DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem Three Houses characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.
FabledLife: Sora did indeed change his keyblade with Oathkeeper, also, he's able to dodge any attacks, but let's say that Sora would need to take few hits for balancing purposes, cause let's be honest, Sora has faced many stronger enemies, they beat him up badly but he still got back up and erased them from the map.
RedRat8: Me too, given how Jeralt sees Rhea about his wife… he would likely talk to her daughter about this and ask her to keep this secret from everybody.
Antex-TheLegendary Zoroak: That's the deal, they could go anywhere while leading the Ashen Wolves.
/
CHAPTER 20 – AMBUSH IN THE UNDERGROUND
ABYSS BASEMENT
After having a brief brawl with the Ashen Wolves, the Black Eagles resorted to explore the whole basement of Abyss with Yuri's authorization, everything was new for them, even to use this place as a shelter in case of big disaster situations or something like that.
Sora was accompanying Dorothea, Edelgard and Constance during the walk around the hideout, some people would say that he is a lucky guy who can get some girls, but, Sora isn't a ladies' man like Sylvain. That is a myth. Sora gets any girl's attention due to his figure and, more importantly, his personality and influence on anyone.
"So, let me get this straight, kid." Constance wanted to confirm something. "You are a classmate with the Imperial princess herself, am I right?"
"I am. I take part of the Black Eagles' classroom with Edelgard and the others." Sora affirmed her question.
"That's right, Sora is my classmate just like others. And you are Constance of House Nuvelle." Edelgard emphasized her words. "I recall hearing of your disappearance. I never would have imagined you'd end up in a place like this…"
"Your presence is equally curious. What business could you have here, guys?" Constance asked their motives to be at their underground hideout. "Don't tell me it was an idle curiosity."
"Well, I kind of sensed a trace of darkness around the surface we decided to follow it and this is how we ended up here." Sora explained to her. "Could it be that my sense of scent is deceiving me?"
"As I believe you are well aware, we were chasing after a suspicious individual." Edelgard gave her a reason of their presence as well.
"Indeed, we believe there's some kind of creeps wandering around the basement." Dorothea assumed the suspicions.
"As far as I believe, they could be anywhere, no doubt." Sora agreed with her, he was certain that not only the creatures habited somewhere, if this was true, then it meant that Heartless could be wandering too.
"Indeed. Anyway, Sora, you don't look like a holy knight but, you bear a special name and attitude." Constance said, trying to not have her cheeks blushed.
"That's what everyone says about me, given that I come from a very, very far away." Sora replied placing his hands behind his head in a chilling voice.
"He's got an exotic figure, and I even saw a Sora's fan club." Dorothea remarked in a teasing voice, making him blush in the process.
"Dorothea!" Sora protested upon hearing her saying too much.
"Ahahaha! So, you got a lot of girls chasing after you, huh?" Constance laughed teasing him.
"Couldn't be any worse… I wish Claude took my place as a girl magnet." Sora expressed his disdain with a huge anime-style drop onto his head.
"Claude indeed has a lot of women going after him." Edelgard came out with some trivia. "I kind of figure out that he also come from a very far place. But Sora attracts many women's attention for who he is, and not for his looks. He's a nice guy."
/
Meanwhile at the Abyssian Residences, a fellow Rogue met with Yuri to bring him some news.
"We're all done here, Boss. Oh, but more importantly, about your-."
"Well discuss that another time. For now, tend to your mission." Yuri interrupted him. "Don't worry. No one will die. We'll get everyone our safely."
"Hmm…"
"Once the trap is set, shift your focus to protecting the Abyssians, just in case things go south."
Just in time, Sora and the others appeared at the front of them, presumably hearing the conversation.
"What was that about?" Byleth interrogated the ashen wolves' leader.
"Oh, it's you, guys." Yuri greeted him with a smirk on his face. "I was just heading off to ambush our attackers. You'll help with that, won't you?"
"Oh, does that mean your enemies are coming, aren't they?" Sora figured out his message, just before sensing the darkness drawing near. "I think you're right."
