Part 1: White Clouds
Push it to the Limit
Byleth smiled as she watched the students practice their own training regime, with some sparring and others doing some special training in the form of developing ideas for techniques. She had to admit, she was wondering what they could come up with. She was very impressed with Petra's progress as right now she was working on endurance. One downside she realised had came during the Lord Slug fight was that the animals she conjured up drained her Ki way too quickly. Since this was a valuable ability, she wanted to attempt to perfect it.
She wondered however, what exactly Bernadetta wanted to try and accomplish with being taught Petra's technique. But she was interested at least at what she was cooking up. But the smaller girl wasn't comfortable in saying what her plan was just yet. She had to see if it was possible first.
Caspar on the other hand, was more than happy to say what his plan was in terms of techniques. He wanted to try and channel Ki into his fists to create much stronger attacks. Byleth remembered a similar technique that Balthus used back in Abyss, so she was a bit more hands on with his approach as she saw the damage done to Balthus' arm when he used too much, and promised herself she wouldn't let the more younger Noble suffer that same fate.
Apart from that, everyone else had pretty self explanatory ways to perfect certain techniques. Edelgard had something involving her axe, and Dimitri wanted his weapons conjured from Ki to last longer. Claude wanted to improve the charge time of his Buck Shot technique. Leonie and Ashe were making their arrows stronger and able to travel longer distances, not really interested in anything new. Felix was the same as Dimitri in wanting to improve his weaponry alongside Hilda, but Byleth noticed something that their resident mages were doing and it made her realise something.
Lysithea and Annette almost died by draining not only their Ki reserves but also their stamina by fending off Lord Slug. So that's what they were trying to work on and it made Byleth think later that night as she was rotating the shoulder that had her metal arm on it.
'You're thinking about the basics, aren't you?'
She turned to see Sothis floating next to her and she nodded. "What good are these new techniques if they get too tired to even use them? They've been making good progress but perhaps I've been a little hasty in letting them do advanced stuff too quickly… I think we need to go back to brass and tacks."
With that in mind, Sothis watched Byleth draw up a lesson plan and smiled at how much she was wanting her students to succeed.
'A far cry from the stoic woman that I first met…'
The next morning, it was very early. Much earlier than when training usually began. But Edelgard was still up, not only because she wanted to get a head start on developing her technique, but also because she always slept with one eye open in case Byleth came through with a bucket of water yet again. The memory still haunted her to this day.
It seems that she wasn't the only one either. Dimitri and Claude were not wearing their uniforms this time around and kept on the training gi as Claude grimaced.
"This thing is starting to reek."
"Starting? We've been wearing this for months. It's practically impossible to clean myself properly." Edelgard said, feeling very disgusting.
Dimitri said nothing, but he did agree with them. Instead, he walked over to the training area that they always went to, which was a far stretch of grasslands. Unfortunately due to the recent battles, it looked worse for wear. But still, it had a sense of beauty to it despite the damage. And that's when Dimitri saw that they weren't alone.
"Hello Felix, I'm surprised to see that you are up before us."
"I am not letting you get ahead of me, Boar. Don't think that I haven't noticed how strong your Ki weapons have gotten. I cannot let that happen."
"Well… at least you are motivated…" Dimitri chuckled nervously.
Edelgard looked around, as she saw the rest of the Black Eagles meeting up to the spot. Bernadetta was looking a little content to which Edelgard had interpreted as she made good progress on this technique that she had been developing. And judging by Petra's smile, that landed even more credence to the theory.
"I feel like I'm so close to perfecting my awesome punch!" Caspar grinned, pumping a fist. "It doesn't even hurt as much anymore!"
"That shouldn't be a positive that it doesn't hurt…" Edelgard deadpanned and shook her head.
"I wonder why the Professor hasn't showed up yet. It isn't like her." Leonie wondered out loud as Hilda huffed, rubbing her arms.
"I'm still in pain from the other day. You were mean Leonie."
"Well then, I hope you learned your lesson."
"Okay, okay! I'll help out with projects in the future!" Hilda whined loudly, and turned away pouting hard at her classmate's 'motivation' during training.
"Ah, everyone is here. Good, that means we can begin."
