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Author’s Note: Welcome to Meanwhile, On the Surface. This is a two part series that tells the story of what’s happening on the surface while the Best Friend Squad (and associates) have underground adventures. There’s only two parts because I couldn’t come up with more. Both parts focus on different characters. This part focuses on Hubert and Dedue and the next part will focus on… well… that’s a secret.
In other news, I’ve been watching Marvel’s What If…? recently and it inspired me to come up with some Fire Emblem: Three Houses What Ifs for your consideration:
Hubert paced his room anxiously. He didn’t think he’d ever been this anxious. He didn’t think he’d been anxious period. He just didn’t do anxious. Except for this particular moment, apparently.
Now, as to the reason why he was anxious, Edelgard was missing. Sure he couldn’t be around her all the time, but this time he truly couldn’t find her anywhere and, obviously, this worried him. Who knows what could have happened to her. She could have been kidnapped. She could be dead! Sometimes, he forgot that Edelgard was a capable combatant who could handle herself just fine.
He stopped pacing and sighed irritably. “This isn’t getting me anywhere. I need to do something.”
Just then, there was a knock at his door. Irritated, he stomped over to the door and opened it. Who would bother him at this time of day. Who would bother him at all.
“What!” He snarled, before he even looked at who was at the door.
“I need your help.” The person at the door said in a deep and recognizable voice.
It was Dedue, retainer and/or bodyguard of Prince Dimitri. Of all the people to show up at Hubert’s door asking for help, Dedue was the last person Hubert expected.
“Dedue.” Hubert said. “This is a surprise. What brings you to my doorstep.” And how fast can you leave.
“Trust me, I’d much rather be anywhere but here.” Dedue replied. “But you are the only person I could think of who could assist me.”
“And what, might I ask, do you need assistance with?” Hubert asked.
The next words out of Dedue’s mouth hit Hubert like a brick. “His Highness is missing.”
“What?” Hubert asked in surprise. “Prince Dimitri is missing as well?”
Dedue raised an eyebrow. “As well? Do you mean to say someone else has also disappeared?”
“Yes.” Hubert said before he could stop himself. “Lady Edelgard.”
“This is worrying.” Dedue said.
“Thank you for that astute observation.” Hubert snarked.
“There is no time for sarcasm.” Dedue said. “We must search for them at once.”
“We?” Hubert asked incredulously.
“Yes, we.” Dedue said. “As they say, two heads are better than one. Even if one of the heads is untrustworthy.”
Hubert sighed. “Fair enough. Where shall we start?”
They started in the rooms of the Prince and Princess. Though they’d both looked them over thoroughly, Dedue thought that maybe if he looked at Edelgard's room and Hubert looked at Dimitri’s room, they might find something. Hubert, being the hypocrite he was, was reluctant to let anyone in Edelgard’s room when she wasn’t there but he was also desperate.
Unfortunately they found essentially nothing they hadn’t already found. The doors were unlocked but showed no indication of picking, meaning that either someone was very good or that the Royals had simply left the doors unlocked after leaving. There was one uniform missing from their closets each and the only clothing in their laundry baskets was the ones they presumably wore at night. It was “presumably” because as dedicated as they were, even Dedue and Hubert didn't spy on their royal highnesses while they were asleep.
With that failed, they decided to split up and search the rest of the Monastery but their searches turned up pretty much nothing. They couldn’t find a single clue as to where Dimitri and Edelgard had disappeared too, let alone the prince and princess themselves. Ironically, they had both passed by the tunnel that the two of them had entered mere hours ago without even noticing it. Eventually they met back up in the courtyard.
“Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing.” Hubert complained, clutching his head in anger. The bags around his eyes were even more pronounced than usual.
“Perhaps we are missing something.” Dedue suggested.
“We are missing something!” Hubert pointed out. “Lady Edelgard!”
“Calm down.” Dedue said. “Let us try looking at this from a different respective.”
He glanced around the courtyard. Eventually, his gaze settled on the Goddess Tower. Hubert followed his gaze and paled.
“Oh no.” He said. “Oh nonononono. No. Absolutely not.”
“What’s wrong?” Dedue asked.
“Nothing.” Hubert insisted. “Absolutely nothing. But I refuse to go up there.”
“If we go up there we’ll be able to see the whole Monastery.” Dedue said. “Possibly including where His Highness and Princess Edelgard have disappeared too.”
“But we won’t be able to see anything.” Hubert pointed out. “We’ll be so high up that everything will look too small.”
