The Soul of a Goddess

by Luna the Zekrom

"Sothis could not remember who she was or what she had been doing, but she knew deep in her heart that this was important. Sensing that her powers had been restored by her long slumber, she created a mind for the new goddess. Carefully, she placed it within the body, and for the first time, the woman awakened." A retelling of Verdant Wind focused on Byleth's divinity

Sothis had always found immortality to be a strange concept.

In a way, all things were immortal. The whole world was made of stardust, and although the form of that dust might change over time, none of it was ever truly lost.

Sothis's children had never seemed to fully understand that. They were all focused on the shape of their lives: the breaths they took, the words they spoke, the smiles they shared, and the warmth they gave to others.

To them, those things were life, and anything different was death.

Perhaps they were incapable of seeing the world the way she saw it. After all, she was the progenitor god and they were not. Sothis could remember a time when she'd had no kin. She had once been the sole divine being in the world, until she had brought all the others into it through her own flesh and blood.

Her children, through no fault of their own, could never fathom such a thing.

Perhaps just as important was the fact that they had been born among humans, whose bodies were affected drastically by the flow of time. Their empathy for those humans would always color the world differently for them. They saw life the way humans saw life, even though their own was fundamentally different.

Unlike humans, divine beings could not truly die.

Even as Nemesis slayed her body, and hacked it to pieces, Sothis lived on. Her pulse did not cease and her bones did not decay. She could not breathe, could not speak, could not smile, and could not embrace her children, but still she was alive.

Her children didn't understand.

They mourned for her. The youngest, Rhea, mourned most of all.

Sothis had lost much of her strength along with her body, but she could still watch over Fódlan. She watched as her blood was used to give divine power to the man who had destroyed her, and as her bones and heart were forged into a weapon only he could use. She watched as Nemesis wielded that weapon against her children and destroyed them too. She watched as he gifted their bones and their hearts and their blood to his followers.

Rhea was the only one who survived the massacre. She gathered the few of her brethren that remained—the descendants of her siblings who had married humans—and waged war against Nemesis and his followers. Together, they took back the remains of their kin and laid them to rest in a place they called the Holy Tomb.

Having avenged those who had been killed, they did their best to move on.

But Rhea could not accept that her mother was no longer with her. After many long years battling her grief, she tried to resurrect Sothis. She tried and failed over and over again, not realizing that there was no way to resurrect what was still alive.

At last, Sothis was moved by pity for her youngest daughter.

She could not return to her corporeal form the way Rhea so badly wanted her to, but… she saw how her family and her world suffered without her being there to care for them. And so she decided to create a new goddess to take her place.

In Rhea's latest attempt to resurrect Sothis, she had created a woman to serve as a vessel. She had placed Sothis's stone heart within her chest. But the woman had her own life and her own spirit. Sothis would not take either of those things from her.

Instead, she harnessed the love the woman shared with her husband and created a new life within her. For a goddess who no longer had a body of her own, it was a nearly impossible task, but she managed it. Sothis hoped she could bless the child, made of both humanity and divinity, with her own power.

Yet as hard as she tried, she could not. The body she had created was perfect, but she could not give it a heart. A human heart was not strong enough to sustain a goddess.

The baby was stillborn.

Sothis feared she had made a terrible mistake in trying to create an entity that could contain all her power. In doing so, she had placed a terrible strain on the mother's body. She had failed to create a new life, and all she had done was accidentally destroy the one she had been trying to spare.

But then, just when she thought all hope was lost, something unexpected happened. The dying woman offered her own heart—Sothis's heart—to her newborn child. Rhea accepted this, placing the stone within the baby's chest. And so the vessel that Sothis had so painstakingly created was given the heart of a goddess.

Still, a goddess was more than just a body and a heart. She also needed a mind and a soul. But all of Sothis's power had already been spent on the body. As soon as her heart was moved into the baby's chest, she fell into a long sleep.

When she awoke, 20 years later, she found that the baby had grown into a young woman. Without a mind or a soul, the woman could not think or feel. But she lived and acted on her own, as if she were a puppet being moved by invisible strings.

Sothis could not remember who she was or what she had been doing, but she knew deep in her heart that this was important. Sensing that her powers had been restored by her long slumber, she created a mind for the new goddess. Carefully, she placed it within the body, and for the first time, the woman awakened.

Unexpectedly, she could see Sothis in her mind's eye. She spoke to Sothis, studied her with curious blue eyes, and was even able to share information she'd learned before gaining consciousness.

Her name, she told Sothis, was Byleth. But her father was the only one who called her that. To everyone else, she was the Ashen Demon.

Byleth said this in a matter-of-fact tone. Neither her voice nor her face changed even a little. If the moniker either bothered or pleased her, it did not show.

Sothis understood why. Even with a mind of her own, the young woman was still incapable of feeling anything because she still did not have a soul.

That was the most difficult part, and perhaps also the most important.

Even without a soul, Sothis sensed that she could begin transferring her powers to the new goddess. But in this state, Byleth would never have the benevolence true divinity required. She would be forever empty inside—devoid of any emotions, dreams, or desires. And a goddess without any interest in answering the prayers of her people would not be any better than no goddess at all.

Sothis knew a great many things about the world that mortals never could, but what exactly constituted a soul was not one of them.

She pondered this mystery from her position in the back of Byleth's mind as the young woman carried on with her day. She could sense that Byleth was confused by her new awareness, but she handled it well enough. She simply followed her father's lead and didn't ask any particularly strange questions.

Slowly, she began to piece things together on her own.

Perhaps that was the key. The best way to create a soul for Byleth might be to give her fragments of one and let her put them together in her own unique way. Every living thing had its own desires, hopes, fears, and personality. If Sothis took just a little bit from everyone Byleth encountered (a piece so small that it wouldn't be missed), and mixed them all together, perhaps she could make Byleth complete.

She had no way of knowing whether something like that would work. But it was the only idea she had. And so, as Byleth and her father crossed paths with a trio of young nobles dressed in red and blue and gold, Sothis began her new task.

From the princess in red, she took a shard of unbending willpower. From the prince in blue, she took a drop of overflowing compassion. And from the duke in gold, she took a spark of insatiable curiosity.

From Byleth's father, she took a seed of patience. And from the knight she sensed was on his way to retrieve the children, she took a breath of humor.

Byleth would not understand all of these things immediately. She was too busy learning about the world around her while trying to pretend it wasn't totally new to her. Still, she tucked them into her heart, and deep within it, a flame flickered to life.

It was tiny, but Sothis recognized it for what it was—the beginning of a soul. She cupped her hands around the precious flame, as if the wind might otherwise extinguish it.

And it seemed she had been right to fear its fragility—Byleth's newfound autonomy led to disaster almost instantly. The three nobles were being chased by a group of bandits, and she took it upon herself to defend them while her father dispatched the thieves. When Byleth saw the leader of the bandits lunge at the princess, she acted impulsively. With a surge of desperation inspired by her fledging combination of willpower and compassion, she threw herself in front of the attack. She was mere moments away from meeting the same fate as the first goddess when Sothis brought time to a sudden halt.

She scolded Byleth, who at least had the grace to look ashamed. And then she gave the new goddess a piece of her own soul—a fragment of divine understanding. With it, Byleth would be able to freeze and reverse time, effectively changing fate.

With that, Sothis spun back the clock, allowing Byleth to predict the bandit's attack and successfully intercept it—this time without taking a fatal blow.

By the end of the battle, the three lords were enamored with Byleth.

Could they somehow sense her divinity, Sothis wondered, without realizing what it was that drew them to her? All of them were eager for the goddess's validation. They urged her to choose one of their countries to support.

