Chapter Twenty-Two – Invasive Species

The greenhouse contained rare species of plants from around the continent and beyond, and students and knights were free to take what they needed as long as they contributed back. I used to grow a fair share of flowers as a professor at the academy, but I hadn't stepped foot in there since returning.

But something called me there now. I pulled open the large glass doors and stepped inside the humid building. There were variations of flowers taller than me and some the size of my fingernail, but it was like stepping into a tropical rainforest that I had only ever read about. Fódlan itself did not appear so wild—except, perhaps, the people who caused all this misfortune were.

I bent down and peered at one of the tiny plants growing closest to the soil. It looked not much different from just a group of leaves, but they sparkled when the light hit them just right.

I just reached out to touch them when a hand clamped down on my shoulder. I shot up, a hand to my sword's hilt, but paused when I saw it was only Dedue.

"My apologies, Professor. I did not mean to frighten you," he said.

"You didn't, I was just… surprised."

He pointed to the plant I was just looking at. "That is a poisonous plant from Dagda. Touching it results in an unpleasant itchy rash."

I glanced down at my fingertips, trying to remember if I managed to touch it. Dedue must have stopped me just in time. "Oh. Thank you." I met his eyes again and frowned. "Why is it in here if it's poisonous? What would happen if the students touched it?"

"It is an invasive species. Seeds must have accidentally been brought in. It is rather difficult to remove, but it is also possible that no one has noticed it until now." He walked over to the cabinet near the windows and began fiddling with something inside. "Shall we borrow some gloves and get to work, Professor?" He held up a pair of gloves and some spades.

To be honest, I didn't really have any interest in helping right now. I didn't have anything better to do. I had been wandering aimlessly for the past day with too many thoughts in my head, and Sothis wasn't helping. She refused to offer anything helpful, only that I shouldn't blame myself for Ashe's death.

How could I not? This whole thing was my fault.

But I had no reason to tell Dedue no, and I didn't want his respect for me dropping. So, I nodded, taking the gardening gloves and spades from him while he grabbed his own pair. Neither of us were dressed for gardening, but that was not enough to stop Dedue from getting on his hands and knees in front of the plant.

"They are all along here," he said, pointing from where he knelt. I dropped down beside him and saw the line of shiny plants trailing back into the flowers and bushes behind. "You have to remove their roots, or they will regrow. Cut the leaves and then pull the stems. Remove any leftover roots with the spade."

We began to work. The two of us made great gardening partners. Neither of us spoke much, which made our work efficient. But Dedue was the more talented of us both, and he removed the plants at twice the speed that I worked.

The stems of the bunch I pulled snapped, leaving almost the entirety of the roots intact in the soil. I sighed, stabbing my spade into the dirt, and then sat up.

"It should be Ashe here with you," I said, pulling my gloves off and throwing them to the side. "He should be the one helping you right now. And telling you what he plans on making for dinner… and…."

I trailed off, sitting with my hands on my lap and staring at my failure in the dirt.

Dedue stopped, too, pulling his gloves off and setting them between us. "When I first came here, I followed His Majesty only because he asked me to do so. I thought the idea asinine. People would not want to be seen around him if I was by his side. For the most part, I was correct in my analysis. Knights and students alike would whisper behind his back, wondering why they would bring a monster like myself to the esteemed Officers Academy."

Dimitri mentioned it to me as a student, but there was only so much the two of us could do to change the minds of the ignorant.

"Still, I admit that there were some who treated me kindly in spite of the reputation of Duscur. Sylvain, Mercedes, Annette, Flayn… but more than anyone, it was Ashe who treated me like an equal," Dedue told me. "He told me that despite being intimidated by me at first that he only wanted to get to know me better. Perhaps I should have tried harder during his life to get to know him, as well."

What did that make of me, then, who knew Ashe even less than Dedue? Those two could often be found together if Dedue wasn't with Dimitri. I imagined if Dedue wasn't bound to Dimitri by gratitude and service that he probably would have been best friends with Ashe.

As his teacher, I should have done more to get to know Ashe more. I knew only what he told me, and I didn't believe it to be my business to delve more into it than that. But perhaps I should have reached out more, asked more…

"I am saddened by what happened," Dedue continued. "Ashe was the best of Fódlan."

