Part 1: White Clouds
Look Past the Fog
Darkness.
It stretched out as far as the eye could see. Which Byleth was made aware of as she slowly woke up and groaned, rubbing her eyes and blinked twice to make sure she could see, and found no more throbbing pain.
"Well, at least my head doesn't hurt anymore…"
As she slowly rotated her metal arm to adjust it in case she had to fight, she then looked down and saw Sothis starting to sit up too. Like her, she also rubbed her eyes to see if she could look beyond the horizon, before she stood up and looked around.
"Steel yourself, child. This is different from before, we need to be ready for anything…"
As the two looked on in the horizon, they then heard footsteps which echoed all throughout the abyss and the two took stances and glared at the direction of the footsteps as it got louder and louder before they then saw…
"The arm looks nice on you."
Both Byleth and Sothis widened their eyes as they saw that it was Future Byleth… looking ragged and at death's door. Future Byleth had a weak smile on her face as her past self ran up to her.
"What happened?!"
"Seems we are at the end… I guess now is a good time as any to show you…"
"Show us what?" Sothis asked. But Future Byleth just raised her hand and a light enveloped the area before the scenery started to change, showing a time that had long passed.
"Well, I didn't think that things would end like this. Just when we had ended the Empire's crusade…"
Byleth looked up at the map and saw Shamir in front of her, who was currently trying to fix her bow which had been broken in half. But she sighed and set it down before reaching for her beer and downing it.
Letting out her own sigh, Byleth brushed her green hair away from her eyes and rubbed the part where her arm once was. "Maybe we were too hasty… in killing her."
"By… I know you regret your choice… but you can't change the past."
"…What if I can?"
"Huh? Wait… you don't mean-"
"Ive never tried it to that scale before." Byleth said as she stood up and drank from her mug. "Most I've done is… twenty minutes? But I haven't truly tried before. If I can rewind to back to that day, maybe I can convince Edelgard to not go down that path. Maybe she can help us-"
"SOTHIS! I FOUND YOU!"
"Shit! That's not good!" Shamir cursed under her breath and stood up before nodding to Byleth.
"Whatever plan you have, let's hope it works. We have nothing else to lose."
"Right. Let's try and stall him and evacuate everyone else." Byleth replied and reached for her Sword of the Creator.
It all started after she and the Church stopped Edelgard and the Empire's crusade and they also had to unfortunately take down Rhea after she went berserk. A few months ago, Byleth and the Black Eagles were called to action once again after being informed about a disturbance in the Alliance territory. It was meant to be a simple mission, nothing too difficult and then they would return home.
That's… when it all went wrong. Byleth had to watch as the Black Eagles fell one by one, to this fearsome foe. And the only survivors after that was Byleth herself… and Shamir. And ever since that day, it's been a game of cat and mouse where they hide and try to plan and this beast finds them and they buy time to evacuate any innocent civilians, a never ending circle that was slowly wearing them down.
'Edelgard… would things have been different if you lived? No, Shamir's right. I need to focus. We need to get the people out of here.'
"SOTHIS! I KNOW YOU ARE HERE SOTHIS! STEP OUT NOW AND FACE THE SLAUGHTER!"
Shamir grimaced and looked at her friend. "He seems pissed."
"Well, considering what I did last time to distract him, I would be pissed too. How's the eye?"
"I can't aim as well as before, but he's a very big target." Shamir replied as she traced her finger against her ruined eye, which was a result of their last encounter. She got struck hard by the blade of their foe which meant her eye couldn't be saved. She only just recovered and was hoping that they could have a break before he found them again. Unfortunately fate wasn't on their side.
That's when Byleth stepped out and gripped her weapon tight as she looked in the distance of the burning city at her opponent. "…Hello, Nemesis."
The gargantuan being before her, had the vague resemblances of a man who lived at some point. After getting Sothis's memories, she knew who this was. The man who lead the slaughter against the Nabatean's… and a more chilling realisation was that he was in a one track mind compared to back then. Byleth would like to believe that he had stood for something, but not anymore. All he cared about was destruction. She tried to reason with him, but she now realised that it was a wasted effort.
But that's when Byleth narrowed her eyes and readied herself when Nemesis slowly straightened and narrowed his red glowing eyes at her.
"SOTHIS… YOU HAVE NOWHERE TO HIDE NOW. NO MORE HIDING."
