Surprise! There is a Queen


AN: Just before you read, just letting you know that this is based on my own Golden Deer run. And will be including the original cast, as well as some members of Black Eagles, thus the reason why Dorothea is included.


"Hey, Teach? Do you have a minute?"

Byleth turned around and faced a good chunk of his ... former students. Claude, leader of the Leicester Alliance, and Hilda, his second in command, were also at his side. The old Professor also noticed Lorenz accompanied him, with Leonie and Dorothea at his side. Raphael was also snacking on Muffin, and Bernadetta and Ignatz hid in the back of the cathedral watching from afar. Seteth stood between them all in the light. Weirdly symbolic since he was now the new archbishop of the church.

But that has little to what is going on in Fódlan now. History is about to be made, and Professor Byleth will be a part of it, and since the day he met him, Claude knew that was going to be the case.

He entered the old building, which had crumbled down in the back corner, and a beam of summer light shone through the ceiling broken down by five and a half years of neglect. Even with the months, they said it would be a couple more years before the cathedral would be completely restored. It was weird that all students were gathering together like this.

"Is everything alright?" He asked mundanely, showing no sign of bearing any confusion.

"As you know," Claude told him as his Professor arrived at the building. "The with the Kingdom and the empire is gone, the Leicester Alliance is now the dominated force of the Fódlan, but the return of Nemesis has decimated even that."

"I recall," Byleth told them.

Claude smiled, remembering the end of the battle from no less than three weeks ago. When both he and the Teach were dispatched to destroy the fell king, it was the most brutal battle of the last five years. But, with only Claude and Byleth being the final commanders left standing, the last remnants of those who slither in the dark eradicated Fódlan was finally free.

"Well, with the current social structure in tatters, the remaining lords were impressed by our final bout and came up with a proposition," The Alliance leader told him. Then, glancing hesitantly to Lorenz and Hilda, "And given their state, with the war and nemesis. They are willing to reform the old order into the United Kingdom of Fódlan."

"Interesting," Said Byleth, still acting as unresponsive as ever. But Claude smiled at this remark and finished his statement.

"And they want you to be king."

All eyes were now on Byleth, seeing if he would react to this monument moment in history. However, if their Professor was taken aback, he showed little to none of it to them. Instead, his eyes widen for a split second before returning to their deadpanned natural face, so quickly only Claude's noticed it, with his knack for reading people.

"Is that so?"

"Is that, so he says?" Claude says in a mocking laugh. "Teach the lords to want to make you king. Of the continent! Fódlan hasn't been united under a single banner in over a thousand years. You are going to be the beginning of a new dynasty!"

"I understand that part," Byleth told him, stroking his face and ignoring Claude's theatrics. "But doesn't a king go against the founding principles of the Alliance? Why would they abandon that ideal now?"

"I raised those exact same objections, professor," Lorenz said, stepping forward and cut off Claude from speaking. "But Claude and the other nobles have come to a beneficial in-between. Your role, in this case, would be to accept the crown and act as an overseer of the Alliance's actions and dealing. You would have the final say in disputes and step in when the lords go too far; otherwise, the lords will govern their land as they see fit. So you are more of an overseer or high judge of morality than a typical reigning monarch."

"Seems weirdly bureaucratic," Byleth said, his face not having changed from Lorenz's entire little speech.

"It's still a work in progress, and some of the nobles have yet to be swayed, but the common folk is on your side," Lorenz's said with a bit of a flush. Claude knew that Lorenz had been working the past fortnight without sleep, trying to find a basis for the new kingdom. It had become his passion project, and he worried about how Teach would react to his proposal and how he could make it appealing enough for Teach to accept it.

"And is Claude too lazy to do the whole thing himself?" Byleth said stoically, eying the old alliance head. With what Claude came to understand as the Professor being sarcastically caty.

Claude fakes getting hit in the chest with an arrow. He gripped his chest and made such a convincing yelp of pain it made Hilda jump. "You wound me teach! But no, believe it or not, I have other responsibilities."

Byleth raised an eyebrow at his remarks, clearly not believing Claude's words.

