Work Text:
The debriefing after her return from Zahras had seemed endless. As Edelgard recounted events to Hubert and Ferdinand, assuring them repeatedly that yes, she was certain Shez was no longer a threat, all she really wanted was a few moments to herself. A few moments to think, to process what had happened to her and what it all meant. But after the debriefing there had been news of enemy movements, armies marching on Garreg Mach. The war would not wait, not even for her.
It was nearly dusk by the time she was able to leave the command centre and step out into the open air. As soon as she did she heard footsteps approaching and she had a brief desire to flee back into the building lest it be Shez determined to apologize once again for her actions. But no, not Shez, she realized when she turned, but Byleth.
Those startling green eyes and focussed gaze made Edelgard catch her breath—as they always did. Over the past weeks they had struck up a sort of friendship over tea and tactical discussions, but Edelgard was still sometimes caught off guard by how much those striking features affected her, by how easily she could be drawn in by Byleth's eyes and distracted by the curve of her lips and the movements of her callused hands.
"Edelgard. I've been waiting to see you."
"I've been in meetings since the moment I got back," Edelgard said, suppressing a sigh.
Byleth nodded. "I know. I've been waiting. Here."
Edelgard's eyebrows shot up. "You were waiting outside the command centre all this time?"
Another nod. "Yes. I just wanted to see you with my own eyes. I'm relieved that you're safe."
A flush was creeping up her cheeks at the notion that Byleth had been waiting so many hours just to catch a glimpse of her. "I could say the same of you."
Byleth put her hand over her heart and bowed. "Thank you for coming to my rescue."
"Think nothing of it."
For a minute neither spoke, and in the silence Edelgard felt, as she always did, the strange pull that seemed to draw her to Byleth, as surely as a stone dropped into a well. She felt at these moments like she might fall into those eyes and forget herself entirely.
"You must be tired," Byleth said finally. "I don't want to keep you from your rest."
"No," she said a little too quickly. "No, I—" She cleared her throat and began again. "The place I was transported to—Zahras—was quite oppressive. I'd like to get some fresh air before I try to rest." Which was true, but she also found that she didn't want Byleth to leave. Her presence was always comforting somehow, as if her habitually placid disposition could still the tumult of Edelgard's thoughts. Though this evening she had a suspicion that Byleth's thoughts were not all that calm either.
Byleth tilted her head. "Would you like some company?"
"Yes," Edelgard said softly. "Very much."
They began to walk the worn footpaths through their basecamp, though Edelgard had no destination in mind. "It's a pity it's too late to go riding," she said, noting the orange smudge of dusk creeping up the western sky. After the endless dark of Zahras she was not eager for nightfall.
"There's a brook just outside camp that I enjoy visiting," Byleth said. "We can catch the last light and be back before dark."
Edelgard nodded. "Lead the way."
The guards at the camp gate looked uncertain but bowed to the emperor as she strode past them. Hubert would probably disapprove, but Edelgard highly doubted there was a host of assassins waiting just outside their camp, and she had Byleth with her besides. In a fight Byleth was as good as a small army.
After only a few minutes' walk they reached a thicket of birch and Edelgard could hear the gurgling of running water. A path had been trodden through the underbrush and Byleth followed it to the bank of a narrow stream and knelt to retrieve something from the ground. When she rose she was holding a stick—no a fishing pole. "I think it's my father's," Byleth said. "He likes to fish." She glanced to one side where a small pot of earth sat by the water. "The bait's still here too. He must have left in a hurry."
Edelgard watched in fascination as Byleth dug into the pot and retrieved what appeared to be a still-wriggling worm. She fixed it to the pole's hook and then cast the line into the water with an ease that spoke of practiced familiarity. "Do you fish often?" Edelgard asked, though she'd already guess the answer.
Byleth nodded. "It's relaxing. Hold your rod, listen to the water, and just… be still."
Edelgard moved to stand next to Byleth, their shoulders touching. A few minutes passed like that in silence as the last rays of daylight cast a burnished glow upon the birch trees. Byleth remained unmoving, though after a time Edelgard realized she could feel the slight shift of her every breath. She seemed so at ease out here, away from camp, from people, and she, too, seemed almost to glow in the evening light. In the stillness, Edelgard let her eyes learn the lines of Byleth's face.
She was almost startled when Byleth finally spoke.
"I'm glad you were able to stop Shez without harming her. I couldn't do anything but fend her off."
Edelgard shook her head. "I didn't do anything. The being that was controlling Shez left her body after pulling us into that strange realm. It must have come as a shock when she attacked you."
Byleth gave a slow nod. "I could tell she wasn't herself. She was… different. Her voice, the… feeling… of her power—they'd changed." Byleth sighed, her brow crinkling. "I didn't want to have to kill her when she wasn't in control of herself."
"I wish I understood what that being was—this Epimenides we faced in Zahras. We know so little about it, not even why he was so intent on killing you."
Byleth's lips thinned. For a beat she was silent but then, "I think… it has to do with my powers. It wanted to eliminate them."
"But why?" Edelgard said, turning to peer up at Byleth's features, the slight downward turn of her lips and furrowing of her brow. She was always so calm, so detached, but even she seemed troubled by the day's events.
"I don't know. I wish I did."
Edelgard sighed. "When you and I started meeting for tea, Hubert expressed concern. He asked me—" And here Edelgard paused to deepen her voice and give her best Hubert impression, "Isn't one mercenary of mysterious origin enough to keep track of?"
