelgard says, “do you think you could reach into my left boot?”

With their backs against each other, it’s difficult to maneuver. Edelgard twists her hips and bends her knees until both of her feet are near her left side. The ropes are tight, constricting like a boa and pressing Edelgard’s boots flush against her skin, but Hilda manages to slip her fingers into the left one. She feels the hilt of something metal and slides it out with only mild resistance. Sure enough, it’s a dagger.

“I didn’t particularly want to carry any weapons,” Edelgard says, “but Hubert insisted I at least take that.”

Hilda isn’t sure whether or not that’s the truth, but she supposes she shouldn’t be passing judgment right now, considering that this dagger is going to make things a lot easier for them. She cuts the ropes from Edelgard’s feet, then her own, followed by the thicker ropes tying them both together. When those fall to the floor, she and Edelgard sigh in unison, letting their bodies relax. Hilda cuts the bindings from Edelgard’s wrists and hands her the dagger, and Edelgard removes her blindfold.

“Hm,” Hilda mutters, staring down at her now entirely free body. “Kind of amateurish, if you ask me. If it weren’t for that dark magic knocking us out, I’m sure we could’ve taken them.”

“Something tells me this wasn’t a coordinated attack,” Edelgard says. “I think it might just be a small group who happened across us and decided to strike.”

“Oh, I get it!” Hilda says with a bit of a smirk. “It’s one of those ‘If I capture the Emperor and deliver her to Master, he will finally recognize my worth and promote me to Head Executioner’ things.”

Edelgard snorts. Hilda can’t help but feel mildly proud of herself.

“Anyway,” Edelgard says, “let’s try not to alarm them.”

They stick their heads out of the flaps on the back of the wagon, and Hilda squints against the sunlight. In the distance, she thinks she can see a black horse galloping toward them, with a few other horses just behind them.

“Timely as always,” Edelgard comments as Hubert comes more clearly into view.

Behind him, Hilda thinks she recognizes some of the former Black Eagles—Caspar and Dorothea. She didn’t take either of them for horseback riders, but they seem to be faring well enough.

At the front of the wagon, Hilda thinks she can hear some confused muttering, followed by the wagon slowing down. They probably heard the horses coming.

“So much for stealth,” Hilda says. “Oh, well. Time for payback.” She cracks her knuckles. She likes to pretend to be helpless, but the truth is, she doesn’t need Freikugel to kick these squishy mages’ asses all the way into next Tuesday.

Edelgard stares at her for a moment with an unreadable expression on her face. Then she clears her throat. “Er. Yes. Right.”

Was she…checking Hilda out?

No time to think about that, with their allies now directly in front of them. Caspar tosses a large axe in Edelgard’s direction, and Edelgard catches it with one hand.

It’s Hilda’s turn to gawk at that. Tiny but mighty, indeed—both of them.

She and Edelgard jump out of the wagon, which has now fully stopped. The dark mages, of which there are four, have hopped off their horses, and so have Caspar and Dorothea. Only Hubert remains mounted.

Five on four. This shouldn’t be difficult. They’ve all carved whole armies in half before.

Hilda lunges for the first mage she sees. With an uppercut, she knocks his stupid pointy mask right off his face. Then, while he’s staggering, Edelgard appears from behind her—Hilda didn’t even realize she was still there—and knocks him to the ground with the blunt end of her axe. She spins it around and points the blade at his neck.

“Who ordered this attack?” she demands, effortlessly assuming the role of the powerful emperor.

The mage hesitates. He seems to be looking somewhere behind him. Hilda glances over her shoulder and finds that the rest of his allies are in a similar state, with Hubert, Caspar, and Dorothea having each taken one down. It’s true, then—they’re amateurs, having only gotten the jump on Hilda and Edelgard due to stealth. Without that on their side, they’ve crumbled.

“Er, n-no one,” the mage stammers. “It was just us. Please, spare us!”

Edelgard and Hubert exchange glances. Hilda doesn’t doubt that Hubert would end them all without a second thought. But Edelgard…is she as ruthless as her second-in-command?

“Very well,” Edelgard says, turning back to the mage and removing the blade from his neck. “I doubt you will be telling your leader anything about your foolishness or your humiliating failure.”

The mage shakes his head rapidly.

“Then go,” Edelgard says. “All of you. Leave before I change my mind.”

The mages scramble to their feet and climb back on their horses. One of them drops Freikugel from where it had been resting on the front seat of the wagon. Hilda picks it up and slings it over her shoulder so that it rests against her back. Within a few seconds, the mages and their wagon are on their way, barreling down the path.

Edelgard lowers her axe. Hubert looks like he wants to say something, but he holds his tongue for the time being.

“Good work, everyone,” Edelgard says. “Hilda, I apologize deeply for the inconvenience. Incidentally, the matter I had intended to speak with you about is the same one you just saw for yourself.”

Hilda frowns. “Wait. So it doesn’t have anything to do with Almyra?”

“That’s only a small part of it,” Edelgard says. “If that had been my only concern, you likely would not have been the person I would have contacted. But I need all the allies I can get in the fight against Those Who Slither in the Dark, and you were suggested to me.”

“Those Who Slither in the Dark?” Hilda repeats with a snort. “That’s what they’re called?”

Edelgard puts a hand to her forehead. “Hubert came up with the name. We still don’t know what they actually call themselves.”

Hilda crosses her arms over her chest. “So, what, you came here to ask me if I wanted to join your cause?”

“In essence, yes,” Edelgard says. A tiny smile graces her lips. “It appears you and I work well together. I would be sure to compensate you appropriately if you agreed to lend me your hand—and your blade—once again.”

Hilda can hear that little voice in her head again, telling her to refuse. You’ll only have to do more work, it says. You won’t live up to her expectations. You’ll disappoint her. Besides, nothing good can come of getting involved with her. But that’s not necessarily true, now, is it?

Hilda thinks about how they helped each other without a second thought. She thinks about Edelgard’s body pressed against hers, thinks about Edelgard’s laugh at Hilda’s little quip.

“Well,” Hilda says, cocking her hip, “I suppose if you really want me to join you…”

Caspar cheers. Dorothea runs up to Hilda and slings an arm around her shoulders. “That’s a yes,” she sings triumphantly. “Let’s go, everyone! Enbarr awaits.”

As she drags Hilda over to one of the horses, Hilda thinks she sees Dorothea wink at Edelgard. Edelgard’s face burns bright red, and she makes a throat-cutting motion with her finger.

Hilda tries—and fails—to hold back a mischievous grin. Perhaps working with the Emperor won’t be so bad after all.

#hilda goneril #edelgard von hresvelg #hildagard #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #my fics

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