Having learned that acting on willpower and compassion alone could be reckless, Byleth instead leaned into her curiosity. She chose the young duke with the golden cape, brilliant eyes, and a smile full of lies. His name was Claude, or so he said, but even Sothis couldn't tell if that was really the truth.

Together, the newly-formed group traveled to Garreg Mach Monastery, where Byleth met a woman with long green hair. Sothis found her strangely familiar, although she couldn't remember why.

The woman's name was Rhea, and from her soul Sothis took a barb of cunning.

Rhea made Byleth a professor, wanting to share her gift for battle with the students at the Officer's Academy. She offered Byleth her choice of the school's three houses, and the young goddess picked Claude's. The young duke intrigued her. Every word from his mouth seemed to stoke the invisible fire inside her. She wanted to understand him, and understand the tiny beginnings of feelings that he stirred in her heart.

She wasn't quite as enraptured by the other students in the Golden Deer House—not at first—but Sothis was grateful for their differences. Their individual personalities shone like stars she could use to fill Byleth's empty sky.

From Leonie, she took a flicker of pride. From Lysithea, she gifted Byleth with an ember of passion. From Raphael, she gave joy, and from Ignatz, creativity. Where Lorenz was the embodiment of duty, Hilda was an endless fountain of charm. And last but not least, Marianne was a perfect model of thoughtfulness.

Slowly, Byleth accepted these gifts, and started to develop her own personality. Along with curiosity, protectiveness towards her students became the main driving force in her life. Sothis had not directly given that to her; she could only assume Byleth had created it by combining her soul gifts in a new way.

She hoped that meant her plan was working.

The more time she spent watching over Byleth, the more proud of her she became. Although the young goddess didn't act even remotely normal (she frequently fixed people with an unblinking stare, spoke her mind with no regard for social norms, and only ever seemed excited about fishing), she was a very capable teacher. The students had begun to flourish under her command. They quickly grew fond of her, quirks and all.

Claude in particular was intrigued by Byleth—just as intrigued as she was by him. And both were aware of each other's curiosity. They kept all their secrets close to the chest, knowing that to share any would be to admit some kind of defeat.

It was a strange game they were playing, but neither of them found it unpleasant. In fact, they both enjoyed the time they spent together, picking up the tiniest clues from each other's words and fitting them together into understanding.

Claude was a clever young man. He had a number of useful talents, both on and off the battlefield, and liked to pick up new ones wherever he could. And unlike Byleth, he was smart with people, too. He always seemed to know what someone was thinking—and just how to win them over. He always had a smile or a wink or a joke to share. Still, Byleth thought that beneath his calculated charm, there was something sincere.

Sothis tried not to interfere too much with Byleth's life, knowing that she needed to give her room to grow. But as she experienced the world through Byleth's eyes, it was difficult to distance herself too much. She found herself speaking to Byleth in moments of silence—sometimes simply commenting on recent events, sometimes offering advice, sometimes even teasing. At first, Byleth would simply hum in acknowledgement, but as time went on, she began to respond to Sothis's voice in her mind.

The bond they formed was unlike any other. Then again, the very nature of Sothis's existence was unique as well—she had no body, and existed solely in the mind of another. But Sothis found herself beginning to cherish her new life. She enjoyed watching Byleth explore the Monastery on her days off, helping her figure out who any lost items they found belonged to, and feeling the gentle breeze by the pond when Byleth went fishing.

But this peaceful existence they had stumbled upon did not last long. Each month, the Golden Deer were sent on increasingly dangerous missions. And eventually, one of those missions ended with Byleth facing off against a mysterious foe called the Death Knight and finding a sword that was made of bone.

Sothis was not sure why she was so convinced that was what the sword was made of. She did not share her theory with Byleth, not wanting to unnerve her. But she felt as if she knew this weapon. And when Byleth first took it into her hand, Sothis found herself suppressing a shudder. It felt as if the sword were somehow a part of her, but at the same time, its warm weight seemed so incredibly wrong.

According to Rhea, it was the Sword of the Creator, a divine weapon. And Byleth was the only one with the power to wield it. Sothis wondered then if Rhea, despite Byleth's strange exterior, saw the goddess for what she truly was.

After that, there was a shift in the way the two of them interacted. Rhea began to teach Byleth everything she knew. And in return, the young goddess began to consider Rhea something like a mentor. Mentor wasn't quite the right word for it, but she couldn't think of a better one. Even now, after several months living among humans, Byleth did not understand their relationships. All she knew was that she liked Rhea, despite her sometimes harsh intensity, and that Rhea seemed to like her too.

The rest of the bonds Byleth had formed at the Monastery began to change as well. The students from all the Houses had always held her in high esteem, but it seemed they had become even more impressed by her now. Edelgard especially regarded Byleth with something like awe—some strange blend of wariness and longing. As a house leader, she could not leave the Black Eagles, but some of the students who did have the power to change classes began transferring to Byleth's.

Sothis took a piece of soul from each of the new students who joined. From Caspar, it was justice; from Linhardt, honesty; and from Petra, courage. Ferdinand's defining characteristic, unexpectedly, turned out to be sensitivity. She had a harder time choosing which gifts to take from Dorothea, whose main motivation was her desperate longing for love, and Bernadetta, who was afraid of almost everything. Those things were major parts of the girls' identities, but they would likely do Byleth more harm than good. Sothis needed to dig deeper to discover their better traits. Eventually, she decided on playfulness from Dorothea and fortitude from Bernie. And from Hubert, the only one of the Black Eagles who refused to leave Edelgard's side, she gave Byleth loyalty.

As a whole, the Blue Lions' gifts were even more difficult to determine. Almost all of them shared a sense of duty as knights. But eventually, Sothis found what made them individuals: Ingrid's unrivaled sense of honor, Ashe's clever resourcefulness, Felix's fierce righteousness, Sylvain's sharp insight, Annette's determined effort, Mercedes's pure selflessness. And last but not least, the complete, wholehearted trust that made Dedue continue to follow Dimitri even as all the rest of their classmates left to join the Golden Deer House.

Dedue and Hubert were the two students who intrigued Sothis the most. There was something strangely admirable, she thought, about being offered the choice between a goddess and a human and still choosing the human.

Well, no one knew Byleth was a goddess. But her having the Sword of the Creator changed things. Even the original Golden Deer seemed to look at her differently now.

Claude was entranced by the sword. Suddenly, it seemed to be the only thing he cared about. Sothis did not know if Byleth saw the way greed flickered across his face whenever he watched her wield it, but she did. She did not trust him one bit.

He craved the weapon's divine power for himself. He wanted to use it for his own gain. And if Byleth was the only one who could wield it, then he would just as happily use her too.

If he'd had any idea what Byleth truly was, Sothis thought, he wouldn't dare to even dream of manipulating her. She was no ordinary human, but a goddess. A mortal like him should consider himself lucky to be so often graced with her presence. He should not dare presume to have any kind of power over her.

Sothis wished she was at full strength so that she could smite him on the spot.

But Byleth, inexplicably, still liked him. She would frequently invite him to tea, and stare openly at his face while he tried to make witty conversation. What pleased her so much about it, Sothis could not understand.

After the incident with the Sword of the Creator, more dangerous things began to happen at the Monastery. One of the children who lived there, Flayn, went missing, and Byleth took it upon herself to find and rescue her. In the process, she and her students clashed again with the Death Knight. After a harrowing battle, they emerged victorious, and it was then that Sothis saw Byleth smile for the first time.

It was the first sign of emotion she had ever shown on her face. Sothis, having begun to wonder if Byleth might always be different, was so relieved that she almost cried. Her plan was working. Little by little, she was kindling a soul within Byleth.

