Haunting Daybreak - Slaughter
"Why?!" Reidun asked. Her face was blank, but her irritation projected itself clearly across their empathic connection. "Expressions are so hard! I have to move the muscles in my face and they never do what I want!"
To emphasise the point, she reached up and massaged her cheeks.
"Reidun, while I may understand what you're feeling, no one else can unless you show them," Joseph explained calmly. "You're not going to go through the rest of your life only interacting with me, you know."
It had already been a bad habit before they'd left the village. She would occasionally 'smile', 'frown', or otherwise express herself entirely through her mind or their empathic connection and, much to Joseph's shame, he didn't always notice. Now that they'd left her parents behind and it was just the two of them…
"Why do they need to know?" the girl challenged impudently.
Joseph paused for a moment. He knew hundreds of reasons why, but he couldn't think of one that he could explain without being cruel. Such as if he explained that her being like this was creepy.
Then he had an idea.
"You want to be a knight, right?" Joseph asked rhetorically.
The girl's mood immediately flipped to excitement, though it still didn't carry in her voice as she answered, "Of course."
"Well then," he began with a smirk, preparing to reference one of the stories he'd plagiarised. "Knights are a lot like heroes, and one of the greatest heroes is All Might from 'My Hero'. Reidun, what is the first thing he does every time he shows up?"
"He shouts so that everyone can hear, 'I am here'," Reidun answered excitedly. "He reassures everyone-"
"-and…"
The girl stopped, her eyes turning down to the side as she mumbled, "He smiles…"
"That's right!" Joseph encouraged, before making his point, "a decent hero only makes people safe, but a great one makes them feel safe too! You'll know you can save everyone, but the only way they'll know you can is…?"
"If I smile," Reidun answered, catching a bit of the energy Joseph was projecting.
"That's right," Joseph agreed, building up the enthusiasm a bit more. "So show me your best smile!"
"Right!" The girl answered, finally forcing some of her feeling into her tone.
12th of the Great Tree Moon
Thankfully Reidun had managed to mostly leave that habit behind, and had a much easier time of expressing herself physically again. She even expressed herself naturally when it was just her and Joseph, such as how she was rolling her eyes at his current line of complaints.
"I just want it to be clear that I still don't approve of this plan-"
"-but you won't stop me because 'it's my life, my choices'," Reidun finished for Joseph. "I know."
Joseph bristled, before continuing.
"You should at least tell Ingrid that you're leaving for the weekend. We don't want her thinking that the assassin finally got you," he suggested, immediately prompting Reidun to be very interested in the hem of her sleeve.
"Um…" she said awkwardly, her eyes shifting away from where she knew Joseph was as she tried to find an excuse to dodge that conversation."...what if I tell Sylvain to tell Ingrid instead?"
The man was silent a moment, before he reluctantly said, "That… might be for the best."
The tension in the girl's shoulders left her as she went to find the other end of her Shrödinger defined relationship.
…
"...okay, I'm going to need you to run that by me again," Sylvain said, a mild frustration in his tone which Joseph helpfully pointed out.
"I asked if you could tell Ingrid that I'll be out of the monastery travelling if she wonders where I've gone," Reidun repeated. "I would tell her myself, but we're not really speaking at the moment."
As she explained herself, her thoughts were elsewhere.
'Frustrated? Why's he frustrated? What's he frustrated about?!' she panicked internally. 'I know our relationship is completely fake, but was disappearing completely off the grid outside of classes for three days a bit much, or-'
"I know. Ingrid has complained about it. A lot," Sylvain responded, ignorant to Reidun's thoughts and with a critical harshness. "Whatever is going on between you two, It's really worked her up and you two need to work it out."
Even Reidun could pick up on the uncharacteristic aggression, though she had no clue to its direction or source.
'Joseph?' she worried.
"Don't worry, it's not you," the ghost reassured, before elaborating with a caveat. "...mostly."
Reidun's imaginary self shuffled uncomfortably as her physical body remained neutral.
"He's worried about his friend. That's all," Joseph explained. "He's not judging you, but he knows you're involved somehow and doesn't like the situation."
