Part 2 — Ethereal Moon

After Pallardó was defeated, the Blue Lions discovered the man Dimitri killed was a decoy. Even with the Prince of Faerghus out of commission, the true bandit leader was easy to track and defeat, freeing the outskirt village from its occupation.

With his former students and the remnants of the Church of Seiros in tow, Byleth returned to Garreg Mach Monastery. The small army quickly takes back the abandoned space and repopulates its decrepit halls, with the Blue Lions staking claims in their old dormitories. All but Dimitri, who continues to linger in the Grand Cathedral like a ghost, rarely making his way outside and even more rarely acknowledging the presence of anyone but the voices in his mind.

Though the Prince remains ignorant to the rebirth of Garreg Mach, word of its use as a base for the resistance carries on the wind to all three corners of Fódlan.

"So, what should we do with His Highness?"

Byleth looks to Gilbert with the slightest bit of dismay, evidenced by his lower eyelids tightening up.

"You ask like he can't hear you." His voice is deadpan.

"I know he can," Gilbert responds as he closes his eyes and ducks his head. "And yet, he's been catatonic for days. Who knows what he truly hears."

The Professor slowly turns his attention back to Dimitri. He would have blended seamlessly into the mountain of debris he stood before, like a broken statue in perpetual prayer, without the occasional breath raising his chest. Even standing at one of the ruined cathedral's pews a fair distance back, Byleth could smell the unwashed musk of battle coming off the Prince from their mission nearly a week prior, though he was certain that had only compounded upon the multiple years worth of sweat and viscera matted down by the mud caking his armor. It was a wonder this scarecrow had ever walked amongst his students, talking and eating as though there was a purpose to it all.

"Astonishing, is it not?"

When Byleth glances back toward Gilbert he found the tables had turned. Now the older knight had his wizened, tired blue eyes boring into the former mercenary's soul, trying to extract all of his feelings.

"The Church of Seiros had thought Dimitri our best option to turn the tide and push back against the Empire. But the boy merely fluctuates between grinding his foes into powder and himself blowing away like sawdust in the breeze." Each of Gilbert's words was delivered slower than the last. Byleth could tell he was trying to make sure each expression encapsulated his thoughts.

"Astute use of woodworking wordplay hasn't grown tiresome in all these years I take it?"

At first it seems Gilbert takes Byleth's dig with joyless indifference, but he soon cracks a smile.

"Once a hobbyist," he replies through a chortle. Then, the man brushes back some of his greying orange locks before continuing the old train of thought.

"All I mean to say is I understand what you must be imagining, Professor. I helped raise Dimitri, and it's hard to picture that young boy would one day fall into this pit of despair." Gilbert closes his eyes again and exhales through his nose, a haggard sound. "Losing Dedue must have been quite the blow."

Byleth nods.

"On us all," he says as straight as possible to hold in his own throngs of pain. "But for Dimitri, it was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back."

"Indeed."

Gilbert pats Byleth on the shoulder before gripping it. Byleth could not tell whether this was a platonic gesture or a paternal one, but either way he felt its comfort.

"I just wish we would have known back then."

Both Byleth and Gilbert look to the pew across the aisle from where they stood, where Ashe sat with his arms between his legs and his head nearly as low. The archer's energy was downtrodden as he stared at his twiddling fingers.

"Goddess knows I would have done everything in my power to try and mend His Highness' heart." Ashe swallows his words, sounding on the verge of tears.

"The sentiment is appreciated, Ashe." Gilbert's lips tweak into a smile, and then just as quickly falter. "But there are some wounds that simply do not heal, no matter how much we would like them to."

Ashe's breath hitches.

"I know…"

"The important thing is, you and your friends are here to help where you can."

The old knight turns and walks over to join Ashe in the rightmost pew. Even before Gilbert began to rub the archer's back, Byleth could see how close the two had become with the onset of the war.

"That goes double for you, Felix." Gilbert glances to the back, where the heir to the Dukedom of Fraldarius leans against the wall beside the cathedral's closed double doors. "I know you've been watching over His Highness since we arrived."

Felix offers Gilbert one of his patented venomous glares before looking away with an apathetic scoff.

"Don't misconstrue. I'm here to make sure you aren't maimed by the beast, old man."

Gilbert breathes a quick laugh. "As you were, then."

Just as the massive room settles into silence once more, the doors at the back begin to slowly creak open. Ashe jumps to attention and prepares his bow. Felix, too, steps aside and draws his blade, holding it up by his head with both hands. Even Byleth cautions his grasp around the hilt of his sword; on the off chance this unexpected visitor was hostile.

Once the doors are wide enough, Felix steps into the beam of light the opening casts and holds the tip of his weapon to a woman's neck.

She gasps and holds still, both hands gripping the light blue fabric of her dress that was exposed under the veil that stretched around her shoulders.

"Well," Marianne says softly. After swallowing a lump past the sword pointed at her throat, she offers a thin-lipped smile. "Quite the welcoming party."

