When I walk back out to the front lines, I see Edelgard on the ground talking to some of the Kingdom soldiers next to a wyvern that I'm guessing she took from a church soldier. Her hands are clasped behind her back even though it looks like some of the soldiers are debating skewering her with their lances. She sees me and motions me over. I can't tell if she's relieved that I'm here to bail me out or concerned to see me covered in blood.
"Edelgard's an ally now," I tell the soldiers. "Stand down."
My voice is soft, almost hoarse, even though I haven't needed to scream orders this fight. Edelgard looks me from toe up to head, and then fixates on my expression.
"Hilda," Edelgard says. "She's… in the Eternal Flames now, isn't she?"
"I thought you were an atheist," I say. "You believe in the afterlife?"
"I'm not convinced about existence after death one way or the other. And that's not the point here. How are you feeling? We need you to stop Byleth."
"Honestly? Like I want to collapse and lay here in the mud until fate takes me."
Edelgard frowns. "Well, you're not allowed to."
"Yeah, I know. You asked what I feel like doing, not what I'm going to do."
"But it's also a problem if your heart's not in it."
"I know, I know. Hilda told me as much. I wish that her words were enough."
"Well, turns out I'm awful at talking to people while they're grieving, so I don't want to make things worse for you."
I glance over at her. "Okay, now I know there's a story behind this."
She lets out a sigh. "Basically, after Byleth's father died I told them I trusted them to take it in stride and move on."
"You told them that," I say, "When the most important person in their life died?"
"Like I said, I'm bad at this. What more do you want me to admit?" Edelgard goes quiet. "And… that's what I had to do. When my siblings died, I mean. Refuse to think, refuse to grieve. Too dangerous."
"Well, I have much bigger grudges to hold against you, so I won't bother you about your lack of people skills for now."
Edelgard examines my expression, and I can tell she's trying to figure out how serious I'm being. I wish I knew the answer to that question myself.
"You're allowed to use spite as a motivator," she says. "Can't let me be more helpful than you in the final battle, now can you?"
"I mean, I can see now that you're a better warrior than I am."
She lets out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, Claude. The end is finally in sight. I know I can't really give pep talks but can't you… I don't know, find some way to renew your own determination?"
I smile at the way she fumbles through her words. I wonder if this awkward Edelgard is the person Byleth fell in love with.
"I'm serious, Claude," she says.
"I know."
My own determination, huh? For so long I've had to be strong for other people. For my allies here in Fódlan, for Dimitri back at home, and for Lucina so that she wouldn't worry. But that posturing runs out eventually. I can't pretend anymore. I need another way. I want to protect Dimitri, sure, but as much as I hate to admit it that's not enough for me to put in my all. Oh, I'll still get on my feet and fight to my death, but I'll still go into that fight expecting to lose. Which means I've already lost.
But what else is there to latch onto? I meet Edelgard's gaze and see the pain in her eyes. She's forcing herself to kill the person she lives more than anyone else in the world. Because she's determined to protect Fódlan, and because Byleth deserves a chance to rest instead of watching Nemesis use their body to raze and entire country to the ground.
Byleth…
A series of memories flash through my mind. Byleth saving all of us by fighting off the bandits when I first met them. Byleth fighting alongside me at Remire, both of us covered in blood as we push forward to save the villagers from their friends that Solon brainwashed. Byleth taking my hand in dance, and confronting the truth of our world hopping while we were in the middle of headlights and surrounded by ballgowns. Byleth sparing my life at Garreg Mach, and then again at Gronder. Byleth and I charging down the Immaculate One side by side as nuclear missiles started to fall from the sky.
It's the same as Edelgard. I hated them for so long because I had to. Because that was the only way my desires to protect the people I care about meant anything at all. Because I thought it gave me control over my own fate. And yeah, I still don't agree with their situation to side with Edelgard and try to bring all of Fódlan under Imperial heel. But they're not Byleth the conqueror anymore. They're Byleth the scared little voice in the back of a head whose body is hacking down innocent people left and right.
