Conferences were boring. Important, Dimitri was smart enough to know that, but boring nonetheless. The rulers of each of the three territories meet up at Garreg Mach every year to discuss politics, trade, deals, protests, etcetera. And it all lasted for a week. A week! What was he supposed to do for a week? Of course, Dimitri was always brought to these things whether he liked it or not. He's supposed to be at the age where he could make his own decisions, like choosing not to come here, but his uncle apparently doesn't trust him to be home alone. They don't get along very well.
The prince of Faerghus wore a sky blue flannel with a black T-shirt underneath, light brown pants, and black sneakers. His hair was golden blonde and his eyebrows were bushy but shared the same color. His eyes were icy blue and were more angular and sharp than he'd like them to be. He laid on the couch of his 'Royal Hotel' and stared at the ceiling fan slowly spinning in circles, hands over his head and leg over the other. There was a TV, but he wasn't interested in watching anything at the moment. He also had his phone, but...
The doorbell rang.
Dimitri's head perked up. A visitor? Maybe his uncle forgot something again.
He got up and peered through the hole in the door. What he saw on the other side wasn't his uncle, but a man wearing a fedora, sunglasses, and duster, all of which were colored black like he or she—he most likely—was some sort of agent or something. If he was an agent, what does he want?
Hesitantly, he said, "State your business."
He could see the man smile from behind the glass. "I have a package."
"Package?" He muttered. Who would send him a package this for from Faerghus? And why him? "Are you with my personal guard? If not, then what does it contain?"
"It's no bomb or anything like that. Just a box with something important inside."
With heavy reluctance, he opened the door.
The man handed him the box. "For you." He said.
Dimitri took it from his hands and was shocked by how heavy it was, even when he had a crest that doubled his human strength. Definitely not a bomb, even if there were multiple stacked together. "What is in this thing?" He asked.
"Again, not a bomb as I'm sure you may be able to tell. Best if I don't spoil the surprise."
He looked down at the box. It was rectangular and was almost as wide as the door, but a little short in length. It was taped closed by clear tape that said 'IMPORTANT'. There was no address on it. That worried him. "Well...thanks."
He smiled. "No problem. I must leave now." He turned to walk away, Dimitri doing the same as he slowly started shutting the door, but then he turned back to him. "But also,"
He stopped closing the door. "Yes?"
"Expect to be meeting someone soon."
"Who?"
"You'll know when you see them. Anyway, goodbye." He turned left and walked down the hall.
"Expect to be meeting someone soon?" Dimitri muttered. But who? Only VIPs were allowed in this building. In fact, how did he even get past the guards?
He shrugged. Might as well focus on what was in front of him for now. He got onto his knees and set the box down in the living room. He used his nail to cut the center part of the tape, then opened it.
"Huh?"
Inside was...gaming systems? Nintendo Switch? Ah yes, that system he saw on TV once. But why were these sent to him, and why were there three of them? Wouldn't one be enough? He stopped questioning it and took the three boxes out. Then he noticed three objects, which looked like DVD cases, tucked in the corner and strapped together by a piece of tape.
There was a knocking at the door.
He got up and peered through the hole. Wait, is that—
He swung open the door. "El?"
Two people stood at the door. One he recognized, the other he didn't. The one he did know was a girl with long silky white hair, topped with a brown cowboy hat, and blue eyes. She wore a white oversized T-shirt with the band name 'Rolling Crest Stones' on the front, blue jeans, and brown cowboy boots. The guy he didn't recognize had tan skin, black hair with a single braid hanging from the right of his head, and green eyes. He wore a gray hoodie with a logo of the Officer Academy's Golden Deer house with impact text that says 'Fear the Deer' on the front, blue jeans, and white sneakers.
She nodded. "Hey, Dimitri." She said with her thick southern Adrestian accent.
The other guy raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you two know each other?"
Edelgard nodded before helping herself in.
The tan skinned boy then fixed his gaze on the man in front of him. "And you're..."
"Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd." He said swiftly as he allowed him inside.
With an astonished look, he followed.
Dimitri closed the door behind him and faced the white-haired girl. "What brings you here?" He gestured at the other boy. "And who is this?"
