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TEEN: Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path

BackSet

You Could Use Some Imagination
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Description: If there was one thing Byleth was good at, it was taking a bad situation and turning it into a good one. After all, in just a year she had managed to turn what looked like a hopeless war around and help Dimitri at least semi-cope with his problems. So when she finds herself trapped outside of time, she manages to find a way to take advatage of it and get a do-over. In other words, this is a peggy sue fic detailing Byleth's attempt to get a golden ending. Contains blood, death, swearing, mental trauma, the occasional typo, and Lorenz.

Author's Note: Hey, hey! How's it going? Welcome to Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path! A fanfic in which Byleth travels back in time to save the world. Or something.

What you are about to read is an updated version of the prologue that’s hopefully more in line with how the rest of the fic is. In fact, not only is the prologue updated, this Author’s Note is too. So, time to get some things out of the way:

There will be little to no angst in this fic. I can't necessarily promise things won’t get sad but there’s a difference between that and obnoxious, needless angst. Hopefully.

Some characters may or may not be out of character. Please try to cut me some slack in that department. There’s like 40+ characters in this game. I can't be expected to keep them all in character all the time. I am, after all, only one man and not an entire team of writers.

Because of my insecurities and just a smidge of anxiety over asking for help I have no beta reader. So… no beta we die like men?

Fire Emblem: Three Houses and all related characters and concepts are property of Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

And last but certainly not least, this fanfiction has three versions: one on Fanfiction Dot Net, one on Zelda Universe, and one on Bulbagarden. I highly suggest reading the Zelda Universe or Bulbagarden versions over the FF Dot Net version. They have a few neat features that the FF Dot Net version doesn’t.

That’s all for now. Future BackSet out.

Prologue
An Inevitable Encounter​

Byleth had no idea what had just happened. One moment, she’s standing there watching in horror, arm extended as Dimitri and Edelgard kill each other, the next reality shatters and she’s standing in the middle of a black void. She lowered her hand and glanced around. Nothing but darkness in all directions. Why did this feel so familiar?

“You absolute idiot!”

Byleth whirled around. She knew that voice. But that was impossible. She was dead. And yet, when Byleth turned around she saw her. A green haired girl sitting atop a stone throne.

“Sothis!?” Byleth exclaimed, stumbling back a bit in surprise.

“Why do you look surprised, you fool!” Sothis snapped.

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Byleth shouted, pointing aggressively at Sothis.

“Well, it turns out I might have been exaggerating a little when I said I’d die if we fused.” Sothis admitted.

“And you didn’t tell me this because?” Byleth asked, her shock fading to simple irritation.

I tried to!” Sothis replied. “Don’t you remember when you woke up from your five year sleep!”

Byleth rubbed her forehead. “That was real? I thought I was imagining things.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Sothis scoffed. “There’s no way anything like what I said could come from your thick skull.”

“Hey!” Byleth shouted. “That was unnecessary!”

Sothis slammed the arms of her throne. “It was completely necessary!” She threw her hands up in the air. “Do you even realize what is going on! What you’ve done!”

Byleth took a careful step back. She could see the anger blazing in Sothis’ eyes. The goddess appeared to grow larger but it was entirely possible this was just a trick of her mind.

“Of course you don’t.” Sothis said, exasperated. “Why would you? You're so driven by your emotions you might as well not have a brain.” She sighed and shook her head. “Guess I’ll just have to explain it to you. Your stupidity has stopped time completely and trapped the two of us outside of it.”

“How?” Byleth asked carefully.

“Upon witnessing the death of your friend you accidentally tried to use the Divine Pulse without choosing a destination.” Sothis explained. “Divine Pulse temporarily freezes time for a few seconds before you go back in time but since you didn't choose a destination, you didn’t go back in time so now time is frozen permanently and we’re both trapped here in the infinite blackness of your imbecilic mind, forever!”

“That… doesn’t make any sense.” Byleth said, more confused than before.

“It’s time travel, of course it doesn't make sense.” Sothis said as if she was talking to a child.

“So how do we get out?” Byleth asked.

“We can’t.” Sothis replied. “What part of “trapped here forever” do you not understand?”

“Obviously the part where we’re trapped here forever.” Byleth pointed out. She then adopted a more stony look. “Besides, we’re not the only ones in trouble.”

Trapped in the inky blackness, it was easy to forget that other people existed. Other people who were currently frozen in time, caught in some sort of freaky state between life and death. And it was all Byleth’s fault.

Sothis sighed. “Well, if you really think we can fix this, I’m open to suggestions.”

Byleth rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek. She had to think. She had been in a situation like this before, hadn’t she? Back when Sothis froze time to save her life (and, by extension, her own). That felt like so long ago, probably because it was. That was when all of this had started really. What she wouldn’t give to travel back in time and start over.

Wait! Travel back in time! She had used a Divine Pulse to get into this mess, maybe she could use one to get out. She slammed her fist into her hand.

“I know how to get out of here!” She said with a confident smile. “I just need to use another divine pulse but properly this time.”

“Hmm…” Sothis hmm’d. “That just might work.”

“Alright, let’s do this then.” Byleth said. “But how far back should I go?”

That was a conundrum. She didn’t even know the limits of the ability. She’d only ever used it to go back a few minutes.

“Sothis, what’s the limit of a Divine Pulse?” She asked.

“About 12 hours.” Sothis replied. “Any farther would require a large amount of power.”

Byleth thought for a moment. This could actually be a golden opportunity. What she wouldn’t give to travel back in time and start over. That’s what she had thought to herself. Well, she did have something she could give. Maybe starting over was a realistic concept that was within her grasp. Maybe she really could travel back in time and prevent all of this from ever happening.

“I can do it.” She said.

“Do what?” Sothis asked.

“You said I would need a large amount of power to go farther back than 12 hours.” Byleth explained. “I have a large amount of power. No, not just a large amount of power, an enormous amount of power. Your power, in fact.”

“I see.” Sothis said. “You plan to use my power to exceed the limit of the Divine Pulse.”

“Yes.” Byleth said, with a determined nod. “I will use it to save everyone. To prevent this war from ever happening.”

“But where, or rather, when will you go?” Sothis asked.

“Back to the very beginning.” Byleth said. “When I first met the three house leaders and helped defend them from bandits.”

“That sounds like a solid plan.” Sothis said. “But a warning, doing this will likely require you to use all of my power. You will not be able to use Divine Pulse again after this.”

Byleth nodded. “I understand.”

She put her hands together like she was praying and took a deep breath. “Alright, here we go.” She thrust her hand into the air, fingers splayed which wasn’t strictly necessary but did look cool. “Divine Pulse!”

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Using Divine Pulse was a trippy experience. For lack of a more time period appropriate analogy, it was like pressing the rewind button on a DVD player except that you were actually in the show being played. Byleth experienced the past five or six years in reverse and much faster which was actually much more boring than you’d expect considering that four or five of those years were spent in a coma at the bottom of a river. She didn’t even get to see any cool fish because her eyes were closed the whole time.

Eventually, as one might expect, she was yanked back into normal time, now in a different location five or six years from where she started. She glanced around quickly to make sure she was in the right place. Dead/injured bandits, tents, House Leaders, lack of the Sword of the Creator. Yep, this was the right place.

“You’ll die!” Shouted a gravelly voice.

As soon as she heard that sentence (if you could call it a sentence), Byleth leaped into action. She immediately interposed herself between Edelgard and the bandit leader. In one swift motion she disarmed the bandit leader and gave him a kick in the gut, knocking him backwards.

“What the hell!” The leader shouted. “How do you move so fast!?”

Byleth didn’t bother responding. She just glared at him. Her glare was perhaps her best known trait as a mercenary. The reason most people didn’t recognize her, despite her being almost as famous as Jeralt, was because people only remembered her glare.

“That’s it, I’m outta here!” The leader shouted, clearly intimidated. “I’m not getting paid enough for this!”

With that, he turned tail and ran. What few bandits were left followed him, clearly operating under the assumption that if their leader was running they should get the hell out of dodge as well. Byleth took a moment to observe the fleeing bandits before sheathing her sword.

She turned around and offered her hand to Edelgard. She didn’t take it, choosing to stand up on her own. Though the manner in which she did so wasn't as cold as Byleth had expected.

“Hey, over here!” Someone, Claude, shouted.

Byleth scanned the clearing for the Golden Deer leader and located him standing with Dimitri and Jeralt, waving to her and Edelgard. The two of them briskly strode towards the group where Dimitri was expressing his gratitude.

“Thank you again for helping us.” Dimitri said politely.

“Yeah, you really saved our skins there.” Claude said. “I thought I was done for.”

“You were done for?” Edelgard asked. “And what about us?”

“You guys were fine.” Claude said, chuckling. “They were mostly going after me.”

“That would be because you ran off.” Edelgard said.

Claude shrugged. “Hey, you’ve got to know when to make a strategic retreat.”

“Ah, so that’s what you were thinking.” Dimitri said with complete and total sincerity. “And here I thought you intended to serve as a decoy to let us get away.”

“Yeah, you did a real great job getting away by following me.” Claude snarked.

“His intentions were as clear as day.” Edelgard scoffed. “You will prove a lacking ruler if you cannot see the truth behind a person's words.”

“Hm.” Dimitri hm’d, likely trying to think of a comeback. “You will prove a lacking ruler if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on.”

“Oh great, a royal debate between Their Highnesses.” Claude snarked. He turned to Byleth and Jeralt. “I apologize for my friends’ naivetè.”

“Naivetè!” Edelgard spluttered. “How dare you-”

Dimitri cut her off. “Edelgard, please calm yourself. It is unbecoming to bicker in the company of others.” Oh the irony.

“Thank you, Dimitri.” Claude said, smiling confidently. Apparently the concept of irony was lost on him too.

“We can deal with Claude’s punishment later.” Dimitri said, his polite expression unchanged.

“What!?” Claude exclaimed.

“That’s enough.” Jeralt interrupted. It was strange seeing him alive again. Byleth had to resist the urge to hug him. “Just who are you kids and why were you being chased by bandits?”

Oh, my apologies.” Dimitri said. “I forgot to introduce myself.” He bowed. “I am Prince Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, heir to the throne of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. These are my associates-”

“Edelgard Von Hresvelg, Princess of the Adrestian Empire.” Edelgard said, cutting Dimitri off. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“And I am Claude Von Riegan.” Claude said with a cocky smile. “Heir to the Leicester Alliance and most handsome man in Fòdlan.” Byleth contested that claim. Maybe five years from now but currently, she’d met more handsome.

“Royalty?” Jeralt asked. “All the way out here? Now you’re just messing with me.”

Byleth had to admit, it was pretty unbelievable. She would probably have scoffed at the idea herself if she didn’t know it was the truth. Royalty (and Claude), all the way out in the middle of nowhere that was Remire Village. It was almost laughable.

“Hey, only these two are royalty.” Claude said, pointing at Dimitri and Edelgard with his thumb. “The Alliance has a more modern and enlightened political system.”

“Modern and enlightened?” Edelgard scoffed. “I’m surprised your system even works with all the infighting that goes on.”

“You’re one to talk, Princess.” Claude snarked.

Byleth shook her head and sighed. Everything was exactly like she remembered it.

Jeralt glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. “Hm? Something up, kid?”

“Nothing at all.” Byleth said. “Everything’s fine.”

Jeralt shrugged and turned back to the House Leaders. “Say, those uniforms. You kids wouldn't happen to be from…”

Jeralt was interrupted by a loud, booming voice that could probably be heard all the way in Almyra. “The Knights of Seiros are here! Huh? Where’d they all go?” The owner of the voice was, of course, Alois

Jeralt rubbed his temples and sighed. “Not him.”

“A friend of yours?” Byleth asked.

“Just an old acquaintance.” Jeralt replied. He raised his voice. “Everything’s fine, Alois! The bandits ran off!”

Alois turned to the company of knights he had with him. “Search the area!” He barked. “The thieves are bound to be around here somewhere!” He then called back to Jeralt. “Thank you, Captain Jeralt!”

Alois began walking towards the forest to assist with the search. Byleth had to resist the urge to count down the seconds until the realization hit. And it did indeed hit. Alois stopped mid stride and turned around.

“Captain Jeralt!” He shouted.

Alois ran over to the group of two adults and three kids. As always he had a big, goofy grin on his face, in contrast to the exasperated look on Jeralt’s face.

“Captain Jeralt!” Alois shouted again upon reaching the group, despite the fact that he was right next to them. “I can’t believe it! It’s really you! I always knew you were still alive!”

“You haven’t changed a bit, Alois.” Jeralt said in a resigned tone. “Just as loud as ever. And drop that “captain” nonsense. I’m not your captain anymore. These days I’m just a wandering mercenary. One who has work to do. Good-bye, old friend.”

“Right, Good-bye, Captain.” Alois said before doing an immediate backpedal. “Wait a minute! This isn’t how this ends! I insist that you come back to the Monastery with me!”

Jeralt’s face had resignation written all over it. “Garreg Mach Monastery. I suppose this was inevitable.”

“Anybody mind explaining?” Byleth asked.

“Oh, and who’s this?” Alois asked. He leaned down to look at Byleth, much to her annoyance. She knew she was short but this was just embarrassing.

Jeralt placed a hand on Byleth’s shoulder. “This is my daughter, Byleth.”

Byleth gave a small wave.

“A pleasure to meet you.” Alois said, grabbing Byleth’s hand without bothering to ask and giving it a firm shake. “My name is Alois, I’m your father’s old right hand man. Well, that’s how I thought of myself, anyway.”

Byleth pulled her hand away from Alois.

“I’d love for you to see the Monastery too.” Alois said. “You are coming, aren’t you?”

“I go wherever Jeralt goes.” Byleth said.

“Excellent!” Alois boomed. “Let’s get going, then!” He pointed at a nearby knight. “You there! I’m taking the students back to the Monastery! You’re in charge of the search!”

Alois began to walk off, beckoning the students and mercenaries to follow him. Byleth took a deep breath. From now on she had one mission and that was to prevent the five year war and save everyone. And maybe have a little fun along the way, assuming she had the time.

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Remire village wasn’t very far from Garreg Mach Monastery, so the walk would be short but still take most of the day. This meant Byleth had time to catch up with an old friend.

(Sothis?) Byleth mentally asked. (You still there?)

“Of course I’m still here.” Sothis replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

(You have a habit of disappearing.) Byleth said. (Sometimes for five whole years.)

“Okay, I get your point.” Sothis said. “But you were asleep for most of that.”

(And what were you doing during all that?) Byleth asked.

“Uh… also sleeping?” Sothis admitted sheepishly. “But it wasn’t on purpose!” Sothis cleared her throat despite not technically having a throat to clear. “Anyway, what’s your plan?”

(For now, get closer to the House Leaders.) Byleth replied. (Maybe I can help keep them away from their darker urges.)

“Are you sure the Princess isn’t too far gone for that?” Sothis asked. “It seemed like she’d had this plan since before the start of the school year.”

(True.) Byleth said. (But I think I can convince her not to do it. After all, she's not so far gone yet that she'll willingly turn herself into a monster. Or at the very least she isn’t desperate enough.)

“Hey, you lot!” Alois shouted from atop a hill. Somehow he had gotten far ahead of the rest of the group. “Get up here! We’re almost to Garreg Mach!”

The group ran to catch up with him. Upon arriving atop the hill they were treated to the sight of Garreg Mach Monastery bathed in the light of a setting sun. It was almost surreal to Byleth. Not a crumbling wall or scorched building in sight.

(Well,) She thought. (Here we are. It all begins here.)

“I thought it began when you traveled back in time.” Sothis snarked.

(That was more like a prologue. This is the real beginning.)

“If you say so.”
 

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Author's Note: Oh, hey, there's something I forgot to mention in the previous Author's Note. I don't have a beta reader because I'm an insecure perfectionist who takes criticism hard. So... no Beta we die like men?

Part One
White Clouds
Return to Garreg Mach​

As the group entered Garreg Mach’s courtyard Byleth couldn’t help but look up. Standing atop a balcony was Rhea. Well, Lady Rhea. Byleth didn’t call her that in her head but two thirds of the Monastery would be at her throat if she didn’t refer to Rhea “properly” and she didn’t feel like dealing with that.

“Rhea’s here.” Jeralt muttered.

Alois explained the situation to a young and eager looking Gatekeeper and it didn’t take long to attain an audience with Rhea. Rhea only wanted to see Jeralt and Byleth so Alois and the three house leaders left to attend to whatever things they had to attend to.

Byleth and Jeralt were escorted to the empty audience chamber. The two mercenaries were told that they’d have to wait for a bit, since Rhea is always very busy.

“It's been years since I've last set eyes on this place.” Jeralt said to seemingly no one in particular. “To be forced to see her now…”

“Her?” Byleth asked. “Do you mean that woman on the balcony?”

“Yeah, that’s her.” Jeralt said. “The archbishop… Lady Rhea.”

“Archbishop?” Byleth asked.

“As you know, the majority of folks in Fódlan are devout followers of the teachings of Seiros.” Jeralt said. “The leader of that ridiculously large organization is the archbishop, Lady Rhea.”

It was at that point that Rhea showed up with Seteth in tow. As per usual, Rhea had a pleasant smile on her face and a serene look in her eyes. It was obvious why people fawned over her. Seteth, meanwhile, looked grumpy, also as per usual.

“Thank you for your patience, Jeralt.” Seteth said. “My name is Seteth. I am an advisor to the archbishop.”

“Right. Hello.” Jeralt said bluntly.

“It has been a long time, Jeralt.” Rhea said. “I wonder…was it the will of the goddess that we have another chance meeting like this?”

(What do you think?) Byleth joked to Sothis. (Was it your will that Jeralt had another chance meeting with Rhea?)

“I doubt it.” Sothis said.

“I apologize for my silence.” Jeralt said. “A lot has happened since I left.”

Rhea nodded. “So I see. The miracle of fatherhood has blessed you. That is your daughter, is it not?”

“ Yes,” Jeralt replied. “Born many years after I left this place. I wish I could introduce you to the mother of my child, but I’m afraid we lost her to illness.”

Jeralt was a very good liar. If Byleth didn’t know the truth from reading his diary, she would have believed him fully. And she had the first time around.

“I see.” Rhea said. “My condolences.” She turned to Byleth. “As for you…I heard of your valiant efforts from Alois. What is your name?”

“Byleth.” Byleth replied.

“Ah, a fine name.” Rhea said. She turned back to Jeralt. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for saving those students of the Officers Academy.”

“Hmph.” Jeralt hmph’d.

“Jeralt. You already know what it is I wish to say, do you not?” Rhea said.

Jeralt sighed. “You want me to rejoin the Knights of Seiros.” Jeralt put his hand to his forehead. “I won’t say no but….”

“Your apprehension stings.” Rhea said, not sounding the least bit stung. “I had expected that Alois would have already asked this of you. I must step away for now, but I expect they will desire a word with you soon. Please listen carefully to what they have to say. Until tomorrow… Farewell.”

With that, Rhea and Seteth left. Once they were out of sight and, hopefully, out of earshot, Jeralt sighed.

“I can’t believe this. Forced back into the Knights of Seiros.” He turned to Byleth. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. Looks like I’ll be stuck here for a while…and I’m afraid your services are requested as well.”

“My services?” Byleth asked, faking confusion. “For what?”

“Apparently they want you to teach.” Jeralt said.

“What?” Byleth asked, now faking incredulity. “But why? We both know I’m not good for anything but fighting.”

“You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.” Jeralt said. Byleth found it comforting to know that he cared. “Anyway, you heard about the Officer’s Academy from those brats, right?” Byelth nodded. “Well, apparently they’re short a professor and that damned Alois went and recommended you to Lady Rhea.”

If it wasn’t for her current situation, Byleth would have cursed Alois too. Her? A teacher? Ridiculous. What had Alois been thinking at the time. Byleth was, of course, thankful now but that was with the benefit of hindsight (or would that be foresight now?).

“So. You must be the new professor.” A flirty voice said. “My, how stern and handsome you are!”

It was none other than Manuela. Hanneman was there as well.

“Er, no. I’m not the one you’re looking for.” Jeralt said uncomfortably. He looked at Byleth. “You can handle things from here. Good luck.” He turned to leave but before he went he added in a whisper. “And watch out for Lady Rhea. I don’t know what she’s thinking, making you a professor like this. She may be up to something. Stay on your guard.”

Byleth couldn’t help but agree. Something had been (would be?) going on with that ceremony down in the Holy Tomb but she never got the chance to ask Rhea about it before she was knocked into the river and fell asleep for five years.

“Oh. It's you, then?” Manuela said, leaning down to look at Byleth. Why did people keep doing that? The height difference wasn’t even that big this time. “So young…”

“Competence and age are not necessarily correlated, as you well know.” Hanneman said. He turned to Byleth and held out his hand. “I am Hanneman, a Crest scholar and professor at the Officers Academy. I wonder if you bear a Crest of your own. When next you have a moment to spare, I insist that you pay me a visit so we can delve into the subject further.”

Byleth took his hand and shook it.

“I’m Manuela.” Manuela said. “I’m a professor, a physician, a songstress, and available. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well.” Byleth said, crossing her arms. “My name is Byleth, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t flirt with my father.”

“Oh, that was your father?” Manuela asked. “I must say, he is quite handsome.”

“Moving on.” Byleth said, choosing to ignore Manuela’s comment. “I’m going to be taking charge of one of the Officers Academy’s three houses, right?”

“Ah, so you’ve already been briefed.” Hanneman said. “Excellent. So you know what each of the Three Houses are?”

Byleth nodded. “Yes. There’s the Black Eagle house, which consists of students from the Adrestian Empire. It’s led by Edelgard, the imperial princess and heir to the imperial throne. Then there’s the Blue Lion house, which consists of students from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. It’s led by Prince Dimitri, who will someday be king of Faerghus. And finally, there is the Golden Deer house, which consists of students from the Leicester Alliance. It’s led by Claude, who is the grandson of Duke Riegan, the current leader of the Alliance.”

“Very good.” Hanneman said. He put his hand to his chin. “To think that the next emperor, king and sovereign duke are all here. This certainly promises to be an interesting year.”

“I’ll say.” Manuela said with a chuckle. “I just hope none of those little treasures cause any trouble.”

“Yes, quite.” Hanneman said. He looked at Byleth. “There will be a meeting between the three of us and Lady Rhea two hours from now. Make sure you don’t miss it. For now, I suggest you take a stroll around the academy to get your bearings. And if you have a moment please drop by my research lab.”

“I think I’ll do just that.” Byleth said.

“Oh, one more thing before you head off.” Manuela said. “I’ve only notified the house leaders that you’re our new professor. More fun that way.” She winked.

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Garreg Mach Officers Academy was a very lively place. Students were everywhere, some just hanging out and others studying. Some gave Byleth funny looks as she walked through the Academy but most just ignored her. Byleth herself was rather happy. It was great to see Garreg Mach so full of joy. Nothing like the somber atmosphere of five years in the future.

As she walked, Byleth happened across the three house leaders, hanging around under a tree. Claude and Edelgard appeared to be arguing about something. Curious, she walked over to them. Once she got within hearing distance of them, Claude - seemingly sensing her presence - looked up and beckoned her over, to which Byleth obliged.

“I’m glad you’re here.” He said. “Maybe you can settle this little dispute.” He pointed his thumb at Edelgard. “Princess thinks that Saint Cichol could beat Saint Macuil in a fight.”

“Saint Cichol has superior strength.” Edelgard said matter of factly. “Therefore, he could easily beat Macuil.”

“So what if Cichol is strong.” Claude argued. “Macuil’s a master tactician. He’s probably thought of at least 30 ways to beat Cichol in a fight.”

“Why are they fighting?” Byleth asked, deciding to take the dumb road. “Aren’t they allies?”

“That’s what I said.” Dimitri replied.

“Of course they’re allies.” Claude said. “That’s why it’s a hypothetical.” He leaned back and looked at Byleth. “So, you’re going to be our new professor, huh?” He said, apparently deciding to change the subject. “Have you decided which house you’re going to teach?”

“No, not yet.” Byleth said.

“In that case, may I suggest the Golden Deer house?” Claude said smugly. “We’re much more manageable than the other houses.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Edelgard asked.

“Just that your houses are full of trouble makers.” Claude said. He began counting on his fingers. “Felix, Sylvain, Ferdinand, Caspar-”

“That is enough, Claude.” Dimitri scolded. “I will not have you defame our fellow students.” He turned to Byleth. “I assure you that all three houses are full of fine students. The Blue Lion students in particular are exceptional, if a bit quirky.”

“Dimitri is both right and wrong.” Edelgard said. “He is correct in saying that all three houses consist of excellent students. However, the Black Eagles are far superior to the Blue Lions and the Golden Deer.”

“You know, this isn’t really helping me choose a house to teach.” Byleth said. “I think I’ll just have to go based off of which one of you I find the cutest.” She chuckled.

Dimitri and Edelgard just gave Byleth a bewildered stare. Claude, however, was perfectly willing to play along. At least, she thought he was playing along. He could be serious. It was hard to tell.

“Ah, so obviously you’ll be picking the Golden Deer, then.”

“Well, you are pretty cute.” Byleth said, resting her right elbow on her left arm and placing her palm on her left cheek. “But so are you two.” She pointed at Dimitri and Edelgard.

Dimitri gave her yet another bewildered stare. She’d have to get around to teaching him humor some time. Meanwhile, Edelgard’s face was almost as red as her cape.

“I… don’t understand.” Dimitri said. “You think I am… cute?”

“No, I’m just joking.” Byleth said. “Well, mostly.”

“Mostly?” Dimitri asked.

Suddenly, the church bell rang. Byleth facepalmed. She was late for her meeting. It wouldn’t matter which house she chose if she wasn’t there to choose one.

“Ah crap, I’m late!” She said. “I’ll see you at least one of you later.” She waved to the three house leaders and dashed off.

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Byleth ran into the Audience Chamber, stopping in front of Rhea. The other two teachers and Seteth were already there. All three gave Byleth an impatient look.

“Someone’s rather late.” Manuela said.

“Sorry.” Byleth said, rubbing the back of her head. “I was acquainting myself with the school grounds and got caught up in a conversation.”

Seteth glared at Byleth. She had a feeling that her tardiness had only increased his negative opinion of her. “Well, since we’re already running late, we might as well skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point.”

All three professors nodded in agreement.

“It is time for you to each take charge of one of the three houses.” Seteth said. “While I trust our two longstanding professors completely, I am personally against entrusting children to someone with a lack of trackable background.” He sighed. “But, it is as the archbishop desires.”

“Since you are new here, we have decided to allow you first pick.” Hanneman told Byleth. “Manuela and I will take charge of the remaining two houses.”

Byleth rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek. The Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, and the Golden Deer. Three very different houses. This had been a tough choice the first time around, but now the fate of Fòdlan could very well rest on this choice.

(Care to weigh in?) She asked Sothis.

“What do you want me to do?” Sothis asked.

(I don’t know, spitball ideas or something.) Byleth said. (The fate of Fòdlan-)

“-Could very well rest on this choice.” Sothis completed. “I know, I heard the narration. But you should be able to do this without me.”

Sothis was right. Byleth was perfectly able to do it without her. She had three options. She could choose the Blue Lions, just like last time or she could choose one of the other two houses.

Choosing Blue Lions didn’t seem right. While it would be nice to be part of something familiar, she needed to think about this logically. The secrets of the Three House leaders were at the center of this, so who had the most secrets. Or, more importantly, who’s secrets were the catalyst.

“Hello? Are you there?”

Byleth suddenly returned to reality. It appeared that she had spaced out, which seemed to annoy everyone. It especially annoyed Seteth who was snapping his fingers in front of her face.

“Woah, sorry.” Byleth said. “I was just thinking.”

“Yes, well, you’ve been thinking long enough.” Seteth said, glaring. “Please make your choice before my hair starts turning gray.” This earned him a scornful look from Hanneman.

“Yes, right.” Byleth said. “I choose…” She paused for dramatic effect. “The Black Eagle House.”

Some might find that weird. The Black Eagle house is led by someone who in the future was her worst enemy and is heavily linked to the Adrestian Empire. But it made sense. Edelgard was the catalyst for this whole thing. If Byleth could get close to her, she might be able to convince the future emperor to not start a war.

“Excellent.” Hanneman said. “In that case I shall take charge of the Blue Lion House.”

“I guess that leaves me with the Golden Deer house.” Manuela said.

“Feel lucky, Claude told me they’re much more manageable than the others.” Byleth said.

“Your hearts have made their choice.” Rhea said. Byleth decided not to point out that Maneula’s heart didn’t choose anything. “All I ask is that you guide these open minds with virtue, care, and sincerity.”

“They are all promising youths who bear the weight of Fodlan’s future upon their shoulders.” Seteth said. “I hope you appreciate what an honor it is to lead them.”

It was certainly an honor, that was for sure. But whether it was a good honor or a bad honor, only time would tell.

“Brother?” Said a voice. In walked a little green-haired girl. It was Flayn, Seteth’s sister (actually his daughter). “Oh! I am so sincerely sorry! I did not mean to interrupt.”

“I am in the middle of something, Flayn. Is it urgent?” Seteth said.

Flayn shook her head. “No, no, it’s nothing. More importantly, who is this?”

“This is our newest professor at the academy.” Seteth said. Byleth gave a little wave.

“Oh my!” Flayn said, excited. “A new addition to the Officers Academy! I am so very pleased to meet you, Professor. I am Seteth’s little sister, Flayn. I am so happy to make your acquaintance.”

Seteth cleared his throat. “Let us focus on the topic at hand. In three weeks time there will be a mock battle. We will be using not only to ascertain the students’ abilities, but your own as well.”

“What do you mean by that?” Byleth asked.

“Your job is to instruct the students.” Seteth said. “Should they perform poorly it will reflect poorly on your teaching skills.”

At that moment, another bell rang. Time sure did seem to fly, even when you weren’t having fun.

“It appears to be getting late.” Rhea said. “Seteth, would you please show our new Professor where she will be sleeping.”

Seteth nodded. “Understood.” He gestured at Byleth. “Come along now.”

Byleth said goodbye to her colleagues and Rhea and followed Seteth out. Tomorrow would be her first official day teaching at the Academy. Now if only she could get rid of the butterflies in her stomach.
 

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Author’s Note: Here you go, chapter 2. Took me forever to get this done so I hope you like it. It;s a bit filler-y but I wanted to take some times to sort of introduce the students. I know that Edelgard, Petra, and Hubert don’t get much “screen time” but Edelgard did a lot last chapter along with the other house leaders, Petra is hard to write, and Hubert is getting a support dedicated to him.

Now, you may be wondering what I mean by that last one. Well its simple, I will be making a collection of short stories called Fifth Path
Supports. I figured that since this chapter is called “Meet the Students” and has a very slice-of-life-y feel it would be the perfect time to introduce it. Check it out.


Part One
White Clouds
Meet the Students​

Upon arriving at her room yesterday, Byleth collapsed into her bed and passed out from exhaustion. She hadn’t realized how tired she was before. Apparently (and understandably), traveling back in time five years took a lot out of you.

Because having a good night’s sleep is apparently overrated, Byleth immediately started having nightmares. They were similar to the nightmares Dimitri had described to her in that they were memories. All the death she had seen was laid bare. Like a morbid photo album with moving pictures.

She, of course, saw scenes from all the battles she had participated in. Soldiers from both sides striking each other down. Some hesitated, and were killed. Others struck their opponent down without a second thought.

There were also specific scenes. The deaths of her students. Ferdinand being impaled by Ingrid’s spear. Raphael falling under a hail of arrows. Bernadetta burning to death atop Grondor Field’s central hill. Felix and Sylvain fighting back-to-back and being overrun, dying together like they had promised. And finally, Dimitri and Edelgard killing each other, right before Byleth accidentally froze time.

These nightmares didn’t last forever, though, and eventually they dissipated, leaving Byleth in a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

GZxuiIoAdG2SmmjLFtGMdW_xfsjLDg-YPO5YOQBkSYa0Ds7lbvKoGqOgDRJsxn9CyY64mnMeyIoQswI4xraMD5WY4evb-htKcYeFBemaTVE9cni_1KXM6o1gOiEZmvEepwvVErF9
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GZxuiIoAdG2SmmjLFtGMdW_xfsjLDg-YPO5YOQBkSYa0Ds7lbvKoGqOgDRJsxn9CyY64mnMeyIoQswI4xraMD5WY4evb-htKcYeFBemaTVE9cni_1KXM6o1gOiEZmvEepwvVErF9

Byleth was woken up by a pillow to the face. She wasn’t entirely sure where it came from and she was too tired to care.

“Wake up!” Shouted a voice that was almost definitely Sothis.

Byleth removed the pillow and turned over. “Five more minutes.” She groaned.

“You’ve got work to do!” Sothis shouted.

“Saving Fódlan can wait, I’m tired.” Byleth complained.

“Not that work (though you should get on that) you’re other work!” Sothis shouted. “You’re a teacher, remember!”

Byleth immediately sprang upright. “Oh crap! What time is it!”

“8:15.” Sothis said. She had managed to take on a semi-physical form again, which apparently included pillow throwing. Under normal circumstances Byleth would have asked about that, but at the moment she was panicking so she didn’t.

“I’m 15 minites late!” Byleth yelled. “Oh crap oh crap oh crap!”

The new-ish teacher leaped out of bed and ran out the door. She sped through the Monastery, just barely avoiding bowling over several monks. A few minutes later, she barged into the Black Eagles classroom and took her place behind her desk.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone.” She said.

There was an awkward silence. Byleth remembered that Manuela had only told the three house leaders that she was the new professor. And now that she thought about it, even the house leaders probably didn’t know what house she’d chosen. Thankfully, Byleth was given a perfect segue by Caspar.

“Who are you?” He asked.

“I’m your new teacher.” Byleth said. “My name is Byleth.” She picked up a piece of chalk and wrote her name on the blackboard. “Or Professor Byleth or just Professor. Take your pick. I already know all of your names so there’s no need for introductions.”

“This is a joke, right?” Caspar asked. “You’re an actor and the real teacher is going to come out from behind the blackboard or something.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m your teacher and not an actor.” Byleth said, a twinge of annoyance in her voice.

“But you don’t look anything like a teacher.” Caspar said. “You’re a complete mess.”

“Hold on, Caspar!” Dorothea scolded. “You’re being quite rude.”

Linhardt yawned. “You know it's a waste of time to expect politeness from him.” He looked at Byleth. “That said, you do appear quite disheveled, Professor.”

Byleth rubbed the back of her head. She had been too frantic to notice it before but she had a serious case of bedhead. Either that or it was a result of yesterday’s fight. In her line of work (both as a mercenary and a general) it was hard to tell.

“Yesterday was a long day.” She said. “In more ways than one. Right, first up, I’m going to do a roll call, just to make sure everyone's here. I know it sounds childish but it’ll help me learn your names.”

Byleth rummaged around in her desk for a list of students that Seteth had told her was in there. She pulled it out and began reading off names.

“Edelgard von Hresvelg.”

“Present.” Edelgard said politely.

“Hubert von Vestra.”

“I am... currently present.” Hubert said. Somehow, he managed to make even the simplest of statements sound creepy.

“Petra Macneary.”

“I am here.” Petra replied.

“Linhardt von Hevring.” There was no response. “Uh… Linhardt?”

Byleth looked at where Linhardt was sitting and saw that he’d fallen asleep. Ever helpful, Caspar nudged the sleeping boy with his elbow. “Hey Linhardt, wake up!”

Linhardt slowly lifted his head off the desk. “Huh?” He said blearily. “Oh, is class over?”

“No, I’m taking attendance.” Byleth said.

“Oh, how childish.” Linhardt replied tiredly. “I’m going back to sleep now.” He lay his head back down on the table.

“Okay then.” Byleth said, sufficiently convinced that Linhardt was, indeed, here. “Moving on. Dorothea Arnault.”

“Present.” Dorothea said.

“Caspar von Bergliez.”

“I’m here and ready for a fight!” Caspar shouted.

“Save the fighting for weapons training.” Byleth said. “Ferdinand von Aegir.”

Ferdinand stood up and raised his arm to the sky dramatically. “I, Ferdinand von Aegir, noblest of nobles, am present! Know that I shall put the utmost effort into my education, for that is the noble standard! In addition, I shall surpass Edelgard in every way! Anything she can do, I can-”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Byleth interrupted. “Please sit down.”

Ferdinand looked down as if he had just realized he was standing. This being Ferdinand, it was entirely possible that he had.

“Oh, ah, yes, I apologize.” He said sheepishly, sitting back down.

Byleth reached the final name on the list. “Bernadetta von Varley.”

There was a silence, just as there was for Hubert and Linhardt. Byleth scanned the room but couldn’t find Bernadetta anywhere.

“Has anybody seen Bernadetta?” She asked.

She probably should have expected this. While she hadn’t interacted much with the Black Eagles the first time around she did know that Bernadetta was a notorious recluse who never left her room except to go to class and on missions.

Petra leaned over to look under her desk. “I have found her.” She said. “Bernadetta, please be coming out from under the desk.”

“Bernie’s not here right now!” The desk, or rather, Bernadetta under the desk squeaked.

Byleth sighed. Her first sigh of the day and likely the first of many more to come. “Bernadetta, why are you hiding?” She asked.

