Chapter Text
The rain at the Tailtean Plains was the only thing to break the silence following the earth-shattering crack which had brought the entire battle grinding to a halt. Not a single soul would have been remiss in believing the sound to have been thunder, given the weather, but all those in view of the three figures standing atop the ruined fort to the northeast of the battlefield knew better. There stood Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg, King Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, and the Ashen Demon Byleth Eisner, the former two poised for what they thought would be their final confrontation.
This expectation, however, was shattered the instant the former mercenary-turned-savior had thrown her weapon aside, marched past her beloved Emperor, up to the king of Faerghus and slapped him across the cheek .
Nearby stood the two lords’ faithful retainers, Hubert and Dedue, previously locked in a stalemate, now beholden to the bizarre scene laid before the two most powerful armies on the continent. The broad Duscar man stood dumbfounded, whilst the pale spell-caster to his immediate left let loose a long-winded sigh of relief he hadn’t been aware was even building.
Hubert recalled the conversation just 3 days previous in which Byleth had explained her plan to him. For as close as the two had gotten, the ever-loyal shadow to the Emperor had first believed the entire idea to be some long-winded prank and merely let loose his signature, sinister chuckle. A chuckle cut short when his former professor said a sentence he hadn’t thought possible from the devoted partner of his dearest Adrestian ruler.
“Say nothing of this to Edelgard” Under any normal circumstance, with any other individual, Hubert would have drawn his blade and questioned in what world could he ever be convinced to keep something like this from his sworn charge. This was not a normal circumstance, nor was Byleth any other individual. Byleth’s actions had proven themselves in the best interest of every last one of her students, including the Tempest King himself, a certain Almyran strategist, and especially the red-clad revolutionary to which she clung to so possessively. It was because of this blatant drive towards protecting her students that Hubert knew Byleth’s request was not unreasonable for him to accept. Accept it he did, though not without a few ounces of regret and a gallon of guilt.
Said guilt is exactly why Hubert couldn’t help but let his relief wash over him like the rain currently soaking his hair, and why he allowed his guard to drop even so close to the imposing Faerghus retainer. Time seemed frozen on the plains, until Dedue, turned to Hubert, seemingly both looking for answers and yet unable to utter so much as a squeak.
“Just wait,” The color-less dark mage told his battlefield companion, “it gets better.”
Just as the two servants of the Adrestian and Faerghus rulers had managed to break free from their state of shock, Byleth had begun the next phase of her plan. The teacher uttered not a single word as she clamped town on Dimitri’s hand and dragged him over to the still dumbfounded Flame Emperor standing just a few paces behind her. Turning back to the king, Byleth grasped both of his shoulders and forced him to look her directly in the eyes as she spoke.
“Dimitri Alexander Blaiddyd, you are less of a boar and more of a stubborn mule. And you,” she whipped her head around to face her fiancé, snapping Edelgard out of her stunned trance and causing her to shrink under her partner’s piercing gaze, “my love, my life, Edelgard von Hresvelg, need to learn how to use your words instead of leaving your step-sibling to ruminate on false information.”
Now with both king and emperor in either hand, Byleth led the two stunned leaders down the stone steps and sat them down next to each other, standing over them with crossed arms and her signature unreadable expression. Before either country’s ruler could speak up, their professor spoke once more. “Now, both of you are indeed going to settle things, here and now. Edelgard,” she tilted her head towards her bride-to-be.
“Apologize .”
The instant the word left her mouth, both Dimitri and Edelgard’s eyes went wider than the puddles adorning their surroundings. The crimson-clothed Emperor opened her mouth to protest, to question, but a raised hand from Byleth stopped any words before they could form.
“Apologize to your brother for withholding information about his family and for casting aside how much you mean to one another.” The king swiveled his head to scan his step-sister’s face for anything; grief, guilt, whatever would clue him in on the information she was hiding. He found both in equal parts and then some. The damp rivers forming on the Flame Emperor’s face were not from the rain.
