Chapter Text
“It’s over,” Byleth declared. She stood opposite Edelgard, the latter leaning heavily on her weapon for support. Now if she’ll just surrender and we can be done with this war, she thought, preparing to voice those exact thoughts aloud, but the words caught in her throat when she saw the look on the emperor’s face. Edelgard shook her head, almost as if she knew what the former professor was about to suggest.
“It looks as though... my path... will end here,” she panted. Byleth froze. “My teacher... claim your victory. Strike me down.”
“N-no,” Byleth whispered, her voice barely audible. “I can’t...”
“You must,” Edelgard replied, her lavender eyes hard. Even in defeat, she retained her composure and authority. “Even now... across this land, people are killing each other.” She shifted her weight to one side, wincing as she did so. Byleth took a step forward and began to reach out, but Edelgard wasn’t finished. “If you do not act now, this conflict... will go on forever.”
She straightened, her presence as calm and collected as always. She smiled, and Byleth could have sworn there were tears in her eyes. “Your path... lies across my grave. It is time for you to find the courage to walk it.” There was no hostility in her eyes, nor was there any fear. Only acceptance. “If I must fall,” she said, “let it be by your hand.”
Edelgard would not surrender. It wasn’t in her nature. Part of Byleth had always known it would come to this. If I had chosen you and your house, where would we be right now?
Almost as if her body acted on its own, she raised her sword. She began to charge towards Edelgard. The emperor lowered her head, though her sad, lonely smile remained.
You wouldn’t have had to walk this path all alone.
She drove her sword through her former student. The emperor embraced her as she did so.
“I wanted... to walk with you...”
Time seemed to slow down. She heard the emperor’s last words whispered to her, almost like a secret between lovers. She wrenched her sword out and tossed it aside. The weapon fell to the floor with a clatter.
Byleth was vaguely aware of someone screaming. Was it Hilda? Or Marianne? No, she realized. It was her. She sank to her knees, dragging Edelgard’s body with her. The emperor’s arms were still loosely wrapped around her and Byleth couldn’t bring herself to untangle them. She felt something wet drip down her cheeks. Assuming it was blood, she went to wipe it away, only to find tears. She was crying. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that.
“Hey.” A warm hand on her shoulder jolted her back to the present. She turned her head to see Claude standing above her. His green eyes were full of concern. “You okay, my friend?” Byleth looked down at Edelgard. “Stupid question, I know.” He gave a quiet, humorless laugh. “This was your first time killing one of your students, wasn’t it?”
Not just that, she thought to herself. I...
She gazed up at Claude desperately, as if he could somehow fix things. “First we lost Dimitri and now this...”
Dorothea and Ferdinand are going to hate me. Her grip on the emperor’s body tightened.
Claude reached down to pull her away from Edelgard and help her stand up. Yes, she’d lost Dimitri and now Edelgard too, but Claude... She stared at his hand holding hers and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. Claude was here, alive.
I’m sorry.
She fell into his arms and he held her tightly as she sobbed.