All This Time

One Wish

There was an insistent knocking on her door, one that Byleth eventually woke up to. Rubbing her eyes drowsily, Byleth sat up, immediately worried. What had gone on? Was Edelgard marching on the monastery while she was sleeping? What if something bad had happened to someone?

"Who is it?" Byleth questioned, an urgent tone in her voice. Part of her wanted to go back to sleep, but she couldn't risk the possibility of a bad situation.

"It's me, Teach! Claude!"

"What's the problem?"

"Er...Nothing. I just wanted to talk."

Well, her hopes of sleeping in were over. Even though there was no problem, Byleth knew she wasn't going to be able to ignore him. Byleth  tried to comb her fingers through her hair frantically as she slid out of bed. Catching a glance of herself in the mirror, Byleth grimaced. Her hair was all over the place, and she was still wearing her pajamas. She hated it when Claude saw her like this. While it may have seemed trivial that she was focusing on her looks, Claude had said it wasn't urgent...

"Uh, can I change really quick?" Byleth shouted, praying he was gonna say yes. There was a pause, and then a 'yeah' followed it. Byleth smiled, and she quickly changed into her normal outfit.

She deftly slipped down her pajama pants, sliding on her shorts and tights. She changed into her top, frowning slightly. After fixing the sleeves on her jacket, Byleth brushed her hair properly and then opened the door.

"Ah, there you are," Claude grinned at the sight of her, but Byleth had a hard time transmitting the same energy.  "Happy birthday, Teach!"

Happy...birthday?

"It's my birthday?" Byleth glanced over to her calendar. Sure enough, it was her birthday; Lone Moon, the 29th. A warm feeling fluttered through her chest, even though she was unable to properly reciprocate his excitement. He had remembered. "Oh."

"Just oh?" Claude smirked. "On my birthdays, I was always jumping around in excitement! I guess I was a kid back then, but y'know. Well, anyways. I have a present for you! It's from all of us Deer."

He held out a box wrapped in gold. It was tied with a while and black ribbon, and Byleth hesitantly took it from him.

"Are..are you sure? We're in times of war...I'm not sure if this is really appropriate timing," Byleth asked, uncomfortable. She thought the situation was too dire for such a gift.

"Of course I'm sure. You're my Teach."

"If you say so..."

She carefully undid the ribbon before peeling off the wrapping paper. As she took the lid off of the white box, she was shocked to see a golden bracelet. There were eight silvery charms with little icons on them, and gold was embroidered onto the edges of the charms.

Each charm had a different item on it, now that she looked. There was one with a red rose, another with a horse, a full plate of food, one with a book, another with a small house, a paintbrush charm, one with a small gem, and the last one was completely golden with a silvery key and arrow.

One charm for each of her Golden Deer...

"I hope you like it, Teach," Claude told her sincerely. "We all chipped in. Hilda made the bracelet, Ignatz was the design planner, Marianne and Raphael both came up with the icons on each charm, Lorenz wrapped the box...Lysithea helped me organize all this and Leonie haggled people for the best prices."

"This...This is...it's so perfect," Byleth responded, a small smile finally dawning on her features. "I'm assuming this charm is yours because of the arrow, but..why the key?"