Author's Note: Happy American Thanksgiving to my American friends. And to my non-American friends… well, still happy American Thanksgiving. Just cause you don't live in the country doesn't mean you can't celebrate the holiday and let's face it, these days we all need a little celebration in our lives. But enough about that.

I'm not too terribly excited about this chapter but the only reason for that is because I'm really excited about the next chapter. You guys are gonna love it! I know I love it! I've been waiting on this one for months. You guys will have to wait just a bit longer, though.

With that said, onwards to the story.

Part One

White Clouds

A Meeting After Dark

The days following the attempted kidnapping of Flayn and the Death Knight's murders were very tense. Even the jokiest and most laid back of the Monastery's residents found it hard to crack a joke. But life went on. It's not like classes were going to stop just because a murderer was possibly loose in the Monastery. Heck, classes were needed now more than ever, though no amount of combat training could ever make one ready to face the Death Knight.

Byleth, meanwhile, decided that she might as well try to dig up some dirt as to why Rhea was so interested in her. Jeralt didn't seem to be having much luck and if he was he certainly wasn't telling her anything. The logical place to start was the library. Seteth scrubbed it regularly for books he considered "blasphemous" and also anything he wouldn't want Flayn to see but there had to be something there.

Muttering a cliff notes version of the previous paragraph, Byleth searched the shelves for anything useful. There wasn't much although she did find a romance novel Seteth had overlooked. And a rather raunchy one too, by the looks of it. Byleth decided to do Seteth a favor and "confiscate" it herself.

"Hey, Teach, whatcha doin?" A voice, Claude obviously, asked.

Byleth turned around to face the Golden Deer leader. "Just doing some research."

Claude glanced at the book in her hand. "Research, huh?"

Byleth felt her face grow red. "Oh… uh… this is… I swear I'm doing research! I'm just confiscating this for Seteth!" She hurriedly tried to find a place to stash the book, eventually settling on hiding it in her coat.

"Really?" Claude asked, narrowing his eyes.

Byleth took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm doing research. I just got… distracted." She lowered her voice. "Do me a favor and don't tell anyone."

Claude chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't." He leaned forward. "So what research are you doing."

"I'm not sure I should tell you." Byleth said.

"Come on, Teach, you know I can keep a secret." Claude said. "Tell you what, if you tell me what you're researching I'll tell you what I'm researching."

Byleth considered her options. She could just not tell him but then he'd pester her about it for the rest of the year. And she did kind of want to know what he was researching.

"Alright, I'll tell you." Byleth said. "I'm looking for information on the Church, that's not pamphlets or propaganda of course. Rhea's taken an interest in me and I want to know why. I'm hoping that learning more about the Church will at least give me some sort of clue."

"Huh." Claude said. "That's a pretty crazy coincidence. It just so happens that I'm also doing research on the Church. Between you and me, there's something going on behind the scenes here and I want to figure out what it is."

"So our interests align." Byleth said, rubbing her chin. Just then, a lightbulb went off in Byleth's head. Or, in this case, a magic light ball since lightbulbs didn't exist yet. Why hadn't she thought of this before. "I think we can help each other. I realize this is redundant but can you keep a secret?"

"Of course." Claude said with a sly smile. "Wouldn't be much of a schemer if I couldn't."

"Okay." Byleth said, lowering her voice to barely a whisper. "I know where Seteth keeps his confiscated books."

"Di immortales." Claude exclaimed quietly. "How in Fodlan did you find out?"

"Some secrets have to be kept." Byleth said.

Claude shrugged. "Fair enough. So where is it?"

"It's a secret room in his office." Byleth answered, making sure her voice was as low as possible while still being audible to Claude.

Claude nodded. "That makes sense. So, are you suggesting we sneak in?"

"Well we're not going to ask." Byleth said.

"This seems pretty irresponsible." Claude said. "And against the rules. Should you really be endorsing this?"

"Should the Church be endorsing confiscating books and hiding secret conspiracies?" Byleth asked.

"Good point." Claude said. "Let's meet outside of my room at midnight and we'll sneak into Seteth's office together."

Byleth gave a thumbs up. "It's a date."

Midnight couldn't come soon enough. There wasn't much else to do. Well, except maybe fish but Alois was scaring all the fish away with his loud yelling so there really wasn't much point.

For some reason Sothis was overly annoyed by her antics. Not because she was breaking rules, she wasn't a kid after all, but because she figured that if she could stay up until midnight she shouldn't need to wake her up every morning to do her job. Byleth supposed she had a point but she also called her three variations of the word idiot in the same scolding so she didn't really care.

After bidding goodbye to a cross-armed Sothis (well, as much as you can bid goodbye to someone who lives in her head), Byleth headed up to meet Claude. Claude's room was on the second floor of the dormitories. It wasn't really a second floor, since the "first floor" was outside but it was easier to think of it as a second floor. The only reason there was a second floor (aside from practicality as the amount of problems students doubling up could potentially cause was enormous) was because several of the more classist nobles had quite a bit of sway in Garreg Mach and would prefer that their children not associate with "commoners." Byleth could only imagine (with great joy) that her attempts to bring the school closer together were infuriating them to no end.

