Chapter 119: The Aftermath

She stared at the two of them, arms folded and foot tapping on the ground.

Goetia twitched and her eyes landed upon him before they narrowed considerably, to her great frustration, he did not seem to understand the sheer depth of her annoyance with him at this current time. Or perhaps he did understand some level of her anger but was actively choosing to not care.

At the moment, she could not tell which would be the worse option of the two.

Unfolding her arms, she rested her hands on her hips and rolled her jaw.

"Well?"

Her expectant answer never manifested, from either of them.

Flayn felt another pang of frustration well up within her, certain that only a fraction of it was showing itself upon her face. Becoming angry over something like this was pointless, but the fact it was these two was nothing short of vexing.

Because these were the two she had higher expectations of.

Byleth adjusted herself and opened her mouth.

Flayn turned the glare onto her.

Byleth closed her mouth.

Flayn felt her eye twitch in response to it, Goetia side eyed her for a moment before he let out an exhale. Or tried to, she could hear the faint wheezing and saw the trace amounts of crimson flake away from his lips, the way his mouth closed and then a moment later she heard a muffled cough did not escape anyone's notice.

"You have broken perhaps all of your ribs."

The first words out of her mouth came sharp as any blade, she stepped forwards and cast her shadow upon Goetia.

He met her glare with nothing more than an expression of utter boredom, Flayn felt her face twitch rather violently. Spasms in her muscles made it feel as though she was cycling through every single emotion possible for her to feel. Which she might well have been doing, as there was very little she could come up with to explain away the state the pair of them were in.

"All but two."

She blinked at his words, slowly.

"...Excuse me?"

"I have broken twenty-two of my ribs." A brief pause, then he jerked his head in the direction of Byleth, all while wearing a frown. "And it would be more accurate to say that she was the one who broke them."

Flayn had no words to that statement.

She felt her hands come away from her hips and drop down to her side, all she could do was just stare at Goetia as she tried to wrap her head around the words that just came spilling out from his mouth.

It was official.

"How many times were you struck in the head?"

Goetia raised a brow. "Is this relevant to my damaged-"

He stopped speaking rather suddenly, then he straightened his posture and stared to look at her as if she had grown a second head. As if she was the one who was coming up with stupid words and explanations. It was a short look before his face changed into one of irritation, the next sentence that came out was laced with incredulity.

"Are you implying that I have suffered some form of brain damage?"

Flayn felt a smile form on her face, a rather innocent one at that.

"Oh no." She explained. "I am not implying that you are suffering from brain damage."

Holding up her hands, she stopped for a moment and let the words settle.

"I am telling you that you are suffering from brain damage."

"I am not."

"I disagree."

"Your disagreement does not change the reality of the situation that I am not suffering from brain damage. Though I will grant you that my jaw was briefly dislocated-"

Flayn twitched once again, "Ah! Well!"

Throwing up her hands, she stepped back and barked out a laugh. "As long as it was only briefly! I suppose that we have managed to avoid a crisis with that one, haven't we, Goetia? Goodness me, I was truly worrying over nothing, wasn't I, Professor?"

Her eyes fell upon Byleth and she felt her smile widen, with her voice rising to a touch louder than she would have ordinarily brought it to.

Having far more sense than Goetia at the moment, Byleth kept herself quiet and seemed content to just level her blank stare at her. Occasionally her eyes darted towards Goetia before they returned to Flayn.

"It is hardly as though I bore witness to two of the academy's professors just pummeling one another as if they were in some tavern scrap. Goodness, no. That would be utterly embarrassing, would it not?"

Goetia let out a huff and rolled his eyes. "If this meeting has no further purpose beyond you venting your emotions, then I will depart and-"

He made to rise up.

"You stay in that seat until I heal you!" Whirling on him, she crossed the short distance and pressed a single finger into his chest, hissing in his face and pressing down, lowering him back to the bench and keeping her eyes fixed upon his own. Searching for any further sign of argument.

Goetia opened his mouth.

"Stay!"

His brows twitched, he looked to speak again.

"No! Stay!"

"I-"

"Stay!"

"Yo-"

"Until!"

"Fla-"

"Healed!"

He stopped and clenched his jaw, she saw the flash of annoyance simmer in his eyes, but she did not show any ounce of weakness as she glared at him. If he was prepared to argue further, he did not show the desire for it. Instead he closed his eyes and turned his head away from her. She would have called it childish if she was in a more joking mood.

Really, she was just grateful he didn't teleport out of there.

She would not have put that past him.

Inhaling, she stepped back and removed her hand from him, clasping them together and offering the same smile she had done so for all the other patients. Really, what had set the two of them apart was the fact that even after the Blue Lions had won, the pair of them had been utterly ignorant to the end of the fight.

And he continued to just throw punches and kicks at one another.

Half a dozen knights needed to pull them apart.

It was a sight and a half.

