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Manuela walked into the Black Eagles classroom. As usual, she was fifteen minutes late, exhausted and eating a burrito wrap. Well, not really eating as much as swallowing it whole in one go. As she stationed herself on her desk, shoving aside some crumpled up certification exams to sit on the table, she made the announcement that the Black Eagles got a new classmate. "He's from a faraway nation from the desert. He's a mage, so he should be right at home with you guys. Please welcome him. What's your name young man?" she asked to the slightly creepy looking man in the front of the classroom.
"I'm Hubert, Manuela." Hubert said with a slightly amused tone.
"Oh welcome Hubert. Say hello to Hubert everyone. I'm sure you'll fit in great." Manuela continued the conversation. "Please tell me where you're from." Manuela asked, curious about this desert nation.
"I'm from Enbarr. I've been in the academy since I was a small kid where I have served Edelgard."
Manuela finally started to figure out her screw up. "Oh I'm sorry Hubert, see, I've been dumped over the summer and I'm distracted." Manuela sighed. "In fact, I think it's allergy season so my eyes are a bit foggy." she continued. "Hence the sunglasses." Hubert nodded politely. "Totally unrelated, but I got wasted in the last..." Manuela looked at her watch " hour" Manuela took a sip from her flask when Hanneman came in. "This is tea." Manuela quickly hid the flask.
"What kind of tea?" Ferdinand asked.
Manuela threw a glare at him and then Hanneman, who was already judging her silence. "You know I'm responsible around the students, it's been at least fourty minutes since I wasted myself."
"Please act more responsible around the new student." Hanneman said with a tone as bitter as the drink Manuela took "responsible amounts of". Behind Hanneman, a white-haired boy appeared, slowly taking the seat pointed out to him by Hanneman. Edelgard gasped intrigued. She shared a look with Hubert, whose eyes became even narrower with distrust.
"Okay class." Manuela regained herself and took a more comfortable position on her desk. "Like I said to my ex-boyfriend whose house I allegedly-definitely toilet-papered, I see no reason why we can't start over. Hello young man, what's your name." The silver-haired mystery smiled and waved.
"Hi! I'm Henry!" "Well hello Henry! Good to have you in our class! I'm sure the others would love to hear from you." Manuela thought about a way to fill her class time without actual class. "Oh, I have the loveliest idea. Why don't we all ask Henry a question! Hubert, you start."
"Henry, State your purpose." Hubert stated in a plain voice.
Manuela interrupted him. "That's not a question."
Hubert sighed. "Fine. What can you add to the Black Eagles? Specifically, what can you offer Lady Edelgard?" Edelgard merely blinked at the question. Henry disregarded the contempt in Hubert's tone and said his piece. "Oh you know Hubert, I have made tons of sacrifices in my lifetime. Mostly crows and mostly to an eldritch god-monster, but I'm sure I have a few dead animals that Edelgard would like. You know, the usual. Mice, pigeons, rats....."
"That's enough!" Hubert yelled. "How dare you disrespect Lady Edelgard like that?" Hubert seethed.
"Oh fun, a follow-up question." Henry answered with his usual glee. "They're not just dead animals, those are pretty much worthless. I can make spells with them! The good stuff, see? Like zap zap boom boom! Dead! I almost found a way to kill like a hundred people in one go! Poof! I loooooove curses! They're real mysterious but sooooo good. What's your record? Mine's fourty." Henry giggled. Bernie started to cry.
"I suppose your.....attitude towards taking lives could prove to be an asset to the Empire." Hubert tried to process Henry's persona. The room's vibe changed.
Linhardt was brave enough to break the silence. "Henry, I see you have this certain knack with uuuh, harvesting souls. Have you been in a war before, perhaps?" Henry smiled and nodded politely "Definitely! Remember that eldritch god I talked about? Turns out he took control of a tactician and wanted to destroy the world. Suddenly, boom, zombies everywhere! Totally crazy! Wait, I think I have something." Henry reached down his outfit and took out a piece of a Risen. "See! Zombie! Anyways, we killed them, the god and probably lots of civillians too. Can't win em all."
Edelgard stood up. "Henry, I see and commend your personality, no doubt shaped by trauma. You said you used to serve an eldritch god that you later killed. My question is how did you see through this betrayal? Did you realize his actions were indefensible and that the religion he represented oppressed the populace?" Henry blinked a few times, though keeping his smile as wide as he did.
"Yes, I'm very interested in your changing loyalty as well." Hubert chipped in once again.
“Heeehee, that Grima lad was never a good guy, really. We all kinda knew. When war broke out, I just wanted to sling more fireballs. Oooh did I love those fireballs. Or thunder! Thunder is also good. A bit harder to master but the ZAP it makes....fantastic. Ooooh. And it also causes fire if you're lucky! Then you have both!" Henry stared off in the distance.
"Your lack of loyalty makes you useless." Hubert snapped.
"Hehee, if you say so! I looooove fireballs...and thunder.....and dark magic! The way it makes people squirm. Classic! It was the reason I joined Chrom, leader of the rebels. I wanted more fire to throw! The war would've been over in five seconds if I were to fight for Plegia. But then Chrom was all nice to me, and Robin too! And Panne, she was weird. Bit grumpy, but if she liked you she was really nice. And Olivia.....she was reallllly nice to me! And I was nice to them! It was like...." "Like a family." Edelgard concluded. "Exactly! A bit after that I met my real family. A merchant and a royal guard. Turns out I have brothers! But they taught me nothing. The Shepherds are my family and they taught me so many things. Like morals! Believe it or not, I used to be pretty bad before I met them, you don't wanna know."
