Chapter Text
Gentle moonlight shimmered across the still water, the dark lake a deep, serene blackness. A dark hole breaking the greenery of the landscape. Small movements flitted just under the surface of the water, as small fish darted in the liquid.
Suddenly, the serenity was broken with a huge splash, as a giant creature dove into the water. Twisted, elongated, sharp digits broke through the surface, aiming for the small life within the pool. An inhuman roar erupting from the throat of the creature as it missed its chances for food. A deep, corrupted growl sounded out as more splashes rang out, trying to vain to catch a meal. The noise from the beast wasn’t human, nor was it anything natural born into this world. Foul, twisted flesh ran across the form of a creature, the body a sick, malformed mockery of a human. Stretched out and made sharp, a weapon, a creature not meant to exist.
The beast heaved and panted in its hunger and wasted effort, the fish had vanished from sight now as it stayed in the water, unmoving even as drips fell from her sharp visage.
“There you are… El…”
The massive creature, with long, pure white disheveled hair, stark in the moonlight, twisted its form around sharply. More water drops leapt out of the lake as the giant form moved. Staring at who spoke, a growl at her lips. However when her eyes, jewels of red floating in a sea of darkness, connected with the lone figure standing at the shore, the creature froze.
“No…” She spoke, the voice, cracked and fractured as it was, bore traces of her once light but powerful voice. A commanding presence that was now twisted together with the deep flanged voice of something altogether inhuman.
“You aren’t real! You can’t be… I saw…”
“What did you see?” The figure spoke once again, the voice of her once teacher, the person who stood by her, chose her, walked at her side, followed her when she didn’t think they would. Byleth. Her bright indigo hair shone in the light of the moon, looking every bit the hero of Fodlan the creature knew she was. Whereas she herself looked… like a monster.
“You are dead! I saw you die!” The creature raged in the lake, thrashing her form about, more water flying about her. But Byleth didn’t move, she didn’t flinch even as stray droplets battered against her. She merely shut her eyes as the water hit her. “I saw everyone die!” The monster screamed out into the night, her inhuman voice filled with pain, the agony permeated cries echoing into the night. Wounds barely beginning to heal reopened, emotional deep cuts bled forth, jagged gouges cut into her still human heart dripped with the hurt of losing her family. Her found family. Her friends, her allies, her… Byleth.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you Edelgard… please…” Byleth started, her words slow and careful, as if she might scare her away, as if she was speaking to a scared and wounded animal. Not a twisted beast.
“No! I know what I saw! Leave!”
At that the beast that Edelgard had become pulled herself out of the lake and charged right at the lone figure, Byleth didn’t move. She watched as the mass of dark flesh tore straight towards her. Edelgard stopped just in front of her, towering over the body of her teacher. Looking down at the one person she had looked up to, both figuratively and literally. Byleth still didn’t move, she didn’t flinch, she didn’t back down. Instead she stared right up to the monster that Edelgard was, a soft smile forming at her lips, her eyes… her eyes bore nothing but relief. Edelgard leaned down at the figure, she knew what she saw, what she felt… the dead body of her teacher in her arms… she hadn’t felt a heartbeat. Her heart had broken in that moment, the remains of which continued to rip into her, the pain driving her mind ever onward to total loss of sanity. The mind of a crazed beast, that would be easier than this painful existence as this inhuman thing.
“Leave.” She challenged the woman before her. Knowing this was nothing but a figment of her broken psyche.
Byleth’s eyes turned hard. Unafraid of the creature standing over her.
“No.”
Rage bubbled up from her stomach, anger at this image tormenting her, how many nights had she wished to see her again, to hold her, to talk to her. She had been so desperate, crying out for the woman she had come to... love, yes… she had been in love. It was why her death hurt so much more. She had been so afraid of her feelings being unrequited. Such beautiful feelings, blossoming in the light of the new sun, had withered and died that day, now they were rotting in the darkness of her world.
Edelgard thought she was stronger than that, she promised herself that she wouldn’t let such hurt happen again… not again. But it had. Worse, it hadn’t just been Byleth she had lost that day. Dorothea, Bernie, Petra, Ferdinand, Caspar, Linhardt… Hubert. All of them. She had lost everyone!