"My name is Byleth… and you're right. It may be the end… you have slaughtered all my friends, my comrades and countless innocent people. But if I have to die here…"
She unleashed the whip function of the Sword of the Creator. "Then I will die on my own terms. I won't let you destroy anything else. So King of Liberation… king of a barren wasteland. Your throne will be on top of rubble."
"YOU TALK TOO MUCH… ALL THAT MATTERS IS CLEANSING THIS WORLD. WHEN I HAVE KILLED YOU, THE AGE OF HUMANITY WILL END."
Byleth glared at him as she closed her eyes, thinking about the Black Eagles and how they fell one by one… and she will never forget Dorothea teleporting her away to safety… that was the last time she ever saw her. But there was one ally who surprised her before they met their end.
Flayn. When she was teleported away, the last thing she saw was her power getting unstable and charging towards Nemesis. Flayn didn't survive but…
'If we contained your anger sooner… would you still be alive? Fighting by our side?'
There were so many questions about what Byleth would have done differently in her life… should she have tried to reason with Edelgard? Should she have tried to train up Flayn? Should she have tried to save the Black Eagles? If she didn't hesitate, would Shamir still have her eye?
But… at the end of the road, it was just her and Shamir. For perhaps the last time. She the opened her eyes and powered up, the green aura surrounding her and lightning crackling around her.
"Let's do this then, Nemesis."
And that's when the two charged towards each other and clashed their blades. Right off the bat, Byleth was at a disadvantage… purely for the fact she only had one arm. So Nemesis was able to use both to bring down his strength on her. But that being said, she had an advantage. Her smaller body as she slid between his legs and threw a Ki blast that struck his back… sure enough, it didn't do much except piss him off as he growled and turned around.
"WHERE IS THAT GOLDEN FORM? YOU MOCK ME BY NOT GOING ALL OUT…"
"…I don't have it anymore. But I don't need it to defeat you." Byleth said before a red aura enveloped her body.
"KAIO-KEN!"
Before Nemesis could respond, Byleth struck him hard in the gut and slashed her sword across his chest before kicking him into a building. She quickly dropped out of Kaio-Ken and started charging a spell… usually it's Divine Pulse, however in this situation she knew that was basically useless. Nemesis was able to resist the effects that it usually brought. But this time, she was trying something a little different. Something she only tried once.
'It's now or never. Time to see if this works.'
But while she was charging, a roar sounded which shook her to her core as the building exploded as a dark purple aura enveloped Nemesis. He glared at her before letting out another roar and charging towards her like a mad bull. But that's when another voice shouted "KAIO-KEN!" and slammed into Nemesis. It was Shamir who was encased in a red glow like Byleth before. She then whipped her head round and yelled at her ally.
"Keep charging, Byleth! I'll hold him off!"
"But you'll die!"
"Byleth… we both know we're not going to make it. Just try and make it work. Don't make it all for nothing."
With her lips pressed in a thin line, Byleth nodded at Shamir who nodded back and powered up again while Byleth focused on the spell.
'Yes, it's starting to come back to me. Sothis's memories are helping.' As the spell gained more and more power, a giant clock started to form at her feet with the hands starting to slowly move backwards in motion.
Back with Shamir, she fired several Ki arrows from her hands which hit Nemesis but only served to piss him off as she dodged a swipe from his replica of Byleth's Sword of the Creator. She gritted her teeth and charged up another bunch of arrows on her finger tips.
"You may have taken my eye and my bow, but I am a Dagdan warrior, and I will fight until my last breath!"
"THAT CAN BE ARRANGED! WHERE IS SOTHIS…"
"Her name. Is Byleth!" Shamir shouted and started firing arrow after arrow at him as Nemesis growled before making its way over to her, not even bothering to dodge the arrows before grabbing Shamir by the throat which made Byleth gasp.
"SHAMIR!"
But Shamir shook her head. "Do not! Stop! That spell! This is our one chance!"
"SPELL…? NO, I WILL CRUSH WHATEVER PLAN YOU HAVE GOING ON!"
As Shamir took advantage of the brief open window that she had and fired another Ki blast at his face which made him drop her as she jumped backwards to gain some distance. Byleth really wanted to go and help… but she knew Shamir was right.
They weren't going to win. The only thing Byleth could do was use her Divine Pulse. But as the clock kept spinning faster and faster, she had to think. How far back should she go?