Elsewhere, the kingdom’s army had been relaying the status of their king: he was being scolded like a disobedient child. The situation for the empire’s troops was much the same, their glorious Emperor had been sat down by her trusted friend and lover and made to bare her emotions to her estranged sibling. Both sides were at a loss as for how to proceed, their commanding officers still too shocked by the sheer absurdity of Byleth’s actions. Infantrymen mumbled to one another, knights whose swords were previously locked now had their weapons lowered but still drawn, standing in pregnant pause. Some particularly bold mages even took to sharing notes during the impromptu cease-fire. A quick survey of the battlefield revealed to everyone that, despite the supposed intensity of their feud, not a single soldier had actually died yet.
This too, was by design. Hubert had taken a seat on some old rubble near his fellow retainer, admiring his and Byleth’s joint-handiwork. Indeed, the other part of the professor’s plan had deliberately stalled the fighting long enough for her to get close to the so-called Tempest King so she could end the battle before it had even really begun. Dedue was watching the trio just a short distance away less like a hawk and more like a mother hen, nervous and still somewhat shaken by the hilarity of it all. Without removing his eyes from his King, Dedue finally began probing Hubert.
“How long… was this in planning?”
Though he didn’t see it, Hubert’s shoulders gave a light shrug. “If I’m to be honest, I have no clue. All I can tell you is that the professor came to me with the idea just three short moons ago.” This managed to break Dedue’s focus on his master as his sight shifted back to Hubert. “I still can still only scarcely believe it myself. Honestly, I think she probably just came up with it the night before she came to see me.” His Faerghus counterpart seemed to freeze up again before resting his head in his hands and rubbing his temples and sighing rather loudly. Hubert huffed in amusement. “Image how I’ve felt the past two-and-a-half days. I’m very nearly through my coffee reserves.”
A loud sob snapped the retainers’ attention back towards the trio. Edelgard’s eyes were red and her hair loosened, her hands grasping at it in desperation for some stability. Having been the first time in well over a decade the normally collected ruler had shed any tears, the floodgates had burst. Through choked sobs and hiccup-laden broken sentences, the Flame Emperor had regaled Dimitri with a detailed, albeit disjointed account of where she’d gone and what happened after they’d made their promise just 13 years before. The Faerghus King had remained silent the entire time, overloaded with the information presented to him about horrific experiments and shadowy dealers who had been behind so many tragedies as of late. It was only when Edelgard had shoved her face into his coat unceremoniously that he’d snapped back to reality and his brain finished processing exactly what he’d heard. Byleth had taken a seat next to her betrothed, resting a hand on the emotionally-stunted Emperor and rubbing in small circles.
In full view of the situation, the entire Black Eagle Strike Squad had regrouped and sat beneath the neighboring treeline to witness this strange turn of events.
“I-i’m SHOooo sooorrry DimaAA!” Edelgard’s words were muffled by both Dimitri’s coat and her own sorrow. “Ishoula jusht TOLD you but I couldn’t cuz you’dhatemeandyoudidhatemeeee and youDOhatemean I wanted to hate you shoooo bad sho it wouldn’t hurt BUT IT DIhihihiiiiD!” Seeing his long-time enemy so out of her character unnerved Dimitri, and moreover, he found all his enmity dissolving as he recognized the same little girl to whom he’d gifted his dagger to all those long moons ago. The Edelgard who’d seemingly become a tyrant overnight, the Emperor who showed no mercy on those who’d opposed her advance, the ruler who sought to dismantle everything his kingdom stood for had finally lifted all those facades and bore her real self to one of her oldest friends. Something snapped in the Tempest King, and all too soon he realized his own borders had begun breaking down.
The pool of Edelgard’s tears forming beneath the duo found itself doubling in size as Dimitri added to it, his own waterworks had decided to cut loose, and sure enough both leaders had been reduced to sniffling babies. Dimitri, having only just begun, was still able to form coherent sentences so as to air his own grievances. “Oh El… El I-... I missed yousomuchand… and I never WANTED to belie- never wanted to hate you... “ The king’s breakdown wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the emperor’s before him, yet they both carried the same sincerity.
