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The snow crunched beneath Claude’s boots as he strolled through the abandoned Garreg Mach Monastery, taking in the sights of the once glorious structure that now lay in ruins. Five years ago to the day, the monastery was a hive of activity with the Church of Seiros preparing for the 995th anniversary of the founding of Garreg Mach, and the students eagerly anticipating the White Heron Ball. Truly, it had been a wonderful night, one Claude looked back on fondly as he stopped in the reception hall where the Ball had been held. Snow fell through the holes in the ceiling, leaving piles of snow on the floor and casting an eery chill about the place. On this day, a thousand years since the founding of Garreg Mach, it should have been a happy place. There should have been students, old and new alike, who all took part in the celebrations and reunited with old friends. But there was no one, save for Claude himself.
Emperor Edelgard of the Adrestian Empire saw to that when she declared war on the Church five years ago and stormed the monastery. It had been a devastating blow to everyone involved, and in the years since, the monastery had lay empty and deserted. Claude had assumed Edelgard had taken control of it, seeing as it was a central location, but due to the war effort out in the west of Faerghus, it was likely she simply saw it too far away from the front line to worry about occupying.
So as Claude stood in the empty hall, his breath lingering in the air as he blew on his gloved hands, he truly felt as though even the Goddess herself had left the place behind.
He had hoped, rather naively, that Dimitri would be around. Words had spread over the past five years that Dimitri had been executed for killing his uncle, but Claude had never been one to put stock in rumours. Everything could be faked, even the death of the Crown Prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. There had been no proof of the execution, no body presented to the masses, and word had recently started filtering of a lone soldier, dressed in black armour with a blue fur-trimmed cloak, going on rampages through the Imperial-occupied Western Faerghus. Entire outposts of Imperial troops slaughtered, lookouts butchered where they stood, and vanguards wiped out. All without anyone having seen anyone, other than bloodied footsteps that led into the woods and were soon buried with snow.
Recently, word of one of these killings reached his ears through the spy network he’d planted within Faerghus, and the fresh footprints were leading toward Garreg Mach. Perhaps Dimitri had remembered the promise to meet up on the Millennium Festival, and he was heading this way to... What, exactly? Meet up with old classmates? Find somewhere to hunker down for a while before resuming his rampage throughout his ravaged land in the hope of wiping out the Imperial forces?
If he was even here to begin with.
Claude hopped from foot to foot in an attempt to warm his feet up, and continued through the barren corridors of the once-grand monastery. Ethereal Moon had always been his least favourite month, due to the sheer cold and the amount of snow.
His desert blood was not designed for this climate.
Outside, the clouds began to fade, giving way to the first glimpse of sunlight. Claude crossed over the bridge, and stood before the Cathedral doors. He was stunned at how damaged it was, given how far away it was from the entrance of the monastery. But if Edelgard really wanted to overthrow the Church of Seiros, it would make sense that she would order the destruction of the Cathedral, the holiest building in the monastery. The wrought-iron gates had been completely ruined, caved in and bent from the force of something heavy, like a battering ram or immensely strong magic. The gap left was enough for an army to enter, so Claude had no problems slipping through and approaching the main doors.
If there were any, that is.
Much like the gate, the doors had been knocked off their hinges and now rested at skewed angles. And they were heavy, too. They required at least two people to operate each door, meaning four were needed to enter. It was a measure to prevent a lone student or bandit from sneaking in after hours, should they find a way past the front gate. For them to be carelessly tossed aside... It showed the full might of the Imperial army, and of Edelgard’s fury against the church.
But it also offered him a view inside the Cathedral without having to step foot inside. And he could see that he was no longer alone.
Two people were standing at the front, near a pile of rubble from where the roof had collapsed either during the siege, or sometime after due to lack of maintenance. They didn’t appear to be bandits, but Claude kept an arrow nocked into Failnaught just in case. He had survived this long into the war by being cautious of strangers, and he wasn’t about to change his tune now. He edged closer, sticking to the shadows, until he could hear their conversation.
“Someone must put a stop to the cycle of the strong trampling the weak.”
Claude froze in place, his breathing hitching. He recognised that voice. Dimitri. So, Dimitri was alive after all. Though he seemed worse for wear as a result of being on the run for five years. His hair, normally short and immaculately trimmed, was now hanging limply past his shoulders in greasy tendrils. His skin was a ghastly white, with a dark circle underneath his left eye. And his right eye, well, it was gone. Covered up with an eyepatch. And he wore black plated armour with a blue, fur-lined cloak, exactly matching the descriptions he had heard. Dimitri was alive, and taking out every Imperial he came across on what appeared to be a quest for revenge.
