Summary:

Shadows begin to haunt Byleth as he recovers from magic drain, a condition brought on by the divine pulse's misuse.

Notes:

This is where the paranormal and strange parts start to come in.

Begotten Shadows

Date and Time : ?

Byleth's vision blurred. He fixated on an ajar doorway, the first image in his sight line, and watched many people rush past. He awoke in an unfamiliar bed along the far wall. The doorway faced him by the opposite corner and a closed closet was to his right. That was all he could make out in the dim lit room.

He lifted to move. An unseen force kept him in place. The shadows spilled in from outside, haphazardly shifting along the walls. It was dark already, but the shadows extinguished the light further. Something invisible sat on him, caging him in. He yelled for help, but words did not leave his lips. In fact, his lips would not part. The air he would have used swelled in his throat.

Each command that Byleth gave to his body was met with absolute refusal. The shadows multiplied in the room. They started to appear more three-dimensional with each passing second. They crept closer. Byleth mentally froze.

The room itself spun. Byleth recalled his dizzy spells from earlier, though this was different. His entire body felt like it swirled in a whirlwind, while the shadows swiveled in the opposite direction. The individual distorted bodies became one, blocking visual on the doorway. Byleth closed his eyes. Even blind, his head swam in circles, caught in a current. Byleth felt the unified mass surround him, their breath on his skin.

He fought, fruitlessly. He stayed in place, helplessly trapped in the tides. They laughed at him in childish giggles. He heard the closet door slide open. Hushed voices from what sounded like a woman and a man echoed nearby, clearer than the voices from before. He almost recognized them but could not place them.

Hands touched Byleth. He wanted to scream and fight but could do neither. They spoke above him in unfamiliar speech patterns. What did they want? Then they removed themselves and a weight lifted.

Byleth opened his eyes. The room was black, but he made out two figures in the obscured sea. They were facing each other and conversing. Unlike before, they had color and shape to them, but Byleth failed to make sense of the overflow of information.

He blinked a few times. One of the people moved to the fully open doorway. The other left his narrow view, still somewhere in the room. The one still in sight hesitated and looked back.

Byleth clearly saw his face then – it belonged to Dimitri – and felt immeasurable reassurance. He wanted to reach out and call his name, but his body was still completely immobile. For a moment, their eyes locked and Byleth implored Dimitri for aid.

Dimitri's blank face never changed, and he left the room completely without word or acknowledgement. With that action, Byleth's hope sunk into his stomach. The muttering and warped voices repeated. Byleth fell unconscious to this disquieting noise. "So much for a second chance." One of the shrill voices hissed during the last few seconds of Byleth's awareness.

#

Thunder brought Byleth back to his senses. The strange room he was in was silent, though did that make it eerier or better? He saw Dimitri peering in from the hall, though he made no attempt to interact. He was gone just as quickly again.

The rain rebounded off the rooftops, gracing the windowsills for extra pattering. It became a soothing presence – a natural phenomenon, as well as a way to keep track of time. No wails of demonic beasts pierced the night storm; even if the booming rain drowned out the noise, the shriek of a beast was a shrill thing, and would certainly cut through.

No. Dimitri ignoring Byleth's silent appeals alarmed the professor the most. The only other people he saw in the passing hour were shadowy and unrecognizable. Alien. Bizarre. Midnight fast approached, if Byleth's sense of time was accurate.

A pair of glowing red eyes stared him down after the hall quieted. No other form beyond a pair of bloodshot red eyes harbored in the doorway. If Byleth could only shout out, he would. If he could raise his own body up and fight back, he would. As it approached, Byleth felt his senses growing dim. A headache soon imprinted him, starting at the temple and working its way to the back of his head, down to his neck.

His back and chest began to throb. As if the arrow that penetrated his heart manifested once more, a mind-numbing pain illuminated from the source of his downfall. A hand reached toward Byleth, dark and disfigured. After that, Byleth fainted.

