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Chapter Text

Six warriors stood within the remains of Zanado. Five had once called it home, the sixth was relatively new to their group. Though, to be fair, those five were older than most people.

"Nemesis and his team are advancing on our location, our time together is reaching its end, my children."

A spectral woman floated in the center of the room. Sothis had given what was left of her power to her children, in the hopes that they could end the terror brought by those responsible for the deaths of both her and the rest of her children. Nemesis and his elites had stolen their lives and used them to empower themselves. Crafting weapons and consuming blood to gain power and extend their lifespan. They had also managed to use those powers to transform. Not in the way that she and her children did, rather they created suits that looked to be made of a skintight flexible material, allowing them a much higher degree of agility and speed compared to armor. How they had managed to achieve this level of technology was unknown to the seven, though most of them had their suspicions.

In order to combat this threat, Sothis had enlisted the help of her remaining children. She had given them powers equivalent to those they were to face.

Indech in Yellow, helmet bearing the face of a dragon resembling a tortoise.

Macuil in Green, helmet bearing the face of a dragon resembling a bird.

Cethleann in Pink, helmet bearing the face of a dragon resembling a feline.

Cichol in Blue, helmet bearing the face of a dragon...

Seiros in White, helmet also bearing the face of a dragon...

And then there was their newest member.

Wilhelm in Red, helmet bearing the face of an eagle.

All wore golden bracelets containing a stone that glowed in their respective color. Each of their suits had designs resembling their crests on the front and capes on the back. Wearing white gloves and boots.

 Seiros and Wilhelm both bore the former's Crest on their chest, symbolizing their bond. If Sothis' senses were any indication, that would not be the only evidence for long.

"You will be missed, dear mother." Indech was the first to speak.

"Goodbye." Said Macuil, blunt as always. Sothis still smiled at him.

"Farewell, my beloved grandmother." Cethleann's sadness was felt by all.

"Indeed, we will carry on your memory." Said Cichol, trying to be strong.

A few moments passed. "Seiros?" Sothis asked her youngest child.

The girl, now a woman, looked at her with tears in her eyes. She was the leader of this group and yet she could not hold back her emotions.

Wilhelm moved to comfort his partner, but Sothis floated over before he had the chance. "Is this truly the end?" Asked Seiros.

The other four looked on with concern.

"I am afraid so, my little one. All that I am is now with all of you. Know this, however, though this will be the last time we speak, I will always be within all of you."
Seiros wished she could hug her mother one last time.

"Lady Sothis, you have my word that I will protect your children. Even with my very life." The young emperor gave what could be called a salute to the departing goddess, who smiled in his direction.

"I do not doubt your words, young Wilhelm. I will ask that you do not throw your life away so recklessly. You have more to protect than even you know." Sothis smiled mischievously.

"May the power protect you." With that final line, Sothis faded from the world.

Her chosen heroes knew what needed to be done. If their senses were not enough, the light flashing from the jewels on their braces made it obvious, the enemy was upon them.

As the other four left the sanctuary, Wilhelm wished to speak with Seiros.

"Seiros, my dear, if this should be our last day, then I-"

"Wilhelm, my light, please save those statements for after our victory. I have had more than enough death for today."

"I love you." He said, embracing the woman in white.

"And I love you, my chosen." She said returning his gesture.

 Both donned their helmets, returning to their transformed states.

They joined their family as the enemy drew near.

"Let us avenge the fallen."

---

Across the plains stood twelve fighters. Each clad in colored suits that mirrored those of the six. At the front of them stood Nemesis, his suit a shining white with a cape similar to Seiros' own, contrasted by the black of his visor, gloves, boots and the stolen Crest of Sothis upon his chest. At his side was that accursed sword, one that was made from the bones of Sothis herself.

His soldiers, The Elites, stood behind him. Each also wielded a weapon made from the Children they'd slain. Their power was corrupted and needed to be taken immediately.

"Tell me, Nemesis, do you recall the Red Canyon? All the lives you stole that day?"

The man smirked, the six felt their blood boil. "Their screams were music to my ears."

Even his allies seemed disturbed by that, but none made a move against him.

Seiros said nothing as she leapt toward him, their swords clashing as she came down. The others joined her. Indech charged forward with a mighty swing of his hammer, backed up by Macuil wielding the bow they'd made together. Cichol used his spear to defend Cethleann as she focused on using her staff to heal the others.

Wilhelm helped hold off the remaining elites as Seiros focused on Nemesis. Amid the chaos surrounding them, their battle seemed to damage the very ground upon which they stood. The others on both sides of the fight knew to keep their distance, lest they be caught in the crossfire.

At one point during the battle, Cethleann was caught by a strike from an enemy sword. The impact knocked her helmet off, leaving her vulnerable to attack. 

"Cethleann!" Called Cichol, running to her aid.

The man, wearing a light blue suit, prepared to follow up before hesitating upon seeing her face. That one moment seemed to anger Nemesis, who fired dark magic at the man. His sword seemed to merge with his body, corrupting him and transforming him into some kind of beast. He grew in size, towering over his former comrades. He screamed in pain, his voice distorted. He ran, his heavy steps becoming faint as he disappeared into the fog.

"Coward." Said Nemesis.

This distraction allowed Seiros to gain the upper hand. She did not smile as she plunged her sword into his chest. Nemesis lashed out one final time. She felt herself be pushed to the side. Enraged, she turned to face the source. She saw the blade pierce Wilhelm's heart and watched as her partner fell to the ground.

Seiros resumed her attack, this time forgoing her blade in favor of beating the old king with her own hands. Each strike shook the very ground on which they stood.

Nemesis was dead, as were the remaining Elites. This should have been cause for celebration, but...

Cethleann was unconscious, later examination would show that she had fallen into a coma from the strain of battle, her father never left her side.

Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg lay dead on the battlefield. The power faded from his body as his suit vanished, the glow of his stone going out.

Seiros screamed in agony while Cichol wept at his daughter's side, the other two brothers caught in the middle, unsure of where to even begin.

---

Wilhelm was laid to rest by his people, the newly-formed Adrestian Empire. Seiros was thankful that his memory would live on.

In the aftermath of the battle, Seiros had been faced with the reality that, barring Nemesis himself, the Elites had families. She had been forced to negotiate peace with them. 

It did not go well, at least not for the Nabateans themselves. Seiros had lied to these humans, telling them that Nemesis alone had become corrupt and that their kin had helped to destroy him. She had also been forced to leave the crest weapons in the hands of the Elites' bloodlines.

Indech and Macuil had argued with her many, many times. Eventually, they chose to leave, never to be seen again.

Cichol did not want to leave his sister, but his daughter's condition forced them to find somewhere safe to hide her, where he would keep watch over her.

These events would leave cracks in Seiros' sanity. Something that was not helped by the news she had received.

Recently, Seiros had been dealing with a bizarre series of symptoms. Fatigue, nausea, strange cravings (even by her standards), increased trips to the latrine...

She thought the physician had been lying when she'd told her.

Seiros was pregnant.

Her mind ran wild. Here she was, trying (and failing, in her opinion) to run an empire on her own. Her husband, the child's father, was dead. Her family was either dead or had essentially abandoned her. She had nobody to turn to. The child was half-human. She might have to watch her own child grow old and die.

Soon after Prince Lycaon was born, Lady Seiros vanished overnight. In the moonlight, a cloaked woman begged her son for forgiveness, promising that she would return to him someday.

Emperor Lycaon lived out the rest of his years without ever seeing his mother again.

In the distance, a woman wept for the child she never knew.

---

Within the darkness deep below the surface of Fodlan, a light flashed on a control panel. The man operating it cackled to himself. All was going according to plan, his agents across the land were in position, all they needed to do now was follow his orders and they would finally be rid of the so-called "Children of the Goddess" that had defeated them so long ago.

For now, though, his head was beginning to ache. He was running out of time.

---

Edelgard finished packing the last of her belongings into her luggage, handing them off to one of her servants to be loaded onto the carriage. She was about to leave home to attend the Officers Academy at Garreg Mach. Where she would hopefully learn some combat techniques, tactics, perhaps some magic... and maybe make a few friends. Well, friends that weren't Hubert.

The older boy had been by her side ever since they were little. Even though her memories of childhood were hazy, Edelgard couldn't think of a memory that didn't involve him in some way. Even during the times she would rather forget, he never stopped trying to find her. Even if he could sometimes be quite overbearing, he would always be her best friend.

She knocked on the door to her father's office.

"Come in." Said the Emperor, keeping his hand on a knife he kept in his drawer, just in case. He retracted his hand as soon as he saw his daughter enter. "El! I'm relieved to see you haven't departed just yet."

The girl smiled. "I did not want to leave without saying my farewells."

The man made an attempt to stand up, but Edelgard came to his side instead. She hugged him the same way she had when she was little, a way that some might say was unbecoming of someone of her station, not that she cared. Her poor father looked like a man almost twice his age, he too had been affected by the events that claimed the lives of her siblings, helpless to stop what had been done to them. His own men had betrayed them, including Hubert's Father and Duke Aegir, people he had once considered friends.

"Have fun, my dear El. I hope that the Academy is everything you hoped it would be." He smiled, remembering the night he'd met her mother. He wished Anselma could be here to see her now.

"One more thing, I wanted to give this to you before you departed." From a box hidden in one of his desk drawers, Ionius pulled out a golden bracelet, with a dull red jewel in the center. "This is an heirloom that has been passed down in our family since the days of Emperor Wilhelm the First. It is said to have protected him during the War of Heroes, and I hope that it may do the same for you."

Edelgard wasn't sure if she believed that, but she was still touched by the gesture, deciding to take the bracelet and pack it in with her other belongings.

She left the room, making her way through the palace to  where the carriage was waiting for her. Before she could board, she noticed someone running toward her.

"Uncle?"

"El! Thank the goddess I made it in time."

Edelgard raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter? Or did you simply wish to bid me farewell?"

"The latter. I hope that place is as good to you as it was to your mother and I." Edelgard hugged her uncle. She still missed her mother dearly. Perhaps one day she would find out what happened to her.

Edelgard boarded the carriage, Hubert following shortly afterward.

She wished her father and uncle's words could be true, but it was not meant to be. By the year's end, there would be no Academy left.

---

Dimitri tried to make his exit as quickly and quietly as possible.

It didn't work.

"~Oh Dimitri, leaving so soon~?" said Cornelia, the court mage. Though these days, she spent more time courting his uncle than anything else.
Dimitri hated them both.

"Yes, Cornelia, I need to make it to Garreg Mach before classes begin."

The woman laughed to herself, in a way that made his skin crawl. "Surely you can spare some time for your dear old uncle? I'm sure he wants to say goodbye to you."

The double meaning had not escaped his notice.

"Your Highness, the carriage is ready for you." Dedue entered the room, once again saving Dimitri.

"Then let us be off." Dimitri walked away before Cornelia had a chance to say another word.

The moment the door to the carriage closed, Dimitri spoke to his self-appointed vassal. "Thank you again, Dedue. I could not stand another moment in their presence."

"There is no need to thank me, Your Highness. Truth be told, I felt much the same."
When they reached Garreg Mach... would Dimitri finally find his sister?

---

"Aaand I think that's everything." Claude closed his last suitcase. He was only taking a few things. Clothes, some school supplies,  a few board games... poison ingredients....

You know, just in case.

Claude strode confidently through his grandfather's house, eager to get moving. He waved to  the staff on the way out, all of whom still eyed him with suspicion. Harsh, but understandable given what he'd gotten up to... 

He wished that was the only reason.

Before Claude could make it out to the carriage, he was stopped in his tracks. "Going somewhere, boy?"

"Judith..." Claude laughed nervously. "What, uh... What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you off, didn't want to miss your first day of school."

"I mean, technically it's not actually-"

"You know what I meant."

Following behind her was Claude's grandfather, Oswald von Riegan. The old man and him didn't agree on much of anything, but he was fine enough, Claude supposed.

"Now Claude, I'm expecting you to be on your best behavior at the academy. That means no pranks, no trespassing, and for the goddess' sake, no poison."

Claude stayed quiet, hoping they didn't want to check his bags. "Don't worry, grandpa. You won't hear a word about me, I'll be a saint."

"...That might be sacrilegious. That aside, If I hear anything from your teachers or goddess forbid, Lady Rhea herself..."

"Then may the Goddess have mercy on you, because we will not. I'll also tell your mother."

Claude gulped at that. His mom could be terrifying when she wanted to be.

"W-well, I'll see you later. Bye!" Claude jumped into the carriage. Desperate to get out as soon as possible.

Later on, after a short nap in his seat, Claude's attention was drawn to two other carriages nearing his. He examined them as best he could... and then he noticed that one of them appeared to be carrying nothing but luggage. A head of pink hair and twintails leaned into view, waving at him from the window.

'Oh, hey Hilda'

---

Rhea overlooked the monastery from her balcony. She'd fought tooth and nail for so many years to create a lasting peace in Fodlan. She wanted to believe she had succeeded, but deep down she knew that wasn't the case. It seemed like every other day there was a new conflict brewing. Had she simply made things worse by getting involved? Perhaps Indech and Macuil were right to hide themselves...

Then again, they did abandon her when she needed them most, so their opinions mattered little to her.

Something was wrong and she knew it. Her powers seem to have left her. She'd attempted to transform a century or two ago, but nothing had happened. Her brace didn't activate. It was only through the intervention of a then-young Knight that she survived. She healed his wounds by giving him her own blood.

She regretted how that story ended. Even to this day she still worries over where he might be and what he thinks of her.

She wished it didn't have to be this way.

Cichol and Cethleann, now known as Seteth and Flayn, seemed to be having the same problem with their powers. She could only assume the same was true for Indech and Macuil, but why? Had her mother's power vanished somehow?

She hoped that was not true. The alternative was too terrifying to consider.

As she looked out into the distance, she could see the arrival of several carriages, hopefully the first set of students for the new year. Judging from the look of the carriages, these would seem to be this year's house leaders. Though she did note that there were four of them, perhaps another student had arrived as well?

Eventually the carriages came to a stop, unloading their passengers and their luggage. That was when Rhea saw her. Edelgard von Hresvelg, Princess and Heir to the Adrestian Empire... and Rhea's descendant. She could feel the guilt overwhelm her. She backed away from the balcony and returned to her office. She could not allow her feelings to cloud her judgement. Still, she wondered if Lycaon even remembered her... not that she could ask him.

Had Wilhelm ever written about her?

She was brought out of her thought process when she noticed a lone figure walking toward the new arrivals. Her face paled when she noticed who that figure was. She loved Flayn with all of her heart, but good Goddess that girl could not keep a secret to save her life. Rhea started running before her mind could process it. If she didn't get down there now, all of Fodlan would know who they are.

Rhea ran until she was near the gates, out of sight. She composed herself and began walking toward the group.

"Ah, Flayn, there you are. Seteth was looking for you, as usual."

The girl pouted and crossed her arms, an action Rhea found adorable. "Ugh, I wish he would just leave me alone for one minute. I was only talking to my new friends!"

The others seemed surprised by how quick the girl was to use to use that word. Not that they minded.

"And Seteth is...?" Asked the boy from Leicester. 

"My overprotective older brother." Grumbled Flayn.

"As well as my assistant." Said Rhea

"Sometimes it feels as though I cannot even breathe without him hearing about it."

"Yes, Seteth can be... overbearing when it comes to Flayn..."

Edelgard briefly glanced at the shadowy man behind her.

"I just wish he-"

Flayn was interrupted by sound of someone shouting her name. She rolled her eyes and turned around to see Seteth running toward them, visibly stressed. "Flayn! Oh thank the Goddess I found you in ti-"

Seteth cleared his throat. "I presume you are this year's house leaders, correct?"

All three nodded. "Very well. I am Seteth, trusted advisor to the Archbishop. I see you have already met my sister, Flayn."

All three looked between the man and the smaller girl at his side. None of them could believe they were siblings, not unless their parents were very old when they had Flayn.

"Now, with introductions out of the way, we-"

"Ahem, Seteth?"

"Yes, Lady Rhea?"

"I have not yet introduced myself to them." Rhea looked at him, annoyed.

"Oh." Seteth said before standing aside.

Rhea turned back to the trio. "Well, as you heard from my assistant, I am Rhea, Archbishop of the Church of Seiros. I would like to formally welcome you to Garreg Mach and to the Officers Academy." 

"Claude von Riegan, pleasure to meet you, Your Grace." The boy bowed to her, in a way that seemed a bit too rehearsed.

Claude,  grandson of Duke Riegan and apparently the son of the currently missing Tiana von Riegan. His sudden appearance had apparently caused a stir in the alliance, especially with the Gloucester family. Something about his smile didn't sit well with Rhea, but she put those feelings aside for the time being.

"Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Crown Prince of Faerghus. It is an honor to finally meet you, Lady Rhea."

Rhea noticed Dimitri's expression, the boy seemed to be troubled by their words. From what she had heard, he was one of the few survivors of the tragedy of Duscur. He had lost many people to that senseless slaughter, including his parents. It was somewhat surprising to her that he had chosen a man of Duscur as his retainer, although if her suspicions were correct, then the Duscurians were not actually behind the Tragedy. She couldn't help but empathize with the boy, both of them even, given what they'd been through.

"Edelgard von Hresvelg, Crown Princess of Adrestia. I must echo the sentiments of my classmates, it is an honor to meet you."

Something about Edelgard's tone didn't sound entirely genuine. It hurt Rhea to hear, but she supposed she understood. The church had been unable to help the royal family during and after the insurrection, given their strained relationship. Edelgard had watched as each and every last one of her siblings succumbed to a mysterious illness and departed from this world. Hearing word of what had occured broke Rhea's heart. She wanted to reach out, to do something to save them. She didn't, because she was a coward.

She'd given up any right to call them family a very long time ago. The only consolation she could think of was that their passing had not been violent.

Her gaze lingered on the girl slightly longer than the other two, something Edelgard seemed to notice. Rhea finally turned away from her and instead looked at the tall, suspicious-looking boy behind her, who looked even more on edge than his liege. 

He bowed in a somewhat theatrical manner, though unlike Claude, his seemed to be genuine. "Hubert von Vestra, loyal retainer to Lady Edelgard."

She hoped for his sake that he lived up to those words. She turned her gaze to the much more imposing man of duscur.

"Dedue Molinaro. Sworn vassal of His Highness, Prince Dimitri." Dedue bowed in a much more direct way.

"As well as my best friend." Dimitri reminded him, as though they'd had this conversation many times before.

Which left...

"Hilda Valentine Goneril, Claude's best friend, and if he tries to call me a servant, I'll break his arm!" The girl said with the same happy smile she'd had on the entire time. The boy in question rubbed his arm as if in fear of losing it.

'I think I might like this girl' Edelgard thought.

"Now, which one of you big, strong men is gonna help me unload my things?"

'Never mind'

"With introductions out of the way, I believe it is time to show you to your dormitories."

"Wow, being personally escorted by the Archbishop? Aren't we feeling special." Claude joked.

"You are the future leaders of the three nations of Fodlan, you are the definition of special. As it is, this is all that I have time to do." Rhea said matter-of-factly.

"I apologize for taking up your time, Lady Rhea" Said Dimitri.

"Dimitri, there is no need to apologize for something you did not do." Edelgard felt odd giving life advice to her future rival. For some reason, she felt protective of the prince.

"She is right, Your Highness. Humility is a virtue, but do not allow yourself to become a... pushover" Rhea couldn't think of a more formal word.

Eventually, they made it to the dormitories. Thankfully, Hilda's room was the closest to the stairs, allowing the poor knights they'd pulled in to help to finally unload the girl's frankly frightening amount of luggage.

Next came Edelgard's, with Hubert thankfully right next to hers. They were fairly small rooms, if only compared to the massive ones they were used to, but they were very nice regardless. Claude and Dimitri's rooms were toward the end of the hall, separated by a currently unoccupied room that seemed to be reserved for Felix Fraldarius, the man originally intended to be Dimitri's right hand. Though these days, their relationship was strained, to say the least.

Dedue's room was on the first floor, which consisted mainly of commoners, although there were a few other nobles  (and apparently one royal, the Princess of Brigid) that would be rooming on that level as well. Dimitri assured him that he would be fine on his own, and that he would call for his aid if it was needed. Dedue at least made peace with the fact that his room was near the training grounds, meaning that if the Prince decided to go for another late night training session, he could be there immediately.

They slowly settled into their lodgings, greeting each new arrival as they slowly but surely came to the Monastery. Dimitri was delighted to see his childhood friends, Ingrid and Sylvain returned the sentiment, even if Felix did not. Ashe, Mercedes and Annette were all new to them, but they all seemed like good company. For the most part, The Blue Lions seemed like they would work well together. 

