Ties That Last

NO. 8

A/N Notes at the end!!

The next day, the thieves were back.

How predictable, was what Byleth thought to himself.

What wasn't as predictable, however, was the presence of his students - er, perhaps former students would be better put - Byleth still lapsed from time to time as he thought about them.

He had significantly less time to get used to the new terms, and he still had conflicting feelings regarding that.

On one hand, there was a part of Byleth that wanted to keep Dimitri for himself - it had almost been like it was only the two of them in their own world, and Byleth had - quite shockingly - loved every moment of it.

However, the other part of him, the one that possessed more logical and sound rationale, saw that it was good for Dimitri.

The prince might have acted like he didn't care whether or not they had appeared - five years later - as promised, but in the secrecy of their room, the masks the blond wielded as his weapon and his shield fell away just the slightest.

It was the terror and hope swirled together as one that made the blond cling to him harder after their session - and Byleth just felt so guilty for ever harboring the thoughts that he might have preferred to just remain with the blond all to himself.

The next day, Dimitri leaves his room early to head off somewhere. Byleth had the feeling he was heading into the monastery's cathedral where the damage was the greatest. Coincidentally, that was where Dimitri and Byleth had met that week ago, where the blond seemed so much more troubled than he currently was.

The majority of his students were repairing and fixing things around the monastery, which was why it was such a surprise when Felix dropped by without any warning.

There were three curt knocks on the door, but no further affirmations about whether or not he could enter. Byleth thought it was just like Felix to knock that way - certainly, no one else he knew did, but it reflected his personality perfectly.

Byleth opened the door.

Felix stood in his armor, something that everyone had taken to doing, even though there was no fighting. No doubt a habit that had been bred from the war that they were now thrown headfirst in.

"Professor," Felix said curtly.

Byleth took a step back, a clear invitation for him to enter the room. The Professor offered Felix the sole chair that was in the room, but he refused.

Now that he was able to study the swordsman closer, Byleth could tell that the years had taken a toll on him - as had they on everyone else. Though they weren't as deep as Dimitri's inky dark smudges, they were there however faintly.

There was a line of tension in the man's body, and his face was closed off and made to be unreadable. Byleth wondered what this was all about.

Felix certainly didn't seem to be here on a social call, no matter how many years they hadn't seen each other.

Indeed, his student's eyes were hard and assessing as they looked at him, and his arms were crossed in an unconscious show of how he was gearing up for an argument.

"Tell me, Professor," Felix started after a long while. "What do you think you're doing with that beast?"

Byleth's brows furrowed slightly. He never liked how Felix constantly referred to Dimitri as a beast. He saw the way it had hurt the blond's feelings when they were still schooling, and even now - Dimitri always ended up falling into a bit of a mood after hearing Felix's acerbic words.