nightelf37: Next entry!
All Paths At Once
A Fire Emblem Three Houses fanfic that will try to reconcile all four paths. Or at least finds a path that permits all House leaders to live. Warning: Spoilers for all of those paths. None of the DLCs will be considered.
- In addition to Byleth (male), three others are with them and Jeralt at the start of the story. One is the Male, one is the Female, and two appear gender-indeterminate, but are of one of each gender. For the sake of not using ambiguous names, their names are Ocean (female), Kylar (male), and Honor (female).
- While Byleth starts out with a sword, Ocean starts out with gauntlets, Honor with Reason Magic, and Kylar with Faith Magic.
- Byleth confides to his siblings of the Divine Pulse powers. Unbeknownst to him, the other three have similar time-based powers (or rather, future-sight powers with particular limits).
- When Rhea comes to appoint Byleth as a professor (and he chooses Black Eagles), Honor and Kylar become assistant professors for Hanneman (Blue Lions) and Manuela (Golden Deer), while Ocean assists Byleth.
- The first mock battle proceeds as usual, only it's a free for all that takes out everyone one at a time until it's down to the Eisner quartet and the House Leaders. End result: Golden Deer is victorious when a lucky shot from Claude takes out the survivor in a final bout between Byleth and Honor.
- The Golden Deer House is the team sent to the Red Canyon. Other bandit-thwarting missions are taken by the other Houses.
- The Eisners make a pact to not poach each other's students into their Houses, though they will still try to befriend all of them.
- For the mission in cleaning up Lonato's rebellion, the Blue Lion House is tasked with this.
- In the attempted raid on the Holy Mausoleum, instead of one class, the Eisners and the House Leaders all partake in stopping them, and the following are called to accompany them: Hubert, Dedue, Hilda, Petra, Felix, and Marianne.
- Upon retrieving the Sword of the Creator, during test runs with the sword, all the Eisners are capable of using it reliably, with only a slowly but steadily searing sensation when held for more than five minutes if it's not Byleth holding it.
- In the mission to retrieve the Lance of Ruin from Miklan, the Black Eagle House is tasked with it. Sylvain is brought along to assist them.
- Despite Rhea's insistence to keep the whole misused-Relics-turn-people-into-Black-Beasts deal a secret, the incident gets leaked to the other Houses, but the Eisners and Edelgard were able to plug it right there and convince Claude and Dimitri to keep the secret as well. Due to other circumstances, Hanneman and Manuela aren't privy to this.
- Out of the Eisners, Byleth eats the most, with Ocean as a distant second.
- In the search and rescue of Flayn, the Golden Deer House undertakes this. Kylar also has Hilda under suspicion for her un-lazy behavior during this operation. He also devises a plan to take out the Death Knight, which ends with a Dark Spikes T from Lysithea forcing him to retreat.
- All four Eisners get to befriend all the other staff and are able to ask for their assistance in battles.
- In the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, the results are almost the same as in the mock battle before, down to the remainder at the tail end. The difference is that the Black Eagles secure victory here this time.
- The Remire Village mission is undertaken by the Blue Lion House, where everyone gets to see Dimitri's dark side. Honor decides to invite Lysithea along, and when the Death Knight appears, she's instrumental in handling him again.
- For the White Heron Cup, Flayn represents the Golden Deer House, Annette the Blue Lion House, and Dorothea the Black Eagle House. The winner of the White Heron Cup is… Black Eagles.
- All the Eisners end up going to the Goddess Tower, and no one else. They talk about the months that have passed, and make a promise to ensure peace in the continent.
- In regards to Paralogues, all of them are taken by their respective Houses. However, those with two students of two Houses get joint class trips by both of them. Sword and Shield of Seiros is undertaken by the Black Eagles (and Lysithea is brought along), any stories pertaining to the Crest and Byleth's true nature is undertaken by the Black Eagles, and Oil and Water is undertaken by the Blue Lions.
- At one point, during that Sword and Shield of Seiros mission, Catherine somehow ends up disarmed by a lucky arrow shot, sending the Thunderbrand flying. With Lysithea in range, Ocean urges her to grab the sword. After complying, she holds on to it, and even does a few desperate swings (though defaulting to black magic) before eventually reaching Catherine and returning the blade to her.
- During the sudden appearance of Monsters in the chapel ruins, It's the Black Eagles who go because Alois reached them first. The other Houses follow but arrive late.