They all turned to see Byleth approaching them and for Edelgard… she couldn't help but look at the metal arm attached to her Professor. At first, everyone at the Monastery were a little unnerved by it. Who could blame them? One day, Byleth lost her arm in a gruesome display. And then another day goes by and all of a sudden she has a new one made entirely of some kind of strange metal. Though she couldn't say… she had a feeling that the Archbishop was responsible. But if Byleth was happy to have an arm back, then who was she to deny that happiness?
But she smiled and stopped Petra who was about to go off and perfect her techniques which caused a confused look to form on her face. "Professor, is everything okay?"
"Change of plans, everyone. We are going to put a hold on techniques for now. Instead, we need to focus on stamina."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion… stamina? Was that really necessary? Most of them were close to perfecting their techniques that they had been working on. But seeing their confused expressions, Byleth continued to explain why.
"I was given a report on what happened during the fight with Lord Slug and his soldiers. From what I have been told, you all have no control on the amount of Ki you were outputting. Specifically with Edelgard, Annette and Lysithea. I heard that Lysithea and Annette ran their reserves dry and couldn't go on any longer."
Annette rubbed the back of her neck blushing in embarrassment, while Lysithea pouted and turned away arms folded. Edelgard however, nodded in confirmation. "It's true. I used the most powerful attacks in my arsenal, but I used too much and couldn't move. If I didn't stop when I did, I would have passed out."
"Lysithea did use all of her magic to drive off the soldiers." Leonie said, as the shorter girl hit her arm growling loudly.
But Byleth just nodded, as if it confirmed her point. "There's no point in learning new techniques if you don't have the Ki reserves to use it properly. So back to my original point. We are going to train in the basics in an attempt to raise your stamina."
"But that's soooooo much work!" Hilda whined loudly. "And I was gonna finish a cool final pose on my move! Can't we just do that instead?!"
Surprisingly though, Lysithea stood up and nodded. "The Professor is right. We need to work on our stamina."
Lysithea didn't like then Hilda suddenly pressed a hand to her forehead and checked her temperature. "You okay, Lysy? That doesn't sound like you."
As the smaller girl growled and flailed her arms wildly to swat Hilda's hand away from her. "Get off of me! I can do exercise when there is a point to it! And this has a very good point! You all saw it for yourself, I almost vomited my own blood from over exertion!"
"Ahahaha… yeah, I felt a little queasy after that." Annette mumbled, prodding her fingers together. That's when Byleth clapped her hands together and nodded.
"Then it is settled. We have a month to prepare for the battle, so unfortunately that means that we are pressed for time. However, I managed to make a schedule that can condense what is normally six months of training into just a few weeks."
As she held out the schedule in front of the students, they all peered at it and slowly… they all started to go pale at what they were seeing.
"P-Professor you can't be serious… this is excessive!" Edelgard whimpered.
"I'm very much serious. It's my fault really, but I will make up for it. You all look ready and stretched, so we will start with a light jog. Hop to it!"
As she started jogging away, they all looked at her dumbfounded. "S-She isn't serious right!"
"Whoever falls behind doesn't get breakfast!"
"…She's serious."
"Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup! Come on everyone! We're almost there!"
"You said that twenty minutes ago!" Bernadetta screeched as her legs were on fire from the constant cardio. They were nowhere near the Monastery now. The students tried to figure where they were… it wasn't the Kingdom, it was way too warm for that. The Alliance, maybe? It was hard to say, since they were trying not to collapse. The only ones who were actually keeping up were Dimitri, Leonie and Petra. The rest were lagging behind.
"If I die… bury me with my blade." Felix grunted as he was sweating up a storm and silently cursing. And he wasn't the only one, Hilda was running with her arms almost level with her knees with how much she was slouching.
"Kill me… please kill me… I just wanted to develop techniques…"
"Just keep on running…" Edelgard wheezed out, while dragging Lysithea alongside her. "Otherwise, she might get ideas to make things even worse. And it's already tough as is. I don't want to imagine what is cooking up in that head of hers."
"Water… water…" Annette panted, as she and Bernadetta were the ones lagging behind and supporting each other. "Let's go Bernie… let's go… oh, just go on without me…"
"We… ride together… we… die together… Bernie won't let her friends be left behind!" Bernadetta said, both their hairs matted with sweat. Everyone was having a terrible time right now. Well, everyone except the three mentioned before that were doing alright.
"I am liking the feeling of the wind in my face. I am being surprised with how I am not feeling the exhaustion just yet." Petra smiled, despite having sweat building up, she was keeping at an even pace still alongside Leonie and Dimitri.
