A/N: I just finished two papers and have a third one due soon and yet somehow, I'm able to write such long chapters. I don't know if that is a good thing or if I should probably focus on my papers more.
Hey before you read just a warning the being of this chapter does have abuse and some harsh language. If you don't want to read that than skip to the Ethereal Moon.
Ages:
Byleth: 13
Dimitri: 9 going on 10
Sylvain: 12
Felix: 9
Ingrid: 9
Glenn: 15
Miklan: 16
Red Wolf Moon 1173:
For several years Sylvain had to listen to Dimitri gush about how great his friend, Byleth was. When Dimitri said she was pretty, Sylvain didn't have much expectations, the prince had little interest in women and was clearly biased when it came to her. When Felix said she was pretty, he still didn't think much of it as the future swordsman had yet to take in an interest in women as well. But when Glenn said she had the potential to be a real beauty, that's when Sylvain just had to meet the woman that stole the prince's heart.
It took a while, but Sylvain was finally able to convince his father to let him go to Fhirdiad under the disguise of training with the prince. Miklan had to come along too and though he wasn't happy about it, it was fine as his brother usually left him alone when they were in the capital. It had been a long while since Sylvain was genuinely excited for something.
One look at her and Sylvain knew he needed to update his friends' vocabulary with better words to describe the looks of a woman because pretty just didn't describe her properly. Her long dark hair, deep blue eyes, the tone of her muscles, the curves of her body, and that plump chest of hers that betrayed her in battle, it was all a wonderful delight to his prepubescent mind, she was breath-taking to him. He wondered if there was something wrong with Glenn's eyes because she was already quite the beauty or did, she just grow into her potential in just one year's time? He was curious as to what Glenn would think of her now.
"By, this is my friend-" Dimitri started before Sylvain took over.
Delicately he grasped her hand and marveled for a bit at how rough it was. Almost all the women's hands he held were smooth and soft but hers were strong. He might have thought it was a shame to see such rough hands but with how toned her arms and legs were, it excited him in a way no other girl has done. He carefully brought her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on the back of it and was disappointed at the lack of reaction he got.
"I am Sylvain Jose Gautier," he said in the smoothest of tone he could muster. "It is truly a pleasure to be in the company of such-" his voice cracked and some color spread across his cheeks because of it. He swallowed before he continued as if nothing had happened, "a lovely lady such as yourself."
He watched as her fingers reached out for the edges of a pretend dress as she curtsied, and he had to stifle a laugh. "I'm Byleth Eisner," she said, with an ever-blank expression. "The pleasure is all mine."
She might have been beautiful, but her lack of emotions was unsettling. From time to time he would see her crack the tiniest of smiles, but they were so infrequent that he might have described it as more of a twitch than anything else. Dimitri knew what she was feeling at any moment, he said it was because her eyes revealed everything, and the ginger haired boy had his doubts. Sylvain tried to read her that way a few times, but embarrassment always won in the end and he had to look away before he could discover anything.
Her patience was incredible. Out of all his friends, Dimitri could be the most demanding and Sylvain understood why, the prince was an only child and was left alone a lot. Before he met Byleth he could only play with his friends a month or two at a time, but to have someone to spend four months with must have been a blessing to him. Dimitri monopolized Byleth's time, the two were rarely apart to the point that they even shared the same bed. Sylvain had considered himself a patient guy, but he was sure he wouldn't have been able to last very long in her shoes.
On top of a demanding prince, Byleth also had to deal with the open hostility from the etiquette teacher. After three years of teaching the poor girl, he would have hoped that the teacher would have gotten over her grievances but nope and Dimitri was none the wiser to the hostility, which Byleth wanted it to stay that way. If the etiquette teacher was terrible to her, Sylvain could only imagine how many other people in the castle were too and yet she never said anything.
Byleth was an oddity in so many ways. She was beautiful, strong, emotionally stilted, patient, and far too observant for the liking of the young Gautier boy. He knew it wasn't something he should have prided himself on being able to do but he did regardless, and that was being able to hide the abuse he received from his brother. He learned how to hide the bruises under clothes, accessories, and even make-up sometimes and he even developed the ability to mask his pain when an injury affected him on being able to do something. Yes, he was proud of that, and yet she could see right through him. During sword practice she noticed that he had an injury on his left side, despite the bruise never being visible. And after one night when his brother was in a particularly bad mood and smashed a training sword into Sylvain's leg, she instantly recognized that he was injured despite his best performance. He had a lie for all her questions, but he could never tell if she believed him or not.
