#mercyburned: byleth eisner

[soulcluster-moved]

"I didn't doubt it. Not with your new job." Cloud nodded. "I'll see you after then. Come find me when you're done."

He half turned to go, and then looked back at her. "Stay sharp." Then left. Since he had his job, there was no more point to the conversation.

Going solo, the job was tough, but nothing he couldn't take care of. Whatever Byleth was handling had produced a few stragglers, run offs from whatever she was dealing with perhaps? He'd ask later.

Later turned out to be several hours from now, when the hostiles had long since been slain and Cloud had taken up a guard position. Trickles of rumors were coming down from the monastery, something had happened to two of the students, but it seemed things were fine. Despite that, Cloud wasn't going to move until he heard news from Byleth herself.

Speaking of the ashen demon... Cloud straightened and watched her approach. "All clear here," he reported.

( soulcluster​ )

A worthy cause. The reasons didn’t matter to the mercenary, he’d offer his blade to just about anything, but it’d be nice to do something good for a change. Cloud nodded. “Where do you want me?” 

Also, it meant something to work toward. Something to keep his thoughts away from whatever his past wanted him to remember. 

Byleth knew his skill from their time working together, so he didn’t see the point in explaining what he could do. Cloud was a terror on the field once he got close to his enemies, his broad blade cleaving seismic strokes into his foes and the ground alike. The style of his blade also let him utilize it in other ways, and even demanded that he think before he act. It wasn’t easy to re-direct his swings once he made them.

       “I can handle finding the girl … Flayn,”  Byleth said.  “My students know her,  and they’re invested in bringing her back safely.  But that means I can’t protect the village at the same time.  I wouldn’t normally task a single person to this,  but…”  With the knights mostly distracted searching for Flayn,  her options were limited.  “I have confidence in you,  Cloud.”

She didn’t know exactly what sort of masked assailant he’d be going up against,  but better a trained swordsman whose skill she could vouch for than a handful of unarmed villagers.   “I will,  of course,  pay your fee in full.”  They were both mercenaries  –  she knew how this worked.  Friends or not,  he still needed money to survive.

[soulcluster-moved]

@mercyburned​ / byleth eisner

Tragedy seemed determined to strike the monastery this year. He had been beside himself with worry over Flayn’s disappearance, realizing just how close he was to his very worst fears coming true, and now, mere months later, their monastery suffered yet more. First the students and the demonic beasts and then Jeralt’s death. 

He did not know the man as well as Rhea, but he had been pleasant to work with. Like himself, he understood what it meant to be a father, and perhaps that was why Seteth found himself trusting him.

In his wake, he left his daughter, and it was her Seteth now felt compelled to see. To what end, he had not fully considered, because grief was so varied and complex an emotion, experienced differently by each individual, that it would be hard to tell what kind of assistance he might offer Byleth. It was luck, though it made him frown, to see her lingering in Jeralt’s office, which was so close to his own. He could not say that he was surprised to find her there.

He rapped softly upon the open wooden door to gain her attention. “Would you have a moment, professor?”

[soulcluster-moved]

@mercyburned​ / byleth

It was hard not to notice Byleth, with her streak of dark blue hair and the way she carried herself so differently from those in the market. Though Cloud’s eyes caught her figure, he didn’t see himself noticed, and he was fine with that. After he collected his payment from the church he would be gone again, out on another contract and far from here.

Before he could turn away, his eyes also caught the way she bumped into one of the stalls, and the way her blue pendant fell. He expected her to turn and grab it, but when she didn’t and it continued to lay on the ground, unnoticed and its owner quickly moving away, Cloud sighed internally. 

A few steps brought him to where the pendant laid and he reached down to pick it up. If anything, he owed Jeralt and Byleth debts he couldn’t repay. With it in hand, he started to close the gap between them. “Byleth!” He called her name once he had gotten closer but was unsure if she’d hear him over the market noise.