It is said that for many the last they ever saw of the Crowned Prince of Faerghus and his wife was as the two of them flew away on a wyvern from the Battle for Garreg Mach. Upon their arrival to Fhirdiad, Dimitri Alexandre Blayddid was accused of plotting to kill his uncle, the King Regent, and promptly imprisoned. Nothing was known of what became of his wife who accompanied him to the Kingdom capital. It was not until some time into the war that the Emperor Edelgard released a statement announcing that Eve Blayddid, who had been in Empire custody all this time, had been executed for treason.
By order of the Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg, the wife of Dimitri Alexandre Blayddid has been put to execution for treason. Despite her illegitimate marriage forced by the Church of Seiros, she has refused to denounce her husband and the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. Unwilling to submit to the Empire and swear her fealty to the Emperor, she was charged with treason and promptly executed.
Felix crumpled the flier in his hand as he fought to keep down the bile that was rising in his throat. He felt ill and the cold Faerghus air dragged like claws through his lungs.
"What does it say, Felix?" Ingrid inquired, trying to look over Felix's shoulder.
"They couldn't even say her name." He choked, tossing the paper to the side with disgust.
"What?" She frowned with confusion.
"She has a name." Felix growled, slowly stalking towards the Empire soldier they had cornered in an abandoned town.
"P-please." The soldier stuttered, crawling backward in fear away from Felix.
"What's her name?" He descended on the soldier, grabbing him roughly by the collar to pull him to force him to look him in the eye.
"Who?" The soldier asked, fear in his eyes.
"The wife of Dimitri Alexandre Blayddid." Felix hissed, quoting the flier he had found on the soldier when they had searched him for intel.
"I-I don't know!" The soldier cried out. "Please!"
"Her name is Eve!" Felix punctuated her name with a stab to the soldier's abdomen.
"Gah!" The soldier cried out in pain.
"Say her name." Felix ordered, drawing his blade back to plunge it into the soldier again.
"E-E-" He stuttered.
"Say it!" Felix barked, driving his blade again and again into his body. "Her name was Eve!"
"Felix, he's dead." Ingrid grabbed his shoulder to stop him as he drove his dagger into the Empire soldier's body with so much force the blade snapped.
He threw the broken remainder of his dagger aside, heaving over the lifeless body of the soldier. Felix could feel his whole body thrumming with rage and he looked down to see his hands shaking.
"What happened?" Sylvain came crashing through the underbrush, lance at the ready. "I heard Eve's name. What about Eve?"
Ingrid silently passed the flier which she had picked up and unfurled from where Felix had tossed it aside to the redhead. Sylvain took it from her and squinted at the small text.
"No…" Sylvain blinked in disbelief, letting the flier fall from his hands.
"They had her all this time." Ingrid said quietly.
Sylvain and Ingrid both watched Felix warily as he remained hunched over the Empire soldier he had just killed. He was shaking, his body quaking with grief and rage. Each of them had held out hope all this time that Eve had escaped. After Dimitri had been imprisoned and subsequently executed, no one had heard anything about Eve's whereabouts. They had all figured that the Empire wouldn't want to admit to losing her and that was why they had stayed silent. But this flier that they had found on the soldier implied that Eve had been in Empire custody ever since she went missing.
"She was all alone." Felix said finally. "We should have been looking for her, but we left her all alone."
"Felix, there was no way we could have known." Ingrid stepped forward.
"She would have looked for us!" He roared, whipping around to glare at Ingrid with tears in his eyes.
"Fe, there's no use in blaming ourselves." Sylvain said softly.
"Two years." Felix let his tears trail down his face freely. He had never allowed his friends to see him cry—especially not like this. "It's been two years since she went missing."
"I hate to ask but… what do we think they did with her all this time?" Sylvain couldn't meet his friends eye as he asked the question that had been gnawing at him.
"Two years is a long time to hold onto someone that you were planning on executing." Ingrid frowned.
"It's her Crest." Felix said. "Her Crest made her too valuable to execute."
"Then why do it now? It doesn't make any sense." Sylvain shook his head.
"The flier said she was unwilling to submit and that's why they executed her. I bet she started to be more trouble than she was worth and they got worried." Felix surmised.
"If they were keeping her for her Crest, it was most likely so she could resurrect Edelgard if anything happened to her." Sylvain hummed in agreement. "If that's the case, they would have had to keep her close to the emperor."
"Close enough to also assassinate her." Ingrid filled in the blanks.
"She played the long game, but still lost." Felix grimaced.
