Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Three Houses, all rights to the owners.
Less humor here. Also, apparently a heavy focus on Dimitri? I dunno, I started writing, and it ended up involving him. He just seems to work, if mostly because he's oblivious and polite.
Also, I've decided that everyone is so used to Byleth dropping in on them that they aren't even that surprised by it anymore.
"You simply need to keep them distracted." Byleth instructs as she pulls the Sword of the Creator from her hip. "I will move around the back of the bandits and eliminate their leader. When that happens, slowly advance and start to clean up. If they rush you instead of trying to flee, make a fighting retreat."
"Understood Professor." DImitri says. "We shall hold the line. Please return to us safely."
"Of course." Byleth nods.
With that, Byleth is off. She swiftly vanishes into the trees surrounding the ruins, which are in a small clearing, leaving the Lions to cautiously approach the bandit camp set up inside. The Lions have a thin cover of trees and bushes to hide themselves behind to stop themselves from getting immediately spotted, but they can't stay here. The Professor needs a distraction.
"Ingrid, Sylvain, you two are going to the sides. Make sure we don't get flanked." Dimitri whispers. "Dedue, Felix, with me. We take point. Annette, Ashe, deal with mages first, archers second, then the others. Mercedes…"
"Heal?" The girl says cheekily.
"Yes please." Dimitri coughs. "Alright Lions, advance."
Sylvain and Ingrid climb aboard their respective mounts. Ingrid takes to the sky while Sylvain urges his horse forward. Dedue is at the very front, prepared to take the brunt of the hits with his heavy armor.
Annette begins the battle properly, throwing out a wind spell into the ruins that attracts the bandits' attention. Within a minute, the Lions have bandits pouring out of the ruins to fight them.
Dimitri is relieved to see that the bandits don't have any mages. As much as he instructed Ashe and Annette to shoot them down, they could have been quite the issue for Dedue's low magic resistance. The first bandits crash against Dedue's shield, and he, Dimitri, and Felix start cutting through them. Off to the sides, Sylvain and Ingrid get to work as well. Ashe and Annette start firing off spells towards the few archers that emerge, and the faint glow of Mercedes' healing magic surrounds Dedue.
To the Lions' surprise, the bandit leader does emerge from the ruins. He's a towering man with a large steel hammer as a weapon. He shouts orders (well, insults more than proper orders) as he stomps behind the bandits rushing around him.
If he actually came into battle, he might be a problem, but the bandit leader doesn't use his obvious strength. Like most bandits he's a coward at heart. The irony here is that being a coward is what leads to his death this time, rather than saving him.
Byleth leaps out from the ruins with the Sword of the Creator fully extended. Her jump is silent, and with all of the bandits engaging the Lions none of them are bothering to look back so she's completely unseen. The blade slashes the back of the leader's neck in a perfect semi-circular strike, and a moment later the giant man crumples to the ground with his head only half-attached to his body.
The bandits don't seem to notice that their leader has stopped shouting, but they do notice the woman with a whip-sword hacking through their friends a few seconds later. That sends the bandits into chaos, and they start to scatter.
Not that the Lions let them. Sylvain and Ingrid move to cut off the retreating bandits, and despite numbering only nine people (including the Professor), the Lions surround and cut down more than a dozen bandits this way.
The last three bandits alive surrender, ending the fight without any serious injuries on the Lions' part.
###
"You shouldn't be up."
On some level, Dimitri is disappointed that he isn't surprised by the Professor. He is no longer shocked when she suddenly speaks behind him, he's resigned to the fact he'll never see her coming. He's not even surprised she's up this late. "Hello to you too, Professor."
"It's midnight Dimitri."
"I know Professor."
"Sleep is important."
"I know Professor."
"Apparently not, because you aren't sleeping." Byleth says. "Do I need to drag you back to your room? I assure you I'm capable."
"Of that, I have no doubt." Dimitri says tiredly. "But please don't. I won't be out long. I simply need to clear my mind."
"Stick to the edges of the monastery then, though not so far out that you're at the wall. There's a gap in the sightlines of the guards' patrols." Byleth says. "They patrol the key areas of the monastery as well as the perimeter, but that leaves the area in between mostly unwatched."
Of course she'd know that. It's just like an assassin to know the guards' patrol patterns and the gaps within them. "Thank you Professor. I'll follow your suggestion."
He walks in silence for a minute, thinking the Professor has left, but when he turns around he can see that she's still following a few steps behind him.
"Professor, I promise I'll return to my room soon, you don't need to watch me."
"I don't distrust you." Byleth says calmly. "I'm protecting you. If you were alone, it would be a prime opportunity for you to be assassinated."
"Ah, well, thank you I suppose." Dimitri says sheepishly. On one hand, the Professor sounds a bit paranoid, on the other… he is a prince, so perhaps some protection is indeed warranted. "Why are you awake, Professor? Are you simply patrolling for threats?"
