The cold air that brushed against her face felt good. It was soothing, these couple of dark hours before morning. Usually, it would be around the time her father started getting the company ready to head out, but today wouldn't quite go as anyone was expecting.
Anyone, except for her.
"Lady Eisner! Big trouble, please help!" Shouting caught her attention long before her father did. Her father suspiciously enough wasn't currently present. Well. This was already shaping up to be a touch strange. The fact she didn't know what was going on left an uncomfortable prickle at the back of her mind. She turned to the shouting man and nodded quickly, hand going for her sword without a hint of hesitation on her features. Reputations were something that still needed to be upheld. The mercenaries expected a fearless woman who cut down her enemies without hesitation. Even if that hadn't really ever been Byleth and certainly wasn't Byleth anymore.
"It's kind of funny how they thought you a god even before I woke up. Or as your nickname suggests, a demon. Then again, given that almost inhumane expression you used to pull so often, yes that one, it's hard to fault your father's poor men. It seems that something is different already before we've even gotten the chance to make a choice. Interesting, this could pose some problems," Sothis bit down on her lip gently as she tailed after the taller woman. Byleth could practically feel her confusion, but Sothis had always been good at putting on a confident if curious front.
"What kind of trouble?" She asked, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
"There's, uhm, there's... there's a monster running around! Your father has already gone on ahead to try and deal with the issue, he wants you to come and assist him as quickly as possible," the man yelped before getting swept up among the other mercenaries who ran around trying to get themselves and their weapons in proper working order. Byleth chocked back Sothis' sigh as she turned the direction the mercenary had motioned.
She really prayed this wouldn't cause an early demise for Edelgard, Claude, and Dimitri. Yes, two of those three were complete idiots. Two of those three tended to usually be the problems. Letting them die would probably be the quickest way to keep their houses alive. But Byleth was greedy. And then there was Claude, also known as the good child who never started any wars and usually got to live. Why was Claude her only good child? Really, given his personality, it should have been the opposite.
If she let those three die though, it wouldn't be her happy ending. Nor did she even know how she'd deal with the church in such an event. She had the terrible feeling she'd just end up as Rhea's pet until Rhea realized that Sothis was so deeply a part of Byleth that Byleth could technically help fill that little void at this point even if she could never fully 'become' Sothis in the sense Rhea had first wanted. Which was so weird, so very weird with hints of Oedipus complex.
Some of Lady Luck's fortune seemed to be on her side though as the moment she started getting ready to head out for battle a trio of familiar faces arrived to see the mess that was her father's men running around to get ready for a battle. They had to defend Remire, after all, they owed it a good deal.
"What in the world?" Claude asked between pants.
Byleth stepped towards the trio without hesitation, letting the most dominating of her demeanor shine through. The least human part of her nature. "A monster was sighted nearby so we're setting out in order to slay it. Do you kids need something?" She still referred to them as kids. She had to. They were her kids. All of them except for Edelgard. Edelgard was different and special in a way that infuriated Byleth to no end thanks to Edelgard's own stupidity.
She had about as much charisma as a wilted salad and the same self preservation instincts as a moldy cabbage.
It was hard to notice the cracks in Edelgard's composure, at least to a stranger. But Byleth had years upon years of practice that few others would have. She'd gotten practice on adult Edelgard who was debatably even more guarded, even around the woman she tended to call her 'best friend'. Byleth could see the way a small hint of panic entered Edelgard's eyes at that moment, a hint of fear. Poor baby, stupid child. She should be afraid. But there was nothing to worry about. Byleth would fix it. She'd promised each of her students that whenever they had troubles she would fix it if they needed her to. That's exactly what that resetting kind of was.
"But!" Dimitri also looked fairly dismayed as he turned his attention downwards for half a second. "The three of us are being chased by bandits, they're very well after our lives," Dimitri looked at her as though she'd said she wants no part in protecting him. A little quick to jump the gun, huh, Dimitri?
