Chapter 4
I'll Run To You

~.~.~

Shadows lingered, their long dark tendrils creeping like serpents of ominous origins as rain pitter pattered against the glass windows of the monastery that morning. Only to be chased away by a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder. The storm was particularly bad today as Rhea left her chambers. A vial of the tonic she had made up for Byleth in hand that seemed to hold something far more potent. From her last conversation the young professor had improved a lot yesterday. She had reached the door and was about to open it when she heard a commotion inside and swiftly was greeted by Dimitri opening the door in haste. Looking like he had the day before: like a cornered, frightened animal.

"Lady Rhea!? Oh thank Sothis!"he stated in relief.

"What's wrong dear child?"she inquired in concern as she walked in. Though Rhea had slight idea. Had something happened while they had all slept?

"It's...it's..."his voice trailed off as Rhea pat his shoulder in quiet reassurance. The poor boy looked so distressed.

Calmly she went over and was greeted with the reason for the young prince's distress. Byleth looked like she had taken a turn for the worse. She was so deathly pale, her fever having more then rebounded with a vengeance. Her eyes seeing the glow Dimitri could not had increased drastically through the girl's veins like some draconic illness or mana created plague. "She's already this far along?"thought the priestess. Then that meant one outcome now...Byleth would have to face this without any help or loose herself completely. The blessing was not just a gift but a test.

Byleth barely opened her frosty green eyes as each labored breath became a chore it seemed. Why couldn't she make anything out? She felt like she'd been hit with something far worse then a dragon's fiery breath, no word existed to describe the sudden agony that was pulling and dragging her into this figurative murky swamp. Heat that scorched her veins, like venom from a monster's blight crawling like a disease with no cure. Her body didn't feel like her own anymore at this point as she couldn't make out the blurry shapes and figures by her side.

What were they saying?

One sounded distraught and frightened, the scent of sweets and worn leather coming from it. made her realize who that blonde and blue shape was. "Di...Di..." Damn, even her voice failed her, hardly even audible and laced in agony as she just looked so frail and in a daze.

Dimitri turned his gaze on her at just barely hearing her call him by the pet name only Byleth and one other knew him by. Was it really true then that her state was in fact a test of the divine? If it was it was an awful, cruel, twisted one. "Byleth...I-I'm right here."he stroked her cheek in concern. The look on her it was like she was not completely there, yet, looked so confused.

"At this point it's completely up to her Dimitri as I just told you. She's reached the final hurdle."sighed Rhea. The poor prince looked so frustrated and distraught.

"Is there really nothing we can do now? Not even to ease the professor's suffering?"croaked Dimitri, his fists put the quilt in a death grip as he trembled. Why? Why did everyone he cared for get taken or suffer so much!?

"Afraid not. But I'm posting guards outside the doors."This really alerted him. Why would the Archebishop do that?

"Monsters have been spotted dangerously close to the monastery. No doubt they are being drawn in, want to smoother this divine light like the demons they are. They fear her, they fear this cocoon that is about to open into something of great radiance."Dimitri could see the seriousness in her tone and expression. The same one she wore days before when she tried to stop Byleth and the Blue Lions from leaving for the Sealed Forest.

"I wont allow them to!"hissed Dimitri, instantly taking his teacher's hand protectively in his own.

Byleth was unsure why Dimitri's tone sounded so scared and desperate. She felt the warmth of his rough hand as she felt like she was falling, falling slowly in this thick murky swamp like existence. It felt like she was drowning, it felt like she was sinking. Desperately she tried to claw for the shore of her consciousness. Even sleep was now evading her at this point.

Too much pain...too hot...and just too weak. What were they saying? She wanted to desperately know and just pull Dimitri close. She knew it was him, then who was the other shape that was now leaving? Rhea? Seteth? She did not know. She just laid there gripped by these unfamiliar emotions of fear and desperation. Yes, so many unfamiliar feelings she was not used to as she thought desperately against her drowning sensation. Delirium gripped her as she began to thrash about, trying so hard to sit up as she fought the strong hands.

"Let me go!"

Dimitri was truly scared as he swiftly worked to restrain his teacher. Holding her close to him as she screamed and flailed in her fevered haze of delirium. "No, give him back, give them back!"reached his ears. "Don't take Dimitri!"she sobbed.

Screw formalities right now.

