Night had dawned over Enbarr as the populace turned in for the night. That however was not so for the Emperor and her circle of comrades.
While some were either training or resting for the inevitable battle against the Argathians, some were in the Infirmary staying with the rescued children. The Emperor and her love were among them.
As Byleth and Monica slept with Astrid and Ayra nestled snugly on their chests, Edelgard glanced around the Infirmary and saw her friends were in a similar position. Petra was asleep with Katarina soundly sleeping on her chest, in one bed, while Dorothea was asleep with Vanessa in her arms. Across from them was Bernadetta with Priscilla as she curled up into the archer. In the next bed over were Caspar and Linhardt asleep with Kain, Castor and Cassius by their side, huddled around her. Finally, Roland and Valter laid asleep on Shez's chest as the three were fast asleep.
As Edelgard turned back to the still sleeping Byleth a smile appeared on her face as she took in the sight of her love's beauty.
After all these years of knowing her, I still can't help but feel like I don't deserve her. I don't deserve her friendship. Her love. Her constant guidance. Yet here she is standing shoulder to shoulder with me. Weathering the storm alongside me. Even though we might not find a cure in time, she still tries to reassure me.
Carefully, she placed her lips onto Byleth's forehead and tucked a bit of her hair that was covering her right eye. Edelgard turned her gaze to the side and smiled at Monica, but then dipped into a frown.
If only we could have rescued you earlier, Monica. You'd have not gone through the experiments that you did. Your face and body being taken… then maybe Byleth's father would still be alive.
Edelgard was driven from her thoughts as she heard Monica quietly mumble in her sleep. "You're… the only one for me… Edel… gard. Byleth too… she's nice and pretty."
Edelgard's smile returned as she listened to Monica's sleepy words. The Emperor tucked some of Monica's crimson locks behind her left ear.
We will all need to have a talk about you, Byleth and I. But first we need to end the Agarthans once and for all.
As Edelgard finally withdrew her thoughts from her two favourite people as she glazed towards the window looking from inside the Infirmary and saw Lysithea standing there with a hand over her heart and the other onto the window.
Carefully and slowly, left Byleth's and Monica's sides and left the infirmary. Even after closing the door after her, Lysithea didn't tear her attention away from the small occupants in the room.
Slowly to not alarm the mage, Edelgard moved her hand and rested it on top of her shoulder. Lysithea didn't react at first. It wasn't until a few seconds had passed, did Edelgard hear her speak up.
"How is there progress? Be truthful with me, Edelgard."
Edelgard sighed as she felt Lysithea's shoulder tremble.
"The healer's say they are getting better, but I can see it in their eyes that that is not the whole truth. I fear they don't have long left if Hubert doesn't extract a cure soon." Edelgard didn't want to admit it herself and let fear and her failure of breaking her promise to the children overtake her.
"I… I also had another attack. Byleth was there for the aftermath, but that was the worst it's ever been. There was just so much blood." It was now Edelgard's turn to tremble as memories from a day ago flooded into her mind.
Lysithea turned and wrapped her arms around Edelgard tightly. The Emperor returned the gesture as she trembled in the Mage's grasp.
"I've been hiding it from Leonie too. I had an attack after I got Judith and… and… him back to the camp." Lysithea confessed.
The mage then pulled away as she looked Edelgard straight into her eyes. "I know we don't have much time left. I can feel it, but even if there's a chance Hubert gets the information to make a cure, the children should get it first. Even if it means we…"
Lysithea trailed off, but the meaning was obvious to Edelgard as she nodded her head. "If it comes to it, then yes. But I refuse to let you give up and then let them win. I swore on the graves of my brothers and sisters that I would end them all. So please don't give up before we win."
Edelgard ended her speech as she held out her hand towards the Mage.
"You always did know the right words to convince me." Lysithea said with a small smile as she held onto Edelgard's outstretched hand.
Daybreak had emerged in the Infirmary as Judith stretched in her bed. Though not far enough as she winced in pain as the burns on her back flared up. As she laid on her stomach, she heard the door quietly open and turned her head to greet the new occupant. A smirk appeared on Swordswoman as she took note of the Songstress.
"You know when we got news that not only had Leonie spared you, but you were still alive with Claude, I didn't believe it." Manuela smiled as she sat next to Judith on her bed.
"Yet here I am." Judith teased as she tried to turn around to rest her back on the bed. However, since Manuela took up all of her attention, she forgot about the entire reason she was in the Infirmary.
"AHHHHH!" Judith cried out.
"Careful. Slowly easy there." Manuela carefully nursed Judith back onto her stomach.