I promised them that if they ever turned into a monster, I was going to put them down. And like Edelgard said, I don't break my promises. I look over at her and nod.
"Wow, did that actually work?" she says.
"Guess that's the skill to helping people. Make sure they do all the hard work themselves. Come on, let's find regroup with Dimitri and make sure our old teacher can rest."
Edelgard nods. She saddles up on her wyvern, and then offers me a hand. I hesitate.
"Oh, come on," she says. "Your turn to ride passenger seat."
Eh, fair enough. I sigh and let her hoist me up. When I'm settled, it still feels like I'm going to topple backwards and fall off the wyvern as soon as we take off. I open my mouth to complain, but I put Edelgard through this and didn't hear a word from her so the least I can do is shut up until this unpleasant experience is over. I gingerly wrap my arms around her stomach as the wyvern prepares to take flight. Edelgard looks over her shoulder at me and smirks.
"Didn't take you for someone who's so shy. Hang on as tight as it takes for you to not fall off. Like I said, I need you alive by the time we face Byleth, so you are not allowed to die on me."
Yeah, yeah. I cling on tighter when the wyvern flies up and starts soaring across the battlefield. My feelings of awkwardness for hugging someone I swore to kill for a good six years ongoing fade as the ground gets further and further away from me. I gulp, and Edelgard snorts.
"How did you make it so long as a wyvern rider if you're scared of heights?" she says.
"More scared of falling. Let's find Dimitri quickly, okay."
"Yeah, yeah. Let me know if you see him."
Edelgard has her wyvern swoop around the battlefield, and it doesn't take us long to pick out the pair of glowing relic lances. Areadbhar, belonging to Dimitri and Blaiddyd. We only have one more of the Ten Elites to go since Hilda took out three of them essentially on her own.
Hilda…
Edelgard flies over where Dimitri is fighting Blaiddyd and enters a nosedive. I still have to hold onto her even with my body right on top of hers so that air resistance doesn't slow my descent and separate me from her and the wyvern. She yanks the reins up at the last second and the wyvern skims only a few meters above the ground. She makes a landing and then hops off, drawing Aymr. I slide off the wyvern's back and draw my silver bow as I hit the ground. I glance over to see Edelgard already running over to assist Dimitri. I fire a curved shot at Blaiddyd, which holds him off and gives Dimitri enough time to sink a blow into Blaiddyd's thigh. When Blaiddyd moves to retaliate, Edelgard slams her shoulder into him in a bull rush maneuver that knocks him back. She grabs onto his replica Areadbhar and smashes Aymr into his head. Blaiddyd staggers back, and Dimitri swings his own lance around. But instead of waiting to attack his ancestor, his swing can only hit Edelgard. She doesn't move to dodge, and Dimitri stops Areadbhar inches before it sinks into her neck.
"What are you doing here?" he says. "And why didn't you attack me when you were in my periphery?"
Blaiddyd yanks his weapon out of Edelgard's grasp, and her eyes remain on Dimitri as his Areadbhar is at her throat.
"I'm here to give the person I love peace," Edelgard says. "You might think you were my nemesis, Dimitri, but Seiros was the prize. You're not even worth my time."
Blaiddyd readies a stab at Edelgard. I shout a warning, but I know I can't stop his attack. I fire off an arrow as he lunges for Edelgard. Areadbhar sinks into her back right as my shot takes him in the neck. Blaiddyd crumples and falls to the ground, while Edelgard lets out a grunt that sounds more irked than pained.
"Are you going to let me remove the weapon from my body and heal myself, or will you interpret that as an act of aggression?" she says.
At this point, I've finally made it over to where they are. I take Blaiddyd's vitals, and I don't get a pulse from him. All of the Ten Elites gone. It's a good step, but not the hardest one. In the distance, I hear a low roar.