All of their faces flashed before her eyes, her inhuman throat screamed out at the image before her, wishing to destroy it, tear it away, this thing was tormenting her, she wanted it to go away!
A great claw rose up to destroy the image of her love, nothing but a memory torturing her.
Byleth didn’t move. Her eyes darted to the claws of death about to tear out her guts and destroy her, back to the eyes of Edelgard. She still didn’t move. Her fists tightened, her eyes widened somewhat in apparent worry, but then hardened. She kept her gaze.
Edelgard dropped her sharp dagger-like claws, down toward her tormentor. Whistling through the air as they hurtled towards Byleth.
They landed into the dirt, right by the figure of her love. Smashing into the wet earth and digging through the mud, Edelgard fell to her knees, into the mud, into the dirt, her hair falling forward, her once pristine white hair one of the last markers of her humanity.
“Please…” Edelgard’s voice whispered out, pleading with the ghost. “Leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that…” The ghost panted out, as if she had been holding her breath. Ready for the blow. Edelgard smiled sadly, seemed the ghost wasn’t listening. “...El please…” The creature’s heart remembered the voice of the one she loved, hearing the pleading in Byleth’s voice… it hurt. “It’s me… I’m here… look.” Edelgard felt the light touch of a hand against her face, the flesh was so warm, soft… real… no, she couldn’t be. Another flash of a memory, screaming her utter agony into the flames, the body of her beloved in her arms.
She raised her face to stare into azure eyes, that same smile, that same coloured hair she remembered from the academy. This wasn’t Byleth anymore. Her hair was a light shade of mint green, her eyes likewise, touched by the goddess, this was not that Byleth.
“Your hair, it is just how I remember it.” She longed to caress those strands of hers, to fulfill her own daydreams, now her nightmares.
“Hmm? Byleth seemed to lose the hard look in her eyes as she raised a handful of hair closer to her eyes. “Well… after Rhea was gone I guess I went back to normal?” Edelgard felt like laughing, another sad smile peaked at the edge of her lip.
“Of course you did…” She whispered softly, her flanged voice barely audible if she spoke so low. This was just her deepest wish and desire playing out before her, exactly what she wanted. How cruel.
“Also… this.” Byleth took a step forward, too close. She rested her chest right up against the side of Edelgard’s partly scaled face, something deep down inside, something very much still human blushed at the feel of Byleth’s clothed breasts pushing up against her. But then… something else brought her attention back to where it belonged.
A steady thrum of a heartbeat.
“After I woke up, I was like this.” Byleth continued as she pulled away from Edelgard’s side, that same deep part of her that blushed also begged the ghost to stay. Edelgard swallowed the feeling deep down inside, that part of her only brought her pain. The rotting flower reaching for the sun, trying to stay alive. “El, everyone is alive. I’ve been looking for you. It’s… been weeks.”
Edelgard wanted to laugh right in her face, a lie, it had to be. She knows what she saw. The blades through dear Dorothea, the burns across Petra… arrows heading straight for Bernie. No one could survive such wounds, she saw their deaths. She did. This ‘Byleth’ was just here to torment her, fill her with false hope.
“Do you remember all the times you told me, how you didn’t understand how I could possibly know the enemies movements? How could I always be in just the right place at the right time?”
Byleth questioned her, the creature that was Edelgard only looked away, she knew the answer.
“Because you were brilliant, a masterful tactician.”
“No. That wasn’t it.” That made Edelgard look back up, through the gaps between the loose strands of hair. But… it was? Why would this ghost say anything different?
“I couldn’t will it whenever I wanted, but the urgency to save people made it work… I… don’t really know, but whatever Rhea did to me, whatever made me not have a heartbeat, whatever made me talk to Sothis…” Sothis? She could actually talk to the goddess Sothis? What madness was this? “... I had the power to reverse time for a few seconds…”
Boiling anger surged up from her chest, the melting pot of sadness and agony mixing together with such raw emotions resting in her soul.
