#fire emblem silver snow

[wellberightwithyou]

Okay but we really don’t talk enough about Ghost Dimitri… like, from a writing perspective, why did that even happen?? Like isn’t it weird that even when it’s not the Blue Lion’s route Dimitri gets these weird steal-the-show moments? We never see a ghost Edelgard moment which would almost arguably be more tragic since she dies over and over again in different campaigns where she believes she’s doing the right thing and is trying to destroy a shadowy conspiracy force but no one knows that so they villainize her in history. I LOVE Dimitri and I’m certainly not complaining about these moments, but it’s technically odd how he gets so much more love than the other house leaders. Even in Three Hopes I feel like he’s always portrayed as this bad ass honorable figure even when he’s the enemy of a campaign. I always feel guilty when I go after Dimitri but I have no problem going against Edelgard and Claude.

Okay so like… Ghost Dimitri / Not-a-Ghost Dimitri shows up in Silver Snow and together with Byleth they act like they have this super close bond but in this timeline Byleth is way more emotionally attached to Edelgard rather than Dimitri. In this timeline Byleth was always teaching the Black Eagles and bonding with them so it’s all the weirder that ghost Dimitri would appear before this Byleth. So in a story where I should feel sad about the tragedy of Byleth and Edelgard fighting I’m still feeling sad about Dimitri because of moments like this. It’s just sort of a strange move from a writing perspective. NOT A BAD ONE, JUST A LITTLE WEIRD.

Also, I feel like FE3H isn’t usually *that* ambiguous so moments like this are really strange and memorable

[momochanners]

Shhhh, don't tell him anything!!! 🤭

[themisteriousentity]

"Golden Deer is boring though it's lackluster, the characters aren't as strong as the other paths there's less conflict-"

You fool. You absolute buffon. Golden Deer is perfectly designed. Not only does it feed into the whole "alliance" theme well by having the characters still work together despite their differences and feelings well before hitting those A supports, but it's ALSO the only route that actually puts the focus on YOU the player. Or, rather, Byleth themself

Black Eagle is about whether or not you can agree to Edelgard's ideals of acceptable sacrifice and perspective that there's only 1 way to do things. The branching happens when you decide whether or not you agree, but ultimately it just explores opposing or agreeing with Edelgard. Anything more than that is really just incidental to that main concept, whether it's Crimson Flower or Silver Snow, the entire time you're focused either on helping Edelgard achieve her goals or you're focused on showing her how wrong she is alongside the Black Eagles who think it's their duty to correct Edelgard's wrongs (and I have a whole separate thing in regards to how the cast acts in Crimson Flower verses Silver Snow). It works really well for characters designed around an empire, a domineering form of government where (usually) a singular ruler determines the course and focus

Blue Lions is focused entirely on working on past issues and learning to bring yourself into the present, but it's done almost entirely through the cast more than the player. The Blue Lions themselves all have their own traumas and deep-seated past issues that hinder or help progress. While both Blue Lions and Black Eagles have a lot in common when it comes to traumatized characters and ideology, the ideology is front and center, while in Boue Lions, their interpersonal conflicts are front and center. This shows especially in the final (non romance) scene, where Dimitri decides that his personal attachment to Edelgard and past memories still matter, and he reaches out a hand, despite her immediately trying to kill him. It's fitting for a route designed around a kingdom, which is usually built entirely on interpersonal dealings between the ruling class