The girl she had saved, Flayn, convinced her brother to let her join the Golden Deer House. From her soul, Sothis gave Byleth innocence.

After that first smile, emotions seemed to come more easily to her. She started expressing her feelings more, and being able to empathize with others. As she did, she became closer with the students—sharing any new snacks she discovered with Raphael and Ingrid, sparring with Leonie and Felix, finding books on Crestology for Linhardt, spending extra time with Lysithea after class to help her practice dark magic—and began warming up to those affiliated with the Knights of Seiros as well.

At the end of the next month, all of the students fought in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. At the end of a fierce struggle, the Golden Deer were declared the winners. The school held a grand feast afterwards, where the divisions the mock battle had carved between the three houses seemed to fade away.

The students encouraged Byleth to join their celebrations. Though she wasn't quite as lively as the others, she was happy to have helped her students win, and even happier to finally be able to share in their delight.

Throughout the celebration, Sothis was aware that Claude was watching Byleth. Ever since he had seen her smile, his view towards the young goddess had been changing. Now he seemed fascinated not just by the Sword of the Creator, but by its owner as well. Sothis could not read his intentions, as he didn't seem to fully understand them himself, but the way his eyes lingered on Byleth made her worry about her little goddess.

Especially since, sharing a headspace with Byleth, she had no doubt that his interest was reciprocated.

As the Ethereal Moon approached, and with it tales of romance at the Goddess Tower, Byleth began thinking of him even more than usual. The daydreams Sothis witnessed in her head quickly grew wearisome. Like Claude, Byleth did not seem to fully understand what she wanted, but she wanted something nevertheless. Sothis was never sure whether to scold her or feel sorry for her. She could not say she had ever experienced such an odd combination of feelings before.

At the ball, the troublesome boy was the first one to approach Byleth for a dance. He winked as he reached for her hand, and she let him take it.

It was the first time Byleth had ever been aware of someone touching her outside of combat. Sothis felt her marvel at the sensation of his hand holding hers. She was entranced, the same way Claude was entranced by the Sword of the Creator.

For the first time, Sothis wondered if the spark of curiosity she had given Byleth was leading her astray. She and Claude had become alike in a way Sothis had never anticipated when she'd first given her a piece of his soul. Their shared curiosity drew them to one another, again and again. And although the idea of a mortal controlling a goddess was laughable, he could still have power over her if she gave it to him willingly.

After a while, the song that they were dancing to ended, and they parted from one another. Both of them accepted other people's invitations to dance. But throughout the night, Byleth's mind kept wandering back to Claude. Eventually, as Sothis knew she would, she slipped away from the ball, heading for the Goddess Tower.

The Alliance heir was already there. His eyes lit up as he caught sight of Byleth, as if he'd been hoping she would come. Sothis thought it was almost sweet, but she was unsurprised when instead of making a romantic wish, he spoke of his ambitions.

Byleth's heart warmed as he told her he wanted to share those ambitions with her. But Sothis wasn't impressed. Of course he wanted her to feel the same way he did. He wanted her to go along willingly with all of his plans. He wanted to wield her as his weapon the way she wielded the Sword of the Creator as hers.

It had nothing to do with the romance that Byleth craved.

But she didn't have the heart to tell Byleth that. Instead, she simply watched without commentary as the young goddess shared another dance with Claude and then retreated to her room for the night, pondering the new feeling of warmth in her chest.

Less than a week after the ball, the students faced their most dangerous mission yet, quelling a horde of demonic beasts. In the aftermath, Byleth's father was killed. Even her divine pulse was not enough to save him.

As the realization sank in, Byleth's eyes welled with tears. They spilled over the edge and fell down on her father's face. As he lay dying in her arms, he marveled at the sight. For twenty years, he had raised and cared for a daughter who had been unable to care back. To see her moved to tears for his sake felt like a precious gift.

Byleth continued to cry long after the life had left his body.

Sothis curled herself protectively around the flame of Byleth's soul, praying that the storm of grief would not extinguish it.

When her tears were spent, her soul thankfully still intact, Byleth withdrew to her father's office. She searched it until she found Jeralt's diary, and began to read it. After all this time, curiosity was still the most influential piece of her soul, and she used it now in an attempt to burn away her grief. She buried herself in her father's writing, learning all she could about his past and her own.

It wasn't long before Claude came looking for her. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the diary. Curiosity ignited, he begged her to let him read it. He promised that he knew exactly how much he was asking of her.

It was this display of consideration—of understanding—that convinced her. She gave him the diary willingly. And as he took it carefully from her hands, Sothis felt a sense of trust pass between them for the first time.

Claude swore his allegiance to Byleth. When they found those responsible for her father's death, he told her, he would fight alongside her. For once, he intended to let her use him, the way he wanted to use her. For once, he had found someone whose goals he considered to be just as important as his own.

Sothis watched as he pored over Jeralt's diary, learning all he could about Byleth and the secrets of the church. He read the story of a lifetime much longer than humanly possible. He read the story of how Rhea had done something suspicious to Byleth at her birth, something that had left her unable to laugh or cry.

Something that had left her without a heartbeat.

He paused then, remembering how he'd once suspected that Byleth wasn't actually human. Here was the proof that he'd been right. It was impossible for a human to live without a beating heart, which meant Byleth had to be something else. Something that, according to Jeralt's observations, most people found terrifying.

But he couldn't bring himself to think of her as a monster. No matter how unsettling Jeralt's initial description of her was, he was certain it no longer matched the Byleth he knew. She might have once lacked the ability to laugh or cry, but Claude had seen her do both of those things with his own two eyes.

To him, she was human—human enough, anyway.

And so, when she asked him for his thoughts on her father's diary, the only thing Claude said was that it was clear that Jeralt had cherished her.

She tilted her head a little when she heard him say that, studying him like a puzzle she couldn't quite solve. But she didn't say anything else on the subject, and neither did he. It wasn't until later that he thought to wonder what had so confused her—the many things he hadn't said or the one thing he had.

For the longest time, she had never shown any kind of emotion on her face. Was it possible, he wondered, that she had simply never understood them? That she still didn't understand what it meant for one person to cherish another?

Claude felt his heart twist with pity. His life had never been easy, but through all the things he had endured, he'd always known his parents loved him.

He wanted to talk to Byleth about it more, but he never got the chance. Soon after they spoke to one another about the diary, the culprits responsible for Jeralt's death were found. The Golden Deer united to support Byleth in her quest for vengeance.

They ended up charging straight into the enemy's trap.

Byleth was lured away from her students by the sight of her father's killer and then suddenly consumed by darkness, leaving her students behind in a state of frightened shock. Their teacher had vanished, and they had no idea what to do without her.

Byleth needed to return to them—that much was clear to both her and Sothis. But there was only one way Sothis knew to escape the darkness.

She poured every ounce of her divine power into Byleth's body. In doing so, she gave up the form that Byleth's mind had shaped for her. Once again, she was reduced to a state that all others would consider death. She would never again see the world through Byleth's eyes, never again speak to her beloved creation.

Even worse was the fact that Byleth's soul was still not complete. She had always been inhumanly powerful—something greater than any being other than Sothis, but even if she possessed all of Sothis's magic, she would not be able to use it to its full extent. And having sacrificed her own form, Sothis would not be able to add anything else to Byleth's soul. She would have to hope that what she had already done was enough. That Byleth could shape the rest of her soul with her own two hands.

Byleth used her newfound power to cut a hole in the fabric of the universe and step through it to stand beside her students once again. The Golden Deer all watched in awe. For the first time, they were seeing a glimpse of what she truly was.

And yet, after defeating their enemies, Byleth collapsed.

