Another bit of drama to end the Pegasus Moon.
Chapter 112 – Prelude to War (Pegasus Moon)
"How can you defend the way Rhea acted, Seteth?" Byleth said angrily to the advisor. "She literally attacked Dorothea, she almost ordered Catherine to kill Anna, and I'm not even sure I want to know what she was trying to do with that ceremony!"
Byleth wanted to add in how Rhea had allowed Dimitri to try and kill Edelgard, but given the circumstances, she felt it would not be wise to show sympathy for her former student in front of the Archbishop's advisor.
"I never said that I defended her actions, Professor Eisner," Seteth replied with stern calm. "However, I need you to understand something about Rhea. She has been betrayed and deceived more times than you would believe. People she was close to, those she put her trust in, many have turned on her for personal gain or other reasons. Betrayal has… always brought out the worst in her, I am afraid."
"That's not an excuse for what she did. Dorothea didn't betray her."
"Perhaps not, but the fact remains that the enemy managed to infiltrate the Holy Tomb because of something Miss Arnault did. What, in particular, remains to be discovered."
"Do you really believe any of the crap that came out of that snake's mouth?" said Anna. "He was just trying to divide us. Can't imagine why Rhea would fall for that."
"Perhaps it had something to do with your confrontational attitude toward her, Annabelle."
"Hey, don't try to pin this on me, Seteth! And I told you to stop using my full name!"
"What was Rhea trying to do, Seteth?" Byleth demanded. "What was that ceremony for?"
"I am afraid I am not at liberty to explain such a thing," answered Seteth.
"What kind of bullshit answer is that?!" said Anna.
Seteth was about to scold Anna for her language when the door to his office opened as Flayn came in.
"Brother, Professor, Anna, come quickly!" said Flayn.
"What's going on, Flayn?" asked Byleth.
"Yuri has returned. He is meeting with Rhea right now. And he has brought four… women of interest with him."
Byleth looked at Anna in confusion, and then decided it would be best to find out what was going on. The four of them made their way toward the audience chamber.
…
Dorothea wore a melancholy expression as she walked slowly toward the audience chamber alongside Catherine. The Crusader had told her Rhea wanted to see her, and Dorothea knew it couldn't be for anything good. Rhea probably still suspected her of helping Edelgard find the Holy Tomb.
The singer could not get the memory of Edelgard wearing the Flame Emperor's armor off her mind. Her best friend had committed such a heinous crime and had gotten so many of their friends hurt in the process.
What could possibly have warranted such treachery? Why did she have to resort to something so despicable?
"Here we are, Dorothea," said Catherine. "Let's not keep Lady Rhea waiting."
"R-Right…"
Catherine pushed open the door to the audience chamber to see Byleth was arguing with Rhea, and from the looks of it the two were quite upset with each other. But then she saw five others in the chamber she had not expected to see.
The first was Yuri, who had several bandages over his chest. The other four, however, made Dorothea's heart rise with both happiness and concern.
"Brigitte?" Dorothea said in surprise.
"Dorothea, are you alright?" Brigitte said as she strode over to the brunette and put a hand on her shoulder. The other three divas huddled around Dorothea.
"What are you all doing here?"
"We were worried about you, Dorothea," said Lana.
"Yuri told us you were being blackmailed by Lord Arundel," said Alicia. "Is it true?"
"H-He told you that?" Dorothea said nervously.
"We'll take that as a yes," said Cia.
"Ladies, if you're not too busy," said Yuri, catching the attention of all five divas. "Lady Rhea wants a word with Dorothea."
Dorothea gulped as she slowly stepped forward, watching Rhea gently push Byleth aside.
"Miss Arnault, I would like to apologize for my behavior toward you in the Holy Tomb. However, as of the moment, you are the only suspect the Church has regarding how the enemy managed to infiltrate the Holy Tomb."
"Mind explaining what the hell you mean?" said Brigitte. The diva's bluntness made the others balk at how rude she was.
"I must ask, Miss Stark, that you show appropriate respect to the Archbishop," Seteth said crossly.
