The Weight of Crests and Crowns Excerpt - Three Houses Fan Fiction

[Quillmonger]

So since the start of November I have been working on a thing, it's going to be a long fan fiction set in an alternate timeline, but keeping most stuff the same as it was. I tried to make the kind of changes that one could expect very clear from the start and I kind of wanted to see what people thought. Feedback can be left in this thread if there is any. 

-----

Edelgard had never been a fan of heights. If there was one thing that trampled on her childhood dream of being a glorious Pegasus Knight it was that lone fact. She stowed her fear, rolling through the million questions nagging at her about this little mission which been thrust upon her out of nowhere.

The tower was ancient with wooden steps that creaked under boot and stone landings jutting out of the walls every so often to form a junction into the next section of wooden stairs. She checked above every so often, trying to spy any other lone figures making their way up and not matter what she did her best not to look down between the slats that made up the stairs or out the windows as she passed.

Her knuckles caught a chill from her grip on the handle of the small candle that she carried, the light wavered and danced with each step she took.

To discourage indecency, the Tower of the Goddess was technically off limits to students of Garreg Mach; Archbishop Rhea didn’t seem particularly keen to enforce that rule even giving the odd happening around the school and most of the staff followed her lead. Seteth was probably the only person on campus who cared about these little transgressions.

Even if sentries were present, Edelgard would have found a way in. Her curiosity over the letter far outweighed everything else. And as she reached the last set of stairs her heart thundered inside of her chest hard enough that the candle shook.

Edelgard paused as she stepped off of the last step, she he come armed only with a small knife despite Hubert’s best efforts to make her carry something more suitable or just allow him to accompany her. She had a knack for sniffing out threats and this didn’t seem at all like that.

The moon spilled through windows on adjacent walls of the tower painting the floor with an amalgamation of overlapping stained glass windows. A chilly stillness filled the air, the kind that carried with it a deafening loneliness. Though the light from her candle didn’t reach most of the room, she somehow just knew this had been a waste of time.

A rock skipped across the floor to her right and she whirled, her fingers grasping the hilt of the dagger at her waist. A rat, her first instinct was that she had run into one of the disgusting little rodents even this high up.

“You once told me that you had shrugged off the ideals of superstition and other childish things long ago.” For some reason it took her a moment to recognize Dimitri’s voice. In fact, she spotted him before she really knew it was him that had spoke. He stepped out of the darkness in the direction that the rock had come from with the shadow spilling over his form as if he were breaking through the surface of a thick, black liquid.

Edelgard tried to contain a sigh, her hand leaving the dagger’s hilt to clutch her chest as she staggered a few steps before righting herself.

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” She asked

Dimitri chuckled, the right side of his face still draped in shadow. “What do you mean?”

“This?” Edelgard produced the letter from inside of her jacket, crinkling the edge in her grasp.

Dimitri’s expression softened. “Who would joke about such a thing?” He asked. “I meant every word of that letter.”

“It seems like one of those old stories you used to blab about when we were trapped together, forbidden meetings under the cover of night. Though those tended to be of a different sort…” Edelgard said.

Dimitri moved forward with a purpose, but stopped only a breath away from her. “As a young man I had no need for the romance in stories, or so I thought. And yet, I often thought of you after you left. I thought of you randomly and when I heard that I would be attending the officers academy with you I was elated. But I suppose there’s no accounting for the reality of our situation.”

“I’m the heir to the Empire and you’re the final survivor in the line of succession for the throne of Faerghus. Historically, we should be enemies or at the very least rivals. We’ve spent most of this school year as such. Moreover, you’re my brother by marriage,” Edelgard said, but her voice shook and she could just tell Dimitri caught it.

“If we were but simple folk without the weight of crests and crowns what would you think if I came to you like this?” Dimitri asked.

“The implications of what you’re suggesting…there’s far reaching ramifications for all of this.”