"I agree, its amazing how much of a difference you can feel when it comes to the training." Dimitri smiled. "Why, I honestly feel like I can keep going for several more miles if I'm honest!"
"DIMITRI, DO NOT GIVE HER IDEAS!" Hilda screeched loudly which caused the Prince to have a confused look and he turned to Leonie who was also keeping pace.
"Was it something that I said?"
"Ignore her, Dimitri. She's just not appreciating a good cardio workout." Leonie replied, but then she looked around and frowned.
"Where are we anyway? I know we have our theories but I'd like to have a concrete answer. More importantly, what is her plan with us?"
"Trust the Professor is the right course of action!" Petra said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right… just wonder what Flayn is doing instead since she isn't joining us."
"I'm not too sure about this, brother…"
"Flayn, you said it yourself. You wish to have a better grasp on your anger, and this is shown to help. Just give it a try and see if you like it."
Back at the Monastery, Flayn was in a classroom with various students and even certain staff members and nuns and monks who all were here for something that Shamir liked doing. It was actually the Archer who recommended Flayn give this a try. But even still, the green haired girl wasn't sure… but Seteth was right, she might as well give it a try, and he was going to be doing it alongside her so she didn't feel out of place.
That's when the doors opened to the classroom and Shamir stepped forward to the podium and rolled out a little mat. "Good morning everyone. For those who are returning, it's good to see you again. For any newcomers, I'll give you a brief explanation on what we're doing. This is a traditional exercise from Dagda called 'Yoga'. It has been known to help empty your mind as well as keep your body fresh and free of stress."
To start off the yoga, Shamir instructed everyone to take their boots and footwear off and stand on a mat that was on the floor. Flayn did so and smiled at how nice and soft the mat felt under her feet, and wriggled her toes on the material to get a better feel. She looked to her left and saw Seteth doing the same, and she couldn't help but let out a small giggle at how flustered he looked.
"Let's begin. First, I want you to place your left foot forward and extend your arms as you do so." Shamir said and showed off the pose that she meant and Flayn couldn't help but marvel at the stance that Shamir had. She supposed that it wouldn't be this hard, as she slowly started to copy what her instructor had shown and felt her muscles slowly start to stretch as she did so.
"Good, now I want everyone to take a deep breath in through your nose, and picture yourself inside a meadow filled with flowers."
Flayn did so and imagined her favourite flowers surrounding her while breathing in… and by Shamir's instructions slowly breathed out through her mouth.
'Huh… this actually feels nice…'
She felt at peace. A lot more than her normal breathing exercises that she had to normally do in order to suppress her anger. Honestly, this is something that she can get used to if it meant doing-
"Flayn."
Her eyes snapped open as she saw Shamir in front of her with an amused smirk as Flayn looked around at everyone staring at her, having been waiting to move onto the next pose. Blushing profusely, she stood up straight and looked at Shamir who snorted a little through her nose in amusement.
"It's fine Flayn. It's common for some people to get lost in their own mind. Though in your case, I've never had to actually shake someone out of their thoughts."
"Sorry… I'm ready to move on."
"Good. Try to focus. It's all good to feel relaxed but don't get too used to it. Not really a point to clearing your mind if you're lost in it, right?"
Flayn nodded and looked over to Seteth who gave her a thumbs up and a smile and she smiled back before waiting for Shamir's next instructions.
"Ha… ha… is it done? Please tell me it's done…"
That was more or less the students thoughts as they were collapsed on the ground panting heavily whilst a certain few were only sitting but still wheezing. And in front of them all, Byleth was standing over them all and smiled.
"Well done, my students. You managed to pass with flying colours. You should feel proud."
"I feel sick rather than proud…" Ashe whined.
And that's when the blue haired Saiyan clapped her hands together. "Right! Now that the warm up is finished, we can get started on the main bulk of today's exercise."
…
…
…
Everyone felt like their world was cracking and shattering as they heard those words come out of her mouth.
"Warm… up?" Bernadetta whimpered.
"I want to die." Annette bluntly stated as she didn't want to get up. But Byleth clapped her hands together once again.
"Come on everyone. Get yourselves up, and we can begin the next part of todays exercise."
She then pointed over to a mountain over in the distance. "Your objective is to-"
SMACK
"OW!" Leonie shouted, rubbing her hand as she had attempted to to grab the elixir out of Byleth's coat pocket but her tail had smacked the hand away.