#

A feeling of weightlessness brought Byleth back awake. A steady beat rang against his left arm and chest, but it could not belong to him. His eyes instantly focused on the underside of Dimitri's jaw and his muscular neck. What a comforting way to wake up this time . . . Dimitri carried him somewhere, though Byleth found his ability to speak was still quite lost.

They were outside soon enough, and the sky was a sickly green hue. Strangely, Dimitri did not notice.

As Byleth rested, unmoving, he remembered why he fainted in the first place. Magic drain. That Divine Pulse must have caused a more serious side effect than he could have imagined, leading to this state of paralysis. Able to think without the garbled distortions, Byleth wondered how to awaken himself fully.

He must have had a terrible nightmare – several, in fact. The pain was gone, although his chest compressed in a way that gave him unease. Magic Drain. That's all it could be. Normally, a mage used the world around him or her to draw power in – magic tomes in the past helped channel this. Byleth, however, must have accidently been drawing from his own source. Meaning, draining of his own life.

Ghost pains were not unusual after the Divine Pulse rewound the clock – students who could not possibly remember the past still felt as though their body had been wounded, somehow, but had no proof of it. Byleth encouraged them to think of it as muscle strain or fatigue – how could he conceivably explain that the wound they felt was actually a death blow or a crippling shot from an undone timeline?

Dimitri took Byleth to a place he recognized. A place that was his own home – his quarters. Dimitri, closing the door behind them, laid the professor to rest in his own bed. Byleth looked at him – Dimitri's face was neutral and tired, with blond hair falling over his eyepatch.

'Please stay.' Byleth thought. Dimitri turned his back to the professor, but much to his relief, Dimitri spun the professor's desk chair around and moved it against the desk, keeping it sturdy as he sat with legs folded and eye closed for a nap.

#

Byleth dreamed of a box. Something small and blue and important. That hand from before, reaching out to him, held that box in its other hand, he realized. A nightmare within a nightmare, a memory resurfacing – but it couldn't mean anything.

Byleth woke up and immediately sat up. Finally, he regained mobility. He saw Dimitri sitting in the chair, peering at him with the same impartial expression. "Dimitri?" The other man said nothing, just quietly observed.

Byleth stood up and went for the door. Something was off about Dimitri . . . so he would have to find an explanation elsewhere. Outside his room, the monastery sat in its original state, but the usual business stilted for uncertain reasons. Byleth saw and heard no one – the sky was the same sickly green color as before.

Byleth turned back into his room and looked at Dimitri again. The blonde prince had not moved from his spot, but then Byleth could see why from where he now stood. His own body had not left the bed – Byleth was moving around in a spiritual form.

"He can't help you. I am sorry professor." A voice – a very familiar voice at that – said from behind him. Byleth moved away from the door and turned around to see Dimitri. Young with both eyes intact and dolled hair that he way he used to fashion it. He wore those old academy clothes – the black tunic and the blue house caplet, with a lance held loosely in his dominant right hand.

"Why are you so . . . young?" Byleth asked.

"Why is he so old?" The younger prince retorted with some enthusiasm, but Byleth felt uneased by this appearance. Dimitri could not exist in this state – so obviously, Byleth had yet to awaken. "What do you remember, professor?"

"Remember?" Byleth decided to keep his silence. Talking to a dream character would be a paramount waste of time and energy.

"Just, anything. What you remember last, any strange dreams that you've had . . . something along those lines."

". . . You cannot be real. None of this can." Byleth walked over to his body and closed his eyes. Still alive, but positively drained. Byleth was not surprised in the least at his own state, though he did wonder how this sequence of dreams came to be.

The younger Dimitri mindlessly twirled the lance in-between his fingers, "Real means nothing in this state. I am here . . . because your mind decided to conjure me. That's all. It would be quite beneficial for you to talk to me. Maybe I can help you arrive at a conclusion."

"So, I am conversing with myself with just a different face." Byleth still found the whole thing bordering ridiculous.

