The Corruption Within

Chapter 5-The Show Must Go On

Feeling a sudden press on her chest, Byleth opened her eyes. Rather than finding herself safe in the infirmary, she found herself in a darkened corridor. She did not recognize this place from any of her other dreams, yet there was something oddly familiar and disturbing about it.

"Hello?" She called out. The only response was her own voice echoing its way through the hall. Slowly, she began walking aimlessly forward, not knowing what could possibly be ahead. As she walked, she began to hear faint footsteps behind her.

She stopped and turned around. The footsteps stopped mere beats after Byleth did.

"Hello?!" she called out with more ferocity. She could barely see anything in the dark, so she would have no way of knowing if someone was following her or not. But she knew what she heard.

Taking a risk, rather than continuing forward, she began to run back from where she came from.

Suddenly, the footsteps picked up again only faster, louder, and still from behind her.

Byleth began to panic, unsure of what to make of this situation. When facing an enemy head on, she had almost always been fearless. Yet an enemy she could not see, or even knew if they were there? It instilled a fear within her that she had not felt before. As she ran, she occasionally twisted her head behind her to try to catch a glimpse of her mysterious pursuer.

"Nothing? But how?" Byleth panicked. She continued to pick up speed until she felt a sharp pain rip through her chest.

Byleth darted up from her infirmary bed, clutching her chest and panting heavily. Mercedes rushed over to her side, grabbing her hand and placing her other hand on Byleth's back.

"Professor, you're okay! Please, try to breath." She said calmly. Finally, Byleth regained her breath and sense of where she was, and crumpled into Mercedes' arms.

"What happened?" Mercedes asked, stroking Byleth's face.

"I think…just a bad dream…"

"Professor, maybe you should get back to sle-" Mercedes began.

"No!" Byleth jumped out of Mercedes' arms. Realizing her reaction, she quickly cleared her throat and attempted to regain her composure, "Actually, I think it might be for the best for me to…get up and walk around for a little."

"Hmm…I'm not sure. It's still so early in the morning, and today is a big da-"

"Please, Mercedes." Byleth pleaded. Hesitantly, but with an ever-comforting and genuine smile, Mercedes nodded and allowed Byleth to get out of the bed.

Taking care to not stand up too quickly, Byleth crawled out of the bed, gathered her few belongings, and made her way out of the infirmary.

As the sun began to peek through the windows of the monastery, Byleth found herself wandering through the various corridors of Garreg Mach.

"What is going on with me?" She wondered, making her way through the second-floor halls

Eventually, she found herself outside of the Cardinal's Room. Dimitri's voice boomed from inside of the room and immediately snapped her out of her trance.

"Completely destroyed?" Dimitri cried in disbelief.

Byleth thought to knock but stopped herself as she had a feeling that Dimitri would only stop the conversation and shoo her away to go rest some more. While the thought of him caring so much made her blush, there were much more important matters at hand. Instead, she decided to stand outside and eavesdrop.

"Yes, your majesty. You have heard it from the witnesses themselves. None of our troops have any idea where these spears of light came from either. Some say it must have been the work of dark magic, yet we have no proof." Dedue responded.

"This is unbelievable. I-I don't even know where to begin…" Dimitri stated exasperatingly. Byleth could hear him collapse into a chair toward the front of the room.

"He must have been talking to witnesses all morning. He's probably so tired…" Byleth thought as she leaned her head on the door to listen further.

"I think our first order of business is to halt the coronation." Dimitri stated bluntly.

"The coronation?" With everything that had been going on, Byleth had nearly forgotten that the coronation was, in fact, today.

"But your majesty-" Dedue began.

"Dedue, how could we possibly think about a coronation right now after the supposedly impregnable fortress was just destroyed in one fell swoop?" Byleth heard his footsteps approach closer to the door.

"Plus, I'm not sure Byleth could handle such an event right now…I still do not entirely know what happened to her…" He said softly, concern filling his voice, "I don't want to put her in danger."

"I understand. Unfortunately, there are only a few more hours until the ceremony is to take place and several guests have already arrived. The food for the ball afterwards has already started to be prepared. It would be difficult to cancel the event now." Dedue stated. He understood his liege's plight, but he also knew that putting off the coronations of both the new King and Archbishop would only have a detriment on public opinion.

Dimitri sighed, "Very well…but let me at least consult with Byleth. I do not want to put her in any potentially dangerous situation."

Byleth was now lost in her own thoughts-Fort Merceus, Dimitri, her condition, the coronation, these strange dreams; it was all too much.

Suddenly, she felt the door push outwards, causing her to be pushed backwards and onto the ground.

"Byleth? What are you doing here?" Dimitri asked, surprised. He quickly bent down to help her up, taking her hand in one of his own and placing the other on the small of her back.

"I, uh…was just-"

"Eavesdropping?" Dimitri smirked.

Sighing, Byleth admitted defeat and smiled back at Dimitri. Finally noticing how close their bodies had gotten in the moment, they both blushed. Dimitri quickly released her from his pseudo-embrace and pulled Byleth to her feet.

"So…now that you have heard everything, how do you feel about continuing with the coronation? Obviously, I do not want you to stress yourself if you are still feeling unwell…" Dimitri pressed, concern drenching his voice.

"Dimitri, I promise it's fine. I feel…fine." Byleth stated, though not quite convinced herself. So much was happening all at once. But for the sake of at least getting this one thing done for Fódlan and off of Dimitri's plate, then she was more than willing to do it.

Dimitri, despite unconvinced that she was in any position to carry on with the activities of the day, knew that she was not going to take no for an answer. He would just have to trust her and stow his worries for now.

"Alright then, your grace," Dimitri began as he gently rested his hand on Byleth's shoulder, flashing her a small smile, "Then the show must go on."

A/N: First off, I'm really sorry that this chapter is kind of hot garbage! I needed another filler/gap chapter before I could move on with some of the bigger plot points. But next time will be the coronation so who knows what will happen there!

As always, thanks for reading! I'll be better next time!