Frosting: vanilla buttercream frosting, 3 tbsp lemon juice, and 2 tsp lemon essence
Sour lemon juice: 1 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 tsp lemon juice
Cupcakes: 450 g flour, 250g superfine sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 375 mL milk, 125 mL vegetable oil, 125g unsalted butter, 2tbsp greek yogurt (or sour cream), 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 eggs, 3 tbsp lemon juice, 3 drops yellow food gel, lemon zest (2 lemons)
(NOTE: Amounts are dependent on how many cupcakes you are baking)
Frosting: Mix ingredients well in bowl. If desired, add yellow food coloring gel (2-3 drops).
Juice: Mix ingredients together in bowl.
Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 160C, and line a cupcake tin with liners. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together in a bowl, then add butter and mix until a fine sandy texture is achieved. Mix milk, eggs, yogurt, oil, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Add wet mixture into dry mixture slowly and mix. Add lemon zest and yellow food gel.
Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 of the way up and bake for 20-25 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean). Allow to cool. Core the center and add in sour lemon juice/sauce. Top off with frosting and serve.
The Great Bridge of Myrddin was, as the name implied, quite great. Lysithea's eyes widened as they approached the gigantic, stone bridge.
"Wow," she breathed. Though she knew of the bridge, she had never actually been there herself.
"Pardon me," a voice interrupted. She turned to see Hubert approaching her and Byleth. "Professor. A moment of your time, if you don't mind."
Byleth nodded and retreated back with Hubert. Lysithea shrugged; being Hubert, he was probably paranoid about something or another regarding their strategy for the day. Her attention turned back towards the bridge.
It was a pleasant, sunny day; warm rays beamed gently downwards as the plains on either side of the bridge basked comfortably in their warmth. The river running below the bridge rolled gently along its banks, reflecting the light with each small ripple and creating a pleasant, soothing glimmering effect.
It was almost enough to forget that one was marching towards a war.
Footsteps behind her drew her attention, and she saw Byleth making his way to rejoin her.
"What was Hubert worried-huh? Byleth, are you alright? You're white as a sheet!"
Byleth shook his head.
"I...I'm fine."
"Byleth...I know you're not. What's wrong?"
"We-Lysithea, we'll talk about it after this battle. We need to focus on making it through this battle, and then...then I need to decide what to do." He clenched his fists tightly and took a deep breath. Lysithea was relieved to see some color returning to his face.
But...what could Hubert have possibly told him?
(line break)
Lysithea's small group, which consisted of just her, Byleth, Edelgard, and Hubert, had managed to advance onto the bridge itself, towards the Alliance commander. But it was the two standing next to the commander that concerned Lysithea. They were familiar faces, yet different;Leonie, whose bright orange hair now reached down just below her collarbone, and Ignatz, his baby face now full of both confidence and pain, and both hardened by age and the pain and suffering complicit with constant war. The commander stood between them, rapier and shield at the ready. She was tall and tanned, ponytail neatly swept to the side and over one shoulder.
"Lysithea...it doesn't matter who you are." Leonie shook her head, addressing the entire contingent. "I won't hold back. Captain Jeralt's killer was connected to the Empire! I won't let any of you get away with it!" She drew her sword into a ready stance.
Ignatz was more measured, one hand carefully adjusting his glasses. Their commander stood forward, rapping her rapier against her shield.
"Come, then. I am Judith of Daphnel. If you would take this bridge...you will have to do it over my dead body."
Lysithea readied her tome, blinking back tears.
"Leonie...Ignatz...stand down, please! We don't want to fight…"
"We have nothing more to say to you. You joined the Empire; that speaks louder than any words you can muster today." Ignatz drew his bow taut, arrow pointed at Lysithea, and let fly.
She quickly deflected the arrow away with a spell, eyes wide.
No matter what, I won't kill them. No matter what side we are on, we're still friends...I just have to disarm them. I hope everyone else is on the same page…
Both sides advanced. Hubert was able to stay in the backline and deflect any arrows incoming from Ignatz, and soon, the sound of steel clashing against steel rang out. Leonie battled against Edelgard, sword smashing against her axe, while Byleth's blade lashed and whipped to no avail against Judith's large shield. Lysithea focused her spells on incapacitating Ignatz, aiming a bolt of fire at his legs and firing it off. Ignatz leapt to the side to dodge, but caught his foot in a small crevice between concrete slabs; taking advantage, Lysithea fired off a quick spell towards his bow arm, knocking the weapon out of his arms. She hurried over and held a hand over him menacingly, spell forming and at the ready.
"Stand down, Ignatz. I won't kill you." Lysithea kicked his bow over the bridge and watched it drop into the river. Ignatz held up his hands in defeat.
"Fine. But I would sooner die than help the-" A sphere of dark energy pulsed into his chest suddenly. She saw his eyes widen behind his glasses for a second before he slumped over.