Claude and Hilda met with their classmates, the Golden Deer. There was little Lysithea from House Ordelia, though Claude found out the hard way that she didn't like being called that. There was Marianne, Margrave Edmund's adopted daughter, who seemed to want to blend in to her surroundings. Raphael and Ignatz, a pair of best friends from merchant families, though unfortunately Raphael's parents had been killed a few years back... Ignatz seemed oddly uncomfortable when the topic was brought up. Leonie was a hunter's daughter from a small village who'd worked hard to get a recommendation to even attend the school, which also wound up putting her in debt. She also mentioned someone called "Jeralt, the Blade Breaker". Lastly, there was the last person either of them wanted to see. Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, heir to House Gloucester, and the man who made it his mission in life to criticize Claude if he so much as breathed the wrong way. It was gonna be a long year....

 Then, there were the Black Eagles. Like Claude, Edelgard also had a token critic that seemed to live on his metaphorical high horse, Ferdinand von Aegir. If Edelgard believed in soulmates, she would think that Ferdinand and Lorenz were made for each other. Every word out of their mouth seemed to revolve around the nobility. It was one thing that Edelgard and Claude could agree on. Caspar von Bergliez was the second son of his family and possessed no crest, which unfortunately left him with nothing to inherit. His best friend was Linhardt von Hevring, the eldest son of Count Hevring. The boy didn't seem to have an interest in much of anything aside from crest research... and sleeping.

Bernadetta von Varley was the only child of House Varley, and it was apparent that her upbringing had done a number on her, the poor girl seemed like she was scared of her own shadow. Petra MacNeary was the Princess of Brigid, a formerly independent nation that was defeated and conquered during a previous war, becoming a vassal state of the Empire. Hopefully Edelgard would be able to free them once more, provided her and Petra did not end up on separate sides. Finally, there was Dorothea Arnault, a songstress and the only commoner in the class. Unlike the others, she had to work her way into the academy, having to court favor with the nobles she seemed to detest in order to enroll.

Edelgard lamented the fact that her house had the least amount of commoners in it, ironic given her goal of creating equality between the classes.

They had less than a week until classes began, which left them time to build bonds between them. It seemed for a time that things were going to pass by peacefully.

---

Outside the walls of the Monastery, a pair of blades dragged across the ground. They were not held in the hands of their wielder, emerging instead from the being's wrists. Its skin, if you could call it that, was a dark gray. Its face was not recognizably human, the shape of a sword's blade running up the center, with no visible mouth and a pair of glowing white eyes on either side of the blade.

As soon as it reached the gates, it went to work. Slashing the air before it, the walls that were hit began to crack and crumble. Any knights who put up a fight were knocked down. One managed to make it inside, ringing the alarm bell before being struck down.

The Sword Lord had made his debut.

---

Rhea felt a disturbance before she even heard the bell. She ran quickly to her chambers, opening a sealed chest and removing the box held within. She ran as fast as she could, dodging any who stood in her path. When she finally made it to where she'd sensed the beast, she was enraged. The wall on this side of the monastery had been reduced to a pile of rubble. She didn't want to even think about the likelihood of anyone being buried underneath.

Her attention was firmly on the attacker as it emerged, taking out one of the knights in the process. The time was now, she would protect her home and its people from this thing, this monster.

She pulled one of the braces from the box, putting it back on her wrist for the first time in many years. She made a silent prayer and spoke the following phrase.

"CREST, CHANGE!"

...

...Nothing happened.

"Crest, Change!"

Still nothing.

The beast dragged its blades as it walked toward her.

"Crest, Change..."

There was no reaction as the beast swung at her. So distracted was she that she did not think to defend herself. She was thrown to the ground.

"Why... why, mother..." Rhea said through the immense amount of pain she was in. Whatever this thing was, it was powerful.

Before the beast could strike again, its blade was caught by the blade of an axe.

"Edelgard?"

The girl in question did not take her eyes off of her opponent. 

"Are you injured, Archbishop?"

"That matters not, you need to get to safety!"

"And leave you here to be killed? If your knights couldn't stand up to that... thing, do you honestly believe that you can?"

'More than you could ever know'

Rhea tried to stand but could not muster the strength. Was the beast truly that strong... or had she simply grown weak? She watched as the girl struggled against the beast's blade. Before it had the chance to swing the other one, it was caught by a lance. An arrow hit one of its eyes, causing it to fall back in pain.

"Sorry we're late." Claude had his bow drawn and ready to fire again.

"Indeed, we weren't exactly prepared when the alarm went off... What in the Goddess' name is that?" Said Dimitri.

Rhea felt exasperated. Why were students, Royal ones no less, so insistent on fighting what she and her knights could not. The beast gathered energy into its blades, charging up an attack. "All of you, get back now!"

The students barely had enough time to react before the spectral blades carved through the ground where they had once stood. The impact flung the box Rhea had brought with her, sending two of the braces tumbling out... right at the beast's feet.

"No!" Rhea did not know what would happen should the beast get its hands on those powers, but the very thought made her feel ill. 

Dimitri and Claude scrambled to grab the two that had fallen. Without thinking, the two placed the braces upon their wrists. Almost instantly, energy surrounded the two, the crystals on the braces glowing with blue and yellow light, respectively.

The beast made to slash at the two young men.

Rhea looked to them. "'Crest Change!'"

In unison, the two shouted the words. "CREST, CHANGE!"

Energy poured out from the braces, covering the two boys in suits of their respective colors. White gloves and boots covered their hands and feet up to their knees and forearms, ending in gold rings. Golden belts surrounded their waists. 

Dimitri's helmet bore the silver face of a mighty lion above its black visor, a silver mouthplate below. On his chest was the design of the Crest of Blaiddyd, cast in silver lines.

Claude's helmet bore the silver face and antlers of a deer. On his chest was the Crest of Riegan, also cast in silver lines.

Their respective weapons also transformed, changing from ordinary metal to an unknown yet much stronger material, colors also changing to match their users.

Rhea looked at the two in shock. Her powers were gone and yet somehow these two... children, were able to use them? She remembered their ancestors, her face growing as pale as her former suit.

Meanwhile, Edelgard couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something. Her eyes were drawn to the braces that the two men and Rhea wore.

The two weren't given much time to process what had happened to them, as the beast was upon them.

Dimitri raised his lance to defend, only for the force to knock the beast back several feet. "What form of power is this?"

Claude fired shots from his bow, keeping the monster away from them for a short while longer. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it's working."

Edelgard stood in front of the seemingly defenseless archbishop. It was at that moment that Hubert and Dimitri's attendant, Dedue, chose to arrive.

"Lady Edelgard!"

Dedue looked around frantically. "Where is His Highness!?"

Edelgard pointed her axe at the man in blue currently fighting the strange monster.

"What happened...?" Was all the giant of a man could say in the moment.

"They... transformed..." Edelgard responded.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" Asked Hubert.

"I am thankfully unharmed, Hubert." Edelgard's eyes looked toward the braces on the boys' wrists, then toward the dormant white one on Rhea's. "I need the two of you to get the archbishop to safety, there is something I need to do."

Without staying to listen to a response, Edelgard took off and ran in the direction of the dormitories. She searched the contents of her room until she found it, a golden brace identical to the others.

'What were you up to, my ancestor?'

She ran back in the direction of the fight she had apparently fled. In the distance she could see the remaining two still struggling against the beast. Now was her time, if two was not enough for this, perhaps three might turn the tide. She built up speed as she ran, leaping into the air and shouting.

"CREST, CHANGE!"

The crystal glowed a bright Red, which began enveloping the future emperor. While the light was still glowing, she collided with the beast, sending it flying backward with a kick to its head.

She landed on her feet, revealing the suit that had formed around her.

Edelgard's helmet bore the silver face of an eagle. On her chest was a silver Crest of Seiros. Her axe had changed from wood and iron single-blade to a red double-blade. 
Rhea fought her way out of the hands of the retainers. She looked on as Edelgard had reappeared wielding powers of her own. Her suit, it was nearly identical to his, to Wilhelm's...

She could not help the fear that took hold of her soul.

Dimitri and Claude stared at the newest member of their apparent team. "El... you had one of these all along?"

"I'll explain later, right now we need to focus on the enemy." Edelgard readied her stance as the beast in question got back on its feet.

'Wait, did he just call me 'El'?'

"Sounds good to me." Claude drew back the string on his bow, creating another energy arrow.

Dimitri pointed his lance in the direction of the monster. "Very well."

Edelgard mentally counted down. "Ready..... Go!"

Red and Blue streaks passed by as Claude stood in place. As the beast tried to slash at its opponents, its blades were caught by the pair's weapons. The two leapt over their opponent, keeping it in place so their third could finish charging up.

Claude let his arrow fly, hitting the monster right in what should have been its heart. The beast fell to its knees, growling in pain.

"Well, it worked." The archer ran toward his new allies. "But it's still not down. What's our next move?"

"We need to get it away from the monastery, in order to minimize the collateral damage." Said Edelgard.

"How do we do that?" Asked Dimitri. "Thus far all our attacks don't seem to be doing much damage. By this point, most people would have..."

"Whatever that thing was..." Claude looked at their enemy, who was now regaining its strength and rising back to its feet, the damage seeming to heal immediately. "It's definitely not a person, not anymore at least."

"It can heal itself?" Said Edelgard, incredulously. Her grip on her axe tightened. 

"We need to be quick if we're going to destroy this thing." Said Dimitri. "Do you have any ideas?"

Claude took a brief glance at their weapons, noticing something strange about their design. "I've got one, but I'm gonna need you two to grab ol' 'sword-arms' and bring him outside, think you can do it?"

Without saying another word, the two leapt over their opponent and grabbed his arms, dragging him behind them as they passed through the rubble into the forest outside.

Once they were far enough, they threw him right into a sturdy tree.

Claude caught up to them. "I'll need your weapons for a moment."

"What?" The two said in unison.

"Please, trust me."

They hesitated for a brief moment, given his reputation. 

Once the other two were in his hands, Claude got to work. He'd noticed odd parts on all of their weapons, parts that seemed to have no clear function unless...

The three weapons snapped together just as he'd suspected.

Red and Blue were attempting to hold off the beast barehanded. It wasn't going well. The monster slashed at Dimitri's chest, letting off a shower of sparks.

"Guys! With me!" Claude held the combined weapon in his hand. They'd formed together into some type of crossbow.  Edelgard's axe formed the base. Claude's bow was placed toward the center. The spear was almost like a very large arrow with how it was placed between a gap in the bow itself, also combining with the blades of the axe to form what looked like a makeshift sword.

Claude held out the weapon to his side, Edelgard stood behind the back and Dimitri on the opposite side to him.

All three felt their powers come together into their newly created weapon. The monster charged toward them before it looked down the barrel of its demise.

In perfect sync, the three shouted. "HOUSES UNITE!"

A ball of energy charged up and shot at their enemy, sending it flying through several trees before landing with an explosion, leaving a smoking crater. 

They observed the surrounding area, it seemed the beast had finally met its end. The weapons transformed back and fell apart. The three heroes did much the same, slumping down to the ground, visibly exhausted.

"Okay, wow... that was a lot." Claude said, trying to catch his breath.

"That was the most bizarre few minutes of my life, and that's saying quite a lot." Admitted Edelgard.

"I agree... what in the Goddess' name just happened to us!?" Dimitri all but shouted to the heavens.

"I believe I can give you the answers you seek."

They turned to see the Archbishop walking toward them, followed shortly by the two retainers.

"My Lady, have you been harmed?" Hubert was frantically looking for any injuries or marks.

"I am fine, Hubert, just... exhausted..." Edelgard almost felt like passing out.

"Your Highness,-"

"I feel the same as Edelgard, Dedue." Dimitri reassured his friend.

"Gonna guess Hilda's not here, right?"

All three shook their heads.

"Thank the goddess." Claude said as he laid back in the grass.

"Very well, gather your strength. Then we will return to the monastery... and I will tell you the truth of what has occurred.

---

The five students found themselves led to a chamber far below the surface of the monastery. Claude looked around with equal parts curiousity and mischief, Seteth taking up the responsibility of keeping him in line. He and Flayn had joined them shortly after returning to the monastery. Flayn kept staring at them with a look of wonder, getting a smile out of Dedue but putting Hubert on edge.

The room around them appeared to be a tomb of some sort, numerous caskets placed around the room. At the back was a set of stairs leading to a stone throne.

"Now that I know we have not been followed, you may begin with your questions." Said Rhea.

Seteth gave Rhea a questioning look while Flayn looked like she could burst from excitement.

Claude raised his hand. 

"Claude?"

"Yeah, uh... so what just happened to us?"

Rhea considered her words. "To put it simply, you seem to have been chosen by the Goddess, chosen to become her new champions."

Edelgard suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, Hubert didn't bother.

Dimitri raised his. "Is this like what happened to the Ten Elites?"

Rhea tried to suppress the anger she felt. Seteth answered for her.

"Not quite. In truth, the Elites were never chosen by the Goddess. Rather... they were bandits, hired to attack the Goddess and her children."

Dimitri and Claude stared at him in shock.

Rhea took over. "They struck while she slept, in the aftermath of a war their benefactors waged against her. They murdered her, murdered her children, consumed their blood..."

Rhea was shaking, as if reliving a haunting memory. "They stole their bones. The Agarthans, said benefactors, turned them into weapons to use against the rest of-" She took a breath. "Against those who remained, there were very few survivors... "

"How do you know any of this, and what does this have to do with the thing we fought?" Asked Claude.

Rhea took a deep breath, her hesitation building. She'd kept this secret for so long that now it was taking a monumental amount of willpower to even say it. "I know... because I was there."

"How...?" Asked Dimitri, visibly confused.

"...I am far older than I appear to be. In truth, 'Saint Seiros' and 'Archbishop Rhea'... are one and the same."

Dimitri was still trying to process what he was hearing, as was Claude, although he seemed less 'shocked' and more 'trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together'. Edelgard and Hubert, however, did not seemed surprised in the slightest. 

"Are we to assume that you are a child of the goddess?" Asked Hubert.

"I am."

"That goes for both of us as well!" Said Flayn, who'd been waiting for a chance to speak. Seteth pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am Cethleann."

Flayn bowed to them as if introducing herself for the first time.

"And yes, I am Saint Cichol himself." The man admitted, having resigned himself to spilling the secrets they had kept for so many years.

"Oh... all of you are thousands of years old..." Claude looked toward the seemingly-young girl. "Wow."

Seteth cleared his throat. "While I recognize how world-changing these revelations may be, I believe we should return to our initial topic... that being that beast and your powers."

"Agreed." Said Dedue.

"Very well. After the... the massacre." Rhea took a breath to compose herself. "Nemesis and the Elites returned to their employers. In ways unknown even to us, they managed to somehow harness the power of the Goddess. They created strange suits, much like the ones you now have... but corrupted. They used those powers to wage war and conquer a good deal of what is now Fodlan. We had but one hope. Sothis, the Goddess, remained in this world in the form of a spirit. She returned to us, at the time numbering five, and warned us of what was coming. She bestowed upon us powers much like your own. These suits enhanced our already considerable power, giving us the chance to rival our seemingly invincible enemies."

Despite the story being told, Rhea began to smile. "There was only one problem, however. There were five of us against all twelve of them, not even counting their considerable army. Of course, that meant we needed allies, and in that time we did not have many options. It was an ambitious young man from what is now Adrestia that proved to be our salvation. Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg, soon to be first Emperor of Adrestia."

At that, Rhea looked toward Edelgard with a warm expression. "Wilhelm joined our small group after I saved him from certain death, he helped us to gather allies, enough to form the Empire. Eventually, Mother even trusted him enough to grant him powers of his own, although giving him my blood might have played a part in that decision.

Together, the six of us went to war against Nemesis and his team. After a long and fierce battle, we claimed victory, but not without cost..."

Rhea seemed to withdraw a bit as she explained the rest of the story. "During our last stand against Nemesis, a tragedy occurred. I was far too consumed by vengence to see what was going on. With his last breath, Nemesis prepared an attack aimed to kill me, and Wilhelm...  decided to take the hit for me. He perished on the battlefield, right there in my arms..."

As if it were still fresh in her mind, Rhea felt tears form in her eyes. She needed to stop, to compose herself so that she would not break down sobbing. There was only one problem with that.

"So Wilhelm died in the War of Heroes?" Asked Edelgard.

"...Yes."

"Yet his son, Emperor Lycaon I, was not born until the aftermath. I can only presume he was conceived some time prior to the end of the war, is that correct?"

"Yes, he was born several months later."

Edelgard's eyes showed the contempt she still felt toward the woman, even if her backstory did earn her a bit of sympathy from the young lady. "Since Wilhelm's death was partially your fault, I feel the need to ask: Did you support the first Lady Hresvelg in the wake of such a devastating loss?"

"What?" Rhea seemed to be caught off-guard by the question.

"I simply asked whether you supported his widow and their child in their hour of need?"

Rhea simply stared at the girl in shock. She hadn't been expecting this level of disrespect from her, given how formal she'd been until now. Though she supposed she did owe her an explanation.

"In a manner of speaking..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Hubert looked toward his lady, for once in his life questioning her judgment.

"...I could not assist the first Lady Hresvelg... because I am the first Lady Hresvelg."

Any response Edelgard could think of died in her throat. "What?"

Rhea regretted that this was the way she would find out. "Wilhelm and I were married some time before our final battle. During the Empire's first years, we were inseperable, I was by his side for nearly every decision. Through both highs and lows. Sometime after his death, I learned that I was pregnant with our child, the one history knows as Lycaon the First. At the time I was terrified, there I was in the aftermath of a war, mourning the death of the man I loved and trying to run an empire at the same time. To be told that I would now have to worry about raising a child in these conditions..."

Rhea wiped tears from her eyes. "I had no idea just how ill-prepared I was for being a mother. One night, after putting Lycaon to sleep after Goddess knows how many attempts, I laid down for just one moment. In that one moment, I saw the glint of a blade in the moonlight. I leapt to attack, to protect my child. I had the assailant pinned, ready to cave their skull in. Only... there was no attacker. I awoke to see my fist hovering inches from Lycaon's face. In my exhaustion and confusion, I'd very nearly killed my own son. I was horrified. Hastily writing a note to my attendants, I grabbed a few of my belongings and fled, but not before leaving something to protect Lycaon. I left Wilhelm's brace in his hands, in the hope that its power would activate in the event that someone tried to hurt him."

"Even so... I ran, as far away as possible. It was some time later that I had the idea to found the church, to give us a sanctuary, in the event that the five of us would need to reunite. Now I see, the Goddess has chosen a new generation of Heroes to protect Fodlan." Rhea smiled at the three, even if a part of her wished she could fight by their side.

The four boys remained silent, seemingly lost in thought. Edelgard, however...

"How dare you." She stood, fists clenched at her sides. Had she not been wearing gloves, she would've drawn blood.

"Edelgard, I-"

"NO! Don't you dare try to apologize now! You ABANDONED your CHILD!"

Even Hubert was taken aback by his lady's anger.

"You were supposed to be there to protect him, to protect us..."

The girl looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"I was trying to-"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE GONE!?"

With that, she took off running toward the lift, Hubert following close behind. Dimitri and Claude tried to run after her, but Rhea prevented them from doing so.

"Let her go, she needs time first."

In spite of the calmness in her tone, Rhea felt her heart ache.

'At least, I hope.'

---

Chapter Text

Deep in the forest surrounding Garreg Mach lay the body of a man, smoking and covered in burn marks. He trudged through the woods, walking mindlessly. Only one word came from his mouth.

"Kooooostaaaaas..."

---

(Earlier that day)

"Kostas?"

"Yeah, whaddya want?"

The man eyed his underling with a look that told him he didn't actually want to know. 

"This job you talked about, how much did you say the guy was paying again?"

The apparent leader of the band of bandits smirked and laughed smugly. "One million per head. Some noble brats on the road, easy pickings!"

"...Boss, if they're paying that much... you don't think that's suspicious?"

"Eh? Why should I?"

"Well, we're not exactly famous, and none of us have crests so we're not superpowered or anything. Why offer a job like that to guys like us?"

Kostas rounded on the smaller man. "Kerry, who's the boss here?"

"You?" 

"Exactly, now you just do what I say and we'll all take home a decent chunk of change." He proudly hefted his axe over his shoulder. "Especially me."

Kerry was beginning to wonder how he'd ended up working for this idiot, and even though they kept their mouths shut, the others were starting to agree with him.

---

By the time the Iron King Bandits arrived at the agreed meeting point, it was late into the night. Standing behind a nearby tree was a mysterious individual dressed from head to toe in a suit of armor. The mask they wore looked like it was stained with blood. The plume on top of their helmet trailed down to their feet, which were mostly hidden by the black cape surrounding their form.

"You're late. That won't do it all." The armored stranger seemed less than pleased, if the tone of their filtered voice was any indication.

"C'mon, we didn't have a carriage or horses, this is as fast as we could go!" Kostas complained.