“I’m not hiding!” Bernadetta squeaked.

“It seems like you are.” Byleth said.

“No!” Bernadetta shrieked. “I’m not hiding because I’m not here right now! I’m... somewhere else!” Bernadetta paused and then changed her tone, sounding as if she’d just had the most amazing idea. “Yeah, that’s it, I’m somewhere else! Not in this room or hiding under the desk!”

“Does anybody know how to get Bernadetta out from under the desk?” Byleth asked her class. “Is there, like, some trick or do I need to just drag her out by her collar?”

“Please don’t!” Bernadetta shouted.

“Perhaps you could bribe her.” Hubert suggested.

Byleth raised her finger as if to protest. “That’s… not a bad idea, actually.”

“I could bake her a cake.” Dorothea said.

As if this had been rehearsed the entire class sans Dorothea and Linhardt (who had fallen asleep) shouted in unison “No!”

“I do not mean to be offending you, Dorothea, but your cooking is, what is the word, horrendous.” Petra said.

“Cake isn’t a bad idea, though.” Byleth said. She crouched down to Bernadetta’s level. The recluse was curled into a ball with a book over her head. “Hey Bernadetta, if I get you some cake will you come out?”

“M-maybe.” Bernadetta squeaked.

“Then it’s settled.” Byleth said. “Tomorrow I promise I’ll bring some cake to class, but you’ll still need to come out from under the desk today as a downpayment.”

Byleth stood up and returned to her desk. She waited for Bernadetta to come out from under her desk and then took out a stack of textbooks which she passed around to everybody.

“Okay, everyone’s got a textbook?” Byleth asked. She didn’t wait for a response. “Good. Open to page…” She flipped through the book and came to a page she liked. “662. This hopefully shouldn’t bore you to death and if it does we have healers on hand.”

And thus began the first day of class for the Black Eagles under the tutelage of Professor Byleth Eisner. It would be one the students would remember for years to come. If it wasn’t, this wouldn’t be a very interesting story.

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“So how was class?” Sothis asked upon Byleth’s return to her room.

“Chaotic.” Byleth replied, sitting down on her bed. “I’ve already given out my first detention. And what have you been doing?”

“I’ve been experimenting with my abilities.” Sothis explained. “I’ve discovered that I can still take a physical, albeit intangible, form that’s invisible to everyone but you. Curiously, it seems I cannot leave the Monastery, nor can I cross the bridge to the cathedral. I presume that I simply cannot stray too far from you, as if you are an anchor to which I am tied.”

“So what would happen if you were all the way over here and I left the Monastery for a far away village?” Byleth asked.

“I do not know.” Sothis said, rubbing her chin. “Perhaps my physical form would dissipate and I would return to dwelling within your empty head.”

“Was that really necessary?” Byleth asked, slightly offended.

“Yes.” Sothis said. She then continued explaining what she’d learned. “I’ve also discovered I am able to manipulate objects to an extent.”

“Like that pillow you threw at me this morning.” Byleth said.

“Exactly.” Sothis replied. “Speaking of, this morning I believe you mentioned something about “Saving Fódlan.” Perhaps we should start planning about that.”

“Right.” Byleth said. “We should start with what we know. First: There’s two conspiracies here. One is the “Flame Emperor’s” attempt to start a war. The other is an unknown group with unknown motives who the “Flame Emperor” is working with, albeit, begrudgingly or so he claims. Second: Edelgard is the Flame Emperor. In hindsight that should have been obvious. They have the same color scheme and she was literally calling herself “Emperor.” But that’s not the point. Third: Edelgard, as the Flame Emperor has several people working for her. Hubert, obviously, and The Death Knight, who we’re pretty sure is Jeritza but never actually confirmed it.

Fourth: Tomas is secretly an evil wizard named Solon. He plans to kidnap Flayn and in the process install another mole, Monica aka Kronya, who kills my father. They also plan to infect Remire Village with some sort of magic insanity plague and turn students into Demonic Beasts in the old Chapel. We need to stop all of this and keep all our friends and allies from dying, especially my dad.”

Huh. When you said it all out loud it sounded kind of ridiculous and convoluted. But it was true, unfortunately.

“Sounds about right.” Sothis said. “The only problem is figuring out how to do all this.”

“Well, we’ve got some time to figure it out.” Byleth said. “If memory serves, neither Edelgard nor the unknown group make moves until Lonato’s revolt in about two months.” Byleth smiled. “I do have an idea, though. I doubt that Bandit Leader knows much but capturing him instead of killing him might not be a bad idea.”
 
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Don't know much about Fire Emblem. But I can point things out in the Prologue.

“Sothis!?” Byleth exclaimed.

“Why do you look surprised, you fool!” Sothis snapped.

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Byleth shouted.

“Well, it turns out I might have been exaggerating a little when I said I’d die if we fused.” Sothis said.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were alive!” Byleth shouted.

Maybe you can put the character's actions down as they speak.

Byleth took a careful step back. She could see the anger blazing in the green haired goddess’ eyes. Her size appeared to increase. Byleth was unsure if this was a trick of her mind or Sothis really was growing larger. She opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted.

This part is great.

Sothis hmm’d
She hmm'd?

Typo

Dimitri hm’d
Hm'd?
 
Author’s Note: Here it is, folks. The long awaited chapter three. I worked really hard on this one and I think I’ve really outdone myself this time. Over 5K words! Pretty good if you ask me.


So I finished the Blue Lions route (I married Dimitri, thank you for asking) recently and I can now confirm that pre-timeskip Dimitri is exactly as dense as I portray him in this fic. I must say the final boss was really disappointing. First, I was expecting some sort of dramatic cinematic transformation sequence (especially since Azure Moon seems to be all about dramatic cinematics) and second, she couldn’t hit an attack to save her life. Random mooks were more dangerous than her (I mean this literally, the mooks defeated half my party, including Dimitri (my most powerful unit) while she didn’t knock out a single unit. Thank the goddess for casual mode).


In sadder news, I will be unable to hang out on Zelda Universe and Bulbagarden as much as I used to anymore. I’ll still post fanfic chapters but I won’t really post much else. So to my ZU and Bulbagarden pals, sorry about that.


Speaking of ZU, thanks for helping me choose which house should win, even if you only voted for Golden Deer to spite my prediction.


Now, onward to the awesome chapter.

Part One
White Clouds
The Mock Battle​


Finally the day of the mock battle was upon them. Today was the day that would determine if all of Byleth’s instruction would pay off (plus any extra training the students did in their spare time). She really hoped the Black Eagles would win. It didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things but it would be nice.


Like she had with Dimitri in the original timeline, Byleth was having a pre-battle meeting with Edelgard. The future emperor seemed rather excited about the battle, in her own way.


“It's finally time for the mock battle.” She said, composed but confident. “This is my chance to measure your worth as an instructor. Do you think you can rise to the challenge?”


“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Byleth replied. “I only come into play if one or both of the other houses breaks past you guys, and if all goes well that shouldn’t happen.” She stretched. “On a different subject, I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while, out of all the students, you seemed the most surprised about me showing up. Why was that?”


“Well, to be honest, I didn’t expect you to choose the Black Eagles.” Edelgard answered. “Claude is very, how do I put this, charming (though personally I find it infuriating) and Dimitri practically exudes heroism. Comparatively, I have been told that I am oftentimes... unapproachable.”


“Unapproachable?” Byleth echoed. “Are you sure they’re not talking about Hubert?”


Edelgard smiled. “Hubert may be a part of it. I’ll admit, sometimes I wish he didn’t hover around me all the time.”


Byleth was about to say something when Claude walked into the room, Dimitri in tow.


“Hey there! Did we miss our invite to this strategy meeting? Oh, no worries–we'll just join in now.”


“Simply tell me your weaknesses, and you're welcome to stay. But is there enough time to cover them all?” Edelgard snarked.


“Ah, so you can't win unless you know my weakness?” Claude retorted. “Poor princess. You really should believe in yourself more.”


“I’m sorry, who wanted to join in on the enemy’s strategy meeting?” Edelgard countered.


“Claude, Edelgard, please. Save the fighting for the battlefield.” Dimitri said.


“It’s just a bit of friendly pre-battle trash talking.” Claude said. “You should try it, Your Princeliness.” Claude turned to Byleth, apparently deciding to change the subject. “So, Teach, you chose the Black Eagle House. A shame, we could have had so much fun together.”


“You just don’t like being stuck with Manuela.” Byleth said.


Claude rubbed the back of his head. “Okay, that may be part of it. I feel like a knife on a grindstone when she teaches.”


“At least you’ll come out sharper.” Byleth joked.


“Speaking of Professor Manuela, here she comes now.” Dimitri said, pointing towards the doorway where Manuela and Hanneman were entering.


“Aw, how precious. Looks like you and the students have become fast friends.” Manuela said.


Byleth glared at her. She didn’t like being patronized.


“While I am pleased that you are taking the initiative to acquaint yourself with the students, I'm afraid it's about time for the faculty strategy meeting.” Hanneman said.


“Ah, how time flies!” Claude said. “In that case, I'll see you later.”


“Professor, Edelgard. Be careful out there.” Dimitri said. “And good luck.”


“Don’t need it.” Byleth said, walking away with Hanneman and Manuela. “We’re going to crush you.”


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Before we continue on with the story, it would be prudent to give a little exposition on how the Mock Battle works. It is rather similar to a very violent version of Capture the Flag. Each House picks three students. Those three students, plus the House Leader and the House Professor, form a team that is tasked with two simple goals: defeat the other two teams and protect their Professor. There are two ways to achieve the first goal, defeat every member of the team, either by knockout or surrender (stabbing and maiming are not allowed and it goes without saying that killing is right out), or metaphorically capture the metaphorical flag, i.e. defeat the opposing Professor.


A team without a Professor is immediately deemed to have lost even if all four other team members remain standing, hence the second goal of protecting them. While this is not entirely accurate to real battle as all but the most disorganized of groups are capable of functioning to some extent without their leader but it serves as a suitable challenge for the students at this point in their education and keeps the battle from dragging on too long.


This year’s Mock Battle will be overseen by Jeralt to make sure that things go according to the rules. The Black Eagle team consists of Professor Byleth, Edelgard, Dorothea, Ferdinand, and Hubert. The Blue Lions team consists of Professor Hanneman, Dimitri, Dedue, Felix, and Mercedes. The Golden Deer team consists of Professor Manuela, Claude, Hilda, Lorenz, and Lysithea.


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The three teams stood in three corners of the battlefield. The Golden Deer were standing in the top left corner, the Blue Lions were standing in the top right corner, and the Black Eagles were standing in the bottom right corner. Jeralt stood on a nearby hill to more easily oversee the battle.


“The Mock Battle will now begin!” Jeralt shouted.


After a declaration like that you might expect all three teams to charge at each other with weapons raised and ready to strike. Instead only one person rushed forward.


“We have no need for your ridiculous tactics, Claude!” Lorenz shouted. “The opponent shall be easily dismantled!”


“Lorenz wait-” Claude shouted, reaching his arm out as if to grab his teammate.


The stuck-up noble ignored him and charged forward through the forest, lance at the ready.


Claude put his hand on his head. “Ugh! Dammit!” Deciding that he might as well begin to put his plan into action, he shouted to the rest of his teammates. “Alright Golden Deer, remember what we planned! We’ll hide in the forest and ambush them there!”


“Right.” Lysithea said with a nod.


Hilda groaned. “Fine.”


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Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, the Black Eagles were dealing with their own problems. Even after all the time they had to plan before the Mock Battle started, they still hadn’t decided on a strategy.


“The other teams are probably putting their battle plans into motion now.” Edelgard lamented. “And we still don’t even have the beginning of one.”


Ferdinand raised his hand. “I have a suggestion.”


“Go ahead.” Edelgard said.


Ferdinand pointed at the forest. “If one of the other teams is on the other side of that forest, then perhaps we could set it on fire to smoke them out.”


Edelgard rubbed her chin. “That’s… not a bad idea, actually.” She turned to Dorithea. “Can you do that?”


“Of course I can.” Dorothea said with a nod..


“Good.” Edelgard said. “On my signal, start casting. In the meantime Ferdinand and Hubert will-”


Edelgard’s order was cut off by a noble battlecry. At least, its person of origin thought it was noble. To others it sounded like the screams of a madman. Regardless, Lorenz, the cry’s owner, charged out of the forest, lance pointed at his enemy.


“Aha! Our first opponent!” Ferdinand shouted. “Worry not, I shall dispatch this enemy with ease! I am Ferdinand Von Aegir!”


“Ferdinand, hold!” Edelgard shouted.


It was no use. Like Lorenz had with Claude, Ferdinand ignored his house leader and charged at Lorenz. The two nobles clashed in the center of the battlefield.


Edelgard sighed. “Well, I guess that’s the signal. Hubert, you give Ferdinand cover. Dorothea, start firing. I’ll protect the Professor.”


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“How long are we going to have to wait here.” Hilda complained.


“As long as it takes.” Claude whispered. “This is the clearest path through the forest, they’ll have to come through here eventually. And when that happens, we’ll jump them. Now keep quiet.”


The next few minutes passed in silence. It was kind of weird. You’d think that one of the other teams would have shown up by now. But there was nothing. Not even a sound with the exception to the birds chirping and a faint crackling.


Wait… Claude thought. Crackling?


“Does anyone else smell smoke?” Lysithea asked.


Claude looked around. The crackling was growing louder and now he could feel an intense heat. Red and orange flames had begun to spread throughout the forest. A burning tree branch fell in front of him.


“They’ve set the forest on fire!” Claude exclaimed.


“That’s insane!” Hilda shouted, jumping back to avoid the flames.


“Short Stuff, do you know any spells that can put this out?” Claude asked Lysithea.


“Of course not.” Lysithea said irritably. She hated Claude’s nickname for her. “I’m a dark mage. That means I use dark magic. Elemental magic is a completely different thing. What about you? Don’t you have any fancy arrows that can get us out of this?”


If this were a cartoon, a lightbulb would have appeared over Claude’s head. Lysithea had been joking, but her joke gave him an idea.


“Actually, I just might have something.” The archer said. He pulled an arrow out of his quiver. It was one of his many trick arrows. Claude liked to think that he had one for every occasion, and in this case that boast might actually have a ring of truth to it. “This is an experimental arrow. I call it a Foam Arrow because it’s full of a special type of foam that hardens on contact with air. It’s supposed to be used for capturing people, much harder to cut your way out of hardened foam than a net, you see, but it might be possible to use it to suppress the fire.”


“Shut up and use it, then!” Lysithea shouted.


“Right.” Claude said. He drew his bow and knocked the arrow. He was reasonably sure this would work. He aimed at a large patch of fallen, burning branche and released the arrow. The arrow hit its target (not hard considering how big and close it was) and released a spray of foam that covered the entire patch and hardened, cutting off the fuel’s supply of oxygen.


Claude did a little internal fist pumps and then shot several more arrows. Within minutes the only flames left were small ones that could be easily stamped out. Of course, since they were in a forest there was plenty of fuel for them to use to grow bigger so the three Golden Deers decided to get out of there.


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Meanwhile, horizontally across from the Golden Deer and diagonally across from the Black Eagles, the Blue Lion team prepared for battle.


“Dedue, Felix, Mercedes, are you ready?” Dimitri asked in his best commander voice.


“Yes, Your Highness.” Dedue said.


“Of course I’m ready.” Felix said. “Do you think I would be here if I wasn’t.”


“I’m ready.” Mercedes said. “Let’s all do our best.”


Dimitri nodded. “Right. Our goal here is to defeat the opposing Professors. That means we need to get the enemy out of the way. Dedue, Mercedes, I want you to draw the enemy away and keep them occupied. Meanwhile, Felix and I will head for the nearest Professor. Is that understood?”


“Understood.” Dedue said simply.


“Got it.” Mercedes said.


Felix just hmph’d, which Dimitri took to mean yes.


Dimitri held up his hand and thrust it forward. “Blue Lions, move out!”


The Blue Lion Team did just that. Mercedes and Dedue headed off into the forest, making as much noise as possible to distract opponents from Dimitri and Felix, who were going in the opposite direction. The two headed through the forest, not encountering anyone. Dimitri took this as a good sign that either Dedue and Mercedes’ distraction was working or that the other teams had mostly defeated each other.


As they stealthily approached the edge of the forest they heard blasts and smelled smoke. There must be a fight going on. Probably involving at least one mage. Dimitri started forward but Felix put his arm out.


“You couldn’t be stealthy to save your life, Boar.” He said. “I’ll go after the nearest Professor, you watch my back.”


Dimitri glowered at the swordmaster. “Felix, might I remind you that I am your commanding officer. I give the orders, not you.” He took a deep breath to calm down. “Nevertheless you are right. I am no good at stealth. You go. Should I see any danger I shall call out to you.”


Felix hmph’d and turned to search out the nearest professor to incapacitate. Before he could even take a step a fireball exploded right in front of his and Dimitri’s feet. The two jumped backwards to avoid the explosion, nearly falling on top of eachother.


Dimitri did his best to stamp out the fires. It wouldn’t be good for anyone if the forest was set ablaze. Of course, half the forest was already on fire but he didn’t know that.


Alas, it seemed Dimitri’s stomping was in vain as another fireball shot over his and Felix’s heads. It was way over but they still ducked out of instinct.


“Who the hell is doing this!” Felix growled.


As if on cue the smoke cleared and revealed the arsonist, Dorothea. Many people would say she looked captivatingly beautiful and stunning, especially with the magic aura surrounding her. Dimitri would not say this because he was very dense and didn’t understand such concepts. Instead he said in the friendliest of tones:


“Hello Dorothea. It is nice to see you.”


“Hello, Dimitri.” Dorothea said. “It’s nice to see you too.”


Felix grunted and leveled his sword. “Enough pleasantries, let’s get this over with.”


“Oh hello Felix.” Dorothea said. Her tone was bitter due to a little tiff they’d had earlier that month.


“Felix is right.” Dimitri said, spinning his spear. “Though normally we may be allies, today we stand as opponents on the field of battle. I, for one, do not intend to lose.” Dimitri may have been dense in the love and humor area but he sure knew how to be poetic about battle.


Dimitri threw himself at Dorothea with a mighty, heroic roar. Dorothea, being a mage and therefore not the most well armored of people, did the only thing she could do and dodged. In fact, that was the only thing either of them could do. Dimitri was trying to knock Dorothea out with his spear while Dorothea was trying to shock Dimitri into submission with controlled lightning magic. Neither of them could afford to get hit in this situation.


Of course, Dimitri didn’t need to win. He just needed to buy Felix time. “Go, Felix!” He shouted as he dodged a lightning bolt. “Find the nearest Professor!”


Felix didn’t need to be told twice. As Dorothea and Dimitri continued their dance of dodging he ran off to find a Professor to defeat.


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Upon exiting the forest the Golden Deer team found Lorenz unconscious with a triumphant Ferdinand standing over him. There was no sign of the other three Black Eagles.


Ferdinand laughed. “I, Ferdinand Von Aegir, have defeated you! I shall lead the Black Eagles to victor-” He was cut off by a handaxe to the face. Apparently Lorenz, despite losing in the end, had managed to do quite a number on Ferdinand because as soon as he was hit he metaphorically clocked out for the day.


Hilda walked over to collect her axe. “Well that was easy.”


And that was when a ball of pure black energy hit the ground, knocking the three Deer down.


“You had to say it.” Claude muttered, getting up.


Hubert descended from the sky, laughing maniacally. Since when had he been able to fly?


“I must thank you for knocking out Ferdinand.” Hubert said sinisterly. “I was this close to doing it myself if he didn’t shut up.”


“Happy to help.” Claude said. “Any chance that means you won’t kill us?”


“I’m not going to kill you.” Hubert said. “That’s against the rules, as you well know. Instead, I am simply going to incapacitate you in the most excruciatingly painful way possible.”


“Oh well that’s a relief.” Claude snarked.


“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this.” Lysithea said, wreathing her hands in the same black energy Hubert’s ball had been made of.


“Ooh! Wizard duel!” Hilda said.


“Mage duel.” Lysithea and Hubert corrected simultaneously. They glared at each other.


Without warning Hubert shot another ball of dark energy. Lysithea countered it with her own dark energy ball and the two collided in midair, exploding. Thus began the wizard, sorry, mage duel between Lysithea and Hubert.


As they battled Hubert revealed another new trick he’d learned. He was able to teleport. Lysithea would fire off black energy balls and he’d just warp to a different location. Occasionally he would fire off a black energy ball of his own and Lysithea would have to dodge it or block it. It was terribly frustrating.


“Stay still!” Lysithea shouted.


“I believe this is where I’m supposed to taunt you.” Hubert said. “Something along the lines of “you can’t catch me,” yes?”


Lysithea shot at him again and once again he teleported. “Argh! Why are you so infuriating!” She shouted.


“You have no idea how many times I’ve been asked that.” Hubert said and fired off another blast.


Lysithea ducked. She was getting tired of this. There had to be a way to defeat this jerk. She was a powerful mage. Very few people could match her in strength. She had no doubt that if she could actually hit him she could knock Hubert out. But he wouldn’t stop teleporting.


Wait a tick! That was it. She had the perfect spell for this. Just that morning she had been experimenting with a “Stop Teleport” spell. Why hadn’t she thought of it before. Honestly it was really stupuid of her to forget about it when she was faced with a teleporting opponent.


She fired off another energy ball at Hubert. Just before the black mage teleported she held out her hand and chains of black energy seemed to appear out of thin air, wrapping themselves around Hubert’s arms and legs before disappearing.


Hubert looked down at himself, baffled. “Huh? What?” He said. Then he got hit in the face with the energy ball he’d been trying to dodge.


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Byleth was bored. She had kind of been hoping that she’d get to fight someone. Maybe go toe-to-toe with a mage or face off against Claude or Dimitri. Sure, she knew that her boredom was a sign that her team was doing well (or that the other teams were more focused on each other than taking out Professors) but she still would rather do something rather than just standing around waiting.


She drew her sword and gave a few experimental swings. She missed the Sword of the Creator. It had felt like a part of her and no other sword felt right by comparison. But it was fine. She’d figure out a way to get it back eventually. Though, since she was in the past “get it back” might not be the right phrase.


Speaking of swords, it was at that point that a certain sword-loving warrior jumped out and attacked Byleth from behind. Byleth sidestepped his strike and watched as he skidded to a halt in a crouching position, one hand on the ground. He stood up and turned to face the Black Eagles’ Professor.


“Felix, great to see you again.” Byleth said, happy to have something to do. “Here for a rematch?”


“Of course.” Felix said. “I had been hoping to fight you again, looks like I got my wish.”


The two swordmasters began to circle each other.


“I’m glad.” Byleth said. “I’ll admit, I’ve been itching for a rematch too. I want to see how you’ve grown over the past month.”


“I think you’ll find I’ve grown quite a bit stronger.” Felix said. “You may have bested me the first time we fought but rest assured that this time I will not lose.”


“In that case,” Byleth said. “Engarde!”


The two rushed at each other and their swords collided. Like last time, Felix tried to force Byleth on the defensive. Byleth wasn’t going to let that happen. Their swords clashed together, bouncing off each other. It was an even match.


Now, were the two fighting quote, unquote “fair” and used only their swords, Byleth would have won easily, but the thing was, neither of them fought fair. Even after half a year as a general Byleth was still a mercenary and Felix was ruthless and would do anything to win and get stronger. Both of them used their hands and feet in tandem with their swords, punching and kicking their opponents in addition to slashing and stabbing at them.


“You’ve gotten better.” Byleth said, impressed.


“And you’ve stayed the same.” Felix said.


Byleth tried to sweep Felix’s legs with her foot but the swordsman dodged.


“I suppose I should practice more.” Byleth said. “But it’s hard to fit in practice time when you’re busy grading papers and coming up with exam questions.”


“A good warrior always has time to train.” Felix said, taking a swing at Byleth with both his sword and his fist. Byleth dodged.


“Fair.” Byleth said. Were she not engaged in combat she would have shrugged.


Byleth dodged one of Felix’s sword strikes by dropping to the ground and sliding between his legs, something that probably wouldn’t be possible outside of a story. She popped up behind him and gave him a good kick in the back.


The swordsman stumbled forward but he didn’t fall. He caught himself and whirled around. He went for another strike, which Byleth sidestepped. She grabbed the back of his shirt as he passed and pulled him towards her, using her foot to sweep his legs out from under him while simultaneously knocking his sword from his hands.


“Alright, I concede.” Felix said on the ground, holding his hands up.


“Yeah, you do.” Byleth said and hit him over the head with the hilt of her sword, knocking him out.


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The fight between Dimitri and Dorothea was going about as well as a fight between a warrior and a mage can go. In other words, it was a stalemate. Neither of them was able to hit the other.


“This method of fighting is not getting us anywhere.” Dimitri said, dodging a lightning bolt. “Perhaps we can take a break and discuss a more efficient way of doing battle?”


“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that.” Dorothea said, firing off another lightning bolt.


“Well, yes, normally opponents do not stop to discuss the way they do battle but this is merely a practice fight, the normal rules do not apply here.” Dimitri said. “Besides, if we don’t figure out a way to end this stalemate soon we’ll be fighting all day.”


“Well, if you’d just let me hit you this could be over already.” Dorothea replied.


“I’m afraid I cannot oblige that.” Dimitri said. He lunged at Dorothea, effectively ending the discussion he’d started. Dorothea dodged out of the way before he hit her.


This went on for a while. Dodging and weaving and stabbing and blasting. It all looked pretty impressive but nothing was coming from it. Until Dorothea got off a lucky shot. Dimitri would have been fried (not lethally, but it still would have hurt) were it not for his guardian angel. His really big, really buff guardian angel with a shield.


Dedue appeared out of nowhere and with speed faster than his broad frame would suggest, interposed himself between Dimitri and the lightning bolt. The bolt crashed into Dedue’s shield, blowing it to pieces.


“Your Highness, we must move.”


Dimitri didn’t need to be told twice. He went back to dodging the lightning, this time with Dedue at his side.


“Dedue, what are you doing here?” Dimitri asked. “Not that I’m not grateful for your help but I thought I told you to cause a distraction.”


“There were complications, Your Highness.” Dedue said.


“The forest is on fire.” Said a voice from the forest. Dimitri glanced that way and saw that the speaker was Mercedes. “We had to retreat or we would have been burned to a crisp.”


“Understandable.” Dimitri said. “I don’t suppose you could help me, then. We’ve been at a stalemate for hours now. At least, it felt like hours.”


“I could still cause a distraction.” Dedue suggested.


“Please do.” Dimitri replied.


Dimitri dived into the woods and Dedue turned to face Dorothea. Once again displaying unexpected speed he charged at the mage, dodging all the ligntning she could throw. He raised his axe to strike but Dorothea managed to dodge it.


Now, instead of Dorothea vs. Dimitri, it was Dorothea vs. Dedue. And it was going pretty much the way it had before. The two opponents were absolutely focused on eachother. They had to be, otherwise they’d be knocked out. This was what Dimitri was counting on.


He waited a while while Dorothea and Dedue fought, waiting for the right moment to strike. And when it came, strike he did. He leaped out of the forest, spear raised. He would have landed the hit had Dorothea’s own reinforcements showed up.


Like Dedue had with Dimitri, Edelgard leaped out from nowhere to save Dorothea. She intercepted Dimitri by hitting him in the stomach with her axe, knocking him to the ground. It didn’t do any major damage but it did cause a bit of a bruise. Dedue rushed in to defend his liege while he recovered.


“Ow.” Dimitri groaned, holding his stomach.


“Oh my, that looked painful.” Mercedes said.


“It’s just a little bruising, I’m fine.” Dimitri said, standing up.


Mercedes approached Dimitri. “Let me help.” She placed her hands over his abdomen. Not close enough to be touching but close enough to use healing magic on the bruise which, obviously, healed it. Her entire body glowed as healing others also revitalized herself.


“Thank you.” Dimitri said. “Now, I believe that Dedue is in need of my help.”


The battle was now two against two. Dimitri against Edelgard and Dedue against Dorothea. Dimitri and Edelgard were wielding a spear and an axe respectively which couldn’t clash together like swords so they had to dodge each other instead. Not much different from Dimitri’s battle against Dorothea except this time close combat was a viable option.


Dedue, meanwhile, was having much more luck against Dorothea than Dimitri had. He was able to close the difference between the two of them easily so Dorothea had several more close calls than she had with Dimitri. Eventually, Dedue managed to get in a hit, knocking out Dorothea, before Dorothea fully lost consciousness, she blasted Dedue with lightning. It was a mutual knockout.


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Edelgard and Dimitri ignored their compatriots, continuing their battle. Dimitri made several thrusts that Edelgard dodged. Likewise, Edelgard swung sideways at him and Dimitri ducked. Edelgard swung again, this time overhead. Dimitri held up his spear, using its shaft to block the blow. The axe blade hit the shaft and began to slide downward.


Edelgard continued to push downwards until the blade slid fully off the spear. She then pushed upwards and hooked the spear under the blade, pulling it from Dimitri’s grasp. The spear flew off into the forest, striking a tree tip first. Were it a real spear it would have stuck there, instead it just clattered to the ground.


“Surrender!” Edelgard shouted, preparing her axe for another strike.


“I will not!” Dimitri shouted back.


Dimitri dove for his spear but Edelgard caught him before he could get there. She hit him with her axe and the momentum from Dimitri’s leap combined with the strike sent the prince straight towards Mercedes. Mercedes tried to dodge but it was too late. Dimitri’s body collided with her and both of them fell to the ground. Edelgard went over to check on them, keeping her axe at the ready in case they were still awake. They were out cold.


Suddenly, Edelgard’s body tensed. There was someone behind her, she could feel it. She turned around to face her enemy and found Claude aiming his bow at her.


“Hey, Princess.”


“Claude.” Edelgard said.


“Don’t look now, but there’s a rat by your feet.” Claude said.


“What! Where!” Edelgard shouted.


She panicked and jumped backwards, scanning her surroundings for the wretched rodent. The next thing she knew something enveloped her and she was pinned to a tree. It was one of Claude’s damned net arrows. He’d got her while she was distracted.


“How dare you make a fool of me.” She shouted. “You will not rile me with such childish tactics.”


“I don’t know, you seemed plenty riled to me.” Claude said with a shrug. “Anyway, it was just a joke. I honestly didn’t expect you to freak like you did but I’ll take any advantage I can get.”


Edelgard was about to make a retort when Jeralt’s voice rang out over the battlefield. “The Mock Battle is over! The winner is… the Golden Deer House! Anyone left standing, help clean up! Knights will be dispatched to collect the fallen students and put out the fires!”


Claude went over and untied Edelgard from the tree. “So you’re scared of rats, huh?”


Edelgard glared at him. “I am not scared of rats.” She said once she was untied.


“Sure.” Claude said sarcastically. “So that look of pure terror in your eyes was something else completely.”


Edelgard didn’t say anything. She just continued glaring.


Claude winked at her. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” He headed towards Dimitri’s unconscious body and beckoned Edelgard over. “Now come on, help me drag His Princeliness to the medical station.”


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“What a thrilling battle.” Ferdinand said.


It was the day after the Mock Battle. The Black Eagles had met up in the classroom to discuss what had happened and how they could improve. Considering that Linhardt was asleep and Bernadetta was hiding under a desk, that probably wasn’t going to happen.


“For you maybe.” Byleth said. “I was bored out of my mind until Felix showed up. Not that that’s a bad thing, since it means you did a pretty good job.”


“Not good enough.” Edelgard said glumly.


“Oh cheer up, Edie.” Dorothea said. “It wasn’t that bad. We placed second.”


“We should have placed first.” Edelgard grumbled.


Byleth patted Edelgard on the back. “Dorothea’s right, you all did great. And because of that I have a little surprise.”


Byleth reached under her desk and brought out a large covered plate. She took the cover off to reveal…


“A cake!” Bernadetta blurted. She immediately slapped her hand over her mouth, realizing that she had “blown her cover”as if everybody didn’t already know she was hiding under the desk.


“Not just any cake,” Byleth said. “An Ice Cream Cake! We’re gonna have a second place party. It’s like a first place party but with less Golden Deer.”


Byleth whipped out her sword and began cutting the cake. Overkill? Maybe. But why go and get a knife when you have a perfectly good cutting implement strapped to your side.


Byleth handed out cake slices to everyone. Everyone accepted the pieces gratefully. Even Linhardt, who was pretty grumpy about being woken up. They ate and talked until the lights out bell rang, signaling that it was time for everyone to retire to their rooms for the night.


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Author’s Note: “Hmm, how do I end the mock battle without having to write another fight scene? I know! I’ll steal a joke from the Battle of the Eagle and Lion! Why not?”


So this chapter establishes Claude as a trick archer. I had been planning on having him use a more basic trick arrow like a net arrow or a knockout gas arrow before having him use the foam arrow but I didn’t get a chance to. I actually originally intended to introduce his trick arrows much later in the story but that chapter was scrapped early on in the planning phase so now they’re introduced here instead.


Also, magic. First, I know that elemental magic is called black magic in the game but that name is easy to get mixed up with dark magic (heck, I got it mixed up while writing this Author’s Note and had to go back and check). I also know that the anti-teleportation spell isn’t a thing in canon but I’ve decided to fudge the rules of magic for what would be best for the plot.


The whole setting the forest on fire thing was partly taken from a fanfic called Fire Emblem: Three Houses: White Horizons or just White Horizons. Go check it out if you haven’t already. I didn’t realize I had technically stolen it until I went back and reread it. Oh well.
 
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Author’s Note: “Hey, I just wrote a chapter full of combat scenes which I’m really not fond of writing, what should I write next? I know! Another chapter full of combat scenes!”

-Me


So, yeah. This one’s not as long as my previous one, but I’ve read shorter chapters. Much shorter chapters. Not much to say in this Author’s Note. More below.

Author's Edit: I have edited the chapter a bit to make it look a bit better. More specifically, I removed the joke about age ratings because of my more lax view on swearing and the unapologetic use of it in later chapters.


Part One
White Clouds
The Black Eagles’ First Mission​


Zanado, the Red Canyon. A place sacred to the Church of Seiros. The perfect place to hide out from the Knights of Seiros. After all, they wouldn’t dare defile their Holy Place by killing there. It was also the perfect place to be fired by your employer.

“What is this bullshit?!” Kostas, the hitherto unnamed bandit leader, shouted. “All I was told was to kill as many noble pipsqueaks as possible! Nobody said anything about the Knights of damn Seiros being there! Not to mention Jeralt the freaking Blade Breaker!”

“You have proven yourself worthless.” The Flame Emperor said calmly. “Distracted by something so trivial. I had hoped you would achieve your goal despite the setback, but now a child of the Knights’ former captain is in play. How interesting.”

“Hey, this isn't what I agreed to!” Kostas shouted.

The Flame Emperor ignored him. “Hiring a mercenary as a professor. What was that woman thinking?”

“Are you listening to me?!” Kostas shouted, stamping his foot. “How do we finish this?!”

The Flame Emperor turned towards Kostas. He couldn’t see their face but he could tell they were glaring at him. “You die.”

Kostas took a step back. “Wh-what!”

“Underestimating the Knights was an amateur mistake, one you will pay for. The road to eternal torment awaits you all. Now I must locate your replacements.”

The Flame Emperor turned to leave but they were stopped by a voice.

“Hold, Flame Emperor.”

Seemingly out of nowhere, a creepy old man in black robes appeared. His voice was soft and raspy. His eyes were pure black and pure evil.

“Solon.” The Flame Emperor said coldly. Under their mask they narrowed their eyes. “What are you doing here.”

“We can’t let our friend go without rewarding him.” Solon said, gesturing towards Kostas. “He may have failed, but he still battled well. He deserves payment before we let him go. A, what do you call it, severance package.”

“Who the hell are you!?” Kostas shouted.

“I am a friend.” Solon said. “Hold out your hands.”

Kostas held out his hands, deciding that it was best not to argue with this scary old man, even if he didn’t trust him one bit. Solon took something out of his robes. He placed the object in Kostas’ hand and closed his fingers around it.

“Use this if you are ever in trouble.” Solon said. “It will make you stronger but it will come with a cost.”

Solon turned and walked away. The Flame Emperor followed.

“Why did you give him a stone?” They asked.

“The new professor suspects me.” Solon replied.

“What?” The Flame Emperor asked in surprise. “Impossible. No one should know that there is a spy in Garreg Mach.”

“During the very first staff meeting, whenever she looked at me her gaze was full of suspicion.” Solon said.

“You believe she suspects you based on a look?” The Flame Emperor asked. “Such evidence is flimsy at best.”

“Maybe so, but we cannot afford to take any chances.” Solon said. “That monster intends to send the professor and her class after these bandits. If that bandit is smart or, depending on your point of view, stupid, he’ll use the stone. That should be enough to take care of any… meddlers.”



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Byleth rubbed her eyes as she walked into Rhea’s Audience Chamber. Why did these meetings have to be so early in the morning? Was it too much to ask to be allowed to sleep in every once in a while? It was a weekend for Sothis’ sake.


“Professor Byleth.” Rhea said. “Thank you for coming. My condolences for losing the Mock Battle.”


“No, it’s fine.” Byleth said blearily. “I’m not really too upset about it. Edelgard’s pretty depressed, though.” She stretched. “So, what’s going on?”