He slipped his gloves back on and returned to work. I watched for a while, letting his words sink in, and then put my gloves on again, too. And in silence, we both returned to work.


Time passed slowly when you were always on edge, waiting for the foes from the shadows to step into the light. But before I knew it, the second trimester of my pregnancy arrived, and my flat stomach protruded slightly. People who didn't know I was with child might wonder if I gained weight or ate too much in the dining hall, but those who knew cooed whenever I wore something that showed my bump.

But this only reminded me of the passage of time and how I could not keep my promise to my children to go back home until this was over. Theron said that our victory would only make the Agarthans more desperate, but they had yet to make another move. So, until one of us moved first, we were still stuck at Garreg Mach, the only place safe enough for my family to stay.

War meetings were unproductive. Without more information, we couldn't press forward. Yet, at the same time, we all preferred a proactive stance—were the Agarthans to attack innocent people again, as they had in Hrym, that would certainly alert us to their location. But at what cost? It would be better to prevent that from happening and stop them beforehand.

We couldn't rely on the Almyran army anymore, though, and any soldiers who remained returned to their country as the days turned into weeks. The Kingdom army, too, grew restless here at the monastery, but Dimitri could not dismiss them while the threat still lingered.

Even Annette returned to Fhirdiad to the School of Sorcery, reasoning that she couldn't be away from her work for that long when nothing was happening here. Sylvain returned to Gautier territory for a short period to check on things there and in Fraldarius territory, but he was back within days of leaving with no news.

It wasn't until we had an unexpected guest that things livened up again.

I had made a habit out of helping Dedue in the greenhouse, as my training regime had to decrease significantly now that my pregnancy was further along. We were there picking weeds and watering the rainforest variety of plants when the doors opened and let a cool breeze in.

"Wow, Teach, you're glowing."

I dropped my watering can and turned, practically throwing myself into Claude's arms. He must not have expected my hug, because he stumbled backwards and barely managed to steady himself. I almost burst into tears seeing him, but I couldn't explain why.

Hormones, Sothis suggested. As the baby developed, her voice was clearer than ever in my head.

"Am I actually?" I asked when we let go of each other.

Claude grinned. "I have no idea what that means, I just always hear women say that to each other when they're having babies."

Dedue picked up my dropped pail, stood beside me, and bowed to Claude. "His Majesty will be pleased to see you. Your Majesty," he said, addressing me, "why don't you go to the training grounds to find him while I clean up here?"

I adhered to Dedue's suggestion and gestured for Claude to follow me. "What are you doing here? How are things in Almyra?"

We exited the greenhouse and began our trek past the dormitories to the training hall. Some students who saw us stopped to whisper to each other, most likely because of Claude's return, as they had stopped caring that Dimitri and I were around.

"Things have calmed down significantly. I admit when the troops first returned to Almyra, I thought about marching them right back around, I was so pissed off," he told me. "But when they told me about the casualties, I couldn't blame them. We only sent about two hundred men, and we lost about two-thirds of that, including the general."

Two-thirds…

"We regrouped and rebuilt. I didn't mean to abandon you."

I waved him off. "I never thought that."

"But I did. I left you to fend for yourselves after that, so I'm here to formally apologize."

He stopped walking right near the second set of stairs up to the next dormitory building. And when he bowed to me, I immediately patted him on the back to encourage him to stand. But he stayed low, one arm in front of him and one arm behind his back.

"Claude, please stand. Students are watching. It's not right for the King of Almyra to bow to the queen of another nation," I hissed.

"I must return to Almyra, but it didn't feel right to apologize via letter. Please accept my sincerest apologies," he said, still bowed. "And I apologize for it taking so long for me to come here. I needed to be sure the whole of Almyra didn't fall apart as soon as I stepped outside the borders."

"Claude, please."

He finally stood and smiled at me. He had gotten better at smiling with his whole face since getting to know me better, but this smile didn't entirely reach his eyes.

"Now, Teach, what's been going on here? You're not usually so… affectionate."

Ah. The hug. Yes. I tended to get a bit touchier when I was pregnant, anyway, but I was just so happy to see him that I couldn't help it.