There had been some mutterings that the two of them hated one another and if Flayn had been anyone else, she would have certainly believed those rumours. Except she wasn't anyone else and she knew for a fact that the two of them had been so invested in fighting one another, that they had completely forgotten they were supposed to be helping the students.

It was not behaviour she would have expected from Goetia of all people.

"The two of you…" Flayn drew in another breath, then released it, raising her hands up and placing them flat against her face. "...The two of you were so incredibly reckless. I might understand some thrill of competing against one another but what you did was borderline savage…I most certainly do not enjoy treating the wounds of those I consider to be friends."

She pulled her hands down and frowned at them.

"And I most certainly do not enjoy watching them tear into one another like animals. You both went too far."

Goetia drummed his fingers on his knee.

Then he grunted.

"I was holding back."

Byleth's words came next.

"I was too."

Flayn wanted to pull her hair out.

Goetia raised a brow as he stared at her, then glanced at Byleth.

"I can see a clear resemblance."

Byleth looked briefly at the tanned man, then at Flayn and inclined her head. All the girl in question could do was jolt in bewilderment at the sudden conversation happening in front of her. To make matters worse, a second or two later, Byleth made a small noise in the back of her throat and nodded her head.

"I can as well. It is the brows."

Goetia hummed. "Yes."

Flayn inhaled through her nose and smiled at them. "Is there something you wish to tell me?"

Neither one of them said anything for a moment.

Then Goetia grunted out. "You hold a remarkable likeness to a certain individual we are both affiliated with."

"I am going to assume it is because they would be as exasperated with your antics as I currently am?"

"Quite." Goetia replied with a tilt of the head, looking at her in much the same way she imagined that someone might look at a painting or a statue. "Do you intend to act beyond lambasting us for our presumed-"

"P-presumed?" Flayn gawked at him, then snapped her jaw shut with an audible click. Her eyes closed and she took in another breath. The alternative was just dropping her patience and then just shouting at him. Perhaps followed by shaking him repeatedly, but she was aware that neither of those would actually drill any lesson into Goetia's skull.

Slowly opening her eyes, she huffed, then raised a hand and pointed between the two of them. "Until I have made absolutely certain that you are both on the road to recovery, I want neither of you to leave the confines of this tent. Do not think for even a moment that this is a request. It is a statement of fact."

For a brief moment, she thought that Goetia looked amused.

Of course, she had to be mistaken in that.

Because Goetia would not be nearly so stupid as to wear an expression like that in full view of her and while in his current predicament. So she did him the favour of forgetting that moment before she triggered another argument over a very clear misunderstanding.

"Now then, I will be back shortly. The two of you may discuss this like adults and I certainly do not wish to return to more injuries. Is that clear?"

"What use would it be to-"

"Is. That. Clear?"

Goetia opened his mouth to reply, doubtlessly anything but the words she was actually looking to receive.

Professor Eisner wisely saved him from that.

"Yes."

Flayn glanced at her and folded her arms, giving a single satisfied smile and a nod of the head before turning and striding out of the tent, pushing aside the flap as she did. Honestly.

Goetia was supposed to be older than her as well.

How did he manage such juvenile feats?

Silence blanketed them in the immediate departure of Flayn.

"...You lost."

He closed his eyes and drew in a steadying breath. "The Black Eagles lost."

The correction was only minor, but it was worth mentioning all the same before Byleth managed to cement the idea. He glanced over towards her and opened his eyes ever so slightly, gazing at her bruised face with indifference. "As I recall, our personal bout was interrupted before a winner could be determined."

Byleth looked at him, then gave a short hum and a nod of the head.

Clearly reaching the same conclusion.

Evidently Sothis opted to fade into existence at this moment, he watched the materialisation of the Goddess as well as the thunderous face she was wearing. It was indeed quite the match for Flayn's own irritated expression, though this one had been tempered quite a bit more than the descendant.

The Goddess eyes darted between them, the glare hardened as she raised a finger in an effort to look threatening.

He merely raised a brow at her. "You do not truly believe we would start brawling here of all places, do you?"

If she truly believed that, then she really was quite foolish.

Sothis merely curled her lips and folded her arms, eventually huffing and sharply turning away from the both of them.

"I truly cannot believe that I am condemned to be anchored to such a pair of thugs."

Thugs?

Goetia felt his face sour at the title attributed to him. "I am puzzled as to how you would have expected a spar between the two of us to end up? Especially given her former career."

Byleth nodded her head. "Used to fighting like that."

Sothis gaped at her, then waved a hand in his direction. "Your opening move was to kick him hard enough to shatter his ribs! In what dimension could that even come close to being considered a spar? It was a training exercise for the children and then the pair of you came thundering in like a pair of Demonic Beasts and turned it into some manner of savage bloodsport!"

