Ch. 8
Even though it felt like the whole school—the whole world—revolved around Eisner-sensei, in the three weeks that he was hospitalized, it felt like he was almost completely forgotten by the students at Shujin Academy.
Popularity is so fickle. To be remembered, you had to continue to be in the spotlight. Eisner-sensei, even with how much he didn't care about being in the spotlight, was always someone who stood out without meaning to.
For him to just be forgotten by the students at Shujin felt so wrong.
Not only that, but it also seemed like the whole world forgot about the kendo champion after a few articles were published about his comatose state after his absence in the past few kendo championship tournaments.
He was just forgotten.
Ryuji, chin propped up against his palm, looked at the substitute teacher that has taken over Eisner-sensei's class with a bored expression.
No one could replace such a great teacher, but it seems like one already has with his mediocre way of going over some confusing math concept. The man drawled on an on without thinking to stop and see if his students could understand.
Obviously, Ryuji didn't.
.
Their hideout spot quickly shifted to another, albeit smaller room than Akira's own bedroom in LeBlanc's attic as the group one by one quietly made their way into Rhea's private single room on the pediatric unit.
Lastly, Makoto silently peered outside the hallway before closing the single hospital room door shut, turned around to her friends, and sighed.
"Let's try to be quiet guys," she closed her eyes and prayed inwardly, hoping that they wouldn't be kicked out.
"We'll try!"
"She's talking about you, Ryuji," Futaba cackled equally loudly.
Ryuji stopped drinking the canned coffee in his hand to squint his eyes angrily at the orange-haired teen.
"Sheesh, you're all such children. We have to focus on the job." Morgana said as he scratched his ear with his hind legs while ignoring the blonde spikey-haired boy's glare shifting to him. "Let's take it from the top. There are a few problems. First one—he's unconscious."
Haru finished handing snacks to her friends, including Rhea who looked slightly in awe at the packaged sandwich as if it was her first time seeing such a thing, and turned to Morgana. "If he's unconscious, we won't be able to make him read the calling card. And we haven't been able to find Eisner-sensei or the treasure room."
"But," Futaba said as she put her hand to her chin in a thinking position. "What if the treasure is already manifested? What if the source of his desires was always haunting Eisner-sensei? We basically have the whole layout of the Palace including the places we haven't checked yet do not have any signs of having a treasure."
"… you make a very good point, Futaba. Such as how you were the treasure for your own Palace, there may be a reason why Eisner-sensei has a treasure that is manifested without a calling card." Makoto replied back and flipped through the map she drew out of the Monastery Palace from the MetaNav.
"If that's true, then I think there is a good chance that the treasure is his sword," Rhea added onto Futaba's theory while nibbling on the strawberry and whipping cream-filled sandwich that Haru gave to her earlier. "The only thing that can be as significant to the Professor to be his treasure would be the Sword of the Creator."
"The Sword of the Creator, the source of his distortions? Very fitting, if you think about it. The sword is what caused many of his students' deaths." Yusuke mused. "How do you suppose we find either Bereto-sensei and steal the treasure?"
"Well if it's the Sword of the Creator, he always carries it around, right? Seriously, why doesn't he leave it in some treasure room?" Ann sighed dejectedly and put a hand to her chin and propped her elbow to her crossed knees.
Akira frowned and set down the sports drink he held in his hand to the table next to him. "He has to be somewhere in the Monastery, not the battlegrounds. After all, the Monastery is the center of his distortions. But I think the treasure part is slightly insignificant compared to our strangest problem."
Ryuji nodded. "Why the fuck is Rhea's memories different from Eisner-sensei's?"
"I mean… Sothis did say that there were many different cycles, right?"
"Yeah, but the one we're seeing now is the real one."
The leader looked thoughtfully for a minute, remembering one of his dreams that he had.
"But what if it's not the only real one?"
"Huh?" At their leader's interjection, the Phantom Thieves plus a young girl looked at Akira with a surprised expression.
