#i wish it could have actually had Edelgard either think about what all she's doing

[butwhatifidothis]

What don't you like about Manuela's A support with Edelgard?

I don't strictly dislike the support (though there are some parts I do in fact not like about it), but when I "ass-sucking" I meant more that Manuela is sucking Edelgard's ass for a good bit of it lmao. To go a bit into what I think about the support-

This is the only place ever, in the entire game, that Edelgard acknowledges the possibility of the Church having anything good about it, and she says it to a believer. Literally everywhere else - and I do mean, literally everywhere else - she has nothing but negative things to say about the Church. So it doesn't really come off as her actually acknowledging anything good the Church has done, but more her trying to play up to Manuela's beliefs. I doubt that was the intention, but that's just how it ends up coming across to me given how Edelgard acts and talks like regarding the Church in every single other instance. This also isn't exactly helped by the fact that it's through Hanneman and Manuela's paired ending that the Church becomes under Edelgard's domain entirely, which very well could just be a coincidence but certainly doesn't send me good vibes when thinking about exactly what Edelgard thinks the Church is good for, if you catch my drift.

Even being generous and leaving that more speculative feeling about the support behind - Edelgard acknowledges the good of the Church, never once actually proves what she thinks is bad about it, and in the same breath says that she can't overlook the bad she says is there with no proof just because the tangible, visible good is there. She is being blatantly willfully ignorant, refusing to acknowledge what is it she's doing because she has to be right about how horrible the Church is.

Edelgard then says that she's conflicted about destroying believers like Manuela's emotional and spiritual support. She still very much does not give a shit to the believers who, in her (derogatory) words, "leav[e] everything in the hands of a higher power." She only cares about believers who are strong like Manuela, not like the ones who believe in ways different from Manuela - the """weak""" believers who actually believe the goddess will come help them aren't a blip in her radar.

Those two things I don't dislike too much - it's a good showcasing of Edelgard's flaws imo. Yeah, she's willfully ignorant, and yeah she's pretty uncaring about the weak - this support ties up those two things about her pretty well. What I don't like about it is Manuela's response to that.

She just kinda... doesn't give a shit about the believers who aren't like her either. "The goddess is our silent foundation" and if that foundation is completely uprooted and destroyed because Edelgard destroyed the Church? Nothing. "It takes strength to do what you're doing" oh you mean killing innocent people? And again, destroying people's religion? Well, fuck, sure, I guess (in Claude's words) it does take a certain """resolve""" to pull that kind of shit, but I don't think it's something exactly worthy of praise ffs.

And then Manuela says that because of that strength of Edelgard's, she's an inspiration, she's the ~reason some people get out of bed in the morning~, Edelgard gives Manuela emotional support like the goddess does, and it's. Like. That's what I mean by this support being ass-sucking.

Like, on one hand I do still like this part of the support just because it builds onto the idea of Edelgard setting herself up as a new godly figure for the people of Fodlan to follow, which is an idea that gets cropped up a good few times in 3H. And going back to how Manuela and Hanneman's paired ending has Edelgard be in charge of the Church, the idea that followers are starting to see Edelgard the same way they saw the goddess - a being that pushes them forward and that is to be inspirational in their strength - holds hands very nicely with the idea that Edelgard is making herself a god in her own right. She's not strictly immortal, but she's viewed in the exact same way by her people otherwise, and Manuela propelling that concept forward isn't completely unappreciated.

But, like, fuck dude. It sure is convenient that the one believer Edelgard talks to about religion, that believer happens to be the exact kind of believer that aligns perfectly with Edelgard. Manuela is a good believer who is strong, not like those other believers who ~rely on the goddess.~ I'm conflicted because yes, I like the propelling of ideas Manuela does, but I also would've liked to see how Edelgard would've reacted to Manuela showing more empathy to believers who aren't like herself.

I think it would've been interesting to see what would happen if Manuela had told Edelgard some shit like "you know, it might do you some good to think about why you only care about hurting believers 'like me,' dear. The believers who, oh, what did you say? 'Leave everything in the hands of a higher power'? They're people too. You had better be sure you know what you're doing before you hurt them more than you already have." Like, just a little pushback? Just a smidge? Please?

[teaveetamer]

You've played FE4, if I recall? Well, let's say that hypothetically, CF was more realistic and had a part 3 that's essentially the Seliph type of stuff in FE4. So basically it's like 15 years into the future and the children of Faerghus, Leicester, Almyra (for Claude and Cyril) return to avenge their parents, defeat conqueror Edelgard and reclaim their homelands. In this hypothetical scenario, all of the Lions and Deer died but their children survived as per FE4 story parallels. (Part 1)

Church units died too, but a few of them survived (similar to how a few gen 1 units are present in FE4 part 2 as well, like Finn). You can pick which church units survived but no more than 2. Part 3 of CF allows you to play as the children and survivors to defeat the evil empire. Your challenge should you accept it: what pairings do you pick for the Lions and Deer to create gen 2 children units for your new army? A few guidelines. Children are tied to the mom like in FE4 as well (part 2)

This means kids are tied to Ingrid, Mercedes, Annette, Hilda, Lysithea, Marianne, Leonie (if you want, you can include Catherine, Shamir, Manuela and even Flayn). Every mom has twins: the oldest kid gets mom's crest if she has one, and the younger kid gets the dad's crest if the dad has one. The hero's relics are now locked to the kid with the matching crest as a result. All hero's relics are available since this is an army of kids from Faerghus, Leicester and the church. (Part 3, final)

Man ok, anon, would it be cheating if I told you that I basically came up with a whole AU for this already on my main blog (but with omegaverse so my boys could have babies for the purposes of this conversation)? Because I totally did. One of my mutuals even did some art for it!

Taking cues from CF I had Seteth and Flayn survive, but instead of fleeing into the ether they returned to Fhirdiad to say goodbye to Rhea and Dimitri and thank Dimitri for sheltering them for the past few years. They ask how they could ever repay that kindness and Dimitri asks that they take his and Dedue's children (and all of the children of the other Lions) and flee somewhere safe just in case the battles ahead don't go well for them.

So I think Dimidue had like five kids by this point along with Anncedes having one and Sylvix having one. there might have been others that went too but that's what I remember for the moment.

Anyways Claude also survives in this scenario, and I think he was on good terms with the Kingdom because them not actually working together against the Empire was actively stupid in 3H and I wish to correct that. He flees back to Almyra, and Seteth and Flayn knowing that Claude is in Almyra decide to take the kids to Almyra or something in the hopes that Claude will protect them. I don't remember if Seteth and Flayn stayed there in my scenario or not or if they hung out in Sreng for awhile once the kids were safely in Almyra. Either way, all of the Lions kids are raised in Almyra and the oldest is pretty determined to get revenge for his parents (he's old enough to remember things, whereas I think the youngest was still a baby when they fled and has no real memories of it). Claude acts as a bit of a Lewyn figure, except not a corpse puppeted by a dragon or whatever happened to Lewyn in FE4. Maybe even had a kid or two of his own with Hilda.

I actually have really detailed ideas for all of the Faerghus kids I made up. Like, I've talked about them so much on my main blog that they're basically variably realized OCs with classes and weapon proficiencies and relationships to each other. I'm always happy to go into more detail for the curious!

There were also some Eagle and Deer kids hanging around in that AU. Like, I think Ignatz and Raphael had a kid, and when the Empire took over the Alliance they basically captured and used Ignatz to paint pro-Imperial propaganda pieces for them. Their son also grows up to be an artist forced to do the same, but he learned from Ignatz that actually he had a way of sneaking things into his pieces to defy the Empire (and he takes up the mantle until he's rescued by the Faerghus kids). Ferdinand has three kids kicking around, one with Hubert (who was raised by Hubert to do the Hubert things that Hubert does, but she defects to the Faerghus side eventually) and two with Lorenz (who, IIRC, are basically running some underground resistance in the Alliance). I'd have to go back and look for more detail though since it's been a while since I've revisited that particular series of headcanons. It's all on my main blog tagged "CF Route AU"

It was also tied into a reincarnation modern AU which was just generally adorable and a little angsty with Dimidue finding each other again in the future after all of the pain they experienced in the past 💙

Oh uh, sorry I didn't follow your guidelines anon... I just really liked this AU and wanted to share 😅

[vr2]

wtf is going on in this church, my little guys brother just got turned into a dragon that we had to mercy kill as a class and he still has school tomorow!? we are not doing school today we are going to get a happy meal and watch the breakfast club in class!!!

rambling thoughts below

im having a lot of fun liastening to the supports, i rly enjoy the character writing. my main chars are claude, hilda and sylvain and recently ingrid. i am trying to recruit as many as i can but lifes hard i am a bad teacher :(

i picked the golden deer in the end just because it felt right but edelgard and dimitri are extremely charging. i really wish i could recruit them too. i am hoping for a true end with all three house leaders alive. edelgard and claude are easily the most interesting characters outright in the school roster but jeritza, jeralt, rhea and seteth seem to hold the most interest of the non-school chars. my current thoguhts: claude is possibly an usurper of house riegan. his father either exiled or killed on purpose rather than an accident. i think he's keenly aware the grand duke (his grapa) will soon be out of the picture. there's a hierarchy in the alliance and the weaker houses have already defected such as daphnel becoming galatea with ingrid's support. claude intends to exploit that, he knows a lot abt crests but for what purpose? i think he was atempting to use his crest along with the sword of the creator to fully exert his control over the alliance. house riegan is the defacto largest stakeholder but the fact that house daphnel would even defect to faerghus for the sake of money says a lot abt how tenuous the ties between alliance nobles are. ive just got to flayn being saved and learning more abt crests. crests are the most powerful object in this world as it demarks you as able to use the relic weapons. you are born with crests via rng and crests automatically make you of noble blood. it is another object of status/power in the world. but due to the rng, this means that older noble children without crests are thrown by the wayside. naturally this isn't the greatest situation for the non-crest noble kids as we can see with miklan and sylvain. the crest nobles like ingrid and marianne are used like bargaining tools to cement their families power in the world. its especially grim for the ladies bc bloodlines, ingrids story was particularly emo for me.

there's also the politics of the world. as far as i can tell, there's in-universe racism against people of duscur and there was an incident to do with the faerghus king (dimitris dad) being killed IN duscur? ill be honest this wasnt super clear to me but the npc chatter denotes that people think ill of dedue bc of duscur discriminiation.

idk or care about why felix's dad is at the monastery hes annoying. but it seems the church has the most authority within the land. which is. concerning, given rheas bloodlust. the whole church of serios is bamboozling. rhea is definitely 100% either the actual main goddess OR she is her direct descendant. i think seteth and flayn are also her descendants bc of how they look. there's also that one line where rhea for some reason trails off before calling flayn seteths sister making me think that seteth and flayn are HER descendants actually and she is their like x15 great grandmother or something. flayn is also born on the same day as one of the saints which hints at it more and more.

thinking on the opening movie (which i wish was in better quality) - i think that's miss seiros/rhea and she stole nemesis' sword and put it in a fake tomb and declared herself dead to live as a human forevermore.

i have no fucking clue who we are or who sothis is but i love this little kusogaki. shes so moe. i really truiy cant wait to see what happens. i am about to slap jeritza around i hope i can kiss him.

[fireemblems24]

Post Grondor Field AM Analysis

I'm prefacing this by saying that I'm still not sure I can write a good analysis of this scene for two reasons:

1. I don't know what comes after, and

2. I'm very emotionally involved in what happened.

But I tried my best. One thing is for sure though, what happened in Grondor in AM was an incredibly significant turning point for AM and Dimitri and my thoughts and analysis on it will definitely expand as I keep writing about and playing the game.

Part of me is just so happy I got to see Dimitri's supports, have the inevitable turn around, and get to do things like tea and dinner time again that it's hard to be objective about this scene.

And by "this scene," I don't mean that actual fight at Grondor, but everything from Fleche's attack to Byleth's words in the rain later.

It wasn't all about Byleth . . .

Given how poignant Dimitri's character arc has been so far, I had a deep rooted fear player-pandering would ruin it. Byleth, as a concept, isn't bad, but too often the heaps of praise feel underserved and other things (like Claude's intelligence, Edelgard's relationships with everyone else) get ignored to make more room for player-pandering.

Thankfully this did not happen. Byleth, throughout the early chapters of AM's part 2, failed to reach Dimitri. And, honestly, seeing Byleth actually struggle for once has done wonders for how I view her character. Still, I worried that player-pandering-power, rather than something that felt earned, would cause the inevitable eye-opener for Dimitri.

But it wasn't just Byleth. Fleche's vengeance kicked everything off, what veered Dimitri away from his fate in other routes. He accepted his death at her hands, not bothering to defend himself. Rodrigue stepping in the way and his parting words forced Dimitri to confront things he'd ignored. Throughout AM so far, people have posed questions to Dimitri who refused to answer them because he didn't want to face what they asked. But Rodrigue dying for him, spending his final words telling Dimitri to live for himself - combined with Fleche's attack - forced Dimitri to confront things he avoided. It wasn't until after all of that when Byleth steps in.

And Byleth didn't "fix" him either. Dimitri's supports show a young man who's still very much struggling with his mental health, poor self-image, his previous actions, and wondering if he deserves not only to live for himself - but if he even deserves to live. Byleth didn't hand-wave Dimitri's problems away.

Everything about the scene is stronger because it didn't fall back on player-pandering, but more earned, realistic, and dramatic actions and consequences - including Byleth's involvement which felt far more earned than usual because of prior failure.

But I wish Dimitri's friends played a bigger role.

Not everything was perfect though. I wish we got a little more than we did from Dimitri's house mates - especially his childhood friends Sylvain, Ingrid, and extra special mention to Felix and especially, especially Dedue.

Throughout all of AM, none of the above mentioned characters feel utilized to their full potential. This isn't a problem exclusive to AM, and by all means it's far from the biggest offender, but given how close all the ties are in AM, it's felt when it's not there.

I still don't know what exactly I would've done with them. Maybe I'd need to make the game an actual novel to do it, and you can't forget how perma-death has historically held back games at times, limiting major moments to a select few "retreat" candidates.

Still, though, getting a bit more from Ingrid, Sylvain, Felix, and Dedue would've made the scene even more powerful.

I actually really liked the scene in the rain.

I haven't made it a secret that I dislike Byleth. Or maybe disliked is more accurate. Lately I've been rethinking my stance on Byleth, in part because I've heard from people who like her or found ways to make her work and from my own thinking about the game while planning future write ups.

I don't think it's Byleth I really dislike, but the player-pandering. Separating the two isn't easy, but it's easier since I've starting coming around to seeing Byleth as her own character.

There's been a few moments that made me care for Byleth, and this scene in the rain was one of them. Because she didn't just fix everything. She tried and failed for months to reason with Dimitri, and despite everything she never gave up on him or failed to keep offering her hand.

I'm not going to lie. I got all the bubbly, heartwarming, heartbreaking feels the writers wanted me to in this scene. Seeing Byleth reach for something and fail, and then finally, finally get through was rewarding in a way many of Byleth's prior accomplishments aren't because this one felt earned. And by God did she earn it.

Some people will likely disagree with that last point, but I disagree with them. She asked Dimitri hard-hitting questions, forcing him to come to unpleasant conclusions rather than trying to force him into anything. She kept Dimitri from veering to far off course, even at expense to herself when she killed Randolph. She saved Dimitri from Fleche when he refused to save himself. She quietly supported him, coaxing out the good she knew was still there and refused to give up on.

I'd never in a million years say someone in real life should put up with Dimitri's toxic behavior and verbal abuse, even considering his extreme trauma and aggravated mental illness. But seeing someone fuck up so badly still get forgiven, still get supported, still struggle but honestly change for the good, still get loved, start to accept and forgive himself through the power of love and forgiveness from others is very powerful, especially since media so often downplays those "softer" things as weakness in comparison to the "badassery" of ambition and stoicism. Using Byleth, who previously had little experience with feelings, who was encouraged to experience them in healthy ways by Dimitri, return the favor isn't really the worst choice.

It's cliche, but cliches aren't always bad.

The mentor dies. Redemption in the rain. Revenge against the protagonist's actions opens their eyes. Etc . . . This scene was chuck full of cliches, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Tropes serve an important narrative purpose because a writer can rely on them to convey a message to the audience that either saves time or sets them up for something unexpected or even expected. Fire Emblem has always and will always be incredibly cliche and full of tropes. It loves tropes so much there's in-universe ones that make some unit or character discussions sound like a foreign language to people outside of or new to the fandom, talking about "Ests" and calling someone a "Camus."

What matters is if a story pulled something off well, not if it's terribly unique. A mentor dying is powerful because it forces the student to grow. Redemption in the rain is high symbolic of water washing things away + the somber atmosphere rain creates. Someone trying to get revenge against a character provides an eye-opening experience about the ripple effect of their actions. We see these things in fiction all the time because they work.

All the tropes worked like expected in this scene. Using images instead of cut scenes did make less of an impact, but more on that later.

Tl;dr: There's nothing unexpected or terribly unique about what happened. It was honestly painfully predictable, but that doesn't make it bad and is in a series that does this all of the time.

The voice acting carried because those images can't.

A major downside to this scene is that it used vague images instead of a cut scene. I get that budget and time were likely concerns, but many cut scenes from earlier in the game seem rather trivial. Did we really need that dance one? Really? I don't think so.

This was a hugely important, action heavy moment. Using one or two still images to convey everything that's happening and all those emotions, really makes it less than it could've been.