"As I was saying, your objective is simple, you have to make it to the top of that mountain over there."
"Oh. Well that doesn't seem so bad." Ashe said to himself… but then Byleth continued speaking.
"And since we're packing a lot of training into one spot, I'm increasing the gravity hexes on your uniforms. By ten times the amount as before."
"WHAT?!" Lysithea screeched.
"WHY?!" Hilda screamed alongside the smaller girl.
"Didn't you just hear me? We're packing a lot of training into one spot." Byleth replied before holding out her hand and channeling the hex curse into each of their training uniforms. The familiar chains appeared for a split second before everyone groaned, suddenly feeling like they were going to collapse from all the strain.
"By the Goddess, this is too much even for me…" Dimitri muttered. "But… if this is for training, then it can't be helped."
Caspar however, had a different opinion and pointed at Byleth. "Why aren't you wearing weighted clothing?!"
"I am. It's a little more than your uniform since I have been doing this for a good few years. Would you like to hold it?"
"Yeah! I can do it!" Caspar yelled, and Byleth shrugged before taking her coat off and handed it over to the boy, who was thinking to himself that he was a genius. Because she just handed him the elixir on a silver platter.
'Sometimes my genius… it's almost frightening!'
As he grabbed the coat… and proceeded to collapse to the ground as the weight between his clothing and her coat was now too much and he groaned loudly under the weight before Byleth cleared her throat.
"By the way, are you looking for this?" She asked Caspar, as her tail was holding the bottle containing the elixir. "You have to try harder than that Caspar."
"Please… help…"
Snorting through her nose to contain her laugh, Byleth nonchalantly picked up the coat and placed it on her shoulders again before helping up Caspar.
"If we're all finished here, then we can begin with the next part. Try and keep up everyone!"
As she ran off, Edelgard narrowed her eyes at the elixir in Byleth's pocket.
'She's too damn slippery with that thing. How are we supposed to even come close to acquiring that?'
"Are you requiring help, Edelgard?"
Edelgard looked up to see Petra offering a hand and she looked at it for a few moments before nodding and taking the hand. "Yes, thank you. We need to think of a plan. To acquire that elixir."
As the group started running again, Petra pursed her lips in thought. "She has eyes everywhere, Edelgard. How are we going to success?"
"Succeed, Petra."
"Ah, my apologies. Thank you for telling me."
She narrowed her eyes at Byleth's retreating figure and nodded to Petra. "I'll think of a plan. For now, let's just survive this."
"That was a wonderful class, Shamir!" Flayn exclaimed. "I felt my negativity wash away a lot better than my usual exercises."
The yoga class had ended and Shamir waved off the compliments. "Think nothing of it, Flayn. I'm just glad that I can teach others the customs of Dagda. I knew it would help since I know you… struggle with your anger. Byleth has been trying to help but, she doesn't exactly have a good grasp on her emotions either."
Flayn tilted her head. "Oh? What do you mean? I always assumed that she doesn't show her emotions which meant that she had a good control over it."
"No, there's a difference between controlling your emotions and being unable to properly show it. Don't get me wrong, she has been getting better lately. But remember when you first met her? How she can barely smile?"
"I… suppose you are correct. Perhaps Professor Byleth can join us for yoga?"
"Hm. Maybe. I'll make sure to ask her when she returns."
That's when Seteth walked up to them and rolled his shoulders to loosen them. Shamir gave him a small nod as he stood next to Flayn.
"Thank you for taking part, Seteth. I'm sure that Flayn appreciated having you there for support."
"Well, I must admit, I was only there to be with Flayn at first, but the more I got into it, the more that I started to enjoy myself. You said this was a Dagda tradition?"
"Pretty much. It helped us clear our minds before any battles that we faced, but even the general population used it as a way to destress from any overwhelming emotions. But I'm glad you see the usefulness in it as well."
Seteth nodded in acknowledgment and then saw that the students were missing. "That's odd. Miss Byleth still hasn't returned with the students? It's almost afternoon. It shouldn't take that long to do a simple series of exercises."
"Oh, she didn't tell you?"
That's when the relaxation of yoga started to melt away and that familiar stress when dealing with the Saiyan came boiling back up. But he sighed and shook his head. "Tell me what?"
"Because of the past few months taking away valuable time from the training, Byleth had realised that we were on a time limit before the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Because of that, she's doing a very strict training regiment focusing on cardio." Shamir explained as she locked up the classroom that she was using for the class.
