Yuri heard the news from one of his people: Byleth being carried to the infirmary. Again. Getting some injuries during a monthly mission wasn't unusual, but being unconscious? Yuri rushed out of Abyss towards the infirmary.
Professor Byleth was sitting on a stool beside Byleth, who was asleep. Professor Manuela was at her desk, which was littered with empty containers and papers. Manuela glanced at Yuri when he stepped in, but Yuri just walked up to Byleth.
"What happened?" Yuri asked.
"She's been poisoned," Manuela said. She shook her head. "None of the antidotes are working. I've frozen her arm, for now, to contain the poison there."
Byleth's hand was bandaged up, and there were traces of purple lines running like veins across her left arm.
"How did that happen?" Yuri looked at the professor, but Byleth wouldn't move his eyes away from his sister.
"I'll leave you two alone." Manuela said. She grabbed some papers scattered on her desk and walked out of the room. Yuri folded his arms across his chest and sat down on the bed next to Byleth's.
The room was quiet, while Yuri waited for Byleth to speak.
"Monica tried to kill our father," Byleth said. "Byleth stopped her and got injured."
"With a poisoned blade?"
Byleth nodded. "They're the same people who were conducting experiments on the people of Remire Village."
"Is she going to live?" Yuri's voice shook, for just a second. He didn't want to consider the possibility of losing Byleth. Not now.
"We'll find an antidote," the Professor said.
"If you need any help with that, you can count me in."
Byleth nodded and looked at Yuri for the first time today. "Thank you."
The two continued to sit there, staring at Byleth's sleeping form, until Professor Manuela returned.
"I'll keep watch over her, you two," Manuela said. "You're looking like hawks right now. Professor, Lady Rhea wants to see you."
Byleth stood up and nodded, but Yuri wouldn't move.
"Can I stay here?" Yuri asked Manuela.
"There's a night nurse on duty, but if you want," Manuela said. "Feel free to use the other beds."
"Thank you," Byleth said to Manuela before he left the room. Manuela sat down at her desk and scribbled things. Yuri should have brought a book. He'd have to go back to Abyss anyway, to tell Rose and the Ashen Wolves.
Yuri stood up. "I'll be back."
"Of course." Manuela smiled. "Don't worry about Byleth, Yuri. I'll keep her healed."
"Thanks." Yuri mustered up a smile back.
Yuri returned, later in the evening, after eating dinner. He brought a book with him. Manuela had been replaced with a night nurse, who sat at the desk. The nurse looked at Yuri and smiled.
Yuri sat on the stool by Byleth's bed and read until he fell asleep.
The room was dark. I was in the infirmary. I could tell by the smell of cleaning alcohol and the darker wooden ceiling planks. Yuri was sitting to my right, his face on the mattress, a book half opened beside him.
I tried to push myself up into a sitting position but my left arm wouldn't move. I looked at my arm, tried to wiggle my fingers. They didn't budge. My right arm was fine. I poked my left arm. Nothing. I couldn't feel anything.
A strange whimper came from me.
"Y-Yuri?" I reached for his hand. He shifted. "Yuri." I wrapped my fingers around his hand. He hummed and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Byleth! You're awake." He smiled.
"Yuri, I can't feel my arm." I grasped at his shirt, felt the soft material under my fingers. Yuri caught my right hand. "I can't move it."
"It's okay. Professor Manuela froze it to keep the poison from spreading," Yuri said. He squeezed my hand.
I looked at my left arm again. Under the faint moonlight, I could see dark lines racing up and down my skin. Poison... Ah, the knife had been poisoned.
"Am I going to die?" I asked. Yuri moved to sit on the mattress beside me. I pushed myself to a sitting position with my right arm. Yuri's hand hovered behind my back.
"No, you can't," Yuri said. He pulled me into a hug. "You can't die on me."
I chuckled. "Wasn't planning to."
"Your brother's going to find an antidote, so don't worry. Just focus on resting."
I was trembling. What if Byleth couldn't find an antidote? Would they chop my arm off? Would it spread to the rest of my body and kill me? I wrapped my right arm around Yuri. "Yuri, I can't hug you."
"You're hugging me." He pressed me closer. "Don't worry."
I nodded and swallowed. I swung my legs off the bed and stood up. "Bathroom," I told Yuri. I held on to my left arm while I walked. It was strange, how limp it was.
When I returned, Yuri was lying on the bed. "Are you hungry?" He passed me a glass of water, and I drank it.
"No," I said. "Just tired." When I was done, he set the glass down on the bedside table, where his book was. I lay down next to him. There wasn't a lot of room for the two of us.
"You should go back to Abyss to sleep," I said. "Not here."
"No." Yuri threw his arm over me and snuggled close. "I'll feel better here."
