The Dawn of Silver Snow.
Story Summary: Byleth, a girl with no heartbeat and Daughter of Jeralt, a mercenary, finds that Sothis has Awakened inside of her; soon, changes begin to occur to Byleth while Sothis, the Spirit who guides Byleth, remembers everything of her Past life. Will the World be Ready for the Goddess to walk with the living once again? Who are the mysterious Argathians? This is a Rewritten Silver Snow route with a couple of significant twists.
Chapter Summary: Byleth meets Macuil, who discovers a truth about Byleth. Meanwhile, back at Garreg Mach, Bernadetta has a Flashback that comes to Rhea's attention. But first, professor Hanneman Begins to plot against the church with Instructor Jeritza and Tomas. Warning Potentially triggering subject matters ahead, you will be warned before the section.
Chapter 6: Trauma
Day 10 Harpstring Moon
Ten days have passed since Byleth's first shift cycle began, and now Byleth is nearly completely covered in ivory and pink-coloured scales. On her back, there were two developing wings were beginning to show. On her hands' sharp claws had developed. While on her head, horns are starting to form. Meanwhile, back in Garreg Mach, Jeralt is still teaching Byleth class.
Garreg Mach Monastery
Jeralt is waiting inside of the Black Eagles class and waiting for Byleth's class to enter. Like always, the first to enter was Edelgard and Hubert, then the rest of the class filled in and sits in the seat assigned to them by Byleth.
"Okay, today we are going to talk about weapons and their weaknesses. As well as magic and their weakness, then move on to unit types and their weakness," said Jeralt "everyone should know the basic types of weapons; who can tell me one?"
Edelgard raised her hand. When Jeralt pointed at her, she stood up and replied, "Axes," then took her seat.
"Okay, then let us start with axes," said Jeralt "useful for when powerful swings are needed and great when countering Lances; however, weak against what type of weapons, does anyone know?"
When nobody raised their hand, Jeralt said, "swords, you can swing much faster than an axe, but your blows will be much weaker. But, on the other hand, they are strong against Axes. Can anyone tell me what they are weak against?"
This time Caspar raised his hand, and when Jeralt pointed to him, he stood up and said, "Lances."
"Correct, Caspar." said Jeralt " Axes beat Lances, Lances beat swords, and Swords beat Axes, remember that well. This is called the weapon triangle. In an army, you must know what is weak against what so that you can counter it effectively. Remember, as future leaders in armies, you are responsible for every decision you make. This training starts here. One bad decision can cost the lives of others. Now moving on to magic, who can tell me a type of reason magic."
He saw how Hubert, Dorothea, and Linhardt all raised their hands. For Linhardt, it was a miracle that he was even participating in class, considering he only has no interest in battle and is more of a healer he wanted; however, his memory fresh in his mind was a reminder of Byleth's treatment of him the first time he slept in class, and he does not want to go through that again.
"Dorothea," Jeralt asked while pointing at her.
"Thunder," replied Dorothea
"That one, yes, and thunder is weak to what?" asked Jeralt "um, Petra."
"Wind, it is weak too," replied Petra.
"Correct, and wind is weak to fire this is the reason magic triangle; however, magic is more complicated than this. What is all reason magic weak against?" asked Jeralt; this time, only Hubert raised his hand, forcing Jeralt to signal to call on him.
"If I were to guess, and guess correctly, I would say dark magic," answered Hubert
"And correct you are, which leaves dark magic weak against light or holy magic. So to review the complicated magic weapons triangle, light, also known as holy magic, is weak to reason, the reason is weak to dark, and dark is weak to light, more commonly known as holy magic. The reason the magic triangle goes like this fire is strong against wind, wind is strong against thunder, and thunder is strong against fire. Now let's move on to the unit weakness and strengths; we are not going to go over every unit class that will take forever, only the triangle involved. So ranged units like archers and mages, what are they normally weak to?" instructed Jeralt.
This time it was Bernadetta who raised her hand. Edelgard was caught off guard, eyes pooped, and jaws dropped. Hubert's reaction was just a smirk on his face. Ferdinand didn't say anything. Everyone else had very similar reactions to Edelgard, with some more subtle than others, but overall, the reactions were mostly the same. Jeralt then pointed to Bernadetta, and she stood up, body shaking.