Golden Deer, however, is designed very differently. Unlike the other 3 routes, the player, or more specifically Byleth, is put as the driving force instead of the Lord. And this is actually what makes Golden Deer such a good route and one with the best ending of all of them. Claude has ideals, but he isn't a person who wants to force others to follow his path like Edelgard. Claude has lived a life of strife where his past motivates him, but it doesn't chain him the same way it does Dimitri. Instead, he works on understanding everyone around him and working together towards agreed upon goals, while taking on stuff that isn't agreed upon onto himself. But more than that, while all the Lord's value your opinion, Claude is the only one who actually takes what Byleth wants (rather than just what they think about specific matters) into consideration for his plans. Repeatedly you tell Seteth in Silver Snow that you don't want to kill Edelgard, but he pushes that you have no choice. Pretty much the entire first half of Azure Moon is Dimitri ignoring you. And in Crimson Flower, you've all but completely submitted to Edelgard's will with a couple of exceptions (which actually proves my point because it's specifically in regards to the Golden Deer because you can fight the entirety of Crimson Flower while sparing all of them except for Judith). But in Verdant Wind, Claude doesn't hide that he has a problem with the church and wants Rhea gone. In Golden Wildfire, without Byleth, he's more than happy to just get rid of her without a second thought. But when Byleth is the protagonist, he goes out of his way to accommodate your wants into his plans and goals. When you express as the player that you want to reason with Edelgard and ponder if you can't walk the same path, Claude agrees with you and says he'll make it happen if he can, with the other Golden Deer mostly agreeing. When that,can't happen you both lament the fact that Edelgard gave you no choice together. He makes finding Rhea a priority, mostly because as curious as he is in general, he wants to help you find out answers only Rhea can give you. And all of the Golden Deer do this to some extent, with each other but also with you as the player. I think Hilda and Marianne's A supports with Byleth show this best personally, but that's a personal opinion. And it just works so well for a route designed around the idea of an alliance, people coming together and agreeing to work towards a goal bigger than themselves

And that's not to say the other routes aren't as good as Golden Deer, they're all equally well written, but it just makes me sad when I see people giving the Golden Deer route grief just because the characters aren't the same when it does its theme so beautifully

[slippy-socks]

linhardt fire emblem u will always be famous

[squeaky-potat]

Silver Snow Route featuring Claude von “F*ck you” and his big fluffy kitty boyfriend.

They escaped Fódlan then lived happily ever after :3

[notomys-mordax-blog]

Enlightened One Guyleth

Typically I imagine F!Byleth, but I thought I'd mix it up. the composition was a challenge since there are so many layers to this outfit.

I've been doing a lot of cell-shading lately while working on my personal projects, so I thought I'd take a break and play with cross-shading. My goal was to do minimal shading outside of the linework.

[dimootri]

an experimental piece of linhardt yippie

[ladyniniane]

FE3H OC Drawcember: Free space

And I'm back! Here are Gladys and her mother, Amalia Sváfa* Eilyn.

-I just can't decide. What pattern would you associate me with? Vigdis strayed for a moment into her dreams. Then she took a deep breath and declared, solemnly, as if launching herself into the void: -A torch. -Oh, that's a great idea! It's a symbol of warmth and hope, it's what brightens the hearth and guides us in the dark,” added Maeve. Vigdis nodded silently, pleased that her friend had understood and expanded. -It's all you, Mom,” Gladys agreed. Happy to see herself described in this way, Amalia was filled with gratitude. -In that case, it's what I want. I trust you.

Amalia is a very important character in Gladys' story and a constant presence in her life. She was married twice and had many occupations in her life: servant, army cook and then, noble lady. After her daughter was reunited with her biological father, Amalia followed her and trained as a warrior to be able to always protect Gladys.

She now follows Gladys to war and always guards her side. Mother and daughter are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Amalia is an accomplished horse rider. Her favorite weapons are the bow, the sword and the mace.

Her maturity and stability make her a supportive presence. She's always there to offer a word of advice to Gladys, her friends and later Dimitri. Amalia is unused to the world of the high nobility, but her journey offers her many opportunities to discover, learn and meet new people.

*Sváfa is a valkyrie in Norse mythology. Her name means "sleep-maker". Now, you can see why Amalia chose this name for herself.

[iubworks]

Seiros is now available on P@treon!

[readglare]

And if we go out separate ways

[cosmicnovaflare]

Archbishop Rhea from Fire Emblem Three Houses

[moltz23]

That one time Fire Emblem Lied to its players [Fire Emblem: Three Houses Analysis]

Have a picture of Rhea, for no particular reason.

The Fire Emblem franchise is no stranger to games having multiple routes with various perspectives. FE Fates’ whole gimmick was about how Corrin’s view of the Hoshido & Nohr war changes depending on whom they chose to (potentially not) support; their Nohrian siblings, or/and the Hoshidans. And as a less-drastic example, Sacred Stones also has a choice midway through the story, in which picking Eirika or Ephraim as the main lord changes both the next few chapters and how the main antagonist is portrayed.

