Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Professor Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, Legion, Admiral David Anderson, and everyone else who died fighting the Reaper threat.

But most of all, it's dedicated to Commander Shepard, who defeated Saren, ended the Collectors, killed several Reapers, and, most importantly, brought a feuding galaxy together against a common threat.

Rest in Peace Commander. Rest in Peace, all of you.

So… uh… yeah, in case you couldn't tell I finished the Mass Effect Trilogy a few days ago and I am not happy! Why did it have to end like that! She should have lived! After everything she did she deserved to live!

[Sigh] Well, at least I'm not crying like I did when I first finished the game.

So, yeah. This chapter is dedicated to a bunch of fictional characters. If I missed anybody (not counting Kaiden, Wrex, Conrad Verner, or any of the potential deaths during the second game's Suicide Mission) let me know.

Alright, on to actual business. I don't have much, actually. I do want to give a shout out to three of my followers: Eternal Wanderer, FallenFrenzy, and Primordial Knight. You guys have really cool names and I wanted you to know that.

Part One

White Clouds

Family Matters

Jeralt had a bad feeling from the moment he woke up. Generally, he wasn't one to pay attention to bad feelings. They were usually just that: feelings. Nothing more, nothing less (well, sometimes they indicated that he was ill but that didn't happen often).

However, this bad feeling was different. It was a feeling of dread that told him something life changing was happening soon and he wasn't going to like it. And this feeling of dread came to a head when his daughter burst into his office.

"We need to talk!" She said forcefully.

"About what?" He asked, not looking up.

"About mom." Byleth responded, crossing her arms.

And there it was. The thing he had been dreading. For the first time in a long time, he was going to have to talk about Sitri.

"I apologize Jeralt." Said a voice Jeralt recognized as Aelfric. A second later the man himself entered the room. "This is my fault."

Jeralt sighed and stood up. "Alright kid, if you wanna know about your mother, we'll need to find a secluded spot."

"That's easy." Byleth said. "I still remember where the Abyss entrance we found is."

Jeralt stroked his chin. "Abyss? Haven't heard that in a long time."

"You've been to Abyss?" Byleth asked.

"That's another thing we need to be in private to discuss." Jeralt said.

"Well, alright." Byleth said. "Let's go already."

It had been night outside when Byleth and her students first entered Abyss. However, it had been daytime when she and Aelfric exited the underground which meant either Abyss had some sort of magic time dilation effect or Byleth's own sense of time was awful. Given that she could never wake up on time without help, it was likely the latter.

It was still daytime when she, Jeralt, and Aelfric entered the tunnel. They made their way through it until they found themselves in the larger tunnel the Best Friend Squad had fought the Ashen Wolves in. There were still some arrows lying around and a scorch mark or two on the walls.

"What happened here?" Jeralt asked.

Byleth flipped her hand dismissively. "Small skirmish, nothing to worry about, no real injuries." She pointed at Jeralt. "Now spill. Tell me everything about mom."

Jeralt sighed. "Alright. Your mother, Sitri, was a wonderful person. In many ways the two of you are very similar. She was stoic… like you used to be but when me and Aelfric were around she was full of energy and had a… sense of humor..." He trailed off, likely trying to find the right words to describe said sense of humor.

"How bad was it?" Byleth asked.

"Let's just say that we tried our best to keep her and Alois from being in the same room as each other." Jeralt said.

Byleth nodded. That was bad.

"Anyway," Aelfric said. "Both of us, Jeralt and I, were in love with her. But we weren't about to let that ruin our friendship so we agreed that whichever one of us won her heart the other would be happy for him." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course, it never occurred to us that she might like someone else or not like anyone at all but we were young and foolish."

Jeralt chuckled. "Yeah, young."

"Is that all you've got?" Byleth asked.

