A/N: Hey y'all! This took a little shorter than expected. Instead of taking 4 weeks I took 3 lol. I was supposed to get this out last week but I couldn't exactly figure out how to end it properly. Since it is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I had an extra boost in energy to continue this. May nor may not have the next chapter out within the next 2 weeks, just depends on how I'm feeling. One more trivial thing but it's also my birthday today so here's a treat from me :)
Enjoy this chapter! Featuring the Blue Lions return!
Summary: A wave of thieves have been discovered but 8 people are not enough to defend the monastery (and to kill every last one of them), that is, until some familiar faces join the fight.
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"Ah, you're here." Dimitri said when Byleth arrived. "Shall we go rat hunting?"
Byleth unsheathed the Sword of Creator. "I think we shall." She smirked. Her first true battle since the invasion of Garreg Mach. The skirmishes in the forest are nothing compared to what lies ahead of her. These may be petty thieves, but it's just the kind of battle that Byleth has been waiting for.
"Are you sure this is this only way to deal with them?" Seteth asked wearily as he reined his wyvern.
"It doesn't matter. They trespassed and they must pay." Dimitri growled as his grip on his silver lance tightened. Seteth sighed and readied his weapon.
"Let's move everyone." Byleth said. She motioned for the three of them to continue on. A tiny voice in the back of her mind tells her to wait for the Wolves and Flayn, however, she knew they were capable to defend themselves.
Seteth flew only slightly above ground and as slowly and quietly as possible so he wouldn't get caught by thieves. Dimitri and Byleth, on the other hand, darted forward without an afterthought.
"Gods I pray they don't act too rashly." Seteth said to himself once they were out of an earshot. He tapped his wyvern's face slightly to signal it to move faster into the outskirts of the monastery.
Dimitri and Byleth were maneuvering their ways through the thicket and rubble that was the outskirts. They haven't spotted any thieves yet, although there was still ruins on top of the hill that they have still yet to discover.
"It smells of blood and sewage. Much stronger than when we first found it nearly a moon ago. Seems we found their nest." Dimitri said.
Meanwhile, at the ruins in the center, the leader of the thieves overheard Dimitri. He ran over to the wall overlooking the base and saw Dimitri and Byleth. "What the?" He squinted to the examine the figures below even further. He gasped. They looked almost uncanny to the descriptions of the One-Eyed and Ashen Demons he heard all the rumors about. "Intruders! Protect the goods!" He shouted to his other men.
"Yes sir!" The other thieves said in unison.
Before turning back to the bags of stolen goods he and his men gathered, the lead thief took one last look at Dimitri and Byleth below. "There's no way I'm letting you kill me, not today."
Thieves came spilling out from the sides of the ruins. Dimitri and Byleth turned to each other and nodded, knowing exactly what they were going to do. Bolting in opposite directions, Dimitri and Byleth attacked the thieves. Dimitri mercilessly stabbed one square in his chest with his lance in one hand and kicked down more thieves attempting to ambush him from his blind side. Although he still hasn't gotten fully adjusted to only fighting with one eye, he was able to knock down most of the thieves coming his way.
However, his focus was only on one thief at a time. His crest occasionally activated so that he could easily kill the thieves that attack him with his free hand, but it wasn't enough. One thief wielding an axe was able to puncture his armor and nicked him on the shoulder. A small stream of blood flowed ever so slightly down his dark armor. He kept on going, however, and continued to attack the thieves without any regard for himself.
In the corner of his good eye, Dimitri noticed a duo of thieves attempting to escape. He quickly pulled his lance out of the thief's he just killed body, spilling blood everywhere, and slashed the air around him to distract the thieves surrounding him. "You won't escape!" He yelled. The thieves heard Dimitri and booked it towards the forest. Dimitri was faster though, however, before he could attack, he felt a sharp prick on his exposed shoulder. He turned his head to see a thief with a bow behind him. He saw the arrow lodged in his shoulder but yanked it out despite always being warned not to.
The few seconds of distraction were enough to have the thieves ambush him once more. One thief raised a dagger above his head to drive into Dimitri. When Dimitri noticed, it was too late, he couldn't attack in time. But before the thief could complete the deed, another arrow stuck him in the heart, killing him instantly. More arrows came flying from the same direction and stuck down the other surrounding thieves. Dimitri turned around and gasped at who he saw.
It was Gilbert and Ashe.
