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 story is a Rewritten Silver Snow route with a couple of significant twists.
Chapter Summary: The Garland moon is now, and Byleth returns to teaching after returning from Zanado. After learning her class is part of the vanguard against Lord Lonatos's rebellion. Bernadetta reunites with somebody from her past
Chapter 8: A long Awaited Reunion.
Day 1 Garland Moon 1180
When the warm winds blow from the sea to the south of Adrestia, residents of Fodlan know that the rainy season is upon them. Before the heavy rains take their toll, young women hurry to pick the last of the white roses. The ivory buds are woven into garlands and given as gifts to close friends or potential lovers.
Garreg Mach Monastery
Audience Chambers
Byleth was standing in the audience chambers wearing her back knee-length skirt and her black and grey blouse that was given to her at the beginning of the year by Seteth as her uniform. She had the option to wear the cape, but she chose not to. To assist in covering her ears, she had a hairband to keep her now longer hair in place. Seteth, Rhea, and Matthew were standing across from her, who now had a monk's hat to help cover his ears and was wearing a similar outfit to Seteth but without the cape and instead of blue and white with gold seams, it was olive green and grey.
As is usual on the first day of the month, each professor of the officer's academy gets a briefing for their respected classes; right now, Byleth was getting hers done.
"Byleth, I have a new mission for your students," said Rhea
"My Mission? May I ask what these missions are? and are they a monthly occurrence?" asked Byleth while scratching her head. "Remember, I am still new, so I haven't learned everything about the officer's academy."
"Those affiliated with Garreg Mach Monastery have a moral obligation to help those in need, regardless of social standing. Students are no exception. Each month, before the newly birthed moon departs, each house of students must complete their assigned mission. You shall work to complete the task at hand alongside your students and report back to the archbishop before the deadline. Understood?" said Seteth
"Thank you for explaining," replied Byleth.
"We have received reports that Lord Lonato has rallied troops against the Holy Church of Seiros," said Rhea
"Who is Lord Lonato? and why and why on earth would he do that?" asked Byleth
"Lord Lonato is a minor lord of the Kingdom. He has been showing hostility towards the Church for some time now," replied Rhea
"A vanguard unit from the Knights of Seiros is already on its way to his stronghold, Castle Gaspard. Lord Lonato's army is nothing compared to the knights. the knights may have already suppressed the rebellion." said Seteth
"Even so, I would like for your class to travel with the knights' rear guard to deal with the aftermath," said Rhea
"War zones are unpredictable. We do not expect you will have cause to battle, but you need to be prepared for the worst." Said Seteth
"Also, remember, Byleth, that this is your class's first time in battle. Your father taught them while you were gone, but now it is your job to make sure your students are ready for their first battle," said Matthew
Then a woman with blond wavy hair tied up in a short ponytail. She was wearing cream-coloured pants. Over the pants was a half-open robe. Around her waist was a loosely buckled belt that was secured by two white plates at her hip. Her breastplate went down to just below her breast, and from there down, she was wearing a leather armoured corset. In the center of the breastplate was the crest of Serios, the sign of the sky dragon. She was wearing white pauldrons on her shoulders. Her pants were tucked into her thigh-high boots over her knees were metal plates. On her back was a sword made of bone; in the handle was a stone with the crest of Charon, the lightning dragon.
'That woman is carrying a sword made from the bones and heart of my child!' yelled Sothis staring directly at the sword. 'My sweet lightning dragon, my youngest child.'
'Ow, Sothis, my ear, and can we talk about this later' replied Byleth to Sothis.
"Excuse me. You sent for me, Lady Rhea?" said the lady
"This is Catherine. She will be leading the knights whom you will be accompanying." Said, Rhea
"Nice to meet you. We've heard a lot about you. If you need anything, ask." said Catherine.
"She is one of our bravest knights, and that is no small feat. Only an exceptional few have what it takes to join the Knights of Seiros. This mission should prove useful in demonstrating what the aftermath of combat zones are like," said Rhea
Then Seteth, Matthew, and Rhea left the room to go to Rhea's office
"Byleth," whispered Catherine in her ear, "we need to talk."
"Okay, but I need to go teach my class. What do you need?" asked Byleth.