Even for a divine being, the darkness of Zahras was draining. It was nothing she wouldn't recover from, but she couldn't brush it off like Sothis might have once been able to. It was a frightening reminder that her incompleteness had consequences. Sothis could not help fearing she would always be fragile.

Claude dropped to a crouch at Byleth's side, feeling unusually indecisive. At last, he understood what his mysterious teacher really was. And now, he was starting to realize exactly what that meant. Byleth was not simply a powerful woman, but something holy.

Her hair had been stained green with power. In the places where his shadow fell across her body, he could see a faint glow emanating from her.

She did not look human anymore.

He'd been right to think that she was something other than human, but he'd been looking at it the wrong way. She was not something less than human, but something more.

Claude had never been a religious man, but the moment he had seen Byleth return from the void, he'd felt something that could only be faith. He realized that he believed in her, more than he had ever believed in anyone else.

And now, he did not think there was anything that Byleth couldn't do.

Before he had met her, he had never guessed someone like her could really exist. She was impossibly strong, impossibly smart, impossibly kind. And until she'd lent him Jeralt's diary, he hadn't been able to learn anything about her past; it had always seemed like she had simply appeared into the world the day he'd met her.

It seemed ridiculous now, but at the time, he hadn't been able to help thinking of her as a gift from the gods, a miracle made just for him.

But now he knew she was much more than that. She was not a gift from any god, but a goddess in her own right. She had not been made for him. She was her own person, and she made her own choices, and the only real miracle was that she had chosen him.

He reached out as if to touch her, and then stopped several inches away. Sothis knew what he was thinking. Was it really okay for him to touch a sleeping goddess? Even if he only meant to help, it felt wrong. It was as if he was physically unable to do so.

Eventually, he decided to ask Hilda for help.

The pink-haired girl grumbled about it, but obligingly bent to lift Byleth up off the ground. As she did so, the spell on Claude seemed to break, and he hurried to help.

Together, they carried her back to the Monastery, where they handed her over to Rhea. The archbishop had a gleam of something like triumph in her eyes. That, along with what he had read about her in Jeralt's diary, made Claude suspicious, but he couldn't come up with any excuse to withhold Byleth from her. He left the sleeping goddess with the archbishop, and along with her, a piece of his heart.

To Sothis's relief, Rhea did not do anything to harm Byleth. She simply held her in her arms, waiting for her to wake. As she did, she sang a strange lullaby that stirred some ancient feeling in the goddess's stone heart.

Still, Claude spent much of the next month worrying about Byleth, never straying far from her side. He told her it was because he wanted to make sure she wouldn't collapse again, but Sothis could tell he'd been consumed by a storm of guilt. He'd given Byleth to Rhea, even knowing that she'd done something suspicious to her as a baby. Rhea could have done anything else to her while she'd been unconscious. And if she had, neither one of them might ever know, because he'd left her.

His anxiety only grew when Rhea gave the Golden Deer their mission for the month. They would go to the Holy Tomb, where Byleth was meant to receive some kind of divine revelation. Sothis did not know what exactly Rhea was planning, but both she and Claude knew the so-called revelation was a lie.

Byleth was already a goddess. She had no need for a revelation.

Claude was determined to stay close to Byleth's side so he could protect her. He warned her that the ritual might put her in some kind of danger. Her only response was a smile, which was clearly meant to be reassuring but didn't do much to help his nerves. He knew she was strong. He knew she could protect herself. But at the same time, he'd never been more afraid of anything in his life. There was no one else like Byleth. If anything happened to her, Claude knew that his dreams would be damaged forever.

So he couldn't help but feel relieved when the ritual was interrupted by an attack from their enemies. Byleth won the ensuing battle for them, as she won every battle she fought in. With her victory, she won even more of Claude's faith and his admiration.

After the attack on the Holy Tomb, the Flame Emperor—Edelgard—declared war on the Church of Seiros and anyone who stood with them. Claude did not know what his grandfather and the other Alliance leaders would choose to do when the news reached them. But he knew that Edelgard's troops were marching to Garreg Mach now—to where Byleth was. He could not let his teacher fight alone.

Even if the students were expected to flee the school before the next battle, Claude would not let anything stop him from fighting by her side.

Logically, he knew that all the odds were stacked against them. The empire's forces vastly outnumbered their own. Standing up against all of Edelgard's might would almost certainly be a suicidal course of action.

But he had seen Byleth cut through the very fabric of existence. In all the time he had known her, she had never once lost a battle. If she told him they could survive this, then he believed her. They would not die here.

Even so, he took the time to speak to her alone before the fighting began. His face was more serious—his expression more genuine—than ever before.

Over the months she had spent living in Byleth's head, Sothis thought she had become more familiar with Claude than she had ever been with any other human. She knew all his lofty goals, all his tricks and schemes.

And yet he still managed to surprise her now. As he looked at Byleth, his plans were as far from his mind as they'd ever been. In that moment, he didn't care about what she could do for him. He just cared about her, and having her by his side.

He told her that he considered her to be his ally and friend. He told her he believed their hearts were connected—even knowing she lacked a beating heart. He told her he would always be on her side, no matter who or what she was.

And then, all too soon, the Imperial Army was upon them.

At first, the battle seemed to go surprisingly well. Under Byleth's command, the small army of knights and students managed to hold off Edelgard's most elite warriors. The professor took Claude and Raphael with her; together they plunged through the center of the enemy forces, until Byleth crossed blades with the Flame Emperor herself.

She hoped they might be able to force Edelgard to retreat quickly, before she could receive reinforcements. But the emperor was as stubborn as ever, and held her ground. She endured the combined force of Byleth, Claude, and Raphael's attacks until another wave of soldiers arrived to support her. Only then did she fall back, leaving the church's forces no choice but to continue fighting.

As the battle raged on, the onslaught of enemies seemed endless. Byleth steeled herself, preparing to lay down her life to defend Garreg Mach. But just when all seemed hopeless, she felt the gentle weight of Rhea's hand on her shoulder.

She turned and saw the archbishop give her a reassuring smile. She told Byleth that she was entrusting the care of everyone at Garreg Mach to her. And then, as the young goddess ran to help her people, Rhea stood alone against thousands of soldiers and transformed into a mighty dragon.

Sothis could not describe the emotion that flickered to life in her heart as she watched the divine beast fly into battle. All she knew was that it was some ancient and powerful feeling. Something she had long forgotten.

For a moment, it seemed as if the dragon's appearance would single-handedly change the tide of the battle. Her breath lit a towering wall of flames across the battlefield, blocking the Imperial army's advance. The massive wave of reinforcements wavered, and then, amazingly, began to fall back. But then there was a vicious snarl, as three demonic beats charged into the fray and leapt at Rhea.

Byleth knew that the archbishop had intended for her to stay out of the rest of the fighting. But she could not stand by and watch as the demonic beasts tore at Rhea's wings with their teeth and claws. She ran towards the brawl as fast as her legs could carry her and unleashed the Sword of the Creator to its full length, a desperate cry tearing from her throat.

In that moment, the young goddess finally understood what Rhea meant to her. She was the closest thing to a mother that Byleth had ever known—the closest thing to family she had left. She would not allow anyone or anything to take that from her.

Her strike hit one of the beasts right between the eyes. With Byleth's help, Rhea managed to shake off the other two demonic beasts. But there were still more enemies coming. Among them was a wicked mage, so twisted by dark magic that he seemed to be more demon than human.

Byleth had only a moment to stare before a spell she had never seen before was aimed her way. Faster than she thought possible, it struck her in the chest. She was sent flying backwards by the force of it.

She struggled to regain her footing, only to realize the ground beneath her was crumbling away. She was falling. As she plunged into the jaws of the canyon that had suddenly opened beneath her, she thought she was screaming, too, but she couldn't hear her own voice over the sound of Rhea's desperate roar.