That said, the voice acting saves it. I've raved about how amazing Chris Hackeny is as Dimitri, so nothing new here. Rodrigue's and Fleche's VAs also did a fantastic job. No one oversold or undersold the emotions. Even without the cut scene, you felt what happened thanks to the skill of the actors. This scene would've been so much harder to engage with without them, if this was an older FE game where all you got was text. This is 100% one of the moments highly elevated by the decision to have a fully voiced game and choosing high caliber talent (let's not talk about Radiant Dawn's voice acting).

Questionable support timing.

One issue I had came right after the scene when I viewed Dimitri's supports. The nature of some - like his with Raphael and Alois - didn't quite line up with the character I saw in dialogue right after. I wish they staggered them a bit more or got picker about what you could get in part 1 or 2.

This isn't limited to Dimitri either. In the same support batch, I also got a Marianne B support where she still had no confidence or self-worth. And then like 10 minutes later I talk to her in the monastery and she mentions about how seeing all the death in Grondor made her value her life even more.

In the past, I've also received entirely valid opinions that Dorothea in part 2 is hard to understand because she's cherry and flirty in her supports, and morose and hates the war in her monastery stuff, making her seem inconsistent.

It's a bit jarring. It's not really an issue for characters who don't change much like Edelgard or Raphael, but even for characters with more subtle differences than Dimitri, Marianne, and Dorothea - like, say, Lorenz - you get a lot of weird stuff because of supports. I just think Dimitri's stands out because he's a main character with a really prominent, important turning point for his growth.

[randomnameless]

I write and write and make comparisons between a swimsuit and themes like tolerance and freedom,

But in this fandom, some people draw more dubious comparisons, especially ones regarding a certain game - and I warned (who?) at the beginning of the FE16 trend that while it wanted to have a Jugdral flair, it obviously failed. You have a sprinkle of Jugdral in FE16, but it’s only a surface image, or even a mirage.

“CrEsT SyStEM”? Holy Blood? No, those comparisons at least were made in good faith and had some merits.

One of the worst comparisons was noted by several friends, a certain someone, wanting to push a certain ship involving a certain character, managed to write :

“Every route makes one villain from Genealogy of the Holy War the hero, Edelgard being Arvis, Dimitri being Eldigan, Claude being Travant and Rhea being Manfroy”

:(

This will not be a post about Manfroy’s hips, you are warned

Who is Eldigan (Eldie)?

A man who is the carrier of Hezul’s holy blood, Hezul being the founder of Augstria, a sovereign state. Everyone loves Eldie, he is good-looking, strong, kind, chivalrous and has the magic blood that makes him able to use his magic sword.

Is he the King of Agustria? No.

The King is a man named Chagall, who has an ugly sprite, doesn’t have Hezul’s magic blood and cannot use the magic sword. He also killed his father, and is really jealous of Eldie.

However, Eldie’s line (House Nodion) has sworn to support the royal line of Augustria (Chagall’s), so even if everyone wants Eldie to ascend to the throne, he will never accept it. Even if Chagall pisses on him, or imprisons him because he felt like it, Eldie will not rebel against his King. Eldie is seen as a Camus, because he will fight and die for Chagall, and his country, when Sigurd is... more or less attacking Chagall (because Sigurd’s forces are occupying Augstria and Sigurd’s orders are to bring peace to the land, Chagall doesn’t want peace and wants to fight to retake his throne). If everything ends well, Eldie will promise Sigurd he will try to talk one last time his king, try to convince him to accept a ceasefire and peace with Granvalle - but Chagall is an ass and beheads Eldie.

Dimitri... isn’t like Eldigan, at all. First of all, Dimitri is supposed to be the crown Prince, instead of being a mere knight sworn to serve the royal family. Secondly, Dimitri doesn’t die because his liege beheads him - Edelgard will never be his liege - he dies either by defending his borders against someone who is bringing war to his lands and wants his head, or he dies because he pursues Edelgard in a three way battle in Gronder.

We do not know what Rufus is like to his nephew, but I am pretty sure he is no Chagall.

The only common points Eldie and Dimitri have is their blond hair, and sometimes, their manner of death. there is also something about bonds with their sisters but we’re not here for that

Who is Travant?

Travant is the King of the Thracian Kingdom, a proto Nohr-like place, where farming is difficult, and the people living there are starving and often turn to banditry or become mercenaries to be able to earn some money.

Thracia’s neighbour, the Manster District (Manster) could export food to Thracia... but they do not, because, well, the people in charge of the Manster District do not like Thracians a lot (and use slurs to talk about them, but Quan is a special character). So Thracians raid the border, with hopes to reunite the peninsula, with the dream that, one day, they will seize the arable lands in the North.

Travant has an infamous line, which more or less went like “I will unite the peninsula for the sake of my people, and if that process dooms me to hell then so be it”.

And to hell he will go, because by Jugdral standards, ambushing Quan and his family in a desert (horses cannot move in sand, another example of gameplay and story integration!) with horseslayers, is despicable, especially since he leaves no one alive, even, apparently, killing Quan’s young daughter Altena.

(Travant ranks pretty high in the douchebag ladder).

With time, Altena grows, unaware that Travant, who adopted her, isn’t her real Father, Quan was. Things happen, Altena discovers the truth, and Travant finally achieves his dream by making a suicidal charge against Seliph’s forces (he doesn’t even bring his magic lance to the fight!), with him dead, finally, the peninsula can be united under one leader.

Claude? Also has a wyvern. And comes from another land than our hero (but which one?). And... that’s all.

If Almyra raids every sunday, it is not because they are starving, but because they are doing it, per Cyril, for funsies. Claude pretends to be a schemer and underhanded, but he never does something on the scale of the Yied Ambush (the moment where Travant pulled out the horseslayers against Quan). Claude never takes a child hostage, and never orders his daughter to punish civilians.

If Claude wants to unite the two countries, it is not because he wants his people to finally leave their life as mercenaries and bandits behind, but because he wants people to understand each other.

Edit because I’m sleeping : Travant will die for his dream. Claude... always survive. Always. I am not saying he doesn’t believe in it, but he is not as desperate as Travant is.

Comparing Claude to Travant is like comparing... Virion to Iago. They are both male with long hair, and pretend to scheme. Bar that? Well... they both have hands...? I guess?

Who is Manfroy?

Manfroy is... both a mastermind and a plothole.

Manfroy was the one in the shadows engineering a war in Jugdral, not because he likes wars, nope, but because he wanted political instability to recreate the Loptyr Empire.

He will help a douchebag to conquer the world, and use him to sire Julius, the only person in Jugdral who can become a host for the dark dragon Loptyr. The last time Loptyr was there... well, apparently it wasn’t roses and sunshines, slavery was rampant and citizens were pitted against each other to make sure the strongest ones would become citizens of the Empire.

Why Manfroy does this? It depends on the sources, but it is heavily implied Manfroy is part of a sect (sect as in group of people practicing a religion, here the Loptyr religion/cult) persecuted by a lot of people in Jugdral - to the point where Agustrians were having witches hunts to chase them. Manfroy and his followers escaped the the Yied desert, touted to be an inhospitable land. His people had no where and no one to turn to, so they prayed to their God Loptyr (who doesn’t give 3 figs about them).

Manfroy is thus the Archbishop of the Loptyr Church. He also killed his son in law, for some reason, and planned to turn his granddaughter in a zombie. Manfroy also supports (and conducts?) the child hunts, basically the plot in the second part of FE4 and FE5 where the Granvalle Empire and the members of the Loptyr Church round up children, take them from their families (sometimes by killing said families) to send them to Granvalle, with the highly suggested goal of sacrificing them one way or another to Loptyr.

On the not-so bright side, Manfroy doesn’t kill Julia - when Loptyr/Julius expressly asking him to do so, because Julia is the only person, story-wise, able to kill him.

What a guy! 

Now, Rhea?

There are some comparisons to be made, unlike Claude and Dimitri, but again, it reinforces how they could be seen as foils.

Rhea? Yes, also engineers the birth of a vessel.

However, unlike Manfroy who “forced” Arvis and Deirdre to marry and have a baby, Byleth’s birth, born from the union of Jeralt and Sitri, was completely unexpected. There is no trace in canon of Rhea arranging Jeralt and Sitri’s meeting, and future wedding.

Rhea? Also wants her granddaughter to “die”?

Well, not this one, since Rhea thinks Billy is actually an amnesiac Sothis. Billy would just recover their memories.

Rhea? Doesn’t start a war to build her Sothis vessel. Hell, the DLC is about her previous experiment to resurrect her mother - it was a failure, but someone supposes she fails because she did not want to bleed dry the Four Apostles. Rhea wishes to resurrect a benevolent Goddess (when Manfroy knows Loptyr is... far from benevolent) but will not kill to do so.

Sitri? Asked her to save Billy, by offering her own life.

The most interesting foil though is... how Rhea and Manfroy both belong to a community that was persecuted by others, the people they are supposed to live with.

Manfroy? Went the “if the world hates me, then I will hate it and burn it down” route.

Rhea? Doesn’t want to kill humans, hell, she and her brother disagreed because she didn’t want to kill children of the people who wronged her! She opens a monastery and offers guidance to anyone who needs it, a shelter for the needy and tries her best to protect peace and the humans living under her care.

They could have followed the same path, but didn’t. Manfroy rounds children to kill them, Rhea offers a new home to children who lost theirs.

They can also be compared with their “welp” points, Rhea gave CF!Billy the means to destroy her, just like Manfroy “forgot” to kill Julia - and yet, again, it is different. Rhea trusted Billy and never wanted to use them as a tool, in the other routes, it is because she trusted Billy with “those means” that Billy is able to save the world. Manfroy? Berserks Julia, wishes to use her as a tool and suffers when she regains some agency and beats her brother. But even without Manfroy, Julia would have recovered the Book of Naga to end Loptyr.

Rhea and Manfroy are definitely not parallels, but foils.

And the best for the end...

Who is Arvis?

Well... to summarise Arvis in a few words...

it’s impossible.

So, Arvis is the descendant of one Jugdral’s God-Crusader, Fjalar. Arvis is very proud of his heritage, but he also bears Loptyr blood, through his Mother. And yet, since the Loptry blood exists thanks to Saint Maira - the brother of the Loptry Host of that time, Emperor Galle, who rebelled and helped the Crusaders - he is also very proud of this heritage and his two brands.

Arvis’s familial history is a mess, his father was a womanizer and his mother abandoned him (which might have fueled his Freudian complex?). When his Father died, he exiled all of his bastard siblings, bar Azelle (his bastard half-brother, sired to his mother’s favorite maid). Arvis apparently wasn’t interested in women before he met Deirdre and fell in love with her...

But he had time to sire a bastard (on his best friend and confidante).

Arvis wants to build a world free of prejudice and oppression, and wants to build it by... associating with Manfroy, who blackmails him about his Loptyr blood (if Arvis is proud of his Loptry blood, sadly the Agustrian witch hunts are still a thing, and it will not be well seen in Granvalle’s nobility); however, he made it clear, to Manfroy himself, that he will never allow another Loptry Empire to be reborn. Arvis thus uses hiw fellow Dukes Reptor and Langobalt to set up a coup against Prince Kurth (the Prince of Granvalle) to kill him. Arvis grows close to Kurth’s father, Azmur and more or lesses takes care of everything in Granvalle, since Kurth has no heir left.

And, by chance, Deirdre, Kurth’s bastard daughter, thus rightful Princess of Granvalle, appears at his door. She bears the mark of Naga (the special blood of the Crusader Heim), so they marry, and if they have a son, their son will rule over Granvalle, Arvis acts as a regent until then.

(women can’t rule shit in Jugdral)

Then what? His plan is set into motion, all Granvalle Dukes die, he and Sigurd (plus his pals) are the only ones left, Sigurd dies after being lured to a welcoming party, and Arvis becomes the last man standing able to rule Granvalle, who became, through his plans and treacheries through the 1st gen, an Empire.

(and then his son becomes a Loptyr host, vaporises his mom and makes his sister disappear, wrestles power from him and he is reduced to a sad state (oldvis). He makes a last stand against Seliph, after delivering him Sigurd’s magic sword, and dies.)

Okay.

So, now, Edel.

Arvis managed to become the ruling... person in Granvalle by eliminating all of his rivals, and securing a nice marriage. Edel becomes Emperor... because Ionius gave her his crown, as her father.

So they do not rise to power the same way.

Edel never talks about her brands, but Arvis is proud to bear them and proud of his ancestors. Judging by how Edel speaks of Wilhelm I as a traitor who sold humanity to creatures, I am not sure she is proud to bear his blood.

Also, while Edelgard is extremely prejudiced against Nabateans, Arvis wishes to create a world... free of prejudice (his actions though...). He does not mind Manfroy preaching his stuff, when Edelgard will not allow anyone to follow the Seiros faith (friends put it better, but in several routes, the people who were followers of the Church of Seiros are missing in Adrestia...).

While both Edel and Arvis think they are making “sacrifices” for the greater good, as pointed out earlier, this greater good is different. They both ally with a death cult, but Arvis is naive enough to think Manfroy will not backstab him - he even wishes for him to preach his nonsense freely. Edelgard has been hell bent since day 1 on getting rid of Thales and friends.

By the time Arvis learns of the child hunts and Julius’s nonsense... he wants to stop it. He is however powerless to do so (or so we think! Apparently he and Ishtar managed to hide every children captured in a castle!) but, at least, he tried to do something.

Crest Beasts... are still used, no matter the path, and even after Edelgard became Emperor.

Now, if Manfroy had to capture children and round them up for execution to make sure Arvis would become Emperor, would Arvis have supported him? I... don’t think so. If children were captured during Arvis’s conquest of the world and it was a “necessary evil”, would Arvis have accepted it? We don’t know. Prideful as he is, I don’t think he would have agreed.

(which is all kinds of wrong, the man can start wars and backstab friends, allies and turn his own brother to ashes, but hunting children is too much? Meh. And yet, Manfroy mentions something about his ways and his pride being an obstacle to the realisation of his dream).

Arvis is... a complicated character. A douchebag through and through, who tries to redeem himself at the end, but ultimately fails. He is rewarded for his actions in the 1st gen by the 2nd gen, where Julius becomes Loptyr and destroys his Empire. He had it coming? Yes. Is it painful to watch? Yes.

Edelgard... does not face any retribution for her actions.

Yes, she can also kill her (step) brother. But either she didn’t remember it, or only cries after it, and ultimately puts the blame on him - so it is not a sacrifice ?

People doubt her words? Well, it doesn’t matter, Linhardt, Yuri and Lysithea are still alive after their... interrogations. Reptor doubted Arvis’s words? Aida was sent as back-up (and... backstabbed him).

Ultimately, Arvis loses Deirdre (whose ghost chills with Sigurd’s), Julia and Julius, whom he loved dearly. Edel loses... Billy, and some randoms.

So, in a way, Edel feels like a discount Arvis, because she misses his ascension to power and his downfall. Arvis doesn’t mow down enemies on the front lines like she is doing, Arvis maneuvers to ensure victory.

Both fight for ideals, but Arvis seems to believe in them when I cannot believe a world for “humanity” involves continuous making of Crest Beasts.

Both betray the main character, but Edelgard is hit with the uwu hammer, thus cannot kill Billy - Thales does it in the non CF-routes.

So... short story, long story, Eldie is not Dimitri, Claude is not Travant, Rhea is a foil to Manfroy and Edelgard is a discount Arvis.

Also, I don’t know what kind of weed the person who wrote this take had, but labeling Eldie as one of FE4′s villain is as dumb as labeling FE7 Karla a villain because she appears as a red unit you have to fight.

where is edel’s bastard son

[burr-ell]

So while Byleth as a character pretty clearly found that she took to leadership like a duck to water and she wants to help and guide people, the players don't really feel that.

After all, if I was in her shoes, I'd feel like I had all this responsibility thrust on me that I never asked for. So Rhea made me a teacher even though I have no experience, and Claude is just using me, and I think Rhea's crazy and Edelgard has a point and I want to side against the church but the game won't let me, and Rhea made me her successor even though I don't like her/the church/religion in general, and Claude ran off to Almyra and made me the ruler even though I never said I wanted to.

Kinda nailed it on the head the disconnect between the playerbase and Byleth...The amount of VW/AM fics that are like "i GUESS Byleth cares to run after Rhea during the Battle of Garreg Mach for SOME REASON even tho I hate her" can attest to that attitude lol

You're right in that they should've just ditched Byleth being a self-insert since they didn't even know how to write a self-insert to begin with. So little of the dialogue branches actually matter that it got to the point where I wanted to yell "tf is the difference here!?" Case in point when Claude confronts Byleth after Ch4 the dialogue is either "I don't know" or "I don't understand" and like! what!!

Also chalk it up to personal preference, I've never really enjoyed self-inserts the same way I do avatar chars (which are different). Like, I don't wanna be "me! but in a video game!" I wanna play/rp a cool character where I interact with the world through their lenses & experiences.

It really is a bummer cause the concept behind Byleth- a character learning how to feel & realizing that they can be more than just some lonesome sell-sword- as well as their few in-game traits are parts that I really liked, it's just that there's so little of that because they're meant to be a self-insert instead rip

Also chalk it up to personal preference, I've never really enjoyed self-inserts the same way I do avatar chars (which are different). Like, I don't wanna be "me! but in a video game!" I wanna play/rp a cool character where I interact with the world through their lenses & experiences.