"Um, gr-gr-ground units," she said with a shudder indicating how terrified she was; this was the first time she had ever volunteered to speak in class. She usually was in class trying to hide.
"Yes, that is correct, very good, and does anyone know what ground units are weak too?" Asked Jeralt, this time, he pointed at Caspar.
"Bow users," replied Caspar.
"That is correct, so to review, bow units are strong against airborne units, airborne units are strong against ground units, and ground units are strong against bow units. What we went over in this part of class is important for everyone. Every commander needs to know this. This is vital. It also tells that it is important to have a well-balanced force to counter any threat; after lunch, I expect you to meet me in the training hall for weapons training class is dismissed." Declared Jeralt as the bell rang.
Cafeteria
Bernadetta was seated at a table alone in the cafeteria like usual on her right hand was a fork and her left hand was a knife. On her plate was red wolf meat with fruit on the side; similar to Byleth, Bernadetta could not eat food that came from plants. Her body couldn't tolerate it. She was just poking the meat with her fork and knife on her plate this time. Tears were flowing down her eye. Her eyes were dilated, and her breathing was shallow and rapid to the point where she was hyperventilating.
"Bern, what is wrong with you? Why are you crying?" asked Dorothea walking over to Bernadetta placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to help her as she saw from a distance that something was wrong with her.
"AHHH" yelled Bernadetta
As the shock was enough to cause Bernadetta to drop her knife a fork, causing her inadvertently to cut herself. Then with her eyes closed and tears flowing down, she ran while crying, not paying attention to anything while running. Eventually, she ran right into Archbishop Rhea, nearly knocking her backwards, causing Bernadetta to look up.
"Oh no! Please, I am sorry! don't kill me, lady Rhea!" Cried Bernadetta as her eyes became slits.
"Now, Bernadetta, why would I do that" Rhea said softly before wiping the tears off of Bernadetta's face "what has you upset? Let us go to my office and talk about it, child."
"Okay," Bernadetta said as she is now following Rhea, "please don't kill me."
Bernadetta, still in tears, walks with Rhea to her office. When they arrive, Rhea closes the door for Security to talk with Bernadetta. Rhea passes a handkerchief to Bernadetta as well as a ball to squeeze.
"Okay, Bernadetta, what is wrong? You can trust me," stated Rhea "nobody from outside can hear anything that happens inside this room. I understand if you don't want to talk about it but talking about it is the first step to healing; trust me, okay."
"You sound like someone I once knew long ago," whispered Bernadetta
Flashback Imperial year 1175
Lake Teutates Temple
Indech is wearing his usual armour, and a girl the same height as Bernadetta is wearing a dark purple dress with long lime-green hair covering her ears and lime green eyes; she is wearing black sandals; the girls' name is Demeter. They were both facing each other and yelling at each other in a full argument.
"Demeter, absolutely not. I hide you to protect you and will always protect you; some still wish to harm us for what we are," yelled Indech
"But Dad, I need to fly. I have not done so in so long. Just like you satisfy your urge to swim on this lake, I need to satisfy my urge to fly," yelled Demeter
"I have been able to transform in my dragon form for about one thousand and forty years and were not even there to see if you didn't even see my first transformation. You were not there to help me during my shift cycles. You forced me into seclusion since the red canyon and the day mom died; it is like you don't care about me anymore," cried Demeter.
"Demeter, you don't know the dangers out there. I care about you more than you know," replied Indech.
"Actions speak louder than words," cried Bernadetta before angrily using a warp spell to warp away.
"NOOOOO!" yelled Indech falling down to the ground crying. "If you don't come back, I will find you, I swear."
Varley Territory
Demeter warped herself into a pit of mud, picking herself up and then dusting herself off. To remove mud from her dress and coughing to remove mud from her mouth. Then she heard footsteps in the distance, looked to the left, and saw a demonic beast charging.
"Great first, my mother now me," said Demeter pulling out a dagger from a pocket in her dress. "Hope I survive this."