“I have called you here to tell you of your mission for the month ahead.” Rhea said. “Your class is to dispose of some bandits causing trouble nearby.”


“What do you mean “dispose of some bandits?”” Byleth asked.


“Those affiliated with Garreg Mach Monastery have a moral obligation to help those in need, regardless of social standing.” Seteth explained. “Students are no exception. Each month, before the newly birthed moon departs, each house of students must complete their assigned mission. You shall work to complete the task at hand alongside your students and report back to the archbishop before the deadline.”


Byleth was suddenly wide awake. She held up her hands. “Wait! Hold on! You want me to take students into real battle? Kids?” Byleth knew that most of her students wouldn’t appreciate being called kids but that’s what they were. Sure there were a few exceptions, Mercedes and Sylvain (22 and 20 respectively) for example, but for the most part the students were still in their late teens.


“It pains me as well.” Rhea said. She looked genuinely sad about the fact. “I would not request this of you and the students were it not absolutely necessary.”


Seteth nodded gravely. “Normally we would send the Knights of Seiros to deal with a mission such as this but recently they have been stretched thin. More and more incidents have been popping up. Bandit attacks, rebellions, riots. We simply do not have the numbers to deal with it all. Thus, this task falls to you.”



“But what if one of my students dies?” Byleth asked. “They’re only kids.”


“I have full faith that you can keep your students alive and complete your mission.” Rhea said.


Byleth sighed. “Alright, I’ll brief my students first thing tomorrow.” She turned to leave but Seteth stopped her.


“One more thing.” He said. “We don’t have an exact location on the bandits yet, but rest assured we’re working on it. As soon as we find out the location we will relay it to you and you and your class will head out immediately.”


“Understood.” Byleth said, and left.


What was she so worried about? They had all survived the first time. But that was with the Blue Lions. The Black Eagles had much fewer combat minded members. Still, maybe she should have some more faith in her students. After all, they’d survived worse. Well, they would survive worse. If they survived this.


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The next morning in class Byleth explained the mission to her students. Their reactions were mostly expected. Half of them were excited, the other half would rather do anything but head into battle.


“Woah! We’re going after bandits!” Caspar shouted enthusiastically. “Awesome!”


“You should be less excited about this!” Byleth said. “This isn’t a Mock Battle! You could die!”


“We won’t die!” Caspar said, pumping his fist. “This is what we’ve been training for!”


“Caspar is right.” Petra said. “We have been doing training for a month. It is about the time, er, about time we should be putting it to good use.”


Byleth sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Still, I don’t like the idea of you going into battle.”


“In that case, I’ll just stay here, safe and away from danger.” Bernadetta said. She had climbed under the desk as she usually did. Byleth had given up trying to get her to come out and just let her do her work down there.


“I hope you don’t mind if I stay here too.” Linhardt said. “I don’t do well around blood.”


Byleth shook her head. “Unfortunately you don’t have a choice. Unless you’re injured or sick you have to come.” At the words “injured or sick” Bernadetta smiled slyly. “And please don’t go getting yourself injured or sick just to get out of this.” Byleth added. Bernadetta sulked.


Byleth went over to her desk and rifled through her desk drawer. She pulled out a textbook, opened it, and headed over to the black board. Holding the book in one hand, Byleth grabbed a piece of chalk.


“Now, if we’re going to send you into real battle the very least I can do is make sure you're properly prepared.” She said. “Today we’re going to go over more advanced fighting styles and how to both perform them and defend against them. Take out your textbooks and open them to page 104.”


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A few weeks later, Byleth received word of the bandits’ location. Just like the first time they were hiding out in Zanado, the Red Canyon. They obviously figured the Knights of Seiros wouldn’t dare battle in such a sacred place. They were probably right.


Unfortunately for them, they wouldn’t be fighting the Knights. They would be fighting the Black Eagle House, who were possibly the least pious group in Fódlan (well, the least pious group containing halfway decent people, anyway) and didn’t care what was and was not considered holy.


It didn’t take long to get to Zanado. They had gone by horse because Seteth didn’t trust Byleth or any of her students with pegasi after the detention incident. This was fine by Hubert, who got oddly touchy whenever the subject of flying came up. Byleth didn’t quite understand it. The guy flew all the time. What was his problem with pegasi?


When they arrived at their destination they hid behind a rock outcropping to avoid being seen. Byleth laid out the plan.


“Okay, here’s the situation.” Byleth said, laying out a map of their section of the canyon on the ground. It had been drawn by people who were allowed to ride pegasi and were able to get an overhead view of the canyon. “In their attempt to hide out the bandits have camped themselves out on a large chunk of rock surrounded on all sides by a massive drop of approximately you’ll-die-if-you-fall feet. The only ways on or off are two bridges, one to the north” Byleth tapped the north bridge. “And one to the west.” She tapped the west bridge. “In other words, they’ve backed themselves into a corner with nowhere to run which makes our job all that much easier.”


Caspar slammed his fist into his palm. “So we just charge in and take them all out! Easy as pie!”


Byleth held up her hand. “I said it would be easier, not a cakewalk. Remember back to the first day of class, lesson two.”


Caspar sighed. “Charging in without a plan will get you killed.” He recited.


Byleth pointed at him with her thumb perpendicular to her index finger, a gesture we know as the finger gun. “Exactly. So here’s the plan: remember those bridges I told you about?” Everyone affirmed that they remembered. “Good. We’re going to send two teams over the bridges, one team per bridge, and attack the bandits in a pincer maneuver. Not only will that divide the bandits forces and make them more easily manageable, but it will cut off both of their possible exits.”


“Awesome!” Caspar said. “Let’s go!” He began to head towards the bridges but Byleth pulled him back before he could fully leave the cover of the rock outcropping.


“Wait!” Byleth said. “I wasn’t finished. Before we head over the bridges, we have a different problem to deal with. Look.”


The Black Eagles peeked out from behind the outcropping and Byleth pointed towards the bridges. Standing in front of them were some very bored looking bandits having a conversation about baking.


“Guards.” Byleth said. “There are four of them, two for each bridge. We have to take them out, preferably quietly. Petra, Bernadetta, you’re up.”


“What!?” Bernadetta shouted. “Me!?”


“Shh.” Byleth shushed. “Yes, you. Despite your outburst just now you, along with Petra, are one of our sneakiest students.”


“B-b-but I c-can’t…” Bernadetta stammered.


“Yes you can.” Byleth said, grabbing Bernadetta by the shoulders. “Just remember, the sooner we’re finished here the sooner we go home.”


Bernadetta nodded. “R-right…”


“Good.” Byleth said. “Now go get em. Stealthily.”


“You can be counting on us.” Petra said.


The two girls disappeared. Petra slipped into a gap between two rocks and Bernadetta scaled the outcropping. Byleth and the rest of the class peeked out from behind the rocks to see what would happen.


After a minute of no activity a sword burst through the chest of one of the north bridge guards. The sword receded and the guard collapsed, revealing Petra standing behind him. She quickly silenced the other guard before he could scream with a slash of her now bloody sword. Meanwhile, over by the west bridge one of the guards had suddenly sprouted a single horn, like a unicorn. Except it wasn’t a horn, it was an arrow. The same happened to the other guard and both of them fell to the ground.


Petra gave them the signal for all clear and the Black Eagles emerged from their hiding place. They headed over to the edge of the north bridge. Bernadetta leaped off the top of the outcropping and stuck the landing.


“I-I got em!” She shouted with a strange mix of pride, horror, and disbelief. “I actually got em!” Her expression and tone turned sullen. “Can we go home now?”


Byleth shook her head. “Unfortunately, not yet. We still have work to do.”


She looked over Bernadetta and Petra. Petra was still holding her blood covered sword. Bernadetta had shouldered her bow and her hands were trembling ever so slightly. These kids were made of strong stuff, managing to go through with killing like that.


“Alright, time to split into teams.” Byleth said. “Edelgard will lead one team over the west bridge and I’ll lead the other over the north bridge. Bernadetta, Caspar, Hubert, you’ll go with Edelgard. Dorothea, Ferdinand, Petra, you’re with me.”


“What about me?” Linhardt asked. He was trying his best to avoid looking at the guard’s dead bodies. “Am I simply to stay back and watch, because that’s fine with me. This mission is cutting into my nap time.” He yawned.


“No.” Byleth said. “You are to shadow the rest of us and administer healing as needed.”


Linhardt sighed. “I expected as much.”


“Alright, everyone’s got their orders?” Byleth asked. She didn’t wait for an answer. “Good. Black Eagles, move out!”


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On the other side of the two bridges the bandits were on edge. Being chewed out and threatened by a terrifying guy in a white mask and a creepy old guy with black eyes will do that to you. To compound things, a few of them could have sworn they saw a Knight of Seiros on a pegasus flying overhead. So naturally, when one of them got hit in the back and killed by a flying axe, they freaked out.


“It’s the Knights of Seiros!” One of them shouted.


“We’re all gonna die!” Another shouted.


“Shut your traps!” Kostas shouted. “It’s not the Knights! Look!”


The bandits all turned to see the Black Eagle House, who were certainly not the Knights of Seiros. Kostas laughed.


“See! It’s just a bunch of kids!”


Caspar, who had thrown the axe, clenched his fists. “Who are you calling a kid!”


Kostas cracked his knuckles. “Ha! I can’t believe the Knights sent a bunch of noble brats to fight us! Hey kids, why don’t you go back to your fancy school before we break your perfect faces.”


“That’s it! You’re really gonna get it now!” Caspar shouted and jumped into the fray, giving one bandit a good solid punch to the face. Very quickly he found himself in the center of a throng of bandits trying to dogpile him.


Byleth and Edelgard looked amongst their teammates. Then they turned towards the mass of bandits and spoke in unison.


“Attack!”


The two teams leaped into battle. Edelgard immediately got to work throwing bandits off of Caspar. Bernadetta scrambled up the nearest rock and began sniping bandits, though her aim was a little shaky and she missed a lot. Hubert became a whirlwind of death and destruction, literally. Dark magic swirled around him like a tornado, killing anyone dumb enough to get near him.


Meanwhile, over by the North Bridge the bandits weren’t fairing much better. Byleth became a metaphorical whirlwind of death and destruction, utilizing her indeterminate amount of years of combat experience. Dorothea rained down fire on the bandits. Ferdinand’s moves were unnecessarily showy but they still got the job done, felling bandits left and right. Petra disappeared into the crowd and every once in a while a bandit would fall over dead without warning.


It was probably pretty embarrassing for the bandits to be beat up by a bunch of teenagers. Well, it was embarrassing for the ones who were still alive, anyway. If the goddess didn’t live in her head, Byleth was sure she’d come down from the heavens and smite them all for desecrating the canyon.


Once Byleth had cleared a sufficient path she pursued her real target, the bandit leader she now knew was named Kostas. She planned to tie him up, drag him back to Garreg Mach, and force him to tell them what he knew. But first she’d have to defeat him.


“Argh!” Kostas shouted. “What are you idiots doing! They’re just kids! And noble kids at that!”


“What!” He shouted.

Byleth looked him straight in the eye with her trademark glare.

Recognition flashed in Kostas’ face. “Wait a minute! You’re that bitch from before! Because of you I didn’t get paid! I’ll kill you!”

Kostas charged Byleth, swinging his giant axe. Byleth dodged it easily and stabbed back. The idiot left giant openings whenever he swung, making it easy to get in strikes. Her sword went right through his right shoulder.

Kostas roared and tried to swing again with the slight complication that Byleth had stabbed through his right shoulder.

“Nice try.” Byleth said, knocking the axe out of his hand. She swept his legs out from under him, knocking him to the ground, and pointed her sword at his throat. “But you never had a chance.

The entire battle stopped. People stopped hitting each other. Hubert’s magic storm petered out. The only person who didn’t seem to be frozen in place was Caspar who punched a bandit before he realized what was going on and stopped to stare too.

“So how does a surrender sound?” Byleth asked. Her hand drifted to a coil of rope hanging from her belt. She planned to use it to bind Kostas. Unfortunately, the rope was right next to her knife and Kostas must have thought that’s what she was going for because the next thing he did was both insane and unexpected.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an odd roundish, stone-like object. Too late Byleth recognized it as a crest stone. “I won’t let you kill me!” He shouted and clenched down on the stone.

Kostas screamed. Whatever he was holding began to glow a deep red. Black and red… something covered his hand and crept up his arm, eventually covering his whole body. Byleth stepped back as Kostas grew larger and changed shape. From the black and red blob emerged four enormous, sinewy limbs ending in four hand-like appendages with five razor sharp claws each. The black and red whatever it was fell away revealing a massive black head with blood red eyes and more teeth than a shark. The rest of its body wasn’t any prettier with very visible veins pulsing with black and red blood. It all ended in a tail as thick as three tree trunks tied together.

“Sothis’ Beard.” Byleth whispered, shocked.

Where Kostas once stood there was now a massive, terrifying Demonic Beast.


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Author’s Note: And that’s how you write yourself out of a corner! You throw in a giant monster and bam everything’s fixed! Okay, maybe I should give some context. My original plan had been to have Byleth capture Kostas and interrogate him or something but then I realized that it wouldn’t add anything to the plot and it’s not like he could tell her anything useful. The Flame Emperor (honestly why am I even trying to hide the fact that Edelgard’s the Flame Emperor. You’ve probably already played the game and if you haven’t I did give a spoiler warning. Wait, did I? Eh, it was implied.) wouldn’t give him any useful information.


So to snip that unnecessary dangling plot thread I turned him into a Demonic Beast and called it a day.


On another note, writing this chapter was hard because I’ve always had this idea that heroes don’t kill unless it’s absolutely necessary. Get out of here Punisher and Lobo, get in here Spider-Man and Batman. So it was hard to write the characters killing people because of that (even though I was perfectly fine with them killing people while playing the game. Go figure) but it got easier as I went on. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
 
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Author’s Note: Are we TV Tropes worthy yet? I mean, we have five chapters plus however many supports there are. That has to at least warrant a spot on the fanfic suggestions page, right?


I think this chapter title is the closest I’ve ever come to being like the chapter titles in the actual game. I originally intended to have funny chapter titles but as you’ve seen it didn’t quite work out that way.


On a different subject, the next chapter will probably take a little longer than this one to come out because I need to figure out how to do it. I’m not sure if I want to take a break and have a downtime chapter or go straight to the next mission. I might take the time to write a few supports instead. That’s all for now, more down below.


Author's Edit: I have edited this chapter a bit for reasons.
Part One

White Clouds

The Monster in the Canyon​


The monster that used to be Kostas towered over everyone present. Byleth hadn’t expected to face a Demonic Beast so soon, or at all for that matter. After about a year and a half of fighting these things, the Beast didn’t scare her too much. The same could not be said for the bandits, who took off as soon as the monster roared. The Black Eagles didn’t make any attempts to stop them because they themselves were stunned.


“Woah!” Caspar shouted. “What is that thing!?”


The monster lashed out with it’s jaws and attempted to bite Caspar in half. Byleth swooped in and pushed him out of the way before the monster could make a meal out of him. Though it’d probably be more accurate to call him a snack than a meal.


(Sothis!) Byleth shouted in her mind. (What do I do!?)

“Just do what you always do.” Sothis said. “And we are talking about that beard comment later!”

(I don’t think my usual methods will work!) Byleth shouted. (I’ve never fought one of these things without the Sword of the Creator!)


“Ugh! Do I have to do everything for you!” Sothis shouted back.


(Hey, if I die you die too!) Byleth shouted. (So please help me out here!)


The Demonic Beast swung it’s gigantic claws at Byleth. She dodged but the monster managed to slice through the sleeve of her coat-cape and knock the rope from her belt.


“Dude!” Byleth shouted at the monster. “My coat!”


Sothis sighed. “Look, you see the crest stone on top of that thing’s head?”


(Yes.) Byleth said.


“Hit it! Hard!”


(And how am I supposed to get up there?) Byleth asked.


“That’s for you to figure out.” Sothis said.


The monster swiped at her again and she jumped back.


“Ugh.” She muttered under her breath. Then she shouted. “Alright! Black Eagles! Fall back!”


She gestured to behind her, away from the Demonic Beast. The Black Eagle house complied and convened behind a boulder at the far end of the rock chunk, hopefully out of range and out of sight of the monster.


“We have to stop that Beast.” Byleth said.


“You’re kidding, right?” Caspar asked. “That thing’s huge!”


“Well we can’t just run away!” Byleth shouted.


“Yes we can!” Bernadetta shouted from behind a rock. “In fact, let’s do that right now!”


“Though I loathe to admit it, it might be best that we leave this to the Knights of Seiros.” Hubert said. “Let us retreat while we can. Back over the bridge.”


The Demonic Beast tossed a boulder in the general direction of where the Black Eagles had last been. It missed and flew over their heads, slamming into the north bridge and destroying it. Hubert flinched.


“Not to worry, there is still another bridge.” The west bridge was promptly destroyed by another flying boulder.


“Hubie.” Dorothea said.


“Yes?”


“Shut up.”


Before Hubert could retort Byleth cut in. “We have to stop it, not least of all because we’re now trapped on this rock with it.”


“Wrong!” Ferdinand said. “We are not trapped here with the beast, the beast is trapped here with me, Ferdinand von Aegir, noblest of nobles!”


“No, I’m pretty sure we’re trapped here with the Beast.” Hubert replied.


“Enough.” Edelgard said authoritatively. She turned to Byleth. “Professor, what’s the plan?”


Byleth pointed at the crest stone on the Beast’s head. “You see that glowy thing up there? We’re gonna hit it! Hard!” On that last word Byleth slammed her fist into her palm.


“Stealing my lines now, are we?” Sothis snarked.


“That’s it?” Edelgard asked incredulously.


Byleth rubbed the back of her head. “I’ll admit it’s missing a few steps, but remember lesson 4.”


“When all else fails, improvise.” Edelgard recited.


Byleth grinned. “Exactly. So here’s my idea: you guys distract the Beast while I jump on it, do a bit of colossus climbing, and stab it in the head.”


“I hope you don’t mind me interjecting.” Dorothea said. “But that is a terrible plan.”


Edelgard nodded. “I agree. This plan is even worse than the one before it and that one wasn’t even complete.”


“Well I’m not about to let any of you jump on it.” Byleth replied.


Nobody should jump on it.” Edelgard protested. “Especially not you. You’ll be killed.”


“Relax, I’ve done more dangerous things.” Byleth said. “Besides, do any of you have a better idea?”


The Black Eagles looked at eachother. Then they looked at the Beast.


“Couldn’t we just shoot an arrow at it?” Edelgard suggested.


Byleth shook her head. “I don’t think an arrow would give us the force we need. Besides, our archer is a bit… indisposed right now.” Byleth jabbed her thumb at Bernadetta who was curled up on the ground in a fetal position, muttering to herself. Byleth continued. “Look, we don’t have time for this. Eventually that thing is going to figure out we’re behind this rock.”


“Fine.” Edelgard grumbled. “But I want to go on record to say I don’t approve of this plan.”


“Well I didn’t approve of bringing you guys here to fight bandits so we’re even.” Byleth said.


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And so the Black Eagles enacted the stupidest plan ever concocted (at least until they concoct the next stupid plan). In execution the plan was pretty simple, the Black Eagles (minus Bernadetta and Linhardt) distracted the Demonic Beast by attacking it while Byleth climbed on. You’re probably tired of hearing this reiterated by now.


Hubert did the most damage in that he actually managed to do damage, actually managing to both hitting and harming the Beast. He wouldn’t be capable of defeating it before his magic ran out but at least he managed to harm it.


The others did not fare so well in that regard. Caspar quickly discovered that punching the Beast was not only ineffective but also really, really painful. So he settled for being bait for the others which he would have been grumpy about were he not running from a giant monster.


Edelgard was the main Black Eagle to take advantage of Caspar’s bait position, saving his life when the monster got too close. Her axe just bounced off the creature’s hide but at least she managed to knock its claws away when needed.


Ferdinand and Petra did a similar routine, Petra serving as the bait while Ferdinand attacked. Petra dodged and weaved and Ferdinand attempted to poke the monster in the joints. This only served to annoy the monster, not hurt it.


The most unfortunate of the Black Eagle was Dorothea, who had discovered that the Beast’s pulsing, veiny hide was both fire- and lightning-proof, ruling out basically her entire arsenal of offensive spells. Unless she could figure out a way to weaponize a magic buff spell she was pretty much sunk.


All of this was the backdrop for the real action: Byleth colossus climbing the Demonic Beast. This was something Byleth had done several times but at the time she’d had the boosted power of Sothis and a wicked whip-sword. This was just her and a not-quite-as-cool-or-powerful regular sword (though it was still pretty cool because, let’s be honest, swords are cool).


Byleth stealthily sneaked behind the Beast and waited for the right moment to jump on. That moment came when the Beast whipped its tail towards her. Byleth ducked, grabbing onto the tail as it swang. She hung on tight as it lifted her into the air. Slowly, she began to climb on top of the tail. Once she was on top she stood low and spread her arms out to get her balance. She slowly made her way along the tail, having to grab hold of it several times to avoid falling, and eventually onto the creature’s back where she had more room to maneuver and more handholds to grab on to if needed.


The back was pretty disgusting to stand on. The scales seemed to be attempting to suck Byleth’s feet in. If she were to stay in one place too long she’d end up stuck to the creature’s back and have to leave her boots behind which would only make the trek more gross. So she kept going until she reached the monster’s head.


The crest stone was embedded smack dab in the middle of the Beast’s forehead. How it had gotten there was baffling since Kostas had been holding the stone in his right hand when he transformed but that wasn’t important. Byleth raised her sword, pointing it down towards the crest stone. However, before she could stab it the Beast was hit by a particularly strong burst of Hubert’s magic and it lurched. It tossed its head and Byleth was thrown off. She flew through the air and straight over the edge of the rock, plunging into the canyon below.


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When Edelgard saw Byleth get thrown off the Beast she immediately grabbed Caspar and ran to help. She wasn’t sure what she planned to do. Catch her? Break her fall? Let her hit the ground and have Linhardt heal her afterwards (okay, maybe not that last one)?


The choice was taken out of her hands when Byleth overshot and fell into the canyon instead. She and Caspar ran to the edge of the canyon in a last ditch effort to maybe try to catch her. Edelgard got there first but she was too far out, before she knew it, her Professor was out of sight.


“Professor!” She and Caspar shouted at the same time.


Edelgard fell to her knees. “NO!” She shouted, slamming the ground with her fist. “No no no no no!”


“She’s dead!” Caspar shouted, kicking a rock into the abyss.


After about 45 seconds a voice that sounded like Byleth’s shouted. “Hey! Edelgard!”


Great, she was hallucinating. Just what she needed. As if she didn’t already have enough problems.


“Caspar! Down here!”

“Hey, do you hear that?” Caspar asked.


Edelgard didn’t answer. There was no way he was talking about the voice. That was just a ridiculous hallucination. Not real.


“Hello! Guys!”


“It sounds like the Professor!” Caspar said. Wonderful, they were sharing a hallucination.


“It’s not real.” Edelgard muttered.


“It’s coming from over the edge!” Caspar persisted. “Let’s check it out!”


Edelgard decided to humor Caspar. She sighed and stood up, walking over to the edge. She looked down, expecting to see nothing. Nothing is not what she saw. Instead she saw Byleth hanging from her sword which she had stabbed into the rock wall.


“Professor!” Caspar shouted in delight.


“You’re alive!” Edelgard shouted, pleasantly shocked.


“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Byleth said. “Now could you help me up! I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hanging off a cliff wall!”


Edelgard nodded. “On it! Just hang on!”

“Oh ha ha looks like we’ve got a comedian here.” Byleth snarked.


Edelgard ignored her and scanned the surroundings for something useful. There wasn’t much. Just rocks (of the non-magical kind), dead bodies (just ignore them), and a giant rampaging monster fighting her friends (or in some cases, annoyances).


Then she spotted it. There was a coil of rope lying on the ground nearby. She ran over, snatched it up, and ran back. She dangled it over the edge of the cliff and Byleth grabbed on, yanking her sword out of the cliff wall.


“Caspar, help me pull.” Edelgard requested.


“Got it!” Caspar said. Together the two of them managed to pull Byleth back up over the cliff.


Once she was back on solid ground Byleth stood and rubbed the palm of her hand. “Whew, thanks.”


Having overcome her shock, Edelgard marched up to her Professor and shoved her pointer finger under her chin. She glared fiercely.


“I told you!” She shouted. “I told you it was a terrible plan! I told you you might get killed! Me and Dorothea, both!”


Byleth held up her hands. “Woah! Hey! Cool it! I’m not exactly happy about what happened either! I hate falling off cliffs!” Her tone was matter-of-factly, like this wasn’t the first time she had fallen off a cliff. She gently pushed Edelgard away. “And why are you scolding me, I’m pretty sure I’m the teacher here.”


“Doesn’t Edelgard outrank you, being the imperial princess and all?” Caspar said.


Byleth glared at him. Suddenly, Hubert crashed into the ground next to them, no doubt having been caught in one of the Beast’s swings. Caspar caught him before he followed Byleth’s example and slid off the cliff.


He groaned. “Lady Edelgard, I request assistance.”


Caspar and Byleth cleared their throats in unison.


“Oh yes, and you two as well.” Hubert amended.


“Thank you.” Byleth said with a slight hint of sarcasm. “So, plans? I assume you’re not going to let me jump on that thing again.”

“No, no I will not.” Edelgard said.


“Alright then, any other ideas?” Byleth asked.


Edelgard looked at the rope in her hands then at the beast. “I think I might.”


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The Black Eagles were losing. Petra, Dorothea, and even Ferdinand had made the smart decision and retreated, Linhardt was healing any wounds the three had, and Bernadetta was cowering behind a rock.


“This isn’t how I thought I’d die.” Dorothea said with a sigh.


“Nobody will be dying today!” Ferdinand declared. “As soon as I regain my strength I shall vanquish the beast!”


“I don’t know whether to compliment you on your optimism or berate you for your foolishness.” Dorothea said.


Ferdinand opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a shout.


“Black Eagles! We have a plan!”


Four of the five Black Eagles present turned to see who had spoken (Bernadetta continued to cower behind her rock). It was Byleth along with Edelgard, Caspar, and Hubert. Caspar and Hubert were both holding rope, one normal and one made of magic.


Dorothea gave them a skeptical look. “This plan doesn’t involve jumping back on that thing, does it?”


Edelgard shook her head. “Not at all.” She pointed at Caspar and Hubert’s ropes. “We’re going to tie that Beast down and, in the immortal words of the Professor, hit it! Hard!”


“Those are my immortal words.” Sothis grumbled.


“Well,” Edelgard said. “Let’s get to it.”


Amazingly, the plan went off without a hitch. Petra distracted the beast, drawing its attention while Caspar and Hubert took their positions.Once they were in a suitable position the two used their ropes to lasso the creature’s neck. Ferdinand and Dorothea rushed in to help, Ferdinand grabbing Caspar’s rope and Dorothea grabbing Hubert’s. Together the four of them managed to pull the creature’s head down so that it was level with the ground and its crest stone was within hitting range.


“Would you like to do the honors?” Byleth asked Edelgard. “It was your plan after all.”


Edelgard tossed her axe in the air and caught it. She ran towards the Beast and with great ferocity struck the crest stone hard. The stone began to crack and light emanated from said cracks.


“Get back!” She shouted, jumping away from the Beast. The other Black Eagles did the same.


Now released from its bindings the Beast flailed around, attempting to hit anything within range before it eventually collapsed. Black goop spread over the monster and it shrunk away leaving the dead body of Kostas in its place. The crest stone had returned to Kostas’ hand and it was broken into so many pieces it was unrecognizable.


“We did it.” Edelgard said, breathing heavily.


“Yeah, yeah we did.” Byleth said.


The Black Eagles looked around at the carnage they caused. The reality of what had happened had begun to sink in. Linhardt turned around and discretely threw up over the side of the cliff, a gesture that would have been nice had the ground not been covered in dead bodies.


After a few minutes of silence Hubert spoke. “Pardon me for interrupting your horror, but we have a problem. The Beast destroyed all the bridges. We are trapped on this rock.”


Byleth sighed. “Of course we are. Hubert, can you fly over the gap and find help.”

Hubert tugged nervously on the collar of his shirt. “Er, no. I’m afraid that I’m out of spells. I can’t do that.” It was an obvious lie but Byleth decided not to push him on it.


“Alright then.” She said. “Anybody have any other ideas?”


Caspar raised his hand. “Maybe we could use the rope.” He held up the rope they had used to tie the monster down. “We could lasso it to a rock on the other side and then walk across it like a tightrope.”


Byleth rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek. “Hmm, that might work.”

“No!” Hubert cried. “No! I-I can’t, I mean, we can’t!”


“Why not?” Byleth asked.


Hubert made a great effort to look anywhere but Byleth’s eyes. It was weird, usually he was a great liar. It was part of his job description.


He was saved from answering when Petra cried “Look!” She pointed towards the sky. Everyone looked up to see a group of Knights riding pegasi.


“Oh no.” Hubert muttered to himself. He looked almost as sick as Linhardt did.


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As it turned out, the Knights of Seiros had heard reports of unearthly roaring and explosions in the canyon and were sent to investigate. After Byleth explained what happened (with “helpful” input from a few of her students) they were more than happy to give the students a ride back to Garreg Mach. Before they departed, however, Byleth took a moment to herself. Well, a moment to herself and the girl who lived in her head.


“Do you remember anything more now that we’ve been here a third time?” Byleth asked Sothis aloud.


Sothis materialized next to her. “Maybe.” She said. “It’s not quite a memory but… I have a feeling this isn’t the first time blood has been spilled in this canyon.”


Byleth slapped her forehead, making the connection. “Of course. That’s why it’s called the Red Canyon.”


“Yes, something terrible happened here.” Sothis said. She sadly stared off into the distance. “My home.”


“Professor!” A voice called.


“It appears that it is time for me to take my leave.” Sothis said. “I think I shall take a nap. I am quite tired from all this excitement.” With that she disappeared.


Edelgard ran up to Byleth. “Professor, It’s time to leave. Were you talking to someone?”


Byleth shook her head. “Just the voice in my head.” She answered truthfully. She smiled wearily. “So, I’m thinking... pie for dinner?”


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Author’s Note: Colossus Climb


So in this universe Byleth’s coat-cape-thing is an actual coat. In general Byleth’s outfit is different. I’m not entirely sure how different but it’s definitely more modest for sure. Also she loses the heels (and so does every other character with heels except Manuela). I mean, seriously, who fights in heels (and yes, I know Combat Stilettos is a trope but quite frankly it’s a ridiculous trope unless you’re literally using the heels as a weapon)?


So you may notice that the capitalization of Demonic Beast is inconsistent. This is to represent who does and does not know what a Demonic Beast is. Anyone who doesn’t know what a Demonic Beast is will have beast in lowercase letters while people who do will have it in uppercase letters. I thought it was a neat thing I’d try out.
 
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Author’s Note: Whew! This one took a while. It’s not perfect and I could spend days rewriting it but, as they say, perfect is the enemy of done.

A bit of a disclaimer. Several times throughout this chapter I say spears where I should say lances. This is not a deliberate choice but it’s not something I plan on changing any time soon either. They’re long shafts with a pointy thing on top that you use to stab people. They’re spears.

Part One
White Clouds
Mists of Tragedy​

“...And that’s what happened.”

Almost immediately after the Black Eagles returned from their mission on pegasus back, Byleth went to report to Rhea and Seteth. She left out certain parts, like her conversation with Sothis or the fact that Hubert completely and hilariously freaked out once the pegasus he was riding took to the sky, begging to be let off but otherwise she gave a pretty faithful report.

“This is… most concerning.” Rhea said. “It has been a long, long time since something like this has happened.”

“This has happened before?” Byleth asked.

“Yes, but it is nothing for you to be concerned about.” Rhea said. “Seteth and I will look into this incident, you are to continue training your students and prepare them for their next mission.”

“A new mission already?” Byleth asked. “We just got back.”

“Do not worry, you and your class will have time to recover.” Rhea said. “Seteth, if you would.”

Seteth stepped forward and nodded. “Yes, Lady Rhea. We have received reports that Lord Lonato has rallied troops against the Holy Church of Seiros. A vanguard unit from the Knights of Seiros is already on its way to his stronghold, Castle Gaspard. Lord Lonato's army is nothing compared to the knights. It's quite possible the rebellion has already been suppressed.”

“Why do you need my class, then?” Byleth asked.

“Just to be safe we would like your class to travel with the next unit to be deployed in order to deal with the aftermath.” Rhea said.

“War zones are unpredictable.” Seteth said, stating the obvious. “We do not expect you will have cause to battle, but be prepared for the worst.”

“Excuse me.” A voice said. “You sent for me, Lady Rhea?”

Byleth turned around to find the source of the voice. It was Catherine.

“This is Catherine.” Rhea said. “She will be leading the knights whom you will be accompanying.”

“Nice to meet you.” Catherine said, holding out her hand. Byleth shook it.

“Likewise.” She said. She turned back to Rhea. “When should we expect to leave?”

“The end of this month.” Rhea said. “In the meantime, train your students well.”

“Understood.” Byleth said. “I guess I’ll see you around.” She said to Catherine.

She turned to leave but before she could Ashe ran into the room, looking very distressed. “Professor Byleth! Lady Rhea! Is it true!” He shouted.

“Ashe?” Byleth asked. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in class?”

“I was grabbing a book from the library for Professor Hanneman when I passed by.” Ashe explained. “Has Lord Lonato really raised an army to attack the Church?”

“I’m afraid so.” Rhea replied.

“No, that can’t be right. There must be some sort of mistake.” Ashe protested. “Lonato is a kind man. Why would he do something like this?”

“I do not know.” Rhea said. Byleth had to wonder if she was actually telling the truth. Given that she was the one who ordered the execution of Lonato’s son, Christoph, there was no way that she could have forgotten it.

Ashe turned to Byleth. “Please let me come with you!” He pleaded. “Maybe I can talk to Lonato! Find out why he’s doing this!”

“Ashe, this is not your mission.” Rhea chided. “This mission is for the Black Eagles only. The Blue Lions will have their own mission to undertake.”

“But…” Ashe began but Rhea cut him off.

“No buts, you will not be going on this mission and that is final.” She said sternly. “Professor, please escort Ashe back to his class.”

“Yes, Lady Rhea.” Byleth said.

Ashe bowed his head but did not say anything as he Byleth led him out of the chamber and down the stairs. Once the two got to the bottom of the stairwell and Byleth was sure they were out of earshot of Rhea and Seteth, she lowered her voice and asked the dejected Blue Lion a question.

“Do you really want to go on this mission?”

“Yes.” Ashe said. “I really, really want to go. Lonato is such a nice man, I’m sure that if we just talk to him we can find out what's wrong and stop any further violence.”

Byleth nodded. She was starting to get an inkling of an idea. “Alright, I’ll talk to Professor Hanneman and see if I can get the Blue Lions permission to go.”

“You would go against a direct order from Lady Rhea?” Ashe asked, stunned.

“I’m not going against her orders.” Byleth replied. “She specifically said that you couldn’t come but she never said the Blue Lion House, which you are a member of, couldn’t come.”

“I’m… not sure I understand your logic.” Ashe said. “But thank you.”

“No problem. I think you might be right. And if you aren’t, well, I might have a nonlethal plan B.” An inkling of an idea was forming in her head. She would prefer to capture Lonato as opposed to killing him and she didn’t want another Kostas debacle (though Lonato probably wouldn’t turn into a Demonic Beast). But Ashe was an archer and that reminded Byleth of another archer who had some pretty neat trick arrows.

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On the day of the mission Byleth and the students gathered at the outskirts of the town around Garreg Mach to meet up with Catherine and the Knights of Seiros. Byleth had gotten permission from Hanneman and Manuela to take three students each from the other two houses on this mission, counting the house leaders. Likewise, Byleth had only bought three of her own students to keep the group around the size of a standard class.The students from the Golden Deer house were Claude, Hilda, and Leonie. The students from the Blue Lion house were Dimitri, Ashe, and Felix. And the students from the Black Eagle house were Edelgard, Bernadetta, and Caspar. In addition to the students, Byleth had also brought a bundle of what looked like wood, which she had slung over her shoulder.

When the Knights showed up, Catherine had a very disapproving look on her face.

“What is going on here?” She asked.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Byleth said, knowing exactly what she meant.

“Ashe, what are you doing here?” Catherine asked. “Lady Rhea banned you from going on this mission. And I’m pretty sure it was implied that that applied to all the Blue Lions. And the Golden Deer too, for that matter.”

Byleth kicked herself internally. She forgot that Catherine was a diehard Rhea fan. She would not be happy about Byleth, and by extension the students, disobeying the Archbishop.

“I brought them.” Byleth said. “Because I think Ashe’s plan might work and because I need them for my backup plan.”

“I’m not entirely sure I understand.” Catherine said. “We’re just cleaning up the aftermath. Lonato’s probably dead or captured by now.”

That’s what you think. Byleth thought.

“Look, it’s too late for me to change up the team now.” Byleth said. “If you want you can scold me all the way to Castle Gaspard and I’ll accept any punishment when we get back.”