Relief flowed from her, as she quickly covered up the aside by pretending to have taken a moment to think.
"I… will," she said hesitantly, the uncertainty in her voice that echoed her true feelings, "but I don't think I can honestly tell her anything more that she will be happy to hear…"
"How bad can it be?" Sylvain asked.
"I bribed her father with Duscan money to be accepted into the academy," Reidun answered plainly.
Sylvain blinked.
"That's… pretty bad…" he said, mildly shocked. Then he brought a hand up to his face in exasperation. "Actually there's a lot to unpack there, but yeah, I see how that can be a problem."
He sighed.
"I'll talk to her," he finally declared, before firmly stating, "but you will talk this out when you get the chance."
Reidun smiled more brightly, accepting the condition and thanking him again before she got the final preparations done.
With that handled, everything seemed in order.
Getting a horse and travelling supplies had been simple enough; people travelled to and from the Monastery all the time.
Weapons were a lot more difficult. The hunting bow and hatchet she managed to get her hands on would have to work as a substitute for now.
The rest of her funds had gone to placing an order for a beginner seal. She had prepaid, but the money would be left with the innkeeper who'd served witness to the deal. The merchant would get paid upon delivery, as long as the same innkeeper witnessed the handover.
Thus, Reidun found herself riding south towards the empire.
13th of the Great Tree Moon
As it turned out, Reidun was in luck, because the knights of Seiros hadn't arrived yet.
"They're probably due to arrive later today," Joseph commented, putting voice to shared thought.
They had of course taken some basic precautions to avoid being recognised. Reidun had swapped her uniform out for some linen commonwear, a simple shirt and trousers. She completed the look with a hooded travelling cloak and tied her hair into a bun within it, such that it would be difficult to get a good glimpse at the colour.
Ironically enough, the biggest issue was that she couldn't quite manage to drop the 'noble-like' mannerisms she'd forced herself to learn to blend in amongst the wealthier class.
…but as a consequence, the common folk in the village closest to the target had been quite cooperative, probably thinking that she was some sort of rogue knight.
The villagers had directed her to an old mountain pass that they'd noticed the bandits occupying. It wasn't frequented by any notable travellers, only being used by the occasional farmer or local, so the misfits there had been deemed a low priority.
"Low priority or not, we should probably still hurry," Reidun noted. "The knights should be on the way, and needing to run away would make things very awkward."
So the two found themselves a place where they could get an overview and made an attempt at scouting out the enemy forces.
The main pass consisted of a series of cliffs with rudimentary stairs cut into them. Another route forked off at the start of each end into a more forested rugged alternate route, one unsuitable for cart travel.
All in all, the bandits were made of ten men with axes, two with bows, two with swords, and two magic users. They all seemed to be armed with Iron grade weapons.
Specifically, three axemen hung around the camp itself in the pass. A group of four loitered further south, while the remaining three mirrored their position on the alternate route. The natural pass was further reinforced by one of the swordsmen and an archer. That left the rest of the enemies in the north where the pass and detour met up again.
According to the few lessons they'd had at Garreg Mach so far, they should have also identified the bandits' classes… let's simply say that there had been an attempt.
"Before you go in, I just want to remind you that I will warp you out the moment I think your life is at risk," Joseph said before asking, "so, what's the plan?"
"Well…"
…
"...I'll approach the main pass from the south, see if I can catch one of the three alone…"
An arrow flew, scraping a bandit's leather pauldron.
The man quickly followed the arrows path to the end before tracing it back to its source, a smiling girl standing tall in the stairway.
"Oh you've done it now," the man growled, grabbing his axe. "Boys, looks like some kid's trying to play hero!"
The others laughed as he closed in quickly, forcing the girl to discard the second arrow she had prepared in favour of dodging.
In a step she avoided his strike and grabbed the hatchet on her belt, and in a second she jumped back at him, burrowing it into his leather chestpiece.
It didn't kill, barely having pierced the leather chestpiece, but that didn't stop it from being painful.
