"Good morning, Joker," Byleth said as he barged into Joker's shared bedroom. "Breakfast is already being served. Our lesson will begin in an hour and will be held in the courtyard."

Joker groaned and stirred in his messy bed, his back strategically turned to the door so as to not give away that he had been wide awake for quite some time. He grumbled dramatically and put up the best face of someone who had been pulled out of their slumber that he could muster and then turned his torso around. He muttered, "I'll be up in a minute," and that was enough to make the intruder go away. As he saw the door close, Joker turned once again and mindlessly grasped at his bedsheet, his hand feeling strangely empty due to not having his phone to check. He had been living in that strange world for about three weeks, give or take, and yet he still missed the morning ritual of checking his phone. He had to learn how to get used to not immediately checking for messages.

He was surprised by how unfazed he was by his room being intruded like that. Perhaps he was also growing used to less privacy after having to share a room with Dark Pit, though he was no stranger to sharing rooms with a nagging creature. Perhaps the difference was that back in Shibuya, it felt like Morgana was sharing the room with him, while here he was the one who just crashed in.

He couldn't keep postponing his lesson any longer. More importantly, he needed to eat if he wished to at least preserve some semblance of good humor. He got up from the mattress that served as his makeshift bed and looked around the room. Dark Pit's bed was left a total mess, a product of his constant twisting and turning during his sleep, and he was certain that the reason why his roommate never did his bed once was because he was most comfortable when his sheets were arranged like a nest. The curtains were open, giving him a good view of the dark, gloomy morning sky. There was a sliver of light descending from a crack in the dense wall of clouds; a beautiful thing to see, all things considered. It was hard to tell if it was early morning or noon, but Joker would not dwell on that question and decided to change into a fresh set of clothes.

Fresh was a questionable word, because the old-fashioned options from his wardrobe made him look like an eighteenth century European aristocrat, though he was grateful that there was something there that was a perfect fit to him, or else, he would have been forced to wear the same outfit everyday. However, he would still always wear his mask; he refused to leave without his mask. Perhaps it was his slight tendency for the dramatic, but the idea of showing up with his face naked to the strangers he had been living with was a fate worse than actually showing up naked and the mere idea made Joker's entire skin crawl.

He did not want to think about that. After one final glance at the cracked vanity mirror, Joker left his room and made his way to the dinning hall, which was eerily empty when compared to the night before. Most of the castle's inhabitants had already left, with only Robin and Wario still at the table, finishing their breakfast. Joker raised an eyebrow as he noticed Wario trying to keep a conversation going with a seemingly uninterested Robin, who just kept nodding to whatever he was saying while she kept taking notes on her book and every once in a while taking a nibble from her piece of bread. He was sitting by her left side, oddly close to her when considering just how long that dining hall table could be. There was no reason why he couldn't take any other seat and judging by how Robin slightly inched away from the foul mouth that tried to whisper something to her, Joker's instincts instantly kicked in.

Wario was harassing her and Robin was feeling uncomfortable to get him to leave her alone, that much was apparent.

Without thinking twice, Joker grabbed a piece of bread from the trail at the center of the table and just so happened to sit by Robin's right side. As expected, Wario immediately stopped bothering Robin just to sneer at the sudden intruder, who returned that sneer with an equally intense glare, one that told him to not try anything funny. With a twirl of his crooked mustache, Wario told Robin that they would talk later and left the dining hall as quickly as his heavy, short stacked body and desire to not seem like he was running away would allow. Robin simply hummed in agreement and closed her book before Joker could even so much as glance at its contents. She waited for Wario to be out of sight and once there was nothing but silence, she smiled sweetly at Joker and said, "Good morning, Joker. You're up rather late."

"Good morning to you too, Robin," he said. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?"

Joker looked at the arch exit, almost as if expecting Wario to return, and said, "It looked like Wario was bothering you." He then asked again, "Are you okay? I thought you needed help."

To his surprise, Robin chuckled in response, making his ears grow red in increasing embarrassment. She put her notebook and pen away in the brown, beat-up bag that hung from her chair, with the care of someone who was protecting something valuable but fragile, and then turned to him with an amused smile on her face.

"Yes, Wario was bothering me, but probably not for the reasons you might be thinking," Robin said as she rested her chin on her hands. "Thank you for looking out for me, though. That's very sweet of you."

