Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Edelgard didn’t scream when the knife sliced into her back this time, she had already rendered her throat so sore doing so she could no longer utter even a whisper. Her siblings were in a similar state. Either that or dead. She had endured these people, no monsters, slicing into her flesh for what she assumed was three days, since that was the number of times they had fed her since her uncle had brought her down here. If what was forced down her throat could be considered as food. It was a thin gruel that was so vile she wouldn’t even feed it to the worst criminals. Rats skittered around in the darkness. The pressure of the knife lifted slightly. She sucked in a ragged breath, not sure why she had been given the momentary relief. From the table she was strapped to she could see the dungeon door, illuminated slightly by candlelight and the sound muffling spell that glowed around it. The spell that made sure no one would ever find them. They could scream, shout and beg for help and even if someone was right outside no one would ever know. Only divine intervention could save them now, and Edelgard had never had much belief in the Goddess. Nevertheless, she thought, she had run out of other ideas. Maybe prayer would work for her. “Goddess, if you can hear me please, please save us” she prayed in her head. The pressure from the knife returned slicing another path down her back, she could feel her blood trickling away from the cut, her strength leaching out of her with every drop. The door suddenly exploded into splinters, scattering pieces all over. A woman emerged from the smoke, her green hair and eyes glowing in the torchlight. She did not know who this stranger was, but for the first time she allowed herself to hope.

Shouts erupted from every direction. The mages doing the terrible things to her family yelling “intruder” and panically conjuring spells. Other voices, further away reached her ears, “she went this way!” She felt warmth across her back as the one that had been operating on her began casting a fire spell. It would do him no good. The strange woman raised her sword, an ungainly looking weapon that looked like it was made of bone. The weapon glowed red, and then came to pieces and those rapidly flew forwards. Edelgard felt a splash of warm liquid on her back. The strange sword then returned to its original shape and it’s owner moved. The woman moved with a grace that she felt should be impossible while carrying such a hefty weapon. Spells blasted the stairs where she had been moments before. The weapon split apart again and this time Edelgard could see that the pieces were held together by a thin strand of something. The woman swung it to her left and simultaneously flung a spell in the opposite direction. Cries of pain rang out from both directions. The stranger moved again, this time out of her vision, but the continuing sounds of battle let her know the mysterious new person yet lived. But what hope she had abandoned her as the hole that used to be the dungeon door was filled with imperial soldiers. They should have filled her with hope, when she was younger they would have, but some had been present when her uncle had dragged her down here.
“What in the goddess’ name?!” The first soldier exclaimed in horror as he took in the sight of the Emperor’s and goodness knows how many orphaned commoner children chained to tables, covered in cuts and their own blood. One of them turned away and vomited. “Free these children”. The squad captain suddenly yelled, “Kill anyone who attempts to stop you. NOW!” Chaos ensued as the troops burst into action.

Eventually things died down. The fighting had escalated quickly, spreading from the dungeon to the rest of the palace as word had spread over what had been going on beneath everyone’s feet. Edelgard had drifted in and out of consciousness due to her untreated cuts, but she was now being treated by a palace apothecary. From what she could gather from whispers of servants the soldiers had originally been giving chase to an intruder, the green haired woman, only to join the attack on those imprisoning Edelgard and her siblings. The green haired woman had, at some point, taken command of the shocked Imperial army troops, leading them to victory. It was a relief to be unchained and able to move freely again. But it did not feel like a victory. Her uncle had escaped in the confusion, and it had been too late for her eldest brother. He had died mere minutes before everything happened.
“I am done my lady, your ...injuries should heal but there will be some scars.” The apothecary spoke apologetically. Many had been apologetic since they’d carried her from the dudgeon. Apparently it had been claimed she and her siblings had been moved to one of the summer palaces in the Adrestrian countryside.

