We waited until the Empire forces had engaged with the initial Alliance forces before Ingrid led her fleet of wyvern lords across the river, along with Leonie's pegasus battalion. Sylvain and Felix's battalions were raining arrows on the Empire troops from behind the Alliance.

"It's good to see you, Byleth," Claude said, stepping up beside me. We were standing on a small hill where we could view the battlefield. He'd grown a small goatee.

"Thanks for agreeing to this," I said with a small smile.

"Hey, I'll take all the help I can get."

"If we want to take down the Empire, we have to do it together," I said. "If the Alliance fell to the Empire, the Kingdom would be in trouble."

"So you're still thinking about the Kingdom first, huh?" Claude crossed his arms behind his head and chuckled.

I stared at the soldiers falling to Edelgard's lethal axe and Byleth's fast swordwork. "I'm afraid there will be casualties."

"It's war," Claude said, shrugging.

My hands were clenched into fists. If Ingrid died because my plan was foolish, I wasn't sure what I'd do. They were halfway across the river now. I glanced at Claude's wyvern, which sat a few feet behind us.

Claude raised an eyebrow. "You're not stealing my wyvern."

I turned back to the fight before us. "I wasn't- I just feel like I should be down there."

"Me too. Shall we go then?" he asked.

"But-"

"If the Empire was going to spare anyone in this war, it'd probably be you," Claude said.

"That's not reassuring." I shook my head. "Besides, I'm worried about you."

"I'm sure they'd spare me too. Come on." Claude tilted his head towards his wyvern. "He can carry both of us." I glanced at the group of soldiers standing behind us - Claude and my own battalion, then at the fight. Our flanking battalions were nearing the river edge, but the Empire was diverting their archers to the battalions.

"All right." I nodded. Claude hopped onto his wyvern and reached a hand down to pull me up.

"Where are we going?" he asked, while I wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Let's help out the flankers."

"You got it, General." Claude grinned. He nudged the sides of his wyvern, and we lifted off the ground. The air was cool against my warm face as we sailed through the air. I watched the soldiers clashing below us. There were already bloodied bodies on the ground, people we'd have to bury later, people whose families would receive an apologetic letter.

As we passed the front lines, some heads turned our way. I spotted Bernadetta's purple hair amongst the sea of metal helmets. "Watch out!" I said, as an arrow flew by us. Claude maneuvered us out of another arrow's path.

"Take the reins," Claude said, tossing the leather cord into my hands.

"What?" I squeezed my legs tighter around the wyvern, while Claude slid his bow off his back. "I don't know how to steer, Claude."

"Don't worry. He knows how to dodge by himself."

We jerked to the right as another arrow whizzed by. Claude drew an arrow out and aimed, releasing the string with a twang. He grabbed another arrow and fired that one off too.

"Did you get them?" I had to holler for Claude to hear me over the wind.

"I think so."

I gripped Claude's waist as we swerved again. He shot another two arrows in rapid succession. Claude stayed on standby until we'd crossed the river. Ingrid's and Bernadetta's battalions were exchanging arrows, seeing who could knock the other down first. There was still some distance for Ingrid to close before she could pull out her lance. Meanwhile, Leonie's group was moving around to try to attack Bernadetta's group from the other side. The Empire was reshuffling their forces to assist Bernadetta. I could see a mint green dot moving through the sea of soldiers towards us.

By the time we landed on the other side of the river, Ingrid's lance was in the face of an archer. Leonie's battalion was attacking the other side. Bernadetta was retreating, and her archers were scrambling after her.

"Thanks for the lift, Claude!" I said. I leaped off the wyvern, rolling to my feet, and ran towards the new battalion moving to take Bernadetta's spot.

"Do you want me to back you up?" Claude asked.

"No, stay safe," I said.

Ingrid's group had taken down about half the archers, but the rest were now safely behind Byleth's battalion and firing back. Leonie's group was fighting with Byleth's soldiers while trying to dodge the rain of arrows. Byleth stood amidst the crowd of soldiers, directing them, but he looked at me as I ran up to Ingrid's side.

"What now, Byleth?" Ingrid asked. "We need to get rid of those archers."

