The Corruption Within
Chapter 4-Spears of Light
"Mercedes, her heart wasn't beating." Manuela said in a serious tone as she rushed to close the infirmary doors.
"Oh Manuela! That's silly! Obviously, the Professor isn't dead, she was breathing!" Mercedes laughed cheerfully.
"Yes, exactly. Doesn't that freak you out at all?" Manuela questioned, looking back at the closed door.
"Well, maybe your stethoscope was just broken! Truly Manuela, how could her heart not beat?" Mercedes continued to laugh in disbelief. Yet Manuela was not so sure that this was something as simple as a broken stethoscope.
"Obviously, she's not dead," Manuela thought, "But then what is she?"
Her thoughts were interrupted by a mass of a man making his way toward the infirmary.
"Ah! Dedue! It's so good to see you!" Mercedes sang to the king's closest confidant.
"Mercedes. Manuela. Is his Majesty in the infirmary with her Grace?" Dedue asked urgently.
Surprised by the formal titles, it takes a moment for Manuela to realize who he was talking about.
"Dimitri and Byleth? Yes, they're-" Manuela began before Dedue hastily pushed open the infirmary doors.
"Your majesty, something serious has happened." Dedue announced sternly before taking a second to notice the scene in front of him. Dimitri, kneeling next to Byleth's weakened body with all the love in the world for her in his singular eye. Even for a quick second, Dedue could not help but smile internally at the idea that his majesty and closest friend had found someone whom he cared for so deeply. Remembering his duty, he shook it off quickly.
"Dedue, what is it?" Dimitri asked as he stood abruptly and attentively. Byleth attempted to sit up and readjust her aching, tired body in order to face Dedue. Upon sitting upright, she began to feel lightheaded again which forced her to lean against the metallic headboard for support.
"Fort Merceus has been…destroyed." He said, hint of true worry finding its way through his otherwise stoic voice.
"What?" Dimitri exclaimed, gripping the side of Byleth's bed in shock. "How could this be?" Dimitri's grip tightened around the side of the mattress until his hands turned a deep plum. How could he have just fought so hard to win this land and one of his occupations had already been decimated by some unforeseen force?
"Dedue, please continue." Byleth urged calmly. Despite her shock at the news, she hoped that if she handled this well, Dimitri might too.
"We were sending supplies to the fort to help the civilians that resided there. Reports from our soldiers who were on their way there note giants spears of light coming from the sky. In an instant…" Dedue paused, noticing Dimitri's growing frustration with this situation as it unraveled.
As if an automatic reaction and without taking her eyes off of Dedue, Byleth quietly moved her hand atop one of tensed Dimitri's hands. His hand, while soft as always, felt hot beneath her cool touch. He was very apparently stressed. If this small gesture could help him calm down even a little, that would be enough for Byleth.
"Go on." She said, not even noticing that she had begun to stroke Dimitri's hand with her thumb.
"In an instant, the fort was gone. It's people, our supplies…everything." Dedue concluded, solemnly lowering his head.
"No survivors…at all?" Dimitri pleaded, hoping that even if there were a few, he could at least help them.
"None…the reports say that the damage was devastating." Dedue responded as stoically as possible. However, he was just as surprised as anyone to receive a report like this so soon after they had just taken back Fodlan.
Dimitri reluctantly left Byleth's grip in order to pace the spot next to her bed.
"I need to talk with the witnesses. I need to gleam whatever information I can about these spears of light." Dimitri remarked defiantly.
"Let me come too." Byleth chimed in.
"Absolutely not." Dimitri rebuffed, kneeling to her side once more."Please, Byleth. You must stay here and rest, if even for just a little bit longer." He pleaded sweetly, with a small and kind, yet utterly concerned smile on his face.
"I need to also know what's going on in my domain." She said, attempting to put on a more confident, healthier act in hopes that he would give in and let her come along.
"And I need you to rest so that you can make well-considered decisions based on the what we find out. I simply cannot let anything bad happen to you." Dimitri retaliated, trailing off on the last bit so that only Byleth could hear.
Blushing, she agreed, "Please just report back to me as soon as you discover any new information. I don't want to be rendered useless simply because I fainted."
"You'll be the first to know of any developments." Dimitri said, standing up again to leave with Dedue. "I'll come back to you soon. Please rest well."
"Mhm." Was all Byleth could muster before involuntarily shuffling back down into a more comfortable position. Suddenly, she began to get very, very sleepy again.
"Sleep well…" Dimitri sang with a smile on his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Despite her tiredness, Byleth could still sense that something was horribly wrong within the deeper realms of Fódlan.
"Spears of light destroying the Impregnable Fortress?" She thought. "How is that even possible?"
Her mind was consumed by thoughts of this new development, but as much as she tried to fight to stay awake to think about it all more, she drifted back off to sleep.
A/N: Hello all! WOW! The response for this story is overwhelming! My heart jumps everytime I see anything about a new follower or favorite—it's fantastic!
I'm sorry that this one is a bit more filler than actually, nitty-gritty content, but I'm still working on finding my voice in this tale. Please bear with me! I'm also VERY tired at the time that I am finishing this, so hopefully there are no huge errors throughout this one. I just really wanted to get something up!
As always, please feel free to let me know what you think about the story so far! I can't wait to hear from you!