Their employer sighed. "Your targets have already made it to their destination by this point, they'll be surrounded by knights and healers. Should you choose to accept the contract, your mission will be far harder than it would have been."

"Will our pay be raised?" Asked Kostas

The walking armor seemed to contemplate the idea for a moment. "I suppose that would only be fair..."

Kerry didn't like the way they said that.

"Then we accept, those brats won't know what hit 'em!" Their fearless leader hefted his axe over his shoulder, smiling a smug smile.

"Before you do..." Their employer reached to their side, fishing something out of their arsenal. A dark black stone engraved with a set of glowing runes. "You will need this. It is capable of granting one unimaginable power."

"Then why give it to us?" Kerry spoke up, immediately regretting it.

"He just said why, you idiot! We're up against knights, aren't we?" Responded Kostas, slapping him upside the head with his free hand. 

Kerry's grip on the tip of his sword tightened.

"Would you care for a demonstration?" Asked their seemingly-generous benefactor.

"Sure, why not?" Kostas answered, he could use some entertainment.

They raised the stone in their hand... and pointed it directly at the skeptical swordsman. Before he knew what was happening, a beam of energy shot out at him, coating him in dark purple magic. He could feel his body changing, it felt as though he was being torn apart from the inside. His hands stretched out, fingers merging together to form sharp blades. Another grew between the sides of his face. His mouth disappeared, leaving him unable to scream. His eyes turned stark white and seemed to glow in the dark of the night. His entire body looked to be coated in a sort of dark gray material. What had once been a man had become a beast.

The Sword Lord had now been born.

The remaining bandits looked on in both awe and horror at their former comrade.

The masked one held the stone out in front of them. "It requires but a thought, and it will follow your every command."

The beast's blades glowed before slashing and releasing a wave of energy that cut through the trees before them, creating a new clearing in the forest.

"Any questions?"

"Uh... no, sir." Replied Kostas, shock and excitement evident in his expression.

"Good. Kill as many as you can." And with that, the mysterious masked man tossed the stone into his hands, warping away and leaving the bandit leader to stare at his new toy.

"This oughta be good." He said with a disturbing smile.

---

Word had spread throughout Garreg Mach of the mysterious heroes that protected the monastery from a monster attack. Some expressed doubt at the validity of the story, given that there weren't any witnesses, or at least not any that were coming forward. The rest of them had been evacuated to the cathedral, with a scattered few being caught outside in the aftermath. Still, the damage to the monastery walls spoke for itself, it would either take something very powerful or an army's worth of soldiers to do that much.

In particular, one Felix Fraldarius seemed the most skeptical out of all the students, although it should be noted that he seemed oddly attentive whenever the topic came up.

He also spent a frankly worrying amount of time in the training grounds.

Felix dodged a strike from Sylvain's lance, leaving him open to attack from Ingrid's lance. He ducked down to avoid her, tripping her and causing her and Sylvain to collide, sending both falling to the floor. 

"Wow, Ingrid, didn't think you'd be so forw-"

He was cut off by a splash of water in his face, looking up to see Mercedes holding a now-empty bucket of water.

"Thank you, Mercedes." Said Ingrid as she stood back up. She was tempted to slap Sylvain but decided he wasn't worth the effort.

Mercedes gave her a friendly nod, briefly shooting Sylvain a look that terrified him to his core. "Let me know if you need my help." She said as she returned to the bench and sat down next to Annette while Ashe did some target practice in the background.

The Faerghus trio resumed their positions.

Dimitri and Dedue entered.

Felix realized they had too many lance wielders.

"What do you want, boar?"

"I was hoping to get in a bit of training, but if it would bother you that much-"

"Please ignore him, Your Highness, we would love to have you, right?" She glared at Felix.

He didn't seem to notice. "Fine, but we'll start one-on-one." Felix raised his sword.

Dimitri grabbed a training lance and got into position. Dedue stood by the bench, next to Mercedes and Annette. Ashe took a break from his practice to watch, a mix of awe and fear. Sylvain and Ingrid stood off to the side, still holding their lances just in case things got out of hand.

On three, Felix charged toward Dimitri. The prince raised his lance to defend, stopping the blade in its tracks. Felix pulled back to strike again, this time trying to feint and catch him off guard. Dimitri avoided both strikes. Something felt off, Felix tried one more time to land a hit on him, to no avail. He called for Sylvain to join them, both now teamed against Dimitri. Soon, Ingrid was brought in as well, then Ashe with his bow ... and Annette with her axe. Not one of them could keep up with the prince's reflexes.

Just where had this talent come from? Felix had known him for their entire lives, Dimitri had never been this fast. Strong, sure, perhaps too much for his own good, now he was moving as quickly as a bolt of lightning.

"Boar, where were you yesterday?" Felix said, panting. "You weren't evacuated with the rest of us. So where did you go?"

The others, sans Dedue, turned their attention toward Dimitri. Everyone had noticed that the house leaders had seemingly gone missing during the attack, a few had even speculated that they had been caught in the attack. They were relieved when they turned up unharmed, Hilda had nearly suffocated Claude with a hug when she found him. The excuse they'd given was that they'd had a meeting with the archbishop, but some still doubted that, especially given that the archbishop was sighted running toward the attack.

"I told you, I-"

"Don't give me that horseshit, where were you?"

"Felix!" Ingrid called out.

"I-" Dimitri started.

"Knock knock." A voice said through an open door.

Claude stood in the doorway, the rest of the Golden Deer behind him. "Room for... 8 more?"

"Well, this is a public space, so yes, but-" Said Dimitri.

"Go somewhere else, we're in the middle of something."

Ingrid said nothing this time, merely stomping on Felix's foot.

Claude glanced around the room. "And the rest of you?"

His answer was a mix of nods, waving and a few shrugs. "Sorry, Felix. Looks like you've been outvoted."

Claude swore he could see steam coming out the boy's ears. He patted him on the shoulder just to taunt him.

"Mind if I borrow Prince Charming for a minute?" Claude said as he rested an arm on Dimitri's shoulder, the other boy's height making the position slightly awkward.

"Tch." Felix gave up and sat down on a nearby bench. He hoped whatever was going on would at least be entertaining.

"Claude, what's going on?" Dimitri was still unsure of what to make of his rival-turned-teammate, given that he'd seemingly come out of nowhere.

"Relax, I was hoping we could spar together for a bit."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Dimitri said, thinking back to the events of the previous day.

"Positive, there's something I need to try out." Claude said, grabbing a training bow and loading his quiver with practice arrows.

"Alright..." Dimitri said with a sense of unease as he got into position.

"On three. One... two..."

Claude fired on two, catching Dimitri off guard. The prince just barely dodged the arrow. "You said three!"

"All's fair in love and war." Claude fired again.

Dimitri deflected the next arrow. "And which would this be?"

"Care to find out?"

Out of those present, the ones who did not blush instead rolled their eyes.

Dimitri caught up to Claude, the archer managing to evade the lance just in time.

 What followed amazed the entire crowd. Dimitri seemed to have met his match as Claude expertly dodged each and every strike. In turn, the lancer moved between the arrows as if time had slowed for him. From both boys' perspectives, that seemed to be the case. It seemed as if their new powers had greatly enhanced their reflexes.

If he'd been suspicious before, Felix was sure that something had happened with these two now. If Edelgard showed up and had these same abilities, he would not be surprised.

The two fought to a draw, Claude running out of arrows just as Dimitri's lance finally gave out and snapped in two. The two stood, just barely out of breath. The others were amazed... that or horrified, it was hard to tell.

Suddenly, the sound of a slow clap rang out from one corner of the room. All eyes panned over to see the archbishop herself standing there. She'd exchanged her usual gown and vestments for a simple white blouse and a pair of trousers. If one was not paying close attention, they might have mistaken her for a student wearing the summer uniform.

"...Lady Rhea?" Dimitri had not expected to see the woman in this part of the monastery. 

"...How long have you been there?" Asked Claude.

"I arrived several minutes ago, but I noticed you were busy so I decided to wait and watch. That was very impressive, by the way."

"...What uh... what brings you here?" Claude watched as the woman grabbed a training sword. 

"I was hoping to get in some training while I had the time. Would that be a problem?" She twirled the dull blade in her hands as if to show off.

Before either boy knew it, they'd been roped into sparring with the leader of the church itself, and it was then that they were reminded of who she really was. Strike after strike, arrow after arrow, none of them hit their target. Rhea moved around so much that they wound up hitting each other more than they had the previous round. At one point they'd aimed at her at the same time, hoping that one of them could distract her long enough to connect. Then she jumped.

Rhea leapt high into the air, flipping until she landed gracefully on her feet several feet away. Unfortunately, their weapons had to go somewhere. That was how Claude was knocked to the ground by a lance to the head and how Dimitri was hit by a (thankfully blunt) training arrow. Both young men lay sprawled on the ground, having gone from superhuman even by their standards to being humiliated by a woman old enough to be their grandmother several times over.

Rhea's sword technique was something else entirely, she wielded a blade like it was an extension of her own body. Her agility and speed had not been the only reason they couldn't hit her, for every time they came close, she would deflect with her sword.

The crowd present looked on, visibly impressed. If they hadn't already been afraid of her, this provided more than enough reasons. Felix had a very different reaction.

"Please, teach me!" Felix said, begging on the ground, to the shock of all his classmates. 

"Man, I cannot believe the Eagles are missing this." Sylvain said as he leaned toward Ingrid, she... actually agreed with him for once.

"Now, Felix. There's no need for that." Rhea said as she forced Felix back into a standing position. "Perhaps when I can find the time I could-"

The doors opened once more. Behind them stood not the full class, but three of the Black Eagles: Dorothea, Hubert and Edelgard. The former two notably had concerned expressions on their faces. It was not difficult to see why.

Edelgard looked as though she had not slept in days, even though it had only been one. Five of those present knew the probable reason for this, while the rest were left in the dark.

Edelgard made her way to the weapons rack, grabbing an axe as usual. Without another word, she made her way to the center of the room, standing across from Rhea. The two women stared at each other, one with worry, the other with contempt. Edelgard raised her axe, Rhea kept her sword at her side.

Edelgard struck first, jumping straight toward her opponent, axe aimed right at her face. Rhea just barely managed to raise her sword in time to defend herself. They struggled for a few moments before Edelgard pulled back. What ensued was several minutes worth of Edelgard swinging and Rhea blocking. With every strike, Rhea could see the anger in

Edelgard's face. Every unsuccessful strike made the younger woman's blood boil. It came to a head when Rhea caught the blade of Edelgard's axe on her sword and wrenched the weapon from the girl's hands. The princess stood there, out of breath and struggling to stand.

"Do you yield?" Rhea pointed the sword to Edelgard.

Edelgard stared for several moments before she nodded.

Rhea let her guard down, and that proved to be a mistake. Edelgard leapt toward her and tackled her to the ground. She raised a fist, rearing back to punch her right in the face.

It never connected. Edelgard looked to her side to see Dorothea holding her arm, a disapproving look on her face. Ironically, it seemed the opinion of the only commoner in her class mattered the most to the future emperor.

Dorothea pulled Edelgard away, practically dragging her given how exhausted she was. Mercedes stood from her spot on the bench and joined her in restraining the Adrestian royal. As the others looked on in a mix of concern and fear, Edelgard was escorted out of the training grounds. Hubert followed closely behind as they brought Edelgard to the infirmary.

Silence lingered for several moments.

"I apologize, but I must be going now. Please, if any of you see Seteth, I was never here." Rhea leapt up over a nearby wall and ran out of sight.

Shortly after, the doors to the training grounds slammed open.

"Have any of you seen the archbishop!?" Seteth seemed visibly annoyed, which is why it frustrated him when the collective response was 'no'.

---

Edelgard didn't bother with even thinking during the walk to the infirmary. She couldn't leave even if she wanted to, the two women at her sides were surprisingly strong.

After Edelgard was unceremoniously dropped onto the nearest empty bed. The head physician came to check on her. Manuela had been hired some time before they'd arrived at the monastery. Before that, she had been a famous opera singer and actress. In fact, her and Dorothea had been quite close even before they'd reunited at Garreg Mach. It was for that reason that Thea was the one to answer when Manuela started asking questions.

"Alright, she doesn't have any visible injuries, nor does she seem ill... and I can't find any internal damage, so that begs the question... why did you bring her here?"

The last day and a half had not been going well for Manuela. After the sudden attack from what had apparently been a "monster", she'd been working with knights that had injuries ranging from "just a scratch" to "barely hanging on to life". Thankfully, she'd managed to save them, but they were still recovering. Even now the only other bed in the room was taken up by a knight who'd fallen into the second category. Manuela hoped that she'd regain consciousness soon... but now all they could do was wait. 

And now the princess of Adrestia had been tossed into the mess without any apparent injuries.

Dorothea crossed her arms. "She tried to fight the archbishop. Came this close to punching her in the face."

Manuela's eyes went wide as she stared at the white-haired girl. Ordinarily, such a thing could have been grounds for expulsion at best, so the fact that the girl was still there with them was a miracle in her eyes. Still, that left another question.

"Do we know how it started?"

Mercedes stood from her spot at Edelgard's side. "I believe I can answer that. The Lions were doing another session at the training grounds, as usual. The Deer came in, Claude and Dimitri sparred for a bit. Lady Rhea came in and decided to join in, she defeated both of them without breaking a sweat. That was when Edelgard came in, grabbed an axe and tried to fight Rhea. She pretended to yield and threw a punch at the archbishop's head, and if it wasn't for Dorothea's intervention, it would've hit." Mercedes moved to

Manuela's side to whisper. "Whatever Edelgard's feelings toward Rhea... they're very personal."

The three women looked at Edelgard, concerned for the now-depressed looking girl lying on her side.

Just outside the room, Hubert lamented his inability to help.

---

"Kooooostaaaaas..."

Not much longer now.

He was getting close.

"Kooooostaaaaas..."

There, right there.

"KOOOOOSTAAAAAS!"

The bandit leader looked up just in time to see his thought-to-be-dead underling running toward him, apparently back to normal, sort of...

Too bad it wouldn't last.

Kostas grabbed the stone and pointed it at the poor guy. "Sorry, pal, but I need the money."

Kerry tried one last time to kill the other man. The beam from the stone hit him before he got the chance.

Even Kostas was alarmed when, rather than simply transform again, the beast started to grow.

The Sword Lord now stood far above the treeline.

Its master pointed it back in the direction of Garreg Mach. 

Its footsteps felt like earthquakes.

---

Rhea stood outside the door to the infirmary. After being late to her meeting, which did not earn her any favor with the visiting dignitaries, she'd been given an earful by Seteth.

It was only after he'd finished his rant that she was able to explain what had happened. He'd admonished her for her stunt at the training grounds, but afterward he urged her to try and make things right between them, before they spiraled out of control.

As she looked through the doorway, she saw two things. One was one of the knights who'd been caught up in yesterday's attack, the other was Edelgard, and if Rhea didn't know any better she swore she could hear one of them crying.

Given that the knight was still unconscious, it had to be the princess.

"Hello there." A voice said just beside her. Rhea jumped, nearly screaming before catching herself.

"Oh, Hubert, it's just you... how long have you been there?"

His silence told her he hadn't left that spot, not for the several hours since then.

"Is she.... how is she doing?"

"I think you already know the answer."

She could hear the girl sobbing into her pillow, taking advantage of the fact that the only other person in the room couldn't hear her.

"I should have expected she would react like this... perhaps she would have been better off if I hadn't-"

Hubert held out a hand to stop that line of thought. "She has been kept in the dark far too many times in her life. As unbelievable as this might seem, I think you did the right thing by telling her."

Rhea lamented the girl's position, she too had lost so much in so little time. "Do you think she could ever forgive me?"

"I cannot say for certain, the only way to know would be to ask her yourself."

Rhea steeled herself and crossed the threshold. A pillow was thrown in her face. Off to great start.

"Edelgard?"

"Leave."

Rhea turned around to leave. Hubert stood in her path.

"I cannot."

Edelgard sat up on the bed. "Hubert, let her through."

"I cannot." Replied the dark mage.

"Are you disobeying me?"

"Everything I do is for your sake, your highness. Even if it means going against orders."

Edelgard looked livid for a brief moment before she calmed down. Rhea pulled up a chair to sit by her side. "Can we talk?"

"What is there to talk about? I believe I made my thoughts clear both yesterday and today. Of course, now that I've made it public, you're probably going to expell and/or execute me, aren't you?"

"No, I will not be doing either of those things. You did nothing wrong."

Edelgard looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "Have you lost your mind? I tried to kill you!"

"You did no such thing. You lashed out, and for reasons I completely understand. Believe me, there is no one who blames me more than myself. You have every reason to resent me for what I have done." Rhea's voice almost broke near the end.

It was strange, this almost seemed to make Edelgard even angrier. "Do you think your self-pity will make things right between us? Because I will tell you now that it will not."

"I did not expect that it would. Not a day has gone by that I did not regret my decision, but I know now that what has been done cannot be undone..."

"Do you have any idea what goes on outside these walls? The damage you have caused goes far beyond that of my family." Edelgard stated with an unnerving level of calm.

Rhea had to admit that the use of 'my' rather than 'our' still hurt, even after the distance she'd put between them and her. 

"You are not wrong. I've been so focused on creating a sanctuary that I have neglected the world outside of it." 

Rhea stood back up. Even though she was only six inches taller than her, Edelgard always felt so much smaller around her. "Edelgard, would you be willing to join me to talk somewhere more... private?"

The idea of being alone with her put Edelgard on edge. "Only if I can bring Hubert with me."

"Of course." Rhea smiled.

The three departed from the infirmary. Shortly afterward, Manuela returned to find the place nearly empty. "Oh thank the Goddess, finally some peace and quiet."

"MONSTER!" The knight shot up in her bed, only to wince as the pain from her injuries made itself known.

"It's gonna be a long day..." Manuela said, massaging her temples.

---

"...Do you think we should check on her?" Dimitri asked.

"Dimitri, buddy, listen to me. When someone like her has a look like that in their eyes, the best thing to do would be to give 'em space. Otherwise you'll be walking out of there with your head no longer attached to your neck." Claude replied, taking a bite from the meat dish he'd ordered.

"Oh! I am being reminded of a spirit from Brigid legends!" Petra spoke up, excited.

"T-There are headless ghosts in Brigid?" Ashe asked, visibly nervous.

"Only in stories. It is a horse rider that carries its head with it while stalking travellers in the night. Legends say if you are carrying gold with you, you will be safe... but if you are not..."

Petra rose up from her seat.

"It will be taking your soul!"

Ashe could barely hear anything else over the sound of his own heartbeat. Over at another table, Lysithea was paralyzed with fear, even if she would never admit it.

"...Perhaps you're right." Admitted Dimitri.

"Aren't I always?" Claude winked at him.

"...Claude, we've known each other for less than a week."

"What's your point?"

Dimitri glared at the other man.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, we can check in on both of them later... when they've hopefully calmed down." Claude put a hand on Dimitri's shoulder, accidentally revealing a bit of the brace on his wrist.

"Hey Claude, where'd you get that?" Asked Hilda, eyeing the item, specifically the yellow jewel on its surface.

"Oh this? It's uhhh..." 

"Oh, I just noticed Dimitri has one too!" Hilda crossed her hands underneath her chin, smiling mischeviously, eyes darting between the two boys. "Okay, spill it, what's going on here?"

"These are... gifts! From the Archbishop!" Said Dimitri, lying poorly.

"Yeah, she called us over for a meeting and gave us these neat little bracelets. Even Edelgard has one!" Said Claude, doing a slightly better job.

Although... that wasn't entirely a lie.

"Was that why you were missing yesterday?" Asked Leonie, still trying to get a response from Lysithea.

"Yeah... we were with her when the attack started." 

"Wait, did she teach you how to fight like that?" The future mercenary seemed very interested in the prospect.

"Yes... yes she did."

('Sorry, Rhea') 

Back on another side of the table, Petra seemed to feel just a little guilty.

"Ashe, I am sorry if the story was too... scary for you."

"Oh, no, it's quite alright. I... just don't do well with ghosts is all." The young archer admitted.

"I was hoping to share some of my culture... maybe we can be discussing other parts?" Suggested the young princess.

"Oh, that would be wonderful!"

When the time came for them to leave, Petra was stopped by another member of the Blue Lions.

"Personally, I would love to hear more about those ghosts." Mercedes said as she smiled, a mix of kindness and deviousness.

Petra mirrored her expression as the two swapped stories.

Dimitri and Claude had just left the doorway when their bracelets suddenly began to blink repeatedly, a strange noise accompanying each one.

"Now what could that mean?" Thought Claude, out loud.

A sudden tremor was felt beneath their feet, causing both to briefly stumble.

"Perhaps that might have something to do with it?" Suggested Dimitri.

"I think now might be a good time to check in."