"Well," Aelfric said dreamily. "I could tell you about how beautiful she looked. She… actually didn't look all that much like you now that I think about it. Aside from both being of small stature" Byleth let out an indignant "Hey!" which Aelfric ignored. "you don't look much alike at all. Your eyes and hair are different and she was much less…" He trailed off, glancing at Byleth's chest.

"Busty?" Byleth suggested. "Gifted? Well endowed?"

"Er… yes." Aelfric said, chuckling embarrassedly.

"Here's an idea." Jeralt interjected before things got awkward. "Why don't I tell you a story about your mother."

Byleth held her hand up. "Er, no offense Jeralt but you're terrible at telling stories. Which is honestly a shame because the stories you could tell from our mercenary days are awesome."

"Your "mercenary days" were six months ago." Sothis pointed out.

(From our point of view they were six years ago.) Byleth countered.

Aelfric chuckled at Byleth's comment towards Jeralt. "Well, lucky for us I'm an excellent storyteller." He cleared his throat. "This is the story of Jeralt and Sitri's first date…"

As usual, Sitri was in the library. To the outside observer it seemed like she did nothing but read. And they wouldn't necessarily be wrong. But reading wasn't all Sitri was doing. She was also studying magic.

Yes, as a nun she was privy to much knowledge of white magic but in her mind it was nothing useful. Yes, she could heal people but she never did because nobody let her because all but two people (sometimes three depending on how Lady Rhea was feeling that day) viewed her as a weak, fragile girl who shouldn't be overexerting herself (the girl part was especially insulting considering how she was a grown woman) and while she did have some sort of unidentified condition it wasn't so bad she couldn't heal a minor wound.

Her condition actually was the reason she was studying magic. If she could find a way to make herself stronger or increase her constitution then maybe people would stop treating her as a delicate flower in need of protecting and more like an equal who can stand beside them. Being able to shoot lightning out of her fingertips would just be a bonus.

Suddenly, without warning, large arms surrounded her. Normally she might freak out but she recognized these arms. They were the arms of Jeralt, one of the aforementioned two people who treated her like a normal person.

"Hey." Jeralt said, releasing her from the hug. It had been a light hug because despite the rant about not being a delicate flower, a full on hug from Jeralt would break multiple bones in her body, likely very important ones.

She smiled and turned to face her friend. "Jeralt! Hi!" She always brightened up when he was around.

"Hello, I'm here too." A voice said mildly from across the table. She instantly recognized it as the voice of Aelfric, the second person who treated her normally.

She turned to face him. "Hi, Aelfric!"

He had taken a seat across from her but was fidgeting awkwardly, like he wasn't sure if he should keep sitting or stand back up.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the two of them.

"I'm here to take you on that date I promised." Jeralt explained.

"And I'm here to supervise." Aelfric added.

Sitri rested her right elbow on her left arm and placed her palm on her left cheek, adopting a thinking position her yet-to-be-conceived daughter would later frequently use. She flashed back to yesterday when Jeralt had asked her out on a date (a flashback within a flashback). She recalled saying yes.

"Oh. But it's a bit early for dinner, isn't it?"

Jeralt laughed. "I'm not taking you out for dinner. I'm taking you on an adventure."

"I don't see how." Sitri said. "I've been to every part of the Monastery. And if I leave, I'm sure Lady Rhea will panic. And probably put 5 guards on me at all times, at least."

Nobody denied this. Rhea was really overprotective of Sitri.

"She doesn't have to know." Jeralt said.

"And if she does find out, I'm here as a chaperone." Aelfric added, smiling kind heartedly. "Let's see if we can knock that number of guards down to 2 if we get caught."

Sitri giggled. "I think that's being a bit optimistic. I say we keep our expectations level and go for 3 guards."

"Personally, I'm in favor of not getting caught and having no guards be assigned to you." Jeralt said. "Now come on, let's go."

It wasn't hard to sneak out of the Monastery. Jeralt was the Captain of the Knights of Seiros after all and knew all their patrol patterns. As such, they were out of the Monastery and into the woods in no time.

