Chapter 3: The Second Battle of Garreg Mach
Summary: Petra and Max make their way to Garreg Mach and meet up with some old friends, while Petra discovers an old friend who may not be as dead as they thought. When the monastery swiftly comes under siege, can they protect each other before help arrives?
Dorothea made her way up the familiar path up to Garreg Mach alone, finding it muddy and rocky after the storm, but quite pleasant regardless. It was a beautiful, cool day that made her cling to her furs as her cane brought her closer to the peak where the monastery sat.
Birds swept down onto the wet surface for worms, the bind blew through her hair, and the world felt… correct, if only for a moment. As if it had all coalesced into meaning for today.
Then she thought of Byleth, wondering why she had to die. It had been a very long time since she had made her way this far. Since the day that Edelgard assaulted their old home. She thought back on that day, finding its taste bitter in her memory.
How had they failed to see her betrayal? How had she fallen so far?
She sighed to herself as she came to the top of the road, thinking quietly as her cane brought her further down the road. Garreg Mach wasn't far now, the village at its base less than a mile ahead.
Edelgard had betrayed every single one of them, had killed not only the professor, but Rhea as well. Dorothea wasn't a fanatical believer, but she knew Rhea well enough, the kind and soft woman who was a mother to millions. She hadn't deserved to be slain by her own prodigal daughter.
There were people in the villages, something that gave her some heart. These people didn't look like bandits, they looked like innocent people trying to eek out a living in a place that had turned itself completely inhospitable to them.
It was as she passed the town, however, that she began to feel strange. There was someone familiar here, someone's magical presence as if feeling someone's warmth when they stood close to you.
Dorothea stumbled, glanced about, and looked deep within herself.
It couldn't be.
She looked up towards the monastery, then moved towards the village. She felt her professor's presence, as if she were a ghost. That itself was a possibility she couldn't fully discount, but something felt strange.
She made her way through the village and down to the river, feeling it grow stronger. She bit her lip, reaching out through her understanding of magic to try and eek out just what was happening. Byleth was dead, but she was somehow here with her.
She stood by the waves of the river, feeling a pensive, angsty, pained presence. This was her, but how? What could she do? Dorothea looked back to the monastery, but realized she might miss her chance if she went back for help.
"Professor," She whispered out loud. "B-byleth. If you're… if you're here. If you're looking out over this village… come out. It's okay, I'm… I'm here."
She reached out into the nebulous ether of nothingness through her magic, and believed that she might see her teacher again.
—
Every morning, Byleth awoke to the same thing. She smelled the fresh-baked brioche that someone had in her room, stirring as she rolled over and rubbed her eyes.
"Good morning!" Dorothea's voice was warm as she approached the bed, giggling and ruffling Byleth's hair as she groaned and stretched into the bed.
"G'morning." Byleth mumbled at her, sinking into the pillows. The parisienne smelled too amazing, teasing her that if she could get up she could eat the beautiful food.
"I made you breakfast." She giggled and kissed Byleth's forehead. "Come on, before it gets cold."
Byleth smirked at her, stretching further into her bed. "I don't want to get up. I'm comfy just where I am, so maybe we should both have breakfast right here." She grasped at Dorothea's wrist and kissed her hand.
"Very funny." Dorothea teased lightly. "Except your dad's looking for you, I convinced him to let you eat first."
Byleth sighed, got up, dressed herself and sat at the small table to dig into the cakey bread. "Mm," She smiled at the woman opposite her. "Delicious. You always were a good cook."
"Oh please," She waved the professor off. "You flatter me, sweetie."
Somehow, Byleth knew every day when she awoke just how in-love she was with the songstress, knew that they had a happy life here at the academy. Something bothered the professor in the back of her head constantly, but she tried to focus on where she was.
"Did dad say what he wanted?" It felt strange to refer to Jeralt as dad, he was usually a pretty formal father, but the worry she always had about it eased here.
Dorothea hummed, smiling at her significant other. "Mmm, he did. We might have a surprise for you." Byleth glanced up at her. "Relax, it's a good surprise."
She finished her bread, and stood up with her lover. "Come." She indicated, the two strolling over to the monastery's walls, where Jeralt stood, looking out towards the river and the village below.
"Good morning, kiddo." He called to her, bringing her into a large hug. "You sleep well? Doro said that you were sleeping in again."
Byleth smiled warmly at him. "Yeah. You know, after years on the road, it's hard to resist the warm, soft beds here. I've never known blankets to be so fuzzy."
