Damn, The Apex of the World really got me tearing up everytime I hear it.

Anyway.

We interrupt the "After Marriage Chapters" to bring you a Christmas special.

Enjoy.


Nothing was better than spending the day inside, especially during such cold weather. All wrapped up tightly in her uniform hoodie and snug blanket.

Today was something called "Christmas." While not an official holiday in Fodlan, it was something almost everyone had agreed to participate in after Claude brought it up to Rhea. She was hesitant at first, but after seeing how excited everyone already was decided to go along with it. It called for giving those close to you gifts, and receiving one in return.

She glanced towards the half-knitted scarf on her desk, its color's mimicking the color of the clothes the Professor always wore. It was meant to be a gift for him, but Bernadetta couldn't bring herself to finish it in time.

A knock on her door caused her to squeak in response, the Professor had already come by and talked to her for the day, who else could it possibly be?

"Bernadetta~! I know you're in there~"

She recognized that bubbly voice, that was Hilda! But what could she possibly want from her!?

"W-What do you want?" The recluse meekly replied.

"I want you to open up the door!"

"W-Why? Are you going to kill me?!"

There was silence for a moment. "Um...No? I just want to give you a gift!"

A gift? For her? She didn't deserve any gifts, much less from someone has beautiful as Hilda!

"U-Um...No thank you!"

"Bernadetta...Don't you know it's rude to reject a gift?"

To be honest Bernadetta didn't know anything about gifts, much less the etiquette behind them.

Bernadetta moved off her bed, still wrapped tightly in the bundle of blankets, and waddled over to her door. Once she opened it, the cold air came creeping in almost immediately. Bernadetta shivered, before looking up at Hilda her eyes widening at her rather...Bold outfit.

Hilda was wearing a fluffy, red and white dress. The skirt stopped just above her knees, and she had white boots that covered what the skirt couldn't.

"U-Um...Aren't you cold in that?"

"Oh I'm freezing! But I didn't come here to talk, here!" Hilda held out a folded red and white uniform towards Bernadetta, who cowered back instinctively. When Bernadetta saw that it was not a weapon but instead just an outfit she took it from Hilda.

"Um...Thank you?" Bernadetta looked it over cautiously. "Uh, what is it?"

Hilda smiled, clapping her hands together. "It's your gift! I originally had it made for Lysithea, but she REFUSED to wear it, so since you and her are about the same build I figured I'd just give it to you." Hilda grinned as she stared down at the recluse. "Besidies, I'm sure the Professor would enjoy seeing you in it~"

"H-He...What!?" Before Bernadetta could follow up with her shock Hilda had already began leaving.

"See ya! Hope you enjoy your gift!"

Bernadetta only stood stunned, before she shivered from the cold. Deciding to shut the door to retain what little warm remained. She spread the outfit out on her floor, sitting down in front of it. There was no way she would be able to pull off such a bold outfit like Hilda did...

But if the Professor were to like it...


"Are you still getting ready!?"

"It's cold, I want to make sure I stay warm."

"Cold!? Are you telling me that a renowned mercenary such as yourself can be bested by the cold?"

"Any one of any status can be bested by the cold."

The tiny goddess rolled her eyes as she orbited around the monastery's most popular Professor while he got dressed. The Monastery was in full celebration mode, and he had been asked several times the day before if he would be participating. He would of course, and didn't want to keep any of his students waiting. For some reason though, Sothis seemed be extremely enthusiastic about going out.

"I'm simply curious as to how this 'Christmas' holiday operates, I hope you've prepared your gifts." The goddess said, Byleth nodded in response. "I'll give them out later, once everything has settled down a bit."

Sothis smiled. Byleth standing up, having finished his preparations. He turned to Sothis. "Ready to go?"

"I've been ready for a while now, thank you very much."

Byleth smiled slightly in response, opening the door and almost immediately bumping into someone, Byleth reaching out and grabbing their arm before they could fall to the ground.

