Chapter Summary: A sour reunion, followed by another.

Daybreak had barely come upon the Edmund estate when Marianne woke up that morning, shrugging off the blanket as she sat up, her expression pained. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she tried to think away what she recognized as a simple dream, one of an ideal life with her love…

Only to wake up to an empty bed, the covers half-used, just as they were every day for the past five years, serving only to upset her.

Storming her way to the vanity, she saw the way her hair tangled in uncomfortable directions, criss-crossed from her tossing and turning, as her hand reached for the brush. The bristles slowly made their work on the various knots and kinks in her cerulean locks, as her eyes looked at her bangs in the reflection, seeing the way they shaded her face. An almost-overwhelming feeling of hiding away washed over her, and so she placed the brush back down as a deep sigh made its way out of her mouth. A few long moments later, she found her fingers playing with her hair, pulling up to reveal more of her face as an impulse came to her, her eyes panning towards a pair of scissors.

"Do you have to go, mama?"

Marianne's head flicked down at her side as ultramarine eyes looked back at her. Small hands reached for the long blue fabric of her dress before pulling back slightly, uncertainty coming across the young girl's face.

"I have to, Lily," she answered, lowering herself to look at her daughter eye-to-eye. "I… I made a promise to some people I hold dear."

Lilith von Edmund had her mother's hair, all but the bangs pulled back by a floral-print headband, and her father's eyes, the same brilliant color before he was taken into Zahras by Solon. The same eyes reminding her of a painful absence in her life.

Looking away briefly, the four-year-old simply nodded before returning her mother's gaze. "Come back home safe, okay?"

"You don't have to go, Marianne." Margrave Edmund held an umbrella up as his daughter climbed into the carriage, a tired look across his features. His age was catching up to him, years upon years of making sure their territory was in order taking their toll.

"I made a promise, father."

"I know that look, you don't want to go. They'll understand if you don't show."

Settling into her seat, Marianne stewed in silence, her hands neatly in her lap. Closing her eyes as she sucked in a breath, she carefully planned her next words. "I keep my word, just as you've taught me," she said with a firm tone, her eyes flicking in his direction. She watched him taken aback, his grip on the umbrella wavering slightly as all of the water pelting the smooth surface ran down one side.

"Just… Just be safe." She mumbled an affirmative as his free hand closed the door, sealing her in as the horses pulled her away from the estate.

Byleth didn't expect to see a familiar face when he woke up. Claude von Riegan, his student, now the new leader of the Leicester Alliance, was there to greet the mercenary at the top of the stairs. Standing in the light beaming into the threshold from the outside world, the sunlight took to his sandy quilted doublet, the canary-yellow shoulder cloak, and the sash around his middle accompanied by a full set of sideburns cutting down towards his jaw. Five years since the braid from his school days.

Five years since their time at Garegg Mach.

Five years since he had fought alongside the Golden Deer.

And now, five years later, the two began fighting off thieves seeking to take from the monastery, with the rest of the Golden Deer slowly trickling in to reunite on their promised day.

Despite being split up all over the campus, they had done well composing themselves against the occupying bandits. Byleth and Claude eventually grouped up with Lorenz, Ignatz, Hilda, and Leonie along the western wall, while Marianne assisted Raphael and Lysithea in the Northeast corner. Pleasant words were exchanged between teacher and student whenever he positioned himself close… except from the Edmund heir, her eyes cast aside as she instead focused solely on decimating the enemy forces. Even when the remaining bandits were forced out after their leader's death, Marianne kept to herself, only looking ever so briefly towards the reassembled group whenever someone mentioned her name.

Once the church faculty returned, repair efforts started in earnest, and nary a moment of relaxation could be found. Sleeping quarters were prioritized, estimated to be finished before dinnertime, though as soon as they were completed, Marianne took to her room, closing herself away for the night.

When Lysithea came to her door to call her for dinner, she was answered by a negatory mumble followed by silence. The Ordelia heir was left in the hallway as concern took her mind, her feet already heading to the dining hall to bring back something for the older woman to eat. Eventually, with a plate in hand, she started walking back, eventually bumping into Byleth at an intersection.

"Good evening, professor," she greeted cheerily, though Byleth mentally took note of a slight shakiness in her brow—a sign of underlying worry. "Um, you're probably wondering why this plate of food isn't in the mess, right?"