"You could say that." She says. "After Flayn's abduction, it became clear to me the monastery guards were not sufficiently competent at their job. I patrol a third of the night, and my mentor the other two thirds, when she's around at least."
"That doesn't sound good for either of your sleep schedules Professor."
"I'm used to working with limited sleep. Besides, I still get six hours, and my mentor can sleep in a bit without anyone bothering her." Byleth says.
"I see." Dimitri nods. "Have you ever found an intruder?"
"A few thieves, and one assassin destined for Edelgard." Byleth says. "Though, I doubt he would have gotten past Hubert. He's warded entire noble dormitory. As soon as the assassin got close, Hubert would know."
That's an interesting tidbit. That also means Hubert very likely knows about Dimitri's nightime walks. How does that man get any sleep…? Maybe he looks so scary and his eyes are sunken because he's tired?
Probably not, but Dimitri can dream. "And you think Hubert could deal with them?"
"Of course." Byleth nods. "Hubert isn't incompetant."
That's high praise coming from Byleth.
"Unlike that assassin. He didn't notice me until I put a knife to his throat."
...or maybe that's just average praise and the assassin was terrible at his job.
"That sounds busy."
"Hardly. My mentor deals with much more." Byleth says. "I deal with the idiots that are stupid enough to sneak in before midnight. Do you know how many people are up until midnight? It's not a small number, I assure you."
That's… not what Dimitri was expecting to hear. "I see."
"But that's simply my duty." Byleth says. "What are you doing up so late, Prince?"
To tell or not to tell? Dimitri would much rather his professor not think him insane, so he'll omit some details. "I could not sleep is all. Unfortunately, it is a frequent occurrence. Usually I speak with Dedue rather than taking a walk, but I've imposed on him quite a bit these last week, so I figured this was much more appropriate."
Byleth hums quietly. "There are herbs to help with that you know. Better sleep I mean. I have some. I use them to sedate targets sometimes."
"I-I see." Dimitri doesn't have the heart to tell her that he's tried all sorts of herbs and medicines already. The only thing that seems to work is a certain rare Duscurian plant, though that rareness makes it quite expensive, especially here at Garreg Mach. "My thanks Professor, but I wouldn't want you to go out of your-"
"It won't work, will it?" Byleth interrupts flatly. "Don't dance around it Dimitri. If herbs don't work, say so."
"Ah, well…" Dimitri says bashfully. "Only a certain plant works. Duskurian Wisp Sprout, made into tea. Rare, and quite expensive among the few merchants who stock it."
"Can't say I've heard of it."
"Unsurprising. Dedue introduced me to it. I've never met another Faergian that knew of it, much less from somewhere else."
"Perhaps I'll have to look into it. I could always use another sedative."
Somehow, Dimitri isn't surprised to hear her say that.
Actually, while normally the Professor would be quite intimidating and constantly talking about how she could kill you, she's quite chatty tonight. Dimitri would dare say she's downright pleasant.
Not that he'd dare say that to her face.
Eventually the route they're walking leads back to the dormitories, and Dimitri decides to take his leave. He turns to face the Professor, and finds that she's closed the distance to only be walking a step behind him. She's so close she could have reached out to touch him at any point…. or knifed him in the back, but maybe that's just the Professor rubbing off on him.
Having the Professor right in front of him affords Dimitri a perspective he seldom gets. He often forgets that the Professor is actually shorter than him. Not that it makes her any less intimidating, though… the moonlight does wonders for making her hair shine, and her fixed smile is marginally less unnerving with the moon highlighting her eyes.
Maybe he should avoid that train of thought unless he wants to be dangled over a ledge though. Dimitri is well aware of what happened to Sylvain, and has no desire to be the second victim. It's probably just his exhaustion speaking anyways. "Goodnight Professor."
"Goodnight Dimitri."
###
Dimitri doesn't know what he was thinking. This was a terrible idea.
"You're not flexible in your guard." Byleth scolds. She swings her practice blade low and smacks his thigh. "If you're not going to block, then dodge."
"That's easy for you to say Professor. You are quite a bit faster than me." Dimitri says, panting.
"You do not need speed, you need precision." Byleth says. "Besides, your weapon far outranges my sword. You should be trying to keep me at bay, not using your spear like a quarterstaff whenever you feel like it. Learn to thrust and not just slice and bash. I know it doesn't leverage your strength as much, but you need to make some defensive considerations."
"Yes Professor."
"Raise your spear again." She instructs. "Keep it pointed here-" She taps her stomach. "-or here." She taps her sternum. "I can't hit you if you keep that spear between us."
"Right."
"Ready?" She asks, pulling up her sword.
