#Dedue is the dad that stepped up

[krazieka2]

Baby Emblem. Three Babies

[yellowocaballero]

Ashen Wolf Byleth & Teen Dad Yuri

The blade fell, and the beautiful ghost stepped away. “We don’t like surface people here. If you two are plotting anything, I’ll kill you.”

She said it so simply and easily, as if Dimitri’s death would be the work of nature or the Goddess and not her own two hands. Dimitri turned around, heart jumping into the throat, and met the eyes of his beautiful ghost for the first time.

The girl was solid, real, and around his age. She was wearing a strange, bastardized version of the Academy uniform, silver and embroidered with a strange symbol over the heart. Her hair gleamed navy blue and her lace stockings barely hid her defined thigh muscles. Her grip on her sword was excellent and her stance spoke of barely restrained power. The woman could kill him in a flash, and the stroke that cut his throat would shine like moonlight.

Like Dimitri loved a long fall and short impact, like he loved the light at the end of the tunnel, like he loved betting all in on the longest chances, Dimitri fell in love instantly.

I need to update Weekenders but there's about twenty reasons why I haven't done it yet. But while I've been posting it I've been writing a shitton of other stuff, only some of which is decent, so I thought I'd post the beginnings of this story while I finish up the New Game+ Claude POV fic. This is most of what exists so far, and I probably won't finish it. Writing Dimitri's POV actively made me feel more insane as a person.

TW for references and flashbacks to Yuri's canon past. Around 15k of an absolutely demented Dimitri, a deeply smarmy Claude, a disturbingly feral Byleth, and a Yuri who is just doing his best under the cut.

i.

Dimitri was rapidly growing obsessed with the beautiful ghost. 

He tried to confess to his colleagues in the Blue Lions, but they just gave him sympathetic eyes and confiscated his training sword. A typical lack of faith in their leader, but Dimitri had to accept that it was well deserved. He was perfectly aware that Felix, Sylvain, Dedue, and Ingrid didn’t believe in ghosts, much less beautiful ones. Mercedes, Ashe, and Annette believed whole-heartedly in ghosts, but they thought he was being weird about it. So Dimitri was silenced, ostensibly for his own good. It was for his own good - future kings couldn’t exactly run around talking about beautiful ghosts - but it still felt like an odd form of betrayal. 

And he still couldn’t get her out of his mind. If only he had proof, Sylvain would make fun of him just a little bit less. All he had to do was be patient and wait for his time to come. Sylvain would see. They’d all see. 

The time came sooner than expected, with unexpected company. Dimitri and Claude were walking back from an important (Edelgard’s words) and mind-numbingly boring (Claude’s words) administrative meeting when he saw her again. They were walking a side path along the very edge of the monastery, using it as a shortcut between the main building and their own dormitory, and in the thick night their solitude was complete. Complete save for a shadow in the distance, darting from the forest and across the path like a minnow in a stream. 

Dimitri dropped his books in shock. Claude stopped short, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“What’s -”

“It’s her!” Dimitri cried. “That’s her! Hey - miss, please wait!”

The books and company were no longer important. Dimitri set off after her at a run, only barely aware that Claude was hot on his tail. As always, the ghost disappeared almost instantly - she crossed the path and dove into the tall shrubbery against the stone walls of the monastery, where she disappeared. Dimitri had seen her appear from the ground and disappear into walls before, only barely visible from the corner of his eyes, and every time she slipped like water from his fingers.

This time was no different. Dimitri skidded to a halt at her disappearing point, pushing aside thick branches in a desperate search for terrestrial beauty. There was nobody and nothing - the girl had walked straight into the monastery walls. Foiled again.

“Dammit!” Dimitri yelled. Claude’s eyebrows jumped up. “I was so close that time!” 

“You know curse words? I owe Hilda a hundred gold.” Claude poked his head over Dimitri’s shoulder, watching his desperate search without helping whatsoever. “What was all of that about? Did you see someone?”

“Didn’t you?” But Dimitri already knew the answer, even as he said it - nobody ever saw her but him. “I’ve been seeing this girl since I arrived at Garreg Mach. She appears from thin air and disappears into nothing. I suspect she may be a ghost. I’ve searched high and low for her, but I haven’t been able to find her. And she slips through my fingers again!”

Claude hummed, scratching his chin. “Now that you mention it, maybe I did see a figure…”

Dimitri rocketed upwards, snapping several branches. He whirled on Claude, who took a large step back. “You did? Was she short, wearing silver clothing, unmistakably beautiful?”

Claude held up both hands in a plea for innocence. “...it looked kind of humanoid?” Figures. Dimitri turned back around, scanning the area again. If he could just follow her trail - maybe there would be a scent of death? Of ozone? Of the unknown? “Hey, if it matters that much to you then I’ll help you look. Can’t afford to rule anything out - even ghosts.” 

“You’re a true friend, Your Grace,” Dimitri said seriously. Claude nodded back, equally seriously. “And even if she isn’t a ghost, an unknown person at Garreg Mach is highly suspect. She doesn’t seem to wear a habit, armor, or a uniform. It’s our responsibility as leaders to investigate mysteries like this.” 

“Uh huh.” Claude slipped into the thicket with him, easily fitting into the barren spots where Dimitri already accidentally snapped off all the branches. Dimitri was already seriously knocking on the castle walls, searching for secret passages or weaknesses. “But not to tell a staff member?”

“I decided a while ago that I could handle this on my own,” Dimitri said stiffly. Wasn’t like anybody was willing to help him, anyway. “Some endeavors are personal.”

“I know that feeling.” Claude hummed, and Dimitri heard the distinct screech of metal scraping on metal. “So are you this invested because of the ghost thing or the beautiful thing?”

“With the potential non-invited guest at Garreg Mach thing, Your Grace.” 

A terrible grinding sound split the night, and Dimitri winced. He was a bit sensitive to unexpected loud noises. Felix knew, and liked to sneak up on him and yell in his ear. “I’m a future duke and you’re a future king, Your Highness, I think you’re meant to speak less formally to me.” 

“We’re both future leaders of our respective countries,” Dimitri said seriously. “Isn’t that more important than a discrepancy in titles? I’d like to show respect to you as it befits your station, not your title.” 

More awful screeching filled the air, accompanied by a final grinding scream and a muffled thump. “Is that why you’re the only person who calls Petra ‘Your Highness’? I think that’s why you’re the only guy in this school she approves of.” 

“Really?” Dimitri asked, pleased. Politeness always paid off! “I simply think it’s disrespectful to treat her as anything less than royalty simply because she is here as a political hostage - an outdated practice that I believe - I’m sorry, what’s that sound?”

“Oh, just opening a secret passage.” 

“I see. I just think it’s an outdated practice that ought to be illegalized, and just between you and me I actually highly disapprove of - I’m sorry, a what?”

Dimitri turned around from his fruitless inspection of the wall for the first time and saw Claude squatting nearby. He had cut away the brambles surrounding the area with the tip of an arrow he pulled from somewhere, and a large manhole was resting on the grass next to him. He was currently sticking his head down a dark hole of indeterminable depth. Dimitri hadn’t even noticed a manhole! 

Well. If the beautiful woman was a beautiful ghost, then she had undoubtedly gone through the wall. But if the beautiful woman was an everyday extremely attractive girl, then the manhole might be how she had escaped so quickly. 

Finally, a lead! A path towards her! Dimitri did not know why he was a little disappointed. Was he secretly hoping she’d be a ghost? That would be a little impractical. Maybe he was just upset Claude had found it?

Claude popped his head back up, upside-down braid swinging back against his cheek. “Now isn’t this interesting?” For the first time, Claude seemed invested. “The sewer system doesn’t run underneath this path. So what’s an access point to the sewers doing right here?”

“...why do you know the sewer layout of Garreg Mach?”

“I’m a fan of a good mystery,” Claude said, completely ignoring the question. Perhaps. “How do you feel about a little exploration on this fine moonlit night?” 

Oh no. Dimtiri abruptly felt a little anxious. “Your Grace, I don’t believe students are allowed in the Garreg Mach sewer systems.”

“What if it’s not the Garreg Mach sewer system?”

“That may be less allowed.” A little awkwardly, Dimitri added, “And I really wouldn’t want to accidentally break a rule and get in trouble.”

Claude gave him a look of blatant disgust. Dimitri hung his head in shame.

Finally, Claude took pity on him. He sighed and clapped Dimitri’s shoulder - once in camaraderie, twice in sympathy. “Your Highness. Are you really going to let some little rules get in the way of you and your soulmate?”

Dimitri perked up. Putting it like that…and he really didn’t want to look uncool in front of Claude, who was probably the coolest person at the school… “I suppose Lady Rhea would understand if it’s for the sake of love…”

“Attaboy.” Claude shoved roughly at Dimitri’s shoulder, pushing him into the hole. “Now let’s dive into the sewers. Lords first!”

Thankfully, Dimitri wasn’t obligated to fall down a hole face first. There was a wooden ladder descending downwards, warped and fragile from the damp air, and although Dimitri descended into the dark with no hesitation he had to force himself to move slowly and grip the fragile rungs with utmost care. 

The darkness was absolute, and Dimitri and Claude navigated by feel. They climbed for what felt like ages, and Dimitri’s absolute concentration made the period of time span even longer. Claude prattled on above his head with some random thoughts and observations, but Dimitri was focusing too hard on the ladder to register what he was saying. 

A boot knocked him on the head. Dimitri’s hands spasmed, crushing the rung into splinters, and his grip was completely lost. Dimitri bent backwards a terrifying foot before he righted himself and regained his balance, grabbing the side of the ladder and swinging himself heavily downwards. Of course, that broke the side of the ladder, and suddenly Claude was yelling a great deal of expletives as one side of his ladder began to slide downwards. 

“Let’s readjust our approach,” Dimitri said mildly. He changed his grip to grab the two sides of the ladder, his metal gauntlets digging into the wood. “Get ready to slide, Your Grace.” 

“Are you nuts -”

Dimitri kicked off, taking his feet off the rungs and loosening his grip on the sides. His slide downwards was alarmingly fast, and he could feel the musty air rise up to meet him. Claude was still yelling, his voice echoing up the empty tunnel, and a familiar wave of adrenaline rose to wash Dimitri’s mind clean.

He couldn’t help but grin. The wind tousling his hair, the swooping sensation in his stomach, the possibility of death and the high probability of injury - a recipe for excitement. Dimitri’s favorite sort of excitement - the sort that cleared out all of the nasty little thoughts that clouded his mind day to day, that made him forget all of his problems and memories and wounds and that focused him onto the present moment. It was a thrill that conquered all ills, and it was more or less the only time that Dimitri was ever happy. 

His professor didn’t like that about him. Before Garreg Mach, Felix was the only person who was aware of Dimitri’s little addiction, but the Blue Lions professor had sniffed Dimitri out fast and never stopped giving him a hard time about it. Dimitri honestly didn’t think it was the professor’s business, but he knew they did not agree regarding that fact. It didn’t matter - Dimitri wasn’t about to change.

A light sprung from the darkness, and Dimitri immediately kicked his heels against the ladder and slowed his descent. The light brightened as Dimitri fell, and he was able to make out a hard-packed dirt floor just in time to bend his knees and soften his landing. The impact still rattled his legs down to the bone, but he hadn’t sprained anything.

Dimitri immediately jumped backwards, watching Claude come to the same conclusion and slow his descent. Unlike Dimitri, he didn’t stick the landing - he fell in an ungainly heap on the floor, gasping for breath and groaning. His hair was wildly mussed, and he looked a little green. His cape had ripped off his shoulders, and was currently hanging like a defeated flag several feet above their heads.

“What is wrong with you.”

Goddess, they’d be here all day. “You’re the one who kicked my head.” Dimitri wiped the splinters off his gauntleted hand, extending it down to Claude. Claude squinted at him in increasingly ill-hidden hatred. “Come on, have a little adventurous spirit. I thought you were here to explore the unknown?”

Claude pushed himself upwards, and Dimitri silently curled his hand and returned it to his side. Figured that Claude wouldn’t want to touch him. An expected reaction, honestly. “Sure I am. Now our way out of here is unknown too. Guess we have no choice but to press onwards.” 

“I’ll lead the way,” Dimitri said - perhaps betraying the fact that he had no intention of going backwards. “I believe we’re already out of the woods. Look yonder - see the exit?”

There was, indeed, an exit. They had landed in a narrow rectangular room, and there was clearly a door at the far corner where the right wall intersected the back wall. Light shone from within, and Dimitri eagerly led them forwards towards the light. 

He could even hear sounds, signs of life - the distant coursing of a river, and a familiar quiet symphony of sounds. They were the sounds of life - a soundscape of an ordinary day at the marketplace at the base of Garreg Mach, marked by shuffling feet and quiet voices. 

“Is that people?��� Dimitri whispered, excited. “What are people doing this far underground?”

“Is that people?” Claude whispered, incredulous. “Does Rhea know about this?”

“Perhaps they’re ghosts!”

But Claude just shook his head, and for the first time he seemed a little grim. He sped up, walking briskly until he overtook Dimitri. Dimitri fell back, letting him take the lead, and listened curiously as Claude muttered under his breath. Dimitri couldn’t make out the words at all - too quiet, perhaps.

“Ghosts!” Claude hissed. “Perhaps they’re ghosts, that’s fun, not dangerous -”

“Maybe they’re an army of ghosts,” Dimitri volunteered. Claude hissed something that sounded suspiciously similar to the Almyran term for the Fodlan ethnic group. He probably mishead. “Honestly, Claude, what happened to your thirst for adventure -”

“I thought I would get to see Dimitri Blaiddyd stomp through some sewers for an hour! I didn’t expect to stumble into real life people!” Claude stopped at the entryway, peering forward into the cavernous expanse beyond them. Dimitri stopped too. Quite involuntarily. “Holy - that’s a settlement! What is a settlement doing underneath - that’s a village! There’s no way Rhea doesn’t know about that. What else is that woman hiding?”

Dimitri coughed, frozen perfectly still. Cold steel kissed his neck. “Ah. Er. Some help?” 

Claude ignored him, steadily working himself up. Dimitri had never seen Claude actually unbalanced before. It was unsettling. “Just when I thought I had five percent of that woman figured out, she pulls the rug on me again. I’ll never get anything good out of her this way. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I might have to fall back on the B&E plan -”

“Some help, Claude!”

Instantly, Claude said, “What B&E plan?”

“Don’t move,” the beautiful ghost said. 

Claude turned around. 

Dimitri had to assume it was the beautiful ghost. The sword was raised against his neck upwards, showing that the wielder had to significantly lift her arm to hold it. The voice was unmistakably a woman’s, light and delicate and young. It wasn’t ethereal - rather, it was solid, as solid as the steel against his skin - but there was still something otherworldly about it. 

Claude stared at Dimitri, wide-eyed. His eyes traveled downwards - yes, the ghost had to be short - and he froze just as solid as Dimitri for a flat second before he relaxed. Over Claude’s shoulder, Dimitri could see the settlement stretching out before him - at the lean-tos and tents and shacks, at the people in rags milling about who were already beginning to stop and stare. The underground people were dirty, and the underground village was filthier. Dimitri immediately saw some elderly hugging the walls, and more foreigners.

Undoubtedly, Claude had seen what Dimitri saw. Claude was currently ahead of him - he was staring at the beautiful ghost with mouth agape, eyes wide. A hot flash of jealousy burst in Dimitri’s chest. Claude got to see the ghost’s face before he did! How incredibly unfair! 

“Hello, there. Sorry for…uh, dropping in.” Claude slowly raised his hands, showing himself unarmed. Dimitri wondered where he had stashed his extra arrows. “We…come in peace?”

The sword at his neck flashed. It was well-kept, but clearly old and cheap. “Who are you with.” 

“We’re not with anybody!” Claude said hurriedly. Bizarrely, he had immediately adopted an accent - a thick, regional Almyran accent, coarse and rough. “Please, ma’am, stay your sword. Don’t you have any idea who you’re holding hostage? He’s a very important person. If he goes missing your entire house will be endangered. It’s safest for everybody if you just let him go.”

The blade stilled. “...is he rich?”

“Oh, very! I know people who would pay thousands for his safe return!” 

“What did I expect,” Dimitri muttered. 

“And who are you?” the beautiful ghost asked. “Are you rich too?”

“I am but this man’s humble aide!” Claude said instantly. He bowed flamboyantly, with a distinctive Almyran flair. “A loyal and devoted servant am I, to His Royal Highness! My ten brothers and sisters wouldn’t have two coppers to scavenge together to pay a ransom, honest! Tell you what, tell you what - let me help!” Claude straightened, pulling out his most roguish and charismatic smile. “Let’s be friends, Fodlan beauty. Give me your demands, and I’ll deliver them straight upwards all the way to the top. I’ll be back with thousands! You can give the pale boy back later. If you want. How about it?”

The sword wavered. The ghost spoke again, her voice laced with doubt. “You’re both wearing the Academy uniform. Brother did say that the prince was attending school this year.”

“Beautiful and good intel sources! Surely you’ve heard of me, the Almyran vassal that follows around the prince and attends school with him?”

Dubiously, the ghost said, “Brother says that the vassal’s Duscuran…”

“I am disappointed that your brother cannot tell the difference between the Duscur and Almyran people!”

“It’s not like that…”

Claude promptly said something in - Almyran? When did Claude learn Almyran? The ghost said something back in Almyran, undoubtedly dubious. Claude pointed at Dimitri’s shoulder, showcasing Dimitri’s fine cape, and then at his own - and the distinct lack of yellow cape, which was probably still pinned to the ladder. The beautiful ghost murmured in assent - obviously Claude was a poor vassal, not a rich king, see his complete lack of cape. 

The beautiful ghost said something, and Claude’s eyes sharpened. He grinned and bowed even lower - a vassal to a princess. 

In the Fodlan language, Claude said, “Then His Highness and his loyal vassal would be honored to hold an audience with the lady’s esteemed brother.” 

“You talk stupid.” 

“You would really get along with my best friend, my lady.” 

“I’m not your anything.” The blade fell, and the beautiful ghost stepped away. “We don’t like surface people here. If you two are plotting anything, I’ll kill you.”

She said it so simply and easily, as if Dimitri’s death would be the work of nature or the Goddess and not her own two hands. Dimitri turned around, heart jumping into the throat, and met the eyes of his beautiful ghost for the first time.

The girl was solid, real, and around his age. She was wearing a strange, bastardized version of the Academy uniform, silver and embroidered with a strange symbol over the heart. Her hair gleamed navy blue and her lace stockings barely hid her defined thigh muscles. Her grip on her sword was excellent and her stance spoke of barely restrained power. The woman could kill him in a flash, and the stroke that cut his throat would shine like moonlight.

Like Dimitri loved a long fall and short impact, like he loved the light at the end of the tunnel, like he loved betting all in on the longest chances, Dimitri fell in love instantly. 

“Night night,” the love of Dimitri’s life said, before hitting him on the back of his head with the pommel of her sword, drawing black curtains over Dimitri’s eyes. 

__________

Dimitri sat in an office. A rather inauspicious turn in this kidnapping saga. 

He was sitting down because his head still hurt. He wished he was standing and showing his future brother-in-law the respect he deserved, but his future brother-in-law insisted that he tend to his probable concussion and sit. Dimitri wanted to protest - the man had already personally healed him, and his head didn’t hurt any more than usual - but the man seemed stressed enough, so Dimitri sat obediently in front of his desk. In an office. In an underground slum funded by the church. Which existed. Was that what taxpayer money was going towards?

Yuri explained the entire situation to him and Claude as he healed the bump and gash on Dimitri’s skull. For a given value of ‘entire’ - so far, Dimitri mostly just understood that the church organized a homeless encampment underground that accepted any members unconditionally and functioned roughly like its own little nation. The main encampment of Abyss was Garreg Mach itself - a basement floor of the monastery that had sunken into the ground after some unfortunate geographical events around seven hundred years ago. Dimitri wanted to ask if it was a possible problem that Garreg Mach was located in a sinkhole, but Yuri didn’t leave much time for questions.

The name of the slum was Abyss, and its inhabitants had little contact with the outside world. There were children in Abyss who had never stood in the sun, and infirm who hadn’t felt the sun’s warmth since they were well. Apparently the few inhabitants who regularly left Abyss used one of a series of secret passages in Garreg Mach, with entrances and exits that spanned the width of the monastery. These secret passages were very well-hidden, and an Abyssan well-versed in their usage could disappear and reappear throughout the monastery like…a ghost. 

They didn’t have visitors very often. Not many people knew about Abyss, and strangely enough the people in the loop didn’t care to visit a damp, filthy underground slum. They had even fewer Academy students fall down manholes and stumble into this inverted land of wonder. Hence why the sight of Dimitri and Claude caused certain Abyssans to panic. With their swords. 

These Abyssans were named Byleth, which was a lovely name. Potentially alliterative, too. 

“Your Highness.” Yuri was gritting his teeth together. “I am…so sorry.” 

“No harm done,” Dimitri said instantly. He wanted to express to Yuri that it was actually a great honor to be harmed by his sister, but he didn’t know how to say that in a normal way. “We were the intruders, after all. Byleth was just defending her home.” He turned to Byleth, who was standing stiffly behind her brother in a perfect match to Claude’s stiff stance behind Dimitri. Dimitri had barely taken his eyes off her, and yet she had failed to make a single facial expression. Fascinating. “Your swordplay was incredible, by the way. The way you held that sword to my throat was impeccable. I assume you’ve been professionally trained.”

“Here and there.” Byleth looked pleased, making Dimitri feel like a star. She pointed awkwardly at the silver sword at Dimitri’s hip. It was the same old sword Dimitri always had - some antique of the royal family, passed down from generation to generation. “I like your sword.”

Instantly, Dimitri said, “Thank you! Do you want it?”’

Byleth hummed. Yuri’s eyes widened a fraction, and Claude stifled a groan. “My sword is pretty old…”

“Here, take it.” Dimtiri immediately undid his belt and handed the sword over to her, belt and sheath and all. She held it up and admired it, testing its weight. Yuri’s jaw clenched. “Consider it my apology for following you uninvited into your home.”

Byleth nodded, twirling the sword easily in her hands. It was tremendously attractive. “Apology accepted. We’re even.” Her mouth twitched infinitesimally into something that may be loosely deemed a smile. Yuri’s eyes widened severely. “Thank you.”

