One thing Byleth had slowly and begrudgingly gotten accustomed to were the monthly missions she went on with her class. In particular, she'd gotten used to them always occuring at the end of the month. It seemed to be a running trend through every reset. With this reset, she had quickly learned that it was a caveat of herself being the teacher. Each teacher was assigned a different date at the start of the year for their designated mission time, so that all three teachers wouldn't be out at the same time. This was the same every month and no one had ever told this to Byleth, so she just happened not to notice.
Each teacher's mission occuring on a different date meant each class had a different date within the month they completed their missions, so houses could support each other without actually supporting one another. This meant that while Byleth was used to only doing missions at the end of the month, she wasn't grated the same liberty, being that she was an assistant teacher. As an assistant teacher, she went to whoever needed her the most at any given time. She was to help whatever classes asked for her assistance. Hanneman, upon telling her that she would be helping the Golden Deer on their monthly mission, made it fairly clear that she'd probably end up getting dragged along on every mission, just for the simple fact that she had a diverse enough skill set that she could easily keep students alive.
As though the other teachers couldn't?
She didn't think they were being lazy. Maybe they were just being overly cautious. Byleth wouldn't put it past some of the teachers. Her dad would drag her on missions just on the merit that he was her father, and it was a good excuse to snatch up some time with her. On top of that, she'd already displayed to him she was better at dealing with certain students. Like Bernie. Ever since the whole sparring battle between the Eagles and Deer, Bernadetta had been hovering around Byleth any chance she got. Byleth didn't necessarily mind; it was strange but not annoying.
She couldn't help but think about a joke some of her old friends once made. Adopting anxiety crippled archers with shit families was literally her aesthetic.
As long as it got Bernadetta got her out of her room more often, Byleth didn't care if she had to play the role of a safety blanket. The best part of it all was how Bernadetta was unceremoniously adopted into the Deer after completely destroying Claude with zero warning. They seemed to take a shine to her, and anyone the Deer took a shine to was as good as a member.
Byleth was just glad that Claude hadn't actually gotten hurt. A padded arrow was still an arrow; it could have done some serious damage if Bernadetta hadn't been noticeably pulling her punches, so to speak. She often held herself back, for better and for worse. Something Byleth would no doubt have to address.
The other interesting little detail that came from that whole mess was Edelgard hovering around Byleth in a way that almost set the woman on guard. Continuously checking on Byleth to make sure she was okay for a full day after the sparring match turned sour, and then not so discreetly inviting Byleth to do things with her in the following days after the stabbing.
Byleth couldn't wrap her head around it. She didn't think it was guilt, but then again she wasn't completely sure. Jeritza's actions had been… notably off, even for Jeritza. He wasn't the type to function without orders, but Byleth didn't know what kind of order Edelgard could have given to trigger something like this.
Even if it was Edelgard's actions that caused Byleth to be stabbed, Edelgard didn't openly acknowledge guilt. In that regard, she was much like a seagull.
So that left her wondering why in the world Edelgard had been acting so strange. If it wasn't guilt, and she fully knew that Byleth was fine, then what was Edelgard trying to achieve?
"Something wrong, teach?" Claude asked. The young Deer had appeared at her side with little warning. Byleth was used to it so she didn't think too hard about Claude's sudden teleportation. She shouldn't be letting herself get so distracted, though. They were currently on a mission; she needed to stay focused, even if it wasn't anything too daunting. Just a simple escort. Nothing too dangerous. They were just helping some merchants cut through bandit territory to get to the monastery faster, but it wasn't anything Byleth hadn't trudged through a million times before.
As long as it stayed just bandits, she was pretty confident in her ability to protect her children.
Byleth shook her head in Claude's direction. "Nothing's wrong exactly. I've just been a bit confused by Edelgard's actions as of late."
"Confused?"
"She's been hovering around me nonstop, more than even Bernadetta who uses me like a social crutch. She keeps inviting me to tea or to go places with her. Not to mention she's even brought me a couple of gifts. I don't understand it," Byleth said. Was she trying to butter Byleth up to make it easier to convince her to support the Empire in the war? That sounded reasonable to Byleth, but Sothis gave a very audible groan.
"Hey, uh, teach. Don't take this the wrong way, but you're really dense. I've met brick walls that are less dense than you, and their names are Lorenz and Sylvain," Claude turned her signature deadpan against her, seemingly in the know of something that Byleth herself wasn't. What exactly was that supposed to mean?
