I was first aware of a light against the back of my eyelids. When I turned my head to the left, it dimmed, and it was easier to slip back into sleep. Then, I heard the sound of footsteps outside - quiet and hurried. Someone was humming a familiar tune. I opened my eyes. I was lying in bed in my room at the royal palace. Sunlight seeped in through the drawn, blue curtains. I pushed myself up and looked for the source of the humming. Rose sat at the couches, sewing. When she heard the rustle of blankets, she turned, as I slid my legs off the bed.

"Byleth?" she said. Her mouth dropped open, and she tossed the shirt and needle in her hands onto the coffee table. She dashed over. Rose was wearing a thick, burgundy skirt, and a red shawl over a black long-sleeve shirt. It wasn't summer then.

"Hey," I tried to say, but my voice cracked. I cleared my throat, and she hurried to get me a glass of water. "Thanks."

"Oh thank the Goddess," Rose said and sat down beside me. Her hair seemed grayer, and there were more white streaks among the light purple.

Sipping the cool water, I tried to remember. Yes, Arundel attacked me. He stabbed me. I fell off the cliff. I'd taken my last knife and jammed it against the cliff wall, but I couldn't find much purchase. It barely slowed my fall. Then I saw a tree rushing towards me. I'd grabbed the branch, managed to land on my feet - or was it my butt? - and then I'd blacked out.

"What day is it?" I asked Rose.

She avoided my gaze. "It's the thirteenth of Wyvern Moon (10)."

I did the math in my head. Wyvern Moon to Harpstring Moon. Almost five moons had passed.

"It's the year 1185," Rose said quietly.

I blinked and stared at her. Had I heard that correctly? "85?" I said. "You're sure?" She nodded. "Then-" I rested my forehead against the palm of my hand. No. "Then it's been three and a half years?"

Rose nodded again. "Byleth, we weren't sure if you'd ever wake up."

"How did I end up here? What's been going on for the past three and a half years?" I asked. Wait, if it'd been that long then… "Rose, where's my brother's notebook?"

"I gave that to Yuri for safekeeping."

When did Byleth return? He said he'd return in five years. The specific date was in that notebook, but I couldn't remember. It must be soon then. Or perhaps he was already back. I could feel a headache settling in. "I-"

"Dear, don't worry about things for now," Rose said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't we get some food together? I could use some lunch."

I nodded. I got dressed. Rose had made me a new set of clothes like my old ones, and I found a sword lying on my desk, which Rose told me Jeralt had bought. We walked together to the dining room, where the servants brought out food for us. And Rose told me everything.

The peace treaty fell apart a few months after I'd fallen into a coma. They'd met up once again at the monastery, but while they were there, a troop of Empire soldiers attacked a Kingdom town. When Dimitri and Rhea's parties hurried back to the capital, they were ambushed. After those two incidents, the war broke out again. They were at a stalemate, though. The war was mostly skirmishes along the border, with neither side making significant progress.

Three and a half years. It was still sinking into me.

We were leaving the dining room after brunch when I almost crashed into Dimitri in the doorway. He looked completely different. There was a black eyepatch over one eye, and his blond hair had grown out.

"Your Majesty?" I said, because I wasn't sure. He was wearing armor and a dark blue cloak.

"Byleth," he said, but he didn't smile like he used to. "I heard you woke up and came to see you." Dedue was standing beside him. His hair had also grown out, enough to tie into a tiny ponytail, and there were new scars on his face.

I couldn't help myself. I said, "What happened?"

Dedue nodded at me, and Dimitri said, "Come. There's a lot you should know."

I waved at Rose and followed Dimitri to the meeting room. There was a map of Fodlan on the table and a map of Faerghus pinned to the wall. There were red and blue wooden pieces on the map.

Lord Rufus was in the room, holding a large piece of parchment. When he saw us enter, he said, "Nice to see you again, Miss Byleth."

"Lord Rufus," I said with a short bow. Ingrid and Rodrigue weren't here. Dimitri sat down at the table.

"I'll have everything you need to get caught up sent to your room," Rufus said. I gulped as I sat down across from Dimitri. I didn't want to know how many thousands of words I'd have to read.

