knowlee- I still have two chapters left of this thing and I had to change what I wanted to do at the end of the next one as Claude literally grabbed my hand and dragged me in a completely different direction like "Nah, we doing this!" I had the chapter planned out, but he refused to let it go that way. Which in his defense, his idea made better sense than mine especially in terms of characterization and what has gone on so far in this story. So yeah, Claude's won this one. That's what happens when you have characters drive the narrative.

Hope you guys enjoy this! Also I do have a Tumblr where I do occasionally share Claude/Byleth stuff as well as other things that I find an interest in. Feel free to check me out there! knowleeraven

See you guys in the next chapter!

~Bye!

A Fire Emblem Three Houses Fanfiction

Like It Was Fate

Chapter 4: Revelations and Confrontations

By: Knowlee Raven

Byleth blinked a few times as her brain tried to catch up with her. She couldn't believe her eyes. Claude, the boy who led her house back at the academy, the boy who was one of her constant companions while she attended, the boy who her closest confidant, and the boy who stole her heart, was sitting before her. He was the one she saved. She knew that her thoughts should've started reflecting how funny fate worked this out for them, but once her brain caught up with her, the initial thought she had in her head was: 'Damn, he got a lot more handsome after six years…'

She tried to fight down the blush she felt start to come across her face as she slowly lowered herself down into the chair next to her, her legs feeling weak in shock. But she could tell by his staring that she was failing tremendously.

She took in a deep breath to try and calm down her nerves. As she did this, she could feel burning behind her eyes and knew that at any given moment, she was going to cry. How did she get so lucky to find him after all this time?

Byleth could see the smile on his face disappear after she sat down. It turned into one of concern. Was he afraid that he had overwhelmed her with this revelation? Well, he technically did, but she knew that once she calmed herself, everything would be fine. The sound of her name on his tongue made her start to cement in her mind that he was in fact really here and that she wasn't dreaming. "Are you okay, Byleth?"

Byleth breathed in again while glancing down at the table in front of her. "Yeah. It's just..." Another breath filled her lungs. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

She didn't have to look at him to know that he was upset at her words. The small gasp she heard come from his direction was enough to let her paint a picture of his expression. Breathing in once more, she took a chance and turned her gaze up to see the distraught look he had on his face. "I thought the same about you. When I saw you fall, I thought that was it. And then when you didn't show for the reunion, it took a lot out of me not to give in to despair right then." He looked her in the eyes. Byleth felt her heart stutter for a moment. "I never gave up on you coming back, you know? Even after that, I never did."

The tears started to well up even more. "...you never did?"

He shook his head. "Not once. Remember what I said back during the last time we saw each other?" Her eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to think of the words. It had been so long ago, some of it had started to fade from her memory. "I said to you that even if our paths diverged and we were forced to say good-bye, that we'd see each other again." His smile returned. "And look at where we are now."

Okay, now the tears were falling. She couldn't hold them back any longer. After all this time, he still believed he'd see her again? She didn't know what she did to deserve someone like him in her life. People could call Claude what they wanted, but they couldn't use the word 'disloyal' when it came to those who had earned his trust and love to describe him.

The tears on her face must've caused Claude to become even more concerned about her, because through her blurry vision, she could see him holding a hand out towards her, beckoning her to come to him. Slowly, she forced herself up from the chair and made her way over, her hand going into his as she took a spot near him on the bed. He drew her close to him with his arms wrapped around her. With both being mindful of his wound, Byleth wrapped her arms around him in turn.

"Is this okay?" She heard his voice sound next to her ear, nearly startling her if she didn't know he was hugging her. She nodded. "It's fine."

The two were silent for a few more moments as they simply relished in the fact that the were in the presence of the other and that this was real. She felt his hand move through her hair a couple of times before cradling her head. She had a feeling that this was more of a shock for him than it was for her and this was his way of convincing himself that he wasn't dreaming. While yes, it was a shock for her to find him in the way she did. For him, she knew that it was more startling to see her practically come back from the dead. Even though he still believed she would return based on his actions towards her right now, Byleth felt as if that belief was on it's final strings and that those would've snapped soon if they hadn't found one another. Vaguely she wondered if her other classmates were, or had, felt the same. A guilty feeling entered her chest.