Sothis herself would have screamed, if she had been able. She felt her link to the goddess's mind shatter as Byleth hit the sharp stones below with deadly force.

She reached into Byleth's heart—her own heart—searching frantically for some hint that everything hadn't just ended in disaster. To her relief, she felt the familiar flicker of warmth she had spent so long protecting.

Byleth's soul was still intact, even if her body had been terribly damaged.

Sothis tried as hard as she could to mend the body, but she found that she didn't have the strength. She had given it all to Byleth, who was in no state to wake herself now.

Eventually, she was forced to accept that there was nothing she could do to help her beloved creation. For the first time, the great goddess Sothis understood what it was like to be completely powerless. The only thing she could do now was watch, as Byleth lay unmoving at the bottom of the chasm.

Steeling herself, Sothis gathered the tiny fragments of power she had left and sent her consciousness up to the world above. She could not just stay here and grieve. She needed to find out what was happening in Byleth's absence.

It seemed the battle had ended soon after she had fallen. Now, all of the students had regrouped with the Knights of Seiros at a safe distance from the Monastery. But no matter how long they waited for her, Byleth did not meet them there.

Her students spoke to each other in nervously hushed voices, asking if anyone had seen what had happened to her. But no one had.

All Claude knew was that there had suddenly been a dragon—and that it, Byleth and Rhea had all disappeared in the chaos of the battle. But he and all of the other students had survived, as Byleth had promised him they would. They had not quite won, but they had somehow managed to repel Edelgard's army.

They had done what Claude had believed to be impossible.

The others were terrified that they had lost Byleth forever. But Claude's heart was filled with a strangely calm certainty. Byleth was his miracle, his goddess. Not even death had the power to take her away from him.

Sothis had spent many months giving Byleth tiny pieces of other people's souls. Slowly, Byleth had accepted those pieces, and begun assembling them into something greater. Every day, she had improved, getting ever-so-slightly closer to the true divinity that Sothis had intended for her. But Sothis had expected many years, perhaps even decades, to pass before Byleth finally became complete.

She had greatly underestimated the power of Claude's faith.

The young duke did not know what had happened to Byleth, or where she was. He spent several weeks looking for her before reluctantly returning to the Alliance empty-handed. But even then, he believed she would return with all of his heart. And even from that distance, his faith reached the sleeping Byleth.

Her soul burned brighter and brighter every day, until what had once been akin to a candle blazed like a bonfire. A little less than five years after her disappearance, the day before Byleth had promised she'd reunite with her students at the Millennium Festival, Sothis regained enough of her own power to wake her.

As soon as Byleth learned what day it was, she hurried to the ruins of the Monastery. The Goddess Tower was still mostly intact, so she climbed it. In her heart, she knew that her students would be there to meet her, no matter how long she'd been missing.

But at the top of the tower, the only person she found was a stranger. A man with a golden cape, brilliant eyes, and an unfamiliar smile. Then she blinked and suddenly he wasn't a stranger anymore. He was Claude. Older, and taller, but still the same Claude she'd come to know as well as she knew herself.

He told her that he'd never given up on her coming back.

In response, Byleth gave him a radiant smile.

It had been a long time since they'd seen one another, but Sothis sensed that their bond was as strong as ever. And although her body hadn't aged a day, Claude could feel that something about Byleth had changed. He invited her to fight off some bandits with him, wanting to find out exactly what had. He made it sound as though he was worried her skills might have rusted, but in reality, she seemed stronger to him now than ever. Being close to her made him feel stronger too.

It wasn't much longer before the rest of the students returned as well. They caught sight of Claude and Byleth fighting side by side and were filled with hope.

As they fought the bandits, Sothis noticed that Byleth's motions were infused with a new sense of grace. She swung the Sword of the Creator as though it were an extension of her body, allowing its momentum to guide the rest of her limbs.

Watching her fight was not unlike watching Rhea assume her dragon form. Byleth was overflowing with divine power. Sothis and the students alike could sense that this was a leader who could protect her people, a leader who could change the outcome of a battle—even a war—all on her own. Together, the Golden Deer took out foe after foe. By the end of the battle, they were all breathing heavily, but when Byleth turned to Claude with a smile, he could see that there wasn't a scratch on her.

As they crowded around her, Byleth's former students found themselves filled with a familiar sense of awe. Their professor had returned to them from the dead. Suddenly, anything seemed possible. So when Claude suggested they join together with the Church of Seiros and fight back against the Empire, they all agreed.

Byleth was the only one who really needed to be persuaded. She was much more concerned about finding Rhea than fighting Edelgard. But Claude talked her into it, telling her that all his plans were simply words without her. Her resistance melted then, the way it always did whenever someone needed her.

They started their offensive almost immediately, hoping to take their enemies by surprise. Even Claude could hardly believe how well it worked.

In a manner of months, they were able to turn the tide of the war and begin advancing towards Enbarr. They even managed to avoid taking many casualties along the way, thanks to Byleth's combination of ingenious tactics and sheer strength.

But even so, Claude sometimes worried that their good fortune wouldn't last. That one day he would somehow overestimate his army, and that everyone he cared about would suffer because of it. When those fears struck him, most often in the middle of the night, he would seek out Byleth's reassurance.

It seemed she was always awake when he needed her. At first, Claude assumed that she suffered from insomnia too, but as time went on he began to wonder if she simply knew somehow when he wanted to see her.

The nights they spent together, simply talking, were something Claude cherished. In the dark, being honest didn't seem quite as difficult somehow. And in the dark, it was clearer than ever that Byleth glowed, as if she were made of moonlight. Whenever he saw her shining like that, he was reminded that she was not human, and that she did not have a human's limits. She would lead them to victory, and she would protect them all.

And besides all that, being with her just made him feel happy, in a way he'd never felt before. He could be himself, and she would never judge him—sometimes she wouldn't even seem to notice the ways he was unusual. She looked at him as if his schemes were not something to be suspicious of, but something to admire. She looked at him as if he wasn't a strange outsider, but a trusted friend. She looked at him as if he mattered.

Claude found himself wishing that he could keep her by his side for the rest of his life. He started to wonder what it would be like to fall asleep and wake up in her arms.

He did his best to drive the idea from his mind. Although she sometimes seemed to tread the line between divinity and humanity, he knew she was a goddess. It was only natural that he would be drawn to her perfection. And he was not blind; he could see that many among their ranks also had feelings for her. He was not unique in that regard.

But the nature of her existence was so different from—so much greater than—any of their own. Byleth had never seemed to feel emotions the way humans did. He could not presume that her heart was capable of being won the way a human's was.

Claude told himself that he was lucky enough to have her fighting alongside him in this war, working to make his dream reality. He already asked so much of her. It would be selfish of him to ask for anything more.

He tried to direct his romantic feelings elsewhere. There were plenty of other good, strong women in the army, whose affections he once would have been delighted to win. But now, as much as he valued them as people, as friends—something he once would have given anything to have—their admiration could not erase his longing for Byleth's.

Claude had fallen for a goddess. There was no one else he could love even half as much.

Eventually, he gave up trying. He had to accept that his heart belonged to her, whether she wanted it or not. He had already devoted himself to her, and that devotion was forever.

Sothis was touched by how deep his feelings for Byleth went. She could hardly believe this was the same person she had once considered such a threat to the goddess. Now there was no one more loyal to her.

Unknown to Claude, Byleth did return his feelings. However, she had no way of understanding them. As powerful as the Golden Deer's faith had made her, her soul was not quite complete. It was almost whole, almost perfect, but there was a tiny piece missing. In all the time she had been conscious, Byleth had never received a verbal expression of love; physical expressions of it had been few and far between. She cared about others—cared deeply—but she did not know what love was.

