Chapter Text
~Rhea~
Morning broke with little fanfare. Seiros woke naturally, curled around her young lover who still slept quietly. She giggled at the sight of Edelgard’s hair plastered to her damp forehead. She could almost convince herself not to get up, not to face more of the truth from her niece, and not to move on with her life.
It was so tempting; to lay in the sunlight glow of Edelgard’s affection, to hoard her away from society and modernity and simply be with her.
“Do you ever blink, my love?” Edelgard murmured. She pressed deeper into the cocoon of blankets, inching closer to the wide-awake Seiros.
“I don’t really need to, baby.”
Edelgard’s eyes shot open. “Seriously?”
“No, darling. Of course I do. Did you really think not?” She chuckled.
Edelgard’s expression fell to annoyance. Reaching behind her, she pulled forward a pillow and whacked Seiros with it.
“Hey!” She objected.
“Well, it supported your point. I got you to blink.” Edelgard laughed, before descending upon Seiros for a languid kiss. Seiros sighed dreamily in response, returning the kiss in earnest. Time melted away around them.
I can’t remember ever being so happy while being present all at once.
Her happiness was so frequently locked away in memories made bittersweet by the deaths of those lost.
This, however, was happening in real time. This was now, and now was beautiful.
Edelgard pulled back from her lover, leaving Seiros to pout under her.
“Shall we see if Flayn is awake? It seems cruel to remain holed up in here after everything we put her through last night.” She cooed.
Groaning, Seiros nodded, and stretched up to peck Edelgard’s cheek.
How I wish that this moment could last forever.
~
Seiros wasn’t surprised to learn that Seteth had retired to live by the sea. Shores that he had once dreamt of relaxing by had changed drastically in the passing centuries, but his wife’s memorial still stood nearby.
“Mother’s grave has all but lost its meaning in the centuries that have passed. It is… sad… to see it wither into anonymity.” Flayn sighed.
The trio sat on the couch, snacking on poptarts and drinking iced tea despite the December chill. Edelgard practically swam in a pair of Seiros’s sweatpants; the same pair hardly grazed Flayn’s shin.
Seiros hummed sympathetically and put her hand on her niece’s leg. She understood how it felt to see tributes to those loved and lost lose their meaning over time.
“But it’s not lost its meaning. So long as you and your father remain, it still has meaning.” Edelgard interjected.
Seiros flinched at her love’s evergreen bluntness. Flan regarded them both with a wistful, knowing look in her eye.
“Father is not as either of you remember him. He has changed dramatically, taken great strides to ensure that the past remains in the past and does not injure him. He is peaceful…” Flayn trailed off, her original point lost to all of them.
“I say this with the utmost sympathy, I swear it. But those of us who bear the burden of remembrance are also stewards of the truth, of their love. That their lives had meaning simply because they touched our hearts.” Edelgard insisted.
“And I imagine my siblings have no memorials, let alone graves. I should hope that their lives still had meaning.” She whispered with a far-away look in her eye.
Seiros sat paralyzed at Edelgard’s candor. She wasn’t wrong, nor was she coming from a place of ignorance. After all, she had also given her life in service of avenging her lost loved ones.
Flayn sighed. “Be that as it may, I reserve the right to grieve. Grief without action eradicates all hope of growth; action without grief begets ruthlessness. Neither is conducive to living one’s life to the fullest.”
Seiros glanced between the two of them nervously. Her niece made a compelling point, if still managing to critique them both. Edelgard’s expression was unreadable.
She was right, ultimately. But something still irked her about the analysis.
“While I agree with you, I still feel that that fails to consider that neither is a death sentence, and neither must remain that way forever.” Seiros chided softly.
Her eyes met Edelgard’s, and she reached out to clasp her lover’s hand.
Edelgard blinked at her warmly.
“No, I suppose not. Assuming one keeps the right kind of company.” Flayn admitted with a sly smile. “How odd to consider that one’s enemy might also be their savior.”
Edelgard laughed, nodding her agreement.
“As the saying goes, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’” She provided.
“My dear, that’s not even close to what that misogynistic saying means.” Seiros rejoined.
“I have no clue what ‘misogynistic’ means.”
“In truth, that is probably quite emotionally healthy for you. I do not wish to ruin your day.” Flayn laughed.
Edelgard shrugged in acquiescence.
I never once imagined I would see them laughing together. How lucky I am to love such wonderful women.
Only after all their tea was long finished, and Seiros and Edelgard sat curled around each other on the sofa, did Flayn finally suggest that they consider going to find Seteth.
“He knew I endeavored to find you, and I believe he intuited that I would not return without you.” Flayn supplied shyly.
Seiros considered this. Despite her ache to see her estranged brother, the fear of his judgement still overshadowed everything she had achieved in the past few weeks.
Edelgard gently draped her arm over Seiros’s waist, and she was grateful for the physical anchor.
“It does not matter if you are ready, only that you try.” She whispered.
“I must agree with her on that. There is no good reason to delay, it will only serve to heighten your anxiety.” Flayn’s eyes were bright and sympathetic.
Seiros bowed her head in discomfort, her mouth tightening into a thin line.
