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TEEN: Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Fifth Path

Author’s Note: Chapter 17. Pretty neat. Nice to finally be back on a semi-consistent schedule of not releasing chapters seven months after the previous chapter. I would like to give a belated thanks to a reviewer named NatsukiWrites (hope I spelled that right) for suggesting that I call what I am currently calling Elemental Magic and the game calls Black Magic as Anima Magic, a term used in the GBA games. I like the idea and will very much consider it though if I do decide to do it I may not change things until after completing the fic.

I… swear I had more to say than this. Uh… see you below.

Part One
White Clouds
The Most Dangerous Mercenary in Fodlan​

“This is not good.” Yuri said.

“Gee, you think.” Hapi deadpanned.

After hours of running from the giant doll things involving much opening and closing of gates (or, as Linhardt aptly put it, “Run through this gate, open that one, run through another one. Sheesh. That’s enough gates to last me a lifetime”). Even after they were sure they had lost the thing they still kept running until they were in the relative safety of the Ashen Wolves’ base, panting heavily. Unfortunately, as soon as they got to the base a new trouble arose to replace their old one: a note had been left on a table stating that whoever sent it had kidnapped Aelfric and would kill him unless the Chalice of Beginnings was delivered to the ruins of the old chapel on the outskirts of Garreg Mach. It was signed only with two curved slashes.

“What do we do?” Ashe asked.

Balthus slammed his fist into his hand. “Isn’t it obvious, we go rescue him.”

“Yes!” Constance agreed, having returned to her bombastic self. “These ruffians will rue the day they laid their hands on Aelfric!”

Hilda winced and held her head in her hands. “Please… take it down a notch.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Constance asked.

“She has a concussion.” Linhardt explained, using magic to ease Hilda’s pain. “She’s extremely sensitive to noise right now.”

“Oh.” Constance said. “I apologize. I’ll endeavor to lower the volume of my gloriousness in the future.”

“Wait.” Edelgard interjected, holding up a hand. “Isn’t it a bit odd they knew we had the Chalice? Or that we were looking for it in the first place.”

Yuri scowled. “You’re right. I smell a rat.”

“Well it’s not any of us.” Hapi said, gesturing to the Ashen Wolves.

“Yeah, we’d never betray each other.” Balthus said, crossing his arms proudly.

“I doubt it’s one of us, either.” Dimitri said. “We haven’t been separated from you since we arrived. Not to mention, I see no motive for any of us to leak information to potential kidnappers.”

“What about that professor of yours.” Yuri suggested. “She was here when we discussed the Chalice and she left with Aelfric.”

“How dare you!” Edelgard shouted, making Hilda wince once again. “The Professor would never do something like that!”

“Yes, if there’s one thing we agree on it’s that the Professor would never do something like that.” Dimitri agreed.

“Looking at the evidence, she’s the only one who could've done it.” Yuri pointed out.

“You don't know Teach like we do.” Claude rebutted. “And she would never rat us out to some no good kidnappers. She has a bit of a saving people thing.”

Suddenly, as if summoned, Byleth and Jeralt burst through the door, clearly in distress.

“Class! Ashen Wolves! We need your help!” Byleth shouted.

Hilda groaned again and laid her head on the table, giving up.

“Professor! Jeralt!” Dimitri shouted in surprise. “What’s wrong!”

“Aelfric’s been kidnapped.” Byleth explained.

There was a silent beat.

“We knew that already.” Hapi said.

Byleth raised an eyebrow. “You did?”

“Yeah, we found this ransom note.” Yuri explained, handing the aforementioned note to Byleth. “Don’t know who sent it, though.”

Byleth and Jeralt looked over the note. The handwriting was worryingly familiar. They only got more worried as they reached the bottom of the letter and saw the curved slashes.

“Shit.” They said at the same time.

Byleth handed the note back to Yuri. “We know who kidnapped Aelfric.”

“Who?” Everyone except Hilda asked.

“Metodey.” She and Jeralt said at the same time. Their voices dripped with disgust.

The Ashen Wolves, Claude, and Edelgard exchanged combined worried/disgusted looks. The fact that even Edelgard, who either had or would hire the guy, was disgusted said something about how horrible he was.

“Um, pardon my ignorance but who’s Metodey?” Ashe asked.

“You know how Jeralt is the most powerful mercenary in Fodlan?” Byleth asked rhetorically, jabbing her thumb at Jeralt. “Metodey is the most dangerous mercenary in Fodlan. Whereas Jeralt and his band have principles and a code, and even guys like Kostis have lines they won’t cross, Metodey’s a complete sociopath.”

“He has no morals, no empathy for others, and kills for the fun of it.” Jeralt exposited. “But worst of all, he uses being a mercenary as an excuse for every terrible thing he’s done. The only reason anybody hires him is because he’s effective and cheap.”

“How absolutely horrible.” Ashe said.

“That sums it up pretty well.” Byleth agreed.

“Well, it doesn't matter.” Yuri said. “We still have to rescue Aelfric. At least now we know who we’re up against.”

“You’re right, kid.” Jeralt said. “All of you, gear up. We’re gonna need to be at our best to face down this bastard. Once all of you are prepared, I’ll explain the plan.”

Yet another silence fell upon the room.

“Who are you?” Hapi asked, monotonous as ever.

Byleth rubbed the back of her head. “Oh, sorry. I forgot introductions.” She gestured to Jeralt. “ Ashen Wolves, this is my father Jeralt, sometimes known as the Blade Breaker.” She gestured to the Ashen Wolves. “Jeralt, this is Yuri, Hapi, Constance, and Balthus, collectively known as the Ashen Wolves.”

“Yes, hello.” Jeralt said stiffly. Not the greatest at introductions.

Balthus reeled back in shock. “Jeralt!? The Blade Breaker!? You’re kidding!”

“Nope.” Byleth said, popping the p at the end.

Balthus put his hand to the side of his head. “Great. So after this is over, you’re gonna try and take me in, aren’t you pal.”

Jeralt crossed his arms. “What reason would I have to take you in? I don’t know who you are or what you’ve done, I don’t do jobs I haven’t specifically been hired for, and even if I did, Abyss is neutral territory. I don’t get special privileges just because I’m the best there is.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” Balthus said.

“I think we’ve wasted enough time.” Edelgard said. “If we are to save your friend we must make haste.”

“Right.” Byleth said. “Like Jeralt said, gear up. He can take things from there.”

The Best Friend Squad and Ashen Wolves obliged, making sure their weapons would work properly and restocking on arrows. The only people who didn’t start prepping were Hilda and Linhardt, who continued to sit at the table.

“Professor?” Hilda asked groggily. “Can I sit this one out? I’m not doing so hot.”

Normally, Byleth would see this as a transparent attempt by Hilda to get out of working but this time something seemed genuinely wrong.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

“No.” Hilda answered. Apparently, she wasn’t interested in elaborating. Linhardt, however, was perfectly fine with elaborating for her.

“She took a pretty bad blow to the head during our last battle.” He explained. “Based on the symptoms, I’d say she has a concussion. As her temporary doctor I suggest that she avoid excess stimuli such as loud noises and bright lights, both of which are present in battle. The best course of action is for the both of us to remain here so that I may apply light healing magic and monitor her condition until proper medical treatment can be administered.”

Byleth nodded solemnly. “I understand. I can’t expect someone injured to go into battle and if Linhardt has to remain with you, then he can.”

“Thank you.” Hilda said quietly.

Byleth cleared her throat and spoke to the entire room. “Right, now that that’s settled, I think it’s about time to move out. I now defer you all to Jeralt.” She held her arms out to indicate Jeralt and then went to stand with the rest of the group.

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Metodey had never cared for his title of the Most Dangerous Mercenary in Fodlan. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t agree with it, he just felt it was too modest. Most dangerous mercenary in Fodlan? Feh! He was the most dangerous mercenary in the entire goddessdamn world!

But alas, nobody cared what he thought. Even after he burned their house down and scarred them beyond belief. Though the fact that they tended to die soon afterwards might have had something to do with it.

Speaking of death, he was really itching to kill this annoying prisoner. Elf-rich or something. At first, he had tried negotiating, which Metodey put a stop to by threatening him with a knife. Then he tried threats, claiming Jeralt the Blade Breaker would come to rescue him. Once again, Metodey threatened him with a knife. So now the guy was trying to engage in small talk. With his kidnapper. And apparently he realized that Metodey wasn't actually allowed to harm him because when threatened with a knife he didn't even flinch.

“So,” Elf-rich said. “Have you ever played that new Heroes card game everyone talks about? The one that red haired lady’s been selling?”

Metodey growled. “Shut up!”

“I’ll take that as a no, then.” Aelfric replied.

Metodey groaned in frustration but before he could stab him out of sheer annoyance, he was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Specifically, those of Jeralt, the Ashen Wolves, and the Best Friend Squad.

“Metodey!” Jeralt shouted.

Metodey cackled. So Elf-rich was right. Jeralt had been coming for him.

“Jeralt.” Metodey said. “Good to see you!”

“Let Aelfric go.” Jeralt said, stepping forward.

Metodey grabbed Aelfric and held a knife to his throat. “Ah, ah, ah. I need to see the goods first!”

A silver haired pretty boy reached into a bag and produced the cup he had been instructed to get. He held it up for all to see. Metodey grinned.

“Good. Good.” He said. “Our mysterious benefactors will be pleased. Now hand it over.” He made a beckoning motion with his free hand

“Hmm…” The pretty boy said. “No.” Fast as a whip he grabbed a hidden knife and threw it at Metodey. The knife embedded itself in the arm holding the knife and caused him to drop it along with Elf-rich. He growled a low, terrifying growl.

“Attack!” He shouted. And then, all hell broke loose.

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As soon as the battle began, Jeralt ran over to Aelfric and helped him to his feet.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” Aelfric replied. He grinned. “He didn’t lay a finger on me. Wasn’t allowed to. Once I figured that out I annoyed him to no end.”

Jeralt punched him lightly in the arm. “That’s the spirit.”

“Die!” Metodey shouted, having stupidly removed the knife from his wound. He’d probably miraculously survive somehow but it was still stupid.

Metodey aimed to stab Jeralt in the back with his poison dagger, a foolish endeavor (unless you’re Kronya, apparently). Jeralt blocked the strike with his axe. Once again, not his preferred weapon but he couldn’t block a knife at such close range with his spear.

He jumped backwards, taking Aelfric with him. He handed Aelfric the axe and unslung his spear from his back. The axe wasn’t Aelfric’s preferred weapon either. No weapon was, really. But if he was to survive he needed a weapon.

“I wish I could say I was shocked by your dirty tricks.” Jeralt said to Metodey. “But I'm not.”

“Like you're one to talk.” Metodey said, laughing. “You tricked me with that cup thing.”

He pulled out a second knife and ran at Jeralt. Jeralt leaned back and the knives passed in front of his stomach, not hitting him. He swept his spear below Metodey, attempting to knock him off balance. Metodey leaped into the air to avoid this and tried to do a flip over Jeralt. This didn’t work too well as Jeralt jabbed him in the stomach with the back end of his spear and knocking him to the ground, not even bothering to turn around.

He spun around and attempted to strike through Metodey’s preexisting stab wound but the mercenary rolled out of the way.

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“Nice try!” Byleth shouted, ducking under a merc’s blade and jabbing him in the stomach.

She stood back up and brushed herself off. Suddenly, two merc’s ran at her from the front and behind. She threw her sword up in the air, grabbed the merc in front of her, and threw him over her head and onto his buddy behind her before catching her sword in one swift movement.

Yuri sauntered up to her. “Enjoying yourself, milady?” He asked, smirking.

Byleth raised an eyebrow. “Are you flirting in the middle of a battle?”

“Why yes, yes I am.” He replied with a wink. “Is something wrong with that?” He kicked a merc in his soft spot.

“Well, I’m pretty sure we have more important things to worry about.” Byleth explained. “Here, catch.” She added offhandedly, throwing a merc at Yuri.

“Said the pot calling the kettle black.” Sothis butted in.

(Quiet, you.) Byleth grumbled.

“Listen,” Yuri said, knocking the thrown merc away. “I just want to apologize. While you were away with Jeralt and Aelfric I accused you of having kidnapped Aelfric.”

Byleth didn’t answer.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “I should have accused you to your face. So, to make it up to you, I’d like to take you on a date to the Holy Mausoleum at midnight. No earlier.”

For the second time that day, Byleth broke out into laughter. A merc actually tripped over her when she doubled over. She took the chance to knock him out with a swift kick. “I’m sorry.” She said. “But that’s the second funniest thing I’ve heard all day.”

“What’s the first funniest?” Yuri asked.

“Look, as funny as it would be to see Edelgard’s reaction to me dating you,” Byleth said, not answering the question. “You’re just not my type.”

“Your reaction when we first met says otherwise.” Yuri countered, stabbing a merc.

“He’s got you there.” Sothis snarked.

(Whose side are you on!?)

“The funny one.”

Byleth kicked a merc in the face. “Okay, let’s cut the comedy.” Byleth said, serving triple duty of deflecting the topic, attempting to shut down Sothis, and getting to the real root of this conversation. “I’m not stupid. I’ve been a teacher for six months and a mercenary for much longer, I recognize a scheme when I see one. What’s your game here?”

Yuri smirked. He did that a lot. “Smarter than you look.”

(Not one word.) Byleth preempted Sothis.

“You’re right, I am scheming.” Yuri said. “But obviously, I can’t tell you what’s going on.”

“Obviously.” Byleth said semi-sarcastically.

“Just remember.” Yuri said. “The Holy Mausoleum. Midnight. No earlier.”

Suddenly, a laugh rang out across the battlefield. Everyone, be they a merc, Best Friend Squad member, or Ashen Wolf, turned to see who had laughed. There were some gasps. Metodey had recaptured Aelfric and his knife was closer to his throat than ever.

“Surrender or I’ll kill him!” He shouted. He smiled derangedly. “And this time I mean it!”

“You bastard!” Balthus shouted.

Metodey laughed again. Yuri grit his teeth. This guy really needed to shut up.

“Hapi, do your thing!” He shouted.

Normally, Hapi would probably have a witty remark but Aelfric was in mortal danger. There was no time for jokes. She breathed in and let out a heavy sigh.

There was a brief silence. You could almost feel the ellipses hanging in the air. Then, out of nowhere, a giant bird swooped down out of the sky. Then, two giant wolves burst out of the trees, despite the fact that the mercenaries had been sure there was nothing else nearby aside from a few regular sized birds and a rat or two.

The mercs panicked, being completely unprepared for this situation. Because of this they were quickly set upon by wolves, who were excited by the movement. Meanwhile, the bird had a different target in mind.

Balthus pumped his fist and laughed. “Ha! Take that!”

His excitement quickly died as the bird plucked him from the ground by his shoulders and carried him high into the sky.

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Aelfric never thought he’d die like this. He had expected to die a nice, natural death with no violence involved. But no, instead he was going to be killed by a knife wielding madman surrounded by giant wolves and birds (though they weren’t entirely unwelcome given how much of a problem they were for the mercs). Well, at least he’d get to see her again. Sitri, that is.

He mentally shook his head. No. He was not going to die like this. He was not going to let everything he had been planning go to waste. There was only one thing to do: he’d have to use magic. He was pretty rusty but there was no doubt in his mind that he could do it.

He closed his eyes and focused. Admittedly he felt a bit like a novice, the way he was thinking. Regardless, he began to glow with white energy, surprising Metodey. Seemingly from the heavens (though more likely from a fixed origin point in the air resulting from a trail of invisible magic released by Aelfric) a bolt of white light came down upon them, bombarding Metodey. This was Abraxas, one of the most powerful faith spells out there. While it hadn’t killed Metodey it had probably put an end to his mercenary career.

This was the final straw for the remaining mercs. They fled but most of them didn’t get very far due to the fact that it was also the final straw for the beasts, who freaked out and trampled over anyone in their way in attempts to escape from the blinding light.

Unfortunately, this included the giant bird that was currently holding Balthus. It flailed wildly in the air and loosened its grip on Balthus, releasing him from its grasp. This would be great were it not for the fact that he was now falling towards the ground at high speed.

Due to being nearby, Yuri, Hapi, and Byleth all ran to catch him but Dimitri got there first. He managed to catch the Flightless King of Grappling in a bridal carry before he hit the ground. It was probably a good thing Dimitri got there first as catching someone as muscular as Balthus would have broken the other three’s arms.

Balthus removes himself from Dimitri’s arms and wiped his brow. “Whew, thanks Pal. But, uh, do me a favor and don’t tell anyone about the part with the bridal carry.”

“Too late, B.” Hapi said, approaching the two. “Everyone saw it. You’re lucky none of us can draw.”

Balthus hung his head and sighed.

“Alright, enough screwing around, let’s go see if Aelfric’s okay.” Yuri said, putting his hands on his hips.

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Aelfric was indeed okay. Exhausted from the expended energy performing that spell but okay. Everybody crowded around him.

“You okay, Aelfric?” Jeralt asked.

“Of course.” Aelfric replied. “He never lay a finger on me. Metaphorically speaking.”

“I apologize greatly, Aelfric.” Constance said, once again in a sunshine-induced funk. “I can only assume your kidnapping was due to something I did.”

“Wait, what?” Byleth asked, confusion written all over her face. “How? You weren’t even there?”

Claude leaned in close to her. “She gets like this sometimes.” He whispered. “I’ll explain later.” Byleth nodded.

“So what are we going to do with him?” Yuri asked, gesturing to the unconscious and beaten Metodey lying on his back next to them. The Abraxis had messed him up pretty good, particularly his legs and eyes.

Hapi wrinkled her nose. “Jeez. I know he was a sociopath but I’m not sure anyone deserves this.”

“Is this… normal, for faith magic?” Byleth asked. From what she’d seen on the battlefield she was pretty sure it wasn’t.

Aelfric shook his head. “No. But when it comes to particularly wicked individuals, the Goddess has been known to dole out divine judgement.”

“I wish.” Sothis snarked.

“Far be it from me to contradict you, Aelfric.” Constance interjected. “But it seems that you may have simply overdone the spell. I’m probably not correct, though.”