"Seiros!" the voice says. "Face me in single combat. I will not be bested a second time!"
Yeesh, it's almost pathetic at this point. Dimitri takes a moment to glance on me before his gaze returns to Edelgard.
"Speaking of the archbishop," Dimitri says. "You say she was the prize. Did you-"
"We killed her together," Edelgard says. "She needed to be put down like Byleth does now. I would lie if I said it was nothing personal, but I was making the decision with a cool head."
Dimitri's Areadbhar digs into Edelgard's skin, and a thin line of blood starts running down her neck. Her gaze remains unwavering.
"She's telling the truth," I say, walking up. "Dimitri, lower your weapon."
"The last time I reached for her hand-"
"Yes, I threw that dagger at you," Edelgard says. "Yes, I was trying to hurt you and goad you into killing me. Then, I didn't think I had anything left to live for. Now, I do, even if it's only for another hour."
Dimitri's eyes narrow at her. "I wanted to work with you time and time again. I thought we were friendly rivals back at Garreg Mach. I thought we could walk the same path when you were on the back foot, which is an option you never gave me. Why should I trust you now?"
"Claude does, and he hates me more than anyone else."
Do I still? It's hard to say.
"Claude hated you because he never knew Edelgard the person. Now that he sees who you are, he forgets how dangerous you are."
"He also doesn't appreciate being talked about like he's not here when he is," I say. "We're desperate, Dimitri. If Edelgard wanted to save herself and start a new revolution, she had a chance to."
"Many chances," Edelgard says. "And I'll admit it, Dimitri. I'm exactly the person you think I am. If it were another situation, I'd take my freedom and run. Try again to carve out a path I want to see in this world. But the stakes are too high for me to ignore."
"You remember how Seiros managed to placate her, right?" I say. "She cares about Byleth more than anyone else on this planet. We can trust her so long as they and Nemesis are still standing."
"And after that?" Dimitri says, his voice dangerously soft.
"Then you kill me," Edelgard says. Her eyes dart between us without moving her head. "What? I know you were both thinking it."
And not for the first time, she's misread me. Because I had intentionally avoided thinking about the after until she spoke that possibility into existence. A month ago, her course of action would be exactly what I plan. But fighting alongside someone through life and death changes how I see them. When I look into Edelgard's eyes, I see a woman who is kind to wyverns and little kids. Someone who wants to break the shadowy chains that keep us tied with our pain. And revolting against the church is the only way she knows how.
If it comes down to it, I'll kill her if I need to. I've been fighting too damn long to let hesitation rule me. But I don't want to see the life drain from her eyes, and I won't plan for it.
"There has to be some sort of trick," Dimitri says. "You always have a plan."
"If I were planning logically, I would not have counted on Claude freeing me from the dungeon."
"You did what?" Dimitri's eyes flit over to me for a fraction of a second.
"I'm only alive because she helped me take out a rampaging Seiros," I say. "Please, stand down."
"It's like Hubert said." Dimitri grips his lance tighter. "When we don't trust each other, one of us will have to annihilate the other sooner or later. Why should I wait for you to get the first jump?"
"Because I could elicit something in Byleth," Edelgard says. "They love me too. We might be able to get them to take control back from Nemesis long enough for us to kill them."
I'm not sure how much stock Edelgard puts in the power of love, but I've seen weirder things happen in Fódlan. Byleth has to be able to resist Nemesis' influence at least a little, right?
"Claude," Dimitri says. "Are you certain about this?"
"Certain it will turn out well? Hell, no. Certain that this is our best course of action? Yes."
Dimitri hunches his shoulders and lowers his lance. Right as I exhale, he whirls Areadbhar around and swings it at Edelgard's neck. I let out a mangled cry, and lance stops right before burying itself into her neck artery. Edelgard raises an eyebrow at him, not giving him so much as a flinch.
"Not even going to try to dodge?" Dimitri says.
