Ch. 7

"Bereto. That's enough for now. You should get some rest."

Bereto didn't respond to his master's words, his body still going through the motions of the kata with his back turned from his adoptive father.

"Bereto," Master Yamamoto sighed. He walked toward his son and grasped his shoulder. "Get cleaned up and go to slee—"

The Kendo Master paused as he saw his twelve-year old son's eyes and cheeks wet from tears. In the six years that Master Yamamoto knew his son, this was the first time that he has ever seen Bereto cry.

The child stared at his father, his face blank yet still wet with tears. The tears felt so out of place as Bereto's blank, emotionless face seemed to be completely unfazed by the feelings that usually come with crying.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

Bereto looked confused. "I apologize, Master Yamamoto. I did not hear you. Is there something wrong?"

The father frowned even harder, unable to comprehend why his son was acting like nothing was wrong yet his face displayed the hard evidence of tears.

"Bereto, you're crying. Are you okay?"

The young azure haired child blinked and finally let go of his shinai to touch his face. He felt his wet cheeks and looked at his wet fingertips strangely.

"I didn't even realize I was crying."

Master Yamaoto looked at his protegee in disbelief.

Bereto looked up at the sky. The heavens was empty except for the orange glow of the sunset.

"I was merely contemplating whether I deserve to live when others lost the chance to do so because of me."

Garreg Mach Monastery.

To its inhabitants, it was a symbol of unity and prosperity. It was the focal point of Fodlan, just how Seiros designed it to be.

It was a place that Rhea built together with her few remaining brothers and sisters, dedicated to their mother. After this Monastery was built, Rhea discarded the name Seiros, vowing to only use it when her mother was back. She would only let her mother call her by that name ever again.

However, that changed.

No—she changed.

One can assume, as an immortal being, she would be stagnant and unchanged throughout a millennium. In ways, she was. But even as a thousand year old immortal, she was still a child compared to her mother. The mature, benevolent, compassionate, and righteous attitude she put up was only a farce; Rhea knew that she was immature, ruthless, obsessive, conceited, and pretentious. Maybe that was why she had no difficulty adjusting in a child's body. No matter how mature she portrayed herself to be in the body of a little girl, she was still the selfish, obstinate millennial Archbishop in the inside.

When the cat bus neared the Monastery, Rhea frowned as the darkness became more and pronounced. The sky was pitch black and was only illuminated by Morgana's headlights and torches that lined the outer walls. But until the bus pulled to a stop in front of the gates to the Monastery, Rhea didn't realize that this was the Monastery that she left in ruins. Looking at the crumbling walls and the rubble scattered throughout the Marketplace Gate made her freeze as she remembered what she did to her precious Monastery all those years ago.

As she stepped out of the vehicle, she took slow, hesitant steps on the cobblestone ground. Her eyes darted everywhere even though it was hard to see without the aid of the torches. However, even with the darkness, it was too easy to see that the Monastery was in shambles.

Just like how she left it.

"Rhea! I'm glad you were able to make it here!" An excited voice called out, causing Rhea to stop her from staring at the ruins for the moment.

Rhea looked to the speaker and saw that it was Ann, waiting in front of the Gate with her friends.

Ann was sweet. She had a lot of empathy, but unfortunately, Rhea didn't exactly want pity from a teenage girl who was an infant compared to how old Rhea was.

Ah, but you're still an immature, selfish child, Rhea reminded herself.

She flashed a weak smile and gave a soft hello to the group of teens who looked happy to see her.

"Is this girl another one of Byleth's students?" A soft voice called out behind her and Rhea became startled at the sudden voice. She quickly turned her head to face the alien.

The young girl froze.

Her expression changed from shock to horror to disbelief in a single second. Or maybe it was a combination of all three emotions.

"Mother?"

.

Sothis was always lonely. How long has it been since she could talk to Byleth face to face? How long has it been since she was able to see the world from his eyes?

But a voice rang inside her head sometimes.

"Mother, I love you."

The young, soft, innocent voice brought a bright smile to her face.

"Why do you love humans, Mother?"

The voice turned older, rebellious, and curious. The goddess, too, wondered something similar. Sothis loved Byleth, but what does it mean to love a whole race of people?

"Why did you love humans, Mother?"

The voice wept with a guttural, angry cry. But even though she tried so many times, Sothis couldn't sooth the anger of this voice.

"So… you are just another failure… I will tear out your heart myself!"

The voice was hostile and resentful, bitter and hurt. The goddess couldn't help but shudder at the voice, fearful of what it has become.

"GIVE IT BACK!"

It wasn't the voice anymore. It couldn't be. How could such an anguished, animalistic roar come from that sweet, soft voice?

And then the voice rang out again.

Soft and sweet.

"Mother?"

.

"Mother?" Rhea called out breathlessly to the goddess. "… Mother," Rhea abandoned the shock and disbelief, her face turning to awe. "It's me, Seiros! Your daughter."

Tears trickled down the girl's eyes.

Sothis looked at the owner of the voice that has haunted her for years with wide open eyes. Her gaze wavered at the girl with green hair so familiar yet also so alien. And the goddess' shocked eyes and open jaw shifted to a tormented expression

"Seiros…?" She shakily asked herself. "Seiros?"

"Yes, mother! Do you remember me?" The voice was again so gleeful and innocent. "To think that we would be able to meet again… in a land so far from Fodlan. I have longed for the this day. The day that we meet again."