"You have a very sharp sense, don't ya, Sora. Very good! The scouts I sent to the surface spotted some mercenaries, but not only those guys, but some kind of dark creepy creatures alongside them." Yuri remarked Sora's dark sense and explained more details. "We closed off the entrance they used last, but it seems they've found another."
"This is bad! We gotta evacuate everyone from Abyss as soon as possible." Ashe said with worrisome on his voice.
"That won't be necessary. They'll be back soon." Yuri replied.
"Who?" Edelgard was curious just like everyone else.
"Why do I have to go? No matter what we do, we're all just gonna die in the end, anyway." Hapi appeared from behind reprimanded him for being told to go with them.
"Sure, but if we don't do something, we'll die a lot sooner. I assume the corridor is successfully camouflaged?" Yuri said showing a smirk on his face due to his confidence.
"But of course! Our decoys shall prevent those scoundrels from chancing upon our living quarters." Constance spoke with optimism to everybody. "Do note that I am the bail upon your hook. If we fail, I shall be left dangling in the wind. Aahahaha! But it must be done, I fear! And I will most happily accept the starring role in this-."
"They're at the entrance. They'll be coming in from the east." Balthus brought the news to the team, leading them to be put in action.
"What did you just say?" Constance was shocked after hearing him say that.
"The east… Good. We're well placed. Go ahead and draw them deeper into Abyss, just like we planned." Yuri indicated him some actions to take.
"Why are they targeting Abyss?" Ferdinand questioned him.
"I'd like to know that myself. But things go first. We've got make it through this encounter." Yuri admitted not knowing the reasons of those creepers crawling in their hideout. "Launching small counterattacks on the surface won't accomplish anything. It could also earn us the scorn of the church, if it get messy, which it will. That's why we have to lure enemy underground before we take them out. I know the perfect spot."
"Admit it, pals. You're knee-deep in this, just like us. There's no turning back now, right?" Balthus incited them to give them the aid they needed, given that they had accepted to stay in the basement.
"Of course not! If there's any way we can help your cause, we won't turn our backs on you." Ashe expressed his willingness to give them a hand.
"Yeah, you can count on us!" Sora seconded in the same emotion.
"That's right. We will not stand still while innocent people in Abyss are in danger." Edelgard also confirmed her will to help. "If we can capture the enemy, then we can perhaps learn the reason behind their relentless attacks."
"Excited, are you? Fine. We could use more bodies to throw at our enemies. Thanks for volunteering." Hapi was subtly amazed at their willingness to give them aid.
"So long as they're fighting with us and not against us, I don't care how excited they are. Let's get to it!" Balthus expressed a lot of enthusiasm with the incoming fight.
With that, our heroes headed to Yuri's most ideal spot to lure and ambush the creepers, aware that they had not only hostile mercenaries coming in, but also certain dark creatures joining too.
/
UNDERGROUND ARENA.
Byleth, Sora and the others walked in wide area: the underground arena, a sports zone which the abyssians came in to do sort of sports exercises or something. But this was the perfect place to lure the enemies and ambush them.
"Wow. An underground arena, huh? You sure know some great spots, Yuri." Balthus compelled him in compelling tone.
"I heard about this place from someone back in town. It hasn't been in use for a long time." Yuri said in a badass tone, finding this place as a perfect zone to carry out the operation. "I figured it could prove useful, so I spent some time clearing out the debris that was blocking the entrance."
"It seems to be a revitalized ruin… Perhaps it was originally a reception hall or something similar." Edelgard thought about how changed this place was.
"Perhaps. Honestly, all of Abyss feels like a ruin." Dorothea concluded.
"Ahaha! This place is magnificent! It is just spacious enough to contain my glory! I shall not hold back here!" Constance expressed her wishes to fight in this place.
"Large. Insolated. I wonder if it would be Ok for me to sigh here…" Hapi replied in a dry and monotone voice, like always.
"Sigh?" Byleth frowned after hearing her say that.
"If Hapi sighs, monsters come running. No, I'm not kidding." Balthus said it, making some of Black Eagles gasp.
"What the..?! Does she summon monsters just like that?!" Caspar gabbled in shock.
"I'm not sure what could you possibly mean by that…" Edelgard seconded in the same state.
