A/N: How's it going everybody!
Let's have a paralogue that in my honest opinion, should've been considered canon.
2019
"I don't know about all of you, but that girl taking out that traitor was awesome!" Lenore said in joy, pumping her fist in the air.
"What about the guy who sliced that monster open? Pretty badass in my book." The blue-haired boy said.
"Finn, never thought I'd see you so excited over a legend." Sylvester chuckled, earning a swift punch from the boy.
"Shut-up…" Finn grumbled.
"Still, you have to feel sorry for the guy who had to kill the general." The well-groomed boy said. "It sounded like they were close friends."
"It probably did Freddy…" Dorine said, patting her friend.
"I just hope that other doesn't have to face his dad." The cyan-haired boy said.
"Let's just hope that the legend didn't forget, or we'll never find out Cassius." Hillary said.
"I hope it did." Cassius said.
"After two consecutive battles," Ms. Gregory began, "They were about to head back underground to uncover something else. What they didn't know was that it was easier said, than done."
Lone Moon, 1186
A few days after successfully defending the Great Bridge, Niya, and the rest of her students have finally returned to Garreg Mach Monastery. As announced earlier, Lorenz, Lysithea, and Raphael would come on later days, as they had chosen to check in with their family, just to see how they were doing.
"I never thought that I would be able to see this place again!" Hilda cried out in relief, upon entering the familiar gates.
"I for one cannot wait to head back to my bedroom, and take a well-deserved nap." Linhardt added, with a yawn as well.
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Ingrid spoke, tugging the reins of her Pegasus.
When they finally reached the entrance, an all too familiar face, and voice finally greeted them.
"Greetings professor!" The Gatekeeper greeted with his usual brand of enthusiasm. "I am pleased to report that nothing had occurred during your absence."
"Thank you McCarley," Niya greeted while the rest of the group separated. "As always, your work is appreciated, even if it's as simple as gatekeeping."
"Professor, stop." McCarley blushed. "I'm just doing my job, that's all."
One Week Later
Within a week's time, Lorenz, Lysithea, and Raphael have finally returned to Garreg Mach. While Raphael expressed relief that his little sister, and grandfather were safe from the war, he had to admit that part of him wanted to stay, upon seeing the excitement of his sister's face, but he knew he had a commitment, and unfortunately, had to return back, in order to create a better future for both her, and their grandfather.
Lysithea reported that despite Tomas' betrayal to the Monastery six years prior, both House Ordelia, and her parents had managed to quell down the rumors, and accusation that the house had to endure during that time, as well as her parents being safe, and assuring them once again that she would return when all was over.
Lastly, was Lorenz, who had the biggest task in convincing his father, Lord Loran Gloucester to withdraw from the Empire, and instead support the Alliance, as well as the Student Army. Although he had initially struggled to convince his father, due to his attitude to keep a firm alliance, but thankfully, eventually with the help of his cousin, Enzo, Lord Loran Gloucester had successfully cut ties with the Empire, albeit temporarily.
With the aid of House Gloucester, more supplies, and soldiers have been provided for the army.
Two Days Later
"Professor!" Came the call of Flayn, as she quickly rushed to the light green-haired girl, who was currently in the War Council room. The professor was busy doing some extra work, that included trying to see where each soldier would be going to, come the next battle.
The young girl finally entered the room, where she began speaking. "Professor, you may not like to hear this, but I kind of went through Lady Rhea's stuff."
"And why would you do such a thing, and confess it to me almost immediately?" Niya questioned, raising a brow.
"It's because I found this letter from her, and it was addressed to you." Flayn reached into her pocket, and brought out a parchment. "Before you ask, your name was on it, which is how I found out it was yours. Don't worry, I didn't read it. After all, father told me never to read things without consent."
Niya reached for the parchment, before grabbing it, and reading it:
Dear Niya,
I have little time, and such, I will keep this brief. If you recall, I asked you to take care of things should anything happen, but I wish to make myself useful as well. In the Holy Tomb, I have left a treasure for you to take.
Before you leave however, please take ample precautions, for I have set some traps there, for fear that thieves might come, and steal it. I pray that you, nor anyone close to you is unharmed when you retrieve it.
May the goddess, Sothis, protect you
-Rhea
"This feels rushed." Niya noted, seeing how the writing was not consistent with how Rhea would usually write her notes, either during her missions for the houses, or her notes in the advice box in the Cathedral. "Maybe she wrote this prior to the battle five years ago?"
"You know," Flayn began. "I may not know anything about this treasure, but if Lady Rhea is so willing to give it to you, something tells me that you should go get it. If you do, then allow me to accompany you."