Dimitri looked away, coughing. His face felt like it was going to melt off. “You’re welcome. It - ah, it suits you.”

“Do you think so?” Byleth asked, pleased. Perhaps. It was very hard to tell. Her voice was in a very strict monotone, but their deep spiritual connection meant that Dimitri could vibe these things out. “It does match my outfit.”

Dimitri would never be able to think of silver again without thinking of her. “I’m hono -”

“Your Highness.” Yuri’s voice hadn’t changed; nor had his words. His expression didn’t seem any different and his body language hadn’t shifted. But something about him was far now far less welcoming - something was different, all the same. “We’re very grateful for your gift, and for the forgiveness you’ve extended towards us regarding what happened. But it would be highly irresponsible of me to keep you here any longer. Abyss isn’t safe for somebody like you and your…vassal.”

“Khalid, sir.” Claude winked loudly at Dimitri, making absolutely certain that Dimitri understood that Claude was giving a fake foreign name. Yes, Dimitri picked up on that. “Really, wonderful place you have here. Very chic. Couldn’t possibly be that unsafe - if we had a good tour guide.”

Frostily, Yuri said, “I’ll have some scouts escort you back topside immediately. I’m certain Lady Rhea is looking for you.”

“It took her three days to notice that I tossed Lindhardt into a well, so I’m certain we have at least that long.” Claude leaned forward eagerly. “Who founded this place? Whose idea was it? Why is it underground?”

“Somebody who is no longer with us,” Yuri said, curt and even. “I’m the leader of Abyss now. And as the leader, it’s my responsibility to get future leaders of Fodlan back to their cozy beds.”

Claude flapped an easy hand. “Sure, let’s get the future leader of Fodlan back to bed. But this humble vassal’s awfully interested in this operation you’re running. Don’t suppose you could allow me to run around a bit? Check some things out? See your tax records?”

“I think even vassals have someplace to be, Khalid.”

“Why are you saying his name like that?” Byleth asked Yuri. She paused a beat. “Never mind. I don’t care.”

“There’s a great deal of places this vassal should be,” Claude said cheerfully, “but I think there’s only one place where I have to be.” He easily slid into the unoccupied chair next to Dimitri, leaning forward and folding his hands on Yuri’s desk. He had to nudge apart several scrolls of parchment and pieces of paper to do it - the man’s desk was stacked with forms, work, and quills. “Let’s put our cards on the table, huh? There’s a lot the church doesn’t tell us peons, Yuri. I’m willing to bet you know a lot of it. So in exchange for you telling me what you know, I don’t tell Lady Rhea what I know about a certain somebody trying to lop off the head of the future king of Faerghus. Sound good to you?”

Yuri crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, one thin purple eyebrow arching. “You have a lot to learn about the art of the deal, kid. What will Rhea say when she learns that Prince Dimitri and Duke Claude were out past curfew skulking around slums?”

“Duke Claude’s happily asleep in his warm bed, and every member of his House is sufficiently paid to corroborate that story.” Claude smiled winningly. “Khalid is a humble vassal interested in touring your fine slum. Khalid might also have some other gossip that you might be interested in.” 

“Like what, kid?”

Claude’s grin widened. “I might tell you tomorrow morning. After my visit.”

Yuri was silent. His eyes flickered to Dimtiri, then to Claude. He glanced at his sister. “By, wait outside?” 

Byleth nodded and exited the room. Dimtiri yearned for her achingly. But Yuri just straightened, face as blank and unreadable as his sister’s, and said something to Claude in Almyran.

For the first time, Claude was struck off balance. He looked at Dimitri, eyes wide, then back at Yuri. He said something empathetically, shaking his head, but Yuri just responded curtly.

In the Fodlan language, Claude said, “On the honor of my father and mother, no. I’m not trying to -”

“Really?” Yuri said. “You’re a novice at this con artist thing, kid. You’re too rich to do it well. Word of advice - don’t smile like you’re hiding something, smile like you’re keeping a secret.”

Claude pulled back a little, and Dimitri saw that he was almost pouting. “You don’t know me.”

“I know things about you that you don’t know about yourself.” Yuri looked at Dimitri, expression gentle and soft and bland. Like sheep’s wool, or dandelion fluff on the breeze. “Do you want to hang around Abyss a little longer too, Your Highness?”

Images of Byleth wielding his silver sword, flicking the blade in a deadly dance, spun through Dimitri’s mind. If he left Abyss now and never saw her again he would lose what little scrap of will to live he had left. Dimitri couldn’t keep losing good things. He was running out.

“Yes!” Dimitri said - a bit too quickly, a bit too empathetically. He coughed, forcing himself to settle down. “I mean - yes. As a future ruler, I should see how the other half lives. It’s important for a ruler to understand the needs of all of his people.”

It was perfectly true. It wasn’t what he was thinking, but it was perfectly true. Dimitri had the faint notion that perhaps he and Claude were missing the point of something important, something much bigger than them - than Claude’s secrets or Dimitri’s love story - but the allure of secrets and love was fairly overpowering at the moment. 

Easily, as easily as he said everything else, Yuri said, “My sister’s not on the market to entertain you. I can steer plenty of other lovely ladies or gentlemen your way, but she’s a little busy with her own work.” Yuri tilted his head, looking at Dimitri through half-lidded eyes. Dimitri flushed a little. “If you insist, I’d be happy to spare some time for you. But I’m afraid my sister is just too busy.” 

Claude stood up, chair skidding against the hard stone. “I just put my family’s name on this! As -” Claude said something quickly in Almyran, which completely flew over Dimitri’s head. “ - I am vouching for Prince Dimitri. I wouldn’t even say that for me, but I can sure as hell say it for him. You can trust us.” 

Yuri’s face was unchanged. “I’ve heard that one before.” 

And although Dimitri didn’t understand half the conversation - although he knew that there was subtext he wasn’t getting, that there were things about the world he just couldn’t see - he understood the right thing to do well enough for now. Standing in the midst of Abyss, it was clear.

Dimitri stood up, bowing low at Yuri. “I apologize for our intrusion. I see that my classmate and I have overstayed our welcome. I have no desire to add to the heavy burdens you and your village already bear. Please, if you can help escort us back to the surface, we’d be very grateful.”

When Dimtiri straightened, he saw a peculiar look on Yuri’s face. It was a little thoughtful, and a lot of another foreign emotion. “What will you do now that you know we’re here?”

“Ask Rhea how we can help,” Dimitri said immediately. Left implied: and confess to our wrongdoings, like good children. “Or you, if you’re amenable. Abyss is not located within my lands, but I am aware that many places like Abyss reside in the darkness of Faerghus. If I can do anything for you now - learn what you can teach me - then I consider it education on how to provide for my subjects in the future.”

“He’s sincere,” Claude said firmly. He stood up too, thumping his heart with a closed fist. “I haven’t been sincere since the poisoned fig incident, but I can swear too. We just want to help. So let us help - it can’t be every day you have two future leaders of Fodlan asking you what we can do for you.”

Yuri stared at them for a long few seconds, expression glazed smooth and unreadable, before he finally sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And I suppose you want my sister as a tour guide.”

“You just said she’s busy,” Dimitri asked, tilting his head in confusion. “I assumed she wouldn’t be available to show us around.” 

Yuri narrowed his eyes - damn, the man was impeccable. Dimitri had attempted one subtle fib and he was caught out immediately. But the lie served its purpose, and something subtle in Yuri’s shoulders untensed. Dimitri hadn’t realized that they were tense at all.

Yuri opened his mouth and said -

“Boss! Did we really kidnap the prince of Faerghus?”

The door thumped open with such immense force that it smacked against the far wall. A truly giant man strode inside, followed closely on his heels by a blonde woman wearing an unsettling smile and a short dark-skinned woman picking at a cuticle. On the tail end of the party was Byleth. She nodded at Dimitri, who nodded back in a daze.

“I told them you were busy,” Byleth said serenely. 

“Yeah, busy with His Royal Highness!” The large man stopped in front of Dimitri and carefully scrutinized him from head to toe. Dimitri allowed himself to be scrutinized. “Damn! What are they feeding you Academy kids these days? You’re solid muscle. Not as much as me, but not bad either!”

Dimitri fought the urge to sweat. The women flanked the big guy, blinking at him curiously. “I train frequently.”

“Really? Guess Bye-Bye’s found another freak.” The dark-skinned woman yawned, nodding at Byleth as she stood at her brother’s side. “You should hang out. Hit each other with swords or whatever.” 

“Greetings to His Royal Highness and friend!” the blonde woman yelled, almost at the top of her voice. She put her hands on her hips, lifting her chin in the air. “Welcome to the home of Constance von Nuvelle! Our decor may be lacking, but our hospitality is second to none!”

“Really?” the other woman drawled. “I think the rats add some pizazz.”

“Silly Hapi! The rats are disgusting!”

“Bye-Bye eats garbage too, but we don’t give her a hard time about it.”

“Hospitality, huh?” Yuri smiled, and for the first time it seemed a little real. “Balthus, obviously you don’t have anything more important going on. Can you host our two noble young visitors? Who we didn’t kidnap?”

“We were a little kidnapped,” Claude said. 

Balthus grinned, propping a hand on a hip. “I dunno, are you paying me?” 

Quickly, Dimitri added, “We’ll compensate you for your efforts, of course.”

“Wait,” the dark-skinned woman asked the room, “are we holding you hostage? Because it sounds like we’re holding you hostage.”

“Sold, kid!” Balthus thumped a friendly hand on Dimtiri’s back. He didn’t stumble, which seemed to shock Balthus before he withdrew his hand and quickly covered up the motion. “You look like a good hand with a weapon. Not you, Almyran guy, you look like a wimp.” Claude narrowed his eyes, but Balthus just looked backwards at Byleth. “You should spar with our new friend, Byleth. I’ll finally get to see you knock a different musclehead on the ground!”

Constance squealed, clapping her hands. “Byleth and the new children can play together! Oh, how heartwarming! Socialization is a rare opportunity for Bylie indeed!” She looked at Yuri and stage whispered, “We cannot afford to lose this chance, Yuri!”

“Byleth doesn’t know a lot of kids her own age,” the dark-skinned woman told Dimitri and Claude. “She’s…a little awkward.”

Byleth blinked at them.

“Wow,” Claude muttered, “you don’t say.”

“I forgive you for holding a sword to my neck,” Dimitri said earnestly. “You were doing the right thing.”

“Seriously, are we holding you hostage or not?”

 Yuri’s eye twitched. But his posture had fully loosened, and the presence of the strangers seemed to make him breathe a little easier. “We aren’t. And Byleth isn't a puppy we need to socialize, Hapi. You know how noble boys are.”

“Noble boy and his loyal vassal,” Claude added quickly, sticking stubbornly to the bit. Dimitri had no idea why, but Claude rarely vocalized his reasons for doing anything. “What do you think, Byleth? Want to hang out with us, or want to stay with your brother?”

Byleth stared at both of them unblinkingly. Finally, after a long few seconds of thought, Byleth said, “I want to train with Dimitri.” 

Hapi shot a canny look at Yuri. “Balthus’ll supervise. Connie and I too, if you want.” 

For a long second Dimitri thought Yuri was going to say no anyway. Dimitri would have accepted it. It would have robbed Dimitri of the only good thing left in his life, but he would have accepted it. Good things came and left all of the time, and part of life was learning how to deal with that. Dimitri liked to fancy himself an expert in it. He could lose one more thing - one flash of hope. 

But Yuri only sighed. “Alright. Supervised. Now get out of my office, all of you, I’m far too busy to juggle nobility on top of everything else.” Claude perked up. “All of you. You want to talk about Rhea - we’ll do it after dinner.” 

“Understood!” Claude bowed at Yuri again, and Dimitri hastily copied him. “You won’t regret opening your doors to us, sir!”

“Uh-huh.” Left unsaid - he definitely already was. “Out of my office, then. I’ve been away for too long and I have a lot of work to catch up on.”

Byleth tilted her head, a frown tugging at her lips. “You should leave less often. Your work piles up. It stresses you out.” 

Yuri gave her a big smile, as if he was keeping a secret. “But if I don’t leave, I’ll never experience the joy of seeing you again.” 

“You’re corny, Yuri.” 

“Love turns even the best of us into cornballs.” Yuri and Byleth shared a look, empty and opaque, but in that blankness Dimitri saw something far deeper than he had ever experienced. “Just look at Constance. Every time she looks at herself in the mirror she gets sillier.” 

“Excuse me, my sweet Yuri -”

“You’re excused, my darling Constance.”

“Must we fight,” Hapi panned, monotone and disinterested. “We’re a family. Look. You’ll make the baby cry.”

Byleth blinked at Hapi. “But I can’t cry.” 

“Look. You’ll give the baby psychological issues.” 

Balthus laughed again, cracking his knuckles with a pop that echoed throughout the cramped office. “This’ll be fun! It’s been a while since we’ve had a good adventure, eh Yuri?”

“Yes,” Yuri said, “that’s altogether what I’m afraid of.”

Truthfully, at that point Dimitri was no longer listening. He was just looking at Byleth, the girl who could not cry. And Byleth looked back at him, the boy whose heart was always crying. They saw each other, the heart-burdened and the heartless, and something in one reached out to balance the other.

And although the weight of the world above them crushed Dimitri’s shoulders, although they stood within damp and filthy slums tucked into the bowels of the planet, for those precious few seconds Dimitri and Byleth existed in the world with no obligation to anybody but each other.

_____________

ii. 

Yuri was sitting in this bathroom fruitlessly scrubbing blood out of his one good outfit when he received word that Lady Rhea was requesting an audience. Because it was Rhea, he also received word that she was already waiting for him in the destroyed classroom. 

Damn it! He had just returned! And he didn’t have anything to wear!

In the end, he was forced to keep Lady Rhea waiting another fifteen minutes because he had to dig out an older, rattier outfit and re-do his makeup. Approach: ‘I’m in my twenties, my stare is cold and piercing, and damn it I belong in this conference room’. Then he had to waste another five minutes because his hair was a wreck and his hands still smelled like blood. By the time he finally speed-walked down the halls and skidded to a stop in front of the classroom doors Yuri was twenty minutes late and already fighting the urge to freak.

As always, he halted at the doors. He took a deep breath in, then out. His outfit was dingy, which made him feel like crap, but the power makeup helped pick up the slack. He inhaled, exhaled, shook out his limbs, and entered the classroom. 

Rhea was standing in front of a blackboard, her back turned to the door. She was dressed in an old brown cloak, but with the hood down and her beautiful green hair left to flow over her shoulders the figure was unmistakable as Rhea. She was writing in beautiful and flowing script on the blackboard with a piece of stubby chalk, and speaking in a low voice to the child standing next to her. The child was staring up at her, eyes wide, chewing on a knuckle. Th child’s dark blue hair was pulled into a stubby ponytail, and she was wearing only a tattered black dress and swimming in a brown jacket sized for a large adult man. 

“ - your name. See, this is the B…like ‘bye’. Can you say ‘bye’?” The child blinked owlishly up at Rhea. “That’s alright. You’ll get it. You’re doing a great job already.” 

Yuri coughed, and Rhea quickly turned around. With a strange start Yuri noticed that she was dressed down even more than usual, her face plain and wearing only a simple white dress underneath the cloak. Without her own makeup, she seemed tired. She smiled wanly at Yuri, who bowed back. The child turned around too, gnawing fastidiously at her knuckle. 

“Yuri. I’m sorry to call upon you again so quickly after your return. Did all go well?”

“The job was done.” Deepen your voice, sound older - sound disaffected, yet sincere. Yuri wondered if he would ever live long enough that he could stop pretending to be older. “The deceased is no longer a threat to the church.”

“He was a threat to the safety of Fodlan,” Rhea said firmly. Yuri wasn’t sure about that one, but he did appreciate Rhea’s conscientious efforts to only toss absolute bastards into his pen. “I’m afraid I must ask something of you yet again, Yuri. This is important. I cannot fully disclose to you why this mission is so important, but please trust me when I say that this is a matter extremely close to my heart.”

Yuri straightened, folding his hands behind his back. He wanted to die a bit. Another important mission? As if managing Abyss, captaining his rogues, and assassinating bastards weren’t enough missions? 

How long would she keep punishing him? 

But Yuri just bowed. It was no effort at all to keep his expression placid. “I can accomplish any mission you give me, my lady.”

“I know. That’s why I’m trusting you with this.” Rhea put both hands on the girl’s shoulder and squeezed. The girl squirmed uncomfortably. You and me both, kid. “Yuri, this is Byleth. Byleth, this is Yuri. Why don’t you say hi?”

Byleth stared at Yuri, gnawing on her finger. Somebody probably ought to slap those knuckles with a ruler. She wasn’t a young child - twelve or thirteen, perhaps - but the habit and the wide eyes made her seem younger. 

Yuri gave her his special ‘talking to vulnerable kids’ smile. “How do you do, my lady?”

Byleth stared at Yuri. A theme. 

Rhea frowned, squeezing Byleth’s shoulder one last time before dropping her hands. “She hasn’t talked much since it happened. She…doesn’t seem to remember anything.”

“Anything about what happened?”

“Anything at all. She can’t seem to recall anything about her family or her life. Darling, you ought to get your knuckle out of your mouth.” Rhea ducked her head, staring steadfastly at Byleth. The girl slowly dropped her knuckle from her mouth, looking a little spooked, before Rhea lifted her head again. “Byleth here was kidnapped. There are…some forces in Fodlan that place great value in Byleth. I don’t know how they learned about her, but they haven’t left her in peace since they found out. They’ve tried to kidnap her several times, but their latest attempt was successful. The Church knights were only able to rescue her two days ago. The knight who rescued her brought her to me immediately, and now I must bring her to you.”

“Have you spoken with Aelfric about this?”

“Of course. He’s already given his consent.” Rhea’s eyes glimmered strangely in the light. Sometimes the only emotion from that woman Yuri could truly understand was the dark depths of her sadness. “Discretion is of the utmost importance. The people after her will not give up.” 

Ah. Yuri understood. “Does she have a valuable crest?”

Rhea put a hand on Byleth’s head, slowly stroking her hair. Byleth went cross-eyed looking upwards and gawking at the hand. “Byleth is a very special girl.”

Alright, so don’t tell him. “You want to hide her and her family in Abyss?” 

But Rhea just shook her head, expression mournful. “Byleth is an orphan. She will be alone in Abyss. That’s why I must ask for your help, Yuri.”

In the girl’s big dark eyes Yuri saw only trouble. Abyss sheltered plenty of people in hiding, but the people after Byleth seemed to be on a different level. If hiding the girl here brought danger into Abyss, then…

Then she was still a girl who needed help. Yuri would deal with any danger as it came. 

“Madame Birch will be happy to take her in.” Yuri smiled at Byleth again, taking care to crinkle his eyes and gave it positive energy. “My friend Madame Birch takes care of kids just like you, Byleth. She’ll be so excited to meet you. I know some girls her age in your house who’ve been begging me for another friend.” 

But Rhea just shook her head, expression somber and firm. “The forces after Byleth are powerful. I need to place her with the strongest person in Abyss - the person most able to protect her. That’s you, Yuri. Please take her yourself.”

Ah. What?

For the first time, Yuri had to fight to keep his expression and tone still. “My lady, my workload frequently takes me out of Abyss.”

“Then I can reduce your workload.”

That perked Yuri’s ears. He was a fool for not recognizing it immediately. Rhea was desperate. Her emotional involvement in this was far greater than keeping a tool out of the hands of the enemy. Byleth had to be family somehow - maybe even a secret daughter. Having a secret daughter of Lady Rhea in Yuri’s back pocket…under his exclusive supervision…

It was a death knell if anything happened to the kid. But the leverage was too good to pass up.

Fuck, he could even negotiate right here and now. He ought to send Byleth out of the room for this, but it was important that she understood what was happening and why. As much as she seemingly could - the girl may be a little touched. It didn’t matter, obviously, but it would necessitate a change in approach.                 

“Well,” Yuri said slowly, “the greatest distraction from Abyss would be my jobs. I would like to stay in Abyss full-time. Give her a more consistent upbringing.”

Rhea’s eyebrow quirked upwards, but Yuri was unrepentant. She knew what she was doing by looping him in. “I’ll reduce the quantity of jobs I assign you.”

“To once every four months, perhaps.”

“Once every two.” 

“That would be highly detrimental for Byleth’s childhood development.”

Evenly, Rhea said, “Going forth, I will give you a job every three months at maximum. Is that a deal?”

That was fucking fantastic. Yuri was almost lightheaded, but he pressed on. “Sounds like a deal. But raising a child is no simple matter, my lady. Child-proofing the environment, educating her, feeding her…Abyss is run on a razor-thin budget. The expenses concern me.” 

Rhea sighed. “I will funnel more money into your personal budget to compensate for the expense.” Yuri waited patiently. “And into the Abyss orphanages. Anything else, Yuri?”

She could be such a sucker sometimes. Sometimes Yuri wondered if she let him do it. Definitely not. Probably not. 

“I’m satisfied. You’re as generous as always, Lady Rhea.”

“This is in exchange for Byleth’s safety.” Rhea’s expression sobered, the soft silk solidifying into stone. “In exchange for what I’m giving you, I need her safety absolutely guaranteed. Nothing can happen to this girl.”

“No need to fret, my lady. Abyss is the safest place in Fodlan. Nobody even knows we exist.” Yuri bent down a little, smiling at Byleth. She had regained access to her knuckle, and was chewing it fastidiously again. “What do you say, Byleth? Want to go home with me?”

If the girl wasn’t touched, she must have understood. She must understand that the woman who would not admit to a relationship with her had just bartered for her residency with a teenage assassin, den mother, and prostitute. All things considered, the price had been insultingly low. 

Byleth just stared at him. Alright, maybe she didn’t understand. That would make this harder. Yuri really should have asked for more money. Teach the girl the first and most important lesson of her new life: that you should never sell yourself for less than what you were worth. Or market value, if you couldn’t get any buyers otherwise. Maybe this was just market value. 

Smile, Yuri. Smile. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together, Byleth.” 

Byleth blinked. At least she was a quiet child. This would be easy. 

______________

This was impossible.

