The Lady and the Thief
by Cyberchao X
Chapter 5: To War
(yes, the same as the only in-game chapter that will be covered in this, since there very well may be entire chapters devoted to during the timeskip. What can I say; it's an appropriate name.)
Byleth asked Rhea and Seteth what they believed Edelgard's goals to be. Seteth was of the same mind as Byleth; that her goals were to conquer all of Fódlan. Or perhaps even make herself a false deity by demonizing the Church of Seiros. Shamir then reported that the army was marching on Garreg Mach. Not surprising, really. That was one part of the plot over the past months that Byleth did believe to be Edelgard's doing. What was the first real mission they'd been sent on? Quelling the rebellion in Gaspard—a territory on the border of the Empire and the Kingdom, and one fairly close to Garreg Mach at that. Byleth was certain that they'd be trying to annex the territory before long, and he shared these suspicions with both of the remaining house leaders—Dimitri, because as mad as he'd become, he was still the heir to the Kingdom and thus in the position to order troops to fortify it, and Claude, to have a fellow tactical mind to confirm that he was thinking clearly. Claude agreed that that was exactly what he'd have done in Edelgard's situation. With that settled, there was the matter of how to break this news to Ashe. Byleth was certainly willing to excuse Ashe from remaining with the rest of them, as it was important that he protect his homeland. He was, after all, the de facto leader.
Ashe seemed conflicted, but opted to stay. His place was with the Blue Lions, and at any rate, he was no noble, adoptive father or not. The former Black Eagles among their group had varying reactions to Edelgard's actions, ranging from completely unfazed (Ferdinand, who'd always wanted to overthrow Edelgard anyway) to concerned (Dorothea, who rejected the idea that Edelgard herself had set Lonato up in favor of it being Hubert's doing—which, given his tendency to act in her best interests even if it meant occasionally going behind her back, was entirely possible).
The Empire wasn't the only force to contend with, however. Hilda received a summons back to her homeland of Goneril, at the very eastern edge of the Alliance, to deal with the encroachment of Almyrans. When Cyril heard about this, he wanted to assist, as he himself had been caught up in a previous battle at Fódlan's Throat and wanted to make sure that any children that were orphaned by the fighting were taken care of, as he was.
Dimitri was growing ever more unstable. Dedue noticed, Byleth noticed, everyone noticed. Felix seemed rather smug about it, having seen this side of the prince before. Byleth had no patience for this. "He's not the only one showing his true colors. You claim to be disgusted by the games of nobility, but isn't House Fraldarius one of the strongest houses in the Kingdom? Don't you have the most to gain if House Blaiddyd were to fall yet we were still victorious?"
"You think I want to rule the whole Kingdom?"
"No. I know you don't want to rule anything. I've heard the reports of your…creative approach towards strategy meetings. But your father was the king's closest adviser. He would be the most logical choice if…" Byleth trailed off. "I shouldn't be thinking that way. It's my duty to prevent that from happening. And yet…"
"And yet right now, you kind of want to just set the bloodthirsty cur on his enemy and hope that neither one survives." That was Felix for you. Blunt and ruthless. He'd read the professor perfectly. Edelgard had to be stopped, and yet, he found her the more sympathetic leader. Dimitri was…Dimitri had gone mad.
"Just…have faith in us, okay?" Sylvain said. "We'll keep him in line. We're nobles, too, and Dedue will be at his side."
The morning of the battle, Dimitri gave Byleth a letter. Much to Byleth's surprise, it contained birthday wishes. Apparently he wasn't so far gone after all. Well, he was, but at least he was still functioning. Perhaps it was best to put that aggression to use defending the western section of the battlefield, where the Empire was sending demonic beasts at them.
Byleth realized he'd made a slight tactical error on the eastern lane. While the foot soldiers that were advancing up that side were quickly dispatched by Mercedes's and Annette's magic, they were being led by the Death Knight. Thinking quickly, he ordered Ashe over to the ballista to disturb the Death Knight and spur him to advance, and once he did, a couple more bolts from the ballista weakened him to the point where Annette could deal the blow required to drive him off. He sent the flying units up the center, but just when they seemed to have the upper hand, Edelgard launched an assault that led to everything careening out of control. The Archbishop revealed herself to be The Immaculate One, and the dark mage Thales launched an attack that led to Byleth's disappearance, with the Archbishop herself disappearing soon thereafter.
Bernadetta was at a loss as to where to go now. She couldn't return home, not after she'd sided against the Empire. But Garreg Mach had been taken, and the professor was nowhere to be found. She just wanted to hide away somewhere. Luckily, there was someone with similar feelings who recognized that need. "Hey, Bernie?"
"W-what is it, Annette?"
"You've made a habit of just hiding away from the world, haven't you? Do you…do you think you could teach me how it's done?"
Bernadetta was too confused to be nervous. "It's not really hiding away from the world if you're not alone."