"Your Majesties!" Gilbert called. Ashe, who appeared slightly taller and started to grow out his silver hair, waved over. Dimitri, although somewhat expecting his former classmates to reunite with him and Byleth, was still caught off guard. They actually believed the message?
"It may have taken almost two years, but we finally found you!" Ashe cheered.
"We'll discuss this later, but for now, let's work on defeating these thieves." Gilbert said.
Meanwhile, Byleth was keeping the thieves on the other side at bay. She nimbly and gracefully avoided the thieves attacks while easily cutting them down. Although, when attacks did hit, unfortunately for her, it was on her exposed skin. Despite the scratches ranging from slight scrapes to mildly concerning lacerations, Byleth continued on.
She could feel her stamina depleting quickly and she was slowly being overpowered. She gripped her sword so hard that her knuckles turned white. One thief charged after her and Byleth blocked the attack. She was breathing heavily and her body was screaming in pain.
Suddenly, a bright light and warmth filled the surrounding area. Byleth felt her stamina replenish and her pain ebb away. She hastily turned around to see where the phenomenon was coming from. Behind her, Mercedes was casting a Recover spell and Annette was charging an Sagitae magic attack.
"Mercedes? Annette? You're here?" Byleth asked.
"Oh! I haven't seen you in such a long time! I'm glad to see that you're alive!" Mercedes said happily as she pushed a small strand of her now loose, pale blonde hair back behind her ear.
"We'll help out from here! It's over thieves!" Annette called before she unleashed her attack onto the group of thieves. She has grown considerably within the past two years, with her being slightly taller and her hair in loose pigtails rather than the rounded curls.
"You.. actually came?" Byleth asked.
"Of course we did Professor, well, Your Majesty." Annette answered as she ran up to Byleth to hug her. "I always knew in my heart that we'd meet again!"
"You and Dimitri are our friends and our last hope." Mercedes added. "Seeing you and everyone alive does help make having to leave my family feel less difficult."
"Also, Felix, Sylvain, and Ingrid are close behind, trying to attack from the other side." Annette said as she charged a simple Wind attack to finish off the thieves that survived her first attack.
"Alright, let us focus on this group so we can meet up with Ingrid and the others." Byleth said before she charged forward. Annette and Mercedes followed suit but at a slight distance so they could attack without too much risk.
With the three of them attacking at once, they were able to move forward quickly and soon meet up with Dimitri, Gilbert, and Ashe on the other side.
"Ashe?!" Byleth gasped. She turned her gaze to Gilbert. "And... Gilbert? You too?"
"We made a promise to find you." Ashe said. "And as my duty as a knight-in-training, I will fulfill that promise and protect you."
"Enough of the catch up talk." Dimitri groaned. He scanned the area and pointed his lance back towards where they came from and then to ahead of them. "There are openings to the north and south. We'll spilt into two groups and tear them apart."
"But are you sure this is worth it?" Annette asked worriedly.
"It doesn't matter." Byleth answered. "All that does is eliminating the thieves. Let this be known: Anyone who dares crosses our path will answer for their crimes." Byleth took off running towards the north side with Dimitri following. The four others stood there in confusion, not knowing what to do what to do with their commanders not with them.
"So... what now?" Ashe asked.
"We spilt in two like His Highness said." Gilbert answered without hesitation. "Mercedes, I would recommend you follow the two of them to act as support in case they act too rashly." Mercedes nodded and took off running towards Byleth and Dimitri.
"As for you two, I saw Seteth, Flayn, and a couple of unknown figures fighting from above. We shall go assist them." Gilbert continued.
"Right!" Ashe said and Annette nodded as they ran back towards the south end.
"There's no escape!" Byleth shouted as she stuck down another thief.
Dimitri was guarding the opening that some of the thieves were using as an escape. Any thief that attempted to escape or cross his path would meet their immediate demise. Much to both of Dimitri and Byleth's dismay, Mercedes did follow them and healed them. Although Byleth reluctantly accepted the heal, Dimitri would always mumble "Waste of effort." Or "Don't even bother."
A Fire and Thunder spell suddenly shot through the north side followed by a spear being thrown and splitting its unlucky target's head in two. "Sorry for the delay." A voice on a horse said up ahead. Everyone turned to see Sylvain on his horse with Felix—who looked the nearly same more or less with the exception of height differences and Sylvain starting to grow facial hair and Felix having his hair in a mini ponytail instead of a bun—sitting right behind him. A pegasus was flying down and Ingrid was atop it, donning grey armor that somewhat resembled a corset and wearing her yellow-blonde hair in a ponytail instead of her regular braid. She retrieved her spear from the dead thief.
