Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Before Grimm Ruby Kidnapped Ruby

BGM: Life at Garreg Mach Monastery (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

"Yaaaah!" Caspar threw an axe, hitting it right at the mark. "Bullseye!"

"Impressive. Your aiming has improved." Bereto said.

"Heh, well, it takes a lot of practice." Caspar said proudly.

Ferdinand laughed. "Well, I can imagine you've improved because I believe you tried to shoot an axe from a bow. How did that work out again? Oh right, the blunt end of the blade landed on your foot."

"It… seemed like a good idea at the time. If a bow can fire an arrow, then i'm sure it could fire an axe! Maybe we ought to try a lighter metal…"

"I've heard in the Mushroom Kingdom that they have this material called styrofoam. Maybe you could use material out of that." Ferdinand said.

"Styrofoam?! Nuh-uh! Steel and iron are the most superior of all materials. Next thing you'll tell me that a plastic axe exists! Who even uses plastic anyway? It's not even good material…"

"It holds your items."

"Can it hold a watermelon? I don't think so!"

Bereto laughed. "I enjoy this little banter."

Ferdinand chuckled. "What can we say… three best friends enjoying each other's company."

"Damn right!" Caspar grinned.

"So, Bereto, I have to ask you… how's life treating you in your new home?" Ferdinand asked.

"Oh, pretty good. Can't complain. It recently got remodeled and… honestly, it looks more like a five star hotel compared to how it was originally."

"Yeah, Dorothea kept praising how it looks." Ferdinand chuckled. "Perhaps I should drop by for a visit and see how it holds up."

"Heard you got a water slide in there. I wanna try it!" Caspar grinned.

Bereto chuckled. "Well, considering how Ibuki tends to show up uninvited, I suppose you two could stroll in."

"Ah, no, we're gonna be better than that metal head, thank you very much!"

"By cutting down the door with your axe?" Bereto teased.

"...Hey, that was one time! And that was just to get Bernadetta out of her room."

"Ah yes, let's give the introvert a heart attack." Ferdinand rolled his eyes. "Surely, that will make her like you."

"Hey, Claude isn't better. He actually kidnapped her to go into space." He let out a grumble. "When will it be my turn to go into space?"

"Technically, we all did." Bereto pointed out. "We helped out in the final battle."

"Well yeah, but I'd rather go into space when we ain't evacuating! Sheesh…" Caspar shook his head.

"That is understandable." Ferdinand nodded. "Ah, to live a life as carefree as the Rose/Xiao Long/Branwen family."

"Now throw in Eisner and you're set." Caspar chuckled. "I mean, hey, I've heard Byleth changed her name to Byleth Rose Eisner, so… guess that means you're Bereto Rose Eisner too."

"Eh… personally, I find Bereto Branwen Eisner to be a better name for me."

Ferdinand raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought you would have the name as Byleth. I mean, don't you two get along? You two are twins!"

End BGM

Bereto's smile disappeared. "Right… twins…" He mumbled.

"Everything okay?" Caspar asked. "Did you two get in a fight?"

"No, it's not that…"

"Then what is it? C'mooooon, you can tell us! We're a couple of sponges!"

"I'd personally not rather dwell on his personal family life."

"No no, it's fine. I've been keeping this bottled up for a long time."

"Are you sure about that?" Caspar asked. "I mean, you don't have to-"

"Nah, let him vent. After all, it's not healthy to bottle it all up."

"True that. Alright, lay it on us, big guy!"

"Hmph… well, I guess I can start from the beginning, back when we were mercenaries."

BGM: Recollection and Regret (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

"First, let me just say… the Byleth everyone loves? She was a lot different in her mercenary days. She and I were called the Ashen Demon Twins, but… some people in the company thought of Byleth differently, not that she seemed to care. Behind her back, they would call her a different name. Bitchleth."

"Bitchleth? Goodness, that's a bit much…" Ferdinand grimaced.

"You… sure this is the Byleth we all knew?"

"Believe me, I wish it was different. In our days of being a mercenary, she'd kill anyone left and right. As for me… well, I was a lot kinder. I actually gave our opponents the option to live."

"What are you waiting for… kill me…"

Bereto shook his head. "No. I'd rather not kill you in cold blood. You deserve a better chance to live."

"What…?"

"Go, live your life to the fullest. You deserve it."

"Huh… I have to say, for being a mercenary in Jeralt's band, you're not so ba-" A sword went through his gut. "GAAAAAAAH!"

