Garreg Mach looked so small from here.
There was a shrill cry, and a shudder before the beast beneath Byleth brought down its wings, propelling them higher into the air than they had been before. From this vantage point one could see far over the Oghma Mountains towards the horizon.
Quaint farmland dotted with houses and tracked out by dirt roads. Nothing had changed since the day before. People milled about, their lives turning back to normal after the end of the war.
And to think that this little place bore so little marks of that five year period, to see that it flourished with greenery and harvests…
It was lovely, really.
Too bad he couldn't stay to appreciate the rustic villages that surrounded Garreg Mach any longer.
He looked back in front of him to see Sothis lingering on the neck of Cinder, her ethereal form perched like a figurehead. He could see her keenly observing the great monastery. "What is it?" His voice was torn away by the wind, but the goddess looked back and just smiled.
"Just taking one last look at this place. It fostered the growth of yourself and so many that you have come to care for. I cannot help but feel at least a little forlorn at our extended departure."
Byleth blinked, and followed her former gaze down to the polished white stone fortress. "Wait, weren't you the one ushering me to leave?" Her lip curled, disfiguring the goddess' smile.
"Yes, but that is no reason to be smart about it. I must follow you, and you are needed in the Alliance capital-" Byleth then cut in.
"Ah, Former Alliance capital." Her unimpressed look just made him grin in response, she had done this enough to him. It was time that Byleth had his fun.
"Yes… I did not want you to be late for your departure. I would have liked to stay longer, but alas, 'twas not to be." When she turned away, Byleth felt his grin fade. She was forcibly dragged along with him no matter where he went, like a dog upon a leash-
"Hmph! How rude!" Her head turned around so she could look at him once again, disapproval morphing to indignance. "Comparing me to such a thing! Really, even when I am resigned to my form you must pour salt in my wounds! I know I said I never tire of you, but you would do well to not test that."
Mostly, Byleth would find her affronted snaps endearing, given how they were usually in good spirits, but looking at her now as she glared at him... there was something else at play. "Sothis, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. It was just the most immediate description I thought of."
Her pupils slitted again for just a moment. "Even if I was not bound to your physical form's vicinity, I must follow in your footsteps in order to protect you. My power is a shield against physical threats, but you need comfort in this line of work. That is my duty."
"Your duty is to be my personal therapist?" There was a jolt as his wyvern splayed out her grey wings, catching the air currents that rose from the ground near the monastery, drawing them further into the sky.
Sothis sighed. "In a way, yes."
He could not help but feel a little troubled by her words. "You are not obligated to do that. Surely there is something else you would like to do? You told me earlier that you like scenic views."
Beyond he could see the first of his entourage begin to guide them northeast. The first of the pegasus knights, the vanguard of the escort, began to pass through the peaks of the Oghma Mountains, drawing forth the group with them. Sothis remained silent for a time until she once again spoke.
"I appreciate your sudden concern over this, Byleth, but I cannot do much more in this world. I am, physically, little more than a hallucination to you. Those who would believe you about my existence either have too much to worry about or have passed on."
Byleth felt it was now his turn to be unimpressed. "And that changes what? You have interests and feel emotions just like the rest of us, perhaps even more than someone like me. Tell me if you are curious to try anything and I will try to accommodate your wish, even if it is me performing the activity."
That actually shut her up for a good while. The silence wasn't unwelcome, but he could see the perched goddess struggling with something until finally, Sothis smiled softly. "So long as you do not push me away. I would be relieved to be the one on the receiving end of your own brand of guidance."
"Ah, well…" He removed one hand from the reins and placed it on the neck of his wyvern. The beast looked back at him, yellow eyes gleaming in a way that appeared to be suspicious of him. "That wasn't exactly how I imagined it. I can't teach you much about anything besides combat."
"You are not required to teach me anything, Byleth. I simply wish to spend time listening to you speak, even if the words that come from your mouth are nonsensical." She swung around so both of her legs hung from the right side of his wyvern's neck. Instead of reaching for his hand like he had intended, she placed her hand on his cheek.
So much for his little attempt at hand holding, however impossible it may be.
He lifted his hand away from Cinder and took hold of the reins again. "You spoke a lot more than I did back in the day, and a lot of that was far stranger than what I said."
"Byleth, you called yourself a demon when I first spoke to you." That was an outlier, he could recall very little that he had said that came even close to it. She called herself 'The Beginning'. There was a twitch of a smile on Sothis' face. "Perhaps, but I would refrain from continuing to throw stones from your glass house. You are not wholly innocent."
Perhaps some of his comments from the past few days had been a bit strange. The tale of his bootlicking and cold tone when talking about Count Varley were the things that immediately came to Byleth's mind… But it did not outweigh her own oddities.
"You spoke so little back then, only when necessary. As time wore on I began to treasure each little reaction I could garner from you. Perhaps… perhaps that was when it happened." Her eyebrows furrowed and he could see the sudden look of dismay creep across her features.
That only meant one thing, she couldn't remember. "When what happened?"
A low growl emitted from the back of the goddess throat. "When my love for you developed. How pitiful I am to not even be able to remember things that happened merely six years ago!"
"I mean," Byleth looked across at the rocky spires that towered next to them, swiftly passing by the peaks. "I don't remember too much from back then either, just a bunch of specific memories of things happening. It was six years ago. Hell, I don't even remember what I had at dinner last night."
"Bourgeois pike." She sighed. When Byleth looked back at her, the tips of her long ears dropped. "I don't recall any one point where I realised the extent of my feelings until it was time for us to become one."
