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Chapter Text

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

Like It Was Fate

Chapter 1: Wyverns and Nostalgia

By: Knowlee Raven

This was definitely not how she expected to start her day.

Byleth was on her way into town and was fully anticipating spend the rest of her day shopping for more food and other necessities before returning home to enjoy her evening. However, the sound of a wyvern screeching caught her attention and while she would've probably just went on ahead and ignored it to continue on her merry way, the sounds of men shouting stopped her in her tracks and made her realize that it was something a little more serious. Her doubts still tried to stop her from investigating, but her feet were moving before her brain could catch up. Her father did always used to tell her that she was too curious for own good.

Once she reached the top of the hill where the sounds were emanating from, she saw the wyvern that she presumed made the cry in a defensive position trying to fend off three bandits who were attempting to attack it. The color of the wyvern was one she hadn't been expecting. It was a glaring bright white and it made it the creature stick out like a sore thumb against the foliage of the forest surrounding all of them. It's color, she mused, was probably also the reason why the bandits were attacking it. White was a rare color for wyverns after all. At least that's what she could recall being told by an old friend of hers from her Academy days who happened to be an expert at them. A brief smile formed on her face before she forced it back down to focus on the situation at hand.

Although she rarely intervened in cases like this as no person was being hurt (plus no transfer of money was involved as she did have bills that needed paying), she could say that she did have a soft spot for animals of any kind (this was certainly true of the cats and dogs that were prevalent back during her school days). And this poor creature was desperately trying to defend itself from the people set to do it harm. She couldn't let that stand.

As she started to quietly remove her sword form its sheath, she vaguely wondered why it hadn't just flown off yet. It could very easily knock the men down by using it's wings to blow a gust of wind back at them and quickly make an escape. She was about to chalk it up to it just being too scared to think straight, when she saw it.

There was an empty saddle on the back of the wyvern.

That meant it had a rider.

And based on that thought and how the creature was positioned, it was probably trying to protect said rider from these men.

Her eyebrows furrowed together as when she looked further, she could see that it looked like the beast was shot down from the sky. A few arrows protruded from it's right wing and as she continued her analyzation, she saw the boots of said rider on the ground next to them.

They weren't moving.

Which meant that they were either seriously injured or dead.

She took a deep breath and made her decision. Looks like like her plans for today just changed.

With her sword having been already removed from it's sheath, Byleth quickly studied the three men and could tell from a glance that one was an archer, and the other two wielded a sword and lance respectively. She knew she needed to take out the archer first as she wouldn't be able to dodge his arrows if she was too busy dealing with the other two. She was fast, but not that fast.

Next she would need to take out the sword user since their weapons were the same it would be easy to take him out. The lance user would have to be last as she would have to be more careful with them. Swords were more difficult to use against lances due to their longer reach, so she would need all her attention to be focused on him when it came time to face him.

She took in a slow, deep breath to relax her nerves. She studied the situation one more time to make sure they hadn’t noticed her and once she knew for certain that they hadn't, she made her move.

The archer fell first.

Her sword ran through his chest before he even had a chance to realize she was behind him. He was dead before he hit the ground. With him out of the way, she moved towards the sword user and took him out just as silently as his companion.

The lance wielder must've seen his two friends fall beside him for he looked over in her direction and noticed his companions lying dead on the ground. Seeing as he was momentarily distracted, she took the opportunity to run towards him and got her sword ready to move.

At her sudden movement, the man was able to pull himself back to attention and went to attack her with his lance before she could get the drop on him. Byleth anticipated the move and sidestepped out of the way of his attack. She swung her sword in an upward motion before he had a chance to respond and sliced deep into his chest. The man stumbled for a bit before finally falling to the ground; dead like his companions who fell before him.

Once she was completely certain that they were all dead, she turned her attention over to the skittish wyvern who was still hunched over it's rider. She knew that it probably thought she was a threat especially since she was wielding a weapon like those who were attacking it earlier, so instead of riling up the beast more, she slowly returned her sword to it's sheath and began softly talking to the creature in an attempt to show that she meant it no harm.

“Hey there, it's alright. Those bad guys aren't going to bother you anymore.” She shot it a smile while simultaneously moving her hand out before her to try and get it to sniff her scent. Vaguely she found herself remembered the same friend she thought of earlier telling this to her back when they had to interact with wyverns as a class assignment. Her smile grew a big wider at the fond memory.

Her actions towards the creature seemed to work as it cautiously began to sniff the air near her. She took a chance to try and take a step forward. She prayed that was moving slow enough for it to start trusting her. While doing this, she took a glance over where the boot of its rider sat. Was he, or she, still alive? She needed to hurry up and gain this wyvern's trust. Otherwise her trying to save this person would've been for nothing.

Byleth slowly inched her way towards the creature with her hand still outstretched before her. Once she got close enough to the wyvern, she stopped and let it sniff her hand. It took it a few seconds, but once it got a good whiff of her scent, it deemed her as a friend and licked her hand as a gesture of good will.

Byleth laughed quietly at the sight. If only her friend could see her now. She used to be terrified of the things when she was younger. With the smile still on her face, she continued to console the wyvern for a few more moments until she saw that it was now relaxed. Maybe now she could get a closer look at the rider and see what the damage was.

She gently eased her way over to the person in question while continuing to hold a hand to the wyvern's body. She didn't want to unintentionally spook it and cause it to lash out again. When she got closer to the body, she felt the wyvern shift it's own body around to look back at her and its rider and nearly jumped to find it's head coming over her shoulder to try and nudge it's owner awake. She could hear distress noises emanating from the creature's mouth. It obviously was worried.

She frowned in concern as she knelt down onto the ground. Now that she was closer, she could tell that it was a man. He was dressed in what looked noble attire, yellow being the main color, with some gold armor on one shoulder and black and green being used as accent colors. He had thick, dark brown hair, tan skin and an earring in his right earlobe. A regular silver bow and a quiver full of arrows that lay near him showed her that he attempted to fight off his attackers before getting shot down.

She moved her fingers over to his neck to feel for a pulse and was relieved to find that he was still alive. Now she had to see if he had any wounds. She looked over his back and didn't see any blood there. She gingerly grabbed him by the shoulder and gently turned him over to see if he had any on his chest. When she had him on his back, she immediately noticed the large, dark red color on his stomach right above the sash he was using for a belt. Ah, there it was.

She grabbed the small knife she had strapped near her hip and pulled it out to cut the fabric near the wound. Once she got it torn away enough she could see that it looked like an arrowhead wound. After a little more gentle prodding she could see that the arrowhead was luckily not stuck inside him. It looked as if he probably pulled it out before he either passed out from the pain or before he hit the ground.

Either way, she needed to stop the bleeding before it continued. Most of her medical supplies were back home so she would have to make due with something else. She sighed. This was definitely not what she expected to be doing today. Granted she knew it wasn't his fault that someone decided to attack him as he was flying, but she was really hoping to just make a simple trip into town and then spend a nice, quiet evening in front of the fire reading a book and drinking some tea. Now, she instead had to cut out the whole trip and instead go straight home with both of them in tow in order to give them time to heal.

Chiding herself at her own selfishness, Byleth grabbed some of the yellow cloth the man had draped over his left shoulder and used her knife to cut off some of it to use as a makeshift bandage until she got more proper supplies in hand. When she moved to do this, that's when she noticed the other cloth that he had draped across his other shoulder. It was a dark black cloth with the symbol of the Leicester Alliance adorning it.

She froze for a moment while her mind was calculating the implications of this. She jerked her head back to the dead bandits. Were they bandits or were they soldiers from the Empire? Was he one of the high nobles in the Alliance? She had managed to keep herself out of the war during the past year after she woke up, she really hoped that she hadn't just dragged herself into it unintentionally. As she looked at the bandits, she didn't see anything on them that showed an Adrestrian allegiance. Maybe they were just bandits that happened to see a noble flying and hoped to use him as leverage for money or something?

She sighed. Well, either way, there was nothing she could do about it now. She had already gotten herself involved. All she could do now was hope that no one would connect the dots to her if it did turn out they were enemy soldiers. She looked back at the man. Plus there was no way she was going to let a defenseless man die. Sure she had killed a few nobles in her line of work as a mercenary, but that didn't mean she hated them. She even refused some of the offers on the basis that the people that potential clients wanted to have killed had done nothing wrong. Regardless of her line of work, she had morals after all.

She pushed those thoughts aside to focus on later when she had the luxury of doing so. Now, she had to bandage this man's wound and find a way to get him back to her home with further injuring him.

After getting him properly taken care of, Byleth slowly eased the man's now bandaged head down onto the pillow. She had just finished wrapping another wound that she had noticed he had on the back of his head when she had picked him up earlier to lay him over the back of the wyvern to carry him back to her home. It wasn't a serious one luckily, but it did help explain why he was unconscious when she found him. His head would definitely be killing him though when he woke up from slumber.

After making sure that he was comfortable lying down, she stood up and moved to pull the blankets over his now bandaged torso. She stopped at the base of his neck and lay the top part of the covers there. She didn't know how long he would sleep for, but she knew it would probably be a while. She sighed and looked out the window to the stable she had outside. The wyvern was out there all tucked in for the evening after eating some of the oats she could spare from her horse's feed. Although she knew that that wasn't a wyvern's usual diet, she knew that's all she could give it for now as she hadn't had time to go fishing since she had to play doctor to it's rider.

With another sigh and glance back at the strange man in her house, she decided to start up some tea. She turned and walked over to the water pump while grabbing the kettle sitting on her table. After she filled it up with water, she put it on top of one of the iron stove's eyes. She leaned down for a moment to open the hatch to make sure that the fire was still going and once she was satisfied with that, she closed it back up and turned her attention to her cupboards.

She sifted through the collection of teas she had until she pulled out one that she had a desire to drink that evening. Almyran Pine Needles. She smiled in anticipation as she grabbed a tea cup from the shelf above where the tea was located and poured some of the tea into it. Her smile grew a bit wider as she once again remembered the same friend who had introduced her to this tea and had helped her acquire a taste for it. Her smile disappeared as her emotions changed.

She missed him.

She kept being reminded of him all day today ever since she came across the man and his wyvern. She turned back to the still sleeping man. She didn't know what it was about him, but nearly everything she saw connected to him brought back memories. Memories that she was desperately trying to forget.

The yellow clothes he wore and the symbol of the Alliance he bore made her think of her old classmates she had back at the academy, the Golden Deer, the wyvern reminded her of her friend's love for them and his dream of one day riding one, and the bow he carried… Her eyes shifted to the weapon that was knelt against the wall.