Dimitri grabbed her wrists, cutting her off. “If you listen close you can hear the music from the Grand Ball.”

Edelgard could hear the music, as if it were playing from an orchestra pit far off from the stage.

“Could I just have this dance?” Dimitri asked.

“That depends, do you think you can remember the steps?” Edelgard asked, eyebrows raised.

In response, Dimitri took the candle and letter away from Edelgard setting them aside with the weight of the former holding down the latter. He laced his fingers through hers with one hand and cupped her hip with the other. When they were younger, she had spent hours a day instructing him and he had held her much the same way as he was now. Something had changed. There was a low, humming electricity in her stomach like she had parried a bolt axe that was almost out of charge.

The tension hurt; her muscles were tense as they danced slow and out of step with the music. Dimitri regarded her as if she were a fragile object, his touch buffered by a tender carefulness. A world of difference separated them from the children they were back in Faerghus when they last danced. Surely incident in Duscur had changed Dimitri, things had changed her too.

Him appearing out of the shadows in his dress uniform had been striking. She wasn’t quite sure what it was she liked in someone else, but there was surely something of it in Dimitri. And blue suited him. He already had the regal look that his ancestors from the Blaiddyd always possessed in illustrations, yet it seemed to be something he wore like the uniform.

The rhythmic flourishes of the song were so subtle from this height that the sounds of their footsteps nearly drowned them out. Grinding dust and grit between the soles of their shoes and the stone became part of the song and they were so enthralled with the music that they continued to dance for what seemed like a hairs breadth in time and hours all at once.

Dimitri pressed two fingers into her palm twice. It was an old tell for a coming change. He extended his hand out, with hers still clasped tight leading her into a twirl and she followed, spinning away from him until their arms jerked them back together.

Edelgard stayed close to him now, her head resting on his chest. A kind of guilt washed over her with a surprising speed, but she found back any harsh reaction. “What you wrote in your letter…was all of that real?” She asked.

“Which part?”

“The only part that really would matter. The thing about waiting five years and the Millennium Festival.”

Dimitri nodded. “Five years of correspondence. Five years hidden away from prying eyes and wagging tongues—we still meet under the guise of diplomatic liaisons. Nothing has to change between our lands. But allow me to court you. Find out who I really am.”

“I’m not some shrinking flower of a maiden from one of your books,” she started.

Dimitri glanced to his side. “I’ve got the bruises to prove it.”

“I’ve never seen the point in a slow courtship.” Edelgard added.

His face moved closer to hers, his lips nearly touching her ear. “Then call it whatever you will, I want to belong to you for five years and in turn for you to belong to me—the Empress of my heart.”

She broke his grasp and stepped back. “Your words are saccharine to the point of sickness. Did you rehearse this?” Edelgard asked, brushing her platinum blonde hair away from her eyes.

Dimitri’s cheeks caught fire. “The Professor coached me, though I think she was asking her mother for help some of the time. I think this was a bit of a new experience for her. I should have probably have asked Sylvain or Claude—“

Edelgard’s lips pressed up into Dimitri’s, her tongue bargained its way between his lips to find his mouth tasted of wine and cured meats. Her hands clutched stiffened top of his collar, holding him to her as she leaned more and more into him. His hands were frozen in the air off to the sides of his face where they had been when he was caught off guard by her kiss.

He bought his hands around to her waist, resting them on her hips. His thumb touched the dagger, a present that he had given her. When they parted she combed the hair away from her face and licked her lips.

“Is that a yes?” Dimitri said, clearly fighting to regain his composure.

She kissed him again. “It’s a we’ll see.”

 

 

 

 

The swelling music of the orchestra, the dancing, and all of the students clamoring around her—it was a burden of attention that she had tried to avoid for most of her life and much of that life had been spent at the Monastery. With her being the daughter of the Captain of the Knights of Seiros and one of the most prominent nuns within the Church she had grown comfortable to living in her parents’ shadow.