"Lady Rhea said there would be traps." Niya reminded. "It would be better if the less of them find out, the better. I don't want to risk any injuries, or even something worse."
"Personally, I think it would be better to have allies." Flayn spoke.
"No allies. I mean it." Niya firmed, before she began walking to the Holy Tomb, with Flayn simply huffing in response.
Later
'That's odd. Why would Niya be heading down there?' Yuri thought to himself, noticing that Niya was heading down the basement. The lilac-haired knew that the path being taken was heading to the Holy Tomb.
"Hey Yuri," a burly voice interrupted Yuri's thought, revealing it to be Balthus. "Curious about where she's going?"
"One could say." Yuri simply replied. "I'm curious on what she's planning to do down there."
"Only one way to find out." Balthus added. "Think we should tell the others?"
"Probably…"
Later
A while later, Niya finally reached the Holy Tomb. It had been 6 years since she had last been here, and she still couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. The memories of Edelgard betraying the Church, and seeing what Rhea was truly capable of flooded back to her.
For a while, her legs felt weak, but she knew that she had to stay strong. She just hoped that whatever item Rhea had left for her was worth all trouble, especially since not only were there three golems that resemble chess pieces could be seen patrolling the area, ready to strike anything that was unfortunate enough to come into range, there were also groups of soldiers ready to aid the golems.
'What kind of traps are these, and how long have they been here?' Niya questioned to herself, genuinely surprised to see such an elaborate force in the Holy Tomb. Whatever the answer to her question may be, Niya decided that it was time to press forward as carefully as she could.
Later
Unbeknownst to Niya, her students have received word of her arrival at the Holy Tomb, thanks to word spreading out, courtesy of Yuri.
"Ugh…" Linhardt shuddered, upon stepping foot in the tomb once again. "six years later, and I still hate this place."
"To think that the last time we were here, we were with Edie…" Dorothea sighed, remembering such a painful memory.
"Please don't remind me of that…" Caspar frustratingly groaned. "The less I do, the better."
"Do you really think we should be here?" Ingrid questioned. "I'm pretty sure whatever the professor is doing here, we don't need to interfere."
"That would be a good option… as long as an incident similar to the one at Zanado does not occur again." Ferdinand reminded. "Do any of you remember?"
"It won't be." Felix started, pointing ahead. "Because those aren't dire wolves this time…"
"That is one weird game of chess…" Raphael spoke, before seeing everyone stare at him. "What?"
"Whatever they are," Balthus began, cracking his fists. "I say we help out."
Meanwhile
"And that's that." Niya finished, withdrawing the sword from the chest of a Sniper, who instead of remaining dead, simply vanished. "What? A phantom? How?"
Niya's thoughts were interrupted, when she had to dodge a Swarm Z from a Warlock. "Guess that answer will have to wait."
Meanwhile
"Are you guys seeing this?" Leonie called out, witnessing her downed opponent, a Grappler, fading, leaving only the arrow that had killed him. "Are we fighting ghosts?!"
"Ghosts?" Lysithea tensed, upon hearing the word. "Great. Just what I needed to hear…"
"Ow!" Came the cry of Caspar, who just narrowly dodged the axe swing of a Warrior, earning a cut on his arm. "Ghost or not, their weapons still hurt!"
"Here Caspar," Mercedes began, before casting Heal unto Caspar, healing his wound.
"Thanks Mercedes," Caspar smile in response, before continuing onward.
Caspar's yelp of pain echoed enough throughout the tomb, that it caught up to Niya's own ears, who had just killed a Bow Knight, who faded just as quickly as the sound entered, and escaped Niya's ears.
'Really? Flayn…' Niya cursed to herself, unaware that they were all here because of Yuri. Niya backtracked to where they were, with a nowhere near pleased expression on her face.
"Seriously?!" She began. "Why are all of you here? I told Flayn not to-"
"Actually, it was my fault, not Flayn's." Yuri spoke up, interrupting the professor. "If you wanted to go here by yourself, you're gonna need to be a bit more discreet than you were earlier."
"What?"
"Oh, come on." Yuri rolled his eyes, completely stunned by how Niya wasn't understanding it. "You practically entered this place like it was your bedroom. That's not exactly subtle in my book."
"Oh… right." Niya blushed in embarrassment. "Anyway, there see those three golems? They're Altered Golems. They are not the same as the golems we've faced before. They're slightly stronger."
She then turned to the four figures just standing there, as their fellow phantoms fought onward.