S A M E. I think for me, part of the issue is that no matter what I do with the self-insert, that's not me. I'm not really in the game. I don't really look like that or act like that. None of it is real. Same with [Y/N] fanfics. I'd rather experience a world vicariously through someone else who has an established personality and character arc; I want the storyteller to just sort of take me along for the ride while I get to watch a good yarn gettin spun, because at the end of the day, that's what's happening. (Sort of lessens that "I wish they were REAL" feeling if you haven't inserted yourself into the story, too. Keeps you grounded, y'know?)

"i GUESS Byleth cares to run after Rhea during the Battle of Garreg Mach for SOME REASON even tho I hate her" can attest to that attitude lol

ok but LITERALLY miss blooth eisner went tearing leeroy jenkins style after rhea to protect her, after rhea put everything on the line to protect the students and stop the empire from destroying the monastery. rhea's a good person and byleth cares about her, antis stay mad about it lol

Yeah, generally speaking Byleth represents a lot of missed opportunities. And I love her, 100%, it's just that her character writing needed to be stronger—because like you said, her story could have had so much meat to it if they'd pushed themselves further! Truth be told, it makes me concerned about the direction of the next FE game (either the inevitable Jugdral remake or the next original one) if they keep waffling like this.

[pemfrost]

For the prompt, maybe a fake dating au with dimiclaude? Like academy-era Dimitri decided to go asks girl out (sylvain c/b support ) and when things go out of hand- instead of going to sylvain for help, he went to Claude who suggested fake dating - but when announcing it to the girl; it turns out the entire academy finds out...leading to the king regent (who sends Rodrigue) and Grandpa Riegan to actually sign a marriage arrangement. 🥺❤️

And honestly Edelgard is confused about the development that she doesn’t declare war since the two nations are gonna team up -so golden ending jk

♡ cute idea! The meat of this drabble went a little long, so no specific mention of the royal consequences.

"You did what?" Claude actually had the audacity to laugh. Not one of his usual calculated laughs, either. A bellow of a laugh which shook his whole lithe frame and put an extra shine in his eyes. All at Dimitri's expense, of course. It seemed to be happening a lot lately. 

"Never mind. Clearly this is not a matter you are capable of taking seriously." Dimitri turned to leave, but quickly remembered his predicament. On Sylvain's insistence, he approached a female student with the offer of a tea date. Nothing untoward, but it seemed the poor girl thought it to be more than what Dimitri meant it to be. It really was his own fault for taking Sylvian's advice, afterall. 

Of course, Sylvain initially offered to help Dimitri hide in his room, and Dimitri had been naive enough to think it would end then and there. Yet, there he was, two days later with the same girl chasing him and Sylvain was… preoccupied doing the very thing he promised Dimitri he would stop. 

Claude's room seemed the next logical escape plan. It was merely the convenience of location. Felix was still at the training yards, and even if he was in his room, Dimitri would rather face the advances of Colleen and her friends than be stuck in close quarters with Felix and his sharp tongue. The next closest room was Claude's.

Dimitri was quickly regretting his hasty choice of hiding spots. He was regretting a lot of things. 

"I'm sorry for laughing, but you have to admit it is funny." Claude sat down on the edge of his bed and motioned to his desk chair, "You're welcome to hide as long as you need to. Though, perhaps it is best to just confront the whole thing head on and clear it all up?"

Dimitri eyed the chair and considered a moment before sitting. "I have attempted to be direct, yet my efforts are constantly misconstrued."

"You're too nice," Claude said, his gaze intense. 

"Too… nice?" Dimitri raised an eyebrow. It was not an accusation often leveled at him. 

"I've witnessed some of your conversations with girls and you have a tendency to, well, be too nice." Claude broke eye contact and looked towards the door. "You do not wish to hurt their feelings, so you phrase your rejections so delicately the girls do not take it as one."

"Oh?" Dimitri was unaware of this shortcoming. 

Claude sighed and made a vague gesture at the door as a girl giggled out in the hallway. He turned back to Dimitri and said, with air quotes, "There is such love in the world, yet my heart is yet-"

"-I get it.'

"Your beauty is unmatched, and one day you will make the most beautiful bride-"

"Claude," Dimitri hissed. He could feel his cheeks begin to warm. 

Of course, Claude continued, his grin spreading as Dimitri shifted uncomfortably. "My heart is heavy at the prospect of you no longer being at my side, and your smile will-"

"Enough!" Dimitri stood quickly and his booming voice drowned out the sound of the chair hitting the floor. 

"Colleen!" A girl's voice came from the hallway. 

"Oooo, you did it now!" Claude clasped his hands behind his head and looked at the door with far too much amusement. 

Dimitri stared at the door with trepidation, debating the merits of crawling out Claude's window. He could hear the clicking of multiple pairs of heels, his time was quickly running out. Returning his voice to a whisper, he turned to Claude and asked, "What do I do?"

"Be blunt and tell her you are not interested." 

"I… can you do it for me?" Even facing certain doom, he didn't know how to break up with the poor girl without making it worse. Again. 

Claude rolled his eyes. "Riiight, because that will work."

There was a sharp knock at the door, followed by a croon of, "Dimiiiitri! Are you in there?"

"Colleen, it may have been this one instead!"

Dimitri backed away from the door and again wondered if he could fit through the window. He looked helplessly to Claude. He had no experience in such matters, certainly Claude had an idea. 

"Do you trust me?" Claude stood from the bed and stared into his eyes. "I have half an idea, but I need you to-"

"Yes. Whatever your scheme is, yes." Dimitri may regret it later, but in the moment his only option was to trust Claude and deal with the consequences later. It couldn't be worse than entertaining the vapid noble girl one more time. 

Claude stared into Dimitri's eyes a moment more, his green eyes more serious than Dimitri had ever seen this close. Before he could contemplate Claude further, the look shifted, once again full of mirth. 

"Quietly unlock the door." Claude nodded to the door and crossed his arms. 

"I-" Dimitri swallowed and did as he was asked. Quietly, he stepped over the overturned chair and flicked the lock. He braced for the next step, it wouldn't surprise him if Claude shouted his location as revenge for all of this. He needed to stop spending so much time with Sylvain. 

When he looked back, Claude wordlessly motioned him back to him with the wave of a single finger. Once again, Dimitri stepped over the chair and stood in front of Claude, intently listening to the commotion in the hallway. 

Nothing happened for a few breaths, and just a Dimitri was about to ask what the plan was, Claude took half a step towards him. 

"Oh! Dimitri!" Claude projected his voice, not taking his eyes off Dimitri.  

Well, maybe he shouldn't have expected more from Claude. His initial assessment was correct after all. He sighed, resigned to his fate. 

The click of heels returned, and as they approached the door Claude reached for the front of Dimitri's shirt and slowly tugged at him as he took a step backwards. The movement was unexpected and Dimitri stumbled forward, tripping over Claude, and sending them falling to Claude's bed. 

Dimitri caught his knee on the edge of the mattress as Claude landed on his elbows. 

"Claude? Wha-" 

The creak of the door handle turning cut him off. As the door opened, Claude reached back up with one hand and pulled Dimitri closer, and closer, until they were breathing the same air. Everything else faded, all that existed was Claude; his breath smelled faintly of chamomile, and this close Dimitri could count the faint freckles under his eyes.

"Dimit- ah!" Colleen's screech broke the spell Claude cast over him. 

Dimitri pushed himself away from Claude and looked towards the door in time to see Colleen running out. 

"Uh…" Dimitri said to the empty doorway. He looked down to Claude, "What just happened?"

Claude dropped his hand from where he still held Dimitri, letting it fall to his side. "I wasn't expecting her to run so soon. The plan was to make her think we're together- but she didn't stay for me to tell her that. Hopefully she understood."

He didn't want to end up in another relationship just to get out of the first one. That was a terrible plan, and he was about to tell Claude as such when the boy in question began to laugh. Dimitri became abruptly aware of how close they still were as Claude's body shook with laughter. 

Dimitri stood as quickly as his trembling legs permitted. 

"I'm sorry, but your face!" Claude smirked up at him, still laying on the bed. "I didn't mean date for real," he added with a whisper, mindful of the open door. 

"Oh, I see…" Dimitri did not see. 

"It's a farce. A lie. And once she leaves you alone we don't need to pretend anymore."

"She saw… us. In that compromising position. I am free then? Thank you." Dimitri slowly pieced his words together. 

Claude hummed and finally sat up. "It may not be that simple. Be prepared in case she doubles down tomorrow."

Dimitri nodded and cleared his throat. His eyes trailed towards Claude's lips briefly before he turned to pick up the fallen chair.  "Hopefully I will not require more assistance. Thank you for your efforts, this farce was not something I would have considered."

With a shrug, Claude stood. "Always happy to help. Good luck with-" They both froze as the sound of heels returned. 

Dimitri turned to Claude, eyes wide, unsure what to do. His hope of being done with Colleen dashed with the click of a heel. 

"Still trust me?"

Dimitri nodded. 

"I'm going to kiss you." Claude stepped up to Dimitri and gently placed a hand on his cheek. As the girls stepped into the doorway, he leaned up to press his lips to Dimitri's. 

In the few seconds he had to contemplate kissing Claude, Dimitri imagined it would be rough, quick- awkward. It was none of them, and he found himself leaning into the kiss, moving his lips against Claude's like his very soul depended on them never separating. He thought he finally understood Sylvain a little, the desire to experience this everyday, to have someone so close, so intimate, to feel wanted-

But it wasn't real. Claude wasn't kissing him because he wanted Dimitri, he was doing it as a friend, as a favor. Not because he actually desired him in such a way.

"By the Goddess! It is true!" Hilda's sweet voice broke through the moment. 

Claude dropped his hand and turned to the door, breaking the kiss. Dimitri could feel the lingering heat on his cheek from Claude's calloused hand, and he let his eyes dart to his lips before reality caught up with him and he looked towards their audience.  

In the open doorway stood three of their classmates. Hilda was in the middle, looking like she was solving an advanced math problem. To her right was Caspar, who was more focused on Hilda than Claude and Dimitri. And to her left was Sylvain who was sporting black eye and looking between the two of them with a widening smile. 

Sylvain reached around Hilda and closed the door with a wink and an amused, "Have fun, you two!"

Dimitri stared at the door as he listened to them walk away. "Should we tell them?"

"Tell them what?"

"That it isn't what they think? Because otherwise this lie will spread around the whole school."

"Oh, Dimitri. It already has. If Colleen hasn't ran all the way through the monastery by now I'd be surprised." He looked everywhere but Dimitri. 

"If we tell them the truth, then she'll find out… and I'll be right back to square one." Dimitri frowned and began to pace. 

"I don't mind keeping the charade up. It will keep Hilda off my back about dating someone, too. We'd both be free of the burden of that aspect of social expectations."

"That-" Dimitri's eyes darted to Claude's lips. 

"No pressure, man. Wouldn't want His Highness to be uncomfortable, afterall." 

Dimitri couldn’t think of a good reason not to go along with Claude's plan. He was sure the consequences would find him, they always did, but he found he didn't care what they were. 

He nodded, then realized Claude turned to look out the window while he was thinking. "Yes, I believe this could be mutually beneficial."

Claude dropped back to his bed and picked up the book he tossed aside when Dimitri barged into his room. "Great. Hang out in here for a while to sell it. Want to borrow a book?"

Dimitri settled next to Claude on the bed, "If we are to actually… do this, we should get our story together. I am sure we will be inundated with questions tomorrow."

Claude shut his book. "And he I was worried you wouldn't take this seriously. Alright, let's plan."

-

Thanks for reading!

[philliamwrites]

The Dawn Will Come [Chpt.6]

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Pairing: Dimitri x Reader, Claude x Reader, Edelgard x Reader, Yuri x Reader, Edelgard x Byleth, lots of minor pairings

Tags: #gn reader, # platonic love byleth & reader, #reader is a tactical unit, #angst, #slow burn, #subplots, #unreliable narrator, #pining, #remporary amnesia, #reluctant herp, #canon divergence, #lost twin au, #many chapters, #original content

Words: 5.1k

Summary: Waking up in a forest without any knowledge of your past and who you are, you join the house leaders of the Officers Academy to search for a way to return your memories. Unfortunately, the church has different plans for you, and Fate places you in the centre of a cruel game with deadly stakes. It certainly doesn’t help to fall in love with a house leader who is doomed to be your demise.

Notes: Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

Chapter 06: From The Beyond

Ah! It is well for the unfortunate to be resigned, but for the guilty there is no peace.

[Mary B. Shelley, Frankenstein]

    Thinking back on it later, the events during Garland Moon were probably what set the hare running toward its demise. Not that any of you could have known that. Not the students who joyfully spend their days in cherished halls where daylight passes through coloured glass; not Byleth with her gift to correct past mistakes with a flick of her wrist and change the course of time; not you with your foresight to see what dangers await in the future and prepare a different path for those you care for to walk safely.

    Thinking back on it later, everything that followed surely ascribed to and served Fate, and not even Sylvain could charm her with his silver tongue and golden wit, for Fate’s lover is Time and she does not look kindly upon those who enslave him.

    Maybe that is why things turned out the way they did for Byleth and you.

    But that future is still far away and every single one of you still believes the goddess has Fate tightly leashed to her side, her benevolence endless and spreading to every corner in Fódlan.

    That is why you don’t think too much about it when one day, Seteth disturbs your seminar, a deep frown settled in his features as you explain how to turn an ambush to your advantage to the students.

    “Apologies for the disturbance, Herald. Lady Rhea asks to see Ashe.”

    The boy gives a pitiful squeal but is up on his feet nonetheless. “Me? Why?”

    “You will see. Please come.” Seteth holds the classroom’s door open.

    You nod, a little worried about the frightened glance Ashe sends your way like he hopes you can actually say no and decline Rhea’s command. An encouraging smile is everything you can give him on his way before the door shuts behind him. Its sound wakes everyone else from their slumber and it takes a few minutes to reclaim order and their attention. It certainly does help that the Blue Lion House isn’t as chaotic as a certain other, not to name any names.

    Said house proves again to be more difficult to teach. Or tame. You didn’t have the courage to ask why they thought it was a good idea to see whose shoe would leave the darkest stain on Claude’s bedroom’s ceiling. Even days after their mischief students kept talking about how they have never seen Seteth this furious.

    “Herald, please,” Hilda cries, tragically draped over the back of her chair, a maiden in bittersweet agony over her loss of free time. “It was all Claude’s fault.”

    “Liars never prosper,” Claude calls from the far back of the room. He’s hunched over his papers, working vigorously on Seteth’s punishment. He ordered them to write hundred times I shall not throw footwear against any ceiling in the monastery. They’ve been at it for about twenty minutes and Claude’s quill hasn’t stopped its furious scratching against parchment at all.

    “I won’t mess with Seteth,” you tell them and lean dangerously far back on your chair to place your feet on the teacher’s desk. “And you deserve it. Or do they not teach you proper manners in your noble homes?”

    “Well, it’s not like anyone taught us not to do it,” Hilda chirps. You throw a glare her way and she quickly dugs her head and continues writing. Quills scratch on paper for about seven seconds before Hilda stops again.

    “Herald,” she says. “What do you think about Lady Catherine’s Thunderbrand?”

    You look up from your book titled Noticeable War Generals. Smile gone from her face, Hilda looks up at you with sharp curiosity. It’s eerily silent now, and a quick glance towards Claude shows he is listening as well.

    Catherine’s Thunderbrand. Its sight is still burned into the back of your closed eyes: Golden ivory forged into a grotesque sword, a blood red Crest Stone in its middle that seemed to pulsate—as if it breathed. As if it was a living thing with a heart. You had simply stared at it in awe and thought What a mesmerising weapon.

    “It’s … fascinating,” you manage. “A Hero’s Relic. There are more than just Thunderbrand, right?”

    “Ten exist,” Claude calls from the back. “Bestowed by the goddess upon ten heroes, they are passed down to their descendants. House Riegan and House Goneril have one in their possession as well.”

    “Then why don’t you use it?” You certainly wouldn’t miss a chance to own and wield a mighty weapon like that.

    “Wield that?”Hilda shudders in disgust. “No thank you. It looks so weird, pulsating and moving like an insect.”

    “And we’re way too inexperienced to use it in a real battle.” Claude puts his quill between his nose and upper lip and tries to hold it there. “They’re locked away anyway and hidden from those who might misuse their power.”

    Claude has a point. Nonetheless, you’d gladly take a look at them. Maybe even hold one … Did the Herald own one as well? A special weapon only forged for the Herald. A slight shudder runs down your spine at the thought of using it in battle.

    Ten minutes later, Claude jumps to his feet. He hurries towards you, slams his parchments on the table and leaves just as fast. “Bye Herald!”

    “No way!” Hilda pales. “How is he so fast?”

    You wonder as well and take a look at his papers. Instead of writing what Seteth has told them, Claude simply left poor drawings of their crime and promised with one sentence he wouldn’t do it again.

    And we of House Riegan never break our promises, reads the last line.

    You groan. Now it’s your turn to think about a good explanation to Seteth’s questions why you haven’t paid more attention.

    Month three passed within the blink of an eye. Garland Moon brought the sweet smell of white roses to Garreg Mach, a tradition much anticipated by the students. Everywhere you went, garlands and gifts made of white roses were given to each other as a sign of friendship or budding love. Some found their way to your desk, though your admirers preferred to stay anonymous whereas Byleth was busy to stow them somewhere—not a day passed without her receiving something or a group of giggling students following her around.

