Breaking Masquerade of Heroes

Chapter 8 ~ Crushed and Scattered Dreams

Furina continued looking around for Byleth. She found him in a coffee shop, drinking a coffee and staring down at himself. She walked in and greeted the workers. Then she walked over to where Byleth was sitting. She sat right next to him and just stared at him. "Byleth?" Byleth looked over and just took a long deep breath. Furina sat on the other side of the table. Byleth just ignored her. The aura was calm but also sorrowful.

Furina continued staring at herself as Byleth drank more of his coffee. There was nothing, just silence and the background chatter of the people in the coffee shop. Furina fiddled with her hair as Byleth continued drinking it, completely ignoring what Furina was doing. "Are you going to leave?" Furina jumped at the sudden talk and just stared at him in confusion. She stared down at herself and just shook her head. Byleth rolled his eyes and continued drinking the coffee.

Furina replied, "Look, I know you didn't beat Rowan but that was still very, VERY impressive to do! You won against most of the people! You made it to the FINALS, that is such a big achievement!" Furina had a bright smile on her face as Byleth stared at her in silence. Just questioning everything that was going on. Byleth finished his coffee and took a deep breath.

"But did that show anything?"

"It proved that YOU can be a fashion designer Byleth! There's nothing wrong with what you're doing and in fact more people get to see what you can TRULY be!" Furina giggled. Byleth continued staring down at himself. Furina looked at him with a sorrowful look and just took a deep breath. "Please, you're so much more than what you believe to be. I promise you that-"

Byleth shouted, "THIS GETS US ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE!!" He grabbed his head and just stared down at himself. Glaring at himself for a brief moment before slamming his hands down on the desk, "I didn't prove myself, SHIT! Just a bunch of LIES and BULLSHIT"

"CALM DOWN!" Furina yelled. Byleth stared at her and then crossed his arms. Facing away from her. Furina rolled her eyes and huffed a bit. Byleth groaned and pulled on his eyes. "Next weekend is the wedding."

"That quickly!?" Furina nodded as she showed the invitation on her phone. Byleth stared at it as Furina gently put it down. "Shoot, I need to do finishing touches to the outfits." Byleth got up as Furina tried to stop him. However, he soon ran out of the building. Furina watched him in confusion before following after. Worried about what Byleth could potentially be doing. It took a while for them to get home. It was late evening when they got back.

Byleth grunted, "I apologize for being so late. I had... to think about what was going on. And I didn't want to take the bus."

"You ran all the way here!?" Kirby asked. Byleth stared at him and just rolled his eyes. He went upstairs and shut the door. A few minutes later, Furina came walking in. "And you too?!"

Furina groaned, "I was trying to follow him but to no avail." Furina shook her head as she walked to her room nearby. The rest of the heroes continued discussing the fashion show that happened. Most of them were conflicted on how to feel, especially since Byleth was feeling bad. Byleth was in his room getting all the finishing touches on the outfits for the wedding. He stood there staring at the outfits. There were twenty different outfits in his room. He took one long deep breath and turned over to his suit.

"Hope everything works out tomorrow. I just need to finish touching up Chrom's outfit tomorrow. Just so I can get everything ready," Byleth opened his luggage and packed up a couple of clothes. Not a whole lot of clothes since he was just going to be there for a little bit to help Chrom get ready. He looked at all his clothes again and turned away from them.

Byleth muttered, "I'm just an outsider... Everyone else is just able to fit in so well. But even the quietest can fit. Goddamnit." He took a deep breath and zipped up his luggage. He put it down and went outside to check everyone. "Hey everyone, your clothes are all set. Please inform me of ANYTHING that is inconsistent."

"SWEET!!" Kirby cheered. Byleth smiled at everyone as he went upstairs to bring all the clothes down. He neatly put them on the clothing rack. Everyone started looking over their clothes. Byleth felt himself getting tired. He went upstairs to his room and closed the door. Just heading to sleep early. Each of the heroes were still examining their clothes.

"Wow! They are really good looking!" Shea laughed. The heroes all nodded in agreement.

Neuvillette sighed, "He really went out of his way to give everyone a unique outfit to wear. He's truly dedicated."

"I know! Too bad we really don't appreciate him much. Tomorrow he's leaving to help focus on Chrom and his wedding preparations! So we should give him something to leave happy with!" Tails cheered. All the heroes nodded in agreement. They were all getting even more excited for the wedding. But they were also just worried about Byleth's declining mental state. They were working on the thing they were doing for Byleth. Eventually the next day came by. Byleth was getting ready for the day.

Preparing himself to leave for the week, getting nervous and excited. He took a deep breath and got his luggage down. Bringing it to his door and opened it. Furina was there waiting for him. "W-What? What are you doing?" Furina looked at him and smiled. Handing him some sort of card. Byleth opened it up and stared at it and read what was on it. He looked up and Furina was gone. Following the letter, he went downstairs and from there...

"SURPRISE!!" The heroes shouted. Byleth stood there in confusion as Furina wrapped some sort of ribbon around him.

Byleth asked, "What is remotely going... on?"

"There's a lot of things going on! For starters, we wanted to give you something positive to leave with. So therefore, there is this little surprise party for you!" Furina giggled. Byleth stood there in confusion. In the kitchen there appeared... to be something going on. There was yelling. "Ignore the kitchen, RIGHT NOW!! We have THIS!" Furina handed some sort of box to Byleth. Byleth stared at it with worry. Looking at her in fear.

Furina looked at him with a smile as Byleth opened the box. Inside of it was a medal, a medal with Byleth's name attached to it. He took a closer look at it. "Congratulations for making it to the finals between me, Byleth Eisner. And because of this, I would like to give you this unique medal of achievement." Byleth stared at it as Furina had a bright smile on her face, "Cool I guess."

"WHAT."

"Oh and he's the one complaining when I say the outfit looks cool-" Shuichi started before Tails hushed him. Byleth stood there staring at the medal and just put it on the side.

Furina asked, "Seriously!? Are you just going to say this is all cool?! This is an achievement, why are you being so negative about such things!?" Byleth didn't say anything and stood there staring at himself in silence. He grabbed his bags and just took the medal with him without saying much. Furina stood there staring at him as the rest of the heroes just watched helplessly. "Byleth..."

"I'll see you all at the wedding. This was nice and all but no thanks," Byleth muttered before walking off. Furina stood there staring at him in disbelief. Byleth left as each of the heroes all looked at each other; thinking about what happened. Furina grabbed her head and pulled her hair.

Furina muttered, "Where did I go wrong..?! Where did I go wrong...!?" She was panicking as Neuvillette walked over and patted her on the back. Furina looked at him and just soon left the area, distraught. The rest of the heroes watched her in complete sorrow as nobody knew what to do now.