"I'm in no way abandoning Fódlan," Claude said, seemingly reading his Professor's response. "I'm still the leader of the Alliance as long as it lasts, and I will be helping with international relations as things go forward. I meant what I said about opening Fódlan up to the world and vice versa. I just dont think I can do it with a Fódlan crown."

"I see," Byleth said, stroking his chin. He looked up and stared at the nobles in the room. "And what do you guys think? How much support do I have?"

"My Brother was the first to support your claim," Hilda shouted out without much prompting. "I may or may not have given him a nudge in that direction, but House Goneril has your support."

The Professor turned to Lorenz; the purple hair noble took a step forward, wearing his metallic rose with a sense of pride. He has chilled on his stance on the noble's place in the world, but Claude thinks that he holds his nose a bit too close to the sky at some points.

"I have taken over House Gloucester after my fathers," He shuffled out a cough, "leave of absence, and ... well ... I am not a big fan of an authoritative figure in charge of the alliance, but I trust you will set a good precedent."

That was high praise coming from Lorenz. As long as he had known him, he always took pride in the idea of the Alliance. Claude knew that if he could win Gloucester on this new idea, then his job to recreate Fódlan.

"You already are nobler than most of the other nobles I have met," Dorothea, the former citizen of the empire, added. She joined the Golden deer house near the end of the school year five years ago, and she was a good addition. The Professor welcomed her and Bernadetta with open arms. The songstress was beaming with a smile. "And I think most of the 'common folk' similarly see you. So you'd be a great king, Professor!"

"My stepfather is on the fence himself," Marianne spoke up at a surprisingly high volume level. "But he doesn't seem to have anything against you."

"It's a work in progress, Teach," Claude affirmed before Byleth objected to anything. "But you have the support of the common folk and most of the major nobles or those left anyway. So what do you think?"

"Hmmm," Byleth hummed to himself, thinking to himself.

"Whatever you decide, Professor," Seteth told him straightly, "You will have the backing and the blessing of the church."

"You have been giving me a lot to think about," The Professor told him.

"What's going on?" A calm voice said. Shamir entered the cathedral. Shamir, the former knight of Serios widely considered the most deadly woman on the continent. While she was never a true believer in the Serios creed, she was the most active knight and feared enemies and allies. Luckily for the Alliance, she was stuck with the friend she made at the cathedral.

She walked up to the Professor, her eyes glaring at everyone in the cathedral, perhaps wondering why so many people were gathering on a none choir practice day.

"Shamir!" Dorothea shouted gleefully. Running over and giving the mercenary a small side hug.

"Well, this is a surprise," Claude tried to mask his surprise with a friendly tone. "Shamir! I thought you were going to head off now that your contract is up!"

The dark mercenary smiled while trying to politely and kindly remove Dorothea from her side. "I've decided to stay in Fódlan for the time being."

"That's wonderful!" Hilda exclaimed. "You are going to continue being a knight?"

Shamir shrugged, "Probably not, but I have no other place I would rather be in at the moment."

As happy as this news made him, Claude was puzzled by this. He really expected Shamir to take off after the war. She had told him as much. Not that he held his arching instructor in low regard but with Rhea gone, he saw no reason for Shamir to stay on. Moreover, she always seemed to him to be a somewhat free spirit, not bound to her friendships and meaning to any one place or person. So while the prince was touched that she had decided to stay, it was something that made him a bit uneasy.

Shamir shook her head, "I have no reason to go to Dagba or anywhere else. So might as well stay here."

"Well, I am thankful for your return," Lorenz said, stepping forward and taking a slight bow.

"Thanks, Lorenz," She said curiously and turned her attention back to the Professor, but Lorenz spoke again.

"Your assistance would benefit the future of Fódlan," he said, swaying his hand.

"Thanks, Lorenz-" she sounded a bit irritated by Lorenz's well-meaning fanfare.

"It would be a shame to lose you if you are no longer going to be a knight. Might I offer you a position-"

"Thanks, Lorenz," she replied more firmly. Lorenz got the message.