"Savage?" Goetia grunted and shook his head. "Hardly. Violent, yes. But there was a methodology behind it. In removing myself and Byleth from the play, I granted the Black Eagles the best possible chance they had to win…Though it was unfortunately not enough to earn the victory."

He looked away at that.

He was not personally responsible for the defeat.

He was not even in command of it.

Yet all the same he felt a hint of…shame.

He had allied himself with the Black Eagles and they had been defeated by the Blue Lions.

Though he had agreed to hold himself back before the start of the mock battle, he had assumed it would have still granted him enough of an edge over his opponents to secure a victory. Even with him deferring command over to Edelgard. That his efforts had not been rewarded with a resounding victory was…unexpected.

"-ou even listening to me-? He isn't. He's away in his own little-"

"I have not quite managed to drown out your blithering." He sighed, turning back to Sothis and schooling his expression.

She sputtered and folded her arms.

"Is there something else you wished to discuss?"

She remained silent for a moment.

Then her lips slowly pulled upwards into a smug expression.

"We beat you~"

"...Are you truly a child?"

She just maintained the smug expression.

Goetia rolled his eyes and glanced towards Byleth, adjusting himself and shuffling along the bench. Forgetting about Sothis, a rather difficult task than he would have admitted, he looked her up and down before running a quick scan of her body.

He had done more damage than he anticipated.

Yet her lack of verbal complaints indicated that she was as unbothered as he was.

All the same.

"Are you in excessive physical discomfort?"

Byleth looked towards him for a moment, then shook her head. "I've been hurt worse than this sparring with Jeralt."

He raised a brow. "Setting that aside, I consider there to be a marked difference between myself and Jeralt when it comes to inflicting pain. Not least of all because between myself and your father, I am actually the one equipped with specialised methods for fighting Divine hand to hand."

Another slow blink. "I was winning though."

"Do not encourage Sothis." He warned with a shake of the head. "And it was a brief setback as I adjusted to your relative strength. It took longer than anticipated to adapt to your speed and prowess. The progression of the battle would have doubtless led to my own victory against you."

"Hmmmm."

A short pause.

"...Do you want to spar again when we're healed?"

Did he want to do that?

"...A confirmed conclusion to this bout would settle any further discussions of which of us would be superior in hand to hand."

He paused, then slowly looked down towards his arm and frowned at it, glancing across to the stump of his right before he rolled his jaw.

"That being said, you would possess a tactical advantage against me."

"Because I have two hands."

If there was one specific thing he found to be acceptable with Byleth's company, it was her propensity for speaking in curt sentences that were straight to the point.

Even on topics others would consider sensitive.

"Yes." He responded flatly. "Because you have two hands…Though I will point out that despite having two hands, I was still quite capable of landing several decisive punches upon you."

Byleth shrugged. "I landed more on you though."

A groan from across the tent pulled his attention to the irate Sothis.

"Are you truly going to argue about this?"

Goetia shot her a bemused look. "Was it not you, who mere moments ago, was making efforts to boast about your imagined defeat against me? Before-"

He raised his hand and pointed across to her when she opened her mouth.

"-you even begin to argue against, it was the Black Eagles you defeated. While it was true that I was allied with them, there is a difference between myself and the Black Eagles. Much as with Byleth as well. It was our respective allied classes who fought one another, our own personal battles did not matter much to the end result. Merely a removal of powerful external assets."

Sothis closed her mouth and stared at him for a few seconds.

Then she tilted her head and raised a brow. "That seems like a long and elaborate excuse to explain why you have never technically lost a fight. Certainly something I would…no, I will not lie. That is exactly the sort of behaviour I would have expected from you."

Folding her arms, she raised a brow.

"And in the interest of that, I will ask how your battle against the…Catherine woman transpired."

He noticed Byleth perked up ever so slightly.

Goetia grunted, he would have imagined this being a topic brokered to him by the host rather than the contents, but it mattered little. "If you must know, I was in a position to secure a swift and decisive victory. It just so happened that as I was defeating Catherine, the Golden Deer were being bested by the Black Eagles."

Letting the words settle, he turned his head and looked away.

"Von Riegan should consider himself inadvertently blessed by your luck, seeing as how he did not darken my eyesight with his shadow…And that I placed trust in the competency of Edelgard to best him should they encounter one another."

"I believe you." Byleth replied, "I think Claude is grateful as well."

Goetia suppressed a snort at that.

He imagined the boy would be grateful for it.

Something moved beyond the perimeter of the tent, his eyes snapped towards it and narrowed, tracking it as it crossed the threshold of his senses and closed in. Larger than Flayn but with a lower magical energy output. Moments ticked past before he realised who it was and relaxed himself.

He supposed this would have been a conversation to expect.

"You may enter if you wish, Catherine."

The tent flap was pulled aside, the blonde stalked in and angled her head, wearing a crooked smile. "Neat trick you have. You'll have to teach it to me some time. What I would give to see the look on Shamir's face…"

She folded her arms and looked between them, then snorted rather loudly.