Considering that the Archbishop herself was Gran, Byleth had once thought it lucky that anyone paid her attention. All of that changed nine months ago when the instructor who was to be the head of the Black Eagle House was killed by bandits. Gran, who now insisted that she be referred to as the Archbishop or just Rhea, made the seemingly impromptu decision to bestow the title of professor upon her.

Byleth had always been happy to show her devotion to the Goddess by swinging a sword. It was second nature and she’d developed a bit of a reputation helping her father and the knights out. They had even taken to calling her The Ashen Demon—her mother hated that.

As a Professor she couldn’t go out with the knights whenever she wanted or get caught waking up hung over in the green house. When the whole thing was first decided she didn’t know how she would spend most of her next year watching over a gaggle of spoiled nobles from the Empire. Now that graduation was on the horizon and with it the end of her time with them.

She was going to miss it.

The cold, damp night air seemed to make the dress cling to her body. She had forgone her usual style for a dark green ball gown. To be honest, she hadn’t minded it until the moisture in the courtyard weighed the fabric down. It didn’t belong to her, she had borrowed it from her mother.

Byleth strolled under the darkened breezeways that connected the courtyard to the mess hall. From this angle the moon was partially obscured by the silhouette of the Goddess Tower. When she left the dance she hadn’t seen Dimitri or Edelgard anywhere, she wondered if he was actually taking her advice to heart. Both of them needed to lighten up for sure.

“You’ve always come here when you needed to think.” Byleth would recognize that airy, sing-song tone anywhere.

She whirled around to look into her mother’s large green eyes. It was strange to say, but her mother and grandmother looked more like they could have been sisters. They had the same long green hair and the same effortless beauty, but any confusion about who it was could be shattered by the way they carried themselves. Her mother, though important within the church, lacked the overwhelming aura of confidence that Rhea exuded.

“How do you know I need to think?” Byleth asked. They were near the small courtyard area where a cluster of tables and chairs would, during the day, have usually been filled with chattering students. Most everyone was at the ball now. Byleth slipped into a chair and waited for her mother to do the same.

“I can always tell when you’re troubled, little one,” her mother said with a smile in her voice as she reached up ran her fingers through Byleth’s hair.

“Mom!”

“Sorry. Sorry, that I embarrass Garreg Mach’s newest star Professor,” she said.

Byleth shrugged her Mom’s hand off. “Don’t say it like that,” Byleth said.

“It’s the truth, everyone back there wanted to dance with you. Those boys were fawning over you and one young lady in particular,” her mother said with a tilt of her head that insinuated that Byleth knew it exactly who she was speaking of.

Byleth’s face reddened. “Mother, please. You only like her because she’s basically a younger you…”

“What’s wrong with that?” Her mother said reaching out to straighten the shawl on Byleth’s shoulders.

“It’s just—it’s nothing. And Mercedes is fantastic. I just think she has other priorities, you know church priorities.” Byleth said.

Her mother leaned out to look her in the eye, face practically glowing and already Byleth knew what this meant before a word left her mouth. She sometimes got this glow about her when thinking about one person in particular. “You don’t think Captain, the Blade Breaker, Captain of the bravest knights in the land and hero of story and song came with some time constraints?”

As she announced the various titles that Father had been gifted over the years she straightened her back and puffed out her chest as if to imitate the stature of this great hero. Byleth couldn’t help but giggle.

“I’m going to tell him you did that,” she said.

“Your father knows how everyone talks about him, but where is he right now? He’s on a mission. He was always running here and there when you were little and even before that. I understood that. He was always there when we needed him and we figured things out. That’s what you and Mercedes have to do.”

“She’s a student. It’s wrong,” said Byleth.

“She graduates in a few weeks. I’ve watched that girl pine after you all year round. If you like her too what’s the matter? The Goddess wants her children to be happy. You deserve it and from what I hear about how terrible that family was to her she’s earned all of the affection that she can get,” her mother said.