Sothis watched closely as the end of the war drew nearer, hoping Claude would find the courage to act on his feelings. She knew, with a conviction she could not explain, that if he did, Byleth would finally be complete.

He—and he alone—could teach the new goddess how to love.

Eventually, the Alliance's attacks against the Empire were met with an army led by Edelgard herself. The ensuing battle took place at Gronder Field, where, five years ago, they had once fought the Battle of the Eagle and Lion.

This time, however, it was not friendly competition, but bloody chaos.

Led by an almost unrecognizable Dimitri, the ragged remains of the Kingdom army threw themselves into the fray as well. They fought with a single goal: to destroy Edelgard, no matter the cost. Dimitri and his soldiers ripped through the field with chaotic force, slashing at Imperial and Alliance forces indiscriminately.

Byleth did her best to defend her troops without attacking the Kingdom's, but it was much more difficult than fighting a straightforward battle. She used her divine pulse again and again, until she managed to pull her army through the slaughter with as few casualties as she knew she would ever manage to get.

At last, Edelgard had no other choice but to retreat. That alone made it a victory for the Alliance—all three armies had been decimated.

Dimitri had no chance of reaching Edelgard, but he chased after her anyway, as if possessed. That was the last Claude and Byleth ever saw of him. His face was twisted with an insane rage, but beneath that, all Sothis could sense was desperation.

The Mad King Dimitri died in despair, and with him the compassionate boy he'd once been. All that remained of him now was the small part of his soul that lived on within Byleth. Sothis watched as he took his final breath, wishing she could have done more for him. She hoped the small gift he had unknowingly shared with Byleth had somehow made his life—so short and yet so full of suffering—worthwhile.

The night after the battle, Lysithea approached Byleth and Claude and told them that she had seen familiar enemies among the Imperial Army at Gronder. She told them that the masked mages had experimented on her and the other children of House Ordelia. She had been the only survivor, and even now, she was slowly dying because of what they had done to her. Her hair had turned white, and her body was failing her.

One look at her face made it clear that Lysithea was not looking for pity. She was warning them about what these strange foes were capable of—the inhumane things they had been willing to do. Byleth and Claude did not take that warning lightly.

Having driven Edelgard's forces from Gronder Field, and now knowing to be even warier of her mysterious allies, they decided to move on to Fort Merceus while it was left relatively unguarded. Under Byleth's leadership and with Claude's idea to call upon the Almyran army for reinforcements, they were able to conquer it.

But within moments of their victory, strange weapons made of light fell upon the fortress. It was reduced entirely to flaming rubble—destroyed so thoroughly that it was as if the once Impregnable Fortress had never stood there at all. For a moment, Byleth merely stood and stared, Lysithea's warning echoing uselessly in her ears.

With the threat looming overhead, she and Claude were well aware that they didn't have much time left to win the war. The army led by the duke and the goddess quickly advanced to their final destination: Enbarr.

The battle that unfolded there was brutal. Edelgard did not give up until the very end, after all of her allies had been eliminated and she had been backed into a corner. Even then, she offered Byleth no other option but to strike her down.

It hurt Byleth to raise a blade against the first person she had ever saved. But she did not hesitate, did not falter. The willpower Sothis had taken from Edelgard had never before seemed like such a cruel gift.

As Edelgard fell, Byleth's face twisted in anguish. She shuddered, and it was like a great crack had torn through her once unbreakable will.

Sothis felt her pain. But she no longer feared that Byleth was fragile.

Byleth was a goddess. Five years ago, she had been killed in battle, and yet with the faith of a single human being, she had become strong enough to return. Right now, she was feeling as if she had been destroyed, but Sothis knew she would be all right in the end. She had Claude, and all the rest of her former students, there to support her.

Claude would never quite know what killing Edelgard had done to Byleth. But neither of them would have any time to mourn. They had defeated the Flame Emperor, only to discover there was a much worse enemy left to fight: Those Who Slither in the Dark, the group responsible for destroying Fort Merceus with their javelins of light. The group that had killed all of Lysithea's cousins and stolen her future.

They found Rhea in Edelgard's prison, weakened by her confinement but otherwise unharmed. Claude watched as Byleth ran to the archbishop's side.

She bowed her head and curled her hands around Rhea's arms, holding tightly to the woman she considered a mother. It was a clumsy embrace—something that couldn't even really be called a hug—but it was still the most human gesture Claude had ever seen Byleth make. For a moment, he could only stare as she struggled to convey a feeling that no one had ever taught her how to express.

He looked away, feeling as if he was intruding somehow. The strength of Byleth's feelings touched his heart, until he felt them almost as if they were his own. He wondered how he had ever doubted her ability to love.

Perhaps he never really had. Perhaps he had simply been afraid of rejection—so afraid that he would have done anything to convince himself not to risk it. If he was being honest with himself, he was still afraid. For so long, he had considered even friendship to be beyond his reach—and love, to him, seemed even more risky.

But his love was stronger than his fear.

Deep down, Claude knew that he had to tell her how he felt. He couldn't go on like this. He wanted to be with her. He wanted a love like the one his parents had—one that was built on openness and trust and everything he'd never thought he'd get to have.

After the war was over, he'd return to Almyra, leaving her as the sole ruler of the unified Fódlan. And if he didn't tell her before he left, he might never get another chance.

After they returned from Enbarr, he bought a ring with a green stone that reminded him of her eyes. He had no way of knowing whether she would accept it, but he loved her too much not to try offering it to her. Still, he vowed that he would not confess his feelings until the war was truly over. He would not dare promise her a future when he might die in the next battle. His faith in her was as strong as ever, but he knew that Those Who Slither in the Dark were particularly fearsome foes. They had weapons powerful enough to reduce a fortress to a wasteland for a thousand years.

Besides, Byleth had not been herself since the battle. After she had let go of Rhea, she had withdrawn from her emotions. She appeared calm on the outside, but Claude could see that it was a lie, and that worried him.

Part of it was grief for Edelgard, but another part was related to Rhea's decision to fight alongside them, even though it would most likely kill her. In Byleth's broken state, she felt a flash of hatred towards Rhea. What had she killed Edelgard for, if not to save the archbishop? And now Rhea would fight in this battle, and she would die.

It all felt so pointless now.

The night before the battle, Claude was filled with a kind of desperate fear. Neither Byleth nor Rhea was in a state to fight. And they would be up against the most dangerous enemy they had ever fought. They needed to be ready for whatever might happen.

He went to the Star Terrace. There, he found Byleth waiting for him, the way she always was when he needed her. She had her back to him, but turned to face him as he approached. Her expression was unreadable.

He felt a sudden longing to wrap his arms around her, to confess all of his fears, to beg her to be strong for him, if not for herself, because he needed her.

He did none of those things. Instead, he simply held out his hand to her.

After a moment, she took it, twining her fingers through his. Her hand felt warm, even through his gloves. She blinked slowly, and then her eyes no longer looked empty. Instead, they were simply calm, like the sea in the center of a hurricane.

In the depths of her gaze, Claude could see immense power; it was like looking back across centuries, all the way to the beginning of time.

Relief swept over him at the sight. Even at her lowest, she was still unbelievably strong—stronger than he'd ever be. They would be all right.

And in that moment, Byleth was reminded that she had not lost everything. She had killed Edelgard with her own two hands, and Rhea might still die tomorrow, but the archbishop was not the only thing she had been fighting for. She was fighting for Claude, too, and all of the amazing dreams he wanted to make reality.

She was fighting to protect those she cared about.

