Byleth was talking to Jeralt in his quarters, feeling better after the dizzy spell that hit her earlier. She had grinned and just passed it off, but something wasn't right. Even Sothis could tell.

"Kid, c'mon," Jeralt said. "Can we at least just let you get checked out? Manuela won't do anything else."

Byleth shook her head again, eyes slightly determined. "No." She repeated. "I'm perfectly fine. Just got a bit dizzy. I'm feeling better now." It wasn't a complete lie. She was feeling better but definitely did not feel at her best. She looked at Sothis, who was floating by the almost empty bookshelf.

Sothis gave her a disapproving look. "Don't be dumb. You may be able to lie to him, but not to me. We're connected, I can feel what you feel. And this feeling is not considered healthy whatsoever." Byleth gave her as much as an annoyed look as she could.

"Kid?" Jeralt snapped his fingers in front of Byleth, bringing her attention back to him. "See, this is what I mean. You've been gazing off into nothing, and have overall seemed off. I've lived with you long enough to know that isn't normal for you." He looked at his kid with a hard face, but if you looked close enough, you could see the worry in his eyes.

"I'm fine, there's nothing wro-" She was cut off by another wave of dizziness hitting, causing her to blank out for a moment. But that moment was enough for Jeralt to see, and look at her with more worry in his eyes than before.

"See? This is what I mean." He looked at Byleth and decided to do an examination of her and what symptoms she had. Her eyes looked slightly glazed if you looked hard enough, and her normal palish skin had a reddish-pink tint to it. Not to mention she seemed to be shivering.

Byleth didn't even try to respond, she just sat down on the ground until another dizzy wave hit her, knocking her to the ground. She tried to sit back up, but Jeralt had already grabbed a heavy wool cloak, which he never had worn (it slowed him down too much) and wrapped it around his daughter.

Once the cloak was wrapped around her to his liking, he picked Byleth up and walked to Manuela's office, also known as the infirmary. Not to his surprise, she wasn't there. But he had no time to wait for her. He put a shivering, yet also warm, Byleth down on one of the beds, and speed walked out of the infirmary to find Manuela.


He couldn't find her anywhere on the second floor, so he went down to the first. No luck. He walked out onto the actual monastery grounds, hunting for her. He got a few weird looks from the students, who weren't used to just seeing him roam around the grounds.

As he searched around the monastery, he just happened across Claude. He had heard a lot about the green-eyed boy from Byleth, who thought very highly of him. That's not to say she didn't think highly of the rest of her students as well. "Hey, Jeralt, sir? Have you seen Teach anywhere?" he asked, curious. "I haven't seen her all day, and she normally is exploring the monastery on Sundays."

"Ah, right Teach." Jeralt thought, "Byleth said that's what Claude called her. She seemed rather fond of the name."

He nodded. "Yes, I have seen Byleth today." He said and tried to continue walking without any more questions, but Claude seemed more set on it than he thought, following Jeralt.

"Oh, good! I was getting rather worried. Do you know where she is right now?" He questioned.

"Yes." came the gruff reply.

"Well, can you tell me where?"

"I can."

"Will you?" Claude asked hopefully.

"No."

They stopped talking after that, but Claude still followed him. Jeralt was in too much of a rush to find Manuela than to stop him, but he got an idea.

"Hey, kid? Seen Manuela anywhere?"

"Yes?" He asked, confused.

"Can you tell me where?" He asked, regaining hope.

"Nooo… Unless you tell me where Teach is." He responded with a grin.

He looked at the dark-haired kid with an annoyed look but decided to take the deal. Byleth needed help. "Fine. But I need to find Manuela. Quickly." He looked desperate.

Claude noticed this and nodded. "Okay. Follow me." He started walking towards the Cathedral.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Jeralt thought.

Claude looked back at Jeralt curiously. "So why do you need Manuela?

Jeralt shrugged. "Something important, or else I wouldn't be out here." He responded shortly.

"Oh." He thought for a minute. "Would it happen to have anything to do with Teach?"

"Erm…" Jeralt faltered for a bit, confirming Claude's suspicions.

Claude sighed. "What happened to Teach this time?"

Jeralt looked at Claude. "You're smarter than I gave you credit for, kid. You help me find Manuela, you can come with me to see Byleth. Just… Know she is far from her best. Even I haven't even seen her like this before."

Claude nodded, accepting the warning. "I understand."

They reached the cathedral, where Manuela was singing with the choir. Jeralt started towards her, but Claude shook his head and ran swiftly through the crowd, grabbing Manuela. Then he brought her back to Jeralt and smirked.