"W-Woah, nice catch Chatterbox." Hapi stammered, a light blush on her face. Byleth helped her up, greeting her with a small smile. He enjoyed seeing the Ashen Wolf students up on the surface.

"You're the last person I expected to see up here, Hapi."

Hapi scoffed. "Trust me, normally I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a celebration held by the church...But this isn't really a church official holiday so, what the heck, I'll come and mingle."

Byleth looked her up and down, seeing that she was wearing stockings and a fluffy white coat, obscuring a little bit of her mouth was a black and white muzzle. Hapi raised an eyebrow at his lingering gaze.

"Like whatcha see?"

"I do"

Hapi's eyes widened. "Wha-"

"I was worried over whether or not you'd be properly dressed for the cold, but it seems you already planned it out. Good job.

"O-Oh...Yeah thanks, I guess." Hapi turned her head away, pulling her muzzle up to hide her blushing face. Byleth looked around, noticing a lack of a certain noble that usually accompanied Hapi.

"Where's Constance?" Byleth asked, Hapi turned to face the him, her blush subsiding a bit for now.

"She's um...Busy..."

"Busy?"

Hapi nodded. "Yeah, told me to tell you to not worry about it, you'll see her though don't worry."

"Can I ask what she's busy with?"

"No." Hapi answered bluntly. Byleth staring back with his own blunt stare. The two continued to stare at each other until Byleth heard someone call out to him.

"Professor!"

The man in question and Hapi turned towards the source of the voice, seeing Dorothea and Ferdinand running up to them, although it looked like Ferdinand was being dragged more than anything.

The two stopped in front of Byleth and Hapi, Dorothea glancing at the red-head.

"Oh, you're..Hapi right?" Dorothea asked, Hapi nodded in response.

"Yep. It's okay if you don't really remember my name though, happens all the time." She plainly stated. Ferdinand shook his head at this.

"Nonsense! You are one of our classmates! To not remember your name is a complete and utter insult!"

Hapi shrugged. "It's no big deal really..." Before Ferdinand could respond to that Dorothea interrupted him, getting to why they were there in the first place, reaching into a bag she was carrying.

"Here Professor, Hapi, these are for you." She handed them both red, triangular hats with a fluffy, white ball hanging from the tip. Byleth put it on while Hapi merely stared at it for a bit before doing the same. Byleth noticed that Dorothea and Ferdinand were also wearing ones as well.

"What are these for?" Hapi asked.

"Me and a few of the others are giving these out to everyone, Annette and Mercedes were up all night making them. And I believe Bernadetta helped out a little as well." Dorothea said, hearing that last part made Byleth happy. It was good that Bernadetta had begun to get more involved with her classmates.

"Well, with you guys done we're off to the next person." Dorothea said, beginning to leave. Ferdinand looking confused.

"Leaving already? Are we not going to tell the Professor about th-mmph!" Ferdinand was interrupted when Dorothea quickly covered his mouth with her hand, blushing and chuckling nervously as she turned back to face the Professor. Giving him a smile before yanking Ferdinand away.

Hapi and Byleth remained in silence as they watched the two leave before the red-head turned to her Professor. "So, what's your plan now?"

"Thinking of walking around and seeing how everyone is doing."

"Ah, so same thing as last time then?"

"Hm?"

"Nevermind, mind if I tag along? I don't really have much to do right now and to be honest, your kind of the only person I can hang around at the moment."

Byleth nodded his head, seeing no issue in her request; Hapi giving him the faintest smile in response. The two beginning to walk along the pathway in front of the dorms, alternating between talking about class or Hapi complaining about the cold.

"You're lucky you don't live in Abyss, that place is freezing. The only warm place is the bar."

"Do you not have anything to make a fire?"

"Oh we do, but if you build too many of them the place starts to get really smokey."

Byleth nodded, seems Abyss had its fair share of problems as always. He wondered if it was possible to convince the church to actually start caring about the residents of Abyss. Before he could delve too deep into that thought however, he felt something sharp poke against his neck as another arm snaked around his waist from behind, the whispering of an all to familiar voice filled his left ear.

