This was SUPPOSED to come out the day after Halloween. But due to unforeseen complications with the website this chapter wound up being a few days late.
Sorry bout that.
Halloween special.
Enjoy.
Byleth had been sitting in his room staring at the outfit laid out on the bed before him. Sothis was floating next to the bed, staring at the clothing as well.
"Don't you find it...Similar to my own attire?"
Byleth nodded. Why Rhea kept something like this and insisted that he wear it was odd. She clearly knew more than what she was letting on.
Tonight was an event called Hallow Day. It was to represent and celebrate the Goddess's eventual reincarnation, and to celebrate it people would dress up as what they thought the Goddess would reincarnate as.
Over the years it began to lose its strict meaning and was now just an excuse for people to just dress up in costumes. Although quite a few still took the holiday seriously.
Rhea had came to him a few hours before everyone started dressing up and given him this costume. She referred to it as regalia. It looked rather silly, if he had to admit.
"Are you saying you do not wish to look like me? Is there something wrong with how I look?" Sothis said. Byleth shook his head. "I'm just not fond of the outfit. I don't think it suits me"
"I was not aware you had a sense of fashion, or were picky about your clothing"
A knock on his door ended their conversation and he opened it. His eyes widening upon seeing Dorothea dressed up in a rather...Revealing costume, a brown fur top covered her chest but left her shoulders and stomach exposed, the pants she wore only went down to her thighs and were covered in brown fur similar to her top. A black dot was painted on her nose along with some whiskers and a pair of dog ears hung loosely from the top of her head.
Next to her was someone in a white sheet. A distressed face crudely painted on. Dorothea gave a little bark when he opened the door. "Bout time you came out, Professor. Everyone thought you were going to be cooped up all night in your room!"
"I was deciding on what I should wear."
"Ah, I didn't know you were taking this holiday seriously. Well I guess all teachers have to."
Sothis's voice filled his head. "Is she supposed to be...A dog? Don't tell me she thinks me to reincarnate as a dog! Why don't you tell her to take her little-"
"So you think the Goddess will reincarnate as a dog, Dorothea?" Byleth stopped Sothis before she could continue. Dorothea looked down at her attire. "Wellll, not exactly. I just wanted to dress up cute. Do you like it?" She struck a semi-provocative pose for him. Byleth not reacting as usual.
"Is that not against dress code?"
"Since when was there ever a dress code?"
Dorothea had a point. There never was one mentioned. But just staring at Dorothea made him feel like he was breaking some rule.
He turned his attention to the white sheet next to Dorothea.
"And what are you supposed to be, Bernadetta?"
The sheet jumped slightly and squeaked. Two hands coming from underneath it and pulling it up, revealing a meek Bernadetta. "H-How'd you know it was me?"
"I can always tell if its you." Byleth gave a smile, causing Bernadetta's cheeks to burn and she pulled the sheet back over her.
"I-I'm supposed to be a ghost!"
"A ghost she says...Well I suppose she isn't too far off..." Sothis said. Having calmed down from earlier.
"Are you not dressing up, Professor?" Dorothea asked. Byleth looked behind him towards the regalia laying on his bed. He turned back to Dorothea and shook his head.
"I can't think of anything to wear. So I don't think I'll be participating."
Dorothea frowned. "Well that's a shame...I would've loved to see you all dressed up." Dorothea's smile returned. "Well, Me and Bernie are off to go see what's keeping Edelgard and Hubert so long." The white sheet squeaked again.
"W-We are!? You just said we were going to go visit the Professor!" Bernadetta said. Dorothea turned to her concealed purple haired friend.
"I knew saying that was the only way to get you out of your room. Sorry Bernie, but it's to late now!" Dorothea grabbed Bernadetta's hand and dragged her away, waving goodbye to the Professor.
He waved goodbye back, before shutting his door behind him and descending the small stairs in front of his dorm. As he walked along in front of the dormitories he looked around, numerous students were dressed up as various things. Sothis would give her opinion on each one, often droning on about one she particularly disliked.
"All these people trying to imitate what I would look like if I came back to life...If only they knew that you were the real thing." Sothis muttered. Byleth didn't respond, to busy scanning every dark corner and small crowd "What are you looking for?" Sothis asked.
"Someone's following me..."
"Perhap it is another one of your secret admirers..." Sothis yawned. Byleth not responding as he stared at the stair case that led up to the upper dorm rooms. Someone had quickly rounded the corner when he glanced that way.
He began to move towards it before someone called out for him.
"Professor! Excellent timing!" He stopped and turned around. Seeing what looked to be Constance and Hapi walking up to him. Constance standing in front of the Professor and placing both hands on her hips, a wide grin on her face.