“I don’t believe you.” She spat at the Byleth before her. “Then why didn’t you save yourself.” Edelgard began to pull away from her, she wanted to leave her there by the lakeside, to run away, to be alone once more. Like she knew she truly was.
“Edelgard, I couldn’t. I did what I could. I got to everyone, everyone else. I healed them, I helped them. I left them safe. But I didn’t have the strength left… I couldn’t keep doing it, I... tried. But…” Edegard didn’t need, didn’t want her to finish. She remembered the smash of Rhea’s tail right into Byleth. She recalled screaming her name, begging her to wake up, the blood pooling at the back of her head. The blood on Edelgard’s own two hands, Byleth’s blood. Pressing her head against Byleth’s chest… nothing. There was… nothing.
Then she made the decision she had promised Hubert would never be needed, that she would never use…
The creature that Edelgard had become whipped back around, staring at her reflection in the water. She was nothing now, but a monster. Lost in her grief and rage, seeing little reason to live anymore… she vowed to take Rhea down, if it was the last thing she was going to do. She had taken away everything, everything that was dear to her in that battle. Edelgard wanted to kill her once and for all.
But… what had she done?
Edelgard raised a hand up to her face, a large ugly, twisted, clawed hand. What about her plans after Rhea? What about ‘those who slither in the dark’? What about them? Seems they had won after all, they had tricked her, tricked her into becoming... this.
Edelgard, now nothing more but a black beast, dropped her hand back down, standing up to her full height once more she stared up at the full moon. Hanging there in the sky, her solitary companion these lonely nights.
“What does it matter?” A moment of silence behind her. A few seconds of uncomfortable tension. Had the ghost gone? But then she finally spoke.
“I… don’t understand.” Byleth finally replied.
“Even if everyone is safe and you are alive, standing before me. What of it? When I look like this.”
Edelgard’s voice broke, tears finally welling up at the sides of her eyes, seems she can still cry in this form. What does it matter? She is nothing… but a monster.
“El…” Edelgard didn’t turn around again now, she couldn’t take it, she couldn’t take that pained look in Byleth’s eyes. She wasn’t there, she wasn’t real. Why is her mind hurting her like this? A cold fresh spike of heavy agony weighed on her heart, the broken pieces of her heart, crushing those broken flowers of her soul. Why did she have to say her name like that? Why did the only people who called her that were dead?
Tears fell from her dark eyes now, the liquid slowly traveling over her corrupted flesh, down her skin and tracing her chin… before gathering together, at the end of the journey, to finally fall toward her twisted flesh.
“I… we want you back. We don’t care how you look, in what form. We want you back with us.”
A tightening in her chest, a flutter of something she hadn’t felt for weeks now. Hope.
She laughed dejectedly, she was sure the people would welcome her back like… this. At that, she had had enough. Enough of this conversation, enough of this Byleth. Enough. She turned to walk away, her giant footfalls taking her away from the ghost that still stood behind her.
“El? Wait!” The fake Byleth behind her called out. Don’t listen, don’t, don’t let that hope sprout roots, it’s too painful. Byleth’s voice sounded panicked, pained. Edelgard only sped up, she had to get away. She just wanted… to be alone. Another tightening of her chest. Her heart knew that was a lie.
“Edelgard please! Don’t leave again! I need to…” But Edelgard didn’t let her finish, the once Emperor of Adrestia, now disfigured crest beast, fled, away from the comforting words, from her memories, from Byleth. The powers of her twin crests that flooded her form allowed her the power of flight, which she utilized to leapt into the air. Wind rushed past her, billowing out her hair behind her as she rose higher and higher, away from the ground, away from the lake, she didn’t look back. It was too painful. The wind cut away the tears that ran down her face, drying them, she flew harder, she wished her own memories could be brushed away as easily. The vast emptiness of the dark sky had always meant freedom to her, she had ached to see the sky once upon a time. But now… she had only become trapped once again.
The lone creature shot across the sky, she wasn’t going far, up ahead was the mountain she had now called home. A cave in a mountainside, a perfect home for… a monster. A beast. Not a human being.