Meanwhile, even though Fire Emblem: Three Houses technically continued this tradition, unlike past games, it took the choice of making sure there would be no story branch with an unbiased view of the world, history, and events. As a result, we ended up with a game that, compared to previous entries, lies to its players.

Why Three Houses of all games got hit with this treatment? Well, that’s exactly what I’m set to show everyone here, so sit tight, and grab a drink and a snack or something, because to understand this, we first need to talk about Biased Storytelling. 

What even IS Biased Storytelling? 

In the context of Three Houses and this analysis, I refer to “biased storytelling” as the narrative technique in which the story’s perspective is so rooted in the chosen faction, that it impacts the perspective taken of its events.

Toshiyuki Kusakihara, Three Houses’ director, alludes to it in a 2020 Nintendo Interview, making clear this was a deliberate choice from his end:

Kusakihara: For me, I think games are a way to simulate a world and its story as if the player were experiencing it themselves. I’m personally the type of person that gets absolutely sucked into things like movies and games. I tried setting up a prank using how the game itself is structured: the player would go through the game once and really experience the world, then they’d talk about it with someone else and be like, “we played the same game right? Why are we talking about two different things?” I thought that it might be interesting where even if you picked the same house as somebody, your experience could differ from somebody else’s based on who you recruited. You might even say to yourself, “hey, I didn’t even see that scene!”

With just this decision, Three Houses became free to have each of its plots tackle whatever ideas it wanted. And with no golden/true route on sight, players became forced to make sense of everything themselves, pin-pointing every potential detail which could explain notorious divergences and similarities between narratives.

Accomplishing this does come with many challenges. Through understanding what the game does to make each story feel different though, one detail of its writing stands out:

It’s all about Perspective:

3 nations. 3 future rulers. 4 perspectives.

Perspective is, simply put, Three Houses’ main bread and butter. In spite of heavily recycling its content whenever possible, it’s what ultimately makes each route feel different from one another. Silver Snow and Verdant Wind for example, might be infamous for sharing a good chunk of story beats and maps ‘til the near end, but neither of them feels the same in terms of themes and perspective as a result, more so with the titular supporting cast each story features.

To set up its various perspectives, the narrative did the following:

First, it had the story take place in a world with a vast history.

Second, it had a particular character (Byleth) act as an audience surrogate.

And third and most importantly, context on the world & events was provided by characters who have unique backgrounds and strategic roles in the setting. Most notably: Rhea; Edelgard; Dimitri; and Claude (there are also a few auxiliary ones like Sothis which do contribute to this cornucopia of POVs though), some of which are route exclusive.

I simply cannot stress how much Rhea and the House Leaders’ involvement in the plot colors things for players. One of the better examples where their differences are exposed in full is arguably Chapter 5: Tower of Black Winds. 

As a brief recap: In it, Rhea assigns Byleth & their class the task of eliminating Miklan - disowned son of House Gautier - and his gang, who had recently stolen a Hero Relic.  Prior to the mission itself, Blue Lions and Golden Deer introduces the player supporting figures that played key roles in the chosen House Leader’s past: Rodrigue for Dimitri; and Judith for Claude (for those wondering, no equivalent exists for Edelgard in Black Eagles).

Then the Miklan mission happens and… Let’s just say people have thoughts about it:

To break things down, in all routes:

Sothis is puzzled by the whole thing, and feels she has seen the demonics beasts before…

Meanwhile, Rhea believes Miklan deserved to get screwed over. After all, unlike Byleth, he was not chosen nor deemed worthy of wielding their crest and Hero Relic. Also, she tells Byleth to keep Miklan’s transformation a secret to prevent mass hysteria.