This was shit. Absolute and complete shit. Why wasn’t she like Bernadetta? Yuri had thought she would be like Bernadetta. All Bernadetta did was nap, read, exhaustively detail the plot of her book, and cry. Byleth couldn’t even read. Apparently, when children couldn’t read, they decided to follow you around instead.

Everywhere. She followed him everywhere. When Yuri sat in the small storage room he co-opted as an office she crawled underneath his desk and swiped at his ankles. When Yuri visited the rogue’s encampments and gave the leadership its newly tightened security measures, she ran around the training field and started waving wooden training swords around. It took three rogues to wrest a sword from her. When Yuri made the rounds of Abyss and talked to its citizens, hearing every problem and offering every condolence he could, she hovered at his heels and gawked at every conversation with wide eyes. 

It was like having another googly-eyed shadow. Yuri didn’t have five seconds to himself anymore. He couldn’t even visit the tavern and unwind by flirting with one of his regular hook-ups - something about having a thirteen year old (twelve? Fourteen?) hovering at your elbow really killed your game. This must be what the older girls used to refer to as cockblocking. 

Byleth still hadn’t said a word. She observed, but never really listened. Still couldn’t read or write. She could catch the rats scuttling around the gutters with her bare hands. The girl may be touched. Which, again, didn’t matter - but it made it extraordinarily difficult to convey to her the importance of ‘me time’. Or ‘don’t eat that’. Or ‘put down that sword’.

It was official. Byleth was a demon. Figured that the wolf in sheep’s clothing would spawn a feral little wolf cub. Yuri should have charged more. 

At least Aelfric had his back. The cardinal had little time to sneak down into Abyss, but he had begun sparing whatever time he could towards playing with Byleth. Aelfric practically begged Yuri to allow him to spend time entertaining Byleth, saving Yuri from the effort of begging Aelfric to take her. Last time Yuri checked, Aelfric spent their time together teaching Byleth her letters in the destroyed classroom. And thank the goddess for that. 

“I don’t understand why she didn’t ask me,” Aelfric said, for roughly the hundredth time. They were sitting at a stone desk in the classroom, eating a coarse but filling breakfast. Byleth was cramming a hunk of bread the size of her face into her mouth. “I have my duties, but I would have gladly forfeited them for the sake of this child. You’re barely more than a child yourself, Yuri -”

Yuri couldn’t help but bark a sharp laugh. “You do realize that you and my mother are the only people who have said that in a decade.”

“That doesn’t make it untrue,” Aelfric said gently. Yuri ducked his head, focusing on pressing a napkin into Byleth’s hands and directing her to wipe her own face. There was no way this girl even knew how to do her makeup. Ridiculous. “Rhea shouldn’t have put this responsibility on you. I don’t know what she was thinking, honestly.” 

That made Yuri feel a little defensive. Byleth pushed away her plate, gnawing on her final hunk of bread, and Yuri pulled over her writing tablet. Aelfric had even sprung for a few pieces of paper and pencils dyed bright colors. Yuri hurriedly placed the paper and pencils in front of her. Last he remembered, drawing was an activity favored by younger children, but Byleth couldn’t exactly partake in the age-appropriate activities of gossiping, bullying other girls, sewing, or reading. Goddess, did she even know how to sew or embroider? Yuri would have to teach her.

“I could beat anybody in Abyss in a straight fight,” Yuri said. He hoped his defensiveness didn’t show. It was a little harder to hide with Aelfric. “Even you. More importantly, I know how to be stealthy and hide myself and others. I know the Abyss system like the back of my hand. As far as Abyssans go, I understand why Lady Rhea thought I was the best choice.”

“I’m not doubting your talent, Yuri,” Aelfric soothed, “I just don’t understand why Rhea couldn’t have put Byleth in the care of an adult. You have enough responsibilities of your own without adding another one on the heap.”

Yuri bristled. “I’m almost eighteen.”

“Eighteen with the burdens of a thirty year old.” Aelfric sighed, and Yuri guiltily subsided too. It wasn’t right to get defensive at Aelfric. After everything the man did to help him, he at least deserved the benefit of the doubt. “I just want you to enjoy what remains of your youth. There’s a sweet nun volunteering at the orphanage -” Yuri groaned. “Yuri, why can’t you hear me out on this?”

“You’re always going on about finding a nice girl, Aelfric -”

“Because you’re re-traumatizing yourself with all of these men,” Aelfric said patiently. Yuri looked down at his hands, restraining himself from picking at a manicured cuticle. “Look at you, Yuri. You haven’t changed any of your habits. You’re still trying to appeal to men. You have to begin to heal.”

There was something heavy and old in Yuri’s chest. It was a burden that never grew lighter - a pain that never retreated. The best he could do was ignore it. But Yuri kept picking at it all the same. “It’s not my fault that men continue to approach me.”

“But it’s your responsibility to turn them down. And men wouldn’t approach you so often if you didn’t wear all that makeup.” 

When Yuri spoke, his voice was quieter than he expected. He had wanted it to be louder, stronger. But something had cut it down. “It’s not for them…”

A small, bony finger poked Yuri’s side.

He looked over at Byleth, who was staring at him with her usual wide, serious eyes. She picked up her picture and presented it to Yuri, who took it and inspected the image carefully. 

It was of them. The girl was a far better artist than he expected, and although the proportions were a little wonky Yuri could clearly recognize all three of them. They were sitting on crates outside of a tent - a tent that resembled the ones in Abyss, but was more reminiscent of a standard issue mercenary’s tent. Yuri was drawn with great care, sitting straight backed on the crate and staring straight at the viewer. His makeup was exaggerated and poorly applied. Aelfric sat on Yuri’s left, wrinkles clearly outlined and his blood-red habit engulfing his figure. The red lines on the habit seemed closer to bloodstains. 

In comparison to the rest of the drawing, Byleth’s figure was remarkably undetailed. She only drew the faint outlines of herself, with a few expressive lines demarcating an abstract face. The greatest level of detail was in the giant brown jacket she never took off - the careful impressions of its stitches and metal buttons were a strange contrast to the ghost wearing it. 

“This is excellent,” Yuri said, genuinely impressed. Sometimes it was easy to think of her as younger than thirteen-or-so, but at other times her true age was perfectly obvious. Even the ghostly Byleth felt more like an artistic choice.  “I like your usage of color. It’s very powerful.” He pointed at a spot in the upper left of the page, tucked in the corner closest to Byleth and furthest than everybody else. It was just a tight swirl of green pencil - the gradient of density between the thick middle and loose outsides giving the green a strange halo-like impression. “Is this the sun?”

Byleth gave him a disgusted look. Yuri could guess: ‘the sun isn’t green, moron’. Potentially: ‘what sun? What’s a sun? I know only the Depths’. 

“Then what is it?” 

Byleth tugged the drawing away from him, replacing it on the table and attacking the page with a pencil. Chewing the edge of the pencil, mind working furiously, she carefully wrote out a word. She stared at the word, scratched it out, and then tried again. She put down her pencil, nodded in satisfaction, and showed it to Yuri again.

He squinted at the page. In messy, juvenile script underneath the halo - with an arrow carefully drawn towards the halo, in case he missed the reference - she had written ‘SOHTHESE’. 

“Sohthese?” Yuri asked, hiding confusion. “Is that a friend of yours?” Byleth shook her head. Then she nodded. “Is…that a yes or no?”

“She’s making great progress, but her spelling needs work. Let me see.” Aelfric held out a hand, and Yuri silently passed him the page. Aelfric took one look at the page and his eyebrows jumped. “I think she means ‘Sothis’. Is that correct, Byleth?” Byleth nodded vigorously. “Where did you hear that name, Byleth? I don’t think I ever told you that.” 

Wait. That name was a little familiar. “Is that the name of a saint?” Yuri asked. “I didn’t know you were giving her catechism classes.”

“I’m not. And it’s the name of the Goddess herself. It’s not very well used - typically only scriptural scholars use it with any regularity.” Aelfric frowned down at Byleth, and for the first time his expression seemed troubled. “Where could you have heard that word…?”

“Wow,” Yuri panned, “I wonder where the secret daughter of Lady Rhea heard the name of the goddess. The world may never know.” 

“Please, Yuri, be serious.” Aelfric was still frowning, staring at the paper intently. Byleth gestured for him to give the paper back, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just stared and stared at the paper, walking mental paths far beyond the provincial little world of Yuri and Byleth. 

“Aelfric, I think she wants the paper back.”

“What? Oh, yes.” Aelfric looked up, still somewhat dazed. “Could I potentially keep this, Byleth?” Byleth shook her head no. “I see. That’s alright, then.” He passed it back, and Byleth tugged it firmly out of his hands. She replaced it on the table, smoothing it over carefully. 

“I didn’t figure you for the religious type,” Yuri told Byleth. Byleth shrugged. “Are you going to become a nice nun too?”

“There’s nothing wrong with marrying a good woman and settling down,” Aelfric scolded lightly. “A home and a family is the greatest joy a young man can have. If you don’t change your behavior, you’ll never find happiness. I’m only worried about you.”

An extensive, agonizing rip split the air. 

Byleth was holding up the carefully constructed drawing in clear view of both men. Making direct and unblinking eye contact, she looked at Aelfric and ripped the paper straight down between Yuri and Aelfric. Yuri and Aelfric stared at her in shocked silence as she finished cruelly ripping Aelfric from the paper, balling up his figure in one clenched fist and carefully replacing the cropped page on the table. Yuri, Byleth, and Sothis looked very happy together. Aelfric’s face was split in half. 

Silence burdened the room. Aefric and Yuri gaped at Byleth in pure shock. Byleth happily took a blue pencil and began threading in streaks of blue in the green halo. 

A bark of laughter escaped Yuri’s chest. His chest was light and full, and the thick iron bars that held his broken pieces together loosened and allowed him to breathe. Another burst of laughter escaped the abandoned prison, then another, and then the inmates began running the asylum. Yuri began wheezing, clutching his own stomach as he laughed uncontrollably. 

Then Byleth laughed too, a light and ugly snort. It was the only sound he had ever heard from her. After weeks, the first and only sound Yuri had ever heard from Byleth was laughter. No tears, no screams of pain, no words begging for help, no moans for food - just laughter. A small smile painting the face of the girl as silent as death.

Yuri and Byleth, two prisoners unrestrained for the first time that they could remember, laughed together in defiance. 

In the end, Byleth had given the picture to Yuri. She had forgotten about the whole incident after a few months - a few years later, when prompted about that picture and the Goddess, Byleth would just stare blankly in confusion. She didn’t remember those days well.

Yuri remembered them. He remembered the picture too. He had placed the picture between two pages of a book and hidden it inside a desk. It remained in that desk for a very long time, and nobody but him ever knew it existed.

_____________

And then he lost her. 

He lost her. Aelfric asked if he could babysit her for the day, and because Yuri was tired and wanted some time to himself and to actually go on a freaking date for once he said yes, and when Byleth’s curfew at 2100 passed she and Aelfric still were not home. Aelfric knew to get her home by curfew. He knew that Byleth had to stay in Abyss for her own safety. He knew.

Yuri combed all of Abyss, top to bottom. Images of Aelfric and Byleth floating face down in the canal flashed throughout his mind. But a rogue stationed at one of the entrances from the monastery into Abyss said that he let Aelfric and Byleth through the entrance only a few hours ago. Apparently Yuri had asked Aelfric to take Byleth to the chapel to pray. The guard hadn’t thought twice about it. Yuri was Byleth’s guardian, but it was Aelfric. Some people were above suspicion. Some people could take children wherever they wanted. 

Yuri sprinted back to his room and threw on his spare pilfered Academy uniform, stolen from the closet of a noble boy who should have known better. He pulled on the jacket as he ran, feet thumping in time with the omnipresent dripping of water and the squeak of rats, and his mind was nothing but blaring static as he unscrewed the entrance to one of the least-known entrances into the monastery. 

He climbed the ladder at top speed, stopping only to grab the stone handle at the very top of the chute. He pushed full force against the handle, and after a second he heard the hard grind of stone on stone as the mechanism was activated and shifted the statue of Saint Cethlenn to the side. It was one of the finicky trapdoors that was almost impossible to access from above ground, but relatively easy from below. Yuri often had morbid daydreams about Garreg Mach falling under attack and how he would evacuate the entire population of the school out through the tunnels. 

Yuri clambered out of the tunnel, hoisting himself into Seteth’s office. He looked around - empty, but the sound of voices echoed from the adjacent room - and quickly stood up so he could push the statue back into place. The voices were Rhea’s familiar cadence and another unfamiliar deep male voice. In any other circumstance, Yuri would have cared about revealing himself in front of a stranger.  Today, he barely thought about it. Yuri burst out of Seteth’s office and skidded into the main chambers, ignoring Seteth’s cry of alarm and the rustling sounds of the guard’s armor. Yuri only halted when he was directly in front of Rhea, looking up into her alarmed green eyes.

Yuri bent double, leaning on his knees and gasping for breath. Rhea leaned over him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. The other man in the room was absolutely huge, with big hair and bigger muscles. If it wasn’t for the Academy student’s uniform he would have assumed the man was in his thirties.

“Whoah,” the big guy said. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“Where,” Yuri gasped, hard and heavy, “is Aelfric?” 

Rhea paled, eyes widening. Fear. Why fear? “He told me he was visiting you today. What’s wrong?”

“Sounds great! So it’s official that nobody knows where Father Aelfric was, then?” The big guy waved around a thick folder of paper, one hand propped on his hip. “Because I hung out in his office for an hour waiting for him to show up to our appointment. He said it was important, too! All this stuff about helping save me from expulsion. And the guy can’t even show up? We’re talking about my future here!”

“Our guard saw him taking Byleth to the surface!” Yuri cried frantically. The big guy’s brows furrowed, but Yuri couldn’t be assed about him right now. “I can’t find Aelfric or Byleth anywhere in Abyss! Lady Rhea, you have -”

But Rhea was already straightening and turning to the guards. In a tone he had never heard before, she said, “Find Cardinal Aelfric and bring him to me immediately. Shut down the monastery until he and Byleth are found. Nobody in or out.” 

“I know where he might have gone.” The big guy flipped the folder open, flashing messy stacks of paper and ripped pages from books. “I got bored waiting around for him, so I went through his desk.” No wonder this guy was about to get expelled. “Never knew one guy could get so into his ancient mausoleum hobby. Would you happen to know anything about this, Lady Rhea?”

Lady Rhea was silent. Yuri was still shaking. He should have been shocked, he should have been horrified. But he wasn’t. Yuri knew. Yuri had always known, he just hadn’t wanted to see it. 

“This is all my fault,” Yuri whispered. He wanted to throw up. He knew this sort of nausea - the kind invoked by visceral disgust at something you found within yourself. “I let him take her. I let him run off with her. This is all my…”

The way Aelfric looked at her. The way he was constantly volunteering to babysit or entertain her for the day or homeschool her. Yuri had given him everything he wanted - every unsupervised visit, constant knowledge of her location, everything. Because Yuri had trusted Aelfric. 

Trusted. He could be doing anything to her right now, because Yuri had trusted.

Hands, unimaginably large and hairy. Sagging flesh pressing against his own. Was this how Byleth felt right now? Were big hands on her chest? Awful pain, burning like fire. What did Byleth look like when she was in that pain? Did she make the same sounds he had? The squeals and moans. Did they like hearing them from her too? 

“Yuri. Yuri, you have to breathe.” Lithe, strong hands enveloped Yuri’s hands and squeezed tightly. The melodic sound of Lady Rhea’s voice barely permeated the haze. “You’re at Garreg Mach, Yuri. You’re in the home of the Goddess. You’re seventeen. I’m here. Nothing may harm you so long as I’m here.” 

“This is my fault,” Yuri gasped. “This is all my fault.” 

“No, Yuri. Look at me.” Yuri shuddered a final breath before looking up at Rhea. Her expression was intent, but she was still so calm and composed. Yuri couldn’t say the same at all. “This is my fault. I didn’t share my suspicions with you. I’m the one who encouraged you to trust him. This was - this was all me.” 

It was? 

Rhea had known? Rhea had known that Aelfric wasn’t honest? She had known that Aelfric would take Byleth and she hadn’t said anything -

“I know.” Rhea’s expression creased, and a deep pain surfaced in her features. “I just thought…he loved her mother as I once did. Surely he would feel the same as I do…but I suppose not. People still disappoint.” 

Yuri tugged his hands out of Rhea’s, and she let them go. He scrubbed at his face, constantly fighting to keep hold of his breaths and sanity. He was not about to have another stupid flashback. He wasn’t. Not in Garreg Mach and not in front of the stupid Archbishop. He wasn’t going to catastrophize. Byleth was fine. He had fucked up and failed her and it’s all his fault that terrible things are definitely happening to her right now, but it was fine.

“I hate men so damned much,” Yuri muttered miserably. Some part of him was appalled that he had cursed in front of the archbishop, but every other part of him was far more concerned with far more important things. “I’m never trusting a man again. All men do is make children suffer.”

The big guy laughed awkwardly, passing the file folder to the somber Rhea before scrubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “On behalf of men, I guess I have to apologize. I like to think we’re not all that bad…not that I can blame a - um, you, for how you feel. Tell you what, alright?” The big guy flexed an arm, as if he was at a bar trying to impress Yuri, and clapped his hand on his admittedly impressive bicep. “I’ll save this little girl myself! I’ll chase down Father Aelfric, kick his ass, get that little girl safely home, and redeem men in the eyes of women and - ah, you, everywhere! Or my name ain’t Balthus von Adalbrecht!”

A von Adalbrecht. Great. Yuri couldn’t repress the sneer. “Your uncle yells the name of his wife’s brother in bed.”

Balthus stared at Yuri blankly. “How do you know that?”

“How do you think?”

“Oh. Oh! Oh, gross! Why’d you have to say that, man!”

“Blame him,” Yuri snapped. “I don’t need the help of some meathead nobleman. I’ll rescue her myself.” 

But Balthus just shrugged - as if this really was such a simple thing. “Why can’t we both rescue her?” 

“Because I don’t know you!”

“I just introduced myself. Balthazar von Adalbrecht, call me Balthus.” Balthus stuck out his hand, waiting expectantly for a handshake. “And who’re you supposed to be, kid from nowhere?” 

“I’m nobody. You ought to forget you ever saw me.” Rhea was already going to give him an earful over allowing himself to be seen. But Balthus was standing so expectantly, and despite that awful little trivia Yuri just shared he was still looking him in the eyes. “What do you even want from me?”

“What, you think that just because I want to help it means I want something from you?” Yes, that was exactly what Yuri thought. He wasn’t stupid. “Listen, pal. Even nobodies need some help here and there. I’m not exactly a saint, but any half-decent person would want to help you out. Since I’m the strongest, coolest guy in Garreg Mach, that means I have to help. It’s not exactly complicated.”

“There’s no such thing as decent people,” Yuri said sourly. 

Balthus whistled. “You’re a regular beam of sunshine, aren’tcha?”

“I haven’t seen the sun in weeks.”

“You haven’t what now?”

“Take Balthus with you, Yuri.” Lady Rhea’s tone brooked no argument, and Yuri had to give up. It was always a waste of time arguing with a noble. They would just take what they wanted anyway. “You two will take our elite church knights and rescue Byleth. I can lead the way - I think I know where Aelfric and Byleth are.” Rhea’s expression darkened, sending something crawling up Yuri’s spine. Seeing a dangerous expression on her felt…well, it felt more dangerous than usual. “I suspect he is desecrating a corpse right now.” 

“Wow,” Balthus said, impressed. “What the hell did I just walk into?”

“Captain Jeralt will arrive with the forces soon. We’ll leave then.” Rhea turned around, and Yuri and Balthus exchanged troubled looks. Her voice was poisonous. If she sounded like this, what expression was she hiding so carefully? “Aelfric will learn what Byleth’s true family is capable of.”

“Hell yeah!” Balthus cried, pumping a fist. “Go, fam!”

“We aren’t fam!” Yuri snapped. “What does that even mean?”

“But Lady Rhea just said that the bad guy’s gonna learn what -”

“That doesn’t make you fam.”

“But I’m on the team, and the team’s fam, so -”

“What is fam!”

At the time, Yuri’s only consolation had been the fact that he wouldn’t have to deal with Balthus for very long. He was a strong fighter with a compassionate heart, but if Yuri never saw another wealthy and spoiled nobleman again it would be too soon. Yuri hadn’t noticed when Byleth entered his heart, but that final and disastrous kidnapping session had proven it - whether they wielded the weapon or were the weapon, the people closest to you always hurt the most. Better to close your heart.

There were a lot of things Yuri hated about himself. The list was too long to count. But there was always one thing about himself that Yuri hated the most. One thing he just couldn’t stand.

Yuri just couldn’t close his heart. He just couldn’t do it. Every time he failed, and every time he had regretted it. There was no benefit to letting people in. He just couldn’t stop.

But Balthus had saved Byleth’s life that day. So maybe there was a benefit or two. Every once in a great while. 

If you were lucky. 

_________

Three days after Yuri and a moron saved a little girl from a bastard, Abyss received a visitor. 

Yuri received him outside the ruined classroom. It would probably be more professional to bring him to Yuri’s office or something, but Yuri frankly intended to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Team up with the church knights once and suddenly they think that they have the right to go stomping all around Abyss. But you couldn’t exactly tell the captain of the church knights to get off your lawn, so Yuri told Byleth that he would be back in a few minutes and stood outside the classroom in increasingly frustrated wait. 

Byleth had made big eyes at him. She obviously hadn’t wanted him to go. Ugh. He really hoped that this wouldn’t turn into a surprise administrative meeting that took five hours and never accepted Yuri’s input into anything. Yuri was re-teaching Byleth poker - she had undoubtedly already learned before she lost her memory, which was another strike against the ‘secret lovechild of Lady Rhea’ theory that had been admittedly punctured by the corpse of her mother - and she was unsurprisingly excellent at it. Girl was a genius in math.

But Jeralt didn’t show up wearing armor. He was wearing casual, battered furs, leather, and a familiar canvas jacket. Surface people were always tense and anxious in Abyss, expecting to get mugged by rats with daggers at any moment, but there was a different quality about Jeralt’s anxiety. He seemed as if he was steeling himself for something. 

“Yuri.” Jeralt’s voice was always attractively husky, but it was closer to hoarse now. “Doing well?”

