Chapter Two

The sounds of screams as swords clashed together rang through Byleth's mind. Opening his eyes, he could see soldiers from all sides attacking one another. Many of the buildings surrounding them lit ablaze, some beginning to succumb under the pressure of their own weights. Blood began pooling together as the body count rose one-by-one; soldiers, officials, men, women, and children. Animals, mainly horses, in a panic, attempting to get out unharmed; some managed to get free while the others perished.

Looking above to his right, Byleth could see the bell tower crumble from the repeated pounding it was receiving from a battering ram. He could hear several people inside scream for someone to help. To his left, armies marching under a proudly displayed flag of a Black Eagle, its commanders shouting orders as the soldiers followed them without hesitation.

Byleth couldn't believe the chaos that was unfolding, his mind frozen in a state of shock. It wasn't until his hand began to feel wet, as if something was beginning to pour on him. Looking down, he noticed a gapping wide hole in his hand drenched with blood. But, it wasn't until the sight of an arm lying next to him that his eyes grew wide. A massive pool of blood surrounded his feet; nearly reach the arch of his boots.

Before he was able to follow the arm to its owner, a white dove quickly flew by, leaving Byleth a trail of pure white feathers. He watched as the bird flew off into the sun, not a care in the world for the arrows flying above it or the cries of the people dying in the streets.

"Wake up…"

Byleth froze, startled by the words. Did he just hear a young girls' voice?

"Wake up…" The voice repeated.

Soon, a bright light flashed into Byleth's eyes as he awoke from his dream, finding found himself in a bed. Sweat dripped all around him as he calmed his breathing.

Quickly aware of his situation, Byleth noticed he was in a small, unknown room. A small fire was burning wood logs as it appeared to be cooking a small rabbit above its warm flames. Next to his bed was a table big enough for a small child to sit at, on top lay his clothes.

"You're awake!" Byleth heard the voice of a girl. However, something about her accent made it seem that she wasn't fluent in his language.

"Who's…there?" Byleth managed to call out. These were the first words he spoke in what seemed to be hours, maybe even days.

The door to the small hut opened as in crawled a pair of long legs and a woman's butt. It wasn't until the purple hair and the tan skin that Byleth was finally able to deduce who the mystery woman was.

"Petra," He smiled. "Am I glad to see you!"

Byleth attempted to crawl out of bed before feeling an intense pain overwhelm him. Petra quickly ran to his side and grabbed him, slowly helping him lie back down. Bandages wrapped cleanly and well maintained covered his body, some spots still showing signs of blood coming through wounds he had received.

"You had no time to heal." Petra said as well as she could. "Wounds need time. Petra, will take uh….care of you."

Byleth tried waving his hand but the pain was too much. His muscles still sore and body too tired to want to move.

"I'm fine…Petra." He said trying not to wince at the pain as Petra helped lift up his arm, only to examine the bandages.

"More time you need." She said, noticing a wound slowly opening up.

Standing up, Petra went to a small shelf next to the fireplace. Shelves lined with what seemed to be useless junk until she found a small box hidden beneath a few books. Placing the box on the small table next to the bed, Petra pulled out a small roll of bandages and a vial of strange green ooze.

"Need you still." She said as she poured some of the ooze on her fingers and unrolled the bandages with her mouth and free hand.

Carefully picking up Byleth's arm, she removed the bandages where the wound had reopened. The hole was no bigger than the end of a tree branch, hardened gauze covered where the wound was contained a slight opening where blood was slowly dripping out. Taking a few short breathes through her nose; Petra quickly moved her gooey hand onto Byleth's wound. Ripping off the old gauze, Byleth nearly screamed before Petra applied the new goo to his wound. At first, Byleth felt a slight burn before it began soothing itself, just as Petra started to wrap up the wound.

"Better." She smiled at her finely done job.

"What is that stuff?" Byleth asked, feeling the ooze hardening already.

"An herbal remedy my country makes." She said as she placed the box back on the shelf.

"So what happened to me?" Byleth asked after several minutes had passed while Petra tended the fire.

"You fall asleep on the ground." Petra replied turning the rabbit. "You were talking to self. Worried I was that you were dying." Petra grabbed a chair and pulled it beside Byleth. "You disappeared." She said with a disappointed yet saddening tone. "Many died in fight. Most of us broke up."

"I think you mean split up." Byleth corrected.

"Right, split up." Petra noted. "I hide out in the woods with enemy following me. I find this small hut and hid for long time."

Petra's coupled her hand together and held on tight. It seemed a bad memory was appearing in her mind but before Byleth could ask her about it she immediately stood up and checked on the rabbit.

"Rabbit's ready." She smiled as she began to remove it from the open flames.

Hours passed by as Byleth and Petra enjoyed the freshly cooked rabbit Petra had hunted. The two talking about the best ways to hunt a rabbit, skin it, and cook it. Their conversations led to the two talking about hunting in general, favorite place to go, places they want to visit, favorite book. After eating, Petra cleaned up the plates and tended the fire, placing pieces of wood in to keep the warmth.

"Do you know what happened at the courtyard?" Byleth asked, surprising Petra as she almost threw the piece of wood behind her.

Petra was silent for what seemed to be an eternity; even the crackles of the fire place went quiet as she calmly placed the last log into the flames.

"It happens fast." She said, as she starred into the fire, not once looking back at Byleth. "Everyone was happy and then…." She began to tremble; tears welling up in her eyes. "All I saw was fire." She began to cry. "I killed people…good people…" She then turned towards Byleth. "Where were you?!"

Byleth looked away, embarrassed that no matter the answer he gave her it wouldn't be enough. He was her professor, it was his role and duty to lead her and the other students, to protect them, and failed them.

"I'm sorry," He spoke "I'm your teacher and I failed doing the job I was given." His hand clenched his blanket. "But the one thing I'm most sorry for is not remembering."

Petra gave him a confused look.

"I'm sorry Petra but I can't remember anything that happened, only the courtyard and everyone there." He said. "What exactly happened?"

Petra slowly walked up to him, her fist clenched and ready to swing and hit him. It wasn't until she was next to him that her hand relaxed as she placed it on his shoulder.

"War has broken out and everyone is looking for you."

Byleth's eyes widened. "Why?" He asked.

"Seteth's dead and everyone thinks you kill him."