I felt immensely better the next day. I walked to the cafeteria all by myself, no limping or dizziness involved. I ate breakfast, then I went to our classroom. A few of my classmates were there.

"Byleth, are you feeling better?" Dimitri asked me, when I walked in.

I nodded. "Did the Knights find Flayn?"

"Yeah, the Knights and the Professor," Felix replied.

"That's good," I said. I sat down at my usual spot near the far left of the room. The rest of our classmates trickled in, then Professor Manuela arrived.

She spotted me and smiled. "All right, class, sit down. Let's begin."

During our lunch break, I followed Professor Manuela to the infirmary. She helped remove my bandages. My arm was mostly healed now. The only wound left was on my stomach, a deep wound, but it hadn't opened up.

"Hmm, you should be fine now. You'll want to be more careful, though. Avoid any training or fighting for at least three more days," Manuela said.

I nodded. The wound still felt tender. If someone poked it, it'd probably really hurt and start bleeding again.

"Do you need any painkillers?" Professor Manuela said.

I shook my head. "I think I'm okay."

"Good. Just be careful, and let me know if you need anything, got it?" Professor Manuela said with a faint smile.

"Thanks, Professor." I smiled back.

After afternoon classes and studying, I headed for Abyss around dinner time. The walk to Abyss was much more difficult than to class. The dirt tunnel was littered with pebbles and rocks. The path twisted and turned, always sinking lower and deeper into the earth. I kept a hand near the wall of the tunnel, but I didn't actually need it. Soon, I stepped into the warm light of the Abyss entrance way.

I took the steps down, past the marketplace area, then down an alleyway to Rose's house. I knocked once, though I had a key on me. The door opened. Yuri was standing in front of me.

"Yuri-"

Yuri wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged him back, patting his back. "I'm okay," I said.

"I know," he said. He released me, and we entered the house. It smelled like butter, meat, and spices. Rose was cooking. She glanced up with a smile.

"Byleth! I'm glad you made it," she said.

"Of course," I said, smiling back. "I'm feeling a lot better."

"That's good. Have some bread first." Rose gestured at a loaf of bread sitting on the dining table.

"Did you bake this yourself?"

"Yes," Rose said. She was chopping celery.

"Wow." I sat down, and Yuri cut a slice for me. I spread soft butter on top and bit in. Mmm... The bread was warm.

"So what happened?" Yuri asked, sitting down across from me. "I heard you got in a fight with the Death Knight."

I told them the gist of it. Rose set plates down of roasted rabbit with collard greens and celery. She'd prepared a tomato soup too.

"What a feast," I said as we dug in.

Rose grinned at me. "To celebrate your recovery." Rose told me about her encounter with Byleth and Jeralt.

"I'd love to meet your brother one day," Yuri said with a smirk.

"I think you'd like him," Rose said. "Jeralt's rather handsome too." She laughed. When Rose smiled like that, she looked a lot like Yuri.

After dinner, Yuri and I did the dishes. Then we left together. Yuri walked with me to the Abyss entrance. When we stopped to linger, Yuri reached his hands out to take mine.

"What?" I asked, squeezing his hands.

Yuri just stared at me for a minute, then squeezed my hands back. He smiled. "Nothing. Don't get yourself killed, Byleth."

"I know," I said.

He leaned closer and kissed my forehead. "See you." He let my hands go and turned around, waving at me.

"See you." I waved back, but he wasn't looking. Then I walked back towards the surface. What did that mean? The kiss was just a sign of affection, right? Yuri wouldn't have caught feelings for me, right?

I hoped not.

This month's mission was cancelled, in lieu of searching for Flayn. But Flayn was found, so Lady Rhea decided to just give all our classes a break from a monthly mission. Flayn was also joining Byleth's class.

On the following Saturday, Byleth invited me to lunch at the cafeteria. When I arrived, though, I found someone sitting across from him.

Claude glanced at me with a smile. "Hey there, Byleth."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to smile back.

"Teach invited me," Claude said. I glanced at Byleth, who nodded, then back at Claude and the empty seat beside him. Well, I didn't have much of a choice. I sat down.

Byleth opened his mouth but I held a hand up. "Are you going to say that you want us to be friends?"

Byleth nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

Byleth shrugged. "Why not?"

Claude grinned. "Yeah, Byleth, why not?"

I shifted in my seat and picked up the fork in front of me. "No reason. I was just wondering." I had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason why Claude and Dimitri had both expressed interest in me was because I was related to Byleth. The Professor Byleth. The talk of the monastery.

"So, Claude," I said. "Do you have future plans for the Alliance?"