"I wish, Hapi, but no. Absolutely no sighing. And, Constance, be glorious in moderation." Yuri advised the girls to not be reckless and behave. "Got it? This place is so big that if it collapses, all of Abyss will fall with it. The whole reason we're luring our enemies here is to avoid damaging Abyss. Don't lose sight of that."
"Aaaahahaha! I'm well aware of our aim, Yuri." Constance replied in an amused tone.
"Sure, but that doesn't mean we can trust you to show restraint." Balthus commented showing sort of concern about their attitudes, especially the blonde's.
"They are right, Constance, it would be reckless for you to get carried away like this." Sora tried to advise her to not use excessive force, something that she didn't like to hear.
"You as well, Sora?! I cannot fathom why I am being treated in such way." Constance replied in an annoyed tone for telling her what to do. "It is the duty of the nobility to preserve the people's safety. Do you truly believe that I would destroy Abyss in my efforts to save it? Preposterous!"
"That would cause trouble for Elfie too." Hapi was also concerned about the underground's integrity. "If the underground collapses, he's the one who will have to answer for it."
"Who's Elfie?" Byleth asked for the person's identity.
"You must know Aelfric, yeah?" Balthus started to explain them something about that man.
"Aelfric?" Sora asked the question looking curious like everybody from his house.
"He's a big wig in the church, but a friend of Abyss." The elder man mentioned that man's occupation. "He's the one who opened up this place to folks with nowhere else to turn. Folks like us. He gave us a home, a new life."
"It is Aelfric himself who put forth the idea of establishing the Ashen Wolf House." Constance mentioned more actions of that man. "Sadly, he faces opposition within the church, and so he cannot openly deploy the knights to aid us."
"That means Aelfric relies upon us to protect the people who live here… Us… and now you." Yuri stated his initiative to defend the whole place. "I hope you're ready, professor. We're counting on you."
"We won't let you down." Byleth expressed her willingness to help. "You have our back up."
"Reliable, aren't you? We'll owe you one." Hapi looked pleasured with that answer.
"Time knock some sense into their thick skulls. They picked the wrong strangers to mess with!"
As expected, a number of mercenaries came to the underground intending to loot the whole basement, but to their dismay, all of this place was so wide for this little group to loot.
"Aah! I knew following those shady kids was a bad idea. This place is massive!" said one of the mercenaries freaking out.
"Heh, they actually fell for it. Let's get this done!" Balthus said with a laugh between teeth, seeing how their plan was working, if that's what they thought.
"Other mercenaries are on their way. We left a nice little trail or crumbs for them to follow." Yuri gave indications to his partners. "We need to take them all out, or they'll just keep coming. Let's pull together."
The plan was to ambush the attackers that were getting to the underground so Yuri idealized it this way:
Sora went to the right inferior corner with his Black Eagles partners to fight the intruders that were entering at that side. Yuri on the other hand decided to stick at the center with his Ashen Wolves team.
The mercenaries were getting near the Ashen Wolves to give them a beat up, but, Balthus was the first to step forward and face the first one.
"It'll be a shame to mar this pretty arena with a bunch of fresh corpses, but here goes!" he said before giving that mercenary an intense and brutal number of combo punches with his gauntlets, killing him in the process.
Yuri then ran towards the other mercenary ready to kill him. "Be careful who you choose to follow. Ha, I suppose it's too late for that now, isn't it?"
He then proceeded to slash the mercenary with a remarkable and swiftly movement to dodge the enemy's attacks and annihilated the man with ease.
It was Hapi's turn to get to the action, she rode across the underground heading to another mercenary to kill. "You're a real pain in the neck, you know that?" she said nonchalantly before casting a dark spell to take the mercenary out. "Huh. That was easy."
Constance also went to face and take out another mercenary, however, she seemed so fired up about battling and defending the place at the same time. "You'll not find it so easy to escape from the darkest depths of Garreg Mach!" she warned him getting ready to strike.
She casted the same ice spell to emerge the icy spikes from the ground, taking the mercenary out in the process. "I did it!" said Constance happy with her actions.
On the other hand, Sora and the others were dealing with other mercenaries getting on their way, he brutally slashed a few, while proceeding to take out some more with the power of his Oblivion keyblade fighting alongside his classmates.
