Claude drank a final sip of his now cold tea. His face convulsed in response - he immediately put down the unsatisfying drink. After sighing, he nabbed a cookie from the metal holder and began to nibble upon it. It was satisfactory. The texture of the cookie's main body was nice and smooth, only enhanced by the thing's overall sweet taste. He grinned.
"Certainly not the worst thing I've ever tasted." Claude shot an accusatory glance at the now-empty cup of tea. He stole another bite of the cookie. "If it weren't for Teach, I would've finished this guy off long before it ever got cold."
The Almyran chuckled to himself.
"Heh, that's actually pretty fitting. My plans aren't the only thing Teach has changed. He also stopped me from drinking my tea."
Claude continued consuming his cookie, breaking it down piece by piece with his teeth until it was no more. He swept the crumbs from his uniform before deciding to lean backwards within his chair, his arms resting behind his head as he looked up to the setting sky, emblazoned with orange.
"And what do you know, even the sky's changing. Well now, Teach, let's find out if you really can see the future. If you can, then you just might be able to help me change this damn continent."
The Golden Deer leader remained there, gazing up into the sky, so full of differing colors. Claude grinned once again - his mind flashed to Fodlan as a whole. So many different people living amongst one another, yet there was still conflict. Plenty of it. Claude frowned, his thoughts peering down a dark road.
Sounds of a gate being moved nearby brought the seventeen-year old's attention back to the real world. A familiar flash of pink emerged into his sight. It immediately eased his thoughts once he realised who it was.
"Oh, there you are, Claude! I've been looking for you forever! You can be really hard to find, you know," Hilda jokingly accused him.
"Sorry about that. I don't mean to do it all the time." He winked.
"Hmph!" The girl of House Goneril grunted in annoyance. Her expression lightened once she got a good look at what the guy before her was doing. "What are you even up to? Cookies, tea…? All that by yourself?"
"Heh, well, I wasn't alone. Had a little talk with Teach, wanted to get to know him a little more, that kind of thing," Claude clarified with a smile. "He only had one pastry and one cup of tea before he left. Dunno what that was all about."
"Oh…" Hilda barely responded. Her voice had a strong indication of uncertainty to it. At least, it was strong enough for Claude to immediately detect it.
"Disappointed? Thought I'd be trying to swoon some girl or something?" He decided to tease her.
"W-what?! No, you're not the kind of guy that does that! That's what Lorenz would do," Hilda claimed. She sighed. "It's just…never mind."
"Hey, if you have a problem, come sit. We can talk about it over some tea and uneaten snacks if you want," Claude offered, motioning to the table below him. "If you don't wanna talk, that's fine too. I'd just hate to see a friend's face be ruined by sadness."
"You…" Hilda cut herself off. She shook her head to clear her mind. "Sure. Why not? Some sunset tea would be nice."
The pink-haired gal of the Golden Deer walked straight over to the table, taking the seat Lucas previously occupied. Claude gripped the pot containing whatever tea remained but froze right before he began to pour.
"Uh, maybe you don't want this tea."
"Why? What's wrong with it? You didn't poison it, did you?" Hilda narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"No, nothing like that! It's just gone cold. It won't taste very good, trust me. These snacks should still be fine, though!"
Hilda frowned. "Alright. I guess I can have a cookie." She carefully pulled one out from the pile of assorted treats and held it in front of her face for scrutinization purposes before consuming it.
"So, what's the matter with you? Is there any reason you were searching for me?" Claude asked, watching the girl eat her snack.
"Hmm?" Hilda said whilst dealing with a bite of her food. She swallowed. "No reason. I just wanted to know what you were up to. You're a mysterious guy, Claude. I think I wanted to catch you doing something weird."
"Well, you caught me red-handed," he joked, smirking. "But seriously, I was only talking with Teach. You can ask him yourself if you don't believe me."
"I'll...think about it," the uneasiness in Hilda's voice returned momentarily. Claude, again, noticed it.
"Seems like she's got some problem with Teach. I'd ask her about it, but I don't wanna make her upset. Think I might have a good idea of what the problem is though," he assumed. "Alright, don't worry about it, Hilda. There anything else you wanted to talk about?"
Hilda thought about it as she ate. "This cookie is great. I think I'll keep some and give them to Lysithea whenever I next see her. I know she'd love to have them." She chose to dodge the question.
"Too true. That girl sure does love her snacks and candies and stuff," Claude agreed, chuckling. "When's her birthday again? Was that this month?"
"No, Leonie's is this month. Lysithea's is in the Pegasus Moon. Why? Were you thinking about getting her a box of cookies or something?"
"Yeah, something like that. Not sure yet what I'll get Leonie for her birthday. I'll come up with an idea eventually."
