The Path Over My Grave
Pegasus Moon
"Sit upon the throne, Byleth."
"That will not be necessary." The mercenary answered in a voice that was both her own and not, it seemed to echo within itself. "So much of my power yet lingers here…" She strode forward a few paces ahead of them all, Claude's hand falling from her shoulder back to his side, and stood directly before the throne.
Before their eyes, Byleth began to glow, brighter and brighter still until she was almost too bright to look at. At that moment a shadow resolved within her and seemed to step out from her. A heartbeat passed and the light was gone, where once the mercenary had stood were now two figures side-by-side; Byleth, as she always had been, and the figure of a woman too radiant to look upon. In another moment the figure diminished and appeared instead as a girl in ancient attire, floating in the air so she was roughly eye level with Dimitri.
"Sothis, you know everyone." Byleth spoke, gesturing between them "Everyone, this is Sothis. She's been living in my head since… always. You may also know her as the Goddess."
Silence.
And then; "Really! Is that all the introduction I am to expect? You presume upon our familiarity too far! A little respect should not be too much to ask! Honestly, after all you've put me through, throwing yourself in front of axes-"
"That was one time!"
"-and spike traps, and scythes, and-"
"Still only one time that you had to save me!"
"-running away from a ball of all things, as if dancing and chatting with charming men is-"
"Stepping out for air is not running away!"
"-such a hardship! Really, it would not have killed you to flirt a little! Live in the moment!"
Claude's head tilted towards Dimitri and he said in an undertone; "This is the Goddess?" Dimitri nodded slowly, eyes wide and fixed on the sight of Byleth being scolded by the divine entity. "…I actually like her." Claude added.
"So check your wit, Demon." The Goddess continued, arms akimbo, ribbons fluttering around her in a breeze that didn't touch anyone else "You well know-"
"M-Mother" Rhea spoke, and everyone froze as Sothis's eyes snapped round to her.
"Patience, Child, your turn is coming."
"Please don't delay on my account." Byleth muttered, then wobbled and sank to her knees. All the house leaders started forward, but it was the Goddess herself who laid a hand upon her head.
"It seems I cannot afford to in any case. We are still bound, sustaining me is draining you. What trouble you are." She sighed, and leaving her hand on Byleth turned to face Rhea "Very well, my Daughter, you have gone to such great lengths to call me here; speak."
"Mother, I– I have done my best, to be your proxy, but I… I have been so alone, I-"
"And whose fault is that!?" Sothis interrupted
"M-Mother?"
"Do not obfuscate! The longer I linger here the more my mind clears. I know Cichol is nearby, and Indech to the west and Macuil to the east. There is someone else as well, someone new, young and strange to me –is she half human? How wondrous, I did not think it possible. Regardless, your kin surround you! If you have been alone then it has been of your own choosing!"
Rhea was pale and trembling "Mother I needed to see you again, to hear your guidance- you are The Beginning-"
"The Beginning ended long ago, child. All you have ever needed to do is look after the little ones and seek joy; and that can only be found in the present, not the past. Did I not teach you this? You must always live fully in the present moment."
"I cannot guide as you could, only you can lead the world."
"My time is over. You must face forwards."
Rhea's eyes darted to Byleth and back "You could choose-" she began, but cut off immediately as the room darkened and the air drew still. Sothis's posture had straightened, a golden-green light limned her, her nose tipped upward, glaring down upon Rhea.
"That is no choice. You would have me become something more monstrous than that wicked sorcery which turns flesh to puppetry. The foul magic of the likes of Solon! To toy with souls that way is anathema!"
"She had none!" Rhea exclaimed suddenly "No life, no breath, no heartbeat but your own! Her body is more yours than-"
"Mine!? It was neither my will nor my heart that directed her fate! It was the Mother who loved her beyond all hope. That dear and desperate wish for her child to thrive! And so she has! And long may she continue!" Sothis dropped her rigid posture, and light and air rushed back to the room "Sweet Rhealing, what has happened? What are you concealing? What could have brought you to this pass?"
"I-" Rhea quaked where she stood, her voice broken and quavering, tears building in her eyes as the Goddess looked softly and steadily upon her; the Archbishop completely discomposed "I… Zanado, I- I couldn't, Nemesis- and then-"
Byleth shifted herself from her knees to rest her back against the arm of the throne, one leg drawn up, the other extended before her, she gently waved Sothis off and the little Goddess floated closer to the Archbishop, hovering directly before her.
"-a hundred years …. I hunted him- and- Wilhelm, Luca, I-Iris, the rest, we hunted– but Zanado– always– in my mind– Red, red Zanado, my siblings- their bones- I killed him, I killed him, a-and it didn't stop! Mother!"