"Now what was that- Oh. Hello, Jeralt! May I help you?" She said, looking at the large man in front of her.

"As a matter of fact, you can." He responded, relieved.

He spoke into her ear quietly, and Manuela's eyes widened. "Oh. That is rather bad. I guess I should do a full examination." She summoned her white magic and used an extra-large Warp, taking them all to the infirmary.

There lay a flushed, trembling Byleth, looking so small covered in the huge wool cloak. Manuela looked at the blue-haired professor with sympathy, while Claude looked at his professor, who was more like a friend to him. She was a few months older than him at most, but possibly younger than him.

He saw now why Jeralt was in such a rush. It clearly wasn't an overreaction, maybe an underreaction. She was shivering, despite sweating hard and being covered in a ginormous wool coat. Her face was flushed, and her eyes glazed over completely. The former mercenary was curled up, taking a defensive position.

"That's good," Jeralt noted mentally, "She still thinks rationally, even when sick. I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as she had it drilled into her…"

Manuela examined the normally so strong professor quickly, wanting to figure out what was wrong. She made small, sympathetic noises whenever Byleth curled in defensively. Jeralt knew that Byleth has never quite trusted doctors of any sort, not liking all their pointed tools and poking and prodding.

But she just sat there and bore it. Fortunately, it didn't take long. After a quick examination, mostly just with her eyes, Manuela realized what all the symptoms pointed to.

She sighed. "Unfortunately, our dear professor here has Wyvern Fever."

Jeralt tilted his head. He had heard of it but didn't quite know what it was. Claude, on the other hand, knew full well what it was.

"Oh, goddess, Teach... " He muttered. "One of us should've noticed this before it got worse…" He shook his head.

Jeralt still looked mildly confused. "Wha-?"

Manuela looked over at the Captain. "Wyvern Fever. The worst kind of fever you can get. It's odd though. The poison for it is only found in Almyra, and It is not contagious. It lies dormant for a bit, but the patient can get a few signs of it before it fully strikes. Dizziness, aches, shivering… But it seemed like the Professor here attempted to tough it out."

Claude looked at his teacher, and said, "Oh, c'mon Teach! None of us would've minded if you took a couple of sick days! Especially for something like this! You wouldn't seem weak to us!"

Byleth looked over to Claude and gave a weak grin. "S-sorry… Didn't think i-it'd get t-this bad…"

Claude sighed. "Still making wisecracks, even when seeming nearly dead. But why would someone pay so much money to get poison like this from Almyra? And why'd they go for you?"

Her face fell. "Perhaps they f-figured it out o-or knew s-somehow... " She muttered.

"Knew what?" Jeralt looked down at his daughter.

"N-nothing…" she whispered. "It might h-have been b-because of the C-Crest of Flames or S-Sword of The Creator…"

Jeralt nodded. It was an acceptable answer. But Claude looked sceptically at the Teacher of the Golden Deer. "She was thinking of something else before she thought that…"

He decided to let it be for then. She wouldn't be able to answer any of his questions very well currently. He walked to the closed door of the infirmary before he turned back to Jeralt and Manuela.

"What about this am I allowed to tell the rest of the class?" He asked.

Jeralt looked to Manuela, who thought for a moment. "You are allowed to tell them that your teacher is suffering from a certain sickness and cannot currently teach them. But do not tell them what she is suffering from. I don't need an entire class barging in here to see her. Just tell them it is serious."

He nodded and walked out of the door, looking for the closest person to tell so they could help spread the word. Which happened to be Leonie.

Claude walked over to his fellow Golden Deer. "Leonie!" He called over to her.

"Oh, hey, Claude. Hey, have you seen Captain Jeralt at all today? I was hoping to ask him some questions about my solo training. You see, he had a lot of practice, so maybe he'd have some tips." She replied, admiration in her eyes when she said 'Jeralt'.

"Well, I have, but he's rather busy currently. Like sick busy." He replied.

"Captain Jeralt is sick?" She asked, confused.

"Not quite, close though." He waited for her to figure it out.

"The professor is sick?" She guessed next, and Claude nodded.

"Well, how badly?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Mmm… Pretty badly… It's kind of worrying. The disease she has has been known to kill people. But Teach is strong! She'll make it!"

"Ah…" She thought for a moment about diseases like that. She remembered hearing something about the Professor having dizzy spells in the past few days, but passing them off. That narrowed more down. And if she thought hard enough, Leonie remembered that her eyes got glazed at times, and she would catch her shivering at times. "It wouldn't happen to be Wyvern Fever, would it?"

Claude faltered. "Erm…"

"Ok. So yes. That's a problem. I'll spread the word to get help for her!" She promised and ran off to go find others.