Yuri bowed, noting the bandage on Jeralt’s temple. “Yes, sir. All healed up. And you? That hit you took looked nasty.” 

Jeralt huffed a laugh, rubbing the bandage. “I’ve taken hits from bigger monsters. Don’t worry about it. I would have come to visit earlier, but they only let me out of bed this morning.” Jeralt cleared his throat, shifting on his feet. “Ah…is Byleth doing alright?”

“She’s been having nightmares, but she’s fine.”

“She is?” Jeralt looked unreasonably alarmed. “Is she waking up at night? What are you doing to help? Tea -”

“She’s been sleeping in my bed the past few nights, so I’m keeping an eye on her.” Yuri eyed Jeralt, suspicions only growing. There was something off about this conversation. “Can I help you, captain?”

“Right. Ah, right.” Jeralt shifted again and coughed. Mysteriously, he took off his cap and held it tightly. “I was hoping to drop in and say hello. See how she is.” 

Like hell he would.

“Byleth is busy doing her schoolwork.” Yuri’s voice could have frozen a flame. “You’ll have to come back later.”

“We don’t have to talk.” There was something old and weary in Jeralt. His husky voice was more of a rasp. “I just want to see her.”

Before he could restrain himself, Yuri snapped, “And why do you want to see her so badly?”

Snapping at the captain of the church knights. Fantastic. This was how you protected people - by alienating everybody else who wanted to help. That would do it. 

Jeralt did want to help. The man had been withdrawn and quiet during their rescue mission, but he had been the first to rescue Byleth’s mother’s corpse and prevent it from melting into the monster. He probably would have been the first to rescue Byleth if Yuri hadn’t gotten there first - if Yuri hadn’t used a careful vein of magic to swap positions with her. Byleth had landed safely near the entrance and Aelfric had found a nasty surprise when he turned to look down upon a girl laid out on an altar and came eye-to-eye with Yuri’s dagger. 

But that didn’t mean anything. Aelfric had helped Yuri and Byleth too, and look where that got them. Yuri didn’t know anything about Jeralt. He could have ulterior motives. He worked closely with Rhea, who was nothing but ulterior motives. The only person Yuri was certain didn’t have ulterior motives was Balthus, who was just clearly too stupid. 

Jeralt didn’t grow angry or defensive. He just looked a little sad. Yuri crossed his arms, fighting the urge to bristle. “How are you holding up, kid?”

“I wasn’t the one who was kidnapped.”

Jeralt huffed a small laugh. “It ain’t exactly easy on the onlookers, either. It’s alright if you’re not alright.”

“I’ll persevere somehow.” Yuri was quickly losing track of this conversation. Why was Jeralt asking about this? “Did Rhea tell you to check up on us?

“Rhea doesn’t know I’m here. She’s…strongly encouraged me to stay away from Abyss.” Jeralt’s mouth twisted unhappily. “She’s right. I really shouldn’t be here. I just…wanted to see her.” 

“And why is that?”

For a long, long moment, Jeralt didn’t answer. Great. He couldn’t even think of a good lie. He couldn’t even say that he wanted to make sure she wasn’t injured, or assure himself that he had gotten her out of there intact - Yuri would have even believed those bland excuses. But he had nothing to say for himself at all. How suspect. 

The door creaked open, and Yuri spun around just in time to see Byleth poking her head out of the classroom. Yuri opened his mouth, ready to reprimand her and shuffle her quickly back inside where no suspicious men resided, but he was too slow. The second Byleth saw Jeralt her eyes widened, and Yuri saw her eyes light up for the first time. 

“Jeralt!” Byleth cried. 

She dived forwards, and Jeralt automatically crouched down to accept the hug. They squeezed each other tightly - Byleth hanging on for dear life, Jeralt fighting shuddering breaths. His hand pressed on the back of her lead, warm and protective. 

So she could speak. Yuri had been wondering. Her first word of her new life was…Jeralt. That was fine. Good for her. And Jeralt.

“Hey, kid,” Jeralt rasped, throat thick. “How’ve you been?”

Byleth patted the top of his head. 

Alright, that was enough. Yuri took the white collar of Byleth’s neat little navy blue dress, pulling gently until he reeled her back away from Jeralt. The effect was somewhat like a scruffed kitten, but whatever worked. Yuri’s carefully tied puffy twin pigtails didn’t help the kitten impression. 

“Don’t run towards strange people,” Yuri scolded. “This is why you keep getting kidnapped.”

Byleth wriggled around until Yuri finally sighed and released her. Jeralt slowly rose, but Byleth ran back towards him and tugged hard at his jacket. Jeralt raised a patient eyebrow, watching Byleth carefully. 

Yuri had distantly noticed it before, but now that Byleth drew attention to the jacket it was obvious. It was a very familiar jacket. Not identical to Byleth’s old one - the giant canvas jacket that she never took off - but it was similar in fit and cut. 

“What do you need?” Jeralt asked. Byleth tugged harder at the jacket, as if she was trying to pull it off him. “Use your words, kid. You can do it.” Byleth heroically attempted to rip the jacket from Jeralt’s body. Yuri made a strangled noise, but Jeralt didn’t blink. “You have to start speaking up sometime. I bet Yuri over there wants to hear your voice too.” 

Byleth’s eyebrows ticked together, but she finally released the jacket. She stared fixedly at Jeralt, who amicably allowed himself to be stared at. Finally, she said, “Aelfric lost jacket.” 

Automatically, Yuri corrected, “Aelfric lost my jacket.”

“Aelfric lost my jacket,” Byleth parroted. She poked at Jeralt’s canvas jacket again. “I want the jacket again.”

Turned out that there was one way Byleth could be even more trouble - opening her mouth. Yuri sighed, already regretting his life. “Byleth, you’re being incredibly rude. You can’t just ask adults to -”

But Jeralt was already shucking his jacket, with no hesitation or thought, and passing it to Byleth. She brightened, clutching the thick material tightly and burying her face in it. She smelled it deeply, making Jeralt’s expression crease into something absolutely unfamiliar to Yuri, before swinging the jacket on and allowing it to swallow her up yet again. This edition went to her knees, looking far more like a baggy coat than anything else, but she beamed up at Jeralt in absolute joy anyway. She turned to Yuri, spreading her arms out and silently bragging about how great her new jacket was.

Something that should have been obvious weeks ago suddenly became extremely obvious. “You’re the one who gave her that first jacket. The one she never took off.” 

“She never took it off?” Jeralt smiled a little, but the weight on his shoulders only seemed to grow. “I gave it to her after I rescued her from her kidnappers last time. She was - ah, she just seemed cold. I assumed she had thrown it away or something.”

“You’re the one who rescued her?” Hadn’t Lady Rhea mentioned something about this? “Wait - are you the one who brought Byleth to Garreg Mach?”

��Yup. It’s why I wanted to see her again.” Jeralt patted the top of Byleth’s head, who swelled her chest in pride. “She’s picked up a habit of getting into trouble.”

That did explain it. No wonder he was invested. After so much work invested in keeping her alive, Yuri would want to check up on her too. Why couldn’t he just say that?

Byleth looked seriously up at Jeralt. “Thank you for the jacket.” 

“I knew you had manners in there somewhere.” Jeralt crouched down again, looking just above Byleth’s head. Yuri had noted weeks ago that she didn’t like eye contact, but it seemed that Jeralt knew that too. “Try not to lose that one. But if you do, come right back to me and I’ll give you another one. Alright?”

Byleth nodded. 

Jeralt sighed. He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. Byleth leaned into the touch a little. “Be more careful from now on. Your world will only grow more dangerous as you get older. You have to be ready, so train hard.” Impulsively, he took the cap off his head and placed it on her own. It fell over her eyes immediately, far too large for her, but she hurriedly pushed it upwards. “Listen to that brother of yours. His life looks hard enough already, so don’t make it any harder.” 

Byleth��s eyes widened. “Brother?”

“Brother?” Yuri squawked. “Please, Captain, Rhea hired me to supervise her. This is just an arrangement.” 

Jeralt shifted to look at him, and Yuri saw flint in his eyes for the first time. “We need to separate Byleth from her past life even further. We don’t know if Aelfric told anybody about the identity of Byleth’s mother. Connecting her to you is safest for both of you. Guess I should have asked first, but it’s a matter of her safety.” 

“This is an arrangement.”

“Then arrange a fake relationship. You need some excuse for why you’re joined at the hip. Pretend she’s some orphan you took in under your wing - it’s not even a lie.” Jeralt straightened, turning to look at Yuri for the first time. His expression was somber and serious, but he looked smaller without his jacket. “Look, kid. I admit I wasn’t happy when Rhea passed her off to you. Rhea has her own reasons for everything she does, and you’re…” 

He trailed off, clearly struggling for political correctness, before Yuri took pity on him. “An ex-whore who moonlights as Rhea’s lackey?”

“Saints, kid, that’s not what I was about to say -”

“What’s a whore?” Byleth asked loudly.

Yuri looked down at her. “Somebody who’s so good at something that they never do it for free.” Byleth nodded sagely, and Yuri looked back up at Jeralt. Jeralt didn’t seem happy, but Yuri wasn’t paid enough to entertain him. “And even if you weren’t crass enough to say it, it’s the truth. You don’t trust Rhea and I do whatever she says. Trust me, Captain, I wouldn’t be happy either. You don’t have to cozy up to me.”

“I wasn’t happy because you’re seventeen years old,” Jeralt said firmly. Yuri rolled his eyes. Not this shit again. What was with adult men always reminding him that he was in his teens? Did they get off on it or something? “I knew Rhea would put her with somebody she trusted absolutely. I just didn’t want that person to be you.” 

Of course he didn’t! Who the hell would? Yuri was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion about Jeralt’s relationship to Byleth - nobody else would have thought to rescue a corpse before an imminent battle - and no self-respecting father would want their daughter around somebody like Yuri. Byleth was pure and innocent. As innocent as a thirteen year old could ever be - wiped clean of her old life, completely noncognizant of the world around her. How often had she seen the sun since she met Yuri? She hadn’t even spoken before now. The girl had a damned imaginary friend, for heaven’s sake. Byleth was innocent in every way, and Yuri was filthy.

“Saints, kid, don’t give me that face. It’s not because of your background. It’s just obvious that you have more than enough on your plate. Don’t you have a city to govern? Evil errands to run for Rhea? I just don’t know how the hell you have time.” 

“Do you think I can’t do it?” Yuri snapped. “I have more than one skillset, you know.”

Jeralt exhaled heavily, scrubbing his face. “You are the least charitable - never mind.” He was uncharitable? Maybe he just didn’t buy stupid lies. “None of this is coming out right. What I’m trying to say is that you need whatever help you can get. Calling yourself siblings would make your life easier. But I’m hardly going to force you into it. Do whatever you want, kid. I’m not in charge of you.” Slightly quieter, he said, “I’m not in charge of either of you.” 

Yuri wanted to call Jeralt a bad father. He knew already that Jeralt was probably the best father he’d ever met. Taking up a job with somebody he clearly hated for the sake of staying near a daughter he was barely allowed to see. Who he couldn’t even claim, because some mysteriously evil people were after her and she was safest in complete anonymity. Some fathers would cheer at the opportunity to ditch their daughters, but the pain in Jeralt’s voice was real. And yet he wanted to tie her to Yuri. 

It would only contaminate her. He was already ruining her. Yuri had to stay away, he had to keep her out - if only for her own sake. To protect her from Yuri, and to protect Yuri from the world. Yuri couldn’t let anybody else inside. Too dangerous for everybody.

But refusing Jeralt’s proposal wouldn’t protect her from the world. And maybe a father was thinking about a factor that Yuri had missed completely. 

The fact that her mother was a shockingly well-preserved corpse and her father had to disown her. Rhea was somehow related to her, which was bad enough, but she couldn’t claim her either. Even Yuri had a mother. To the world, Byleth was alone. That was…

“Fine.” Yuri had lost this battle. He had probably also lost the war. Whatever. He fought for his own side anyway. “But I won’t force her to call me that. She’s not terribly attached to me.”  

It was the rational thought. Yuri had repeatedly left her alone with a freak and allowed her to get kidnapped again. It was a miracle her real family hadn’t fired Yuri the second she got kidnapped. 

But Byleth’s brow furrowed in outrage. Yuri fought the urge to startle - he had almost forgotten she was there. “I like you.”

The words stopped Yuri short. He wasn’t sure why. They weren’t strange words, were they? 

His hesitation must have been obvious, even to Byleth, because she promptly grabbed him in a giant hug. It was small, comforting, and warm. Her small body fit nicely next to his, and when he folded his arms over her he could almost envelop her. 

Jeralt just gave him a wry grin. “I guess you were too far away to hear. Remember how I was right next to you when you swapped positions with her?” Yuri nodded. “When she appeared in your place, I scooped her up and put her on my horse immediately. I think she knew what had happened. She called out your name. Damn near tried to jump from my horse and run towards you too.” 

That didn’t seem right. But she had hugged him after the fight, hadn’t she? Balthus had called it adorable. Come to think of it, Balthus had asked if Byleth was his sister too…Yuri hadn’t known what to say. He didn’t know what to say now.

Jeralt propped a hand on a hip, smiling. “You see that, Byleth? Yuri didn’t know you liked him. From now on you’ll have to speak up and tell him you like him a lot.” Byleth nodded fastidiously. “Attagirl. Hey, can you take that book from the inside pocket and pass it to your brother? It has something he might want to see.” 

Byleth eagerly separated from Yuri and completed the errand, pulling out a small book from a jacket pocket and passing it to Yuri. Yuri opened it and began flipping through it, just barely catching scraps of documents and notes that came slipping out. 

“Check the last few pages,” Jeralt said. “We found it in Aelfric’s things. Actually, that klepto student found it. Is that guy a friend of yours or something?”

“Or something,” Yuri muttered. 

Byleth stared up at Jeralt. “Is Balthus my brother too?”

“No,” Yuri said.

Jeralt shrugged. “If you want. He’s rich, so maybe you can fleece him.”

“I already tried,” Yuri said distantly, flipping through the book. Something about four crests…notes on a very familiar crest. Balthus’ pilfered paperwork had already revealed that Aelfric had targeted him for his crest. That had burned. Yuri was trying not to think about it. “He’s broke and only attracted to older women.” 

Pity, too - Yuri could have had an excellent sucker on that reel. He made his move during the ‘post-rescue a little girl drinking party!’, but Balthus just pointedly pretended he didn’t pick up on what Yuri was doing and started talking loudly about how Yuri reminded him of a hypothetical younger brother. It was frustrating. Yuri still didn’t know why Balthus had helped him. There was probably a secret motive that Yuri just hadn’t picked up on yet. Or maybe Balthus actually -

Yuri stopped short. This page was about Balthus. About the von Adalbrechts, and some sort of mysterious crest in their family legend. Right alongside a personality profile on Balthus…notes on his attendance and conduct issues…character notes…records of meetings and conversations with Balthus…lists of broken school rules…apparently psychologically unstable…

Yuri flipped a page backwards. It was on him. He caught a few paragraphs on his history before he quickly flipped forward. He didn’t want to know what Aelfric thought of his personality. Probably just called him a slut for two straight pages. Definitely marked him down as psychologically unstable.

But there were people besides Yuri and Balthus in the notebook. Right after Balthus’ incomplete profile, there was another name and short descriptor. Constance von Nuvelle. Another rich bitch noblewoman. Current student of the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery…extremely high grades for her first few years at the school before they plummeted half a year ago. Now at risk of dropping out. Extensive record of conduct issues, same as Balthus. Aelfric made note of…severe psychological instability, whatever that meant. And a certain crest…

Yuri flipped through Constance’s profile until he found another. Hapi, no last name - a commoner. Extensive hypothesizing on the power of her crest and little information about her. Current resident of a church in the middle of nowhere. Psychologically unstable.

“This explains why Aelfric was having those private meetings with Balthus,” Yuri muttered. “I guess we both have powerful crests. These two women must also have powerful crests…but why keep tabs on them specifically? Why keep tabs on all of us?”

“Aelfric talked about blood a lot,” Byleth said seriously. Yuri really shouldn’t have left him alone with her. 

“I should contact Lady Rhea about this,” Yuri said. He continued flipping through the book - going through Yuri Leclarc, Balthus von Adalbrecht, Constance von Nuvelle, and Hapi’s profiles again and again. Four strangers placed right next to each other, thrown together by fate. “She’ll definitely be interested in learning about Constance and Hapi.” 

Byleth peered over his arm, trying to take a glance at the book. Yuri let her. She could barely read. Maybe secrets would incentivize her to keep learning. “Are they important?”

“Probably not,” Yuri said. 

But even then, he had lied. Even then, he had already known. 

Call it intuition. 

[usaigi]

Modern Blue Lions headcanons

Dimitri

Has difficulties with fine motor skills following the car accident that killed his family and Glenn. Has to use accommodating tools like specific silverware and a laptop to take notes in class. Kids used to be jealous that he got use a laptop in class but he just wanted to be normal

Regular member of his school GSA but everyone assume he's just a straight ally because look at him. Look at his hair. He's straight. His classmates don't discover he's actually bi until a week before graduation when they see him kiss Felix

Also a regular member of the BIPOC solidarity club. Dimitri, Dorothea, Ashe and Constance are the token white allies.

(mental health spiraling) "haha puberty/hormones :) No need to discuss these new symptoms with anyone, it's just normal teenager things" (it is not normal teenage things)

Annette

banned from home ec after starting a fire while making a salad... She's was trying to make homemade croutons...

girl ADHD :)

she got a B on a chem test one and cried about it for 2 days straight

"Maybe if I get all A and get this many awards and get this many scholarships, my dad will love me :)" (girl.. :( )

Frenemies with Lysithea. They're buddies until it's time for exams. Then it's war. There can only be one valedictorian. (death note's "I'll take a potato chip and eat it" songs plays in the background)

Olivia Rodrigo stan

Sylvain

Hasn't said "okay i'm sorry that I looked at Mrs Riley and lightly grazed her left tit" but has said that exact same thing

friend with a car. "yeah we can all fit into my Audi; Annette and Ashe are tiny, just squeeze in and pretend you like each other. We can stick Felix in the trunk" "I'll kill you."

He's in Lacross AND theatre. Ice hockey AND Ice dancing and figure skating. He can do both, he's bisexual

Has to pick between a major sport game and his theatre show. His dad wants him to follow his dream and do the game but Sylvain is getting ready to tell him "no dad i'm giving up your dream." He backs out. He goes to the game.

"You got a perfect score on the college entrance exams?" "Why is it hard?" (he studied so much)

Ingrid

"Gay people are real??? They don't just exist in San Francisco and on Glee???" /gen confusion. Not in a homophobic way, she's just raised in a conservative environment and instead of going on the internet, she hangs out with her horses (Just wait till she finds out about trans people)

When her family was going through a particularly hard financial time, her friends started packing extra lunch. They all know she doesn't accept handouts but Ingrid will never say no to leftovers.

So chronically offline. Who's Billie Eilish? What's Succession? What is Rizz?? They're making another Spider-Man movie!?

Dedue

Vice-president of the BIPOC solidarity club. The school gives them club money and he uses it to make food for the members.

"..." "Go on" "Down with... gringo?" *Claude, Petra, Felix, Cyril, Hapi, Constance, Dimitri, Ashe and Dorothea all clap*

Football/Basketball/Hockey couches keep trying to recruit him. He just wants to garden.

(Tw racism and ref to violence to poc men) "I don't want to antagonist white people. As a large brown man, I'm already perceived as a threat." "That's ok! Your safety comes first. I got this," Dorothea says as she throws eggs at someone's car with a confederate flag.

Mercedes

"I'm joining the war on liberation theology on the side of liberation theology."

"Mercedes! Can you explain your tardiness?" "Forgive me, professor, I was at morning mass." (She was. But she's late because she stop to smoke a blunt.)

In her most angelic, big sister voice, "fuck TradCaths 😊"

Somehow still failing her religious studies class

(tw cults and implied anti semitic conspiracy) Raised in a religious cult where her step dad was the leader until she and her mom escaped. Because of this, did not know Jewish people were real. "I knew they were people in the bible but all I knew was [redact]" (Don't worry, she knows better now that she's not in a literal cult)

Felix

"I fucking hate my dad" "why? Is it cause he didn't accept you being queer/trans?" "No, he was cool with that. He's just fucking annoying."

"Ingrid, what the hell, I'm literally trans. You know this. We've been friends since we were in diapers." "Oh. I forgot." "YOU FORGOT!?"

Wasian. (tw sui joke) @ Dimitri and Sylvain "stop joking about killing yourself--you're appropriating my culture, assholes."

Secret Olivia Rodrigo fan. He only listens to her music on youtube + incognito mode. Only Annette knows. Annette manages to get them concert tickets were they run into Lysithea.

Ashe

Spider-Man stan on main. Somehow he convinces Dedue to be his Ned Leeds to his Peter Parker for Halloween

He knows Ingrid would like the MCU if she watched it, but she's scared of needing to watch 10000 movies

*slaps Ashe's back* You can pack so much anxiety in this guy

Started school in the middle of the year because he's a foster kid. Rumors started spread about him being a harden criminal because he went to juvie. He keeps tries to correct them and say he's never been but Caspar keeps fueling the rumors

"Caspar! Stop telling people I went to juvie! That never happened!" "...You... lied to me? :(" "You made it up!" "Oooh. Right."

[fireemblems24]

Azure Gleam Ch 11

Spoilers below for AG Ch 11.

STORY

RODRIGUE is back. You have no idea how happy I am that he got more screen time (and is now playable!)

Ashe's not happy that some nobles kept their titles after turning coat, but they can't afford the chaos changing things would create right now, but they plan to in the future.

I am living for the Big Dad energy Rodrigue always has.

Do we get to kill Caspar's Dad? Please let me kill Caspar's dad.

Felix asking the right questions - asking if they can trust Claude. Annette doesn't trust Claude. Ingrid neither, but doesn't think he's as bad as Annette and Felix.

Gustave and the Knights of Serios are keeping the Alliance in check.

Once again, people asking if Dimitri can kill his step-sister. But Dimitri's like, guys, I killed Rufus. I can handle it.

Ohh, a letter from Patricia? If it doesn't have new info, why bring it up? Something disturbing. Confirmation she was always bad.