She got up, ignoring the advice of bedrest. She searched room by room for the only person she wanted to talk to. Eventually finding her in the guard captain’s office. He was plying the woman with questions, and from the look on his face not getting satisfactory answers, if any at all. “Ms Eisner if you continue to evade my questions I’ll...”
“You’ll do what?” The woman interrupted, clearly unbothered by any potential threat, and from what Edelgard had seen of her combat skills, and her weapon, such confidence was not unfounded. She had gone through her uncle’s supporters like a hot knife through butter. She closed the door behind her causing both to turn their attention to her. “Princess Edelgard! I..I would like to formally apologise for what happened to you. The failure to realise the truth of what was happening will be a stain on the record of the Imperial army for generations” Edelgard ignored the captain’s apology. She had heard enough of them to last a lifetime. Instead she focused on the woman, Ms Eisner as she had been called.
“Who are you?” She asked, “How did you know we were down there?”
“My name is Byleth, as for your second question… well, I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you” Byleth’s facial expression did not shift, but something in the way she looked at her made Edelgard feel safe, which was something she had been sure would never happen again. “Are you an angel?” Edelgard asked, curiosity burning within her. It made sense, she had prayed, then Byleth had come to save her. The weapon was clearly a holy relic and now she could see her saviour up close the visual similarities to murals of the goddess were undeniable.
“No”
“A holy saint then?”
Byleth chuckled, “I’m as far from a holy saint as you can get.”
Edelgard felt a twinge of disappointment at that. “Maybe you should be” she gasped, turning to the guard captain who was listening intently, trying to use the opportunity to gather any information Byleth would share with her instead of him. “We should send a letter to the archbishop to ask her to declare Byleth a saint!”
Byleth shifted, uncomfortable, “That’s… unnecessary. I should probably be on my way.” Byleth stood, making to leave.
Edelgard blocked her path. “No. Please stay” she almost yelled before almost whispering, “I won’t feel safe with you gone…”

There was a moment of silence. Byleth knelt down so she could look her in the eye and placing a hand gently on her shoulder. “You’re safe now, I promise” a tiny smile was on Byleth’s lips.
“But uncle escaped, he could come back and try all this again if you’re not here.” She used her ‘puppy dog eyes’ that had always gotten anything she wanted from her father. She was sure that overpowered whatever thing was driving Byleth to leave as her head drooped.
“I promise that he won’t get to do that to anyone ever agai.. LYSTHIA!” Byleth’s head snapped up suddenly, causing Edelgard to jump.
“You need to send people to house Ordelia, they’re doing those experiments there too” that was directed at the captain, who had almost fell from his chair at the outburst.
“That’s alliance territory I can’t…” the captain objected.
“Do as she says, we’ll deal with any issue it causes later” Edelgard ordered. She couldn’t officially give orders, being one of the youngest Hresvelg, but she could see the memory of what he’d seen them suffering caused the captain to ignore that. He gathered a few objects and left the room, only pausing to demand a guard to look after her. The guard remained outside the room though.
There was a long silence. Neither Byleth or Edelgard seemed to know what to say next. She did know that some force, either the Goddess, luck or fate had brought Byleth to her in her time of need.

And then in a burst of light, she disappeared before her eyes.

Chapter Text

The next few months had been hectic. The disgusted soldiers that had discovered what was going on in the palace dungeons having basically seized power. They had set up a military council as a “provisional government” replacing the council of nobles. It had not been a bloodless coup. The prime minister had been killed, along with three other heads of noble houses. Edelgard’s father was overseeing things officially but was just so grateful for the rescue of his children that he didn’t interfere much in the day to day. Instead he spent almost every waking moment with them. Edelgard loved her father dearly, but found it suffocating. So she was thankful for the unexpected arrival of some important figures from the church of Seiros causing everything else to be canceled. She and her siblings were ushered into the throne room to greet the guests.