"I'm sorry that it came to that." Her hand fell away from his face and she sat back upon Cinder. Her borne expression was one of regret, warped by what he could only imagine was fear of never being able to speak to him again. "After you were gone, I realised how much you meant to me. To not wake up and feel your presence lingering was like a cold shock of water. I couldn't imagine you not being there."
"But I am here now, and I do not plan on leaving you at all. Banish any such thoughts from your mind." Her forlorn body language gave way to a sad smile. "If we must return to a more pleasant conversation, let it be the discussion of what you will do with me."
That was some loaded phrasing. Apprehensive, he asked. "What will I do with you?"
"Guide me, what else? Is that not what I requested of you?" He could see her shoulders bouncing a little, barely containing a giggle at his expense. Given how she was he wouldn't have been surprised if she deliberately tried to trip him up with that.
Her intensified shaking only confirmed that.
Byleth decided he would ignore her laughter, and just pushed on. "I guess I can show you how to fish if Derdriu permits it. Maybe we can read together as well. You know better than anyone that I may have to be doing a lot of that in the future.
"If you could procure a book that draws my interest, reading sounds like it could be enjoyable. I would prefer to do things that we can equally participate in." So matters of the mind… "Yes, you are catching on quick!"
Given Derdriu's alleged status as a trading capital, finding things for her to read wouldn't be too hard. "What languages do you know?"
"Only that of which you know, I am afraid." So only the language spoken in Fodlan. He could work with that. Maybe he could speak to Ashe or Bernadetta for some ideas. They seemed the most interested in those kinds of things out of his students.
"Is there anything in particular you'd want? History books, fables, romance?" The most Byleth had gotten to know when it came to books were the textbooks that the academy used as a part of their curriculum. Between teaching, marking, training and working out his lesson structures, there wasn't much room for exploring hobbies such as reading. The war though.. That was just a time of planning for battles and training.
And stress. Lots of stress.
He sighed just as Sothis began to respond. "That is over now. Look to your new job, my dear. If you can procure some annals, untouched by the church's censoring hand, I can use it to provide advice and knowledge when the need arises."
"Sothis, please, I'm trying to give you more autonomy from just being my guide. You don't need to justify wanting to know about Fodlan's history by saying it will help me!" A pegasus rider ahead of them turned their head to stare directly at him. Shit. Was he being loud enough for the wind to not carry his voice away from them?
Not even a second later he heard a familiar cracking sound, and the world around them fractured, each greyed out shard frozen in place. The wind halted, and no longer could Byleth feel the warmth of the sun on his skin. It was all paused, and right now, the only thing that moved before him in this shattered landscape was the viridian girl perched upon his mount.
"It has been so long since I have done this." Her eyes shone with the power that was bestowed upon both of them now, and an impish smile played upon her lips. "How strange that you still cannot move, but I can. Perhaps it is a feature of my ephemeral form?"
Maybe that was the case, for even when she wasn't around, Byleth was always locked in place when he used the Divine Pulse. Slowly, she stood up and began to approach, all while that little smug grin was building.
"Byleth…" she hummed. "I say this all because I want to help you. You are failing to realise that. Yes, it is not my wish to rely upon you, but… you would do well to not discount my ideas simply because I believe they can be of assistance. I want to ensure that you fulfill your goals."
As much as he wanted to bite back, he couldn't bring himself to. Her words struck his arguments in half. If that's what she really wanted, he had no real need to deny her.
As soon as he had processed that, her smile widened. "Good! You understand! Would you like to reverse time and avoid your little outburst?"
Without even answering, Byleth sought out his mental grip on the streams of time, only to feel Sothis' conscience brush against his own, seemingly about to do the same thing.
The feeling was alien, like something touching against his brain. He recoiled, and a strange shock flowed through his body when he disconnected from her. Though he was incapable of moving, she was, and she visibly jumped back.
"Ah! That was… strange. Forgive me, Byleth, I'll take care of this." Her words were somewhat lost on him as he thought of the sensation... the feeling of her mind's true touch, something he hadn't felt since they merged.
A cold shiver ran down his back at the memory of that.
Around him, the world shot back to normal, and both of them sat perched upon the back of Cinder once more, soaring over the Oghma Mountains. Sothis yawned sleepily next to him.
"Alas, it appears using the Divine Pulse has drained me faster than I had imagined." Her eyes flicked over to him. "By the way. You forgot your mercenary outfit."
"There's no time to go back, besides, it was basically ruined." He sighed, looking down at the opulent robes he now wore.
She giggled to herself. "To imagine one such as yourself must wear that until you find something you like again."
"I feel like most of your complaints about this would be solved if I just took the collar off."
"Maybe." She raised one hand, then the other. "Maybe not. We will have to see, will we not?"
Fixing her with a stern gaze, he nodded. "Yeah, I'll give it a look when we have some free time." Sothis stretched out her arms.
"I look forward to it, dear Byleth." Her voice groaned as she stretched. "Can you stomach this flight alone? I may not be good company for much longer."
"You sleep about three times a day no matter what, go ahead." He didn't care much for Sothis' sleeping habits, but he could easily speak to her later on if he so desired. Some time alone would be nice to work out how he would spend the next few days anyway.
"Then I leave you to handle the wyvern." She huffed out a gentle laugh at his jab, seemingly too tired now to offer an offended response.
He inclined his head towards her. "Sleep peacefully."
"Oh, I will try, even with your loud thoughts in here keeping my poor self company." Without even a chance given to him to respond, she faded from his sight.
He laughed quietly to himself at the candidity of that response, before taking a firm hold of the reins, and urging his wyvern onwards, alongside his entourage.
