2/6 Pegasus Moon

"The end of this endless fight is coming to an end. The battle has been hard, but our forces have prevailed over theirs and now the city is ours. Only one more push and we´ll finally get peace" Seteth said as he dismounted his wyvern. Around them, fire and smoke and the corpses scattered among the ruins of the city were the silent reminders of the battle they just had endured.

"Peace, but at what cost?" he wondered as he looked at his own sword. He had been once to that city, in which appeared to be ages ago, yet now everything was different. "Was it truly the end of all conflict?" he wondered as he approached the ruins of what was once a bridge.

"Byleth, do you have a moment?" Seteth asked as he approached him, he was still wielding his spear, yet the expression on his face was of sympathy.

"Tell me"

"You need to remain strong; this is not the time to show weakness. Everyone is relying on you; they need you. You need to guide them as you did at the monastery. You changed the fate of Fódlan that day and I´m truly grateful that you remained among us. Now is the time to end this bloody chapter of the story of Fódlan"

"That was a lifetime ago. And not everyone that I guided is with me anymore" he said as he saw his own reflection on the water. "I don´t want to fight anymore. When I was a mercenary I didn´t really care about who died. If there was a contract, I would do everything I could to achieve my objective, yet now that I´m not longer a mercenary I can´t avoid wondering about every unnecessary death that has happened until now. There should be another way, a path that could heal the wounds of this land of Fódlan, don´t you think Seteth?"

"I wish there could be such an option, but as you know, those opportunities are far gone. You should be the one to know that the best. We are the decisions we make in our lives, and every decision has consequences. You have chosen this path and she has done the same"

Did he really? He was feeling dizzy as if he was having hallucinations.

"Byleth. I understand how you can feel. I know that you hold your students in high regard, but those memories will only numb your mind. Showing mercy now would be an insult to all those that died for our cause"

"She would say the same about their casualties, yet I wish there could be a way around"

"If it was, do you think it could survive? This world is controlled by many forces and human will is one of them. The divergencies are too strong and as a consequence the lands of Fódlan have been ravaged by the fire of war"

War…a short word, yet with an inherent strength. A word he had grown used to hear during all this time.

"When all of this ends what will happen?"

"We´ll heal the wounds of this land and we´ll devout our lives to avoid another future like our times. There will be grief and resentment, but it will be the duty of the victors to shape this world into a more tolerable one. I´m the first one to admit our lack of vision, but the lies weren´t ill intentioned"

"A lie is a lie. Even if the intentions are pure of heart, they will inevitably cause harm to someone. It is preferable a hard truth that a nice lie. She didn´t lie when she said she would do anything to continue her path"

"And that tenacity is the cause of the suffering of many, but I´ve come to understand how is her way of reasoning. An old tree won´t come down unless struck by a strong wind. That tree is no longer the one that used to be, but that doesn´t mean that everything was rotting. Youth always make people reckless, but that isn´t an excuse to what happened. We need you, Byleth. Our forces need a leader for this last battle. I can say now that I consider you a trustworthy friend. Not only you saved Flayn, but you have been fighting alongside me in countless battles. You are the true definition of what a true friend is"

The situation where he stood was the result of his decisions, yet he felt too weary to continue. He still had doubts about what he should do, yet he felt that he was following the path expected from him and he didn´t have any choice about it. If he had carefully thought about the consequence of that decision, he wondered what could have happened back then. "Am I the one to decide my path or everything has been decided beforehand?" He felt like he was drowning, feeling of regret for the corpses left behind stabbing his chest, yet step by step he was going forward. He looked one more time to his own reflection before looking at Seteth.

"I´ll do it, but I will be the one to fight her. It is the only thing I ask you to respect. It is my duty, after all as her Professor"

"And I will respect your decision. Of all people you are the only one, she might listen to. I don´t wish her death, but remember; sometimes hard decisions must be done for the wellbeing of others. It would an insult to the memories of those who had already left us if we suddenly changed our opinion after all that had happened. I´ll tell our forces. Your presence will give us enough strength to finish this once and for all"

"That´s what I hope as well" he nodded as he looked at the castle before him. Despite the time that had already passed it still felt like yesterday, yet everything was completely different, his memories stabbing his heart to death.

