[ A cruel twist of fate: that's a sentiment Claude can relate to in more ways than what Petra likely intends it to mean. It's a thought that's crossed his mind - something he's kept entirely to himself - over the last few months, given there's so much here they can't take home. That he can't take back with him if there ever comes a point where he leaves, and it chafes all over again when it surfaces in his thoughts once more.

That's not the topic now, though. There's a pause while Claude considers what she says, fills a bit of the silence with eating some more of his fruit like it'll help him find something better to say than a truth which is difficult for him to ignore. What he settles on is offering Petra a sorrowful smile. ]

I don't know that it would change much for what I lived, unfortunately, given that the war is over in my time. There's always the chance it might for others where the war hasn't ended yet for them.

[ Like for Petra, but Claude doesn't think he has to say that aloud. The same is true for Sylvain but with Felix being from the future and telling him about it - Claude has his doubts that much turned out differently there. And Hilda - well. His past is destined to be her future. No changes can be made there.

Maybe that's thinking with far too much pessimism much as he wants to call it realism. Maybe it's both. What if they were somehow brought here from much earlier in the war instead? Or from the academy? Could history as they know it be altered so drastically by no longer leaving things unsaid?

With a sigh he looks to the sky above them for a second, thinking. ]

If Edelgard and Teach were here when I arrived, I didn't recognize anything they built in the Horizon. It sounds like they were... here for a decent amount of time. [ A beat, and then he looks back to Petra. ] I don't- there have been others who were summoned here, left, and then came back from what I've heard. It could still happen that they return.