The tower responded to Byleth, and the blackness around them gave way to a large stone chamber that seemed to be one top of a tower.
"This is the goddess tower!" exclaimed Sylvain.
"Is it?" Byleth asked.
"Yes, I snuck up here on my first day at the Monastery. It's a great vantage from which to get the lay of the land!" he explained cheerfully.
"I have never been up here," Byleth acknowledged.
"Then I guess this is also a scene from the future," Lorenz piped up as he gestured towards the doorway that led to the stairwell and up the stairs and through the door, a version of Byleth and Dimitri walked in.
They looked more or less the same as they were now. So if this was a future, it was the future by days, maybe weeks but not much more. The biggest difference was in what they were wearing. Both of them seemed to be wearing the Officer's Academy formal uniform.
"This must be the night of the ball," commented Claude, "So you two sneak away from the dance to the tower. How scandalous!"
"It's quiet here, isn't it, professor?" the Dimitri from the night of the ball said, "That reminds me, did you know the legend associated with the Goddess Tower?"
"I have heard there is a legend," slightly future Byleth replied, "But I am not sure what it is exactly."
"Is that so," the other Dimitri continued, "You don't strike me as the sort to enjoy stories like that, but they say that wishes made in this tower will come true. I wonder who came up with such a silly notion."
"You don't believe it?" the other Byleth asked.
"Legends are legends, nothing more. I doubt there are many who really believe that wishes can be granted. The goddess just watches over us from above," he said sadly, "That is all. No matter how hard someone begs to be saved, she would never so much as offer her hand," he continued, "Even if she did, we lack the means to reach out and grasp it. That's how I feel about her."
"Huh, didn't think that would be your thoughts on the goddess," Claude commented.
Before the current Dimitri could muster a reply, the scene played on, and the other Dimitri said, "In any case, I suppose there's no harm in passing the time with silly legends. What do you say, Professor? Care to make a wish?"
"After you," the other Byleth prompted with a small smile.
"I suppose my wish is for a world in which no one would ever be unjustly taken from us," present Byleth could feel the weight of Dimitri's words. Perhaps it is because he had gotten so serious that the other Dimitri quickly adds, "Or something along those lines."
"That's a great wish," the other Byleth said with a smile tinged with sadness.
Present Byleth understood her future self's feelings. Dimitri's wish was good, but he made the wish because he knew the pain of losing loved ones unjustly. Byleth wished that Dimitri's wish wasn't so personal.
"Thank you, Professor. Although, at a time like this, perhaps it would make more sense for me to wish that we'll be together forever. What do you think?"
"Wooh! Did you just confess to Teach!" exclaimed Claude.
"Wow, your highness, I didn't think you had it in you to be so bold!"
If Byleth's heart was beating, she was sure it would have done that thing she read about, "skip a few beats". But her heart didn't beat. It was still, unlike her mind, which was filled with a thousand dreams of a life with Dimitri always beside her.
Unfortunately, Dimitri wasn't done talking, "Well now, Professor! You must admit I've improved in the art of joke-telling!" the prince added as he laughed.
"Oh," Byleth whispered as the scene before her dissolved into darkness.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Boar!" demanded Felix of present Dimitri.
"I…"
"I didn't think you were capable of such cruelty," commented Edelgard.
"That wasn't me!" Dimitri protested.
"Are you saying, your highness, that you would never confess to the professor or are you saying you would never take back your confession?' Sylvain wondered.
"That feels like a trap," Dimitri protested, but before he could say more, the tower reacted again.
They were still in the Goddess Tower, but now the topmost chamber was filled with bodies, "These are Imperial soldiers!" gasped Edelgard.
There was a figure against the far wall. A tall, broad figure with an eye patch was sitting with their back to the wall and making small pained noises as he struggled to stay upright.
"Dimitri!" Byleth was shocked. What happened to her prince!
The Byleth in the scene did not speak out loud, but her expression was one of distress and confusion. But there was also joy. The other Byleth was happy. Happy to be with Dimitri again. She approached him with caution as if he was a dangerous animal. She reached out to him, giving him her hand to take.
Dimitri turned away, "I should have known that one day you would be haunting me as well. What must I do to be rid of you? I will kill that woman, I swear it. So, do not look upon me with scorn in your eyes!"
What was future Dimitri talking about? Byleth saw no scorn on the face of her future self. All she saw was distress and confusion.
Future Byleth reached for Dimitri again, "I don't know what you are talking about, and I am sorry I have been missing, but everything will be okay. I'll make sure of it!"
