Work Text
༺❀༻ POV: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd ༺❀༻
The cool wind blows through Dimitri’s blond locks sending them across his face. He smiles at the relief from the scorching sun.Looking over his shoulder, Dimitri finds his stepmother, Patricia; his father, King Lambert; and Cornelia laughing as they sip their tea.Squinting his eyes to look into the distance, Dimitri sees the faint outline of the Duscur Nation.Dimitri strides over to where the adults sit, a wide grin spread across his face, “We’re almost there!” he says.
King Lambert laughs and ruffles his son’s hair as Dimitri swats his hand away, “That we are!” the King says.Frowning, Lambert pulls away to point into the distance, “What’s that?”
Dimitri turns and spots a group riding towards them on horseback. He notices that they carry torches and weapons. “Father…” Dimitri says, voice wavering, “what are you doing?”The King looks up, lance in hand as he orders the Knights of Seiros to attack the mob before telling Dimitri “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Then, he’s gone, having jumped out of the carriage to meet their foes.The Knights are outnumbered and losing despite their skill. The mob is gaining ground; before long, they will be within reach of the vehicle.Patricia and Cornelia are huddled in a corner and Dimitri makes a choice. He reaches to grab his lance, determination lining his features, but Cornelia blocks him resulting in a stray arrow to pierce through her chest.Dimitri’s blue eyes sparkle with tears as he attempts to make a move forward. One of the Duscur soldiers throws a torch into the carriage, setting it aflame.With his clothes on fire, Dimitri frantically drops to roll on the ground attempting to snuff out the flames. All it manages to do though, his cause him to breathing more heat and smoke.Through his blurred vision, Dimitri sees his father collapse, run through by his own lance. He opens his mouth to scream, but it is all silent. A muffled voice calls for him to rest. Dimitri closes eyes from the world, finally giving in.
༺❀༻ POV: Patricia Blaiddyd (Anselma von Arundel) ༺❀༻
“Lord Arundel.” Patricia greets, holding her hand out politely.
“We have the Hresvelg girl as promised.” Arundel says, shaking her hand, “But remember, the Adrestian throne is ours.”
Patricia nods, “I’d expect as much. Where is she?”A slender girl with stark white hair and glowing violet eyes steps out from behind one of the larger pillars in the room. The Queen makes her way over to the girl, “And how are you my daughter?” She watches as the girl’s eyes flit between emotions. First was annoyance, then recognition, happiness, confusion, understanding, and finally hate.
༺❀༻ POV: Edelgard von Hresvelg (Edelgard Blaiddyd) ༺❀༻
At first, it was hard for her to fit all of the pieces together, but once Edelgard understood, she felt her already-fractured heart turn to dust.Her mother, her loving, caring mother, had killed the Prince and King, orchestrated her siblings’ torture and death—her torture—and taken away her throne to hand it right to those vile creatures. There was nothing Edelgard could do about it.She spat at Patricia’s feet with pure hatred, relishing in the pain that spread across her face. Edelgard took a moment to compose herself before calmly walking off to find the training grounds—but not before hearing Lord Arundel laugh and say “That one’s got fire alright.”
༺❀༻ POV: Byleth Eisner ༺❀༻
Byleth stalked down her prey, eyes and face betraying no emotion. Her mind was a blank canvas waiting to be filled with something. She killed enemy after enemy, striking, stabbing and slashing left and right, ahead and behind herself. She cut through her opponents as if her sword was meeting better instead of flesh.Byleth could hear the shouts, the cries of fear. But she couldn’t dwell on that. She was a mercenary and mercenaries always got the job done.With a final swing of her sword, the final bandit fell. Byleth sheathed her sword and walked away, not even bothering to look back.
-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-
People scampered out of her way as Byleth walked into the city soaked in blood—thought not a drop was hers.“It’s the Ashen Demon!” The civilians whispered amongst themselves. Byleth knew that people were afraid of her, she knew that people thought she was insane, why else would a fourteen year old child be such a cold emotionless killing machine? Byleth also knew that she did have emotions. She just had a different way of expressing them.Byleth’s boots could be heard clacking up the steps to where the man that hired Jeralt’s Mercenaries stood. She held out her hand expectantly, waiting for the coins to drop. When none came, Byleth whipped out her dagger holding it to the noble’s throat. With a shaky hand, the coins were finally produced. Byleth walked away, satisfied and with another job complete.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
༺❀༻ POV: Byleth Eisner ༺❀༻
Byleth couldn’t remember the last time Jeralt managed to bag such a big job. The assassination of a Queen would sentence all of the mercenaries to death if it was traced back to them. Byleth could only hope no one would rat them out. The young mercenary picked up her packed bags just as Jeralt walked into her tent—if she could call it that while sharing it with 5 others—and nodded his head in approval, “Well done kid. You ready to move out?”
