Chapter Text
She had that dream again. It seemed to re-emerge constantly as of late. If she knew what was triggering such visions to appear and tease her sleeping mind with questions that would receive no answers, then she would gladly stomp it out to give her some piece of mind during the nights. Sleep was important, and with her life always on the road, constantly moving, never standing still to enjoy her surroundings, sleep was her salvation, and these unprompted dreams of no origins of her own was heresy.
The roar of battle plagued her mine once more, but it was not a nightmare. she was not fitful, just annoyed. Annoyed of her curiosity being left uncured. Annoying at its prevalence when she had hoped for this time to dream of something different. A woman stood amongst the soldiers. She stood ahead, unwavered, calm, stoic, as men let out their last cries in her name. It was only until she was face to face with a man of great stature did something change within her. Rage.
She charged forward, and the two clashed, once more, their blood would decide the outcome. The man growled out a smirk, staring into the eyes of the woman whos eyes shook with a maddening lust for revenge. He dislodged their blades from its stalemate and shoved her across the field with a heavy blow from his arm. She slid through the mud, unyielding despite all odds, and faced forward, even after the onslaught from his whip like blade. She dodged each attack, waiting for the perfect opening to disarm him before dashing forward and landing a blow to his face. While he was disoriented from the first blow, she jumped up and used her legs to ground his body into the weeping earth. She panted, her lungs screaming out after everything, knowing her work was still not finished, she unsheathed a dagger, and for the first time, Byleth heard her speak.
"Tell me, Nemesis."
Her eyes flamed with fury as she stared down at the man, dagger to his throat, his expression that of mockery towards her. It wasn't until her next words that his eyes widened in complete shock.
"Do you recall the Red Canyon" HIs expression wasn't enough to satisfy her, as she raised her blade in the air, "you'll die for that!" and planted it into his neck.
with each stab, she shouted the word "die", and with each time she spoke those words, it was louder and more frantic. Even after he was long gone she continued to stab him. The soldiers stared on, the fighting having ended, as they watched in concern for their commander.
"You took... everything that I loved."
Finally, when she had finished her onslaught of attacks at the corpse, she looked up to the sun, ignoring the cheering of her soldiers. She slowly crawled to the blade that was once wielded by the man, no, Nemesis, and brought it to her face, holding it in a loving embrace. A weep on the edge of her lips, she whispered in a soft kind tone, "He's gone now.... Mother."
After that there was a flash of lights and images she could not recognize, so much of this was new until the throne returned with the green haired girl returned once more.
This part of her dream always remained the same it seemed. They spoke, she was asked for her name and birth, Byleth she had told her, and the girl would be sleepy again and return to her nap.
"Hey. time to wake up." The gruff voice of a man spoke out within the dark room. Her father.
She slowly rose from the bed she was resting on, and glanced around, her mind still fuzzy from the rest. "Were you having that dream again?" her father asked her, drawing her attention from the floor to his aged face.
Yes... I was dreaming about a girl." she replied, stretching her shoulders back and around in a circler motion while tilting her head to each side. The bed at the inn they had chosen was not the most comfortable, something she would have to suffer with the consequences of now. If only she had known beforehand, maybe rewound to the night of so she could choose a different bed or anything.
"You've described her to me before, I don't think I've ever met anyone like that." he shrugged and tossed a bag at Byleth, her things possibly, before continuing, "In any case, just put that out of your mind for now. The battlefield is no place for idle thoughts."
She rose from her position, hearing a few cracks within her spine as she stretched out, knocking the poor mistreated bag from her lap to the floor.
"Risking your life is part of the job for mercenaries like us. Letting your mind wander is a sure way to get yourself killed. "
Byleth nodded her head, uncaring for the lack of real conversation between them. It was all she was used to after all. Work, sleep, work, sleep, and more work. It was the life she was born into and all she would ever know.
"Okay, time to get moving. Our next job is in the Kingdom. I told you before, its far from here so we'll need to leave at dawn." His words were a reminder that she needed to hurry, and so hurry she did. "Of course"
He looked outside momentarily only to sigh loudly, "Hm, good grief, everyone is already waiting for us outside."
Together, they began to make their exit until one of the fellow mercenaries ran inside. Byleth made eye contact and a slight nod to his presence, Aaron, if she remembered correctly. He acknowledged her with a quick hurried returned nod, before bringing his attention to her father.