Dimitri explained to me in detail the current state of the war. What'd happened was something that Rufus would handle with all of his documents. We had troops all across the border, and the latest skirmishes were mostly near the monastery. Dimitri said that a spy had informed them that Edelgard was preparing for a large, frontal assault near the Charon lands.

"I'm thinking we should be there," Dimitri said.

The scars were from fighting in the war then. I wondered who'd taken Dimitri's eye. "Your Majesty, I know the peace treaty fell apart, but is there really no chance of it happening again?"

Dimitri met my gaze. There was a dullness to his blue eyes, with dark bags underneath. "No," he said. "Edelgard must die."

I swallowed and waited. But when Dimitri continued to discuss what troops to take with them, I realized he was serious. Was it really too late? Was there really no way to stop this war? To stop ourselves from killing each other?

I listened to Rufus and Dimitri debate. I told them that I couldn't provide a good opinion until I'd assessed the situation more thoroughly. Late afternoon, I returned to my room and found a giant stack of papers on my desk. Rose and Jeralt were both in my room, with tea on the table between them.

"You're really awake," Jeralt said, grinning.

"Hey, Jeralt," I said. I went to my desk, grabbed the first sheet of paper, and sat down. "You two have fun. I have a lot of reading to do."

They talked while Rose sewed. Jeralt left, around dinner time, and I took dinner in my room. When evening fell, my maid, Tania, entered and lit the lanterns for me.

"Are you going to keep working, Miss?" Tania asked.

"Yes," I said, without lifting my eyes off the paper. They were battle reports. I was marking each battle on one of my Faerghus maps.

"Should I draw a bath for you?"

"I can do it myself later."

"Understood, Miss." Tania bowed at me and left the room. Rose was still here, sewing under the dim candlelight.

"Isn't that bad for your eyes, Rose?" I asked. "Did you send a letter to Yuri?"

"Yes and yes," she said. "I could say the same for you. I'm almost done for the day." There was a soft knock on the door, and Jeralt entered. I placed the paper down and picked up the next one. There was hardly a dent in the stack.

"Good night, Byleth," Rose said, coming to give me a hug.

"Good night," I said. After Rose had left, I looked at Jeralt. "What is it?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, there are a few things I wanted to tell you." I nodded for him to continue. "The first is that if you want to get back to training again, I'm free in the afternoons like usual. The second is that you might have noticed… Over these past few years, Rose and I have been taking turns watching over you. Do you mind if I stay?"

"What?"

"Rose takes the day shifts, and I take the night ones," Jeralt said. He had his lance beside him.

"Where do you sleep?"

He pointed at the cot at the foot of my bed.

"That can't be comfortable," I said. "It's all right. I'm awake now. I can protect myself."

"Yeah," Jeralt said. "Your fiancee, Yuri - he was pretty adamant about never leaving you alone."

"Even after I wake up?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know about that." He shrugged. "But if you don't want me around, then that's fine."

"I'll be fine. Thanks." I tried to smile. "For everything."

Jeralt smiled back. "Anytime, kiddo. Hope you get some sleep soon." He waved and headed out the door. After the candle wax had melted an inch, I blew out the fire and crawled into bed, placing my new sword beside me.

The next morning, I fell back into routine. Breakfast with Dimitri and other high officials while a knight reported on events from last night. Then, a morning meeting where we wrapped up the logistics for troops. We decided that Dimitri wouldn't go to the frontlines, but we'd send some of our new generals: specifically Felix and Ingrid.

After lunch, we took a break. I trained with Jeralt for two hours. For having been asleep for three and half years, I sure didn't feel like it. In fact, I felt stronger, lighter, and faster. At one point, something inside me kicked in, and I landed an extra hard hit against Jeralt.

"Nice," Jeralt said as we disengaged.

I wiped the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand. "Jeralt, do you know how I managed to stay alive?" Maybe it was something genetic. After all, Byleth was supposedly sleeping for five years.

"Uh." Jeralt scratched the side of his head. He glanced around at the knights training nearby. "I'll explain later."

After training, I had afternoon tea and biscuits with Dimitri, before he went to receive visitors in the throne room. I stayed in the drawing room and continued to read through the backlog of information. Then came dinner with Rose, before retiring to my room to keep reading.

Jeralt knocked on my door and entered later in the evening. "About what you asked me," he said. "I forgot to tell you yesterday. You've got a, uh, Crest now."

