Chapter 84: The Storm

Byleth wasn't even certain that Goetia would have agreed, he looked as though he had been in the middle of discussing something with Hapi before she arrived, though discussion might have been a generous way of phrasing it, especially since Hapi herself looked as though she had been moments from lunging at Goetia and trying to strangle him.

She wasn't entirely certain what he had said but whatever it had been was able to placate her in the moments before Byleth arrived, but the anger was still clear as day, even to her. Then again, Hapi was blunt as well. She said what she thought and stood by it when it counted so she could appreciate that. Regardless, Goetia agreeing to speak with her immediately came as something of…

…It was difficult to decide whether it was relief or disappointment.

Sure, relief in the sense that he immediately agreed to speak with her in regards to something that he didn't actually know yet, but there was something else there. The speed at which he agreed was disconcerting, he had all but dismissed Hapi when they had presumably been in the middle of something, not even sparing her a glance as he told her to return to Abyss and that he would arrive shortly.

It was strange to see just how much importance he placed on their conversation, unless she was reading into it and it was just experiences like with Rhea showing favouritism that had somewhat affected how she perceived people dropping things just for her. Perhaps she was just getting ahead of herself and Goetia had concluded whatever business he had with Hapi and she just arrived at the opportune moment to speak with him.

That was possible.

That was certainly preferable to the alternative that Goetia was dropping everything just for her, because that would invite her mind back to the strange goings on of his previous interactions with her. He'd always seemed open to speaking with her, this time seemed as though it would be no different. Actually, she had yet to think of a time where he declined to converse with her about something. Either herself or Sothis.

Though, for whatever reason, they were not heading back to the Monastery or teleporting somewhere. Instead, Goetia turned on his heel and told her to follow him as they walked through the streets. At first, she assumed they would be heading out of the town given how far they had walked, but Goetia had curbed that thought when he took several twists and turns and she found herself in front of a small building on the backend of the street.

Not so out of the way that travellers would have missed it, but just enough that it wasn't within the limelight. She could see the signs, of course, of it being a family run or small place for getting food. She had seen enough of them in the other towns and villages she had visited in the past. But what she couldn't quite wrap her head around was why Goetia was coming here of all places for them to speak.

Was he just hungry or something?

"I cannot dismiss the possibility myself." Sothis spoke in a supporting tone of voice, though Byleth could detect the confusion within the tone of the Goddess as well. Evidently, she was not the only one surprised by this course of action. Humming, the Goddess continued onwards. "Still, the location makes little difference. Goetia will likely use one of his parlour tricks and conceal the conversation from the outside world once he is alerted to what it is we intend to discuss."

That was probably true enough.

Goetia entered the cafe first, a slight bell ringing above his head as he did so and glancing around. Moving in further and allowing Byleth to follow him inside, hearing a young voice as she did so.

"Welcome to the-" Byleth turned her attention to the voice as she entered, a young girl - likely around the age of her own students - cut herself short in the midst of a sentence and stared at her. Tied up blonde hair done into a ponytail, a light dusting of freckles and hazel coloured eyes. For some reason, her eyes darted between Byleth and Goetia for several seconds. She assumed that Goetia had been here before, unless she just wasn't expecting the two of them to enter.

Then again, they both had strangely coloured hair now, so perhaps that was it.

"A colleague from the Monastery. We are to discuss matters of work." Goetia spoke up in an almost bored tone of voice as he moved across the room, the blonde jolted at his voice and then fixed her eyes onto him in surprise. "And my relationship with your friend is cordial at best, there is nothing more to it than the single instance of our meeting with one another." he stopped just shy of the table, then turned his head to stare at the blonde one final time. "...Though I shall remain for some time, I suspect. A sweep apple blend. If any are available."

Byleth could feel the surprise of Sothis through the link, her own brows rose a fraction of an inch as she stared at the back of Goetia's head. It was only when the expectant face of the girl fell onto her that she realised that they were subtly asking for her order as well. She wasn't sure how long the conversation would go on for, and it had been some time since she drank something.

"Mint." She replied with, then recalled her manners before adding on as an afterthought. "Please." They were neither in a pub nor was this her first time entering civilization for weeks in a camp. She could indulge in some basic decency. Also she was sure Sothis would have had words with her if she didn't use her manners.

Composing herself, the blonde offered her a single nod of the head as the smile returned to her face. Some life coming back into her words as she spoke. "Of course, we'll be as quick as we can with your orders. Please, don't hesitate to ask for anything else you might like." Byleth would have expected the girl to leave after saying that, though she remained around for a split second and aimed a blatantly suspicious look at Goetia for a short moment, then turned around and walked back to the direction of the kitchen, disappearing through the doors.