"Think nothing of it," he shook his head. "Where is Rob, by the way? I don't think I ever saw you two apart before."

"Rob had to leave the castle," she said as she took another bite of her bread. "He said he'll be back in two days."

There was a sting of envy in his heart, yet Joker decided that a smile and a nod was the only correct answer to that. As he ate his food in silence, Robin said, "You know, I'll go on a patrol in about an hour. I'd appreciate the company, if you're not doing anything later."

Joker never wanted to say "yes" to anything as much as he wanted at that very moment before. Instead, he said, "Sorry, Robin, I already have lessons in spirit training with Byleth," and then finished his meager breakfast, the last bite having an especially bitter taste to it.

"That's okay! I'll be fine on my own."

No, that was not the answer he wanted to hear from her! He needed Robin to save him from his predicament!

"I mean, if you need someone to keep you company, I can-"

"You're not going to cancel your lessons with Byleth," Robin firmly said. "Focus on your training, alright? We can catch up on another time."

Joker watched Robin grab her bag and get up from her seat, frustration creeping in as he realized that there was no getting out of a lesson he did not want to have. His fingers curled up into fists and his eyes were transfixed on the lustrous mahogany table, every muscle in his body tensing up as he tried to imagine what there was in store for him. He felt a gentle hand resting on his shoulder and looked up to see Robin giving him an encouraging smile.

"You'll be fine," she said. "In fact, I think you should take this as an opportunity to get to know Byleth better. You're both newcomers after all."

"That's the only thing we have in common."

"How can you be so sure of that if you don't even talk to him?" The smartass strategist asked. "Anyway, I'll see you around. Don't be late for class!"


Joker arrived at the courtyard exactly one hour later, his mind unsure if his body was shaking from the windy weather or from the sheer nervousness of not knowing what to expect. He saw Byleth standing next to the dried up fountain, staring at the spirit in his hands in what he would assume was contemplation, though those cold blue eyes seemed as dead as the first time their gazes crossed.

Rarely had he felt so much dread as he felt on that fateful day, but it was enough to make Joker want to stay as far away as possible from Byleth. That desire to avoid him was reinforced by the one time he actually saw Byleth fight a puppet fighter. Joker could still remember the deep pit at his stomach as he watched the man slice up the puppet fighter in pieces with the cold indifference of someone who was doing something as automatic as breathing. Byleth mentioned to the Smashers that he was a teacher in his homeworld and all Joker could think about was what kind of thing he taught. Or what kind of student would want to return after one lesson with him.

Joker was about to find out those answers now. The hesitant student approached him in slow, cautious steps, quiet enough that it took Byleth a few moments to hear him. The teacher turned to face him and moving as little facial muscle in his face as humanly possible, said: "Glad you could make it, Joker. I appreciate the trust you put in me."

Byleth's face showed no signs of happiness, but he would have to take his word for it. Joker said, as politely as he could, "Thank you for having me as a student." Byleth nodded in acknowledgement and gestured with hand for Joker to sit down by the ledge of the lavabo. Curious, Joker did as he was told at the same time that Byleth also sat down. Some spirits lazily floated around them, some of them dangerously close to touching him, causing some discomfort in Joker. Byleth reached out to the closest spirit with a twist of his hand, bringing it closer to his palm like a magnet, yet keeping it just on edge as the spirit would not merge into his skin, a skill that Joker had yet to learn.

He did not want to go through another accident of accidentally touching a spirit and unintentionally merging with it. Getting the spirit out of his body was such a painful thing to do when he accidentally lost his consciousness to it.

"Before we begin our training, there are some questions I need to ask of you," Byleth said as he graciously moved his fingers.

"S-sure, okay."

"Daisy has informed me that you have difficulties incorporating spirits, but she was not able to elaborate on where your difficulties lied," he explained. "So what part of the process of incorporation do you struggle with the most?"

"There's… there's a process?" Joker asked. "I just let the spirit get inside of me and hope for the best."

"I see," Byleth said, clinically. "Then let me rephrase my question. What does it feel like when you incorporate a spirit?"

"I get possessed."

"I know. What does it feel like?"

"It feels like I'm not myself," Joker said, bitterly. "I start to believe I'm someone else."

