For Unity

The time has come, the truth will be known… Okay mainly just some theories I thought up for this, but I feel they are what truly link things together so bear with me. Also, some spoilers on certain plots and stuff, but I think you already knew that.

Chapter 28

The final truth

Edelgard POV

It had been nearly three weeks since I had come to from the incident. I had been discharged from the infirmary a week after coming to and returned to my studies. Day after day I would go up to the infirmary for a check up on my wellbeing and then I would move to help Drake, at least to the best of my ability.

During his time recovering, his lost strength; I would help with his meals, reading (until he had regained the ability to use his hands), converse with, or help him with his recuperation. He was a very stubborn man, although I will commend him on his determination. On more than one occasion I had come in to see him on the floor due to another failed attempt at trying to regain control of his legs.

Sometimes I would try to talk to him about the secret he said he would reveal, but more and more did he push it off. He would try to pass it off by saying "It's not the right time yet… Sorry." He always gave it such a remorseful look, as if it pained him to push it off.

But also, during that time, it had been rumored that my uncle, Lord Arundel, who was currently running the empire, was raising the forces, those around the church and even some of those from the alliance and kingdom had grown worried about an impending war. I had conversed with Drake on some occasions after hearing such, on what we should expect to happen, while at first, he replied with not knowing anything about it, it soon changed to him pushing the question off, as if he couldn't conceive a plan for this impending invasion.

For the first time, he did not know what to expect. It was shocking to see him so perplexed on what could possibly happen. With another week passing he had gained the ability to at least stand, but movement was very limited.

With a new day, I walked in to see him standing next to his bed, his face strained in the pain of his task, he moved to sit himself back down. Sitting himself back down, he turned to see me in the doorway.

"Oh, Edelgard, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." He said lifting his leg with his hands.

"Sorry, professor I should have said something." I said shaking my head, "Have you been able to come up with something for the incoming invasion?"

"Almost, but I think something has to be explained before I can make any final decisions."

"What is it professor?"

"Before I can say anything could you get Claude, Dimitri, and Rhea here? I think they should be here for this."

I nodded. "Yes, of course, I will be back shortly professor."

He nodded, "Thanks El." He said with his bright smile.

As I exited the room, I could feel my face grow warm. 'Keep it together Edie.' I thought to myself. As I tried to stop thinking about his smile, which had been so absent in the last few weeks, I found my face growing warmer as the image kept flashing into my mind. I shook my head, 'stop, stop, need to keep my mind on the task.'

I tried to move down the corridor to try and get my mind off the thought, finding myself stutter in my steps.

"Edelgard, are you all right?"

I heard someone ask. I looked up to see Jeralt standing before me.

"Uh. Yes, sorry just a thought was holding me." I replied.

"Must have been an interesting thought to hold you up." He teased, "How's the kid doing?"

"The Professor?" I asked, the thought re-entering my mind, "He's… uh…" I stuttered.

"Ah, I get it now." He teased some more, "I think I'll pay him a visit; I'll leave you to what you were doing." He said moving towards the room. Once more I shook off the thought and continued my way down the hall.

Sometime later

"Oh, Edelgard, your back." Drake said. "That took a little longer than I thought. Was it trying to locate Claude?" He asked. I nodded, "Well hopefully they join us soon… Cause I wouldn't want to keep you waiting on my promise." He replied. "So how was your day?" He asked.

"It was busy, putting it lightly."

"Ah, ya… Days can be like that." He nodded.

We sat there in silence for a moment, I began to think to myself about the professors hair, it was once a dark shade of blond, sandy blond I think he called it, but now it looked like the fresh snow that was now resting in the mountains around Garreg Mach. 'What could have caused his hair to turn to that color… Has he had something happen similarly to me?' I wondered in my thoughts.

"Come here?" Drake said opening his arms. I moved my chair closer to the bed side and leaned into his embrace. "I may not be certain what's happening to you right now, but I can try to help you relieve some of that stress." He added.

"No, I have just been worried, that's all." I replied.

We stay there for a moment, his warm embrace was very reassuring, but the mysteries that still revolved him still worried me. He had been one to be honest with me, even when the truth had to be withheld for a short time, he was quick to rectify that, but this prolonged secrecy looked to be wearing him down, he had always rested my head under his chin but this time his forehead was in placed there.

"Drake?" I said softly.

"Ya!"

"What do my uncle is planning?"

"Do you want my actual answer or my reassuring answer?" He asked.

"Reassurance." I replied nuzzling up closer to him.

"Well, to be honest, were going to retake your usurped throne." He replied.

"Drake?"

"Yes!"

"What do you plan to do after graduation?"