"Oh, my stubborn Rhea. Are you still trying to bear everything yourself? Too proud to ever cry? Come." Sothis opened her arms and Rhea took one stumbling step forward then another until she all but fell into her Mother's embrace "It is enough now, let it out."
What passed between Mother and Daughter in that moment none but they could say, but the result was that Archbishop Rhea, the Immaculate One, Saint Seiros, dropped what remained of her façade and broke apart. Over a thousand years of torment spilled from her eyes and her wailing sobs reverberated around them, a eulogy long, long overdue.
~o~*~o~
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Byleth ventured, when Rhea had subsided into quiet gasps and was no longer choking with every breath "but I think something is wrong."
The young Lords of Fódlan looked over to see Byleth, still reclined against the foot of the throne, but now clenching a hand over her heart with an expression of open concern. Sothis, holding Rhea and stroking her hair looked round over her shoulder
"Your heart beat an entire two times this past year. I counted. It was not difficult. Of course now that it is working properly you would think– Oh. No, that is much too fast. Time grows short. Hmm, what to do."
Sothis left Rhea, disengaging carefully, and approached Byleth, stepping down onto the floor as she did so and knelt to place a hand over Byleth's heart. The Goddess kneeling before the Mercenary.
"So much of my power dwells in this place. That this ward still holds as strong as the day I set it, truly, I impress even myself. And yet… for you and for I, even with all my memories restored to me, there is only one solution. Will you trust me? Byleth?"
"Yes of course." Byleth answered immediately "But what will you do?"
"I shall return your heart to you, and disappear."
"No" Rhea gasped and slid to the floor on her knees
"You knew it must always end this way, Child." Sothis scolded gently "I stepped through the veil long ago."
"Disappear?" Byleth asked, Sothis hummed
"'The Goddess dwells above, and also in Fódlan'" she quoted "But the part of my power that lingers here should no longer be conscious. The world is imbalanced by my presence –indeed it is imbalanced by a number of presences, now that I am looking for them, but I may leave that much in your hands. Suffice it to say, my daughter is not the only one who chose to forget that the sanctity of death ought to equal that of birth and life. All things in threes." Byleth was suddenly very aware of the sigil on her back. A trinity knot, bound by what she now understood to be the river of time. Sothis gave her a knowing look. "Yes, a strange chance that chose you for me, child of Eisner. Dead at Birth and yet Alive, but so long as there are people there are always exceptions."
The Goddess stood, pulling Byleth with her, and rose into the air until she was floating at her previous height, the mercenary looking up at her.
"Now, this may feel odd, but do not panic." The Goddess stretched her hand forward and the house leaders gasped and took another stumbling step forwards as that hand reached in to Byleth's chest without parting the flesh and withdrew barely a moment later with a Crest Stone. The Crest of Flames burning proudly within it.
Sothis flexed her fingers and the Crest Stone dissolved into golden glittering sand, slipping out of her palm to the floor and disappearing into nothingness. Rhea wailed, crying once more and clutching her arms to her chest.
"There now, it is done." Sothis said with finality.
"Would somebody mind explaining just what is happening here?" Claude asked "Because it really sounds to me as if The Goddess has been living in Byleth, is also Rhea's actual mother and is now just… leaving?"
"Very shortly now, yes. That is the sum of it." Sothis agreed
Claude threw up his hands in a helpless gesture and Byleth smiled
"I understand the answers to my questions now, what was done to me and to you, why we were brought together... But we were promised a revelation."
"Phooey! You have had the benefit of my wisdom these many moons, and do you pay heed? Not hardly! You continue to charge down every hill before you with all the sense of a boulder. Troublesome child." The Goddess paused and turned in the air "These three however have stood by you, at least. I suppose that deserves some recognition."
The Goddess advanced towards them, toes skimming the air, hair and robes falling delicately around her. As she came closer they noticed that she wasn't quite entirely opaque, if you focused you could just make out the outline of the throne and Byleth behind her, though her presence seemed solid enough.
Diverting around the still trembling form of Rhea, she made her way first to Edelgard, who tensed.
"Oh, Daughter of Adrestia" Sothis said, her eyes flickering past her for a split second before locking with her lilac gaze "you walk this path as though it was of your own design, so determined to blaze your way along it, not matter what it may cost you. By rights your path should have meandered always in sunny gardens, but others forced you into darkness… whatever else you may choose, Child, you must wash yourself of Agartha. They will not lead you or your people to brighter days." The Goddess reached forward and cupped her cheek, Edelgard swallowed, eyes wide as Sothis continued "Truth is as much a tool of the manipulator as a lie is, it is all in the presentation. Consider what facts you know and then chart your path accordingly. Once you know your route, I bid you walk it with all your boundless determination."