"And can you notice when you start to feel less like you, in retrospect?"

"It's… hard to tell, most of the time the transition is almost seamless," he explained. "But I've been making progress on holding off certain impulses."

Joker might have been hallucinating, because he could swear he saw the shadow of a smile in Byleth's face. "That's good, so you have made some progress," he said. "From the way Daisy spoke of you, I just assumed that you couldn't even get near a spirit without suffering a contagion."

It felt like a dagger as sharp as the knife he carried had stabbed his heart. Did Daisy really think so low of him? Joker stuttered, "I… n-no, no, I have made some progress. But I think it's not as fast as everyone expects of me."

"Well, let's try not to worry about the other Smashers' expectations, yes? Let's focus on you."

"Yes… let's."

Joker watched mesmerized as Byleth passed the multicolored spirit from one hand to another. Robin's words of him also being a newcomer echoed through his mind and suddenly the whole situation felt just a little unfair to him, a little bit frustrating. How come Byleth got the hang of spirit incorporation so well, while Joker struggled to even stop them from entering his body when they got too close? Perhaps there was something truly wrong with him. That thought itself made him feel shameful, inferior to those who insisted that they were equal. After all, if he was on par with everyone else, he would be seen as someone capable of taking care of himself if he were to ever leave the castle.

"Here."

He flinched as Byleth brought his mind back from his flirting with self loathing by showing him the spirit he had in his hand. Joker blinked a few times and his hesitation made Byleth ask, "Joker, did you pay attention to what I just said?"

"I… no, sorry."

"Please, pay attention," he said. "There is something that I want to test."

"And what would that be?"

"Every time you came into contact with a spirit, it was in the context of a battle, right?" Byleth asked. "I want to see how you bond with a spirit outside of a fight. Since we're testing the waters, I chose Draug for this test, since he is a novice type of spirit."

Joker nodded and looked deep into the spirit's multicolored flames. He could make out the image of a green haired man wearing heavy, blue metal armor, standing tall and serious like a security guard from within the flames. Byleth told him, "Just let the spirit inside and sit still," and then handed said spirit to him. Joker took it with both hands, curled up his fingers and closed his eyes as the flames began to melt into his gloved palm. Once he could not feel the warmth of the flames, he placed his hands on his knees and took a deep breath.

Images of Draug's memories began to take over. He could see armies clashing against each other. He heard the whispers and rumors regarding exceptional talent and strength. He watched a dear friend be betrayed and fight alongside his comrades to restore his home. He felt a deep devotion to a cause. Those were all intense memories and feelings that Joker could certainly feel as if they were his own, but could tell that they were Draug's. So far, so good. He simply had to keep that distinction up.

"Joker, is everything alright?" Byleth asked. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm… I think I'm still me," Joker said, his body perfectly rigid. "Still here."

"Good, now try standing up and walking around."

Joker let out a shaky breath and slowly stood up. The first thing he noticed was that his body felt a lot heavier than before, as if he had been wearing an invisible set of armor. He experimented by moving his arms and legs in slow circles and he could practically hear the sound of metal clinking in his mind. He marched around the fountain, slowly growing more confident in his posture until he became more comfortable in the armor he was wearing. Once he completed two cycles, he stopped in front of Byleth, arms crossed against his back and feet firmly planted to the ground. He waited for Byleth's evaluation on his performance, the professor's face remained as impassive as ever. He did not flinch as Byleth suddenly got up and looked deep into his eyes.

Byleth's gaze was emotionless. Piercing, even. But he refused to let it get to him, he was an impenetrable wall. He had stared death in the face many, many times, the teacher's gaze was nothing compared to what he had seen.

"Joker, are you still with me?" Byleth simply asked.

He blinked his eyes rapidly, confused over what the man had just called him. His name was not Joker, yet that caused an indescribable emotional reaction from him. That prompted the man to ask again, "Joker, are you still with me? Do you need help?"

The soldier shook his head, suddenly feeling like there was another force inside of him that was fighting for control. He stumbled backwards and turned his back to Byleth, his torso lurching forward as he grabbed his head and tried to shake off the tension from within that threatened to rip his heart in two. He barely noticed the firm palm that rested on his back.