"I know, right! And I have to put up with this all the time," Sothis said in an over dramatic tone. Speaking, knowing she wouldn't be heard by anyone except Byleth. Speaking both for the sake of theatrics, and for Byleth hopefully maybe getting the message. It was Byleth, though. Sothis was better off trying to spell it out for her. Sothis decided she should just momentarily give up. It was better to let things progress at their own pace. Unless Byleth kept on being a mercenary-brained moron, in which case Sothis was going to hit her other half over the head and scream it for her.
Byleth's lips twitched downwards in all of a centimeter as Claude stared her down. "Better than pinning after 'Dima'." Byleth was stupid, but she wasn't that stupid. She sighed, realizing that maybe it was time to face the musical facts. It wasn't that she didn't know; she just… didn't want to acknowledge it!
Edelgard was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush. But why? Ever the pessimist, Byleth's instant reaction was that something bad was going to come from it. She should just turn the other direction and pretend the silly little crush didn't exist until Edelgard forgot about it. Because she would. After all, Byleth had been reminded time and time again. She was just an emotionless husk. She couldn't love, and someone else could never love her. It wasn't worth the heartbreak of trying.
Claude sputtered and looked at Byleth in offense. "How dare you know about that, or that nickname! Hilda doesn't even know about that, so keep your voice down." Claude narrowed his eyes at her, but Byleth kept her expression eternally blank as always.
Throughout a whole year, Claude being an actual disaster usually ended up with quite a few crushes. The one he moaned and whined about constantly without fail, was Dimitri. Dimitri was the one he always got the most flustered and embarrassed over for some reason, so Dimitri was the one that Byleth liked to tease him about. She had no idea if they'd ever end up together, but during one reset where she ended up the archbishop both boys insulted her. So using the terrifying power she now possessed she proposed the two get married to forge better relations between Fodlan and Almyra!
Claude wouldn't talk to her for weeks after that, but it was well worth it just to see both boys physically break down in varying degrees of panic. Was that malicious?
"Yes."
Shut up Sothis, Byleth wasn't asking her.
Claude glared at her a couple more moments before sighing. "Okay. So I might have a small crush. Multiple small crushes on multiple people. One of them might very well be a best friend of mine. Will I act on any? Absolutely not, I'm no fool. I'm a true disaster bi, one cornerstone of my friendship with Hilda. But back to the topic of Edelgard," Claude didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as all the merchant wagons came to a sudden abrupt stop. Both student and assistant teacher turned their attention towards the front.
"Draw your bow," Byleth said, immediately reaching for her sword.
"Are you sure-"
"I said draw your damn bow. Stay here and don't do anything reckless." Before Claude got the chance to speak up, Byleht started making her way towards the front of the long train of wagons, passing by various students with confused expressions, telling each of them to draw their weapons and be careful.
It was supposed to be a simple escort mission. Take merchants A, B, and C to location D and the job would be over. But no. Something would, of course, have to go wrong, because that's just how the laws of the universe worked. Byleth blamed Sothis. Said deity just grinned like a smug cat.
She eventually made her way to the front of the wagon train, finding that Hanneman and the leader had stopped curiously. They were in the middle of what seemed to be some heavily forested terrain and the two leaders had gone completely still, eyes skimming the tree line.
Considering the road was the only clear area, traveling here was dangerous. It was easy for an ambush to hide in the trees and wait for unassuming travelers to pass by. Not to mention, backtracking was difficult since the road wasn't large enough for a cart to easily turn, making escape that much harder and leaving the only options fighting back or surrendering.
Hence why Byleth and her children were here now.
Byleth almost asked what they were looking for but noticed the very obvious reason, attention turning this way and that. There was movement coming from all directions. Slipping and slithering. Whatever presence lurked around in these woods felt slimy. In front of Hanneman and the wagon train was an abandoned wagon that seemed to be missing both rider and horse. It was knocked over on its side and there were smatterings of blood surrounding it. "I'll go," she said, glancing towards Hanneman. He gave her a quick nod as she slowly approached the obvious trap.
She was barely to the cart when the ambush triggered. When Byleth heard the cries of war and bodies started flinging themselves from the tree line, she truly meant obvious.
