Chapter Text
There’s a folded sheet of paper on Byleth’s desk.
Written across it are the words ‘Please read, then burn’ in her own handwriting. Byleth’s eyebrows furrowed. She didn’t remember writing anything like that today, or even yesterday, and to be honest, she was so exhausted from a long day of teaching the Blue Lions that she just wants to sleep.
Still, she wasn’t about to ignore it, not after all the seemingly impossible things that had happened to her.
Walking over to the door, she closed it, and then locked it. Then double-checked the door was locked. Whatever this was, she had a feeling that no one should be seeing it.
She picks up the paper, just looking at it in her hands. It felt significant somehow. It felt like a fork in her life that she might not want to be on. But she had to know.
She unfolds it.
Quite a lot of the letter is smudged, as if water had dripped onto the paper, but the ones that are legible immediately fills her with fire as she reads about Rhea’s past immoralities.
Byleth feels overwhelmed. Thoughts swarm her head, battling for her attention. The letter crumples in one hand and the other grips the wooden desk for balance. She feels just like when her father died; the world warps and blurs into the background. Emotions stir up a storm in the usual calm of her mind and soul.
Rhea experimented on her? On other girls? In a mad effort to get her mother back?
The end of the letter writes: ‘Edelgard will attack the Holy Tomb and start a war against the Church. Please end it there, so that others may not suffer needlessly in her war. So that your students may live.’
Byleth collapses onto her bed. Rhea ruined her and so many other babies’ lives. Possibly even killed Byleth’s mother so that the experiment wouldn’t be revealed to others. She maintained that bigoted Crest system and had the entirety of Fodlan under her thumb, punishing those who went against her ideals under the guise of justice.
She reads through the letter one, two more times, to commit it to memory, then lights the corner of the letter by the fire of her candle. The pain from her fingers getting slightly burned ground her to the earth, helps her to focus her thoughts.
Eventually, the thoughts fade until Byleth only has one idea in mind: Rhea must pay for her crimes with her life.
Byleth is no fool. Taking on the archbishop in front of her confused and clueless Blue Lions and the Knights of Seiros would be suicide. She had to wait until Edelgard made her entrance in the Holy Tomb, until she had backup.
So, she waits and pretends. It’s not difficult. She is curious about the throne in the Holy Tomb and sits on it waiting to see if something happens. Something does, but not to her. The Flame Emperor storms in with Imperial troops and Rhea orders Byleth to defend the Holy Tomb. Her students charge forward, all except for Dimitri and Sylvain.
Byleth does none of that. Instead, she raises the Sword of the Creator high, and swings it down. The sword extends like a whip, and arcs down towards Rhea’s back.
“Professor, what are you doing?” Dimitri, the one closest to Rhea, notices it and attempts to block with his lance. The sword’s path is diverted and cuts across Rhea’s lower back, deep enough to incapacitate her, but not fatal. Byleth narrows her eyes. Rhea collapses to her knees, her hands starting to glow with a white light. Sylvain blocks Rhea from Byleth's sight, eyes wide with surprise and fear.
Byleth looks Dimitri in the eyes and says clearly, “Rhea must pay for her sins.”
"Sylvain, take the Archbishop and go." Dimitri barks out, facing Byleth fully. Without another word, Sylvain carries Rhea in his arms, situates her across the saddle of his horse and gallops for the exit. Dimitri covers his retreat from Byleth, grinding his teeth and regarding her with feral eyes as their weapons clash. The others barely hold a path for him, and he exits the Holy Tomb without further delays.
But without Byleth’s tactical guidance, the Imperial troops soon overwhelm her students and the Knights of Seiros and advance towards her position. With a quick twist of her sword, she wraps it around Dimitri’s lance and pulls hard. It clatters loudly on the floor next to her foot.
Dimitri stares at her, betrayal clear on his face. “What have you done…” He growls furiously.
She circles around him and moves towards the Imperial troops, who are wary of her but don’t attack yet.
The Flame Emperor stares at her impassively.
“I want to join your cause.” Byleth declares loudly. “Emperor Edelgard.”
