Some friends in the Church of Lysithea discord wanted more of this for some reason, so i made more. Sorry everyone else.
Byleth found his mind drifting as he worked.
Tomorrow Claude and Himself would be heading into Riegan territory for a round-table meet up between the Alliance Lords to decide what they would do regarding the Empire and their little takeover of the Great Bridge of Myrddin. This was massively important and required his undivided attention, and yet Byleth could feel his mind constantly trying to drift to other thoughts that plagued him.
As he managed the mountain of paper work before him, The green haired man recalled the feeling from two days ago. The feeling of her lips. Their soft feeling as they made contact with his own, and the rush of blood through his body from his non beating heart. But above all, what stood out to him the most was the taste.
"Strawberries…" He remembered, the phantom taste clinging to his taste-buds like no taste ever had before. Not even the strongest of sweets held a candle to the intoxication he felt from the taste of her lips on his.
And this confused the former Professor. While he had been kissed by woman before, none had ever given him a reaction like this. What made Lysithea's kiss different from the others before? What was the feeling in his chest that made it feel like his still heart was beating? Was it that the white haired girl was his student? That was something that made her stand out from the others.
Byleth set his quill down. The more he tried to fight against them the more these thoughts struggled back. He needed a new strategy against them.
As Byleth stepped out of his room, he made his way towards where his strategist against this new threat to his ability to work would be.
Lysithea was mortified.
Lysithea paced pack and fourth in her room at the Great Bridge of Myrddin, face almost glowing red.
Two days ago she got way ahead of herself and kissed her former professor. And not like a kiss on the cheek. No she went all in. It wasn't something she intended to do, it just sort of happened on an impulse that she couldn't stop. And now she's scared she ruined her relationship with him forever.
Byleth was… different. She never fully understood how his mind worked, but it was clear he thought about things very differently than she. One thing she and everyone noticed immediately though however was his… To put it politely, less than stellar social skills. Of course she wasn't exactly a social angel, but he was something else.
He had a difficult time understanding basic social etiquette and even failed to understand what should be basic things. She recalled one time when a student joked about the fish in the pond freezing from the cold north winds of Faerghus, he learned how to cast fire and sat their warming the water for hours until Seteth found him there. He said he "didn't want to risk loosing a valuable food supply".
Of course this was silly because traders came to and from the Monastery every single day, but still he was insistent about not risking letting the fish freeze. Many of the students were confused at first, but it quickly grew into intrigue as students started testing exactly how sheltered Byleth was. The real surprise was that he seemed to treat even the smallest task assigned to him like it was a grand mission he had been tasked with by a great general.
He also took many simple things that weren't his problem very seriously too. Many students noticed he made sure to understand his students as closely as possible, to try and increase their ability to work with each other on the battlefield. His fascination with lost items was of great interest too the student body too. People would intentionally "loose" items too see if he could correctly guess who's it was.
Essentially Lysithea was completely lost on how he might react to her kiss. He was seemingly totally unaware of or didn't care about sexual advances, and she saw plenty of students make attempts at those, with not even a blush gracing his cheeks.
And she kissed him on the lips! She felt her face glow even brighter at the thought. What would he think? Would he think it was gross? Would he think her a distraction? Would… Would he even know what a kiss is..?
She shook her head in an attempt to dispel those thoughts.
"Come on Lysithea, you're a mature, adult woman. You can handle… whatever… this is…" Lysithea trailed of with her thought.
What was this even? She was so busy panicking out about what her professor would think that she hadn't even taken the time to sort out her own feelings.
"What… Am I feeling?" She wondered aloud. Was it just a simple crush? Or was it more?
"I should ask Hilda, she would know what to do." She thought aloud, before moving to grab some cake and a coat for the short trip over.
"I'm sorry?" Hilda asked, genuinely lost.
"I need you to help me with a strategy against these thought plaguing my mind." Byleth repeated to her.
"First, why do you want me to strategize? That's you, Claude and Lysithea's job, not mine. Second, what do you mean by 'These thoughts plaguing your mind?' Hilda questioned him with annoyance, frustrated at having her craft time interrupted.
"I need you since the thoughts that are plaguing me are matters I'm very unfamiliar with, and my belief is that you are the most experienced and knowledgeable person on the subject here."
Hilda sighed in response
"OK Professor, what are these thought 'plaguing your mind?' She asked him with obvious frustration in her voice, wanting to just get this over with.
"I cant stop thinking about Lysithea." Byleth answered with total sincerity.