“Hence why we’ll bring spyglasses.” Dedue countered.
“Okay, fair enough, but it’s against the rules to go up there. Should we really do this?” Hubert said out of desperation.
Dedue simply stared at him, deadpan.
“Yes, I just heard myself.” Hubert admitted, actually sounding mildly embarrassed. He sighed. “Very well, I shall ascend the tower but on one condition.”
“And that would be?” Dedue asked.
“We shall only ascend halfway up and we shall not stay for longer than necessary.” Hubert said.
Dedue simply nodded.
“This was a mistake!” Hubert shouted, staring wide eyed at the ground far below. He gripped the railing tight enough to make his hands turn red.
As they had said, Dedue and Hubert had climbed halfway up the Goddess Tower, having very little trouble sneaking in. Unfortunately, even this had turned out to be a bit too much for Hubert who had begun to loose his composure halfway to the halfway point and by the time they reached their destination he was in full on panic mode. It got even worse when he somehow wound up at the edge of the platform. As soon as he had gotten there he had immediately sunken to the floor.
Dedue grabbed Hubert by the back of his uniform and pulled him away from the edge. He walked around so as to be in front of the Black Eagle.
“Calm down.” He said sternly.
“Calm down!?” Hubert shouted, temporarily deranged. “How can I calm down!? One wrong step and I could die!”
“Just breathe.” Dedue said, kneeling to be on eye level with Hubert.
Seeing very few other options, Hubert obliged. He inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled deeply through his mouth. He did this several more times. Surprisingly, it actually seemed to be working. His shoulders relaxed a little, or at least, they returned to their state of standard paranoia as opposed to panicked paranoia.
“Good.” Dedue said. “Now, close your eyes and focus on Princess Edelgard. She could be in trouble right now. You’re no good to her if you’re a nervous wreck.”
“I… you’re… you’re right.” Hubert said slowly, taking another breath. “Lady Edelgard needs me.”
Dedue nodded. “Good. Now, open your eyes and stand up. We have work to do. And if you get scared, just breathe and focus on the Princess.”
Hubert did as Dedue said, slowly opening his eyes and standing up. He took one last deep breath.
“I was not scared.” He insisted, immediately. “Worried, yes. Nervous, yes. But not scared.” He paused. “That said, I’d appreciate it if you not mention this incident to anyone.”
“Understandable.” Dedue said, nodding.
Using the spyglasses, the two scanned the Monastery and yet they still couldn’t see anything. Well, they did see things but not the things they were looking for. Sylvain was making a fool of himself, no big surprise, Lorenz appeared to be leaving letters at certain students’ doors for some reason, and Ferdinand was… also making a fool of himself. Foolishness all around.
After they decided they’d seen all they could see, they descended the tower, much to Hubert’s relief. Still, they were rather tired of this fruitless searching but they also refused to give up. They had to find their charges.
“Maybe if we asked people?” Dedue suggested.
“That’s a terrible idea.” Hubert said. “We can’t let people know Lady Edelgard and Prince Dimitri are missing.”
Unfortunately, Hubert said this just as someone passed by them. Specifically, Caspar.
“Edelgard and Dimitri are missing?” The blue haired boy asked.
“No.” Hubert said.
“Yes.” Dedue said at the same time.
“What are you doing?” Hubert hissed.
“Not blatantly lying.” Dedue replied.
“So… Edelgard and Dimitri are missing.” Caspar replied.
Hubert sighed. “Yes, yes they are.”
“Have you seen them?” Dedue asked.
Caspar shook his head. “No, but I have been looking for Linhardt. Maybe their disappearances are connected.”
“Doubtful.” Hubert scoffed.
Caspar shrugged. “You know, I have heard there are secret passages beneath the fishing pond. But that’s ridiculous, right?” He laughed.
Hubert rubbed his chin. “Do you think..?” He asked Dedue, seeming to be genuinely considering this possibility.
“It’s possible.” Dedue replied. Clearly, they were extremely desperate.
“Uh, guys?” Caspar asked. “I was just kidding.”
“If they are in the fishing pond, we must hurry!” Hubert proclaimed.
Dedue nodded. “I agree.”
“Wait, you’re not seriously considering…” Caspar began but before he could finish, the two had dashed off. Caspar shook his head, confused. “If you see Linhardt, send him my way!” He shouted at the duo, just in case.
Author’s Note: That’s the fun of writing fan fiction, you get to see how characters who wouldn't normally interact with each other, well, interact. In this case, Dedue and Hubert the two fanatical enablers who are part of (but not wholly) the problem.