When Edelgard revealed her identity? No, there's no way she could talk her down at that point. Maybe save her father from Kronya? Even if she somehow could, he would probably end up sharing the same fate as everyone else by Nemesis's hand.
That's when she realised she had one place to go. The only place she could realistically do. Start from the beginning.
With that thought solidified in her mind, the clock hands went faster and faster as the glowing got more intense as a pulse of light shot across the land which caught the attention of Nemesis who was about to kill Shamir but then he realised he was too late… Byleth activated the modified Divine Pulse and the familiar shatter effect surrounded her which caused the whole world to freeze in place… except for Nemesis who was able to resist the time manipulation due to also bearing a Crest of Flames.
But in a strange moment of clarity, he didn't charge at her… instead, he planted his sword on the ground and folded his arms.
"YOU KNOW THAT ALL WILL BE ERASED… ALL FOR A CHANCE TO TRY AGAIN? YOU COULDN'T BEAT ME, SO WHAT WILL CHANGE IF YOU TRY AGAIN?"
Byleth just looked at Shamir who was lying on the ground barely alive… and then looked back up at Nemesis. "I will figure something out. There has to be something that I missed, I will figure out how to beat you and bring peace to this land."
"…HMPH. I WILL NOT REMEMBER YOU ANYMORE… BYLETH, WAS IT? I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK IN THIS HOPELESS ENDEAVOUR. BUT NEXT TIME WE MEET I WILL MAKE SURE YOU DIE BEFORE YOU CAST THIS SPELL."
"In that case… until next time, Nemesis."
And with those final words, the world was engulfed in a white flash as Byleth was falling through a white void as clocks kept spiralling around her, and she saw memories of her past start to fizzle away as the clocks then soared high in the air leaving her falling, deeper and deeper as suddenly, everything went black.
"Kid… hey kid! Wake up!"
Byleth groaned and opened her eyes and stretching loud before pushing her blue hair away from her eyes. She really needed to get her bangs trimmed at some point. She then wrapped her tail around her waist and answered the door to see Jeralt smiling at her.
"There you are, you've been sleeping a lot longer than you usually do."
"Sorry, dad. Just… had a dream…"
"Wait… this is where the visions came from?" Sothis asked as Byleth looked at her Future self who rubbed her shoulder where her stump was.
"That's the first one you saw. Our past selves would never remember what happened, but what I could do was influence certain decisions."
"So in the original timeline, we fought against Edelgard? But why?" Byleth asked and Future Byleth shook her head.
"You know how headstrong she can get. But… I wanted to talk to her, I truly did. But she and Hubert teleported away before I could even say anything. And by that point, I was fighting for the Church. Rhea even wanted me to become the Archbishop at some point… maybe if it wasn't for Nemesis…"
As Byleth then took a closer look at her future self and realised that her outfit was slightly different. As in her coat had the insignia of the Church of Seiros. That's when she remembered all those months ago.
"You showed me those different endings… were those different attempts that all ended the same way?"
"Yes." A voice spoke out and Byleth turned around to see yet another green haired of herself but this time with the insignia of the Kingdom of Faerghus.
"I chose to lead the Blue Lions in my time at Garreg Mach. Like the one before me, I tried to speak to Edelgard but… well, Dimitri made things a little difficult. Not that I blame him."
Yet another green haired Byleth appeared with this one having the Leicester Alliance crest on her coat as she looked down.
"Claude and I got to face Nemesis while Edelgard and Dimitri destroyed each other… we thought that we had won, but we were very much wrong. Because he came back from the dead… and destroyed the Golden Deer and all of Fódlan…"
"Then I had a moment of clarity and I remembered the last cycles. This time around, I decided to try something different." A voice spoke out as another version of Byleth stepped out.
This time, the green haired Byleth that was before the present one looked different. For one, she had a scar on her cheek on top of the one arm. And unlike the others, she had no crest on her outfit. But Byleth frowned as Sothis asked.
"What did you do?"
"Simply put… I decided to take a step back, and not interfere. I chose to not help them against the bandits. In return, something did happen. One that gave us one of our greatest allies. Shez."
"Wait, Shez? That girl we fought? What does she have to do with any of this?"