And the other person Dimitri was talking to... Grey armour, a black cape, a sword with its Crest Stone missing, and mint green hair.
Teach!
Teach, or Byleth, had been the professor of the Blue Lions during their academy days. During Edelgard’s invasion, they vanished and were presumed deceased. But as no corpse had appeared in the five years since, Claude believed them to be alive, as well. Hiding, and waiting for the right moment to reappear, but not dead.
“Can just the two of us hope to prevail?”
What where they talking about? It didn’t matter. They were gearing up for a fight of sorts, and though Teach had the Sword of the Creator and Dimitri had Areadbhar, three Heroes Relics were always better than two.
“Perhaps I could be of assistance?” Claude called out, stepping out from the shadows. Both Teach and Dimitri looked at him, though their expressions were different. Teach had a beaming smile on their face, unusual for one who rarely expressed their emotions, and walked over to firmly shake Claude’s hand and ask how he was doing. Dimitri, though, merely glared. Claude couldn’t tell if it was a good sign or a bad one, but given Dimitri didn’t immediately take his head off, he took it as a good one.
“It doesn’t matter how many of us there are. They will all die.” He growled, Areadbhar glowing as if in response to his desire. “Join us, don’t join us, I don’t care. All I care about is driving out the filthy rats.” He brushed past Claude, though his face briefly softened before snapping into a scowl. “Come. Let us go hunting.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Taking out the bandits had been no trouble, at all. Teach’s skills hadn’t dulled despite their five-year absence, and Dimitri was a tempest with his lance. He was able to take out about ten of the thieves himself, making short work of them all. Claude stayed back, providing cover fire and staying out of the way of the archers. His wyvern was used to battle, and could easily dodge any arrow that came his way, but Claude was never one to leave things to chance and stayed out of their range whilst also sniping from afar.
The three of them could have easily taken out the thieves, but it wasn’t long before all their old classmates had joined them. Everyone from the Golden Deer turned up, as he had expected, and nearly all the Blue Lions. To his surprise, nearly all of the Black Eagles showed up. He had expected them to stay with Edelgard, but they had seemingly defected. All but Edelgard herself and her lapdog Hubert showed up to help out.
It wasn’t what he had expected from a class reunion, but he wasn’t complaining. It didn’t take long for all the thieves, and their leader, to fall.
After the fighting was over, everyone returned to the monastery to catch up with each other and share stories of their travels. Claude was able to meet those who had not been actively partaking in the war, such as Ignatz and Raphael, and get reports from those on the front lines. Teach’s return was also a welcome return, with everyone saying they would help turn the tides of war.
One person, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Claude had watched Dimitri skulk away, and not talk to anyone. He brushed away those who attempted to talk, including his own Blue Lion classmates. He would sadly have to catch up with him later. He had his own business to take care of, first. Reports were coming back that Seteth, Flayn, and a portion of the Knights of Seiros had been seen making their way back to Garreg Mach. Claude had been sent to Seteth’s office on more than one occasion, but was certain they could put aside any petty grudges in aid of the war. Seteth had the aura of a war commander, and right now, he was exactly what they needed to turn everything around. Both him and Teach would be crucial to putting his schemes into action.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Night fell as Claude finally got a moment to breathe. The war councils had gone on for longer than he anticipated, though it couldn’t be helped. With reports coming from all three countries, it took a while to go through the state of the war effort and what needed to be done first. The Blue Lions had argued that Fhirdiad, the Kingdom capital, needed their attention first. But Claude had countered with the fact that the Great Bridge of Myrddin, a key point between the Alliance and Empire, was also under Imperial occupation and that liberating it would ensure everything could flow smoothly.
The debates had gone back and forth for hours, until Teach called a time out and told everyone to go to bed. Almost as if they were their students once more, and it was past their bedtime. Claude, though, could not sleep. He had walked to his bedroom to drop off his belongings, and then stopped by at Dimitri’s. Their bedrooms being so close to each other had been a blessing when they were students, as Claude would often sneak out of his room and into Dimitri’s on nights when it was cold. The night before Edelgard’s assault on the monastery had been a tense one, with Claude seeking refuge with Dimitri. The two of them had stayed up all night, basking in each other’s presence, and promising to remain close and fight during the war.
A load of good that promise turned out to be.
In Dimitri’s room, Claude found it to be exactly the same as when he left it. His clothes were packed away in his wardrobe, his spare armour laying in a corner, his assessments still unfinished on his desk... And the blanket Claude gave him was still on his bed. He had secretly commissioned from a Faerghus merchant, using Almyran fabrics and threads to create a unique blend of their respective cultures. The blanket was cosy, warm, and highly decorated. And when Claude picked it up and buried his face in it, the lingering scent of Dimitri still clung to the fabrics and sent him back to that fateful night.