Edelgard watched as the small procession entered the throne room, a few knights surrounding a woman and a man. The woman had a striking resemblance to Byleth, the same green eyes and hair. She was tall and wore a pure white dress that covered everything except her head, but even that was partially obscured with a large golden headpiece. The man had a more practical outfit, but shared the distinctive green hair and eyes. “The Archbishop, Lady Rhea!” A knight heralded before stepping aside so no one stood between her and the throne.
“Emperor Ionius, I apologize for the unannounced visit. The rumours over what caused the current political circumstances within the Empire were too concerning to not be investigated” Rhea spoke softly, but without a hint of emotion.
“The rumours must be quite extreme to have caused your personal involvement in the investigation.” The emperor did a tiny polite bow.
“Indeed the things we have been hearing have been...extremely worrying. There were mentions of people being tortured. Children specifically” The man next to the archbishop spoke roughly, she couldn’t tell if it was concern or anger.
“And I wish I could tell you such rumours were untrue. Mr?.”
“I am Seteth, chief adviser to lady Rhea,” he bowed quickly, more quickly than would normally be considered appropriate when addressing an Emperor. “What possible reason could anyone have for such an atrocious act?”
“It seems the Prime minister, and several other nobles were not satisfied with the amount of crests amongst my children. They sought a way to implant them artificially.” Everything went silent and it felt like all the heat left the room.
“What?!” Lady Rhea practically hissed eventually. Edelgard could see that she was barely holding her anger back. “These blasphemers must be brought to justice.”
“You mirror my thoughts Lady Rhea. The Empire would be glad of the assistance of the Knights of Seiros in hunting down Lord Arundel and his remaining associates”

A few hours later she was being let out the office that had been taken over, temporarily, by Seteth. He had brought everyone in and asked them to recount what had happened. He wasn’t saying it exactly but it was obvious he most wanted to know about Byleth. He had only asked her for more details regarding the woman, rather than anything else. Apparently she was one of the few people who had actually conversed with her. She knew something was wrong, but without more information she couldn’t be sure what. She passed lady Rhea in the doorway, the older woman ignoring her completely. She desired to press her ear against the door to uncover what they knew that she did not. It was not an option though, two knights flanked the door and would undoubtedly object to a princess being nosy. As she walked down the corridor a plan occurred to her. She stepped into the next room, looked around to determine if it was empty and closed the door. As quickly as she could she crossed the room and opened the window before carefully climbing out onto the ledge.

She shimmied across the ledge to the window containing Seteth and Rhea. Thankfully it was late evening and the curtains were drawn so them seeing her was impossible. Pressing her ear against the glass allowed her to just make out their voices.
“Ionius made it clear that reestablishing the southern church won’t happen until Arundel is caught. I pointed out it would be easier to do so if the knights had established bases of operations but he won’t budge. Did you manage to get anything from the children?” That was Rhea, she hardly showed emotion even in this, supposedly, private moment with her trusted advisor.
“From the descriptions I am confident it’s the same woman that appeared at Garag Mach last year” Seteth answered, “Early twenties, green hair and eyes, wearing nondescript armour and a weapon that is undoubtedly the sword of the creator.” Edelgard covered her mouth to suppress her gasp. The sword of the creator? Nemesis’ old weapon
“Yet it cannot be, the sword remains where I put it a thousand years ago” Edelgard’s eyes went wide. Rhea is over a thousand?
“We both saw it with our own eyes. As did the twenty knights she killed before vanishing into thin air”
“I know Seteth, I am as mystified as you are. Either way finding her, or information about her is to be prioritised over everything else.” Edelgard tried to adjust her footing but slipped. She managed to balance herself but not without her arm crashing into the window. She froze. She had no idea what the consequences would be if she was found to be spying on the Archbishop, especially if the woman thought she’d overheard as much as she had. By some miracle the curtains did not open, she sighed in relief. That’s enough snooping for today. She thought.

Another month passed without major incident. Her uncle remained at large. Rhea and Seteth returned to the monastery after a week. They had extended invitations for Edelgard and several of her siblings to join the officer’s academy. She did not miss that it seemed mostly aimed at getting her there specifically. Her father had declined on her behalf, saying she was still too young. She had noticed a moment of frustration on Rhea’s face that was quickly buried in niceties and assurances that she meant upon her coming of age. It didn’t take a genius to realise that Rhea and Seteth thought she knew more than she’d told them, especially as it was true. Leaving out Byleth’s name had been a conscious choice after all. She wasn’t sure why she had done it at the time but was certain it had been the right choice. If she ever saw the woman again she knew that would earn her some gratitude and maybe the answers to her own questions.

