Let's continue with the reunion in the Goddess Tower, shall we?

Chapter 2 – A Clash at Daybreak (Ethereal Moon)

"Professor…? Is it… is it really you?"

Dorothea slowly walked toward Byleth, who continued to smile at seeing the diva again. Even through the diva's tears, Byleth could see the same girl who had laughed, smiled, and learned with her years ago. And though five years had passed, time did not diminish the girl's beauty. If anything, it only made her more enchanting than ever.

"It's me, Dorothea," said Byleth. "I'm here."

Dorothea's voice caught in her throat as she took another slow step toward her teacher, and then gingerly reached out a hand to touch the woman's face. Byleth reached up and took the girl's hand in her own, and as she felt Dorothea's touch, the diva's eyes widened as she realized she wasn't dreaming.

"It… It's you… It's really you…!" Dorothea said in disbelief.

Then, as though a dam had burst, Dorothea cried as she abruptly embraced Byleth, who let out a gasp of surprise at such a gesture. Dorothea sniffled loudly as she hugged Byleth, who warmly smiled as she hugged her back.

"Professor…! Professor Byleth, you're alive! I thought I'd never see you again!" Dorothea sobbed.

Byleth couldn't find anything to say, so she continued to hug the diva in an attempt to comfort the hysterical brunette.

Then, Dorothea unexpectedly released her grip on Byleth and backed up as she said, "Where have you been?! What are you doing here?! What have you been doing all this time?!"

"I… I was… I think I was… sleeping…?"

"What?" Dorothea asked flatly, not expecting such a response. Then, after a moment, she said, "Is that some kind of joke? It's not funny." Another moment passed and, as she looked into Byleth's expression and saw the teacher wasn't joking, she said, "Wait, you're serious? You were ASLEEP this whole time?!"

"Dorothea, I–"

"Do you know what's been happening over the past five years?! Do you know how much death and destruction there's been ever since you disappeared?! Do you know what I've had to go through all this time?! I've been struggling to survive every single day since we last saw each other, praying every night that someone won't slit my throat! And you're telling me that you've been SLEEPING FOR FIVE WHOLE YEARS?!"

"Dorothea!"

The brunette realized she had been shouting and, after a second, tried to calm herself down.

Seeing the singer was now willing to listen, Byleth said, "Dorothea, I… I don't know what else to tell you. I should… I should be dead."

"W-What? What are you saying?" Dorothea asked in confusion, worried for a moment that she might have gone too far.

"Ever since I got sent over the cliff, I… it's as if I was trapped in an endless dream, one I couldn't wake up from. I know that's not what you want to hear, but I… Dorothea, I… I just don't know what to say."

At first, Dorothea was almost angry to hear such a thing. But then she saw Byleth's eyes filled with overwhelming guilt.

In a tone of shame, Byleth said, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry. I should have come back sooner."

Dorothea paused for a moment, but then took a deep breath and said, "Then why are you here? Why now?"

Byleth hesitated to answer, taking a moment to recompose herself.

"Because I promised you, Dorothea, that'd I'd be here today."

Dorothea gazed at Byleth, touched by such an answer.

"You came back… for me?"

"For the promise we all made five years ago on this day. That we would all come back to the monastery for our reunion. You're the one who made that promise, remember?"

"Professor…"

Byleth looked at Dorothea in worry, afraid the girl was going to snap at her again. But when Dorothea began to smile, Byleth's worries melted away.

"Professor, I… I'm sorry. I–"

As Dorothea was about to continue her apology, Byleth heard footsteps coming up the stairs of the Goddess Tower. Her first thought was the possibility that it might be one of the others coming for the reunion.

But then she remembered what the villager had told her about thieves being in the area. And the footsteps approaching them were far more numerous than she liked.

Surprised at the teacher's sudden alertness, Dorothea asked, "Professor?"

"Someone's coming."