Miklan had just been in a terrible mood, ever since arriving at the castle and Sylvain couldn't figure out why, all he knew was that he was being tormented more than usual. Being away from home was usually seen as a good thing for the both of them as they were away from their father and the reminders that Sylvain bore a crest and Miklan didn't. So, what set Miklan off? Treading on thin ice wasn't something Sylvain liked to do, especially when his new friend was far too observant. Hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about it too much on the Founding Day, with all the celebrations and people around, his brother probably wouldn't dare hurt him, at least not until late into the night and even then he might be too tired to do so. At least that was what the Gautier heir was hoping for.
The day had been going great, Felix had joined the trio as his brother would be competing in the tournament that was held later that day, so all of the Fraldarius family had come to the capital for it. All the children got to marvel at all the events and eat as much as they like and oh boy, could Byleth eat. Up and till that day Byleth had been practically emotionless but her excitement had been very clear, and Sylvain had to admit he liked seeing her like that.
Sylvain didn't think there would be any problems until it was time for the tournament. He found it cute at how Dimitri was pouting when he had to part from them to sit in the royal sittings. Byleth had been her most excited at that time and was almost a bumbling ball of energy and was struggling with her holding back her energy. Despite her commoner background she was allowed to sit with Sylvain and Felix in the noble section and neither boy was going to complain. Everything was going great, that was until Miklan came to take his seat and was visibly disgusted with her. If she had noticed, she didn't show it as she was happily chatting with Felix about his brother's enrollment.
The tournament continued on a she still hadn't acknowledged the hate that was being directed toward her and that angered Miklan more. Sylvain desperately tried to ignore his brother, but it was proving to be harder and harder with each passing moment. Finally, his brother snapped and slammed his foot onto his little brother's, who let out a little cry. All eyes turned to Sylvain as he desperately tried to fight back tears; normally he didn't cry or even whined but that was usually because he had time to brace himself for the attack.
"What is wrong Sylvain?" Miklan asked in an eerily calm tone and a shiver ran down the little brother's spine.
"Are you hurt?" Byleth asked. Her tone had been devoid of emotion, but Sylvain felt her concern with her light touch on his arm. Her arm was violently smacked away by Miklan and if he hurt her she never showed it, but Felix did with his wide eyes that kept glancing between the two older children.
"He is my brother and I will take care of him!" Her eyes narrowed on him, but she said nothing. Miklan forced Sylvain onto his feet but at least the heir was able to mask his pain. "Let us get you to a healer." Both Byleth and Felix stood up as well. "And what do you think you are doing?"
"We are going too," she had said in the matter of fact tone she normally talked in but even to Sylvain it sounded defiant.
Miklan's grip on Sylvain's arm was painfully tight and he feared that his brother might strike his friends. "I will be okay. Miklan can take me," Sylvain said, and he tried his hardest to keep his voice steady. Her eyes narrowed on him and then to his arm and he absolutely hated how observant she was. Why couldn't she just turn a blind eye like so many of the adults did in his life?
"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly as she finally looked into his eyes. He found his conviction crumbling under her gaze. He didn't want to get hurt. He hated it when his brother took his anger out on him. But what could he do? It was him and his wretched crest that cost his brother everything. He didn't have the right to deny the beatings, did he?
"I will be okay." Felix slowly sat down but was still watching them. Byleth didn't budge she just watched as Sylvain was forcibly taken away. Sylvain couldn't look at her anymore and just looked at the ground.
Miklan had dragged his younger brother into an empty area on the tournament grounds before violently shoving him to the ground. The crowd cheered right when a swift kick to the stomach connected and it knocked some of the air out of Sylvain's lungs. Several kicks preceded that one and he curled into a ball to try and protect himself a little.
"Why is that bitch sitting with us for?" Miklan yelled with another powerful kick. "Trash like her should know her place! Why the hell are the royal family so enamored with her? What makes that one whore so special? They can have whoever the hell they want! So why do they want that disgusting trash?"
Sylvain had always been the one to be the reason for his brother's anger in some shape or form but to hear that this beating was a result of another made it feel worse. And to hear his brother say such vile things about his friend was sickening. He rolled away from a kick and shakily rose to his feet. The look his brother was giving him was terrifying, but he wasn't going to stop.
"Do not say that about her! Byleth is a good person who has not done anything wrong!" Sylvain shouted as he stared into his brother's eyes. He felt good, strong even. He always imagined standing up to his brother; but he could never justify doing it but standing up for Byleth, he could do that.
"Oh." He had never heard such an intense ire from his brother before and it sent a shiver down his spine when he saw the unadulterated fury in his brother's eye. "You have been charmed by the whore too it seems." His brother slowly made his way over to him and Sylvain took small painful steps back, but he couldn't outpace Miklan and soon he was knocked to the ground with a swift but strong punch to the face. He was pinned to the ground with his brother on top of him and had a blazing fury in his eyes.