Aelfric shook his head and sighed. “No, you’re right. I probably did just overdo it. But divine judgement sounds much better than ‘I screwed up.’”

“Well, regardless, his mercenary career is definitely over.” Yuri said. “So that’s some comfort to, well, pretty much everyone.”

“So, do we just leave him like this?” Hapi asked.

“We can’t do that.” Ashe said. “That’s horrible, even for such a cruel person.”

Jeralt rubbed his chin. “Best thing to do is tell the Knights of Seiros and let them take it from here. If Aelfric tells him he was kidnapped they’ll believe him without question. And I’m sure they’ll be just as glad as we are that Metodey’s no longer a problem.”

“You know, I can’t help but wonder what he wanted the Chalice for.” Claude said.

“Why don’t we ask him.” Yuri said. “Constance, a bit or water if you please.”

Constance wordlessly obliged, blasting Metodey in the face with a water spell. Metodey woke, gasping and coughing. Slowly, he sat up.

“What’s goin on!” He shouted. “Why can’t I see! Why does everything hurt!”

Aelfric stepped forward. “Don’t worry, I can take care of this.” He kneeled down and passed his hand over Metodey’s leg, It glowed with magic power.

Metodey’s face relaxed. “Ah, that’s much bet- oof!” The ack came from being punched in the gut by, of all people, Aelfric. “What the hell!”

Yuri grabbed Metodey by the collar and lifted him up. “Alright, you bastard. You’re gonna tell us what we need to know or you’ll be hit by someone whose actually got some weight behind his punches!” He gave a sideways glance to Balthus who cracked his knuckles loudly. Meanwhile, Aelfric looked mildly offended.

Metodey laughed. “You’re that pretty boy, aren’t you?” He shook his head. “Alright, I’ll tell you anything you want. After all, I can’t see and from the lack of feeling it looks like my legs don’t work? What have I got to lose?”

“Why do you want the Chalice!” Yuri growled.

“I don’t know.” Metodey said with a shrug. “All I was told was “Get the Chalice of Beginnings” or whatever it’s called. I don’t even really know who told me to do it. It was just some guy in a black robe. He had the hood pulled up so I couldn’t see his face.”

“Anything else you can tell us about this guy you met?” Yuri growled.

“Jeez, quit it with the threatening act I said I'd tell you everything.” Metodey replied. “And all I can tell you is the guy was probably pretty old. Either that or he had hilariously bad posture. He was all hunched over and his voice was raspy.”

(Sounds like Solon.) Byleth thought. (Guess Edelgard rents this guy out.)

“Either that or he was working for them from the beginning.” Sothis said.

“That’s it?” Yuri asked.

“There’s something else.” Metodey said. “After I was hired to steal the cup I got a letter detailing a plan on how to do that. Specifically, the plan I just carried out. Thing is, it looked like the letter was from an entirely separate person.”

“So there are two parties in play here.” Claude said, rubbing his chin.

“That’s pretty much all I know.” Metodey said with a shrug. “So if you don’t mind, please put me down now.” Yuri obliged, dropping him and then giving him a nice tap on the head to knock him out cold.

“Alright, let’s tie these guys up and get out of here.” Byleth said, stretching. “I assume you have some rope arrows, Claude.”

“Always, Teach.” Claude replied, drawing what was presumably a rope arrow from his quiver.

Yuri held up his hand. “Not yet.”

“What?” Byleth asked.

“We can’t leave yet.” Yuri reiterated. From the look of it he seemed to be counting down in his head. And why did Aelfric have an odd combination of remorse and anticipation on his face.

And then, it all became clear. Three dark mages warped in and, before anyone could react, magically restrained Balthus, Constance, and Hapi.”

Yuri took out the Chalice, tossed it in the air, and caught it again. “Thanks for letting me have the Chalice, Friend.” He said to Byleth. “I was worried I’d actually have to fight you for it.”

“Yuri, you son of a bitch!” Balthus shouted. “What are you doing!”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what I’m doing.” Yuri said smugly.

“Excellent work, Yuri.” Aelfric said, clapping.

“Aelfric, you’re involved in this too!” Constance shouted. Dusk had begun to set in and apparently that was enough to bring Constance’s bombastic side out.

“Involved in this?” Aelfric asked rhetorically. “I wasn’t just involved in this, it was my plan!”

Metodey laughed. “So it was you who hired me.”

Aelfric shook his head. “Yes, I was the one who sent that letter. Now, I think I’ve said enough.” He turned to Jeralt and bowed. “I’m sorry for our first real meeting in years to have to end like this, Old Friend. I would have liked to spend more time with you. But don’t worry, I will make it up to you.”

“Make it up to me?” Jeralt asked, confused. “Aelfric what the hell-”

“Goodbye for now, Old Friend.” Aelfric said, shaking his head. “And goodbye to the rest of you as well.”

With that, he and the dark mages warped away with the three captured Ashen Wolves. Only Yuri remained. He smiled.

“It’s all up to you now.” He said. “I’m sure you'll figure it out.” Then he too warped away, leaving everyone in stunned silence.

Claude was the first one to snap out of it. “What just happened?”

“I think Yuri and Aelfric just betrayed us.” Byleth answered, rubbing her forehead.

“But why?” Ashe asked. “Why would they betray us?”

“There’s only one possible explanation.” Jeralt said gravely. “You said that Chalice can raise the dead, right?”

“Wait.” Byleth said. “You don't think…”

Jeralt nodded. “I do. Aelfric wants to bring someone dead back to life.”

“But that’s impossible!” Edelgard protested. “You can’t bring the dead back to life! We’ve been over this!”

“Aelfric seems to think otherwise.” Jeralt replied.

“He must be desperate.” Claude said. “If the story he told us is true, the last time the Chalice was used something catastrophic happened.”

“If Aelfric intends to use the Chalice again we must make haste before history repeats itself.” Dimitri said.

Jeralt nodded. “I agree.”

“Hold up.” Claude said. “Before we go anywhere, do we even know where we’re going.”

“I do.” Byleth said. “We need to go to the Holy Mausoleum.”

“How do you know that?” Edelgard asked.

“During the battle, Yuri asked me on a date.” Byleth explained.

“What!” Edelgard shouted, shaking her fist. “How dare he!”

Under normal circumstances, Byleth would have found Edelgard’s reaction funny. But these were not normal circumstances. She held her hands up. “Woah, calm down. He wasn’t actually asking me out on a date. It was part of a scheme. He asked me to come to the Holy Mausoleum at midnight, no earlier.”

Claude put his hand on his chin. “He must be planning to double cross Aelfric. A triple cross.”

“It could be a trap.” Edelgard mused.

“If he wanted to trap us he could have just captured us with the Ashen Wolves.” Claude pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter.” Byleth said. “It’s our only lead and we need to stop Aelfric and rescue the Ashen Wolves. Now come on, we’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go.”

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Author's Note: Not featured: An Expy of Kai Leng who existed purely for me to kill him for some much needed catharsis. I mean, killing him in the game was awesome (“That was for Thane you son of a bitch!”) but I’m still mad. Other than that there’s no real behind the scenes stuff or announcements. Until next time.
 
Author’s Note: Happy Halloween, everybody. This Omake wasn’t actually planned, but as soon as I saw Sothis’ Halloween Variant in Fire Emblem Heroes I knew I had to write a story with it because it’s adorable and I will get it no matter the cost (Unless the cost is real money)! Of course, the Byleth in that variant is male (and gets sidelined for the voice in his head, poor guy) and the Byleth used in this fic is female but sometimes you’ve got to take artistic liberties.

And again, as a disclaimer, this Omake is not canon to the main fic or the supports.


“How do I look?” Sothis asked, adjusting her witch’s hat.

“Absolutely adorable.” Byleth said, clasping her hands together. “What about me?” She waved her pointed tail around experimentally. She had asked Annette to create it for her and in her opinion the girl had done a brilliant job.

“What exactly are you supposed to be?” Sothis asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Byleth asked, tail raised defensively. “I’m a demon-dragon. Or is it a dragon-demon.”

“And what’s with the suit?” Sothis asked. “Are you also a butler?”

“No.” Byleth said.

Sothis snapped her fingers. “Fetch me some pastries.” She giggled.

Byleth sighed, tail drooping. “Why do you do this to me?”

“Because it’s fun.” Sothis replied, grinning deviously. “Now come on, we’re wasting valuable Trick or Treating time.”

“You’re right.” Byleth said, perking up. “With our costumes combined we’re going to get so much candy!”

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As soon as the duo stepped outside, they ran into Claude and Dimitri, who were obviously out doing their own Trick or Treating.

“Hey, Teach, good to see you.” Claude said cheerily, waving. Byleth wasn’t sure what he was. He was wearing some sort of 90s futuristic getup along with fox ears and a fox tail. “Nice costume.”

“Yes, greetings.” Dimitri said. With his eyepatch and bandana it was much more obvious what he was dressed as: a pirate.

“Good to see you too.” Byleth said, grinning. Her tail wagged. “Out Trick or Treating?”

“You know it.” Claude said. “I assume you’re doing the same?”

“Absolutely.” Byleth said. “Say, where’s Edelgard?”

“She didn’t want to come.” Claude replied. “Something about being too old for Trick or Treating.”

“What!” Byleth shouted in surprise. “Impossible! You can never be too old for Trick or Treating!”

“That’s what I said!” Claude replied.

“I’m surprised you didn't just drag her along with you anyways.” Sothis snarked.

Claude shrugged. “It’s Halloween. If she doesn’t want to go I won't force her. Besides, I got Dimitri to come. If only as “adult supervision.””

There was a brief moment of silence before Claude did a Double Take. “Wait a sec, aren’t we not supposed to know about you? Is this a paradox?”

Byleth’s tail stood straight up. “Oh… oh shit.”

Sothis rolled her eyes. “Relax. This whole thing is non-canon. Well, even more non-canon. We’ll still have our big reveal.”

Claude shrugged. “Fair enough.

“Now, enough of this.” Sothis said, hands on her hips. “We’ve already wasted over a page. Let’s get to Trick or Treating!”

“Heck yeah!” Byleth shouted, pumping her fist. Her tail wagged quickly.

“In that case, how about a contest.” Claude said. “Me and Dimitri against you and Sothis. We meet back up at midnight.”

“Claude, I’m not sure-” Dimitri began but was interrupted by an eager Byleth and Sothis.

“You’re on!” They shouted concurrently.

“Let’s go, then!” Claude shouted. “Contest starts in 3… 2… 1…”

“Go!” Byleth and Sothis completed for him, bolting off.

“Anathema!” Claude swore. “Come on Dimitri, they’re going to get ahead of us!”

“But-” Dimitri began to protest before Claude grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the street. He refused to lose this contest.

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Byleth and Sothis had very little problem collecting candy. After all, they were both absolutely adorable. Some jerks out there refused to give candy to adults but Byleth passed as a teenager well enough that there was very little problem.

“Ha! We’re gonna beat those jerks no problem!” Sothis shouted, fist pumping.

“No doubt.” Byleth said. Her tail wagged side to side. “Though I think jerk is a better description for you than them.”

“If I'm a jerk, what does that make you?” Sothis said, giving Byleth a friendly punch.

“Kind hearted and beautiful.” Byleth answered smugly.

“Dream on.” Sothis said with a snort.

“What, I’m not beautiful?” Byleth asked, tail drooping.

“As a minor I'm not legally allowed to answer that.” Sothis replied.

“You’re, like, thousands of years old!” Byleth protested.

“Oh look, the last house on the block.” Sothis said, bored with this conversation.

The green haired goddess walked up to the rather plain looking house and knocked on the door and began rubbing her hands together in an anticipatory manner. Byleth followed up behind her, prepared to pull out any number of tricks she might need to get treats.

The door opened to reveal the sight of the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros herself, Lady Rhea, dressed up as, of all things, a witch.

“Oh, hello Byleth.” Rhea said pleasantly. “How nice to see you.”

“Oh, Lady Rhea. Hi.” Byleth said, lapsing into her habit of referring to Rhea formally in order to avoid crucification.

“Please, it’s just Rhea while I’m off duty.” Rhea replied.

“What's with the costume?” Byleth asked. “Were you going Trick or Treating as well?”

Rhea chuckled. “Oh, no no, I’m much too old for that. I simply wanted to get in the Halloween spirit.”

Byleth tilted her head back and groaned. “Aw man, not you too.”

“Hmm?” Rhea hmm’d.

“Edelgard said the same thing, at least, according to Claude.” Byleth replied. “But that’s absurd.” She stuck her finger straight in the air. “It’s impossible to be too old for Trick or Treating!”

Rhea chuckled again. “Perhaps, but my interest in the activity has waned over time.”

“This conversation is nice and all.” Sothis butted in. “But we’re losing time.”

“And who’s this delightful young child?” Rhea asked. There may or may not have been sarcasm involved. With her it was hard to tell.

“Uh…” Byleth said. She supposed it was too much to expect that Rhea would already be aware of Sothis.

(Should we tell her?) Byleth asked Sothis, somehow whispering her thoughts.

“Definitely not.” Sothis replied. “Canon or Non-Canon, I’m not sure she’ll take the revelation particularly well just yet.”

(Then what should I say?)

“I don’t know, think of something.”

Byleth cleared her throat. “This is Sothe. She’s the daughter of a friend and I’m watching her for the night.”

Sothis adopted a mildly annoyed expression. “Sothe? Really? You know that’s a boy’s name, right?”

(I know. I just said the first thing that came into my head, okay.) Byleth shot back.

“Well, it's a pleasure to meet you.” Rhea said, extending her hand to Sothis.

“Better if I not do that.” Sothis said, holding up her hands in a stopping gesture. “Mysophobia.” This was, of course, a lie. Sothis was more worried about what magical things might happen if the two of them were to touch.

Rhea nodded. “Ah.”

“Anyway, Sothe is right.” Byleth said, almost stumbling on the pseudonym she herself came up with. “We’ve got this contest going on with Claude and Dimitri to see who can get the most candy. I’m pretty sure we’re winning but every point counts.”

“What’s the prize if you win?” Rhea asked.

Byleth opened her mouth to respond and then stopped. After a few seconds of contemplation, she spoke. “I… don’t know.” She said slowly.

Rhea chuckled once again. “Well, we can’t have you losing your prize of nothing. I shall assist you.”

She flourished her staff and floated over a container of candy. She precisely took twenty pieces of candy out of the container and swirled it around the group before placing it in the two rather full bags the duo had brought, ten pieces per bag.

“Show off.” Sothis muttered.

“What was that?” Rhea asked with a false sweetness, faking having not heard what Sothis had said.

“Nothing.” Sothis replied, likewise faking innocence. “Oh look, it’s almost midnight, I’m sure most people are finishing up by now.”

Byleth nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want to go on a last ditch candy spree?” She asked Rhea. “I mean, at the very least you can show off your costume. You clearly put a lot of work into it.”

Rhea glanced upwards and rubbed her chin, a look of consideration on her face. After a moment she lightly placed her fist in her hand, similar to the much harsher gesture some students and Byleth herself did on occasion, before pointing straight upwards.

“Very well.” She said. “I suppose a little excursion couldn’t hurt.”
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The trio (formerly duo) hit up a few more houses before meeting up with the two house leaders. Byleth’s tail wagged in anticipation, Claude and Sothis both bore triumphant smirks, Rhea held a pleasant smile, and Dimitri had the tired expression of a long suffering parent.

“Oh, Lady Rhea.” Dimitri said, surprised. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Please, it’s just Rhea while we’re not at the Monastery.” Rhea said.

“Oh, my apologies.” Dimitri replied.

“It is perfectly fine.” Rhea said pleasantly.

“Alright, enough of this!” Sothis shouted. “It’s time to see who won!”

“Rather impatient, aren’t we?” Rhea said, crossing her arms.

Claude opened his mouth to speak but Byleth stopped him before he could, her tail sticking straight up.

“Before we start, could I talk to Claude and Dimitri for a second.” She said. “Alone.”

She grabbed the two of them and dragged them away. Once she was sure they were out of Rhea’s hearing range, she let the two of them go.

“We can’t let Rhea know about Sothis.” She whispered, just as an extra precaution. “For some reason she has no idea who Sothis is or what she is so we’ve come up with a cover story. Her name is Sothe and she’s the daughter of a friend, understand?”

“Isn’t Sothe a boy’s name?” Claude asked.

“I had to think quickly, okay.” Byleth protested. “Now, do you understand?”

The two affirmed their understanding and returned to Sothis and Rhea who seemed to be in some sort of argument.

As soon as they spotted the group they broke it off and awkwardly turned away from each other.

“Alright, we’re back.” Byleth said cheerily. “Now let’s see who got more candy.”

“Hey, Rhea, since you’re here you wouldn’t mind judging, would you?” Claude asked.

“I don’t see why not.” Rhea replied.

The group (minus Rhea who didn’t have a candy bag and Dimitri who wasn’t particularly eager) eagerly pulled out their candy bags. It was easy to see who won as Byleth and Sothis’ candy bags were much fuller than Claude and Dimitri’s candy bags, one of which (Dimitri’s) was barely three quarters full.

“I declare Byleth and Sothe the winners.” Rhea said declaratively.

“Haha!” Byleth laughed as her tail wagged excitedly. She and Sothis triumphantly high fived.

“We would have won if someone hadn’t hung back.” Claude grumbled, glancing at Dimitri.

“I did not “hang back.”” Dimitri protested. “I simply took my time instead of dashing from house to house.”

“But dashing from house to house was the point.” Dimitri argued. “It was a contest.”

“Relax, Claude.” Byleth said, flipping her hand dismissively. “It’s not like we actually won anything. Now, who wants to take this candy back to my place for an impromptu Halloween party!”

“I’m game!” Claude said with a smirk.

“As long as there’s candy.” Sothis said as if she had a choice.

“I don’t see why not.” Rhea and Dimitri said at the same time. As soon as Dimitri realized this he adopted an embarrassed look.

“Let’s go then!” Byleth shouted. And thus, she led the group off to her house for what she was sure would be the best impromptu Halloween party ever.

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Author’s Note: Look at me, making fun of people who think you can be too old to Trick or Treat when I don’t Trick or Treat myself. In my defense, a character does not necessarily have to share the views of the person writing them and my not going Trick or Treating is due less to me being “too old” and more to my samhainophobia.