"Right." He smiled and chuckled good-naturedly. "Well you're lucky you're such a good teacher and get to sleep in sometimes. The students giving you any issues?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "The Golden Deer are a bunch of great kids, the graduation's soon. Dimitri's well in the Blue Lion's class, although Edelgard…" Again that feeling at the back of her head, she felt a little dizzy, like she had a headache. What about Edelgard?
Jeralt shrugged the comment off. "Relax." He smiled. "We have good news, kiddo." He smiled a warm, fatherly smile, and Byleth looked anxiously between the two standing there.
Dorothea reached out to hold Byleth's hand, smiling at her. "My beloved…" She whispered. "I… we're going to have a child together."
Byleth blinked at her, Dorothea moving a hand down to her stomach with a smile. "I…" She couldn't find words.
"It's okay, kiddo." Her father put a hand on her shoulder. "Doro and I talked about it, I think you're really ready to move on to the next part of your life. You've got a good job, a good heart, and I approve of you and Doro." He smiled warmly. "You've earned yourself a family."
She glanced over at Dorothea, who was still holding her hand, blinking and unable to breathe. She should be absolutely joyous, but… she felt lost, in a haze, as if something was wrong.
This was a beautiful moment, and yet…
"B-byleth." It was a far-off voice, it sounded like Dorothea, but… far more primal, visceral. "I-if you're here…"
The words began to fade away like static in the ether, and Byleth took a step back, bringing a frown to the Dorothea standing in front of her. "Byleth?"
"I…" Byleth shook her head. "I'm sorry, Doro, this is just all… very sudden. I need to… to sit down, to think."
Dorothea giggled. "You're in shock, how cute. Well go on, go find a place to sit, but don't go getting cold feet."
Byleth grasped for a chair, pulling it up. Something was wrong, her head was spinning. What had happened with Edelgard?
"I need you to come home." The primal voice came again, and her stomach churned.
"Kiddo?" Jeralt sounded concerned.
"We need you." It came again.
Byleth looked up at Jeralt. "Dad? What happened to Edelgard?"
He had no answer, stumbling over his words. "She…"
"If you're out there…"
"She's fine." He obviously lied. "She's getting ready with Hubert for graduation. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see much of her for a while."
"I need you to wake up."
She glanced down. "Dad, I… I think I have someplace else to be. I… I have to go find someone."
Dorothea put her hands on Byleth's. "Hey, I know this is all very sudden, but you have a wonderful life here, my beloved. Nothing will change except we will have a beautiful, loving family."
"We need you to come and save us, Byleth." The real Dorothea said from far-off.
Byleth stood and jerked her hand away, realizing what was happening as memories came flooding back. "I… I have to go."
Dorothea looked horrified. "Y-you're just going to run out on me and the baby?! Byleth, I thought you were better than that!"
"Kiddo!" Jeralt called to her. "I raised you better than that!" He sighed. "Come sit down, you look sick."
"I'm sorry." She was near tears as she realized what she had to do. "Father, I… I failed you. But people out there need me, and even the happiest dream must end."
The two people before her began to look wrong, twisting and smiling as they turned blackened and evil.
"So," Thales said through the broken, rasping puppet of her father. "You figured it out. I thought, perhaps, that a happy little dream might keep your pretty little head happy forever, unlike the darkness that Solon promised."
"Professor…" The voice came again.
"Enough." Byleth declared, drawing the Sword of the Creator.
"You will throw away every ounce of happiness you'll ever find if you do this." Thales threatened through the void. "You will almost certainly die the moment you step back into the real world. Your wounds have not healed. Why go back for agony and misery just for the mere chance to suffer more?"
"Because my students need me." She declared, and cut through the dream.
—
Dorothea was taken aback when reality cut itself open in front of her, a sword cutting through empty space and peeling back as a half-dead professor stepped through before collapsing.
"Professor!" She cried, rushing forward to pull the woman out of the river. Every injury she had seen on the professor five years ago was still present on her, and more still. The axe wound across her back from Edelgard, the scythe cut across her stomach…
"Professor." She murmured. "Oh goddess." She desperately attempted to heal the professor as much as she could, pulling the freezing woman out of the river and using whatever magic she had in her body.
"Doro…" Byleth rasped, putting a hand up to grasp at the woman. "It… I…"
"Don't speak." Dorothea instructed. She needed something more, someone with healing experience, medical supplies, anything.
"Need…" She coughed horribly. "Need Flayn or… Manuella, or… or…"
Manuella. Shit, her office was full to the brim with medical supplies, but it so far… it couldn't be worse than standing here ankle-deep in a river.
She threw Byleth over her shoulder, and ran for the Academy.
—
Petra brought Max into the halls of Garreg Mach, where fire and warmth came from the hearths, people moved through it's halls for the first time in years. The walls had collapsed in places, hefty drafts pushing through, but it was warm enough.