"Is that truly safe?" Flayn wondered.
"Wouldn't be surprised if she returns with body bags." Shamir said and Seteth looked at her.
"That's a joke, right?"
…
"RIGHT?!"
"Brother, your eye is twitching."
"And that'll do for now." Byleth declared as she had her hands on her hips, appreciating the view of the land before her as they had managed to make it to the top of the mountain. Hearing groaning and panting, she turned to see every single one of the students had collapsed from the sheer exhaustion.
"Okay, now for the next part of the training."
"WHAT CAN IT POSSIBLY BE NOW?!" Hilda screeched.
But then a blanket got thrown at her face as Byleth rolled out her own under a tree. "The nap."
"Oh. Well, that I will gladly take." Hilda said, now springing up with newfound energy at being able to take a nap. But then she looked around and frowned.
"Really? Here? We don't even have tents."
"We have shade, and that is good enough for us." Byleth explained, and that's when Edelgard spoke up.
"Pardon me Professor, not that we're not grateful for this-"
"Because believe me, we are!" Caspar shouted.
Edelgard gave him a look before continuing. "But I though you said that it was going to be an intense routine. Won't this lose out on our schedule- MMMMMMPPHHH?"
Claude had his hand over her mouth in an attempt to shut her up and not continue this insane training regiment for the time being. But Byleth smiled and shook her head.
"I apologise for pushing everyone. In some sense, I can see the logic, Edelgard. But even the most intense training requires rest, and that's what we're going to do. Just appreciate the quiet nature around us. So lay out your blankets everyone and get some rest, and just appreciate it."
She patted the spot next to her and Edelgard stiffened slightly, feeling her cheeks dust red. Which was quickly replaced by annoyance when Claude shoved her towards the Saiyan. He waved with a cheeky grin and went to lay next to Hilda.
"Is everything okay, Edelgard?" Byleth asked.
"Everything is fine, my teacher. I have to admit, I am just a little tired."
"Oh? A little tired, huh? Perhaps we should get some more training done-"
"No! That won't be necessary!" As Edelgard plopped onto the blanket with a loud THUD. As soon she and the rest of the students did this, they felt the exhaustion and aches come up almost immediately and groaned unceremoniously.
"Okay students, let's get some rest."
"That's the best thing I've heard all morning…" Annette groaned… as one by one, they all felt sleep take over and smiled, feeling the peaceful nature overtake them. Perhaps training wasn't so bad, when they got to have moments such as this. Byleth smiled too, but at the look of the students being so at ease. Sothis appeared beside her and also smiled.
'Who knew that you had such a soft side? Oh, who am I kidding? You always have. But aren't you worried about the elixir being taken?'
'Not really. They're too exhausted.'
She looked over to everyone fast asleep with smiles on their faces and nodded, before closing her eyes and letting sleep overtake herself.
"So… you are just another failure."
Byleth opened her eyes to find herself in an underground place and finding… herself once again with green hair. It was always with green hair. But why did Rhea look angry? Wait… she started to remember. It was like that other dream. Where she and Shamir had that red aura. Would this explain why the Archbishop hated her?
Future Byleth narrowed her eyes as she was in front of Edelgard, her sword pointed at Rhea as the student had a big look of surprise. As if this wasn't something she thought would actually happen. Wait. Why did that armour she wore look… familiar?
"Professor…"
But Future Byleth retained that fiery glare towards Rhea, who was shaking with rage. "Perhaps I am a failure. But I won't let you harm my students. On that, I can promise you death if you so much as touch them."
"…Very well. Then I will tear out my mothers heart and start again!"
With that final promise, Rhea let out a primal roar as a green aura enveloped her. Future Byleth looked behind her and shouted to Edelgard.
"Stay close to me! And remember your training!"
"….Yes, my teacher!"
Suddenly, the dream seemed to freeze in place. Just like every other one before that. But this time, Byleth knew who was here.
"You keep on showing me these visions. But you don't exactly provide context. Am I destined to fight the Archbishop?"
That's when her future version appeared in front of her, looking even more battle damaged than before. She had a nasty scar on her cheek now and seemed to struggle with controlling her breathing.
"Yes and no." Future Byleth stated. "This is just one of many possible timelines."
"Timelines? I don't understand… why can't you help me instead of just showing me things that I don't even know about?"
