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Dimitri angrily stared down the plate of food that Byleth had left at his side as he kneeled. His mind nauseous and loud swirled in pain as his hunger started to cloud the voices in his ears.
“Please try to eat.” They said before walking out of the chapel, as they had done every day before.
His first instinct was to throw the offending plate loaded with meat and steaming potatoes against a wall. But his traitorous body loudly protested with a painful growl as he reached with his clawed gauntlets.
Dimitri loudly growled and gritted his teeth as the pain increased as his father sneered at his weakness.
“Don’t look at me like that!” He keened between his clenched teeth, and withered under Lambert’s glare. The reply was washed out by another loud growl, and the wafting smell of the slow cooked meat and butter slathered mashed potatoes made his mouth water even though he could never taste it.
“What are you waiting for, you useless slob, I can't believe I died to save your worthless skin.” Glenn spat as his face twisted with disgust. “If you can’t even handle a little hunger for our vengeance then eat. The longer you take the longer we can’t rest.”
Dimitri’s heart clenched, as if clawed hands had clenched around it and stabbed its long nails into the vulnerable muscle.
“NO! I won’t make you wait! I’ll give you her head I swear!” He curled into himself, and held his hands to his chest as if he could stop the pain.
Another loud grumble broke his train of thought as his vision started to swim.
I’m hungry
Dimitri turned back to the plate, and brought it closer to him. He laid down his lance within arms reach just in case of an attack, and satisfied with this he dug one of his hands into the burning potatoes and shoved it into his gaping mouth. The smooth texture went down easily, immediately taking the edge off the pain in his head, and he used his other hand to grab a fistful of meat and brought it to his mouth like he had the potatoes. The food burned his mouth and throat as it went down but he couldn’t care.
With a snarl he couldn’t resist, and grabbed more to shovel into his mouth. Whatever didn’t make it into his mouth, or was in his hands dropped onto the ruined tiled floors as he snorted down whatever he could grab off the plate.
A disgusted scoff could be heard beside him, but it didn’t matter as he leaned down to get closer to the plate he lifted with his greasy gauntleted hands. He brought it directly to his face, and licked up whatever was left not caring that his face and hair that hung over his eye was dirty and smeared with grease.
“Disgusting pig.” Was all that was said before It was followed by the sounds of footsteps walking away.
It barely mattered to Dimitri as he dropped the now empty plate to lick whatever scraps were left off his hands. His now full stomach swirled with a different kind of nausea. Satisfaction from being full, and guilt from not being able to be strong enough to hold out longer.
The plate clattered to the floor, and Dimitri returned to the pile of broken glass and rubble that lay before what used to be tall stained glass windows. All that was left of it was a large hole broken by siege engines.
Lambert stared down angrily, but before he could speak the sounds of Byleth’s heels clacked down the large isle in the cathedral.
“Felix said you ate.” They picked up the plate pausing for a moment. “I’m glad. I know you don’t like to disturbed, but I’m proud of you for choosing to eat.”
Dimitri’s heart momentarily soared, and the overwhelming feeling to bask in the praise quickly died under piercing cold fear under the glares of the dead. How could he let praise distract him from his mission.
“If you aren’t giving the order to storm Embarr right now then don’t bother me with useless things.” He snarled without bothering to look back.
They softly sighed, but they waited a few moments before speaking again. “I’m here for you whenever you need me, don’t be afraid to come to me.”
A small part of the old prince keened, but he quickly snuffed it out with a contemptuous scoff and stared straight ahead at the hole in the wall trying to block out Byleth’s footsteps as they slowly walked away.
A cold breeze swept through the air, and it chilled Dimitri through to the bone. But even under the gaze of the dead, even he couldn’t fight the small flame that stubbornly stayed in his chest.