Quickly soon she began to descend, sharp wind cutting past her, passing miles in a few minutes she made it… home. As she swooped down and flicked herself back up to land on her limbs, her clawed hands splayed out as she landed heavily at the mouth of her cave, her tail lashing as the whirlpool of emotions continued to roil inside her. Why did she have to see her again… why?
It would be better if she would be left to rot here, the last of the Hresvelgs, the sole survivor of their experiments… or rather… not anymore. Not with her body as it is. Is this what they really wanted?! A giant dark hand flung out, smashing against the rocky wall of her cave. Grains of dust and rock trickled down around her. She sniffed back her tears once again. Don’t think, don’t feel. She repeated her mantra even as she stepped further into her hideaway, her solitude from the world.
Here she was, this was where she hid from the world now. The creature that was now Edelgard stumbled into the cave, this was just the home of… a beast. Bits of stray wood littered around the ground, a small misshapen pile on one side. With bits of grasses and hay on the other. That was it. She had been in a situation just like this one once… only this time, the shackles were around her heart and soul.
A sudden deep rumble thundered through the heavens, the giant form occupying the mouth of the cave glanced back, thick black clouds were on the horizon, a storm was coming. She ignored the sight and made her way further inside…
Crackles and pops from the flame before her, the light dancing against the walls of her cave, creating pictures and images too fast to see before they were gone, passing onto the next. The monstrous form of the great twin crested beast sat before the light. Staring into the fire, lost in her own thoughts, her memories the only thing she had now. She didn’t move from her sitting position near the warmth, outside was cold, the rain thrashing down against the land. The water coming down so hard, like someone had upended a bucket onto the earth below. It fell and fell, she didn’t know how long she had been here now. Why… why was she doing this? Why did she bother…? What was the point…
Another glance away from the flames to the rain, fleeting thoughts, memories coming back to her. Rain pelting against glass, looking out at the weather from inside, inside a building with others, with friends, with… her. She grunted and looked away. Back to the flames. The rain was so bad today, no one should be outside, armies would have to set up camp, training would be cancelled… she tensed. What stupid thoughts still plagued her, she wasn’t of that world anymore. Why was she thinking such useless things?
Something made her look back up again, once more into the rain and darkness. Just in time to catch a flash of lightning. Her eyes narrowed from the sudden brightness, but she caught something...
Movement. Something moved out there, hackles were instantly raised. What would dare disturb the beast in her lair? A shape began to coalesce from the pouring rain, the form grew in size, to the size of a person…
The person shape drew closer along the rough trail along the mountain, the climb was steep, downright treacherous and dangerous in this rain and darkness. What could it possibly be? A lost traveler seeking shelter from the rain? Edelgard pulled her gaze back to the fire, the traveler must have been attracted to the fire at the mouth of her cave. She gritted her teeth. Possibly thinking someone else was taking cover from the weather.
Edelgard began to growl, tense, ready to move, she didn’t want to see anyone, didn’t want to see the look of horror on their faces. She didn’t want anyone to see her. The noise reverberated around the cave, her nerves a mess, too many sleepless nights, too many days lost to memories, she just wanted to be left alone!
But what walked in from the rain made her stop. She froze as she stared at the person who entered the mouth of the cave, illuminated in the light.
Byleth.
There she was, again. This time she was drenched and covered in mud and dirt, a cut along her hand, blood running down fingers. The water soaking her through, dripping off her, she was creating a puddle at her feet just by standing there. Her hair stuck close to her head, a pack at her back was just as drenched. However, she stood there unmoving, her eyes… her eyes were sharp, determined. Her back was tall, Byleth was here, the Byleth from her memories. Her features were pulled taught, there was something there… something that could not be denied or deterred. But Byleth also didn’t move from the cave entrance.
Time froze as the pair stared at each other, the steady dripping from Byleth’s form, the water pooling around her, a single drop of crimson blood fell to mix with the liquid.
“I was worried… I… wanted to see you again.”
