to kill without question

Byleth sighed, relaxing her fighting pose as the young prince came charging at her. She easily side stepped him, even managing to trip him as he went past. A moment before his face would meet dirt she gripped his lance and used it to pull him up. 

“What’s the matter Dimitri, attack me,” she said throwing her weapon aside and turning her back to him. The message was clear. 

“You lack focus. You cannot battle your enemy if you’re still battling yourself,” There was no need for her to wait for a reply and so she didn’t. Instead she wordlessly exited the training area and sat on the bench, fully expecting Dimitri to follow suit. “It seems that fight still weighs heavily on your mind,”

She took a sip of water, though given the abysmal work out he gave her, she really didn’t need it. . “On my first day I asked you all to think of what you were fighting for and if it was worth giving your life. Perhaps I was mistaken though. Perhaps I should’ve asked you if it was worth giving someone elses life for,”

“OH.” Something tightened in his chest at her response. A heaviness at the fact he could not remember. Perhaps guilt at the thought he had caused the quiet distress in her voice with his honest question. Of course, he knew her. Why else would she give him such tender care and hold him with her warm hands ? 

What else other than the hold of the past ? 

“You…you feel familiar at least…” he confessed. That much he was certain of. He furrowed his eyebrows deep, attempting to pinpoint when and how exactly they met. Or maybe, better yet, what had happened between then and now – what brought them to hide in a cave with no light or sign of life. 

He furrowed his eyebrows deep, concentrating, trying to recall and remember. Yet every time he felt close to finding an answer, there was a pounding in his head that was unforgiving. Blinding. He closed his eyes tight, trying to stave off the pain. 

He crumpled forward and whimpered under his breath. Gripping the first thing he could reach, which was simply her. 

“I’m sorry –” he was quick to apologize. “I can’t – I can’t remember. I don’t know how or why, but I can’t. My name – I don’t think I even…” he didn’t even know his name. 

“Shh,”  Byleth rested her hand on his forehead and gently massaged the tensed muscles into relaxing “Worry not. If you do not remember who you are. I will tell you,” As he clung to her Byleth pulled him tighter against herself in response. She still felt so ill equipped to provide comfort. This simple gesture was all she could offer.

“You are strong,” she said gently brushing the overgrown bangs from his face  “and you use that strength to protect everyone you can. Fate cursed you with a body that told you to destroy, but you decided to face the world with the resolve to build instead. You are kind, much too kind for your own good. So much so that at times I thought the weight of it would crush you. You excel at riding horses and lance work and though you had your share of shortcomings you’d face each of them with the intention of growing. I know better than anyone. I watched over you and your classmates for a year,” One after the other, she found herself voicing thoughts she had never spoken aloud. Maybe all this time she’d wanted to tell him. In a way this was as much a revelation for herself as it would be for him,

“Though I was meant to be your teacher....You saved me,” How she wished she could’ve told him those words at his graduation. Him and everyone else.

The days she spent with her Lions came rushing back to her. The days spent reading in the library with them, eating in the mess hall, most importantly, the days she spent with them in the classroom. They were all so happy a little bit ago.  How could so much misfortune have befallen them?

“You are...”  She swallowed. It was only his name , so why did it feel like she was bestowing upon him a great burden? 

He was far from a stranger to misfortune, wasn’t he. Threads of tragedy were sewn into the very fabric of his past and they would not let him go so easily. Perhaps he didn’t even want to let them go.

Byleth was never really one to tell lies, but maybe one. Just this once

DIMITRI did not jump, like he used to before, at her sudden entrance and conversation starter. By now, he’s grown accustomed to their late-night talks and perhaps even looked forward to them. It was a welcomed repose when both of their minds were too active or too bothered for sleep. 

“Indeed,” the young prince agreed. His eyes followed the underground lamplights of the Abyss and listened for the echoes of hushed voices as lights out drew near. 

“It’s all so strange to think all of this – an entire thriving community – is living right under our feet. And we would have completely missed it had we not ventured to look further.” 

Even if it had been expected, Byleth found solace in how matter-of-factly he accepted her presence, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly why. 

“You know, I once thought myself quite perceptive. But lately I’ve considered reevaluating that,”  she said taking up the spot at his side, drinking in the unbelievable scenery before them. 

Despite every bit of sense that told her this shouldn’t exist, it was here. Despite every obstacle that stood between it and survival, it thrived.  While it lacked the regal elegance and grand space that the rest of Garreg Machs had, Byleth felt a deep respect for the small society. 

“Quite the week was it not?” She didn’t even bother announcing her arrival before speaking up. She just assumed he had been waiting for her, just like she had expecting him to be there when she left her room. 

Byleth had gotten accustomed to their odd little nocturnal rendezvous’. It was never her intention to make this a habit of their’s. It just seemed that whenever she found both her mind and feet wandering, she’d find Dimitri doing just the same. It was comforting to think that she could count on his company when sleep evaded her. 

But teacher!

So activity will be p slow for a while. But if you wanna plot with me PLEASE HMU

“I feel like I’m dying…” He whispered with each word growing fainter than the last. Everything was cold, dark, and unknown like death. Everything hurt. Even while feeling to-the-bone dry, drinking the water he asked for hurt. Yet, even so, he consumed the woman’s offering hungrily and without question – almost choking in a hurry to remedy his thirst. Almost like an animal surviving on his desire to live. 

When he had finished, he rasped what he hoped to be a ‘thank you’, then allowed himself to sink in her care. He repeated her words ‘ I’m here – I’m here ‘ in his head, trying to figure out why it felt so familiar. Why being cared for in such a way felt familiar. However, it hurt too much to even do that. He tilted his head slightly, getting a better look at the woman’s face as the hair was brushed from his eyes. That felt familiar too.

"Pardon my forwardness….but you’re very pretty….have we met before ? “ By the Goddess, he hoped so and wasn’t intruding on some woman’s life. “Your voice at least…” your kind words “I must have heard it before…”

Byleth had always been well acquainted with the frailty of human life. In a swipe of a blade, a jab of a lance, the swing of an axe, in a single unassuming moment, a life could end. She had taken comfort in that fact, reveled in the ease with which she could tear down bodies in a blink of an eye.

Yet here and now that very same reality terrified her. If she had arrived even a day later would she be holding him in her arms like this or digging a grave?

Or maybe she was already too late. With every word he spoke it felt like he was slipping further and further away. She had already utilized what little she knew of medicine and healing, there was nothing left she could do, not even a god she could pray to.

Byleth’s grip around him tightened, as if that alone could ground him more securely to this earth. It might’ve been an empty comfort but it was all she had. 

Resolve and fear rolled around in her chest as she fought to quell the whispers of what could be. She had to be strong. After all, what kind of a teacher would she be if she only comforted herself? She had made promises to herself of ‘being his rock’ only moments prior. She couldn’t let her determination crumble this fast. 

But before she even had a chance to try and pull herself together, the young prince spoke words that made the stilled blood in her veins run cold.

“It’s me...,” Desperation dyed those two whispered words. 

She gently lifted his head and ran her hands along his skull. There was no bleeding or fractures from what she could tell. It was good news but if that was the case...