Byleth used the silence to survey her environment. It was a relatively small establishment, she would have called it cramped but it was a converted home, enough tables for a few groups of two or three but nothing extensive. Not like the taverns she had seen and it felt like it was entirely different. Not even like the downstairs eatery in the lodgings they were staying in further in the town.

The sound of wood being pulled against the floor caught her ears, Goetia dragged out a chair and then sat himself down in the corner of the room right next to the window. Just far enough that it was mostly out of earshot if they kept their voices down and would only be seen if someone either peered through the window to stare at them or made a point of looking around the room. There wasn't much cover for them in here so they would be spotted regardless of where they ended up sitting, unfortunate but evidently unavoidable.

Goetia glanced at her for a split second, then returned his eyes to the seat opposite, it was difficult to get a read on his expression at the best of times but something felt different about him. Not like all the other times where they had spoken, it was like a subtle feeling around him, as though he had gotten taller. There was a coldness in his eyes that wasn't there before, like he had looked right through her rather than at her.

Taking a seat opposite him, it felt as though she was sitting near someone completely different. She could well have been imagining it but there was still that eerie presence in his eyes. Like he wasn't seeing her but someone else.

Silence presided for several seconds before Goetia spoke up. "You were the one who requested this audience with me. If you did so merely to stare in silence then you could have saved us both the effort of this trip." Despite that, he didn't sound as though he was annoyed. "Though I will admit a distraction might be suited for me at the moment, dealing with those in Abyss has been tiresome."

She raised a brow "Tiresome?"

"Everything is so…slow." He explained, though even he looked put off by the wording, shaking his head and exhaling. "That is not the correct word, I am used to patience, but this is not the same type of delay. This is different, I am perfectly prepared and yet I am waiting for others to match their step with mine. I spent so much time in the company of those who could understand my intentions and act accordingly that with their presence I am…forced to bend my own pace to those around me."

He looked rather concerned, the presence slipped for a brief moment and it seemed as though something clouded through his eyes for a split second before it quickly faded. Replaced by the cold orbs once more. "Yet I shall endure, I have already committed myself to this. Though if Sothis should question me, you may put her mind at ease with the knowledge that I did approach those of Abyss and lay clear my plans for them and they accepted. The arrangement is less than I hoped, but more than I expected."

Giving a single confident nod of the head, he hummed to himself "For now, it shall suffice."

Sure enough, Sothis chose that moment to manifest just next to her, Goetia's eyes trailed from her to the Goddess with a deliberate slowness about him. Soon followed by a tilt of the head. "I would have thought you to have remained within Byleth's mind. Our last interaction left me with the impression that you were disturbed by the revelations of your origin. I assumed you would have been deliberating on those further."

Humming, he straightened his head out once more. "Seeing you present is something of note. Perhaps you have acquired the human trait of burying your true feelings in favour of a different goal." his eyes returned to Byleth and narrowed in clear suspicion. "Yet you are both present, meaning this is a question that you both share in regards to me? Surely this is not more concern aimed at the likes of Abyss."

Byleth shook her head from side to side. "It's not about Abyss. But it is about you and me."

Goetia blinked "Yourself and I? This is not a topic I had predicted but I suppose it would have occurred at some point." he adjusted himself in his seat, his expression changed and turned almost superior. Like the sort of ones that Rhea would wear when she first met the woman, this distant expression of knowing. "Very well. Given that you called for this meeting, I can entertain whatever curiosity has formed within your mind."

In that case, it would be better to come right out and say it.

She leaned forwards, furrowing her brows. "What is a Demi-Servant?"

What happened next wasn't quite what she had expected, for a moment she thought she stopped time given the way that Goetia froze up. Yet that was dismissed in the split second after, he resumed movement but his expression twisted for a moment, first into what she assumed was disgust, then something else flashed through his eyes that she had seen before. She saw it when Rhea and Jeralt talked about Sitri; she saw it on Ashe after the incident with Lonato.

Deep sadness welled in his eyes, an extreme she had not seen from him before, and then it was crushed. The tensing of Goetia's shoulders alerted her that he was guarded, drawing himself back from the table just a touch, pinching his features tight to restrain any emotion and then clearing it entirely from his face. His jaw rolled from side to side, eyes flickering between herself and Sothis several times.

When he did eventually speak, it was in a measured tone of voice that Byleth would have almost called guarded. "...Where did you hear of that term-" he cut himself off before Byleth could answer and closed his eyes, one sharp intake of breath later he spoke a name so lowly she barely even heard it, barely. But she heard it all the same. "Sitri."