Inspecting his unnecessarily large hotel room, she responded. "A man gave me a letter." She turned to face the other stranger. "The letter told me to find this guy, Claude von Riegan."
That name he recognized, and he spoke before Edelgard could continue. "He is the missing heir to house Riegan?"
The black-haired kid—Claude—interrupted. "And you're the prince of Faerghus? Just after I was abducted by the princess of Adrestia? What the hell is going on..."
Edelgard looked at the blonde boy and continued. "He claimed that he too got a letter that lead to your location. Here we are now, at the next part of the scavenger hunt."
Dimitri nodded. "Well, only a minute ago, a man in black gave me a box."
Claude cocked an eyebrow. "Of what?"
He thumbed at the opened box with the three unopened gaming systems next to them. "Nintendo Switches. Three conveniently."
The white-haired girl walked over to the machines and inspected them. "So that man, whoever he is, wants us to..." He could tell Edelgard was having a hard time believing this. "play a game? Together? The three future leaders of Fódlan. Playing a game. Together."
This...was strange. Who would spend over a thousand dollars on gaming products, infiltrate a restricted area, somehow know where the hotels the three of them were staying in, just to set up a 'play date'? "Strange. Very strange indeed..."
Claude had the opposite reaction. "So he wants us to have a game night? Sick! I'll get the snacks." He said joyously.
"We can do that later." Said Edelgard. "For now, let's comply with his wishes and set up the consoles. One of them at least." She looked at both of them. "Do either of y'all know how to set one up?"
The black-haired boy's jaw dropped. "You've never owned a Switch?!"
She shook her head in response.
That only caused his jaw to drop further. "You have all that money, but you've never owned a Switch, or even played on one, or even owned a game console?"
"I own a game console. I have an Xbox Series S at home."
"Oh, so you're team Xbox, huh?" He said with a smirk.
She smirked as well. "Do ya' have a problem with that?"
"The only thing I got a problem with is that you wasted your money. Anybody would know—does know—that PlayStation is where it's at."
"You're just salty ya' don't have Halo or Gears of War."
"And yet your hair color brings out the true salt in your decision. Face it, we've got more exclusives. Better ones at that."
"Yeah, but all of y'all's exclusives suck. Ours are ludicrously better than your trash like Little Big Planet."
"Oh, and of course the only trash you bring up is that kiddy ass game."
They began lightheartedly bickering about the topic. Dimitri...wanted to admit that he had no idea what they were talking about, but he was afraid that he wouldn't come off as cool as most kids his age. Especially to El. He opened the blue Switch (the second one was red and the third is yellow funnily enough) while they were distracted.
Once their agreement to a disagreement ended, they opened their Switches too. Then Dimitri remembered something. "There is something else in that box. I almost forgot about it."
Claude abruptly stopped his unboxing to check. "Oh, hell yeah! It came with games." He picked up the bundle of games and... His jaw dropped again, farther than earlier. "Holy shit..."
"What game is it?" Edelgard asked.
No response.
The other two took that as a sign to see for themselves. Dimitri slowly crept over his shoulder and...
"What the hell, they didn't even get my eye color right!" She whined uncharacteristically.
The cover had Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude wearing fancy looking black clothing and holding medieval weapons with two people with blue hair apparently, holding an overly fancy looking sword. The only thing that didn't make sense—aside from the fact that somebody made a video game about them without their permission—was the fact that Edelgard's eye color was purple, not blue like in real life.
The game was titled 'Fire Emblem Three Houses'.
Claude finally spoke. "I look sexy as fuck as an anime character!"
Edelgard shrugged. "Whatever, let's play it. Which Switch are we usin'?"
Dimitri was confused as to how normally they were taking this. "Wait, you two are not feeling weird about this? I mean, someone went out of their way to make a game about us."
They ignored him. "Should we use Dimitri's Switch? It's his house."
The white-haired girl nodded. "Yeah, sounds fair."
"Guys!"
"Hey, should I run to Publix and grab some snacks?" Claude said.
"I don't want to listen to ya' chewing the whole time."
He opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it and shrugged. "Point taken."