"If you're in danger then come with us. You can hide with the townspeople while my group takes care of the monster and then if the bandits show up, well, they're either going to get smacked into a wall by a ferocious beast or overwhelmed by more mercenaries than they have bandits," she told the trio who seemed to relax slightly at the invitation.
"You have our gratitude, truly," Edelgard said with a relieved kind of sigh. Of course, her eyes still darted between Dimitri and Claude in a way that was easy for Byleth to interpret. They were supposed to die. But they didn't. Hubris was always one of Edelgard's greatest flaws. It seems as though she'd overestimated her own skills in comparison to theirs.
She simply nodded and turned on her heels, following the majority of the rest of the mercenaries in her company. She was already, for the most part, prepared, so it's not like she needed to rush around like a chicken with her head cut off. It certainly made the air about her different than anyone else. The rest of the mercenaries all rushed about putting on armor or running in the right direction with panicked steps. Byleth had no fear. Not for death. Not any longer. It made her look so different from the rest of the company. Glancing behind her once last time, she almost smirked at the faintest look of awe that crossed the features of her students. Good. Let them be in awe.
the bulk of her attention turned back to this apparent monster. It would make the most sense if it was some kind of demon beast, yet she felt such an assumption would just prove itself wrong. Would those even be roaming the world yet? Byleth didn't know how seemingly unstable Rhea was yet. Well, she'd find out soon enough.
The three young lords trailed after her like lost puppies as she walked. Trying to keep up with the pace she was setting. "Do you know what kind of monster this is?" Dimitri ended up being the one to ask the question all three were likely to be thinking. Byleth frankly would have expected it to be Edelgard, but the woman seemed to be in too deep of thought to pay much attention. The question came down to if she was second-guessing her assassination attempt or trying to brainstorm a new one.
"We don't know. The villagers in this area only sent word of the fact they needed help. There was no further information as to what was attacking other than the fact it's a monster. Which means it could be a snarling beast or it could even be a person." People used to call Byleth a monster too. They used to call her a demon made of ash, drenched in the blood and fear of her foes, flames jumping at her command. People called her a monster then too, either fearing her or revering her, depending on if it was an enemy or one of the members of the mercenary company who thought she to be a living legend. They weren't wrong.
When Byleth arrived at the village with her portion of the mercenaries and her soon to be students, she could already detect the sounds of battle. What she didn't hear was screaming, so hopefully, that meant that all of the civilians were safely out of the way.
They pushed forward until they managed to catch sight of her father, locked in combat on horseback just as he always favored fighting. the creature he was fighting actually did manage to take Byleth off guard for a short tick.
It was a big snarling creature, stuck halfway between a bear and a wolf, not to mention three times the typical size. It wasn't like a demon beast though. In the aura it carried itself with Byleth could feel something different. Something... almost intelligent. There was a purpose in those eyes and a method with which it fought. Which terrified Byleth all the more for obvious reasons. Smart things typically cause more trouble than that which can be defeated with a cleverly placed trap if taken off guard.
"What is this creature?" Edelgard gasped, actual horror flashing in her eyes for a couple of moments before she calmed herself and tried to make herself feel control over the situation. Before any answer could be given the creature spoke. It actually spoke.
"I am the culmination of your sins because that is what master bid me to be," it snarled, speaking with actual words that dripped with hatred. She could feel the fear starting to emanate off of not only her students but her men. Cowards. Without hesitation, she drew her blade and began to step forward.
"As per our agreement, your sword skills are in fact present. Just like always. Go ahead, show off a little," Sothis giggled, she outright giggled. A long time ago the two had agreed that regardless of reset, Byleth would keep her skills with a blade. Sometimes she needed refreshers on some weapons. Sometimes she needed Sothis to carry over her experience. But a blade? That was familiar. That was always something she'd had mastered from day one. Now her sword hung like an extension of her hand. It was only iron, but it would do. She didn't need something fancy for this creature.