"Maybe, maybe not. A bit odd, but for some reason this face grabbed your fancy. I suppose you miss the young prince's appearance?"

". . . I . . ." Byleth glanced over at the older Dimitri, solemn in hushed despair. "I want . . . I wish there was a way to go back and make it so . . ."

"I never get that bad?" The younger Dimitri shrugged, "A very sweet sentiment, but that was not your fault. There is no reason for you to feel any regret. You were still the one who saved me, right? Sometimes one has to fall all the way down to start the climb back up."

"Hmm. Perhaps." Byleth inhaled, deciding to give this a chance. "I remember a shadow figure with a blue box. That was the last thing I dreamt before meeting you."

"A blue box, huh? That is strange."

"A blue box is strange, but not the figure holding it?" A raspier voice called from the seat where Dimitri had been sitting. Somewhere in their discussion, the older Dimitri must have been summoned as well.

"Well, why would a strange shadow be holding a blue box?" The younger Dimitri defended his statement. Byleth became even more bemused by his circumstances.

"Why am I dreaming about two Dimitris arguing?" He asked. The older man moved between Byleth and the younger Dimitri, keeping his arms folded.

"Professor," The younger Dimitri smiled pleasantly, "You need not to worry. I find this to be just another part of your mind working through the details."

"Byleth." The older Dimitri called, but said nothing else. He seemed more hesitant to make claims in comparison to his younger counterpart. Byleth concentrated on Dimitri's backside, realizing Dimitri had not been wearing his fuzzy blue cape. He looked over at his own body – sure enough, the cape was on Byleth's body for extra warmth.

"Is there something wrong . . . Dimitri?" Byleth asked, though the question had two different marks, apparently.

The older one looked over his shoulder and smiled thoughtfully, "No. I don't think so. Perhaps you should try resting for a bit longer?"

"I agree with that. You're still on the mend, after all." The younger said.

"Well . . . if you're both saying that . . ." Byleth examined the chair and realized that Dimitri's body still rested on it. His cheek drooped into his fist and his eye was clearly shut in rest. Byleth internalized different interpretations of this information and watched as the two Dimitris took in one another.

The younger of the two broke the awkward tension and said, "I will go scout for evidence of a 'box', then. Professor, should you remember anything else, let me know . . . until our next meeting." He left after a bow.

"And what will you do . . .?" Byleth asked the one left remaining. His arms were still folded as he turned his body to face Byleth.

"This place is . . . similar to somewhere we've been, recently. I think I see what's going on, though it's difficult to fathom. Byleth, do you trust what he said? Do you think he truly is a manifestation of your imagination?"

"I do not know."

"Healthy skepticism isn't a bad thing. And what about me?" Dimitri lowered his arms.

"I've been trying to call out to you all day. Why did you only just now respond?"

Dimitri slowly shook his head and answered, "I only just now heard you. I am sorry for that. It seems like you're safe here, regardless, so try and get some rest. I wonder if I can find her here."

"Her?" Byleth asked quizzically.

"I never heard her name, though I am certain I know just who she was. If I can find her, I might be able to figure out what 'this' all is." He made a gesture at 'this', "If you see a woman in a white dress with blue hair, ask her about that figure with the box, Byleth. She might just know something."

"A woman with blue hair. Okay. Dimitri, what does this place remind you of?"

"That strange world between life and death. Only this one feels more . . . sinister. I am not sure what I'm sensing, to be completely honest."

"Then you remember everything?"

"Yes. The time reversal and everything happening leading up to it. I remember it all . . ."

"I see." Byleth blinked, holding his eyes shut for a few seconds, then glared at Dimitri. "Don't you ever commit suicide again. I will not forgive you a second time."

"Yes, Byleth."

"Promise me, Dimitri."

Dimitri leaned forward, running a hand down Byleth's back, and kissed him on the forehead. "I promise, my dear professor, that I will never commit suicide again." Byleth fell into Dimitri, murmuring something that sounded like approval, and Dimitri rested his chin on Byleth's head. He drew Byleth in for a close embrace and could feel the mutual love flowing from Byleth.