[WARNING: CRITICAL SPOILERS INCOMING FROM THIS POINT ONWARD]
[ACTUALLY, THEY MIGHT COME LATER ON]
[BUT DEPENDING ON HOW YOU SCROLL DOWN WHEN YOU READ, YOU MIGHT END UP SEEING THEM ANYWAY]
[SO THEY'RE ACTUALLY FURTHER DOWN]
[STOP READING IF YOU HAVE YET TO REACH THE POINT OF THE GAME WHERE THE FLAME EMPEROR'S IDENTITY IS EXPLICITLY REVEALED]
[HINTS DON'T COUNT AS SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO PERCEPTIVE, SOME PEOPLE NEED TO BE SPOON-FED THE DETAILS TO GET THE HINT, AND A FEW MIGHT EVEN TREAT THE REVELATION AS COMING OUT OF NOWHERE]
[OR COME BACK ONCE YOU'RE DONE WITH THE GAME. THAT WORKS, TOO]
[ANYWAY, SORRY FOR DOING THIS IN ALL CAPS. I NEEDED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THIS AND NOT HAVE IT BE MISTAKEN FOR BEING LIKE THE REST OF THE LIST.]
- Despite multiple Divine Pulses under suggestion of his siblings, Thales successfully prevents Byleth from preventing Jeralt's death.
- Jeralt's journal (read by all four) reveals that right after spiriting away Byleth, a mysterious figure named Karen arrived with three other babies who somewhat look like the child he had taken from the monastery. She entrusted Jeralt with them, explained that this was to better help hide them from Rhea, and worked with raising them before mysteriously disappearing on him once the children were self-capable.
- Dimitri and Honor get to eavesdrop on the conversation with Monica, Thales, and the Flame Emperor.
- Claude asks Kylar for permission to borrow Jeralt's diary. His request is granted.
- For maximum safety purposes, all three classes handle the affair in the Sealed Forest. All the Eisners end up trapped in Solon's spell. Sothis merging with Byleth allows for the rescue of the other three and something latent in them is unlocked that incidentally gives them the same new hair color as Byleth.
- Due to this unprecedented revelation, Rhea decides to have all three Houses participate. She's still unsure as to which one of them is the child Jeralt spirited away and hopes that the ritual would be able to tell.
- Byleth and Ocean accept Edelgard's offer to come with her to the Empire to oversee her coronation to becoming empress.
- Honor is considering forcing Dimitri to sleep using a concoction. Of course, she will call on Dedue to assist in this intervention.
- During the ritual, one of the four is chosen at random, but it just so happens to be Byleth. When the Flame Emperor comes in with their troops, they come in masked. Honor wonders if the Flame Emperor is actually a "Flame Empress". Ocean notices Edelgard and Hubert missing and lets everyone know. Honor has a theory, but decides to set that aside for now.
- Settling the score personally against the Flame Emperor are Byleth, Claude, and Dimitri.
- Dimitri gets to have his questions answered. When the rest catch up, Rhea gives the orders to kill Edelgard. Dimitri is all too happy to oblige, but then Byleth intercedes, Sword of the Creator in hand, and his allegiance made clear. All the other Eisners, with weary hearts, prepare to fight their brother.
- Byleth's defection enrages Rhea, but hidden cohorts incapacitate her, forcing a retreat from the enemy. Only Ferdinand, Dorothea, and Bernadetta (to her own surprise) jump at the chance to join the Flame Emperor.
- Edelgard is disappointed that not everyone in the Black Eagles took her side, but with Byleth, whom she is certain is the chosen one, she's assured that support is being lent, and this decision won't be something to regret.
- Rhea confesses to the remaining Eisners that she wasn't absolutely certain which of them harbors Sothis inside of them—especially after one Priest had seen them sharing the Sword of the Creator around with little side effects like with Miklan—which was why she gave them all teaching careers. She only hopes that the chosen one is still among the three, rather than the traitor.
- Ocean is glad that most of the Black Eagles have decided to stay.
- Honor sternly tells Dimitri to compose himself or he will not get his chance. And that he might have to suffice with at least seeing Edelgard die.
- In the siege of Garreg Mach, Byleth faces off against the other three Eisners and they clash. Lysithea also gets to thrash the Death Knight yet again. Events go like in the other three's routes. The three try to help the Immaculate One and stop Byleth from slaying her, but then Thales sends a blast at the four that casts them all into the abyss.