I’ll be honest, though, I was not expecting to write Dedue coaching Hubert on how to deal with his fear of heights. And I don’t endorse the techniques used here as they may not work in real life (though I’m actually pretty sure they’re real in this case). I am not a therapist.
In other news, I’ve been watching Marvel’s What If…? recently and it inspired me to come up with some Fire Emblem: Three Houses What Ifs for your consideration:
- What If… Edelgard Won? I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t this just the Crimson Flower route? But it’s not. When I say “Edelgard Won” I mean that straight up villain Edelgard (no, we’re not arguing this right now) from the other three routes wins. She trumps the Kingdom, Alliance, and Church and takes over Fodlan.
- What If… Claude Became the Hegemon? In other words, what if Claude took Edelgard’s place as the main antagonist. Basically, somewhere along the line Claude decides that the best way to End Racism is if he takes control of everything. So we get to see how scarily competent Claude would be as a bad guy. Obviously, he’d have great strategy because, you know, Master Schemer, but also he’d weaken the other sides by outright stealing troops from them. Because evil or not he’s still Claude. He isn’t fighting to defeat one specific group or blaming one specific group for all the oppression. He just thinks that taking over everything is a faster way to change things than working with the system (which is basically Edelgard’s doctrine but she purely blames the Church for all this bull). And a lot of people will think that he makes good points and decide that, yeah, they’ll join this guy.
In fact, the points he makes will be so good that they might even make the audience question who the bad guy is (it’s still him) which I think is something they tried to do with Edelgard (she is right, Crests are an issue) but she also caused way more bloodshed and joined up with Those Who Slither so it’s kind of moot. Claude, obviously, won’t use Demonic Beasts because he’s just as against Those Who Slither as he is as a good guy but he might use Golems he reverse engineered from the Church.
Because of how scarily competent he is this will actually force the other three sides to team up for realsies to fight him and Those Who Slither might join in too as a third party (though nobody will actively help them because, you know, they’re Those Who Slither, and in gameplay terms it would function like the battle of grondor field) because Claude is a way bigger threat to them since he’s not only actively hunting them along with everyone else but their main base is in Alliance territory. Man, I really put a lot of thought into this one. Also, Hegemon doesn’t mean he’ll be turning into Fallen Claude or some such thing, just that he’s the bad guy in this scenario. - What If… Byleth Never Came to Garreg Mach Monastery? This one’s simple. Something happened that caused Byleth to simply… not come to the Monastery. Or maybe they did and they just kind of left.
- What If… Byleth Woke Up Too Late? Basically, Byleth falls off a cliff as usual but by the time they wake up the war’s over. However, it didn't end in anyone’s favor, possibly due to Those Who Slither or just because Byleth was kind of a lynch pin, so Fodlan is s lawless post-apocalyptic waste land.
- What If… Sitri Survived? This one’s also simple. The method by which Sitri survives could be any number of things. Maybe Baby Byleth dies before they can perform the operation or maybe the birth just goes smoothly. Who knows.
- What If… Sothis Bonded to Edelgard? This one’s an interesting one. Maybe even more interesting than Hegemon Claude. So, somehow Sothis bonds to Edelgard instead of Byleth. Maybe instead of doing blood experiments Those Who Slither just straight up stole Sothis’ crest stone somehow (which unfortunately means neither Byleth nor Sitri can show up in this story) and for reasons that are probably similar to why their main timeline (for a certain sense of the word) experiment worked on her the Crest Stone takes and now she has Sothis in her head. Sothis probably first emerges sometime around when she first emerged for Byleth, maybe during the same confrontation with Kostis. This allows Edelgard time to develop her anti-Church and anti-Crest views. So now she has this being who may or may not be the Goddess in her head (since she’s not ignorant of Fodlan’s religion and politics like Byleth she immediately recognizes the significance of Sothis’ name) who’s also really abrasive towards her and that would obviously affect her character arc in a significant way as at first she probably searches for a way to get rid of Sothis and Sothis isn't all that fond of Edelgard either for obvious reasons but the two slowly warm up to each other and who knows what happens then. Also, since we need a third teacher and Byleth isn't available, I say we use a retired Jeralt who would also have changed quite a bit due to a lack of Sitri (or possibly, even more heartbreaking, Those Who Slither straight up ripping Sitri or Byleth’s hearts from their chests).