After setting up Dimitri's Switch and getting past all of the 'New Switch' stuff, Claude popped open the case (Dimitri was expecting a disc, but instead there was a tiny cartridge inside. Who would waste that much plastic just to make a container for a tiny cartridge?) and inserted the cartridge. They all sat on the same couch, each of them taking up a different cushion. The blonde boy was the one with the controller, blue 'joycons' as they call them, docked onto a controller thing.
The prompt for the game they were about to play appeared. "What do I do?" He asked.
The dark-haired boy gave him an answer. "You hit A."
"Hit a what?"
"Hit. A. The button."
Dimitri found the A button and punched it, knocking the controller out of his hands.
Claude burst out laughing. "No you stupid fucking idiot! Just press it!"
"This is sad." Edelgard commented as she handed the controller back.
"You told me to hit it?!"
He couldn't contain his laughter. "Yeah but not literally! Oh my fucking god..."
Dimitri then gently hit A, and the screen turned black. "Is the TV off?"
"It's loading." She answered.
The title screen appeared a moment later. There was the title of the game and an unoccupied throne in the background. But then there was a disturbing melody playing in the background that sounded like a church piano playing a song from a funeral. It gave off a really eery vibe, like they were about to meet Cthulhu or something.
It made him feel uncomfortable.
"Kind of reminds me of the Prelude." Claude said suddenly.
The girl looked at him. "What's that?"
"A little melody that plays at the beginning of every Final Fantasy game. Though, this one seems to give off more of a somber vibe. Perhaps it's trying to set up the theme?"
"Could be a possibility."
Dimitri ignored them and hit A again. Multiple options appeared, but the one it was already settled on was 'New Game'. He hit A again and more options he didn't understand appeared.
"Pick Normal." Claude suggested. "I doubt you've played a Fire Emblem game before."
"But Normal usually isn't much harder than Hard." Edelgard protested.
"True, but come on, judging by how he handled the controller earlier, he probably has no idea what he's doing."
She nodded. "Good point."
He picked Normal, then two more options appeared. The spectators looked at each other.
"He should pick Classic," He once again suggested. "The true Fire Emblem experience."
She shook her head. "But I bet he'd get everyone in his army killed if he did so. It's best if he chooses Casual for now. He can play it on Classic another time."
"Whatever. Pick Casual."
He picked casual, then the screen went black again. A flower then appeared on screen. Underneath the flower, text appeared, and it said, 'Tailtean Plains, Imperial Year 91...'
"Isn't that the same date as the War of Heroes?" Edelgard asked.
A steel boot crashed down upon the flower, completely destroying it as Dimitri jumped a little. The scene then cuts to two armies engaging in medieval combat.
"I see that they're still cutting corners with graphics." Complained the white-haired girl.
Claude simply shrugged.
Then something came down from the sky and crashed down upon one of the armies. Upon impact, it exploded in a fiery mess, burning soldiers alive. It wasn't graphic—lazy actually—but it still disturbed him a little. Then a man came from nowhere and pulled out his sword from the ground, which apparently was the cause of the explosion and the same sword as the one on the cover. Only Dimitri noticed that last part. He remained quiet. The camera zoomed out, revealing the battlefield as ten bright red lights flashed in random locations. Then the scene cut again, this time to a woman with green hair and...an honestly ridiculous looking outfit that was completely unfit for a battle, medieval or not.
"That's Seiros." Edelgard commented, but somehow he picked up on slight venom in her voice.
It's probably nothing.
Both boys slowly nodded.
A soldier died right next to her, drops of blood flying around her person. The sight made him feel uneasy. Then she stared down the man with the explosive sword like a dramatic scene from a movie. The next minute consisted of the two titans fighting before the man's sword then broke apart and he started swinging it around like a whip!
"What the..." He muttered.
Then Seiros managed to tangle the unusually large whip with her tiny sword!
"But you can't just do that!" Dimitri blurted.
Edelgard snickered and Claude gave him a one word answer. "Anime."
Then Seiros disarmed the man and knocked him to the ground. She pulled out a dagger and aimed it at his chest before saying something that threw the three of them off. "Tell me, Nemesis. Do you recall the Red Canyon?" They all looked at each other, then back at the screen. A flash of recognition in his eyes, then she stabbed him repeatedly.
Dimitri's stomach churned.
Soldiers cheered and the scene ended with Seiros caressing the sword passionately, hugging it, and calling it 'mother'.