Two years later

Edelgard walked through the garden at the palace, it was a lovely day the sun was shining, birds were singing. The harvest festival preparations meant most people were occupied and she was left mostly alone. Hubert had joined her, as father was still unwilling to have her wander unattended but she didn’t mind. Hubert was generally unobtrusive, if a tad overprotective. He had a habit of threatening people, sometimes just with a look, but it meant people usually left her alone while accompanied by him unless it was important. As they stepped around the Northwest corner a hooded figure slammed into her. Her left hand shot to her dagger on her hip, and she felt the tingle of magic in the air as Hubert readied a spell. Both were unnecessary as the person collapsed face down on the ground catching her sleeve and tearing it on the way down. Both Edelgard and Hubert stared down at the person, she could tell they were still breathing but it took a moment for either of them to move. She knelt down, ignoring Hubert’s protest, and flipped the person onto their back. A knife protruded from their shoulder. The hood fell back revealing green hair and a familiar face.

Byleth.

“We need to get her to a doctor and to alert the guards” Hubert declared
“N! No one from the palace can know she’s here.” She grabbed his arm, preventing him from dashing off.
“Lady Edelgard?”
“Please Hubert, just help me get her to my room. I’ll explain later.” She could see his duties warring on his face. Eventually he decided to do as she asked.

She had always had difficulty with healing magic but after a few tries she had managed to stop the bleeding. Hubert stood in the corner watchful as ever. Time passed agonisingly slowly as they waited for Byleth to wake. Edelgard tapped her foot nervously. Byleth’s breathing was shallow, and she murmured in her sleep. “Got to fix it..” Edelgard tucked some of the green hairs behind Byleth’s ear. Though now she was up close she was sure one or two were blue. It was at that moment Byleth’s eyes opened. Their eyes locked.
“El? Is that really you?” Byleth reached a hand out, causing Edelgard to freeze as the fingertips contacted her cheek. Hubert cleared his throat heavily. Byleth’s arm dropped away.”Hubert. It’s… agreeable to see you again”
“Miss Eisner.” He nodded at her causing Edelgard to whip her head between the two of them rapidly. She had never told anyone Byleth’s name, and the guard captain that had known it had died freeing the children of House Ordelia . “You two know each other?”
“I gave her directions to the palace dungeons a few years back. I intended on assisting in getting there. I got the flat of her sword cracked over my head instead.” Hubert answered, he was doing that fake scowl he used when someone did something he secretly approved of despite it being detrimental to him, she knew it well enough from whenever she’d lose him to be alone for a while.
“Had to be done. Thanks for trusting me though”
Hubert nodded again, “It worked out.” Edelgard determined to get the rest of that story later, for now she had bigger questions.
Her mind went blank. “I...I…” she stammered.
“You want to know my story I guess?” Byleth gave her a sad smile, “It’s going to sound crazy”
“You vanished before my eyes, it’s already crazy.”
“Oh El…” Byleth chuckled, “You have no idea….”

Chapter Text

The battle was won. The Immaculate One collapsed backwards, her green blood pouring from the injuries she and El had inflicted. She knew she had to go back though. Before the finishing blow Rhea had managed to hit Byleth hard in the chest. She was struggling to breath due to what she assumed was a punctured left lung. Those with healing magic were too far away fighting the blazes or the remnants of the Knights of Seiros to help her. If she didn’t turn back the clock and either evade the blow or reduce the damage she was going to die. She breathed in painfully and triggered the divine pulse. Sixty seconds, she thought. Everything around her started to move backwards, then she felt a sensation in her chest and the World blurred and tilted. Something was wrong. Up and down kept flipping, the ground under her feet seemed to slip away and everything around her was moving back far too quickly, far too much. Sher strained and tried to focus her power but it refused to cooperate, she closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. Her breathing became calmer, as she allowed the adrenaline in her veins to wear off. Eventually she felt her feet on the ground again. She could no longer smell the city burning around her. Tentatively, she opened her eyes. Instead of Firdiad she was in a random village, outside a pub.