"I was as surprised as you." Future Byleth said. "But simply put, she is quite a formidable fighter once she unlocked her power. She gave me a run for my money, and if I wasn't careful I would've lost…"
"I have finally found you, Ashen Demon. This ends now!" Shez yelled in the middle of the battlefield as she drew out both her swords and charged towards Byleth who was standing there narrowing her eyes at Shez, who wore the insignia of the Empire.
"So she managed to join Edelgard… she did what I couldn't…"
As Shez clashed with Byleth and dodged a swing from her sword with the two being deep in a sword fight. Despite keeping her memories from the other timelines, Byleth was in a weaker body. If she kept her strength this wouldn't be a contest. But she had her own tricks as she ducked a sword swing and used her tail to grab Shez by the wrist and disarmed one of her blades.
"What the hell?! Since when did you have a tail?!" Shez yelled before teleporting away from a punch and reappeared behind Byleth to try and take her head off but Byleth ducked and kicked her in the chin before grabbing her by the leg and slamming her into the ground and tossed her through a barrage of soldiers who were fighting and trying to scramble away before they got caught in the wake of destruction. Shez grunted as she soon found herself suddenly stopping when she collided with the wall of a house and she groaned loudly, holding her head and rubbing it.
"She's a lot stronger than I thought… just how much is she holding back on me?"
'Fear not, my dear partner.' Arval spoke up as he appeared next to her. 'I'm confident that channeling my power into your blades will do the job.'
"Well, I guess I'm out of ideas. I'm sure as hell not going to win via normal means. But…"
'Hm? Don't tell me you're hesitating to kill her? It's the Ashen Demon! Your rival! You've always wanted to kill her!'
"I know! But…"
'Look out!'
Byleth suddenly soared towards Shez as she was able to react in time and dodged the blow, before she then channeled Arval's dark power in her blades and started clashing with Byleth once again. Purple against blue struggling against one another as the soldiers all had to scramble and run away so they don't get caught in the crossfire. Byleth then charged a Ki blast fired it towards Shez, but that's when she teleported away and reappeared in front of Byleth as the blue haired girl grunted in surprise whereas Shez smirked as she was at full power and magic coursing through her blades as she swung hard and struck Byleth causing a loud yell of pain to come out as she rolled into the ground, and the blue aura dissipated.
Shez slowly picked herself up and tiredly pumped her fist. "I did it! I beat the Ashen Demon!"
"No…"
"Huh?! You gotta be kidding me…"
As Shez looked on in horror as Byleth slowly picked herself up and looked at her arm… or rather, where her arm used to be and she cursed under her breath.
"Shit… not again."
"I MISSED?!"
She turned to Shez who was gritting her teeth, as she couldn't believe she wasted an opportunity like that.
But Byleth just shook her head and nodded to Shez. "More like you pulled your swing. You had me in your sights, clear as day. Yet you changed the direction."
"SHUT UP! I'll just do it again!"
Byleth rolled her eyes and charged a fire spell in her hand before putting it on her stump, cauterising the wound and glared at Shez. Before she clenched her hand and started to yell as she charged up, making the air feel intense from the power she was outputting. It made Shez shield her eyes as she struggled to keep her feet on the ground.
"What the hell is going on?!"
'She's powering up!'
"OH REALLY?! I DIDN'T SEE HER CHARGING POWER IN FRONT OF ME! NO SHIT!"
Arval had a sweat drop form on his head after bearing the brunt of his partners tantrum.
Byleth kept screaming louder and louder clenching her fist harder as her hair started flickering from blue to green, and electricity was sparking off her body, before it then transitioned into a roar before an explosion of light covered the area which caused everyone in the area to shield their eyes… and it caught the attention of a certain trio who had briefly paused their fighting.
"What in the name of Fódlan is THAT?!" Edelgard exclaimed as she stepped away from clashing with Dimitri who also looked into the distance.
"This power… it's incredible! I can feel my hairs stand on end!"
"I can taste it!" Claude said, nervously clinging to his bow as he tried to see who it was. Until…
"Wait, Dimitri! That's the Mercenary!"
"And she's next to Shez!" Edelgard yelled as she attempted to run towards the pair but was stopped by Dimitri.
"You and I aren't finished. Claude isn't getting away either."
Edelgard narrowed her eyes at Dimitri and then readied her axe. "Very well. Once Shez defeats that Mercenary you hired, she will be here to provide backup."
Back with Shez, she slowly brought her arms down from her eyes to see a shocking sight before her. Byleth was there, but she looked completely different. Instead of her hair and eyes being their usual blue, they were now instead a sharp bright green… almost like Rhea's hair.