Meanwhile, the House Leaders - whom the player gets only in certain routes - are the ones who truly make things interesting:

Even though both Edelgard and Dimitri agree that Crests shouldn’t hold so much importance, each one’s solution to the issue provides a clear image of how they see the world and how much they ideologically contrast one another, and their thoughts on Miklan’s predicament as well hint at their different backgrounds and past experiences. Then we have Claude, who by contrast is unfamiliar with Crests - not unlike Byleth* - and discloses nothing about his dream or, in other words, “his ideal world”, only confiding it’s something only connections and power can achieve. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this is quite exactly where the heart of Three Houses’ deceit lies. More conventional stories wrestle with the fact they need to provide information about the world which must be accepted as fact, which is where the act of exposition comes in, usually from an ally or from some character well versed in the setting. Conversely, others like Three Houses blatantly lie to its players by simply having their characters provide exposition based on what they realistically know about the world they’re in, and how their backgrounds color the perception of the events witnessed. At best they provide a good guide for understanding things but taking them at face value does come with a few risk.

*As a bit of an aside though, I do wanna drive attention to how Claude assumes double duty in Three Houses’s story (and ONLY Three Houses) in a way no one else does. Unlike Rhea, Edelgard and Dimitri, whom are very much familiar with Fódlan’s idiosyncrasies (sometimes, far more than they’ll let you know), Claude’s own unfamiliarity with Fódlan means he ends up working in practice as a second audience surrogate, and thus has his story be the most “lore exploring” narrative of all given how much of a driving force Claude’s avarice for the truth is, his biases aside.

Varying Knowledge on Events.

Moving onwards, one of the risks caused by the characters having realistic human knowledge is that understanding and perception of events wildly changes depending on the character relaying the information. Chapter 5 was a good case of this already, but another solid example can be seen in what happens to the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus post-timeskip outside Crimson Flower. 

For context’s sake: one way or another, Dimitri is unable to assume the throne due to the Faerghus Dukedom being established by Cornelia, Faerghus’ Court Mage, and isn’t seen again for a long while.

My vague recollection of said events was done deliberately, and I feel the evidence below speaks for itself:

Both Seteth and Claude’s knowledge on Dimitri’s fate and how the Faerghus Dukedom came to be are very surface level. Meanwhile, Gilbert’s perspective is a lot more intimate, which fits since he was there when it all happened.

And on the note of characters being there when things happen-

Scenes (not!) shown to the Player

This one’s by far the most sneaky trick the writers pulled (and also more of a lie by omission than anything). I mean, If the player doesn’t choose the Black Eagles/Blue Lions/Golden Deer, it makes sense they’re not shown what Edelgard/Dimitri/Claude are up to respectively, yeah? But that comes with a consequence: the player misses scenes providing context for their actions and motivations.

Case in point: Dimitri’s whole vendetta against Edelgard. Outside of Blue Lions, Dimitri eventually develops an unhinged hatred against Edelgard, but the player is never shown its source. And all because the scene introducing this isn’t relevant to the story being told in those routes.

After Jeralt’s death in Chapter 9, in Black Eagles & Golden Deer, Alois visits Byleth in Jeralt’s room as they mourn their loss, giving the mercenary-turned-teacher some words of comfort. And in those routes, Edelgard and Claude get their own chance to do so in a early scene in Chapter 10 which is juxtaposed with TWSITD & the Flame Emperor having a villain moment™.  

In Blue Lions however, Dimitri visits Byleth instead of Alois in Ch. 9. In turn, Byleth, instead of remaining mournful, does a walk at night the next day and finds Dimitri eavesdropping the whole conversation between TWSITD and Flame Emperor. This shows players what happens after the villain moment™ ends, and how Dimitri eavesdropping on it and getting the Flame Emperor’s dagger convinces him that Edelgard was the mastermind of the Tragedy of Duscur.

Also the moment where everything goes to hell for Dimitri.

The way the Blue Lions' version of the scene was handled also raises interesting implications when considering the timeline of events. Not only does it suggest Dimitri eavesdropping that moment is canon to White Clouds, but also that it’s purely through slightly different circumstances that the story allows it to be shown to Byleth (and by proxy, the player). And this is not even the only case - Crimson Flower for example, implies the explanation Rhea gives to Seteth about what Byleth truly is - in her eyes, that is - always happens even when the titular surrogate isn’t present where it takes place.

When even the lore is biased.

Finally, I want to wrap this up with the most elaborate and confusion-inducing stunt the game pulls to the player: The War of Heroes. 

The tl;dr, as far the Church/Rhea claims - per Part 1, White Clouds - goes as follows: 

Goddess bestows blessings and weapons to humans to fight evil. 

