Chapter 33: The Expected Confrontation
You know, as I listen to my normal music playlist that I write to, it occurs to me that the song Silent Voice from Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ fits in pretty well with Edelgard from here in Three Houses. Hell, to take it a step further, I'd say that Edelgard and Haman Khan are just about direct contemporaries in terms of characterization. Or, they're at least close enough. Certainly close enough that I'd do an Edelgard-themed AMV of Silent Voice if I had video editing software. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, just trust me on this stuff. It fits.
XXX
Sylvain idly took a bite out of his sweet roll as he gazed over the Dining Hall. Late-morning breakfasts were hardly the most intensive part of the day, and the low occupancy of the communal eating area proved as much. Many people preferred to get their breakfasts right after they woke up and got ready for the day. In a way, Sylvain supposed that he and his friends were fairly unique in preferring to get their morning meals in the break between their morning classes. It at least provided a bit of levity after the bustling homeroom period they all had in the Blue Lions classroom.
Of course, that bit of time to themselves didn't mean that the group with Sylvain didn't take their work with them either. As it stood, Ingrid had her nose buried in some book on chivalry (which she claimed would help her master the art of riding a mount, although the fact that she would often gush about the book with Ashe from time to time hinted as to its true contents), and Felix was busying himself with cleaning and polishing the saber that he habitually wore on his person while in his academy outfit, only briefly pausing on occasion to take sips of black coffee.
Sylvain couldn't help but crack a joke at the sight of Felix polishing the saber's blade to a mirror sheen with rapid strokes. "Keep on polishing that thing, and people are going to get the wrong idea."
Felix shot a brief annoyed glare at Sylvain and scoffed, "I'm not going to engage with that comment. It'll only encourage you more."
On Ingrid's part, she let out an odd noise that sounded like something between a suppressed laugh and a quick cough, and only briefly looked over the top of her book before going back to reading. Whatever the bizarre noise was, Sylvain clearly interpreted it as the former option and smirked.
"Not my fault you make it so easy," teased Sylvain.
Ingrid sighed, not looking up from the book. "Sylvain, you're going to end up as one of those people who see everything in life as just being an extension of sex. I can tell."
"Yeah yeah, I've heard it before," Sylvain said. "Still doesn't change that Felix just won't stop polishing that sword. A sword he doesn't even use, I should point out."
"That's a good point. I don't think I've ever seen you use it, Felix," agreed Ingrid.
"…I've used it before," Felix defensively replied.
"Question for you. What is a person who is exclusively training in things like dueling even doing with a cavalry saber? Sure, you can use it in a one-on-one fight, but there's better options than that. Like, everyone knows that those things are best used slashing from horseback," Sylvain also pointed out.
"For all you know, I'm saving it just for that," Felix said.
"So you're saving it, and therefore not using it right now," Sylvain replied smugly.
Felix mumbled a curse under his breath and began to clean his sword more intently. "How about we duel later today, and you find out how good I am with it? Steel on steel is the only way you'll learn."
Sylvain put on his best faux-interested voice for his follow up. There really was a great deal of fun to be gained out of teasing his friend. "Oh, you know that I would like to, but I have some pressing issues to take care of during my free time. I simply can't take up your offer."
"Hmph. Coward. Seeing another woman, I take it?" Felix sneered.
Sylvain shook his head. "Nah, I was just thinking about taking things easy today. Read a few books, maybe eat a cake or two. I don't think anyone would disagree in thinking that it sounds like a good time, right?"
"Wow, Bernie really is rubbing off on me," Sylvain noted to himself in his mind. His and her tastes really were starting to line up with one another, if not downright synchronizing. Maybe stuff like that is what it meant being in a relationship after all.
"Doesn't appeal to me," Felix bluntly replied.
Ingrid let out a small sigh. "As long as it keeps you out of trouble…"
"It's just a plain waste of time," added Felix.
"Don't start up on your 'While you were out with women, I was studying the blade' kind of stuff. It just makes you sound rather sad," said Sylvain.
Felix wiped the polishing oil off of the blade and carefully put the saber back inside of the sheathe that was resting on the table. The cavalry saber went in with nary a sound, showing how well it had been taken care of, as well as how much it wasn't used. "I swear, I have no idea why I bother with you sometimes," the Fraldarius scion uttered.
Sylvain smirked once more. "Because you love and treasure me as a friend, Hugo."
Felix rolled his eyes. "You're incorrigible. And don't call me Hugo again, Jose."
"Come on you two, it's too early in the day to get started on this," Ingrid firmly stated, trying to keep the peace. "We haven't even finished eating yet. And you haven't eaten anything at all, Felix."
"Coffee is fine enough for me. I can't stand the cloying sweetness that Sylvain shoves into his mouth every day," said Felix.
"It's not every day…" Sylvain weakly protested. Now that he thought about it, he had been eating more sweet things for breakfast. It was yet another aspect of Bernadetta that he ended up absorbing into himself. "In any case—"
Sylvain's defense was cut off by a feminine voice bellowing out his name from across the Dining Hall. "SYLVAIN!"
