The Corruption Within
Chapter 2-A Surprise Reunion
"Hey…wake-up…"
…
"Wake-up."
…
"WAKE-UP! NOW!"
Byleth shot up, panting heavily as if she were just waking up from a nightmare. Opening her eyes, she found herself not on top of the goddess tower but in a darkened room.
Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, she was greeted by a familiar sight. In front of her was a staircase leading to a throne cloaked in an ethereal emerald glow. However, the throne was empty.
"Where is-"
"Finally! You're awake!" came a familiar shrill voice from behind.
Startled, Byleth spun to find Sothis standing with her arms crossed, bearing a flustered look on her face.
"Sothis?" Byleth asked, eyes wide with bewilderment. She had thought that she would never see or hear from her dear friend again.
"Do not tell me that you have forgotten me!" Sothis squealed in frustration.
"Of course not! I'm just surprised…I've missed you." Byleth replied, a gentle smile spreading across her face.
Calming down slightly, Sothis uncrossed her arms. "I have missed you too. Yet something is obviously wrong. I should not be able to talk to you like this, and you absolutely should not be able to see me."
"But you talked to me a few months ago when you were trying to wake me up. Maybe…" Byleth stopped, unsure of how to proceed with this thought. It was true that she was glad that she could see Sothis again, but why did this happen?
"This is true. You have become even more sleepy than I, it seems." Sothis noted with a bit of annoyance in her voice. "Regardless something…strange happened. You felt immense pain in your chest just now, did you not?"
Gripping her chest, she remembered what all had just transpired and nodded.
"I…I felt it too." Sothis said, also gripping her chest as if she could still feel echoes of the pain, "It was horrible. Like something was gripping onto my heart, trying to tear it out of me."
"I felt the same…" Byleth looked down, unsure of what to make of any of this. Trying to reason with herself, she halfheartedly perked up, "Well, I was with Dimitri! Maybe I just got over-"
"Stop right there." Sothis put a finger to Byleth's lips, "You know that this is not what happened." She removed her finger and threw her hands up into the air. "Honestly, you are but a hopeless child! You cannot even put aside your feelings for this man for one second so that we may figure this out!"
Embarrassed, Byleth apologized, "I'm sorry, I just don't know what it could be…"
"Hmph." Sothis pouted before returning to the matter at hand, "Well, neither do I. In all honesty, I am not sure what to do in this moment. It just feels like something, somewhere in your world has gone terribly wrong. The war is over, yet it feels like-"
"Like something is missing." Byleth finished. Sothis stared at her for a moment, taking in the situation.
"Yes, if you feel the same then something must be wrong." Sothis thought for a moment, "You must discover what it is. I am frightened of what this could mean."
A soft, male voice echoed through the darkened chamber. While faint and unintelligible, the tone was undeniably recognizable.
"It seems as if your lover is trying to wake you up." Sothis smirked. Blushing at the word "lover," Byleth quickly looked away.
"For as much of a pain that you can be, you can be absolutely adorable!" Sothis chuckled. "It is time for you to wake up now, however."
"After we've just been reunited? But-" Byleth begun, before getting cut off again.
"I have a feeling that due to this mysterious occurrence, this will not be our last time speaking to one another. I am not sure how but…regardless, you must not forget to investigate this matter fully! I fear that if left unattended, it could be detrimental to your newly forged world."
Sothis reached her hand out to the confused, weak girl to help lift her from the ground. Sighing, Byleth took it and closed her eyes.
Once again, everything went dark.
"Byleth?" she heard the familiar voice say as her eyelashes began to flutter open.
A/N: Wow! The response that I've already gotten from people is amazing! Thank you so much for your favorites/follows/reviews—it all means a lot! This chapter is a bit on the short side, but I felt it was an important interlude after what happened at the end of the last chapter. As a quick preview for the next chapter, we'll be focusing a little bit more on Dimitri and what's going on with him during this. It should be cool! Ideas keep popping up, and I am super excited to continue this story. Thanks for reading!