Humans defeat evil. 

Humans misuse blessings and grow corrupt. 

Goddess is sad and leaves.

The Goddess’ prophet arrives, makes miracles, creates the Church of Seiros, co-founds the Adrestian Empire with Wilhelm I, and gives other humans - along with other fellow saints - Crests. 

The Adrestian Empire expands, and fights Nemesis’ forces. 

The War of Heroes happens.

Nemesis is slain in the Tailtean Plains.

Goddesses’ weapons are retrieved as the Ten Elites fall, and their clans are assimilated into the Empire.

War ends sometime later.

As for what took place in reality? the game provides us 2 POVs from 2 different sources:

Both perspectives share that the Church’s history records of the events were a textbook example of propaganda - yet also differ on one key area: the motive behind the war, which begs the question: What happened here? 

Well, this is one of those things that I hinted that we would need to pierce ourselves as the game’s never upfront about it. Which means that, to make sense of everything, we have to take into account the evidence at hand the game gives us: 

Rhea was there when the Tragedy of the Red Canyon happened, and knew her species was being killed and harvested for power by humans (which should not have known how to do what they did).

It’s well documented that Seiros and the Saints used their dragon forms against Nemesis’ forces in battle. Warrios: Three Hopes’ intro movie even shows a battle in which Seiros switches forms in the battlefield.

Wilhelm (The First) is the human that found Seiros after the slaughter and supported her fight with Nemesis. And as Edelgard’s claims, he did this knowing she was a dragon, and that her victory would subjugate humanity to her.

Part 1 is very unsubtle over how Rhea has a lot of secrets, to the point not even Seteth knows why she does things sometimes. 

One of Abyss’ banned books heavily implies no one in Fódlan – sans a select few - know what a dragon is, when examining the bone composition of the Hero’s Relics…

Taking all evidence into account, it should be easy to grasp how Wilhelm the human, despite being one of Rhea’s biggest supporters versus Nemesis, ultimately ended up getting a completely different idea on the motives Rhea had for her whole crusade against the murderer of her kin. Understandably yet tragically so, all points out Rhea didn’t trust Wilhelm enough to tell him the truth of her cause, so she let him come up with his own conclusions. Conclusions, which later made their way into his descendants in secret, and eventually, to Edelgard.

But wait, what about the other faction involved in the war? Nemesis and co.? What was their take on the whole thing?

Well, we technically do know their POV, but it’s not openly discussed in the main story. Instead, it’s spread around in breadcrumbs in the game itself:

In short, not only Nemesis’ most important men were ignorant of his most heinous acts (or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say they didn’t perceive them as heinous?), when Nemesis found out Seiros was publicly framing him as a good man turned bad that needed to be put down for the greater good - all to rally allies for Wilhelm’s Empire - Nemesis’ ensuing statement was something that could be very well summed as the following: 

Actually uncanny how this fits.

There are so many more examples that I want to bring out right now (both from Three Houses and Three Hopes), but I feel that by this point there’s not much left that hasn’t been said already. That is, other than the questions the whole Biased Storytelling stunt caused: Where does the truth lie when everyone is missing pieces of the puzzle? Can someone truly lie when they're unaware such missing pieces even exist? In a story, how canonical truly is the context not shown to the reader? Should one be allowed to know the circumstances of every important event in a story, even if it's irrelevant to the key narrative? 

[saturns-rings-robins-wings]

A funeral of flowers (thunder)

[silvergarnet12]

My Secret Anna gift for Shirokuma on the FE Compendium Discord a couple of years ago.

[acethatlovesdinos]

I made a post way early in my blog about how certain fe3h characters would be better if they weren't so dedicated to a single other person or ideal.

for example; Seteth and Flayn are wonderful people, with unique personalities and a well-developed design and backstory.

At several points in the story, regardless of route, you can even see Seteth question some of Rhea's actions and decisions....and it left me longing for a story in which I could fight alongside the Empire but maintain a bond with my beloved saints. (I'm sorry I really just don't like the archbishop leave me be lmao). Plus she kinda loses her mind during CF too, and I'm positive they'd catch on and be concerned.

