#seteth I don’t know

[iusedtohavesixtoes]

“A moment!” Seteth said, his hand resting on her head. Byleth felt the healing magic hit her cheek, flinching. “Sorry.”

“We don’t have time to heal every wound.”

A small bit of a scene in an upcoming chapter of Blossoming.

[fe-fictions]

Dimitri with a pregnant Byleth who's feeling super clingy 🥺 like, notices as soon as he gets up from bed, wants to cuddle with him even when they're seated for dinner, always clinging onto his arm when they walk 🥰 she just love husband...

(This was such a cute one!! I had to write it as quick as possible ;;;)

He was starting to notice a strange pattern in the days since you announced your pregnancy. You were still as quiet, calm and reserved as ever, but something notable had changed.

You did not seem capable of leaving his side. 

Dimtri would wake up before dawn, always careful not to rouse you since your day would always start a little later than his. But even in his stealthy attempts to ease from the bed, your arms would wrap around his waist and prevent him from moving any further.

“Must you go so early…?” You mumbled into his nightshirt, nuzzling into his back. Dimitri blushed, startled by the sudden onslaught of affection so early in the morning. But he nodded and smiled softly, covering your hands with his.

“I wish I could stay with you, Beloved. But I cannot; I must maintain my strict schedule, at least for today.”

“Can you alter it later so that you can spend a little more time with me?”

“Do you feel I spend an inadequate amount of time with you?” He paused, turning to look back at you when you slowly slipped away.

Your expression was unreadable, but if he didn’t know any better…there was a pout on you rlips.

“I…just want to spend more time with you.” You managed to mumble,. It took all of Dimitri’s will not to give in and stay right then and there.

“I shall make the neessary arrangements so that we can have more time togehter, than apart. I know we both have unforgiving schedules, but given the current circumstance, I’m sure we can convince our handlers to be a little generous.”

“I would like that,” You smiled up at him, taking Dimitri’s hands into yours. “Will you come back once you finish training?”

“I shall return just as you awaken, again.” He promised, “So please, rest easy. Your body needs it.” He kissed you then, soft and swe. He couldn’t help it; you were positively adorablke!

But sure enough, the cuteness wouldn’t end there.

No, ever since the pregnancy rstarted to become more and more visible, you were spending more and more time with him.

If Dimitri had a meeting, you were present. If he needed to be somewhere for some inane thing in the village, you would acaccompany despite Seteth’s many protests.

In the mess hall, your hand was squeezing his tightly below the table; and on your walks in the gardens and hte courtyard o the monastery, you were resting your head on his arm, your own wrapped tight around his bicep.

It seemed impossible for you to detach from your husband.

Dimitri wasn’t the only one who noticed, of course; the other Lions had started to see it, too. Sylvain was the first one brave enough to mention it, once the king escorted the Bishop-Queen from their counsel meeting for some much-needed bed rest.

“Soo…the Professor seems to be in a strange mood, lately.”

“Well, she’s starting to really show now, isn’t she? It must be the pregnancy that’s affecting her behavior.” Annette figured, watching as the happy couple continued on their diwb tge cirridor. ‘I know tha tpregnancy hormones can have a big impact on having a child. Maybe Byleth becoming more adorable is part of that!”

“Don’t you think it’s a little weird? I don’t think I’ve seen them so much as hold hands in the last two years.” Sylvain insisted. Mercedes simply shrugged, a warm smile on her lips.

“It might be any number of things. Pregnancy hormones have a notable impact on the body and mind; not to mention that she may feel insecure undergoing susch a serious life change. Can you imagine what it must feel like, to go from being an independent mercenary to the queen of a country, and archbishop of a continent. An dnow, she’s an expecting mother, too?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Sylvain sighed, “No wonder she’s feeling a little clingy.”

“You’re just jealous she’s not snuggling with you.” Ingrid rolled her eyes, “Now enough chittering about the Professor. The least we can do is afford them some grace and respect while they navigate this….new dynamic.”

“So considerate of you, Ingrid,” Annette giggled, garnering a soft blush from the knight.

I the maentime, Dimitri was practically floating in the air, his arm was linked with yours, your head rested on his shoulder, and you were enjoying the sights and sounds of the monastery courtyard in the blissful glow of sunset.

It was like a dream.

“How are you feeling, BeloveD?” He asked in that gentle, warm voice that made you feel soft and safe.

You nodded, resting a hand on your baby bump.

“I feel a little bit hungry, but…I don’t want to move from this spot for a while. It’s beautiful.”

“Shall I go and fetch you something from the mess hall? You needn’t lt yourself be hungry just to satisfy stay in my company. I’d rather you feel full than otherwise while you’re still going through changes.”

“I’m only a little hungry.” You insisted, “Nothing to worry over. I just want to stay with you a while…then we can go eat.”

“Very well. If that is what you wish.” He kissed the top of your head, prompting you to snuggle closer to him. The slight chill in the air nipped at your noses. He draped his cape over your shoulders, drawing you into him as much as possible.

“Please tell me if it’s too cold. We will go inside right away.”

“And risk losing thi stime together? Not a chance.” You shoook your head, “If we go back inside, someone will snatch hyou away for some important thing. I want to stay here as long as possible.”

“You know…I can order them away if they’re truly too demanding of my time, dearest.” Dimitri offered, but you shook your head.

“No…because then it’d seem like you’re shirking your duties. Social convention is so exhausting.” You huffed, making him chuckle.

“Is that why you’ve been staying so close? To try and balance the expectation of being a prominent figure with wanting to be with me?”

“Perhaps. I just…miss you. I wish we could spend time like this together, always. Especially with the baby on the way.” you added, looking down at your belly.

Dimitri looked at you fully, finding the slightest pout on your lips.

“My love?”

“I just…I just want to be a husband and wife for a moment. A little family; no titles or expectations or…anybody else. Just us. Is that selfish?”

“I suppose when you consider our positions, it’s difficult to be selfish. I do not fault you for wishing to be a little indulgent right now.” 

You sighed heavily, “It’s going to get worse once the baby is here. We’ll have to divide our time even further, betwen our duties, each other, and the child.”

“We will make time.” He assured you, tightening the cape around you when another chill blew through the garden. 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to raise the baby without being present. My father was always there…I feel it would be wrong not to do the same for my child.”

“It will be a challenge.” He murmured, “And I worry I may not be as capable a parent as your father was. But it is a challenge we will face together…which I believe we will be able to overcome.”

“Really?” You looked up at him so hopefully, it made his heart skip a beat. He beamed at you, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

“Of course. I will have to convince some royal council members, and I’m sure the Prime Minister will have some thoughts on the matter.” Dimitri thought aloud, already anticipating Seteth’s displeasure at the thought of the Archbishop spending less time doing her duties.

“So long as we can spend as much time as possible with them…that’s what I want. I want to be with you.” 

His gaze softened at your quiet confession. You were so terribly lovely. How he was able to find his way into your heart would forever elude him.

He cupped your face tenderly, unabel to resist kissing you fully and sweetly.

“I wish to spend every second with you as well, Beloved. And once our child is born, I will feel the very same about them.”

“I’m glad.” You smiled, squeezing his hands when they fell from your cheeks. “Until then, will you…keep indulging me?” 

He laughed, drawing you back into his warm embrace. 

“I shall not leave your side until you cannot stand me any longer! I promise.” 

The two of you remained in the courtyard a while longer, wrapped in each other’s arms and relishing the soft moment as a precious memory.

At least until your stomach growled…then Dimitri gladly escorted you to the mess hall (where you held hands the entire time, much to the chagrin of Felix, who had to sit next to you).

[burr-ell]

Honestly, it feels really good seeing Claude fan who also happens to love Lady Rhea. There's really not enough of us

Sending love 💛💚

anon this warmed my heart so much im gonna give u a snippet from the claude & rhea friendship fic i never got around to finishing <3

He took a deep breath and knocked.

“Enter.”

He opened the door and stepped into the archbishop’s chambers. The atmosphere was surprisingly soothing, sunlight streaming through the windows and a floral perfume permeating the air. Rhea was sitting up in her nice, if plain-looking, canopy bed, resting against a couple of squashy pillows with a teacup and a book on the bedside table.

“You wished to see me, Claude?” she asked.

“I did.”

“I take it you have further questions?”

“Thought I’d come to pick your brain,” he said easily. “You’re the only one who’s ever taken on Nemesis directly. We need all the help we can get straight from the source.”

Rhea smiled, almost unnervingly genuine. “I can advise you, provided we discuss what’s really on your mind first.”

He’d expected her to be able to disarm him, but he hadn’t expected her to be so pleasant about it. Still, he was nothing if not nimble. “That easy to read, am I?”

“Not at all, actually. Seteth has often complained of it to me.” Her eyes flicked upward, a practiced gesture of exasperated fondness. “But do not forget that I have been in hiding for over a thousand years. There are many skills I lack, but I can detect a master of the craft.”

“Then it looks like we’re on the same playing field.”

Rhea sighed. “I cannot force you to lower your guard, nor do I expect it, but…please, at least have a seat.”

She gestured to the chair next to her bed, and Claude seated himself, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

“I gather you would still like to know more of the story of your professor.”

“There are still so many things that Byl—Teach still doesn’t know.”

“Including that you are here speaking with me.”

Claude nodded—he’d have been more surprised if she hadn’t guessed. “I didn’t want to worry her. And I think…she needs time before she can speak to you objectively.”

Rhea heaved a sigh, tipping her head back against the bed frame. “I understand. I—I gave you both quite enough information to take in. And…and she must be feeling…I cannot possibly understand what.”

“Neither can she.” He was careful to keep his tone neutral, but it was hard not to be accusatory.

“I owe her many apologies,” Rhea said softly. “Apologies that I cannot expect her to accept.”

“I can’t speak to where her head’s at right now,” Claude said slowly (honestly, Byleth’s head was still an enigma to him sometimes), “but I don’t think she’s—angry. She’s just…” He pressed his lips together in thought, then continued. “She’s spent her whole life being treated like a tool. And then she came here and sort of…found herself. And then she found out that someone who helped make that happen also wanted to use her.” He would know. He’d done the very same thing, before he’d gotten to know his best friend. His…well.

Rhea closed her eyes miserably. “I know. I have greatly wronged her.”

“She also understands why you did it,” Claude continued, “and why you kept it a secret. It’s just…a lot to process. Especially for someone who for so long didn’t even understand how to really feel anything.”

“And what about you?”

Claude tipped his head. “Me?”

Rhea frowned. “You are known for your inquisitiveness, and your thirst for knowledge. Yet you did little to question what I revealed to you. Why?”

Claude propped his chin in one hand, rubbing his lip thoughtfully with his index finger. “Honestly…what you told us made everything I’d been looking at for five years click into place. Just looking at the Relics alone, knowing what we know, and you can tell they’re made of—y’know.”

Rhea nodded, in a resigned sort of way.

“But if you don’t know the full story,” Claude went on, “you might not really think about it. Most people can’t use them, and they’re kept hidden away when they’re not being wielded. Even I didn’t get a look at Failnaught until my grandfather actually passed and I inherited the estate.”

Churning insides were nothing new to Claude, having dealt with them both naturally and otherwise, but even mentioning the bow was making him a bit queasy. How he’d yearned for the chance to wield it, knowing it would give him the opportunity to study it up close and grant him the power to achieve his greatest dreams, and now…

“It all makes sense now,” he continued softly. “I’ve never heard of something so horrific. And the way Seteth and Flayn are so secretive, and how upset Seteth was when Flayn went missing…” He paused, mulling over whether to reveal this particular piece of information—but it was unlikely that Rhea hadn’t seen such a thing coming, and at any rate, in light of all she’d shared with them, she deserved as full a story as he could give in return. “Seteth once confiscated a diagram I was showing Teach, of a creature called The Immaculate One. It had already given me some clues about Crest stones and Relics. At the time I thought it was because the church had something to hide…and in a way, I was right. And now I know that he was right to take it.”

Claude leaned a little closer, meeting Rhea’s eyes and their combined relief and sorrow. It was an expression he knew well—of finally finding someone who understood. “I didn’t even think to say it before. I am so, so sorry, for everything that happened to you. No one deserves to live in fear just because of who they are.”