Her friend's weapon of choice was the same thing.

She breathed in deeply as she returned to the man's side. Why was he making these memories come up? She tried so hard to keep those memories buried as it hurt to think about it.

Her falling, going to sleep and ultimately breaking a promise.

A promise to return to the monastery five years later.

A promise that she couldn't keep.

She didn't like to think ill of her classmates, but she was sure that they didn't want to see her after she didn't come. Granted, she knew deep down that it wasn't really her fault. She was still recovering from the wounds she sustained from her fall and subsequent coma and the villagers that cared for her wouldn't let her leave because of it. But still…

She wanted to keep that promise.

She wanted to see… him again. And maybe they could have...

The shrill sound of the kettle caused her to jump and tear her mind away from her memories. She moved quickly to remove it from the stove before the sound woke up the stranger.

Regardless of who he was and why he was causing her to remember things she wanted desperately to forget, she had an obligation to help him get better. And then once he did, she would let him go on his merry way and she would return to living without those memories bothering her again.

She poured the hot water into the cup and the smell of the tea began to fill the room. Her smile slowly returned to her face as she placed the now empty kettle back onto a cloth that was laid on the table. She picked up the tea and moved to sit down at one of the chairs that sat near the round piece of furniture.

She brought the cup near her lips and blew out in an attempt to cool it off a bit before she began to drink it. After she sipped at the tea for a second or two, she saw in the corner of her eyes, the man began to stir. She placed the cup down onto the table and moved to stand up. Before she could start walking over to the bed, Byleth saw him open his eyes and began to look about the room with a look of confusion.

Once his gaze finally caught hers, she found herself feeling strangely nostalgic. She didn't know fully why, but his green eyes somehow struck her as familiar. Where had she seen them before?

Chapter Text

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

Like It Was Fate

Chapter 2: Warnings and Memories

By: Knowlee Raven

When she saw him begin to try and sit up, Byleth swiftly moved over to the bed and put a hand on his shoulder to force him to stay down. She saw him jump in surprise at, what she presumed, was her suddenly touching him unexpectedly. She quickly removed her hand. “You need to stay down. You've been injured.”

She could see that he was still confused and the head injury wasn't helping any either she was sure, especially when she heard his words slur a little. “...where am I?”

The color of his eyes still confused her. Why did they look so familiar? “You're in my home. I found you injured in the woods. Apparently some bandits attacked you and your wyvern. She's fine by the way. She's sleeping in the stable outside.” She felt the need to add that to her answer. She didn't want him to worry about the creature in question.

“Oh...” The man turned his head slightly only to groan in pain. He clenched his eyes shut. Byleth frowned. Seems like that that headache she had thought earlier he would have upon waking up was starting to affect him now. She frowned. How could she help him? She quickly ran through her mental list of basic first aid to see if anything came to mind.

As she glanced about the room, she remembered the times she had been in a near predicament like his (maybe not with the concussion, but definitely a headache) and how she dealt with it. Her eyes came across the flame that was flickering in the lantern that sat on the table. An idea came to her. Perhaps if she removed a potential source of that pain, it would help ease some of it. Of course that would mean that she would need to cut her evening short and head to bed earlier since what she wanted to stay up and do wasn't going to be an option after that since it required light to be used.

She sighed. This was definitely not a problem she was anticipating encountering when she bought this one-room home. It was meant for just one person to occupy it in order to live comfortably. Oh, well, it wasn't that big of a problem. She'd just read tomorrow when it was daylight. It wasn't like she was going to be heading anywhere anytime soon.

Byleth walked back over to the table and grabbed her cup of still warm tea while blowing the flame in the lantern out. With that done, she turned to look over at the man to see that his eyes were no longer clenched together. There was still a crease there between his eyebrows, but it wasn't as pronounced as before. A small smile formed on her face. It seems like that little bit helped. Not as much as actually getting entirely rid of the headache, of course, but every little bit counted in this case and she was sure he appreciated the effort.

“You just rest now. You're safe here.” Byleth whispered and turned to go walk towards the couch located on the other side of the room. She sat the tea cup down on the end table that stood next to it and sat down. As she moved to lay down, she grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it behind her head to use as a cushion. She pulled her arms out of the sleeves of her jacket and draped it over her body like a blanket. It wasn't as comfortable as her bed was, but it would do.

Byleth yawned as she looked back over at the man who, from her current position, looked as if he had fallen back asleep. Hopefully he wouldn't wake up and start moving while she slept, but knowing her, once he made a single move, she'd be up and ready to help. She huffed. She could thank all her training as a mercenary for that. Slowly, she closed her eyes and allowed her body to drift off into sleep.

Why was head killing him? And to add to that, why did his whole body felt like horses had stampeded all over him? He forced down a groan before it he could come out of his throat. What exactly had happened to make him feel like this?

As he was trying to fight though the pain that was banging in his head, he began to run down the series of events that lead up to where he was now. The first thing he remembered was getting on the back of his wyvern and starting his journey back home after he given the reins of ruling Fódlan to Dimitri.

He had made use of his mother's blood as much as he could here and now that he knew that he could trust his old classmate with the monumental task of rebuilding the country back to where it needed to be, he needed to return back to his homeland of Almyra. There, he needed to use his royal blood to secure his place on the throne to ensure that the now weakened Fódlan wouldn't be attacked from the east. Plus, he still had his dreams that he wanted to fulfill. Now that he had connections to the new ruler of Fódlan, it was another step closer to making those plans come to fruition.

While on his trip though, he recalled hearing his wyvern suddenly cry out in pain about half an hour into their trip and before he had a chance to fully realize what was going on, they were falling out of the sky. He tried to brace himself before they hit the ground, but he still fell out of his saddle due to the force of the impact. Luckily he had the foresight to get his bow out as they were falling and was ready to attack whoever it was that shot them, because once he looked up, he saw a trio of men begin to circle around them, trying to cut off any avenue of escape.

Although he was still slightly dazed from the fall, he moved to lift himself off the ground as quickly as he could before the men could get a shot in. Unfortunately, the archer moved faster. He cursed as he felt the arrow enter into his body near his waist.

Forcing himself to move through the pain, he grabbed an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, taking aim at the archer who had shot him. However, before he got the chance, his wyvern, bless him, had decided to play hero and jump in front of him in an attempt to protect its master. This, in turn, caused him to fall back due to the force of the pure muscle the creature had hitting him in its speed to protect him and made the back of his head hit a nearby rock. He saw the darkness begin to creep into his vision as the pain radiated through his head. That was the last thing he remembered before waking up in an unfamiliar room and feeling a warm hand lay on his shoulder.

If it wasn't for that, or the pain that kept resounding throughout his body, he would've thought he was dead. Because when he looked at the person the hand was connected to, he jumped in both surprise and shock.

They looked just like her.

They...sounded just like her.

Her being the woman he loved before that blasted war ever started. The woman he wanted to…

He clenched his eyes even tighter as the pain strengthened for a moment. No...it couldn't be her. The injury to his head was only making him think that this person that rescued him was her. He knew deep down that it wasn't. At the same time though, he really, really hoped his eyes weren't deceiving him.

Breathing out slowly to try and stave off the pain, he thought back to the woman that had changed his life forever. He never did stop believing that she would return. He believed even when all his other classmates said that there was no way she'd survived that fall. He believed even when she didn't come to their promised reunion five years later.

His heart ached at the thought. He didn't believe she could be dead. She was stubborn and resilient and refused to back down when confronted. Death wouldn't take her easily, regardless if there was a physical representation of it or not.

And so, he kept on fighting in the war to try and find a way to get to her, to find her safe so that they could be together again. But as each day kept passing, it became more and more clear that she probably wasn't coming back and that his fighting was becoming less of fighting to bring her home and turning more into fighting to avenge her being taken away.

Still, he believed she would return. But...she never did.

He tried to rationalize it, tried wishing on stars, tried bargaining with any god or goddess that may or may not exist to listen to his pleas, but nothing changed. Maybe that was another reason why he was fleeing. Perhaps he didn't want to continue living in the land that reminded him so much of her if she wasn't here to share it with him. Deep down, he knew this to be a long shot. Still, it probably was the closest thing to the truth.

He groaned as the pounding continued. He really needed to try and sleep this off. Perhaps when he woke up next, he could face the reality that his injury was what made him think and see the things he did. And then ultimately, maybe one day, perhaps when he finally crossed the border, he'd let her go. He tried to ignore the sadness that came from that conclusion. For now though, he would allow himself to continue to drown in memories of her. They did help to keep his headache down to a tolerable level.

A few more moments passed before eventually the pain subsided enough for his body to allow him to fall asleep with the memory of a woman with sea green hair and sky-colored eyes dancing across his mind.

A few days had passed and Byleth continued to care for the stranger in her home as best she could. She changed his bandages on his wound and even procured enough herbs to make a medicine that she had read would help ease his headaches. Still, soon it became very apparent that she was going to have to leave her house and go to the nearest town to get more supplies. She was running dangerously low.

Byleth sighed. She didn't really want to, just in case he woke and needed her near. But it was looking more and more like she had no choice but to do so. She sighed again as she gathered the things she would need for the trip: her sword, a basket to carry the supplies back and the piece of paper that had a list of needed items scribbled on it.

She walked to the door and began turning the handle to exit. Before she did though she turned to glance at the still sleeping man to make sure he hadn't woken up. She frowned and turned her attention back to the door. He would be fine. She wouldn't be gone for too long.

Before she had a chance to change her mind, Byleth exited the house.

The market was certainly lively today.

Byleth had already visited a few of the stalls to buy some food for herself as well as for the wyvern that was still rooming with her horse. It could only eat oats for so long, plus her horse kept giving her glares every time she gave it some of her stuff. The looks it gave only served to make her feel extremely guilty every time she did it.

During her trek through the rest of the marketplace, she glanced about the stalls trying to find the other items on her list. At the same time she was trying to avoid the throngs of people who were doing the same thing she was. She even had to apologize a few times to some of them after she had accidentally bumped into them due to all the traffic. With each one she passed, she kept consulting the paper in her hand to make sure none of them had what she needed stocked on its counters. She did this for a few of them before she stopped near one that held some vulneries and other healing mixtures along with a few other wares. That item was on her list. With her objective in mine, she made her way over.

Once she was standing before the vulneries, she picked one up to inspect. When she was sure of it's quality, she spoke to the shopkeeper and traded some gold for three of them. While she knew she only needed one of them to use for the man to help his wounds heal a bit faster, as a mercenary she needed to keep some more on her person just in case a situation similar to the one a few days ago arose. She hoped that didn't end up being the case, but one could never be too careful. The man's situation was a prime example of that. She was just lucky his injuries weren't worse otherwise his situation could've been much worse because of her mishap.