Lorenz opened his mouth to speak the more flowery language, but Leonie gave him a little nudge in the gut. "What?" He said in a low whisper to her, but he remained regardless.

'Who knew that he had an off button,' Claude thought. Thinking about the times, he could have used that over the years.

Shamir quickly turned her attention back to the Professor. "But what's going on? Surely you are not all here to study the texts of the saints? You are not students anymore. You have better use of your free time."

"Perhaps you can help me out with this predicament," The Professor asked. Shamir raised an eyebrow humorously. "What have you suddenly become? What's his face now? What's up?"

"It appears," The Professor said in the calmest voice, "I have been made King of Fódlan."

Her eyebrows raised only so slightly in response to Byleth's announcement, by receded no quicker than when it rose. That was another thing about Shamir. As someone whose previous line of work was assassinations, she doesn't give much away. "I see. Have you accepted it then?"

"It is mostly theoretical now," Byleth told the mercenary with a slight sense of quickness. Claude could have imagined it, but his words seemed to be blunter than his usual self. "Nothing is official."

"Interesting" Shamir placed her hand to the edge of her chin, deciding to give this some thought. "I can defiantly see the obvious appeal. Have you given any idea about what policies or laws you would put in place as king?"

"I have some," Byleth said, turning his full attention to the mercenary. "Nothing too drastic or hands-on. Some tax reforms, fund redistribution, and foreign policy ideas."

"Wow… so interesting," Shamir stated with her trademark wit, though it seemed to come off more warmly than usual.

"That aside. If I were to be king, would I be right to assume you will stay on?" The Professor asked, his monotone voice sounding different to Claude's ear.

"Of course," Shamir nodded without hesitation to this request. "Our current contract would be unchanged, of course."

"Good," The Professor finished with a bit of a sigh. "But there would require some slight addendums to what I had in mind."

"Thats understandable," Shamir said straightly, " What did you have in mind?"

For some reason, Claude sensed that the two of them no longer cared about anyone else in the room.

"Well, on top of the duties of being Queen, would being the leader of the royal guard would be sufficient?"

Claudes stopped nodding along, and his eyes shot back to Shamir and the Professor. 'What did she just say?'

"Certainly, if I am gonna waste time, might as well make good use of it," Shamir replied, not noticing the air in the room changing. Byleth didn't seem to notice that all his students' mouths were now falling from their faces. "Though what responsibilities would I have as Queen?"

Claude looked around at his fellow former students. All of them seemed to have heard it too. Lorenz's regular resting smug face had dipped with his, and he stared at the Professor. He opened his mouth to say something but didn't seem to make any words come out. Hilda's eyes squinted as if she was piecing something together, only somewhat recognizing that something weird had been said. Dorothea's eye widens, and her mouth opens in shock, though the sparkle remains in her eyes. Marianne simply covered her mouth. Claude was sure that he heard Berenneta or Ignatz make an "eep" noise off in the distance. All of them seemingly hear what Claude just did. The Professor and Shamir continued talking, all the while as if nothing had happened.

"That is a good point, there are still some grey areas, but you will probably have to attend the same politically sanctioned events as I do, but who knows? After all, we are establishing a new precedent as rulers, so maybe you can give Lorenz some notes." The Professor told her, continuing to overlook his former students' expressions. "Either way, you will still be thrown in the politics of it all granted no more than I am."

"That sounds painfully dull. You know how I feel about kissing up to nobles," Shamir told him. " But I suppose I could always treat like a bodyguard job. That might help me get through some of the boring aspects."

"So, you agree?" Byleth said in what Claude could decipher in a surprised tone.

"Yeah, why not," Shamir said with a shrug.

"Great, the next thing we are going to need is-"

"Wait just a minute!" Lorenz's voice stammered in, finally getting a voice to speak up. The two former mercenaries turned to face their comrades, who stared back at them with numerous faces of disbelief. "What's this about Shamir being Queen?" Lorenz finished.

"Well, considering that she is my wife," Byleth explained, simply as though it was an obvious question. "Naturally, she would be taking on the role of queen, correct?"

