They believe her.
One by one, their eyes slip away from their Professor and go to one another. It's difficult to look at one another and see beyond the sense of betrayal, loss, and so much more that colors the person they look at. Dimitri's madness and the blood-thirsty quest for revenge, Edelgard's tyranny and heartless betrayal, and Claude's apathy and cunning manipulation of all those around him like pieces on a game board. Each of them stands there because of the choices they've had to make, the sacrifices of other people, and the blood they've spilled and people they have had to walk away from along the way.
Claude is the first one to speak after that. "If you do kill all three of us, you… do realize what will happen to you, don't you, Teach? You'll have the Alliance, the Kingdom, the Church, and the Empire after you."
"I do." Two words, simply spoken and utterly devoid of emotion, is Byleth's response to them.
"That would make you another King of Liberation." Dimitri manages. "Do you truly find that acceptable?"
Her face is identical to the one they all knew from their fateful encounter, back before all this mess about assassination and betrayal had come to light. Cold, expressionless, and impossible to read. It says that she not only finds it acceptable but if that's the only way to win the war? She will do it, regardless of what it will cost her to do so. At that moment, she isn't on the same playing field as the rest of them; she's above them and as out of reach as they all initially believed her to be before they'd gotten to know her.
They don't like the Ashen Demon's visage.
"Stop it." Edelgard's voice is strained.
They look to her. She's looking at them as though she's only just now understanding the magnitude of her actions as well as their own. Her eyes are on Byleth in particular. "There is no need to go…"
"To go that far? One might say those words have been said to you on many an occasion, Emperor." Dimitri bites at her. "You are the last of us worthy of admonishing the Professor over such a decision."
"You have no right to lecture either of us, Dimitri, what with your careless savagery and destruction of whoever is in your path." Edelgard snaps back at him. "I have seen the barbaric injuries inflicted upon my soldiers as well as your own."
"And they're back at it again," Claude comments with a shake of his head and a wry upturn of his lips. He sidled a little closer to the mercenary who could end it all with a few well-timed cuts of her Relic and gestures for her to take a seat on the ground next to him. His elbows rest on his knees as he watches the two leaders argue back and forth over who is less worthy of offering lectures, who the bigger hypocrite happens to be, and which of them is less worthy of forgiveness in the long run. "You'd think they'd see how similar they are to one another after all of this."
"They do." Her voice still hasn't lost that emotionless inflection from earlier. "That's why they fight like this; they see themselves when they look at one another and they don't like it."
"Fair enough, so where does that leave me in that little mess?" Claude teases her, trying to get her to open back up. "Which one am I closest to?"
"Me." She replies without missing a beat and turns her attention to him. "But then, you already knew that, didn't you?"
His breath gets stuck somewhere in the middle of his throat. Claude feels the moment his heart skips a beat at the level look she's giving him. She knew he'd already considered her ultimatum- not actually following through with his own death, mind you, but faking it and disappearing to end the war entirely if no other solution could be found. For a moment, he wonders if she's been doing a little investigating of her own and found out his much detested nickname among the Alliance.
Both of them outsiders, strangers really, to Fodlan's Crest System. Strangers to the people. Both of them focused on tactics in order to keep themselves and those around them alive to see another day. At any and all costs.
He coughs quietly to clear his throat and changes the subject. "You never did say what you wanted, other than the war to end."
"I wanted to see you three graduate from the Academy." Byleth tells him quietly. Claude winces at the sincerity and sadness in her voice. He can't wait to hit the other two with that little nugget of information and see them be gutted by guilt too.
"What about if the war ended, what would you do?" He tries a different angle.
"...return to Garreg Mach. At least for a little while." She watches the gestures Dimitri and Edelgard make, careful to ensure none of them are aimed at one another or could be interpreted as instigating a physical brawl. "It's as close to 'home' as I know, the longest I've ever spent in one place as well."