By this point, it had been hours since Byleth's feet had been on solid ground, his legs ached as he kept a firm grip on his wyvern's back. Worst of all?
He couldn't feel his face.
Turns out flying high above the ground, right when the lands were rapidly approaching their coldest times with the wind whipping in your face was not a very comfortable experience. At least he had Sothis to speak with, until she inevitably dozed off after the first hour. He could see the sky, streaked with orange and red, steadily growing darker, only for their light to be replaced by the crimson glow of the Valley of Ailell below them.
It was oddly beautiful to look at, a land supposedly sundered by Sothis more than a millennia ago. To think, the small woman that slept in his head caused-
"What-" Byleth's gaze whipped around to where he heard her voice suddenly ring out, only to find her lounging along the neck of his mount. The flecks of light that had appeared when she was flying around the night before appeared to streak by him, signifying that she was actively moving to keep up with the speed of his flight.
She looked a little confused for a moment, then yawned and looked back at him. "What is it now? You woke me up."
Byleth would have smiled, but it hurt to even move his lips. Instead he just gestured down at the fields of molten rock below. Judging by the look on her face, she was slightly awed by the sight, and slowly turned her gaze back to him. "You wanted to show me this?"
Well, that hadn't exactly been his plan, but she appeared when he remembered that it was her that supposedly created this place, so…
"The one who created such a hellish place was I?" She looked back to the valley, softly frowning. "Now why would I do that?"
For all he knew, it could have been Agartha or some natural event that was pinned on her. Making an entire region uninhabitable didn't exactly sound like something she would do. Still, the land had its eerie beauty that he found that he enjoyed better at a distance.
"This is the second time today you have mentioned Agartha, will you not tell me who they are? All I know is that the Sword of the Creator is apparently made from my spine!"
Oh yeah, that was true.
She quickly engulfed his vision, ghosting her hand across his chest. Byleth just tried to glance around her to ensure that nothing would suddenly appear before them. "I demand that you tell me all that you have learned over the course of the war, lest I scour your memories."
What also seemed true was that she woke up on the wrong side of the stone throne and was still unaware that he could not speak without hurting himself. A visage of an unimpressed mother crossed her face, and with a huff, she relaxed her posture.
"Tonight, is that a promise?"
He nodded his head in response and leaned forward over her, lowering his chin onto her ghostly hair. Her green light illuminated the small area around their wyvern, and in the dim light he could see Ingrid's pegasus swooping underneath them. To his right, Hilda's distinctive pink hair was noticeable as she, like him, rode on the back of a wyvern. Hers was a reddish colour from what he saw during the day.
Sothis curled her body up, keeping herself on his lap but situated so she could look past the black wings of Cinder to the ground below. "This is close to Derdriu, correct? My memory of the land is fleeting, but I know this was in the northeast."
"Y-yes." Byleth stuttered out, covering his mouth and rapidly breathing into it to restore some semblance of normal feeling to his lips. It took a minute before he was able to continue, but Sothis was patient, placing a hand on the one he was using to cover his lips as he worked, although it did nothing physically, it was the thought that counted. "Just to the west of Derdriu, w-we should be able to see it once we pass the next few mountains."
As soon as his hand left his mouth, the nipping cold returned and gradually numbed his lips again. "Then you should be okay soon. It's a pity I can't help you myself."
Honestly, it would be nice to have someone else's hand over his mouth so he could focus on holding the reins, especially someone he could trust, like Sothis.
"Oh, not like that, you… never mind." She laughed darkly. Right as he began to question what she had actually meant, she shifted into more of a sitting position, completely blocking out his sight.
"Ack!" He batted his hand through her head in a panic, and immediately she ducked out of the way.
Her eyes were wide like saucers as she turned to look back at him. "I-" Despite the shock, he found his body shaking with laughter at her expression. "I apologise for that, I… can not recall what I was doing."
The question of what she had been about to do was pushed to the side however as he heard a few wingbeats close by. The white shape of Ingrid's pegasus that he had seen earlier now was practically hovering over the top of his wyvern.
"May I have a word with you?" He heard her call to him. In front, Sothis laughed at his expense and slowly made her way to perch weightlessly atop the lizard-like beast's head. It wasn't much of a shock that Ingrid of all people was able to withstand the temperatures, seeing as how she came from the cold regions of the former Kingdom and was trained to fly in combat, which sometimes did take place with inopportune conditions such as this time and temperature.
It was also one of the reasons why Byleth's attempts at mounted combat never caught on, alongside his difficulty with aiming a weapon atop a moving creature.
That said, knowing she could do what he could not still didn't change the fact that he couldn't speak, and when he gestured for her to wait, she rounded her mount to get as close as possible to him without having their mounts collide. "Are you alright, your majesty?"
"'m cold…" He quickly mumbled, but unlike Sothis, the falcon knight couldn't telepathically tell what he was saying, and it was caught up by the wind.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that, is there a problem?"
"Can't speak… wind." Again, his voice was too quiet to be heard. Sothis looked back at him with pity. All Byleth could do was give his former student an apologetic gaze and turn away. Maybe she had noticed the strange facial expressions he was making and could tell, but it was likely too dark to make it out, even with the glow from Ailell.
There was the flap of wingbeats, and when Byleth next looked to his side, Ingrid had moved back to her former position flanking his wyvern. Sothis piped up from her spot. "Just talk to her once we are in Derdriu, I am sure she will understand."
She was right, but guilt still gnawed at him. She looked like she wanted to speak to him the night before, but could not in front of Seteth and Manuela, although the latter was drunk. Earlier today, she had been with Ashe, and their main interests at that time were the wyvern and pegasi in the roost. Now was likely the only chance they would have alone, although Sothis was always there.