    “I really don’t know what to do with all those flowers,” she told you one day during a tea session, a deep frown on her face. “They wilt. Then I throw them away. It’s a waste.”

    “Your students love it,” you replied but were glad not to be in her place.

    Another good deed Garland Moon brought with it is longer days and shorter nights. Students lounged outside in their summer uniforms after class, enjoying those last warm days before raining season arrived with fierce gusts and heavy pouring, forcing them back inside where they spent their free time inside the library or the dining hall, playing little games to kill time.

    For a change of pace, Byleth and Jeralt decided they’d hold a grilled fish dinner on every last day of each week and most of the invited either didn’t have the heart or the courage to tell them once every week was once every week too much.

    Everything happened too fast after that. Rhea informed the teacher’s faculty and her Knights of Lord Lonato Gaspard’s planned rebellion against the church. With that, the mystery of why Seteth had demanded to speak with Ashe was solved; it also explained why he spent so much time inside the chapel, praying and wondering himself about his adoptive father’s reasoning.

    “There is no question about it,” Rhea says in her cool, demanding voice once every teacher and Knight of Seiros gathered inside the War Room to discuss the matter. “We will send a troop to meet them halfway in Kingdom Territory. They will pay for mocking our goddess.”

    “Allow me to lead the Knights, Lady Rhea,” Catherine says. Even now, you can’t take your eyes off Thunderbrand strapped on her back. “I know Gaspard and what he’s capable of.”

    “We did not forget what you’ve done back when—” Seteth starts. Catherine silences him with one look, leaving no doubt she doesn’t wish to speak of it.

    “And that is exactly why I have to go.”

    Rhea nodded. “So be it. I know I leave this mission in your capable hands.”

    “But why is he leading this rebellion?” you wonder. “I thought the Kingdom is strongly devoted to Seiros’ teachings.”

    “Every flock has its black sheep,” Rhea says, sounding sad. “We will get our answers once we defeat and capture them.”

    “What about the surrounding villages and those who support Gaspard’s rebellion but don’t fight?” Byleth asked. Until now, you haven’t really thought of those not directly involved in it, but she does make a good point.

    Rhea squared her shoulders. “What about them?”

    “They’re not directly involved but might try to get in our way.” Byleth glanced at the strategic map laid out before her. There is a way through the forest for your units to approach Lonato’s stronghold. Surrounding villages are marked with a red pin. They surround the forest in a loose circle, making an intrusion possible, though sending Knights of Seiros out to watch them and stop them could be quite easy—

    “Everyone who supports this foolish rebellion should receive the rightful punishment,” Rhea says, her voice so cold it freezes your thoughts of how to make the villagers stay out of this. Your head snaps up as you stare at her. Byleth raises an eyebrow but remains silent just like everyone else. Something about that makes you shudder.

    “But they’re civilians, right? If we can avoid having them interfere—”

    “By joining Lonato Gaspard’s rebellion they pledge guilty to his cause.” Rhea looks up at you, scorn flashing briefly in her eyes. “I will not have them simply go if it opens the possibility for revenge one day.”

    If you squinted really hard, there was reason behind her words. Still, your stomach turned at the thought of endangering civilians even though it could be prevented. Without any protests, that was the plan for the operation.

    You sat this one out. There was much to prepare for the upcoming Rite of Rebirth, a ceremony when the Church of Seiros and its believers unite to pray for the return of the goddess. Even though you wouldn’t call yourself a believer—many find it strange that you remember the way of war but not the way of the Church as if you lived somewhere without Seiros’ teachings—your presence was of outmost importance as well. Though after you heard how the mission went, you really wished you had joined the Blue Lions fighting against Gaspard instead of sitting around and deciding which ceremonial robes fit better.

    Loud voices drift through the closed door of a classroom, voices you immediately recognise belonging to Dimitri and Byleth.

    “Are you insane?” You flinch back even though a heavy wooden door separates you from what is undoubtedly Dimitri’s wrath. “Those were civilians.”

    A reply is lost, too quiet for you to hear, but whatever Byleth said, it wasn’t the right thing. A second later, Dimitri storms through the doors. The distress in his features stops you from asking what is wrong, a flash of betrayal lurking in his eyes seals your mouth shut. You look after him until he disappears around the corner, only slowly turning towards Byleth. She is propping herself up on the table, learning on her strong arms and staring at the opposite wall, her mouth a grim line—solid rock that stands against the raging waves summoned by Dimitri, her grip on the edge of the table hard enough to turn her knuckles white.

    “Everything okay?” An unnecessary question answered by a simple shake of her head. You lean your hips against the table. “Do you want to talk about it?”

    Byleth is silent. Only slowly, like a tight knot finally coming lose, the tension in her shoulders dissipates and she takes a long, deep breath.

    “Dimitri told me about their mission. How they dealt with Lord Lonato’s revolt.” She finally steps away from the table and kneads the muscles in her shoulders. You imagine they’re hard like a rock. “They faced simple peasants who defended their Lord. Peasants who didn’t even know how to wield a sword without cutting their own thumbs off.”

    “And Rhea made quite clear how to deal with them,” you finish, summoning unwanted imaginations about a gruesome butchery in your mind. Byleth nods.

    “Dimitri asked for my advice,” she continues, her gaze drifting towards the door as if said young man might return like a bad haunting if his name is simply muttered. “If there was anything they could have done different. I told him there wasn’t.” She tears her eyes away from the door and fixes them on you. “I told him that is the way of war.”

    She is right, a part of you insists. Such facts cannot be changed and claiming anything different is foolish, naive. Yet, something stirs, a tiny tiny voice, a feeling, that challenges that thought. A feeling you didn’t expect to be part of you.

    “I don’t know about the details,” you say, shuffling from left to right, “but maybe it was avoidable. Lord Lonato must have known how his subjects felt about it. He didn’t need to involve them.”

    “I think they joined on their own. The students gave them a chance to lay down their weapons.”

    “Still—”

    “Still they decided to follow their foolish Lord,” a voice from the door joins, cold and imperious, chilling you to the bone. Rhea enters the War Room, her expression void of any warmth or kindness. “There is no place for doubt. We must punish any sinner who may inflict harm upon believers, even if those sinners are civilians.”

    “And you think to have the students punish them is right?” Byleth asks, earning a sharp glare from Rhea. She quickly, but somewhat begrudgingly adds, “Your Grace.”

    “I have heard that some students struggled with completing the task,” Rhea acknowledges, doing her best to show how unaffected she is by Byleth’s criticism. “I pray they learnt a valuable lesson about the fate that awaits all who are foolish enough to point their blades towards the heavens.”

    An icy shudder crawls up your spine, cold fingers tighten around your throat to keep you silent—a leash forged of obedience and intimidation, the mistress standing before you. It would be wise to keep your mouth shut, not draw unnecessary attention; keep your head low and nothing can slice it from your shoulders. But the words, burning hot on your tongue, demand freedom.

    “Fearing the Church isn’t the same as respecting it.”

    Something sharp flashes in Rhea’s eyes. “If fear is the only way to control them, then so be it. They are traitors to the holy teachings.”

    “They are people. People with families.”

    “People who would be wise to remember it was the progenitor god who gave them these lands and their life,” Rhea answers, growing impatient. She notices something in the way you look at her, for she takes a moment to collect herself by taking a deep breath. “I do not enjoy seeing those who wronged our holy teachings punished, Herald,” she continues, now much calmer. “But punish them we must before they hurt those who are dear to us.” Upon her last words, her eyes dart to Byleth, looking at her with so much fondness and care, a sting of jealousy in your chest forces you to avert your gaze to the ground. It isn’t the first time you notice Rhea’s palpable interest in Byleth’s wellbeing though no answer comes to mind why it is like that. If Byleth noticed the same, she doesn’t show it.

    After that, the incident is quickly forgotten, making room for the new incident occupying everyone’s mind: an assassination plot on Rhea on the day of the Rite of Rebirth found in Lonato’s possession. You aren’t the only one wondering why he’d carry something like that around where it’s easy to find. Multiple theories go around, one more farfetched than the other. One particular makes sense, its source none other than sharp witted Claude who thinks this plot is a simple distraction for something much bigger.

    “If security is focused on the Rite of Rebirth inside the Goddess’ Tower, pretty much anyone can simply stroll around the monastery and do who knows what,” he told you on the day Byleth and her class set out to discover what important places might become a target. Garreg Mach hides many secrets and treasures. Some of them even you are not allowed to see like relics passed down from archbishop to archbishop, guarded by the elite of the Knights of Seiros, tall and bulky men and women with grim mouths and determined eyes rooting them in place day and night in front of locked doors only Rhea knows what they hide.

    With every passing day, tension hangs in the air like a thick blanket waiting to smother you all. But it isn’t simply the anticipation for whatever the Western Church has planned. It is also the holy ceremony of the Rite of Rebirth, one you’ve practised under the stern eyes of Seteth who doesn’t settle for anything less than perfect. Every word, every step is engraved in your mind.

    On the day of the Rite of Rebirth the sun relentlessly blazes down at the monastery. Your ceremonial robes are heavy and woven from thick jacquard fabric lined with fine golden patterns that depict the Herald’s Crest on the back. You’ve barely finished preparing everything inside the round chamber inside the Goddess’ Tower but perspiration glues your hair to your forehead.

    A whole feast is prepared; food offerings and gifts from the townsfolk and priests served on golden and silver plates on long tables covered with white table clothes. In the middle Seteth prepared a small platform for Rhea to stand and speak in honour of the goddess that she may return to Fódlan and show its people her infinite grace. In short, you’d do anything to join the students who are securing the locations lacking in defence right now instead of standing around and waving at pilgrims. The only joy lies in Flayn’s bright presence and her never ending optimism. She’s a sweet girl and has been looking forward to the ceremony since the beginning of Blue Sea Moon. Looking upon her, it is hard not to catch her excitement and joy when the ceremony finally begins.

    Because of certain circumstances you couldn’t quite follow, the holy relic used for the ceremony, the Chalice of Beginnings, has been missing for a long time. Because of that, a mock chalice was prepared by the cardinals, a handful of high authority men and women who make it no secret they can’t quite decide if they like or dislike you and your position.

    “You must excuse them,” one of the cardinals says after a group of them simply shook their heads at you happily scooping tons of food on a plate. His dark hair falls to his shoulders and unlike the other cardinals, his brown eyes are filled with kindness. “They simply think in old patterns and value their old traditions. You are quite young, Herald. They don’t know how to handle that.”

    “But you do?” you wonder and notice too late how unfriendly that sounds. But he simply laughs.

    “I do frequent with young folk, yes,” he says. “They are my flock and I will do anything to protect them.”

    “That again, Aelfric?” Catherine joins you and slaps his shoulder just when he was about to drink from his cup. You pretend the pastries on your plate are far more interesting than watching him choke on wine. “You’re way too good for them, you know?”

    “Who is ‘them?’” you ask but Catherine just sways her hand as if he wants to get rid of a nasty fly.

    “Unimportant. You did a good job carrying the chalice to the podium.”

    “I did almost trip over these.” You pluck at the heavy robes, already looking forward to getting out of them.

    Catherine laughs but it is short lived. Out of nowhere, a knight hurriedly approaches and leans over to her, muttering, “They are after the tomb of Saint Seiros.”

    Glass shatters as her grip tightens around the fragile stem but without so much as noticing it she storms towards Rhea, fury blazing in her eyes. Something happened. Something far more exciting than playing a believer in front of everyone, so you follow her to listen in more.

    “Those dastards from the Western Church infiltrated the Holy Mausoleum,” she says. Rhea pales. “I will take some knights and go there at once.”

    “Go and be swift, Catherine.” Rhea’s words are barely a puff of breath, those news shaking her but she remains stoic in front of everyone to prevent panic. Her voice drops dangerously low. “Punish those heathens.”

    Catherine’s head dips in a slight bow. “I will, Your Grace.”

    “I want to help too.”

    Both turn around at your voice. Catherine narrows her eyes to sharp slits, but it is Rhea who says, “No. I need you here for the ceremony, Herald.”

    “Please, let me,” you beg. Something inside you demands to follow, demands to see what is inside the Holy Mausoleum that causes so much bloodshed. “I can’t explain, but I need to be there.”

    Rhea presses her lips into a thin line. Before she reopens her mouth to decline your wish, you whirl around and leave the ceremony room, Catherine in hot pursuit. You manage halfway down the hallway before she reaches you and grabs your arm hard.

    “Even though you are the Herald, I won’t allow you to show this disrespect towards Her Grace,” she snarls. “If she tells you to stay, you listen.”

    “I don’t expect you to understand,” you say, trying to free your arm from her bone breaking grip. “But something calls me to this place and I need to follow it.”

    Catherine isn’t pleased but she knows better than do you any real harm. With a crude nod, she allows you to follow. Several knights wait for you and together you make your way through the warm evening air towards the Holy Mausoleum that lies behind the chapel.

    You enter right before chaos erupts. At the end of the hall, its ceiling so high up it’s barely visible in the dark, Byleth stands tall and rises a sword that flashes in a bright red light. A throb goes through your body and brings you to your knees. It feels like an arrow drove into your chest, the stinging pain unlike anything you’ve felt before—no, it’s a pain you haven’t felt since the Crest appeared on your eye for the first time. And then that thrumming energy within you exploded, a sharp crimson that drenched every corner of your right vision, rushing through your veins.

    “Kill them!” an enemy mage commands, fury fuelling him to a last desperate attack. With his remaining companions, they summon a giant fire spell you’ve only read about in books, a combination of spells into a group flame that covers a large area—the pre-stage to a much more fatal blaze that can scorch the land. Blaze or no, the effect watching the giant fire ball curling and sparking until it grows large enough to wipe out anything in its way is the same. Fear paralyses your body. Move, your mind screams, but you can’t. Your muscles have locked up; a high whine of terror fills your head and fizzes in your blood like poison, yet you do not understand where this fear of fire comes from.

    “Take cover!” Catherine roars but it is too late. The blast hits the ground right before you, dispersing your small group of reinforcements like wind scattering leaves in all directions. A loud crack beneath you makes your heart skip a beat, a rumble shakes the hall and before you can fully comprehend what is happening, the ground gives way.

    The last thing you hear is Byleth shouting, not Herald, but your name before you plunge into darkness.

    Wake up.

    You have to wake up.

    This darkness is terrifying, so utterly black and choking, curling around you like a tight fist. Like someone is holding you in their dirty, tainted clutches, smelling of death and horror. Wake up, you tell yourself, more urgent now, your mind struggling to escape from claws digging into your consciousness, their goal unknown but you don’t want to stay here to find out what they are after. What they want to take from you.

    Wake up, this time another voice, the voice, echoing like a sweet bell’s chime, the flicker of light in a darkness so black it hums. You have to wake up.

    Your eyes snap open, the sudden white ceiling hurting like a sudden flash of light. Once you’re used to the brightness, you realise this isn’t a room, this is … this is your consciousness—no walls, no windows. It’s just a space, and yet you can clearly determine borders. Somewhere is an exit you’re free to use, nothing holds you captive. It’s your safe place. Your haven. Which doesn’t explain how you’ve gotten here.

    All you know is it feels safe. It feels like a warm embrace, the feeling of hope, watching a budding flower embraced by soft, fragile hands—asteritrope, your mind provides out of nowhere, the flower always turning its head towards the Blue Star.

    It is like breaking a spell. First, everything is simply white, empty, a second later, you stand in a vast field of asteritropes, an ocean of purple, gently swaying flowers at your feet. Everything smells of sweet innocence, of honey dipped fingers and bittersweet regret. It is a familiar scent, one your body remembers and reacts to with a shudder so strong it rattles deep in your bones; a chill so cold it freezes you on the spot, the slightest movement threatening to shatter you entirely.

    What is this grief, this sadness? Is it your own or have you fallen into a sea of tears wept by someone else? Your chest is heavy with a burden, a pulling towards the unknown that is yet so familiar. It is homesickness towards a place you have never been but long to visit.

    The flowers shaped like little stars stretch beyond what you think are the edges of this place. If this is a dream, you don’t want to wake up anytime soon, relishing in this peace and quiet.

    A peace and quiet that lasts only a moment until you notice it. Not it, him. In the middle of the field, a boy sits, bent over something that demands his complete attention. Dark curls fall against pale skin, his brows pulled tightly together as his fingers work something in his lap. He is wearing a simple white robe, though it is unlike any of the religious wear you've seen on the priests and nuns; it seem ... too old for that. Only after you approach, you see he is folding purple flowers and green steams into a crown.

    “Hello?” you say, only now entertaining the idea you might have died and this is the afterlife, the first point before returning to the goddess’ side. It is a strangely tranquil thought. “Can you hear me?”

    The boy’s head snaps up, his eyes wide as he momentarily forgets his work, and you take a step back, struck by how bright his steel grey eyes are. They roam over you, up and down, back up again, as he slowly raises to his feet.

    “You’re here,” he says, awestruck. “You’re finally here. It is so nice to meet you after all this time.”

    His voice is like a punch to your gut. You recognise it immediately, the voice who pulled you back from the darkness.

    “You—” Nothing makes sense. “Who are you? What are you?”

    “There is nothing to fear,” he says, offering you his hand. The tips of his fingers are purple from handling delicate petals. The crown lies at his bare feet, forgotten. He looks strangely vulnerable.