Her father noticed her, yanking the lead of his horse so it cantered a couple steps away from the creature. He gave a quick nod to Byleth, and so began their well practiced dance of death.
She removed her blade from its sheathing, the sound alone being comfortable and familiar. Jumping forward she brought down her sword on the creature which tried to jump out of the way but didn't anticipate her speed. It howled in pain, beastly curses dripping from its jaw along with saliva. The hit she gouged wasn't anything impressive. It was just a score along the creature's left shoulder. But at this point, it was more than anyone besides her father had been doing to the creature.
It stood up a little straighter, analyzing her and growling before jumping at her with snapping jaws. Trying to block the attack would just lead her blade to shatter between those teeth, so her only option at this point was to dodge. Byleth managed to drop the sword as she swung her body out of the way in a roll.
The creature lunged at her again but the same maneuver brought her right back next to her sword which she picked up and used to slash the creature across it's exposed right hindquarter. Another howl of pain erupted from the monster as it turned on her with a feral glare. Her father chose this moment to quick ride forward, seeing an opening for her spear. They two had always worked well in tandem, now was no different.
The creature reared as the long blade of her father's spear slip between its shoulders without any kind of difficulty. Shaking its head furiously the creature wiggled and tried to free itself, but only managed to wedge the spear in deeper until it had the brilliant idea to slash at the leg of her father's horse. Her father was sent flying as the horse bucked, and he fell backward with a thump. Not lethal, but certainly uncomfortable given the noise that he made. Byleth flinched, averting her gaze from her father to the beast that now saw her as the dominant threat and was once again stalking towards her.
This creature seemed as though it really didn't want to die. Byleth sadly had a couple of problems with that. Before she could land another hit a cry erupted at the corner of her perceptions. Noticed more by Sothis who reported it than her.
"It looks as though those bandits were still a bit dead set on attacking your students. They, unfortunately, weren't prepared for something like this," Sothis' laughter filled Byleth's skull as Byleth continued to try and whittle down the creature's stamina.
Her father slowly pushed himself up, taking note of the mess that was this situation with a glower. He turned his attention to the mercenary company which had been standing fairly idly as they tried to figure out what to do. "Half of you go protect those children! The other half with Byleth!" He shouted, struggling to stand and lead the half he'd told to go aid her students.
The half that was assigned to Byleth nodded, taking their orders in stride and moving in a familiar formation to surrounding the beast. It continued to snarl, pulling back its lips to reveal long fangs which glinted a disgusting shade of yellow with black spots. The creature paid less attention to the rest of the mercenaries than it did to Byleth.
"Now, now. It seems to be almost entirely focused upon you," Sothis once again brought words to Byleth's thoughts. It almost seemed no thought in her head would go unspoken by Sothis. The goddess was right, the creature seemed to have an eerie focus on Byleth. Even when her father was lying prone on the ground the creature had been sizing up her. It almost seemed as though it was specifically hunting her... A curious thought but one that made her a bit uncomfortable, to say the least. That would imply that some being out there suddenly wanted her dead very badly. Perhaps whatever reset this last timeline?
She banishes the thoughts, she'll think about that later. She can't get lost in daydreams of future past in the middle of a battle. The creature advances once more, pouncing into the air in an attempt to leap upon her. She comes forward to meet it's body, ducking low enough to avoid claws and fangs while managing to get a good hit in on its belly. The creature howls in pain, landing with an awkward thud after her blade is done slicing through the soft skin of its stomach. It stumbles a couple of times and attempts to turn, blood pouring from the gaping wound.
Her allies give it no chance to get in a final attack. Without hesitation, the closest two mercenaries jump on the creature and begin to force their own weapons into its skin. They have considerably more difficulty than Byleth had, but she chalks that up to crests or maybe Goddess magic. All things considered she is some breed of deity. It wouldn't be strange to assume she gets some combative benefits from that.