'It's her…' Arval suddenly growled which confused Shez, but she then glared at Byleth and powered up to her awakened form and charged towards Byleth ready to punch her, but Byleth caught it with her hand as the impact formed a crater as Byleth had her eyes closed.
"You were right about one thing."
She then opened her eyes which were… wait, weren't they green a second ago? Why were they… teal? But then Byleth spoke.
"This. Ends. Now. KAIO-KEN!"
"Kaio-what?-" Shez started to say before Byleth, coated in a red aura, slammed her first directly into Shez's face, causing a tooth to fall out in the process and sent her soaring through the battlefield, crashing through several houses and a few big trees before finally landing in front of the three leaders of Fódlan, sliding to a halt as she coughed up some dirt that got in her mouth.
"Okay… ow…"
"Shez?! What happened?!" Edelgard exclaimed, completely taken aback that Shez had been defeated like this. Until they all felt an overwhelming power coming near them and turned to see Byleth floating above them with a sparking red aura around her body, before she slowly touched down and let the Kaio-Ken dissipate. She then held out her hand and released a burst of healing magic which fixed up Shez's wounds and even restored her tooth as she slowly stood up and glared.
"Why did you heal me?"
"To show that I want us to be on the same side. And since all the leaders are here, I can finally have this conversation."
But as Byleth was about to speak, a sudden burst of power caused her and Shez's senses to go wild as the latter looked around.
"What the hell?! What's that power?!"
"No… he's not supposed to have awoken yet." Byleth said with wide eyes as Shez looked at her, pressing her lips into a thin line and suddenly started weighing her options. And she wasn't the only one.
"Shez and that Mercenary are completely overwhelmed… what is this power?" Edelgard wondered to herself. And that's when Dimitri stepped forward and narrowed his eyes.
"You and Claude had a truce, am I correct? I think it's for the benefit of our people that I include myself in said truce for now, at least until we can get rid of this incoming foe."
"Yeah, I have to agree with Dimitri. Whatever this thing is, it's gonna take all of us to try and take down." Claude chimed in and Edelgard nodded.
"Very well. We will enact a temporary truce. Gather your forces and get them rested. We will investigate this power source as soon as we are able. And… Byleth, is it?"
Byleth felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw Edelgard look her way. Oh, she can't deal with talking to her right now. All the times she had to kill her, or watch her die because she was too slow. But Edelgard continued to speak, not sensing her inner turmoil.
"I feel like I can trust you to lend us your power. Will you be able to help?"
"…Of course, your Majesty. You can count on me."
"And… it ended the exact same way as last time." Future Byleth said as she looked at the final shot of herself, Shez and Shamir facing down Nemesis, before she managed to turn back time once again. "But I managed to influence the next version…"
That's when the present version saw a Future Byleth… without green hair. It was blue, just like her own and as if sensing her presence, that Future Byleth walked over and the present one saw the insignia of the Adrestrian Empire.
"So you managed to do it? You joined Edelgard?"
"Yes. It didn't feel good initially, having to cut down the students, go against the Church… Alois… but by joining Edelgard, and getting my heart back, I came SO close to ending Nemesis… because a lost power made it's way back to me."
Rain started falling around the ruins of Garret Mach as Byleth panted hard, before hearing a voice.
"YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED, BUT I HAVE ONLY BEEN AT HALF MY FULL POWER… YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE, FELL STAR."
Byleth gritted her teeth as she looked at the hulking form of Nemesis as well as the bodies of the fallen Shamir and Shez as well as Edelgard. After striking down Rhea and getting her heart back, she felt like she could live again, and her strength that had been neutered by her green haired form had slowly been recovering. Unfortunately, it wasn't recovered enough… and now she was facing Nemesis alone, no Divine Pulse, no Sword of the Creator, no allies, just her.
"If this is my time, Nemesis… at least I can die knowing that I am free. And that, you can never take that from me."
And with that, Byleth powered up… or at least, she tried to. But to her horror, her power was too sapped after years of being in that green haired form, and the abrupt end to Rhea meant half her power got taken away too. It didn't help that just before she had used a massive Ashen Blast to try and take Nemesis down. But now she was hitting him with pathetic punches with one arm as Nemesis had a dark chuckle.