A huff of laughter escaped Byleth. "That certainly sounds like Hubert." And then, glancing at Edelgard, she added, "He was very worried about you when you vanished."
"Yes, I imagine he was." She flinched as she thought of the phantom she'd faced in Zahras, the one garbed in Hubert's form. The one she'd struck down. She'd not told Hubert—the real Hubert—that part, not directly. She'd only said that they'd had to face phantom versions of their comrades and then of themselves. But Byleth had had to face more than a phantom and this made Edelgard wish to tell her. "While we were in Zahras we were attacked by phantoms who took on the likenesses of people we knew, people we were close to. They were indistinguishable from the real thing."
"Who were you forced to fight?" Byleth asked. Edelgard wondered if she knew, if she'd guessed, and was offering her an opportunity to answer vaguely if she so wished. But Edelgard had made up her mind.
"Hubert," she said. "I had to fight Hubert."
"That must have been difficult. It comes as a shock having to fight a friend."
"As you well know," Edelgard said. Byleth nodded and shifted the fishing pole, giving the line a little tug, her eyes fixed on the water. The light in the thicket had dimmed and the rushing water had grown dark like the false-sky of Zahras. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Hubert has been my attendant since I was a child. I know he would never cause me harm and I know that if he were ever possessed the way Shez was he would want me to defend myself. Even so…"
"I'm sorry. I—" Surprised, Edelgard glanced up at Byleth to find her usually placid features contorted into an expression of chagrin. "I tried to stop it. The spell—whatever it was—that pulled you all in. I felt it happen and I tried to use—I have certain powers, different than Shez's. But I couldn't reverse the spell. It was as if you—all of you—had been erased from the world entirely."
Edelgard had never seen Byleth distraught, not after battles, not even after she'd been attacked by Shez. She was always so composed, so calm. Yet somehow it was comforting to know that Byleth too was disturbed by what had happened today even though, as with Edelgard herself, the turmoil remained beneath the surface, hidden like the hook bobbing in the waters of this stream.
"You did all you could," Edelgard said. It was the truth even if it was not much comfort.
"I feel like I should have been able to do more. All of this began because of me, because of this strange power I have now. I'm just worried that… I'm a danger to all of you."
Edelgard gave a firm shake of her head. "I don't believe that for one moment." She stared up at Byleth who was not meeting her eyes, her gaze fixed instead on the gurgling water which was quickly being swallowed by the gathering twilight. "Did you ask for this power?"
Byleth glanced down at her, surprised. "No. Never."
"Then it was forced on you. As with me. And Shez. And others as well. We've all been manipulated by outside forces, treated like puppets by those with power. Today our strings were pulled, but that is only one more reason to push forward and see this war through to the end."
Byleth didn't answer, but the lines of her face smoothed and she grew calm once again. "Do you want to try this?" she said all of sudden, jiggling the pole.
"Fishing?"
"Yes. It really is relaxing. Here," she said, taking one of Edelgard's hands and placing it around the pole, which immediately muted any objections that might have been on the tip of Edelgard's tongue. She then proceeded to take Edelgard's other hand and place it as well, squeezing her fingers until they circled the fishing rod. Even through her glove, Edelgard could feel the warmth of Byleth's palm and she was glad of the fading light that hid the blush creeping up her cheeks. "There you go," Byleth said, releasing the pole.
"And now I just… stand here." Byleth nodded with obvious enthusiasm. "If it's so simple then why haven't you caught anything yet?"
"Talking scares away the fish."
"I see."
And so, for a little while longer they stood in silence as sunlight faded and darkness settled like a woolen cloak over the thicket. Edelgard was about to suggest they return to camp when she felt a tug on the line. "Oh!"
"You've got something," Byleth said. "May I?" She gestured towards the fishing rod.
"Of course," Edelgard replied, fully expecting Byleth to take the rod from her to pull in the fish. But instead Byleth moved in close against her back and, arms winding around her, placed her hands on the fishing rod alongside Edelgard's.
"Tug it lightly just like this," she said, demonstrating. "And then let it go slack again."
Edelgard nodded as if taking in the lesson, but she could barely hear Byleth over the pounding of her heart. All she could feel was the strength of those arms encircling her and the mix of soft curves and hard lines pressed close against her. She couldn't recall the last time she'd been this close to someone outside of training or battle. And that this someone was Byleth made her very much want to let the impromptu fishing lesson go on as long as possible.
Edelgard was flushed up to her ears by the time Byleth had tugged the fish to the surface and up out of the water. It was no more than a hand and a half in length with silvery scales, but enough for a meal Byleth announced with a satisfied nod. "Thank you for the lesson," Edelgard said, and she was proud of how even she managed to keep her tone.
"Have you eaten?" Byleth asked, holding up their catch. "I can gut it and grill it back at camp."
"I would like that," Edelgard said. Byleth nodded and they headed back to camp together, walking shoulder to shoulder as the twilight settled over the sky, revealing a darkness studded with bright stars. It was nothing like the depth of Zahras's darkness and this too was a reminder that she was back where she ought to be.
Edelgard's cheeks were still flaming as they walked, but she couldn't deny—at least to herself—how good it had felt to be close to Byleth, to be held. After everything that had happened today the feeling of realness of Byleth's strong arms had been just what she'd needed to chase away the phantoms of Zahras.
As she felt Byleth's fingers brush against hers, just for an instant, she wondered, fleetingly, if Byleth, too, had needed that reassurance.
The End