"It has been quite a day." Manuela insisted that he take it easy regarding concerns of any effects from being gone for five years, but he continued his rounds regardless, catching up whenever he could. "Are you taking your meal to your room?"

The question was enough to surprise Lysithea, her throat bulging slightly as she audibly gulped. "No, no, it's for Marianne," she answered, as her eyes lit up, an idea popping into her head. "Actually, can you bring it to her? I… forgot I had to catch up with Raphael! Yeah, we were going to talk over dinner."

"I'm not sure if I should," he answered slowly, his eyebrows dropping with dubiety.

"I really do need to get going," she returned, pushing the plate into his hands before he could respond, pivoting on her heel and making her way back to the dining hall. 'Hopefully he's only on his second plate…'

The dark was a familiar comfort as she sat on the bed, her back against the wall, knees pulled close. She hadn't bothered to take her boots off as they pressed into the mattress.

Someone who she kept dear to her heart, a half-decade of her trying to move on, was back before her eyes, appearing exactly the same as when she last saw him. Meanwhile, the years since had seen its changes to herself, most recently the hastily-chopped bangs lying against her forehead.

"He's… he's just a phantom who's come back to haunt me," she said to herself before resting her forehead against her knees, her sight swamped by the blue fabrics over her legs before screwing her eyes shut. "I'll wake up in the morning, and he'll be gone… That's how it always goes." In that moment, she contemplated beginning another prayer, her hands already joined together, and so she started her usual internal chant—

"Marianne, are you there?"

Byleth's voice rang from the door as a few firm knocks followed, the deafening silence shattered in a few quick seconds before returning once more.

'If I don't talk, he'll think I've left already,' she thought to herself, her eyes planted on the door as she started praying for plan to come to fruition, only for the knob to start creaking, sending her mind into a panic as she realized she forgot to lock the door.

"I'll just leave this on the table—" he started, entering the room only to find Marianne mid-leap from her bed. The cerulean of her robes with its gold trim seemed to shimmer even in the dark, his eyes slowly rising to catch the pop of white at her neck. He saw her familiar braiding, her trimmed bangs, and finally the stony eyes he had come to love so much.

Making eye contact with him finally, every bone in her legs turned to gelatin, collapsing onto her knees. Her hands moved to hit herself on her thighs, pounding once before her fingers clamped onto the fabric and the skin underneath, damning her legs for giving out as her lip quivered and her eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern, hurriedly placing the plate on the nearby desk as he rushed towards her, watching her flinch when he placed a hand on her arm.

As if on cue, a sob broke from her mouth, accompanied by a violent shake of her shoulders and tears flooding out and down her cheeks. "N-no… I'm not," she answered in a heavy voice when the hiccuping finally gave her a clearing to speak. Soon, her body gave out, beginning to lean until his hands caught her, pulling her into an embrace.

"Talk to me, please," he pleaded, his tone gentle as he held onto the shaking woman.

Her hands barely ghosted over his body, mind racing as she tried to comprehend everything happening to her in that moment: the familiar weight of his arms wrapping around her, his reassuring voice filling her ears, and, most importantly, his very presence and warmth surrounding her. Mentally pushing herself forward, she let her arms drop, her hands softly landing on his body and catching themselves on his belt, finally acknowledging that, yes, he was real.

"I… I tried to tell myself you were dead," she started, a few lingering hiccups following as Byleth patted her back in an attempt to coax out any more. "Five years, I tried to tell myself that, and yet every night, I dream of all the times we've made each other happy. Waking up with you gone… Some days I started wishing I didn't wake from my slumber, to stay in my dreams where I could pretend to be happy.

"And I couldn't just move on, either. I could convince myself if I tried hard enough, but the hardest thing in the world is having to explain to a child why her other parent isn't in their life… I wasn't living for just myself in your absence, but instead for two of us. If I couldn't give myself resolution, what could I tell her?"

They remained silent as Byleth adjusted his hold on her body, unknowingly reassuring her of the moment they've found themselves in. Eventually, the two became acutely aware of their quiet solitude, their ears picking up the sounds of gentle exhaling from one another.

"I'm here now, Marianne. You and our child, I'll be here for both you," he said, his embrace tightening slightly, feeling her breath hitch.

"You're here now," she finally returned, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"So… we have a child?" Byleth asked, letting Marianne lean back against him as they sat on the bed, her head rubbing just under his chin as he watched her nod in his periphery.

