“Why would the Professor pair us together?” Hilda complained loudly while swinging her wooden training axe around aimlessly.
Edelgard sighed lightly. “It’s all part of testing us, seeing how we work together with people we wouldn’t normally work with.” The House Leader stole a glance at Hilda; it wasn’t as though she wouldn’t like to work with Hilda more, alas the girl refused to move from the Golden Deer -- and Edelgard knew the Professor had opened the offer.
Lilac eyes turned then in the direction of the other pairs the Professor had put together: Claude and Sylvain, and Dimitri and Petra. For the life of her, Edelgard couldn’t guess the logic behind the Professor’s choice in pairings. Off to the side stood Manuela and Hanneman – there to observe their own students, though the whole exercise had ultimately been Professor Eisner’s idea.
“Alright,” Byleth called out, as she strode into the middle of the three duos, “this is all about teamwork. You’ve all been deliberately paired with someone you wouldn’t normally fight together with. So fight together. Support each other.” The Professor looked between each of the pairs. “We’re not just looking for you to win. We’re looking for you to win together.” With that, Byleth stepped away to the sidelines again — not too far from Manuela and Hanneman — and waved her hand. “Begin!”
And so they began — slowly at first, the pairs circling each other, gripping their training weapons readily. Byleth watched with the other professors: observing every move, every decision, every interaction. In truth, she had no idea how the pairings she’d decided on would work together — if they would at all — though she was finding herself pleasantly surprised.
Claude and Sylvain tapped out first. Dimitri seemed far more determined than Petra to be the last one standing — fighting as though his life depended on the mock fight, and his ruthlessness seemingly bothering even Petra as she fought by his side.
Yet Edelgard and Hilda seemed to take the challenge in their stride. Byleth had debated on that pairing a lot, though watching the two axe-wielders only made her more saddened that Hilda was adamant on not joining the Black Eagles.
Eventually, the two duos were driving each other to exhaustion. Just as Byleth moved to step between them, before any of them lost the ability to remain standing, Dimitri dropped to his knees beside a crouching Petra.
“That’s it,” Byleth declared, walking to stand between the pairs. First, she looked to Dimitri and Petra, a proud smile on her lips. “You both fought well. Though, I do fear you lost the element of teamwork towards the end...”
Then, the Professor turned to Edelgard and Hilda, the pride in her smile growing. “Though the outcome is decisive! You both certainly fought hard to deserve coming out on top.” Byleth glanced to Hilda, raising a brow. “You’re sure you wouldn’t consider joining the Black Eagles?”
The jesting question went ignored as Hilda suddenly seemed struck with a renewed burst of energy — jumping on the spot and swinging her wooden axe with glee. “Alright!”
Byleth took a step back as Hilda leapt around in celebration — offering one last smile to Edelgard before walking back towards Manuela and Hanneman, who were applauding the outcome.
“We did it!” Hilda screamed as she tossed her training weapon aside and jumped in front of Edelgard, whose lilac eyes widened at the suddenness and loudness of the motion. “We were amazing!”
The House Leader suddenly flinched back as the pink-haired girl raised a hand and practically threw it towards Edelgard’s face. A moment passed, and suddenly all the joy of their win vanished from Hilda’s features as she looked at the House Leader’s blank look.
“Oh, come on.” She shook her hand slightly, like a wave — which drew Edelgard’s gaze, but still there was no action. “You’re kidding me!”
“I don’t—” Edelgard stuttered, looking rather apologetically at Hilda as she did so.
Hilda could only sigh. “Lift your hand, like mine.”
Edelgard did so, mimicking the girl’s pose with her hand; barely had she lifted her arm when Hilda threw her hand forward, slapping her open palm against Edelgard’s — the glee returned to her features.
“Hey!” Edelgard yelled, pulling her hand back. “What was that?”
“A high five!” Hilda said, slowly, as though talking to a child. “You’ve seriously never done that before?”
The House Leader could only shake her head.
“No way.” It was Hilda’s turn to shake her head, before holding her hand up once more. “Come on, try it! You haven’t lived until you’ve done a high five.”
“That may be an exaggeration, but…” Edelgard frowned, before shoving her hand forward until her palm met Hilda’s; though with nowhere near the same force and enthusiasm as Hilda had done.
The girl made a small scrutinous ‘hmm’. “Needs some work,” she declared, but then smiled. “But we can definitely improve on it. I suppose working with you wasn’t so bad after all.”