“Alright.” Catherine grumbled. “But don’t ever disobey an order from Lady Rhea again or I’ll strike you down where you stand!” Byleth had no doubt she meant it. And there was no way she could stand up to her and Thunderbrand without the Sword of the Creator. She’d have to be careful. She missed her sword more every day.

“Woah, intense.” Claude said.

The contingent headed off towards Castle Gaspard. As they walked Ashe hurried up to Byleth.

“Thank you for convincing Professor Hanneman to let me come.” He said.

“I told you I would.” Byleth said. “I always keep my word.”

“Still, thank you.” Ashe said. “I know that Lord Lonato will see reason. I just know it.”

“I hope you’re right.” Byleth said.

Meanwhile, a little farther behind Byleth and Ashe, the three house leaders were catching up. It had been two months since they’d last spoken, just before the Mock Battle. Of course, catching up was a loose choice of words.

“Look at us, working together again.” Claude said, reaching to put his arms around Dimitri and Edelgard. “Just like that bandit attack.”

The other two house leaders pulled away from his grasp. Edelgard gave him a scathing look.

“Don’t touch me.” She growled.

Claude held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Di Immortales, mi gínese malákas.”

“I also request that you refrain from touching me.” Dimitri said.

Claude looked at Edelgard and gestured at Dimitri. “See, Dimitri is polite.”

Edelgard crossed her arms and hmph’d.

After another moment of silence Claude once again tried to engage in conversation. “So how have you all been, my friends?” He asked, spreading his arms.

Edelgard shook her head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Claude, but we’re not friends.”

“What?” Claude asked. “Of course we are.”

“No, we’re really not.” Edelgard reiterated.

“She’s right.” Dimitri said. “We’re more like acquaintances.”

“Even that might be pushing it.” Edelgard countered. “I’d say we’re associates.”

“Wow, I feel kind of spurned.” Claude said. “I thought we were closer than that.”

“What in Fodlan would make you think that?” Edelgard asked.

“Stop!” Catherine said up ahead, holding up her hand. “We’re here, the outskirts of Castle Gaspard.”

Everyone squinted. They were at the edge of a large fog bank and couldn’t see anything. Catherine scowled.

“Magical fog.” She said distastefully. “A dirty trick.”

Suddenly, a battered looking Knight ran out of the fog, panting.

“Report.” Catherine said.

“The militia… they’ve… they’ve overrun us!” The Knight said in between breaths.

“Seriously?” Claude asked incredulously. “Aren’t you supposed to be an elite fighting force? The most powerful and skilled warriors in Fodlan?”

“I must agree.” Edelgard said. “This is quite pathetic.”

“Looks like you kids will be seeing some real combat today, after all.” Catherine said, ignoring the insults. She drew Thunderbrand. “Knights of Seiros! Charge!” The Knights of Seiros charged into the fog.

“You want us to just charge into the fog?” Hilda asked.

“Do you have a better idea?” Leonie asked.

“I do.” Bernadetta said, raising her hand. “Run in the other direction.”

“Don’t act like that!” Caspar shouted. “We’re students of the Garreg Mach Officer’s Academy! We don’t run from anything!” He pumped his fist in the air.

“See, Caspar gets it!” Leonie said.

“Listen, all we need to do to get rid of the fog is find the mage generating it.” Byleth said, repeating what Annette had explained to her in the original timeline. “We just have to find where the fog is thickest and that’s where he’ll be.”

“All the fog is thick.” Hilda pointed out.

“It’s a good thing I brought these, then.” Byleth said. She slung the bundle of wood off her shoulder and unwrapped it. It was actually a bundle of torches. She tossed one to each student except the archers, Leonie, and Dimitri, along with flint and steel to light it.

“Why did you-” Edelgard began to ask before Byleth cut her off.

“I had a lot of torches.” Byleth said. It actually was the truth. She’d already had a bunch of torches at the beginning of the year from mercenary work. “Don’t ask why. Anyway, you can use these to light your way.”

“What about Cinders, Dory, Fanatic, His Princeliness, and I?” Claude asked. “You didn’t give us any torches, Teach.”

“You all use two handed weapons.” Byleth explained. “You can’t hold the torch and fight at the same time. You’ll have to stick close to someone who can, instead. Those who have torches, I suggest lighting them now while you can still see them.”

Byleth waited for everyone to light their torches. “Everyone ready?”

Everyone but Bernadetta and Hilda affirmed that they were ready. But that was to be expected.

“Good.” Byleth said. “ And one more thing, these are civilians so use non-lethal force whenever possible, got it? Great. Let’s go!”

Byleth and her group of nine students charged into the fog, most of them holding torches to light their way. It was time to begin the battle. Well, for them anyway. The Knights were already in there.

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Felix was simultaneously annoyed and intrigued by his situation. On one hand he was holding a torch leaving him with only one free hand and he had minimal visibility which really limited his attack options. On the other hand, this was a new challenge for him and he very much liked new challenges.

And it wasn’t like he hadn’t fought in low visibility before. Several times he had trained while wearing a blindfold. Compared to the complete darkness of the blindfold the fog illuminated by torchlight was much easier to see through.

There was a small problem, though. He was working with others. He hated working with others. They always got in the way. Especially this annoying Leonie. Felix had never even talked to her so all he knew was that she was obnoxiously loud, extremely competitive, and idolized the Captain of the Knights of Seiros, Jeralt. In this particular case the competitive streak was a big problem.

She’d apparently decided to make a game out of the battle, to see who could KO the most opponents. She was constantly getting in his way, forcing him to stop mid-swing to avoid hitting her. And since she was one of the warriors (if you could call them that) that didn’t get a torch, she had to stick close to him to see.

“And that’s eight!” Leonie shouted, jumping in Felix’s way yet again in order to whack an enemy on the head with the butt of her spear. “You better hurry to catch up, Felix!”

“This isn’t a game!” Felix shouted, annoyed. “Treat this seriously!” He knocked out a Militia Soldier who tried to sneak up behind him.

“I am treating this seriously!” Leonie protested, knocking out two more soldiers and excitedly shouting. “Ten!”

If he had a free hand Felix would have massaged his temples in exasperation. Instead he resorted to his signature “hmph” and a simple sigh.

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Caspar and Hilda were a match made in… nowhere. In no place or time was it a good idea to pair the two together. One was loud and boisterous and not a fan of laziness, the other was lazy and liked to get other people to do things for her.

Caspar was one of the few people who Hilda had trouble getting to do things for her, especially since he was always hanging out with Leonie and/or Linhardt, two other people who were impossible to trick into doing things she doesn’t want to do.

There was one additional problem. Caspar was still a bit bitter about the Black Eagles losing the Mock Battle to the Golden Deer. He hung out with Leonie because they were friends but he was annoyed any time he saw any other Golden Deer. He was eager to prove that the Black Eagles was the best house, and that he was the best fighter. As such he made a point to be as noticeable and dramatic as possible. Normally Hilda would be fine with letting him do everything but his taunts were insufferable.

Caspar threw his torch in the air and slammed the heads of two soldiers together, knocking them out. He caught the torch again and smirked. “Bet you can’t do that.”

“Oh yeah!” Hilda shouted. “Well I bet you can’t do this!” She threw her axe and it whacked several soldiers in the head before coming back to her boomerang style.

“Show off.” Caspar grumbled hypocritically.

Suddenly an arrow embedded itself into the ground next to him, just barely missing. “What the!”

He followed the path of the arrow with his eyes, up to the branches of a barely visible tree where Bernadetta was nested. Ever since their last mission, Bernadetta had taken a liking to high places.

“Sorry!” Bernadetta squeaked.

“It’s fine!” Caspar called. “You didn’t hit me!”

“But I could have.” Bernadetta squeaked.

Caspar shook his head and returned to fighting.

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“Why are you following me, again?” Edelgard asked her companions, Dimitri and Claude.

“Because you have a torch and we don’t.” Claude explained.

“So do Caspar, Hilda, Felix, and the Professor.” Edelgard pointed out. A soldier burst out of the fog and she knocked him out. “Why don’t you follow one of them.”

“The professor actually doesn’t have a torch.” Dimitri said, hitting a soldier trying to sneak up behind him in the stomach. “Something about “another set of eyes.””

“My point still stands.” Edelgard said, turning to face the two.

“Duck!” Claude shouted.

“What? Where?” Dimitri said, looking around.

By the time Claude had called out, the arrow had already left his bow. Edelgard barely had time to dodge out of the way before the arrow hit her, letting it hit a militia soldier behind her. The arrows Claude had brought on this mission were rubber tipped but they were still enough to knock the soldier out.

“Perhaps you could warn me a little earlier next time.” Edelgard said indignantly.

“That was the earliest warning I could give.” Claude defended.

“So, there is no duck?” Dimitri asked.

“Seriously, Dimitri?” Claude asked. “You know that’s not the kind of duck I meant!”

“My apologies.” Dimtri said. “I was trying to be humorous. Clearly it did not work.”

“Clearly.” Edelgard said haughtily.

“Better luck next time, buddy.” Claude said, patting Dimitri on the back.

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The big problem with torches is that you were advertising your location. That’s why Byleth wasn’t using one. While she had no doubt that her students would be fine using torches and she probably would have been fine as well but she’d rather have the full advantage of being able to see and keep her location hidden. Well, technically it wasn’t her who was able to see. It was the little voice in her head who could see through the magic fog. Perks of being a goddess.

“Watch your six!” Sothis called out, floating above Byleth.

Byleth spun around and knocked her opponent on the head with the hilt of her sword. He crumpled to the ground.

“Nine O’Clock!” Sothis called.

Byleth punched the approaching Militia Soldier in the face with her free hand, knocking him down.

“I don’t suppose you can see the mage responsible for this?” Byleth asked Sothis.

Sothis flew higher so as to survey the battlefield better. “I see them!”

“Them as in multiple mages or them as in the gender-neutral pronoun?” Byleth asked.

“The gender-neutral pronoun. They’re standing in the middle of a clear circle in the fog.” Sothis replied. “Twelve O’Clock!”

“Gotcha.” Byleth said, kneeing a Militia Soldier where you really don’t want to be kneed. “So what direction am I going in?” There was a beat as Byleth realized how stupid that question was while she was surrounded by fog in every direction. “RIght, never mind. Just, tell me how to get to the mage.”

“No need.” Sothis said. “The squabbling royals seem to be heading straight for them, though whether or not they’re doing it on purpose or just bumbling around is up for debate. Duck!”

“You know Claude’s not a royal.” Byleth pointed out, ducking an arrow that flew out of the fog.

“Does that really matter?” Sothis asked.

“Not really.” Byleth admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

“One more thing.” Sothis said. “The mage isn’t dressed like the rest of the militia. They’re wearing all black, with some gold highlights.”

“Uh oh.” Byleth said. “I only know one organization that wears those colors. But why are they working with Lonato?”

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“You two are a mess.” Claude said as Edelgard nearly hit Dimitri over the head with the handle of her axe. Likewise, Dimitri almost jabbed her in the gut with the end of his spear.

“You’re one to talk.” Edelgard shot back. “You have no idea how to warn someone properly.”

“You’re still on about that!” Claude protested. “It was one time, get over it!”

Dimitri swung his spear at Edelgard and she ducked. She turned to glare at him but found that she couldn’t find him. “Dimitri, where are you?”

“I’m standing right in front of you.” Dimitri replied. “I… think. All I can see is a blurry light.”

“Strange.” Edelgard said. “If you’re standing right in front of me the torch should illuminate you. Claude, what do you think?” She turned towards Claude to find him gone as well. Of course.

“I can’t see you two either.” Said Claude’s voice from the fog.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Edelgard said. “Even with the fog we should still be able to see each other by torchlight.”

“Maybe…” Claude said.

“Maybe what?” Edelgard asked.

“Remember what Teach said before we charged into the fog?” Claude asked.

“We’re not allowed to use lethal force?” Dimitri said.

“No, before that.” Claude said. “About how to find the mage in the fog.”

“Oh… I see where you’re going with this.” Edelgard and Dimitri said at the same time. Were it not for the fact that she couldn’t see him, Edelgard would have glared at Dimitri.

“We needed to find where the fog was thickest.” Claude said, reiterating what Byleth had said. “The fog is so thick here that we can barely see even with torches. We must be close. If we can find whoever’s doing this and take them out, the fog clears up.”

“A slight problem.” Edelgard said. “How exactly are we supposed to find the mage when we can’t see through the fog ourselves.”

“I’m… still working on that.” Claude admitted.

“Finding the mage might be easier than we thought.” Dimitri interjected. “Look.”

“Uh… Your Princeliness.” Claude said. “Are you pointing, because neither of us can see it?”

“Oh, right.” Dimitri said. “There’s a red light… somewhere. Just look around a bit and you’ll see it.”

The two other house leaders peered around. After a few seconds, they spotted what Dimitri was talking about. A faint red glow.

“I see it.” Edelgard said.

“Me too.” Claude said.

“I think that’s the mage.” Dimitri explained.

“Well what are we waiting for then?” Claude asked. “Let’s get em!”

The three house leaders rushed forward only to promptly trip over each other, first Edelgard tripping over Dimitri and then Claude tripping over Edelgard. The three tumbled over one another and burst out of the fog and into the clearing where the mage was, landing in a pile on top of eachother.

The Mage looked over to see what the commotion was and stumbled backwards when they saw the three house leaders in a pile. Despite this, they kept his hands up in the air, glowing red.

“What in the world!” The Mage exclaimed.

The three house leaders slowly untangled themselves, the Mage not doing anything. The three of them stood up and pointed their weapons at the mage.

“Your Princeliness, would you like to do the honors?” Claude asked Dimitri. “You did find them after all.”

“Gladly.” Dimitri said, rotating his spear from the pointy side to the blunt end and shoving it into his gut, pushing him backwards and forcing him to lower his hands. Then for the finishing blow, he whacked the mage over the head, completely knocking him out.

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Finally, the fog cleared and restored sight to all that it had once encompassed. Now that they could see, the students extinguished their torches and were now able to operate at full capacity. Now the battle could really begin.

With the fog cleared, the leader of the rebellion, Lord Lonato, was revealed. Byleth gestured to Claude, Ashe, and Bernadetta. The message was clear: “take your positions.”

Two figures approached Lonato from different sides. One brandished a massive sword and the other was unarmed. Lonato scowled.

“Thunder Cassandra.” He spat.

“It’s Catherine now.” Thunderbrand’s welder replied.

“And who do you have with you?” Lonato asked. “Is that…” His expression changed from furious to surprised. “Ashe? What are you doing here?”

“I want to talk.” Ashe said.

“Ashe, what are you doing?” Catherine asked.

“Please surrender, Lonato.” Ashe said, ignoring Catherine. He held out his hand in a stopping motion. “Whatever is going on we can talk it out. We don’t have to fight.”

“Ashe, I do not wish to kill you, but if you get in my way I will do what I must.” Lonato said remorsefully.

“But why?” Ashe asked. “Why would you do this?”

“Rhea is an infidel who has deceived the people and desecrated the goddess! We have virtue and the goddess herself on our side!” Lonato spat.

“Even if that’s true, you shouldn’t drag the townsfolk into this.” Ashe said. “It’s not right.”

Lonato sighed. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” He raised his lance and his horse reared. “Prepare yourself! I’m putting an end to this!”

Ashe sighed “I guess you leave me no choice.” He said. Then he raised his voice and shouted. “Now!”

Before Lonato could react, Ashe drew his bow and fired an arrow. At the same time two other arrows came flying out of a tree and a bush respectively. All three arrows split in two, revealing the ropes inside. The ropes tied themselves around Lonato, binding him and knocking him off his horse.

Lonato lay there on his back and struggled against his bonds but they were inescapable. “What is this!”

Claude stepped out of the bushes and Bernadetta leaped down from her tree.

“My extra strength rope arrows.” Claude said proudly. “It’s hard enough to get out of one but it should be nigh impossible to break through three.” He turned to the militia still conscious. “Alright, ladies and gents, your leader has been captured. How about you all surrender now?”

Most of the militia dropped their weapons and raised their hands in the air with the exception of one guy who ran at Claude, weapon raised and got his lights knocked out by Leonie, who was holding her spear out like a limbo pole..

Byleth stepped forward. “We were hoping you’d surrender willingly.” She said to Lonato. “Ashe especially. I guess this works too.”

“Are you going to kill me now?” Lonato asked.

“Yes.” Catherine said, raising her sword.

Byleth put her arm out to stop her and shook her head. “No, we’re not. We’re going to take you to Rhea,” Catherine shot her a glare and Byleth corrected herself. “I mean, Lady Rhea and she’ll interrogate you.”

“No!” Lonato shouted. “I refuse to speak to that heretic!”

“You’re the heretic here.” Catherine growled, pointing her sword at him.

Byleth pulled Lonato to his feet and away from Catherine. “Alright, lets go. We should be able to get back to Garreg Mach before-'' Byleth's sentence was cut off by a fourth arrow, this one of the regular pointy type. It came flying out of nowhere and pierced Lonato’s skull like a bad costume. The Kingdom Lord fell forward and face planted, dead.

“No!” Ashe shouted, falling to his knees in horror.

Everyone else followed the path of the arrow with their eyes. Atop a hill stood a lone archer clad in pure black and red armor. He wasn’t a Knight of Seiros or a Militia soldier.

“Who is that?” Catherine asked.

The black and red clad archer turned and bolted down the hill, disappearing. Catherine turned to two Knights.

“After him!” She ordered, pointing towards where the archer had been. The Knights obeyed and disappeared over the hill themselves.

Ashe was devastated. He kneeled over Lonato’s body, tears welling in his eyes. “No. no.” He murmured to himself. “How could this happen?”

As Ashe mourned, Catherine was all business, barking orders to the Knights of Seiros. “Arrest everyone still alive and assess the injuries and casualties.”

“Casualties?” Byleth asked in horror. “You didn’t actually kill anyone did you?”

“As far as I can tell from here, we didn’t kill that many.” Catherine said.

Byleth shook her head. “That really doesn’t make me feel better.”

“I thought you were the infamous Ashen Demon.” Catherine said. “The mercenary who kills without a hint of emotion on her face.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.” Byleth replied.

Catherine Shrugged. “Fair enough. Now come on, let’s round up the students and head back to Garreg Mach. We’ve done what we came to do.”

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Byleth entered Rhea’s Audience Chamber with her head hanging. She didn’t really want to give a report. She’d had a lot of time to ruminate on the trip back to the Monastery and she had decided that the mission was a failure. Lonato was dead and the Knights were unable to find the unknown archer, though Byleth was pretty sure she knew who he worked for.

“Welcome back, Byleth.” Rhea greeted. “How was the mission? Catherine said it was a resounding success, despite a few troubles.”

“Lonato is dead and Ashe is devastated.” Byleth said glumly. “My plan failed.”

“A plan you concocted against my orders.” Rhea reminded her.

“You only said Ashe couldn’t come, not the whole Blue Lion House, which Ashe is a part of.” Byleth said.

“I fail to understand your logic.” Rhea replied. “But regardless, it was implied that the entire Blue Lion House was banned from that mission. And the Golden Deer house for that matter.”

“Well it’s too late now.” Byleth said. “I promise I won’t disobey an order again.” She lied. “Catherine threatened to cut me down if I did and I don’t fancy my chances against that relic of hers.” Not yet, at least.

“While we’re on the subject, I heard that the students had difficulties working together.” Rhea said.

“Yeah, I think it was house pride.” Byleth said, rubbing the back of her head. “Caspar was especially interested in getting back at the Golden Deer for winning the Mock Battle.”

Rhea sighed. “This was not the intention of the Officer’s Academy. It was supposed to bring the three nations of Fodlan together, not push them apart.”

Bring the three nations of Fodlan together... Byleth echoed in her head. Wait a minute!

“That’s it!” She shouted aloud. “Don’t tell anybody I said this but Rhea you’re a genius! I have to tell Manuela and Hanneman!”

Before Rhea could object, Byleth was out the door. She stopped by Manuela’s and Hanneman’s offices and asked them to meet her in the library in five minutes. Six minutes later the library was cleared out except for Byleth and her two colleagues, who had gathered around one of the library’s tables.

“Alright, Byleth, why did you call us here?” Hanneman asked.

“Just a few moments ago I had the greatest idea ever!” Byleth said excitedly. “You know how the three houses are super competitive against each other?”

“Yes.” Manuela and Hanneman said at the same time.

“Well I think we need to curb some of that.” Byleth said. “Sure it’s fine for the three houses to be competitive, but not to the extent that they are now. House members barely interact with each other, and when they do it’s usually when they get into a fight. As such, I propose that we encourage inter-house interactions.”

“I fail to see what’s so exciting about this idea.” Hanneman said.

“Okay, fine, on paper it doesn’t sound so exciting.” Byleth admitted. “But think about it, we have students from all three of Fodlan’s nations, including the next Emperor, King, and Sovereign Duke. If they get to know each other, maybe even become friends, we might usher in a new age of prosperity and peace for Fodlan. These kids are our future, after all.”

“That’s all well and good.” Manuela said. “But how exactly do you plan to do that?

“It’s simple.” Byleth said, placing her hand on the table. “We lead by example.”

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Author’s Note: Byleth not saying Those Who Slither’s name isn’t me being cagey, she genuinely has no idea what they’re called. Azure Moon is the only path on which you don’t learn their name, either from Hubert himself or his posthumous letter. Hilariously, you severely cripple them purely by accident, taking out pretty much their entire leadership and cutting off any help they might get from the Empire by absorbing it into the Kingdom after killing Edelgard, not necessarily in that order.
 
Author’s Note: So, first off, school has started up again so chapter posts will be a bit slower than usual. Don’t worry, though, I’m still here and I will still be posting. I swear on the River Styx, and that’s a serious oath.

Next, there’s something I need to address something I forgot to address in the previous Author’s Note: Don’t ask me why Claude swears in Greek. I was reading Percy Jackson while I was writing that chapter. But, to keep things consistent, he will continue to swear in Greek so it’s not a weird one off thing. I won’t tell you the meaning of the swears just to keep it fun.

Finally up on the agenda, I have something to ask of you. Please tell your friends about this fanfic. Heck, while you’re at it why don’t you tell your enemies about it too. I don’t exactly care about how many followers/readers I have but it would be really nice to have more and my shameless self promotion isn’t really gonna cut it.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the chapter.

Part One
White Clouds
Classroom Révolutionnaire​

Another day, another mission briefing from Rhea at five in the damn morning! Either Rhea never slept or she drank more coffee than was healthy for anyone. Nobody was this much of a morning person. At least Byleth could take Solace in the fact that Manuela and Hanneman looked just as tired as she felt, if not more so.

“So, what’s this month’s mission?” Byleth asked Rhea.

“You’ve never asked for all three of us at once.” Manuela said.

“This month all three houses will be taking on the same mission.” Rhea exposited. “You three and your students will be helping with security during the Rite of Rebirth. You recall that we found a note on Lord Lonato’s body, yes?”

The three teachers nodded their heads.

“The note details a plot to assassinate Lady Rhea on the day of the Rite.” Seteth said.

“I’m guessing it would be inappropriate to laugh.” Byleth said.

“Yes, very.” Seteth said.

“It’s just, an assassination attempt against you, arguably the most well protected person in Fodlan, seems kind of stupid.” Byleth said. “Especially during the Rite of Rebirth when the Monastery will be full of people.”

“I must agree, it sounds quite ridiculous.” Hanneman said.

“It pains me to agree with Hanneman but, well, I agree with Hanneman.” Manuela agreed.

“Hey, what about me?” Byleth asked, annoyed.

“Oh, and you too, Byleth.” Manuela amended.

“There are many places where one can hide within this Monastery.” Rhea explained. “Secret passages and hidden rooms. It is nigh impossible to count them all.”

“How in Fodlan are we supposed to keep up effective security, then.” Hanneman asked.

“For that matter, how have we been keeping up effective security at all?” Byleth asked.

“Well, admittedly our security has been rather lax as of late.” Seteth said sheepishly. Then he muttered. “Jeralt’s been on my case about it for the past few months.” It was nice to know Jeralt was doing his best to make things better. Seteth cleared his throat. “Anyway, while this is not an ideal situation I implore that you all do your best. Hopefully this will all be for naught but we must be on our guard.”

“Well, you can count on us.” Byleth said. She looked first at Hanneman and then Manuela. “Right guys?”

“Hmm…” Hanneman hmm’d. “I suppose so.”

Manuela elbowed him. “Don’t be like that. Of course you can count on us.”

“So, before we go.” Byleth said. “Hanneman, Manuela, and I have been working on something. An idea.”

“Yes?” Seteth asked.

“Why don’t you take this?” Byleth suggested to her co-workers.

Hanneman and Manuela nodded.

“Right.” Hanneman said. “So, the three of us, Manuela, Byleth, and I, got to talking the other day and we realized that we… aren’t exactly the best teachers.”

“Well, that’s a bit of a pessimistic way of putting it.” Manuela criticized.

“Well how would you phrase it?” Hanneman shot back.

Manuela cleared her throat. “The other day, the three of us realized that we all have our own skills and our own teaching styles, but that the three of us teaching individually isn’t quite cutting it. We need to work together.”

“So… you would like to merge the three houses into one class that the three of you teach together?” Seteth asked.

“Oh no, absolutely not!” Manuela cried.

“No no no no no!” Byleth assisted. “Nope! That is a terrible idea!”

“Are you trying to send us to an early grave?” Hanneman asked.

Seteth pinched the bridge of his nose. “So then what are you suggesting?”

“We rotate classes.” Hanneman said. “We haven’t quite figured out the schedule but each of us will teach a class every couple of hours. Or every day. Again, we haven’t quite decided on the schedule.”

“Of course, the three of us will still be taking the house we chose at the beginning of the year on missions.” Byleth interjected. “I’ll still be taking the Black Eagles on missions, Manuela will still be taking the Golden Deer on missions, and Hanneman will still be taking the Blue Lions on missions.”

“This is an… interesting idea.” Seteth mused.

“But wait, there’s more!” Byleth said in the first example of an infomercial saleswoman. “On the same day we discussed our method of teaching we also realized that the three houses might be a bit too antagonistic towards each other.”

“Well, that’s only natural.” Seteth said. “The three houses are always matched up against each other in things like the mock battle. It only makes sense that they’d be a little competitive.”

“Well yeah a friendly rivalry is fine.” Byleth explained. “But the only time students seem to talk to other students outside their house is when they’re fighting.” Byleth rubbed the back of her head. “Admittedly, we kind of inadvertently encouraged it with our own arguing but that’s besides the point.”

“Which is?” Seteth asked

Manuela crossed her arms. “The point is that we think there should be more activities that encourage positive interaction between the houses.”

“Ones that don’t involve combat.” Hanneman added. “For the most part, at least.”

“So, what do you think?” Byleth asked, spreading her arms.

Seteth turned to look at his advisee. “Lady Rhea?”

“I think this is a wonderful idea.” Rhea said. “Like I said yesterday, one of the goals of the Officer’s Academy was to bring the three nations of Fodlan closer together.”

“Awesome! We’ll start tomorrow!” Byleth said, pumping her fist. She raised her finger. “Just one more thing. I’m gonna be meeting with the three house leaders once or twice a week at the training grounds for personal training. You know, to teach them how to work together so they can be examples for the rest of the students. I already have permission from Manuela and Hanneman,” She patted her fellow professors on the backs, much to their annoyance. “I just thought you should know.”

Rhea nodded. “Thank you for informing me. You are dismissed.”

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“Are you sure this will work?” Sothis asked Byleth as she prepared for her meeting with Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard.

“Of course.” Byleth said, pulling on her boots.

Sothis looked at her skeptically. “Really?”

“Okay, no.” Byleth admitted. “But this is only one part of a multi-step plan.”

“And the other steps are?” Sothis asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“Uh… I don’t know.” Byleth admitted once again. “I’m making this up on the fly. It’s not exactly like I have a lot of time to plan between teaching classes and grading papers and revolutionizing the Officer’s Academy. Not to mention the half a dozen other things I have to do.”

“Speaking of teaching classes, aren’t you supposed to have a class right now?” Sothis asked.

Byleth’s eyes widened. “Oh crap! And there’s a test today, too! I need to find a sub! Quick!”

She rifled through her desk for her various lesson plans, attendance sheets, graded (or not) tests, and several other important papers. Once she had them all she hugged them to keep them from scattering everywhere and ran out the door. She needed to find a substitute teacher and fast.

Lucky for her, she happened to pass by the perfect substitute: Shamir. Well, okay, that was a lie. She was anything but the perfect substitute, but she was there and Byleth didn’t exactly have much time to find anyone else.

“Shamir!” Byleth shouted, running up to the mercenary. “Thank goodness I happened to run into you! I need your help!”

“Do I know you?” Shamir asked. Byleth slapped herself internally, she forgot that she hadn’t met Shamir yet.

“Uh, I’m the new professor here!” She replied, talking fast. “My name is Byleth and I really need your help! I’m supposed to be teaching a class right now but I’ve got things I need to do! Can you sub for me! Pretty please!”

Shamir opened her mouth to respond but Byleth didn’t even let her. “Awesome! Thanks!” She shoved all her papers into Shamir’s hands. “Just head to the Black Eagles classroom! Thanks again!”

And with that, Byleth ran off leaving Shamir standing there baffled as to what had just happened.

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Byleth was late to a meeting she scheduled. Because of course she was. She wasn’t that late, though, was she? After all, she was only 15 minutes late. The three students she was meeting seemed to disagree.

“Professor, if you’re going to call us to a meeting with no prior warning, you could at least show up on time.” Edelgard said crossly with her hands on her hips.

“Sorry.” Byleth said, rubbing the back of her head. “I had to find someone to dump all my work on- I mean, sub for me.”

“You couldn’t have called this meeting after class?” Claude asked.

“I… uh… yeah that probably would have made more sense.” Byleth replied. “But hey, at least you get to miss class right?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Claude asked incredulously. “Professor Manuela’s going to shove me against the grindstone twice as hard tomorrow for missing class.”

“It’s a good thing you don’t have Manuela tomorrow, then.” Byleth said. “But this is off topic.”

“Wait, what do you mean I won’t-” Claude began, but Dimitri cut him off.

“Yes, what is the topic?” He asked. “You still haven’t explained it to us.”

“Right, everyone sit down.” Byleth said. Everybody sat. “So, let’s start with a simple question: what is the purpose of the Garreg Mach Officer’s Academy?”

“To teach us how to fight in the event of a war.” Edelgard responded immediately.

“No.” Byleth said, pointing at her. “Well, okay, yes but no. Anybody else?”

“Edelgard said what I was going to say.” Dimitri said.

“I can answer this question.” Claude said. “The Officer’s Academy was created to bring the nations of Fodlan closer together.”

Byleth smiled and shot a finger gun at Claude. “There we go. Got it in one.”

“But what does that have to do with anything?” Edelgard asked.

“Perhaps we are here for a special history lesson.” Dimitri suggested.

“Why would we be at the training ground for a history lesson?” Edelgard replied.

Dimitri shrugged “I don’t know. It was just a guess.”

“You’re not here for a history lesson.” Byleth said. “Besides, Dimitri, I’m sure Hanneman has already drilled enough of that stuff in your head, in between crest theory.” She almost felt bad about subjecting the Golden Deer and Black Eagles to the same fate. Almost. “The reason you’re here is to attack me.”

There was a brief silence before Dimitri finally spoke.

“You want us… to attack you?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Byleth confirmed. “All three of you. Together. With weapons.”

“But what does this have to do with your question?” Claude asked.

“Do what I ask and maybe you’ll find out.” Byleth replied. She drew her sword. “Now come on! Attack me! All three of you! Together!”

Dimitri was the first to oblige. Grabbing his spear and leaping up from where he was sitting. He ran at Byleth. She dodged and he barreled right past her.

“Too slow.” She quipped. She looked at the other two house leaders. “Come on guys, join in. This isn’t a one on one thing.”

Edelgard was the next to join in. She also grabbed her weapon and leapt to her feet. She readied her axe and prepared to attack but before she could Dimitri turned around for another pass at Byleth who once again leaped to the side, leaving Edelgard as the only thing in his path.

“Watch where you’re going!” Edelgard shouted, barely managing to dodge out of the way.

Dimitri skidded to a stop a foot past where Edelgard had just been standing, barely missing Claude who instinctively grabbed his bow and leaped backwards. Unfortunately, his leaping backwards also included kicking Dimitri in the face. All in all it was not a good day for Dimitri.

“Ow.” Dimitri complained, which is quite mild compared to what you might expect from someone who missed their mark twice and got kicked in the face.

Edelgard rolled her eyes and readied her axe once again. This time she actually attacked only to be stopped in her tracks by a familiar situation. She just barely had time to duck as Claude shouted “Heads up!” and fired an arrow off.

Instead of dodging, Byleth decided to be fancy and deflect the arrow off her sword. “Come on guys, you can do better than this!”

Recovering from being kicked in the face, Dimitri spun his spear around and threw it at Byleth, right over Edelgard’s head, startling the both of them. Byleth hurriedly ducked and the spear embedded itself in the ground behind her.

“Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.” Byleth admitted at the same time that Edelgard shouted. “Would you people please stop throwing things at me!”

“Firing a bow isn’t throwing.” Claude said.

“The distinction is not important!” Edelgard insisted.

She charged, aiming to literally sweep Byleth off her feet with her axe. Simultaneously, Dimitri ran to get his spear and they ended up jockeying for the same space. The final straw for the situation was Claude firing another arrow that the two other house leaders attempted to duck, resulting in them collapsing into a pile in front of Byleth.

Byleth dodged Claude’s arrow and held up a hand. “Alright, I think we’re done here.”

Byleth waited for Dimitri and Edelgard to untangle themselves before beginning her lecture.

“Alright, who can tell me what you all did wrong?” She asked, once they were untangled.

“Dimitri got in my way!” Edelgard answered.

“Edelgard got in my way!” Dimitri answered at the same time.

“No.” Byleth said. “Claude?”

“Dimitri and Edelgard don’t understand the meaning of heads up.” Claude replied.

“Not even close.” Byleth replied. “What you all did wrong was… you forgot to work together. Like Claude said at the beginning of all this, this school was made to bring the three nations of Fodlan closer together. That hasn’t really been working out so well. The three houses are constantly in conflict. But Manuela, Hanneman, and I are endeavoring to change that. And it all starts with you.” She pointed at the three of them. “You are the leaders of the three houses, not to mention the heirs to Fodlan’s three major powers! It’s your job to set a good example for the rest of the students but you’re constantly arguing!”

“What?” Claude asked incredulously. “We aren’t constantly arguing! Well, maybe Princess and His Princeliness are but I’m not!”

“Don’t fool yourself, Claude.” Edelgard said. “You argue just as much of the rest of us, if not more.”

“I do not!” Claude insisted.

“I agree with Edelgard.” Dimitri said. “Though I think that she argues the most out of the three of us.”

“What-” Edelgard began.

“Thank you for proving my point.” Byleth said, cutting her off. “Listen, you’ve got to set a better example. I don’t want to sound overdramatic, but the fate of Fodlan might very well depend on it. After all, if rivalries like this continue even after you all graduate, well, Fodlan’s already unstable enough as it is.” Byleth stopped to take a breath. “Look, I’m not asking you to be best friends or anything, but you need to learn how to work together. And until you can do that we’ll be holding training sessions like this every tuesday and thursday. Understand?”

The three house leaders affirmed that they understood. Byleth gave them a thumbs up.

“Awesome!” She said, more upbeat. “Class, er, training dismissed.”

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Author’s Note: Welcome to the bottom of the chapter, friends. Today we’ll be talking about references!

No seriously there are a bunch of references in here that I feel the need to explain because they’re a bit obscure. Well, just one actually. If you understood it, great. Good for you. You don’t have to read this. If you didn’t, continue onward to learn what you missed.

So, let’s talk about the chapter title. Classroom Révolutionnaire is a reference to the name of Athena Cykes’ objection theme in Ace Attorney, Courtroom Révolutionnaire. I chose it because 1) I like Ace Attorney and 2) Byleth is trying to revolutionize the Classroom with her crazy plan, thus making her a Révolutionnaire (French for Revolutionary). Well, actually she’s trying to revolutionize the school as a whole but Classroom fits in better as a reference than just School.

And that’s all she wrote. Well, not actually. One, I’m not a she and two there is definitely more chapters after this. What I mean is, that’s the end of this Author’s Note and this chapter.
 
Author’s Note: Hello there. This chapter is pretty much pointless. It’s just the main characters figuring out stuff that we, the readers, (and also Byleth) already know either because we’ve played the game or via logical deduction. But it didn’t really seem right to have them figure it out off-screen and I couldn’t think of a way to fit this into another chapter so… here you go. Have a glorified support.

In other news, I’ve been getting reviews and a lot of them have been giving me suggestions and advice as to how to write a golden ending. That’s great and all because it means people actually care but guys, seriously, stop telling me how to do my job. I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t have a plan (well, part of a plan. At least more of a plan than Byleth has). I honestly kind of feel obligated to do the opposite of what you’re suggesting so that I don’t feel like I’m stealing.

Also, somebody suggested Rhea x Cyril which, first of all, no. Rhea is thousands of years old and Cyril is… checking the wiki… 14! Even after the five year timeskip where he’s 20, that’s still wrong. I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing your ship but… oh who am I kidding, I’m bashing your ship. I hope I haven’t alienated you but I probably have.