"Professooorrr~"

"Kronya."

A giggle was heard as she unlatched himself from his back, the sharp object that was held against his throat being pulled away. He turned around to face the former Agarthan assassin, the woman smiling up at him, sucking on a red and white candy.

"There you are, was wondering if you were gonna get out of bed." Hapi said.

After Byleth saved Kronya from Solon, and convinced the church to take her in and let her live, everyone agreed it would be safer if she were to live in Abyss. She seemed right at home there, and despite the fact that they were just enemies the Ashen Wolves trusted their Professor's judgement enough to get along with their new neighbor.

"Sorry~ Got a little side tracked helping Yuri out." Kronya turned her red eyes back to the Professor. "I hope you didn't plan on ignoring me like you did on Hallow Day." She said, popping the candy out of her mouth, the end of it having been turned into a sharp point. That must've been what was on his neck earlier.

Byleth shook his head. "Only if you don't plan on stalking me."

"It's a little hard to stalk in broad daylight. But I can do it if I need to~"

"Please don't."

Kronya giggled. "Well, I just came to pay a visit to my dear Professor, so for now I must take my leave. I look forward to my present, Professor~" Kronya said with a wink before turning around and walking away, leaving Hapi and her Professor in silence again.

"Ya know, she still seems pretty crazy to me."

"She's changed. I've seen it."

"Whatever you say, Chatterbox."

They resumed their walk, the snow crunching beneath their feet; passing by the greenhouse where many students had huddled inside due to its consistent warmth. They stopped by the pond, now frozen over. Some of the students had dared the others to try and walk on it, but Seteh stopped them before they could. Now keeping a watchful eye on the place, to prevent fools like them from plunging into the cold water and to keep an eye on Flayn; who was spotted squatting at the dock with a small fishing rod in her hand, it's line cast into a circular cut out in the ice.

"I wonder what that one is up to..." Sothis muttered in Byleth's head, he intended to find out; approaching the girl with Hapi close behind him. Flayn noticed them and stood to her feet, still clutching her small fishing rod. Grinning up at the ever stoic Professor.

"Good afternoon, Professor. A lovely day don't you think?"

"Lil too cold if you ask me..." Hapi muttered.

"Oh but I find the cold to be just wonderful! It is a welcome reprieve to the many hot days here. Not to mention there are all sorts of new fish that appear in the pond." Flayn gave a tug on the line of her fishing rod, waiting for a second before turning her attention back to them.

"Are you fishing right now?" Byleth asked. Flayn nodded.

"Indeed I am, I had that Felix man cut out this hole for me. He is quite skilled with that sword of his."

"Do you know where he is now?"

Flayn shook her head. "I do not, I offered to let him fish with me but he left, muttering something about 'pointless task'." She glanced down at her line, staring at it for a few seconds before turning her attention back to him again

"More importantly, Professor. I was told that you should absolutely under no circumstances go into the classroom."

Byelth raised an eyebrow. "What's in the classroom?"

"Oh! Well you see, your stu-"

Hapi cleared her throat before coughing loudly, interrupting Flayn. When she finished she looked back at them the same plain look in her eyes. "Sorry." She said, looking between the two, although her gaze lingered on Flayn the longest; who tilted her head at Hapi before her face lit up with a look of realization.

"Oh! Sorry Professor, I'm not allowed to tell you." Flayn grinned innocently, Byleth heard the sound of someone slapping their forehead behind him.

"I see...I won't bother prying any further."

The line of Flayn's fishing rod went tight, and she whipped her head to look back the hole. A large grin on her face as she began to tug on her rod, Byleth and Hapi decided it would be best to leave for now. Bidding her farewell, although unsure if she heard them, they made their way up the stairs to the Dining Hall.

They quickly opened the doors and hurried inside, not wishing to let the warm air escape. Shutting the doors behind them they relaxed a bit, Hapi trying her best to not sigh.

