I survived my finals! They were made unnecessarily more difficult thanks to the virus and campus shutting down. But it is over and hopefully I will have more time to devote to this story again!
Harpstring Moon 1180:
Second of the Harpstring Moon:
Dimitri slowly awoke to a pesky ray of light hitting his eyes perfectly. Groaning he turned his back towards the window and the offending ray. He nearly drifted back to sleep when the night's before events invaded his mind.
He bolted up right in his bed and looked around. A frown planted itself on his face when he noticed that Byleth was no where to be seen. He fell back onto his bed and glared at the roof.
It slowly dawned on him that Byleth must have ben the one to have helped him onto his bed at some point. He tried to recall if he had even slightly stirred awake to help but all he could recall was a peaceful, deep sleep. A sigh slipped through his lips along with the little frustration he had. He should be grateful for the few good nights of sleep he could get, even if the morning wasn't as wonderful.
Lazily he remained on his bed and absentmindedly stared at his desk. He barely registered his leather patch that sat upon it and a piece of parchment. He sprung out of his bed when the paper finally registered to him and he rushed over to his desk, forgetting to be mindful of Dedue below.
Thanks for letting me sleep on your bed. Sorry for being a bothered. I'll see you in the morning.
Byleth
He wished he had awoken to her instead of the note. The poor little note crumpled in ease as embarrassment quickly overtook him and he tried to bury his flushed face in his arms. He was getting away to bold with his desires as of late.
Once Dimitri had gotten a hold of himself, he got dressed and headed to the dining hall for breakfast. He had been hoping to eat breakfast with Byleth but a las she wasn't there. He had tried to hide his disappointment, but Sylvain had saw through him and teased him throughout the meal. It was annoying but nice as whatever little barrier that had formed between him and his friends had started to vanish thanks to Byleth's return. Now if only they would call him by his name than everything would be perfect.
After breakfast Dimitri rushed over to the Blue Lions classroom. At first, he hated being the class leader but now he adored it as it gave him the perfect excuse to spend time with Byleth. His smile became strained when he arrived and saw Claude talking with her. He swiftly made his way over.
"Good morning," he said as princely as he could. Byleth returned the greeting and he felt a bit of his annoyance vanish, when her attention shifted to him. Claude had an unreadable expression.
"By, you were supposed to choose the Golden Deer!" Claude said and successfully pulled Byleth's attention back onto him. The princely smile left Dimitri's face and was replaced with a scowl.
"I didn't get to choose what class I taught. The Blue Lions had lost their professor, so I was automatically assigned to that class." Dimitri smirked at Claude, who gave a small glare in return when Byleth wasn't looking.
"That is not how my plan was supposed to go." Both Dimitri and Byleth arched an eyebrow at the Alliance heir. "I wanted By to teach the Golden Deer so I set it up to where Alois would see her teaching me and suggest her to be our professor."
"You want me to be your professor?" she asked with a little head tilt.
"Of course. You are a fine teacher." He winked at her. "I am only as good with a bow because of you." He gave Dimitri a little smirk. "Also, if you were our professor, I would be better able to help you with church issues when I would always be by your side."
"Thanks Meadow. You are always so reliable." She patted his head and Claude's smile was so genuine and sweet that Dimitri couldn't even been jealous.
The tanned skin boy lightly smacked her hand away. "Knock it off By. I am not a child." Even though he was complaining his smile remained.
A sly, little smile appeared on Byleth's face as she leaned towards Claude. With her little grin she pounced on Claude and ran her hands all over his head, messing up his already stylized mess of hair. The boy laughed as he tried to "fight" her off.
Dimitri was an outside, but he wasn't really aware of that as he was too focused on her sly grin. He had never seen her make such an expression before, the expressions she always made for him were small and subdued as well as innocent. How was Claude able to pull out such an expression from her?
The bitterness was slowly starting to take over the prince, until Sylvain's voice broke up Claude and Byleth. Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dedue hand joined them; Dimitri was a bit bothered that Felix wasn't with them. Dimitri hated how relieved he felt when Claude and Byleth had separated a little.
"Do you two know each other?" Sylvain asked as he looked over the two unexpected friends.
"Yes," Byleth said. "I meet Meadow two years ago and we became good friends."
Claude wrapped an arm around Byleth's shoulders and pulled her close to him. Dimitri was unable to hold back his scowl. "By and I spent several months all alone together. With no Jeralt around," Claude said so smugly, and Dimitri glared at him.
The prince was told the same thing on the way to Garreg Mach and it still bothered him as neither Claude nor Byleth told him what they actually did during that time. He would have believed Byleth that nothing had happened but Claude's smugness about it really bothered him. And the fact that not even Jeralt knew, bothered him even more.
"By!" Sylvain gasped loudly. "You cheated on His Highness?!"
"Sylvain!" Dimitri shouted in pure embarrassment.
"Cheated? What did I cheat him on?" Byleth asked with that little head tilt of hers. Four years later and Dimitri still didn't know if Byleth's cluelessness to Sylvain's jokes were a blessing or a curse.
"So, why were you two alone together?" Sylvain asked ignoring the prince's shout and Ingrid's glare.
Claude pulled Byleth closer to the point that he was practically hugging her. "That is our little secret," he practically sang as he looked the glaring prince in the eye.