~~~~
The rain, by now, had stopped. Over an hour the two leaders poured out their hearts to one another, Byleth offering counsel whenever it became too much. The former mercenary felt a sting of motherly pride as the two reconciled, and was almost certain she heard a familiar, long-gone, smug child-like voice telling her she makes a far better parent than she does a teacher.
Across the battlefield, both Hubert and Dedue had given the order to stand down, much to the relief of every soldier. The tension of the day not dispersed, but at the very least weakened, former foes took to mending the scarce wounded. A few of the imperial infantry had begun to chat with their counterparts from the kingdom, delighting in the discovery of shared lineage.
Overlooking the entire scene was a certain Archbishop and her knights, completely flabbergasted. They had arrived expecting a bloodbath, instead they had found a social gathering. Catherine took the initiative, nudging the non-responsive Church head to get her attention. “Lady Rh- I mean, Lady Seiros, what are your orders?” The Immaculate One said nothing, continuing to gawk, mouth agape and eyes fixated on three particular individuals located at one of the only remaining landmarks in sight.
At those ruins, it seemed that the emotional whirlpool had finally begun to dissipate, and both Edelgard and Dimitri sat just a bit closer together now, leaning into one-another’s shoulder for more than just physical support.
“Have we cleared the air?” Byleth was once again standing before her students, though her arms were no longer cross authoritatively, instead they hung with thumbs hooked on her belt, a rather casual look for the otherwise rigid warrior.
Edelgard spoke up first, sniffling one last time so she might breath a little easier. “Yes… Dimitri, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for withholding information and for… for not talking to you. For not attempting to bridge the gap… for not understanding your woes.” The prideful emperor’s head hung low, but it had tilted sideways so she might look her brother in the eye.
Dimitri followed her example. “Edelgard… I let my own preconceptions and assumptions get the better of me… I didn’t think to bother investigating the claims which I held as fact, nor did I ever seek to bridge the gap myself. I never should have let go of my sister so easily, and I hope you can find it in you… to forgive me.”
The two embraced one another, their professor rather satisfied with herself. She barely flinched when a swear flew through the wind, her other former students having made bets on who’d hug the other first (Dorothea had lost ten gold pieces on that).
King and Emperor pulled away from each other’s arms, both turning to face their old teacher. “Well, that was… cathartic.” Edelgard shifted back into her guarded persona, albeit out of instinct rather than necessity. “However, as much as I would love to simply believe this has… resolved the entire war, only our personal issues have been dealt with.”
Dimitri nodded. “Indeed, no matter how much I want to end the war on this note, there are still other problems to deal with. Namely-”
“Rhea. And Thales.” Edelgard finished his thoughts, clearly already in sync with her long-lost-sibling.
“Lucky for us then,” Byleth chimed in, “The former is already here.” She turned her head ever-so-slightly and looked towards the cliff the Archbishop currently watched from. Though the distance was great, Rhea flinched when Byleth’s eyes met her own, shrinking under the scrutinizing glare of the being she formerly knew as her mother’s vessel.
“Fall back.” It was barely above a whisper, but Rhea’s orders were heard loud and clear by Catherine. The Knights of Seiros withdrew from the battlefield, bound for the kingdom’s capitol city, Fhirdiad.
Before Rhea had shifted fully out of view, both Dimitri and Edelgard had caught glances of her and knew exactly where she intended to flee. Looking to their professor for guidance, neither was particularly shocked to find a small, yet smug smirk painting the woman’s face.
“Dimitri,” she addressed the king directly, “How quickly can you get a messenger to Fhirdiad? I have a plan, but it could get messy.” The Tempest King blinked, and just a little off the side Dedue could be heard uttering a large groan of disbelief, having just been informed of the remainder of Byleth’s admittedly insane plan.