"In the end I was unable to keep my promise. I´m sorry I couldn´t. In the end you were right, words are just wind that disappears and changes at will. Only our actions matter in the end, but is this really worth it? I wonder….I wonder if there was another door to open" he wondered as heavy rain started to fall.

"Seteh?" he asked, but he could see no one. The heavy rain was quickly turning into a ravaging storm when he heard a roar that paralyzed him, it was the roar of a beast of an immense size. Unsheathing his sword, he prepared himself to face the unexpected enemy. A monstrous blast of fire shook the ground next to him. His adversary was covered in heavy scales, its reptilian eyes focused on him.

"A dragon?" he thought as he avoided another lethal blast. The dragon was unrelenting with its attacks, its flames melting the ground, creating dangerous pools of living hell. Using the Sword of the Creator as a whip he released a charged against the beast, but it didn´t appear to feel it. Feeling a familiar itching on his sword hand he decided to release the power of the crest of flames.

"I won´t be beaten by you!" he shouted as he used the whip of his sword to jump on the beast, while it was preparing to release a potent fireball. The beast roared as it tried to get rid of him, its tail hitting the buildings with fury as claws tried to trap him in vain. Two handing the sword he tried to pierce through the skull of the beast. He could feel the heat from the insides of the dragon, a furious siss piercing his head as he continued to push the sword into its skull, when he was thrown away by one of the claws.

"What are you?" he wondered as he erected a magic barrier to stop one of the fireballs. The beast roared as it used its strength to propel itself to the sky with the aid of its back legs and its wings. Opening its jaws, he could see how a living inferno was forming within it.

"I need some cover" he thought as he rushed to one of the ruins around him.

The flames violently impacted with the ground, making him wonder if the foundations of the earth had been hit by the ire of the beast. The stoned walls surrounding him were starting to melt when he erected a magic barrier. Even though he was exhausting all the power of his crest, the first cracks started to appear in his magic barrier.

"Is this the end for me, to be devoured by the fire?" he wondered when he noticed that within his barrier there was a small rose which had been saved by the fire because of his spell.

"If I give up, everything will burn" he thought. He didn´t know why, but its sight gave him a renewed strength to face the inferno around him. All his body was feeling as if he was burning, but he needed to continue. "Just for this…just a bit more. I need…"

….

When he opened his eyes, it was still completely dark. He felt like his head was about to explode, a cold sweat running through his body.

"What had just happened?" he said to himself confused. It appeared to be a dream, yet he felt there was something odd about it. Could it be a vision? He knew that some people were capable of having visions, although most people didn´t trust such methods. No matter how hard he tried to remember what had just happened, the images in his head were quickly diluting, leaving him even more clueless.

It was still night outside, but he decided to leave his room. After the coronation had ended, Edelgard had been spending the rest of the day within the private chambers of her father, making sure that everything remained under control.

"These rooms are for guest of high honor, they have an access to the inner gardens of the Imperial Palace. I disagree with such decision, but I´m powerless about it. I hope you can appreciate it accordingly" he could remember Hubert saying before he disappeared once again.

"I guess I will take an opportunity to calm down then" he thought as he opened the doors of the room. Even though the torches were lit, there was no sign of soldiers nearby. Walking in silent he arrived a few moments later to the inner gardens of the palace. There were all kind of different plants in it and the views of the city were really astonishing. The relaxing sound of a fountain nearby made him feel relaxed, making him almost forget what he had seen in his dreams.

"It´s really an astonishing view, isn´t it?" whispered a voice behind him, making his heart beat faster. Next to him was Edelgard, the imperial crown still on her head.

"I didn´t expect you here"

"Neither I, but I can´t really complain about it. Most important matters have already been resolved and my father needed some sleep so I decided to take a short walk before going to sleep. What about you, Byleth?"

"I had problems to sleep"

"It must be a drastic change compared to the places where we´ve been sleeping before. Those rooms were the last addition to the imperial palace, although that happened more than fifty years ago. Compared to it this garden is quite old, it can boast about a history of several centuries. When I was a girl, I used to spend my time here, climbing to trees and observing the city from the distance. Back then I thought that the world was much smaller than it actually is, although everything was simpler back then"

"Time really changes everything" A year ago he was travelling alongside his father as a mercenary and now he was finding himself in the inner gardens of the imperial palace, next to the current Emperor of the Adrestian Empire. If he told a tale like that a year before, his companions would have laughed at him, saying that he had drunk too much.