"Here," She murmured to the boy as they moved for the kitchens, finding Bernadetta and Ferdinand already gathered around the stoves. "We can be heating up food and drink for us to be having while we wait on Doro."
Bernadetta turned around and stepped back a moment when she saw Max next to the Brigid woman. "Oh!" She lifted a hand to her mouth. "Petra, did you have a child?"
Ferdinand turned around and chuckled. "I knew you had it in you!" He laughed.
Petra shook her head, looking a little annoyed. "Maxwell is not of my being. He is a local who me and Dorothea are of trying to aid. He is helped us to find supplies enough to be making the trip to the academy."
Bernadetta grabbed something from the cooling pan by the stove, then knelt down beside the boy and held it out. "Here." She smiled at him. "I make these all the time with my mother, you'll like these."
He shyly came up and accepted it. "W-what is it?"
"It's a big toast slice that I made with some garlic, onion, seeds and butter." She smiled. "My mom will sometimes sandwich them between some ham and cheese."
He looked down at it, then up to Petra as if looking for approval, who smiled and nodded at him.
"Where did you find such a fine young man?" Ferdinand asked her.
"Dorothea was the one doing the finding," She went over to the pan and grabbed her own buttered bread with garlic. "She found him in a ruined village up the road, he helped us with finding some supplies in return for food."
Ferdinand smiled at the boy. "Well, it sounds like you did a fine job, kiddo. You look like a strong young man." Max looked sheepish at the compliment, looking down as he finished wolfing down his toast. Ferdinand then looked back up at Petra. "You were traveling with Dorothea? Is she here?"
Petra shook her head. "We were having limited space on our mount and Dorothea wanted to get him out of the storm, so she was sending us ahead. The road seemed cleared, and the weather was not terrible. Still, I worry for her."
"Dorothea is a tough one." Ferdinand's voice was kind. "Still, if you want me to go patrol the road for the fair maiden, you need only ask."
"I will keep that in mind." She told him. "Are you certain it's safe here?"
He shook his head. "We don't really have the manpower to sweep the monastery grounds, and if we tried we might get ambushed. The villagers we spoke to cautioned us about letting our guard down in here."
"Oh goddess." Bernie's voice trembled slightly. "I hate hearing that."
Petra looked around. "You don't have the power of men? Has Claude already arrived?"
The two shook their heads. "I don't think so." Bernie told her. "He was supposed to arrive a few days ago, but he's not here." She paused. "Oh, I really hope he isn't stuck or hurt or, or-"
"He's fine, Bernie." Ferdinand smiled at her. "He's a strong man, and has half of the Golden Deer traveling with him. That's probably why they're late too, he's got a big party that has to go through the muddy roads. We'll wait for him and then clear the place out."
Petra nodded understandingly at him, chewing on her toast thoughtfully. "That is good, then. Dorothea will be along soon, and we will discuss a place for Maxwell. She is hopeful that
Claude will have an ability to aid him, perhaps finding some placement for him to go to the Alliance."
They nodded. "I'm certain he can." Ferdinand told her. "I will keep an eye out for when he gets here, as well as keep the three beautiful women and one strong young man safe." He grinned. "That is, after all, the noblest duty of all."
Max had finished his garlic and was looking at the pan where the rest were cooling. "You can have more." Bernie knelt by him. "My mom would bake me cookies in these kinds of ovens and put in big chunks of caramel that wound up being super-duper gooey and yummy."
He looked up at her curiously, his eyes big. "Can you make me cookies like that?"
Bernie suddenly looked uncertain of herself, looked as if she wanted to run away to her room once again as she was put on the spot and forced to be the center of attention, but she swallowed hard and visibly gathered herself.
"I can look to see if there's the things to make it." She said uncertainly, rubbing her neck. "If not, maybe I can make you some more of this toast or something."
Petra smiled. "I will leave the three of you to it." She bowed her head. "I shall go looking for Dorothea."
She returned to the main hall, looking out the front gates only to witness two figures stumbling closer, one with a cane whose figure had been cast over the other's in support. Petra went sprinting out towards them, her heart shocked by what she saw.
Dorothea carried with her the shambling figure of Byleth, who bled from head to to toe.
Petra rushed to them, grabbing Byleth's other side and helping to carry her inside. This was complete madness, she knew, the woman was dead and gone, no body left behind. But here she was, coughing and trying to breathe, and Petra's mind turned from the rational to the practical, thinking only of how to get her to safety.
"Petra!" Dorothea called for her as she grabbed Byleth. "She's alive, but I don't think she'll last without attention. We need to get her to Manuela's infirmary."