"Agreed."

They turned and ran in the direction of the Entrance hall.

---

Every instinct in Edelgard's mind was telling her to run.

She'd followed the archbishop to the top floor, dreading what was to come. Thankfully, Hubert was allowed to remain by her side, and even if he hadn't been, he would have found a way. Rhea had said that she did not hold any grudges for what had occurred, yet for many reasons Edelgard could not find it in herself to trust the woman.

Looking around, Edelgard could tell they were in the area containing the archbishop's quarters. Aside from the double-doors at the end of the hall that she was positive were

Rhea's, there were four other doors and a decently-sized balcony at the other end. Two of them she assumed belonged to Seteth and Flayn, which left the purpose of the other two in question. One was answered almost immediately as Rhea opened the door to reveal... an empty room. The room itself was fairly spacious, a bit larger than their own dormitories, which begged the question of why there was a completely empty room of this size in this area.

Rhea entered first, followed by the two of them.

"Is there a reason this room seems to be unused?" Asked Edelgard.

Rhea paused for a moment. "Originally, it was intended for a member of my family. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way I had hoped."

"Of course, one of your brothers..."

Rhea did not respond, merely giving a wistful hum.

"That brings me to the reason for being here." Rhea raised a hand and a magical pulse spread across the room. "For the time being, no sound will leave this room. Any attempting to listen in on our conversation will be met with total silence. So I ask, if not for my sake but your own, that you air your grievances against me. I will not demand that you tell me everything, only the things you wish for me to hear."

Edelgard clenched her fists, unsure of where to even begin. "Do you have any idea what happened while you were gone?" She said, coldly.

"Tell me." Pleaded Rhea.

"Do you recall the 'illness' that claimed the lives of my siblings and left me in the sorry state you see today? The one that 'coincidentally' happened around the time of the Insurrection?"

"I do." Rhea was beginning to realize where this story was headed, and she hoped to the Goddess that she was wrong.

Edelgard's rage was barely contained as she spoke. "There was no illness, and it was no coincidence. They dragged us into the dungeons below the palace and forced us to undergo horrific experiments." She rolled up one of the sleeves on her uniform, showcasing the scars that she'd been left with.

Rhea's face went pale. "Who did this to you?"

"I wish that I knew, as it is all that I recall is seeing the terrified faces of my siblings before they were dragged to their demise, I recall the rats gnawing at what was left of their bodies, and I recall the aftermath of the experiments. They used us and then carelessly tossed us aside when they no longer needed us."

To her credit, Rhea seemed just as incensed as she did. "Why?" Her voice shook. "Why do this to children?"

"If I were to guess, it might have had something to do with... this." Edelgard held out a hand and summoned her crest. First formed the Minor Crest of Seiros, as expected. Then, there was a second crest... a Major Crest of Flames. 

('Mother's Crest')

Realization seemed to hit her. ('Oh Goddess, was it them? Did they know? Was this all because of me?')

"Rhea?"

"...Do you remember anything about these people? What they looked like? Anything at all?" Rhea grabbed Edelgard's shoulders, which proved to be a mistake as the younger woman pushed her away. Edelgard needed a moment to calm down.

"...Nothing. I cannot remember anything save for silhouettes that came in and out to take us away." Edelgard shivered as she recalled the memory. "After that, I only remember waking up in my room, where I began the road to recovery. By the time I'd fully regained my faculties, they had vanished. I have all of the trauma with none of the information..."

Edelgard felt like hitting something. Seemingly picking up on this, Rhea looked toward the only other person in the room. Hubert revealed a pair of blades that he'd somehow kept concealed on his person.

At some point, she would probably need to investigate him, but for the moment she was willing to let this slide. He handed one to each of them.

"Hubert, these are actual swords. They aren't meant for training."

"Would you prefer that I run down to the training grounds and back?"

"No, just... why do you even... you know what, never mind."

Rhea chuckled. "These will do for now."

Edelgard questioned her. "Are you sure? We don't exactly have a healer on hand."

Rhea raised her hand and gathered a bit of Faith magic.

"And if you are the one injured?"

"I can survive until we reach the infirmary. Besides, I'm over a thousand years old... and not human, for that matter."

Edelgard had to concede that point. Her answer came in the form of her raising her blade.

Rhea smiled. Just before Edelgard charged forward and slashed at her. Rhea barely had enough time to block. If she'd been wielding an axe, Edelgard definitely would've hit her.

Rhea parried Edelgard's strikes. "You seem tense, why don't you tell me what ails you?"

Edelgard glared at the woman. "Where do I even begin?"

Slash. "Do I start with the crest system, which led to the corrupt nobility we see today? To all the children who have been abused, abandoned or, goddess forbid, murdered."

Swing. "Or should I talk about the Knights of Seiros and how you send them to do your dirty work?"

Strike. "For that matter, sending students, most of whom are still considered children into dangerous situations that can lead to their deaths?"

Stab. "You serve as judge, jury and executioner on the matter of anyone who does not follow your doctrine to the letter. You have killed so many in the name of upholding your power."

Rhea found herself growing irritated despite this being her idea. It was not as simple as she made it sound.

"...But in truth, I wish I could be so selfless. No, what ails me in this moment is that the very woman responsible for all this pain and heartache now tells me that we are 'family', all because she had a baby one thousand years ago and then ran away from him, leaving him and the rest of us to rot."

Edelgard swung again. Rhea parried.

"I spent years seeing you as my enemy... and now, my understanding of the world is being called into question. Just yesterday I transformed into some type of 'magical warrior' and fought a 'magical beast' made of swords alongside two boys I otherwise couldn't stand."

Edelgard feinted an attack before throwing her weapon to her other hand and striking from the opposite direction, catching Rhea off-guard and leaving a small cut in her arm.

"Now? The people I believed to be my enemies are supposed to be my allies and I now face an enemy I cannot even imagine..."

"I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. And now I'm being asked to bear the weight of a whole other world... is it any wonder that I cracked under the pressure!?"

Edelgard's sword broke as her crests activated in tandem, throwing Rhea into a nearby wall. Edelgard finally broke down, while Rhea stood back up.

Rhea had remained silent until now. "Edelgard, nearly everything you've said until now is true. There is a flaw in your logic, however. You act as though you must bear this weight on your own, that you and you alone must be Fodlan's savior... or die trying. I can tell you from experience that mindset will only end in failure, heartbreak or both." 

She held out her hand to help the younger woman. "Not only do you have Hubert, you have Dimitri, you have Claude, you have Seteth, Flayn, the Black Eagles, perhaps even the other Houses if you'll let them. You do not need me, but if you'll allow it: Once our shared enemy is vanquished, I will step down as archbishop, and I will be at your mercy."

Edelgard stared at Rhea like she'd gone insane. There was no time to process that, a gust of wind blew throught Rhea's hair, her head snapping toward the distance. Edelgard's brace started blinking. Rhea ran outside and down the hall with Edelgard following right behind her, while Hubert briefly glanced at the door next to this empty room. He followed a few moments later.

---

The two parties met at the foot of the stairs. "Oh hey, we were on our way to find you." Said Claude.

"I presume this has to with... this?" Said Edelgard, raising her brace into view, the other two doing the same.

"Does this mean what I presume it does?" Asked Dimitri.

"It means an enemy is near." Rhea explained. Another tremor came from the east, somewhere deep in the forest. "Come with me."

Making sure they were out of sight, Rhea pressed a series of stones on a wall, leading them to retract and reveal a secret passage. The three, after a brief bit of surprise, followed her inside. The tunnel was almost pitch black, only the lights of their braces and a small spell from Rhea's hand lit the way forward.

"I would suggest you transform now, lest you be spotted by the others."

Following her advice, the three teens raised their braces and shouted. "CREST CHANGE!"

One flash of multicolored light later and they emerged from another opening near one of the walls surrounding the Monastery, now clad in their fancy superpowered uniforms. 

"Now to find our mysterious enemy." Said Edelgard, scanning the forest before them.

"Somehow, I don't think that's gonna be a problem." Claude responded, head tilted upward.

"What makes you say that?" Asked Dimitri.

Claude pointed up toward the sky, bringing the other two's attention to the head of the thought-to-be-dead sword monster rising above the treeline.

"Oh." Said Dimitri.

"Dear." Said Claude.

"Goddess." Said Edelgard.

How could they possibly hope to stand up to that thing now when it was more than enough for them when it was their size?

Especially now that they noticed they were unarmed.

"You three!" Shouted Rhea from behind them. They turned around just in time to catch the weapons being tossed at them. Edelgard and Dimitri were thankful she'd decided to toss them instead of lobbing the axe and spear at them. Hubert's throw fell short and Claude's bow clattered to the ground by his feet.

"Well, here goes nothing." Claude pulled back an arrow and fired at the lumbering giant's face, managing to hit it in the eye, and that proved to be a bad idea.

"Ha, bullseye!" The unseen smile on his face was wiped off a moment later as a gigantic blade nearly sliced him in half.

Edelgard and Dimitri tried attacking near its ankles, hoping to at least make it stumble (and hopefully backwards). Their response was being kicked away like small animals. The beast was getting closer to the monastery.

"Okay, that did absolutely nothing, care to combine our power again?" Claude suggested.

"If it worked once..." Said DImitiri.

"We have no other choice." Said Edelgard.

Once again, they formed the crossbow-looking weapon, each of them charging it with energy. They let off another blast, hitting the monster right in the back of its head. The beast turned around, it had only been annoyed.

From behind, Rhea and Hubert tried pelting it with spells, that also accomplished nothing.

Claude panted. "Not even... a dent..."

"We're out of options... is this the end for us?" Asked Dimitri.

The shadow of the beast loomed over them. Its blade stabbed down toward Edelgard, as the rest looked on in horror.

An avian cry pierced through the heavens before a giant red bird slammed into the beast, knocking it down on top of the nearest wall.

The bird swooped back down and flew over them. Once it had passed, they noticed that Edelgard was now missing.

---

The bird cast its shadow over her, and within a moment a beam of light enveloped her. For a moment, she thought she might have died. Instead, when she opened her eyes again, she was in a strange room. It was fairly small, all things considered, around the size of her dorm room. In the center was a chair, made out of a material she couldn't quite identify. On the walls was an emblem bearing the image of the Black Eagle over a red background. She took her seat, noting how oddly comfortable the chair was. As soon as she sat down, a strange podium of sorts appeared from the floor in front of her, and given the way it was connected to the rest of the machine, she could only assume these were meant to control this thing.

She took hold of the U-shaped stick, tilting it forward. The machine began tilting downward, nearly flying into the ground. In a panic, Edelgard pulled back up, ascending back into the skies above.

Once, she'd gotten the hang of the controls, they rolled through the air and zeroed in on their target, pressing a button helpfully labeled with an image of a talon. The bird's claws came down onto the monster's face.

Edelgard couldn't help but notice that the bird's cry sounded more like a Hawk than an Eagle.

---

On the ground below, the remaining fighters were trying to process what they were seeing. As if fighting against a giant monster while wearing colorful outfits wasn't strange enough, a giant mechanical bird just swooped in and saved them... and then it kidnapped one of them.

After nearly crashing into them, they saw the bird suddenly right itself and fly toward the monster. Its talons scratched the beast's face, seeming to actually do some damage.
Dimitri and Claude merely watched until their braces started to flash again. Tapping the crystal led to them hearing a voice coming through.

"This is Edelgard. I don't know how or why, but this machine seems like it was made for me. I'll try using it to defeat this thing. Stay where you are."

The message cut off there. At least now they knew they could use these things to communicate.

"This is... unexpected..." Said Dimitri.

"Buddy, be honest with me. What about anything that's happened over the last two days could've been 'expected'?" Claude asked, leaning on Dimitri's shoulder.

"Fair point."

"Still, when are we getting cool stuff like that?"

As if to answer his question, the two felt tremors coming their way. A loud roar like that of a Lion was heard right before a giant blue-and-silver mechanical Lion landed right before them. Moments later, what could best be described as a 'grunt' preceded the arrival of an equally massive yellow-and-silver Deer, complete with antlers.

"Looks like Saint Seiros Day came early this year."  As soon as Claude uttered those words, the two were beamed aboard their respective machines. 

---

Edelgard had done a decent job of holding off the monster so far, but it wouldn't last.

As big as it was, her machine was still just a very large bird. As such, her attacks weren't doing as much damage as she hoped. At the moment, they served as little more than a very effective distraction. One well-placed slash and they were sent spiraling down to the ground. The beast towered over them as they tried to rise back up, it began charging up its blades. Just before it could launch its attack, a pair of antlers rammed into it from the side, throwing off its aim, sending the energy flying off. Then a massive mechanical lion tackled it to the ground.

Edelgard heard a voice coming from her brace. "Princess, are you there, Princess?" 

She rolled her eyes at Claude's faux-theatrics. "I'm still alive, Claude. I assume the Deer is yours?"

"It's the Lion, actually... Nah, just kidding, Dimitri got his too."

"And it seems to have been just in time. Are you hurt, El?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, Dimit-" Wait, where had Dimitri gotten that name from? A question for later, she supposed. "For now, let us focus our efforts on that!" 

The three machines stood strong against their single opponent, the tide of battle was about to turn.

---

"...Did you know about this?" Hubert asked Rhea while both were staring the events unfolding before them.

"No, we did not have these during my time..." Rhea was wracking her mind trying to figure out where these machines had come from.

"...I see."

---

"Alright, by now you should know the drill! Everybody stay together and get back to the cathedral, no pushing or shoving, especially not on the bridge!" Catherine barked orders to the student body. She turned to her partner, Shamir. "Has anyone seen Lady Rhea?"

The Dagdan archer shook her head. "She was last sighted in the infirmary by Manuela. After that, nothing."

"Oh Goddess, where is she?" Catherine turned to run, but was stopped in her tracks. "Cath, no. Get the kids to safety first, then we can look for your girlfriend."

"She's not my-" Catherine glared at Shamir's smirk. "Whatever. Bergliez, Fraldarius, get moving!"

The two boys' attention was drawn elsewhere. In the distance, something incredible was happening.

---

The beast was being attacked from every angle. The Deer attacked with its mighty antlers before kicking the enemy with it's hind legs and running off again. The Lion clawed at its hide, catching one of the monster's blades between its teeth. The Eagle delivered a passing peck to the beast's face, flying out of the way of another slash.

Just when it seemed like they finally had the upper hand, the tide began to change. Dimitri was caught off-guard, his Lion was thrown into Claude's Deer before the other had a chance to dodge. 

"S-Sorry, Everyone." Dimitri said as he tried to bring the mighty beast back to battle.

"Not your fault, pal. Still kinda wish yours wasn't so heavy." Claude half-joked.

Edelgard hovered nearby. "We're getting nowhere, it's still trouncing us and we've been at this for at least several minutes. Do either of you have a plan?"

"None that I can think of." Said Dimitri.

"Negative, nothing I've tried so far has worked on it." Claude admitted.

If there were ever a time for Edelgard to pray, now would have been the time.

She was interrupted by a voice coming from their braces.

"Combine your strength." The deep voice said.

While they pondered the meaning behind his words, three orbs of light appeared before each of them. Hesitantly, they reached out to them.

Just as the Sword Lord was about to finish the job, he was knocked back.

The Deer's body shifted, its four legs combining to form a set of humanoid legs and a waist, with its head placed in the center.

The Lion's legs folded into its body to form a torso, arms unfolding from the sides complete with hands, its face formed the chest.

The Eagle formed the final piece. Talons clamping down on the shoulders, wings attaching to the back and folding together. Within the eagle's face was another, more humanoid face, at it's sides were a pair of smaller wings attatched to the sides of a Red Helmet.

The three machines combined to form their savior.

---

"Ha! It's a buckle!"

Alois felt the wind be knocked out of him from the force of Shamir's elbow.

---

"COMBINE! TITAN CHIMERA!"

Edelgard sat back down as soon as she'd belted out the name. Dimitri and Claude said nothing for the moment.

The newly-named mechanical knight took its stance. The eagle's wings formed a shield in its left hand. From behind the shield, there was what looked like a hilt. From that, the blade of an axe formed out of red energy.

Titan Chimera swung its weapon at the opponent, successfully shattering one of it's blades. 

"Okay, so we're back to where we were yesterday, that's good."

"Claude, you do remember what else happened yesterday, right?" Dimitri asked.

"He's right. We need to be as quick as possible. Are you both ready?"

"Ready." Said Dimitri.

"Ready!" Said Claude.

Without another word, the three pooled their energy into the final strike.

"UNION AXE!" Shouted the Red.

The Sword Lord was cleaved vertically in two, the halves falling apart before exploding in a massive multi-story fireball. The giant machine turned around as if to pose dramatically.

---

Back on the ground, the remaining students (and staff) looked on in awe.

"So it is real..." Muttered Dorothea

"I am seeing it... but I am not... believing it?"

Dorothea put a hand on Petra's shoulder.

Manuela poured out the contents of her flask.

Caspar pumped his fists in the air. "YEEEEAHHHH, THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN! I mean, we almost died, BUT STILL!"

"Whatever." Felix said, arms crossed. Internally, he was screaming.

Dedue had spent the last few minutes attempting to assist with the evacuation process. Unfortunately, very few had listened to him.

"YEAH BUDDY! Did ya see that Ignatz?" Raphael cheered along with Caspar. Ignatz was busy trying to sketch the scene that had just played out.

"Okay, now can I look for Lady Rhea?" Catherine asked her partner.

"Sure, I'll go with you." Shamir began walking off, Catherine quickly following behind her.

---

Gigant Chimera stood proud outside the walls of Garreg Mach, just before splitting back into its individual components. The three heroes took a breather, leaning against one of the only remaining trees in the immediate area.

"Oh... oh man, I feel like I'm gonna pass out." Claude panted.

"... As... do I. Good Goddess, what was that?" Dimitri sat against the trunk.

"Please... get Hubert... I don't know if I can make the walk... to my room." Edelgard laid on the ground, every muscle in her body feeling as though it were on fire.

"Hey, there they are!" A loud voice called from nearby.
A crowd began to form around the rubble of the wall, eager to meet the heroes that had apparently saved their lives twice now.

Panic shot through the three of them. Looking around, they noticed that Rhea and Hubert had vanished at some point, Dimitri could see Dedue looking apologetic from the back of the crowd, he was not made for distraction. They probably should have moved further away. Out of desperation, they began tapping the crystals on their braces.

Suddenly, they were consumed by lights of their respective colors, disappearing from sight.

"You got it, Ignatz?" Raphael asked.

"...Yes, I did." Ignatz held up a detailed sketch of all 3 heroes. The others looked at in awe of his skill. The young artist blushed.

---

They were dumped right onto a stone floor.

"Ow." All three groaned in unison while removing their helmets.

"Okay, hands up, who knew we could warp?" Asked Claude, still short of breath.

None of their hands shot up.

"That goes for us as well."

Quickly sitting up, the three turned to see Rhea, Seteth and Flayn... and Hubert standing off to the side, the latter running to his liege's aid.

Edelgard drank from the container Hubert handed to her. "I take it you could not do that in your day?"

"That is correct." Rhea replied.

"Where are we?" Asked Claude. Looking around at the room they were in. It was somewhat similar to the tomb they'd been in before, only smaller and without all the dead people. There was a table with multiple chairs in the center of the room. He took the opportunity to grab one of those chairs for himself. He silently thanked whatever gods there were that it was as comfortable as the one inside his Deer Titan. On a nearby counter sat a strange orb projecting images of events occurring outside. In another corner of the room was what looked like a blacksmith's workshop. It looked to still be a work in progress, but it seemed like they were being given a base of operations.

"So, now that that threat has been dealt with... do any of you know where those giant machines came from?" Asked Seteth.

"That would be my doing."

"Thank you." Seteth replied... just before his eyes widened and he looked back to the new voice.

The three heroes attempted to stand from their seats, only to yelp in pain.

Flayn approached the stranger, after a few moments she smiled in recognition. "Uncle!" She said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Uncle?" The trio asked.

"It cannot be... is that really you, brother?" Seteth cautiously approached the man.

The apparent relative removed his hood, revealing a man with long emerald-green hair that flowed down to his chest and a full beard that was thankfully much shorter. "It has been many years, Cichol... Cethleann."

"Indech..." This time it was Rhea who spoke, eyes shimmering with yet-unshed tears.

"Seiros." The man replied, his tone not nearly as emotional.

"You... you've returned to us, I-"

"Do not think I have forgiven you for what you did. I only returned when I sensed the presence of Agarthan magic." Indech replied.

"And how long ago was that?" Asked Edelgard.

Indech looked toward the girl in red, a smile gracing the corners of his lips

"Well, I'll be.... are you related to Wilhelm?"

"...I am, albeit distantly." Edelgard saw the smile on the man's face. "My name is Edelgard von Hresvelg."