Anyway so this story is gonna take place at some point along Crimson Flower, and Reader is meant to be the former professor of the Black Eagles. Whether it's Byleth or a self-insert, that's for you to decide, anyway enough rambling let's goooo

1.6k words, angst galore

first person SetethxReader(Byleth?) Alois also makes an appearance

warnings: Literal warzone in the beginning. Reader is shot (with arrows). not sure if it counts as a warning but I used the term "saints" and "goddess" in the context where we usually would say "god" since it seemed fitting lol

~~~~~~~

I sent off the last messenger hawk, watching it fly over the horizon and out of sight.

Communication and negotiations have gone surprisingly well so far, and the Church has agreed to meet up and talk. Edelgard and I agreed that talking it out would be a good first step to avoid more bloodshed, but just in case they had other plans, we would be bringing an army with us.

The day we set for negotiating finally arrived, and we rode up to Magdred in droves. Seemed they had the same idea, as an entire army stood behind Seteth, sat nobly on his wyvern's back.

I stepped off my horse, leaving my sword with it. The only movement in the field was between the high priest and myself, slowly walking toward one another. It was eerily silent, the wind whistling through the trees hushing every other sound.

We finally met in the center of the field, and I parted my lips to speak. "Seteth. I-"

I froze, my ears perking up just in time to pick up an all-too-familiar sound. I knew what it was, but I couldn't react fast enough.

SHNK.

SHNK.

SHNK.

All at once, before I could even move, three arrows found their place deep within my chest.

My heart pounded in my ears. I stared at Seteth, shock, fear, and betrayal rampant in my expression. I was unarmed. I was there to talk. Why did they...? But his eyes seemed to share the same feelings. It...didn't make sense.

Everything was silent, all sides too taken aback to even realize what happened.

My stance swayed, I staggered for a second, then I fell, the metal pieces of my armor clanking as they met the dirt.

Hell broke loose once my head hit the ground. I heard roars from both sides as each army advanced, enveloping the field in violent noise that had been silent mere moments ago.

Someone grabbed me. I...I couldn't tell who. My eyes wouldn't focus, my body felt cold. I was pulled into a protected embrace, and a distant voice echoed in my ears as the warmth of rushed, desperate healing spells washed over me.

"Y/N! Y/N, listen to me! Keep your eyes open! I need you to stay awake, please! Hold on!"

Saints above, everything ached when my eyes opened again. My pained groan alerted the guardian at my side, Alois, who looked like he hadn't slept in days. A shaken gasp made way for a relieved sigh and a tired smile, and I could tell it took a lot of internal force for him not to hug me.

A proper look around made me realize I was in the infirmary back at Garreg Mach, and three bloodied patches of bandage stretched across my torso. Ouch. Manuela knelt by a different cot, no doubt tending to another casualty from the fight.

"I...I don't remember much. I walked up to talk, and I heard the arrows...then...?"

Alois sighed. "Yeah. We had to retreat afterward, but so did they. We're...still trying to figure things out." As if he sensed the rising panic in my mind, he immediately followed, "your class is fine. Edelgard took the lead after you fell." I nodded, relief overtaking the stabbing pain in my chest. They weren't my students anymore, but I still call them 'my kids' now and again. He smiled weakly. "...just like you to be worried about your allies despite your own injuries."

I chuckled, but the moment was brief, and I clutched my chest. The rumble of laughter just shot the pain through me. With a sigh and a stretch, I pulled myself to sit up, getting a better look at the room. As expected, there wasn't a single empty cot in the room, and my heart ached for the wounded. My eyes scanned the room then froze as my gaze set on a guest, sitting in a chair near the door. His emerald eyes locked with mine, and a sneer pulled at my lips. His name fell from my mouth like acid, as if I spat a curse between the syllables.

"Seteth."

He almost flinched at my voice, looking away with so many emotions behind his eyes. Alois put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Ease up, kid... he's the reason you're still breathing..." I paused. The...reason? No, that couldn't be right. "...he shielded your body with his own back, Y/N. Didn't dare leave your side til the battle ended, and after the fact, he carried you here himself."

So the arms I felt before I passed out...the relief of my injuries on the field...that was...him? I scoffed. "That can't be right..."