The manner in which he spoke the name could have almost been regarded as spiteful but there was something else there. Perhaps regret or sorrow? She was working off the emotions she could hear as his face remained difficult to read. His words sounded sad but that didn't mean he was sad. Then again, Sitri - the strange Demon thing - had been one of his people and apparently one of the last of them as well. So she doubted he would ever get over something like that. Ashe probably wasn't over the death of Lonato yet either.

His eyes opened back up once more, a dullness within them as though all the life had been drained from his eyes. They looked empty, even. "What purpose do you even need to know about Demi-Servants?" he asked in a blunt tone of voice, borderline dismissive. It was difficult to understand if he was genuinely asking her a question or if it was merely rhetorical. "It is not a subject that will affect you…it is not a subject that will affect you any further than it already has. Many of the caveats have not affected you and so long as Sothis declines to make her possession permanent, it will change very little."

Grunting, he shook his head and looked away from her. "The knowledge serves you little purpose and it would be better if you thought nothing more on this topic-"

"No."

Goetia froze, he blinked once and then twice, then slowly turned his head back to face her, brows pinched together and eyes narrowed. "No?" He repeated her words back to her with clear disbelief, as though he was having trouble understanding what she was telling him. For that matter, she was having trouble understanding what his problem was with it, unless Sothis was right and there was a personal connection with this 'Demi-Servant' thing.

She nodded once. "No. I am want to hear about it and I am going to hear about it-"

"Are you?" He cut her off sharply, looking her up and down before clicking his tongue under his breath and adjusting himself in his seat, gesturing to her with his left arm. "You can make all the claims you wish to but it changes nothing. I have no obligation to tell you anything about this topic, even if I had even the barest reason to do so, I have neither the interest in delving into that subject. You can infer what you will through common sense if Sitri referred to you by that."

Byleth felt her own brows pinch together, somewhat grateful that Sothis had neglected to say anything so far. She could see the Goddess out of the corner of her eye with an expression surprisingly bereft of emotion, but Byleth was feeling something else at the moment. If she was to say, it would be closer to a state of annoyance or perhaps anger. Yes, anger would be a good word for what she was feeling right now.

Her jaw subtly clenched. "How long have you known what I was?"

Goetia frowned "Did I not make this apparent when we first encountered one another in Remire or when I explained as such days ago during that little revelation you went through." his answer was delivered with absolute seriousness. "There was never a moment in which I wasn't aware of what you were."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't even know you." Goetia shot back with a clear note of exasperation as though she was being troublesome, it felt as though he was looking at her like she was an unruly child or something. Though her face remained as solid as stone, she could feel it building up behind her. The growing irritation at his blatant dismissal of things which had caused her and her father no end of problems since they arrived here, whether obvious or subtle. Everything all came back to her relation with Sothis which could have been explained much earlier if she was understanding this correctly. Or maybe she was wrong.

He waved a hand "I do not make it a habit to involve myself with the business of strangers without some reason for my time. We exchanged a single conversation because I was mildly curious about your nature but that was the extent of my interest. I had no way of knowing why you were at the time and even if I did, what reason would I have to approach you and explain it?" he curled his lip "And that is with the assumption that you would have believed me, the word of a strange man in a continent where those of my appearance are treated with suspicion and hostility."

"You don't care about any of that though." She countered him swiftly, she knew him well enough to know that his words barely even counted as an excuse. She wasn't going to deny that there had been some hostility aimed at Goetia in the same way that there was hostility aimed at Dedue, but the pair of them let the treatment just wash over them. Dedue was used to it and Goetia…Goetia probably treated it as though it was a child learning to throw insults at him. "Neither do I."

Closing his eyes, Goetia shook his head from side to side "This is not a discussion about your tolerance of the other races or your complete apathy towards them. This is a topic about that which is not worth mentioning." he reiterated with a faint edge in his voice, almost like a warning. Yet Byleth was not going to back down now. "This line of inquiry serves no purpose and knowing it will not help you-"

"It will help me know what I am." Byleth rebuked him swiftly, pointing towards her chest "And what about after you got to know me? Did it not matter then either? What was the reason for not telling me what I was then or what Sothis was."

Goetia frowned "I told you, it did not interest me-"

"You said you would help." Byleth's words brought silence across the table. The expression of Goetia froze mid sentence and then reverted back to a blank look. "I came to you, we both did. Multiple times and talked about my condition. You knew all about it and said nothing." her hands slowly clenched into fists. "...If you didn't care, then you should have just told me. But I kept going back because I thought you would at least speak plainly with me."

