Jeralt had never planned to return to Garreg Mach. If things had gone his way, he would have steered clear of the Church of Seiros entirely.
Of course, he never planned to fall in love, or get married, or have children, either. But those were all wonderful, happy things, and the Church and Rhea were not. Garreg Mach carried a weight, both in sad memories and malaise. It felt like a trap, primed to spring on its unsuspecting victim. Or in this case, victimS.
Jeralt was more worried about Byleth than he was himself. Rhea had always been… strange in regards to the twins. Jeralt felt that it was a much different sort of… fondness or even fascination, than one might normally have for their grandchildren.
Of course, the twins didn’t have names when Jeralt fled with them. It was customary, in the Church of Seiros, to name children once they reached the age of one year, so that their personality could bloom and their body could prove itself capable of surviving.
Jeralt had never truly followed the Church, but he still waited until the children were a year of age to name them. It would have made Sitri happy.
But Jeralt was not a creative man, and he had never planned to contribute to the naming of these children, much less decide their names outright. He didn’t have a clue where to start, but eventually he came up with the name Byleth.
He had hoped that, having chosen one name, the second would come easy. However, Jeralt never came up with a second name.
The twins were inseparable, and it became apparent to Jeralt and his mercenaries that, when one child was called, both would react. It seemed natural, then, for both twins to be Byleth.
All would have been well, had they not been dragged back into the folds of the Church. The twins would have continued to surpass even the most seasoned warriors in Jeralt’s troop, and eventually would have taken over as leaders in Jeralt’s stead. The two would have remained side by side, two halves of a whole. Now though, the shared name proved confusing and downright infuriating.
Jeralt wasn’t sure what Rhea was playing at, offering the teacher positions to the twins. They were by no means qualified. Heck, they were hardly a year or two older than the students. Jeralt thought, a bit anxiously, that the twins probably weren’t all that good at socializing with kids their age. Did they ever even speak with other kids growing up? It was the first time that Jeralt had felt genuinely concerned for his children.
He attributed his unease to the fact that the twins were being separated for the first time in their lives. Byleth, the girl, had chosen to teach the Black Eagles—students from the Adrestian Empire, while Byleth, the boy, had chosen to teach the Blue Lions—students from the Kingdom of Faerghus.
Surrounded by other teens and young adults, each Byleth had looked so painfully out of their depth. Despite their stoic, expressionless face, Jeralt had the sense that they were both nervous. Each had a hand resting casually against the pommel of their sword. To most, it would be an idle position, but Jeralt knew the twins well enough to know better.
Alright that’s enough out of me. I’m going to bed but I might finish/continue this later idk
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So in the Eisner Twins AU - the one in the canon setting, not the modern AU - both girls work alongside Jeralt as mercenaries. Byleth is the peerless fighter who earns the “Ashen Demon” moniker; Lethe is a skilled fighter herself, but not nearly on Byleth’s level, as she’s devoted much of her energy to learning healing magic to patch her father and sister back up when the fighting is over.
While the reputation of the Ashen Demon follows them to Garreg Mach, the people who interact with the twins in any capacity come to be able to distinguish between them - and learn that Byleth is more than that. “Ashen Demon” is a name that they hear less and less. They start to not think about much.
War comes to Garreg Mach. Byleth disappears in the battle. Lethe escapes to Fhirdiad - then has to escape from Fhirdiad. She inherited a mercenary company and it’s all she has left. House Fraldarius, spearheading a resistance, has plenty of work for Jeralt’s Mercenaries; House Reigan, feigning Alliance neutrality, not as much, but it’s news from the Kingdom that Claude wants from her too.
Two years into the war, Alois, leading the Knights of Seiros in search of Rhea and Byleth, gets wind of the work of the Ashen Demon in the northern Kingdom. Eager for a lead, he takes the Knights north - and finds Lethe and her mercenaries. He’s not unhappy for a chance to catch up with the last remaining Eisner, but - he really hoped to find Byleth here, you know?
“If my sister found her way back, you’d be the first to know,” Lethe promises Alois, with the tone of a woman who does not believe that her sister will return to them with a second miracle, and then they set on their separate ways.
And Lethe listens now and keeps hearing that old name, “Ashen Demon”, ring out on the battlefield, screamed in fear and awe and desperation. And Lethe is generally quick on the uptake, but - she is the person who knows most the differences between herself and Byleth, and she still keeps looking over her shoulder for her sister; she is still grieving and now pictures her sister with hair a distinctly different color. They couldn’t be confused even at a distance, in those last few months they were together.
“There’s so much talk of - the Ashen Demon, again,” Lethe says. It stings. That moniker refers to the worst aspects of her sister, said by people who didn’t understand her or love her. “I don’t know why...”
Claude fixes her with a piercing stare. “C’mon, Teach,” he says. “Last mercenary work Byleth did, she still had hair - that color.” He nods at her, her hair twisting beneath her fingers. “Still looked like you.”
She blinks at him in confusion. He sighs. Teach is sharp. (Though he always thought Byleth was a bit sharper, once something actually got her mind working, actually. Lethe knew more about the world at large, but give Byleth a puzzle to cut her teeth on and she wouldn’t stop until she had half a dozen theories with no concern as to how crazy they seemed.) She’s capable of figuring it out, but grief has dulled some of her edges and sharpened other ones and she’s not going to grasp it on her own in that state.
“Everyone talking about the Ashen Demon now, they’re talking about you.”
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