Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Please, Rhea! Save my child! give .. give it my heart…” Sitri pleaded with tear filled eyes.

“That will not be needed.” She tried to reassure her creation as she wiped sweat soaked hair that clung to her forehead behind her ear. 

“The child is alright, now conserve your energy so that I might heal you.” She didn’t look towards the still born child, there was no point in destroying such a healthy creation for the possibility of the child living; she’d rather save Sitri and hope that the next child would be a stronger, more worthy vessel. 

Sitri feebly tried to sit up, trying to see her child but she couldn’t even lift her head; the movement required more strength then she had. She let out a weak wail as a post birth contraction wrecked her. 

Rhea cast the last of her healing spells to try to ease the pain and restore what had been lost of her health. The spell did not stop the bleeding, blood still gushed from her soaking the sheets beneath her. 

Rhea worked tirelessly trying to save her creation her greatest chance to resurrect her mother; but she failed, just as she had failed to save her mother she failed to save the woman she had brought life to and considered family. 

She needed the crest stone that dwelled within Sitri, she needed to save it for her next creation. Moving past her grief she moved to perform the extraction of the crest of flames, the procedure was longer than it needed to be, she had to be careful as to not ruin Sitri’s remains. She needed to be as beautiful in death as she was in life.

Once the Crest of Flames was safe and secure and Sitri had been made to look more presentable she moved to clean the still born child so that it too would be presentable. 

She used a damp cloth to wipe away the blood on the child's chin then gently brought the cloth to wipe the child's delicate lips. 

Then it moved.

The child opened it’s mouth slightly allowing the bloodied cloth to slip slightly into its mouth, upon moving the cloth away it let out a wail suddenly coming to life. 

She was frozen in shock momentarily as the child thrashed about in her arms. She had though for sure it was dead, it was as cold as ice and stiff as the dead just moments ago. 

She had previously not felt its heartbeat, she still could not feel it. Moving her hair out of the way she pressed her ear against the child's chest and heard nothing beating within. 

The child was empty, a vessel.

Rushing to where she had stashed the crest she retrieved it and brought it to the child, she would need to attach it to the child's unbeating heart. 

The child reacted violently when the stone touched it, its skin reddened and hives quickly formed where the stone had been. 

She didn’t understand why this was happening, a crest shouldn’t hurt the vessel. She would need to do further research on this, but now wasn’t the time no matter how much she wanted it to be.

______

The child was not natural, it was not a suitable vessel either. It reacted negatively to the crest of flames, it had no heartbeat, it was cold as ice, and yet it lived.

She did not feel comfortable with the child living and judging from Jeralts odd behavior she was not the only one perturbed by it. 

Then a fire broke out, the child had died in the fire, along with many relics of the church. She should have been devastated at the loss of the relics but she wasn’t, she couldn’t be upset after her mother had sent an answer to prayers and quilled her worries.

Chapter Text

The brigand rushed forward raising his ax above his head as he prepared to attack the young woman. 

Byleth sprang into action and used her body as a shield to protect her newest ally. The ax swung down finding purchase in her back, she was shoved forward from the strength of the blow. 

It was a fatal strike, well fatal for anyone other than her. Her relationship with death was strange, the two were intertwined. she was not alive but she was not dead either.

Instead of going limp and dying she spun on her heel ignoring the pain as the ax curved a bloodied path along her back. She swung her sword upward striking the handle of the ax, the force caused the ax to be torn from his grip and he fell backward from it.

She could hear the footsteps of the archer and lancer running to join them but she did not turn to greet them, her gaze was fixed ahead towards the approaching people she could not see. 

Some were mounted, others ran in heavy clad armor, and quietest of all were those in light armor-there footfalls were almost silenced by their louder allies. 

Then their approaching sounds became louder, loud enough she was sure her newest companions could hear it as well. 

“The knights of Seiros are here! We'll cut you down for terrorizing our students. Hey, the thieves are running away! Go after them! The students seem to be unharmed. And...who's this?” 

“Ugh.. Why him?” She heard Jeralt groan behind her. 

“Who is he?” She asked, turning to look at her father. 

“Nevermind that. Drink.” he tossed her a familiar flask, she quirked a brow at him as to ask if he was serious before she unscrewed the lid and began downing the liquid within. 

The second the fluid hit her tongue it was if she had been dehydrated and was finally being blessed with water. It was an addictive substance she greedily drank it down and once it was empty she licked the inside of the flask trying desperately to get every last drop. 

She heard the three try to talk to her, to which her only response was to raise a finger to tell them to wait. When she was like this the only thing she could think of was the delicious nectar she was drinking, her senses were temporarily dulled she was deaf and blind to the world in these starved moments. 

When she finally brought the flask away from her lips and her senses returned to her she heard her father talking to the knight from before, the three kids were looking towards her, they were composed.

“Apologies, what were you saying?” She asked the teenagers after returning the flask to Jeralt who in turn walked away with the knight.

“Your injury-” The blonde began to say but she cut him off.

“It is healing, what I just drank was a vulnerary of sorts.” She brushed the wound with her hand, feeling how it was already closing up. She looked at her bloodied hand briefly, the hunger grew worse and she had to avert her gaze before the urge to lick her hand clean became too overwhelming. The smell of blood was already making her stomach rumble, seeing it only worsened her hunger. 

“I appreciate your help back there, your skills are beyond question.” The girl of the group praised her.

“And I must apologize for the trouble we just put you through. Thank you for the assistance. I do not like to consider how things could have turned out had you not been present.” 

“Aw have the highnesses found their knight in leather armor.” The boy in yellow teased. 

“Really Claude, joking at a time like this?”

“I meant no offense princess.”

“You’re nobility?” She asked, crossing her arms and cocking her head to the side.

The blonde nodded. “Yes, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, crown prince of the holy kingdom of Faerghus.” 

“I am Edelgard Von Hresvelg, future emperor of the Adrestrian Empire.”

“And I am Claude von Riegan, future Duke of the Leicester Alliance.” He winked at her, flashing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “And you are?”

“Byleth.” She answered bluntly. 

“Alright, that 's enough small talk. Time to return to the monastery.”

The knight yelled to them, though he didn’t need to when his normal voice was already so loud. 

______

She had somehow been hired as a professor for the officers academy, she wanted to decline the position but given how her father acted around the Archbishop she didn’t see refusal as an option. 

She disliked the Archbishop and her adviser. Something was wrong about them, they weren’t right. 

Lady Rhea smelled of vanilla and flowers and everything nice, Seteth smelled of tea leaves and incense but they both shared an unusual scent that was hidden beneath the other smells.

She couldn’t quite pin the smell, it was similar to a bear in how it seemed to belong to a dominating apex predator but it also smelled like a reptile and amphibian. She couldn’t figure out the exact combination and that was driving her crazy.