In an instant, all of Hilda's frustration vanished. Her slumped shoulder suddenly jumped up and her arched back snapped straight.
"What kind of thoughts are they?" Hilda asked eagerly, a predatory gleam in her pink eyes.
"Well, after Lysithea kissed me-" Byleth was suddenly cut off as Hilda grabbed his face and pulled him close.
"After she did what?" Hilda demanded.
"S-She kissed me?" Byleth answered, uncertain of what this side of Hilda meant for him.
Hilda stared into his eyes with an unrivalled intensity for only a few seconds, but to Byleth it felt like an eternity of her peering into his soul.
"You. Will. Tell. Me. Everything." Hilda ordered him with a ferocity he had never seen in a person before.
"Uh… OK?" Byleth answered uncertainly, now questioning if coming to Hilda was the correct idea.
"...Hm." Hilda seemed to ponder something as Byleth finished telling her the story of two days prior, with certain Goddess related details left out.
"I'll admit, I expected it to be more romantic and less… impulsive? Also I really thought you would be the one to initiate." Hilda said dejectedly.
"That aside, What do you feel for her? Hilda asked him.
"What do you mean?" Byleth asked.
"She's my student and I want to see her grow and thrive, like all of you." Byleth answered slightly confused.
"No professor, I'm asking you when you think of Lysithea, when you picture her smiling in your head, what do you feel?" Hilda asked him, smiling.
Byleth stopped for a moment to think.
"What do I feel when I imagine her smile?" Byleth thought to himself as he closed his eyes, imagining his white haired student in her attire she returned into the monastery in, a soft smile on her face as she looked in his direction.
He felt his blood rush. A hint of heat on his cheeks. A desire to protect her, so that she could retain the expression. A desire to get… Closer.
Byleth opened his eyes and locked his green eyes with her pink.
"I see. I want to hold her close. I wish to see her happy. That's… That's what romantic feelings are like, aren't they? That's the sort of things my father spoke of in his journal when talking about my mother…" Byleth trailed off. Hilda's excitement suddenly vanished.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Hilda started
"No. Its fine." Byleth responded, voice nearly a whisper. It all added up. Lysithea was definitely the student he was closest with, and his feelings towards Lysithea did match his admittedly shallow understanding of romance.
"Romance was something I never even consciously considered, especially not with one of my students… But I suppose it makes sense. The things I read from my Fathers diary… I feel a dulled sense of what he describes." Byleth spoke, more to himself than the girl in front of him. After a moment of silence he speaks up.
"So what do I do?" He asks Hilda.
"You tell her of course!" Hilda answered incredulously.
"But she's my student, I cant-" Byleth began but was once again interrupted by Hilda.
"Not anymore she's not. Professor its been 5 years. While it may not feel like long for you, we're all adults. We're not your students anymore." Hilda argued with him.
Byleth paused and pondered that thought. While it was true that for him he had only been gone for hours, for them 5 whole years had past. Most of his students were older than him if they didn't count the days that he was gone. Even Lysithea was only a year younger than him now.
"Besides, She's the one who kissed you. While she may a bit confused herself, I have a hunch she has feelings for you in return." Hilda finished with a self satisfied smirk on her face
"I- Yes. You're right. I must speak with her." Byleth decided with certainty in his voice.
"Great, I have the perfect idea of how to do it…"
Just before Lysithea was about to collect some cake before she went for a walk, She heard a knock on her door.
Lysithea hesitated as she went to open the door. Instead of opening it straight away she decided she should figure out if it was someone she could speak with in her current state.
"W-Who is it?" She asked, immediately cursing the small stutter in her voice.
"I-Its just m-me Lysithea." The perpetually nervous sounding voice of Marianne answered from the other side.
Lysithea sighed in relief. Marianne was someone she could deal with, the soft spoken girl wouldn't pry about the rumour's around camp right now.
"W-Would you like some tea? I managed to get s-some sweet apple blend." Marianne asked, knowing that Lysithea was very fond of that particular blend.
"Oh yes! I would love some thank you, please come in!" Lysithea almost shouted in response. After all, what better way to calm her nerves than a high dosage of sugar?
Lysithea quickly opened the door for Marianne, seeing the blue haired girl standing at the doorway with a gold tray and tea set in hand, a small smile on her face.
"Hello L-Lysithea." Marianne greeted her warmly.
"Hey Marianne, Come inside!" Lysithea answered with clear notes of excitement in her voice.
"Here, you can place it on this table here." Lysithea said as she walked over to the small table in the corner of her room.