"If you spend this time trying to kill me, it will distract you from our goal of bringing Byleth peace and allow them to continue their rampage," Edelgard says. "If you absolutely cannot be persuaded, at least have the decency to kill me quickly, King of Delusion."
"You-" Dimitri shakes his head, then turns back to me. "Fine. I'll fight alongside her for now. But I don't want her getting near me."
"If that will ease your paranoia, I can follow those orders," Edelgard says. "In fact, I will follow all of your orders, Your Majesty."
"All right, then cut a path through Nemesis' forces to Byleth and fight them by yourself."
Edelgard nods. She closes her eyes for a moment and the cut on her neck fades, and then rushes towards the mass of zombie and Agarthan soldiers standing in between her and Byleth, brandishing a silver axe. I run up to Dimitri and cast a sidelong glance at him.
"Well, look at that," he says. "I didn't think she was actually going to…"
Not a bad decision on her part, now that I stop to think about it. All of us realize that Byleth's immense power means all three of us need to fighting side by side in order to defeat them, which means we need to have full trust in each other. And Edelgard's speedrunning the process by proving that she'll follow his orders even if they lead her to certain death. Because if we're not willing to bail her out here, we don't stand a chance against Nemesis in the first place.
"Let's go," I say. "Unless you want to take on our dear old teacher with just the two of us? Let me remind you that I've never even come close to beating them on my own."
Dimitri sighs. "I thought I closed this door already. Fine. Let us assist Edelgard for now."
He runs in after her into the horde of enemy soldiers. I notice that he's still keeping his distance from her, and it looks like the two of them are carving out separate swaths of area on their paths towards Byleth. As Edelgard hacks away at the grunt soldiers, she makes no move to reconvene with him. I let out a sigh and try to provide cover fire. Edelgard can heal herself so I mostly focus on Dimitri, but I do send a few shots at soldiers about to jam a blade between her ribs to show that I'm not leaving her to the wolves. I soon realize we're not making much progress and I decide to charge in with my blade. I aim for the soldiers sandwiched in between Dimitri and Edelgard. With their attention focused three ways, it's easy to drive them back after I swing at a few of them. I'm able to clear out the space in between them so that we have a large area that we can all defend instead of being perpetually surrounded.
"How about this?" I say, looking over at Dimitri. "I stay between you and Edelgard so that I can protect you if she does something funny. And in exchange-" I pause as I slice at a group of soldiers approaching "-she can be a bit closer so we don't have to cut as wide of a path. Deal?"
"Fine," Dimitri says.
The three of us converge closer together and continue blazing a path through the enemy lines. Soon, our little bubble of space within our weapon ranges is completely surrounded. We're forced to focus on different flanks and fight nearly back to back so that no enemies can take sneak attacks against us, but I can tell from Dimitri's positioning that she still wants to stay away from Edelgard. This results in Edelgard taking a good half of the perimeter of our zone, and she ends up taking the most attacks because of that. I glance back occasionally to see if she needs help, but the wounds never get worse between the times I check in. I swear, if Manuela had taught me that healing focus combat art, so many of the close calls I've had in the past would have been a breeze.
Eventually, the three of us are able to break out of enemy lines, and I can see Byleth in the near distance. Their stance and the way they hold the Sword of the Creator is aggressive and intense, even for them. I'm amazed Seiros wasn't terrified to stare down Nemesis and charge at the Tailtean Plains.
Edelgard tosses Dimitri a healing concoction, and I see that his body is covered in cuts. He snatches the bottle out of the air and blinks in surprise. Or, well, winks I guess.
"Where did you even get this?" Dimitri says. "I thought you were in the dungeon before the fight."
"From one of your officers, in case Claude got himself into another near-death scrape."
Dimitri downs the potion, then tosses the bottle aside. His cuts vanish. "Can't blame you for that line of thinking."
"Hey," I say. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Edelgard looks back at me. "Are you implying you don't remember the time you jumped off of a wyvern onto The Immaculate One's body a thousand meters into the air? It was an entire thirty minutes ago."
