#dimtri did not have to earn compassionate care.

[yellowocaballero]

No one left behind 😭👍, that was so cheesy of Felix but I love that for him.

It was SO cheesy and I'm SO proud of him. I think Felix has the biggest heart in the Blue Lions, which is saying a lot. He's way too loyal and loves way too much and it burns him. He's one of the characters who changes most throughout the story, and it was rewarding to show him grow up. And I loved writing him as a POV character, he was perfect - perceptive, insightful, funny, provocative, has lots of internal conflict, starts a lot of external conflict, says what he thinks. and emotionally intelligent or stupid as the situation calls for. 10/10 character.

The conceit of the AU was, of course, "what if the Blue Lions stayed together during the time skip". They were each other's only safety and security, the only people they trusted, and in the most dangerous situation possible they were each other's only safe harbor. The Rules were why they stayed to take care of Dimitri (ergo, it's also "AU where Dimitri wasn't alone for five years"), but I think it was taking care of Dimitri that finally solidified them as a family. To them, it was a replication of what Byleth had done - gaining the ability to show compassionate, empathic, and unconditional love because that love was given to them. As Byleth gains the ability to feel love through the love felt for her. Byleth's upcoming arc is very much a 'oh no, I'm having feelings' journey. AKA Come get your Dimileth food lol

I think Felix is a very loving person, but his love had fueled his hatred and resentment, and he had to re-learn how to show it. That involved releasing a lot of things within him. Becoming a caretaker tends to mature you fast, for better or for worse, and Felix had to process a lot of stuff very quickly. I think namely the fact that Dimitri and Felix had been caught in a toxic PTSD cycle of Felix punishing Dimitri and Dimitri using Felix as a way to punish himself. I think Felix's desire to punish Dimitri was stonewalled by Dimitri's psychotic break, because it must have become incredibly apparent that Dimitri was punishing himself enough for the both of them - and that there was no point to punishing Dimitri at all when Dimitri could barely even understand him. Everybody's seen Dimitri homicidal now and everybody believes him. The homicidality has lost a lot of its monstrousness and evil - it just seems sad, now, the misdirected fear of a sick person. There's no satisfaction out of hating Dimitri anymore. There's no longer any point. And Felix is left alone with the fact that the boy he loved is sick, and needs him, and if Felix was cruel to him now then it would only be cruelty for the sake of cruelty, and he would be no better than Dimitri. I think Felix forgave him, and I think it took a lot of maturity.

Felix's journey is super interesting. He got, like, two side stories with his POV just because I found him so interesting. This is also really why I'm not a Dimitri/Felix person - what they actually have going on is just so much more interesting (same reason I'm not a Dimitri/Dedue guy - Dimitri and Dedue's actual thing is FAR more fascinating). Felix's decision to forgive Dimitri wasn't about Dimitri - it was about Felix, and Felix being nineteen years old, and facing a crossroads of his life where he decided what kind of person he wanted to be (again, another journey Byleth has). Would he exhibit decency, humanity, and compassion to the person he hated the most? And if he did, would it release something old and rotten within him? Who knows! We will! When I post Catleth!