"Why? Why the hell should I respect someone who tried to hurt one of my girls?"
Rhea then said, "Dorothea Arnault has, for some time, been in the employ of the Imperial Regent, Volkhard von Arundel. He tasked her to locate the Holy Tomb. Though I attempted to dissuade her from aiding him any further, it would appear she told him of the tomb's location."
"That can't be true!" Lana protested.
"Lana's right!" said Alicia. "Dorothea wouldn't do something like that!"
"No, Lana, Alicia, she's right," said Dorothea, much to the shock of the other two divas. "I was working for Arundel to pay my tuition, and he did tell me to find the Holy Tomb. But I didn't tell him where it was. I didn't even know where it was before you led us there, Lady Rhea."
"And yet Arundel not only knew how to find it, but how to access it," said Rhea. "Who else could have told him, if not you?"
"Could it not have have been Edelgard, Rhea?" asked Flayn.
"Edelgard was not present at the monastery for the majority of the past month," said Seteth. "Regardless, it is very unlikely that she would have been the one to discover the Holy Tomb beforehand, or she would have launched her assault sooner."
At that moment, Cia let out a snide "Hmph" and said, "So that's what this is about, 'Your Grace'." She spoke the Archbishop's title derisively.
"Cia?" asked Lana.
"You're not even bothering to look for the truth here, are you, 'Archbishop'? You just want someone to pin the blame on for all this, and you want Dorothea as your scapegoat."
"How dare you speak of Lady Rhea with such disrespect!" Catherine shouted.
"You wanna do something about it, blondie? Wouldn't be the first time the Church decided to pin something on good people."
Catherine brought her hand to the hilt of Thunderbrand as Cia assumed a casting stance.
"Enough!" Rhea shouted. "I will not have violence in these hallowed halls."
"Then you'd better drop whatever you're planning to do to Dorothea," said Brigitte. "Otherwise…" She cracked her knuckles and then said, "I might just end up getting this floor of yours all bloody."
"Briggie, no!" Dorothea protested.
"Brigitte, don't!" added Alicia. "We didn't come here to fight!"
"Hey, it's their call if they want it to come down to that," said Brigitte. "I'm just giving them a fair warning."
"Do you really think you could take me?" Catherine said confrontationally.
"How's about we find out?" Brigitte made a wide smirk as she said this.
"STOP IT!" Dorothea blurted out.
Everyone turned to the brunette to see she was on the verge of tears.
"Stop it… I can't take this… Seeing my friends about to fight each other like… like how Edie and Dimitri did… It's just… it's too much…!"
"Dorothea…" Byleth said with concern.
Sniffling, Dorothea said, "Lady Rhea, please, you have to believe me when I say I didn't know anything about what Edie was planning. If I'd had even the slightest hint of what she was up to, I…"
Suddenly, Dorothea found she couldn't find anything more to say. She realized she wasn't even sure what she would've done if she had known about Edelgard's plans.
"Would you have stopped her, Dorothea Arnault?" asked Rhea.
"I… I don't know… I'm just so confused…" Dorothea buried her face in her hands and sobbed, "Edie, how could you do something so horrible?"
Everyone around the diva began to show signs of sympathy for the girl.
"Rhea, please, she's had enough," said Byleth.
"Professor, I too wish to give her the benefit of the doubt," said Rhea. "But the fact remains that someone informed Volkhard on the Holy Tomb's whereabouts."
"You can't blame her for that."
"Then whom, Professor? Who would you–"
"No one, Rhea. It doesn't do us any good to speculate on it, or to cast blame on people."
Sighing, Rhea then said, "Very well. Professor, please escort Dorothea back to her quarters. I must–"
"Huh?" Alicia said suddenly.
"What is it, Alicia?" asked Cia.
"I could've sworn I just saw something over there."
Alicia pointed toward one of the windows at the top of the audience chamber. The others looked and saw nothing was there.
"There's… nothing there, Alicia," said Lana.
"What was it you think you saw?" asked Byleth.