"See those four figures? Those are phantom generals. They're the ones controlling the golems. We kill them, the golems become weaker."
"Yeah, but they're pretty far off," Linhardt reminded. "How exactly are we gonna get there, without getting killed by them?"
"Who said anything about getting close?" Yuri asked, with a sinister smile beginning to form.
"What exactly are you talking about?" Niya raised a brow.
"I mean we could have a little friend clear the path for us… if she's willing to deliver an invitation that is." Yuri finished, pointing a thumb at Hapi.
"Absolutely not!" Hapi protested. "In case you forgot, these monsters aren't exactly pets. If they attack them, they'll attack us as well."
"Just do it." Yuri insisted. "I promise I'll make it up to you."
"Fine," Hapi groaned, before she cleared her throat, and let out a loud and deliberate sigh. As soon as she finished, a large sigil formed on the ground by the golems.
"Brace yourselves!" Hilda called out, remembering the first time it happened.
The sigil opened, and a large pair of purple front legs crawled out. Then came the face, which resembled a wolf, with a pair of saber teeth, and bull-like horns. A long, red, bristle-like mane formed from the back of its head, all the way to its back, while a row of spikes was protruding in the middle. A spiky tail swung around as the beast surveyed its new environment. Once the monster was fully out, it let out a deafening roar, and began to attack one of the golems.
"What is that?" Annette trembled. "That doesn't look like any demonic beast I've ever seen before."
"Whatever it is, it's attracted their attention." Yuri noted. "We may as well use this to our advantage, and take out the rest."
"I agree." Niya said, before speaking out. "Everyone, stay clear of the monster, take out the Phantoms!"
The Behemoth took a strong swipe, and slashed one of the golem's armor out, revealing a complicated mechanism, before biting it with its sharp teeth. The golem sputtered, and cracked, before it finally gave out, crushed to pieces.
Ignatz took notice of this. "I've never seen that before in my life. What exactly is Lady Rhea hiding?"
One of the golems noticed what had happened, and spun violently, before conjuring a Lance of Light. The golem suddenly stopped spinning, releasing the spear, which then struck the Behemoth right at its shoulder, causing it to howl in pain.
The Behemoth then retaliated by its face and neck glowing blue, before it eventually unleashed a vortex of wind so strong, everyone had to hold on to something, just to prevent themselves from getting swept away. The phantoms on the other hand, had no need to, since they weren't in a sense alive in any way.
"Well, that's unfair!" Caspar snapped, noticing that the Phantoms didn't need to adjust themselves.
The vortex made its way to the golem, blowing away its armor, revealing its inner mechanism, before vanishing.
The mechanism being revealed, showed how the Lance of Light was created, with a sphere sparking, as it rapidly spun around, before the light traveled unto the golem's arm, where it then formed a lance, which the golem then thrusted towards the Behemoth, striking it at its forearm, to which the Behemoth growled, before picking it up, and slamming it to the ground, sending a shockwave, before it pounds it repeatedly with its fist, crushing it as if it were a cracker.
"I think it worked a little too well." Constance dreaded. "It might come that we'll have to face it ourselves."
"Perhaps we could focus on it as well." Dedue suggested. "It may not be the best solution, but it's better than having to deal with it as its full power later."
"What do you think it's weak against?" Flayn asked.
"I think we have our answer." Lorenz said, pointing to one of the Warlocks, who had casted Bolganone to the Behemoth, who reacted violently to the fire, before retaliating with a swift punch, killing the Warlock instantly, fading.
Niya nodded, before calling out again. "Anyone who can use fire magic aim it at the beast!"
Although the fire damage was taking effect on the beast, for some reason, the beast ignored the fire, instead going after the last golem. The last golem in particular, looked stronger than the last two, allowing it to put up more of a fight against the Behemoth.
The two beings fought for a good long while, before the Behemoth crushed its core with its front leg, while the golem thrusted a Lance of Light to the Behemoth's heart. The impact from both attacks destroy the golem, and kill the Behemoth, both landing on the ground with a shake.
"Well… glad it worked longer than it needed too." Yuri smirked, which did not last long, as he received a swift punch from Hapi.
"Never again." Hapi glared, before riding away on her horse to attack more phantoms.
Later
Eventually, the students have made it to the generals, who, despite being dead, were able to put up a decent fight.
"Lady Rhea has entrusted us to guard this Tomb." One of the generals said. "You shall not pass!"
"I am Niya Byleth Eisner. Daught of Jeralt, the Blade Breaker. I was given the right to go here by Lady Rhea." Niya called out, hoping that perhaps the phantoms knew who she was.