“I need to give this back to him. His birthday was five days ago, after all.”
Claude carefully folded the blanket up and clasped it in his arms. Leaving the bedroom, he tiptoed back down the upper floor of the dormitory, ensuring he didn’t wake anyone up in the process. He managed to avoid the one creaky floorboard outside Hilda’s bedroom, and was soon walking down the icy steps until he was outside. People had reported seeing Dimitri retreat back to the Cathedral, so Claude decided to start his search there. As luck would have it, no one batted an eye that he was out after hours. There were no rules for wandering around during the night, especially as there were no students to enforce the rules upon. Claude highly doubted Seteth would have a go at the leader of the Alliance, their most reliable allies in the fight against the Empire, for having a midnight stroll in the light of the full moon.
And so Claude reached the Cathedral with no fuss. He eased his way through the doors, and found Dimitri slumped against the rubble, Areadbhar clamped in his hand. The light of the full moon was shining through the hole in the roof, illuminating the pile of snow that had gathered and creating an almost magical moment that Claude couldn’t help but admire.
Despite the damned cold that was chilling him to his core.
Once Claude reached Dimitri, he stopped and softly called out to him. He got a grunt in response, but seeing as Dimitri wasn’t actively telling him to go away or threatening to kill him, Claude took it as a good sign. He took another step forward, and unveiled the blanket.
“Remember this? I got this for your eighteenth birthday five years ago. It felt fitting to regift it to you, five days after your twenty-third birthday.” He said, taking another risky step forward. “Happy birthday, Dimitri.”
Dimitri scoffed, and lifted his head up. His hair fell away from his face, revealing the scowl that seemed permanently fixed.
“Did you want something, or did you want to waste my time on such trivial matters. If it’s the latter, I suggest you leave me. I have no need for things such as birthdays, not whilst Edelgard still breathes. Every birthday she celebrates is another reminder of my failure to kill her when I had the chance.”
Claude didn’t take Dimitri’s word to heart. He knew that Dimitri had gone through some traumatic events to make him life this, and didn’t hold it against him. And whilst he doubted that Edelgard was responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur, seeing as she would have been the same age as them when it happened, she did plunge Fódlan into a war that had claimed countless lives and cost Dimitri his Kingdom.
So he remained silent, and instead approached Dimitri from his side so he could drape the blanket over his shoulders. The fur-lined cape of his looked warm enough, but it was more about making a gesture. A reminder that Claude is, and always will be, on his side. The last thing he wanted was to make Dimitri angry at him, and disrupt a shaky truce between the Kingdom and Alliance. They needed each other if they were to fight back against the might of the Empire.
Dimitri grunted, but didn’t shrug the blanket away. Claude didn’t fancy going back to his room tonight, so he sat down against the rubble and blew on his gloved hands to keep warm. He would probably get a tapestry somewhere and use it as a blanket. It might be blasphemous, but it was no more than what Edelgard had done when she openly declared war on the Church of Seiros. Besides, the tapestries here had been exposed to the elements for over five years. The likelihood of there being anything resembling their original pattern was remote.
But before Claude could get up and select one, he heard Dimitri mutter about how he’d freeze. He glanced over, and was stunned to find Dimitri holding an arm out, like he wanted Claude to share the blanket. Without any hesitation, in case Dimitri changed his mind and Claude would have to go with his original idea, he shuffled over and huddled beneath the blanket. Dimitri absolutely reeked of sweat and blood and Goddess knows what. At the same time, though, there was a hint of the Dimitri smell that Claude knew and loved. He had the fragrance of pine trees and snow, with a hint of musk. Claude tried to keep his distance, but as tiredness took over, he found himself leaning against Dimitri. Though the fur of his cape stank, it was so warm and fluffy that Claude couldn’t fight the sleepiness that overcame him. He was cosy, nestled up against Dimitri, and could see the tides of the war turning now that Teach was back with them.
For the first time in five years, he would sleep well.
“Happy Yuletide, Dimitri.” Claude whispered as he drifted off. He knew that the day was the founding of Garreg Mach, but he also knew that Dimitri celebrated Yuletide in Faerghus. The Kingdom itself may be in ruins, but if he could provide some comfort of home to Dimitri, he would do so.
Before he fully let sleep take over, he was certain he heard Dimitri say ‘Happy Yuletide, Claude’ in response. A smile spread across his face as he nestled down for the night, content with what tomorrow would bring.