"...I did not lie-"

"Lie of omission is still a lie." Her left hand unclenched as she pointed a finger at him. "The Sword of the Creator. Did you know what it was when you saw it?"

"...Yes."

"But you didn't tell Sothis."

Goetia frowned "Tell her what? That you were wielding her mangled remains like some manner of primitive club?" scoffing loudly, he leaned back into his seat and waved his hand. "No. Whether you realise it or not, my choice to keep Sothis ignorant while I studied her behaviour was the correct decision. Dealing with Gods, even a weakened one, is still cause for concern and I was not…" he fell silent for a moment, then glanced down. "...My abilities are not as extensive as they were. Caution was required in approaching-"

Sothis expression flickered, something passing through her eyes before her arms slowly uncrossed themselves. She leaned forwards and spoke in a tone almost like that of a whisper. "Were…were you afraid of me?"

He turned on her in a heartbeat, perhaps less than given as though his head looked as though it went from one still image to the next. Eyes narrowed in clear irritation before he spoke in a barely restrained tone of annoyance. "Do not think too highly of yourself. I worked along the principle that you were a Divine Spirit as opposed to a complete deity. Even in your weakened state, you were capable of reversing linear time and then altering the events with trivial ease, something you have continually demonstrated your ability to do so."

Leaning back, he rolled his jaw. "I was not afraid of you, I was concerned as to what else you were capable of. Not to mention the peculiarity of Byleth wielding such a power. I knew there was an element of strong divinity within her, but I had little to no way of knowing if she was a human or a Divine Spirit masquerading as one." his eyes turned to her for a brief second. "Though at present, she is a Divine Spirit through her mere association with you. Wielding your authority as though it was her own has elevated her to a rank above that of the mundane."

Exhaling, he looked back at Sothis with a clearly insulted expression. "No. I was not afraid of you. I merely utilised the most cautious approach with a Divine Spirit."

Byleth frowned "And after?"

"...A divine spirit or God does not just lose their memories without good cause." Goetia remarked, pressing his index finger into the table to punctate his sentence. "My time in Fodlan has been little more than months, during that time I understood this land still existed within the Age of Gods yet I was not accosted by a single divine being until I encountered you. Neither the emissary of a God nor them directly." his shoulders lowered "Granted, I took to concealing my presence as best I could but even I cannot completely conceal my status from a God and word of mouth should have reached them just as easily."

Thinning his lips, he waved his hand "So my reason for your continued ignorance was a result of the strange environment. The lack of divinities until I stumble upon one who does not even seem aware of her own status was peculiar. It was a safer option to keep you under surveillance until I could be certain of what your status within this continent was…" he paused for a moment as he looked Sothis in the eye, then returned to her. "Once I could ascertain your threat to me and others, I sent you on your way to learn the true extent of your reputation. Hence why I asked you to inquire of the name of the Goddess from the one we believed to be Aelfric at the time."

…That made sense in a strange sort of way, Goetia was dealing with an unknown and she supposed their…she couldn't call it a friendship, but a cordial relation with one another, had only been somewhat recent and likely was the factor that contributed to Goetia actually pointing them in the right direction. Though he didn't outright tell them once he learned, he had ensured they found out. She could understand all that from a pragmatic standpoint, keep the unknown under watch until you're certain it isn't a threat.

With all of that being said, however…

"But you knew I wasn't actually a Goddess and that Sothis heart was inside me." Byleth stated after a moment, Goetia's expression remained like a statue. "You said it was a physical core which wasn't normal for Divine Spirits." It was a good thing she had an excellent memory for this sort of thing, though the fact Goetia had called her status unusual should have clued her in a little more. Still, better late than never.

Goetia nodded once. "...I did say that, yes. And I was aware of the peculiarity of your situation." his eyes lowered themselves towards her chest, she could have commented on his blatant leering but she knew that wasn't what he was looking at. "That Divine Core is your link with Sothis and serves as her anchor in this world…but you didn't need me to point out the obvious-"

"But you had encountered something like me before." Byleth jumped in, bringing her right hand up and pressing it over her heart. Feeling the pounding silence within her chest as she did so, it had never been louder. "You…the other Sitri called me a Divine Demi-Servant…which means you also knew what I was."

Goetia's expression twisted for a second before he brought his arm up, reaching towards his head and running his hand over his face, letting out a small sigh as he did so. "This again? Besides, the Demi-Servant I encountered once before was entirely different to your situation and you have none of the…drawbacks." he muttered quietly, Byleth thought he was leaving something out when he said that.