Suddenly the energy in the room heated, a brisk air of disbelief curdling around them. All of Byleth's former students stared at him and Shamir in disbelief. They all made a gaggling noise in the back of their throat before erupting their pent-up confusion. There was a lot of screaming of surprise, and while the former students shouted different words and phrases, the consensus was extreme and elongated-

"WHAT!"

Everyone was taken aback by this confirmation, but their reaction seemed mirrored to a lesser degree, with the two former mercenaries staring at their students with their eyes wide open. Byleth staggered back on one foot, his face exposing only a slight amount of shock. Shamir grimaced at the loud explosion of noise.

"You two are married?" Claude exclaimed for once, dropping his easy-going act. It was one of the few times he was at an actual loss for words in his life. This came out of nowhere, which was the best way for him to state it. Professor Byleth, as far as Claude was concerned, was akin to a monk, passively dedicated to celibacy. The Professor had never expressed interest in the other sex or any sex as far as he knew. Claude remembers one night after all the guys went out for a drink (except for the Professor, of course, he just supervised the whole thing), and when the topic came up, he said that the thought rarely crossed his mind.

"Yes, yes, we are Married," Shamir said, rubbing her ears. "No need to be so loud about it. It's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" Hilda said, sounding apologetic, but her voice was still shrill. "Since when were you guys married? Since when were you guys in love?"

Claude faced the Professor, Hilda was blunt, but she had a point. Teach was never the secretive type, or at least not on purpose anyway. Despite very key and random moments, Professor Byleth never expressed much of anything, so it was hard for Claude to think of his Professor making any grand gesture of romance. Shamir receiving them was an even weirder, though. Byleth blinked, he seemed to be almost taken aback by this question. Both he and Shamir exchanged a look of meek confusion, and Claude noticed a slight hint of color on Shamir's face though her complexion betrayed nothing. "That seems like a personal question Hilda," Shamir said with her eyes narrowing on the pink-haired noble. Hilda flinched a bit and was a bit offended at the sudden retort.

"I didn't mean to sound shocked or disbelief," Hilda said hesitantly."But it's just..." Her voice faltered to give the exact words that she needed. Clade couldn't blame her for that.

"It's just that. I don't think..." Dorothea tried to finish Hilda's words. "We just never seen you guys express..." She made some weird, odd motions. "... given any indication you were more than friends."

This was the wrong thing to say, as Shamir's tone shifted darkly, and her face formed a slight but sharp frown.

"Well, we don't write an entire opera about our lives, Dorothea," Shamir said. "We like to keep our lives private."

Dorothea took a step back, seeing his student's looks of terror. Shamir seemed to understand how she must have come off and amended her statement. "Dogan marriages are much more casual private events," She rephrased, "We didn't mean to hide anything from you."

Claude turned to the archbishop. "Did you know about this, Seteth?"

Their green-haired friend stood just as agape as the others. "No, I had no idea. When did the two of you have a ceremony?"

"Not that long ago it was…." Byleth trailed off. He turned to his wife for support. "3 or 4 weeks ago?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Shamir agreed.

"Sounds about right?" Hilda said, mocking her two former teachers, still shocked about the whole thing. "The way you talk about it, I wouldn't be shocked if you just gave each other rings and called it a day."

Shamir and Byleth said nothing, but everyone caught on immediately.

'NO WAY' Echoed in everyone's mind.

"Oh my god, I was kidding," Hilda said in dismay.

"As I said," Shamir told them, "Dogan marriages are a more casual affair."

Leonie nodded along. "You know what? I kinda respect that," she told the couple.

Though she was the only former member of the golden deer to take it well, save for Raphel, who was still eating a muffin during the whole thing. Claude himself was trying his best not to give in to either laughing at the situation or losing his mind at the entire thing. The others seemed to be having just as much trouble trying to contain themselves.

Shamir and Byleth, on the other hand, seemingly turned white at the site of their student's reactions. It seemed from their point of view they were the mad ones.

"Well, we know you didn't mean ill will, professor," Marriane said with a slight tremor in her voice after most of their friends composed themselves. "It just changes a lot of things."