"Tell me what is so great about that whore!" Miklan always hit Sylvain, it was something he could take as there was no real threat to his life but that all changed at that moment with Miklan started choking him. He clawed at his brother's arms in a desperate attempt to get him off, but nothing was working. "I cannot hear you, little brother. What is so damn charming about that harlot?"
A swift kick to Miklan's stomach had him flying off of Sylvain, and he was able to catch his breath. Sylvain looked up with tears streaming down his face to see Byleth standing protectively before him. Her back was to him and her fists were bawled tightly. She didn't say anything.
"You!" Miklan screamed out but the cheers of the crowd drowned it out to all but those three. "Why are you here?!"
"So, you are the one, who's been hurting Sylvain," she said in a low tone. "Stop it."
"Stop it? I will do no such thing! He took everything from me! I will do whatever I fucking want to him!" She glanced down at the boy behind her and he couldn't meet her gaze. "Get loss! You above all other people are not wanted here or in our lives!"
She stared him down and he snarled at her, but she didn't back down. He swore loudly but made no effort to come to her, so she turned to look at Sylvan and crouched down. The younger boy's tears stopped but still he couldn't look at her.
She was yanked up brutally by her hair but not a peeped escaped her. "I told you this is our business! You are unwanted!" She glared at him from over her shoulder and he glared back. He slammed her into the ground and put all his weight onto the back of her head. "I am not the useless royal family, a whore like you is not going to be able to seduce your way into our affairs!"
Sylvain weakly cried her name and tried to push his brother off but was just shoved back. The older boy shouted some curses at Sylvain but quickly had the wind knocked out of him with a well-placed elbow strike to the chest. He released her and stumbled back for some air. She was quick on her feet and in between the two brothers. She glared at Miklan, who glared back as he readied himself to strike again.
"Cease this foolishness," Byleth ordered in a tone that Sylvain didn't believed that the normally passive girl could make. "I'm a mercenary, I know how to fight. You will not win." The two stared down each other a bit more before a slew of curses where thrown at the two friends as he left.
When the threat was gone, she turned to face Sylvain who was sitting at the floor watching his brother walk away. Gently she grabbed his attention when he felt her soft touch on his shoulders. With wide eyes he looked at her before hanging his head low. She tried to coax him to looking at her, but he refused.
"I am so sor-" Sylvain tried to say but went silent when she started to speak.
"I'm sorry for not coming sooner," she apologized in the softest tone he has ever heard someone speak to him before. He had tried to stay strong but her gentle touches broke down his barrier and he cried. He hadn't cried in a long time.
When Felix eventually found them, Sylvain's tears had stopped but he couldn't bring himself to look at her. She never said anything and for that he was grateful, but she did force him to go to an infirmary to get treated. She backed up his lie about falling down some bleachers' stairs, but he was sure that the healer didn't believe them as Byleth had her own cuts to her face that suggested differently.
Sylvain was a selfish boy. He didn't want his own secrets revealed and made Byleth swear to never tell and so far, it seemed like she never would, but he wouldn't keep her secrets. She had been so indifferent to all the verbal abuse that she received that she didn't even realized that his awful brother had called her a whore. She might have been incredibly strong to the point that such things didn't matter but it did not sit well with him. He didn't like her being called such things when she was such a good person and so he told King Lambert.
Dimitri and Byleth stood in front of King Lambert in his office, while Sylvain stood off to the side unable to look at Byleth. It was silent as they watched the king struggle with whatever was bothering him. Finally, he got low to look her in the eye.
"By, honey, I am so sorry," he finally said to which she tilted her head at him. "I should have expected you would be told such harsh things but…" He trailed off no longer able to make eye contact and Dimitri was more than willing to take over.
"Did someone say something mean to you?" Dimitri asked with a frown growing on his face. "Who said it? I will make sure they apologize!" She simple shook her head no and whatever courage Dimitri had deflated. "But why? I do not want people saying mean things to you."
"I am so sorry," the king said again.
She shook her head. "Don't be. I don't care about what people say or do to me," she finally said. Both royals looked at her, the prince with a frown, and the king with sympathy. "Both you and Dimitri have been so kind to me, so I don't care."
"But still…," Dimitri weakly protested.
"If you do anything that would just make things worse." She had addressed that to her friend before turning to his father. "I'm fine really. So long as I have my friends, I'll be okay. Please don't worry about it."
King Lambert sniffled a little before throwing his arms around her. "By, you are such a sweet girl!"
"I do not think the king should be hugging a young girl," Sylvain teased in hopes of lighting the mood a little.
"A father is allowed to hug his daughter!" The king still didn't let go of her and she awkwardly patted his back as she didn't really know what else to do.
"But she is not your daughter."
"Be quiet Sylvain. I always wanted a daughter; I will live vicariously through By. By does not mind, right?"