Yep, she helped plot Duscur. I mean, we all guessed she was an awful human being, so now we know.

Like, I don't blame Patricia for missing Edelgard or whatever, but setting your child step-son to get butchered alongside tons of other innocent people is straight-up evil.

Dimitri's worried about Shez, and she's opening up to him. It's pretty sweet. It's also so sweet how much they trust Shez even if she doesn't trust herself.

Honestly, Dimitri and Shez are so cute, as friends or more, it doesn't matter, they have a great relationship.

Shez would rather die than kill her friends 😭 We won't let that happen (it better not happen)

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

Seteth said he trusts me 😭😭😭

Rodrigue got to say two things this time, which means he made up for lost time last chapter.

Ok guys, Shamir just went up in my books. She said as a mercenary she'll get hired to kill anyone, but prefers killing bad guys, like the Empire. I love it. She hasn't said anything like this in GW or SB.

SHEZ & RODRIGUE B

LAMO, omg, I love Shez.

So it starts with Rodrigue taking Shez very seriously as Shez talks about how the war may be over by next winter because she . . . wants to have a snowball fight, like all the Kingdom kids got to do.

It's actually kind of sweet, seeing Shez want to just play and have fun with the Blue Lions.

Rodrigue, of course, love the idea.

And takes snowball fighting too seriously, talking strategy. Of a snowball fight. OMG I love this. I love him.

He'd do full-out battle with Lambert and go with kids.

Rodrigue lost, lamo.

So Lambert would rush into battle alone, and Shez thinks like father like son with Dimitri.

I also love how Rodrigue thinks Gautier is cowardly for laying and ambush for Lambert, but is totally fine with his own sneaking and waiting to strike.

It ended with them getting cussed out by Ingrid's dad for not taking the mountain seriously.

Shez can invite Rodrigue to join in.

Oh, man, I wish I got to see this fight. I can only imagine Felix when he realizes Rodrigue is involved and thinking it's dumb for taking it seriously, then taking it seriously. Ingrid being an absolute tyrant ordering people to follow her strategies. Dimitri scared he'll knock someone's teeth out. Mercedes being absolutely savage. And so on...

DIMITRI & YURI C

Excited for this.

Yuri's told a "funny knight" who's really strong is helping everyone out who sometimes sounds sheltered and obtuse and sometimes not. Yep. It's Dimitri.

Yuri's not happy seeing Dimitri in dangerous allies. Worried about him. But Dimitri wants to learn how the commoners live so he can help them rule better.

OMG, Yuri's like "you don't have an heir," worried about the civil war that will happen if Dimitri dies.

Yuri is determined for Dimitri to live a long and happy life because the people of Faerghus like Dimitri and Yuri likes the commonfolk of Faerghus.

Also love how Yuri points out that if war breaks out, nobles will die, but commoners get slaughtered. Wish he'd tell Edelgard that.

Haha, he says to bring Dedue at least.

OMG, I love Dimitri. He then just asks Yuri to be his bodyguard.

And Dimitri won't ask Dedue because he knows Dedue will just forbid Dimitri from coming, like a nanny, lol.

Yuri's entertained that Dimitri asked him to be a bodyguard.

SYLVAIN & DEDUE B

Dedue is impressed with Sylvain for interacting with a woman like a normal person lamo.

"Don't expect praise for merely doing your job." I love Dedue. That's savage af.

Sylvain was motivated to mature by Felix and Dimitri. He said they're both like brothers, which is why he wouldn't get left behind. I love this group.

Oof, Dedue "had" a sister. And now we're getting to learn about her. 😭 She liked flower crowns and was determined when she set her mind to it.

Dedue wants Sylvain to visit Duscur after the war, to visit her grave together 😭

SYLVAIN & FELIX A

Felix got into a fight with soldiers . . . . because they were making fun of Sylvain.

Felix called it the "worst decision in his life." Of course. Felix being Felix.

Felix didn't tell Sylvain because he was worried about Sylvain hearing the details about what people said about him.

I love the idea of Felix getting into a fist-fight with people insulting Sylvain lamo.

Sylvain thinks he deserves his bad reputation because of who he used to be. Felix challenged why Sylvain didn't change sooner. Sylvain has no defense lol.

Felix is ok with people making fun of Sylvain, but only certain people lamo.

Felix is blushing after saying something nice lol. Now he's pissed at Sylvain. And insulting him. Very typical Felix.

Sylvain says he's 7% more cunning than Felix lamo.

This one did go more into ship bait. I was surprised how un-shippy their C was, but I'm sure Sylvix fans loved this one.

DIMITRI & MERCEDES A

They're traveling to a village together. It's the one Mercedes used to live in. Dimitri likes how calm it is.

Mercie called Dimitri her friend 😭😭

Dimitri claims he's a king's knight lol. He catches himself. Also village woman finds Dimitri handsome. She has taste.

Mercedes and Dimitri talk about how open minded the church is and give credit to the overall teachings (lamo, eat shit, Claude)

Mercedes is grateful to Dimitri to taking in the Central Church because it helped the village out. It's why she brought him there, so he could see the good that comes from protecting the church.

Mercedes plans to show him around the town and introduce Dimitri to her mother and the priest.

Dimitri's nervous lol. Hahaha, Mercie says she'll tell him he's someone "very important" which flusters him lamo.

She made him laugh and smile.

This support was adorable. (and feels like it couldn't possibly be the same writers as SB and GW lamo)

MERCEDES & DEDUE B

Sad they only get one support. Their Houses one was amazing.

Mercedes is teaching cooking. The little girl gets scared of Dedue when he arrives to fetch Mercie.

Poor Dedue frightens children and animals :(

Mercie says lots of the kids are orphans, so they're scared, and that Dedue looks intimidating. She has a plan to make him not look as scary.

I KNEW IT! He's handing out flower crowns. I was going to say it was something with flowers.

Now all the kids love Dedue. Good. He's the sweetest man in Fodlan.

Dedue teaches them how to make the crowns.

Dedue is happy with Mercedes, but Mercie says it was Dedue's kindness who won them over. Of course they both give each other credit.

They both have such strong mom and dad energy.

SHEZ & ANNETTE A

Annette's up late working on music lol. Shez thinks the notes look like bugs lol.

Annette won't sing it though :( Her songs are legendary.

She wants a song that makes people feel happy when they sing it. Very Annette.

She heard the song Shez passed around getting sung by a dying mercenary, who died happy though because they appreciated the song. It made Annette appreciate the song more.

She is such a sweetie.

It's sweet to have a whole support revolve around Annette realizing her songs make people happy and help people. She'd love that.

OMG, I love Annette. Her new song is about a feast, then they go to get more ingredients, and then get into a death battle with a bear. Truly a child of Faerghus.

RAPHAEL & FELIX C

Raphael is drooling over Felix's food, so he gives it to Raphael, and Felix offers to go buy more.

Felix thinks he hears thunder, but it's just Raphael's stomach.

Felix is being nice, lol, insisting Raphael eat some of his food.

But now he's annoyed that Raphael called him a "meat buddy" or a bit. Felix likes the idea of hunting that Raphael suggested.

Raphael is so nice not even Felix can manage to get mad at him.

SYLVAIN & IGNATZ C

Sylvain feels bad because he interrupted Ignatz painting. He wanted Ignatz to look at a painting he brought home.

Sylvain knows painting styles (he knows it's not a common Faerghus style). But ofc Sylvain is interested in how pretty the woman in the painting is lamo.

He's curious about the woman's identity, but it doesn't seem in a fuck boy way, but a curiosity over a favorite piece of art way.

That Sylvain is into art just made him even cooler.

Religious art often has their symbols in the art (and Flayn's is fish lamo, good).

As a major art fan, I love this support adding little tid bits about Fodlan art.

Lamo, Sylvain studied art to impress ladies at first, but now he actually likes it.

SETETH & YURI C

Yuri chatted with a scholar, wanting to learn about the 10 elites because he didn't get a good education.

It's a support to explain how crests came to be and their powers

Yuri trusts Seteth with his crest secrets (partly because he knows Seteth already knows, and partly bc Yuri has taste)

Seteth encourages Yuri to cherish his crest and the power it brings

So is Yuri the son of an elite or something?

FLAYN & SHEZ B

Flayn thinks Shez looks good because she's dirty and that suites her lol. I love Flayn.

Flayn is wearing perfume. Seteth probably doesn't know lamo.

Flayn talks about how perfumes coming in trend shows that even in dark times, it's not all consuming. Very Flayn of her.

We're going trend shopping. She doesn't get to shop often.

Flayn is straight-up making shit up, lamo. She invented that Shez wanted to shop to raise Shez's spirits, not hers.

It's this more -uh - questionable side of Flayn that keeps her from being a one-note, overly sweet character. I love it.

CATHERINE & SHEZ C

Count Charon asks Catherine for more soldiers, but only Dimitri or Rhea could give that order.

Shez didn't know Catherine's family. She stays vague about it when Shez asks about her past.

Catherine, unsurprisingly, says she'd fight for Rhea if had to choose between her or her family.

Catherine asks why Shez is here. Oh, I can pick too - for friends, money, or to fight Byleth. Def picking friends. I think that suits AG Shez best.

Catherine looks happy with that answer.

Oh, I like that, live in a way that makes your past self proud.

ASHE & FELIX B

Their only support.

Oh, Felix is confronting Ashe about how he's a knight working for Dimitri. Should've known it would be about this.

Ashe defends Felix when he calls Dimitri a boar and tiresome lol.

Ashe says Dimitri does his job for him, omg, Dimitri, stop (but that's he's getting better).

Felix is like - you have to steal your job back from him!!! Use force if you have too - I love this, lamo

Dimitri promoted a lot of commoners to be knights, and there were some minor misunderstandings at first, but now no one cares

Felix asks Ashe if he's a noble or commoner, and Ashe is like kinda both actually, which is true

Awww, Dedue comes to Ashe's aids when he needs it (and Dimitri, but Ashe mentioned Dedue too)

And now Ashe is singing Dedue's praises, and ofc Felix insults Dedue, saying that blind loyalty will get him killed

And omg hahaha, Ashe is like that's sweet Felix, that you care about us, I always knew

I love how almost no one takes Felix's tsun seriously. They're all like "aww, look, he's chewing my old slipper!" energy

Ashe putting Felix in his place round 2, I love this. Ashe and Felix is always gold

Felix is like, it's just because more work for me if something happens to you!

Then he's finally nice, telling Ashe he does a good job

ANNETTE & SYLVAIN B

Their only support

This time it's Sylvain who catches Annette singing. Annette seems relieved rather than embarrassed.

Sylvain thinks her song is creepy (covers that, saying creative) and that only Annette could make it (affectionate - maybe)

Why is Annette always singing about swamp beasties?

Sylvain wants a song about something cute instead, so Annette naturally jumps to huge bears lamo

We need an Annette Bernedetta support about finding creepy stuff cute

Annette doesn't seem upset with criticism

Also, this is the second time Sylvain talks to Annette like a person and doesn't really flirt with her, more like siblings vibes it's cute

Annette's next song is even creepier lamo But Sylvain likes it anyways

DIMITRI/RODRIGUE/SYLVAIN PARALOGUE

This one is easy since all 3 are leveled up. I want to do other ones, but I may wait to save some cash lol.

They're up north, so Sreng? Yep.

So they're preparing for a Sreng raid.

So a hostage that grew up in Faerghus is now leading the raid. And Margrave Gautier treated him well even though he felt bitter about Sreng killing his wife. So Miklain's mother?

And now the Sreng hostage is using Fodlan knowledge against them.

Haha, Sylvain was going off about being lazy forgetting his dad was right there lol.

It's cool seeing papa Gautier and Rodrigue together.

The Sreng commander really came across like a dick. Rubbing in Miklain's death, not caring about all the men he got killed.

So did Claude do this in AG too? Incite Sreng? They guess Cornelia and someone from Adrestia too, which could be the case in AG.

Gautier takes credit for the fall. Sylvain got through to the guy apparently.

Dimitri's just happy they share a language now. He would know how important that is since he learned the language of Duscur.

I'm glad they fight over land. It's way more interesting and realistic than whatever the hell they did with Almyra.

Aww, Sylvain is dedicated to reaching peace with Sreng. Of course his dad is harder edged because they killed his wife.

Sylvain being so bent on peace and diplomacy just makes the people who claim he makes sense in CF make even less sense.

I had Shez believe in Sylvain, because AG!Shez is nice Shez.

Sylvain and Dimitri both hate resorting to violence and using warfare first. Both want to avoid it at all cost. I like the future of these two both being important in Faerghus.

Oh, cool, talk between Rodrigue and Matthais. I love the little stories we get of all of them. They were trouble makers lamo. They snuck out the night of the festivities.

Lambert wanted peace with Sreng and Duscur. Dimitri's half-way there, and he and Sylvain are working on the other half.

Gautier now agrees with Sylvain, Lambert, and Dimitri and a pathway to peace.

Aww, Rodrigue advised that he apologize to Sylvain, and he's going too.

Oh, I got the lance of ruin! Cool. Sylvain has his weapon now.

FINAL BATTLE

Not Dimitri being more understanding of the Empire nobles who''ll follow any leader that promises them more land than Edelgard does him and the other Blue Lions

He's thinking from the other's perspective, how it looks to them, not what it actually is - Claude and Edelgard could never

Shez is like, no need to feel guilty, hell yes

Felix is worried about Dimitri, in his very Felix way, meanwhile Dedue is like "we trust you"

I love so much that the importance of his friends' support is stressed so much more in AG.

Oh, I get Constance and Linhardt this battle. Cool.

Felix got lectured by Rodrigue lamo, he wanted to break ranks to chase after Monica

Lamo, Manuela's defeat quote is that she won't die single. Ngl, glad she just retreated.

It's really something that the Blue Lions show way more sympathy towards their enemy than the other routes do. They're the only ones that feel guilty for "invading." When the others are invading.

Glad they're bringing up that if they don't do this, Adrestia will not stop until Faerghus is destroyed.

Rodrigue has such a nice voice.

Felix got angry with Rodrigue when he said all the blame for invading will fall on Dimitri, but then Rodrigue said it's up to Felix to support him through it. This really is Dimilix the route, lamo.

Felix is like, duh.

Why is Shez talking to Rodrigue while it's late. I'm getting flashbacks. He died last time this happened.

They're both worried about Dimitri. And it's cannon that Dimitri falls asleep at his desk. Sooo much fanart of that lol.

Apparently Lambert did the same. Like father, like son.

Lambert had a shorter temper than Dimitri, but are very similar. Unlike Rodrigue and Felix. I get to disagree with Rodrigue there, so I will. Because I think they're more alike than they both think.

Ok guys, we finally got it. Why Felix is miserable outside of AM. He can't live without a great purpose pushing him forward. And in SS, VW, and CF he finds no great purpose, unlike in AM where working with Dimitri towards his version of the future does work.

When Lambert died, Rodrigue struggled to find another reason for being. So he devoted himself to his promise to Lambert, to make sure he sets his won back on his proper path is he loses his way.

Shez feels like Dimitri's been helping her, but she's helping Dimitri too. Like what Rodrigue is doing.

Rodrigue says he's only Dimitri's retainer, that's so false. But he says Shez is in a unique spot since she's a friend first, then he's her leader. Which makes me happy.

More teasing about Shez's origins.

Rodrigue says though that Shez's background or powers aren't what's important, it's about who Shez is as a person. I love so much how the Blue Lions keep repeating this idea, that it's not Byleth's or Shez's power. It's their worth as a person that matters.

Arval just called Rodrigue a wonderful human being. Based.

xxxx

[toon-kirby]

(apologies for potentially double-posting)

any headcanons pertaining to the first gen trio and the way they parent their sons?

Alright, I finally got this done... because I did all the first gen parents! Surprise!

Siggy/Dee - Deirdre, having grown up in the woods, ended up opting for a very natural parenting style. Organic and home grown foods, minimal/reused plastic, lots of outdoor time, etc. Sigurd makes enough money for that kind of lifestyle, though Deirdre knows how to do it on a budget. She's not extreme about it, though. Sigurd's introduced her to lots of cool things she didn't have growing up (like video games that aren't hand me downs from people at church). With his encouragement, she's also working on her degree at the local college. Not sure what she's going for, but probably something Earth Science related. Deirdre tries to schedule her classes while Seliph is at school, but when she can't, she has Oifey babysit him.

Quan/Ethlyn - Quan is very into good grades, so both Leif and Altena are in tutoring and private school. They're also both in sports as soon as they're old enough. Altena is really good at soccer, and by goodness does Quan make sure to brag about it to Travant. Ethlyn isn't very happy about this. Travant's a widower, he doesn't need someone bullying him! Quan just needs to let this stupid rivalry go. Plus, Altena seems to be friends with Arion! Quan shouldn't ruin that!

Eldie/Granhye - Very classy parents. I mean, it's Eldigan and Granhye. Ares began music lessons at a very young age, just like his father. These paid off, though not in the way anyone expected. Ares ended up being into punk and metal music rather than classical. Instead of getting mad, Eldigan and Granhye decided to embrace it (granted Ares keeps his grades and behevior good). His electric bass is his favorite present ever. He nicknamed it Missiletainn.

Midir/Edain - Edain found out early on that she really liked to read books to her kids. She ended up volunteering at the local library to read more books, and that's how the little Tirnanog friend group came to be. She and Midir take turns staying at home since neither of them have a standard monday-friday schedule. They make sure to spend a lot of time together when they're both off. Family board game nights are a regular occurence in their house.

Lex/Ayra - The sporty parents. As soon as Larcei and Schatach were old enough they enrolled them in soccer. Then came martial arts, swimming, you name it. The kids' diet probably consists of Issachian home cooking, granola bars, and gatorade. Shannan has stepped in multiple times to babysit or get the kids to practice. He's the super cool older cousin, after all!

Azelle/Tailtiu - Super nerdy parents. I'm talking DND and cosplay type nerdy. Tine was born premature, so they spent a lot of time in the hospital. The nurses absolutely adored Arthur. They were all so happy when he started to walk and say his first words. Hilda, however, was jealous of all the attention Tailitu and Tine got when they finally came home.

Finn/Lachesis - I think your headcanons about Finn and Lachesis being Malewife and Girlboss are pretty spot on. Lachesis has some sort of high ranking office job, while Finn stays at home. Diarmuid sometimes spends time with Beowulf (his bio dad), but lives with Finn and Lach. Beo's very chill about the entire thing and even gives Nanna gifts for her birthday and christmas. (Slightly off topic, but in an AU where all the games exist at the same time, I can see Finn being really good friends with Dedue since they're so similar. I mean, their leiges are even both voiced by Chris Hackney!)

Alec/Sylvia - I actually headcanon Lene and Coirpre to have different fathers in canon, as Coirpre was young enough to get the attention of the cult and that wouldn't be possible if Coirpre was born pre-Belhalla (though he does have severe baby face). Anyways, since this is a modern au with no cults or political scheming (hopefully), I'll go with them both being Alec's kid. Neither Alec nor Sylvia ended up with a high paying job, so money was tight. Then Alec got a job under Hannibal. He became close to the family and agreed to become the children's godfather. He likes to spoil the kids since he could never have any kids of his own. I'm thinking of Uncle Drosselmeyer from the Nutcracker from some reason. Speaking of Ballet, Lene's lessons are free since Sylvia works at the studio. Coirpre… well I'll be honest, I don't know what he'd be doing.

Lewyn/Erinys - Not a day goes by where these two can't figure out how Ced ended up being a straight a student. Erinys was a good student, but she wasn't super into it. And Lewyn… well, Lewyn is Lewyn. Fee ended up more free-spirited and laid back like her dad, though to a more responsible degree. She credits this to having her dad's love for life mixed with her mom's responsibility.

Jamke/Brigid - Somewhere inbetween Ayra/Lex and Edain/Midir on the parenting style spectrum. Patty ended up really enjoying gymnastics, so they kept her enrolled in it. She also took up magic tricks, including (to Jamke and Brigid's dismay) lock picking. Super cool cousin Dew totally didn't teach her that. Febail took up archery like his father.

[millicent-dagworth]

Bronze Bell Character Bio's

These are meant to be just quick overview of the changes to their personalities and backstories. Since we're only swapping the lords, this does mean that a number of characters don't have any changes but are still added so we don't forget anyone.

Mercenaries

Byleth: chooses Golden Deer.

Beles: chooses Black Eagles. The sword of the Creator stays with her during the time skip.

Jeralt: still dies.

Chez: The cool aunt/uncle figure that steps up to lead the group after Jeralt’s death and the twins' disappearance. 

Blue Lions/Kingdom

Dimitri: (Claude) The Tragedy of Duscur never happens, his father never remarries. Dimitri has a lot of pressure on him as the next king. But his father does die during the time-skip due to sickness. He lost his left eye during an assassination attempt after his coronation.

Dedue: Becomes besties with Dimitri via diplomatic relations between their fathers.

Dusan: Close friends with both Dedue and Dimitri. Childhood friends with Ashe. Captain of the Royal Guard in Duscur. Happier and still has his parents and siblings, who are both successful in their own fields. He's tortured and experimented on by TWSITD during the 5-year gap and given an unstable version of the Crest of Ernest. Parents both pass over those 5 years due to old age, but both siblings are still alive.

Sylvain: No change.

Felix: Still friends with Dimitri and broody but does have healthier coping mechanisms.

Ingrid: Happier, but still as strict. Still engaged with Glenn

Ashe: Not really changed. He is still close with Christophe after he joins the church.

Mercedes: Not changed. Though Mercedes is ecstatic to be reunited with her brother.

Annette: Happier with her father still around.

Glenn: Still alive. Dotes on his brother since his dad is still a pos

Rodrigue: Still a pos dad, compares Felix to Glenn all the time (Who shuts that shit down)

Lonato: Does not start a rebellion against the Church

Miklan: Has not changed, still a pos

Gilbert: Stayed around, is a good dad

Golden Deer/Alliance

Claude: (Edelgard) Crests- Crest of Flames, Crest of Riegan. Less Laid-back, and more paranoid unless he’s around Cynthia or Byleth. Always has some sort of scheme up his sleeve. More willing to use lethal poisons but less willing to put his friends in danger. Uses the persona of The Gilded Emperor when forced to work with TWSITD.

