A/N: Quick before another professor can assign me another paper to write, have a chapter! So, this is part 2 of the year 1174. I had originally split this year in two because I didn't want it to be super long but then realized that I only had like 1 and half ideas for the rest of the year and that didn't really work so I decided to add in a bunch of little ideas to the Horsebow Moon to add some length. I hope you guys like how I wrote the Horsebow Moon part.

Ages:

Byleth: 14

Dimitri: 10 going on 11

Felix: 10

Sylvain: 13

Glenn: 16

Horsebow Moon 1174:

Third of the Horsebow:

Dimitri understood why Glenn was spending so much time with Byleth. He truly did. With two failed abduction attempts, Byleth needed a guard. Glenn was a powerful knight and he was someone, who she was familiar with, so he made the perfect guard for her. Dimitri honestly understood that, but that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

On top of Glenn almost constantly being nearby, Dimitri was also displeased with the room arrangements. Byleth had been assigned a room next to Glenn's, while he was given a room next to Felix's; that wasn't next to hers. But that was okay, he could live with that, but it was her constant smiling that was starting to get to him. She was always smiling when Glenn was around and would quickly stop on the few occasions, when he wasn't; Dimitri didn't get such special treatment like that from her. On top of the smiles was that Glenn practically owned all of her attention, and he had to fight to get her to spare him a few seconds of it before she would quickly go back to looking at her knight.

As frustrating as all that was for the prince, it was bearable at least compared to what Glenn stole, Byleth's first blush. She had never blushed for him before and yet somehow the older teen managed to get her to blush. That was just downright unforgivable! How could she share a first with someone that wasn't him?!

Dimitri angerly sat on the floor watching as Glenn told Byleth something that caused her to blush. Whatever the knight said that got such a reaction from her, she would never tell him, which would just infuriate him more. He wanted to know what words that got her reacting in such a way. Pulling out some grass he threw it at the offending view, but it did little to hide it. Huffing he fell back and glared up at the sky.

"What has gotten you so steamy?" Sylvain asked as he poked his head into the prince's view.

"Sylvain?!" Dimitri shouted as he quickly scrambled onto his feet. "What are you doing here?"

"My trip to the Fraldarius' castle had been planned months ago. Though, I suspect Lord Rodrigue might have forgotten, given yours and By's sudden visit. He seemed quite flustered to have another guest. I would ask 'why you two are here', but Felix informed me that I am not allowed to know."

Because of the two failed kidnapping attempts only a select few people know about the reason why the crowned prince and Byleth had been suddenly whisked away to the Fraldarius castle. Not even Felix had been informed as to why they were there, but he didn't care too much as he got to spend time with his friends; well that's what he felt until Glenn monopolized Byleth's attention and Dimitri was too busy glaring at his brother to play. In order to keep their location a secret, it was advised that it would be too risky to contact Jeralt, until everything was settled. Byleth had been understandably upset by that ruling and that was another reason why Dimitri tolerated Glenn as much as he did.

"Felix, why did not you tell me you were going to meet Sylvain, I would have gone too," Dimitri said.

"I did," Felix huffed and folded his arms over his chest. "But you were to busying glaring at Glenn to listen to me." Dimitri blushed.

Laughing, Sylvain threw his hands around Dimitri's shoulder and pulled him closer. He looked at the two older teens talking, and he snorted when he returned his attention back to his friend. "Aw, is our little prince jealous?" Sylvain asked in a silly voice.

"I am not!" Dimitri said with a bright red face.

"The little prince is finally taking an interest in girls!" Dimitri turned even redder. "And what a girl to take an interest in! I am so proud!"

"Sylvain!" Dimitri pushed off the older boy, who was still laughing.

It took a few seconds for Sylvain to finally stop laughing, much to the prince's annoyance. "You know, if you really want her to lose interest in Glenn, you should tell her that he is engaged to Ingrid. She will probably stop giving him attention and might even avoid him too."

Dimitri frowned and his blush vanished. "No, I will not tell her such a thing. I do not want to risk hurting By, even in the smallest sense." Sylvain's eyes widen at that comment. "Besides," his face turned bright red again, "I want to win her affection. I want her to only look at me because she wants too…"

Sylvain whistled and once again wrapped his arm around Dimitri. "I have been eagerly awaiting this day! I can finally help you woo a girl!"

"Really? You will help me?"

"Of course!"

Felix groaned as loudly as he could. "I do not want to do this. I rather practice my swordsmanship," he said and folded his arms across his chest.

"Come on Felix. Do not be like that." It was Felix's turn to have the Gautier heir throw his arms around his shoulders. "We have to help our dear friend get the girl."

"But he already has the girl! By will go with him when they return to the capital."

"Not like that. I mean we have to help him win By's heart."

"I rather do anything else than that." Felix threw Sylvain off of him. "If you want to practice sword fighting, I will be in the training grounds. Do not bother me for any icky girl problems." And with that Felix left without another glance back at the two.

After instructing Dimitri to follow his example, Sylvain walked over to Glenn and Byleth. He noticed that Byleth was really crushing on Glenn, since she was visibly showing signs. He also realized that Glenn might have a crush on her, by the way he kept the distant short between them and the way his eyes lingered on her. Sylvain didn't know how he felt about Glenn's feelings. Glenn was engaged to Ingrid. It was only because they were both crest barring nobles, so he hated it for that, but Ingrid was still his friend. And he knew Ingrid had feelings for Glenn. Byleth's crush was harmless, in his opinion, but if Glenn felt the same than maybe he should do something to put a stop to it? But Byleth was also his friend…

"Poppy!" Byleth excitedly said and he frowned. He didn't mind her giving him a nickname, but did it really have to be an embarrassing one? She wore her little smile as she looked him over and he shuddered under her gaze. "Is everything okay?"