She looked around in confusion, every time she had used divine pulse before she had been taken to where she stood in the moment she’d arrived at. But she couldn’t remember being here at any point. She flagged down a passing villager, “Excuse me, but could you tell me where I am?”
“Dumire village.” She blinked, having no idea where that was. “We’re about a day’s travel North of Enbarr” the villager elaborated helpfully.
“Thank you. And I know this is a strange question but what is the date?”
The villager laughed, “I can lose track of time while travelling too, it’s the thirteenth of the pegasus moon.”
“What year?” She had drawn the attention of several people with that question.
“What...year?” People murmured, “How do you not know what year it is?”
“Eleven..seventy two…” the original villager answered. Ignoring the funny looks she was getting she walked away to find a mount. She didn’t know how or why exactly but fate had brought her back to the darkest time in El’s life and she determined that this time it would be different.

It had taken a few days for her to assess the situation in Enbarr. From what she could tell most soldiers were unaware of what was happening in the palace dungeons. Arundel obviously using his own people for the horrors he was inflicting on El and all those others. So she had the basic plan down, draw as much attention from the town guard as she could and lead them into the dungeons containing El and the others. Which was, she admitted to herself, monumentally reckless and potentially stupid. She had no guarantee the soldiers would do the right thing once they knew. But it was her only hope. She just needed to know how to find the dungeons. The palace, while only a fraction of the size of Garag Mach but it still contained hundreds of rooms and passages. And that was just the ground floor. She got a lucky break while grabbing something to eat at the market. She spotted a young Hubert. He was sticking to the shadows of the market as though not wanting to be seen, but was not as adept as his older self so Byleth spotted had him easily.

Byleth followed him into an alley, unsure what the boy was up to but she didn’t care. She was close when he whipped around after she kicked a pebble, terror in his eyes. He held a knife out in a shaking hand. “You won’t take me too, I won’t let you!” Byleth had never seen Hubert scared, it was an odd sight. She raised her hands, showing him they were empty. “I’m not here to take you anywhere. I need your help”
“Help with what?” He kept the knife leveled at her, untrusting.
“I’m here to rescue El…And the others if I can”
“Why would I trust you?”
“What choice do you have? Who else would believe you if you told them what was happening?” He stared into her eyes ,as if looking into her soul.
He dropped his arm to the side,
“Okay. What can I do to help?”
“I need directions to the dungeons” Hubert’s directions were long and complicated, he had to go over them three or four times before Byleth was sure she had it memorised. “It’ll be easier if I just take you. Come” he moved, intending on leading her there. Byleth shook her head, I can only risk myself with this, she determined. But she knew Hubert, he was as stubborn as El, and was not going to sit out willingly.
So she knocked him out.

After finding somewhere safe to place Hubert she stepped out into the market. She drew the sword of the creator and started swinging it at stalls. She avoided hitting any actual people, only aiming at property, this was about drawing attention, not hurting anyone. It didn’t take long to get what she wanted. Members of the city guard closed on her from several angles, pushing their way past crowds of fleeing civilians. She started heading towards the palace. Occasionally whipping the sword through another stall, she wanted to be easy enough to follow. Some guard got close enough to take a swing at her, but they were nothing compared to her and were easily disarmed and left behind. It wasn’t long before she had a procession of soldiers chasing her through the streets. She had to slow down a few times to not lose them, but eventually she had sight of the palace gates. Two masked mages joined the guards at the gate. They threw spells at her, and she deflected them harmlessly into the stone walls of nearby buildings. She ran on as they tried to close the gate to prevent her entry.
It was no match for her hero’s relic. Soldiers ran for cover from the debris clearing her a path which she took with just a glance over her shoulder to confirm she had not lost her pursuers.