Raking a hand through her dark-blue hair, Byleth said “Yeah, but I still can’t believe that we’re going to infiltrate the palace and murder the Queen of all people.”
Jeralt let out a loud laugh as they exited the tent, drawing the attention of some of the other mercenaries.“You know kid,” he started once he had calmed down, “I was thinking you could go to school again after we finish this mission. It might benefit you. And no, you don’t have a choice.”
Byleth shook her head in horror, “I can’t go! School always made people mean to me! Besides, now that I can fight back, I could seriously hurt them!”Surprised by his daughter’s outburst, Jeralt paused a moment before continuing, “It’s not a normal school you know.” he said, “It’s called the Officers’ Academy and you could get a real chance at life there. Besides, I’d still see you every once and a while if that’s what you’re worried about.”Byleth simply stared at him, feeling a rare emotion overcome her. She tried to place it. Was it anger? No. Sadness? Fear? Disbelief? Yes. That was it. She just couldn’t believe that her father would send her off like this—especially after such an important job. Byleth knew she just had to prove him wrong.
༺❀༻ POV: Edelgard Blaiddyd (Edelgard von Hresvelg) ༺❀༻
It was another normal day, Edelgard thought, nothing to do but train endlessly and educate meticulously.She slammed her axe into the training dummy again, and again, and again. Sweat beaded and rolled down her skin, matting her hair and clothing against her body.Patricia was busy doing “important” meetings today. Edelgard wouldn’t—couldn’t— ever forgive her. She slammed her axe harder into the splintering wood. She still couldn’t believe that she had thought of Patricia as a mother. No, the truth was much more ugly, but truths always were. Life wasn’t a fairytale with a happily-ever-after ending.Patricia had worked with that horrid group—Those Who Slither In The Dark— to murder her siblings and experiment on all of them. She could remember them cutting open and sealing their bodies as clearly as she could remember her own name.
It was clear that they weren’t going to stop. Edelgard just wanted to join them. Be with her siblings. What more could the Goddess want from a little girl? She had already taken her mother, her siblings, her body, her will. She had prayed everyday to Her. Why couldn’t She just offer her this small gift to take the pain away? Edelgard wanted her family.
Now, Edelgard had to work with the Church of Seiros—The lie that had started it all— until she inherited the other throne. The Kingdom’s throne.
༺❀༻ POV: Byleth Eisner ༺❀༻
The plan was going perfectly. Byleth was walking through the palace halls in a Kingdom uniform. Two other mercenaries in similar attire flanked her on either side.Byleth rapped on a grand wooden door, “Your Majesty,” She said wincing internally, saying what Jeralt told her to say, “Lord Arundel requests your presence.”A few moments later, the Queen stepped out of the door, only to be met with a blade piercing her throat. She didn’t even have enough time to scream before she crumbled to the floor, dead.Byleth left the dagger in her neck and sprinted away with the other mercenaries. No one noticed them as they mounted their horses and sped off into the distance.
༺❀༻ POV: Edelgard Blaiddyd (Edelgard von Hresvelg) ༺❀༻
Edelgard walked towards Patricia’s office, reluctantly following the guards’ summoning. When she arrived, she opened the door expecting Patricia to be seated in her chair. Instead, she was met with the sight of eyes staring out into nothingness and a bloody, hollowed-out throat.I guess it’s not a normal day after all, Edelgard thought, too stunned to move. There was no one else in the room, so Edelgard took a few hesitant steps forward before pulling out the knife to examine it. There, engraved into the blade was a message:Jobs gotta get done. Enjoy the free knife, who knows, you might need it next.
—The Ashen Demon of Jeralt’s MercenariesTwo emotions hit Edelgard: fear and anger. She was afraid, because who would be so confident as to leave a clue as to exactly who they were? How dangerous could they be? and Angry because they had taken away the only person who could give her the answers that she wanted. Although… There was one other place she could get answers: Garreg Mach.That’s it. She thought. That’s where I need to go. The Officers Academy.
༺❀༻ POV: Byleth Eisner ༺❀༻
Turns out I’m not worth keeping after all. Byleth thinks as Jeralt tells her once again that she had to go to the Officers Academy.“Sorry kid.” Jeralt states, “But I really do believe this is what’s best for you.” Byleth just stares blankly at her food as she spoons it into her mouth.That night, Byleth doesn’t fall asleep easily. Instead, she comes to terms with the fact that she really was going to Garreg Mach. Byleth closes her eyes as a mercenary for the last time.