Lowering the hand to the table, he finished "This entire conversation is pointless. I shall admit that I concealed some of the facts from you but I considered it to be not just in your best interest but the best interest of those at the Monastery as well." he frowned "A God roaming the land is one thing, but a God who has barely a few months worth of memories and does not have even the faintest concept of how to wield that power totally? You would have become a danger to yourself and others if I informed you of what you were and sent you on your way."

His lips thinned. "I am not one to gamble on such tests of faith."

Byleth rolled her jaw, she would have spoken but Sothis rushed in first. "So you decided that you alone would act as the guardian of humanity and shield them from the potential dangers of whatever I could do."

The Goddess's voice was toneless, bringing her arms up and staring down at Goetia from the end of her nose. "You, who proclaim time and time again how little you care for humanity, how constantly they disappoint you, decided that you would not even spare the time to share but a single conversation with me before you handed down judgement on what was in my own best interests?" her expression grew tighter the longer she talked. "With the full knowledge that I was stumbling around, desperate for some clue as to who I truly was…you were there with the greatest pieces to the puzzle of my identity and you just…watched? A result of your own inability to place your faith in my own strength of mind?"

Goetia crinkled his face at her, looking as though he had just heard something stupid. "Strength of mind? You who took command of Byleth's body for days and had to come to my barely awakened person and beg me for aid?" Sothis winced at the blunt accusation that flew from his lips. "Your strength of mind was precisely the problem. A title without experience, you would have flung yourself headlong into a whatever situation arose and Byleth would have suffered the price for this act of negligence-"

"Oh? So now it is for the benefit of Byleth?" Sothis scoffed, rolling her eyes at him before they narrowed. "Thank goodness she can have allies such as you to care for her when she is clearly incapable of doing so for herself. Is that truly what motivated you forwards? You saw Byleth and feared for her life that she would become nothing more than a puppet to my divine will?"

"Yes." Goetia outright hissed with more venom than she had ever heard before, Sothis even jolted in surprise at the pure hatred in his tone of voice. "One does not go through the process of making a Demi-Servant, the cost of crafting the perfect vessel to contain a Heroic Spirit - let alone a Divine Spirit - because the wellbeing of the host was in their best interest."

He looked to Byleth "I sensed your inactive core and I did approach you, I did so with simple curiosity at first. I did not know how you came into possession of such a thing and I truly did not have much in the way of care. Not until you wielded time like a club, then my curiosity grew further and I followed in your steps back here…then this land surprised me further because of the Phantasmals currently leading a religion dedicated to the worship of you." he flickered his eyes to Sothis for a split second as he aimed the latter part of the sentence at her.

"I knew Rhea was involved in some capacity." He confessed "But of all the conclusions I arrived at, that was the least surprising given her blatant favouritism of you, but I had no way of knowing the true extent of her influence until her confession…The knowledge of what a Demi-Servant is…what they are…" he closed his eyes and lowered his head for a moment before he let out a single breath, raising it once more.

"...What you are, what you represent, is disgusting to me on every conceivable level."

Byleth blinked "...What do you mean?"

"...Human souls entire the cycle of reincarnation when they perish, the elements that made them are brought forth and then fashioned into a new human with a similar origin. The personalities can differ through interpretation but the basic foundations remain the same." Goetia explained, leaning back and drawing his expression into a tight frown. "Yet there are some expectations to this, those who employ specific magecraft to free themselves of the cycle and ensure a lasting death, those who extend their lives and ultimate force their soul into decay and those who leave a mark strong enough on the flow of time that their essence acts as a landmark across all of history. They become an established fact in the world and they can be…summoned forth from a realm beyond time."

He waved to Sothis "This is only for those of mortal persuasion, as a general rule of thumb, though there are some exceptions but those are dependent on circumstances. Ordinarily, calling forth one of these Heroic Spirits is a complicated and exceedingly difficult feat, but the possibility is there if one tries hard enough…once they have been summoned, they are referred to as Servants."

Sothis frowned. "Ghosts summoned back from the dead and forced into servitude?"

"Yes." Byleth raised her brows, then glanced at the Goddess at Goetia's simple word answer before looking back to him. "That is what Servants are, even Gods can be subject to this but they often require a vessel to limit their power due to mitigating circumstances in the environment. Selecting the vessel that would best serve their personality and strengths."

"...Is that what I am?" Byleth asked with a tilt of her head, Goetia slowly shook his head.

"No, you are a Demi-Servant. Sothis was summoned into your body through the catalyst in your chest." He pointed out, gesturing to her once more. "The physical presence of it means very little, something I suspect that Rhea was ignorant of entirely. A summoning requires select circumstances and, in this instance, it was caused by something related to you specifically that the past versions of the hosts lacked."