Marianne followed her over, setting the tray down on the desk. As they prepared to sit and have tea together, Lysithea idly noted that the tea had already been prepared before she had arrived.
"What if I had declined?" She wondered to herself as they sat down at the desk.
As Marianne passed her a cup of tea, Lysithea reached for the sugar, making sure she could fill it the ideal amount of sugar. How do people have such little sugar in their tea anyway?
As they began to drink their tea, all was silent for a moment. The two of them simply enjoying their tea in the undisturbed peace.
Before long however Lysithea began to notice Marianne shuffling in her seat and not looking in her direction. While that would be normal for Marianne 5 years ago, this was a bit more strange now. It implied she was nervous. Marianne hadn't been nervous around her in some time. Even before the end of the academy days they were rather comfortable around each other.
So what could possibly be making her so uncomfortable? If she was this nervous, then something was up.
"So Marianne, what brought you to my room today with already prepared tea?" Lysithea began probing.
"I-I… Um… I had this tea… and I know you like it s-so I wanted t-to share it with you?" Marianne answered in a tone that sounded more like a question than an answer.
"Mhm, I see, but why had you already prepared it before I agreed to drink with you?" Lysithea began to pressure.
"I um… I already… already had p-prepared it in my room before I remembered that you liked it, so I b-brought it here to see if you wanted s-some too." Marianne answered, growing more nervous at the probing.
"Of course, Of course. And may I also ask why you have one of Claude's Tea sets when you prepared in your room, with your own tea set available?" Lysithea asked the big question before taking a long sip of her tea.
Marianne froze. Lysithea just watched her as she finished her sip before setting her tea cup down on the desk.
"Now Marianne. You're going to tell me exactly for what purpose you're here, and why." Lysithea calmly ordered her.
Marianne remained frozen on the spot.
"Marianne." Lysithea ordered with slightly more emphasis.
"I-I…." Marianne began before being cutoff by the door being suddenly kicked open.
Lysithea's eyes snapped towards the door only to see Claude standing in the door way with Failnaught in his hands, a strange looking arrow knocked in the bow and pointed at her. Lysithea immediately went on guard seeing the bow pointed at her and summoned a Miasma spell.
"Marianne! Run!" Claude suddenly yelled. Lysithea turned back to where the blue haired girl was a moment before only to see her climbing out the window of her room, tea set abandoned.
Lysithea turned her attention back to Claude only to see a wall of white flying in her direction. She quickly identified that Claude had fired his strange arrow at her, and so she released the Miasma she had prepared, blasting through the white wall without any hindrance. It was then she realized what it was that Claude had fired at her. It wasn't some kind of strange new arrow he had invented, but a tightly wrapped blanket that has unraveled when he fired, obscuring him from her vision while he ran away!
As the Miasma blasted through the blanket-arrow, Lysithea reached behind her to grab her weapon of choice against the dastard, smiling as her hand gripped the tea cup that Marianne only lightly sipped from, before sprinting through the door after Claude.
As she rounded the corner she saw Claude sprinting off in the direction of Hilda's room, and immediately gave chase, knowing that's where he would be heading thanks to her little interrogation.
Hilda was excited.
She was getting to help her former professor and one of her best friends get together. This was like a dream. She was absolutely going to go the extra mile with this.
"OK, so she loves lilies. Like, loves them. If you gave her a bouquet of lilies when you tell her it would be super rom-"
*CRASH*
Hilda jumped as she was suddenly cut off by her window pretty much exploding as she helped her professor plan out how to confess to Lysithea.
A moment after the window shattered, Claude lept through what remained of the window, and looked Hilda dead in the eye.
"Had to use Marianne." Was all he said.
Before Hilda could even get a word out in response she heard exactly what she feared.
"CLAUDE! I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE!" Came Lysithea's voice from outside her room.
Looking down, Hilda saw the culprit for her broken window. The shattered remains of one of Claude's tea cups.
"Claude what the hell did you do!?" Hilda yelled at him, getting visibly more annoyed with each passing second.
"She was coming over here! I had to keep her away from you while you dealt with Teach!" Claude yelled back in a panic.
"But Marianne? Seriously? She couldn't make a convincing lie to save her life!" Hilda asked, incredulous as to how he came to the conclusion to use her.
"What is going on here!?" Byleth butted in, having given up trying to makes sense of the situation himself.
Before either of the two could answer however, Hilda's door evaporated in a torrent of violet energy, with Lysithea running in the moment the blast cleared.