"No, not just a lot of things," Lorenz said in a raised voice, causing Marriage to jump. He was pacing up and down the ruin. "This can ruin everything."

"Oh boy," Claude knew where Lorenz was going with this.

"With all regards to you, Shamir," Lorenz stated. "The other nobles are expecting a queen from Fodlan's noble line. Which noble's blood is still being debated among them, but now there is a good chance they won't acknowledge your rule!"

"Stop being so dramatic," Leonie told him. "How bad can that possibly be?"

"Marriages have been used to strengthen noble alliances for centuries," Lorenz explained. "They would prefer one of their heirs to take the throne, not a foreigner, especially one with no noble ties to Dogan."

Claude could hear the faintest sounds of knuckles gripping against leather, with a displeasing frown staring down at the rose-loving noble. He could just make out the daggers the professor was forming in his eyes. "Lorenz..."

"I mean no disrespect, you two," Lorenz said in an unwavering political tone. "But the Fódlan is unstable as it is. We need the Alliance's connections, as sparsed as they are, to keep the people safe. Marrying the Professor off to a Nobel family was our best bet to have a long-lasting treaty.

"What?" Byleth asked flatly, with a hint of confusion dropping all tension in his eyes. Shamir gave a soft chuckle at the professor's face.

" Maybe if you had told us beforehand, we could have devised a different strategy when we approached them.."

Clyde stepped in before Lorenz could stick his foot stuck in the wrong end. "I think what half-a-bang is trying to say here is that we can't ignore the political ramifications of what an actual wedding means. Especially for someone as important as you teach" He gestured to the two former mercenaries. "I am happy for the two of you, believe me. But you have to understand that this is kind of a pickle."

"Exactly," Lorenz said, bringing himself back into the conversation. "There is a lot of decisions, treaties, and negotiations that take place behind the scene. You can't just purely out of love. Thats ridiculous"

"What's wrong with Marrying out of love," Leonie asked, glaring at the alliance lord.

"I-uh... come again?" Lorenz muttered in bewilderment.

Shamir and the Professor's faces relaxed a bit, or their face was a tinge less stoic. Claude no doubt thought he found this whole thing rather funny. "And you all lecture us on romance," Byleth said in a deadpan tone adding in a small chuckle.

"Tell me about it," Shamir said in response, leaning a little bit closer to her husband. "There is only so much puppy love I can take."

Claude could feel the hot air emitting from the two knights. Lorenz and Leonie slowly shifted away from each other, desperate that the other not see each other flustered faces.

"So," Raphael said, breaking the tension with the crunch of a pastry. "How was the wedding?"

"It was nice and personal," Shamir said with a slightly playful jab at her husband. "Byleth got all needy."

"Vows are an important part of the ceremony," Byleth said in a calm way of defending himself, and a smaller smile appeared on his face. "Besides, you were the one who got so emotional."

"Hmf guilty," She said with the most genuine smile Claude ever saw the mercenary wear. The two began to talk away about their marriage, and the former alliance leader couldn't help but smile at the radiant light that beamed when they spoke about each other—leaving all thoughts of battles and politics at its wayside.


AN: Once more, taking a shot at the romance, Shamir and Byleth are underrated, and their potential is untapped. I tried to base their dynamic on Captain Colt and Kevin from B99. I had this in my draft folder for years, and I have been meaning to post this fic for so long but never got around to finishing it. So now, at 1 am, I decided to change that. Tweaking a few things here and there, and now this thing is more or less ready to be published. Originally this was going to be a 2 or 3 part fic with other characters reflecting on Byleth and Shamir's relationship and flashing back to a scene or two. But at this point, this fic is Burt-out station, so I think I will call it a one-shot and call it a day. Until I get inspired to write another part, I will add this to the completed fic tally.

Operation TRAITOR should still be the next fic to come out. Expect that in about two weeks, then HJ part 3 should be ready. Then who knows, maybe I will finally publish that Boku no Hero story thats been stuck in draft for the past five years.

Probably not that one. Maybe CODE RWBY or Ned though

Till then, have a great day. And wear a mask, just in case.