*Peering around the corner* "Hello? Is anyone their? Does anyone remember me?"

*Ahem* Yes, hello! I have returned at long last! I was so traumatised by how bad my last bit of writing was that I disappeared for nearly a whole year. But when this idea came to mind, I had to put it into words.

I would just like to say that yes, both 'Reasons to Fight' and 'Together Again?' are still scheduled in for an update from me which will happen, I just needed to share some of my love for Female Byleth x Dimitri. I am reluctant to start another huge story at the moment so this is all you're getting for now but I'm really proud of it. It just poured out of my soul.

Dimitri for me is what Chrom could've become after a certain traumatic event if he didn't have Robin there to guide him so it's no wonder that I love his pairing with Byleth. It's just such a natural relationship and I love it.

So without further ado, here is the story for you lovely readers to digest.

*Warning* Definite and potential spoilers for both pre-timeskip and post-timeskip content especially for the Blue Lions.

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with 'Fire Emblem [Three Houses]', its locations, characters etc. All rights go to their respective owners.

Rated T. (*Warning* Contains mild violence and references to blood, murder and death.)

Shattered Bonds

Byleth stood there in the pouring rain, staring at the broad back of the blonde haired man in front of her. The droplets of water streaming down her face seemed to be acting as a form of tears for her as she waited in silence for him to say something.

"You could have saved him?" Dimitri growled lowly in his throat.

She didn't answer him. She had no idea how he'd found out what she was capable of but she knew that trying to justify her lack of an attempt would only bring her former student's anger down upon her even harder.

She remembered the Dimitri from five years previous almost like it was yesterday. He had his inner demons and a darkness that he found difficult to overcome but he was still so kind and gentle especially with her and the Blue Lions. He was so honourable and respectful and he had been the one to help pull her out of her own darkness, he'd been the one to help teach her to smile and to laugh and had reassured her that it was okay to cry from time to time.

She recalled seeing the moment he snapped with her own eyes, the way he lost control of all the composure that he had spent so long building up. It had...startled her to say the least, seeing the violence unleash out of him like a tidal wave but even so, she couldn't help but yearn to help him and to support him no matter what and so- when she returned after her five year absence- she returned to that role of being someone who would stay by him come what may.

Which was why as she stood there looking upon him now, she couldn't help but be fearful of the consequences of him finding out about her ability to bring those who had been lost back with Divine Pulse- an ability given to her by Sothis- an ability that she despised using as even though it could save lives, she still had to witness her friends and her allies gruesome deaths or injuries first and so she preferred to get things right the first time.

She may have been seen by the people around her as uncaring and unemotional but that was far from the case, she'd just never had many opportunities before becoming a teacher to learn how to feel about things. she felt the need to be strong no matter what and that was both her blessing and her curse.

"I may have been able to..." She reluctantly admitted. "But there was no guarantee that-"

His head snapped around to face her, his blue eye bright with his anger and misery. "Then why didn't you try?" He cried out.

Again she said nothing and turned away from him.

"Rodrigue was like a second father to me, he was the only family I had left and you- you left him to die."

Byleth stepped towards him "No Dimitri, that wasn't the case-"

"Did you try to save him?"

Her head tilted curiously as she tried to think what he was referring to.

"Don't play dumb with me, Jeralt; did you try to save Jeralt?!"

Her mind snapped back to that terrible day, the day on which she lost her father, a man who was always so steadfast and reliable. Who taught her everything from combat to fishing and who was beloved by all who met him.

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"Sorry...it looks like...I'm going to have to leave you now."

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Those words still haunted her, she felt as if she was going to be all alone for the rest of her days. She never knew her mother and in that fateful moment she lost her father.

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"...To think that the first time I saw you cry, your tears would be for me."

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The first time she'd ever cried. If Dimitri had taught her that it was okay to cry, her father's death had given her the ability to finally do it. She hated crying- she hated that it was the last thing he saw and the last thing she ever did for him. She never got the chance to tell him she loved him, she never got the chance to make him proud of her and she never got to learn all about him and her mother.

Her hand clenched into a fist which she stared at as she answered him hoarsely, "Yes...yes I did. I did try to save my father." She looked up at him then. "But it failed, Dimitri, it failed. Even with the ability I possessed, I couldn't save my father. I had to watch as he died twice."

He stormed up to her looking like rage personified. "But you still tried. You still tried to save your father! What made him so much more important than Rodirigue, huh?! Why do you get to try to save those around you? Why do you get to decide who lives and who dies?"

Something inside of her snapped then. As she stared at her former student, the man who had been the one who truly helped her after Jeralt's passing, she couldn't take it anymore. Her own rage, her own anger boiled until...until...