“You…” Rhea swallowed thickly, eyes misting. Claude fell silent and averted his gaze, giving her a moment to regain her composure.

She took a deep breath. “Your words touch my heart—truly, they do. Yours is a perspective gained from cruel experience.”

She knew. Or at least she’d guessed. It was unsurprising, really, but he couldn’t help the thrill of anxiety pulsing in the back of his mind. Even so…there was an odd kinship here, one he didn’t even feel with Byleth when they discussed it, that kept his panic at bay. “Yeah,” he murmured, “I do. I know better than most people what it’s like to be resented and hated for being who I am. And what I’ve been through…it can’t even compare to what happened to you, and Seteth and Flayn.”

Rhea smiled, eyes still watery. “Such things are not competitive. At the end of it all, there are others who understand.”

[dvrtrblhr]

Somehow I still have more ships in my list? You people are too good at this lol

I'm searching for good Shez ships now, so I'd like to know everyone's favorites!

It should go without saying but please don’t be rude just because you don’t like a ship. If you want to debate or discuss a ship, do it in the tags/comments in a polite manner. This is supposed to be fun. Let’s all be mature adults!

If your favorite ship is not here, it’s probably featured in another poll. You can see all the polls by going to my blog and choosing the tag “valentines polls”. You can also just tell me in the tags or comments.

[cherrypikkins]

15 Lines of Dialogue

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture their character/personality/vibe. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you’re free to include those as well.

was tagged by @omgkalyppso, who kindly requested some kitt content :3

“Did Seteth lecture you again today? Don’t take it personally. It’s his job get into every new face in the monastery.”

2. "Ew, I got ichor on the rug again."

3. “It’s fun trying to keep up with you on the battlefield. I wonder what chasing you would feel like.”

4. "This is the frilliest thing I've ever seen. Are you sure it's edible?" (to Lysithea while about to eat cake for the first time)

5. “Why the sour look, Felix? We got the job done. You even helped a little.”

6. "You'll have to forgive me. I still find the concept of an 'archbishop' somewhat… novel."

7. “Just a little sigh, Hapi. Something to help us get away from all this work.”

8. "You know how these stories of chivalry and knighthood end. The hero in shining armor must slay the monster in order to restore glory and balance to the world."

9. “LET ME OUT! TRAITORS! MURDERERS! DEFILERS! HOW DARE YOU! LET ME OUT OF HERE, I BEG OF YOU! BEFORE THEY COME… BEFORE I TEAR YOU APART… YOU CAN’T KEEP ME IN HERE FOREVER, COWARD! WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME? WHERE IS YOUR MERCY? WHERE IS MY JUSTICE? I WON’T FORGIVE YOU! SOMEONE SAVE ME! PLEASE! IT HURTS! I’LL KILL YOU!!”

10. "Crawl back to your hive, you miserable insect."

11. (meeting each other on the battlefield after five years)

Sylvain: “Well now, aren’t you a sight for… wait. Is that you, Kitt?!” Kitt: “Oh by all means, PLEASE finish what you were about to say!”

12. "I look away for just a few years, and everyone's changed. Which reminds me, I can't wait to show you my wings!"

13. "They prayed for a hero and got me instead."

14. “Foul creature, get thee hence! … Heh, I always wanted to say that.”

15. "Sorry. I only accept judgment from the Goddess herself - substitutes like you needn't bother."

tagging @edns @alienducky @dazzlerazz @ashes-of-ailell and @meltypancake and YOU

[randoimago]

Day 6. Archfey Seteth x Reader

Note(s): My primary knowledge of Fey beings is from D&D and I did my best to still keep Seteth's personality there too. I hope it's alright!

requested by @frickingnerd

It was rather lonely. Seteth can pretend to be happy, watching over the fey realms and making sure no one ends up lost in the material plane, but it’s still a lonely job. Especially when his daughter decides to wander off. He can scold her, but he knows the chaotic freedom that runs in their blood.

Except, this time, she’s been gone too long and he’s in a panic. He’s able to track her due to the same magic running through them both. But that trail goes to a gate that hadn’t been dealt with and he panics more. He knows the fascination she has with the material world and the mortals that wander it. But she doesn’t know how evil mortals can be like he does.

And so, Seteth goes through the portal. A frown is immediately on his face at the change in colors and how dull everything is in comparison to the vibrancy of the fey realm.

He almost feels like he needs a bath just from how different the air feels and the scents in the air. But he pushes back his complaints to remind himself why he came here. Seteth does his best to follow the path that should lead him to his daughter, pausing as he ends up at a cabin. Seteth hasn’t seen a village yet so he doesn’t know how far from civilization this cabin is, but he does know that his daughter’s trail ends here.

Seteth takes a deep breath as he takes a form more fitting for talking to mortals. As much as he wants to tear the place down in dragon fire, he knows he should attempt diplomacy first. And so, he knocks on the door to the cabin and waits.

There’s no answer and he’s ready to force his way in when he hears footsteps behind him. Seteth turns to look, his guard up, only to relax the slightest at seeing Flayn. But a stranger is with her.

“I was worried sick about you,” Seteth says to Flayn, not using names as he doesn’t trust this person that’s with her. Flayn rolls her eyes in response, making Seteth narrow his eyes.

“Oh, I am fine! This nice stranger has shown me around. There’s such a pretty lake here with all kinds of wonderful fish. Did you know that the water here is clear?” Seteth shakes his head at his daughter’s excitement before turning to you.

“Thank you for keeping her safe. What is your name, stranger?” He feigns niceties, waiting to hear your name just in case he can use it against you. He pouts when Flayn steps in front of you to distract him.

“I already told them my name, father.” Seteth is ready to scold her about it when Flayn waves him off. “The power of names doesn’t work in this realm as it does ours. His name is Seteth,” Flayn tells you, also letting out your own name as she addresses you.

“You are too reckless,” he states before looking back to you. “Pardon our argument. I am just worried for my daughter. Again, I thank you for looking after her.”

“It was no problem. I don’t get many visitors out here so it was nice having company.” His eyes narrow a bit as he can’t help being a bit protective as to your intentions.

“Father, you have to see the lake!” Flayn cuts in, saving you from the thousands of questions Seteth has. He wants to argue, but he still has a lot of curiosity about you.

“Alright, let’s go see this lake.”

Seteth keeps an eye on you as you lead the way. Flayn is chattering away about new things she learned of your plane of existence as well as things she told you. He nods along to her words, but his eyes stay on you. The last thing he needs is you ambushing them.

The three of you make it to the lake and he is a bit surprised at how clear the water is. He knows that the coloration is different from the fey realm, but before he’d seen water polluted by whatever is in your towns and cities. This lake doesn’t have that.

“Do you see! Apparently none of these fish have teeth.” Seteth can’t help the amusement in his eyes from the look on your face.

“None of these fish. Should we find an ocean and I assure you there will be several,” Seteth explains to Flayn and she nods along before going to walk along the lake. Seteth wants to tell her not to go far, but he’s still interested in you.

“So, what did you tell my daughter exactly?” He asks, beginning his interrogation despite the polite tone of his voice.

You give a sheepish smile and he’s prepared for the worst, but your words make him chuckle instead. “It’s a bit difficult to keep track. I think she asked me twenty different questions in five seconds at one point.”

“She is a curious girl.”

“She has been really friendly. I’ve heard fey being tricksters, but she’s seemed rather honest and kind. You must be proud.” For a split second, he thinks you’re just complimenting him to gain his trust, but he tosses that thought aside. While Seteth is overprotective, he is also good at reading others.

“I am proud. But don’t let your guard down. She can be very tricky when she wants to be,” he says, not quite knowing why he’s saying this to you. “You should see her find all sorts of loopholes to my rules. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t tearing my hair out.”

You laugh at his words and for some reason, it makes his heart beat a bit faster. Seteth’s eyes soften a bit before he shakes his head.

“Flayn, it’s time to go back home,” he calls out. She starts to complain a bit but he holds a hand up. “Since this stranger seems kind, i’ll allow you to come visit now and then. But only if it’s alright with them.” Seteth glances to you and lets you see how tricky Flayn can be as the girl gives you the biggest pouty face and blink-dog-puppy eyes she can manage.

“I don’t mind if you visit. Either of you. Just try to give me a heads up first,” you relent and Flayn cheers before skipping back to the gate. Seteth shakes his head before he takes your hand in his.

“It’s a deal then. We’ll both be sure to visit,” he murmurs, leaning down to kiss the back of your hand. He’ll let you contemplate if this is part of making a deal with a fey, but for now, he is looking forward to seeing you again.

[mysticpink]

How Byleth, Kaze and Alear spend Valentine’s Day with their S/O

A/n: last minute but I thought this will be cute. Also Byleth and Alear will be gender neutral for this

~Byleth~

•admittedly Byleth never celebrated holidays, especially Valentine’s Day, or at least not in the same way as others do.

•so once you two started dating, they definitely wanted to try

•Byleth most likely never had a relationship with anyone besides you, so they ask around for advice on what to do

•let’s say some advice was very useful or just fat out a no for Byleth depending on who they asked

•probably the best came from Seteth, due to him having a wife before, and Dorothea since she probably knows a thing or two about dating but not going overboard

•due to this being Byleth first Valentine with anyone, they want it to be special

•buys some gifts like chocolate, flowers and stuffed animals

•totally settling up a tea date

•will make it romantic as humanly possible

•Sothis probably using divine pulse just this once out of battle in case Byleth does something wrong because she feels nice

•if you get them something, they might actually cry

•expect some more physical affection from them, even though they are not the most openly affectionate, they want you to feel the most love on this day

•so, pretty good partner. But expect some awkwardness

~Kaze~

•this guy is more classy and basic then Byleth.

•will keep things more simple, take you out for the day.

•will make your breakfast in bed, buy your flowers and chocolate

•he may not have much relationship experience but does know how to treat his partner thanks to conversations he overheard and seen from others

•spends lots of time with you, due to him asking Corrin to take the day off with you (which they agreed to)

•honestly a 10/10 partner

~Alear~

•oh this poor sweet child

•they are clueless on the day of love. Heck, they don’t even remember the day

•not that anyone can blame them, they are pretty busy with being pretty much a god and having memory loss

•but when they do find out the day. May it be that you tell them or by someone else. Expect a lot of gifts

•chocolates, stuffed animals, flowers, anything you want. They will get it for you

•they will spoil you all day

•but you just wanna spend time with them. So you just walked around with not or any people around

•it’s rare to get a one on one with them. So spending time with them is what you want

•Alear doesn’t really know what to do on this day, and somewhat find it funny that you get to show your love to someone one day of the year

•probably a good partner for this day, probably will go into a panic and possibly forgot about the day last minute but hey they tried

[kimikaami]

I don’t go to fire emblem so I don’t know much but I read the snippet of your writing you replied to the post about strong queerplatonic relationships with and I thought it was lovely!!

Anyways as per the post asking you about your writing, what would you be most excited to talk about/share about your choices in your most recent piece?

—lea lesbianfakir

Ok 1) sorry it took me so long to answer, I have to be in a certain headspace for asks, esp when I know the answer is gonna be long and 2) sorry most of this probably won't make sense to you, personally 😭 this is a really interesting ask so ty for sending it but a lot of it goes into the Deep Lore

Also my feelings on the last thing I wrote are kind of meh so I'm gonna talk about a lot of some other recent things I've written instead

into the light

This headcanon was literally the reason I wrote the whole fic. For so long, Ive written both Byleth and Seteth as aspec, but I got to thinking about how fanon's idea of nabatean society is still rather human and modern despite their alien-ness, and wanted to do something Different. Seteth actually being rather allo by nabatean standards and ace by human ones is an idea that I love, and I think fits really well with canon. Like. Why are there not half-nabatean characters?? Surely their society wasn't that insulated. Surely humanity wouldn't have killed half humans off so thoroughly.

Here's some bonus conversational bits between Seteth and his daughter and Byleth and her mom that I'm fond of. For Flayn, it's because I relish any opportunity to write her as the adult that she is. For Byleth, it's because it's a conversation I've had with my own mom many times.

