The Bright Star [Fire Emblem: Three Houses AU]

The Bright Star (Byleth)

Byleth walked to the captain's quarters that evening, where the dusk sky appeared, to see his father at his desk writing in a diary. He looked up as he closed the diary. "Hey, kid," he said. "Did you speak with Edelgard?"

"I did," Byleth said.  sitting down in a chair near his.

"What did she speak to you about?"

"She told me that she has other plans for the future of Fódlan, beginning with dealing with Garreg Mach and Rhea. Before any of that, she's going to return to the Empire next week in secret and has asked me to come along. There, she will secretly assume her father's throne. Duke Aegir is practically in control of the Empire, and Emperor Ionius IX is merely a pawn in his schemes. With this, Edelgard will assume the throne and can banish Duke Aegir. She then wants to use her power to change the Fódlan society, starting with annihilating Rhea and Garreg Mach."

"But what does all of that have to do with you?" Jeralt looked confused. "Why would she confide her plans to you if it seems like something one would keep secretive?"

"Because she wants me to take her, so I agreed to. Next week is a week off for the students, so I will be taking her. I was going to ask Rhea if I could rent some pegasi to take her as well." He sighed. "I want to see Edelgard become a successful emperor, or really just a person in general. But I'd have to go against Rhea for this. She's already done some horrible things to me, I know that. But she's been pretty much like a mother to me ever since my own died, and going against her would just make me feel bad."

"So you've also begun to lose your trust in Rhea?"

"Somewhat. Why do you ask? What has she done to you?"

"She's just been acting shady. Back when you woke up from the infirmary, she basically just found it convenient to leave on the spot. And look at you! That hair is still there, and has been ever since I saw you then! She has to have had something to do with what caused it."

"She did tell me, but I had to cover it up. I didn't want to speak to anyone about it in public; surely she would harangue me over it when she got the chance. But now that it's just us and the halls are empty as far as I know, I should be able to tell you about this." He cleared his throat and looked deeply into the eyes of his father. "Rhea replaced my heart with the heart of Sothis, which contains a Crest Stone. A girl named Sothis lived inside my head, but then disappeared when my hair turned green. Seemingly that's what caused it to turn my hair like this, as according to Rhea, she must have gifted me her power and left."

"What powers do you have?"

"I don't completely know yet, but I might have to find out. But it looks like Rhea turned my hair this way."

"I see. you know, I should confess that I've been wanting to confront Rhea about everything. Do you remember when your mother was alive?"

"Yes, I do. Why?"

"As I was telling you at the ball, you were born with teal-colored hair. Neither Sitri nor I had that hair color in our family history, or at least as much as we knew about it, so we asked Rhea about it. As I said, she would always give us an answer along the lines of that she didn't know or something like that. Sitri had green hair. Do you remember?"

"I do."

"But at her funeral, she had the same hair color you had. How is that possible?"

Byleth paused, trying to remember what he saw of his mother at her funeral. "I can't remember much of her funeral, but I'll take your word for it." He paused before realizing something. "I think I may know why."

"Why, kid?"

"My mother resides in Abyss. Rhea used some sort of spell to exchange our hearts, so I got her heart and she has mine. However, hers had a Crest Stone. Mine did not. What if hers was working similar to mine and that gave her the green hair she had, with it fading away after her death because it no longer was working in her before being activated in me?"

"I feel like that's correct, but then again I don't really know much about this. You'll have to present it to Rhea. But at least I know why your hair is like that now." He paused. "Also, did you say that your mother is in Abyss? Are my old ears hearing that right?"

"Yes. She was supposed to be buried where you think she is, but—"

Jeralt cut him off. "Is she still alive?"

"—Oh, I should've worded it a little differently earlier. But no, she's still dead. Her body, though, is somewhere else."

"How dare someone grave rob my beloved wife's resting place!" Jeralt stood, looking around for an axe. "If I find him, I'm gonna chop his head and throw his headless body into a ditch!"

"Rhea did it."

"What?"

"Rhea put Sitri's body in Abyss to be preserved. I don't really know completely why, though. But she's down there in Abyss in some hidden corridor. The average person doesn't know about the forks in the road one has to take to get there."

"Do you still remember by any chance?" Jeralt stopped looking for an axe and sat down again.

"I do," Byleth said. "I'll take you there to meet her. I'll look for Rhea and ask for her schedule to see if she's still going to go to Abyss, or if she's busy."

"Thank you so much. Ah, that reminds me, Rhea was telling me to find you earlier and asked to see you. Not surprising at all for my old brains to forget about it, even though we were talking about her." He laughed. "She's in the cathedral."

"Oh, it's not a problem, Father." Byleth stood. "I'll be back for you."

"Bye, kiddo."

Byleth walked out of the captain's quarters and went to the cathedral. The lights inside were dim, and the windows let the sun that still remained in the dusk sky in to brighten up the front of the room where Rhea stood. She and Byleth were the only ones in the cathedral at the moment, as all the nuns were off of work and all of the students were eating in the dining hall. His footsteps were louder and easier to notice for the one other person in the cathedral as he stepped in.

Rhea turned. "Welcome, The Bright Star."