"What do you think!?" She exclaimed. Byleth looked her up and down.
Constance had on a large, thick, bright red royal coat. Atop her head was a gold crown and in her hand a golden scepter.
"And...You are supposed to be...?" Byleth raised an eyebrow. Constance's grin grew wider. "Is it not obvious! I am a royal queen!"
Byleth blinked. Constance always found such extravagant ways to be herself. "That's not real gold, is it?"
"Of course not!" She tapped the scepter against the palm of her hand while looking down at it. "It is brass!" She looked back up to him, her smile still wide and bright.
"So you believe Sot-" He coughed. "The Goddess, will reincarnate as a queen?"
Constance nodded. "It is only natural that the Goddess would come back as a queen to rightfully rule all of Fodlan!"
Sothis sighed in his head. "Rule over Fodlan? As if! The very idea of that sounds extremely exhausting! Perhaps you should finally act like a proper teacher and-"
"That's an interesting take, Constance." Byleth cut off Sothis's rambling in his head. The blonde nodded. "Of course! It is the only logical conclusion afterall. Everyone else's costume is simply humiliating!"
Constance turned around to look at Hapi. "Although Hapi here refuses to dress up" Hapi glanced at Constance. "Are you trying to make me sigh? I already told you I'm not interested in all that."
"Well you can at least try and make an effort!"
"An effort for a Goddess who doesn't even make an effort herself? No thanks"
Hapi turned her attention to Byleth. "Chatterbox here isn't dressed up either and you aren't getting onto him." Constance turned to face the Professor as well.
"Well I presume the Professor has a good reason for not dressing up."
"I didn't have a costume."
Constance nodded. "I figured that was the case, that is why I have prepared this for you!" She reached into her cloak and pulled out a folded uniform. Handing it to Byleth.
"What is it?"
"Its a butler uniform! I figured appointing you as my personal Butler once house Nuvelle is finally restored was the best I could do considering your current circumstance."
Hapi bit back a laugh and he heard Sothis chuckle lightly in his head. "I'll have to put it on later."
"See to it that you do! As for now Hapi and I have much to attend to!" The red head turned towards her royal friend. "We do?"
Constance nodded. "We have to find you a costume after all! Come along!" She grabbed Hapi's hand and pulled her along. "Still doing this are we?" Hapi muttered.
He waved bye to them as they walked off towards the town. "Lively as ever those two..." Sothis commented. "Hm? Now where are you looking?"
Byleth had begun looking up at the roof of the dorms. "I feel like someone's watching me..."
"Are you still on that? Are you sure it wasn't those two following you earlier?" Sothis asked. Byleth shook his head. "Someone's trying to remain hidden."
He decided to ignore it for now. Resuming his walk along the Monastery, but the issue still lingered in his mind. He tried to ignore it by looking at the all the students costumes. He saw that Flayn had dressed up in a giant fish costume, which only made him wonder how she even got her hands on something like that. She seemed happy nonetheless.
But out of the corner of his eye he kept seeing someone ducking behind a wall. It made him feel uneasy. He entered the dining hall, the church had put together a buffet for the celebration. Many students and faculty were sitting at tables or deciding what to put on their plate.
He was so lost in looking around that he almost bumped into Ingrid, who was carrying a large plate of food.
"Woah! Careful Professor!" She steadied the food on her plate before looking up at him. "Are you okay? You don't usually space out like that."
Byleth shook his head. "Sorry. I just feel like someone is following me...That's all." He looked Ingrid up and down, she was wearing some shiny, beautiful armor. Engravings and symbols decorated the surface. He doubt it would offer much protection, but it did look amazing.
"Is that your costume?" He asked. Ingrid looked down. "Ah, yeah. It is. I figured if the Goddess was going to be reincarnated, she would reincarnate as a strong, female knight. One who would lead a glorious army against any who would dare to harm Fodlan."
"A female knight...How admirable. Many of your students would do well to follow her lead." Sothis rung her opinion.
She set her plate of food down and did a little twirl for him. "Mercedes and Annette put it together for me. They made a lot of people's costumes actually. Like Flayn's."
That would explain the impressiveness of Flayn's large costume. "You aren't dressing up, Professor?" Ingrid looked him up and down. Byleth shook his head. "I couldn't find a costume I liked"
Ingrid smiled slightly. "Thats a shame, I would've loved to see you all dressed up in something other then your usual attire."
Byleth's thoughts again returned to that regalia Rhea insisted he wear. He wondered how his students would've reacted to seeing him wear something like that.