"Okay." I leaned my head towards his and closed my eyes. It was warmer with him beside me, and I could feel his arm against mine. Yuri tugged the blanket over us, and soon I was drifting back to sleep.
I returned to classes the next day, but my left arm was still frozen with a mix of magic and medicine. Professor Manuela kept healing my arm. She asked that I stay in the infirmary until Byleth found an antidote, in case my condition worsened. The healing didn't seem to do anything. The purple lines criss crossing my arm only got darker.
My classmates swarmed me when I entered the classroom in the morning. They must have heard what'd happened.
"I'm okay, really," I said with a smile.
"Isn't your arm poisoned though?" Ashe's eyebrows were creased with worry.
"The Professor will find a cure for me," I said, trying to sound assured. Mercedes and Dimitri were both inspecting my arm.
Professor Manuela had walked to the classroom with me, and she tapped on the chalkboard. "Settle down, class," she said. Everyone moved towards their seats. "Byleth will be fine. Now let's begin."
I ate lunch with my classmates, as usual. Except, when we rounded a corner to head to the cafeteria, there was a loud thwack. I looked around. Mercedes and Annette also looked towards me.
"Byleth, your hand," Annette said, pointing at my left arm. I looked at my arm, dangling by my side. My knuckles were bleeding. I must have hit my arm against the wall.
"Oh," I said. I hadn't felt a thing. It was weird. I didn't like that. I grabbed my arm and cradled it in my right arm, like a doll. "It's okay." I shrugged.
Mercedes healed my hand, and the bloody scraped skin disappeared.
"Thanks," I said.
After classes ended, Professor Manuela told me that she'd give me a three day extension on all assignments until my arm was healed. That was very nice of her. Rose and Jeralt both stopped by to see me, so we ended up eating dinner together. Rose told me that Yuri was back in Abyss.
After dinner, I found Byleth waiting for me at the infirmary.
"Hello," I said to him with a small wave.
He nodded. "Hello." He followed me into the infirmary. "Edelgard has a lead on a place where we might find an antidote. We'll be going on Saturday."
"Count me in." It was Yuri. He entered behind us.
Byleth nodded, then looked at me. "We'll find one. Just wait."
"Okay," I said. If anyone could, it'd be Edelgard and Byleth.
Yuri insisted on staying in the infirmary with me, even though there was a night nurse who made hourly rounds. He took the bed beside mine for the night. In a way, it was nice, being in the same room for him. It'd been years since we consistently stayed together in one place.
That night, I dreamt of Solon. We were in a plain, white room. I was sleeping, but I could see Solon. He was walking around me, staring at me, laughing and muttering to himself. I tried to move but I couldn't. I tried to listen to him but I couldn't. His voice was just noise.
He paused and leaned closer towards me, mouth moving, then he continued walking. He must have circled around me at least three times before he finally said something that I could understand.
"Yes, how fascinating," he said.
I woke up, sweating and nervous. I squeezed the blanket in my fist and looked to my right, where Yuri was sleeping. It was just a dream. I rolled onto my side to watch Yuri, watched his chest rise and fall with each breath. I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.
Professor Manuela wouldn't let me participate in training, even though my right arm was fine. I used training hours to work on my assignments. Hopefully, I wouldn't need to use the three day extensions.
On Saturday, I sat in the infirmary reading my textbook, waiting for Professor Manuela to do her daily checkup on me. The purple in my veins looked lighter today, fainter and thinner. I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.
I held the book open in my right hand, setting it down in my lap to flip a page. There was a whoosh and when I looked up, I saw Solon standing in front of me.
No way.
I reached for my sword and tried to shake it out of its sheath. A blade appeared at my neck. A girl I hadn't seen before stood to my left, pointing a dagger at me. She had strange orange hair and ridiculous makeup. Solon just laughed and stepped towards me.
"You're healing," he said. The sheath fell to the floor with a clatter. I wondered if I should scream.
"Drop your sword," the girl said. She glared at me. I stared at her. Her knife pressed into my neck, but not the sharp side. I dropped my sword. It hit the floor with another loud clang. Surely a knight would hear that, right?
Solon was walking around the bed, towards me, while talking, "Isn't that incredible? Somehow, your body is defeating the poison."
"What do you want?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"I want to study you," Solon said with a grin. He reached his hand towards me and grabbed my shirt. I grabbed his arm, but then the bed and the floor and the room were morphing away from me.
I screamed. Everything was dark.
I clawed at the arms on me. My teeth chomped onto his hand, but Solon's grip on my shirt only tightened. Then my feet hit the ground again, and Solon shoved me. My head slammed into something hard.
Everything hurt.
When I came to, I was tied to a bed. Only my left arm was free, but I still couldn't move it. Solon was standing in front of me, leering at me. This had to be a nightmare, right?