"What?" I said. My eyes darted left and right as I thought. That made sense. I'd seen Yuri get saved with a Crest before too. "But whose?"
"The Crest of Serios," Jeralt said.

"Lady Rhea?" My jaw dropped. I hadn't expected her to. "But why?"

"You were dying. I begged her to save you. You won't tell anyone, right? It's not exactly common knowledge."

I shook my head. "Of course I won't. I know how Crests work." I lowered my gaze. "She didn't have to save me. Thanks, again."

"You saved my life once, and I wasn't going to sit back and watch you die," Jeralt said. "You're my kid."

My chest tightened, and I felt tears form in my eyes. I lowered my head even further, staring at my hands in my lap. I wished I could have had a childhood with Jeralt, even just sparse memories, could have felt loved from an earlier age.

There was a warm hand on my shoulder. "If you ever want to, you can call me Father." Jeralt cleared his throat, and his hand disappeared. "Only if you want to, of course."

I nodded but didn't raise my head. "Thanks," I said, choking the word out. Jeralt patted my back.

"I'm glad you met Rose, and I'm glad she raised you well."

I nodded. I wiped at my eyes and sniffled, before looking up with a watery smile. "Me too."

Four days after I'd woken up, I was just sitting down at my desk after training, when Tania entered and said, "Miss, you have a visitor, Yuri Rowe. Shall I send him in?"

"Yes, please," I said, standing up. Yuri, here? Tania bowed and opened the door. Yuri stepped in. His hair had grown out to his shoulders. Was this a new hairstyle trend? Men with longer hair?

"Yuri!" I grinned at him. He waved and we met at the couches with a hug.

"Shall I bring you two some tea, Miss?" Tania asked.

"That'd be great. Thank you," I said to her. Tania disappeared back out into the hallway, and I looked at Yuri.

He cupped my face with his hands. "I can't believe you're awake."

"I can't believe I was asleep for that long," I said and laughed. "Look at you! Your hair."

"You look the exact same," Yuri said, drawing his hands away. "Every time I visited, you looked the exact same. It was so strange."

I smiled. "Thanks?"

He smiled back. "I'm just glad you're awake now." He leaned in to press a kiss against my forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Good as new," I said. We sat down on the couches, while Tania entered with a teapot and two cups. "Thanks, Tania."

"Would you like some desserts too?" Tania asked.

"Did you have lunch?" I turned to Yuri, and he nodded. "Some biscuits, then?" I said to Tania, and she nodded and left again.

"Wow, look at Miss Advisor." Yuri smirked and leaned back into the chair. He glanced around. "I thought you said you have an office."

"I do, but I never use it. All my stuff is here," I said. Yuri's eyebrows raised when he saw the giant stack of papers on my desk. "And by stuff, I mean all those reading materials. I have a lot to catch up on."

"You're not pushing yourself too hard, are you?"

"No, of course not."

Yuri didn't say anything but just looked at me. I stared back for a few seconds, until Tania returned with a platter of biscuits and butter. "Thanks," I said again.

"You're welcome, Miss. I'll be outside if you need me."

After Tania closed the door behind her, Yuri reached into his pocket and pulled a worn brown notebook out. "Here, this is yours." He placed it in my hands, before reaching for a biscuit. I flipped through the pages of my brother's notebook until I found the date where he'd supposedly wake up. Ethereal Moon, 1185. I had two months before my brother returned.

"I looked at the pages, but I couldn't see anything," Yuri told me.

"That's how it should be." I closed the book shut and tucked it under my clothes. "Thanks for keeping it safe." I picked up a warm biscuit too.

"Are you going to tell me what happened that day?" Yuri said. I raised an eyebrow in question, with my mouth full of buttered crumbs. "The day you were stabbed and fell off a cliff."

I nodded, still chewing. "Mm-hm. I'm guessing Arundel didn't tell everyone that he stabbed me, right?" I recounted the events to Yuri, and he told me what'd happened afterwards.

"His Majesty hasn't asked you yet?" Yuri asked.

"Now that you mention it, no one has," I said and took a sip of the tea.

"I suppose they think it doesn't matter, since the war is happening either way."

I sighed, setting the tea cup down with a clatter. "Do you think I can still stop it?"