"I see. It's good to know that his family was taken care of, even if he never had children of his own." Indech lamented his fallen brother-in-arms.

"About that..." Rhea began to explain the history of her pregnancy and the existence of Lycaon. 

"You WHAT!?" Indech had gone from resentful to livid toward Seiros.

"Enough, please. I've given her more than enough grief for all of us." Edelgard begged her newly-discovered relative.

Indech breathed out, trying to filter out his anger. "Very well. I suppose I have my fair share of regrets as well. Seiros... if I had known, I would have done what I could to-"

"It is all in the past, brother. If I could turn back the flow of time and change my actions, I would. Time, however, is a harsh mistress. I ask for your forgiveness and nothing else, I will atone for my actions in any way that I can."

"Perhaps I can grant you that... though I cannot say the same for our brother."

Rhea winced. Of all of them, Macuil was the most likely to hold a grudge. If they were to bring him back in, it would take a monumental level of effort for even a sliver of a chance.

"All that aside, I am just delighted to have another Cethleann around!" Indech said as he lifted the unfortunately short princess up by her shoulders.

"Put me down at once." 

Indech obeyed her orders. "Sorry about that, little one. I let my excitement get the better of me."

Edelgard forgave him, even as she could hear Claude cackling in the background. "Oh man, if you tried that on Lysithea she'd turn you to ash faster than you could say-"

"Claude, please stop talking." Dimitri felt a headache coming on.

"Oh, yes, there were two more of you. What are your names?"

The prince kneeled before the man, not only for being one of the central figures of the very religion his nation was founded upon, but also because of the aforementioned life-saving machines. "I am Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Crown Prince of Faerghus."

Claude, meanwhile, opted to bow instead. "Claude von Riegan, Grandson of the Archduke of the Leicester Alliance."

Indech's expression darkened. "Those names... I assume you're their descendants, am I correct?"

"Yes, we are. On behalf of my family, I beg for your forgiveness. Had I known the truth behind my ancestors' actions, I would have begun atoning for it long ago. If you ask, I will return Areadbhar to your possession to be laid to rest..." Dimitri remained kneeling, keeping his head bowed in respect.

"I echo Dimitri's sentiment. What happened to you and your family is... I can't even find the words to describe it. I'll give you Failnaught if it would help at all." Claude had now joined Dimitri in kneeling.

"At ease, boys. You are not your ancestors, your actions are your own. Again, I cannot speak for my brother, but it seems the others have accepted you into their ranks... that and you have been chosen by our mother's power, it seems she agrees with our sentiment."

Rhea smiled as her brother unknowingly echoed her words.

"Thank you, sir. You have no idea how much that means to me." Dimitri said as he stood back up.

"...What he said." Claude did the same. "Oh... yeah, that position was a bad idea. Ow ow ow." Claude took back his seat, slowly lowering himself back down.

"Hmm, it would seem we need to get you all into a training routine." Said Rhea, a slightly sinister smile on her face.

The three teenagers looked at her in fear. "Seteth, can I ask you to handle that?"

"Of course." 

The three breathed a sigh of relief.

"In the meantime, I must be going. I can only imagine how Catherine has reacted to my absence..." Rhea left the room, running as soon as she was past the door.

"Who is Catherine?" Indech asked.

"Oh, she is one of Rhea's most loyal knights!" Flayn answered.

"I see... and who is Rhea?"

"That would be Seiros, brother. That reminds me, we must come up with an alias for you to use on the surface. The people up there... they do not know. They know me as 'Seteth'."

"And I am called 'Flayn'!" Cethleann beamed.

"Ah, I see. That will not be necessary, I shall remain here." Indech said as he slowly moved toward the work desk.

"You will do no such thing." Seteth warned as him and Flayn departed.

"That reminds me, we must return to the surface as well, no doubt the others are worried about us." Edelgard advised before her and Hubert left.

"Oh, that's right, I can only hope Dedue was able to calm their suspicions." Dimitri left as well.

That left Claude alone with Indech.

"Hey, so I was wondering... about those machines..."

"Aha, I called them 'Titans', if that makes things simpler."

"It does, thank you. Were they always a Deer, Eagle and Lion?"

Indech scratched his beard in thought. "Funny thing is they were previously shaped like giant rectangular stones..."

---

Edelgard walked through the halls leading to the archbishop's office. Her steps echoed through the nearly empty hallway, she did not notice over the sound of her heartbeat.

She wanted nothing more than to turn around and avoid the conversation entirely, but in the end she knew that this had to be done.

She knocked on the doors, waiting for a few short moments that felt like an eternity. Rhea opened the door and ushered her inside.

"Was there something you wished to discuss?" Rhea asked, fretting over her like a worried mother. Which was going to make the following conversation even more awkward.

"...Yes. Rhea, by this point I believe I have made my feelings on you and the matter of our relation clear. My opinion on the matter has not changed, and yet..."

"Yet?" 

"During the last battle, for a brief moment I believed I was going to die... and in that moment, among many other things... I lamented the fact that I would never see you again. That our... issues would forever remain unresolved."

"Edelgard..."

"Do not make the mistake of thinking I have forgiven you, but... now that I understand the threat we now face... perhaps I would be willing to work with you. On one condition."

"What would that be?"

Edelgard looked Rhea directly in the eyes. "No more secrets. I don't want you hiding anything from me anymore, I want you to promise me that."

Rhea showed a brief moment of hesitation before she found her resolve. "...Yes, I promise. I swear to you from this day forward, I will not keep any secrets from you."

Edelgard gave a genuine smile, something that filled Rhea with warmth. 

"Good. I'll be taking my leave now, if you don't mind." She stated somewhat awkwardly.
Before she left the room, Edelgard gave Rhea a hug.

"Edelgard?" 

"It... seemed like you needed one." Edelgard quickly walked out of the room, wanting to escape the scene she'd created.

After some time, Rhea left her office as well. Taking the stairs up to the third floor, she paused before a locked door. Using a key she kept hidden in her quarters, she opened it.

As soon as she walked in, she shut the door behind her and looked around the room.  She backed up against the door, slumping down to the ground.

There was a fairly large bed, comparable to her own. A closet, a dresser, a mirror and some windows that illuminated the room in sunlight... also revealing various pieces of medical equipment. The room had not been used for over twenty years.

"No more secrets."

---

Chapter Text

Deep in the forests of the Leicester Alliance...

"Hey Kid, ready to go?"

The girl looked up as she finished packing her bag. "Just about."

"Good. We need to be in the Kingdom by tomorrow night." 

Jeralt Eisner finished putting the last of his supplies on his horse's saddle. He commanded the attention of the other mercs, repeating his reminder for their benefit.

Without another word, they were riding off into the dawn.

In the back of her mind, Byleth Eisner could hear a faint whisper.

---

It was dark, she felt hands grabbing her and dragging her from the cell. She felt the cold metal of the table they tied her to, felt the needles stab at her body, injecting goddess-knows-what into her system, and felt the blades as they cut her open. When her eyes finally opened, the body she saw was unrecognizable to her.

Edelgard gasped as she awoke in her bed... at the academy.

Just a nightmare...

Though a cursory glance at herself showed a few scars remaining from that time, along with her unnaturally white hair.

She took a bath to calm herself. It was cold this early in the morning.

When she finally got dressed, a knock came at her door. 

Opening the door, she greeted her visitor. "Good morning, Hubert."

"Good morning to you, my Lady." He briefly looked over her. "Would I be correct in assuming you had another-"

"Please, not now Hubert, I'm fine."

"Right." He wasn't so sure he believed that. "In any case, you have a meeting to attend."

"Right." She replied as they walked off.

---

Kostas had to get out of here. Where would he go? Where could he go? That bastard was probably gonna find him before he even got out of-

Then he saw it. A cape fluttering in the corner of his vision. Turning around, he saw him.

The Flame Emperor. 

The boss whose mission he'd failed. Not only was he not getting paid, something told him he'd be the one paying.

With his life.

"Hello again." The Emperor spoke. Despite the mask hiding his face, Kostas could tell he was far from happy.

"Hey... look, man. I just need another chance, how was I supposed to know about those big-ass machines!?" Kostas pleaded.

"Another chance? You think you will do any better the next time?" 

"Yeah... if I get better gear. Those damn brats with the fancy costumes came outta nowhere!"

In a surprising turn of events, the emperor seemed to actually be considering his idea. "Very well, I will grant your request."

Kostas sighed in relief, only to lose his breath when a beam fired upon him. "You-!"

"...I will be taking command this time around. Let us hope you do better than your predecessor."

The bandit was stripped of what little humanity he had left, mutating into a beast not unlike the one he'd turned his minion into.

How poetic

---

Edelgard walked back into the archbishop's chambers, though she was evidently not alone this time.

"Morning princess... let me guess, rough night?" Claude asked, sounding surprisingly genuine.

"What gave it away?" She asked, sounding angrier than intended.

"Well... that, but also I've had experience."

Edelgard believed him. She didn’t know much about his background, but what she did know was that Claude was an outsider, and unfortunately most of Fodlan didn’t look too kindly upon outsiders. Plus his sudden appearance in the Alliance some time ago, his claim of being the son of the long-missing daughter of the Grand Duke, appearing just in time to be named his grandfather’s heir in place of his late uncle…

Now that she thought about it, her complicated family situation seemed simple by comparison.

Their third member entered some time later, looking just as tired as she was. Something told them both they were better off not asking. 

"Good morning, Dimitri, surprised Dedue didn't come with you." Said Claude, looking over to Edelgard. "Or Hubert for that matter."

"He's outside the door." The two said in unison.

"I am glad to see you all this morning." She paused, looking over the three, Edelgard especially being a point of concern. "Though I wish I did not have to summon you this early in the morning. Unfortunately, the situation demanded it."

"The situation?" Asked Dimitri. "Is it another attack?"

"In a way, yes. Though not like the one you all dealt with earlier. You see, Professors 

Manuela and Hanneman have already been at the monastery for some time now, but our third professor was meant to arrive this morning."

"What happened?" Asked Claude.

"It would seem that he encountered bandits, only a short distance from Garreg Mach. I need you three to rescue him and escort him to safety."

"Wouldn't the knights ordinarily be in charge of something like this?" Asked Edelgard. "Or are these more than mere bandits."

"They were, and they are." Rhea seemed slightly mournful, had the knights been...?

"Believe me, if it were that simple, I would not have called upon you."

"Understood." Replied Edelgard, turning to depart from the room along with her fellow heroes.

"Edelgard?" Said Rhea.

Edelgard turned back to her, waving off the other two in the process. "Yes, Rhea?"

"We need to talk about something when you return, something important. So please... be safe."

Edelgard merely nodded. Though the moment she was out of sight she couldn't help the smile on her face.

--- 

From outside the monastery's walls, three figures emerged, running through the forest.

"So we all agree this is another monster, right?" Claude asked his teammates.

"Indeed, as she said, Lady Rhea wouldn't have sent us out otherwise. I fear for what we might find when we get there." Dimitri answered.

"Prepare yourselves, there is no guarantee that they'll be unharmed. We were lucky the first time." Edelgard reminded them.

Eventually, they came to a path between the woods. A carriage had been overturned and smashed to bits. Several knights lay around them, unmoving. Along with those lay the bodies of several bandits.

It was a terrifying sight, and only confirmed what they'd feared.

"Where is it?" Dimitri said, audibly enraged.

"More importantly, where's the professor?" Asked Claude.

A roar from the distance seemed to answer their questions. They ran deeper into the woods.

Ahead, they saw a man, clearly exhausted, attempting to defend himself against an unseen threat.

They ran to his aid, surrounding him in a protective formation.

"What are you doing? Get out while you still can!" He said.

"No can do, Professor. We've got strict orders to bring you back." Claude replied.

"Who gave those orders!?" He asked.

"That would be the archbishop herself." Edelgard replied.

The man sighed, he wasn't going to win this argument. "It shouldn't be this way, I should be protecting you, not the other way around."

"Nations are run by people, not one person, professor. I would not hesitate to risk my life for another." Said Dimitri.

"You're still young, don't go saying things like that. I can't let you kids die."

"We won't go down that easily." Claude replied defiantly.

"Believe me, you have no idea what you're up against. Leave it to me."

"Is it a monster made out of weaponry?" Asked Edelgard.

"...Yes." Replied the professor. "How..."

"A similar creature attacked the monastery. Twice."

The man's eyes went wide. "Oh Dear Goddess."

"Our thoughts exactly." Claude said. 

"No, not that. It's gone quiet." 

Now that he mentioned it, it seemed like he was actively being attacked when they found him, and yet now...

Nothing.

"We need to get out of here. Now." Edelgard warned.

An axe buried itself in the ground by her feet. When she looked up she saw a creature similar to the one they'd previously fought. Only this time rather than having swords fused to its body, the beast wielded an axe in each of its hands, along with a helmet-like head that vaguely resembled the blade of an axe. 

Edelgard moved to try and grab the axe before it could rearm itself, only for the creature to hold its hand out and recall the axe back into its grip.

Of course it couldn't ever be that easy.

"Dimitri, Claude, get the professor out of here. I'll hold it off."

"El, I can't just-"

Okay, that was the last straw.

"GO!" She yelled at him.

Reluctantly, the prince and heir took the professor away. Leaving the princess alone with the monster. She stood still, waiting for the beast to make the first move.

Once again, an axe was launched right at her, only this time aimed directly at her face. She raised her axe to deflect it, only to be met with the beast leaping toward her with its other axe raised.

She leapt backward, narrowly avoiding certain death. Her heart was pounding. She cast a brief glance around her, making sure the others had gotten clear.

She raised her arm to the sky, revealing the golden band.

"CREST CHANGE!"

---

The three men ran through the forest, trying to reach the relative safety of the monastery. Only two things got in their way.

One being that the professor lacked their enhanced stamina.

The second being that they had no idea what direction they were headed.

At some point they'd forgotten to track what path they'd taken. 

The professor leaned against a nearby tree, clearly exhausted. "Are we... any closer to the monastery?"

"No, sir, not even slightly. In fact, I think we went in the opposite direction." Claude answered.

"Fantastic." Replied Dimitri.

"So I know this might be a bad time, but you have a name, don't you?"

The professor looked up at Claude after gathering his breath. "Fielding."

"Got a first name?"

Professor Fielding raised an eyebrow. "Why do you need to know?"

"Well, we already call the other professors by their first names." Claude shrugged.

The man looked toward the prince. "It's true, even the more formal among us refer to them as 'Professor' followed by their given names."

He sighed. "It's-"

Just then, a red blur flew toward them, hitting the side of a nearby tree.

"Ede-" Claude quickly corrected himself. "Hey, you alright?"

The Red-clad warrior stood up, shaking. "Just peachy, thank you." She spoke sarcastically.

Another axe embedded itself into the tree she'd been standing by moments earlier. The beast walked back into view, almost as if it didn't view her as a threat.

That more than anything felt infuriating to the princess. She raised her axe to guard, although it didn't feel quite as stable as she wanted. Once again the blade returned to its user. The beast moved with a frankly shocking amount of grace given its size and build, a stark contrast to the previous monster.

Whoever this thing had once been must have been well trained.

The twin axes swung through the air, twirling around their user like a violent cyclone. To an outside observer, it would almost appear that the creature was doing some kind of dance.

She struggled to avoid its strikes. Hampered by both her exhaustion and the injuries she'd sustained.

The other two knew there was only one option remaining, nodding to each other, they spoke the phrase.

"Crest Change!"

The professor looked on as the two boys transformed into costumes resembling the one in red. 

He could only assume that meant that Princess Edelgard herself was the other one.

"Remember when we said that one of these things attacked the monastery?" Claude asked him, firing an arrow at the axe-wielding creature, knocking its swing off course.

"We were the ones who defeated it." Dimitri answered, his lance intercepting the creature's other arm.

Edelgard leapt into the air, hitting the creature right in the head with her axe, finally sending it crashing into a nearby tree. Part of her delighted in getting her revenge.

"Oh my word." The professor spoke.

"Buddy, you're outnumbered. There are three of us and only one of you." Claude taunted.

Black wisps of smoke, barely visible at this time of day, began to come together. From them came a group of black-clad fighters wearing masks that resembled bird faces.

Edelgard felt her heart stop. Something about those masks was hauntingly familiar.

"Me and my big mouth." Said Claude.

"Claude..." Dimitri sighed.

"It can't be..." Edelgard whispered. She tried to move but nothing happened, she was paralyzed.

"Your Highness?" The professor tried to get her attention.

The other two seemed to pick up on her distress. Dimitri laid his hand on her shoulder, making her flinch. "I'm fine. We must take them down."

"What about the Professor?" Asked Dimitri.

"Well, either he stays here and risks his life or he goes off on his own and gets chased by one of them. I'm not liking either option, to be honest."

"Do not worry for my sake, children. I'm not just some stuffy academic, I'm from Faerghus." He said, wielding sigils he'd been drawing.

Like an actual flock, the bird soldiers descended upon them. Edelgard slashed several of them with her axe, each hit sending sparks flying. Dimitri's lance worked well for crowd control, combined with the fact that he was no stranger to fighting multiple enemies made this encounter relatively easy. Being an archer meant that Claude had to keep his distance, not that that was a problem given his speed and agility. At one point he jumped onto the side of a tree and fired several trick shots before coming back down.

The professor focused mostly on defending himself with attack spells, but even then he picked off a few who managed to sneak up on the other three.

In relatively little time, the soldiers were defeated, fading away into black smoke.

"Hey, uh... where's the monster?" Asked Claude.

It was only then that they realized they'd been played.

Edelgard's eyes went wide. "Run."

---

Jeralt was getting nervous. Partly because they were running behind schedule... and partly because they were far too close to his old stomping grounds.

He'd never told Byleth about her birth. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he'd told her about her mother. The guilt weighed on him immensely, but he couldn't take the risk that she'd get curious. 

She'd fall right back into Rhea's hands... that was assuming Rhea even had any intentions for her in the first place.

After 20 years, it was far too late to start questioning himself.

"You alright there, kid?" He asked, noticing his daughter looked to be having some kind of headache. He'd have guessed a hangover if he didn't know that she didn't drink.

She shook her head. "It's nothing... just a weird dream."

"Was it the one about the girl with green hair?"

She nodded. Jeralt wished he could give her answers, but the fact was that he wasn't sure which green-haired girl it was supposed to be, he didn't even know where to begin.

That line of thought was interrupted when one of his mercs called him down. Something was going on in the forest nearby. He didn't like the idea of getting involved, not this close.

Unfortunately, Byleth made the decision for him, running into the forest without even a horse.

"Kids..."

---

The three ran as fast as they could. Well, the fastest without leaving the professor behind, that is. They surrounded him in a protective formation, hoping to form a (superpowered) human shield.

"There's a village just ahead... if we can make it..." Dimitri noted.

"We might put the villagers' lives at risk." Edelgard replied.

'Great, damned if they do, damned if they don-'

Claude felt the blade strike him in the back. His suit protected him from most of the damage, but that didn't mean he was unscathed... and then the suit vanished. He fell to the ground.

"Ah, God-" Claude groaned, even with all the power he had, that had taken so much from him. 

He struggled to get back up, but before he had the chance, he saw the second axe fly toward him.

The other two ran toward him, time seemed to slow to a crawl as he watched his life flash before his eyes.

Then a set of robes blocked his vision. The axe hit the professor in his chest. Claude watched him fall.

"NO!"

Claude crawled toward the professor, the other two not far behind. "Hey, come on. Don't do this. Wake up!"

Claude tried shaking the man, but received no response. "Why..."

"We need to go." Said Dimitri. He grabbed Claude by the shoulder.

"Get your hands off me." Claude looked over at the fallen professor. He wouldn't cry, not yet at least.

The failed heroes ran off like the cowards they were.

---

Jeralt chased after Byleth, the girl had always been faster on foot than the rest of them were on horseback.

Then they ran into the second-to-last thing Jeralt wanted to see. Three kids, all wearing Garreg Mach uniforms. 

"What are you kids doing out here this early in the morning?" Jeralt asked.

"Please, you all need to get out of here!" Edelgard said.

"Why?" Asked Byleth.

"There's..." Edelgard paused, considering just how insane what she was about to say would sound to someone out of context. "There are bandits attacking... we already lost our professor."

The ground itself shook from the impact as the Axe Lord jumped from the trees.

"That's one hell of a bandit." Jeralt noted.

"As she said, it would be best to evacuate now." Dimitri said.

"Evacuate the villagers. We'll handle the bastard." Jeralt ordered his mercenaries.

"Sir, I mean no disrespect, but I don't think you know what you're up against."

"Kid, I don't think you know who you're dealing with." Jeralt said before launching a javelin at the beast. The projectile caught the beast in its shoulder, sending it flying back several feet.

"Oh." The three teens said in unison.

"Now, you kids get to safety. Kid, go with them."

Byleth shook her head.

"Now's not the time."