"You know, I've been thinking…" Sothis turned her body a bit to the right, losing some cohesion with the world around her as her hand slipped through the horns of their mount. "Since I've been able to create a dreamscape for you, is there anywhere you would like to be? You can answer when we land, but it's something that I- oh, oh my."
What had stopped her train of thought was the sudden break in mountainous terrain around them. Below them, there had been a steep drop that signalled the end of the Ailell Valley region and entrance into Riegan territory, where the lava flows rolled over the edge into the ocean, and to the right, the landscape steadily descended beyond the mountains until it reached the rolling hills and fertile plains that surrounded Derdriu.
"So this is where we are to stay. I daresay that you could have chosen a worse place." She pointed to a cluster of lights in the distance that glittered in the night. Byleth had only been to Derdriu once before, and that was to finalise some treaties with Almyra after the war and see Claude off.
A knight up ahead, riding on a wyvern, began to slowly descend in the air. He was followed by the others, until eventually everyone was following him down towards the ocean, where they took a sharp turn to the right and followed the coastline.
Byleth was trying to shift the sash around his shoulders up so it would act as some kind of buffer against the wind that was increasing the speed at which it was whipping into his face, but in front of him, he saw Sothis reach her arms up and laugh.
"Oh, I wish I could experience a drop like this!" She looked back at him. "If I ever am able to feel this world, please, let me ride with you. Being up here is honestly quite freeing."
Only one thought rang in Byleth's head as an answer. Maybe in the summer.
As Byleth hit the point where the riders in front of him angled out of their dive, his dark grey wyvern spread her wings out and began to slow. Immediately, Sothis disappeared through the neck of the wyvern, rocketing out in front of him as his wyvern lost speed.
He looked down, wide eyed as she skidded to a stop and looked back at him with a slightly embarrassed expression.
Honestly he was impressed she had kept her position so accurate this entire time, but there was always a moment that showed how she was not truly there. That said, it didn't take her long to recover and she floated back up, crouching in front of him again.
"I'd rather not talk about that."
A soft noise resembling a laugh broke out from Byleth as she squatted on the neck of the wyvern, cross-armed and looking towards the approaching city that became brighter and brighter.
Before long, he could make out the individual torches that lit the capital city of the former Leicester Alliance as they came closer to the harbour. It looked oddly cosy like this, far removed from the vast splendour of Enbarr or the barren reaches around Fhirdiad.
At least, it was, until they finally reached the city and passed over the harbour. Below, a number of the citizens had gathered to welcome them into the city. Seeing as how it had been their homeland that had come out on top in the 5 Year War and established the new order in Fodlan, it was obvious that the welcoming was a new surge of patriotic pride.
He did not look forward to seeing the looks on their faces when he did not pay the nobles any special attention. Leicester came out the best off after the war, and his focus was to be on restoring the damaged areas of the continent. He would be asking for assistance from his students and placing responsibilities upon them, but that would be the extent of it.
"Give yourself at least a moment in the spotlight, Byleth. These are your adoring fans! Whether you like it or not, you are a hero for the Alliance and its people, you fought alongside them, no matter where you were born." Sothis seemed… slightly disgruntled still, judging by her hunched posture, but her tone was soft again.
The low pass over the top of the harbour brought them close to the largest building in Derdriu, a place formerly dedicated to the gathering of the five main lords of the Alliance. Very few places in Fodlan came close to the great monastery that he had just left earlier, but this place was one of them.
Centuries of trade had left this city one of the richest in the country, and it was apparent just how well off the lords of the Alliance were. On the outside, Byleth could have argued that it was more ornate than Garreg Mach, which was also intended to act as a fortress. Gold embellishments covered a few of the beams, and surrounding the building were stone statues carved of various figures from the region's history.
None of it surprised Byleth however, for he had seen this before. Sothis however was much more shocked. "I will say again, you could have chosen a much worse place to stay. This is beautiful. To think of what the ocean will look like…"
Behind them, the ocean was just a black, inky void that stretched out to the horizon, lit up in a few wavering places by the moon. By day it would provide a much different view than Byleth was used to.
It was then he heard the front end of his entourage begin to shout commands back, and Byleth gently tugged on the reins in response. Cinder slowed herself in sync with the rest of the flying mounts around him, but grumbled at Byleth for making her do so.
"Easy." He said, although it was still silent to everyone but Sothis. The air down here was warmer than it had been up in the mountains, even with Ailell's flowing lava.
It didn't take long for Sothis to notice. "Oh, you found your voice again? Maybe you should speak to that Ingrid youngling before people have a chance to drag you away when we land." She then looked back over his shoulder at the sea.
Up ahead, Byleth could see a circular balcony that was larger than the rest. The spearhead of the group, one of the wyvern riders, brought his mount close, then made it land. He was followed by others, before Byleth and the flanking party of a few of his students-turned-lords also touched down.
Byleth dismounted, then quickly found his legs wobbling. A second later and he was collapsing against his wyvern, much to the amusement of some of his companions, Sothis included.
"Maybe you should have kept up your training, then you would be able to handle this better."
"You… you try gripping a creature with your legs for hours and then trying to walk." He seethed, pushing up into a less demeaning position. There were a few heavy footsteps beside him, and he noticed a shape moving past. "Ingrid?"
When he received no answer, and thus turned to find the source of the noise, he just saw Hilda looking down at him with a slightly concerned, albeit also amused expression. "Are you okay? Ingrid's over, uh… there!"