In case you (understandably) couldn’t figure it out, Claude is dressed as Fox McCloud which is something I suggested last Halloween. Rhea is also wearing her FEH Halloween Variant outfit.
 
Author’s Note: Welcome back. After four supports, we return to the main story. There’s actually a reference to one of those supports in here. Try to spot it.

Also, related to supports, on two of the supports I created some Fire Emblem: Three Houses What If..?s after I watched Marvel’s What If..? And since quite a few of you don’t read the supports I figured I’d also feature them here. Behold:


  • What If… Edelgard Won? I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t this just the Crimson Flower route? But it’s not. When I say “Edelgard Won” I mean that straight up villain Edelgard (no, we’re not arguing this right now) from the other three routes wins. She trumps the Kingdom, Alliance, and Church and takes over Fodlan.
  • What If… Claude Became the Hegemon? In other words, what if Claude took Edelgard’s place as the main antagonist. Basically, somewhere along the line Claude decides that the best way to End Racism is if he takes control of everything. So we get to see how scarily competent Claude would be as a bad guy. Obviously, he’d have great strategy because, you know, Master Schemer, but also he’d weaken the other sides by outright stealing troops from them. Because evil or not he’s still Claude. He isn’t fighting to defeat one specific group or blaming one specific group for all the oppression. He just thinks that taking over everything is a faster way to change things than working with the system (which is basically Edelgard’s doctrine but she purely blames the Church for all this bull). And a lot of people will think that he makes good points and decide that, yeah, they’ll join this guy.

    In fact, the points he makes will be so good that they might even make the audience question who the bad guy is (it’s still him) which I think is something they tried to do with Edelgard (she is right, Crests are an issue) but she also caused way more bloodshed and joined up with Those Who Slither so it’s kind of moot. Claude, obviously, won’t use Demonic Beasts because he’s just as against Those Who Slither as he is as a good guy but he might use Golems he reverse engineered from the Church.

    Because of how scarily competent he is this will actually force the other three sides to team up for realsies to fight him and Those Who Slither might join in too as a third party (though nobody will actively help them because, you know, they’re Those Who Slither, and in gameplay terms it would function like the battle of grondor field) because Claude is a way bigger threat to them since he’s not only actively hunting them along with everyone else but their main base is in Alliance territory. Man, I really put a lot of thought into this one. Also, Hegemon doesn’t mean he’ll be turning into Fallen Claude or some such thing, just that he’s the bad guy in this scenario.
  • What If… Byleth Never Came to Garreg Mach Monastery? This one’s simple. Something happened that caused Byleth to simply… not come to the Monastery. Or maybe they did and they just kind of left.
  • What If… Byleth Woke Up Too Late? Basically, Byleth falls off a cliff as usual but by the time they wake up the war’s over. However, it didn't end in anyone’s favor, possibly due to Those Who Slither or just because Byleth was kind of a lynch pin, so Fodlan is s lawless post-apocalyptic waste land. We could have all sorts of cool post-apocalypse versions of the characters. Like a version of Lorenz who has decided that even though his noble house has fallen, that's no reason not to act like a noble and do heroic things and try to make the future a little brighter (sorry, but Ferdie’s dead in this universe so he can’t take that role). Or a version of Ashe who’s gone dark after one dead friend too many.
  • What If… Sitri Survived? This one’s also simple. The method by which Sitri survives could be any number of things. Maybe Baby Byleth dies before they can perform the operation or maybe the birth just goes smoothly. Who knows.
  • What If… Sothis Bonded to Edelgard? This one’s an interesting one. Maybe even more interesting than Hegemon Claude. So, somehow Sothis bonds to Edelgard instead of Byleth. Maybe instead of doing blood experiments Those Who Slither just straight up stole Sothis’ crest stone somehow (which unfortunately means neither Byleth nor Sitri can show up in this story) and for reasons that are probably similar to why their main timeline (for a certain sense of the word) experiment worked on her the Crest Stone takes and now she has Sothis in her head. Sothis probably first emerges sometime around when she first emerged for Byleth, maybe during the same confrontation with Kostis. This allows Edelgard time to develop her anti-Church and anti-Crest views. So now she has this being who may or may not be the Goddess in her head (since she’s not ignorant of Fodlan’s religion and politics like Byleth she immediately recognizes the significance of Sothis’ name) who’s also really abrasive towards her and that would obviously affect her character arc in a significant way as at first she probably searches for a way to get rid of Sothis and Sothis isn't all that fond of Edelgard either for obvious reasons but the two slowly warm up to each other and who knows what happens then. Also, since we need a third teacher and Byleth isn't available, I say we use a retired Jeralt who would also have changed quite a bit due to a lack of Sitri (or possibly, even more heartbreaking, Those Who Slither straight up ripping Sitri or Byleth’s hearts from their chests).
  • What If… Rhea’s Plan Worked? I don’t have much to say on this one. The results of Rhea’s plan are so painfully ambiguous I don’t know how this would go.
  • What If… There were Two Byleths? This is based off a fanfic idea I had a while back and I'm sure plenty of people have already done this. Basically, instead of one singular Byleth there are two twin Byleths, one female and one male. I’ve named these two Blythe and Theo respectively because why not. Both Byleths would be quiet and reserved like in canon but for different reasons. Blythe would be the brooding, serious one who hides a fiery temper and is fiercely protective of Theo and views herself as his older sister, despite being twins, while Theo would be more nervous and a bit of a shrinking violet, though better with people than Blythe. Each one would also represent a different part of canon Byleth’s skill set, differentiating them from each other more. Blythe takes on Byleth’s combat skills, being terrifying on the battlefield and channeling all that repressed anger into her fighting. Meanwhile, Theo takes on Byleth’s tactical skills, more at home poring over a battle map then on the battlefield himself (though he is by no means incompetent when it comes to battle, just not quite as good as Blythe) and he almost seems a different person when planning, always keeping a level head and giving orders without hesitation. Yeah, I put a lot of thought into this. As a consequence of this, Sitri actually possibly survives since it’s basically impossible for her to have surviving twins if she doesn’t.
  • What If… Byleth Met Byleth? This is literally just a Fire Emblem Heroes fanfic. And technically possible in Fifth Path since we know Three Houses Anna met Heroes Anna. Though if I did write that it would be non-canon to the fic.
  • What If… Kostas Killed Edelgard? Surprised I didn't think of this before. It’s such an obvious question.
  • What If… Edelgard went Feral? It’s common fan speak (or, at least, it’s common BackSet speak) to refer to Post-Timeskip Dimitri as Feral Dimitri. But what if instead of Feral Dimitri we got Feral Edelgard. I don't know how this would happen but it’s a question.
  • What If… Fodlan Lost its Rulers? Or, in other words, what if Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard died before Edelgard got a chance to start her war. Probably more war.
  • What if… The Old Gods Came Back? Remember all those saints we kept running into who were guarding ancient weapons as monsters and whatnot? What if they decided “screw it, let’s get back into the world” for some reason. Maybe due to the war, maybe due to boredom. Who knows.
  • What if… Fodlan had an Infinity War? No, this isn’t a Marvel crossover. Well, not technically. The only Marvel thing in this would be the Infinity Stones which, instead of everyone racing to stop Thanos from getting the Stones it's instead everyone racing to get the Stones themselves. More specifically, it’s Edelgard vs. Rhea vs. Those Who Slither in the Dark. Edelgard wants the Stones to make her perfect world, Rhea wants the Stones to bring her mother back, and Those Who Slither in the Dark want the Stones to get revenge. What are the Kingdom and Alliance doing during all this, you might ask? Trying to avoid getting steam rolled, of course.
  • What if… Fire Emblem: Three Houses IN SPACE!? Yeah, I’ve got nothing. I just want to see the Three Houses characters in space.
  • What if… Everyone had Mechs? Again, I just want to see mech battles with Three Houses characters. Like, Dimitri could have a big bulky mech with good armor and a lion theme. Meanwhile, Claude could have a quick and nimble mech with poor armor but good range and, obviously, a deer theme. And Edelgard’s mech could have high fire power and the ability to fly with an eagle theme to fit.
  • What If… Fire Emblem: Three Houses Took Place a Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away? Okay, this one is basically a Star Wars crossover. But I have so many ideas! Like I figure maybe Byleth and Jeralt can be Mandalorians who lack a clan and have cool custom armor. And Sothis is either some sort of droid attached to that ship (why doesn’t Star Wars have organic piloted ships with Droid AI (vulture bombers don’t count they don't have organic pilots)? Kind of weird, if you ask me) or some weird force thing. And Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri can all be Jedi Padawans. Felix is the one who has trouble keeping his emotions in check and is always teetering on the edge of the Dark Side and may even use it sometimes (which actually isn’t unusual, some Jedi do use minor Dark Side abilities). Ingrid can be the serious one that’s always trying to get the other to focus. Sylvain can be kind of like Anakin just without secretly being crazy. And Dimitri can look like a golden boy but is secretly even closer to the Dark Side than Felix.

These are all free ideas, obviously, since I can’t legally copyright these but if you are inspired to write a story based off of one of these ideas after reading them at the very least do me a favor and shoot me a link to it so I know you were inspired by me. Though if you don’t it’s probably on me since I’m iffy on opening my account up to pms on FF Dot Net. But I do have PMs open on my Bulbagarden, ZU, and TV Tropes accounts so if you’re on there you can send me it that way or I suppose tell me via a review on this story.

Now, onwards to the story.

Part One
White Clouds
The Rite of Rising​

After stopping by the Ashen Wolves’ headquarters to grab Linhardt and Hilda, much to the two’s displeasure, the Best Friend Squad wasted no time getting to the surface. Because of whatever weird time dilation thing Abyss had going on, midnight was approaching fast and they had to hurry. Upon reaching the surface they immediately ran into Dedue and Hubert, for some reason sopping wet and covered in dirt.

“Lady Edelgard!” Hubert cried.

“Your Highness!” Dedue shouted at the same time.

“Hubert, what happened to you?” Edelgard asked, surprised.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Hubert said.

“No time to talk.” Byleth said hurriedly. She grabbed Hilda, who let out a yelp, and shoved her into Hubert’s arms. “Here, take Hilda to the infirmary. Maybe find Rhea. Tell her to meet us at the Holy Mausoleum and to send a detachment of Knights to the old cathedral to pick up a package we left for them. And forget to tell her that it’s urgent.”

“Wait, wha-” Hubert stuttered, almost as blindsighted as when Byleth gave him detention at the beginning of the year.

Hubert’s confused spluttering was never answered as the Best Friend Squad were gone as soon as Hilda was passed off to him. Time was of the essence. On the bright side, they knew exactly where they were going and all the shortcuts to get there. It would quite frankly be rather embarrassing if they didn’t.

The group arrived exactly at midnight which was signaled by… bells chiming? That was odd. But they could wonder about that later. It didn’t really matter. They stood outside the doors, ready to enter.

“Alright, on my mark.” Byleth said. “One… two… go!”

Apparently, Aelfric had left the doors unlocked since they had no trouble barging in. They entered, weapons ready, just as Yuri had finished up giving some exposition. At the four corners of the room were vortexes siphoning blood from the Ashen Wolves, who were free and fighting Dark Mages but slowly losing strength as a result of the blood loss. Linhardt’s stomach tried to rebel against him but all he could manage was dry heaves.

The blood of the Ashen Wolves was all being siphoned straight into the Chalice of Beginnings which was situated on the back altar (formerly the resting place of the Sword of the Creator) in front of the body of a woman.

“What!” Aelfric shouted in surprise from his spot next to the altar. “What are you doing here!?”

“What does it look like?” Claude asked rhetorically. “We’re here to rescue our friends and stop… whatever it is you’re doing!”

“Stop me?” Aelfric asked. “Why would you want to do that? I am about to commit the greatest act known to the world: resurrection!”

“What!?” Edelgard shouted. “That’s impossible! You told us yourself!”

“I’m afraid I lied.” Aelfric said, sounding genuinely remorseful. “I’m truly sorry for that.”

“This is a really nice conversation but we could use some help over here!” Yuri shouted, dodging a Dark Mage’s magic blast.

“Oh, right.” Byleth said, whacking her head with her free hand. “Let’s go guys!” She cried, leaping into battle. The others followed suit.

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Byleth fought her way through the mages and over to Yuri who was putting up a valiant fight for someone slowly being drained of his blood. Nevertheless, he was running out of steam and starting to struggle.

“You owe us an explanation.” She said to him, cutting down a mage he was struggling against.

“I’d love to.” Yuri said semi-sarcastically. “But it’ll have to wait. It’s a really long story and I’ll probably pass out from blood loss halfway through.”

“Fair enough.” Byleth said. As much as she'd love to force the story out of him right then and there, he had a point about the blood loss thing. “Speaking of, is there anything we can do to rectify that situation?”

Yuri nodded. “See those vortexes?” He asked, pointing to one of the aforementioned vortexes.

“Hard not to.” Byleth replied.

“You probably guessed they’re draining our blood but they’re also providing Aelfric with protection. If you want to stop him and, you know, rescue us then you need to plug them.” He said. “Then they’ll dissipate. Just standing in them will do.”

“Byleth nodded. “Alright.” She raised her voice to shout orders at her students. “Everyone listen up! We need to plug those vortexes to save the Ashen Wolves! Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, and Ashe!” She pointed at each student. “You’ll each take a vortex! All you need to do is stand in them! Linhardt, take care of the Ashen Wolves once they’re free! Meanwhile, me and Jeralt will keep these mages off of you! Now go!”

The vortex plugging squad nodded and each ran towards a vortex. Aelfric ordered the mages to protect the vortex but Byleth and Jeralt did exactly what Byleth said they would, slicing into the Dark Mages and doing her best to keep them away from the students and the Ashen Wolves.

The first of the Ashen Wolves to be set free was Balthus, with Claude stepping into the vortex connected to him and causing it to dissipate. Balthus’ wound automatically closed, cutting off one of the Chalice’s blood streams.

Balthus fist pumped. “All right, the Undeniable King of Grappling is back! Let’s go!” He attempted to move forward but stumbled. “Or not.” He said woozily.

“You’re still suffering from blood loss.” Linhardt said, running over. “You need to lie down.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Balthus asked. “There’s a fight going on, I can’t just find a corner and lie down.”

“I’m sorry, who’s the doctor here?” Linhardt asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Last I checked, not you.” Balthus replied. “You're just a student, aren’t you?”

“Right now I am the only person on this battlefield who specializes in healing magic.” Linhardt said definitively. “Therefore, I qualify as a field medic and doctor until such time as someone more qualified comes along, something that does not seem to be happening anytime soon, and I am ordering you to go and lie down!” He gave Balthus a glare to rival Byleth’s and pointed violently at the ground.

“Yes sir.” Balthus said, thoroughly cowed. He immediately, with Linhardt’s assistance, began heading off to an out of sight corner of the battlefield where he could rest and be treated to the best of Linhardt’s ability.

The Unassailable King of Grappling was more than a little surprised by how Linhardt was acting, seeing as how he’d taken him for more of the cowardly sort. However, his surprise was nothing compared to Linhardt’s own as though he did not personally consider himself the cowardly sort, instead seeing himself as more pragmatic than anything, he did consider himself to be quite lazy. As such, the fact that over the past few days(?) he had taken his duties as a healer far more seriously than he had in his entire time at the Officer’s Academy. While he could have possibly justified treating Hilda’s concussion as a simple excuse to stay out of the fight he had no idea why he was taking Balthus’ blood loss so seriously.

He was jostled from his thoughts by another cry of misplaced confidence, this time by Constance who had been freed by Edelgard, cutting off another stream of blood and inspiring Constance to attempt to leap into battle despite the fact that for all her quirks she was a competent enough mage that she should know that closing up the wound would not fix her blood loss immediately. If Linhardt had to guess this breach of common sense was, ironically, likely caused by her blood loss. As such, he immediately hurried over to deal with her after giving Balthus another Death Glare and an order not to leave his spot unless he was actively in danger.

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It didn’t take long to free the other Ashen Wolves thanks to Byleth and Jeralt keeping most resistance off of the students' backs. Both Hapi and Yuri, freed by Dimitri and Ashe respectively, were significantly easier for Linhardt to work with compared to Balthus and Constance, both understanding the dangers of blood loss far better than their friends.

“No!” Aelfric shouted. “Dammit! No!”

“It’s over, Aelfric.” Byleth said, advancing towards him. “Call off what few of your minions are left standing and give up.”

“Minion?” One of the mashes muttered offendedly. Everyone ignored him.

Aelfric sighed. “Very well. All of you, cease attacking.”

The mages did as he said except for one guy who got whacked by the blunt end of Jeralt’s spear for his trouble.

Everyone who wasn’t an Ashen Wolf, as Linhardt was absolutely insistent they lie down, gathered around Aelfric, weapons ready.

“Alright, time for an explanation.” Byleth said, pointing her sword threateningly. “The Ashen Wolves trusted you. Jeralt trusted you. And you betrayed that trust. Why?”

“I told you.” Aelfric replied. “I was trying to preform a resurrection.”

“You said resurrection was impossible.” Edelgard pointed out. “You said the last time someone tried it ended in disaster.”

“Yes, I did.” Aelfric said, moving slowly to the left. Byleth kept her sword trained on him. “But I think I’ve finally figured it out. I know where Seiros went wrong. I can finish the ritual and bring her back to life.”

“And who is her?” Byleth asked.

Aelfric never got a chance to answer. Instead, Jeralt answered for him. “Sitri.” He whispered, finally getting a clear view of the perfectly pristine body.

“Wait… What!” Byleth shouted. She gestured at the body. “My mother has been dead for…” Byleth paused as she remembered she had absolutely no idea how long ago her mother had died. Presumably it had been the same amount of years as her age but she didn’t know her age. Eventually, she settled on a simple answer. “A long time! There’s no way her body could possibly be in this pristine condition!”

“But it is her.” Aelfric said with certainty. “It’s unmistakable. Wouldn’t you agree, Jeralt.”

“He’s right.” Jeralt said solemnly. “It’s her, no question.”