After she secured the precious bottles in her basket, she took another look over her list to ensure that she had gotten everything she needed. While she was doing this, she heard a woman from a nearby stall call over to her. At first she didn't think she was talking to her until she happened to look up and saw the woman looking directly at her. She was a little nervous from the attention. What did she want?

Byleth's nervousness died down once she got closer to the stall that the lady was standing behind and realized why she may have been trying to get her to come over. All on it's counters lay jewelry of all different types and colors. Ah, so that's why she was trying to catch her attention for. She turned her line of sight up at the lady and saw a smile break out on the woman's face. “Any of them catch your fancy, miss?”

She looked back down at the wares. While they were pretty, jewelry was never her favorite thing to spend money on. She saw them as impractical and hated how they tended to get in the way of fighting. She had a few classmates that were more into that stuff and while they had tried to drag her into loving them, they were never successful. She smiled at the memories of Hilda trying to get her to try on makeup and wear jewelry. She even tried getting her into a dress at one point. Like with the other stuff, that didn't work either.

There was one piece of jewelry she kept close to her during her school years however. Her smile turned soft as the memory of it came to her. It was a golden bracelet with the symbol of her house, the Golden Deer, lying in the middle of it. Her friend, the same one who had the obsession with wyverns, gave it to her on her birthday and she cherished it so much that she wore it every day afterward.

Her smile disappeared at her next memory.

Sadly, she lost it after her fall during the battle of Garreg Mach. After she woke, she tried desperately to find it in the months after, but she never did. She figured after five years, some animal had probably taken off with it into the woods or that it had been buried under mud or washed away in the river. Either way, she knew she never see it again. She was upset that she had lost that precious item. It probably was the only thing physical she had left to remind herself of those days and of him. And it was gone.

She sighed softly. Perhaps it was a metaphor for her life nowadays.

Byleth continued to look through the wares and while she knew that she more than likely wasn't going to buy anything, she felt like she needed to indulge the shopkeeper a bit since the lady had brought her over. Her eyes passed over the earrings and necklaces and moved on to the next items when she saw it.

A golden deer bracelet.

And it looked exactly like the one she had lost six years ago.

Her eyes widened as she practically snatched the item off the table. As she examined it she noticed that it had a few slight dings in it like it had been hit against something and what made her heart stop and her eyes mist over was the inscription on the inside of the bracelet.

'From your favorite Golden Deer. - Claude'

This-! This was hers! And she finally found it!

The smile she had on her face was so big she could feel the muscles in her face start to ache from the happiness she was experiencing. She was so caught up in it that she failed to notice for a few moments the shopkeeper trying to get her attention. “Miss? Are you interested in that piece?”

She jumped slightly at the surprise the lady gave her and jerked her head up. Almost immediately her mouth opened to respond saying that bracelet was hers, but she stopped herself before the words could come tumbling out. She didn't really feel comfortable explaining to a complete stranger what had happened to her years ago. The whole experience was still a bit traumatizing for her, plus she had a feeling that the lady would probably think she was lying to her in order to get an item for free.

She opted for the easy way out of this situation. “Sorry, I just was reminded of an old piece of jewelry when I saw this. How much is it?”

The lady smiled at her answer and responded in kind. Byleth gave the her the gold she requested and immediately tied the bracelet on her wrist right after the exchange. She rubbed the deer insignia as she smiled softly at the thought of now having a piece of her past returned to her. Even if she probably would never see Claude or any of her fellow classmates again, at least now she had this to remember them by.

She turned away from the stall after giving the woman a small goodbye wave and after checking her list once again to ensure she had everything she needed, she began walking towards the edge of the small town. She had been gone long enough and she needed to retreat the man's wounds with the now replenished supplies as soon as she got back. It definitely wouldn't do to have them get infected after she helped to save his life.

As she got closer to the path leading out into the nearby forest, her ears caught hold of a quiet conversation. At first she was content to just ignore it, because she didn't want to be nosy, but the words she heard made her stop in her tracks.

“Have you seen those blasted idiots? They were supposed to be back a few days ago with that noble and his wyvern as our prize! It shouldn't have taken this long!”

Byleth quickly ran behind a nearby building to hide the fact that she was eavesdropping. Noble? Wyvern? Could they be talking about the man in her home? She furrowed her eyebrows together in thought. She needed more information.

“I dunno, boss. All I know is that we've been looking in the forest for them and haven't seen anything yet. But, if they haven't gotten back with us yet, maybe the guy offed them?”

She heard the 'boss' scoff at the other's suggestion. “Maybe, but I seriously doubt it. The archer we sent was one of the best shots we got so the guy would've been either dead or seriously injured depending on where he shot him.” She heard a groan. “Just keep looking in the forest. There's got to be some clue as to where they're at. And goddess help them, if it turns out they just split and didn't finish the job. Then they'll have me to worry about.”

Byleth breathed in deeply to calm down her nerves. Even though they didn't definitely say it was him, it more than likely was. The description was too similar. She bit her lip as the full implications of this hit her. The man was in danger. She was in danger. She stifled a groan as the realization hit her. This wasn't good at all.

She quietly removed herself from behind the building and swiftly moved into the forest before they could spot her and attempt to follow. She needed to get back home now and help him get better as fast as she could so that he could get to safety. Sure, if they connected the dots to her, she could easily go to one of her mercenary companions to seek help and shelter in place until it died down. He, however, was a sitting duck in his current state. And it definitely wasn't in Byleth's nature to let someone attack a defenseless person.

She huffed a bit in amusement as she started to run towards her house after she determined that she had gotten a good distance away from the town. How weird was it that it had only been a few days and this man (who hadn't done anything to give her a reason) already had her wanting to protect him from anything that wished to harm him? Did he have this effect on everyone he encountered?

Perhaps she needed to ask him when he got coherent enough to wake fully.

Chapter Text

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

Like It Was Fate

Chapter 3: Reminisces and Waking

By: Knowlee Raven

The lights bounced off the walls that made up the dance hall. Students lined up near the round tables decorated with red roses, flutes of champagne sitting delicately in their hands while they had discussions with other fellow students as they waited for the music to start.

Claude von Riegen, house leader of the Golden Deer, stood off to the side on his own, idly looking at the crowd. His green eyes were searching for something, or rather, someone. The musicians stood off to the side and after ensuring that they were ready, began the music that signaled it was time for the first dance.

The other two house leaders, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd and Edelgard von Hresvelg, each took the arms of their respective partners they had chosen before the ball and began walking out onto the dance floor. Once they were in the center of the ballroom, they wordlessly got into position and gracefully started to move across the floor. Claude smirked at the sight of his rivals enjoying themselves. After all this chaos that had been going on this year, it was definitely needed.

He sighed. He knew he needed to get out there soon. It was expected for all three house leaders to join in the first dance, so he knew he needed to get a partner quickly before Seteth found him and forced him to grab the first girl he saw to hurry on out onto the floor. The guy was certainly a stickler for decorum.

However, he knew he didn't just want any partner to join him. He had only one girl in mind. He smiled as the image of the girl with sea-green hair entered his thoughts. Claude had tried to ask her before the ball, but as he mentioned before, with all the chaos going on, he didn't have much time to think about it.

Oh well, as always though, he had a plan. He wasn't called the Master Tactician for nothing.

His eyes searched the slightly shrinking crowd as couples from both sides from the aisle began to join the two house leaders. It was thanks to those couples, that he was finally able to see the person he had been looking for. A smile formed on his face as he noticed the girl turn away from studying the dancers to look in his direction.

With her attention now on him, he sauntered over to her, smile still etched on his face, and winked at her, while reaching down to grab her hand. Before she could question what he was doing, he started to pull her out onto the floor.

It was only once they had gotten into position and began dancing, that she finally had a chance to ask him. “Why didn't you just ask me before now to do this?”

He chuckled. “I honestly wanted to, but with everything going on, it just didn't seem like the right time.” He spun her around, the music in the background dictating what he should do with his dance partner. “Sorry, I didn't get to ask you before, Byleth. Next time, I'll be sure to do that.”

He winked at her as she rolled her eyes and smirked. His arm went back around her waist as she came out of the spin. “You're acting as if there will be a next time.”

“Ouch, so harsh there, By. What did I ever do to earn your ire?” He frowned dramatically to show that in reality he was less than hurt.

The sly grin she gave him made his heart stop for a moment. “You forgot to ask me to dance a lot earlier.”

This girl was going to be the death of him. It was rare for someone to catch him off guard, but Byleth was able to do that with ease. Plus all the strange emotions he had been experiencing around her lately wasn't helping either. He couldn't quite put a finger on what it was he felt towards her, but he without a doubt knew that he liked it and didn't want it to stop. He felt safe in her presence and for someone with his background, that was a rarity.

After he brought her back out of another spin, he started to open his mouth to ask her a question in regards to all recent events when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see another student standing beside him wanting to dance with Byleth next. For a second, he wanted to refuse, but he remembered that it was only proper to allow for multiple dance partners, so unfortunately he'd have to relent.

Claude began to make his way back over to the crowds after he gave Byleth a farewell greeting. He turned briefly to watch as she continued to dance away with the man who took her away from him and after a few moments, made his way out of the dance hall. Now that he had fulfilled his obligations as house leader, he felt the need to get away. He never did well with crowds and this was his chance to bail before anyone could stop him.

Claude took the last step up to reach the top of the Goddess Tower. He could hear the sound of the music playing in the distance and knew from up here, no one would bother him. Sure, there was that rumor he recalled hearing about from the other students about this being a romantic spot during this time of year so while there was the possibility that some of his classmates might make their way to this location, he felt that the chances were slim. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves at the dance and he didn't recall noticing any kids (well other than himself) sneaking out. So he was certain he would be alone.

Although… he couldn't help the small hope that someone else might join him.

He sighed. He didn't know why he couldn't get her out of his head. Sure, she was a good classmate and friend, but that didn't explain why he felt so weird around her. Like he was wanting her approval, needed it desperately.

Maybe it was because she was one of the few students that never poked and prodded him about his past. He recalled her even actively defending him from others who wanted to know; telling them it wasn't their business if he didn't want to share. Or maybe it was how she was a literal demon on the battlefield and that nothing could phase her. They made a good team. She took on the front line role with her sword and he, the background with his bow. Or it could be that it was that she never judged him for his pranks or his tendency to make poisons in his effort to have contingency plans ready just in case someone tried to poison him while he was here. Hell, there were even times that she'd join him in his escapades.