She pointed past his wyvern's tail after scanning around the platform. Byleth continued to cling to his mount as he shook his legs a little, trying to regain his strength. "I'll be fine, I just need to recover from that flight. Go on ahead with the others."
"Are you sure you're okay? I saw you doing some pretty odd stuff out there, swinging your arms around like there was a bug in your face-" Sothis choked on nothing at that, "-and constantly looking around."
"As I said, Hilda, I'll be fine. I just need to rest-" there was a shout of 'Hilda!' from the balcony's exit from a voice he did not recognise. Immediately Hilda's focus was taken away from him as a huge man walked over, half covered by plate armour, while the rest of him was bandaged.
"Oh, Holst! You're here!" Byleth took this opportunity while she was distracted to manoeuvre underneath his wyvern to the other side. He'd be happy to speak to her after he was done, but right now he just wanted to get Ingrid's issue sorted out.
He couldn't quite see where the falcon knight was from where Hilda had pointed her out, as there were so many pegasi wandering around now. Riders of all types were entering through a wide open door. Perhaps she had already entered? "Yeah, it took a little bit to heal from that fight but… you know, I had you to get back to. Gave me a bit of motivation to get up and moving again."
"Yeah, but- oh! Hey, Profes- wait where'd he go?" He heard Holst break out laughing.
Byleth never had actually met Hilda's brother, despite how much he had heard about him. The most he knew was that he was overprotective, a little like Seteth, though not quite to that extent. He was also a skilled general, and fought against Nemesis before Claude and Byleth brought their army to stop the pillaging force.
That fight had almost cost the man his life, which explained why he had been absent for the entirety of the negotiations here in Derdriu, as well as the coronation the day before. Supposedly it was a miracle he even survived, and from the brief glimpses he had just seen of the man proved that even two moons later he was still healing.
"That Ingrid youngling is to your left, by the way." Now that he stood on the left hand side of his wyvern, Byleth glanced along the tail and found her directly approaching him.
"Are you o-"
"Flames, please stop asking me that." At this point Byleth himself started laughing. "I was cold and the wind was making it hard to speak, that's all. What was it you needed?"
"Uhm, well." She looked a little nervous when it came down to it, before she shook her head. "I want to know what will become of Galatea's territories now that the Alliance won the war. I want to return and govern it."
"Discussions on that kind of thing will be starting a week or two from now, once everyone who is heading here for them has arrived. Not all of us have flying beasts to ride on, or hell, even the ability to do so. I'm just lucky I didn't have to ride a horse all the way here." He knew he wasn't being the most eloquent, but there wasn't really a reason to be, seeing as how Ingrid just nodded.
"Do you have any idea on what will be happening to my family's lands, though?"
"No." Unfortunately, he only knew the fates of a few territories. "I know Lorenz is keeping hold on his father's land, as well as Holst and Margrave Edmund. As far as I can tell, Count Varley is also safe from any land haggling. Much of Faerghus is going to be a power vacuum. Few territories still have their leadership intact."
There was a solemn look on her face. He wished there was more he could tell her, after all, Galatea was one of the Houses in Faerghus that actively fought against Imperial subjugation. Perhaps he could use it as leverage to secure those lands for her? It was at least something to consider when it was inevitably brought up.
"Know that I'll do my best to ensure the prosperity of the region, no matter what happens. I'll admit, I'm still trying to figure out everything, the decision of who was to take up the crown was just dropped on me."
"I'm aware, you were always more of a fighter than a negotiator with foes. I never would have thought you'd end up as my king, a few years back I didn't even know you who were."
"Yeah, a few years back, I was going from village to village, doing mercenary work. Things change." It was strange, those days held such nostalgia for him, but with all he had done, if he was given the opportunity to go back, Byleth wouldn't take it. He valued the relationships he had built too much to sacrifice them.
It was… nice. Warmth seeped around his chest, and he was about to smile. Then he realised it was Sothis. He smiled regardless, for he knew she was laying up on the wyvern, watching him.
"How saccharine." Her voice teased him, but he couldn't detect any malice. Her emotions, which were completely positive in that moment, began to slightly overshadow anything he had.
Outside of his little world with Sothis, Ingrid lowered her gaze. He felt the whiplash of her emotional tether cutting and sharply inhaled. "By doing that, you saved Prince Dimitri. Even with what happened at Gronder… I wanted to thank you for that."
"I'm sorry about Gronder, no matter what I did-"
"Flames, here we go."
"-I couldn't save them. I had to defend our army when Dimitri's group attacked."
"It wasn't you." To Byleth's shock, Ingrid's voice cracked. "It was the Empire. They caused Dimitri to fall, and then killed him. I can only thank you for letting me get revenge."
"Is that why you joined the Alliance instead?" He questioned her, raising an eyebrow. Why Ingrid had joined the Leicester Alliance in the war had always been a question that bothered him, after all, she held close ties to the Kingdom, both with friends and family.
She just stood in silence for a few seconds. "When you returned, I could tell the Alliance had a greater chance of victory than the remaining houses in Faerghus. I truly believed Dimitri was dead, and the others were missing, I mean, Annette was with Baron Dominic, and Ashe had joined House Gaspard, but everyone else…"
"So, you defected?" At this point, almost everyone around them had cleared from the balcony. A few odd soldiers lingered, and others, including Hilda and her brother, stayed around the entrance, apparently waiting for him, although they talked amongst themselves.
"Yes." He could tell his words had broken down some barrier Ingrid had constructed around herself. "I abandoned House Galatea in hopes that I could avenge Prince Dimitri. I failed my duty to Faerghus. That is why I want to reclaim Galatea's borders, I need to restore my honour as a knight to my people."