"Sorry, I just… things have been so awful here." We continued walking now, and Claude had one hand hovering behind my back as I climbed the steps, as if I might topple over at any moment thanks to the extra weight around my middle. "Nothing has been progressing, and everyone has been overprotective of me to the point of refusing to try any of my plans if it involves me in combat."

"Can't really blame them, can you?"

I had stopped fitting in my armor a couple of weeks ago actually, so a combat role didn't suit me much right now. It was unfortunate, but no, I couldn't blame them.

"Are you sure you can't stay?" I asked. "We could really use the Master Tactician right about now."

Claude shook his head. We had reached the gates to the training grounds, and Claude started to push them open. "I'm afraid not. Things may have been secure enough for me to leaves for a few days, but the Almyran militia would be bothered by me helping you again after everything that happened."

We were silent for the remainder of the short walk to the actual training grounds. There, we found Dimitri sparring against Felix. Felix had seemed a little down—subtly so, considering his normal nature—since Annette left. Sylvain whispered to me a few days ago that Felix had been humming again.

"Hey, Your Kingliness," Claude greeted as we came into view.

Dimitri dropped his guard, and Felix got a hit in with the hilt of his sword. My husband doubled over, hugging the pain in his gut, while Felix frowned at having been interrupted. He would've gone for more if I hadn't been standing there watching.

"C-Claude," Dimitri coughed.

I left Claude's side to join Dimitri's, lighting some faith magic over his back to help ease his pain. He stood up straight again and whispered his thanks in my ear. We stood side-by-side, with Dimitri snaking one arm around my waist. His fingers just barely touched the start of my bump. I wasn't the only one who got a bit touchier than usual.

"What are you doing here? Is the situation in Almyra improved?" Dimitri asked.

They launched right into a conversation, and I stepped away from Dimitri. Felix was over at the weapon stand polishing the sword he had been using. I sat on the ledge surrounding the dirt field and watched him, keeping one ear on the conversation between Claude and Dimitri in case any new information came forward—or in case my husband was able to convince Claude to stay.

It seemed Felix was listening, too, because he didn't say anything to me. Then again, that wasn't exactly unusual. He continued to wipe his blade, eyes beyond it, as if he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. His attention was elsewhere.

"Hey," he said suddenly, turning around to face the other men. "Shut up for a minute."

Claude raised his eyebrows and stopped mid-sentence, and Dimitri's brows knitted together. Still, neither of them argued. The room went silent as we all listened.

A slight rumble, melodic somehow. Far off, yet close by.

I knew that sound. I had heard it many times. It haunted me still in my nightmares. Based on how Dimitri's eyebrows separated more as he listened, he knew it from his terrors, as well.

"Your Grace! Are you in here?"

A Knight of Seiros hurried into the training area, panting in his armor but taking no time to catch his breath. He bowed quickly to Dimitri, then turned to me and bowed, as well. "Your Grace, Your Majesty, my apologies for interrupting. We have a situation." I gestured for him to continue, and he nodded. "An army is at the gates and has breached the walls."

Felix dropped the weapon he was holding back onto the stand and took a silver broadsword instead, as well as a pair of silver gauntlets. Dimitri and Claude walked closer to the knight, and I stood. As always, I had the Sword of the Creator, but… there might not be enough time to arm myself further.

"Impossible," Claude said. "I just flew over the area. If there was an army, I would have seen it."

"It's true, sir," the knight assured him. "We don't have much time. We need orders."

"Gather all available soldiers—both Knights of Seiros and Kingdom army—and begin a counterstrike. Defend the monastery." I paused, fearing the position we were suddenly in because of what I now had to do. "Recruit the students, as well."

It was the last thing I wanted to do. My own students had been placed in this situation, too, and I wondered what things would have been like if we kept them protected from all of it. I didn't want to prevent another unlucky group of kids from enjoying their youth and preparing for graduation, but…

"Yes, ma'am."

The knight bowed and ran off. I hugged my arms around myself.

"What are the odds?" I asked, mostly to myself. "That all of a sudden, minutes after Claude returns, they would attack?"

"They've been waiting for an excuse," Claude said. He frowned, then held two fingers to his mouth and whistled. The sound reverberated around the arena and echoed, and then it was silent again.

"Felix, stay with Byleth. Make sure she doesn't do anything… questionable," Dimitri ordered, but when he turned, I caught his hand.