"No!" Bereto yelled as he fell to the ground as Byleth stood in his place. "What were you-"

"You're an idiot. Don't you understand that being a mercenary means you have to kill no matter what's thrown at you?"

"Surely, there has to be a better alternative to killing all the time! They deserve-"

"They deserve nothing. You're soft… and honestly, softness will be your undoing. You know how the saying goes! The weak die, the strong live! That's how it goes around here."

"That's horribly outdated!"

"Is it?" Byleth grabbed him forcibly by the collar. "I don't know why you think these people deserve to live. They lose a fight, they die. Simple as that."

"Byleth, maybe we ought to just take it easy. Sometimes you take the life of a mercenary too seriously."

"It's either they die or we die… and frankly, I'd rather live so if you would JUST get it through that thick head of yours, you'll realize that saving lives is meaningless."

"Is it? Because I think some people would rather live to fight for another day."

Byleth laughed. "Yeah, and they'll just end up dying again, so what's the point?" She let go of him. "It's time you started to learn that you need to suck it up and kill anyone who gets in your way."

"I just think-"

SLAP!

"Buddy, drop it." Byleth walked off as Bereto rubbed his cheek.

"Bitch…" He mumbled under his breath.

"Yikes! I think she let it get to her head…" Ferdinand said.

"The weak die, the strong live? Didn't Yang's mother have something similar to that?"

"She did, but she had an attitude change over it." Bereto explained.

"Okay, so maybe Byleth wasn't the best to be around as a mercenary, but surely she wasn't that bad most of the time." Ferdinand said.

"She was constantly in a bad mood."

"Maybe she was having an off day. How many times was she always in a bad mood?" Caspar asked.

"Twenty four seven."

"...How can someone be in a bad mood twenty four seven? Has anyone ever hugged her?" Caspar wondered.

"Because of this constant bad mood, she'd always give me the cold shoulder."

"Well, would you look at that. I caught a big one." Bereto said, having fished up a good sized fish as he walked over to cook it over the fire.

"Ugh, what is that smell…" Byleth walked by. "It smells like puke…"

"I'm just cooking fish." Bereto said.

"Oh, it's just you cooking dinner? I thought somebody had died." Byleth snarked. "Either way, the way you're cooking it is pathetic."

"Do you have to berate everything I do?"

"Bera- PFFFFT! HAHAHA! Berate? Is that what you think I'm doing? Nah, I'm just giving you some advice."

"By condescendingly insult my cooking?"

"IF that's what you want to believe!" Byleth chuckled and walked off, pushing past a fellow mercenary by bumping into her with her shoulder.

"H-hey!"

"Watch where you're going, dipshit."

The mercenary let out an annoyed grumble. "This is why you won't get laid, Bitchleth…" He said.

Bereto let out a chuckle. "Good one."

"Well, it's the truth." He said as he walked off.

"Mmm! Something smells good." Jeralt said as he walked over. "Cooking dinner for yourself?"

"Yeah." Bereto nodded. "By the way, watch out… she's out on the war path again."

"Oh? I wouldn't worry about it. She's just having an off day." Jeralt sat down next to her. "I know she's hard on everyone, and even I think she's taking this life of a mercenary too seriously, but… give her a chance. She'll eventually come through."

"YAAAAGH!" A mercenary cried.

"That's what I think about you and your dumbass flowers, dumbass! Go to hell!"

"Eventually?" Bereto raised an eyebrow.

"Mercenaries all come in different flavors. She'll settle down soon."

"Yikes… remind me to never give her a box of chocolates…" Caspar said.

"I did at one point. She was quite thrilled when I gave it to her… she gave me a hug too." Ferdinand said.

"Whenever we had food together… She had a voracious appetite. So much so that she would steal my food when I wasn't looking. Hell, she'd actually steal my food when I was in the middle of eating said food. Worst part was that dad was oblivious to it all."

"You gonna eat that?" Byleth asked. "Because I'd be happy to take it off your plate."

"I'm still eating."

"I wasn't asking." Byleth yanked it away from him and finished off the food while Bereto was giving her a "Dude!" look. "What? You weren't finishing it!"

Jeralt looked up from his meal as he was lost in his own thoughts. "Hmm? Oh hey, you already finished." He said and looked at Byleth, as he let out a laugh. "Someone's hungry!"

Someone's greedy… Bereto thought.

"Ooookay, so surely… sparring would have humbled her, right?" Caspar asked. "Because believe me, I'm always served humble pie whenever I'm beaten in a spar."