“I found her while exploring the underground tunnels of Abyss.” Aelfric explained. “She was just… floating there in a cave in perfect condition, 21 years later.” Aelfric smiled in a mix of sadness and madness. “So, Jeralt, Byleth. Do you really want to stop me? When I succeed, and I will succeed, Sitri will have returned to life. Jeralt, you and she can be together again. And Byleth, you can get to meet the mother you never had.”

For a worrying moment, it looked like Jeralt was genuinely considering it. Then he looked straight into Aelfric eyes. “What would it cost?” He gestured to the Ashen Wolves. “The lives of those kids?” He gestured around them. “The lives of everyone in this room?” His voice turned to a growl. “What would it cost, Aelfric!?”

“Who cares!” Aelfric shouted, looking more deranged by the minute. “All that matters is that I can bring her back!”

“Sitri would have cared.” Jeralt said, somehow managing to sound angry despite keeping his voice even “Don’t you understand? In your delusional quest to bring her back, you’ve gone against everything she stood for.”

“I…” Aelfric stuttered. He sighed. “Y-you’re right. When I bring her back, she’ll be appalled with me.” A thought struck him. “But-but you can still be together.”

“Aelfric.” Jeralt said. “Please… please just stop.”

“I can’t.” Aelfric said. “I’ve come so far.”

Suddenly, the doors of the Mausoleum burst open. Standing in the doorway was Rhea, flanked by three Knights of Seiros, one of which was Alois. The two Knights who weren’t Alois went and arrested the mages. Rhea was wearing a significantly different outfit than usual, a simple white knee length dress that was more appropriate for battle than her usual outfit (though still impractical if you asked Byleth). At her side was a leven sword.

“Halt, Aelfric!” She shouted.

“You!” Aelfric shouted, pointing at Rhea angrily. “You are responsible for all this! You are the one who killed her! Tell me what you’ve done! Why does her body remain while her spirit does not!”

Rhea approached the group. “I owe you no words on the matter.” She said sternly. “But I will tell you this: her death was her own choice. She chose to die so that her child may live.”

“You “owe me no words?”” Aelfric scoffed. He let out a bitter laugh. “And what of her daughter?” He gestured to Byleth. “Do you “owe no words” to her as well?”

“I hate to agree with the guy who was preforming blood sacrifices, but he has a point.” Byleth interjected. “I know you’ve been lying to not only me but all of Fodlan. And quite personally, I’m rather tired of it.”

“I agree.” Edelgard piped up, crossing her arms.

“Every lie I have ever told was for the good of those I told it too.” Rhea said evenly.

Aelfric barked another bitter laugh. “Are you all listening to this drivel? Pathetic! Why should I believe a word you say!”

“Aelfric, please.” Rhea said. “You know that I saw Sitri as my own child. I would never do anything she didn’t want. And the same is true of you. So please, stop what you’re doing and hand over the Chalice.”

“No!” Aelfric shouted. “I’m so close! I will complete the ritual! You can not stop me!” He warped away, taking Sitri’s body and the Chalice with him.

“Dammit!” Byleth swore. She pointed at Rhea. “This is your fault, you know?”

“How, exactly, is this my fault?” Rhea asked coldly.

“We, or rather, Jeralt was this close to talking him down before you showed up.” Byleth said.

Jeralt shook his head. “No. There was no talking him down. He was going to do this anyways. Rhea just caused everything to go faster.”

“Excuse me.” Alois interrupted. “But what exactly is going on here?”

“I don’t know.” Byleth said. “Perhaps somebody can tell us.” Her annoyed gaze looked between Yuri and Rhea, unable to decide who she was more mad at. Finally, she settled on Rhea.

“Rhea, how much are you willing to tell us?” She asked.

“That depends on the question.” Rhea replied.

Byleth found this annoying but, admittedly, fair. “Why did Aelfric need the Ashen Wolves?” She asked.

“I wasn’t entirely sure at first.” Rhea admitted. “But after some research I realized that the Ashen Wolves were descended from the Four Apostles, the ones whose blood was used in the original Rite of Rising.”

“Of course!” Linhardt shouted, slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand. “The crests that appeared on the rock! I knew I’d seen them before!”

“Where?” Rhea asked, sounding slightly surprised. “Any books surrounding the Rite of Rising were lost in the fire 21 years ago.”

“It’s a personal book.” Linhardt explained. “An encyclopedia of crests. It didn’t mention the Rite by name but it did feature the crests of the Apostles and implied some sort of disaster befell them.” He thought for a second and then added. “And no, you cannot have it.”

“So what about Yuri’s triple cross?” Byleth asked before the conversation could get any more off the rails. “Did you know about that?”

“Yes.” Rhea said simply. “Yuri has been working for me from the beginning.”

“Working with you.” Yuri corrected. He and the rest of the Ashen Wolves had somehow managed to join the group without anyone noticing. “Rhea was on to Aelfric from the start. She asked me to keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, Aelfric had the people I love most hostage, not to mention he had the rest of the Wolves pretty much on a leash, so my options were limited.”

“On a leash!?” Constance shouted, offended. “What-”

“What else would you call that adoration he cultivated in you?” Yuri interrupted. “Regardless, Rhea promised she’d help me rescue my mom and my allies, that was what those bells you heard signified, so I agreed. Today was the only day in which Aelfric would pull back almost all his forces, including the ones guarding my people.”

“And why couldn’t you tell us this?” Claude asked. “We had no personal connection to Aelfric.”

“I didn’t trust you.” Yuri said. “I’m sure you can understand why.”

The Best Friend Squad all nodded understandingly.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom from above them.

“Alright, question time’s over!” Jeralt said quickly. “We’ve gotta stop Aelfric before he blows this place up or something.”

“That is an accurate summation of what would most likely happen.” Rhea agreed.

Balthus slammed his fist into his palm. “All right, time to get that son of a bitch!”

“Oh no.” Linhardt said. “You are not doing anything of the sort. You will lie down and rest like I told you too.”

“Sorry, Doc, no can do.” Balthus said. “I’ve rested enough and I’m not about to let a little blood loss keep me from the fight.”

“I’m with Balthus.” Yuri said. “If anything, I feel lighter and more agile without all that blood weighing me down.”

Linhardt massaged his temples. “You are terrible patients.” He muttered. “And I am a terrible doctor.” He raised his voice to a normal level. “Fine, you’re free to go.”

“All right!” Balthus shouted. “Oh, and one more thing, Yuri?”

“Yes?” Yuri replied.

In one swift motion, Balthus grabbed Yuri by the shoulders and kneed him in the crotch, causing him to double over. Everyone in the party, both male and female, winced at that.

“That’s for lying to us and pulling dirty tricks.” Balthus said, arms crossed.

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Yuri squeaked. He took a breath before slowly straightening back up. “I’m sorry.” He said, voice returning to normal. “I was a fool. I’m sorry for using you. Truth is, I need you. You’ve always been there for me and here I am betraying your trust.”

“Glad you get the picture.” Balthus said, smiling. “Because if you ever use us like that again you’ll be getting way more than a knee to the crotch.”

“Like a face full of fire.” Constance said, briefly igniting her hand as an example before extinguishing it.

“Bottom line, don’t involve us in a scheme without asking.” Hapi said.

Yuri held his hands up in surrender. “I said I get it. Now are we going after Aelfric or not?”

“You bet we are.” Balthus said. He turned to Byleth, Jeralt, and the Students. “You coming?”

“Well duh.” Byleth said.

“Let’s go!” Claude shouted, raising his now in the air. “Best Friend Squad… to battle!”

“We’re still not calling ourselves that!” Byleth, Dimitri, and Edelgard chorused.

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The group had zero issue finding Aelfric. As they had deduced from the boom, Aelfric was in the Cathedral above them. It turned out he'd damaged a part of the floor with a spell. If Byleth remembered correctly, there had been a mural of Seiros there.

“So, you followed me!” Aelfric shouted. “You should have left me alone!”

“Aelfric!” Rhea shouted. “How dare you damage the Cathedral! It took many years to build this holy place and since it’s construction it has never once needed repairs!”

“In that case, I think it might be a little overdue for some remodeling.” Edelgard mused.

“Rhea, Edelgard, focus.” Jeralt said sternly. At the moment, he became the only person in history who gave both the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros and the Princess of the Empire of Adrestia orders at the same time and be heeded. Even Byleth, who had managed to give orders to all three of Fodlan’s future rulers, would never be able to achieve that.

Jeralt turned to Aelfric. “Aelfric! I’ll ask you one more time: please stop! I don’t want to kill you but if it comes down to it, I will!”

Aelfric pointed violently at Rhea. “So you’re taking her side, then!”

“I’m not taking any sides, Aelfric.” Jeralt said.

“Hmph.” Aelfric hmph’d. “It doesn’t matter! You’re too late! The ritual cannot be stopped! The cup is almost filled! If I must, I shall use my own blood!”

He took out a knife and raised it to his hand. He sliced the blade across the tip of his finger and a single drop of blood fell from the wound. As the drop fell, time seemed to slow. But time couldn’t slow forever and the drop eventually landed in the Chalice. Nothing happened.

“What!” Aelfric shouted. “I don’t understand! It should have worked! It should have-”

Suddenly, both he and Sitri’s body began to glow. They rose into the air and as they did so the glow grew brighter until they could no longer be seen. Aelfric’s let out a scream of pain that echoed around the Cathedral.

The bright light slowly changed color from white to black and red. Not only did it changed color but it appeared to completely changed into a black and red sludge. The sludge elongated and as it did so, four sinewy limbs emerged. At the end of each limb was a three clawed foot. Atop the sludge form, two massive, torn, wyvern-esque wings formed. Finally, a head, bearing the skull of a beast none of them had ever seen, emerged from the sludge and the sludge fell away. The beast that used to be Aelfric landed with a boom, destroying more of the Cathedral’s floor, and let out a mighty roar.

“Di immortales.” Claude breathed.

“Sothis’ Beard.” Byleth breathed at the same time.

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Author’s Note: This was kind of a winging it chapter despite the fact that it’s basically a retelling of “Return to Me.” I suppose that was largely due to the character moments, specifically Linhardt. I have no idea why he’s suddenly so into actually doing his job which is worrying because I’m the author. Should I really be confessing this? Oh well. Also, I figure I’d let you know that, yes, that is a leven sword Rhea has and not the Goddess Sword (or whatever it’s called) being mistaken for a leven sword.

By the way, did you spot the support reference? If you did, you win 10 internet points. They don’t really do anything but they create a sense of pride and accomplishment. I think.

Welp, that’s all I’ve got to say. Goodbye. And remember, if you make a story based off my What If..? ideas, please send it my way.
 
Author’s Note: I did it! I got Halloween Sothis! It took much grinding but I got her! And on the last day, too! A bit late but like I always say, November is the real spooky month. I also got, like, two Halloween Fallen Robins in the process so that’s neat.

In actual story related news, I’ve gotten a review from lucario574 which is great because they’re not only a follower but one of the earliest followers (or I’ve received a view from them before. Or both. Regardless, they’re on my list) and that means at least one person is still following/still cares after [counts on fingers] good god it’s been over a year since I started writing this. Though, to be fair, I did take that accidental hiatus so from a certain point of view it’s been less than that. Anyways, thanks for still following the fic, lucario574.

Now, on to actually responding to the review. Lucario574 pointed out, likely in response to a comment I made in the previous Author’s Note about how I had no idea why Linhardt was suddenly taking his job seriously. Which, to be honest, was kind of a lie but also kind of not because I knew in the back of my head why but at the time I had just written two chapters worth of content (I wrote this chapter and the previous chapter successively) so I was kind of tired and honestly just needed something to put there. But, yeah, lucario574 decided to be a good guy and explain the actual reason for why Linhardt was taking his job seriously, that being that he’s lazy to a certain point but when important things like lives being in danger happens, he gets serious. Should I be worried that I wrote him correctly but also had to have someone else explain to me why I wrote him correctly? I mean, I knew the whole time but I kind of forgot which is bad because a writer shouldn’t forget what they’re doing like that. Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter now, does it.

Anyways, thanks lucario574 for your review, giving me an excuse to talk, and giving me something to put here because I had absolutely nothing to talk about. Also, thanks again for following the story to this point.

Now, onwards to the chapter.

Part One
White Clouds
The Umbral Beast​

“What the hell is that thing!” Balthus shouted, pointing at the monster that used to be Aelfric.

“Looks like a Demonic Beast of some kind.” Byleth said.

“Close but not quite.” Rhea said, trying to keep her voice calm. “That… Is the Umbral Beast. It’s what happened the last time the Rite of Rising was performed.” She then gave Byleth a very mother-like glare. “And we will be having a talk about your use of the Goddess’ name, later.”

“I was about to say pretty much the same thing.” Sothis said.

The Umbral Beast roared again. It raised its clawed foot and brought it down on the heroes, aiming for Rhea specifically. It almost landed the blow but Byleth pushed the Archbishop out of the way before she could get hurt. Well, mostly. When Byleth pushed her she had landed on the floor which did hurt a bit.

“Thank you, Byleth.” She said, standing up and brushing herself off. “But I am perfectly capable of defending myself.” To prove her point she drew her leven sword and raised it in the air. A bolt of lightning burst from the tip and arched onto the beast’s hide, leaving a burn mark. Unfortunately, not only did the beast seem not to have felt the attack, but the burn mark quickly disappeared.

“Oh come on!” Byleth shouted. “It’s self healing!”

The Umbral Beast went for Rhea again and the two dodged out of the way.

“All right, all of my students, fall back to the Mausoleum!” Byleth shouted, pointing at the Mausoleum Entrance beckoning to her students.

“Agreed!” Yuri said. “Ashen Wolves! Fall back!”

The students and Ashen Wolves did as their commanders ordered. Rhea, Alois, and Jeralt also did this as it was the smart thing to do. Once they were there they huddled together.

“Alright, we need a plan.” Byleth said.

“Thank you, Professor Obvious.” Yuri snarked.

“Why is it that when you’re the one insulting me I can never think of a snappy comeback.” Byleth replied, annoyed.

“Focus!” Jeralt ordered.

“Right.” Byleth said, rubbing her temples. “So, I’m open to ideas.”

“We could climb up it and hit it from up top.” Balthus suggested. “Maybe take out those wings.”

“No!” Byleth and Edelgard said at the same time.

“Trust us, you don’t want to try that.” Byleth said. She then muttered something about “stupid cliffs” but it was hard to hear.

“Why don’t we try the puppet trick again.” Claude suggested.

“The puppet trick?” Byleth asked.

“The Chalice of Beginnings was being guarded by these weird puppet things.” Claude explained.

“Those were most likely Golems.” Rhea clarified.

“Right.” Claude said. “So the Chalice of Beginnings was being guarded by Golems and in order to get it we had to defeat them. So what we did is use some of my rope arrows to trip them up.”

“It was my idea.” Edelgard proclaimed proudly.

“Hmm… that might work.” Jeralt said, stroking his chin.

“Our enemy is quite different from the Golems.” Dimitri pointed out. “We may need to make modifications to our plan.”

“He’s right.” Yuri agreed.

“Alright, what do you suggest?” Claude asked.

“The Umbral Beast is much too big and its limbs much to far apart for rope arrows.” Dimitri explained. “If we are to tie it’s legs up we most likely will need to do it by hand. We’ll also need a stronger rope or, preferably, a chain of some sort.”

“My rope is plenty strong.” Claude protested. He then did a 180 and conceded. “But, admittedly, not strong enough for this particular situation.”

“I don’t think anyone has a chain on them.” Yuri said. “Let alone a chain large enough to wrap around that thing.”

“I might have a solution.” Hapi said. She made a hand motion and materialized a rope of dark energy. “I can make this thing as long or short as I want. Though I need to concentrate in order to do it.”

“That’ll work.” Byleth said. “So we’ll have our strongest people use the rope while everyone else acts as a distraction. Sounds like a plan?”

Constance shook her head. “Not yet. There is still one thing we have yet to consider: what we shall do with Aelfric once we use the rope to trip him up.”

“I’m sorry.” Rhea said remorsefully. “But that Beast is no longer Aelfric. Our only option is to kill it.”

Constance shook her head. “I am not. Aelfric used us, betrayed us, and tried to slay us. And yet, he still provided me with shelter when I had none. It is time to end this swiftly, for his sake as much as ours.”

“Seconded.” Hapi said. “After everything he’s done to bring her back, it’s terrible that things have to end this way. But if we have to then we have to.”

“I third that statement.” Yuri said with a nod. “Though I was really hoping to be the one to make the dramatic speech. This is all my fault, after all.”

“A lot of things today are your fault.” Balthus said. “But this is not one of them. Aelfric made his choice and there’s nothing any of us could do to stop him. Now, let’s do him and us a favor and take him out real quick, yeah.”

“We’re right behind you.” Byleth said, placing her fist on her chest.

There was a chorus of agreement from the students of Garreg Mach. Even Linhardt.

“I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.” Alois said. “But I’m ready to fight as well.”

Jeralt smiled sadly. “I guess it’s time to say one final goodbye to my old friend.”

“All right then!” Yuri shouted. “Ashen Wolves, let’s move out!

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The plan was simple. Byleth, Ashe, Linhardt, Yuri, Constance, and Rhea would serve as bait for the monster. Rhea was especially important because despite having pretty much become mindless it still had enough of Aelfric left over to absolutely despise her, thus making her the best bait. Meanwhile, Balthus, Dimitri, Alois, and Jeralt would try their best to wrap Hapi’s magic rope around the beast’s legs, causing it to collapse. Once the beast collapsed, everyone would hit it with as much magic and weaponry as they could manage. Through all this Hapi would stand to the side to keep the magic rope from disappearing.

There was an unfortunate problem, however. A variable that nobody has been aware of. As soon as they leaped into action the beast roared once again and summoned a group of spectral soldiers.

No matter. All that was required was a minor adjustment of plans. Rhea became essentially the sole distraction in the plan with Byleth covering her. Ashe was reassigned to protecting Hapi and the rest were tasked with keeping the soldiers off the Rope Team.

