As I figured, schoolwork made the production of the prompt I was the most looking forward to be a bit difficult. Regardless, with my schoolwork done and a 100 on a quiz, I powered on through with this one.
Honestly, while… quite a lot of my first playthrough with Three Houses will be very much "I figure it out as I go" and "consult a Three Houses Discord I'm a part of for some advice", I do have two small plans. First off is getting Bernadetta and Annette in the house. Second off, Marianne will be my dancer. That's… all I really got. I saw Marianne in the dancer outfit and I really loved how she looked in it, plus I heard that she's got good stats for it.
Otherwise… not much else to really say. Hope you like this one.
Disclaimers: Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo, Intelligent Systems, Koei Techmo, etc.
"You… want me to dance?" Marianne questioned as she looked over the flyer for the White Heron Cup.
"Yeah," Byleth nodded.
"...um… why me?" Marianne asked.
"Because I have faith in you. There's nobody else I'd rather trust this with," Byleth told her in a calm tone.
This left Marianne to blush a little bit in response as she saw the look of belief that Byleth had on his face. She took a moment to calm herself before nodding, "...alright. I'll give it my best shot."
"Glad to hear," Byleth smiled. With that, he headed off to go inform Manuela about the choice for the Golden Deer.
Marianne just stood there for a moment before she let out a heavy sigh, "Oh… what have I gotten myself into?"
Thus, over the next few days, Marianne was practicing her dancing with the two other representatives in order to make sure they were all ready. Marianne had some nervous expressions as she practiced, but she kept at it.
"You can do this. I believe in you," Byleth chimed in.
Marianne faintly blushed at that, yet was able to maintain her focus on the practice that she had to do.
It was two days before the White Heron Cup would occur, and Marianne was currently sitting at the tea table with Byleth and the two really hadn't said much to each-other.
After a moment, Marianne ended up finally saying something, "...I'm worried."
"...about?"
"The White Heron Cup. I'm… just… really worried about it…" Marianne admitted, nervously tugging at a strand of her hair.
Byleth gave a small look at her, then he got up and offered his hand to her.
"Huh?"
"Why don't I help you practice just a little more? Make sure you at least have a bit more confidence," Byleth offered.
Marianne began to blush before she took Byleth's hand and got up. Thus, the two danced together a little, and Marianne felt a bit at ease as she danced alongside him. Both remained silent as they continued along with the dance for a bit, only to stop after a few minutes.
"...thank you…" Marianne whispered.
"No problem."
Thus, the day of the White Heron Cup arrived. Marianne saw that Edelgard and Felix were her competition.
"Um… best of luck…" she told the two of them.
"Thank you," Edelgard responded before the three lined up for the judges to see.
Marianne gave a small, calming, breath before she awaited her turn to perform. As she waited her turn, she could feel her nerves slowly begin to bubble back up, but she then closed her eyes in order to ignore what was around her. Soon, her turn came up and she walked forward with her eyes still closed.
"Whenever you're ready," Aolis told her.
She gave a small nod and then began to visualize Byleth was alongside her before she started dancing. Marianne gracefully danced around the room, with the various students from the other classes looking on in amazement. Byleth couldn't help but smile as he watched her dance.
Once she finished, Marianne took a graceful bow and opened her eyes. After a moment, the gathered students all clapped for her, making her nervously blush.
"I… still can't believe it…" Marianne admitted as she looked to the certificate that indicated she was the winner and could promote to the Dancer class.
"You've more than earned it," Byleth assured her.
"Thank you. ...I couldn't have done it without your support…" Marianne informed, "I just pictured you by my side… and I was able to be calm."
At that, Byleth began to blush a little. He nervously chuckled a bit as he handed her the test that she needed for the class change.
"...um… I know that… teachers aren't supposed to dance, but… um… would you… like to dance at the ball?" Marianne nervously asked.
"Sure," Byleth nodded.
The night of the Grand Ball soon arrived and Byleth had a short dance with the three house leaders before he simply awaited Marrianne for their dance together. While Seteth had given him an annoyed look at accepting the offer to dance, the fact that Seteth gleefully began to dance with Manuela simply made Byleth shrug off the other teacher's looks.
"Hello…" Marianne soon spoke, walking over to Byleth's side.
Byleth then offered her his hand and they proceeded to dance together. They simply kept their eyes on each-other as they went about dancing and just smiled at each-other. A few of the Golden Deer watched the two of them dance together, yet they didn't stop as, to them, the only ones around were each-other.
"Thank you…" Marianne told him.
"For what?"
"Convincing me to dance. I promise I'll support you as much as I can…"
"No problem," Byleth smiled.
Just sweet stuff. This is one I had fun with, even though it did end up being a bit shorter than I thought it would be. Oh well. Is what it is.
Favorite part has to be the dance at the ball. Just… sweet to imagine.
There was one scene that I ended up cutting out, which was an exchange between Sothis and Byleth with the former asking how much of him wanting Marianne to be the dancer was out of wanting to see her in the outfit. I thought it sounded a little wrong and decided to give it the axe from the story. Just something I felt was interesting to remark on.
And, next time, this will end up surpassing the Akiba Week story in terms of chapters released.
Just Live More.