"I have her!" She nodded at the songstress. "There's others here, in the kitchen."
"I don't know that we have time." Dorothea's voice was desperate, sounding near-tears. "I'm barely keeping her on with what magic I had, I… I don't know if I had enough."
"Keep up your power, my friend." She tried to sound reassuring as she hoisted Byleth entirely over her shoulders like a soldier. "She's gonna make it!"
The two moved as quickly as they could down the grand hall, moving fast towards where the stairs were up towards Manuela's office, but it was just before the staircase where they were spotted by unfamiliar faces.
"Hey!" A man in heavy red steel armor shouted at Dorothea from his spot on the bridge. "Stop!"
"Keep going!" She shouted at Petra, who immediately started scaling the stairs. Dorothea turned to face the man, wondering to herself for a moment why there were Imperial soldiers here as she saw he had drawn his long bow and was shouting at them. She summoned as much fiery magic as she could and thrust it at him, exploding in a fireball. She didn't stay to see if he survived.
Upstairs, Petra had thrown Byleth onto the small infirmary table in Manuela's old office, looking over Byleth. She was covered in injuries that at once looked ancient and bled profusely. How did she even still have blood?
Dorothea came in moments later, looking the woman over. "I don't know what's going on." She admitted to Petra. "But I need to take care of her, she's alive."
Byleth looked up at her, her eyes groggy and her lips murmuring swears. "Doro… Petra…"
"How is this happening?" Petra asked in disbelief.
"Forget it." Dorothea shook her head. "That was an Imperial soldier. I don't know if Edelgard knows we're here or not, but we can't let them tie up loose ends. Petra, I need you to watch the stairwell while I take care of this."
She nodded and rushed off to the stairwell, her shortest blade in hand. There was men coming up from below, and she pushed herself against the frame of the door, readying herself for death.
When the man came through the door, she reached out and stabbed him through the throat, immediately tossing aside and clashing blades with the next man down, striking away his blade and stabbing through him too, kicking his corpse out down the stairwell.
There were two more, and they were better prepared men. The next man down wedged his shield in-between him and Petra, forcing her to back up whenever he pushed against her or stabbed over his shield with his spear.
She swore, ducked out of the way of the polearm, and reached up to cut its point off. The man discarded the spear, and smashed his shield into her jaw, sending her reeling back.
Now the two heavily armored men were in the room with her and Petra only had moments to evaluate the situation before choosing to concentrate on the man without a weapon.
Ducking past his shield, she side-stepped and smashed her shortblade into his side, then used it as leverage to position herself behind him before the next armored man could bring his heavy axe down to bear onto her.
As the one she had just felled collapsed, she was faced in a one-on-one fight with a man who was far more armed and armored than her. Her blade slashed ineffectively at his shield, and she barely ducked out of the way of his axe. He was a big man, but faster than she had expected.
Rapidly she was backed into a corner and needed to do something fast. Swearing in Brigid, she waited for his axe to fall on her once again and swiftly caught it in her shortblade to use as leverage to rip it from his hands. Caught off-guard, the man took an involuntary step back so she could step past him like the last one before slipping her blade into his throat.
Exhausted and bloody, she stumbled back over to the infirmary. Byleth had to be fine. She had to be.
—-
"Now we just have to put the cookies in for ten, twenty minutes." Bernie said to Max, somehow finding a kind of maternal joy as she showed the boy how to put together the now-prepared dough into the oven. "We just want it to smell super yummy and delicious."
"It already smells super yummy, though." Max protested. "Can't we just eat the dough?"
"We could," Ferdinand said as he watched. "But the caramel has to melt and become all soft and gooey. It won't be the same without the cooking.
Bernadetta smiled at the boy. "Why don't we still eat the dough," She giggled, indulging in a bit of her own childhood dreams. "Let's just leave enough for the pan."
The boy cheered and grabbed a spoon to eat some of the dough that they had formed, and the two adults laughed.
"Young man," Ferdinand addressed Max. "If you don't mind being in charge of this mighty meal, I want to put you on watch for the cookies." He turned to Bernie. "Let's go check the gates, I want to make sure Dorothea arrived, or if Petra's still there."
Bernadetta nodded at him, then turned to Max. "Take them out when they smell delicious, but don't eat them before they cool." She reminded him, and the pair left for the gates.
"He's a cute kid." Ferdinand said to her as they slipped through the gardens for a quicker trip to the gates. Bernie giggled but didn't respond, leaving him to continue. "You look surprisingly comfortable interacting with him."
Bernie nodded at him. "I feel… more confident in myself, even if that's scary. I can't spend all my life in my room, and I have to accept that I have to go out to defend myself and my friends." She thought a moment. "It helps that father never came home after Edelgard took over."