"Why does Lady Rhea give you special treatment? You're not particularly strong or good-looking. You seem exceedingly unremarkable. Not that I doubt you were a skilled mercenary. Shamir came from the same background. But she doesn't get nearly as much of Lady Rhea's attention. Besides, it'd be one thing if you got brought on as a knight. But a professorship? Unprecedented." said Catherine
"Catherine, there is stuff that is better left unknown to you," answered Byleth
"Just know this if you're a spy or here to harm lady Rhea, I will personally cut you down" as of now, I don't know what your intentions are to the Church," said Catherine
'That was awkward,' said Sothis. 'Say's the person who is using my child's bones and heart as a weapon.'
'Tell me about it, Sothis,' said Byleth
Black Eagles classroom
After about thirty minutes after the conversation with Rhea and then with Catherine, Byleth walked into her classroom with a binder in one hand and a canteen filled with water in the other. Flayn, Constance, Hapi, Balthus, and Yuri were standing in the back of the classroom. Byleth then signalled them to come forward and stated, "everyone, I have a few announcements before I get into why I was gone for a bit. As you have all seen, these five are your new classmates. This means that it is up to everyone in this class to get them up to speed. You have until the end of the moon; if you don't catch them by then, everyone fails. Next, even though Flayn is my cousin, she will not get any from me. I will treat her as I treat everyone else. Next on the agenda we have a mission for this moon. Lord Lonato has decided to start a rebellion against the Church of Serios; our mission is to be the knights' rearguard. It is unlikely we will see combat but not impossible; remember, battle zones are unpredictable. Any question before I assign them seats?"
Byleth took a glance at her class and saw a few hands raised. Seeing this, she pointed to Edelgard.
"So, Professor, will we get other missions like this and what will happen if we do see combat?" asked Edelgard
"From now on, we will get a mission every moon, and if we do see combat, you will be prepared to fight in a battle but be warned, killing someone is never easy. I can never prepare you guys enough for that," said Byleth "any more questions."
Dorothea then raised his hand and asked, "Why were you gone for so long."
" Dorothea, I will get to that later; I left my dad to teach you all, so I knew you were not in bad hands; he did teach me after all." replied Byleth "any more questions."
Byleth then saw Ferdinand's hand raised and pointed at him to signal for him to talk.
"Why do we fail if we fail to catch the new students up, and why do we have to catch the new kids up? It not our fault that joined late?" asked Ferdinand.
"Ferdinand, that comment was uncalled for!" yelled Edelgard standing up with her two palms on the desk.
"Ferdinand, how about this? For every day those students are not caught up, it will be a zero for each day starting today. The catch only affects you. Everyone else will continue as I originally planned," replied Byleth. "That was the last question I was going to take; thank Ferdinand Von Aiger for that one."
"Now, for why I was out and gone for so long, I have a reoccurring illness that can't physically be treated here when I have those episodes; the reason is that only my uncle can treat them, and there are going to be times where I may miss a moon because of that," stated Byleth "Oh right, Yuri and Balthus same table, Hapi and Constance same table. Flayn, you will share a table with Petra and Bernadetta; now take a seat."
There was a brief pause in the class after Byleth's statement; she then began opening her lesson plan book and flipped through a few pages. She turned to the chalkboard, and with a piece of chalk in her hand, she wrote Battalions, underling that word several times. She then wrote next to it, what are they? What are the different types of battalions? What are the different kinds of Battalion formations? And how many people there are in a battalion.
"Those are the questions you will know by the end of the moon," said Byleth. "As for the rest of the day, I have a little bit of an activity planned. This is a group activity; I will give each group several scenarios and several unit types; with your group, you are going to come up with how to counter each scenario properly. I will assist you when I am needed."
Byleth then walked around each table and passed three sheets of paper to each table. She then walked to the center of the room and stated, "okay, on each of your tables, you have three sheets of paper; each group is to work with each other on how they will solve each scenario; now begin; if you need help, just ask."
Then everyone got to work in their groups, with Byleth walking around the classroom with a meter stick in her hand. Looked around to see who needed help or who was not participating in the activity. She was also looking to see if anyone was raising her hand. Eventually, she came across Petra, who had her hand raised; catching her hand raised, she walked towards her group. When she arrived, Petra asked her, "this formation, what is it?" Byleth looked at the sheet of paper and saw heavily armoured cavalry in a triangle-like formation. "This a wedge formation it is used to break through enemy lines by driving a wedge through the center."