Adducent (fic is nsfw, but snippets aren't)

This one just means a lot to me. It was a really cathartic premise to write and I think the second chapter is pretty good. I wish more people read it because I think it's one of my best.

Smut fic is weird bc sometimes its so intensely personal that I really want people to connect with it. But you can't force people to read sexual content that contains stuff that they aren't into, but it's also not usually about the kink, it's about the emotions and self discovery. So it's this constant war in my mind between "please read this and See Me" and "I have to be rational and understand that you can't force that on anyone."

Anyway. Moving on.

Uncharted Waters

I will die on the hill that Flayn would not be purely excited to see her dad get with her teacher. I think, at best, she would be excited at the idea of it at first, but once she actually witnesses them Together a lot of uncomplicated, unprocessed feelings would surface.

I also feel like people tend to forget that she's like. A real adult. She fought in a war. Just because she hasn't had a lot of the modern life experiences that her peers have, doesn't mean she isn't one.

As the Sun Slowly Rises

I just like the banter in this one.

I've about hit the image limit, so I'm gonna reblog with the overtly nsfw ones. Thanks for giving me and excuse to ramble!! I'd been thinking about making a post like this for a while.

[iusedtohavesixtoes]

Waking up in watercolor.

[legendsoffodlan]

Shez the Agarthan spy

Rhea: That’s them! The Agarthan!

Shez: Me? An Agarthan? Come on you guys. Like, I’m not an Agarthan. I’m just a mercenary.

Rhea: They speak lies. I’ve seen them reading incantations from the Book of Epimindes!

Shez: Read? That’s crazy. Mercs can’t read, like what would I even do with a book? Does the Book of Epimindes have pictures in it that my dumb-dumb little merc brain could understand?

Seteth: They have a point.

Rhea: No! They speak with the serpent’s tongue! They’re lying to us!

Shez: No, I only know Fodlanese, like barely. Serpent’s tongue? You give me way too much credit. Like, can you image if I spoke more than one language? Me with my small merc brain?

Seteth: We were mistaken. Our apologise.

Shez: No problem. Thank you for all you do to protect dumbass mercenaries like myself.

*Rhea and Seteth leave*

Shez: Epimenides, the Nabataeans have been fooled again.

Epimenides: Excellent work for a dumbass.

Shez: Don’t start with me.

[fe-fictions]

hi! do you still have that prompt where during dinner, sylvain tells his children that he once joked about killing byleth, and they’re horrified and run to protect their mother? it was so funny 😄

(The ginger army returns!!!)

Neither of you were sure how the conversation reached this particular point. But you were sitting at the dinner table, telling your children stories about your younger days at the monastery. You were talking with a calm reverence, regailing them with tales of your duties as a professor and Sylvain as your impossible student.

But then it shifted, and Sylvain mentioned made an off-hand comment about how suspicious of you he used to be. Thinking it all quite humorous now, he made the mistake of mentioning how he considered killing you once, because of how suspicious he was.

The second the words left his mouth, the entire gaggle of children that had been sitting with quiet enthusiasm erupted, rallying around their mother and barricading him from reaching you.

You were surrounded by a wall of ginger, all of them shouting at Sylvain to stay away from their Mama. He had never looked so confused and heartbroken, before.

“W-what? I don’t-”

“Papa’s bad!! Stay away from Mama!”

“Yeah, don’t you touch her!”

“We’ll beat you up real bad if you even think about it!!”

“Children, I don’t even feel that way any-”

“No excuses! You touch my Mama, you die!!” They were quite serious. You managed to peek over the protective barrier of babies, shrugging at your husband’s bewilderment.

“But I didn’t hurt her! It was just when I didn’t know her. I love her very much now, children. Why do you think all of you are here at all?”

“That’s a good point.” You agreed, biting back your smile. The twins turned and looked at you, appalled.

“But he wanted to hurt you!!”

“That’s also a good point.” You nodded solemnly. Sylvain stared at you.

“What?? C’mon, don’t encourage them!!” 

“They make a very convincing argument, Sylvain. Maybe I shouldn’t let you get too close. What if you try to stab me?”

Your oldest and the twins gasped in horror, glaring accusingly at their father. Sylvain’s hands went up in surrender, but they weren’t having it.

“No stabbing Mama!” “I-I won’t, I swear! I’ll never ever hurt her, not even when we’re sparring. Okay?”

“No weapons for Papa at all!” The eldest son charged forward, snatching his fork and knife. Sylvain was working really hard to suppress his laughter, seeing how serious the children were. 

The troublesome twins each took a confiscated utensil, pointing them at Sylvain from across the table. A serious threat.

“All right, all right. You’ve all turned against me. But I’ve still got you, baby girl. Right?” He looked to his youngest little daughter, who hadn’t moved from her seat (quite focused on her mashed potatoes). 

But as the antics continued (and when she heard of her father’s plans to stab you), her gaze drifted from her food and towards her Papa.

He was smiling so very sweetly at her, as she was his sweet little angel who could do absolutely no wrong.

So his shock was immense when she quietly climbed out of her chair and waddled over to you, hugging your leg. 

She looked at him so very sadly, tears in her eyes as if this was the hardest decision she ever had to make. 

To turn against her Papa, who she loved with all her heart...but no one could hurt her Mama. 

“No hurt mama.”

Sylvain clutched his heart. “N-no, not you, too!! My only daughter…”

“Hey! I’m here too, Papa!”The other twin protested, her braids whipping behind her in defiance of her father’s words.

Sylvain shook his head. “Any child who would turn against me is no child of mine! At least, that was the plan, until your little sister decided she loves Mama more than me.”

“‘Cos you wanted to hurt her!!”

“Yeah, Papa! That’s really bad! I’m gonna tell Uncle Seteth and he’ll beat you up!”

“Yeah!! Uncle Seteth!!”

“Now, now, little ones. No need to get anyone else involved.” You chided them gently, taking the fork and knife from the twins and ushering them back to their seats.

“But Mama-”

“No but’s. Yes, your father did want to hurt me once, a long time ago. And yes, it was very wrong. In fact he  was so wrong I think he should go to jail for a while to think about his actions.”

“Thanks for the help, babe…”

“But, that was a very long time ago, and he doesn’t want to hurt me anymore. In fact, he wants to protect me, and all of you. Do you know why all four of you are here?” Your littlest daughter looked up at you hopefully. 

“Why, Mama?”

“Because he loves me very much.”

“Ew.” The twins’ noses crinkled, staring at their father with an all new form of disgust. And while he was plenty glad that you were saying such sweet things now, he wasn’t sure if this was any better.

“So you should know that I love him, too. We don’t have to worry about him hurting me anymore. He would never do it...at least, not on purpose.”

“Papa...okay?” Your littlest girl asked, and you nodded, unable to keep your smile from broadening.

“Yes, my darling. Papa is okay, now.”

“...Okay.” She whispered, nodding  as if she had received some sort of divine revelation. That her father wasn’t a horrible evil person that they would have to defeat.

It was just about the worst thing her little mind could conjure up.

“Well, all right.” The eldest huffed, narrowing his eyes at his father. “But if we hear that you try and hurt Mama even once, we’re gonna get you!”

“Being threatened by my own children.” Sylvain’s head thunked onto the table, “My family’s betrayed me even when they’re okay with me…”

Distressed, the toddler wiggled from your grasp, quickly waddling over to the far end of the table. She tugged on Sylvain’s pants leg, drawing his attention to his precious kitten. 

“Papa…” Sylvain scooped her up without hesitation, especially when he saw the tears bubbling over. 

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“Sorry.” She mumbled, burying her face in his chest with pudgy little fingers gripping his vest tightly. You were both positive she couldn’t have gotten cuter.

“Aww, don’t cry! It’s okay! Papa forgives you, okay? I forgive you. The others, though...they’re still in trouble. But not you.” He snuggled her close, peppering those chubby, rosy cheeks with plenty of kisses.

“What do you mean, we’re in trouble?!”

“You haven’t apologized to me for threatening me with forks and knives! So as far as I’m concerned there won’t be any dessert for any of you.” “What?!”

“Mama, help!!”

“Maybe we should apologize for hurting his feelings.” You suggested with a hint of amusement, “We do have some shortcake for dessert, after all.”

They gasped.

“Shortcake?!”

“Cake!!”

“We’re sorry, Papa!! We know you’re not an evil demon monster who wants to kill Mama!”

“Yeah! We just wanted to protect her in case you were! We love you lots and lots!”

“Not as much as shortcake, though.”

“That’s fair.” Sylvain laughed, the other three children barreling up to him and smushing him into apologetic hugs.

Despite the mess they’d accidentally made, Sylvain was still happy that his children were so protective of their mother. It was pretty clear where they’d gotten it from, seeing how defensive he’d been of you in his time before the children.

All the concern was forgotten and erased with strawberry shortcake, as all concerns should be.

[fiction-box]

Would you write for Sylvain x Cursed!Fem!Reader? I don’t really mind what the curse is or how you’d solve it, so you can get creative with this one! :D

Hey, lovely! This was actually really interesting and super fun. It was nice to work with establishing subtlety and growing that into a nice crescendo for the story's climax. I really got to work out my brain on how certain characters would handle certain scenarios, and of course there was the matter of coming up with how the curse would be applied.

I hope this is what you were looking for!

Requests are open. The story will be continued under the cut.

“Good morning. We have a lot to cover today, so I’ll need everyone to sit down as soon as you walk in,” Professor Byleth commented over her shoulder, drawing up the battle strategy your class had been discussing for the past week.

You entered the Blue Lions’ classroom, a small black notebook in your hand as you moved to get to your seat.

“Oh,” your professor noted, “Seteth told me this was sent to you.”

She was gesturing toward a slim box on the edge of her desk. Maybe it would fit a pen? But then why would anyone go through the trouble?

“Would you mind if I opened it now?”

“The way I see it, it’s yours. You can do whatever you’d like.”

Curious, you took the box back to your seat. It seemed you were not the only one intrigued; Mercedes and Ashe turned to watch from their chairs in front of you.

“What do you think it is?” she asked, “I’ve never received a package before.”

Ashe gave a sad smile, “Neither have I. It makes me wonder.”

More eyes came to fall on you as the tape was removed from the edges and the lid was lifted lightly.

Upon seeing what it was, you gave a small gasp. Resting inside on a soft cushion was a deep blue pendant looped through a small silver chain. The necklace was understated, and undoubtedly to your taste. You would have picked such a piece out for yourself had you seen one in the market.

“Ooh!” Annette cooed behind you, bracing her hands on her table as she stood at her seat behind you, “It’s so pretty!”

“Someone…knows me very well,” you chose your words carefully.

Sylvain leaned in next to you, scanning over the necklace with a look on his face you couldn’t quite read, “Do you know who sent it?”

Good question. You would have to meet with this person and have a little chat. No one gifted something like this purely out of kindness. Not to you, anyway. But when you lifted the cushion, there was only a slip of parchment about as long as your index finger underneath.

You set the cushion aside, reaching in to turn over the paper.

Eternity

That wasn’t helpful at all. If anything, knowing that paper came with the box only made you more confused.

The phrase was iterated to your friends as you placed the necklace back in its place.

“Maybe it’s some new jewelry line looking to get its name out there,” Annette beamed, “Ooh, you’re so lucky!”

If that was the case, why pick an understated piece? On top of that, why you? Sure, you were the daughter of a Kingdom noble, but someone had to have gone out of their way for this. To learn that you were at Garreg Mach, and then to ensure you would actually receive the package?

Even Ingrid was interested, it seemed, “You should try it on. It would be a shame for it to sit away waiting for some special occasion. Besides, the jeweler would probably want you to show it off.”

You weren’t the showy type, but you could admit you were just as interested in it as she was.

“I suppose…” the attention from your classmates was beginning to make you shy.

They weren’t interested in you, though! It was the necklace they wanted to see, you reminded yourself.

Easily, the silver chain was lifted from the cushion and wrapped around your neck. Clasping it in the back, you found that it fell just below your collarbone.