"You did what?" Dimitri says.
"Edelgard did the exact same thing, and also jumped onto a white beast, and also jumped off Seiros as she was crash landing."
"I can heal myself," she says, "I was aware you might need more assistance, and I didn't want to count on Flayn babysitting you."
"You're both crazy," Dimitri says. "And that's coming from the guy who spent five years rampaging through the Kingdom as a shell of my former self."
I hear Nemesis let out another roar, and it's closer this time. I glance in the direction and see him running towards us. He stands like a hulking man despite being in the body of someone who was assigned female, is considerably shorter than me or Dimitri, and is wearing that same stupid outfit with those fishnet leggings, belly button window, and floppy sleeves. Still, every part of my body associates that appearance with danger. Death. Slaughter. So really, it's the perfect fit.
The three of us run towards him and away from the army, and before long he's close to shooting range. I take a deep breath. The person I could never beat. The person I promised to give a clean end if something like this ever happened.
I need to win, here and now, for anything we've done to mean anything. And with the three of us standing side by side, weapons raised, I'm starting to believe that we have a chance.
"No sign of the barrier that the fliers detected earlier," Dimitri says. "That's a good sign. Us taking out the Ten Elites must have broken it down."
I look past Nemesis and see entire squadrons of dead Pegasus knights and wyvern riders scattered behind him. This looks like the scene at a battlefield days after, when carrion crows are swarming. Nemesis has left nothing alive close to us. Even the land is barren. He walks towards us, his eyes—Byleth's eyes—glowing bright red. This is the man who slaughtered the goddess and committed genocide against the Nabateans. Now he walks among the dead leaving only corpses in his wake.
Whatever evil I thought I saw from Edelgard, this is far, far worse. It's the difference between conquest and an apocalypse. The strength in his posture, in the field of the dead around him, invokes a horrible awe so strong that it overwhelms any sort of hatred I want to feel towards him.
"He killed so many of my soldiers," Dimitri says. "People who trusted me. We couldn't even scratch him."
"And now he's without his barrier, and there are no bystanders to get in our way," Edelgard says. "You two are the victors of this war. You're supposed to be stronger than me, so stop letting me one-up you and let's end this together."
Edelgard rushes forward before she can get a response. Dimitri takes a deep breath and follows her into action. I turn my attention to Nemesis and raise Failnaught. Nemesis lashes out with the Sword of the Creator, the links of the whip sword detaching and sweeping in a large arc across the battlefield. The attack catches Edelgard, who grunts and stumbles back. Considering this is the woman whose response to being stabbed is to blink, that must have been a brutal attack. She takes a second to close wounds with healing focus and then continues her charge in.
Right as Edelgard and Dimitri are converging on Nemesis, I fire off a shot from Failnaught. I can feel the weapon straining when I pull the bowstring, and I know that I can't count on it lasting me more than a few more shots. Nemesis whirls around with then Sword of the Creator, the whip sword arc wide enough that it catches both Edelgard and Dimitri on opposite sides of him. My arrow catches him in the side, and he flicks his blade down and extends it towards me. I roll to my left in time for the sword's tip to pass by me and dig into dirt. I give Nemesis a cheeky smirk, and regret it when he jerks the base of his blade to the side and the resulting swing of the extended whip sword catches me and sends me tumbling to the ground.
By the time I stand up and reorient myself, Dimitri and Edelgard are back at fighting Nemesis on either side. I know from experience that the limited human vision means it's basically impossible for someone to fight when flanked on either side if their opponents are even remotely competent. There's just no way to turn around enough to keep track of them both at once.