This filled the diva with worry, and a second later she too could hear the approaching footsteps.

Seconds later, the two backed away as a group of twenty armed rogues flooded out of the stairwell and moved to surround them. Byleth immediately drew the Sword of the Creator, but Dorothea hesitated to draw her own blade.

Then, just as the rogues finished surrounding them, a familiar face came striding out of the stairwell, one that made Byleth glare in anger.

"Well, well, well, look at what we've got here," said Pallardó. "Our first catch of the day, and it's a two-for-one deal."

Pallardó's words brought a sensation of dread to Dorothea's heart. She could only imagine what he meant by 'first catch'.

Pallardó then looked at Byleth and, recognizing her, he said, "Hey, I remember you. You're one of Anna's friends, right? You were with her when she sent me over that cliff! … Weren't you a blue? Ah, must be my imagination."

"Pallardó… What are you doing here?" said Byleth as she raised her blade to him.

"Ooh, this one's all feisty," said one of the rogues.

"And she's got a great set of tits on her, too!" said another one.

"Both of 'em, you mean!" said a third one with a snicker.

"Well, since you asked so 'nicely'," said Pallardó, "the Empire's contracted me and my boys to catch anybody who comes to the monastery on this day. They'll pay handsomely for the both of you."

"Edie sent you?" Dorothea said demandingly. Then, seeing the expression Pallardó made to such a question, Dorothea said, "No, of course she didn't. This has Hubert written all over it."

"Ooh, nice guess, sweetheart. But it hardly matters if it's Lord Vestra or Her Majesty or whoever, as long as we get paid."

"Hey, boss, do we need to hand them over to the Imperials right away?" asked one of the rogues. "We could have some fun with them first."

Another rogue licked his lips lecherously and said, "I call dibs on the green one's mouth!"

"All in good time, people," said Pallardó. "First, we gotta lock these two up, and then we catch any more of their friends. Now then, if you two would just come without a fuss, seeing as you're outnumbered ten-to-one…"

Byleth glanced around at the rogues as they hooted, whistled, and snickered at her and Dorothea. She hadn't fully recovered since her reawakening, so she wasn't sure she could still fight in top form. Also, she had Dorothea to worry about. She had to protect her.

"Hehehehe, come here, girlie!" one rogue said to Dorothea as he advanced toward her. "I'm gonna pluck this rose's petals one by one! Hehe– GRRCK!"

Surprised, Byleth turned to see that Dorothea had drawn Joyeuse and skewered the man through his heart in one swift movement. She had moved so quickly that the rogues hadn't had time to react before their comrade had been stabbed. The rogue let out a groan of shock as he toppled back and fell to the floor, dead.

Assuming a graceful fighting stance, Dorothea said fiercely, "You'll only find thorns left on this rose!"

A second later, Pallardó regained his wits and shouted, "GET THEM!"

The rogues drew their weapons and surged toward the two women. Dorothea responded by raising a hand and casting a ball of light upward. Byleth immediately recognized the spell and braced herself as the ball exploded in a flash of light that blinded and deafened the rogues with a loud bang. The thieves stumbled back in surprise, and by the time one of them was starting to see again, he saw his last as Byleth beheaded him. As she did, she heard another rogue release a sickening gurgle as Dorothea slit his throat with the tip of Joyeuse's blade. The diva then spun around and thrust her hand at another rogue, releasing a Thunder spell and frying the unfortunate cutpurse. As Dorothea did this, Byleth kicked another rogue, sending him stumbling off the side of the Goddess Tower and screaming as he fell to his death.

By this point, the rogues had recovered and, upon seeing that the two women had already killed five of their number, roared in rage as they charged. One of them swung his blade rapidly at Dorothea, who skillfully parried three blows before whirling around and delivering three quick thrusts into the man's chest, piercing his lungs and then his trachea. The diva's latest kill toppled to the ground as Byleth extended the Sword of the Creator into its whip form, shouting as she slashed it at two rogues and bisected them through their waists. Byleth then retracted her sword and leaned hard back, dodging under another rogue's thrust at her head. She swung her left leg up as she jumped, bashing him in the chin with her knee and breaking his jawbone. The rogue stumbled back as Byleth landed, letting her run him through with her blade.