"It's next week, Claude."
Claude facepalmed. He grabbed another cookie in some strange attempt to calm himself down, munching upon it furiously.
"Things really keep changing for me tonight, huh?"
The next day, Lucas awoke and after some nagging from the petite goddess as well as the godly man from multiple futures who were both inside his mind, he reluctantly got up. He had a very specific mission in mind for that day. Something he decided that he needed to do. Something that had to happen.
But first, breakfast. Lucas chose to feast upon a collection of eggs and fish, not yet selecting anything out of his comfort zone. Once that was taken care of, he only had just over an hour to prepare for the day's lesson. He kept perusing his notes along with the book he borrowed, which was based on the lesson's topic. Two hours later, the lesson was over. The students all departed from the classroom. Lucas did the same once they were all through the doorway.
Then it was time for him to do that one specific thing he needed to get done. Although wrought with nervousness, Sothis and Byleth eased him through it all. He partially meditated, regulating his own thoughts while walking through the central building and up the stairs to a certain Nabatean's office.
"I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu…" Lucas commented as he knocked on the door.
Seteth soon appeared through the doorway, his expression intensifying when he saw who his visitor was. Lucas could already feel the sweat coming on.
"Ah, Professor. How may I help you today? What manner of inane problem have you come across today? You've accidentally torn all your uniforms, perhaps?" Seteth mockingly asked.
"N-no," Lucas denied, stammering. "I've c-come to elaborate on something."
"Oh? Do come in, then."
Stepping aside, Seteth allowed the professor to enter his office. He locked the door behind the man and took his place on the chair positioned by the side of the desk furthest away from the door. Lucas sat down in the visitor's seat.
"What is it you would like to elaborate on? Would it have anything to do with what we discussed yesterday?" Seteth wondered.
Lucas nodded. "It-it does. I've been debating whether I should tell you or not, but I think you have the right to know. I'd-I'd be a terrible person if I withheld this kind of information."
"I thank you for your consideration. Now please, tell me. What else is to happen?"
The professor took a deep breath before continuing.
"N-next month, after we take care of Miklan and his thieves…" Lucas hesitated. "F-Flayn will be kidnapped."
Seteth's mouth hung open.
"Impossible! Our walls are closely guarded by the finest knights in all of Fodlan. How-how could it even be possible for my Flayn to be abducted?!" Seteth exclaimed, close to slamming his hands on the table. He stopped when he came to a realisation. "You...does this have something to do with what you implied yesterday?"
Lucas tilted his head in confusion. Seteth calmed himself down with a sigh.
"We have an imposter among us, don't we?"
"I…" Lucas held back a burst of laughter. "Yes. We do."
"Who is it? I believe some individuals have been acting suspicious." Seteth eyed Lucas when the latter did his absolute best to hold in even more laughter. "But please, tell me who they are. They shall be removed immediately." A lightbulb went off in Lucas' head. Sothis and Byleth were glad it wasn't a literal one.
"I can't tell you. Not just yet," the professor refused. Seteth was about to argue, but Lucas spoke first. "Give it like two months. I'll tell you in the Wyvern Moon."
"Why would you not inform me of this imposter's identity? They are a threat to all of our livelihoods, not to mention Flayn's. Do you wish for her to be harmed?" Seteth questioned.
"No! Not at all. It's just that, well, the Agarthans have an extra little plan on top of their 'kidnap Flayn' idea. They'll try to plant an additional imp-er, spy, into the monastery while we rescue Flayn. That spy will be in the form of a student who once went missing long ago, so they expect us to take them in."
"You wish for us to have more imposters?" Seteth challenged, folding his arms. "Do you understand how ridiculous and reckless that sounds? That would be putting us all at further risk! Explain to me why we should allow them in."
"Ever heard of the expression, 'kill two birds with one stone'? Well, we can do pretty much exactly that. Kill two spies at the same time. If we were to kill the first one before the second would ever show up, the Agarthans would change their plans. I'd have no idea what they'd do next. With my plan, we'll force them to play right into our hands. That'll really mess them up."
Seteth stopped to consider this. Lucas waited nervously for a response as his sweat levels increased.
"That is an interesting plan. Once the second imposter enters our midst, we can bring them both to one room and then execute both. I have only one concern."
"What's that?"
"That will require Flayn to be abducted. Is there no other way around that? Perhaps we can substitute her for myself," Seteth suggested.
"Potentially? I don't know if that'll work for sure. I've only ever seen them take Flayn. I don't think they're interested in you. Don't worry though, she'll be fine. We'll end up rescuing her and it'll all be okay. They do steal some of her blood, but as far as I'm aware, they don't end up using that for anything important, so it should be fine."
"You are certain?"