"Ingrid! Sylvain! Felix! You made it!" Mercedes cheered.
"We would've aimed to find you two sooner, but conditions in the Kingdom only grew worse." Sylvain explained. Dimitri gripped his lance even tighter. The thought of that witch ruining his kingdom even more was sickening to him. "And might I add how pretty you still look, even in that badass outfit."
Felix knocked Sylvain on the head and Ingrid glared daggers at Sylvain. "You idiot! She's married!" Felix yelled. He lowered his voice. "Plus isn't the very girl you've been gushing about right there?"
"Shhh. Mercedes knows that it's all a jest." Sylvain whispered cheekily.
"Keep making those comments and I'll be the first to tell her." Felix warned before mounting off Sylvain's horse. "Where's Annette? I'm guessing if Mercedes is here she must've made it safely as well."
"She's with Ashe." Byleth said as she pointed towards the south side. "Gilbert along with Seteth and Flayn are that way as well."
"Alright. We can catch up later then." Felix said as he unsheathed his sword. "For now, lets win this."
"I'm so glad that you and Dimitri are alive after all." Ingrid said. "But Felix is right, we can catch up later. We must focus on defeating these thieves." Ingrid took off to the sky on her pegasus to scout the nearby area. While the terrain slowed Sylvain down, his magic he learned as a Dark Knight came in handy to attack from afar. Felix was more aggressive in his attacks by dealing critical blows with his Killing Edge but resorted to Thunder magic when necessary.
Slowly but surely, the six of the Blue Lions took out the remaining thieves on the north side. All that was left was to meet back up with the remainder of the group and attack the head thief from the ruins. Dimitri climbed up onto the ruins ahead of everyone else. At the top, the head thief was frantically piling random goods into a sack.
A large shadow loomed over the thief. He turned and jumped back a little, startled by the large figure in front of him. "Gah!" He shouted. "No, I'm not the one you want." He put his hands together as if he was trying to beg for his life. Dimitri only gripped his lance harder and started to raise it towards the thief. "Argh, I guess I have no choice." He groaned as he stood up with the sack and dagger in each of his hands.
The thief made an attempt to escape by tumbling out of Dimitri's path and throwing his dagger towards Dimitri's exposed wound. The dagger missed and only stuck his armor and bounced onto the ground. "Pathetic." Dimitri growled. He raised his silver lance and threw it like a javelin. "Don't struggle." He shouted. The lance quickly flew threw the air and impaled the thief in the back, killing him instantly. The tip of his lance stuck through the other side of the thief and pinned him to the ground.
Dimitri approached the dead thief and pulled his bloodied lance out of the thief. He tapped it on the dirt ground to settle the dripping blood. He turned back to return to the rest of the Lions, but a figure trying to escape caught the corner of his left eye.
He quickly turned back around and saw the head thief again, who appeared unscathed. How was that possible? He killed him.
A few more thieves were following him. "It isn't looking good for us. Should we retreat?" He asked his fellow henchmen. They all nodded and they bolted away. Byleth and the rest of the Lions who were fighting on the north side reached the top of the ruins.
"You didn't plan on letting him get away, did you?" Dimitri mumbled to himself. He turned to the Lions. "We need to kill them once and for all. If not, they'll just keep doing the same damned things!"
Byleth stepped up to Dimitri. "Allow me." She said before she bolted towards the other side of the ruins where the thieves escaped.
While the thieves were quick, Byleth was quicker. She made it to the south side where the rest of the Lions, Seteth, Flayn, and the Wolves were fighting. She cornered the thieves into a dead end. Byleth retracted her sword into its whip form and prepared to attack. The thief laughed to himself. He knew he wasn't going to make it out alive, despite he and his henchmen out numbering Byleth four to one. "Ah, you should yield me a tidy profit." He said to himself to sound at least a little bit optimistic.
"That, I'm afraid, won't happen." Byleth said. She swung her sword to attack the four thieves all at once. "No hesitation!" She yelled. A critical strike. They should be dead in that single hit.
"I thought.. it would be easy money.. Maybe it wasn't.. meant to be.." The head thief sputtered before falling limp in his own pool of blood. Byleth quietly sheathed her sword as Annette and Ashe caught up behind her. She quietly departed without even saying a word to Annette and Ashe.
After waiting a few seconds, Ashe and Annette followed Byleth. "Professor! Aren't you glad to see us?" Ashe asked. "We made a promise to find you and His Highness and we did."