From afar, Ashe gasps and Gilbert rises from his seat. Only the Prince is indifferent to the girl's presence, silhouetted against the mid-day light as though she had descended from the Goddess' side.

Felix squints as he pulls back his sword and slides it into its scabbard.

"I'll be damned," he scoffs. "Look what the cats dragged in."

"It's a pleasure to see you too, Felix."

The blue-haired maiden curtsies out the left side of her floor-length dress and offers Felix her other hand. He takes it, though as they shake his sharp orange eyes are laser-focused on the top of her head.

"You keep your hair up now," he says while taking his hand back and bending it against his hip.

"Not unlike yourself."

The reply was quick and confident. Clearly Felix notices, and he smirks.

"Well, it suits you."

Marianne smiles, and has to restrain herself by pulling her folded hands closer to her body.

"I think so too."

At that point, Ashe had just enough time to reach the back of the cathedral, where he embraces the Golden Deer's former cleric. It doesn't take her long to move past the shellshock and hug him.

"It's been too long, Marianne." Ashe pulls his head back enough to beam at her without losing his grip.

"Yes, yes." she replies while tilting her head ever so slightly to the side, cheeks flushing as the overabundance of contact still seemed a bit much for her. "Hopefully I'm not quite as ghastly as the last time we ran into each other here."

Ashe steps away and rubs his neck, playing off that comment with a nervous laugh.

"It was late that night is all. Otherwise I would not have been so… Surprised."

Byleth stops behind Ashe and crosses his arms. All three of the former students turn to face him.

"Is this a story I should be aware of?" The man asks, his grassy-green hair iridescent in the light.

Marianne smiles up at him, and he can't help but smile back.

"Perhaps some other time, Professor." That confidence melts away in an instant as she peers downward, second-guessing her words. "Erm. If I can still call you that."

"You wouldn't be the only one."

She looks up to find his smile remaining, which picks up her spirits.

"It is so wonderful to hear your voice again. I knew my prayers to the Goddess had not gone unanswered."

Byleth nods. Nothing warmed his unbeating heart more than knowing time had been kind to Marianne, perhaps more than any of his former students. Everyone in the room could see the way she carried herself, actively striving to join conversations rather than circumnavigate them. Her cheeks were fuller and rosier, so he knew she had come to take better care of herself too. Perhaps the days of watching the girl skip meals by pushing food around on her plate to make it look emptier had passed in the last five years.

But before the happy reunion can go on, he notices Marianne trying to crane her neck ever so slightly to see around him. He knew what this was about, but didn't have to bring it up before she did on her own.

"I was told I could find Dimitri here," she says. His name came with a slight hesitation, as if she had to force it out. "He was the one that… Invited me."

Byleth's smile fades into his usual stone-faced expression as he steps aside. Marianne can see the Prince out in the center of the room, past Gilbert. He hadn't moved.

The blue-haired girl only gets a step closer to the comatose Prince before she's stopped by Felix's hand blocking her way. She looks to him with surprise.

"You'd do best to stay away from him," Felix says.

Marianne stares at him for a moment, her greyish eyes darting all over his face to try and glean any hint of whatever he was trying to put across.

"I feel as though we've had this conversation before, Felix." She hastens to offer him a halfhearted smile, hoping she was in on the joke. "Regarding who I choose to fraternize with."

Rather than growing angry, as he was known to do, Felix closes his eyes and pulls his hand back, crossing both arms over his chest. When he opens his eyes again they were cast toward Dimitri.

"I mean it this time." There's a momentary forlorn sadness to his gaze, but it shifts into a snarl. "The man you once knew is dead and gone. Only the Boar Prince remains, and he will not hesitate to tear you asunder."

"Felix!"

Ashe tries to push the raven-haired boy away, only to back off when he receives a deathly glare in return.

"This is Marianne we're talking about," the archer says while gesturing to her. "Dimitri would never."

Marianne looks between the two boys a few times, her energy deflating. She looks to Dimitri in the distance, so close and yet so far. Could he really be gone?

"Unfortunately, I have to side with Felix on this one." Byleth steps between the surprised noble and the Prince. "Given what we've seen of him, I have no idea how Dimitri is fit to act in any given situation. It would be best for you to keep a safe distance until it's clear he is amicable to your presence."

The girl's eyes start to well with tears as she meets Byleth's gaze, knowing he was serious. She looks away to steady her emotions before her eyes entirely glass over.

"I see," she mumbles.

After clearing her throat, Marianne puffs out her chest and looks up at Byleth again. "I would still like to join your cause, if you would have me."

Felix and Ashe look to each other as Byleth breaks another smile.

"As though you think we could bear to turn you away, Marianne."

She pulls him into a hug, and they embrace for a long while. Eventually, she opens her eyes and stares off at the mop of blond hair in the distance over the Professor's shoulder. Before she can feel her heart shatter, Byleth mends it with a careful whisper.

"I'm sure one day you'll be able to tell him what you need to."