- What If… Rhea’s Plan Worked? I don’t have much to say on this one. The results of Rhea’s plan are so painfully ambiguous I don’t know how this would go.
Meanwhile, On the Surface
Part One
The Search
Part One
The Search
Hubert paced his room anxiously. He didn’t think he’d ever been this anxious. He didn’t think he’d been anxious period. He just didn’t do anxious. Except for this particular moment, apparently.
Now, as to the reason why he was anxious, Edelgard was missing. Sure he couldn’t be around her all the time, but this time he truly couldn’t find her anywhere and, obviously, this worried him. Who knows what could have happened to her. She could have been kidnapped. She could be dead! Sometimes, he forgot that Edelgard was a capable combatant who could handle herself just fine.
He stopped pacing and sighed irritably. “This isn’t getting me anywhere. I need to do something.”
Just then, there was a knock at his door. Irritated, he stomped over to the door and opened it. Who would bother him at this time of day. Who would bother him at all.
“What!” He snarled, before he even looked at who was at the door.
“I need your help.” The person at the door said in a deep and recognizable voice.
It was Dedue, retainer and/or bodyguard of Prince Dimitri. Of all the people to show up at Hubert’s door asking for help, Dedue was the last person Hubert expected.
“Dedue.” Hubert said. “This is a surprise. What brings you to my doorstep.” And how fast can you leave.
“Trust me, I’d much rather be anywhere but here.” Dedue replied. “But you are the only person I could think of who could assist me.”
“And what, might I ask, do you need assistance with?” Hubert asked.
The next words out of Dedue’s mouth hit Hubert like a brick. “His Highness is missing.”
“What?” Hubert asked in surprise. “Prince Dimitri is missing as well?”
Dedue raised an eyebrow. “As well? Do you mean to say someone else has also disappeared?”
“Yes.” Hubert said before he could stop himself. “Lady Edelgard.”
“This is worrying.” Dedue said.
“Thank you for that astute observation.” Hubert snarked.
“There is no time for sarcasm.” Dedue said. “We must search for them at once.”
“We?” Hubert asked incredulously.
“Yes, we.” Dedue said. “As they say, two heads are better than one. Even if one of the heads is untrustworthy.”
Hubert sighed. “Fair enough. Where shall we start?”
They started in the rooms of the Prince and Princess. Though they’d both looked them over thoroughly, Dedue thought that maybe if he looked at Edelgard's room and Hubert looked at Dimitri’s room, they might find something. Hubert, being the hypocrite he was, was reluctant to let anyone in Edelgard’s room when she wasn’t there but he was also desperate.
Unfortunately they found essentially nothing they hadn’t already found. The doors were unlocked but showed no indication of picking, meaning that either someone was very good or that the Royals had simply left the doors unlocked after leaving. There was one uniform missing from their closets each and the only clothing in their laundry baskets was the ones they presumably wore at night. It was “presumably” because as dedicated as they were, even Dedue and Hubert didn't spy on their royal highnesses while they were asleep.
With that failed, they decided to split up and search the rest of the Monastery but their searches turned up pretty much nothing. They couldn’t find a single clue as to where Dimitri and Edelgard had disappeared too, let alone the prince and princess themselves. Ironically, they had both passed by the tunnel that the two of them had entered mere hours ago without even noticing it. Eventually they met back up in the courtyard.
“Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing.” Hubert complained, clutching his head in anger. The bags around his eyes were even more pronounced than usual.
“Perhaps we are missing something.” Dedue suggested.
“We are missing something!” Hubert pointed out. “Lady Edelgard!”
“Calm down.” Dedue said. “Let us try looking at this from a different respective.”
He glanced around the courtyard. Eventually, his gaze settled on the Goddess Tower. Hubert followed his gaze and paled.
“Oh no.” He said. “Oh nonononono. No. Absolutely not.”
“What’s wrong?” Dedue asked.
“Nothing.” Hubert insisted. “Absolutely nothing. But I refuse to go up there.”
“If we go up there we’ll be able to see the whole Monastery.” Dedue said. “Possibly including where His Highness and Princess Edelgard have disappeared too.”
“But we won’t be able to see anything.” Hubert pointed out. “We’ll be so high up that everything will look too small.”
“Hence why we’ll bring spyglasses.” Dedue countered.
“Okay, fair enough, but it’s against the rules to go up there. Should we really do this?” Hubert said out of desperation.
Dedue simply stared at him, deadpan.
“Yes, I just heard myself.” Hubert admitted, actually sounding mildly embarrassed. He sighed. “Very well, I shall ascend the tower but on one condition.”
