Hubert had initially wanted to kill Byleth for forcing the class to go fishing that morning, but after a while he realised it wasn't a bad thing.'

Because once Seteth finds out about this ridiculous idea of Byleth's… he'll make him resign.

And although he pitied Bernadetta's pathetic situation in the pond, he knew it only increased the odds that Byleth would be removed.

And then we don't have to put up with that clown in the mock battle.

That's when he looked up and saw the man swim back towards Bernadetta. A small smile grew on his face.

That fool's about to scare the girl even more.

Byleth moved to the side of the ladder. Petra, who was on the opposite end, looked at him helplessly.

'Bernadetta,' he said.

Bernadetta let out a strangled yelp and mashed her eyes closed. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

'She is panicked,' Petra said.

Byleth nodded. He thought of Lilia and then put a hand on Bernadetta's shoulder. She winced, but didn't try to move his hand away, perhaps because she didn't dare (or couldn't) let go of the rails.

'Inhale when I count from one to five, and then exhale when I count back down.'

Bernadetta eyes opened for a split second and that was all he needed to see to know that she was listening. He took a deep breath in, and then repeated a phrase he'd uttered himself countless times before.

'One, two, three, four, five... Back two, three, four, five, six...'

'Professor?' Dudley asked. Byleth counted from one to five again, but Bernadetta's strangled breaths didn't match his count at all. He tried again and had the same result, but he kept going.

I always struggle at first as well.

Petra joined in on his fourth count and as they went back from five, he heard (and felt) Bernadetta attempt to exhale. On the next count the girl gasped in air, trying to inhale with the count. Her breath in only lasted three seconds, but in that moment, it felt like a miracle she'd gotten that far.

'Drop your shoulders. It will help you to breathe easier.'

Gently, he pushed down on her shoulder blade with his hand. He felt a lot of resistance, but as he and Petra continued to count, it slowly dropped.

'One, two, three'- Dorothea joined in the counting, followed shortly after by both Ferdinand and Dudley. They counted together and as they did, Bernadetta's trembling softened, and her breaths became longer and deeper.

'You're doing amazing, Bern!' Dorothea said.

'Keep going, Bernadetta!' Petra said.

They counted again, and this time Bernadetta managed to match her breathing perfectly to the numbers. They repeated the count another four times and with each one, Bernadetta's breath became more relaxed. By the time they performed their final count, she'd stopped trembling altogether. It was the first time Byleth had ever seen her not shake from anxiety. In that moment, she was calm (or as close to calm as she'd get) and he knew it would be his only chance to truly speak to her before the mock battle.

'You can overcome your fears,' he said.

Every time he'd spoken to her over the past week, she'd sputter words in panicked, jerked breaths in response. Now, she only shook her head slowly and spoke, not sounding afraid but exhausted. 'I'm going to die.'

'No you won't. I'm not ill, you can't catch anything from me. Seteth wouldn't allow me to be near any of you if that were the case, and all your classmates are fine.'

The girl sighed. 'I'm stupid and hopeless… I… I get s-scared so easily over nothing.'

'We all get scared.'

'But me especially… I'm so useless and'-

'You're not.'

'Edelgard's mad with me… I'll… she'll punish me.'

'I would never do that,' Edelgard said. 'I'm not angry with you. I want to help you.'

'I… I'm too scared to fight in the mock battle… I… I don't want to be here i-in the Officers Academy and I'm scared I'll die.'

'I won't let that happen.'

'Neither will I, Bern,' Dorothea said. 'We will look after each other!'

'Quite right!' Ferdinand said.

'You have an amazing professor leading you,' Dudley said, 'he will protect you.'

Bernadetta took a long breath in and sighed. 'I'm not even good enough to f-fight.'

'You are, your skills with the bow are incredible,' Byleth said. 'I saw that yesterday.'

She fell silent for a long moment, forcing to take deep breaths in. 'I don't w-want to be here,' she repeated. 'I don't want t-to fight a-and I'm scared. I… I can't do it.'

'You can,' Byleth said. 'You're braver than you think.'

For the first time since reaching the ladder, Bernadetta raised her head and looked at him. Her face was pale, her eyes were red, and huge bags hung underneath them, but he saw something in her tired eyes that he hadn't seen before. He knew what it was, because he was sure he'd felt the way she had before, and he was sure it was something that Lilia, Moira and Sothis had all seen in his eyes once upon a time as well.

Hope.

'We don't always have a choice in what have to face, but you don't have to live in fear, you can overcome it, and for you, that starts with climbing the ladder.'

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. Byleth felt Dudley and the other Black Eagles staring at him, but he didn't look away from the girl. She was looking at him, he was sure, in the same way he'd looked at Lilia, Moira and Sothis when they'd offered him hope. He'd knew he'd been looking at them to see if they'd really meant what they'd said, and he knew that Bernadetta was doing the same to him. He kept her gaze and said three words. He'd heard them twice before from two different women, and in that moment, it felt right to say them.

'You are safe.'

Bernadetta's eyes widened slightly, and her lips started to quiver. He didn't know if he was saying the right things, or if it was how he was saying them, but either way, the girl gave a small nod. 'Okay,' she whispered. She took another deep breath in and then slowly climbed up the ladder. Dorothea cheered and Ferdinand and Dudley began to clap. Bernadetta reached the top and Dorothea helped her up and embraced her. Petra climbed the ladder and then Byleth followed. When he reached the top, Dudley gave him a wink and a proud salute.

'Excuse me sir!'

Byleth turned around to see another knight march towards him. 'How many times do we have to tell you people? Stop swimming in the pond!'