Fire Emblem Three Houses: Five Years War
I don't own Fire Emblem Three Houses, or any of its characters. This will be a series of one-shots concerning the five years timeskip that occurs right as the war starts. It will contain spoilers for the Azure Moon storyline, and the supports of some characters.
I will treat everyone from the Black Eagles as being recruited by either the Golden Deer or the Blue Lion house, except Hubert who's impossible to recruit. I will attempt to put the shipping to the side as much as possible, but here's what you can expect: Dimitri/F!Byleth, Claude/Hilda, Ferdinand/Dorothea, Petra/Linhardt, Caspar/Bernadetta, Felix/Annette, Dedue/Flayn, Lorenz/Leonie, Sylvain/Ingrid, Lysithea/Cyril, Catherine/Seteth. It will also contain the Ashen Wolves, who will get a dedicated chapter.
I might operate some minor design changes for some of the characters who don't have any post timeskip designs (Catherine, Shamir, Seteth and Flayn for example).
That said, I hope you enjoy your read.
Chapter 8: Various "Iron Will, Dying Heart" 29th of the Pegasus Moon (February) of year 1182
It baffled the young woman she could very well not see the end of this war, not because of a wound caused by an enemy soldier, she had made peace with the fact she could very well die because an enemy outsmarted her, or simply stabbed her to death. She understood the very nature of war, she hadn't studied in an officer's academy for nothing.
No, it was not because of a poisoned dart that Lysithea Ordelia bled from her nose every morning, or coughed blood sometimes. And it was not a choice she had made either. It was not by her hand her hair suddenly turned white all these years ago. Yet, as she looked in a mirror in her shared tent, she decided not to bother her friends with such a thing. They could do nothing to prevent her death from happening, and she didn't want them to feel guilty when it would inevitably happen.
The only two people who knew were either governing the opposite side of the conflict, or someone that thankfully never brought it up, and acted as a big sister of some sorts, but wasn't around right now. She hadn't seen Hilda since the curfew, which was a bit worrying, Leonie was outside doing her morning push-ups, while Marianne was still deeply asleep, the bags under her eyes much thinner than the one Lysithea saw her with in the academy. Leonie came back into the tent, sweating from her intense training, seemed to change her mind, and went back outside.
Lysithea followed her, and saw Leonie taking off her training clothes to then dive in the Airmid. She saw a few pervs checking out from a bush Leonie's perfectly carved abs, but then Hilda came in charging into the poor fools with a training axe, causing them to panic and run away. Hilda then waved at Lysithea while bursting into laughter, who politely waved back, before going to pick some of Leonie's clothes in the tent.
While she was in the tent, she woke up Marianne. "Hey Marianne, time for breakfast." She rolled under her blanket "Give me a minute or two, and I'll be coming." Lysithea grabbed Leonie's clothes as well as a blanket to cover her assets when she would get out of the river. She went down to the Airmid, and offered the blanked to the soaked Leonie. She smiled "Thank you, Lysithea." Lysithea sighed in return. "No problem, but don't take a dip when the enemy army is only one day away from here. Also, watch out for pervs."
Leonie smirked as she put on her clothes back. "No need to worry, Lysithea, the enemy army is still one day away from here. As for the pervs, I will deal with them personally. Now, Hilda, I definitely don't recall seeing you come back to our tent yesterday. Where were you then?" Hilda's pigtails were undone, which would normally be quite suspicious if it weren't for Hilda being pathologically lazy.
Then, with all the style of a wild bear, Claude appeared behind Hilda, grabbed her by the shoulders and said "Well, she was in my tent, of course-" Hilda promptly headbutted Claude, forcing him to stand back while Leonie and Lysithea burst into laughter. The new leader of the Leicester Alliance regained his composure "Anyway, time for breakfast." The three girls followed Claude back to the camp, while Hilda complained "Why did we need to set up a camp? There's a city next to us!" Claude smirked "You'll see in time."