"Oh, don't I wish… whenever we sparred, she usually won. And when she won-"

"You're weak! I don't even know how you even managed to last this long. The way you're always so soft and whatever, you wouldn't even last five minutes out there, and yet, due to your soft centered stupidity, you'd always manage to live."

Bereto growled. "If anyone's weak here, it's you! Your constant attitude has made your morality weak and you kill without a second thought!"

"At least I'm not a pussy, mister "I choose to let people live"." Byleth walked off as Bereto clenched his fist and punched the ground in frustration.

"Sooooo, she always gets on your case whenever you stood up to her?" Caspar asked.

"Yeah, and when she was feeling extra bitchy, she would mention that she has bigger balls than I do."

"...Eh? But she's a woman."

"I think he meant that she's a lot tougher than he is." Ferdinand said.

"Oooooh, that kind of balls, got ya!"

"...Still, that's harsh. But what would she do if you won against her?"

"Well…"

"Heh, looks like I've won." Bereto said as Byleth was sitting on her butt. "You okay?"

"Tch… you cheated."

"What?"

"There was no way in hell I could've lost to you. You obviously cheated in some capacity!"

"Would you give it a rest? You lost, just accept it."

"No, this was obviously a fluke." Byleth said as she stood up and walked off. "I'll get better and I'll kick your ass into next week!"

"And you wonder why you don't have any friends!" Bereto called out to her.

Byleth stopped walking, turning around to glare at him. "At least I know how to TRY to make a friend! YOU on the other hand will never get to make one because who would want to hang out with a rug like you!"

"...And you wonder why I don't have many friends here. Hell, you wonder why I'm so quiet and reserved all the time."

"Good goddess, it's like she was gaslighting you into making you believe you won't have any friends!" Caspar said.

"I'm starting to understand why people called her Bitchleth…" Ferdinand mused.

"You want to know the worst part? There was this other company who tried to attack us, but we fended them off. Byleth picked them off that came close to her. I let some live, and I tried to let this one other guy live when Byleth was fighting off this… purple haired girl, I believe. Unfortunately, despite her not looking at me, I could tell she was going to kill me if I didn't kill him in front of me… so I had no choice, against my better judgment. And then… next thing I know, Byleth lets her live only to leave her for the wolves."

"Holy shit!" Caspar said.

"Indeed. I do have this small sense of hope that she had lived, but I fear that the wolves got to her…" Bereto said and then sighed in annoyance. "And then… one day, we were on a mission to take out Kostas, but we ran into Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude. Byleth didn't really give them much the time of day but I struck up a conversation with Dimitri and Claude… but the moment Edelgard strikes up a conversation with Byleth…"

"You know… there's something about you that fascinates me."

Byleth chuckled cockily, brushing the side of her hair with her hand. "I'm known as the Ashen Demon. I'm pretty much a big deal around here."

"No.. there's something else, but I can't figure out what it is."

She thinks she's all that… give me a break… Bereto thought.

"The icing on the cake was when, out of nowhere, when Kostas attempts to kill Edelgard, Byleth steps in to save her. Normally, when someone in our company dies, Byleth doesn't give them the time of day or mentions "They died because they were weak. No skin off my back" and whatever. Hell, sometimes in her party, she never felt bad about some people dying. She thought it was no big deal… so to see her protecting Edelgard, something that she never did before, caught me by surprise… and then, to add insult to injury, she was suddenly this whole new person as if she wasn't a bitch five minutes earlier. Something tells me it had something to do with Sothis being in her…"

"Could it be because Sothis threw Byleth's sass back at her and she didn't like it?" Caspar thought. "I can see that happening."

"Indeed. Because after that, you guys showed up as Garreg Mach and here she was, just getting to know everyone with a smile on her face." Ferdinand said.

"Tch… right…" Bereto mumbled. "There were times when I asked her "What's with this attitude change" and she went "What are you talking about?" and goes on like nothing happened."

"Strange…" Ferdinand mused.

"What I don't get is why Sothis chose to be with her. Like, hell, I've struggled with my sister for so long that I completely sympathize with Ruby!" Bereto sighed. "Not only that, but here she was, easily making friends left and right while keeping a chipper attitude while I was left in the dust."

"Ah, not true! She introduced you to everyone." Ferdinand said.

