"I am pregnant, but you don't have to take responsibility..."
Ingrid sat on her bed in her nightgown and kept repeating the words from her dream. She also couldn't get Sylvain's enraged face out of her mind.
"Really Ingrid? Really? This is what you think of me? You think I would… I would just walk away? Go find some…"
"Pretty girl who likes doing her hair and wears make-up," Ingrid spoke out loud. She sighed, "What a strange and silly dream."
Except, it hadn't felt like a dream. It had felt real. She had felt the wind on her face, the stone beneath her hands and the emotions, the uncertainty, the anxiety, the surprise at Sylvain's proposal, all felt so real. But it wasn't real, it was a dream and as she felt rays of the sun on her back, Ingrid knew she had no time for such silly dreams. She had a class to attend.
The first class of the day was a joint practice session with the Golden Deer House. With the Battle of Eagle and Lion behind them, the number of joint training sessions had increased. But it was still a special enough occasion that Sylvain's absence was noted and remarked upon.
"I guess he just didn't want to face me," commented Lorenz smugly.
"Didn't Sylvain take out with little difficulty during the mock battle," commented Claude, his tone was light and he wore a smile but his eyes were mirthless as usual.
"I… uh… have improved since then," Lorenz said with gritted teeth, "In fact, Professor Byelth, why don't I join your house for the months we have remaining. I am certain I can learn more by being close to you," he added, turning toward where the Professor was showing Dimitri a new move.
Before she could respond, Claude interjected, "Ah! Come on! Don't leave me too! Professor Hanneman isn't that bad!"
"Professor Hanneman is working with Professor Byleth more too!" Lorenz pointed out.
"I don't have any objections, but we will talk later. For now, return to your practice," Byleth replied in her matter of fact way with her typical stoic look. But as soon as she turning back to Dimitri, the professor dropped her stoic mask and smiled softly.
Was it because Lorenz wanted to transfer to the Blue Lions? Or was it because being near his highness made the Professor happy? Ingrid didn't know. Not for the first time, Ingrid wondered if she would smile like that towards Glenn if the Fraldarius knight was still alive. It was a pointless thought. Glenn was gone and all she could do was become a knight and serve House Blaiddyd faithfully, just like Glenn.
However, serving House Blaiddyd would mean Sylvain wouldn't have any place in her life.
"My Crest doesn't decide my fate, neither does yours! And that goes for tradition and family too. I love you, I want to marry you because you are you! And I'll just have to repeat myself to you over and over again until you know I'm serious. Marry me, I'd do anything for you. I'm done lying, especially to myself. But I want you to know, this doesn't mean that you have to give up your dreams. You can be a knight, Dimitri's knight. If we are together, I don't even care if I stay locked up inside for the rest of my life. I mean, I'll have our kid for the company and that's enough for me!"
Ingrid dropped her weapon in shock as she frantically looked around for Sylvain but he wasn't there. Yet, yet his voice had been so clear.
"Are you alright, Ingrid?" asked Marianne gently, "You seem distracted."
"I am just a bit hungry," Ingrid lied, "I didn't get a chance to eat before our session today," this was true. She had spent so long in her room contemplating her dream that she hadn't had enough time to stop by the dining hall. But for once she wasn't hungry, just confused.
The session came to an end and the professor dismissed them to spend their free hours as they saw fit until their afternoon lectures. Normally, Ingrid would fill her hours with work or food. But not today. Today she found herself aimlessly wandering the monastery grounds as strange memory-like dreams filled her mind.
"Twins? We are having twins!" Sylvain exclaimed as he hugged her tightly.
"We have two healthy sons, that's enough for me," Sylvain assured her, as she voiced her reluctance to have more children now that she was the Knight-Captain of Dimitri's royal guards.
"Are you sure you want to retire? I know how hard you worked to be where you are…"
"Twins? We are having twins! I hope we have girls this time. Two boys, two girls, that'll be enough for me!"
Ingrid covered her ears in a vain attempt to block out the phantom voices but it didn't help. You can't block out voices from your memory by blocking your ears and whatever Ingrid was experiencing, it felt more like remembering things long past.
"I can't be happy about this Ingrid! I love our children but I love you more. Maybe that makes me a bad father but it's true! If I knew this would be the cost, then, then I wish the girls were never born!"
Ingrid rushed to the nearest latrine and threw up. How could Sylvain say something like that! How could he not want their beautiful daughters! Wait, what?
Suddenly there was a loud crash. It came from the Knight's Hall. Instinctively, Ingrid ran towards the sound. Approaching the entrance, she could see Dedue and Mercedes ahead. She followed them inside.
"What's going… your highness!" she heard Dedue exclaim but before she could take in the scene and locate Dimitri, she was distracted by two little girls rushing towards her.
"Mummy!" they called as they wrapped themselves around her legs and at that moment, she felt a rush of emotions and memories that she knew belonged to her but not really her, rather another version of her. An older version who had married Sylvain, who had given birth to two sets of twins, who had served Dimitri faithfully for over a decade and who was dead.
She remembered again the words that had echoed like memories just moments ago, "I can't be happy about this Ingrid! I love our children but I love you more. Maybe that makes me a bad father but it's true! If I knew this would be the cost, then, then I wish the girls were never born!"
It was like a gut punch. The realisation that for these girls to live, Ingrid had to die and that Sylvain had wished them dead because he didn't want to lose her. She couldn't hide the shock and dismay as she looked at Sylvain. How could he think those horrible thoughts? She could feel her shoulder slump, she didn't know what to think or feel. But she knew what she needed, what her children needed. She dropped to her knees and hugged the girls tight, "It's okay, everything is okay. Everything will be okay."
