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Post timeskip, takes place after chapter fourteen and takes place before chapter fifteen. Takes place after the "Hidden" part, "Withered Flowers" part, "A Gift for Her" part, "Humour" part, "The Face Beneath" part & "Hopes" part. Takes place after Byleth & Marianne's A Support. References "Silence" part and references Marianne and Dimitri's supports. Takes place at around 3am on the 25th of Pegasus Moon.
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Byleth's eyes started to flutter open.
She was lying on the hard ground.
The weather was blazing hot, it felt like Ailell.
Or perhaps...that's where she was right now.
Byleth thought to herself while she started to wake up and stare at the sky. "What...I don't remember what happened...when did I get to Ailell? How did-"
"I'LL DESTROY YOU!"
Byleth's eyes started to flutter wide open when her thoughts were cut off by someone's voice.
"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"
That same voice again...
The voice sounded as if it was in a mix of absolute rage and also heartbreak.
Byleth slowly turned her head towards the direction where it came from which was from her right.
Then her eyes widened when she looked in the direction.
Her vision of where the voice came from was blocked due to the fact that there was another person laying on the ground with their eyes closed.
Their orange hair and stomach was covered in blood.
They weren't breathing or moving either.
Byleth screamed and backed away.
Then she realised...she wasn't in Ailell at all!
The reason why it was so hot was because...there was fire surrounding the area.
She looked around and... she wanted to puke.
The person that was laying on the ground in front of her before was...Annette.
"Annette!" She yelled.
There was obviously no response.
"Wake up! Please!" Byleth checked for her pulse.
There was nothing at all.
She was definitely dead. There was nothing she could do...
Byleth couldn't believe this.
Byleth could then hear the noises of axes and lances clashing from where Annette's corpse was blocking.
Byleth stood up and... she started to wish that she didn't.
Annette's corpse wasn't the only one that was on the ground there.
Everyone's corpse was...
Everyone she knew... dead.
Most corpses had...some axe wound...
Did Edelgard do this?
Some didn't even have their whole body. Some were even headless.
It was...traumatising.
The ground was covered in blood.
Then Byleth looked at her hands and they were also covered in her friends' blood from her using her hands to get off the ground.
"...-H-how..what....w-why...I...No...t-this" She stuttered as she stared completely wide eyed at the corpses of all her friends and many other soldiers.....
The only corpse she couldn't find was Dimitri's but she wasn't sure if she wanted to go and find it.
Byleth couldn't even tell where she was even...It was really hard to tell.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Byleth's attention went to where that broken voice came from...
She realised that...there was a reason why she couldn't find Dimitri's corpse.
That's because...he was the only one not dead.
He was the owner of that voice!
And...he was fighting someone.
Byleth realised who it was he was fighting.
It was Edelgard!
Edelgard was wearing her Flame Emperor armor except for the mask. She and the broken hearted sounding prince.... Were clashing their weapons with one another, desperate to kill the other.
Dimitri was clearly struggling due to Edelgard's heavy armour but it doesn't seem like he has any intentions of giving up.
However it was very obvious he could die at this rate since the lance has done much less damage than Edelgard's axe on his body.
Not to mention, he was covered in wounds.
Dimitri walked backwards, he took a deep breath.
He took a glance from behind and he looked more heartbroken and more furious at the same time.
Byleth watched.
"No..Dimitri....You can't!" Byleth yelled out.
Dimitri ignored Byleth's words.
He looked back at Edelgard and he was outraged. "I'LL TAKE THAT HEAD FROM YOUR FILTHY SHOULDERS AND GIVE IT TO THE DEAD. I'LL DO IT, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!"
He then charged up towards Edelgard with his lance.
Byleth instinctively reached her arm towards him despite him being nowhere near her. "Dimitri! No! Stop! You're going to get yourself killed!"
Her words failed to reach Dimitri.
He continued to struggle towards Edelgard's axe.
