This is from AO3, and I decided to put it here. In the original format, there are empty spaces, but doesn't allow it. The odd single periods/dots are what I used to make up for it.
This idea was sprung from fanart I drew almost a year ago. So, here is an AU of where there are twin byleths but Jeralt didn't know and only escaped with one and Rhea secretly kept the other one for herself.
Beles is the name of one of the twins
-1165, Horsebow Moon-
The cold of the stone chair bit into his bare thighs. He didn't bother to shift in his seat. Instead, he placed his pale hands by his sides. It felt like ice had seared into his palms.
Beles wanted to leave. Yet, as he looked up, he bit the back of his bottom lip. He couldn't say anything. The lady - Seiros, she told him once, but Rhea, she called herself - stared ever expectantly at him.
"Beles," she started. There was hope shining in those gleaming green eyes. "Do you feel anything? Anything at all?"
Beles stared at her a little longer. He didn't know what to say to her. He only felt the cold that seeped into his skin and slowly numbed his body. What was he supposed to feel?
He closed his eyes and sat still for a moment. Maybe if he waited a little longer, then maybe he'd feel something.
"Beles...?"
Instead, he saw flashes of a girl with long green hair standing in front of him.
She yawned sleepily, "You again? You're a cheeky brat for taking up my spot, you know."
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.
"Beles!"
His pale green eyes snapped open. Seiros - no, Rhea, stood in front of him with her green eyes searching for something.
What do you want?
He wanted to ask her.
But he didn't.
He sneezed instead.
Rhea's hopeful smile turned strained. "Oh poor dear, you must be cold. Come, we'll try again another day."
She reached out for him - with hands he almost wanted to shy from. Her grip was strong under his arms, yet, she was gentle as she easily lifted him off the freezing stone and settled him on her hip.
Just like a mother holding her child.
Yet, it seemed wrong to Beles. Sure he was a child, probably no more than what? Six? He didn't know. He never asked.
But was she his mother?
Rhea never said she was.
He said nothing as she carried him down the long staircase. She hummed a lullaby, the one she always, always sang.
Just as the small child he was, Beles leaned against her for warmth, but the cold still nipped at him.
He closed his eyes as her voice faded away.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It was dark again. The only thing he saw were the stairs to that chair. Someone was always there, endlessly sleeping away in this dream. Beles did nothing to climb the steps. She wouldn't wake up anyway. He sat on the floor, placing his hands in his lap as he patiently waited.
"I learned a new game today."
He only blinked. There was a small girl. A different girl. Her hair and eyes were a dark shade of blue, nothing like his pale green features. And yet that was the only difference between them.
She looked the same age as him, had an expression just like him.
Blank, listless - but Beles was fine with that.
He didn't know her name, but he never bothered to ask. There was never a need to really ask. He would wait, and sometimes, she would appear.
She reached out her hand, and he did not hesitate to take it. She pulled him up as if he was weightless and for a moment, Beles thought he was.
Nevertheless, he allowed himself to be tugged to his feet and the game started.
He didn't know the rules, maybe didn't even care for it, but he learned without her saying another word.
She would run, and he would catch her. He would run, and she would catch him.
It was a simple game.
There was no laughter, no raised voices, or anything really.
All that echoed in the odd, odd darkness was the sound of pattering bare feet of children. Their only "guardian" was asleep in her stone throne.
And Beles was fine with that.
Their game tossed back and forth that it almost seemed endless to him. Then, as he reached out his own hand to tap her shoulder, she was gone. Beles blinked and lost his balance. He felt nothing when he crumpled to the ground in a heap, didn't even cry at the impact. He laid there for a moment as his body refused to move, before slowly sitting himself up.
The darkness was silent, and there was no trace of his playmate. He didn't dare to look around. Instead, he stood up on unsteady feet and trailed to the staircase. Beles sat at the last step, placing his scrapped arms in his lap and waited in the heavy silence.
He didn't know what he was waiting for, or how long he'd stay here. Beles didn't mind as the cold seeped into his bones. Quietly, just as the dream began, he dropped his shoulders as his eyes slipped closed and the
silence
faded
away.