Byleth pulled away from him, hand still in one another's grasp, and looked at his face, which was now beaming with happiness. "I missed you."

He chuckled and brought his free hand up to her face to brush away some stray hairs. "I missed you, too, By. Just don't go disappearing on me again anytime soon."

She huffed in laughter. Leave it to him to make a joke out of any situation. She squeezed his hand as she used her other one to wipe away the now drying tears off her face. Regardless of them, she hadn't felt this elated since the day of the battle of Garreg Mach. Due to that, for a moment it reminded her of her days when she first started at the academy when she started to experience emotions like that for the first time. And just like before, it was all thanks for Claude for her starting that awakening, but this time it was the reawakening.

Claude's hand squeezed hers in return and she could sense the hesitation in his voice when he asked what she was sure had been running around in his mind ever since he recognized it was her. "What happened that day, By? How did you survive?"

Byleth froze. Tension entered her body, the memories of those events causing her to experience once more, the fear and confusion she felt during that time. She remembered the pain scratching against her throat as the scream erupted from it as she fell from the cliff. It was just like the nightmares she had about falling off the back of wyverns only to be caught by someone before she hit the ground.

Except this time, it wasn't a wyvern and there wasn't anyone around to catch her.

She can't remember exactly if she blacked out before she hit the water or when she made contact. But the next thing she did remember was waking up in the bed of a person unfamiliar to her. That in itself nearly caused her to bolt away out of fear, if it wasn't for the soreness and lethargy she felt after waking from what seemed like initially to be just a little nap.

It took some time for the villagers who had been caring for her to calm her down as she had no idea who they were or why she was there. When they did finally calm her and explain that she had been asleep for five years, Byleth could recall feeling numb about the statement. Five years? Surely they were just joking…?

...Right?

When she found out that they weren't and learned of the date, she immediately tried to force herself up, to make it past them and go up to the monastery. If they were telling the truth, they would all be there. They would be alive and waiting for her. They promised to meet there again during the millennium festival.

They promised…

Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to keep her end of the promise. The villagers wouldn't let her. It was at that moment she felt herself revert back to the emotionless state she had been in before she had met her fellow Golden Deer.

Throughout the next couple of months as she continued to heal from the long sleep her body had been in, she heard bits and clips about the war against the Empire going on. She even heard about how the Duke had passed a few years back and how a new one had moved up to take his place post haste due to the war effort. She knew it was Claude.

Byleth remembered debating for a few days about whether to make the trip up to Derdriu and see him, but she knew that the possibility of him being there were slim. Although he had a penchant for running away when battles got tough, she also knew that he liked to be in the thick of things regardless of their perceived outcome.

Besides, he had probably forgotten all about her. Especially considering that she never came to fulfill their classes' promise. They all probably had to be honest. Especially with the war going on, they probably had no time to think of her.

Still, she missed them.

Hilda, with her persuasiveness at getting other guys and girls, including those of their classmates, to do her bidding so that they could spend time together. It was scary to think of how persuasive she could be and have no one be none the wiser.

Leonie, the girl who had dubbed herself to be Byleth's rival, would challenge her to fight against her constantly in effort to both prove her skills and show her father how much she had grown.

Raphael treated her like she was another little sister to him and would help her out constantly with anything she needed. He also helped make sure that she didn't neglect taking care of herself when she got her mind stuck on something.

Ignatz helped keep her company while she did the various activities she had assigned herself to do to keep herself busy. She, in turn, did the same for him when he had the inspiration to paint something.

Lorenz was something else all together. While there were times when she wanted to knock him upside his head, she also knew that he had a good heart and wanting nothing less than to do things the right way even when they were hard. She recalled sharing many a tea time with him.

Lysithea was basically her little sister. Course, she could never call her that to her face otherwise Byleth would've been dead already. She was determined to better herself and would always be found in the library dutifully studying to try and learn a new spell. Byleth remembered having to coax her out of there many a time with the promise of sweets if she would just take a break every once in a while.

And Marianne was another one of her classmates that she had dubbed as her sister. She could tell that the girl was dealing with a lot and while she couldn't fully understand it, she still took the time to hang out with her and when she did want to talk, she listened dutifully. She never judged her for her thoughts. She only wished that she would see herself in the way that she knew her other classmates did.