Byleth yelled again. "Dimitri! Please listen to me! Please... I beg you please!"
Her words didn't change anything once again.
She was desperate to take measures and then she tried to run towards where Edelgard and Dimitri were fighting.
But when she got close enough, she bumped into something.
She was confused but she tried to go there again
...No luck.
It was like some invisible, magical barrier, force or wall was preventing from interfering.
Like she was completely useless here.
"What no! No! No! This can't be happening, no!"
She tried to break the invisible barrier with the sword of the creator but she ended up breaking the sword instead, causing her to lose her balance and trip over backwards.
She tripped over and fell on someone's body.
Marianne's body...
She screamed when she saw what she fell on and immediately stood up. She ran back to that unusual invisible wall.
"WHY DID YOU DO SUCH A THING YOU HEARTLESS MONSTER! WHY WOULD YOU CAUSE SUCH TRAGEDIES IN MY LIFE?! WHY DID YOU KILL EVERYONE? EVERYONE IN MY ARMY?!"
Byleth's attention went to Dimitri when he yelled that out and as he continued to try to kill Edelgard.
She ran to the barrier but she was still unable to go through it. She kept punching the barrier out of desperation.
She even tried to use Divine Pulse...but for some reason...it wouldn't work at all!
Then she saw Edelgard cut Dimitri's shoulder which made her shriek and scream. "DIMITRI! STOP THIS! PLEASE! YOUR GONNA DIE! PLEASE!"
He got up, despite the pain in his shoulder and continued to lunge towards Edelgard with his lance.
"YOU TOOK MY FAMILY! MY FRIENDS! EVERYONE I LOVED! I'LL NEVER LET YOU LIVE EVEN IF I DIE!"
Their weapons were clashing but Dimitri was getting more and more out of breath.
Byleth didn't understand. It was as if both Dimitri and Edelgard couldn't hear her. "Dimitri! Can't you hear me! I'm begging you...Please..."
"You can scream and yell all you want but no one will hear you. You're nonexistent to everyone."
Byleth didn't know who said that. It sounded kind of like Kronya but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Byleth ignored the voice and yelled again. "Dimitri!"
He still couldn't hear her. It was like she was some kind of ghost.
"It's useless. You'll never be heard by anyone. You shouldn't even care anyways, you don't have a heartbeat so you shouldn't even feel anything."
Byleth confronted whoever this voice belonged to even if she couldn't see them. "I don't know who you are but...I do feel something. I know I do. And I will not let him die here! I care about him! I..I won't..."
"Do you really believe that you can have the ability to feel anything at all? You might not even have a heart to begin with. Even if you could feel, why would Dimitri believe in a heartless being such as yourself? You'll never be heard from anyone. You're forever useless. You can't even interfere with their fight. You may as well be nonexistent. Makes sense, all you're good for is killing people. You don't even have heart so how are you even human? You're just some...Empty Vessel. You don't mean anything to anyone..."
Edelgard's axe broke Dimitri's lance which caused him to fall backwards.
Byleth tried to get through this invisible force even more but she still couldn't do it.
"No! Dimitri! Don't die! Please!"
Her words were still unheard.
He fell and he struggled trying to get up.
He then looked up and saw that Edelgard was about to swing her axe to draw the final blow.
No...
"Farewell King of Delusion. I'll be sure to give the dead your head instead of mine if that makes you feel better."
No!
She swung her axe on his neck, gruesomely cutting his head off his body.
Byleth was horrified and shrieked out of instinct from seeing Dimitri gruesomely die.
"NO!"
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Byleth's eyes quickly opened and she laid up on her bed.
She was panting due to how awful that nightmare was.
It was just a dream...
But that didn't calm her down that much. She kept panting over and over.
She put her hand on her forehead so so she could try and calm down...
But she couldn't...
She felt something come from her eyes...
It was...weird.
It was...tears...
She tried to wipe them away and then laid back down to bed so she could go back to sleep...
But the tears just wouldn't stop...
