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“Come on, it’ll be fuuuuun,” Claude whined. Even upside down on her couch, his eyes were still big and pleading, and his smile was infectious.
Byleth set her papers down and shot him a look. It’s bad enough he somehow took up the whole of her couch and made her do her homework on the floor, now he was trying to get her to go to a party? “Getting my homework done will also be fun,” Byleth said, “Which, now that I think of it, don’t you have some due for our history class?”
“Well, I, uh-“
Byleth pecked a kiss to Claude’s nose. “I win.”
Claude sat up. “Not so fast.” he said. “If I finish that assignment by six, you will come to Edelgard’s party.”
“Did I agree to make a bet?” Byleth asked.
Claude hopped up. “No, but you’re going to.” He poked his head into Hilda’s room. “You heard that, Hilda?”
“I’ll hold her to it,” Hilda sighed as she looked up from her computer.
Claude flashed her a smile. “Alright, my love and Hilda, prepare for a text in the next two hours and then we’ll all head over to Edelgard’s!”
“Do you even have a costume?” Hilda called.
“I’ll think of one.” Claude said as Byleth walked him to the door.
“Sure, with all the free time you’re going to have.” Byleth said.
Claude winked. “You know it.”
“I can’t believe he did it.” Byleth sighed as she looked in the mirror to draw some eyeliner on.
“It’s Claude. He wouldn’t have made the bet if he didn’t think he could do it.” Hilda said. She posed in front of her full-length mirror. “How do I look?”
Byleth looked at her through her reflection. “Gorgeous, as always.” Hilda shot her another pose, her Halloween-store angel wings jiggling on her back. “You’re supposed to be…”
“A Victoria’s Secret Angel!” Hilda said as she reached for her heels. “Get it?” No wonder Hilda had spent weeks looking for a skimpy, pink silk robe. Byleth nodded. “So, what are you supposed to be?” Hilda asked.
“A demon.” Byleth said. Hilda held back a laugh. “Look, I didn’t even think I was going to go to this thing.”
“No, I was just about to say, you’re a sexy demon!” Hilda said. Byleth groaned. “We make quit a pair, the boys will love it!”
Byleth sighed and smudged her eyeliner with the back of her hand. “Am I a demon or just sexy?” she asked.
“Does it matter?” Hilda asked.
Fair. Byleth looked at herself. She had slapped on black nail polish and every shade of black and grey makeup she and Hilda had in their room: lipstick, eyeshadow, the works. She wore a black crop-top, some of her black shorts on top of black lace tights, and upon Hilda’s request: her heeled black boots.
The October night wind picked up and the tree near their dorm knocked against their window. “Oh, it’s cold. Hilda, can you throw me my jacket?”
Hilda huffed. “A hoe never gets cold.” Despite, her words, she tossed Byleth her black and grey jacket.
“I can’t believe you said that.” Byleth said. She pulled on her jacket and when she looked in the mirror, she felt vertigo. Aside from the cartoonish makeup, this somehow looked like a proper outfit. It looked like an outfit Byleth should wear normally, hair down included. Byleth took a step back and blinked.
“You okay?” Hilda asked.
“Yeah…” Byleth said. “Let me just take and Advil before we go, gonna nip this headache in the butt before it starts.”
“Lookin’ good, Hubert.” Hilda said, as Hubert opened the door.
Hubert shook his head. He wore the most perfect vampire costume, cape, fangs, his hair slicked back and all. “Dorothea suggested it…and Edelgard thought it was too good of an idea…so here we are.”
The only light in the apartment was the purple and orange fairy lights crisscrossed over the whole ceiling. A plastic jack-o-lantern sat on the dining room table smiling at all the entering guests. Bernie and Petra smiled from where they had Super Smash Bros loading on the couch.
“Anyone else here?” Hilda asked. “Where are the other two?”
“In here!” Dorothea called from her and Edelgard’s room. “Edie has contacts for her costume and has never put them in before. I had to spend ten minutes hyping her up for the first one.”
