Author's Note:

Hello and welcome to another chapter after yet another long wait. This one has some more light-hearted moments in it but does begin to hint at things to come as well. Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Chapter 10

18th of the Harpstring Moon, Imperial Year 1180

"There you are kid."

Raphael and Dedue glanced up from breakfast to find Jeralt smiling down at them, he handed Raphael two boxes, and the boy swiftly opened the top one.

"Wait, are these steel gauntlets?"

The man grinned, "Happy Birthday kid, Byleth told me you're ready to use these now. They'll hopefully be a big help for your mission later this mon…oof!"

He got no further as boy gave him a bone-crushing hug, "Thanks captain!"

Jeralt prised himself from his grip, "No problem, now please let go before you crush me."

"Oh, sorry."

Once released Jeralt nodded to the second box, "You should probably open that one as well."

Inside the next box, Raphael found and iron axe and a note.

Raphael

Please note that we'll be stepping up your axe training.

Happy Birthday

Byleth

Behind him, Hilda commented from where she was unashamedly reading the note over his shoulder.

"Looks like someone's the favourite student." She frowned, "Though who gives weapons as birthday presents…"

"Birthday!"

As if summoned by the Goddess herself, Mercedes seemingly warped to their table, her tone one of gentle admonishment, "Raphael, why didn't you say anything? I'd have found something nice for you."

"Uh…"

She smiled, "Never mind, I'll bake a nice cake and some sweets for you later."

Still a little baffled by her sudden appearance, Raphael stuttered, "Well, Dedue was planning to cook something as well…"

"How wonderful!" Her smile grew, "Why don't we make a proper birthday tea, I'll make the sweets and Dedue can make the savoury, and I'm sure Lorenz can help make some actual tea."

Smirking, Jeralt left the room, leaving Raphael to be gently bulldozed into a birthday tea by Mercedes while Dedue watched it unfold in amusement.

The birthday tea ended up as more of a birthday party, since it felt like half the students decided to turn up. The majority of their class was present, as were several of the Blue Lions and a few of the Black Eagles.

Mercedes' sweet making became more akin to a full military operation when loads of people wanted to help (including the potentially coerced Marianne and Benadetta), and Dedue somehow ended up with two trainee chefs in the form of Ashe and Seteth's sister, Flayn. Lorenz and Ferdinand conspired on the tea-making and were determined to find a tea that Raphael would like, leading to a long tasting session that he was forced to attend, and somehow, Hilda had found time to make a bracelet for him which she handed over during the 'tea'.

All in all, it was a considerably larger affair than he was used to, with previous birthdays being celebrated with either just Dedue, or marked mostly by gifts from him, Byleth and Jeralt, since mercenary work didn't stop for birthdays.

He mostly sat there a little bewildered by the whole thing, answering questions from Caspar (how did you get so big?), allaying Lorenz's concerns about the tea (let it never be said that Lorenz Hellman Gloucester makes a sub-par cup of tea) and being fed plate after plate of food by Annette (she seemed to have made it her mission to find out the exact limit of his now legendary appetite).

It was much later, after Seteth had firmly brought the party to a close, that Raphael was sat in his room with Alexander commenting on the evening.

"Well, most of your fellow students seem like a nice bunch…if quirky."

Garland Moon, Imperial Year 1180

"So, that mission was an…interesting…pick for students."

"The Academy is designed to teach students about combat, so putting us in actual combat does make some sense."

"But why is a church instructing others in warfare?"

As they walked to the dining hall, Raphael and Dedue discussed the last month's mission. Their class had been assigned to deal with bandits in the Red Canyon, an area that was apparently sacred to the church. The mission itself hadn't been particularly challenging for them, their time with Jeralt had meant they'd dealt with bandits before, but for some of their classmates, their first brush with real warfare had been difficult.

"Well the Academy was originally set up to train the young nobles of the time to deal with invasions from Almyra, and its purpose is to ensure that the next generation of leaders remain prepared for more attacks like it."