As the demonic beast roared, the earth trembled. Demeter tightened her grip on her dagger. As the beast tried to bite her, she jumped backwards. Demeter was familiar with these things as it was one of these things that killed her mother in the city of Zanado. But she also knew she was useless with a dagger against these things, and she could smell humans nearby, so transforming was out of the question.
The beast roared once again, this time even louder that it caused Demeter's ears to hurt. The next attack from the beast came from its front left paw, it slashed Demeter, but Demeter rolled to the right, taking an opportunity to attack. Demeter slashed his left leg cracking the stone fragment on it but also causing her dragon sign to flash in the air.
At one point, Demeter sees an arrow fly right past her and hit the demonic beast directly in the eye, temporarily blinding it. See an opportunity, Demeter throws her dagger at her. The primary source of power the crest stone at the head of the beast. But when the stone fell off, and she saw the symbol, Demeter fell to the ground and started to cry. It was the dragon sign of her mother. As the beast roared again, several arrows hit it, and a heavily armoured knight impaled it with its spear killing the beast.
"Mama," cried Demeter, "I am sorry this happened. I am sorry your dead."
"Count Varley, the child is not harmed," yelled a soldier
"What are you doing here, child, here in this forest in my territory? Fighting a demonic beast, no less," asked a man wearing a red and black robe with dark purple hair, "my name is Count Varley, minister of religious affairs in the empire. May I ask you what yours is?"
"My name is Demeter," answered Demeter.
"May ask what happened to your parents?" asked the count
"They died in the war," lied Demeter what Demeter did not know was that there was an actual war going on right now, The Dagda-Brigid war.
"Well, I will take you in as my child. You will be called Bernadetta," declared the Count.
Varley Residence
Warning Triggering Content Begins here. You will be notified when it ends.
Bernadetta was led to inside the Varley residence, it was a large two-story building with a large hallway in the front gate. In the front of the hallway, there were two chairs this was the Count's audience chambers. On the first floor were the guest chambers, the servants' quarters, and the maid quarters, and they were all to the left because that was where the kitchen and dining room were. On the right of the first floor were the counts' office, the main library, and the chapel. Behind the audience, chambers were a set of stairs that led to the second floor, which all had bedrooms.
Bernadetta was led up the stairs to the second floor and to a room on the first door to the right. Once she was in this room, she sat and tied down to the chair first by her ankles and then her wrist. "What are you doing?" yelled Bernadetta
"Tying up one a wretched beast who stole Foldlan from us," answered Count Varley, grabbing a whip with nails at the edges.
"I didn't do anything," cried Bernadetta realizing he was an Argarthian
"Your Demeter, the daughter of that so-called saint Indech you foul beast, have been in control of Foldlan since the day you arrived," replied Count Varley
"We all warned you that using our gifts for the wrong reasons will cause damages to the land; Dad warned you all, Grandmother Sothis warned you, and when you ignored us, you blamed us. Then yo-" cried Bernadetta but was cut short as the whip in Count Varley's hand made contact with her face causing the nails to cut her face and creating abrasions across her face.
"Shut up," yelled Count Varley "now this is what is going to happen; you see, you are my experiment. I am going to see if I can turn you into the perfect wife, all while experimenting with your body; any bad behaviour will be stamped out severely. And don't think you will ever see your father ever again; you won't."
Imperial Year 1176
It has been a year since Bernadetta's adoption by the Varley household, and the beatings with the whip have happened every day since she was captured. Today Bernadetta was tied to the same chair she had been bound to since the Varleys caught her. She had hope that it wouldn't get any worse.
"Dad, I am sorry," cried Bernadetta. "I should have listened to you."
Then Count Varley came with a steel rod in his hand. The colour was red on the end of the steel rod, with smoke coming out. "You have been a real bad girl; don't you know I can hear everything that happens in here."
Upon seeing what Count Varley had in his hand, Bernadetta began moving very rapidly in her chair while shouting "NO! Please! NO!" as the Count got closer and closer and eventually poked her back with the hot metal rod, causing her to yell in pain as the metal burns through her clothes and flesh. As the agonizing yell was getting louder and louder has, the Count moved the hot metal rod around, causing more flesh to burn.