"I have gratitude, professor Eisner" answered Petra
Byleth then continued to walk around the classroom monitoring until the familiar five-tone bell rang for lunch "okay, I want everyone to return your group assignments to me and meet me in the training hall after lunch."
Cafeteria
Byleth was walking down the hallway, waiting for her food in the lunch line. Surprisingly today, the line was not relatively long, most likely because she got here early. When she got her plate of food, she looked at it and saw grilled boar meat with salad. Looking around the cafeteria, she saw Flayn sitting down and waving at her. Seeing this, she walked over to the table and sat across from her.
"Hello Byleth, how is my cousin doing?" asked Flayn
"Flayn, I am okay," replied Byleth while playing with her food
"Byleth?" questioned Flayn while raising her right eyebrow "if you are fine, then why are you playing with your food? There is something wrong, and I want to know what."
"Flayn, I am just concerned; some of these students never killed anyone before, and I am not sure how to teach that," sighed Byleth, "because the reality is I can't, and I don't know how I am going to react to a bunch of people who just made their first kill."
Seteth then came into the cafeteria with a plate full of food. While looking around and seeing Flayn and Byleth, he walked over to them and sat next to Byleth.
"Hello Flayn, Hello Byleth, how are you two doing?" asked Seteth before taking a bite of his food.
"Dad, Byleth may say she is fine, but she is concerned about are class mission," said Flayn
Seteth then turned his head towards Byleth, and she looked at him and mumbled, "it's true there are some things I cannot teach, and that is how to react to death."
"See, dad, she is concerned about our class's mission," repeated Flayn.
"Byleth, just continue to prepare your students accordingly to what you have seen in your battles," stated Seteth "that is your advantage; you have seen battle before, you have commanded units before, Manuela and Hanneman while they have been in skirmishes with the students you have hard battle experience from your days as a mercenary. You should use that to your advantage."
Just then, a loud noise was heard behind them as Lorenz was thrown against the wall by a student about the height of Lorenz. A bit more muscular with short black hair. Lorenz then punches the guy. Then a large crowd surrounds them.
While they're sitting down and eating, Byleth and Seteth both turn their heads and see the crowd and the sounds of two people yelling incoherently while punching and shoving each other. Instantly Seteth and Byleth spring up and jump out of their seats, and spring into action.
"Typical. I can never eat in peace," mumbled Byleth.
"Seriously, out of all possible places, why does it always have to be the cafeteria? And why does it always happen when I am in the cafeteria?" said Seteth.
Byleth seeing an opportunity, a weak spot in the crowd, shoves her way through that point in the crowd with Seteth right behind her. Byleth walked behind Lorenz and locked both her arms in front of Lorenz's chest, and threw him to the ground. When he was on the floor, she pinned him by putting her knee on his back and holding down his face to the ground.
"Get your hands off of me, you filthy commoner. No commoner is allowed to touch me, the noblest of Nobles and future leader of the Alliance," yelled Lorenz while pinned down.
Pissed off by Lorenz's comment, Byleth yelled, "One if you didn't start a fight, you will not be pinned down on the ground, two Noble or not, I don't care you are a student at the officer's academy, three your attitude told me you started the fight, four I am the granddaughter of Archbishop Rhea, so the Alliance has no authority here, five last time I checked the next duke of the Alliance was Claude von Reigan, now are you going to behave or not!"
At the same time, Seteth pinned the other kid to the wall by grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to the wall. "Everyone out of the cafeteria! NOW!" he yelled, then everyone cleared out of the cafeteria.
"When we let both of you go, you will sit down right next to each other and look at us," ordered Byleth releasing him. Seteth did the same with the other student.
Both students ran to the seats that Byleth was pointing at and sat down while Seteth and Byleth talked. When they were finished debating what they would do to the students, they walked towards them.
"Lorenz," said Byleth
"What" Replied Lorenz.
"Can you tell me what happened without an attitude?" asked Byleth
"I did nothing; he was the one who pushed me to the wall," answered Lorenz
"Okay, you tell me what happened," asked Byleth, pointing at the other kid
"He was trying to force me out of my seat because I was a commoner. I refused because I was already eating, then he pushed me, so I threw him to the wall, and you know the rest," said the other kid
"Lorenz, for the rest of the moon, your punishment is to clean the dishes in the cafeteria by yourself, serve food for everyone in the monastery, and clean the Cafeteria, Greenhouse, area outside the cafeteria and the Fishing area," said Byleth.