"Her name is Lilith," she answered, her head craning back to look at him as best she could, barely getting his ear in her vision.

"When's her birthday?"

"The fifteenth day of the Verdant Rain Moon. She'll be five this year." Turning her shoulders further, she watched his near-blank expression, a long silence settling over them. "Byleth?"

"Verdant Rain Moon…"

"Huh?"

"She's four right now, correct?" he inquired, answered by a soft nod. A low chuckle escaped his mouth, nuzzling his chin against the crown of her head. "I guess she was your birthday gift, wasn't it?"

A warmth flooded her cheeks as she squirmed in his grasp, her head pressing hard against his collar as she shut her eyes, huffing. "That's all you're taking from this?"

"It is something I'll take away, but…" he drawled, pressing a soft kiss behind her braid, "I know I really want to meet her. What's she like?"

"She's… she definitely takes after her father," she answered slowly, her hands placing themselves over his as she relaxed against him once more. "She can be a bit stubborn, she has the occasional moment of silliness—"

"I'm not silly."

"There's that stubbornness." Marianne's fingers reached for one of Byleth's thumbs, pulling it around slightly as she thought of what else to say. "... Despite that, she's very determined at times, just like you."

"You're determined, too."

"Well, I only know what I can see," she said, attempting to look back at him again. "I missed this."

"I missed this too," he returned, softly pulling his hand from under both of hers before settling on her hips, appreciating her presence under him.

Then he suddenly yanked the both of them onto their side.

"Wait—!" A laugh exploded out of her mouth, only to be silenced as Byleth briefly pressed his lips against hers before pulling back. "It's been a long time, are you sure you don't want to take this slowly?"

"I've been gone for five years, I've got a lot of time to make up for," he answered, dipping back down for another kiss.

"THAT was your plan?" Raphael bellowed out a laugh as he placed his silverware to the sides of the plate, a half-eaten fourth serving as Lysithea tucked into a citrus sorbet.

"It was either that, or have the two of them skirt around each other," she returned, pointing her spoon at her eating companion. "You saw them on the battlefield, they were…" Pointing at her eyes, her purple orbs flicked to the sides repeatedly in an attempt to mime their awkward glances until she saw Claude slowly enter the dining hall.

Approaching their table, the Alliance leader sat himself down, a mile-long stare burning into the table as his hands folded themselves on the placemat.

"Hey, are you alright? Raphael asked, leaning towards Claude in concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"In a sense, I have." His index fingers tapped twice before looking at the other two. "Were Teach and Marianne always involved in… that way?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… were they always... intimate?"

"You're asking that now?" Lysithea asked, leaning forwards slightly as she ate a spoonful of sorbet. "They have a kid."

"Since when?"

"Since when—she turned four last year! You were there! She called you Uncle Claude!"

"Oh yeah… That happened. Wait, how do you guys know?"

Raphael and Lysithea shared a look before turning their attention back towards Claude.

Raphael took his fork to his food before composing himself. "Well, I sort of pieced it together, and everyone else told me when I brought it up. What about you, Lysithea?"

"I walked in on them," she answered, placing her spoon down. "It was actually the night we were assigned reading on staves and bows."

"So, that's why you were outside of Teach's office that night?"

"Y-yeah… I mean, everyone else found out eventually, but at the time it was so jarring."

Claude slowly leaned forward, his hands moving to prop himself over the table. "Wait, so they were doing it in his office too?"

Lysithea's eyebrow quirked. "I walked in on them making out, if that's what you're asking."

Bending his arms to let his hands tent over his mouth, Claude let a breath escape his nose. "Clearly, we're on two separate threads…"

Author's Notes: NEW BERKUT AND RINEA IN FEH, IT HYPED ME UP SO MUCH I SHOT THIS CHAPTER OUT! I'll definitely have to do a Heroes-related chapter, and hopefully I can summon them in real life.

I did Claude's reaction, but I don't really have any interest in doing the others (maybe Hilda giving Marianne hints that she knows pre-timeskip). I mean, it would just be another "Oh hey I didn't know this was going on" "Oh yeah I knew" schtick again, though tying it into making the Golden Deer one big family was fairly interesting for me.

This was very much a mirror of Chapter 6, which may be good or bad depending on perspective.