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byleth doodles ⚔🦴🌟
#fe3h#fire emblem three houses#fe3h fanart#byleth eisner#nb byleth#my art#jfjdjf i forgot what their sword looked like in that 1st one. and every attempt to fix it just looked SO BAD#anyway I've been replaying fe3h lately- now in the gd route#and i missed my kids so much i might draw more of them soon#also im really enjoying claude but GOD i miss dimitri and dedue so so much it pains me#I'll always be a blue lion at heart#nb!byleth
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I'm still planning on playing through every throuses route but I'm going to have to go back and replay blions when I'm done. I can't take this shit otherwise man :'/
#I've been going through it ever since I got to the battle of the eagle and lion in VW#and thought ''well that was the last good day of dimitri's life''#I'm enjoying VW! I like claude very much and I like all the rest of these deer dweebs too and I'm invested in seeing What The Fuck Happens#but. but dimitri. dedue. I miss them. I cry#I'm so fucking sorry#I haven't even started on CF yet. god#I was so right not to try and play this when it first came out. I literally would not have graduated from college#fire emblem
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Sylvain: I think she is staring again…
Dimitri: I am sure she simple despises me.
Felix: It’s called focus, boar. You should try it for once in your life.
Jeralt, who is in horse duty nearby and knows exactly where she is looking as once he also received the very same unblinking, wild and intense gaze from Sitri to his own bosom: … that boy has no idea what he just got himself into.
CANON TO ME DEAR ANON!!
i liked this idea so much it made me write a little fic, i hope you'll enjoy!
wordcount: 2.4k
Staring
Dimitri was puzzled by the Ashen Demon- no, she said her name is Byleth, and Dimitri couldn't find a reason to not use it (especially because it sounds so sweet on his lips)- by Byleth's intense stare. The woman was not very expressive, he knew it well by now; and despite Dimitri's efforts to get to know her better, he still couldn't figure out why she started to staring at him so much. He was almost sure she hates him, and how could he blame her? His army essentially forced her and Jeralt's company to join the kingdom (that, or death); and even if Shez tried many times to reassure him that Byleth wouldn't do anything she doesn't want, and Jeralt himself thanked the king for freeing them from the Empire's hands, Dimitri can't help but feel like Byleth Eisner isn't feeling comfortable in his army. ('Forced to fight for the useless beast you are-')
And that was a shame, because the woman was a formidable warrior (stronger than Felix, or Dedue, or Shez, and perhaps than Dimitri himself), and Dimitri wish he could make the woman feel more at home. After all, he was the king: it was his duty to make sure everybody is fine. No other reasons whatsoever, of course!
---
Entering the Dining hall of the kingdom's camp, Dimitri immediately noticed two things: Byleth Eisner was eating with Shez and Flayn; and Byleth Eisner's look turned to him the very moment he stepped foot in there. Feeling flustered, Dimitri's gaze turned away, but he sould feel the woman still staring at him. (He already noticed that, if she got caught in her staring, she didn't look embarassed like anyone else caught staring would be; she kept doing whatever she wanted- exactly like Shez told him.)
Sylvain must have noticed too, because Dimitri could hear him chuckle a bit. "She really is shameless, isn't she," he said with a teasing tone.
"I am sure she is holding a grudge towards me," Dimitri replied, unable to hide the light sad tone. "Everytime I look at her, she has that same staring expression."
Felix sighed, annoyed. "For someone so sure she hates you, you sure seems to notice her a lot, stupid boar," he said, rolling his eyes.
Sylvain's chuckle becomes a full laughter.
Dimitri's cheeks blush. "I- I only wish for Miss Eisner to feel comfortable in our army."
Sylvain, still laughing, managed to catch breath. "Well, maybe you should try to give her a dagger, Your Majesty!"
Now Dimitri's blush reached his ears. "Sylvain!" he exclaimed, looking at his friend in astonishment. "This is very unprofessional and uncalled for."
"Strange to say, but the boar is right," Felix said. "If she truly hates him, why should he give her a weapon?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
Aware that Felix didn't know about the so-called "dagger incident", and fearing that Sylvain was going to tell too much, Dimitri tried to change topic. "Do any of you know about today's stall duty turn?"
He failed. "Well, Your Majesty, if you're really so curious about her feelings for you, shouldn't you ask her directly?" Sylvain said with a malicious hint in his eyes.
Felix shrugged. "Again, strange to say, but Sylvain is right," he said, then looked at Dimitri. "This whole thing is distracting you. Fix it before you fully become a full useless boar, and not just an annoying boar."
Ignoring Felix's last comment, Dimitri nodded. "You are probably right. I should speak to her and make sure Miss Eisner is not bothered by something."
---
When Byleth reached puberty, Jeralt feared he was too old to deal with a teen girl; but luckily (for him) his kid never caused any problem, never went through any "rebel" phase, and never showed any interest towards anyone. And even if Jeralt knew it was selfish of him, he was glad his little girl was still the same.
But now, he would trade a whole troublesome adolescence, if it meant his daughter wouldn't fall for the freaking King of Faerghus.
The Eisners were assigned for stall duty that evening, and as always Byleth was doing an impeccable job. But she suddenly stopped in her working, and Jeralt noticed her eyes carefully following the king's movement: he was walking near them, probably headed to his tend; and Jeralt noticed the nervous expression of the king, when he noticed Byleth was staring at him.
"Hey, kid?" Jeralt called, hoping to catch her attention.
"Yes?" she replied, her eyes still fixed on the king's figure.
"Are you feeling alright? We can take a break if you want."
"No need," Byleth simply replied, not bothering to look away. When the king was out of sight, she turned to Jeralt. "Dad, Dimitri's weird."
The man almost choked. His daughter always has been honest and straight to the point, but to hear her call the king in such a casual manner… he was glad that at least the king didn't look like a strict guy. "Wha- why do you think so?"
Byleth frowned a little, the expression Jeralt knew she made when trying to express a thought she herself didn't really understand. "He… is weird. He's not like anyone I've ever met."
Jeralt sat down. 'I'm too old for this.' "Is that why you stare at him so often?"
Byleth nodded. "I'm curious. And I'm trying to understand why he intrigues me so much."
"So you're… intrigued by him?"
Byleth nodded again, not showing even a hint of embarassment. "And I can't figure out why. He's strong, but he's not the only strong person I met, right? And he's tall, but Dedue is taller. And he's very kind- well, Mercedes and Annette are kind to me too, but in a different way. And he has a pretty smile. But other people smile too. That is to say, he doesn't have anything special per se, and yet, it's like everything is special about him. And I can't figure out why." Byleth was frowing again.
Jeralt wished he had at least a beer with him. "Well, kid… sometimes, people think someone in particular is very special, and that someone is special in ways only for them. The king… is not weird. I think you're intrigued by him not because he's weird, but because you feel he's special for you."
Byleth brought a hand to her chin. "And why is that?" she asked, sincerely puzzled.
Jeralt wished he had two beers with him. "I don't know, kid. Nobody knows how… uhm, why sometimes people think someone else is special. Only the Goddess, perhaps."
Byleth looked like she was lost in thoughts for a few seconds, but then she shook her head. "No, I don't think she does."
Confused, Jeralt decided to drop the matter. "In any case, it's completely normal to feel this way about someone. So you shoudn't worry."
"I don't," Byleth stated. "I guess I'll just have to live with that."
Jeralt's heart almost broke. His kid's first crush was a king, probably already engaged with some duke's daughter: not the most lighthearted romantic story. And yet, the look on his daughter face when looking at Dimitri was the same one Sitri used to give him, a long time ago. It wasn't a simple crush.
He made a bittersweet smile. "Kid, have I ever told you the story of when I met your mother?"
Byleth looked at him, her eyes full of curiosity. She simply shook her head.
"The first time I saw her, she was watering some flowers. Blue irises, just like her eyes. She was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen; she was so captivating I stopped in my walking, and almost tripped! She heard me and turned to look at me… And when our eyes met, she simply smiled. And that is when I knew I fell for her."
"So you did trip in the end?" Byleth asked, tilting her head.
Jeralt chucked, shaking his head. "I mean I fell in love with her."
Byleth nodded, as if understanding during a lesson. "I see. Interesting choice of words." She adverted her gaze. "But thank you for telling me this story."
Was Jeralt's sight getting bad, or was his daughter smiling?
---
Dimitri breathed deeply. The time had come to face Byleth Eisner, to finally talk to her and find out whatever reason she hated him for.
He was well aware of the true reason he postponed the talk for so long. The fear of hearing her sweet voice telling him how much and why she hated him was frightening at least. ('Pathetic. To fear some words from a whatever mercenary girl…') The fear of seeing her go away, far away from his army, far away from him-
Regular as clockwork, her stare was on him the very moment he entered her field of vision (-The fear of not watching her beautiful emerald eyes again-). She kept staring at him while he was approaching. Her stare was unnerving; and Dimitri realized, it was not because he didn't like the idea of getting attention from her, but because it was like she could see inside him, see the monster he truly was. (-The fear of hearing she knew the beast inside him, the fear she may hate him for what he truly was, the fear of knowing she, too, rightfully hated him-)
"Good evening, Miss Byleth," he managed to say, trying to hide his anxiety.
"Hi, Dimitri," she simply replied, calling him by his name. Someone else would be offended by such casualness, but Dimitri always preferred to be addressed by his name, rather than sumptuous titles. (-The fear to lose one of the few people that seemed to understand his wish, the fear to not hear his name from her sweet lips ever again-)
"I don't want to cause any inconvience, but may I speak with you?"
The woman was sitting on a bench, polishing her sword; she simply nodded and made space on the bench for him.
Feeling more nervous than ever, Dimitri complied, and sat next to her. Byleth set down her sword and whetstone and looked at him. "What's the matter?"
Dimitri inhaled deeply. "Forgive me if it's not the case and I'm stealing your time uselessly, but I have the feeling you hold some kind of sentiment towards me. If I have done anything that upset you, please feel free to speak to me."
"Oh. So you have noticed," the mercenary said, for the first time adverting her gaze.
Dimitri felt his heart sink. 'She hates you. Of course she hates you. Were you really hoping she was interested in such a lowly beast-'
"I talked to my father, and he said I think you're special," Byleth kept talking. "Then he told me the story of when he met my mother. I'm not completely sure the two things are related, but maybe he meant he thought my mother was special too?" she asked, looking at Dimitri, as if he had the answers.
He simply blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"
"See? So I'm not the only one that doesn't understand," Byleth sighed.
"No, I mean… I- what… You… What?!"
Byleth looked at him again. "I mean, it was a nice story, and I'm glad he told me. Jeralt rarely speaks about my mother. But I don't understand. And it's annoying. Dimitri, do you think someone is special for you?"
Dimitri was speechless; their talk wasn't like anything he had prepared for. "I- well, I think you're a very special person, Miss Byleth," he finally said. He did, in fact.
"Oh." Byleth, the usually impassive Byleth Eisner, the infamous Ashen Demon, the one mercenary known for striking down enemies without batting an eye, was blushing.
"I- I mean, I saw what you're capable of on the battlefield, you're one of the strongest warrior I've ever met. But I know you're also very kind and patient- I see how you help everybody you can here on our base, and… And you're also very smart, your strategies in the last battle were crucial for our victory! It's a pleasure to have hired you, I consider myself a lucky man to have the change to know you, Miss Byleth. So yes, I can confirm you are a special person indeed."
Dimitri was aware he stuttered a lot, but couldn't stop himself in keep going. Especially because for every thing he said, the blush on Byleth's cheeks got redder. And she was more mesmerizing than ever.
"Very interesting," she finally said, breathless. "Now I understand what my father meant with 'thinking a person is special'. Thank you."
"I admit I feared you held a feeling of hate or some sort for me, Miss Byleth, but I'm glad to know it's not the case," Dimitri said with a smile, feeling lighter.
Byleth frowned lightly. "Why would I hate you?"
Dimitri blushed. "I…" 'Because I'd deserve it.' "It doesn't matter."
"Well, according to my father's words, it's more like I'm in love with you, so I don't think I hate you even a bit," Byleth bluntly stated, as if reflecting on a mission plan.
Dimitri stared at her, sure he didn't hear her words well. Surely he misheard, she couldn't really feel that way for him, he wasn't worthy of such things from anyone, especially her-
And yet, if he did hear her right, if she truly meant what she said- if there was a little, brief possibility she returned his sinful feelings-
"… So yes, you shouldn't worry," Byleth nodded at her own words. "If it's all, I think I'll go to get my dinner. Are you angry? We could-"
She was getting up, she was about to walk away. Unable to stop himself, he grabbed her by the wrist. He needed to know. "Can you repeat that?"
Byleth tilted her head. "That I'm gonna get my dinner?"
"No… before that. That you lo… that you lov…" Dimitri immediately regretted his actions. Of course he misheard her, and now he was making a fool of himself. 'To hope for such things when it's clear nobody can love you, do you enjoy so much to suffer?'
"Oh! You mean that I'm in love with you?" Byleth replied. "My father didn't exactly said that, but I guess it's the right name for this feeling-"
Dimitri moved quickly, taking her face in his hands and pressing a soft kiss on her lips. "Byleth, I love you too. Please marry me."
Byleth was right in thinking she'll live loving Dimitri, and Jeralt was wrong in worrying about it.
bonus scene:
Byleth: Dad, I made a weird dream about Dimitri. We were both naked and-
Jeralt: NOPE. I'M TOO SOBER FOR THIS CONVERSATION
#super random ik and i have so much stuff to do but SOMETIMES THE DIMILETH NEEDS COME FIRST#anyway i hope you liked this anon!! ty for the ask<3#i'll try to get to other asks between today and tomorrow#i didnt forget about the others i swear#dimileth#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd#byleth eisner#fe3h#few3h#fire emblem three houses#fire emblem three hopes#anon ask#fic by op#yuzu writes#yuzu speaks
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Ashen Wolf Byleth & Teen Dad Yuri
The blade fell, and the beautiful ghost stepped away. “We don’t like surface people here. If you two are plotting anything, I’ll kill you.”
She said it so simply and easily, as if Dimitri’s death would be the work of nature or the Goddess and not her own two hands. Dimitri turned around, heart jumping into the throat, and met the eyes of his beautiful ghost for the first time.
The girl was solid, real, and around his age. She was wearing a strange, bastardized version of the Academy uniform, silver and embroidered with a strange symbol over the heart. Her hair gleamed navy blue and her lace stockings barely hid her defined thigh muscles. Her grip on her sword was excellent and her stance spoke of barely restrained power. The woman could kill him in a flash, and the stroke that cut his throat would shine like moonlight.
Like Dimitri loved a long fall and short impact, like he loved the light at the end of the tunnel, like he loved betting all in on the longest chances, Dimitri fell in love instantly.
I need to update Weekenders but there's about twenty reasons why I haven't done it yet. But while I've been posting it I've been writing a shitton of other stuff, only some of which is decent, so I thought I'd post the beginnings of this story while I finish up the New Game+ Claude POV fic. This is most of what exists so far, and I probably won't finish it. Writing Dimitri's POV actively made me feel more insane as a person.
TW for references and flashbacks to Yuri's canon past. Around 15k of an absolutely demented Dimitri, a deeply smarmy Claude, a disturbingly feral Byleth, and a Yuri who is just doing his best under the cut.
i.
Dimitri was rapidly growing obsessed with the beautiful ghost.
He tried to confess to his colleagues in the Blue Lions, but they just gave him sympathetic eyes and confiscated his training sword. A typical lack of faith in their leader, but Dimitri had to accept that it was well deserved. He was perfectly aware that Felix, Sylvain, Dedue, and Ingrid didn’t believe in ghosts, much less beautiful ones. Mercedes, Ashe, and Annette believed whole-heartedly in ghosts, but they thought he was being weird about it. So Dimitri was silenced, ostensibly for his own good. It was for his own good - future kings couldn’t exactly run around talking about beautiful ghosts - but it still felt like an odd form of betrayal.
And he still couldn’t get her out of his mind. If only he had proof, Sylvain would make fun of him just a little bit less. All he had to do was be patient and wait for his time to come. Sylvain would see. They’d all see.
The time came sooner than expected, with unexpected company. Dimitri and Claude were walking back from an important (Edelgard’s words) and mind-numbingly boring (Claude’s words) administrative meeting when he saw her again. They were walking a side path along the very edge of the monastery, using it as a shortcut between the main building and their own dormitory, and in the thick night their solitude was complete. Complete save for a shadow in the distance, darting from the forest and across the path like a minnow in a stream.
Dimitri dropped his books in shock. Claude stopped short, raising an eyebrow at him.
“What’s -”
“It’s her!” Dimitri cried. “That’s her! Hey - miss, please wait!”
The books and company were no longer important. Dimitri set off after her at a run, only barely aware that Claude was hot on his tail. As always, the ghost disappeared almost instantly - she crossed the path and dove into the tall shrubbery against the stone walls of the monastery, where she disappeared. Dimitri had seen her appear from the ground and disappear into walls before, only barely visible from the corner of his eyes, and every time she slipped like water from his fingers.
This time was no different. Dimitri skidded to a halt at her disappearing point, pushing aside thick branches in a desperate search for terrestrial beauty. There was nobody and nothing - the girl had walked straight into the monastery walls. Foiled again.
“Dammit!” Dimitri yelled. Claude’s eyebrows jumped up. “I was so close that time!”
“You know curse words? I owe Hilda a hundred gold.” Claude poked his head over Dimitri’s shoulder, watching his desperate search without helping whatsoever. “What was all of that about? Did you see someone?”
“Didn’t you?” But Dimitri already knew the answer, even as he said it - nobody ever saw her but him. “I’ve been seeing this girl since I arrived at Garreg Mach. She appears from thin air and disappears into nothing. I suspect she may be a ghost. I’ve searched high and low for her, but I haven’t been able to find her. And she slips through my fingers again!”
