Chapter Text
Nobody knows on the last day of school that it is the last that they will see of Edelgard.
Exams are over now, and there are just a few more things to be done before they are dismissed for the summer, and for some, for the very last time. While seniors are busy getting teary-eyed over high school ending for them, the underclassmen wait for the student government announcements to be made.
Votes have been cast, and the final count has been finished, and they wait for the announcement to come over. For the sophomore class, a girl named Lysithea will be president, and for the junior class, Annette will be taking on her second year. Edelgard did not run this year, but it was a tight race between Ferdinand and Dimitri. There is a buzz of excitement as the former is announced as the new senior president, properly succeeding Edelgard, but a few notice that he is not as excited as they would have expected him to be.
Most write it off as him not considering it a true victory, because he was not up against his old rival.
Before she goes home for the day, Byleth tracks down Caspar to thank him for being her first friend at a new school. He laughs and says, “Aw, come on, it wasn’t that big of a deal. You’re not going to get all weepy on me now, are you?”
“I really mean it,” she says. “I’m going to miss talking to you every day.”
“Same here. If you ever feel like visiting, you know where to find me!” he says with a grin.
“Good luck with Petra,” she replies, deciding not to give in to the urge to make this too sentimental. She can never come back to visit, but she wants to leave this on a casual note. Caspar will forget her eventually, and it’s better that way.
“Hey!” He blushes, but looks pleased. “If you get to tease me one last time, then the same goes for me. I hope you and Hubert have a wonderful life together, in your haunted castle or wherever he lives.”
As if on cue, Hubert appears at her side then, asking if she’s ready to go home. For the last time, they’re going to leave school together, all four of them. She has more she wishes she could say to Caspar, wanting to encourage him and wish him well in his future, but it would steadily turn less casual. For now, the best thing she can do is give him the satisfaction of letting him witness her take Hubert’s hand as she says goodbye and walks away.
It doesn’t matter if anyone sees them like this, or if it confirms any rumors about them. School is over, and they’re never going to see these people again. With the dangerous life that they are walking into, Byleth sincerely hopes that they never have to see anyone from this school again. It’s better for all of them that way.
In the parking lot, Edelgard and Ferdinand are waiting for them, with Edelgard already in the car so that she is out of direct sunlight. Edelgard raises a brow when she sees them walking hand in hand, and Byleth almost wishes they could all go back in and make their grand exit together, but of course, they can’t. Especially because Ferdinand is not going to be leaving like they are.
A few students stop them before they can leave, just to tell the two juniors to have a nice summer, see you next year , and all that. Edelgard puts on a brave face and lies to them.
~X~
The next day is graduation, but Hubert and Byleth skip the ceremony. Hubert has cut his family out entirely, and Byleth has no family to speak of, other than this group. It is in the dead of afternoon in the summer sun, so Edelgard would not be able to watch. Ferdinand does go, in order to watch his other student council friends graduate- Claude will even be giving a speech, somehow managing to snag the valedictorian spot.
When he returns, he says, “Even on graduation day, the rumors don’t stop. It caused quite a stir that you skipped, Hubert.”
“Oh, did it, now?” he asks.
“The sun is too bright for a vampire,” Ferdinand says. “He had to miss it, and since he turned his girlfriend, that’s why she wasn’t there either. At least, that’s what I heard.”
“There might be some truth in that,” Edelgard says. “They just have it all completely mixed up.”
“So I’m a vampire now too?” asks Byleth.
“It sure sounds that way,” Ferdinand replies.
“I think I like that,” she says. “It sounds like a good last impression to leave.”
~X~
The summer is spent planning. Byleth returns to her father’s home, to the home she used to live in, for a short time, and searches his room more thoroughly. There is a lot of information to be found, and a lot of work to do. She needs to train more seriously, and decides that it might not be a bad idea to get in touch with the group he was with before, and use his connections to root out everyone who may have had a part in what happened to Edelgard.
First, she has to make sure that she can do that and protect Edelgard at the same time, but for now, it is just something to think about. They still have a lot more work to do, as they decide where to go from here. Ferdinand spends as much time with them as possible, and doesn’t mention what will happen to him until the summer is nearly over.
“This won’t be the end for us, will it?” he asks.
“We’ve talked about this,” Edelgard replies. “It’s dangerous for you, to stay in touch with us...to be with us in any way, but…”
“It will be too hard,” Byleth finishes, sensing Edelgard’s difficulty in putting it to words. “You’re a part of this, no matter where we are. If you want it to over, then that’s that, but…”
“I want to be your inside man,” Ferdinand says. “I won’t be useless, even if I have to stay at school. I’ll be the senior class president, so I can try and work closer with the faculty, and get more information. I can report everything I find to you guys.”
“You know that will be extremely dangerous for you, right?” asks Hubert.
“I know,” he replies. “I’ve already decided to do it either way.”
With that settled, they begin working their plans around that, helping Ferdinand with his own plans and strategies, and deciding how best to keep in touch while on the run. They all have their part to play now, and even though something has ended, it feels as though something new has just begun.
~X~
Byleth has always been a loner. Her father, though caring, was distant, and the two had to move a lot, giving her few opportunities to make friends. She never felt like she clicked with anyone, and didn’t expect much to come of her senior year at yet another new school.
Byleth made friends there, with Caspar, with Claude and Lorenz, with students that she only talked to a handful of times that still waved to her in the hallways. At some point, she’d changed, becoming more open, feeling more than she ever had before. She met Hubert and she met Edelgard, and she began to fall in love. Ferdinand always buzzed around them, an annoyance that she didn’t ever actually want to get rid of, not realizing that she was falling in love with him as well.
Her new feelings and her openness came from her close friendship with that group, and they, somehow, were all drawn to her as well. She discovered Edelgard’s secret, a real vampire, right in front of her, and then things kept taking off from there. Now, she is in a group closer than she ever thought possible, in love and loved in return, and well on her way to following in her father’s footsteps as a vampire hunter, the profession that he’d kept from her all these years.
She has direction now, something that she’d never had before. Upon starting her last year of school, she still had no plans for the future, no ideas of her own, and no idea where she was going or where she would end up. Now, she knows that she is going wherever her loved ones go, and that she will do whatever it takes to protect them all, and keep them close.
Byleth never knew it was possible before, to be this happy or to be this loved. Now, she knows that, as long as she has the three of them, she will always have direction. She has found her purpose in Edelgard, in Hubert, in Ferdinand. Whatever comes next, she will be ready.