"You mentioned you thought someone was following you?" Ingrid asked. Byleth nodded. "I hope its nothing bad, maybe someone is just really shy?"
Byleth didn't respond, still mulling over what or who it could be. He looked at the plate of food Ingrid had. "Are you expecting someone else?"
Ingrid caught his glance and blushed. "Y-Yeah! I-I mean someone eating all this food by themself is ridiculous." Byleth looked away as Ingrid attempted to hide her gluttonous habits. He saw someone staring at him from the window. But the moment he looked they ducked away. He had to get to the bottom of this.
He excused himself from Ingrid and quickly walked out and into the small hedge garden, hoping to catch them running off. But there was no luck. There wasn't any sign of anyone being there.
"Ah! Professor! There you are!" Byleth turned around, seeing Hilda walking up to him. Just like Dorothea, Hilda had decided to go with a revealing outfit. The top barely containing her large chest. Instead of a dog however Hilda decided to go as a cat. Byleth approached her.
"You think the Goddess will reincarnate as a...cat?"
Hilda shook her head. "I didn't really care much about that, I just wanted to dress up!" Hilda jumped closer to the Professor, her chest bouncing as she did.
"Don't you think we look cute~?"
"We?"
Hilda looked around behind her. "Marianne! Why are you hiding! Come on out!" When nothing happened Hilda puffed out her cheeks and marched over to one of the hedges and pulled Marianne out from behind it.
Marianne looked down at the ground shyly, circles were drawn on the sides of her elbows and on the side of her knees, string hung from her wrist and ankles and attached to a wooden cross she was holding.
Byleth was at a loss for what she was. "And you are...?"
"I-I'm a Marionette..." She held the cross above her head, letting the string run straight down towards the points it connected to.
"You believe...The Goddess will reincarnate as a...Marionette?" He raised an eyebrow. Even Sothis remained quiet on this bizarre take.
"This was actually my idea." Hilda spoke up. "Marianne didn't wanna dress up. But I just couldn't let this genius idea go to waste. Pretty clever, right?"
Byleth nodded. Marianne shyly fidgeting with the wooden cross. "By the way, have you seen Claude?" Hilda asked. Byleth shook his head. "I have not."
"That's concerning. See, Claude said where he came from they had a holiday like this over there as well. But with different circumstances. You'd dress up as something scary and then go to people's houses saying 'Trick or Treat' and then they'd give you candy. If they didn't then you play a trick on them."
What an odd holiday, Byleth thought. "And I'm guessing your concerned Claude is going to pull a trick on everyone. Because they didn't give him candy."
Hilda shook her head. "He won't do it because no one gave him candy, he'll play a trick just to play a trick. This is Claude after all."
Byleth nodded. Claude was quite the trickster.
Marianne let out a slight shriek, a horrific look on her face as she stared behind Byleth. "What is it Marianne?"
She pointed behind him, he whipped around. But there was nothing there. "T-There was someone behind you...They were just staring at you..."
"Did you see what they looked like?" Hilda asked. Marianne shook her head. "It was just a dark silhouette, and a pair of glowing eyes."
"Someone's been following me all night. I'm sure that was them." Byleth turned back to the two girls.
"Following you? Thats kinda scary. Better hope Lysithea doesn't hear about it." Hilda remarked. Byleth nodding. The young mage would definitely not enjoy hearing there was a scary stalker about Which made the thought of Claude pulling a trick all the more terrifying.
"Well, we're off to try and find Claude before he causes any trouble." Hilda said, Byleth nodding in response. "If I see him I'll let you guys know."
The Golden deer girls gave him a smile before walking off, waving bye.
Once they disappeared out of his sight he scanned the area, searching for any sign of his stalker. He rounded a hedge wall, faking a look to the right before quickly looking to the left. Catching the sight of what appeared to be large ribbons disappearing around a wall. He narrowed his eyes. Following wherever that person went.
He eventually found himself in front of the class rooms. Where the crowd of students had increased in volume from the crowds in front of the dorm. His stalker had plenty of places to hide here. He sighed.
"What's up Professor? Something on your mind?"
Byleth turned around to see Annette and Mercedes approaching him. They were both wearing traditional nun outfits.
"Annette, Mercedes." He gave them a smile upon seeing them, both of them blushing lightly at the rare sight.
"I'm fine, just thinking is all. Are those your costumes?" They both nodded.
"We're nuns, I figured if the Goddess was going to reincarnate she'd probably wear something similar to a nun. I made my outfit my self by the way. What do you think?" She did a little twirl for him. "It looks great on you."
Annette's blushed deepened and she glanced away shyly.