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded.

He smiled at me and squeezed my hand before pulling himself away. "I will see you tonight."

"Dimitri!" I yelled, but he was already off running.

I barely had time to move before the roar of a beast sent me stumbling back in surprise. Claude's white wyvern dropped in from the open ceiling, landing with a thud on the dirt floor and whipping its tail around. Claude hurried towards it and climbed up on its back using its wing as a step, and he looked down at Felix and I from a couple of feet above us.

"Just think of yourself as the last line of defense, Teach," he said.

Then his wyvern took off, and he vanished from sight beyond the walls of the training grounds.

There was no way that Felix would follow Dimitri's orders, right? He would let me go. If I told him I wanted to join the battle, he would have to let me go.

I started to walk, but Felix's voice saying, "Professor," stopped me.

"Felix, you can't mean to stay here. You want to go, too."

He nodded. "Yes, of course. But you're in no position to battle and would be a hindrance on the battlefield. Not only would your movements be more cautious and therefore slower, but you would also be a distraction to Dimitri. If you go out there, not only would you be risking your own life and the life of your child, but you would be risking his life, too."

Had I been… sidelined?

No, it was like Claude said. I would be the last line of defense. If the worst happened… if the Agarthans broke through… I would be here to stop them.

Do you believe that? Sothis wondered. I silenced her from my thoughts and gave in to Felix.

"Fine. But I'm going to prepare."

Outside the training grounds, the monastery was scrambling. Students were running to their dormitory rooms to put on armor, while already armor-clad soldiers clanked along the stone walkways towards battle. The sounds of war—the voices, the uniformed marching—was louder out here. They had more than last time…

But in the next fifteen minutes, as I gathered whatever armor still fit me, the sounds of war became sounds of battle. I was usually inside it, so to be on the other side, to hear it from beyond the battle, felt hopeless. It was exactly what it sounded like: death. But when I was in it, it was different. Here, death whispered by my ear, and there was no distraction to shut it out.

Fifteen minutes turned into thirty and then an hour. I kept the Sword of the Creator in my hands instead of sheathed as I stood in the empty marketplace, the last line of defense. Felix had found Sylvain and pulled him to my side, and the two friends stood on either side of me with their arms crossed, as if this was no more than an inconvenience.

They want to be out there.

"Be quiet. I have to stay."

"Professor?" Sylvain looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I turned my attention back to the gate, the sound of battle beyond it continuing. All that stood between me and that battle was the gate.

No, Claude was right. I had to stay.

"Professor!"

Felix grabbed my shoulder and pulled, and I fell forward onto my knees. An arrow flew by where Felix had just stood, inches from where I had been, and hit the ground and snapped. I looked up, jumping to my feet with—admittedly—less agility than from the days before my pregnancy.

Cyril. Theron.

He stood at the top of the stairs past us, hand clutching a bow and bent from pulling the arrow back. He smiled when my gaze met his, and he lowered his bow.

But… he wasn't alone. On either side of him stood two masked individuals, familiar beaked masks that had been utilized by mages on Edelgard's side during the war. They were robed and hooded, as well, their appearances protected just as well as Theron's own disguise.

"Had to sit this one out?" he asked.

I left no time to respond. I launched the Sword of the Creator, the fragments of the blade stretching and separating to extend its reach. It flew like a whip, twisting through the air as it soared towards Theron. But before it could reach him, the two mages by his side held up a magical barrier, deflecting the hit with their combined effort.

The battle outside is a distraction… Sothis surmised.

"I am not here to fight. I am here only to talk," Theron, through Cyril's mouth, said.

"Hard to believe considering you nearly shot my friend's head off," Sylvain snapped.

"Just getting your attention. I knew you'd dodge it," Theron said with a shrug. He made no effort to draw his bow again, and he kept his free hand by his side. So, at least for now, he spoke the truth.

The Sword of the Creator trembled in my hand, ready for another try. "I have a feeling if the talk doesn't go the way you expect, force will be involved."

Theron smiled, and as his lips curled upward, his disguise melted away. "Too true."