Claude was already outside his room when Byleth got there, tapping his wrist. "You're late." He said.

"By five minutes." Byleth said with an expression that screamed Really?

"Exactly." Claude said. "That's five minutes we could have been using to break into Seteth's office."

Byleth rolled her eyes. "You're a real comedian, Claude."

Claude smirked. "I try."

Byleth sighed. "Come on. Let's go."

Just then, a scream rang out, causing the two to stop in their tracks.

"That sounded like Edelgard!" Byleth exclaimed.

Then a second scream rang out from a different direction.

"And that sounded like Dimitri!" Claude said. "It sounds like they're in trouble! They might need our help!"

Byleth nodded. "Right. I'll go help Edelgard, you go check up on Dimitri."

Claude nodded and dashed off. Byleth dashed off in the opposite direction. She didn't actually have to go far. Claude and Edelgard's rooms were pretty close to each other.

When Byleth got to Edelgard's room she tried the handle first. Predictably, it was locked so she took the next logical step: busting open the door. She grabbed the handle, and shoved with her shoulder, likely breaking the lock.

"Edelgard, are you…" Byleth's sentence petered out when she noticed that Edelgard was, in fact, just fine. Yes she was sitting in her bed awake and staring at her in a combination of shock, bemusement, and tiredness but fine nonetheless.

"Professor, what are you doing here?" She asked, bewildered. "And for that matter, why are you breaking down my door?"

"I was out in the hallway with Claude and we heard you scream." Byleth said.

"Why were you out in the hallway with Claude?" Edelgard asked, getting out of bed. Byleth couldn't help but notice that she was wearing red pajamas covered with little black eagles emblems. She made a mental note to tease her about that later.

"That's not important right now." Byleth replied. "What is important is, are you okay?"

"Of course, I'm fine." Edelgard answered.

"Then what was that scream about?" Byleth asked.

"I had a nightmare, that's all." Edelgard explained. "I was just about to go back to sleep when you interrupted me by breaking down my door. I'd very much like to get back to that now."

"You can do that later." Byleth said. "You're not the only person we heard scream. Dimitri screamed too. You may be fine but he could be in trouble and need our help."

"Of course he does." Edelgard said, shaking her head. "Let me get my axe." She kneeled down and reached under her bed, pulling out, as one might expect, an axe.

"How did you get an axe in here?" Byleth asked incredulously.

"Hubert snuck it in." Edelgard explained.

"I should have figured." Byleth said. "Well, I suppose that's not really important right now. Come on. I sent Claude to help out Dimitri but his bow (which he shouldn't have either) is useless in close quarters."

The two of them ran out of the room and down the hall in the direction Claude had run in. When they got to Dimitri's room they found that the door was open but the lock was not broken. When they entered, they nearly ran straight into Claude and Dimitri who were leaving the room in a hurry. Amusingly, Dimitri was wearing blue pajamas covered in little Blue Lions emblems.

"Gah!" Claude shouted, jumping back to avoid being hit and bringing Dimitri along with him. "Teach! Princess! Are you okay!"

"We're fine." Byleth said. "The more important thing is are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Claude said. "Turns out His Princliness was just having nightmares."

"Wait, really?" Byleth asked. "That's a really weird coincidence. Edelgard..."

"Professor." Edelgard hissed before Byleth could finish her sentence. "I swear…"

"Wears similar pajamas to Dimitri." Byleth finished, replacing what she was originally going to say. Byleth actually did consider that a weird coincidence so she wasn't exactly lying. Still, Claude looked unimpressed.

"Edelgard had nightmares too, didn't she?" He asked, deadpan.

Byleth shook her head. "Not my place."

Edelgard sighed. "Yes I've been having nightmares." She glared at them. "But don't tell anyone."

"That is a weird coincidence." Claude said. "Do the two of you… maybe… wanna talk about it?"

"No." Dimitri and Edelgard chorused in different tones. Dimitri was sullen while Edelgard was more angry.

"Are you sure?" Byleth asked. "I won't push it but I think you should talk about it too. It might help you feel better. Besides, you guys know you can trust me. Claude too, even if it may not seem like it."

Dimitri frowned. "I guess… alright, I'll tell you. I have been needing to get this off my chest for a while."

Byleth looked at Edelgard. "What about you."

"I'm afraid this is something I cannot talk about." Edelgard replied.

Byleth nodded to show she understood.

"Let us re-enter my room to discuss this in private." Dimitri said.

"Oh yeah, Claude, I forgot to ask." Byleth said. "How'd you get into this room without breaking the door?"

Claude took out an arrow with an oddly shaped head and spun it around. "Lock picking arrow."

When they entered Dimitri's room, Dimitri, Claude, and Byleth sat on Dimitri's bed while Edelgard chose to remain standing. Dimitri looked down at his hands and sighed.

"What do you know about the tragedy of Duscur?" He asked.