But as Byleth pulled her sword out of the man's chest, another one tackled her, sending her and the rogue to the ground. Byleth cursed as she struggled to throw the man off her, while the man laughed as he tried to pin her down.

As Byleth thought to use the Divine Pulse, the rogue said, "I'm gonna gut you like a– GHHCK!"

The rogue's struggles, and his sentence, ended as Dorothea skewered him through the side of his brain with Joyeuse.

"You BITCH!" shouted another rogue as he ran at Dorothea, planning to bury his axe in her back.

Byleth immediately thrust her hand out, sending a fireball out that streaked past Dorothea's waist to engulf the axe-bearing rogue in flames. He dropped his weapon and screamed as he ran over the side of the tower and plummeted to his doom. Dorothea was quick to grab Byleth's outstretched hand and pulled her to her feet, allowing Byleth to intercept another rogue's sword and then slash open his stomach.

Pallardó was in shock as he saw that twelve of his men were dead in less than a minute. Then, as another rogue screamed his last as Dorothea blasted him off the side of the tower with a Force-empowered slash of Joyeuse, Pallardó shouted, "Fall back! Everyone, fall back!"

The remaining rogues, realizing how outmatched they were, scrambled down the stairs of the Goddess Tower in terror.

Just before he moved to follow them, Pallardó said angrily, "This isn't over, you two! I've got over a hundred more guys back in town! We'll be back, and then you two are gonna pay, big time!"

With that, Pallardó darted down the stairs after his lackeys.

Byleth stood for a moment as she heard Dorothea panting for breath. She then spun around, sheathing her blade as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright," replied Dorothea.

"You've really improved."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I've kinda had to over the years. Glad to see you haven't lost your touch, either."

The exchange between the two left Byleth with a goofy smile, and left Dorothea almost blushing bashfully.

But as Dorothea was about to comment on it, the two heard a man shout, "Hey, boss! We've got one!"

Concerned, the two of them walked to the edge of the Goddess Tower and watched as Pallardó stopped running in front of a rogue, this one a new arrival.

"We caught a real cute one around the northwest side of town!" said the rogue. "She's a bit on the short side, but–"

"Nevermind what she looks like," said Pallardó. He pointed up at the tower as he said, "We've got a couple of troublemakers up there. Get the rest of the men ready!"

The rogues moved too far away for the two women to continue hearing them clearly as they continued back toward the town.

"Oh no…" Dorothea said in horror. "This is all my fault. I made that stupid promise, and now our friends… Professor, what are we gonna do?"

"Don't worry," Byleth said assuredly. "We won't let anything happen to them."

"But what can we do? You heard him, he has over a hundred men and it's just us two!"

Byleth knew what was going through Dorothea's head. Even at the top of her game, she wouldn't have been able to take a hundred men by herself. And even with Dorothea's massive improvement in skill, it would be too much to expect her to be able to take on so many.

With a smile, Byleth said, "It won't be just the two of us. The others are coming."

After a brief pause, Dorothea said pessimistically, "You don't know that."

"I do. I can feel it. They're on their way. And we need to be there when they arrive."

Dorothea hesitated to believe such a thing. But the look in Byleth's eyes showed her faith. The brunette took a deep breath, knowing she would have to believe her.

"Okay… okay, let's say they are coming. What if Pallardó gets to them first?"

"Then I think he'll get a lot more than he bargained for."

Awfully fast of me to heat things up this quickly, isn't it? Well, we're just getting started.

Also, yeah, more lust-driven bad guys. What can I say? Byleth is HOT. So is Dorothea. Why would horny bandits not be attracted to them?