AN: Hey everyone! Good news, I'm not dead and this story is NOT going on a six month hiatus (or getting abandoned)! Yipee!
Now, some explanation is in order, so here it is: the first draft of this chapter SUCKED. It was ASS. I HATED IT. It sucked so bad that I couldn't just post it with minimum editing like the previous chapter, it needed to be RESTRUCTURED FROM THE GROUND UP. Now, rewriting a whole chapter is a already big feat, but having to deal with final college assignments and five trillion work shifts on top of that? OOF.
TL;DR, I spent the past two weeks molding this 13k freak of a chapter into something I would like it and I think I like it now! I think. I'll look back at it tomorrow and see lol. Anywho, sorry for any copy and proofreading errors once more, as I was more focused on substantially editing this thing this time around.
Now! I DO have some good news though! To make up for the two weeks I missed, you'll be getting TWO NEW CHAPTERS THIS WEEK! WHAT? Yup! Expect another chapter on Wednesday as well as your regularly programmed Friday angst, friends (hopefully I won't look at them and hate them like I did this one but I don't think that'll happen again hopefully)!
Before we continue, let's hear it from the lovely folks who took the time to comment!
Hal: Welcome back! I'm glad you enjoyed the OG story and that you're enjoying the rewrite thus far as well! And I love writing Dimitri so I'm glad you enjoy the way I write him!
Guest: OOOH yeah, the first day was nooooot great lol and it'll certainly take awhile before we get to the not-sucky-days but they will show up! As for the Ashen Wolves, I kinda doubt they'll show up as they aren't in my outline for this story and there's a ton of things happening already. However, I AM a pantser at heart, so maybe I'll sneak 'em in if I can think of a cool idea for them? Who knows?
Alright, ramble over-enjoy the chapter!
Chapter IV: The Wound
In which Edelgard learns that frustration comes in threes. Meanwhile, Dimitri learns that there are some wounds that hurt more than others.
The only sound that could be heard within the stagnant quiet of the Monastery Library was of a quill working on parchment and aged pages crinkling lightly with every turn. There too was the sound of the Faerghus's prince muttering under his breath, but one would have to be quite near to hear that. You could, however, catch sight of his lips moving slightly beneath the burning glow of the candlelight adorning the library desk and his hunched form casting shadows onto the nearby bookshelves.
Dimitri blinked blearily down at his page before firmly shaking his head and smacking his cheek with the heel of his palm to wake himself up. A thin book—Unique Garbs Across Fódlan—sat beside the parchment he was covering in tiny scrawl made nigh illegible with weariness. Chances were he wasn't going to find much use in the information he was copying down come next day with how terribly discombobulated it all looked. In fact, he was certain he wasn't going to find much use in the information he was supposed to be taking in now (his weary mind had had him stumped in trying to figure out what "farik" meant until he'd realized that his gaze had gone cross-eyed and had accidentally merged "fabric" and the following word "kilt" in his head).
Dimitri slumped his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut, a despondent groan adding to the limited noise within the library. What was he even doing? He was getting nowhere. But he couldn't just leave; the Library would be curiously locked some nights, causing him to lose study time. He'd have to spend every study night as if it were to be his last but Goddess was it exhausting.
"Back again, Prince Dimitri?"
Dimitri's eyes snapped open and he bolted to his feet with a cry of shock. His head snapped to the right where the librarian, Tomas, stood just out of the shadow's reach with a candle of his own held aloft. "Oh! Tom—" in his haste to stand, the seat Dimitri had been sitting on had been shoved off balance and it hit the floor with an echoing thud. Dimitri winced, though Tomas only smiled kindly, creasing his deep wrinkles further.
"I'm very sorry for disturbing you, Sir," Dimitri said as he dipped into a quick and shaky bow.
"Bothering me?" Tomas chuckled and batted a hand through the air. "Not at all, not at all! I was just curious as all."
"Curious?" Dimitri queried as he crouched to right the desk chair once more.
"For the past few days I've been finding books in odd places; now I know the culprit!" Tomas winked at him and Dimitri ducked his head to hide a growing flush.
"Forgive me, Sir I—"
"None of that, my boy. None of that!" the light tap of Tomas's cane sounded as he shuffled closer. "Although it wasn't just the books' placements that peeked my curiosity—oh no, no." Tomas glanced down at the desk covered in parchment paper, books and half finished writings. He closed the cover of the book Dimitri had just been studying and brought it to his face with another good natured smile. "Curious. Very curious. Is Hanneman teaching you about unique garb? Special weaponry? Null noble families? Manuela, perhaps? Jeritza or Dedrick, Goddess forbid?"
"Ah…no, Sir," Dimitri said with a clearing of his throat. "This would be…personal research."
Tomas turned to him and raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're working this late into the night on personal research? I'd understand if you'd been trying to finish a due assignment, but surely it'd be better to study this in the daytime where you are more properly rested?"
'I don't want to rest,' Dimitri didn't say out loud. And Professor Jeritza had worked everyone too hard (as per usual) for his body to not scream at the thought of some late night training. Instead he said, "Between managing my house and keeping my grades up, I have little time for myself during the daylight hours," which was true enough. Tomas seemed mollified at least, as he turned the book around, nodded with a hum, and placed it back on the desk.
"May I ask what this research is for?" he asked, turning to face Dimitri proper with his hands placed neatly atop his cane. The old man's smile was as serene as ever, which perfectly juxtaposed the spike in anxiety that Dimitri experienced at the purely innocent and completely fair query.
"Oh…uh…it…it's hard to explain," Dimitri stammered, quickly averting his gaze. He didn't need too many people becoming aware of his plans to uncover the truth behind the Tragedy of Duscur; besides Dedue he couldn't be sure just who had had a hand in it. He couldn't even trust his friends, lest something slip among the noble circles they frequently occupied and alerted the wrong person. While Tomas was just a kindly old librarian he just…he just couldn't be too sure which ears and lips were the right or wrongs ones.
Still, that was hardly an answer. He amended, "I enjoy history. It's a new enjoyment of mine." His voice was so hollow and unconvincing he'd make his Uncle Rufus weep. Dimitri fought the urge to cringe in embarrassment.
Tomas chuckled, and Dimitri bet a bag of gold that he hadn't at all been convinced of this failure of an explanation. Blessedly however, he simply said, "Well, I can't fault you for that!" He patted Dimitri on the shoulder. "Enjoy your research, my boy!" He said before shuffling off into the hallway of books, the candlelight bobbing around his hunched form.
Dimitri watched him leave with a swallow before turning back to the messy desk. Perhaps…perhaps it was best to halt for now. He couldn't explain why but the exchange had greatly shaken him.
-o0o-
Edelgard would have liked to have said that the remainder of the week had went by in a fast passed blur. Unfortunately, that would be fictitious. She had learned a grand total of three things from her seven day stay at the Academy, and none of them were helpful to her in the slightest.
Lesson Number One, Dedrick and Jeritza were just as incompetent as Manuela when it came to giving their students any meaningful instruction.
While she was thankfully sober by next class, Professor Manuela was in a noticeably agitated mood. It was such a terrible mood in fact, that her loud entrance signaled an abrupt halt to any and all conversation. Her palm slapped against the door frame like the day before, but instead of in a drunken stumble, It seemed to be for the purpose of making a loud, annoying noise. "Well!" she said with biting smile. The eyes of the class followed her as she dropped her brief case atop the desk with a loud thud and ripped out a page from within it's half closed interior. "I'd say good morning but Seteth let me know I needed to start acting appropriately and lying would be inappropriate, wouldn't it?"
The murmuring started up again, in addition to concerned and confused shared glances. In the meanwhile Manuela was tapping a painted nail against the desk and scanning the page in front of her. She then looked up and gave Edelgard a dark look that she didn't understand at all.
"Before we begin, our resident tattletale can regale us with attendance and a speech, can't you, Edelgard?"
Edelgard jolted and sat up straighter, her wide eyes blinking rapidly in shock. Tattle—oh, well she supposed she could understand the look a little. At her side, Hubert frowned deeply and gave Manuela a dark look of his own that she either didn't see or didn't care to acknowledge. Then, Edelgard nodded shortly and stood. "Very well."