"I'm glad you asked." Claude winked at me. I tried not to roll my eyes. We ate while Claude told us about how he wanted to tear down Fodlan's throat, how he wanted peaceful relations with Alymra, and how he wanted a future where people from all sorts of places could gather and have fun together. "If we just spent some time trying to understand each other, don't you think we could all get along?"

He had a point.

"Do you agree?" Claude smiled at me, and I nodded.

"I think you raised some good points," I said. He laughed. Byleth was nodding too.

"Does that mean you'll come and help me out?"

I chuckled. "No, sorry. You can ask Byleth though." Our gazes switched to Byleth, who sat across from us. He looked confused.

"So, Teach? Like I said the first day I met you, the Alliance could use someone like you," Claude said.

Byleth shook his head. "I'm going to be a professor."

Claude laughed and said, "I figured you'd say that." I smiled too. I guess Byleth really enjoyed teaching.

We chatted a bit more about our different classes, how the teaching styles differed. Professor Manuela had a rather hands-off approach, often leaving us to self-study or train together. From what Claude told us, it sounded like Professor Hanneman assigned lots of readings and quizzes. Byleth had a mixed approach, using a combination of teaching materials from both Manuela and Hanneman.

"I like to tutor students one on one," Byleth said.

"Wow, getting that special one on one attention," Claude said.

After lunch, Byleth stayed in the cafeteria, while Claude and I walked out.

"Where are you going now?" he asked.

"Library to study," I said.

"Cool," he said and waved. "See you around, Byleth."

I waved back. "See you, Claude."

Maybe I'd judged him wrong. Maybe he'd asked for my assistance because he really thought he needed people to help him achieve his dreams. Maybe his fake flirtatious statements were simply a guise for friendliness.

He reminded me a bit of Yuri.

On Sunday, I went down to Abyss in the evening to find the Ashen Wolves picking a fight with Byleth, the 3 house leaders, Ashe, Hilda, and Lindhardt. Yuri spotted me first. The others turned to look at me as I approached from behind the other monastery students.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're bored! We're going to fight them," Balthus said, pumping a fist in the air. "You wanna join us, pal?"

"Byleth, you know them?" Dimitri said.

I nodded as I stepped past the monastery students. "I'm good. You guys have fun." My gaze met Yuri's. "I'll be hanging out with Rose."

Yuri nodded.

"You're not going to help us, Byleth?" Claude said. I was already brushing past Yuri.

"No thanks," I said. I didn't want to get involved. If I did, I'd be on Yuri's side anyway, and I really didn't want to fight against Byleth again. I left the groups to fight and went to find Rose. She was sewing.

"Hey, Byleth," she said with a smile. I smiled back, taking a seat at the dining table. This was more worth my time. I helped Rose with her sewing while we chatted. About an hour later, the door opened, and Yuri walked in.

"Oh, how'd it go?" I asked.

"What happened?" Rose said. Yuri's shirt was bloodstained. She stood up, while Yuri dropped into the seat beside me.

"We lost." Yuri smirked. "Your brother really is strong." Rose placed a hand over Yuri's head to heal him. "I'm fine, Mother. Balthus healed me. And that green-haired kid."

"I'm just checking," Rose said, retreating back to her seat. "You met Byleth's brother?"

Yuri nodded. "We had a friendly fight."

"Doesn't look very friendly," I said, waving at his shirt.

Yuri glanced down and sighed. "I'll change later."

"What'd you think of him?" Rose was smiling a little too widely. "Isn't he handsome?"

Yuri nodded. "Very. He's strong. Excellent tactics. Even with some crewmates and a monster or two on our side, they still got us."

"You brought monsters out for this?" My jaw dropped. "Isn't that dangerous? You could have gotten them killed."

Yuri shrugged. "You said he was strong. Besides, he had the three house leaders with him. I've heard about their strength. They're not idiots. They'd know when to withdraw or retreat."

Still… I wondered how Byleth was faring.

"They met Aelfric," Yuri said, eyes flitting towards me then back at the table. "Stay on your toes, Byleth. You too, Mother. Lock the door, please."

Rose nodded. "I try to remember, but I just get home and get too busy doing other stuff."

What did Yuri know to cause him to worry about our safety? No, it wasn't about what Yuri did know. It was what he didn't know that was making him worry. I wondered if Byleth knew then.

Yuri got up and went to change his shirt. When he returned, Rose set her sewing supplies down. "Are you two hungry?" Yuri and I both nodded. "I'll cook up dinner then."

After dinner and some chatting, I left Abyss for my dorm room. But, someone was waiting outside my room. Someone with familiar blue hair.