Claude hummed, scratching his chin. “Now that you mention it, maybe I did see a figure…”
Dimitri rocketed upwards, snapping several branches. He whirled on Claude, who took a large step back. “You did? Was she short, wearing silver clothing, unmistakably beautiful?”
Claude held up both hands in a plea for innocence. “...it looked kind of humanoid?” Figures. Dimitri turned back around, scanning the area again. If he could just follow her trail - maybe there would be a scent of death? Of ozone? Of the unknown? “Hey, if it matters that much to you then I’ll help you look. Can’t afford to rule anything out - even ghosts.”
“You’re a true friend, Your Grace,” Dimitri said seriously. Claude nodded back, equally seriously. “And even if she isn’t a ghost, an unknown person at Garreg Mach is highly suspect. She doesn’t seem to wear a habit, armor, or a uniform. It’s our responsibility as leaders to investigate mysteries like this.”
“Uh huh.” Claude slipped into the thicket with him, easily fitting into the barren spots where Dimitri already accidentally snapped off all the branches. Dimitri was already seriously knocking on the castle walls, searching for secret passages or weaknesses. “But not to tell a staff member?”
“I decided a while ago that I could handle this on my own,” Dimitri said stiffly. Wasn’t like anybody was willing to help him, anyway. “Some endeavors are personal.”
“I know that feeling.” Claude hummed, and Dimitri heard the distinct screech of metal scraping on metal. “So are you this invested because of the ghost thing or the beautiful thing?”
“With the potential non-invited guest at Garreg Mach thing, Your Grace.”
A terrible grinding sound split the night, and Dimitri winced. He was a bit sensitive to unexpected loud noises. Felix knew, and liked to sneak up on him and yell in his ear. “I’m a future duke and you’re a future king, Your Highness, I think you’re meant to speak less formally to me.”
“We’re both future leaders of our respective countries,” Dimitri said seriously. “Isn’t that more important than a discrepancy in titles? I’d like to show respect to you as it befits your station, not your title.”
More awful screeching filled the air, accompanied by a final grinding scream and a muffled thump. “Is that why you’re the only person who calls Petra ‘Your Highness’? I think that’s why you’re the only guy in this school she approves of.”
“Really?” Dimitri asked, pleased. Politeness always paid off! “I simply think it’s disrespectful to treat her as anything less than royalty simply because she is here as a political hostage - an outdated practice that I believe - I’m sorry, what’s that sound?”
“Oh, just opening a secret passage.”
“I see. I just think it’s an outdated practice that ought to be illegalized, and just between you and me I actually highly disapprove of - I’m sorry, a what?”
Dimitri turned around from his fruitless inspection of the wall for the first time and saw Claude squatting nearby. He had cut away the brambles surrounding the area with the tip of an arrow he pulled from somewhere, and a large manhole was resting on the grass next to him. He was currently sticking his head down a dark hole of indeterminable depth. Dimitri hadn’t even noticed a manhole!
Well. If the beautiful woman was a beautiful ghost, then she had undoubtedly gone through the wall. But if the beautiful woman was an everyday extremely attractive girl, then the manhole might be how she had escaped so quickly.
Finally, a lead! A path towards her! Dimitri did not know why he was a little disappointed. Was he secretly hoping she’d be a ghost? That would be a little impractical. Maybe he was just upset Claude had found it?
Claude popped his head back up, upside-down braid swinging back against his cheek. “Now isn’t this interesting?” For the first time, Claude seemed invested. “The sewer system doesn’t run underneath this path. So what’s an access point to the sewers doing right here?”
“...why do you know the sewer layout of Garreg Mach?”
“I’m a fan of a good mystery,” Claude said, completely ignoring the question. Perhaps. “How do you feel about a little exploration on this fine moonlit night?”
Oh no. Dimtiri abruptly felt a little anxious. “Your Grace, I don’t believe students are allowed in the Garreg Mach sewer systems.”
“What if it’s not the Garreg Mach sewer system?”
“That may be less allowed.” A little awkwardly, Dimitri added, “And I really wouldn’t want to accidentally break a rule and get in trouble.”
Claude gave him a look of blatant disgust. Dimitri hung his head in shame.
Finally, Claude took pity on him. He sighed and clapped Dimitri’s shoulder - once in camaraderie, twice in sympathy. “Your Highness. Are you really going to let some little rules get in the way of you and your soulmate?”
Dimitri perked up. Putting it like that…and he really didn’t want to look uncool in front of Claude, who was probably the coolest person at the school… “I suppose Lady Rhea would understand if it’s for the sake of love…”
“Attaboy.” Claude shoved roughly at Dimitri’s shoulder, pushing him into the hole. “Now let’s dive into the sewers. Lords first!”
Thankfully, Dimitri wasn’t obligated to fall down a hole face first. There was a wooden ladder descending downwards, warped and fragile from the damp air, and although Dimitri descended into the dark with no hesitation he had to force himself to move slowly and grip the fragile rungs with utmost care.
The darkness was absolute, and Dimitri and Claude navigated by feel. They climbed for what felt like ages, and Dimitri’s absolute concentration made the period of time span even longer. Claude prattled on above his head with some random thoughts and observations, but Dimitri was focusing too hard on the ladder to register what he was saying.
A boot knocked him on the head. Dimitri’s hands spasmed, crushing the rung into splinters, and his grip was completely lost. Dimitri bent backwards a terrifying foot before he righted himself and regained his balance, grabbing the side of the ladder and swinging himself heavily downwards. Of course, that broke the side of the ladder, and suddenly Claude was yelling a great deal of expletives as one side of his ladder began to slide downwards.
“Let’s readjust our approach,” Dimitri said mildly. He changed his grip to grab the two sides of the ladder, his metal gauntlets digging into the wood. “Get ready to slide, Your Grace.”
“Are you nuts -”
Dimitri kicked off, taking his feet off the rungs and loosening his grip on the sides. His slide downwards was alarmingly fast, and he could feel the musty air rise up to meet him. Claude was still yelling, his voice echoing up the empty tunnel, and a familiar wave of adrenaline rose to wash Dimitri’s mind clean.
He couldn’t help but grin. The wind tousling his hair, the swooping sensation in his stomach, the possibility of death and the high probability of injury - a recipe for excitement. Dimitri’s favorite sort of excitement - the sort that cleared out all of the nasty little thoughts that clouded his mind day to day, that made him forget all of his problems and memories and wounds and that focused him onto the present moment. It was a thrill that conquered all ills, and it was more or less the only time that Dimitri was ever happy.
His professor didn’t like that about him. Before Garreg Mach, Felix was the only person who was aware of Dimitri’s little addiction, but the Blue Lions professor had sniffed Dimitri out fast and never stopped giving him a hard time about it. Dimitri honestly didn’t think it was the professor’s business, but he knew they did not agree regarding that fact. It didn’t matter - Dimitri wasn’t about to change.
A light sprung from the darkness, and Dimitri immediately kicked his heels against the ladder and slowed his descent. The light brightened as Dimitri fell, and he was able to make out a hard-packed dirt floor just in time to bend his knees and soften his landing. The impact still rattled his legs down to the bone, but he hadn’t sprained anything.
Dimitri immediately jumped backwards, watching Claude come to the same conclusion and slow his descent. Unlike Dimitri, he didn’t stick the landing - he fell in an ungainly heap on the floor, gasping for breath and groaning. His hair was wildly mussed, and he looked a little green. His cape had ripped off his shoulders, and was currently hanging like a defeated flag several feet above their heads.
“What is wrong with you.”
Goddess, they’d be here all day. “You’re the one who kicked my head.” Dimitri wiped the splinters off his gauntleted hand, extending it down to Claude. Claude squinted at him in increasingly ill-hidden hatred. “Come on, have a little adventurous spirit. I thought you were here to explore the unknown?”
Claude pushed himself upwards, and Dimitri silently curled his hand and returned it to his side. Figured that Claude wouldn’t want to touch him. An expected reaction, honestly. “Sure I am. Now our way out of here is unknown too. Guess we have no choice but to press onwards.”
“I’ll lead the way,” Dimitri said - perhaps betraying the fact that he had no intention of going backwards. “I believe we’re already out of the woods. Look yonder - see the exit?”
There was, indeed, an exit. They had landed in a narrow rectangular room, and there was clearly a door at the far corner where the right wall intersected the back wall. Light shone from within, and Dimitri eagerly led them forwards towards the light.
He could even hear sounds, signs of life - the distant coursing of a river, and a familiar quiet symphony of sounds. They were the sounds of life - a soundscape of an ordinary day at the marketplace at the base of Garreg Mach, marked by shuffling feet and quiet voices.
“Is that people?” Dimitri whispered, excited. “What are people doing this far underground?”
“Is that people?” Claude whispered, incredulous. “Does Rhea know about this?”
“Perhaps they’re ghosts!”
But Claude just shook his head, and for the first time he seemed a little grim. He sped up, walking briskly until he overtook Dimitri. Dimitri fell back, letting him take the lead, and listened curiously as Claude muttered under his breath. Dimitri couldn’t make out the words at all - too quiet, perhaps.
“Ghosts!” Claude hissed. “Perhaps they’re ghosts, that’s fun, not dangerous -”
“Maybe they’re an army of ghosts,” Dimitri volunteered. Claude hissed something that sounded suspiciously similar to the Almyran term for the Fodlan ethnic group. He probably mishead. “Honestly, Claude, what happened to your thirst for adventure -”
“I thought I would get to see Dimitri Blaiddyd stomp through some sewers for an hour! I didn’t expect to stumble into real life people!” Claude stopped at the entryway, peering forward into the cavernous expanse beyond them. Dimitri stopped too. Quite involuntarily. “Holy - that’s a settlement! What is a settlement doing underneath - that’s a village! There’s no way Rhea doesn’t know about that. What else is that woman hiding?”
Dimitri coughed, frozen perfectly still. Cold steel kissed his neck. “Ah. Er. Some help?”
Claude ignored him, steadily working himself up. Dimitri had never seen Claude actually unbalanced before. It was unsettling. “Just when I thought I had five percent of that woman figured out, she pulls the rug on me again. I’ll never get anything good out of her this way. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I might have to fall back on the B&E plan -”
“Some help, Claude!”
Instantly, Claude said, “What B&E plan?”
“Don’t move,” the beautiful ghost said.
Claude turned around.
Dimitri had to assume it was the beautiful ghost. The sword was raised against his neck upwards, showing that the wielder had to significantly lift her arm to hold it. The voice was unmistakably a woman’s, light and delicate and young. It wasn’t ethereal - rather, it was solid, as solid as the steel against his skin - but there was still something otherworldly about it.
Claude stared at Dimitri, wide-eyed. His eyes traveled downwards - yes, the ghost had to be short - and he froze just as solid as Dimitri for a flat second before he relaxed. Over Claude’s shoulder, Dimitri could see the settlement stretching out before him - at the lean-tos and tents and shacks, at the people in rags milling about who were already beginning to stop and stare. The underground people were dirty, and the underground village was filthier. Dimitri immediately saw some elderly hugging the walls, and more foreigners.
Undoubtedly, Claude had seen what Dimitri saw. Claude was currently ahead of him - he was staring at the beautiful ghost with mouth agape, eyes wide. A hot flash of jealousy burst in Dimitri’s chest. Claude got to see the ghost’s face before he did! How incredibly unfair!
“Hello, there. Sorry for…uh, dropping in.” Claude slowly raised his hands, showing himself unarmed. Dimitri wondered where he had stashed his extra arrows. “We…come in peace?”
The sword at his neck flashed. It was well-kept, but clearly old and cheap. “Who are you with.”
“We’re not with anybody!” Claude said hurriedly. Bizarrely, he had immediately adopted an accent - a thick, regional Almyran accent, coarse and rough. “Please, ma’am, stay your sword. Don’t you have any idea who you’re holding hostage? He’s a very important person. If he goes missing your entire house will be endangered. It’s safest for everybody if you just let him go.”
The blade stilled. “...is he rich?”
“Oh, very! I know people who would pay thousands for his safe return!”
“What did I expect,” Dimitri muttered.
“And who are you?” the beautiful ghost asked. “Are you rich too?”
“I am but this man’s humble aide!” Claude said instantly. He bowed flamboyantly, with a distinctive Almyran flair. “A loyal and devoted servant am I, to His Royal Highness! My ten brothers and sisters wouldn’t have two coppers to scavenge together to pay a ransom, honest! Tell you what, tell you what - let me help!” Claude straightened, pulling out his most roguish and charismatic smile. “Let’s be friends, Fodlan beauty. Give me your demands, and I’ll deliver them straight upwards all the way to the top. I’ll be back with thousands! You can give the pale boy back later. If you want. How about it?”
The sword wavered. The ghost spoke again, her voice laced with doubt. “You’re both wearing the Academy uniform. Brother did say that the prince was attending school this year.”
“Beautiful and good intel sources! Surely you’ve heard of me, the Almyran vassal that follows around the prince and attends school with him?”
Dubiously, the ghost said, “Brother says that the vassal’s Duscuran…”
“I am disappointed that your brother cannot tell the difference between the Duscur and Almyran people!”
“It’s not like that…”
Claude promptly said something in - Almyran? When did Claude learn Almyran? The ghost said something back in Almyran, undoubtedly dubious. Claude pointed at Dimitri’s shoulder, showcasing Dimitri’s fine cape, and then at his own - and the distinct lack of yellow cape, which was probably still pinned to the ladder. The beautiful ghost murmured in assent - obviously Claude was a poor vassal, not a rich king, see his complete lack of cape.
The beautiful ghost said something, and Claude’s eyes sharpened. He grinned and bowed even lower - a vassal to a princess.
In the Fodlan language, Claude said, “Then His Highness and his loyal vassal would be honored to hold an audience with the lady’s esteemed brother.”
“You talk stupid.”
“You would really get along with my best friend, my lady.”
“I’m not your anything.” The blade fell, and the beautiful ghost stepped away. “We don’t like surface people here. If you two are plotting anything, I’ll kill you.”
She said it so simply and easily, as if Dimitri’s death would be the work of nature or the Goddess and not her own two hands. Dimitri turned around, heart jumping into the throat, and met the eyes of his beautiful ghost for the first time.
The girl was solid, real, and around his age. She was wearing a strange, bastardized version of the Academy uniform, silver and embroidered with a strange symbol over the heart. Her hair gleamed navy blue and her lace stockings barely hid her defined thigh muscles. Her grip on her sword was excellent and her stance spoke of barely restrained power. The woman could kill him in a flash, and the stroke that cut his throat would shine like moonlight.
Like Dimitri loved a long fall and short impact, like he loved the light at the end of the tunnel, like he loved betting all in on the longest chances, Dimitri fell in love instantly.
“Night night,” the love of Dimitri’s life said, before hitting him on the back of his head with the pommel of her sword, drawing black curtains over Dimitri’s eyes.
__________
Dimitri sat in an office. A rather inauspicious turn in this kidnapping saga.
He was sitting down because his head still hurt. He wished he was standing and showing his future brother-in-law the respect he deserved, but his future brother-in-law insisted that he tend to his probable concussion and sit. Dimitri wanted to protest - the man had already personally healed him, and his head didn’t hurt any more than usual - but the man seemed stressed enough, so Dimitri sat obediently in front of his desk. In an office. In an underground slum funded by the church. Which existed. Was that what taxpayer money was going towards?
Yuri explained the entire situation to him and Claude as he healed the bump and gash on Dimitri’s skull. For a given value of ‘entire’ - so far, Dimitri mostly just understood that the church organized a homeless encampment underground that accepted any members unconditionally and functioned roughly like its own little nation. The main encampment of Abyss was Garreg Mach itself - a basement floor of the monastery that had sunken into the ground after some unfortunate geographical events around seven hundred years ago. Dimitri wanted to ask if it was a possible problem that Garreg Mach was located in a sinkhole, but Yuri didn’t leave much time for questions.
The name of the slum was Abyss, and its inhabitants had little contact with the outside world. There were children in Abyss who had never stood in the sun, and infirm who hadn’t felt the sun’s warmth since they were well. Apparently the few inhabitants who regularly left Abyss used one of a series of secret passages in Garreg Mach, with entrances and exits that spanned the width of the monastery. These secret passages were very well-hidden, and an Abyssan well-versed in their usage could disappear and reappear throughout the monastery like…a ghost.
They didn’t have visitors very often. Not many people knew about Abyss, and strangely enough the people in the loop didn’t care to visit a damp, filthy underground slum. They had even fewer Academy students fall down manholes and stumble into this inverted land of wonder. Hence why the sight of Dimitri and Claude caused certain Abyssans to panic. With their swords.
These Abyssans were named Byleth, which was a lovely name. Potentially alliterative, too.
“Your Highness.” Yuri was gritting his teeth together. “I am…so sorry.”
“No harm done,” Dimitri said instantly. He wanted to express to Yuri that it was actually a great honor to be harmed by his sister, but he didn’t know how to say that in a normal way. “We were the intruders, after all. Byleth was just defending her home.” He turned to Byleth, who was standing stiffly behind her brother in a perfect match to Claude’s stiff stance behind Dimitri. Dimitri had barely taken his eyes off her, and yet she had failed to make a single facial expression. Fascinating. “Your swordplay was incredible, by the way. The way you held that sword to my throat was impeccable. I assume you’ve been professionally trained.”
“Here and there.” Byleth looked pleased, making Dimitri feel like a star. She pointed awkwardly at the silver sword at Dimitri’s hip. It was the same old sword Dimitri always had - some antique of the royal family, passed down from generation to generation. “I like your sword.”
Instantly, Dimitri said, “Thank you! Do you want it?”’