After Byleth broke the hug, he asked, "You will stay close, won't you?"

"Yes. I don't exactly trust what's happening right now."

"And the . . . younger you?"

"I have no idea what to make of him." Dimitri answered honestly, "I imagine he looks like I once did, though I can't remember it clearly myself. In short, if he is a manifestation of one of our memories, I'd imagine that he'd be yours. Just keep your guard up when conversing with him and if anything feels off, let me know."

Byleth nodded. He did feel worn and decided to rest. Since his body was still alive, all he had to do was touch it and –

Dimitri watched the professor dematerialize from this world, snapping back into the body he belonged to. He would do the same in a few moments, but he wanted to inspect the outside. He pushed the door, realizing that the was not actually opening but he could still move through it.

The sky was green and heavy with dark clouds. There seemed to be an energy deposit streaming from around the gazebo maze and garden – as he looked at it, he felt the menacing presence more intensely. Under the protection of the shadows the structure provided, the green light did not touch Dimitri. Once he stepped forward, the light burned into exposed skin. Dimitri yelped and jumped back into the shadows.

"I discovered that earlier," the younger Dimitri said, "The light burns. If you want to explore, you have to stick to the shadows."

"Then it would be impossible to make it in the garden." Dimitri answered his younger self.

"The garden, huh? Why there?"

". . . A feeling, that's all." The older Dimitri went back in Byleth's quarters and mended his injury, reticent to give the younger any more details than was absolutely necessary. This place did mean to harm them, after all. That begged a question regarding his 'younger self'.

"At night you could." The younger form followed in, "Assuming that light responds to constructs as night and day, dark and light."

"Then I suppose I should return at night." Dimitri answered.

"Yes, I suppose you should. Tonight, then." The younger left again. Dimitri did not trust the younger form, but he kept an open mind about him. Until he could find evidence to the contrary, that was, and then he would spike the little bastard.

For now, he touched his body and returned to slumber.

#

Dimitri woke up, his wrist hurting from the hand that supported his neck and head. The dream he had slipped from his memory, leaving him dazed and confused. He felt like his face burned, though had no idea why. The cold front moved in, but Dimitri was pretty well impervious to cold and frostbite. The sun was nowhere near hot enough to cause a sunburn. Maybe it was the way he slept?

He stood up and inspected Byleth. He had been asleep since that battle a week ago. The other close members of the war room began to worry – the liberation of the holy kingdom would begin at the end of this month, but their lead tactician and key source of troop morale remained in this state.

While Manuela kept him in the infirmary, Dimitri stopped by to check on Byleth multiple times, but the professor lingered in his comatose condition.

Byleth stirred, though, shifting under his blanket and the cape. He gripped the latter to his body, and wearily attempted to sit up after opening his eyes. Dimitri supported the professor's back and lifted him up. "Hey. How are you feeling?" Dimitri smiled, glad to finally see Byleth.

"I –" he said, then winced, "am so hungry."

"Hah. I bet you are." Dimitri slid his hand under Byleth's legs and lifted him up, "Let's get you something to eat, then."

"Hmmhmm." He cuddled into Dimitri, wrapped up in Dimitri's cape. Byleth was so light – lighter than he was even a week ago – and thinned out more than he should. It was time to regain some healthy weight and muscle.

Byleth glanced at the bed and the chair. He was satisfied with what he saw, but Dimitri could not help but feel that action was justified. A feeling nagged at him, but he failed to understand why. For now, he walked outside and let the sun touch them both.

Byleth pulled the cape over his eyes but was fine otherwise. Dimitri felt no different, but something was there at the back of his head. He would work it out after Byleth was physically taken care of, Dimitri decided.

In the garden to one of the entrances of the cafeteria, though, he felt it. Foreboding, longing, and thirsting. It came from the center. Whatever dark magic it was posed a threat to the monastery and to Byleth – that's what Dimitri concluded.

They were still far from safe.