"Indech is no longer your father. I am got that Bernadetta," yelled Count Varley
"Yes! Father!" replied Bernadetta, now thoroughly defeated and broken.
End of Potentially triggering content
Rhea's Office
Present-day
As Bernadetta was telling Rhea the bits and pieces of her past, Rhea got up and walked over to the girl and wrapped her arms around Bernadetta. She then returned the hug and began to cry on her shoulder.
"Auntie Serios, I am sorry I should have listened to dad; he was right; he was right," cried Bernadetta. "I feel like Uncle Macuil, humanity doesn't deserve compassion at times, but here you are giving it. I left the safety of my father's sanctuary only to be tortured by humans."
"Now, Now, Demeter, you have been through something no person should go through. Remember, not everyone is like that. That man was likely one of our ancient enemies called the Argathians but remembered what your Grandmother Sothis taught us, and violence should only be used as a last resort or in defence of somebody. Unfortunately, this is a lesson I have not followed. remember, not everyone is bad. An example of a good human is Jeralt, the father of your professor," consoled Rhea
"Aunty, you always knew what was the right thing to say," replied Bernadetta, with now fewer tears coming out of her eyes. "Aunty, can I ask a question?"
"Yes, you can, Demeter," replied Rhea
"How is Dad? I miss him. My biggest fear is that I will never see him again," asked Bernadetta
"Well, he is scared that he lost you. He never stopped looking at you. He once came asking me if I had seen you come a few days after you went missing. I didn't know you went missing over an argument. I told him that if you came by the monastery, I would let him know that you stopped by. But in the state you're in, your hair is much shorter than I remember. You run away from everything. It is quite obvious to me that you have been through something that nobody should have gone through, and I am sorry; if there is anything I can do to help, please come to me," replied Rhea
"Thank you, May I ask what happened to Professor Eisner? is she one of us? The reason why I am asking is because it smells similar to you?" asked Bernadetta
"You always have been the curious one, Demeter. Yes, she is one of us; she is the daughter of Sitri, which makes her my granddaughter. She is going through a shift cycle as to what happened to her, so we took her to Zanado. As for what happened to Sitri, she died giving birth to Byleth," replied Rhea. "Now about Count Varley, we are going to find a way to deal with him so that he won't hurt anyone else. We will also find a way to reunite you with Indech."
"Okay" answered Bernadetta
"Now let's get you back to class before Instructor Jeralt gets angry that he is missing someone," said Rhea
Zanado
Byleth and Aubin were locked in a sword battle; for Byleth, this was the first time she had ever seen an opponent move fast. For Aubin, this was his best opponent since the war of heroes. Each swing from Byleth was either countered with a dodge by Aubin or a block by his sword. In contrast, each swing from Aubin was countered by a counterattack by Byleth.
"Your good. Not many people can keep up with me; that is not my father," yelled Byleth
"I can say the same about you," yelled Aubin "not only do you learn magic very quickly, but you are very skilled with the sword; you are like Macuil in a way."
Well, it was true in a sense that during her time in Zanado, Byleth has learned Miasma, Swarm Z, Banshee, and Hades, from Timotheos. She learned Fire, Sagittate, Fimbulvetr, Bolting, and Agnea's Arrow from Noa. She learned Heal, Nosferatu, Recover, Silence, and Aura from Aubin. And From Cethlean, she learned Wind, Cutting Gale, Restore, Rescue, Excalibur, and Fortify. All around, Byleth has been great when it comes to learning spells.
A Dragon with brown bird-like feathers and a bird-like beak with the crest of Macuil on his forehead, the sign of the wind dragon. two horns each pointing upwards, two wings with large brown feathers that get bigger as they get to the end of the wings. An underbelly with golden scales. Four feet with five black claws on each, a beautiful long tail landed on an abandoned road about several meters from everyone.
After he landed, a green light surrounded him, and he transformed into a man with shoulder-length emerald green hair covering his pointed ears. He is about 193 centimetres tall. He was wearing brown gauntlets with three golden spikes; his chest and abdomen were covered in brown full-scaled plate armour with a belt at his waist that had a sword that had the same symbol on it that was on his dragon form. His pauldrons were brown that each had two golden spikes on them. On his legs were brown scaled plate greaves that covered his boots. His staff bore his symbol at the tip and was gold in colour on his back.