Byleth hummed. Yuri’s eyes widened a fraction, and Claude stifled a groan. “My sword is pretty old…”
“Here, take it.” Dimtiri immediately undid his belt and handed the sword over to her, belt and sheath and all. She held it up and admired it, testing its weight. Yuri’s jaw clenched. “Consider it my apology for following you uninvited into your home.”
Byleth nodded, twirling the sword easily in her hands. It was tremendously attractive. “Apology accepted. We’re even.” Her mouth twitched infinitesimally into something that may be loosely deemed a smile. Yuri’s eyes widened severely. “Thank you.”
Dimitri looked away, coughing. His face felt like it was going to melt off. “You’re welcome. It - ah, it suits you.”
“Do you think so?” Byleth asked, pleased. Perhaps. It was very hard to tell. Her voice was in a very strict monotone, but their deep spiritual connection meant that Dimitri could vibe these things out. “It does match my outfit.”
Dimitri would never be able to think of silver again without thinking of her. “I’m hono -”
“Your Highness.” Yuri’s voice hadn’t changed; nor had his words. His expression didn’t seem any different and his body language hadn’t shifted. But something about him was far now far less welcoming - something was different, all the same. “We’re very grateful for your gift, and for the forgiveness you’ve extended towards us regarding what happened. But it would be highly irresponsible of me to keep you here any longer. Abyss isn’t safe for somebody like you and your…vassal.”
“Khalid, sir.” Claude winked loudly at Dimitri, making absolutely certain that Dimitri understood that Claude was giving a fake foreign name. Yes, Dimitri picked up on that. “Really, wonderful place you have here. Very chic. Couldn’t possibly be that unsafe - if we had a good tour guide.”
Frostily, Yuri said, “I’ll have some scouts escort you back topside immediately. I’m certain Lady Rhea is looking for you.”
“It took her three days to notice that I tossed Lindhardt into a well, so I’m certain we have at least that long.” Claude leaned forward eagerly. “Who founded this place? Whose idea was it? Why is it underground?”
“Somebody who is no longer with us,” Yuri said, curt and even. “I’m the leader of Abyss now. And as the leader, it’s my responsibility to get future leaders of Fodlan back to their cozy beds.”
Claude flapped an easy hand. “Sure, let’s get the future leader of Fodlan back to bed. But this humble vassal’s awfully interested in this operation you’re running. Don’t suppose you could allow me to run around a bit? Check some things out? See your tax records?”
“I think even vassals have someplace to be, Khalid.”
“Why are you saying his name like that?” Byleth asked Yuri. She paused a beat. “Never mind. I don’t care.”
“There’s a great deal of places this vassal should be,” Claude said cheerfully, “but I think there’s only one place where I have to be.” He easily slid into the unoccupied chair next to Dimitri, leaning forward and folding his hands on Yuri’s desk. He had to nudge apart several scrolls of parchment and pieces of paper to do it - the man’s desk was stacked with forms, work, and quills. “Let’s put our cards on the table, huh? There’s a lot the church doesn’t tell us peons, Yuri. I’m willing to bet you know a lot of it. So in exchange for you telling me what you know, I don’t tell Lady Rhea what I know about a certain somebody trying to lop off the head of the future king of Faerghus. Sound good to you?”
Yuri crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, one thin purple eyebrow arching. “You have a lot to learn about the art of the deal, kid. What will Rhea say when she learns that Prince Dimitri and Duke Claude were out past curfew skulking around slums?”
“Duke Claude’s happily asleep in his warm bed, and every member of his House is sufficiently paid to corroborate that story.” Claude smiled winningly. “Khalid is a humble vassal interested in touring your fine slum. Khalid might also have some other gossip that you might be interested in.”
“Like what, kid?”
Claude’s grin widened. “I might tell you tomorrow morning. After my visit.”
Yuri was silent. His eyes flickered to Dimtiri, then to Claude. He glanced at his sister. “By, wait outside?”
Byleth nodded and exited the room. Dimtiri yearned for her achingly. But Yuri just straightened, face as blank and unreadable as his sister’s, and said something to Claude in Almyran.
For the first time, Claude was struck off balance. He looked at Dimitri, eyes wide, then back at Yuri. He said something empathetically, shaking his head, but Yuri just responded curtly.
In the Fodlan language, Claude said, “On the honor of my father and mother, no. I’m not trying to -”
“Really?” Yuri said. “You’re a novice at this con artist thing, kid. You’re too rich to do it well. Word of advice - don’t smile like you’re hiding something, smile like you’re keeping a secret.”
Claude pulled back a little, and Dimitri saw that he was almost pouting. “You don’t know me.”
“I know things about you that you don’t know about yourself.” Yuri looked at Dimitri, expression gentle and soft and bland. Like sheep’s wool, or dandelion fluff on the breeze. “Do you want to hang around Abyss a little longer too, Your Highness?”
Images of Byleth wielding his silver sword, flicking the blade in a deadly dance, spun through Dimitri’s mind. If he left Abyss now and never saw her again he would lose what little scrap of will to live he had left. Dimitri couldn’t keep losing good things. He was running out.
“Yes!” Dimitri said - a bit too quickly, a bit too empathetically. He coughed, forcing himself to settle down. “I mean - yes. As a future ruler, I should see how the other half lives. It’s important for a ruler to understand the needs of all of his people.”
It was perfectly true. It wasn’t what he was thinking, but it was perfectly true. Dimitri had the faint notion that perhaps he and Claude were missing the point of something important, something much bigger than them - than Claude’s secrets or Dimitri’s love story - but the allure of secrets and love was fairly overpowering at the moment.
Easily, as easily as he said everything else, Yuri said, “My sister’s not on the market to entertain you. I can steer plenty of other lovely ladies or gentlemen your way, but she’s a little busy with her own work.” Yuri tilted his head, looking at Dimitri through half-lidded eyes. Dimitri flushed a little. “If you insist, I’d be happy to spare some time for you. But I’m afraid my sister is just too busy.”
Claude stood up, chair skidding against the hard stone. “I just put my family’s name on this! As -” Claude said something quickly in Almyran, which completely flew over Dimitri’s head. “ - I am vouching for Prince Dimitri. I wouldn’t even say that for me, but I can sure as hell say it for him. You can trust us.”
Yuri’s face was unchanged. “I’ve heard that one before.”
And although Dimitri didn’t understand half the conversation - although he knew that there was subtext he wasn’t getting, that there were things about the world he just couldn’t see - he understood the right thing to do well enough for now. Standing in the midst of Abyss, it was clear.
Dimitri stood up, bowing low at Yuri. “I apologize for our intrusion. I see that my classmate and I have overstayed our welcome. I have no desire to add to the heavy burdens you and your village already bear. Please, if you can help escort us back to the surface, we’d be very grateful.”
When Dimtiri straightened, he saw a peculiar look on Yuri’s face. It was a little thoughtful, and a lot of another foreign emotion. “What will you do now that you know we’re here?”
“Ask Rhea how we can help,” Dimitri said immediately. Left implied: and confess to our wrongdoings, like good children. “Or you, if you’re amenable. Abyss is not located within my lands, but I am aware that many places like Abyss reside in the darkness of Faerghus. If I can do anything for you now - learn what you can teach me - then I consider it education on how to provide for my subjects in the future.”
“He’s sincere,” Claude said firmly. He stood up too, thumping his heart with a closed fist. “I haven’t been sincere since the poisoned fig incident, but I can swear too. We just want to help. So let us help - it can’t be every day you have two future leaders of Fodlan asking you what we can do for you.”
Yuri stared at them for a long few seconds, expression glazed smooth and unreadable, before he finally sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And I suppose you want my sister as a tour guide.”
“You just said she’s busy,” Dimitri asked, tilting his head in confusion. “I assumed she wouldn’t be available to show us around.”
Yuri narrowed his eyes - damn, the man was impeccable. Dimitri had attempted one subtle fib and he was caught out immediately. But the lie served its purpose, and something subtle in Yuri’s shoulders untensed. Dimitri hadn’t realized that they were tense at all.
Yuri opened his mouth and said -
“Boss! Did we really kidnap the prince of Faerghus?”
The door thumped open with such immense force that it smacked against the far wall. A truly giant man strode inside, followed closely on his heels by a blonde woman wearing an unsettling smile and a short dark-skinned woman picking at a cuticle. On the tail end of the party was Byleth. She nodded at Dimitri, who nodded back in a daze.
“I told them you were busy,” Byleth said serenely.
“Yeah, busy with His Royal Highness!” The large man stopped in front of Dimitri and carefully scrutinized him from head to toe. Dimitri allowed himself to be scrutinized. “Damn! What are they feeding you Academy kids these days? You’re solid muscle. Not as much as me, but not bad either!”
Dimitri fought the urge to sweat. The women flanked the big guy, blinking at him curiously. “I train frequently.”
“Really? Guess Bye-Bye’s found another freak.” The dark-skinned woman yawned, nodding at Byleth as she stood at her brother’s side. “You should hang out. Hit each other with swords or whatever.”
“Greetings to His Royal Highness and friend!” the blonde woman yelled, almost at the top of her voice. She put her hands on her hips, lifting her chin in the air. “Welcome to the home of Constance von Nuvelle! Our decor may be lacking, but our hospitality is second to none!”
“Really?” the other woman drawled. “I think the rats add some pizazz.”
“Silly Hapi! The rats are disgusting!”
“Bye-Bye eats garbage too, but we don’t give her a hard time about it.”
“Hospitality, huh?” Yuri smiled, and for the first time it seemed a little real. “Balthus, obviously you don’t have anything more important going on. Can you host our two noble young visitors? Who we didn’t kidnap?”
“We were a little kidnapped,” Claude said.
Balthus grinned, propping a hand on a hip. “I dunno, are you paying me?”
Quickly, Dimitri added, “We’ll compensate you for your efforts, of course.”
“Wait,” the dark-skinned woman asked the room, “are we holding you hostage? Because it sounds like we’re holding you hostage.”
“Sold, kid!” Balthus thumped a friendly hand on Dimtiri’s back. He didn’t stumble, which seemed to shock Balthus before he withdrew his hand and quickly covered up the motion. “You look like a good hand with a weapon. Not you, Almyran guy, you look like a wimp.” Claude narrowed his eyes, but Balthus just looked backwards at Byleth. “You should spar with our new friend, Byleth. I’ll finally get to see you knock a different musclehead on the ground!”
Constance squealed, clapping her hands. “Byleth and the new children can play together! Oh, how heartwarming! Socialization is a rare opportunity for Bylie indeed!” She looked at Yuri and stage whispered, “We cannot afford to lose this chance, Yuri!”
“Byleth doesn’t know a lot of kids her own age,” the dark-skinned woman told Dimitri and Claude. “She’s…a little awkward.”
Byleth blinked at them.
“Wow,” Claude muttered, “you don’t say.”
“I forgive you for holding a sword to my neck,” Dimitri said earnestly. “You were doing the right thing.”
“Seriously, are we holding you hostage or not?”
Yuri’s eye twitched. But his posture had fully loosened, and the presence of the strangers seemed to make him breathe a little easier. “We aren’t. And Byleth isn't a puppy we need to socialize, Hapi. You know how noble boys are.”
“Noble boy and his loyal vassal,” Claude added quickly, sticking stubbornly to the bit. Dimitri had no idea why, but Claude rarely vocalized his reasons for doing anything. “What do you think, Byleth? Want to hang out with us, or want to stay with your brother?”
Byleth stared at both of them unblinkingly. Finally, after a long few seconds of thought, Byleth said, “I want to train with Dimitri.”
Hapi shot a canny look at Yuri. “Balthus’ll supervise. Connie and I too, if you want.”
For a long second Dimitri thought Yuri was going to say no anyway. Dimitri would have accepted it. It would have robbed Dimitri of the only good thing left in his life, but he would have accepted it. Good things came and left all of the time, and part of life was learning how to deal with that. Dimitri liked to fancy himself an expert in it. He could lose one more thing - one flash of hope.
But Yuri only sighed. “Alright. Supervised. Now get out of my office, all of you, I’m far too busy to juggle nobility on top of everything else.” Claude perked up. “All of you. You want to talk about Rhea - we’ll do it after dinner.”
“Understood!” Claude bowed at Yuri again, and Dimitri hastily copied him. “You won’t regret opening your doors to us, sir!”
“Uh-huh.” Left unsaid - he definitely already was. “Out of my office, then. I’ve been away for too long and I have a lot of work to catch up on.”
Byleth tilted her head, a frown tugging at her lips. “You should leave less often. Your work piles up. It stresses you out.”
Yuri gave her a big smile, as if he was keeping a secret. “But if I don’t leave, I’ll never experience the joy of seeing you again.”
“You’re corny, Yuri.”
“Love turns even the best of us into cornballs.” Yuri and Byleth shared a look, empty and opaque, but in that blankness Dimitri saw something far deeper than he had ever experienced. “Just look at Constance. Every time she looks at herself in the mirror she gets sillier.”
“Excuse me, my sweet Yuri -”
“You’re excused, my darling Constance.”
“Must we fight,” Hapi panned, monotone and disinterested. “We’re a family. Look. You’ll make the baby cry.”
Byleth blinked at Hapi. “But I can’t cry.”
“Look. You’ll give the baby psychological issues.”
Balthus laughed again, cracking his knuckles with a pop that echoed throughout the cramped office. “This’ll be fun! It’s been a while since we’ve had a good adventure, eh Yuri?”
“Yes,” Yuri said, “that’s altogether what I���m afraid of.”
Truthfully, at that point Dimitri was no longer listening. He was just looking at Byleth, the girl who could not cry. And Byleth looked back at him, the boy whose heart was always crying. They saw each other, the heart-burdened and the heartless, and something in one reached out to balance the other.
And although the weight of the world above them crushed Dimitri’s shoulders, although they stood within damp and filthy slums tucked into the bowels of the planet, for those precious few seconds Dimitri and Byleth existed in the world with no obligation to anybody but each other.
_____________
ii.
Yuri was sitting in this bathroom fruitlessly scrubbing blood out of his one good outfit when he received word that Lady Rhea was requesting an audience. Because it was Rhea, he also received word that she was already waiting for him in the destroyed classroom.
Damn it! He had just returned! And he didn’t have anything to wear!
In the end, he was forced to keep Lady Rhea waiting another fifteen minutes because he had to dig out an older, rattier outfit and re-do his makeup. Approach: ‘I’m in my twenties, my stare is cold and piercing, and damn it I belong in this conference room’. Then he had to waste another five minutes because his hair was a wreck and his hands still smelled like blood. By the time he finally speed-walked down the halls and skidded to a stop in front of the classroom doors Yuri was twenty minutes late and already fighting the urge to freak.
As always, he halted at the doors. He took a deep breath in, then out. His outfit was dingy, which made him feel like crap, but the power makeup helped pick up the slack. He inhaled, exhaled, shook out his limbs, and entered the classroom.
Rhea was standing in front of a blackboard, her back turned to the door. She was dressed in an old brown cloak, but with the hood down and her beautiful green hair left to flow over her shoulders the figure was unmistakable as Rhea. She was writing in beautiful and flowing script on the blackboard with a piece of stubby chalk, and speaking in a low voice to the child standing next to her. The child was staring up at her, eyes wide, chewing on a knuckle. Th child’s dark blue hair was pulled into a stubby ponytail, and she was wearing only a tattered black dress and swimming in a brown jacket sized for a large adult man.
“ - your name. See, this is the B…like ‘bye’. Can you say ‘bye’?” The child blinked owlishly up at Rhea. “That’s alright. You’ll get it. You’re doing a great job already.”
Yuri coughed, and Rhea quickly turned around. With a strange start Yuri noticed that she was dressed down even more than usual, her face plain and wearing only a simple white dress underneath the cloak. Without her own makeup, she seemed tired. She smiled wanly at Yuri, who bowed back. The child turned around too, gnawing fastidiously at her knuckle.
“Yuri. I’m sorry to call upon you again so quickly after your return. Did all go well?”
“The job was done.” Deepen your voice, sound older - sound disaffected, yet sincere. Yuri wondered if he would ever live long enough that he could stop pretending to be older. “The deceased is no longer a threat to the church.”
“He was a threat to the safety of Fodlan,” Rhea said firmly. Yuri wasn’t sure about that one, but he did appreciate Rhea’s conscientious efforts to only toss absolute bastards into his pen. “I’m afraid I must ask something of you yet again, Yuri. This is important. I cannot fully disclose to you why this mission is so important, but please trust me when I say that this is a matter extremely close to my heart.”
Yuri straightened, folding his hands behind his back. He wanted to die a bit. Another important mission? As if managing Abyss, captaining his rogues, and assassinating bastards weren’t enough missions?
How long would she keep punishing him?
But Yuri just bowed. It was no effort at all to keep his expression placid. “I can accomplish any mission you give me, my lady.”
“I know. That’s why I’m trusting you with this.” Rhea put both hands on the girl’s shoulder and squeezed. The girl squirmed uncomfortably. You and me both, kid. “Yuri, this is Byleth. Byleth, this is Yuri. Why don’t you say hi?”
Byleth stared at Yuri, gnawing on her finger. Somebody probably ought to slap those knuckles with a ruler. She wasn’t a young child - twelve or thirteen, perhaps - but the habit and the wide eyes made her seem younger.
Yuri gave her his special ‘talking to vulnerable kids’ smile. “How do you do, my lady?”
Byleth stared at Yuri. A theme.
Rhea frowned, squeezing Byleth’s shoulder one last time before dropping her hands. “She hasn’t talked much since it happened. She…doesn’t seem to remember anything.”
“Anything about what happened?”
“Anything at all. She can’t seem to recall anything about her family or her life. Darling, you ought to get your knuckle out of your mouth.” Rhea ducked her head, staring steadfastly at Byleth. The girl slowly dropped her knuckle from her mouth, looking a little spooked, before Rhea lifted her head again. “Byleth here was kidnapped. There are…some forces in Fodlan that place great value in Byleth. I don’t know how they learned about her, but they haven’t left her in peace since they found out. They’ve tried to kidnap her several times, but their latest attempt was successful. The Church knights were only able to rescue her two days ago. The knight who rescued her brought her to me immediately, and now I must bring her to you.”