Marianne was discussing with Ignatz, while Raphael was rubbing his hands at the prospect of a filling breakfast. Marianne, Lysithea, Hilda, Ignatz and Claude ate a freshly baked cake, while Leonie was eating some cereals. Raphael, however, was having what Claude affectionately called an 'All day breakfast'. If Raphael felt like keeping all the food for later, he would put it in a paper bag so he could bring it even on the battlefield, in extreme emergency. He was sharing it with Caspar, while Petra and Linhardt appreciated some brigidian tea. Bernadetta, however, seemed completely lost.
Claude gathered that it wasn't something the Black Eagles must have used to do often, with how strict Hanneman and Edelgard must have been. "Hey, Bernie, want some cake?" Bernadetta looked nervously at him, before she waved "Er, no thank you." Claude was fine with that, as he shovelled the last piece of cake into his mouth and went in front of the table.
"Ohay, why hoe fe wight pe in a diffifult fifuafion, fut thou haf fo fruf the on fith." Claude started, but he saw the others just raising their brows, as Hilda smiled and raised her voice. "Claude, how about you swallow your cake first?" He did just that and started again "Okay, I know we might be in a difficult situation, but you have to trust me on this. The enemy is going to try and overwhelm us on two fronts, but our special allies should be able to outflank them. It should be easy as any simulations we ran in school."
Petra raised her hand "But who these war-friends are?" Claude smirked "Just the question I wanted to answer, thank you, Petra. From the dukedom side of the battle, the Knights of Seiros will make their assault. However, and I know you might not like it, but we're hiring some special mercenaries to handle the imperial troops."
Ignatz raised his hand "What do you mean by 'special'?" Claude scratched his hair "Special as to they prefer taking food supplies rather than gold as a payment." Raphael agreed loudly "Ah, I can understand people like this!"
Lysithea raised her hand "And what if the enemy attacks sooner than expected?" Claude smiled reassuringly "If that's the case, we'll have to hold up until tonight, our allies will arrive around that time. But even if they pressed speed, I don't think they would arrive before midday. And even then, we can always retreat back to-" he stopped when Bernadetta got a lot paler, and pointed towards the hill behind Claude. He looked behind, and across the Airmid was a Bergliez banner.
Claude sighed "Of course. There goes my plan. Remember, everyone, if we hold until tonight, we win! We only need to survive up until the moonrise." He then jumped on the table as yelled "Everyone! Battle positions!"
Leonie and Claude ran towards the stables to go and grab their horse and wyvern respectively. Meanwhile, the rest of them went to grab their equipment and some additional armour. By the time everyone was ready, some imperial troops had already crossed the Airmid, and were heading towards the camp. Hilda, Ignatz, Linhardt and Petra were already on the frontline, ready to push back the attack.
Caspar seemed to have gone towards where the dukedom forces were meant to attack along with Bernadetta, Marianne, Raphael and Lysithea. Marianne whispered a small prayer to the Goddess for them to be safe, and prepared some spells from the book she was holding. Hilda and Petra were already launching themselves towards the soaked soldiers.
Petra was wielding two swords: an armour-slayer she was using right now against some armoured frontline units and a simple iron sword. Meanwhile, Hilda was swinging the axe Freikugel against the enemy, breaking even the heaviest of armours. Claude and his unit of wyvern riders came from above to thin the enemy's ranks while Leonie was heading to reinforce Lysithea's side.
From the other side of the Airmid river, Claude could see an imposing figure riding his horse, who seemed to be leading the Bergliez troops, so Claude aimed with Failnaught towards the head of the imposing figure, and loosed an arrow, which went at maximum speed.
Yet, the general easily deflected the arrow with his sword. Now that he could focus his sight on him, Claude could see the man's strict features, he had blue hair, which was accompanied by a blue beard, and wore the same kind of armour as Caspar.
…
"Count Bergliez! They seem to be pushing back our advance!" One of the officer's underling said. Balthazar von Bergliez only sighed as he saw his second son run off to meet the dukedom's forces. "I can see that, thank you. Tell the Varley troops to push on, the Riegan boy won't hold for too long. Then, set fire to their camp and surround them in a great circle. We will slowly restrain them on an uncovered terrain, and then crush the survivors. Sound the signals for the dukedom's army to attack."