Dedue glanced at Raphael, "You know a lot about it."

The younger boy shrugged, "Defending Fόdlan's Throat is kind of a point of pride in the Alliance, live there long enough and you'll hear all about it."

"I see."

The conversation paused as they got their food, resuming once they'd sat down. Raphael spoke before loading up his first mouthful of breakfast.

"Do we know what mission we're getting this month?"

Dedue shook his head, "Not yet, I assume Byleth will be told today."

"May I join you?"

A new voice entered the discussion, and Edelgard sat down beside them.

Since joining the Academy, they'd spoken very little with the Adrestian heir, the princess seeming to keep something of a distance between herself and others (excluding Hubert), and to be honest, they felt like they didn't have much of a read on her.

She fixed them with an appraising stare, "I heard that you two nearly single-handedly completed your mission last month."

"Not really." Raphael answered through a mouthful of bread.

Dedue sighed, "Don't speak with your mouth full." He then glanced at the princess, "I'm sure the people who told you that exaggerated. Everyone in the class played a part."

"Yet it was your exploits that everyone talked about most, alongside Professor Byleth's." She leaned forward, "I know Jeralt and his company trained you, but the way you handled yourselves in the mock battle, and what I've heard, suggests more experience than your time with the mercenaries would've granted."

Raphael, remembering to swallow his mouthful first, answered, "We travelled around by ourselves for about a year before Jeralt offered us a place in his company."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we travelled through the Empire for a while, then the Alliance, so we had to learn to take care of ourselves a bit. Though the company really improved our basic skills."

"You didn't travel through the Kingdom?"

Dedue shook his head, "No, since I am originally from Duscur, travelling through the Kingdom would've been too dangerous."

"Of course, the prejudices of Faerghus would've made things difficult." She focused on Dedue, "Have you ever thought about trying to restore Duscur?"

Raphael glanced his way, and frowned at the princess, as Dedue answered, "Yes, I have considered it, but I do not think it lies within my power to do so." He looked down, "By the time of the Tragedy, my connection to my homeland was…tenuous…at best. I hadn't lived there for a few years already by then, and I no longer knew anyone there."

"I see…"

There was an awkward silence before Edelgard stood and nodded at them, "Excuse, I should take my leave."

Once she was out of earshot, Raphael glanced at his friend, "What do you suppose that was about?"

Dedue frowned, "I'm not sure."

As the month progressed along with their lessons, they began taking additional battles to further improve their real-world combat skills. Most of these battles involved dealing with minor bandit groups or monster gatherings, and there was always a platoon of church knights waiting in the wings to back them up if needed.

It was shortly after one of these skirmishes that Raphael and Dedue found them.

It had been a 'bloodless victory' on their part, no serious injuries or fatalities on their side. The bandit group had been small and unorganised, posing little danger to the trained students and Byleth's tactics, the battle was over swiftly and Dedue and Raphael were doing a careful search of the area for anymore of their foe in hiding when they came across the injured wolf.

They both were immediately on guard, wolves were very rarely alone, and an injured animal could be very dangerous even if it were alone.

As expected, the wolf growled at them dangerously, but then stopped suddenly, settling for just watching them, unsure as to what to do, they stood there a moment, only to be distracted by a squeak as a rat stuck its head out from between the wolf's paws.

That was odd, while normally a wolf would see a rat as a snack, this wolf showed little interest in eating the rat, and the rat seemed unconcerned about what should be an imminent death.

Carefully, the younger boy started to approach the pair.

"Raph…"

Despite Dedue's concern, Raphael continued to approach the animals.

"I think we're okay Dedue, I want to see if we can help it."

With a sigh, the older boy followed, keeping his eyes fixed on the wolf, who seemed okay with their approach, not even baring its teeth as the blonde moved behind it.

"It's his back leg. I think one of the bandits got him with their blade, I'm going to try and clean, then heal the wound, keep him calm."

"How?"