“Have you spoken with Aelfric about this?”
“Of course. He’s already given his consent.” Rhea’s eyes glimmered strangely in the light. Sometimes the only emotion from that woman Yuri could truly understand was the dark depths of her sadness. “Discretion is of the utmost importance. The people after her will not give up.”
Ah. Yuri understood. “Does she have a valuable crest?”
Rhea put a hand on Byleth’s head, slowly stroking her hair. Byleth went cross-eyed looking upwards and gawking at the hand. “Byleth is a very special girl.”
Alright, so don’t tell him. “You want to hide her and her family in Abyss?”
But Rhea just shook her head, expression mournful. “Byleth is an orphan. She will be alone in Abyss. That’s why I must ask for your help, Yuri.”
In the girl’s big dark eyes Yuri saw only trouble. Abyss sheltered plenty of people in hiding, but the people after Byleth seemed to be on a different level. If hiding the girl here brought danger into Abyss, then…
Then she was still a girl who needed help. Yuri would deal with any danger as it came.
“Madame Birch will be happy to take her in.” Yuri smiled at Byleth again, taking care to crinkle his eyes and gave it positive energy. “My friend Madame Birch takes care of kids just like you, Byleth. She’ll be so excited to meet you. I know some girls her age in your house who’ve been begging me for another friend.”
But Rhea just shook her head, expression somber and firm. “The forces after Byleth are powerful. I need to place her with the strongest person in Abyss - the person most able to protect her. That’s you, Yuri. Please take her yourself.”
Ah. What?
For the first time, Yuri had to fight to keep his expression and tone still. “My lady, my workload frequently takes me out of Abyss.”
“Then I can reduce your workload.”
That perked Yuri’s ears. He was a fool for not recognizing it immediately. Rhea was desperate. Her emotional involvement in this was far greater than keeping a tool out of the hands of the enemy. Byleth had to be family somehow - maybe even a secret daughter. Having a secret daughter of Lady Rhea in Yuri’s back pocket…under his exclusive supervision…
It was a death knell if anything happened to the kid. But the leverage was too good to pass up.
Fuck, he could even negotiate right here and now. He ought to send Byleth out of the room for this, but it was important that she understood what was happening and why. As much as she seemingly could - the girl may be a little touched. It didn’t matter, obviously, but it would necessitate a change in approach.
“Well,” Yuri said slowly, “the greatest distraction from Abyss would be my jobs. I would like to stay in Abyss full-time. Give her a more consistent upbringing.”
Rhea’s eyebrow quirked upwards, but Yuri was unrepentant. She knew what she was doing by looping him in. “I’ll reduce the quantity of jobs I assign you.”
“To once every four months, perhaps.”
“Once every two.”
“That would be highly detrimental for Byleth’s childhood development.”
Evenly, Rhea said, “Going forth, I will give you a job every three months at maximum. Is that a deal?”
That was fucking fantastic. Yuri was almost lightheaded, but he pressed on. “Sounds like a deal. But raising a child is no simple matter, my lady. Child-proofing the environment, educating her, feeding her…Abyss is run on a razor-thin budget. The expenses concern me.”
Rhea sighed. “I will funnel more money into your personal budget to compensate for the expense.” Yuri waited patiently. “And into the Abyss orphanages. Anything else, Yuri?”
She could be such a sucker sometimes. Sometimes Yuri wondered if she let him do it. Definitely not. Probably not.
“I’m satisfied. You’re as generous as always, Lady Rhea.”
“This is in exchange for Byleth’s safety.” Rhea’s expression sobered, the soft silk solidifying into stone. “In exchange for what I’m giving you, I need her safety absolutely guaranteed. Nothing can happen to this girl.”
“No need to fret, my lady. Abyss is the safest place in Fodlan. Nobody even knows we exist.” Yuri bent down a little, smiling at Byleth. She had regained access to her knuckle, and was chewing it fastidiously again. “What do you say, Byleth? Want to go home with me?”
If the girl wasn’t touched, she must have understood. She must understand that the woman who would not admit to a relationship with her had just bartered for her residency with a teenage assassin, den mother, and prostitute. All things considered, the price had been insultingly low.
Byleth just stared at him. Alright, maybe she didn’t understand. That would make this harder. Yuri really should have asked for more money. Teach the girl the first and most important lesson of her new life: that you should never sell yourself for less than what you were worth. Or market value, if you couldn’t get any buyers otherwise. Maybe this was just market value.
Smile, Yuri. Smile. “I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together, Byleth.”
Byleth blinked. At least she was a quiet child. This would be easy.
______________
This was impossible.
This was shit. Absolute and complete shit. Why wasn’t she like Bernadetta? Yuri had thought she would be like Bernadetta. All Bernadetta did was nap, read, exhaustively detail the plot of her book, and cry. Byleth couldn’t even read. Apparently, when children couldn’t read, they decided to follow you around instead.
Everywhere. She followed him everywhere. When Yuri sat in the small storage room he co-opted as an office she crawled underneath his desk and swiped at his ankles. When Yuri visited the rogue’s encampments and gave the leadership its newly tightened security measures, she ran around the training field and started waving wooden training swords around. It took three rogues to wrest a sword from her. When Yuri made the rounds of Abyss and talked to its citizens, hearing every problem and offering every condolence he could, she hovered at his heels and gawked at every conversation with wide eyes.
It was like having another googly-eyed shadow. Yuri didn’t have five seconds to himself anymore. He couldn’t even visit the tavern and unwind by flirting with one of his regular hook-ups - something about having a thirteen year old (twelve? Fourteen?) hovering at your elbow really killed your game. This must be what the older girls used to refer to as cockblocking.
Byleth still hadn’t said a word. She observed, but never really listened. Still couldn’t read or write. She could catch the rats scuttling around the gutters with her bare hands. The girl may be touched. Which, again, didn’t matter - but it made it extraordinarily difficult to convey to her the importance of ‘me time’. Or ‘don’t eat that’. Or ‘put down that sword’.
It was official. Byleth was a demon. Figured that the wolf in sheep’s clothing would spawn a feral little wolf cub. Yuri should have charged more.
At least Aelfric had his back. The cardinal had little time to sneak down into Abyss, but he had begun sparing whatever time he could towards playing with Byleth. Aelfric practically begged Yuri to allow him to spend time entertaining Byleth, saving Yuri from the effort of begging Aelfric to take her. Last time Yuri checked, Aelfric spent their time together teaching Byleth her letters in the destroyed classroom. And thank the goddess for that.
“I don’t understand why she didn’t ask me,” Aelfric said, for roughly the hundredth time. They were sitting at a stone desk in the classroom, eating a coarse but filling breakfast. Byleth was cramming a hunk of bread the size of her face into her mouth. “I have my duties, but I would have gladly forfeited them for the sake of this child. You’re barely more than a child yourself, Yuri -”
Yuri couldn’t help but bark a sharp laugh. “You do realize that you and my mother are the only people who have said that in a decade.”
“That doesn’t make it untrue,” Aelfric said gently. Yuri ducked his head, focusing on pressing a napkin into Byleth’s hands and directing her to wipe her own face. There was no way this girl even knew how to do her makeup. Ridiculous. “Rhea shouldn’t have put this responsibility on you. I don’t know what she was thinking, honestly.”
That made Yuri feel a little defensive. Byleth pushed away her plate, gnawing on her final hunk of bread, and Yuri pulled over her writing tablet. Aelfric had even sprung for a few pieces of paper and pencils dyed bright colors. Yuri hurriedly placed the paper and pencils in front of her. Last he remembered, drawing was an activity favored by younger children, but Byleth couldn’t exactly partake in the age-appropriate activities of gossiping, bullying other girls, sewing, or reading. Goddess, did she even know how to sew or embroider? Yuri would have to teach her.
“I could beat anybody in Abyss in a straight fight,” Yuri said. He hoped his defensiveness didn’t show. It was a little harder to hide with Aelfric. “Even you. More importantly, I know how to be stealthy and hide myself and others. I know the Abyss system like the back of my hand. As far as Abyssans go, I understand why Lady Rhea thought I was the best choice.”
“I’m not doubting your talent, Yuri,” Aelfric soothed, “I just don’t understand why Rhea couldn’t have put Byleth in the care of an adult. You have enough responsibilities of your own without adding another one on the heap.”
Yuri bristled. “I’m almost eighteen.”
“Eighteen with the burdens of a thirty year old.” Aelfric sighed, and Yuri guiltily subsided too. It wasn’t right to get defensive at Aelfric. After everything the man did to help him, he at least deserved the benefit of the doubt. “I just want you to enjoy what remains of your youth. There’s a sweet nun volunteering at the orphanage -” Yuri groaned. “Yuri, why can’t you hear me out on this?”
“You’re always going on about finding a nice girl, Aelfric -”
“Because you’re re-traumatizing yourself with all of these men,” Aelfric said patiently. Yuri looked down at his hands, restraining himself from picking at a manicured cuticle. “Look at you, Yuri. You haven’t changed any of your habits. You’re still trying to appeal to men. You have to begin to heal.”
There was something heavy and old in Yuri’s chest. It was a burden that never grew lighter - a pain that never retreated. The best he could do was ignore it. But Yuri kept picking at it all the same. “It’s not my fault that men continue to approach me.”
“But it’s your responsibility to turn them down. And men wouldn’t approach you so often if you didn’t wear all that makeup.”
When Yuri spoke, his voice was quieter than he expected. He had wanted it to be louder, stronger. But something had cut it down. “It’s not for them…”
A small, bony finger poked Yuri’s side.
He looked over at Byleth, who was staring at him with her usual wide, serious eyes. She picked up her picture and presented it to Yuri, who took it and inspected the image carefully.
It was of them. The girl was a far better artist than he expected, and although the proportions were a little wonky Yuri could clearly recognize all three of them. They were sitting on crates outside of a tent - a tent that resembled the ones in Abyss, but was more reminiscent of a standard issue mercenary’s tent. Yuri was drawn with great care, sitting straight backed on the crate and staring straight at the viewer. His makeup was exaggerated and poorly applied. Aelfric sat on Yuri’s left, wrinkles clearly outlined and his blood-red habit engulfing his figure. The red lines on the habit seemed closer to bloodstains.
In comparison to the rest of the drawing, Byleth’s figure was remarkably undetailed. She only drew the faint outlines of herself, with a few expressive lines demarcating an abstract face. The greatest level of detail was in the giant brown jacket she never took off - the careful impressions of its stitches and metal buttons were a strange contrast to the ghost wearing it.
“This is excellent,” Yuri said, genuinely impressed. Sometimes it was easy to think of her as younger than thirteen-or-so, but at other times her true age was perfectly obvious. Even the ghostly Byleth felt more like an artistic choice. “I like your usage of color. It’s very powerful.” He pointed at a spot in the upper left of the page, tucked in the corner closest to Byleth and furthest than everybody else. It was just a tight swirl of green pencil - the gradient of density between the thick middle and loose outsides giving the green a strange halo-like impression. “Is this the sun?”
Byleth gave him a disgusted look. Yuri could guess: ‘the sun isn’t green, moron’. Potentially: ‘what sun? What’s a sun? I know only the Depths’.
“Then what is it?”
Byleth tugged the drawing away from him, replacing it on the table and attacking the page with a pencil. Chewing the edge of the pencil, mind working furiously, she carefully wrote out a word. She stared at the word, scratched it out, and then tried again. She put down her pencil, nodded in satisfaction, and showed it to Yuri again.
He squinted at the page. In messy, juvenile script underneath the halo - with an arrow carefully drawn towards the halo, in case he missed the reference - she had written ‘SOHTHESE’.
“Sohthese?” Yuri asked, hiding confusion. “Is that a friend of yours?” Byleth shook her head. Then she nodded. “Is…that a yes or no?”
“She’s making great progress, but her spelling needs work. Let me see.” Aelfric held out a hand, and Yuri silently passed him the page. Aelfric took one look at the page and his eyebrows jumped. “I think she means ‘Sothis’. Is that correct, Byleth?” Byleth nodded vigorously. “Where did you hear that name, Byleth? I don’t think I ever told you that.”
Wait. That name was a little familiar. “Is that the name of a saint?” Yuri asked. “I didn’t know you were giving her catechism classes.”
“I’m not. And it’s the name of the Goddess herself. It’s not very well used - typically only scriptural scholars use it with any regularity.” Aelfric frowned down at Byleth, and for the first time his expression seemed troubled. “Where could you have heard that word…?”
“Wow,” Yuri panned, “I wonder where the secret daughter of Lady Rhea heard the name of the goddess. The world may never know.”
“Please, Yuri, be serious.” Aelfric was still frowning, staring at the paper intently. Byleth gestured for him to give the paper back, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just stared and stared at the paper, walking mental paths far beyond the provincial little world of Yuri and Byleth.
“Aelfric, I think she wants the paper back.”
“What? Oh, yes.” Aelfric looked up, still somewhat dazed. “Could I potentially keep this, Byleth?” Byleth shook her head no. “I see. That’s alright, then.” He passed it back, and Byleth tugged it firmly out of his hands. She replaced it on the table, smoothing it over carefully.
“I didn’t figure you for the religious type,” Yuri told Byleth. Byleth shrugged. “Are you going to become a nice nun too?”
“There’s nothing wrong with marrying a good woman and settling down,” Aelfric scolded lightly. “A home and a family is the greatest joy a young man can have. If you don’t change your behavior, you’ll never find happiness. I’m only worried about you.”
An extensive, agonizing rip split the air.
Byleth was holding up the carefully constructed drawing in clear view of both men. Making direct and unblinking eye contact, she looked at Aelfric and ripped the paper straight down between Yuri and Aelfric. Yuri and Aelfric stared at her in shocked silence as she finished cruelly ripping Aelfric from the paper, balling up his figure in one clenched fist and carefully replacing the cropped page on the table. Yuri, Byleth, and Sothis looked very happy together. Aelfric’s face was split in half.
Silence burdened the room. Aefric and Yuri gaped at Byleth in pure shock. Byleth happily took a blue pencil and began threading in streaks of blue in the green halo.
A bark of laughter escaped Yuri’s chest. His chest was light and full, and the thick iron bars that held his broken pieces together loosened and allowed him to breathe. Another burst of laughter escaped the abandoned prison, then another, and then the inmates began running the asylum. Yuri began wheezing, clutching his own stomach as he laughed uncontrollably.
Then Byleth laughed too, a light and ugly snort. It was the only sound he had ever heard from her. After weeks, the first and only sound Yuri had ever heard from Byleth was laughter. No tears, no screams of pain, no words begging for help, no moans for food - just laughter. A small smile painting the face of the girl as silent as death.
Yuri and Byleth, two prisoners unrestrained for the first time that they could remember, laughed together in defiance.
In the end, Byleth had given the picture to Yuri. She had forgotten about the whole incident after a few months - a few years later, when prompted about that picture and the Goddess, Byleth would just stare blankly in confusion. She didn’t remember those days well.
Yuri remembered them. He remembered the picture too. He had placed the picture between two pages of a book and hidden it inside a desk. It remained in that desk for a very long time, and nobody but him ever knew it existed.
_____________
And then he lost her.
He lost her. Aelfric asked if he could babysit her for the day, and because Yuri was tired and wanted some time to himself and to actually go on a freaking date for once he said yes, and when Byleth’s curfew at 2100 passed she and Aelfric still were not home. Aelfric knew to get her home by curfew. He knew that Byleth had to stay in Abyss for her own safety. He knew.
Yuri combed all of Abyss, top to bottom. Images of Aelfric and Byleth floating face down in the canal flashed throughout his mind. But a rogue stationed at one of the entrances from the monastery into Abyss said that he let Aelfric and Byleth through the entrance only a few hours ago. Apparently Yuri had asked Aelfric to take Byleth to the chapel to pray. The guard hadn’t thought twice about it. Yuri was Byleth’s guardian, but it was Aelfric. Some people were above suspicion. Some people could take children wherever they wanted.
Yuri sprinted back to his room and threw on his spare pilfered Academy uniform, stolen from the closet of a noble boy who should have known better. He pulled on the jacket as he ran, feet thumping in time with the omnipresent dripping of water and the squeak of rats, and his mind was nothing but blaring static as he unscrewed the entrance to one of the least-known entrances into the monastery.
He climbed the ladder at top speed, stopping only to grab the stone handle at the very top of the chute. He pushed full force against the handle, and after a second he heard the hard grind of stone on stone as the mechanism was activated and shifted the statue of Saint Cethlenn to the side. It was one of the finicky trapdoors that was almost impossible to access from above ground, but relatively easy from below. Yuri often had morbid daydreams about Garreg Mach falling under attack and how he would evacuate the entire population of the school out through the tunnels.
Yuri clambered out of the tunnel, hoisting himself into Seteth’s office. He looked around - empty, but the sound of voices echoed from the adjacent room - and quickly stood up so he could push the statue back into place. The voices were Rhea’s familiar cadence and another unfamiliar deep male voice. In any other circumstance, Yuri would have cared about revealing himself in front of a stranger. Today, he barely thought about it. Yuri burst out of Seteth’s office and skidded into the main chambers, ignoring Seteth’s cry of alarm and the rustling sounds of the guard’s armor. Yuri only halted when he was directly in front of Rhea, looking up into her alarmed green eyes.
Yuri bent double, leaning on his knees and gasping for breath. Rhea leaned over him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. The other man in the room was absolutely huge, with big hair and bigger muscles. If it wasn’t for the Academy student’s uniform he would have assumed the man was in his thirties.
“Whoah,” the big guy said. “Where the hell did you come from?”