And yet Nemesis is holding his own. Dimitri and Edelgard do land blows, but the ones he dishes out in return connect more often than theirs and his attacks take more of a toll. He unleashes a whip sword attack against one, and while the blade links are battering against them one at a time he turns to the other and transitions his attack into a swipe against them. He adds kicks and bull rushes to keep both Dimitri and Edelgard at bay. I fire off one, two, three more shots off with Failnaught at moments when Dimitri and Edelgard are attacking at the same time. If they were fully in sync Nemesis wouldn't be able to retaliate so effectively, but they're not quite moving as one. How in the Eternal Flames did Seiros best this man in single combat in human form?
I take a deep breath as I ready another shot. Maybe Byleth's body is more powerful than anything Nemesis had access to before. Still, I can tell that we're wearing him down. We need to make sure to outlast him, since Edelgard and Dimitri also look battered and I'm not exactly in pristine condition either.
Nemesis leaps back and away from both Edelgard and Dimitri. As he does, he swings the Sword of the Creator and wraps it around the shaft of Edelgard's axe Aymr. As he soars back through the air, he yanks the weapon out of her grip and tosses it to the side. Edelgard rushes after it, while Dimitri lets out a growl and continues barreling forward. I gnash my teeth together and fire off a shot to keep Nemesis distracted. When I do, Failnaught breaks.
Great. Not like I need my relic weapon in the most important battle of my life or anything. God fucking damn it.
I draw my blade and rush towards Nemesis. Dimitri is slowed by the Sword of the Creator controlling large amounts of space around it, so I'm not far behind. Nemesis grabs onto Arheadbhar when Dimitri thrusts it at him, and stabs Dimitri in the stomach with the Sword of the Creator. As Dimitri's hands go to his stomach and he buckles forward, he lets go of his weapon, and Nemesis tosses it to the side. His attention turns to me as I charge at him with my sword, letting out a war cry, and he swats me to the side. I go tumbling to the ground.
"You are all pathetic weaklings!" he says. "You lack the courage to challenge me in lone combat."
I force myself off the ground on my hands and knees to see Dimitri drawing the dagger that he gave to Edelgard and throwing it at Nemesis. It hits Nemesis right in the chest, between Byleth's breasts. Nemesis looks down at Dimitri, and I see an expression of rage appear on his face. It's uncanny to see Byleth's features moving in that way, since even when they were killing I can only remember them being totally calm. Nemesis raises the Sword of the Creator.
Then I catch motion in the blurry periphery of my vision. And right as Nemesis' blade comes down, Edelgard rushes in and blocks the attack with Aymr. The sword links spin around the axe like string tying it up, and when Nemesis tries to reel it back in Edelgard grabs the sharp tip. I see blood spilling down her hand, but she doesn't let go. I rise to my feet, but the rush of lightheadedness almost makes me faint. I won't be much more help in this state.
"You are not allowed to kill anyone who has a full life ahead of them," Edelgard says. "You are not allowed to kill anyone but me."
Nemesis grunts. "You puny creature. I will crush-"
"I love you, Byleth," Edelgard says. "And I'm going to get you out of there. I promise."
She raises a hand up to Byleth's cheek. For a second, Nemesis freezes. I hold my breath. Then right as her fingers graze over their skin, Nemesis regains control and kicks Edelgard away. Aymr drops to the ground, and Nemesis recalls the links of the Sword of the Creator back into blade form.
I limp towards the fight but I know I won't make it in time. It's up to them now.
Nemesis raises his blade, but Dimitri rushes in with Areadbhar. He swings at Nemesis, and I can tell he's sluggish from fatigue, but it's enough to force Nemesis back. Edelgard picks up Aymr and both of them charge. As they approach each other, I can see all three of them pulling back for an attack.
And then Nemesis slices through both of them, knocking away their weapons. Dimitri falls to the ground and Nemesis buries his Sword of the Creator in his throat. My heart falls into my stomach. As much as I want to deny it, that's a fatal wound.
Dimitri is… dead.
Nemesis turns his attention to Edelgard, who looks up at him while trying to pull a spare blade out of its hilt. Nemesis watches her, and after drawing the blade Edelgard drops it. Her fingers are shaking, and she's bleeding so much that I'm not sure how she's even standing.