"Hmm…" He hummed. "I don't really know… But I know one thing I'll do, but after that I'm not really sure." He replied.

"Drake, would you…"

At that moment the door opened.

"Hey, Teach, sorry to have kept you waiting." I heard Claude say, announcing his presence.

Before I could pull away, "Ask me after they leave." I heard Drake whisper.

"Apologies, professor. I found myself lost in my studies. Luckily Claude found me and reminded me of this arrangement." Dimitri said walking in after him.

"You guys are fine." Drake replied, "Have a seat, we'll chat after Rhea arrives." He added.

Both Claude and Dimitri nodded moving a seat from the table in the corner and sitting near the foot of the bed. After a few minutes Rhea walked into the room.

"Apologies professor, the council meeting carried over quite a bit." Rhea apologized.

"Perfectly fine, we weren't waiting to long." He replied, "Grab yourself a seat and we can begin." He added.

"Okay, this has been some knowledge that has been withheld since I first explained everything so long ago now." Drake said bowing his head, "I'm sorry I could not have told you guys sooner, but at that time I feared it could have jeopardized everything we've done. I apologize for that."

"No sweat teach; we've all got a thing or two we keep to ourselves for good reasons, go ahead tell us when your ready." Claude replied.

"Yes, like Claude said, some secrets require time before they can be shared." Dimitri agreed.

"Thank you… But the problem is this was something about the church…" He trailed off. "It also has to do with my recent hair change, and it is also why I asked for Rhea to be here." Rhea nodded, "It took some convincing, but she was willing to cooperate with me. So, if you wouldn't mind, Rhea would mind with this history lesson?" he asked.

She nodded "Of course professor."

"To start, I must apologize for keeping my identity a secret, but it will also help explain what you saw a couple months ago." She paused, "I am saint Serios."

"Alright, funny joke teach, but Seiros died half a millennia ago." Claude joked hesitantly.

"Right I forget you weren't there during the rite of rebirth." Drake replied. "See, the western church guys that came were trying to break into Seiros' tomb during that ordeal, see they… uh… they succeeded, but instead of the remains of Seiros they found the Sword of the Creator which I took back from them as you know." Drake explained.

"Yes, I had placed the sword there to seal it from any who wished to possess its power." Rhea added.

"Okay, if you're really Seiros, you wouldn't mind explaining the creation of the sword and the other relics, would you?" Claude prodded.

"Actually, Claude, we were going to do that. So, one way or another that was going to spill." Drake replied. "Rhea, do you want to continue, or should I take over?" he asked.

"If you would not mind." She replied.

"You guys remember going to the Red Canyon when I first arrived here, right?" Drake asked, we all nodded, "You guys remember seeing some of the ruins we saw there right?" he asked again and once again we nodded.

"Well, that's because that was once the original civilization of the children of the Goddess, but after the war against the natives, known as the Argathians, who are also those who slither in the dark, much destruction had befallen Fódlan at after the war."

"So, Sothis, used her power to revive the land, but the usage of her power exhausted her to where she went to rest in the holy tomb."

"If you'll remember Nemesis was among the survivors of the war, sadly the man was easily corrupted with the idea of power from the influence of the surviving Argarthians, who had hid themselves underground."

"Nemesis along with the "ten heroes" went to raid the holy tomb, massacring Sothis. After partaking in her blood, Nemesis received the crest of flames, after word he took her bones and her heart and crafted them into the sword of the creator, the heart became the crest stone.

"As for the other hero relics, Nemesis lead the heroes and the remaining humans at the time to raid the red canyon, which at that time was known as Zanado, a massacre ensued Rhea, was one of the few survivors of the event."

"She would then move to find the remaining survivors of her people, along with the help of Wilhelm I, who rhea had gifted her crest to, defeated Nemesis and the ten heroes in a war known as the War of Heroes. Drake relayed.

"Teach is Rhea's name not actually Seiros?" Dimitri asked.

Drake shook his head, "No, Rhea's name is the name given to her, she adopted the name Seiros during the time of the war, which I also explained that she did when I explained the plot of siding with Edelgard."

"Right, that makes a bit more sense." Dimitri nodded.

"That would also explain why some of the relics looks so alive." Claude added.

"But what about some of the other weapons?" Edelgard asked.

"Right, you are asking about Amyr, am I correct?" Drake checked.

I nodded, "Well, I honestly don't have a clue as to the details on it, I do know it follows something similar to the Hero relics." He explained. "Now, I guess it's time to explain my appearance change?"

We nodded, Drake inhaled and slowly breathed out.

"So, if you remember after the mission last month, I had taken a dagger to my heart to eliminate my doppelganger, while I did work, I had theorized a little before that if I did so to kill him I would also end up killing myself as well."