“Did not!” Edelgard cried.
Byleth turned to Hubert. “Did too.” he whispered.
“I never expected such a betrayal from you.” Byleth said.
“And she’ll never know, keep your mouth shut, Eisner.”
Byleth zipped her lips and threw out the key.
The party was going great. Petra and Bernie, the Smash Bros Masters, set up a bracket with all of their friends as they filed into the apartment. Dorothea eventually came out, in her immaculate Jessica Rabbit costume, to say Edelgard almost ready and was getting herself together. Hilda jumped into Caspar’s arms the second he walked through the door, and Lindhart side-stepped the two before he got dog-piled by a bra angel and a knight. Lorenz and Constace insisted they had a ‘bumpin’ playlist as they strode through the door dressed as Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon respectively. Claude finally showed up with some goodies to add to Hubert’s alcohol reserve.
“Thank you for your patronage,” Hubert said as he began to organize the various twisted teas and seltzers Claude brought.
“Not like you can drink any, Dracula.” Claude said. Even Hubert was amused. Byleth excused herself from Leonie, Raphael, and Ignatz and made her way over to Claude. Claude’s eyes brightened when he laid eyes on her. “You look great!” he said.
“And I could say the same of you, Mr….” Byleth looked at Claude’s outfit. He wore jeans, sneakers, and a black t-shirt with a piece of paper taped to the front. “Milk, egg, cheese?” she read.
Claude flashed her a smile and did a hop-turn. There was an angry cartoon ghost on the back. “ ‘I’m not a shopping list, I’m a ghost’!”
Byleth laughed. “From SpongeBob?”
“You know it.” Claude said. Byleth offered Claude a sip of her drink, she swayed a little to the music as he took it from her. “You finally relaxed?”
Byleth hummed. “I finished homework for three classes, you bet I am.”
Claude laughed a little. “How much have you had to drink?” he asked, and Byleth shrugged. Claude’s phone buzzed. “It’s Dedue.” he said. “He, Dimitri, Ingrid, and Sylvain are on their way.”
Byleth drained the last dregs of her drink. “That sounds like a fun car.”
“You bet,” Claude said, “They’re running late because they, and I quote, ‘had to rescue Sylvain from a sorority’.”
“Good God,” Byleth said. She scanned the room that contained their friends. They were smiling, laughing, drinking, and the first round of the Smash Bros bracket was underway with Marianne, Ferdinand, Felix, and Ashe. The Rescue Sylvain Car would be the last people that needed to show up.
“So, what are you, my darling?” Claude asked.
“A demon.” said Byleth. “You couldn’t tell with all the black I’m wearing?”
“Black? I thought it was grey. Must be the lighting.” Claude said. He looked at Byleth, like he was musing over something. “A grey demon…an Ashen Demon.”
Byleth felt cold. The lights in the room were too bright, it was like they were lasers right into her head. “What did you just say?”
Before Claude could answer, the door to Edelgard’s apartment opened and in sauntered Sylvain, a nagging Ingrid at his heels, followed by Dedue and Dimitri. All were in costume. Of course, Sylvain was amusingly dressed as Hugh Hefner, Ingrid was a boxer (with clothes Byleth was sure she had seen in Sylvain’s closet), Dedue was a chef, and Dimitri walked in carrying more alcohol.
“Sorry we're late!” Dimitri said. “We come bearing gifts!”
“About time,” Hubert said, “But you’ll be happy to know her ladyship isn’t done getting dressed at her own party.”
“HUBERT, I SWEAR-“ Edelgard called from her room.
Everyone laughed or cried out to their friends. Felix grabbed Sylvain for next round in Smash. Dimitri turned. “Oh, hello, Byleth.” he said. Byleth felt her knees turn to jell-o. There was Dimitri, dressed in all black, with a sword clipped to his belt. A blue, costume jewel sat on a chest. An eyepatch rested over his left eye.
“Hey.” Byleth said.