“Where,” Yuri gasped, hard and heavy, “is Aelfric?”
Rhea paled, eyes widening. Fear. Why fear? “He told me he was visiting you today. What’s wrong?”
“Sounds great! So it’s official that nobody knows where Father Aelfric was, then?” The big guy waved around a thick folder of paper, one hand propped on his hip. “Because I hung out in his office for an hour waiting for him to show up to our appointment. He said it was important, too! All this stuff about helping save me from expulsion. And the guy can’t even show up? We’re talking about my future here!”
“Our guard saw him taking Byleth to the surface!” Yuri cried frantically. The big guy’s brows furrowed, but Yuri couldn’t be assed about him right now. “I can’t find Aelfric or Byleth anywhere in Abyss! Lady Rhea, you have -”
But Rhea was already straightening and turning to the guards. In a tone he had never heard before, she said, “Find Cardinal Aelfric and bring him to me immediately. Shut down the monastery until he and Byleth are found. Nobody in or out.”
“I know where he might have gone.” The big guy flipped the folder open, flashing messy stacks of paper and ripped pages from books. “I got bored waiting around for him, so I went through his desk.” No wonder this guy was about to get expelled. “Never knew one guy could get so into his ancient mausoleum hobby. Would you happen to know anything about this, Lady Rhea?”
Lady Rhea was silent. Yuri was still shaking. He should have been shocked, he should have been horrified. But he wasn’t. Yuri knew. Yuri had always known, he just hadn’t wanted to see it.
“This is all my fault,” Yuri whispered. He wanted to throw up. He knew this sort of nausea - the kind invoked by visceral disgust at something you found within yourself. “I let him take her. I let him run off with her. This is all my…”
The way Aelfric looked at her. The way he was constantly volunteering to babysit or entertain her for the day or homeschool her. Yuri had given him everything he wanted - every unsupervised visit, constant knowledge of her location, everything. Because Yuri had trusted Aelfric.
Trusted. He could be doing anything to her right now, because Yuri had trusted.
Hands, unimaginably large and hairy. Sagging flesh pressing against his own. Was this how Byleth felt right now? Were big hands on her chest? Awful pain, burning like fire. What did Byleth look like when she was in that pain? Did she make the same sounds he had? The squeals and moans. Did they like hearing them from her too?
“Yuri. Yuri, you have to breathe.” Lithe, strong hands enveloped Yuri’s hands and squeezed tightly. The melodic sound of Lady Rhea’s voice barely permeated the haze. “You’re at Garreg Mach, Yuri. You’re in the home of the Goddess. You’re seventeen. I’m here. Nothing may harm you so long as I’m here.”
“This is my fault,” Yuri gasped. “This is all my fault.”
“No, Yuri. Look at me.” Yuri shuddered a final breath before looking up at Rhea. Her expression was intent, but she was still so calm and composed. Yuri couldn’t say the same at all. “This is my fault. I didn’t share my suspicions with you. I’m the one who encouraged you to trust him. This was - this was all me.”
It was?
Rhea had known? Rhea had known that Aelfric wasn’t honest? She had known that Aelfric would take Byleth and she hadn’t said anything -
“I know.” Rhea’s expression creased, and a deep pain surfaced in her features. “I just thought…he loved her mother as I once did. Surely he would feel the same as I do…but I suppose not. People still disappoint.”
Yuri tugged his hands out of Rhea’s, and she let them go. He scrubbed at his face, constantly fighting to keep hold of his breaths and sanity. He was not about to have another stupid flashback. He wasn’t. Not in Garreg Mach and not in front of the stupid Archbishop. He wasn’t going to catastrophize. Byleth was fine. He had fucked up and failed her and it’s all his fault that terrible things are definitely happening to her right now, but it was fine.
“I hate men so damned much,” Yuri muttered miserably. Some part of him was appalled that he had cursed in front of the archbishop, but every other part of him was far more concerned with far more important things. “I’m never trusting a man again. All men do is make children suffer.”
The big guy laughed awkwardly, passing the file folder to the somber Rhea before scrubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “On behalf of men, I guess I have to apologize. I like to think we’re not all that bad…not that I can blame a - um, you, for how you feel. Tell you what, alright?” The big guy flexed an arm, as if he was at a bar trying to impress Yuri, and clapped his hand on his admittedly impressive bicep. “I’ll save this little girl myself! I’ll chase down Father Aelfric, kick his ass, get that little girl safely home, and redeem men in the eyes of women and - ah, you, everywhere! Or my name ain’t Balthus von Adalbrecht!”
A von Adalbrecht. Great. Yuri couldn’t repress the sneer. “Your uncle yells the name of his wife’s brother in bed.”
Balthus stared at Yuri blankly. “How do you know that?”
“How do you think?”
“Oh. Oh! Oh, gross! Why’d you have to say that, man!”
“Blame him,” Yuri snapped. “I don’t need the help of some meathead nobleman. I’ll rescue her myself.”
But Balthus just shrugged - as if this really was such a simple thing. “Why can’t we both rescue her?”
“Because I don’t know you!”
“I just introduced myself. Balthazar von Adalbrecht, call me Balthus.” Balthus stuck out his hand, waiting expectantly for a handshake. “And who’re you supposed to be, kid from nowhere?”
“I’m nobody. You ought to forget you ever saw me.” Rhea was already going to give him an earful over allowing himself to be seen. But Balthus was standing so expectantly, and despite that awful little trivia Yuri just shared he was still looking him in the eyes. “What do you even want from me?”
“What, you think that just because I want to help it means I want something from you?” Yes, that was exactly what Yuri thought. He wasn’t stupid. “Listen, pal. Even nobodies need some help here and there. I’m not exactly a saint, but any half-decent person would want to help you out. Since I’m the strongest, coolest guy in Garreg Mach, that means I have to help. It’s not exactly complicated.”
“There’s no such thing as decent people,” Yuri said sourly.
Balthus whistled. “You’re a regular beam of sunshine, aren’tcha?”
“I haven’t seen the sun in weeks.”
“You haven’t what now?”
“Take Balthus with you, Yuri.” Lady Rhea’s tone brooked no argument, and Yuri had to give up. It was always a waste of time arguing with a noble. They would just take what they wanted anyway. “You two will take our elite church knights and rescue Byleth. I can lead the way - I think I know where Aelfric and Byleth are.” Rhea’s expression darkened, sending something crawling up Yuri’s spine. Seeing a dangerous expression on her felt…well, it felt more dangerous than usual. “I suspect he is desecrating a corpse right now.”
“Wow,” Balthus said, impressed. “What the hell did I just walk into?”
“Captain Jeralt will arrive with the forces soon. We’ll leave then.” Rhea turned around, and Yuri and Balthus exchanged troubled looks. Her voice was poisonous. If she sounded like this, what expression was she hiding so carefully? “Aelfric will learn what Byleth’s true family is capable of.”
“Hell yeah!” Balthus cried, pumping a fist. “Go, fam!”
“We aren’t fam!” Yuri snapped. “What does that even mean?”
“But Lady Rhea just said that the bad guy’s gonna learn what -”
“That doesn’t make you fam.”
“But I’m on the team, and the team’s fam, so -”
“What is fam!”
At the time, Yuri’s only consolation had been the fact that he wouldn’t have to deal with Balthus for very long. He was a strong fighter with a compassionate heart, but if Yuri never saw another wealthy and spoiled nobleman again it would be too soon. Yuri hadn’t noticed when Byleth entered his heart, but that final and disastrous kidnapping session had proven it - whether they wielded the weapon or were the weapon, the people closest to you always hurt the most. Better to close your heart.
There were a lot of things Yuri hated about himself. The list was too long to count. But there was always one thing about himself that Yuri hated the most. One thing he just couldn’t stand.
Yuri just couldn’t close his heart. He just couldn’t do it. Every time he failed, and every time he had regretted it. There was no benefit to letting people in. He just couldn’t stop.
But Balthus had saved Byleth’s life that day. So maybe there was a benefit or two. Every once in a great while.
If you were lucky.
_________
Three days after Yuri and a moron saved a little girl from a bastard, Abyss received a visitor.
Yuri received him outside the ruined classroom. It would probably be more professional to bring him to Yuri’s office or something, but Yuri frankly intended to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Team up with the church knights once and suddenly they think that they have the right to go stomping all around Abyss. But you couldn’t exactly tell the captain of the church knights to get off your lawn, so Yuri told Byleth that he would be back in a few minutes and stood outside the classroom in increasingly frustrated wait.
Byleth had made big eyes at him. She obviously hadn’t wanted him to go. Ugh. He really hoped that this wouldn’t turn into a surprise administrative meeting that took five hours and never accepted Yuri’s input into anything. Yuri was re-teaching Byleth poker - she had undoubtedly already learned before she lost her memory, which was another strike against the ‘secret lovechild of Lady Rhea’ theory that had been admittedly punctured by the corpse of her mother - and she was unsurprisingly excellent at it. Girl was a genius in math.
But Jeralt didn’t show up wearing armor. He was wearing casual, battered furs, leather, and a familiar canvas jacket. Surface people were always tense and anxious in Abyss, expecting to get mugged by rats with daggers at any moment, but there was a different quality about Jeralt’s anxiety. He seemed as if he was steeling himself for something.
“Yuri.” Jeralt’s voice was always attractively husky, but it was closer to hoarse now. “Doing well?”
Yuri bowed, noting the bandage on Jeralt’s temple. “Yes, sir. All healed up. And you? That hit you took looked nasty.”
Jeralt huffed a laugh, rubbing the bandage. “I’ve taken hits from bigger monsters. Don’t worry about it. I would have come to visit earlier, but they only let me out of bed this morning.” Jeralt cleared his throat, shifting on his feet. “Ah…is Byleth doing alright?”
“She’s been having nightmares, but she’s fine.”
“She is?” Jeralt looked unreasonably alarmed. “Is she waking up at night? What are you doing to help? Tea -”
“She’s been sleeping in my bed the past few nights, so I’m keeping an eye on her.” Yuri eyed Jeralt, suspicions only growing. There was something off about this conversation. “Can I help you, captain?”
“Right. Ah, right.” Jeralt shifted again and coughed. Mysteriously, he took off his cap and held it tightly. “I was hoping to drop in and say hello. See how she is.”
Like hell he would.
“Byleth is busy doing her schoolwork.” Yuri’s voice could have frozen a flame. “You’ll have to come back later.”
“We don’t have to talk.” There was something old and weary in Jeralt. His husky voice was more of a rasp. “I just want to see her.”
Before he could restrain himself, Yuri snapped, “And why do you want to see her so badly?”
Snapping at the captain of the church knights. Fantastic. This was how you protected people - by alienating everybody else who wanted to help. That would do it.
Jeralt did want to help. The man had been withdrawn and quiet during their rescue mission, but he had been the first to rescue Byleth’s mother’s corpse and prevent it from melting into the monster. He probably would have been the first to rescue Byleth if Yuri hadn’t gotten there first - if Yuri hadn’t used a careful vein of magic to swap positions with her. Byleth had landed safely near the entrance and Aelfric had found a nasty surprise when he turned to look down upon a girl laid out on an altar and came eye-to-eye with Yuri’s dagger.
But that didn’t mean anything. Aelfric had helped Yuri and Byleth too, and look where that got them. Yuri didn’t know anything about Jeralt. He could have ulterior motives. He worked closely with Rhea, who was nothing but ulterior motives. The only person Yuri was certain didn’t have ulterior motives was Balthus, who was just clearly too stupid.
Jeralt didn’t grow angry or defensive. He just looked a little sad. Yuri crossed his arms, fighting the urge to bristle. “How are you holding up, kid?”
“I wasn’t the one who was kidnapped.”
Jeralt huffed a small laugh. “It ain’t exactly easy on the onlookers, either. It’s alright if you’re not alright.”
“I’ll persevere somehow.” Yuri was quickly losing track of this conversation. Why was Jeralt asking about this? “Did Rhea tell you to check up on us?
“Rhea doesn’t know I’m here. She’s…strongly encouraged me to stay away from Abyss.” Jeralt’s mouth twisted unhappily. “She’s right. I really shouldn’t be here. I just…wanted to see her.”
“And why is that?”
For a long, long moment, Jeralt didn’t answer. Great. He couldn’t even think of a good lie. He couldn’t even say that he wanted to make sure she wasn’t injured, or assure himself that he had gotten her out of there intact - Yuri would have even believed those bland excuses. But he had nothing to say for himself at all. How suspect.
The door creaked open, and Yuri spun around just in time to see Byleth poking her head out of the classroom. Yuri opened his mouth, ready to reprimand her and shuffle her quickly back inside where no suspicious men resided, but he was too slow. The second Byleth saw Jeralt her eyes widened, and Yuri saw her eyes light up for the first time.
“Jeralt!” Byleth cried.
She dived forwards, and Jeralt automatically crouched down to accept the hug. They squeezed each other tightly - Byleth hanging on for dear life, Jeralt fighting shuddering breaths. His hand pressed on the back of her lead, warm and protective.
So she could speak. Yuri had been wondering. Her first word of her new life was…Jeralt. That was fine. Good for her. And Jeralt.
“Hey, kid,” Jeralt rasped, throat thick. “How’ve you been?”
Byleth patted the top of his head.
Alright, that was enough. Yuri took the white collar of Byleth’s neat little navy blue dress, pulling gently until he reeled her back away from Jeralt. The effect was somewhat like a scruffed kitten, but whatever worked. Yuri’s carefully tied puffy twin pigtails didn’t help the kitten impression.
“Don’t run towards strange people,” Yuri scolded. “This is why you keep getting kidnapped.”
Byleth wriggled around until Yuri finally sighed and released her. Jeralt slowly rose, but Byleth ran back towards him and tugged hard at his jacket. Jeralt raised a patient eyebrow, watching Byleth carefully.
Yuri had distantly noticed it before, but now that Byleth drew attention to the jacket it was obvious. It was a very familiar jacket. Not identical to Byleth’s old one - the giant canvas jacket that she never took off - but it was similar in fit and cut.
“What do you need?” Jeralt asked. Byleth tugged harder at the jacket, as if she was trying to pull it off him. “Use your words, kid. You can do it.” Byleth heroically attempted to rip the jacket from Jeralt’s body. Yuri made a strangled noise, but Jeralt didn’t blink. “You have to start speaking up sometime. I bet Yuri over there wants to hear your voice too.”
Byleth’s eyebrows ticked together, but she finally released the jacket. She stared fixedly at Jeralt, who amicably allowed himself to be stared at. Finally, she said, “Aelfric lost jacket.”
Automatically, Yuri corrected, “Aelfric lost my jacket.”
“Aelfric lost my jacket,” Byleth parroted. She poked at Jeralt’s canvas jacket again. “I want the jacket again.”
Turned out that there was one way Byleth could be even more trouble - opening her mouth. Yuri sighed, already regretting his life. “Byleth, you’re being incredibly rude. You can’t just ask adults to -”
But Jeralt was already shucking his jacket, with no hesitation or thought, and passing it to Byleth. She brightened, clutching the thick material tightly and burying her face in it. She smelled it deeply, making Jeralt’s expression crease into something absolutely unfamiliar to Yuri, before swinging the jacket on and allowing it to swallow her up yet again. This edition went to her knees, looking far more like a baggy coat than anything else, but she beamed up at Jeralt in absolute joy anyway. She turned to Yuri, spreading her arms out and silently bragging about how great her new jacket was.
Something that should have been obvious weeks ago suddenly became extremely obvious. “You’re the one who gave her that first jacket. The one she never took off.”
“She never took it off?” Jeralt smiled a little, but the weight on his shoulders only seemed to grow. “I gave it to her after I rescued her from her kidnappers last time. She was - ah, she just seemed cold. I assumed she had thrown it away or something.”
“You’re the one who rescued her?” Hadn’t Lady Rhea mentioned something about this? “Wait - are you the one who brought Byleth to Garreg Mach?”
“Yup. It’s why I wanted to see her again.” Jeralt patted the top of Byleth’s head, who swelled her chest in pride. “She’s picked up a habit of getting into trouble.”
That did explain it. No wonder he was invested. After so much work invested in keeping her alive, Yuri would want to check up on her too. Why couldn’t he just say that?
Byleth looked seriously up at Jeralt. “Thank you for the jacket.”
“I knew you had manners in there somewhere.” Jeralt crouched down again, looking just above Byleth’s head. Yuri had noted weeks ago that she didn’t like eye contact, but it seemed that Jeralt knew that too. “Try not to lose that one. But if you do, come right back to me and I’ll give you another one. Alright?”
Byleth nodded.
Jeralt sighed. He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. Byleth leaned into the touch a little. “Be more careful from now on. Your world will only grow more dangerous as you get older. You have to be ready, so train hard.” Impulsively, he took the cap off his head and placed it on her own. It fell over her eyes immediately, far too large for her, but she hurriedly pushed it upwards. “Listen to that brother of yours. His life looks hard enough already, so don’t make it any harder.”
Byleth’s eyes widened. “Brother?”
“Brother?” Yuri squawked. “Please, Captain, Rhea hired me to supervise her. This is just an arrangement.”
Jeralt shifted to look at him, and Yuri saw flint in his eyes for the first time. “We need to separate Byleth from her past life even further. We don’t know if Aelfric told anybody about the identity of Byleth’s mother. Connecting her to you is safest for both of you. Guess I should have asked first, but it’s a matter of her safety.”
“This is an arrangement.”
“Then arrange a fake relationship. You need some excuse for why you’re joined at the hip. Pretend she’s some orphan you took in under your wing - it’s not even a lie.” Jeralt straightened, turning to look at Yuri for the first time. His expression was somber and serious, but he looked smaller without his jacket. “Look, kid. I admit I wasn’t happy when Rhea passed her off to you. Rhea has her own reasons for everything she does, and you’re…”
He trailed off, clearly struggling for political correctness, before Yuri took pity on him. “An ex-whore who moonlights as Rhea’s lackey?”