"No," she simply said as she didn't know what else to do. She glanced at Sylvain, who smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
Ethereal Moon 1173:
Sylvain was only supposed to stay in the capital for a month but with Dimitri's tenth birthday coming up, which meant it was the start of the prince's birthdays to be held at the castle, he managed to convince his father to let him stay another month. Miklan ended up going back home, much to Sylvain's relief. Because Sylvain was staying, Felix got to stay as well along with Glenn, who would also be staying because of his newly appointed knighthood. Dimitri was ecstatic to have his friends stay longer and if Byleth was happy too, she didn't really show it, but Dimitri assured Sylvain that she was.
It wasn't long until the last of the group of friends learned that they were being excluded and was allowed to go to the castle. Two weeks into the Ethereal Moon, Byleth was finally allowed to meet the last friend, Ingrid. She was a small, blonde girl with big green eyes. The young girl quickly took to the older one and they played a lot, without the boys.
"It is not fair!" Dimitri whined as he stomped his food on the ground. "By is my friend!"
"Come now, let the girls have their fun," Sylvain said as he tried to pat Dimitri on the back. "They are each other's first girlfriends." The prince was still pouting. "You get to play with Byleth every night, you guys sleep together after all."
"It is not the same!"
"You can play with us," Felix weakly interjected, "we can play knights."
"I want to play with By!"
Dimitri stomped his way over to the girls and Felix silently shuffled behind. Sylvain sighed before he followed at a much more leisurely pace. The prince stood over the two girls that were kneeling over their snow sculptures; Sylvain had to fight back a laugh at how terrible Byleth's was. Dimitri grabbed Byleth's hand when she waved at him.
"Ingrid you cannot keep By all to yourself!" He pulled the older girl onto her feet who nearly stumbled over him at the suddenness and the use of too much strength. Ingrid quickly got to her feet and grabbed Byleth's other free hand.
"You have kept her to yourself for several years, it is my turn!" Ingrid said as she pulled Byleth back towards her.
"She was my friend first!"
"Well she my friend now!"
Sylvain watched in great amusement as his two friends played tug of war with the older girl. Felix stood off to the side fretting and trying to find the right words to stop the fighting. Ingrid was managing to do a good job at holding her own against Dimitri's monstrous strength, though Sylvain suspected that Byleth might have had something to do with that. The one, who all the fighting was about, just blankly stared off into the distance as she was tugged back and forth.
"What is going on here?" asked an older male voice from behind Sylvain.
"Sir Glenn!" Ingrid cheered and let Byleth go right when Dimitri pulled causing the said girl to fall on him. Right before the fall Byleth managed to wrap her now freed arm around Dimitri's head to prevent him from hitting the ground with it but that did cause her to shove his face into her breast; Sylvain couldn't help but be jealous.
Ingrid happily ran over to Glenn's side telling him all about what she and Byleth had been doing. For his part Glenn seemed to be listening but Sylvain couldn't tell if he cared or not because Sylvain definitely found the conversation boring. He also noticed how the girl was avoiding the topic of how she got into a fight with Dimitri over her new friend.
"Dimitri and Ingrid were fighting over By," Sylvain said after he had enough of listening to Ingrid's rambling and ignored her glare.
"Oh, well you sure are popular?" Glenn teased as he watched as Byleth fret over his liege.
Byleth looked back at Glenn and she felt her stomach flip as their eyes locked. The corners of her lips twitched into her little smile when he walked over to her. He held out his hand and when she placed hers in his, a jolt shot through her body as he lightly pulled her up. She was acutely aware of his hand that had yet to leave hers despite her being securely on her feet.
"Now you two need to learn how to share." Dimitri pouted as he got onto his feet and Ingrid sheepishly looked at the ground. "Good and your first act of sharing will be you guys allowing me to steal Byleth away!" She felt her heart leap into her threat when Glenn's gripped her hand tightly and he pulled her along. All the kids yelled and gave chase. She was left speechless as she looked at Glenn, his hair was blowing in the wind as they ran along, and a large smile adored his face. Dimitri was pretty but Glenn, Glenn was something else and she didn't know why but she liked it.
Byleth flipped the training sword in her hands, as bitter disappointment pulled at the bottom of her stomach. She didn't know what she was expecting but still…She knew Glenn was strong, she saw that at the tournament last month and she had been eager to test her skills against his and yet…
Glenn had been watching the door to the training ground with a large grin upon his face. He hadn't spared her a glance since they entered, adding to her disappointment. She stood on her side of the ground, eager to get the sparring session over with but he was too fixated on the door to noticed her. The doors were finally busted over, and Dimitri stormed in with the others close behind.
"You cannot steal By!" Dimitri said in the toughest voice he could muster.
"Oh? But I did and I did it right in front of you too." The older boy leaned down until he was eye level with the other. "You are going to have to do better than that if you want to protect her, little prince."