And Claude…

There weren't enough words to describe how much she missed him.

The only thing that kept running through her mind when she did find him was her wondering were they would be now. Would she be standing by his side, helping him with this war? Would they be fighting together on the battlefield? Would they be spending a lot of time together coming up with schemes to help push back against the Empire?

Would things have been different for the Alliance as a whole had she not fallen? Or better yet, had she been able to keep her promise?

Byleth knew better than to dwell on those thoughts. What was done couldn't be changed. She knew at the time, she could only hope that fate would take pity on her and reunite her with her classmates. However she knew that the chances of that were slim. So, instead she decided that she would avoid them, would forget them over time. Although she knew in the back of her mind, that she could've simply joined the war effort and maybe encountered them during her enlistment, but the chances of that were null as well. Plus, if they did truly forget her, she didn't want to reopen that wound. They didn't deserve that pain.

"By?" Claude's soft voice floated into her ear and gently pulled her out of those dark memories. His thumb was rubbing against her hand in soothing gestures to try and calm her down. She apparently had gone silent for some time and was even shaking slightly when the flashbacks came to her. She squeezed his hand back in return to try and ground herself from the depressive feeling that tried to latch back onto her.

She took in a couple of deep breaths. She would be forever grateful that he was patient with her. "I'm fine. Just,… it's a lot to think about."

The smile that formed on his face warmed her soul. "I can imagine." Byleth could feel the unspoken question that lingered in the air. He wanted to ask her again what had happened, but at the same time she knew that he didn't want to push her.

Once more, the gratefulness she felt towards him filled her. She took in another deep breath. However, he did still deserve to know. She owed him that. She moved to intertwine their hands together to ground herself more. She was here. Not there, at that point in life again. "Honestly, I don't know." She squeezed his hand again. "I remember falling and then after that, I woke up in someone's house in the village near the monastery." Another breath entered her lungs as she turned to look at him. "I tried to come to the monastery to keep our promise after I learned what year it was… but they wouldn't let me. I was still too weak to move on my own after being asleep for so long."

She saw his face change into a combination of understanding and concern. "I wanted to be there, but when I couldn't go, I felt upset. I thought about trying to find all of you after I got well enough to start back out on my own, but with the war still going on… I figured that it would have been best to leave all you be. You had bigger things to worry about and I- I didn't want to open up a wound that had probably healed over. All of you deserved better than that."

Claude watched as Byleth turned her attention down towards their intertwined hands as he mulled over the information she gave him. He admits that it was a little hard to believe that she had just been sleeping during most of the time she had been gone, but at the same time, he knew that the look on her face when she spoke wasn't her lying one.

He felt upset for her, knowing that she had missed out on so much during her time asleep. Granted, yes, that the only major thing she missed out on was the war, which he wasn't too irritated about. But he hated that she missed out on being with him and the other Golden Deer. Hated that she missed seeing how their classmates grew as individuals and seeing how much they truly missed her presence in their lives. He hated that she wasn't there with him, with them, by their sides as they navigated this war that had started so suddenly.

He hated that she didn't know that one of the biggest reasons they all defied the Empire was because of her. Since it, in essence, took her away from them, they didn't want anything to do with it. Even Lorenz, regardless of his father's insistence, stood against them. If it wasn't for their lack of resources, they would've went all out against them. Luckily though, the Empire still fell, with the help of the Kingdom rising out of it's ashes with Dimitri at the helm.

Even if she didn't know that, she still needed to know that they missed her. None of them had to outright say it, but he could read between the lines to know enough. "We all missed you."

Byleth looked up at him, eyes still shining from leftover tears from when she broke down earlier. "When you fell, I myself was filled with grief and not knowing whether you were alive or dead made it worse. I didn't realize until after the others reached out to me that they felt it too. And then when you didn't come to the reunion..." He took in a deep breath as the memory of the deep disappointment he felt that day re-entered his heart. "I can't speak for all of them, except for myself, because I knew I was upset that you didn't come, but they, they were sad as well."