“Saints, kid, that’s not what I was about to say -”
“What’s a whore?” Byleth asked loudly.
Yuri looked down at her. “Somebody who’s so good at something that they never do it for free.” Byleth nodded sagely, and Yuri looked back up at Jeralt. Jeralt didn’t seem happy, but Yuri wasn’t paid enough to entertain him. “And even if you weren’t crass enough to say it, it’s the truth. You don’t trust Rhea and I do whatever she says. Trust me, Captain, I wouldn’t be happy either. You don’t have to cozy up to me.”
“I wasn’t happy because you’re seventeen years old,” Jeralt said firmly. Yuri rolled his eyes. Not this shit again. What was with adult men always reminding him that he was in his teens? Did they get off on it or something? “I knew Rhea would put her with somebody she trusted absolutely. I just didn’t want that person to be you.”
Of course he didn’t! Who the hell would? Yuri was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion about Jeralt’s relationship to Byleth - nobody else would have thought to rescue a corpse before an imminent battle - and no self-respecting father would want their daughter around somebody like Yuri. Byleth was pure and innocent. As innocent as a thirteen year old could ever be - wiped clean of her old life, completely noncognizant of the world around her. How often had she seen the sun since she met Yuri? She hadn’t even spoken before now. The girl had a damned imaginary friend, for heaven’s sake. Byleth was innocent in every way, and Yuri was filthy.
“Saints, kid, don’t give me that face. It’s not because of your background. It’s just obvious that you have more than enough on your plate. Don’t you have a city to govern? Evil errands to run for Rhea? I just don’t know how the hell you have time.”
“Do you think I can’t do it?” Yuri snapped. “I have more than one skillset, you know.”
Jeralt exhaled heavily, scrubbing his face. “You are the least charitable - never mind.” He was uncharitable? Maybe he just didn’t buy stupid lies. “None of this is coming out right. What I’m trying to say is that you need whatever help you can get. Calling yourself siblings would make your life easier. But I’m hardly going to force you into it. Do whatever you want, kid. I’m not in charge of you.” Slightly quieter, he said, “I’m not in charge of either of you.”
Yuri wanted to call Jeralt a bad father. He knew already that Jeralt was probably the best father he’d ever met. Taking up a job with somebody he clearly hated for the sake of staying near a daughter he was barely allowed to see. Who he couldn’t even claim, because some mysteriously evil people were after her and she was safest in complete anonymity. Some fathers would cheer at the opportunity to ditch their daughters, but the pain in Jeralt’s voice was real. And yet he wanted to tie her to Yuri.
It would only contaminate her. He was already ruining her. Yuri had to stay away, he had to keep her out - if only for her own sake. To protect her from Yuri, and to protect Yuri from the world. Yuri couldn’t let anybody else inside. Too dangerous for everybody.
But refusing Jeralt’s proposal wouldn’t protect her from the world. And maybe a father was thinking about a factor that Yuri had missed completely.
The fact that her mother was a shockingly well-preserved corpse and her father had to disown her. Rhea was somehow related to her, which was bad enough, but she couldn’t claim her either. Even Yuri had a mother. To the world, Byleth was alone. That was…
“Fine.” Yuri had lost this battle. He had probably also lost the war. Whatever. He fought for his own side anyway. “But I won’t force her to call me that. She’s not terribly attached to me.”
It was the rational thought. Yuri had repeatedly left her alone with a freak and allowed her to get kidnapped again. It was a miracle her real family hadn’t fired Yuri the second she got kidnapped.
But Byleth’s brow furrowed in outrage. Yuri fought the urge to startle - he had almost forgotten she was there. “I like you.”
The words stopped Yuri short. He wasn’t sure why. They weren’t strange words, were they?
His hesitation must have been obvious, even to Byleth, because she promptly grabbed him in a giant hug. It was small, comforting, and warm. Her small body fit nicely next to his, and when he folded his arms over her he could almost envelop her.
Jeralt just gave him a wry grin. “I guess you were too far away to hear. Remember how I was right next to you when you swapped positions with her?” Yuri nodded. “When she appeared in your place, I scooped her up and put her on my horse immediately. I think she knew what had happened. She called out your name. Damn near tried to jump from my horse and run towards you too.”
That didn’t seem right. But she had hugged him after the fight, hadn’t she? Balthus had called it adorable. Come to think of it, Balthus had asked if Byleth was his sister too…Yuri hadn’t known what to say. He didn’t know what to say now.
Jeralt propped a hand on a hip, smiling. “You see that, Byleth? Yuri didn’t know you liked him. From now on you’ll have to speak up and tell him you like him a lot.” Byleth nodded fastidiously. “Attagirl. Hey, can you take that book from the inside pocket and pass it to your brother? It has something he might want to see.”
Byleth eagerly separated from Yuri and completed the errand, pulling out a small book from a jacket pocket and passing it to Yuri. Yuri opened it and began flipping through it, just barely catching scraps of documents and notes that came slipping out.
“Check the last few pages,” Jeralt said. “We found it in Aelfric’s things. Actually, that klepto student found it. Is that guy a friend of yours or something?”
“Or something,” Yuri muttered.
Byleth stared up at Jeralt. “Is Balthus my brother too?”
“No,” Yuri said.
Jeralt shrugged. “If you want. He’s rich, so maybe you can fleece him.”
“I already tried,” Yuri said distantly, flipping through the book. Something about four crests…notes on a very familiar crest. Balthus’ pilfered paperwork had already revealed that Aelfric had targeted him for his crest. That had burned. Yuri was trying not to think about it. “He’s broke and only attracted to older women.”
Pity, too - Yuri could have had an excellent sucker on that reel. He made his move during the ‘post-rescue a little girl drinking party!’, but Balthus just pointedly pretended he didn’t pick up on what Yuri was doing and started talking loudly about how Yuri reminded him of a hypothetical younger brother. It was frustrating. Yuri still didn’t know why Balthus had helped him. There was probably a secret motive that Yuri just hadn’t picked up on yet. Or maybe Balthus actually -
Yuri stopped short. This page was about Balthus. About the von Adalbrechts, and some sort of mysterious crest in their family legend. Right alongside a personality profile on Balthus…notes on his attendance and conduct issues…character notes…records of meetings and conversations with Balthus…lists of broken school rules…apparently psychologically unstable…
Yuri flipped a page backwards. It was on him. He caught a few paragraphs on his history before he quickly flipped forward. He didn’t want to know what Aelfric thought of his personality. Probably just called him a slut for two straight pages. Definitely marked him down as psychologically unstable.
But there were people besides Yuri and Balthus in the notebook. Right after Balthus’ incomplete profile, there was another name and short descriptor. Constance von Nuvelle. Another rich bitch noblewoman. Current student of the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery…extremely high grades for her first few years at the school before they plummeted half a year ago. Now at risk of dropping out. Extensive record of conduct issues, same as Balthus. Aelfric made note of…severe psychological instability, whatever that meant. And a certain crest…
Yuri flipped through Constance’s profile until he found another. Hapi, no last name - a commoner. Extensive hypothesizing on the power of her crest and little information about her. Current resident of a church in the middle of nowhere. Psychologically unstable.
“This explains why Aelfric was having those private meetings with Balthus,” Yuri muttered. “I guess we both have powerful crests. These two women must also have powerful crests…but why keep tabs on them specifically? Why keep tabs on all of us?”
“Aelfric talked about blood a lot,” Byleth said seriously. Yuri really shouldn’t have left him alone with her.
“I should contact Lady Rhea about this,” Yuri said. He continued flipping through the book - going through Yuri Leclarc, Balthus von Adalbrecht, Constance von Nuvelle, and Hapi’s profiles again and again. Four strangers placed right next to each other, thrown together by fate. “She’ll definitely be interested in learning about Constance and Hapi.”
Byleth peered over his arm, trying to take a glance at the book. Yuri let her. She could barely read. Maybe secrets would incentivize her to keep learning. “Are they important?”
“Probably not,” Yuri said.
But even then, he had lied. Even then, he had already known.
Call it intuition.
#my writing#fe3h#fire emblem three houses#dimileth#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd#claude von riegan#yuri leclerc#byleth eisner#fun fact. writing claude in his story was so incredibly fun#that i stopped writing this and turned around and wrote a#60k claude POV fic#instead of finishing this.#the claude pov fic is exclusively for me nobody will read it that is fine but it is fucking insane.
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Don't know if this is unpopular opinion but I think all the House Lords, Manuela, Hanneman, Seteth, Flayn, Cyril, Lysithea, and the Ashen Wolves should have been able to have supports with every playable character, even if they don't result in a full C-B-A support chain or paired endings.
With the House Lords, it makes sense. They're the leaders of the nations of Fodlan. They're the ones who will be running things. It makes sense that they interact more with others given their positions. How would their interactions with students from other houses change how they view the future? Missed opportunity all around.
Hanneman and Manuela are fellow professors. They are in charge of the other houses and teach the other students. We should see how their interactions with said students would play out. They should have been able to build supports.
Seteth, Flayn, and Cyril never leave the monastery. They're the only members of the church that don't get sent out on missions (and Flayn only does so after joining your class). How do they interact with each other? How do they interact with the students we don't see supports for? How do they feel about the Lords they don't have supports with? Seriously, a lot of miss opportunity. (The fact that Dedue and Cyril don't have supports is a crime).
The Ashen Wolves? I'm sorry, but how on earth does Linhardt NOT have supports with Constance von Nuvelle of all people? You're telling me he wouldn't be all over Balthus? No flirting with Yuri in banter discussing Crests and how shitty society is? How is the rest of the student body not interested in them? I want Balthus and Hapi to talk to Petra and Dedue regarding their homelands and being outsiders because of that. How come Ashe and Yuri have NO SUPPORTS in Houses? We were robbed of Constance-Hubert and Yuri-Hubert friendship. I want Balthus, Caspar, and Raphael to be sparring buddies dammit! THEY LITERALLY LIVED RIGHT BELOW THEM HOW DO THEY NOT INCITE MORE CURIOUSITY FROM THE STUDENTS?
And Lysithea? Lysithea deserves to have all the friends. All the friends that will give her cake. All the friends who will study with her. All the friends who will fight for her. Lysithea has so much to offer in terms of character interactions.
#fe3h#fire emblem three houses#edelgard von hresvelg#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd#claude von riegan#seteth#flayn#cyril fire emblem#lysithea von ordelia#yuri leclerc#constance von nuvelle#hapi fire emblem#balthus von albrecht#hanneman von essar#manuela casagranda
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(I'm gonna start doing this from now on uwu)
FE3H 5th Anniversary Countdown Questionnaire
In celebration of FE3H's 5th Anniversary being this month (July) on the 26th, here is a countdown questionnaire for each day until 26th!
When did you hear of FE3H?
When they announced it!
2. What got you interested in FE3H?
I have been a fan of FE for years, so I was already excited before I knew anything about it. When I saw the trailer I had mixed feelings about it, but I still wanted to play it
3. Which was your first House?
Golden Deer. Claude looked the most interesting to me, and he's still my fav of the lords (though not by much). He didn't seem like your typical FE lord, and I was right
4. What is your favourite House and why?
The Black Eagles, because it has Hubert, Edelgard, Linhardt, Petra and Dorothea. I also do like their aesthetic and dynamic. There's something New Wave-y about them
5. What is your favourite story and why?
Crimson Flower for sure, though I like Verdant Wind and Azure Moon too!
I just like how unique CF is. And despite its flaws, I think the ending is the most satisfying for me. Also, the more we see of Hubert, the better
6. Who is your favourite character and why?
Hubert. Because he has not one boring moment. Even when playing Verdant Wind (so my first route) I couldn't wait to look what he has to say during Explore. He just never misses
I love how he talks, his voice acting (both actors did a great job), his sense of humour, his design, and his sadistic streak. I like that it isn't always clear what he's actually thinking, I love what he has to say about nobility and knights, and I appreciate how strategic you have to be with him as a unit
7. Who is a character you think deserves more love and why?
Cyril. I get that he isn't the easiest character to love, but I like his wit, how direct he is, and I'm just a sucker for characters who seem loyal to an unhealthy degree (yes, I love Dedue as well)
Also, he's just a kid, and it's annoying that other characters are more easily forgiven for the same flaws
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Azure Gleam Ch 11
Spoilers below for AG Ch 11.
STORY
RODRIGUE is back. You have no idea how happy I am that he got more screen time (and is now playable!)
Ashe's not happy that some nobles kept their titles after turning coat, but they can't afford the chaos changing things would create right now, but they plan to in the future.
I am living for the Big Dad energy Rodrigue always has.
Do we get to kill Caspar's Dad? Please let me kill Caspar's dad.
Felix asking the right questions - asking if they can trust Claude. Annette doesn't trust Claude. Ingrid neither, but doesn't think he's as bad as Annette and Felix.
Gustave and the Knights of Serios are keeping the Alliance in check.
Once again, people asking if Dimitri can kill his step-sister. But Dimitri's like, guys, I killed Rufus. I can handle it.
Ohh, a letter from Patricia? If it doesn't have new info, why bring it up? Something disturbing. Confirmation she was always bad.
Yep, she helped plot Duscur. I mean, we all guessed she was an awful human being, so now we know.
Like, I don't blame Patricia for missing Edelgard or whatever, but setting your child step-son to get butchered alongside tons of other innocent people is straight-up evil.
Dimitri's worried about Shez, and she's opening up to him. It's pretty sweet. It's also so sweet how much they trust Shez even if she doesn't trust herself.
Honestly, Dimitri and Shez are so cute, as friends or more, it doesn't matter, they have a great relationship.
Shez would rather die than kill her friends 😭 We won't let that happen (it better not happen)
MAP/SIDE BATTLES
Seteth said he trusts me 😭😭😭
Rodrigue got to say two things this time, which means he made up for lost time last chapter.
Ok guys, Shamir just went up in my books. She said as a mercenary she'll get hired to kill anyone, but prefers killing bad guys, like the Empire. I love it. She hasn't said anything like this in GW or SB.
SHEZ & RODRIGUE B
LAMO, omg, I love Shez.
So it starts with Rodrigue taking Shez very seriously as Shez talks about how the war may be over by next winter because she . . . wants to have a snowball fight, like all the Kingdom kids got to do.
It's actually kind of sweet, seeing Shez want to just play and have fun with the Blue Lions.
Rodrigue, of course, love the idea.
And takes snowball fighting too seriously, talking strategy. Of a snowball fight. OMG I love this. I love him.
He'd do full-out battle with Lambert and go with kids.
Rodrigue lost, lamo.
So Lambert would rush into battle alone, and Shez thinks like father like son with Dimitri.
I also love how Rodrigue thinks Gautier is cowardly for laying and ambush for Lambert, but is totally fine with his own sneaking and waiting to strike.
It ended with them getting cussed out by Ingrid's dad for not taking the mountain seriously.
Shez can invite Rodrigue to join in.
Oh, man, I wish I got to see this fight. I can only imagine Felix when he realizes Rodrigue is involved and thinking it's dumb for taking it seriously, then taking it seriously. Ingrid being an absolute tyrant ordering people to follow her strategies. Dimitri scared he'll knock someone's teeth out. Mercedes being absolutely savage. And so on...
DIMITRI & YURI C
Excited for this.
Yuri's told a "funny knight" who's really strong is helping everyone out who sometimes sounds sheltered and obtuse and sometimes not. Yep. It's Dimitri.
Yuri's not happy seeing Dimitri in dangerous allies. Worried about him. But Dimitri wants to learn how the commoners live so he can help them rule better.
OMG, Yuri's like "you don't have an heir," worried about the civil war that will happen if Dimitri dies.
Yuri is determined for Dimitri to live a long and happy life because the people of Faerghus like Dimitri and Yuri likes the commonfolk of Faerghus.
Also love how Yuri points out that if war breaks out, nobles will die, but commoners get slaughtered. Wish he'd tell Edelgard that.
Haha, he says to bring Dedue at least.
OMG, I love Dimitri. He then just asks Yuri to be his bodyguard.
And Dimitri won't ask Dedue because he knows Dedue will just forbid Dimitri from coming, like a nanny, lol.
Yuri's entertained that Dimitri asked him to be a bodyguard.
SYLVAIN & DEDUE B
Dedue is impressed with Sylvain for interacting with a woman like a normal person lamo.
"Don't expect praise for merely doing your job." I love Dedue. That's savage af.
Sylvain was motivated to mature by Felix and Dimitri. He said they're both like brothers, which is why he wouldn't get left behind. I love this group.
Oof, Dedue "had" a sister. And now we're getting to learn about her. 😭 She liked flower crowns and was determined when she set her mind to it.
Dedue wants Sylvain to visit Duscur after the war, to visit her grave together 😭
SYLVAIN & FELIX A
Felix got into a fight with soldiers . . . . because they were making fun of Sylvain.
Felix called it the "worst decision in his life." Of course. Felix being Felix.
Felix didn't tell Sylvain because he was worried about Sylvain hearing the details about what people said about him.
I love the idea of Felix getting into a fist-fight with people insulting Sylvain lamo.
Sylvain thinks he deserves his bad reputation because of who he used to be. Felix challenged why Sylvain didn't change sooner. Sylvain has no defense lol.
Felix is ok with people making fun of Sylvain, but only certain people lamo.
Felix is blushing after saying something nice lol. Now he's pissed at Sylvain. And insulting him. Very typical Felix.
Sylvain says he's 7% more cunning than Felix lamo.
This one did go more into ship bait. I was surprised how un-shippy their C was, but I'm sure Sylvix fans loved this one.
DIMITRI & MERCEDES A
They're traveling to a village together. It's the one Mercedes used to live in. Dimitri likes how calm it is.