"It really does. The friends of yesterday can turn into the enemies of tomorrow. Oaths and promises can be broken as swords in the middle of a combat. You could say that everything is doomed to change for the better or for the worse"

"Time alone isn´t the responsible of it. Regarding people, those changes happen because of the decisions we make in our lives. We can only control what we do, regarding others we are helpless, but that´s why having trust in the others is important. Only like that you can reach higher heights, helping each other out"

"If Claude said something like that, I would have thought he was mocking me. If Dimitri said something like that, I would think he is too idealist, yet I´m tempted to agree with you when you say it. It is really strange how my decision changes in such an irrational way" Edelgard said with a sad smile. "And now I´m the Emperor of this land. The next steps will determine how my legacy would look like and I must confess something; the burdens of the crown are menacing to overwhelm me, but I must remain strong" she said as she absently touched her crown.

"You don´t need to be the Emperor at any time, for now you can just be Edelgard" he said as he took the crown of her head, patting her head with his free hand.

"Byleth!? How could you do something like that to an Emperor?"

"Emperor or not you are still my student and that won´t change even now"

"I appreciate that feeling, but I´ve come to think of you as an equal. Our bonds had grown really strong after all this time. You have opened me to a world that I didn´t think it could exist. All these months have been a blessing, I wish I could stay like this, I truly do, but that would be selfish to those who depend on me, although deep within me I wish you could think the same" she said as she gently placed her hands in his, making him feel a bit dizzy.

"The night is truly beautiful today" Edelgard muttered, her face a few inches from him, but he wasn´t looking at the sky, his eyes were focused on hers, drowning in them.

"I´m afraid of many things, Byleth. I dream of a bottomless ocean and how it shallows me. It is my greatest fear; to be powerless about what is going to happen from now on, but your presence relaxes me" she said as she buried her face in his chest, a storm of feelings menacing to overwhelm him.

"Byleth"

"Yes, Edelgard?"

"Could you close your eyes?" she said in an unusual soft voice.

He closed his eyes, but he could feel how she was approaching, a sweet scent coming from just before him. He was tempted to open his eyes, but was afraid of ruining everything.

"No matter what happens don´t forget about me because I won´t forget you" she whispered as he felt a soft pressure on his lips. It was so sudden he wondered if he had just imagined it. When he opened his eyes, Edelgard was standing in front of him, the imperial crown on her head, although her face was looking to the sky above them.

"Edelgard…I…"

"Now I have the strength to continue, thank you for everything Byleth. I hope you can get some rest" she said as she ran away from the place. He was tempted to follow her, yet he felt it was better to avoid pressuring her.

"I don´t even know if I´m dreaming yet" He was so confused about what had just happened he felt his head was about to explode. Even though he had been longing for a moment like that, the situation looked more like a farewell like anything else. "Is this the wall that separate both of our worlds?" he wondered as he looked to the sky. He was the wielder of the Sword of the Creator, the bearer of the Crest of Flames, yet he felt powerless about such things. Perhaps if both of them had a simpler life, away from such power…

…

She finally caught her breath as she arrived to her room. She had used one of the secret passages to arrive to the gardens, but she didn´t expect him there.

"I can´t even understand why I did it" she thought as she touched her lips. Sensing that the ending of their journey together was coming to an end, she had surrendered for a moment to her own feelings, but it was the only moment she could truly be herself. She knew what she had to do and even though it would crush her soul, she knew that even if she had to made him her enemy, she needed to continue her path.

"Perhaps in a simpler life, things could be different" she thought as she placed the crown at her nightstand, but there was no purpose on thinking about a reality that couldn´t be. Hubert and her had already prepared their plan to assault the so-called throne room, their troops awaiting the moment that the coronation took place. That event would decide the fate of many. Her classmates, some of them who had parents that had opposed her could certainly grow to hate her. The archbishop would without a doubt try to get rid of her; she had already shown how merciless she could be with those who opposed her rule and regarding Byleth she was certain that he will do anything to protect his students, but which students would he choose?

"Just a bit more and everything will end, for the better…or for the worse" she thought as she entered her bed, although she wasn´t able to get enough rest, the beatings of her heart resonating in her head.

….