The officer nodded "Yes, my lord." The count could see from his position the house Kleiman and house Rowe banners on the other side of the Airmid. He despised these traitors, yet his emperor asked him to work with them, and so he would. He could not shake off that something felt wrong though. The empire's forces could have won this fight by itself, and the count couldn't see any flankers from the alliance's side.
His senses were telling him to be cautious, but if he ended the battle quickly and swiftly, then the matter would be over. Balthazar von Bergliez grunted. "Send the beasts."
…
The Leicester soldiers were getting pushed out of the camp. Claude had been preferring a Hit and Run tactic against the overwhelming forces of both the empire and the dukedom. He was seeing a few enemy troops slip up to flank their sides. At that pace, they were losing the camp, and the imperial troops were beginning to set it on fire.
It was around midday, they were losing grounds too quickly. The weather was getting notably worst, it used to be sunny, characteristic of the end of the Pegasus Moon in the Alliance, yet it was beginning to rain. Caspar charged towards a cavalier, and swung his axe before the soldier could counter him, cutting him in two pieces. The dukedom's army contained mostly armoured units that were slow, buying them more time once they had dealt with the horse-riding soldiers.
Marianne was keeping herself busy with healing allies, even though half the wounded people she stumbled were missing a limb and bleeding to death. Right now, she was healing a small scratch on a rider's arm, who directly went back towards combat after a quick thank you. She heard a roar coming from the camp, and when she looked towards it, demonic beasts were heading towards their backs.
She cast Thoron on one of the beasts, yet it did not seem to even slow it down. It charged at her, breaking Marianne's left arm and sent her rolling on the ground, the beast then went to squash her head, but Leonie pierced it in the forehead with her spear. She helped Marianne get up. "Are you alright Marianne?" Marianne rubbed off the blood on her lips. "The Goddess will let me survive." Leonie put a hand on her shoulder "Good, we need you." Leonie helped Marianne climb up on her horse.
Raphael, Hilda and Caspar shifted their attentions towards the beasts, who were causing much more damage to their troops than the other slower enemies. As for Lysithea, she began to tire from all the spells she was casting. She had already eliminated some mounted units with her dark spikes, but she had trouble keeping up with all the dukedom's mages.
The exhaustion was enough to distract her from an armoured unit that was going to swing his axe towards her. She tried to evade, but slipped on the wet mud, which let the enemy scratch her side with his axe. She fell on the ground and blasted the enemy away. Suddenly, lightning fell on a nearby tree. The sound stunned everyone in the perimeter. The lightning then struck one of the pegasus knights, as well as one of Claude's wyvern riders.
The rain got more intense with each seconds passing, as Lysithea understood what was happening. "Claude! Order your riders to dismount!" Claude looked surprised "Why?!" Lysithea blasted away another enemy. "It's not safe up there anymore!" The thunder set fire to one of the tents as well as burning another one of the pegasus knights. The thunderstorm was causing the armies to panic at the sight of their soldiers getting struck by lightning.
From a hill came a solitary silhouette. It quietly walked towards the imperial army, while alliance soldiers were retreating, running right in front of her, paying no attention to the glowing sword that was sheathed on her belt. The figure stretched its arms and legs, before launching itself towards the imperial soldiers. It swung its sword, cutting the enemy's armour like butter. A swing of the sword meant that an enemy had been cut in half, or lost a limb.
The alliance soldiers were in awe in front of such a performance, and were inspired to fight back the dukedom and imperial armies. Lysithea recognized the organic sword the lone figure wielded, which explained the sudden change of weather.
Claude walked towards the swordmaster, with Ignatz and Bernadetta at his side. "I see, one person really can make the difference. I can see you arrived earlier than scheduled." Catherine smiled back "I'm always one to arrive early. And alone. What is the situation?" Claude sighed "Not very bright, the enemy is trying to surround us and their leader is none other than count Bergliez himself."