It took him a second for him to figure out what she was asking. "Yes, I am fine." Ever since the incident last year, his brother had abused him less and for that Sylvain would be eternally grateful to her. He still couldn't bring himself to fight back the few times it did happen but to him that was nothing compared to what he and his crest did to his brother.

Her eyes narrowed and he cocked an eyebrow. "You are not lying, are you?" She leaned closer to him and his cheeks warmed at their proximity.

"No," he squeaked, and took a step back but she grabbed his waist and he froze. With eyes locked she gently squeezed his sides and he had to suck in a deep breath, less his hormones go crazy. Her fingers glided upwards, pulling his shirt up and he could feel a rush of blood flow through his body with only one destination in mind.

Glenn quickly stopped her by grabbing one of her arms, and a strangle cry of thanks escaped Sylvain. He focused his thoughts onto boring and ugly things, and only half listened as Glenn asked her what she was doing. It took Sylvain a few long, deep breathes before he was comfortable continuing.

He winked at Dimitri, his signal to let Dimitri know to watch closely before he bowed gracefully. He reached for her hand with his right, but she quickly grabbed his left and brought it up. It took him a moment to process everything until she poked his left palm. He sighed through his nose.

"You activated your crest," she simply said and poked his palm again.

"Yes." He pulled back his hand and hid his palm from all their views. "It activated earlier this year."

"Congratulations."

"Yes," he said dryly.

Shoving his left hand behind him, he signaled to Dimitri again. This time with no other distractions from her, he bowed gracefully again and grabbed her hand. He brought her hand up to his lips and placed a small kiss on the back of it. Just like the first time, he got no reaction from the girl (a small blow to his pride) and got a glare from the boy, he was teaching. Rolling his eyes, he nudged the prince to repeat his actions.

Nowhere near as gracefully, Dimitri did an over extravagant bow and both Sylvain and Glenn struggled to hold back their laughter. The prince's normal bow would have been enough, and Sylvain had thought the prince would have realized that, but it seemed the suave boy was going to have to be more explanatory with his lectures. Dimitri awkwardly grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips but before he could kiss it his face broke out into a massive blush. Tossing her hand aside he proclaimed that he couldn't do it.

"Is there something wrong with my hand?" Byleth asked, inspecting her hand with a small frown.

"No! There is nothing wrong with it!" Dimitri was quick to say. She only frowned at him and he let out a small cry.

With a smirk, Glenn took the "offensive" hand and brought it to his own lips for a small kiss and Byleth blushed; a small one but a blush, nonetheless. While Sylvain did find Byleth to be incredibly attractive, he didn't hold any strong feelings for her outside of just being friends, but even he had to admit he felt jealous of that. What did Glenn have that he didn't?

Ninth of the Horsebow Moon:

With the recent failed kidnappings, it had been decided that both Dimitri and Byleth needed more training to better protect themselves and neither one of them was going to complain about having to miss out on etiquette classes for it. Sylvain, on the other hand, did, as visiting his friends was supposed to be a break from all the training. At least seeing a sweaty and flushed Byleth was a pleasing sight and he knew Dimitri agreed by the way he always stopped to gawk at her.

The lesson that day would deny both boys such a pleasing sight as she didn't work up such a sweat during bow practice, but they did both agree that she was adorable when she pouted. She stared at her target, littered with arrows but not in a uniform style that she would have liked. Sure, she did better than her friends, but that wasn't enough as she needed to do better, especially when bows made for perfect weapons to counterattack mages. She couldn't understand why she was doing so poorly; she had already been skilled with a bow as she was an excellent hunter.

"Excellent work Byleth," the instructor commented as he walked by. He was a fairly young man, who recently became a knight for the Fraldarius' family. His instructions were simple, and he didn't seem to judge her, so Byleth liked him enough.

"It's weird. I'm usually much better than this but I've been struggling lately, and I don't know why," she said. She tried to line up another shot, but her breast kept getting in the way of her properly aiming and so the arrow flew slightly more to the left than she wanted. She pouted.

"Ah yes," he coughed into his hand. "Archery can prove to be quite difficult, especially for women with…with…," he paused to carefully choose his words, "endowment, such as yourself."

She studied him for a bit before figuring out what he meant. She cupped her breast and held them up, frowning down at them. Blushing, he had to look away.

"Byleth, it's improper for a lady to hold up her breast like that." His mumble went unheard.

"I heard stories of female warriors cutting off a boob to better help them in battle. Do you think it will help if I do the same?" She held out her breast more to him as if would help her point somehow and he groaned.

"I, violently reject that idea!" Sylvain shouted as he quickly made his way over to her and Dimitri was not far behind. Felix slowly made his way over. "To damage such a fantastic body as yours would be a crime against nature!"

"I agree!" Dimitri said. "Your body is…" His face turned red. "IsperfectandIdonotwantyougettinghurt."

"What is the big deal? If it will make her a better warrior than why should she not go through with it?" Felix asked as he finally joined them.

"Felix?! How could you ask such a thing?" Sylvain asked with an overdramatic gasp. "Her body is a work of art! To damage it would be sacrilege!"

"So? Making her a better warrior is better suited to her mercenary life."

"By, I do not want you to hurt yourself," Dimitri said, ignoring the new argument that was starting between his male friends. She frowned but relented that she wouldn't do such a thing.

"Now that's taken care of, Byleth please let go of your breasts," the instructor said and sighed in relief when she finally listened. "I will end today's lessons. You will be free to practice after everything is cleaned up."