"Preposterous," said Lorenz, "I am the Nobelist of Nobles. Work like that is beneath me. Wait till my father hears about this. "
'My, that kid sure is arrogant. Maybe his punishment will teach him some humility,' said Sothis, who appeared right next to Byleth.
'Sothis not now,' said Byleth to Sothis before beginning to speak out loud directly towards Lorenz. "Lorenz, you will do that for two moons now for that comment. Shut your trap, and we can continue. maybe you will learn something called respect; you won't be a noble for long if you keep up with that attitude."
"Kai," said Seteth
"Yes, advisor Seteth," Kai responded.
"For the rest of the moon, you will clean the Chapel, Training Hall, and the Officers academy. You both will do your punishment under the supervision of the Knights of Serios to make sure you do your every day, three times a day." Replied Seteth. "Your punishment begins now. Now both of you, follow me to the archbishop."
1st-floor Residence Hall Outside Bernadetta's Room
"Hm hm-hm-hmm... Another fine day alone in my room, and plenty of books to read." hummed Bernadetta skipping down the outside hall after she learned that classes were cancelled for the rest of the day because of the incident in the cafeteria earlier when she was stopped because Ferdinand was walking right towards her.
"Bernadetta, do you have a moment? I have something to discuss with you," said Ferdinand causing Bernadetta to scream
"Um, what? I didn't do anything!" yelled Bernadetta bending down screaming, clenching her fist
"No need to be defensive. I am not angry," said Ferdinand trying to calm down the lime green-haired lady
"Oh, you are! I can tell! Just get it over with! What did I do?!" said Bernadetta, now hyperventilating.
"You did not do anything wrong! Please listen. Look, breathe, will you?" said Ferdinand, now trying his hardest to stop Bernadetta from having a panic attack
"Can't...breathe...too...scared!" said Bernadetta with a strong exhale with each word
"I see that you are struggling. Please calm down," said Ferdinand
"Easy...for...you...to say!" said Bernadetta, still hyperventilating
"I just wanted to discuss how you are always hiding in your room. It seems like something must be troubling you for you to shut yourself away like that. If something is the matter, maybe I can help. But you need to tell me what it is first." said Ferdinand
"No! Um, no thanks. I'm fine! See, I'm breathing now. You fixed me. Can I go?" said Bernadetta very fast that it was almost incomprehensible
"Do you not realize that life is passing you by? Have you no desire to venture beyond this reclusive lifestyle? There is a whole world waiting for you out there. The social life of a noble is instead—" said Ferdinand
"Stop it! I'm not interested!" yelled Bernadetta interrupting him
"Bernadetta, this is unhealthy behaviour. I beg you to take my hand. Otherwise, I will have to pick you up and carry you, and neither of us—" said Ferdinand
"What if I like being alone?! Is that so hard to imagine?! It's none of your business! Now get lost!" yelled Bernadetta stepping away while not looking stepped on Ferdinand's foot, causing him to fall.
"Aaagh!" Ferdinand cried out in pain
"No... Oh no!" said Bernadetta while shaking her head
"Ah, ouch... I sprained my Ankle...," said Ferdinand
"Oh, no-no-no-no. Now you've done it, Bernie. Now, you're his eternal rival," said Bernadetta, now thinking the worst
"I do not wish to hurt you. I—" said Ferdinand, who was interrupted by Bernadetta again
"No! I'm done for! You'll be the death of me for sure!" said Bernadetta
"Maybe I should just come back later..." said Ferdinand limping away
Archbishop office.
In the evening at Rhea's office on the third floor of the monastery, Rhea, Byleth, Flayn, Jeralt, Seteth, Anna, Yuri, Balthus, Constance, Hapi, and Matthew were seated at the marble dining table in the middle of the room. They were talking to each other and, at the same time, having tea and eating food.
"So Byleth, how are you enjoying teaching so far?" asked Anna
"I don't have an answer to that, Anna," replied Byleth
"Byleth, Seteth, I want to know how did it go in Zanado?" asked Rhea
"Well, when we arrived from above, we saw that there was a heavy bandit presence there, so we decided to land not at the entrance, but the former city center was to reach they need to fly up there that gave us some time for Byleth to go through her shift cycle then we planned to attack. Matthew was there the first few days, after which he left to get Macuil. During her entire shift cycle, Byleth kept on scratching herself. We, of course, tried to persuade her not to, but Byleth didn't listen." replied Seteth. "Oh, I almost forgot; during our battle, Byleth used a potent spell that knocked her into a regenerative sleep. That was when we learned that Byleth might be a reincarnation of the progenitor goddess. She possesses the sign of the Goddess."