She just cried and cried from remembering that nightmare...
"Why am I...crying? It wasn't- It wasn't- even re-real. Ca-"
She then started sobbing.
She hadn't cried like this in such a long time.
Not since she lost her father.
"Sothis! Where are you? I don't want to be alo-"
She cut herself off when she realised...that Sothis wasn't here anymore...
Wasn't there to comfort her anymore...
She couldn't sleep, she just kept sobbing.
It felt horrible. She wanted to stop crying...
She doesn't understand how she can feel like this...
She doesn't understand how she is even feeling anything at all...
She just couldn't stop crying...the tears won't leave her alone...
Even if she doesn't have a heartbeat....she was still panting and crying...like an ordinary person...
She...she couldn't stop thinking about it...
She ran out of her quarters.
She doesn't care in the slightest how late it was.... She just ran out...in the dark...she could barely see but still didn't care...
She even bumped into a few walls which caused her to cry even more due to them reminding her of when she was bumping into that magical barrier from that nightmare...
She ran into the reception hall and then into the Cathedral.
She ran to where the broken pieces of the Cathedral...hoping to see Dimitri there...
but he wasn't there...
No one was...
Of course there wasn't anyone there though...who knew how late it was...
But Byleth couldn't even think straight..
She never felt so conflicted and terrified before....
She didn't even know what she wanted at that second...she just felt awful...
Remembering the corpses of her friends....Edelgard chopping off Dimitri's head from his shoulders....That weird voice...
...that weird voice...
She starts to think about what they said to her...
That he can never hear her...that she means nothing to him...That she can't do anything to help him...or to help anyone including herself....
"Am I even...doing anythi-"
"Professor? Is that you?"
Byleth's mumblings were cut off. She flinched when she heard that shy, slightly quiet voice calling her.
She hesitated to turn around especially since she was still shaken up from that nightmare and covered in tears.
She did eventually turn around in the end even if it was slow.
It was Marianne. She was running up to her.
Byleth felt sick. She wasn't sure how to feel seeing Marianne after seeing her in that...dream.
But one thing is for sure is that Byleth was so relieved to see Marianne alive.
Marianne had her hair out and was in casual clothing. It was probably the first time Byleth had ever seen Marianne with her hair out.
Byleth still was shaking though and she didn't leave either when she saw Marianne.
As Marianne walked closer, she realised that Byleth was crying.
She certainly wasn't expecting that...
it was...heartbreaking to see Byleth crying.
She had never seen Byleth cry before...
Marianne was originally going to ask why Byleth was up and then she would leave but...
There was no way she could leave Byleth like this.
"P-Professor?! What happened?" Marianne tried to comfort her.
"Its...it's nothing...Marianne..I...I'm ok...really.." Byleth was trying not to blurt it out.
Marianne didn't believe her. "Are...you sure you're ok?"
Byleth tried to look Marianne in the eye. "Yes Marianne...I'm... I'm-"
Byleth remembered something Dimitri told her when she got herself in a situation almost just like this back five years ago with him. That she didn't have to hold back for his sake. That it was ok to grieve.
Byleth remembered how it felt to hear that - so she sighed and spoke again. "No...I'm not ok...I...Thank you fo- ...Can I not hold back anymore?"
Marianne stared at Byleth when she said that and then Marianne nodded. "Don't hold back for my sake Professor. Maybe I'm not the best person to talk to but....please...don't force yourself..."
Byleth started to sob again and she finally stopped holding back. She found herself hugging Marianne which surprised the both of them.
Byleth said nothing, she just cried and Marianne let Byleth hug her. She hugged her back even.
After some time, Byleth finally pulled out of the hug and quickly apologised. "I'm...I'm sorry Marianne for hugging you out of no-"
Marianne shook her head. "Please Don't worry about that Professor. How are you feeling now?"
"I do feel a little bit better now that I've cried a bit and for you being here with me.. but there's something still bothering me...I..I- Marianne, can I talk to you about something?"