"I agreed. Leave my brother to me," I said. "Focus on protecting yourselves first. Then, we need to put as much pressure as possible on the Empire from both sides."

"Sounds good." Ingrid nodded and turned her pegasus back towards her battalion to give new orders. I kept jogging across the wide plain of grass. Byleth walked towards me. I drew out my sword and watched him do the same. Our blades met with a clang.

"Glad to see you, Byleth," he said without a trace of a smile.

"Good to see you," I said, parrying his attack. There wasn't much force behind his attacks. Everything was for show as we swung and blocked and dodged. "Did you get my letter?"

"Yes."

"So?"

"What are you waiting for?" Byleth said. There was a trace of a smile on his lips. "Defeat me." He faltered for a second, leaving himself open for me to strike his chest with my sword. Blood seeped out of the shallow cut.

"Don't go easy on me. I've been training with Jeralt's," I said.

"Very well." Byleth's next swing was back to his regular strength, but it couldn't compare to Jeralt's. I landed another hit on Byleth's arm, before he nicked my stomach. They were both surface wounds but enough to draw blood.

"Byleth, do you need help?" Claude was shouting over the din of weapons clanging and soldiers grunting.

"No!" I yelled. "He's mine." I dodged an arrow whizzing past me. When I met the archer's eyes, she yelped and scrambled further behind Byleth. "Maybe distract Bernadetta for me, though?"

"On it," Claude said.

"Don't kill her," Byleth said as he struck my shin. I leaped backwards and flinched from the pain.

"I have no such plans." He blocked my next down swing. "Now hurry up and retreat." I swung upwards and cut across his chest to his shoulder. Byleth winced, stumbling away. I gritted my teeth and bit back an apology. Lunging forward, I struck his upper chest again. Byleth's sword cut into my upper arm. We both stepped away from each other.

"You've gotten better," Byleth said, a hand on his bleeding left shoulder.

"You're pretending to be slower." I wiped at the sweat on my forehead with the back of my hand. Byleth glanced behind him, and my gaze followed. Edelgard's forces hadn't made any progress against Hilda's. The mages behind Hilda's battalion were destroying Edelgard's soldiers with fireballs.

Byleth readied his sword and lowered his stance. "Just a little more."

He parried my next swing, and his counterstrike grazed my cheek. I stepped forward and pushed Byleth backwards with a series of fast attacks. Byleth's movements slowed, enough to leave himself open. I bit my lip and cut his torso horizontally.

He staggered away from me, a hand over the bleeding wound on his chest. I mouthed, "Sorry."

Byleth just nodded at me, then turned and slipped into the crowd of soldiers behind him. I mirrored him and stepped into the safety of Ingrid's wyvern battalion.

"Byleth, you all right?" Ingrid swooped over to my side.

I nodded, glancing down at myself. My leg was bleeding the most, but the cut on my chest hurt more. Our team of healers was on the other side of the river, though that didn't matter to me. "I'm fine. Keep up the pressure," I said to Ingrid and continued past her to where Claude was waiting. Bernadetta's battalion had retreated further too. I grabbed Claude's outstretched hand and swung onto his wyvern.

"Nice work," he said.

"Thanks. Can we get a better view?"

"Of course." Claude patted his wyvern and we lifted up into the air. From above, we had a clear view of the battlefield. Raphael's battalion had swapped places with Hilda, while Sylvain and Felix were leading theirs down the side of the bridge to try to sandwich the Empire forces. "You think they'll retreat soon?" Claude asked.

"I hope so." I squinted to find my brother in the crowd. He was behind Edelgard's group now. "Looks like they might be retreating. Can you bring us back down?"

"Yes, sir," Claude said.

"We should move our own troops aside, so they can leave," I said.

"Isn't this the perfect opportunity to catch Edelgard?" Claude glanced back at me.

I shook my head. "If we want to catch Edelgard, we should do it at the monastery. Not here. We don't have enough troops."

Claude dropped me off, so I could relay the plan to Ingrid, while he went to inform Leonie. As Ferdinand's group tried to cut a path off the bridge back to Empire land, our troops moved to the side to let them pass. We watched as the soldiers ran off into the forest.