Dorothea casted the thunder spell to deal with more mercenaries, Ashe shot few arrows towards few more of them coming from the west.
Byleth and Sora dealt with the toughest mercenaries who tried to hurt the others making a duo slash to kill them.
"Nice one, Sora!" she praised his student.
"You too, Byleth!" he replied in the same tone.
"Good job everyone." Edelgard congratulated his whole team for taking down all the remaining mercenaries.
But their victory was short-lived because more mercenaries appeared from everywhere.
"What the…? More mercenaries!?" Sora said in disbelief and annoyance. "Can't these guys just stop?!"
"I'd love that these guys would just go!" Caspar stated his annoyance like everyone else.
"This… can't be the place… Can it?" said one of mercenaries from the afar.
"More visitors already? Allow us to offer you a premature burial." Constance looked excited to take more people down.
"You fucking brats. Outta the way!" the mercenary snarled at the gang in a threating voice.
"Here they come!" Byleth told her students to get ready to attack.
The mercenaries charged at the Black Eagles, however, they were soon subdued by Byleth and her students with ease.
Sora and Edelgard threw their respective weapons towards two of the mercenaries left to take them down.
"Nice shot." Said the future empress making high five with her partner.
"We make a good team, right?" Sora replied in the same manner.
"Yeah, right." Edelgard affirmed his words, they had a good chemistry not only with each other, but with Byleth and Dorothea.
However, for their dismay, more mercenaries appeared from nowhere to grind their gears.
"All right, where's the treasure? I've had it with these Abyssians!" a female mercenary interrogated them to no avail, but she didn't care.
"What the hell is going on?!" said Dorothea visibly annoyed.
"This is what we want to know!" Sora replied.
"Jeez, will it ever end? I love a good brawl, but I'm sick of looking at these idiots." Balthus expressed his dismay.
Everyone else nodded their heads agreeing with him, they all were sick of dealing one mercenary and another, this needed to end right now.
So what they did was to go all-out without holding back and strike every last one of the mercenaries.
Sora was joined by Byleth, Edelgard and Dorothea on his crusade of taking out few mercenaries while Caspar, Ferdinand, Ashe, Linhardt, Hubert and Petra dealt with the others.
On the other hand, Yuri and his team destroyed the rest of the incoming mercenaries with ease. It seemed that no more mercenaries would come in, however, as they had anticipated earlier, the said dark creatures appeared in front of everybody.
"Those are…" Edelgard knew exactly who those creatures were. "These are the creatures that Dimitri, Claude and I tried to deal with long time ago!"
"The heartless… What on earth are they doing here?" Sora coincided with his classmate.
"I dunno… but I'm certain that they made friends with those mercenaries." The white-haired girl assumed their actions. "But, I'm not sure if I will be able to take this dark creature down…"
"I know you will, Edelgard." Sora advised her to not be negative. "You just have to believe in yourself, if you could take any mercenary out, then you will defeat the heartless."
Edelgard was taken aback by his words of courage, it was like Sora was trying to help her melt down her icy heart, his sole influence was like making her brush off few restraints she had before meeting him, not even Hubert had the way of trying to change her like Sora had.
Edelgard came to remember the moment when she unsuccessfully slashed one of the heartless in the last night during her escape from the thieves. There was no time to hesitate so Edelgard got her axe ready and prepared herself to strike down one of the heartless, knowing that the outcome could be the same.
"Okay, he goes nothing…" she whispered to herself before charging at one of the heartless and giving one double slash at it.
She had expected to have the same outcome, but to her surprise, Edelgard did truly slay the heartless as Sora had predicted. Was this a miracle? Or is it because she believed in Sora's words?
"Did I…? Did I just kill this thing?" she expressed with her eyes wide open.
This motivated her to continue fighting more heartless alongside her classmates, Dorothea also experienced the same thing by electrocuting few more.
"Did you take them out, huh?" the brown-haired girl asked with enthusiasm.
"I did, never thought I'd come to slay one of the heartless." Edelgard replied with a smile at her face, written in confidence. "Come on, let's settle this quick."
