How would you rewrite Billy? I would have had Rhea kick Jeralt’s drunk ass out and raise the baby herself, she clearly would’ve been an excellent mother figure to them
Poor Billy, if they stayed in the Monastery, would have gotten ugly sweaters for Garreg Mach's Foundation day!
Every year, without fault!
And Rhea would of course keep preciously all the drawings they did when they were chidren, which would embarass Billy, especially when she brags about it to people around.
Assuming Seteth comes to the Monastery as he does in canon, he too, would participate in raising Billy, and they would fish together - not catching anything, but enjoy some quiet "not quite relative-relative" time.
When Cyril joins, Billy shows him the ropes - or tries to - even if Cyril started to feel some one-sided rivalry towards Billy, but after noticing they both received the same ugly sweater for Garreg Mach's Foundation day, Cyril mellows a bit.
As for their career, I don't think Billy would have picked the sword. Maybe they would have been taught basic light spells and basic training since a young age because Rhea believes they should at least know how to defend themselves, but Billy calls it a "work out session" with Rhea and Seteth, every saturday at 4 pm.
Maybe they would have wanted to become a teacher too, at some point, or a professional fisherman, or even a botanist but reading the Traveler's Journal in the Library since they started how to read and having to suffer through Rhea's bedtime stories about "Great Emperor Wilhelm's journey through Fodlan", they want to become an explorer.
Rhea only allows if they promised to write at least once a week, and accepted her 3 jars of preserved Zanado Fruit Jam "just in case" and 15 bags of biscuits because they "never know". Billy's a bit embarassed - they're not a kid anymore! - but when they tell her her mom said she would watch over him, she gives up on giving him 5 kg of jerky.
Still, she gives them a new quill and a blank book : maybe they could start a travel journal?
Billy's happy, nods, hugs her and says they'll write as soon as they arrive to a new and exciting place!
Billy's first entry in their travel log is about a weird land they came to, using a boat, that's not very far from Enbarr - where people ride birds even taller than they are, but those birds can't fly.
Byleth asks! Do you prefer male byleth or female byleth?
M!Billy definitively!
First because while his outfit is a mix of weird and bland, it's something that doesn't make me wonder why IS/KT intends to continue with sexualising their female protagonists when F!Robin got a similar outfit to a male counterpart.
Also, sexual dimorphism plays a large part, F!Billy is a woman, so her eyes are really big, too emphatise how she is, y'know, a woman! On the contrary, because M!Billy is a man, his are around the same size as everyone else.
Yeah, no.
Then, because poor M!Billy gets erased in some fanon spaces and it makes me sad for the poor guy :(
But ultimately, I dig the idea of gender role reversals in Fodlan, M!Billy ditches a life of blood and swords (aka living as a merc) to become someone who guides and nurtures lives (as the next person in charge of GM and Fodlan in some routes).
Byleth is no Ike expy, he won't take Jerry's role (not that Jerry even taught him anything about running a company thought) but instead will get closer to his mother's side of the family and ultimately follow in his female, uh "relatives/people who are tied to his family" 's steps to become a kind of "super nun" as the next Archbishop.
Once upon a time, hungry and stranded from Jerry who went was invited by a client who was happy with their work, Billy ended up near a giant bird's nest and saw an egg, there. Taking it back to the camp, they tried to cook it, but faced with the jeers from the mercenary group (what is the captain's child doing? They're so weird.) they stopped, and ate an apple instead.
Feeling more supported in Garreg Mach, they bring a giant bird's egg to Rhea, asking her if it's alright to cook it. She nods a bit too fast, she remembers an old dish from her childhood with giant eggs!
Sadly, Rhea having been a child "back then", she doesn't know how to cook it - the omelette tastes good enough for Billy who's happy to eat their "giant egg", but Rhea says it doesn't taste like what she used to eat at home. A bit upset, she realises she remembers the taste of the dish, but never learnt how to cook it.
So, as usual, she asks Seteth.
He looks at her, then at Byleth, then sighs. No, he didn't cook either back then, he just remember one of their brothers - who became Thyrsus - doing something with herbs and pots of spices that smelt good.
Billy doesn't understand why they're so upset, Seteth merely tells them it's a taste of the home they lost, they can remember it, but never find it again.
Feeling bad for them, Billy tries to cook several omelettes.
Seteth and Rhea taste them all, and while they thank Billy, they say it's not the same. But Billy's not discouraged, they want to make, and eat, the famous omelette that "tastes like home".
Supreme Leader's war happens and Billy, during their times off still make omelettes, or look for recipes and ideas of what they haven't yet done. They say when the world will be at peace and Rhea will return, they will surprise her with an omelette that "tastes like home".
Meeting Indech during the campaign, they ask them, and Indech tells them to grind Zanado rocks in thin powder and sprinkle it on the omelette, it will taste better.
Billy does it, and Seteth asks them what the hell did they put in that omelette. Flayn sighs, telling Billy to never listen to "Uncle" because what he finds fun isn't what anyone else in the entire world finds "fun". Faced with Billy's interrogation, Flayn adds how "Uncle" Indech tricked them, maybe thinking it was funny.
Seteth frowns. It isn't.
Macuil tells Byleth to die, and then how he will not talk to a living corpse.
After Flayn asks him to please share the recipe, he sighs, and reveals he doesn't know it was made. He never asked for the recipe, because he always thought his siblings would be there to cook for him whevener he would ask.
But then Zanado burnt.
Macuil's words trigger something in Billy, and they thank him, before scribbling something on a parchment. Zanado and burn makes them realise they haven't tried to put Zanado fruit in the omelette? What if Indech had been trying to give them a clue?
