Hello. In the first oneshot, we explored lessons. This time, let's talk about Death. I am a filthy casual and therefore play normal-casual, meaning I've been able to avoid killing my characters off for real. Even if they did die, I just divine pulsed them back to life and pretended nothing happened. I wonder what it would be like to actually experience that? Anyway, let's go!
Summary: Lysithea cannot take the way Byleth seems to be babying her for no reason. Unfortunately for her, something seems to have convinced him that she's far too frail.
"You think you're better than us just because you got in early?" one particularly burly fellow questioned, Lysithea letting out a quiet grunt when the push shoved her against the wall. "You can't even take someone knocking into you in the hallway! A crappy little child like you ain't gonna make it in the Officer's Academy!"
"I don't think I'm better than you, I know I am." The smaller girl retorted, folding her arms. "After all, I don't resort to a pathetic attempt at bullying when people prove themselves more skilled. IF you were maybe somewhat close to meeting my grades, maybe it'd be another story, but you're one step away from failing out. You're nowhere close to lecturing me about making it in the Academy."
"This is a place for knights, strong guys who are meant to protect the people. Who cares about our grades when we're some of the best fighters in our year?" another boy said, cracking his knuckles. Their aggressive behaviour only got worse when Lysithea merely rolled her eyes, unflinching when his fist slammed against the bricks beside her head. "Weak little children like you should just head home before they end up killing themselves and their classmates. Maybe you should come back when someone can touch you without snapping you in half!"
If Lysithea had her way, the bullies would've already been set alight and drowning in darkness for their words. Indeed, the flames were already dancing around her fingers before they were suddenly extinguished in the white haired girl's shock, courtesy of the arrows that suddenly flew towards them.
The sheer precision of the arrows spoke of a master archer, cutting through the air at incredible speeds to smack into the second bully's fist while the other was unfortunate enough to take the arrow to the back of his head. It was just a shame that the arrows were blunt.
It didn't mean they didn't hurt however, the two boys reeling back with a cry as the arrows clattered to the ground. Biting back curses on their tongues, the two began looking around, completely ignoring their original target while they searched for the archer. Luckily for them, it didn't take long for said archer to reveal himself.
"You think you can take on the future Captain of the Knights!?" the first bully yelled out, more than ready to beat down on the culprit until he turned around and caught sight of who he actually was. With his partner turning around at the same time, it barely took a second before their faces fell and their bluster dissolved away. "P-Professor Eisner!?"
"Captain of the Knights?" Byleth parroted, an unreadable tone to his voice. To the bullies, it only made even more terrifying as the professor lowered his bow and slowly stalked forward. "You, Captain of the Knights of Seiros? The most important job in the Church's militia? The job only given to the greatest warriors? Do you recall your grades?"
"U-Um, e-er-"
"Sword: C+. Axe. C+. Lance: C." Byleth began. Certainly not an unreasonable grade for where they were in their education; Lysithea, for all of her skills elsewhere, had admittedly worse scores. It was only when the blue haired man continued when the boy began to wince more and more. "Bow: E+. Reason: E. Faith: E. Riding: D. Flying: D. Authority: Failed. As you are, you will never become Captain."
It was only then when the bullies realised just how many people had surrounded them. After all, when Byleth had suddenly taken a bow from the armoury along with a bunch of practice arrows and shot off, it was only natural that people would be confused and follow along. What had once been an isolated area was now teeming with curious bystanders, bystanders who now had heard everything the blue haired man had said.
"Leave, now. I will report this to Lady Rhea. Bullying will not be tolerated."
Needless to say, the two boys didn't stick around long enough to hear the comments bubbling in the crowd. When the alternative was facing the combine wrath of the Archbishop and the Ashen Demon, it was clear they had no other choice.
"Professor. While I appreciate the assistance, it was unnecessary. I could've easily handled them." Lysithea remarked as Byleth approached, just a little hint of bitterness entering her voice. "They're brutes, and foolish brutes at that. How they managed to get accepted into Garreg Mach, I'll never understand."