"Ah, Hapi, there you are."

The duo turned their heads towards the source of the voice. Seeing Yuri approaching them, greeting them with a smile. "I hate to interrupt your bonding time, but I need to steal Hapi for a bit. Don't worry I'll have her back to you in a few moments all safe and sound." He said with a wink towards the Professor, who as usual, failed to pick up on it. He did notice Hapi was blushing slightly, however.

"I understand."

Yuri smiled, Hapi waving to the Professor as she followed Yuri back out of the Dining Hall. After he watched them leave Byleth decided to remain in the Hall, finding himself looking for one student in particular; spotting her bright blonde hair almost instantly. He approached her, the woman unaware of his arrival due to the fact that she was currently inhaling the food on her plate.

"Ingrid."

"Mph!?"

Ingrid began choking on her food, beating her chest with her fist as she struggled to choke it down; Byleth simply staring at her as she did. Once she recovered she turned her head up to glare up at him.

"Professor! Don't sneak up on people like that!"

"Sorry. You looked like you were enjoying yourself, so I didn't want to interrupt."

Ingrid glanced at her plate of food, blushing lightly. She looked back up to the Professor. "S-So, are you enjoying this...Christmas? I think it's called."

Byleth nodded. "I am, and so far everyone seems to be as well. Although I haven't seen the others a whole lot, do you know where they are?"

Ingrid shook her head side to side quickly. "N-Nope! I've mainly be in the Dining Hall to be honest, the church staff are throwing a special feast for this holiday."

Byleth pondered briefly on where his students could be, granted he had barely wandered half the Monastery, so they still could be around somewhere. He spotted Yuri and and Hapi approaching him so he shifted his thoughts aside.

"Here you go, my friend. I return Hapi to you." Yuri said with a smile, before almost immediately leaving again before Byleth could say anything.

The growl of a stomach was heard, and Ingrid and Byleth turned their attention to Hapi. Who bluntly stared at them. "That was me, I haven't eaten anything today."

"You didn't have breakfeast?" Ingrid asked, the mere thought of skipping breakfeast seemed impossible to her. Hapi shook her head.

"Nope. All the food was frozen solid and I didn't wanna wait for them to thaw it out." Hapi turned to Byleth. "Mind if we grab something to eat?" Byleth shaking his head.

"Not at all, I was just starting to get hungry myself."

Hapi and Byleth grabbed something from the front counter before rejoining Ingrid at her table with their food, Hapi digging in almost immediately while Ingrid carefully took small bites out of her food. A large contrast to the ravenous behavior he saw from her earlier.

"Man, I wish they had warm, good food like this in Abyss." Hapi remarked, slurping some of the soup out of her spoon. Ingrid tilted her head.

"Do they not?"

"Nooopppe. Your lucky if can get some meat that's only a few days spoiled, even then there isn't a lot."

"That...Sounds horrible..." No wonder the Ashen Wolve's students looked so skinny. Besidies Balthus that is, but then again she saw him up here a lot more than she did the others.

They continued to make small talk as they ate, Byleth not bothering to ask about where Hapi went or inquire further about the location of his students. Eventually Byleth began to notice a bit of commotion near the windows, the student's were staring outside in awe. Ingrid jumped from her table and rushed over to the nearby window as well. Byleth glanced at Hapi who shrugged as she resumed eating her food.

The Professor stood up from the table and came up behind Ingrid, peering out the window. It had slowly begun to snow, little snowflakes landing on the window before fading away.

"Wow...I've never actually seen it snow before." Ingrid said, a look of awe on her face. "I mean, it snowed earlier this morning but barely anyone got a chance to see it..."

"Ingrid, I think it's time."

They both turned around to see Hapi, Byleth titled his head slightly.

"What do you mean?"

Ingrid smiled at the Professor. "Don't worry, you'll see. Follow us!" Both Hapi and Ingrid grabbed the Professor's hands and pulled him along, leading him out of the Dining Hall and to the Classrooms; stopping in front of the Black Eagles class.