His eyes tainted scarlet and his knuckles bled white with his tightening grip. He brought his axe up with a cry of wrath, tracing a crimson streak across the girl's extended arm, and before she could even finish flinching, he brought it back, right into the extended palm of the hand she raised to block.
It was only then that he realised that she hadn't stopped smiling.
He didn't get to act on the thought before her foot kicked the back of the axe lodge in his chest, pushing the weapon through the protective armour and into his beating heart.
He watched helplessly as the girl wrapped her hand around the weapon that was killing him and could feel the thing tug and rip in his heart as she pulled it free.
Then he realised no more, because he was dead.
The corpse hitting the ground was what roused the remaining three into action. Two of them approached head on, the stairway only leaving space for one of them to get close, while the last one avoided the bottleneck by sliding down the cliff into a flanking position.
'Awfully coordinated for bandits,' the girl thought idly as she avoided the first attack coming her way.
"Don't get cocky Reidun, focus," Joseph chastised, floating up to the side and threatening the incoming aggressor with a ball of fire that materialised in his palm.
"Magic?!" The ruffian cried out in alarm, momentarily losing sight of the girl's axe in favour of the supernatural display.
"Eyes here buddy!" Reidun taunted, getting a decent cut on the man's thigh, before she stepped back answering Joseph with an, 'I know, I know.'
The magical flames flickered out and the girls' wounds closed as the duo switched to a more defensive posture.
There was a moment of calm, the ruffians cautious at the blatant display of spellcraft. Then the bandit before her looked past her, meeting eyes with the man who'd finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs behind her.
An unspoken message passed between them, and they charged together.
Reidun reacted swiftly, turning to face the man behind her while relying on Joseph's sight to parry the attack from the foe she turned her back to. Then she continued the motion, crashing her shoulder through the other attack and into the man himself, knocking him down the stairs in exchange for bloodying her shoulder and sacrificing the sleeve of her new shirt.
Her hatchet, which was entangled with her other attacker's axe, moved with her, pulling the weapon out of the man's hand. So she turned back and used the opening to bring her little hatchet into his neck.
'That's two down,' she thought, unperturbed by the ultraviolence she'd just inflicted as Joseph's healing energies cleared her of her exhaustion and closed the crimson gash on her shoulder. '...two left.'
Reidun turned to the man she'd sent tumbling down the stairs and repeated the effort with a kick to his chest, before turning to the last bandit who had charged her and managed to clip her ear.
'Close!' she thought excitedly, before voicing her next thoughts, "but you're wide open!"
Sparks flew as metal scraped against metal, the man's weapon shielding him from an immediate death.
"You're one crazy bitch!" he shouted.
The insult was a distraction. Reidun could tell, because Joseph's sight let her see the man she'd sent tumbling down the stairs twice coming back up for a third attempt.
She ignored the taunt, turning to the man who braced himself to avoid another tumble.
"Not this time buddy!" she japed, crouching low and using the opening to spill his guts. Then relying on Joseph's sight again, she sidestepped the last man's overhead strike, grabbed the extended arm, and introduced the sharp end of her weapon to his forehead.
Then things were quiet again.
"Well, that went well," Reidun commented mirthfully as she tried to wipe some of the life fluid off her. "Could do with a bit less of a mess though."
"Reidun, please try to treat this more seriously," Joseph requested after a moment. "They may have been horrible people, but we did just kill them."
Reidun raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, so?" she dismissed with a shrug. "Let's keep going. I think I just figured something out, and want to give it a go."
Joseph didn't press the issue any further. It was neither the time nor the place. Instead, he just threw out another healing spell.
…
"...after that, we'll take a moment to recover before making our way towards their main camp…"
She approached slowly, in no rush to take the initiative, but the two who were closest hesitated. An understandable choice, given that she was covered in blood.
"Oh, come on. It's just one girl!" the third shouted from the rampart of the abandoned outpost that they used as a camp. "Just get her!"
'So he's in charge then,' Reidun noted.
The two charged her and she met them in the middle, her hatchet colliding with the right one's axe and redirecting it to be in the way of the left's attack. She followed it up with a wide swing to force them back.
'I've got it!' she thought triumphantly, holding her hatchet out to her side.