Byleth spoke out, her voice reaching the monster over the rain. Her voice sounded… exhausted. But there was such strength there, within the tiredness, perhaps more stubbornness. Edelgard believed her. She believed Byleth would do this. Climb a mountain in the pouring rain, traverse the miles below that Edelgard had flown, she believed Byleth would do such a thing, but… why? And… was this real? Or another illusion?
“You...my teacher… sound like you are just visiting a student at night. Just to… see if they are okay.”
“Maybe I am.” Byleth quickly quipped back.
Maybe… no… she can’t be real. She… Edelgard shook her head. She didn’t know what to think anymore. But… before her was her teacher, her friend, someone she looked up to, who stood at her side, who she…
Edelgard couldn’t have her teacher drenched and bleeding, standing in the cold. Even if this was a dream, maybe she could at least indulge in her dream.
“Please… come, my teacher. You must be freezing.”
At those words the tension in her hideaway from the world shifted, she felt lighter, calmer, maybe she could enjoy the presence of her professor just… one more time. Byleth once again didn’t seem perturbed by her form at all, just like she always did she strode forward, in the past Edelgard marvelled how she had treated all of her students the same, no matter their background. And now once again, she was treating Edelgard the same as always.
The creature sighed softly as she watched the indigo haired figure of Byleth come closer now, the drips too making their ways across the floor, leaving wet footprints along the rock. She had on her back a heavy backpack, she hadn’t been wearing that last time. Doubts started to take root in her mind, why would this illusion be carrying a backpack? Of what looked to be camping gear and bustling pockets filled with gear and dried food. Maybe she just recalled that Byleth had been out looking for her for weeks. Although she… didn’t actually say that?
Edelgard’s thoughts were a mess, she was going round in circles, a sudden hiss of pain brought her back to Byleth. As she had dropped her pack by the fire she had caught her still bleeding hand. Edelgard felt the sudden urge to help, to get up and inspect the wound, she must have caused it on the climb, it looked fresh.
“Ow…” Byleth whimpered to herself as she raised the palm of her left hand, sure enough split skin of a cut met her eyes. Edelgard couldn’t tell if it was deep, not from her place on the other side of the fire, she also stopped herself from moving… what could she possibly do… like this? Her eyes dropped to her clawed hands, the digits too long and unwieldy, made to wound, to kill, maim and destroy. Not to help, not to heal. She stayed where she was.
Edelgard instead silently watched her as she kneeled down and fumbled through her pack, finding what she needed she pulled out a roll of bandages and some simple healing herbs. Edelgard didn’t know anything about the healing arts, even something as basic as plants was alien to her. She watched in fascination as Byleth placed the herbs in her mouth, noticing the slight grimace as Edelgard guessed the horrid flavour, before the once teacher moved back to the rain, placing her hand out to the water once more. Washing the dirt and excess blood from the cut, before coming back and spitting out the herb. Placing it carefully over the wound and applying the bandage.
All the while Edelgard was silent, content to watch her work. Familiar tingles of memories from long ago, of a student in class, watching a demonstration.
Byleth tied the bandage tight and inspected her work, flexing her fingers before her face. She seemed content, Edelgard had been watching her expressions for a long time now. She had noticed how much more numerous her features had grown, the little emotions, the small smiles, the warmth in her eyes, she had been growing since those days of indifference as the ashen demon. Here she was again, Edelgard was watching the expressions of her teacher.
As soon as Byleth was done she shivered, and sniffed, Byleth neared the fire now. She must be freezing… Edelgard felt so unsure, what would she normally say right now. She tried to recall how she used to be, before… this.
“My teacher… you’ll catch a cold. You shouldn’t be wearing soaking clothing.” She ignored the flanged tone of her own voice, sounding so alien to her ears. If Byleth thought any different of her now, she didn’t show it.
“Are you… sure you don’t mind?” Once again, acting as if nothing had changed.
“I can look away if you want…” She was more worried about the woman she was sharing a fire with then whatever notion of purity or embarrassment still existed between them. But… she wasn’t sure if Byleth even thought the same way. Again she recalled sessions after training, back at the academy, a sweaty Byleth removing her top after a hard session with the class. Quickly barked at right after by a mortified Seteth. For being so ‘improper’.