"Go on in. They've been working hard all morning." Ingrid smiled.

Byleth glanced at Hapi, it didn't take a genius to see who she was talking about. He gave her a smile before grabbing the handles and pushing them open and stepping into the classroom.

"Merry Christmas, Professor!"

He was met with a unison of voices, his eyes widening as he saw all his students, even those from other classes. Claude and Dimitri were even among them. Ingrid and Hapi walked past him to join up with the group of students.

"So, this is where you've all been then.

"Yep! We all decided to pitch in to help prepare your gift." Caspar piped up. "It wound up taking a lot longer than usual though."

"Yeeaah. Sorry about that, should've known getting Constance involved would wound up being trouble." Yuri said, the aforementioned blonde furrowing her brow as she turned to glare at the Ashen Wolf leader.

"Excuse me? You should have seen yourselves before I came in, sorely lacking in any type of leadership. You should consider yourself lucky I care for the Professor as much as I do. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered trying to organize this whole thing." Constance exclaimed proudly.

"Well, all that matters is we got the gift done in time for Teach here." Claude said, stepping towards the Professor and patting him on the back.

"You guys...Made me a gift?" Byleth said, everyone nodding.

"It wasn't easy, the hardest part was thinking of what to actually do." Lysithea said, stepping out from behind Rapheal. Byleth hadn't noticed her due to her short stature, he didn't dare say that outloud of course.

"No one really seemed to like any of my ideas, isn't that rude of them Professor~?" Kronya pouted, although it was greatly exaggerated. Ferdinand frowned as he looked over at Kronya. "I do not think the Professor would've enjoyed something so gruesome..."

Kronya giggled, locking her eyes with the Professor. "Maybe, but you don't know him like I do~."

Byleth narrowed his eyes at Kronya before turning away, softening his gaze.

"Regardless, I think the gift turned out quite well." Edelgard said.

"Ugh, enough of this vagueness. Can we just show him the damn thing already?" Balthus said, everyone looking around at each other before nodding.

All of the students moved out of the way, revealing in the center of the room a large triangular shaped tree. Adorning it was countless objects, Byleth recognized each of them as belonging to each of his students; he knew them quite well after all. He took a step towards it, getting a closer look.

"We decided to make something that would represent just how much time we've all spent together..." Hilda said. Byleth turned towards her, his eye brow raised slightly. "You helped out?"

Hilda puffed out her cheeks. "I can help out when I want to, besides this was your gift!"

Annette stepped forward, pointing towards an empty medicine bottle hanging by a string. "Look! This was from when I took care of you when you were sick." Annette smiled brightly. "Still can't believe you were out in the rain though..."

Yuri came up behind the Professor and pointed towards a wooden sword. "That was from when you bested me in that spar, back when Constance put you through all that trouble."

"I-I said I was sorry about that..." The noble muttered.

"Oh yeah! Look Professor I even added one of the arrows I got hit by when you partnered me up with Constance!" Caspar said, pointing towards a broken arrow.

"I said I was sorry!" Constance pouted as she approached the Professor, shaking her head and pointing to a flattened flower on a piece of paper. "That was from when you assisted me in the Greenhouse. I believe it was called a 'Evening Primrose'?"

Marianne appeared next to him. "U-Um...That tea cup was from when I got...D-Drunk..."

Kronya pounced on the Professor from behind, pointing up to a broken wooden training sword. "That was from when I first came here!"

"And when you almost killed me." Felix said, Kronya turned her head and stuck her tongue out at the black-haired man.

Edelgard pointed to a loose bandage. "And that bandage was from the many times you've gotten yourself hurt, and I had to come save you."

"Well at least someone else recognizes your unhealthy habits." Sothis remarked.

Byleth was in shock, staring wide eyed at the gift his students had made for him. So many mementos from their time together, all put together in one place. Something slid down his cheek and he wiped his face, but the feeling didn't go away. Byleth realized he was starting to cry, chuckling lightly.