"Baron Ochs, I am afraid that your daughter is already dead. The Monica we knew was just an impostor that tried to kill us all. She was a crazy individual which confirmed the death of your daughter. I can only express my condolences for your loss" Edelgard was sitting on the throne, the guards keeping a perimeter around her.

"It cannot be. I have received reports telling me otherwise. Her captors had been asking for more money, but I have received proof that she is still alive" Lord Ochs said as he showed to them red hair strands.

"They could have been taken from her corpse. I agree with Lady Edelgard´s word. The impostor that supplanted Monica confirmed that the original Monica is no more. I´m not a man of condolences, but I can grant you that the responsible of such heinous act paid with their lives" Hubert said. It was a strange sight to see him without his usual uniform, the symbol of house Vestra on his chest.

"I won´t believe such words until I see her body with my own eyes. She is my only daughter. Our family is devastated by her disappearance. I beg you for your help. I will surrender my lands to the crown, but please I want to see her again" Baron Ochs said as he fell on his knees as if he was begging for his life. He couldn´t avoid feeling sympathy for him, losing someone that you loved was truly a stab to the heart.

"Baron Ochs, the only thing that I can say is that I understand the feeling of losing someone you hold dear. I am sure that Monica was a blessing to your family, even if I didn´t have the pleasure to meet her true self. Those who kidnapped her and later killed her are just a bunch of monsters that think they can act with impunity, but they are wrong. The executioner´s axe will come to them too. The only thing I can promise you is that I will search for the culprits and I will make sure that they leave this world for good. You are a good man, there is no doubt about it, but even now your people need you more than ever before. You have to stay stronger than ever before, for those who serve you, for those that love you" Edelgard´s eyes were filled with sympathy, but looking at Baron Ochs he doubted he was listening to her words, his eyes were devoid of life. He really knew how he was feeling, as if his life had lost all purpose; feeling powerless and furious about the situation.

"I wish I was as strong as you, your majesty, but I am afraid that I cannot give up. I have the feeling that she must be still somewhere. I will do everything I can to bring her back, if I just gave up, my spouse wouldn´t forgive me, neither me"

"We have to stand by the side of the Baron, your majesty" said one of the mages accompanying Ochs. "The Monica we knew was a blessing and was the light that guided us all. Letting her fade away would be a betrayal to everything we hold dear. We do this not because of duty, but because of love"

"Love is truly another form of loyalty. I will keep my word; I will make sure that people like Monica don´t have to suffer in this world. Those willing to make such acts deserve no compassion"

"I appreciate what you said, but our audience is over then. I´ll continue my search, but first I need to head to the main market"

"The main market? It should be safe at this time of the day, but I recommend you keep an eye on your surroundings. Criminal bands are said to be fighting for its control. I will make sure to resolve this problem, but more urgent matters are slowing down the process"

"Don´t worry, your majesty"

"Out of curiosity, what are searching in the main market? Provisions are easier to obtain at the docks and the taverns are more suited to obtain information" Hubert said with an analytical look.

"What I do or not is none of your business" The Baron said with a nervous look. "I´ll leave them. I am sorry for wasting your time, your majesty"

"Farewell, Baron Ochs"

The Baron and his soldiers started to leave the room, although the Baron looked back twice before leaving.

"The Baron is clearly hiding something, his reaction to my question is evidence of it"

"In his state it would be unwise to leave him alone. Do you think that he is dealing with the likes of Solon?" he said looking at Hubert and Edelgard. Edelgard was acting her usual self, which was making him even more confused. He really wanted to talk with her alone, but for now he knew that the current matter was more urgent.

"It is true. He might be searching for something in exchange for her daughter. Desperation can bring people to their limits. We should intervene before the situation gets worse. I will personally go to the main market. He is one of my citizens after all"

"The Imperial guard will accompany you as well, your majesty"

"I hope that it doesn´t turn into a bloodbath, but if we have to fight, I won´t hold back" Hubert chuckled before looking at him. "It might be the last time we fight together before this scholar year ends. It is surely a strange feeling, although not an unwelcome one. Actually, I´m looking forward to it"

He accompanied them through the gates, his sword hand ready to get into action while his mind was still lingering about last night.

"Sometimes I´m not able to distinguish reality from illusions, but that must have been real. Otherwise, I wouldn´t have such vivid memories about it" he thought as they continued to approach the city under them.

Took some time because of issues, but I didn´t want to ruin the schedule. Hope you enjoy!