That shout caused everyone to turn their heads over to the source of the noise. In the open doorway of the Dining Hall stood Dorothea, blocking out a good amount of the light coming in with her body taking up an imposing stance. If one were to read her body language, one could tell that her mind was devoted to only one thing: retribution. It was that form of hers that kept all of the students in the Dining Hall frozen in place as she swiftly made her way over to where Sylvain was sitting with his friends.
For Sylvain, it felt as if a mere second had passed before Dorothea got directly into his face, grabbing his collar to pull his gaze directly into hers. "Uh, hello Dorothea?"
"We need to talk. Outside. Now," Dorothea said through gritted teeth.
Ingrid audibly groaned. "Eugh, what did he do now, Dorothea?"
Dorothea didn't even look over to Ingrid as she replied, "Stay out of this, I need to talk to your friend here alone."
"But what—" began Ingrid, before being interrupted.
"Just let them go," Felix bluntly said. "Maybe he'll learn something this time around."
Ingrid frowned, but didn't protest Felix's train of thought. "Fine. Just don't hurt him too badly, alright?" she directed at Dorothea.
The diva gave no reply as she hauled Sylvain to his feet and dragged him out of the other set of Dining Hall doors at the other end of the room, and towards the garden area that was between it and the Officer's Academy. With a resounding slam, the wooden doors flew shut behind Dorothea and the increasingly worried-looking Gautier heir.
As soon as the pair was gone, the students and staff inside of the Dining Hall immediately went back to what they were doing, as if a former diva abducting the heir to a noble family was a regular occurrence. Given that it was Sylvain that it was happening to, that was more accurate than not. Even Felix decided to focus back on his sword maintenance, although Ingrid shut her book and looked worried about what just happened.
"I'll give them about five minutes. Then I'll step in," she declared to both herself and Felix.
Felix shrugged. "Whatever. It won't be too different from all the other times anyway."
XXX
Sylvain felt somewhat fortunate that Dorothea had decided to drag him off to a rather secluded corner of the garden area, away from where anyone could reasonably see them from a casual glance. Granted, it was still rather unfortunate that he found himself being dragged off by a menacing Dorothea in the first place, but there was at least a small mercy present with the location.
Dorothea herself wasted no time getting right down to business. "What the hell is your problem, Gautier?!"
"…You're gonna have to be more specific, you know," was Sylvain's confused reply.
"Bernadetta. I know you've been seeing her, you piece of shit!" was Dorothea's further accusation.
That sentence made Sylvain's eyebrows shoot up in shock. "Wait, what?! Where did you hear that?!"
Dorothea continued to glare at him, venom clear in her eyes. "The rumor's been floating around. What're your intentions, huh? Using Bernie is low, even for you!"
At the sound of that, Sylvain angrily grabbed Dorothea's hand grabbing his collar and forced it off of him. The idea that he would be using Bernadetta made his blood boil. "First off, how dare you. How dare you assume that I'm with her to get something out of it. I know my reputation isn't great, but I have only good intentions for her! I wouldn't dare hurt her!"
"You're a user, Sylvain!" countered Dorothea. "You treat women as toys to get what you want!"
"What, like you?!" Sylvain shot back. "I know you only want someone to live off of, Dorothea. You've made that more than clear! If you think you're any better than me, you're dead wrong!"
"At least I have standards, not preying upon the vulnerable!" snarled the ex-diva.
"Do I need to spell it out that I'm not preying upon Bernie? Well?!" Sylvain seethed. "Is it so hard to believe that I genuinely like her?"
"Yes!" was Dorothea's blunt reply.
Sylvain ran both of his hands through his hair in frustration. He knew that his reputation was pretty damn bad, but it still did hurt to see how little faith anyone placed in him to believe in his well-meaning and decent intentions. Bernadetta was precious to him, so having other people's doubts in that belief be projected unto him was borderline soul-crushing.
"Look, if I explain to you how we met, will you at least cut me some slack?" plead Sylvain.
That gave Dorothea a moment of pause. Her icy blue eyes scanned over Sylvain's conflicted face, trying to see if she could sus out any kind of deception on his part. "…That depends. You'd have to be pretty damn convincing for me to believe you."
Sylvain sighed to himself as he mentally braced to reveal such a deeply ingrained personal secret. "Would you believe me if I told you it was because of her writing?"
"Writing?" Dorothea parroted.
"Yeah, her writing. Found one of her story drafts one day, read it, and fell in love with it," explained Sylvain. "I gave it back to her, of course. But then we just kind of… came together after that. At first it was me just being a wall to bounce her story ideas off of, but then we became friends not long after, and now…"
"I wouldn't take you for being a big reader, Sylvain," thought Dorothea out loud.