Or perhaps maybe it was because she treated him like a person and not like a beast or a coward.

He frowned and looked out at the stars as he reached the balcony. He leaned against the stone wall and turned his attention to the land before him. His desires and dreams came to the forefront of his mind. He came here to find a way to achieve those goals however hard they may be. No matter what he had to do, he would do whatever it took to make them become reality. And he was determined to do that alone if he must. But now though, he found he wanted to share them with someone.

He clenched his hand as a slight fear overtook him for a moment. Would she be willing to help him however?

So lost in thought was he, that he nearly didn't hear the sound of footsteps coming from the staircase. He turned his head in time to see the girl in question reaching the top of the stairs.

He smiled as she began to walk towards him, surprise etched on her features. Claude didn't believe in gods, but he felt at this moment they were telling them that yes, she would be willing to help.

A few weeks passed after that moment and Claude found himself outside her door. He wanted desperately to knock on it, get her to let him in, but at the same time he didn't want to force her. He was torn as to what to do. He breathed out slowly. He was never any good at comforting people. But for her, a determined look came over his face as he lifted his hand up, he would try.

The sound he made by making his knuckles hit the wooden door was nearly silent. It was still audible to the occupant inside the room, but he didn't want to bring attention to himself by knocking any harder. He know that she definitely did not need that.

He waited for few moments to see if the door would open, but when nothing happened, he sighed and turned his body to begin the trek back to his room. If she didn't want to be bothered, then he would let her be. Everyone grieved in their own way and he knew that she wasn't one of those that wore her emotions on her sleeve.

Before he had a chance to walk off, he heard the door latch come undone. He stood, waiting to see if the door would open, but nothing happened. Perhaps he was hearing things? He took a step forward, hand gently grabbing the doorknob. No, perhaps he did hear right and it was in fact a message that she was giving him permission to come in. She did like to use subtleties in her actions. Granted, he didn't think she intended to with this.

He turned the knob, to see if it would move and was glad when it did. The door creaked slightly as he pushed it open and walked inside. When he looked over to his left, he was greeted with the sight of Byleth sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, eyes rimmed red from crying. His heart broke.

He closed the door behind him and moved to go and sit on her bed next to her. Once again the nervousness set it in of how he was going to comfort her. What should he say? What should he do?

Before he could decide however, he felt her arms go around his waist pulling her close to him. Her head leaned against his shoulder, the tears falling down her face making the yellow cape attached to it get damp. At first he was surprised by the contact, but soon he realized what it was she wanted, no needed. She didn't need words, she needed actions.

He moved her arms to go around her waist drawing her closer and he moved his upper body towards her to allow for her to lean against him more comfortably. Then he leaned his head atop hers and brought one of his hands up to start threading through her hair in a comforting motion.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Claude was content to let her stay like this as long as she needed to. She had lost her father. The one constant person in her life before she came to attend the Officer Academy. And now he was gone. There wasn't anything he could do to bring him back, but he could help her avenge him.

“By?” The girl in question shifted against his shoulder, sniffing to try and dry up her tears. “Yeah?” Her voice sounded watery. Claude's heart clenched.

He brushed his hand through her hair again. “I know I can't bring your father back, but… if revenge is what you seek, I can help you with that. If you ask, I… no, scratch that. All of us, the Golden Deer, would gladly lend a hand.” She looked up at him with her blue eyes shining slightly from all the tears she had shed. “Even if that means going against Rhea's wishes. Don't forget it.” He smiled in an attempt to make her feel better.

She turned her gaze away from him to look at the floor. “Thank you.”

Byleth disentangled herself from Claude's grasp as she moved herself back to the original position she was in before he entered. Claude waited a few moments before asking. “Do you need anything?”

Another moment of silence passed by. “Can...can you just stay here for a little while? I… I don't want to be left alone.” He smiled as he took the hand she had left sitting on the bed, giving it a small squeeze. “Sure. I'll stay as long as you like.”

He felt better when he saw her smile.

About three moons later, that's when everything went to hell.

Edelgard had declared war against the Church and was coming at them with a huge army. The Knights of Seiros were quickly readying themselves for battle. There were even some students, Claude and his house included, that were preparing as well. He tried to swallow down the fear he felt. Granted he knew that with him as heir to the Leicester Alliance he would have to face this possibility eventually, but he didn't think it would come so soon. And with it being against a classmate? That made it even worse. He couldn't even imagine how it felt for the rest of the members of the Black Eagles. Based on how they reacted to what was happening, they weren't even expecting it.

After their professor, Alois, and Catherine finished telling him and his Golden Deer classmates to prepare for battle, all of them scurried off, leaving him and Byleth alone. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I wanted to talk to Rhea first, but as expected, that won't be possible. There's still so many things I need to know from her.” He turned to look at her and grinned in an effort to liven up the situation. “But lucky for me, I refuse to die with so much still unknown.”

Byleth smiled back at him, though he could tell it was a bit strained. Although she was a master of her emotions, he knew that she was scared too. His smile dropped and he allowed himself to momentarily give in to the fear he was feeling. “All joking aside, can we possibly survive this battle?”

She breathed out slowly and took a few steps towards him until there was only at least a foot or two between them. “We'll find a way.”

His smile returned. “That's all we can do, right? If we gave up, the god of fate wouldn't be happy.” He chuckled. “I'm a lot of things, but I'm not the kind of man to just roll over and die in a place like this. I have my own ambitions to see to.”

“Oh?”

He could feel her looking at him as he turned his attention towards the ceiling. His mind filled with what he wanted to do with his life. If he survived this, that is. “There are things...dreams...that I must see come to fruition.” He felt his heart begin to pound in his chest. He looked back down to Byleth who was still staring at him. He took in a deep breath to try and calm his heart, but to no avail. It was now or never. “And I've been thinking. I want you to see those dreams realized as well.”

Her eyes widened slightly as he continued. “On top of that, there are still so many secrets out there, just waiting to be uncovered. We can't let that stand, can we?” He took in another deep breath. “So, my friend… no, scratch that.” He looked at her, emotions for sure shining in his eyes. “You're so much more than that. That word doesn't quite capture what you've come to mean to me.”

Something felt as if it shifted between them as he continued his spiel. It took him so long to figure out his feelings towards her, but now he knew for certain what they were. And now that they were literally on the edge of a possible war, he had to say something. “We may not be connected by blood, but I believe our bond goes deeper than that. Now that we know each other, our hearts are connected. Even if… even if our paths diverge and we're forced to say good-bye...I know that we'll meet again. I hold fast to the belief that this isn't it for us.” He winked at her. “I'll always be on your side. You can't count on much in this world, but you can count on that.”

She nodded and even with all the chaos going on around them and the time constraint they were in, Claude didn't feel the need to walk away. He wanted to stay here. With her.

He watched her take in a slow breath. “I...I want to say something too.”

“Oh?” He cocked his head to one side. What was it she wanted to say?

He eagerly waited to see what she was going to tell him, when she moved towards him suddenly and before he could react, he felt her lips on his. His eyes widened and he took in a sharp breath, shocked at the action. Since he was stunned momentarily, it took him a second before he found himself returning it. He cupped her cheek and held her close with his hand at her waist. He felt her arms go around his neck as the kiss continued.

Eventually they pulled away from each other with their foreheads touching. He chuckled. “Gotta say, I wasn't expecting that!”

She smiled causing his heart to skip a few beats. “I would've said it, but I felt it would be better if I actually showed you.”

He smiled. He should've known. Leave it to her to talk with her actions. “Looks like we'll have to add another reason to why we need to survive this battle. We're going to have a lot to talk about after this.”

She nodded as they let each other lose from each others' hold. He still kept a hold of her hand however as the two quickly made their way to the weapons room to join the others in getting prepped.

If Claude ever thought he'd felt such pain before, he had been deluding himself. Because the sight of seeing Byleth fall over the side of the cliff was enough to destroy him. “BYLETH!”

He tried to fight against the Knight who was holding him back from going back out onto the field to find her. They were being forced to evacuate the area as it had only become more and more clear as the battle continued that they were going to lose.

He tried to keep pulling his way out of the grip the man had on his arm. He needed to get to her. Now.

Unfortunately, he still couldn't get free. It wasn't until Hilda found him and forced him to stop that he allowed himself to quit fighting and break down in tears. She was gone. She couldn't be gone…

He barely noticed the other Golden Deer surrounding him as they were quickly sequestered into a carriage that was going to take them away from the monastery. So lost in his grief was he that he didn't even notice the tears on the others' faces until they were a good distance away.

They had all lost her.

Claude groaned as he opened his eyes to see nothing but a dark room. He was confused for a moment until he remembered the events that led up to him being here. While the injury he got from being shot down still hurt like hell, at least his head felt a lot better.

He turned his head to look around the room to find the woman who had saved him. But from what he could see, she was no where to be found. He groaned again before he tried to sit himself up without reopening the injury on his stomach. He wasn't sure how he managed to do it, but eventually after he moved the pillows that was behind his head to fit behind his back, he was able to get himself into that upright position.

He had no clue as to where the woman was, but when he saw her next, he needed to ask her some questions.

It had been a few days since the man had lost awoken fully. He was still in and out with his head injury, but Byleth knew that with the medicine and vulnaries that she had been giving him, that the concussion he was dealing with would soon be healed. The injury on his stomach though still needed some work.

Byleth watched as the white wyvern sat in its stall eating the fish she had caught earlier that morning. She smiled at the sight. She had been trying to keep careful the past few days and not venture out as much especially since she knew that there were bandits trying to find the man and finish the job. But when she realized that the beast didn't want to have any more of her horses' oats (not that she could blame it, she'd get sick of it after a while if she was in it's position), she decided to take the risk and get it some proper food.

As she watched it continue to scarf down the food, she was reminded of her friend and his love for wyverns. She didn't know fully why, but he was so desperate to have one. He even tried to convince their professor to let him learn how to fly one. Their professor eventually relented to his request and she could recall the look of joy on his face when he came to tell her the news.

“By!”

Byleth looked up from her book to see Claude speed walking towards her, a look of glee on his face. The two had became close during the past few moons and while she felt as if he didn't fully trust her with everything, she knew he that he felt comfortable enough to share some of his interests with her. She closed the book and looked at him. “What is it, Claude?”