"So what's next?" Sitri asked.

"Well," Jeralt said. "A while ago I found an amazing spring. I figured we could go find that. But it won't be easy."

Sitri flexed her fingers. "I'm ready for anything that comes our way!"

Jeralt grinned. "Alright. Let's go."

They traveled off the beaten path and deeper into the woods. Jeralt used his axe to cut through the dense underbrush. Personally, he preferred spears but they aren't as good at chopping away plants as axes.

"You know, if we're an adventuring party, we should have a name." Sitri said, adopting her thinking pose. "How about… the Best Friend Squad!"

Byleth broke out into laughter. She laughed so hard she could barely stand, having to brace herself against the cave wall to keep from collapsing.

"What's so funny." Aelfric asked hesitantly.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Byleth replied, her laughter having died down into chuckles. "Keep going."

"We are not calling ourselves the Best Friend Squad." Jeralt protested.

"I agree with Jeralt on this one." Aelfric agreed.

"Too late, we're the Best Friend Squad now." Sitri said cheerfully.

Jeralt sighed but his exasperation quickly faded away as the trees began clearing away and the spring came into view. It was as beautiful as he had said it was. There was just one problem, someone, or rather something, had gotten there before them. Sleeping in the spring was a giant wolf.

"Son of a bitch." Jeralt muttered.

"By the goddess, it's adorable!" Sitri shouted, clasping her hands together. "Also, language!"

"I apologize for interjecting but that thing is not cute." Aelfric said in a hushed voice. "These wolves are very territorial and attack anyone or anything they think is encroaching on their territory. What's more, their claws can shred through even the thickest of armor."

"Aelfric's right." Jeralt said. "These things can do a lot of damage.

Sitri pouted. "That's too bad, I would have loved to pet it."

"I guess our date is off." Jeralt said sadly.

The three turned to go but, unfortunately, Jeralt stepped on a twig. It let out a loud cracking sound, the kind that can only happen in stories.

"Shit." Jeralt said matter of factly.

The wolf's eyes shot open. It slowly climbed out of the water and shook itself dry. The Best Friend Squad Classic raised their arms to cover themselves but still got drenched.

"Well, this is going to be difficult to explain to Lady Rhea." Aelfric said, looking down at his drenched clothes.

"We'll worry about that later!" Jeralt shouted. "Get down!"

The three of them hit the deck just as the Wolf pounced. It flew over their heads and skidded to a stop at the edge of the clearing, growling. Unfortunately, that meant it was blocking their only way out.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight." Jeralt said, standing up and drawing his axe.

"I've probably said this before but… you're crazy." Aelfric said, brushing the dirt off his clothes. Not that it did much good since they were soaked already.

"But he's right." Sitri replied.

"I know and I hate it." Aelfric said.

Jeralt let out a battle cry and charged the wolf. He dropped to the ground and slid under it, slicing across its underbelly. Unfortunately, this did minimal damage as it's hide was as thing underneath as it was up top.

"Huh? That usually works." Jeralt said, confused.

"Only with weapons like those used by the Knights of Seiros." Aelfric explained. "Which, you unfortunately, left back at the Monastery."

The wolf roared and swiped its humongous tail, catching Jeralt in the stomach and flinging him into a tree.

"Jeralt!" Sitri cried.

Jeralt stood up carefully, grinning. "I'm fine. It'll take more than a tail to defeat me." He slumped back down. This was what he got for not wearing armor on a date.

Sitri let out a cry of anger. "You son of a bitch!" She shouted uncharacteristically.

The air around her turned electric. She raised her hands and forcibly pushed them towards the wolf. Bolts of lightning burst out of them and struck the wolf, who roared in pain.

The wolf immediately turned tail and ran, crashing through the woods. It was a smart creature that knew better than to stick around when someone was throwing lightning bolts at it.

Once the wolf was gone the air around Sitri returned to normal and she slumped over a bit, breathing heavily. Aelfric hurried to her side.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Fine." She replied, holding up a hand. "How's Jeralt?"