What she wasn't expecting was for any plague doctor looking ass mages with the Agarthian symbol printed on it to come jumping out of the bushes alongside a veritable treasure trove of weak-looking bandits. It would have been a good learning experience for her children if over ten of these mage punks didn't suddenly fling themselves out of the cover alongside brigand galore.
"Scatter and take a battle position," Hanneman shouted over the cries of panic. "Protect the merchants and yourselves!"
That left Byleth to fend for herself as she saw her children beat a hasty retreat with merchants in tow, trying to find some actual cover - aside from hard to maneuver trees - and a way to even the odds.
Byleth was separated from the group. Byleth was separated from her children. Two mages and about five bandits stuck around, eyes glued to Byleth as the rest scattered after her children in various directions.
"Hey, she's kinda cute. Why don't we keep her," one of the bandits elbowed one of his brothers-in-arms as he looked Byleth up and down. Venom and fire filled her mouth, but she kept her expression carefully neutral. Let them boast. Let them talk. They'd let something valuable slip if she continued to stare into their souls with her dead looking eyes. She just watched them passively. A couple seemed shaken by her lack of a reaction, but the rest seemed all the more fired up to break her. At least the bandits, anyways.
The mages, who were obviously members of Those Who Slither, regarded her with the appropriate amount of caution. It still wouldn't be enough to save them, but it was better than the flippancy of the bandits. Outnumbered or not, never underestimate an enemy.
"Silence, you fools. You'll be keeping no one. We're paying you to ensure that no one escapes alive," one of the people (a man?) in a plague doctor mask said. So it wasn't any normal battle. This was an assassination.
Byleth took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. She could feel magic crackling behind her. Sothis appeared at her side, practically vibrating with energy. The ugliest glare Byleth had ever seen was plastered across her features. "Those, are my children," she quietly hissed.
"What?" One of the bandits asked.
"Those are my fucking children!" She yelled, throwing herself forward. As soon as she moved, all the energy that had slowly been building up and up and up inside of Sothis was released in a catastrophic attack. Fire and electricity slammed into the bodies of the bandits standing in front of the mages. Byleth ran right through it, feeling her skin singe and tingle. She could heal herself though, and Sothis could heal her too. There was no reason to worry about herself. Her children. She needed to get to her children.
Instead of walking, Sothis levitated, which was a hell of a lot faster. She shot after Byleth like a bottle rocket, casting spells at anyone who got too close to Byleth, intentionally or accidentally. Fire and electricity lanced off of her skin, but Sothis' magic was her magic and well-trained spells never hurt the user. Not as much as it hurt the enemies, at least. She got within stabbing range of one of the mages before he had the chance to pull up a spell. She drove her blade through his stomach without a hint of hesitation. Retracting her blade with a twist, she then went for the throat. He didn't even have the chance to raise his arms, meaning the sword had no obstacles between it and his neck.
He could bleed out for all she cared.
She turned on the other mage quickly. Even with the mask he was looking at her like he had realized his miscalculation and was starting to contemplate his retreat. He turned on his heels and began to run. Not before a spike of electricity, this time from Byleth's hand, ripped through him and brought him to his knees.
The magic was strong and the mage started to convulse violently. Byleth hadn't been paying much attention, but apparently Sothis had already taken care of the bandits for her. If Byleth was scary, Sothis was outright terrifying. An unseen enemy that couldn't be damaged and could attack foes as long as Byleth herself was alive. The beautiful thing about Sothis was that nothing could harm her but she could harm everything else.
The downside of Sothis was the fact that her magic technically drew on the same pool of magic as the Divine Pulse, as opposed to Byleth who could use the pool of energy for her magic that she'd had long before she was aware of Sothis' existence. This meant that they got fewer Divine Pulses and fewer of their other special divine abilities the more Sothis used her own skills.
"Hang back, don't waste too much energy. Focus on healing and blocking lethal damage when we get to the little ones." And they were going to get to the little ones. She hissed as she inspected her sword. It was supposed to be a regular mission, and she didn't want to soak up all the experience so she'd taken a cheap iron sword with her.
Said sword was now completely ruined given the kind of attacks she'd been doing. She now had a chance to properly survey the damage. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a small pang in her chest. Regardless of circumstance, a life was still a life, and while often necessary she abhorred taking them.
If possible, she liked to end things peacefully where she could. But her children were in danger, and she prioritized her own kin over trying to save every random stranger from their own poor decisions. She would protect her little ones first and foremost.