"Jeralt, Sir! sorry to barge in, but your presence is needed."
"Whats happened?"
"There are three kids outside seeking our aid. I figured you would want to evaluate for yourself the situation they claim to be in." Aaron spoke, pointing outside over his shoulder.
"Duty calls then" Byleth hummed, her expression never changing as she walked out, followed by Aaron and Jeralt.
"Three kids you say?" Jeralt asked, snorting, "I hope you aren't wasting my time-"
"They are well dressed. I found it suspicious for them to be traveling alone and I figured you would want to look into their true intentions. After all, " Aaron made a motion towards Byleth, "The captains daughter has always been rather skilled at reading people."
A compliment from Aaron was common as she had gotten older. Anyone looking from the outside would know he fancied her, Byleth was absolutely blind to such a detail.
"Its easy to do when people wear their feelings so plainly on their face." She turned her head around to look at him, her hair framing her round face, a unintentionally seductive look that hardly reached her eyes in a way that was almost sinful to Aaron. "O-of course, But I can't say the same about you. The number of times you have beaten me at-" he stopped, seeing the expression on his bosses face. Aaron realized that he was blushing and a little too red for captain Jeralts liking.
Soon they were standing before the three kids mentioned before. Byleth was immediately looking over them, her eyes lingering over the blonde the longest. If she had a heartbeat, it might have leapt shyly. She was unsure of what she was experiencing, but it was akin to that of gazing upon her father. An old familiar friend. It wasn't the feeling altogether that she didn't recognize, but the fact that she was experiencing it with a complete stranger. In fact, one could argue she felt the sting of familiarity with all three of them, but when she looked at his face, there was something else there, a feeling mixed in that she couldn't place.
"Please, forgive our intrusion." his voice ripped Byleth from her thoughts, "We wouldn't bother you were the situation not dire."
"what do a bunch of kids like you want at this hour?" Jeralt asked.
"we're being perused by a group of bandits. I can only hope you will be so kind as to lend your support" The blonde spoke, his icey blue gaze fully directed at her father, unwavering, unmistakable politeness with little confidence. Byleth immediately pegged him as the type who probably liked receiving praises, but she also had a feeling that maybe she was wrong.
"Bandits? Here?" her fathers confused voice spoke out, and Byleth realized that this was the second time she had been distracted by wandering thoughts.
"It's true. They attacked us while we were at rest in our camp." The girl of the group spoke out, confidence and uncaring. Her platinum hair brushed back nicely with two ribbons to keep the bangs from her face.
"We've been separated from our companions and we're outnumbered. They're after our lives... not to mention our gold." the darker toned man in yellow spoke up lastly. The gold bit was probably mentioned to sway her father into agreeance of aid.
Jeralt glanced over them, judging them silently, "I am surprised you are staying so calm considering the situation. I... wait... that uniform." he narrowed his eyes at them, and Byleth tilted her head curiously at her father, wondering what would gain such a response from him. Her eyes flickered between the group and her father, a question on the tip of her lips.
Before it could even be spoke, it was ripped from her as another member of their crew ran up. From his appearance, she could tell it was an emergency.
"Bandits spotted just outside the village! Damn... There are a lot of them." he huffed out, hands resting on his knees as he struggled to regain composure from the long run.
Jeralt glared at the kids, shaking his head while Byleth began to unsheeth her blade, already knowing what would be done while her father was in the middle of his order. "I guess they followed you here. We can't abandon this village now. C'mon, lets move, hope you're ready."
The last part was directed at the three more so than Byleth. Jeralt tossed the kids some weapons and they made their way out to defend the village.
"I'm going to stay behind the front lines and make sure none get too close to the village, you can handle the brats right?" he asked her, his head nodding towards the mixed company.
" I should come along and help" Aaron spoke out, "Besides, is it really smart to leave this up to a bunch of strangers?" he asked, ulterior motives obviously being to spend time with Byleth, something all too obvious to Jeralt as he sighed and ruffled his hair, thinking of a way to let the guy down lightly. "Byleth can handle it, after all, it's not really our problem Aaron, the kids are the ones who brought them here, so they should clean it up... but You can stay behind with me to make sure things don't get too messy."
Aaron was satisfied with that response, grinning happily towards Byleth, her expression remaining unchanged. "No Idle chit chat Father." She said before turning away before seeing her fathers expression, and Aarons teasing one, and facing the music of battle with the strangers.