"Hmpf, if we eliminate him, then we will have dealt a real blow to the empire. But I doubt I could even scratch him." Claude's eyes widened "You're sure you're not underestimating your own skills?" Catherine sighed "It doesn't matter. If you order me to fight him, I'll do my best whatever happens." Claude nodded "Just don't go to the point of dying, please?" Catherine waved him off before going back to the fight "Sure."
Catherine headed towards the remaining demonic beasts, and found Lysithea getting healed by Marianne, while Leonie, Caspar and Raphael pushed back whoever tried to stop the healing spell. The alliance army seemed to keep losing parts of the camp, despite the rain shutting down the starting fires. "Caspar, Leonie, Lysithea, as soon as you are healed, we head towards enemy command. Caspar, you will help push back the less armoured enemies, Lysithea, you will cast spells against the more armoured enemies, and Leonie, you will watch our backs and help the front if needed. Meanwhile, Bernadetta and Ignatz will provide us cover fire. 2-1-1 position, no air support, understood?" The three nodded. "Good. Prepare yourself."
Before Lysithea was fully healed, Catherine ran towards a demonic beast, that tried to skewer eviscerate her with its back claws. Catherine gracefully dodged and cut its arm off. The beast screamed, but not for long as the knight pierced its head through its throat with Thunderbrand. She saw Lysithea stand up, as Caspar and Leonie joined her along with their battalions. They headed towards the imperial forces.
They advanced slowly but steadily against the imperial tide as it was beginning to get darker and darker. One soldier tried to get between Caspar and Catherine towards Lysithea, but immediately got cut down by one the Alliance soldiers following them. The rain intensified, turning the dry soil of the Leicester Alliance into a muddy battlefield, that mixed water with blood.
All was going according to plan, Leonie thought as she saw a warlock preparing a spell in front of Caspar and launched her horse towards the enemy, cutting him down before he had any chance to hurt their front line. But as they went deeper into the enemy lines, their own numbers depleted. They needed to find the count quickly.
Lysithea was keeping up with the pace fairly easily. It was the demonic beast in front of them that had her worried. She sent an energy ball towards the creature, slowing it down for a bit, only for Caspar to slash its throat with his axe. After a beastly scream, the creature turned back to its original form, one of a young woman, that laid naked and dead on the mud, bleeding out from her throat. Lysithea seethed in anger in front of such thing.
Catherine noticed her sudden anger. "Hey, Lysithea. Focus on the objective." She shook her head "Of course, sorry." She blasted away one of the soldiers, sending the anger out as she cast the spell.
Catherine could see the Bergliez banner proudly standing against the wind and the rain, as Caspar got noticeably paler. "Oh no." Indeed, count Bergliez was now on foot, unsheathing his sword as he saw new challengers incoming.
A few brave Leicester soldiers ran towards him, but he cut them in two in a single strike each, the same feat as Catherine, except he didn't wield one of the Heroes' relics. He smirked when he saw Catherine kill a few soldiers herself, but it turned into a full grin when he saw Caspar swinging his axe into imperials' skulls. The day was growing darker and darker, and it was almost night-time.
Catherine raised her sword and her voice "Balthazar von Bergliez! I challenge you to a duel!" The interested smiled fiercely "I will gladly accept this challenge, Thunder Catherine! All of you, make place!" The imperial and alliance let a large circle for the two duellists.
The two took defensive stances, the thunder outlining their forms, and the count smirked "Even though you are still rather young, I can see the experience in your eyes. Tell me, how did you acquire Thunderbrand?" Catherine smirked in return "A gift from the Church of Seiros, for my skills." Balthazar scoffed "A generosity we barely ever see from them."
The two duellists took a more serious expression, concentrating on how to outmanoeuvre the other swordmaster. As the thunder hit the ground, Catherine jumped towards the count, and seemed to go for a horizontal swing, but changed at the last moment to go for a downward strike. Balthazar seemed to read right through her move, blocked it, then stabbed towards the knight's leg, but went for an upward swing instead, which Catherine blocked.