Wrapping an arm around Dimitri's shoulder, Sylvain pulled the smaller boy back when Byleth left to assist with the cleanup. "Here is your chance lover boy," Sylvain said ignoring Felix's complaints in the background. "Impress By, with your strength and challenge her."

"But she always defeats me with ease," Dimitri said as we watched Byleth struggle with carrying out a large target board.

"Hey, this could be your chance!" Sylvain gave Dimitri a thumbs up and he shoved the prince forward.

The preteen boy stood in the middle of the training ground, clutching two training lances. He was waiting for Byleth to finish cleaning. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his erratic heartbeat. Frowning he didn't understand why he was so nervous to spar with her; he had done it with her numerous times already. Briefly their eyes locked, and she nodded at him before she went about picking up arrows. His heartbeat skyrocketed at that brief moment and he felt a strange energy wash over him. How did she always make him feel funny?

Like a hawk, he watched her. Because she always came during winter, Dimitri rarely got to see her outside of multiple layers but lately she had been wearing a simple top with shorts and it allowed him to marvel at her legs and see such tempting skin. He groaned quietly as his thoughts were going down a path he didn't like, and he started to try and think of something else but then she bent over and gave him a nice view of her bottom. The lances in his hands snapped when he felt a familiar heat pull in his groin. All attention was on him and he tried to maneuver himself in a way so people, especially Byleth, wouldn't see his growing excitement.

"The spar has not even started yet and you are already breaking things?" Sylvain asked as he walked over to Dimitri, who was desperately trying to twist his body away from the oncoming Byleth. Much to the prince's relief, Sylvain understood what was going on and managed to stop her from coming any closer. The match was postponed.

Twelfth of the Horsebow Moon:

With Byleth requesting for lessons to combat mages, Lord Rodrigue had requested for a retired instructor from the School of Sorcery that lived in a nearby town to come and teach for a few days. Both Dimitri and Felix had little interest in magic. Sylvain was trying to act indifferent to his interest. And Byleth was eager to learn something that would make her a better fighter.

The instructor was an older woman, who was smiling down at the children. She began her lessons by going over the intricacy of magic and how Reason and Faith magic differed. The boys were struggling to stay focus and awake. Even Byleth with all her interest, was nodding off.

Suddenly, the lady clapped her hands and grabbed everyone's attention. "Are there any questions?" she asked, and all the children vigorously shook their heads no. "Alright then, let us begin."

Byleth was quick and ready and Sylvain pretended to be slow but was much faster than the other two boys. The last two boys fought back their groans as they got into position. Dimitri did start smiling when he noticed his crush start bouncing on her feet.

The instructor handed everyone a small, clear crystal. "I want you to focus your energy on the crystal. The change of the color and how bright its glows will determine your affinity for magic."

Everyone stared at their crystals a bit before concentrating on them. Both Byleth's and Sylvain's crystals quickly glowed a bright red and white colors. Dimitri's was the next to glow a bright white color. It took Felix's a few seconds to glow, but it finally glowed a dim yellow.

"Excellent!" She took Dimitri's crystal first. "Your Highness, you have a strong affinity for faith magic. You could make an excellent healer if you ever choose to be one." He blushed a little.

She took Felix's next. "Your affinity might not be as strong as the others, but you can still use magic, which most people can't. Congratulations." He smiled at that as Glenn couldn't use magic, so he had at least one thing he was better than his brother at. "It seems your affinity lies in thunder magic."

She then turned to both Byleth and Sylvain, who were looking at her expectantly. "My, you two have quite the affinity for both fire and Faith magic. It is quite impressive. Either of you could have your choice of magic schools to follow."

Sylvain was smiling widely but it quickly turned to a frown when he gave back the crystal. He threw his hands behind his head and pretended to not care. "The heir of House Gautier has no need to learn magic," he said as casually as he could. "The only thing they need is raw strength and a crest so that they could wield the Lance of Ruin."

In the end, only Byleth attended the lessons the old lady taught for the brief time she was there. And while the lessons were long and dry, Byleth did manage to learn a lot and found out that she a particularly strong affinity for Faith magic. After every lesson she would end up teaching a bit to Sylvain in private.

Twenty-first of the Horsebow Moon:

"Is that a Pegasus?" Byleth asked, eyes lightening up when she saw the magnificent creature in the stables.

"Yes, it is," Glenn said after following her gaze. She wished she had passed by the stables sooner.

"Can I pet it?" She looked up at him, her hands tightly clenched as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. Her eyes were big and the little smile she wore, was maybe slightly larger than normal, or at least it seemed that way to him.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he was at the mercy of his own smile. "When you look at me like that, how can I refuse?" Cheering happily, she raced on ahead of him and he lagged behind, chuckling.

She stood outside the stable staring up at the beautiful, snow white creature, who stared back. She had only seen such a creature from a distance, and she had longed to see one up close, the moment didn't feel real to her. Holding up her hand to the Pegasus, the creature nuzzled its nose against it, and she gasped loudly. She knew a horse's nose was soft, but a Pegasus' had to be a hundred times softer. She wanted to feel more, to rub her face against its fur, to feel its wings, but she didn't want to be greedy.

"Be careful By, it is mean!" Felix said rushing out of his, Dimitri's, and Sylvain's hiding spot. Glenn grabbed the back of his brother's collar and stopped him from advancing further.

"It is fine," Glenn said watching as Byleth continued to pet the Pegasus' nose. "Pegasus are gentle to women. By, will have no problems unless you get closer." She stood on the tip of her toes so she could reach more of the creature. With a soft smile, Glenn made his way over to her.