With a slight push, she removed Claude from her, much to Dimitri's delight. "My father was in the Kingdom doing work, so I went to the Alliance to look for work. Claude had hired me for an escort mission," she paused to look at Claude, who gave her a little nod. "And from there it quickly spiraled out into a strong friendship." That was all Dimitri was told but based on that fond smile that Byleth gave Claude and the light blush the heir wore; something more had happened between them and neither were willing to share such information.
"You two seem really close," Ingrid commented.
Claude returned to wrapping an arm around Byleth's shoulders and got closer to her again. He gave everyone a large smirk and Dimitri wished he could just smack it off Claude's face. "I got to see her crest." Dimitri hated that Claude got to see it while he was only ever able to see apart of it. Why did Claude get to see it? Would Byleth show it to him if he asked? His face broke out into a massive blush as he realized what his question would entail.
"You saw her crest?!" Sylvain shouted. "Not even we got to see her crest!" Dimitri was glade he was not the only one bothered by that.
"Shut up!" Byleth shouted and everyone stared at her because no one had ever heard her speak like that before. She gave both Sylvain and Claude a warning glare. "My crest is supposed to be a secret, remember?" Ingrid punched Sylvain and Byleth gave her a small, appreciative nod. "As far as the church knows, I have no crest and I need to keep it that way." Everyone gave her a nod.
"But still…," Sylvain mumbled with a pout. "Why did you show him?"
"I don't understand why seeing my crest should be a big deal?"
"Because-" Sylvain didn't get to finish that sentence thanks to the two intense glares Dimitri and Ingrid were giving him, but he did gesture to having breast to help his point.
Byleth frowned as she folded her arms under her breast, unfortunately drawing more attention to them. "They are just annoying lumps of fat." Sylvain gave her a horrified look. "I'm thinking about cutting one off." Everyone was horrified at first until Dimitri noticed the smile Byleth wore and he stared laughing as he remembered that old issue she had.
"I do not understand how that is funny," Claude said and was eyeing Byleth.
"It is a joke I used to do when I was younger."
"That was a joke?!" Sylvain shouted with narrowed eyes.
"I started joking about it after a while. I was serious in the beginning. They are a hassle." With a small shake of his head Sylvain sighed. "But I see it as no big deal to show my crest to people I trust."
"Then will you be willing to show it-" Sylvain didn't get to finish that remark as Ingrid punched him so hard in the stomach that he hunched over. "Damn Ingrid…"
"What happened to no flirting with the future queen?!" Ingrid said in a harsh whisper.
"Ingrid?!" Dimitri shouted in a whisper and his face was bright red. He couldn't believe that Ingrid was also on the future queen bandwagon as well; they were assuming way too much way too quickly.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" They both looked to Byleth to see if she had heard and they hoped that her little head tilt was proof that she didn't.
"I was not asking for me…," Sylvain weakly mumbled as he rubbed his stomach.
The little group fell into a nice little chat, after Sylvain had recovered. During the chat Byleth revealed where Claude's crest was by poking the teen's inner thigh, to which he had an understandable overreaction too. Dimitri didn't have time to be jealous as to why Byleth was aware of exactly where Claude's intimately placed crest was as he and Sylvain were to busy giving the Alliance heir sympathetic but knowing look, once they discovered that Byleth's innocent but maddening cluelessness remained.
The more they talked the more Dimitri's felt his jealousy melt away or at least he was trying to ignore it. He knew it was understandable for Byleth to have different interactions with Claude. He and Claude were completely different people but still…he would like to see that more playful side of Byleth's directed at him. At least he noticed that Byleth tended to look at him the most in the group, whither she was aware of that or not he did not know
When Seteth arrived to start preparing for lessons it was time to part. The prince was about to head into the classroom when Sylvain stopped him by wrapping an arm around the prince's shoulder and pulled him close. Sylvain gestured for the others to head inside and only spoke once the others were gone.
"There is a rumor going around that Professor Byleth did not return to her room last night," Sylvain whispered with a little smirk. "You would not know anything about that would you?" Dimitri's face began to heat up and Sylvain leaned closer to him. "You two have only just reunited and you two are already-"
"Sylvain!" Dimitri yelled as he freed himself from the older man's grasp. He looked into the classroom and noticed that both Seteth and Byleth were watching him and he became more flustered. "I-I have no idea what nonsense you are talking about."
Sylvain raised an eyebrow and gave his liege a knowing smirk. He leaned close and Dimitri grew to hate that expression more. "I heard you two." Dimitri's face felt like it was on fire and he looked everywhere but at Sylvain. Despite his extreme embarrassment he was grateful that Sylvain didn't disturb them at least. "I did not hear her leave."
Sylvain tried to wrap his arm around his friend again, but Dimitri avoided him. "I assure you whatever you are thinking did not happen!" the prince declared while still avoiding looking at the ginger haired man.
Sylvain's laugh only flustered the blond more. "I know that. You two were way to quiet for that." Dimitri vigorously shook his head before he could imagine how loud Byleth might be. Sylvain slipped in while Dimitri was distracted. "I just want you two to be careful." Dimitri calmed down enough to look at Sylvain. "By is our professor and if the church heard about your late-night visits, I do not think the church will take kindly to them." Dimitri nodded and Sylvain gave him a small pat on the back before walking toward the class.