Mercie called Dimitri her friend 😭😭
Dimitri claims he's a king's knight lol. He catches himself. Also village woman finds Dimitri handsome. She has taste.
Mercedes and Dimitri talk about how open minded the church is and give credit to the overall teachings (lamo, eat shit, Claude)
Mercedes is grateful to Dimitri to taking in the Central Church because it helped the village out. It's why she brought him there, so he could see the good that comes from protecting the church.
Mercedes plans to show him around the town and introduce Dimitri to her mother and the priest.
Dimitri's nervous lol. Hahaha, Mercie says she'll tell him he's someone "very important" which flusters him lamo.
She made him laugh and smile.
This support was adorable. (and feels like it couldn't possibly be the same writers as SB and GW lamo)
MERCEDES & DEDUE B
Sad they only get one support. Their Houses one was amazing.
Mercedes is teaching cooking. The little girl gets scared of Dedue when he arrives to fetch Mercie.
Poor Dedue frightens children and animals :(
Mercie says lots of the kids are orphans, so they're scared, and that Dedue looks intimidating. She has a plan to make him not look as scary.
I KNEW IT! He's handing out flower crowns. I was going to say it was something with flowers.
Now all the kids love Dedue. Good. He's the sweetest man in Fodlan.
Dedue teaches them how to make the crowns.
Dedue is happy with Mercedes, but Mercie says it was Dedue's kindness who won them over. Of course they both give each other credit.
They both have such strong mom and dad energy.
SHEZ & ANNETTE A
Annette's up late working on music lol. Shez thinks the notes look like bugs lol.
Annette won't sing it though :( Her songs are legendary.
She wants a song that makes people feel happy when they sing it. Very Annette.
She heard the song Shez passed around getting sung by a dying mercenary, who died happy though because they appreciated the song. It made Annette appreciate the song more.
She is such a sweetie.
It's sweet to have a whole support revolve around Annette realizing her songs make people happy and help people. She'd love that.
OMG, I love Annette. Her new song is about a feast, then they go to get more ingredients, and then get into a death battle with a bear. Truly a child of Faerghus.
RAPHAEL & FELIX C
Raphael is drooling over Felix's food, so he gives it to Raphael, and Felix offers to go buy more.
Felix thinks he hears thunder, but it's just Raphael's stomach.
Felix is being nice, lol, insisting Raphael eat some of his food.
But now he's annoyed that Raphael called him a "meat buddy" or a bit. Felix likes the idea of hunting that Raphael suggested.
Raphael is so nice not even Felix can manage to get mad at him.
SYLVAIN & IGNATZ C
Sylvain feels bad because he interrupted Ignatz painting. He wanted Ignatz to look at a painting he brought home.
Sylvain knows painting styles (he knows it's not a common Faerghus style). But ofc Sylvain is interested in how pretty the woman in the painting is lamo.
He's curious about the woman's identity, but it doesn't seem in a fuck boy way, but a curiosity over a favorite piece of art way.
That Sylvain is into art just made him even cooler.
Religious art often has their symbols in the art (and Flayn's is fish lamo, good).
As a major art fan, I love this support adding little tid bits about Fodlan art.
Lamo, Sylvain studied art to impress ladies at first, but now he actually likes it.
SETETH & YURI C
Yuri chatted with a scholar, wanting to learn about the 10 elites because he didn't get a good education.
It's a support to explain how crests came to be and their powers
Yuri trusts Seteth with his crest secrets (partly because he knows Seteth already knows, and partly bc Yuri has taste)
Seteth encourages Yuri to cherish his crest and the power it brings
So is Yuri the son of an elite or something?
FLAYN & SHEZ B
Flayn thinks Shez looks good because she's dirty and that suites her lol. I love Flayn.
Flayn is wearing perfume. Seteth probably doesn't know lamo.
Flayn talks about how perfumes coming in trend shows that even in dark times, it's not all consuming. Very Flayn of her.
We're going trend shopping. She doesn't get to shop often.
Flayn is straight-up making shit up, lamo. She invented that Shez wanted to shop to raise Shez's spirits, not hers.
It's this more -uh - questionable side of Flayn that keeps her from being a one-note, overly sweet character. I love it.
CATHERINE & SHEZ C
Count Charon asks Catherine for more soldiers, but only Dimitri or Rhea could give that order.
Shez didn't know Catherine's family. She stays vague about it when Shez asks about her past.
Catherine, unsurprisingly, says she'd fight for Rhea if had to choose between her or her family.
Catherine asks why Shez is here. Oh, I can pick too - for friends, money, or to fight Byleth. Def picking friends. I think that suits AG Shez best.
Catherine looks happy with that answer.
Oh, I like that, live in a way that makes your past self proud.
ASHE & FELIX B
Their only support.
Oh, Felix is confronting Ashe about how he's a knight working for Dimitri. Should've known it would be about this.
Ashe defends Felix when he calls Dimitri a boar and tiresome lol.
Ashe says Dimitri does his job for him, omg, Dimitri, stop (but that's he's getting better).
Felix is like - you have to steal your job back from him!!! Use force if you have too - I love this, lamo
Dimitri promoted a lot of commoners to be knights, and there were some minor misunderstandings at first, but now no one cares
Felix asks Ashe if he's a noble or commoner, and Ashe is like kinda both actually, which is true
Awww, Dedue comes to Ashe's aids when he needs it (and Dimitri, but Ashe mentioned Dedue too)
And now Ashe is singing Dedue's praises, and ofc Felix insults Dedue, saying that blind loyalty will get him killed
And omg hahaha, Ashe is like that's sweet Felix, that you care about us, I always knew
I love how almost no one takes Felix's tsun seriously. They're all like "aww, look, he's chewing my old slipper!" energy
Ashe putting Felix in his place round 2, I love this. Ashe and Felix is always gold
Felix is like, it's just because more work for me if something happens to you!
Then he's finally nice, telling Ashe he does a good job
ANNETTE & SYLVAIN B
Their only support
This time it's Sylvain who catches Annette singing. Annette seems relieved rather than embarrassed.
Sylvain thinks her song is creepy (covers that, saying creative) and that only Annette could make it (affectionate - maybe)
Why is Annette always singing about swamp beasties?
Sylvain wants a song about something cute instead, so Annette naturally jumps to huge bears lamo
We need an Annette Bernedetta support about finding creepy stuff cute
Annette doesn't seem upset with criticism
Also, this is the second time Sylvain talks to Annette like a person and doesn't really flirt with her, more like siblings vibes it's cute
Annette's next song is even creepier lamo But Sylvain likes it anyways
DIMITRI/RODRIGUE/SYLVAIN PARALOGUE
This one is easy since all 3 are leveled up. I want to do other ones, but I may wait to save some cash lol.
They're up north, so Sreng? Yep.
So they're preparing for a Sreng raid.
So a hostage that grew up in Faerghus is now leading the raid. And Margrave Gautier treated him well even though he felt bitter about Sreng killing his wife. So Miklain's mother?
And now the Sreng hostage is using Fodlan knowledge against them.
Haha, Sylvain was going off about being lazy forgetting his dad was right there lol.
It's cool seeing papa Gautier and Rodrigue together.
The Sreng commander really came across like a dick. Rubbing in Miklain's death, not caring about all the men he got killed.
So did Claude do this in AG too? Incite Sreng? They guess Cornelia and someone from Adrestia too, which could be the case in AG.
Gautier takes credit for the fall. Sylvain got through to the guy apparently.
Dimitri's just happy they share a language now. He would know how important that is since he learned the language of Duscur.
I'm glad they fight over land. It's way more interesting and realistic than whatever the hell they did with Almyra.
Aww, Sylvain is dedicated to reaching peace with Sreng. Of course his dad is harder edged because they killed his wife.
Sylvain being so bent on peace and diplomacy just makes the people who claim he makes sense in CF make even less sense.
I had Shez believe in Sylvain, because AG!Shez is nice Shez.
Sylvain and Dimitri both hate resorting to violence and using warfare first. Both want to avoid it at all cost. I like the future of these two both being important in Faerghus.
Oh, cool, talk between Rodrigue and Matthais. I love the little stories we get of all of them. They were trouble makers lamo. They snuck out the night of the festivities.
Lambert wanted peace with Sreng and Duscur. Dimitri's half-way there, and he and Sylvain are working on the other half.
Gautier now agrees with Sylvain, Lambert, and Dimitri and a pathway to peace.
Aww, Rodrigue advised that he apologize to Sylvain, and he's going too.
Oh, I got the lance of ruin! Cool. Sylvain has his weapon now.
FINAL BATTLE
Not Dimitri being more understanding of the Empire nobles who''ll follow any leader that promises them more land than Edelgard does him and the other Blue Lions
He's thinking from the other's perspective, how it looks to them, not what it actually is - Claude and Edelgard could never
Shez is like, no need to feel guilty, hell yes
Felix is worried about Dimitri, in his very Felix way, meanwhile Dedue is like "we trust you"
I love so much that the importance of his friends' support is stressed so much more in AG.
Oh, I get Constance and Linhardt this battle. Cool.
Felix got lectured by Rodrigue lamo, he wanted to break ranks to chase after Monica
Lamo, Manuela's defeat quote is that she won't die single. Ngl, glad she just retreated.
It's really something that the Blue Lions show way more sympathy towards their enemy than the other routes do. They're the only ones that feel guilty for "invading." When the others are invading.
Glad they're bringing up that if they don't do this, Adrestia will not stop until Faerghus is destroyed.
Rodrigue has such a nice voice.
Felix got angry with Rodrigue when he said all the blame for invading will fall on Dimitri, but then Rodrigue said it's up to Felix to support him through it. This really is Dimilix the route, lamo.
Felix is like, duh.
Why is Shez talking to Rodrigue while it's late. I'm getting flashbacks. He died last time this happened.
They're both worried about Dimitri. And it's cannon that Dimitri falls asleep at his desk. Sooo much fanart of that lol.
Apparently Lambert did the same. Like father, like son.
Lambert had a shorter temper than Dimitri, but are very similar. Unlike Rodrigue and Felix. I get to disagree with Rodrigue there, so I will. Because I think they're more alike than they both think.
Ok guys, we finally got it. Why Felix is miserable outside of AM. He can't live without a great purpose pushing him forward. And in SS, VW, and CF he finds no great purpose, unlike in AM where working with Dimitri towards his version of the future does work.
When Lambert died, Rodrigue struggled to find another reason for being. So he devoted himself to his promise to Lambert, to make sure he sets his won back on his proper path is he loses his way.
Shez feels like Dimitri's been helping her, but she's helping Dimitri too. Like what Rodrigue is doing.
Rodrigue says he's only Dimitri's retainer, that's so false. But he says Shez is in a unique spot since she's a friend first, then he's her leader. Which makes me happy.
More teasing about Shez's origins.
Rodrigue says though that Shez's background or powers aren't what's important, it's about who Shez is as a person. I love so much how the Blue Lions keep repeating this idea, that it's not Byleth's or Shez's power. It's their worth as a person that matters.
Arval just called Rodrigue a wonderful human being. Based.
xxxx
#azure gleam#fire emblem#fire emblem three hopes#three hopes#three hopes spoilers#azure gleam spoilers
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Commission for @peachiehambo :3. Dedue and her OC Yoona. Thank you so much for your support! ^_^
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My commission infor for anyone interest: https://cainlawiet.carrd.com/
(I don't know why I've missed some email recently so you can DM me direct on Tumlbr or twitter if didn't get my reply after 48 hours).
#artists on tumblr#digital arwork#humanartist#digital fanart#fanart#fe3houses#fire emblem#fire emblem fanart#dedue molinaro#fe3h dedue#yoona#fe3h oc#art commisions#commisions open#fire emblem three houses#original character
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Thank you for pointing out the Dimidue vs Dimilix thing. I get loving angst and why people ship the latter. But what really grinds my gears is the fact that Dimidue has less fanfiction than Dimiclaude. Dimitri and Claude barely even interact together in game. They interact more in Hopes. Meanwhile Dedue and Dimitri are practically inseparable. Their paired ending has Dedue being the royal consort. I can't help but wonder if it's because Claude is lighter skinned and more "conventionally" attractive.
The Edelcrit crowd keeps trying to pain her as racist, but it's hard not to say the pot's calling the kettle when you look at how often they forget about Dedue when discussing Black Eagles vs Blue Lions.
Honestly? I think Dimidue has alot more high quality angst potential than Dimilix in my opinion. It makes me think of the impression a friend of mine had when first playing Azure Moon. During her first playthrough, she speculated that Dedues attitude was some act and it would be revealed that he wanted to get close to Dimitri to get revenge for his people, because he seemed to be just too calm and subservient for what was done to his people by Faerghus, while also keeping a distance from Dimitri during their supports. And I totally get this, I personally also would have initially assumed that Dedue hides more anger than he shows, because why set up the dynamic of him being a survivor of genocide by Dimitris people, if not for some pay off, especially considering Azure Moons themes of revenge and being haunted by the dead? Alas, it didn't came to be because the game instead has Dimitri just play Faerghus police by squashing the Duscur Rebellion without another genocide, instead of turning against the nobles who commit it to begin with, and Dedue is effectively written out of the story in Part 2, due to being an optional re-recruit you can easily miss and so that Dimitri can have his loner boar arc.
Also I'm not really saying that I want Dedue to ultimately turn against Dimitri and become his enemy, but some messy complicated feelings and resentment would have added much needed depth to both the plot and Dedues character. Usually you would expect it to be like Dedue claiming to actually hate Dimitri for what Faerghus people did to his, while having conflicting feelings because over the years he grew to genuinly love and care for him, while it would have been a good growing experience for Dimitri, becoming much more aware of the pain and resentment others feel, similar to his own hatred against Edelgard, and how he as the King ultimately shares his own responsibility for Faerghus bloody history. Sadly the game never challenged Dimitri to this extent and makes his entire character development purely centered around Byleth and Rodrigue, but I think the set up has alot of potential for some introspection and alot of Angst when shipping those two.
But alas it shows the Fandoms strong racial bias against men of color, especially those who present as very masc. Instead they go for your typical two light-skinned Bishonen options for the most part. When it comes to Dimitri and Claude, I have my own problems with the ship. It is for all intends and purposes basically just Dimigard in Yaoi, the ship centers usually purely Dimitris values and validates his feelings and perspective over Claudes, enforcing this very white savior-esque perspective on themes of racism. I would say Hopes even made this much more clear, considering how their interactions are fairly awkward and Claude practically promises Dimitri to turn on him when it comes to taking out the church, something strongly hinted at in AG's ending. Alas, I also think they lack alot of chemistry and I have a problem with how Claude inside Blue Lions routes is always marginalized and turned into either a sidekick or PoC in Distress for Dimitri to act as a white savior towards, with little agency and respect for his own perspectives and ambitions. It is different in the case of Edelgard and Claude, where superficially people claim that he just follows everything Edelgard says, ignoring the larger context of him acting the entire time to push forward his own ambitions and that there differences are much more nuanced, them agreeing in their opposition against the Church and Crests but otherwise having distinct goals.
But back to the topic, I would say, yes, Claude being a more conventionally attractive in anime terms, which means bishonen, and lighter skinned PoC plays strongly into it. Claude being smaller and presented as physically weaker than Dimitri also usually pushes him into the position of the Bottom or Uke in that ship, which is another problem in the way PoC's are often represented, namely that Brown Men are usually only validated when they can be contextualized as emasculated and the more effeminate part of a ship compared to the stronger and more dominent white partner. We see this Dynamic play out in one of the most notorious Edelcrit ships, which also features DimiClaude. It generally reveals a strong racist element inside Fandom by erasing Claudes culturally middle eastern inspired heritage by recontextualizing Almyra as Japanese, a culture that white supremacy often contextualizes as the Model Minority, and presents him as the submissive to Dimitris dominant, while also being used to elavate Dimitris status as a white savior to further glorify him. I think this happening in one of the most popular FE3H Fanfics, that goes into alot of religious apologetics as well and involves strong misogynistic themes both surrounding Byleth and Edelgard, reveals a strong anti-MENAT (an extended acronym to also include turkey) bias inside the community.
As I said, FE3H is a true microcosm of fandom and its typical biases, bigotries and problems, which is thanks to its diverse cast. The top list of AO3 ships also showed so much, it was predominantly white and light-skinned asians and alot of Harry Potter.
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Random AU :
While helping to clean what's left of the Monastery in FE16, Gilbert finds Cyril pretty pissed because he found the "box with important things" Lady Rhea kept in her room empty, so he wants to recover what was inside ("i'm sure those imperials soldiers stole it!") but, well, he never asked what was inside.
Gilbert only notices a weird thing next to the box on the floor, but promises to help Cyril later on.
Still, he picks up the thing and while he's curious about it, given all the events happening, he puts it in the back of his mind.
One night though, he studies it more attentively (or actually wanted to make space in his inventory) and notices it's a broken toy!
(but missing two wheels)
Cursing the Imperials under his breath for not even having spared children, he imagines it might have belonged to a kid who couldn't escape the assault and tried to hide in the Archbishop's room, only to be found out and, well, neither kid nor toy survived.
However, he notices this toy seems to be old as fuck, and while he only paid regular (for Gilbert!) attention to the monastery's inhabitants, he never saw any child in the monastery play with a similar toy. What was it doing in Lady Rhea's room?
Later asking Cyril if he found the missing wheels ("the what? who designs a horse with wheels?"), Gilbert, again, refocused on the war and his duty and left that mystery aside.
After the Bridge of Myrddin and it's high number of casualties, he felt like he had to "help at least" this "maimed" toy standing on his desk - he made wood wheels himself and managed to find a branch to make everything sort of stand and roll.
When Annette learns about it, she cries to his great dismay, it's nothing - but she tells him it's everything, this war only takes lives, but the sheer act of repairing this toy means so much - there will be hope later on, and children will be able to play again. Her dad might suck at white magic, he can still "heal" things, like toys. Can he imagine the joy on its owner's face when they will finally be able to play with it again?