"Would you like to ride her?" Glenn asked from a little bit back behind her. Her eyes had been the fullest of life he had ever seen, and he went over to unhatched the stable before she could answer, but the creature tried to nip at him. "Quit it, I am trying to make the girl happy. You want to do that too, right?" He could have sworn that the Pegasus was glaring at him before walking out of the now open stable. The Pegasus walked over to her but not before whipping its tail at the boy's face. "Stupid creature," he mumbled under his breath, but his annoyance vanished when he saw it nuzzled its head against Byleth's, who looked like she could just die from happiness.

"I do not think this is a good idea," Felix said as he and the other boys joined but kept their distance.

"It will be fine. She is just going to walk up and down the stables." He turned to her and discovered that she had already climbed onto the Pegasus. "I was going to ask if you needed a saddle, but it looks like you got this already."

"By, you look…," Dimitri started strongly in the beginning but began to mumble until Sylvain nudged him, "beautiful." She smiled down at him and his own smile was accompanied by a blush. "You would make a fantastic Pegasus Knight!" Smiling, she mimicked a pose she believed a Pegasus Knight would make and he cheered.

"Why does House Fraldarius have a Pegasus?" Sylvain asked. "Are they not expensive because of their rarity?"

"It is for Ingrid," Felix answered. "It will be a birthday gift for her."

"For Daisy?" Byleth asked as she petted the side of the Pegasus' neck, and was absolutely loving how soft it was. "She's going to love it!"

"…Yeah…," Glenn mumbled.

"I really wish I could afford one."

"I bet if you ask King Lambert, he will get you one," Sylvain said and was nudging Dimitri with his elbow. "After all he will do anything to please his future daughter-in-law."

"Sylvain!" Dimitri yelled with his face bright red. He glanced at Byleth from the corner of his eyes and she wasn't reacting at all. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. But he did notice a small scowl on Glenn's face.

"Enough chatting. Try galloping around the area," Glenn said with a force smiled. "Just remember no flying."

"I don't even know how to make a Pegasus fly," Byleth said.

"Well, with your talent you probably could figure it out."

She smiled before lightly kicking the sides of the creature and she was pleased to discover that normal horse commands worked. The Pegasus strutted forward at a slow, even pace and she was okay with that. She didn't realize how comforting the slight rocking movements of riding could be. It reminded her of her father, and she gritted her teeth, she had missed him terribly; she didn't know if it was because she had been separated from him for so long or because of everything that happened. She was trying to put on a brave front for everyone, but she was scared and just wanted to be with her father.

Her gentle peace was destroyed when a knight stumbled out of the stables and fell right in front of the Pegasus, startling it. When the Pegasus reared back, she had nearly fell off but managed to hold on; in hindsight she wish she did fall off then. In a panic, the creature started to gallop at top speed away from everyone and she struggled to hold on and she wished she had waited for the saddle. As soon as the Pegasus had enough space to spread its wing, it took to the sky."

"Byleth! Shit!" She heard Glenn shout.

Holding clumps of the Pegasus' mane in a vice grip she buried her face into its neck. Waiting for everything to end, she shut her eyes. She did not know how much time had passed or how far they flew but slowly she pulled her face way to look around. The ride was much smoother now and so she hesitantly kicked the left side of the Pegasus and sure enough it slightly turned left; she had some control at least. She looked around and the sky was beautiful, and she thought she might enjoy being in the air, until she looked down; and nope being up so high was no good to her.

Struggling to maintain steady breaths, she desperately tried to remain calm. She had to get back to the Fraldarius' castle but she didn't know how too. Sure, she could possibly control the creature to fly in the right direction but what was the right direction? The only time she had traveled to the Fraldarius' castle was when she was unconscious so she couldn't rely on familiar terrain to guide her, not that she would be able to recognize anything with being so high up. She didn't even know how she was going to land.

Her next option could be Fhirdiad, she was sure someone would be able to help her down. She had yet to see a Pegasus rider there, but she did see a wyvern rider once so hopefully landing tricks were similar between the two creatures. But if she went to Fhirdiad she could possibly get Lord Rodrigue in trouble and she didn't want to do that. Frowning she decided that she would try to go back to castle Fraldarius, somehow. She was hoping that the Pegasus didn't fly that far from it.

Much to Byleth's relief, the Pegasus hadn't gotten too far, or at least she was hoping that the castle, she was over, was the right one. Now came her next problem, landing. Asking the Pegasus to fly down wasn't doing anything. She placed several light kicks on different places but none of them had the desired effect. In frustration she pulled the mane downwards, pointed to the ground, and absently kicked the back quarters of the creature and that produced the desired effects, sort of. The Pegasus dropped into a dive and she gripped its neck for dear life.

She squeezed her eyes shut when the ground was coming towards her way too fast for her liking. She heard her name shouted and she braced for an impact that never came. Slowly she opened one eye and then the other, she was safe, the Pegasus had made a safe landing. She released her death grip and slid (practically fell) off the creature and her legs felt like jelly. She would have fallen forward if Dimitri hadn't quickly rushed to her and she clung to him.

"Are you alright?" Dimitri asked as she held him tightly. Unable to find her voice she just nodded against his shoulder.

"Byleth, are you okay?" Lord Rodrigue asked in a panic as he ripped her away from Dimitri so he could look her over. Still not comfortable with speaking, she could only nod yes. "Thank the goddess."

Once satisfied with his little inspection, he released her and Dimitri went back to supporting her, though she didn't really need it anymore. The father quickly spun around to face his oldest son. "Glenn." The boy flinched at the harsh tone. "The goddess has blessed you with Byleth's safety. But still, what you did was beyond foolish?!" The son said nothing but gave a small nod. "What would you have done if she had gotten hurt? What if the Pegasus had landed in the middle of nowhere and she had no way of finding her way back here? What would you do if she was attacked out there? I assigned you as her knight to protect her, not to endanger her!"