Marianne nodded. "Of course."
Byleth gave her a sad smile. "Well...I know it's silly of me but I feel- I mean um I sobbed so much because of a horrible dream...I've had bad dreams before but that one was..."
Byleth shook her head and spoke again. "Well...I won't talk about the dream but it did make me think of something about myself... Marianne..um..."
Byleth sighed. She wasn't sure how to word it.
Marianne had a feeling on who Byleth might be talking about and so without thinking, asked. "Professor..does it have something to do with Dimitri?"
Byleth was shocked. "How..How did you know?"
Marianne looked at her. "I just had a feeling."
Byleth sighed. "Well...yes you're right. I was thinking if anyone of us actually mean anything to him now...I don't know how to explain it... I just...Do you think we might be even making things worse for him? ...Can anyone here or even me do anything to support him? Am I the one making it worse?"
Marianne shook her head. "Professor, I don't know what your nightmare was about but you aren't making things worse - you are being his friend. Just like we are all being his friend. You shouldn't think like this."
"Huh?"
Marianne clarified what she meant. "You and the others mean a lot more to him than you think you do. Perhaps... More than anyone in the world maybe... He may say otherwise but I know he doesn't think you're in the way or anything of the sort. He wants to let himself be supported by someone but... I believe he's not allowing himself to receive any because he feels as if he doesn't deserve any. He's afraid and he feels lost in his purpose. I would know because...that was me not too long ago."
Byleth looked sad when Marianne said those last few sentences. "Marianne..."
Marianne shook her head and looked confident. "I may have told you this already Professor but now, I've learned to accept the kindness and warmth from everyone. It was because of you Professor. You were always watching over me and always there for me. You were always so kind and accepting towards me despite my flaws..."
Marianne took another deep breath and then spoke again. "Now Dimitri is refusing to accept kindness and warmth. Not because he doesn't want it but because he doesn't believe he deserves it. He believes that he doesn't have the right to live. The right to feel happy. The right to do anything... The right to truly accept anything that could be good for him..."
Marianne walked a bit closer and looked serious but also confident. "Professor, what do you think? Do you believe that he doesn't have the right to live? Do you believe he doesn't have the right to accept kindness and warmth??"
Byleth quickly answered. "Of course he deserves the rights to do so, everyone does! I-I want him to realise that he deserves to live..."
Marianne smiled. "Yes and he knows that you believe that. He wants to reach out to someone, especially you, but he feels like he can't allow himself too. I was the same but now I don't think that way anymore. I want you to know that you're like a beautiful light that can never fade to him Professor... I know that we all can reason with him Professor and push him to the right direction. We just have to support him."
Byleth stared at Marianne and she felt...oddly at ease. She's never seen Marianne so confident before. Even though it felt a bit selfish, she thinks that Marianne may be right...
So she believed her...
She smiled at Marianne. "Marianne...I...Thank you..."
Byleth couldn't even cry anymore.
Those words really did make an impact on her...
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A/N: The nightmare in the beginning is inspired by a cutscene in another fire emblem game, in case you were wondering. Edelgard in the dream was the one who killed everyone and Byleth knew this. Just to clarify, Dimitri isn't the reason why Byleth got this nightmare so please keep that in mind.
But Thanks for reading though. This part will be the last part for Post timeskip Pegasus Moon and we will finally get to Lone Moon. I will not be rewriting Chapter 15 because I don't think I can add too much for that one. All of the other chapters after chapter 15 though? Yes they will be rewritten. Rodrigue will also have his involvement in some of the Lone Moon and onwards parts.
Anyways, prepare for Lone Moon. There are way more parts in this month than there were for Pegasus Moon. I hope you all are excited for that (Man there is one part I really want to show you guys but I can't for obvious reasons) and as always thanks for reading. I hope you liked this one. It certainly turned out far longer than I expected and it is different to the others I've written but I hope you don't mind that :)