"The rumor!" Dimitri shouted as he remembered and looked towards Sylvain for all the answers.
"There is no rumor about that. I just made it up." Dimitri sighed in relief. "Everyone is too busy talking about the Prince of Faerghus being in love with a mercenary." He gave his friend a glare. "Yeah, yeah, I will admit that I messed up on that one. But in my defense, I did not know that she was here."
Another day was coming to an end. When Byleth was first offered the teaching position she had some doubts. She couldn't understand why her of all people had to be the next professor but if Claude helped her to get that position than she would take it and yet…She couldn't shake the feeling that even if Claude didn't do anything the archbishop would have made her the professor or gave her some other job at the church that would have kept her close.
The archbishop treated her differently or at least that was the feeling that Byleth got in her small time there. The archbishop looked at her with such expectations, like Byleth was the key to something. Not knowing the answer and the fact that her father had been too busy to really sit down and talk with her, was starting to really bother her. She did not know if it was just her father's warning or if it was because of the way that the archbishop looked at her but Byleth did not trust that woman.
"She does seem to be expecting great things from you," Sothis said, and after hearing her so many times Byleth had stopped flinching, for the most part anyway; until the little girl, in her head, makes comments about having her hurrying up and kissing Dimitri. The new professor's checks warmed at the memory.
"Still, I cannot shake the feeling that I know her…" When Sothis speaks to her, Byleth does not see her and yet the former mercenary was somehow aware of all the little gestures the mysterious girl made. "This is so infuriating! Who is she? And what does she want from you?"
Sothis yawned and Byleth could picture the scowl she was making. With a little frustrated yawn of defeat Sothis drifted off and Byleth was left to walk the rest of the way to her room in silence. While there was a strong air of familiarity with the archbishop that Sothis couldn't explain, there was also a similar feeling with Seteth and the strange girl Flayn, it wasn't as powerful but…Byleth did not like being pulled towards strangers, especially to those affiliated with the church.
Her little walk had come to an end and she stood before her room. She wasn't ready to retire for the night, but Dimitri had told her that she needed to keep such late visits to a minimum, and she reluctantly agreed. Like it or not she was now in a position of authority and with it came responsibilities that she needed to remember.
With a small sigh she opened the door to her room and stopped when the room's door, next to hers, opened and Dedue peaked out. They both stared at each other for a moment. While it had only been two days since they reunited, they had very little interactions with each other as he so rarely spoke up, unless spoken too and even then, he would say the bare minimum. She also noticed that he would avoid looking at her and she couldn't help but worry that she had offended him.
Just as she was about to expect him to close his door without saying anything, he stepped out. The silence continued and Byleth wondered if she should say something, but she didn't know what. She was too dependent on others for conversation she realized.
Suddenly, he bowed deeply, and she frowned. "I ask you for your forgiveness," he said as he maintained his bow.
"And for what are you asking forgiveness for?" Byleth asked and was pleased to keep her tone neutral.
"I was the one that alerted the knights to your presence," he said and never raised his head. It took her a moment to register what he meant. With a small shake of her head, she sighed. Just like Dimitri he was to dedicate to his apology, and she wondered who taught the other the over the top bow apology.
"Arise Dedue." Unlike Dimitri he didn't seem to struggle with standing upright. She stared at him for a moment to see if he would succumb to some unknown enemy and when he didn't, she was glad.
"I should be thanking you for that." He said nothing but arched an eyebrow. "During that time, I was spiraling into a darkness." He was completely silent. "I had started to hate both you and Aster." He closed his eyes but not a sound escaped him. "You saved me before I could be swallowed by that darkness."
He shook his head. "I did no such-"
"You saved me." He pressed his lips together.
"But those men, only attacked you because…" The shaking of her head stopped him from finishing.
"Before I met you those men attacked me before and after that attack, they still continue to attack me." She released a small sigh of frustration. "You have done nothing wrong as I am sure it would only have been a matter of time before they had attacked me then."
Looking at him, she could tell that he was still wasn't satisfied. She shook her head and sighed again. She couldn't understand why neither Dimitri nor Dedue could be satisfied with her forgiveness.
"Dedue," she started and waited until he was properly looking at her before she spoke again. "Thank you for saving me before I could hate my precious friends." He said nothing and nodded.
A silence settled over them again. He looked at his door and gave her a small nod before reaching for the handle. He was so quick to end their little talk and she didn't like it.
"Wait." He did but his hand remained on the handle. "Have you given any thought to my request in the letter I sent you?" He arched an eyebrow but remained stubbornly quiet. "About being my friend."
He closed his eyes and let go of the handle. "I do not think that will be wise," he said with a small shake of his head.
"And may I ask why?" Her pout was matched with a raised eyebrow.
"Because I am a man of Duscur."
"So?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"It will only cause people to speak ill about you behind your back."
"I am a mercenary. They do that already." He pressed his lips together. "Dedue, I do not care what others think of me so long as my friends are okay with me." He said nothing. "I wish to be your friend." He was still silent. "Do you not want to be my friend?"
"I…" He closed his eyes again to take a deep breath. "I do not wish for you to be troubled because of me."
"Well you not wanting to be my friend troubles me."
A sigh escaped him. "I would very much like to be your friend." She smiled widely at that.
"May I call you Oak?" He nodded with a small smile.
