Ashen Demon

3

There is one thing Byleth has learned during her life-runs with each of the house leaders and with Rhea herself. Though she has come to be close with them, but for the sake to learning the truth from their side she must conceal all emotions she has towards the opposing. They were once her students, and she was once their teacher. In the time of war, old-time sakes are far behind and that the ugly reality must be embraced.

She learned that the hard way when she sided with Edelgard. The amount of blood and corpses that kept on piling were all in the name of a new era for the people of Fodlan. To overthrow the Crest System, to which the nobles had worshipped for far too much it becomes an obsession to hold up the image and showing off the power they have. To show off their importance. Thus, children became victims whether the expectations were not met nor when they do not end up inheriting the Crest.

Sylvain was unfortunately a victim of this, and so was his estranged older brother. 

He earned the Crest, but Mikhail did not and thus he instantly became the unwanted child. A useless nobleman with no purpose in life, while Sylvain was showered with compliments and attention. He is hyper-aware the folks around him don't adore him for him; they only adore him because of his Crest.

Marianne was also a victim, as her Crest once belonged to an Elite whose name was scrapped from history.

 He transformed into an uncontrollable yet feral creature, the humanity within him long gone. Many see that anyone who earned his Crest is cursed, and so Marianne was considered cursed. It always made her gut wrench for her; Marianne didn't deserve what she had been through. It wasn't her fault, she had no control over it.

But many people did not think about it.

While she can understand Edelgard's motives to overthrow the system so none can suffer from the toxic influence of the Crests, her way of dealing with it was unnecessary. With her mind set, there was no use to talking her out of it. So she had to conceal everything she had felt for the former students she once taught and sided with previously. The bonds must be forgotten for only a moment, as the sight of their corpses before her always left her wanting to breakdown.

She cannot though; she has to keep moving forward. But it pained her so much on the inside, she was surprised she didn't even lose it.

 The downside with having the ability to travel through time, is that while they do not know about her separately depending on who she chose, she herself remembers everything about them. Every single one of them, and how their deaths were signed to them when she was unable to save them from their fate.

It was a burden that continues to weigh on her shoulders, even when she finally managed to build a bridge between all three nations and having them turn their attention to the Agarthans.

_________________

The burden she thought that would be lifted only weighs heavier. But not in the way she is very familiar with, but rather in a different way. 

 Since the visitation and weekly fights with the Upper Moon 2, Byleth soon realized what this would appear to in front of many people. Yes, it would look like she is on a mission to behead him, but because he kept reappearing it would start to look suspicious. The fact Douma prefers to actually hang around with her more than attempting to kill her doesn't help the case.

Since the Demon Slayer Corps are tasked to eradicate the demons, her interaction with Douma made her think about something. If they believed that is their duty, what would happen if someone not only interacts with a demon frequently but also unintentionally befriending one? Especially if it was an Upper Moon?