Future Dimitri evaded Byleth's touch once more, "You," he seemed shocked and distressed, "It can't be! You're alive?!"
The tower reacted, and after that, there was just a jumble of discounted scenes, but the common theme was that Byleth would reach for Dimitri, but Dimitri would tell her to, "Go away."
She would beg him to eat, to sleep, and he would ignore her. The worst was when a brief moment flashed of Dimitri yelling at Byleth that if she stood in his way that she would strike her down.
Then there was a glimpse of a deranged moment where future Dimitri was muttering, "I can finally kill her. Finally, I can avenge them."
"Dimitri!" future Byleth called out to him, her voice anguished, but future Dimitri did not seem to hear her or even if he did, he refused to acknowledge her.
The next moment the tower chose to show them was once again set in the Goddess tower, and this time the towered showed the erotic sight of a mostly still armoured Dimitri manhandling a bruised and naked Byelth and spearing her with his massive member as she moaned obscenely.
Ingrid squeaked.
"And that's enough," declared Lorenz as the room was engulfed in darkness before becoming lit to reveal a fairly ordinary-looking room with featureless stone walls with no visible doors or windows.
"I think we have violated the Professor and Dimitri's privacy enough," Lorenz continued gesturing towards both Dimitri and Byleth.
Byleth faced her students with her usual stoicism even as her insides roiled at the thought of how badly damaged Dimitri had to become before he would touch her. At the same time, she was finally beginning to understand what people meant when they said they were "hot and bothered" because the sight of Dimitri having his way with her made her feel hot and bothered.
As for Dimitri, he couldn't seem to bring himself to look up from his shoes but what little of his face was visible was redder than the reddest tomato. Oh, what Byleth would give to be able to hear his thoughts.
"Wait, did you just affect the tower?" Claude asked in amazement.
Lorenz rolled his eyes, "You forget, Claude, if that's even your name," Lorenz started.
"It's not," Edelgard pointed out, "His name is Khalid."
Claude sighed, "Claude is the Fodlan variation of the name Khalid."
"Right," Lorenz continued, "As you might recall, whatever you want to call yourself, I am a graduate of the Royal Academy of Sorcery of Fhirdiad! I know how to cast an analysis spell, which I did. Through the information that spells fed back to me, I have determined that the tower can be affected by displacement spells. I am guessing the Professor is instinctively casting these spells as she seems to have some connection to the tower. I may not fully understand all aspects of what is happening, but I think I understand enough to do a few things. Including," suddenly a doorway revealed itself on the previously blank stone wall, "Enough to give us an exit out of this, let's call it a temporal chamber."
Felix was the closest to the door. He did not hesitate to fling it open and rush out. As if he was too afraid to see what else the temporal chamber would show him. Byleth could relate, but at the same time, she wanted to see more. She wanted to see more of her son more, even if he could only ever exist in another time as Dimitri very well might want nothing to do with her based on what they had seen so far.
Depressed by the thoughts of losing her son before she even had a chance to try and conceive him, Byleth trudged out of the temporal chamber and what appeared to be a large circular platform. It had no walls or ceiling but was illuminated by a large glowing orb at its centre. Beyond the light of the wall, darkness hung every over and around the platform. The door that they were exiting was located at the edge of the platform, and as soon as the last of them made it through, the door disappeared.
There were six tents around the orb of light at the centre of the platform. In front of four were banners with the emblems of House Aegir, Gloucester, Fraldarius and Gautier. Without missing a beat, Lorenz headed toward the tent sporting the banners of his house and proceeded to rifle through the bags and equipment left in front of the tent.
"What are you doing!" Ingrid protested.
"I am sure my," he picked up what looked like a standard-issue Garreg Mach notebook, "Son," he commented upon reading the name of the owner, "Edmund, won't mind," before adding, "Edmund… I wonder if that means I married Marianne."
"You can guess that just from his name?" wondered Dedue.
"It is not uncommon for nobles to often use the name of the wife's house as the first or middle name of their children," Lorenz explained, "But Edmund is not an uncommon name. So I cannot be sure that Edmund Lorenz Gloucester was named as such because I married Marianne von Edmund. Of course, I hope it is so for Marianne would make an excellent wife and mother."
"I'll have to give her my condolences when we return!" Claude joked.
"Your not funny," remarked Lorenz, "But let's see who you married, Mr Prince of All Almyra! Ah…" it was at this point they realised that there was no banner for House Von Riegan or for Almyra or for House Blaiddyd either.