Manuela's face softened and she looked away with a groan. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I…it's only withdrawal." Edelgard said nothing as she stood at the front of the class and opened her mouth in preparation to recite her once again memorized speech for the morning. Not a syllable could leave Edelgard's lips before Manuela continued, shoulders slumped and arms wrapped around her stomach. "Well that and it's…Goddess do you know how miserable it is to realize your not only not good enough for a lover but no good for your class either?" Dorthea Arnault offered Manuela a sympathetic sigh, but the rest of the class was either uncomfortable or annoyed. Edelgard offered the woman a polite smile that she hoped looked understanding enough before turning back to the class, prepared to speak again.
Manuela then opted to move to the front of the class, blocking Edelgard from sight as she stood before her and gesticulated to the class in a croaked voice. "It's almost like it's only hit me this year! Why? Am I getting worse? More insufferable? More…more…" she groaned again and pressed her hands against her face in shame.
Edelgard hadn't gotten to take attendance or say her speech that day (although she supposed none of the news was important. Still, though…) and she heavily doubted that Class Ruby were going to take in anything at that rate. Thus, she was thankful that her and the rest of Class Crimson were to have their first tacticians class.
Though that class was just as terrible as Edelgard had feared.
"H-hello, every…everyone and…um…" Professor Dedrick had took one lack at Hubert's sinister looking visage and stammered and trembled throughout the rest of his poorly planned lecture on tactics. He held a stack papers in his hands and read from his notes in an unintelligibly quavering voice. The pages shook like leaves in the wind and he didn't look up from them once.
Then there was combat class. Oh, combat class.
The term "teaching" had never entered the ravaged mind of Jeritza, as he was less interested in offering the students tutelage and more eager to cause as much injuries as possible (usually allowing students to do whatever they pleased as he callously beat the daylights out of another, though barely seeing as how fights lasted seconds). Then he'd run everyone through grueling drills in which the first person to stumble or stop was forced to run laps around the arena.
"You, come," Jeritza said solemnly as if calling a man to execution. He pointed at Lindhart as he did so before languidly crooking his finger. Lindhart frowned deeply and shuddered as he stepped forward as requested.
"Woo! You got this, Lindhart!" Caspar cheered from the back of the room where the rest of the students stood lined up. Lindhart responded with a sigh before stopping about a foot from the Professor.
"The rest of you can train with one another until I call on you," Jeritza announced as he sank into a fighting stance with his wooden sword. Lindhart positioned his feet in the sand raised his hands as well, but before they could glow with the telltale gold of readied magic, Jeritza charged forward in a blur. Lindhart cried out in shock before diving to the side, dodging the sharp horizontal slice that wooshed harshly through the air.
"I wasn't—ah!" His protests were cut short as Jeritza pivoted to stab at the ground where Lindhart was. He swiftly scrambled to his feet, kicking up sand before spinning around awkwardly and stumbling backwards to quickly prepare a spell. He could only manage a flimsy shield before Jeritza stabbed forwards again. The sharpened wood shattered the meager spell and slammed against the bridge of his nose, and the force in addition to his sloppy stance sent Lindhart's head snapping back and his body flipping backwards before he landed hard on his back. Edelgard winced, and a chorus of sympathetic hisses and "ooh"s filled the Arena grounds.
"Pathetic," Jeritza sighed as Lindhart slowly lifted his head with dazed, disoriented blinking. His dark green hair had come out of its ponytail and its sand covered strands lay disorderly around his face. His nose was a terrible shade of purple and slightly crooked, and after a moment, blood had begun to drip from his nostrils. Caspar immediately charged forward, kicking sand up in his haste to get to his friend.
"Hey, hey, Lindhart don't look, don't loo—AH! I told you don't look!" He exclaimed as Lindhart raised a shaky hand to his nose and it held it in front of him. He paled considerably at the sight of blood coating his fingertips, and just as Caspar reached him, he'd heaved his breakfast onto the sand.
Edelgard scowled at the way Jeritza disdainfully gazed down on them before turning on his heel and walking towards the rest of the stunned students. None had moved to train personally, as all had been taken in by the swift but brutal show. A few of them shrunk back in fear.
"Caspar," she called, catching the boy's attention as he rubbed circles on the now hyperventilating Lindhart. "Take him to the infirmary."
"No," Jeritza said as he turned to stand in front of the still frozen line of students. "You will not leave until class is over. Which one of you is well versed in Faith Magic? Deal with this." A girl with flaxen blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail jolted as if struck by thunder, then she dashed towards Caspar and Lindhart with her hands glowing. Jeritza watched her cup Lindhart's face with glowing hands and murmur soothing words for several silent moments before he closed his eyes and turned his head slowly back towards the students.
He opened them, inhaled slowly, pointed again and then uttered, "You, come."
The Golden Deer boy, Ignatz, let out a noise that sounded vaguely like, "Bluh?" as he jerked his gaze away from Lindhart and pointed at himself. "M…me, Sir?" Edelgard didn't believe it to be possible, but he looked even more deer-ish than the Prince of Faerghus and was silently dreading his future beat down at the sight of that bow trembling in his hand—a long range weapon paired with such a insecure wielder and Jeritza's speed made for a recipe for disaster.
Jeritza blinked slowly without a response, waiting.
Ignatz came back from his two second battle with a snapped bow and a bruised middle, judging by the way he doubled over with a groan on his way to the corner of the arena where Lindhart and the blonde remained.
"Pathetic," Jeritza said one more with a shake of his head, then pointed towards a Blue Lion strawberry blonde with twin buns. She jumped and looked around to see if it could be anyone else he was pointing at, then, slumped her shoulders and strode forwards. Learning from Lindhart's folly, her magic was prepared before she'd reached the battle grounds, but like him, she couldn't even cast a spell before Jeritza attacked. The Professor blasted an orb of lightning with a nonchalant raising of his palm and sent her crashing to the sand with a cry of pain.
"Pathetic," He sighed again with an extra layer of disappointment. He then began scanning the line up of students more intently this time. A Golden Deer girl raised her hand.
"No. I will chose myself," Jeritza dismissed.
"I'm not offering to spar," The girl said tersely. She was short in stature with steely looking pink eyes. The shock of white hair gave Edelgard pause, but she quickly shoved away her suspicions—some people were simply born with such genetics after all. "I'm simply suggesting that it would be far more helpful to explain why students are failing to land a blow instead of—"
"No." Jeritza turned his gaze from her before his finger raised again. "You, come."
Edelgard and the rest of the students turned to watch The Prince tear his eyes from the flaxen blonde in the corner healing the incapacitated Blue Lion girl and level them at the Professor. He was frowning slightly, but he still rolled his shoulders back and stepped forward with a twirl of his wooden lance, not a single complaint leaving his lips.
Another reason Edelgard wasn't the fondest of this class—it just so happened to be the one in which she shared with her fellow House Leaders. And that meant…well it also included The Prince.
They'd bumped into each other—quite literally—on their first class together. Shewas distracted with the residual annoyance left behind from Professor Dedrick's teaching, and ever loyal, Hubert listened to her ranting without the slightest bit of complaint and an an amused glint to his eye. Thus, neither noticed Prince Dimitri making his way towards the Arena doors from the left until his presence was forcibly made known to her through physical means.
There were dual cries of surprise and pain as Edelgard felt she and the body of another collide. Large hands shot out to grip around her waist while she, meanwhile, clung to their shoulders.
"Goddess, I'm so sorry," Said the body, and Edelgard tensed at the recognition of both his voice and the skittish ice blue eyes staring at her through double vision. "I hadn't been looking where I was going and—"
It took a moment, but Dimitri eventually recognized her as well.
She felt that familiar tug at the back of her mind and had to stop her gaze from inexplicably analyzing the face partially obscured by his knocked askew bangs. It took her longer than she thought, it would seem, but Hubert drew her back with a light clearing of his throat.
"I…apologize also," Edelgard said after shaking her head to clear her mind. Why did it act up so around this boy? She began to right herself with a brief clearing of her own throat. "I should have been more alert." Her gloved hands left his shoulders and she began smoothing out her uniform, pausing to give The Prince a pointed look.