A few weeks again, she wouldn't have asked that. She would have attacked without warning. Dimitri suspected there was some sort of change with the Professor, and this confirms it. "Ready."
It's incredibly unnatural to try and keep his spearpoint leveled at her. Everything in his blood and instincts tells him to swing his weapon and knock her aside.
Use your crest, show no weakness, don't give the opponent a chance to fight back. Those were the core of his training at home. Yet here he is, going against everything he's learned before.
And it doesn't turn out well at first. Dimitri isn't used to holding back like this. Precision is something he's never done well. His spear constantly goes wide, unable to stay fixed on his opponent, and Byleth slips past to land easy hits on him.
He's so poor at keeping his weapon straight that often Byleth doesn't even have to use her sword, and he's introduced to the wide variety of hand-to-hand takedowns that Byleth knows. It's been a long time Dimitri has been held over someone's head, but Byleth does so multiple times in a surprising display of strength for someone who looks so… soft.
Then again, this is the same person that regularly knocks the heads off fresh training dummies in a single strike, so maybe he shouldn't be so surprised.
"Focus Dimitri." Byleth says as she helps him off the floor for what must be the twentieth time in as many minutes. "Your eyes keep wandering. Don't keep looking at your hands or my face. My face is not important. Keep your eyes here." She taps her stomach. "And here." She taps her legs. "If you keep track of someone's legs, you can tell how they'll move. Even if I'm going to take a swing at you, you'll see it in my legs. I need to step forward to swing effectively. Beyond that, you want to be looking at your target."
"Understood." He nods.
"Let's try this again." She says. "Spear up."
As it turns out, looking at her legs does not help him at all, though not because it's bad advice. It's because Byleth has very nice legs, and it's very distracting and it feels mildly inappropriate to stare at them.
And so, naturally, Dimitri performs even worse than he was before. His only consolation is that no one else is around to see it. Sylvain would have a field day if he ever heard about this.
He also thanks the Goddess that for all the Professor's talk of knowing seduction, she doesn't seem to notice his obvious distraction… or maybe she's just being polite and not mentioning it.
That's a horrifying thought.
###
"Your awareness is lacking."
"How did you-" Dimitri starts to ask, realizes that's a stupid question, and asks a more pressing question instead. "What are you doing in my room? Why are you behind my door?"
"I'm hiding." She says simply. "From Petra."
"Why?"
"A test of her abilities. She must locate me by the time the dinner bell rings." Byleth says. "And I highly doubt she'd expect me to be here."
"I see…"
"Keep doing whatever you were going to do. I can be quiet." She says. "That's literally part of my job."
"A-As you wish Professor."
It shouldn't need to be said, but having one's professor sitting silently in the corner of one's room does not conduct itself well to study. Any time Dimitri looks up from his work, he can see the Professor watching him with that same fixed smile.
She reminds him of a statue, or a suit or armor… like the one that stands in the corner of the war room back home, and that he thought was a demon when he was a child when accidentally walked in there.
So yes, the Professor is mildly terrifying like this. He was much less unnerved when she was following him around at night. All her warnings, and all the times she leapt from some rafter or suddenly swept someone's legs out from under them come to his mind. Every second he's expecting to be tackled, or strangled, or to feel cold steel against his neck. He doesn't think he's in danger exactly, the Professor won't hurt him, but he's constantly on edge nonetheless.
"The King of Faerghus flanked the Adrestian Emperor with his paladins, not backstabbed Dimitri. You're studying war tactics, not politics."
It takes all of his willpower not to jump in surprise. The Professor is now leaning over him, calmly glancing at his notes.
"Incidentally, why do your notes on the Leicester uprising have a drawing of a witch on them?"
"That was Sylvain, and the drawing is supposed to be Annette." Dimitri sighs. "Sylvain was distracted with a certain event on Felix's part."
"Oh really."
"He's always getting distracted by something or another, usually a girl." Dimitri sighs. "I've tried to talk to him about it, but to no avail."
"I see." The Professor's voice is oddly cheerful. Almost too cheerful. Dimitri hesitantly glances up.
The Professor is still smiling the same smile, but there's something sinister about it. Maybe it's the way her fingers are drumming on the back of his chair, or the way her eyes fixate on the drawing.
"Doodling in my class." Byleth says. "I suppose tactics aren't of interest to him, are they?"
Dimitri swallows. "I… wouldn't say that exactly. It's not your class in particular. He's easily distracted."
Her eyes shift to him. "Oh, so he's just generally inattentive?"
That was definitely the wrong thing to say. "W-Well…"
"Thank you Dimitri." She says. "I'll be sure to take steps to help Sylvain focus."
"Sylvain, I am so, so sorry."
###
"She really seems to have it out for me the last few days." Sylvain says, nursing a sore arm. "She must like me."