Glenn said nothing but clenched his fists tightly. He nodded to his father when the rant was done and walked over to Byleth and bowed deeply to her. She wanted to speak out and stop him, but she knew such words would be pointless. "I beg you, for your forgiveness. I swear to you I will do better. I will protect you!" He said and slowly lifted his head. Their eyes locked and she felt like her breath was trapped in her throat and she was held captive by his gaze. She nodded but never broke eye contact.

Having enough excitement for the day, Byleth wanted to retire to her room until dinner was ready. Glenn was more than eager to escort her to her room. Dimitri wanted to tag along but she wouldn't let him as she was sure he would end his day early because of her. She was completely ignorant to the massive pout he wore for the rest of the day.

"I am really sorry for today," Glenn said, once they were completely alone.

"It wasn't your fault. How were you supposed to know such a thing would happen?" Byleth asked.

"Still, that was incredibly foolish of me. I knew that Pegasus needed more training." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "As far as trying to impress attempts go that must have been the worse in history."

"Impress?"

"Yeah, I was trying to impress you."

"Why?"

"Because…" A light shade of pink colored his cheeks and she found that she liked that look on him. "Well, because I am competing against a prince."

"Competing against a prince? For what?"

He looked at her for a bit. His cheeks took on a darker shade. "For your…affection." She tilted her head at him as she believed that was a silly thing to complete for.

He stopped dead in his track, and she stopped a few steps later and turned to face him. "Byleth, I…," he started but quickly stopped. He was fixated on the Pegasus' feather she had been twirling in her hand during their entire walk. He pressed his lips tightly together and shook his head. "Forget it."

He tried to walk past her, but she stopped him by asking, "Forget what?"

Sighing he took a deep breath and looked straight again. "Forget I said anything."

She frowned. "Why?"

Another sigh escaped him, and he lowered his head. "Please." At his plea, she was silent.

Twenty-Seventh of the Horsebow Moon:

Byleth never asked Glenn what he wanted to say that night. They had barely spoken since that night. She was going to answer his request and forget but her curiosity made it hard; lucky for her Dimitri was helping to keep her distracted as he had been trying to consume all of her attention. She found it a bit annoying with how much he was trying but she did nothing to stop it as she realized that she hadn't been paying as much attention to him as she normally did.

After training for the day, she found Dimitri once again challenging her to a duel. He had been doing that after every training session, he had been more eager than ever to defeat her. Their sparring sessions usually involved both of them using lances but lately he had been making her use a training sword, claiming that he would beat her when she was at her best. She didn't know why he had insisted that when he had yet to defeat her when she used a lance.

Proudly the prince stood before her in the training ground. She had to fight back a sigh; his stance was full of the same holes from the day before. He may be making similar mistakes, but she would admit that he had been making fast progress in a lot of areas as of late. She could see him becoming a difficult opponent for her in a few years.

As always, he was quick to race forward, despite her constantly telling him to be more patient. Sighing, she watched as he prepared the same opening move as he often done, a high leap into the air followed by a downward swing of his lance. It wasn't proper lance form and she had repeated that to him several times and yet he always tried to imitate her downward swing of her sword when she needed more power.

She raised her sword to block the strike the same way she always did but that time it was different, oh so very different. It started with a glow on his left bicep; she heard the horror stories of how deadly the Blaiddyd crest was, but it was too late for her to dodge. Her training sword snapped like it was a twig and she was left helpless to stop the devastating blow. The lance snapped against her head and she fell backwards, hearing her name being shouted was the last thing she registered before everything went dark.

"Your crest is terrifying. I do not want to train against you anymore," she vaguely heard someone say as she slowly came too. She blinked a few times, waiting for her vision to settle. Her head throbbed so she didn't even bother with trying to sit up.

"And By, took the full blunt of it. What if she never wakes up?" she heard a different voice ask.

"Do not say that!" a third voice yelled out in desperation and she groaned at the loud volume, but it was the final piece to the easy puzzle as she now knew who each voice belonged too.

Still refusing to try and get up, she simply raised an arm to grab everyone's attention. "I'm awake," she weakly mumbled. Instantly her three friends were at her side shouting her name, which caused her to groan again. Dimitri gripped her raised hand too tightly as he said his apology.

She smiled at him and noticed that he looked like he was on the verge of tears. With a bit of force, she managed to pull her hand free and patted his head. "Congratulations, you finally beat me."

He frowned. "That was not me that was my crest."

"Your crest is still apart of you, so you won." From the corner of her eyes she could see Sylvain frowning at her words, but he kept quiet. She poked at Dimitri's arm, where his crest was visible. "The Blaidid crest is scary."

"Blaiddyd." She was amused watching as he struggled to keep the smile off of his face.

Suddenly the door, to the room, was slammed open and everyone, inside, jumped. Glenn was the first to enter and rushed to her side, shoving Sylvain and Dimitri aside so that he could look her over. He gently placed a hand on her head, when she assured him, she was fine. Lord Rodrigue was the next to stumble in and took a moment to catch his breath.

"What happened here?" the lord asked and was trying to portray an air of calm, but his heaving breathing betrayed him.

"Dimitri hit By," Sylvain said.

"I did not! I mean I did but it was not on purpose!" Dimitri stammered. "My crest did it!"

"Seriously, one of the few times I am not by your side and you go and get beat up by Prince Dimitri?" Glenn laughed and Dimitri turned red. He pushed back some of her hair and discovered a small scar on her head. "Oh, it looks like the prince left you a scar. That is not very nice of him."