“Yes, I suppose it is time to face my judgement.” She mused.
“Oh, come off of it!-"
"-Please, do not choose now to wallow in self pity!” Her companions shouted simultaneously.
Laughter bloomed from Seiros’s chest.
“I see I can’t get away with anything around the two of you.” She giggled.
“None of us are getting away with anything, lately. Curious.” Edelgard rejoined.
“I would say you got away with quite a bit, actually.” Flayn snorted at her.
Edelgard whipped her head around. “I died, Flayn.” She deadpanned.
“Well, evidently not. It seems you were just here, snacking on poptarts and watching television in an apartment with central heating and indoor plumbing. I am rather envious of that, in all honesty.” Flayn laughed.
Edelgard’s brows furrowed inquisitively.
“Do you suppose that that’s true, Seiros? Thinking about time travel, if that is truly what I’ve done, makes me feel sick to my stomach. Do you suppose I’m the only person who has done it?” She wondered aloud.
“Actually, Byleth could turn back time, but only by a few minutes. It’s actually how she managed to save you from that bandit. She would have been the one struck by him if she had not gone back a second time.” Seiros said, thinking nothing of it.
Flayn’s eyes widened at the comment. Edelgard’s mouth hung open, her expression horrified.
Seiros cocked her head to the side in confusion.
What is so upsetting about Byleth using her powers to save her life?
“So… my friends might have lived? Had we not been faced with a demigod who could control the flow of time, correcting each mistake as she went along?” Her voice wavered, incredulous at what her lover had just revealed.
Seiros’s face paled as disgusting, wretched understanding sank in. She felt like the floor gave way beneath her as panic and guilt exploded through her. Tears sprang to her eyes.
She had never had a good reason to consider it from that perspective.
Her eyes met Edelgard’s equally tearful gaze, betrayal flickering where there had once been warmth.
“I…” Seiros choked. She had nothing more she could possibly say.
Just as soon as her tears had started, Edelgard blinked them away. She turned to appraise Flayn, whose hand was clasped tightly around her open mouth.
“I suppose we should leave now if we want to arrive at a respectable hour. I shall meet you both outside. You may take the front seat, Cethleann.” She cooed, her voice steely and frigid.
Rising from the couch, she walked proudly back to the bedroom, the bottoms of her too-long pants dragging on the floor around her feet.
Hot tears on her cheeks, Rhea turned to face her niece again.
“Perhaps we should go wait by the car, auntie.” Flayn whispered, her tone impossible to decipher.
With dread settled firmly in her chest, Rhea nodded, and rose from the couch. She had no idea how she had managed to offend her lover so egregiously, nor how she might fix it; she only knew that they were still bound to each other, once again, in conflict.
~Edelgard~
Edelgard sits with her arms crossed firmly across her chest. She stares out the window of Rhea’s mid-size, mid-priced sedan, her legs stretched across the back seat. She will not meet her lover’s worried eyes, and she will not engage either her or her niece in conversation.
She barely registers that music is playing as the scenery skates by, evolving as they travel to a distant seaside several hundred kilometers away. Her emotions cascade violently as she repeats what Rhea confessed earlier in her head, over and over, to the point of madness.
She has been in the car for hours, silently stewing. She will be in the car for hours more, silently stewing.
She is acutely aware that she has been grievously wronged in her life, but cannot pinpoint why this is the worst betrayal she has endured yet.
They could have lived. We were doomed from the start, facing an opponent who could undo any and all strategy we employed. My friends all died, one by one, at the hands of someone whose ability to defeat us was preordained. I condemned them to death by asking them to join my cause. Every single one of them was killed by someone who couldn’t possibly lose.
She is again struck by the casualness with which her companion said it. This woman who she once hated and now loves, once feared and now reveres. Someone she understands.
She supposes that this news should not be news, and perhaps, not even offensive. Who could hope to win against such power?
But the deaths are still fresh for her, while Flayn and Rhea have had centuries to recover, to lick their wounds that never became fatal.
They are all still alive.
Edelgard hmphs from her reclined seat, and both driver and passenger gasp quietly, eyes immediately drawn to her. She rolls her eyes and redirects her attention to the window.
Rage, her sickly-sweet companion, burns, oozes up her spine and crawls up her throat.
How dare they stew on their righteousness for so long? Nurse their grievances, play victim to the very same power they built around themselves, and cry for the suffering victors? How dare they speak to me as if my values are misplaced when their governance served only to condemn the ungifted to poverty and destitution? And how dare they judge me for my insolence in the same breath as they deem my cause sympathetic? My family paid with their lives, all the while they paid with their purses, heavy with the spoils of one thousand years? Who amongst us gets to live with regret, and who must pay for their mistakes?
She swallows it. Rage does not resurrect the dead.
“My final friends died less than a month ago, for me.” Edelgard interjects, no longer willing to forgo a captive audience.
Rhea and Flayn look up at her, eyes wide, but say nothing.
“You have had centuries to heal, to grieve, to… forget. Even if you feel that you remember everything with perfect clarity, there is simply no way that either of you has wounds as fresh as mine.” She dictates, authority in her voice.