Her eyes narrowed, taking in her two opponents. Their stance, their guard, and every miniscule opening. She raised her weapon overhead, focusing entirely on the man to her left, while her muscles tenses, and each of those miniscule openings seemed to widen as she doubled her strength and Smashed right through his defence and his face thereafter.
Unfortunately, the web of cracks along the weapon's shaft made it clear that it was not built to withstand combat arts.
She let out an involuntary yelp as the leftover bandit's axe bit into her right arm and broke her focus. Then with a growl, she tossed the weapon into her other hand, cut the man's knee to bring him down, and followed it up with a killing blow.
"Argh," she exclaimed as she roughly ripped the weapon embedded in her arm out.
'That just leaves the boss,' Reidun thought, while Joseph once again got to work.
"He's bunkered down in there," the ghost commented with a frown, prompting the girl to smile again.
"Well…" Reidun readied her weapon. "...I wouldn't want to keep him waiting."
There wasn't much of the fortification left, but the only easy way in was through the main doorway, and he'd positioned himself just within, meaning she'd have to stand in the doorway itself to attack him.
That meant it would be harder to swing and harder to dodge.
A fact that only mattered if it took her more than one hit.
She gripped her little hatched with two hands, splintering the handle as the veins in her finger's bulged. Everything but the enemy before her faded to black and time seemed to slow.
With a stomp, she planted her first step, before blasting off with her weapon raised above her.
Like before she took him in in his entirety, every miniscule opening seeming wider with her growing strength and speed.
He put on an impressive defence, really, but in her eyes one opportunity drew her eye, almost seeming to glow within her sight.
She had him.
"Go join the dead!" The words almost seemed to force themselves out of her as she crashed through and cleaved the man in two.
Her Hatchet, unfortunately, had not survived the encounter. The axe blade shattered, and the shaft splintered into pieces.
Reidun let out a laboured breath, her heart beating rapidly as adrenaline coursed through her veins.
"Woo!"
…
"...take what I can carry…"
"A bullion, neat," Reidun commented, pocketing the gold bar, eyeing the rest of the loose gold greedily. "I'll be back for you."
"Take the boss's axe while you're at it," Joseph suggested. "It looks new…"
…
"...then we circle around and clean up the rest…"
Reidun pulled her axe free from the bandit priest she'd planted it in as Joseph placed himself between her and the incoming ball of fire, causing it to disperse harmlessly across his ghostly form..
"I keep forgetting that you're really strong," Reidun commented as she calmly walked towards the remaining mage.
"I have been spending all of my support spells on you every day since I learned them," Joseph reminded her with a shrug as he swatted away another spell. "I may not have much of a physical presence, but I can cast and be affected by magic."
"Useful," Reidun noted as she raised her weapon to execute the harmless spellcaster.
…
The thunk of an arrow impacting the tree Reidun had taken cover behind was the signal for her to burst forth, trying to close the distance between her and the archer who had been harassing her.
"Joseph, back me up!" She shouted, sweeping her new axe wide, only for the attack to be intercepted.
The sudden swordsman followed up the parry with two swift strikes, tearing apart what remained of her travelling cloak and leaving her with shallow wounds.
"On it. Thunder!" a crackle and boom announced the burst of electricity that shot through the thief's back, dispersing on the ground between Reidun's feet.
…
"It's just those three left,"Reidun said, her wounds again closed and forgotten.
"Let's deal with them piecemeal like before," Joseph started. "I've been managing to keep up with pace we've set so far, but-"
"Not a problem if I take one out immediately!" Reidun interrupted, jumpingright into the middle of the group and making a wild swing at the bandit who'd been least exposed.
'An opening!' she thought, the next words once again coming almost involuntarily, "You can't stop me!"
…
"Reidun, that was reckless!" Joseph shouted. "What if you'd missed? What if you hadn't managed to land that critical hit?"
"I didn't though," the girl dismissed. "Anyway, if I was in any actual danger you could have healed me up or warped me away, like you said you would."