She held her ground.

"Tch, fine, but don't leave my sight."

She nodded.

"Thanks..." Claude muttered before running off.

Edelgard and Dimitri exchanged glances before following him behind a nearby house. "Claude, where do you think you're going?" Asked Edelgard.

Claude wordlessly raised his brace.

"Right." Said Dimitri.

"Crest Change!"

---

Jeralt was both impressed and terrified by the enemy they were up against. 

The monster, despite its size, was frighteningly agile. Thankfully, his attack had seemingly left it without the use of one arm, though how long that would last he did not know. 

Then, just when he thought his morning couldn't get any weirder, he saw what were obviously the three teens from earlier wearing strange-looking costumes, complete with helmets bearing the faces of animals. He admired the craftsmanship, if nothing else.

"What the hell are you-"

"Get back! We will defeat the beast!" Edelgard said, accenting her speech with theatric gestures.

"Kid, I know that's you."

They ignored him, running between the pair of mercs and the monster, surrounding the creature in a triangle formation.

Edelgard charged forward, sliding underneath the beast's swing and chopping off its impaired arm. She leapt backward, avoiding the second attack.

Dimitri followed up, taking a page from Jeralt's book and impaling the beast's other arm. Claude charged up a volley of arrows, gathering energy in them until they glowed red and letting them loose upon the monster.

When the three rejoined, they formed their combined weapon, the Chimera Cannon.

The beast struggled to stand by this point. It raised its head just in time to see the multicolored orb of energy aimed right at it.

"HOUSES UNITE!" 

With one final blast, the longest short battle of their lives so far had come to an end. The three heroes fell to their knees, undoing their transformations.

That turned out to be a terrible mistake.

From the flames leapt the monster, somehow still in one piece. Edelgard froze as the beast's  axe came down upon her. Before she had the chance to move, something blocked its path.

Edelgard watched as the younger mercenary faced her, axe buried in the woman's back. She watched as the light faded from her eyes. 

"BYLETH!" Jeralt charged toward the beast, trying to save his daughter.

---

From the flames leapt the monster, somehow still in one piece.

(Wait, what...)

The beast swung at her one last time before being blocked by a blade from out of sight. Byleth stood defiantly, eager to stop this thing once and for all.

Something was wrong, Edelgard could feel it... this was not what happened.

To the shock of all involved, Byleth revealed a golden brace on her right wrist, one with a black jewel at its center. She raised her arm to the sky and calmly said.

"Crest Change."

The beast was knocked back by the force of this transformation. Byleth's suit was primarily black. Her helmet bore the face of a golden dragon. Her gloves and boots were the same as theirs, same for the helmet's mouthplate. Her visor was surrounded by a gold trim. The gold theming even extended to her crest, which indicated that she possessed a Major Crest.

It was a crest none of them were familiar with. One that had only been seen once in recorded history.

The Crest of Flames

Edelgard felt her jaw drop, the others mirrored her expression. 

If Byleth had been strong before, she was a nightmare now. The beast that had nearly driven them all to their breaking point was being made short work of by the team's seeming newest member.

The monster slid back, visibly exhausted from the fight. Just before it tried one last attack, it vanished in a flash of light.

Byleth looked around, it seemed that this was no trick. She stabbed her sword into the ground and took stock of what she was wearing.

"Is this normal?" She asked.

The three students stared at her, as did the woman's father. Byleth waited a moment before canceling the transformation.

"No... until now we thought it was just us. Well, except for-" Claude mentioned.

"CAPTAIN!"

Everyone turned their gazes over to the new voice. A knight wearing white armor with a spiked pauldron and a similarly white cape over his shoulders. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and he'd grown a moustache in the years since they'd last seen each other.

"Is it really you, after all this time...?"

All attention now turned to the mercenary leader. "Captain? You know this guy, Alois?" Asked Claude.

"Of course I do, that's Jeralt, Captain of the Knights of Seiros! He taught me everything I know!"

"Former Captain." Reminded Jeralt. "I'm just a mercenary now."

"You never told me you were a knight." Said Byleth.

"Oh, and who might you be?" Alois asked, holding out his hand for a shake.

"Byleth, I'm his daughter." She answered as she accepted the handshake.

Alois did a bit of math in his head. "Ah, I see." He cast a sympathetic look to his former mentor.

"Well, it was nice catching up with you, Alois, but we need to leave." Jeralt turned away from the boy he'd almost raised.

"Yes, I suppose- Wait a minute, that's not how this ends! Come with us back to the monastery, 

I'm sure Lady Rhea would love to see you again!"

"Alois, I don't-" Jeralt began.

"I'd love to." Byleth interrupted, locking eyes with her father.

Jeralt knew in that moment that she wanted answers, ones he wasn't sure he was prepared to give.

---

Rhea was beside herself. She'd spent the entire morning wondering if she would regret sending the three of them, especially Edelgard, on that mission. She hadn't heard back from them at all, and her mind was filling the blanks with the worst possibilities.

"Rhea, I know that you are worried. More than anyone, I understand, but stewing in that worry will accomplish nothing." Seteth said as he attempted to calm her down.

"Seteth, what if it were Flayn we had sent out? What if... Have I sent her to her death?"

"We need to trust that they know what they are doing, and that the knights we sent out will make it in time. To answer your question, I would be the same in your position... and I would trust you to hold me back." Seteth said, putting a hand on Rhea's shoulder.

Rhea let out a breath. "Fine... Where is Flayn, by the way?"

"She wanted to spend time with her uncle, and last I checked they were still in the Sanctum."

"Is that what we're calling it now?" Rhea raised an eyebrow.

"Well, this is a church, is it not?" Seteth responded.

Despite everything, Rhea laughed a little. "Fair point."

---

Rhea stood on the balcony overlooking the monastery. She'd received a message from Dimitri earlier that day, a short and simple message that told her that they would be returning to the monastery, and that they were bringing mercenaries with them.

It was strange, why mercenaries? Had these people assisted them during their mission? A small part of her wondered if a certain former Knight might have played a part. The last time she'd seen Jeralt was nearly 20 years ago.

For people like them, that time may seem like nothing. To a human, that was at least a quarter of their lifetime. If Sitri's child were here, she would have been...

No, she couldn't afford to dwell on that now.

She saw someone come out from under the trees, a pair of red tights came into view.

Rhea didn't bother looking any further the moment she laid eyes on Edelgard and saw the look on the girl's face. She walked back inside, the entire time her mind was filled with the image of Edelgard looking absolutely devastated.

Something was very wrong.

She awaited their arrival behind the doors of the audience chamber. The moment the doors opened, she momentarily forgot herself and threw her arms around Edelgard. She could feel the girl struggle to not immediately cry.

"...Rhea?" Edelgard responded.

"Oh... forgive me. I was just so... relieved to see you return." The older woman composed herself as best she could.

"Follow me." She lead them into her office, ushering them over to the seats. "Your message did not give me any details. May I ask how the mission went?"

The three leaders' expressions turned downcast. "Of course... I suppose we should begin by telling you that the professor did not make it back with us." Dimitri took it upon himself to report.

"Oh...I see..."

That poor man, she'd been looking forward to his arrival. Claude looked toward the floor, seeming to want nothing more than to fall through it until he sank into the abyss.

"It was another monster, as expected. This one was different from the last." Edelgard shifted in her seat. "It wielded a pair of axes, and rather than going berserk like its predecessor, this one was... calm. It seemed to know what it was doing. More than that, its attack patterns suggested someone who was highly trained."

"Claude and I were told to escort the professor away while Edelgard tried to hold the beast off on her own. Minutes later, we reunited with her when she was thrown into a tree right next to us." Dimitri explained.

"...you didn't need to mention that part."

"My apologies."

Edelgard cleared her throat. "Dimitri and Claude transformed in front of the professor. Then 

Claude had the bright idea to tell the enemy it was outnumbered."

Claude said nothing.

"At which point it proceeded to summon reinforcements, soldiers wearing dark robes and bird-like masks." She shuddered at the memory, something Rhea picked up on. "We managed to fight them off, even the professor held his own. At some point during the attack, the commander managed to escape. Once we'd finished, I realized we needed to run. And then..."

"Then I messed up." Claude finally spoke. "I got hit, hard. I lost my power for a moment and that was all it took. The professor took the hit for me... it's all my fault."

"Claude..." Rhea tried to calm him.

"Don't tell me it isn't... if I'd just dodged he wouldn't-"

She could see the clouds brewing in his mind. It would have to wait for another time. "He will be laid to rest here at Garreg Mach, and be given the funeral deserving of a hero."

"What about his family?" Asked Dimitri.

Rhea shook her head. "Unfortunately, he had no living relatives."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"You mentioned a group of mercenaries in your message?"

"Yes... about that..." Dimitri looked to both his teammates. "After... what happened, we fled toward a nearby village. Along the way, we encountered a pair of mercenaries, a man and a woman. The man tried to dissuade her from joining us, but she was insistent on doing so."

Edelgard picked up where he left off. "The leader was far stronger than we were expecting, he managed to disarm the beast with a single move."

'Could it be...' Rhea thought, but if it were, who was that woman with him? He definitely sounded protective of her by the sound of it.

"We fought together for a time... and that was when things took an even stranger turn. The woman... transformed."

Rhea's eyes went wide. 'No, absolutely not, there is no possible way...'

"She had a brace much like ours. She saved my life. Who is she and why did she have that power?" Edelgard asked, looking directly into Rhea's eyes.

She wrestled with telling Edelgard about her theory, but that would require explaining everything about Sitri in the process.

"Truth be told, I do not yet know. I would like to meet them first before coming to any conclusions... In the meantime, I believe it would do you all well to get some rest."

Edelgard stared at her, seemingly disappointed. The three students left the room, but before 

Edelgard fully left the audience chamber, she was stopped by Rhea.

"Edelgard... I made a promise to you, and I know that it may seem as though I've gone back on that, but I assure you that isn't the case. I merely have some suspicions I need to confirm before 

I say any more. Please, meet me on the third floor after dinner tonight, I promise that everything will make sense."

Edelgard didn't turn back to her. "Very well." Rhea watched as she walked away, hoping that she would be there.

'Did you lie to us all those years ago, Jeralt?'

---

Jeralt Eisner felt a chill run down his spine as he approached the doors he hadn't seen in over two decades. As he looked over to his daughter, he could sense it. She wasn't happy with him, not at all.

For most people, Byleth seemed like an emotionless husk, a killing machine who had known nothing but battle her entire life. While that might have been true to a certain degree, he knew her better. She did have emotions, just not ones she could express. It took an especially strong bond like the one they had for someone to know how she felt.

Now he feared he might have severed that connection.

If only he could tell her why, perhaps she'd understand. That or she would cut him out of her life like he'd done to her grandmother.

Byleth, meanwhile, was swirling in her own thoughts. Who was that girl that kept appearing in her dreams? Why was she there when she'd...

Died. Byleth had died that morning. 

Yet somehow, here she was, not even a scratch on her. If that wasn't strange enough, the little green haired girl gifted her with powers only a select few had, the only others being the kids she'd only met this morning. Even then, could they turn back time like she did?

Questions for later.

What was more important now was getting to the bottom of what was going on with her dad. All her life, he'd been a mercenary, "The Blade Breaker'' people called him. He'd earned a lot of respect from people all across Fodlan.

They called her "The Ashen Demon". She'd earned their fear. In hushed whispers, she'd heard parents tell their children about her in ways that sounded suspiciously like the monster in a bedtime story.

Yet, in spite of making these names, it seemed as though her father had been trying to hide this entire time. Frankly, it was astounding that they hadn't run into anyone until now. The famous mercenary captain had previously been a Knight of Seiros, serving the very same church they were walking into.

Why hadn't he told her? Then again, he barely ever mentioned her mom, so why should she be surprised now.

Both lines of thought were interrupted when the doors to the chamber were opened. On the other side stood three people.

Two men stood at either side. The taller man had emerald-green eyes and hair that went down to his neck and a goatee on his chin. He wore a mostly blue outfit with gold trimming and a cape. His arms were crossed and from the moment they entered his eyes were fixed on Jeralt.

The other man might not have been as tall as the other but he more than made up for it in width. He was very broad, both in terms of his shoulders and the burly build the rest of him sported, though with the robes he was wearing, it was hard to tell. He had longer hair and a full beard, but the two men looked like they could be brothers, or at least some kind of relative. In contrast, the shorter man's eyes couldn't seem to settle, he avoided making eye contact.

In the center of the two stood the woman Jeralt had at one point pledged his life to.

The woman he'd betrayed for the sake of his daughter.

"Jeralt..."

She looked into his eyes, not with the hatred or anger he'd been expecting, she looked hurt. 

Her attention turned to the young woman at his side.

'Sitri... she looks just like you.'

The silence hung in the air. The shorter man cleared his throat.

"Am... Am I the only one who does not know what is going on here?"

"No." Replied Byleth, feeling very unamused behind the blank face she usually wore.

Jeralt sighed.

"Of course, forgive me, I believe introductions are in order..." Byleth noticed the slight wince when the woman said that. "I am Rhea, Archbishop of the Church of Seiros."

"I am Seteth, first advisor to the Archbishop."

"And I..." Indech paused as he tried to think. 'Seteth' looked at him, exasperated. They'd spent time trying to come up with his alias and here he was forgetting it.

"Uh... dech..." He murmured. "Dechlan! Yes, that's my name!"

"And what do you do?" Seteth spoke in a tone usually reserved for teaching children.

"Ah yes, I... am also an advisor..." 'Dechlan' fiddled with his hands, knowing he'd messed up.

Seteth pinched the bridge of his nose. Both his brother's botched introduction and Jeralt's very presence were going to wear on his patience.

"...and with that settled..." Rhea looked over to the former knight. "Jeralt, I assume you already know what I am going to say."

"You want me to rejoin the Knights... I won't say no just yet, but-"

He was cut off by the sound of Rhea's fist hitting the arm of her chair. "Believe me, at this moment, that is the furthest thing from my mind!"

"I-" Jeralt choked.

And in that one moment, Byleth understood why her father had been so afraid to return.

"Forgive me, I lost my temper for a moment..." Rhea tried to reign in her anger, though that meant not looking directly at Jeralt. Rather, her eyes drifted toward his daughter instead. "Were the two of you told about the events of this morning?"

"...Yes, the kids mentioned that their professor had fallen to whatever that thing was, poor bastard."

Rhea was slightly irritated by Jeralt's choice of words, though she knew he meant nothing by it. 

"Well, as callous as it may sound, his death means that our academy is now without a professor... and with Alois' glowing recommendation, I believe there is only one candidate worthy of such a position."

Jeralt raised an eyebrow. "Rhea, I don't think I'm-"

"I was not talking to you." Rhea said as her eyes remained squarely on Byleth, who pointed at herself, visibly confused. Rhea nodded.

"But... I've never even gone to school." Byleth replied.

Rhea took a deep breath, keeping her eyes away from the girl's father. "...Were you at least educated? Can you read and write?"

"Yes?" Byleth answered. "Him and the other mercs taught me the basics."

'Thank the Goddess' Rhea's hands relaxed, no longer feeling the need to strangle Jeralt. 'We will be having a talk about this later, young man.'

"That is reassuring to hear, we will speak more about this later. Please, take some time to think it over. In the meantime, feel free to make yourselves at home." She said, her eyes briefly meeting Jeralt before departing from the chamber, Seteth and "Dechlan" following close behind.

"...Is it just me or does she seem off to you?" Byleth asked her father.

Jeralt breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed like they'd be out of here soon enough.

---

The moment they arrived in the Sanctum, all hell broke loose.

Rhea's fist collided with one of the walls. "That bastard."

Dechlan flinched, Seteth remained still.

"More than twenty years I spent mourning her... and she had lived the entire time..."

Rhea hit the wall again.

"Why!? What did I do to deserve this?"

She kept hitting the wall until a faint crack appeared, Rhea fell to her knees.

"Why..." The tears she'd been holding in finally began to fall. 

As she sobbed, Seteth placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I missed it. Her childhood, every little milestone. I wasn't there."

"Seiros..."

"Sitri, I failed again..."

Seteth turned her to face him. "Seiros!"

"...She does not know me, Cichol. All because her father... all because I..."

She continued sobbing as she leaned into her brother's hug.

After several long minutes, Indech gathered the courage to ask. "Would either of you mind telling me what is going on? This girl... is she one of us?"

Seiros dried her tears. "Yes... she... is my granddaughter." Her voice sounded somewhat strained.

"Like Edelgard is?" He questioned.

"Not quite..."

One explanation later and Rhea was calmly told to leave, Seteth following her. Indech needed time to process what he'd been told. Not that she blamed him, as she'd technically violated a sacred rule.

It was late in the afternoon by the time they returned to the monastery, she knew that time was running out.

She needed to tell at least one more person that day, and she hoped it would go at least the same way.

---

Claude laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Thoughts swirling in his head as the events of that morning replayed over and over again. All the ways he could have saved the professor, all the ways he could have lost his own life... there was a small part of him that wished that had been the case.

A knock came against his door.

"Claude! Come on, open up!"

He'd ignored Hilda since he'd returned. She wouldn't understand... mostly because he didn't exactly trust her. Unlike Hubert, who'd been by Edelgard's side since she was young and Dedue, who swore loyalty to Dimitri after the young prince saved his life... Claude and Hilda were almost strangers. Not from her perspective, mind you, they had known each other for a while, ever since Claude had arrived at his Grandfather's doors.

He was her best friend... but he didn't know if she was his. She didn't know him, not the real him.

"Claude, we're all worried about you, even Lorenz!"

That was odd, then again he had no way of knowing whether the Gloucester heir actually cared 

or if he was trying to find a way to seize leadership of the Deer.

Perhaps they might be better off.

The moment he had that thought, Claude shuddered. Throwing off his fatigue and throwing on his metaphorical mask, Claude walked to the door, opening it just in time to see Hilda, Marianne and one gray-haired boy from the Blue Lions about to pick his lock.

"Oh, sorry, I..."

Claude sighed. "It's okay, Ashe. Just one question. Mind if I borrow that?"

Ashe handed the pick to the other archer before quickly leaving the scene.

"Now Hilda, that wasn't very nice, roping that poor boy into one of your schemes."

Hilda scoffed. "My schemes? Look who's talking!"

She then laughed a bit. "But I'm glad you're up. Did... something happen this morning? You seemed... off."

Claude shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you, I was just tired."

Hilda raised an eyebrow. "From what?"

"Early morning training exercise with the other house leaders. Boy, I tell ya, those two do not let up. It's almost like they hate each other... or maybe..." Claude pondered his thought with his chin in his hand. 

Hilda's inner (and outer) gossip wanted to press him on the latter idea, but the small responsible part of her won out. "Uh huh, and I suppose you got that bruise on your wrist from that too?"

Claude glanced down at his hand, finally noticing a faint gray mark on it. "Huh."

"You didn't go to the infirmary, did you?" Hilda asked, grabbing said arm and holding him in place. "Mari, please look him over."

Marianne walked over, pulling back his sleeve to reveal multiple marks across just that arm. 

Claude cringed, hoping they thought it was from the pain and not from his lack of planning.

"Oh dear..." She immediately went to work mending his injuries. "Claude, please don't ignore these, you'll just make them worse."

"...I know, I'm sorry." Claude couldn't put up much of a fight against the soft-spoken girl.

Something was wrong here, and Hilda wanted to get to the bottom of it.

---

Edelgard was trying to enjoy her breakfast, but it didn't seem to be working.

No matter what she did, her mind would not move on. The professor's death weighed on her, though not as much as it had for Claude, but that was not the thought occupying her mind at the moment.

Rhea had promised that she would stop hiding things from, but evidently there was something about the mercenaries they'd unintentionally recruited that she recognized. She was half-expecting to find out that Rhea had another family, and given how old the woman was it would not surprise her.

Hubert sat to her side, though he had opted for a single cup of coffee rather than a meal. That on its own would be concerning, especially given what happened the last time she'd asked when he slept. She loved Hubert like a brother but sometimes his devotion to her bordered on disturbing.

A head of brunette hair slid into view across from her. "Sooo Edie, what's my favorite girl been up to?" 

Dorothea had a smile that could light up a room, and from what she knew of the girl's backstory, 

Edelgard was glad to see it. "I thought Petra was your favorite girl."

"You're all my favorite... I'll be sure to tell Bern once she gets out of that room of hers."

In that moment, the idea came to Edelgard to do what Bernadetta had done. At the very least, it might give her time to figure things out.

"You didn't answer my question." Dorothea said, taking a sip from her cup. "You were gone for most of this morning and you came back covered in bruises. If something's wrong, you can tell me, maybe not here though."

She glanced around the room just in time to see Claude walk in, ushered by Hilda and Marianne. "My, Claude, walking in with two beautiful women on your arms. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to make me jealous." Dorothea joked.