*SLAP*

Dimitri's head snapped to the side with the force of her hit. "I already told you that I couldn't save him. On that day- in that moment, I couldn't save my own flesh and blood. I had no choice whether he lived or died despite my power, did you really want me to risk the same thing happening to Rodrigue? You may not have remembered seeing him die twice but I would have. I'd have had to watch as I failed you again and I've already failed you so many times before. I'd have had to watch you suffer again."

It was then that she felt the warmth of tears mixing in with the cold of the rain. When she'd saw Dimitri again after those five years all alone, bundled up in a corner covered head to toe in blood believing that she had come back only to haunt him, she knew that she had failed as both a teacher and as a friend. She'd left him to toil alone and all she wanted in that moment was to help him no matter what.

But now she wondered if she was truly capable of that. It wasn't the first time she had doubted her abilities to help him- it seemed as if the bond that they'd built up had been forever shattered by her disappearance and subsequent abandonment of him but now, with him knowing that she might have been able to save Rodrigue, the one person who was finally getting through to him, she wondered if this was the end of all she could do for him, had their bond now not just been shattered but thrown to the wind, never to return?

Dimitri breathed heavily for a moment, his hand coming up to his face to rub his cheek before turning to look at her with anger all over his expression but the second he saw that Byleth was crying, his eye widened and all his anger seemed to dissipate in an instant. It had been so long since he'd last seen her cry and some part of him deep down recalled how much it had hurt him younger self to see her in so much pain. Since the moment he first met her, he'd wanted to impress her and eventually that developed into a crush before developing into something more on his part which made those five years without her even more unbearable. He'd thought that yet again- someone he treasured had died and left him behind to bear their burdens.

It was so long ago when he repressed any feelings he may have had not just towards her but to anyone he once considered a friend. But now with him questioning so much about his chosen path, seeing her this way reminded him of what their bond had once been. Of when he used to comfort her and she used to reassure him.

He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Byleth, I know that you must have had your reasons and- as always- they were about trying to protect me from anymore pain." A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "And...they were also about trying to protect yourself-"

Byleth opened her mouth to protest but he held up a hand to stop her.

"I aren't blaming you it's just...you've always been so strong and capable that I forget that on occasion, you need protecting. Heh, I mean look at me; I only had to see the people around me die once and I am already so destroyed by their deaths that I practically bathe myself in others' blood in a bid to avenge them and to appease them. I couldn't imagine what I would be like if I had an ability to save them and I failed and had to watch them die again so for my to ask you to sacrifice your humanity just for the sake of my trying to reclaim some of my own...it was selfish of me."

He felt her hand come to rest against his arm, her tears long since dried and the rain finally starting to let up. "Dimitri, for you, the Blue Lions and for all of your futures, I would sacrifice anything if asked because...I was your professor and you were my precious students and I have so much to make up for for failing you all then.

"You will always have more humanity than I ever had, you didn't have to be 'taught' how to feel emotions and-" She placed her hand against his chest, feeling the heartbeat that pulsed underneath. "You have this, your heart. That is the one thing I can never have. If anyone is in a position to sacrifice their humanity then it's me."

Byleth moved both of her hands to grip either side of his face, forcing him to meet her gaze head on. "But I believe that deep down we are both human- we both have humanity within us even now. I've seen how you are with the children in the monastery, I've seen you have doubts about your actions and show kindness and concern for both me and others...and you've seen me cry and seen me angry. We both have our reasons to feel so alone and so different, to feel like it's okay if we are sacrificed for the sake of others but it isn't because we deserve to live just like them."

Dimitri made a noise of disgust. "You may do, but as for me? With all that I've done?" All the blood I've Spilt?-"

"I've spilt blood."

"All the lives I've taken?"

"I've taken lives."

"The revenge that I have used to justify every single action I've taken?"

"Revenge once controlled my every action as well."

He tilted his head up, closing his eye as he felt the last few droplets of rain hit his cheeks.

"After my father's death, you told me that it was okay to grieve, that it was okay to not just want to run headlong into the future without taking a break to decide what I should do next and so I am passing your wisdom back onto you. I want you to take your time to grieve, I want you to decide what your future should hold from here on out and no matter what conclusion you come to, I shall be by your side, not as your professor but as your friend that wants whatever is best for you."

"Whatever is best for me." He whispered before finally pulling away. Without another word, he turned away from Byleth, needing to put some sort of distance between them, her kindness feeling too much for him in that moment. His cloak billowing behind him, he walked away.

As for Byleth, she just stood there watching him go as the sun began to show through the clouds. She knew that there was still a ways to go but she couldn't help but smile as she thought that maybe their previously shattered bond could be fixed once again.

So...I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you liked my characterisation for both Dimitri and Byleth. It doesn't take a genius to work out where this is placed time-wise within the Blue Lions route and I hope it feels as natural to you as it does to me. Until next time. xXx