"I can't heal death, Reidun!" Joseph argued, bringing up up two fingers. "Two enemies. That's what I was able to reliably keep up with. If you had missed me and I had been too, that could have been it!"
Reidun blinked at him, legitimately confused.
"I don't get why you're so angry," she said. "I'd just be dead, like you, right? I really don't see the issue."
The statement hit the man like a ten ton hammer, rendering him speechless whilet she put the conversation out of mind and continued looting the bandit camp.
…
The trip back to the monastery was a quiet affair, Joseph appearing deep in thought.
She'd switched back to her much cleaner academy uniform and made sure to make a stop to buy some training weapons for personal use.
While she didn't mention it, it occurred to her that if they were travelling anyway… they could have just gone and bought the things they needed, circumventing the whole issue.
"Oh well."
12th of the Great Tree Moon
Flayn hadn't quite figured everything out, but she knew one thing: The world needed to change to be better, and if the church wanted to stay good, then it would need to change with it.
Which was why she was near the dorms approaching another pair of students.
"Good day. Would you like to assist me?" She asked, holding up a box, paper, and quill. "I am trying to aid my brother. Would you be willing to share with me something good about the church or how the church could be better?"
Sensing some hesitation, she elaborated further, "Do not worry. You don't need to mark your name, so you may express yourself freely!"
The two students looked at each other, shrugged, and put their answers in the box. She thanked them and they took their leave, but before she could look for someone else…
"Am I free to answer as well?"
Flayn turned to the person who'd approached her from behind.
"Of course Edelgard. Every answer helps," She answered as she handed the tools to the imperial princess, who nodded approvingly before turning their attention to their answer.
Hubert was, as always, ever present. Though at the moment he was away in the back conversing with one of the blue lions that Flayn didn't recognise.
She turned her attention back to Edelgard as the princess put her response in the box.
Then she had an Idea.
"Thank you again, but could I trouble you further?" she asked, "I wonder if you might assist me in finding more people to answer my questions. Your presence would surely encourage more students to participate, and I am certain it would be a great help to my brother."
Edelgard looked thoughtful for a moment before she smiled slightly. "I'd be happy to help, Flayn. It's important for everyone's voices to be heard, and I'm curious to see what the students think as well."
"Thank you so much!" Flayn beamed, grateful."Perhaps we could start by speaking to some of the students near the dining hall? I've noticed many gather there during this time of day."
Edelgard nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Let's go."
It had not been her original plan… but perhaps this one was better! Flayn realised.
She would show Edelgard that the church- the Nabateans could be better.
...and perhaps, just maybe, Flayn could take Byleth's place and help Edelgard be her best self in return!
An: Pardon the delay, I usually try to avoid posting anything before I get a second set of eyes on it and my usual friend didn't have the time, so it took a bit longer to edit. On a related note, I have been looking for a Beta-reader and haven't had any luck so far. So I guess I'm asking here as well.
Side note: Wow, 100+ follows. Neat.
To Bustertank (Jul 1, 2024): "Hey, Reidun, I think this might be a bad idea." "No way, it's a great idea." "Right, of course." Aka, the danger of not interacting with other people.
To Ver'dan (Jul 1, 2024): Firstly, ouch. She's going to be doing something at least, and yeah, she is curious, but the thought just isn't at the forefront of her mind yet.
To Niuzu0130 (Jul 1, 2024): It doesn't, since Joseph himself wouldn't have any way of knowing. What I will say though, is that I flipped a coin for it.
To Royalrain20xx (Jul2,2024):I'm glad you're enjoying it! As for your critisism: hm, I see where you're coming from. I decided to try to write it this way because of pacing. Even skipping to the start of the academy and using flashbacks to explain context, I feel like this story is progressing slowly. I'd hoped that the context clues and implications would have been enough to communicate the scenario clearly. While I stand by my decision I appreciate the criticism and will definitely keep in mind how I communicate details moving forward!
To eseer (Jul 2, 2024): Flayn:*Conspiracy noises intensify.* Byleth: *o_o*.
To Somerandomread (Jul 10, 2024): "No one dies and nothing bad happens, ever. The end." - Fire Emblem: three houses written by Flayn.