Byleth flopped over onto her mother’s lap and said through a yawn. “You think just because Gran named you after the great saint herself that you can speak for the Goddess now?”

Her mother got very still. “Seiros used to be a very common name in days gone by,” her mother said as Byleth felt a hand caress her hair. “Besides, there have been times in my life when I felt as though—no, I knew that the Goddess Sothis was speaking through me.”

Byleth drifted to sleep in her mother’s lap in the courtyard where she used to hide and pick flowers. A future with Mercedes or anyone else seemed like an abstract, nebulous thing that might not come to pass. So much could change in the years to come and who knew what kind of people might enter her life.

Even then, she knew her future would involve Garreg Mach. No matter where she went this would always be home.

[Dragoncat]

I for one would accept an AU where Jeralt and his wife (named her Vivian) live. While I'm aware of the whole thing Rhea did and what Vivian was (despite not playing church route yet), I don't know if Rhea being Byleth's grandma is canon or not. You don't have to answer that if you don't want.

There was totally sexual/romantic tension between Dimitri and Edelgard lol. #NavyGryphons #Scandal

Joking aside, nice piece. I am also kinda working on an AU. It's an everyone lives thing kinda like Fates Revelation and Edelgard's son is a freaking scamp and I love him lol. The other two's kids are great too, of course, but Astor has kinda become my favorite.

[Quillmonger]

7 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

I for one would accept an AU where Jeralt and his wife (named her Vivian) live. While I'm aware of the whole thing Rhea did and what Vivian was (despite not playing church route yet), I don't know if Rhea being Byleth's grandma is canon or not. You don't have to answer that if you don't want.

There was totally sexual/romantic tension between Dimitri and Edelgard lol. #NavyGryphons #Scandal

Joking aside, nice piece. I am also kinda working on an AU. It's an everyone lives thing kinda like Fates Revelation and Edelgard's son is a freaking scamp and I love him lol. The other two's kids are great too, of course, but Astor has kinda become my favorite.

In this story the grandma thing is treated pretty naturally even though it is heavily implied not to be. I went with some children of some of the characters too. So far I only have two children characters and they are an infant and a three year old (Edelgard's daughter and Flayn and Dedue have a daughter too). I think people overlook the tension between Dimitri and Edelgard, but it is pretty heavy handed with Claude even picking on Dimitri about it in game. Some of the other pairings I did were pretty standard (like Sylvain and Ingrid) and some were more out there (like Dorothea and Seteth). 

I would love to see what you're working on if it's posted anywhere. 

[Dragoncat]

3 hours ago, Quillmonger said:

In this story the grandma thing is treated pretty naturally even though it is heavily implied not to be. I went with some children of some of the characters too. So far I only have two children characters and they are an infant and a three year old (Edelgard's daughter and Flayn and Dedue have a daughter too). I think people overlook the tension between Dimitri and Edelgard, but it is pretty heavy handed with Claude even picking on Dimitri about it in game. Some of the other pairings I did were pretty standard (like Sylvain and Ingrid) and some were more out there (like Dorothea and Seteth). 

I would love to see what you're working on if it's posted anywhere. 

Flayn with Dedue is very different. Is Edelgard's daughter with Dimitri? I'm squeeing if that's the case. Dimitri has a son with Ingrid in mine, and Claude has fraternal boy/girl twins with Hilda. Dedue and Felix are with OCs and have a daughter and a son respectively. Sylvain is with Dorothea, and Ferdinand is with Mercedes, but I haven't created their kids yet.

Here is the kid list for now. You can PM me to continue the discussion if you want.

[Quillmonger]

Let's throw another bit of an excerpt out there: 

 

Greta crawled quite quickly, even without the soft carpet as padding under the small knees. She had nearly rounded the corner out of the room before Edelgard noticed her. The child had a head start and would have been out of the room before Edelgard could get to her feet and move for the door.