She didn't believe her words but she would do everything in her power to make sure they came true!
"Move!" barked Dedue.
Ingrid grabbed her daughters and scooted away. Caught up in her own thoughts, she had missed the horror of the rest of the scene. Now with her back to the wall and clutching her girls, she could see the absolute chaos of the Knight's hall was in, starting with the impaled but still twitching corpse of a giant snake.
Dedue was cradling the bloody and unconscious body of Dimitri in his arms, he was hurrying out of the halls with measured steps. Being careful not to jostle Dimitri, even as Mercedes followed him casting heal spells as necessary to keep the prince stable.
"Your highness!" Ingrid called out, she was ignored. Some knight she was, she hadn't even noticed that her liege lord was bleeding to death.
She clutched her daughters to her. "Mummy, who was that man?" asked Violet, Ingrid didn't know how she knew but she knew, "The blond one," she clarified when Ingrid didn't immediately answer, "He saved us!"
"His highness, Dimitri Alexander Blaiddyd."
The girls blinked, "He didn't look like his majesty," Demeter chimed in, "He came to Gautier when… when…" she burst into tears.
"Mummy, are we dead?" asked Violet, "Is that why we can be with you now?"
Ingrid didn't know how to answer any of that but apparently, Annette did, "Don't be silly… umm…"
"Violet," Ingrid informed her.
"Violet, oh, you are named after the Professor! That's so cute!" she said with a giggle, "But as I was saying, you are not dead. You are in the past but also, by coming to now, you kids have created a different dimension. So I guess, you are in another world, sort of, oh! I know it's confused but it does all make sense," Annette assured them.
"How do you know?" asked Felix, from his eyes and voice Ingrid could tell he had been crying. Was it because of his highness? No, no, Felix didn't care about his highness anymore. He was probably overwhelmed by the boy in his arm who was painfully obviously a Fraldarius.
"Oh, it's called the multi-dimensional hypothesis. I studied it a bit when I was at the Royal School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad. The hypothesis says that for the warp spell to exist, there must exist multiple dimensions. Because warping involves travelling through space and by default time because time passes, even if only by a few grains of sand from when you are warped. Scholars have theorised that warp blends two realities. In one reality you are here but upon casting a warp spell, we splice in a reality where you are over there. So after the spell, two realities are merged into one. Some have extended this thinking to propose the possibility of time manipulation spells where you can reverse time to a previous point. You can't ever travel to a future point from where you are now because from here, the future doesn't exist but you can travel backwards in time. However, by doing so, you create a different dimension. So umm… we should be able to send back Alexi and you girls to our future selves because they should now just exist in a different world. I just don't know how..."
"I don't want to go back!" replied Violet, "I want to stay here with mummy!"
"But your mother in the other dimension…"
"Is dead!" Demeter interrupted her before bursting into tears again, "Our mother is dead and our father doesn't want us anymore. Lady Edith said so! She said he was going to send us away to where no one would find us. She said it was our punishment for killing mummy. That's why we left Gautier with Alexi. We knew Uncle Felix was coming to get Alexi. So we thought that if we met him on the road, we could tell him what papa was planning and so he would help us reach our older brothers in Fhirdiad. Then we could stay with Alex and Hugo and papa didn't have to send us away just because he wanted to marry Lady Edith and have crest bearing children with her."
"We don't have crests," Violet added, "Neither do Alex or Hugo."
"I don't know who this Lady Edith is but I can tell you now that she's a liar!" said Felix with absolute certainty, "Sylvain doesn't care about crests now and I can't imagine he'll care about crests in the future! I am sure he's going out of his mind looking for your girls. As I am sure is my future self, looking for Alexi. So we need to find a way to get you kids back where you belong."
Ingrid wanted to contradict Felix. Wanted to let him know what she heard echoing in her mind but she held her tongue. Because even if future Sylvain didn't want the girls, the girls had brothers who loved them. Hugo and Alex deserved to have their sisters back. Besides, Felix of now loved Sylvain in his own way. He didn't need to know that the girls had good reason to run away from home.
"So you are Violet, what's your name?" Annette asked the other twin.
"Demeter."
"After his highness, no wait, Dimitri would be his majesty in the future," Annette choked up, "He's going to be okay, isn't he?" she asked of no one in particular.
"Of course he is," replied Felix, "The boar is strong. He's a survivor."
"So that's really his majesty?" asked Demeter, "He looks so different! Not as tall or broad. He looks more like Prince Rodrigue. Does that mean Prince Rodrigue is going to get bigger too?"
"The boar named his son after my old man," Ingrid wasn't sure if Felix was making a comment or asking a question.
"Grandpa Rodrigue died," Alexi pipped up, "Like a true knight!"
Felix froze, "Felix?" Annette called to him softly.
"I am hungry," Alexi whined.
Felix handed his son to Annette, "I'll go tell the Professor about the Boar and meet you at the dining hall. The girls probably need food too, so I'll see you both there."
"Felix, are you going to be okay?" Ingrid asked.
"Fine, I am fine. The old man is destined to die the death he wants. Whatever, I don't care," he snapped before leaving.
"Mama, is papa angry with me?" asked Alexi.
"Oh, no, no, papa is not angry with you," Annette assured her little boy, "Now, let's go find something to eat!"
"Come on girls," said Ingrid, getting to her feet, "Let's get something to eat too!"