    You take another step back, worry a steady, hard pulse against your neck. The air catches in your lungs. You feel like the ground is opening beneath your feet. “Are you … the goddess? A god?”

    The boy blinks, then throws his head back and bursts out laughing, the sound like sweet bells chiming in the wind. “You people love to call everything you do not understand god.”

    “Then what are you?” It comes out as a breath, and for a brief second you think it’s fear that seizes your body, but no. You should be afraid and yet instead of frenzy panic there is a calm spreading inside you as if you belong here. You can’t say if it’s the boy’s presence or the familiar scent of wildflowers.

    The boy leans his head to the side, his smile as vibrant as early sunlight casting away leftover shadows from a dark night. “Hmmm … the End, perhaps? Or why not just … a friend?”

    “The end? My end?”

    “No, the end is never simply the end,” he says, shaking his head.

    “Is that supposed to reassure me?”

    “It may be a rebirth,” he continues. “Or the passing into a new era. Into a new dawn.”

    “A new dawn,” you mumble. The realisation makes your knees weak. “Don’t tell me—” You suck in a sharp breath, unable to belief where your thoughts are hurling towards in lightning speed. You kneel onto the soft flowerbed, careful not to crush any flowers. “Why are we here … do you know me by chance?”

    “I … cannot say for sure,” he starts slowly, uncertainty turning his features even younger. “I have been watching you since you awoke four moons ago. On that day, I as well awoke from a deep slumber. But I do not know why it is you that I am bound to.”

    “Bound to?” Your head spins. “What do you mean?”

    “You must have felt it by now, have you not? I am here because of this,” he says, and lifts his hand to point at your right eye. You flinch back as if he smacked you right across your face.

    “So you are him,” you whisper, a shudder ripping through your body. “You’re the first Herald. You are Seiros’ Champion.”

    The boy smiles.

[fe-semi-decent-scenarios]

How would the blue lions react to facing/killing their s/o from pre-timeskip in battle?

[Wow, this actually upset me pretty hard when thinking about it lol. This kind of trope always gets me even if it’s being done by two characters that I don’t really like. It doesn’t help that there’s a thunder storm outside that’s making me feel emo. Thank you for the request, I hope you like it!] 

Dimitri: 

He’s slaughtered so many enemies that there is no more hesitance. His past self felt remorse for those he killed, and after each battle he would reflect on the dead. Unlike now. 

He still remembers, but he doesn’t feel guilty. They opposed him and stood in the way of his revenge. To Dimitri, the people he faces in battle are nothing but walking corpses awaiting his blade 

The professor had given him orders not to approach any of his old classmates. They wanted to try and save them 

He brushed it off as a wasteful effort

“An enemy is an enemy. I care not for who they are or were, I will kill them if they stand in my way” 

A regret he’ll live with for the rest of his life 

The entire battle was a blurred frenzy. In his state of mind all the cries of those he killed mixed together. He knew not of who or what met his blade 

Only when he saw the distress among his inner circle did he realize: he killed you, and he did it without pause

The professor didn’t get their opportunity to talk with you, and you barely stood a chance against his onslaught 

Another soul to haunt him 

Another loss he has no right to mourn 

Another reason to be called a monster 

Dedue: 

Once reacquainted with his fellow Lions Dedue swore himself to the cause. He would fight without pause till his dying breath 

It seemed that having him back was a boost for moral on their end as well, and he felt genuinely relieved to see that ‘everyone’ was alive and safe 

Originally he assumed that you weren’t recruited for the battle at Gronder and that he could visit you at the monestary. 

When inquiring about your whereabouts to his highness he only received a scowl. It wasn’t something new for Dimitri’s personality so Dedue decided to search during his free time

He spent ages walking around with the expectation of finding you...so, why weren’t you there? 

He’d ask the professor if you’ve gone on another mission only to see one of their rare grimaces

Hearing that you’re fighting for Edelgard confuses him. He was certain that your loyalties lied with the kingdom. With a stoic demeanor he’d drop the topic and never bring it up again 

Dedue may seem like a blind puppy who serves Dimitri, but he does have his own opinions. He just holds them back well 

People mistake it for indifference. Felix takes a few shots at him for his lack of emotion 

“You’re telling me that (Y/N)’s not here and you don’t care? Weren’t they your s/o?”                                                                                                 “My personal feelings do not matter. If they oppose his highness then there is nothing left to discuss”                                                                “You two really are a match made by the goddess. A heartless dog for a feral boar” 

When the time comes to cut you down he hovers near your body after the battle. When your buried the grave will never be empty. Every week comes with fresh flowers, and never is there any debris on your stone 

Felix:

It was your own fault. If you had backed down like the others then this could have been avoided 

If he didn’t do it then someone else would have. If he didn’t then you would have killed him instead

No. No you wouldn’t. 

Felix knows that if the roles were reversed he would still be alive

How many people is he going to lose for the sake of the boar? First his father...now- now this 

He assumed that after not seeing you in battle once that he was in the clear. You weren’t at the reunion so clearly something else must have been keeping you from coming back 

He still could find you after this ended and you both could test your metal like the old days 

It was the one relief he had  

He wasn’t expecting to see you fighting at her side. Despite his stubborn behavior his affections towards you were obvious to everyone during his youth; something the ‘Emperor’ must have saved as a trump card 

It was his responsibility to either make you see reason, or to end it all. He had not come this far just to die from old sentiments 

“I will say this once. Get out of my way (Y/N) or I will cut you down” 

You wouldn’t move or even fight back. They obviously made you into a human blockade. It was a swift death, something he continues to remind himself of

That was his final battle, one that left his sword heavy and thoughts lax 

The future he longed for is gone, so this damn war better have been worth it 

Ashe: 

Ashe doesn’t like violence. He’s a firm believer that everyone is worthy of a second chance and that people sometimes do bad things for the right reasons. A life is a life, and it is precious 

Each morning he wakes is a reminder of how lucky he is to be alive. There is no guaranteed tomorrow, and each day could be his last 

He knows because he watches. He watches as the people he used to call friends die for what they believe in. In their mind they are fighting for what they think is right, just as he is 

but he wasn’t prepared to fight you

Anyone but you. He prayed to the goddess the moment he noticed that you weren’t at the reunion. He wished for your safety, and hoped that you were not on the opposing side

He prayed that the goddess wouldn’t take you to her side 

Despite being away for so long, he still loved you. That feeling was one of the few things he still held onto from his teen years 

All faith was shattered when you appeared at the Valley of Torment. What a fitting scenery for how he felt 

“Professor, let me try to convince them. No matter what happens I have to try” 

and try he did. He begged you to switch sides once you were defeated but it was no use. You were doing what you thought was right 

He couldn’t kill you, his bow wouldn’t hold steady even if he tried. The professor took it upon themselves to do it in his stead 

He was grateful for their interference, but the image of your body won’t ever be erased from his mind 

From then on he visits the church after every battle. He’ll sit at the same pew for hours and reconcile over what he could have done differently 

He’d wonder why good people had to die for another’s benefit 

Sylvain: 

Sylvain finds the situation deplorable. Yet another person fallen to the system

Seeing you on the other side reminded him of Miklan, except you weren’t fighting to gain something. You fought for the side that wanted complete reorder

He thought your loyalties lied with the Kingdom, with him, but people change. The fire behind your attacks only fueled the questions within him. 

Questions that he wasn’t 100% sure that he wanted answers to 

Sylvain knows hatred, but just what happened to make you willing to give up everything? 

He knows better than to blame himself. People didn’t know him for being the perfect partner, but there was nothing he or anyone else could have done to change your mind 

What was he supposed to do? Lock you in the prison?Then what? It would only cause more issues. Seeing you in chains or in a cell isn’t something he could handle 

You were one of the few people to break his barriers and see beyond the stigmas that others gave him. It was his turn to try and see your side of things, but he was too late 

Just one more failure to add to the list. He failed his house, his brother, his friends, country, and now you 

After the encounter he’ll be even more unmotivated than before. He only trains because Felix forces him, and never attends any of the extra lectures offered. His humorous mask basically dissolves to reveal what he’s always been hiding: exhaustion and despondence 

If anyone tries to comfort him they’ll be brushed off

“Look, would you leave me alone? Don’t act like you understand when you can’t”

No one can, and he doesn’t want them to. He wouldn’t wish this hurt onto his worst enemy. 

Annette: 

She knew. It wasn’t the first time someone important had vanished from her life. People do not leave without reason 

She knew that you were on the Empire’s side. She knew that there was a high chance of facing you in combat 

Her father even brought up the possibility when they were alone together. He encouraged her to back down, but she insisted that all would be okay

It did not brace her for the hollow feeling of seeing your corpse 

Normally when Annette is sad she’ll garden. If she can’t sleep then the first thing she does is go water the plants while humming one of her little tunes 

So, she does. She pretends as if you two never reunited because it’s the only way she can push forward. With the situation as it is there is little optimism among the troops, she can’t afford to give in 

She turns her grief into strength and volunteers to help around the monastery 

As long as she’s busy then it’s okay. When she’s working then her thoughts can’t wander 

Eventually it will settle in though, and she’ll want to vent. Out of everyone she’ll most likely go to Mercedes since she also has someone dear to her on the other side 

“I-I don’t know what to do Mercie. It h-happened so fast but I can’t forget it!” 

Annette is strong, and will remember you as you were to her. Not a ruthless enemy, but as someone she cherishes 

Mercedes: 

After the fight she’ll visit your old room. It hadn’t been touched in so long that dust coated nearly everything 

The Empire had claimed Emile, and now you as well. When you fell it took all her willpower not to cast a healing incantation 

It wasn’t what you wanted. The professor had offered mercy, but you chose death 

A freedom she had no right to take away. With swift words she ended your life as peacefully as possible 

It came as a shock to those nearby. If she had let the professor handle the deed then perhaps the pain would be lessened  

But for some reason she couldn’t do it. Despite the tears in her eyes she refused to let you be pierced by a blade. An incantation would be more swift, painless, and leave your body as it was 

While reminiscing in your quarters she’ll tidy up the space. She’ll admire your handwriting on the withered papers, sift through what books you had been reading, and eventually the room will be good enough to be inhabited again 

Except no one would ever sleep here again, she knew it in her heart 

However, Mercedes also knows that it was your choice. She won’t blame herself over your death, but instead use it as a driving force to protect the people she cares about who are still alive 

“May the goddess guide you to eternal peace. I will never forget our time together (Y/N)” 

Ingrid: 

She wonders if it’s ‘her’ that’s the issue 

Everyone she loves is gone. Dimitri is a shell of his former self, Glenn passed, her family’s in shambles, and now you have vanished as well

Ingrid doesn't like to show weakness in front of others, but there’s only so much one person can handle 

Even a war-machine feels anguish from striking down people they care about. Ingrid has felt the hardship of losing a lover, but to be the hand striking the blow? How much strain can someone put on their emotions before everything snaps 

The days after the world is unanimated. She continues on with her normal regime as if it was a minor bump in the road. Yet food has no flavor, training leaves her body weak, sleep is difficult to come by, and when people speak it’s as if there’s no tone to their voice 

He sorrows become rage. She focuses all her negative feelings towards ending the war and it’s horrifying. Ingrid is known for her composure but if you gave her an eye-patch then the prince might have a twin

“This fight has drawn out for too long. Too many innocents have perished, and at the rate we’re going at there will be no future to speak of. Professor, my sword is yours. Let us finish this once and for all”

Pity those who cross her path. If women truly are made of ‘sugar, spice, and everything nice’ then your death has tossed five tablespoons of cayenne pepper into her mix.

[frozenartscapes]

Promises - SS/Modern AU

Following up after Byleth brings a time-traveling Emperor back to her apartment. I was thinking some more about a name for this AU, and I believe it was @lysissisyl who one time suggested “A World Without Gods”... And I kind of like it. It’s not like the Dragon Family has disappeared, but the world has since moved past them. Magic still exists, but has grown with technology to become accessible. Possessing things like Crests or other godly gifts aren’t really valued anymore, because anyone can now do what a person with a Crest might have been once able to do. Hell, we’ve even established that getting a Crest or having one removed is about as simple as donating blood.

But being thrown into such a different world in the blink of an eye is daunting, even for someone as strong as Edelgard. But, this is Silver Snow!Edelgard. By the time she and Byleth had their final confrontation, she had effectively lost everybody that she cared about: either they had joined the enemy side and hated her, or they had died trying to protect her. And the heart can only take so much loss.

Byleth has been living with the guilt of her actions for 850 years. She finally has a chance to make things right, but the path will be a long and challenging one.

---

Byleth held a cup under the spout in the sink and filled it up. She couldn’t really sleep, and thought perhaps a glass of water might help. She chugged it back and added the cup to the small pile of dirty dishes. She really ought to do those, she thought, as she stared blankly at the mess.

She should go back to bed. But she couldn’t relax enough to sleep.

“No! Please!”

She was out of the kitchen like a shot, quickly finding the spare bedroom door in her dark apartment. She could hear the struggle inside: that bed was a cheap one, often prone to squeaking and groaning; the ruffle of blankets being fought with; pleas from someone locked deep in a nightmare.

“Please! Come back! Come back!”

Byleth knocked, hoping she wasn’t about to make things worse. “Edelgard?” she called. She could just let herself in, but given the former Emperor’s apparent state, and recent events, she decided to wait. “Edelgard? It’s me. You ok?”

There was another yelp, and frantic gasps of breath. Then: “P...Professor?” Calmer. She must be awake now.

“Can I come in?”

...

“...Yes.”

Slowly, Byleth pushed the door open. She caught Edelgard in the act of furiously wiping tears from her cheeks, the slight blush nothing compared to the dark bags under her eyes. Blankets and sheets were strewn about, indicating quite a bit of tossing and turning.

“I...I suppose I was talking in my sleep again,” she said sheepishly, refusing to make eye contact.

“I wasn’t listening for it,” Byleth told her earnestly, “I...I couldn’t sleep, myself, and I just...” She caught a quick flash of lilac, desperate and lonely. Byleth cleared her throat. “Do you...want to talk about it?”

Edelgard sat up, pulling her legs up close to her chest. “I doubt it would help,” she muttered bitterly. The way Byleth’s varsity hoodie encompassed her small frame made her seem extra vulnerable now.

Byleth carefully approached the bed. “It might, though,” she prompted carefully, “Talking helps release pent up energy and emotions.”

She scoffed. “Another medical discovery of this time, I presume?” she asked in annoyance.

“A lot of work has been done with mental health,” Byleth told her, “More still is needed, but...it is infinitely better than what you are used to, I’m sure.”

Edelgard remained silent, eyes focused on the digital clock on the bedside table.

Eventually, after a few minutes passed, Byleth grew bold. “Who were you calling to?” she asked gently, sitting down on the foot of the bed.

“I...” She looked up again, very briefly. All Byleth had time to see was unimaginable pain. “Everyone...anyone...I... I don’t know,” she whispered, “There were so many shadows. People without faces. Voices with no bodies. They all felt familiar but... They were all leaving.”

Byleth had no doubt she had been one of those faceless shadows. The thought made her heart ache with a guilt she’s lived with for eight hundred years.

“I...” she began. Hesitant. Scared. This apology was coming far too late, and perhaps at a bad time, but if she were to move forward, it had to be said. “I’m sorry,” she said, head bowed, “I’m so sorry, Edelgard. I...I didn’t know what I wanted. I didn’t know what to do. I...I should have been more sure. Confident, like you always are. I should have been there for you when you needed me the most and I wasn’t and... I’m sorry.”

Edelgard stayed quiet. She sniffled softly, and wiped away some fresh tears with the sleeve of the sweater. “You hesitated because you could see what I truly was,” she eventually murmured, pulling her sleeve down a little to trace the shackle scars along her wrist, “You all were smart to stay away from me. You said the world is the way it is because of me... But would it have been the same had I gotten my way? Or is it like this because of you?”

Byleth opened her mouth to protest, but words wouldn’t form.

“I knew my path would be a lonely one when I chose it,” Edelgard confessed, “A path of isolation and blood, one where I rid the world of monsters by becoming one myself. Someone as kind and wonderful as you should never have to dirty your feet as I did... None of you should have.”

“You aren’t a monster,” Byleth said, perhaps a little too quickly, “And I would have. I should have. I... When Rhea made me choose I just... I didn’t know...”

“I shouldn’t have made you choose, either,” Edelgard replied, “I made the decision for you in my head the moment you hesitated, and every moment since. I just... It was easier to let my heart break and stay broken than to try to keep fixing it, only for my efforts to have been for naught. Even when we met again in the Goddess Tower, I... I had become so jaded that I believed there was no way you actually cared. After all: no one else did.”

“That’s...that’s not true,” Byleth admitted, “They all came, Edelgard. All of the Eagles. They though you were the one who didn’t care. I...I should have said something. Told them that you did, but...”

She smiled sadly. “It’s in the distant past, now,” she breathed, “It doesn’t matter.”

Byleth frowned. An unpleasant lump of emotion was forming in her throat that she couldn’t swallow down. “But it does matter,” she said quietly, “It did back then, and it still does now. Maybe things would have been different if...” She stopped, shaking her head in frustration. It would do neither of them good to dwell in ‘what-ifs’. “When we first came back here, you...mentioned something,” she pressed gently, wincing as she spoke, “You said you...expected... to die by my blade.” She met Edelgard’s gaze, lilac eyes brimming with tears. “You...begged me to do it,” she whispered.