"What are you doing here, Professor?" I asked.

Byleth stood up from where he was leaning against a wooden post. He glanced around. A few people were walking by. Then he said, quietly, "How do you know about Abyss?"

"It's because of Abyss that I'm here." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Your surrogate mother... " Byleth struck his thinking pose, resting his chin in his hand. "She said you're friends with her son."

I nodded. "Yuri."

Byleth straightened up again and nodded. "I see," he said.

"What about it? Why are you asking?"

He shook his head. "Just curious."

"Are you going to invite me to eat lunch with His Highness Dimitri next?"

Byleth nodded.

"All right." I dropped my arms and turned towards my room. "Goodnight, Professor."

"Good night."

Sometimes, I wished I could crawl into other people's skins. See what they see, feel what they feel, know what they know. Just to understand what went on in other people's heads. I felt that way about Byleth. I wanted to know what he was thinking about and what exactly he knew about the future.

Maybe he'd tell me eventually.

When I returned to Abyss Friday evening, Yuri filled me in on what had happened. Byleth and the other students were helping the Ashen Wolves defend Abyss from a recent influx of thugs. The enemies kept demanding some chalice.

"They seem to believe that the Chalice of Beginnings is somewhere in Abyss. We're going to try to find it," Yuri said. "Tomorrow morning. Do you want to join?"

"Will it be dangerous?"

Yuri nodded. "Most likely."

"Count me in then."

Yuri smirked. "Sounds good."

I stood up and stretched. We were in the Abyss classroom. "I'm going to see Rose then."

"Wait." Yuri grabbed my hand, then he stood up too. "Don't."

"What do you mean?"

Yuri wouldn't respond. He stared off to the side.

"Yuri, did something happen to Rose?"

"No," he said, but he wasn't looking at me. "No, she's fine."

"What's going on?" I turned my hand so I was holding his hand. "Where's Rose?"

Yuri looked at me then. "Just, stay away from my mother's place for now, okay?"

I frowned. That couldn't be good. "What happened, Yuri? And why won't you tell me?"

He shook his head. "It'll all be over soon, okay? Just trust me for now."

I bit my lip. "If you're going to do anything dangerous, you better bring me along."

Yuri laughed at that, but it sounded forced. Too high-pitched to be natural. "Of course, I will," he said. Another lie. I squeezed his hand, hard.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning," I said.

Yuri nodded. "Be careful." He reached his other hand up to ruffle my hair, a small smile on his face.

I returned to my dorm room. I had to double check that I didn't have any chores to do this week. Luckily, I didn't. But there were a few assignments to do and a quiz. If searching for the chalice took all day… I'd have to be careful not to flunk the next test. If Byleth was there, though, maybe he could give me a free professor pass.

The next morning, we grouped up near the entrance of Abyss. Claude grinned when he saw me walk over.

"Finally, going to join us, Byleth?" Claude asked.

"Nice!" Balthus said.

Constance just laughed. "Oho ho ho! We won't need your assistance, Byleth."

"No harm in an extra hand," Yuri said. He glanced at Professor Byleth. "Everyone ready to go?" Everyone nodded. Yuri turned and headed off towards one of the Abyss tunnels that I'd never explored.

"Do you know where we're going?" I fell into step beside him.

Yuri shook his head. "We'll have to look around. Abyss is really large, but we'll find it." His eyes narrowed at the path in front of it.

"What makes you think we'll find it?"

"We have to. If those bandits find it before us…" Yuri shook his head. Claude appeared by my side, crossing his arms behind his head.

"So how do you two know each other?" Claude asked. Yuri glanced at Claude then back forward.

"We grew up in the same village," I said, seeing as Yuri didn't want to reply.

"That's nice," Claude said. "I wish I had someone to grow up with."

"You don't have any siblings?"

Claude shook his head. "No. None of the other kids ever wanted to play with me either." I glanced behind us to see what was going on. Hilda and Balthus were talking about her brother, Holst, and Edelgard and Constance were chatting about the Nuvelle household. Hapi was deflecting Lindhardt's questions about her Crest.

Claude nudged me to the left with a hand on my shoulder. I looked back forward to see that the tunnel was curving.

"Better watch where you're going," Claude said with a smirk. Yuri's gaze flickered to us then back ahead.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Dimitri asked. Yuri shrugged. People were getting worried that we were lost, that we'd starve or die of dehydration before finding the chalice.

"It's not that difficult to find our way back," Yuri said. His tone was even and calm, and that reassured some people.