"What?!" Dimitri shoved Glenn aside so that he could see it. It was a tiny little thing that was easily lost in her hair. "By, I am so sorry." She merely shook her head at him and patted his head.

"It's fine."

Lord Rodrigue sighed as he leaned against the wall. Soon a groan escaped him as he rubbed the sides of his temples. "Prince Dimitri, did you really need to activate your crest here?"

"I am sorry!" Dimitri squeaked out.

"Your father is never going to stop complaining about this."

Wyvern Moon 1174: (Warning there is some strong child abuse in this month)

The last month passed relatively peacefully. Sylvain had to return home after swearing to never tell anyone about Dimitri and Byleth staying at the Fraldarius' castle. The magic barrier around the castle in Fhirdiad was progressing smoothly and it was expected to be completed by the end of the month so plans for Dimitri's and Byleth's return were being made.

With no signs of any kidnappers seen in weeks Lord Rodrigue decided that it would be a nice change of pace to take the children and a few elite knights out and go hunting. Byleth had been delighted as she no longer felt trapped. She knew everything was the way it was in order to protect her, but she couldn't help but feel like a caged animal.

Just to be on the safe side they did not travel far from the castle. The hunt had been successful but Byleth knew she had underperformed without being able to kill a single animal. Usually she was a really good hunter, she was the best in her father's mercenary company, in fact, but ever since her chest started to grow it became a major hindrance. Frowning she just stared at the fire, in front of her, it had been decided that they would camp for the night despite being so close to the castle. She liked it as she had missed spending nights out.

"What is wrong?" Dimitri asked from beside her. He was sitting as close to her as he was comfortable with.

"I'm usually a better hunter," she mumbled, eyes still glued to the flame before her.

"Everyone has an off day," Felix commented but her frown remained.

"I only did so poorly because of these." She held up her breast and glared down at them.

"Byleth, it is improper for a lady to hold her chest," Lord Rodrigue had commented from the other side of the fire and she put her chest down.

"I should cut one off."

"No!" Dimitri shouted and got closer. His face turned red when he realized how close he had gotten. "Ilikeyourbodyanddon'twantanythingbadtohappentoit." He said it so quickly that she didn't understand him. He sat back and took a deep breath. "I do not want you to hurt yourself."

"I also object to your crazy idea," Glenn said as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him as he sat down next to her. Lord Rodrigue loudly cleared his throat and Glenn released her and looked away, frowning. "You just need time to adjust to your changes and you will become an excellent fighter in no time."

Her attention shifted back to Dimitri and Felix when Glenn left. Ever since their conversation after the Pegasus situation, he had become distant and it hurt her. Disappointment had settled in her, but she didn't really feel like she could discuss such a thing with anyone. She had assumed what he had asked her to forget was that conversation but now she feared it was a few more things, things she wasn't sure if she wanted to forget.

If Glenn wanted her to forget than she would try, despite what she felt. She quietly listened to Dimitri as he described how he caught his rabbit and Felix would chime in about how he got his. She did well at masking her annoyance at not being able to hunt the easiest of prey. Both boys offered to share their catch with her, and she smiled at them.

A hushed but strong order from Lord Rodrigue had silenced everyone. He, along with the other magically inclined knights, stood at the ready, eyes scanning the area. Soon she was able to feel what they had been feeling, the strong but dark pulsating magic; it was the same feeling that overwhelmed her during her first abduction attempt. Quickly she drew her blade and stood defensively behind Dimitri and Felix.

A strong roar reverberated in the forest and a chill rand down her spine. All eyes flew to the direction the roar came from; all weapons were quickly drawn. In a moment of her distractions strong arms grabbed her, one went to silence her while the other grabbed her dominant arm. She was yanked backwards, and she was completely unable to do a thing against the attacker's strength but fortunately for her she wasn't pulled to much backward as Dimitri had grabbed her and Felix grabbed the prince.

"Release By!" ordered Dimitri as he and Felix pulled her back, enough to free her mouth and as well from her own terror. She shifted her sword into her free hand and stabbed it into her attacker's chest, killing him quickly.

Her name was shouted by Glenn as he rushed towards her, but suddenly a massive beast stormed into their camp. It was nothing like any creature she had ever seen before. It had deep, crimson scales that covered most of its body and a long neck that seemed much too large for the creature. Parts of its body look like it was melting/falling apart, almost like it someone released it before it could be finished. A top of its head was a gigantic, glowing red gem, and it felt like her heart was reacting to it as she felt a weird pulse coming from her chest. It let out a roar that shook everyone to their core.

She was about to grab both Dimitri and Felix to shove them behind her, but she was instead the one grabbed and was tossed back into the woods and into the arms of another man. It was awkward but she managed to jam her sword down into her captive's leg, freeing herself. She only managed to brace herself before her other attacker tackled her into a tree and she dropped her sword in the process.

No time was given for to her to react as she was knocked to the ground with a solid punch and then she was roughly kicked in the stomach, knocking her further away from everyone. She coughed up bile and spit as she tried to get up, but a large hand grabbed a fist full of her hair and dragged her further away.

"What are you doing? We got the girl we should leave before one of those knights intervene," said the attacker that she managed to stab in the leg earlier.

"They want us to keep the Fell Star alive? Utterly ridiculous!" spat the other man. He pulled her up by her hair, until she was eye level with him. "We should kill her! She deserves that and so much more!" He threw her to the ground. "Maybe we could use her bones and make ourselves a new weapon? We will probably get better use out of her that way."

"Unfortunately, her body right now is that of a pathetic, little girl."

"Death it is then."