"Then let's skip that part because I'm not giving in to you." I lifted the Sword of the Creator again and prepared to let it fly, but the mages stepped forward again and prepared the barrier before I could move. I looked around the area, and the weapon rack at the bottom of the stairs used to sell wares caught my eye. The Sword of the Creator expanded again, and I whipped it toward the distant rack. The sword hooked onto it and threw it, knocking the leftmost mage aside. The barrier dropped, and I let the Sword of the Creator go again.

Theron barely managed to dodge—not my sword, but Sylvain's magic; while he was not the strongest mage, his fire still burned. A kindling caught Theron's sleeve, and he had to pat it out.

Felix ran toward the incapacitated mage, and Sylvain turned his attention to the one who still stood. We launched into a battle of our own. Theron abandoned Cyril's bow for two-handed magic, and it was when he lifted his arm that his collar shifted. A black mark like an ink stain painted his neck where Dimitri had hit him.

Had they been unable to remove all the poison?

"You would be wise to give us that crest willingly!" Theron shouted as I swung at him. He fired spells in either direction from each hand, but Felix and Sylvain both dodged while dealing with the mages themselves. "You're going to watch everyone around you die, including your family."

Theron only barely blocked my hit with a small barrier of his own. "You can't fool me with threats anymore!" I told him.

"This is no threat," he assured me, merely holding his barrier as I hacked away at it. "You must have noticed you're no longer aging, at least not at the rate of a normal human. Sothis's power has overwhelmed your body and changed it—when you took on her power, you took on more than that. You are going to live hundreds of years, which means everyone else will die while you live on."

I shook my head. I knew it, of course, from my discussion with Claude. I had pieced it together. But… well, maybe I hadn't thought that far again.

What about Rhea, Seteth, Flayn… my dad? They all lived longer than normal lifespans…

"If you remove your crest, you can prevent that from happening. We can do it without killing you," Theron continued. He gave up the barrier and dodged, switching places with me. He stood near the blacksmith's tent now, where the flame still flickered in the forge.

"And then what? When you take it, what then? You still seek revenge on the Church of Seiros and all connected to it," I pointed out.

Theron snapped his fingers, and the mages returned to his side with a flash of light, ceasing Felix and Sylvain's fights.

"Our desire for revenge is against Sothis and Seiros, not with you. Without the Crest of Flames, you are no threat to us. So, not only will you be able to spend the rest of your days with your family, the way you should, but you will also be free from this war. All you need to do is give it to us." He outstretched his hand, and I stared at it. If I took that hand…

I swung the Sword of the Creator. For some reason, Theron must have expected me to take his hand, because his eyes widened as the Sword of the Creator broke apart. The tip, glowing red, burned through his wrist. The mages at his side did not react in time to stop it, and everything went silent.

I guess you did take his hand after all, Sothis quipped.

It must have taken a moment for Theron to realize what happened because it was not for another few seconds that he grabbed his bloody arm and cried out. But it was not so much pain as anger that overtook him next, and his eyes practically glowed red with anger as he looked at me.

"Seiros did blasphemous things! You are the product of such a thing—alive only because she manipulated the natural order of things! But she is not the only one who can, and you will regret not willingly delivering that crest to us!" Theron roared.

And then he vanished, just like he had in the underground. The mages remained, and Felix and Sylvain returned to my side with their weapons ready.

"I told you a deal was a deal. But if you fail to uphold your end of the bargain, then I must break mine, as well," one of the mages said.

Wait…

Both mages raised their hands to their masks and lifted them off. I swallowed. It couldn't be possible.

"Did you miss me?" Adonis asked.


Author's Note: Long chapter! My goodness!

Okay, so my exciting news! I am a contributor for a Dimileth fanzine called My Beloved. There are a ton of incredibly talents people working on the zine, and trust me when I say that it's going to be amazing. I wrote an exclusive piece for it, which I will preview for you below. It's a not-for-profit zine, and all proceeds will be going to Able Gamers, a charity for children with disabilities to provide them with access to video games. Pre-orders are going to open on January 31st, and there is a lot of great content.

Here is my preview for my fic entitled, "The Reckoning of Snowfalls and Snowballs."

[And then something pounced and shattered that peace, biting the back of her neck and burning beneath her clothes. She yelped and spun around to identify the culprit when she noticed Dimitri smiling at her from a short distance, far too content for someone whose fiancée had been attacked.

That was when she noticed a new weapon in his hand.]