Fourth of the Harpstring Moon:
Byleth was starting to get the hang of teaching. She didn't need to rely on Seteth so much and he was letting her take charge more and more. She still wasn't sure how she completely felt about it, but she was at least enjoying it more and more.
Standing in front of her students had become easier. She never really saw herself as a leader type but now that she was in a position of one, she was starting to become comfortable with it. On battle she did it naturally but outside was a new feeling.
Class ended and Seteth excused himself quickly and so she was left with a few minutes to enjoy herself, before she was whisked away to attend her own private teaching lessons. As usual her friends swarmed her, but she didn't pay them much attention then as someone had caught her attention at the door. Grabbing Dimitri's hand, she began to pull him towards the door.
He quickly pulled his hand free and she stopped. Looking back at him she tried to figure out why he did that until she remembered having to be mindful of their positions. She frowned as she couldn't see how holding hands were a problem. He always grabbed her hand when they were younger. At least she could take comfort in knowing that he was also disappointed.
Hand holding free they both walked towards the door, where her father awaited. He smiled at their arrival and patted her head. Slowly, the others joined them.
"What are you doing here?" Byleth asked.
"I wanted to see how you were doing," Jeralt said as he gave everyone a nod for greetings. "Sorry that I have been so busy that I have been unable to come see you sooner."
She turned to Dimitri and gave him a large smile before turning back to her father. "Dad, look what Aster kept!" She unclipped her dagger and held it up.
Jeralt's eyes widen as he slowly took the dagger. "My dagger… My father gave this to me." He looked over the weapon with a fond look before turning his attention onto Dimitri. "Thanks for keeping it safe all this time." He clasped the prince's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"You are most welcomed," Dimitri said with a gentle smile on his face.
Seventh of the Harpstring Moon:
Byleth was given some time to herself and so she decided to spend it familiarizing herself of the area. She had received a tour before she started teaching but she didn't really pay attention during it as she had been overwhelmed at everything happening at the time. She knew Dimitri had wanted to give her a tour, but she kept quiet as she wanted to learn the area with no distractions.
She was about to arrive at the marketplace when a voice called out to her. "Greetings Professor," the guard said as she got close. "I have something to report." She titled her head as she was sure she wasn't someone worth reporting too. His voice did sound very familiar, but his helmet hid much of his face.
He said nothing else, but he was grinning. She tried to look under his helmet but he just maneuvered in a way so she couldn't get a better view. When she began to pout, he pushed back his helmet.
"Wil!" she shouted, and his smile grew. "I thought you left with the rest of the company."
"I was originally planning too but I asked the captain if he could get me a job here and well, he did. I think my mother will be happier with me having this job instead and I'll be able to send her more money this way as well."
"I'm glad you are staying. I was going to miss you."
His cheeks began to turn a light shade of pin. "Aw shucks, I was going to miss you too."
Nineth of the Harpstring Moon:
After a week of Seteth's supervision Byleth was finally giving the go ahead to teach by herself. She was nervous and so she decided that she would do her first solo lesson by doing something she was comfortable in, training. Afterall she didn't see the point in teaching about weapons if she didn't understand everyone's skill level.
As she waited for her students to arrive at the training grounds after their run, she sent them on, she swung a training sword to warm herself up. She felt way more comfortable at having a sword in her hand then a piece of chalk or book. Even though it only had been a few days it felt like a lifetime since she last wielded a sword.
After awhile her students slowly came in and they were in vary of degrees of exhaustion. She pressed her lips together as she feared that maybe her warmup was too much, even Dimitri looked like he was a little exhausted. At least she finally realized that the workout her dad made her do was not normal.
All her students were wearing their school assigned sportswear, light blue shirts with the Blue Lions' symbol etched on the right side and matching shorts. She never said it, but they looked ridiculous in those outfits, especially Dedue and Felix, but those outfits also looked way more comfortable than all her battle-ready outfits she brought. Because of her father's sudden order to get packed and not sure what to expect she only brought clothes to wear into battle and none of her comfortable outfits and she was hating it. Even though that sportswear looked ridiculous, professors were also given one as well, unfortunately for her it only fit the late professor so until a new one was made for her, she was stuck with what she brought. She hoped that her outfit would be finished soon.
"Forgive me. I should have realized that my warmup was not normal," Byleth said and many of the students gave her a look. "I have been doing it for so long that I have forgotten how difficult it was in the beginning."
"How long have you been doing this warmup?" a small boy with freckles asked and she believed his name was Ashe.
"Ever since I was fourteen," she paused to quickly do the math, "so, about six years."
"You have been doing such a rigorous workout since you were fourteen?"
"Yes, I started it after a traumatic event happened." Her friends, besides Felix and Dedue, gave her sympathetic looks to which she ignored. "I forgot about that as it has just become a part of my life. I'm sorry." She clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention and some of the more exhausted students gave her a small glare in protest. "Alright, everyone take a small break." Small little cheers filled the training grounds.
Her friends slowly joined her, and she was amazed that they were not too exhausted, well except for Sylvain, he looked like he was ready for a nap. She could not tell if Dedue just had good stamina or he was just doing a marvelous job at hiding his exhaustion. Seeing Felix, struggle to hide his short breaths had reminded her of a pleasant memory of Glenn and she chuckled a little.