“I knew I had lost,” Edelgard uttered, “I lost, Byleth. My war. My empire. My crown... My friends... My family... I have always looked to the future, refusing to look back on the past. And every time, I was able to envision the future I strived for. But... When I lost that fight... I tried to look into the future and I saw nothing. Just darkness. I knew then that I had one of two choices: surrender, and succumb to the crushing weight of despair and guilt and failure; or die.” She paused, wiping the moisture from her eyes with a grimace. “Just...give up, fall into the void. Lay down my axe and finally, finally stop fighting. I tried. I tried so hard to fight it back, to make something of my miserable existence before death caught up with me, but... I lost.”

Byleth felt the dagger of guilt sink deeper into her un-beating heart. She wished more than anything to be able to go back to that moment, that fateful decision point where she chose wrong. But that was impossible. She could only move forward. That’s all anyone could do. She hoped. “And...what about now?” she asked hesitantly, waiting with baited breath and praying, “What do you see if you look to the future, now?”

Edelgard rested her chin on her knees, staring off into a darkened corner of the room. She sat for a few minutes, eyes vacant, before answering. “I...I don’t know,” she admitted sadly, “It’s...it’s still so dark. I...I don’t know where I can go from here.” Her eyes moved to the window, where the never-ending light of the city flowed in through cracks in the blinds. “I’m not sure how I will fit into this world, or if I even can,” she said, sounding so uncharacteristically small, “Everything’s so different from what I’m used to. At least then, when I lost everyone I cared about, I still had my belongings. My home. Or...what used to be my home. I have even less now than I did then.”

Her gaze moved again, finding Byleth’s in the dark room. She saw the deep, earnest concern on her former teacher’s face, and the faintest bit of light appeared in the void of darkness that was her envisioned future. “But...” she said slowly, carefully, “Perhaps... Perhaps I am not as alone as I think.”

“You’re not,” Byleth replied quickly, a cautious smile beginning to spread on her face, “I’m here, Edelgard. This time I promise I won’t leave you.”

Edelgard tried to mirror the careful grin, but her smile did not reach her eyes. “I...” She looked away abruptly, eyes closing tight as if wincing in pain... or bracing for the backlash. “I... Forgive me, my Teacher,” she breathed, shame practically dripping from her words, “But... I wish I could believe you.”

Byleth felt her heart drop in her chest. Those words were the slap in the face she wished Edelgard would just get on with. Byleth deserved it, after all. After everything she had done to the poor woman sitting before her. The lump in her throat was most definitely a sob, and it took everything in her to keep it down. But she couldn’t hold back the tears in her eyes.

“I’m going to help you find that belief,” Byleth said solemnly, scooting a little closer on the bed, “I know my words probably mean very little right now. You have every right to never want to listen to me or trust me ever again. You don’t even have to forgive me. Just...just know that I’m here for you now. You can stay here for as long as you need. I can teach you everything about this world and fitting into it. You don’t have to believe me, but just...know...that you’re safe here.”

It came slow, at first. Like the rain before a storm. Tears neither of them could hold back any longer began to flow. It was Edelgard who moved first, throwing herself forward and clinging with a desperation that consumed her. Byleth felt those strong hands of an Emperor now shakily grasp her shoulders, fingers digging in as if Edelgard was expecting the universe to wrench them apart.

Byleth was no longer able to hold back that sob, and it tore through the damn holding back her emotions like a wrecking ball. She hadn’t cried this much in centuries. And she forgot how much it hurt.

“I’m sorry, Edelgard,” she choked out, holding on just as fiercely, “Goddess, I’m so sorry.” She swallowed roughly. Her words felt like bile in her mouth. Like they could never fully express what she felt. Weakly, no more than a whisper, she confessed, “I thought I lost you forever. I thought I would never get to tell you... Goddess I wish things had been different.”

Edelgard sniffled, her own sobs slowly fading as Byleth’s words hit her. “I thought...five years was long,” she said softly, pulling away so their eyes could meet, “I know we fought, but... Seeing you after all that time...” She wiped the tears from her cheeks, offering a weepy smile. “I was still so happy to see you alive.”

Byleth met her with a grin of her own, her sobs breaking into gentle chuckles. “I would have waited a thousand years for you,” she breathed, “Two thousand. A million. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to see you here, despite...despite everything.”

“Then... Perhaps that should be what we focus on,” Edelgard said, “The past is gone. And though we both will bear the scars it left us for the rest of our lives, scars will fade. I...I should know.”

Byleth gently reached out and cupped her friend’s cheek. “You can be anything you want to be in this life, Edelgard,” she stated, “This time, the path is yours to choose. And I promise I’ll help you along the way, for as long as you want my help.”

“My Teach- ...Byleth,” Edelgard whispered, mimicking the affectionate action, “I have always wanted to walk with you. So in this life, I shall.”

“I won’t leave your side for anything, this time,” Byleth vowed.

“E...even...now?” Edelgard asked, sheepishly looking away as she nervously wrung the sheets in her hands. “I...I haven’t been able to get a good night’s rest in... I’m not sure how long. But, perhaps if you’re here, the nightmares might-”

Before she could finish, Byleth flopped comically down on the empty side of the bed, answering the request without any words spoken.

Relief washed over the former Emperor in an instant, and with a small smile, she sunk down under the covers, facing her host on the bed. Byleth reached out and carefully took her hand in hers, giving it a small, affirming squeeze.

“I’m here,” she whispered, “I promise. And if I’m not when you wake up, you can find me in the kitchen.”

Edelgard nodded in reply. “Thank you, Byleth,” she whispered back, closing her eyes as sleep slowly came back to her.

Byleth shut her eyes as well, and as she drifted off, she heard a very earnest, very grateful: “Thank you.”

---

The next morning, Edelgard awoke and Byleth’s spot was empty on the bed. A brief moment of panic seized her heart, until she remembered the rest of her promise. Carefully, she pulled the covers back and left the bed, first heading to the window. The strange, new Enbarr greeted her as she opened the blinds, with its impossibly tall buildings and endless noise. But at least the colours of dawn remained the same.

She cautiously headed through the apartment, taking in the details she had been overwhelmed by the night before. Everything seemed so strange. The furniture was oddly shaped, and far too much of something: too soft, too hard, too simple, too complex. Everything felt so bright as light from the morning sun flooded through the large windows and doors to the balcony. The colour scheme in Byleth’s apartment was mostly neutral: white walls, light grey rug, light wooden floors... Actually, was it wood? It looked like it but didn’t feel like it... She had the odd pop of colour in a cushion or a plant but otherwise it all felt so...empty and bleak compared to the deep, rich colours of the tapestries and upholstery the Imperial family kept in the palace.

She drew a deep breath as she tried to calm down her fears, and as she did, a familiar scent hit her nose: bergamot. And her worries faded as a smile formed on her face.

True to her word, she found Byleth in the kitchen. A well-used teapot sat on the small table, scented steam wafting out and filling the room with the smell of her favourite tea. Two teacups were placed on either side of the table, beside two mismatched plates. Beside the pot was a rectangular, brightly coloured box.

Byleth was rooting through a tall, silver storage unit next to the counter with the...what was it called again...microwave? She stood up, a blue carton in her hand, and smiled when she noticed her guest. “Perfect timing,” she said warmly, setting the carton down on the table, “You liked milk, yes?”

“That’s milk?” Edelgard asked, eyeing the carton with curiosity.

“Yep,” Byleth said simply, reaching into a cupboard and taking out a small jar, “And sugar, too, right?”

Edelgard merely nodded. She hadn’t missed the amount of boxes and jars of food in just that one cupboard alone, and couldn’t imagine how much more could possibly be stored in this kitchen. She reached for the carton of milk, gasping slightly to discover it was cold, and she was fairly certain that silver box was too small to hold ice blocks.

Byleth chuckled, watching as Edelgard glared at the milk carton as if she had just demanded it tell her all its secrets. “Come sit, Edelgard,” she said as she took a seat across the table, “I’ll explain more after breakfast. I got us a little treat.”

She gestured to the box. Edelgard cocked her head as she regarded the strange package. Big, ridiculous letters spelled out...something... Although she had no idea what the word was or what it meant. “Do...nuts?” she wondered, looking up at Byleth with a lost expression.

Byleth merely grinned and opened the box, revealing six decadent-looking pastries. Each one was different, and strange...but the smell alone was incredibly tempting. Five of them were shaped like rings, with a hole in the centre of the cake. The sixth one was a solid circle, covered in a copious amount of white powder.

“That one’s a jelly-filled,” Byleth said as she noticed Edelgard eyeing it, “Strawberry. Then there’s chocolate dipped, old-fashioned, honey cruller...” She pointed to a different one as she listed them, going from the one with a dark brown topping, a simple plain one, and one that was fancifully twisted and covered in white glaze. Next, she pointed to one with pink frosting, and bright, rainbow sprinkles. “Strawberry dipped,” she said, “It’s seasonal, and really good, by the way.”

“And the last one?”

“The best one,” Byleth told her confidently, “Double chocolate.”

The fact that anything was single chocolate, let alone double absolutely floored her. Chocolate had been one of the most valued delicacies that she was aware of. Much like coffee, the beans needed to produce it could only be grown in consistently warm, humid climates that only the southern-most parts of Adrestia could support. Instead, it largely came from other nations that sat further south, and as a result was often incredibly hard and expensive to procure. Being Emperor, she had had the fortune of tasting chocolate before, and had loved it. But even she could only get her hands on a small box only a few times a year.

And now here was this...donut...that was both made with chocolate, but also dipped in it.

“What...exactly is the occasion?” she asked hesitantly, “Surely this cost you greatly.”

“Nah,” Byleth said with a nonchalant shrug, “The whole box was about six bucks.”

“...Six...Bucks?”

“Never mind. That’s just slang for ‘dollars’.”

“...D...dollars?”

Byleth blinked. “Oh...right, sorry. I forgot currency changed quite a bit over time,” she said sheepishly, “It...it doesn’t matter. All the stuff that made pastries expensive back in the past is widely available now.” She then smiled shyly, and continued cautiously, “Last night was...a little rough. I know you’re going through a lot and it’s not going to change over night. It...it likely will only get harder, for a while.”

Edelgard found herself nodding at that, prompting Byleth to wince. “But I just... I thought these might help,” she said with a lopsided grin, “No matter how confusing and scary the world might seem, there are good things in it.” She gestured to the box, prompting Edelgard to take her pick. “Like donuts.”

Edelgard reached out tentatively, but rather than selecting a donut, her hand found Byleth’s resting on the other side of the table. “And...you,” she said quietly, a generous dusting of pink spreading across her cheeks.

Byleth’s heart had never moved a day in her immortal life, but in that moment, it fluttered, leapt like a bird taking to the sky. She didn’t know why or how, but in that moment, it felt right.

She chuckled softly, impressed by how smooth her former student was. She brought her other hand down over Edelgard’s, giving it a small squeeze. “I’ll always be right here,” she promised.

They held each other’s gaze far longer than either of them realized, and once they did, they broke apart, both of them blushing furiously. “Well, go one then!” Byleth coughed out awkwardly, gesturing to the box, “I’m excited to know what you think.”

Edelgard eyed the double chocolate one. “It... You said that one was your favourite...” she began slowly, “I don’t want to take it for myself...”

“It’s alright. We can split them,” Byleth offered, getting up to retrieve a knife. Upon her return, she selected the donut from the box and set it down on her plate, before cutting it in half. She then offered a half to Edelgard.

Edelgard picked it up carefully, looking over the pastry thoroughly. Byleth merely chuckled and simply took a bite out of her half, an action Edelgard hesitantly followed.

The moment the chocolaty goodness hit her tongue, her eyes widened and lit up like the sun. “Oh Goddess,” she breathed, before eagerly taking another bite.

Byleth’s chuckle turned into a mirthful laugh.

[iturbide]

i can go on and on about how unbelievably dumb and convoluted rudolf's plan was and how his callous lack of foresight got his nephew needlessly killed (and also very nearly his own son, which would’ve defeated the whole purpose of all this) but we'd be here all day and you haven’t played SoV yet. Anywho, for the character meme maybe Morgan (either of them or both of them — your pick) or Ferdie?

Please do go on about how dumb and convoluted the plan was.  No, I have not played Shadows of Valentia, but I want to hear about this.  Tell me.  I would absolutely love to hear the details of this idiocy.  I have time if you are willing.

But also Morgans my children

How do I feel about this character?

I love Morgan.  I love both Morgans.  I love these aspiring tacticians who want nothing more than to match their genius parent, I love how they’re over-excitable as pranksters and sometimes spoil their own traps without meaning to, and I love the way they help spur their allies.  They’re just such wonderfully good kids and I want the best for them.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Once again I have to call in the “no one” card.  I tend to see the Morgans as the absolute youngest in the group, down there with Nah and Cynthia, and along with the whole wanting them to have a chance to live for themselves in a peaceful world, they’re just too young to think about romance for.  Let them live a good bit more first, then maybe I’ll think about it, but for now they just deserve to be happy and perfect their tactics and pranks.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

OWAIN.  He continues to be my go-to second-gen answer because he’s still so great and also the fact that they’re both in the Justice Cabal and can really go at it in equal measure with the over-the-top theatrics just makes it.  Cynthia’s part of the group, too, because the Justice Cabal can’t be complete without the Pega-Pony Princess, and I love the idea of them as a daring trio making adventures for themselves.  But also Morgan and Lucina as siblings is one of my favorite things -- a very literal brOTP -- and their relationship and how they bond through their supports is really heartfelt to me (especially given how Morgan flat-out refuses to wield Falchion because it means Lucina can’t and that’s not allowed to happen).

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

This is probably going to be very unpopular but F!Morgan’s supports are Bad.  She ends up being near Severa levels of manipulative, not to mention her sadistic streak with poor Yarne, and I just really don’t think that’s fair to her in any way.  M!Morgan’s supports are all delightful, and there is absolutely no reason why they had to make F!Morgan a borderline psychopath when her male counterpart is a perfect ray of sunshine (though they also had no reason to do That with F!Robin’s supports with Chrom compared to M!Robin’s, so I guess I have to chalk it up to IntSys being IntSys).  Basically I throw her canon supports out the window and draw off of M!Morgan’s supports for both of them where possible because it’s a significantly better pool to work from (and where it’s not possible I just axe the more disturbing tendencies that don’t line up with everything else about the characters).

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

I really wish canon hadn’t rehashed Robin’s situation with Morgan.  Robin made perfect sense as an amnesiac since they’re our point of view character, and we’re experiencing all the twists and turns with equal inability to predict where things are going; Morgan has no good in-game reason to have no memory, so I really wish they hadn’t done it.  Let Morgan remember both their parents: it’s not like it would be hard to change their supports since they just rehashed all father supports for all the other kids.  Even if Morgan IS from another timeline, or even Future Past, I think it would have been far more interesting if they’d actually had a story of their own to contrast with Robin -- especially if it could have helped bring back some of Robin’s own memories.

EDIT because I missed it the first time through I am so sorry Ferdie

How do I feel about this character?

Perfect ray of sunshine.  Absolute joy of a human being.  A man who lights up any room he walks into with his sunny disposition.  People who do not love Ferdinand von Aegir probably missed something or else didn’t bother talking to him outside of monastery dialogues.

Basically Ferdinand is one of the best things about Three Houses and I will stand by that.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

HAHA TRICK QUESTION I have I think two romantic ships across all of Three Houses and Ferdinand von Aegir does not feature in either of them.  With that said I really enjoy his supports with Mercedes and how he goes all Knight in Shining Armor and breaks into a Kingdom noble’s domain specifically to dig up evidence of her step-father’s terrible behavior?  Legendary.  He and Hilda make a nice pair, too, and the fond indulgence in their conversations is really pleasant.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Dorothea all the way.  I love their Support chain and how Dorothea finally stops pushing him away off of a mistaken assessment of his character, and I think it makes the foundation for an incredibly powerful friendship; also Ferdie as her biggest supporter as an opera diva is just phenomenal.  I also really enjoy his relationship with Hubert since they’re so firmly rooted in opposite camps but still clearly trying to do what’s best for the Empire; their grudging respect for one another that grows into a bizarre unorthodox friendship (up to and including Hubert looking out for Ferdinand, which confuses both of them) is an endless delight.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

...are there unpopular opinions to be had about Ferdinand von Aegir, Literal Ray of Sunshine?  ...except maybe that he is a pain to try and recruit he was the last one I managed in my original Golden Deer run and I did it literally in the last available week I know you’re a noble Ferdinand but cut me some slack Ferdie your B support doesn’t unlock until post-timeskip and heavy armor’s a stupid requirement.

...and even then I think most people would agree with me if they’re starting from scratch rather than New Game +.

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

I really wish that CF had given him a better role.  Although that’s kind of what I wish for most of the characters in CF, Ferdinand in particular suffers for the fact that he does see issues in Edelgard’s approach, which is clear just from his supports with her (she hadn’t considered public schooling at all before he brought it up); the fact that his opposition and pushback to her methods are shunted off into Supports and End Cards does him a disservice, especially given how dedicated he is to the idea that nobles are duty-bound to care for and protect their people -- something that is not happening with Edelgard’s war in full swing.  I would have loved to see him argue her decision to attack the Alliance, or leave Caspar’s father in charge, or any number of other things, rather than passively going along with everything despite how war harms the most vulnerable -- aka the commonfolk -- before anyone else.