"I'm pretty sure that's not the reason Sylvain." Ingrid says flatly.
"It's because you're never paying attention in class." Felix says sharply.
"You don't know that for sure!" Sylvain protests. "The Professor isn't big on showing emotion, right? Maybe this is her way of taking out her frustration that she can't admit the true depths of her feelings to me!"
"Or maybe she just wants to knock you into the dirt." Felix replies. "Like I'm tempted to."
"Love you too buddy."
"Come now, there's no need to be like that." Dimtri says, trying to be diplomatic. "Besides, I can say for certain the Professor is merely miffed about Sylvain's inattentiveness and is trying to help him focus more."
"Oh? For certain?" Sylvain asks. "And how would you know, your Highness?"
"She told me as much." Dimitri says. "She saw a doodle of yours in my study notes, and figured it out from there."
"Your study notes?" Sylvain says.
"Yes."
"The ones you use to study."
"Yes…?"
"In your room."
"Yes? Is there a point to this?"
"As in, the Professor came to your room."
"Yes."
"I see." Sylvain says with a wide smile on his face. "Say no more your Highness! I understand."
"I do not see how that explains anything."
"Don't worry, your Highness, I'm an expert on these sorts of things." Sylvain winks. "I understand the want for privacy."
Dimitri is very lost.
"And yet you constantly intrude on your friend's love lives." Ingrid sighs. "You wouldn't understand privacy if it punched you in the face."
"I do not intrude! I show a healthy interest!" Sylvain says indignantly.
"So much so that it distracts from your work, apparently."
"Professor, rude!" Sylvain says indignantly. This is quickly followed by, "Wait- Professor! I didn't know you'd arrived!"
"Good. It would be a failure on my part if you did." She says. Despite her short stature, she seems to loom over the redhead. "Perhaps, if you were more focused on your lessons, at least during class time, you wouldn't need extra lessons, hmm?"
"Aha, ha." Sylvain coughs. "A man can't even be invested in his friend's wellbeing nowadays, huh?"
"Not at the cost of his education." Byleth says. She gets right up in Sylvain's personal space, and the boy takes a nervous step back. "Unless you enjoy wasting my time."
"Wow Professor, tell me how you really feel."
"You're an annoying player who I wish I'd dangled over a ledge much, much sooner." Byleth replies instantly. Even Felix seems surprised by the Professor's uncharacteristic brutality. She's always been blunt and never held back on them, but none of them have ever quite gotten the impression that she was personally attacking them. This is quite different. The Professor is mad. "So, start paying attention Sylvain, or else I might decide that the extra lessons aren't doing enough and bring in my mentor to help." She leans forward, and her flat smile changes to a wide, toothy, and utterly insincere grin. "In case you're wondering, I've been holding back on all of you when it comes to training. Acrim never did anything of the sort."
Sylvain is smiling, but it's a terrified, desperate sort of smile. "Haha, no need for that Professor! I understand! Maybe I was being a bit callous! I'll be sure to focus more in class from now on."
"Good." Her expression returns to something normal. "I'll see you for extra training at four."
"But-"
"Problem Sylvain?"
"N-No."
"Good."
Byleth calmly strides away while Sylvain stands and sweats, and the other Lions watch in awe.
"Sylvain, that was way stronger of a response than for you not paying attention in class, what did you do?" Ingrid hisses.
"I didn't do anything!"
"Sylvain!" Felix growls. "Don't lie to us!"
"I can't think of anything, really!" Sylvain protests. "Unless, maybe… do you think flirting with Petra while she was on a date with Ashe might have something to do with it?"
"YES!" All three of his friends shout at once.
"Uh, in that case-" Sylvain squeaks. "-maybe I'm in trouble."
###
"Kid, I thought you were trying to not scare the shit out of your students anymore."
"I'm not."
"Really, because the redhead-"
"-is a special case, and I will sick Acrim on him if I have to."
Jeralt laughs out loud upon hearing that. "I never thought the day would come when my daughter learned to hate. What makes you think Acrim would even go along with it?"
"Sylvain has tried to flirt with her before. She didn't do anything because he was a student, but she's been itching to punch him." Byleth says. "She'd be more than happy to get involved."
"Just don't kill the kid, alright? Our reputation would suffer for it."
"I won't. I can do much worse than that."
Jeralt laughs again. He knows his kid is joking, but still. "And you actually used to wonder why your students were so scared of you."
I'm very much on edge about how good this chapter is. It's a deviation from what you'd usually expect from this story. I like it, obviously, but that's entirely separate from it being good.
In other news, when Byleth isn't jumping out of rafters, she's actually a half-decent teacher. Her assassin-ness still tends to worm it's way into most of what she does, but that's a given. Also Dimitri has a massive uphill battle against him… if I decide to go that route, which I'm not sure I will.