It took a few seconds for Prince Dimitri to register that his hands were still gripping her waist, and when he did, he extracted them as swift as if her body were made of heated metal.
"M-my apologies I—" he looked away from her and closed his eyes. He then shook his head, murmured another, "I'm sorry," then turned briskly to enter the Arena.
"Oh," Hubert chuckled as he watched Dimitri's retreating back. "How woeful."
How woeful indeed—she'd resolved to not give him the light of day any longer, but found her gaze glued to him in the training grounds anyhow. The first time she'd seen him fight had branded itself onto her brain and had yet to fade away.
He and Jeritza both sank into familiar stances, but when Jeritza slashed, Dimitri was prepared and jerked his lance upwards one-handedly to block. He raised his other hand to grip the upper half of the lance before twisting hips to the side and shoving. Jeritza's sword was jerked away from defensive position, allowing Dimitri to twirl his lance forwards once more and thrust. Jeritza leaped out of range and lunged forward with a stab of his own that Dimitri avoided with a gasp and a swift bend backwards. He then jerked back up and pivoted, spinning to the right to dodge a follow up stab that caused his blue cape to billow before slamming the handle of his lance against Jeritza's wrist. Jeritza narrowed his eye slightly and swung his arm up in retaliation, sending Dimitri off balance as he staggered backwards with a grunt. Jeritza sent a powerful strike to his side, but though Dimitri gasped in pain in winced, he refused to tumble to the sand in defeat. Instead, he raised his elbow and brought it down on the sword, splintering the wood in half and leaving the pointed edge dangling uselessly. Then, taking advantage of Jeritza's surprise (which took the form of three rapid blinks beneath his mask), he lunged forwards with a battle cry, wooden lance blade aimed at the Professor's heart.
He didn't notice the magic circle that had appeared between them until it had exploded in a blinding blast of blue sparks and sent him careening to through the air with a cry of shock. With trembling limbs, he'd rolled backwards just as he hit the ground and Jeritza had attempted to strike him with another spell, then he snatched up his lance and charged again with extra vigour. Not righteous fury, Edelgard had realized but…excitement? Yes, his lips had twisted into a crooked smile and his eyes were alight with engagement as he slid beneath another blast, jammed the lance into the ground to stop his momentum, then swung his feet around in an attempt to sweep Jeritza off his feet. Jeritza leaped into the air to dodge and shot a spell at the same time, and Dimitri clenched his lance and used it as leverage to flip himself backwards out of the way. He yanked it his weapon out of the ground, twirled it once more, than flung it with roar at the just landing Jeritza. Jeritza stepped aside, caught the lance and squeezed it. Lightning ricocheted up its wooden body before he gave it a spin of his own and launched it right back. The attack hit Dimitri square in the chest and attacked his body with sparks that spurred him to yell out and crash to the ground with a thud.
He didn't rise again, instead panting for breath and twitching sporadically. He then let out a breathless laugh and said, "Thank you for that, Professor. I have…gasp…much to learn from you." Jeritza stared down at his prone body unblinkingly before stating, "Insubstantial."
Despite the low mark, a Blue Lions boy then whooped a passionate, "Oh ya, Your Highness!" and started up an eager round of applause among the students, further spurred on by an exuberantly "WHOA!"ing Caspar.
Edelgard let out a breath she'd failed to let go of since the battle had started, and after brief hesitation, found herself joining in the cheering with a light applause of her own. As the Healer Blue Lions girl helped him to stand, the Prince caught her gaze. She nodded her head lightly and the ridiculous grin he gave her in return forced her to scowl back at the casual familiarity. His grin withered and she fought the urge to feel bad as she looked away from him, brows furrowed.
Lesson Number Two, Prince Dimitri was…considerably more distracting when sparring—to her immense chagrin she couldn't take her eyes off him for more than a few moments whenever he was doing just about anything with a weapon. He seemed to be a completely different person in the fighting ring, pushing through every fighting pattern and sparring session with powerful thrusts, steady footwork and the beginnings of an excited grin always teasing his lips. None of that subdued, skittish aura seemed to surround him anymore, even as he matched the more experienced Jeritza blow for blow during their matches. He was like a thunderstorm—powerful and exhilarating. It was…fun to watch him dance around the arena.
Though now that she had that in mind, perhaps that was helpful information because of course, she'd have to work on that fascination with his fighting technique.
Other than the surprisingly eager Prince, Caspar had been the only eager participant in the class (barring Hubert who'd fought long and hard to avenge Edelgard's black eye). "You could have been more gentle," Edelgard scolded once the class was over and the students were stumbling out of the arena limping and groaning. "Haven't you been told off for your violence yesterday?"
"Yes," Jeritza supplied.
"And?"
Jeritza shrugged. "I have become more gentle."
Lesson Number Three, Bernadetta, for reasons unknown, absolutely refused to attend class.
On the fourth day of classes, Edelgard had rapped the perpetually locked door with as heavy a hand as was considered ladylike before sharply stating the name, "Bernadetta."
A tiny shriek could be heard from within. "Bernie isn't here!" She exclaimed. "Bernie isn't here!"
Edelgard crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, not even bothering to dignify that response with a reply. Her moment of silence had spurred Bernadetta to gasp. "Is she gone? Oh, good!"
"I'm still here, Bernadetta," Edelgard said irritably, causing the skittish girl to shriek again. "And you haven't been to a single class since they've started; what is the meaning of this?"
Bernadetta let out a thin stream of unintelligible whimpers and whines. Rubbing her temples and closing her eyes with a sigh, Edelgard said, "I want you in class after this month by the very latest. Do not disappoint me or I will report you to Seteth."
Edelgard flinched as her threat was responded to with a loud hopeless wail. "Nooooo. You're so cruel, princesssssss," she whined.
Shaking her head in agitation, Edelgard turned on her heel and left the room. She was wasting her time clearly, and she didn't want anymore students pausing to check what the drama was all about. Hubert was waiting a few feet away, eyebrows raised. Once she'd reached him the two walked side by side towards the Dining Hall for lunch. "That girl is impossible. Why is she even here if she doesn't care to apply herself? Lindhart isn't much better but at least he attends his classes!"
Hubert snorted. "I deduce he only attends because Caspar drags him out of bed. I'd argue he isn't much better at all."
"Hopefully my words are the 'Caspar' she needs, then," Edelgard sighed. "I don't have the time nor patience to drag her out of that room everyday."
"I could do it for you."
"You terrify most people you meet, Hubert. Poor Bernadetta would get a heart attack."
"I would be gentler of course."
Edelgard raised a skeptical eyebrow, but silently she was indeed processing his request. It would look bad to be (as far as she knew) the only House Leader with a perpetually incomplete class and she was quickly losing patience.
In all fairness, she'd technically learned something from her classes—how to soothe panicked mounts which…alright wasn't completely a terrible thing. Thankfully, Hanneman was actually quite competent and she'd learned a lot about horseback riding. A shame she couldn't find a use for that and didn't have much of an affinity for bows. The Reason lectures were also interesting but it was nothing she didn't know already. Manuela could also be informative when she wasn't ranting but her moments of lucidity were few and far between.
Outside of her school life there were also other more pressing matters weighing on her mind—the bandits she'd hired. She hadn't had the time to visit Kostas and ensure he was still willing to go through with her plan, but as the hours dragged by she was beginning to worry they'd lose interest. Her only leverage was the other half of their agreed payment but if someone with a bigger offer came along…
It didn't help that Tomas had stopped her one day on the way to classes and had murmured, "The Prince is too nosy." Whatever that meant, but she supposed it was a hint that he was doing something to rile up the Agarthans and they wanted him gone more than they did Claude. She still found the plan ridiculous, but the sooner he was out of the picture the sooner she could stop her thoughts from analyzing his every move.
All and all, paired with the mundane frustrations of the Officer's Academy, Prince Dimitri, and her wobbly plot to commit double regicide, Edelgard was angry, tired, and nearly burned out by it all.
Then came Monday morning.
