Author's Note: Happy Halloween, everybody. This Omake wasn't actually planned, but as soon as I saw Sothis' Halloween Variant in Fire Emblem Heroes I knew I had to write a story with it because it's adorable and I will get it no matter the cost (Unless the cost is real money)! Of course, the Byleth in that variant is male (and gets sidelined for the voice in his head, poor guy) and the Byleth used in this fic is female but sometimes you've got to take artistic liberties.
And again, as a disclaimer, this Omake is not canon to the main fic or the supports.
"How do I look?" Sothis asked, adjusting her witch's hat.
"Absolutely adorable." Byleth said, clasping her hands together. "What about me?" She waved her pointed tail around experimentally. She had asked Annette to create it for her and in her opinion the girl had done a brilliant job.
"What exactly are you supposed to be?" Sothis asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Byleth asked, tail raised defensively. "I'm a demon-dragon. Or is it a dragon-demon."
"And what's with the suit?" Sothis asked. "Are you also a butler?"
"No." Byleth said.
Sothis snapped her fingers. "Fetch me some pastries." She giggled.
Byleth sighed, tail drooping. "Why do you do this to me?"
"Because it's fun." Sothis replied, grinning deviously. "Now come on, we're wasting valuable Trick or Treating time."
"You're right." Byleth said, perking up. "With our costumes combined we're going to get so much candy!"
As soon as the duo stepped outside, they ran into Claude and Dimitri, who were obviously out doing their own Trick or Treating.
"Hey, Teach, good to see you." Claude said cheerily, waving. Byleth wasn't sure what he was. He was wearing some sort of 90s futuristic getup along with fox ears and a fox tail. "Nice costume."
"Yes, greetings." Dimitri said. With his eyepatch and bandana it was much more obvious what he was dressed as: a pirate.
"Good to see you too." Byleth said, grinning. Her tail wagged. "Out Trick or Treating?"
"You know it." Claude said. "I assume you're doing the same?"
"Absolutely." Byleth said. "Say, where's Edelgard?"
"She didn't want to come." Claude replied. "Something about being too old for Trick or Treating."
"What!" Byleth shouted in surprise. "Impossible! You can never be too old for Trick or Treating!"
"That's what I said!" Claude replied.
"I'm surprised you didn't just drag her along with you anyways." Sothis snarked.
Claude shrugged. "It's Halloween. If she doesn't want to go I won't force her. Besides, I got Dimitri to come. If only as "adult supervision.""
There was a brief moment of silence before Claude did a Double Take. "Wait a sec, aren't we not supposed to know about you? Is this a paradox?"
Byleth's tail stood straight up. "Oh… oh shit."
Sothis rolled her eyes. "Relax. This whole thing is non-canon. Well, even more non-canon. We'll still have our big reveal."
Claude shrugged. "Fair enough.
"Now, enough of this." Sothis said, hands on her hips. "We've already wasted over a page. Let's get to Trick or Treating!"
"Heck yeah!" Byleth shouted, pumping her fist. Her tail wagged quickly.
"In that case, how about a contest." Claude said. "Me and Dimitri against you and Sothis. We meet back up at midnight."
"Claude, I'm not sure-" Dimitri began but was interrupted by an eager Byleth and Sothis.
"You're on!" They shouted concurrently.
"Let's go, then!" Claude shouted. "Contest starts in 3… 2… 1…"
"Go!" Byleth and Sothis completed for him, bolting off.
"Anathema!" Claude swore. "Come on Dimitri, they're going to get ahead of us!"
"But-" Dimitri began to protest before Claude grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the street. He refused to lose this contest.
Byleth and Sothis had very little problem collecting candy. After all, they were both absolutely adorable. Some jerks out there refused to give candy to adults but Byleth passed as a teenager well enough that there was very little problem.
"Ha! We're gonna beat those jerks no problem!" Sothis shouted, fist pumping.
"No doubt." Byleth said. Her tail wagged side to side. "Though I think jerk is a better description for you than them."
"If I'm a jerk, what does that make you?" Sothis said, giving Byleth a friendly punch.
"Kind hearted and beautiful." Byleth answered smugly.
"Dream on." Sothis said with a snort.
"What, I'm not beautiful?" Byleth asked, tail drooping.
"As a minor I'm not legally allowed to answer that." Sothis replied.
"You're, like, thousands of years old!" Byleth protested.
"Oh look, the last house on the block." Sothis said, bored with this conversation.
The green haired goddess walked up to the rather plain looking house and knocked on the door and began rubbing her hands together in an anticipatory manner. Byleth followed up behind her, prepared to pull out any number of tricks she might need to get treats.
The door opened to reveal the sight of the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros herself, Lady Rhea, dressed up as, of all things, a witch.
"Oh, hello Byleth." Rhea said pleasantly. "How nice to see you."
"Oh, Lady Rhea. Hi." Byleth said, lapsing into her habit of referring to Rhea formally in order to avoid crucification.
"Please, it's just Rhea while I'm off duty." Rhea replied.
"What's with the costume?" Byleth asked. "Were you going Trick or Treating as well?"
Rhea chuckled. "Oh, no no, I'm much too old for that. I simply wanted to get in the Halloween spirit."
Byleth tilted her head back and groaned. "Aw man, not you too."
"Hmm?" Rhea hmm'd.
"Edelgard said the same thing, at least, according to Claude." Byleth replied. "But that's absurd." She stuck her finger straight in the air. "It's impossible to be too old for Trick or Treating!"
Rhea chuckled again. "Perhaps, but my interest in the activity has waned over time."
"This conversation is nice and all." Sothis butted in. "But we're losing time."
