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"Your hair has gotten long," Edelgard said as she ran her hands through the messy, green locks.
Byleth sat before her, back to her and face to the mirror in front of them both. She only shrugged in response, the hint of a smile on her face as she peered at her from her reflection.
"I suppose that's to be expected," Edelgard continued. "We've been so busy from last month's mission, you haven't had the chance to sit down for a proper haircut."
Busy was one way to describe it. Perhaps avoiding was more accurate. Ever since the loss of Jeralt and Byleth's sudden change in appearance, the two had been tiptoeing around one another. Between Rhea and those who slither in the dark, they seemed to be moving in vastly different directions.
Edelgard's fingers played with the uneven cuts and split ends starting to show in Byleth's hair. She had seen the professor sitting on the docks the previous week, cutting her hair with the dagger from her belt.
The first time Edelgard saw her do it was at the beginning of the semester. She had quickly approached her and offered to help her cut it. Somehow, it turned into a monthly event that Edelgard had come to cherish. There was a particular intimacy in sharing haircare that she couldn't quite name.
Byleth seldom cut her own hair after that, unless other matters overtook their free time.
For Byleth, it was lecture planning and meetings with her fellow staff. For Edelgard, it was late night plotting with Hubert while sneaking around the undergrounds behind a mask.
Edelgard had missed these quiet moments with her, but she hesitated to voice it. Instead, she ran her hands through the green strands in silent apology. She hoped it was enough to convey the message.
The last time they had done this, Byleth's hair was a calming shade of blue. This new green felt startling and unnatural. Byleth's gaze had somehow become more piercing and intimidating. She had always felt distant, but now it seemed like worlds separated them.
"Is something wrong, Edelgard?"
"Hmm?"
"You were making a face."
She watched as Byleth mimicked the expression in the mirror. Her face contorted as if she had just bitten into the sourest candy. It was overly exaggerated and looked so strange on her normally stoic face that it pulled a snort from Edelgard.
"My apologies, I hadn't realised."
"It's alright," Byleth said. She pointed to her hair. "It's strange, isn't it?"
"Yes, quite. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss your natural hair."
I missed you.
Byleth didn't dispute her. She merely gave her that slight smile that always seemed to see right through to Edelgard's soul. She said, "It took some time to get used to. It was a surprise for me to look in the mirror the first few days."
"I can understand that," Edelgard said. She suppressed the urge to make the same expression as before. Unpleasant memories began to crawl beneath her skin. Images flashed in her mind of a cracked mirror and her own shattered reflection, a girl she no longer could picture quite right. She pushed them aside just as quickly, trying to redirect her focus on the softness at her fingertips and the warmth of Byleth's gaze upon her. "Well then, shall we get started?"
Byleth nodded and Edelgard untangled her fingers from her hair. She retrieved the scissors and got to work.
The work calmed her as she fell into a comfortable rhythm. Her hands were careful as she moved. Every cut was permanent, but precise and controlled. Taking care of her own hair had become something personal. It was routine and familiar and her’s.
She put that same care into each snip of her scissors as the green strands scattered to the floor.
"Do you ever miss it?" Byleth asked, her voice disrupting her thoughts.
"Pardon?"
"Your hair colour. It used to be brown, right? Do you ever miss it?"
"I…" Her voice trailed off as her hands stilled in their work. "I haven't given it much thought. It's best not to dwell on what was lost in the past."
"True." Byleth hummed softly. "Although, it doesn't mean you can't miss it."
She let those words hang in the air between them as she continued to cut her hair. She was careful not to nick her ears with the blades as she considered what she said.
"Do you miss it?" Edelgard finally asked.
"I do," Byleth said.
It was another thing they had in common, then. It was a strange thing to miss who she had been but no longer have the desire to be her. It was even stranger to miss a person when they were right in front of you.
After a few final snips of her scissors, Edelgard took a moment to step back and admire her own work. She placed the scissors off to the side before running her hands through Byleth's thick mane again.
She couldn't help but smile as it fluffed up between her fingers.
She could never bring herself to cut away all of the charming shagginess. At most, she tidied and combed it out of Byleth's face or pulled it back with a well placed headband. It was hard to perfect what was already perfection in her eyes.
“I worry I will forget,” Byleth admitted.
“How you looked?”
“Yes.”
“I see,” Edelgard said. “I suppose it's normal to forget since we are always changing. I don’t think I would recognise my old self.”
Who they were, both in appearance and personality, was nothing but a memory. They could never go back in time. Edelgard would not allow herself to. But perhaps…
"Have you thought about dyeing it?" Edelgard asked. "You could always go back to blue. Dorothea knows of some excellent hair products."
"You can do that?"
Edelgard nodded and watched as Byleth's eyes lit up in amazement and a genuine smile threatened to break onto her face.
"You can," she confirmed.
She could practically see the ideas rolling around in Byleth's mind as she considered the variables. Haircare had become something strategic to her, and Edelgard had just handed her a new tool to utilize.
"Will you help me?" Byleth asked.
"Of course."
The next month, Edelgard found herself in front of that same mirror.
Her back was to it as Byleth finished combing it out. Edelgard kept her eyes closed as a steady hand brushed back the hairs from her face.
“Are you ready?” Byleth asked her.
She nodded her head solemnly and braced herself as Byleth began to spin her around in the chair. Slowly, she opened her eyes to look into the mirror before them.
Behind her, Byleth leaned in so that their heads were leveled and their faces were side by side. Familiar faces framed in blue and brown stared back at them through the reflection.
Edelgard's eyes traced the wave in Byleth's now blue hair before jumping over to her own light shade of chestnut. They looked unbothered and youthful. For a moment, Edelgard could pretend that was the path they were on in life.
Perhaps in a different timeline.
“I have always wondered what you looked like as a child,” Byleth said aloud. Her still green eyes followed Edelgard’s movements as she shifted in the chair.
Edelgard offered a smile to her reflection and watched as the corners of her lips turned up slightly. It felt foreign.
The brown haired girl in the mirror was her, but it also wasn’t. Not anymore.
“I had almost forgotten,” Edelgard admitted. She rose to her feet and ran hand through her hair. She watched as the light brown strands slipped through her fingers. “It’s nice to see again, even if I don’t think it is a proper reflection of me anymore.”
“We are changing,” Byleth agreed.
“We are.”
“I think you were right. It is best not to dwell on the past. Still, I am glad that I was able to see this version of us for a final time.” Byleth ran a hand through the blue. Her eyes turned playful as she asked, "How angry do you think Rhea will be?"
The thought made Edelgard crack her own wry smile. "The archbishop likes you well enough. Me, however…"
The two locked eyes in the mirror, green against lilac, as their faint laughter filled the room. Yes, perhaps in another life, this was exactly who they were. Not just a memory forcibly taken, but a reality well lived.
Byleth turned to face her. Her eyes traced her face before she reached for her to caress her cheek. “I hope that we will keep changing with one another, Edelgard, and that we keep making new memories like this one.”
Edelgard felt her cheeks go hot at her actions. She resisted the urge to pull away and, instead, leaned into it. She moved her own hand to rest atop of Byleth's and keep her in place, warm against her skin.
"I do too."
She wouldn't keep it like this. It was nice to see again, sure, but it wasn't a reflection of who Edelgard was anymore nor what she had been through. In a month, she would dye it back with Byleth's help, but for now she would enjoy it.
Maybe that girl was long gone. But it didn't mean she couldn't be a new version of her.
Not with everyone, no.
But with Byleth, she could. They could occasionally reminisce in the memories all while embracing the change together, hand in hand, and with a bit of hair dye on their fingertips.