- Hanneman, Manuela, and Shamir turn to the Empire, joining Byleth's Black Eagle Strike Force, while Catherine, Seteth, Flayn, and Cyril stay with the Seiros remnants.
- During the timeskip, Karen makes her move, having watched them in disguise as a merchant in the monastery. As it turns out, she comes from a faction from the Outrealms that have decided to perform an experiment on the continent. They have seen four of Fódlan's separate futures (three where Byleth sides with each of the faction leaders, and one who sides with the Church and is aided by the Black Eagle students), and wonder if they can forge a path where neither Edelgard, Dimitri, nor Claude have to die in the end.
- The other three Eisners are actually sleeper agents for this Outrealm faction, were specifically engineered to render Rhea confused as to who harbors Sothis within them, and their "switches" have now been flipped. As Byleth awakens, so do they, with a special mission in mind.
- All four Eisners awake together, and the sleeper agents assure that they don't wish to harm Byleth right now. They then confess their purpose in life, and that they should all try to help their factions and minimize important casualties. And so they eventually split. Ocean skips entirely to finding Seteth, while the rest find their respective House leaders at separate parts of the monastery. By a twist of sheer luck, none of them run into each other.
- Honor eventually goes with Dimitri to another nearby village with thieves, and Kylar does the same with Claude at yet another nearby village with thieves. They and Ocean all reunite with their students.
- After the whole bandits deal, all the assistant professors and their classes reconvene at the monastery, and all meet one another. There's considerable friction from Dimitri, especially to the remaining Black Eagle students, but for the most part, a coalition was successfully formed and they established their base in the monastery.
- With all of the students and the help they've brought, the assistant professors decide that they have enough to fulfill multiple goals, Black Eagles with Seteth, Blue Lions with Dimitri, and Golden Deer with Claude.
- Count Gloucester, Lorenz's uncle, is the one leading the Alliance faction supporting the Empire.
- Meanwhile, Byleth returns to the Empire and the Black Eagle Strike Force is reunited once more. Besides the ones already in, there's a "new" addition to their ranks; Jeritza, who is now unmasked, and everyone already knows he's the Death Knight.
- The War for the Weak paralogue is cleared, therefore Dedue survives.
- Archbishop Rhea is captured by Imperial forces and taken to Enbarr. Or at least that's what Those Who Slither In The Dark spread. Or to be exact, their allies in the Outrealms; there is another faction that wishes to see all of Fódlan fall to ruin before they swoop in and clean up the remaining rulers, armies, and possible uprisers in order to claim the continent for their own (including the TWSITD). The truth is that the TWSITD's allies have her captured in one of their hidden bases in Alliance territory.
- Because the continent is embroiled in war, the Eisners know it will take momentous effort to slow it down to a halt and take careful efforts to minimize casualties on both sides when they can.
- Imperial forces detect forces at Garreg Mach and Randolph leads them to reclaim it. The combined forces of the resistance army put an end to most of them, and the remainder—Randolph included—are taken as prisoners of war. Caspar gets to talk to him later under guard.
- It's Claude and Kylar's team that goes to Ailell to pick up backup from Judith… and end up getting her help, too. They also ran into Rodrigue's own reinforcements, as Dimitri had sent a message to him, and he answered the call.
- Dimitri's and Seteth's teams go handle the Great Bridge of Myrddin, while Claude's team helps with distracting Count Gloucester's forces. It's here where they reunite with Dedue. The Imperial forces are defeated and more prisoners of war are claimed, Ladislava among them.
- Instead of Fleche in a bid for vengeance, a mere Imperial soldier attempts to take advantage of the lull to try and assassinate the closest leader in range; Dimitri. Rodrigue takes the arrow to the chest, Honor dispatches the assassin, and Dimitri is snapped out of his brooding. Fortunately, thanks to Kylar's knowhow in medicine in addition to Faith healing, Rodrigue survives, but is left incapacitated for the rest of the campaign.
- Thanks to Byleth and others supporting her, Edelgard is not as willing to cross the line as she was in the non-Crimson Flower routes, and is more willing to negotiate. They convened at Gronder Field, and a ceasefire was announced. All the faction leaders, the Eisners, Seteth, Flayn, and the retainers take part. For mysterious reasons, Hubert is absent, away on other business.