They turned their attention to the tents without banners. One was a small tent made from a textile style that Byleth could not immediately identify. The other was a large tent that seemed to be made from textile heavily decorated in the Almyran style, with blue being the most prominent hue.
"Oh no," exclaimed Lorenz as he rubbed his face, "This is your fault!" he snapped at Claude.
"My fault?" asked a bemused Claude.
"If you weren't such an overindulgent father this," he pointed to the tent, "Wouldn't have happened! Oh, I hope Dimitri's son isn't fornicating with poor Tiana! She's too young to be having Blaiddyd babies!" Lorenz lamented.
"Ah, are you sure your okay?" asked Claude carefully. Even as Dimitri's head dropped lower and the tips of his ears turned redder. For her part, Byleth was just trying not to laugh.
Lorenz stopped and seemed to realise what he had been saying, "It is odd," he said finally, "But for a moment there, I felt the emotions and caught a glimpse of memories that must surely belong to my future self. Needless to say, if my future self was here. He would not approve of this shared tent arrangement," he glared at the tent, and Byleth had no doubt that Lorenz was seriously considering burning it down.
To put a stop to random acts of arson, Byleth stepped forward to go through the objects left in what is supposed to be her son's tent. But before she could do more than push away the flap that covered the entrance of the tent, Sylvain whooped.
"I married Ingrid!" he declared joyfully, holding up two notebooks triumphantly, "Alexandar Galatea Gautier and Hugo Galatea Gautier!" he dropped the notebooks and wrapped the stunned Ingrid into a hug, her back to his front, "You are never getting rid of me!"
He was clearly trying to be funny because his tone started off jovial, but his sentence ended on a slight hitch as if he was choking back tears. If he was, it was futile because the next moment, he was burying his head in the crook of Ingrid's neck and crying. Visibly, audibly crying.
In the position they were in, Ingrid's face was visible to all. She was stunned, confused, and as he raised a hand to gently touch Sylvain's head, she started tearing up too.
"Well," replied Felix cooly, "Isn't it great that my brother died like a true Fraldarius knight in the service of House Blaiddyd. Now there is no one in your way."
Sylvain and Ingrid froze before Sylvain's head snapped up, "Felix! You know I…"
"Fuck you!" he trudging off to the tent with the Fraldarius banner and disappeared inside, clearly wanting to be alone.
Ingrid stepped away from Sylvain, "Ingrid, you know I didn't… I never wanted Glenn to get hurt," Sylvain insisted, "I had already accepted everything. That's why I never… that's why I..."
Ingrid held up her hand to cut Sylvain off, "I know, because, until this moment, I didn't realise… but I am happy too," she said, forcing a smile, "I want to meet our sons now!"
"Right," replied Sylvain, more than a little deflated as he wiped his face on his sleeves,
"Anyway," he said, suddenly cheerful, "Let's find out who had Ferdinand's baby!"
"He married Dorothea," Edelgard replied. It was then that everyone noticed that while they had been distracted, she had been going through the Aegir tent, "What!" she demanded in response to the disapproving glances of the others, "There's no Von Hresvelg tent, and Ferdinand isn't here."
"How do you know he married Dorothea?" wondered Byleth.
Edelgard filled over the notebook to show the name, "Eddie von Aegir. Dorothea calls me Eddie, and she clearly named her child after me."
"Ferdinand could have named his child after you," Byleth suggested.
Edelgard scoffed, "Trust me, professor, I know my housemates."
"So, my daughter is here and sharing a tent with Dimitri's daughter," Claude started counting on his finger, "The Sylvain and Ingrid's sons have the Gautier tent. I am going to guess that given the Fraldarius tent, Felix's daughter Glenn wasn't left behind this time. Then we have Lorenz's son and Ferdinand's Eddie. So who does that tent belong to?" he wondered, pointing to the remaining unmarked tent.
"That… that's a Sreng tent!" exclaimed Sylvain.
Byleth blinked. Sreng and Faerghus hated each other in the present but in the future, apparently not. But the count of the tents was still off because there wasn't any place for Iris and Ethniu. Unless the two were sharing with Rodrigue and Tiana? With that thought in mind, Byleth finally stepped into her son's tent.
Byleth saw something move from the corner of her eye. She tried to react, but whoever it was, was faster and was able to stick something in her neck. Immediately, Byleth lost control of her limbs and fell to the floor.
"Sorry," came the accented voice, Byleth was quickly losing consciousness, but she was awake long enough to take in the sight of a black-haired Sreng girl, "The Prince's orders, he wants to see if he can match his majesty when they are the same age." Byleth heard her say as the darkness took her.