"Because the timeline you're in right now is completely new." Future Byleth replied. "We've never done something like this before. What I have been showing you are past attempts in trying to make things right. But it always ends the same."
"…That monster that you keep fighting, right?"
"Precisely. I do have a little bit of advice for you."
Byleth tilted her head at her future self who looked conflicted. "I'm listening."
"It might be too late. She might be dead or away from Fodlàn or even working with the enemy. But you need to find Shez."
"Wait, Shez? That mercenary who tried to fight me?"
"You may not think it, but she will be a valuable ally. You just need to convince her to fight by your side."
"That doesn't sound like it will be easy. If I remember her, the last thing she did before I left was scream vengeance-"
"I FOUND YOU….."
Future Byleth froze and drew her Sword of the Creator facing what was behind her and the present version saw the massive shadow looming over the two.
"Just trust me! Break the cycle!"
"Wait! I still have questions!"
"Professor? You fast asleep?"
Byleth slowly opened her eyes and saw the students all looking at her. Frowning at the dream she just had, she slowly shook her head.
"Sorry students, I must've been more at peace than I thought." She then stood up and brushed off the grass that stuck to her pants and put on her coat.
"How late are we?"
"Not that much Teach." Claude said, sitting on a rock and looking up at the clouds. "Just twenty minutes more than the rest of us."
"Good. And who tried to take the Elixir?"
Claude shrugged and kept on staring at the clouds. "I don't think anyone did-"
But Felix butt in and narrowed his eyes at the Golden Deer leader. "This one tried to on multiple occasions but your tail kept him at bay. That's why he's looking up at the clouds, to hide the other side of his face."
"His face? What do you mean?" Byleth asked.
That's when Claude turned his face and Byleth saw the massive black eye currently standing proud and tall as Hilda dabbed water onto the sore spot. "Yeah, your tail picks a hell of a punch, Teach."
"…Right. Well, you all seem to be very eager to get this Elixir."
"Well you did say it would give us unspeakable power." Edelgard replied, and nodded to Petra who nodded back as her tattoos started glowing. "Why wouldn't we try to take it? That's the challenge, correct?"
"You are correct." Byleth said with her back turned to Petra and the Brigid princess narrowed her eyes as an eagle formed on her hand as she sent it towards the bottle that Byleth was holding. "I have to admit, you are all performing exceptionally to acquire the bottle."
The eagle stretched out it's talons to grab the bottle and Edelgard bit the inside of her cheek in anticipation. This was it! They had her.
"Unfortunately, there is one thing you all don't do well."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
Byleth then smirked and to everyone's shock, threw the bottle in the air and stretched out her hand firing a Ki blast which destroyed Petra's eagle and saw Edelgard jump to grab the bottle but she wasn't paying attention to the fact that she made herself vulnerable. And that's when Byleth made that fact painfully clear when she thrusted her fist deep inside the Adrestian Princess' stomach which caused her to wheeze in pain, doubling over as Byleth then ducked to avoid a punch from Petra and stuck her leg high up in the air to make her foot collide with Petra' chin.
Both girls collapsed onto the ground whimpering in pain and clutching the area that they were hit as Byleth then stuck out her arm and caught the bottle in her hand before tucking it away in her coat pocket.
"You lack subtlety. Next time you try to make plans on how to take the Elixir, try not to be as obvious."
"Noted… my Teacher… oh, I feel sick…"
"Okay. Does anybody else have any plans to take the Elixir?"
Silence surrounded the area as the students all shuffled nervously, having been caught out. Pursing her lips, Byleth nodded to herself. "Okay. Seems that we're going to have to go to the extreme. So I'll make it simple and remind everyone. Only one person gets the Elixir. No sharing. So I want everyone to keep coming at me with everything you got. Or else I might just have to drink it myself."
The students all looked at each other and then understood the assignment. They couldn't team up at all. It was every person for themselves. Only one of them was going to get this Elixir. That's when Byleth continued explaining.
"I'll repeat myself. Every second that we are training, you have to try and take this bottle away from me. Hold nothing back, use every trick in the book. Because in the battlefield, you never know who is going to play dirty in order to achieve a win, so you must think outside the box-"
She quickly sidestepped away from a ball of wind magic appearing out of the ground that was an attempt to throw her off her feet and smirked at Annette. "And once again. Be more subtle."
