#;Twin Verse (Beles)

[typhchosen]

X || @seafoamcrest 

Truth be told, Beles didn’t know what she expected. The Archbishop’s answer was filled with a smile and a tone of remorse, but they couldn’t escape the niggling suspicion that they were being fed excuses. Don’t trust Rhea. She remembered her father’s warning. As did Beleth, and the alarm bells dinged in her head so loudly she could have winced from the headache it caused. 

But no expression crossed her face. Her head tilted, considering the reasons set before her. She had no full reason to distrust what was being said. Nothing concrete and outside of her own mind besides the warnings of her own Father, but there was.. something, she wasn’t grasping. Something that was there, right in front of her face, but invisible to her knowledge. 

She didn’t like it. The obvious secrets. The hypocrisy, Unfair advantage? When they were made to choose their classes before their own teaching abilities could be confirmed? After seeing how the students were still separated by Noble and Commoner, bending to the behest of noble parents who couldn’t begin to understand what it means to truly be one with the masses?  Lips thinned out as she considered her words. ‘there’s more not being said. Read between the lines.’ The voice in her heart that wasn’t her own rang true, but which lines were the correct ones to sift between? 

Be cautious, but did pushing a little hurt? Or could this very well be a test?

       “I wasn’t aware you held so little faith in Professor Hanneman and Manuela’s teaching methods.”

How else could it be taken, when talking Beles and Beleth up as if they were the greatest Professors to come here. The best asset to teach these students the ins and outs of strategy and weapon fighting. It certainly sounded like a subtle rebuff to the other professors skills. It made no sense.

But even Beles knew not to push too far. Not yet. Claude may be on to something, with his questions of the church, but Beles was not about to voice those concerns out loud. No, it was best to bid her time until she could better decide on what to do with the information she was given.

        “I think they deserve more credit. My Brother and I are amateur's in comparison, after all, but thank you for answering me plainly.” Socializing wasn’t Beles’ strong suit, but she had watched Jeralt enough times to know when it was best to use tact. 

        “I can see you put a lot of thought into this. That’s good.”

[typhchosen]

hecvenwept​:

It’s been, quite frankly, a hard day, and he cannot help but look forward to the time his duties will be done and he will be able to take a break. Distracted by that thought, and by exhaustion itself, he hardly notices Beles as they walk into his office. He snaps his eyes up, though, deeming it impolite to ignore them.

“Oh?”

Of all the things he’d expected her to ask, this hadn’t been it. Then again… Beles is a professor. Perhaps, despite his apprehension about her appointment as one, he could assist her.

“I am afraid wyvern husbandry requires hands-on experience. A book will teach you the basics on the behaviour and requirements of the average mount, but like us humans-” (here he pauses a little) “-each wyvern is unique. It would be preferable that I taught you the practicals while working on a live wyvern. What say you about that? Is this arrangement to your liking?”

The answer was beyond what Beles expected, which was a nice change of pace. All too aware of Seteth’s reservations to them, knowing he’d still offer assistance was a small relief towards everything else piling on her shoulders.  She tilted her head, considering his offer. 

Hands On Experience... she did learn better that way, and reading books on the side for extra information couldn’t hurt. The ever-watching voice inside her mind seemed taken with the idea as well, giving Beles all the incentive she needed. Later, she may inform Beleth of what she learned, or advise him to do similar.

Maybe.

        “Thank you. That would be perfect.” She answered and not for the first time, wished she could formulate one of those calming smiles others managed so easily, but her face remained impassive.

         “When would be a good time for you? I can work around it if your schedule is full.”

[typhchosen]

Beleth looks to his sister, to the Death Knight, then back to her in one fluid motion, "Absolutely not."

She had heard from many that Tea was relaxing. A good way to start the day and an excellent excuse to not think about anything all that important. However, with Beleth staring her down, she was having trouble finding the appeal and felt challenged instead.

Stare Down, go. 

Wait, he was looking to the death knight now, and now he was, “... absolutely not, what?” Her voice broke no hints, no change of tone, but a slight twitch of her brow spoke her confusion.

         “What is it that you think I’d want the Death Knight for?”

[typhchosen]

@hecvenwept asked //   “ i don’t care what happens to me. as long as you’re safe. ” for Beles uwu

---

     “Don’t!” 

There’s more force, more emotion, behind that word than Beles knew she could express. Almost panicked and full of agonizing frustration. She moved quick, hand in the air to signal his silence, stepping closer into Seteth’s space to stare hard into his eyes. 

The faith magic she’d worked so hard to use sung from her fingers without a second thought, reaching out to heal the injury he sustained on her behalf. She would have been fine. She knew it. If he hadn’t been there, if she couldn’t take the attack, one Divine Pulse was all she needed to reverse and prepare for the outcome yet again. 