Past versions, like her mother.

"The difference between a Demi-Servant and Pseudo-Servant are that even though the host is often human, they are summoned under a spiritron vessel and ascended to a higher plane of existence so that they can contain the essence of a Heroic Spirit or Divine Spirit." He rolled his jaw. "A Demi-Servant is made for a single reason. To summon a Heroic Spirit into the living body of a human, specially designed to be able to contain the power of such a being."

Byleth stared at him. "...You know about them?"

"One. I have known about one other Demi-Servant in existence." Goetia stressed the word, an edge in his voice. "And that was…the practice is barbaric in every sense of the word. It relies on designing a human being from birth for the single purpose of becoming a host to a Heroic Spirit. Something that is more easily controlled and requires a minimal amount of magical energy cost."

Sothis spoke up "Magical energy cost?"

"Sustaining the existence of a Servant is something which requires a tremendous amount of magical energy, as expected when returning the dead to life. Even temporary, but a Demi-Servant is different in that the host is the one supplying the majority of the magical energy, thus the spiritual body is not factored into the cost." Rolling his jaw, Goetia looked down at the table. "...A Demi-Servant is functionally cheaper to maintain the existence of. The host is granted the abilities of the Heroic Spirit through sublimated learning and the Heroic Spirit has little say in the matter of being forced to exist within the body of the human. A merging of souls which is not something that a regular human could even hope to survive. Introducing a Divine Spirit into this equation and the sheer scale of their existence?"

When he brought his head back up, he looked Byleth dead in the eyes. "It is no overstatement to proclaim that your existence is a cruel miracle. That you can even retain a portion of your own will and sanity without having your personality subsumed by Sothis is something that cannot be overstressed."

It felt as though a weight had settled in her chest as those words registered with her, slowly looking down to her own chest just around the area of her heart for a few short seconds. So she wasn't at all that similar to a Demi-Servant, or rather she was but she was more impressive? Was it a result of her Crest?

Bringing her head back up, she thinned her lips. "So I was supposed to be a host for Sothis." That was something she already knew and her own thoughts towards it were…vague. Focusing on what could have been didn't really change what currently was. Yes, she could have been the host for Sothis but she wasn't and that was worth more to her now than a hypothetical.

Her eyes moved to the Goddess in question and studied her expression, noting the clear surprise that the Goddess was wearing as she stared at Goetia, though it quickly faded and was replaced by curiosity.

"Very well then…I can see that you are genuine in this hatred of this Demi-Servant status." Sothis nodded her head up and down as she stared at Goetia, then furrowed her brows. "At what point did you believe that we existed within this category of being?"

"...If you ask for suspicions, I would say that from the moment I first met Byleth but they remained vague suspicions at best, within the realms of fantasy." Goetia proclaimed with a curl of his lip and a wave of his hand as though the mere thought was idiotic to him. "The chances of stumbling upon the existence of something such as her within mere weeks of arriving in Fodlan were so astronomical and there were far more likely reasons. But if you wish for confirmed suspicions…that would have been when I first saw you."

Sothis hummed and nodded her head up and down. "Very well." then her eyes narrowed "Answer me this one question. What would you have done?"

Goetia blinked "...In what set of circumstances?"

"Any." She shrugged, gesturing to him. "You have already made clear your disgust for this 'Demi-Servant' existence blatant enough and I can empathise with that. Returning the dead to life in the body of a mortal just so they can be controlled more efficiently is revolting to me as well, but to that end I must ask you…when you confirmed that Byleth was subject to such an existence, and that there might have been the risk I would permanently exert control over her…what would you have done?"

Goetia was silent in the immediate aftermath of the question, something Byleth noticed as well as it might as well have been screaming. Sothis latched onto it and used the quiet to pursue her questions further.

"By all accounts, you had deduced that Byleth was under the influence of an unknown God that you couldn't even begin to comprehend the motives of." Sothis continued onwards, gesturing to herself. "But as you already explained, I was an unknown and you needed an element of caution, that I can understand but I shall ask you this…suppose I had been hostile, suppose I had been the very worst you could have imagined me to be…what would you have done?"

Byleth shuffled herself forwards slightly, her eyes fell upon Goetia's expression which was noticeably devoid of emotion.

Sothis was hovering nearby, arms crossed over her chest and her brows raised. "Well? Imagine that I was this terrible fiend, this monster who would steal away her soul and decide to force my will upon all Fodlan…what would you have done in this situation?"

The silence persisted.