Caspar was in awe in front of the two capable fighters, but by his side, Lysithea looked worried. Their shared crest of Charon always had manifested the weather at the worst possible time, yet it seemed Catherine's arrival changed the result of the battle. Caspar couldn't tell if his father was sweating because of the rain, but he was out of breath for sure.
Catherine was in the same state as the count, wiping her forehead, and launching another attack. She swung left, only to stab at Balthazar's heart, only for the count to block and push her back. However, as Catherine landed on the ground, the wet mud made her slip.
Balthazar took the opportunity to strike, as Catherine desperately took a clumsy defensive stance as panic settled in. The count sliced through the upper skin from Catherine's left arm up to her left eye, leaving a long trail of blood, blending it with the rain. The strike sent her rolling in the mud unconscious, near Caspar, Leonie and Lysithea, who cried out "No!"
Yet, Catherine still breathed, as Balthazar was drawing closer towards her. He lifted his sword while he scoffed "Hmpf, that was entertaining, Thunder Catherine." But before he could deliver the killing blow, Caspar deflected the sword with his axe. He took Catherine, threw her to Leonie, and yelled at her "Go find Linhardt or Marianne, now!" Leonie didn't wait and dashed towards the frontline, the only problem was the number of imperial soldiers. Now Caspar was facing his father, dread slowly filling his body, as the count smirked.
…
"Hey, Yuri, can I blow into this horn?"
"No, Balthus, we're meant to take them by surpri- Why did even you take one?!"
…
Lysithea was trying to push back the many enemy troops coming at her. They were right in the middle of the enemy's force after all. That, and she was starting to feel out of breath from the number of spells she had to cast. Meanwhile, she could see Caspar desperately trying to keep up with his father.
The count had decided to go easy on his son, as he was more interested in seeing how he grew from the scrawny kid he used to know to the man he had in front of him. He had the skills to match his growth too. But Balthazar had a duty to accomplish. "Hmpf, enough is enough, Caspar. I will give you one chance to surrender." Caspar scoffed "You can take your offer back, I won't serve Edelgard!" He wiped out the sweat on his forehead. Keeping up with his father, who was obviously holding back, required too much efforts.
"I expected no less from you." But before he could get serious and end his son's life, the sound of a horn resounded behind him. Balthazar kicked Caspar in the guts, which sent him flying in the mud, as one of his officers arrived "Unidentified enemy troops are attacking our back!" The count sighed "Move the dukedom's troops to intercept them." The officer gulped "They can't, the Leicester army has been reinforced by the Knights of Seiros on our western front."
The count chuckled "I should have expected that when I set my eyes on Catherine. Sound the retreat." The officer frowned "But, we still can win, my lord..." "At the cost of too much of our troops, sound the retreat." The count looked back at Caspar "I'm proud of you, runt." He turned tail and left on his horse. That was the moment Caspar decided to pass out from the fear he had felt by duelling with his father. The imperial army quickly retreated, and the dukedom offered little resistance without its allies.
Leonie arrived towards the now gone camp, where Flayn and Seteth were discussing with Claude about post-battle reports. Flayn's eyes wrinkled as she looked who was unconscious behind Leonie's horse. They widened and she gasped as she pulled on Seteth's armour, whose eyes also went wide when he recognized the defeated form of the swordmaster.
They both carefully put her on the back of Seteth's wyvern, and went along with Claude towards the town, which was a two minutes flight, find an inn and put her on a bed for Flayn to heal her. She had already started doing the preparations as they were flying over to the town.
…
When Catherine opened her eye, she saw the leading members of the Knights of Seiros looking at her worriedly, except for one, whose she felt the wrath right from his eyes. She sighed and spoke weakly "I know what you're going to say, Seteth. I shouldn't have done that." Seteth sighed "There's nothing more I can say if you learned your lesson." Flayn looked at Catherine's left arm "It should work properly in a month or two, but I couldn't do anything about your eye, sorry."