Eventually, the creature was felled. Right on time as well, it seemed the remaining bandits were also collapsing to their knees under the imposing might of her father and his men. Such a powerful man, only ever brought down by a disgraceful child. Byleth would not see him assassinated again for no good reason, not if she could help it. In all the other resets, there were very few ways she could push the gears of fate that prevented her father from meeting his end. But Byleth didn't believe in fate the same way Edelgard didn't believe in the gods. If it did exist, she'd fight it with every bitter breath in her body until she made it bow to her.
"Clear!" She called out. The word was echoed to her a couple of times by various mercenaries whose voices she recognized. Close and old friends of her father who had been in the company for a long time. People she herself considered to be allies. People who regrettably hadn't been allowed in the monastery when it was demanded she become a teacher, and people who scattered to the four corners when they thought both Jeralt and Byleth to be dead.
Jeralt, the Blade Breaker. Byleth, the Ashen Demon. For those two to perish, there would be no hope for the average mercenary. Byleth couldn't really fault them for taking the opportunity to flee when it was presented to them.
"Clear," her own father's voice finally reached her ears as he rode up to her. With him wandered up three very frazzled and mystified looking students. Jeralt swung himself off of the horse in order to get a better look at the creature which the company had managed to slay. "What even is this thing?" He asked, approaching it very carefully. He knew better than most that sometimes creatures like these who looked dead didn't stay dead, and caution should be precedent until the creature's head had been cleanly severed from its body.
As per the company ruled when it came to terrifying and unknown beasts.
One of the heavy armored mercs who tended to try and take up the front and soak up blows whenever possible approached the creature. With a clean swing, he brought his axe down on the throat of the creature. Whatever it had been, it was quickly no more as the head pathetically rolled towards her father's feet.
It didn't look like a Demonic Beast, she could say that with some degree of certainty. "Whatever it is, it's not good." She said as she kneeled down next to the creature in order to better inspect it. The glassy eyes of the severed head seemed clear. Way too clear. "Whatever it was, it seemed to be intelligent. While it possessed some degree of independence it also seemed to speak of some kind of master," her expression thankfully remained blank despite the shards of ice clinging to the inside of her chest.
If her heart could beat it would have been hammering at her rib cage, but the only time she'd ever felt such a sensation was in the aftermath of standing beside Edelgard. When the crest stone shattered, leaving her chest and her body to fend for itself. She could still vividly remember the way Edelgard had looked at her with so much joy when her heart had started beating for the first time. That expression had made Byleth's poor fledgling heartbeat go crazy in her chest, singing and sighing in ways that were unfamiliar but exhilarating.
Byleth had always had a fondness for Edelgard, even in routes where she was forced to fight the heiress of the empire, but that had been the first time the world love had really popped into her head. She always wished she could go back and pretend the revelation had never struck her, but it was a bit too late for that.
Turning her attention towards her soon to be students, the sensation only caused all the more ache to settle into her still chest.
It hurt having to start over from scratch after carefully cultivating relationships that would take months if not an entire year or more to build back up to what they once were. But such was a sacrifice she was more than willing to make if it even slightly pushed her idiots towards a better future. One where they could all be happy.
"Thank you for saving us," Claude was the one to speak up first, apparently as suave as ever in spite of everything that'd happened. "Seriously, bandits and a monster? I think we would have been done for if it wasn't for you." He smiled that charming smile that didn't quite fully and readily meet his gaze. She could see the gears in his head turning as his eyes flicked across Byleth and her father, his attention landing more than once on her sword arm. Poor boy. Sweet boy. He hadn't even seen anything yet.
Before more thanks could be said Alois made his grand appearance with a joyful cry of her father's name as he realized who exactly it was that saved the monastery's most precious students. The two began to talk, her father looking less than pleased, and Byleth waited patiently and quietly as she always did.
