Author's Note: Hello there. This chapter is pretty much pointless. It's just the main characters figuring out stuff that we, the readers, (and also Byleth) already know either because we've played the game or via logical deduction. But it didn't really seem right to have them figure it out off-screen and I couldn't think of a way to fit this into another chapter so… here you go. Have a glorified support.

In other news, I've been getting reviews and a lot of them have been giving me suggestions and advice as to how to write a golden ending. That's great and all because it means people actually care but guys, seriously, stop telling me how to do my job. I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't have a plan (well, part of a plan. At least more of a plan than Byleth has). I honestly kind of feel obligated to do the opposite of what you're suggesting so that I don't feel like I'm stealing.

Also, somebody suggested Rhea x Cyril which, first of all, no. Rhea is thousands of years old and Cyril is… checking the wiki… 14! Even after the five year timeskip where he's 20, that's still wrong. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing your ship but… oh who am I kidding, I'm bashing your ship. I hope I haven't alienated you but I probably have.

Speaking of ships, don't talk to me about ships. I'm working on that. All I can say for sure is that neither the house leaders, nor Byleth, are going to end up paired with anyone else (even if I totally ship Edeleth). Oh, and Felix and Sylvain are getting paired up because I promised a friend.

Man, this was a long Author's Note. I hope this doesn't become a trend. Onward to the filler story!

Part One

White Clouds

Thought Route

"Nice try!" Byleth shouted as she deflected a strike from Dimitri's spear before kicking him in the gut (as seemed to be the trend), sending him straight into Edelgard.

It had been two weeks since Byleth, Hanneman, and Manuela had put their plan into action. While the class rotation was going relatively well, the same couldn't be said for her personal training sessions with the house leaders. While she didn't really expect them to learn all that fast she'd have thought that they'd at least have learned how to stop colliding with each other by now.

Claude seemed to be at least making an attempt at working together, albeit without any communication with the others. This time he had decided to try and use the others as a distraction without telling them. While Byleth was focused on Edelgard and Dimitri, he snuck up behind her and fired off an arrow… which she promptly ducked.

Because Byleth ducked it, the only thing left in the arrow's path were the other two house leaders. Directly before the arrow hit, it exploded outward into a net, pinning the two of them to the ground.

"Alright, time!" Byleth called, sheathing her sword and making a T with her hands. "That's enough. Let's take a break. Claude, help me get Dimitri and Edelgard out of your net."

Once Dimitri and Edelgard were out of the net, the four sat down to catch their breath. Well, Dimitri and Edelgard sat. Byleth leaned against a pole and Claude lay on his back.

"You know, I've been thinking." Claude said.

"That'd be a first." Edelgard snarked.

"I'm going to choose to ignore that." Claude said. "Anyway, I've been thinking. Something seems off about this whole assassination plot."

"Makes perfect sense to me." Edelgard replied. "I can think of more than a few reasons to want to assassinate Rhea."

"Okay, so can I." Claude admitted. "But that's not the point. Doesn't this whole thing seem a bit to… obvious."

"I've been having the same thoughts." Dimitri said. "The very fact that Lord Lonato was holding the plans for an assassination is odd to say the least."

"Right?" Claude asked rhetorically. "I mean, who just carries an assassination note around with them?"

"Not to mention that mysterious archer that killed Lonato." Byleth said. "Someone wanted to keep him from talking."

"Whoever they are, they probably expected us to kill him, but had a backup plan just in case." Claude proposed.

"The only question is: why?" Byleth asked, knowing full well why.

"A distraction, obviously." Edelgard finally chimed in. "They're trying to divert our attention away from their real goal."

"But what is their goal?" Dimitri asked, clasping his hands together and resting his chin on them. "The more questions we answer the more questions we discover."

"The only other reason to break into Garreg Mach that I can think of is to steal something." Claude posited.

"But there are so many valuables here." Dimitri pointed out. "What could they be after?"

"Well, let's think." Edelgard said. "What are the most likely targets." She began to list off items, counting on her fingers as she went. "We have gold, relics, weapons…"

"Those all make sense as targets but I don't think any of those are it." Byleth said, attempting to speed up their thought train a bit. "There's got to be something significant about the date. They could have chosen any day to do their little assassination distraction so why did they choose the Rite of Rebirth, when the Monastery will be even more full of people than usual?"

There was a brief pause and then Claude shot up and slammed his fist into the palm of his hand.

"The Holy Mausoleum!" He said triumphantly.

"Of course." Edelgard said. "The Mausoleum is sacred to the Church of Seiros and is open to the public during the Rite. While everyone's on the lookout for potential assassins, nobody will notice them trying to sneak into the Mausoleum."

"They'll probably try to go through with the assassination plot, too, just for extra insurance." Claude said. "That'll definitely draw attention."

"We must inform Lady Rhea, immediately!" Dimitri shouted.

"Seteth! This is important!" Byleth shouted.

Byleth and the three house leaders had immediately dashed off to Rhea's Audience Chamber once they figured out the real goal of the supposed assassins. Unfortunately, Rhea was in the middle of a completely unrelated and probably less important audience and Seteth was refusing to let them in.