"Does our appearance amuse you?"

"Yep." She popped the word out, smiling a bit wider. "I heard all about how you two needed to be pried off one another, but I wasn't quite expecting all of that…Then again, you did give me quite a few nasty punches as well. You're not half bad…for a guy with one arm."

Evidently she decided she would make herself comfortable, with a quick glance left and right, her eyes zoomed onto one of the stools and she paced towards it, dragging it towards herself and sitting down, crossing her legs over and keeping her posture relaxed.

Goetia raised a brow at her. "...You have something else to speak of?"

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Think of it like a bit of post-fight banter. Just to make sure there are no hard feelings between us."

"Is this the case for you?" He ventured with a pointed look. "As I recall, it was the Black Eagles who bested the Golden Deer and not the other way around…And the arrival of the students merely expedited the rate of your defeat. I would have bested you without their arrival."

The woman looked at him, then glanced across at Byleth and jerked her head. "He like this often?"

"Yes." Byleth answered without so much as a moment of hesitation.

Goetia shot her a look and huffed.

"So how's your dick?"

Dead silence.

Save for the sudden scandalised coughing of Sothis.

Goetia slowly blinked, then turned a blank expression onto Catherine, all the while she was grinning at him like some manner of idiot. He played the words back through his head, just to ensure that he had not heard incorrectly.

The words played exactly the same.

"...Beg pardon?"

Catherine shuffled in her chair, leaning forwards and looking close to snickering at him. "I saw Lysithea kick you."

"...Hmph." He grunted and turned to avoid her gaze, his eye twitched at the memory and the phantom pain that surged through him for a split second. Even the memory of it brought nothing but discomfort to him. His hand dropped onto his knee, fingers drumming up and down.

He felt the gaze of Byleth on the side of his head, the coughing of Sothis had deteriorated into a muffled cackle.

"...She caught me by surprise with a manoeuvre that I was not expecting."

"You got cocky and she kicked you in the balls."

Goetia closed his eyes. "If you wished to phrase it like an immature child, then you would not be wholly incorrect. I had not thought her the type to utilise physical combat against me and she…did." he turned on her and opened his eyes, narrowing them slightly. "Your doing?"

Catherine leaned back and held up her hands, the smile remained fixed on her features. "I can't claim credit for that. All her."

"I see." He looked away.

He had certainly never taught her to do that.

Perhaps he had gotten complacent when it came to his expectations, admittedly she had similarly caught him by surprise with the usage of runes as some primitive form of landmines. Certainly when combined with bounded fields in order to facilitate the activation of them. Yet he could already see some manner of flaws with them.

Namely that those manner of bounded fields would be easily detected by him or others now that they were aware of what to look for.

Not that Lysithea would be privy to that, of course.

"You seem in decent spirits after that."

"It was a pain I have never quite felt in my life." He replied with a shrug of the shoulders. "And I cannot claim it is an experience I am eager to repeat…but I am thankful that it happened. It means that I am now aware of this weakness and take steps to ensure that it never happens again."

Catherine chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah. You and everyone else who's ever been kicked there would say the same."

"I trust the Golden Deer have not taken their defeat to heart?"

She held up her hand and made a 'so-so' gesture. "Most of them are saying it was as expected considering they were fighting you. So you're pretty much shouldering nearly all of the blame for their loss there."

He frowned.

"I was taken from the fight relatively early. My own efforts contributed less to their defeat than those of Edelgard or Dorothea. Remind the Golden Deer that it was-"

"Already did." Catherine waved her hand, then shot him a bemused look. "What? I can see that you trained those brats pretty damn hard. I'm rather impressed, actually. What did you even have them doing in the first place?"

Goetia paused for a moment, debating whether he should explain it to her.

He supposed a simplified version would aid them.

"I summoned magical spirits for them to battle as a means of testing their strength."

Catherine made a face. "Should have figured it would be more of that weird magic of yours."

There was a short moment where she furrowed her brows and cupped her chin, looking to the ground for a brief second, then looked back towards him and opened her mouth.

Goetia could already surmise what she intended to ask.

"It would be dependent on Rhea whether or not I utilise the same methods as a teaching instrument for the Knights of Seiros…and it is not my responsibility to make sure that they are adequately trained."

Catherine made a face. "Not exactly what I was going to ask, but not far off…you reading my mind or something?"

"No." He shook his head. "I do not need to read your mind to understand what you wished to ask. I merely used your previous behaviour and extrapolated the data to form a logical conclusion."

Catherine just stared at him, then blinked. "...What?"

"...I made an educated guess based on our previous conversations with one another."

"Oh, why didn't you just say that then?"

Goetia suppressed an eye twitch.

He did say that.

It was not his fault she did not understand it.

