History Fanfic / ToWeatherTheDarkCollection

** Ingrid to the Bull, for being the one to kill Gunnar Galatea, in "The Captain and Lady Merciful". [[spoiler: Of course, as her older brother Erik, Gunnar was ''his'' father too...]]
-->-- ''To Weather the Dark, Chapter 6''

* '''''The Captain and Lady Merciful''''': In-progress. Pairing Ingrid/Mercedes. ''Unrest stirs in Galatea as its current lord rails against the Emperor and fails to better the region's strife. Ingrid—captain of the Empire foremost—returns to demand his abdication. Among the personal turmoil, her path crosses with an apothecary and her enigmatic protector.''

* TheGhost: The true leader of Galatea's rebellion against the Empire, a mysterious figure called the People's King, who convinced Gunnar to reject Edelgard's reforms, than killed him and took control of the province. It's later revealed by Dagny, a peasant girl who served him that he also goes by the moniker of The Bull, and wears a mask to hide his identity. His real identity is so far unknown and he has not actually appeared in the story so far, but has been talked about by others.

* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Invoked by Estrid Galatea, who continues to serve Rufus Blaiddyd after he flees to Sreng and begins his insurrection, due to her devotion to the ideas of chivalry, and tells Ingrid repeatedly her niece will have to kill her, an idea that Ingrid struggles with and hopes to avoid doing. [[spoiler:It's averted in the end when Rufus decides sacrificing his son to allow Thales to resurrect Dimitri, and Estrid kills him to protect the baby. She is later convinced by Ingrid and Edelgard to stand down, and not die fighting.]]

* UnwittingPawn: Gunnar Galatea was this to the People's King, also known as the Bull. As a guest he convinced Gunnar to reject Edelgard's attempt yo force her reforms on him.and attempt a rebellion, only to be killed by the Bull who seizes his castle, strings Gunnar's corpse up, and takes direct control of the insurrection.

* DropTheHammer: This is Catherine's go to method in ''To Herald the Dawn'' when a sword isn't available.

* AdaptationalSexuality: Catherine is written explicitly as only attracted to women. Likewise, Jeritza is explicitly nonbinary and referred to with they/them pronouns.

The ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1485548 To Weather the Dark Collection]]'' is a series of fanfics authored by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdraCat AdraCat]] on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn. It is nine works long and ongoing. The series covers the five-year gap for VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses in the Crimson Flower route and post-war stories spanning from Brigid to Sreng. Minor and major alterations to canon are included.

* CatchPhrase: It's subtle, but a few characters have verbal tics. The most prominent of them is Catherine, who frequently says ''Ha!'' when amused or incredulous.

* SecondLove: Catherine fills the role for Shamir.

* HasTwoMommies: [[spoiler: Aelius, the infant son of Rufus Blaiddyd, is adopted by Edelgard, and by extension Byleth, after the Sreng insurrection and death of Rufus. He's given an Adrestian name and a cover story of being the orphan of Jeralt Eisner's sister to hide his lineage and prevent more attempts to use him as an anti-Imperial symbol. However, Edelgard stresses that Aelius is her ward, not son, at least until he is old enough to decide if he wants her to be or not.]]

* '''''To Herald the Dawn''''': In-progress. Pairings Edelgard/Byleth, Catherine/Shamir. ''As the Empire settles in the wake of war, whispers of rebellion reach the Imperial throne. The past collides with the present as several ghosts are unearthed.''

* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Invoked by Estrid Galatea, who continues to serve Rufus Blaiddyd after he flees to Sreng and begins his insurrection, due to her devotion to the ideas of chivalry, and tells Ingrid repeatedly her niece will have to kill her, an idea that Ingrid struggles with and hopes to avoid doing. [spoiler:It's averted in the end when Rufus decides sacrificing his son to allow Thales to resurrect Dimitri, and Estrid kills him to protect the baby. She is later convinced by Ingrid and Edelgard to stand down, and not die fighting.]]

* AdaptationalSexuality: Catherine is written explicitly as only attracted to women.

* HasTwoMommies: [[spoiler: Aelius, the infant son of Rufus Blaiddyd, is adopted by Edelgard, and by extension Byleth, after the Sreng insurrection and death of Rufus. He's given an Adrestian name and a cover story of being a war orphan to hide his lineage and prevent more attempts to use him as an anti-Imperial symbol. However, Edelgard stresses that Aelius is her ward, not son, at least until he is old enough to decide if he wants her to be or not.]]

* HeroismIncentive: Once Edelgard discovers Catherine and Shamir, she offers them a deal in exchange for their potential freedom. [[spoiler: Should they assist her in capturing Rufus at least.]] The caveat here is that she needs to be satisfied with their service, but it's left ambiguous whether she intends to honor it. Considering Shamir and Byleth's dialogue in chapter 8, Shamir recognizes it's a flimsy assurance at best. That doesn't stop her from doing everything she can to secure Catherine's freedom, including putting her life at stake.

* InadequateInheritor: Rufus Blaiddyd believes himself to be one to his deceased brother and nephew,and pins all his hopes on making his infant son a better ruler. [[spoiler:But when Thales offers the chance to bring Dimitri back, similar to how he has revived Rhea, by using his own son's blood, Rufus quickly decides to go through with the sacrifice. This proves to be too much for Estrid, who immediately runs Rufus through with her lance and tries to flee with the boy.]]

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's not clear if Byleth's dream about fishing with Jeralt and the ensuing heart-to-heart during In The Water, Their Reflection, is just that, a dream, or if Jeralt's spirit is genuinely making contact with her via some implied off-screen string-pulling from Sothis. There's some suggestion it might be the latter, but nothing is ever outright confirmed. Either way, it helps Byleth get some much-needed closure regarding her relationship with her father.

* {{Protectorate}}: Rufus Blaiddyd's infant son becomes this to the Faerghan loyalists when his Major Crest miraculously "manifests", but he's this to Estrid Galatea specifically, and keeping him safe from the Empire and other enemies drives her actions throughout the story. [[spoiler: She even prioritizes his safety over her own vows of service to Rufus, when she kills him after Rufus decides to go through with sacrificing his son to fuel Thales' resurrection of Dimitri. By the epilogue, he's also become one to Edelgard, who adopts him as her ward following the insurrection, to give him the love and happy childhood she never got.]]

* TheReliableOne: Ingrid fits this perfectly. She's unwaveringly loyal from the start, with an understated but capable presence. As of ''To Herald the Dawn'', her role seems to be expanding.