"It was the incident where your parents were killed." Claude said. His tone turned bitter. "The people of Duscur were blamed and were subsequently massacred on a massive scale in a series of pogroms. Duscur was annexed into the Kingdom and what few people from Duscur who survived the pogroms were left as refugees without a home to go back to." Byleth had never seen Claude look so serious. It was pretty clear he thought the whole thing was despicable, and rightfully so since it was.

"Yes." Dimitri said somberly. "It wasn't just my father and stepmother who were killed in the first incident. So many other people were killed including Felix's brother, Glenn."

"Oh, so that's why Felix seems to hate you." Byleth said. She actually knew that, along with the rest of this, already but she figured it was worth saying.

"That would be part of it." Dimitri said. "I was the only survivor of the tragedy. For days afterwards I couldn't sleep, kept awake by the screams of those who died. However, even I could not stay awake forever and eventually I became so exhausted that not even the screams could keep me awake. And when I fell asleep… well… it was worse than when the screams I heard when I was awake. Instead of just hearing things all five of my senses were assaulted. I fully relived the events of that day. What's worse, I knew it was a dream but I couldn't do anything to change it or wake up."

"So then the nightmare you were having tonight…" Byleth began. She didn't finish her sentence because she was waiting for him to finish it for her.

"Yes, that was the nightmare I was having tonight." He confirmed. "It is the same nightmare I have had every night for the past four years."

"And… the screaming?" Byleth asked. "What about that?"

"I have managed to mostly get that under control." Dimitri said. "I only ever hear it when I am alone with my thoughts. It is why I am always doing something."

Byleth nodded. When she thought about it, she never saw Dimitri not doing something even outside of class. He was always training or helping people out.

"So." Claude said. "Do you feel better?"

"Well… I do feel a little better." Dimitri admitted. "Nothing will truly free me from this burden but it is nice to tell people about it. Though I must confess this isn't how I thought my night would go."

"Me neither." Byleth said. "I was expecting less feelings and more shocking revelations."

"Shocking revelations?" Edelgard asked. "Now I'm curious, what exactly were you doing in the hallway?"

"I, too, am curious as to what you were doing in the hallway." Dimitri agreed.

"Uh…" Claude said. He looked at Byleth. "Do you think we should tell them Teach?"

"Dimitri just spilled his guts to us." Byleth said. "Metaphorically speaking." She added when Dimitri looked disturbed. "I think it's only fair that we tell them our secret." Before anyone could say anything she quickly added on. "Edelgard first, though."

"What?" Edelgard asked.

"Dimitri told us a secret, me and Claude are about to tell you guys a secret, that means the only one of us who hasn't told us a secret is you." Byleth explained.

Edelgard crossed her arms. "I told you, I'm not telling you anything."

"It doesn't have to be a big secret." Byleth said. "It just has to be something."

Edelgard sighed. "Fine. I'm afraid of rats. Happy?"

"Damn." Claude said. "I was hoping to be the one to reveal that one."

Edelgard glared at him. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"And I didn't." Claude said smugly.

"Wait, you knew about this?" Byleth asked.

"Yeah, it's how I beat her in the Mock Battle." Claude explained. "I mean, I didn't know it at the time, I was just making a joke, but I'll take any victory I can get."

Edelgard cleared her throat. "Moving on."

"Right, our secret." Byleth said. She looked at Claude. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure." Claude said. He took a deep breath. "Teach knows where Seteth keeps all the books he confiscates and we were going to break into his office to check them out."

"You were going to break into Seteth's office?" Dimitri asked, stunned. "But that would be breaking so many rules."

"Who cares about breaking rules." Edelgard said, crossing her arms. "What I want to know is why you didn't tell me."

"I originally wasn't going to tell anyone." Byleth said. "But Claude just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time."

"So, Princess, can I take your indignance as a sign that you'd like to join us tomorrow night." Claude asked cheekily.

"I would have preferred you didn't speak to me using that tone but yes." Edelgard replied.

"How about you Dimitri?" Byleth asked, looking at the Blue Lions' leader.

"On one hand, breaking into a staff member's office is against the rules and highly irresponsible." Dimitri said. "On the other hand, I've been having a lot of troubles with some research I've been doing." He sighed. "Yes, I'll come along too."

"Alright." Byleth said. "Guess instead of a duo, we'll be a quartet."

"If we're a quartet, we need a name." Claude said.

Edelgard held up her hand. "Hold on Claude, don't get it into your head that this is a permanent thing."

"How about the Best Friend Squad." Claude said, snapping his fingers.

"We are definitely not calling ourselves that." Edelgard snapped figuratively.

Dimitri nodded. "I agree. Even if this group was a permanent arrangement, that name is terrible."

"Yeah, even I know that's a pretty bad name." Byleth agreed. "Also I'm pretty sure it's already taken."

"Man, you guys are no fun." Claude said.

"We're about to break into a staff member's office." Edelgard said. "It's not supposed to be fun."

Author's Note: I apologize for the lack of shocking revelations in this chapter. Instead you get feelings, which everyone knows is something that ruins the story and should absolutely never be included ever.

I actually don't have much to say on this one. Mainly because I'm saving all my good stuff for the next chapter. I think you're really gonna like that one. So, yeah.