Mercedes gave a soft giggle, “It looks wonderful on you! Ingrid is right, it would be a shame for it to collect dust somewhere in your room.”

She’s right.

“Okay, then. I…guess I’ll wear it often.”

Professor Byleth gave a small scowl from the front of the room, “Sylvain, I hope you studied your notes from my last lecture as closely as you’re studying that necklace.”

“What? Of course I did! I studied during the lecture.”

You noticed he didn’t even have a notebook.

“Very well, then. Why don’t we start by having you tell us more about the…”

~~~~~~

Thankfully, you had eaten a good breakfast this morning. The professor didn’t release anyone until long after lunch had passed. It didn’t help that you had spent every second writing down as much as possible to be looked over later.

You elected to bring your lunch with you to your dorm, mind focused solely on reviewing what the Professor had spouted during the lecture for the group examination tomorrow. It seemed she was more adamant about the topic of battalion management than the other subjects the monastery advocated.

An hour or two passed, and you had successfully copied the important bits of the lecture onto your spare pages. This way, your studies for the rest of the night were more efficient. 

By the time the sky turned to a dark midnight, you were still sitting at your desk in your room.

That’s enough for today.

Wanting to prepare for bed, you reached back to remove the clasp of the necklace you received. As though something was triggered by the action, it was set aglow with light.

Not right now.

“…”

Nevermind that it glows! You don’t want to take the necklace off. A new desire has overcome you.

You were in the mood for a stroll. Specifically, one to the woods outside of Garreg Mach.

The hallway was too dark for you to see properly, but you didn’t care. You shut the door behind you as you left, maneuvering about the monastery confidently until you came near the gates.

You stifled the glow of your necklace with one of your hands, sneaking around the guards as you let your feet lead the way. Somehow, these were the surest steps you had ever taken. Your destination was somewhere you had never been, yet one you were always meant to visit.

That very sense of determinism kept you mindlessly moving. Trees, leaves, grass, and several shadows drooping over everything stood as the only landmarks on your path. You treaded forth until you came to a gradual halt.

Calmly, you turned to your left. A woman in robes you could not clearly make out in the darkness made her presence known.

She approached you with a laidback ease; you were no threat to her.

And why would you be? You are safe with her. She only has your best interests in mind.

“Good to see you have accepted my gift, my muse,” the woman drew nearer, her hand brushing over your collarbone to touch the pendant, “You wear it well.”

You knew nothing of your current situation, but there was a settled feeling within you. There would be no need for questions. All the knowledge you needed would be provided, and what you weren’t told, you didn’t need to worry about.

A lovely way of saving your mind the trouble, is it not? Truly, she cares for you.

“Now, you must have seen enough of her at Garreg Mach to give me a proper report,” she gleaned, removing her hand from your neck.

Tell her all about your professor.

“Wh…why?” you managed. Your head was beginning to feel foggy, and you could no longer remember how you got here.

Hush. Do not ask questions. Only listen.

This voice in your mind was beginning to make your head spin.

“Perhaps you are too tired from your day to continue. You should not be able to resist.”

There were so many questions you wished to ask, but the blanket of exhaustion weighed heavier upon your mind than the cloud of curiosity.

“A major fault of my own design, no doubt. There is no reason to fret, though. I promise you and I will work through the problems together until we get this right.”

A rustle in the bushes caught your attention, though you didn’t get to point it out before the woman’s hand found your collar once more.

“Now, erase this encounter from your memory. Forget.”

~~~~~~

Byleth found herself working tediously at her desk an hour before classes were slated to start.

She saw you late last night, soundlessly following the gleam of your jewel until you covered it. By then, tracking you through the woods was child’s play. You did not seem yourself, so she played it safe and waited to learn where you were headed before revealing herself.

Only, she never did confront you in those woods. No, the problem ran much deeper than a student sneaking out after hours. It only took her noticing your strange gait and how the mage that appeared treated you to determine as much.

The professor needed information, though she would not have hesitated to attack if she believed you were in true danger.

It seemed the woman still needed you; however, Byleth could only hope to guess how long your usefulness would last. No matter. The witch had given her a day, and that was all she needed to form a decent plan.

The former mercenary silently debated whether to confront you directly about it or not. While it was true she left the scene early, Byleth still managed to learn that you weren’t in on the act, so to speak. Your mind was likely being surveyed, which meant asking any suspicious questions could ruin any element of surprise she might have. You couldn’t know she had a plan.

In truth, she wondered if you knew you were in danger, at all. Fortunately, there were some things she could ask.

Byleth noticed you enter the classroom a few minutes early. You had a few questions on her lecture from yesterday, it seemed.

“I would say good morning, but you look like you hardly slept last night. Were you up late?” she greeted.

Your brows furrowed slightly as you brought a hand to your cheek, “Do I? That’s strange…I actually remember falling asleep much earlier than usual.”

That was surprising. Did you not remember your encounter?

Beginning to cover the areas of confusion you wanted to discuss, the professor noted your strange clothing choice. A shawl was draped over your shoulders and covered your collarbone. You had never worn such an item before, so you must have chosen it for a reason.

Her guess? It was likely to shield the pendant from the notice of others.

Eventually, all of the Blue Lions found their way into the room and classes began. What the class didn’t know was that things would go a little differently today.

“Now, I know some of you may be upset or confused about this new arrangement, but there has been a schedule change,” she opened, standing at her desk, “Rather than doing our group work this weekend, our class will be completing its tasks today. Don’t ask me why, I don’t make the rules.”

Oh, she very much did make the rules, but nobody in this class would be so aggravated about the alteration that they would march up to Seteth just to verify the new schedule. Nobody in their right mind would contest her if it meant they’d be taking that exam instead.

“Partners and jobs will change, and as such will be decided by myself.”

There were a few murmurs at this.

You spoke out, “How long will this new arrangement last, Professor?”

“Only for this week, don’t worry.” Byleth looked to the list she had created before class, “Now, you and Mercedes will be on stable duty today. Dedue and Ashe will handle the cooking, Ingrid will go on sky-watch with Ferdinand from the Black Eagle house, and Dimitri and Felix will be working on weeding the grass.”

“What?” Felix complained, “Out of the eight other people in this room, why would you choose to pair me with him?.”

“Because it would bring me no end of lectures from Seteth to have you embarrass this House by falling out of the sky or burning a fish. Annette, Sylvain, please come see me,” she looked to her students, “but everyone else is dismissed and may begin. Your day ends when your task concludes.”

Students filed out of the classroom one at a time, Annette and Sylvain making their way to the front. Once the last student shut the door behind them, Byleth pulled the small paper she had been forming a plan upon out from her drawer.

“You two are going to have some very important tasks, but I’ll need you to keep this information private unless I exclusively tell you to share it.”

Sylvain scoffed, “What? Are others going to be jealous of our chores, Professor?”

“Do you remember the necklace your classmate received yesterday, Sylvain?”

“How could I forget after the commotion it caused?” he muttered.

“Well, I have reason to believe that piece of jewelry inflicted a curse upon her. The only time I know for certain we have is today, and we can’t waste a single second.”

Annette let out a noise of shock, “But Professor, why didn’t you confront her about it? Surely, if you had just taken her necklace off…”

“I couldn’t take that risk. There’s no way to know if that necklace can come off.” She glanced over her writing, “Just because I’m aware something is going on…just because I can get her alone…even then, I know so little that I can’t even be sure we have any advantage except surprise. We’re only going to get one shot at this, and we can’t give away that we know anything. Especially not to _______.”

She set the paper aside, “Annette, I’ll need you to do some research on curses and get back to me. Anything in the ranges of cursed objects, methods of cursing, and mind control should be good places to start. The sooner we know what we’re dealing with, the sooner we’ll know where to look for a solution.”

“Got it!” she exclaimed, rushing out of the room to the library.

“I’ll be joining you in just a moment!” Byleth called after her.

Sylvain leaned forward, “What about me?”

“You have a more…practical role to play…”

~~~~~~

Hours went by, Annette finally reporting her progress. The only way to break the spell was either by getting the mage to remove it herself, or by killing her altogether.

Best to prepare for the latter, Byleth thought. That woman didn’t look the type to go down without a fight. Or to play fair, for that matter.

Well then, she’d need to take away as much leverage as possible. The former mercenary seemed to recall that your natural exhaustion dampened your necklace’s control, the other night.

“Alright, listen up Annette. Here’s what I need you to do…”

~~~~~~

“Hey, Mercie!” you heard Annette call.

Currently, Mercedes was helping you brush out and dry off the last few horses. Today’s stallions were rather well-behaved, though it took no small amount of energy to care for the horses on a good day.

Things were also slowed down by the leisurely pace you two had been going at thus far, taking a break for lunch at one point and having a bit of fun with each other between tasks.

“What is it, Annie?”

The smaller girl gave a glance toward you before focusing on her friend again, “I, um…the professor wanted me to speak with you.”

“I see,” Mercedes nodded, setting her brush down. She turned back to you, “Please, just give me a moment. I’ll get right back to working with you once this is settled.”

“Take your time!” you smiled.

As the girls walked away, the voice that had been so present in your thoughts today grew louder.

What are they saying? They are keeping secrets from you.

No, you rationalized. They always did that sort of thing. The two were incredibly close far before you came along. Besides, this was something the professor needed. If it had anything to do with her more personal affairs, it was none of your business anyway.

Could it be that your professor is wary of you? Did you reveal the pendant? One can never be too certain, in these times…

The more you tried to reassure yourself, the more wary you became. Though you knew you were surrounded by those that would never hurt you, a feeling of dread had rooted itself within your mind.

A similar feeling came whenever your mind had its more…forceful thoughts…yet never was it stronger than when you dreamt last night.

With each swipe of your comb along horse hair, images would flood your mind. You, covering your pendant with a shawl. You, falling asleep early last night.

You, heading back into the woods tonight.

…back?

“I’m so sorry!” a voice snapped you out of your thoughts. It was Mercedes. Apparently, her conversation had concluded, but she remained standing next to Annette, “It seems the professor needs me to help her reassign vulneraries. You’ll be okay finishing the rest of this by yourself, won’t you?”

A reasonable excuse?

Of course it was. As the Blue Lions’ best cleric, Mercedes was always called to meet with the professor over vulnerary assignments.

…very well.

��No problem! Come back when you’re done, okay?”

Annette and Mercedes exchanged glances you didn’t quite like. Something told you she wouldn’t be coming back.

“Sure!” Annette cut in, “I’ll even help you out after I finish in the greenhouse!”

“Really? Thanks so much, Annette!”

But she must have never gotten her task done. Once the horses were locked up in their stables and the sky was painted orange, you were just as alone as when they left you.

Liars.

You didn’t want to hate them for it.

Some true friends you have. For them to abandon you after making promises like that…

They would never hurt you on purpose. Their chores were important, so it simply must have taken them longer than usual.

After a quick stop at the dining hall, you returned to your room. It had been such a long day, you were almost excited to get some rest.

Ah, ah. Not yet. You are meant to be going to the woods, remember?

Of course. How could you forget? You had only been thinking of that trip for what, a whole day?

Be not seen. Make haste.

Leaving your shawl behind, you changed into clean clothes before heading off.

The lovely glow of your favorite necklace shone down the hall as you went. Unfortunately, you needed to stifle the shine with your hand a few times to sneak off the grounds past the guards.

Why was this so familiar?

Just a little farther…

Greenery, darkness, moonlight, left.

A dark-robed woman revealed herself, “Fascinating. Tell me, do you know who I am?”

Who is she to you? Be honest.

“You-”

An arrow suddenly lodged itself in the woman’s shoulder.

“Augh-!”

HelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelpHelp

The amulet you wore shone brighter than ever as all your instincts commanded that you protect her.

Surveying your surroundings, you spotted someone you knew holding the bow. It was your professor, and by the way she shifted her arms in the dark, she was going to nock another arrow.

Without thinking, you advanced. At least, you tried to. Your lunge was interrupted by a strong arm catching your waist, but it was clumsy and rushed. The counterweight caused both your own momentum and that of your supposed assailant to switch, bringing you both to the ground as you collided.

HelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMe

This mantra kept interrupting your focus until your back was against their chest. The two of you were in an awkward, semi-upright position as you struggled against the arms restraining you.

“You sure about this, Professor?” strained a man’s voice. A lock of red hair came into your field of view.

“Do it. It’s for her own good.”

Who you now knew to be Sylvain removed one of his arms’ grasp on you, reaching for something you couldn’t see. His hand returned just as quickly, though he held a small vial of herbs and pollen between his fingers.

Suddenly, you were flipped so that you were on your back on the ground and he was above you. He clamped one of his hands over your mouth, forcing you to breathe through your nose.

“Sorry about this,” he frowned as he popped the vial open and held it underneath your nostrils.

HelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMe

But you couldn’t. After five quick inhales from your aggressive, breathless state, the floral mixture muddled all your senses together.

“Protect her until…” Professor Byleth’s voice faded out, though you watched her finally rush out of the bush, sword in hand, to confront the stranger.

…cold…it was so cold.

“...onastery…”

The sweetened scent haunted you.

~~~~~~

When you woke up, Manuela was with you in the infirmary.

According to the physician, you had been asleep for three days.

“Poor dear, you looked so pale. But you’re well rested now, and I think I’ve managed to flush your system of that awful pollen.”

The pollen…

“I remember that!” you sat up in a panic. “It was Professor Byleth…and Sylvain…”

“Yes,” Manuela laughed. “They filled me in once they came back with you. I swear, that boy worried himself out of an appetite the day they brought you back. He must have held the narcotic powder to your nose for too long.”

Subconsciously, your hand migrated to the lower half of your face.

“He blames himself, of course, but in all honesty I think it was more than that. Curses take a toll on your body as they are. Combine that with natural exhaustion, and that’s a nasty little recipe that’ll keep anyone out for a long time. Not that my telling him that kept him from checking in on you every few hours.”

After a few final checks, the songstress assured you that you were just fine before sending you off to the dining hall to get something to eat.

Needless to say, you couldn’t get there without talking with everyone you bumped into on the way.

Mercedes and Annette were the first to call out your name.

“Oh my goodness! I’m really sorry about lying to you,” Annette wailed. “I was really scared, but I knew the professor had a plan to keep you safe. I felt bad every second of it, though I know that’s probably not worth anything.”

You wrapped them both in a hug, “Please, don’t worry about it! I completely understand.”

“If there’s anything we can do for you, just let us know,” Mercedes offered.

“Of course.”

You smiled and waved at each other, parting ways as you continued on your trip to the dining hall.

More members of your house stopped you as you went. Dimitri wanted to apologize, promising he would attempt to prevent such occurrences in the future. Professor Byleth approached from behind him as the prince explained he was upset with himself for not noticing anything out of the ordinary.

Quickly, you assured him that no one did; you weren’t even aware you were cursed. Your teacher chimed in at that, saying she only found out by sheer luck. She threw a rare smile your way though, glad to have you back and happy to fill you in.

The necklace was given to Professor Hanneman and the woman was brought in for questioning, according to your professor. The woman had chosen to value her life over her secrets, it seemed.

“Thank you for everything,” you worried. “I don’t…that could have gone downhill way too quickly.”

“Don’t even think about it. You are my student; it is my responsibility to keep you safe.”

Her eyes slid past yours, as though she saw something behind you.

“In any case, Dimitri and I were just headed to the training grounds to spar with Felix and Dedue. Feel free to join us later, if you’re feeling better. We wouldn’t want to keep them waiting, though.”

“Oh, good luck,” you waved as they turned and left.

You heard your name from behind you.

Sylvain looked somewhat breathless, slowing up a few paces away by the time you shifted to face him.

“Sylvain,” was about as far as you got before he cut you off.

“I am so sorry,” he started. “Goddess, when we got you back…you were bruised, you were knocked out…I messed up.”

You were taken off guard. Such blunt sincerity wasn’t something you expected from him of all people.

…Manuela really wasn’t kidding when she said he was beating himself up over this.

“Hey…you saved me- you might have saved the professor too, since I know she’s who that woman was after. I have no clue what was in store for me, though I probably would have just kept living life trapped in limbo.”

“...maybe, but…” he struggled to find an argument.

“I know. Look, I-I’d rather have a few bruises than a chain binding me. You and Professor Byleth, you’re the reason I’m free. That’s more important to me than anything.”

“Right. Okay, then,” he nodded, taking a breath.

“So there. I forgive you.” You began to laugh, “Now look at us; I’m the one who’s worried. I don’t even think there’s a way I can repay you for helping me.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that,” he waved it off. “Although…you could come for a meal in the dining hall with me.”

“You’re in luck. I just happen to be on my way there right now,” you grinned. “Best not to leave a debt unsettled, right?”

He laughed, “I told you, you don’t need to think that way.”

Though the two of you went back and forth verbally, you went to the dining hall together.

And this time, the only voice telling you, this is right, was the one in your heart.

[raxistaicho]

Reyna’s not at the end of dealing with Edelgard yet! Edelgard in Thracia, chapter one

So who’s familiar with ReynaAtTheEnd? She (I remember reading Reyna’s a she from some of her mutuals, I’m going to assume that’s accurate, but if not I’ll swiftly correct it) wrote a fanfic called The Savior King, The Master Tactician and the Queen of Liberation, a sort of Azure Moon/Verdant Wind fusion fanfic that are all the craze with Dimiclaude shippers, in which they form a polycule with Byleth.

Oh and also Edelgard Takes a Level in Dumbass and Jerkass, and only generally makes appearances when it’s time for her to get her shit kicked in by the heroes.

Well, Reyna decided to try her hand at giving Edelgard a redemption story, and we all know how wonderful it is when Edelgard haters try to “redeem” her. And she did this by thrusting Edelgard into the plot of Thracia 776, so uhh...

But before we go any further:

DO NOT, I REPEAT: DO NOT, under any circumstances, harass Reyna! I don’t wanna hear about people leaving her insulting messages, folks! I mean it!

EMPEROR. IT’S EMPEROR. Edelgard is never called an empress, Reyna!

From the summary:

Edelgard lost everything - her country, her ideals, her life - to Agartha and to the choices she made.

No, she lost them to Reyna’s hatred for her. And also to Byleth, Dimitri, and Claude being the biggest god-mode incarnations of themselves I’ve ever seen and commanding a kickass army including both the Kingdom and Alliance unified against her, alongside basically all the Relics, and even Rhea and the Immovable. Yeah, Reyna wanted Indech to kaiju it up on Edelgard so bad she wrote him out of character and had him fight on Byleth’s side.

Queen of Liberation was also the story where Edelgard, after being beaten, was captured by Thales, subjected to her trauma again, beaten, tortured, turned into an enslaved monster, and subsequently dispatched like an enemy of the week with no fanfare.

Just so everyone’s aware of where Reyna stands.

Upon awakening in another world ruined by war, she despaired and began going through the motions; only for another cult of evil and a very different dragon god to force her hand - and, perhaps, truly turn her into the revolutionary leader she had wished to be. 

No, she was a revolutionary leader. I know Edelgard detractors don’t like it, but,

Her detractors have long tried to twist things do that Edelgard can’t be a revolutionary because she’s someone in power herself, but Rhea and Seteth don’t appear to have gotten the memo on that.

On to the first chapter proper:

So we open with Edelgard suddenly waking up and trying to work things out. Very sadly, at that.

Consciousness came to her one bit at a time. It was cool, wherever she was. The pain was gone – the spire of the Viskm ramming through her is the last fragmented memory that she has. 

Yeah she died when the Wandering Beast slammed her through a Viskam. Reyna has a weird habit of making her fight scenes grizzly affairs like something out of fucking Akame Ga Kill!, but still permitting Claude to get paragraphs-long breaking speeches in the middle of a fight because Claude is just so awesome~

It didn't make sense. She died, hadn't she? The miserable joke of her life, her broken ideals and woeful attempt to change the world had ended when the Wandering Beast did her a kindness and slammed both of them through the floor and impaled her demonic body. Wasn't that enough? Wasn't it enough, Sothis?! 

Sothis may forgive you, but Reyna never will, Edelgard. Bolding mine, btw, we gotta get Edelgard nice and miserable before everything else begins.

Myson had brute forced the procedure that she and her loyal mages had been looking into and the transformation had ripped her apart and reassembled her into a parody, a sick combination of the myths of the Crest of the Beast and those dragons. 

The word “dragon” doesn’t appear to exist in Fodlan. Demonic Beasts are always called Demonic Beasts, and Nabateans are always called Children of the Goddess. The only instance we see of the word “dragon” comes from the name of the Dragon Claw gauntlet weapons.

Edelgard soon realizes she’s alive and has her free will again, but her body’s too weak to move. She wonders at first if this is some punishment from Sothis, but no, it’s punishment from Reyna, Edelgard.

Thales's horror. The instinctive reminder felt like a joke, making her feel sick as soon as it rushed up. No, she had participated in that horror and turned her nose up at those who expressed their qualms about it. Horror had been too useful to reject.

Time for Edelgard to castigate herself, folks :)

Useful! Oh, it had been so useful in the end, it turned her people against her and reduced her to a monster, a pawn sacrificed to buy a little bit of time. 

Reyna wants to make damn sure Edelgard knows she was never in control.

The suffering had fuelled the machine of war, alright

That “alright” is taking me out, I can’t picture Edelgard talking that way.

– consuming all that she'd tried to build. Maximus Varley, Ladislava, Randolph... everything they had done had only made the Alliance and the Kingdom more determined to defeat them. Had only caused her own people harm; burning in wild fires in front of the monastery, 

Ahh, yes, that was one of the instances of Claude’s ~~brilliant scheming~~

So, see, he had Constance bolting the Imperial forces because Claude’s ~~brilliance~~ in Queen of Liberation generally came in the form of having access to knowledge the actual Claude didn’t have or telling people to do things they were already going to do and being given the credit by the narration, such as when Constance hit some “dry grass” and started a fire:

The problem with this?

This is at the tail end of the Winter. I know it’s Always Spring in Three Houses, but this is meant to be happening in Winter, as all the monthly narration cards show lots of snow. Further, Garreg Mach is always shown to be quite lush, indicating they get plenty of rain there. I’m from California, I know what dry grass looks like :p

Oh yeah, and the people with Crests doing awesome shit is a recurring theme of Reyna’s work, thus proving Edelgard right about Fodlan! 

Ironic.

starving in the fields as the spring seeds died without farmers to tend to them,

Because Edelgard Took a Level in Dumbass and levied farmers who needed to tend the fields.

 subjected to kidnapping and experimentation and stripping of their humanity.

Because Edelgard Took a Level in Dumbass and Jerkass and kidnapped rando citizens to turn into Demonic Beasts instead of using prisoners or something.

Hey, I’m not saying the latter would be any more moral, I’m just saying it would be the smarter move, meaning the kind of evil pragmatic Edelgard her detractors believe in would go for it.

Edelgard angsts some more:

She had presumed so much. You would think that an emperor would be immune to fanciful thinking. 

Fight Reyna’s control, Edelgard! D: You’re better than thiiiiiiiiis.

After everything she'd experienced, she had thought that her perspective had changed enough that she was. After seeing the rot in the world, she should have been more clearheaded, not less. After seeing her siblings suffer and die, Justine holding on only to be a prisoner in her own body.

...It should have made her care more about the people who's lives she was responsible for, not less.

She does care, Reyna. Stay mad.

That was why she forced herself to use the Agarthans, threw her whole kingdom into the chance of changing that system for good -

Empire, Reyna, Edelgard’s not in charge of a Kingdom. Dimitri is.

...and became the reason her people suffered instead.

It’s funny how the actual Edelgard comes to terms with this before her war even starts, but because that doesn’t leave room for Edelgard being surprised by her ineptitude and castigating herself we need to just edit that out of her brain so she can feel bad, as Reyna wants her to.

This is true despair, isn't it?

Was this what Dimitri felt after the Tragedy? What Byleth felt, after Kronya and Thales were able to kill her father, because she had given the, them easy access to the monastery?

(weak laughter) Reyna, you really are on the Edelhater best hits collection.