Macuil then walked toward Indech, Seteth, Anna, Flayn, and the others who were there standing watching the sparring match between Aubin and Byleth. Macuil walked next to Flayn, placing his hand on her shoulder and causing Flayn to turn around and hug him.
"It's good to see you again, Uncle," said Flayn
"Cethlean, it is good to see you too; it's been so long. I am here because I got Indech's vague message because you know your Uncle Indech lets to be, has vague as we can be," replied Macuil before turning to Seteth. "Who is that child training with Aubin."
"She is Byleth, and she is Serios' Granddaughter and the daughter of Sitri. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us as she died during childbirth." Replied Seteth
"I am going to say this I am impressed. I trained Aubin how to use the sword, and she is only a child and keeping up with him blow for blow," said Macuil "that also saddens me to hear that another one of our family has died, and it's all those damn Argarthians fault. I am who was the one who was able to mate with Sitri."
At this point, Macuil raises an eyebrow directly at Byleth, keeping to himself what he smells because he is not sure that the others know. "I need to talk to her about something that is private," declared Macuil
"Hello child, my name is Macuil. I am Cichol's, Indech's, and Serios' brother. I need to talk to you, but in an area where I can be sure that nobody will hear are conversation, so do you mind if you follow me?" asked Macuil
"Umm, sure, I don't mind at all," answered Byleth.
Byleth followed Macuil down the path until she was out of sight of everyone Byleth, in awe, looked at the curious ruins. She couldn't believe that this, at one point, was her ancestral home because now it was so barren and dry and deserted. Byleth could still feel the terror of the massacre that occurred here over a thousand years ago. Yet she still feels joy from this place; she is not sure if this is from her connection with Sothis or what, but it's something she is going to have to ask later. As Byleth is walking, Macuil points and leads her to a mostly intact building in the ruins, a rare case in what is left of Zanado. As they got in, Macuil closed the door.
"Alright, I am going to cut to the chase; why do I smell the sign of the progenitor goddess on you? I know you're not a vessel because Cichol does not like to like, and you would be going through a shift change, so that tells me you're a Nabataean child who is around twenty years old."
'My, my, Macuil sure is perceptive, my little dragon. it would be best if you told him about your true self that you and I are the same, but we are not at the same time.' said Sothis
'Are you sure, Sothis?' asked Byleth
'Yes, he won't tell anyone,' Replied Sothis. 'Tell him the truth, tell him about your divine blood, tell him about me, and make sure you tell him that you have not awoken to your full potential; he won't say a word unless he is forced.'
"Macuil, can you promise me what I tell you won't leave this room," asked Byleth
"You can trust me," said Macuil
"I am Sothis's reincarnation," Byleth answered, exhaling "me and her are the same, but at the same time were not. Her will and my will are one and the same. Divine blood runs through my veins. I know this because we speak with each other. However, remember this I am not Sothis. We are very different beings. I have yet to awaken to my full potential, and you're also the first one to notice."
"That explains why I smell the sign of the goddess on you," said Macuil. "Do you know when you will awaken to your full potential?"
"Sothis explained to me there will be a time when we will merge, but I am not ready for that, yet Cethlean and uncle Cichol have been a great help in learning about my Nabatean side as well as uncle Indech, and Anna and her kids. I don't talk to my grandmother as much as I do with Cethlean, Uncle Cichol, Uncle Indech, and Anna and her kid, but she has kind of been a help," said Byleth
"Why don't you talk with Serios as much as you do with the others?" asked Macuil
"Simple. I arrived at the monastery on the 21st of the Great tree moon. Before then, I didn't know what a Nabatean was or anything about the church. I didn't know who my mother was and still do not; I did not know anything about you guys. But I kept dreaming of a war, a woman getting torn apart, a massacre at this exact location. And a child sleeping on a throne. Then on the 20th of the Great tree moon, I saved the heirs to the Alliance, Empire, and Kingdom, and the girl woke up and saved me. It was then that I found out that she was Sothis. The next day, I arrived at the monastery, talked with Rhea with my father, and became a professor. That is when I learned that I am a Nabatean. On the first of the Harpstring moon, I was forced to go to Zanado with Cichol and Cethlean because my first shift cycle had started." said Byleth. "Before then, I had a hard time speaking with kids my age. I was constantly bullied because of my ears and of my unusual strength for my age. When I was put in care with other adults, I would vomit every time they gave me vegetables which caused those other Adults to hit me because they thought I was forcing myself to vomit them. So, my father was forced to take me with his mercenary company on missions from the age of 7 onwards; from then on, I was nothing but a killer known as the Ashen Demon."
