Claude’s mother sat him on her lap. She ran her fingers through his curly black hair and sang a lullaby to him. The young Claude whimsically hummed along, ever so slowly falling asleep until all was dark.

“Rest well, my young prince.”

The sun began to set at the Lameanr Military Academy, however, this by no means meant that the campus was quiet. A chilly breeze blew through the campus, carrying with it the scent of gunpowder and smoke. 

Inside one of the abandoned buildings, the sound of laughter erupted and glasses were clinked against one another.

“Alright, alright everyone settle down, don’t want the higher ups finding out about this!” Claude Riesen stood atop an old wooden table, almost stumbling and falling over in the process. His dark black hair was ruffled and his usually immaculate uniform was unbuttoned. 

The room continued its loud and rowdy activities. In the center, Edward Fleming was, quite predictably, trying to convince Sylvain de la Croix to arm-wrestle him—again—while Nico Emmy and Amy Castre chatted it up in the corner, laughing with each other, exchanging whispers, and joking about the boys’ antics. Around the room, Class C had already begun to make the building like a second home, drinks snuck in made their way under the floorboards, the banners so graciously made by Class C were strewn around the room, and they had clearly put effort into cleaning and removing spider webs and dead roaches. Claude’s chest surged with pride as he gazed around the room.

Claude raised his hands, unable to contain his smile, “Alright everyone, at least pretend to listen to me!”

Elaine Giselle stifled a chuckle, sitting just to the side of Claude with a glass of water. She gave Claude an amused look, leaning back in her chair. Elaine didn’t let the rowdy environment get to her, still maintaining her usual calm and collected demeanor.

“Let Claude speak!” Elaine’s voice cut through the crowd, immediately silencing all other voices in the room, “Give your Squad Leader some respect.”

Claude cleared his throat, “Right then, thank you Elaine,” He said, eying the room, “Now then, I would like to commend everyone for not burning down the academy thus far.”

A round of applause and a few whistles went around the room, though Aisha Evans simply sat cross-armed against the wall and rolled her eyes.

“Wooooow, really setting the bar high there for us aren’t ya, Claudey-Claude,” Aisha quipped.

Claude simply chuckled and shrugged, “Considering the things Sylvain and Edward get up to, it’s honestly a bit of an accomplishment.” Claude immediately gazed towards Sylvain and Edward, who both feigned innocence, yet didn’t dare to meet his gaze.

“Plus,” Claude added, “We’ve all stuck together, Class C has gone through a lot and I’m glad you’ve all stuck with us, I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better group of people to be with for four years of school.” He paused for a moment, mostly for dramatic effect, before continuing, “And remember, we’re officers of Lameanr, and we’ve got to do our best, no matter what happens or what comes at us. Just remember what we’re here for.”

Claude raised his glass, “Now let’s have a toast. To Class C! The best of the best!”

His classmates all raised their glasses in cheers, “To Class C!” They roared.

“To Class C!” Sylvain cried, “The finest, most charming, and best-looking, class Lameanr has ever seen or will ever see!”

Nico giggled, “Alright Sylvain, we get it, you’re Prince Charming! Oooh, I must faint over his rugged good looks and charming personality!” She faked fainting into Amy’s arms.

Aisha chuckled, “Squeakers getting in on the banter? Guess she finally got comfortable,” Aisha looked at Ingrid Hawkin, “Come sit next to me Ingrid, have some girl talk!”

Claude, seeing the room return to normal, hopped off the table and took a seat across from Elaine. The fireplace roared and crackled.

Claude’s gaze was drawn to the fire, “I love having nights like these… It’s pretty nostalgic. My mother used to sing lullabies to me in front of the fire…”

“Yeah… I remember snuggling up with my parents, reading storybooks in front of the fireplace…” Elaine said, “Now that we’re… Relatively alone…” She looked back at the rest of the room to Edward performing a full suplex on Sylvain, “I’d like to speak of something more serious…”

Elaine brought her voice to a whisper, “As Class Leader, I’m sure they’ve spoken to you as they have with me about the increase of skirmishes along the Nodrian border… And I’m not sure it’s been relayed, but one of our patrol planes was shot down by Nodrian Anti-Air…”

Claude’s blood immediately went cold, “Yeah… I’m sure they’re planning a full scale invasion… Which means Ardenia will also join in.”

“Which means Istra and Ciron will join us,” Elaine added, “You’ve been in direct conflict, you’re the most experienced one of anyone here, and they have your trust… Just make sure our trust isn’t misplaced, okay?”

Claude nodded, “Right… I’ll make sure to note that…”

Elaine stiffened, “It’s… I don’t know what to do myself once the final nail in the coffin hits… So… I need you. I need you to tell us what we need to do… And I need you to lead us through this conflict, okay?”

“I’m… Not as good a leader as you guys think, I got this position as a fluke.”

“I know that’s a load of crap, you’re the most capable person here, probably in the whole Royal Army of Ikaria, I can’t think of anyone who has been in actual conflict aside from maybe the Nine Days War, which hardly even counts!” Elaine growled.

Elaine relaxed, “Regardless… Just know that you have our trust… But you need to trust yourself as well, alright?” Elaine stood, “Just think of my words, and lean on us whenever you need. I’m going to go mingle with the rest of them now, sorry for bringing the mood down.”