Thales and Kronya would have gotten in even if Edelgard weren’t around, Solon already proved that.

Then, Edelgard starts thinking about Dimitri! Oh boy.

Her step brother. How had she forgotten...? 

...Trauma.

He...had remembered her, hadn't he? That's why he had hovered around her, had acted protective in a way she had found bizarre and patronizing coming from a stranger – because he hadn't been a stranger. 

Edelgard, honey, that didn’t happen. Dimitri in Queen of LIberation doesn’t think about you. It takes until the week after Flayn’s kidnapping - a full half a year around her - before he starts thinking about the time he shared with her. Everything before that? Dry and clinical, no thought for his time with you or any thought about you.

Even after his own pain, he'd remembered her and cared; her pain had taken all those memories away and left her feeling nothing. 

Even when Dimitri isn’t around, we have to be reminded how great he is.

We could have destroyed Agartha together, Edelgard thought in a shining moment of clarity, coming out of a sleeplike moment yet again. Him, I, Byleth. Even Riegan, infuriating as he would have been to deal with, we... together, we could have...

It’s a ~~moment of clarity~~ for her that she could have just talked things out worked with Byleth and Claude like a good girl.

Sad. Sad and pathetic. Why was she only realizing this now? 

Because defeating the Agarthans wasn’t your objective, Edelgard. Overthrowing Fodlan’s oppressive Crest-based aristocracy was.

Edelgard asks Reyna Sothis why things gotta be this way, then,

She doesn't expect a response. Edelgard expected less than nothing, really; the active goddess was with Byleth, after all. 

Oh yeah, Sothis doesn’t fuse with Byleth such that she can’t talk anymore in Queen of Liberation, because it’d be off-brand if she wasn’t around to convey her Nabatean wisdom against Edelgard’s cause, but she DOES grant Byleth her... life force or some shit to give Byleth a powerup.

Look, Reyna wanted Byleth to get her shounen mid-season powerup, and she also wants Sothis around as a mouthpiece for how great the Nabateans are. She gets things both ways and you can suck it!

Why would [Sothis] have any sympathy for her at all? Naming her children monsters and ordering their deaths, 

That thing Edelgard doesn’t do!

allying with the Agarthans who hated her.

I wonder how Reyna feels about Sothis having no problem with Byleth going CF?

It’s implied Sothis reaches out to Edelgard, and she falls into unconsciousness. Edelgard wakes up in what is described to be akin to a peasant house somewhere, then,

“...poor dear.” A woman murmured, her hand brushing along Edelgard's forehead again.

“I just found 'er on the side of the road...” A man – no, a boy. Maybe Ashe's age, his voice heavy with an unfamiliar country lilt. “Couldn't see any sign that anyone was comin' back for her, so I couldn't just leave her there...”

“Must have been running from bandits, or Lifis's pirates.” The woman decided. “Or even the army. She's not old enough to have been in one of the Hunts, do you think?”

OH NO, did Edelgard get saved by Ronan? Did she get saved by Mekkah’s favorite RNG meme unit? Probably-Ronan and his mom talk a bit, Ronan implied Lifis’s goons might’ve sexually assaulted her, but his mom assures him there was no sign of it when she bandaged Edelgard’s wound, then she namedrops Heim and the gods.

Heim? Gods, plural? The people of Fodlan would have prayed to the Goddess and her alone. Oh, Sothis had done something to her all right. Brought her back to life and dumped her in some strange place...?

I’m sure we’re gonna see Edelgard take umbrage with the Jugdral gods, but given they’re distant except in times of great peril she probably wouldn’t really care about them.

“I've just about got the tea ready, Ronan.

Oh no T_T

Imagine getting saved by a low-tier scrub unit whose only notable trait is he might move around and attack a lot or he might do nothing valuable on the turn.

Her body aches faintly, but otherwise the bed she's on – while rough and wollen – is comforting in a strange way. No hard operating table, no too-soft mattress that felt increasingly like an embodiment of hypocrisy.

This is some weird tense jumping, I have to say.

Also we’ve just gone full on, “Yet you participate in society. Curious!”

Edelgard mostly just pretends to be unconscious and wangsts while Ronan and his mom care for her.

Edelgard could count on two (three, three, Dimitri had-) 

Again, Edelgard didn’t remember Dimitri and Dimitri was too busy gushing about Claude to remember her.

people after her sibling's death and her father's crippling 

Crippling? Oh no, does Reyna believe in that nonsense “Ionius tried to give himself the Crest of Flames!” theory that’s supposed to “explain” why he looks so sickly?

who'd given her companionship and kindess. And where had that gotten them? Hubert died because of her 

No, he died as collateral damage to Reyna’s punishment of her.

and she spurned Byleth for the sake of her vision because how could she understand when she was hosting the goddess -

Byleth didn’t care about Edelgard either.

Edelgard gets up, Ronan and his mom mention she’s in in Iz, in Thracia, neither of which Edelgard knows, naturally, then asks her where she’s going:

“You wouldn't,” Ronan reassured her. “We're a small village; I doubt most Thracians could point us out on the map.” Thracians? A people who's name she'd never heard. But what else did she expect after dying? “We're right up on the ocean; most of us are fishers, and nobody important lives for miles. We're on the way to some important places, but you'd be in for a bit of a hike to get to them. Were you headed somewhere specific?”

Edelgard thinks briefly of some things she might tell them, and dumps them all immediately. She didn't have a life to go back to; she was a failed conqueror, a villain in a cautionary tale that would last in Fodlan for all time, a... a pawn of greater evil. She felt so numb when that thought circled her mind. Empty and hopeless.

“Not really.” She said with a slight shake of her head. “I had been captured by cultists, and in my efforts to get away from them, fled for as long as I could in a random direction. I lost any sense of where I was, only that I got away.”

This whole fic is going to be Edelgard lamenting her actions and coming to Jesus, isn’t it.

Also, this is some weird tense.

Also also, Edelgard describing the Agarthans as cultists is kinda contrived so we could bring up the Loptr Cult.

Ronan and his mom immediately assume the Loptyrians targeted her for their Child Hunts, thinking maybe they branched out in age, and I have to wonder how well common people knew the Loptyrians were involved? Obviously they’d know the Grannvale Empire was behind it, but the church? Idk.

Anyways, Ronan’s mom promises Edelgard is safe because,

“We aint got no Belhalla bootlickers or Travant's sycophants in Iz. They won't know you're here and none of us are gonna talk.”

First off, what medieval peasant would know the word “sycophant”? Also, considering both Grannvale and the people of the Manster District hate the Thracians, I seriously doubt Trevant has many fans at all in northern Thracia.

Edelgard asks why they’re helping her, and she’s gobsmacked to learn it’s just because they think it’s the right thing to do, because evidently Edelgard in this universe has never considered doing a kind thing for the sake of it, pleaseignorehersupportstheyruinReyna’spoint.

Edelgard offers to help Ronan and his mother around the house in repayment for their help and we get this,

“Oooh...” The mother's brow furrows, wanting to refuse but unable to resist the offer of an extra pair of hands. “You're a kind girl, Edelgard.” Edelgard nearly chokes on absolutely nothing, thankfully managing to pull up her solemn mask in time. It would be rude to laugh in this woman's face over her misplaced compliment.

After seeing how often butwhatifidothis got mad at how self-loathing Edelgard is in The Emperor and the Goddess, it’s ironic as hell that Reyna is doing the same thing in this fic. Just for wildly different reasons.

Anyways, Ronan and his mom just urge her to rest for now.

The twosome leave the room... allowing Edelgard to bury her face in her hands and tangle her fingers tightly in her hair, and wonder what all of this was supposed to mean. Why hadn't she just been allowed to die? Why did she have to live when her ideals had failed her and her empire? 

Your ideals didn’t fail Adrestia, Edelgard, the deck was just stacked inordinately against you because Reyna had a point to make in the previous fic.

Was this some kind of messed up trial?! 

Ahh, yes, I can totally see Edelgard calling something, “messed up”.

What is voice, Reyna? What is voice?

Then we end the chapter with a whopper:

She gritted her teeth and lifted her head out of her hands. And that's when she noticed that the strands between her fingers are a vibrant heather brown. Not white. Her heart almost stopped in shock. After a second, she reached inside herself and tried to pull power from her unwanted Crest, from the blood of the Goddess.

Nothing. It's gone. The Crest of Serios was still there, dormant and lethargic to her calls, but the Sword of Damocles that had hung above her...is gone.

Edelgard slowly ran her fingers through her hair, restored to its natural colour, and slumped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling with wide eyes.

 You are no one's pawn now. What will you do?

Edelgard never was anyone’s pawn outside Reyna’s fic.

I’m a bit curious why she left the Crest of Seiros intact. I could guess it’s better because it’s “natural”, or maybe Edelgard needs to turn to Jesus embrace her Nabatean origins, or something. Guess we’ll find out, huh?

Now that’s the end of the chapter, but before I let ya go, there’s the Author’s Notes:

So! ...I woke up today and wrote multiple pages of this after figuring that I disliked Edelgard too much to write it. 

Disliking her didn’t stop you dedicating entire chapters to Edelgard and her laser-guided karma in Queen of Liberation, Reyna.

Clearly I underestimated my desire to 

make her suffer more

write this plot and all the thematic parallels within. Some readers felt that I was too harsh on Edelgard in The Savior King, 

GEE, YA THINK?

Time to show you folks what Reyna thinks is a fair portrayal of Edelgard.

But as a warning, some of this shit gets pretty brutal and if you don’t want to see Edelgard’s in-depth, lovingly-described suffering, scroll down a bit.

That’s one of the Ten Elites calling her a fool. Yeah the Ten Elites are in Queen of Liberation btw, can’t have a Battle Shounen without a recurring miniboss squad!

Ditto.

Also none of the Ten Elites would call Seiros a hero. They didn’t even know why she was fighting them!

Here’s Edelgard getting bricks tossed at her by rioting citizens, and of course all she can do to restore order is scream “I’m your emperor >:(” at them.

With an added helping of the same rioting citizens telling Edelgard how fuckin’ amazing Claude and Dimitri are!

Here’s Edelgard getting a brick dropped on her by the citizens of Enbarr while she’s getting epically pwned by Byleth’s god mode army at Enbarr. Because medieval peasants will just trust that the invading army has their back :)

Here’s Edelgard getting PWNED by Failnaught so bad that metal bits get stuck in her eyes.

~~Bonus round~~ The metal shards get healed permanently into her eye :)

You know whenever I feel like maybe I don’t portray Dimitri or Rhea as fairly as I could in On Black Wings, I can just remind myself I stick to them losing arguments or losing battles they canonically do lose. I don’t fucking torture them physically while I’m at it.

We’re not done yet!

Of course Lysithea has to also pwn the fuck out of Edelgard, dropping an Abraxas bomb on her (who the fuck gets Lysithea to A faith?) and of course she had Thyrsus because this is a Battle Shounen fanfiction and as such the only way to make Lysithea look impressive is to have her use the Relic everyone staples onto her and have her drop TEH BIG MAGICZ.

And of course, even the Agarthans have to get in on saying Edelgard’s a gigantic fuck up and Thales should’ve totally went with Claudlouch vi Yagami-Britannia instead.

...”Just as planned” is a short-lived catch phrase of Claude’s. I told you Queen of Liberation reads like a shounen.

Anyways, we’re not done yet.

Here’s Myson planning to place Edelgard under mind-control once they take her back to Shambhala.

And here’s Edelgard again being subjected to her childhood trauma by being shackled underground once again.

Here’s random Agarthans insulting her as though she’s not around. One of the random Agarthans is named Matt.

MATT.

M A T T.

Oh but of course Thales has only praise for god-mode Claude:

“There were other factors involved, of course. That boy Riegan... Solon had spoken a number of times about inviting him into the truth, yet in the end he found it all by himself. From what I've learned from our spies that were able to get close to him from time to time, he created this Alliance, he planned the attacks and counterattacks...he knew about our partnership with her before he even knew it was her behind the mask; not by yet another act of stupidity on her part, but solely through guile and extrapolating from what little that deserter was able to tell him.”

Here’s Odesse beating Edelgard.

Here’s Odesse beating Edelgard again, and also calling her such lovely gender-charged insults: “Bitch, useless bitch, pig, inbred cretin”.

In German.

Yes, German is used for the Agarthan language in Queen of Liberation.

You see, the Agarthans may all have Greek-originated names, named their tools after Greek figures, and use Cyrillic, a script derived from Greek script, but eh, what’s the difference, when you get right down to it, they’re both from Europe!

This isn’t even the worst case of Reyna carelessly using one language or culture as a replacement for another: she has Japanese serve as the language of the very obviously middle-eastern inspired Almyra.

