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jtavington · 4 years ago

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Edelstance flashback

SSAU

Edelgard turned the model soldier in her fingers before putting it atop the map sprawled across the war table. "We can send Count Bergliez's men across the Airmed and Randolph's men can rendezvous with them before they cross the Myrrdin. And from there it's a straight march to Derdriu.” And if they could take the city, the faction of the Alliance opposing the Empire would crumble. And if they crumbled, the war would at last be over.

She wiped her brow. Over, at long last. All the bloodshed and sacrifice of the last five years would be vindicated and she could build the new order for which she had given up all that was precious to her. "I will speak to Lord Randolph on my way through the Oghma Mountains and make sure he and his stepbrother can cooperate for that long."

Hubert scowled. "I would remind you again that traveling to Garreg Mach—alone, no less—is a foolish risk. At least take a bodyguard."

"I can take care of myself." She touched Rhea's blade at her hip. "There's no need to reassign men to indulge my whims.”

"They will not be there. And if they are, the reunion will not be a pleasant one."

"I'm merely feeling nostalgic." Those few months at the Academy had been like a dream. She had been an ordinary student when she was forced to don mask and surplice. Battle had been a mere game. She had made friends, and though her head had told her that they would abandon her once they knew her true plans, her heart had dreamed of those who had chosen her because she was Edelgard, not because she was the Emperor. It was not wrong to pretend for an hour that dream was reality.

And perhaps…

"As you wish, Your Majesty." He bowed and left.

Edelgard stayed in her chair, staring at the figures that represented the armies of whole nations. She still had nightmares of the battle at Garreg Mach: of riders crushed under their horses, of students barely more than children run through by her soldiers. By her. It was one thing to say that her path to a just world was paved with blood. It was another to decapitate the knight who had supervised your stable duty because otherwise he would linger for hours from his stomach wound. And it was another to raise her axe against her teacher. She had told herself that she had known it was Byleth's destiny to oppose her.

The truth was that she had not known. She had allowed herself to hope that she might be understood in loved. She hoped still, against reason, against sense, that she would mount the stairs to the Goddess Tower and her teacher would be returned from the dead and that she would remember that blood was not all there was to Edelgard's dream. They would descend the stairs to find the rest of the Eagles and all would be well.

"Darling!" Constance emerged from her laboratory. Her blue gown was stained with ash, but her smile made her eyes crinkle. She came to Edelgard and gripped her forearms, heedless of the damage to the Imperial regalia. "You'll never guess what marvelous discovery I've just made!”

Her glee was infectious. "A singing teapot?"

"Close. I should have a prototype of one by spring, but for now...ta-da!” She let go of one arm so she could whip something out from her cloak. It was…a rose. A very lovely rose, especially for being out of season, but just a rose.

“Thank you?”

“Is that all you can say in the presence of such marvelous sorcery? Behold!” She ripped the petals from the bud and strew them on the ground. Edelgard watched as each transformed into a gem. Here a diamond, there a garnet, and over there an amethyst. None any larger than her fingernail, but they glimmered like stars as the light hit them.

"It was quite the challenge to keep them from turning into sugar cubes instead, but I managed it," Constance continued. “We can't have the guests eating the wedding decorations."

Edelgard stared at her. The last five years had been choked with tragedy and betrayal, but they had also given her this beautiful, maddening woman who had taught her that the world was still beautiful and that her heart still beat. The wedding was scheduled for just after the spring planting. If all went according to plan, the war would be over by then, and the new Empress would rein over a continent at peace. They would be the last generation to ever fear being bred for their Crests like cattle. The children who came after them would marry as they pleased, without the obligation to carry on the line. All Edelgard had to do was take Derdriu.

"El, are you brooding again?"

Edelgard allowed herself to smile. "Now why would I brood?” She seized Constance around the waist and pulled her into her lap. "I merely wanted to look at my fiancée.”

“Elise, we're here.” Byleth's voice yanked Edelgard to the present. "Do you want to see?"

Edelgard blinked. The palace vanished, replaced by the night sky. A ship's deck listed gently under her, and sheets cocooned her body. Ravens cawed and sailors shouted and tramped around her. She bit her lip as she had every day for the past three weeks. Her reverie was only reverie. She was Edelgard von Hrevelg, last Emperor of Adrestia. Hubert was dead. Constance was dead. She was alive, for a value of the phrase. Byleth had chosen her. She had fulfilled Edelgard's schoolyard fantasy of becoming her wife. They were fleeing a victorious church that wanted her dead. And she was on a ship. Surrounded by water.

She craned her neck and pushed with the arm that sometimes obeyed her commands. Her view shifted, but only enough for her to see up to the sailors' chests instead of their waists. She wasn't the only passenger who was journeying on the decks instead of below. Most were poorer refugees. A few were like her, laid out on stretchers or pallets so that they could be spirited away in the event of an emergency. If she had a mind to ask one of those bandaged souls with a missing limb had probably been reduced to a shrieking wreck by the sight of a rat in the hold as well.

Byleth frowned. "Do you want me to pick you up?”

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