Rhea nods at her in the rearview mirror, her eyes teeming with sympathy. Flayn elects not to react.
“I will not be an obstacle to your reunion. I know how much this means, for you, and I want you to have it without my presence spoiling it. I only ask that you do not begrudge me my grief. It demands to be felt, I won’t deny myself it any longer.” She finishes.
Rhea exhales shakily, and pulls the car over to the side of the road. Flayn starts to protest, but Rhea shoots her a glare so menacing that Edelgard manages a small smile.
Rhea turns to look at her backseat passenger, and Edelgard wants to forgive her immediately.
She does not.
“Whatever you need, dear. No one will deny you your pain.” She coos, extending a trembling hand to rest on Edelgard’s knee.
She takes a moment to relish in the comfort of the affection; her rage has not dissipated, but neither has her desire to be loved.
She pats her love’s hand gently and blinks at her warmly, and then decisively removes the hand from her knee, turning to face the window once more.
Rhea takes a shuddering breath and maneuvers the car back on to the road.
~
They arrive at a lovely cottage at daybreak. It stands as close to the waters’ edge as it possibly can, as if the house itself yearns to float away.
Edelgard cracks her eyes open, and is alarmed that she even managed to fall asleep amidst her brooding. She meets Rhea’s eyes and finds them red-rimmed, presumably from another sleepless, tearful night. Flayn looks just as bad.
“Good morning.” Edelgard deadpans.
“Did you sleep well, dear?” Rhea croaks. Her eyes are again threatening to spill over with tears, and Edelgard nearly scoffs.
“I slept fine.”
Rhea nods and wrings her hands nervously.
“I believe I should go inside first and make sure father is awake. I texted with him last night, so he is aware that we are all coming,” Flayn ventures. She nods at Rhea and gives Edelgard a hesitant look before turning to go inside, and leaves the two in their infinite tension.
Edelgard turns to face the ocean, and breathes in its refreshing air.
“I never did learn how to swim.” She laughs.
Rhea stares at her blankly, heartbreak evident on her delicate features.
“Edelgard, I-” she starts.
“No,” Edelgard insists, “Not yet. I’m not ready.”
Her companion’s face crumples into hurt, then melts into determination.
“No, I need to say this before I go inside. I refuse to drag this out any longer, no matter how much you are hurting.” She barks.
Edelgard sighs and wishes for the Nth time that she may have a little peace.
“Fine. What is it that you wish to say?” She mumbles, eyes cast downward.
Rhea inhales deeply, and Edelgard regrets not looking at her.
Her beautiful, ancient face, so singularly unaffected by time.
“I wish to say that before two weeks ago, I had no reason to consider Byleth’s gift from any perspective but my own. And that now that I have, I… I am so fucking sorry. You are right to be disgusted, and if I still mean anything to you at all after last night, then I would love to grieve with you and honor their memories.”
Edelgard looks up at that. Fresh tear tracks stain Rhea’s cheeks, her expression genuine.
“Thank you for coming to face this with me. You didn’t have to. It means a lot that you did.” She sniffs.
Edelgard sighs.
Damn you and your damn guilty conscience.
She steps forward. Her feet crunch softly over the fine white sand beneath her feet.
She enters Rhea’s space and brings a hand up to cup her cheek, and is reminded once again how physically imposing her lover is.
If only I had known what lay beneath.
“I will stop being angry someday, you know. But you will not stop missing your brother. I am grateful that I can be here with you.”
Rhea sniffs louder, and brings her own hand up to clutch the hand on her cheek.
“Come inside with me. Please.” She whispers through tears.
Edelgard is tempted by the desire to support Rhea, but shakes her head.
“I cannot do that, love. There is no chance of me going in there with you and not impacting the conversation you two so desperately need to have. It would be unfair to you both.” She replies.
She drops her hand and steps back, bowing her head in apology.
“I will be right out here, at the water’s edge. You can retreat at any time, if you need.”
Rhea nods dejectedly. Inhaling deeply, she retreats further from Edelgard.
“I…” she starts.
“What is it?”
“I know I’m in no position to ask you for anything at the moment. But if I have to face him without you, may I hug you? Please? Just for a moment?” She chokes on the end of her request.
“I’m so fucking scared, El.” She whispers.
Edelgard stares at her for a moment, her body betraying her conviction. She wants to cross her arms firmly over her chest. She wants to stand resolutely in her anger, to communicate the horrific boundary crossed, however accidental.
Instead, she marches forward and wraps her arms around her as tightly as she can manage.
Rhea’s arms circle around her neck and shoulders. Her nose rests in the crook of her neck, and she exhales deeply.
The intense contact stirs something in Edelgard. Grief and panic and love, overwhelming and infinite, overtake her.
Her siblings are gone. Her parents are gone. Her friends are gone. Her cause has been stripped from her. She is living a millennia in the future with nothing to her name.
Rhea is here, holding her.
Tears explode from her eyes that she can no longer hold in. She clutches Rhea tighter, holding her so that she doesn’t get swept away. Deep, heaving sobs pour out of her as her knees give out.
Rhea holds her up.
Above them, a figure watches silently from the second floor window.