Twins

His twins are strange. That's not a surprising statement. No, not at all. After all, they're his twins. He'd known as soon as Fiona told him she was pregnant that they'd be odd. Just because of his past, and the blood that ran through his veins. He'd actually been afraid of being a father because of that, along with the more 'common' fears new fathers experienced. Alois had eagerly (and loudly) reassured him about those common fears, often alongside rambles of whatever future plan his mind had latched onto. But no one, not even Rhea, could quite allay that fear that being fathered by him would curse the children. And even now, he's half-certain that it bore some contribution to how strange his twins were. Not all, though. No, not all.

"The hell happened?" he asks as he kneels in front of Byleth. Byleth Mikayla Eisner… Fiona had insisted on it for a daughter and Goddess, Byleth looked so much like her that it's almost eerie. But it's easy to tell the difference, and not just because Fiona is dead. "You're bloody and bruised…"

"I fell," Byleth answers, not quite looking at him. Anyone watching would assume that she felt nothing. After all, when covered in scrapes and cuts and bruises, most children would be hysterical. Big fat tears rolling down chubby cheeks, wailing and screaming. But not Byleth. Byleth had never cried, not even as a baby. Never cried, never laughed… that had been the first hint to him that something had been done to her, to his precious daughter. The second had been her heartbeat, how abnormally slow it was. Too slow to sustain life, and yet, here she was. "Just a fall, Papa."

"Quite the fall." And he knows it's a lie. Both of his twins are almost unnaturally graceful, especially given they were four years old. And he knows what always happens when Byleth leaves whatever inn they stayed in. "Best make sure you don't fall again, huh?" He scoops her up easily, tucking her under his chin. Her hands (so small) tremble as they grip his shirt, one of the 'little signs' that showed how much she hurt. She had many, but only those who knew her could see them. "Come on, kiddo. Let's get you fixed-"

"Excuse me!" The sharp voice tells him exactly what he's going to see even before he turns around, but he still sighs at the sight of one of the village women glaring at him while holding Azrael by the arm. "You need to keep your brat under control!" she snaps, snarling now. He looks back impassively, because if she thought she could intimidate him… well, he'd seen much scarier. Killed much scarier. "Beating up my boy and-!"

"So, when your boy beats up my twin sister, it's fine, but when I beat him up, it's wrong?" Azrael asks, expression droll and voice apathetic. Neither are normal for a child, but they're normal for Azrael. "I wonder if that attitude is why your husband prefers kissing the maids over you." Such statements are also normal for his son. Azrael Kimaris Eisner… again, Fiona's decision, but unlike Byleth, Azrael inherited little of her kind temperament. Instead, his son is blunt, uncaring of the harm his words may cause… because he was uncaring about everything save his family.

"You…!" The woman's free hand comes up, no doubt to hit Azrael, but Azrael pulls free from her grip easily and dances away to hide behind him. "When are you leaving with your unnatural children, mercenary?!"

"Contract is done in the morning," he answers calmly, reaching down to rest a hand on Azrael's head. He tugs at the strands (the same teal as Byleth's, because the two shared the same coloring as Fiona) in gentle reprimand, and Azrael ducks his head, finally feeling ashamed for his behavior. "So, whenever I get paid tomorrow."

"Good!" she spits, turning on her heel and fleeing. As she does, some of the others in the village watch, some with mocking laughter and others with pity. Her husband's infidelity had long been an open secret in a small place like this, but to hear it so bluntly...

He simply sighs at her departure and leads Azrael into the inn, still carrying Byleth, who had listened quietly during the entire exchange. She doesn't react at all until they're in their room and he's set her down in a chair to go fetch his first aid kit. Then she reaches over and prods Azrael's cheek, her mouth forming the tiniest frown. No words are exchanged between the two. It's not uncommon. The two are able to read each other with such ease that he worries about when they're older… will they know how to be two different people? Will they constantly be in each other's heads? He's not sure, but he knows he'll need to do something to try and mitigate the possibility. They're his children, after all. He's not sure how good of a job he's doing, especially as a mercenary on the road, but… well, he just can't shake the idea that its safer here than it was at the monastery. That was why he set the fire and…

"Byleth, what brought you outside in the first place?" he asks, after bandaging Byleth up. He's careful to not sound accusatory. Honestly, he hates that Byleth stays inside so much when they're in towns, but he knows why. No matter where they were, the children would bully her for being a 'demon' or a 'doll', just because they couldn't read her. And then Azrael would beat them half-to-death because of the pain he'd sense from Byleth and… it's a mess, really. "Did you need something?"

"Um… well…" Byleth begins, fidgeting with her hands. Her expression is almost smooth, but there's the slight crinkling by her eyes that hints to her excitement. "Wait here!" She dashes to the back closet, nearly falling. Azrael catches her before she does, though, and she reaches inside to pull out… a flower crown of white roses. "For you!" She rushes back and presents it to him, and only now does he remember that it's the Garland Moon. "I was… watching the village girls make their own." Because both Byleth and Azrael could copy movements with ease. It helped them learn quickly. "Um… so..."

"I see…" He cradles the garland in his hands, feeling a little choked up. Oh, how the recruits would laugh at him getting emotional over such a thing. But it's little things like this that tell him that he's not reading Byleth wrong. That she does love him, and she, at least, thinks he's doing an okay job. "Hmm…" He sets it on his hand, to the bright laughter of Azrael and the softened expression of Byleth. "Aha, perfect fit!"

"It is!" She reaches up to him and he easily picks her up for a hug. Though he has to quickly sit down to not fall because Azrael, still laughing brightly, jumps on him too. "Next year, I'll make an even better one, Papa."

"The place where we got the flowers was super pretty, too!" Azrael chimes in, sitting on his lap and looking up with adoring and glittering eyes. His smile is bright, warm, and real. It looks like Fiona's. "There were these super shiny fish in the water and-!"

And Azrael is off, describing everything about the area in so much detail that a scout would be envious. Byleth quietly adds in her own thoughts and he listens closely, taking little descriptions to weave into a story for them, because both of them loved stories and they weren't really old enough for the mercenary tales he had grown up with.

Outside the inn, he knows people were gossiping about them again. About the widower mercenary who fought like 'a god of war', and his two strange children: the demon girl who 'showed no emotions' and the monstrous boy who 'thought as much about hurting as he did about breathing'. But he doesn't care. Because he has his twins, and both are happy. For him, that's enough.

Author's notes: So, what's this? Well, it's basically where I have some fun and write out some scenes while plotting the three houses novelization that I'll (eventually) be doing. Not all of them will be Jeralt-centric (he's the narrator if it wasn't obvious), though he'll probably show up the most, given what we know in canon. There likely won't be anything too spoilerly or anything, but I can't guarantee anything either? then again, that's the case with almost all my stories...

Anyway, meet Azrael and Byleth. Byleth will be the POV char, while Azrael is around because of some ideas I had. Nope, not explaining more than that because spoilers. Their mother is never named in-game, so I chose 'Fiona' on a whim. As for Azrael, it's the name of 'the angel of death' in Islam and some Jewish traditions from my understanding. Kimaris is the name of a demon from the Ars Goetia (much like Byleth), while Mikayla is a feminine form of 'Michael' (the name of an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam… which I imagine most people know because the motif is quite popular!).

And yes, in-game, Byleth is noted to have no heartbeat in game. Surprisingly, considering the setting has dragons and magic and the like, that's beyond my ability to suspend disbelief, so we're going with a VERY SLOW heartbeat instead.

Anyway, welcome to these oneshots?