So that's what it had been. Well, if that was the case… "You have my word, Ingrid, I'll do whatever I can." "That is as much as I can ask for." A smile formed, one he'd grown accustomed to seeing throughout the war. It spoke of grief, and regret. Yet it still held hope. What stood before him was a woman who had lost almost everything in her goal to punish those who had taken her friends and king from her, and if he could help her at least regain some of it then he had no real reason to withhold that help. "Thank you, Professor. Thank you so much." Her smile could not hide how her cracked voice lingered, and had she not just suddenly walked past him, he could have sworn she would have started to break down crying in front of him.
He turned to watch her go with her pegasus towards the entrance to the council hall. Now all that remained were one or two wyvern riders, and the Goneril siblings. Sothis still lingered atop his wyvern, regarding him intently with a gaze he couldn't quite discern. It… looked positive?
The little goddess smiled at his thoughts. "Now, all there is to do is follow up on your words."
"Hopefully it will be as easy as it was before."
"If you put your mind to it, it will be."
The rest of the night was spent in relative relaxation. He managed to speak to Hilda and her brother, the latter of whom promptly sized him up. At first, Holst had trouble believing that a 'scrawny thing like him' could beat Nemesis when he could not, and had insisted on challenging him to a spar.
One quick demonstration of the power that the Sword of the Creator wielded later, and all questions were answered. With the additional information that Claude had also taken part in the fight, that cemented the reason as to why Byleth came out on top.
If he was being honest, Holst was a refreshing individual to meet. The two were both skilled as generals and fighters, and he didn't come with much arrogance that he had expected from some of the Alliance lords. Hilda seemed impressed at how well they were hitting it off.
Of course, the topic of the night was the battle against Nemesis, which Sothis listened intently in on, before finally he broached a topic that was only known to Claude and himself.
He had decided to bring them to what were now his quarters, and asked one of the new kingdom's guards to show them there.
"Why is secrecy necessary for this?" Holst gave him a look of suspicion which Byleth ignored, for the most part. What he had brought them here for was to tell them about something that would rock the foundations of the Church of Seiros' teachings.
The truth.
"Something I don't want many people hearing." The guard had led them to Byleth's quarters, the first part of which was a lavish living area, carpeted with a velvety crimson material and with walls of marble. Sothis whistled behind him.
A fireplace had already been lit prior to their arrival, and was currently blazing. A large window and glass door opened out to a balcony that oversaw the lights of the city and ocean. A potentially picturesque view, if his prior time in the capital had been any indication.
No sooner than the door had closed, he ushered the Goneril siblings over to a set of chairs near the fireplace. Just as the fire had been set up for them, so too had a small tray of biscuits and other treats.
"Just for the king." Sothis had silently floated right next to his ear before whispering that to him. He fired her a look of irritation, and she cackled, floating down to drape herself over the two seated chair next to Holst.
"Sorry for dragging all of you here, but there is something I need to explain to you both." They regarded him with confusion and curiosity. "Reason being, Hilda, do you remember what you said about the Hero's Relics?"
"Kind of, it's been a while since that, though. Why? What's the matter?"
Byleth decided to rip the proverbial bandage off quickly.
"They are made from the remains of Holy Beasts that Nemesis and his Ten Elites killed."
Immediately a silence fell over the group as those who had heard what he said tried to process it, bar Sothis. Hilda immediately looked down to Freikugel which laid across her lap. "They were murdered by Nemesis and the Agarthans in the Red Canyon. The Sword of the Creator is made from the goddess' dead body."
Colour drained from Hilda's face as both she and her brother began to stare at the blade strapped to his side. "You mean…"
"The Crests were gained by the Elites when they consumed the blood and flesh of the Holy Beasts. They were not gifts, the Crests were stolen." Both of the siblings went wide eyed at that statement. Byleth wasn't wholly surprised by this, although Hilda had already commented on the relics' oddly organic nature before, what he was saying essentially ripped a hole in the religion they and almost all of their ancestors had grown up believing in.
Sothis herself seemed shocked by that new revelation. She already was somewhat aware of the nature of the Relics, but to hear that the Crests were also torn from them had caught even her off guard.
Such was the respect she had, to not tear through his memories without his permission.
Hilda's gaze travelled back to her own relic, before her face twisted into one of disgust. "Eww. I knew these things were creepy, but this is just… wrong." She quickly turned to Holst and held it out. "You can take it back."
"What?" After Byleth's revelation, even the esteemed general didn't seem to want much to do with the weapon. It didn't matter. What was done was done.
"Reverence of such barbarism has no place in Fodlan. Nobility should not be dictated by this bloodright." His voice lowered a bit. His knowledge of events was different, but when he thought about it- Damn it, Edelgard. "If you do not believe what I say, ask Claude. What I am relaying to you was told to us by Rhea herself."
"Your majesty-" Hilda began, but he raised a hand.
"Do not fear. I will not make sweeping changes, nor will anybody be ousted. I merely wish to end the suffering of the children of the goddess, for I suppose at the end of the day, I am one of them." His eyes settled on the supposedly vacant space next to Holst where Sothis lay.
She was now much more attentive, ears perked up, staring at him as though he had three heads.
"Rhea was a child of the goddess, much like the Holy Beasts that were slaughtered and turned into weapons to kill their kin. She wished so dearly to see her mother once more that she created this religion, created homunculus children that bore the heart of Sothis… Until one had a child. Me."
Holst had decided to ultimately take Freikugel from his sister, although he had little choice as she was thrusting it into his grip while still staring at Byleth.