"Leonie, wait!" He cried, but she was out of earshot. "Ah, I am in so much trouble…"


Leonie returned with Marianne and Mercedes, the two best white magic users, so both clearly knew Heal. Claude sighed.

"Nobody was supposed to know about Teach's actual disease. Manuela didn't want an entire house barging in." Claude said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, it's not an entire house, is it? Just the best healers of the house." She countered. Marianne blushed at the compliment, and Mercedes kept a blank look.

"Fine. But if Manuela says out, I'd suggest you get out before the infirmary has a few more injured students."

Leonie nodded. "We'll be quick."

Marianne looked at Claude with an apologetic look, "I'm sorry… I didn't know I wasn't supposed to come…"

Claude looked at her and smiled. "It's fine. I guess Teach needs as much help as she can get, so thanks for coming."

"Oh. Ok… Well, I should probably go now…" Marianne gestured to Leonie and Mercedes nearly all the way down the hall, close to the infirmary.

"Yeah. I'll come with you guys. I can't help wanting to check on Teach again." He commented sheepishly. Marianne nodded sweetly and hurried off down the hall, Claude in tow.


Once they finally reached the Infirmary's door, it was oddly quiet inside. Leonie and Mercedes had waited up for them, and all together opened the door.

Leonie was the first to see the inside, and gasped, running in. Claude shrugged, knowing that was an appropriate reaction for the situation, and peeked in, deciding that was better than just running in.

"Oh. Wow. Not what I was expecting…" He said, only a small tinge of his nervousness showing through his voice. Jeralt and Manuela were lying on the ground, unconscious.

Claude walked in slowly, examining the room for Byleth. It was possible she just lashed out at them, thinking they were enemies. But a quick look was enough to dash his hopes.

Jeralt was waking up though, groaning. "Wha…"

Leonie looked relieved. "Captain Jeralt!"

Claude sighed in relief but still was panicked internally at the fact Teach was missing. "Jeralt, sir, do you remember what happened?"

"Oh. It's you again. With some company, it seems." He looked around, gaze lingering on Claude for longer than the others. He thought for a moment, and his eyes widened drastically. "Wait, that's right! That dumb fool. Next time I see him, he'll regret everything he did." He growled.

"So you do remember?" Claude asked.

"Yes, and I regret it." He said, anger in his voice.

"Well, does it have something to do with Teach not being here?" Claude pressed.

"That… He took Byleth…! That's right. We need to get her back." Jeralt said, standing up quickly, standing firm.

"Wait, you were just knocked out, and now you want to go on a rescue mission for Teach, who was kidnapped by who-knows-who? I mean, I understand the urge, but we need to do some research on what we're up against." Claude commented.

"You're right. But they took Byleth at her weakest. What a cowardly thing to do." He said with a slight growl in his voice.

"I agree," said Claude, instincts telling him to go hunt down Byleth before she gets worse. He quickly shook his head. "But we need to have as many facts as we can before we go. So what do you remember?"

Jeralt got a thoughtful look on his face. "I know it was a male and he used magic. His voice sounded old, and if I recall correctly, he called Byleth, 'Fell Star'."

Claude scratched his head, "I don't know anything about who it could be…" He turned to his companions to see if they had any idea.

Leonie shrugged. "The only suspicious thing I've heard about recently was Tomas going missing." Marianne and Mercedes just nodded at that.

"Hm…" Jeralt muttered thoughtfully. "Tomas could be a suspect, but he's never been any sort of suspicious before, and his magic skills didn't seem that good. But anyone could be a suspect currently."

"Unfortunately, that is true," Claude said. "But I swear as the heir to House Reigan, leading house of the Leicester Alliance, that I was not responsible, and will do everything in my power to bring Teach back."

Similar promises and swears were stated by his company.

Jeralt nodded. "I appreciate it. Seeing as this has happened, we should notify your class and other useful people we may need for a rescue mission. Screw it, we should just notify the monastery. We will need as many hands as we can on this mission."

Claude nodded quickly, "True. I'll notify the Golden Deer House, Mercedes the Blue Lion House, Leonie, have fun with the Black Eagles," he winked, knowing they weren't the easiest crowd, "and Marriane should notify Rhea." He finished.

"Sounds good." Jeralt said, despite being uncomfortable when it involves Rhea.

The group nodded, and they all ran out the door to notify their assigned people/person. Jeralt shook his head.

"Byleth, I will never understand how you work." He said with a small smile on his face.

A/N:

Woohoo, get ready for a long, whumpy one, fellow FE: 3H fans! I don't have much to say, but I hope you guys will enjoy this one!

-KittyMello