"Welcome back for your weekly assembly," Rhea said with her usual ever-present faux smile. "We will start off with the more…hmm…dull announcements before getting into the exciting ones, if that's alright with everyone?"
Edelgard scoffed lightly from the pews. As if any of them had a choice in the matter.
The woman gestured to Seteth who stepped forwards and cleared his throat. "Good morning all. I hope you first week of tutelage was enjoyable, and I'm hoping that this second week will be equally as illuminating. Now, to begin, starting this week every student will be put on a rotating chore schedule."
Groans echoed against the Monastery walls, and Edelgard heard Caspar let out a rather loud, "What?! Oh,Come on!" Edelgard silently agreed—she already had little time for pressing matters with the current schedule. Chores on top of it all…
She rolled her shoulders and stood straighter, pushing the anxiety to the back of her mind.
"Silence," Seteth snapped, and the crowd obeyed nigh immediately. As far as Edelgard knew, no student had gotten in trouble with him yet, but it seemed nobody wanted to experiment with what would happen in such a scenario. His green eyes hawkishly scanned the audience before he continued, walking back and forth atop the platform now with his hands clasped behind his back. "You will see what your duties will be on the announcement board in the Courtyard, you will then report promptly to the location you are required and be guided through your duties by a supervisor."
He stopped dead centre between the pew aisles before closing his eyes and sighing heavily. "Next, I can't believe I have to say this but engaging in public intercourse is strictly prohibited." He drew the last two words out irritably, stretching them like a rubber band before letting them snap at the tip of his tongue.
"No disrespect, Sir," a vaguely familiar voice began. She, Hubert and the audience turned over their shoulders or peered over their neighbour to find a smugly smirking redhead raising his hand as if he were in the middle of an interactive lecture answering a question. Edelgard remembered him somewhat from combat class, but due to the odd way her brain operated in Dimitri's presence, everything else tended to fade irrelevantly into the background, this Blue Lion boy included. "But we were behind the blackboard. You know, hidden from sight and not public?"
Edelgard's eyes widened and she and the rest of the crowd turned curiously forward again to gauge Seteth's reaction. The man narrowed his eyes to slits and stated in a clipped voice, "You are on supremely thin ice, Sylvain Gautier—take heed on where you tread."
Edelgard had a hunch that she was mistaken in believing that no student had been punished yet. Though in her defence, she and Hubert showed no signs of desiring companionship from the other students and had rebuffed in any and all attempts from them. Thus, they were not privy to the news and gossip her fellow peers traded amongst themselves.
Seteth closed his eyes once more, inhaled, exhaled, and began once more with a more neutral expression. "Now, onto the more…exciting announcements, I suppose. You all will begin preparations for both our annual Mock Battle and camping trip."
Camping trip.
She exchanged a quick and significant glance with Hubert as the students whispered excitedly amongst themselves. It was a perfect time for an ambush.
As Seteth explained the details regarding both—the trip by the week and by extension, month's end, and the battle at the end of the next—Edelgard smiled, feeling hopeful for the first time in several days.
-o0o-
Dimitri had a terrible feeling.
He felt so very detached from the excitement of his peers as they told stories by the campfire, tossed marshmallows at one another and mock sparred by the tents. It wasn't unusual that he felt detached from them of course, but this time it felt less the fault of his melancholia and more an issue with the distinct knowing that something terrible was about to happen. He'd felt it at Duscur, and he felt it once more in the forest as invisible eyes burned holes into the back of his neck. The chamomile tea Dedue had provided for him wasn't helping.
"Muffin?"
Dimitri blinked out of his reverie and turned his gaze from the fathomless woods. His eyes instead fell to the pastry atop a napkin held out before him. Following the arm up, he found the smiling face of one of his classmates.
He returned her smile. "Ah, Mercedes, is it? Thank you."
"It's no trouble, Your Highness," she said, standing beside him before the forest's dark maw. "You looked like you needed some sugar!"
Dimitri winced, and his smile fell slightly as he turned back to the woods. The half sprouted leaves whispered in the wind and the boughs creaked and stretched towards him like claws. "Do I look that tired?"
"I was more so referring to your despondent mood," she said, before frowning and tapping her lips. "Although now that you mention it…you have been yawning a lot today. Are the two related?"
Dimitri inclined his head slightly before turning to her. "In a sense." He was tired, and perhaps…perhaps that was why he felt as if he were being watched. As if something horrible was waiting in those woods, longing to drag him to his doom. It was nothing.
Unless…
"Are…Mercedes, do you ever feel as if something terrible might happen?" He asked finally, he searched the kind girl's face to see if the worry he felt building in his chest was present at all within her.
Her kind smile only brightened and she laughed lightly. "No, no. I know the Goddess is watching over me; I never have reason to worry." She stared up at the moon as if that was where the Goddess lay and closed her eyes. The wind combed through her hair as she clasped her hands and said, "And if something bad happens, I know it only did because she let it be so. That means there was a good reason for it."
Dimitri watched her with a frown before looking up at the moon with her. "Do you truly believe that?"
"Don't you?"
Dimitri opened his mouth and closed it. He sighed, then in a quiet voice said, "I don't know."
Mercedes hummed in thought before saying, "Perhaps you don't believe it, but that's okay."
Dimitri turned to look at her again with mild surprise, and she met his gaze with same sugary sweetness she'd shown everyone at the Monastery thus far. "Just know that she's watching over you, and that everything will be alright."
It was a declaration that felt rather hollow to Dimitri, but still he smiled in gratitude. "Thank you, Mercedes."
"Of course!" She said, patting his shoulder. The wind picked up slightly, causing her to shiver slightly and hold her shawl closer to her chest. "It's getting chilly, don't you want to settle by the campfire with the others?"
Dimitri tensed. "I…no, I'd rather not." He'd been near it once since the night started, and the visions he'd seen had been—well they certainly didn't help his stress, that was for certain.
"You'd like to be alone then, I understand," Mercedes said kindly. "I hope you feel better, Dimitri." With one last smile she turned on her heel and returned to the warmth of the fire and their peers. Dimitri meanwhile took a tasteless bite out of his gifted muffin.
He still couldn't shake the fact that he Goddess wasn't the only one watching him, and he was certain that those eyes had anything but be benevolent intentions.
-o0o-
"You've got quite the gold on ya," Kostas grinned as he dug his hands into the burlap sack Edelgard had handed him and left the gold coins slip between his fingers and back into the enclosure with heavy clinks of metal. "Y'know for a couple of extra, my men and I could—"
"Do not get distracted," Edelgard said firmly from beneath her Flame Emperor mask. "You will do what I have asked of you, nothing more and nothing less."
Kostas shrugged as he continued to play with his gold. "I see now why you want those brats killed instead of captured—you don't need the ransom money, do ya?" He looked up from his beloved gold and raised an eyebrow. "Just who are ya anyhow? It ain't money you're looking for here, so why the vendetta against all three of Fódlan's heirs?"
Edelgard made a noise of displeasure. This man was more nosy than she'd hoped. "That," she said. "is none of you concern. You have your money, now finish the job."
Kostas shrugged carelessly again before turning back his men with the bag of gold raised high. "We're getting booze and girls tonight, boys!" Whooping, cheers, and applause followed this declaration.
"Do not underestimate them," Edelgard warned. For Dimitri alone was dangerous enough, Claude, as she'd seen from combat class, was clearly holding back, and even then was extremely quick on his feet.
"Yeah, yeah," Kostas cackles as he grinned at Edelgard over his shoulder and batted a hand through the air. There's three of them and over a hundred of us, pal—we got this!" Another round of cheers from another lofty promise.
"Do not disappoint me," she said before warping away and reappearing in her tent. Hubert's shadow confirmed he was still standing guard as she stripped the armour pieces off and locked them in one of her trunks. Sighing in relief at finally being able to feel fresh air again, she stepped out of the tent and exchanged a quick nod with Hubert. He nodded once and left her side to enter into the woods where he would scout the area in search of anyone who could be on patrol and thus foil their plans. She herself entered the ring of light cast by the roaring camp fire in search of her prey.
