Had it truly been five years since that day? It was a naïve promise; made as idealistic children, for as unwise and unwitting each of them were in their part to the grand war that had unfolded and rocked Fódlan to it’s core. Could she be faulted for allowing herself this moment of childlike innocence? The war had taken each of them to separate corners of the Empire and the wider world, in truth, perhaps, it was silly to expect anyone to attend and yet, her feet had walked her to the monastery steps as it had done all those years ago.
There was no purpose, no rhyme or reason for her to return; the war efforts had kept the Imperial Army busy at Adrestia’s borders, the Kingdom conspired with Rhea and the Church of Seiros to the north and the Alliance’s state of affairs….well, Claude’s penchant for tactics and secrecy preceded him. Such things were not hers to dwell on for the moment. The war ever raged on as did the burning need for her to see it through to it’s conclusion.
All had changed the moment they had been unable to save /her./ The memory still replayed itself in her mind now, fixed to those of other lives she had been powerless to save and yet…it still stung.
The Goddess Tower had ever been a building of promise for as little hope as the goddess had provided to her - talks of vows, promises and bonds ever the thing of childish fancy for as much as the thought of it now still put a small, timid smile along her lips. It was a sense of guidance, serenity perhaps, in a world that seemed to be ever-changing around them and on a night like tonight, a sky full of stars that simply took her breath away in it’s staggering beauty. What was it to remain? To linger? To someone who’s thoughts ever turned to the future out of necessity? Bigger questions than her, she supposed and yet, the answer felt ever unsatisfactory to a curious mind.
It appeared she was alone. There had been little cause for hope otherwise, after all, for as much as trailing her hand along the wall, recounting time spent - small chips in the stone, views that brought her back to her days as a student and the hope that had brought her here in the first place built and swelled softly within her chest.
Edelgard moved carefully, one step at a time as she ventured inside the tower; hand carefully gripping the railing as she ascended its steps; a gesture, she noted, her parents had walked themselves in more peaceful times for as much as their guidance and love had brought her to walk, fight and stand this tall so far.
It was only as she neared the tower’s peak that she heard loose footsteps on the platform above, stance tensing initially as her arm fell to her side; hand settling lightly at her hip, resting mere inches from the dagger she kept on her person for sentimental reasons if she required it so. While security had ever been lax since the grander war had broken out with many of it’s soldiers retreating with their leaders to the Kingdom or returning to their home countries to fight, there was always the possibilities of bandits or opportunists looking to make a base in such a key central location to the three territories and yet, if it had proved so dangerous, she had yet to see it.
Placing her hand carefully along the simple wooden door’s edge - a building seen fit not to reinforce when war had broken out, Edelgard breathed in deeply. Whatever lay beyond it, whoever she would come to face in her honouring of tradition long past, she would face it head on - as she had every challenge that had come before.
Applying careful pressure, she persisted and yet, as small hushed light filled in the gap of the night sky in her view, nothing could have prepared her for the sight she soon came to face with and her name spoken by someone she long thought lost to time.
“Professor, I…!” The words left her mouth before she had chance to think, expression frozen as bright, wide eyes stared out to make sense of every detail of the scene before her. She had ever hoped, ever believed in spite of the evidence. They had found nothing in their expeditions, nothing of substance in the days, months and years they had spent searching for the other - only stopping as every inch of the battlefield had been checked and yet, the truth in front of her was undeniable.
“We looked, I looked—we couldn’t find you.” Years of emotions came flooding back; joy, anger, excitement, boundless, sinking guilt, barely able to stand with how tightly the image of her teacher stood before her once more warmed a heart she ever thought cold as the war raged on; an unsteady hand coming out to reach for the other’s shoulder as final, tangible proof she was here and alive.
Admittedly, at this particular moment, logic dictated that Byleth should flee. Retreat, avoid this meeting so she didn’t say or do anything that would risk her plans coming to light... But the side of her who still cared deeply for the Emperor, who wanted that bond she once had with Edelgard again, rooted her feet to the ground. The mere mention of her former title of Professor, threatened to make her weak, and the moment Edelgard’s hand touched her shoulder, however gently, was the moment her resolve to stay silent crumbled.
“...When you don’t want to be found, and you know these lands as well as I do... It isn’t difficult to elude detection.” The sentences are spoken slowly, almost as if she was calculating and measuring what she was saying - and yet, there was a slight waver to her voice, revealing the measure of emotion at this reunion that didn’t show on her ever-stoic face. As if to affirm that notion, Byleth’s hand reached up to where Edelgard’s lay on her shoulder, but rather than remove it, it simply lay atop hers. Light enough that the Emperor could easily withdraw her own, yet her fingers twitched slightly, as if restraining herself from clasping it around the other woman’s. But the gesture alone, coming from a woman who had shown, time and again, clear reticence against her hands being touched or grasped by most, how she still cared.
“...I’m sorry. I wasn’t... sure if I was being hunted or not, but regardless... I had things I needed to do.” Unspoken of was her guilt, how terrible she felt for fleeing from the young woman. While she had made her students stay, to give Edelgard allies she could still trust, there was no doubt that her decision to join neither side of this war had stung - even if it wasn’t the worst possible outcome for her former student, Byleth’s refusal to choose a side couldn’t have been one easily accepted.
“I... understand if you’re angry with me. If you’ve... lost any trust in me. I should have been there for you, but I...” For the briefest of moments, a pained expression falls over Byleth’s face, the former professor lowering her head in the next instance, only for her head to raise once the feelings were covered up and her expression once again as neutral as it usually was. “No. I won’t make excuses. Whatever the reasons were... I abandoned you when I should’ve stood by your side. I can’t take that back, and any excuses are just air, at this point.”
