The Bright Star [Fire Emblem: Three Houses AU]

The Promise (Dimitri)

The following day, instead of having a class day like the Black Eagles and the Golden Deer, the Blue Lions instead got to party instead of focusing on their studies to celebrate Mercedes winning the White Heron Cup for them. It was quite similar to the ball, though they did not use the ballroom as a setting. Instead, the part took place in the Blue Lion classroom. The students were served drinks and pastries just like at the ball and were allowed to socialize.

"So, Byleth is coming?" Felix asked Dimitri.

"Yes, he is," Dimitri said. "I invited him to come to the party."

"I heard he's really nice, Felix," Annette added as she ate a few sweets. "I haven't been to any of his extra seminars, but I heard he was really nice!"

"I've been to one before," Felix said. "Not sure why he's really popular among the students other than being the extracurricular sword seminar professor."

"It's because he's Captain Jeralt's son," Mercedes said. "He's training for the Knights of Seiros part-time. Because his father is the Captain, he's able to train him to get him up to the high ranks as soon as he's done with training."

"But what happens when he's completed his training?" Ashe asked. "Will he continue to be a professor here? Or will he be part of the Knights full time and we won't see him as much?"

"I would guess that he would be part of the Knights full time and won't see us as often as he does now," Dimitri said. "That's why I invited him to come along. I don't know when he'll complete his training, but perhaps it'll be before the school year ends." Dimitri looked to the classroom entrance, where he saw Byleth walk in. "There he is."

"I apologize that I'm late," Byleth said, approaching the house leader. "But not too late, right? The party's until the school part of the day ends for students."

"That's true," Dimitri said to Byleth. "Welcome, Professor."

Byleth nodded as he grabbed some pastries and sat down with the Blue Lions students for a conversation. The topic would switch quite often, from it going to food from the dining hall to the Knights of Seiros.

"Byleth would make a great captain of the Knights of Seiros," Dimitri said. "With his father as the current captain, Byleth seems close to being there already."

"I appreciate your consideration, but I'm only close to being a high-ranking recruit," Byleth said. "Once I finish my training, I'll be one of the high-ranking knights. I'll have to climb my way up the ranks if I ever wanted to be the Captain."

"It's better than being a low-ranked recruit though," Ingrid said. "Congratulations!"

"We'll miss you as a professor," Dimitri said. "But we hope that you enjoy being a knight."

"I enjoyed being with you all and the students of the Officers Academy for the years I worked here." Byleth smiled. "Maybe someday we'll be able to reunite."

"I like that!" Annette smiled. "Where would it be?"

"The Millennium Festival is coming up in five years," Byleth said. "What the class of 1180 all reunited at the Millennium Festival? We could catch up with each other and whatnot."

"I think that sounds like a great idea," Dimitri said. "What about you all?"

"Of course," the rest of the Blue Lion house said.

"The Millennium Festival it is, then." Byleth took a sip from his tea. "I'll be there for you. After all, being a member of the Knights of Seiros will require you to stay at the monastery or nearby, and living at the monastery you'll always want to go to the monastery events."

"Can you tell me what being a knight is like when we reunite?" Ashe asked him.

"I will. Based on what my father tells me about being one, you get to see a lot of the Fódlan landscape and culture being practiced all over the region. However, the downside is that you have to kill to keep your job, even watching innocents perish. All of that while you're fighting to keep yourself alive and to please whoever hired you."

"But if you die, you wouldn't have died in vain, right?" Ashe asked. "You would've died honorably and whoever hired you would be proud that you gave up your life for them."

Dimitri looked at Ashe. "I think that the knights should take their own lives into consideration. They themselves are their own person. When I'm king, I'll make sure that nobody thinks that they owe their lives to someone. Not legally, at least."

"Then you'd be an awful king, you boar," Felix argued. "Their job is to risk their lives for their lieges."

"I'm not saying that I want to make it illegal for them to do their job. I just want them to acknowledge that they're people themselves." He looked toward his classmates. "If you all were to fight by my side, if it was my life or yours, I want you to choose your life. You have your own lives outside of protecting mine."

"My duty as a member of a noble house of Faerghus is to protect and serve you since you're a member of House Blaiddyd," Ingrid said. "I am to die before you in the shadows of war. Hell, both of our lives could probably be taken at once."

Byleth stopped the students before they could delve further into an argument on their views of the chivalric code of Faerghus. "Nobody's going to die in war. We all are going to live to see each other live happy lives. Understood?"

With loud silence, the Blue Lions students nodded.

When the school day ended, Byleth said gave a temporary farewell to the Blue Lion students, thanking Prince Dimitri for inviting him. He left the classroom, on his way to attend to whatever else there was for him.

"Is it just me, or was Byleth acting a little odd towards the end?" Felix said.

"I think he just was a little fed up with us arguing," Dimitri said. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm really sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, it's alright," Dedue said to cheer him up. "We all make our own mistakes."

"Say, I was thinking about something," Mercedes said. "I heard that Byleth's new hair color was like a little costume of his for the ball. But he still wore it today. Did he really like it or something?"

"I should've asked about that," Annette said. "We were having so much fun with him that I guess it was natural to forget about it. But yeah, I remember hearing that it was only a costume or something like that at the ball. What if we found him later to see if he was still wearing it?"

"I can't think of anyone who would leave a costume on for a few days," Ingrid said. "Or well, not anyone who isn't a young child. Byleth is an adult."

"Something seems odd here," Dimitri said. "Perhaps I can talk to him about that. But it feels weird that this is all over what he's presenting to us as a costume, you know? Besides, maybe he just left it on for us since he thought we liked it. But he was still wearing his usual outfit with his cloak and everything. It was only his hair and eyes that were different."

"I have a feeling he's not telling us something," Felix said sternly. "If we don't consult him about this, we're never going to find out."