"A few weeks ago, even before we met Dimitri and even before we saw the Battle at Gronder Field, I had a nightmare where I was fighting alongside Dimitri. We were fighting this demon looking monster and after we defeated it, the demon's exterior shell disintegrated and only Edelgard's body remained of the demon. And the strange thing is, that demon looked exactly like the demon we saw in Eisner-sensei's cognition. And after she died, I realized that I was in the body of Eisner-sensei."
"What does this even mean? Is it possible that your dream is one of the routes that could be taken? Was there was another route where Eisner-sensei could fight alongside someone else?" Makoto frowned as she tried to figure out the significance of Akira's dream. "Do you think… Byleth-sensei actually experienced each of the multiple routes that Sothis says that he cycles through? But I thought Sothis said that this was the true route."
"Maybe," Rhea said while furrowing her brows slightly. "There is no true route. Maybe because Eisner sensei's cognition is distorted, My mother's memories were distorted as well. You said that she knows that the Archbishop is her daughter, correct? But why would she dissociate my past life as an Archbishop and her daughter Seiros? I don't want to actually be too hopeful about it, but her memories may be locked and we just need to unlock it."
"Rhea…" Ann asked hesitantly to the young green-haired girl. "Do you want to talk about your route?"
Rhea looked away.
"I'm sorry… I don't think I can just yet."
.
Rhea didn't really hear what the teens talked about afterward as jumbled thoughts occupied her brain.
But after wallowing in her thoughts for a while, she waved them away, understanding that there were more important matters at hand. The young Archbishop cleared her throat, making the teens focus onto her.
"I think the main thing we need to do now is to find the Professor. I believe that if I see him through his cognition, we can wake him up. Let us go to his Palace right now."
"Wait, wait. Hold on a minute. You didn't look so well the last time you went. Do you think that it's a good idea?" Futaba questioned with a worried expression. "We can go find him and bring you when we do."
"But if it's made with the Professor's cognition, I feel like there are places that you would not be able to find without my help. I have lived in the Monastery for over a millennium, so there are hidden areas that you may not have found."
Akira pondered thoughtfully at Rhea's words.
"That is quite true. There were places that were inaccessible. This may be due to how Eisner-sensei thinks that we are students and locks us out of places he deems as 'unsafe' for us. But would he still recognize you if you are not an adult?"
"I believe that he will recognize my voice, even though it doesn't sound exactly the same as when I was an adult. But I believe that he'll remember. I promise you that I will be fine."
Akira looked straight into Rhea's determined eyes for a minute and finally nodded.
"Okay, let's go."
.
The world distorted, the pain stopped, and a feeling of relaxation and anxiety clashed immediately within the green-haired girl's mind.
Should she breathe or should she hold it?
But soon after the distortions subsided to reveal even more darkness, now able to teleport to the ruins of the Monastery instead of the forest since her last visit, Rhea unwillingly released the breath she was holding to stare at the remains of the destruction she caused.
It was a heartwrenching sight to return to.
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"I was unable to find anything in the dormitories either. How about the towers? Other than that, I believe that we have searched through all the places that were inaccessible before." Yusuke put a hand on his chin while looking at the MetaNav on his phone.
"Nothing there. Also, where's Sothis? I don't think I've seen her around again."
Haru sighed. "I haven't been able to find her either."
Hearing the fruitless search for Professor Byleth, Rhea furrowed her brows and looked at the teens.
"Can we go to the Mausoleum? I want to see my siblings… even if they are just manifestations of the Professor's cognition." Rhea asked solemnly. Last time when she was in the Professor's Palace, she didn't have much time to reminisce over the ruins of the Monastery nor see if her Mother's throne and her siblings' tombs were still standing.
Ryuji frowned but quickly quirked his lips up into a grin.
"Yeah, let's go! We actually haven't searched very deeply in the tombs because all we saw in there were tombs. We haven't tried to open them yet." The spiky-haired blonde said while rubbing the back of his head. "Maybe we should do that?"
Makoto punched Ryuji's arm.
"Why would you try to desecrate someone's tomb by opening it up? It's common sense and manners to leave them be."
It definitely wasn't because Makoto was scared of the ghosts that may appear for disturbing the goddess' children, even if they were just manifestations from the Professor's cognition.