Meanwhile, Constance had trouble dealing with few dark creatures despite using her magic, it wasn't until Sora came to the rescue and casted the Reflega spell, a field of energy that surrounded the two and pushed the approaching heartless out of the way.
"Thank you, I was having problems with those monstrous things." She thanked him for aiding her.
"It would be wise if we attacked together." Sora said putting himself in attacking stance.
"Yeah, I guess it won't go bad." Constance agreed with him, willing to fight alongside his partner.
The two charged at the three big and fat heartless, Constance summoned the pointy ice shards on one of the fat heartless and lifted it to the midair.
Sora leapt onto its back and entered in Double Form to take down the heartless with a bunch of combo sword slashes and shot few light rays to eliminate the dark creature in the process.
"Whoa! Such magnificence!" Constance praised his performance on defeating the heartless.
"I have an idea." Sora replied crafting a plan to take the other heartless out. "Wait for my signal."
The girl nodded with her head to wait for Sora to give her the signal, while Sora in a blink of the eye got onto the dark fat creature's back and used the Ars Arcanium skill to land a lot of strong slashes across its back and stun it.
"Freeze!" Sora casted an ice spell: the Blizzaga, onto the heartless and successfully froze it. "Constance, now!"
She didn't hesitate a second in summoning the icy shards from the ground and tear the frozen heartless in pieces.
"Aaahahaha! Now that's a teamwork!" Constance laughed in euphoria after taking out the creature. *Insert Japanese Constance laughs*
Edelgard helped the others to take down the rest of the heartless and Byleth was also surprised to have slayed few more of them, and like the future empress, this motivated her to encourage her students to take down the rest of the heartless.
It didn't take too long for everyone to destroy all the creatures and clear the underground, leaving all of them eventually worn out.
"That's the last of them…" Sora spoke panting due to their intense fight against those attackers.
"Honestly…! What a nuisance." Edelgard replied in the same emotion. "But, I'm somewhat glad that you told me to stand up for myself, Sora."
"See? All it takes is to have a strong heart within yourself." He said showing a smile on his face, blushing her slightly.
"Yo-You're right." She expressed a kind of shyness on her voice.
"Boss! That's the last of them!" one of rogues went to Yuri to bring him some news.
"Good. Finally. Thanks for all the help, everyone." He replied thanking everybody for their assistance.
But, one mercenary left entered in the scene. "Shit…! I ain't going down without a fight! I'm taking you with me, you son of a bitch!" he snarled in rage and a threating voice.
"I will not allow it." said a man appearing in front of the enraged mercenary.
"Aelfric, you're here! Well, shall we capture this fool?" Yuri spoke to him with a smirk on his face, glad for him appearing there.
Aelfric didn't think twice and he and Yuri locked the mercenary inside a cell then they returned and met with the others.
"Aelfric! How serendipitous that you have come to our aid!" Constance thanked him for his gesture.
"I am relieved that I wasn't too late. I do hope my presence proved useful." Said Aelfric in a calm voice.
"No doubt about it. We needed the backup." Spoke Balthus glad like his partners.
"So… you're Aelfric…" Byleth said while looking at him.
"Professor. I do believe this is the first time our paths have crossed, is it not?" replied Aelfric in a nice tone.
"I take that you must have heard all about us, isn't it?" Sora asked him with curiosity.
"Of course, I have heard all of you guys from Her Grace, the archbishop." Aelfric affirmed his words.
"Rhea…" Sora thought about that woman, but he didn't have time to look upset at front of everyone.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Aelfric. The church has granted me custodianship of Abyss." He introduced himself to everyone.
"Nice to meet you." Byleth replied with a nice gesture.
"The pleasure is all mine." Aelfric said responding the same manner. "I am sure you have been already told about Abyss's unique situation. For varying reasons, all of the inhabitants here are unable to live a peaceful life on the surface."
"Why is it?" Dorothea asked the reason of this problem.
"People like Dagdans and Almyrans, who suffer undue persecution across Fodlan. The poor and the sick, who were forced into Abyss. Not to mention all the other unfortunate souls who ended up here. I believe it is my sacred duty to provide a place for those who have nowhere else to go." Aelfric state his reason to hold the custody of the basement.
