AN: The next arc begins and it's gonna be about the mock battle. I'm really excited to write that part, 'got some cool things planned. Anyway, as I said last chapter, I went back and fixed some errors and inconsistencies. There wasn't a whole lot of it but how the HELL did I manage to make Rean tell his backstory twice? Listen, I'm not using any beta readers (nor will I be interested in case you ask, maybe) so if I ever make an error like that, include it in your review. I also combined the Black Eagles and Emerald Steeds exploration chapters. Why? Because I wrote a whole new chapter for Four Houses I! I HIGHLY recommend you read it in case you haven't already. It's short but packed with world building (and I may have thrown in a reference to another game in there somewhere...). Anyway, enjoy.
Golbez4: It really do be like that.
Dcraus: No, I don't really watch anime.
22nd of Great Tree Moon, 1180
Byleth woke up from a dreamless sleep. He sat upright on his bed and rubbed the crust from his eyes. Throwing the comforters off, he turned his body to the shorter side of the mattress so his bare feet were touching the flooring of his dorm room. He pushed himself off the bed and into a standing position and—
He hit his foot on something soft, knocking him off balance. He fell forward. He tried using his hands to break his fall, but he wasn't fast enough and his head hit the floor with a thud! Thank the goddess the floor was carpeted, otherwise, he could've cracked his skull open—or worse. Either way, he could feel a bruise forming as he rubbed his temple. "Ow..." He whined.
"Ugh, no mom, I'm full... I don't want any more chicken..." A familiar, childlike voice said.
The professor turned onto his back and saw a small girl with long green hair and a blue dress curled up onto the floor. She stirred for a second, then rubbed one eye and yawned like a puppy.
"S-Sothis?"
Her eyes slowly opened. "Mornin' maw... What's for break..." Then she noticed Byleth staring at her. "...fast..."
He just starred in a mix of fear and awe.
"What are you looking at?" She asked, sounding a little irritated.
Byleth could barely form words into a sentence as he crawled back a step. "H-H-How are you—"
She shrugged. "I dunno..."
Sothis then stood up on her feet and stretched, then made her way towards one of the boxes in the corner of the room. She reached in and grabbed some candy.
"Hey, that's mine." He said childishly as he stood up.
She popped one of the hard candies in her mouth. "Not anymore."
He sighed as she let her have this one. Though, this still begged the question. "How are you here and not in that desert place?"
"Well... Since you don't understand the value of your own life, it is up to me to guide you from now on."
He blinked.
Sothis sighed frustratingly as she dropped the handful of candies back into the box. "The reason why I saved you yesterday is because I exist within you." She walked over to him and poked the man in the stomach. "So as long as you exist, I exist. If you die, I die. Simple as that." She began pacing. "While you were asleep last night, I found a way to materialize myself into the real world. I can now do anything you can, such as: eat, sleep, drink, breath, bleed, and cast magic."
Byleth grabbed his clothes from a nearby drawer and checked the peephole of his room door, then frantically moved to the other side of the room and moved the curtains over the windows.
"Why are you suddenly panicked?" She asked.
He flicked on the light switch and the room was illuminated in a white light. "You don't understand."
She tilted her head. "Don't understand what?"
"If people were to see you," He knelt down to her level. "it could raise questions. Draw attention to me."
"Why is that so bad?"
"Because my father told me to keep a low profile here. He told me to not do anything that would raise the Archbishop's suspicion."
"Why is that?"
That made Byleth begin to question his own orders. He wasn't sure why his father had told him to keep a low profile. He wasn't sure why his father seemed afraid of the Archbishop. When he came here just the other day, he noticed his father was on edge pretty much the entire time he was in her presence. It was...odd. He had never seen his father so afraid before (Well, there was that time Byleth got attacked by a wolf and barely made it out alive, but that was more on him than his father).
He shook his head. "You can't be seen out there. We disguise you so nobody will notice you."
"How do you think we will do that?"
He thought for a moment. "Perhaps we could get you an Academy uniform. That way, people will think you're a student and won't give you a second glance."
She narrowed her eyes and monotoned her voice. "Do you really want to be seen with a girl's Academy uniform?"
"No." He shook his head again. "Maybe I'll just get you some regular clothes and you stay in here."
"I'm not staying in this cramped room for the rest of my days! Oh, but perhaps..."
"Perhaps what?"
She smiled. "Could you stand back for a second?"