He briefly glimpsed down at their hands before looking back up at her. "Even though I still believed you were out there, the others insisted on putting a makeshift grave beside your father's at the monastery." He saw the look of surprise overtake her face. It was as if she didn't fully realize how badly she was missed. "It wasn't the best looking one there, but they felt that even if your body wasn't there, that you deserved someplace to rest. From then on, even though they didn't outright say it to me, you became an even more defining reason for us to defy the Empire. They had burned us taking away our friend by doing what they did, so why would we join with them or allow them to trample us?"

He smiled and reached up to wipe away a stray tear that had escaped Byleth's eye as he spoke. "So in a way, you inspired us to keep fighting. To not let the Empire have it's way. Even though you weren't there with us, we never forgot you."

Claude watched as her other hand came up over her mouth to try and squash the cries that wanted to slip out. He knew how much this had to have moved her for her to be expressing this much emotion. During all the time he knew her, she always spoke through her actions. So now, based on that, he could see how much their separation had hurt her.

He moved his hand away from her face and onto her shoulder, gently tugging her closer to him. It took a second, but she relented and moved towards him, his arms going around her once more and gripped her into a hug. He could feel his shoulder getting wet from the tears she had finally let fall again from her face. Claude slowly, while being careful not to irritate his wound, shifted them around until the two were both lying down on the bed, their arms still wrapped around one another.

Taking one of his hands off her back, he began threading it through her hair to try and calm her down. This continued on for a few more minutes until Claude felt his eyelids grow heavy and with her deep slow breaths as a sign that she had fallen asleep, he joined her.

A loud noise resounded outside the wall nearest the bed, causing both of them to jolt awake.

"Wha-? What was that?" Claude was still a little out of it, having just been disturbed out of his sleep. He would've continued speaking, but he felt, what he presumed to be Byleth (the lantern had apparently went out while they were sleeping), put a hand over his mouth hissed at him to be quiet.

The two lied there quietly, straining their ears to figure out what it was exactly that woke them up. It took a few moments, but soon they could hear the telltale signs of hushed voices through the wall. Claude was confused as to who they belonged to, but when he saw the look of recognition come over Byleth's face he knew she had an idea of what was going on. That thought process was confirmed even more when he was startled to feel her arms moving away from, taking the warmth with them, and her pulling her body off the bed. Although he couldn't see much, from the sounds he was hearing he knew that she had grabbed her sword as he recognized the sound it being removed from its sheath. "Byleth? What's going-?"

He didn't have a chance to finish his question because her hand was over his mouth preventing it from coming out. She brought her face close and whispered to him to be quiet. "I think it's the bandits that shot you down from before. I heard them in town talking the other day about trying to find you. That's how I recognized the voices. How they found me though is beyond me..."

His eyebrows furrowed together and he moved to lift himself off of the bed before Byleth pushed him back down. "Don't even think about it!" Her voice came out in a hiss. Apparently even with the separation between them, she could still easily tell what he was thinking. "If you try to go out there and play hero, you're going to reopen the wound and make yourself an easy target." She pulled away from him and he could tell through the darkness that she was giving him a glare that emphasized her words. "I'll take care of them."

Claude wanted to protest against her reasoning. She had no idea how many of them were out there, and while yes, he was injured, he could help her by staying behind and using his bow. Sure, that would put some strain on his wound, it wouldn't be as bad as him actually being on the field fighting directly. Plus, he felt dread sink into his chest at his next thoughts, he didn't want to risk losing her again. He knew that she could take care of herself, he had no doubt about that, he still wanted to make sure he was there to back her up just in case.

Before he could speak another word however, Byleth had moved out of his line of sight. He saw some moonlight come through the crack in what he presumed was the doorway for just a brief moment before he saw her form move quickly move through the exit and the door shut behind her, causing the room to grow dark and silent once more.

Claude swallowed to try and parch his suddenly dry throat and assessed the situation. He knew that she was right about his wound, but he couldn't, no, wouldn't lose her again. Not after him finding her again after six years had passed without him knowing if he ever would. Definitely not.

Decision made, Claude slowly forced himself out of the bed, wincing slightly at the pain that radiated through his stomach at the pain from his wound, and stood up. With the room completely pitch black, he slowly moved around trying to find his bow and quiver of arrows without tripping over something and making his efforts even more difficult.