"Whatever it is, it can wait until Lady Rhea is finished." Seteth said.

"No it can't!" Byleth protested.

Dimitri stepped forward and blocked Byleth's view, probably on purpose. "With all due respect, Seteth, whatever Lady Rhea is currently doing is not nearly as important as what we need to tell her." He said politely.

"Regardless of how important what you have to say may or may not be." Seteth said. "I am not letting you in until Lady Rhea is done"

"We could just barge past you." Dimitri said, retaining his polite tone. He gave his companions a side glance and a wink, an action that looked odd but not entirely out of the ordinary for him.

"What?" Seteth asked with a raised eyebrow.

As if they'd rehearsed it (they hadn't, of course, they were just really good at improv), the three house leaders and their teacher ran past Seteth and burst through the doors to the audience chamber, knocking down Seteth in the process, before striking cool poses for no explicit reason. Rhea and the two Knights of Seiros she was meeting with turned to stare at the four of them. Rhea looked as if she was trying to decide whether to be angry or surprised.

"Hmm… perhaps we should have waited until Lady Rhea was finished." Dimitri said, putting his hand on his chin.

Dimitri was right. They might have over exaggerated how urgent this was. They did have a week or so left until the Rite. But they were having a moment. Nobody could blame them for that, right?

Eventually, Rhea decided on how to feel. Unfortunately for the four intruders, that feeling was not anger, but disappointment (which are pretty much the same thing) and she was giving them her Disapproving Archbishop Face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, staring them down.

"We bring important information." Edelgard said, unintimidated. It's hard to be intimidated by somebody you hate with a burning passion.

"And this information is important enough to interrupt my meeting?" Rhea asked.

"Sort of." Byleth said.

"Yes." Edelgard said authoritatively, talking over her professor. "Our mystery assassins have a different agenda than we originally thought."

"Oh?" Rhea asked skeptically.

"They are using the assassination attempt as a cover for breaking into the the Holy Mausoleum." Edelgard explained.

"They might also be planning on going through with the assassination simaltaniously with the break in." Claude interjected.

"Do you have any proof of this supposed break-in plot?" Rhea asked, eyes narrowed.

"Well, we lack physical proof, but the logic that led us to this conclusion is solid." Edelgard said.

Rhea shook her head. "I'm afraid that without proof of any kind we cannot act on your assumption."

"What!" Edelgard shouted. "But it's the only thing that makes any logical sense!"

"An attempt on the Archbishop's life makes an equal amount of sense." Seteth said, walking into the room with his hand on his face. It seemed he'd finally recovered from almost being run over. "If not more."

"I think it's about time we left." Claude said. He lowered his voice. "Edelgard, we're just going to drag you away. Please don't kick any of us in the face." He glanced at Dimitri. "Again."

Thankfully for everyone present, Edelgard did not kick anyone in the face, or struggle at all really, as Claude dragged her shoulders and hauled her away. She did grumble several words that cannot be repeated here which was a massive sign of restraint.

Once they were outside, Edelgard shook Claude off of her and growled.

"I can't believe this!" She shouted. "That woman is so stubborn! This plot is the only logical conclusion and she just ignored it!"

"To be fair, we didn't explain how we came to our conclusion." Dimitri interjected.

"Only because she never gave us a chance to!" Edelgard shouted. "She just latches onto one idea and barrels forward without listening to anyone else's advice or ideas!"

There was a moment of silence. Then Claude said the most ill advisable thing one could say to Edelgard.

"Edelgard… you just described yourself." He said.

Edelgard whirled around. "How dare you!" She shouted. "I am nothing like her!"

Byleth opened her mouth to speak but Edelgard pointed at her before she could get a word out. "And not one word from you!"

"What did I do?" Byleth asked incredulously.

"You were going to say something about calming down and working together!" Edelgard shouted. "I don't want to hear it!"

Okay, she was right. Byleth had been about to say something like that.

Edelgard turned to Dimitri and pointed at him. "And you…" She trailed off, realizing that she actually didn't have anything against Dimitri at this current moment. "Uh… wash your hair!"

She stormed off, leaving Claude and Byleth stunned and Dimitri confusedly tugging at his hair.

Author's Note: This turned from essentially a glorified support into Edelgard yelling at people. Oh who am I kidding, it's still a glorified support.

Is this in character? That's debatable. Besides, it's not exactly like I stick entirely to canon personalities. I'm pretty sure Dimitri's not this oblivious. And even post character development (with what little character they (we're heading into actual game territory here so I'm switching to they until we leave it) have to develop) Byleth isn't this over the top, jokey, and energetic. You could say they're a blank slate all Link style but people repeatedly mention that they tend to smile more over time until we hit the time skip. At least, in the Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, and Verdant Wind routes. I haven't played Silver Snow.

On a different subject, there's another Ace Attorney reference in here! I know, amazing isn't it. This one's a bit more difficult to figure out on your own. You see, the title of this chapter, Thought Route, is the english translation of the japanese name for the Revisualization sequences at the end of most cases from Dual Destinies onward. I was thinking about just naming it Revisualization but Thought Route makes more sense even if you don't get the reference.