Then, up ahead, we saw light coming from around the bend. I glanced at Yuri, and he nodded. The tunnel opened up into a massive cavern. The cliffs towered above us. There was a bridge stretching across the sky. And, not too far away, there was what looked like an altar.

"Is this it?" Ashe asked.

When we stepped closer towards the grass, phantom soldiers popped up. And these giant mechanical dolls that whirred and clicked.

"Everyone, be careful," Yuri said, holding an arm out to stop our advance.

"Long range and healers to the back," Byleth said. "Edelgard, Byleth, we'll be in the front." Everyone moved as he instructed, the mages and archers shuffling to the back. Yuri, Balthus, and Hilda stayed in the middle. "Everyone, stay close together."

Byleth led us forward. He told us where to go and whom to attack, and everyone obliged. It felt like I was bewitched by his words. Maybe it was because I trusted Byleth to keep us all safe. And maybe everyone else thought the same.

Edelgard, Byleth, Balthus, Yuri, and I took most of the attacks, while everyone else blasted our enemies from afar. We did our best to block or dodge.

I wasn't fast enough to dodge one of the mechanic doll's lightning strike.

"Byleth!" Yuri shouted, when I dropped to my knees. Ouch. Yuri rushed to my side to heal me up. Then he helped me back on my feet. "I told you it'd be dangerous."

"I know," I said, squeezing his hand. "That's why I wanted to be here."

Yuri ran back to his original position, and we advanced. Soon, we'd defeated most of our enemies. As we were approaching the altar, it became clear that there was a chest up ahead. Yuri reached the chest first.

"It's locked!" he said.

Of course, it would be. There was a magical stone glowing softly to the side. Our group went to investigate it. Then, there was a click. Yuri tried the chest again. This time, it opened. And inside it was a golden chalice, studded with ruby gems.

"We found it," Hapi said, mouth wide.

"That's awesome," Balthus said. Everyone was smiling except for Constance.

Then, more phantom soldiers appeared.

"That's not good," Claude said.

"Everyone, run!" Yuri said. We turned and darted for the tunnel entrance we'd come from. The soldiers were right on our heels. Byleth was herding everyone, especially the slower-footed ones.

We had to retrace our steps. Sometimes, we'd stop to pick off some of the enemies, but it was better to keep moving. We were rounding a corner when a bandit appeared. "There they are!" he said, brandishing his sword at us.

"Great Goddess," Yuri muttered.

There were lots of bandits. Byleth took control again, directing us to take down the bandits. We had to break through them to reach a gate that we could close once we were through.

The ghost soldiers and mechanical dolls were following too. Luckily, the bandits and the soldiers clashed, giving us time to pass through the first gate.

"Two more to go," Constance said, eyes narrowed. There were lots of enemies. So many of them. We were all taking hits, trying to dodge and block as best we can.

"I'm out of healing energy," Balthus said, out of breath. We were filing past the second gate. Edelgard was leading our frontal assault, while Byleth was protecting our backs from the enemies.

"Drink a vulnerary, if you need it," Byleth called. "Wait until we're all past the second gate before we keep moving."

So that's what we did, hunkering in a tiny room. We could see the bandits waiting in front of us. They knew we'd move soon. We had to.

"All right, Edelgard, lead the way!" Byleth shouted once the last student had squeezed into the room. Byleth was the only one left. Edelgard stepped out, and I followed beside her. I could hear the faint clang of the gate sliding shut. Byleth must have made it in.

Bandits kept pouring out. Arrows and magic whizzed by my head as we forced our way through. Byleth appeared near the front, and that helped speed things up. He cut enemies down swiftly with his Sword of the Creator.

"Come on, get moving!" Byleth waved us towards the last room. Once we were past that, there wouldn't be anymore bandits. Right? Goddess, I sure hoped so.

As we beat the bandits back, we shuffled into the room, one by one. Finally, Byleth moved in, and the gates slid shut. We were all out of breath, clothing torn and stained from the battle. I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand only to find blood. There was blood in my mouth too.

"Everyone okay?" Byleth asked. We all nodded. Lindhardt did his best to heal everyone up. Yuri tapped my hand with his, and I looked at him. Somehow, his eyeshadow was still perfect, not a smudge visible. He smiled at me. I smiled back.

We continued our hike back to the central part of Abyss. By the time we'd arrived, it was well past noon.

"I'm starving," Hilda said. "And sweaty and tired and ugh."

We all agreed. My stomach had been rumbling for at least an hour now. Someone ran up to our group though.

"Yuri! This is bad! Aelfric's been kidnapped!"

"What?"

Thanks for reading!