Rhea was actually pretty amazing in combat. Looking at her, Byleth had never expected much out of the Archbishop combat-wise. Maybe some powerful faith spells, but nothing like the swordsmanship she was displaying here. It was obvious she was a little rusty from years in a non-combative role but she was still pretty good.

“Have you been hiding this the whole time?” Byleth asked, dodging under a spectral soldier’s swing.

“Not the time, Byleth.” Rhea said, stabbing a spectral soldier.

“No, seriously, you’re really good.” Byleth continued. “We have to spar some time.”

Rhea electrified her sword and used a spin attack to knock away several soldiers. “Are you always this conversational in battle?” She asked, exasperated.

“Yeah, isn’t everyone?” Byleth answered, fully aware that not everyone was as conversational as her.

“No.” Rhea replied, deadpan.

Suddenly, the beast’s huge foot came down from above. Fortunately, the two managed to dodge it and the only one caught under the beast’s foot was a spectral soldier.

And that wasn’t the end of their fortune. The step the beast took was the final step to put it in position for the rope team to wrap their rope around the thing’s legs. Once that was done and they pulled with all their might, keeping the rope tight enough that when the beast attempted to take another step it collapsed. Just as planned.

“Now!” Byleth shouted.

Everyone immediately began bombarding the beast with as many attacks as possible. The attacks that did the most damage ended up mainly being the magic attacks though the Sword of the Creator, being a Hero’s Relic, also did a pretty hefty amount of damage. Slowly, the skull on the beast’s head began to crack and it roared in pain.

Then, the unthinkable happened. In their rush to defeat the beast, they had completely forgotten about the soldiers. One snuck up behind Hapi and almost got her with its axe, but she managed to dodge just in time, blasting it with dark magic. Unfortunately, this broke her concentration long enough for the rope to disappear, freeing the beast.

With surprising speed, the beast stood up and let out a powerful roar. Somehow, this roar randomly warped them all to different locations in the room, distancing them from the beast. The only two left close to it were Byleth, Rhea, and Jeralt, all three of which had been teleported right in front of it.

“No!” Byleth shouted. “We almost had it!”

The beast raised its leg once more. Jeralt spun his spear. “Relax, Kid. I’ve got this.”

“Jeralt, what are you doing?” Byleth asked apprehensively.

Jeralt didn’t answer, instead leaping onto the beast’s raised leg and running up it. He stabbed his spear into the side of the beast and used it to vault onto its back, promptly removing the spear as he did. He then ran across the beast’s back until he stood atop its head.

“Get clear!” He shouted. Then, in a lower voice he said. “Sorry, old friend.”

He stabbed his spear into the beast’s skull. This was the final blow needed to kill the beast. Light began emanating from the cracks in its skull. Byleth and Rhea, recognizing this as a bad thing, ran away from the beast and took cover. Jeralt also tried to run but it was too late. The beast exploded, blasting him away. His body slammed into a wall and fell to the ground, landing in a sitting position.

“No!” Byleth shouted, reaching her hand out despite the obvious futility of doing so. She quickly scrambled over to her father. “Nonononono! No!”

Byleth’s students, Rhea, and Alois followed Byleth. Meanwhile, the Ashen Wolves simply hung back, unsure how to proceed. Byleth leaned over her father’s body, crying.

Jeralt chuckled and then coughed. “Sorry, Kid. Looks like I’m not going to be able to keep my promise.”

“No!” Byleth shouted again. “We can fix this! Linhardt can heal you! Or, at least, stabilize you until we can get you to a proper doctor!”

“I… I’m sorry, Professor, but I can’t.” Linhardt said, his voice laden with remorse. “From the looks of it he’s broken… pretty much everything. Not to mention a plethora of other internal and external wounds. I think this is beyond even the most skilled healer.”

Byleth pounded the ground with her fist. “No! This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Hey.” Jeralt said soothingly. “Kid. Byleth. It’s okay. Everything will be fine.”

“Everything will not be fine!” Byleth cried. “You’ll be dead!”

“It was bound to happen eventually.” Jeralt said. He coughed again and smiled. “Besides, you’re strong. If anyone can handle this, it's you. I’m just glad that I got to see you smile and laugh before I kicked the bucket.”

“But-” Byleth began but Jeralt cut her off.

“Don’t worry.” He said. “Everything will be alright. And, hey, if there really is an afterlife, then maybe I’ll get to see Sitri again. For real this time.”

And with that, Jeralt went silent. Byleth heaved a huge sob and wrapped her arms around his battered body, burying her face in his chest. She had failed and Jeralt was dead.

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Author’s Note: What the heck are you doing down here? Jeralt just died?

...

Yeah, that joke was never gonna work. I love talking way too much to just leave it at that. So, yeah, Jeralt’s dead. You probably saw that coming. Especially since I kind of outright said that, yeah, Byleth wasn’t going to be able to save him. Anyways, congratulations on reaching the end of the Ashen Wolves mini-arc. I’m sure we’ll never see them again. Actually, I was about to make a joke about replacing them all with Lorenz clones but that actually would make a funny April Fools Omake. Just an entire chapter rewritten so that every character is replaced by Lorenz (with one character both not being replaced by Lorenz and being aware that this is not how the world is supposed to be). God, imagine how obnoxious that would be. Yeah, I’m never doing that.

Well, see you next chapter. Bye.
 
Let's read a different story
Their hearts had probably stopped beating, which would indicate death, but if time resumed their hearts would resume beating making them alive.
Wow
Also I think there should be a comma after "beating".
“Yes.” Byleth said, with a determined nod. “I will use it to save everyone. To prevent this war from ever happening.”
Yes! A Peggy Sue fic!
“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.”
Oooh so there's no going back.
Byleth struck an unnecessary dramatic pose. “Divine Pulse!”
I love this. I love camp.
the only other person who would remember a future that never will be.
"Would" would fit better than "will", methinks. I could be wrong, though.
“That’s it, I’m outta here!” The leader shouted, clearly intimidated. “I’m not getting paid enough for this!”
I love this line.
“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.”
Sarcasm?
“Hm.” Dimitri hm’d
I love this dialogue tag.
“You’re one to talk, Princess.” Claude snarked.
Well ExCUSE ME, PRINCESS.
(You have a tendency to disappear.) Byleth said. (Sometimes for five whole years!)
Wow a reference to the game?
(For now?) Byleth asked. (I plan on getting to know them better, and not just from an analytical standpoint. I’m starting over again so it only makes sense that I get to know everyone all over again.)
Comma after "again" methinks. Also good plan, Byleth.
“Isn’t this around the time he shows up.”
That period feels odd after a question. Unless it's a stylistic choice.
Remire village
I think "village" should be capitalized if "Remire" is.
Sure from her point of view she had just been there a few days ago
I think there should be a comma after "sure".
Claude explained, making exaggerated hand movements..
Double periods.
(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.”
Ooooooh meta.

Interesting start. I don't read a bunch of FE fics, but this is a very interesting concept. I'm excited to see how (or if) Byleth will save everyone.
 
Author’s Note: Woohoo! Chapter 20! I can’t believe I made it this far! And just before Christmas too! So, Merry Christmas to y’all. I can’t say Happy Hanukkah cause it's over already. Anyways, there’s a lot to talk about in this Author's Note.

First, I got a review from more than a torchic on Bulbagarden, who I wouldn’t say is a friend but is someone I’ve talked too enough that I can recognize them, that can basically be summed up as “The prologue sucks but I’m excited to see where this is going.” And I agree. That’s why I rewrote the prologue to hopefully be better. If you're reading this it should be up. It was actually a lot more salvageable than I thought it would be.

Second, I’m sorry for things getting sad. I promised you a lighthearted comedy fic and now everything's all depressing. Though it could be comedy depending on how well I handled it. I think I handled it well but it could turn out to be Narm. Either way, only the first half of this chapter is sad so it's not that bad.

Third, this was actually originally supposed to be a support. I turned it into a chapter when I realized I planned to set it around the same time I planned to kill Jeralt. Whoops.

Also, I would like to admit that this isn’t the most well made chapter but I felt I had to finish it fast to make up for missing Christmas last year. So, yeah.

Part One
White Clouds
Byleth's Birthday​

The week following the Umbral Beast incident was turbulent to say the least. Rhea insisted that not a single person involved divulge what happened to make sure nobody else tried to pull the same stunt Aelfric did, the Chalice of Beginnings was reluctantly placed in the Church’s vault for safe keeping, as it turned out it was impossible to destroy, and the Ashen Wolves were disbanded effective immediately with each member going their separate ways. Constance headed to the Fhirdiad Royal School of Sorcery, Hapi headed back to her home village, Balthus left intending to go from being the Indebted King of Grappling to the Well-to-Do King of Grappling, and Yuri intended to continue the work he had been doing before he came to Abyss and keep his people safe. Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard promised to look after Abyss in their stead.

The final event of the week was Jeralt’s funeral. The cover story they came up with was that he’d been on a mission and was ambushed by a particularly nasty giant wolf. This frustrated Byleth, as she felt that Jeralt deserved a much more noble fake death but unfortunately, it was all out of her control. The only thing she could really do was make damn well sure that Rhea didn't hide Jeralt’s body in a cave somewhere. After that, she could do nothing other than watch as his casket was lowered into the same grave where Sitri had supposedly been buried.

And then… nothing. Things mostly went back to normal except that Byleth disappeared into her room and refused to come out. Everyone let her be because it was understandable she’d go through a mourning period and any attempts to get her to come out were generally met with non-response at best and yelling at worst.

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One week later, Byleth was still shut in her room, laying face down on her bed. She was mainly subsisting on rations she had hidden in the room. It wasn’t their intended use but she didn’t really care anymore.

Sothis, meanwhile, hovered over her with her arms crossed. While she could leave Byleth’s room and explore within the limited space she was allowed by whatever rules governed her powers whenever she wanted, something about Byleth’s heightened emotional state kept drawing her back there. And it was really starting to grate on her nerves. She groaned irritably.

“Enough of this!” She shouted. “You’ve been sulking for days now! I can’t stand it anymore! You’re never going to achieve your goals if you keep going on like this!”

Byleth lifted her head up to look at Sothis. “What goals?” She asked miserably. “Don’t you see, Sothis? I’ve failed!”

“What do you mean, you failed!” Sothis shouted.

“Jeralt’s dead!” Byleth shouted, tears welling in her eyes. “I was supposed to save him and he died! What if… what if that happens again!? What if someone else I try to save dies!? What if I can’t save anybody!?”

Sothis shook her head. “So one person died! It doesn’t matter!.”

“What!” Byleth shouted, despair turning to anger. “Of course it matters! He wasn’t supposed to die! I stopped it! I stopped her!”

“Sometimes things happen!” Sothis countered. “You can’t always control life and you can’t go back and change things!”

“But I did!” Byleth protested. “I did go back and I did change things! And look where it’s gotten me! Absolutely nowhere!” She slammed her fist into the bed.

“That’s not the point!” Sothis shouted. “The point is that it already happened and you can’t change it so there's no point in whining about it!”

Byleth reeled back like the statement had physically hurt her. “Whining about it!?” She shouted. “I’m not whining about it! My father died! I think I have the right to be upset about that!”

Sothis growled in frustration. “Why are you so infuriating! You are acting like a child!”

Byleth clenched her fist. “Why you…” She growled, unleashing the full power of her signature glare on Sothis. “Just shut up! Leave me alone!”

Sothis didn’t have a response for that. All she could do was look down to avoid making eye contact with Byleth. Because for a split second, mixed in with the rage and sadness, she saw hatred in Byleth's eyes. Hatred for her.

Byleth flipped down on the bed again, her head turned away from Sothis. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the world. For a moment, everything was quiet. And then… the silence was broken by a beautiful voice.

“In time's flow… see the glow of flames ever burning bright…”

It was the same song Rhea had sung (would sing? Byleth didn’t know anymore) when Byleth had seen her during the ball and later when she was recovering from fusing with Sothis. She opened her eyes and turned over to see Sothis singing.

“On the swift river's drift, broken memories alight…”

Byleth lifted herself up so that she was resting on her elbows. “Sothis…” She said in bewilderment. “What…”

Sothis looked just as surprised as she was. “I don’t know. I just… I saw that I had hurt you and started singing. I think… I think I used to sing that song when… someone…” She scrunched up her forehead like she was trying to remember but gave up quickly. “...was sad.” She shook her head. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m... sorry that I said what I just said. I just… I really don’t like seeing you sad and I acted stupidly because of it. I’m not very good with emotions, am I?”

Byleth looked down. “I’m sorry I glared at you like that. What you said was terrible but you didn’t deserve that.”

“Yes I did.” Sothis said somberly. “Now… maybe you should try to sleep. You’ve been awake for over a week. It has to be taking a toll on you.”

Byleth rubbed the tears from her eyes and yawned, for the first time realizing how tired she really was. “Yeah… maybe you’re right.”

Slowly, she lay back down and closed her eyes. As soon as her eyes closed she passed out completely, finally crashing after days of emotional stress.

Sothis smiled sadly. “Good night.” She said.

EhwbRE89QQH5H3OcqGvTFRYf79jSxAsDuxH2FDokY38_4R3Vw4iflwGmKVYsOxxW-S5D6Nmn5Bw5TP6drYml-nft7fCyGgxexPTP1eabzq4RV9INkaOGgXc4TnpOpL7p4byXpTmD
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Byleth always slept with a knife under her pillow. One of the first things she had learned as a mercenary was that she should always, always, be within arms reach of a weapon. This had led to several close calls where she had almost stabbed people who weren’t hostile. The only people who were capable of waking her up without being attacked were Jeralt (before he died, obviously) and Sothis.

Edelgard Von Hresvelg, Heir to the Adrestian Empire, did not share this privilege, hence why there was currently a knife pointed at her throat.

“Professor, it’s just me.” She said with her hands raised above her head.

Byleth squinted. “Edelgard?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Edelgard said. “I request that you please lower your knife.”

Byleth slowly lowered her blade and placed it on her bedside table. She took a second look to make sure that, yes, the person in front of her was Edelgard. She rubbed her head.

“Sorry about that.” She said, still slightly groggy. “This happens every time someone tries to wake me up. Speaking of, why did you wake me?”

“It wasn’t my intention, I assure you.” Edelgard said.

“Then what was your intention?” Byleth asked, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t think of many reasons for you to be in my room. Or, for that matter, how you’re in my room”

Edelgard sighed. “Oh. Well, I guess since you’re awake there’s no way to hide it from you. We found out that today’s your birthday so we all worked together to make you breakfast.”

She gestured at a large plate of pancakes (of the “birthday cake” variety), eggs, and bacon sitting on Byleth’s bedside table that she had somehow managed to miss. Next to the plate was an envelope and some utensils.

“Who’s we?” Byleth asked.

“Well, everyone.” Edelgard replied. “Me, Claude, Dimitri… even Bernadetta and Felix pitched in.”

“That’s… a lot of people for breakfast.” Byleth said, slightly caught off guard by this turn of events.

“Oh, that’s not all we did.” Edelgard said. It could have been her imagination but Byleth swore the Adrestrian Princess had a small smirk on her face. “But that can wait until you’ve eaten. Claude, Dimitri, and I will be waiting in the courtyard.”

With a swish of her hair she turned around and left the room. As the door closed behind her, Byleth made a mental note to get a magical lock on her door as soon as possible, since obviously the normal lock wasn’t working.

“So, happy birthday.” Sothis said from within her head.

(Ugh.) Byleth replied mentally. (I haven’t thought about my birthday in… ages. I kind of forgot it existed.)

“Lucky you, your kids didn’t.” Sothis said. “I didn’t either but I’m afraid I don’t have a present for you, sorry.”

(Don’t worry about it.) Byleth replied. (You being here is enough.)

“Even after what I said?” Sothis asked.

Byleth grabbed the plate of pancakes and began to eat. (What you said was horrible and I definitely haven’t forgiven you, but that doesn’t mean we’re not still friends.)

“Why does it sound like you’re consoling me?” Sothis asked. “You’re the one whose father died.”

Byleth looked down and sighed sadly. “Yeah… he is.” She said quietly, taking another bite of pancake. She shook her head. (You were sort of right. I have to move on. At the very least, I have to hold it together long enough to celebrate my own birthday.) She chuckled though it sounded forced.

She put the plate aside and grabbed the envelope. She used the dagger she had pointed at Edelgard to open it. The letter inside was huge. At the top it said “Happy Birthday” followed by three pages worth of signatures. She gave a small smile and placed the letter back down on the table.

“Well,” She said, standing up. “Guess it’s time to go see what my kids are up to.”

With that, she left the room, locking the door behind her, though she doubted it would do anything.

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Byleth found the House Leaders in the courtyard, just as Edelgard had said they would be. They seemed to be debating something.

“Strength isn’t everything, Princess.” Claude was saying. It sounded like he was countering something Edelgard had said.

“Arguing again?” Byleth asked. The sly smile she’d normally have for such a comment was missing.

Claude turned to face her and smiled. “Oh, Teach. Glad to see you out and about.”

“Yes, I was almost afraid you wouldn’t come.” Edelgard added.

Byleth attempted to smile. “Hey, you guys are putting in the effort to do something nice for me. The least I can do is indulge you.” She rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek. “How did you find out it was my birthday, anyways?”

“Believe it or not, Rhea told us.” Edelgard said. “I never thought I’d say this but she actually helped out quite a bit.”

“I think that’s enough chatter.” Claude said. “We’re wasting daylight.” He turned to Dimitri. “You have the blindfold, Your Princeliness?”

“Of course.” Dimitri replied, holding up the aforementioned blindfold.

“Wait, blindfold?” Byleth asked, confused.

“Humor us, Teach.” Claude said.

“Fine.” Byleth said.

Dimitri took the blindfold and tied it around Byleth’s head, effectively blocking her vision. She allowed Edelgard to take her hand and guide her.

Edelgard led Byleth in a direction that Byleth was pretty sure, if she remembered the layout of Garreg Mach correctly, led to the dining hall. It turned out she was correct. When the blindfold was lifted she was greeted with a dining hall filled with, well, everyone. Every single person she knew was there. Students, Teachers, Knights. Everyone.

“Happy birthday.” They all chorused, though quite a few of them put their own spin on it.

“I… what…” Byleth stuttered.