The larger man slammed her against the ground by her throat and crawled over her, pinning her there. With wide eyes she stared up at him and he smirked down at her from behind the mask that covered his eyes. With one hand he gripped her neck, strongly, and her small hands clawed at it, in desperation. He pulled out a strange dagger, the likes of which she had never seen before. With a sick satisfaction he showed it off to her before plunging it into her abdomen. The cry she released was cut short when he squeezed her neck harder.

"Before I kill you, we do need your blood." He said with delight. "I guess I could take your blood after I kill you but where would the fun be in that?"

Byleth frantically clawed at that man's hand but it was having no affect. Her world was slowly growing dark as her lungs burned with the desperate need for air. Slowly she closed her eyes accepting her fate, when she felt a comforting warmth of Faith magic channel through her, calming her. Grabbing his arm that gripped her neck, she focused on channeling her energy into it and soon he cried out and released her; burn marks in the shape of her hands decorated his arm. Now with a bit more freedom, she was able to grab her dagger and plunge it into his chest, forcing him up a bit, enough for her to crawl out. With her legs now freed she quickly got up and ran back to the camp, barely avoiding the other man that struggled to give chase with his injured leg.

Her lungs burned, blood gushed through her fingers almost like the pressure she had placed on her wound wasn't even there, but she did not stop and pushed forward. The forest was not her ally that night as it had attempted to trip her at every opportunity it got but it failed to truly stop her every time. She did not look back once and just focused on going forward.

"Byleth!" Glenn shouted as he came into view and rushed forward. At the sight of him, she finally gave in and collapsed, a few seconds later her was cradling her. "Thank the goddess, you are alive," he whispered into her hair. Relief flooded through her as she clung to him with everything she had. Gently, he picked her up and rushed back to the camp.

The camp had been utterly destroyed and the beast was not where to be seen. The land was scorched, trees uprooted or snapped in half, bodies of similar masked assailant littered the area, but it seemed fate was on their side as she didn't spy any dead knight bodies among the chaos. She also didn't see Dimitri or Felix anywhere and a panic ripped through her as she fought to be free of Glenn's grip, but he held on to her.

"Calm down!" he ordered but she didn't listen. "They are safe!" She froze, which allowed him to point at a knight, who stepped to the side, to reveal Lord Rodrigue checking on the kids. She went limp in his arms.

When Lord Rodrigue spotted her, he screamed out her name and rushed to her with the kids following. "Thank the goddess!" he breathed quietly, "I feared that we had lost you." With her panic gone she was able to properly look at everyone and she noticed several wounds on Lord Rodrigue, and cuts now decorated both Dimitri and Felix. She knew Glenn was injured by the way he was clearly favoring one side and his haggard breathing.

"I'm so sorry," she choked out and startled everyone. "Because of me everyone was…" She started to sob making it harder to speak. And despite the overwhelming pain and emotions she was feeling no tears fell.

"It is not your fault," Glenn said but that did not stop her from saying her apologies over and over again. Dimitri and Felix tried to comfort her but their words fell on deaf ears.

Lord Rodrigue placed a gentle had over her eyes and slowly ran it through her hair as he whispered soft words to her, eventually she was able to settle down enough to stop. "Now Byleth, you did nothing wrong. The fault lies with me for making a poor judgement," Lord Rodrigue said softly to her. "I am the one responsible for taking the enemy lightly. But what is done is done. You should not dwell on what happened here." She wanted to speak up to say that she was still a liability and threat to everyone. She wanted to point out that the force that attacked them was much too great to be something done so quickly but her voice was nowhere to be found and so she found herself giving into his gentle touch and believing his words that the worst was over.

"She is injured," Glenn said after she had calmed down some more.

With her permission Lord Rodrigue pulled up her tunic to reveal her wound. Frowning he gently touched the area around it and apologized when she finally voiced her pain. "This is an unusual wound," he started muttering to himself. "It looks like it was done to cause as much bleeding as possible."

"They wanted my blood," she finally spoke, and she watched as he pressed his lips together. "They said it would be better to kill me as all they really needed was my blood." She felt Glenn's grip on her tighten and a low growl escaped him. "They called me 'Fell Star'." She was looking at the lord for answers, but he shook his head.

"Forgive me but I have never heard of such a term before." He placed his hand over her wound and she winced but soon she felt a familiar magic flow through her; it was his magic that she had felt earlier. With her adrenaline gone and the side effects of the Faith magic, she quickly drifted into unconsciousness.

Byleth didn't know how long she had been out, but she knew it was at least nighttime when she awoke. Panic had briefly overwhelmed her until she looked down at the weight on her hand and noticed another had been intertwined in hers. She traced the arm that the hand belonged to and discovered that it was Felix's and curled up next to her on her other side was Dimitri; it was then that she was finally able to recognize her room at the Fraldarius' castle. As quietly as possible she pulled her hand free and crawled out of the bed without disturbing anyone.

The harsh cold of the fall night chilled her, but she ignored it as she wasn't sure where her coat was at the moment. She opened the door to her room and discovered two large knights staring down at her. Frozen, she stared up at them, unsure of what to do. Eventually, one of the knights bent down to speak to her quietly.

"Do you need something?" asked the knight and she wasn't sure what to say. She hadn't really thought about her actions until then, which she realized she should have doing since the beginning.

"Is Lord Rodrigue still awake?" she asked quietly. The knights shared a quick look with each other.

"Yes. Do you need him for something?" She nodded as she stepped out and closed the door behind her. "Can it wait until the morning?" She shook her head. She still didn't know where she was going with that or why she asked to see him, but she decided it was important, whatever it was. There was a silent exchange between the knights, until the one that had been speaking to her, agreed to take her to see the lord.