Ouch. He winces again. If Edelgard and Dimitri were here and listening to this, he can only imagine the progress they might be able to make. He'll really enjoy telling them and adding a couple embellishments here and there just in case it doesn't guilt them enough to cooperating. "Did you really enjoy teaching us?"
He thinks he sees a ghost of a smile on her lips. "Not at first."
"Too wild?" He teases. "Too smart? Too good-looking?"
She chuckles and shakes her head. "Wild is a good word for it. Wild, curious, and carefree. Maybe careless is a better word. I was a stranger to you all and you should have kept your distance." She watches the way Edelgard shakes her head and Dimitri's arms fold, unyielding, over his chest. "Bernadetta was one of the first to see me, in private, out of all of you."
Given what little he knew of the reclusive member of the former Black Eagles? That was seriously impressive.
"At some point, I became accustomed to the interruptions. To all of you calling out to me on the monastery grounds or seeking me out for serious and non-serious matters." Byleth thinks back to when she'd been sought out by some of the students for no reason other than they wanted to be around her and talk to her about… anything, really. Life. Clothing- she was still mystified on that one- and romance, of course. That one had been an interesting conversation.
"Before long, you became important to me and I found myself wanting to see and help you grow."
Claude feels the weight of the future more heavily than ever.
Byleth, in spite of her best efforts not to, slumped over and fell asleep with her head resting against his shoulder. He's had dreams of these moments, of the two of them talking about the past, the present, and what their ideal future would look like. He looks down at her now and sees the dark shadows under her eyes, the beginning of lines against the corner of her mouth and at the center of her brow. He doesn't know how long she's been going since she woke up, but if he were in her position and had fallen asleep or whatever for five years?
He'd be terrified of going back to sleep and having even more time pass him by.
Dimitri and Edelgard haven't spoken in about ten minutes, too busy glaring at one another and looking for the right words to cut each other back down to size. Or, at least, bring up an argument that wouldn't be repeating themselves. Claude carefully lifts his free hand and waves it to get their attention.
Edelgard looks first, Dimitri follows her change. Both of them blink at him and then look to the sleeping face of the professor on his shoulder. He mimes their capes on their shoulder with a tap to his own and gestures to Byleth as though covering her with a blanket. They look at him, blank-faced and not quite understanding, and he mouths the words 'Help me.' and waits.
Dimitri catches on quickly, for once, than Edelgard does and removes the heavy fur and his cloak off of his back and carefully walks over. For such a big man in armor, he moves alarmingly quiet and Claude gives him a sidelong look in return as he kneels down and gently tucks the blue cloak around her shoulders.
Edelgard, not to be outdone, unclasps hers and the heavy pauldrons that they're attached to and quietly places the latter down before approaching with her own brilliant scarlet cloak. The two of them work together to move her just enough to tuck the red fabric behind her and overlap the blue for better coverage.
She looks at Claude and her lips move slower than need be so that he can catch what she's saying without having to risk waking the professor. 'Is she okay?'
Claude points to his eyes and offers a brief half-smile. Both of them peer closer and wear matching frowns in response. She's out and breathing deeply. Dimitri and Edelgard each carefully hold her shoulders to keep her from slumping over entirely as Claude reluctantly extracts himself. His cloak is removed, folded neatly, and tucked under his arm as he gestures for Dimitri to give him the fur. Heavy as it is, it'll make a good pad and keep the cold from leeching the heat out of her. He lays the furs on the ground and his cloak is used as a makeshift pillow as they carefully ease her down and on to the furs. The cloaks are tucked back around her to cover as much of her as possible before the three of them retreat to the other side of the room.
She looks like a terrible child's painting; a blob of pale skin and bright green hair standing out against a background of vibrant yellow, blue, and red.
The three of them stand there and watch her for several minutes. They didn't know what the hell they were doing without her there to help them, to guide them, and let them know if they were being foolish. Now that she was there, they didn't know what to do with her or for her.
"So," Claude breaks the silence in his own way and gives them a look. "Who's interested in hearing what Teach wants?"
Edelgard and Dimitri give him their undivided attention and Claude steels himself for a very long night.