He stopped in front of her, the smile on his face reaching his green eyes, making them glow. That certainly was a rarity. “Teach, finally agreed to let me start learning wyvern riding.” She smiled, happy for him. “That's great! So when are you going to officially start?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Not sure exactly, probably after class tomorrow. Either way though, I'm going to go see the wyverns at the stables. I want to get a good look at what they look like.” He brought his hands behind his head and smirked. “I need to make sure I get a good one to learn with. Gotta make sure to have the best one out there on the field.”

She huffed in laughter. “Of course you would make sure of that.”

A grin came back on his face as he winked at her. “Why certainly I would. Nothing but the best for the heir of the Alliance!” He lowered his hands and held one out to her. “Want to come with me? I promise to not let them nip at you.”

Byleth hesitated a moment. While she was an animal lover, wyverns and her didn't exactly get along, but… She looked at his hand that still stood outstretched towards her. She trusted him and knew that he would keep his word. “Alright...” She put her hand into his and followed along behind him as he pulled her in the direction of the stables.

Byleth pet the wyvern's head as it lay down on the ground. It's stomach was full and now it only wanted to rest. She smiled. She couldn't blame it either. She'd be the same if she had just ate a full meal.

Her smile disappeared as she pulled away from the wyvern and walked out of the stall, making sure to close the gate behind her. Her thoughts returned to her friend. She remembered the last time she saw him before the battle at the monastery.

Her hand came up to touch her lips. He was her first kiss and first love. When she first arrived at the monastery with her father, she didn't expect have those kinds of feelings towards a classmate of hers at the beginning. As the two grew closer and closer, she knew something had changed between them. And after she read her father's journal after he died, she was finally able to put a name to those feelings.

She loved him.

Her feelings and actions towards him were similar to those her father did towards her mother according to what he wrote down. She at first tried to squash those feelings before they got any deeper, but with every action and word he sent her direction, she kept falling for him. Whether that was his intention originally she didn't know.

But when it came down to that final battle… Her hand rubbed the Golden Deer bracelet on her wrist to help comfort her.

She felt that she had to say something. So she kissed him. Honestly it wasn't hard not too after the little heartfelt speech he said to her before she made her move. They stood next to each other during that last battle and tried their best to keep each other close.

However they ended up getting separated and before she knew it, she was falling. How she survived, she wasn't sure. The best thing she could figure was the water below had broken her fall somewhat, but even then that was still a little hard to believe.

When she woke up next she was shocked and scared to find that five years had passed. It was hard for her to wrap her mind around the reality that that much time had passed. And when she found out that it was time for the millennium festival, she wanted so much to keep her promise to her classmates and to Claude. But the villagers wouldn't let her go.

After that she was scared to even attempt to let them know of her being alive. She was too scared that they'd hate her and with this much time passed between the last time she saw them, she was certain that they'd all moved on. After falling from a cliff, she couldn't blame them for thinking that if that was the case.

And as for Claude, she knew that by now he had to have become the leader of the Alliance. A small part of her wanted to write to him and let him know where she was, but she still hesitated. Besides there was a war going on. She knew in the back of her mind that he needed to focus more on that and less on a woman who she was sure he probably thought was dead.

Her heart hurt at the thought. She looked down at her hands as she took in a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. She had lost so much after that fall. She wanted it all back. That was a long shot however, she knew. She was certain everyone else had moved on, so perhaps... it was time that she should as well.

Taking in another deep breath, she grabbed the lantern that sat nearby in her hand and walked towards the open stable door, making sure to close it on her way out.

Claude found himself almost falling back asleep again, before his eyes caught sight of a glimmer of light in the cracks of the door way leading to, what he presumed, outside. At first he was a bit concerned as to who it was and tried to see if he could find his bow in this darkness, but when it opened and the light shown on who it was, he froze.

It couldn't be…

He remember the last time he woke and he assumed that it was his injury making him see things, but now… That couldn't be the reason why he saw her standing there. His head injury was healed, so that left only one other explanation, but even that was still farfetched. How could she have survived that fall?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear her speak. And her voice only served to cement in his brain that this was in fact her. “Oh, you're awake! Sorry for not being in here when you came to. I had to go out and feed your wyvern.” She closed the door behind her and sat the lantern she was holding down onto the table near the bed. “Just let me get some water real quick and I'll come over there to clean your wound. It's nearly time to change the bandages.”

As she turned to start pumping water into a nearby bowl, Claude's eyes caught sight of the bracelet on her wrist. His eyes widened as he realized that it was the same exact one he gave her on her birthday years ago. That piece of evidence was enough to convince him. “...Byleth?”

He watched as the woman froze and jerked her head towards him, the water almost coming out of the bowl she was holding in her grasp. A look of shock and fear was on her face which soon turned into a glare. “How do you know my name?”

He breathed in deeply as he stared at her, taking her in. She looked as if she hadn't aged a day since the last time he saw her, but how could that be possible when she had been gone for six years? She continued to direct her glare at him as she demanded an answer. “I said, how do you know my name?”

His throat went dry as he tried to find the words he needed to say. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he knew that wouldn't do him any good to say those things now. It was probably would be best just start slow and go from there. “It's me.” A look of confusion started to overtake her glare. He took in another deep breath to try and settle his nerves. “I'm Claude. Claude von Riegen.” He winked at her for good measure to help affirm that it was him.

He saw her freeze before him, a look of shock overtaking her features. She saw her studying him, perhaps trying to see the boy he was when they last saw each other. After a few seconds had passed, he was about to ask her if she was alright when he saw her grip on the bowl loosen, sending it crashing to the floor, water flying everywhere.

Silence echoed in the room before she spoke again. “...Claude?”

He could only smile in response. His heart began to stitch itself together after those long, lonely years he had experienced thinking she was gone.

It took six years, but it finally happened. She had returned.

Chapter Text

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

Like It Was Fate

Chapter 4: Revelations and Confrontations

By: Knowlee Raven

Byleth blinked a few times as her brain tried to catch up with her. She couldn't believe her eyes. Claude, the boy who led her house back at the academy, the boy who was one of her constant companions while she attended, the boy who her closest confidant, and the boy who stole her heart, was sitting before her. He was the one she saved. She knew that her thoughts should've started reflecting how funny fate worked this out for them, but once her brain caught up with her, the initial thought she had in her head was: 'Damn, he got a lot more handsome after six years…'

She tried to fight down the blush she felt start to come across her face as she slowly lowered herself down into the chair next to her, her legs feeling weak in shock. But she could tell by his staring that she was failing tremendously.

She took in a deep breath to try and calm down her nerves. As she did this, she could feel burning behind her eyes and knew that at any given moment, she was going to cry. How did she get so lucky to find him after all this time?

Byleth could see the smile on his face disappear after she sat down. It turned into one of concern. Was he afraid that he had overwhelmed her with this revelation? Well, he technically did, but she knew that once she calmed herself, everything would be fine. The sound of her name on his tongue made her start to cement in her mind that he was in fact really here and that she wasn't dreaming. “Are you okay, Byleth?”

Byleth breathed in again while glancing down at the table in front of her. “Yeah. It's just...” Another breath filled her lungs. “I didn't think I'd ever see you again.”

She didn't have to look at him to know that he was upset at her words. The small gasp she heard come from his direction was enough to let her paint a picture of his expression. Breathing in once more, she took a chance and turned her gaze up to see the distraught look he had on his face. “I thought the same about you. When I saw you fall, I thought that was it. And then when you didn't show for the reunion, it took a lot out of me not to give in to despair right then.” He looked her in the eyes. Byleth felt her heart stutter for a moment. “I never gave up on you coming back, you know? Even after that, I never did.”

The tears started to well up even more. “...you never did?”

He shook his head. “Not once. Remember what I said back during the last time we saw each other?” Her eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to think of the words. It had been so long ago, some of it had started to fade from her memory. “I said to you that even if our paths diverged and we were forced to say good-bye, that we'd see each other again.” His smile returned. “And look at where we are now.”

Okay, now the tears were falling. She couldn't hold them back any longer. After all this time, he still believed he'd see her again? She didn't know what she did to deserve someone like him in her life. People could call Claude what they wanted, but they couldn't use the word 'disloyal' when it came to those who had earned his trust and love to describe him.

The tears on her face must've caused Claude to become even more concerned about her, because through her blurry vision, she could see him holding a hand out towards her, beckoning her to come to him. Slowly, she forced herself up from the chair and made her way over, her hand going into his as she took a spot near him on the bed. He drew her close to him with his arms wrapped around her. With both being mindful of his wound, Byleth wrapped her arms around him in turn.

“Is this okay?” She heard his voice sound next to her ear, nearly startling her if she didn't know he was hugging her. She nodded. “It's fine.”

The two were silent for a few more moments as they simply relished in the fact that the were in the presence of the other and that this was real. She felt his hand move through her hair a couple of times before cradling her head. She had a feeling that this was more of a shock for him than it was for her and this was his way of convincing himself that he wasn't dreaming. While yes, it was a shock for her to find him in the way she did. For him, she knew that it was more startling to see her practically come back from the dead. Even though he still believed she would return based on his actions towards her right now, Byleth felt as if that belief was on it's final strings and that those would've snapped soon if they hadn't found one another. Vaguely she wondered if her other classmates were, or had, felt the same. A guilty feeling entered her chest.

Byleth pulled away from him, hand still in one another's grasp, and looked at his face, which was now beaming with happiness. “I missed you.”

He chuckled and brought his free hand up to her face to brush away some stray hairs. “I missed you, too, By. Just don't go disappearing on me again anytime soon.”

She huffed in laughter. Leave it to him to make a joke out of any situation. She squeezed his hand as she used her other one to wipe away the now drying tears off her face. Regardless of them, she hadn't felt this elated since the day of the battle of Garreg Mach. Due to that, for a moment it reminded her of her days when she first started at the academy when she started to experience emotions like that for the first time. And just like before, it was all thanks for Claude for her starting that awakening, but this time it was the reawakening.

Claude's hand squeezed hers in return and she could sense the hesitation in his voice when he asked what she was sure had been running around in his mind ever since he recognized it was her. “What happened that day, By? How did you survive?”

Byleth froze. Tension entered her body, the memories of those events causing her to experience once more, the fear and confusion she felt during that time. She remembered the pain scratching against her throat as the scream erupted from it as she fell from the cliff. It was just like the nightmares she had about falling off the back of wyverns only to be caught by someone before she hit the ground.

Except this time, it wasn't a wyvern and there wasn't anyone around to catch her.

She can't remember exactly if she blacked out before she hit the water or when she made contact. But the next thing she did remember was waking up in the bed of a person unfamiliar to her. That in itself nearly caused her to bolt away out of fear, if it wasn't for the soreness and lethargy she felt after waking from what seemed like initially to be just a little nap.