"Very interesting, that means we need to protect her at all costs," said Rhea "we cannot allow our enemies who lurk in the darkness to know of her secret."
"Macuil told us that same thing, and he did say he was going to come here from time to time," said Matthew
"Yes, but there is one more thing, Matthew," said Rhea after there was a knock on the door.
"Yes," Matthew said with a pause in his voice as he closed his eyes.
"Do you remember how I told you about Demeter?" asked Rhea walking to the door.
"Of course, I do. I sent a letter here as soon as I got your letter," replies Indech. "Seiros, what did I say to you about asking questions you already know the answer to."
"Demeter, come in; there is someone you need to meet," said Rhea as she opened the door to which Bernadetta entered.
When Matthew saw Bernadetta, tears came down his eyes. Bernadetta ran towards him and hugged him with tears in her eyes as she began to weep.
"Dad! I missed you! I am very sorry for running away!" cried Bernadetta with a tight grip on his shoulder. It was almost muffled as she put her head on his shoulder crying "I needed time alone, so I warped myself away then…then I encountered a demonic beast the stone on the beast had... had…had… mom's dragon sign on it after it died"
"I missed you, and I am sorry for treating you poorly! You don't need to apologize. It was my fault for not listening to your feelings." said Matthew hugging her back as tears flowed down his eyes. "What happened to you? You used to have long hair. You used to hate to cut your hair. Now it, like Serios said, you're like a completely different person. Something happened to you that changed you."
"Dad, it was horrible. I was treated poorly by Count Varley and forced to become his daughter, who treated me as a vessel to give him a grandchild who had my Dragon sign or crest, as he called it. Every day he would hit me as he tried to train me. I spent most of the time tied to a chair because I didn't want to be his daughter." cried Bernadetta gripping her father's shirt tighter and tighter, nearly tearing it as she wept on his shirt. "There is also something that you must see."
With tears in her eyes, Bernadetta then lifted her shirt to just below her breast line, revealing many scars in many states of healing and shapes and sizes. There were multiple high-degree burn marks as if she had been with hot steel or iron several times. There was evidence of repeated whipping.
"Bernadetta, if you're comfortable, may I ask you how long Count Varley abuse was used and was it only physical, was there any emotional or sexual abuse? remember, you don't have to say anything you're not comfortable just know as my student I care about you," asked Byleth
Bernadetta lowered her shirt and nodded yes before covering her eyes and whispering, "yes, repeatedly, they said I was their experiment for Agarthia since 1175," she then ran towards Matthew and again cried in his shirt.
'My, that child sure has been through a lot,' said Sothis 'not only does she have physical scars, but she has emotional scars as well that does explain her personality and why she acts the way she does.'
"Seteth issue an arrest warrant against Count Varley and his wife. He is to be brought here for questioning when you write up the warrants for the following charges: kidnapping, child abuse, child cruelty. I then want reliable people like Jeralt, Alois, Shamir, and a few other knights to be in that operation. You will deliver it to Edelgard and King Ionius IX, making it clear that this warrant is nonnegotiable. He will be coming to the Church for a trial because Bernadetta is a member of the Church," ordered Rhea.
After seeing the reason why Bernadetta changed so much, Matthew, while with his right hand, was hugging Bernadetta, had a look of fire in his eyes; his left hand was clenched in a fist. His lips were curled up, and you could see the visible anger in his eyes.
"Uncle Indech," said Byleth as she got up and walked over to Bernadetta and started to rub her back, "as much as it pains me to say this because men like Count Varley make me sick to my stomach. It is better for him to be tried here and have and then have true justice to pass because that way, we won't cause any more trouble within the empire. Believe me, I want to put my sword through his chest as much as you do, but that will not solve anything. What we need to do now is help Bernadetta mend her heart and help her get through her trauma."
"Indech, my dear Brother, Byleth is right to let us deal with the Varley's; you reconnect with your daughter," said Rhea
To be Continued
A/N: Rewrite of Chapter 8 is complete,
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, talk about other fics, just hang out, or use the resources there, your free to join it is a relatively fun and active discord. Discord. gg/9XG3U7a