He didn’t know this. And his reaction, while a nice realization towards how far she could trust their safety with him, was an altogether new set of problems she wasn’t ready to deal with. 

      “Don’t put that on me.” She finally managed after her heal spell dispersed. “To you, it’s a sacrifice to protect someone. To me, it’s an added pressure. An added concern. An added weight to what I’ve already been given before I ever had a choice in the matter.” 

Her banner is what brought many to Claude’s side. Her strength and so-called connection to the Goddess is what gave them religious backing. Beles knew, without a doubt, she was being used and she allowed it. But everyone looked to her. Everyone wanted her guidance. Everyone trusted her to make the right decisions and keep everyone alive. 

       “... don’t think that my life is above your own. Don’t make me have to hold the guilt of your death if I wasn’t strong enough. Don’t do that to me. Don’t do that to Flayn. Please.”

She hoped, that for once, she’d gotten her point across before the words and emotions became too much for her to process and she fell silent yet again. 

        “Take care of yourself, Seteth. I can’t lose you too.”

She had lost too many already.

[typhchosen]

Starter // @heartwilled​ : Claude

---

There was a hidden frustration beneath Beles’ blank expression. One that spoke in the tap of her feet while she proceeded down the hall. The sort of frustration that’s more felt than seen. She refused to speak of it. Circumstances as they were made it simple enough for those around to form their own assumptions either way.

Most were accurate. Some less so. But her current ire was not settled on anyone in particular, but over an entire situation that they had zero control over.  

Beleth had disappeared. Off with Edelgard. War had been thrown at their feet, and they were sorely unprepared for the attack coming their way in a matter of days. Were the students prepared? No, of course not. Was her own class ready? She wanted to believe they were more capable than even they knew, but...

      “Claude.” She said the name as if speaking a statement. No question. Nothing. But it was enough to gain his attention while she joined him on the road.  

      “You should be resting or preparing yourself, not staying up this late. What are you doing?”

Her plans to vent in the training grounds were halted due to whatever nagging feeling in the depths of her wanted to ensure he would be ready and prepared before the coming battle. She could handle the exhaustion, the irritation, but her students? 

They deserved some peace, didn’t they? 

        “You weren’t going to prowl the library again while Seteth’s distracted, were you?”

[typhchosen]

X // @fellstarsirius

Being told they were almost as bad as Felix gave Beles pause. Were they being that bad? She didn’t think so, but it gave them a moment to think before continuing their constant attacks against the open air. Teeth gnashed and a restlessness settled in their bones. 

She couldn’t relax. It just wasn’t happening. 

       “I... “ How to say it? Beles tested the words in her mind and her arm faltered, exhaustion finally settling in their bones.

       “It’s helping.” She said after a time. Distract the mind, push away the restless feeling settling in their gut. It always came when Beleth was gone for too long. Was he all right? Were his students fine? Did they settle their assignment well enough? Questions Beles wouldn’t have answers to until his return. 

Beles hated waiting. 

         “Will a bath help?” Certainly to wipe the sweat off their skin, but that wasn’t what she was asking. 

[typhchosen]

Small reminder to my followers (and myself to make future headcanons) that my Fire Emblem Muses: Robin (Awakening) and Byleth (Three Houses) have a main verse joined with @blaschoice ‘s Robin and Byleth as twins. I need to get better at referring to them by their twin verse names, but most interactions with them will have them acting as if they have a brother. That’s all. 

[typhchosen]

// @blaschoice - Beleth

Brows scrunched together as they wrinkled their nose. A subtle movement they could feel, but not many would notice. As if the muscles on their face refused to bend to whatever emotion they were feeling at the time. (Was it an emotion?)  She stared hard at the wound on her brother’s arm, hand outstretched over it in concentration.

These hands are the hands of a killer. Sword handles calloused the palm and old scars/cuts littered her skin, but for once, she was using her hands to heal. The magic was slow to start. A skill she was unused to using, but with the faintest glow of green light, Byleth’s cut began to heal, slowly stitching itself together. The cut wasn’t deep, but a poorly timed slip-up on the training grounds made it an inconvenience.

       “You were distracted.” She stated, voice blunt. Not accusing, but the facts were there. “Why?”

Perhaps Manuela was better suited for this...

[typhchosen]

@hecvenwept asked // The monastery looks the same; in ruins. He looks -and feels- the same, too. Mostly, at least. The new scar across his face and his unkept hair growing longer are hardly important differences. 

And when he looks at Beles... She, too, looks the same. As if not a day has passed since he saw her plummet to her death. As if this is all a cruel illusion of her memory, conjured up by his imagination. And yet... no, she's as real as they come. He knows it; he'd know even in death. 

"Beles..." A hesitant step towards her, hand lifting slightly in her direction, fearful almost, as if it might pass through her. "You... You're alive...!" 