"You could've been injured. They are physical strong." Byleth pointed out, absently spinning the arrow in his hand as he had seen Claude do many a time. He wasn't quite at the same level of smoothness and effortlessness that the Golden Deer leader had achieved, but Byleth was slowly getting there. "You would attack with magic. They are not idiots. With them injured and not you, they'd claim you attacked them. You would be placed in a bad position. I brought witnesses. They couldn't hide."
"I care little for reputation Professor. I'm in a position where it doesn't matter what people think og me. I'm more than capable of defending myself from idiots!" Lysithea groaned, stomping her foot like a petulant child. If you asked anyone willing to face the white haired girl's anger, they would've said she was one. "Professor, I may be younger than my classmates, but I'm just as able, if not more so than them! So why do you insist on coddling me?"
"Coddling?" Byleth replied, only an eyebrow rising when an angered pout came to Lysithea's face.
"Yes, coddling Professor! You're treating me like a child, just like everyone else!" Lysithea said. "You always go easy on me during training, you place me near the back during missions and any time someone even looks at me funny, you're always somehow there in the background! You clearly don't do this for anyone else, but apparently I'm too frail!"
Byleth had no words for that. What was he meant to say? It was all entirely true. With the bullies disturbingly more common with their taunts and threats, Byleth had always been there to ensure no harm came to Lysithea, even if she hadn't known… or at least, Byleth thought she hadn't known.
"Lysithea, I have been tas-"
"I know. You've repeated the exact same thing so many times it's like you're a broken record Professor." Lysithea interrupted in exasperation. "I've been tasked to teach you, I've been tasked to protect you, I have been tasked to guide you – but you're not Professor. You're treating me like a flower to be protected and I hate it! Good day Professor Eisner; I'll be working in my room. I won't be expecting any guests."
Byleth silently watched the girl storm off, mentally thankful that the crowds had thinned out after the confrontation with the bullies. It meant that they weren't around to see the frown that appeared upon the blue haired man's face as he clutched his forehead in pain.
"The memories are back, I take it." A gentle goddess' words came into his mind, lacking in its usual haughty sharpness. "I understand your pain, but she is right. You are coddling her far beyond what you should be."
"I refuse to let it happen again. Not on my watch." Byleth whispered, the closest thing the blue haired man had to anger seeping into his voice. "If this is what it takes, I shall do it. If it means doing it forever, I shall do it."
"Yet acting as you are now makes her far more vulnerable." The voice replied. "Before changing the flow of time, you trained her extensively, why do you choose not to do so now?"
"I trained her and it was not enough. I failed in my task." Those were words rarely said by Byleth. With such a large streak of successful missions beneath his belt as a mercenary, the act of failure was a rarity, one which brought a bitter taste to his mouth. "Only a fool expects the future to change by acting the same."
"And only a fool expects a bird to learn how to fly in a gilded cage." said the voice. "If you train her as you should, then she will have a greater chance of success. Continue in these foolish ways and you only make her more vulnerable. Or do you seek to protect her for her entire life?"
The voice faded into silence as Byleth was left silent once more, staring at the ground. Even if she said that…
Byleth ran as fast as possible, yet he would never have been fast enough to stop the gauntlets from caving Lysithea's face in. Cradling her broken, bloody body in his arms, the professor let out a monstrous roar before the hands of time turned.
It was an ambush they couldn't have seen coming. With the advantage of stealth on their side, it was only natural that they went for the weakest in their formation, the arrow striking Lysithea's heart with deadly precision.
Before the hands of time turned, Byleth took care to brutalise the bandit's body as vengeance.
"Professor, go!"
As the roof of the building fell, Byleth could only watch as a tonne of rock collapsed onto Lysithea's body, a weary smile on the girl's face being all he saw before she was reduced to little more than a bloody past. If he had been even a second earlier. Perhaps it would've been him beneath the rubble. As it was however, all he could do was burn the events into his mind before the hands of time turned.
Byleth had lost count of how many times he had repeated this scenario.