"You're healing." Solon lifted my left arm up. I still couldn't feel anything. "Look." I did. The purple lines were gone. Solon dropped my arm. He rubbed his hands together. "That poison was just a prototype. I wonder… could you handle my second version of it?"
I shuddered. We were in a room, no windows, a wooden table to my right. The door was to my right too. But what was beyond that? They'd warped me here, wherever here was. Who would ever find me here?
Solon walked off. There was another table across the room from me, covered in vials, bottles, needles, papers and books. He picked a needle up. I closed my eyes. Oh Goddess. I was going to die here, wasn't I? Just poison me and get it over with, then.
While Solon tinkered with his bottles, I strained against the restraints. They were made of fabric, but they were tight.
"Don't make me numb the rest of your body," Solon said, turning around. He was holding a needle, filled with a dark green liquid. He stepped to my left side. "Let's see if you can heal from this one." And for once, I was glad I couldn't feel anything in my left arm.
They didn't find an antidote. They killed some people, people conducting strange experiments, but there was no antidote. Yuri, Byleth, and all the students scoured the building. They took some suspicious looking vials with them. Byleth and Yuri brought them to the infirmary.
"Professor Manuela," Byleth said, dropping the bottles on her desk. "Do any of these look like antidotes to you?"
"You're back. We don't need an antidote though." Manuela was leaning over Byleth. "She's all healed up."
Yuri was standing by Byleth's bed. The lines on her arm were gone. The scar on her hand too. Byleth's book was on the bedside table, and her sword sheathed beside her on the bed.
"What?" Professor Byleth stepped closer to take a look.
Byleth was grinning. "Yeah, all healed up. Thanks to Professor Manuela." She stretched her legs out in front of her, leaning back on her arms. "Can I leave now?"
"Yes." Manuela nodded.
Byleth stood up in front of Yuri. She smiled at him. "So, where's my father?" Both Professor Byleth and Yuri froze. Byleth had never called Jeralt her father before.
"Professor, did you hit her in the head?" Yuri asked Manuela, with a faint hope.
Manuela frowned and shook her head. "No, why would I do that?"
"What's wrong?" Byleth glanced between Yuri and the Professor.
"Byleth, who am I?" Yuri pointed at himself.
"Yuri, my fiancee," Byleth said. No, no, something was definitely wrong. Yuri shook his head and took a step back. Byleth wouldn't call him her fiancee. He was her best friend. Byleth leaned closer towards Yuri and puckered her lips. "What, want a kiss?"
Yuri pushed her back. This couldn't be Byleth. He cleared his throat to calm himself down. "What's the mockingbird's real name?" Yuri said.
"What do you mean?" Byleth crossed her arms.
Yuri looked at the Professor and Manuela. "Either she's lost her personality and her memories, or she's not Byleth."
"Kronya," the Professor said.
Byleth twitched and said, almost hissing, "What about her?"
"Who's that?" Manuela asked.
Yuri grabbed Byleth's arm. "So you're not Byleth."
"Let go of me!" Byleth yanked her arm out of his grip. "You're ridiculous."
Yuri and the Professor both drew out their swords, but Yuri couldn't bring himself to point it at Byleth. The Professor did, though.
"Surrender," Professor Byleth said. "You're outnumbered."
"Why should I? I'm Byleth. Is this how you treat your sister?" Byleth said.
"You're clearly an imposter," Yuri said. "We can see right through you. You're a terrible actor, and you make a terrible Byleth."
She growled.
Footsteps came and knights entered the room, following Manuela.
"They're saying she's an imposter," Manuela told the Knights.
"Unbelievable," Byleth said. She pushed past the Professor and Yuri and let the knights escort her out. It wasn't until Byleth was gone that Yuri realized something. If that was a fake Byleth, then where was the real one? It was sinking in for the Professor too. The two of them stood in the infirmary, staring at the vacant bed for a few seconds. Professor Manuela had left with the knights.
"Do you know where she might be?" Yuri asked Byleth, after a stretch of silence.
Byleth shook his head.
Yuri buried his face in his hands. "Goddess."
"We'll find her," Byleth said.
"That's what you said about the antidote too," Yuri said. "What if she's dead?"
Byleth shook his head. "No, Byleth wouldn't die so easily."
Yuri knew that too. Or at least, he wanted to believe that it was true. But the fact was that they had no idea where she'd gone. If these were the same people as Solon, then they could have used warping magic to take her somewhere far away.
"We'll find her," Byleth said and turned towards the door. "The house leaders will help."
He sounded so sure. Yuri dropped down on the nearest bed and sighed, waiting for Byleth's footsteps to fade. Yuri looked at the book left on the bedside table, then stood up. Moping around wouldn't help Byleth. If the fake Byleth was working with Solon, then she'd know where the real Byleth was.
Thanks for reading!