As Judith continued to wince in pain, Manuela hurried to the small medicine cupboard and pulled out a burning salve ointment.
"Now you may not like this, but I need to apply this salve. I need you to take off your shirt." Manuela spoke, but this only made Judith's teasing smirk to reappear.
"Why would I refuse such a request from a beautiful lady such as yourself." Judith continued to tease the older Songstress.
Manuela however, waved her off. "Please, no one has called me beautiful or a lady in 30 years. You don't need to lie. Now will you take your shirt off so I can apply this salve."
Judith didn't reply with a comment instead she turned away from facing Manuela and took off her shirt, leaving her chest bare. For her part, Manuela turned around to give the other woman privacy.
"You can look now." Judith spoke up.
Manuela turned around and saw the Swordswoman lying on her stomach with the acidic burns on her back quite visible.
The Songstress traced her fingers along the edges of the burns. "You know. I heard the reports about your burns, but I didn't think they would be this severe."
"It looks worse than it is." Judith tried to ease Manuela's worries, however when the Songstress grazed the left side of the acidic burn, Judith was on the verge of tears.
She then raised her hands to Judith's face and delicately moved a bit of her hair away from her eyes.
"Okay, so maybe it still hurts a hell of a lot." Judith winced.
Wanting Judith to relax and feel comfortable Manuela started to rub her shoulders then slowly it turned into a massage.
Judith groaned as she felt years of stress slowly fade away with Manuela's practised caresses.
However, this did not last as Manuela pulled her hands away. Judith groaned in frustration after no longer feeling the Songstress's hands.
"Now, now. Time for your medicine." Manuela spoke up as she grabbed the balm and spread it across her hands. "Are you ready? This'll sting a bit."
Judith grunted as she got herself situated. "Well at least there's a beautiful lad-Ahhhhhh" Judith cut herself off as soon as she felt the balm contact her back.
"I did warn you it will sting… But I do appreciate the compliment." Manuela said as she smiled and pressed her lips onto Judith's left shoulder.
It had taken up most of the morning for Lysithea to summon up the courage to approach the Infirmary room which held the captured children that Edelgard rescued. Leonie had, of course, been with her every step of the way.
This led to where they both are presently. With Lysithea's heart beating heavily and a deep breath, the mage turned the handle of the door and opened it.
Inside Bernadetta was with the swordswoman Shez that Ferdinand and Hubert had told Leonie about. Alongside them was Dorothea, Bernadetta and a red-haired woman. Though as the pair got closer to her, alarm bells started to ring out in Leonie's head. The archer pulled ahead slightly, but Lysithea held a firm grip onto her hand.
As the door closed behind them, the adult occupants turned towards the pair.
"Leonie! Lysithea! You're back!" Dorothea spoke up as she moved to hug Lysithea. The younger mage returned the embrace with one of her own.
Bernadetta was next as she moved to Leonie and hugged the archer. Leonie smiled as she rubbed Bernadetta's hair.
"Where's Byleth and Edelgard? I thought they would be here." Leonie asked.
Bernadetta settled her head further into Leonie's shoulder. "Byleth has been here two days straight healing the children, she could barely stand and stay awake, so we told her to rest for the morning."
Lysithea smirked hearing this. "That sounds like Byleth. What about Edelgard?"
Dorothea spoke next. "She's called a meeting officially naming General Karma as the new Minister of Military Affairs. She's then updating everyone on what you've all seen at the Argathan strongholds. From what Petra and everyone has said… there's a lot to go through."
Then Shez stepped forward and placed her left hand on her hip. "I take it they're with us?"
Bernadetta splits apart from Leonie and vigorously nodded her head. "Yeah. Leonie rivals Byleth in strength and just as fast as her too."
The archer in question rubbed the back of her neck, nervously. "Well, I wouldn't say that. Sure, we've sparred a few times, won a few times too, but I'm not really all that impressive."
Dorothea had a smirk on her face as she pulled away from Lysithea and tapped the shorter girl's shoulders. "I bet, Lysithea here would disagree."
The mage blushed as turned her head away from the others and crossed her arms. Bernadetta smiled as she motioned her hand towards Lysithea. "And this is Lysithea. She's the strongest mage we have in the entirety of the Black Eagle Strike Force. Well, we don't know about you, Monica."
Hearing that name confirmed Leonie's fears. "So, you are her. Yours is the one face I'll never forget."
"Ah…" Monica lowered her head. "I see that Kronya has used my face to do more damage to people other than Byleth than I thought."
The mage then raised her head and held out her hand. "Still, I want to right the distrust Kronya may have put in place." With her other hand, she moved it and placed it over her heart. "I swear it, I will earn your trust like I did for Lady Edelgard and Byleth."