"And I made mine by myself as well. A lot of students came to us with request for making things a few days before Hallow Day." Mercedes said.
"Its rare to see you sighing though, Professor. You sure you there's nothing bothering you?"
"Well, I'm fairly confident someone is following me. I'm just not sure who."
"I heard Claude was planning on playing a big trick, maybe its him?" Mercedes put a finger to her chin. Byleth shook his head. "I'd know if it was Claude."
"Other then that, have you two been enjoying yourselves?" The two girls nodded.
"We have, we just got back from the Dining Hall, and are now looking at everyone's costumes." Mercedes said. Annette nodding.
"Yeah, its fun seeing what everyone's interpretation of a reincarnated Goddess would look like. Although I feel like some of these are just excuses to dress up." Annette said, watching Sylvain walk by dressed as a bear.
"The nights getting late though, I think a couple students are turning in as well."
Byleth looked around, during their short conversation the crowd of students had grown significantly thinner. "I suppose I should be turning in as well."
"Sorry you couldn't find that stalker of yours." Annette said, tilting her head and offering him a reassuring smile. "Its fine. Maybe I really was just imagining things."
He waved bye to the two girls and began to walk towards his dorm. Only slightly aware that someone had been watching him.
When he arrived to his room he found the door was slightly opened. Strange, he could've sworn he closed it. He entered, shutting the door behind him. Lighting a candle and being met with Sothis standing in the middle of his room. He nodded to her and walked over to his bed, staring down at the regalia.
"It really does look your outfit...Doesn't it, Sothis." He turned to face her.
"Um...That is...Not me..."
Byleth froze. Sothis just spoke. But she did not move her lips.
Suddenly Sothis appeared in the corner of his room, floating. Like she always does. The color drained from his face and he looked between the two Sothis.
"I am right here..." The Sothis that was floating spoke, and stared at the other one. Who just kept staring at him with a blank expression. Silent.
"Then...Who is this?" He grabbed the hilt of his sword strapped to his waist. Prepared to draw it.
Suddenly the fake Sothis's expression changed. Her mouth curling into a wide, sinister grin.
"So, I'm guessing I got it right."
The fake Sothis began to melt away, blueish-pale skin began to appear, glowing eyes pierced the darkness and bright, unkempt orange hair showed itself. Long, thick pointed ribbons swayed gently behind this newly revealed woman, who was wearing a Officers Academy uniform.
Byleth calmed down, standing up straight and letting go of the hilt of his sword.
"Kronya."
The Agarthian giggled. "Trick or treat, Professor."
"Did you hear that from Claude?"
Kronya nodded. "He told me all about it. And I figured I should play a trick on you for ignoring me all night."
"Well you kept stalking me, Kinda hard to give you attention if you won't show yourself."
Kronya put a finger to her chin, as if thinking. "Hmm...I suppose that's true. I guess I just kinda got lost in the fun of it." Kronya gave a wicked grin. "Nothing like stalking prey to get me all excited."
Kronya removed her finger from her chin and stepped closer to the Professor. "Besides that, did you like my costume?" Her grin grew wider. "Did I get it right?"
Byleth glanced up to Sothis. Who was floating in the corner of his room, observing the whole thing silently. Kronya caught his gaze and followed it. "What do you keep looking at? I'm right here after all~" Kronya pouted.
She grabbed both sides of his head and pulled it to face her, bringing her face closer to his."
"How long will you keep ignoring me?"
"I am not doing it intentionally"
"Hmm~ Well regardless of whether or not you were, some punishment is still in order." Kronya pushed him down onto the bed, beginning to remove the Professor's pants before stopping upon noticing the regalia. Her wicked grin returning to her face. "And I've got the perfect idea~"
He caught her gaze and looked back to her. "No. I'm not wearing that."
"Is there something wrong with I wear?" Sothis finally spoke up, now floating above him. He resisted looking up at her, not wishing to stoke the flame of Kronya's twisted desires.
"Come now Professor, you gotta get into the Hallow Day spirit afterall~" Kronya giggled.
Byleth sighed.
Seems his night was just getting started.
Now the question is, was this a Kronya centric chapter?
That is for you to decide.
I know there's a discrepancy with both Sothis and Kronya being present at the same time. But what's Fan Fiction without a little Fiction amirte? No? Okay...
Sorry for the long bout of silence. Took a short hiatus as school and work have been relentless. I promise next chapter is an Ingrid chapter so for those of you who are still following this...Stay tuned!
Also anyone here play Valkriya Chronicles 4? Thinkin of writing some fanfiction for that...
Until next time!