Alois was climbing up the stairs with multiple bottles of wine. "Flayn! The kids are waiting for you downstairs! You should join them!" Flayn looked at Catherine worriedly, but she reassured her and grabbed Flayn's hand with her own bandaged one. "Don't worry, my skin won't fall off in one night."
Flayn went down the stairs to see the younger ones celebrating victory. Unusually, Linhardt was dancing with Petra, arms locked together, on the table in the middle of the room, both completely drunk. Ignatz was sleeping in one of the rooms they had rented. Meanwhile, Raphael was having a very early breakfast he was sharing with a sick-looking Caspar and Bernadetta. Linhardt was laughing "Hey, y-you know in what state we found Caspar?" Ashe shyly replied "No?"
Petra said a few words in brigidian, that only Linhardt seemed to understand, then burst out laughing, while Linhardt chuckled "I mean, it's even worst than Bernadetta passing out while standing up!" Both Bernadetta and Caspar's faces reddened.
Leonie came with another set of glasses full of beer and yelled "Who's ready to defeat Leonie, Blade Breaker number 2?!" Behind her, Lysithea was sleeping on another table, with three pints emptied by her side, while Marianne was stumbling between the tables. "Hehe, this feels funny. Raphael, did I ever told you you had big muscles?" Raphael laughed "Nope, but I'm glad you finally noticed it!"
Leonie pointed her finger towards the leader of the Leicester Alliance "I challenge you, Claude! Find- er, fight me like the hero of legend you are!" Hilda was locking him in a hug "Go away, Leonie, he's mine." Claude's cheeks went red "No thanks, Leonie, I need to do some business in a few minutes." The mercenary sighed "What a killjoy you are, Claude… Flayn! Come over here a second!"
Hilda was sleeping, now was the time for Claude to unlock himself from her grip. He had to go and thank the Ashen Wolves. Outside, it was still raining but the thunder had calmed itself. Yuri Leclerc, what the leader of these mercenaries called himself, was waiting for him at the gates of the small town. He smirked "Are your friends having fun?" Claude chuckled "Well, we just won a desperate battle, didn't we? You have everything ready?" Yuri nodded "Indeed, thank you for understanding what we needed. It was a pleasure dealing with the leader of the Alliance." With that, he left along with his comrades.
Claude saw Gilbert and Ashe coming out of the inn. "Leaving already?" Gilbert nodded "Indeed Claude. We are leaving for a… quest of some sorts." Claude smirked "Like the old knights? Care to tell me who's the princess?" Gilbert frowned "I regret, but I cannot tell you." Claude sighed "If you're looking for Dimitri, it's been a year since I sent Ferdinand and Dorothea to look for him."
Gilbert looked worried, which Ashe noticed. Ashe cheerfully answered "Thank you Claude. If we come across them, we will share our informations with them." After that, Gilbert and Ashe climbed on their horses and left.
When Claude went back in the inn, he found Leonie resting on the floor, while Linhardt and Petra were sleeping on the table they were dancing on. Marianne was… purring? by Raphael's side, who still wasn't finished with his breakfast, even though he was helped by Caspar. Flayn was sitting on a chair, completely sober despite the six pints of ale emptied at her side. Bernadetta had left to go sleeping, and so did Lysithea.
Hilda came running into him for a hug. "You're completely drunk Hilda, I'm gonna take you to your bed." She shot him an interested look. "Oh yes, please do so, my prince..." Meanwhile, Flayn was quietly laughing at the two on her side of the room, though Caspar and Raphael didn't really bother as they were discussing about the best dish after training.
…
Lysithea woke up from the sound of the rain hammering against the small window in her room. She had been bleeding from her nose again, so she went to clean it up in the small bathroom. She looked at the clock which indicated twelve o'clock. So she went to wake up the others.
She knocked on Hilda's door, only for Claude to open it, shirtless with a dashing smile. "How are doing, Lysithea? Before you ask, Hilda puked on my shirt." Lysithea did smell the stench coming from the room. "Fine, hope you had a good sleep." For all she knew, Claude could really have spent the night to try and clean the room.