The three of them stood in silence for a moment, soaking in the fact of their friend's fate. It felt like eons ago that they had met her for the first time— standing meekly in Dimitri's shadow as she played the love-struck fiancee. So much had happened since then; the truth of her engagement to Dimitri had come out, Felix had fallen in love with her, Sylvain had found in her a best friend, and Ingrid had watched her three closest friends become better men because of her.
"I'm going to go scout out a place for us to retire for the night, you two stay here in case there are more soldiers about." Ingrid blurted out suddenly.
She was no fool, she had always known that there was more to Felix and Eve's relationship than a begrudging respect on the basis of battle prowess. But she also knew that Felix was not going to admit to that in front of her. Ingrid could tell, though, by the look in Sylvain's eye that their older friend knew the truth and had most likely been involved. Her heart hurt for Felix—losing the girl he loved like this— and she hoped that he'd be able to talk about it with Sylvain.
"Felix…" Sylvain started once Ingrid was out of earshot.
"Don't." Felix shook his head.
"I can't let you hold onto this." Sylvain took a step forward, reaching out to rest a hand on Felix's shoulder.
"What is there to say?" His voice wavered. "She's gone."
"Is that it?" Sylvain frowned. "She's gone and that's all? She's dead so we just act like she never existed? We ignore how she impacted us? Felix, you loved her."
"And it wasn't enough!" He snapped, swatting Sylvain's hand off of his shoulder. "It wasn't enough to stop her from marrying the boar, wasn't enough to keep her by my side, wasn't enough to save her! She never would have been in Fhirdiad if she wasn't married to the boar. She died for a man she didn't even love. If she had just picked me…"
"The Empire still would have wanted her." Sylvain said softly. "We barely escaped the Battle for Garreg Mach. You know she would have tried to stay and fight until everyone else was evacuated. They might've gotten to her then."
"She promised me. She promised she wouldn't die for him." Felix shook his head again.
"No one can keep a promise like that, Fe." Sylvain sighed, remembering when Eve had said just the same thing to him before the war broke out.
"I thought she could." Felix sighed. "She kept all of her promises."
The two of them fell into silence again and Sylvain thought about the last time he had seen Eve. It felt like ages ago now, but he could remember so clearly finding her on the battlefield and telling her to take Dimitri and leave. Ice filled his veins as Sylvain realised he had been the one to send her away. He had told her to take His Highness back to Fhirdiad; he had sent her to her death.
All across Fodlan, the surviving Blue Lions fought against the Empire and the Dukedom. When news of Dimitri's execution had circulated, many had lost their inspiration to fight. For even if those loyal to the Kingdom won, they now had no king to rule them.
Yuri and the other Ashen Wolves had remained in Abyss to protect their people. And while their focus was on keeping Abyss a safe place for those seeking refuge, the monastery was at the epicentre of Fodlan. As such, many Empire convoys passed through on their way to other areas. With Yuri's cunning, they were able to intercept these convoys meaning they had rations for their own people and were helping to keep aid reaching the front lines.
Ferdinand and Linhardt, unable to return to their Empire homes, travelled throughout Fodlan to fight where they could. Linhardt had been intent on lying low and letting the war run its course, but Ferdinand had roped him in to his noble pursuit of justice. The two made an unlikely pair, only joining forces on the basis of being the only two Blue Lions from the Empire, however Ferdinand's battle prowess and Linhardt's incredible healing abilities made them a formidable duo.
Mercedes, Annette, and Ashe had returned to their families, seeking refuge in familiarity as war unfolded. This was not to say that they did not fight against the Empire. However, each of them had family to think about. While their classmates from large noble houses had resources to fight with their families, the three of them had to worry about protecting theirs.
Dedue and Byleth both were missing and presumed dead. Dedue had followed after Dimitri and Eve once everyone had evacuated from Garreg Mach, and no one heard from him since. Byleth, for her part, had not been seen in the chaos of battle. Only when the dust settled and evacuees convened to see who was missing was the Professor's absence— and the Archbishop's for that matter— noticed.
Five long years of war passed. Lives were lost and classmates that had become good friends knew not if their peers were still among the living. But for the members of the Blue Lions, there was a beacon— a promise made years ago when they were but children. It seemed futile, silly even, to keep a promise made before war ravaged the country. But each Blue Lion had the same light of hope within that the others would remember their promise. And that, perhaps, by reuniting they could combine their forces and make some kind of stand against the Empire.
At the very least, a reunion would be a place to remember what they were fighting for; and seeing who showed up would help ease the constant anxiety of not knowing who lived and who died. And so, five years after fleeing, each member of the Blue Lions class made their way back to Garreg Mach.
A/N: Thank you for waiting while I was on holiday! This week's chapter is a little short, but next week we'll fully be back into the swing of things. Enjoy :)