"I have the heart of the goddess, I know the truth. I wanted to give it to you." Byleth looked down at the axe sadly. The large ridge of bone formed some kind of crest, broken from the body of some poor being. "Each crest stone was crafted from the hearts of the goddess' children."
Holst soon spoke up. "So what you're saying is, the church lied to us?"
"In short, yes. We will never be told the full truth of why Rhea did what she did, but from what I can tell, a large part of it was her desire to see the goddess reborn. I am the result of her experiments, she wished for the goddess to possess my body and live once more..." He moved his hand to his chest, laying his hand over his heart where the steady thrum of the Crest of Flames fueled his life.
Resentment and pity began to bleed through his body, he was originally seen as a sacrifice to be made to fulfil the wish of someone who couldn't let go. Even the reason for his being was simply as a means to an end.
How could one claim to wish to love and protect humanity, yet throw their lives onto the fire in such a manner… This wasn't right.
He looked over at Sothis, whose perplexed expression had given way to utter contempt. It was not something that was fired at him, nor either of the Goneril siblings.
She was furious with Rhea.
"I knew she was not to be trusted." She hissed, her ears flattened against the sides of her head.
What was done was done. There was no risk of possession.
For now, his goal would be to try and slowly clean up the mess left by the Church and war until Claude could take care of things for them.
"Wait, are you like a god or something?" Hilda was the next to speak up, brushing a couple of strands of hair back over her shoulder. She was clearly still reeling from his words, but there was a tinge of curiosity to her tone.
"I'll say…" Holst commented lowly. "His majesty almost cut my head off within a few seconds of us starting our spar."
Comments aside, Byleth just shrugged in response to her question. "I don't think so, I have the heart of one, and I can wield her remains as a powerful weapon. That's all. Please don't put me on a pedestal more than you already are."
"I won't, don't worry. Even being the king, you're still more like the Professor to me." Much to Byleth's shock, she seemed to bounce back as soon as he said that, although it only lasted a few seconds. In spite of this, Byleth smiled at the old title. "This is… big, though. I can think of a few other lords that won't like hearing about this."
"You're right." Holst held a pensive look on his face. Byleth's smile quickly faded. Despite his rather gruff appearance and slight arrogance upon first meeting Byleth, the man was quite sharp. No wonder he was considered the Alliance's greatest general. "Everything was a lie, pack it up. I don't know how you're going to explain all this to them."
"You believe what I say?" Byleth again looked at Sothis, seething next to Holst. He would speak to her after.
The two nodded. Hilda spoke again. "It's a lot to take in, but given everything that's happened lately, I guess this makes sense."
Holst then added on. "If I know the other nobles, they won't let you take their main claim to power lying down. Despite everything you've done, there are still some who think you don't deserve your place due to your more common background- if you don't take offense to that."
"None taken." Byleth waved his hand. This was probably to be expected, he was about to try and gradually change a system that had been in place for over a millennia at this point. There was bound to be some pushback. "I will need to discuss this with everyone at a later point. All I wish is for Fodlan to move on from the pain of its past."
Hilda reached down to the tray covered in an array of fanciful baked goods and biscuits, before taking one.
"You're already doing that with Claude. You two are bringing Almyra and Fodlan together."
"Although I can't wait until he takes back over. There are other things to address than Fodlan's desire to remain isolated. I must first combat the famine occurring in Faerghus. The crops haven't been doing well for the past few years, or so I've been told." The anger and sadness overflowing from Sothis' mind into his own slowly began to phase out.
"Oh yeah, I remember Ashe bringing it up. The Empire was using it to weaken rebelling forces." Hilda's words made Byleth sighed to himself. War was war, and such tactics were commonplace. That didn't change the fact that it was weakening the lands after they had been subdued as well.
"Well, the Empire is no more. We need to deal with the aftermath." He bluntly responded, before taking one of the biscuits. When they didn't immediately answer, he blinked. "I'm sorry, this all might be too much to speak about after what I said earlier."
"Yeah…" Hilda looked down at her half eaten treat. "Should we go? You might need some sleep if you're going to do all of this stuff."
"You can go if you want to. I have some things I need to attend to before I go to sleep." He watched the two pink haired siblings slowly make to stand up.
"Again, I do apologise for how blunt I was with this. It was better to tell you everything I knew and what I planned to do with it in private rather than drop it on you during a meeting. It is a rather sensitive topic." Byleth didn't look at all, instead opting to stare into the fire.
He heard the footsteps of them walking towards the door, then Hilda spoke again. "No, Professor, I understand. If this goes wrong, who knows what could happen… There could be another war."
"Doubtful." Holst's voice was stern as he shot down his sister's worries. "There's not enough resources to sustain a rebellion or secession. Maybe at some point in the future it could happen, but for now, I doubt anyone would want to start the war back up."
That was true. It would take an idiot to reignite the conflict they had so decisively won. "I will make preparations to eventually go forward with my statement. For now, we should focus on more immediate concerns… like the famine."
To his surprise, the first response to what he said came not from Holst or Hilda, but from the now seemingly calm goddess. "You are better at this than you have given yourself credit for."
Her tone was gentle, eerily so, but before he could pay her much heed Holst responded.
"A good plan. Some of the nobility are coming to discuss land claims, since a large number of the other noble families have fallen."
Like vultures circling an injured animal.
"I have already promised Ingrid that I would try and preserve House Galatea's borders. Nobody will lose land so long as they are alive to claim it."
The door to his chambers clicked, and Hilda opened them. "I will see you both tomorrow, if you are planning on staying."