"And what is so funny?" Sylvain asked with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
"I was just remembering a funny moment with Glenn." She had peaked everyone but Dedue's interest. "For some time, he had joined my father and me for training." She paused to chuckle again at the memory. "If you think the warmup is grueling than you should actually try my training workout with my father. Glenn hated it. Every time he complained or back talked, my father would make him do twenty pushups and the number would only increase with every issue. By the third day, Glenn was the model knight."
"I…I remember a time when Glenn was really mellowed. My father always wondered why," Felix said as he recalled that time.
"I remember asking Glenn if he would allow me to join him for training during that time and he desperately made me forget that idea," Ingrid said with a small smile. "It…It has been some time since I had remembered such a pleasant memory of him." Everyone but Dedue nodded in agreement.
"Really?" They all went back to looking at Byleth. "Every time I remember they are gone I quickly think of a positive memory of them. This way they are never truly gone, and I can focus on the happy moments I had with them instead." It was something that her father had suggested to her after she and Claude had parted, and she liked it. It helped to bring her some closure, something she never thought she would have.
"That is a really good idea! I will start doing that! Thank you By," Ingrid said, and she had a nice smile on.
The friends started to happily chat amongst themselves, recalling more pleasant memories of Glenn; with Felix mostly staying out of the conversation but would pipe up with a correction every now and then. Dimitri had been silent throughout the entire conversation and was looking away from everyone. When he noticed her gaze, he gave her his princely smile and she hated it. As much as she wanted to talk to him about it, she knew it was a conversation that needed to be had after class.
With a clap she grabbed everyone's attention. The students lined up and she gave them all a look over. The break had done them some good, so she knew it was alright to continue.
"Today, I am going to test your weapons proficiency," she started but had to stop because of all the students' murmurs and a particularly loud "finally" from Felix. "I want you to grab your weapon of choice." She was barely able to finish that before Felix went and retrieved a training sword and she held back a sigh. "And I will spar with you with your ideal weapon."
With that finished the rest of the students went to retrieve their weapons except for one, lone woman with long, light brown hair. Byleth watched her for a moment before Sothis remined her that it was a professor's duty to check on her students. The young woman, Mercedes, Byleth finally remembered her name, gave her professor a sweet smile, calming Byleth some.
"Are you alright?" Byleth asked as she gave the woman a quick look over, she still seemed a bit tired.
"No, I am alright," Mercedes said in such a soft and delicate tone that Byleth knew she would never be able to match.
"I apologize if my warmup really wore you out. I will be making adjustments."
"Oh no. It is alright. If you have done it so often, it is understandable as to why you forgot how grueling it is." Byleth was unable to tell if Mercedes was being genuine with her understanding or was being passive aggressive. Byleth decided to not comment on it.
"May I ask as to why you are not choosing a weapon?"
Mercedes looked towards the weapon rack that was quickly becoming empty. "I guess I would choose a bow…" She frowned after she said that.
Byleth looked at the weapon rack and despite it being almost clean there were still several bows left, so that wasn't a problem. She looked back at Mercedes, who had yet to move. The soft-spoken woman pressed her lips together and continued to stare at the weapons.
"Do you not wish to use one?" Mercedes looked at her professor and smile, though Byleth could tell that it was a strained one. "You don't need a weapon. You can fight me with magic, if you wish." The smile still remained strained.
"I do not think she wants to fight," Sothis said and Byleth nearly jumped at her sudden voice. "If I recall her sheet said she wanted to be a healer and enter the church."
Byleth pressed her lips together. Not fighting went against what she was supposed to be teaching. She felt Sothis knowing smirk in the back of her mind and she bit back a sigh.
"You wish to be a bishop, correct?" If Byleth recalled correctly all that was required of the bishop certification exam was a high level of Faith magic, so she didn't necessarily need to learn how to wield a weapon.
"That is correct." Mercedes seemed pleased, which only troubled Byleth more.
"That is a good goal to aim for," the new professor started as she leaned against the wall. "If you wish to focus only on that I will give you all my support but," Mercedes arched an eyebrow, "I would like for you to consider to look at more combat options for your safety." The woman was silent.
"It is a high priority that the healer is protected but sometimes that is not always an option, so the ability to defend yourself is incredibly important." Mercedes looked down at the floor and was still silent. "Also, you will be better able to save someone in the middle of a battle." Mercedes went back to looking at Byleth. "Rarely the injured are able to make their way to the healer but if the healer can go meet them then their survival rate will greatly increase."
Mercedes said nothing for a moment but eventually nodded. "I will think about it." Byleth nodded. "What should I do for this class though?"
"Remain on standby for healing." Mercedes nodded. "I will think of a way to test your healing powers another day."
With their talk over Byleth noticed that the rest of her students were ready. She didn't even get a chance to ask who wanted to go first as Felix was already standing in the middle of the training grounds grinning. She let out a sigh as she made her way over.
"What a brat," Sothis commented and Byleth had to agree. "Strange, in your memory he is such a sweet boy. What happened?" Could the death of Glenn have really changed him that much? Byleth quickly realized that was a stupid question. Of course, it did, Felix idolized Glenn. She pressed her lips together as she wondered if Glenn would be okay with Felix's change.