“And that would be?” Dedue asked.
“We shall only ascend halfway up and we shall not stay for longer than necessary.” Hubert said.
Dedue simply nodded.
“This was a mistake!” Hubert shouted, staring wide eyed at the ground far below. He gripped the railing tight enough to make his hands turn red.
As they had said, Dedue and Hubert had climbed halfway up the Goddess Tower, having very little trouble sneaking in. Unfortunately, even this had turned out to be a bit too much for Hubert who had begun to loose his composure halfway to the halfway point and by the time they reached their destination he was in full on panic mode. It got even worse when he somehow wound up at the edge of the platform. As soon as he had gotten there he had immediately sunken to the floor.
Dedue grabbed Hubert by the back of his uniform and pulled him away from the edge. He walked around so as to be in front of the Black Eagle.
“Calm down.” He said sternly.
“Calm down!?” Hubert shouted, temporarily deranged. “How can I calm down!? One wrong step and I could die!”
“Just breathe.” Dedue said, kneeling to be on eye level with Hubert.
Seeing very few other options, Hubert obliged. He inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled deeply through his mouth. He did this several more times. Surprisingly, it actually seemed to be working. His shoulders relaxed a little, or at least, they returned to their state of standard paranoia as opposed to panicked paranoia.
“Good.” Dedue said. “Now, close your eyes and focus on Princess Edelgard. She could be in trouble right now. You’re no good to her if you’re a nervous wreck.”
“I… you’re… you’re right.” Hubert said slowly, taking another breath. “Lady Edelgard needs me.”
Dedue nodded. “Good. Now, open your eyes and stand up. We have work to do. And if you get scared, just breathe and focus on the Princess.”
Hubert did as Dedue said, slowly opening his eyes and standing up. He took one last deep breath.
“I was not scared.” He insisted, immediately. “Worried, yes. Nervous, yes. But not scared.” He paused. “That said, I’d appreciate it if you not mention this incident to anyone.”
“Understandable.” Dedue said, nodding.
Using the spyglasses, the two scanned the Monastery and yet they still couldn’t see anything. Well, they did see things but not the things they were looking for. Sylvain was making a fool of himself, no big surprise, Lorenz appeared to be leaving letters at certain students’ doors for some reason, and Ferdinand was… also making a fool of himself. Foolishness all around.
After they decided they’d seen all they could see, they descended the tower, much to Hubert’s relief. Still, they were rather tired of this fruitless searching but they also refused to give up. They had to find their charges.
“Maybe if we asked people?” Dedue suggested.
“That’s a terrible idea.” Hubert said. “We can’t let people know Lady Edelgard and Prince Dimitri are missing.”
Unfortunately, Hubert said this just as someone passed by them. Specifically, Caspar.
“Edelgard and Dimitri are missing?” The blue haired boy asked.
“No.” Hubert said.
“Yes.” Dedue said at the same time.
“What are you doing?” Hubert hissed.
“Not blatantly lying.” Dedue replied.
“So… Edelgard and Dimitri are missing.” Caspar replied.
Hubert sighed. “Yes, yes they are.”
“Have you seen them?” Dedue asked.
Caspar shook his head. “No, but I have been looking for Linhardt. Maybe their disappearances are connected.”
“Doubtful.” Hubert scoffed.
Caspar shrugged. “You know, I have heard there are secret passages beneath the fishing pond. But that’s ridiculous, right?” He laughed.
Hubert rubbed his chin. “Do you think..?” He asked Dedue, seeming to be genuinely considering this possibility.
“It’s possible.” Dedue replied. Clearly, they were extremely desperate.
“Uh, guys?” Caspar asked. “I was just kidding.”
“If they are in the fishing pond, we must hurry!” Hubert proclaimed.
Dedue nodded. “I agree.”
“Wait, you’re not seriously considering…” Caspar began but before he could finish, the two had dashed off. Caspar shook his head, confused. “If you see Linhardt, send him my way!” He shouted at the duo, just in case.
Author’s Note: That’s the fun of writing fan fiction, you get to see how characters who wouldn't normally interact with each other, well, interact. In this case, Dedue and Hubert the two fanatical enablers who are part of (but not wholly) the problem.
I’ll be honest, though, I was not expecting to write Dedue coaching Hubert on how to deal with his fear of heights. And I don’t endorse the techniques used here as they may not work in real life (though I’m actually pretty sure they’re real in this case). I am not a therapist.
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