Right before the flames and swinging her hips side to side in a simply dance was whom Edelgard vaguely recalled to be Dorothea Arnault—the only member of the Black Eagles she hadn't known even in passing due to her common heritage. Her skin and vivacious green gaze sparked in the firelight, and her brown hair turned a bright auburn coated in the firelight. She looked almost otherworldly, and many student and knights alike had paused in their activities to watch.
And then she began to sing.
"In the nighttime there she rides, atop a stead of flame,
Leaving singed fields far behind and widows in her wake…"
Edelgard knew this song well—an old Adrestian folktale about vigilante who'd caused mayhem in a form of protest to the crown. Nothing was known of her, not even a name, so the possibility that she was merely a myth was high, but it was a song and story Edelgard had always enjoyed anyhow. One that took on a new life from the voice of the dancing nymph before her. Her hands sparked with magic as she began dancing atop the logs and twirling dangerously close to the flames, sparks teasing her pinwheeling skirt. A crowd had grown around her and Ferdinand in particular looked positively mesmerized as he watched her every move with round eyes and a slightly dropped jaw.
Before long, the Black Eagles had jubilantly joined in with the song, clapping their hands and stomping their feet to the beat. The Annoying Golden Deer Girl (Hilda, Edelgard remembered) attempted to dance in time with Dorthea with a lot more skirt lifting high kicks and whoops while Sylvain followed in their wake with continuous spinning and ridiculous hip thrusting. Seteth would no doubt put an end to both of their suggestive shenanigans soon. The Blue Lions Annette and Mercedes hooked arms and danced around in circles laughing. Once the lyrics had been repeated enough, the Faerghus students, Alliance students, and even some of the Seiros knights had begun to sing along as well, and soon the entire campfire was filled with laughing, dancing, clapping and cheerful singing with only a select few being absent.
"It looks fun, doesn't it?"
Edelgard gasped lightly and jerked her head to the side. There stood Prince Dimitri, a sad smile adorning his face. "Do you…do you feel a world away from them too, Princess?"
Edelgard frowned, and for the first time in days allowed herself to analyze his visage. The half darkness brought something out of his eyes that she couldn't see in the light, something…gloomier. His shadow stretched longer, in an almost eerie manner, the bags under his eyes looked heavier, and the eyes they lay beneath swam with pools of ink, making his ice blue eyes look more like the fathomless depths of the ocean.
Or, she could just be seeing things. Who knew?
She must've been silent for awhile, as he turned to her, inclining his head with his sad smile still in place. "Apologies. I know you don't wish for my company I simply felt I recognized that look in your—" Edelgard's jaw clenched and he flinched, turning away again. His smile was gone again. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm sorry I…I'm sorry."
It took Edelgard an embarrassingly long moment to remember what she was supposed to be doing and thanked the universe that this walking breathing distraction would be out of her hair soon. "Walk with me," was her response, and Dimitri jerked his head towards her with wide eyes brimming with naive hope.
Guilt gnawed at her insides but she ignored it.
"I'd like to find Claude so he could join us—I want to get to know my fellow House Leaders better."
Dimitri visibly deflated; eyes dimming, brow falling, shoulders slumping just a smidge. "Alright. Yes that…that would be prudent, I think."
"You called?"
Edelgard and Dimitri screamed in shock and jumped apart in unison as Claude's body swung down between them. He grinned boyishly from upside down as the tree bough creaked beneath his hooked legs. He cheerfully greeted, "It's a fine night for a walk, I'm in," before flipping backwards and smoothing his uniform after landing on his feet.
"How long were you there?" Edelgard demanded sharply, and was suddenly growing anxious at the thought that he'd gotten privy to something he hadn't supposed to—like the flash of the Warp spell or the sound of her armour or—
"About around the same time your retainer went into the woods to answer the call of nature," he said with a shrug, and Edelgard's heart stuttered. "At least…I'm pretty sure that's what it was. It's been awhile, no?"
"I don't believe it has," Edelgard answered coolly as she met his deceptively open verdant gaze head on. The lack of warmth in them seemed far more sinister in the night.
"You're not worried?" He prodded.
"Hubert can take care of himself. He'll be back soon."
"Maybe we'll bump into him during our walk?"
"Perhaps."
Dimitri's eyes darted between the two Leaders and their unblinking stares with one another, brow furrowed in confusion. It was clear he sensed the tension but couldn't quite pinpoint why it existed. Edelgard needed to continue on with her plan—she couldn't let Claude trip her up. Not now.
"Well," Edelgard said, turning away from Claude and nodding towards the pathway out of the clearing. "We should leave before it gets to late. Let's go." She marched forwards, Dimitri and Claude thankfully falling in step.
"You're looking good, Your Princeliness," Claude said to Dimitri.
"Oh," Edelgard could practically hear him flush at the lie. "Thank you." She wasn't sure if the flustering was based on the words or their lack of truth.
A roadblock was presented the moment they got too far from camp.
"Claude? Dimitri? E-Edelgard? Wait a moment! Wait, please!"
Edelgard closed her eyes, counted to ten, then turned over her shoulder to give Professor Dedrick a polite smile. "Hello, Professor. The three of us were just going to take a short walk."
"Oh I'm sorry," He shook his brown curls with a deep frown. "Y-you can't go in. Not without a Professor present, I'm afraid."
"Can't you join us then, Professor Dedrick?" Dimitri suggested, and the man paled.
"Ah…w-well—"
"What a fabulous idea," Edelgard said, and it was—out of all the Professors, Dedrick would be the least likely to deter her plans. Hanneman was well versed and confident with his powers, and Manuela, despite her qualifications as a Professor, was too. Jeritza would have too much fun killing the bandits and wouldn't listen to a word Edelgard had to say about things that boggled his mind such as "plans".
Swallowing thickly, the mousy Professor nodded and followed stiffly after the trio as they entered the woods.
Edelgard tapped a single finger against a tree and a flame jumped out, zipping from one tree then the next rapidly. The signal had been sent and by the time it reached the bandits, they'd be too deep into the forest for anyone from camp to help.
Guilt was taking larger chunks out of her stomach but she bashed it down once more with a deep breath and a swallow. She had to do this. She had to. If she angered the Agarthans with too much stubbornness…
"So!" Claude broke up the silence after a minute of walking. He was now standing at Edelgard's right with his arms crossed casually behind his head "You wanted to talk, Ice Princess?"
Edelgard snorted irritably. "Edelgard."
"My name suits you better," Claude said. "So, like I was saying, what did you want to talk to us about?"
"You can choose the topic if you'd like," Edelgard said as Dedrick jumped up and screamed after a rabbit skittered passed. "I want to get to know you both better so tell me something you're interested in."
"I like standing in front of tents for no particular reason," Claude chirped and Edelgard's ire rose.
"I like poking my noses into irrelevant business," she replied shortly.
"I like horse back riding." The two turned to Dimitri who then looked away blushing. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize, this is a team learning exercise!" Claude said. "What about horse back riding tickles you fancy?"
"Well—"
Claude jolted and his eyes widened sharply. He then slapped a palm firmly against both Dimitri and Edelgard's collar bones to force them to halt. "Wait." his voice had turned to steel, and the change swiftly caused the group unease.
"Claude?" Dimitri asked with a concerned look on his face as the boy in question scanned the swaying trees with lightly narrowed eyes. The owls had gone quiet, and not a single woodland creatures stirred on the forest floor. A great change was coming now, Edelgard could almost taste it in the chilly spring wind. In what way? Would Claude and Dimitri fall here? Would she? Would her treachery be found out?
An arrow came whizzing from the darkness before burying itself in a tree right near Dedrick's head.
She would soon find out.
Dedrick screamed loudly, and that sound seemed to spur the rest of the bandits to spill out from between the trees in a war cry. Within seconds, Claude had nocked an arrow and let it fly, impaling a bandit in the eye. A second arrow found a second bandit's eye while a third rushed out of the way of their corpses before raising his axe to attack Claude in retaliation. Edelgard dashed forward in a low lunge with her own axe, and the blade buried in his stomach and pinned him against a tree screaming. It wouldn't look good if she didn't at least look like she was trying to defend her fellow Leaders after all.
