Chapter Text
"Gautier?"
Edelgard's eyes went wide. Her teacher was often… eccentric, in her eyes, but this time she simply could not wrap her head around wanting to bring the Gautier heir to the heritage dispute that was their mission for that month.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, professor? I trust your judgement, but bringing Sylvain seems… Kind of unnecessary, doesn't it?" The house leader of the black eagles felt something creeping on her skin. Making siblings fight, especially over a conflict that stemmed from a crest, seemed cruel. It seemed like one of fate's cruel jokes.
"Sylvain can handle himself on a battle, Edelgard. And he asked me to do this, in fact. It seems him and Miklan aren't on the best of terms, so whatever happens, I suppose it'll give him catharsis." Ah, of course. Byleth, always putting the students well-being and wishes first, even against common sense.
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"Sylvain, move!" Byleth struggled to keep Miklan's -or what used to be Miklan- claw away from their student with the Sword of the Creator. The strength of the beast was formidable, and even their own power struggled to hold up against the demonic beast's. They were about to be hit by a furious tail until someone intervened and stabbed the monster's foot with a lance.
"MIKLAN!" the younger Gautier's face contorted in something Byleth couldn't make out as he embedded the lance even deeper in the wound, the rest of the Black Eagles swooping in to distract it from crushing student and teacher both. It was angered to the point where it was exclusively targeting Sylvain. It lifted a claw and aimed to swat him to the wall, and Sylvain hadn't noticed. And he didn't, until he saw a flash of red get in between him and the beast.
With a swift, powerful strike, the beast's claw was rendered useless, making it bow down to the might of the Hresvelg heiress. Sylvain needed little more. Running past Edelgard, Sylvain jumped on its head, burying the lance right on its forehead. No one dared breathe until the figure of the beast started to vanish like threads into the air. Sylvain dropped to the floor, stripped of the surface he was standing on, and sat up, chest tight and breathing fast, not giving credit to his eyes. The Lance of Ruin glared accusingly at him from the floor. The Eagles were all looking at him, a mix of pity and incredulity.
He had just killed his own brother. But hadn't he already, from the moment he was born with a crest?
Sylvain trembled, horrified by the relief that washed over him at first, and dug his nails in the dirt, trying to grasp anything that could give him grounding. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Miklan's face, pale and pained, even in his last moments. Byleth handed their cloak to Gilbert, telling him to do things Sylvain couldn't hear, and then went to him. "Sylvain, can you hear me?" The redhead finally looked at the professor once his brother's corpse was covered by a black cloak and then surrounded by the knights of Seiros. Sylvain tried to smile as always ad brush it off, but his emotions betrayed him. His smile crumbled and he started to sob, curling up onto himself. Byleth knelt down, unsure of what to do, and just held him as he cried, looking over at the knights do their job.
"It's over, Sylvain. It's over."
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Traveling back to Garreg Mach was quiet. It usually was after those missions, but this time especially so. Seeing Ashe wail over Lonato's corpse was one thing, but House Gautier's reaction had left the Black Eagles not knowing what to think. Margrave Gautier had seemed pleased over the news, and Sylvain smiled and laughed along, betraying what they had seen. Edelgard had done her best to hide her disgust, but had to grit her teeth and nod more than one time. Hubert and Byleth had noticed, and while Hubert didn't particularly care about the Kingdom's affairs, Byleth was frankly bewildered. Their stony face didn't give it away immediately, but the way they kept the Sword of the Creator sheathed, and how they didn't even look at it did.
Edelgard and Byleth sat together at the very back of a carriage, and she was the first to break the monotonous silence. "Professor, how can this be right in any way? We shouldn't have brought Gautier. That beast, it… it emerged because of the Relic, did it not?"
"So it seems." Byleth paused, looking at the sword resting across them. "... I wonder if I, too, could transform into one." Edelgard frowned, her heart sinking from considering the possibility of ever having to put down a beastly professor. "Don't let the others hear you. I don't think they could handle such a possibility." Byleth nodded in agreement. They didn't think they could either. Their mind wandered back to Sylvain and the Lance of Ruin, resting beside their sword. "Edelgard, I believe we should talk to Sylvain later."
Getting to Garreg Mach, the Blue Lions already awaited their friends and classmates arrival, hoping they were alright. Ingrid and Dimitri were the first to greet Sylvain, relieved that he didn't go and get himself killed, as were the rest of the Lions. Soon they surrounded him, everyone asking if he was okay. Sylvain simply smiled, trying to calm down everyone's worries.
The sight made Edelgard feel a pang of jealousy, somehow. She walked up to them, Mercedes and Annette making way for her, and tapped Sylvain on the shoulder. What followed froze the Blue Lions more than Faerghus's chill. "I'm sorry for your loss, Sylvain." Sylvain suddenly looked like he was in hot water, uncomfortable and once again pierced by everyone's eyes on him.
"Wait. Miklan is dead?" Felix's question was answered by a small, awkward nod from Sylvain, who was just slightly glaring at Edelgard. She felt bad for throwing him into such a position by accident, and cleared her throat. "He managed to get himself an army of thieves and capture Conand Tower. He seemed to be a gifted leader, and he could have been useful to Fódlan… it is a shame things turned out this way. I truly am sorry."
"Uh, thanks, I guess." The air in the group was now tense. No one really knew what to say, and Edelgard's intimidating presence, along with how visibly tense it made Dimitri, made things worse. Sylvain decided to break the ice. "Well, if you all need me, I think I'll be in my room." and so, he left, no one knowing how he actually was.
The lions and Edelgard simply watched him go. Ashe swallowed his nerves and was the first to speak. "With all due respect, lady Edelgard… Was that stuff about Miklan really necessary?" Felix glanced at him, surprised he was the one to comment on it. "Whatever do you mean, Ashe?" Edel was caught off-guard by the small boy. "I mean, that saying it was a shame was um, enough? I-I don't know, I don't know much about Sylvain and his brother, but-"
"Miklan tried to kill Sylvain. Several times before now." Felix adressed the elephant in the room, earning a cringe from Ingrid and Dimitri, and a shocked expression from everyone else. Edelgard thought about it for a moment. "I… See. I suppose I didn't choose my words carefully then. I knew there was conflict because of how things work in House Gautier, but… Not to that extent." Mercedes tried to intervene before anything happened. "Maybe you could apologize to him later? You couldn't really have known, right?" Ashe and Annette nodded in enthusiastic agreement. "Right! If you apologize, maybe he won't take it too personal, and just as a mistake!" Edelgard also nodded. An apology. Sure, she could manage that.