The knight silently escorted her to Lord Rodrigue's office. He looked down at her before knocking on the door. "I thought I made it clear that I was not to be disturbed," said the clearly annoyed lord from the other side.

"Forgive me Milord, but Byleth wishes to speak to you," said the knight. There was a pause before she was agreed to be let in. She stood in the middle of the room, the knight stood at the door, and the lord at his large desk with several papers and candles spread upon it. She kept staring at the knight.

"Byleth, you should be resting," Lord Rodrigue said tiredly.

Briefly she stopped staring at the knight to bow and apologize. Her attention went back to the knight and after a minute the knight was ordered to stand outside. She was finally alone with him and yet she still didn't really know what she wanted. Her abdomen throbbed and she sighed. She decided she would finally voice her suspicions when she remembered seeing all the injuries from earlier.

"I…," she fiddled with the hem of her nightgown. "I think I know, who sent those people after me." Her voice had been quiet, but it still was heard loud and clear in that deathly silent room.

Leaning forward, he rested his head on his folded hands but said nothing. She knew that his silence was a sign for her to continue but her voice was hard to find. Taking a deep breath, she found her resolve to continue and meet his stare with her own.

"Lord Arundel. He sent them, I'm sure of it."

He leaned back into his chair and sighed. He stared up at his roof in complete silence. A sigh escaped her, and she soon found her resolve crumbling and wished she never spoke. After a few seconds of the suffocating silence his eyes fell back onto her.

"That…" he started but quickly stopped to take a deep breath. "That is a grave accusation you are making. What proof do you have?"

She gritted her teeth and her gaze fell to the floor before her. "Nothing but superficial stuff at best…" Another sigh from him. She returned her gaze back to him to explain her reasoning. "When the assassin attacked the castle during the Verdant Rain Moon, he had attacked at the time Lord Arundel would always visit…" Shaking of his head caused her to lose confidence until she just stopped speaking all together.

"I am sorry Byleth but there is little I can do." She balled her fists so tightly together that her knuckles were white and proceeded to look back at the ground. "Lord Arundel will soon be the king's brother-in-law." Her eyes burned with her tears of frustration that would never fall. "You understand, yes?" She said nothing and was just eager to get everything over with.

"Byleth, I am sor-"

"Forgive me for disturbing you." She knew she shouldn't interrupt a noble, especially a powerful one like him but she didn't care. She just wanted to leave, not just that room but the castle, and Kingdom as well. She wanted to be with her father, the one person she knew would be on her side and would listen to her. Bowing deeply, she excused herself from the room before anything else could be said. She did not wait for the knight before she walked back to her room.

Once inside her room she slid down the door and took many deep, sharp breaths. She hated just how powerless she was. She couldn't defend herself on the battlefield or in a court of nobles. Her nails dug into her palms as she buried her face into her knees.

"By?" She flinched at the sound of Dimitri's voice, but she didn't look up. "Are you alright?" she buried her face deeper. "Does your stomach hurt?" When he placed a hand on her shoulder did, she finally look up at him.

Though it was dark, and she could barely see, she could still make out the concern in his eyes. Gritting her teeth, she went back to burying her face. Their friendship shouldn't exist. Dimitri was a prince and would one day be a king and she was a nobody, a powerless nobody. She took a sharp breath but her pent up frustration remained.

She flinched when she felt arms wrapped around her in an awkward hug thanks to her position. "It is alright By. I am here!" She inhaled sharply through her nose. "I will protect you; I promise!' Finally, she gave in and broke down her little knee barrier to wrap her arms around him before burying her face into his shoulder. Even if their friendship shouldn't exist. Even if she was powerless. And even if it was to one day come to end. It was something she greatly treasured, and she would hold onto it with her entire being.

Morning came and with it so did King Lambert and a squadron of knights. The king even brought Areadbhar with him. Byleth stared at the powerful lance, it felt almost alive to her with the strong energy it pulsated. She had seen the lance several times before as Dimitri had shown it to her, but it felt different in the hands of someone that could wield it.

The king walked over to her and his fingers brushed the collar of her jacket. "By, please show me your neck," he asked, and she flinched. Hesitantly she unbuttoned the first few buttons of her jacket and exposed the nasty handprint bruise that now adored her neck. Scowling he got down on his knees and pulled her into a hug with one arm.

"I am so sorry." She said nothing and just stared at the knights before her. The back of her throat burned with the resentment that still lingered. He pulled away from the hug and looked her in the eye. "I am sorry that there is little I can do." She pressed her lips together but said nothing. He mirrored her actions but added a small nod before rising to his feet.

"I did hear from your father. He should be arriving in Fhirdiad by tonight if he is not already there by now." She smiled at that.

Jeralt had refused to leave his daughter's side and even planned to leave to the Kingdom with her but despite her sharing similar feelings she had convinced him to stay. He was assigned to be the prince's guard for the remainder of their stay. There had been no other incidents after that one night; people had chalked it up to the magic barrier and the terrifying guard that prevented such attacks but Byleth felt differently. She was sure that they were just satisfied for now and that they would be back for her soon; it left her on a constant edge.

A/N: I wonder if this chapter had been too violent. Maybe I should considered change the rating to M? What do you readers think? I also want everyone's opinion on how I wrote the Horsebow Moon. Did it you all like it? Because I might write future chapters with a similar format like that as well as maybe write some of my smaller ideas into my story like that, that don't really have a spot to be added in the way I have been normally writing.

I really do want your guys opinion on these things as it will help me better improve the story so please share!

Next chapter will be full of fluff to make up for all the cruelty I've been doing to Byleth lately.