"I… I…"

Sothis gripped her head.

"You can't be Seiros. No… you can't be. I don't remember you"

And she did the one thing that she never did before.

She ran away.

.

She disappeared. Again. She was gone and all that was left was realizing how her mother must have seen the atrocious acts she committed through Professor Byleth's eyes. If her mother was living within Professor Byleth for all the years he was at the monastery, she would be disgusted at the person claiming to be her daughter.

A feeling of dread overtook Rhea's mind as the thought of her mother hating her scared her just as her mother not remembering her. No, maybe less than not remembering her. At least if her mother hated her, she would at least think of her daughter in some kind of emotion. At least Rhea would be taking up a spot in her thoughts. But she didn't even remember Seiros. She was forgotten.

She stood wordlessly and couldn't even hear the Phantom Thieves crowding around her, saying something to her.

The young green-haired girl finally realized that tears fell down her face.

Sad—yes.

Anguished—yes.

But she was scared—more scared than anything. It was the thing that was making her shiver and cry in place while being unable to get out a single word or a single cry for help.

Being forgotten scared her.

Apathy scared her.

And she finally broke down.

Akira lunged a bit forward to support the crying girl as she crumbled down to the stone floor, tears and anguished cries escaping from her eyes and mouth.

.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The Phantom Thieves leader asked.

"Although I may look like I am a child, please remember that I have lived for a considerably longer time than all of you combined. I am okay." Rhea looked away. She wasn't okay. But she didn't want to seem even more defenseless than she was.

But Rhea knew that she was defenseless.

She was now just a child—a human child—that was weak and sick. But she was once a goddess' child; she was once a dragon. She was once over a thousand years old and she refused to look like a fragile and weak child that she actually was.

Akira looked at her with a concerned expression but took her word.

"I understand. We split up into groups to try to look for Eisner-sensei earlier. As expected, we still couldn't find him. We need to find him if we want him to wake up."

"Is he hiding somewhere? What happened?"

"Two weeks ago, Edelgard and Dimitri had their final battle in Gronder Field. Edelgard turned into a demon and kidnapped Eisner-sensei's cognition back to the Monastery. We've been trying to look for him ever since. I think his sword is the final treasure"

Rhea looked at the teen with a confused expression.

"Final battle… in Gronder Field? And Edelgard became a demon?"

Something was not matching up.

"Eisner-sensei's cognition and state became worsened after we saw his memories of the battle and interfered with it. I think Edelgard originally killed Dimitri during the battle, but I saved him. She was about to kill me, so Eisner-sensei killed Edelgard, only for her to become a demon.

"That… sounds like she was overtaken by the Agarthan magic." She shook her head. That wasn't important now. "Where was I in this battle?"

"I… don't know. But we didn't see you here, nor in other battles so I'm guessing that you took back Garreg Mach after Eisner-sensei died there?"

"What?" Rhea recoiled in shock. "Professor Byleth died? In Gronder Field? That… that makes no sense!"

"Huh? What do you mean? This was the last of his memories. He was said to have committed suicide after this battle."

"The Professor… suicide?... But he…"

Rhea gulped as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

"He, along with Edelgard, killed me in Fhirdiad. That was the final battle."

.

They left. After all, they had only a few hours and most of the time was used driving through a forest, crying herself to exhaustion, and being confused once again. When she returned to the real world, she stumbled as she felt pain shooting from her heart to the rest of the body. A thundering pain thumping throughout her arms and legs; head and body. She barely contained a scream at the sudden rush of pain but she forced her body to instead lean against the wall of the Professor's hospital room and pant harshly.

"Are you okay?!" concerned voices mashed in together.

"I'm… alright…" She breathed out. "Just… need to breathe…"

After what seemed like ten minutes, the pain finally became somewhat manageable. Wiping her sweaty forehead, she motioned that she was okay now.

The rush of pain was most likely built up from the lack of it the past few hours. She couldn't let these children know about it though. If they do, then they will most likely never allow her to go back to the Professor's cognition ever again.

"I'm okay."

She was not.

.

"Why do you push me away? Why do you put a barrier when I come to you, spilling my deepest, darkest thoughts?!"

I'm sorry.

"Why do you not love me? I thought you loved me!"

I'm sorry.

"Why did you choose her, and not me? Why not me?!"

I'm sorry.

"Why did you let me get killed?"

I'm sorry.

"Why did you kill me?"

I'm sorry.

Akira woke up with a gasp, his forehead full of sweat. His body felt so heavy, but he looked up and saw that it was just Morgana sleeping on top of his stomach. He shuddered as he released the breath he was holding and shifted the cat's body back to the bed.

The teen didn't remember seeing anything in his dream, but he could remember the voices so clearly. He couldn't help but recognize one voice in particular—Eisner-sensei—who continuously apologized.

Akira clutched his bedsheets close to his body even though his body was hot and sweaty.

Why was it that he could replace so many parts of Eisner-sensei's voice with his own?

.

Author's Note:

I always felt that Akira and Bereto are so similar. They're both the protagonists of their respective franchises, a people magnet, but never able to break the barrier that they have because they are the protagonist and you're supposed to insert yourself into them.

I've been writing some other fics, but don't worry I'll keep working on this fic. But this fic is always so hard to write because I definitely wasn't planning on making it this long. It was only supposed to be about 10,000 words for god's sake!

This was a much shorter chapter compared to the others I've written but I hope you enjoy:) I love to read your reviews!