Alicia answered, "It was… some kind of weird shimmer. Like something made of air. I don't know…"
"Wait, a weird shimmer?" asked Anna. "Did it look like something was bending the light?"
"Umm, kinda?"
"Anna, what's going on?" asked Dorothea.
Anna said nothing as she reached her hand out toward the window Alicia had pointed out. She took a deep breath, and then said, "Lumis…"
A bright magical light surged from Anna's hand and shone upon the window. As it did, the group suddenly saw the light begin to bend to a strange, rippled outline.
The ripple suddenly moved.
"There!" Anna shouted.
Before anyone could attempt to chase the strange ripple, time came grinding to a halt.
Byleth knew using the Divine Pulse in such a situation had gotten her in trouble before when she had used it to attack Kronya. But if this could clear Dorothea's name, she had to take a chance.
The light in Anna's hand receded as the ripple moved back into place. Byleth stopped around one second before Anna would cast her spell, and time resumed its flow.
"Lumis…" Anna said as she recreated the light.
Before Anna could even illuminate the strange ripple, Byleth saw it quickly now that she knew it was there. She quickly channeled her Mana and, just as the ripple was about to move, launched a Thunder spell just as Anna said "There!", catching everyone by surprise.
The electricity hit the ripple, which released a loud cry of agony.
The ripple dispersed as a woman in black robes appeared and tumbled into the audience chamber with a loud thud.
As everyone else recoiled in surprise, Byleth drew the Sword of the Creator and leveled its tip to the robed woman's throat before she could recover. She looked back at her in shock. Her face was hidden by a black cloth.
"Oh, my goodness!" exclaimed Flayn.
The spy immediately attempted to scramble away from Byleth on her hands and feet, but Byleth stomped down hard on her left leg. The woman let out another scream of pain as Byleth broke her ankle.
As the woman continued gasping in pain, Byleth said, "Here's your spy, Rhea!"
"How did you know, Miss Anna?" asked Lana.
"I've seen that trick once before," said Anna. "Really hard bit of illusion magic to pull off. Makes you more-or-less invisible to the casual eye."
"And you noticed it, Alicia?" Brigitte said in an impressed tone.
"My eyesight's always been really good," said Alicia.
Byleth pressed her blade against the spy's throat and said, "Who are you? Do you work for Volkhard von Arundel? Answer me!"
The spy said nothing as she glared at Byleth, but her silence was enough to tell the story.
"So, that's what Arundel meant in the tunnels," Yuri mused to himself.
"What do you mean?" asked Seteth.
"I heard him say 'thanks to the girl'. I thought he was talking about Dorothea. But he must've been referring to her. You were just a diversion."
"A diversion?" Dorothea asked in confusion.
"Rhea's had her people watching you all this time. Heh, very clever, Volkhard von Arundel."
"Is this true?" Byleth demanded of the spy.
Again, the spy was silent, but the look in her eye was enough for Byleth to know it was the truth.
"Catherine, take this stranger to the dungeons," Rhea commanded. "Question her thoroughly."
"Yes, Lady Rhea," Catherine said as she stepped toward the spy.
Then, the spy scowled and said with venom, "My life for the endless dark!"
Too late, Byleth saw the woman squeeze something in her left hand. The device she activated began making a series of strange beeps that steadily increased in pitch.
Byleth had just enough time to tap into the Divine Pulse again as the device exploded, freezing time just before the spy's explosive would have engulfed her.
Using the Divine Pulse so rapidly in quick succession wasn't something Byleth could do easily. It taxed her energy a great deal, and she knew she wouldn't be able to wind back far. Two, maybe three seconds at most. It would have to be enough.
The beeping from the spy's device lowered in pitch as time wound backward.
The woman was in the middle of squeezing the device when Byleth restored time's flow.
At the sound of the beeping, Byleth shouted, "GET BACK!"
Byleth and the others moved away from the spy as she let out a loud laugh. Then, three seconds after she activated the device, she was consumed in a powerful explosion of energy.
