Chapter Text
As the three houses converged the air was thick. The black eagles could tell they weren’t welcome here, even if they didn’t choose it themselves. Some looked at them with an indifferent expression, not sure how they should be feeling at the moment. Some looked with fear, seeing the emperor alive and well worried them of the possibility of the war continuing. Most noticeable were the glares, the anger they were showing was expected, but not pleasant.
“So, it was true then” Leonie spat with a scowl looking at Edelgard, using all the restraint she had not to attack “just when the world was free of your tyranny, you just had to show yourself again”.
Hubert furrowed his brow and stepped to his emperor's defense “You would be wise to think carefully before spouting such nonsense” he announced while conjuring a deadly spell “ I will not hesitate to kill you all once again”.
The tension seemed to grow to a boiling point, both sides ready to strike with either fists or magic before Claude made himself known “Come on guys do you really think violence will solve anything?” He said while putting himself right in the middle of the crossfire “we’ve been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the impossible. I can’t be the only one here who’s interested in this, right?”
“Claude, as much as I appreciate your feeble attempt at creating peace between us I cannot simply ignore the acts they committed” Lorenz chimed in while getting approving nods from many of the blue lions and golden deers “No matter how interesting this event may be I have to insist on striking her down once more before she can commit any more atrocities”.
“We won’t let you hurt our Eddie!” Dorothea shouted spurring the rest of the black eagles into a defensive formation around Edelgard
Seeing most of the other group agreeing with Lorenz, and the black eagles increasing their glares Dimitri tried to join Claude before Dedue blocked his way. “your highness you cannot be thinking of putting yourself in such a vulnerable position. Look at them we have no idea when they will attack”
Claude sighed at his incompetence, of course he couldn’t solve things so easily. I’m sorry Byleth, it looks like coexisting just isn’t possible. He moved back and ordered his house to prepare for battle. Leonie eagerly agreed, Lorenz headed his gaze along with Raphael and Ignatz, Hilda moved Marianne behind them and took her position, and Lysithea winced she had hoped Edelgard could have a happy ending this time.
Frustrated, Dimitri was prepared to put his authority to good use and try to make another attempt before “ugh I should have expected this” Obu groaned from above “fine. No more magic”
“Impossible!” Hubert exclaimed as his magic dissipated. He wasn’t alone in his surprise as everyone stared wide eyed at Obu.
“Listen up children! I had hoped you would accept this without revealing too much but I see that is not working. So let’s take a different approach, with enticement!” Obu looked at the intrigued faces on more faces then before and felt satisfied.
“Don’t you want to know why Edelgard started the war?” Edelgard eyes narrowed as more eyes widened.
“Don’t you want to know the full truth of the tragedy of Duscur?” Dimitri looked astonished as Dedue tried to hide his emotion.
“Don’t you want to know how to remove crests?” Lysithea looked up hopefully before glancing at Edelgard who was hiding her expression.
“So many burning questions that could easily be answered if you could only not kill each other. Sadly, I don’t fancy keeping you all here against your wills so I will leave it up to you all. Do any of you still want to go home?” Obu finished trying to keep the hope out of their voice. This had to work.
The room was quiet, tension slowly lowering in level. Knowing they couldn’t hurt each other and, of course having their life long questions get answered, they reluctantly stayed silent.
Dimitri and Claude finally saw an opening. Nodding to each other they sold the deal “I think we speak for both the blue lions and the golden deer when I say this is too good of an opportunity to pass up”. Seeing the nods of their house members, Dimitri turned to his sister with a hopeful expression “and you Edelgard? What have you all decided?”.
“Like anybody could deny this chance. The black eagles will be attending this event” Edelgard responded making sure to look for any objections.
Obu eyed them carefully “Good. We are finally getting somewhere. Find a seat and we can begin”. As they began moving, Obu felt relief pass through them. It was happening!
As the group cautiously walked away to find seats three people remained. The house leaders looked at each other confused.
“Do we all have questions for Obu?” Dimitri asked.
“I just have one'' Edelgard responds, turning towards them “where is the professor? She should easily be important enough to be included here”.
“Um I get you were fond of Byleth, but why are you so insistent on her being here?” Claude asked, narrowing his eyes.
“No I have the same question, I would appreciate my fiancé being with me during this” Dimitri stated.
“Fiancé?!” Edelgard shouted while Claude's eyes widened.
“Oh, did I forget to mention that? Sorry.” Obu casually cut in “in each of your timelines Byleth was your romantic partner”.
“What?!” All three house leaders yelled before glaring at one another.
“Yeah so the weirdest thing happened while trying to summon her here. It was like something blocked my power. It’s like a wall I’ll have to chop away at. She’ll be here eventually, just give me some time" Obu explained, trying to hold back their laughter.
Reluctantly, Dimitri dismissed his glare and turned to begin walking back towards his seat “thank you for the information. I’ll be on my way now”.
“Yes, thank you very much” Edelgard said through gritted teeth before walking towards the seat her house chose.
Claude watched them walk off and sighed turning back to Obu “you know I may be overthinking things, but with how many unbelievable things I’ve seen you do I find it hard to believe that it would be hard to bring her here. Even with the strange power she has”.
“…I have no reason to lie to you all. She will appear as soon as I am able to bring her here. Now I would insist on you finding your seat before you miss the viewing!” Obu cheerily responded.
Claude held back any more arguments, he knew he wouldn’t get any more information for now. Walking toward his seating area he couldn’t help but feel something more was going on. Obu redirected the conversation as soon as Ingrid questioned why they were here. They did the same thing when he tried to question their power. However, he knew he would have to wait for his next opportunity to speak alone with them before anything could happen.
With everyone seated, obu began to speak “alright everything’s finally in order! ready to start the viewing everyone?”