"I know you weren't there when we made the promise but we found you, that's what matters, right?" Annette added.
Byleth turned around to face them. She had a slight hint of surprise etched onto her face. "You guys actually did that?" She asked.
"Why wouldn't we, we're your friends." Annette said. Byleth looked down and continued on. Gilbert, Seteth, Flayn, and the rest of the Lions stood together with Dimitri off to the side a little. Byleth joined Dimitri and Gilbert stepped forward and bowed.
"Your Highnesses, Seteth informed us on the situation and new allies. We have been following information on your potential whereabouts are glad that you are alive and well." He said.
"That is a huge overstatement..." Byleth mumbled to herself.
"If anything we are nothing but walking corpses." Dimitri added.
"Well, it doesn't matter what you think you are, what matters is that you're alive and we can stand a chance in this war." Sylvain said as he put his hands behind his head.
"I have also heard that you helped them escape, is that true?" Gilbert asked. The Lions nodded but Dimitri hung his head down low. Byleth did a small headcount in her head. There was her, Dimitri, Felix, Ashe, Sylvain, Annette, Ingrid... someone was missing.
Dedue.
Byleth gasped at the realization. "Wait... Dedue... does that mean..." She stumbled with her words.
Gilbert hung his head low. "I am afraid so. We haven't heard from him since that day."
Dimitri couldn't bear to look up. Another loved one has fallen because of him. But if he was dead, why hasn't he heard his voice yet? Maybe it was the sliver of hope that he had that he was still alive. However, now that he has confirmation that Dedue is dead, he is sure Dedue's voice will haunt him starting now.
"There is still much to discuss, and I will explain in due time." Gilbert continued.
"But now, since we have the King and Queen back, we can stand a chance against the Empire." Sylvain added.
"We did already start a resistance with Seteth, Flayn, and the other inhabitants here." Byleth replied.
"So I have been informed. But as our rightful leaders, you two have a duty to gather our troops and lead us—both as a Kingdom and as Fodlán.—back to the light."
"You are still needed!" Annette pleaded.
Dimitri and Byleth looked up at the Lions. Everyone except for Felix and Gilbert had a tang of concern and desperation in their eyes. They were just as horribly affected by the war as the two of them were. Dimitri crossed his arms. "So you all agree that we must fight back and how the Empire cannot be forgiven?"
The Lions glanced around, not sure how to answer. It was true that the Empire has given them many hardships within a couple months, but surely the Empire as a whole could still be forgiven. It was only the leader, Edelgard and all who sided with it, who is responsible.
Ingrid was the first to step up. She took a few steps forward and kneeled in front of her lieges. "As a knight, it is my duty to assist you whatever that task may be." She said.
Ashe followed and bowed as well. "It is mine to, Your Majesties."
"While it will be sad having to fight our former friends, I'm sure we can find a way to prevail." Sylvain added.
"You can count me in!" Annette cheered.
"If Annie's in then I am." Mercedes piped in.
All eyes were on Felix. He was the only one who hasn't fully pledged himself to the cause.
"Felix, are you in?" Annette asked.
Felix heavily sighed. "Fine, I'm in." He turned to Gilbert and leaned in to whisper something to him. "Keep a close eye on them. We don't need them fully in charge so they don't turn this into a suicide mission. I was always weary about that boar and battles, but with Byleth roped into his crazed state as well, this war effort is destined to fall."
Gilbert only nodded in response. He stepped forward. "Well then, the resistance has now grown. With that, there is something I wish to speak to you about once we get inside." He turned to Dimitri. "You are welcome to come too, my king." Gilbert bowed before departing towards the gates of the monastery. Seteth, Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Ashe followed. Annette quickly hugged Byleth one more time before following Mercedes inside. Byleth glanced around and couldn't see traces of the Wolves and assumed they already headed back to Abyss.
Dimitri and Byleth were the only ones that remained outside. Byleth looked up at Dimitri. "Are you sure we can do this?" She asked.
Dimitri didn't meet her gaze but kept his eye on the ground. "Together we will. I swear it on my lance that I won't let that wretched women take any more lives of those I care about." Dimitri said. "I won't let Dedue's death be in vain."
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A/N: Hope y'all enjoyed! Some other pairings are starting to be hinted at, can you guess who they are? 😉
Next time: As the non-Kingdom students slowly join the cause, efforts to reconcile with the fallen King and Queen are going astray... and an army is on its way.
Have a great day y'all!
~The Artist Sylveon 🌸