She tugged the axe out, twirled it, and pivoted to slash open the neck of another. His blood spurted out and covered her in crimson before he collapsed onto the forest floor. She allowed herself the barest of shudders, but that single second of respite gave another bandit the exact distraction he needed to send an arrow through her neck.
At least it would have, had its aim been true. Edelgard gasped and pressed an instinctive hand to her throat as the arrow sliced across her uniform collar and found a permanent home in the thigh of another foe. She whirled around only to find the offending archer staring wide eyed at the blade piercing his stomach. Dimitri kicked the soon to be corpse off his lance before throwing it through the air with a roar where it speared a man clean through the face. The now completely bloodied lance stood erect, stabbed in the grass while its victim lay limp on the ground with only loose flaps of flesh for a face. The lack of a weapon didn't stop the Prince, however. He charged at a group of bandits head on with only his fists and punched one so hard that his head snapped too fast and far to the left. He shoved the corpse against his fellow bandit before rolling underneath an arrow and standing with his lance pulled from the dirt once more. He pointed it threateningly at one who staggered away and ran.
Edelgard ducked beneath an axe swing and rammed her shoulder into his stomach causing him to drop his weapon with a breathless grunt. She then caught his tattered shirt by the front and tugged him forwards, allowing her to land a finishing blow at his spine. He was dead before he hit the ground and so too was the man whose stomach she sliced open during her forward lunge, and the third she caught by taking a page from Dimitri's book and tossing her axe into his neck. Three more behind him were promptly taken out by well placed arrows.
The bandits soon stopped charging, stumbling to a halt as they witnessed the carnage painting the forest path and its neighboring trees. They first landed on Edelgard as she retrieved her blood soaked axe, then Dimitri who'd just finished flinging a skewered man from his lance, and then Claude who had three arrows nocked at once and offered the newcomers a wink. "Care to join the party, gentlemen?" he taunted.
Clearly, when the bandits had heard they'd be fighting nobles they'd assumed they'd be dealing with the prissy kind that sat soft skinned and callous free in carriages all day, not warriors who could rival well trained knights—they'd underestimated their marks greatly. 'And clearly', Edelgard thought with a frown, 'I've greatly overestimated them.'
She'd known this plan was idiotic from the start. She wasn't going to throw in the towel just yet, but if the plan was indeed a failure it would mean the Agarthan's would be more willing to follow through with her own more personal plans instead of veering off into lunacy.
"What the hell's going on here?!" A familiar voice barked, and the mass of bandits parted to let their leader Kostas through. He glared at the circle of his men surrounding the House Leaders and then turned his beady yellowed eyes to the nobility themselves, all three aiming their weapons at him. Clearly, he could see while they were clearly weary and panting for breath, not a fatal wound could be found on them.
"You didn't tell us they could fight, boss!" One bandit said by way of an excuse. The others murmured in agreement.
"Yeah," a second one attested. "We thought they'd run off like that Professor!" Dimitri's eyes widened at that, and Edelgard watched them dart around the area in search of their cowardly teacher to no avail. She supposed it would make sense for her to share in the worry pinching his brow but she couldn't bring herself to be overly concerned with someone who'd abandoned people they had been supposed to keep safe.
"So what if they can fight?" Kostas asked, spitting on the ground as he moved forward and tore a large axe from his back. "Look at 'em! Panting like scared little rabbits. Now look at you all!" He turned and spread his arms wide. "They can't hold you all off forever—give 'em ten minutes and they'll be at your mercy!"
Murmuring could once again be heard, but as opposed to trepidation, the intelligible words were filled with renewed vigour.
"Ah," Claude muttered, his mocking smile falling as his eyes darted around the circle of bandits as if trying to count them. "This isn't good."
Dimitri seemed to agree as he clenched his lance tighter and inhaled shakily. His eyes were narrowed in determination, however, and Edelgard had no doubt that he intended to defeat these men or die trying.
It was at that moment that Edelgard knew that at least one of them would die tonight, and much to her chagrin, the thought didn't make her feel any lighter. Even if he was a mental nuisance, the Prince hadn't done anything to deserve death and certainly not one such as this.
"So go on; get 'em! Wear them out!" Kostas roared, and his men followed suit with a battle cry and raised weapons. "And those of you who survive 'ill—!"
Claude's three arrows buried themselves in Kostas's back and he arched and howled in pain. As the bandits cried out for their leader and became stunned and disorganized in shock, Claude spun on his heel and charged into the woods.
"Claude!" Edelgard exclaimed in indignant shock over her shoulder. He was running away!
"Maybe he's trying to distract them!" Dimitri naively suggested. "Or—wait a moment, Edelgard—!"
Edelgard charged after Claude, letting her Crest of Seiros flare to life on the back of her hand to increase her speed and allow her to dodge nimbly around the tree roots and low hanging boughs serving as obstacles for her. If there was any chance of salvaging this asinine plan, she couldn't let either Leader out of sight, or have them stumble back into range of their campsite.
Before long his billowing cape could be spotted, its vivacious yellow hue standing in stark contrast to the gloom of the forest. She snatched at the fabric and tugged sharply, sending the archer crashing to the ground with a yelp and a cloud of dirt.
"What are you doing?" Claude spluttered, wiping at his face.
"What are you?" Edelgard demanded as she pointed her axe at him. He yelped again and scrambled to a sitting position before quickly crab crawling out of range. "You were just going to leave us there to die, were you?"
"Hey, a tactical retreat was the logical thing to do!" Claude defended as he got to his feet and brushed himself off. His eyes never left her axe. "You two seem smart so I just assumed you'd come to the same conclusion as I did—in opposite directions preferably but—"
"Flattery will get you nowhere."
"It wasn't flattery, just an observation, though I understand given your general attitude why you'd assume any form of a compliment would be for manipulation purposes."
Edelgard narrowed her eyes and contemplated the boy before him for a moment. Before she could consider taking this regicide attempt into her own hands, however, Dimitri crashed through the bushes with all the grace of a bull. "I'm…I'm sorry," he panted, placing a hand against a nearby tree and bending over slightly in an attempt to returning oxygen to his lungs. In addition to his far wearier state, he was almost drenched in blood (that, judging by the way it painted his armour, didn't belong to him) and a scratch marred one of his cheeks. "I tried holding them off but there were too many I—"
"You see?" Claude gestured towards Dimitri as he lifted a bloody, shaking hand to swipe beneath his sweaty bangs. "If he could figure out that a retreat was necessary, so would you have!"
Dimitri paused mid swipe to blink at the archer owlishly. "I—retreat? But I assumed the two of you were trying to lead them away or at the very least find a way back to camp for backup! I came to get extra aid in battle, not to retreat!"
"Buddy, we're very outnumbered, getting tired, I'm almost out of arrows, and you have one between your ribs."
Dimitri frowned and looked down. "I don't—oh." An arrow was protruding out of his side and the fabric there was coated in dark blood. How Dimitri had not noticed, Edelgard could not figure out. "Hold on, I believe my armour got most of it—"
"What are you doing?" Claude asked in genuine bewilderment. "You take that out and you'll bleed to death."
"I told you, it barely met flesh!"
"You're bleeding. What do you mean it didn't hit flesh?"
"I said barely Claude, and…"
Edelgard tuned out the boy's silly argument when something else caught her senses—the sight of smoke trailing uniformly into the indigo sky, the sharp woodsy scent of burning logs, and the sound of conversation just in the distance.
Edelgard sighed. Yes, it would seem this plan was truly done for. That was alright, she hadn't truly wanted their blood to coat her hands tonight—that would have to wait, it would seem.
"Did we circle back to camp?" Dimitri said hopefully as he joined Edelgard at her side. Piece of his cape was wrapped around his ribs where the arrow had once been.
"No," Claude answered, and Edelgard and Dimitri turned to him curiously. He was wiping a semi-bloody arrow—presumably the one once buried in Dimitri—as he pushed aside a leaf filled branch with his shoulder. "It's a village. Either way, I have a feeling we've found that backup His Princeliness was pining for."
-o0o-
Mercenaries.
Perhaps Mercedes had been right, perhaps the Goddess was watching over them after all. His voice quivered lightly as he spoke to their leader, a scarred, stern faced man by the name of Jeralt who kept his dirty blonde hair in a low braid. The relief he felt was like a balm on his nerves, and with every syllable uttered he felt his anxiety lessen.