Give Me a Character

[airlock]

so, I’ve been showing people this for a while now, but I was thinking today’d be a good day to expose this wretched creation to the world

it was roughly a month shy of a year ago now when Brian David Gilbert did a video where he rated Mortal Kombat characters on the quality of their cuddling, and I’m nothing if not forever smitten with making silly graphs, so I attempted the same thing with the FE16 gang (although I made this before we had the ashen wolves so bear with me on that one)

(for those who aren’t looking to have one of the best 15 minutes of their lives yet: the vertical axis is for emotional availability, the horizontal axis is for physical risk, and a great cuddler lands as close as possible to the middle.)

under the cut I will provide a brief rationale for each of them (and it will be gently spoilery at times, but nothing very major; if you’ve cleared the pre-timeskip on any route you’re good to go)

The Body Pillows (low emotional availability, low physical risk)

Cyril: look, it’s not that he’s not entirely touch-starved deep down, it’s just that he still is supposed to be handling some chores and you’re interrupting him

Gilbert: the only way anything exciting is going to happen with him is if you lean in close to his ears and start speaking heresy

Hilda: she could hypothetically reach the zenith, y’know! but that would be haaaaaard

Ingrid: the good news is, you’ll probably get a great deal of constructive criticism if you cuddle ingrid. let’s leave it at that

Leonie: come for the cuddle session, stay for the advice on how to get a mattress as good as this one but a lot cheaper. like, if you do choose to stay, that’s what you’re getting

Linhardt: you see the name of this archetype? it was made for linhardt

Marianne: she’s really sorry. she knows you said you wanted to cuddle with her, but she thinks you’ll just have a bad time and get disappointed. she's afraid bad things will happen to you if you touch her

The Michael Ceras (high emotional availability, low physical risk)

Alois: ever wonder what happens to a himbo when he breeds? like, dadification? well, you don’t have to anymore

Anna: imagine someone trying to cuddle you and, every single time they move around or try something, they ask you, “IS THAT THE ONE?”

Ashe: if so little happens as, say, you shift and rustle something and a draft blows in at the same time, he will assume it’s a ghost coming for him. if you really wanted to, you could scare him on purpose. oh god, you’re going to do it, aren’t you. you bastard. you villain. you meanypoop

Ferdinand: “am I, ferdinand von aegir, cuddling you better than edelgard? am I, ferdinand von aegir, cuddling you better than edelgard? am I, ferd”

Ignatz: don’t be fooled into thinking he’ll make a canvas of your body; he gets ideas for sure, but they’re all too scandalous for his shy little hands

Mercedes: why cuddle with her when you could get roughly the same effect by falling asleep to an ASMR compilation

Petra: to have honesty, she tries with a small amount of too much hardness

Raphael: aw, he might be a big guy, but he knows not to hurt you! just don’t expect him to know a lot of other things

Sylvain: as easy as it is to get him into a bed, you’ll really be wishing you’d taken him to a therapist’s couch instead

brian didn’t name these (low emotional availability, high physical risk)

Catherine: those calloused hands might feel nice until the part where they’re abruptly zooming into your face

Edelgard: you know what it means to cuddle with someone who “dislikes losing control”? it’s just not an experience designed around the idea of you having a good time

Felix: watch him find some way to turn this cuddle session into a spar session

Hanneman: cuddling hanneman is all fine and well until he goes for the blood sample extraction

Hubert: he nasty

Jeritza: “why are we cuddling? why won’t you spar with me?”

Lysithea: are you the kind of person who always hoped to die comfortably laid on a bed? if so, there’s exactly one thing that’s going the way you wanted it to in this scenario

Rhea: this isn’t even speculative, it’s empirical. you can, in actual canon, on any route, witness a scene where Rhea cuddles you and it’s fucking terrifying

Shamir: the least you’ll want to do if you find yourself cuddling shamir is to telegraph your every move; if she feels something unexpected, she might assume it’s a bug, and your finger will thus be pest controlled

The Scissorhands (high emotional availability, high physical risk)

Annette: cuddle annette and you will experience things you could never have imagined. things she could never have imagined either, because she didn’t mean for them to happen, and yet, somehow, they did.

Bernadetta: at the very least, she’s the girl to ask if you want the ultimate range of possibility. anything can happen, from her fainting to you fainting

Caspar: don’t mistake this shrimp for an ordinary himbo; given enough provocation he can and will jump into the nearest fight with you still attached to his shoulders

Dimitri: so needy, and yet, so likely to break your everything with so much as a hug... an archetypal scissorhand

Flayn: you’d think it’d be a decent time, besides the fish smell, but if you touch flayn you get vaporized by seteth, that’s just how it goes, it’s a law of nature

Lorenz: say what you will about the man, he’s open to experiments. for better or for worse. ever wonder which new and exciting places you don’t want to find a rose in?

Manuela: if you remember spending the night with manuela, you will wish you didn’t. if you don’t remember spending the night with manuela, you will wish you did

Tier List Rodrigue: look at how close he already is. you will never be apart from him again. it’s too late

The Cuddler’s Zenith (perfectly balanced)

Dedue: the strength to make dimitri look like a twink, and the wisdom to tell you not to eat the weeds -- what’s there not to love?

Dorothea: she’s full of youthful, bisexual energy; one day it will expire into a manuela-esque deposit of issues, but if today’s not that day, best not to wait until tomorrow

Gatekeeper: greetings, professor! nothing to report! nothing to disturb our calm, dreamy night

Seteth: don’t be fooled by all of that stiff hardass act he puts on; he’s stronger than he looks... and even softer

Sothis: hang out with her, and you might feel like you could touch the sky, or rip it a new one

Claude: look, I’m not going to explain this to you. just touch the nearest object around you. do you experience a sensation when you do so? if you do, then you have everything you need in order to understand, all by yourself, that claude is the most sublime cuddler in all of Fódlan and beyond

[the-worst-fe-player]

☕ everything about fates and the drama give us an essay king

Lamo thank you to king/queen/royalty

Okay so I'm gonna break this down into segments and header it with a different colour some will he shorter than others. Also sorry if I spell names of county wrong and rember this is just my opinion

Story

Also heads up I played it in this order conquest -> rev -> birthrights I know I should have swapped rev and birthrights but it was really expensive and I was like 14

Fates story is not the best but deffently not as bad as some people said. Overall I'll be honst I liked conquest story but not birthrights which I know most people have the opposite oppion on but like I found conquest to be more fun I enjoyed the idea of sneaking around garons back with your siblings and being powerless at times to stop a lot of the things like the massacre where scarlet dies and ryoma death there where moments I just groaned at the screen but apart from that I had more fun. Birthrights I'll be real the story kind of bored me i only really found certain parts interesting but my favourite moment from fates actually came from birthrights and it was the Xander fight where he killed elise and then let corrin kill him it was tragic and sad and I live for angst ngl. rev story I don't remember to much sorry I mostly fouced on the characters ngl but that sence with the kid turning into the faceless was really cool and also the one with makoto and she fucks with you and the doors but idk if that's classed as story or gameplay but either way that was sick

Gameplay

Fates gameplay was soild as fuck I will die on this hill. The pair up was cool, the skills and classes where sick and the character balancing minor some major problems *cough xander ryoma takumi cough* was pretty cool and corrin is not nearly as broken as Robin or byleth. I like to play conquest the most because I'm a maschoist lol but even though most of revs maps where gimmicks I love them there so iconic, tbh most of fates maps are like I understand most of fates criticism but the maps, apart from rev as not everyone likes gimmicks, I just dont understand

Phoenix mode

Honstly play the game how you want to if that's on normal Phoenix go a head I dont care you play the game how you want to. Like yeah Phoenix mode may take away all the difficulty but casual took away perma death and that's the most played game mode because that's what people want and if people want Phoenix then just let them have it doesn't bother me I will never play it but I dont care if others do.

Corrin

Okay so I actually like corrin and before you look away I will explain why I think their dislikes and why I do like them and think how they could be improved

I think the promblem people have with Corrin is that they dont have enough personilty to be a regular character but they have to much that they can't be an avatar if you know what I mean. Like with Robin they deffently had a personily but they weren't the main character chrom was so it wasn't in your face as much yeah they made some important decisions whitch often did nothing but at the end of the day it lopped back to chrom and this is something corrin cant do everything has to be about corrin as there the main lord. But corrin is kind they dont want to kill common soldiers and that's never really addressed (as far as I can remember) why corrin wont kill like the sibling bit make sense but the common solider whitch could have killed there spouse is just frustrating at times and something not many people feel while playing. Corrin would have worked better if they wasn't a self insert that went against the average players emotions. But yeah I do feel people are to harsh on corrin as well though like with the whole not earning the Yaot witch is like they kind of did though it was the fact that who ever held the yaot would bring the world peace and they did it was there destiny to do so to fight in a war and mabey kill there family but even then I don't see people giving the three houses leaders shit for there wepons and they did less all they did was be born from a group of people that committed genocide! But also many people say nothing bad happens to them but at least in conquest and birthrights corrin suffers, in conquest the blood of what you think are your siblings are on your hands one forced to commit sucide and the other painful possed and then there the amount of murder they just had to watch and then birthrights watching elise die for them and xander pretty much letting corrin kill him and everything else like bruh this shit is sad and is also the reson I pray fe stops using self inserts and goes back to the older ways

Translation

Why! Why! Who thought that was a good idea Xander what did they do to him 🥺 I haven't finshed reading a direct translation of fates yet but its like so much better then the English version if you have the chance to read through it's worth it so much. Also same with three houses it wasn't as bad but like certain scenes are better like the really cringy reponse el had to dimitri on gronder feild actually makes sense and just especially if you like crimson flower as out of all the routs edelgard and cf feels like it got changed the most its just interesting ngl anyway onto fates again

The petting game

I know I would hate it as I already hate the wake the slug a bug up and the "you didn't blow niles hard enough" stuff but it was also optional so like idk i don't really have an oppion

Fan service (camilla)

I like big tits (as long as there not mine lol) as much as the next person who also likes that stuff but even I'll admit It was way to much at times especially the did you miss you big sister part like I enjoy camillas character I'm a sucker for a character with a tragic backstory, loves there family, cares for others a bit to much and could bench press me but the times where she was just fan severse sucked.

Paying for everything sprealty

I hate it:(

Characters

Leo♥️leo♥️leo♥️

Overall I like the majority of characters, here are my top 3 favs girls and boy

Best girls : Charlotte, orochi and Nyx

Best boys: leo, saizo and laslow (idk if he counts if not Forrest)

I always see people being like (x) was wasted in fates i wished they were in a different game but literally 3/4 of the cast have that said about them so like do yall hate the cast or love it :/

My overall oppion

I have mixed oppions over all I do like fates conquest is one of my favourite fe and I hope mabey in twenty years it will get re made with a better translation and some adjustments to corrin and the story

Thank you for the ask sorry this is so long and sorry if it makes no sense

[houseisekai]

House Isekai: Shadowbringers -Interlude 1

House Isekai Shadowbringers AU Masterlist Here

—

Interlude: Konosuba Gang

Directly after the events of Act 1: Finale...

As House Isekai moves to Derdriu after escaping Church Forces at Garreg Mach, they decide to camp for the night and rest before continuing their journey.

Finally having a moment of calm, Sitri decides to speak with one of the very first members of House Isekai...

—

[No Greater Sorrow - Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers OST]

Sara stopped the group and turned around to do a quick head count.

All the students were accounted for. Blue Lions and Black Eagles not too far behind.

...Then there was Lahabrea and Sothis, keeping an extremely far distance from everyone. She was hoping they’d keep it that way.

(Sara) “Campin’ here tonight boys and girls. Wouldn’t do us good to get ambushed when we’re exhausted.”

Everyone nodded and moved into the woods nearby and cleaned up a spot.

(Ainz) “We will create protection spells in case anyone is watching.”

(Futaba) “Leave scanning the area to me and Fuuka!”

(Mitsuru) “Understood. Us Persona users will secure the area then.”

(Akira) “Roger. Let’s get going.”

(Dimitri) “Suppose we can make the area comfortable to sleep in then.”

(Edelgard) “Seems fine to me.”

(Megumi) “ We will help as well.”

(Kazuma) “Guess we’ll get a fire goin’.”

Everyone had their assigned roles and got quickly to work.

The Phantom Thieves hopped into the trees and disappeared into the night as S.E.E.S, Class VII followed on foot.

The Denizens of Nazarick began casting spells and aiming it above the campsite.

Lahabrea and Sothis set their own mini camp away from everyone.

Sitri noticed Lahabrea staring at her, then quickly looking away.

(Sharon) “Miss Sitri?”

Sitri turned around and saw Sharon with her smile as Doomguy laid Byleth gently on the floor and began patrolling the area.

(Sharon) “Would you like to get some rest?”

(Sitri) “As much as I would, I don’t like everyone doing work as I do nothing. I will go help Kazuma and the others with the fire.”

She took one last look at Byleth before Sharon bowed at her.

(Sharon) “Rest assured, Byleth will be in good hands.”

(Sitri) “Thank you, Sharon.”

Sharon went back to Byleth and took out some strange device and looked over him. Knowing she was not being any help by standing, she went after Kazuma.

...

(Megumin) “Hm...You know I just realized I can’t really see at all.”

(Aqua) “I can see just fine.”

(Kazuma) “Then hurry up and find some good firewood, would ya? Place is creepin’ me out.”

(Darkness) “If there are beasts here, I will intercept it!”

(Kazuma) “Listen we are NOT getting killed because you want to fuel your sick feti-”

Snap!

(Megumin) “W-WHO’S THERE?!”

Aqua turned around reaching for her staff before easing up.

(Aqua) “Oh, hi Sitri.”

(Sitri) “H-Hello...”

Sitri brought up a torch and looked at the four.

(Sitri) “Would you like some help?”

(Kazuma) “Sure. Though, shouldn’t you be resting?”

(Sitri) “I could ask the same for everyone. You all have been working and fighting tirelessly.”

(Darkness) “Hah, this is nothing, Mrs. Eisner! Byleth took us through worse!”

(Kazuma) “Pah, bullshit! He never trained us for all out war!”

(Megumin) “Kazuma! S-Sorry Mrs. Sitri, he can’t really control his language.”

Sitri couldn’t help but laugh.

(Sitri) “It’s quite fine. Jeralt wasn’t exactly the type of person to filter himself either.”

As she walked over to the group she began thinking to herself.

(Megumin) “If...I can say something, Sitri. We all knew Jeralt during our year at the Academy. He was a good man, and a good father. He talked about you almost every other day.”

(Darkness) “Indeed. I wish he was here to see you now.”

(Kazuma) “You uh...have our condolences.”

(Sitri) “...Thank you. It brings me some level of peace to know how he was...”

She looked up at the night sky longingly.

(Sitri) “Just like all those years ago...”

(Aqua) “By the way, why did you follow us out here of all people? Any reason?”

(Sitri) “No, not particularly. I’ve just had a few questions I’ve been wanting to ask.”

(Kazuma) “Hm? ‘Bout what?”

(Sitri) “Well, I think that floating girl to start. Everyone called her Sothis, but if I recall correctly Sothis was an all divine goddess.”

(Aqua) “Psh, divine my butt! She’s a little gremlin!”

Aqua had a smirk on her face, which confused Sitri.

(Sitri) “Gremlin?”

(Kazuma) “Eh, don’t mind the useless goddess here. She started a lotta bullshit between then two.”

(Aqua) “DID NOT!”

(Megumin) “A-Anyways, we don’t know the true story ourselves. But...from what I heard from other members of House Isekai, she was a true friend.”

(Kazuma) “Not was, IS, a good friend.”

(Sitri) “I’m not sure I understand then. You all seemed so hostile to her.”

(Aqua) “It...may not make any sense but she isn’t OUR Sothis. The Sothis we knew infused herself into Byleth during the encounter with Jeralt’s killers.”

(Kazuma) “Though that’s a story you need to hear from your son and not us. Anyways, only a select few of us could see her during the Academy. We didn’t know the true nature of her, but all we know is that she was with Byleth when it all began. Preeetty sure we were the first ones to meet her actually.”

(Sitri) “You were the first to arrive in Fodlan? Oh, by the way I think I may have found some wood.”

(Aqua) “Yeah, first us, Class VII, then Megumi, then everyone started pouring in.”

(Darkness) “Hm...No, too damp. It wouldn’t light properly. And yes, we were. The four of us were in Kazuma’s mansion when we suddenly found ourselves flung into a battle at Remire Village. It was there we rescued Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude alongside Byleth and Jeralt.”

(Sitri) “So he became a mercenary like his father...”

(Megumin) “Very good one at that! When we first met him, he didn’t seem to have too much emotion. Though overtime he became a great teacher!”

Sitri smiled as she continued looking.

(Sitri) “...Thank you for taking care of him.”

(Darkness) “If anything, I feel like that we should thank you, Sitri. We don’t know the full story, but you sacrificed yourself so that your child could live.”

(Sitri) “It’s something any mother would do for her child. Though I can safely say I had no intention of...being resurrected, I am happy to see my son alive and well.”

Her smile quickly faded when she started to think again.

(Sitri) “But...Why did Lahabrea resurrect me? He appears to be my son but-”

(Kazuma) “Frankly, I think we should be careful of that asshole. I don’t know what’s going on with him exactly, but I KNOW he doesn’t have our best interest at heart.”

(Aqua) “Right? Plus she resurrected her using some dark magic! That can NOT end up being good!”

(Sitri) “...”

Minato walked past them, not even facing their direction.