Hilda: Less lazy, but still a girly girl. Also does not have the same hatred towards fighting as she does in cannon

Cynthia: Crests- Crest of Aubin, Crest of Macuil. She is also kidnapped/forced to work with TWSITD due to them holding her brother hostage. Less of a spitfire. Calmer, more refined. Does not curse. Unwilling betrothed to Claude on both sides.

Lorenz: No change

Raphael: No change

Ignatz: No change

Lysithea: No change really

Marianne: No change

Leonie: No change

Nader: Working to find the Almyra Prince (Claude)

Judith: No personality change, but does worry about what Claude isn’t telling her. Also teases him about him being betrothed

Eric: Equivalent of the Death Knight. Escapes from TWSITD after the time skip and eventually joins up with the Blue Lions/Black Eagles

Black Eagles/Empire

Edelgard: (Dimitri) Snapped due to rage concerning how her family was killed/endangered. Much friendlier towards Dimitri, and more prone to violent outbursts when it comes to TWSITD. After the time skip, what snaps her out of this rage is when Beles almost dies to protect her, making her realize that if she continues then she’s no better than TWSITD.

Hubert: Stays the same but is friendlier with Ferdinand. Stays with Edelgard during the time skip.

Ferdinand: Does not like being called “prince”, less competitive with Edelgard. Also friendlier with Hubert. Strained relationship with his father due to seeing how weirdly obsessed he is with the throne (and how he’s only proud of Ferdinand while on the throne).

Linhardt: More of a worry wart when it comes to Caspar. Has learned how to not throw up as much when healing as well as how to keep Caspar still while he looks over him.

Caspar: Brother was killed in the uprising of Brigid, less cheerful unless he’s around Linhardt and/or Cress. Tends to be a bit reckless when it comes to protecting those he cares about. After Cress’s “death” focuses more on his training and becomes more reckless.

Petra: Quieter due to her language “issues” unless she’s around her other classmates (then she’s more of her normal bubbly self)

Dorothea: no change.

Bernadetta: no change.

Cressida: no change until the time skip, then she becomes darker and angrier. This is due to her being left behind during the attack on the Church and having to cope with the loss of her foot alone.

Church

Rhea: no change

Seteth: no change

Flayn: no change

Hanneman: No change

Manuela: no change

Alois: no change

Catherine: ran away from her house with Christophe, in a relationship with Shamir and Christophe.

Shamir: No change.

Christophe: Still alive, in a relationship with Catherine and Shamir.

Cyril: Works under Nader looking for the lost Almyra Prince (Claude). Does still recognize how important “Lady Rhea” is to the Church and still genuinely wants to help the Monastery

Jeritza: Still the same, just not the Death Knight. Very happy to see his sister again. She convinces him to get help for the blackouts he gets.

Holst: Inherits the family title but doesn’t become a general due to no fighting with Almyra

TWSITD

Thales: Disguised as Claude’s Uncle, Godfrey, used an attack to disguise the swap.

Solon: Literally no change.

Kronya: Disguised as a former Golden Deer student who went missing.

Masterpost | Character Bio's | Time Line | Misc

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

Hello! Since you are a Claude fan I wanted to ask something that maybe you could better explain from your own perspective. When I first played VW, I was confused by Claude saying he felt like an outsider because he doesn't belong in either Fodlan or Almyra. Like, I get that life sucked in Almyra cuz he's mixed race. But, like, nobody in Fodlan is capable of realizing that he's half Almyran. And he doesn't face any prejudice against him in Fodlan because nobody thinks of him as Almyran. (1/2)

Because the game treats his Almyran prince status as this huge, stupid secret, it robs Claude of the opportunity to actually face, well, any negative reaction in Fodlan at all. Only Lorenz and his dad don't trust Claude, but that's because he's the heir of house Riegan. The Golden Deer love Claude and never show prejudice or bias at him. And Claude never suffers prejudice like Dedue, Petra, Cyril and even Shamir discuss from being known foreigners. It feels like a dissonance for Claude (2/2)

I've been knighted as a Claude fan fkdhskal. My day has come! But on to the ask:

I think it's important to remember one very crucial thing: in Fódlan (and the real world, but sometimes fantasy games are Bad), race ≠ nationality. Claude doesn't get flack for being of a mixed heritage, or Almyran, because no one...knows he is. He doesn't face the same hardships as the other foreign students/occupants of the monastery because he just looks different than the majority, rather than admitting to being from over yonder.

Claude feels like an outsider because to maintain his status as Just Your Average Fódlan Denizen, he can't be honest about who he is. His secrets, in this case the ones that are keeping him alive, exacerbate his difference from others. It's like--have you ever been a part of a conversation where you don't really know what's being discussed, but you stick around and play along as if you do, because you don't want to admit you don't know? It's along the lines of the isolation that's wrought from that; you certainly know you don't fit with this discussion, and sooner or later everyone else is going to catch on too. Maybe a better example, and one I can personally speak to, is sexual orientation. I can pretend just fine that I'm only attracted to men, and if I Behave Accordingly, no one will ever be the wiser as to my bisexuality. I won't earn a side eye or face any displeasure brought on by my existence. But it would still be a lie. I'm still one wrong move from garnering the reaction I would have gotten if I'd just flat-out admitted to being queer. I'm not free from prejudice; I'm lying to evade it. And the latter is fucking exhausting, and isolating, and awful.

Claude is much the same. It's less that he doesn't face the same hardships as others and more that he's been put in the (un)fortunate position to lie about it. Because there is nothing good to be had about hiding away certain parts of you in a corner, knowing if someone peeks around your shoulder, they'll see something they might not like. And seeing as things like that are the very fabric of one's existence, that's easier said than done.

We end the game (sans epilogue/ending cards) without Claude being able to admit to who he is and where he comes from, because Fódlan isn't quite ready for that yet. Because he's pedalled as hard as he could on this side of the border, and it wasn't enough; his ideal world of no prejudice/xenophobia is still out of reach, which means he can't be completely honest yet. He calls on the Almyran army easily enough in two routes, but that's just a step up from his usual allusions to Not Being From These Parts; there is no room for him yet, and that takes a toll on a person.

TL;DR: Claude's lack of obstacles created by prejudice is a result not of dissonance/his uniqueness, but rather his creating a whole new path paved with untruths, to the detriment of his feeling like he belongs. To anyone who could make his life here hard, he's not an Almyran that gets special treatment; he's a quirky Fódlan noble who has his finger in several pies, and one of them seems to be Almyran.

[kariniarts]

Glad you are enjoying my ramblings! I thought of a couple of more things today.

The Blue Lions not only don't do brothels but have often cooperated with the authorities in sex trafficking cases against rival gangs. However, Rufus thought leaving the entire sex trade to others was leaving money on the table and started building up a branch of the gang to run underground brothels. This is where Cornelia comes in and she was helping Rufus "branch out". Lambert found out and tried to shut it down. So Rufus ended-up using Agathean resources to eliminate Lambert.

Dimitri had his dad longer in this verse. He's 17/18 when Rufus's coup happens, and he's "shot through the eye but escapes with Dedue's help. Dedue being an orphan Duscar refugees Lambert had earlier saved from human traffickers and pretty much raised with Dimitri like a second son.

While on the run the two them run into Byleth, who is seeking revenge against the Agatheans for the murder of her parents, who were part of the once great but now all but decimated Nabatheans. They team-up, get revenge and get the Blue Lions away from Agathean control. Dimitri becomes leader, Byleth joins him and they spend the rest of their lives staying one step ahead of their enemies and law enforcement! ^.^

10/10 ideas nonny!! Thank you so much for sharing your head canons on this Mob AU 💖💖 💖 hopefully I’ll be able to revisit it soon~

[professor-tammi]

more azure gleam rambles, up to chapter 11 :D

- looking through some of my screencaps (which I sadly have no easy way to upload to my computer...), I recall now that back in the Rescue Dimitri chapter, Rodrigue and Gustave are also in the capital causing a diversion, and Felix is the one character who wants to capitalize on this to go to straight to Dimitri. Shez and Annette have to step in and tell him to not just, leave the others behind (Annette obviously worrying about her father). ... the implications of this are interesting...

- this is not a Felix hating Rodrigue thing, for the record -- there’s also a base conversation with a random NPC who comments that Felix doesn’t seem to be on that bad terms with his dad. and, being perfectly honest, the more of their interactions I see, the more clear it is to me that Felix is just that angry 14 year old that never grew out of his “screw you dad” phase :’) (Rodrigue IS a good dad I swear)

- Cornelia outright tells Dimitri that Edelgard is the one who killed Patricia in Hopes, which is... curious. he doesn’t believe her, though! quite the change from Houses!Dimitri :D he does believe that Edelgard knows something, however , so his next goal at that point in the story is to have an actual talk with her at Arianrhod.

- after Count Rowe’s death but before the Arianrhod chapter, there’s a NPC in camp who talks about Count Rowe having an adopted son with a “beautiful face” who also had an “air of viciousness” about him, and that Count Rowe was “completely enamored” with him (obviously, this is about Yuri)... in the pre-chapter scene, Yuri reveals he tipped off the Empire about secret passages in Arianrhod and Gwendal goes wait I never told you about those, to which Yuri responds, verbatim,

“No, but the count did. I won’t be sharing under what circumstances, though.”

... huh?? huh. Koei. are you implying what I think you’re implying here.

(anyhow, Yuri is actually quite happy to be recruited to the Kingdom since he has friends and family there, so it’s nice to have a guilt-free recruit, unlike, say, Dorothea. Yuri having supports with Dimitri, Ashe, and Sylvain is all also very interesting -- excited to see those!)

- as most people who read spoilers probably know at this point, Edelgard is forcibly transformed into her Hegemon form by Thales after Arianrhod (though not before telling Dimitri that Thales is the orchestrator of the Tragedy), destroying much of the fortress and leaving Dimitri heavily wounded and, most notably, leaving Edelgard as nothing more than a mute puppet afterward -- I heard some people call it mind control but it’s not really that, she’s just... not there. Thales then uses this as an opportunity to install Duke Aegir as the Emperor.

now, I do not like that AG reduces Edelgard to this, but I think I understand why the writers made this decision. not too rarely, you see people ponder why Edelgard didn’t just move against the Slithers earlier in 3H; and when she does so in Hopes, she seems to get off scot-free... except for in AG. this is where her decision to make an enemy of Thales comes back to bite her; it’s the writers saying, “this is something that could happen to Edelgard if she moves against the Slithers without preparing properly first, and that’s why she works with them in 3H”. I feel less upset about the whole thing with that justification in mind.

- ... anyhow, since Dimitri is injured, there’s a brief little story moment where he makes a pained noise and Felix just goes “Dimitri” in concern and yes this is noteworthy because he actually says his name :D!

- supports stuff! Dedue/Dimitri A is, as expected, very sweet. Dimitri acknowledges and, I think more interestingly, accepts that Dedue is dependent on him because he Dedue tells him nothing is changing that -- so he promises to take better care of himself for Dedue’s sake, rather than his own. (... because Dimitri, being the character he is, would never place any value on himself for his own sake.)

- I’ve already posted the Dimitri/Felix A support, but. I swear it reads like Dimilix fic dialogue. Dimitri confiding in Felix about his hallucinations? Felix being... actually a surprisingly good therapist about it? oh, and not only that, but also Dimitri acknowledging that Felix is the only reason he hasn’t gone completely mad? Dimitri asking Felix to be his right-hand man and Felix dragging him off to bed in response? this is just shipfic content. honestly.

(you know people always say dimitri needs a therapist but we never realized felix was the therapist he needed all along. oh my god)

- Shez / Dimitri B support features Dimitri waking up from a coma after having been hit by some stray magic and Shez commenting that everyone was worried, and that “Dedue and Felix in particular didn’t know didn’t know what to do with themselves”... aww...

- Sylvain/Ingrid’s A support is also very cute (and bantery) -- I just love the Lions dynamics!! -- and features Sylvain mentioning he really enjoys watching Ingrid eat, which I HAVE to mention because the Felix/Dimitri dining hall dialogue has Dimitri also talk about how he loves to watch Felix eat. the Sylvgrid / Dimilix parallels are back! :D

- I am less enamored with the Mercedes/Annette A support... I suppose that their relationship, while cute, has always struck me as a bit forced and shallow compared to the myriad of other pre-established relationships in 3H, and unfortunately Hopes doesn’t change that at all. (I have a sneaking suspicion their A support was hit by some censorship again, though.)

- also it seems my hunch about Ingrid no longer blaming Duscur for Glenn’s death in Hopes was right, that’s an Academy phase-only thing -- Dimitri’s support with her actually addresses some very interesting things, including why Dimitri didn’t just tell Ingrid that it wasn’t people from Duscur who killed Glenn... but Ingrid acknowledges that she probably wouldn’t have listened to him even if he had.

Ingrid also admits that now that she no longer hates the people of Duscur, she instead feels so ashamed of herself that she doesn’t really know how to act around them (which I sort of noticed in the base camp dialogue she had with a Duscur soldier earlier? like, she was nice and polite, but came across as slightly awkward)... which reads as surprisingly... real? I very much think this is something actual irl people who were raised to be racist but who want to do better struggle with, too. and yes -- this just means they’re being racist in a different way, but being able to acknowledge that fact means you can actually start to address it

... so tl;dr I liked the support, it was good :D

[theseerasures]

DAY TWO UPDATES

i can’t believe i made that “Edelgard von Targaryen” joke and then the Adrastian Empire LITERALLY ended up just being Targaryens

Dimitri is from House Stark but he is both blonde AND a lion, which feels like a conspiracy against me specifically ever remembering his actual last name

which i guess would make the Leicesters the Free Cities, which explains why Claude is brown but not why most of the Golden Deers aren’t, nor why they have a King Lear thing going on

oh hey mom

did you get more elaborate headgear because that dragon circlet was so last century or was that supposed to LEGIT throw us off and make us think you were a different person

“she looks exactly the same but she can’t be the same lady from the prologue dream sequence!!!! no one in any Fire Emblems has ever been strangely youthful, nor have there ever been any weird magical shenanigans”

pROFESSOR???????

this is the most irresponsible school in the world

who accredited this institution???? Tina???

it was the Church wasn’t it

WAIT

school with DEEPLY confounding recruitment practices wrt students/faculty, headed up by a green haired entity who is probably a demigod????? LADY RHEA IS AN OZCARNATION CONFIRMED

seriously some of the students HAVE to be older than me right the main cast looks like the anime version of early Power Rangers with its thirty year old teenagers

or am i a weirdly youthful Manakete too

“the Manakete was inside me all along” feels more literal than it was in Fates

okay seriously tho. WHY Professor Byleth from a storytelling standpoint, except to make Supports extremely weird????

i did the “invite your pals to share a meal” quest and i already felt skeevy doing THAT. they’re not my peers!!! i wield institutional power over them!!!

i realize that i am probably more sensitive to this than most because i have literally been in the situation where i taught undergrads while being of the age where i should have still been an undergrad (i was not) but like. why????? why not just make Byleth a fellow student??? i’m sure in-universe it’s all part of the grand conspiracy with my Witcher Dad but was the Doylist reason literally just “we needed something people could call you that wasn’t your customizable name?”

because lemme tell you every time someone has called me “Professor” thus far my insides have shriveled up

also not...really sure what to make of how early they made me Choose a Side. i suppose on your first playthrough it’s supposed to come off as fairly innocuous, but it doesn’t feel like anyone made enough of an impact for me to really feel the loss of missing out on their story

anyway *heads snaps toward Dorothea’s direction as soon as she introduces herself* AMBASSADOR MONTILYET?????

god Allegra Clark really does have the range doesn’t she

Leonie is v cute, i’m love Dedue, and Petra has done nothing wrong ever in her life

honestly as a non-native speaker of what is now my primary language i AM very into the way they’ve written Petra’s fumbles--mostly with idioms and verb tenses as opposed to like. “me love you long time”

Flayn is also a Little Girl and those don’t exist in Fire Emblem without being a zillion years old so idk she probably is Sothis or Sothis’ niece or somebody Sothis bled on that time she got a Divine Papercut

this game is long

like i already knew that and i certainly don’t RESENT the more robust downtime mechanics--they’re definitely a step up from throwing daikons at my dragon-squirrel in Fates i can tell you that--but it just...is a lot of stuff, before we get to the Fire Emblem bits

mind you i’d probably would’ve enjoyed them more if camera and motion controls in the monastery didn’t give me motion sickness??? like what the fuck that almost never happens with me and third person games

is there a fix for it or is it just better for me to switch to handheld

while we’re at it is there any way to make the subtitles bigger

[iturbide]

What do you think of Lorenz? I see him as a interessant character, I think that he has been abused emotionally (and maybe beaten) by his father. (Hilda herself says that Lorenz's dad is scary). Lorenz, pre-timeskip, seems be very under his father's control. Spying Claude, searches a wife, ect...The saddest thing is that he doesn't see why girls complains, he's even shocked. He points that his father will be angry if the deer lost, ect...(1)

Well first off I think you and I have very different reads on Lorenz and his family situation on the whole.

I like Lorenz!  I went in pretty much expecting that I was going to hate him, and his C supports generaly solidified that impression...but then I started getting through his B supports, and realized that there’s actually a lot more to him than I’d expected.  By the time I hit his A supports I was very fond of him, and he’s one of the characters who I think best shows that IntSys can write effective character growth throughout the game as a whole, even though they generally don’t (I’m looking at you, Sylvain).

But I don’t think that Lorenz is an abuse victim by any means, and I’m struggling to figure out where that even comes from. 

Just because someone says a person is “scary” doesn’t mean they’re abusive -- heck, a lot of people say Dedue is scary, and he’s one of the gentlest people that we meet in the game.  We could make a case that Caspar is an abuse victim because he is clearly terrified of his father, and we have a case that Bernadetta is because she directly states what her father’s done to her; we don’t really have that kind of ammo for Lorenz since he clearly admires his father and gets excited when the man hands an important task off to him since it means that he’s being trusted with responsibilities that affect the Gloucester territory.  Hilda has no insight into the Gloucester family’s affairs, so I don’t think it’s fair to jump immediately to the conclusion that Lorenz is being abused just because, in her personal opinion, his dad is scary.

Also, Lorenz doesn’t seem to be doing anything because his father’s told him to.  He’s not spying on Claude because his dad wants him to, it’s because Lorenz personally has ambitions to head up the Alliance at the roundtable, and Claude is not only in the way of that ambition, his history is extremely sketchy; Lorenz can make a case that he’s just looking out for the Alliance’s best interests.  (That’s bullshit, of course, especially given his B support with Claude, but still, he could do it and probably has.)   He admits that his father advised him to keep an eye on Claude, but the fact is that Lorenz seemed to suspect him well before that and his dad just agreed that it was a good idea. 

He’s also not looking for a wife because his father told him to, it’s because he believes that making a solid match will help to elevate House Gloucester’s standing: much like Dorothea, who’s only looking to get married so that she can ensure she never has to go back to the streets, Lorenz looks at marriage for the broader benefits it provides him and his name -- and notably, he’s not just looking for nobility, he specifically wants a partner who will be able help him bring the Alliance together, rather than just someone who looks pretty or has a Crest the way that Kingdom nobles do (see Ingrid’s arranged marriage to Glenn).  While he’s certainly shocked that the girls at the monastery aren’t taking well to his advances, I think that’s more attributable to him being pretty self-absorbed in the Academy Phase.

I also think it’s a pretty big stretch to say that his father would be angry if the Golden Deer lost (since I’m guessing you’re talking about the Battle of the Eagle and Lion mission in the Academy Phase).  His exact quote doesn’t say anything about him believing his father would take a loss badly -- it’s just about how winning the battle is an honor:

I received a rare letter from my father recently. He said that he is praying for the Golden Deer House to emerge victorious. Insistently praying. My father attended the Officers Academy, and won a glorious victory in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. I think he is quite proud of that, even to this day. I suppose that shows how great an honor it truly is. 

So while Lorenz certainly wants to win and make his father’s prayers come to pass, there’s no implication that Lorenz is going to suffer -- he just wants to achieve the same honor that his father did and carry on the tradition of victory.

In the War Phase, Lorenz hasn’t really “broken free” of anything -- except the Empire’s control, depending on which route you’re playing.  Lorenz has always been someone who is very keenly aware of the fact that playing nice with the Empire is in the best interests of both his family and the people in their territory, because Gloucester’s holdings are very close to the Imperial border, which means they’d be the first to suffer if the Empire thought the Alliance was a threat.  Gloucester’s pro-Imperial stance is a self-defense mechanism, something that’s clearly stated by Lorenz himself when he fights Byleth at Myrrdin (emphasis mine):

It's been a while, Professor. If this were anywhere but a battlefield, I would offer you tea. I've no choice but to follow the Empire, if I wish to live. I hope you will not think ill of me. 

Gloucester allies with the Empire because they’re the ones at the most risk from an Imperial invasion.  By maintaining a pro-Imperial stance even when the Alliance itself remains neutral in the conflict, they can at least keep their autonomy and mitigate the risk of invasion.  It’s smart, considering that they’re the ones in the most danger should Imperial troops come in -- just look at what happened to their neighbors in Ordelia territory when they willingly sided with Hyrm in their rebellion.  And the fact is that when Lorenz is recruited, he says that he can convince his father.  This is his quote when you persuade him to join:

You're inviting me to join you? But...to abandon House Gloucester... No--I can convince my father. I will help you topple the Empire, I swear it! 

Lorenz isn’t talking about wresting control away from his father or giving up his noble name and title: he believes completely that he can bring his father to the anti-Imperial side.  That, more than anything, says a lot to me about the nature of his relationship with his father: the man listens to him and not only can but will take his son’s advice on matters as important as the fate of House Gloucester.

As a character, Lorenz has always had a powerful sense of noble duty, right up there with literal ray of sunshine Ferdinand von Aegir -- it just doesn’t present in the same way.  While he appears stuck-up and self-centered, Lorenz has some frankly radical views of the nobility’s purpose in the world, based on his B support with Catherine:

The motivation to revolt can only come from discontent with the nobility. But if the people are well protected, and enjoy peaceful and happy lives, there is no such motive. Thus, if such a revolt does occur, the nobility must be held accountable. 