Tears he did not know he had left, after millennia of grieving, threaten to spill from his eyes as he stares at her the same way the faithful used to stare at a mural of the Goddess herself...

      “Seteth.”

Beles had meant it as a greeting. Her muscles screamed from the earlier excursion against bandits in the Monastery. Claude was right to send her off on that exercise, even if her mind was still whirling at the passage of time she’d missed. Claude was older. Stronger. No longer in need of a teacher. And the rest of the Golden Deer...  they had all grown into themselves so splendidly. 

And she.. (and Beleth? did Beleth make it? The question echoed in her head, unvoiced for now.) She was the same. In the dark. Missed a few steps. Feeling as if time should still be during the first battles at the Monastery when the grounds looked alive and beautiful. It was almost too much. One thing after another and Beles had yet to process it. Just when she’d began to think she’d find that moment, the lost members of the Church had returned as well. 

And there he was. Also the same. Despite the longer hair and the scar now on his face, Beles knew him. He hadn’t aged a day. (How could that be? Beles briefly remembered Alois talking of Jeralt never aging either. Was this.. normal?) Her exhaustion was muted by the sudden need to greet him. To stand tall. Appear as if she wasn’t feeling like a disjointed puzzle piece, trying to fit itself back into a picture that no longer suited her. 

The way he says her name gives her pause, however, and the look on his face brings a strange rush of heat to her cheeks and ears. Beles didn’t know where it came from, but she responded in kind, walking towards him with a purpose, one hand raised to gently touch the scar that now marred his features. 

      “As are you.” She said, retracting her hand just as quickly, “But I’m well. And here to stay.”

Beles just hoped she could catch up with everyone before it was too late. 

   “... it appears I overslept these five years.” Would he think she joking, too, just as Claude had?

[typhchosen]

@magicaes asked //  "Professor? Or do we call you Beles now since we're not really students anymore?" Lysithea asked as she entered the war room. She sat down, arranging her books and journals in specific piles. "You seem really distracted lately."

Distracted. 

That was one way to put it. 

Beles felt.. dizzy, almost. Not ill, but behind, far behind. To wake one day and find five years had passed, not only passed, but gone so far into war that they barely recognized the students they had once taught. They were older, the same and yet different. And Beleth... it hurt to think of their brother. (Had he survived? Was he around, still fighting for the enemy?) So much pain, Beles had to draw upon the strength she used to dig herself out of mourning for Jeralt, but there was still a strange empty sorrow in their gut. When Lysithea approached, she feared these feelings were becoming too transparent.  Or... was that a good thing? Didn’t she once want others to finally know she wasn’t devoid of emotion?

     “Things are different.” She decided to say, trying to quirk the smallest of smiles as she met the eyes of her former student, “but it’s nothing I wont get used to. Feel free to call me whatever’s most comfortable to you.” 

Their name reminded them of the time that had passed, but professor.. professor kept them grounded in a time that no longer existed. 

Not for the first time, Beles missed the voice that once resonated inside their head. 

       “You’ve grown so much, forgive me if I seem off.”

[typhchosen]

@heartwilled asked // ❛ knowledge is power. ❜ - claude to beles

200 Random Dialogue Prompts

A part of Beles wanted to be contrary and state that power was also power, but she held back the urge, opting to look to Claude with their head tilted, curiously tossing the statement back and forth in their mind. Often times, Claude said things that meant much more than on the surface. Other times, he was just joking. 

She wondered if this was one of those times or not. Then again... 

        “Is that why you’ve been caught staying late in the library at night? To gain power? That’s one way to achieve it.” One of the many. 

Beles’ own power came less from books and more from her own experiences, but she couldn’t deny her interest in the tomes once her curiosity had been piqued. 

[typhchosen]

Main Verse - Twin Beleth - Spoilers Imminent

Having a shared main verse with @blaschoice - there are some changes made to the Three Houses Timeline. Primarily, when the Crest of Flames was placed inside the child of Sitri, they were, in fact, twins. The Crest was split in half in hopes that both would survive (at Sitri’s request) and Rhea hoped the vessel she looked for would form between one or the other. (and feared absolute failure on both.) This leads to both Beles and Beleth having issues with expressing themselves and both being able to hear the voice of Sothis, who is strangely, aware of what they both do at all times and often gets confused by the connection. This makes separation difficult for both of them as they are two halves of a whole. This makes things more difficult when they are made to teach different houses at Garreg Mach. This also helps raise the distrust they hold for Rhea, not understanding why they would be separated in the first place. Beles ends up teaching the Golden Deer House while Beleth teaches the Black Eagles, both unaware of the destination their paths will take them. In regards to the Sword of the Creator- both are capable of using it and often pass it to each other, but during the 5 year time skip, Beles wakes up with it in her hands and refuses to let anyone else touch it.