I looked back at the holy man, who had stood up and begun to approach. Now that I got a better look at him, he was completely different than how he once held himself. Tired circles lined his eyes, and his usually perfectly styled hair lay askew. His gilded headband was gone, and after a moment's realization, so too were his priestly robes, replaced by one of Hanneman's suits. Unable to help myself, I grinned. "Oh Saints, you look terrible. You a hostage now or something? Did we capture you?" I knew it was petty and childish, but Goddess, it felt good to get back at him in some way. Watching his cheeks redden at the comment made it even better.

He sighed, familiar frustration returning to his tone. "Y/N, the answer to this predicament is simple, you need only to listen." He took a breath, crossing his arms. "I have elected to resign from my position as Rhea's right hand."

...What?

He took a deep breath. "After careful consideration, I determined it would be safer for Flayn and me to make some...adjustments." he sighed. "If you truly are the goddess incarnate as Rhea said, then I have not yet abandoned my faith, but even if you are not, then I will not stray. I...I fear Rhea has...lost herself, in her efforts to overcome this. She is not who she once was, and I feel strongly that she no longer possesses the same values she once held."

I could only laugh, if only at the irony of the situation. "You've suddenly switched sides, and ever so conveniently now that we've got the upper hand. Siding with the victors, I see....can't say I blame you."

He frowned. "Beyond that, the battle that unfolded those days ago was the last time I was going to tolerate her going behind my back." At my confusion, he continued. "I questioned the archers after the fight, specifically the three who fired at you. I had given them explicit instruction not to make a move unless the Empire struck first. We had arranged that meeting out of mutual trust, and I had full intent of respecting that."

That made me frown more. "So then, why did they-?"

He sighed. "Rhea apparently pulled them aside before we left. She told them that you would be conniving and that you would attack me when my guard was down. She told them that once you were in range, they were to fire. Those directions were not known to me until I had practically interrogated them after the battle."

He shook his head. "My negligence caused you grave injury, and I felt...fully responsible for that. At this point I can only beg your forgiveness."

I was quiet for a long while, trying to process his words. "...You and I have stood as enemies for the last five years. Why weren't you just grateful for my downfall?"

"....because...we didn't...I..." he paused, trying to find the words. "I never wanted to be your enemy. But...I was blinded by my obedience to the Archbishop, and my dedication to Seiros. I never wanted this to happen. Flayn has been more at risk in these last five years than she ever was in years past, and the sooner we can conclude this war, the better it will be for us.

I sighed. Of course it was about her. Its always her when it comes to his concerns.

"But...more than that..."

I paused. There's more?

"I am well aware that there are no excuses...but I'd like to explain why I acted how I did." He sighed. "I've seen you fight for years now, watching you lead hundreds of battles to victory. Each and every time, you looked...ethereal, almost divine....untouchable. Somehow, in your incredible strength, your elegant visage, it left my mind that you could get hurt." He frowned. "I'm sure it sounds ridiculous now, but...that was it. And...the moment I saw the arrows pierce your flesh, it felt like the rest of the world disappeared. The realization, that...you could get hurt...that...that you could...die? I just...I don't know. I couldn't....I didn't want to face the possibility of a world without you in it."

He took a deep breath.

"Y/N. That scare made me realize something I should have seen long ago...and that I wish I could have pursued at a better time. But...the truth is...it is that I love you, Y/N."

I sat silent, shocked at every word as I stared up at the fallen priest. What? After everything that unfolded, after all that happened...so much going on...this is what he has to say? I didn't even know where to begin.

My face shifted, void of any feelings, any possible thought. A cold scowl hid my confusion and frustration.

"Get out."

He paused, opening his mouth to speak, but I held up a hand to interject.

"This...really isn't a good time for something like this. Please...just go."

Seteth stared at me, so many thoughts behind his now glossy eyes, so many words under a bitten tongue, but he nodded wordlessly and excused himself from the infirmary. Alois gently put a hand on my arm, but I brushed him away and laid back down. "Not now...please." i let out a shaky breath that I didn't realize I had been holding, and hugged myself as I tried to still my racing mind and heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aaaaaaaa that went so much longer than I expected but I hope you guys liked it! Let me know if a part 2 interests anyone! Aaaaa i love writing :]

[edns]

I won't fail again. Not next time...