"I don't know, pet his head or something."

Despite his better judgement Dedue found himself gently petting the wolf's head, the creature only wincing now and then as Raphael used some of the water he was carrying to wash the wound out before closing it. The rat had moved and clambered up the blonde's arm to settle at on his shoulder, watching him as he worked.

"Check if anyone is around."

Dedue swiftly scanned the area, seeing none of the classmates close enough to see what was going on.

"Its clear, go for it."

Quickly, the younger boy held up his hand and muttered the spell.

"Cure."

A glow, and soon the wolf's skin knitted back together again, leaving no trace of the former wound except some missing fur. They expected the wolf to realise it could walk and then be on its way, back to the wild, instead, it stood, tested its leg, then immediately jumped up to lick Dedue's face, tail wagging like crazy.

"Um…down boy!"

Raphael grinned at the display of affection, "He's really friendly."

He tickled the rat on his shoulder under the chin, and it squeaked in response, now seemingly content to stay where he was.

"Do you think we can keep them?"

While their classmates were surprised when they returned with a wolf and rat in tow, only Lorenz voiced any doubts about taking them back to the monastery, which were quickly stifled by Marianne's sudden uncharacteristic outrage when he suggested leaving them behind. Either way, they had little choice, since the rat was still using Raphael as a perch, and the wolf had decided to follow them whether they liked it or not.

Seteth on the other hand, was not as accepting.

"So, you went on a training mission to deal with bandits and returned with a wolf."

"And a rat." Raphael added with a little indignation, pointing at said rat that was sat on the boy's head.

"And a rat." Seteth amended tiredly, "And you decided to bring them both back here."

Raphael nodded, "Well, they both seemed really attached to us now, it didn't feel right to just abandon them."

Seteth looked to Byleth, "And you're happy to allow this."

The woman's response was simple, "Yes, the rat wasn't going to leave Raphael and the wolf would've simply followed us back anyway."

The man sighed, he knew he didn't really have an argument against letting the animals stay. The Academy didn't have a ban on pets and there were so many dogs and cats around the monastery already that a rat and a wolf weren't going to make much difference. As long as neither animal was too badly behaved or outright dangerous, they weren't breaking any rules, no doubt Claude had checked that for them before they came into his office.

He gave another sigh, "Very well, but they're your responsibility, understand?"

Raphael gave a smile that would put the sun to shame, "Understood, we'll make sure that Fenrir and Carbuncle will remain on their best behaviour."

"That is reassuring. You are dismissed."

Once they'd vanished, Seteth saw Jeralt hanging about outside his office and beckoned him in, the knight clearly smirking.

"He'd already named them then?"

Seteth raised and eyebrow, "It seems so." He sighed for the third time in ten minutes, "They were keeping those pets no matter what I said, weren't they?"

"Pretty much, Raphael was dead set on it and good luck trying to deny him without feeling like an absolute monster, especially when he pulls the kicked puppy expression." The knight grinned, "We should just count ourselves lucky that he's yet to use his manipulative capabilities for malicious reasons."

The dead earth cracked and crunched underfoot, scarred and burned by the hatred of Faerghus four years before.

Duscur was a dead land, uninhabitable and abandoned, the pompous lord who owned it not even using it for himself, except to cast out the unwanted from the rest of his land, it was a country of desolation, darkness and sorrow.

He would inflict that same sorrow upon the kingdom himself, let them taste the senseless slaughter they inflicted, feel the desolation as their land dies beneath them, and despair at the horrors he would inflict upon every scornful, hated…

"Patience, that will soon come."

His constant companion soothed his vengeful thoughts, allowing him to focus on the task at hand.

"I know Charon, thank you."

"Of course."

He turned to his fellow people, more of Duscur who were ready to take all the steps needed for their retribution.

"We'll soon be in the heart of Duscur, we'll begin preparations there."

The assorted men and women nodded in understanding.

PS- Plot hints and some new animal characters. Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update sooner this time.