Neither of them spoke a single word that night. They simply stood together for a long time, in peaceful silence. When they finally parted, Claude returned to his room. He slept soundly despite the battle ahead, dreaming only of divine light.

The next day, they won the battle at Shambhala. All of the Golden Deer managed to survive. But once the leader of Those Who Slither in the Dark was defeated, he used his evil magic to summon down javelins of light.

Claude's eyes widened as he watched the weapons begin falling from the sky. Shambhala was going to collapse and crush them all, if they weren't burned alive first.

He whirled towards Byleth, hoping that there was something—anything—she could do. But Rhea was faster. She leapt up through the hole the first javelin had made in the ceiling, into the air. And suddenly, in her place, there was a great white dragon.

It flew to meet the javelins of light in midair, destroying them with its fiery breath. Claude stood there for a moment, dumbstruck, and then realized she was buying them time. He couldn't waste it by just staring.

He ordered the others to evacuate, then raked his gaze through the chaos, searching for Byleth. She'd been with Rhea, but Rhea had gone. Surely Byleth would take her chance to escape the collapsing city...

But no, the goddess had her eyes fixed on Rhea. Her hand clenched the Sword of the Creator so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

Inwardly, Byleth was desperate. She did not want to see Rhea die. But she could no longer resent that Rhea had accompanied them to Shambhala. Without her, they all would have met their ends in this fiery devastation.

High above them, Rhea screamed as her body absorbed the last explosion.

And then there was eerie silence.

Thick smoke swirled through the wreckage, but Claude could just barely make out Byleth's faint glow. She ran across the room and dropped to her knees. Claude, on his wyvern's back, swooped down to meet her.

She was cradling Rhea, now back in human form, in her arms, much the way she'd cradled Jeralt that day in the rain. But this time, she wasn't crying. When Claude approached, she looked up at him with wild eyes. Rhea was still alive, she told him. They needed to get her to a healer as quickly as possible so they could save her.

He didn't want to leave Byleth's side, but he knew what she wanted him to do. He took Rhea on his wyvern's back and flew her out of the rubble.

Byleth hurried after them on foot.

The healers did all they could. After a few days of painful uncertainty, it seemed Rhea would live. But for how much longer, no one knew.

And it seemed that even now, the war was not quite over.

From the ruins of Shambhala, a mysterious army had risen. Now, it was marching slowly but inexorably towards Garreg Mach. No one knew who the enemy really was, but they knew they had no other choice but to defend against it.

On the edge of death, the archbishop finally agreed to reveal her secrets to Byleth and Claude. She told them the origin of the Hero's Relics. She told them how the Fell King Nemesis had slain Sothis, taken her remains, and used them to make himself godlike. She told them how Sothis was her mother, and that she had spent many years trying to resurrect her. She told them how she had placed the heart of the goddess within Byleth.

And as she spoke, Sothis remembered.

And she knew, even before Rhea told them, that Nemesis and the Ten Elites were the ones who had risen up from the remains of Shambhala. They were the enemies still left to fight before Fódlan could finally find peace.

Rhea never said that she had once hoped to sacrifice Byleth so that Sothis could return in her place, but Byleth and Claude and Sothis all understood.

Byleth was heartbroken.

She had loved Rhea as a mother, but now she was forced to accept that Rhea had only cared for her believing her to be someone else. Yet even so, Rhea had saved all of their lives at Shambhala; Byleth could never truly hate her. So she found herself stuck with a feeling of emptiness that could not be filled by either love or hatred.

Deep down, she feared that there was no one left in this world who loved her. Jeralt... Sothis... Rhea... she had lost them all. Perhaps there would come a day when Rhea could love her for who she really was. But right now, the all-consuming hole in Rhea's heart left little room for anyone else, and Byleth felt as if she was all alone.

Distantly, she knew that the Golden Deer all cared about her. Only a month ago, Claude had reached out to comfort her. But did that really mean anything? If Rhea, the kindest person she had ever known, did not truly love her, then how could any of them?

Claude could not stand seeing her look so lost. He had vowed he would wait until after the war to tell her he loved her, but... He remembered the way he had approached her the night before Shambhala, and the way he had seen clarity return to her eyes. The way they'd spent so many nights together, just the two of them, and the way being with her always seemed to erase his fears. Perhaps it would make her stronger if she knew.

He had a feeling she wouldn't be at the Star Terrace tonight, close to where Rhea was sleeping. But where would she go instead?

He searched all over the Monastery, until at last he found her sitting on the dock by the fishing pond, absentmindedly dipping her toes in the water. The warm summer breeze was tousling her hair. For a moment, she seemed to be entirely at peace.

He walked along the dock to join her, the wooden planks creaking under his feet. Though she must have been aware of his presence, she did not acknowledge it.

He hesitated and then sat down next to her, just far enough away that they weren't quite touching. After a moment, she accepted the wordless offer of support, leaning her head on his shoulder. He tried not to shiver at the physical contact, but failed—after all, he could count the number of times he'd touched her before on one hand.

He studied her face, which was still blank and calm. He had a feeling that it wasn't betraying her true feelings, though, and he was proven right when she turned and buried her face in his shoulder. Her body began to shake with silent sobs.

Carefully, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He whispered soft reassurances, and then three words—his most precious secret—into her soft green hair.

She looked up at him, first with surprise and then something like wonder.

Very gently, she reached out her hand and touched the side of his face.

Byleth did not return Claude's declaration of love then, but the look he saw in her eyes was enough for him. The feeling of her breath on his cheek as she leaned in close to him, the softness of her lips against his—those things confirmed she felt the same.

He touched her cheek, and she took his hand in hers, removing his glove so she could press soft kisses to his palm and fingers. His hands were covered in callouses and small scars from years of handling weapons, but she didn't seem to mind. Her lips trailed gently over each of them, as if she wanted to memorize the pattern of his skin.

Both of them longed for more, but they knew that this was no time to be distracted by their feelings. They had a duty to see this war through, and after that, to rebuild Fódlan. There would be time for love later—hopefully an entire lifetime's worth of it.

Still, they couldn't bring themselves to part. They stayed awake, speaking softly to one other and gazing out across the water for much longer than they should have, both reluctant to head to bed if it meant leaving the other's side. Claude would have been happy to stay there all night, but after the stars and the crescent moon had drifted a considerable distance across the sky, Byleth took him by the hand and led him away.

He didn't know what she had in mind, but he followed her anyway. He knew, deep in his heart, that he'd follow her anywhere.

She brought him to her room, reminding him that they were marching tomorrow, and that there was no way she would let him do that without getting any sleep. If neither of them wanted to separate, they could simply go to sleep together.

They curled up together in her bed, taking comfort in each other's closeness despite the overpowering summer heat. Claude swore he would never forget the way she looked at him that night, her eyes drifting shut and then blinking open again as she resisted the tug of slumber just so she could gaze at him a little longer.

Despite her efforts, she eventually dozed off. Only then did Claude allow sleep to steal him away. His last coherent thought was that Byleth looked more radiant than ever, as if she was a star that had fallen from the heavens.

The next morning, he woke up in her arms. Despite the battle awaiting them, Claude's heart was filled with calm contentment. As he ran his fingers through Byleth's luminous green hair, he noticed something strange. His hands, which just last night had been covered in dozens of small scars, now appeared to be smooth and unblemished. Some strange trick of the light, he thought at first, but when he ran his fingers over the places his scars should have been, he felt nothing.

But he didn't have time to ask Byleth for an explanation. As soon as she woke up, she swept him away to join the rest of their army and prepare to fight Nemesis.

Byleth was aware that Nemesis was a greater threat than any they had ever faced before. He had killed Sothis, the progenitor god—her guardian and friend. But she knew that with her beloved Golden Deer by her side, she would not lose. They believed in her, and she believed in them. They loved her, and she loved them.