Instead a pair of muscular, tanned hands dropped into view as Jeralt scooped the little Grand Princess nestled her against his chest carefully. Though the child would have none of it and leaned away from him to get a better look at his full beard. She seemed to study his face in an effort to determine if it was that of anyone she knew in the few seconds before Edelgard jogged up with her hands out.

“Oh I apologize, Captain, she can be a bit of a handful and without Hubert or Bernadetta she has a tendency to strike off looking for something to get into,” Edelgard said.

Jeralt chuckled, holding his smile in a way that should have shown creases and lines in his face that had come with time. It was odd to think this man was the father of Professor Byleth. He looked to be only a few years older than them, though the weight of his gaze betrayed his true age.

“S’not a problem,” Jeralt said as he patted Greta’s back, causing her to coo. “It’s been some time since I held a young rapscallion like this.” He held her away from her person and stared into the small child’s face, Edelgard knew what would be staring back at him: the same pale blue eyes and nearly white, blonde hair with skin the color of the white sand beaches at Rhodos.

“Reminds me of Byleth. She’s strong like her mother,” he glanced over at Edelgard and gently placed the wiggling baby into her grasp. “Yeah, she’s gonna be a little ass-kicker.”

Edelgard pulled the baby close, the child’s head rested in the space under her chin and against her neck. “That’s high praise coming from Captain Jeralt Reus Eisner,” Edelgard said with a laugh.

“Look, Empress,” Jeralt said, bowing suddenly as if he remembered his place. “I know it’s not my place to ask, but you were one of my daughter’s favorite students and in my eyes that…well that makes you family. You’ve got your hands full here with the little Princess there and running the Empire. While you’re here if you need anything…”

“That’s…probably the kindest thing I’ve seen happen in a while. I would hate to burden you and your wife; Lady Eisner I’m sure has a lot going on. Plus she has to keep you and the Professor in check,” Edelgard smirked before she kissed Greta on the head.

“It would be no trouble at all, I assure you. I’m sure she would love to have Greta around, she’s always talking about how she misses having a small kid,” Jeralt said.

Edelgard motioned with her hips for Jeralt to follow her. “How would you feel if I were to pick your brain about some stuff, just about the Professor?” She asked. “I’ve got a bottle of Adrestian Brandy, aged in charred oak barrels since 1092; yours if you want it…”

Jeralt laughed. “1092? That was a good year. Now you’re speaking my language, Empress,” he followed her back into the upper Cardinals Room. “Why are you squirreled away into this dusty old place?”

Edelgard shrugged. “It felt somehow appropriate. It’s so large and loud down in the dinning hall and more people seem to be arriving by the second.”

Jeralt used his foot to pull a chair out from the table and patted the spot on the table in front of it. “For you.”

“You’re quite the gentleman,” Edelgard said. “That’s not the kind of thing that always makes it into those songs and stories.”

He left an empty seat between them and sat down with his chair facing part of the way toward her. “I don’t pay attention to those things. Every time I’m somewhere and some minstrel starts up a verse of that damned ‘The Bravest Blade Breaker’ song my face turns all red and all I can think about is how fast I can get the Hell out of there!”

Edelgard laughed. “Seems like you don’t like the attention, well it suits you.”

“I try not to let it get to me,” he said. He watched intently as Edelgard placed a glass on the table and poured it nearly to the top. Greta swiped at it, but Edelgard blocked her hand from making contact and then pushed the glass toward Jeralt. He lifted the glass and took a sip from it.

“What was it that you wanted to ask me about?” Asked Jeralt.

“It was about Professor Byleth. When she was little how…what kind of child was she?” Edelgard asked.

Jeralt laughed. “She was inquisitive and kind of snarky—she gets that from her mother mostly.”

“You’ve got a bit of snark in you too. You forget that I’ve worked with you on a few occasions,” she said.