"You can try." Yuri blew on the tea.

"Anyway, tell me what you've been up to! How are things in Abyss?"

We chatted for an hour, until the tea pot was empty and the biscuits were gone. Tania returned to clean things up and told me that Dimitri wanted to talk to me.

"Could you take care of Yuri?" I asked her. She nodded, while Yuri smirked and mumbled something about not needing to be taken care of. I grabbed his hand and pulled him close to give him a peck on the cheek. "I'll see you for dinner."

Then I hurried to the throne room. Dimitri was pacing back and forth before the dais and throne.

"Your Majesty," I said with a short bow.

"Byleth, good, come," Dimitri said and gestured for me to follow him into the meeting room off to the side. "We have some new reports from the battlefront. Are you all caught up yet?"

"Almost," I said. "I should have a strategy together by tomorrow."
The meeting ran into the evening, and I was hungry when we left the room. Excusing myself, I ran off to find Yuri and Rose in the smaller dining room reserved for guests.

"Sorry we didn't wait for you, Byleth," Rose said, as I took a seat.

"No, I'm glad you didn't," I said. They stayed and continued chatting while I ate. From the sounds of things, Yuri had visited the palace before, at least twice a year, so he wasn't unfamiliar with the place.

After dinner, they followed me to my room, but I had work to do. Rose sewed, I read, and Yuri perused the collection of history books on the shelves. It was only after the sun had set, and Tania had lit the candles, that Rose stood up and said, "I think I'll go rest up for the night. It's getting dark."

"Good night, Mother," Yuri said.

"Good night," I said.

"Good night, you two. Don't stay up too late," Rose said, which reminded me of the countless times that she'd told us that when we were children.

"Are you going to keep working?" Yuri asked, returning the book he was reading. "I'm going to borrow your bath."

"Go on." I was jotting down a list of ideas for my second war strategy, while referencing my brother's notebook. It felt a bit like cheating. If everything went as my brother had written, then I would be in the perfect position to counter the Empire's every move.

"Miss, do you need more lighting?" Tania asked. There were already several candles crowding my desk, which was a bit of a fire hazard, considering the amount of flammable materials nearby.

"No, thank you. You can retire for the night too, Tania," I said. I had to finish this report before tomorrow's morning meeting.

"Very well, Miss." Tania left with a quiet click of the door closing behind her. In the quiet, I finished my list and started on writing up the formal document. I heard Yuri approach from behind me.

"Still working? It's getting late, though."

"I have to get this done before tomorrow morning," I said without looking up.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"No. Don't worry about it, and go to sleep."

Yuri sighed, so I glanced up. He lifted my right arm up and dropped down into my lap. I squeaked in surprise, while he took the quill out of my hand and placed it down. "You won't overwork yourself, will you?" he asked, looking me in the eye.

"No. Besides, it's not every day that I work late." I wrapped my arms around his waist and rolled my neck around, relieving some tension.

"Can't you do this tomorrow morning?" Yuri's arms were crossed.

"No, I have to submit my plan to the royal scribe so he can make copies of it before the afternoon meeting." I rested my forehead against Yuri's shoulder. He was warm, a solid weight on my legs, almost like a heavy blanket. It made me want to close my eyes and slip off to sleep. I sat back up and shook my head. "All right, off you go. The sooner I get back to work, the sooner I'll be done."

Yuri bit his lip, frowning. "Nothing I can do to convince you otherwise?"

"No, now get off, dear," I said.

"Fine. I'll get out of your hair." Yuri stood up, stretched his arms over his head. "Night."

"Night."

I was writing again before Yuri even left the room, leaving me alone with the quiet scratch of the quill on parchment and the crackle of candle flames. It was perhaps an hour later before I set my quill down again. Reading over my strategy, I revised a few pages for another half hour. Then, ordering the pages together, I let out a sigh. Finally done.

The wax had melted into a large pool, and the candlelights were diminishing. I blew them out, taking one lantern with me out the door. Where had Yuri gone? He'd said goodnight. I asked one of the night guards, who said, "Oh, Mr. Yuri Rowe? He went to his guest room."

"Thank you," I said and shut my bedroom door. Then I changed into my pajamas and collapsed into bed.

Thanks for reading! :)