Speaking of ships, don’t talk to me about ships. I’m working on that. All I can say for sure is that neither the house leaders, nor Byleth, are going to end up paired with anyone else (even if I totally ship Edeleth). Oh, and Felix and Sylvain are getting paired up because I promised a friend.

Man, this was a long Author’s Note. I hope this doesn’t become a trend. Onward to the filler story!

Part One
White Clouds
Thought Route​

“Nice try!” Byleth shouted as she deflected a strike from Dimitri’s spear before kicking him in the gut (as seemed to be the trend), sending him straight into Edelgard.

It had been two weeks since Byleth, Hanneman, and Manuela had put their plan into action. While the class rotation was going relatively well, the same couldn’t be said for her personal training sessions with the house leaders. While she didn’t really expect them to learn all that fast she’d have thought that they’d at least have learned how to stop colliding with each other by now.

Claude seemed to be at least making an attempt at working together, albeit without any communication with the others. This time he had decided to try and use the others as a distraction without telling them. While Byleth was focused on Edelgard and Dimitri, he snuck up behind her and fired off an arrow… which she promptly ducked.

Because Byleth ducked it, the only thing left in the arrow’s path were the other two house leaders. Directly before the arrow hit, it exploded outward into a net, pinning the two of them to the ground.

“Alright, time!” Byleth called, sheathing her sword and making a T with her hands. “That’s enough. Let’s take a break. Claude, help me get Dimitri and Edelgard out of your net.”

Once Dimitri and Edelgard were out of the net, the four sat down to catch their breath. Well, Dimitri and Edelgard sat. Byleth leaned against a pole and Claude lay on his back.

“You know, I’ve been thinking.” Claude said.

“That’d be a first.” Edelgard snarked.

“I’m going to choose to ignore that.” Claude said. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking. Something seems off about this whole assassination plot.”

“Makes perfect sense to me.” Edelgard replied. “I can think of more than a few reasons to want to assassinate Rhea.”

“Okay, so can I.” Claude admitted. “But that’s not the point. Doesn’t this whole thing seem a bit to… obvious.”

“I’ve been having the same thoughts.” Dimitri said. “The very fact that Lord Lonato was holding the plans for an assassination is odd to say the least.”

“Right?” Claude asked rhetorically. “I mean, who just carries an assassination note around with them?”

“Not to mention that mysterious archer that killed Lonato.” Byleth said. “Someone wanted to keep him from talking.”

“Whoever they are, they probably expected us to kill him, but had a backup plan just in case.” Claude proposed.

“The only question is: why?” Byleth asked, knowing full well why.

“A distraction, obviously.” Edelgard finally chimed in. “They’re trying to divert our attention away from their real goal.”

“But what is their goal?” Dimitri asked, clasping his hands together and resting his chin on them. “The more questions we answer the more questions we discover.”

“The only other reason to break into Garreg Mach that I can think of is to steal something.” Claude posited.

“But there are so many valuables here.” Dimitri pointed out. “What could they be after?”

“Well, let’s think.” Edelgard said. “What are the most likely targets.” She began to list off items, counting on her fingers as she went. “We have gold, relics, weapons…”

“Those all make sense as targets but I don’t think any of those are it.” Byleth said, attempting to speed up their thought train a bit. “There’s got to be something significant about the date. They could have chosen any day to do their little assassination distraction so why did they choose the Rite of Rebirth, when the Monastery will be even more full of people than usual?”

There was a brief pause and then Claude shot up and slammed his fist into the palm of his hand.

“The Holy Mausoleum!” He said triumphantly.

“Of course.” Edelgard said. “The Mausoleum is sacred to the Church of Seiros and is open to the public during the Rite. While everyone’s on the lookout for potential assassins, nobody will notice them trying to sneak into the Mausoleum.”

“They’ll probably try to go through with the assassination plot, too, just for extra insurance.” Claude said. “That’ll definitely draw attention.”

“We must inform Lady Rhea, immediately!” Dimitri shouted.

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“Seteth! This is important!” Byleth shouted.

Byleth and the three house leaders had immediately dashed off to Rhea’s Audience Chamber once they figured out the real goal of the supposed assassins. Unfortunately, Rhea was in the middle of a completely unrelated and probably less important audience and Seteth was refusing to let them in.

“Whatever it is, it can wait until Lady Rhea is finished.” Seteth said.

“No it can’t!” Byleth protested.

Dimitri stepped forward and blocked Byleth’s view, probably on purpose. “With all due respect, Seteth, whatever Lady Rhea is currently doing is not nearly as important as what we need to tell her.” He said politely.

“Regardless of how important what you have to say may or may not be.” Seteth said. “I am not letting you in until Lady Rhea is done”

“We could just barge past you.” Dimitri said, retaining his polite tone. He gave his companions a side glance and a wink, an action that looked odd but not entirely out of the ordinary for him.

“What?” Seteth asked with a raised eyebrow.

As if they’d rehearsed it (they hadn’t, of course, they were just really good at improv), the three house leaders and their teacher ran past Seteth and burst through the doors to the audience chamber, knocking down Seteth in the process, before striking cool poses for no explicit reason. Rhea and the two Knights of Seiros she was meeting with turned to stare at the four of them. Rhea looked as if she was trying to decide whether to be angry or surprised.

“Hmm… perhaps we should have waited until Lady Rhea was finished.” Dimitri said, putting his hand on his chin.

Dimitri was right. They might have over exaggerated how urgent this was. They did have a week or so left until the Rite. But they were having a moment. Nobody could blame them for that, right?

Eventually, Rhea decided on how to feel. Unfortunately for the four intruders, that feeling was not anger, but disappointment (which are pretty much the same thing) and she was giving them her Disapproving Archbishop Face.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, staring them down.

“We bring important information.” Edelgard said, unintimidated. It’s hard to be intimidated by somebody you hate with a burning passion.

“And this information is important enough to interrupt my meeting?” Rhea asked.

“Sort of.” Byleth said.

“Yes.” Edelgard said authoritatively, talking over her professor. “Our mystery assassins have a different agenda than we originally thought.”

“Oh?” Rhea asked skeptically.

“They are using the assassination attempt as a cover for breaking into the the Holy Mausoleum.” Edelgard explained.

“They might also be planning on going through with the assassination simaltaniously with the break in.” Claude interjected.

“Do you have any proof of this supposed break-in plot?” Rhea asked, eyes narrowed.

“Well, we lack physical proof, but the logic that led us to this conclusion is solid.” Edelgard said.

Rhea shook her head. “I’m afraid that without proof of any kind we cannot act on your assumption.”

“What!” Edelgard shouted. “But it’s the only thing that makes any logical sense!”

“An attempt on the Archbishop's life makes an equal amount of sense.” Seteth said, walking into the room with his hand on his face. It seemed he’d finally recovered from almost being run over. “If not more.”

“I think it’s about time we left.” Claude said. He lowered his voice. “Edelgard, we’re just going to drag you away. Please don’t kick any of us in the face.” He glanced at Dimitri. “Again.”

Thankfully for everyone present, Edelgard did not kick anyone in the face, or struggle at all really, as Claude dragged her shoulders and hauled her away. She did grumble several words that cannot be repeated here which was a massive sign of restraint.

Once they were outside, Edelgard shook Claude off of her and growled.

“I can’t believe this!” She shouted. “That woman is so stubborn! This plot is the only logical conclusion and she just ignored it!”

“To be fair, we didn’t explain how we came to our conclusion.” Dimitri interjected.

“Only because she never gave us a chance to!” Edelgard shouted. “She just latches onto one idea and barrels forward without listening to anyone else's advice or ideas!”

There was a moment of silence. Then Claude said the most ill advisable thing one could say to Edelgard.

“Edelgard… you just described yourself.” He said.

Edelgard whirled around. “How dare you!” She shouted. “I am nothing like her!”

Byleth opened her mouth to speak but Edelgard pointed at her before she could get a word out. “And not one word from you!”

“What did I do?” Byleth asked incredulously.

“You were going to say something about calming down and working together!” Edelgard shouted. “I don’t want to hear it!”

Okay, she was right. Byleth had been about to say something like that.

Edelgard turned to Dimitri and pointed at him. “And you…” She trailed off, realizing that she actually didn’t have anything against Dimitri at this current moment. “Uh… wash your hair!”

She stormed off, leaving Claude and Byleth stunned and Dimitri confusedly tugging at his hair.

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Author’s Note: This turned from essentially a glorified support into Edelgard yelling at people. Oh who am I kidding, it’s still a glorified support.

Is this in character? That’s debatable. Besides, it's not exactly like I stick entirely to canon personalities. I’m pretty sure Dimitri’s not this oblivious. And even post character development (with what little character they (we’re heading into actual game territory here so I’m switching to they until we leave it) have to develop) Byleth isn’t this over the top, jokey, and energetic. You could say they’re a blank slate all Link style but people repeatedly mention that they tend to smile more over time until we hit the time skip. At least, in the Crimson Flower, Azure Moon, and Verdant Wind routes. I haven’t played Silver Snow.

On a different subject, there’s another Ace Attorney reference in here! I know, amazing isn’t it. This one’s a bit more difficult to figure out on your own. You see, the title of this chapter, Thought Route, is the english translation of the japanese name for the Revisualization sequences at the end of most cases from Dual Destinies onward. I was thinking about just naming it Revisualization but Thought Route makes more sense even if you don’t get the reference.
 
Author’s Note: Here it is! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Well, the moment I’ve been waiting for at least. I’ve been waiting to write this chapter for ages. I’ve had it planned out in my head for a long time.

There’s not really much more to say so let’s just jump right in! Onward to the freaking awesome chapter!


Part One
White Clouds
The Sword’s Reclamation​

Finally, the day of the Rite arrived. Today, a mysterious group would try to assassinate Rhea. But more importantly, they would try to break into the Holy Tomb. Well, obviously Rhea was important, but she would be fine. These guys were weak and even they knew it. Otherwise they wouldn’t bother with a plan like this. The real threat was the Death Knight.

“Are you sure you want to let things play out exactly like last time?” Sothis asked as Byleth headed to the agreed upon meeting spot. Well, it wasn’t really “agreed on” per-say so much as Byleth sent out a few notes and was expecting people to show up.

(We have no choice.) Byleth said. (I need the Sword of the Creator and I can’t just ask for it. I definitely can’t break into the tomb myself. Besides, I’m not letting things play out exactly like last time.)

“Ah yes, your plan.” Sothis said, her voice a combination of skepticism and annoyance.

(Hey! It’ll work!) Byleth protested. She would have stomped her foot if it wouldn’t look weird (granted, even if people could see who she was talking to, it would still be weird for a grown adult to stomp her foot like a child.)

“Your entire plan relies on your ability to kill the Death Knight.” Sothis said. Byleth had a feeling that if she could see her, Sothis would have had her hands on her hips.

(I’ve done it before.) Byleth replied.

“Yeah, with the power of a Goddess.” Sothis said. “You’re just an ordinary, non Goddess-powered human right now.”

(I’m also the second strongest mercenary in Fodlan.) Byleth rebutted.

“And the girl?” Sothis asked.

(Lysithea?) Byleth asked. (She’ll be fine. I’m not asking her to attack the Death Knight directly.)

“He might still try to kill her.” Sothis pointed out.

(If he tries that he won’t live long.) Byleth said. (You hurt my students, I hurt you.)

That’s when she arrived at where she was going to meet her students. But instead of the three house leaders and their merry bands of misfits, she found a very miffed looking Seteth with his arms crossed.

“Oh hey Seteth.” Byleth said casually. “What brings you here?”

“Making sure that you’re doing your job.” Seteth said.

“I am doing my job.” Byleth said. “I’m stopping evil plots. How did you even know I’d be here, anyway?”

“It wasn’t hard.” Seteth explained. “I figured you’d be somewhere around the Holy Mausoleum.”

“You’re not going to try to stop me, are you?” Byleth asked.

“No.” Seteth replied. “I don’t have the time. The Rite is about to begin. I am merely here to inform you that should you continue with this instead of the assigned mission and your wild speculation-”

“Logical assumption.” Byleth interrupted.

Seteth rolled his eyes. “Should your “logical assumption” be wrong, it will reflect poorly on you.”

“It’s a good thing we’re right, then.” A voice said. Byleth turned to find the ones she had really been waiting for. The three house leaders along with a group of students. Edelgard stood at the front, hands on her hips. “I, for one, can’t wait to see the look on your face when it turns out we’re right. I especially can’t wait to see the look on Rhea’s face.”

“Claude, have you been teaching her how to make witty comments?” Byleth asked.

“Not on purpose, no.” Claude replied.

“Claude had nothing to do with this.” Edelgard said.

Seteth cleared his throat. “You do realize you aren’t helping your case.” He looked at his wrist despite not wearing a watch. “Anyways, I have to go. Think about what I said.”

“Can do.” Byleth said, sarcastically saluting.

As Seteth left, Byleth turned back to her students. Claude had brought along Lysithea (as asked), Hilda, and Leonie. Edelgard had brought along Hubert (of course), Caspar, and Petra. And Dimitri has brought along Dedue, Ingrid, and Sylvain.

“Is everyone ready?” Byleth asked. Everyone nodded. “Alright, let’s spread out. Whoever wants to break into the Holy Mausoleum is bound to be around here somewhere.”

“You got it, Teach!” Claude said, pumping his fist.

“Oh, one more thing.” Byleth said. “Lysithea, do you have that anti-teleport spell prepared?”

“Of course I do.” Lysithea said. “But why do you want-?”

“No reason.” Byleth said and without another word she turned away and began her search.

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Half an hour later and no sign of their mystery thieves. If Byleth didn’t already know how things would go, she would have given up already. Hilda had. But that wasn’t really all that unexpected.

“Ugh, I’m so bored.” She complained. She sat down on the ground and leaned against a pillar. “Can we just go home now?”

“Technically, we are home.” Ingrid pointed out. “Not our home home but we live here.”

“You know what I mean.” Hilda said.

“Just be patient, guys.” Byleth said. “They’ll show up eventually.”

“But this is boring!” Hilda complained.

And then there was a loud crash. Everyone turned towards its source, a group or black clad weirdos who had just used a fireball spell on the door to the Holy Mausoleum. You’d think that the door to one of the Church’s most important places would be more resistant to magic attack.

“Alright! Let’s go!” Byleth shouted, motioning for her students to follow her into the lion’s makeshift den.

Up the stairs and into the Mausoleum they ran, chasing after their mysterious enemy. Claude was the first up the stairs and immediately threw out a quip.

“You guys do realize the door was…” The quip died in his throat when he saw the scene that was atop the stairs.

One of the group, presumably the leader, was at Saint Seiros’ Tomb in the far corner, carefully trying to undo the magic that kept it sealed shut along with any traps, magical or mundane, that might come along with it. Radiating out from his location was the rest of the mysterious thieves, all ready for battle. But they weren’t the scary part. The scary part was the massive warrior with a skull helmet that practically radiated terror.

The rest of the students and their teacher came up the stairs, saw the same sight Claude saw, and froze. All except for Byleth, Edelgard, and Hubert. The Death Knight didn’t scare them, though for different reasons.

The leader of the group turned away from his work to see what the commotion was. He kept one hand hovering above the coffin, presumably to keep whatever magic he had been undoing from snapping back into place.

“What’s this?” He asked. “We were spotted? But how? The plan was perfect.”

“Pathetic.” The Death Knight said. “You really didn’t expect them to see through your cowardly ruse?”

“Don’t give me that kind of talk, Death Knight.” The leader said. “Do your job! Kill them all!”

“I don’t take orders.” The Death Knight growled. “And I don’t fight weaklings.”

The leader growled in frustration. “Fine! The rest of you! Attack!”

The thieves rushed forward, snapping the students out of their trance. Byleth pointed at the enemy.

“We need to stop that mage before he opens Serios’ Tomb!” Byleth said.

“What about that scary skull guy?” Hilda asked.

“That Knight is a formidable opponent.” Edelgard said. “Give him a wide berth and don’t attack him directly.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Claude said. “Let’s go!”

Claude drew his bow and selected an arrow from his quiver. He spun it in his hand before knocking it and firing it off. It missed one thief by just a few inches, hitting the ground instead. However, instead of clattering harmlessly to the floor it instead released a green gas that engulfed several thieves. When it dispersed, the thieves lay on the ground, knocked out.

The rest of Team Garreg Mach leaped into battle. Leonie and Caspar quickly struck up a dynamic, fighting back to back and cutting down any who dared attack them. Petra did the same thing she did during the Black Eagle’s first mission, weaving through the thieves and stealthily taking them down. Occasionally, she used Claude’s sleeping arrows as cover, holding her breath to avoid getting knocked out too.

Dedue fought like a beast, plowing through enemies easily. While Sylvain followed behind, cleaning up any leftovers. Ingrid, meanwhile, fought on the opposite side of the room.

Dimitri and Edelgard wound up being forced to work together again with… better than average results. They still had their difficulties but at least Dimitri wasn’t getting kicked in the face.

A similar shaky alliance was happening between Lysithea and Hubert who, unfortunately, complimented each other quite well. Their magic together was a formidable combination. This didn’t stop them from insulting each other all the way.

“You call that Miasma?” Lysithea commented. “I could do better than that asleep with both arms tied behind my back!”

“That could be arranged.” Hubert said coldly, blasting a thief with dark energy. “Perhaps we shall throw in a gag while we’re at it.”

“Aw. Am I hurting your feelings?” Lysithea asked with mock concern, sending a similar spell at an enemy.

“Hmph.” Hubert hmph’d. “Your insults wouldn’t even offend a child.”

Far away from all of this, Byleth fought with careful precision. She had to defend herself and get rid of these thieves, but she also needed the leader to open the coffin so she could get her sword.

And then the leader opened the coffin. This was it. Byleth wasn’t ever going to get another chance like this. It was now or never.

As the leader slowly took the Sword of the Creator out of Seiros’ casket Byleth charged towards him, discarding her normal sword as she ran. He had just enough time to get out a confused “what?” before Byleth kicked him in the back, knocking him down and knocking the sword out of his hands. The sword flew through the air, end over end, before eventually landing in Byleth’s outstretched hand.

As soon as she grabbed the sword, it lit up red and Byleth felt power course through her veins. Unbeknownst to her, she began to glow and her hair and eyes changed from their usual blue to a glowing green. Byleth gave the sword a little twirl, whipping it across the ground and then pulling it back in. She grinned.

“Oh I missed this!”

She charged the leader and cut straight through the magical barrier he attempted to put up, leaving him dead on the ground. She turned around to see the rest of the thieves that were still alive cowering in fear. The Death Knight, however, calmly observed her. At least, it looked that way. It was hard to tell with the mask.

“That sword is…” He muttered. “I see. What a pleasant surprise.”

Byleth remembered this. Those were the words he said right before he teleported away.

“Lysithea!” She shouted. “The spell! Now!”

Lysithea understood Byleth’s meaning immediately and stuck out her hand. Before the Death Knight could do anything, chains of black energy appeared from thin air and wrapped around his arms and legs before disappearing. The Death Knight looked down at himself, seemingly confused (again, hard to tell with the mask).

“What’s this?” He asked.

Byleth pointed her sword (for she thought of it as hers) at the Death Knight. “I’m not letting you get away! Kids, duck and cover! This might get a bit messy!”

The glowing had faded and her hair had returned to its normal color but Byleth still cut an intimidating figure, effortlessly wielding what should be a two handed sword with just one hand. Of course, the Death Knight wasn’t intimidated by anything but that was just fine.

“Very well.” He said. “If you wish to meet your death today, I will oblige.”

Byleth let loose a battle cry and charged at the Knight. The Death Knight responded in kind, rushing forward. The two of them collided in the center of the tomb, Sword against Scythe. The shockwave from the collision sent both opponents flying backwards, forcing anyone in their path to leap out of the way.

The Death Knight’s scythe wasn’t a Hero’s Relic but it was almost as powerful as one. A strike like that would have obliterated most normal weapons. It fit. A mysterious, powerful weapon for a mysterious, powerful warrior.

“Strong.” The Death Knight said. Byleth could tell from his tone that he was pleased.

“There’s plenty more where that came from!” Byleth shouted.

The two warriors charged each other again this time, the force of their weapons’ impact did not knock them backwards. Instead they began a dangerous and terrifying dance. Both of them were fairly evenly matched, though Byleth was slightly quicker and more nimble since she wasn’t bogged down by heavy armor.

Both combatants were on the attack, leaving little room for dodging. Instead, their blades clashed together, making sounds loud enough that the fight could probably be heard all the way at the Goddess Tower. Eventually, Byleth managed to stab her sword into the crook where the scythe’s blade met its handle. She pushed upwards and pulled the scythe out of the Death Knight’s hand, sending it flying to the other side of the room.

“Hmph.” The Death Knight hmph’d He stretched out his hand and his scythe floated into the air and flew back into his hands. No fair.

The Death Knight prepared to charge again and… disappeared in a flash of light.

“What the-” Byleth said. “Where’d he go? Is he invisible?”

“He’s not invisible.” Lysithea said, stepping out from behind the column. “That was a teleport.”

“But the spell is supposed to stop teleports.” Byleth pointed out.

“The spell only stops first hand teleports.” Lysithea explained. “Second hand teleports work just fine. He must have been teleported by someone else.”

Someone else. But she had killed the only mage powerful enough to teleport him. Though there was one other possibility. One that followed Edelgard everywhere she went.

“What happened here?” A voice suddenly asked.

Byleth turned around to see Catherine, Shamir, and a contingent of Knights standing at the top of the entrance stairs. She waved.

“Oh, hey guys. Sorry you missed the party. There are still a few party favors leftover if you want.” She gestured at the cowering thieves with a smile.

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Author’s Note: Oh yeah! I think this is my new favorite chapter! This was just so freaking badass! Byleth has finally taken back the Sword of the Creator and made it hers! She fought the frikken Death Knight (who escaped, sadly, but he had to if I wanted to keep him in the story).

There really isn’t much to say aside from endless prattles about how cool I find this whole thing. The part where Byleth grabs the Sword of the Creator out of the air and gets all cool and glowy: perfection!

Maybe I’ll think of some more to say later and then rush to incorporate it into the next Author’s Note but for now, this is BackSet, signing off with an absolutely delighted poyo! Poyo!
 
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Author’s Note: Look at that! 10 chapters! I love it! Now let’s try for 15! Or even 20! I’m pretty sure this fic will be over 20 chapters but we’ve got to set reasonable goals here. Oh, and this chapter features more Seteth, the return of Jeralt, and more.

Author’s Update: Hey, everyone. It’s my second ever edit. I edited this chapter to be better. I think.

Part One
White Clouds
The Aftermath of the Mausoleum​

It had been four days since the Rite of Rebirth and things continued like normal. Rhea hadn’t called any of the three professors in to give a mission report, probably because she was still recovering from almost being assassinated. Byleth was continuing her personal training of the Three House Leaders. On this particular day, they didn’t get very far before taking a break. There was just too much to process from what happened back in the Holy Mausoleum.

“Alright, Teach, spill.” Claude said. “What the hell happened back at the Holy Mausoleum!”

“What do you mean?” Byleth asked.

“I mean when you grabbed that sword!” Claude explained. “You went nuts! You’re formidable on the battlefield but that was downright terrifying!”

“He’s right, Professor.” Edelgard said. “I’ve never seen you fight with such speed and ferocity.”

Byleth shrugged. “It was just adrenaline. That’s all. Nothing out of the ordinary there.”

That was true but it was only part of the truth. Byleth had gotten an adrenaline rush from grabbing the Sword of the Creator but it wasn’t a short term thing. Ever since she had grabbed the sword her senses felt clearer than they had been in months. The last time she had felt like this was before she had traveled back in time.

“Teach, there’s no way that was a normal adrenaline rush!” Claude said. “You were glowing! Your hair turned green!”

That caught Byleth off guard. “My hair turned what-now?” She asked, trying to make sure she had heard that correctly.

“Your hair turned green.” Claude repeated. “It was only for a few moments but I’m sure it turned green.”

Dimitri nodded. “I saw it as well. Your hair turned green.”

Byleth put her hand to her forehead. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

“Professor, could you show us the sword you got from the coffin?” Edelgard asked.

Byleth shook her head. “No. I don’t have it. Seteth took it the moment we exited the Mausoleum.” Annoyingly. She added in her head.

As if summoned by Byleth’s negative thoughts of him, Seteth walked through the door to the training grounds. “Byleth, Lady Rhea would like to speak with you.”

“Now?” Byleth asked.

“No, next tuesday.” Seteth said sarcastically. “Of course she wants to see you now!”

“And you came to get me personally?” Byleth asked with the same voice one might use to talk to a pet or a significant other. “You’re so sweet.”

“What?” Seteth asked. “No-”

“See that guys?” Byleth interrupted, turning to look at her three students and jabbing her thumb behind her at Seteth. She was barely able to contain her giggling. “He came to get me personally because we’re best friends.”

Seteth groaned. “Please just come with me.”

Byleth stood up. “Alright, then.” She waved to Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard. “Guess I’ll see you guys later. I think I have the… Blue Lions tomorrow.”

Thus Byleth and Seteth left the training ground and headed to Rhea’s Audience Chamber. On the way there they had a chance encounter with Jeritza. Well, it wasn’t really a chance encounter, considering that Jeritza had purposely sought out Byleth.

“Byleth.” He said monotonously. “I request a spar.”

Byleth opened her mouth to respond but Seteth spoke for her. “I’m afraid that Byleth has other things to attend to.”

“Oh, I see.” Jeritza said, not a hint of emotion in his voice or on his face.

Byleth shrugged. “Maybe next time, buddy.”

As they walked away Seteth glanced at Byleth disbelievingly. “Did you just call Jeritza buddy?”

“Yep.” Byleth said cheerily.

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Byleth began the audience with a smug, rhetorical question. “Guess who was right?”

“The answer to that question is both of us.” Rhea answered. Next to her was the Sword of the Creator, embedded in a pedestal. “You were correct about the theft, we were correct about the assassination.”

Byleth raised her finger. “I… can’t refute that.”

“This is not why I have called you here, however.” Rhea said. “The reason I have called you here is to give you this.”

Rhea removed the Sword of the Creator out of its pedestal and offered to Byleth. Byleth took the sword from Rhea’s hands and held it in front of her. Briefly, the sword glowed red but just as quickly, the glow faded.

“This is the Sword of the Creator.” Rhea explained. “It is a Hero’s Relic and one of the most precious artifacts in the Church’s possession, hence why it was hidden away in the Holy Mausoleum instead of the vault. Additionally, it is a weapon of terrifying power. For now, I will entrust the sword to you. Please use it wisely.”

“Lady Rhea, wait!” Seteth shouted, holding his hands out in front of him in a stopping gesture. “Do you truly intend to entrust the Sword to this… this stranger! Even after four months we know almost nothing about her. She lacks any sort of trackable background, has little to no knowledge of the Church and its workings…”

“Seteth, I have made my decision.” Rhea said firmly. “I will not change it.”

“But Lady Rhea, if someone like Nemesis were to appear…”

“Seteth, you must have faith, just as I do.” Rhea said. “I have faith that Byleth will not fall to the same corruption as Nemesis. Since Nemesis’ death, none have been able to wield the Sword of the Creator. Now, after all these years of being sealed away, it has found a new master.”

Seteth looked at the floor. “I… understand. As you wish, Lady Rhea.” He looked up at Byleth. “There you have it, Byleth. See that you do not betray the trust the archbishop has seen fit to bestow upon you.”

Byleth nodded. “You’ve got it.” She rested the Sword of the Creator on her shoulder and turned to leave.

“One last thing.” Rhea said. Byleth turned back to look at her. “Jeralt was looking for you earlier. He should still be in his office.”

“I’ll go see him.” Byleth said. “Thanks for telling me.” She turned around again and left.

Unbeknownst to Seteth, Rhea, and Byleth, there were three other people present, listening in. Specifically, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard.

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The door to Jeralt’s office was open but Byleth knocked anyway, just to be polite. Despite this, she didn’t wait for a response before entering the room, rendering the whole politeness thing moot. Inside the room she found Jeralt talking with another man who she didn’t recognize. He had a kind face but also seemed rather tired.

“Hello.” Byleth said, alerting the two men to her presence.

“Oh, hey Kid.” Jeralt said. “I’m glad you're here, I was looking for you earlier but couldn’t find you.”

“I know, Rhea told me.” Byleth said. “So who’s your friend?”

The man who Byleth didn’t know stepped forward and held out his hand. “Hello there.” He said pleasantly. “My name is Aelfric, I’m an old friend of Jeralt’s. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Byleth took his hand and they shook. “Let me guess, your name is… Leonie? Jeralt’s apprentice?”

Byleth laughed a bit at this. “Nope.” She said, removing her hand from his grip. “You’re off by a few years there (I think). My name’s Byleth. I’m Jeralt’s daughter.”

Aelfric looked surprised by this. “His daughter..?” He looked at Jeralt. “Is she…”

“No, she’s not.” Jeralt cut him off.

He whispered something in Aelfric’s ear and understanding dawned on his friend’s face. Understanding of what, Byleth wasn’t sure but it was definitely understanding.

Aelfric nodded. “I see.” He said. Well I better get going. Lot’s of work to do. Great to see you, Jeralt and nice meeting you, Byleth.”

He gave one last wave and then left the room.

“What was that about?” Byleth asked Jeralt. “What was he about to ask you?”

“It’s nothing.” Jeralt said, shaking his head. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”

He turned to leave and gestured for Byleth to follow. The two traveled halfway across the Monastery and as they walked Jeralt refused to tell Byleth where they were going. She had a pretty good guess, though.

“The graveyard?” Byleth asked when they arrived at their destination. “Why are we here?”

“Because… I think it’s about time that we visited your mother’s grave.” Jeralt replied as they walked down the steps.

The revelation did not hit Byleth like a brick. Not like it had last time. Because this time she knew it was coming due to the fact that there had been a last time. Still, Byleth had to pretend she had no idea what Jeralt was talking about.

“What?” She asked. “Why is my mother buried here?” She decided not to add “and since when do I have a mother?” Best not to play too dumb.

Jeralt placed his hand on his chin as they approached the grave. “I guess it only makes sense that you’d ask that. I haven’t really talked about her much, have I?”

“Not even once.” Byleth replied, shaking her head.

Jeralt stared off wistfully into space. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin. She was gentle and smart. And she was always so kind. A great cook, too. And she loved flowers. Every time I brought her back an unusual flower it would make her so happy. I cherish those memories.”

“She sounds great.” Byleth said.

Jeralt pulled a ring out of his pocket. Byleth recognized it. “This ring is the only keepsake I have of her. One day, it will be yours. Someday, I hope you’ll give this ring to someone you love as much as I loved her.”

Doubtful. Byleth thought. In the however many years since she had learned what emotions were (having been asleep for five years and time traveling on top of that made exact time confusing), she had never run into anyone she had felt genuine love for. Attraction? Sure. There were plenty of hot people out there. But not love.

“You know, Kid.” Jeralt said suddenly. “You’ve changed a lot since we got here.”

“Oh?” Byleth said.

“Before we came here, it was damn near impossible to get you to crack even the smallest of smiles. Now you don’t just smile, you laugh, you even tell jokes. And it’s pretty clear that you’d lay your life down for these brats. It’s like you’re an entirely different person.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Byleth asked.

Jeralt shrugged. “I can tell you it’s not a bad thing. It’s actually a bit odd considering…”

“Considering what?” Byleth asked.

Jeralt shook his head. “Nothing. Listen, I have one more thing to tell you. If anything ever happens to me, I’ve left something in my office for you. I won’t tell you where exactly I’ve hidden it, just in case anyone’s listening but I’m sure you’ll be able to find it.”

Byleth held up her hands. “Woah, woah… you make it sound like you could die any day now!”

Jeralt chuckled. “I guess it did sound kind of like that, didn’t it. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on kicking the bucket any time soon.”

Byleth crossed her arms. “I’m going to hold you to that.” She said, fixing her father with a toned down version of her trademark stare.

“You do know that stare doesn’t work on me.” Jeralt said. “But I can tell you’re serious.”

“You bet I am!” Byleth said, not a hint of levity in her voice. “You’re not dying until your time, got it!”

“Alright, alright.” Jeralt said. “I promise I won’t be killed.”

Byleth crossed her arms. “Good.” Amazingly quick, her tone changed from serious to more upbeat. “Welp, I’ve got papers to grade so I’ll see you when I see you.”

“Alright.” Jeralt said. “Remember to watch out for Rhea. I still think she’s up to something.”

You and me both. Byleth thought as she headed back up the stairs and back to her room.

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Byleth, in fact, did not have papers to grade. Her most recent classes had just been lectures. The reason she was in her room is that she needed to be in private to talk with Sothis.

“Alright, Sothis, what the heck is going on.” Byleth asked. “Why did my hair glow green when I grabbed the Sword? I used up all your power, I shouldn’t be able to do that anymore.”

“I don’t know.” Sothis said. “I’m just as baffled as you.”

“But I used all your power traveling back.” Byleth said, pacing. “It doesn’t make sense. I can’t use the Divine Pulse anymore so I clearly used up your power. And you barely have any power left, yourself. Though at least you can actually manifest yourself.”

“Maybe there’s a little power left and the Sword was reacting to that.” Sothis suggested. “You did fight like a superpowered madwoman back there. Or perhaps there is some power in the Sword.”

“Well, I guess there’s no use thinking about it now.” Byleth said. “Let’s just focus on what’s up next?”

Sothis put her hand on her chin. “Hmm… if I remember correctly, you go and fight another bandit.”

Byleth snapped her fingers. “Oh, right. Sylvain’s brother. Miklan, I think his name was.”

“And then I believe that Seteth’s sister gets kidnapped by the Death Knight.” Sothis said. “What was her name again…”

“Flayn!” Byleth exclaimed. “Oh crap! Flayn!”

“Yes, that was it.” Sothis said, pointing at Byleth.

“I can’t let her be kidnapped this time.” Byleth said, slamming her fist into her hand. “It might throw everything off of alignment and make my future knowledge pointless, but I just can’t let it happen.”

“What do you intend to do?” Sothis asked.

“Let’s not overcomplicate this.” Byleth said. “I’ll just go and tell Seteth about it. He’ll do something about it. He’s super overprotective.”

“And what about the Death Knight?” Sothis asked. “He’s not exactly going to be easy to protect Flayn from.”

“That does throw a wrench in my plan.” Byleth said. “The only way to protect her from the Death Knight would be to have someone equal to or even more powerful than the Death Knight guarding her.”

As soon as she finished saying that, it hit her. She knew how she was going to protect Flayn from the Death Knight. It was a genius plan.

“Uh oh.” Sothis said. “I don’t like that look in your eyes.

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Author’s Note: I’m sorry Jeralt returned just to reiterate things you’ve already heard at least once in the game. He’s hard to write without a foil, okay. Also, who could this Aelfric guy be, and why am I pretending like you don’t know who he is?

Now a question that you don’t know the answer too is what Byleth’s “genius” plan is? Well, you’ll have to wait to find out.

Also, Byleth is right, there are a lot of hot people out there. Like, too many. And I’m ace.
 
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Author’s Note: “No, you’re not the one...”

Happy Halloween, everybody. You may be wondering why this chapter took so long to get out? Well, for a while, I’ve been bombarding y’all with Fifth Path stuff constantly, so I figured that, to keep you from getting sick of it, I’d write the chapter and then release it later. Also, since it’s unlikely you’re going to be trick or treating this year, maybe you need something to do, I don’t know.

While I was writing this, I thought of an interesting premise for a fanfic. Well, two actually.

One: What if both Byleth and Sitri survived Byleth’s birth?

And

Two: What if Sitri survived instead of Byleth?

Neat ideas, eh? I’m surprised nobody’s written a fanfic about this yet. No, this isn’t a hint as to what the next fanfic I write will be about. My next fic will probably be a Pokemon fic or just no fic at all. But hey, maybe somebody will write fics about these someday. They’re neat premises.

So, I would like to address a review by SuperVegitoFAN. I wouldn’t normally do this but this one is less a review and more a correction. The review points out that while anti-warp spells don’t exist, the spell silence does. Since silence stops a unit from using any magic for one turn it would disable the warp spell. So we’ll just say that Lysithea’s anti-teleport spell was a more specific form of silence. The spell kind of looks like silence anyways.

In other news, I’ve edited the previous chapter so go check that out. Now, let’s get on with the story. As per usual, more below.



Part One
White Clouds
The Professor’s Plans​

Byleth, admittedly, had never imagined herself in this situation. Even as she was planning it, it seemed improbable at best. And yet, here she was, sitting at a table in what was apparently Jeritza’s favorite ice cream parlor. Well, okay, that last part hadn’t been planned at all and was probably the most unexpected part of this all.

They sat in silence until the ice cream they had ordered was delivered. Byleth took a bite and her eyes practically lit up. “This is really good. I can see why you like this place.”

“Yes, it is.” Jeritza said flatly, taking a bite of his own ice cream. “Now, what was it that you wanted to talk about.”

“You really get to the point, don’t you.” Byleth said, taking another bite and pointing her spoon at him. “I actually want to talk to you about two things. One is that I know your secret and the other is that I need a favor.”