"I wanted to walk… with you," Edelgard says.
Nemesis brings the Sword of the Creator down on her head.
I close my eyes. This is it. In the most important moment, we stumbled and lost. It was so close, but Fódlan is going to be overrun by a creature bent on total annihilation. The Agarthans will have their revenge.
Marianne, Judith, Raphael, Mercedes, Leonie, Alois, Gilbert, Felix, Petra, Ingrid, Caspar, Hubert, Ferdinand, Sylvain, Seteth, Seiros, Hilda…
Edelgard, Byleth, Dimitri…
I failed you all.
Wait. Why can't I feel the air around me? Why can't I hear anything? I open my eyes to see that the world is a dark greyish purple. I know what this means.
Divine Pulse. I try to say the words out loud, but I can't move.
Claude…
Byleth? Is that you?
So faint… I'm sorry…
No need to apologize.
One chance… one more… chance…
Leave it to me.
Take care… of Edelgard…
Before I can think anything else back to them, the world returns to normal. I'm back to when Dimitri is charging at Nemesis with Areadbhar in hand, and Edelgard is rushing off to the side to retrieve Aymr.
I only have one chance to make things right. But if I change any small part of my approach, Nemesis will adjust to what I'm doing and we'll be back in the same position. It's an impossible prospect, even if it's a miracle that I even get this opportunity.
But I do have one advantage. I'm the only one who knows what will happen next if I don't interfere at all. And I know that Failnaught has one shot left in it before it breaks. If I wait and fire at the right moment… but no, keeping the same course of events means I end up too weak to pull a bowstring.
I need to act now, but not in a way that affects anyone else's actions.
An idea pops into my head. It's ridiculous, and the chance of it working is so low that I feel stupid for even considering it. But it does put the success or failure of this fight in my own hands, as opposed to trying to alter the battle in some random way that Nemesis will account for. It allows me to seize my fate.
Here goes nothing. I point my bow up into the sky and shoot.
After I watch the arrow soar up towards the clouds, I sprint towards Nemesis. Need to keep everything else the same, after all. I try not to even brace myself for him swatting me away more than I did the first time, since I don't want to induce a butterfly effect at this point. Nemesis sends me sprawling to the ground, shouts some lame one-liners, and goes for the kill on Dimitri. Edelgard protects him, tries to bring Byleth out, and it doesn't work. Same as before.
Nemesis jumps back and the three of them barrel towards each other yet again. They each ready their attacks yet again.
I suck in a breath of air.
Right before Nemesis catches both of them with a slash like he did last time, the arrow I shot up plummets from the sky and pierces his arm. He freezes as he leans back for the attack, and Dimitri and Edelgard strike him at the same time.
For a moment, time seems to stand still, Areadbhar and Aymr lodged into Byleth's body.
Nemesis falls to the ground with a thud.
That's… it. I did it.
I did it.
I don't care that I'm so weak that I might faint. I rush over to where Dimitri and Edelgard are. Edelgard heals her own wounds with healing focus and catches me as my knees are about to buckle from muscle fatigue.
"That arrow…" Dimitri looks at me. "How? There's no way that should have even been possible."
"I take it that was the miracle Byleth told me to look out for?" Edelgard says.
"Yes." I steady myself and Edelgard lets go of me. "Plus some extra magic sprinkled in from yours truly."
Byleth's body stirs. Dimitri holds Areadhbar up to their throat. When they open their eyes, there's no red glow.
"Dimitri." Their voice is weak. "Claude. El."
They end the last word with a smile. I feel some of Edelgard's tension fade.
"My teacher." She kneels down next to them. "My teacher, are you-"
"Dying, yes."
"We can find a-"
"Healer? Nemesis will come back if you do. I'm… so happy I get to see you all again as me before I go."
"Happy to see you too, teach," I say. I realize I mean it.