She then headed towards the other rooms, but it seemed that Raphael, Marianne, Caspar and Ignatz were already downstairs. She knocked on Leonie's door. "Is it for the bill? Wait a second..." She opened the door while rubbing her eyes, looking like she was going through a hangover. "Oh hey, Lysithea, what's up?" "It's midday. And don't worry, Claude will pay the bill." Leonie's face lit up "Ah, tell him thanks for me."
She knocked on Bernadetta's door. "Hmm, what is it?" "It's midday, time for you to go downstairs." "Do I really have-" Lysithea opened the door brusquely "Yes!"
She knocked on Petra's door. She wasn't hearing any sound at all, until Petra opened the door, her face completely red. "The morning is great, Lysithea. What is you want to say?" "It's midday, put some new clothes and get downstairs."
She knocked on Linhardt's door, opened it when there was no answer, and no one was in. He must be downstairs.
She went down towards the first floor, she could see Raphael and Ignatz discussing, and Marianne healing a minor wound on Caspar, but no trace of Linhardt. "Hey, has anyone of you seen Linhardt?" Raphael and Caspar's lips curled into devilish grins. "Well, you know how he was completely drunk alongside Petra?" Caspar snickered. Lysithea sighed "Don't tell me you did this..." Raphael laughed and scratched his hair "Well, we kinda did!"
Lysithea climbed up the stairs to go and check on Catherine, she hadn't seen her wake up. Inside her room were Seteth and Flayn, who was keeping an eye on Catherine's wounds. Lysithea didn't see the other knights of Seiros "Where are the others?" Catherine smiled at her "They left earlier this morning. How are you, Lysithea? Recovered from yesterday?"
She nodded "How about you?" "I guess I'll have to do with only one eye. Didn't use the other anyway." Catherine was going to chuckle until she noticed how Seteth was glaring at her as if he felt the urge to murder something real quick. He sighed "As for Flayn and I, we will make sure Catherine here won't do anything reckless before she fully recovers."
"Great. I will leave you together..." She went out of the room then climbed downstairs and saw everybody, Hilda, Linhardt and Petra's faces were red with embarrassment while Claude and Caspar were smirking. Raphael was once again eating, although he was soaked, he must have been going to train along with Leonie. Bernadetta was just sitting on a chair, along with Marianne and Ignatz, watching the chaos unfold before them.
Slowly dying didn't matter then for Lysithea. If they could all make it out alive through this war, then she thought it was enough. She had other things on the back of her mind to do after the war ended, but she gathered she wouldn't have much time then.
Claude smiled at her "Hey, Lysithea, why don't you explain to me why I suddenly have to pay the bill?" Lysithea allowed herself to smirk for once "You're the leader, aren't you?"
Well, that was a long chapter. I hope I conveyed count Bergliez's strength better than the game, since his manliness is only expressed through exposition (Caspar being scared by him and Dorothea mentioning his sacrifice for his soldiers after taking Enbarr).
As for the weather switcharoo, in the Lysithea-Catherine support, they talk about the thunder and the rain falling at the worst possible time for them. Maybe Catherine could have held on against count Bergliez if it didn't rain, and it nearly cost her her life, I hope that was a decent counterpart for giving a fighting chance for the Alliance.
Golden Zero16: Long story very short, Griffith did something very wrong (words cannot stress enough how morally wrong it is) that brought massive positive effects to the world of Berserk, from which stems the debate of "Is Griffith a good guy?". Kinda reminds me what is happening with Rhea and Edelgard.
Romeoraiden: You're welcome, it's always a pleasure to write a new chapter. As for Verdant Wind being better than Silver Snow, I'd tend to agree. One problem that could have been solved with Silver Snow would have been to lock the church members behind the route, or make Seteth, who's more of an advisor (like Gilbert in AM), or Rhea, who's here for only three chapters, the main lord of the route instead of Edelgard.
Next chapter: Lords of the Frost