Sylvain was at least somewhat satisfied with Dorothea's response. At least it wasn't an outright dismissal. Or, more thankfully, she also wasn't making good on her threats to geld him, like what she said she would do a while ago. It wasn't exactly a good answer yet, but at least it was better than the alternative. Such an answer was enough to inspire Sylvain to continue with his explanation.
"Look, I honestly don't expect you to believe me so easily, Dorothea. But I'm being completely true with you here. All my cards are on the table. Hell, Bernie and I haven't even really done anything physical-wise anyway. It's mainly just hanging out and talking about writing. If anything, I'm a little surprised at the slower pace things are moving at. It's slower than what I'm used to, anyway," Sylvain went on. "If I didn't care about her as a person, I would've just done what I've done before with girls. The fact that I'm being upfront about how much I haven't done with Bern should show that I'm trying to be a good person here."
Dorothea crossed her arms. "Or you could just be lying to my face."
Sylvain frowned. "I know it probably isn't the easiest thing to believe, but I do want to try my best with Bernie. I wish you'd believe me, but I can't force you to. But what I can do is tell you that I'm not going to stop being with Bernie any time soon. She's a great girl. I'm sure you know that yourself too. And I can also tell that you don't want her to be hurt either. Otherwise you wouldn't be doing this."
"…You've got me there, Sylvain," the ex-diva admitted. "Still, I can't believe that you, of all people, would be involved with Bernie somehow."
"I know, it sounds crazy when you hear it," said Sylvain. "But life just ended up working out the way that it did. I certainly can't complain about the results so far."
"Even so, I still can't fully trust you about this," then added Dorothea. "It's just so… unlike you."
"Then maybe you don't know me as well as you thought you did," the red-head shot back.
The expression on Dorothea's face looked conflicted as she internally grappled with that notion. She pulled down the brim of her cap in thought, plainly thinking about how to even proceed from there. What was most apparent was that the confrontation clearly hadn't gone the way she had expected it to. Although Sylvain couldn't help but think that nobody would ever expect such a discovery to be made about his and Bernie's relationship to happen in the first place, so the entire situation was dark and uncharted territory for pretty much everyone involved.
Before any more discourse could take place, a sudden intrusion with blonde hair and an Officer's Academy uniform intruded on the tense moment that Sylvain and Dorothea were sharing. Unlike the experience in the Dining Hall minutes earlier, this time the interruption by a girl was wholly appreciated by Sylvain. Once again, Ingrid had shown up to be his personal savior, to bail him out of yet another awkward and tense relationship confrontation.
"Dorothea, whatever Sylvain did, I'm sure he's sorry and it won't happen again. Right Sylvain?" Ingrid pointedly asked of her Gautier friend.
"Uh, right," acquiesced Sylvain, just going along with Ingrid. "I'll keep on trying to be a better person."
"And I'll personally make sure of it. I'm sorry for whatever it was that Sylvain did, although I'm pretty sure it was annoying regardless," continued Ingrid.
Dorothea's gaze shifted repeatedly between Sylvain and Ingrid, trying to think of a response to the sudden intrusion. After a moment, she sighed and settled on, "Just keep an eye on him. He doesn't need to make anything worse for the girls around here. And I'll be watching you, Gautier. Don't think you're off the hook yet."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Sylvain replied, a smirk coming back to his lips. The sense of relief at being saved all of a sudden allowed his normal confidence to rush back to the forefront.
As for Dorothea, she looked for a moment as if she wanted to say more, before deciding on spinning on her heel and stomping off in a huff. The sight of the Mittlefrank veteran's back growing smaller into the distance allowed Sylvain to loosen up a little. He hadn't even realized that his back muscles had been absolutely rigid during the entire confrontation with Dorothea.
However, that relaxation proved to be a mistake as one of Sylvain's ears was immediately grabbed by Ingrid. "Ow ow ow! My ear!" he complained.
"Oh hush. Once again, I had to bail you out. Why won't you learn?" Ingrid lamented. "I swear, you must have a one-track mind."
"I'd be at least willing to thank you if you let go," Sylvain winced.
"We're going back into the Dining Hall to finish breakfast like civilized people, okay? Then we're going to have a normal day at the academy. You're going to have to manage that, or else," was Ingrid's heated warning.
"S-sure," agreed Sylvain. With his ear in a painful pinch, there was no way he could disagree.
With all that being said, Ingrid led Sylvain back into the Dining Hall, with her tugging on his ear like one would pull a dog along on a leash. To anyone looking on the scene, it would hardly be an unexpected sight. Such was the life of Sylvain Jose Gautier and Ingrid Brandl Galatea. It was never easy for either of them, although it was for wildly different reasons.
C'est la vie.
XXX
I'm glad I was able to get around to writing both the confrontation with Dorothea and expand upon Sylvain and Ingrid's friendship some more. I haven't put much of a focus on Ingrid compared to some other characters, so it was nice to bring her back for a change.
Anyway, this is The Draigg, and I'm signing off on this chapter for now!