"Byleth, please calm down I'm right here! Everyone's safe!"he pleaded with her in desperation as he held her firmer to him. He winced as he felt what seemed to be sharp canines biting his hand. His eyes turned wide at seeing her action as her pupils seemed to gleam. But he did nothing to move; Dimitri just held her. "Byleth I'm right here, I'm right here."he soothed, saying the same words again and again like a broken violin. Eventually he wasn't sure how but his pleas broke through as Byleth seemed to gain temporary bout of clarity as she let go in her confusion. She looked as her vision cleared enough in her haze to see the one holding her, restraining her from moving was not some unseen foe but Dimitri, looking like he'd been beaten black and blue. "D-did I do that to him...?"she thought looking at him with sadness. She wasn't sure how but some how she managed in her pitiful state to tap into just enough mana to heal those bruises. "Didi..."she sobbed, putting his shirt in a death grip.

"Shh, it's alright, shh..."Dimitri just sat with her in his arms, relief he had gotten through as another thunder clap sounded. Now that Byleth had heard, not that she cared as she held onto the blonde teen for dear life. Scared that if she let go she'd slip, sink to the bottom of this drowning sensation never to wake. Despite this she felt herself slipping. "D-Don't go...don't let me drown..."she croaked so softly he almost missed it.

"You won't drown, Leth and I won't let you go."he whispered, pressing her closer to him.

A weak smile graced her face as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. She couldn't give up. But she felt herself sinking into darkness. However she did not fight it as she felt the warmth from Dimitri, his steady heartbeat like a lullaby to her as it eased her into a dreamless, restless slumber. Dimitri just sat there on the bed, holding her in silence afraid is he let go he'd loose his teacher. Nothing but her labored breaths and the sound of the storm to break the eerie silence. He hadn't even noticed the hushed chatter of gossiping guards that arrived outside their room's doors. But hearing the words that surfaced from their hushed voices he glanced up, blue eyes frigid and harsh as he adjusted the blanket to cover Byleth's fitful sleeping form in his arms up to her neck. He remembered the threat that was trying to get into these stone walls he had been warned of but Byleth was blissfully oblivious to. Nothing, nobody was going to harm his beloved. Let them come, let them try as so much lay a finger or clawed hand on her! He'd paint the walls red with the enemy's blood. They wouldn't even so much get inches towards her!

"You've protected and guided us for so long...now it's my turn to protect you."he whispered. What he did next he wasn't sure why but he kissed his sleeping teacher on the forehead. A silent promise, one only he knew at this point of time.

A commotion outside the walls was what woke Byleth as she clawed desperately for the surface of her consciousness but it faded just as fast. The last thing she heard was snarling and pain splintering of a door. Dimitri's gaze turned to the intruder of the huge wolf like beast with venomous yellow eyes and shaggy brown fur. Carefully he laid Byleth down on the bed and stood between it and her. "You want her foul beast? Just try and get through me first!"growled Dimitri. He didn't have his lance with him but his mind was churning fast with what Byleth had been working on most recently with him these recently months. He badgered the beast to go after him, moving it away from Byleth. It snarled and barked its anger at being denied it's quarry. It could smell it, it could see it, the tendrils of wispy glow of divinity the monster's instincts screamed to snuff out.

That female was danger, stunk of that race.

Had to be taken out.

But Dimitri wouldn't permit it as his hand began to spark with electricity. A powerful shot of plasma landed on the creature, making it howl in agony. But Dimitri didn't let up, not until nothing but a pile of sizzling ash and the stench of burned fur remained. Thoron took a lot out of the young prince but it was useful. He had been reluctant to learn magic but Byleth had wanted him to learn in case he found himself without a weapon, reasoning and he quote, "A future king must be able to adapt to whatever situation he finds himself in, Dimitri!" Those had been her exact words that day. He looked at his still sparking hand as he allowed himself to fall back in a chair by Byleth's bedside he had picked back up. Zoning out the chaos as guards stormed in with Catherine.

He only nodded to acknowledge any questions, his gaze not leaving his beloved sleeping face as she tossed and turned in another fevered bout of delirium. "Is that all?"he finally spoke.

"Um, yes sir."answered a guard.

"Then leave us."Dimitri's tone was final, cold and stern voice of a royal that wanted to left alone. Not the voice of an academy student.

The guards made haste to finish repairing the door way with a new door before leaving as fast as they could. They had already been chewed up by Rhea and her knights and Seteth. They did not want the ire of the crown prince of Faerghus. Dimitri looked up at feeling a trembling hand patting his lowered head. Greeted by a small smile from Byleth who couldn't get words to flow from her mouth. Instead actions had to be enough for her and it seemed to work as his features softened as he took her hand and held it to his cheek fondly. "Leth, what are you doing awake?"