The Flame Emperor removes the mask and reveals the smiling face of Edelgard von Hresvelg.
“We welcome you with open arms, Professor.” Hubert narrows his eyes suspiciously and opens his mouth to protest, but Edelgard only silences him with a wave of her hand.
The Blue Lions can only watch their professor turn traitor and leave without a single word of explanation; Dimitri murmuring furiously to himself, swearing revenge.
Edelgard and Hubert (after much convincing from Edelgard) take her back to camp, where the Black Eagles regard her with no small amount of surprise. Dorothea asks her about betraying Dimitri, to which she replies, “I will do whatever it takes to realise my dream.”
Then they are storming Garreg Mach, and rubble is falling on her, and she is furious that this is the end of her, not having accomplished her dream of getting revenge. As the rubble blocks out the light, she hopes that at the very least, her students will eventually forgive her for her betrayal.
Byleth wakes up to a very different world, five years later.
The mannerisms of the villager who had fished her out of the river were the first sign. He had the wariness of one who had seen the horrors of battle and its aftermath. His fingers fidgeted on the wooden shaft of his fishing spear, and his eyes held a hint of mistrust even as he warned her away from the monastery.
As she trekked to the monastery, she observed that the rivers around the monastery are small and fish are scarce, while the forests are mere skeletons and branches, rife with deadly monsters (beasts and humans alike).
What has become of Fodlan while she slept?
A small Imperial patrol spots her on her trek, and their shouts of “The Ashen Demon is back!” and “Our war is as good as won!” does not answer her questions. They rush her back to a nearby Imperial encampment to check her over for injuries and send the good news to the Emperor.
Edelgard arrives as fast as she can with the Black Eagles in tow. The moment she lays her eyes on Byleth, she runs up to her and hugs her tightly. The people around them are sneaking peeks at the entourage out of the corner of their eyes. It’s not every day you see the Emperor running and showing affection towards someone that they have never seen before.
“Perhaps we should take this inside.” Hubert’s no-nonsense voice and piercing eyes scare the bystanders back to their daily routines, and the group moves into the war tent.
Hugs and joyful cries are heard all around as the students reunite with Byleth. She takes a moment to take in their appearances. So much has changed in five years and not necessarily for the better; Caspar’s boundless enthusiasm is tinged with anxiety, Dorothea sounds wearier and Petra always has her hand on the shaft of her axe.
They pepper her with questions about where she’s been and how are you even alive you got crushed by huge chunks of rock-ow Linhardt!. She waves them off, stating that she herself doesn’t quite know.
To her surprise, Felix, Ashe and Annette are there with the Black Eagles, at the edge of the group.
Byleth tilts her head and raises an eyebrow at them, curious.
“There’s no future for Faerghus anymore, not when Dimitri is the way he is,” Felix states matter of factly. Byleth wonders what happened to Dimitri, and something in her chest squeezes as she thinks-
“Is he dead?” Byleth can’t help but ask. Felix stares her dead in the eyes as he says, “He might as well be.”
“The Church needs to be reformed.” Annette cuts in. “You know what it did to Sylvain and Mercie!”
Ashe nods vigorously, his eyes grim. “They need to pay for what they did to Lonato.”
Edelgard steps forward. “They will. Now, Professor, let’s get you up to speed on what has happened the past few years.”
Byleth is particularly shocked to hear that Dimitri has been crowned king by Rhea herself and is now honour-bound to protect her and the Church. She knows what that means. She’s not naïve; she must face her former students on the battlefield.
She does, first with the Golden Deer. Leonie is livid at her tainting Jeralt’s memory. Ignatz is disappointed by her supporting Edelgard’s ideals. Hilda stares at her in disgust like she’s the sweat on her clothes after a long training session.
She cuts her way through them to Claude.
Claude smiles at her, but his eyes show his disappointment.
“You broke Dimitri, Teach.” Claude says mock-casually. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Something twinges in her at that.
Eventually, they are victorious, and Claude retreats, wishing Edelgard all the best in achieving her dreams.
“With Claude gone, the Alliance is as good as ours! From here, we march to take Faerghus!”
And Byleth is forced to face her sins.