Taking a quick scan of the surrounding area, she reached around behind herself. Just under her magical cloak of holding.
Of all things, out from behind her cloak came a falcata.
Byleth liked swords. She owned a lot of swords, which she liked to keep in a chest that went everywhere with her. She had a couple chests that always went with her, but the sword box was especially important. Many were gifts, others keepsakes of foreign lands. Some had a permanent spot on her body while others she mixed and matched as the situation called for it. The falcata was one of her favorites and whenever she went out on a mission, it had a forever spot hidden against her back under the cloak. Falcatas were extremely heavy duty chopping blades. A bit strange to wield and unruly to someone who didn't understand them, but absolutely devastating.
It could cleanly behead someone with minimal effort and that's why Byleth liked it.
Since magic seemed to be a good go to for this battle, the falcata would work well for coming in and hitting heavy on already weak enemies.
She charged back in the direction of the wagons, noticing as she ran that most of them were absolutely pristine. No raiding. No burning. This meant the students really were the main targets. She instantly began preparing a spell and started searching.
It didn't take long for her to come across the first scuffle. Lysithea was standing a couple feet behind Lorenz and Leonie who were stabbing at a handful of bandits, slowly beginning to lose stamina against the larger group. Lysithea was trying to pick off a couple mages in the distance, but it was difficult for her. It was a shame Byleth didn't have a bow on her. Fortunately her magic had better aim.
She finally released the spell she'd been charging at the pair of mages, managing to take one out. Lysithea thankfully took out the other.
Without the constant pressure of mages shooting fireballs at them, Leonie and Lorenz were able to take out the remaining two on their own. "Professor!" Leonie cried, flinging herself in Byleth's direction. Lysithea went the extra mile when she charged Byleth, going so far as to wrap her arms around the waist of the older woman. Lorenz didn't share their joviality, but he looked relieved.
"Are you three okay?" She asked, brushing her fingers over any injuries she could catch sight of and allowing a small dose of healing magic to seep into the wounds of each of her children. They each gave nods as she finished checking them over. "Do you know where the others are at?"
Her poor little Deer, they were shaking. Leonie nodded, pointing off a little farther in the distance and off to the right. "I saw Ignatz and Raphael go right with Marianne. Hilda and Claude went left. I'm pretty sure they're on their own since Hanneman and the merchants went right."
Byleth nodded, processing the information. She could still hear the shouting of battle, which meant her other fawns were still in danger. "I need the three of you to go and meet up with Hanneman. Do not try to fight anyone else until you find Hanneman unless you absolutely have to."
"What about Claude and Hilda!" Instead of a question, her words came out sounding more like a demand. Lysithea looked absolutely distraught, completely dropping her mature facade and showing just how scared she actually was.
"I'm going to go find those two. Okay? I need the three of you to hurry so I can go look for them," she said. Sothis was already shooting off in the direction indicated, their shared fears climbing higher by the moment. Lysithea still looked hesitant but Leonie grabbed her by the wrist and started sprinting the direction Hanneman had gone with the rest.
Lorenz paused, looking at Byleth. "You better keep those two safe," he said in a remarkably gentle tone before following Leonie and Lysithea, head scanning the surroundings for danger the girls were likely to ignore in their panic. The moment she knew those three were going to be safe, she bolted the direction that Hilda and Claude were supposed to be. Those two. Of course they'd end up alone. While Claude might have tried to abandon the other two lords to let them deal with the bandits way back when, she had no doubt he probably shot off trying to be a distraction if it meant protecting the members of his own house.
Hilda being Hilda, knowing it was a stupid idea, probably still followed him anyway.
She quickly caught sight of Sothis, as well as Hilda and Claude. Her children were pinned under the collective might of three mages and about four bandits. It was a wonder they'd actually managed this long. They both looked injured and dazed, enough that Claude wasn't standing. Claude wasn't standing. Sothis, instantly went to his side, forgetting about attacking and wordlessly becoming a healer to make sure that Claude was still alive.
Byleth threw herself at the nearest mage, cleaving her sword into his body. The arm he'd had raised to cast another spell came completely off. The strangled cry attracted the attention of the rest of the bandits and mages, who promptly turned on her.