Outside on the monastery grounds, bystanders looked up in shock as an explosion ripped out from the audience chamber's wall, sending pieces of stone flying to the ground.
Inside the audience chamber, Dorothea coughed loudly as the dust from the blast filled the air.
"Is everyone alright?" called out Byleth as she too coughed on the dust.
"I… think so," said Anna.
Byleth looked back to where the spy had been. Her body had been essentially disintegrated, with only a few black tatters of her garb left behind. A large hole had been blown in the wall of the audience chamber.
As the dust cleared, Rhea turned to Dorothea and said, "Miss Arnault, I… Words cannot express how sorry I am to have suspected you."
Dorothea looked at the Archbishop to see her expression was one of genuine remorse.
Rhea then turned to Seteth and said, "Seteth, have the guards scour the monastery. Inform them to watch for any others who may be using such illusory magic."
As Seteth went to carry out Rhea's order, Dorothea continued to watch Rhea, still unable to forgive her for her transgressions.
…
Edelgard stood atop a balcony in front of a large crowd of officers and soldiers. Dressed in the armor of the Flame Emperor, she held Aymr in her hand as her subjects waited for her speech.
She knew it was going to be ostentatious, but she needed to motivate them for the battle to come.
"The leaders of the church have misused its creed to fulfill their true desire–to rule the world. They have fooled the people of Fódlan. Long ago, they divided the Empire to create a Kingdom, and then… divided that Kingdom to create an Alliance. They did all of this to make the masses bicker amongst themselves. They caused instability in order to reinforce their own authority. They gathered gold and lived in extravagance. How? By preying on the devotion of those who wished for the goddess's salvation. Those corrupt hypocrites cannot lead Fódlan to true peace. Their foul belief system must be torn asunder so that true wisdom may finally prevail! And so, I have decided—by order of the Adrestian Emperor, Edelgard von Hresvelg—the Empire hereby declares war on the Church of Seiros!"
The decree was met by the loud cheers of the soldiers present. The whole city of Enbarr could hear the voices of the soldiers as they embraced their new emperor's order. Cries of "Down with the Church!" and "For the Empire!" rang out from the crowd.
Behind Edelgard, Hubert smiled and said, "I think we're ready to go to war, Your Majesty."
"Indeed, we are."
"Magnificent," said Arundel as he stepped forward and gave a slow clap to Edelgard.
"Uncle, your forces are prepared, I presume?"
"Indeed, they are. However, I must ask: Were you planning on taking the monastery without the aid of my troops?"
"I swore that I would purge Fódlan of the power of Crests. I won't accomplish that by wielding that corrupt power against the Church."
"Is that what you believe? You didn't hesitate to use such power against the prince of Faerghus."
Edelgard glared at Arundel for calling out her hypocrisy.
"You will never succeed in conquering Garreg Mach without my aid, Your Majesty. Knowing this, I will have my army on standby near the monastery. Simply give the word, and we shall crush the Knights of Seiros."
Arundel then turned and left, with Edelgard cursing him under her breath.
If it weren't for the cruelty of Thales and his ilk, Edelgard knew she would never have cut this path.
But cut it she had, and now she had to see it through to the bitter end.
Was the reveal of Arundel's real spy too sudden? I had a different idea in the past on how Arundel would've learned of the Holy Tomb's location, but it became too hard to get working, so I settled for this. Regardless, this should clear Dorothea of suspicion.
I know there's no consistent invisibility spells in Fire Emblem, but having played Elder Scrolls games, I can tell you those spells are handy without being OP. They're time-consuming to learn, they won't work if an enemy is already aware of your presence, and they don't help much if your Sneak skill is bad.
Anyhow, the next chapter is going to be TOUGH because it'll be a philosophical debate. I hope I don't get writer's block on it.
And yeah, I decided Brigitte's and Alicia's last names will be Stark and Melchiott, respectively. SEGA won't sue me for it, will they?
However, I don't have a good last name for Lana and Cia (remember, they're twins, so they share it). Any ideas? Try not to go for something too obvious in relation to their source material.