Betrayal: Yuri x Reader

Chapter Twelve - A Failed Revival

———

-Your POV-

"Professor. You would raise your sword against me? Your mother lies here, waiting for us. Waiting for you! Don't you want her back?" Aelfric continues to insist, voice weakening as his strength dwindles.

"Hey, Teach, is that true, or is he just trying to freak us out? If so... it's kind of working." Claude mumbles.

"As I said, I haven't met my mother." Byleth frowns, taking a longer look at the gorgeous woman who was placed daintily on the marble pedestal, serene as if she were merely sleeping.

"It's her." Aelfric grumbles. "I would know. How I've longed to see her speak once more, after twenty-one long years..."

"And you think that after so many years, someone would still be in such pristine continuation?" Dimitri asks in uncertainty.

"Incredible, isn't it? It's as though she remains untouched, even after all these years... Perhaps her body differs from others. Beautiful, ageless..."

"Halt, Aelfric," a soothing voice carries across the bloodshed as Archbishop Rhea strides in, her perfectly peaceful and steady demeanor making everyone freeze.

"You!" The monk barked angrily, "It's your fault she died, you wretched witch-!"

"I owe you no words on the matter." Lady Rhea held her head high.

Aelfric's eyebrows furrow. "Oho! You expect that I should believe you without question?! You see her lying here before you, and yet you 'owe no words.' Rhea, I am done with you. The only thing that remains to be done is to complete the ritual." Without another sentence uttered, he warps away, taking his remaining men and the dead woman along with him.

Not a single second of silence passes before everyone's voices rise to a sharp, panicked tone.

"Hurry, he couldn't have gotten far!" Rhea shouts over the din.

"Let's go!" Byleth quickly agrees.

"What about you four? You don't look like you're up for much of anything right now." I comment in concern, taking in their clenched teeth and paling skin, all because of the severe blood loss each had suffered.

"It'll take a lot more than that to stop me. If anything, I feel speedier with less blood weighing me down." Yuri tells me standing up on wobbling legs, but immediately placing a hand on my shoulder for support.

"Probably for the best that he drained us, otherwise our blood would be boiling." Balthus chuckles, though relies on a guiding hand from Hilda to get on his feet.

"Ugh, speak for yourselves. I feel atrocious. We must end this, and swiftly." Constance disagrees, putting her hands on her hips.

"At least I can stand. Frankly, I'm only a bit queasy." Hapi nods.

"I know where he'll be. Follow me." Rhea says, and we all as a multitude take off as fast as our legs can carry us, further behind the looming stone wall of the Monastery.

The Archbishop leads us to another enormous, marble cathedral, and when we all enter, a full view of Sitri's body can be seen. She's gently laid at the top of the stairs to the altar at the back of the room, the golden Chalice in her slender hands. Aelfric kneels in front of her, gaze never leaving her pale face.

"Aelfric, stop this at once." Lady Rhea commands, stepping closer.

"It is too late. The chalice is filled to its brim with the blood of the four. Should their blood prove insufficient, I will spill even my own blood to finish this."