- During the talks, it's quickly revealed that neither the Empire nor the Kingdom have Lady Rhea in custody, despite separate rumors saying that's the case. Before they could wonder where she is, all of a sudden, rings of light manifest above the group. Ocean gets a very bad feeling and tells everybody to run. Kylar laments that there isn't enough time. Just then, Hubert and Karen arrive and extend a Warp spell to get everybody out. Meanwhile, everybody else has seen the rings and Ferdinand, Ingrid, and Lorenz simultaneously give the order for their armies to run. Not everybody escapes from the resulting explosion unscathed, but all the students survive, as do the professors (Manuela, Hanneman), Church staff (Catherine, Alois, Cyril), Jeritza, and Shamir.
- The emergency teleport drops the diplomatic party over the Airmid River in range of the Great Bridge of Myrddin. Most of them manage to surface, with Ocean discarding her gauntlets, but heavy armor causes Dedue and Edelgard to sink. The former quickly discards his armor, but the latter struggles before Hubert, Byleth, and Dimitri reach her and help her shed it. Everybody eventually makes it to shore, and Alliance troops sight them. Around this time, Dimitri spills the step-sibling revelation while Byleth performs CPR since Edelgard had taken in more water than Dedue.
- In the aftermath of what was essentially an orbital kinetic bombardment, Honor wonders if it's Rhea's wrath by way of powerful magic. Seteth immediately refutes the idea.
- Suddenly, terror attacks are occurring all over Fódlan, and all factions have to split off to handle them. Dimitri takes back Fhirdiad from the Faerghus Dukedom and slays Cornelia. And Edelgard's skirmish against Lord Arundel is forcibly kick-started early. Due to having worn herself out with expanding Hubert's Warp spell, Karen rests at the Monastery.
- Meanwhile, Claude's and Seteth's groups follow some instructions left behind by Karen to a hidden facility. It's not run by TWSITD, but their Outworld allies, and they've been performing science on their captive Rhea. And when they sight the heroes, the Head Scientist orders a capture on Seteth and Flayn as well, calling them Manaketes to everyone's confusion. Ultimately, the mission was a success and the Archbishop was retrieved.
- Upon reconvening once more, Jeritza is seen by Mercedes, and she is happy to see him. She also reveals his true name to be Emile. She doesn't reveal that it's actually the Death Knight (even if everybody else has assumed that to be the case), and Jeritza treats him as another person, though he's seen flinching at the sight of Lysithea.
- A couple other missions occur, quelling a "riot" at Hrym (only available now that the Black Eagle Strike Force is working with the rest of the coalition).
- The company eventually connected the dots in that the experiments performed on the Ordelia household were eventually repeated for the Hresvelg family.
- Under his liege's order, Hubert reveals what he knows of Those Who Slither In The Dark.
- Claude eventually asks Edelgard why she allied with Those Who Slither In The Dark in the first place. She replies that they were just a means to an end back when her goal was just to overthrow the church, and that she had planned on hunting them down as soon as she secured victory over Fódlan. But now that they made it clear that they no longer need her, the time has come to take the fight to them.
- Later, Karen recovered enough to explain how she came to everybody's rescue with Hubert, how she managed to get his trust to begin with, and what she had been doing. She also confesses to Kylar, Ocean and Honor for being such a terrible parent, leaving the three to Jeralt and essentially forcing him to raise them all. She also reveals why, but not before using a Mem-Lock (a device that prevents those within its range from discussing whatever transpires to anyone not in the know) to ensure this doesn't leak.
- With a more negotiable demeanor, and with the truth of the whole matter revealed, Edelgard is willing to negotiate with the rescued Rhea. At first, she had thought killing her was the only way, but if there's another way to permanently remove her from leading the church, and prevent those who share too much of her ideologies from leading in her place, she can accept that. There's also the fact that with the ceasefire, assassination would be unfeasible.
- At Shambhala, in addition to the Agarthans, the Outrealm faction assisting them helps defend against the combined regiments from the Empire, Kingdom, Church, and Alliance.
- Certain teamwork moments occur between those who would never have worked together otherwise, such as Seteth and Jeritza charging a Golem from two sides while Flayn distracts it, Edelgard and Hilda toppling another with a team attack, Hubert rendering a third vulnerable to Dedue's followup, and Gilbert exposing a fourth's weak point for Claude to take a shot at.
