Azure Tears - Chapter 1: Reunion at Dawn
"You… How long do you intend to sleep?"
Byleth's body stirred as the voice within her mind spoke. It was a familiar voice, but she couldn't place it at the moment.
"Your body is awake. Your eyes must open now, and you must find the strength to stand upon those legs of yours." The voice continued as Byleth awoke.
"Like so much rain, a pool of blood has fallen to the ground… As spears and arrows pierce the earth, it weeps. And even now… it weeps." Though the voice was familiar, Byleth's mind still hadn't fully awakened from the long slumber, so names evaded her.
"In order to survive, they kill. And so, the people of this world are lost in an abyss of suffering. They weep as well. The only one who truly knows the nature of such things is I… Or rather, you."
At these words, recognition finally dawned in Byleth's mind. The voice… was that of the goddess that once inhabited her mind. Sothis, the one who sacrificed herself to allow Byleth the chance to escape Zaharas.
"Wait, how can yo-?" Byleth began.
"You are a complete and utter fool! Have you not changed one bit?! Get on your feet. Right now! I'll coddle you no more! You are just like a child, always needing me to hold your hand…" The goddess furiously snapped, chastising Byleth for her ineptitude.
This reprimand from Sothis finally startled Byleth to full consciousness. She slowly pushed herself up from the ground. Then another voice, this one lower:
"Hey! A-are you awake?"
Byleth finally struggled to her feet, swaying slightly before her legs finally found some of their old strength, firmly set in the ground once again. Before her was an unfamiliar man. And all around them was a destroyed village. This area seemed familiar, yet like Sothis, Byelth couldn't quite place the name.
"W-where… am I?" She asked the man in front of her.
"We're in a village at the base of the monastery. What are you doing in a place like this? I honestly didn't expect to find anyone floating away down the river." The man responded, confused at the obvious question.
Floating down the river? Base of the monastery? What happened to me? Byleth thought to herself.
"Garreg Mach is upstream from here, but that place has been abandoned."
This confused Byleth even more. How could Garreg Mach be abandoned? What happened to the monastery? And why am I feeling that there was something important that I'm forgetting?
"What do you mean?" She asked the man.
"Huh? You don't know? The Church of Seiros isn't there anymore. Though there have been some folks living there since… Well, you know."
The Church of Seiros isn't at Garreg Mach anymore? What happened while I slept? Byleth thought to herself, before she was pulled back to reality as the man continued:
"Anyway, I've heard some thieves have been spotted around those parts these days."
This all was making Byleth's head spin. What happened? How long had she been asleep?
"What year is it?" Byleth asked.
"Um, are you… feeling alright? You didn't hit your head or anything, did you?" The man asked, concerned.
This is when Byleth remembered something. There was a battle at Garreg Mach. Something had happened that led to her plummeting down a nearby chasm. The ground beneath her had literally crumbled beneath her feet. Maybe she had hit her head when she landed. That could explain why she couldn't remember much or why she was asleep for so long.
"It's the ethereal moon of the year 1185. It's been nearly five years since the monastery fell. Tomorrow was supposed to be The Millennium Festival, but who's got time to think about things like that?" The man explained.
"The Millennium Festival…" Byleth whispered quietly, her memories slowly starting to return.
"Uh, yeah, that's what I said." The man responded with a nod. "But with the war and the archbishop still missing and all… I doubt there's a soul to be found who has enough blessings worth counting."
But Byleth didn't really hear what was being said. The Millennium Festival? Why does this sound so familiar? Then, it finally clicked. Five years ago, I had promised my students that I would be at their class reunion tomorrow. Have I really been asleep this entire time? It doesn't matter. I have to get to Garreg Mach, and fast.
Upon this realization, Byleth quickly spun around and began walking towards the monastery, much to the man's surprise.
"Hey, slow down, will ya? Where do you think you're going?" He asked, startled.
"The monastery." Byleth responded firmly, momentarily stopping to respond.
"Are you crazy?!" The man asked, flabbergasted. "I told ya, they say thieves are running amok up there, and there are plenty of other dangers as well."
Thieves? No matter. Byleth thought to herself as she prepared to continue.
"I heard a rumor that Imperial troops went up there to investigate and got slaughtered. Every last one!" The man said, trying to warn Byleth of the danger. "Come on, I promise I won't say that you're a coward. Just forget about going anywhere near the monastery." He continued.
Byleth looked back over her shoulder and shook her head. There wasn't anything that was going to stop her. She would fight her way to the monastery if she had to.
"You just remember that I tried to stop you, got it? It's not on my conscience if you wind
up dead." The man said, clearly having given up on stopping her.
"My students are waiting for me." Byleth responded as she began to walk towards Garreg Mach. As she walked away, she swore that she heard the man mutter something under his breath. But that wasn't important. She had a lot of ground to make up, and fast.