It took some time for the villagers who had been caring for her to calm her down as she had no idea who they were or why she was there. When they did finally calm her and explain that she had been asleep for five years, Byleth could recall feeling numb about the statement. Five years? Surely they were just joking…?

...Right?

When she found out that they weren't and learned of the date, she immediately tried to force herself up, to make it past them and go up to the monastery. If they were telling the truth, they would all be there. They would be alive and waiting for her. They promised to meet there again during the millennium festival.

They promised…

Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to keep her end of the promise. The villagers wouldn't let her. It was at that moment she felt herself revert back to the emotionless state she had been in before she had met her fellow Golden Deer.

Throughout the next couple of months as she continued to heal from the long sleep her body had been in, she heard bits and clips about the war against the Empire going on. She even heard about how the Duke had passed a few years back and how a new one had moved up to take his place post haste due to the war effort. She knew it was Claude.

Byleth remembered debating for a few days about whether to make the trip up to Derdriu and see him, but she knew that the possibility of him being there were slim. Although he had a penchant for running away when battles got tough, she also knew that he liked to be in the thick of things regardless of their perceived outcome.

Besides, he had probably forgotten all about her. Especially considering that she never came to fulfill their classes' promise. They all probably had to be honest. Especially with the war going on, they probably had no time to think of her.

Still, she missed them.

Hilda, with her persuasiveness at getting other guys and girls, including those of their classmates, to do her bidding so that they could spend time together. It was scary to think of how persuasive she could be and have no one be none the wiser.

Leonie, the girl who had dubbed herself to be Byleth's rival, would challenge her to fight against her constantly in effort to both prove her skills and show her father how much she had grown.

Raphael treated her like she was another little sister to him and would help her out constantly with anything she needed. He also helped make sure that she didn't neglect taking care of herself when she got her mind stuck on something.

Ignatz helped keep her company while she did the various activities she had assigned herself to do to keep herself busy. She, in turn, did the same for him when he had the inspiration to paint something.

Lorenz was something else all together. While there were times when she wanted to knock him upside his head, she also knew that he had a good heart and wanting nothing less than to do things the right way even when they were hard. She recalled sharing many a tea time with him.

Lysithea was basically her little sister. Course, she could never call her that to her face otherwise Byleth would've been dead already. She was determined to better herself and would always be found in the library dutifully studying to try and learn a new spell. Byleth remembered having to coax her out of there many a time with the promise of sweets if she would just take a break every once in a while.

And Marianne was another one of her classmates that she had dubbed as her sister. She could tell that the girl was dealing with a lot and while she couldn't fully understand it, she still took the time to hang out with her and when she did want to talk, she listened dutifully. She never judged her for her thoughts. She only wished that she would see herself in the way that she knew her other classmates did.

And Claude…

There weren't enough words to describe how much she missed him.

The only thing that kept running through her mind when she did find him was her wondering were they would be now. Would she be standing by his side, helping him with this war? Would they be fighting together on the battlefield? Would they be spending a lot of time together coming up with schemes to help push back against the Empire?

Would things have been different for the Alliance as a whole had she not fallen? Or better yet, had she been able to keep her promise?

Byleth knew better than to dwell on those thoughts. What was done couldn't be changed. She knew at the time, she could only hope that fate would take pity on her and reunite her with her classmates. However she knew that the chances of that were slim. So, instead she decided that she would avoid them, would forget them over time. Although she knew in the back of her mind, that she could've simply joined the war effort and maybe encountered them during her enlistment, but the chances of that were null as well. Plus, if they did truly forget her, she didn't want to reopen that wound. They didn't deserve that pain.

“By?” Claude's soft voice floated into her ear and gently pulled her out of those dark memories. His thumb was rubbing against her hand in soothing gestures to try and calm her down. She apparently had gone silent for some time and was even shaking slightly when the flashbacks came to her. She squeezed his hand back in return to try and ground herself from the depressive feeling that tried to latch back onto her.

She took in a couple of deep breaths. She would be forever grateful that he was patient with her. “I'm fine. Just,… it's a lot to think about.”

The smile that formed on his face warmed her soul. “I can imagine.” Byleth could feel the unspoken question that lingered in the air. He wanted to ask her again what had happened, but at the same time she knew that he didn't want to push her.

Once more, the gratefulness she felt towards him filled her. She took in another deep breath. However, he did still deserve to know. She owed him that. She moved to intertwine their hands together to ground herself more. She was here. Not there, at that point in life again. “Honestly, I don't know.” She squeezed his hand again. “I remember falling and then after that, I woke up in someone's house in the village near the monastery.” Another breath entered her lungs as she turned to look at him. “I tried to come to the monastery to keep our promise after I learned what year it was… but they wouldn't let me. I was still too weak to move on my own after being asleep for so long.”

She saw his face change into a combination of understanding and concern. “I wanted to be there, but when I couldn't go, I felt upset. I thought about trying to find all of you after I got well enough to start back out on my own, but with the war still going on… I figured that it would have been best to leave all you be. You had bigger things to worry about and I- I didn't want to open up a wound that had probably healed over. All of you deserved better than that.”

Claude watched as Byleth turned her attention down towards their intertwined hands as he mulled over the information she gave him. He admits that it was a little hard to believe that she had just been sleeping during most of the time she had been gone, but at the same time, he knew that the look on her face when she spoke wasn't her lying one.

He felt upset for her, knowing that she had missed out on so much during her time asleep. Granted, yes, that the only major thing she missed out on was the war, which he wasn't too irritated about. But he hated that she missed out on being with him and the other Golden Deer. Hated that she missed seeing how their classmates grew as individuals and seeing how much they truly missed her presence in their lives. He hated that she wasn't there with him, with them, by their sides as they navigated this war that had started so suddenly.

He hated that she didn't know that one of the biggest reasons they all defied the Empire was because of her. Since it, in essence, took her away from them, they didn't want anything to do with it. Even Lorenz, regardless of his father's insistence, stood against them. If it wasn't for their lack of resources, they would've went all out against them. Luckily though, the Empire still fell, with the help of the Kingdom rising out of it's ashes with Dimitri at the helm.

Even if she didn't know that, she still needed to know that they missed her. None of them had to outright say it, but he could read between the lines to know enough. “We all missed you.”

Byleth looked up at him, eyes still shining from leftover tears from when she broke down earlier. “When you fell, I myself was filled with grief and not knowing whether you were alive or dead made it worse. I didn't realize until after the others reached out to me that they felt it too. And then when you didn't come to the reunion...” He took in a deep breath as the memory of the deep disappointment he felt that day re-entered his heart. “I can't speak for all of them, except for myself, because I knew I was upset that you didn't come, but they, they were sad as well.”

He briefly glimpsed down at their hands before looking back up at her. “Even though I still believed you were out there, the others insisted on putting a makeshift grave beside your father's at the monastery.” He saw the look of surprise overtake her face. It was as if she didn't fully realize how badly she was missed. “It wasn't the best looking one there, but they felt that even if your body wasn't there, that you deserved someplace to rest. From then on, even though they didn't outright say it to me, you became an even more defining reason for us to defy the Empire. They had burned us taking away our friend by doing what they did, so why would we join with them or allow them to trample us?”

He smiled and reached up to wipe away a stray tear that had escaped Byleth's eye as he spoke. “So in a way, you inspired us to keep fighting. To not let the Empire have it's way. Even though you weren't there with us, we never forgot you.”

Claude watched as her other hand came up over her mouth to try and squash the cries that wanted to slip out. He knew how much this had to have moved her for her to be expressing this much emotion. During all the time he knew her, she always spoke through her actions. So now, based on that, he could see how much their separation had hurt her.

He moved his hand away from her face and onto her shoulder, gently tugging her closer to him. It took a second, but she relented and moved towards him, his arms going around her once more and gripped her into a hug. He could feel his shoulder getting wet from the tears she had finally let fall again from her face. Claude slowly, while being careful not to irritate his wound, shifted them around until the two were both lying down on the bed, their arms still wrapped around one another.

Taking one of his hands off her back, he began threading it through her hair to try and calm her down. This continued on for a few more minutes until Claude felt his eyelids grow heavy and with her deep slow breaths as a sign that she had fallen asleep, he joined her.

A loud noise resounded outside the wall nearest the bed, causing both of them to jolt awake.

“Wha-? What was that?” Claude was still a little out of it, having just been disturbed out of his sleep. He would've continued speaking, but he felt, what he presumed to be Byleth (the lantern had apparently went out while they were sleeping), put a hand over his mouth hissed at him to be quiet.

The two lied there quietly, straining their ears to figure out what it was exactly that woke them up. It took a few moments, but soon they could hear the telltale signs of hushed voices through the wall. Claude was confused as to who they belonged to, but when he saw the look of recognition come over Byleth's face he knew she had an idea of what was going on. That thought process was confirmed even more when he was startled to feel her arms moving away from, taking the warmth with them, and her pulling her body off the bed. Although he couldn't see much, from the sounds he was hearing he knew that she had grabbed her sword as he recognized the sound it being removed from its sheath. “Byleth? What's going-?”

He didn't have a chance to finish his question because her hand was over his mouth preventing it from coming out. She brought her face close and whispered to him to be quiet. “I think it's the bandits that shot you down from before. I heard them in town talking the other day about trying to find you. That's how I recognized the voices. How they found me though is beyond me...”

His eyebrows furrowed together and he moved to lift himself off of the bed before Byleth pushed him back down. “Don't even think about it!” Her voice came out in a hiss. Apparently even with the separation between them, she could still easily tell what he was thinking. “If you try to go out there and play hero, you're going to reopen the wound and make yourself an easy target.” She pulled away from him and he could tell through the darkness that she was giving him a glare that emphasized her words. “I'll take care of them.”

Claude wanted to protest against her reasoning. She had no idea how many of them were out there, and while yes, he was injured, he could help her by staying behind and using his bow. Sure, that would put some strain on his wound, it wouldn't be as bad as him actually being on the field fighting directly. Plus, he felt dread sink into his chest at his next thoughts, he didn't want to risk losing her again. He knew that she could take care of herself, he had no doubt about that, he still wanted to make sure he was there to back her up just in case.

Before he could speak another word however, Byleth had moved out of his line of sight. He saw some moonlight come through the crack in what he presumed was the doorway for just a brief moment before he saw her form move quickly move through the exit and the door shut behind her, causing the room to grow dark and silent once more.