Byleth looks between the three of us again. "All this time, I was hoping that the three of you could join forces and build a better Fódlan. To think that what united you was trying to kill me."
"I'm sorry that things ended this way, professor," Dimitri says.
"I mean, they're not blameless in the war either," I say. "All of us played our parts."
Edelgard shoots me a glare, but softens when Byleth puts a hand on her arm.
"It's all right, El," they say. "Claude's right. I wish… these versions of us, willing to work together and grow, could have been transported back six years ago. How many lives would be saved?"
Edelgard averts her gaze. "I always thought conflict was inevitable. I… don't admire a lot of what I did, even if I thought it was necessary."
"Same here," I say. "I never imagined a world where we could work together. It's so easy for trust to break down on one end or the other."
"And now you have that chance," Byleth says. "Don't squander it. Don't let this happen again. I'm trusting all of you to take care of Fódlan for me."
"We will," Dimitri says. "So many lost, but we can't afford to hold grudges against those who want to rebuild. No matter where they came from."
"So long as they aren't planning to backstab us and start another war," I say, side-eyeing Edelgard.
"I… have accepted my defeat," she says. "There is no need to fear continued animosity from me."
"Well, at this point I'll have to take all of you at your word," Byleth says. "I wonder… did my involvement in the war make everything worse?"
I exchange a glance with Dimitri. I don't know what to say. If Byleth weren't here, fewer lives would have been lost. But same goes for me, Dimitri, and Edelgard. The war was prolonged because all of us are good at our jobs, and it doesn't make sense to hold them responsible for all of those deaths just because of that.
"And Claude," Byleth says, "I hope you continue to lead the life you want on Earth as well."
"Eh, it's kind of gone to shit since you left, but we'll see what's still remaining when I get back. Still not as bad as what's happened here, though."
"El." Byleth turns their attention to her. "I talked the plan over with Sothis. She thinks it could work. Pass it on to the church members."
"Not sure how many high-ranking church officials are left," Edelgard says. "And I don't think Claude here will allow that under any circumstances."
"Allow what?" I say.
"Get an assurance that it will not grant you more power," Byleth says. "I'm sure Claude will remember your assistance here."
"You are ever so optimistic, my teacher," Edelgard says.
She leans down and kisses Byleth on the lips. After rising, she offers a sheepish grin towards us.
"Sorry," she says. "But I might not have many more chances to-"
"We get it," I say.
Though… "might not?" Edelgard's always been the purely pragmatic type when it comes to this sort of thing, so I can't imagine it's just wishful thinking on her part. Does she know something about Byleth that I don't?
"My time… is fading," Byleth says. "Sothis gives me more life, but it's… not enough. I'm proud to have known all of you."
Edelgard pulls Byleth into her embrace. Byleth's breathing grows weaker, and Edelgard holds them tighter. Soon, Byleth heaves their last breath and goes limp. Edelgard holds them for a while longer before setting them down. There are no tears in her eyes. Nothing so much as a frown. But when she looks at Byleth, I can see the longing in her expression. But there's something else there. Something resolute.
Hope.
Yeah, I definitely need to talk with her about that. But right now, I'm so tired that I could pass out if the wind blows a little too hard. I glance over past Fódlan's rolling hills as a cloud parts in the sky, revealing the brilliant sun.
Today is Fódlan's new dawn.
Yeah, I tried to have that last cutscene at the end of Verdant Wind make more sense by giving Cladue foresight as to where Nemesis would be thanks to Divine Pulse. As silly as it is, I'm being less ridiculous than canon here.
This chapter was one of the first things I thought of when I envisioned this fic. Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude working together to fight Nemesis/Byleth for the future of Fodlan. It's been over a year since I started writing this fic, and it's taken twists and turns I never imagined. Thanks for sticking with me through all of it. :)
We have one more chapter to wrap things up, and then the epilogue. I think I can finish updating by tonight, so stay tuned!