As she walked through the surrounding villages, memories of events five years previous began to return. The sounds of blades clashing violently as she and her students drove back Edelgard and her army. The terrified screams of innocent civilians as endless waves of Imperial soldiers made their way towards Garreg Mach. The roar of The Immaculate One as Rhea made a last ditch effort to defend the monastery. And finally, her own piercing scream as she was blasted into the ravine that she slept in for the last half decade.
"This place. Everywhere. It's changed so much." Byleth muttered to herself. "I can begin to see why that man from earlier felt the way he did. All the destroyed homes. The lopsided graves of the dead. The barren crops. The land itself was decimated, just as Sothis had said."
After walking for what felt like hours, Byleth crested a familiar hill. It was the same one that she had crested when she first journeyed to Garreg Mach. She closed her eyes and lowered her head as three familiar voices rang in her mind:
"This will be your first time at the monastery. I'd be happy to show you around."
It was Dimitri, a bright smile on his face, his voice full of cheer.
"It really is Fódlan in a nutshell. The good and the bad."
This time, it was Claude, in his normal, laid back, cool tone.
"Like it or not, we'll be there soon enough."
Edelgard's aloof voice rang out in Byleth's mind.
As the memories ended, Byleth opened her eyes once more, and was greeted by a view of Garreg Mach Monastery. The once grand structures were broken, obviously the result of the siege five years ago, but Byeth was happy to see it regardless. She was almost there. Her students were waiting for her, and all would be well. Just a little farther.
Byleth entered the monastery, recoiling in horror at what she found. The man was right. Entire Imperial platoons lay on the ground, slaughtered. And not just slaughtered, but eviscerated in ways that seemed utterly inhuman. Heads were severed from their necks. Others' faces were completely deformed, almost as if crushed. Some even had massive holes in their armor right around their heart. Further inspection would reveal that they no longer had a heart. Other bodies were peppered with holes, as if stabbed repeatedly, even after death. What monster would have done this? This wasn't just normal fighting, this was a torturous massacre. Byleth concluded to herself. But who could be-
That final thought was interrupted by several other memories. First, Byleth saw herself back in The Holy Tomb. They had just repelled an Imperial ambush led by The Flame Emperor. Yet, just before Dimitri cut the mystery invader down, their mask fell off, revealing their true identity: Edelgard. Byleth then saw how Dimitri cut down Edelgard's small battalion, nearly throwing his lance straight through her head. Then, even without a weapon, he crushed their skulls with his bare hands. Even now, that sickening sound made Byleth shiver all these years later. There's no way. It couldn't be. Byleth thought to herself, denying the possibility.
But the memories weren't done. Byleth saw how the revelation affected Dimitri for the following weeks leading up to the siege. He wasn't himself. He wouldn't sleep. His technique was sloppy during training. He seemed much more aloof during class. Not only that, he started to decline invitations to meals or tea parties, events he would normally accept without hesitation. He put up more and more social walls between himself and everyone else, only for it all to come crashing down when he sadistically pledged to crush Edelgard's skull with his bare hands. Please. Don't let it be so. I couldn't. Byleth thought, worried at the implications of this possibility.
Even as Byleth thought she couldn't endure it much more, the memories continued to flood her mind. During the siege, Byleth had never seen anyone fight like Dimitri. The way he eviscerated his foes was inhumane. Yet he seemed deafened to their blood curdling screams as he went from one soldier to another, murdering them with brutality that betrayed his humanity. People called her a demon, but this? This was the work of a feral monster.
"You're late. I… We are all tired of waiting. Now, let's separate that sick head from your neck, shall we?"
Byleth had never heard anyone's voice filled with venom like that.
Why, Dimitri? Why? Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes as she began running around the monastery, stumbling over the bodies of the dead as she tried to find her student.
After checking nearly every part of the monastery, the thought of one last place where her former student might be flashed across her mind, along with even more memories. The place where she and Dimitri went to catch a breather during the ball. The place where he had jokingly promised that they would be together forever.
It couldn't be. How could fate be so cruel? Byleth thought to herself as she made her way towards The Goddess Tower.
Byleth ascended the stairs of The Goddess Tower, stepping over even more mutilated Imperial soldiers. As she finally reached the top, she turned to look further in, only to see a figure hunched over, a Silver Lance stained with blood in his hand. Almost as if on cue, the light began to illuminate the figure's face, all but confirming Byleth's worst fears. The figure before her, the one who had brutally murdered all the soldiers, was her former student and greatest friend: Dimitri.
(Author's note: This chapter is mainly a retelling of the first part of Azure Moon's Reunion at Dawn, hence the name, but diving deeper into some of Byleth's potential thoughts before she reunited with her old student, helping set the stage for her descent into grief as alluded to in the disclaimer. Expanding on things that were only told to us such as Dimitri's brutality and assuming that there were more Imperial platoons than originally shown was done to further set the stage for the inevitable fall. Five years is a long time and Garreg Mach is a strategic location, so it would be reasonable to assume that The Empire tried to take it.)