With wide eyes, Dimitri rushed towards Byleth and stood protectively in front of her. Laughter erupted form the older boy causing Dimitri to pout. She stood back and silently watched as she still tried to figure out her emotions.
"Sir Glenn!" Ingird cried as she rushed to his side with a large smile. He smiled softly down at her and patted her on the head. "I am sorry for stealing your new friend."
The disappointment Byleth felt quickly turned sour. She gripped her sword too tightly as she tried to swallow away the new bad taste in her mouth. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't, she felt trapped, like she was under a spell or something.
The trance was broken when she felt a light touch on her arm. "By, did he hurt you?" Dimitri quietly asked. Shaking her head, no, she looked down at her friend. Glenn's eyes might be mysteriously captivating but she for sure preferred Dimitri's pretty ones. Unknowingly she copied the knight's interactions with Ingrid and got the same reaction.
"Okay, play time is over," Glenn called from his side of the ground. "All babies off the field. It is time for the big kids to play." Both Dimitri and Felix glared at him, but he didn't acknowledge them. "I have been waiting to challenge By for a long time, so you all need to hurry up and get out of the way."
Pouting the prince gave her some words of encouragement before moving out of the way. She watched as the other stood off to the sidelines excitedly waiting for them too start. A clear of Glenn's throat reminded her what she was doing. Dimitri had watched her spar a numerous time but now that she had a little crowd, she felt a little excited and nervous at the same time.
Both in position Glenn and Byleth were staring each other down, ignoring Sylvain's impatient complaints. When he shifted to the left, she was quick to shift to the right. She wasn't going to make the first move, her father always taught her to wait and let her opponents come to them and to learn from them. And that was what she planned to do but the nervous energy that flowed through her made it difficult and she had to spend some of her concentration to focus on just gripping her sword and not spinning it around to release some of the energy.
With a smirk Glenn struck first, a simple downward swing but it was full of power. Her muscles cried at her for her unpreparedness for blocking such a powerful strike. He raised his sword for another strike, and she took the opportunity to do a quick thrust forward, forcing him to step back. Capitalizing on the new founded distance she allowed herself another thrust but this time she leapt into it giving her attack more speed. He smacked her sword away and she rolled with it and they were nearly back at square one.
He was once again the first to make a move. He swung wide first to force her to step back and then he copied her with his own little forward thrust with a leap. Slamming her sword down onto his, she halted his assault. Using his sword as a path she traced hers along it to swing at his neck that he narrowly avoided. Both jumped back to create some breathing room.
He rushed at her again with another downward blow. She was ready that time or so she thought until the weight of strike was much more than she expected. From the smirk he wore and the glow she noticed form the corner of her eye, she concluded that his crest activated, and she got to feel just how powerful the Fraldarius crest was. She was barely able to hold off the attack but couldn't block the second strike that was to her left side. She bit her lip to silence the cry that was threatening to escape her as she dug her heel into the ground to brace herself for a counterattack. With a quick twist of his body he was able to avoid the worse of her swing, but she still managed to land a strike against him.
Swiftly she jumped back to create some distance. Her side cried out with every little breath she took but she refused to show it. She resumed her stance, and even put a bit more weight onto her injured side to promote her bluff, but she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up for much longer. A smirk danced on Glenn's lips as he returned to his stance.
Blyeth went on the offensive much to everyone's surprise. Jeralt had insisted she use her opponent's strength against them to make up for her lack of strength, but he was sure to teach her to go on the offensive as well. Small, swift strikes were her signature, pushing him back and never allowing him for a chance to counterattack. It would be quite a frustrating strategy to contend with if she had the strength to back it up, but she didn't and the protest from her wound was getting harder to ignore.
It was for a brief moment when her assault halted when the pain in her side got too much and she winced. Glenn seized the opportunity to smack her sword aside and to thrust forward. She managed to dodge it with a clumsy stumble, and he wasn't going to let another chance opportunity go to waste so he slashed at her injured side again. She raised her leg, just in time for it to take the blunt of the attack and while he was distracted, she slammed her own sword down on his shoulder.
It was his turn to stumble back. The grip on his sword weakened as holding it became not only painful but difficult as his shoulder was spasming. She was worse off as it became even more difficult for her to remain standing, let alone to fight. It was all or nothing now for her. She gripped her sword and charged forward with the last of her strength.
She had planned to leap into the air and swing her sword down but the injury to her leg prevented her from doing nothing more than a little hop. It still gave her some power to the blow at the very least. Right when her sword clashed with his, a bright glow emanated from her chest and a strange energy flowed from her into him, preventing him from doing anything.
A scream ripped out of Byleth as she dropped to the ground clutching her chest. The watchers were quick to rush to her side, but it took Glenn a second to recover once the strange energy left him. Dimitri stood between the two older kids, glaring at the older boy.