This is something that catches her off guard, because she never expected to agree with him.  And the thing is, I think it’s fair to attribute some of this -- if not most of these core ideals -- to his father, since we know for a fact that Leonie’s village is in Gloucester territory, and it was Count Gloucester who hired Jeralt to deal with poachers in their territory (which ultimately led to Leonie wanting to be a mercenary):

Lorenz: ...It is a noble’s duty to give to the commonfolk. In return, the commoner need only pay respect. Leonie: That’s nice. You left out the part where the nobles take all the stuff the regular folks make. Lorenz: Yes, the commonfolk give the fruits of their labor—willingly I might add—as a token of that respect. The head of Sauin Village offers his tribute in exactly that spirit, you know. Leonie: Sauin? That’s...my village. You knew? Lorenz: Of course. We granted exclusive hunting rights to Sauin, and forbade outsiders from poaching. In fact, when we received complaints of just that, we hired mercenaries to deal with the issue. 

So I think it’s fair to say that Lorenz is getting his views on the noble ideal from his father -- not just from his words, but from his personal examples.

This is not to say that Count Gloucester is a good guy on the whole.  That would be a lie: let’s not forget who orchestrated the death of Duke von Riegan’s heir (Claude’s uncle).  But the thing about Lorenz is that he is stepping beyond his father: he takes what he’s taught and builds all this into an ideal of what a noble is, and therefore what he should be, and strives constantly to meet it.  He learns throughout the game and his supports to admit when he’s wrong or lacking, and work toward improving himself -- that’s frankly the whole underlying message of his A support with Claude.  Claude points out that Lorenz isn’t trying to prey on the Alliance, he’s trying to make it into something better and more unified, and Lorenz admits that he’s not capable of doing that yet because he’s still missing some of Claude’s skills necessary to lead the Alliance properly.  His dad might be willing to stoop to underhanded methods to advance the family’s position -- but not his son.

So yeah, I really don’t agree that Lorenz is an abuse victim.  I don’t see any textual evidence to give me that impression, and honestly, we have more than enough abuse cases in the game already.  I’d much rather let Lorenz be someone with a decent home life who grows on his own merits.

[msbluebell]

Maybe a Dimileth bodyguard au where Jeralt’s crew of mercenaries ends up being recruited to help the king of Faerghus in taking down criminals in nearby territory. Fourteen year old Byleth still helps out, having over three years of mercenary experience and has her hands bloodied, is requested to watch over Dimitri and his friends whenever they go out of the palace due to being near their age but is not obligated to. She still does it though.

King Lambert had been looking into hiring some more muscle for a while. Faerghus has some of the best, most loyal, knights in Fodlan, but it’s good to bring in some new blood and new techniques every once in a while. Mercenaries play dirty a lot, but that just means that his guards will gain experience fighting against people that aren’t usually overly honorable. It’ll be a good lesson.

He doesn’t expect to find THE Captain Jeralt.

He, like everyone else, thought the man had died. He knows instantly that he needs to hire the man. Having one of the most famous knights in history on his side couldn’t be a bad thing, and having him work with some of the guard can only be good even if he eventually decides to leave.

Jeralt isn’t one to turn down a job that pays as well as this. He has mouths to feed, after all, and steady income never hurt anyone. He agrees to work for King Lambert so long as the man keeps quite about him and pays the promised sum. Lambert readily agrees, seeing absolutely no issues with this. After a month or so working together, the King and Jeralt actually become pretty okay friends. They’re not best buddies or anything, but they like each other well enough and can talk about things. So Lambert trusts him pretty well and asks Jeralt to provide one of his most trusted hands to join the royal Prince’s guard when he leaves the palace with his friends.

Jeralt figures this would be good for Byleth.

Byleth is, perhaps, a little young to be a mercenary. Lambert is actually taken about when he first meets her. She’s barely old enough to be using live swords, much less apparently already having a few years of work experience on her hands.

Jeralt just tells Lambert that Byleth is his child and was pretty much trained since she could walk, and the roads are dangerous so she just got caught up in everything. Mercenary work is a hard life. 

Lambert can’t really disagree, but he’s still reluctant to put someone so young in the guard. People will talk, and he’s afraid older knights will be insulted having to work with a child.

Jeralt just says she’s around the Prince’s age and can just be a “professional friend or something, Idk, but she’s good and the prince might like a bodyguard that’s around his age.”

Lambert sees his logic, but is reluctant still. But, eventually, he decides to make her the prince’s unofficial bodyguard. He’ll let her interact with Prince Dimitri under the pretense of “both our dads work together and we’re around the same age so maybe try to be friends”, but it’s with the expectation that she’ll guard him.

After the arrangement is made, Byleth is taken to meet Dimitri.

Dimitri is a polite boy (Duscar hasn’t happened yet, so he’s not haunted by darkness and shadows and dead faces). When Lambert and Jeralt introduce him to Byleth and explain what’s happening, he just nods and asks Byleth what she would like to do first? Train? Read books? He knows how to ride horses too.

Dimitri, it turns out, is a lonely boy when his friends aren’t visiting the castle. He has nurses, tutors, and staff, but his only company while he’s father is busy and his step-mother is distant are two or three knights. So Byleth is welcome company for him, even if she’s supposed to be a body guard. She’s a little strange, and doesn’t laugh or smile, but she’s always there when his lessons are over for the day, and she never complains about doing stuff with him. They train together a lot, and read together a lot, and he teaches her how to play a lot of the games his friends taught him, like hop-scotch. His favorite thing to do with her is sit by the fire and tell stories though. She has a lot about living with mercenaries, and he has a lot about Faerghus.

It’s weird she doesn’t know about the church or anything though. But that’s okay, she probably just missed a lot of lessons on the road, so he teaches her about what he knows. It’s nice to share things he knows. He feels like a teacher. So he starts telling her his lessons about maths and history and crests, and she listens patiently, and it’s…nice. He likes her a lot. She’s a good friend. And, secretly, he thinks she might like him too. He hopes so. (And he likes how proud Gustav looks whenever he sees them playing games together. And Captain Jeralt will sometimes just watch them with this sort of amazed look, like all his hopes and dreams are coming true just because Byleth earned how to hop-scotch or kick a ball)

After a while, his friends come to visit him, and he’s excited to introduce his best friends to his new friend.

Glenn like her immediately. She’s more his age, so he likes to sit with her and watch the others play. They’re usually quite, though he does try to drag her into conversation sometimes.

Ingrid thinks she might be the coolest girl she’s ever met. She likes that there’s another girl here, especially a girl that can play in the mud and knows how to beat people up. She likes telling Byleth about knights, and wanting to be a knight, and Byleth nods along.

Sylvain flirts with her at first, because of course he does. But Byleth is blanked faced and unnerves him. Dimitri, protective of his new friend, gets defensive and swats Sylvain away on Byleth’s behalf, telling him to cut it out and leave her alone.

Felix is always ready to fight anyone, anywhere, and demands a duel pretty much right away to see if she REALLY can protect his best friend. He’s not going to trust just ANYBODY with the task, and protecting Dimitri is CLEARLY the most important job in the castle.

Overall, the time Dimitri’s friends are over consists of a lot of duels, and games, and going out to ride horses and muck around in the courtyard. Byleth takes her job seriously and always follows along, watching out for danger. Sometimes there are other guards too, depending on what, exactly, they’re doing outside, but the kids seem to like her and Glenn best. 

Eventually his friends always leave to go home, and it’s just the two of them again. But the children always promise to write letters, and they do.

Still, she spends more time with Dimitri than anyone else.

They’re sort of together every day for two years.

Then King Lambert announces that he and the family will be going to Duscar.

The mercenaries are to stay here, because Lambert doesn’t want to seem aggressive for a peaceful arrangement, besides, his wife will be more comfortable with a small handful of knights (she never did warm up to Jeralt, and that’s fine, because Jeralt never warmed up to her either). It shouldn’t be an issues, he bought more than a few knights, and they should be back soon so just work with the castle guards until they get back.

Byleth won’t be going this time, and it’s one of the rare few times she won’t leave the palace with Dimitri. He’s hesitant to go without her, but knows he has to. He promises he’ll be back soon, and that he’ll bring her a present. Glenn is there, and he also grins and says that he’ll bring something too, for all the kiddies and for Byleth.

They don’t come back soon.

Lambert and his wife don’t come back at all.

Jeralt and Byleth hear about Duscar days later. The king is dead, apparently, a riot so bad that all the knights were slaughtered broke out. No one knows if there are any survivors. Jeralt swears like a sailor and demands people go look. Gustav is out of the castle within the hour.

The next time Byleth sees Dimitri, he’s holding hands with a dark-skinned, pale haired, boy as tall as she is. He has a blank look in his blue eyes, and he’s shaking even as the taller boy tries to get him to stop, and his hair is a mess. He cries when he sees her, rushing over and burying his face in her belly and cries and cries and cries. Gustav is there, face visibly heartbroken.

The boy, Dedue he introduces himself as, speaks their language in a broken tongue, but is able to say a lot of people died. Gustav finishes for him, his voice cracking as he explains that everyone except Dimitri died in that attack, and there are mass raids against the Duscan people.

A King Regent, Lambert’s older brother apparently, comes to the castle within a week. He’s a stern looking man, tall and broad shouldered, with a mouth set in a permanent scowl. He has thick frown lines, and he looks like he never smiled once in his life, that he was stuck in perpetual frown. Older knight claimed he was like that even as a child, humorless and stern. He has a talent for running estates, apparently, and is strict about how they’re managed.

He doesn’t like mercenaries, apparently, so Jeralt and his company are turned out of the castle within days of his arrival. They receive compensation pay, and are told not to return to the Faerghus capital. 

Dimitri begs his uncle to keep them, because they’re good at their jobs and Byleth is their friend, but it falls on deaf ears. Jeralt’s group is banished. Dimitri hugs Jeralt and Byleth before they leave, promising her that he’ll never forget them. He hands them both a gift, a fur lined coin pouch with the Faerghus emblem sewn into the side, so they’ll never forget him either. And so they can get help, maybe, if they need it. He says it’s a gift, so everyone knows they’re under his protection and people will leave her alone if she’s ever in the market or something, and she can show this to people if she ever needs anything in Faerghus. He wants her to take it, because she’s one of his best friends.

And then they leave. Byleth doesn’t think much of it, she’ll probably never see Dimitri again. Still, she keeps the purse.

Four years later Jeralt and his company are in Rumire Village when a group of bandits attack.

[setethsbigbaratitties]

fe3h students as dril tweets

edelgard: you can down vote me but Im god damn right

hubert: i will tell you this right now: I'm from hell. Im highly fucked up. Ive been known to say rude things and watch the carnage unfold brutally

ferdinand: THERAPIST: your problem is, that youre perfect, and everyone is jealous of your good posts, and that makes you rightfully upset. ME: I agree

dorothea: going t o start saying, "Wife City" whenever i see an attractive woman. e.g... "thats Wife City" or "that girl is Wife City to me"

bernadetta: "don't tread of me", the famous words of that good snake who doesn't want to get stepped on, the noble slithering bastard I relate to most

caspar: #RejectedScoutBadges CHALLENGING AUTHORITY. COPING WITH FAILURE. DRINKING DIRTY WATER

linhardt: i have absolutely zero interest in friendship, i have absolutely zero interest in jokes, i am simply here to collect data and earn respect

petra: none f you know anything about art or life. i have read the entire dictionary more than 100 times

claude: incredibly handsome , charismatic famous boy credited with ending income inequality after saying that slumlords should be called "dumblords"

hilda: looks like im forced to address false rumors that i own 3 dildos on a shelf labelled "breakfast" "lunch" & "dinner". this is an absurdity .

lysithea: im afraid i must say that i do not find the mysteries featured on "scooby-doo" challenging enough

ignatz: "auuahuhuh" some nerd who wears glasses probably right now

raphael: going ape shit at the gym. rotating in full 360 degrees with the boys, flawlessly synchronized

lorenz: go ahead. keep screaming "Shut The Fuck Up " at me. it only makes my opinions Worse

marianne: my friend the only crypto currency you wanna get your hands on is this: bird seed. There is a lot of birds and they all gotta eat

leonie: strongest blade in the world, howeve,r it is so fragile as to shatter when handled by any force other than the delicate touch of a lesbian .

dimitri: I WILL REGRESS INTO PRIMAL FORM AND SHUN MY LOVED ONES IN ORDER TO POWER UP MY CONTENT !! I WILL GET RE-BLOGS AT ANY COST !! AT ANY COST !!

dedue: THIngs other people like: being bastards, being Uniformly tasteless THINGS I Like: Being reasonably kind, and trying to help, when I can

mercedes: you know society is ASS-FUCKED when people spend more time writing "Tweets", than bibles

annette: my step dad is apparently too busy kissing his shitty wife to attend my 55+ senior rugby league games. OH and guess what, we lost. Fuck tyou

ashe: i regret being tasked the emotional burden of maintaining the final bastion of morality and Nice manners in this endless ocean of human SHIT

felix: Sword's. The only blade known to man

sylvain: i just looked up the stats and the number of meaningful relationships ive formed is less than the number of public restrooms ive Screamed in

ingrid: for my money.. nothin hits the spot quite like Food, or Drink

[crackimagines]

So, after binging the child!byleth stuff, here's a related ask. What kind of gifts do his students (plus Flayn) get him when his birthday rolls around?

Child!Byleth Post Masterlist here!

(Byleth) “...”

(Sothis) “You could at least smile.”

Thanks for the ask, xios-the-fallen-one! I hope you enjoy!

------

Student gifts to Child!Byleth during his Birthday HC’S

------

- When Byleth woke up and left his professor, he heard a familiar little jingle, with his father being front and center.

Happy birthday, congratulations!

Happy birthday, with salutations!

Happy birthday, may your sky stay bluuuuue!

Happy birthday to youuuuuu!

(Jeralt) “Happy birthday, kid.”

(Byleth) “Thanks dad. I’m surprised you got the old team here for this.”

(Merc 1) “Course we wouldn’t miss it! We’ve been there for every other birthday, haven’t we?”

(Merc 2) “Now we have to share the attention though, not sure I like that very much!”

(Jeralt) “Right, well we gotta hand you over to the brats now. We’ll see ya later tonight, kid.”

- It was one of the rare times both Jeralt and Byleth smiled. They treasured those moments whenever they could.

- Byleth nodded, thanked everyone, then headed for the Dining Hall.

- He would instantly regret that decision once he took a single step inside.

(Claude) “Hey, it’s the teach!”

(Dimitri) “Professor!”

(Edelgard) “Good morning, happy birthday!”

- All the students from the three houses surrounded him, wishing him a happy birthday and asking several other questions such as how old was he.

(Byleth) “H-Hey! Let me breathe a little!”

(Claude) “Ah, please forgive us my tiny teacher! Perhaps you would care for our gifts to our overlord then?”

(Byleth) “...Wait, isn’t that supposed to come after food though?”

(Ingrid) “Well, we have a huge breakfast that we all ended up helping with!”

(Ferdinand) “Some more than others...”

(Hilda/Linhardt) nervous whistling

(Dimitri) “Well then, enough with the standing around! Let’s dig in with our professor!”

- After a hearty breakfast, a massive pile of gifts from each student before Byleth.

(Sothis) “Well child. time to get to work!”

(Byleth) Right...

Student Gifts under the cut:

Black Eagles 

(Edelgard) “Professor, I hope you enjoy this, it was something I painted myself!”

- It was a painting of the tiny professor. It was made with such precision and detail that Byleth swore he was looking in a mirror.

(Byleth) “Thanks, Edelgard. I like it.”

Bernadetta - A hand-knitted plushie of a Black Eagle.

Dorothea - Front row seats for an opera that she would be performing in.

Petra - A small necklace with a crystal found only in Brigid.

Hubert - His respect.

Ferdinand - A set of noble’s clothing...It looks like a smaller version of Ferdinand’s...

Linhardt - ...A book. At least the pictures are interesting.

Caspar - A shiny new sword Byleth could use during battle!

Blue Lions

(Dimitri) “I know you used to use daggers so, I have this to give you!”

(Byleth) “This is a very finely crafted blade Dimitri...Thanks, I might actually use it next battle. It’s been a while since I’ve just gotten to let loose with daggers in my hands. And hey, now you finally found an appropriate time to give a dagger as a gift.-”

(Dimitri) “PROFESSOR!”

Annette/Mercedes - An unholy amount of sweets.

Ingrid/Ashe - A knight’s novel they found with a character that seemed the most like the tiny professor.

Felix - Sword polish. And an invitation to a duel.

Dedue - A plant exclusive to Duscur, similar to a cactus so it looked pretty while requiring low maintenance.

Sylvain - Some really cute stuffed animals, because he had been paying attention to what little Byleth looked at during town trips.

Golden Deer

(Claude) “Happy birthday little teach! Just for today, I won’t treat you like a kid!”

(Byleth) “...That’s actually the best gift you could give me-”

(Claude) “Hah, ya wish! Nah, you won’t get that, but I WILL give ya this!”

(Byleth) “WHAT IN THE-, IS THAT A WYVERN?!”

(Claude) “Sure is! She’s taken a real liking to ya!”

Lysithea - Stuffed animals. Like, a LOT OF THEM. She had to deny that any of them were for her, blushing while giving them to Byleth. Byleth made her keep which ones she thought were the cutest.

Hilda - A very cute looking necklace. She made it herself and thought it would up his adorableness tenfold.

Ignatz - It was a painting of Byleth and all the students together. It was most likely going on Byleth’s wall.

Raphael - A very very crudely made necklace. Complete with wolf claws and made out of wood.

Lorenz - An extremely expensive-looking tea set, accompanied by the most expensive tea leaves. Leave it to Lorenz to get the fanciest thing for a kid raised by mercs.

Marianne - One of the kittens that seemed to love her the most to give to little Byleth. She wanted Byleth to smile by the kitten as much as the kitten had made her smile.

Leonie - A handmade-bow complete with durability and style. and a note saying how she was going to surpass him

Flayn

(Flayn) “Byleth! Happy birthday!”

(Byleth) “Oh, hey Flayn, thanks.”

(Flayn) “I wasn’t sure what to really get you, so I decided to cook something for you!”

(Byleth) Oh no

(Flayn) “Here you go, how does it taste?”

- Byleth took a bite out of the plate, and his face instantly grew pale.

(Flayn) “P-Professor...?”

(Byleth) “...W-What is this?”

(Flayn) “Chocolate covered fish!”

(Byleth) “SOTHIS!”

(Sothis) “DOING IT!”

- It pained Byleth to do so after she worked so hard, but he HAD to save his stomach.

[broomballkraken]

Title: The Definition of Happiness

Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Pairing: Raphael/Dedue

Word count: 3020

Warnings: N/A

Summary: It’s their daughter’s 5th birthday, and as they celebrate, Raphael is pretty sure that he never truly knew the definition of real happiness until Dedue came into his life and decided to stay.

Written for Raphael Week 2020 Day 3, Prompt: Family

“Magnolia, please put your shoes on. Your socks will get dirty if you play outside in them.”

“Okay, Papa!”

“Have fun, dear.”

Raphael was just walking through the door to their house as Dedue finished speaking, and he had to quickly step to the side to avoid being barreled into by his daughter, who quickly slipped her shoes on (the wrong feet) and rushed out the door. Raphael laughed and stuck his head out the door behind her.

“Hey, Maggie! Don’t get too tired before your birthday dinner! Wouldn’t want you to sleep through it!” he yelled after her. The rambunctious, pig-tailed red-head turned to look at him, flashing a gap-toothed grin.

“I’ll be fine, Daddy! I can play all day long and still be wide awake!” Magnolia boasted with a vigorous nod of her head, and Raphael laughed as she turned around and headed for the large barn that sat across the backyard.

As the last few chuckles rumbled through his chest, Raphael went back inside, smiling when he saw his husband working away in the kitchen. Breathing in deeply through his nose, Raphael could smell the cake baking away in the oven, and his mouth started watering in anticipation.

Raphael crossed the room and came up behind Dedue, his arms slipping around his waist as he pressed a few kisses into his neck. Dedue hummed and turned his head, his long silver hair tickling Raphael’s nose, and Raphael found his lips captured in a tender kiss. He smiled against Dedue’s lips as his arms tightened around his husband.

Eventually Raphael pulled away, placing one more quick kiss on Dedue’s bearded cheek. “Hey hun! It smells really good in here! Maggie’s gonna love her cake!” Dedue chuckled as he picked up a wooden spoon and resumed stirring the contents of the large bowl on the counter.

“Thank you, darling. I think she will love it too,” Dedue said, “Did you get the dogs all fed?”

Raphael nodded enthusiastically before resting his chin on Dedue’s shoulder. “Yep! Watered and weeded the garden too! You’ve been working hard all day cooking and baking, so I wanted to lighten your load as much as possible.”

“I appreciate that, Raphael.”

“Anything for you, love!”

Dedue turned around in Raphael’s arms and pressed their foreheads together, his hands reaching up to gently cup Raphael’s face. His gentle fingers felt nice as they ran through his beard, and Raphael let out a content sigh as he gazed adoringly into Dedue’s seafoam eyes.

“It is hard to believe that Magnolia is turning five already,” Dedue mused, his nose brushing lightly against Raphael’s, “It feels like only yesterday that we brought her home as a newborn.”

“Yeah, time sure flies! It’s been a wild ride, this whole parenting thing.”

“Indeed, but I would not trade it for anything.” Dedue paused to press his lips against Raphael’s in a quick, tender kiss. “You and Magnolia are irreplaceable precious to me, and you both have made my life truly a blessed one filled with almost overwhelming amounts of love and happiness that I once did not think that I deserved. I love you with all of my heart, my sunshine.”

Raphael’s eyes became misty as he listened to Dedue speak. They really had been through a lot together; attending the academy, fighting in a war, and afterwards recovering from the resulting trauma as they led the rebuilding efforts in Duscur. Raphael knew all of Dedue’s heartbreaking past and his deep insecurities that he had hidden quite well from everyone else. And he would never, ever question the fact that he had fallen head-over-heels in love with Dedue, and that love would never fade as long as Raphael’s heart continued to beat inside of his chest. He could never have imagined that his first, completely innocent encounter with Dedue in the monastery greenhouse all those years ago would lead to where he was now: overwhelmingly happy, fulfilled, and unconditionally loved.