"Believe me, Thea, I think he'd rather be anywhere else, he's been a bit of a pain this morning." Hilda replied.

The two women laughed together as Claude fought to suppress the anger boiling underneath. 

He freed himself from their light grasp and took a seat at the table behind Edelgard's. The princess briefly shot him a sympathetic look, something he didn't seem to appreciate.

Soon, he was joined by Dimitri, Dedue and Ingrid. Between the three, the Galatea heir definitely took the Lion's share of food.

Claude took a bite from his own meal, noting that it tasted a bit bland. He watched the students who ordered the same meal and saw them enjoying themselves. Then he looked at Dimitri, sporting an expression much like his own.

He had questions, but they would have to wait for later.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the woman who entered moments later. The teal-haired mercenary who'd entered the monastery that morning walked in, still wearing her armor. She walked up to the staff, took a long minute to browse the menu before making her choice. 

The moment she walked by, Dorothea saw an opportunity. She waved  to the woman, pulling out the chair to her side. Without a word, the woman sat down next to her and immediately locked eyes with Edelgard. "It's nice to see you again." She said with a slight smile.

If Dorothea had been suspicious before, that choice of words and the presence of yet another gold bracelet on the woman's wrist sent those ideas into overdrive. "That's a pretty piece of jewelry you've got there."

Edelgard felt dread welling up. Either Byleth would slip up and completely blow their cover... or Dorothea would get the wrong idea and her social life would go down in flames. 

"Oh, thanks. I got it from some girl with green hair." Byleth said casually.

Dorothea raised an eyebrow. "The Archbishop?"

"Oh, yeah, her. Don't really know how to feel about it yet." Even if she told them the truth, she didn't know if they would believe her.

The songstress hummed as she rubbed her palms together. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

"...Thanks." The mercenary replied. 'This girl is weird.'

Edelgard wanted to smash her head into the table and beg for death, but she doubted the world would be so merciful.

---

Byleth exited the hall, only to be accosted by an orange blur.

"YOU!"

The orange-haired interloper threw their arms around her shoulders, putting Byleth on edge. 

"You didn't tell me you were gonna be here."

"Uh... sorry." Byleth kept her arms at her sides. "Who are you?"

The girl seemed to take offense, standing with her hands on her waist. "Don't remember me, huh? What would the Captain think?"

Gears started turning in Byleth's head, her eyes went wide. "...Leonie?"

"In your defense, it has been a few years." Now it was her turn to receive as Byleth immediately hugged her back.

"I missed you."

"D'aww, you big softie. How've you been?"

Byleth shrugged. "I don't know, until today it was the same as always, and now..."

She looked out over the wall, seeing the monastery's fishing pond, sunlight reflecting off the water. "The Archbishop wants me to be a Professor."

"Wait, but you never went to school."

"That's what I told her. I don't know why, but she seems to really want me here for some reason." Byleth felt the wind blow through her hair.

"That does sound weird, but if you're anything like your dad, I know you'll do great. He taught me everything I know." Leonie said, giving Byleth a pat on the back.

"And your parents?" Asked Byleth.

"Everything that wasn't about fighting."

"Fair Enough."

The two stood there in silence for a few moments before Leonie had an idea. "Wanna go fishing?"

Byleth didn't respond, simply swinging over the wall and landing on the stone below.

"Hey, be careful!" Leonie said as the two ran to the dock.

---

Dimitri thrust his lance toward the training dummy, his technique was almost perfected by this point. Like most of Faerghus, he'd held a weapon before he'd even learned to walk. 

He was alone. He hated being alone.

"You could have protected them both, but you ran like a coward."

'Don't listen' Dimitri thought, the last thing he needed was to blame himself for more deaths.

He walked across the room, this time he wanted to try something different. Raising the lance above his shoulder, he threw it toward his target. As soon as it left his hand, he began running alongside it. Unfortunately, the lance hit just before he arrived. He would need to work on it, but the idea was there.

The door opened to reveal Claude, strolling in and looking rather downcast. The moment he noticed Dimitri's presence, he attempted to cover it up. "Oh hey, Dimitri, getting in yet another bout of training. I'll be honest, doesn't seem like you really need it at this point." He said, flashing a grin at the prince.

"Practice makes perfect, I don't want to be unprepared the next time. Speaking of... drop the act, Claude." Dimitri said, looking concerned.

"What, me? I don't know what you're talking about." Claude said, turning away from Dimitri.

"We both know what happened, you don't have to hide from me." Dimitri tried reaching out to Claude, only for the other boy to turn on him.

"You wouldn't get it."

"I definitely won't if you do not tell me."

This seemed to anger Claude. "Do you know what it's like to have someone die for your sake, especially knowing that you could have saved them?"

"Glenn."

Claude was caught off guard. "What?"

"Glenn Fraldarius, Felix's older brother and Ingrid's fiancée. He met his end protecting me during the Tragedy of Duscur. Even now he haunts me." Dimitri explains, his eyes seeming to look toward the corner of the room.

"...Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't... you didn't know, it's alright." Dimitri put a comforting hand on Claude's shoulder. "But please, do not blame yourself for what happened. Believe me, it accomplishes nothing."

"Does it ever stop hurting?" Asked Claude in a quiet voice.

"No, but you will get better."

The words 'unlike me' went unsaid.

"...Thanks, Dimitri."

"Anytime. Now, would you care to spar again?" Dimitri asked, twirling a lance.

"I'll take that offer." Claude said, grabbing a bow and quiver. "On three."

---

Edelgard walked up the stairs leading to the audience chamber. The sun was already setting, the light was fading out. Hubert wasn't far behind, it was a good thing she'd already known that, otherwise she might have been startled by the presence of a man that looked like a creature of the night.

She pushed a door open, seeing the Archbishop standing by her throne.

Soon, they were led upstairs, heading toward the locked door next to the empty room they had used earlier. Rhea respectfully asked Hubert to remain outside, and despite his reservations he agreed, although he was fully prepared to enter should the need arise.

Rhea opened the door and entered first.

"What you are about to see may leave you with more questions than answers, but I assure you that I will do my best to answer every one."

She opened the door. It was very dark, she could hardly make anything out. It was only when 

Rhea conjured a light spell that the room came into view.

It was a bedroom, one that looked fairly old, at least compared to her own. Despite that fact, it was obvious that the room had been kept clean and maintained. For what purpose, Edelgard wondered, whoever this room belonged to must have been important if Rhea was going to all this trouble. She noticed that in addition to the various pieces of furniture, there seemed to be a collection of medical instruments, some she recognized from the infirmary. Perhaps the room's owner had some type of condition?

"Rhea... what is this?"

Rhea remained silent. Edelgard could hear her struggling to speak.

"Rhea?"

"Forgive me, I... This room... it belonged to my daughter."

Edelgard by all accounts should have been shocked, but after all she had been told already, she couldn't muster the energy. "I'm sorry."

"Do not be. Even after all these years, it feels like she was just here yesterday." Rhea sighed. "It was shortly after Lycaon passed. I was consumed with grief and in my desperation, through a combination of a crest stone and my own blood, I... I made a child."

"So, you didn't find another partner." Edelgard noted.

"No, even after all this time, I am not sure I would be able to move on from Wilhelm..." Rhea cleared her throat. "Her name, it changed over time, at first it was 'Bael'... but by the time I took my current name, she had taken the name 'Sitri', the name she would carry for the rest of her life."

"Sitri... for some reason I can't help but feel like I've seen that name before."

Rhea nodded. "Her tombstone is in the graveyard, you may have passed by it."

"I see." She would be sure to pay her respects the next time she saw her. "How did she pass, if you do not mind me asking?"

Rhea looked around the room. "Sitri, for reasons I still do not know, had been frail for her entire life. She often said that I treated her as though she were made of glass, and unfortunately that might as well have been the case, even a minor illness or injury could be life-threatening if we were not careful. As a result... she spent most of her long life within the walls of the monastery, something I fear she resented me for." 

Rhea took a pause to wipe at her eyes. "There was one bright spot, however. At some point she met and fell in love with a young knight, he would bring her flowers and regale her with stories of his adventures in the outside world and she would listen with a smile on her face for the first time in ages. Eventually they were wed and... after a long period, they were blessed with a child of their own... if only it were that easy."

"As you can assume, Sitri's body could not handle the strain of childbirth. It was worse than that, however. The child... did not survive. Sitri wanted nothing more than for her child to live, so she asked me to do something. To save the baby, I transplanted Sitri's crest stone into the child's body. The little one lived while Sitri did not live to see her."

"It was a daughter..." Edelgard noticed.

"Yes. Unfortunately, I was not as truthful with the father as I have been with you, and this is part of the reason why." She sighed. "Some time later, there was a fire at the monastery, and I believed that the baby had perished. Shortly after, he tendered his resignation and left the monastery, seemingly forever."

"...And the child and her father are Byleth and Jeralt, aren't they?"

"...Yes." The ancient woman sounded so small. "She looks so much like her mother."

At this point, Edelgard couldn't help but feel pity for the woman she'd once thought her enemy. "I know that you will not allow me to apologize, but I do appreciate that you trusted me enough to tell me this, no matter how painful it must be for you."

Rhea was taken by surprise as Edelgard hugged her. 

"I will try to convince them to stay, especially now that we now that Byleth shares our power. Do you have any theories as to why that might be?"

"If I had to guess, it may have something to do with her Crest Stone." Rhea seemed to ponder the implications of this.

"Is her stone special in any way?" Edelgard asked.

"...It was originally my mother's..."

"...And you mentioned that your powers were given to you by her..."

They agreed this would require further investigation. After leaving the room, Rhea had a few parting words.

"Edelgard... truly, thank you for coming. Part of me feared that you would never trust me again."

"I will be honest, I was skeptical at first, but I'm glad to see that what faith I did have was not misplaced."

Both women smiled at each other before Rhea brought Edelgard back in for another hug.

"Oh, and you won't need to worry about them leaving just yet." Rhea said.

"And why would that be?" Edelgard asked.

"Before you came up, Byleth agreed to my proposal."

"...What proposal?" Edelgard hoped it was not the kind she was thinking of.

"I may have offered her a position as a Professor." Rhea seemed so excited.

...

"And she agreed?" 

"Yes. Do you want to know the best part?"

"What?"

"She chose the Black Eagles!"

Seconds later, Edelgard hit the floor.

---

Byleth woke up that morning feeling more nervous than she could ever remember, and considering she grew up fighting for a living, that was saying something.

The moment she stepped outside her bedroom, she found her father standing there. "Morning, kid. Ready for your first day?"

"I think so... I've never done anything like this."

Despite her usual lack of expression, Jeralt picked up on his daughter's nerves. "I'll be honest kid, I still don't know what Rhea was thinking when she made you a professor. But I've known you longer than anyone else, and if I had to place my bets on anyone for this, it'd be you."

Byleth poked him in the chest. "No gambling."

Jeralt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I remember what happened last time..." That had been a difficult few months, having to ration food and sleeping in the woods.

As they walked to the classrooms they were joined by a familiar head of orange hair. "Good morning, By, Captain."

"Leonie." Jeralt greeted. "I've already asked her so I might as well, are you ready for your first day of classes?"

"As I'll ever be!" She answered with a salute. "Even brought spares of everything just in case."

"Good, that'll work for you in the future."

They arrived at the doors to the Black Eagles classroom, identified by the red banners to either side.

"Well, guess this is it for now. I'm sure you'll do a great job... " Jeralt said just before his daughter hugged him. They remained that way for a few more moments before Jeralt said. "You too, get in here."

Leonie immediately joined in the now-group-hug. Shortly afterward, Jeralt took his leave, headed back to his duties as Knight Captain.

"Gonna be honest, kinda wish you picked my class."

"I know, but something about this one just felt... right. Sorry."

Leonie laughed. "Don't be, at least this way we can be rivals instead." She said, offering her hand to her best friend. Byleth accepted and the two shook hands.

"Alright, head to your class now." Byleth said.

"Yes, Ma'am." Leonie replied with a salute.

"...Don't do that." Byleth complained.

"Yes, Ma'am." Leonie said with a mischievous smile, before running off to her classroom.

Byleth turned back to the doors, hearing the sounds of conversation happening within. She took a deep breath. "Now or never." She said before pushing the doors open.

All sounds ceased as the eyes of the students turned to her. Of them, only Edelgard and Hubert seemed unsurprised.

"Hello."

Immediately, the students got up and crowded around her. "Wait, you're the professor?" A boy with light-blue hair asked.

"It is a pleasure to be meeting you!" Said a girl with long purple hair in a braid. Byleth noticed that she had some kind of mark below her right eye.

"Huh, can't say I was expecting that." Stated a boy with long green hair in a ponytail. Any relation to those church people?

"Oh my, so young and so pretty and you're already a professor? I'm impressed." Said Dorothea, Byleth remembered her from yesterday. Apparently she was close to Manuela, the other songstress had given her a brief talk after she chose her house.

"It is an honor to meet you, Professor. I am Ferdinand von Aegir.  We've all heard the tale of how you rescued the House Leaders, you have our deepest gratitude." The young man had orange hair in a slightly lighter shade than Leonie's, something about his demeanor told Byleth that he meant every word.

"...H-Hi" A voice said from out of sight. A girl with messy purple hair peered out from behind a  desk.

Edelgard smiled as she approached her. "I echo the sentiments of my classmates. I too was not expecting you to be our new professor, but after your actions, I cannot think of any better candidate. Though, it is a shame what happened to the previous professor..." The moods of all involved dampened a bit. "Nevertheless, I have faith in your ability and in you, Byleth."

"Oooh, Edie. Moving a little fast, aren't you?" Dorothea teased. Edelgard's face turned as red as their house colors.

Byleth nodded before walking to the back of the room. "For our first day, we'll be holding class outside."

---

The Eagles arrived at the training ground. Byleth laid out their plan for the day. Each of them was to grab their weapon of choice... and then try to take her down.

First up was Caspar, choosing a pair of gauntlets. He charged toward her, yelling the entire time, only for her to sidestep him and lightly tap him with her training sword.

Next went Ferdinand, wielding a lance. He was smarter in his approach, moving slowly until he could go on the offensive, and to his credit he almost hit her. Almost.

Linhardt was dragged in, holding a tome. He halfheartedly sent off a wind spell, just enough to blow through her hair. He was eliminated without a fight, they would definitely need to work on that. The moment he went back to the bench, he fell asleep.

Bernadetta walked up holding a bow in her shaking hands. Standing on shaking legs, she aimed her shaking bow.

"Bernadetta... breathe." Byleth advised.

The girl seemed to calm down, if only slightly. Just enough for Byleth to not feel guilty when she charged at her. The archer panicked and leapt out of the way, firing off an arrow in the process, which hit Byleth in the neck. Had the arrow been anything but a blunt training version, she would have been killed. 

Frankly, she was impressed.

Dorothea walked up, passing by Bernadetta and patting the smaller girl on the head "Good job, Bern." She whispered, Bernadetta hid her face and returned to the bench.

Dorothea pulled out a tome, hopefully she'd put up more of a fight. "I'll try not to do too much,  don't wanna hurt that pretty face of yours." She said with a wink.

Immediately after, she launched a fireball straight toward her opponent. Byleth barely had time to dodge, very nearly singeing her hair.

"Sorry." Dorothea said. She seemed to be at a disadvantage when Byleth closed the distance, only for her to put up a decent fight with her bare hands. After a brief struggle, Byleth was able to tag her out, commending her abilities.

Hubert was pushed to enter next. He responded by throwing out a miasma, revealing to Byleth his aptitude for Dark Magic. Too bad she responded by jumping into the air and landing behind him, tapping him on his head and taking him out.

Petra was the penultimate challenger, wielding a sword much like Byleth. She made her first swing, Byleth swiftly dodging it and going for the out. Then Petra dodged, and that was the moment things became interesting. They proceeded into a pattern of attacks, almost like a dance. Each attempt was met with a dodge or parry. Evidently Petra had experience despite being the youngest in the group. Eventually, Petra started to slow down. Then Byleth noticed that everyone else also seemed to be moving more slowly. She was distracted by this long enough for Petra to successfully land a hit. 

Byleth praised her for taking advantage of her distraction, getting a bright smile from the Princess of Brigid.

Finally, she faced Edelgard. Admittedly, it felt odd to be fighting the girl she had earlier risked her life to save, but that was just the way things went sometimes. Edelgard brandished an axe, assuming position and charging toward her. It happened again, everything slowed down... except for Edelgard. Evidently whatever was happening to her was also happening to the Adrestian Princess. Did this have to do with her new powers? In that case, was it related to the time rewind or the suit? Was it both?

'Focus, child' 

She snapped back to attention just in time to avoid another strike from Edelgard.

Meanwhile, Edelgard was still trying to process just who Byleth was. Technically, they were related, if only very distantly. Even leaving that aside, the brace on the older woman's wrist had her curious. Hers had come from her father, passed down the family line from Wilhelm I. Dimitri and Claude's had apparently belonged to Seteth and Flayn originally. Rhea and Indech still had theirs, and she assumed Macuil would be the same.

So where had Byleth gotten hers from?

She just barely avoided Byleth's sword hitting her neck, flipping backwards and landing on her feet. The two locked eyes and charged at each other, and in a single moment it was over, they'd hit each other at the same time.

"Well done, all of you. You put up a decent fight... most of you, anyway, but there is still room for improvement. Given that the Mock Battle is only a few days away, we'll need to get to work immediately."

The remainder of class passed by and by the end, everyone walked away with sore muscles.

---

The day had finally arrived. They would be facing the other classes in combat for the first time. 

Granted, it was only a training exercise, but it was still the first time they'd be fighting each other.

Claude knelt before the tombstone.

Robert J. Fielding

1118-1179

Taught us to be brave

Claude felt the wind blow through his cape. "I'm sorry, Professor. Wish you could've seen this."

Without another word he rose and ascended the stairs back to the monastery.

Claude met up with Edelgard and Dimitri outside their classrooms. 

"Did it help?" Asked Dimitri.

"I think so." Said Claude.

"Are you ready?" Asked Edelgard.

"I am." Said Claude, nodding.

The three separated and entered their classrooms, joining their classmates in waiting for their professors.

Eventually, Hanneman and Manuela arrived. Leaving one notable absence...

"Have any of you seen Professor Byleth?" Edelgard asked her classmates.

"No, she was supposed to be here by now, right?" Dorothea replied.

"Maybe she slept in?" Said Linhardt, he could relate.

"I don't think that's very likely, but... wait right here." 

Edelgard walked out of the classroom and walked to the dorm occupied by Byleth. She knocked on the door, waiting for a response, she heard nothing. 

"Byleth, are you in there?" She called. No response. She tried the handle, the door was locked.

"Need some help?" Claude's voice nearly made her jump.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, noticing him and Dimitri had suddenly appeared.

"We noticed you walking away and we grew concerned. I take it Professor Byleth hasn't arrived?" Dimitri asked.

"That would be correct. Linhardt thought she might have slept in and I decided to make sure that was not the case, but so far I haven't heard a response, that plus the door is locked." Edelgard explained.

"Heh, I think I have a solution." Claude said, pulling out a lockpick.

"Claude... where did you get that?" Asked Dimitri.

"From one of yours." Claude grinned, before quickly undoing the lock.

Only to be met with an empty room.

---

"What do you mean she's missing?" Jeralt asked.

"Well, she wasn't in her room, and Leonie said she wasn't by the pond or the greenhouse." Claude explained.

"We asked around and nobody's seen her since yesterday." Dimitri said.

"Please, Captain. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" Edelgard pleaded.

Jeralt sighed. "First things first. You went into my daughter's room without permission?"

Edelgard and Dimitri immediately stepped back, leaving Claude to catch the captain's ire.

"You and I are gonna have a long talk about this later." Jeralt said, swiping the lockpick before  Claude could even say anything. The boy hung his head in shame. "Don't think the rest of you are getting away either, but right now we've got more important things to worry about."

---

"And you're sure she's not anywhere in the monastery?" Rhea asked.

"Yes, we have everyone we can searching the grounds and the surrounding area. So far, we've received no signal." Edelgard explained. 

"I see." Rhea was visibly disturbed by this. There were many possibilities that occurred to her, but two more than any came to the forefront, one of them filling her with immense amounts of dread. "There is only one place I have in mind."

---

The three departed for the Red Canyon, Zanado. Ordinarily they might have been fascinated by visiting a place of such significant history, but the knowledge of what had occurred there so many years ago soured the idea.

Still, they couldn't help but be in awe when they arrived, what ruins were there painted a beautiful image of what had come before. Edelgard couldn't help but dwell on the thought of her fallen ancestors. As soon as they made their way in, they found what they were looking for. 

Professor Byleth.

...Surrounded by an army of Bird-soldiers.

"Great... you guys ready?" Claude asked.

They answered by raising their wrists.