Edelgard felt a smile at her lips, she was glad that Seteth and Flayn were still alive. Misguided as they were, she was happy they were still in this world. It was Byleth herself who had granted mercy, had told the Emperor of Adrestia they were no longer a threat. Edelgard, against her instincts, against who she thought was her initial enemy. Allowed it. She was glad, now the memory wasn’t tainted with his death.
While she had been traveling through memories once again, she lost her chance to turn around. As before her Byleth was… stripping.
The creature she now was did something very much human. She blushed, knowing she should tear her gaze away, to allow Byleth privacy, but Byleth didn’t seem to care. She pulled off her soaking jacket and laid it out nearby, followed by her top and gauntlets. Leaving her… chest exposed. The material of a strapped bra keeping those soft mounds of flesh in place. Edelgard felt the heat rise on her face now, Byleth carried on, seemingly oblivious of the effect she was having on the monster she was sharing a cave with.
Off came her boots, off came her stockings right after, the wet clothing set up beside the others, lastly went the shorts… revealing the plain black underwear of the teacher. Simple, to the point, perhaps borderline bland, yet the reaction such items sent hurtling through Edelgard was anything but. Did Byleth even understand what she was doing? To her?
No… she couldn’t. Of course not.
The once Emperor had to look away now, whether she was protecting Byleth against her own gaze, the heat of which still plagued her face, or whether she was only trying to hide the evidence of said blush. Either way, she stared out at the rain. Watching it fall. She swallowed thickly, trying to change the subject… it was too hot in here…
“Why are you here my teacher?” Edelgard found herself asking again.
A moment of silence before Byleth answered her.
“I came here for you. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why?”
“We want you back. We all want to see you. I… wanted to see you.”
Byleth repeated herself, echoing Edelgard’s deepest wishes she knew could never be true.
“Then that means you can’t be real. I saw everyone die. Including you.” She turned back to Byleth now, to the half naked woman stood before the flame. Standing there, strong, unashamed of her form, she wasn’t backing down. Why was this happening?
“Edelgard.” Byleth’s tone grew stern, the Emperor was right back in the classroom once more. “Everyone is fine. They are okay. We are all alive. Dorothea and Petra have gone to Brigid. They are assisting in the recovery with sending supplies. Bernadetta and Linhardt are in the capital, Caspar is helping his brother and father with the nobles. Ferdinand and Hubert are working together to keep the new Empire of Fodlan going. It’s not… perfect, but they are keeping things together and going for now. It’s all so confusing. Not having the Emperor to lead the Empire.” Edelgard shuffled and once more looked away. This was a very well thought out and convincing story this Byleth was spouting.
“Hubert was adamant in immediately setting out to find you. He didn’t want to fail you again. But I told him someone had to help Ferdinand look after the Empire in your absence. After all, what is an Emperor without an Empire? He is making sure you have somewhere to come back to.”
Her words brushed against the hope inside her heart, nurturing that growth, allowing it to heal. But… it was so painful. Especially… her claws scraped on cold rock as her tail lashed along the ground… when she looked like this. There was nothing there for her, not anymore. She wasn’t the Emperor anymore.
“So that’s it.” Edelgard growled out. “You just wanted to find the Emperor. But… look at me!” She screamed out at Byleth before her. The hope curdled inside her chest, releasing her torment and throwing it right at the one person she didn’t want to. “I’m a monster Byleth!”
She used her name. The first time she had called her by name and it was to shout at her, to scream her rage and agony, her misery.
She watched Byleth’s features drop. Silence fell over the pair, a thick blanket suffocating her.
Byleth wasn’t saying anything… she just stood there looking unsure. What could she say? That she wasn’t? That would be a stupid lie…
All of a sudden, slowly, Byleth began to walk around the fire and closer to the creature sitting against the far wall. Her soft, bare footsteps padding across the floor, Edelgard watched her as she did so. Until she arrived at the great beast’s side… so close. What was she doing? Edelgard felt caught, trapped between her own sadness and anger, being pulled in both directions, causing her to feel stuck.