"Mother?" Claude said aloud, obviously confused. "What the hell is wrong with this woman?"
"I can tell she has a few screws loose." The girl said, coming out surprisingly sharp.
But just as they thought the scene was over, it kept going. A swirl of multicolored energy formed in the center of the screen. Images that Dimitri didn't understand were flashing at a rapid pace, the only image he was able to discern is one that looked like a building that was on fire. Then...nothing. The screen went black for a few seconds.
Then it appeared. The throne from the title screen, now occupied by a small girl.
"This is beyond weird." Edelgard said distastefully.
The blonde boy couldn't help but agree.
The girl woke up and then stared at them, almost as if she could see them from the other side of the screen, and said, "Oh my. What could've brought you here?"
It was as if the question was directed towards them.
Then the scene actually ended and a new one began. Things were now in 3D.
She continued speaking. "I wonder how you got in here... It is most rude to interrupt a moment of repose." She frowned as if she was accusing them. "Very rude indeed." She motioned Dimitri to come forward. "Now come to me. I wish to have a look at you."
Two people then appeared on screen. Both had blue hair and wore black armor. The two people from the cover.
"Oh, I see." Claude said suddenly. "It's asking you to pick a gender."
He cocked his brow. "But why do I need to pick a gender?"
"It determines who you can S support later in the game."
"S support?"
"It means who you can bang."
"What?"
"Just pick male." Edelgard said with an eye roll.
Dimitri picked the male option. Then he was asked who he was. He picked the 'I'm a mortal' option. Then he was told by the mysterious girl to pick a name. After a minute of trying to find out how to type characters in, he deleted the default name (Byleth, how strange) and put his own name in. Then he was told to put in his birthday. He shrugged and put in December 20th. Then the girl said he has the same birthday as hers. Strange.
She slumped back in her chair. "Hmmm. It all feels so...familiar. I think it may be time for yet another nap...It is almost...time to...begin..." The screen faded to black once again.
Claude spoke. "So basically it was a character creation menu? Alright."
Edelgard nodded. "It's not exactly a traditional open. Hey you, finally awake." She mimicked it as if it was a running joke.
Claude laughed.
Then the next scene started and someone suddenly started speaking. "Hey. Time to wake up."
Their heads snapped back to the TV. "Called it!" She shouted
Now Dimitri's character was in a house from the looks of it, and he was facing a stranger. He asked if he was having that dream again, then two options appeared.
The white-haired girl groaned. "Please do not pick the bottom option."
The other spectator disagreed. "No Dimitri, please pick the bottom option."
"Will it matter?" He asked.
They both shrugged.
Dimitri did as well and picked the top option.
The man, Jeralt (that name sounded oddly familiar), said. "Massive armies clashing on a vast field, right? There hasn't been a battle like that in over three centuries..."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute! Didn't the Empire ban all wars when they arranged the Apex Pact in 1008?"
"Maybe the game takes place during the Five Century Peace Period." She answered.
"But every Fire Emblem game takes place during a war! Why would it take place during that period and not towards to end?!"
"Maybe it's a made up story."
Claude simply grumbled as he leaned back on his seat.
Jeralt then goes on to explain that Dimitri's character and himself are mercenaries and how they can't waste time thinking about useless things. Another mercenary breaks in and tells them that his presence is needed. And upon seeing who requested their aid...
The three kids stared at the TV screen, eyes widened and jaws dropped.
A blonde boy with blue eyes, A white-haired girl with purple eyes, a dark-haired boy with green eyes.
Dimitri. Edelgard. Claude.
They were actually in the game.
No.
Fucking.
Way.
AN: I know, southerner Edelgard sounds OOC as hell. Just bear with me, it will be explained later.
Anyway, I read Advanced Release recently—which I highly recommend you check out if you're a Final Fantasy VII fan—and that gave me the idea for this story. It's a read it/play it fic set in a modern AU, but aside from that, I don't really know what this story will end up being so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. This story will obviously contain spoilers for all four endings, which I probably didn't even have to mention.
By the way, this story takes place 10 months before the events of the game begin, so that means that Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude are 16 in this story.
Anyway, next chapter will be out when it's ready. Until then, see ya.