"CLAUDE, Whe-" Lysithea began before before seeing the 3 people in the room staring at her. She locked eyes first with Claude, then Hilda before finally locking eyes with Byleth. After staring for a moment she turned a shining scarlet before grabbing her cheeks and turning to run out of the room. Claude turned to look at Hilda
"Salvage this." Was all he said.
"Me?" Hilda asked Incredulously
"You're the one who started this mess, making this plan and then going and screwing it up like that! You go salvage this!" Hilda fired back at Claude.
"Do you really think she wants to see me right now? I need you to fix this. I'll owe you." Claude replied, knowing exactly how things would turn out if he tried to talk to her.
"Hmph. More than you already do." Hilda loudly whispered under her breath, but relented nonetheless, walking towards the direction Lysithea ran off to.
Byleth turned to look at Claude.
"What in Sothis's name was that?" He asked him, thoroughly confused by the chain of events that had transpired in such a short time.
Claude simply sighed in response.
Lysithea just ran. She kept running. She didn't look where, she didn't look back. She wasn't ready to face him, not yet.
"Lysithea wait!" She heard Hilda's voice call out for her. She didn't stop running.
"Hey!" She heard her call again, closer this time.
"Stop running!" She did the opposite.
"Oh for the love of-" Hilda suddenly cut off as Lysithea suddenly felt herself grabbed around the waist. She immediately began to struggle before Hilda started getting annoyed.
"Sit still for the love of Sothis or I'll start treating you like the child you're acting like!" Hilda yelled at her. This made Lysithea stop in place as she thought about what she was currently doing.
Being held in the air, struggling around in a vain effort to escape the far stronger girls grasp.
She looked like a child.
"Fine… Just put me down." Lysithea grumbled out in response.
"Will you run?" Hilda asked her cautiously.
"...No." Lysithea responded. Its not like she could get away after all.
Hilda then placed her back on the ground, as Lysithea turned around she checked if anyone else was with them, but they were alone.
"...What were you all doing?" She eventually asked Hilda.
"Truthfully, we were trying to help you sort this thing out. We didn't want it to remain as awkward and unfocused as it was between the two of you. I mean you refused to do anything withing 100 meters of him, and he couldn't focus on his work at all. Something had to be done."
He couldn't focus on his work? Was he that bothered by what happened? Or… Was he… Could that possibly mean he feels… Something too?
"Hilda, When you say he couldn't focus…" Lysithea trailed off, looking at her with a questioning gaze.
"Maybe you should ask him yourself!" Hilda answered cheekily with a wink.
"But I don't even know how I feel yet. And even if I did…" Lysithea trailed off, looking up to the sky.
"'Even if you did…' What? What were you going to say?" Hilda prodded her.
"It doesn't matter… Just know it wouldn't be fair to him even if we did end up together." Lysithea answered dejectedly.
"Lysithea? What are you talking about? This is clearly important as one who is currently invested in what is happening." Hilda asked, concerned about what Lysithea is hiding.
Lysithea sighed, before looking down again at Hilda.
"I have a very limited time to live. At most, 5 more years. That's why it would be unfair to him." Lysithea admitted to Hilda, with the pink haired girl gasping in response.
"Lysithea I… You need to talk to him yourself. About your expected lifespan, and the feelings you harbour." Hilda told the girl gently.
"But I don't know what I feel for sure yet, I cant go and talk to him when I haven't even sorted that out myself!" Lysithea argued with her. Hilda just smiled and placed her hand on Lysithea's shoulder.
"Then think about how you feel. And once you figure that out, go talk to him." Hilda advised, removing her hand after she finished speaking.
"I… I'll do that. Thank you Hilda." Lysithea answered with a smile on her face.
"Claude." Hilda said to the man as he cleaned up her room from all the damage that was caused during Lysithea's small rampage.
"Yeah Hilda?" he replied.
"I did everything." The girl answered with clear irritation in her voice.
"Sorry Hilda, guess i owe even more huh?" Claude grimaced as he said the words allowed.
"Mhm. Damn right you do." She confirmed for him.
Well that took a bit longer than the first one. I kinda rushed the majority of this late at night since i'm going to be busy... well what is technically today now at the time i'm writing this. So sorry if it feels worse than the first chapter (if that's possible) or if there are more spelling mistakes. i'm kinda just working this whole writing thing out as i go along.
I would ask why you people would waste your valuable time reviewing this, but that just sounds super rude, so instead i'll thank you.
See you in the future. If i finish this.