"Everyone...Thank you so much...It's wonderful. How could I possibly repay you all?" He turned towards them, trying to stop himself from sobbing. They all looked among themselves before shaking their heads.

"You don't have to worry about that, Teach." Claude said.

"Indeed. This gift need not be repaid." Lorenz added.

"But I'm afraid the gifts I have won't be enough..."

"Oh hush you." Dorothea said. "Don't worry about doing that."

"Yes, we did this for one simple reason after all." Mercedes said.

"What's that?"

Everyone smiled.

"Because you're Our Professor..."

Byleth remained stunned, before his mouth curved into a smile. "Everyone...Again thank you so much..."


After Byleth calmed down everyone talked among themselves, Byleth spending the time looking at all the many mementos that hung from the tree, all the items bringing back memories that he cherished greatly. He was going to ask how they even got the large tree in the classroom in the first place, but decided it would be best to not bother with that question for right now. Everyone handed out their gifts for each other, luckily Byleth had stashed his gifts for everyone in the classroom.

Eventually it got late, and everyone agreed it was time to turn in for the night. Byleth bidding his students farewell as they all returned to their rooms.

As Byleth made his way towards his own room he noticed that he hadn't seen Bernadetta in there with everyone. He talked to her earlier today, but decided he should pay her another visit, plus he still needed to give the girl her gift.

He approached her door, staring at it for a few seconds before knocking, as he did he heard a shriek from behind the door followed by a loud crash of someone falling to the floor, Byleth panicked and kicked open the door; rushing in.

"Bernadetta! Are yo-" He stopped short as he laid eyes on the recluse.

The outfit she was wear was one unbecoming of her personality, a red and white dress, the skirt of which barely covered her thighs. Despite it's soft appearance he doubted it would offer any protection from the cold.

"P-Professor!? W-What are you doing!?"

"I...Heard someone scream, so I thought you were getting attacked. More importantly what are you wearing?" Byleth shut the door behind him, walking over to Bernadetta and offering his hand to help her up. She recoiled in response, but took it after seeing he meant no harm. She always did assume the worst.

"H-Hilda gave it to me...I didn't want to wear it, b-but I thought it might make you happy..." Bernadetta stood on her feet, blushing deeply. "U-Um...Does it?"

Byleth looked the recluse up and down before shaking his head. "You'll catch a cold dressed like that..." Byleth smirked slightly. "But it does look cute..."

Bernadetta blushed. "C-Cute?! I um..." Bernadetta looked around, she wasn't expecting that response.

Byleth handed her a small box. "Here, this is your gift."

Bernadetta meekly took the gift, looking up at the Professor. "It's not going to explode is it?"

"No?"

Bernadetta gulped, unfurling the ribbon and taking the top off, gasping in surprise. In the box was a simple, gold necklace. It was nothing too extravagant, but it was beautiful to look at. It reminded Bernadetta of the jewelry Dorothea wore.

"I um...I think you mixed this gift up..."

"Nope. It's yours."

"B-But I can't accept something like this!"

Byleth smiled, ignoring her words. He took the necklace out of the box and leaned toward Bernadetta, who's cheeks blushed a deeper shade of red then they were before. He wrapped the necklace around her neck, hooking it together before leaning back; letting it rest on her collarbone. Bernadetta cautiously ran her finger over it, afraid it was going to break.

"I...I don't know what to say, Professor..." She looked up at him before hugging him tightly. "Thank you..."

Byleth ran his hand through her hair, his smile still remaining. "Merry Christmas, Bernadetta..."


I tried to finish this before Christmas ended. But in my time zone I am 30 minutes late as I am writing this.

Hope you enjoyed this, this was fun to write. Although it feels really messy to me...Next up its time to introduce a new girl! This one is long overdue, as are most of them.

I hope you all had a great christmas, and I hope you all continue to read this lil ol' story of mine well into next year.

Until next time.