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Byleth slashed the last imperial soldier in her proximity before nearly falling to her knees. Claude rushed to her side to steady her before she collapsed. She held tightly to him as she took several sharp breaths. This battle wasn’t even close to being over, yet she was already losing strength. She needed a healer. She needed to find Marianne. She looked around desperately in an attempt to find the holy knight, but a soldier screaming in agony in unison with the grunt of a woman from behind her caught her attention instead.
“Greetings, my teacher.” Byleth instantly lost the breath she’d been managing to keep steady. Her stomach dropped to the pit of her torso just from the sound of that voice. She felt the bile rise to her throat as she looked up at Claude, who was saying something to her. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, or even bother to read the movement of his lips. All she knew was that she couldn’t let herself turn around to face the source of that damned voice, she’d lose it at the sight of the woman and go on an instant rampage. She couldn’t risk her letting her guard down like that.
She felt Claude let go of her and go near the voice. It was a miracle how she stood on her own without him holding her. The ringing in her head grew louder as she tried to stabilize herself. She assumed the two lords were speaking, but couldn't bring herself to hear them right now. Too much was on her mind. Edelgard was right there. If Byleth wouldn’t faint from exhaustion, she surely would from merely being in the presence of the other woman. If hearing her voice affected her body like this, she didn’t want to risk what seeing her would do.
The sound of weapons instantly clashing, as well as Claude’s loud grunting, pulled her out of her thoughts. She immediately turned to see her friend on the ground, with Edelgard holding her notorious weapon over his head, ready to strike. Using every fiber of her being, she forced herself to move towards them. She couldn’t let her tiredness stop her, not when her friend’s life was on the line. She aimed her weapon at Edelgard’s and used the sword of the creator to hit it away from finishing off Claude as she ran in between the two lords. “Edelgard! Stop!” Her lungs ached from how viciously she forced the words out of her mouth.
“You know I can’t do that.” The woman replied softly, but sternly. It was as if she was bantering over something trivial, not the life of her lifelong friend. The Flame Emperor stood as unyielding as ever. Byleth was going to lose her mind.
“How could you?” She whispered. “So….many….people, DEAD!” Byleth felt the tears rush to her eyes. She threw her weapon to the side and rammed into Edelgard, using all her strength to shove the woman. “So many of our friends…..FLAYN! A CHILD!” Byleth gripped the red fabric covering Edelgard’s chest so tightly, if it wasn’t expensive it surely would have ripped.
Edelgard’s eyes met Byleth’s for a moment but quickly looked away before she could allow herself to feel anything. “Small sacrifices are necessary in the grand scheme of things, my teacher.”
Byleth’s breaths grew louder and shakier. She didn’t care that she was showing her most vulnerable self to the woman in front of her right now. She was more concerned with and appalled by how she could be so cold, insensitive, heartless, and everything in between. “Small sacrifices? Fodlan is in shambles! Thousands are dead!” Byleth shouted.
“I’m only doing what needs to be done,” Edelgard replied.
“How can you say that?” She whispered as she blinked away a few tears, looking at Edelgard like some sort of puzzle she couldn’t solve. “How can you be so cruel?”
Edelgard’s hand hesitated for a moment, but then reached up to hold Byleth’s cheek. She wiped a tear. “I intend to save the world, my teacher. I can’t afford to...hesitate.”
Byleth’s eyes furrowed in disgust as she pushed the woman away using magic. It bought her enough time to pick up her sword off the ground. She turned back to Edelgard who had her weapon held in a fighting stance. “I don’t want to fight you!” Edelgard shouted as Byleth noticed her voice was slightly more high pitched and shaky than before.
“I don’t want to fight you either!” Byleth shouted back as she shot out her sword of the creator at the woman. Edelgard dodged it and ran closer to strike Byleth with her weapon. Byleth dodged, but barely. Byleth quickly turned and swung her sword at her but Edelgard managed to stop it with her weapon. They kept aiming at each other, but they were so in sync, their swords kept clashing instead of marring skin. It was like they were dancing at the Gareg Mach Ball.
Byleth couldn’t do this for much longer, she barely had any strength left in her body. The only thing keeping her standing was her sheer will alone. She kept dodging and striking, clashing her weapon with Edelgard’s as they both grunted in exhaustion to the prolonged battle.
She was so close to passing out when she finally had an open shot. She realized Edelgard was also growing as tired as she slipped up in a way she usually never did. Time suddenly moved slowly as she watched the emotion finally reach the emperor’s face for the first time tonight, realizing her petty mistake.
Byleth used her advantage to disarm her, rather than strike her where she was vulnerable. Edelgard’s weapon flew across the battlefield as the woman fell to her knees. Byleth’s knees buckled as well as she tried to steady her breaths across from the other woman.
“Surrender,” Byleth let out as she bent over the cold, muggy ground beneath her, finding it nearly impossible to hold herself up. She heard Edelgard shift and try to crawl to her weapon. Byleth immediately looked up and pounced on the woman, trying her best to pin her down. “No!” Byleth shouted in her face. “You’re done!”
Edelgard tried to push her former teacher off of her. She was naturally stronger but was also worn out from fighting, so failed. “Get off of me,” Byleth could sense the panic rising in her voice. She was trying her absolute hardest to keep her cool.