"But I had discussed a couple things surrounding crest with Rhea and after that I asked about how she had done the same thing to revive Jeralt. She explained that after he took a heavy battle wound for her, the only way she could save him was with her blood, it was based on a whim, but it worked."

"Anyway, I had based my survival on such a whim, as you were already aware, I have the crest of flames, but for the procedure Rhea did on me, she had to remove the crest stone from my heart."

"The crest stone is where the crest of flames truly comes from, as it is Sothis' heart, her heart also being bound with mine makes us, pretty much, one in the same. But due to the amount of blood I lost I need to receive blood, so Rhea gave me some of hers, along with some of the knights that had taken an oath to her. (N/A: little hint that I finished my church route)"

"With the blood also containing the crest of Seiros mixing with my body already hosting the crest of flames, it did the same as it has done here to Edelgard and to Lysithia. Although I was not as tortured as either of them was."

"But, while I was given a second chance to live, I have also taken the same toll that Edelgard and Lysithia had no choice in, my life has been shortened due to this extra power. But to me, as long as your futures are secured… It's worth it in my eyes." Drake continued to explain.

"How things should have transpired at the ruins was that Jeralt should have been with us, he and I would search for any remaining students where we would discover Monica, when she is told to rejoin her classmates that were beginning to go back to the monastery and when Jeralt's back was turned she would stab him, killing him. The month after hearing of solon and his men being in the sealed forest, where they would trap Byleth in a dark magic trap called the forbidden spell of Zahras. While within the darkness Byleth would fuse with Sothis granting them her powers and breaking free of the spell."

"But this time since nothing like that has transpired has happened, I'm not entirely sure what will happen. But if you want to here my anticipation of what could happen, I'll relay so to you?" He posed awaiting our decision. We all nodded.

"Okay, what I'm thinking will happen is they will mobilize their troops here, hoping to take out the leaders that could raise their nation against them, they also believe I am still dead since my doppels death, so they are more aiming to strike with our guards down."

"So, if it is possible, Claude, Dimitri, I would like for you and your houses to return to your nations." He added.

"But, professor, we want to fight alongside you to…" Dimitri said

"Sorry, but I should have explained better. See my plan is for you both to return to your nations." Drake interjected.

"See, I am hoping you both will lead your people, rally them up to distract there forces. While you guys do that the black eagles house will move to infiltrate the empire and reclaim the throne. Once done there we move back to defeat the Argarthians who I assume have blended themselves into the empire to begin spreading malcontent through the little bit that had existed their previously." He explained.

"Teach, I'm all down for your plan, but I think we could improve this." Claude advised.

"If you are willing to help do so, then I bet we could make this plan flawless." Drake approved

"We will chip in to make this plan efficient, to show our enemies who they are up against." Dimitri volunteered.

"I'll leave it to you guys for now; to work on your plans for the front lines. I'll talk with Edelgard to devise what we'll do to intercept the throne and we'll regroup before the month's end to put our plan into action." Drake plotted out.

They nodded in agreement and after a few more words of discussion they left to device their plans with Rhea returning to do some of her religious duties. With the Professor and I now left alone in the infirmary I threw myself on top of him.

"Oh! Wasn't ready for that!" Drake groaned as he rested his head down.

"Oh, sorry Drake." I apologized

"It's fine, just wasn't expecting you to jump me is all."

"Drake, do you really think we can stop them?"

He nodded, "Yep, although I need to hurry and recuperate to ensure such a thing. But I'm willing to bet my second life on victory."

"Please tell me that was a jest?"

He nodded again, "Yes, I don't plan on leaving you again anytime soon. Now if I recall correctly there was something you wanted to ask me?"

I nodded, "Yes, sorry I forgot about it with all that was happening."

"Well, you won't get a better time then now."

My face began to grow warm again, "Drake…" I began to stutter, "I was… wo… ho… uh…" I continued to stutter.

As soft smile spread across his face, "I think I know what your trying to ask."

"Uh… y… y-you do?"

"Yep!" he purred, "My answer is yes." He added moving in closer to my face.

We were inches apart now, I could feel his warm breath against me, we slowly inched closer locking our lips together.

"I've missed our little times like this." He smiled.

I nodded, "So have I." I agreed.

TBC

Well, I hope this chapter makes up for my absence, I'm going to finish cindered shadows before I get another chapter done, cause I would like to find some way to add them into the story, but I'm not betting much on it. But I guess I'll see what I can do. Anyway, thanks for being so patient I promise I'll have the next chapter out before the end of next month, I'm not putting it in this month cause the days are limited in the Pegasus moon. (I've adopted three houses calendar names). Anyway, later guys.