“You know my secret?” Jeritza asked. “I have many secrets, you’ll have to clarify.”

Byleth was unsure if he was being serious or just sarcastic. It was hard to tell with him.

She lowered her voice. “I know you’re the Death Knight.” She said.

It was barely visible but for a brief moment Jeritza looked surprised.

“I can tell you with full confidence that I am not the Death Knight.” The masked professor said. “Unless you have some kind of proof.”

Byleth sighed. “Really, Jeritza? Are you seriously going to make me go through this whole dog and pony show?”

“Yes.” Jeritza said bluntly.

“Well, you were absent from the staff meeting before the attack on the Holy Mausoleum and nobody could find you until afterwards.” Byleth said.

“A mere coincidence.” Jeritza said.

This was going to be just as hard as Byleth thought. Jeritza was almost definitely not going to fess up. Time to change tactics. The point of this meeting was to get Jeritza’s help, not make him tell her something she already knew.

“Alright, fine, you’re not the Death Knight, let’s move on.” Byleth said. “Let’s talk about that favor I want.”

Jeritza took another bite of his ice cream. “Yes, the favor. What is it?”

“I want you to protect Flayn.” Byleth said simply.

“That’s it?” Jeritza asked. “You simply want me to protect Seteth’s sister?”

Byleth leaned forward. “Yes, I want you to protect Flayn with your life. No matter what, as long as you're around, you will not let any harm come to her, not even if your boss orders the contrary.”

“That is a big favor.” Jeritza said. “And what reason would I have to do such a thing.”

Byleth leaned back. “Because if you do, I will give you a fight for the history books.”

Jeritza didn’t respond for a long time. He seemed to be lost in thought.. Byleth decided to use this opportunity to finish her ice cream, which had begun to melt. One ice cream bowl later, Jeritza returned to the real world.

“I agree.” Jeritza said. “I shall protect the girl and you shall not die until I get to kill you myself.”

“Alright,” Byleth said, confident. “From now on the Death Knight is both a reaper and a guardian angel. One more thing, though. Who’s paying for this ice cream?”

“It is on the house.” Jeritza said. “I scare away any “ruffians” and in exchange they give me free ice cream.”

“Well in that case, I’m ordering another round.” Byleth said.

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Finally, after ages of waiting, it was time for Byleth’s next mission briefing. If she was being honest with herself, she zoned out for most of it since she already knew what was going to happen and it was another early in the morning briefing. Thankfully, this is a third person narration and the narrator didn’t zone out so you still get to see how the briefing went down.

“I have a new mission for you.” Rhea said. “This month, I would like your class, the Black Eagles, to head into the Kingdom and take care of some thieves.” She emphasized Black Eagles. Clearly, Byleth’s screwing around was beginning to test even her patience.

“Again?” Byleth asked boredly.

“The leader of those thieves, a man named Miklan, stole a Hero’s Relic from House Gautier of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, the Lance of Ruin.” Seteth explained.

“The “Lance of Ruin” is a Hero’s Relic?” Byleth asked.

“Yes.” Seteth said. “I realize that the name doesn’t exactly sound heroic, but neither does yours.”

“Should I be offended?” Byleth asked.

“Moving on.” Seteth said, not answering Byleth’s question. “Miklan is apparently a disowned son of House Gautier. I believe that his being disowned has something to do with his lack of a Crest.”

“Jeez, no wonder he has issues. I’d be pretty mad too if my family disowned me for not having a Crest.” Byleth said. Then she raised her eyebrow. “Wait, if he was disowned by House Gautier, wouldn’t that make him Sylvain’s brother?”

“Yes.” Rhea said. “That is why you are to specifically not bring Sylvain on this mission. The two of them have a history and I fear that Sylvain’s presence might escalate the situation more than it already has.”

Come to think of it, Byleth did remember Miklan getting particularly angry at the sight of Sylvain. Maybe that led to him becoming a Demonic Beast? Rhea obviously knew this was a possibility and wanted to prevent it. She probably hadn’t prevented Sylvain from going in the original timeline because he was part of the Blue Lion house, which Byleth was in charge of.

“The Heroes' Relics are immensely powerful weapons.” Seteth said. “We must meet this threat with adequate force. Unfortunately, most of the Knights of Seiros are away from the monastery purging the apostates of the Western Church. So we are entrusting you with this mission. After all, you wield the Sword of the Creator, which is more than capable of opposing any Relic.”

“The Sword of the Creator far surpasses other Relics in power.” Rhea said. “As long as you wield it, you have nothing to fear. However, to ensure the safety of the students, we will also send the most skilled individuals the Monastery has one hand to aid you.”

Byleth suppressed a laugh. Like they’d be any help. She could hear Hubert’s snarky comment now: At least we'll have the stalwart knights ready to stand around and watch us do all the work. (she was spot on, too, as Hubert did make basically that exact comment).

“I must remind you that you are expected to conduct yourself in a manner befitting the wielder of that holy sword.” Seteth said.

“Yeah, I know, you’ve told me.” Byleth said, rolling her eyes. “Anything else?”

“No, that is all.” Rhea said. “You are dismissed.”

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A few hours after the briefing, Byleth loudly burst into Seteth’s office without even bothering to knock. “Seteth, I need to talk to you!”

Seteth looked up from his desk and gave Byleth an exasperated look. “I’m busy.” He said flatly.

“It’s important.” Byleth shouted.

Seteth’s face went from exasperated to irritated. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait. Now please, leave me to my work.”

Byleth groaned internally. This wasn’t working. She needed to change tactics, just like she had with Jeritza. She slammed her hands down on Seteth’s desk like an attorney raising an objection.

“Flayn is in trouble!”

“What!” Seteth shouted. He jumped up, leaned over his desk, and grabbed her by the shoulders. “What happened!? Is she alright!? Byleth, tell me everything!” As he spoke he shook Byleth vigorously.

Byleth pulled herself away from him and held her hands up in a stopping motion. “Woah! Woah! Hold up. Flayn is fine for the moment but she won’t be if you don’t calm down and listen.”

Seteth slowly sat back down. He put his hand to his head. “I apologize, Byleth. That was… unprofessional of me.” He sighed. “It’s just that… if anything were to happen to her…”

“I know.” Byleth said solemnly. “I know how deeply you care about her. But don’t worry, as long as I’m around I won’t let anything happen to her, and I know you won’t let anything happen to her either. So listen up, at the end of the month while everyone is out on missions, a mysterious group will attempt to kidnap Flayn.”

“What!” Seteth shouted, jumping back up. “We need to warn her! We need to call the Knights of Seiros!”

“Seteth! Calm down!” Byleth shouted, slamming her hands on the desk again. One might almost expect her to yell out “Objection!”

Seteth sat back down and rubbed the back of his head. “Right… my apologies.”

“Now, you’re right, we do need to warn Flayn and call the Knights of Seiros.” Byleth said. “But the issue is that most of the Knights are out hunting the Western Church guys and the Knights left won’t stand a chance against the Death Knight.”

“What!” Seteth shouted yet again. This was really starting to annoy Byleth.

“Hang on, you didn’t let me finish.” Byleth said. “The Knights left won’t stand a chance against the Death Knight but don’t worry, because I have a guy on the inside, namely, the Death Knight himself.”

“What?” Seteth asked. “Byleth, are you insane!? That Knight is dangerous. We know nothing about him! Why would you trust him!?”

“I don’t trust him.” Byleth said. “In fact, I would personally prefer not to have to work with him, but I made him swear to protect Flayn no matter what and I think he’s the kind of guy who keeps his promises.”

Seteth put his hand to his head. “This is all absurd. A mysterious group is plotting to kidnap Flayn and you’re trusting her potential kidnapper to protect her?”

“I just said I don’t trust him.” Byleth said. “Listen, I know we don’t necessarily see eye to eye (literally, I’m shorter than you) but you’re going to have to trust me. I promise that Flayn will be safe. And that’s a promise I intend to keep.”

Seteth sighed. “Alright. But if anything happens-”

“I will personally hand you the stick.” Byleth completed.

She turned around to leave only to be stopped by Seteth.

“One more thing.” He said. “How do you know all this?”

Byleth smiled sadly. “I’m sorry but I can’t tell you that just yet. Maybe sometime in the future, after everything blows over.”

And with that, Byleth turned and swept out of the room. Her sad smile turned into a smirk. Her plans were finally starting to fall into place. If everything went well, Flayn would be safe and that bitch Kronya aka Monica could never sneak into the monastery and never kill her father.

This was just the beginning, though. It was time to shift into high gear. Enough playing around, she had come back in time to stop a war and that’s just what she was going to do!

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Author’s Note: I usually shy away from the B-word because I’m a bit of a prude but since it helps accentuate how much Byleth hates Kronya I think I can compromise my opinions. It’s actually kind of funny. Since Kronya isn’t going to kill Jeralt in this timeline, she’ll run into Byleth later and have no idea why this random woman she’s never met before hates her so much.

I had to work one of my favorite Hubert lines (“But at least we'll have the stalwart knights ready to stand around and watch us do all the work.”) into the story somehow, so Byleth’s imagination will have to do.

Huh, I thought I had more to say down here. Well, I guess I could tell you what I think the four main characters would do during Halloween.

Claude, Dimitri, and Byleth would go out Trick Or Treating (let’s pretend the Corona Virus doesn’t exist for the purposes of this thought exercise). Of course, the question is, who’s there for adult supervision: Byleth or Dimitri?

Meanwhile Edelgard stays home and just eats sweets that were on sale like a smart person. (she’s a goshdarned princess she can buy as much candy as she goshdarned wants)

See you guys next time, and always remember, you are not the one.
 
Author’s Note: I do not vouch for the authenticity or usefulness of any combat tactics and techniques used and/or described in this chapter. I am not an expert in this sort of stuff.

Hi guys. This chapter is a little short. Sorry about that. I swear there’s a good reason! This chapter was originally supposed to be longer but I couldn’t figure out how to segue from the first half of the chapter into the second half. Worry not, though! The second half of the chapter will be its own chapter! In fact, it shall be the next chapter! Since the two were supposed to be one chapter, the next chapter will be posted pretty soon after this one, since they were supposed to just be one chapter. Not sure how soon, but soon.

Now, onwards to the story.

Part One
White Clouds
Bonding​

Jeralt was frustrated. You’d never be able to tell by looking at him, but he was. It had been months since he came back to Garreg Mach Monastery and he had dug up nothing on what was going on with Rhea. He was even starting to suspect that every mission he was sent on was just to keep him occupied and out of her business.

He was dwelling on this and writing in his journal when he heard a knock on his door. He quickly stashed away his journal in his secret spot behind the bookcase.

“Come in.” He said.

The door opened and Byleth stepped inside. Jeralt found this a bit odd. Byleth rarely ever visited.

“Hey, Kid.” He said. “What’d you need?”

Byleth faked looking wounded. “Is it so hard to believe that I just want to spend time with my father?”

“Yes.” Jeralt said bluntly.

Byleth rubbed the back of her head. “Okay, fair enough. I do actually want to spend some time with you but I also need a favor.”

Jeralt sighed. “Alright, what is it?”

“I want you to send a small, and I mean really small, contingent of Knights to monitor Remire Village.” Byleth explained. “Tell them that if any of the villagers demonstrate mania or other similarly violent behavior, they are to quarantine them and then inform either you, Rhea, or Seteth. Whoever is easiest to get in contact with at the time.”

“You’re not going to tell me why if I ask, are you.” Jeralt said.

“No, sorry.” Byleth said. “I’m sure you understand. You’ve got your secrets, I’ve got mine.”

Jeralt shrugged. “Fair enough. Is that it?”

Byleth sighed. “I really am serious about wanting to spend time with you. I mean, unless you’re busy.” She rubbed the back of her head again.

“I’m always busy.” Jeralt said. He tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. “But… I guess I can spare some time. What were you thinking?”

Byleth raised her finger.”Uh…” She lowered it again. “I… actually didn’t think that far.”

Jeralt stood up. “Tell you what, how about we spar a bit. I’ve been wondering how you’ve improved for a while now. Assuming being a teacher hasn’t dulled your skills.”

Byleth did her best not to show how that comment annoyed her, but she couldn’t stop herself from instinctively clenching her sword hand. “Oh you are on.”

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Until this moment Byleth hadn’t realized how much she missed sparring with Jeralt. There were plenty of opponents at Garreg Mach that could possibly rival Byleth (Felix, for example) but Byleth was still able to beat them. Jeralt, on the other hand, was the only person Byleth had never been able to defeat in one-on-one combat. He was, after all, the strongest mercenary in Fodlan.

His secret was that he was able to both keep his distance and never let up. Most people had to get up close and personal if they wanted to flurry attack, Jeralt had no such need. As a result, it was nearly impossible to get a hit in on him. The best you could do was parry and dodge and hope he didn’t want to kill you.

In spite of all this, Byleth was still going to try her damndest to defeat him. After all, when presented with unbeatable odds, it’s only natural to want to beat them.

Byleth’s strategy was simple: keep Jeralt from forcing her backwards. Instead of dodging backwards when Jeralt attacks, she went sideways, rolling under swipes as needed. Thus, instead of being forced into a corner, she created a circle with Jeralt at the center.

It didn’t take long for Jeralt to get wise to her strategy. Once he realized what she was doing he pulled back. Byleth had just enough time to flatten herself to the ground before he pulled off a spin attack, something that is quite difficult to do with a spear.

Before Jeralt could go in for another attack, Byleth rolled to the side and popped back up. She charged at her father, sword aimed for his heart. One might find it odd that Byleth seemed to be attempting to kill her father but that was only because a. She was using a practice sword and b. She was pretty sure he’d deflect the blow anyways. She was right.

With very little effort, Jeralt deflected the blow. You’d think getting up close and personal would decrease a spear user’s options, and it did, but Jeralt still managed to make it word. He was easily able to deflect Byleth’s blow, following it up with a jab to the stomach to push her backwards, once again leaving her incapable of countering his attacks.

Byleth ran at Jeralt again and this time she was able to get several hits in, though all of them were blocked. On the final strike, Jeralt sent Byleth’s sword flying out of her hand and knocked her to the ground all in one hit. He angled his spear so that it was pointed at Byleth’s throat.

Byleth held up her hands in surrender. “Alright, I yield.”

There was a few second pause and when it looked like Jeralt was about to lower his spear Byleth grabbed it.

“Psych!” She shouted with a smartass grin.

Byleth attempted to yank the spear out of Jeralt’s hand. Unfortunately, it was actually Jeralt who was psyching her out. When she tried to yank his spear out of his hands, he pulled upwards and ended up throwing Byleth across the training field. Byleth just barely had time to recover before she hit the wall, instead sticking a three point landing a little ways away from it and sliding backwards a bit, kicking up dirt. She came to a stop right next to her fallen sword. She quickly snatched it up.

“I was right.” Jeralt said. “Your skills have dulled.”

Byleth tightened her grip on her sword and grit her teeth. She ran at Jeralt once again but this time, instead of attacking, she slid down under Jeralt, popping up behind him. As Byleth went in for a strike, Jeralt whirled around. Unlike previous times, where he had just blocked Byleth’s strikes, Jeralt demonstrated his second secret: the famous Blade Breaker Technique. As Byleth brought her sword down, Jeralt thrust his spear straight upwards. The spear smashed through the sword’s blade.

Even though Byleth had seen him do this thousands of times before, she still cried out in surprise as the blade shattered completely. All that was left of the sword in Byleth’s hand was the hilt. For a moment, she stared at it and then it fell from her hand. She fell to her knees, breathing heavily. She hadn’t realized how much she had overtaxed herself during the fight.

“Okay.” She said between breaths. “Now I yield.”

Jeralt held out his hand to help her up and she took it.

“Good job, Kid.” He said with a smile. “You really put up a fight.”

“But I thought you said…” Byleth began, still breathing heavily.

“That your skills had dulled.” Jeralt completed. “I didn’t actually mean that, I was just saying it to get you riled up. The real truth is that this is possibly the best you’ve ever been.”

“Of course.” Byleth said, leaning against the wall and sliding down it. “Of course you were just saying that to get me riled up. When I’m angry, I get reckless and make mistakes.” Byleth tried not to think about the last time this happened, which almost had catastrophic consequences.

Jeralt sat down. “Exactly.” He said. “And I knew the best way to rile you up was to call your strength into question. You were always touchy about that. Whenever someone suggested you were weak, you would clench your sword hand. You still do.”

Byleth shook her head. “I still couldn’t beat you.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” Jeralt said. “No matter how much of a prodigy you are, the fact remains that I’ve been at this way longer than you.”

Byleth sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.” She looked up at Jeralt. “I’m not going to stop trying, though.”

“I’d expect nothing left.” Jeralt said, ruffling Byleth’s hair.

“What was that?” Byleth asked, confused.

Jeralt shrugged. “I don’t know, I just heard it’s something father’s do to their kids. You know, for bonding.”

“Maybe we should stick to bonding by trying to kill each other.” Byleth suggested. At that moment, with perfect comedic timing, Byleth’s stomach growled. “And, maybe we can bond with food, too?”

Jeralt chuckled. “Maybe.” He stood up. “Come on, I know a great place in town.”

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Author’s Note: Did this chapter end with talk about food because I was hungry at the time? That is entirely likely.

Also, “Maybe we should stick to bonding by trying to kill each other.” may be the greatest line of dialogue I have ever written.

Because this Author’s Note isn’t exactly that long, I get to talk about something I didn’t address in the previous Author’s Note: I told you what the four protagonists were doing for Halloween… but not what costumes they wore. What? You thought I was going to talk about something serious or story related. Anyway, yeah it’s a little late but November is spooky month anyways so here we go.

Dimitri is easy. He’s dressed as a pirate. It was almost definitely 100% Claude’s idea. Speaking of Claude, I have two thoughts as to what he’d be dressed as. He’s either dressed as Guise from Sentinels of the Multiverse or a humanized Fox from Star Fox. The reason behind this is that Joe Zieja (Claude’s voice actor for those who don’t know) has voiced both of them at one point or another.

Byleth’s a bit harder. For some reason I’ve been considering Palutena but I think she looks a bit too close to Rhea for anyone’s comfort (and also because I can totally see Cyril dressing as Pit). I don’t know. How bout you guys give your suggestions and I’ll list them in chapter 14 (I’d do it in chapter 13 but it’s coming out too soon for that).

And Edelgard, of course, does not wear a costume because she stays home, like a smart person.
 
Author’s Note: Welcome to chapter 13 or, as the more cynical might call it, part 2 of chapter 12!

Last month’s chapter (chapter 11) wasn’t very spooky, even though it was released on Halloween, so to make up for it here is a rather spooky chapter. After all, November is the real spooky month (the first person to figure out what this is a reference too gets a gold star and ten internet points) and what’s spookier than the Death Knight?

Part One
White Clouds
The Reaper’s Betrayal​

The night Byleth and her class left for their mission was the day Those who Slither made their move. A group of four of their stealthiest members and the Death Knight crept through the halls of Garreg Mach. Obviously, they had not been made aware of the Knights of Seiros guarding Flayn’s room, or they wouldn’t have attempted this operation. Either that, or they were confident that they could take them out stealthily.

The group stopped when they reached a corner. One of them peeked around it and saw two Knights standing vigilantly. He swore in a language only the Agarthans could understand.

“They knew we were coming. How could they know we were coming?”

“Don’t worry.” Said another one. “It’s only two of them. We just kill them fast and capture the girl.”

The Death Knight nodded. “Yes… fast.” Immediately, his scythe was out of its sheath and impaled through the chest of the first Agarthan. He wore an expression of terror on his face but he didn’t say anything or cry out in surprise. How could he, he was dead.

“What the!” An Agarthan shouted. “You’re supposed to be on our side!

The Death Knight removed the scythe from the Agarthan’s chest. “I am not on anyone’s “side.”” He said. “I am only here for one reason: to kill.” Though they couldn’t see his face, the Agarthans were sure that he was glaring sadistically at them.

Effortlessly, he cut down the Agarthan who had questioned his loyalty (or lack thereof). One of the two remaining Agarthans drew his sword, let out a scream, and charged the Death Knight. Apparently, he wasn’t chosen for his brains and the Death Knight had no trouble killing him.

The fourth and final Agarthan was smart. He turned to run, clearly liking his chances with the Knights of Seiros better than his chances with the Death Knight. For once, the Death Knight wasn’t fast enough and instead of killing him, just sliced open his back, leaving a cut that wasn’t deep enough to kill him (at least, not immediately) but definitely deep enough to hurt tremendously. The Agarthin cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

As the Death Knight moved in for a killing blow, the Knights of Seiros that were guarding Flayn’s door turned the corner to see what the incredibly loud disturbance was.

“What’s going on...” One of the Knights began to say authoritatively, before petering out as she took in the gruesome scene. “...here?”

The still alive Agarthan tried to cry for help but was in so much pain he couldn’t get more than a scream out. The Death Knight paused, unsure how to act. He could kill these Knights, but that might complicate matters in ways he couldn’t control. Besides, he had sworn to protect the girl and killing her guards wasn’t exactly protecting.

Without saying a word, but growling angrily on the inside, the Death Knight turned and ran off.

“H-hey!” One of the Knights shouted, finally somewhat recovering. “Get back here!” He started to move but before he could take more than a step, the Death Knight disappeared into the shadows.

The Agarthan on the ground moaned. The Knights turned to look at him. He looked pretty bad.

“Go get a healer!” The female Knight said. “Quick! I’ll watch over this guy until you get back!”

The male Knight nodded, looking like he was about to throw up. “R-right!”

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“Man, that was a tough mission.” Caspar said as the Black Eagles approached the main gate to Garreg Mach Monastery. He put his hands behind his head like he was reclining in a chair, even though he was walking.

The Black Eagles had returned from their mission relatively unharmed. Byleth’s coat was once again the victim of a demonic beast’s claws but she could get that fixed.

“Tough?” Bernadetta asked, trying her best to hide behind Petra which didn’t work very well since they were walking. “That was terrifying!”

“Indeed.” Hubert said, making Bernadetta flinch. “That mission was quite difficult. But at least the brave and noble Knights of Seiros were there to stand around and watch us do all the work.”

“Hubie, you’ve used that one already.” Dorothea said, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, but I feel that it bears repeating.” Hubert replied.

When the group reached the gate, the Gatekeeper saluted. “Greetings Professor, nothing to report.”

“Awesome!” Byleth said, giving him a thumbs up. “That’s great to hear.”

The Gatekeeper rubbed the back of his head. “Well, there is one thing to report. Lady Rhea wants to see you ASAP.”

Byleth shivered. There were very few reasons why Rhea would want to speak with her at this point and all of them began with Flayn.

She turned to her students. “Guess we’re not having that after battle party I promised. Sorry.”

Without another word, she ran off as fast as she could to Rhea’s audience chamber. Normally, she wouldn’t be all that anxious to talk to Rhea, but she had to know if Flayn was okay. She bolted up the stairs and barged into the audience chamber. In addition to the usual Rhea and Seteth, Hanneman and Manuela were also there.

“Byleth.” Rhea said as soon as she entered. Her tone was not pleasant and motherly like normal, but instead grave and serious. “Thank you for coming.”

“What happened!?” Byleth shouted, not even bothering with formalities.

“It seems you were indeed right about an organization, including the Death Knight, being out to kidnap Flayn.” Seteth said.

“Did they..?” Byleth asked, unable to finish her sentence.

Seteth shook his head. “No, Flayn is safe, thank the Goddess.”

Byleth let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. Jeritza had come through. Hopefully.

“Don’t be too relieved.” Manuela said. “The Death Knight still killed three people and severely injured one.”

“What?” Byleth asked. “Who?”

“His own allies, if you can believe it.” Hanneman answered.

Byleth could believe it. She was the one who’d enlisted Jeritza’s help in the first place. “But that’s good, isn’t it?” She asked.

“It is, yes.” Seteth said. “But it means we can’t interrogate them.”

“It also means that the Death Knight is potentially loose in the Monastery.” Rhea added. “This is a grave matter. As such, all current and future missions will be put on hold until further notice. From now onwards your mission is to guard the Monastery and, if possible, capture or kill the Death Knight.”

Byleth wasn’t sure how to respond to this. On one hand, the Death Knight was a dangerous sociopath who needed to be put down. On the other hand, not only was he protecting Flayn, Byleth had promised to give him a battle to the death, meaning that if he was killed it had to be by her hand and she wasn’t quite ready to give up one of her biggest advantages yet. There was also a third issue in that Byleth wasn’t sure how people would react to her knowing who the Death Knight was. It had been risky enough telling Seteth, if anyone else found out the consequences could be disastrous.

Byleth took a deep breath. Worrying about it was doing nothing at the moment. She could adjust her plans later. For now, there were some more short term questions to have answered.

“So what about the other guy?” Byleth asked. “The one who the Death Knight injured?”

“Him?” Seteth asked. “He’s chained to a bed in the infirmary until we decide what to do with him. We tried interrogating him but he wouldn’t tell us anything beyond confirming our suspicions that he and his dead compatriots were out to kidnap Flayn.”

“Yes, well, I would like it if you decide what to do with him soon so I can get him out of my infirmary.” Manuela said, putting her hands on her hips.

“So we have no idea why they wanted to kidnap Flayn?” Byleth asked.

“None at all, unfortunately.” Seteth said, shaking his head.

“I have a theory.” Hanneman said. “Seteth, Flayn carries a Major Crest of Cethleann, correct?”

“How did you know that?” Seteth asked defensively.

“She told me.” Hanneman explained simply.

Seteth scowled. “I am going to need to talk with her about her secret keeping abilities.” He muttered. He cleared his throat and said in a normal voice. “Yes, that is correct.”

“Here’s what I think.” Hanneman said. “Our mysterious enemy somehow figured out that Flayn has the Major Crest of Cethleann and wanted to kidnap her in order to use her blood for experiments.”

“It wouldn’t be hard.” Byleth said. “Flayn can’t keep a secret to save her life, as Hanneman just demonstrated.”

“In this case, I’d say that keeping that secret would have saved her life.” Hanneman joked. “If the Death Knight hadn’t, that is.” Seteth glared at him. He held up his hand in surrender. “Okay, fine, I’ll admit that was in bad taste.”

“Since you brought it up, it’s quite strange that the Death Knight killed his own allies and saved Flayn.” Manuela said.

“Not really.” Byleth said.. “He’s a sociopath who loves killing. He probably got impatient waiting to slaughter the Knights and slaughtered his “friends” instead.” It was a believable, and completely in character, story and hopefully kept both Jeritza and Byleth’s secrets safe.

“I suppose that does make sense.” Manuela said, rubbing her chin.

“Regardless of what his motives are, the fact still stands that he is a dangerous individual who must be captured or killed at all costs. Preferably killed.” Rhea said. The last time Byleth had seen her this serious was when Edelgard had assaulted the Monastery (which she supposed made this the first time she’d seen her this serious). “Understood?”

“Understood.” The three professors said at once.


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Solon was not happy. This wasn’t really a surprise to anyone, since he was rarely happy. The only times he was happy usually involved torture, murder, and twisted science experiments. But in this particular instance, he was not happy for a reason. And that reason was why he called out an almost equally unhappy Flame Emperor to meet him.

“What do you want?” The Flame Emperor asked when she arrived at their agreed meeting spot, the forest just outside Garreg Mach. “I hope you know that I was busy.”

“Hmph.” Solon hmph’d. “You mean busy fooling around with your little friends?”

The Flame Emperor crossed her arms. “Just get to the point. Why did you call me here?”

Solon angrily slammed his staff against the ground. “I called you here because the Death Knight killed three of our men, injured one more, and ruined our plan. What’s more, that injured man is now in the Church’s custody.”

“And I suppose you believe I’m responsible for this?” The Flame Emperor said.

“He is your subordinate.” Solon said, pointing accusedly.

“I do not control the Death Knight.” The Flame Emperor said. “I merely provide a direction for him to charge. I am no traitor.”

“Ha!” Solon laughed. “If I tried to list all the people you have and will betray, we’d be here all day.”

The Flame Emperor growled. “Be that as it may, I would not forfeit the advantages and resources this alliance affords me. Not yet, at the very least.”

“None of this clears up why the Death Knight killed three of our stealthiest agents.” Solon said.

“Could be any number of reasons.” The Flame Emperor said. “Maybe he got bored, maybe one of your agents insulted him, who knows.”

“How can you work with such an unstable individual?” Solon asked.

“Why are you talking about yourself in the third person.” The Flame Emperor snarked.

“I would watch what I say if I were you.” Solon hissed, his hand glowing purple.

“Is that a threat?” The Flame Emperor asked.

“Maybe.” Solon said, extinguishing the glow.

“Don’t make me laugh.” The Flame Emperor said. “We both know that you need me.”

“For now.” Solon muttered.

“Now.” The Flame Emperor said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have much more important matters to attend to.” And with that, she turned her back to Solon and walked off, effectively ending the conversation.

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Author’s Note: Hurray! Gatekeeper cameo!

So what do you think? Appropriately spooky, huh?

This is actually the toned down version of the chapter. The Death Knight’s ruthless massacre of the Agarthan agents was originally much, much more gruesome. But writing it made me extremely uncomfortable and was possibly pushing my rating ceiling (remember, I have to take into account three different sites when it comes to ratings) so I toned it down to what it is now. Maybe I’ll release the original version of the chapter as some sort of bonus chapter.

Yeah, that’s never happening.

Another change I made from the original version was having Hanneman do the whole “Those Who Slither want to kidnap Flayn in order to drain her blood” exposition. Originally, I had an entirely different scene not unlike the one back in Thought Route where the four main characters are trying to figure out Those who Slither’s motives and Linhardt, who apparently fell asleep in the training area without anyone noticed because of course he did he’s Linhardt, did the exposition instead. I decided to change it because it would be a waste to have Hanneman in the chapter and not have him do the exposition I was going to do anyways and because he barely does anything in the story.
 
Author’s Note: Woohoo! It’s finally, finally here! I have been waiting so damn long for this! It didn’t come out exactly as I wanted it but I’m also just finishing this up a day before my deadline so that’s excusable.

Anyways, I’m not even going to try and hide it: The Ashen Wolves are here! We’ve got Yuri! We’ve got Constance! We’ve got Hapi! We’ve got Buff Elvis… I mean, Balthus! It’s so great!

So, in other news, it’s almost Christmas and you know what that means…

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Well, yes, that but also it means it’s time for the first ever Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path Q&A where I answer your questions!

I would suggest you not ask me anything about the characters or the world because the only things I could give you are headcanons. However, if you want to ask me about my writing process then I’d be glad to talk about it. Because I love talking about it. Only if you ask me the right questions, though.

You can send in your questions through either PM or review. You’ve got till the 20th to submit your questions.

Now onward to the super awesome story!

Author's Edit: I have done some editing to this chapter to fix some issues. Namely, the Ashen Wolves not telling the Best Friend Squad their group name.

Author's Edit 2: This chapter has been severely altered. As I had to delete the original Chapter 14 for reasons that will become apparent later, I had to alter this chapter to make more sense as chapter 14 instead of 15 like it originally was. I suggest re-reading it but if you don't want to that's fine too.

Part One
White Clouds
The Ashen Wolves​

The days following Flayn’s attempted kidnapping were tense. Even the most humorous and laid back of the Monastery’s residents found it hard to crack a joke. Despite there being a murderer on the loose in the Monastery, classes still proceeded as usual Heck, classes were needed now more than ever, though no amount of training could truly prepare one to fight the Death Knight.

Aside from that, nothing of much interest happened during those days. Until one night, when Claude spotted something suspicious, and accidentally dragged his fellow House Leaders and Byleth into an unexpected adventure.

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“Claude, I’m really not sure this is a good idea.” Dimitri said.

Dimitri could not believe what was going on. Claude had woken him and Edelgard up at an ungodly hour, claiming to have seen someone suspicious sneak into a tunnel. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now Claude wanted them to follow the suspicious individual into said tunnel.

“But we’ve got to do it!” Claude said. “He could be one of those guys who tried to kidnap Flayn!”

“You may be right but even so we can’t just run off on some crazy adventure.” Dimitri said. “What about class?”

“Eh, what’s a few missed classes, I’m sure the Professors will understand.” Claude replied.

“I never thought I’d say this but I agree with Claude.” Edelgard said. “If we don’t chase after whoever this is right now, we might never be able to find him.”

“But shouldn’t we at least find a Knight of Seiros or a Professor or someone with qualifications to come with us?” Dimitri protested.

“There’s no need.” Claude said. “It would be rude to bother them this late at night.” Funny, he hadn’t had any trouble bothering him and Edelgard. “Besides, we’re plenty qualified. We defended the Holy Mausoleum, didn’t we?”

“I suppose you have a point.” Dimitri said. He sighed. “Very well, if you’re going then I shall follow, if only to make sure you don’t get into any trouble.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Claude said. “I never get into trouble.”

The three house leaders stepped towards the tunnel. It was a tight fit so they were going to have to walk in a straight line. Claude had opted to go first which neither Dimitri nor Edelgard objected to. After all, it meant he would take the brunt of any danger they came across. However, just before Claude took his first step into the tunnel, they heard a voice.

“What are you three doing up so late?”

Startled, the three whirled around, pulling out their weapons as they did so. What they found upon doing so was a very nonplussed Professor Byleth who, for some reason, had Linhardt slung over her shoulder like a bag of rocks. The house leaders lowered their weapons.

“Professor!” Dimitri exclaimed. “I’m so sorry! You startled us!”

“Professor? What are you doing out here?” Edelgard asked. “And why do you have Linhardt slung over your shoulder?”

“My question first.” Byleth said.

“I saw someone go into that tunnel!” Claude said, pointing to said tunnel. “They looked like they might be a bandit or one of those guys who tried to kidnap Flayn!”

Byleth sighed. “You know, I should really give you detention for this.”

“But?” Claude said, knowing she wasn’t going to give them detention for this.

“But given that I don’t have the cleanest slate when it comes to rule breaking, I will not do that.” Byleth said. “I will, however, be coming with you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Claude looked at Dimitri and smirked. “There you go, Your Princeliness. We now have a Professor to chaperone us.”

Dimitri mumbled something unprincely under his breath.

“Okay, my question now.” Edelgard said. “What are you doing here and why do you have Linhardt slung over your shoulder?”

“Well, I was up late grading papers when I heard a noise.” Byleth said.

“That was probably us.” Claude admitted.

“Yeah, probably.” Byleth said. “So I went to see what the noise was and ran into Linhard sleeping in a bush. So I decided I’d take him back to his room because that’s the responsible thing to do.”

Edelgard nodded. “Ah. So are you planning on taking him into the tunnel with us?”

“Hmm…” Byleth hmm’d. “I guess. I can’t very well leave him here and taking him back to his room would take too much time.”

“Well, okay then.” Claude said with a shrug. “Shall we get going?”

“Hold on Claude!” Someone said.

“Ugh.” Edelgard groaned. “What now.”

Everyone turned to see who had spoken. It was Hilda standing with her arm outstretched “Objection” style. And for some reason, she had Ashe with her.

“You’re not going anywhere without me!” She said firmly.

“Huh?” Claude said, baffled. “But… you never want to go anywhere with me?”

Hilda put her hands on her hips. “Yeah, well, Ashe wants to go.” She said lamely. “So I have to come with.”

“You just want to get out of something, don’t you?” Claude said deadpan.

Hilda slumped. “Yes. I have detention with Professor Manuela tomorrow.”

Claude shook his head.

“I do actually want to go.” Ashe said. “It sounds like an adventure and if there’s any villains, we need to stop them.”

“Well… alright then.” Claude said. “Guess you two are coming along too. Anybody else?” They waited for a second but nobody else came. Claude stood up straight. “Okay, then, let’s go.”

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After a bit of walking in silence, Claude spoke.

“If we’re going to be adventuring, we should have a group name.”

“I think that is quite unnecessary, Claude.” Edelgard said. “This is a single mission, and not a permanent arrangement.”

But Claude wasn’t listening. He was pondering names.

“How about… the Best Friend Squad!” Claude said, pounding his fist into his hand.

“We are absolutely not calling ourselves the Best Friend Squad!” Edelgard protested.

“Besides, I think that’s already taken.” Byleth interjected.

Just then, cramped tunnel opened into a much larger, less cramped tunnel. Wooden support beams lined the walls and a ceiling at regular intervals and torches were mounted seemingly at random with no system as to how they were placed.

“Huh.” Hilda said. “I was not expecting this.”

“This place seems to be more than a simple passageway.” Edelgard said. “There are clear signs of human habitation.”

“What gave it away, the support beams or the torches.” Claude snarked.

“People living under Garreg Mach…” Hilda said, clearly pondering something. Suddenly, her eyes lit up like she had just realized something. “Oh! My brother used to tell me stories like that back in his Academy days.”

“Ah, so Holst attended the academy as well, then?” Claude asked.

“Of course.” Hilda said cheerily. “Back then, there were tons of rumors about what goes on below Garreg Mach. Something about tons of passages and houses beneath the town, all inhabited by super-shady people. It had a real intimidating name too. Ah, what was it again…” Hilda went back to pondering. “I think it was called… Abyss?”

As soon as she said that, a rather buff man with a fancy pair of gauntlets stepped out of the shadows. “That’s two points for the pink-haired gal! Welcome to Abyss, strangers.”