Bernadetta, however, shook her head as she turned to Leonie. "I know it feels hard to believe, but this is the real Monica. Kronya took some of Monica's blood and took on her appearance, while the real Monica was locked away and experimented on. We know how the rest goes for Kronya. As for Monica, she was rescued when Caspar and Petra came across her's and Shez's pods. Hubert performed some tests on Monica just to make sure there weren't any lasting tricks. I know we all had our hang ups about her, but Byleth and Edelgard trust her. We all trust her."
Leonie nodded her head as she followed along with Bernadetta's explanation, while catching Monica nervously rubbing her arm.
"Hell, I was made to be a vessel for one of the Agarthan's scientists called Epimenides, whose goal was to kill Sothis and in turn Byleth. So, if there's anyone here who is untrustworthy here, it would be me. But everyone has been kind and understanding, especially Byleth. Thanks of course to Bernadetta's approval." Shez spoke up as she smiled at the archer.
"Well, if you both earned Byleth's and Edelgard's trust then the least I can do is extend the same trust." Leonie said as she smiled at the two, as her gaze drifted towards Monica. "It just might take some time for it to sink in."
"There was one thing I wanted to ask, if you would allow me." Monica asked, looking directly at Leonie.
The archer in question nodded her head, for Monica to continue.
"When Byleth first came to see me, she mentioned that she personally dealt with Kronya, but didn't say anything further. I want to know what Kronya did with my face and body."
Everyone looked hesitant to say anything, apart from Shez who had no idea. The silence was heavy until Leonie spoke up. "While it is personal for me too, I cannot answer that. Only Byleth can. But I wouldn't worry, if she trusts you enough that I think she does, then you'll get your answer. It's just not our place to answer that." Leonie ended with a small smile.
Monica returned it with one of her own. "Thanks for answering and I understand. Byleth has good friends looking out for her."
At that very moment, the group heard a small quiet voice call out to them.
"A-Are you f-friends with M-M-Miss Edelgard?" Lysithea looked down and saw the voice belonged to a child. With tanned skin, freckles dotted across his cheeks and black hair.
Lysithea went to his side and held onto his tiny hand. "I-I am. I'm Lysithea, and this is my partner, Leonie." Lysithea's voice trembled as she tried her hardest to put on a brave face.
A small, pained smile appeared on the young boy's face. "T-That's a pretty n-name. I-I'm Castor…" The young boy answers as his eyes close and settles back to sleep with the slow rise and fall of his chest.
As soon as the boy drifted off to sleep, Lysithea's eyes immediately met Leonie's. Leonie pulled the mage into her arms as tears fell down the latter's eyes. Leonie rubbed softly to her back, whispering soothing and comforting words.
"We find a way to cure this. I swear it to you, Ly." Leonie declared to her love.
There however was no answer from the mage.
"Ly?"
There was still no answer from the mage. Leonie pulled Lysithea out from her chest when she felt her heart rise to her throat.
She saw Lysithea's eyes closed and her barely breathing.
"Ly? Ly? Lysithea!" Leonie tried to jostle the mage to try and rouse her, but to no avail.
"... Ly…Lysithea?" Leonie's mouth moved on its own in disbelief.
"It's her Crests. Quickly, we have to lay her down." Monica commanded as everyone nodded their heads and lept to action. Everyone apart from Leonie.
"Shez and I'll stay with the children. Dorothea, how about you find Manuela to help out." Bernadetta said as the former Songstress nodded her head.
With a hand on her shoulder from Monica, to help snap the archer out of her thoughts. "Why don't we take her to another room, and I'll see to her. Byleth showed me what to do to stem the spread from it attacking her heart and her brain."
Leonie nodded her head at the mage before the two departed the Children's infirmary room.
If there was ever a time for Byleth to be thankful to her friends, forcing her to rest for a few hours would be it. She would be lying to herself if she said she didn't need the rest. While she was determined to save them all, stemming the spread of the crests from attacking the children's hearts and brains had drained her considerably. Still even though she had only a few hours of rest, Byleth was more than awake to tackle the meeting Edelgard had called to collect all the information they could against their enemy.
However, as Byleth opened the meeting room door, she saw all of her friends hunched over someone as they all seemed to panic.
"What's going on?" Byleth called out.
Everyone turned to face Byleth, and she saw just how fearful everyone looked. It wasn't until Byleth saw Leah pick up someone from the floor.
When the General stood up with the Emperor in her arms it was like all the air had vanished from Byleth's lungs. Edelgard's eyes were shut tight and it looked like she was barely breathing.
"E-El…"