"I'm good." Jeralt said, slowly making his way over from the tree. An improvement from earlier. "Aelfric gave me some healing while you were throwing lightning. That was pretty great, by the way."

Sitri ran over to Jeralt and pointed upward at him. "I swear to the goddess you better bring better weapons and armor on our next date!"

"Um… okay." Jeralt said. "Wait, next date?"

Sitri grabbed him by the shirt collar, forcing him to bend down to her eye level, and kissed him.

"Good." She said once she released him, walking off smugly.

"And that's the story of Jeralt and Sitri's first date." Aelfric concluded. "Uh, are you okay, Byleth."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Byleth said, wiping the look of mild disgust off her face. "I know I'm a grown woman and the idea of my parents kissing really shouldn't gross me out but… it grosses me out."

Aelfric nodded. "Right, anyways, after that we went back to the monastery and managed to convince Lady Rhea we fell in a fountain."

"Personally, I think she was just having a bad day and didn't want to deal with us." Jeralt interrupted.

"Yes, that does seem plausible." Aelfric said. "So, does that answer your questions?"

"Well, yeah I guess." Byleth said, shrugging. "Except for how you've been to Abyss." She pointed at Jeralt.

"That is a very long story." Jeralt said. "One I'd rather not tell today."

"Good." Sothis said. "The last thing we need is another chapter of this."

"Fine." Byleth said. "But you will tell me that story someday."

"Hopefully off screen." Sothis snarked.

"Well, I suppose I do have to get back to my students." Byleth said.

Suddenly, she felt something. Someone, no, multiple someones were hiding in the shadows. And they were about to attack.

"Watch out!" She and Jeralt, who had also felt it, shouted.

Both of them whipped out their weapons and blocked the strikes of the attackers hiding in the shadows. Byleth disarmed her opponent with the Sword of the Creator, sending his sword flying, while Jeralt broke the sword of the guy he was fighting with his spear. Then both of them knocked their attackers down with a single kick.

"Who are these guys?" Aelfric asked, ducking as an arrow from a third attacker flew over his head.

"Mercenaries, probably." Jeralt said, throwing his spear at the arrow guy. "No doubt sent here to kill one of us. Probably you."

"Me? Why me?" Aelfric asked incredulously.

The arrow merc ducked under Jeralt's. He quickly stood back up and laughed mockingly. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice Byleth charging him until it was too late and she punched him in the face.

"Jeralt and I are legends throughout the mercenary world." Byleth explained, tossing Jeralt his spear in time for him to knock a merc away with the blunt end. "No merc would be stupid enough to take a bounty for us. But you? Not only are you an important figure in both the Church and Abyss, you're also, and I apologize for my bluntness, an easy target."

"She's right." Jeralt agreed. "In fact, the only reason I can think of for this particular fight is a distraction." Jeralt suddenly stopped, backhanding a merc without noticing. "Oh shit."

With perfect comedic and/or dramatic timing, a merc grabbed Aelfric from behind. Before Byleth and Jeralt could chase after him, the merc disappeared into the shadows.

Byleth clutched her head. "Dammit, this is my fault."

Jeralt placed his hands on her shoulder. "No, it's my fault. I requested we go somewhere private."

"But we wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me." Byleth protested.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it was." Jeralt said. "We need to rescue Aelfric."

Byleth took a deep breath and nodded. "Right. Let's go find my students, they should be able to help." She ran off down the corridor and gestured for Jeralt to follow. "Come on, I think I remember the way!"

Author's Note: And that's my attempt at writing a relationship. Or, at least, the beginning of a relationship. I realize this chapter isn't much and could probably get relegated to a Support under normal circumstances but I needed to get Jeralt in the story somehow and important stuff does happen at the end. At least Sothis is funny, right?

Also, I figured I should let you know that, though Aelfric is telling the story, that is my narration.