Dimitri drew his spear and pointed it at the man. “Identify yourself!” He shouted.

Claude looked at Dimitri. “Please don’t antagonize random people, Your Princeliness.”

“Welcome, curious students of the Officers Academy!” The man said. “What brings such fine, upstanding surface dwellers to our humble abode?”

“We’re tracking a suspicious individual.” Claude said. “We’re not sure who they are but there was recently an attempted kidnapping here at the Monastery-”

“Our business here does not concern you.” Edelgard cut in. “Do you intend to let us pass?”

Claude gave Edelgard an exasperated look. “What did I just say about not antagonizing people?”

A laugh came from the darkness. “Ohohoho! You would be wise to listen to your friend, agents of the Church. We are not people to be trifled with.” Out of the shadows walked a rather pompous looking woman. The way she carried herself reminded Dimitri of Ferdinand.

“Agents of the Church!?” Edelgard shouted, taken aback.

“Yes! Your words may fool the fool, but I cannot be so easily deceived!” The woman declared. “I, Constance von Nuvelle, have divined your true intentions. You are here by order of the church… which cruelly plots to eliminate the inhabitants of Abyss!”

Edelgard switched from taken aback to confused. “Wait, did she say Nuvelle?”

“I don’t care what the reason for this brawl is.” The man said. “A fight’s on the menu, and I’m ready to feast. Let’s get right to it, yeah?”

Finally, the noise seemed to be enough to wake Linhardt. The moment he began to stir, Byleth put him on the ground. Upon fully waking up, he sat up and looked around confusedly.

“Hmm… what’s going on?” He asked. “Are we about to have a fight?”

“No, we’re not having a fight.” Claude answered. He stepped between the two groups. “Let’s all calm down. We’re not looking for a fight. It’s clear that you don’t want us here so we’ll just get out of your hair and forget this whole thing ever happened, alright?”

Yet another voice came from the darkness, this time from behind them. “Leaving already? Oh, but you’ll make me so sad. Now why would you wanna do that?”

All six Garreg Mach residents turned to see another man walk out of the shadows. He had the look of a schemer.

“We’re surrounded!” Dimitri said to his friends. “Claude, Edelgard, Professor, what should we do?”

There was a silence. Dimitri looked at his three comrades. They seemed entranced by this newcomer. The same looked to be true of Hilda, Linhardt, and Ashe. Only he remained unaffected.

“What did you do to them!” Dimitri shouted angrily.

“I didn’t do anything.” The scheming man said. “Your friends are simply mesmerized by my roguish good looks.”

“Don’t worry, this always happens.” Said yet another voice. Out of the shadows stepped a rather gloomy looking woman. How many people were there. “They’ll snap out of it in a few minutes, maybe longer.”

Dimitri growled, brandishing his spear. “I don’t know what spell you’ve put on my comrades, but you will remove it now!”

“I told you, it’s not a spell.” The scheming man said calmly.

“Fine!” Dimitri said. “If you will not remove the spell I shall simply make you remove it.”

“Finally, we get to a fight.” The buff man said, slamming his fist into his hand.

Dimitri shouted in a combination of rage and heroism and charged the buff man. Before he could even hit him, the man grabbed his lance and swung him around, throwing him into the wall. Dimitri wasted no time getting back up, however and charged again, using his lance to pole vault over the man, just barely grazing the tunnel’s ceiling. When he landed behind him he kicked the man’s legs out from under him. Or, at least, he tried to. Before he could, the man turned around and landed a solid punch in the gut.

“Come on, pal, step up your game.” The man said as Dimitri stumbled backwards. “This is getting boring.”

“You want me to step up my game?” Dimitri asked. “Be careful what you wish for!”

Dimitri threw his spear aside and charged the man bare fisted. He landed a good strike on the man’s jaw, knocking him back a bit.

“That’s more like it.” The man said boisterously.

Dimitri didn’t stop there, he unleashed a flurry of punches. While the man was able to block them all, Dimitri was still pushing him back up against the wall.

“Think we should help him?” The red haired woman asked the scheming man, not sounding the least bit concerned.

“Nah, he’s got this.” The scheming man replied.

Once he was pushed up against the wall, the muscular man stopped blocking Dimitri’s punches and instead grabbed his fists. In one swift movement, he turned Dimitri around and hooked his arms under his armpits, holding him tightly to his chest to prevent escape.

“Ha.” He laughed. “Nobody defeats the undefeated King of Grappling.”

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Dimitri was not the only one fighting. Sothis, too, was also engaged in battle. A battle against the urge to throw every swear in the book at her currently paralyzed host.

“Argh! I can’t believe this!” She shouted as she paced. “What kind of protagonist are you! He’s just a boy!” She was fully aware that Byleth wasn’t paying attention but quite frankly she did not care. “I mean, I knew that most humans were ruled by their hormones but I had hoped…” She shook her head. “No, I didn’t hope. I knew from the start that you’d be just as idiotic as all the rest. Though I will admit I didn’t expect this situation exactly.”

She sighed and sat down on her throne. At least Byleth’s senses were still working, even if her brain wasn’t, so she could still see the things she saw and hear the things she heard.

She watched with satisfaction as the prince threatened the strange opponents. At least his brain seemed to be working. Maybe he wasn’t as much of an idiot as she thought. Or maybe he was because as soon as he engaged the enemy in combat he found himself locked in a hold.

Sothis shook her head and sighed again. Looked like it was up to her to get them out of this mess. First order of business, waking up the idiot. She focused her energy and Byleth appeared in front of her.


“What the-” She said, looking at herself. “How did I get here?”

“I called you here.” Sothis said tiredly. Unfortunately, summoning Byleth to the mental plane took a lot of energy.

“What? Why?” Byleth asked.

“You were mesmerized by that boy over there and I had to snap you out of it somehow.” Sothis explained. “Personally, I would have preferred waking up one of your other companions. The trickster, perhaps. Or the princess. Maybe even the lazy one. But, unfortunately, you’re the only one I can call here.”

“I was not “mesmerized” by that boy!” Byleth insisted. “I was ascertaining his threat level!”

Uh huh.” Sothis said skeptically. “Well, whatever you were doing, the prince is in trouble.”

“Dimitri!?” Byleth asked.

“Who else would I be talking about?” Sothis asked. “Now go and save him. And don’t take any time to “ascertain his threat level.””

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“So what do we do with these guys?” Balthus asked Yuri, still holding Dimitri.

“We’ll lock em up for now and decide what to do with them later.” Yuri said.

“You shall do no such thing!” Dimitri shouted.

“And get a gag for this one.” Yuri added.

Before anyone could move, Byleth suddenly broke free of her mesmerization. Faster than lightning, she drew her sword and slashed at Balthus, despite being nowhere near him. Her sword extended like a whip and the tip struck right in front of Balthus’ feet, forcing him to jump back and causing him to accidentally drop Dimitri.

“Professor!” Dimitri shouted joyfully. “You’ve been freed from his spell!” He stood up quickly and ran over to stand next to Byleth.

Byleth avoided making eye contact with Dimitri. “Yes. A spell. That’s what that was.”

“Looks like it's time for round two.” Balthus said. “Two on one won’t be a problem.”

“You think this’ll be two on one?” Byleth asked rhetorically. “Hey, Claude, Hilda got her head stuck in a bucket.”

“Really.” Claude responded automatically. “I have got to see this.”

At the same time Hilda shouted. “My head is not in a bucket!”

The two of them took a moment to realize where they were.

“Gamóto, we’re in trouble aren’t we.” Claude said.

“Okay, four on one. I might actually need some help here.” Balthus said.

“Worry not, Balthus.” Constance said with grandiosity. “I shall assist you.” Her hands began to glow with magic power.

“Guess I’ll help too.” Hapi said monotonously. Her hands also began to glow.

“Don’t go forgetting about me just yet.” Yuri said, drawing his sword.

Hilda and Claude both drew their weapons and Dimitri retrieved his spear.

“Think we can take them?” Claude asked.

“No.” Hilda said.

“Not easily.” Byleth said. “Think you can snap the others out of it?”

“I can try.” Claude said.

Byleth nodded. “Good enough. Dimitri? Hilda? You ready?”

“Nope.” Hilda said.

“Yes.” Dimitri said.

“Enough standing around.” Balthus said. “Let’s do this!”

Byleth went straight for the incredibly pretty guy. It was time for a little revenge for paralyzing her like that even though it was entirely her fault.

“Nice sword.” The pretty guy said as their blades clashed.

“Thanks.” She replied, pushing him away. “I got it from a tomb.”

“So you’re a grave robber.” The pretty guy said, stabbing forward.

Byleth shook her head as she dodged his strike. “No, nothing like that. I actually took it from someone who had already stolen it from a tomb. It’s a really great story. Maybe I’ll tell you later. After I’ve kicked your butt.”

Dimitri, meanwhile, was having a rematch against the muscular guy. Now that he had fought him once he knew what to look out for. When he wasn’t enraged, he was very adaptable.

There was a lot of dodging and weaving involved, as there was with every fight in recent memory, but he was able to keep the muscular man on his toes.

The muscular man laughed. “Now this is a fight.” He threw a punch at Dimitri, which the prince dodged.

“I must agree, this is a fight.” Dimitri said. “One I’m going to win.”

He swept his spear at the muscular guy’s feet, causing him to stumble, and then followed it up with a jab to the stomach from the spear’s blunt end. This didn’t work perfectly because the muscular guy was, well, really muscular but it did push him backwards.

Hilda, meanwhile, was not having as much luck as Dimitri and Byleth were having. Being double teamed by two mages will do that to you.

“Gah!” She shouted as she dodged another magic blast. “Why did I have to be stuck with the wizards!”

“Excuse me!” The girl who talked like Ferdinand said, offended. “I am a mage thank you very much!”

“Whatever.” Hilda said. She yelped as a magic blast flew over her head. “A little help here!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” A voice shouted.

A yellow fletched arrow flew over the head of the pompous girl and hit the wall behind her. She, along with Hilda and the gloomy girl, followed the trail back to Claude.

“Ohoho!” The pompous girl laughed. “You missed!”

Claude smirked. “You’re wrong, I hit exactly what I aimed for. That shot was just a distraction.”

“What!” The pompous girl shouted. She turned around just in time to see Edelgard barrel into her, whacking her with the handle of her axe. She grappled her to the ground and pressed her axe to her neck.

“Hapi!” The pompous girl called to the gloomy girl. “I request your assistance!”

“I’m coming.” The gloomy girl said.

“No you’re not!” Hilda shouted, whacking her under the jaw with the blunt side of her axe.

3Mozq7ix1H5djLYDIvlSX6ZR8RtDXnewraujM9VpPZ5Y7yMd41x_r2TtnNCZGomyyjC8lzWwzNZALmzmIto-Gf9Z9fYjOwcJajJFZCK9oEoVAkMsIkgNpmtjLWeFUOQaOLRsNTZY
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3Mozq7ix1H5djLYDIvlSX6ZR8RtDXnewraujM9VpPZ5Y7yMd41x_r2TtnNCZGomyyjC8lzWwzNZALmzmIto-Gf9Z9fYjOwcJajJFZCK9oEoVAkMsIkgNpmtjLWeFUOQaOLRsNTZY

Returning to Dimitri’s fight with the muscular man, he was struggling. Normally, he and the muscular man might be equal in strength, but the muscular man’s fancy gauntlets seemed to make him more powerful. Meanwhile, off to the side, Ashe had just been woken up and was ready for action.

“Your Highness, is there anything you need help with?” He asked.

Dimitri swiped at the muscular man. “Yes, there is. Could you please do me a favor and hold this man still?”

“Of course.” Ashe said. “But I’ll need you to get him up against that pole somehow.” He pointed to one of the wooden support poles on the side of the tunnel.

“You realize I can hear you’re planning, right?” The muscular man said, taking another swing at Dimitri..

“Yes, of course.” Dimitri lied unconvincingly.

If the others weren’t busy, one of them might have made a snarky comment about how he definitely hadn’t realized that, but they were all busy so they didn’t.

“It does not matter.” Dimitri said, slashin at the muscular man. He dodged. “I will still be victorious.”

“Funny, that’s what I was going to say.” The muscular man said, aiming a swing at Dimitri’s head. Dimitri ducked. “Not quite as fancy as how you put it but it’s still what I was gonna say.”

Dimitri let loose a flurry of jabs. The muscular man held up his gauntlets and used them to block the strikes. This was fine, as Dimitri had no intention of actually hurting him (not on purpose, at least) but instead of pushing backwards. In very little time, the muscular man found himself pushed up against the support beam that Ashe had indicated.

“Well, Ashe, if you’re going to do something, do it now.” Dimitri said. “I can’t keep him here forever.”

“I just need you to move out of the way.” Ashe said.

Dimitri nodded, though he knew Ashe couldn’t see it, and jumped to the side. Ashe immediately fired off multiple arrows, piercing the muscular man’s coat, effectively pinning him in place.

“Hey, pal!” The muscular man shouted. “I really liked this coat!”

Close by, Byleth was in a blade lock with the scheming man. He was almost as good as he was pretty. And, as you might have guessed from people’s reactions, he was very pretty.

“You know, I think we may have started off on the wrong foot.” He said.

“You think?” Byleth asked rhetorically, pushing him away. The two of them paused, retaining battle stances but holding their attacks.

“Well, I’m just saying that your friends seem to have the upper hand against my friends so maybe it would be better for me and my crew if we just called a truce.” The scheming man said.

“Well, I don’t expect most of them to kill your friends but if you value your consciousness a truce would definitely be a good idea.” Byleth said. “Do you promise this isn’t a trick?”

“Well, I can’t say I never go back on my word, but I promise that this isn’t any sort of trick.” The scheming man said.

“Prove it.” Byleth said. “Drop your sword.”

“Alright, but only if you drop yours.” The scheming man replied.

Byleth nodded. “Deal. On the count of three, we both drop our swords.” Byleth took her left hand off the Sword of the Creator’s hilt and held up three fingers, lowering them as she counted down. “Three… two… one…” Both she and the scheming man dropped their swords. They clattered to the ground and the acoustics of the tunnel amplified their sound to attract the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity.

The scheming man held up his hands. “Alright everyone, me and this lovely woman here have agreed to call a truce.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” Byleth said.

“That’s not flattery, it’s genuine praise.” The scheming man replied.

“Whatever.” Byleth said. “The point is, we’ve agreed to call a truce, so everybody fighting just slowly lower your weapons and spells.”

The combatants obliged this request. Claude, Hilda, Ashe, and Dimitri lowered their weapons, Edelgard removed her blade from the pompous girl’s neck, and the gloomy girl extinguished her magic hand glow.

Linhardt peeked out from behind a particularly large support pole. “Is it safe to come out yet?” Apparently he had chosen to hide rather than take part in the fight.

“Yes, everything’s been resolved.” Byleth said. “Maybe you could try helping out, next time.”

“Someone has to stay alive to tell our tale.” Linhardt replied.

“Translation: I hate fighting and don’t want to be involved.” Sothis snarked.

Byleth sighed. “Okay, so, first off, we haven’t been properly introduced yet. Names?”

“I think you should introduce yourselves first.” The pretty man said. “You are the outsiders here, after all.”

“We are the Best Friend Squad!” Claude said with a simultaneously charming and obnoxious smile.

“We’re not calling ourselves the Best Friend Squad!” Byleth, Edelgard, and Dimitri chorused.

“My name is Byleth.” Byleth said. She gestured to her six charges. “And these are my students: Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, Ashe, Linhardt, and Hilda.” She pointed at each one of them as she spoke their names.

When Byleth said Hilda’s name, the muscular man rubbed his chin. “Huh. That’s kind of a funny coincidence. I once knew a guy who had a sister named Hilda.”

“Really?” Hilda asked inquisitively. “You know, I can’t shake the feeling that I know you from somewhere.”

“Now that you’ve introduced yourself I believe it is our turn.” The scheming man said, pointing to himself. “The name’s Yuri.” He gestured to his companion. “And these are-”

“Hapi.” The Gloomy Girl interrupted.

“I am Constance von Nuevelle!” The pompous girl said pompously. “It is my duty to protect the common people!”

“I think I just threw up in my mouth.” Linhardt remarked.

“We definitely can not let her meet Ferdinand.” Hilda added.

“The name’s Balthus, the Indomitable King of Grappling.” The muscular man said, flexing his muscles.

“Wait, Balthus!?” Hilda shouted. “From House Albrecht?! Baltie, is that you?! Whew, haha! You look, uh… old.”

“Huh?” Balthus asked. “Do we know each other, pal? Wait a minute… That hair. Those eyes. That voice! You’re that Hilda!? I don’t believe it!? Holst’s little sis!?”

“Well duh.” Hilda said.

“Why didn’t you speak up sooner?” Balthus asked.

“Okay, no time for you two to catch up. We have important things we need to do.” Claude said. He turned to Yuri. “Would you happen to know about a mystery person who disappeared into this tunnel?”

“Yeah, that was one of our guys.” Yuri said.

“Really?” Edelgard asked. “Why was one of, quote, “your guys” skulking around Garreg Mach?”

“That’s classified.” Yuri said, crossing his arms.

“Well in that case, I suppose we should get out of your hair.” Claude said.

“Hold on one moment!” Constance said. “The idea of you leaving here is preposterous!”

Byleth covered her forehead with her hand. “Oh no, don’t tell me, we somehow know too much and you have to kill us.”

“What? No.” Constance said. “That is preposterous. I was merely going to suggest that, since you are already here, it might be prudent to request your aid.”

“Wait, what?” Byleth asked.

“That makes sense.” Balthus said. “You guys are pretty strong and we could really use the help.”

“I don’t know about this.” Dimitri said. “Can we really afford to get involved in an adventure.”

“I’m with Dimitri here.” Byleth agreed. “I’m sure the church can find a suitable sub while I’m gone, Shamir maybe, but I’m pretty sure I have to put in a certain amount of hours to get paid and I’d really like to get paid.”

“Oh come on pal, you don’t even know what we need help with.” Balthus said. “Talk is cheap but listening is free, yeah?”

Byleth sighed. “Alright, fine.”

“Brilliant!” Constance said.

“So here’s the gist of it.” Yuri began to exposit. “We have a basic deal with the Church: we stay out of surface business, they stay out of our business.”

“Why are you guys down here, anyways?” Claude asked.

“There are some people who simply can’t live on the surface anymore.” Yuri said. “Merchants who have been screwed over by nobles, lost souls, the eldely and infirm, orphans, and anyone else who seeks sanctuary in the darkness.”

“And that includes you?” Claude asked.

“Yes, though it pains me to admit it, we too have valid reasons to shun the light.” Constance answered.

“Does that mean you have a reason to be here too, Baltie?” Hilda asked.

“I’m afraid so.” Balthus said. “I’ve got more bounties on my head than I’ve got hair.”

“That’s awful.” Hilda said.

“Aren’t we getting a bit off topic?” Hapi asked.

“Oh, right.” Balthus said. “Where were we…”

“You have a deal with the Church.” Edelgard said.

“Right.” Balthus said. “So, yeah, we have that deal with the Church but recently mercenaries have been showing up.”

“Normally this wouldn’t be a problem.” Yuri exposited. “Mercenaries show up from time to time, normally cause they’ve got almost as many bounties on them as Balthus here, but these ones seem to be actually targeting Abyss.”

“Aside from myself, not many folks around here know how to defend themselves.” Balthus said.

“Yes.” Constance agreed. “That is why it falls to us to protect those who cannot protect themselves and to safeguard our home. To that noble end, I must insist that you lend us your strength.”

“I feel for your cause, truly.” Dimitri said, putting his hand on his chest. “However, I cannot help but wonder why you would trust us so readily. Not only are we from the surface, we attacked you.”

“That’s true.” Balthus said. “But if you hadn’t attacked us I wouldn’t have been able to learn about you. The best way to get to know someone is through a tussle, after all.”

“Huh. And here I thought that was just a Felix thing.” Byleth said, resting her right elbow on her left arm and placing her palm on her left cheek.

“There are more people out there who subscribe to Balthus’ crazy philosophy?” Hapi asked, somehow managing to make monotone sound surprised.

Byleth shrugged. “Well, Felix is a bit more cynical about it.”

“We’re getting a bit off topic again, aren’t we?” Edelgard asked rhetorically.

“We’ve pretty much covered everything.” Yuri said.

“All that’s really left is for you to decide for yourselves whether you want to help.” Hapi added.

“Most true.” Constance agreed.

Byleth turned to look at her students. “What do you guys think?”

“I don’t know.” Claude said. “Maybe it would be better if we sat this one out.”

“At risk of repeating something I said earlier, though I loathe to admit it, Claude’s right.” Edelgard said. “This isn’t our fight.”

“That’s true.” Ashe said. “But as students of Garreg Mach Officer’s Academy, we have a duty to help those in need.”

“I agree with Ashe.” Dimitri said.

“I also agree with Ashe.” Hilda said.

Everyone looked at her.

“What?” She asked defensively. “Just because I’m lazy doesn’t mean I don’t want to help people…” She paused. “Well, okay, really just Baltie, but still, I do want to help.”

“Personally, I think this is a poor idea.” Linhardt said. “Like Edelgard said, this is not our fight. Also, it’s cutting into my nap time.”

“Looks like we’re tied.” Claude said. He looked at Byleth. “Care to break it for us Teach?”

“Hmm…” Byleth hmm’d, resting her right elbow on her left arm and placing her palm on her left cheek. (How about you?) She asked Sothis. (What do you think?)

“I think you’re an idiot.” Sothis replied.

(I am not!) Byleth protested. (And you know that’s not what I meant!)

Sothis sighed. “Look, you can’t rely on me to make decisions for you.”

(Sothis!) Byleth shouted, irritated at how casually Sothis was taking this. (This is completely off the rails! We never did anything like this in the original timeline! If we agree to help, neither of us will have any idea what will happen.)

“Isn’t that the point?” Sothis asked. “We’re trying to change things, right?”

(I guess…) Byleth said.

“Us just being here means your plan is working.” Sothis explained. “Claude would never have grabbed the other two House Leaders if you hadn’t been training them to work together.”

(Good point.) Byleth said.

Out loud she cleared her throat. “Alright, everyone, I’ve decided we’re going to help out, uh, do you have a group name or something?”

“That we do.” Yuri said. “We are known as the Ashen Wolves.”

“What?!” Hilda asked, for some reason annoyed. She turned to face Claude. “Why don’t we have a cool name like that!?”

“Hey! Golden Deer is a very cool name!” Claude insisted.

“Apologies, Claude, but Blue Lions is a much cooler name.” Dimitri interjected.

“As per usual you are both wrong.” Edelgard said smugly. “Black Eagles is the coolest name.”

“Enough chatter!” Constance said, putting her hands on her hips and saving Byleth the trouble of breaking up the argument. “If we are going to save Abyss we must make haste! Follow me!” Constance turned and walked down the tunnel.

The other three Ashen Wolves followed without question, though it was less like following and more like going in the same general direction. Byleth’s party looked at each other for a moment. Byleth and Hilda shrugged and followed their new associates. The rest of the party had no choice but to go along with it.

A half an hour of walking in silence later, Hilda got a bit antsy. She may have been lazy, but she also hated long silences. She couldn’t let this go on.

“So where are we going?” She asked, hurrying to catch up with their Abyssian companions.

“Isn’t it obvious.” Balthus replied. “We’re going to Abyss.”

“I thought this was Abyss.” Hilda said.

Yuri chuckled and shook his head. “No, that was just one of the back doors.” As if on cue, the tunnel opened up into a large cavern full of derelict shacks and stone huts. The cavern was illuminated by candles and luminescent moss of different colors. Tunnels similar to the one they had just left dotted the walls. The entire thing was sort of beautiful, in a run down sort of way.

Yuri dramatically raised his arms to the ceiling and spread them wide. “This is Abyss!”

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Author’s Note: Blade Lock

I know my description of Abyss is different from what the game is but I thought it would be cool and you know what, this fic runs on Rule of Cool. I like to imagine that my version of Abyss looks a lot like a run down version of the Realm of the Dead in Coco.

Edit: For those who are not aware, the Best Friend Squad joke came from the original Chapter 14. Despite deleting that chapter that was one joke I wanted to keep. Its a reference to the Netflix She-Ra reboot which is brilliant. Y'all should watch it.

In other news, I’ve put together a bit of a drinking game for this fic. You can put it on the non-existent TV Tropes page. Since Alcohol is bad for you I’d suggest drinking something else, like Lemonade. Or, if you must use an addictive drink, try coffee. Like Godot.

Do note that this applies to the main fic, the supports, and the author’s note.


    • Every time Claude says something in Greek, take a shot.
    • Every time Sothis leans on or breaks the Fourth Wall, take a shot.
    • Every time Sothis insults someone, take a shot.
** If the person she’s insulting is Byleth, take a another shot.

    • Every time Claude refers to Him, Byleth, Dimitri, and Edelgard as the Best Friend Squad, take a shot.
    • Every time a trope is name dropped, take a shot.
    • Every time there’s Ship Tease, intentionally or not, take a shot.
** Special post-fic completion bonus round: take two more shots if the characters there is ship tease between get together either during or after the fic.
* Every time there’s an Ace Attorney reference, take a shot. Yes, that includes the one(s) above.
** If you’re reading Turnabout Dessert, down the entire glass.
* Every time you encounter something in the fic that only works on Bulbagarden or ZU (links, images, etc), take a shot (to save your liver and/or bladder, you only have to take a shot the first time the Crest of Flames divider appears).

Alright, I think that’s it. Merry Christmas and see you in the Q&A!
 
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Author’s Note: Welcome to the first ever Omake: a non-canon story to a non-canon story. I mean, I’ve done enough writing in this fanfic universe that it basically has its own canon. Right?

Anyways, this Omake is inspired by the Hades Misguidance series by Zelda Universe. Basically, Palutena’s Guidance but with Hades and a lot more Pit dumping.

I’ve been wanting to write some Kid Icarus stuff for a while now but I don’t want to start a new fanfic until I finish this one (by which point I’ll probably be out of college) so because I’m having writer’s block I’m writing this. It sates your (non-existent) hunger for more Fifth Path stuff, my hunger to write Kid Icarus stuff. It might also help me get over my writers block.

Kid Icarus and all related characters and concepts are property of Nintendo and Sora Ltd. Hades Misguidance and all related concepts are property of Zelda Universe. Probably.

“Hey, this isn’t Smash.” Pit said, confused.

“I know, I know.” Palutena said, turning a map at various angles to see if she was reading it right. “Maybe we should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque…”

“For a Goddess you sure are bad at directions.” Hades said. “Maybe you should have let me take the lead.”

“Yeah right.” Viridi said. “Last time we let you lead us we almost fell in lava.”

“That was an honest mistake.” Hades said, his huge grin betraying his obvious lie. “Besides, why would I want Pitty Pat to be late for his date with a good thrashing.”

“Where are we, anyways?” Pit asked.

The group of deities (and Pit) had found themselves outside of an alternate reality, in which a battle between several oddly dressed characters was taking place. It obviously wasn't Smash match, it was much too… three dimensional for that. The fight didn’t seem very video game-y at all, really.

“Well, wherever we are, there’s no way we’re getting to Pit’s next match in time.” Viridi said. “We might as well start the show. There’s a battle going on right now. Maybe we can commentate that.”

“Might as well.” Hades said. “Guess the Phantom Thieves will have to wait for another day.” Hades opened his mouth to say his catchphrase but before he could, an angry voice interrupted him.

“Hey!” The voice shouted. “Who are you and what are you doing outside of my reality.”

A green haired girl who appeared to be about the same age as Viridi’s physical appearance shimmered into existence.

“Well, well if it isn’t Sothis.” Viridi said, sounding slightly bitter.

“Oh hello there, Viridi.” Sothis said snarkily. “Still going for the hippie look, I see. Even though it went out of style 3000 years ago.”

“That’s rich coming from you.” Viridi retorted. “You’re just another Tiki ripoff.”

Sothis reeled back, covering her mouth with her hand. Then she pointed angrily at Viridi. “You take that back.”

“I hate to interrupt… whatever this is.” Hades deadpanned, wagging his finger between the two goddesses. “But we have a show to start, you know.”

Sothis jabbed her thumb at Hades. “Who’s this jerk?”

“Oh just ignore him.” Viridi said dismissively. “It’s good to see you, how’ve you been?”

“Not bad.” Sothis said. The two of them had done a real 180. “You never answered my question, what are you doing here?”

“Nothing much.” Viridi said. “The goddess of bad directions here got us lost.” She indicated Palutena.

“It’s not my fault the map was difficult to read.” Palutena protested.

“Why didn't you just use gps?” Sothis asked.

There was a long silence. You could almost see the ellipses above them. Viridi and Palutena simultaneously face palmed.

“We… didn’t think of that.” Palutena admitted.

“Anyway, we have this show we do where we commentate on different characters in Super Smash Bros.” Viridi explained. “But since we got lost we figured we’d do it here.”

“Yes, exactly!” Hades said angrily. “So stop flirting and let's get the show started!”

“Okay, okay.” Viridi said, exasperated. She looked at Sothis. “Wanna join in?”

Sothis shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

Hades dramatically cleared his throat.

“This is where the FUN begins!”

Hades Misguidance
Fifth Path

Omake - Byleth, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard

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Byleth

“Hey, I know her.” Pit said, pointing at a woman with an oddly shaped sword (how original). “She’s in Smash too, isn’t she.”

“You’re right.” Palutena said. “That’s Byleth, formerly a mercenary known as the Ashen Demon, currently a teacher at Garreg Mach Officer’s Academy.”

“I hate to break it to you, but that's not the Byleth you're familiar with.” Sothis said, crossing her arms.

“What do you mean?” Pit asked, confused.

“She means that this isn’t even the same reality as Byleth’s home game.” Palutena answered.

“That’s right.” Sothis said. “Welcome to the world of fanfiction. And just for the record, this Byleth's my idiot to insult, not any of yours.”

“Oh joy, fanfiction.” Hades said dryly. “I just love bad writing.”

“Technically, this show is fanfiction.” Viridi said.

“Yes, but this show has me.” Hades said smugly. “And as we all know, I make everything 10 times better.”

Viridi, Palutena, and Sothis rolled their eyes. Even Pit looked annoyed.

“Anyways,” Sothis continued. “This version of Byleth is a lot more… childish, than yours. I think she’d get along well with your idiot.”

“Really? Who’s that? I don’t think anyone here’s an idiot.” Pit said.

Everyone stared at him.

“Oh, you mean me.” Pit said, sulking.

“She sounds like a real basket case.” Hades snarked.

“Hey!” Sothis snapped. “What did I tell you! She’s my verbal punching bag!”

“I’m the Ruler of the Underworld.” Hades said smugly. “I can verbally punch whoever I want.”

“Not outside my reality, you can’t.” Sothis said, crossing her arms.

“So, uh, hey, how about some fighting tips.” Pit interrupted.

“There’s not much you need to know.” Sothis said. “Except that she’s the second most powerful mercenary in Fodlan and possibly the best sword wielder period. Basically, unless you’re a select few people, fighting her is the equivalent to a death wish.”

“But what about the guy she’s fighting?” Pit asked, pointing to a silver haired Bishonen. “He looks like he’s holding up pretty well.”

“Oh him.” Sothis said dismissively. “She’s just going easy on him because she’s trying to cut down on the unnecessary murder. Also because he’s really pretty.”

“You got that right.” Viridi said, whistling.

“Does our resident Goddess of Nature have another crush?” Palutena teased.

“Absolutely not!” Viridi shouted.”I would never have a crush on a human!”

“Except Marth.” Palutena said. “And Link.”

“Link’s a Hylian!” Viridi protested. “That’s different!”

“And Marth?” Palutena asked.

Viridi said nothing. Instead she just growled.

“When did this stop being about Byleth?” Sothis asked.

“Maybe we should move on.” Palutena said.

2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS


Claude

“So who’s this guy?” Pit asked, pointing to a boy wearing a yellow cape.

“My Celestial Super Scanner tells me that his name is Claude.” Palutena said.

“Celestial Super Scanner?” Sothis asked skeptically. “That’s not a real thing.”

“I can assure you that it absolutely is.” Palutena retorted.

“Regardless, you’re right.” Sothis said. “That’s Claude Von Riegan or, as I like to call him, Mr. Personality.”

“Why do you call him that?” Pit asked.

“Because he’s really into “jokes.”” She said, making air quotes.

“Really?” Pit asked, excited. “I like jokes too! Can I meet him!”

“You know we’re not allowed in other universes, Pit.” Palutena reminded him.

“I know.” Pit said sadly. “But maybe he’ll get into Smash.”

“Ugh, the last thing we need is another Fire Emblem character.” Hades snarked.

“He is in the background of the Garreg Mach stage.” Palutena pointed out.

“Even that’s more than this overexposed franchise deserves.” Hades said.

“It’s not my fault my series is more popular than yours?” Sothis said smugly.

“Low blow.” Hades said bitterly.

“Just sixteen more years.” Pit muttered, more to himself than anyone. “Just sixteen more years.”

“Returning to Claude.” Palutena said, attempting to ignore the jab, despite it obviously bothering her. “According to my Celestial Super Scanner which is totally a real thing, Claude is mainly a ranged combatant, utilizing various trick arrows to deal damage or cause negative effects such as knocking opponents out.”

“Woah!” Pit said in awe. “Why can’t my arrows do that?”

“Arrows of light can’t be modified.” Palutena said. “Sorry.”

“Aw man.” Pit said, looking down.

2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS


Dimitri

“Woah, this guy looks tough.” Pit said, pointing to a kid with a blue cape.

“He looks like a total dunce.” Hades said.

“Right on both fronts.” Sothis said, snapping her fingers. “Dimitri is one of the most accomplished combatants you’ve ever seen and in a few years he’ll be able to even stand up against Byleth. However, he’s also a bit dense and wouldn’t recognize love if it bit him on the backside.”

“Wow, he is dense.” Hades said. “Even Pitty Pat can recognize love. After all, he almost S-Supported, Lucy.”

Pit turned bright red. “Wh-what… I didn’t… it was just one date!”

Hades laughed maniacally. “Yes, and it was lovely to ruin!”

Viridi crossed her arms and burst into laughter too. “Ah, good times.”

“Sounds hilarious.” Sothis said.

“It was.” Viridi replied with a cocky nod.

Pit groaned in embarrassment. This was almost worse than when Phosphora flirted with him.

2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS

Edelgard

“Ooh, I actually know some stuff about her.” Hades said, pointing to a white haired girl in a red cape. His tone was that of an excited child.

“Don’t you dare!” Viridi shouted, knowing what was coming.

“You see, Edelgard is actually-”

“Nope! No! Don’t say anything!” Viridi shouted, making an X shape with her arms. “Everyone watching, just go play the game!”

“Oh please, this is a Fire Emblem fanfic, I doubt anybody watching this doesn’t know who she really is.” Hades said.

“You don’t know that!” Viridi shouted.

“He’s right, actually.” Sothis said. “The twist was given away in Chapter 2.”

“Grrrrrr…” Viridi growled.

“Yeah, time travel can be a [bleep] like that.” Sothis said. She immediately backpedalled. “Wait, what just happened? What was with that beeping noise?”

“Sorry, sunshine, family friendly show.” Hades said.

Sothis grumbled something about censorship that no amount of bleeping could cover up. Palutena made sure to cover Pit’s ears.

“So, what about fighting tips?” Pit asked when Palutena finally removed her hands from his ears.

“Edelgard is a fearsome combatant.” Palutena said. “Her weapon of choice is an axe. It’s short range, though, so if you keep your distance you should be fine.”

“Or you could just tell her there’s a rat by her feet.” Sothis suggested. “She also has a crush on Byleth.”

“Let me guess, the dummy’s too dense to recognize the crush.” Hades snarked.

“First of all, what did I say about insulting Byleth!?” Sothis said. “Second, she’s perfectly aware but the feeling’s not mutual.” Sothis said. “She used to love messing with Edelgard but that running gag died pretty early on.”

“How does this help me?” Pit asked.

“It doesn’t.” Sothis said. “But its not like you have to fight her.”

“I could push you in if you want.” Hades said, grinning.

“Hades!” Palutena shouted crossly. “You know that’s not allowed!”

“Oh I know.” Hades said, laughing maniacally.

“Well,” Sothis said, yawning. “I should get back to my abode within Byleth’s empty skull.” She stretched. “I’m so tired. Safe travels.” She gave a small wave to the assembled deities (and Pit) and disappeared.

2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS
2Aq4ZqHywXp0N7_Cqq-LMy5q7rJNOUdnzqDePvMzTbYbQPbJdLB4Pa_AQDdPgVuvWsgUUSO5TIoV3w_9CgSQwz7Jxkew1e1ukfE5cr94PNNKXgDViN-4ggkLvQFCyRw5X6BaqBaS

Author’s Note: Sorry to keep YOU waiting! But now that I’m here, LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! Welcome to MY Author’s Note, my lovelies-

Hey! What are you doing here!

Addressing my many fans!

Get out!

But this Author’s Note would be 10 times better with yours truly!

I said get out!

I AM THE GOD OF THE DEAD, BOY!