"Dang it!" Annette punched her knees in frustration and pointed at Felix. "This is all your fault!"
"What?! How is it my fault?!"
"Because you're evil!"
"Damn woman…"
With that lecture over, Byleth turned around and waved at the students to follow her back to the Monastery. As they all jogged back, Edelgard glared at Dimitri and Claude. "That Elixir is mine."
"Oh? Are you suggesting we… up the stakes to make things more interesting?" Claude asked with a sly grin which made both Edelgard and Dimitri nervous.
"Whenever you say something like that, it never ends well."
"Ah come on, it's just a friendly wager. Don't worry, I won't involve our positions of power in our respective lands, just contained to the Monastery."
Edelgard pursed her lips before narrowing her eyes. "Name your wager."
"Wha- Edelgard!" Dimitri sputtered but Claude just grinned in response.
"I'll keep it simple. If I get the Elixir, I want a 30 minute session where I get to ask you any question I want about you as a person."
"Nothing about my position as Princess."
"Nope. I just want to know the girl beneath the mask is all."
Dimitri didn't look convinced at this… but then Edelgard spoke up. "If I win and receive the Elixir, then you have to not conjure up any schemes or tricks for the rest of the month. Last thing we need before the Eagle and Lion is you trying to sabotage."
"Why, I am hurt Edelgard! I can't believe you would accuse me of such a thing!"
His only response was two unimpressed looks from his fellow leaders and he shrugged. "Fair enough. It's a deal, Princess."
As the two shook hands, all three then glared at the bottle currently being held by their Professor. Dimitri then spoke up.
"We hold back for now. It's too hot right now so she will be on edge."
"Agreed."
"Very good idea."
However, some of the other students didn't share that same mindset. As Annette was leaning over to Leonie and whispered.
"I have an idea!"
"Great…"
"Well, here we are. Back at Garret Mach Monastery." Byleth announced but then frowned when she heard no sounds behind her. And when she turned to see, a sweat drop formed on her head when she saw all the students on the ground almost passed out.
"Water… I need… water… plan… failed…" Annette wheezed out.
"What even was the plan?!" Leonie shouted out.
"Shush… water…"
Byleth pursed her lips at the display and wondered if maybe she pushed them just a little too hard… but then she saw Annette move. Ah, so it was a fake out.
"The Elixir is mine!" The Blue Lionette screamed lunging for the bottle but was then met with a knee to the stomach, causing her to heave loudly and fall to the ground clutching her stomach.
"Curses! My plan really did fail!"
"….THAT WAS YOUR PLAN?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
"Leonie, stop being meeeeaaaan! It was a perfect plan!"
As the two continued bickering with Annette weeping over her failure, Byleth let out a sigh and decided perhaps enough was enough for today.
"Get some rest, my students. We will continue this in the morning. I expect the same again and remember what I said. Only one person can get this Elixir."
With the students all picking themselves up and some going to the dining hall to get refreshments and others going straight to bed (some to scheme) Byleth had to go to where Rhea always was to find out more about this Eagle and Lion battle and whether anything else was going to happen. To her surprise, barely anybody was around. Not even her father, Seteth and Flayn were around. But then she opened the doors to where Rhea was and chewed the inside of her cheek.
Rhea still had that look every time she looked at her metal arm. She tried to hide it but Byleth always noticed. But just as quickly as it appeared, it went away as she smiled.
"Greetings, Byleth."
"Archbishop. I have a question about this Eagle and Lion battle thing. What is it actually about?"
"Oh. I was under the impression that you already knew about it. But no matter, I can give you a quick recap on what the event is about."
As Rhea explained about the history of the battle, Byleth's mind raced back to that dream she had. It was fuzzy now since it was quite a few hours ago, but she managed to pick up two messages.
'Find Shez. Break the cycle.'
Now the first one was simple enough. Even though she thought it was a lost cause as that woman probably had the biggest hatred for her but her future self seemed to value Shez as an ally. And now that Byleth really thought about it, she went toe to toe with her and was able to keep up even if for a short while. But that also raised a new issue. Actually trying to find Shez.
If she was like any other Mercenary, she would be travelling all over Fódlan and possibly beyond. Byleth wouldn't know where to even start looking for Shez even with the advantage of flying.
'Perhaps we have to put this on the back burner for now. At least until we get a moment to ourselves and figure out where this Shez character is.' Sothis spoke from her side and Byleth hummed in response.