"Oww… Prez please don't punch me while holding those gauntlets. My arm is gonna break…"
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Rhea stared blankly at the stone throne atop the staircase in the Holy Mausoleum. She closed off all her emotions because she knew the moment she let them run loose, everything would come crashing down on her.
With her small hands, she brushed her fingers against the arm of her mother's throne, feeling the coldness of the stone on her fingertips.
"Have you ever sat on it before?"
The young Archbishop turned around to the voice to see Akira's onyx eyes gaze softly into her light green orbs. With a solemn look, the girl looked down to the ground.
"I never dared to. How could I when I don't deserve such a spot? I can never replace Mother, even though I foolishly tried to."
"How do you know that? I think you're perfectly capable of taking up her mantle, not replacing her. You could be like your mother but also be yourself."
Rhea snorted softly. "If I was anything like my mother, then the Professor would have been living peacefully with his mother and father, not trapped in this cognitive nightmare. I don't deserve to be alive here." And she started walking down the stone steps back to her siblings' tombs.
Akira furrowed his brows a little while he followed down the steps next to Rhea.
"You know, you remind me of one of my friends."
The green-haired girl stared back into Akira's eyes with a confused look.
"Which one? I thought all your friends are part of this group?"
The black-haired teen laughed. And he tried to frown but Rhea could see the smirk at the edge of his frown.
"I'll have you know that I have a lot of friends!" He said with a mock scandalized voice. "Let me see… one, two three…" he started counting on his fingers.
At his jokes, Rhea's downtrodden face slowly turned into a smile that Akira returned in full.
"I'm sure you do, Joker," she chuckled softly.
"And also I'm friends with a maid and a fortune teller and—"
"Wait." Rhea stopped Joker in a hurry. Something tugged at the girl to the stone tomb where Sothis' bones lay inside before. But there shouldn't be anything in there. It was an empty tomb after Byleth had become the owner of the Sword of the Creator.
Seeing where Rhea was staring at, Akira looked to where the stone tomb as well.
I can feel something… He thought and used his third eye.
Seeing the tomb shining brightly red, the leader of the Phantom Thieves took a sharp breath and staggered back in surprise.
"I think he's in there. In the tomb."
.
The group surrounded the tomb on all sides, each at a loss on how to go about this situation.
Is it just Professor Byleth in there or is the Demon Edelgard still possessing him?
"Why couldn't I get a reading on him earlier?" Futaba whispered no one in particular. "He's still technically a shadow."
"Do you think… he's sleeping in there? Like how his real body is? Maybe that's why he isn't waking up." Haru asked back softly, her hands gripping her axe in a ready position.
Makoto shook her head. "Eisner-sensei was already in a coma before and his cognitive self was still active."
"Ugh, should we do it? Should we open the lid?" As Ryuji said that, he looked worriedly at the stone slab that was over the cold tomb. "It's going to take all of us to remove it."
"If we do it quietly and if he is truly asleep, we might be able to take the treasure and run," Morgana said thoughtfully. "Maybe this will finally be the time where we don't have to confront the Palace owner to steal their treasure."
Futaba groaned. "Mona, you just jinxed us!" She said while facepalming. "Now the Demon Edelgard will wake up along with the Professor and we'll have to beat them both!"
"No… we should wake him up if he is asleep. We need him to read the calling card, right?"
"But if his treasure has already manifested, there is no real reason to. Just steal it and go!"
And something inside the stone tomb rumbled.
The group looked all jumped back in surprise.
"Shit."
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Author's Note:
The story is wrapping up soon!
And sorry for the late upload everyone;; I was occupied with summer classes, my job, and just writing a bunch of other fics for the past few months... (more excuses)
But the main reason I didn't upload before was that I was at a loss for a whole month and a half. I knew how I wanted the story end, but I couldn't figure out how to get there. But finally, I was able to write it mostly out and I think there will be 1-2 more chapters and then an epilogue. It might feel a bit rushed, but I didn't believe that I needed to drag it on any further (it's totally not because I suck at writing long fics).
Seeing what I wrote out for the next chapter, it should be updated in about a week and I will be done before school starts again and I get super busy.
Thank you for reading! Any and all feedback is appreciated:)