Hello, Goodbye

Grave Mistake

Dimitri and the troops had marched for Fort Merceus four days ago. These past few days have been long and torturous. To the point where I have been sick. Lillie has always tried to make me smile which I appreciate more than anything. It has been three weeks since I came back to the monastery. There wasn't as much different about the place as I originally thought. "Lady Thalia are you awake?" I got up from my desk and walked to the door. A knight handed me a package. "This just arrived for you ma'am." I smiled at him and thanked him. I took the package to my desk and removed the letter attached to the top.

Thalia,
I hope you this letter finds you well and that you and Lillie are doing well. How is Dimitri? He better be taking care of you! Scratch that, I know he is. I guess you've figured out for sure by now that the only reason I let you go was because, regardless of Lillie, I knew he would make you happy. I still miss you though. However, I've had some pretty great company with me in Almyra. Marianne... I was rather surprised when she met me at the border asking me to come to Almyra. She's currently working on her political studies so she can be of good use when I start my peace talks with Dimitri. She's a quick learner. Gotta give the girl that. Either way I wanted to go ahead and send you your birthday present. I know it's not until the Etheral Moon, but I just couldn't wait to give it to you. Who knows. Maybe you can wear it on your coronation day as queen.  Haha we all know it's gonna happen. Anyway, talk to you soon!!

Khalid

I put the letter down and opened the package and inside was a beautifully stitched royal blue ballgown. It had a sweetheart neckline and sequins all down the bodice. Tears flung to my eyes as I thought of how much something like this must have costed him. "That's really pretty mommy." I turned to her and smiled. "Yes it is baby." I hung the dress on the hook on the wall and pulled my daughter into my arms. "Umm, mommy. Who is he?" I looked at her confused, then turned around. There in my room stood none other than Hubert. I put Lillie down and pushed her behind me. "My, my, on the defensive already Thalia. No need to worry I'm not here for your child. Although she would be a wonderful catch for Lady Edelgard. I'm here for you. Say goodbye to your mommy, little girl!" His hand began to light up and then my whole world turned black.

Dimitri's POV

The Fort Merceus campaign was a huge success. The Death Knight was gone and we had gained our biggest foothold in Empire territory. We had just entered Garreg Mach territory and was making our way back to the monastery.  Upon arrival I noted that something was off. A guard approached us with a panicked look on his face. "We've got an issue, Your Highness. It seems our defenses here at the monastery were broken. Lady Thalia has been abducted." My heart stopped. Everyone else around us stopped what they were doing the second those words come out. "What?!?! Where's Lillie?" Felix shouted. I noticed the guard had something in his hand. "Lady Lillie is fine. She's sleeing. They seemed to only be after Thalia. The guy who took her left this." He handed us the paper he was holding and I unfolded it.

Dimitri,

If your reading this letter then I assume you know that your dear Thalia is no longer with you. It is such a shame the poor girl didn't heed my warning all those years ago to stay away from you. If she had, she could have easily avoided all this pain she's about to receive. Don't worry Dimitri, I don't plan on hurting her too much. Just having a bit of fun is all. You should have seen the look on Hubert's face when I gave the order. I hope to see you soon, dear step brother.

Edelgard

So many emotions flooded through my body in that instant. Anger being the most dominant. Felix took the letter from me and read it. "We need to go Dimitri, now." Ingrid walked over and took the letter from Felix, before he tore it in two. "I agree we need to go, but we don't have the resources to mount a full attack on Enbar right now." I sighed before speaking myself. "Ingrid is right. We don't have the resources or the manpower to mount a full attack on the Imperial capital. If we go in now we will only be whipped out. And Edelgard knows this. Which is exactly why she took her now. We will send an express messenger to Claude, and see if he can provide us with any aide." Out of the corner of my eye I could see the confused faces of my companions. Felix then voiced their concerns. "Do we even know where Claude is?" I shook my head before replying. "No, but I think my daughter does." I walked away from them, hoping that Lillie might know something the rest of us didn't."

Claude's POV

Paperwork... tons of paperwork. It was all about to drive me insane. I grunted before placing my head on the table. "Claude... an Express Messenger just arrived for you. It's from Dimitri." I looked to the door to see Marianne standing there with a sealed letter in her hand. She walked over and handed the letter to me and I quickly opened it.

Claude,

I apologize for having to reach out to you like this. I wasn't even for sure where to start but Lillie told me where I could find you. I have to say I'm surprised. Crown Prince of Almyra? And here you always made a laughing matter out of my title. Either way we seem to find ourselves in quite a desperate situation. We just captured Fort Merceus, which in itself is a good thing. However, we have depleted a decent amount of our troops and resources doing so. Upon arriving back at the Monastery we were met with startling news. It appears that while we were gone, Edelgard used that as the perfect moment to send Hubert after Thalia. They took her.

I nearly lost every ounce of breath I had. I put the letter down on the table and took a deep breath. "Claude? What's wrong?" I shook my head and continued to read the letter.

Lillie is still here and safe with us. However, we do not have the means to march into Enbar right now. I hate to ask this of you after you just left but... we need you. If you can send aide it would be greatly appreciated.

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

I sat the letter back down and stood from the desk, ready to go back to Fodlan.