Claude swallowed to try and parch his suddenly dry throat and assessed the situation. He knew that she was right about his wound, but he couldn't, no, wouldn't lose her again. Not after him finding her again after six years had passed without him knowing if he ever would. Definitely not.

Decision made, Claude slowly forced himself out of the bed, wincing slightly at the pain that radiated through his stomach at the pain from his wound, and stood up. With the room completely pitch black, he slowly moved around trying to find his bow and quiver of arrows without tripping over something and making his efforts even more difficult.

Finally, some of the moonlight coming in from a nearby window caught a hold of a gleaming silver bow sitting against a chest of drawers near one corner of the room and he made his way towards them.

Byleth would kill him after this was over, but in the end, he didn't care how mad she got. She was worth it.

Byleth quietly snuck around towards the back of the house to assess the situation and figure out how many of them there were that she needed to deal with. She was both grateful and irritated at the moonlight that lit up her surroundings as it gave her both a way to see everyone and everything in her vicinity, but at price of allowing them to do the same.

She admitted to herself that although she could probably use Claude's help at sniping some of them, she knew at the same time it would only irritate his wound and possibly make it worse. Hence why she forced him to stay behind. A little voice in the back of her mind though told her that he would probably disobey her command and come help her anyway. She recalled him being that way back at the academy when he knew she was in trouble. She knew that he never doubted her ability as a swordswoman, he always said as such by singing her praises, but she knew his concern for her sometimes outweighed that. She felt that happened more so during those brief moments he let his emotions take over instead of letting his mind take the lead.

Regardless of that, she needed to take these guys out quickly before either Claude made his way outside or they found out that Claude was in the house and move to get him while he was still injured. She couldn't move too fast however. She needed to study their movements and after doing so, make her move. A voice, one of those she recognized from when she traveled to the marketplace that day, caught her attention causing her thoughts to halt for a moment. “You sure this is the place?”

“Yeah, boss. After I followed that girl from the watering hole here earlier today, I saw the white wyvern that that noble had in the barn. The guy has to be here.”

“Good work. Now let's get catch them by surprise and take what was supposed to be ours to begin with!”

Byleth gripped her sword's handle. Like hell, they'd get him.

She chanced a glance around the corner of a box that she had left on the side of her house. She could see them brandishing all sorts of weapons, some even carrying torches with the hands that weren't holding something else. Byleth could see that with the large numbers of them, it would be a tough fight, even for her. She took in a deep breath to try and calm down her nerves. If only Claude was in a better condition…

Before she could think any further, she saw them start to make their move. Even if she didn't think she could take them all on, she knew for certain that she wouldn't let them take him. She'd die first.

She quickly moved her head back behind the box she knelt behind as she saw one of the men getting closer to her during his walk towards the entrance to her house. Once he got right next to her, she quickly drew out her dagger out of it's sheath and stabbed him in the leg causing him to cry out in pain. Before he could fully fall to the ground, she pulled the dagger out of his leg and stabbed him with the same weapon in his neck, killing him instantly.

The noise the man made caught the attention of his companions, so Byleth knew she didn't have much time to react. She returned the dagger to its place in it's holster and gripped her sword in both hands as she ran around the corner of her house. Almost immediately she ran into one of them, whom she quickly dispatched before he had a chance to take her out first.

Vaguely she could hear the boss of the bandits calling out orders to his men, but her mind quickly shifted into the mode that she was famous for both as a student and as a mercenary. It was also the reason why she called the 'Ashen Demon'. Slowly but surely she began to take out a few more of the men that tried to make their way towards the front of the house all while trying to dodge the arrows that the archers sent her way.

She tried to catch her breath at a few points, but with how they kept coming at her, it was getting difficult. Slowly, she could feel herself begin to tire out. She tried to mask this, but she could tell with a glance at the boss that he knew that she was about to reach her limit.

With another bandit down, Byleth dodged another arrow sent her direction. She felt it graze her side, adrenaline helping to stem some of the pain, but now that she had blood coming out of her, she knew that it was only a matter of time before they took her out.

Another arrow was sent her direction and while she dodged it, she felt another arrow pierce her in her back. She cried out in pain as she was forced down into a kneeling position, her hand still gripping her sword as she stabbed it into the ground to try and keep her upright. Byleth heard the bandit boss laugh at the sight of her and immediately ordered one of his men to kill her.

Byleth took in a deep breath and held back the pain she was feeling to force herself up off the ground before he got there. However, she felt her heart drop as she realized that she wasn't moving fast enough. 'I'm sorry, Claude…'

Before the man could bring down his sword upon her, an arrow entered directly into his forehead, sending him to the ground, dead. Byleth was stunned for a moment before she realized that there was only one place that arrow could've come from. She jerked her head in the direction of the other corner of her house, to see Claude leaned up against the wall, his bow out and with another arrow notched into it's string. The moonlight that shone on him let her see that he was still in pain from the wound in his stomach, but he was still willing to fight. She felt both furious and relieved to see him standing outside with her. Byleth knew that she'd have to restitch his wound together after this was dealt with, but regardless she was glad he was here with her.

She finished standing up, moving her sword into a ready position. She left the arrow in her back as she knew if she removed it, it would only allow for more blood to flow. She would take care of it after this was done. With Claude at her side now, things would become a lot easier. She would just have to adjust her strategy a bit to help protect him from everyone trying to go after him since he was the easier target. She felt some of her strength return at the thought of fighting next to him again like old times.

In the corner of her eye, she saw one archer take a shot at Claude. Quickly she moved to slice to the arrow out of the air before it could hit him. Claude responded in kind by shooting an arrow back, which hit the archer dead on.

The two of them worked in tandem with each other, slowly taking out each of the bandits until only the leader remained. He glared back at them, furious at having his men taken out. “You two must think you're all that! Well, you're gonna figure out why I'm the leader of this bunch! I'll take you both out! Right now!”

With that, he drew his own sword and began taking on Byleth one-on-one. Byleth could definitely see that he was skilled based on how he was able to put strength behind his attacks and keep hers from hitting him, but she could see some flaws. She was professionally trained after all. Plus she had her on the field training to back that up.

More blows where shared between them, and although Claude sent the occasional arrow in his direction trying to give Byleth an opening to take him out, the bandit leader wasn't falling for it. Instead he took the opportunity during Claude's last arrow shot, to throw an attack towards Byleth in such a way that it caused her to have to dodge completely out of the way. In turn the man began bolting towards Claude to try and take him out and then turn his attention back to Byleth.

Byleth noticed this after she dodged and while cursing inwardly she gave chase towards the leader to try and stop him before he reached Claude. She could see Claude's eyes widen when he realized that he was probably not going to make it through this one. He could shoot off an arrow towards him and have it stop the man in his tracks, but he couldn't do it far or else he'd dodge and the arrow would hit Byleth instead. If he did it too close, the man could still get a hit on him and it would probably be a fatal one. He was stuck.

She cursed again as her eyes caught a hold of Claude's. For a split second, it felt like the times they shared on the battlefield when they were younger; when they were able to send messages to each other without saying a single word. She felt that familiar connection again and with just a single glance they knew what they had to do.

The man grew ever closer to Claude, and as he did, he drew his sword up to strike it against him. To his credit, Claude didn't show any fear towards his impending doom. Instead he smirked. The idiot.

When the man got close enough, Claude simply dodged the man by falling to the ground, the sword barely grazing his hair. The action the bandit made to stop right before he reached him gave Byleth enough time to come up behind him and run him through. Although she couldn't see it from her angle, she knew that he was surprised at what had taken place and wasn't expecting it. She pulled her sword back through and watched as the man fell to his knees before eventually falling to the ground.

Byleth let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. She could feel the adrenaline begin to slowly seep out of her body, threatening to make her collapse onto the ground. The pain she had been fighting against began coursing through her as well. She dropped her sword to the ground next to her and made her way over to Claude who was beginning to pick himself of the ground. She could see before she even knelt beside him that his wound was bleeding again.

“You idiot! Why did you do that?! I told you to stay in the house!” She glanced about trying to see if there was anything nearby to use to try and put pressure back onto his wound. She was halted in her search by him gently gripping her arm, forcing her to look back at him. The look on his face was enough to make her heart skip a beat.

“I wasn't going to let you go. After finding you again after all this time...I didn't want to lose you again.” She saw a brief look of pain enter his face and she didn't think it came from his wound being reopened. “I can't...”

Frowning, Byleth wrapped her arms around him again bringing him close to her. She felt him do the same to her. “You won't.” His body relaxed at her words. She knew in the back of her mind, that she needed to get them back in the house and patch up their wounds before figuring out their next move, but for right now, this was enough.

Chapter Text

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

Like It Was Fate

Chapter 5: Love and Promises

By: Knowlee Raven

Byleth watched as the raindrops ran down the pane of glass separating her from the wet environment that lay outside. The pouring rain collected in puddles on the ground and made the once hard dirt become slick mud. A vague thought passed through her mind that the man who had allowed them to temporarily live in this home would probably take a few days longer to make his trip out here.

Unlike her companion, he didn't have a wyvern at his disposal that he could use to easily pass over this environment. But even then, it couldn't be used to travel in this weather anyway. It was too dangerous when thunder and lightning was involved.

Oh well, it wasn't like they were going anywhere anytime soon.

Gazing at the droplets for a few moments more, Byleth soon lost her interest and turned to her companion in question to see him sitting at a nearby desk, hunched over a few pieces of paper where he had spent the past few minutes composing a letter.

Although she was curious as to who it was for, at the same time, she didn't want to prod him. Even though the two had been separated for a while, she remembered enough about him to know that he was a private person and didn't give out that information to just anyone.

A part of her hoped that she was still one of the few people that he could confide in with that kind of knowledge, but she knew that she more than likely didn't have that privilege anymore. Though they were close back at the Academy and had even shared a kiss that hinted at something more (and she hoped that it did), that had been six years ago. A lot could change in that time.

She frowned. She needed to get her mind off of this before it went further down that dark path she had grown familiar with.

Determination filled her steps as they carried her over to where Claude was sitting. She needed a subject change. “How is your wound feeling?”

Claude was momentarily confused by her question as he was so focused on writing that he almost didn't hear her. Eventually his brain caught up with what she was asking. “It's healing well. Those elixars your friend had helped patch it up real quick. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few days it looked like as if nothing ever happened.”

Byleth smiled. “I'm glad.”

Her eyes caught onto the piece of paper he had been writing on. His hand writing was near exactly the same as it was years ago. At least that didn't change. The words he wrote however, she didn't recognize.

It took her a moment for to click that the reason being was because it was another language. Honestly, Claude being bilingual didn't surprise her in the least. It actually suited him. “So who is it you're writing to?”