He'd worried there would be no escape for Edelgard—and Claude too, of course. But now that they could even the playing field a bit…
"…for your aide, we will of course compensate you—"
"None of that," The man waved a careless hand through the air. "You're only kids—I don't need gold to protect kids in a spontaneous sticky situation." He turned to the silent woman at his side and smirked. "'Sides, we got a big gig coming up in the Kingdom, don't we, kiddo?"
The woman nodded silently but said not another word. She was odd, Dimitri found. She was pretty in an almost doll like sense with her flyaway cobalt hued hair and wide glassy eyes of the same colour. Her full pink lips were pursed lightly and her armour seemed more decorative than convenient given the patterned fishnet tights, snug leather shorts, and midriff exposing breastplate that she wore.
"Thank you for your generosity," Edelgard smiled, placing a fist over her heart. Her face and clothes were still covered in blood and Dimitri hated the sight—it made her look hurt. The thought caused his anxiety to rear up once more but he shoved it down swiftly. He needed to focus.
It was a thought that got louder in his head when everyone turned to find a long line of bandits crashing through the trees. At the helm with his axe over his shoulder was a furious looking Kostas. He pointed and gnashed his rotting teeth. "Get those brats!"
"How the hell is he still alive? I shot him three times!" Claude said in frustration as the bandits began to charge down the hill with a battle cry.
"I didn't see a mage among them," Edelgard said as she unsheathed her axe once more and sank into a fighting stance. "He must've had a potion on hand."
Claude sighed dramatically and nocked an arrow. "Cheater."
"Let's go," Jeralt said, then nodded to the woman. "Not to tired, are you?"
The woman shook her head before unsheathing a sword and charging forwards with a speed that made Dimitri gasp. Within seconds she'd dispatched of at least a dozen bandits with a series of perfectly aimed swipes and dodges. One moment she was flipping of the of way of an axe and landing to stab the owner in the back, and the next she was pivoting in all directions, fighting four bandits at once without a single bit of emotion marring her soon blood covered face.
It was terrifying and yet…so very mesmerizing.
A sharp elbow to the ribs took him back to reality as his wound was disturbed. He hissed and winced.
"Eye on the battle, lover boy," Claude said with a wink before charging back into the fray. Dimitri flushed in embarrassment before taking his advice. Focus. He needed to focus.
With a wide clearing made available and additional allies at his side, Dimitri was more reinvigorated. The only handicap he could feel was the still smarting wound at his ribs, but it wasn't painful enough to stop him from stabbing this one in the heart, or shattering this one's ribs with a rammed backwards elbow, or cutting this one's bow in half before slicing open their throat.
The easy pattern he'd fallen into swiftly crashed and burned when he heard a cry of pain that pierced him more painfully than any arrow could.
Dimitri tore his lance out of its latest victim as he whirled around with a gasp. There she was, chest bloody and body trembling as she panted for breath against the surface of a tree. Kostas roared and charged towards her with another swing that she lunged and rolled out of the way of, but when she staggered to her feet she was clutching her chest, and she was moving far too slowly to avoid another—
"Edelgard!" he hadn't even realized he'd been running. Once again, just like that evening in the Cathedral, all senses narrowed on her and her alone. Her and the way, against all odds, she was dodging swing after swing, the way her footsteps became less and less sure, the way Kostas's axe had raised to end her before she could move again—
"No!" He pulled his arm back to throw his lance, but the movement tore his wound and he stumbled forward with a gasp of pain. He fell to his knees but refused to stay there as he pushed off the ground and desperately lunged forwards.
If the Goddess truly was watching over him, he prayed that if nothing else, She'd let him save El.
-o0o-
Edelgard wasn't exactly sure why Kostas had decided to go after her. Claude was the one who'd shot his spine full of arrows (a fact that seemed moot now—he was moving faster than his uninjured men). The only explanation she could think of was that she was closest to him.
Quite a pathetic reason to relentlessly attack someone, but alright.
She twirled out of the way of one swing and left a wound against his side that made him snarl. Her triumph was short lived when she saw the wound immediately close up however. "What?" She breathed, only having time to block the next attack before pushing his weapon left and lunging to the right. The escape earned her a sliced shin and a ruined pair of tights as his axe continued downwards, but she ignored the pain and pivoted again to block once more before leaping back out of range.
Their axes clashed again and again, but Edelgard made sure to dance out of the way before he could overpower her with his weight. She couldn't understand what she'd just saw, however—Kostas didn't appear to be a mage, otherwise he would've used spells on her by now surely. He also hadn't a Crest as he most likely would've used that to his advantage too.
Either way, she needed to find a way to properly wound him and fast; she was quickly growing weary and the ground was becoming more and more uneven the more dirt and grass their shoes kicked up.
It was foolish of her to think Kostas wouldn't have the same desire to end things, and end things now. He switched his hold on his axe and delivered an upwards cut towards Edelgard's wrists. She gasped and relinquished her hold on her weapon to save them, but that meant she had nothing to stop a follow up swing from slicing her diagonally across her chest. The pain caused her to let out a raspy scream and stumble back against a tree. If that wasn't bad enough, it was making her vision blurred. She gritted her teeth against the agony and pressed a shaking hand to the bleeding wound. She'd regained her bearings just in time to lunge and roll away from Kostas's next attack, but pushing herself to her feet with one hand was proving so torturous she feared she would faint.
She heard someone scream her name somewhere outside of the white noised bubble of searing pain she'd been placed in, but she ignored it in favour of rolling to the side to avoid another downwards blow.
"I'm gonna get you," Kostas chuckled with a grin. He raised his axe again, and Edelgard scrambled to her feet with the help of her flashing Crest lessening her weight. The axe hit the mud behind her as he continued, "and then I'm gonna get those other brats!" He raised his axe again to sweep to the side and Edelgard stumbled forwards, barely out of the way. It was their new dance with him as the leader—another flash of her Crest, another last minute leap to the side that sent her stumbling and gasping, another taunt. Her glove was almost completely crimson and her vision was so darkened at the edges that she was nearly blind to the word. She summoned all the Faith magic she could dredge up and poured it into her wound, sighing in relief when the pain had lessened enough during her feeble leaping session to keep her sanity.
Now that she was at less of a risk of blessing out she needed to focus. She couldn't think if she was toddling around like a newborn fawn! Gritting her teeth tightly, she flexed the hand not clutching at her chest and produced a weak fireball. Before Kostas could make his next swing she twisted and shot it at him. His eyes widened in shock and he hit the ground with a cry, but once again Edelgard could feel no triumph before he'd launched right back on his feet, eyes blazing with anger and lunged at her with a promise, "You'll Die!"
He was moving drizzlingly fast and her pain addled brain could barely keep up and she didn't have the strength for another spell offensive or otherwise and she didn't know where her axe was and her hand instinctively reached towards her hip where the dagger would be—
She clutched air. Where was it? Her drawer! Gone—
The moonlight caught Kostas's axe and Edelgard watched as it swung towards her exposed neck. She was a fool. What a way to die, falling victim to her own murder plot.
Azure fabric blocked her view of death and a heavy weight slammed against her. She crashed to the muddy ground with a gasp of pain that couldn't manage to rival the guttural scream of agony let out by her saviour.
The noise echoed around the battlefield, and all went still. Or perhaps it was Edelgard's own perspective as she stared wide eyed at the scene before her.
Prince Dimitri's eyes were screwed shut and his teeth were gritted tightly in pain. His body was stiff and trembling, and a waterfall of blood was spilling from his side onto the torn half of his blue cape. Edelgard gasped, this time in shock and horror instead of pain, then watched as Dimitri's eyes opened slowly.
She had never seen eyes so furious.
Those blazing blue irises met her wide lavender ones before he slowly straightened and turned towards the equally stunned Kostas.
"What the—? Where the hell did you—agh!" Dimitri's hand had shot forward to squeeze around Kostas's throat. The bandit leader wheezed, eyes popping from his sockets as he smacked his fists again and again against the Prince's gauntlets to no avail. Before the man could knock unconscious or die for lack of oxygen however, Dimitri's grip loosened and he fell to his knees trembling.