"Byleth, I am sorry, no dragon should grow up without their mother, and you were forced to. You were forced to grow up without knowing anything about yourself, thinking you were one thing and then finding out you are another. I can tell you been through a lot but let me tell you something if anyone calls you a demon, there wrong," replied Macuil. "I know that because by talking to you, you used the words when I saved a cold-blooded killer, or a demon does not save people; they just kill for their own pleasure."
"Thank you, Macuil," said Byleth reaching out over his shoulder to cry
"Byleth, there is one thing you must know," stated Macuil
"What" replied Byleth
"Because of who you are, if the Argarthians find out, you will have a target on your back. Be careful," declared Macuil. "I am telling you this for your own safety and as your uncle."
Garreg Mach Monastery
Later after class in Garreg Mach in professor Hanneman's quarters, the Flame Empress, an older man with pale skin with a gold ornament on his left eye, maroon robes with black outline and the gold symbol of Agarthia on both sides of the robe, black gloves his name is Solon. Next to him was a man wearing all back armour with horns all over the place his name was the death knight or Moros, across from him was a pale old man with white hair and many wrinkles all over his face, he was wearing a maroon lab coat and black trousers with the symbol of Agarthia in the back, his name was Erinyes.
"So, we know Lord Thales has succeeded in having Lord Lonato rebel; when he does, he is going to have a note that the Arch-Bishop will be assassinated, but it is a ruse to get the Sword of the creator, which we know from spies is in a casket in the holy Mausoleum; however, we do not know which one," said Solon
"We also need the blood of one of those wretched beasts; Byleth, Bernadetta, or Flayn seems like the most likely candidates. We know for certain about Flayn but not about Bernadetta or Byleth." Stated Erinyes
"Well, Bernadetta does have green hair and matching eyes and is the adopted daughter of Count Varley; however, I have never seen her ears because, like Flayn, Rhea, and Seteth, she keeps her hair covering her ears at all times. Byleth, we can confirm, has pointed ears but has blue hair and blue eyes. She did claim that she was the granddaughter of Rhea. So, while with Bernadetta, it's unknown if she is one with Byleth and Flayn, I am almost sure that she is one." said the Flame Empress
"May I ask what crest does Bernadetta and Byleth have if you know?" asked Solon
"Bernadetta has a Mystery crest that I have never seen before. As for Byleth, she has the crest of flames. I can confirm that I saw this with my own two eyes," declared the Flame Empress.
"So, the fell star returns. I thought she was gone for good; nevertheless, she is still a threat," said Erinyes
"Fell star?" questioned the flame empress.
"To think she would reincarnate herself after all these years, hahaha," laughed Erinyes.
"Who is this fell star?" asked the Flame Empress
"Sothis," answered Erinyes
"Enough! Here are everyone's orders; try to find out Bernadetta's ear shape and let me know; as for the Fell Star, all of those beasts, when they are children, have blue hair and blue eyes with terrible eyesight. She will be the best candidate to capture and get her blood. Moros and Erinyes that will be your job; also, Moros, you will be leading our assault team on their assault on the holy mausoleum; they will be disguised as members of the western church. Erinyes, once the fell star is captured, your job is to experiment on the beast.
"Okay," said Everyone
To Be Continued
A/N: rewrite for chapter 6 is done
A/N #2: join the fanfiction treehouse none of the rewriting and my writing style improvements would have been able to be completed without the resources here. If you want to talk to other authors hangout or use the resources your free to join. discord. gg/9XG3U7a