"Wo...rr..ied. S-sensed so-someth...in...g..."she wheezed with great effort. Her voice almost to soft for his ears and probably would have missed if he was listening carefully. Honestly Byleth had woken at feeling a sort of almost threatening sense of deja vu, maybe because of Sothis? Or was it an old memory she had been too little at that moment of her past to recall today? She didn't know. All Byleth did know was just managing to seeing Dimitri trembling blurry form sitting crouched across from her. Wanting so much to reassure him she had done the only thing she could manage.

"You need not worry, just some feral animal that got in. The knights took care of it, you're safe here."he reassured, smoothing out the quilt after pulling it over her shoulders.

"St...ay...here...Di...Di...?"she asked drowsily, already slipping back into that dark abyssal consciousness.

"For you Leth? I'm always by your side."Byleth smiled at this before falling fast asleep. Dimitri sighed as he placed a fresh cold cloth onto her forehead. taking to using another to wipe away any sweat that lingered. So, so sick...not even back during the red wolf moon had he seen her this bad. He felt so helpless as he watched and tended to her. Throughout the day Byleth's fever held fast and strong, gripping her like a slithering snake. He had not been able to leave her side, not once in order to study the materials left for him. With it his anxiety spiked with her increase of suffering.

Byleth in turn felt like she sinking deeper, drowning as she wanted to so badly call her somebody, ANYONE to save her. Something she never thought she'd do but here she was no longer able to trust even her own aching brain and body as she began to wheeze, struggling against whatever nonexistent weight was squishing and stomping on her chest. Unable to and unaware anymore of Dimitri's desperate pleas.

"Breath Byleth, you have to breath."urged a soothing, firm voice from where she sat in the darkness. She could feel those rough hands on her bare back, a robe similar to Sothis's own garbed her body. Long strapped sandals covering the young professor's feet. She was gasping for air, looking like a scared lamb as she felt those large, firm hands turn her to face the owner's voice. She was surprised at who she saw as she gagged and wheezed for valuable air.

"F-Father!?"

Indeed looking her in the eyes was the chiseled, aged face of the dusty brown haired man that had raised her, cared and loved her, taught her to fight, and died in her arms. Byleth practically burst into tears at the sight of him. Was this a vision or was this her fevered mind being cruel to her? She could not tell as Jeralt's hands held her arms firm. "Listen Byleth you need to breath!"

"I-I can't..."she gasped desperately.

"You can, and you will. Just calm down, just breath kid."urged Jeralt firmly, concern in his eyes.

So Byleth tried as her father held her close, focusing on calming down and just taking slow, deep breaths. Eventually her breathing steadied, slowing to a more normal rhythm. "That's right, relax my sweet little girl. Just relax."she heard her father soothe, his hand rubbing her back. But she felt a separate warmth, heard a cry in the distance.

"Byleth!"

"Dimitri?"her gaze snapped in the direction of the shout as she got to her feet. Gone were the firm hands of her father as she started to walk toward the shouting which soon broke out into a full on sprint as she leaped out of the murky darkness.

Dimitri had been hysteric at the sudden turn just moments ago Byleth had taken late that evening. Desperately he had tried to stir her, get her to breath...anything! He was not prepared for what happened next, unaware of the tears he shed. Byleth truly startled him as she suddenly bolted up gasping, trembling. Dull, but alert eyes looked over to him, cupping his face and lifting his chin. "Dimitri, you're crying."

"B-Byleth...?"she smiled as she wiped away his tears.

"I'm right here, always will be."she stated, echoing back the very words he had told her. The result was him hugging her tight. It surprised her but Byleth welcomed it as she wrapped her arms around him, running her hands through his hair, waiting for him to calm back down. The storm had come to a stop outside the window at last as well, but they hadn't noticed. "Shhh..."she soothed.

Dimitri did eventually calm down, really in his composure as he reluctantly pulled away, rubbing his eyes, puffy from his tears. "Y-you're going to be alright."he whispered, as if not confirming it to her, but to himself.

"Yes, Dimitri...I'm going to be fine..."Byleth lied back down, her energy already spent. Her body no longer burning, no longer hot. Just this sore sort of numbness as she groaned, covering her eyes with her arm. Dimitri looked at her in concern again as he reached out to feel her forehead. The fever had broken finally, but lingered slightly. Probably would for another day or two but it seemed Byleth had won. "Thank you."He looked at her, truly startled.

"What do you mean?"he asked softly as he got up and closed the curtains.