"Yes. I am as certain about this as I have been for all of my other predictions. Which, just to remind you, have all perfectly come true. We have much more to gain from this than we have to possibly lose."
"I see."
Seteth fell quiet. He closed his eyes, retreating to his thoughts. It became completely quiet within the office as its owner considered everything he had just been told.
"If this was the first prediction you had shared, I would not have given it the time of day. But now, it would be foolish to ignore it, considering everything that has happened thus far." Seteth clenched his fist. "I will trust you on this. If Flayn is harmed or injured in any manner, I will personally see to your punishment. Do you understand, Lucas?"
"Yes sir." Lucas bowed in response. "I understand perfectly."
"Good. Then you may leave."
Lucas stood up and practically rushed straight to the door. He was about to begin unlocking it, but he was stopped by the room's only other occupant.
"Actually, before you go, I have a message to pass onto you."
Lucas turned right around.
"I believe Jeralt wishes to speak to you. He should be at the graveyard by this point. I trust you know where that is?"
"I do," Lucas confirmed. "Thank you, Seteth."
Seteth simply smiled in return as Lucas unlocked the door and departed from the office, heading back down to the central building's ground floor. He looked within the general direction of the graveyard as if he could see through walls.
"I think I know exactly what Jeralt wants to talk about."
Of course, the graveyard wasn't very far away from the central building. It didn't take too long for Lucas to get over there. It took an even shorter amount of time to find the Captain of the Knights of Seiros. While the graveyard certainly had a lot more room to it than Lucas expected, there still wasn't anywhere to really hide. Jeralt was standing in front of a very specific grave. Lucas slowly approached.
"You made it. Should've seen that coming, honestly. You probably knew I was here," the elder man assumed while looking at the grave, not bothering to turn around in any way.
"I did. Well, I knew you'd be here at some point. I just didn't know when exactly. Once Seteth told me you were here, I instantly knew what was going on," Lucas confirmed, softening the tone of his voice. "That's your wife's grave, isn't it?"
"It is." Jeralt released a heavy sigh. "You said you knew exactly what happened to her. How she died and how Rhea had a hand in all of it. Tell me, what was Rhea trying to do? You never mentioned that. You said there was something in particular she wanted to achieve. So what was it?"
"That…" Lucas was reluctant to answer. "That's quite the story. I'm not sure I should reveal it here, in the monastery. But I suppose we did have that conversation a few months ago in your quarters, and as far as I'm aware, Rhea doesn't know I told you any of that. It should be fine, right?"
Jeralt and Lucas checked their surroundings. Not another live soul was at the graveyard.
"I think we're in the clear, kid. Go ahead."
"Alright."
Just to be safe, Lucas checked one more time. The position of some guards in the distance had changed just a little bit and some pegasus riders in training were still flying around, but it was evident that there was no way their conversation could be overheard. Lucas took a deep breath.
"So, to start off, Rhea, Seteth and Flayn are all not regular humans. They're part of an ancient race of people known as the Nabateans. They're a race made by the goddess herself, meaning the three I just mentioned are the goddess' children," Lucas explained.
Jeralt wanted to interject so he could ask more questions, yet it was clear to him that the explanations weren't over yet.
"Rhea is just a fake human name she gave herself in order to blend in with humanity and guide them through teachings of the goddess. Her real name is Saint Seiros. Seteth and Flayn are much the same way. Their real names are Saint Cichol and Saint Cethleann, respectively."
Jeralt's mouth was agape at this point. Lucas continued.
"What Rhea, or Seiros, really desires is the resurrection of her mother: the Progenitor God Sothis. She'll do anything to achieve that goal. That includes using humans as experiments to try and somehow make a vessel for Sothis to return to the physical world in. Your wife, Sitri, was her latest experiment. Your child, Byleth, was actually supposed to be a success. In fact, he is. However, since I'm here, he isn't. At least, not the exact same Byleth you raised."
It took some time for Jeralt to respond. "Not the same Byleth? Wait, you must be talking about the one that's supposedly in your head. The goddess is also with you, right?"
"Yes. A version of Byleth that has time travelled on three separate occasions and has seen four different futures for Fodlan resides within my mind, alongside the goddess Sothis. As I've said before, the three of us think this has happened because of whatever time-space error occurred to bring me here in the first place," Lucas answered.
"Right. I was only asking for clarification," stated Jeralt. "This Byleth that's in your mind...does he still remember me? Does he still see me as his father?"
"Yes, father. I still remember you," Byleth tried to speak directly with his dad - to no avail. His expression faltered when Jeralt did not reply to him.
"He does," Lucas responded, carrying forth Byleth's message. "He says he remembers you. He's clearly upset that he can no longer speak to you himself. I'm sorry. To the both of you."