She was glad that the soldiers had done the right thing upon chasing her into the dungeons. Unquestioningly joining her in battling against the slithers who were experimenting on El and her brothers and sisters. She saw Arundel, or Thales, as he really was. The man that oversaw the nightmares below the palace and had protected Kronya when her father had…
She shook that thought from her head heading for the evil mage, cutting down anyone that got in her way. He threw spells at her, but with the combination of the sword of the creator and her divine pulse she evaded or deflected them all. She got past his defences and went to run him through to avenge her father, El and all those he harmed in his quest for power.
She would be denied.
He warped away causing her to impale a wall instead. One mage tried to take advantage as she struggled to extract the weapon but took a sword through his back from an imperial Captain. She nodded her thanks. She returned the favour moment’s later, blasting an enemy over the man’s shoulder.

Hours later once the fighting died down she had been “escorted” to the office of a guard captain. Having been responsible for saving the Hresvelg children, well most of them, she had earned the soldiers’ respect. But obviously they had a lot of questions, to which the answers were not going to be believed.
Byleth was never good at coming up with convincing lies, even her own father tried to train her in lying better to help with mercenary work. It had not gone well. So usually she had just went silent and let him handle any deception their work had required. That was no longer an option.
“How did you know what was happening to the children?”
She stared out the window at the setting sun, “I was told about it by a friend”
“Where did you that weapon?”
“Disarmed a man and took it from him,” she shrugged. It was the truth, just lacking in details. The captain let out a sigh of frustration. “Ms Eisner if you continue to evade my questions I’ll...”
“You’ll do what?” She gripped the hilt of her sword, the look on his face showed she had made her point. The door closing suddenly drew her attention, a young brown haired girl stood there.

El… She looked so different.

The young El asked questions too, Byleth tried to avoid saying too much, as best she could in the circumstances. Realising she needed to leave and hunt down Thales before he could take the form of someone else important and try this all again. El didn’t want her to leave and gave her a look when she tried to do so. It broke her will. She wanted to get Thales, but she wanted El to feel safe again, for now and always. Byleth was glad that when she realised that Lysithia was currently going through the same thing El had been El had believed her. The captain left to intervene at house Ordelia immediately on El’s orders. Leaving her alone with El. Byleth didn’t know what to say. Everything was going to be different now, El was going to be different. Instead of growing up alone she would have a family. Instead of being driven to change the system she would… Byleth didn’t even know.
She tried to say something, then felt a tightening in her chest and the world blurred and flipped around her once again.

This time she returned to reality faster. She found herself in the monastery. Rhea stood before her, the surprise at Byleth’s appearance evident on her face. Byleth hadn’t seen Rhea in her human form since the battle of Garreg Mach. At the Tailtean plains she had gone after Dimitri, sending El against the flanking force under Rhea’s command. She remembered the hatred and rage on Rhea’s face, how she had declared she would tear her chest open and ‘take her heart back’. Instinct kicked in, she grabbed her sword and swung at Rhea. Her attack was evaded and soon dozens of knights were trying to stop her.
More chaos, more fighting. Rhea slipped away calling for reinforcements.
Seteth and more knights poured in, but before Byleth could be overwhelmed she was thrown through time and space again.

She stood on the dock in Deirdru where she had forced Claude to surrender. Her breathing was heavy from battling the knights of Seiros. Internally she prayed that whenever she was at this time she wouldn’t have to fight for her life again. Then she smelt smoke. She sighed before turning towards the city. The entire place was ablaze. A few Alliance soldiers poured onto the dock. Two familiar figures leading them.
“Teach?” Claude came to a halt as he saw her.
“Claude…” She responded, unsure of how he would react to them meeting, again from his perspective.
“But you...” Leonie stammered “You died! We saw your body!”
Byleth blinked. Died?
“I don’t know how you’re here but we could sure use your help.” Claude seemed happy to see her. As did Leonie, which was jarring as from her perspective the last time she had seen Leonie was killing her. Leonie had hated her, she was almost in a rage about Byleth siding with El. Suddenly Byleth was wrapped up in a hug from them both of them. She tensed, not understanding what was happening. After a moment that seemed to last forever they let go. A large crash drawing the attention of everyone. As a wall collapsed a figure strode through the breach.

The Flame Emperor. Wielding the sword of the creator.

With it’s crest stone embedded in it….