Finally, some of the moonlight coming in from a nearby window caught a hold of a gleaming silver bow sitting against a chest of drawers near one corner of the room and he made his way towards them.

Byleth would kill him after this was over, but in the end, he didn't care how mad she got. She was worth it.

Byleth quietly snuck around towards the back of the house to assess the situation and figure out how many of them there were that she needed to deal with. She was both grateful and irritated at the moonlight that lit up her surroundings as it gave her both a way to see everyone and everything in her vicinity, but at price of allowing them to do the same.

She admitted to herself that although she could probably use Claude's help at sniping some of them, she knew at the same time it would only irritate his wound and possibly make it worse. Hence why she forced him to stay behind. A little voice in the back of her mind though told her that he would probably disobey her command and come help her anyway. She recalled him being that way back at the academy when he knew she was in trouble. She knew that he never doubted her ability as a swordswoman, he always said as such by singing her praises, but she knew his concern for her sometimes outweighed that. She felt that happened more so during those brief moments he let his emotions take over instead of letting his mind take the lead.

Regardless of that, she needed to take these guys out quickly before either Claude made his way outside or they found out that Claude was in the house and move to get him while he was still injured. She couldn't move too fast however. She needed to study their movements and after doing so, make her move. A voice, one of those she recognized from when she traveled to the marketplace that day, caught her attention causing her thoughts to halt for a moment. "You sure this is the place?"

"Yeah, boss. After I followed that girl from the watering hole here earlier today, I saw the white wyvern that that noble had in the barn. The guy has to be here."

"Good work. Now let's get catch them by surprise and take what was supposed to be ours to begin with!"

Byleth gripped her sword's handle. Like hell, they'd get him.

She chanced a glance around the corner of a box that she had left on the side of her house. She could see them brandishing all sorts of weapons, some even carrying torches with the hands that weren't holding something else. Byleth could see that with the large numbers of them, it would be a tough fight, even for her. She took in a deep breath to try and calm down her nerves. If only Claude was in a better condition…

Before she could think any further, she saw them start to make their move. Even if she didn't think she could take them all on, she knew for certain that she wouldn't let them take him. She'd die first.

She quickly moved her head back behind the box she knelt behind as she saw one of the men getting closer to her during his walk towards the entrance to her house. Once he got right next to her, she quickly drew out her dagger out of it's sheath and stabbed him in the leg causing him to cry out in pain. Before he could fully fall to the ground, she pulled the dagger out of his leg and stabbed him with the same weapon in his neck, killing him instantly.

The noise the man made caught the attention of his companions, so Byleth knew she didn't have much time to react. She returned the dagger to its place in it's holster and gripped her sword in both hands as she ran around the corner of her house. Almost immediately she ran into one of them, whom she quickly dispatched before he had a chance to take her out first.

Vaguely she could hear the boss of the bandits calling out orders to his men, but her mind quickly shifted into the mode that she was famous for both as a student and as a mercenary. It was also the reason why she called the 'Ashen Demon'. Slowly but surely she began to take out a few more of the men that tried to make their way towards the front of the house all while trying to dodge the arrows that the archers sent her way.

She tried to catch her breath at a few points, but with how they kept coming at her, it was getting difficult. Slowly, she could feel herself begin to tire out. She tried to mask this, but she could tell with a glance at the boss that he knew that she was about to reach her limit.

With another bandit down, Byleth dodged another arrow sent her direction. She felt it graze her side, adrenaline helping to stem some of the pain, but now that she had blood coming out of her, she knew that it was only a matter of time before they took her out.

Another arrow was sent her direction and while she dodged it, she felt another arrow pierce her in her back. She cried out in pain as she was forced down into a kneeling position, her hand still gripping her sword as she stabbed it into the ground to try and keep her upright. Byleth heard the bandit boss laugh at the sight of her and immediately ordered one of his men to kill her.