Before he could do anything else, Byleth ripped the spirit away from his body. The pull was sudden, bordering on painful, and Joker sharply inhaled the chilly morning air, lungs desperate for anything that indicated that he was still alive. His teacher patiently waited for his student to calm down, giving him time to breathe in and out as much as he needed to recompose himself. The spirit was let go from his grip and floated away, disappearing from sight the moment it entered the castle, while the other spirits continued floating around, unfazed by what had just happened.

Once Joker felt like he had regained full control of his body and mind, he sheepishly said: "So it was that bad, uh."

"You appeared to be in agony, so I took the spirit away from you," Byleth explained.

"What was the purpose of this exercise?" Joker asked with a hoarse voice.

The teacher said, "I wanted to see if the possession happened only when you entered a battle," he then shook his head and added, "I am also impressed by how easy it was to remove the spirit from you. Considering how quick it was for it to overpower you, you'd think that exorcizing the spirit from your body would be more of a challenge."

"I guess so," Joker said. "Never noticed that."

"We should consider ourselves lucky that there's an easy way out if the spirit proves to be too much for you," he said. "Perhaps we should focus first on you learning your boundaries and how to keep focus on yourself before going straight to fighting with spirits."

Joker blinked in surprise, his head nodding in agreement before his mind could process what Byleth had just said. It was such a simple concept, to start from the basics, that nobody, not even Joker himself, thought of trying to teach him first. The student looked into the teacher's eyes once more and found himself still unnerved by his piercing gaze, which prompted him to look at his own feet to escape the sense of dread it caused him.

He would be alright, he just needed to avoid looking into Byleth's eyes. Maybe if he kept that strategy up he wouldn't be so unnerved by probably the only person in that entire castle that was willing to go deeper into what might be wrong with him.

"Alright, let's-"

Joker was interrupted by the very unpleasant, nasal voice of Wario in the distance, breaking whatever train of thought he had going. Both men turned their attention to the source of the voice and saw Wario and Daisy walking through the courtyard, both lost in their apparently heated conversation. They were too far away for Joker to understand what they were talking about, but their gestures and tone of voice were enough to tell that whatever they were discussing, it was quickly escalating into a fight.

He was surprised to see that Byleth was the one who took the initiative to investigate what was going on. Joker followed him closely behind, because it certainly did not go unnoticed by him that that was the second time that day where he saw Wario being unpleasant towards another woman, the absolute coward.

"...if we just killed him, we wouldn't be in this situation!" Wario exclaimed, earning himself a disapproving huff from the princess. "We-"

Joker had to take a step back. Kill who and what situation? Wario and Daisy turned their attention towards the newcomers and immediately ceased whatever argument they were having. Wario especially seemed annoyed by Joker's presence there and couldn't help but make a snide comment of: "Ya sure like to show up when you're not invited, don't ya?"

Byleth stepped in before Joker could open his mouth. He said, "We couldn't help but overhear the conversation."

"It's nothing you should worry about," Daisy quickly said. "We're already solving this issue-"

"Solving this issue?! Wah ha ha!" Wario laughed. "Princess, you're too funny! Do they even know what is going on?"

Wario looked at them in their very confused eyes and gave them a sardonic grin as he noticed that both newcomers were nothing short of confused. "You seriously don't know what's in the basement, do you?" He asked, which got him a shake of their heads. "I'll tell you, it's-"

"Wario!" Daisy shrieked, interrupting him. "Don't say it! Let me handle this!"

"Why keep it a secret?" He asked. "Come on, Daisy! They are not kids, they might even help us."

"I will talk to them about it," she said. "Just… don't. You're going to make things weird."

"Make things weird, she says! Weirdis overstating, princess."

"I know, but I also don't trust you to speak of this matter in a non-alarming manner. Let me handle things."

Wario listened to her while picking on his round, bloated pink nose, somehow making Joker feel even more grossed out by him. He eventually relented, telling her that she better speak honestly about what was going on before he was forced to intervene. Wario adjusted his yellow cap and jean jacket and shoved past the two newcomers, leaving them to speak with Daisy alone, who kept impatiently tapping her foot and looking everywhere but at them.

Once Wario was out of sight, she said, "I guess there's no way out of this, uh," and then sighed. "Alright, then. Joker, Byleth, there's something you both need to know…"