"Yeah, but it feels like I'm just an afterthought with her." Bereto mumbled. "She became a whole different person… no longer was she "Bitchleth", but now she was more chipper, friendlier, happy-go-lucky woman, and, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy that she had an attitude change."

"So you're happy for her." Caspar said.

"Yes. I'm happy that she's completely changed and I'm happy that she's engaged to Dorothea… and yet… this whole thing is driving me nuts! Not ONCE did she apologize for her behavior. Not once did she acknowledge any of the wrongdoings that she had with me back in the company… sometimes I'd reference it and she either tunes me out or she conveniently ignores whenever I bring it up!"

"Ooooh… that'll do it." Ferdinand nodded.

"She makes all the friends, I'm lucky that I made a few. She has no trouble expressing her emotions yet I have trouble expressing mine… you can thank HER for that."

"Okay okay okay okay… so you have some issues and she hasn't acknowledged it yet. She probably genuinely forgot about it and would rather focus on other things. Surely, you could forgive her for that." Caspar said.

"I would… if she hadn't done the one thing that irked me the most that made me resent her…"

"And that would be?" Ferdinand asked.

"You know how she's a therapist and everyone flocks to her for advice?"

"Yeah?"

"...She stole that from me." He said. "I took some classes here on how to become a therapist, I was actually closing in on that goal… and then, out of nowhere, Byleth just swoops in and becomes a therapist herself. No classes, no nothing. She becomes a renowned therapist and everyone loves her for it. And all because Yang thought Byleth could help Ruby out with her doppelganger."

Caspar grimaced. "I don't think she meant to steal it from you. Heck, I think with the two of you combined, you could make a therapist powerhouse!"

"Tch, yeah right… she's a total sham. I worked my butt off for it and SHE gets all the credit? I completely understand how Luigi feels!"

"Now now, let's simmer down a bit." Ferdinand said. "True, she wasn't the greatest person to be around in your mercenary days, but people can change and she, thankfully, changed for the better. The way I see it, she didn't mean to steal your thunder. She more than likely got caught up with therapy sessions with Ruby and Xena… and… Marnie and Weiss and… Blake…"

"You want to know what else is annoying? They gave her a PhD over it! At that point, I was like "Screw it, what's the point!" and just gave up on that dream." Bereto said. "Ugh… I hate her…"

"Hate is such a strong word…" Ferdinand said.

"Do you truly hate her? I mean, considering you and Dorothea went out of your way to tell us about her Divine Pulse situation. Was that all for naught?"

"No… because deep down, I still care about her." He folded his arms. "At least I don't give my family the cold shoulder…"

"Ah, so a love/hate relationship… have you told anyone else about this?" Caspar asked.

"You're the only two I've told… and I honestly feel a little better, but I still need to work up the courage to call her out."

"Hmm…" Ferdinand folded his arms.

"...Ah, you know what? How about the three of us head on over to the pub and drink our sorrows away with ale? I'm sure that'll cheer you up!" Caspar said.

Bereto smiled a bit. "Heh. I actually would like that."

"Alriiiiight! Let's get ourselves drunk until we no longer stand!" Caspar exclaimed.

"Oh for pete's…" Ferdinand shook his head with a chuckle.

"Kidding! I'm not gonna go out by alcohol poisoning." Caspar chuckled.

"Let's go." Bereto said as they walked off.

End BGM

"Bereto!" A voice called out to him as the trio turned to see Palutena coming out of a heavenly light. "You need to come with me."

"What seems to be the problem?" Bereto asked.

"Grimm Ruby's made a comeback. She's kidnapped Ruby."

Bereto's eyes widened. "What?!" He said.

"Yes." Palutena nodded. "I figured you would come and help out."

Bereto unsheathed his Iron Sword. "Lead the way." He said and turned to his friends. "Excuse me, gentleman, I've got a family commitment. Go on without me."

"I'll drink a mug in your honor!" Caspar said as Palutena whisked herself and Bereto away.

"Mmm…" Ferdinand folded his arms.

"What's up?" Caspar asked.

"I'm a bit concerned…"

"Concerned about what?"

"Let's just say… I hope he doesn't get too consumed by his resentment of his sister. He may say something he'll regret."

"Aaaah, you're worrying too hard. Meet you at the pub!" Caspar took off running while Ferdinand looked at the spot where Bereto had left.

"Hope those two can hash it out peacefully…" He said and walked away to catch up with Caspar.

Credit goes to Wyvernsaurus for this idea!

Ibuki: Yikes... hope these two can hash it out peacefully! ...She hopes!