"Of course, I'm not letting Holst travel again until he's fully healed." He turned to look at the door, and saw her glaring at her brother, who had Freikugel balanced over his shoulder.
He had a look of exasperation on his face. "Is this payback for how I treated you back when you were at the Officer's Academy? Hilda, we will need to go back eventually."
"No- hey! I'm genuinely worried about you! We're staying until you don't have to wear those bandages anymore!" She began to usher him out of the room, which was admittedly a little amusing to Byleth, as the much shorter girl practically pushed her brother out the door.
She fired him with an apologetic look, although for what Byleth had no idea, before she shook her head. "Have a good night, Professor! We'll… speak about all this again later." With that, she left through the door and closed it behind her. Byleth again smiled for a brief second. She seemed to realise that he preferred being called that.
With their departure, the room was once again silent save for the crackling of the fire. He looked back to where Sothis was, only to find that the goddess had seemingly disappeared.
"You would think they'd have been more shaken than that." Her voice rang out right next to him, causing Byleth to jump a little and turn to his left. She gave a quizzical look in response to that, then laughed airily. "Are you still shocked by my presence?"
That imp- She laughed again, and he fell back against the chair, pressing the bridge of his nose. "I would jump if anyone did that to me, you were sitting over there, then you disappeared and showed up here."
Sothis hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, you do make a good point, but alas, it did not occur to me when I got up."
Byleth decided that he didn't want to pursue this topic of conversation with her and instead reverted back to what she had originally said. "I chose to tell Hilda about this because she would have been less taken aback. She never really struck me as the most devout amongst the Golden Deer."
"A wise choice, and it appears to have paid off." She walked around to his front, distorting the view of the fire with her translucent green-ish form. "To think, those with a lesser degree of belief in me are the most receptive towards what you are working for."
"They believe in a false image of you." At that, she hopped up onto him, taking a seat on his left leg. She gave him a wistful smile.
"I know. I just wish to see the irony in all of this…" He let her settle her incorporeal form against his own, curling her legs up in front of the fire. "I must ask, Byleth, do you regret your intended role in the church?"
"No, why?" He looked down at her, only to see that she was looking away.
"I do wonder what path your life might have taken had you not been forced to live with my conscience growing inside you. Might you have led a peaceful life? One not fraught with battle and suffering?" Her tone was much more subdued than it usually was, bordering on melancholic. Was she sad that he was stuck living like this?
Receiving no response for his mental question, he decided to voice an answer as though she confirmed his suspicion. "Sothis, I don't know, nor do I really care at this point. If I was born without your heart I probably would have just been another casualty in the war."
"But Rhea used you! Why are you so nonchalant about all of this? She expected me to erase you from existence all to fulfill some fantasy of hers and-" He decided he already had enough and cut her off.
"Hey, Shortstack." She snapped around at the strange nickname, her face twisting from anger to one of utter confusion. "Did you do it?"
"S-shortstack?" Okay, maybe mildly insulting her wasn't the best way to get her attention. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You're short. End of it. Answer my question."
He heard her growl darkly, before facing away. "You normally have more tact when dealing with these kinds of things. No. I did not, but I despise the fact that I was brought back to this world with the believed intent that I would do so."
He decided to pierce her with a slightly different question, directed at her earlier musings. "Would you send me back if you knew I was going to live a more normal life without you?"
"I.." She fell silent, still refusing to look him in the face. "I do not know the answer to that. You are suffering as you are now, but I do not wish to lose you."
Now it was Byleth's turn to fall silent. He couldn't say he expected that response. A yes, a no, a maybe, but not… that. How was he suffering? Maybe because he was stressed about his new responsibilities?
"I noticed it when we spoke of Gronder. The cold nature in which you described the deaths of the former Blue Lions house. You once saw them as you saw the Golden Deer. What happened to you, Byleth?" He could tell her tone was not accusatory, but her words still struck him.
Did he truly seem to see it in such a way?
"I didn't know I was… It just happened like that. We needed to win and I…" Byleth finally said what he wanted to admit to them all. "I made them kill their friends."
At once Sothis was upon him, cradling his head against her body. He could see her hand brush against his cheek, and right then, all Byleth wanted was to feel it… but he could not. Slowly, he took his head into his hands.
He felt sick after Gronder, the look upon Ashe's face after he came back from fighting the Kingdom in the battle was something he wasn't sure he could wipe from his mind. Ingrid too, he had sent her to cut down her childhood friends, and by the goddess, she did just that.
...The least he could do was help her get her land back, though it would never undo his choices in that battle.
He told her it was an accident. It was no accident. He could have rewound time and fought the battle all over again to avoid this, but he didn't.
After that, he made sure of one thing. He would be the one to put down the former students. One after the other, the Black Eagles fell by his hand. It just became an inevitability. He could not get caught up in it. They relied upon him to do this. He wouldn't let his allies bear the burden of killing their friends any longer.
Ferdinand, Caspar, Linhardt, Hubert, Dorothea, then Edelgard. He killed them.
Sothis' hands continued to caress him with their ghostly presence, attempting to wipe away the tears that built up in his eyes.
She knew what had been coming, and yet she could do nothing to physically soothe his body.
To everyone else, he looked like a man sobbing before an open fire, but…
"I am here now." She whispered.
Flames, he had missed her.
This took a little longer to put out than the AO3 version because FFN wants to make it as hard as possible for me to keep the formatting intact. I noticed this happening to my Persona 4 fic, but it's more of an issue here due to the way I show Sothis' dialogue. Sorry about that, and sorry for the wait in general. Please leave your thoughts as always.