When our army had regrouped on the other side of the river, people were cheering and shouting. I slid off the back of Claude's wyvern, and he hopped down beside me. Judith, Hilda, Raphael, Sylvain, Felix, and Ingrid came to join us. Everyone had a few scrapes and bruises on them, and their clothes were sullied in dirt and blood.

"Good job, everyone," Claude said with a smile. "We managed to push the Empire back." He glanced at me. "What's the plan next, General?"

Everyone here was at least a general, so I wasn't sure why Claude was looking at me. "Let's rest up for now," I said. Based on the sun's angle, it was already late afternoon. "I'm sure everyone's tired. We'll want to set up some watch guards, and we should bury our deceased. I'll also need the names of all the Kingdom knights we lost today." The group standing around all nodded, then they dispersed to inform their respective battalions.

"Does the Alliance need more backup after this?" I asked Claude. "I don't think the Empire will try to attack again, not so soon anyway."

Claude nodded and rested a hand on his head in thought. "Yeah. Now that the Empire's officially attacked us, we can get reinforcements from Gloucester. It'll take a bit of time, but we can hold the bridge on our own."

"Should we leave some of our troops with you then?" I asked.

"When were you thinking of leaving?"

"Tomorrow or the day after. We have to plan for the Empire's next move."

"You don't think they'll be back?" Claude raised an eyebrow, placing a hand on his hip.

I rubbed my chin. "Hmm, I think they'll come after the Kingdom again. Especially if they think our forces are here." We'd purposely left Arianrhod open for this reason, to draw the Empire in for us to capture them. Plus, I had Byleth on our side.

"All right." Claude shrugged. "We can get Gloucester troops here in two days."

"That sounds good."

Judith walked back over. Most of the Alliance soldiers were pitching tents and taking their helmets off. "I've set up a guard rotation," she told us, then looked me up and down. "You need some healing, Byleth? We've got healers back there." She pointed behind her to a group of mages who were healing the injured soldiers.

I shook my head. "I can bandage up my wounds myself."

"Are you sure? You're bleeding quite a bit," Judith said. Claude looked at me but didn't say anything. The other Blue House students were back, and Ingrid was frowning at me.

"Yeah." I forced a smile. "I'm, uh, working on my pain tolerance."

"If you want, I can help you with the bandages," Ingrid said.

"Come and use my tent then. I've got supplies too," Judith said, waving us over. We followed her into a small tent, high enough for us to stand. There was a bundle of blankets in the corner and a box of medical supplies. "I'll be outside."

I sat down and took my breastplate off, while Ingrid opened the box to pull bandages, a canteen of water, and a cloth out. She pulled out a smaller bottle labelled disinfectant, looked at me, and said, "What would you prefer?"

"Just water," I said, grimacing at the other bottle.

Ingrid nodded and returned the disinfectant solution. Nausea was travelling up my throat from my stomach and I swallowed thickly.

"Byleth, you all right?" Ingrid touched my arm lightly.

I took in a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, yeah." Then I raised my shirt up to reveal the cut across my lower ribs. While Ingrid cleaned the wound with the water-soaked cloth, I focused on breathing and the stinging pain. After she'd bandaged that up, I rolled my sock down and my sleeve up for the cuts on my leg and arm.

"Are you sure you don't want a healer to look at you?" Ingrid asked. "I know it might be… difficult."

I nodded. "I'll be fine." There was one final bandage on my cheek, then Ingrid packed the supplies up. "Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome." She smiled at me. "Maybe we should have asked Mercedes to join us then."

I tried to smile back. "Yeah, maybe next time."

Judith was standing outside of the tent, holding a map and talking to Claude. We had to arrange for our deceased. There were people digging a mass grave and people counting the bodies and the living soldiers. We had to get names, so we'd know whose family to inform. Once we had people on that, I sat down to work on my war reports, while some people cooked up dinner.

The next morning, I helped with the burial. We put the Empire soldiers in with the rest, then covered them up with dirt. We had a short memorial service where we prayed and people gave brief eulogies for their fallen comrades. When evening came, reinforcements from Gloucester arrived and relieved the soldiers from their guard duty on the bridge. Claude planned to return to the capital with Hilda the next day, and we planned to take our troops with us back to the Kingdom.

