Work Text:
“This may sound impetuous. Perhaps irresponsible. Almost certainly impossible. But we’re gonna do it anyway. In exactly give years’ time, let’s promise to meet again, right here at the monastery.”
Claude looked up at the monastery, a small frown on his face as the dead grass underneath his feet crunched at his intrusion.
He wasn’t a fool. He knew what had happened to Garreg Mach all those years ago when Edelgard’s Imperial Troops invaded the monastery. He had fought back-to-back with Dimitri, defending the school as best as they could, but the forces were overwhelming.
After the great, white beast that flew over them crashed, it was like a death sentence. They had to retreat.
Claude had managed to swoop Hilda onto his wyvern while Lysithea hopped on Marianne’s horse and Leonie and Lorenz grabbed Raphael and Ignatz respectively as they rode their steeds into the forests for protection. The monastery was no longer safe. From what he had heard, Dimitri was able to escape with the rest of his class back to Faerghus as well.
How many days has it been? Claude thought to himself as he opened another door. He never realized how large the monastery was until now. He couldn’t help the noise of annoyance that slipped from his lips when the room was empty.
With a heavy sigh in his heart, he dragged his feet back to the Golden Deer classroom. The banners were shred to pieces, littering the floor, books toppled over, the desks collapsed on their sides.
He approached Hilda, who was tiredly sitting at one of the desks they had pushed back so they could sit. His shadow loomed over the pinkette and she looked up.
She looked terrible. Her creamy skin was pale, dirt streaks on her cheeks, her bright eyes sunken in slightly, red-rimmed with tears. She looked away from Claude, shaking her head. “Nothing,” she murmured.
Shadows filled the room and Claude turned around, seeing his weary, tired, Golden Deer companions.
Marianne’s hair had fallen loose, braids long undone and held back by a low ponytail to avoid getting in the way. Her bags were heavier than ever, resembling a sad panda. Her eyes were bloodshot, almost hopeless.
Igantz’s glasses were slightly askew, having fallen during the battle, the side stepped on, so it leaned on one side. His scarf was gone, hair messy with his uniform sleeves ripped from a hit from Bolganone a few days ago.
Lysithea’s white hair was filled with dirt, her pink-eyes rimmed red. Claude had walked by one of the salvageable rooms a couple nights ago and heard Lysithea sobbing in her lonesome. She acted so strong, but he knew she was still so young and delicate in a different way than Marianne was.
Leonie, Raphael, and Lorenz looked the best out of all of them. Leonie and Raphael because they had the stamina and determination, but they were covered in a light layer of sweat and dirt, clothes ripped in multiple places from them actively moving rubble every single day. Lorenz, ever so vain about his appearance, kept his hair as neat as possible, but his clothes were ripped and wrinkled, with matching bags under his eyes like everyone else.
“It’s been eleven days,” Lorenz reported, his voice slightly cracking from lack of use. “We still haven’t found her.”
Hilda sniffed slightly, standing up. “We’ve searched everywhere. What if she’s really-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Lysithea snapped furiously, glaring at the pinkette. “We haven’t found her body so there’s no proof of death!”
Death.
The Deers fell into a collective silence as the word echoed in the large room. Their hands were by no means clean. They knew of death. But they had never lost one of their own; the professor made sure of it.
Claude clenched his fists. If only he could turn back time and prevent her disappearance. Only he knew of her power, having deduced it due to her sudden strange commands on the battlefield. The rest of the Deers never suspected a thing, chalking it up to the Professor’s prowess on the battlefield. But Claude saw the desperate look in her eyes every time their plans suddenly changed. Her face was always stoic, but her eyes gave away everything.
“She’s not dead,” Claude declared, causing his classmates to look at him. He gazed at them steely. “She wouldn’t do that to us. She’s coming back. For now, let us do what we can until she returns. We’ll go back home… we’ll train, and when she comes back, we’ll be ready to help her.”
A renewed strength filled the Deers as they stood straighter, the sun filling the room as it continued to rise.
Claude walked into the cathedral, seeing the collapsed ceiling in the center. The pews were heavily damaged, most of them broken, but some still sat strong.
He never prided himself in being a religious person, but he remembered the first time he prayed for real.
“May the Goddess please bless the Professor…” Marianne mumbled from beside Claude, her eyes closed and hands clasped together.