As soon as the word "begin" left her mouth Felix was upon her. Over the few years she had spent with him she saw him develop into a confident fighter, but he had remained cautious, now he was aggressive. It was almost like Glenn's style but far more destructive, it was like he was abandoning defense in order to try to take out his opponent as quickly as possible. It was an idiotic strategy and she didn't know if he was depending too much on his major crest or what; either way it was habit she was going to need to fix.
"Take me seriously!" he demanded as he swung at her and she easily stepped back to avoid it.
"The purpose of this exercise is for me to learn your strength and weaknesses," she said as she effortlessly blocked another one of his strikes. "I need this to last longer than a minute." She instantly knew that she should have not said that, and she didn't need Sothis telling her that as well.
Felix roared in anger as he rushed her, and she fought back a sigh at his recklessness. His crest activated and a vicious grin spread across his face only for it to instantly vanish as she sidestepped away from the powerful blow. He growled out as she spun to slash at her, and she blocked it.
Yelling out, he ignored his sword and threw a straight punch at her face. It threw her off, but she managed to avoid the punch by leaning back. He then tried to grab her, but she slapped his hand away.
"Fight me!" He yelled and she frowned. It was clear to her that he was trying to break away from the Fraldarius sword style, but she couldn't understand why. The Fraldarius style, though rigid, was a good sword style to use.
Throwing caution to the wind he rushed her again and she shook her head. There was no strategy to his movements making it easier to dodge. His crest once again activated with his downward slash, but it never connected as she effortlessly slide around him. Three times in her little maneuver, she noted she would have been able to disarm him, let alone kill him.
She was at least impressed with his tenacity as he didn't skip a beat to try and jam his elbow into her face and only connected with air. He swiftly spun around on his heals to swipe at her and she slammed her sword down on his to halt his momentum but that didn't stop him from trying to throw another punch.
Byleth bit back a sigh as she canceled out one of his sword swings with one of her own. Before he switched to the weird punch and sword combo, he was doing much better when had stuck to the Fraldarius style. His new style, while slightly unpredictable, was too sloppy.
Finally having enough Byleth used one of his punches against him to flip him over her shoulder. When he tried to get up with a fire still burning in his eyes, she pointed her sword at him. Her victory and he begrudgingly accepted it.
"Cana-Felix," she started and stopped to remind herself that she was not allowed to refer to her friends by their nicknames while in class. "What the hel-" she stopped herself again as she realized that was probably not how a professor was to address her students. "That…That is an interesting style that you have there."
He said nothing as he got up, but he did give her a small glare. "It does have some faults, but we can work on that." He said nothing. "But first thing first, where is your defense?" He scoffed but said nothing. "I believe you are relying too much on your crest. A crest's power can be countered and you will be vulnerable if that happens."
"Oh? I did not see you try," Felix said with venom to his tone.
"I didn't have too," she said in a tone probably not befitting of a professor, but it was a challenge to his tone. She couldn't believe that he was the sweet boy that she once knew. "I can even counter the Crest of Blaiddyd."
"Oh?" Felix smirked and the class erupted into murmurs and she realized that she might have just put her foot in her mouth. Sure, she had learned how to counter a powerful blow from a Crest of Serios bearer and could probably do the same with a Crest of Fraldarious bearer but the Crest of Blaiddyd was an entirely different beast. "Prove it!"
"Please I-" Dimitri started to say but she interrupted him.
"Dimitri you are up." She didn't spare him a glance as she fetched a training lance.
"Are you seriously going to try and counter the Crest of Blaiddyd?" Sothis asked and Byleth could just feel the judgmental stare. "Are you made?! That crest-"
"You don't have to remind me," Byleth whispered softly to herself. "I have been under more than my fair share of blows from that crest. I probably know more than anyone else in this room at how devastating that a blow from that crest can be." Dimitri managed to give her two little scars because of it.
After accruing a good training lance, she turned to face everyone. Dimitri stood in the center of the room with a look of uncertainty while Felix leaned against the wall with a smirk. It was then that Byleth realized that a blow from an untrained eleven-year-old boy was going to be substantially weaker than from a well-trained seventeen-year-old. She was starting to have her doubts.
"I am not going to rewind time for you, if you end up making a fool of yourself," Sothis laughed.
Byleth got into stance and Dimitri followed suit, al bit hesitantly. Despite her worry about facing his crest, it was nice to be training with him again. That happy thought helped to comfort her a little.
"You two better not just stare into each other's eyes," Sothis said. "I do not think the rest of your students will be able to handle all that sexual tension."
Byleth had to cough into her hand to hide her embarrassment. "Sothis please!" she whispered into her hand.
"I am just saying." Byleth could feel Sothis drift to the back of her mind so that she could focus.
Felix mocked her for stalling and she quickly started the match, despite still feeling self-conscious. If she managed to pull off the counter successfully, she was going to rub it in his face she decided. She was pleased to see that Dimitri didn't come at her with the same idiotic little jump and downward slash that he used to do when he was a child. Though his first thrust was incredibly careful, and it was clear to everyone that he wasn't be cautious to test her.
His next few strikes were weak and obvious. Unlike with Felix she went on the offensive, hoping to coax the prince out of his hesitancy. He opened up a little and actually started adding a bit of power to his blows though they were still incredibly weak.
"Come on Dimitri!" she said breaking her stance to stand straight and show off her disappointment. "You are not going to hurt me."