It took several days, but we soon returned to Faerghus lands. The troops stayed at Galatea to rest and recuperate, while my Blue Lions classmates and I continued onwards to Fhirdiad.

When we arrived and dismounted, my head spun for a second and I leaned a hand on my horse. Sylvain glanced at me and said, "You all right there, Byleth? Want me to carry you?" He winked.

I shook my head. "I'm fine."

"Now that we're back, you should see if Mercedes can heal you," Ingrid said.

"Rose can," I said, as we entered the royal palace. We reported back to Dimitri first, with our list of names, number of soldiers lost, and roughly how many Empire soldiers had died.

"Good work," Dimitri said. "That should keep the Alliance safe for some time. You should all rest for today."

We scattered off to our individual rooms. The first thing I did when I returned to my room was kick my boots off and drop onto my bed, tossing my sword down beside me. My whole body was aching. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

When I came to, I could feel warm healing magic on me. Opening my eyes, I found Rose sitting beside me with her hands stretched out towards me. Her eyes lit up when they met mine. "Oh, good! You're awake."

I nodded and pushed myself up. I'd forgotten just how powerful healing magic was. Even the soreness in my lower back from sleeping on the ground was gone. "Thanks, Rose," I said.

"You should have called for me right away," she said with a frown. "I only heard you were back after I ran into Ingrid in the hallway, and she asked if I'd already gone and seen you."

"Sorry, I was tired and wanted to sleep."

"I know." The magic stopped, and Rose patted my hand. "You had a bit of a fever. How are you feeling now?"

"Much better. Thanks." I smiled and swung my legs off the bed.

"Why didn't you let someone heal you?" Rose asked.

I stared at my hands in my lap. "I… wasn't sure how I'd react."

"You still aren't comfortable with other people healing you?"

I nodded. "Don't you think it'd unnerve people if they saw one of their leaders freak out over healing?" I scoffed. "They'd lose faith in me."

Rose placed a hand over mine. "But if they healed you in private, wouldn't that be okay?"

I gazed at her hand, the green veins and wrinkled skin. Even if it was done privately… My hand clenched into a fist. It was so scary when that happened, when I felt like I was teleported back into that room, with Solon leering over me again.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Rose wrapped her arms around me and rubbed my back. "Byleth, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about it. It's all right."

This was exactly why. I buried my face into Rose's shoulder. Who would have comforted me when I was on a battlefield? Sure my classmates had a bit of an idea, but it wasn't like with Rose or Yuri.

"Thanks," I said in a whisper.

"No, I shouldn't have pushed you with questions like that." Rose pulled away to look at me. "Are you feeling okay?"

I nodded. "I think next time, Mercedes will come along, but I don't know if that'll work. I might ask her to try healing me first."

Rose nodded and patted my arm. "Do you want me to be there?"

I raised my head to look her in the eye. "Can you?"

"Of course!"

"Thanks," I said, trying to swallow down the rising emotions in my chest. Tears pricked my eyes, and I hung my head again to avoid Rose's gaze. "Thank you."

"Oh sweet child, you know I'm always here for you." She pulled me into a hug again and rocked me back and forth. I remembered Rose used to do this when I was younger too. I wanted to tell her that I was grateful she took me in, when she had no reason to. I wanted to tell her thank you for always being there for me when I needed her. I wanted to tell her that I couldn't imagine what life would be like if I hadn't met her and Yuri.

But the words were stuck in my throat, and if I tried to say anything, I would cry. Instead I just said, "I'm lucky to have met you."

Rose smoothed my hair down. "I'm lucky to have met you too. Do you know what? I haven't cooked in a long time, so I was thinking of cooking up dinner today. Would you want to eat with me?" She pulled away to arms-length with her hands on my shoulders.

I nodded. "I can help too."

"Sure, that sounds fun." Rose grinned and stood up. "Come on then. I'm getting hungry."

Thanks for reading! :) Next update will be on the following Thursday.