"IS THIS THE POWER OF THE FAMOUS ASHEN DEMON? HOW DISAPPOINTING. AND HERE I THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE GOING TO DEFEAT ME."
"Dammit… I have… no energy… it happened too soon…" Byleth and tried to unleash a Ki blast to Nemesis but all that came out her hand was a puff of smoke.
"THIS IS JUST SAD. I ALMOST FEEL BAD TAKING YOUR LIFE. BUT WE BOTH KNOW YOUR ROAD ENDS HERE."
That's when Byleth felt an intense heat around her neck as Nemesis used his swords whip function to wrap it round like a noose and took off into the air and Byleth tried to escape but her energy was too depleted… and Nemesis shook his head and threw her down to the ground at breakneck speeds as she clipped the side of a building before crashing to the ground forming a small crater. Nemesis then held out his hand and charged a dark Ki blast as Byleth slowly picked herself up, feeling the rain hitting her skin as if the world itself was mourning her last stand.
"GOODBYE SOTHIS." Nemesis said in a moment of sobriety, before he unleashed a massive Ki beam to go towards Byleth who was gritting her lone hand as she didn't want to die like this.
No. She can't die like this. She won't go out on her knees. She was a warrior! She was a Saiyan!
And to Nemesis's shock, she suddenly started changing. Her blue hair changed to a fiery gold colour, and her eyes were now a cold teal as an intense reserve of Ki expelled from her body as she held out her hand.
"Ashen… blast… HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
She then growled and thrusted her hand forward with a roar and unleashed a powerful attack, which started to counter Nemesis's attack. Byleth was gritting her teeth when Nemesis started to put in more effort which pushed her further into the ground, as she tried to put more and more power into the attack but unfortunately she was just too worn down and with that, the attack overwhelmed her and she screamed in pain as her life started flashing before her eyes.
'Edelgard… father… Shamir… I'm sorry. I couldn't beat him… this is it…'
…
…
…
Why did she not feel dead?
"You are so useless without me, you know that?"
Huh?
Byleth then realised she was in a familiar dark void and looked up to see Sothis sitting on her throne with her shaking her head.
"Then again, I suppose it isn't your fault. You were dealt a bad hand. And if you had enough energy after getting your true self back, perhaps you could've achieved victory."
"Is… is it really you?" Byleth whispered, slowly stepping forward as Sothis gave her a small smile before running down the steps of her throne and giving Byleth a massive hug, while standing on the tips of her toes.
"It's me. I'm glad I got to see you again, even if it's… unique circumstances."
Releasing from then, Byleth then looked around and noticed how cold it felt in the void before turning to the Goddess. "Am… I dead?"
"Yes and no." Sothis said with a sad look on her face and gestured around. "This place exists between dream and reality. Mind and matter. So unfortunately, you are dying as we speak from that attack. A truly awful end."
"So… why are you here?"
"To give you another chance of course. I always said I would be by your side, didn't I? It's why you were always able to use Divine Pulse in the other timelines. Oh, Chronoa is really not going to like this…"
Byleth tilted her head when Sothis said that name. "Who's Chronoa?"
Sothis froze as she realised she spoke out loud and shook her head. "Not important. But you always wanted to save everyone, didn't you? It's why you couldn't let Nemesis destroy the world, so you tried again. This time, I stepped in despite you gaining your heart back."
She then turned to Byleth and had a determined look. "I can give you another chance. And this time… I think things can go differently. You have a vague idea on how each Lord can play into this, you recognise the potential of Shez. But…"
"…But what?"
"Every time that we have used Divine Pulse and send you back to your original point where you wake up, things are different each time. Who knows what will happen at this point?"
Now Byleth had her own determined look. "But we can't let Nemesis or Thales win."
"Indeed. I'm glad that your resolve hasn't changed. I'd say goodbye but… we both know this isn't the end. Now stand back, my friend. I need space."
As Byleth stood back a safe distance and watched as Sothis clasped her hands together as the familiar clock appeared underneath her. It felt strange seeing it from the outside, but at the same time Sothis didn't look like she was struggling at all. It all came naturally as expected. As the clock hands spun faster and faster, Sothis opened her eyes and gave a small smile.
"Good luck, Byleth Eisner."
And with that, the void was enveloped in a white light and just as quickly, it went dark.
"Come on kid, up and at them."