He looked doubtful. "Come on Boar! Do it already!" Felix shouted from the sidelines.
Boar? Byleth looked at Felix, who was just gesturing for Dimitri to hurry up, and then at Dimitri, who showed little signs of being bothered by being called by such a strange nickname. She was sure her mind was playing tricks on her because there was just no way Felix would call Dimitri, of all people, such an insult.
"B-Professor are you sure?" Dimitri asked, breaking out of his stance. "I do not wish to hurt you."
"You won't."
Pressing his lips together he began to wind up for a powerful strike. He spun his lance around him, in a maneuver Byleth recognized as in an attempt to increase the likelihood of his crest activating. In battle such a maneuver would leave him completely vulnerable but if it got his crest to activate than it would serve its purpose.
As soon as he was done, he snapped his lance in front of him. Her grip tightened on her lance as she dug her foot in for the support, she knew she would be dependent on. She gave him a nod as one last signal that she was ready.
With one final pleading look that went ignored, he stepped forward and slammed his lance down, instead of thrusting like a normal lance strike. Normally that was an idiotic lance maneuver but with his crest activating it made it easier for her to handle. He gave her an apologetic look when their weapons connected.
Instantly, she felt the weight of the impact and she gritted her teeth as she needed to work fast. Leaning back, she slide her lance with her and the weight of the impact slowly weakened the more she spread the point of impact. She smiled when she saw the look of utter surprise on his face.
When her lance reached the "blade" of his, she countered his force with her own, though it took a great amount of effort on her end. She shoved her lance upward, finally splitting her lance in two but also broke off the "blade" of his. Without missing a bit, she spun her lance half that contained her "blade" and rushed forward and placed the tip of it against his chin. It took him a moment to register everything that happened, but he did raise his hands up in defeat.
The stunned silence suddenly erupted into cheers. The look of disbelief on Felix's face was worth the screaming of her muscles. She did it once and that was enough as she was ready to retire for the day and Dimitri had only been her second student. His lesson might have ended too quickly for her to get a proper reading on his skills but because of the bandit attack she had enough information to work with.
"Are you alright?" Dimitri asked as he walked over to her.
"I'm fine." He frowned and looked at her trembling arms. "Okay, I'm sore and I don't ever want to do that again but I'm fine and I did it." He smiled at her.
"Let that be a lesson to you all," she shouted now addressing her class that suddenly went quieted at her voice. "If you have a crest that doesn't automatically make you a superior fighter and for those that do not have a crest, you are not inferior!" Cheers began to erupt from the non-crest bearers, while the crest bearers looked like they had a wakeup call; except for Sylvain, who looked pleased.
Despite her aching muscles, Byelth continued the rest of the lesson. Everything had gone, smoothly except for Sylvain, who refused to take the lesson seriously. She quickly discovered that he was going to be her other problem child and he had a completely different issue to deal with. She knew he never liked training, but he was always cooperative when he was a child so why was he being so difficult now?
That lesson had been more eye opening than she was expecting. Her students were going to need a lot of training before she would feel comfortable with sending them into battle. Though she didn't really feel comfortable with the thought that any of them would one day have to battle. She just hoped that she would be able to reach out to her more stubborn students before they had to go into battle.
Once class was over, Byleth had rushed over to the sauna to rest her aching muscles. While her muscles relaxed her mind did not. Her mind would constantly drift towards her friends.
Felix's completely 180 of a personality, Sylvain's flippancy, and Dimitri's darkness, her friends had changed so much. She thought Ingrid had remained the same but no, the poor girl no longer possessed the confidence she once had. Byleth felt like she had failed them all, but she was determined to help them! Somehow…
Close to overheating she finally left the sauna after Sothis yelled at her. Her face was still flushed when she ran into Dimitri in front of her room and he stared at her for a long moment. When she offered to let him inside, he violently refused, and she was once again remined to remain proper. She was starting to find the rules annoying.
"I just wanted to check on you," he said and was unable to look at her. She guided him to sit on a nearby bench and he silently followed.
"The sauna really helped. I am fine now," she said now enjoying the cool breeze. "You should join me next time."
"No thank you!" he nearly yelled, and his face was right red. "I-I am not good with heat…"
She made no comment and sat in silence to which he was happy to oblige. Leaning back, she watched two birds fluttered about. The peace was nice compared to her earlier chaotic mind that was until Sothis disturbed it.
"You still have not addressed that darkness you saw a few days ago," the voice in her head reminded and Byleth frowned.
Byleth looked at Dimitri and eventually he looked at her with a little smile. His eyes were so clear, not a hint of the darkness she had seen could be found in them. If it wasn't for Sothis, she might have deluded herself into believing that she had imagine the whole thing. But she wasn't and Dimitri's eyes were not as clear as she would have liked to delude herself into believing.
Claude's eyes were clear. She may not know of his past, but she could tell that he did not have an easy life but despite that his eyes were crystal clear. Dimitri's were not so much. If she actually looked into his eyes and ignored her bias, she could see the darkness. How was she supposed to combat that?
Her gaze drifted downwards, and she watched as he grabbed one of her hands and gave it a small squeeze. Slowly she brought her sights back onto his face and his smile was gone. Unable to find anything to say she leaned against him and stared at the building before them.
"By, is something wrong?" he asked but made no effort to move.