The two arrived before the gates, finding no Petra but Caspar instead, kneeling and investigating something. Before they could ask, Bernie shrieked as she saw that what he was looking at was a substantial amount of blood.
"Caspar!" She cried. "Goddess, are you okay?!"
He looked at them and stood. "Of course I am, but whose blood is this? It was here when I got here."
The pair coming from the gardens moved over to investigate the blood. "Goddess," Ferdinand shook his head. "Someone got messed up. This wasn't here a minute ago, it must be Petra."
"Or Dorothea!" Bernadetta interjected.
Ferdinand began to say some heroic noble thing, but paused when he saw that they had a dozen or so visitors at the gates. For a moment, he thought it was Claude, but he quickly realized that their colors ran red.
"Look!" He shouted and reached for his spear as he ducked for cover. Bernie reached for her bow, and the already heavily armored Caspar charged on, axe and shield in hand.
Ferdinand swore and leapt down to the old marketplace near the gates, ducking between stalls and stores and away from projectiles flying through the air. Bernie was firing down from above, cutting through the enemy's archers, and Caspar had tackled one of the men before smashing him with an axe.
A man with a sword approached from behind Caspar, but never saw Ferdinand before his spear cut through him. While being covered by Bernie, the two former Black Eagles moved between stalls to flank the enemy, moving like lightning.
When a break in the battle came, Ferdinand turned to Bernadetta and shouted. "Bernie! There might be some in the monastery! Go get Max, protect him!" She nodded and retreated from the battlefield.
The pair turned towards the gates and saw more Imperial soldiers coming their way, then they fled into the shops to try and split up the reinforcements.
"Just like old times, right?" Caspar chuckled under his breath as they ran. Moments later, the soldiers were in the shops, forcing the pair to cut through them, Ferdinand's spear striking like lightning through a sea of men.
Ferdinand ducked past one man and smashed his spear through the man's chest, then smashed his shield into the next man behind him, and ducked behind said shield when a third man swung a sword at him.
Caspar's axe hewed down and cut a man through, then smashed his iron fist into the man attacking Ferdinand, allowing him to counterattack against the third with his spear, buying them a moment as they looked out at the men at the gates, who readied themselves to face off against these two warriors.
What he wasn't ready for was when an arrow struck one of the soldiers through the back of the neck. The Imperial men all paused in shock, finding themselves caught in an ambush by the rest of Garreg Mach's former students, with a smiling von Riegan at their head.
—
Bernie fled towards the kitchens, finding Max pulling out the cookies from the oven. He turned and smiled when he saw Bernadetta, but his smile faded when he saw her worried expression.
"Come here." She murmured, picking him up. "We need to go."
"What's going on?" Max asked, his voice fearful. "Where are we going?"
"We need to go find the others." She told him. "Or just get out of danger. Come on." She carried him back to the Great Hall, turning and being forced to decide whether to retreat further into the academy to find Petra, or return to aid the other men.
Her decision was quickly made for her. As she turned back down further into the academy, she saw Petra, Dorothea and…
Impossible.
With them stood the professor, bound up in bandages, wielding the holy blade she always kept at her side.
"What?" She whispered.
Dorothea hurried over to the pair. "Keep a close eye on him." She instructed. "We'll handle the men at the gates."
She stared in disbelief. "I… what?"
Byleth turned to face her, and gave a tiny smile. "We'll handle this." She said kindly, and the three women headed off to the battle.
An uncertain Bernadetta returned the boy to the kitchen, sitting down with him. Max was sobbing by now, all she could do was wipe his tears with her neckerchief.
"It's okay." She whispered. "Did you see that woman with green hair?" He nodded. "She's a hero, like the old Elite Ten. Do you know those stories?" He nodded again. "They have nothing on her. She's gonna protect us all."
She didn't know if she believed it, if she believed what she had seen was real. Bernadetta grabbed a cooling cookie from the pan, and held it out for him.
"We're gonna be okay."
—
The battle was over swiftly. The Imperial reinforcements barely lasted in a battle against the Goddess' chosen, Claude's ambush, and dozens of some of the sharpest military minds who had ever lived.
In the end, Byleth stood before Claude, who gave a warm, shining smile.
"There we go." Claude flashed that smile at her. "Never gave up on ya, teach."
Byleth set her sword back in her sheath, appraised her bandages for a moment, then looked up and sighed in pain, exhaustion, and a general world-weariness.
"It's good to be here."
Notes:
Author's Commentary here:
post/708849050195230720/authors-commentary-chapter-3-the-second-battle