"And who exactly is this?" Alois eventually asked, turning his gaze on Byleth.
"His child," Byleth answered when her father's eyes darted towards her for a moment. The benefit of her typically blank expression was that they couldn't tell how bored out of her mind she was. Sure, with all the resets she'd gone through, she had plenty of emotions bubbling under the surface as compared to the barren wasteland that Sothis had first walked in on. But she'd never quite erase her resting blank face though.
Thinking back, it made a bit more sense now as to why she'd been like that. Why she'd seemed, looked, and even sometimes felt... broken for lack of a better word. That's kind of what she was when Sothis had been nothing more than dreams. She'd needed the soul of the goddess in order to be real. An actual person. To think and feel. A deity so far removed from man for millennia had more emotions than she had when she first started to teach the Blue Lions all those resets ago.
Sothis, to her credit, gave no biting remarks when Byleth's thoughts wandered in this direction. The former could hear everything Byleth thought and could feel everything Byleth felt. Comments dripping with sass were an inevitability. Sothis stayed quiet for now though, possibly keeping her attention on the students if the way her mind and gaze wandered was indicative of Sothis' actions.
Byleth could feel the quiet tug to turn away from Alois and keep an eye on her precious students. To coddle Dimitri and tell him all would be well. To praise Claude and encourage him to reach for the stars. To gently scold Edelgard, telling her that now everything would be alright. There was no need to go down the road she was so dead set on. Teacher was here. Byleth, their best friend, was here. But they didn't know that. Couldn't feel the strings of future past binding their hearts and their souls to her.
"You should accompany us to the monastery, if only so Lady Rhea can thank you properly," Alois sounded very pushy when he said this and Byleth knew her father didn't want to piss off a Knight of Seiros, but Byleth couldn't help wondering what their fates might have become if he's looked Alois in the eye and said no.
It seemed this reset would be giving her no quarter as three sets of excited eyes suddenly started burning into her back. "If you're going to come with us, you wouldn't mind if I bent your ear on those sword skills would you?" Dimitri asked, trying to stand a little closer.
"Huh? Seriously? That's what you want to talk with her about? I bet she has the best stories in the world, and you want to hear about sword skills? Talk about boring. She's the daughter of Captain Jeralt, the Blade Breaker, think bigger!" Claude shook his head dismissively at Dimitri and tried to fake disappointment.
Edelgard watched the two with a removed kind of expression. It wasn't quite disdain, but it wasn't friendly either. While the two turned to one another as they began to bicker, her attention stayed on Byleth. "I apologize for my companions. Would you possibly be willing to tell us your name?" Edelgard asked, as polite and regal as ever.
Byleth let her eyes burn in the heiress for a couple of moments, feeling the dull ache in her chest as her gaze trailed over Edelgard fully. This woman was a moron, but love her fully the reborn Goddess did. "Byleth," she eventually answered after she'd remained quiet for just long enough she could see the uncomfortable crease of Edelgard's eyebrows starting to form. Byleth was well aware of Sothis' giggle.
"That expression of hers is always such a treat. Of course, so is her figure when she gets a little older," Sothis said in a sing-song tone. She was well aware of the effect Edelgard had on her. The aim was to get Byleth to blush, so Byleth turned on her heels and pretended that all three students didn't exist for a couple of minutes. "I suppose you'd like any Edelgard though, considering just how pathetically smitten you are. It's okay. Girls are pretty, I know," Sothis' gleeful joy almost bordered on malicious.
Byleth was well aware of the fact that the goddess had not been a straight woman. Unfortunately, Byleth couldn't really get even as getting even would require Byleth embarrassing herself with her thoughts, and Sothis was a relatively tough cookie to crack. Instead of delving into that mess while around other people she focused on helping her father round up the mercenaries and get ready for the journey.
This reset was going to be a strange one. No doubts about it. But she'd walk into the future fearlessly for the good of her students.