"What did you do to By?!" Dimitri demanded. He was trying to remain strong by Byleth's constants screams of pain were causing him to tremble.
"Nothing," Glenn absentmindedly answered as he was far too distracted at Byleth's thrashing to really acknowledge the prince. "It must be her crest." He had heard stories of crest causing a light stinging feeling upon activation, but this was too much, even if it was for a possible major crest.
"It burns!" Byleth cried, pulling at her tunic in a small but failed attempt to relieve some of the pain.
"Sylvain," Glenn started but his eyes never left her, "go find a nurse or something." Sylvain was quick to follow the order and rushed out of the room. Glenn bent down and placed a hand on her, in order to at least stop her from thrashing out and possibly injuring herself further. It took her a moment, but she eventually stopped, sort of. "It will be alright. Someone will help you."
Byleth stopped to look up at him and he could see she was sweating a lot more than before the whole situation started. He brushed her bangs aside so he could touch her skin and was surprised at how hot she was. She really was burning. Forgetting to remain calm for the others, he quickly scooped her up into his arms and left, leaving the others behind.
Byleth awoke to darkness but she also felt at peace. Slowly she looked around at the nothingness until a light filtered through and illuminated a throne and a long set of stairs. She looked back behind her but only the darkness remained. With nothing else to do she decided to climb the stairs.
A top the stairs was the throne and on it rested a young girl. She was adorned with several accessories that looked nice against her dark dress and long green hair. Byleth called softly for the girl but when she didn't stir, she tried again but louder. With still no response she resorted to lightly pushing her and some of the girl's hair fail back revealing a long, pointed ear.
Byleth could have sworn that someone called her name but when she looked back, she saw nothing but the ever-lasting darkness. When she turned back to look at the girl again, she was gone, along with the throne. Soon she found herself falling into the abyss.
"By!" Dimitri shouted right when he saw her eyes fluttered open. He was about to throw his arms around her when a large arm stopped him. Lazily, her eyes traced up the arm and discovered that it belonged to Glenn, who was muttering something to Dimitri that she couldn't catch. When he noticed her looking at him, he smiled at her.
"Hey," he greeted softly. "You sure do know how to give everyone a fright over the activation of your crest."
"Crest?" she asked and was surprised to hear how horse her voice was. Dimitri was quick to pour her a cup of water.
"Yeah, you activated your crest during the duel," Ingrid said from a little bit down from the bed.
"It glowed really bright," Felix mumbled, beside Ingrid. Sylvain stood in the back next to Cornelia and he had a complicated expression on his face.
She stared at everyone for a bit before remembering the glow and then the burning sensation in her chest. She peaked down her tunic and was sort of able to make out her crest but not enough to satisfy her. She began to pull up her tunic until Glenn stopped her.
"Woah! I know you are eager to see your crest but wait until the men leave."
"But I want to see her crest!" Dimitri said and Felix nodded.
"Maybe when you are older and lucky than maybe she will show it to you." Both Dimitri and Felix pouted as they were escorted out. "You too Sylvain."
"Aw, Byleth does not mind if we see her crest, right?" Sylvain laughed but stopped when she nodded yes. A massive blush spread across his cheeks as he stared at her. His mouth went dry from the anticipation.
"You are the last person allowed to look at her crest," Glenn said as he wrapped an arm around Sylvain's neck and dragged him out.
Once the door was closed, she practically ripped off her tunic. Almost in the center of her chest was a large mark that looked unfinished as well as unfamiliar. It sorted of looked like a wing but based off the burning sensation she felt, maybe it was a flame or at least half of one. She traced the mark before looking at Cornelia, who smiled but shook her head.
"I'm sorry sweetie but I don't recognize that crest," Cornelia said and Byleth pouted.
"Glenn said your crest might be a Crest of Goneril or Cichol given its ability but," Ingrid stared at the strange crest, her voice slowly trailing off. "It does not look like any of the ones I have seen in any of the books I have looked at."
Byleth traced her crest again and frowned. Why wasn't it the Crest of Seiros like her father's? If she was going to have a crest, she would have liked for it to match her father's, even if it was a bad symbol. The fact that no one in the room seemed to know what her crest was, was unsettling a little.
Byleth's crest had been a hot topic amongst her friends, with Sylvain mostly staying quiet through the whole thing. After she left the infirmary and headed to the library to learn more about her crest, she had yet to discovered anything besides what she already knew, it was a major crest with the power to halt an opponent from counterattack against her and that was all. Glenn told her that it was a powerful crest and that she was lucky, but she didn't feel like she was. She didn't have anything against crests, in fact as a mercenary she saw them as beneficial but the lack of knowledge about hers just wasn't sitting well with her.