Kostas coughed heavily and began rubbing his neck as he stumbled backwards. His head then snapped towards the tree line where several Knights of Seiros charged forward. He cursed and wheezed, "Retreat! Retreat!" before charging into the woods. The words of surrender were spread around the battlefields and more and more bandits made there way into the forest. Some were cut down by Knights on their way to escape, but Edelgard wasn't focused on them.
Dimitri had collapsed gasping onto his side. His eyes were so wide that the colour had begun to drown in a sea of white, and his body was convulsing as his blood began to dye the grass red.
Leaving him there would mean that the plan had been successful, the Agarthans would be pleased that she'd at least gotten one noble heir out of the way. However, she found that that rationale was nowhere near the front of her brain.
He'd saved her life. Her, a near stranger. In fact he'd flung his very body before her. He could have used his weapon to block the axe, or rammed his shoulder into Kostas to ruin his aim, but yet his first instinct was—
Edelgard scrambled on her hands and knees towards him and pressed her palms to his wound. Feeble white light poured out but it was enough for Dimitri to stop twitching, for the wound to tighten just enough, and for his eyes to slowly relax then close with a shudder in relief.
"Why?" She asked softly as Claude called out for them.
He didn't respond, but he did smile softly.
-o0o-
"I'm fine!" Dimitri huffed as El held his hand beneath a rushing stream. It was too cold for the water, as it was a gloomy day in Faerghus springtime—in fact it was so cold, the only way one could tell it was spring was because of the crimson tulips bobbing in the field they occupied. He could've broken free easily, but he didn't want to hurt her.
"It doesn't matter if you're fine now," El said. She picked up his hand, inspected it, deemed it unready to be free of its torture and plunged it back into the icy waters again. Dimitri hissed in pain. "If you don't clean a wound it'll get bad. And if it gets bad then it'll get gross and infected and then you'll have to cut it off so stop whining."
Dimitri scowled down at the top of Edelgard's head as she kept her head bowed and eyes glued to his burning hand. "You made that up."
"No I didn't, Uncle Arundel told me." she lifted Dimitri's hand and inspected it with narrowed eyes before smiling with a nod. She placed it on the grass as she untied one of the ribbons from her pigtails, leaving half of her hair to blow about in the wind. "Uncle Arundel knows everything because he reads a lot. Now hold out your hand."
Dimitri complied, and watched as Edelgard tied the ribbon snugly around the tiny little cut he'd gotten from his splinter filled training sword. Once she'd pulled the ribbon into a bow Dimitri said, "Okay, okay, all better now. Can we go back to sparring, please?"
"Hold on a second," Edelgard said and she brought his finger to her lips before lightly kissing it. Dimitri gasped and felt his cheeks heat up as his stomach did a somersault. It'd been doing that a lot around El recently—somersaulting and clenching and getting filled with butterflies.
"W-why'd you do that?" He blurted out before snatching his hand away and clutching it to his chest.
Edelgard frowned at him. "My mother does it to me all the time when I get a wound and I thought it'd make you feel better."
"Oh," Dimitri said awkwardly as he looked down at the ribbon clad finger. His face was getting warmer, he could feel it, and he could practically hear Uncle Rufus grumbling about "that ghastly shade colouring that face" again.
"Dimitri?" El prompted, and he looked up, only to find her hair a snowy white. What in the world—?
"Dimitri."
Dimitri's eyes fluttered open, to the wide, white fabric of a tent. His nose could pick up the tangy stench of blood and the sickeningly sweet aroma of potions before he turned his head and found El—Edelgard sitting by his cot.
"Edelgard?" He questioned in a rasping voice.
"Your Highness," another voice answered, and from behind the bed came Dedue. Dimitri was met with an immediate wash of comfort. "You are safe now. Professor Manuela has tended to you in this tent and left you to rest. It's been approximately eight hours."
Dimitri nodded slowly understanding, but found his gaze falling back to Edelgard's as she watched him intently. He smiled weakly. "I'm…" he cleared his throat to rid it of its rasp. "I'm glad you're safe."
"Yes," Edelgard agreed with a light smile of her own. "Thanks to you." It faded slightly for a moment as she looked away. "It's why I wished to speak with you before Manuela comes back for a check up. I wished to keep this private but…" her eyes darted once to Dedue before she closed them and sighed. "Manuela couldn't keep him out of this tent, so I have a hunch my request for privacy will fall on deaf ears."
"You would be correct," Dedue said. He didn't state this declaration in a cruel or even agitated manner—it was simply a fact.
Dimitri smiled fondly at him as he lowered his brow in a pleading look. He hadn't had the chance to actually speak to Edelgard since coming to the Monastery, and he oh so desperately desired the chance to. Dedue frowned but with a sigh he inclined his head and turned on his heel to leave. "I will be back the moment she leaves," he announced over his shoulder before pushing aside the tent flap and exiting.
Edelgard watched the swishing flap for a beat longer before returning her gaze to Dimitri. "I must say," she said finally. "I'm rather embarrassed that you saved me."
Dimitri shook his head. "You needn't be embarrassed. I've seen you fight—you're a capable fighter but there isn't a soul in Fódlan who doesn't need help sometime, no matter their strength."
Edelgard stared down at her lap, clenching and unclenching her fists. "I'm not…it's not the fact that I was saved that embarrasses me…although I suppose it would be lying to say it wasn't at least partially part of it. However the true reason for my humiliation lies in the fact that you saved me."
Dimitri felt a pang of hurt as he looked away. She loathed him so deeply now that even the fact that he'd saved her life had her revolted. "I see," he said softly.
"No," she said firmly. "No, you misunderstand me I…" Dimitri turned back to look at her and found her brow furrowed in frustration. She was staring at her lap again and moving her eyes left and right, scanning an invisible script before closing them, taking in a deep breath and saying in a slower voice, "I haven't been very kind to you."
Dimitri's eyes widened slightly in shock. "Oh. Well…well you weren't too—"
"Let me speak."
Dimitri clamped his jaw shut and bit his tongue, watching Edelgard raptly as she opened her eyes finally and leveled him with a morose sort of look. "This is why I'm…" she looked away with a frown, sweeping her gaze across the room in seeming search of a word before returning it to him. "You saved my life despite my…attitude towards you and it made me feel guilty." She sighed in relief. "There. I said it."
She was so much like the old El here that it ached. Dimitri couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his lips. "You needn't feel anyway, Edelgard. You being standoffish would hardly be a reason to let you die."
"You didn't simply not let me die," Edelgard stressed. "You quite literally threw your life away for me. It…it was such a grand act and I feel so overwhelmed and bewildered by it."
"Why ever so?" Dimitri asked in confusion. "Edelgard you're my frie—" and there, before he could even get the word out, returned New El with her glacier eyes and pursed lips and hostile aura.
It made him ache in a different way.
"Please," he said, suddenly desperate as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His wound protested but he didn't care. "Please, why. Why have you grown to loathe me so, Edelgard?"
Edelgard scoffed. "Not wanting to ascribe a stranger with such a label as 'friend' is not hate. Stop being dramatic."
"Stranger!" Dimitri cried. He pushed himself further, the blankets falling to his hips and leaving his bare, bandaged chest exposed. "Did our time together mean nothing to you?"
Edelgard's eyes widened briefly before narrowing as she stood sharply from her seat. "You are delusional." And with that, El was gone and Edelgard turned on her heel to march out of the tent.
Dimitri heard Stepmother clicking her tongue nearby. "It is as I said," she murmured. "Buried."
He let a silent tear slide down his cheek as he stared up at the lightly billowing tent.
AN: If I promise you all that this misunderstanding stuff will blow away soon will you guys feel better? No? Yeah, it wouldn't help me either if I was in you guys's place lol. Hope you guys aren't TOOO frustrated with how slow their relationship is growing but when I say I wanted this to be a slow burn as opposed to the original, I meant it!
Alright, alright, that's all for now! Have a lovely night or day wherever you are and stay wonderful!
Fantasy Fan OUT!