"Anyway." Catherine clapped her hands on her knees, leaning forwards. "You should stop by the classes that I hold sometimes. I do teach the kids about brawling on occasion. You look like you could do with some of it."

Goetia raised a brow at her. "That would come with the implication that I am somehow in need of such a thing."

Her features flattened. "I could tell at a glance you're not comfortable with fighting hand to hand in your current state. You were making a lot of tiny pauses in your movements and the jerked motion in your right side where you expected your other hand to throw a punch. You substituted with kicks, sure, but those were fairly sloppy."

"It worked against you, did it not?"

She looked at him in silence, but he could read between the lines.

It worked against her purely because she had not been expecting it. Catching her and Byleth by surprise had been one of the few advantages he had when it came to hand to hand combat. They were not incorrect that despite his knowledge of Jacobs limbs, he was not as well versed in it as previous users.

"It is a weakness disregarded by my utilisation of magecraft." He explained away, dismissing it with a wave of the hand. "It was a situation that only came about due to my own actions and nothing more. In another situation, I would never have engaged in hand to hand."

"What if you fight someone who can stop you before you can start slinging spells?"

He went to answer that such a thing would be pointless.

Then stopped.

His brows furrowed and he quickly darted a look towards Byleth and Sothis.

…Their reaction speeds to him had been rather impressive and that was admittedly with her holding back. The more she utilised the power of Sothis, the more powerful she would become as the two bonded. He did not doubt there would come a point where she would be his physical superior.

He could close the gap with magecraft to an extent…

…But if he were to encounter another individual who had an infusion of nanomachines from Sothis old remnants.

It was a thought that gave him pause.

His eyes drifted to his missing limb.

It was not something he had considered in some time, if at all.

Pushing himself to his feet, he stepped forwards and felt the pointed gaze of Byleth on the back of his head, turning to see that she was staring at him with a slightly inclined head.

"Flayn will be unhappy."

Goetia nearly scoffed, instead he sighed. "Of that I have little doubt, but she can be as exasperated with my efforts as she wishes. I am not subordinate to her and have other matters that I would much rather attend to than await healing by her standards, no matter how high they might well be."

He made a turn, then stopped and rolled his jaw, glancing back at Byleth.

Perhaps he should say something?

That was the expected thing to do in this situation, was it not?

"...Your fighting was…" Pausing for a moment, he found he could not quite find the adequate words to describe it. All of them seemed either limited or ill-fitting to what he was currently feeling in regards to her fighting.

It was not something he had expected.

A simple comment should have been easy for him, yet there was…something that prevented him from leaving it merely as that.

Few other memories came to mind that drew out such feelings.

"...I was briefly reminded of being punched by Fujimaru."

Yes, that was the response that felt correct.

He turned and walked on, not waiting for a response or seeing the reaction to his words, pushing aside the tent flap and stepping out into the makeshift camp. He stopped briefly and moved his hand towards his ribs, pressing it flat against them. For a moment, he debated whether he should heal them and be done with it.

…He stopped, removing his hand from his body before he could even begin forming a spell.

To immediately remove the evidence of Byleth's efforts would be…discourteous.

His eyes drifted to his missing limb.

Especially after he had just compared being punched by her to Fujimaru.

With a minute shake of the head, he banished the thoughts and walked onwards, ignoring the flaring of pain through his body as he strode forwards, glancing around and searching for where his allies or their peers might have been. There were no shortage of injured in the camp, that much could be seen.

Stopping briefly at raised voices, he turned and strode towards one of the nearby tents, reaching out and pulling the flap aside before looming through it.

"-ho cares so much for appearances, I would hardly think you to be so reckless and-"

Hanneman stopped mid rant and turned, clearly having realised he and his conversation partner were no longer alone.

"Oh, Goetia." The Professor raised himself up and adjusted his coat, briefly revealing the small bruise on his right cheek when he turned to face him. Goetia considered it a rather minor injury, all things considered. Certainly a far cry from Manuela, who appeared to be littered with cuts and bruises up her legs. "I see that you are up and about as well."

A moment of silence, then the Professor raised a brow at him. "Though your injuries seem to be…present."

Goetia grunted and stepped into the tent. "And they will remain present until I have been treated. Though you appear to have avoided sharing that fate. A swift blow incapacitated you, I shall assume?"

If Manuela found that amusing, she did not show it.

Instead she was spending most of her efforts attending to her own wounds as best as he could manage in her condition. Not that it was anything even remotely serious by his standards, but her occasional hisses and jerked motions when she tried to rub at the cuts were rather tiresome to observe.

And he had been here less than half a minute.

Hanneman chuckled wryly. "I am afraid so. Though I will give definite credit to young mister Dedue…He has quite the swift arm for someone of his stature." the man reached up and gave a ginger poke at the bruise, wincing and pulling it away. "Though this is far from the first time I have suffered a blow to the face."