He nodded and stood back up, taking a few steps back.
Sothis snapped her fingers, and ribbons of light appeared around her person. They spun around her as her body was enveloped in a sparkling golden light. Her body then began to shrink...
And shrink...
And shrink...
And shrink...
And shrink until she was about the height of Byleth's midpoint of the lower part of his leg. Then her body began to change. She grew...ears? And a tail? Fur? There was a quiet but bright explosion of golden dust, then he saw the new Sothis.
"Sothis... Y-You're a- You're a- You're a—"
"Cat." She said for him.
She was indeed a cat. Her fur was a dark grey and she now had a tail with a blue ribbon attached to it. She had a blue collar with a golden bell that made the quietest, yet annoyingly noticeable, bell sound. Her eyes were still green, but her pupils were now like a cat's; sharp vertical ovals.
Byleth stared in complete and utter awe. He just witnessed a young girl turn into a cat.
"Well, this is one way to start your day." He thought to himself.
"Anyway, problem solved. Shall we get going?"
"No."
"Huh. Why not?"
He took a deep breath and answered. "Because I want to name you."
She tilted her head in a way a cat normally would. "N-Name me? But I already have a name! I am Sothis, the Beginning! Remember?!"
"I know, but..." His eyes drifted to the side as his head drooped downwards, just like a child would. Sothis swore it was probably the most adorable thing she had ever seen, or could remember. "I always wanted a cat."
She sighed. "Alright, alright, you can name me. But don't pick anything ridiculous, okay?"
"Right..." He thought for a moment. "J'zargo?"
"No."
"Morgana?"
She gave him a death look.
"Fine, fine. Um... How about Celine?"
"That will have to do. But only call me that in public, okay?"
He nodded. "I have to get changed."
She turned around. "I won't look."
"Thanks." Byleth then proceeded to change into his casual attire, completely unaware that the young girl in a catsuit was peeping at him like a pervert.
The duo soon found themselves in the dining hall, waiting in line to buy some food. Sothis- er, Celine sat close to his feet while Byleth scanned the post above the hole in the wall. Nothing really stood out to him, he liked all food the same—actually no, he liked most food the same—so he picked the meat pie. Then he noticed something: there was a menu for pets. It wasn't that varied, only consisting of food for dogs and cats, but he was curious to see if she would like it.
Once it was his turn, "I'll take the meat pie and the Kittens Delight please."
Celine instantly shot him a look of "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" but he wasn't looking in her direction to notice.
"That'll be seven fifty."
He handed the cafeteria guy his mira, he was given his food. The meat pie kind of resembled a lasagna with a layer of cheese on top. That was as far as observations could go for the meat pie as the rest of it was locked away underneath the cheese furnace. The Kittens Delight, on the other hand, looked really delicious actually. It was tuna with a piece of celery jammed in the center, circled by small pieces of cooked fish. Maybe she would like it.
Celine then saw the so called 'Kittens Delight' and almost coughed up a hairball.
Then Byleth had to face his next challenge: finding a place to sit. There, there weren't many places to sit. Most seats were taken by students and some staff members. From what he was told, you weren't allowed to take food out of the cafeteria, so eating somewhere else was a no go.
"Hey! Byleth!" He heard someone shout.
At the corner of his eye, he caught Rean waving at him from across the room. Seeing this as an opportunity to find a spot, he decided to comply with the man's wishes. He made his way to his table and recognized the person sitting next to him.
"Ah, her again." He thought as he sat across from Sara.
"Hey Byleth, how's going?" She asked.
"Fine."
Rean smiled. "So how's life treating you at the monastery? As someone who's lived here his whole life, it's kind of my responsibility to know."
He shrugged. "It's too early."
"I see. Trust me, you'll like it here...or learn to."
Celine suddenly jumped onto the table and they both dropped their forks.
The pink-haired woman was first to react. "Huh, what's this thing doing here?"
"What a lovely looking lady..." He said as he reached over to pet it on the head. As soon as skin touched head, Celine jolted back and swatted at his finger.
He recoiled back, then stared at his bleeding finger. "O-Ow." He winced as it came out delayed.
Sara laughed. "Whoa! Critical hit!"
"She's a little sensitive." Was Byleth's response.
"Wait, so she's your cat?" Asked Rean.
He simply nodded as he took a bite out of his meat pie.
"Well, it does have a collar." The pink-haired woman observed.