Edelgard swiftly reached into her robe and pulled out a small axe as she tried to strike Byleth, but she sent it flying away with magic. Edelgard mustered all of her strength to push Byleth off of her as her face grew red and crumbled. “You..” her breath was shaky, “you are the one person I tried my hardest to avoid today!” Her breaths quickened as she lost her composure.
They were both on their knees facing each other. Before Byleth could speak up, Edelgard yelled, “How could you side with the church?” Her voice cracked, and the heartbreak in her voice was as evident as ever.
“I didn’t-” Byleth whispered, but the emperor interrupted her as she shouted even louder.
“You don’t know- I can’t fathom how- I wanted to-” Edelgard stumbled over her words as the tears shone in her eyes. “You’re the one person I wanted to walk with!” She shouted as the tears fell down her face. “I loved you!” Edelgard sobbed and finally let her emotions fly out of her hardened shell.
Byleth moved closer as she found her tears only growing more intense in response to the other woman’s. She rested her forehead on Edelgard’s shoulder, as Edelgard mirrored her by resting hers on Byleth’s shoulder. They released their cries into each other’s shoulders as they laid there together, in the middle of the battlefield.
“Back at Gareg Mach,” Edelgard managed between sobs, “Those were the most joyful days of my existence.”
Byleth’s heart ached as she thought back to the days and nights she spent with the Adrestian princess at the monastery. How time had managed to betray them since then is unforgivable. She tilted her head, so it leaned closer to the other woman’s neck. She could now feel her uneven breath as her tears merged with the sweat on her throat.
“I felt free from the shackles of my darkness.” Edelgard tried to steady her breathing before she chose her next words.
“I want you to know, my teacher..” Edelgard tilted her head downwards to squeeze Byleth between her neck and shoulder, so they were closer. “I tried my hardest to hold tight to those days. I want you to believe it.” She let out a shaky breath as Byleth lifted her head so they were facing each other.
“I do.” Byleth looked at the other woman closely as their wet and messy faces mirrored each other. “Surrender, Edelgard. It’s not too late. There are still people who love you. We can work with each other. I can protect you again. You can atone for what you’ve done.” She couldn’t hide the desperation in her voice as she watched Edelgard’s chest heave up and down, looking down at the ground below her. Byleth wouldn’t give up on her just yet. “More people don’t have to die. We can end this now.”
Edelgard lifted her face and looked at Byleth in the eyes. Byleth would have given anything to read her thoughts at that moment, to ensure the right thing to say to guarantee the outcome she wanted so desperately.
“You know there’s only one way you can end this.” Edelgard rasped.
.
.
.
Byleth didn’t have a heartbeat, but if she did, she knew it would have stopped then and there. Her eyes filled with tears again as she tilted her head, “Please don’t make me do this,” her voice cracked as she pleaded with the other woman. “Please don’t.” In a final act of desperation, she reached out and held the other woman’s hand. “Please.”
Edelgard held her gaze on Byleth, and slowly leaned in until her lips pressed against the other woman’s. Byleth’s eyebrows lifted as she leaned into it. The kiss was so special, it made her want to ignore the battlefield around her, as well as the state of Fodlan, and let every emotion she felt towards the other woman absorb her. She wanted to take her hand and run away from this mess. She wanted to melt into her and spend her life wallowing in sublime moments with her. She knew the only way she could make this a reality was if she got the Adrestian Emperor to surrender. She was determined to make it happen. She would will it into existence using every fiber of her strength if she needed to.
Edelgard pulled away, and Byleth gazed at her with adoration and a newfound hope in her eyes. Being this close to her, it was inevitable that Byleth would sense the melancholy and wistfulness in the air surrounding the closed-off woman. She didn’t mind it, she would share the burden if it meant saving her, and the rest of Fodlan.
The Emperor studied Byleth’s face for a few moments before she opened her mouth to speak, “I can’t stop.” The Emperor spoke softly, but sternly. She managed to find her composure again. “I’ll never be able to escape my demons. Deep in my soul, I know I can’t. They plague even the happiest of memories. Even the ones I’ve shared with you.” Edelgard straightened her back before speaking her next words. “As long as I’m alive, Fodlan will never know peace. Not after what I’ve experienced. Not until I ensure that justice is served.”
Hope left Byleth’s eyes just as quickly as it had come. She was too far gone. The worst part was Byleth didn't even know why Edelgard was so broken, damaged. Her heart dropped and all dreams she’d had of their future together came crashing down. As painful as it was to accept, there was only one way to go from here.
Edelgard sensed this and spoke again. “If I die here, I’ll be grateful that it was at the hands of you, my teacher. But if I continue to live, I will eliminate every obstacle in my way,” she squinted her brows, “with no exceptions.”
Byleth suddenly felt empty. Numb to the core. She didn’t feel a single emotion in her heart or an ache in her body. She wished she could use divine pulse to undo all of this. Go all the way back to their first meeting. Ensure that things wouldn’t turn out this way. But she knew she couldn’t. No matter how hard she’d tried to fight it, fate was slowly closing in, erasing every other possible outcome but one.
She knew what needed to be done, and as much as her heart ruled against it, her limbs obliged. She rose from the ground, tears stuck to her cheeks. She looked down at the woman she’d once loved more than anything in the world, and deep down, still did. Before she could force herself to regret or feel anything that would make her hesitate, she hauled her weapon downwards and struck.