But that was answer enough to Byleth, finding the words to explain it wasn't very easy for her to do, but she knew that it wasn't a silence based upon him having to take a hard choice. Rather, it was him taking an easy choice. What would probably have been a very easy choice, he didn't even break eye contact with her through the deafening scream of the silence, his dull red eyes keeping themselves locked onto hers all the while.

She slowly leaned back into her seat and found herself staring at him. This wasn't even a case of him not knowing much about Fodlan, this would have been weeks and perhaps even a month after he met them, more so if this extended into when Sothis found out who she was. It was now more of the case that she was curious what he would do now if Sothis suddenly turned and took control of her and became a danger.

What would he do?

The answer was never more obvious yet never more bewildering in her life.

"...Let us change the subject." Sothis spoke again, yet Goetia's eyes remained on her the whole time. "Suppose that tomorrow I decided to flip my personality, that I would become a tyrant who demanded absolute control. I became this…" the Goddess spread her arms wide and exaggerated her voice. "Absolute figure of authority throughout all of Fodlan that Rhea envisioned of me becoming. What would you do then in the wake of this change?"

His eyes broke away from hers, for a brief moment she saw what she thought was a glimmer of doubt within his eyes before it faded away and was replaced by coldness. She felt as though she had been punched in the gut. Even after all that, his answer had not changed, or rather he was set on this course of action.

It wasn't that he would save the people of Fodlan or save her, he wouldn't do anything.

Sothis dropped her hands to her side. "...After all that, for what reason did you kill Sitri? Was it because they were a danger or because they were just related to you?" she accused, pointing to him and frowning openly. "Is it a case of apathy towards problems that originate within Fodlan or does your mercy shift in accordance with the changing of the seasons? All those times where myself and Byleth confided in you…how much of it was because you were concerned for your safety or because you just did not care?"

Goetia exhaled "My answer will not change past events, so what is the point of focusing upon it?" he asked in such a way that made it clear he was genuinely baffled by the idea they were asking.

Byleth's throat ran dry.

Did he really not care about any of them? Was it nothing more than a passing distraction for him on whatever he was aiming for in the grand scheme of things? His efforts to help Abyss, what were they rooted in? Did he really want to help them or was it something else that was guiding his hands? Even teaching her magecraft, it was little more than an experiment to see if it could even be done, not because he saw potential in her or wanted to spread his wisdom around…

He just…felt like doing it.

Byleth rolled her jaw, she knew why he approached her. It was all because of her heart, everything cycled back to that strange thing in her chest. It all cycled back to Sothis, half the people who saw her for who she was only did so because they didn't know any better, those who did viewed her as some sort of victim, and those who didn't see her as a victim apparently cared more for the dead Goddess than for her.

She opened her mouth to speak, the words emerging rather quietly as she did so. "When you agreed to speak with me all those times…was it because you actually wanted to spend time with me or was it just because of Sothis?"

Another thought came to her mind, her eyes locked onto his "Or…was it because of someone else? The…other Demi-Servant?"

The reaction of Goetia was rather visible, he physically jolted at her words and brought his brows up his forehead for a split second before they were lowered once more. He opened his mouth to speak, an expression of annoyance on his face before he ended up pausing. Whatever he was going to say never left his inner thoughts, instead he just stared at her in complete silence and then slowly closed his mouth. His left hand drummed on the surface of the table.

"...You are not like Mash." Goetia replied slowly "Nothing about you is similar except from what you are and even then…she was host to a Heroic Spirit, you are host to a Divine Spirit and you…" he let out a short and curt breath, almost bitter. "And you will benefit from a long and full life, likely the result of your fathers blood which he was gifted by Rhea. Mash, who suffered from a short and painful existence, was to sputter out and perish from the moment her powers awakened…barely a year worth of life for her as a result of the experiments conducted upon her. You…are your own person."

Byleth caught something else in that sentence, and noted that he hadn't answered her question at all. But that was…a lack of an answer was an answer unto itself. "...If I was dying because of Sothis, would you do anything?"

"That is based around the hypothetical that I could do something." Goetia rebuked with a frown. "I am not almighty. Even if I was, would you even accept the help I would provide for you?" his eyes narrowed, bringing his left hand off the table and pointing to her. "Would you be willing to part from Sothis, to accept that doing so might lead to her death?"

She had no answer to that, she'd always lived thinking that she could die at any moment, most of the time she thought she would end up outliving her father, he was still better than her when it came to combat so it wasn't unlikely. They encountered dangerous situations frequently and even here, she had faced death more often than ever before. Sothis had been with her and with Sothis she had kept others from dying as well. Living to an old age was something she just…hadn't seen herself ever really doing.