“Aw, sweetheart! You’re gonna make me cry if you keep saying that kind of stuff!” Raphael gushed, as he removed his arms from Dedue’s waist to instead snake them around his neck. “I love you too, Dedue, forever and always.” Raphael’s voice dropped to a whisper, and he kissed Dedue again, smiling against his lips when Dedue wrapped his arms around him in a tender embrace.

“Beefsteak! Gimme back my shoe!”

Raphael pulled away from Dedue and turned around just in time to see Beefsteak burst into the house through the large dog door. The Saint Bernard rushed into the living room and hopped onto the couch, looking absolutely pleased with himself as his tail wagged vigorously behind him. Raphael took note of the little shoe that was sticking out of Beefsteak’s mouth, and he chuckled and shook his head.

Magnolia suddenly threw open the door that Beefsteak came through only moments before, panting heavily as her face scrunched up with annoyance. She spotted Beefsteak on the couch and let out a shout as she sprinted across the kitchen, but she stumbled and started to fall.

“Watch it!” Raphael quickly scooped Magnolia into his arms before she could hit the floor. She blinked in surprise as Raphael cradled her, before she burst into a fit of giggles.

“Yay! You saved me, Daddy!” she said, and Raphael raised an eyebrow at her.

“I sure did! You gotta be more careful. You could’ve hurt yourself, you know.” Magnolia averted her gaze for a moment, and she fiddled with the hem of her dress.

“I’m sorry...I’ll be more careful next time,” she mumbled, and Raphael smiled, kissing her forehead.

“It’s all good, as long as you mean it.” Raphael peppered a few more kisses over Magnolia’s face, and she fell into a fit of giggles.

“That tickles!” she said, another delighted squeal escaping her when Raphael rubbed his bearded cheek over hers.

“Oh does it now?” Raphael teased and he continued his relentless assault by rubbing his beard over her neck. Magnolia giggled and wriggled in his arms, trying in vain to escape her dad’s clutches.

Raphael heard Dedue laugh behind him, and his husband was suddenly hovering over Raphael’s shoulder. Raphael glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and saw a rare, mischievous glint in those beautiful eyes of his.

“Magnolia, you might be pleased to find out that you are not the only ticklish one here.” Raphael’s eyes widened in realization, but it was too late, and he yelped when Dedue’s fingers jabbed into his sides.

“H-Hey! That’s cheating!” Raphael protested, his booming laughter filling the room as Dedue continued to tickle him. Magnolia let out a surprised gasp.

“Daddy, you’re ticklish too?!?” she said, her blue eyes wide as saucers at this incredible revelation. A devilish grin spread across her face, and she pressed her small fingers against Raphael’s neck. Raphael laughed as she relentlessly tickled him, and when tears started to leak out of the corners of his eyes, Dedue took pity on him and pulled Magnolia into his arms.

“I think that is enough, dear. Give your poor dad a break.” Dedue said. Magnolia pouted, but a smile crossed her face again when Dedue set her down, and she placed a hand on one hip and pointed at Raphael.

“Okay, but you better be ready, Daddy, ‘cause I’m gonna tickle you good next time!” she said, giggling when Raphael growled playfully and lifted his arms in front of him as if he was going to try and catch her. He laughed when she ran off into the living room, and she suddenly gasped.

“Oh no! Beefsteak! Dahlia! My shoe is not a treat!”

Raphael shared a look with Dedue, who chuckled and shook his head. Leaving Dedue to continue making Magnolia’s cake, Raphael went into the living room, where Magnolia was trying to tug her shoe from Beefsteak and Dahlia, who both had a tight hold on opposite ends.

“Okay you two, you know better than to chew on shoes!” Raphael scolded, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down the two large dogs. They both let out a couple of guilty whines, and they’re jaws slowly opened, letting the shoe fall to the floor with a wet ‘plop!’

“Eww, that’s gross!” Magnolia’s face scrunched up with disgust as she pinched a still dry spot of the shoe between her fingers and held it up. Raphael opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a loud knock on the front door. As Magnolia continued to stare dubiously at the soggy shoe handing in front of her, Raphael crossed the room to answer the door.

“Hey Raph! Long time no see!”

“Maya! You’re here early!”

Raphael let out a jovial laugh as he lifted his sister into the air and gave her a tight hug. She hugged him back, and when she was set back onto her feet, she was set upon by Beefsteak and Dahlia, who gave her many sloppy dog kisses. A moment later, Magnolia nudged Raphael and the dogs out of the way and squealed happily.

“Auntie Maya! You made it!”

Maya grinned at Magnolia and placed a hand on her head to ruffle her hair. “Of course, squirt! I wouldn’t miss my favorite niece’s birthday for anything.”

“But I’m your only niece!”

“Haha, you’ve got that right!”

Magnolia giggled as she hugged Maya’s legs, and she gazed up with wide, hopeful eyes. “Did you get me a present?”

“Well yeah. It’d be silly not to get a present for such a cute and well-behaved little lady like yourself.”

A rumbling chuckle came from the direction of the kitchen, and Raphael looked up to see Dedue lift a hand to his face, looking to be trying to stifle any more laughter. Their eyes met across the room, and Raphael a soft smile spread over his face. Dedue mirrored his smile, and even though they had been married for quite sometime now, the sight still left Raphael speechless and made his heart race.

“Oh wow! What a cool painting!”

“You like it? I managed to be in the right place to see the wyvern migration last year, so I painted it for you.”

“I love it! Thanks Auntie Maya!”

Maya knelt down so that Magnolia could easily jump into her arms and give her a tight hug. When they parted and Maya stood back up, Dedue walked into the room and took a turn hugging his sister-in-law.

“It is good to see you, Maya.” Dedue said when he pulled away, “Will you be staying long?”

“Well, I’ve really got nowhere else to be,” she mused, shrugging nonchalantly, “I don’t really want to impose too much on you guys, though.”

“It is no trouble at all. Please stay as long as you would like.”

“Yeah!” Maya interjected, wrapping her arms around Maya’s legs, “Stay Auntie! We got some new doggies that you haven't met yet!”

“Oh do you now? Well, you’ll definitely have to show me!”

“Yay!”

“That will have to wait,” Dedue interrupted, gesturing towards the kitchen, “Dinner is ready, and after we can have your birthday cake, Magnolia.”

“Yay! Papa’s cakes are the best!” Magnolia said, grabbing Maya’s hand as she tugged her eagerly into the kitchen. Raphael watched with an amused grin on his face; his family brought such joy to his life, and it was a wonder that he ever knew the definition of happiness before Magnolia came into the picture.

“Darling.” Raphael was snapped from his thoughts and found that Dedue was standing before him. Ah, that’s right. He knew the definition of happiness, because ever since Raphael had confessed his feelings for Dedue, long ago in the greenhouse at Garrag Mach, Raphael had a well of infinite happiness as long as his loving husband was by his side.

“Will you go and get our presents for Magnolia?” Dedue continued, and Raphael nodded, but paused for a moment to wrap his arms around Dedue and kiss him tenderly.

When Raphael pulled away, Dedue was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, his cheeks flushed a slight pink in color, leaving Raphael a bit entranced by the beautiful sight. “Raphael?”

“Ah, right, I’ll go get them now!” Raphael said quickly, and he hurried off to their bedroom, before the urge to kiss his husband breathless prevented him from doing so.

After an evening of great food and family bonding, Maya retired for the night, as she was a bit worn out after her long journey. Raphael eventually found himself sitting in bed alongside Dedue, with Magnolia nestled in between them as they read some of her brand new books together.

“...and they lived...happily ever after!” Magnolia read, a beaming smile crossing her face as she closed the book. “That one was amazing! I wanna be a brave hero, just like the wyvern knights in the story!”

“You can do anything you want, Maggie!” Raphael said as he ruffled her hair, “You just gotta work hard for it and never give up.”

“Really?” Magnolia’s eyes went wide for a moment, before her eyebrows scrunched up thoughtfully. She went quiet and crossed her arms over her chest, and Raphael shared a glance with Dedue, who only shook his head and shrugged.

“Daddy! Papa!” Magnolia suddenly shouted, springing up onto her feet and turning around. She placed one hand firmly on her hip, and pointed her finger at her parents. “I know what I want for my birthday next year!”

“Uh, already?” Raphael blinked and cocked his head to one side, “But your birthday this year isn’t even over yet!”

“But this is important,” Magnolia said. Her gaze moved down to her feet, before her head jerked back up, an odd look of determination in her bright blue eyes.

“I want a baby wyvern!”

Raphael just stared at his daughter for a moment, completely dumbstruck. She wanted a what?

“M-Magnolia, sweetheart,” Dedue said, and Raphael turned to see that his husband’s face had paled slightly, and his jaw was set in a rare grimace. “That might not be possible…”

“Aww, why not?” Magnolia said, pouting as she crossed her arms over her chest, “I’ll be really good! I’ll make sure to never, ever do anything bad again!” Raphael turned his head to hide a goofy grin, and Dedue just sighed and shook his head.

“We will...talk about it.”

“Yay!”

“That is not a yes.”

Magnolia didn’t seem to mind, as she giggled and flopped back onto the bed, snuggling up against Raphael. She yawned sleepily and looked between her parents with a pleading expression.

“Papa, Daddy, can I sleep with you tonight? Pretty please?” Raphael chuckled and glanced at Dedue, who smiled softly and nodded.

“Of course. Just because it is still your special day.” Dedue said, and Magnolia let out a triumphant ‘hah’ as she wiggled under the covers and let Dedue tuck her in.

“Hehe, thanks,” she mumbled, yawning again as she curled up, her eyes slowly slipping shut, “I love you Daddy. I love you Papa. Today was the best...birthday...ever…” Her voice trailed off to some incoherent mumbling, and soon the birthday girl was sound asleep.

“Whew! She’s quite a handful sometimes!” Raphael said, his voice dropping to a whisper so as not to disturb Magnolia.

A low chuckle rumbled through Dedue’s chest, and he leaned over to press his forehead against Raphael’s. “I agree. She seemed to enjoy her birthday.”

“Oh yeah, I’m really glad she liked the books that I picked out for her. Er, but I didn’t think she’d get so attached to the wyvern riders like that…” Raphael scratched at his beard as a sheepish grin crossed his face, and Dedue shook his head.

“Maybe she will forget about wanting a wyvern by next year. She is far too young for that.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Maybe if she still wants to be a wyvern rider when she’s a lot older, we can look into it for her.”

“We will see.”

Raphael could sense the apprehension in Dedue’s tone, so he leaned over to place a chaste kiss on his lips. Dedue hummed contently as he returned the kiss, and when Raphael broke the kiss, his golden eyes gazed deep into Dedue’s beautiful seafoam green, and a swell of warmth flooded through his chest.

“Thank you, Dedue,” Raphael said, a tender smile crossing his face as he caressed Dedue’s cheek with the back of his hand, “for loving me, and Magnolia. For making me the happiest man in the world for all these years that we’ve been together. I didn’t really think that I could be this happy. Sometimes I think I might explode or something!”

Dedue’s eyes widened slightly, before he chuckled and placed his hand over Raphael’s. Dedue’s gaze never left Raphael’s as he lifted his hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on his knuckles, before entwining their fingers together.

“My darling sunshine, I should be the one thanking you.” Dedue’s fingers brushed over Raphael’s wedding ring, and Raphael noticed that his husband’s eyes had become quite misty. “I once did not care for my own life, but you were the one to show me how precious my life truly was, and is, and will always be. I do not think I would be as happy as I am now without you by my side, helping me raise our beautiful daughter.”

“Aw, hon, you’re making me blush,” Raphael teased, and Dedue laughed as they kissed once more, and they settled down on the bed, making sure that Magnolia had enough room between them.

“I love you, Dedue.” Raphael whispered.

“And I love you, Raphael. Always.”

They shared one final kiss goodnight, and Raphael gave little Magnolia a peck on her forehead, before he extinguished the candle on the nightstand and closed his eyes. He had no trouble slipping into a pleasant slumber, and that might have had something to do with the fact that he was snuggled up closely with the two people who would always make him the happiest man in the world.

[bloomandcoffee]

some Claumitri, Dimitri grows in the Alliance AU

After the tragedy in Duscur, the political situation on the Northern Lands are dangerous, and Dimitri who is still just not old enough yet to take the crown and the only member of royal crest still alive is sent to the Alliance for protection. After all the Riegan were distant cousin of the Blaiddyd, they can protect the heir of Faerghus until he comes of age. Meanwhile the Kingdom can investigate all who orchestrated the regicide of the late King. 

That at least is the official statement.

In fact, they sent Dimitri over there as a political prisoner at worst or a bride to get a wedding alliance with the Leicester Alliance at best. Nothing more than a political sacrificial piece orchestrated by Cornelia’s faction in Northern Territories to get the heir out of the way. 

Dimitri’s stay in the Alliance is not glamorous at all. More often than not there is some hard work to be done that simply wasn’t available for anyone else and he has to do in order to keep a low profile, or he’s kept locked away for protection. He endures it with a placid smile and kindness, aware that he is away in a land where some will forever be hostile to him and Faerghus.

At least he came with Dedue, at Dimitri’s insistence. Because he won’t leave his friend and stalwart companion and savior behind, especially in Faerghus where people of Duscur are hated. Dimitri may be a political offering, but at least this way, he can protect Dedue.

This is the first thing that clues Claude in that the Northern prince has depths and is playing at some deeper game than just having a soft bleeding heart and grieving mind. He’s intrigued. 

Then he finds out that Dimitri is patiently teaching Dedue how to write and read, and makes some investigations of his own about Duscur’s situation and has an epiphany. 

Claude devises a strategy to get closer to Dimitri and Dedue by teaching them both the alliance mother language. Goading the Prince and retainer into spars and mischief will not yield the results he wants. If he wants to have them trusting him, he needs a more personal soft touch.

He realizes that Oh no, Dimitri is trusting! and then Oh no, Dimitri is cute, and then Dimitri snaps a lance in half while startled and realizes Oh No he’s freakishly strong. 

...and then he discovers that Dimitri feels responsible for the tragedy of Duscur, blames the deaths and has nightmares about the dead and the blood and... Oh No, I really want to save this soul. 

Dedue is their wingman. Mostly because he understands the politicking behind Dimitri’s situation in the alliance, and among all the figureheads in it, he trusts Claude. 

Dimitri doesn’t approve much of Claude’s underhanded tactics, though he respects their merits, especially when they yield results. So he starts learning to be cleverer, not on the battlefield though --he has honor-- but on the political climate of the alliance. 

He surprises Claude one afternoon by reading correctly the political situation concerning a trade --and brings into attention the influence of a faction Claude had previously ignored. “You can’t read perfectly basic southern Leicester, and yet you deduced the communications?!” “I can’t read, but I learned to read people, and once you know the basics, there’s certain alliance body language that seems universal” “You are scary, Dima” 

He also figures it out that Claude is really a Prince of Almyra, but keeps quiet. Politics are politics. 

Mock fights become common place, and Claude opens Dimitri up to his friends that end up warming up to the prince and his bodyguard. 

There are still political tensions, and more than once Dimitri lost a bit of his temper when learning about the situation in the Northern Kingdoms and his inability to help his brethren. Most of the time his communication missives don’t arrive, and it took a bit of work with Claude to find a method where he could keep contact with Ingrid. 

But the situation in north is not good. 

Dimitri never cries about it, but Claude knows there are tears in his voice. He’s so vulnerable like this, vulnerable, malleable and dangerous. Claude yearns. He’s away Dimitri is a political piece in the chessboard, and marriage is an option to expand his vision of a unified Fódlan and Almyra.

But more than anything, Claude wants to protect. So he soothes, and even if a few times they just argue into a stalemate it’s fine. So long as Dimitri feels heard, as long as he feels his burden is not something to carry alone --That it’s something he ought to carry with Claude-- he will take that as a victory.

Though one night, right before they depart for the Officer’s Academy where Dimitri will take the first step to his position as King of Faerghus by leading the Blue house, he promises beneath the stars, next to each other lying on the grass, shoulders touching, gaze connecting “We will make everything better. Your Kingdom, my Alliance, all of Fódlan. We’ll do it. Together” Dimitri smiles and nods. “Together.”

(For all that Dimitri has learned to read Leicester body language and their customs, he still forgets that Claude is Almyra bloodline as well, and that as is tradition of the eastern empire to propose beneath the stars of the last day of Lone Moon, with a vow of unity.)

Byleth chooses to teach the Golden deer house, though he soon finds that this was in fact a two-way deal. There have been some missions where the blue lions house has tagged along... and with them Manuela who keeps flirting. 

He tried to make sense of it. But Claude and Dimitri move seamlessly like a unit. And he thinks, maybe, the unity of the houses can yield something good for Fódlan.... and it’s not his fault if the Blue Lions come over to have class with the Golden Deer (and some of the Black Eagles have started to appear in some of his lectures too!). It’d just be rude to shove them away, Seteth, and anyway, it’s not like Manuela doesn’t help with the lesson either. 

(He may have found himself a counselor for Dimitri from time to time. Most of it at Claude’s and Dedue’s requests, because his students want to help the blond but Byleth knows an Adult™ is required. Something that Manuela approves.) 

Some Blue Lions and Golden Deer integrate well, some don’t. There is still tension about Dimitri’s actual political situation in Northern Lands, the place he’ll return after school. But it all seems far away, and the Blue Lions warm up to Dimitri and Claude all the same. 

(except Felix, but there are a lot of things to unpack there) 

Edelgard sees this and realizes her plans will fall right over the wayside if she doesn’t act quickly. First and foremost, she must mentally destabilize Dimitri. 

and because I’m in stupid abo phase. They are all alphas, but the kind that during their puberty, if they ingest alpha seed they will turn into omegas. 

Claude and Dedue are acutely aware of the politicking that Dimitri might fall prey of in the Alliance, and watch everything Dimitri consumes like a hawk. There are some few close calls, but they (with the help of the Golden Deer house, specifically, Lysithea) navigate through successfully. 

Everything seems fine, they are eighteen and in the Officer’s Academy. Dimitri sees some of his childhood friends, and even when the protection agreement is near its end and the investigations are apparently complete, the politics are tense --especially after the assassination attempt and Lonato’s rebellion. But they are out of omega-turning danger.

Except not really. After’s Edelgard’s unmasking as the Flame Emperor, Dimitri falls ill. Soon enough it’s apparent that it is not due to poison but heat. 

Everyone believe this is Edelgard’s doing. Given that soon after she is revealed to be the Flame Emperor who orchestrated the murder of Dimitri’s dad, the revolt in Faerghus, and declares war on everything in Fódlan, nobody questions the veracity of such suspicion.

No one will ever know it was in fact Claude’s plan. 

Dimitri’s first heat is terrible, but the church, the Golden Deer and some Blue Lions cooperate so that no alpha ever gets near Dimitri’s quarters and takes advantage.

Rhea is taken prisoner. Blyeth is gone, Dimitri is now ineligible as King because he’s now an omega and Cornelia takes the throne. It’s terrible. People of Faerghus rebel, and some start to think that perhaps the rule of only alpha royals has handed them unjust misery. The system ought to change.

Dimitri loses an eye to Cornelia. He’s now declared an enemy of the Kingdom and a target of the empire. Claude cannot protect him, publicly, that is. 

Golden Deer house, along with some of the more loyalist Blue lion factions make Dimitri effectively disappear. A year after Emperor Edelgard declares war, rumors start that Dimitri is dead though no body has been found.

After a visit to Almyra, most leaders of the alliance smell that Claude is now a taken alpha, but there’s no omega with him. Some think it’s one Almyra princess, the price paid for the Almyra reinforcements. His detractors think there’s someone else.

Dimitri, some whisper. But no one has seen the fugitive prince. Last they heard Dedue was killed brutally by Queen Cornelia’s generals.

There are some rumors of a red haired lancer, long hair in a braid, that leads a bunch of bandits. A robin hood of sorts, that gives food and gold to the refugees trying to escape the war, or the people of the towns near the church, those who are still pious and refuse to abandon their homes even if it means they will be trampled by the empire.

None have seen her. Though many whisper she is kind, quiet and has a sad pained smile. An omega, most agree, probably lost her family during the attacks, the poor dear. 

(Sometimes she’s accompanied by a tall armored man. Nobody has ever seen him, and he communicates with the lancer through sign language. The people keep quiet of that. The lancer and her paladin help them; they won’t ever betray such kindness.)

They are just rumors, of course. Though red hair becomes a synonym of dread for the imperial sympathizers in the Alliance.  

Five years later, Byleth returns to a Fódlan that’s still under war, and to Claude, now the leader of the Golden deer Alliance after cleaning it out of imperialist sympathizers in the most shrewd, clean, and bloodlessly manner possible. When Night comes, where Byleth remained at Claude’s request, he meets a weary Dimitri, now red haired, under a disguise. 

The professor smiles, relieved even if he can see the pain and weight Dimitri now carries around him, and they hold hands in greeting. Byleth also pats his head reassuring him that everything will come to pass, and never missing that he now smells like a taken omega --and the scent is undeniable Claude’s.

He raises an eyebrow at them, and Dimitri is the first one that cracks admitting that they did not have a Seirosian wedding. But Claude insists that they did follow the religion’s marrying rituals.

Byleth shakes his head at his reckless students, but is happy for them. They maintained Fódlan’s hope in his absence, and survived. Now that he’s here to help them (and he will help them) everything will be fine. 

They retake the Northern Kingdoms first and unseat Queen Cornelia. Dimitri is named King regent, though he puts right into planting the roots for the Kingdom to reform into a representative monarchy where the circle of nobility and especially the common people can have more power in how everything is governed. 

And of course, cleaning up Duscur’s name.

Claude doesn’t leave Dimitri’s room the night after Cornelia’s defeat, making sure that his husband understands that he is wanted and loved --even if his step mother never did.

Dimitri is both touched and embarrassed. It hurts, but his kindness is not as unmanageable as it once was.

The empress begs Byleth to end her life when she is defeated. Dimitri offers his hand to Edelgard instead, willing to forgive and give his step-sister a path to redemption. She throws his knife at him instead. 

“Good-bye, El.”

In the end, when everything is said and done, Byleth officiates Claude’s and Dimitri’s wedding official in the way it should have been. (Much to the protests of Seteth who, even if he’d become lax about Seirosian religion, is still scandalized that the new Pope is marrying an already married in sin couple where none is pure at the altar)