He leaned back, stretching a bit in the process. Sitting for too long had caused some kinks to set in his bones. “My parents. I haven't talked to them in a while and considering what just happened, I don't want them to worry about why 'their boy' hasn't responded to their last letter.”

She nodded. “I remember you mentioning them back at the Academy.” Her smile grew at bit wider at the memory. “You said your mom was like a demon queen and your father absolutely loved her for it.”

Her heart jumped at his laugh. She had forgotten how beautiful it sounded. “I'm surprised you remember that!” She watched as he began to fold up the letter. “I haven't seen them in six years, so some things have probably changed a bit. But from what they've sent me, they're still the same old parents I had before I left home to come to the monastery.”

A frown formed after recalling that it had been some time since she had last seen him. Was Claude still the same guy she knew? “So, what happened to you during those six years I was gone?”

The question caused Claude to momentarily halt putting the letter he had just folded into an envelope. He sighed was weighed down with memories she was sure he'd rather forget. “Well, that's a loaded question...” He looked up at her, verdant eyes echoing the pain he felt inside at the thoughts swarming in his head. “You sure you want to hear it?”

She held his gaze. “It's not like we're going anywhere.”

Smirking, he responded. “You've got a point.” Claude turned in his seat to look up at her, his mind going back over all the things that happened after she fell in order to find out where to start his tale. “I'm sure you know about the war...”

The conversation the two shared covered various different subjects. It started with what happened after the battle at Garreg Mach and continued on to Claude describing how it felt being sworn in as the head Duke. Eventually he described how he had to hold the Alliance together by the skin of his teeth and if it wasn't for their former classmates, they wouldn't have gotten as far as they did.

He even told her that after the last battle in Derdrui, he had passed over the reins of the Alliance over to Dimitri who was now going to become the ruler of Fodlan. As for what plans the prince had, Claude wasn't sure, but he knew that whatever ideas he wanted to implement would be far better than whatever Edelgard would've had for them.

The next subject he went into was that of the other deer. He mentioned that they had all grown up well during her absence and some had even went on to form relationships with one another. Lorenz had asked for Leonie's hand after a near death experience during one of the battles. Lysithea had taken a liking to Cyril, whom Claude was hoping would eventually find his way out of the church and make his own path in life. Apparently the boy hadn't yet grown out of his identity of worshiping the ground Rhea walked on since she last saw him and Claude knew it would be far more healthier for him to find another path. He said there were signs that was happening since he and Lysithea had began talking to each other which was good.

One of the most surprising things, however, was learning the Marianne was going to be married to Dimitri and become Queen of the new united Fodlan. She knew Marianne had a lot of troubles when she was younger and to know that she overcame them and had now found someone to spend her life with made her proud of the woman. She deserved to be happy.

That lead to her next thought. What about her? Could she be happy?

She didn't hear Claude mention anything about finding another woman. If he had, that definitely would've been heard all around the Alliance if a Duchess Riegan had been chosen. So, was that a good sign?

Byleth didn't want to impose on him though. Six years had passed. Granted, she knew Claude had told her that they all missed her and had even used her 'death' as an inspiration to fight back, but she knew things had still changed. And that knowledge only made her feeling of being left behind grow even more.

She could only hope that it wasn't the same for him.

“I knew a lot of things had changed while I was asleep, but I didn't realize how much actually had. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad things changed for the better for everyone and even for glad that Fodlan now has a better chance of growing into something different than it was before, but I keep wondering how things would've been different for me if I had been there.” She looked down at her hands and began playing with her fingers as her nerves began to set in.

Although Byleth couldn't see Claude looking at her, she could feel his eyes watching her. What he said next was enough to quell at least some of her fears. “Not everything has changed.”

Her eyes furrowed together as she turned her head towards him. “What do you mean?”

He stood up, his expression showing the same emotion she was feeling, but although he was feeling this, his eyes never flinched from her face. “I still love you, you know. That's never changed. If anything,” He hesitated a moment before forging on. “I love you even more now. I hate that I couldn't say it back then before you fell.”

Byleth's face grew warm as she searched his face for any trace of falseness. Her pulse beat faster when she realized there was none. He truly did still care about her. She shouldn't have been surprised though. This was the same guy who said he never gave up on her coming back, even with all the evidence pointing against it.

Worry seeped into Claude at her lack of response. Did she not still return his feelings? Although he knew that he had no right to expect them from her, but he had hoped that after all this time she would still care for him.

Was he wrong?

Before his thoughts could grow any darker, Byleth grabbed his face with her hands and in a repeat of their first kiss years ago, captured his lips with hers.

Like before, he was initially startled, but it only took a few seconds to pass before he was returning the gesture. And unlike before when they were on a time constraint, they had as long as they wanted to explore the feelings that were bursting inside each other.

As the kiss continued, it deepened and their actions became a little more heated.

Their hands and mouths explored.

Clothes were discarded.

And before the day was over, any sense of doubt they had about how they felt about one another disappeared.

The rain had stopped sometime in the hours since they had fallen asleep. Claude had woken up about 15 minutes prior and had been composing another letter to send off during that time. It wasn't one he thought to write earlier when he was working on the other one, but after Byleth said something regarding their friends, he realized that he needed to make another.

Setting the sealed envelope down next to the other, he turned back around to the bed to see Byleth huddled under the blankets, sleeping soundly. His mouth curled into a soft smile as he took in her features and he sent a silent 'thank you' to the god of fate for letting him find her again.

He lifted himself from the chair and returned to the bed, laying down next to her and drawing the blankets over him. He chuckled as she pushed herself into him, eager to feel his warmth. His fingers began brushing through her hair as his studying of her continued and it was then he knew for certain that he couldn't let her go. Especially not after finding her again after all this time.

Claude was drawn out of his thoughts when saw Byleth open her eyes to look up at him. He smiled as he took in their color. “Sleep well?”

She groaned a bit before cuddling herself under his chin. “Yeah. Eager to go back to sleep again though.”

He smirked. “Is that all you're eager for?”

She slapped his chest in response as he laughed. “Hush you.”

His laughter trailed off when he returned to studying her. He frowned when he noticed her focused look. “What's on your mind?”

She breathed in deeply, initially hesitant to answer his question. “Before I found you, you were leaving, weren't you?”

Her gaze met his. She was straight to the point as always. “Yes. I was,” He swallowed deeply, running his hand through her hair again to help steel his nerves. “I was going back home. To Almyra.”

Byleth's eyes widened at his admission. Although she figured out ages ago that he wasn't from Fodlan, but knowing it was Almyra he hailed from was not what she expected. Then again she recalled the times he and Cyril had interacted and was surprised that she didn't see it before.

Regardless, that still didn't change anything about him though. He was still Claude. And for him to reveal this information to her, knowing how people from the Alliance tended to treat people with his ancestry, she felt honored.

He trusted her.

She smiled. To have that from him was priceless. “I knew you weren't from Fodlan. Didn't think of Almyra though when I realized it. I'm surprised I didn't make the connection sooner. There were many hints.”

“Oh? What hints were they?” He cocked his head to the side. His nerves were now gone knowing that she had accepted him for who he was and didn't judge him for it. He sent another thankful prayer up for finding her again. People like her were rare to find in this world.

She turned a little in his arms to lie on her back while ticking off what she could remember on her fingers. “Well, first off there's your obsession with wyverns. If I remember correctly, I think you said to me when you were talking of your plans to convince our Professor to allow you to learn how to ride them that, 'they were a big part of your culture where you came from'.”

He laughed. “I'm surprised you remembered that. That was so long ago.”

“For you, it probably was, but for me, I basically only woke up a year ago. So my memory of those times are a lot closer than yours are.” The upset feeling from before reared it's ugly head again before she stuffed it back down. What's done is done. She can't go back into the past and change things. That wasn't how the world worked.

Byleth pushed past the dark feelings and continued on with her list. “Second, the way you would plan feasts to happen regularly with the class when we won contests. That's something no noble in Fodlan would do, so I knew it had to come from where ever you grew up at. I also recall reading in a book I found in the market while at the Academy that Alymra held a lot of feasts. At that point in time though I just chalked it up to it being a coincidence since I knew there was a possibility that wherever you lived just did that. I mean, a lot of villages in Fodlan do that during festivals and such.”

She held up a third finger. “And lastly, at least of the biggest ones I can recall, I overheard you talking to Cyril one time about Almyra. At first glanceI thought you were just curious about where he grew up, but when you made the statements of talking to the King of Almyra and how you didn't realize it was that bad for people in that area, it made me wonder if it was more than just curiosity and that you were actually familiar with the land and just wanted to know a different perspective of how someone else had experienced it.”

“You overheard that?”

“Wasn't intentional, I promise. Was leaving the library when I heard you two talking. I didn't want to make it seem like I was eavesdropping, so I left you two alone and didn't move until you were finished.” Byleth moved her hand to her chin. “Now that I think about it, maybe that was eavesdropping...”

Claude ignored her new train of thought and spoke before his mind could stop him. “What are your thoughts on Almyra?”

Startled out of her thoughts, Byleth looked at him. His green eyes were filled with something she couldn’t quite read. It looked almost like fear and maybe hope? Maybe both? “Well..., I've always been interested in it. I have read about how it's like in books, but knowing the biases the Alliance has towards anyone from there, I'm inclined to not believe what was written down. I know seeing it for myself would help clarify things.”

Claude inhaled sharply, hope building up within him. Should he ask? A part of him, the part he had relied on for years to keep him safe, was yelling at him to not to. But the other side of him that knew he could trust Byleth and wanted her to stay with him for the rest of his life was egging him on.

Well, there was only one way to find out… “Do you want to come with me?”

Her eyes widened. “To Almyra?”

He nodded, trying to keep his fear out of his voice, but he could tell it was seeping through just a bit. “I want you to come with me. I...I don't want to leave you here, especially not after finding you all this time later.”

Byleth felt her heart warm at the heat that entered his gaze. “I'm never gonna let you go. You know that, don't you? I said as much in that battle we had with those bandits a few days ago. I can't lose you again.”

Byleth immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly with him returning the embrace. She turned her nose into his hair, breathing in his scent. “I have to admit, the idea of leaving Fodlan does scare me, as it's always been my home.” She pulled back a bit and put their foreheads together. “But honestly, I feel the same. I don't want to lose you either. Especially not after spending all that time alone thinking I was never going to see you again.”

The smile that broke out on his face was enough to rival the sun. His lips crossed the short distance to hers and they spent the rest of the night holding each other tightly in one anothers' arms.