Night had descended and along with it a blizzard, so all the kids were huddled together in Dimitri's room to play some card games. Between each round Dimitri would bring up her crest trying to match what crest it might be but none of the ones he mentioned matched hers. Felix would chip in his opinion when it came to his turn, but he added very little. Ingrid would mention how big and pretty it was and slightly brag about how she got to see it, whenever Dimitri pouted. Sylvain was quiet and would say he was just focusing on the game when someone commented on it.
There was a knock on the door, and it was quickly opened by King Lambert. "I am sorry to trouble you all but I need to borrow By for a while," he asked as he stood over his son.
She nodded and was about to get up when Dimitri stopped her. "In a minute dad. We are almost done with our game," Dimitri said as he held up two cards to her face. She glanced at the king, who simply nodded. She stared into her friend's blue eyes and he stared back. His eyes shifted ever so slightly to the right, so she pulled the card from the left. "No, not that one!" She pulled the two of diamonds the final card she needed to make a pair, leaving the prince with the last card, the Joker, making him the old maid.
With Dimitri being the final loser to the game, it came to an end and she followed King Lambert to a small secluded room. Inside were Cornelia and her father, she was happy to see that he made it back with the blizzard going on. The door was shut behind her and the king gestured for her to have a seat. Once she was seated, she could feel all the tension in the air.
"Your Majesty, may I please know what is going on?" Jeralt asked as he stood next to her. "Has my daughter done anything wrong?"
"No, Byleth is as sweet as ever," King Lambert said, and he offered the pair a smile. "It is just earlier today, Byleth activated her crest for the first time."
Jeralt raised an eyebrow and looked down at his daughter, who couldn't meet his gaze. "Did something happen?" Jeralt asked and his voice was strained. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I assume she has the Crest of Seiros, which isn't so unusual."
"Her crest…Her crest is most unusual," Cornelia spoke after settling on a word and grabbed everyone's attention. "It doesn't match any known crest. It's much larger than a crest should be. And the reaction she had to its activation was intense and unheard of as well. And…" She paused to look at everyone briefly before settling on Byleth, "it hasn't completely awakened yet, I believe."
The room was silent as everyone stared at the drawing of Byleth's crest that Cornelia presented. Byleth's fingers ghosted over where her crest was. The grip on her shoulder tightened and she looked up at her father, who was staring at the drawing.
"What do you mean incomplete?" Jeralt asked, his voice low.
"I believe there is more to her crest than what has already been demonstrated. Only half of her crest seem to have appeared, so I believe that there is more to her crest than what we know."
The father's grip on his daughter's shoulder increased to the point that it was starting to hurt, but she didn't say anything. "What are you trying to get at?"
"A crest with more than one ability is unheard of! It is unnatural," King Lambert added as he looked Jeralt in the eye.
Jeralt's grip became too much for her and she cried out. Quickly he let go and apologized while he discreetly stood in between her and the other adults. A heavy silence fell over the room.
"Jeralt," King Lambert called softly, "did the church do something?"
The mercenary gripped the arms of the chair, Byleth was sitting on. He stared at her, or more accurately through her, but she flinched regardless. His breath was caught in his throat and he didn't dare turn around.
"What makes you think the church did anything?" Jeralt's voice was incredibly tensed.
"Your departure from the church was sudden and mysterious." The mercenary gritted his teeth but still kept his back to the king. "I know that you told Byleth to avoid anyone from the church." He finally looked at his daughter, who was trying to shrink into herself.
"Have you ever considered that maybe I just got tired of working for the church and just want to avoid them?"
There was a brief moment of silence until Cornelia spoke, "we know about her lack of heartbeat." Jearlt whipped around so fast he nearly knocked the chair down with his daughter on it. He stood defensively in front of her, staring down the others in the room.
"Jeralt, peace!" King Lambert said and held up his hands. "We are not your enemies. I value Byleth as if she were my own daughter. I truly want to help you and her." The heavy silence returned with a full force.
"Very well," the king said after a while. "Jeralt, I swear I will do all that I can to protect you and your daughter. The only ones, who know of her crest are us and the children and I am sure that they will be willing to keep it a secret if it means keeping Byleth safe." And with that the king and the mage left.
The silence was suffocating. The father kept his back to his daughter with slumped shoulders. She wanted to reach out to him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her vision blurred with the tears she would not be able to shed.
"Please don't take me away from Aster!" she cried. He quickly turned around to face her, his expression a complicated one. "I want to stay with Aster!" He threw his arms around her into a tight embrace. Her tiny fist clung to the back of his tunic. "King Lambert is good. We can trust him! So please let me stay!" Her final plea broke his heart and he hugged her tighter.
"I'm so sorry Byleth," he cried as he buried his face into her shoulder. "I'm so sorry for being a terrible father and being unable to protect you properly.