“Remire village and the attack on the chapel,” Jeralt said.

“I’m shocked you remember those missions from all those years ago. When you fight alongside the Jeralt it’s a big deal, but you working with students shouldn’t even be that memorable.”

“I remember most of my missions, especially those where I work with my baby girl. And those were particularly—memorable. I don’t think in all of the time I’ve worked here that I’ve seen demonic beasts inside the walls and then those students…after we killed those monsters those kids bodies were left behind. I still think about it,” said Jeralt.

Edelgard sighed. “Our school year was eventful, but it ended on a high note, at least. And there hasn’t been any sign of trouble like that again—at least not that I’ve heard.”

“The Western Church still pulls their stupid shit from time to time,” Jeralt finished his drink in one long pull and she slid the bottle toward him. “You’re not going to have any?”

“Can’t. It’ll taint the milk,” she said.

“Ah, sorry. I wasn’t thinking. Most royalty wet nurses their little ones,” he said.

“Women of the Imperial Household don’t believe in that practice. My mother fed me from her own breast and I see no reason to stop now. I think—I know that’s one of the problems with this world,” Edelgard said. “The royalty wants to be so high above everyone, above humanity because there’s a crest in their blood. That way of thinking has led to your issues with the Western Church, it led to the troubles from five years ago…”

Jeralt cut her off. “It led to the Flame Emperor?”

Edelgard had to fight to keep a straight face. No one had said that name in her presence in nearly four years. She hadn’t thought about that part of herself since the dance with Dimitri or what she told that woman Kronya later that night.

“That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while,” Edelgard said.

“Rhea seems like she’d rather forget it too, but that guy was a thorn in our sides for most of a year and then he just poof vanished. He was in league with the Death Knight and I know he’s still around. Byleth treats him like a practice dummy, she’s kicking his ass all over the countryside. Every time she’s on a mission he seems to show up to cause trouble.” Jeralt poured more brandy.

Edelgard moved so abruptly that it caused Greta to stir for a moment. “Professor Byleth is still fighting that…thing?”

“Yeah,” Jeralt chuckled offhandedly. “She knocked a piece out of his mask a while back, blood was running down his chin.”

“Have any of those other people showed up? The ones like Solon?” Asked Edelgard.

“I haven’t heard anything about it if they are.”

“I just—I wish that she would have written to the Empire for help,” Edelgard said.

Jeralt shook his head. “She’s got the knights and her students to back her up, plus you were looking after this little tike.” Jeralt reached over and jiggled the baby’s shoulder.

A sound like thunder erupted from somewhere outside, shaking the walls. Then another sound, identical to the first was followed by trumpets that blared out from somewhere nearby.

“Sounds like some more guests are arriving. It’s probably the Kingdom Army arriving,” Jeralt said.

Her heart leapt so forcefully that her hands trembled for a moment. The arrival of the Kingdom of Faerghus meant the arrival of Dimitri. It had been some time since they had last been together. She had tried to push the thoughts of this reunion to the back of her mind because it was a constant distraction that plagued her.

“We could go out there together to meet them?” Jeralt said.

“I’d be glad to accompany you,” Edelgard said in her most measured tone.

[Dragoncat]

This was a cute addition! So the Flame Emperor is not Edelgard here? Also, I've never heard of alcohol tainting breast milk.

[Quillmonger]

5 hours ago, Dragoncat said:

This was a cute addition! So the Flame Emperor is not Edelgard here? Also, I've never heard of alcohol tainting breast milk.

She was the Flame Emperor, but no one knows she is so when someone brings it up she pretends she doesn't know who that was. The only people who know are Hubert and later she tells some other people. 

And yeah, if you drink a lot and you're breast feeding you're not supposed to feed the baby if you're not sober, from what I have heard the pump and dump thing might not be true, but a lot of women do it and I would imagine that a world with the technology of Fódlan would still believe this sort of thing.