"Your silence is your answer." Goetia stated with his eyes closed, resigned to what she was not saying. "Because you can do good…because you have the power to save lives. Blinded by this gift you ask yourself why you shouldn't act if you have the power to act?" He opened his eyes and stared at her. "If you save a single life with this power, then what is to stop you saving more?"

He frowned "It is a trap. You fall into the habit of acting again and again and again, individually saving whatever life stumbles into your view but then another life is in danger elsewhere and you blame yourself when it ends. Even with the power of a Goddess…you cannot save everyone and if you start, you have already fallen into the trap because you cannot stop."

His hand clenched. "Because if you stop, you ask yourself what made those you saved so special? What made their lives worth so much more than the ones you neglected to save? Thus…it begins. You continually push yourself and you find you cannot ever save anyone because they will inevitably die…when all life ends the same way, what does it matter how they meet their end? At the end of a blade, from a simple cough or old age…what does it matter how death finds them, so long as it finds them."

Leaning back, he stared at her in silence. "You ask me what I would do if you turned, if Sothis became a tyrannical God? I would do nothing…because I would trap myself. If I start with something as mighty as a God, then what is to stop me roaming the world changing it again and again from whatever evil being controls it next or usurps power." he pressed his finger into his chest. "It is a logical fallacy, the act of saving. For what purpose is there in saving a single individual? I can no longer save…I would never be content with saving one life, nor would I ever find it meaningful because they would still end up dead in the grand scheme of things. That accomplishment would last for barely a few years before it was as though I had never done anything."

Byleth stared at him, she couldn't understand his point of view but it sounded like an excuse for inaction to her. As though he was just waving everything away as not being his problem because saving one life meant so little to him. If he couldn't save them all then saving one was utterly pointless, regardless of whose life it was-

"Observing humans but never helping them, content to watch as the cruelty of life goes on around you. That pale haired girl you brought to the hovel. You could cure her ailment with ease and yet you have made no attempt to do so."

The words of Sitri - the Demon - flooded back through her mind instantly with alarming clarity.

"...Even Lysithea?"

Goetia inhaled before he exhaled "...My actions in saving her from Lonato at the time were born of-"

"No…she's ill." Goetia froze, that was all the confirmation she needed. "And you know but you haven't done anything yet." her eyes gradually widened, her lips parted and it felt as though a cold numbness was spreading across her. "But you could and…you don't because it isn't worth it to you?"

According to Dimitri, she was worrying herself sick over Goetia and his lessons and here was Goetia…not even caring about whether she lived or died? Worse, he actively knew she was ill with something but wasn't even going to lift a finger to save her life? A girl he had taken in as his student and had made such an impact on…and he just…didn't care?

Dimitri's request felt like bile in her throat now, perhaps it was her newfound status as a teacher but she couldn't call it acceptable. At least Rhea, problematic as she might have been, cared about people. She did probably love Sitri and she did care about Byleth as a person enough to let both herself and Jeralt get away. Goetia didn't even care that much.

The chair scraped beneath her feet as she pushed herself away from the table, standing up straight and looking down at Goetia. He didn't even have the decency to meet her eyes, instead they remained solely focused on the table in front of him, dead silence fell between the two of them and it was so revolting that Byleth wanted to just throw up, a whirlwind of emotions swam through her mind, chief of all of them was just…disappointment.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting but after all this, after all they went through…he probably didn't even care about her. Whether she lived or died, whether she was dying of something or not, whether people died around him. He only cared if it personally affected his pride, if it didn't then it didn't matter. She knew some people in her time but this…

"...You're a self-centred bastard." Goetia didn't react to her words, but she didn't care if he did not didn't at this point. She wasn't even sure if he cared about anything she said, he might have done or he might have cared that he got caught. But it didn't matter, she turned around and walked towards the exit once more. Goetia didn't bother calling out to her, though she would have ignored him anyway.

Maybe she always knew he was like this, but it was different when it was put out into the open like that. She knew a lot of selfish people in her time, worked for more than a few of them, and she didn't like them one bit. It might have just been a preference for honesty but if Goetia really didn't care, then he should have never have bothered.

It wasn't just about her.

It was about the people who cared for him.

AN: Yep.

Goetia really did answer the questions honestly and…yeah…that's what arrogance gets you. "Well, if I can't save everyone then I won't bother." As remember, he's only going through the trouble of saving Abyss because he thinks it is personally offensive to him.

He might lack the inaction of Solomon…but motives matter and he still hasn't picked that up yet.

Couple more chapters, then we'll do the monthly mission and once Miklan gets sorted out…then the plot train will be back in full swing.