The fic that’s supposed to be about racism being bad has racist elements in its narrative, how ironic.

Anyways, back to Reyna’s treatment of Edelgard.

Here’s Edelgard realizing she was a foolish foolish girl and being told what by some rando Agarthan kid.

And to top it all off, Thales turns her into the Hegemon Husk and she’s summarily dispatched without much fanfare like a Monster of the Week.

And to finish it up (though there’s plenty more I could share), here’s Edelgard having a Villainous Breakdown because zomgCLAUDHLID!!! beat her:

As I (paraphrased) put it in a comment,

That’s not Edelgard. That’s Dimitri playing the role of Edelgard and constantly breaking character.

Content warning ends here!

and while I still feel her portrayal is grounded largely in canon

You had Edelgard behave like an idiot who derided Dimitri as a worthless madman and scorned Claude for being mixed race. The only semblance of Edelgard’s pre-existing character in the sad caricature you crafted for Queen of Liberation was that she waged war on the church.

But yeah, this creature isn’t Edelgard. At least not the Edelgard from Three Houses. It’s the one Reyna wanted to fight, a foolish would-be tyrant duped into war on behalf of the Agarthans who then folds and fails like all the red emperors to come before her. A fool who has a breakdown and is punished for the things she did so that Reyna could feel oh-so-superior for having bested her.

Edelgard is not the strawman you crafted for your fanfiction, Reyna. She’s a compassionate revolutionary who makes the hard decision nobody else is willing to make. Graceful and strong, capable of out-planning Claude (recall that in the actual Three Houses, the real Claude, who can lose things, admits that Edelgard was fooling everyone) and beating Dimitri in a fight. And in the end, she’s poised and accepting in defeat.

Reyna doesn’t want that Edelgard. Much like most of Edelgard’s detractors, Reyna doesn’t like the Edelgard that actually exists in Three Houses. She wanted the strawman she could beat and feel good about beating, so she crafted this sad creature for her fanfiction and tried to pass it off as the original. And then, for all that she said she felt bad for having put her through torture at the end, she still did it. With loving detail, with determined consistency, and with zero mercy she heaps just about every indignity and torment one can imagine upon this fictional character. And why? 

It’s fairly normal for a villain to undergo some suffering and breakdown once their karma houdini warranty expires, but I’ve never seen such karma run for so consistent a length, nor go so far, as to compare to what Reyna does to Edelgard. She could also have done it to express why she thinks Edelgard will fail in Crimson Flower - which would likely to be actual excuse if asked - except if that’s all she wanted she could have had Thales express how doomed Edelgard was to the heroes instead - as a way to puff himself up, for example. But no, Reyna wants it all expressed to Edelgard’s face, to punish her and put her in her place.

You don’t write torture in the vivid detail Reyna did out of obligation, folks.

This story will be quite different in that regard, as you can probably guess by the premise!

Really? So far it feels like much of the same, only instead of other people calling Edelgard a stupid failure, this time she’s doing it to herself.

I really wanted to like Edelgard. She makes me sad as much as angry because she's so close to being a really good complex character, but the writing really fell down on her parts. 

Might’ve helped if you actually understood anything about her and didn’t try to simplify her into a tyrannical racist who just wanted power.

I guess a part of me really wanted to give her a chance to be that character, and develop into something more.

Oh boy, can’t wait to see what Reyna’s ideal Edelgard is. It sure won’t involve cunning or guile, given her standard method of making a character look smart is to beam knowledge into their heads or provide them an OC to give them information they wouldn’t otherwise have, and she writes her fight scenes like something out of a Battle Shounen.

There will only be minimum references to The Savior King and the events thereof, and they'll be fairly spread out.

Please let that be true.

As a final note, here’s some choice excerpts from the comments:

I feel like I should reiterate that I think that Edelgard had immense potential to be a very complex and very interesting figure

“So I simplified her and made her a stupid villain.”

but that potential got lost in how selfish and self-serving she is in the games proper. 

As I put it in a tweet that surprisingly blew up:

Imagine taking Edelgard, who only wanted a normal life but instead dedicated the entire rest of it in painstaking  service to the people of Fodlan, who honestly believed her path would end with her alone and maybe even hated by all, and saying she's SELFISH. Good god.

Anyways,

Her backstory is very tragic, and with a little tweaking in regards to the Seven's role in it - emphasizing religious zealotry on their part, have the Agarthans step back to let the nobles seem like the instigators - would have made it perfect.

Reyna thinks Edelgard was unjustified to target the church, so that’s another thing she didn’t understand about Three Houses.

Edelgard targeted the church because the church upholds Fodlan’s obsession with Crests, which was the root of her and many others’ suffering.

I will go to my grave insisting that Edelgard could have been a great character. 

She is, stay mad.

I still dislike her portrayal in the games and very much dislike how Three Houses and especially Three Hopes coddle her and refuse to let anyone criticize her meaningfully

That’s because it’s never in doubt that she’s right about Fodlan’s broken status. The only thing that’s ever in question is her methods.

And here we go with the usual “nobody says she’s bad to her face enough times!”

They almost certainly were!; though I think Arvis was a better realized character than Edelgard in the games proper.

I swear, Edelgard haters insisting that Arvis was so great has made me like him less. I mean, in the end he was just a man with a complex over having lost his mother and really just killed Sigurd out of petty romantic jealousy. His big plan to reform the land has few details beyond, “I will be a better king than the past one” and, unlike Edelgard, he was genuinely being used by his dark mage allies. Also, there should be no situation that sees Arvis involved in any of these events as he never goes anywhere near Thracia.

Lastly, from someone who isn’t Reyna:

The bad thing about this (for Edelgard) is that she just literally ended up in fire emblem HELL. I've played every single FE game, and short of Fates: Lunatic Conquest, with no DLC to boost your exp. This world right here, is the absolutely most horrifyingly painful one to survive in.

Thracia is definitely gonna be a hell of a culture shock for her.

Does this person think Edelgard is unfamiliar with suffering?

Uhh, so yeah. That was bad! I’m just going to take this as a prelude to what the entire rest of the fic will be about: Edelgard hating her past actions, regarding herself as a failure and a pawn, and learning to embrace True Justice by basically learning she should have done things the Dimifan Headcanon way by embracing God and giving to the needy without disrupting anyone’s lives too much. We might even get to see some more abuse heading her way if Trevant, Manfroy, Veld, or Raydrik get their hands on her. I’ll consider it a home run if Reyna somehow fucks up Leif while she’s at it, and considering her earnest love for god mode protags that don’t screw up unless it’s dramatic and said screwing up doesn’t take too long to get undone, she probably will.

It’ll be terrible. And we’ll go through all of it :)

[sergeanthopeless]

No Contest

Chapter 1: Round 1

Rated: T

Summary: What if Byleth was a UFC fighter and Seteth was her new trainer? It's a Setleth UFC AU!

Excerpt:

“You sure you want to do this?” Jeralt says, leaning up against the doorframe as Byleth loads up the last of her things onto her cruiser.

“I’m sure.” Byleth double-checks the straps of her bags. “You said it yourself: if I want to make the big leagues, then I need to train with one of the big-name gyms.”

Jeralt rubs his neck and groans. “Well, yeah, but I meant something nearby, like Fraldarius or Blaiddyd.”

“You trained at Zanado Gym with Rhea Seiros and they’ve already said they want to take me on. I’d be brainless not to take an opportunity to train with The Dragon.”

“I still don’t know how you found that old box…” Jeralt mutters into his coffee.

“It was only a matter of time.” Byleth’s voice creates a muffled echo as she puts on her motorcycle helmet.

“I know I can’t stop you, but…well, just be careful, alright?”

“There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll make you proud.”

Read it on AO3

[moltz23]

When the Darkness gets Miscasted - An Essay about Three Houses' "those who slither in the dark"

As someone that joined the FE fandom with Sacred Stones, I gotta say, “Those who slither in the dark” are an interesting experiment as far as antagonistic factions go. In spite of being the most alien-like group featured in the franchise (as of Engage), regardless of the 3H story branch picked, TWSITD in the long-term serves as an villainous third wheel of sorts, going from being very active late into Part 1, to vanishing almost entirely by Part 2, not even getting an proper send-off in half of the routes. So what happened?

Well, after pondering about it for a while, I believe the reason TWSITD fell into this situation is because their unique traits don’t mesh well with the broader purpose the story gave them. In other words, I’m saying “those who slither in the dark” were miscasted.

To explain what exactly I mean by this, a brief recap of the group is in order:

Part 1: The Nitty-Gritty of the Slitherers.

This concept art of Shambhala is so cool.

In Three Houses (and Three Hopes by proxy), “Those who slither in the dark” is an organization that causes strife in Fódlan anonymously:

“In the long history of the Church of Seiros... No, long before even that… There have been an endless number of threats to the peace of Fódlan. Yet, those who oppose us still operate in the shadows, their identities a mystery.” - Rhea in Report: Red Wolf Moon

Their origins can be traced back to remnants of Agartha: an ancient human civilization of Fódlan once that waged war against Sothis and her kids - trying to seize control of the continent from them -, but got themselves wiped out when Sothis retaliated. The remaining survivors then retreated underground, bowing revenge against Sothis, her spawn, and those spared by her wrath. And from then on, this remnant cut contact with the outside world for over a millenia, thus becoming - as far as everyone else is concerned - “those who slither in the dark”.

The ones who call themselves Agarthans want mainly 2 things: Payback against Sothis’ surviving kin ie. Rhea, Seteth, Flayn and Byleth (once they know they’re Sothis reborn); and

obtain what Sothis denied Agartha: dominion over the surface.

“Let no crisis go to waste” is the group’s core motto, as whenever something bad happens in Fodlan, they will likely be there to reap the benefits, usually by:

Acting as benefactors, providing resources (or the means/knowledge) others would normally be never able to gain normally.

Doing Crests experiments once the avenue is open.

And body-snatching, letting them act in the open without giving themselves away, all while opening a new pool of resources and connections to draw from.

As for their Modus Operandi, their general plan is to get involved in a major conflict where they gain something by their chosen side coming out on top (which is known as a proxy war). Given their track record, their MO looks like this:

Find a pawn who could gain enough followers (or already has them) to kickstart a large-scale conflict, and offer your services.

Once the fighting starts, provide support to show your pawn how much of an asset you are to their cause.

If your pawn gets killed or the conflict ends with the opposition alive, then retreat underground, and let the years pass by.

Go back to step 1.

The group’s identity - as in, what differentiates them from other villainous groups - is comprised by the following:

Design-wise, save for one exception, all non-disguised Agarthans have ghastly white skin and dress in black.

Resource-wise, they have access to giant automatons, electric turrets, kinetic orbital missiles (called “javelins of light”), demonic beasts, and more.

Character-wise, regardless of each member’s individual personality, every one of them always showcases hubris and xenophobia. In a related note, every member is also portrayed unsympathetically.

Soundtrack-wise, the group’s heavily associated with dubstep.

Finally, when it comes to TWSITD’s narrative purpose in the main stories:

Their general objective is to serve as the puppeteers behind the scenes, trying to manipulate events behind the scenes and their pawn of choice (ie. the Empire/Edelgard) to achieve their ends.

Meanwhile, as far specific objectives go, they:

Kill Jeralt, and thus, force Byleth to fuse with Sothis before Rhea can have them sit on Sothis’ throne, thus unintentionally foiling the Archbishop’s agenda.

Give Edelgard the means to remove Rhea from the story at the end of Part 1 (used only outside CF) through their Demonic Beasts.

Set up the Final Boss of Part 2 of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow by the story having Byleth’s party reach Shambhala, their HQ.

Help Azure Moon’s story explore the Tragedy of Duscur subplot.

Help Crimson Flower’s story explore the TWSITD alliance subplot.

Part 2: Those Who Experiment In The Dark.

As alluded early, the Slitherers stand out from other major villainous factions in FE due to being the very definition of experimental. I use this term because no major villainous faction in Fire Emblem prior to them has had to contend with the following factors:

1. Access to Modern/Sci-Fi Technology:

While everyone else in the setting - including the Agarthans to an extent - use medieval western-inspired resources, only they get exclusive access to modern/sci-fi weapons like giant robots, turrets, and orbital missiles.

2. Deal with Multiple Handicaps:

I previously covered this in a past-article (that can be found here), but for those unaware: the manner the plot in Three Houses is written ensures the Slitherers' path towards their goal isn’t a straight one:

In spite of initially having Edelgard be just a puppet in someone else’s plans, they end up working for her thanks to some deals both parties make behind the scenes, thus leading TWSITD to backstab their former collaborator once Edelgard makes her move and becomes Emperor. Once that happens-

They take a backseat from the plot midway through the story, relinquishing their spotlight to Edelgard while she drives the story onwards. Meaning-

They rely on Edelgard winning to get anywhere, which would normally not be an issue if it wasn’t for how-

Edelgard plans to get rid of them once they’re no longer needed. Not only that, but she also screws the group over in every route in some form.

And that’s not even going into the other two problems they have to deal with:

A. Their orbital/kinetic missiles being impractical: I also did an analysis on those things, but long story short: two routes imply they can’t abuse the weapon at their leisure; their most desired target (Garreg Mach) is protected by a jamming spell/device; and if we go by the evidence at hand, not only the missiles were crafted back when Agartha was still a thing 1000 years before the main plot, we have no evidence they have the means to replenish their stock due to the javelins being orbital missiles (aka dropped from space).

B. Nemesis being unreliable: So, here an interesting fact about Nemesis: dude never died in the introductory movie (perhaps he just went into sleep, not unlike how most Nabateans & Byleth do when wounded enough?), and had to be sealed because, to indirectly quote Rhea’s words in Verdant Wind, no one really knows how the Crest of Flames works.

The known credit the Slitherers get with Nemesis’ return in Verdant Wind is that they were definitely prepared in case he woke up. After Shambhala has been destroyed, the story shows that not only they held him in a coffin somewhere in their catacombs, multiple flavor texts allude they are the reason Nemesis has the reanimated corpses of his old allies for Verdant Wind’s final battle. Beyond that, no one really knows why Nemesis returns at the very end only in Claude’s route, and how much TWSITD may be behind it. He just… returns.

3. They Lose Their Original Purpose (in 2/4 of the Post-Timeskip).

Quick development trivia for y’all: Silver Snow was the story branch of Three Houses that started it all, laying the foundation of every other route that came after. And in it, plus Verdant Wind - for sharing similar story beats - “those who slither in the dark” fulfill a specific purpose in Part 2’s story: setting up the scenario for the final battle to happen though having the player’s party going to Shambhala (their HQ), whether it’s by: wounding Rhea lethally, thus playing a part in her sudden dragon degeneration (Silver Snow); or by having an army prepared for Nemesis once he wakes up in Shambhala after their defeat (Verdant Wind).

But then, Crimson Flower and Azure Moon changed everything. Because both stories deviate from Silver Snow by using Chapter 11 to set up their own Final Boss in advance (Rhea in CF, Edelgard in AM), the writing team behind those routes was forced to solve the following issue:

“What happens when the story doesn’t need to go to Shambhala? As in, when the story has no need for the Slitherers to set up the final battle?”

The solution found was simple: TWSITD would blend-in with the Empire, and be forced to stick with Edelgard to reach the end of the road they crave. In turn, each path would show how well that situation ends for them.

(As a quick tangent: 3H’s The Cutting Room Floor page having unused unit data for a playable Edelgard and Dimitri in the Shambhala map - and nothing else - does very little to corroborate the idea that both CF and AM ever intended to visit the place in the stories beyond the planning stages).

No major antagonistic group in the series before the Agarthans has been ever given such a mixed bag to work with. And I believe it’s no coincidence either, as it very much appears most of these handicaps were placed to ensure TWSITD doesn’t have enough control of the plot to allow a “Golden Ending” to happen just by defeating them early. Still, this doesn’t change their unique situation as it causes unfortunate problems for them, and it’s precisely this what I want to address to finally explain why this group of antagonists were miscasted in the stories 3H tells.

Part 3: The Bad, Good, and Nasty side of the Agarthan.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first: even though their general objective in the story is to act as the puppeteers behind the scenes, in a twist of irony, the Agarthans are at their weakest when trying to manipulate their way into victory. The reasons are twofold:

A. Their handicaps limit their level of threat and control imposed. And…

B. Due to their anonymity shtick, they straight up don’t appear unless the plot calls for it.

These two details explain why they fall out of relevance by the time the timeskip takes place (and for the Three Hopes spinoff, this too goes for Azure Gleam’s second timeskip), and when they finally reappear, their performance ultimately falls flat despite all the spectacle provided. For all their efforts, the Slitherers unfortunately have a lot going against them that stops them from accomplishing the main objective the writers set out for them (and worse of all, this is by design).

Incidentally, another problem that quickly springs up for TWSITD is that, once they are forced to fight outside the darkness and can no longer count on their surprise/shock factor, they’re

taken care of in a pretty swift fashion (see AM Chapter 19 and VW/SS Chapter 21/20). And this is because, at the end of the day, they are just an organization of people that has historically relied on other nations’ armies to put up a fight vs the Church after the fall of Agartha. As trying to foolishly fight regardless, just exposes them for what they all are, warts included.

“[those who slither in the dark] are looking down on us. They think we cannot touch them. But the closer we get to them, the less true that becomes.” - Hubert, in Darkness Beneath the Water.

But enough negativity! Let's get to what the Slitherers are truly good at. My reasoning behind why TWSITD were miscasted, given a role they would never be able to fill its shoes comfortably, is because Three Houses’s stories not only show them at their worst, but also at their best. And what is what they excel at, you might wonder?

It is Terrorism. Just, flat out terrorism at its finest.

In execution, by the Agarthans using their anonymity shtick as a strength, they are allowed to:

A. Appear out of nowhere to cause havoc and quickly vanish once the job’s done. And-

B. Confuse and worry the hell out of the enemy.

Arguably the stand out examples of this is Part 1 of White Clouds, and Part 2 of Three Hopes’ Scarlet Blaze route. Whether it is to test out and perfect their “experimental assets” intended to be used by the Empire once Edelgard declares war on Garreg Mach in the former’s case, or by providing the perfect stage for Ferdinand’s father, Duke Aegir, to attempt a coup against Edelgard’s Empire in the latter, TWSITD’s surprise appearance completely disrupts the direction the plot was going for, and forces the characters to handle them directly in the hopes of - somehow - foiling their end goal, just for the group to vanish soon after, leaving everyone with a sense of unease, worry, and fear, upon witnessing they are not dealing with just some random group of villains anymore.

Simply put, “those who slither in the dark” are at the top of the game when they are causing terrorism and exploiting their enigmatic aura of theirs. So it’s a shame that Three Houses still ultimately decided to have the organization stick to their “puppeteers” shtick no matter what, even if it is for the sake of deconstructing the idea or in an attempt to try to make them work somehow.

Finally, while I feel the point this article’s been trying to make has already been made, I still wanna wrap things up by addressing the nasty side of TWSITD: their one-dimensional malice.

While Fire Emblem as a franchise is no stranger to cartoonishly evil antagonists, never before the Agarthans have we gotten an entire major faction with not even a trace of nuance. In a series where major villainous factions have done stuff like human sacrifices and child hunts, there has been always someone that either: can display basic decency; can be recruited and allowed work off their bad karma; or had long since defected the group, and might try to help the playable characters in some way. Heck, archetypes like the Camus exist because people have noticed some conventions are used a lot for the sake of giving the enemy-side some nuance, with varying degrees of success and reception.

The Slitherers by comparison, get none of that. And in spite of it… I feel it may be on purpose.

Let me remind everyone for one last time, what the Slitherers' backstory and shared character traits are:

Their background can be summed up as a “millennial legacy of hate which willingly isolates from society as a whole”. Also-

Displaying hubris and xenophobic tendencies appears to be an unwritten rule for every one of its members.

Considering these two facets, I just can’t help but wonder if the 3H writers drew the line with the TWSITD as far as nuance goes simply because, as far they themselves were concerned, those who hurt others due to a sense of entitlement, superiority, and hate, are beyond saving. And I say this because ever since last year, this exchange from Azure Gleam has been in my mind a lot as of late:

Cornelia: As for your loyal knight and the former Duke Fraldarius… They're certainly giving it all they have, but a paltry force that size will hardly buy them any time. And once we've wrung the life from them, you'll be next. How tragic it'll be, facing your beloved citizens for the final time with a noose around your neck. Dimitri: You know, I almost appreciate seeing such bold-faced sadism. There's not a hint of nuance to it. Cornelia: Is that a compliment I hear? You'll make a lady blush if you're not careful. - Event: Behind the Mask

I’ve been figuring out how to complete this whole thing for over a month now and oh man I am so glad I can finally move on from it. Now the only thing that remains is to thank y’all who checked and read this huge wall of text to the end.

To finally close things off, I have a few last questions for everyone: What are your honest thoughts on “those who slither in the dark”? What did you expect of them? Did they surprise you? And would you improve on them if given the chance (and how)?

[emblemxeno]

You know what gets me?

When it comes to Edelgard, I just think that she’s both directly violent (meaning the planned assassinations, kidnappings, conspiracy, coups, assistance in human experimentation, and incitement of warfare that she did) as well as incredibly indirectly violent.

Saying to a political or military enemy whom you decided to attack first,  “surrender exactly to my terms or else you will suffer more violence” is in and of itself, violent.

That’s what separates her from just being an “action oriented lord” like others in the series. Ike retaliated against Daein because he was hired to. Hector retaliated against Nergal’s forces because they attacked Lycia and Eliwood first. Ephraim, Chrom, Sigurd, and Alm sought to fight off invasion of their countries/end pre-existing conflicts. Leif was fighting against a cult and corrupt warlords in order to retake his home and save children. Rhea herself even, never incites conflict (bullshit about assassins in Three Hopes aside cuz half of that game doesn’t line up with Three Houses at all), because all of her enemies attacked first.

Edelgard, meanwhile, incites violence and continues to be violent by telling her enemies “surrender exactly to my terms or die.” She doesn’t let Judith flee. Seteth, Flayn, and Claude only live on Byleth’s terms. She tells the king of another country “you’re the one prolonging the war by fighting back.” 

That is fucking violent. That’s what makes her the same as Ashnard, Zephiel, Arvis, and Walhart. Agree to their terms or be swept aside.

And the only reasons why people are so adamant to not accept that is because the way she’s written 1) has her use pretty, philosophical language so as to convince the player to think she actually knows what she’s talking about and 2) player pandering, to the point where she borders on being infantilized in her own damn game (don’t you see how CUTE she is??? she just wants to eat candy and paint pictures all day!).

Not helping this fact is that any indication of her violent nature, particularly in CF, is subtextual. It’s not like Conquest where that game deliberately makes sure to show the player that Corrin is, in fact, doing bad things and that there’s no turning back because she’s made a choice and has to see it through for the peace she’s seeking. It’s not like Micaiah in Radiant Dawn where she’s been actively forced to commit atrocities for a cause she doesn’t believe in only so she can guarantee the safety of her people.

No, Edelgard made the choice to inflict violence upon people who have done nothing to her or her loved ones, all because of her preconceived and incorrect notions regarding Fodlan’s history. And continued to inflict violence by forcing people to choose between “surrender to my terms” or “be struck down.”

No amount of “Crests bad” or “Church/Rhea creepy” or “I want to change teh world!!!” is gonna change these facts.