Without Sothis the battle was... a bit rougher, to say the least. But every time she glanced at Hilda holding onto Claude and shaking, she wanted so badly to rip out the throats of each and every one of the fools who dared to hurt one of her children. These were her children. Not theirs, not their parents', and sure as hell not the children of the monastery. They were hers.
And so Byleth cleaved through bandits and mages alike, feeling herself grow faint as magical attack after magical attack surged through her body. She was pushing it. But it didn't matter. Her children! Her children!
She was shaking, breath ragged as she did her best to parry the attacks of bandits and withstand the onslaught of the mages. It hurt so badly. But Claude was hurting worse, and she needed to protect her children.
She was being overly aggressive, and she knew that. Something ugly and dark bared its fangs that had never been there in her chest prior to Fodlan, and she tried to ignore it. But it was hard to be merciful and quick when she was the one losing enough blood to feel dizzy and Hilda was whimpering as she clung tighter to Claude.
She cleaved through the last mage with a pant on her breath and her own blood dripping into her eyes. Fire in her veins and fire on her skin. Pain ripping through every piece of her being as she turned to her children with worried noises.
"Professor," Hilda said, tears in her eyes. "Is Claude gonna be okay?" She sounded so scared, so terrified. Hilda never sounded scared, and it made Byleth all the more upset. She tossed her weapon to the ground near Claude's feet and quickly ran to his side, pressing her head to his chest. A heart beat, a faint one but a heartbeat nonetheless.
"You're gonna have to use our powers. I don't think what I have is good enough," Sothis said, still fretting over their child. Sothis, as powerful as she was, couldn't use the full stretch of their abilities as Sothis still lacked a physical form.
Byleth nodded, pressing her hand flush against a large gash across Claude's entire body. It was shallow but large and undeniably bloody. She heard him gasp as green light pooled under her palms and seeped into the wound, causing the skin to slowly bridge the gap and knit itself shut. He would need more time and rest to actually be anywhere near healed. To be completely honest, Claude was pretty messed up. Badly.
"Hilda, can you carry him? Carefully?" Byleth asked, picking her sword back up. Sothis went into scout mode, levitating far up into the air. Her eyes scanned the entire battlefield, internally relaying everything she saw. Good, it looked like the rest of the Deers had found their way back to their teacher. It was just Hilda and Claude now who were out and on their own.
Hilda nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Help me get him on my back." Carefully, the pair managed to get Claude on Hilda's back in something of a piggyback style. The Hilda who complained about work and refused to die for another person wasn't there right now. This Hilda was still shaking, but holding onto Claude's thighs to keep him on her back so tightly Byleth was almost worried the poor boy was going to bruise. Her eyes were glassy.
These were children. And as far as they knew, this was their first mission.
Byleth made sure that Hilda stayed close, never letting the younger girl out of her sight. There weren't any more enemies to face, but better safe than sorry. Reinforcements could always come to ruin their day.
It was a bit of a trek, but they managed to catch up to the main group. Marianne sprinted at the trio with an expression Byleth had never seen on her face before. A mixture of worry and absolute wrath. It was almost chilling how serious she looked, like someone had flipped a switch the moment her classmates started getting seriously hurt. She started fretting and fussing over the pair, trying to heal them as best as her own capabilities allowed. There wasn't much more that magic could do for Claude, but Byleth was certain that Marianne's aid at least helped.
"We should get back to the wagons and get out of here," Hanneman said. The merchants all nodded, more than ready to get the heck out of dodge. The students were even more excited, crowding around their house leader like they could form some kind of human shield. Lorenz... almost looked broken every time he glanced at the unconscious form of Claude slumped weakly over a blood-soaked Hilda. Ignatz had his hand on the shoulder of Lysithea who definitely didn't look like she was about to start crying every time she glanced at the pair.
Again, Byleth was reminded of the fact that these were children. The youngest was Lysithea, barely age fifteen. The oldest was Leonie who was only nineteen. These were children, and regardless of what dreams they'd been having regarding dead routes, these were children who'd just seen their first battle.
It was bloody, and for them it was - without question - terrifying.
They were all left with a single question. What just happened?
Before they could make their way back to the wagons and get as far away from this forest as possible, a roar sounded from the trees. Large footsteps started to approach the group. Those with the least injuries took the front guard while the merchants and those with the most injuries fell to the back. Byleth could feel a small burst of cold panic shoot into her stomach, courtesy of Sothis.