"W-what...Ignatz!" She checked for a pulse, but there was none. "No…" She turned her head in the direction that the magic had come from. Hubert smirked slightly.
"Hubert! What are you doing? He was unarmed and defenseless…"
"He was an enemy." Hubert shrugged and turned away, focusing his magic on Judith and Leonie, who were still fighting to a standstill against Byleth and Edelgard. Lysithea shook her head and focused her own efforts on helping Byleth, who had managed to relieve Judith of her shield.
Arg, they're fighting in such close quarters...I can't risk hitting Byleth. She kept her spell at the ready, but could only watch. Byleth's sword gave him longer reach, but Judith was refusing to allow him to disengage, keeping them fghting at close quarters where his advantage was negated. Round and round they went, parry after parry.
Beside them, Edelgard had Leonie backed against a wall, trying to parry furiously. With a roar, Edelgard's axe cleaved across Leonie's stomach. She fell to her knees, blood spurting out.
"J-judith...I'm-" She fell to the floor, dead. Lysithea covered her mouth and retched.
No...not Leonie, too…
"No! Leonie...Ignatz…" Judith fought with renewed fervor, taking the offensive against Byleth. He matched her blow for blow, locking blades and taking advantage of the opportunity to land a crushing kick to her gut. Wind knocked out of her, Judith staggered backwards, falling to the floor and gasping for breath. Byleth held his sword over her.
"Claude...I'm sorry…" Judith lay on the floor, as if awaiting her fate. Lyisthea's eyes instantly widened, and she knew what was about to happen.
"WAIT-" The same bolt of dark energy sped towards the fallen commander. Byleth turned around and deflty swung at the bolt, knocking it into the concrete and leaving a smoldering crater.
"We do not kill defenseless enemies," he said quietly. "I believe I stressed this to all of you in our combat lessons."
Hubert shook his head in disagreement.
"Whatever. Mercy won't win us this war. Come, Edelgard. With their commander fallen, we can claim victory."
(line break)
The bridge was taken, and the Alliance forces defeated. But Lysithea lay on her cot restless, the horrors of the day compounding into hushed whispers that refused to allow her any sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, the sight of Ignatz and Leonie, slumped over in death, would burn themselves into her consciousness, and she would begin retching again.
And Leonie said Jeralt's killer was associated with the Empire...what does that mean? And are those the same people who experimented on me?
Her tent flap rustled, and in walked the one person she needed to see.
"Byleth…" She threw herself at him, and he held her tightly.
"I know, Lysithea. There was...a lot to process today." His voice shook slightly, which scared her even more. "But the most important thing right now: how are you doing?"
She could feel tears springing to her eyes unbidden.
"Leonie...Ignatz...we could have captured them. We could have spared them…"
"I don't know either. I don't know what got into them...I never taught my students to kill. I taught you to use your skills to fight and defend yourselves, but never to kill an unarmed, defenseless enemy."
"I need to talk to Edelgard. I need to hear her explanation."
"Are you sure? I fear we may not like the answer."
"If we are to keep following her, shouldn't we follow someone who has the same principles as us? If she is becoming someone else...we need to set her straight."
Byleth smiled mirthlessly.
"You're right. Let's see what they have to say for themselves."
Hello again! It's been a long time. Applying and interviewing for residency has been super stressful and busy, especially on top of clinical rotations (yes, they've started making us go back into the hospitals), and so I've barely had any time to write. A bit of a shorter chapter here, but I'm trying to ease myself back into this. Hope you all enjoyed it. A sweet dessert with a sour core was chosen for foreshadowing reasons, though I hope I've made it clear what direction this is going.
KeeltheSwift: You're right, its central location makes it, quite honestly, one of the most important strongholds to take. I couldn't really decide if I wanted one side to have taken Garreg Mach (as that would be a HUGE advantage; it's a central location and seems to be built like a fort, so easy to defend), so I kind of glossed over it. Out of curiosity, how would you have handled Garreg Mach over the transition?
B0REDER: Thank you for your condolences. They say time heals all, but...we never get over it. We simply learn to live a different life without them, I think. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
MathAtMidnight: Thank you again. I think these simple scenes have two purposes: one, they give us into a glimpse of how the relationship has developed, which is difficult to meld into wartime scenes, and two, it makes the main characters more relatable to the reader, which I always think is important.
GuardianUnlimited: Thank you. I also love your picture of the axolotl! My undergraduate institution used to keep one at the front desk of the study area in the library, and it was the most adorable thing.
As always, please R&R, and enjoy! I understand this chapter may be a bit rougher than the previous ones, so please feel free to critique. This chapter also sets us up for some important fireworks in the next chapter, and so I want to make sure that's done appropriately.
-elementaryprincess