Goetia grunted. "I imagine you were younger."

A brief pause, then the man lowered his hand and made a face. For a moment, he did not reply.

Goetia could feel the emotions swirling within the Professor, first was the indignation, then came the muted resignation. Finally, the man gave a slow nod of the head and looked down. "I am afraid you might be right there. I am hardly the young man I used to be and even without all of that. I never held much of a talent for violence."

"You conducted yourself well despite that misgiving." Goetia gestured to him, then looked over at Manuela who was still acting as if she was alone in the tent.

Hanneman followed his gaze and exhaled. "You are going to end up making your injuries worse."

It was seemingly Hanneman's words that broke her out and caused her to jerk a little, her head came up and she sent a rather sour look at the older man. "I can certainly see them getting worse with you casting your shadow over me. I am just cleaning them to make sure they don't get infected. It will certainly make the healers jobs much simpler if I don't have mud in them."

With his hands dropping to his hips, Hanneman let out a sigh. "And you make their lives more difficult if you end up pulling something a touch too far. I can already see some of those cuts on your arms widening with the way you keep leaning."

"Of the two of us, which is the actual trained physician?" Manuela asked without looking up.

Hanneman was tellingly silent.

Goetia grunted. "None of her injuries are liable to become concerning within the span of time, I suspect she will have ample opportunity to rest as well."

She looked towards him with a smile and then sent a rather smug look towards Hanneman. "You see? Perhaps someone else is-"

Manuela paused, then slowly looked back towards him and stared, her gaze went half-lidded.

"...You look like a mess. Have you even been seen to yet?"

Goetia grunted. "Flayn saw fit to chastise me for my recklessness. She will soon notice my absence and likely try to search me out. Until such a time, I will act as I see fit."

"There." Manuela jerked her head towards him. "He's being reckless. Go and bother him if you're in such a fretting mood."

"It is not fretting." Hanneman exhaled with a shake of the head, then cast a concerned look his way. "But Manuela does have a point. It would be best if you retired yourself to rest until you were healed. I can see that you have certainly borne quite a rather potent pummelling when compared to the two of us."

"None of my wounds are fatal." Goetia excused, but he was far from interested in being drawn into a debate. "And I have operated with greater injuries than this before."

"I am not sure if you're aware of this." Manuela drawled out with a touch of a smirk. "But those sorts of words aren't quite the comfort that you seem to think that they are."

"I am not saying them to be comforting, I am saying them to provide a baseline for my own criteria for wounds and injuries." He explained, frowning at them. "I am not so ignorant as to ignore my bodies-"

His words trailed off, he turned his head to the side and coughed loud and wheezing, his hand came up to cover his mouth and flakes of something slapped into his skin, the taste of slick warm metal touched his tongue and stained the back of his teeth. He pulled his hand away and stared at the red now staining his hand.

His eyes flickered towards the pair, who now looked at him in silence.

Their eyes drifted to the hand and then back to him.

Goetia swallowed down and straightened himself, the pain lanced through his chest once more.

He ran an internal scan.

Then he grunted.

"...I have still suffered worse than this."

The reaction was hardly approving.

Dorothea was sore.

But on the inside, she was only slightly disappointed by the result, on the whole she felt as though they had done quite well.

Though she was certain that Edelgard would be a little put off about the whole thing, her friend always did have a bit of a competitive streak about her. Especially on account of how close they might have come to all of it.

A shame for that, but second place was fine.

Her eyes drifted over the rest of them as her peers shuffled about in their own little spots. Caspar routinely poked at the arm which had been struck rather heavily. Apparently he had tried to block an axe with the back of his arm and it all ended rather terribly for him.

Which was really just like him, all things considered.

"Well." A voice broke through the muted silence, eyes turned towards Ferdinand as he braced a leather sack full of ice against his face. Looking around with a ghost of a smile on his face as he pulled the ice bag away from himself. "I am unsure about the rest of you. But I am rather content with the results, all things considered."

Silence met him.

Ferdinand looked around and then frowned, "We truly did our best and I believe that is, indeed, the most important part of it."

Dorothea gave a small hum as she shuffled slightly on her seat, then glanced towards Edelgard to see how she was reacting to the words.

Very nearly snorting when she realised that the silver haired girl wasn't even looking in the direction of Ferdinand. Rather clearly away in some world of her own, but she could see the minute twitch of her hands and nothing else. The only real evidence that she was actually hearing what was being said.

Dorothea pushed herself up and moved towards her, her approach earned a brief look from the heiress and then a jerk of the head towards the free spot next to her when it became clear what Dorothea was going to do.

With a faint smile, she sat herself down next to the girl.

"I think beating both Claude and Catherine is definitely an achievement. Especially after they tried to surround us…and had double our numbers, more or less."

There was a small twitch, then Edelgard pulled a tiny smile.