Jeralt was silent. As was Byleth. Lucas, on the other hand, could only watch as a stream of sorrow surrounded him internally. Tears did not threaten to show themselves, yet his facial expression clearly radiated a strong pressure of sadness. Jeralt turned around.
"Thank you. I appreciate you saying that, even if you're making it up. It just...it tears me up inside knowing I have lost what little family I had," Jeralt divulged.
"I…" Lucas was now having to deal with a familiar foe: tears. Something about what Jeralt just said instigated the emotional waterworks. "I understand. I'm sorry, Jeralt. Do you...do you need a moment to yourself?"
"No, I'll be fine. I've lived for over a hundred years, I can deal with this," Jeralt claimed. He steeled himself. "How about you? You must be feeling the same way."
Lucas responded with visual confusion.
Jeralt clarified. "You're from a different world, aren't you? Didn't you have any family back home? They're not here with you. They're completely gone from your perspective. Just like me and my family."
"Y-you're right…" Lucas sniffled. His face mushed itself together in a vain attempt to fight off a torrent of tears. "Mother, father, sis…"
He raised a sleeve up to his eyes. Jeralt's expression softened.
"Kid. Come here." The old man opened his arms.
"Huh?" Lucas wiped his tears with his sleeve, then looked up to see what Jeralt was doing. The water leaking from his eyelids made it a little difficult to see at first, but it soon came clear. In a sense. "J-Jeralt? What are you doing?"
"This is, uh, what parents do when their kid cries, isn't it? They give 'em a hug and then it's all better. I never got the chance to do this with Byleth. Alois tells me this is what he does with his kid. I assume this is what your parents did with you?"
Lucas stared at Jeralt, his now-red eyes flooded with tears, and cried harder. With no hesitation or reluctance, he accepted the embrace. He kept his eyes closed in a respectful gesture, to not allow his tears to fall onto Jeralt's shoulder. The old man noticed this.
"Kid, relax. Let it all out. You won't feel better if you don't get rid of every last tear."
Lucas nodded and allowed his tears to flow. They dampened Jeralt's armor-plated shoulder, the material of said armor granting them the capability of dripping downwards and then falling to the ground. At least, after enough time passed. Lucas and Jeralt remained there for quite some time - for over a minute.
"I...I miss them all! My mother, my father, my sister! My cat, too! I wanna-I wanna see them again! B-but I know that's never gonna happen now. There's no portal, there's no spell, there's nothing I can use to get back! Why isn't there anything I can use?!" Lucas cried, speaking between tearful breaths. "Why, goddamn it?! WHY?!"
"How do you know that? There might be something out there. I know you've got your knowledge and all, but there has to be something even you don't know about. Can you honestly say that everything you've seen so far has been in your story, or whatever it was?" Jeralt asked, trying to reassure the child before him.
Lucas tried to think. His sadness kept distracting him from having any truly in-depth thoughts, though he was at least able to come up with an answer. "I can't. But why would there be some universal teleportation device here? There's no need for that to exist. There'll never be any need for it. So why would it even be a thing?"
"Who knows? Never count out a possibility, even if it's low. If it's something worth aiming for, then aim for it. You'll never know if you'll get what you need."
"But…" Lucas was about to argue further, yet he sensed that he should accept defeat, which he did. Jeralt was beginning to fill him with hope anyway. He could tell, as a warmth was surging through him that started to evaporate his tears. The hug ceased. "Okay then. I su-suppose it's worth a try."
"There you go. Never give up until you reach a dead-end. Feeling better?"
"Y-yeah," Lucas nodded, wiping the remainder of his tears with a sleeve. "Thanks. I needed that."
"I could tell. Now, how about we do some sparring to take your mind off things? I wanna see how good your Fire casts have gotten. And haven't you been working on Thunder recently?"
"I-I have. I've all but mastered Fire. And as for Thunder...that hasn't been going so well."
"Heh. Then why don't we practice that? Come on, we can also work on your swordplay. I hope for your sake that you haven't been slacking."
"I haven't! I've been working on that too. I think I'm definitely better now than I ever have been."
"Let's see what you've got, then."
Lucas and Jeralt shared a smile before leaving the graveyard entirely. They ventured off to the training grounds found within the barracks of the Knights of Seiros, sparring upon one another for hours on end. All of the sadness the two had built-up previously completely dissipated soon after the elongated sparring session began.
The world seemed just a bit brighter from then on.
Author Notes: Yeah, this one's a bit shorter than most other chapters, sorry about that. I did have ideas for extra scenes I could've added to this, but I felt like this had a good enough flow to it. Didn't wanna bloat this one up or anything. Hope it's good enough!
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See y'all next time!
EDIT (29/11/2021): Gaming