Claude stayed close to her side throughout the battle, worried that the god-slayer would find a way to slip through her defenses and kill her, the way he'd killed the first goddess. But his fears turned out to be unnecessary. When Byleth engaged with Nemesis, she fought more powerfully than ever. Their twin weapons whirled around them, glowing so brightly that they were almost painful to look at.

At last, their deadly dance ended with a sword through Nemesis's heart, as Byleth stood in front of him, glowing with divine retribution.

After that, Nemesis and his followers crumbled into dust. Byleth closed her eyes as the wind swept them away, hoping that Sothis could see her now, and that she would be able to rest more easily now that she had finally been avenged.

Sothis indeed felt better, but it had less to do with Nemesis's defeat and more to do with the fact that her beloved successor had finally become complete. Sothis knew that she no longer needed to worry about Byleth. She could fully entrust her world and her people to the new goddess's care. Fódlan would be all right.

Byleth led her people back to the Monastery, where many of them returned to their rooms to rest and recover from their wounds. Byleth was unharmed, so she went to visit Rhea and tell her the news of Nemesis's defeat.

When she told the archbishop what had happened, Rhea began to weep. Byleth wrapped her arms around the older woman and held her tight. Rhea cried for a long time, and Byleth knew her tears were not just for the world they had protected, but also for the mother she had finally accepted would never return.

The next day, a miracle happened. The healers declared that Rhea, who they had all feared was slowly approaching death, seemed to have made a full recovery.

The war was finally over, and along with peace came the need to restructure the government of the newly reunified Fódlan. Byleth had assumed that as the leader of the victorious army, Claude would take leadership, or perhaps the Alliance roundtable would be expanded to include nobles from the former Empire and Kingdom as well. But instead he approached her and told her that he wanted her to be queen.

She protested at first, but eventually accepted the crown. She did it for Claude, knowing that his mind was already ten steps ahead of hers, whirling through the fine details of some scheme she'd probably never know half of. She knew him well enough to know that anything would be worthwhile if she did it for him and his dream. All she asked was that he return to her side when he could.

He gave her the ring he'd bought for her, and she accepted it with a smile.

Claude left for Almyra the day of her coronation, working towards the goal of his own. Tales of how he'd conquered all of Fódlan alongside a strange warrior goddess had reached his homeland, and he found that his public image there was much better than it had been when he'd left. All he had to do now was form good relationships with influential members of Almyran society, so they'd accept him when he claimed the throne.

He exchanged letters with Byleth on a weekly basis, and she told him about all the reforms she was making in Fódlan. One of the first things she had done was disband most of the army, sending all those who had fought in the war back to their families. She had also created a new roundtable to serve as her advisors, which, rather than being made up of only nobles, would consist of periodically elected officials.

Her letters, though clearly affectionate, were as brief as her words usually were in person. Claude learned just as much about what was going on in Fódlan from listening to the rumors that found their way across Fódlan's Throat.

He heard that the new queen of Fódlan was capable of performing miracles. That people who had sustained permanent injuries in the war found themselves healed after meeting with her. That the people who lived in the capital, close to where she resided, did not ever seem to get sick, not even in the chill of winter.

Claude did not know what to make of all these rumors. He and the other Golden Deer had fought alongside her in the war, and yet they had been injured in battle plenty of times. Her healing magic was powerful, but it was still outranked by Marianne's and Mercedes's. Even so, he could not forget the way she had kissed his hands the night before their battle with Nemesis, and the way his numerous scars had vanished overnight.

If anyone was capable of the rumored feats, he knew it would be her.

After a mere few months, Claude managed to earn the crown. He was planning to stay in Almyra for a little longer, making some local changes before reaching out to Fódlan. But his plans were disrupted when he heard news of rebellion in the former Empire. His sources told him that there were dark mages among the rebels. Claude immediately knew who they were—remnants of Those Who Slither in the Dark.

Byleth had defeated them before, and he knew that in normal circumstances, she would be able to defeat them again. But these weren't normal circumstances. She had chosen to devote her resources towards rebuilding her country instead of maintaining an army. She wasn't ready to fight another war.

Claude needed to be there. He needed to fight alongside his goddess. He had put her on that throne, and if anything happened to her, it would be his fault.

He explained the situation to his people, telling them that their Fódlan neighbors needed their help. He told them that Fódlan's new ruler was a queen of miracles, and that he intended to make her their queen as well. But both her reign and her life were being threatened. If she fell now, there would be no more miracles.

For a moment, he feared that his warriors would refuse—that they would dismiss him and his interest in Fódlan as cowardly. But instead, the Almyran army rose to answer the call of their new king. Their wyverns' wings filled the sky, blocking out the sun.

They flew over Fódlan's locket, which had been abandoned so that House Goneril could join the battle against Those Who Slither in the Dark. Claude suppressed a shudder, urging his wyvern to fly faster and hoping that he wouldn't be too late.

When they arrived at Deirdru, he immediately spotted Byleth in the middle of the chaos, fighting like the warrior goddess he knew she was. A handful of the Golden Deer were scattered across the battlefield, but most of them were absent—they'd had no way of knowing that Byleth would need them with her today.

Thankfully, the arrival of Almyra's greatest warriors quickly turned the tide of the battle. They held back the previously overwhelming number of enemy forces so Byleth could strike down the new leader of Those Who Slither in the Dark.

Claude knew that all the rumors about Byleth were true when he ran into Lysithea after the battle. Her hair, once stained white, was now a vibrant lilac color. Her eyes shone with a new sense of confidence. She no longer the frail and sickly girl fighting the limits of her own body, but a woman as strong physically as she was mentally.

Claude returned to Byleth's side, marveling at the power she had discovered in his absence. She truly was extraordinary. And yet she had somehow chosen him, a man who was ordinary in all ways but his wits, and chosen to make his dreams her own.

Whenever he told her how amazing she was, she told him she was simply what he and the rest of the Golden Deer had made her. That she would have been nothing without them. She had never known about the soul gifts Sothis had given her, but she did know that she'd changed after she'd met her students. She'd gone from being so empty inside to being so full of emotion, and she knew that it was all thanks to them. She told him that her power was theirs as much as it was hers.

He wasn't sure he really agreed with that, but he accepted it, the way he accepted her love. And in return, he gave her everything he was. Little by little, he told her all his secrets, until there was nothing unspoken left between them.

Time passed, and as it did, the relationship between the newly-unified countries of Almyra and Fódlan improved. They reached out in friendship to Duscur and Sreng and Brigid and Dagda, and the world as a whole benefitted from their diplomacy.

Word about the Ruler of Dawn and the King of Unification traveled far and wide. It was said that the queen used her divine sword to cut through the mountains, and in the place where Fodlan's Locket had once stood, they built a new capital city for their joined nations. The people who lived in the city were said to be immune to all illness, and were no longer negatively affected by the flow of time. People of various races lived together in harmony, the way their king had always dreamed they would.

The king left home to travel the world from time to time, sometimes for many years, but when he returned to his wife's loving embrace, it was said that any new scars were lifted from his skin, and any gray streaks in his hair disappeared.

They were, in a word, immortal.

It was a different kind of immortality, however, than the one Sothis had always been familiar with. This was not just an inability to die, but the ability to live forever. The ability to separate all life from the flow of time.

Sothis, the progenitor god, had thought she'd known everything there was to know about the nature of life. She had been content to live apart from humanity, watching as time carried them in and out of the world. She had never thought that was something she was capable of changing, or something she should try to. But it seemed that even she had much to learn from the new goddess she had created.

Perhaps, she thought, the lives of humanity and divinity were not so different after all.