The creature, whatever in the world it was, had a giant muzzle which was suddenly peeking out of the trees. Two large glowing eyes peered at them, eerie in how bright yellow they were and how they seemed to lack a pupil. And then it spoke. "Little children. Come here. We must make you perfect, as all things should be. As master bid all things should be." Byleth felt sick to her stomach as it spoke. Something about the creature felt intrinsically wrong. Not even monstrous creations like the crest beasts felt this wrong. Those were terrifying, but they weren't wrong on the same level as this creature. This creature felt like it was an affront to Byleth herself. It made her feel gross, like her skin was crawling.
She recognized that feeling. While it had been a lot more muted the first time she faced one of these creatures… she knew this had to be the same thing that attacked Remire way back when at the start of this reset.
"A Rift Beast," Sothis suddenly cut in. A what? "This creature. I don't know why, but I think it's called a Rift Beast." Alright, very well, it was called a Rift Beast. A fitting name, considering how foreign and wrong it felt to Byleth. She grabbed hold of her sword and her magic, preparing to face the creature, only to her greatest horror to realize something felt like it was missing.
"I don't think we can reset or use the Divine Pulse in the presence of whatever this monster is. We aren't strong enough," Sothis said. Okay, wonderful. They weren't strong enough. What the hell did Sothis mean they weren't strong enough, they were a god!? "I don't know why we aren't strong enough, stop freaking out and just fight the thing. Pretend it's a different region from before you knew me and you only had one life."
Sothis wasn't wrong. Byleth just had to play this smart, like she was a tactician again and there was no such thing as a second chance. Each unit had one life and one life alone. No Divine Pulses, no Turn Wheels, no nothing.
They'd figure out the rest once her children weren't in danger.
As the creature emerged from the woods, it presented itself with a very ursine body. The bear like qualities were clear, but its hind legs seemed to be that of a lion. It was also somewhere near twice as large as your average lion or bear. This was fine. This was absolutely fine. No, this was great.
"Mages, start firing!" Byleth shouted. The command roused Hanneman and Lysithea, who started firing their most powerful spells at the creature as it approached. Even Marianne, a healer without a doubt, shot off the few spells that she knew. Byleth started chucking her most powerful magic at it, but even that wasn't enough to slow its approach. Its presence felt heavy and ominous, and she could feel a unique kind of pressure coming down on her. It actually made her ears pop. She flinched for a moment, head fogging as a sharp pain wracked her body. Sothis also flinched.
"I... I think time just broke. Okay, this is a really real emergency. You need to kill that thing fast," Sothis' panic was evident enough in her voice. Time... broke? How does time just break? How does this random creature just break it as though it's no big deal? What does that even mean? "It means that time has unaligned itself. Broke might be the wrong word. It's possible that certain countries might be moving at a faster or slower pace than others. It's not a guarantee, but it's possible. It also means that there might be some issues with our company recruits being able to get here. As soon as we get rid of this beast and get control of time back, I should be able to fix the various regions before it does too much damage. Assuming they aren't moving too quickly, it'll be like nothing happened. Maybe a month or two lost at worst. The sea will take some time to fix though, and it's possible some of our ships might get stuck in time whirlpools that I'll have to fix before they can get here."
Great. Wonderful. Peachy. The creature, no matter how many spells she flung at it, continued its ominous approach. So Byleth did the one thing she knew how to do best. Run up and stab it. The creature reared up on its hind legs the moment she approached, roaring at her in a terrifying voice somewhere between animal and monster. The one benefit was that the beast left its stomach wide open. She gouged the longest slash she could before swinging her body away from the impact of the monster bearing down on her at full force.
It wasn't actually her who managed to get the final hit though. It was Ignatz. Ignatz who noticed a tiny red emblem in the middle of the creature's forehead and aimed at it. His arrow struck true. The creature froze up, going completely rigid before falling to the ground in a heap. Its skin and flesh literally began to bubble and ooze off of its bones, turning to a puddle and seeping into the earth. Byleth turned on her heels and rushed back to the group. "Come on. Let's get out of here immediately, don't ask questions, just move. Before anything else shows up, let's go!"
No one questioned it. Instead, they ran back to the wagons and rushed the rest of the trip home, Byleth taking over carrying Claude for a very weary Hilda. She refused to leave the sides of her poor Deer. Mauela had to pry Byleth away from her children and force her out of the room just to properly tend for Claude.