Dimitri spread his arms. “Ta-da.”

“Have we managed to surprise you.” Edelgard asked.

“I… well… yeah.” Byleth said, amazed.

“Excellent.” Edelgard replied, hands on her hips.

Claude patted Byleth on the back. “Come on, Teach, party time.”

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Upon Byleth entering the dining hall, she was immediately greeted by Rhea.

“Happy Birthday, Byleth.” The Archbishop said warmly.

“Thank you.” Byleth said, still a bit shocked. “I honestly wasn’t expecting this.”

“That would be the point of surprise parties.” Rhea replied. It could be Byleth’s imagination but Rhea seemed notably snarkier than usual.

“Still, this is huge.” Byleth said, gesturing to, well, everything.

Claude chuckled. “Yeah, things might’ve gotten out of hand. We really just wanted to hold a party to cheer you up a bit.”

Byleth rubbed the back of her head. “Thanks guys but, to be honest, I’m rather overwhelmed.”

“Sorry, Teach.” Claude said. “You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want.”

Byleth looked around. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and, honestly, just that fact did make her a little happier. “No, no I think I’ll stay.” She rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek. “So… what’s next?”

“Whatever you want.” Claude replied. “You could mingle, eat cake, open presents, whatever. It’s your party and the day’s still young.”

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Byleth enjoyed the party. For the first time in days she almost forgot about her sorrow. It was still there, of course, lurking in the back of her mind, but for now other, happier feelings were at the forefront.

Most of the people who were at the party were people Byleth expected. Ashe, Linhardt, and Hilda - who had been informed of the truth of the incident as everyone felt she deserved to know - were there. So was Alois who gave her a massive and very unwanted hug.

“I’m fine, Alois.” Byleth said, disentangling herself.

“Byleth, Forgive me for being blunt but you’ve been shut up in your room crying for over a week.” Alois replied. “You are most certainly anything but fine.”

Byleth raised her finger. “I…”. She didn’t even bother to finish the sentence. She looked down and let loose a long sigh. “Yeah… you’re right.” She gave Alois a big hug (or, as big as she could manage while being shorter than him). Alois patted her on the back.

There were also people at the party she hadn’t expected. Hubert was there and, though she suspected he was mainly there to protect Edelgard, he seemed to be having a good time. Though it seemed he’d managed to scare poor Bernadetta out of her wits.

More surprisingly to her was that Catherine and Shamir were there. Byleth’s curiosity got the better of her and she headed over to greet the two of them.

“Catherine? Shamir? What are you guys doing here?” She asked.

“Attending your party, obviously.” Catherine replied.

“Well I can see that.” Byleth said, managing to muster some of her old snark. “But why? I kind of thought you hated me.”

“What gave you that idea?” Catherine asked.

“Well, there was that time you threatened me.” Byleth pointed out.

“Oh, that?” Catherine asked flippantly. “You were disobeying direct orders from Lady Rhea. It wasn’t personal.”

It had felt pretty personal to Byleth. Especially considering Catherine’s fanatical devotion to Rhea.

“Well, that’s nice to know.” Byleth said with a shrug.

“If it makes you feel better, I don't like you.” Shamir said. “They keep making me sub for you when I have better things to be doing.”

Catherine laughed and wrapped an arm around Shamir. “Don’t listen to her. She won’t admit it but she’s warming up to your kids.”

Shamir rolled her eyes. She pulled away from Catherine, crossed her arms, and hmph’d.

Byleth actually let out a small chuckle. Maybe she should hang out with Catherine more often. She’d probably be fun to spar with too.

“Well, I guess I’ll… see you later, then.” Byleth said.

“See ya.” Catherine replied. “And if you have a chance, join us at the bar in town sometime.”

“Maybe I will.” Byleth said with a wave.

There were other conversations Byleth had but none particularly notable. She had cake, which was delicious, and was given gifts which she decided to open at a later time. Before she knew it, night had started to fall and the party began dissolving until it was just her, Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri.

“Well, I suppose I should head back to my room.” Byleth said.

“Not yet, Teach.” Claude said, holding up a hand. “We have one more present for you. Well, it’s a present for all of us, actually.”

He took a package out of his pocket and handed it to Byleth. It was plain compared to the other gifts, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a rainbow piece of string.

Figuring she couldn't take the gift back to her room like the others, it being for the four of them and all, Byleth unwrapped it right there. She pulled at the string which immediately became undone and carefully removed the paper to reveal a set of four rings. Each one had a different sigil on it set against a background evenly split into four colors: Red, Blue, Yellow, and Purple.

“I had these made a week ago to represent our friendship and figured now would be as good a time as any to hand them out.” Claude said. He pointed to one of the rings, inset with the sigil of the Golden Deer. “There’s one for me.” He pointed at another ring, inset with the sigil of the Blue Lions, and looked at Dimitri. “One for you.” He pointed at the third ring, inset with the sigil of the Black Eagles, and looked at Edelgard. “One for you.” He pointed at the fourth and final ring, inset with the Crest of Flames, and looked at Byleth. “And one for you.”

“Wow.” Byleth said, stunned. “This is… a lot.”

“Hey, we fought a giant monster together, if that doesn’t make us friends I don’t know what does.” Claude said with a grin. He took his ring and slipped it on his finger. “From now on we are officially the Best Friend Squad!”

“We’re still not calling ourselves that.” The other three chorused and Byleth laughed for the first time in weeks.

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Author’s Note: And that’s that. Man, Catherine and Shamir are more fun to write than I thought. Now I get why they’re a pair, they bounce off each other well.

Not much else to say, I guess. Happy holidays and I’ll see you in the Supports. Unless you don’t follow Supports for some bizarre reason in which case I will see you next chapter.
 
There is an official fifth path now! Maybe. So even though I still have to fucking play Three Houses already I mean jesus christ can't somebody make an all social links in Persona esque guide to recruit all students on one playthrough already I guess not so I have to do what I can, let's see what the prologue of your fifth path looks like.

- Bleh, FByleth. I hope you can play MByleth in Three Hopes, because I hate her soulless eyes. At least here maybe she's pretty much interchangable
- This is Sothis all right. She who can just will herself back into existence to marry Byleth.
- There's some missing punctuation in Sothis' rant and explanation. Also wow is it just me or is she worse than usual. Also wonder which friend kicked it?
- Well they escaped being trapped forever once before.
- Welp, it's permadeath from here on out it seems. Good thing she has saved games
- Bottom of a river? So that wasn't Crimson Flower route, at least.
- There's various mistakes where the first word is capitalized after a quote, don't wanna bother listing them all out
- Reaching for her hand so soon?
- Heh, only natural to reuse game dialogue. And Byleth returns to being a mostly silent protagonist during this scene, as is true
- Hm, no little scene where she choose which house she likes best?
- And the plan goes into action.

Read a bit into the second chapter to see the house chosen which is sensible for the plot. Always wanted to read this, but the aforementioned not playing Three Houses made it hard. I should finish BD, do enough of Legends Arceus to get Mystery Gift, and do that already. Might come back then, at least after my first playthrough! Until then though.
 
- This is Sothis all right. She who can just will herself back into existence to marry Byleth.
I kind of always just assumed she'd never died.
- There's some missing punctuation in Sothis' rant and explanation.
Well she's ranting, of course there'd be missing punctuation since she wouldn't be pausing.

Actually, I just forgot some punctuation but I'm going with this excuse.
- Bottom of a river? So that wasn't Crimson Flower route, at least.
It was Azure Moon.
- There's various mistakes where the first word is capitalized after a quote, don't wanna bother listing them all out
Yeah, this is one of those grammar rules that matters about as much as... I don't have a good metaphor. It just doesn't really matter.
And Byleth returns to being a mostly silent protagonist during this scene, as is true
Oh don't worry, she gets chatty again real soon.
Good thing she has saved games
She wishes. If she had that she wouldn't need to bother with traveling back in time.
 
Author’s Note: Finally! I’m finally done! Sorry for disappearing on y'all like that, It’s not that I got writer’s block, I just really hated writing this chapter which is why it's not as great as previous ones. I just wanted to get it done so I could move onto chapters I actually want to write. The only reason this chapter exists at all is because it would be kind of weird to skip over the Battle of Eagle and Lion considering how important it is.

Anyways, onto stuff that actually matters, here’s a bit of a spoiler: Hapi’s in this chapter. I’m bringing that up now because it won’t make sense if you haven’t read the supports. That’s right, the supports actually matter.

Basically Byleth ran into Hapi and made her her teacher’s aide. Go read the supports if you want the full story. Don’t know why you wouldn’t already be doing that but I suppose a lot of you figured it’d just like the Supports in actual Fire Emblem games: useless. Seriously, they affect nothing except for who gets together with who and some line changes in regards to character interactions (at least, in Three Houses) which is a real shame because you get a lot of Character Development in some Supports that just doesn’t carry over to the rest of the game, not to mention some supports literally follow the same story beats as other supports (looking at you, Dorothea) making them completely interchangeable. The only upside is learning some character backstory but aside from that it affects nothing. Nothing important at least. Problems of having 40+ characters in a game that only focuses on three of them. Maybe four counting Byleth (Rhea doesn't count because she spends most of the second half of the game kidnapped, even in her own route!).

Whoof, sorry for the rant. Needed to get that out of my system. Anyways, there’s one more thing I need to get out of my way, a review on supports from one montyoverzero. I know it would make more sense to mention this in supports itself but I don’t know when I’ll be posting the next one so it's here instead. They follow both fics anyways.

So, in the review they posit this interaction between Gatekeeper and Byleth:

Gatekeeper: "Greetings, Professor! Nothing to report! You know, that's a really cool coat-cape thing you're wearing."
Byleth: "Thanks, it has pockets!"

And I am here to say that I am 100% making canon to Fifth Path because I find it hilarious. Thanks montyoverzero.

Well, that’s all for now. See you below.

Part One
White Clouds
The New Battle of the Eagle and Lion​

After so long it was finally time for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Byleth, Manuela, and Hanneman had spent ages planning out how it would go since they obviously couldn’t do it the traditional way, what with the new way they were doing things and all. What they finally decided on was a castle siege. Specifically, all the houses would work together to storm and capture a fortress (well, actually they had to capture a flag at the top of the fortress) that had been built on the center hill of Grondor Field. The castle was protected by Knights of Seiros and members of the Blade Breakers (Jeralt’s mercenary group), both of which were instructed to go easy on the students. They were the best of the best after all and the students, regardless of their accomplishments, were still students.

It had taken a while to convince Seteth and Rhea to go for this plan. They were very much on the side of tradition for this particular battle. But eventually they were able to get them on board so everything worked out in the end.

Normally, the teachers would participate in the battle but they decided that it was best to leave it to just the students this time. Instead they’d be overseeing from a nearby hill with Seteth and Rhea. Also there was Hapi, who Byleth had found hanging around the Monastery and decided to recruit her as her Teacher’s Aide.

“Why do I have to be here again?” Hapi asked.

“As my Aide you have as much of a responsibility to oversee these students as I do.” Byleth replied. “Also people were paranoid about leaving you in the Monastery without anybody around to protect it. Sorry.” She rubbed the back of her head.

“I’m used to it.” Hapi said, making a face that Byleth had come to recognize as her version of a sigh.

Sometimes, Byleth wondered how long it had taken her to learn how to keep from sighing. Given her personality, it must have been hard.

“Are we ready?” Rhea asked.

“I think we’ve given them enough time to prepare.” Manuela replied.

Hanneman nodded in agreement. “Time to sound the horn, I think.”

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The fortress the students had to assault was atop the hill in the center of the field. This meant it has an excellent defensive position, as it allowed its defenders to have a clear view of almost the entire field. This also meant that the students would have to be sneakier with their tactics. Luckily, they had two of the best schemers in the world with them: Claude, the future Master Tactician, and Hubert, essentially the Black Eagle’s backup Byleth when it came to tactics.

The students were given a set of tents to imitate a camp. There were sleeping tents that would likely go unused, an equipment and supplies tent where they’d keep their equipment and supplies (obviously), and a tent for strategizing where the three house leaders were currently doing just that.

“So we all agree there’s no way a full frontal assault will work.” Claude said, poring over a map of the fortress.

“That is correct.” Edelgard affirmed. “That way lies failure.”

“Then we’ve got to find another way in.” Claude said, slamming his fist into his hand.

“Hmm…” Dimitri hmm’d, rubbing his chin as he looked over the blueprint. “Perhaps… we could sneak in through here.” He pointed to a side entrance for servants. “I highly doubt it would be guarded.”

“That’s actually a good idea.” Claude said. “We’d need a distraction, though.”

“I think me and Dimitri can handle that.” Edelgard said. “I’ll lead a platoon in the back and he’ll lead a team in the front.”

“Leaving me to lead the infiltration team.” Claude said confidently. “Excellent.”

Just then, the sound of a horn rang out across the field. It played a generic tune that you’ve probably heard a million times.

“Students of the Officer’s Academy, Knights of Seiros, Blade Breakers!” The voice of Seteth, volume increased by a spell from Rhea, boomed. “The New Battle of the Eagle and Lion begins… now!”

“Well, guess that ends that planning session.” Claude said. “Let's pick our troops and move out.”

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The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. Dimitri and Edelgard’s teams successfully distracted the Knights, leaving the side with the servant’s entrance essentially undefended.

It was only when they entered the fortress that things went wrong. The team consisted of Claude, Hilda, Petra, and Mercedes. Originally their healer was supposed to be Linhardt but Hilda convinced Claude to move him over to Edelgard’s team. Something about Lysithea. Claude wasn’t entirely sure.

Speaking of Hilda, as the group wandered through the halls, she suddenly spoke up.

“Are you sure this will work, Claude?” She asked in a whisper.

“We’ve come this far and you’re only now having reservations?” Claude replied incredulously, also in a whisper.

“Well, the reality that we’re actually doing this is only hitting me now.” Hilda admitted.

Mercedes placed a hand on Hilda’s shoulder. “Relax. I’m sure everything will work out fine.”

“Yes, don’t be worrying, Hilda.” Petra added. “I have heard that this is being, what is the word, ah, comparatively one of Claude’s not so crazy plans.”

“Er, thanks?” Claude said, unsure if he should take that as a compliment.

Then things went wrong. Around the corner walked a Knight of Seiros. Who knew why. Maybe he was patrolling, maybe he was unaware that the battle had started. It could be any number of reasons. Regardless, he saw the quartet of students and immediately attacked. He took a throwing axe off his hip and threw it at Claude. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to dodge in time and the axe clonked him over the head, knocking him out cold.

While this shocked both Hilda and Mercedes, Petra wasted no time retaliating. She snatched an arrow from Claude’s quiver and threw it against the ground where it's top broke apart. A cloud of smoke emanated from the broken tip, obscuring everybody’s vision. There was the sound of fighting and when the smoke cleared, Petra stood triumphant over the Knight’s unconscious body.

Mercedes was the first one to unfreeze, running over to Claude to assess the damage.

“He’s okay, just unconscious.” She announced.

“Can you heal him?” Petra asked.

“I can heal the bruising, but he’ll still need rest.” Mercedes replied. “We may have to call off this mission.”

“No.” Hilda said suddenly. She put her hands on her hips. “We started this mission, we have to finish it.”

Both Mercedes and Petra stared at her, seeming somewhat shocked. Hilda gave them an annoyed look.

“What?” She asked, offended.

“Apologies, Hilda, it is just… you are not often wanting to do missions.” Petra pointed out.

Hilda paused for a length of time equivalent to a beat panel in a comic. Then she spoke. “Well this time I do.” She said. “Here’s our new plan. First, Mercedes will heal Claude. Then, we hide his unconscious body somewhere. Like a closet or something. Then, we keep going forward. Petra, you’ll serve as lookout, looking around corners to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Borrow some of Claude’s smoke arrows, just in case.”

If she was being honest with herself, Hilda was almost as surprised as the others with what she was doing. It was true that she’d prefer to do anything but go out and fight. She would do almost anything to avoid it and she was perfectly aware of that fact. So why was she taking a leadership role?

Well, she couldn’t really dwell on that now. They had a mission to complete and a flag to capture. She rubbed her chin.

“What’s that phrase Claude is always using again?” She wondered aloud. Then she snapped her fingers. “Oh right! Move out!”

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It wasn’t hard to sneak through the rest of the fortress. The distraction plan was working really well, keeping almost all the attention away from the fortress’ interior. Every once in the while they ran into a mercenary or knight they needed to hide from but nothing they couldn’t handle.

Eventually, they made it to the top of the central tower. There, in plain sight, was the flag… guarded by a big beefy guy wielding an axe. He seemed like a mercenary, but some of the Knights dressed very contrary to how a Knight should probably dress so it was hard to tell. Thankfully, he hadn’t spotted them crouching in the stairwell yet.

“This… may have been a bad idea.” Hilda whispered. “Maybe we should just give up.”

“We can’t do that.” Mercedes argued.

“I agree.” Petra said. “You said that we have to finish the mission.”

“It was the heat of the moment.” Hilda protested. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Well, it is to late to be backing out now.” Petra said, taking a step forward.

Hilda grabbed her by the arm. “Hold on, we can’t just rush in there. We’ll get destroyed.”

“So does that mean you are having a plan?” Petra asked, a hint of a smile on her face.

Hilda frowned irritably. “Yes, I do. And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I am having no idea what you are talking about.” Petra replied.

Hilda crossed her arms and hmmph’d. “Okay, so here’s the plan: we use Claude’s smoke arrows to hide our presence and then me and Petra attack him while Mercedes grabs the flag.”

“That’s… not much of a plan.” Mercedes pointed out.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Hilda countered.

“Well… no.” Mercedes admitted..

“Then we’re going with my plan.” Hilda replied. She raised three fingers. “On my mark. 3…” She lowered her first finger. Petra took out one of Claude’s smoke arrows. “2…” She lowered her second finger. “1…” She lowered the final finger. “Go!”

Petra threw down the smoke arrow at the feet of the guard. Seemingly on instinct, he immediately leaped backwards and scanned the area for any threats. Unfortunately for him, this was almost impossible since he could barely see thanks to the smoke.