"Yes." She rumbled after a couple moments. "I suppose that is something at least. I'm sure that Claude will be remembering that little victory over him for quite some time. Or at least until he starts planning for the next little sparring match between our classes. We have something to know for the future."

Dorothea raised an eyebrow and nudged the shoulder of the heiress. "Already making plans for the next battle then, are we?"

"I am not quite sure what else there is for me to do at the moment." She replied with a shake of the head, leaning forwards and linking her fingers together. "Though I will admit I am rather….disappointed we were not able to claim a victory. I am not completely unsurprised by the result. I cannot lay the blame at the feet of the Professor. The Blue Lions were quick to adapt to the change in battle."

She trailed off then glanced at Dorothea, her gaze softened after a second and she shook her head. "Forgive me. I understand that this is a conversation better suited for Hubert than for yourself."

Dorothea shrugged. "You can reveal all your tactical plans if you want…but I can't promise much in the way of an insightful response."

With a playful roll of the eyes, it was Edelgard who nudged her shoulder this time.

The two fell into a comfortable silence while the words of the class filtered through in the background.

"I think I will miss Gotie being around us." Dorothea said after a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. "Or at least, I'll miss him being in our class. I know that we still see him about everywhere."

Edelgard hummed. "I will admit it was an experience…but I am not sure there are many who would share that opinion."

As one, the two of them glanced over to where Bernadetta was still slumped against one of the benches, eyes closed.

Though the rather cute sight was Goetia's little bird still being perched on her, nestled into the crook of her neck and looking at everyone who so happened to walk by. The feathers would puff out in an adorable little display of intimidation and then lower themselves again.

"Do you believe what they're saying?" Whispering to Edelgard, she was rewarded with a muffled snort.

"Quite frankly, I am unsure." Edelgard said with a shake of the head. "Perhaps the fear of loss provoked some reaction, but even still…to hear of her scrambling to choke out one of the Blue Lions and then kick Dimitri in the face."

Dorothea tried to avoid commenting on the attempt to curb her laughter, or the way Edelgard's lip had been pulled into a quivering smile.

"How mortified do you believe she is going to be when she wakes up?"

Edelgard cupped her face and sighed into her hands.

Oh yes.

That was as Dorothea was expecting.

Because almost certainly, Bernadetta was going to be living in abject terror that the Blue Lions would come and seek revenge on her for what happened. Despite how humorous the situation otherwise was, that was one little aspect that she could not find quite so funny.

"I'm sure that we'll be able to convince her to step out of her room."

She wasn't sure how they would manage it though.

"Perhaps if we convinced her that Flauros would scare away all the scary Blue Lions?"

Edelgard pulled her hands away and shot Dorothea a wry look. "You say that in jest, but did you not see the way it flared at Caspar and tried to peck him? I am rather sure that it would have gone for his eyes had he not withdrawn his hand."

All she could do was shrug.

She had indeed seen that.

It was also quite funny as well and a moment of well needed levity.

Really.

Flauros was too adorable.

"Have you tried to pet them yet?"

Edelgard raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"I'm sure they would let you."

"And what of you?" The Heiress raised a brow at her. "Given your friendship with Goetia, I am certain it would extend to the small bird he now keeps as a pet."

Dorothea put a hand on her chest, looking on with feigned shock. "And steal away the chance for the future empress to do that herself? I could never imagine doing such a thing, especially as a commoner."

The pair stared at one another.

Dorothea felt her expression crack and then descend into a small laugh, Edelgard followed a moment later with a light chuckle.

"Do you suppose we could convince Goetia to stay?"

"That would be his own choice." Edelgard shook her head. "Despite my own preferences…though the…"

Her expression changed and soured, a shudder ran through her body at the next word.

"Training…Could certainly do with some adjustments.

Even Dorothea could not hide her wince at the phantom memory.

Or the nightmare, depending on who you asked.

Perhaps it was one of the few times that very nearly everyone had agreed with Bernadetta in regards to the nature of training. Worse was that everyone remembered what Goetia had said about the shadow monsters as well. Namely that they were all weaker than the people they were based on the image of.

And people Goetia had personally met.

The implications were both unsettling and horrifying.

And the sort she would rather never consider again.

"I'm not sure if it would be better if we fought him, rather than whatever thing he decides to summon."

Edelgard scratched the bridge of her nose. "As I recall the Blue Lions were the first to fight him at the request of the Professor…I have very vivid memories of Dimitri sporting a black eye when he returned."

"...Better than when we fought Gotie's monster."

"...Admittedly, yes."

Light flashed in the corner of her eye.

She and Edelgard turned and, as expected, the first thing she saw when the light faded was Goetia.

Then she actually looked twice at the state he was in and raised a brow, frowning immediately at the bruises, cuts and very nasty purple marks across the visible skin that he showed. Especially from the torn sleeve that exposed all the old scars running up the length of his arm.