"Yeah, I know. But you won't fuss over me the way my father and Mercie do."
"Y-your father?"
"Yeah. He's a knight here. I came to the Academy to look for him, and I found him."
"…So why do you want to hide? You're so outgoing and likeable and everything I'm not!"
"We've got one very important thing in common. It's the reason why I don't want to be bothered…and the reason why, as much as you may want to, you probably shouldn't be all alone."
It dawned on Bernadetta. "You fell for him too?" Annette nodded. "But then that makes us rivals! I won't let you kill me and take him all for yourself!"
"Snap out of it, Bernie, he's gone!" Annette broke down crying. "He's…he's not coming back. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have pushed you to be friends. I know how scared of other people you are, I just…I thought maybe we could help each other cope with this tragedy…"
"Annette…" Bernadetta couldn't be afraid of someone so vulnerable…so much like herself. Normally she'd be paranoid that it was all a trick, but she couldn't deny the unlikelihood of that. Besides, she hadn't been acting out of the ordinary, so if Annette already knew that she had a rival for Byleth's heart, she could've acted at any time. So she slowly walked over to her and…hugged her. It seemed like the right thing to do, and Annette returned the gesture. They'd mourn together, and from there…who knows? She had to admit, she'd always envied Annette's cheerful, outgoing nature. She seemed to make friends so easily. And now, she wanted Bernie as her friend. That's what she'd do.
The task before Ashe Ubert, or Ashe Gaspard as he was calling himself at Dimitri's recommendation, was an immense one. Because Edelgard's plan, or Hubert's or Thales's or whoever was responsible for sowing the seeds of discontent in Gaspard, had worked perfectly. When Emperor Edelgard made her speech denouncing the church, and then-Prince Dimitri was seen defending it, that was all that the people of Gaspard needed to defect. As such, Ashe was a Lord in name only, controlling a territory whose people despised him. The Kingdom sent some troops to try to retake the land, but there were far more important duties, like defending what they still had. Besides, Ashe didn't want to retake his land by force. That wouldn't solve anything.
Ingrid had hoped that the war would at least give her respite from her father's attempts to marry her off, seeing as how she was a knight in service of the king, but in fact, it had the opposite effect. Fearful that she could be lost at any time, and with her, their bloodline, he was adamant that she find a groom immediately. Thankfully, she had enough authority to command the troops herself. The Galatea Pegasus Knights would follow her, not her father. And she knew exactly where to lead them.
That wasn't to say that her orders went entirely unquestioned. Many of these knights were girls she'd grown up with, people who knew about her past. About Glenn. They wondered why she was so adamant on trying to take back Gaspard, forever branded as the traitors who'd first betrayed the Kingdom to side with Duscur, then to side with the Alliance. She told them that she couldn't say whether they were involved with Duscur or not, but the sins of the dead should not be held against the living. A deflection, of course, from the real issue at hand. Once Gaspard was Faerghus territory once more, her current beloved would be ennobled. And such a strategically important territory at that would naturally require the strength of a Crest, and would be looked upon favorably by the Kingdom—the same justification House Gautier used for absolutely requiring their heirs to have a Crest, she remembered. She couldn't help but think about what Sylvain had gone through with his older brother. But nevertheless, it would no doubt please her father. House Galatea would be the preeminent house he wished it would become, standing guard over the Kingdom's southern border just as Gautier guarded the north. It already held one border location, along the Alliance Border, but that wasn't as strategically important since the Alliance was usually too consumed with infighting to have any aspirations of warmongering.
The Empire had the upper hand throughout the war, and Fhirdiad eventually fell due to the efforts of the Imperial loyalist Cornelia. Dimitri had gone missing, leaving the noble houses of Gautier, Fraldarius, Galatea, and Charon to defend what little remained of the Kingdom.
No, that wasn't quite right. There was a fifth one. House Dominic may not have had lands of their own, but their leaders were as staunch a group of defenders of the throne and the Church as you could get. Gilbert left his position among the Knights of Seiros to rejoin the royal guard. But Cornelia had sentenced Dimitri to death for the supposed crime of killing King Regent Rufus. Many held out hope that he had never actually been executed, as it was all done in secret, but Gilbert only began to believe when he heard rumors of an Imperial platoon destroyed so brutally that it was hard to imagine they'd been killed by human hands. And finally, Gilbert found the Prince…and with him, amazingly, the professor.
CCX: Well this chapter was frustrating. The game sets a pretty concrete timeline that the Empire overruns the Kingdom pretty damn quickly, which denies me of any opportunity to do much of anything with the intervening time. So…yeah, I ended up just doing a timeskip of my own. The last paragraph is pretty much the only thing that isn't almost immediately after Chapter 12.
Also, this game had better find some way of nullifying its plotline death. I already did Verdant Wind so I know full well he survives in that path where he's merely an NPC!