The class felt more silent than before. So silent in fact, that you could hear Manuela pass out on her desk from alcohol poisoning and thud on the floor. "I know, crazy right! Now, I know they didn't fight the war for fun. They didn't even like it! Bunch of weirdos! Still, they fought. They wanted the best for their family. Sometimes you have to do that. Fight and kill to help those you care about. And it really helps that I still like fighting! And killing! Double score!"
Ferdinand tried to squeeze himself into the interrogation put up by Edelgard and Hubert. "You see" he said. "Hi, I'm Ferdinand von Aegir! I'm a noble, but I realize the privilege I have in that position." Dorothea mimed hanging herself. "Your tumultuous life no doubt inspired your actions, what has led you to where you are today?"
"Well Ferdinand von Aegir, It all started the day I was born. Both of my parents failed to show up. Dad was kinda busy. Your usual stuff, cursing the living, selling their remains for fun, travelling dimensions. Mom was also really busy, protecting and killing for a job. She said the shadows were her home, so of course she wasn't home much either. They sent me to a private school in Plegia, far away from them. Wolves raised me for the rest. There they saw me in my mom's clothes and assumed I must be a Grimleal. And it sounded really fun, people said activities outside of school would be good and a cult sounded right up my alley."
Manuela mumbled in her sleep. "Yes, cults.... Good. Must...serve..." Manuela dozed off again.
“She gets it!" Henry pointed to the lifeless body of Manuela Casagranda. "Wizarding school was a flop, lots of torture and all kinds of that stuff."
“I'm sorry to hear that Henry, here at Garrech Mach we try to be inclusive of everybody and be a safe space! I owe it as a noble to help create that enviromment!" Ferdinand spoke. Dorothea slammed her head against her desk.
“Oh it's fine. I'm happy to be in school again! Rhea sounds nicer than Grima. She hasn't even demanded human sacrifices yet! Kind of a shame. Tuesday was always thrilling." Another silence. This time, Bernadetta fainted.
Caspar also thought of a question. "What would you consider to be your strenghts and weaknesses?" Linhardt poked at him with his elbow. "What kind of question is that? It's not an interview. That question was so boring I almost went to sleep again."
“My strength.....oh I know! I can pop someone's head off with a fireball! I can also talk to animals!"
“Animals huh?" Petra asked. "You like them?"
"Oh definitely, They're much nicer than people. People lie. Animals bite your head off if they don't like you. Much easier. Humans should give that a go too. Animals are much gentler than humans either way. The biting might seem rude, but humans are much more primitive."
"I have understanding." Petra spoke.
“In my home country, we understand that nature and human should work together." Henry nodded. "Animals don't lie. They don't distrust. They like you as long as you are nice to them! I had this wonderful friend named Minerva. She was really big, but really nice too. She was much less scary than she looked like. I never met people who are less scary. People only get scarier. Well, unless they're dead. Then they're actually kinda cute." Bernadetta managed to faint again, despite not having woken up from her last faint.
"As Caspar so nicely inquired, you have any..weaknesses of yours you'd like to share with us? In case I have to dispose of you if you disappoint Lady Edelgard, I'd like to know the swiftest method." Hubert felt oddly comfortable threatening Henry.
"That's easy. Knives are sharp and if you can throw them quick, zoom, it's done. Curses are cool but I'll probably figure out how to curse you back. Can't do that with a knive through the head. Or an arrow. But please don't aim at my head, it'd be a shame if I died without any pain. I want to go slowly, really take in the sights before the ethereal flesh hands drag me to the shadow realm. It's all part of the experience, so please don't aim at my head."
"Duly noted, Henry. Thank you for your cooperation." Hubert smiled, thinking he could control Henry. "Any ways you think you could disappoint Lady Edelgard?" "Plenty! See, my old tactician didn't really like it when I experimented on the corpses of the enemy for "ethical reasons". If Edelgard is like that and won't even let me take some blood tests for curses, we might have some problems." Edelgard's body suddenly became tense. " But I trust you to take me out in that case. Wouldn't want to deprive you of your fun!"
"I'm sure Lady Edelgard will give you plenty of room to discover the mysteries of cursing." Hubert concluded.
“That's so unfair!" Caspar yelled. "The other day she scolded me for saying F-"
"That's different Caspar." Lady Edelgard sighed.
"I have a question." Dorothea raised her hand. "You know, you seem to be quite....how do I put it...morally grey so far. Say an opera piece would be made about you and your life, what role would you play? Would you be the hero that fought heroically in a war, or a villain that left a red carpet of blood behind him?" Henry again blinked a few seconds without moving an inch of his smile. "I don't think people will look back to me and see a hero. Probably because of the people I killed in cold blood. Or boiling blood, if I popped their head off with a fireball. Even if I might not be the hero in my life, I hope that my story will show that I found my purpose once I found friends, family and a cause to fight for. Once you have a goal to fight for, it's not just killing. It's protection. You can't run from fear or evil or settle for being controlled by it. However hard it is, you have to fight it. If Chrom were to find himself in another war, I'd fight it with him, how hopeless it may seem. Even if I die! Now I wouldn't mind dying, but it's even better if you do it for family, you know! Same with killing!"
Edelgard and Hubert looked at each other and nodded. "I see" Edelgard said to Henry. "Hubert and I hope we can be friends. I'm sure we'll get along." Henry winked at Hubert by opening one eye. "I'd love that, you guys are a bit weird, but I'm sure we'll work it out."
The bell rang, Manuela jumped up. "Okay welcome class, today we're going to talk about heavy armor! Now, heavy armor can protect you from quite a bit, but not from heart break! Or from men for that matter! You need something stronger for that. Axes, swords, gaunlets, you name it. You can all use it t.. "
"Class already ended ma'am!" Henry said to her.
"Okay Lysithea, see you next week!"