"Your voice, it guided me back."she stated, exhaustion heavy in her voice. Dimitri could only stare in amazement, unsure what to say as he walked back over. He had heard old wives tales of such a phenomenon that a voice of a loved one could guide a lost soul back to the living. But never before had he thought it possible! But this was his teacher, his friend, his beloved...the one that constantly surprised him for better or worse.

"I'm just glad you're going to be alright."Dimitri said with a grin as Byleth looked up at him.

"I still feel like demonic beast took a swipe at me."she chuckled, earning some look of amusement from the blonde. "But at least I don't feel like I was earlier...my head's so fuzzy and throbbing."

"That should pass, professor. Can you try and get some rest?"he urged as he adjusted the blanket over her.

"Only if you hit those books. Can't have you falling behind now can we?"there it was that mischievious glint in her eyes that promised a world of torment if he didn't obey. With laughter from them both he held his hands up in surrender.

"I know better then argue with you, I'll get some studying in before bed."he quickly agreed.

"And Didi?"she called, using the name she and Ashi used for him.

"Yes professor?"he asked looking over curiously.

"Go eat and wash up, you look like you could use it."yawned Byleth before turning away, curling up under the covers.

Dimitri's face softened as he watched Byleth's breathing smooth out into a steady rhythm for the first time in days. Deep in slumber, no sign of her suffering from before. Not that she had mentioned it, maybe now would be a good time to take a few moments to himself after these hectic days? He still needed to change his clothes after dealing with that wolf monster and needed a bath desperately. Some food too wouldn't hurt while he studied. Byleth was out of dangerous part of her metamorphosis and likely wouldn't wake until tomorrow morning now; her energy spent. So grabbing a blank scrap of paper he jotted down a note and left it on the nightstand as a precaution, stealing another look. She did look like an angel, a goddess as she slept peacefully. With a smile he left, closing the door behind him and went to take some personal time to take care of his own needs and gather his thoughts. A lot had happened within 48hrs after all.

Dimitri returned later that night, fresh from the bath house and changed into some clean clothes. As predicted Byleth was out cold, softly snoring away. He had not expected to return to seeing a blue colored dragon plushie and lion plushie having been placed on the bed by her pillow. Rhea or Flayn must have been here while he had stepped out for a moment's reprieve. He sighed, stretching his stiff arms as he set the book on weather and combat strategy down on the table as he got up to his feet. "That's enough for tonight."he thought. He made his way over to the oil lamp on the nightstand and put it out. Byleth mumbling as she subconsciously grabbing the lion plushie, hugging it close as she mumbled in her sleep.

He couldn't help but smile at the innocent scene of the so called Ashen Demon snuggling a stuffed toy. "A lion and dragon and you go after the lion..."he whispered thoughtfully. What a amusing thought it was as he gently brushed stray strands of minty green from her face. Did she reach the lion because it made her think her students or maybe, just maybe it made her think of him particularly? It was a warm sentiment if it was either way.

The lion was the coat of arms of the homeland of the Blue Lions but it was also part of Dimitri's family coat of arms. As much as he wanted to just watch her sleep all night he was exhausted. So grabbing the spare blanket she no longer needed he curled up onto the couch by the fireplace at it still crackled with a dimming flame. Sleep claimed the young crown prince faster then he realized, unaware how drained mentally he was until now.

However Byleth had woken up late into the night and with unsteady steps got out of bed. The delicate, flowing light blue silk night gown swaying with each cautious step. Moonlight shining onto mint green hair, casting an ethereal glow to her. She was finally starting to get strength back enough to talk but she didn't trust her still trembling legs yet. Instead she favored taking support from any near by furniture she walked towards.

Her green eyes gleamed with a shimmer of delight at spotting her target over on the coffee table: a bowl of one of her favorite dishes. A simple noa fruit and cream covered pastry. Dimitri had introduced her to this dish the first week of her arrival at the monastery. For the most part it would be a dish easy to consume. And devour it like a kitten to platter of cream she did. Spoon in her mouth after taking the last bite she glanced up to see Dimitri's sleeping face. She giggled softly, setting the empty dish and spoon on the table before going over to readjust him since he was half way on and half way off the couch. "There, can't have you falling off now can we?"she whispered. He simply mumbled in his sleep as Byleth placed the quilt back over him up to his shoulders. She couldn't help herself though as she ran her fingers through those golden locks of hair. His hair felt soft and his face gentle in his slumber. Carefully she shooed some stray bangs out of his closed eyes as she adjust her own bangs, moving them behind one of her ears. "Sweet dreams, Dimitri and thank you for always keeping your word."she whispered with a tender look in her eyes before she returned to her own bed.

To Be Continued...