What are you hiding from me? She wished to ask but remained silent. What darkness plagues you? Another unspoken question.
Still leaning on him, she looked up at him. She stared at him for a long moment and the concern slowly left his face, as a shade of pink colored his cheeks. She wasn't sure how she didn't notice it earlier. Her fingers, from her free hand, brushed his chin and his blush grew.
"If you grew out a beard," she started and that grabbed his attention, "you would look like a splitting image of Lambert."
He pulled his hand away from hers and looked away. She sat up and turned to face him, but he still kept looking away. She didn't know what she said that was wrong, as she was sure King Lambert would be ecstatic to know that his son looked so much like him. She could easily picture him proudly declaring that fact to everyone.
"Aster," she called softly as she reached out to him, but he did not acknowledge her hand.
"I am nothing like my father…," he said it so quietly that she almost didn't hear him. Gently she placed her hand on his face and directed him to look at her, though he refused to make eye contact.
"Sure, you are." He closed his eyes. "You both are so kind. You accept anyone regardless of their background. You both are amazing people!"
He pulled her hand away from his face but still held it as he looked away. "I am not so great…"
She invaded his personal space and made him look at her. "To me you are incredible." He glanced away and so she took ahold of the hand that held hers. "I am lucky to have you in my life."
"I should be the one saying that." He rested his hands on hers. "Thank you for being a part of my life."
She didn't like that defeatist attitude. "You know, Glenn would be mocking you right now for the way you are talking." He stiffened greatly. She rested her head against his as she didn't know what to say, without make everything worse.
"I...," he started so quietly that she almost didn't hear him, "I cannot remember any good memories of my father or Glenn." He started to raise his head and so she did the same. He placed his free hand over hers that held his.
"I will gladly share mine with you." He looked at her and she gave him a soft smile. "It was weird at first, but I grew to love it when Lambert called me his daughter. I had two fathers to make up for the lack of a mother." Dimitri's expression was unreadable. "I always enjoyed it when we had tea with him and how he always made me feel accepted. The way he was afraid of my father was hilarious. And the dance I shared with him on your birthday is one of my favorite memories."
A small smile began to work its way onto Dimitri's face. "As for Glenn," she stopped as some of her favorite memories with Glenn were more personal and she didn't want to share those. "He taught me how to be confident after I survived the first assassination attempt against you. The matches we had were thrilling. Even though it had been dangerous I am still really happy that he let me see the Pegasus that was for Ingrid." She looked away briefly as she remembered more fond memories.
"Oh, a great memory of both Lambert and Glenn was when I first meet Lord Rodrigue and I asked Lambert what a mistress was," she stopped to laugh and even Dimitri chuckled a little. "The look of horror on Lambert's and Lord Rodrigue's face when Glenn 'explained' what a mistress was, was hilarious." Dimitri began to laugh more in earnest, and she smiled. "Though I wonder if I should treat that as such a fond memory of Glenn now that I know what a mistress is."
The prince's laughter slowly came to an end and he had a small but genuine smile. "Those are wonderful memories," he said as he looked into her eyes.
"You have your own too." He said nothing. "Though if you are ever in need of a reminder, I will gladly share all my memories with you." He gave her a small but genuine smile.
"Thank you." She returned the smile with one of her own as she unconsciously leaned closer to him.
"I have plenty of wonderful memories with you that I will gladly share as well." His cheeks warmed but he didn't break eye contact.
Someone clearing their throat broke the little moment and both Dimitri and Byleth quickly separated themselves from each other. They looked to the source and noticed that it was Dedue and his cheeks were slightly pink. He looked at the ground instead of them.
"Forgive me for interrupting," he started but quickly stopped when the others started speaking.
"It is alright," Byleth quickly said.
"You were interrupting anything," Dimitri said just as quickly and was speaking over her.
There was a bit of silence. Dimitri and Byleth were looking everywhere but at anyone in the little group while Dedue just continued to stare at the floor. Eventually Dedue was the one to break the silence by clearing his throat again and the others flinched.
"The dinning hall is about to close soon; you both should get something to eat." Nothing else was said as the two love birds began to walk towards the hall while maintaining a proper distance from each other. Dedue just sighed before he went into his room.
The training part went in a different direction that I was planning on and so Annette missed her chance to shine but I'll make it up to her next chapter…maybe.
I am sorry if the academy phase is seeming a bit slow right now. I need to lay a bunch of groundwork before I can continue to the more gridder stuff. I also hope you are all enjoying the fluff as I will be honest I actually didn't plan to have so much fluff but oh well, it's making up for all the cruel things I did to Byleth during the child era.
On a random note, I noticed that in Yuri's and Balthus's C support, Balthus mentions how he fought against Saint Macuil and how he destroyed the ruins in the process is almost exactly how I wrote the scene with Claude and Byleth. Why are you lying Balthus? That wasn't you. Sorry, I just thought that it was funny how similar those two events are played out.
Head cannon notes:
While a crest activation is completely random there are method that each crest has that can increase its chance of being activated.
Crest of Fraldarius: Quick, consecutive strikes.
Crest of Blaiddyd: By winding up the body to deliver a powerful blow.
Crest of Charon (Catherine's): The more the bearer is enjoying the fight.
Unfinished Crest of Flames: Likes to activate at the worst time just to screw with Byleth.
Stay healthy everyone!