This time, it was not one of his students who had fallen. No, the enemy's stronghold was far too skilled and stocked for such an optimistic outcome. Instead, Byleth stood among the fallen corpses of his students as several archers aimed towards his head, only a Goddess' intervention preventing the professor from joining them all in the next life.
Once the hands of time turned, Byleth suggested the full might of the Knights of Seiros be sent instead, supported by forged evidence based upon the horrific sights he had witnessed.
...Byleth had promised. He would keep those students alive. No matter what it took.
"Oh Dorte, they've let your mane get all dirty." Marianne tutted as she ran the brush through the lustrous coat of the warhorse. "Those knights force you to trample through the mud to keep themselves clean, the least they could do is thank you for the help…"
A loud whinny suddenly escaped Dorte, Marianne stepping back in slight surprise as the warhorse reared his head upward through the stable window. Seeing as Dorte was a far more sociable creature than his carer was, that could only mean one thing.
"Hey, stop that! It tickles!"
"Lysithea?" Marianne asked as she pulled the mighty beast back as well as she could, allowing her to slip through and see the white haired girl cleaning off her face with dying giggles. "I thought you were getting desserts for yourself…"
"I was, until some idiots tried to act all tough on me." Lysithea replied, her eyes turning downward as a bitter undertone took place. "And the Professor appeared again. I seriously don't get that man. He's been acting so weird lately, always appearing out of nowhere and making it look like I need a babysitter just to live!"
"I'm sure he just doesn't want you to get hurt." Marianne reasoned hesitantly. "I mean, your physical combat practical was slightly… worse than usual."
"And I've been practicing because of it! I've been training with the sword for ages, but I never get to test it out because the Professor won't let me!" Lysithea whined, stomping her foot. "He's been making things worse even. People keep saying I'm a teacher's pet because he won't leave me alone in battle for a minute."
"…Professor Eisner is a person of reason. I think so at least…" the blue haired girl spoke after a moment's pause, absently running her hand along Dorte as the warhorse basked in the attention. "Have you tried asking him about it?"
"Yeah, he keeps getting defensive about it. Something about 'consequences better left unseen." Lysithea sighed. "I just can't understand him. He's like an open book and a locked safe at the same time, so simple and yet so complex!"
Marianne didn't even try and interrupt when Lysithea launched on some sort of tirade, merely nodding her head gently whenever the white haired girl's eyes looked in her direction. While Lysithea was years younger than Marianne, she had a tendency to start using terminology and analogies far beyond what the quiet girl could comprehend; better to let Lysithea get it out of her system than try and interrupt without full understanding. Luckily, Lysithea never complained; many were used to barely hearing Marianne.
"…Um, I really don't know how to help." The blue haired girl eventually remarked when it was clear that Lysithea was running out of steam. "I'm sorry. Outside of lessons, I don't talk to the Professor much."
Fortunately for Marianne, a lone figure appeared at the stables, someone who could possibly actually help rather than merely listen to Lysithea's concerns. Unfortunately for Lysithea, that figure just so happened to be Byleth, the white haired girl already groaning as she prepared to storm away.
At least, she was going to until she heard the sound of wood clattering against the ground, Lysithea turning around in confusion to find a training blade sitting innocently on the floor. Considering that a glance showed a similar looking sword held in the blue haired man's hands, it was only natural for Lysithea to tense.
"Professor?"
"Show me you can defend yourself. Prove yourself to me." Byleth demanded, no room for arguments.
It wasn't the same as when he was teaching, that was something both Marianne and Lysithea were horrified to realise. No, the intensity behind his words and the stance that Byleth had taken had only been seen in one place – the battlefield. Needless to say, this wasn't any normal training.
"Um, Professor? If this is about what I said earlier-"
"You believe you are strong enough for independence. I do not." Byleth interrupted, pulling his blade back above his head with a single hand. It was a stance no other shared, a form that had been forged through non-traditional training and combat. "Go forward with those beliefs. Prove to me I am wrong in mine."