The Goddess disengaged, leaving Edelgard stunned and unable to do more than watch as Sothis darted quickly through the space between her and the next in their little formation, coming to a halt directly in front of him.
Claude looked at the Goddess. The Goddess looked at Claude.
Claude winked.
Sothis laughed and the whole room seemed to lighten around them.
"Oh yes, I understand you very well, little schemer. You do not need my blessing; but you may have it all the same." She bent a little to kiss his brow and as she withdrew added in a whisper for his ears only; "Your dream is beautiful."
Whatever he may have been feeling in that moment, Claude still had the presence of mind to place a hand over his heart and bow until she had passed on to Dimitri. Or perhaps it was fairer to say that was all he had the presence of mind for.
Dimitri struggled to meet the Goddess's eye, and she paused in front of him longer than for Edelgard or Claude before at last placing a hand on his shoulder and speaking;
"The dead have no claim upon the living." Dimitri drew breath as if to argue, but Sothis cut him off sharply, eyes flashing "None. Seek to right an injustice, as a King must, but do so for those who yet bear the burden of it, whether in suffering or in unthinking prejudice. The dead are past mortal aid. Consign their care to me; you shall have more than enough to think of without adding their burdens to your own. Grieve, and when you are ready, seek out joy once more; you must be prepared to lead your people in happiness as well as sorrow. As King, your first duty must always be to serve the living."
Dimitri hesitated a long moment, then at last nodded, his throat bobbing as he swallowed back whatever it was he might have said.
Sothis smiled for him and drifted back towards the throne, running a hand briefly over Rhea's head before re-joining Byleth and taking up both her hands. As she did her image grew noticeably fainter, sparks of light beginning to fly off from her feet.
"For you it has been a time of partings, and mine now draws close. I am sorry for it, but you have touched my mind, however briefly, you know more perhaps than a mortal should. I am The Beginning; you know what that means."
"I know it to be true, that you must leave, but Sothis-"
"Hush now, and pay attention, I am not done! I gave you a gift, not so long ago, you know of what I speak. I opened it up in you, and I intend that you shall keep it, but it will likely diminish without my power to draw from; there will be a cost, so do show some prudence in your heroics. The Crest even I cannot answer for, so long has it been pressed against you, but your heart shall at last be entirely your own. You have chosen your cause already, fight it proudly, with all of my gifts.
We shall meet again, you and I. And when that time comes to pass I expect you to tell me of all the great joys, sorrows and adventures of your life. Of all the balls you stayed until the last dance, of all the axes you refrained from throwing yourself in front of, of all your lovers and rivals, children and grandchildren –and it shall be as though I had lived it with you."
"Sothis-" Byleth's voice broke "Sothis, thank you -for being my friend, thank you."
"Do not start weeping!" Sothis exclaimed, cupping both of Byleth's cheeks and wiping the tears away with her thumbs "Not for me. If you must dwell on my memory, then dance and sing. Often!"
"I shall try." Byleth swore, and the Goddess smiled fondly at her, leaning forward to kiss the tip of her nose in an affectionate tease before pressing their foreheads together and Byleth heard her voice in her mind once more;
"Thank you. I may not have acted much like a Goddess while we were together, but I had fun, spending these days with you. Live in joy, Byleth Eisner, most favoured of Sothis."
Sothis let go, and drifted once more to Rhea, setting a hand on her child's head, she drew a breath and sang. As she did, her image grew fainter, more sparks of light flurrying from her in shades of green, gold, purple, pink and white.
Rhea joined the song, their voices mingled and filled the space of the Holy Tomb in a rondo until Sothis was gone, leaving one last haunting note and a sense of peace pervading the air.
~o~*~o~
Cloaked in shadows at the back of the room, Hubert waited with Metody at his side.
Lady Edelgard did not give the signal.
The majority of the conversation was easy enough to follow, a word was lost here or there in the echoes, but he got the gist of it. The appearance of the actual Goddess had been somewhat unexpected.
Rather, completely unexpected.
Lady Edelgard did not give the signal.
Then, the Goddess had turned to bestow wisdom on the Mercenary's companions and for a split-second she had met his eyes. From that moment he could hear the conversation as though he stood beside them, was aware of every inflection and gesture.
Truth was as much a manipulator as lies, was it? Yes, he could see how that would be the case. He'd used the notion before himself, come to think of it.
He knew Edelgard, perhaps better than she even knew herself. He knew the direction her mind would turn with that thought.
Lady Edelgard did not give the signal.
The Goddess sang.
Lady Edelgard did not give the signal.
Hubert began calculating how quickly he could neutralise "Lord Arundel's" influence, even as his eyes remained fixed on Edelgard's hand, awaiting her decision.