"Be that who you are, but we will not allow you to pass through." The general said.
"If you wish to obtain what Lady Rhea had hidden away, then you must defeat us." Another one said.
"Ugh…" Niya groaned. "You'd think Rhea would've given them a picture or something…"
Ingrid swept down with her Pegasus, striking one of the Paladins down with her lance, killing him. Dedue blocked the Fortress Knight's swing with his shield, leaving him open, allowing Annette to cut the Knight in half with Cutting Gale.
Although a Dark Bishop managed to hit Mercedes with his Banshee ϴ, Mercedes was able to brush it off, before retaliating with a Bolganone, declaring out "You may want to move!" which killed the Dark Bishop.
Last was the final Paladin, who was facing Niya, who had switched to the Sublime Creator Sword.
"So, you wield the blade." The Paladin noticed. "So, you are who you say you are."
"Indeed I am." Niya confirmed. "Now let me through, and I promise not to return unless I need to."
"I cannot allow it." The Paladin shook his head. "If you must claim it, then you must defeat me, for I am your final obstacle."
'Stubborn dead guy…' Niya grumbled to herself, before engaging the Paladin, striking it with the Sublime, knocking the Paladin out. Ordinarily, any other Paladin would be dead, but this Paladin was not, and simply stood up, as his horse vanished.
The Paladin did not say a word, before he readied his lance, and charged forward. Niya quickly rolls away, before striking the Paladin on his back, which proved to be too much for the phantom.
"I have been bested." The Paladin spoke, as he sat on his knees where he was struck. "Very well Niya Byleth Eisner. Daughter of Jeralt the Blade Breaker. You may now retrieve the treasure that Lady Rhea had left for you. Use it wisely…" Once he finished, the Paladin faded away.
"Thank you." Niya bowed in respect, before sheathing the Sublime.
Later
"So here it is…" Niya said, standing before a vault-like structure on the wall. An indent shaped like a hand was molded on to the wall like a lock on a chest. "Whatever this is, Lady Rhea must trust me enough to use it for myself."
Before she placed a hand to the indent, she gestured to her students to move out of the way, for fear that they might get hurt once the vault opens. Once they have, she then placed her hand on the indent, which responded quietly, first opening itself vertically, then horizontally, and finally, an 'X'-like opening, before bathing the room in a light, as white as the moonlight, before finally revealing a serene-looking shield, white like a pearl, with a gold lining, as shiny as a newly-minted coin. Perhaps what was the most striking about the shield was that it had a particular aura glossing over the shield that was reminiscent of flowing water.
"It can't be..." Flayn spoke in disbelief. She knew exactly what the shield actually was, but knowing that everyone else- the professor included- don't know of her true origin, had to downplay it in a way that wouldn't arousing any suspicion. "It's the exact same shield that was said to have been by the goddess Seiros herself. I read that it is impervious to monster attacks, and can even heal the user."
"Now why would Lady Rhea entrust something like that to you?" Linhardt questioned. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I think out of all of us, you deserve to wield it the most, but it is rather curious as to what the exact reason is, especially considering the power it possesses."
"I'm not sure myself, Linhardt." Niya admitted. "Even I find myself questioning it until now."
"Whatever the reason may be," Yuri started. "Lady Rhea probably didn't want just anybody to just know about it, if she went this far just to hide it."
"We'll figure it out eventually." Niya spoke, before gently removing the shield from its place, before fitting it carefully on her left arm. "For now, we should get out of here already. I don't want to know if there are any more traps that we haven't triggered yet."
"I agree!" Lysithea suddenly blurted. "The sooner we leave, the better... just in case."
Niya chuckled slightly, before calling out. "All right everybody, let's get out of here."
A/N: And we're clear!
I don't know about any of you, but Rhea's Paralogue should've been made canon. I don't know why; it just feels canon.
Also, yes, that is indeed Behemoth from the Final Fantasy series. I used it because Three Houses' monsters didn't feel threatening enough, so I used it instead. Also, this Behemoth is the one from Monster Hunter World, which is why it's a bit overpowered.
I admit, I originally had plans to have Niya go somewhere elaborate, but it would've been way too ridiculous, so I had to make it simpler instead. I mean, it wouldn't be too out of place for Rhea if you think about it.
Alos, does a speaker-like voice, and a bank-style vault seem too out of place for Three Houses? I mean Shambhala is practically a Fire Emblem version of Tron, so I don't know. I mean, I wouldn't put it past Rhea to have something like this.
Next time, we meet up with Pallardo again, and we'll see an old friend again.
Until the next chapter, BYE!