“You like my costume?” Dimitri asked. He puffed out his chest. “I’m a pirate.”
“Your eyepatch is on the wrong side.”
Byleth had said it before she even thought of it. The words hung between them, and the more Byleth thought, the more she knew it to be true, as if recalling a basic fact.
“Oh,” Dimitri said, as if he just recalled something, “So it is.” He switched the patch to his other eye, and his left eye blinked bright blue as it adjusted to the light.
“Sorry for the wait everyone.” a new voice said.
Byleth turned, the room spun a little like water colors that hadn’t dried, and in the doorway of her room was Edelgard. She stood tall like a queen, dressed dramatically in black and red. Her silver wig flowed behind her, tied back with a few ribbons.
“There’s our Dany Targaryen!” Bernie said with a giggle.
“That’s not Danerys.” Ferdinand called from where he and Dorothea sat.
“It’s book accurate Danerys Targaryen.” Edelgard said. “Because she deserved better. Like this.”
Edelgard strode across the apartment and pressed a kiss to Hubert’s cheek. “Your Grace,” Hubert said.
Byleth felt bile in the back of her throat. She set her cup down and took a deep breath.
“You okay?” Claude asked.
“Yeah, I think I drank too much too fast. I also started having a little headache before coming here, I think it’s coming back.” Byleth said.
“You want water? With ice?” he asked.
“Yes. Please.” Byleth said.
Claude brushed his fingers against her hand and walked over to Edelgard’s kitchen to fill her cup up with water. Byleth took a deep breath and leaned against the door frame between the living room and the kitchen. The party went on.
Lorenz in his suit and ridiculous rose pinned to his chest. Felix, dressed as a samurai, sneaking up behind Annette, scaring her, and her slapping him on the chest while screaming. Ignatz holding paint brushes as part of his Bob Ross costume, while he waxed poetically to his muse, his pretty tree, Flayn. Caspar and Ferdinand were fighting over who made the better knight. Dimitri with his eye patch, dressed in black, his jewel askew, a shock of blue on his shoulder. Hubert in his high-collared cape. Edelgard in red with white hair, her lilac contacts shining in the light.
“Is that a sword?” Edelgard asked Dimitri.
“Yeah, do you want to see?” Dimitri pulled out his sword, and knelt. “For you, my queen.”
Edelgard took the costume sword and admired it. She lowered it to rest on the side of Dimitri’s neck. “Any last words?”
There was rain and the wind was bone-chilling. Byleth felt her boots suck down into the mud. The stars shone as bright as the torches carried by the armies. She could not move, she watched Edelgard stand over a fallen Dimitri, prepared to swing.
“Goodbye King of Delusions,”
“Hey, Teach,”
Byleth yelped. The rain and night were gone. She was back in Edelgard’s crowded apartment. Edelgard hauled Dimitri to his feet as the two laughed. Claude stood next to her, ice water in his hand.
“You okay?” Claude asked.
Byleth shook her head. She pushed past Claude and ran into the kitchen. She grabbed the garbage can and shoved her face into it as far as he can, then she threw up. Her visions, dizziness, deja vu, all into the can.
“Oh God,” Edelgard said.
“Byleth!” Claude cried, and she felt hands on her neck, pulling her hair back. If Byleth could talk, she would have thanked him.
“Are you okay?!” Dimitri asked.
When Byleth emerged, the party had gone quiet. The video game bracket was paused as Dorothea hiding her controller, midpress. Byleth coughed at the burning taste in her mouth. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. She was vaguely aware of Claude rubbing her back.
“Sorry, everyone,” she mumbled.
“It’s okay, too much alcohol,” Claude said. “Do you want to go back to your room?”
Byleth felt bad for ripping Claude away from the party, but she nodded and took his hand. The chatter started up again, Byleth shook her head. The fog was clearing, yet Byleth could not shake the smell of rain and mud and blood; she should not shake the hatred she saw flicker in both Dimitri’s and Edelgard’s eyes.