"And who's this delightful young child?" Rhea asked. There may or may not have been sarcasm involved. With her it was hard to tell.
"Uh…" Byleth said. She supposed it was too much to expect that Rhea would already be aware of Sothis.
(Should we tell her?) Byleth asked Sothis, somehow whispering her thoughts.
"Definitely not." Sothis replied. "Canon or Non-Canon, I'm not sure she'll take the revelation particularly well just yet."
(Then what should I say?)
"I don't know, think of something."
Byleth cleared her throat. "This is Sothe. She's the daughter of a friend and I'm watching her for the night."
Sothis adopted a mildly annoyed expression. "Sothe? Really? You know that's a boy's name, right?"
(I know. I just said the first thing that came into my head, okay.) Byleth shot back.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." Rhea said, extending her hand to Sothis.
"Better if I not do that." Sothis said, holding up her hands in a stopping gesture. "Mysophobia." This was, of course, a lie. Sothis was more worried about what magical things might happen if the two of them were to touch.
Rhea nodded. "Ah."
"Anyway, Sothe is right." Byleth said, almost stumbling on the pseudonym she herself came up with. "We've got this contest going on with Claude and Dimitri to see who can get the most candy. I'm pretty sure we're winning but every point counts."
"What's the prize if you win?" Rhea asked.
Byleth opened her mouth to respond and then stopped. After a few seconds of contemplation, she spoke. "I… don't know." She said slowly.
Rhea chuckled once again. "Well, we can't have you losing your prize of nothing. I shall assist you."
She flourished her staff and floated over a container of candy. She precisely took twenty pieces of candy out of the container and swirled it around the group before placing it in the two rather full bags the duo had brought, ten pieces per bag.
"Show off." Sothis muttered.
"What was that?" Rhea asked with a false sweetness, faking having not heard what Sothis had said.
"Nothing." Sothis replied, likewise faking innocence. "Oh look, it's almost midnight, I'm sure most people are finishing up by now."
Byleth nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to go on a last ditch candy spree?" She asked Rhea. "I mean, at the very least you can show off your costume. You clearly put a lot of work into it."
Rhea glanced upwards and rubbed her chin, a look of consideration on her face. After a moment she lightly placed her fist in her hand, similar to the much harsher gesture some students and Byleth herself did on occasion, before pointing straight upwards.
"Very well." She said. "I suppose a little excursion couldn't hurt."
The trio (formerly duo) hit up a few more houses before meeting up with the two house leaders. Byleth's tail wagged in anticipation, Claude and Sothis both bore triumphant smirks, Rhea held a pleasant smile, and Dimitri had the tired expression of a long suffering parent.
"Oh, Lady Rhea." Dimitri said, surprised. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Please, it's just Rhea while we're not at the Monastery." Rhea said.
"Oh, my apologies." Dimitri replied.
"It is perfectly fine." Rhea said pleasantly.
"Alright, enough of this!" Sothis shouted. "It's time to see who won!"
"Rather impatient, aren't we?" Rhea said, crossing her arms.
Claude opened his mouth to speak but Byleth stopped him before he could, her tail sticking straight up.
"Before we start, could I talk to Claude and Dimitri for a second." She said. "Alone."
She grabbed the two of them and dragged them away. Once she was sure they were out of Rhea's hearing range, she let the two of them go.
"We can't let Rhea know about Sothis." She whispered, just as an extra precaution. "For some reason she has no idea who Sothis is or what she is so we've come up with a cover story. Her name is Sothe and she's the daughter of a friend, understand?"
"Isn't Sothe a boy's name?" Claude asked.
"I had to think quickly, okay." Byleth protested. "Now, do you understand?"
The two affirmed their understanding and returned to Sothis and Rhea who seemed to be in some sort of argument.
As soon as they spotted the group they broke it off and awkwardly turned away from each other.
"Alright, we're back." Byleth said cheerily. "Now let's see who got more candy."
"Hey, Rhea, since you're here you wouldn't mind judging, would you?" Claude asked.
"I don't see why not." Rhea replied.
The group (minus Rhea who didn't have a candy bag and Dimitri who wasn't particularly eager) eagerly pulled out their candy bags. It was easy to see who won as Byleth and Sothis' candy bags were much fuller than Claude and Dimitri's candy bags, one of which (Dimitri's) was barely three quarters full.
"I declare Byleth and Sothe the winners." Rhea said declaratively.
"Haha!" Byleth laughed as her tail wagged excitedly. She and Sothis triumphantly high fived.
"We would have won if someone hadn't hung back." Claude grumbled, glancing at Dimitri.
"I did not "hang back."" Dimitri protested. "I simply took my time instead of dashing from house to house."
"But dashing from house to house was the point." Dimitri argued. "It was a contest."
"Relax, Claude." Byleth said, flipping her hand dismissively. "It's not like we actually won anything. Now, who wants to take this candy back to my place for an impromptu Halloween party!"
"I'm game!" Claude said with a smirk.
"As long as there's candy." Sothis said as if she had a choice.
"I don't see why not." Rhea and Dimitri said at the same time. As soon as Dimitri realized this he adopted an embarrassed look.
"Let's go then!" Byleth shouted. And thus, she led the group off to her house for what she was sure would be the best impromptu Halloween party ever.
Author's Note: Look at me, making fun of people who think you can be too old to Trick or Treat when I don't Trick or Treat myself. In my defense, a character does not necessarily have to share the views of the person writing them and my not going Trick or Treating is due less to me being "too old" and more to my samhainophobia.
In case you (understandably) couldn't figure it out, Claude is dressed as Fox McCloud which is something I suggested last Halloween. Rhea is also wearing her FEH Halloween Variant outfit.