"The poor and sick living in this sunless basement… How do they manage to have normal lives here?" Edelgard asked him regarding those people who live in the depths of the monastery.
"I honestly understand your concerns, guys. I dearly wish I could provide a better life for my flock." Aelfric said with a sunk face. "But Her Grace and most of the church consider the existence of Abyss to be… something of a nuisance."
"A nuisance? For what reason?" Ferdinand interrogated him.
"I'm afraid so… Those within the church who would see Abyss purged are swiftly growing in number." Aelfric explained the big issues the people in Abyss were going through.
"That's the church for you. They make a big deal out of helping the helpless… when it suits them." Hapi spoke with monotone tone, exposing the biggest exposure of the system itself.
"We can't just sit back and accept the way things are. We've gotta fight the system." Balthus stated his disdain for the church's evil system. "Sure, I'm here to hide from literally countless bounty hunters, but I'm not the one in need. You're in a bad way too, Hapi. We can't just let the church walk all over us."
"Too true. For the sake of all who dwell in Abyss, we must help dear Aelfric to turn the tide." Constance agreed with his words showing her willingness to aid the man.
"I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Your fervent support is all the reward I could ask for." said Aelfric before turning to Byleth. "As for you, Professor, I must beg a favor of you."
"What's the favor?" she asked him.
"The Ashen Wolves are a house in name alone. They are eager students with no teacher to guide them…" Aelfric stated his request. "If you could find it in your heart to take them under your wing, I would be most grateful."
That statement took Byleth aback, she already had picked the Black Eagles house long time ago alongside Sora, now with the Ashen Wolves involved, the class would get bigger than she thought.
Would she handle that? Well, it depended on her if she was more than willing to guide them.
"If my schedule allows it." Byleth accepted the man's request, not before telling him that if she had some free time.
"Naturally, your official duties take precedence, so you need only help out when your schedule allows." Aelfric understood her words.
"Hold on, Aelfric. Where's this nonsense coming from." Yuri questioned him in the same state as the teacher.
"Yeah! We have no need of a professor when we have you." Constance seconded stating her reason to try to reject Byleth as their new professor.
"Dear flock, I am a mere guardian. I can protect you but I cannot enrich your minds." Aelfric made them see that he was not a suitable man to be their teacher. "Though I call this a gathering an academy house, I have long lamented that it isn't truly so. Now, I am blessed with the opportunity to correct this. The professor who stands before you has garnered a great deal of acclaim on the surface, and so this guy right here also has gained his own merit as a swordsman as well. A most trustworthy and esteemed teacher, to say the least. What's more, I happened to be acquainted with the father of this fine individual."
"Mister Jeralt?" Sora asked the question surprised of his statement.
"How did you know my father?" Byleth seconded in the same state, it seemed that he and his dad knew each other long time ago.
"I was born and raised in Garreg Mach, so I often had the opportunity to spend some time with him." Aelfric explained the way the two met long time ago. "Your mother, as well… She was a cherished friend of mine. I was even present for their wedding."
"I didn't know you had a mother, Byleth." Said Sora in surprise.
"Me neither… I never knew her to be honest." Byleth replied in the same tone after finding out her relationship with her mother.
"Well, with parents like yours, teacher, I have no doubt that you possess the kindness and patience necessary to guide these students." Aelfric remarked her qualities that make her a unique and indicated person to teach the Ashen Wolves.
"But…" Constance tried to protest but no words came out.
"It will be okay. It's not like we're strangers anymore." Yuri was optimist about having Byleth as their teacher from now on. "Say, Aelfric… Don't you need to care of these thieves?"
"Ah, right you are. Please, excuse me." He replied remembering his duty, not before telling the teacher something else. "Oh, and one more thing, Professor… If ever you would like to hear more about your parents, I would be delighted to share my memories with you."
Byleth was filled with a lot of questions regarding her mother's life, given that she was raised by Jeralt himself without meeting her beside learning how to wield a sword and fight in battlefield.
This incited her to go to where Aelfric was to speak with him.
END OF CHAPTER 20
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
That's right, Aelfric said that Byleth had a mother and surprised everyone. What kind of secrets lie in the depths of the monastery. What challenges await our heroes to face? We'll find out in the next chapter.