Just on the eve of preparing for the assault on Enbarr, Billy tries different methods to cook a Zanado Fruit. Boil it, fry it, roast it... Students are really wondering what are they doing with that thing, it's inedible trash!
Billy opts to sun-dry it, then, when it would be dry enough, they will grind it into powder, just like Indech said.
Rhea's rescued, but she's in no state to eat anything. Billy makes her swear to get better so she can taste the omelette they worked on, and she promises she will.
Roasting the Zanado Fruit powder they grinded, they sprinkle it on a giant bird's omelette and give it to Seteth, for tasting.
Seteth's a bit surprised, it's not exactly the same taste, but it's close enough. He congratulates Billy, who's still a bit disappointed, they couldn't make the omelette like they remembered.
Rhea, thanking them for the meal - a bit surprised they focused on this omelette thing during the war - tells them it doesn't matter, Zanado is long gone, Byleth should try to find a new home here, in Garreg Mach if they want.
They shake their head, they said they will make the omelette that tastes like Zanado, so they will do it, no matter how many months or even years it takes them.
Rhea calls them stubborn, and after listening to their story - how Indech made fun of them saying they should eat rocks, while Macuil told them to die - Rhea suddenly remembers how Indech's stupid words might have not been that stupid, maybe there had been some rock salt in Zanado?
Also, now that she remembers, she and Macuil were often sent to pick up herbs in Noa's gardens, at first she thought they were ornamental flowers, but maybe they were also for eating?
Billy pulls out their parchment and Rhea's amused to see them having taken so many notes and made so many researches about something as ridiculous as an omelette, but finds it endearing. She remembers how Sitri once asked her to teach her to sew patterns from Zanado, maybe Byleth also tries to reconnect with their heritage?
Finding Billy asleep on their desk, she borrows their notebook and finally gets the general idea on how the omelette from her childhood was made, reading through all of Billy's ideas and Seteth's comments. She and Seteth look at each other, and agree to make the omelette for Billy.
When the war finally ends, Rhea, Seteth, Billy and Flayn eat the "omelette that taste like home", according to Byleth.
Rhea shakes her head, it's just a Zanado omelette, to her it tastes like home, but it's up to Billy to find a dish that would remind them of the home they have.
Billy pauses a bit, and says all this omelette journey made them realise they like cooking for people, and they like being in Garreg Mach. So whatever they can eat in the Monastery is something that "tastes like home".
Seteth sighs, they surely like sharing meals with people, but what is their favourite dish? Billy pauses a bit, then replies Fried crayfish, it's the first meal they had when they came here.
And this is how Archbishop/King Billy instaured Fried crayfish day in Fodlan, intended to be a day of celebration and eating with people you like, but people mistook their words and now eat crayfish on this very special day of the year.
AU during that time where Jerry was trying to woo Citrus by telling her various anecdotes about the "outside" world, he wanted to surprise/impress her by singing an old ribald Faerghan song.
"surely that's not something you'd hear, cramped in the monastery as you are, right?"
Citrus nodded, while she doesn't know this Faerghan song, she knows an old "Adrestian ballad", which was actually an old sailor song, rude as fuck that was most likely what inspired the Faerghan version, her "mother" taught her.
Jerry runs to Rhea asking her what the crap, but she handwaves everything away, after all, it's just a song, and children love to listen to songs!
Dumbfounded, Jerry doesn't know how to react with Citrus makes him promise to help her teach the "kid" a lot of songs too, maybe their kid will be some sort of bard, or even better, sing in that opera thing in Enbarr!
Of course events happen, Jerry doesn't teach any song to Billy but when they hear them sing a song with Manu, he makes a mental note to later ask her if, during her free time one day, she could take Billy to the so-called "opera thing".
I know it wouldn't technically fit with the timeline but -
Fodlan AU :
Jerry doesn't leave when the kid is 2 weeks old, but waits a bit, and tries to ask around how "normal" babies behave, because Billy is still abnormally calm.
"Maybe they're broken or something ?"
Some nuns throw him dark glares, his kid is alive, how can he say something like that?
Rhea spends time with them, giving bby!Billy Sitri's old :) golem plushie, even if Jerry thinks it's trash ("what the crap is that thing??"), bby!Billy seems to appreciate it, always trying to reach it whenever Rhea, or some monks/nins, dangle it in front of them.
One day, Jerry finally manages to convince another doctor to examine his kid but forgot that Rhea was playing with the baby. Jerry becomes a bit tense, after all, Rhea already grilled him on him asking around if Billy is "normal" even after she told him they were alright. Just before Rhea could ask what was going on, bby!Billy suddenly started to chew on her hair, distracting her enough ("good, my ears aren't still showing!") to forget about Jerry and the doctor.
Garreg Mach doctor was so amazed that this random nobody baby was chewing on the Archbishop's hair that he stopped thinking for a bit, before recomposing himself, assuring Jerry that his kid was alright, after all, it's normal for babies of that age to try to discover the world by putting stuff in their mouths.
Happy that finally, someone else than Rhea found his baby "normal" and "alright", Jerry sighed in relief. However, only Aelfie (who wanted to spend time with Sitri's child) kind of freaked out because no, even if Billy is Billy, they should unhand the Archbishop and not munch on her hair!
Both men tried to pry Billy out of Rhea's hair, while she was just saying them to let them be, the baby is just having a bit of fun !
Jerry then realised - while Aelfie was trying to make Rhea reconsider because she has an important appointment with Count Varley and definitely can't show up with a baby drooling all over her - that sure, Billy doesn't laugh nor cries, but at times, they want to play with their odd :) plushie, and at other times, prefer to play with the stuffed bear, what if Rhea wasn't just saying nonsense, and, despite not laughing, Billy was having fun?