His face looked as if he had been thrown through a tavern brawl.

His eyes swept over the assembled group, then landed on Bernadetta, brow raised for a moment and then he nodded his head down. Some unspoken message as the bird - Flauros - gave a rather loud chirp before settling back down. Goetia grunted before turning about and casting a look across the entirety of their camp.

With a sigh, Dorothea brought the attention of Goetia to herself. "Shouldn't you be healing? You look rather terrible."

Goetia breathed in annoyance. "I seem to be assailed with unneeded concern wherever I appear. I assure you, I am quite…"

He stopped speaking, then looked down and spat at the floor.

Dorothea stared at the crimson splat in silence, then traced it back to his lips with a string of redness dripping down from them. She met his eyes and pointedly raised a brow at him. Goetia maintained the gaze and brought his head up, looking on defiantly.

"...I am quite likely to live. Thus it is not the worst injury I have ever suffered."

"Likely?" Was the word she focused on, adding just enough strain to her words as she rose up and folded her arms, striding towards him and feeling the glower take full force upon her face.

Wordlessly, she pointed down to the redness on the floor by his feet, her eyes narrowing further.

"You walked out of treatment again?"

Goetia took in a breath, she could hear it now, especially with the slight wheeze that came with it.

"We're getting you back to Flayn."

"I am not in-"

"Where in my words did you hear a question?" She leaned forwards and looked him dead in the eyes, searching for the moment where he would try and argue with her. Sure enough, she could see the flicker of resistance smoulder within those dull red eyes of his, the indignation that he was being told what to do.

Oh yes, she was quite familiar with what he was like by this point.

Stubborn.

But she never thought he would have been quite this stupid.

"I-"

"If your next words aren't going to be 'yes, Dorothea, I will let myself be healed' then I will personally go to every restaurant in town and tell them to forbid you from ordering tomato soup."

Goetia leaned back, brows furrowed with a touch of confusion, it bled away into confidence.

"Bizarre as a threat this might be, it is nothing more than a nuisance…and one that you cannot materialise."

"Oh, can't I?" Dorothea bat her eyes at him, pulling a coy smirk. "I think I can be quite persuasive."

The confidence vanished, replaced fully with confusion now.

"...I refuse to believe you would use your beauty for the sole purpose of sabotaging my diet."

Her hands dropped to her hips, a challenging smirk formed on her face.

"Are you going to try and take that bet, Gotie?"

She did not back down from him.

…Perhaps she was exaggerating a touch, she could probably have convinced maybe one or two people to follow through on her threat, but more than that would really have been pushing it.

Also he was right, she wasn't going to start flaunting her looks for that sole reason.

But she supposed one of two things would happen.

Either he would believe her and go for healing, or he would not believe her but still go for healing just so he could avoid putting up with her pestering.

She would win either way, but it was less about that and more about getting him some-

"My, my."

The voice cut through the camp, she watched the flash through Goetia's eyes just before he turned his head to the direction of the speaker.

Dorothea turned as well, then raised a brow.

Crouched just beside the unconscious Bernadetta was a rather surprising, but perhaps not all that surprising, figure.

With her hand outstretched, she gently ran her fingers along the back of the small bird still sitting on the shoulder of the girl. Fighting back her urge to laugh at the twisted expression Goetia now wore, she continued to watch as Rhea cupped the young finch in her hands and gently scooped it upwards, Flauros made no protests as he was moved from his original perch and into the palm of the Archbishop.

"Now this is quite a curious thing, is it not?" Rhea continued onwards, seemingly not paying attention to them in the least.

Stepping away from Bernadetta, her eyes remained fixed solely on the finch.

"Especially so far away from home during this season, not quite the time for migration and so young as well…I wonder…"

A smile, a very knowing and borderline teasing smile, came to be on the lips of the Archbishop as her eyes slowly climbed upwards and onto the direction of Goetia.

"...How could such a little thing be here?"

Dorothea rolled her lips inwards to avoid laughing then and there.

She glanced in the direction of Goetia.

Then quickly turned and slapped a hand over her face.

Oh, his expression might have been blank.

But his eyes weren't even pointed in the direction of the Archbishop.

It was adorable.

She did not dare move.

She did not dare breathe.

Standing by the flap of the tent, she stared across the still bodies, the unmoving mass of individuals.

All slumped over where they had simply dropped down, either on their benches or even standing up.

They dropped all the same.

Flayn could not even move to see to whether they were injured.

Instead she stared across to the man at the other end of the tent.

And to the face he wore.

The face that could not be.

He stepped forwards, his hands clasped together over his front. His eyes, crimson and slitted, kept an unblinking gaze upon her.

And with the smile only a grandfather could wear, a smile so sickening upon that face that she very nearly brought up her breakfast, the man spoke in voices that did not belong to him.

"It should go without saying the fate that would befall every man and woman in this tent should you raise your voice."