Byleth took in a deep breath and held back the pain she was feeling to force herself up off the ground before he got there. However, she felt her heart drop as she realized that she wasn't moving fast enough. 'I'm sorry, Claude…'

Before the man could bring down his sword upon her, an arrow entered directly into his forehead, sending him to the ground, dead. Byleth was stunned for a moment before she realized that there was only one place that arrow could've come from. She jerked her head in the direction of the other corner of her house, to see Claude leaned up against the wall, his bow out and with another arrow notched into it's string. The moonlight that shone on him let her see that he was still in pain from the wound in his stomach, but he was still willing to fight. She felt both furious and relieved to see him standing outside with her. Byleth knew that she'd have to restitch his wound together after this was dealt with, but regardless she was glad he was here with her.

She finished standing up, moving her sword into a ready position. She left the arrow in her back as she knew if she removed it, it would only allow for more blood to flow. She would take care of it after this was done. With Claude at her side now, things would become a lot easier. She would just have to adjust her strategy a bit to help protect him from everyone trying to go after him since he was the easier target. She felt some of her strength return at the thought of fighting next to him again like old times.

In the corner of her eye, she saw one archer take a shot at Claude. Quickly she moved to slice to the arrow out of the air before it could hit him. Claude responded in kind by shooting an arrow back, which hit the archer dead on.

The two of them worked in tandem with each other, slowly taking out each of the bandits until only the leader remained. He glared back at them, furious at having his men taken out. "You two must think you're all that! Well, you're gonna figure out why I'm the leader of this bunch! I'll take you both out! Right now!"

With that, he drew his own sword and began taking on Byleth one-on-one. Byleth could definitely see that he was skilled based on how he was able to put strength behind his attacks and keep hers from hitting him, but she could see some flaws. She was professionally trained after all. Plus she had her on the field training to back that up.

More blows where shared between them, and although Claude sent the occasional arrow in his direction trying to give Byleth an opening to take him out, the bandit leader wasn't falling for it. Instead he took the opportunity during Claude's last arrow shot, to throw an attack towards Byleth in such a way that it caused her to have to dodge completely out of the way. In turn the man began bolting towards Claude to try and take him out and then turn his attention back to Byleth.

Byleth noticed this after she dodged and while cursing inwardly she gave chase towards the leader to try and stop him before he reached Claude. She could see Claude's eyes widen when he realized that he was probably not going to make it through this one. He could shoot off an arrow towards him and have it stop the man in his tracks, but he couldn't do it far or else he'd dodge and the arrow would hit Byleth instead. If he did it too close, the man could still get a hit on him and it would probably be a fatal one. He was stuck.

She cursed again as her eyes caught a hold of Claude's. For a split second, it felt like the times they shared on the battlefield when they were younger; when they were able to send messages to each other without saying a single word. She felt that familiar connection again and with just a single glance they knew what they had to do.

The man grew ever closer to Claude, and as he did, he drew his sword up to strike it against him. To his credit, Claude didn't show any fear towards his impending doom. Instead he smirked. The idiot.

When the man got close enough, Claude simply dodged the man by falling to the ground, the sword barely grazing his hair. The action the bandit made to stop right before he reached him gave Byleth enough time to come up behind him and run him through. Although she couldn't see it from her angle, she knew that he was surprised at what had taken place and wasn't expecting it. She pulled her sword back through and watched as the man fell to his knees before eventually falling to the ground.

Byleth let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. She could feel the adrenaline begin to slowly seep out of her body, threatening to make her collapse onto the ground. The pain she had been fighting against began coursing through her as well. She dropped her sword to the ground next to her and made her way over to Claude who was beginning to pick himself of the ground. She could see before she even knelt beside him that his wound was bleeding again.

"You idiot! Why did you do that?! I told you to stay in the house!" She glanced about trying to see if there was anything nearby to use to try and put pressure back onto his wound. She was halted in her search by him gently gripping her arm, forcing her to look back at him. The look on his face was enough to make her heart skip a beat.

"I wasn't going to let you go. After finding you again after all this time...I didn't want to lose you again." She saw a brief look of pain enter his face and she didn't think it came from his wound being reopened. "I can't..."

Frowning, Byleth wrapped her arms around him again bringing him close to her. She felt him do the same to her. "You won't." His body relaxed at her words. She knew in the back of her mind, that she needed to get them back in the house and patch up their wounds before figuring out their next move, but for right now, this was enough.