Lysithea would not have the time to choose otherwise, for Marianne's warning cry was the only thing preventing a wooden blade from trying to cut her in two. Only barely managing to grab the training armament her professor had thrown down, Lysithea was forced into a somewhat crude defensive position – far from what she had learnt, but no less efficient.
Or it would've been, had Byleth not been one of the strongest men she had the pleasure of doing combat against. While it would've been sufficient for any normal soldier, the blue haired man was no ordinary fighter and it took all of Lysithea's strength to prevent her sword from being batted away.
She couldn't afford to lose however. If this was what it took for Byleth to realise she could actually defend herself, then she would fight with all of her might. Even if it brought Lysithea to her knees, she would prove herself worthy.
Byleth didn't hesitate. Whenever an opening appeared, he relentlessly abused it. By artificially producing his own weak spots, he led Lysithea in a deadly dance like a puppet. Her fighting style, forged through strict traditional study and training, meant little against the unorthodox mannerisms Byleth had developed over the years.
It wasn't long before Lysithea realised her dire straits. With burning arms and trembling legs, her frail body was screaming for her to stop. It wasn't as if the professor was giving her the chance to, not a single ounce of remorse on his face as he repeatedly battered upon his student. If she couldn't pull a miracle out of nowhere, she was surely finished; she would never live the shame down.
"Physical power: good at close range, bad at long. Magical power; good at long range, bad at short. Magic moves slower than arrows, but can be cast faster. Each have strengths and weaknesses, so I shall prepare you for both."
A moment of inspiration hit Lysithea's face as the professor's words passed through her mind, approximately at the same time as Byleth's sword hit her shoulder.
"Another lesson – do not be distracted."
Oh yes. He also said that too.
Shaking her head, Lysithea charged forward once more, a new energy entering her movements. Byleth wasn't too sure what could've brought such a thing on, but he didn't question it; exactly what the white haired girl wanted.
Byleth mentally appraised Lysithea as he continued his assault. At first, it seemed as if she was going to give up, but some strange power kept her moving and fighting perhaps just a little fiercer than before. While her strength left something to be desired, her determination was something nobody could ever question. The only issue was how she telegraphed all of her moves.
Training was meant to show someone how to properly execute a move or technique and therefore, often exaggerated movements, even if in only slight manners. For Byleth however, it meant that he could always tell what Lysithea was going to do next. She might as well be just telling him where to defend and strike.
The moment that his coat was set on fire, Byleth threw it off his body, reeling back as he extinguished the admittedly small flame. Looking to where Lysithea was panting, small traces of magical energy floating from her fingers, Byleth momentarily froze before giving a nod.
"You implied you wanted me to show the strength to act independently. Theoretically, that never indicated that we were only to fight with swords." Lysithea reasoned, as well as she could when she could barely breathe. "Therefore, I hypothesised I could use your expectations to disguise my final move. If that didn't work, I don't know what I would've done, but… the experiment was a success…"
Lysithea collapsed into Marianne's arms, the blue hared girl already preparing a number of healing and ailment soothing spells. As she was, there was no way Lysithea was going to be able to make it back to her dorm.
"Professor…? Does this mean… you'll let me actually fight?" Lysithea panted, Byleth holding back his answer for a moment, picking up the discarded blade from the ground.
"She certainly is a tenacious one, isn't she? I see why you have taken such an interest in her. Well, at least I will not have to utilise my powers as often. They make me so tired… Go on; I'm sure you already have your answer."
"Yes. You have proven yourself worthy."
Watching the look of relief on both Marianne and Lysithea's faces, Byleth felt something within his chest stir. It wasn't something the blue haired man couldn't recognise; it wasn't a wound, for it was actually a pleasant sensation. A sensation that Byleth wasn't against feeling again.
It was… warm.
And for now, that is it. So, I've killed off all of the Golden Deer in the second oneshot without actually... killing... anyone? Weird. Please tell me what you think. Also, I didn't say this in the first one, but I'm kind of proud of the title; I don't know whether it's because nobody got it or just didn't care, but I think it's better than any other of my stories' titles.
Super hero time! See you next time!