Following the fight against Kronya and Solon, the Professor had all but collapsed. If it weren’t for Claude’s quick reflexes, she would’ve crumbled to the ground. Her hair was now a soft mint color, just a couple shades lighter than Rhea’s own hair.
Hilda had urged Claude to fly back to the monastery first and he did so without hesitation, taking off quickly on his wyvern. He all but kicked down the door to Manuela’s office and the woman was about to scold him until she saw who was in his arms.
The others had just barely arrived and some were anxious pacing back and forth (Lysithea, Hilda, and Leonie), some were leaning against the wall waiting (Lorenz and Raphael), and some were sitting (himself, Marianne, Ignatz).
Claude glanced over at Marianne beside him and he closed his eyes. Sothis… That is your name, right? This is my first time doin’ a kind of thing like this, but if you can hear me, help Teach out. I… I need her.
His eyes widened at the realization. True, she was an essential point in his plans to unite Fódlan and Almyra, but what about after his goal was achieved? He didn’t want to imagine a future that excluded her.
The door to Manuela’s office opened, causing all of the Deers to stop their activities, standing up straight to look at the songstress. She looked at all of them before smiling. “She’s awake now,” she reported, and Hilda grabbed Marianne, hugging her close. The blunette blushed at the contact but said nothing else. “I advise you guys go in one at a time to not overwhelm her.”
Eight pairs of eyes landed on him and he scratched his cheek. Hilda slapped his back and he groaned in pain from the force she put in. “Jeez, Hilda, are you trying to break my back?”
“Shut up and go see the Professor, Claude. We all know you want to.” He felt his ears warm, but thankfully, his tanned skin hid the red before he walked into Manuela’s office, shutting the door behind him.
Byleth looked up from the sheets at the intrusion. Upon seeing him, a beautiful smile graced her features and Claude suddenly found it difficult to breathe. “Claude,” she said. A warmth filled him and he barely heard the birds chirping outside the open window.
He took in the stale, cold smell of the tower as he climbed up the steps to the Goddess Tower, wondering why he had an urge to see it. It was probably because it was the first time he was able to connect with her about his dreams.
“Just promise to spare a dance for me. Okay, Teach? I swear, so long as it’s not one of those goofy noble dances, I am a treasure on the dance floor!” He gave her a winked and grinned widely at the way a small smile cracked her stoic face.
“We already danced together, Claude,” she pointed out.
“I mean one that doesn’t involve someone interrupting.” He couldn’t help but let the slip of annoyance come out of his voice. Every single time he was able to have her back in his arms, she’d be swept away. Be it Dimitri, Ferdinand, Lorenz, Sylvain… hell, even Ashe, Felix, and Ignatz swooped her!
She gave a small laugh and Claude matched it with one of his own lower ones. They could vaguely hear the music from here and he bowed dramatically. “M’lady.” He held out a hand, looking up at her with thoughtful emerald eyes.
He watched as she bit her bottom lip briefly, before smiling softly and slipping her small hand in his. He couldn’t help but marvel at the way her pale skin contrasted nicely against his own tanned skin. She was by no means paler than the students that hailed from Faerghus, but still light enough. She had a little bit of a pink flush that he had to note was natural.
He adjusted his grip and placed his left hand on her hip, pulling her close to him. She looked up at him with her wide purple-blue eyes. “I thought you didn’t want a goofy noble dance,” she quipped.
Claude let out a laugh, twirling her, watching the way her cloak fluttered, almost touching his own yellow cape. “Did I?” he pretended to think. “I guess I should’ve let you know I’m a man with many talents.”
“That I don’t doubt.”
A light clacking caught his attention, snapping him out of his thoughts as he looked out the Goddess Tower, overlooking Garreg Mach. He turned to see who the intruder was. Perhaps it was one of his fellow Deer arriving for their union.
His heart skipped as he saw the mint color. He wanted rub his eyes as he took in the hair that went slightly past her shoulders, bangs falling in front of worried matching-colored eyes. He looked at her from head to toe, from the white collar to the lacy stockings to the heeled knee-high boots.
A small smile crept up onto his face without warning. “You overslept, Teach! Pretty rude to keep a fella waiting like that. Wouldn’t you say?”
A smile was his response, which he swears brightened up the cold and dreary room, filling it with color, and he could barely hear the birds chirping in the background.