(Minato) “Could try and NOT talk like Sitri isn’t even there.”

(Kazuma) “Oh piss off, Arisato. Like you’re one to give me a lecture about manners.”

(Minato) “Hmph.”

(Sitri) “Um...Pardon my rude manners but are you all always this...um...-”

(Kazuma) “Dysfunctional?”

(Aqua) “Aggressive?”

(Darkness) “Violent?”

(Megumin) “Insane?”

(Sitri) “...Well I was going to use nicer words, but considering our first meeting was launching my body into the air and strangling each other-”

(Megumin) “Yeah, most of the time.”

(Kazuma) “House Isekai says you get used to it after a while.”

(Sitri) “I...suppose that’s true. I guess it’s not entirely set in since I’ve only awoken just a few days ago.”

(Aqua) “Alright, these ought to be good. Everyone got something?”

Everyone held up some wood and started to walk back to camp.

(Kazuma) “Oh hey, you finally weren’t useless.”

(Aqua) “Shut up, NEET.”

Sitri looked puzzlingly at them. She could tell they cared about each other, but why were they so...mean?

As they continued to walk, they saw Lahabrea sleeping underneath a tree nearby the camp with Sothis nowhere to be found.

(Aqua) “I got a real bad feeling about him...”

(Kazuma) “I’ve noticed him staring at us, including Sothis while we were walkin down the road.”

(Sitri) “Perhaps there’s a reason he looks like my son?”

(Megumin) “It better be a good one. We haven’t had the best experience with impersonators if you haven’t noticed.”

(Darkness) “Not to mention your resurrection appears to play a key role in all of this as well...”

Sitri looked at her hands and furrowed her brow.

(Sitri) “...Am I?”

(Kazuma) “Well, once we get to Derdriu and meet up with Claude I suppose we’ll get our answer. No use bustin our brains trying to figure shit out so early.”

(Aqua) “Oh hey, you finally said something intelligent-”

(Kazuma) “Fuck off.”

Sitri giggled.

(Sitri) “I guess you were right, you do get used to this.”

(Darkness) “That was....alarmingly fast.”

(Megumin) “Oof, whatever I’m exhausted. Let’s hit the hay yeah?”

(Sitri) “Oh um...”

The four turned around and faced Sitri, eyebrow raised.

(Sitri) “Thank you for taking care of my son.”

[This Beautiful Cruel World - Attack On Titan OST]

They all smiled and raised their arms in unison.

Without another word, the four went to their spot to sleep.

Sitri smiled and was about to sleep when suddenly a pain flashed in her head.

“…I can’t believe I’m missing her.”  

“...do me one favor in case I go down for good this time? Protect everyone else. You’re the only one I can rely on for that.”    

“Do not hesitate to call upon me or the others should the need arise. We will take care of you in these times…”   

“Edelgard, what did you do…?!”

Sitri shook her head once the pain was gone.

(Sitri) “What was that...?”

She looked at the four who were setting up their beds, yelling at each other with profanity.

There was no way they had said all those things at her once.

...So why did their voices sound clear as day, and what was going on?

Her eyes glazed over to Byleth, who was finally put to rest with Megumi, Sara, and some of the other staff and House Reps looking over him.

She then turned to Lahabrea and frowned again.

(Sitri) “What have you started, my son...?”

INTERLUDE: END

Your dream is where your heart is

It’s something more fragile than life itself

No matter how many times you throw it away, you still find it

So rest in peace now

Your wish is violated by your pulsing urge

and as much as you forget about it, you recall it again

In this beautiful and cruel world

We only ask “why” we’re still alive…

Ah, what are we going to protect

with our strength and weakness? If reason no longer exists

TO BE CONTINUED IN:

[fireemblems24]

AM Chapter 18

Spoilers below for FE:3H Chapter 18.

Pre-Battle:

I checked!! I do have Linhardt recruited!!!! Thank God. I really didn't want to kill him (had to see after realizing he was on the VW map)

I'm excited guys, this is the first time I'll see Dimitri leading the group.

Is AM the only route where it calls Grondor a victory? I know in SS they don't participate, and CF doesn't have it, and even though I just played VW, I can't remember since I did some stat boosting distributing.

AM really just decided to not follow the other routes anymore. Kinda relieved.

Fhirdiad wants Dimitri back (who wouldn't want Cornelia gone). OMG, does this mean I get to kill Cornelia???!!! Finally.

This is so much more hype than the other routes because it's so personal compared to them. Even in SS facing Edelgard is just a giant shrug since the plot doesn't seem to care all that much, but you feel the emotions here after everything.

Fuck Cornelia.

Other routes: we're playing dress up and taking over a fort. AM: Dimitri is returning to his people, who've been suffering under Cornelia's tyranny. That last time he was there, he had to kill his own guards to escape death, believing Dedue died rescuing him from imprisonment and pending execution and sent him even spiraling further into darkness. Like, holy shit, why didn't the other routes get this kind of writing?

They really don't mince here like they do elsewhere. Dimitri talking about stealing weapons from corpses is just . . . time for more Chamomile after all of this.

It's really sad that Dimitri wanting to SURVIVE a battle is an improvement.

It's so nice to see Dimitri leading. I worried he'd just default to Byleth like other routes do, but seeing Dimitri actually get to play his role and Byleth stay in a role that makes sense makes me like her a whole lot more here.

We're really taking back the Kingdom 😭😭😭😭

Fuck Cornelia.

Aw, yeah, the city hates her as much as I do. They know Dimitri's coming.

This fucking jerkass out here killing citizens. Why the fuck did Edelgard give her soldiers?

Not going to lie, hearing Dimitri called "that little princeling" does things to me.

I just love how much Dimitri fucks with her plans though lol.

Battle:

It's nice to actually play a different map and not the same one three times in a row.

Oh, Dimitri's gravely voice is back. And he's calling for smashed heads again. But it's Cornelia's so, who the fuck cares.

This is going to be the best chapter yes. Because I get to kill Cornelia. Tempted to use Dimitri to do it because that's how it should be, but she'd die way too fast almost.

LAMO. So I pulled the lever for the magical items, and Dimitri's like "now we can land a hit on those things!" As if Dedue didn't solo one already.

Dedue is so funny. He punches someone once, and they die. OMG I love having him back and using him.

Cornelia wasn't even worth any real experience points. Seems right though.

Dimitri sounds unhinged talking to her, don't blame him though.

Oh, more Patricia. She caused Duscur and sacrificed Dimitri and everyone else so she could see Edelgard?

It runs in the family. I kid. Slightly.

So did Patricia cause Duscur? Because Cornelia tweaked her?

Poor Dimitri. So his mother figure never really loved him. Can these writers just stop already?

Post-Battle:

Ok, Dimitri sounds all good again.

The Empire really treated Fareghus like shit 😭😭 but their king is back 😭😭😭

We gonna prove Duscur's innocence now 😭😭😭

Dimitri doesn't want to face his people. After Cornelia and the Empire, I'm sure he's (literally) a god-send.

OMG he's King Dimitri now 😭😭😭

And they're all cheering for him 😭😭😭😭😭😭

"Do I really have the right to stand here? Will they accept me as their king?" 😭😭😭😭😭

I got Dimitri to BLUSH - telling him not to cry, that this is a happy time. He's crying, omg. 😭😭😭😭

God this story is so emotional compared to the other ones.

"I am finally home again . . ." 😭😭😭😭😭"Faerghus, how I missed you." They missed either other.

OMG, I'm tearing up right now. They wanted him back so badly.

Dimitri is skipping out on his own party lamo.

Dimitri's afraid of the graveyard 😭 Not because ghosts, but because so many people he loves are there I'll bet.

OMG, lamo, Byleth made a funny. The silly answers she can guess what Dimitri taught him. That was actually some personality from Byleth.

Dimitri's seen VW and SS too lol, knowing he dies there in other routes 😭😭

Dimitri still doesn't think he deserves to be happy 😭😭😭

So Dimitri's bolstering his army AND kicking the Empire to the curb. He's a champ.

Dimitri nailed Edelgard's motivations. Wants to get rid of the church, wants to revolutionize the world, but he thinks the cost is too high (I agree).

"I wish to end this war through acceptance, not annihilation." So . . . is he going to attempt to talk Edelgard out of attacking?

Really curious to see if Dimitri actually attempts to reconcile with Edelgard or not.

Would be really nice if he could talk her down from needing to unite the world and could reach some kind of peace deal (but I seriously doubt they'll let everyone live through a single route, so . . . .)

And what about Claude? He didn't die in Grondor, right?

Ohhhhhh here we go. The Alliance sent someone.

So are we gonna fight Claude now or . . . I hope not. It only barely made sense in Grondor, it would make no sense now.

CLAUDE ASKED FOR OUR HELP!!!!???? ARE WE REALLY GOING TO TEAM UP WITH CLAUDE????!!!

OMG - I didn't think they'd let two lords actually work together, but are we really going to help Claude out? This isn't a trap thing?

OFC the Empire is invading the Alliance. I bet they're freaking out right now with Dimitri taking the Kingdom back under his control and out of theirs.

And Dimitri's not even hesitating to save Claude 😭😭😭

Who's Lord Volkhard von Arunedl?? It's not the Death Knight leading the invasion??

Oh, so he's behind the tragedy too. Is this that dude Dimitri researched in part 1?

LAMO Annette is "devious" for suggesting a "sneak attack."

"far more importantly, they need us. We cannot turn our backs on them." 😭😭😭😭 Just Dimitri things.

[nowis-scales]

Pre-Verdant Wind Endgame Update

An Update on the ol’ Three Houses Verdant Wind playthrough, since I’ve been neglecting documenting my journey properly for a bit:

• My current placement is Ch.20, so I’m only a few chapters away from the last one. It’s kind of a weird thought because I feel like I just hit the timeskip, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will feel well-paced out. In terms of writing, I’m known for being a bit of a stickler for good flow. It’s why all of my fanfics take so long to update! I have to make sure my flow is perfect.

• The fact that they have been giving background information on characters has been so amazing. Learning that Raphael’s sister’s name was Maya and getting to hear about her has made me irrationally happy.

• Also, just generally, holy shit people sleep on Raphael and Leonie. Raphael often gets shoved to the side, and Leonie is treated like her only trait is liking Jeralt, and for me it all just culminates in the question of “so did you like... not do their support conversations, or...?” Seriously. I think Leonie might be one of my favourites in the game so far, and I adore Raph. He’s so sweet!

• The Flame Emperor reveal for some reason gave me “and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids” vibes. I liked the venom Cherami Leigh had there as Rhea, too. I think I read from someone that in Japanese, Rhea’s actually super calm in that scene. I don’t think I have a preference towards the anger or the calmness, honestly. I think I just liked how smoothly the emotion came across. Plus, I’m a little biased, I’m fond of Cherami as an actress. I haven’t found a performance from her I haven’t enjoyed yet.

• I was really confused as to why Seteth showed up in my house after Chapter 12ish I think? I wasn’t expecting him to just be there after the paralogue, but I definitely wasn’t unhappy. I do like him! I just never use him, because I recruited Bernadetta and Sylvain, so I kinda have a full roster going... 

• I was also confused in the Gronder Field fight because I couldn’t see what people meant about Bernie getting set on fire. Then I remembered Bernie wasn’t on the hill because she was with me. I recruited her. Whatever this proves about me, I don’t know.

• I did end up beating Marianne’s paralogue! It actually wasn’t as hard once I levelled her up a bit and classed her to a Holy Knight. The big thing with her in that paralogue seems to be that she needs a decent amount of power and movement to really get by, so that’s what I’d recommend for anyone else playing it. Using rescue will also probably help you out, but I tried to avoid using Flayn there because it’s kinda easy to kill her. 

• Admittedly, I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the support system. In some ways, I think it’s better that not everybody has that forced S-Support. Oftentimes we were either squeezing a love confession out of two characters who were unlikely to have one, or characters with decent potential might get snubbed because their connection was less apparent to the writers (and unfortunately that still does happen in the case of same sex S-supports in 3H). Having the conversations only go to a certain point is helpful, but at the same time, the inherent romantic undertones of several of the A-supports do make things feel strange. If it weren’t for the fact that I know characters can have only one partner as their paired ending, I would think lots of them were in a polycule. Nothing wrong with that as long as everyone’s comfortable, but because I know they can only have one person in their ending, I find it pretty jarring.

• I think it was interesting that they went to do the fights for breaking into Enbarr and then taking down Edelgard back-to-back. I’m glad they did, honestly, because while I don’t usually like to do two fights next to each other unless I’m grinding, it doesn’t mess with the suspension of disbelief. It would be stupid to break into Enbarr and then just run right back to the Monastery.

• I have still not completed the randomized quest from just after the timeskip. You know, the one I was yelling about with the weeds? Still haven’t gotten any weeds. I think I might just have to give up on it. It’s hilarious that my luck is so good that it’s actually bad.

• The fact that Byleth is praised for having more of a personality than Corrin is the biggest slice of bullshit I have heard from this fanbase in a long time. Byleth is literally designed to be a silent protagonist with nothing going on with them – they even came up with a story reason for why Byleth is such a blank sack of meat! In the kindest way possible, I don’t think most people realize that they are implementing whatever personality they want onto Byleth. Personally, I don’t find anything relatable about being stoic, calm, and not inclined to anyone (until plot happens, of course). I’ve always been the overly enthusiastic and caring type, with a tendency towards nervousness. Trying to relate to Byleth was like trying to relate to the experiences of a cactus. While I definitely don’t think Corrin is the strongest of the modern FE avatars – that award goes to Robin – they still had some things I could understand and relate to. If you’re not the type of person who loves the cool, “I fight for my friends” types like Ike, though, you’re likely to have a hard time relating to Byleth. If you can manage that type of character, then you’re more likely to have present them with a personality of their own.

• Actually, while we’re on the topic of Byleth getting praised for things Corrin got dragged for, the fact that Corrin is still cited as the character who receives the most “player pandering” is ridiculous too. Do a lot of characters like Corrin? Yeah! But most of them who do are deeply traumatized in a way that inclines them specifically towards Corrin. The Nohr siblings cling to each other due to their abusive childhood, the Hoshido siblings all in some capacity seem to suffer from abandonment issues (oldest) and/or attachment issues (youngest), and the official foursome of retainers have also had some sort of abandonment struggle in their past (forced separation from parents, murdered loved ones). While the cast of Three Houses needs therapy and is traumatized too, there is no reason why the inclination moves towards Byleth. Bernadetta feels safe around them just because. Edelgard is obsessed with them just because. Marianne learns to feel better about herself just because. Why are there so many exceptions for Byleth, and so many just without explanation? I don’t hate Byleth by any means, but these two things make my opinion of them lower than it would be otherwise. It kinda sucks that my image of Byleth is tainted by the fanbase’s hypocrisy, but I know I can’t have everything.

• The gameplay overall for 3H has been pretty fun! I love the addition of the Demonic Beasts, as annoying as they are to fight. There’s a charm to having some of your stronger units working to take on the soldiers blocking the path, meanwhile your army’s more intermediate strikeforce works to keep them safe by bringing down the beast. Once you get the hang of it, gameplay with the new additions is fun. The only thing I don’t use is Divine Pulse, but that’s because I’m on Casual and usually when I want to rewind, I want to just plain start over. So I use the old “turn off and start again” trick.

• Edelgard’s death scene was actually pretty good. I must confess that I went out of my way to avoid Edelgard in the academy phase, as I knew how hard the game was going to hit me with the “she’s obessed with you” thing and I wanted to see how wonky it would feel if I didn’t speak to her much. I was right that it’s incredibly awkward in terms of writing when you haven’t spent the time with her, but surprisingly, her death scene still holds up. Good voice acting, animation, and music. My only beef with it is something they have done in FE before, and it’s something I wish they’d stop. If a character is dying, you either let them have a few last breaths after their last lines or you kill them mid-sentence. It’s probably just a personal nitpick, but hearing them get their last word out without struggle and then immediately die just makes me aware of how badly the directors wanted the whole line to be in there. I can totally understand it but I find it so troublesome in the grand scheme of things that I just can’t.

• I also like that in the fight against Edelgard, they tried to make it ambiguous who had the key. Immediately as it told me that, I decided it was Petra and ended up being right. I was kind of sad to kill her though, to be honest. I don’t know her well, but she’s probably one of the Eagles I like more.

• The fight against the Death Knight at Fort Merceus ended up being surprisingly pretty easy. In fact, while I paved the way for most of my army, Nader ended up making it to the Death Knight just as Claude did. He did most of the damage – I’m not kidding, the Death Knight was down to 1 HP – and then Claude took care of the rest. It was a weird fight. They said impregnable a lot leading up to it.

• I understand why they kill Dimitri off-screen at the Gronder Field fight, but I was admittedly a bit disappointed. Again, Salli Saffoti does a good job doing Hilda’s voice for it, but I would have liked to see it animated. It was also nice to have that little rapport with Dedue! If only we could have allied with the Lions a bit more. Everyone always says Claude and Edelgard have similar goals; however, it’s their methods that differ. Claude seems to align himself a bit closer to Dimitri, so I’m usually a bit confused by the idea that Edelgard and Claude would work together. I was spoiled on enough to know her background and story, and even so, I think that her methodology is just a bit too violent for his tastes. But that’s just my two cents.

 Alright. I think that’s about all I can drain out of my brain from the top of my head. With that, I am off to kill the slithers! We’ll see how this goes. Wish me luck!