Of course, the annoying thing was that the smoke worked both ways. At least, in regards to Hilda and Mercedes. Petra was able to navigate the smoke just fine but Hilda and Mercedes were completely blind, which was bad considering Mercedes’ job was to grab the flag.

“I can’t see a thing!” Mercedes shouted.

“Okay, in hindsight this was a really bad plan!” Hilda also shouted.

This turned out to be a bad idea as it clued the Mercenary in as to where she was. He swung at her with his axe and she just barely managed to dodge it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Petra leaped in and whacked him in the back with her training sword, causing him to stumble forward. Hilda needed to jump back again to avoid colliding with him.

“Do not be worrying.” Petra reassured them. “I am having your back. Or rather, I am having his back.”

“Did you just make a pun?” Hilda asked.

“I have been practicing the language of Fodlan with Claude.” Petra replied, dodging a spin attack from the Mercenary.

“Ah, that explains it.” Hilda replied.

She swung her axe at the Mercenary, once again causing him to stumble. Petra followed that up with a jab to the gut. This actually managed to knock him over… right on top of Hilda who was too slow to dodge this time.

“Oh, apologies.” Petra said.

“It’s okay.” Hilda squeaked from underneath the Mercenary.

The Mercenary sprung back up, ready to fight some more. But then, as if on cue, the smoke magically cleared and fireworks blasted into the air. Mercedes had found the flag and captured it. She raised it into the air triumphantly.

“The battle is over!” Seteth’s voice boomed. “The students win!”

“We did it!” Mercedes shouted excitedly.

“Yay.” Hilda said from the ground, weakly raising her fist in the air.

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To celebrate the students’ victory, Byleth threw the biggest party Garreg Mach had ever seen that year. Even bigger than her birthday party though not bigger than the ball that would be coming up in a few months. Admittedly, she had had to do some rather undignified begging and pleading to convince Seteth to let her do it, but she barely had any dignity anyways so whatever.

“This is quite the party.” Hapi said casually, taking a sip of lemonade.

“I try.” Byleth said, proudly placing her fists on her hips.

Then her face lit up as she spotted three girls. Specifically, Mercedes, Petra, and Hilda. She dashed over to them.

“Hey, it's the ladies of the hour!” She shouted, putting her arms around the three of them.

Hilda wriggled out of Byleth's grip. “Thanks, Professor.” She said, sounding slightly irked. “But I didn’t really do anything.”

“Didn’t do anything?” Asked a voice. Byleth released the girls and they all turned to see Claude approaching with a glass of lemonade. “You stepped up and took charge like a true leader. I wouldn't call that not doing anything. Though did you have to shove me in a closet?”

Hilda broke out into laughter. “Me? A true leader? Now your jokes have gone too far, Claude. I’m no leader. I’m just a lazy good-for-nothing and we all know it.”

“That’s not true.” Mercedes said, putting a hand on Hilda’s shoulder. “If you hadn’t stepped up, we would have all lost.”

“Mercedes is right.” Petra agreed.

Claude held up his lemonade. “A toast to our new backup leader!”

“Huzzah!” Byleth cried, holding up her own glass.

All of them laughed, except for Hilda, who groaned.

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Author’s Note: Alternate title: The Mock Battle but Worse.

Seriously, I’m really sorry about this but I was tired of writing this chapter and I really didn’t want to go on an impromptu seven month hiatus again. Well, technically it was only four and three months but I don’t count Omakes as chapters.

One particular victim of my being sick of this was not focusing on all three parts of the plan. I know I should have but that would make this take even longer than it already has. Please don’t hate me.

So, on a more humorous note this chapter includes four of the hardest things for me to write:

1. Making sure Edelgard doesn’t use the words Goddess or Sothis as exclamations. Ironic, I know, considering my own atheism but even I use religious terms simply out of habit.
2. Hapi not sighing. I have characters sigh a lot as you’ve probably noticed so writing a character for whom sighing literally summons monsters is really hard.
3. Petra’s speech pattern. I think I pulled it off quite well here but it's really hard to write without either underplaying it or overplaying it.
And
4. Trying to convince you that Hilda is lazy when there is no evidence of that in this fic whatsoever. Like, she’s definitely been combat adverse but she’s never displayed her willingness to do anything within reason, up to and including manipulating her classmates, to get out of doing work (one of my favorite supports, despite my above rant about them, is when Marianne turns Hilda’s own manipulation tactics back in her). I’ve tried to show off her lazier tendencies but it always ends up turning into attempts to demonstrate her ADHD tendencies that I made up for this fic (how well this works is up to you). As I’m ADHD myself, this might be my desire to see some accurately portrayed ADHD people in fiction, even fanfiction, leaking through. Seriously, most portrayals of ADHD are just “haha look at the funny person who gets distracted a lot” not to mention that most of them generally have ADHD as a sign of either being dumb, being a Cloudcuckoolander (there’s your TV Tropes link for the day, at least if you’re not on FF Dot Net which I just discovered requires you to write out the Dot. There’s a lot of awkward blank spaces in these Author’s Notes aren’t there), or both. That second one isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the Cloudcuckoolander can be a fun character (see: Pinkie Pie and Ace Attorney’s Herlock Sholmes), but the fact that these kinds of characters tend to demonstrate traits similar to mental disorders does result in the coloring of a lot of people’s perceptions of these disorders as the people who have them just being weird in quirky is a bit problematic.

Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be funny. Uh… I just 100%’d Kirby and the Forgotten Land. That’s not funny but it is pretty cool. So, yeah.
 
Author’s Note: Hey, hey! I’m back! And I brought a new chapter! Was waiting to write this. Things are gonna be getting juicy.

I’m gonna be honest with you, some parts of this chapter can be skipped if you want. If you want to you can skip to the end around the line “Rhea nodded impassively. “Very well. We shall discuss this. Manuela, Hanneman, you are dismissed.”” Yeah… that probably doesn’t bode well. All I can really tell you is that there are some pretty good gags.

In other news, I now know what this version of Byleth looks like. She resembles this artwork from the Japan exclusive card game drawn by Senri Kita, though with a coat instead of a cape.

Part One
White Clouds
Remire Village Shall not Fall​

Byleth awoke to a feeling she knew all too well: a pillow to the face. Even months later it was how Sothis woke her up. It was basically her only option, since when she tried getting an alarm clock she ended up destroying it. Still, she couldn’t deny that sometimes the pillow thing still annoyed her.

“Sothis, it's my day off.” She groaned, slowly taking the pillow off her head and throwing it absentmindedly to the side.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Sothis replied, somewhere off to Byleth's left. “But somebody is knocking on your door and it's not like I can answer it.”

As if to prove her point, three loud knocks sounded. Byleth sighed. Looked like she wouldn’t be sleeping in this time.

“I'm coming, I'm coming.” She groaned, rolling out of bed.

She walked over to the door, opening it up just wide enough to see who was there while also preserving what little dignity she had left. Standing outside her door was a Knight of Seiros, looking generic as always. Byleth sighed.

“What does Rhea want?” She asked.

“I don’t know ma’am.” The Knight said, boringly formal. “It’s not my job to ask questions.”

Byleth sighed again. “Fine, I’ll be right there. Just let me get dressed first.”

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Half an hour later, Byleth stood in front of Rhea and Seteth in the audience chamber. Alongside her were Manuela and Hanneman. Sothis was also there just in case the meeting turned out to be boring.

“Byleth, Hanneman, Manuela.” Rhea said, completely serious. “Thank you for meeting me.”

“Did we have a choice?” Byleth asked. Finally, she had gotten her snark back. Mostly.

“Byleth, I would appreciate if you dropped the sarcasm.” Seteth said, glaring at her. “This is a very serious situation.”

Byleth believed him. The last time she’d heard Rhea this grave was when Edelgard launched her assault on the Monastery. However, since Edelgard was not currently launching an assault on the Monastery, there was only one thing Byleth could think of that would cause Rhea to have such an attitude.

“No.” She breathed. “No no no no no.”

“Byleth?” Manuela asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Rhea, please tell me the worst hasn’t happened.” Byleth pleaded. “Please tell me Remire Village is okay.”

“Byleth, please calm down.” Rhea said, holding her hands out, in an attempt to be soothing. “Remire Village is fine. A strange affliction has broken out but those who have it have been quarantined.”

Byleth breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank the Goddess.”

“Hey don’t thank me.” Sothis said. “I didn’t do anything. It was all you and the Knights.”

(You’re right.) Byleth thought. (Guess the Knights came through for once.)

“Hold on a moment.” Hanneman said, interrupting Byleth and Sothis’ mental conversation. “Byleth, how did you know about this situation when we did not?”

“I’m wondering that myself.” Seteth said, stroking his beard.

“Well, the truth is…” Byleth began hesitantly. “I’m the reason you know about it at all.”

Hanneman’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. It was almost comical.

“What!” He shouted.

Seteth and Manuela looked equally surprised. Rhea, however, kept her cool. Byleth couldn’t tell if she was just hiding her surprise or knew more than she was letting on. Both were equally likely.

“Back when my father…” Byleth began to explain. A lump formed in her throat. “Back when Jeralt was still alive, I asked him to have a couple of Knights monitor Remire Village.”

“But why?” Manuela asked.

Byleth’s mind raced. How had she not anticipated this? Now she had to come up with an excuse on the fly.

“Have you considered misdirection?” Sothis suggested, quite literally reading her thoughts.

“That doesn't matter right now.” Byleth said aloud. “There are more pressing things to worry about.” She turned to Seteth. “Seteth, where’s Tomas!” In her head she added. (Thanks Sothis.)

“I believe he is in his room.” Seteth said, perplexed. “Why do you ask?”

“Come on, then!” Byleth shouted, grabbing Seteth’s hand. He barely had time to yelp “hold on” before Byleth had dragged him out the door.

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Solon hurried to pack his trunk. He had to get out of there fast. Its not that he was worried about being discovered, no definitely not. But his spies told him the Remire Village experiment hadn’t quite gone as planned. Somehow, unexpected variables in the form of the Knights of Seiros had been introduced. He needed to find out how this had happened and fix it immediately.

“Going somewhere, Tomas?” A voice said from the doorway. Solon turned to see Byleth leaning against the frame. Suddenly, Solon felt worried. The question had been innocent enough but something about Byleth’s demeanor and the tone of her voice seemed to indicate that she knew more than she was letting on.

“Oh, just on vacation.” Solon said, adopting his sweet old man voice.

“Really, where too?” Byleth asked.

“Oh, just here and there.” Solon said, flipping his hand. “Why do you ask?”

Byleth sighed. “You know, I was going to do this whole coy cat-and-mouse thing but honestly, I don’t think I really have the patience for it so I’m just going to be blunt: I know you’re an evil wizard.”

“Evil mage.” Solon blurted involuntarily.

Byleth smirked. “Couldn’t resist, could you?”

Solon opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to speak.

“Before you try to defend yourself, let me list some other things I know.” Byleth interrupted. “You are not Tomas, in fact, it is very likely you killed and replaced him long ago. And, perhaps more importantly, you are responsible for the current affliction in Remire Village.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Solon replied. He couldn’t deny that he was a little nervous. How did she know about all this?

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t.” Byleth replied sarcastically. “But I have plenty of experience dealing with people who keep secrets, and trust me you’re much worse at it than them.” She raised her arm. “How do you think the Knights responded so fast to the Remire Village Outbreak? I told them about it. And I know much more than that, so perhaps its time you confessed to your crimes.”

Solon grit his teeth and clenched his fist. An aura of dark magic emanated from them. “Fine, you’ve found me out. My true name is Solon and I am responsible for the Remire Village Outbreak as well as many other things.”

“See, was that so hard?” Byleth asked mockingly.

“But it doesn’t matter!” Solon replied. “Nobody will believe you! You’re just some newbie professor where as I am a beloved librarian.”

Byleth smirked again. “You’re right, they might not believe me but they will believe him.” She glanced to the side. “You can come out now.”

On cue, Seteth walked into the frame. The expression he wore was angrier than it had ever been.

“Tomas, is this true?” He asked. “Have you really been a servant of darkness this whole time?”

“Hmph.” Solon hmph’d “When you put it like that it makes us sound like the evil ones when in reality it is you who is the monster.”

“Us?” Seteth asked. “Who is “us?””

“I have revealed to much.” Solon growled. “As such, I must bid you farewell.” With that he warped away, leaving behind his trunk and belongings.

“I cannot believe it.” Seteth said, placing his hand on his face. “Tomas was secretly a servant of evil this whole time.”

“Not the whole time.” Byleth said. “He killed and replaced Tomas after he left the Monastery the first time. And his name is Solon, not Tomas.”

“We must tell Lady Rhea immediately!” Seteth said gravely.

“Hold on,” Byleth said, approaching Solon’s belongings. “I want to take a look at his stuff first.”

Seteth held out his hand ineffectively. “Byleth are you sure we should-”

Byleth wasn’t listening, however, as she was already rooting through Tomas’ trunk. There were quite a lot of things in there that were probably dark magic related. Nothing she really recognized, though she was sure other people would. Perhaps one of them could even be used to devise a cure for the Remirs Village outbreak.

Then, at the bottom of the trunk she found something she did recognize: a map. She laid it out on Tomas, no, Solon’s bed and looked it over. She couldn’t read the writing on it but based on the fact that one of the locations marked on it was the derelict church where Jerald had been killed in the original timeline, Byleth was guessing it was a map of experimental facilities of some sort. Or, at least, locations in which experiments were being performed. This was the jackpot albeit not the kind that led to you winning a million gold.

Byleth rolled up the map again. “Now we need to tell Rhea.”

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“This is a deeply troubling development.” Rhea said gravely.

Byleth and Seteth had returned to Rhea’s chamber where she and the other two Professors had apparently been waiting. What they had been doing there was a mystery to Byleth. She doubted they had just stood there awkwardly but Rhea didn’t seem the type for small talk.

“I’ll say.” Manuela said. “A member of the Church of Seiros, and a beloved member at that, turning out to be a spy. It's very startling.”

“Indeed.” Hanneman agreed. “And if Tomas is a spy, then others might be too. Where there’s one spy there’s usually more.”

Rhea nodded. “That is most likely correct, there are likely more spies than just this Solon character.”

“So what's the plan here?” Byleth asked. “Frisk down everyone in the Monastery until we find the spy. That seems kind of impractical.”

Rhea shook her head. “No, we must not alert the Monastery that there are more spies in our midst. Mass panic and paranoia is the last thing we need. Moreover, there are more immediate concerns.” She turned to Manuela. “Manuela, will you be able to devise a cure for the disease afflicting Remire Village using the contents of the chest Solon left behind?”

“Maybe.” Manuela said, tapping her chin with her index finger. “Show me the chest and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good.” Rhea said. “Hanneman, please assist Manuela.”

“Can do.” Hanneman said.

Rhea turned to Seteth. “Seteth, contact Alois. Request that he dispatch more Knights to Remire Village. I believe it is likely that Solon will return there.” She turned to Byleth. “And Byleth-”

“Actually, I have a request.” Byleth interrupted.

Rhea raised a curious eyebrow. “Yes?”

Byleth took out the map she had found and unfurled it. “This is a map I found in Solon’s chest. I believe it is a map of various experimental facilities. I am formally requesting permission to perform reconnaissance on one of these facilities to confirm my suspicion.”

An awkward silence fell over the room. Sothis muttered something about “unnecessary dramatic tension.”

Rhea nodded impassively. “Very well. We shall discuss this. Manuela, Hanneman, you are dismissed.”

Once Manuela and Hanneman left, Rhea's face went from impassive to scary. It felt sort of like she was looking into Byleth’s very soul. It actually made her a bit nervous.

“This can’t be good.” Sothis said, deadpan.

(Gee, you think.) Byleth asked, fighting her nerves with sarcasm. “So… I take it we’re not actually talking about the experimental sites.” She said aloud, rolling up the map.

“We will.” Rhea said. “But first, there is something else we need to discuss.”

Byleth took a moment to glance at Seteth. He seemed nervous as well. Of course.

“Byleth, let me preface this by saying that I do have complete faith in you and believe that you have the best intentions.” Rhea said in a tone that implied otherwise. “But I need you to be honest with me, how did you know about Tomas secretly being a spy?”

“Ah…” Byleth said slowly. “I… I can’t tell you.”

“Really? That’s the excuse you’re going with?” Sothis snarked.

(What, do you have a better idea?) Byleth shot back.

“Yes! Several!” Sothis hissed. “But it's too late now!”

Rhea scrutinized her. Byleth drew herself up to her full height, which wasn’t really all that much.

“I can’t tell you,” She repeated with more certainty. “Because if I did it would threaten the safety of everyone in this Monastery and potentially the entirety of Fodlan.”

Seteth looked surprised.

“Byleth, you cannot be serious.” He said. “What secret could possibly be dire enough that revealing it would threaten Fodlan?”

“Ask Rhea.” Byleth said, giving the Archbishop a pointed look. “She’s an expert in secrets like that.”

“Byleth.” Rhea said warningly, tipping off Byleth that she should tread more carefully.

Byleth took a deep breath. “Listen, Fodlan is in danger. This organization, whoever they are, is a danger to all of us.”

“Byleth, I assure you this group shall be easily dealt with. Now that we have discovered their spy it will be a simple matter to root out any others.” Rhea said, motioning at the ground with her palms pointing downward.

“Please drop the “everything is fine” act!” Byleth said, irritably. “This is not a proclamation where you have to reassure the masses that nothing is wrong so that they don’t panic!”

“Byleth.” Seteth said warningly, once again reminding Byleth who she was talking to. It reminded her of a saying Sothis had once told her about, three strikes and you’re out. She had never fully explained the origin of the phrase, something about sports, but nevertheless Byleth felt it was applicable here. She had suffered two strikes and had only one left.

Byleth took another deep breath and interlaced her hands with only her pointer finger and thumb still pointing upwards. “What I’m trying to say is that, as much as it pains me to admit it, I need your help.” The words slipped out of Byleth’s mouth before she even realized what she said. She placed her hand over her mouth, almost as surprised as her fellow professors had been earlier. She was no stranger to saying things without thinking, but this wasn’t the same thing as spontaneously deciding to make a bet with a student. This was asking for help from one of the people who absolutely could not know she had traveled back in time.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Sothis shouted.