(even if she thinks it's a bit weird to have a toy designed as a horse with wheels)
Seteth overheard Cyril's quest about looking for Rhea's "important stuff" even if he doesn't know what it is, together they find a slab of wax and a weird golem stuffed thing with a :) face.
Cyril ignore those things, but Seteth guesses those were the "treasures" Rhea stored in that box - under Cyril's disbelief, those are junk, not important treasure!
"Well, I am sure if you gave her something, she would have stored it in this box."
After retaking Firdhiad, everyone is happily, well, taking a rest at GM before going to Enbarr and Gilbert is assaulted by dozens of orphans who are sheltered in the monastery who ask him to "heal their toys". Gilbert only says he is a knight and will help as best as he can, which prompts Dimitri to wonder if he too, can help, before remembering that he still has difficulties to control his crest activation and would most likely break the toys.
Dedue tries to cheer him up, and one of Alois' jokes leads Dimtiri to vow to open a "toy hospital" in the castle when he returns - after all, he can help in his own way, right?
After hearing the story from Cyril about the contents of Rhea's box, Gilbert returns the toy immediately - to a kid's chagrin since they found that horse very neat ("it can roll on the walls!").
Rhea ultimately returns, and, after much consideration, accepts to give the contents of the box away since it's "time to accept the past and move on".
She gives the golem :) stuffie to Billy, saying it was one of their mother's favorite toys and how she refused to sleep without it when she was a child, because Rhea made it for her 5th birthday.
Rhea nearly cries at seeing Lycaon's horse on wheels repaired and thanks Gilbert, before returning it to the kid who was playing with it, telling them the precedent child who played with it told her that horse could fly, and was actually a "dragon-horse".
The kid looked at the archbishop weirdly, before nodding and calling their new toy a "draco-horse".
However, his sigillaria wasn't as popular, an Adrestian orphan managed to recognise a duck on it (this orphan was one of the survivors of the various "weeded lines" over the decades) but still called that thing weird (tfw he didn't inherit the Hresvelg artistic skills) and prefered to play with cats instead.
Little does Rhea know, Archbishop Billy roped Cyril in their plan to give her a new present, a herborium.
They filled it with the hundreds of flowers Billy gave her during their time at the monastery, before the war, and Cyril added the small flowers and lilies he helped grow during her absence.
Rhea's so overjoyed that she cries and hugs them both.
#Rhea stuff#Fodlan hc#Fodlan AU#Lizard family time?#Sort of#Fe16#Gilbert being known by the kids in the monastery as the old knight who heals toys#Tfw an Adrestian kid told Dimitri he sucked bcs he couldn't heal toys#Not knowing he was talking to the king of course#Faerghus propaganda starts with lion plushies being distributed to kids#Tfw Lycaon prefered to play with his dragon horse than to play with Indech and Macuil's magical toy soldiers that could move automatically#Sitri accepted the gift wholeheartedly#Even if she wondered what the crap this thing was supposed to be
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Hopes Bylie going in her own little silly adventures by herself... Why is Miklan so scared of her? Why does she have a secret handshake with Duchess Ifan? Why does she have matching tattoos with Judith von Daphnel? Why was she named, due to a technicallity, the red star of Enbar (a famous pageant for handsome men in Enbar)? How did she teach briefly in Fhirdiad's Academy of Sorcery? Why was she charged for tax evasion in Albinea? While the blue lions were doing War (tm) in Hopes, my girl perfected her srengsi, was stranded to Brigid for two weeks, accidentally seduced an almyran princess and adopted an ugly turtle that might or not might have been Indech (since she was an awful archer, she ignored The Inexhaustible and tried to keep him as a pet against his will).
[[At camp dining with the blue lions about Duchess Ifan]]
Byleth: We met in prison. She was my cellmate.
Ifan: We even have matching BFF tattoos with Judy too!
Dimitri: Judy?
Byleth: Oh right, I think her name was Judith von Daphnel.
Dimitri: You were ALL in prison?!
Byleth: I think Judy was there for a spying mission.
Ifan: I was charged for treason by Cornelia.
Byleth: I was charged for intent of murder of a noble with a deadly weapon.
Ifan: Oh Byllie, dear, don't be shy, please share the details.
Byleth: I threw an alligator at viscount Kleimann.
Byleth: ... I was spearfishing in the river, and when I finally got the pike I wanted... I realized there was a man reaching for my fish... I just wanted to scare him away from my food... I didn't want to release the fish I just caught so I reached for the closest thing... how was I supppose to know that he wouldn't dodge the alligator I threw at him?... so I was charged with intent of murder of a noble with a deadly weapon.
Ifan: Can you see why we love her so much now, my dear?
Dimitri:
The rest of the blue Lions:
Dedue: Would you like an extra slice of meatpie miss Eisner?
THIS REMINDS ME OF RATATOUILLE more specifically that one dude that went to prison and when asked seems to always change the story but I maintain that he probably did ALL of the things he confesses to in the same crime, somehow. Byleth would have the wackiest backstory, and yet all of it is true or actually understated/downplayed
I can't remember if it was Engage or Heroes, but if I'm not mistaken I think that Byleth says that their lecture style usually consisted of telling stories. So their teaching style seems to stem from their practical experiences as a mercenary and how so-and-so strategy can apply at any given situation.
So all this to say that yes, I can see Byleth having the WACKIEST experiences ever, and being extremely casual about it. And having best friend tattoos with Judith and Duke Ifan.
Judith and Duke Ifan also deserved more time in the limelight I conceptually love these two so much.
Thank you for sharing this ask with me Nonnie! (And sorry for taking so long to reply, I've been in a weird headspace all week)
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It’s literally so funny bc I would argue that empathy is one of THE dividing factors between El and Dimitri’s characterizations. Edelgard struggles to empathize with the people of the church and the Nabateans and sees sacrificing the lives of her citizens as worthy for achieving her goals. Like previously discussed she doesn’t seem bothered by using black beasts that were clearly once people to fuel the war effort, even though they were experimented on in ways just as brutal if not more so than she was. She single-mindedly pursues the church without putting thought into why Rhea may have done the things she did and whether she’s actually culpable for all of them. Her lack of empathy is what allows her to START the war, otherwise there’s no way any of the previous things could’ve happened.
Dimitri, on the other hand, goes into his nose dive spiral BECAUSE his sense of empathy is so strong. Even though Duscur was blamed for his family’s death, he refused to allow for Dedue to be killed. Much of his worldview is painted by his revulsion around undue suffering- because he knows war hurts the common people and can’t abide by that. It’s what makes him hesitate to act, which ironically is what a lot of edelstans criticize him for. Even his “monster” arc is a direct result of his empathetic nature, because only monsters would kill people. So he goes all-in on it, because that’s the only way he can rationalize being okay with taking other people’s lives. He wants to take all the responsibility for bloodshed onto himself because he doesn’t want anyone else to have to deal with the pain and burden of killing. Hell, a massive part of his route is that he LIVES AMONGST THE COMMONERS for years and sees just how much the war has harmed them.
Just. It’s incredible to me how people can play this game and miss the point of the text so hard just to justify the actions of their fictional fav. And to pre-empt anything: actually no, despite what I say here I don’t think Dimitri’s actions being a result of empathy excuses them. That would be ridiculous, he still kills people and that’s like, fucked up. But I think it’s worth saying since it’s yet another thing that people somehow don’t get and that’s a massive shame.
It’s incredible to me how people can play this game and miss the point of the text so hard just to justify the actions of their fictional fav.
You hit the nail on the head, anon. That's pretty much the issue when it comes to edelgard discourse. You got people who think she's not so great because of her many flaws, and then you have her stans who refuse to accept that their Ladle is flawed.
#edelgard discourse#grey borb#careful about comparing dimitri to edelgard#you will be labeled a dimistan#and banished to mooner hell
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Post war unplanned pregnancy dimileth in which Byleth had to leave because Dimitri lowkey ghosted her after a one night stand because he felt unworthy of her love.
But she came back per Gustave's request because of a new kingdom crisis. When Dimitri met her again he fell all over again but he is heartbroken because he thinks she already got to do her life since she is now is a mother of three and his very slim chance is gone.
Reader, all the kids are his. They were triplets. That Blaiddyd (TM) genes were at it again.
Gustave: *requesting Byleth to help Dimitri once again to stabilize the kingdom while lamenting the king is still unmarried and the Blaiddyd line is done for*
Byleth, who has been raising by herself three small blonde menaces with major crests of blaiddyd:
Background: One of her 3 year olds plucking a wholeass tree with their crest, 10 times their size, because his momma loves flowers and the tree had a lot of flowers while Gustave speaks. And the others kids running to search bigger flower trees for her.
Dimitri found out they were his when one of them mistook Areadbhar for an ugly stick and tried to use it to search for earthworms for their mom's fishing and accidentally activated atrocity.
YAAAAAS i love dimi being a dumbass clueless of byleth's feelings
id like to think of this headcanon as post three hopes: byleth got recruited into the kingdom army, she and dimitri [REDACTED] and then she left while being pregnant after the war ended. both of them have feelings for each other but are unaware of the others'
gustave calls her back after a few years and dimitri is all sad and grumpy seeing his beloved the ashen demon got over their little one-night adventure (unlike him) so that she has a family of her own (even tho... wheres the father?? what kind of man could have left this beautiful woman all alone with three children????? children that are particulary cute..... with their blonde hair and green eyes........ dimitri cant stop thinking about his old fantasy of having a family with her and how much they look like his dreamed-children...... well what a funny coincidence!)
since its hopes, jeralt is still around but he doesnt know who the real father is. when he sees the king playing around with his grandchildren he goes <.< but says nothing. too much to deal with
one day, dimitri talks to byleth about his worries of not having a wife yet bc blayddid bloodline blabla...... byleth is like 👁_👁 while thinking about how well dimitri f*cked her all those years ago and his desk looks great for getting pregnant again...........
the little three menaces children go around the castle causing troubles but everybody already loves them. one day dedue tries to teach them to cook and when he saw one of the children eating leaf-spices [how are they called those like laurel?? lol] thinks "hm. already saw that but cant recall when or where"
and then your last scene dear anon. dimitri looks at that child with disbelief... ofc his first thought is "did the ashen demon meet someone else with the crest of blayddid?? who are they??? could it be...... RUFUS?!?!?!??!?!" bc hes dumb as fuck. dimitri is still looking at his child when byleth arrives and grabs the baby, lecturing them about taking someone else's things without permission, but smiles fondly when the child hands her the worms they found. dimitri is MESMERIZED by her smile and loses his composture. he drops by his knee and says, "miss eisner... i am aware you already have another significant other in your life since you two have children, but... i cannot bear the sight of you raising them alone. please let me take care of them, of you... please let me be their father and your husband"
byleth: 👁_👁 "you DUMBASS they are already YOURS. always have been"
dimitri: *brain stopped working* "oh! i... see..."
byleth: "the marriage thing can still be arranged. yk. since we're not married."
dimitri: *hes in paradise or what??* "you... youd like to marry me????"
byleth: *oh my sothis help me* *kisses dimitri* "pretty much so." and smiles again
they get married the next day and one month later byleth is pregnant again eheh. the blayddid bloodline requires a lot of heirs and they are both happy to indulge in it
#YOOOOO I HAD SO MUCH FUN THANK YOU ANON THANK YOUUUUU#dimileth#byleth eisner#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd#fe3h#anon ask#few3h#sothis ships dimileth
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I just got the mental image of Ferdinand hearing about how much of a bloodthirsty boar Dimitri is from Felix, and his villian attraction firing on all cylinders for Dimitri to the point that he leaves the Black Eagle House to get closer to him... and then becomes very disappointed once he actually gets to know Dimitri. That and whatever parallels may exist between Ferdibert and Yurimitri (which I ship nearly as hard as Dimidue). (1/2)
(2/2) Seriously, I remember the fandom discussing switching Dedue and Hubert around and I always wondered why not use Yuri, who is from Fargheus and can be directly compared to Hubert in terms of shady dealings and working toward their own agendas. But now I'm mainly trying to figure out what parts of the fandom discourse I missed over my four years of playing the game. 72 hours ago I didn't know what "Khalidstan" meant. I almost envy past me for that, lmao
Houses wank is a dark hole from which none ever truly return. I'd advise not getting into too deep into it, lest it completely sour your feelings on these games.
Ferdinand would certainly make for an...interesting vehicle for exploring the sentiment in parts of fandom that canon Dimitri isn't enough of an, ahem, "dark fuck prince" for their tastes in smut fic. Obviously I'm not judging anyone looking for that, but it's not really my thing. I'm not typically into villains; Hubert's just the odd exception because he's so entertainingly over-the-top and self-aware about it all.
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Here's my Fire Emblem OC from Fire Emblem Three Houses! Their name is Eilin Nair, the second Princess of Damona in Dagda. They are a war hostage from the Dagda and Brigid War, the same as Petra, though Eilin has been taken as a ward by House Riegan. Their personality has many layers to it. They don't really like getting close to people, so they put on a cheerful face and deflects many attempts to get to know them. They also love learning, specfically about magic and history, in preparation of becoming a ruler or becoming an advisor to their sister who might become their ruler in Damona. They also hate Edelgard and the Empire with very fiber of their being, but they understand that they cannot let their rage show at all. Their starting stats are:
Descriptions of their lost items: Strange Necklace A necklace with a Dagdan sigil hanging from a black cord. This probably belongs to someone who misses their home. Half-Finished Children’s Book A half-made children’s book with well-drawn illustrations in a language you can’t read. It probably belongs to someone who writes in a different language and is good at drawing. Green Circlet A circlet with a dim green gem and slightly rusted silver bands. This probably belongs to someone who enjoys wearing circlets. A Supports: Byleth, Petra, Dimitri, Annette, Sylvain, Claude, Yuri B Supports: Lindhardt, Dorothea, Dedue, Ingrid, Ashe, Lorenz, Lysithea, Shamir, Catherine, Constance
Some Quotes: Dining Hall convos with Claude: No Support Level: Eilin: “I am always thankful to be sharing a meal with my friend. You are always a delightful to be eating with, Claude.” Claude: “A delight. And, I am always happy to share time with you as well, my friend.” B Support: Eilin: “The food in Fodlan has been well, but I will always be preferring food from my home in Damona. sigh” Claude: “I hope that whenever you’re able to go home, you don’t forget about your good pal, Claude. The way you praise your chef’s food has me starving on a full stomach.” Recruitment: Requirements not met: (Black Eagles) “I am sorry, Professor, but I am not thinking that our interests are aligning.” (Blue Lions) “... Oh, Professor, I apologize, I was in deep thinking…” Requirements met: “I am looking for having the Professor that can be protecting me while I learn all that I can. I would like to be joining your class, if you would be having me, Professor.” Instructing:
Bad: “I don’t quite think I am understanding, Professor…”
Console: “There is not a need to be treating me like a child.”
Critique: “That was helpful very much! I think I can try this.”
Preferred answer: critique
Great: “This studying is progressing very good.” Great: “I am being happy to be useful to you, Professor.” Perfect: “I was not thinking the work here would be this easy!”
Praise: “There is no need to have the cake with this, Professor, but I am thankful for your help.”
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*chin in hands* for the send in a character ask: how about Roy or Dimitri?
MY BOYS !!! (the one for Roy will be a bit shorter because the only exposure i have to his character are Smash Ultimate and Engage, sorry)
Roy
First impression: at the time i got into Smash, i didn’t even know Fire Emblem existed. he plays sort of like a brute with his sword dealing more damage on its hilt, and coupled with the flames around his special moves, i thought he was just like a really hot-headed boy.
Impression now: SON BOY ALLOWED!! he’s the sweetest.
Favourite moment: i really like his C bond with Amber, when Amber says he can’t believe the legendary Roy was in Brodia’s ring the whole time! and Roy slightly shakes his head and says, while smiling the most adorable smile ever, how he’s not that big of a deal. but he’s happy that Amber’s happy!
Idea for a story: as with all my non-3h faves, i like to think about them meeting Dimitri. befriending him during the academy days and fighting alongside him during the war.
Unpopular opinion: i don’t really know??? he’s my favourite Emblem though purely because of how much raw strength he grants at bond level 20 paired with the strength +6 from his inheritable skillset. almost every FE youtuber i’ve seen says Lyn or Corrin are like definitively two of the best Emblem rings.
Favourite relationship: i don’t know if this counts exactly but Merrin & Roy was an unstoppable pairing for me on my first run of Engage!
Favourite headcanon: this was literally made up on the spot at 5 am in a Discord forum post on this very day, but Roy uses he/they pronouns. to me.
Dimitri
First impression: while looking up the game Byleth was from, i found his timeskip design before his academy design, and immediately i was hooked. something happened to this man. and how come he’s so hot /j
Impression now: MY MOST FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER OF ALL TIME, seriously he means the entire world to me. Azure Moon helped me process a lot of my bottled-up trauma and got me to not hate waking up in the mornings. he’s more precious to me than almost anything and anyone.
Favourite moment: at the end of Azure Moon, when he reaches out his hand to Edelgard despite the past five years, when he reaches out to her as his only surviving family member, calling her by the nickname she only allows people closest to her to say, reaching out to her like he’s finally, truly, looking forward instead of back. all of that is beautiful to me.
Idea for a story: Dimitri grows up with a little Shinx. by the time he’s in the academy, it’s a Luxio. during the war, when Byleth finally reunites with him after five long years, he’s guarded by a towering Luxray, missing an eye just like he is.
Unpopular opinion: dimi//leth is boring.
Favourite relationship: DEDUE DEDUE DEDUE DEDUE DEDUE, they mean everything to me your honour.
Favourite headcanon: he’d still be losing his eye in a modern au.
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