The dark-haired professor frowned. "I know, but there's a bunch of strays with collars around here, so I thought it may have followed him in. I apologize for assuming, both of you."
She took a quick swig of her beer. "Geez, stop apologizing all the time. You're starting to sound like one of my students."
He sighed. "Yeah, you're right as always. I'm sorry for—" He caught himself. "I...will try to do it less."
Celine finally decided to try and eat her food. She knelt down and took the smallest bite she could and... "Huh, this actually doesn't taste that bad!"
Sara took another drink of her beer.
Byleth raised an eyebrow as he swallowed his food. "Isn't it too early to be drinking?"
Rean laughed. "She can handle more than a few beers before she becomes tipsy."
"I don't see anything to be tipsy about."
"Believe me, I tried telling her the same thing. But anything that goes through her ear goes out the other, and sometimes gets distorted into something else entirely."
She shrugged in response before taking another drink.
The blue-haired professor then asked her a question. "If you drink this much, how did you become a professor?"
Rean answered for her. "Would you believe me if I said she noticed I was becoming a professor and suddenly she wants to become one?"
"I would, actually."
Sara set her empty beer bottle down. "I have a question for you Mr. Ashen Demon."
The other professor suddenly started choking on his food at hearing that name.
She continued. "How did you become a professor?"
Byleth titled his head. "I thought you already knew?"
"I do, but I wanna hear it from you."
"Well... Okay." He took a deep breath. "Before I became a professor, I was a Jaeger."
Rean, now done choking, commented. "Y-Y-Y-You're the Ashen Demon?!"
"That is correct. My Jaeger Corp is known as Blade Breaker. I am also the son of one of the legendary Jaegers, Jeralt the Blade Breaker."
The dark-haired man nearly fainted.
"We just finished up a job in Remire when we ran into some armored cars said to be carrying some important people."
"The four house leaders?" Sara asked.
He nodded. "The Knights of Seiros told us they were being chased by the Iron Legion and they needed help driving them out. My father reluctantly agreed. Then they came out, the four house leaders. They insisted on helping. Their commander didn't like the idea, but let them have their way. Once they came, me, my father, and the four of them drove out the Ex-Jaegers with relative ease. Then, one of the people on our side suddenly attacked us."
"Gideon?" She asked.
"I did not know his name, so I cannot confirm. Anyway, we successfully drove out the attackers and me and my father were offered to come to Garreg Mach for a reward." He lied on that last part. They were actually forced to come with because his father was, 'A wanted criminal'. "We were taken to the Archbishop and, as it turns out, my father used to be the captain of the Knights of Seiros."
"T-Truly?!" Rean asked, eyes widened.
"Yes. He claimed he used to work here but had to leave once I was conceived."
The professor was completely dumbfounded and Sara didn't look all that surprised.
"Mother never told me..." He thought.
"I was then offered a job to teach here. Here I am now." Byleth concluded.
"I thought so." She said. "Well, I'm glad to have you back. It's been a while."
"It has."
"Wait," The professor interrupted. "do you two know each other?"
She smiled. "That's a conversation for another time."
"Okay..." He said as he peeped at his watch. "Ah, it's almost time for the meeting."
"There was a meeting?!" The female professor said, suddenly panicking.
Rean facepalmed. "Don't tell me you forgot again..."
The other professor agreed. "I was unaware as well. When will it begin?"
"10:30 am. It's okay to be late. The Archbishop is a very forgiving person." He looked at Sara. "And some people take advantage of that."
"Ugh, stop. You're starting to sound like Seteth..." She whined.
Celine then finished her food. She walked over to Byleth and gently nudged his lower arm.
"Huh?"
She shot him a 'do you wish for me to accompany you to the meeting?' kind of look.
He mouthed the words 'Are you sure'.
She nodded.
He nodded back.
Rean stood up. "The meeting will be in the Audience Chamber." He directed the last part at Byleth. "You've been there before, so it won't be difficult to find. If you forgot, I'd be happy to show you the way." He gave him a sincere smile.
He shook his head. "I know where it is, but thanks for the offer." He took one last bite of his meal and got up. Celine hopped off the table at the same time.
Sara didn't get up. "I'll be there in a bit." She said as she took a sip of her bottle.
"If you're late, I'm taking all of the liquor you have and I'll dump it off the Great Bridge of Myrddin myself." He said, sounding unrealistically casual.
"Whatever."