And I’m the writer! I may not have as much control over you as Masahiro Sakurai or even the Zelda Universe crew, but I can still give you orders! Now get out!

Fine.

Clears throat Sorry about that. So, what’d you think? Glad I got this one out of my system. Maybe now I’ll be able to finish the new chapter 15. And just for the record, they are commenting on Chapter 14’s fight between the Best Friend Squad and the Ashen Wolves. If you want me to do more things like this, just tell me. Remember, this is non-canon. Not even Sothis, with her weird Fourth Wall Breaking ability, will remember this.

If I feel like it, I might make a special ZU and Bulbagarden version with character portraits. Not out of bias, out of FF.Net not letting me.

See you in Chapter 15. Hopefully. Poyo.
 
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Author’s Note: Why hello my fine friends. Sorry I took practically forever to get this chapter out. There was a lot of rewriting and procrastination going on. I was planning on getting this out in, like, January and February. I even had a joke about leftover eggnog prepared. But I can’t do that anymore.

Whatever. Anyways, recently we hit 50 followers on FF.Net (I’m combining both the main fic and Supports but I only count people following both once) and are now over that number (we might have hit 50 followers earlier but one follower was a bot linking to… unsavory content so I didn’t count that).

Now, obviously I have to do something to celebrate that. Obviously that whole Q&A thing was a bust so I had to come up with something else. So I said to myself “You know how I’m always talking about that TV Tropes page. Why don’t I just make it myself.” And so I did. You can find it here.

That’s all for now. Hope you at least enjoyed the drinking game. See you below.

Part One
White Clouds
The Chasm of the Unbound​

Yuri dramatically raised his arms to the ceiling and spread them wide. “This is Abyss!”

The students and their teacher gazed around the cave in awe. Even the most stoic of their group were amazed.

“Woah.” Hilda and Ashe breathed at the same time.

“I concur.” Dimitri said, as the group began walking again. “Woah.”

“To think something this massive lay just beneath our feet and we were unaware of it.” Edelgard said. “Truly incredible.”

“There is no way we’re still under Garreg Mach.” Claude said, as the group began walking again. “This place is just way too big.”

“It is odd, isn’t it.” Yuri answered. “We didn’t travel far so we’re obviously still under Garreg Mach Monastery, but Abyss is much larger than it should logically be.”

“I am certain there is some sort of magic involved.” Constance added. “I have been trying to figure it out since I arrived here, among other projects, but my efforts have yet to bear fruit.”

As they journeyed through the Abyss, the residents of Garret Mach attracted strange looks. Some were fearful, some were curious, and some were angry with just a tinge of murderousness. Nobody approached them, likely because they were traveling with the Ashen Wolves, but the overall feeling they got was one of unwelcomeness.

“So where do we go from here?” Byleth asked.

“We need to plan our next move.” Yuri said. “So we’re going to head to our main base of operations.”

“Ooh. Sounds fancy.” Hilda said.

“Not really.” Happi replied

Hapi was right, their main base of operations was not at all fancy. After about 20 minutes of walking they went down a small and dingey side tunnel and entered a rather depressing looking room. A rat scurried by, causing Edelgard to flinch. Luckily, nobody noticed.

“Here we are, our base of operations.” Yuri said, stretching his arms wide, though less grandiose this time.

“Di immortales, you’re right, this place is depressing.” Claude said, looking around.

“Told you.” Hapi replied.

“Alright, what’s our plan?” Edelgard asked, leaning on a table.

“Straight to business.” Yuri said, smirking. “I like that.”

“The sooner we take care of the problem the sooner we leave here.” Edelgard said, not letting any emotion slip into her voice. “I have a feeling that we are not wanted here.”

“You wound me.” Yuri said overdramatically, placing his hand on his heart. “Don’t worry, they’ll warm up to you.”

“No they won’t.” Hapi said bluntly.

“Okay, no they won’t.” Yuri admitted. He pulled out a map, possibly the largest map Byleth had ever seen, and laid it on a table. “We’ve recently captured one of the mercenaries. We couldn’t get much out of him, we don’t think he knew all that much to begin with, but from what we’ve gathered they’re looking for something in Abyss. Something powerful.”

Hapi looked like she was suppressing the urge to sigh. “That doesn’t really tell us much. There are about five million different powerful relics and artifacts just lying around Abyss.”

“True.” Yuri said. “But I think I’ve found the location of what they’re looking for, at least.” He pointed at the map. “This is a map of Abyss. Of course, Abyss is so large that mapping the entire place would take an eternity, but we’re still trying.” He pointed to a circle on the map. “Anyways, based off the locations of the incidents, we’ve managed to triangulate a general area in which the mercs are searching.”

“Impressive.” Edelgard said, arms crossed.

“That’s not all.” Yuri said. “We think we’ve managed to pinpoint the location of the item they’re after, the only location they haven’t searched.” He pointed to a spot in the center of the circle. It was completely blank with no detail of any kind. “Right here.”

“Why is it blank?” Hilda asked.

“Because we have no idea what’s there.” Yuri said.

“Oh great.” Linhardt said sarcastically. “Not only are we going somewhere that is likely highly dangerous, we don’t even know what we might run into.”

Dimitri rubbed his chin. “If only we knew what artifact they’re after. Then we might have an idea of what we’re walking into.”

“We do have one lead.” Hapi said. “Remember.”

“Oh right.” Yuri said. “One of the mercs said they were after a cup of some sort.”

“Like the Holy Grail?” Ashe asked, stars in his eyes.

“Ashe, you do realize the Holy Grail isn’t real.” Edelgard pointed out.

“The Professor wields a sword more powerful than almost any other weapon in existence and you think the Holy Grail is fake?” Ashe retorted.

“Ashe is right.” Byleth said, laying a hand on the Sword of the Creator. “Some stories are more real than we think.” She winked.

“Still.” Edelgard said. “I doubt they’re after the Holy Grail. So what are they after.”

“The Chalice of Beginnings.” A voice said from the doorway.

Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Standing in the door was a kindly, if tired looking, man with red robes. He looked strangely familiar.

“Aelfric!” Constance exclaimed. “How lovely to see you!” She paused. “Though I must ask, what are you doing here?”

“I was just passing through when I overheard your conversation.” The man explained.

“Uh, excuse me but who are you?” Dimitri asked.

“Yes, some introductions would be nice.” Edelgard added.

“Oh, my apologies.” The man said. He bowed. “My name is Aelfric, I am an important figure within the Church of Seiros.”

“I thought Abyssians didn’t like the Church.” Dimitri said.

“We don’t.” Hapi said. “Elfie is an exception.”

“It was his idea to establish the Ashen Wolves.” Constance explained.

“You know, I feel like I’ve heard the name Aelfric before.” Byleth said, resting her right elbow on her left arm and placing her palm on her left cheek. “Not to mention you look awfully familiar.”

“You look quite familiar yourself.” Aelfric replied.

From within Byleth’s head, Sothis sighed. “He’s Jeralt’s friend. Remember. The one who thought you were Leonie.”

Byleth snapped her fingers. “That’s right! I remember now! You’re Jeralt’s friend!”

“You remember?" Sothis snarked.

(What do you want me to do, tell them the 8 year old who lives in my head reminded me.) Byleth pointed out.

“I’m 9 and a half.” Sothis protested as if it mattered.

“Oh, yes, I remember now too.” Aelfric said. “You’re Jeralt’s daughter. Uh… what was your name again?”

“My name is Byleth.” Byleth answered. She gestured to her students. “And these are my students: Ashe, Claude, Dimitri, Edelgard, Hilda, and Linhardt.”

Aelfric nodded. “Nice to meet all of you. Especially you, Byleth. I was good friends with your parents.”

Before Byleth could respond to this, Edelgard cut in.

“So, you were saying something about a chalice.” She said.

“Ah, right.” Aelfric said. “Like I said, I overheard your conversation and I think the mercenaries you were fighting are looking for the Chalice of Beginnings. According to what little is known about it, the Chalice of Beginnings was an artifact used by Saint Seiros in an attempt to bring about the rebirth of the Goddess.”

Byleth’s eyes widened and she jerked back. She didn’t know it, but in her head Sothis did the same.

“What did he just say!” The goddess herself shouted.

“Rebirth?” Byleth asked. “As in, they were trying to bring Sothis back to life?”

“Yes, that’s right, though I have to ask you not to say the Goddess’ name in vain.” Aelfric said. “Very few people know this, but the Chalice of Beginnings actually served as the inspiration for the story of the Holy Grail. So in a way, your friend was right.” He gestured to Ashe who smiled proudly.

“But that’s ridiculous!” Edelgard protested. “You can’t bring the dead back to life!”

“Well, yes, that would be why the Goddess is still dead and we are standing here talking about it.” Aelfric pointed out. “The ritual failed. Catastrophically. Afterwards the Chalice was hidden away in the Chasm of the Unbound.”

“So whoever the mercs are working for wants to raise the dead.” Yuri said, stroking his chin.

“Hold on a second.” Byleth interjected. “How do you know all this?”

“Being one of the higher ups in the Church has its advantages.” Aelfric said, a twinkle in his eye. “Technically, I shouldn’t really be telling you about this, but if someone is after it for potentially malevolent purposes, you need to know.”

Everyone nodded in understanding.

“So what now?” Claude asked.

“Isn’t it obvious.” Yuri said. “We find the Chalice before the mercs do and destroy it.”

“Destroy it!?” Constance shouted, throwing her arms in the air. “But an artifact of such power deserves to be studied! This could be my chance to regain my house’s noble status!”

“I agree with Yuri.” Edelgard said. “Whether this Chalice can raise the dead or not it’s obviously too dangerous to continue existing.”

Linhardt raised his finger. “While I completely understand where you're coming from, I agree with Constance that the Chalice has to be studied. Besides, the odds of recreating whatever catastrophe happened when the Chalice was first used are exponentially low.”

“You don’t know that.” Edelgard countered.

“Well, I highly doubt we’re going to attempt to raise the dead any time soon.” Linhardt pointed out.

“I can name a few people in Garreg Mach who might try.” Claude said.

“Same with Abyss.” Yuri added.

“This is interesting.” Sothis said. “So Seiros tried to resurrect me.”

(But she failed, meaning you should be dead.) Byleth said.

“So someone must have tried to resurrect me again and succeeded.” Sothis concluded.

(For a certain definition of the word.) Byleth said. (They kind of forgot to give you your own body.)

“Yes, that’s true.” Sothis said. “Somehow I wound up sharing a spot in your body.”

(Now the question is who, or what, tried to resurrect you.) Byleth said.

“That is a very good question.” Sothis agreed. “But we don’t have time for that right now.”

Byleth nodded. (Right.) Out loud she said. “We can decide what to do with the Chalice once we get it. But first we need to get it. Especially before those mercs do.”

“Byleth is right.” Yuri said. “Ashen Wolves, gear up. We leave immediately.”

“Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, you do likewise.” Byleth added.

The Ashen Wolves and Garreg Mach students affirmed their understanding and began preparing for their departure. Except for Linhardt and Hilda who were asleep and just lazy respectively.

“Well, I’d best leave you all to it.” Aelfric said, turning to leave. “Nice to meet all of you.”

Before Aelfric could leave, Byleth put a hand on his shoulder. “Hold on a second. Earlier you said you knew my parents. Plural. Does that mean you knew my mom.”

Aelfric turned around. “Well, yes. But I don’t see what that has to do with-”

“I need you to tell me everything you know about her!” Byleth said, cutting him off.

“I don’t see how that’s relevant to-” Aelfric began before being cut off by Byleth again.

“It’s relevant to me!” She insisted.

Aelfric shook his head and sighed. “Jeralt’s going to kill me for this.”

“Jeralt should be involved with this too.” Byleth said. “I’m sure there’s a lot he’s not telling me.”

“Not to criticize your teaching skills.” Yuri said from behind her. “But isn’t it a bit irresponsible to leave your students alone to go on a dangerous mission without supervision.”

“He’s right, you know.” Sothis agreed. Inside Byleth’s head she was crossing her arms.

Byleth turned around and sighed. She knew it was true but “This is very important to me.” She said in response to both Yuri and her brain squatter. “And I know my students. They can take care of themselves.” She pointed at the three house leaders. “Claude, Edelgard, Dimitri. You’re in charge. Maybe try to work on your teamwork while I’m gone.”

“You can count on us, Teach.” Claude said, bumping his fist against his chest.

Byleth smiled cheerily and waved. “Well, I’m off to learn about my past. Be good while I’m gone.”

And with that, she and Aelfric left the room before warping to Abyss’ entrance.

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“So this is the Chasm of the Unbound.” Yuri said, looking out across the rocky field.

It had taken a while to get to the Chasm. Abyss was twisty and hard to navigate even by a native with a map. Still, they had made it there eventually.

Claude glanced upwards. Spanning the Chasm was the bridge from the Monastery to the Cathedral. Despite this, the field was still bathed in sunlight. “Seriously? This was right below us the whole time? I mean, I get that Abyss was hidden, secret passages and all, but you’d think somebody would have flown down here to take a look.”

“It must be some sort of magic.” Constance suggested, raising her finger. “I propose we study it.”

“Later.” Yuri said. “We still have a magic chalice to find.”

“Of course.” Constance said.

“So where is the chalice?” Balthus asked.

“Well, I would say that large glowing rock is a good place to start looking.” Edelgard suggested, pointing to the opposite side of the field where there was indeed a large glowing rock.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty good guess.” Yuri agreed. He stepped forward. “Let’s go.”

Constance put her hand up. “Hold for a moment, Yuri. Could I perhaps remain here?”

“Hm, why?” Yuri asked. He glanced across the field and realized the problem. “Oh.”

“Oh? What is oh?” Edelgard asked.

“It is of no importance.” Constance insisted.

“It seems pretty important if it takes someone who I assume is one of our most powerful players off the board.” Claude responded.

“I agree with Claude.” Edelgard said. “Again.” She added, sounding annoyed.

“Fine!” Constance said, crossing her arms. “If you insist, I shall step into the sunlight.” She stepped forward.

“Coco, nobody’s insisting anything.” Hapi said, though she didn't sigh it was definitely implied.

Constance ignored her. She stepped into the sunlight and immediately slouched over. “Oh, I am so sorry.” She said, sounding much more depressed. “I was very rude. You all probably hate me now.”

“I… huh?” Hilda huh’d, confused. Constance’s personality had done a complete 180.

“When Coco is in the sun, she gets depressed like this.” Hapi explained. “It’s why she lives underground.”

“Come on Constance, enough with the self doubt, yeah.” Balthus said stepping into the sun and patting Constance’s back, causing her to stumble slightly. “Just put one foot in front of the other and everything will be fine.”

“I request that you not do that.” Constance said sullenly. “You’ll dirty your hands from touching my filthy back.”

“Di immortales, she’s really down on herself.” Claude said.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Dimitri asked.

“Not really.” Yuri said. “All we can really do until she gets back in the shade is make sure she keeps going forward.” He beckoned to the others. “Now come on.”

The group approached the glowing rock. As they did so, a sense of unease fell over them. Some of them recognized the source of the unease immediately: this was too easy. And they were right.

When they got about halfway to the rock, the ground started shaking. Magic swirled around the rock and formed into spectral warriors brandishing wicked swords and sturdy shields.

“Well that’s not good.” Hilda said, stating the obvious.

“These guys don’t look too tough.” Balthus said, slamming his hand into his fist. “This should be no problem, yeah.”

Unfortunately, the magic wasn’t done. It continued swirling, creating two bigger, more intimidating figures. They had spindly arms and seemed to be wearing dresses which could have been comical if their movements and face didn’t cause them to slam dunk into the Uncanny Valley.

“Di immortales.” Claude breathed, staring up at the monsters.

“On second thought, this might be a problem.” Balthus amended.

“Can we go now?” Hilda asked, preparing to bolt.

One of the massive figures threw a rock at the group. They dodged it, some of them just barely, and took refuge back at the entrance to the Chasm. Immediately, the spectral warriors and giant… things stopped attacking.

“Interesting.” Linhardt said, rubbing his chin. “Those warriors must only attack those within the Chasm.”

“So that means we can go, right?” Hilda asked.

“Absolutely not!” Constance shouted, startling Hilda. She appeared to have recovered from her sun induced funk. “We must get that Chalice! All we need is a plan!” She slammed her fist into her hand in a very Balthus-like manner.

“Like what?” Hapi asked. “Face it Coco, we’re pretty outmatched here.”

“Why not utilize your abilities?” Constance asked Hapi. “Or, in Yuri’s words, “do your thing?””

“I can’t.” Hapi said. “Something is keeping any living non-human creature from coming anywhere near this place.” Linhardt opened his mouth to ask about Hapi’s “abilities” but Hapi just held her hand up. “Not the time.”

“So we’re screwed.” Yuri said.

Suddenly, Edelgard had an idea. She thought back to the first mission she and the Black Eagles had ever been on with Byleth. “Actually, I may have a solution.” She said. “Do any of you have any rope?”

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On Edelgard’s signal, the 10 of them leaped into action. Dimitri pole vaulted over the rock and let loose on the spectral knights, closely followed by Balthus and Edelgard as well as Constance who did not follow so closely. It didn’t take long to turn into a body count contest. The three were pretty evenly matched but Edelgard had a slight edge over the other two because of her axe and her speed. Constance, now in a sun induced funk, did not join in.

While they took care of the warriors, Hilda had a different task: distracting one of the big doll things.

“Why do I have to be the bait!” She cried as she dodged the puppet thing’s swinging hand. She got no answer.

The thing was surprisingly fast for its size. And judging by the large crater where Hilda had been a few seconds ago, it was really strong too.

No matter. All she had to do was follow the plan and she'd be fine, right? She immediately discarded that train of thought. There was no way she’d be fine.

As if to demonstrate this, the doll swung again, nearly decapitating her. While it didn't, it did manage to barely graze her head which in giant doll terms translates to giving her a good whack, which caused her to stumble forward. Thankfully, she quickly regained her bearings but she was definitely going to have a massive, concussion induced headache once the adrenalin keeping her going wore off.

Lucky for Hilda, her days of bait-ness would soon come to an end for the time being as she reached the spot, a wide area between two bushes, she was leading the puppet too, meeting up with Yuri, who was being bait for the other puppet.

“Nice to see you.” Yuri quipped.

Hilda didn’t even deign that with a response. Instead she just gave him a death glare, which wasn’t particularly effective.

The two dolls approached at high speeds, finally reaching the point Hilda and Yuri had been leading them too.

“Now!” Yuri shouted.

Out of the bushes shot two arrows with ropes attached. Each arrow split in two, revealing an extremely large rope that wrapped around the dolls, causing them to trip and fall, almost crushing Hilda before Yuri managed to pull her away.

“Hapi!” Yuri shouted.

Hapi jumped out of another bush and brought down two dark spikes straight through the dolls’ necks, severing their heads from their bodies. As soon as the heads were severed, the spectral warriors all collapsed and Claude and Ashe popped out of the bushes.

“I have to admit, I wasn’t entirely sure that would work.” Ashe said.

Claude walked over and inspected the rope tied around the doll. “Neither did I.” He admitted. “These modified bolo arrows were a real rush job.”

“If you didn't think it would work, why did we go along with it?” Hilda shouted, frustrated. She winced at how loud she sounded and rubbed her forehead. Seemed like that concussion was finally kicking in. “I’m going to sit down now.” She stated and promptly did just that.

“We went along with it,” Claude explained in a lowered voice. “Because nobody had any better ideas.”

“What matters is it worked.” Edelgard said, walking over and putting her hands on her hips. “We have defeated… whatever these are and their spectral soldiers.”

Hilda simply groaned.

“If you lot are done talking, we should grab the Chalice and get out of here.” Yuri called from over by the stone.

“Ah, yes, right.” Edelgard said.

Everyone except Hilda and Linhardt, who was attempting to at the very least ease the pain of Hilda’s concussion, crowded around the stone. It seemed to be a normal stone except for the magical glow.

“I don’t see a Chalice.” Hapi said.

“Perhaps we have the wrong place.” Constance stated glumly. “I can only assume that it was my fault.”

Yuri placed his hand on the rock. “No, I’m pretty sure this is the right place.”

Suddenly, the stone lit up brighter and an image of Yuri’s crest appeared both on the rock and on Yuri’s chest. Then, one by one three more crests appeared on the stone as well as on the chests of the three other Ashen Wolves. Just as quickly, the images dissipated and the stone cracked open revealing the Chalice of Beginnings.

Yuri gingerly took the Chalice out of the rock and held it so that everyone could see it.

“Huh.” Hapi said. “I was expecting it to be more impressive.”

“What do you mean?” Claude asked. “It’s pretty fancy, isn’t it?”

“Well yeah.” Hapi replied. “But I was sort of expecting it to glow with magic power or something.”

“Enough.” Edelgard said. “We have the Chalice, let us leave before something else goes wrong.”

Of course, at that moment, something else went wrong. All the parts from the spectral warriors and the doll things lifted into the air and began swirling around the group. They began to connect to each other in order to build something. And that something turned out to be a giant doll thing twice the size of both previous doll things combined.

“Oh come on!” Hilda shouted.

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Author’s Note: I was not expecting Hilda to be as prominent in this arc as she has been. Seriously she’s gotten a lot of lines in both this and the previous chapter. She’s also probably out of character, all things considered. But whatever. Hope you enjoyed this chapter that took god knows how long to complete. I won't jinx it by saying the next one will be out sooner but we can definitely hope.

And… that’s about all I’ve got to say. Adios.
 
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Author’s Note: This chapter is dedicated to Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Professor Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, Legion, Admiral David Anderson, and everyone else who died fighting the Reaper threat.

But most of all, it’s dedicated to Commander Shepard, who defeated Saren, ended the Collectors, killed several Reapers, and, most importantly, brought a feuding galaxy together against a common threat.

Rest in Peace Commander. Rest in Peace, all of you.

So… uh… yeah, in case you couldn’t tell I finished the Mass Effect Trilogy a few days ago and I am not happy! Why did it have to end like that! She should have lived! After everything she did she deserved to live!

[Sigh] Well, at least I’m not crying like I did when I first finished the game.

So, yeah. This chapter is dedicated to a bunch of fictional characters. If I missed anybody (not counting Kaiden, Wrex, Conrad Verner, or any of the potential deaths during the second game’s Suicide Mission) let me know.

Alright, on to actual business. I don’t have much, actually. I do want to give a shout out to three of my followers: Eternal Wanderer, FallenFrenzy, and Primordial Knight. You guys have really cool names and I wanted you to know that.

Part One
White Clouds
Family Matters​

Jeralt had a bad feeling from the moment he woke up. Generally, he wasn’t one to pay attention to bad feelings. They were usually just that: feelings. Nothing more, nothing less (well, sometimes they indicated that he was ill but that didn’t happen often).

However, this bad feeling was different. It was a feeling of dread that told him something life changing was happening soon and he wasn’t going to like it. And this feeling of dread came to a head when his daughter burst into his office.

“We need to talk!” She said forcefully.

“About what?” He asked, not looking up.

“About mom.” Byleth responded, crossing her arms.

And there it was. The thing he had been dreading. For the first time in a long time, he was going to have to talk about Sitri.

“I apologize Jeralt.” Said a voice Jeralt recognized as Aelfric. A second later the man himself entered the room. “This is my fault.”

Jeralt sighed and stood up. “Alright kid, if you wanna know about your mother, we'll need to find a secluded spot.”

“That’s easy.” Byleth said. “I still remember where the Abyss entrance we found is.”

Jeralt stroked his chin. “Abyss? Haven’t heard that in a long time.”

“You’ve been to Abyss?” Byleth asked.

“That's another thing we need to be in private to discuss.” Jeralt said.

“Well, alright.” Byleth said. “Let's go already.”

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It had been night outside when Byleth and her students first entered Abyss. However, it had been daytime when she and Aelfric exited the underground which meant either Abyss had some sort of magic time dilation effect or Byleth’s own sense of time was awful. Given that she could never wake up on time without help, it was likely the latter.

It was still daytime when she, Jeralt, and Aelfric entered the tunnel. They made their way through it until they found themselves in the larger tunnel the Best Friend Squad had fought the Ashen Wolves in. There were still some arrows lying around and a scorch mark or two on the walls.

“What happened here?” Jeralt asked.

Byleth flipped her hand dismissively. “Small skirmish, nothing to worry about, no real injuries.” She pointed at Jeralt. “Now spill. Tell me everything about mom.”

Jeralt sighed. “Alright. Your mother, Sitri, was a wonderful person. In many ways the two of you are very similar. She was stoic… like you used to be but when me and Aelfric were around she was full of energy and had a… sense of humor...” He trailed off, likely trying to find the right words to describe said sense of humor.

“How bad was it?” Byleth asked.

“Let’s just say that we tried our best to keep her and Alois from being in the same room as each other.” Jeralt said.

Byleth nodded. That was bad.

“Anyway,” Aelfric said. “Both of us, Jeralt and I, were in love with her. But we weren’t about to let that ruin our friendship so we agreed that whichever one of us won her heart the other would be happy for him.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Of course, it never occurred to us that she might like someone else or not like anyone at all but we were young and foolish.”

Jeralt chuckled. “Yeah, young.”

“Is that all you’ve got?” Byleth asked.

“Well,” Aelfric said dreamily. “I could tell you about how beautiful she looked. She… actually didn't look all that much like you now that I think about it. Aside from both being of small stature” Byleth let out an indignant “Hey!” which Aelfric ignored. “you don’t look much alike at all. Your eyes and hair are different and she was much less…” He trailed off, glancing at Byleth’s chest.

“Busty?” Byleth suggested. “Gifted? Well endowed?”

“Er… yes.” Aelfric said, chuckling embarrassedly.

“Here’s an idea.” Jeralt interjected before things got awkward. “Why don’t I tell you a story about your mother.”

Byleth held her hand up. “Er, no offense Jeralt but you’re terrible at telling stories. Which is honestly a shame because the stories you could tell from our mercenary days are awesome.”

“Your “mercenary days” were six months ago.” Sothis pointed out.

(From our point of view they were six years ago.) Byleth countered.

Aelfric chuckled at Byleth’s comment towards Jeralt. “Well, lucky for us I'm an excellent storyteller.” He cleared his throat. “This is the story of Jeralt and Sitri’s first date…”

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As usual, Sitri was in the library. To the outside observer it seemed like she did nothing but read. And they wouldn't necessarily be wrong. But reading wasn’t all Sitri was doing. She was also studying magic.

Yes, as a nun she was privy to much knowledge of white magic but in her mind it was nothing useful. Yes, she could heal people but she never did because nobody let her because all but two people (sometimes three depending on how Lady Rhea was feeling that day) viewed her as a weak, fragile girl who shouldn’t be overexerting herself (the girl part was especially insulting considering how she was a grown woman) and while she did have some sort of unidentified condition it wasn’t so bad she couldn't heal a minor wound.

Her condition actually was the reason she was studying magic. If she could find a way to make herself stronger or increase her constitution then maybe people would stop treating her as a delicate flower in need of protecting and more like an equal who can stand beside them. Being able to shoot lightning out of her fingertips would just be a bonus.

Suddenly, without warning, large arms surrounded her. Normally she might freak out but she recognized these arms. They were the arms of Jeralt, one of the aforementioned two people who treated her like a normal person.

“Hey.” Jeralt said, releasing her from the hug. It had been a light hug because despite the rant about not being a delicate flower, a full on hug from Jeralt would break multiple bones in her body, likely very important ones.

She smiled and turned to face her friend. “Jeralt! Hi!” She always brightened up when he was around.

“Hello, I’m here too.” A voice said mildly from across the table. She instantly recognized it as the voice of Aelfric, the second person who treated her normally.

She turned to face him. “Hi, Aelfric!”

He had taken a seat across from her but was fidgeting awkwardly, like he wasn’t sure if he should keep sitting or stand back up.

“What are you doing here?” She asked the two of them.

“I’m here to take you on that date I promised.” Jeralt explained.

“And I'm here to supervise.” Aelfric added.

Sitri rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek, adopting a thinking position her yet-to-be-conceived daughter would later frequently use. She flashed back to yesterday when Jeralt had asked her out on a date (a flashback within a flashback). She recalled saying yes.

“Oh. But it’s a bit early for dinner, isn’t it?”

Jeralt laughed. “I’m not taking you out for dinner. I’m taking you on an adventure.”

“I don’t see how.” Sitri said. “I’ve been to every part of the Monastery. And if I leave, I’m sure Lady Rhea will panic. And probably put 5 guards on me at all times, at least.”

Nobody denied this. Rhea was really overprotective of Sitri.

“She doesn't have to know.” Jeralt said.

“And if she does find out, I’m here as a chaperone.” Aelfric added, smiling kind heartedly. “Let’s see if we can knock that number of guards down to 2 if we get caught.”

Sitri giggled. “I think that’s being a bit optimistic. I say we keep our expectations level and go for 3 guards.”

“Personally, I’m in favor of not getting caught and having no guards be assigned to you.” Jeralt said. “Now come on, let’s go.”

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It wasn't hard to sneak out of the Monastery. Jeralt was the Captain of the Knights of Seiros after all and knew all their patrol patterns. As such, they were out of the Monastery and into the woods in no time.

“So what's next?” Sitri asked.

“Well,” Jeralt said. “A while ago I found an amazing spring. I figured we could go find that. But it won’t be easy.”

Sitri flexed her fingers. “I’m ready for anything that comes our way!”

Jeralt grinned. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They traveled off the beaten path and deeper into the woods. Jeralt used his axe to cut through the dense underbrush. Personally, he preferred spears but they aren’t as good at chopping away plants as axes.

“You know, if we’re an adventuring party, we should have a name.” Sitri said, adopting her thinking pose. “How about… the Best Friend Squad!”

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Byleth broke out into laughter. She laughed so hard she could barely stand, having to brace herself against the cave wall to keep from collapsing.

“What’s so funny.” Aelfric asked hesitantly.

“Nothing, nothing at all.” Byleth replied, her laughter having died down into chuckles. “Keep going.”

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“We are not calling ourselves the Best Friend Squad.” Jeralt protested.

“I agree with Jeralt on this one.” Aelfric agreed.

“Too late, we’re the Best Friend Squad now.” Sitri said cheerfully.

Jeralt sighed but his exasperation quickly faded away as the trees began clearing away and the spring came into view. It was as beautiful as he had said it was. There was just one problem, someone, or rather something, had gotten there before them. Sleeping in the spring was a giant wolf.

“Son of a bitch.” Jeralt muttered.

“By the goddess, it’s adorable!” Sitri shouted, clasping her hands together. “Also, language!”

“I apologize for interjecting but that thing is not cute.” Aelfric said in a hushed voice. “These wolves are very territorial and attack anyone or anything they think is encroaching on their territory. What’s more, their claws can shred through even the thickest of armor.”

“Aelfric’s right.” Jeralt said. “These things can do a lot of damage.

Sitri pouted. “That’s too bad, I would have loved to pet it.”

“I guess our date is off.” Jeralt said sadly.

The three turned to go but, unfortunately, Jeralt stepped on a twig. It let out a loud cracking sound, the kind that can only happen in stories.

“Shit.” Jeralt said matter of factly.

The wolf’s eyes shot open. It slowly climbed out of the water and shook itself dry. The Best Friend Squad Classic raised their arms to cover themselves but still got drenched.

“Well, this is going to be difficult to explain to Lady Rhea.” Aelfric said, looking down at his drenched clothes.

“We’ll worry about that later!” Jeralt shouted. “Get down!”

The three of them hit the deck just as the Wolf pounced. It flew over their heads and skidded to a stop at the edge of the clearing, growling. Unfortunately, that meant it was blocking their only way out.

“Looks like we’re going to have to fight.” Jeralt said, standing up and drawing his axe.

“I’ve probably said this before but… you're crazy.” Aelfric said, brushing the dirt off his clothes. Not that it did much good since they were soaked already.

“But he’s right.” Sitri replied.

“I know and I hate it.” Aelfric said.

Jeralt let out a battle cry and charged the wolf. He dropped to the ground and slid under it, slicing across its underbelly. Unfortunately, this did minimal damage as it's hide was as thing underneath as it was up top.

“Huh? That usually works.” Jeralt said, confused.

“Only with weapons like those used by the Knights of Seiros.” Aelfric explained. “Which, you unfortunately, left back at the Monastery.”

The wolf roared and swiped its humongous tail, catching Jeralt in the stomach and flinging him into a tree.

“Jeralt!” Sitri cried.

Jeralt stood up carefully, grinning. “I’m fine. It’ll take more than a tail to defeat me.” He slumped back down. This was what he got for not wearing armor on a date.

Sitri let out a cry of anger. “You son of a bitch!” She shouted uncharacteristically.

The air around her turned electric. She raised her hands and forcibly pushed them towards the wolf. Bolts of lightning burst out of them and struck the wolf, who roared in pain.

The wolf immediately turned tail and ran, crashing through the woods. It was a smart creature that knew better than to stick around when someone was throwing lightning bolts at it.

Once the wolf was gone the air around Sitri returned to normal and she slumped over a bit, breathing heavily. Aelfric hurried to her side.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Fine.” She replied, holding up a hand. “How’s Jeralt?”

“I’m good.” Jeralt said, slowly making his way over from the tree. An improvement from earlier. “Aelfric gave me some healing while you were throwing lightning. That was pretty great, by the way.”

Sitri ran over to Jeralt and pointed upward at him. “I swear to the goddess you better bring better weapons and armor on our next date!”

“Um… okay.” Jeralt said. “Wait, next date?”

Sitri grabbed him by the shirt collar, forcing him to bend down to her eye level, and kissed him.

“Good.” She said once she released him, walking off smugly.

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“And that's the story of Jeralt and Sitri’s first date.” Aelfric concluded. “Uh, are you okay, Byleth.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Byleth said, wiping the look of mild disgust off her face. “I know I’m a grown woman and the idea of my parents kissing really shouldn’t gross me out but… it grosses me out.”

Aelfric nodded. “Right, anyways, after that we went back to the monastery and managed to convince Lady Rhea we fell in a fountain.”

“Personally, I think she was just having a bad day and didn't want to deal with us.” Jeralt interrupted.

“Yes, that does seem plausible.” Aelfric said. “So, does that answer your questions?”

“Well, yeah I guess.” Byleth said, shrugging. “Except for how you’ve been to Abyss.” She pointed at Jeralt.

“That is a very long story.” Jeralt said. “One I’d rather not tell today.”

“Good.” Sothis said. “The last thing we need is another chapter of this.”

“Fine.” Byleth said. “But you will tell me that story someday.”

“Hopefully off screen.” Sothis snarked.

“Well, I suppose I do have to get back to my students.” Byleth said.

Suddenly, she felt something. Someone, no, multiple someones were hiding in the shadows. And they were about to attack.

“Watch out!” She and Jeralt, who had also felt it, shouted.

Both of them whipped out their weapons and blocked the strikes of the attackers hiding in the shadows. Byleth disarmed her opponent with the Sword of the Creator, sending his sword flying, while Jeralt broke the sword of the guy he was fighting with his spear. Then both of them knocked their attackers down with a single kick.

“Who are these guys?” Aelfric asked, ducking as an arrow from a third attacker flew over his head.

“Mercenaries, probably.” Jeralt said, throwing his spear at the arrow guy. “No doubt sent here to kill one of us. Probably you.”

“Me? Why me?” Aelfric asked incredulously.

The arrow merc ducked under Jeralt’s. He quickly stood back up and laughed mockingly. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t notice Byleth charging him until it was too late and she punched him in the face.

“Jeralt and I are legends throughout the mercenary world.” Byleth explained, tossing Jeralt his spear in time for him to knock a merc away with the blunt end. “No merc would be stupid enough to take a bounty for us. But you? Not only are you an important figure in both the Church and Abyss, you’re also, and I apologize for my bluntness, an easy target.”

“She’s right.” Jeralt agreed. “In fact, the only reason I can think of for this particular fight is a distraction.” Jeralt suddenly stopped, backhanding a merc without noticing. “Oh shit.”

With perfect comedic and/or dramatic timing, a merc grabbed Aelfric from behind. Before Byleth and Jeralt could chase after him, the merc disappeared into the shadows.

Byleth clutched her head. “Dammit, this is my fault.”

Jeralt placed his hands on her shoulder. “No, it's my fault. I requested we go somewhere private.”

“But we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me.” Byleth protested.

“It doesn’t matter whose fault it was.” Jeralt said. “We need to rescue Aelfric.”

Byleth took a deep breath and nodded. “Right. Let’s go find my students, they should be able to help.” She ran off down the corridor and gestured for Jeralt to follow. “Come on, I think I remember the way!”

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gYRjwMjilfgg2FiXwWRAdZ4sBRBx3Q1t8iroaSmp9A3Hu7zDUqEzkWU9nlfEwJAz6osxFSPrYkXr_GsFcEsPtyBEno4i4SmJbl_yYKTH6QbnG-z2QZDVM3fw4bJJTz8zTyrMrBsg=s0
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Author’s Note: And that’s my attempt at writing a relationship. Or, at least, the beginning of a relationship. I realize this chapter isn’t much and could probably get relegated to a Support under normal circumstances but I needed to get Jeralt in the story somehow and important stuff does happen at the end. At least Sothis is funny, right?

Also, I figured I should let you know that, though Aelfric is telling the story, that is my narration.
 
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