(I don’t know, it just slipped out!) Byleth replied.

“You’re going to blow our cover big time!” Sothis shouted, throwing her hands up in the air within Byleth's mind.

(No way!) Byleth shouted back. (I’ve come too far to screw up now and… I kind of really do need her help.)

“You sure?” Sothis asked skeptically.

(Yes.) Byleth replied.

“Well, okay then. Just remember, it's the entire world's ass if you screw up.” Sothis said.

“Byleth? Are you okay?” Rhea asked, concerned.

Byleth shook her head. “Sorry. What I was saying is that I need your help.”

“Yes, I gathered that.” Rhea said.

“The world is in danger.” Byleth said, placing her hands together and pointing at Rhea. “And I need your help to stop it because you're the only person with the resources to do so.” She returned her arms to her sides.

Rhea rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek. Byleth didn't even register that it was the same thinking pose she herself used.

“Please elaborate.” Rhea requested.

“Okay, so here’s the situation. There’s this terrorist organization, I don’t know their name, and they want to take over Fodlan.” Byleth said, gesticulating as she spoke. “Solon is part of this organization and they’ve got spies everywhere. Also, I think they have a grudge against you, though that actually does describe a lot of people.” Seteth opened his mouth to speak up about this but Byleth didn't let him. “So, in order to stop them I need your help because you command the Knights of Seiros and having an army on my side would be extremely useful.”

“What exactly do you expect me to do, launch an attack on this organization?” Rhea asked.

“Not exactly.” Byleth said slowly. “But also sort of. Just hear out my proposal, okay?” Rhea simply nodded while Seteth looked like he wasn’t entirely certain what was going on. Byleth rolled out the map on the floor. “So, like I said before, I believe that this is a map of facilities where dangerous experiments are being performed. I would like permission to perform recon on one of these facilities, with a team of my choosing, in order to confirm my suspicions. If I am correct, then I believe the best course of action would be to destroy these facilities, hopefully preventing future events akin to the ongoing Remire Village incident.”

Rhea once again adopted her thinking pose. After a moment she made a decision.

“Very well. I approve of this plan. Hanneman and Alois shall be assigned to protect Remire Village instead.”

Byleth resisted the urge to fist pump. Instead she simply bowed.

“Thank you so much. Oh, and one more thing. Could you, maybe keep an eye on Cornelia? I’m fairly certain she's a spy.”

“Just Cornelia?” Sothis asked. “What about the other guy?” By “the other guy” Byleth assumed Sothis meant Lord Arundel.

(Too much risk of exposing Edelgard.) Byleth explained.

“I can’t help but feel there’s some level of irony in that statement.” Sothis said.

Meanwhile, while this conversation was happening, Seteth was choking on his own spit. Probably because he didn't have a drink to choke in in shock.

“Surely you can't mean Cornelia, the High Mage of Faerghus and most trusted adviser of the royal family!” He shouted once he was able to breathe again.

“Is there another Cornelia?” Byleth asked. “I mean, there probably are several, it's not like Cornelia is a particularly uncommon name, but is there another Cornelia that either of us are aware of?”

“Well, no.” Seteth admitted. “But, how could Cornelia of all people be a spy?”

“How could Tomas be a spy?” Byleth countered. “Sometimes your enemies are the people you least expect.”

“That is true.” Rhea agreed. “But why do you believe Cornelia is a spy?”

Byleth adopted her thinking pose. “Well, the main answer is that it's a secret, but I actually can share parts of it with you. According to rumors, Cornelia’s personality did an immediate 180 the moment she got done curing the epidemic.”

“Those are not mere rumors.” Rhea said. “I have personally met Cornelia and while I do not like speaking ill of those who have done nothing wrong, she was not a particularly pleasant person to speak to. That in-and-of-itself is not enough to indict her as a spy, however. Do you have any more conclusive evidence?”

(Crap, that's actually all I had.) Byleth thought.

“I told you this was a bad idea.” Sothis replied. She sounded annoyed but a bit of smugness had also slipped in there.

(Well, there weren’t a lot of other options.) Byleth protested.

“Yes there were!”
Sothis shot back. “There were so many other options! I knew that, you knew that, everybody knew that!”

(Who’s everybody?) Byleth asked. (It's only the two of us.)

“Never mind.” Sothis said. Byleth couldn’t see her but she was pretty sure she was shaking her head. “Anyways, since we’re having this conversation I assume you don't have a plan B.”

(None whatsoever.) Byleth affirmed.

Sothis sighed despite not having lungs. “You really are hopeless.”

(I think you’ve used that one before.) Byleth replied.

“Probably.” Sothis agreed. “So I assume you’re going to ask me for ideas now.”

(Not much else I can do.) Byleth replied. (Besides, I’ve been doing all the work up until now while the only thing you've done is tell me off, the least you can do is pitch in.)

“I see your point.” Sothis admitted, probably stroking her chin. “How about you just tell her you don’t have any evidence.”

(What? That's a terrible idea!) Byleth shouted. (That’s the kind of idea you’d call me an idiot for suggesting!)

“No, no, hear me out.” Sothis said. “It doesn't matter whether she is a spy or not. All that matters is that you think she might be a spy and have reasons for those suspicions. After all, if you had proof she's a spy there'd be no point in just keeping an eye on her as opposed to arresting her.”

(That’s a good point.) Byleth agreed. (Let's try this, then.)

Byleth metaphorically returned to reality where Rhea and Seteth were actually a bit worried about her. Byleth really wished her internal conversations didn’t take so long. Or that Sothus was actually physically there.

“You and me both.” Sothis agreed.

“Byleth, are you still here?” Rhea asked, worriedly.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” She lied, holding out her hands in a calming motion.

“Oh good, for a moment I thought you had fallen into a coma.” Rhea replied.

“Right, I was just thinking.” Byleth said, this time only half lying.

“Does that mean you have real evidence?” Rhea asked.

“I do not.” Byleth admitted, clasping her hands together. “At the moment, all I have are my suspicions. That’s why I’m asking you to keep an eye on her and not arrest her.”

“Actually, we don’t have the legal authority to arrest anyone who has not committed a crime directly against the Church.” Seteth interjected. “Most criminals that go through our Court System were arrested by the authorities in the nation where they committed the crime and then sent to the Church due to our Courts being extremely efficient.”

“Okay…” Byleth said, not entirely sure how to respond to that. “That’s not really the point, though. The point is that I’m asking you to keep an eye on her because I want to confirm my suspicions.”

Rhea once again adopted her thinking pose. There was a lot of thinking going on in this chapter. More so than usual.

After a moment of silence Rhea finally removed her hand from her cheek. “Very well, I will take your request under consideration.”

Byleth wasn’t sure whether Rhea was telling the truth. Sometimes “taking something under consideration” was a polite way of saying “no, absolutely not.” Then again, Rhea was usually pretty direct when it came to her decisions.

“For now, I advise you to prepare for your reconnaissance mission.” Rhea said. “I will send a Knight or Seiros to inform Hanneman that he will be guarding the Village instead of you.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Byleth said, saluting.

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Author’s Note: Oh boy, really glad I got this chapter done. Been waiting to do this one for a while. I’ve always had the beginning planned out in my head since… I’m not sure when. Point is I’ve had the beginning plotted out in my head. I think originally I had Byleth drag out the cat and mouse coy thing but I kind of forgot how it went so now its the way it is.

Sorry for being late, by the way. I just moved into college so that has been real crazy. Thought I’d have more time to write but that was not true.

Bye.
 
Author’s Note: Guess what! We’re not dead! I'm not dead! It's… it's just me. Nobody else works on this with me.

Anyways, sorry for disappearing. And missing Christmas again. Hope y’all had a good holiday season. Here’s the chapter I owe you.

Part One
White Clouds
Not as Planned​

Byleth stood on a hill overlooking the ruined church. She placed her pointer and middle finger to her ear.

“I’m in position. How about you guys?”

“You bet.” Claude’s voice sounded in her head and soon the rest of the team also voiced their affirmation.

Okay, maybe we should back up a second for the people who didn’t read the latter half of the previous chapter and for everyone who’s wondering why Byleth seems to have a modern bluetooth earpiece. In short, Rhea had approved of Byleth’s plan to preform reconnaissance on one of the unknown terrorist organization’s bases/experimental sites using a small team of her own choosing. She chose Claude, Bernadetta, Petra, and Annette. Byleth’s seeming bluetooth headset was actually a communications spell developed by Annette which, for some reason, could only be activated by touching the ear. It also only worked for verbal communications so Byleth and Sothis could still talk to each other mentally.

“Alright, what do you see?” Byleth asked.

“Ruins.” Replied Claude, who had attached a spyglass to his bow for better accuracy and better sight. “But also… people. I don’t mean to judge but they look like they could stand to get more sunlight.”

Byleth removed her fingers from her ear. “I knew it.”

“Well it was kind of obvious.” Sothis snarked.

(You never let me have anything.) Byleth pouted.

Byleth placed her finger back on her ear. “Annette, do you have that recording spell up and running?”

“Sort of.” Annette said sheepishly. “I haven’t perfected it and there’s some kind of magical interference so it's cutting in and out.”

“Good enough.” Byleth said.

“Hey, uh, Teach.” Claude interrupted. “There’s something else. A pile of glowing stones.”

“Crest Stones.” Byleth said, once again removing her finger and gritting her teeth. “Of course.”

“They must be planning on using them to create more Demonic Beasts.” Sothis deduced.

(Now who's pointing out the obvious.) Byleth snarked.

Byleth placed her finger to her ear again. “Okay, new plan. We’re ditching reconnaissance. We have to destroy those stones.”

“Huh? Why?” Annette asked.

“Those things are dangerous.” Byleth replied. “Bernadetta and Petra know what I’m talking about.”

“Actually, Professor, I am not knowing what you are talking about.” Petra pointed out.

“Oh right, I guess I never really explained to you what was up with that.” Byleth replied, resting her right elbow on her left hand to at least do half of her thinking pose. “Remember your first mission and the monster?”

“Yes.” Bernadetta answered. “It was terrifying.”

“These stones are responsible for it.” Byleth explained. “And they’ll be responsible for more monsters if we don't destroy them.”

“So what’s the plan then, Teach?” Claude asked. “Go in cannons blazing?”

“We do not have cannons.” Petra pointed out.

“It's an expression, Ra-Ra.” Claude replied.

Byleth shook her head, despite the fact that nobody could see it except Sothis. “No. We do this stealthily. Claude, do you have any exploding arrows?”

“Of course.” Claude said pridefully.

“Uh, Professor, how are explosions stealthy?” Annette asked.

“Yes, will the enemy not be able to be tracking the oath if the arrow?” Petra asked.

“That’s why Claude won’t be firing the arrows.” Byleth explained. “I kind of hate to do this but somebody is going to have to sneak in, plant the arrows, and get out before they go off.”

“Aw.” Claude sulked.

“I think the best person for this mission is Petra.” Byleth said. “She’s probably the stealthiest person I know.”

“I thank you for the compliment, Professor.” Petra said.

“Okay, Petra, you’ll sneak into the camp and plant the arrows.” Byleth instructed. “Claude, Bernadetta, keep watch and let us know if any of us are about to be compromised. And Annette, keep recording.”

“Understood.” Petra and Annette said at the same time.

“You got it, Teach.” Claude replied, probably doing an exaggerated salute.

Bernadetta didn’t say anything but gave what Byleth assumed was a noise of affirmation.

“Alright Team, let's go!” Byleth cheered.

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The church ruins had been depressing to look at from a distance and were even more depressing to look at up close. That's why Petra wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Petra put her fingers to her ear. “Okay, Professor, I am being in.” She whispered.

“Roger that.” Byleth replied.

“What does… Roger That mean?” Petra asked, unfamiliar with that Fodlan expression.

“I have no idea.” Byleth replied.

“Then why…” Claude began.

“You don't want to know.” Byleth interrupted.

“Fair enough.” Claude replied.

Petra took her fingers off her ear and peeked around the ruins’ outer wall. She gripped Claude’s bomb arrows tightly. She hoped they wouldn't go off prematurely. Claude’s arrows were usually reliable but that was when they were in the hands of someone who knew what he was doing.

Carefully, she snuck over to the pile of bizarre stones in a way that would make any stealth game protagonist proud. Petra didn't dare attack any of the strange people for risk of being detected so it involved a lot of waiting for them to pass by her hiding spots but eventually she reached her destination.

She checked to make sure nobody was watching. It seemed like it was all clear so she embedded the arrows into the pile tip first. She placed her finger on her ear.

“The arrows are being in place.” She said.

“Good work.” Byleth replied. “Light the fuse and get out of there.”

Petra removed her finger from her ear and took out a box of matches. She removed a single match and struck it against the side of the box. Quickly, she lit all of the bomb arrow fuses. As she lit the last one she heard one of the people speak.

“Do you smell smoke?”

“Shit.” Petra said, using the only Fodlan swear word she knew.

Immediately she ran away from the scene, just as two of the pale people approached the pile. She dashed quickly between pillars and through grass, escaping the ruined church just as the arrows went off. Still, she kept running until she was sure she was far enough away that they wouldn't be able to see her.

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Meanwhile, on her hill, Byleth waited with bated breath for the smoke to clear. She didn't actually know if explosions would destroy the Crest Stones. If they didn't, they might all be screwed.

“Just realizing that now, are we?” Sothis snarked.

(Shut it!) Byleth snapped. (I’m waiting.)

Slowly, the smoke cleared to reveal… nothing except a single dead body. There was no pile in sight. It had been completely destroyed.

“Yes!” Byleth shouted, pumping her fist in the air. She then placed her fingers on her ear. “We did it guys!” She laughed. “Wait till Rhea and Seteth hear about this!”

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“You did what!?” Seteth shouted.

“I saved a bunch of lives.” Byleth said proudly.

“What- why-” Seteth spluttered. Rhea placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Seteth, let me handle this.” She said calmly. Then, she gave Byleth her “disapproving Archbishop” look. “Byleth. You promised this would be a recon mission. Why did you launch an attack on this organization?”

“First of all, I did do recon.” Byleth countered. “Annette used a spell to record everything. Second of all, there’s no way I was gonna let them keep a pile of Crest Stones! I refuse to allow them to turn any more people into those beasts!”

“You should have left it alone and informed me.” Rhea replied. “Then the Knights of Seiros could take care of them.”

“Yeah right.” Byleth snarked. “What would they do?”

“Arrest these terrorists and confiscate the Stones.” Rhea replied.

“Confiscate?” Byleth echoed. “No! Absolutely not! These things can not be allowed to continue to exist! Destroying them is the only option!”

“I agree.” Rhea said.

Byleth took a moment to register what she said. “You do? Then why are you chastising me?”

“Because these stones should be disposed of in a safe manner. Not with explosions. Be thankful none of your students got hurt.”

Byleth looked down. She actually has a point. Petra legitimately could have been killed. Wasn't that what Byleth was specifically supposed to stop from happening?

“Okay, you've got a point.” She admitted. “I just… I saw what just one of those things did to Kostas and the thought of them doing the same thing to innocent people…” She clenched her fists. “It makes my blood boil.”

Rhea nodded. “I can understand that. But you must keep your anger in check.”

Byleth took a deep breath and unclenched her fists. “You’re right.”

In Byleth's head, Sothis made a sound like she was doing a spit take. “Woah. Never thought I'd hear you say that.”

“So what do we do now?” Byleth asked.

“You go back to teaching classes.” Rhea said sternly. “I will review the footage you acquired and then dispatch Knights to the locations marked on the map.”

“Hey, speaking of, who's in charge of the Knights now that Jeralt is… you know.” Byleth said.

“Alois is now Captain of the Knights of Seiros.” Seteth answered. “Though it took some convincing.”

“Huh. Good for him.” Byleth said sincerely. “Anything else to discuss or should I go?”

“There is one more thing.” Rhea said. “The anniversary of the founding of Garreg Mach is coming up very soon and we shall be holding a Grand Ball in celebration.”

There was a beat. Then Byleth raised her finger. “Excuse me for a second.”

Quickly she power walked out of the room and flattened herself against the wall right next to the big doors. She took a deep breath in.

“Son of a bitch!”

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Author’s Note: Rejected Joke:

“Ooh! Say Roger That!” Sothis urged.

“What, why?” Byleth asked.

“Just do it!” Sothis replied.

Today’s lesson: I do not like writing from Petra’s point of view. I don’t know how I’m supposed to write it. I don’t even really know enough about her personality to extract some incorrect but enjoyable interpretation of her. Like, with Hilda you can at least see where her Adaptational Personality Change (take a shot) came from (I think). WIth Petra I don’t even have enough for that. I guess I could go watch all her supports on YouTube but… I don’t really feel like it. Yeah, I have nobody to blame but myself for this.

Anyways, moving onto more interesting things, you may have noticed my use of magic as an excuse to basically just include a videocamera and bluetooth earpieces in this fantasy story. It started with me wanting them to have a way to talk to each other telepathically but then I remembered that if they did that someone might hear Sothis and that bomb is not ready to drop. So then I decided “What if magic earpieces” and kind of went from there. Now Annette’s specialty is utility magic, which I’m happy with because I think all the magic users should have a specialty. For example, this version of Linhardt actually isn’t all that magically focus, instead using it as an aid in other things such as conventional medicine and crest study. He’ll help heal your wound but is more likely to use stitches to close it than to magically do so. Dorothea’s focus is (or will be) basically realizing the full potential of the dancer class. She uses the power of song and dance to command the very elements themselves, not unlike an Opera singer commanding a story of tragedy (note: I know jack shit about Opera). Lysithea is very precise with her attacks, striking weak points, as well as having some other miscellaneous spells prepped at any given time while Hubert, despite always carefully planning things, is largely about throwing lots of spells at the enemy. Mercedes is just full on Cleric here. Magic healing all the time all the places. And Marrianne… is a tank. That’s not true but I can’t think of a specialty for her and in my Golden Deer run I made her a Fortress Knight for lols. Apparently it was a meme for a while or something.

Anyways, hopefully I'll see you soon. We’re approaching the end of White Clouds. This’ll be fun
.
 
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