Her shoulder was quickly becoming damp, but she didn't care. "I'm sorry for being difficult! If it wasn't for me, you'd-" She wasn't allowed to finish that thought as he broke their hug to look into her eyes.
"You are not a burden! You never were and will never be! You are the reason why I can keep going!" He pulled her back into a tight embrace. "I love you!" She clung to him again mumbling her own declaration of love between sobs and he held her tighter. "You are my precious, baby girl. I will always love and protect you." She sobbed as she buried herself into her father's chest.
Guardian Moon 1173:
The rest of the Ethereal Moon had passed by as a blur to Byleth. All her friends had agreed to keep her crest a secret, but Sylvain was not happy about that and had voiced his complaint but only once after that he was silent about it. She didn't want to trouble them with it but there was little she could do about it. She had started to hate the mark on her chest and found herself unable to really look at herself anymore.
At the beginning of the Guardian Moon all her friends, besides Dimitri, were supposed to leave but since Ingrid's birthday was at the beginning of the month their departure was pushed back a week later. Ingrid was given a small birthday party and Byleth was excited to finally be able to attend a friend's birthday. Since she had so little time now with all her friends, Byleth was unable to make a gift for Ingrid so she gave the girl a pretty seashell she had found on her travels through the Empire. It had been one of the few personal items she could carry around, but she was happy to give it to her new friend and promised to bring more the next time she went to a beach.
It was time to depart and everyone was reluctant to say their goodbyes. Felix clung to Dimitri; Glenn stood off to the side laughing as he watched his little brother fail miserably at keeping his tears in check. Ingird was with Byleth making all kinds of plans for when they would next meet avoiding a fair well. When Sylvain mentioned she should start saying goodbye the blonde girl clung to Byleth's arm.
"I got a great idea! You should come with me to my home! We do not have much but I am sure my family will be happy to have you for the little time left you have in the kingdom," Ingrid happily said, and Sylvain sighed.
Hearing that Dimitri broke free from Felix grasp to grab onto Byleth's other arm. "No, she is staying with me. I only have twenty-three days left with By, and I am not sharing!" Ingrid pouted and still clung to her already captured arm. The two stared each other down, before a laughing Glenn pulled Byleth free.
"Being popular must be so difficult," he teased as he rubbed the top of Byleth's head. She had her little smile on as she felt her stomach do flips. "You all will get to see each other again. We know our precious, little mercenary's schedule." He patted her head again before flashing her a smile that captivated her. "Next time you come back, you better be stronger, you hear. I want a good match." Unable able to speak she merely nodded her head with great vigor, earning her a laugh and a final pat.
"Come along Ingrid, we will be taking you home." Reluctantly the girl said her goodbyes but also made Byleth promise that they would see each other again.
Tearful goodbyes were shared (mostly by Felix) and Dimitri and Byleth stood at the gate waving goodbye until the others were out of sight. She was going to head inside when the prince stopped her by lightly pulling at her sleeve. He was pouting and staring off at the direction where everyone had left in.
"You are always smiling at Glenn," he mumbled so quietly that she almost didn't hear it. "Is it because he is strong?" he asked suddenly and stared into her eyes. She didn't answer as she was trying to comprehend the first thing he said. "I will get stronger! I will be stronger than Glenn! Just you want and see! You will always be smiling for me!" Having said his peace, he rushed inside leaving a confused Byleth behind.
A/N: This chapter was supposed to end after the Ethereal Moon, but I just couldn't leave off on a sad note when I promised that Byleth and Jeralt would have happier chapters after the last one.
Since I couldn't really find a way to integrate it into the chapter here's the nicknames Byleth came up with for the others.
Felix: Canna
Ingrid: Daisy
Sylvain: Poppy
Sylvain didn't really want a nickname, but he didn't stop her from giving him one.
Glenn: Didn't want a nickname so he didn't get one, which worked for her because she felt weird on giving him one.
Byleth's nicknaming sense is simple, it's all about flowers because it's easier than trying to make a play on names for her. Both Dimitri's and Felix's came a result of their eye colors while Ingrid's and Sylvain's are based on their hair color.
I was trying to mention Dimitri's birthday and how it's done in the story for the past two chapters, but I could never figure out how to handle it organically, so I'll just add it in the author's notes.
For the royal children of the Kingdom before their tenth birthday, their birthdays are celebrated at various nobles' houses as a show of support and trust from the king. But after the tenth birthday, all celebrations are done at the castle so that all eligible, potential partners are able to gather in one place to show off for the prince or princess.
Byleth wasn't able to attend the earlier birthdays because most of the nobles didn't want to host for her and because Jeralt wouldn't let his daughter be too far from him (neither Dimitri or Byleth knew of his disproval) as for all birthdays after the tenth she's not allowed to attend because of nobles' outcry and because she's not allowed to be potential marriage candidate for the prince.