"CREST CHANGE!"

---

Byleth woke up that morning feeling... odd.

She knew she was supposed to be ready for the mock battle, and she had every intention of heading to class, and yet she could feel a strange pull toward an area outside of the monastery. It was only when she entered the ruins that she started getting answers.

"Sothis?"

"I do not know why, but... something about this place feels... familiar."

Byleth thought about it. Sothis had told her that she had lost her memories, if being here could bring anything back to her, it was probably worth it.

Although she wished they had timed things better, she could only imagine how everyone was reacting to her absence.

"Maybe... we should head back for now." Byleth proposed. "...Sothis?"

"Please, just one more moment, child. I feel as though I am on the verge of finding something."

Byleth sighed, hoping the others wouldn't hold this against her. Her dad must be worried sick.

Her thoughts stopped when she noticed the black smoke beginning to appear around her. She tried looking for the source, maybe a fire had started nearby?

Then the smoke started forming together into something solid, or rather some things. 

Strange-looking people with bird-shaped masks, dressed all in black, swarmed around her. The moment one ran at her, she pulled her sword to defend herself. 

This was probably the largest amount of opponents she'd ever faced alone, and while she had faith in her abilities, perhaps coming here alone hadn't been the brightest idea.

She was putting up a decent fight, but she knew she couldn't hold out forever. Before she had a chance to say it, she heard a shout from behind her.

"CREST CHANGE!" Three voices said in unison.

The transformed versions of Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude landed around her.

"Hey, Teach. You know if you wanted to explore, you could've told somebody, preferably me."  Claude joked while firing at the enemy forces.

"Claude, now is not the time to be joking. If these things are here, then that means..." Edelgard looked around the area, dreading the possibility of fighting that thing again. Even with four of them, they might not stand a chance, especially not with this many soldiers. She swung her axe, keeping them away from Byleth.

"Professor, if you were going to change, now would be the time." Dimitri reminded her.

"Right. Crest Change." The black suit from earlier returned, now in broad daylight. The golden parts now shone brilliantly, contrasting the deep black of the rest of her suit. Her sword changed the same black-hilted blade.

She slashed at the enemies before her. Now, they had all sides covered.

They almost didn't see it coming.

---

"First the Professor and now Edelgard. What is going on today?" Ferdinand asked.

"I know, right? I was really looking forward to seeing some action!" Caspar complained, doing a bit of shadowboxing.

"Caspar, aren't you on the bench for this?" Linhardt questioned.

"Yeah, that's why I said see some action."

"...Got me there."

'Edie, I love you, but you really could have picked a better time'

"Is it just me or has Dimitri been gone a looong time?" Sylvain asked.

"No, this is completely unlike him. I'm getting worried." Ingrid replied. "Dedue, have you seen him?"

"No, unfortunately, I have not seen His Highness since he left earlier." The tall man replied.

Felix seemed to grow annoyed. 'What in the Goddess's name are you up to, Boar?'

"Claude's up to something, I can feel it." Hilda said.

"I agree." Replied Lorenz. "The timing is definitely suspicious."

"Lorenz, you would've agreed even if Claude was in the room." Said Lysithea.

The skinny noble conceded her point.

"First By, now the others are missing too. I don't like this, not one bit." Leonie warned. "I'm gonna go-"

Suddenly, an explosion in the distance was felt by everyone in the monastery, the very ground beneath them shaking.

---

A smoking crater was left where the blast had landed. Even though they'd managed to avoid it, they still felt the effects. Claude could swear he heard a ringing in his ear.

They cast their eyes to the source, only to see the last thing they wanted, that same axe-wielding monstrosity. Claude felt the grip on his bow tighten.

They wouldn't let it get away, not this time. 

The beast leapt from its perch, swinging its axe and landing with a shockwave when the blade made contact with the ground. They barely had time to recover before it was upon them. 

Dimitri raised his lance to protect them, only to be knocked back by the beast's strike. Claude fired an arrow at it, hoping to distract it while his teammate got back on his feet.

"Any ideas this time?" Claude asked.

"If we can force it toward one of the walls, we might be able to disable it long enough to finish it off." Edelgard explained.

"Just one problem." Byleth replied. "Look."

Around them, the same black smoke from earlier reformed. New soldiers generated from thin air. "Great, reinforcements. Kinda wish we could do that." Claude complained.

Just as he said that, a hail of arrows flew right over him, taking out a few of the soldiers. The four looked back to see a group of their classmates emerging from the surrounding area.

"Oh."

Leading the forces were Hanneman and Manuela, having figured that if they couldn't prevent the students from going, the least they could do was guide them.

"What are those things?" Said Annette.

"They don't look like any bandits I've seen." Replied Leonie.

Lysithea stood frozen.

"Forget them, what in the Goddess's name is that?" Said Felix, looking at the monster.

"It kinda looks like the one that attacked the monastery, right?" Caspar asked.

"It does! And those guys look exactly like your drawing, Ignatz! Though... there wasn't a black one before... was there?" Raphael said.

"There wasn't, unless they were just out of sight..." He would have to make another sketch later.

The soldiers took notice, letting out muffled screeches. They ignored the costumed heroes before them, instead charging toward the gathered forces.

Their hidden commander grew irritated.

"We'll handle the small ones, you focus on taking the big ugly one!" Hilda said, swinging her axe and sending several soldiers flying into their comrades.

With that distraction taken care of, they were free to continue fighting the monster. 

Edelgard charged forward, clashing against the beast's axe. They seemed evenly matched, until the beast raised its other arm. Dimitri wrapped his arms and lance around the offending limb, pulling it back and yanking hard enough to throw their opponent.

"...Thank you." Said Edelgard.

"You would've done the same." He replied. 

Would she have?

The beast tried to rise to its feet. Claude stood nearby, ready to take the shot. He charged up his bow... 

And at the last second fired off in a random direction.

---

The Flame Emperor remained hidden. He needed to have a line of sight in order to effectively control the creature, but getting too close would risk being spotted. He couldn't afford that risk, not right now, at least.

He made the mistake of looking out to observe the battle, the yellow warrior shot an arrow right to his hand, causing him to drop the control stone onto the ground below and roll right at the feet of the Axe Lord.

He warped away immediately, supposing he would find out what happened later.

More specifically, what happened when a Lord got their hands on their own control stone.

---

A black stone landed at the feet of the monster. It reached forward, intending to grab it. Before any of them had a chance to stop it, the stone made contact with its body... and everything changed.

The beast absorbed the stone, traveling through its body and emerging in the center of its chest.

Then it spoke.

"Damn... bastard... I'll kill him."

Everyone stood still, in shock.

"You... you can talk?" Edelgard asked.

"Oh, I can do more than that." He said before clashing axes with her. "Name's Kostas, and it was my job to kill you... but now... I think I'll just do it for fun."

The force of his kick sent Edelgard back a good distance, right into the path of her classmates.

"Linhardt!" Dorothea called out, casting another fireball to burn the creatures fighting her.

"Yeah, yeah." He said before crouching down and casting a heal spell. "Good thing you're wearing red, I suppose..."

"Thank you." She spoke deeply, trying to throw her voice. "Now, please keep your distance."

"Easier said than done." Responded Manuela.

Byleth parried a blow from Kostas. She'd managed to wrench one of the axes from his grip, hoping to buy enough time for Edelgard to get back.

Right on cue, the woman in question ran back on to the scene. Byleth kicked him hard enough to send him into her path. Edelgard raised her axe, leapt onto and off of Dimitri's shoulders before slashing down onto the distracted monster, repaying him by sending him into a nearby rock.

"Quick, while he's down!" Claude called out, the three assembling the Chimera Cannon. To their side, Byleth dragged her hand along the blade of her sword, it glowed with energy. The moment they fired their blast, she let loose a slash, combining the energies and crashing right into Kostas.

For a moment, everyone was relieved, but the Primary Color trio knew this was not the end.

The stone in Kostas' chest shattered, but in return he began to grow, gathering energy from the remaining soldiers. Towering over them and casting a shadow over the area.

"Finally! I'm the strongest in the world!" Kostas yelled.

"EVERYONE GET OUT NOW!" Shouted a voice that caught everyone by surprise. Byleth had raised her voice for the first time.

They heeded her advice, the stronger among them helping move the injured away from the battlefield.

"Is that everyone?" Asked Hanneman.

"Everyone that was already accounted for, at least" Manuela admitted. "I can't help but worry."

---

"TITAN EAGLE!"

"TITAN LION!"

"TITAN DEER!"

Three giant mechanical beasts appeared immediately after being called, combining to form a giant metallic knight.

"TITAN CHIMERA!" The three spoke in unison. The warrior blocked an attack with its shield, retaliating with a slash of its own axe. Both fighters' steps shook the ground, being felt by the others a good distance away.

"Damn brats, why don't you make this easier on yourselves..." Kostas said, punching the machine in the face. "And just give up?"

"No, not while there are those that we must protect!" Dimitri yelled.

"To fall to someone like you would be the greatest humiliation." Edelgard stated.

"And even if... it's not just us." Claude said.

Down on the ground, Byleth had a thought.

"Something on your mind, Professor?" Asked Hubert.

"Yeah, how long have you been standing there?" She asked.

"Only a few moments." He answered.

"Hmm... I'm wondering if I have one of those."

"It is possible. You could try calling for it."

"What animal do I have on my helmet?"

"That would be a Dragon, Professor."

"Right." Byleth breathed in. 

"TITAN DRAGON!"

---

In the rudimentary camp they'd made within the forest, the residents of Garreg Mach looked up as a giant shadow flew over them.

---

As another attack landed on the body of Titan Chimera, a loud blaring noise went off along with a red light bathing the room.

"Should we assume that's a bad thing?" Claude asked.

"Definitely, it most likely means we've taken too much damage." Edelgard answered.

"How do we take him down? Any longer and we risk destroying ourselves." Said Dimitri.

That was when something tackled the giant to the ground. The three looked out to see what had saved them.

It was a giant mechanical black dragon. 

It was a Titan.

They heard a voice come on. "Hey, need some help?"

Byleth's voice was a surprise but also very reassuring.

"Thanks, for a second I thought we were goners." Claude responded.

"Professor, any ideas on how to combat him?" Dimitri asked.

"In my experience, the best weapon to use against an axe would be... a sword."

Byleth looked over the controls, searching for the right one. The dragon coughed up a sword, tossing it into the hands of the damaged Titan.

"NOW!" Commanded Edelgard.

Titan Dragon hopped off of the downed beast. The Sword glowed with their respective colors: Black, Yellow, Blue and Red.

"UNION SWORD!" The three called out.

The beast cracked with electricity. "NO, NOT LIKE THI-"

He exploded before even finishing his sentence, leaving nothing behind.

---

On the battlefield below, the four witnessed their allies return, making for another very awkward departure.

Edelgard contemplated just warping out without another word.

But she didn't.

Instead, she struck a pose. Holding her arms out at her sides to mimic a pair of wings.

"RED EAGLE!"

Claude suppressed the urge to laugh. He held his arms further up, level with his head, and his hands held open to mimic a deer's antlers.

"YELLOW DEER!"

Dimitri stood awkwardly. He flexed his arms and held his hands out as if they had a lion's claws.

"Blue Lion..."

Byleth's was surprisingly the most flamboyant. She held her arms out similar to Edelgard, only further back. She stretched one leg out and dragged it across the gravel to her side, bending the other.

"BLACK DRAGON!"

"We are the Fodlan Force Rangers! And as long as we exist, there is hope for the world!" 

Edelgard yelled out.

She swore she could see Hubert barely hiding a smirk. He would pay for that later. The newly-named Rangers warped away, their respective machines leaving with them.

Among the cheers that rang out from the crowd, a pink-haired girl seemed oddly suspicious.

---

When they reappeared, it was in a random section of the forest surrounding Garreg Mach.

"Huh, that's... odd." Claude said.

"Is this different than usual?" Asked Byleth.

"Yes, the last time we did that, it sent us to our base of operations." Edelgard explained.

"Hm, well at least we aren't far from the monastery." Byleth noted.

"True, although I cannot help but wonder how we will explain our absence to the others." Dimitri pointed out.

"Right, hoo boy that's... gonna get complicated." Claude said.

"Byleth, I hope you don't mind me asking... why were you in the Red Canyon to begin with?" Edelgard asked.

The other two looked over at the mercenary-turned-professor. Byleth looked down, not sure exactly how truthful she should be at this point. "I don't really know... when I woke up, I felt this pull in my mind, it drew me there."

"Do you think it had anything to do with the monster?" Dimitri asked.

"I don't think so." Byleth answered.

"Speaking of... did you see that guy in the armor, the one holding the stone?" Claude asked.

"Admittedly no, but I assume that was why you 'missed', correct?" Edelgard said.

"Yeah, I only saw him for a moment, but he was wearing a weird-looking mask, it looked like he was controlling the monster... well, until he wasn't."

"Could he be the mastermind?" Dimitri pondered.

"Guess we'll have to wait for next time." Said Claude.

They canceled their transformations, making their way back to Garreg Mach on foot.

"So, how do we explain ourselves?" Dimitri asked.

"You just let me handle that, your princeliness." Claude said confidently.

They made it to the gates of the monastery just in time for them to meet up with the others.

"Edelgard!"

"Claude!"

"Dimitri!"

They were quickly surrounded. Questions were asked as to where they had been and what the professor had been doing.

Claude had another plan. "Yeah... we told the archbishop just before we left. Did you guys seriously not tell anyone what you were doing?"

And just like that, the tables had turned. All involved looked embarrassed, with the exception of the two retainers and one noble girl.

"BYLETH!" The last of which was shouted by the man who appeared from right behind the four.

"Dad?" She answered. 

Jeralt put his hands on her shoulders. "Thank the Goddess you're okay."

There were so many things he wanted to say to her in that moment, but those would have to wait for when they weren't surrounded by other people.

"Sorry." She said, looking down at the ground.

Before Jeralt had the chance to say anything, he was interrupted by the appearance of the Archbishop, looking not too pleased.

"All of you, to your rooms, now" The barely-concealed fury in her eyes was more than enough to convince most of the crowd to obey her command.

"Did... Lady Rhea just ground us? Can she do that?" Asked Sylvain.

"Well, she owns the place, so..." Ashe answered.

When the students dispersed, Rhea turned her attention to the teachers. "That goes for you as well."

Without another word, Hanneman and Manuela left for their respective rooms.

The only ones who remained were the four Rangers and Jeralt. The captain eyed his employer with suspicion as the woman approached Byleth. "You went to Zanado, didn't you?"

Byleth looked toward her father, she knew he didn't want her to answer any of her questions. 

"Yes, I did."

Rhea breathed a sigh of relief. "... Jeralt, I defer to your judgment."

That caught him by surprise, he raised an eyebrow as if to question her. Ultimately, he chose not to. "You're not allowed to leave the Monastery for the next month."

Edelgard stepped in, despite thinking she was crossing a boundary. "Captain, If I may, Byleth was instrumental in saving everyone from a monster attack, confining her to the monastery might not be the best idea."

Jeralt took a look at the short princess, in any other circumstance he would have respected her speaking up. "So, there was a monster? Was it that same one from last time?"

"Indeed, Captain. We came across its underlings attacking the Professor." Dimitri explained.

"I believe it might be in our best interest to move this discussion to somewhere more... private." Claude proposed, looking around.

"Claude is correct, please come with us to the Sanctum." Said Rhea.

After moving out of sight, all six were enveloped in light before vanishing.

From around a corner, a head of pink hair peered out. "I knew it."

---

Flayn sat within the Sanctum, idly passing the time until their return.

"Uncle Indech, have you heard from Uncle Macuil since the war ended?"

The man in question sat by his workbench. "I have not, to be honest I feared I would only make things worse by speaking to him. You know how he could be... how he became..."

She sighed. "Do you think-"

A flash of light interrupted her, six figures appearing at once. 

"You're back!" Flayn said before hugging Byleth.

"Uh... Flayn?"

"Ah, my apologies. I was relieved to see you return unharmed." 

"Now then, what happened at the Red Canyon?" Rhea asked. "To begin with, Byleth, why were you there?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Jeralt responded.

"I can't really explain it. I just felt something pushing me there." Byleth said. "When I got there, I kept feeling like there was something I was trying to remember."

"But you've never been there." Jeralt said.

"Yeah. Then there was this weird... smoke that kept forming, then it started turning into... people."

"We fought those same creatures just before we met." Dimitri added. "When we arrived, they had her surrounded."

"There had to be hundreds. While we know she can more than handle herself in a fight, we still didn't like those odds, so that's when we leapt in... literally." Claude said.

"Just when things were getting dire, that was when the monster returned. Not only that, but it would appear that we have some kind of mastermind behind the attacks. Claude spotted a masked individual using a stone to control the beast." Edelgard added.

"It's true. I managed to knock it out of its hand, but then the monster ate the rock and started talking." Claude replied.

"It... talked?" Rhea asked.

"Yeah, he said his name was... Kostas?" Byleth said. 

"It seemed like our monster and his boss didn't exactly get along." Claude continued. "Oh, and everyone else showed up around that time. They held off the goons while we focused on the big one. And speaking of big..."

"We tried fighting him using our Titans." Dimitri said.

"Giant metal animals." Claude explained to the one guy in the room who didn't know.

Dimitri continued. "Unfortunately, we were outmatched. We would have lost if it weren't for Professor Byleth calling upon her own. Using the sword it gave us, we were finally able to put an end to it." 

"And then Princess decided to introduce us to the crowd, even gave us a cute little name. We are now known as... the Fodlan! Force! Rangers!" Claude said, striking a pose for each of the last three words.

Edelgard buried her face in her hands. 

"I thought it was cool." Said Byleth. Edelgard looked toward her, thankful for her backup.

"As do I, it makes me wish we had thought of such a wonderful name back in our day!" Flayn agreed.

"'Back in your day'?" Jeralt raised his eyebrow.

Flayn suddenly remembered that he and Byleth didn't know. "Oh, um... I'm older than I look."

Jeralt had no right to judge her. "So am I."

"How old?" Byleth asked.

"Later." Jeralt and Flayn said in unison.

Byleth simply crossed her arms in frustration.

"So you said Byleth called upon her titan, what shape did it take?" Indech asked.

"It was a black dragon." Byleth explained "It had wings."

"Fascinating." Inwardly, he wondered if her bloodline might have played a part in that.

"Alright, well, I believe that will be all for now. Unfortunately, the mock battle will need to be postponed." Rhea said. "Still, this unknown mastermind leaves me feeling quite uneasy. We will need to investigate what we can. Jeralt, have you decided on Byleth's punishment?"

He sighed. "Yes, for the next month she's not allowed to leave the monastery, unless it's an emergency, and even then she'll be required to tell somebody first."

Byleth wanted to argue, that she was already an adult at 21, but her actions had put more than just herself in danger. She reluctantly accepted.

"Oh, and just so you know, Prince and Princess's assistants also know, they were with us for our first battle." Claude added.

"And yours doesn't?" Jeralt asked.

"First, I don't have one. Second, Hilda cannot be trusted to keep a secret. Third, I simply do not like Lorenz." Claude replied.

"What about Leonie?" Byleth asked.

"Oh yeah, you know her. She's in my class, but if you wanted to make her your confidant, that might work."

"Good." She didn't want to add 'keeping secrets from her best friend' to her list of mistakes she'd made that day.

---

Edelgard knelt at the grave, reading out its inscription.

Sitri Eisner

1139-1159

Resting in the warm embrace of cherished memories

"It's strange. You died before I was even born, and yet... I can't help but lament never knowing you. Your husband and daughter are here, they are... quite amazing, if I may be honest. Byleth has now saved my life twice, and now she's my teacher. Going from mercenary to professor is quite the promotion, I must say."

...

"I want to tell her, I know that Rhea wants to tell her. Rhea, she's... coping. I cannot guarantee that she's doing well, especially with everything that's going on. I know she misses you dearly."

"I hope that when next I visit, I have more to tell you." Edelgard said as she placed a bouquet on the grave. "Farewell, Sitri."

"Kid, is there a reason you're at my wife's grave?" Jeralt asked.

Edelgard stood, briefly being startled by the sudden voice. "Oh, I figured I should pay respect."

Jeralt eyed her suspiciously before dropping it. "Thanks, she would've appreciated that."

Edelgard nodded before taking her leave, passing by Byleth on the way out. She briefly turned back to look at her, standing beside her father as he began telling her about her mother.

Something in Edelgard's heart hurt.

She met up with her other teammates. 

"Did it help?" Claude asked.

"I think so." Said Edelgard.

"Perhaps I should do the same." Dimitri wondered.

"I'm not sure you'll have much to say... but I think they will appreciate the gesture." Edelgard replied.

Claude leaned back against the wall, before noticing someone walking toward them. "Hey Hilda, what've you been up to?"

"You tell me, Mister "Yellow Ranger"