Fire Emblem Three Houses: Risings

Chapter 3: The Past and Future

Dimitri was preparing for the upcoming battle he was going to wage against the monastery. To his advantage, Marianne's magic never reached around the ruins completely. With easy magic, Dimitri opened up a secret staircase and followed the steps, leading him out into an underground laboratory. There were many large tubes, each one carrying a puppet solider being powered by crests that were taken by the people from the nearby village. With a smile, Dimitri released all of them and they all pledge their loyalty.

"Good. Mindless puppets being more loyal than the pathetic subjects I once had," Dimitri said as he held up his lance. "Listen, all of you. I plan to wage war against the monastery, and get rid of the archbishop and false king of this land. As the one who released all of you, follow my command or taste my wrath."

There was no objections from any of the puppets and Dimitri nodded. He knew he had to kill Claude and Byleth as revenge for his death. However, once they were killed, Dimitri had plans to take over Fódlan and stretch out his power to the other neighboring countries.

"Father. Mother. Dedue. I'll avenge all of you...I'll make them pay and finally claim my birthright," Dimitri said as his hand clenched tightly around his relic. The puppet soldiers got to work on creating weapons for their invasion as Dimitri simply talked to himself and the ghosts from his past.

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About a few days went by, and there was still no news from any of their allies.

Claude and Byleth could only assume that each of them got the letters, but that was all they could do. Even then, they were anxious and even hesitant whenever the topic of Dimitri popped up in their conversations. Unfortunately, both of them were too busy to even have just a small normal conversation together. Claude was too busy preparing the knights and Almyran troops for the battle, making sure for him to train as well. Byleth was still overseeing the new students and keeping up with the church's sermons for the villagers that would come and visit.

When either one of them was done, they would return to their chambers and try to wait for the other by staying up, but would always fall asleep before they would arrive. Claude desperately wanted to talk with her, but as king, he knew his responsibility was to keep his troops reassured that everything was going to be alright. Byleth, however, decided to surprise him. After all, he had done the same for her a few days ago. So, using the power of Claude's "decree", she snuck off to the kitchen a prepared a hefty dinner just for the two of them. Once that was done, she had it ordered to her room and she waited there for Claude's arrival.

It was really late when Claude was done for the day. He sighed tiredly as he stretched out his limbs, lazily putting Anais back into her stable. She grunted softly as Claude stroked her scales.

"Good girl. Rest up, okay?" He said as Anais huffed. He chuckled softly as he turned off the lantern and left the area. He made his way to the entrance of the building where Byleth's room was, and was surprised to see the room still lit.

'She's awake?' He thought. 'Maybe she fell asleep with the light on. Way too late for her liking to be up right now.'

He finished his thoughts as he entered the building and made his way up the stairs. As softly and quietly as he could, Claude opened the door and was greeted with quite a sight. Byleth was standing in front of a table and waiting for him, still in her church robes from earlier. The food was still nice and warm thanks to her knowledge in fire magic. He was speechless as he didn't quite know how to respond despite him being known as a talkative schemer.

"It's really late, Claude. You must be exhausted," Byleth said softly as Claude stepped inside and closed the door.

"I know. Training with the knights took a bit longer than expected. They're really rusty on their bow skills," Claude chuckled as Byleth smiled. "But, I'm here now. What's all this?"