Okay so that was one task figured out. But now came one that left more questions and barely any answers.
Break the cycle.
What did that mean? What cycle? Did that have something to do with that strange being that her future self was always fighting-
"Byleth?"
She blinked and saw Rhea looking at her with a concerned look. Oh, right. The Eagle and Lion. But she couldn't reveal that she wasn't listening so she just smiled and bowed.
"Thank you, Lady Rhea. I think I have everything I need now. I will be taking my leave now."
Without waiting for an answer, she left the chambers and looked at her metal arm… before clenching the fist.
'I will do it. I'll break the cycle. I'll make sure they are all ready for what is to come.'
"Get behind her!"
"Caspar, stop announcing our plans-"
WHAM!
CRACK!
"Ow… pain…"
A few weeks had passed since this intense cardio training had begun, and Byleth was putting all the students through the wringer, as evidenced by the piles of bodies belonging to the students and their various plans to take the Elixir off of her, with Caspar and Hilda being the newest additions to the pile. As Byleth then turned her attention to Bernadetta who froze in place.
"It appears that you are the only one left. Sorry Bernie, but I can't play favourites."
She started backing up as Byleth approached menacingly, her tail wiggling as if she was a predator playing its prey. Bernadetta was panicking and looked frantically to her left and to her right and found that she was backed against a tree trunk and when Byleth was straight in front of her, and without thinking she swiped her hands in front of her.
"Not the face! Not the face!"
But… nothing came. Instead, she opened her eyes to find that Byleth was looking at her with a face full of surprise. Why was she looking at her like that? And as she looked around she saw the rest of the students looking at her in shock whilst picking themselves up.
"What's wrong? W-Why is everybody staring at me? Bernie did nothing wrong!"
"Uhhh, Bernadetta?" Hilda slowly pointed at her hand and gestured for the smaller girl to look. As Bernadetta slowly looked down and saw…
…the Elixir in her hand.
"I… I won?"
"She won?!" Felix exclaimed as he realised Bernadetta had used that same technique that she used against him.
But Byleth just smiled proudly and nodded. "You won."
"…I won. I WON!"
As Bernadetta laughed loudly in glee and danced around happily, twirling around with the Elixir before uncorking it and started to guzzle down the liquid… before stopping.
"Wait, what?"
Edelgard frowned and approached the timid girl. "What's wrong, Bernadetta? Do you feel any different?"
"…It's water."
"Come again?"
"It's just water!"
"What? There's no way!" Annette exclaimed and took the bottle before taking a swig and her eyes widened.
"IT IS! WHAT THE HECK?!"
The teens all turned to Byleth for an explanation and she just smiled in return and took the bottle from Annette before turning it upside down and poured the liquid out, and sure enough, it was just regular spring water.
"I apologise for misleading you all. Yes, it is true. There is no secret Elixir that can make you strong."
"But why? Why make us go through all that effort and all that planning just to mislead us?" Edelgard asked and Byleth raised an eyebrow.
"Come on now, Edelgard. Surely you can see the reason. All of you can."
That confused them, but that's when they noticed that… they did feel stronger and the weighted clothing felt lighter already. With that realisation, Byleth continued.
"It is all part of the lesson. That there are no shortcuts to strength, it all comes through hard work. While yes, some of us are more at an advantage due to our biology, or our Crests, the fact of the matter is that you work hard to reach your strength. And thanks to said hard work, you have all managed to build up your stamina exceptionally."
"I don't particularly like being mislead… but I suppose that I cannot argue with the results." Felix mumbled as he did note how his stamina had increased ten fold.
"Now then, your stamina is up to my satisfaction, so I can happily say that you have passed the endurance test."
They all had looks of hope in their faces as Annette had stars in her eyes. "Does that mean that we can develop our techniques?!"
"Not quite. We will stick to the endurance training but we can spare two days to develop techniques. After all, we only have a few weeks until the battle starts."
"…GOOD ENOUGH!" She cheered, throwing her fists in the air.
Byleth smiled again and then took a stance. "Right, my students. From where we left off. Come at me."
Now with a newfound fire in their eyes, the students all took their stances too. And Dimitri smirked.
"If that is what you wish, Professor."
"GO!" She yelled as the students all rushed her.
And that's a wrap. Join us next time everyone for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. It'll be interesting this time around since students on each side are super powered. Who's going to win? Who knows.
See you all then!