“Is this okay?” Byleth asked of her. The twin crest monster shrugged. The once teacher raised a hand and laid it on her long forearm. Edelgard flinched. She hadn’t felt human contact since… since…
Byleth’s soft but still somewhat damp hands caressed Edelgard’s arm, soothing her.
“Your hands are still wet…” Edelgard whispered to her.
“Sorry, should I stop?” She whispered back.
“...” Edelgard bit her lip in confliction. “No, it is alright.”
A few seconds passed by as Byleth slowly trailed her arm, Edelgard didn’t understand what she was doing… she guessed her teacher was trying to sooth her student. Right now, as confused as she was, she needed it… she just needed someone there. Anyone to see her, not as the monster she looks like… but just Edelgard.
“It is... um… good to see you…” She finally admitted. Her doubts that this was a nothing but a ghost of her past beginning to sprout, pushing through the darkness of her soul, towards the light that was the woman right next to her. She was wrong before, she wasn’t happy just anyone was here… she was happy Byleth was here.
“Do you mind?” Byleth spoke up.
“Mind what?” Edelgard responded, unsure what she was asking. Byleth didn’t wait for more but instead lifted the great dark twisted arm up and over her head, the beast’s arm limp, allowing the woman to move her. Byleth dived under the mass of muscle and closer to the creature that was Edelgard.
Byleth’s size was almost child-like in comparison to her large and deformed body now, but that didn’t seem to faze the ex-mercenary as she cuddled up close to the large creature, allowing the arm to drop behind her back.
Edelgard gasped at the contact. Without hesitation, without flinching, Byleth was… holding her close. Her chest tightened, her broken heart melting deep inside her, she felt liquid seeping down her face. She was… crying again. But this time she didn’t care about anyone seeing it, she was full of relief and happiness. She wasn’t alone… Byleth was here.
“I… don’t understand…” Edelgard hiccuped, even her own inhuman voice did not put her off. Byleth only held her tighter.
“When I woke up from my wounds… I wanted to see you. My first thought was of you. Every night I’ve fallen asleep wishing to do this with you.” Byleth echoed the very same thoughts that she had. The tears came faster, that hope reached ever higher, daring to reach toward the sun. The heat that was currently pressed against her side. Something cracked…
The damn that had been holding back her feelings, her sadness, her rage, her anger, her agony… all of it. The torrent rushed forth, not in hate or spite, but in sadness and tears.
Edelgard let herself cry, let her own whimpers trickle from her throat, allowing the liquid to fall quickly from her eyes. She didn’t want to hold on anymore, instead she held onto the body next to her tightly. To the dream she had wished for every night. To overlay her nightmares with this, to make her dream real. She held onto the warm and slightly damp body next to her harder and harder, till she had to stop herself in case she accidentally hurt her. She wrapped her long, awkward limbs around the figure, please let this be real. If nothing else, if everything else is a lie, please… let this be real. If Byleth was really here… alive. Please…
Edelgard managed to somewhat carefully and awkwardly raise a clawed hand and stroke along Byleth’s head, to feel the wet strands of hair along her digits, she didn’t care that Byleth was still a sodden mess, she didn’t care at all that she was half naked right now. She just needed her here with her.
“Byleth… I need this to be real… please…” She begged. Edelgard begged whoever would listen to her, a monster. “I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to be like this anymore…” She wailed and cried. Byleth listened to it all, only holding her ever tighter. Refusing to let her go.
“I’m here… I’m here…” Byleth sobbed with her. Sobbed? Something recognised that Byleth was also crying… she wasn’t used to her crying. Byleth had only ever cried for her father before, someone who she valued highly, someone irreplaceable, someone… that she loved.
“Byleth… will you stay with me tonight?” A small voice leaked out of Edelgard, the worry that Byleth would vanish right before her eyes permeated her words. Hands gripping onto her body only held tighter.
“I’m not going anywhere…” She pulled her head away and raised her gaze up to Edelgard’s own. Evident tears trailing down her own face. “...I’m staying by your side, El.”