- During Rhea's second recovery, in addition to Claude, all the Eisners, as well as Dimitri and Edelgard, confront the archbishop as the former asks for the truth. When the truth of the Relics and Crests are revealed, as well as Byleth's origins, among many things, Edelgard is the most shocked, realizing she had been chasing the wrong opponent the entire time. However, she still holds Rhea accountable for the things she's done to keep it all under wraps, as well as her own selfish goal to revive Sothis not only to see her again, but to unite the continent under her rule. Not to mention the fact that Rhea refuses to acknowledge any sympathy for her enemies, and didn't even attempt to ask Edelgard why she was revolting against the Church.
- At the end of this, Byleth and Ocean comment that the two are alarmingly alike in specific ways.
- While Rhea now knows a Crest Stone resides in Byleth, she knows not how the other Eisners can wield the Sword without ill effects.
- With the battle against Nemesis fast approaching, all three territories assemble their armies to intercept Nemesis, though politics keep the Empire and Kingdom from sending much, leaving the Alliance, the Church, and the alumni and staff of Garreg Mach Monastery to provide much of the war effort to stop Nemesis once and for all. Claude also calls in a favor and Nader's troops from Almyra to join in. His true heritage under suspicion, he then confesses his origins as the Prince of Almyra.
- Claude finds it a poignant moment that all the leaders of Fódlan's territories stand together against the continent's fallen hero (actually mad tyrant), to determine the fate of all its people.
- The Ten Elites are faced off by their descendants: Blaiddyd by Dimitri, Riegan by Claude, Lamine by Mercedes, Goneril by Hilda, Charon by Catherine (with assist from Lysithea), Fraldarius by Felix, Gloucester by Lorenz, Dominic by Annette, Gautier by Sylvain, and Daphnel by Ingrid.
- Shamir notes Alois not quaking in his boots in the face of the undead, given his fear of ghosts. He rebuffs that in the face of Fódlan's existence at stake, he cannot let fear take hold of him. Also, they're technically zombies.
- The House Leaders and Eisners close in on Nemesis, with Byleth taking point. Honor and Kylar open with magic attacks before Ocean wails on him. A free shot from Claude, and a team attack from the royal step-siblings later, Byleth performs the finishing blow, destroying the Fell King for good.
- After the deal with Nemesis, during the celebration at the monastery, due to the experiments, as well as an Outrealm spy using a last-ditch plot to destroy the continent, Rhea is suddenly driven berserk by the power of the Immaculate One, priests with whom Rhea shared her blood are turning into White Beasts, and Seteth realizes that Fódlan would be razed if this is left be; Rhea has to be killed to stop this threat. Edelgard comments that this was her ultimate goal months ago (before turning on the Agarthans) and she would've done it without any moral compromise, but now…
- Rhea passes away, and Byleth briefly falls unconscious soon after, confirming him as the chosen child. With the destruction of his Crest Stone, his heart then starts beating again, and his hair returns to normal color.
- In the aftermath, after settling turbulent inner matters in their territories, the four rulers (Byleth as the new Archbishop of the Church of Seiros), convene to discuss how to lead Fódlan now. Joining them in this meeting are the other Eisners, Karen, Seteth and Flayn, the retainers, Nader, Petra (representing Brigid), and Lorenz (representing the Alliance, since Claude represents Almyra now).
- When Karen was asked if she and her children will have to leave Fódlan now that there's peace at last, she says that it's up to them, but iterates that Ocean, Honor, and Kylar have essentially grown up as Fódlan citizens. They all choose to stay, and Karen decides to follow suit, and will eventually be an intermediary between the continent and her Outrealm faction.
As for epilogues, I'm using the following ending pairs.
Edelgard and Byleth
Dimitri and Honor
Claude and Annette
Ocean and Alois
Kylar and Hilda
Hubert and Bernadetta
Ferdinand and Flayn
Linhardt and Marianne
Petra and Cyril
Dedue and Ashe
Felix and Dorothea (Azure Moon)
Sylvain and Ingrid
Raphael and Ignatz
Hanneman and Lysithea
Lorenz and Leonie
Seteth and Manuela
Jeritza and Mercedes
nightelf37: Aaand that's it. Had I considered adding the Ashen Wolves, I would probably have split them across the classes (with two in the Black Eagles), and one of them would've joined the BESF while the other stayed with the rest. See ya on Third! Elsewhere.