A groan was the response as Byleth sat up and brushed her blue hair out of her eyes and looked up to see her father Jeralt standing there. And she quickly stood up and approached her father.
"Sorry, father. Just… that same dream again."
"The one about the battle? Weird… well regardless, we better get up and about so get ready quickly, it's a long way to the Kingdom…"
"And now we are here…" Sothis said as she stared at all the other versions of Byleth. The Empire version shook her head and looked at the present version.
"So much has gone differently, as expected. Never before have we agreed to mentor all three of the leaders. Not only that, you taught them Ki too."
The Kingdom version sighed heavily and looked at her arm. "Your circumstances in losing your arm was different to ours too. If Lord Slug came to us in the other timelines… I don't think that we would survive."
A murmur of agreements sounded as they all nodded. But then the Alliance version looked at the present Byleth.
"So. Now you know the truth. When you eventually return to the living world, you won't remember this. But you will feel the resolve to do what's needed. Break the Cycle."
"There will be no more visions after this. We have shown you all we have experienced. The rest is up to you to Break the Cycle." The Church version nodded.
"This is the closest we have ever gotten, you need to find Shez and recruit her and maybe then… we can Break the Cycle."
"Break the Cycle."
"Break the Cycle."
"Break the Cycle."
As they all surrounded her chanting the same three words, their images got more and more distorted as Byleth and Sothis clutched their heads and their vision got more and more blurred before eventually… they both closed their eyes.
"…..up."
Hmmmm?
"B…..th… are… awake?"
A loud groan then sounded from her throat as she slowly opened her eyes, and found herself in the infirmary. And when she gathered her bearings, she saw Jeralt looking at her with a relieved look on his face.
"Kid! You're awake!"
"What happened?" Byleth groaned again and rubbed her eyes and Jeralt sighed.
"You gave us a scare, that's what happened. Blood pouring out of your nose and you passed out for a full day. The students have been worried sick when they found out you were in the emergency room. They even postponed their celebration plans until after you woke up."
He then looked at the chart that was on her bedside cabinet. "Manuela has been trying her best to diagnose you, but she has found nothing. So, I figured I should ask. Do you feel any different? And be honest with me, Byleth?"
Byleth was about to respond… but then felt her head. And to her surprise, it's never felt as clear before. No headaches, no future visions… nothing.
"I… feel great, dad. I think it's gone. All of it."
"You're sure? Well, you certainly look better. You don't have the pain in your eyes that you're so bad at hiding."
"…I thought I did a pretty good job at hiding it."
"Ah, so you admit that you were in pain?" Jeralt smirked, and Byleth blanched when she realised she got caught in his trap. But then his face went back to serious.
"I was really worried you were gone. But… I'm so glad that you are okay."
"…Where's my arm, dad? It feels a little strange not wearing it."
"It's with the rest of your stuff. But you aren't going anywhere until Manuela discharges you."
Byleth frowned in response and slumped into the pillow as she watched Jeralt walk out to get Manuela and Hellen. That's when Sothis spoke in her head.
'It's strange… I don't remember what we went through or who all those people were… but for some odd reason, I feel like my resolve has strengthened. What was it they said? Break the Cycle?'
"Yeah… we can do it. We will change what's to come. We will change the future."
Both Byleth and Sothis looked out the window at the clear sky with looks of determination on their faces. They will save the students future.
No matter what.
*Song: DBZ Ending Theme*
'With the truth of the future now revealed and the many attempts of changing the future now known, Byleth and Sothis leave with a goal. Will they succeed or will their attempts end up the same as the Byleth's before? Find out next time on the next chapter of, The Ashen Saiyan!'
Well, here we are. The first major plot pony has been revealed, and we see just how often Byleth has tried to beat Nemesis but failed. Why does she always fail? Well, like I have mentioned before, fusing with Sothis actually makes her weaker. She got so close to winning at the end of Crimson Flower but unfortunately Nemesis attacked too quickly.
Byleth and Sothis don't have good memories on meeting the past Byleth's, but they do gain the resolve to change what the visions showed them. Oh, and I should probably mention that usually we would be going to Remire Village after the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, but for now we're doing a semi original chapter. It's based on our beloved fish girl Flayn, and it involves the mission where you go with her and Seteth to see her mothers grave.
Remember, Flayn has… anger issues. So maybe she loses control? We will just have to see. But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I will see you all in the next one.
Catch you later!
